carolina hurricanesdownloads.hurricanes.nhl.com/clips/clips120518.pdf · everyone’s minds is the...

CAROLINA HURRICANES

NEWS CLIPPINGS • December 5, 2018

The Canes aren’t scoring. Welcome to the grind

By Chip Alexander

The Carolina Hurricanes wanted to play an exciting brand of hockey this season, using their speed, allowing their defensemen to jump into plays and help juice up the offense, staying on the attack, staying aggressive.

But when you can’t score ...

Welcome to the grind.

The same offensive problem that has plagued the Canes in recent years -- an inability to finish -- has cropped up again. The shots are there. The chances are there. The openings are there. The goals are not.

“When we’re on our game, when we’re at our best, we create enough opportunities to score a lot of goals,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “So it shouldn’t be an issue.”

It is an issue. The Canes have taken an NHL-high 1,007 shots on goal. They have 65 goals and their 6.5 shooting percentage easily is the worst in the league.

“We’re going to be talking about this all year,” Brind’Amour said Monday. “That’s our group. We need to out-chance teams to be successful.”

The smorgasbord of 22 goals in the first five games, when the Canes started 4-0-1, is a fading memory. What’s fresh in everyone’s minds is the 2-0 shutout against the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday or scoring one goal -- rookie Andrei Svechnikov in four-on-four play -- in the past two games.

The Canes did score nine goals in back-to-back wins over Toronto (5-2) and Florida (4-1) on Nov. 21 and Nov. 23. But in the past 16 games, Carolina has been shut out twice and scored two or fewer goals 10 times in going 6-7-3.

Brind’Amour recently was asked if the Canes had enough scorers to get where the team wants to go this season -- namely the playoffs for the first time since 2009. It was a question often posed to former coach Bill Peters.

“I think so,” Brind’Amour said. “I mean, it’s going to be a challenge.”

It also raised the unpleasant possibility that the Canes might have to “win ugly” in more games. Rely on their solid defensive corps while hoping goalies Curtis McElhinney and Petr Mrazek are steady enough in net and win low-scoring games.

It could be a bit more conservative and boring. But barring a trade for scoring help, grinding out wins may be a necessity.

“No doubt,” Brind’Amour said. “I think we’re going to be in a lot of those games and I feel we’ve felt pretty comfortable in the games we’ve had, these tight games. The whole league,

there’s going to be tight games and we’re going to have to be able to win those.”

More power play struggles

In the 2-1 overtime loss Friday to the Anaheim Ducks, the Canes came up empty on all six power plays. One power-play score and it could have been different. Instead, the Ducks scored late to tie the score, then won in OT.

“We seemed out of sync. There was some sloppy play,” defenseman Justin Faulk said of the power plays.

It was more of the same Sunday against the Kings in a game that was scoreless until the final minutes of regulation. The Canes had 90 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play but couldn’t score and were 0-3 for the game in Los Angeles.

“We’ve got to put the game away on one of those power plays,” Brind’Amour said.

After the game, Brind’Amour mentioned centers Lucas Wallmark and Jordan Staal having good looks in front of Kings goalie Jonathan Quick and not being able to convert. Sebastian Aho was set up for a few openings, only to fan on the puck or mis-hit it.

According to Naturalstattrick.com, a hockey analytics website, the Canes had 16 high-danger scoring chances against the Kings, who had 13.

“How many chances has Wallmark had the last couple of games?” Brind’Amour said. “He’s been all alone in front of the net four or five times and he can’t seem to buy one. There’s a bunch of guys. Jordan had I don’t know many chances right in front. Same thing.”

Wallmark has one goal in 26 games. Staal has five but none in the past 13 games. Warren Foegele, after scoring four goals in the first four games, is still looking for a fifth. The D-men have contributed little.

“Again, you can talk about it all you want,” Brind’Amour said. “We have to find a way to get it in there.”

Goal-scoring can’t be taught

One telling comment from Brind’Amour came when he was asked how younger players can be taught to be better finishers.

“You don’t,” he said. “Goal scoring is not something you can really teach.”

The Canes had a natural goal-scorer in winger Jeff Skinner but traded him to the Buffalo Sabres in the offseason. Skinner, who scored 24 goals for the Canes last season, has 20 this season.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


When Skinner was traded, general manager Don Waddell said Skinner’s production could be replaced by the influx of newcomers: Svechnikov and rookie center Martin Necas, defenseman Dougie Hamilton, forward Micheal Ferland.

“I don’t think goal-scoring is going to be a big issue for us as we move forward,” Waddell said.

Ferland has a team-high 11 goals but is out with a concussion. Svechnikov has six goals, Hamilton three and Necas is playing wing for the Charlotte Checkers in the AHL.

Goal-scoring is a big issue.


Down Goes Brown: Which teams have the best (and worst) odds of winning a Stanley Cup in the next five years?

By Sean McIndoe

It’s Future Week here on The Athletic’s NHL pages. So today, let’s head into that future. How does five years sound?

If you said “way too far to predict with any accuracy, you idiot”, then you’re right. But we’re going to do it anyway, by trying to figure out which NHL teams have the best odds of winning at least one Stanley Cup at any point in the next five years.

It’s a deceivingly tough question, one that touches on everything from current rosters to prospect pipelines to coaching to cap management. I tried to tackle it three years ago at Grantland, with mixed results (more on that in a bit). Today I’m going to try again, because I do not learn from my mistakes.

But first: You may have seen Monday’s Future Power Rankings, a piece that ranked the 31 existing teams in terms of where they’ll be in three years. It was basically an attempt to project what the league will look like in 2020-21.

So is this the same thing? Not really, although there will be some obvious overlap. If you’re well set up to be among the league’s best teams in three years, you’re basically hitting the sweet spot of a five-year window. And if you’re headed toward being a mess in a few years, you’re probably not in great shape on either end of that. We’ll be referring back to the Future Power Rankings several times as we go.

But today’s ranking isn’t necessarily about the future, and it’s not meant as a ranking of which teams will be in the best shape a certain number of years from now. We just want to win Cups here, and for our purposes, a win in 2019 counts just as much as one in 2023. That means that an old team without many prospects can still rank well if their window remains open right now. And a team that’s an utter mess today still has time to turn things around. Five years is a long time.

So with that in mind, let’s move on to figuring out which teams are the most likely to win the next five Stanley Cups. As with any attempt at projecting the future, some of these rankings will turn out to be wrong; it’s hard enough to predict what’s going to happen in the NHL tonight, let alone half a decade from now. If you’re the sort of person who gets irrationally upset over that, feel free to track me down and scream at me about it. Just remember that you have to wait five years first.

Grab a cup of coffee and settle in. We’ll start at the bottom, and with what should be the only sure thing in this post. Maybe.

32. Seattle Something-or-Others

If the Golden Knight taught us one thing, it’s that anything can happen in the NHL. If they taught us a second and more important thing, it’s that having a clean slate of cap room turns out to be far more valuable than we may have realized.

So why don’t I think Seattle has much of a chance to match the Knights’ success? Partly because I view that Vegas season as a perfect storm that’s unlikely to be duplicated. And partly because I suspect that the other teams are going to smarten up in terms of how they handle expansion. They may even over-correct, hurting themselves in the process. But either way, Seattle is going to have a tougher time fleecing teams right out of the gate.

But mostly, I feel good about this pick because Seattle won’t join the league until 2021. That eats up three of our five years, which means their odds have to be the longest of anyone in the league.

At least I’m pretty sure they should. And I’m never wrong about an expansion team, as long as you ignore literally everything I’ve written since 2017.

Odds of a Cup in five years: 3%

31. Los Angeles Kings

I suspect that Kings fans won’t be overly surprised to see their team bringing up the rear among the 31 established franchises. The Kings’ rebuild hasn’t even started yet; we’re not even sure they realize how badly they need one. There’s talent coming through the system, but with an uninspiring NHL roster and a long-term cap situation clogged with big deals for declining veterans, there’s a ton of work to do in Los Angeles. They might get there, but by the time they do, most of our five-year window should be gone.


30. Chicago Blackhawks

On the one hand, this feels like an easy one. The ‘Hawks were bad last year. They’re worse this year. And with a cap situation dominated by long-term contracts to aging stars who, for the most part, just aren’t ever going to be the players they once were, there’s little reason to think that things will get any better. The prospect pipeline is OK but not

CAROLINA HURRICANES


much more than that, and among the young players on the roster, only Alex DeBrincat really looks like a potential star. They’re basically the Kings, in just slightly better shape.

So it’s an easy call. Almost too easy. These are still the Blackhawks, just three years removed from a mini-dynasty, and the rush to bury them feels at least a little like wishful thinking. I’m still going to do it, because I have to bury a few teams for this to work. But if Stan Bowman rediscovers his magic, the Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews duo ages gracefully, and Artemi Panarin shows up at their front door on July 1 holding a sign that says ADOPT ME, I’ll be muttering “I knew it” while Blackhawks fans gleefully shove me out onto an ice floe.


29. Ottawa Senators

Here’s where things get tricky. On the one hand, the Senators’ young players have looked good this year, and there’s reason to be optimistic that Thomas Chabot and Brady Tkachuk can both be difference makers. Mix in some decent prospects on the way and a handful of core pieces still left over from the conference final run two years ago, and on paper I should probably be more optimistic, even without that 2019 first-round pick to build around and Mark Stone and Matt Duchene still unsigned.

The big question is whether they can really win a Cup with Eugene Melnyk as owner, given his financial constraints and non-stop parade of distractions and controversies. I’m just not convinced that they can, with the recent implosion of their arena plans reinforcing that. Melnyk continues to insist he’ll never sell. But if and when new ownership arrives, feel free to move the Senators up at least a few slots, and maybe more.


28. Detroit Red Wings

For a while there, it looked like the Wings were going to be that team that stubbornly refused to rebuild even when everyone knew they needed to. I don’t think that’s the case anymore; even as Ken Holland has resisted doing the full-scale teardown, it seems pretty clear that the organization knows that it needs a reset.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that there’s still work to do, with a clogged up cap to deal with and a prospect pipeline that needs work. There’s a big job ahead for Steve Yzerman Ken Holland and/or whoever eventually replaces him. I think the Wings are on the right track, but they’ll eat up a lot of our five-year window while they get there.


27. New Jersey Devils

The Devils were ranked dead last on my 2015 list, in which I described them as “old and not very good” and predicted that “the job ahead is massive.” Since then they’ve won a draft lottery, traded a middle-pairing defenseman for the MVP and made the playoffs. That’s progress.

Still, there are some red flags, including a farm system that’s just OK and some serious questions around whether $6-

million goaltender Cory Schneider is still good enough to win with. Their cap is actually in decent shape, even with Taylor Hall’s extension watch coming next year. But it’s hard to look at the Devils right now and not worry that they’re heading toward that mushy middle and not much further.


26. New York Rangers

The Rangers are rebuilding. We know this because their GM said so. But they’ve been better than expected this year, hanging around the wild-card race. And it’s hard to know quite what to make of that.

One way to look at it would be to suggest that they’re not as far away from contending as we all thought, and that any team with Henrik Lundqvist can absolutely win a Cup if they can sneak into the playoffs. The other would be to suggest that the absolute worst thing that can happen in a rebuild is to win a few more games than expected and finish 18th instead of 28th. I can understand why Rangers fans would be enjoying how the 2018-19 season is playing out, but I wonder if it will come at a cost to the long-range plan.


25. St. Louis Blues

I thought the Blues were going to be reasonably good this year. I was wrong. Maybe I’m wrong about this pessimistic ranking too. But with the team looking like a serious longshot to make the playoffs this year, one first-round pick already traded away, and rumors that Doug Armstrong is ready to blow it all up, there’s reason to worry.

It’s not all doom and gloom, and the farm system makes the future look bright. But if the Blues decide that the current core can’t win and that it’s time to start over and rebuild, they may need to take a multi-year step back before they can contend again.

(As a side note, the Blues have apparently become the annual “gets mad when they’re not ranked poorly enough in power rankings” fan base, so my apologies in advance to St. Louis fans who were hoping they’d be #32.)


24. Dallas Stars

I thought I’d have the Stars higher than this. I like a lot of their roster right now, and it’s not like they’re old. But they’re not all that young either, with Jamie Benn at 29 and Tyler Seguin and John Klingberg both at 26. Those guys have plenty of years left, but all three have probably just about hit their peak. Mix in guys like Ben Bishop and Alexander Radulov already being into their 30s, and you’re left with a team that, aside from Miro Heiskanen, seems like they’re about as good as they’ll get.

And how good is that? Good enough to miss the playoffs in each of the last two years, and to be a bubble team this year. Bubble teams can sometimes win Cups, but if there’s a path to this team becoming something more, it’s hard to find.


23. Anaheim Ducks

CAROLINA HURRICANES


The core is aging, the farm system isn’t great, the cap situation is messy, and while they have plenty of decent young talent on the roster and on the way, none of them project to be the kind of elite stars that Cup winners are built around. In fact, the next wave might be just enough to make the Ducks one of those dreaded stuck-in-the-middle teams for the next few years.

But all that said, they have one of the best goaltenders in the league and play in a weak division, so they’re absolutely a threat to make at least a little playoff noise in the short-term. It’s possible that some of those young guys make the leap, or an eventual coaching change provides a boost. This pick scares me a little. But just a little.


A quick word about those odds

You’ve made it through our first 10 entries. Maybe you skipped ahead to look for your team, or to see who was ranked near the top. But I’m guessing that by now you’re already thinking it: Wait, everyone’s odds are way too low.

Here’s the thing. We’re working with five seasons and only one team can win the Cup every year, so the total of all the percentages we hand out can’t add up to more than 500 percent. Even that’s being too generous, since it assumes nobody will repeat, and we’re cheating a bit on how the math works to make the numbers work smoothly. But even with that little boost, everyone’s percentages are going to seem low. Surely there have to be a few teams higher than 50 percent and plenty that are close to 25 percent, and even the worst teams still have like a 10 percent shot, right? But if you do it that way in a league that’s about to have 32 teams, you wind up blowing past the 500 percent limit by a mile.

So I can just about guarantee that even if you agree with where I’ve ranked your particular team, you’re going to think their actual percentage should be higher. As hockey fans, we’re just not wired to understand the reality that the chances of any given team winning the Stanley Cup are a lot lower than we want to believe. The league is probably glad of that, because if we really understood how unlikely a Cup win is, it would be depressing.

But yeah, everything had to add up to 500. It isn’t much, but in the age of parity, it’s all we’ve got.

22. Montreal Canadiens

The Habs’ hot start suggested that some of the doom and gloom around the team was overstated. Some of the young players are better than expected and some of the veterans seem to have more in the tank than we thought. This team might be good.

But “good” doesn’t win many Cups. So is there a path here that gets them to great? If there is, it’s one that could be complicated by cap concerns. It’s looking more and more like the Carey Price contract may have been a major mistake, and having Shea Weber’s deal on the books through 2026 just compounds that. There are ways out of bad contracts – hello, 2021 compliance buyouts – and it would only take one hot month from Price to change some perspective here. But right now, it’s easier to see the Canadiens stalling out as a bubble team instead of a true Cup contender.


21. Florida Panthers

The Panthers have a ton of good young players on the roster, and some year it’s all going to click. But I thought that would be this year, and it looks like they might miss the playoffs instead.

The thing about good young players is that at some point they just become good players, and you can’t count on the mere passage of time to make them better anymore. That’s gradually becoming the case for the Panthers core, and even with some decent reinforcements on the way, you wonder what the ceiling is. A playoff team? Absolutely. Top 10 in the league? Not out of the question. Good enough to regularly get past the Lightning and Maple Leafs, not to mention the Sabres and Bruins? I’m not ruling it out, but man, you wish they were showing us a lot more right now, don’t you?


20. Arizona Coyotes

As a small market team that needs to get creative to compete with the big kids, the Coyotes have done a lot of things right over the years. John Chayka was an inspired hire, and he’s been willing to make risky moves and manipulate the cap floor to improve the roster’s long-term potential. But like the Panthers, at some point you have to start winning.

I’ve used this metaphor before, but coming out of a rebuild can be like throwing an idling car into drive and hitting the gas. Sometimes the tires catch and you’re off to the races, like the Maple Leafs and Avalanche. And sometimes the wheels just spin and spin and you realize you’re not getting anywhere. I’m not giving up on them yet, but the Coyotes have to get some traction at some point. And even if they do, the market and ownership situation limits their upside.


19. Pittsburgh Penguins

We know that the fall is coming. We just don’t know when.

Maybe it’s already here; the Penguins have looked awful for stretches this season. But I don’t think so, and still have the Pens slotted in as a short-term threat. The question is how short that short-term will be. Recent history with the Kings and Blackhawks suggests that when the moment of reckoning arrives, it will come quickly and the fall could be steep. But in the meantime they’ve still got Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, which means they’ve got a chance to beat anyone in the playoffs. If they can get there.


18. Minnesota Wild

The cap is tight and the prospect pipeline is poor, even as Kirill Kaprizov is intriguing. But the team is good right now, so this really comes down to whether you think they’re a serious threat to win a Cup today. If you’ve followed the weekend power rankings, you know that I bounce back and forth on that question. For now, I think they’ve got a shot, but the road will be a tough one, and it should only get tougher as time goes by.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Odds of a Cup in five years: 12%17. New York Islanders

Are they rebuilding, or already rebuilt? There’s some good young talent on the way, and they’ll have plenty of cap room after this year. But what’s the path to the Cup?

They don’t look like top-tier contenders right now, but they also don’t look like they’ll be in the thick of the lottery any times soon, and aside from Mathew Barzal they don’t have anyone in the organization you’d describe as an elite talent in a league where those are the guys that Cup winners are built around. So can Lou Lamoriello find a way to add those pieces? Maybe, although his recent track record makes you wonder.

Still, with a new arena finally on the way, there was to be room for at least some optimism. We’ve been talking about the Islanders arena situation for decades now; assuming the project goes well, it could be a gamechanger for the franchise. But that takes us to 2021, which eats up a chunk of our time. I want to figure out a way to get the Islanders higher up this list, but I just can’t.


16. Philadelphia Flyers

There’s not a lot of good news in Philadelphia right now, where the team is losing, people are getting fired and fans are losing hope. If anything, I’m betting that even diehard Flyers fans might think this ranking is too optimistic.

But this is a five-year view, not a snapshot of what’s happening this month. And in the big picture, there’s still reason to like what the Flyers are doing. They’ve got some good young players, including on the blueline. And while the goaltending is a problem right now, Carter Hart is on the way. There are pieces in place, the cap situation is set up nicely and Chuck Fletcher has a mandate to get better right now. This season has shown that the Flyers are further away than we might have thought, but there’s still time to get there.


15. Carolina Hurricanes

I’m dangerously close to giving up on the Hurricanes. I like the roster. There’s young talent everywhere. It should be adding up to a contender, or at least something more than a playoff bubble team. But it never does. Mix in the Tom Dundon factor, and I’m lost. Ownership matters a ton in smaller markets, and Dundon could be a visionary, a poser, or something in between. They seem like a smart organization, but how many “Carolina is dominating the metrics but it’s not translating to wins” pieces can we write?

Maybe they eventually prove me wrong. It could happen as soon as this year. But when a team hasn’t made the playoffs in almost a decade, at some point you can only bang your head on the desk so many times before you give yourself a break. I’ll give them average odds, but no more.


14. Vegas Golden Knights

The Knights are set up well for the future with some decent prospects and a manageable cap situation, and the current roster has plenty of talent. Can you win with that? Sure. They

almost did last year. And the Pacific offers up a fairly straightforward path back to the conference final this year.

But I admit that I’m a little concerned about Marc-Andre Fleury, who just turned 34 and isn’t going to play at least year’s level for the next five years. The question is when that drop will come, and how much of his $7-million a year extension is left on the books when it happens. And does he turn out to be just another goalie who can be replaced when the time comes, or a heart-and-soul piece who meant something more? We’ll find out. In the meantime, their odds aren’t bad.


13. Vancouver Canucks

Their time isn’t now, but it’s coming.

They don’t have all the pieces in place yet, but they have a few, including Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser, and the pipeline looks downright impressive. The long-term goaltending is still unproven, and your confidence in Jim Benning and the ownership group to put the finishing touches on everything may vary. But the Canucks are headed in the right direction, even if it will take at least a year or two of our five-year window for them to get there.


12. San Jose Sharks

The Sharks core is old and the future is uncertain. As of this writing, we don’t know if the Erik Karlsson experience will extend past a single season, or what kind of new deal Joe Pavelski will get, or whether Joe Thornton is in his final season. We do know that they’re locked into long-term extensions to Brent Burns, Logan Couture, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Evander Kane, all of whom will be well into their 30s before those deals end. And we know they’ve traded away their next two first-round picks.

So this feels like a pretty obvious win-now situation. But winning now doesn’t seem all that unlikely, especially given the state of the competition in the Pacific. Could this core win it all this year, or maybe even next? Sure. But at some point the clock is going to run out on this group, and there’s no obvious reinforcements on the way to replace them.


11. Calgary Flames

The problem in Calgary is that the Flames don’t have many high-end prospects, largely because they’ve traded away so many picks over the years. So when you’re looking for their path to the Cup, you’re left asking if the current roster is good enough.

It might be. The rest of the division is underwhelming and guys like Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan are in their prime. The goaltending is a big question mark, but that’s paradoxically both the worst problem for a roster to have and (often) the easiest one to fix. Get them a goalie, and the rest of the pieces are there to at least have a puncher’s chance. That’s not bad, even if it’s just not clear how it gets all that much better.


CAROLINA HURRICANES


Looking back at the 2015 list

Before we get to the top 10, let’s take a quick look back at that previous attempt from 2015, if only because we might learn a few things with some benefit of hindsight. You can find my picks from that three-part series here, here and here.

A few observations:

– First, the good news: Three years in, and none of the real-world Cup wins have embarrassed me. The Penguins won twice and the Capitals took one, and I had both in my top 10. There were certainly teams I was too low on, including finalists like the Sharks and (especially) the Predators, but so far I’ve avoided the embarrassment of some team that I listed at five percent winning it all and making me look dumb.

– I was too hard on the low end of the scale, where I had some teams as low as one percent. I didn’t rank the Golden Knights because they didn’t exist, but if had I would have all but guaranteed there was no way they could win a Cup. The fact that they almost did in Year 1 should serve as a reminder: We’re living in the age of parity, and no result can ever really be ruled out. So I’ve moved the floor up quite a bit for the bottom-dwellers (which flattens them even more for everyone else).

– I was clearly way too high on teams that were just coming out of rebuilds, specifically the Oilers and Sabres. We can’t assume that a team that looks ready to flip the switch and move forward will actually do it, which is why I’m trying not to go overboard on teams like the Coyotes and Canucks this time around.

– I honestly have no idea what was going on with the Islanders pick. Like, none. I think I was hacked. Let’s go with that.

In theory, this time around should be easier; not only can I learn from past mistakes, but I have a few months of a regular season to work with, which should bring Year 1 into a much clearer focus.

Will it help? Probably not, as our next entry demonstrates.

10. Edmonton Oilers

Oh god help me, I have the Oilers in the top 10 again. I did it last time, and here I am again, having learned nothing.

Look, last year was a disaster. This year might be headed that way too. Even worse, this year might be headed toward being just good enough to save Peter Chiarelli’s job and give him a chance to double-down on this plan for building a contender. There are questions about Cam Talbot in net, there’s nowhere near enough depth up front, and they somehow still need a major upgrade to the blueline despite spending the last few years doing nothing but upgrading the blueline. And worst of all, there’s little if any evidence that ownership and upper management can recognize, let alone fix, any of these problems.

And yet…

I mean, they have Connor Freaking McDavid, right? Hockey isn’t a sport where one guy can drag a team to a championship, but history tells us that generational stars almost always win Cups eventually, and often sooner than

later. In terms of pure skill, McDavid has a chance to be the best player ever, period. If he gets there, or even all that close, the Oilers almost have to at least contend.

So let’s say the worst-case scenario kicks in this year. The Oilers miss the playoffs, Chiarelli is fired, Hitchcock doesn’t want to stick around, and they basically have to start all over. Let’s say they write off next year and even the year after that while new decision-makers put a decent roster together.

That still leaves them two years of our five-year window, with a team built around McDavid in his absolute prime, with Leon Draisaitl there too. That team would absolutely have a good chance at a Cup, right?

I may have a problem.


9. Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets are one of the toughest teams to project past this year. Make no mistake, they’ve got the talent to win a Stanley Cup right now. But as of this writing, we don’t know what’s going to happen with Sergei Bobrovsky or Artemi Panarin. If either guy leaves, the Jackets’ chances take a big hit. If both guys do, it would be devastating, even with core pieces like Seth Jones and Zach Werenski around to cushion the blow.

So where does that leave us? They might be the best team in the Metro right now, and they seem determined to go all out for a Cup this year. The road out of the division is wide open. You just hope there isn’t a dead end around the corner for this team. I don’t think there is, but I’m hedging my bets at least a little bit.


8. Boston Bruins

I like the Bruins a lot; they could absolutely win the Stanley Cup this year. But an era is ending in Boston, with Zdeno Chara on his last legs and Patrice Bergeron fighting through a second straight season of injury, plus Brad Marchand and Tuukka Rask on the wrong side of 30. Even without much help on the way from the farm system, there are enough younger contributors on the roster that the Bruins won’t bottom out anytime soon. They might even be able to contend for most of our five-year window. But there should be a sense of urgency in Boston, because the current core only has so many more shots.


7. Colorado Avalanche

The top line is obviously the big story in Colorado, and if they stay together they could be chasing scoring titles for our entire five-year window. But one-line teams don’t often win Cups. So is there enough here to fill out a championship roster?

I don’t think there is … yet. But help is on the way, both in terms of the farm system and a potentially high pick from the Senators. Joe Sakic still has work to do – there are teams coming up on this list where it feels like just about all the pieces are already in place, and the Avs don’t give off that vibe. But the elite talent is already there, and with some

CAROLINA HURRICANES


smart moves and a little luck, the rest of it could fall into place soon.


6. Washington Capitals

The Caps got crushed in the Future Power Rankings post, and it’s not hard to see why. They have quite possibly the worst prospect pipeline in the league and some long-term deals on the books that already look regrettable. This whole thing could be two or three years away from collapsing completely.

But two or three years still gives them some time to work with, and these are the defending champs we’re talking about. Can they hold it together long enough to win it all in 2022? Probably not. Could they do it this year or next? Absolutely.


5. Buffalo Sabres

Three years ago, I was way too high on the Sabres, overrating their potential while ignoring the fact that they hadn’t won anything yet. A cynic might note that they still haven’t won anything. And yet here we are, back in the top five with these guys.

I’ll be honest, if I’d done this list in the offseason I doubt I’d have the Sabres in the top 10. But after a solid start to the season, some optimism feels reasonable. Remember that metaphor from the Coyotes section about a successful rebuild being like hitting the gas on a car? The Sabres spent years spinning their wheels, but now it seems like they’re finally on the move.

Of course, when you hit the gas there’s always the possibility that you’ll speed up too fast, lose control and drive into a tree. That could still happen in Buffalo. But right now, I like where they’re at, even if there’s a clear gap between them and the league’s Big Four contenders.


4. Toronto Maple Leafs

No team has made a bigger leap up the rankings since my 2015 list than the Maple Leafs, and it’s not even all that close. Back then I had them 26th, even as I was reasonably optimistic about recent draft picks like William Nylander and Mitch Marner. At the time I wrote “they’re still at least three years or more away from true contention.” Three years later, they made it.

If anything, the question might be why I don’t have them ranked even higher. After all, the Future Power Rankings piece had them at No. 1 by a decent margin. Maybe I’m overthinking it, or maybe this is my three decades of Leafs fan pessimism kicking in. But I’d like to see a team win at least one playoff round before I’m ready to put them in the top spot. The cap is going to get tight and the blueline still needs work. But the Leafs are absolutely on the right path to being contenders for the next five years and beyond, even if a few teams are just a step or two ahead of them.


3. Winnipeg Jets

Leafs or Jets? Jets or Leafs? The battle for Canada’s best odds is pretty close to a coin flip, but I’ll go with Winnipeg by a nose.

Why? I like their cap situation a little better, with Mark Scheifele already locked into a steal of a deal and Nikolaj Ehlers on a reasonable one. Patrik Laine will be a different matter, though, and they still need to figure out Jacob Trouba. There’s also the question of whether they can use their cap room to attract free agents or veterans with no-trade protection who’ve often been reluctant to come to Winnipeg in the past, although I’m betting that winning will help fix that issue.

On top of all that, their path to a Cup looks reasonably clear. The Predators are a lurking menace and will probably end at least a couple of Jets seasons over the next few years, and the Avalanche might get there. But the rest of the West looks like they’re a tier below, so I like Winnipeg’s odds of making at least a trip or two to the final.


2. Nashville Predators

And here’s the other Central monster. There isn’t a whole lot to choose from here between the Predators and Jets; I think Nashville is the slightly better team today, while Winnipeg is set up to have more staying power. Figuring out what will happen years down the road is tricky, so I’ll lean toward the here and now and give the Predators a slight edge.

The question is how long they can contend. With all of their stars other than Pekka Rinne under 30, the window isn’t in danger of slamming shut anytime soon, and the cap has been managed well. But there isn’t much help on the way from the farm system, which might put David Poile in a tough spot. Does he trade picks to go all in on winning a Cup with the group right now? I’m betting he does, and there’s a decent chance it pays off.


1. Tampa Bay Lightning

And after all of that, we end up with the Lightning in the top spot, just like they were three years ago. Back then, I pegged their odds at 45 percent and heard from plenty of fans who thought that was way too low, and that I was crazy for thinking the Lightning were more likely than not to fail to win a Cup. After all, back then they seemed like a sure thing – they were young, the roster was stacked and they’d just been to the final.

Instead, we’re three years down the road and the Lightning haven’t been back to the final and even missed the playoffs once. That’s a reminder of how unpredictable the NHL can be. So while they’re still on top, are the Lightning’s odds any better?

I don’t think so. Steven Stamkos is older, Steve Yzerman has moved on, and just a little of the shine has come off Jon Cooper. On the other hand, Nikita Kucherov hadn’t yet emerged as a Hart candidate back in 2015 and most NHL fans had never even heard of Brayden Point. All told, the

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Lightning have done a remarkable job of staying well positioned.

Can it last? Not necessarily. The cap situation is about to get very tight and the farm system isn’t offering much more than future depth. This year won’t be their last shot, but it may well be their best. They’re the top team in the East right now, but it may not be long before the Maple Leafs or Sabres pass

them. There’s still time, but the clock is ticking more loudly than it was three years ago.

So yeah, I think their odds have dipped. Just not enough to move them out of the top spot. The Lightning are still my pick, even as the rest of the league closes in.


Canes working on plan to bring outdoor hockey game to Carter-Finley

By Adam Gold, radio host 99.9 the Fan

Raleigh, N.C. — Are you ready for an outdoor hockey game in Raleigh?

The Carolina Hurricanes, North Carolina State University and the National Hockey League are all working through the details that will bring the spectacle of outdoor hockey to Carter-Finley Stadium in late January of either 2020 or 2021. Granted, there are logistical and legislative hurdles to overcome, but parties are in agreement on the basic framework for the game, which would ideally be the centerpiece of a three-event weekend-palooza.

It’s no secret that Hurricanes majority owner Tom Dundon has been pushing for an outdoor hockey game. He made that fact known to the entire world at his introductory press conference last January. While he’s not backed off of that desire, there were many who felt that something of this magnitude was more fantasy than reality.

Apparently, a lot of people underestimated Dundon's persistence.

"We’re far along," Dundon said of discussions with the league as to when the game could take place. "Now, it’s important to understand that it’s N.C. State’s stadium, and we’re very sensitive to that fact, but this has potential to be a great showcase for all parties as well as the city of Raleigh."

The legislative portion of the equation involves a one-time permit so that the Hurricanes could sell alcohol at Carter-Finley, something that is currently not allowed – unless, of course, you’re in a luxury suite.

A "technical corrections" bill that could be voted on in the House as early as Wednesday includes a provision for the alcohol permit. Although neither Carter-Finley, nor the Hurricanes or the NHL are named in the provision, the language of the bill basically limits the permit to them.

The bill spells out the permit is for a professional sports organization hosting a sporting event at a stadium owned or leased by a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina system with seating capacity of at least 40,000 in a county with a population of at least 900,000. Also, the organization must be part of a league of at least six teams with annual revenue of at least $10 million.

The NHL and Raleigh are no strangers to big events. The Stanley Cup Finals have been here twice, in 2002 and 2006. The league’s amateur draft was held at what was then called the RBC Center in 2004, and the league brought the All-Star Game to the City of Oaks in the winter of 2011. For hockey fans, it was a weekend to remember. For the city, it meant $11.4 million in direct visitor spending – but the impact stretched beyond the dollars and cents.

"It would be virtually impossible to measure the intangible value of All-Star Weekend to Raleigh, in terms of international branding and perception," said Scott Dupree, executive director of the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance. "Perhaps more than any other event we had ever hosted to that point, it helped position Raleigh as a major-league destination fully capable of hosting premier sporting events and hosting them incredibly well."

This wouldn’t have to be a weekend solely about hockey. Envision an outdoor concert or two and an N.C. State basketball game sandwiched around the hockey game in what would might best be described as a winter sports festival.

It’s exactly that environment that Dundon feels would be a major factor as to why Raleigh is a great location for an outdoor game.

"Look at the atmosphere for college sports here," Dundon said. "The tailgating for N.C. State football is crazy, and that same feeling is in our parking lots all year long. We’re really the perfect place for an outdoor game."

As for the stadium itself, Carter-Finley has an advantage over some of the recent venues such as Fenway Park, Wrigley Field or Yankee Stadium. With no track lining the field, everyone stands a good chance of actually having a great vantage point from which to actually watch the game.

"It might be the best venue they’ve ever had for an outdoor game," according to Dundon. "The seats sit high enough above the field, and it’s pretty steep, so the sight lines should all be great."

Now, selling 50,000 tickets to a hockey game might sound ambitious, to some even far-fetched. It would certainly help if the Canes were coming off a playoff season, and the right opponent certainly wouldn't hurt. If it were someone like

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Washington or Pittsburgh, you could expect an active visitors' interest in the event. If marketed correctly and priced appropriately, there’s no reason the game wouldn’t be a success.

Now, all that has to happen is for the state government, N.C. State, the NHL and the Carolina Hurricanes to all figure out

how to make this work. The team and the league are down to short strokes. Now, it’s just up to N.C. State and the North Carolina legislature to close this deal.

Maybe that’s easier dreamed than done. But this appears closer to becoming a reality than anyone would have expected. Stay tuned

Notebook: Pesce Nearing Return from Injury

Canes getting healthy on defense as road trip continues

by Michael Smith

SAN JOSE - It seems probable that defenseman Brett Pesce will draw back into the lineup for the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday when they face off with the San Jose Sharks.

Pesce has missed the team's last nine games with a lower-body injury. Wednesday would mark Pesce's first game action in nearly a month.

"He's given me the nod that he's 100 percent," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said after practice in San Jose on Tuesday.

Pesce's return would give the Hurricanes a full complement of blue-liners, with Haydn Fleury having also returned from a concussion.

While the Canes' defense is back to full health, the team is still without winger Micheal Ferland, who has missed the last two games with a concussion and is not traveling on this road trip.

Not having the team's leading goal scorer in the lineup has proven a challenge for the Canes, who have managed just a goal in their last two games.

"He's probably our one guy that you can say if he gets the puck around the net, it's going in. You mis that," Brind'Amour said. "You miss the physical presence, for sure. He's a natural scorer. When he shoots the puck, it has a purpose. We need him back."

Manufacturing Offense

The Canes' last two games - a 2-1 overtime loss against Anaheim and a 2-0 shutout loss in Los Angeles - have been a grind in search of offense.

But, it's not for a lack of chances. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Canes generated at all strengths 37 scoring chances, 20 of which were high-danger, against Anaheim and 35 scoring chances, 16 of which were high-danger, against Los Angeles.

"We've definitely created enough offense to score," Brind'Amour said. "We're going to be talking about this all year. That's our group. We're going to need to out-chance teams to be successful."

The bulk of those scoring chances and high-danger chances recorded against Anaheim were on the man advantage, which finished 0-for-6 on the night. The power play had another chance to be a difference-maker in Los Angeles, when the team had 91 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage in a scoreless third period but came up empty.

"Our problem has been execution. We continue to look at it," Brind'Amour said. "Our power play, to me, is going to go a lot like our goals for 5-on-5. It's going to be a work in progress. We know that, and we'll keep trying to get better."

The Fog

When the Canes arrived at SAP Center for practice on Tuesday, it was as if the team had wandered into some sort of post-apocalyptic hockey setting.

Fog filled the dimly lit rink, as a video shoot was taking place on the ice. About 90 minutes later, the lights blinked on, the fog lifted, and the Canes took the ice for an early-afternoon skate after departing Santa Monica.

And Then There Were 32

The NHL made its 32nd franchise official on Tuesday, with a yet-to-be-named club set to play in Seattle beginning in the 2021-22 season.

"Love it. I wish it had been around when I was playing," Brind'Amour said. "I think it's just great. It makes sense. I'm surprised it took this long. It's a great city. I think the NHL is going to love it there."

Seattle will play in the Pacific Division, and Arizona will move to the Central Division to finally balance out the league's four divisions. The league will hold an expansion draft in the summer of 2021 with the same stipulations that governed the expansion draft for Vegas in 2017.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


How to heat up ice-cold Hurricanes

By James O'Brien

To an extent, it’s the same old story with the Carolina Hurricanes.

They’re “heating up their Corsi” like always this season (thus leading the NHL in possession numbers as well as by simpler terms such as shots on goal), yet that quantity isn’t always translating to quality.

That’s especially true lately. Carolina’s managed just four goals total during the past four games, winning once and grabbing an overtime point as they slipped to a middling 12-10-4.

So, what gives? This post examines a few things that are working, some facets that are not, and proposes some potential solutions.

Quantity over quality, or quantity and quality?

Again, the Hurricanes are “heating up their Corsi” as usual, thus leading the NHL in possession numbers as well as by simpler terms such as shots on goal. Despite easily topping all NHL teams with 38.7 SOG per game, they’re only averaging 2.5 goals per contest, the third-lowest total in the league.

To some extent, that might be the nature of the beast for this team.

Here’s the thing: while heating up of said Corsi numbers might present something of a mirage, it’s likely still a sign that they’re hogging the puck in a way that gives them a good chance to win.

After all, there is some element of quality to go with all of that quantity. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Hurricanes generate 57.19-percent of high-danger chances at even-strength, second only to the Minnesota Wild.

Is it frustrating to dominate the shot clock and not always reap the benefits? Sure, but I’d argue that the Hurricanes are putting themselves in a better position than, say, the Anaheim Ducks (who suffer a barrage of shots and generally hope that John Gibson can save them, over and over again).

Finding a fix?

Interestingly, goaltending – the Hurricanes’ biggest headache for ages – has been alleviated, at least in the short-term.

Claiming Curtis McElhinney has worked gloriously well so far. Through 10 games, the 35-year-old is 7-2-1 with a tremendous .930 save percentage. By Hurricanes terms,

McElhinney has been vintage Dominik Hasek with a side of non-irate Patrick Roy.

As you might guess, counting on McElhinney to be “the guy” all season would be tenuous. Obviously, there’s the age factor. He’s also only carried a semi-reasonable workload twice (28 games in 2013-14 and 32 in 2014-15 with Columbus), and was only in the teens the past five seasons.

That said, his career .910 save percentage is quite competent by the standards of a journeyman backup, and the Hurricanes might just be able to create a nurturing-enough atmosphere to make things work … enough.

With Petr Mrazek‘s continued struggles and the waiving of Scott Darling in mind, McElhinney is clearly the option right now.

This post mainly focuses on how Carolina can improve, but we must not ignore the elephant in the room: the goaltending could collapse once again, possibly erasing any gains made through these suggested tweaks.

So, maybe the Hurricanes need to keep an eye out for other goalies on waivers, or even trade options? Sure, McElhinney could save the day, yet they’d be foolish not to be on the lookout for Plan … D? E? Z?

Putrid power play

On Oct. 24, I took a deeper look at Dougie Hamilton‘s disappointing start with the Hurricanes. My takeaway was that, for whatever struggles he was enduring, Carolina was leaving production on the table by not deploying Hamilton with the top power play unit. Simply put, Justin Faulk‘s production since at least 2017-18 has been disappointing, and the Hurricanes’ power play numbers argued that point further.

Well, very little has changed since that post was published. (Sheesh, the Hurricanes have the gall to ignore free advice. How rude.)

Faulk remains their top power play minutes man, despite managing a paltry eight points in 26 games. Faulk only managing two of those points on the power play is, honestly, a little alarming. Hamilton, meanwhile, ranks slightly behind Jaccob Slavin as their third-most-used PP defenseman, and he’s low down the order overall.

That would be acceptable if Carolina’s power play was scoring in buckets. After all, plenty of good power-play units leave talented players out of the mix, as there are typically only five spots.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


The Hurricanes power play is not very good, though. They’re connecting at 15.9-percent success rate, eighth-worst in the NHL (and very close to being bottom-five).

Earlier in the season, playing Faulk in that position made sense to me for a more cynical reason: pumping up his trade value. It’s unclear if that was ever actually the plan, but either way, it clearly isn’t working.

To the credit of Rod Brind’Amour and the Hurricanes staff, Left Wing Lock’s latest listings indicate that they’ve at least realized that, at 37, Justin Williams probably isn’t top power-play material any longer. It’s not ideal that he came into Tuesday with the same (2:42 per game) average as a far more spry Teuvo Teravainen, but this stands as a step in the right direction.

This isn’t to say that Williams cannot play. He’s still a heady winger who manages strong possession numbers, even on a team brimming with guys who keep the puck going in the right direction. It’s simply to say that it might be more appropriate to pass the torch to those with more potential, such as …

Unleash Andrei

Look, it’s understandable why teams want to ease players into the NHL. This is a young man’s league nonetheless, so it’s becoming increasingly clear that Andrei Svechnikov deserves more reps.

Really, the second pick of the 2018 NHL Draft hasn’t looked out of place. Svechnikov has 12 points in 26 games so far, and could have more considering his 8.7 shooting percentage. He’s not getting buried in the lineup (14:10 per game), but I’d like to see him deployed even more often. They could always scale back his minutes if the burden ends up being too heavy for him to carry.

The deeper you dig, the more it becomes clear that Svechnikov might have more to offer.

Why not see if this sleeping giant could enjoy a monster rookie season? Why wait? Hurricanes fans have been asked to be patient for long enough, right?

Management should also keep an eye on the progress of Martin Necas. He was demoted to the AHL after seven middling games, but it might be worth burning a year off of his rookie deal if it seems like he can give them a shot in the arm later this season. As Jordan Staal showed many moons ago in helping the Penguins make the playoffs with 29 goals as a rookie in 2006-07, sometimes the rewards outweigh the risks.

Shake things up?

We’ve seen quite a few “lateral trades” lately, and such a thought might make sense for the Hurricanes.

For one thing, there’s Faulk, whose contract ($4.8M cap hit) expires after next season. Carolina’s rife with right-handed defensemen, especially with Brett Pesce possibly coming back soon. Maybe it’s time to break up that logjam?

Victor Rask is another player who might need to relocate. Rask is only getting minimal ice time (11:49 per game) and has only scored a goal in his six games this season. His $4M cap hit could at least be close to the sweet spot to get a deal done, particularly for a team that has a similar player who’s getting lost in the shuffle. Maybe he could rebound to his respectable 40-plus point form after getting a clean slate?

***

The Hurricanes can be frustrating, and not just because they tend to dominate the shot clock without doing the same on the scoreboard. This feels like a team that’s failed to take that next step, instead finding themselves as the perpetual wallflower at a grade school dance.

You can’t control every bounce, and Carolina’s goalie worries linger not very far off in the distance, but this team has a lot going for it. Few NHL squads can compare to Carolina’s depth on defense, and this is still a franchise brimming with young talent.

If they can survive in net, then improving that power play and giving more ice time to skilled players like Hamilton and Svechnikov might just make the difference.

Power Rankings: The Avalanche are sticking around

Hey everyone, we here at Yahoo Sports are doing real power rankings for teams Nos. 1-31. Here they are, based on only how I am feeling about these teams, meaning you can’t tell me I’m wrong because these are my feelings and feelings can’t be wrong. Please enjoy the Power Feelings.

31. Vancouver Canucks (Last week: 30)

30. Philadelphia Flyers (LW: 31)

This’ll be tomorrow’s take, but these guys, they’re not good and they’re not gonna get much better adding the guy whose big career accomplishment is, “Got the Wild out of the first round twice in nine years.”

Like, honestly, the hardest thing for the Flyers to do this summer shouldn’t have been “find a league-average goalie” but here we are, folks.

29. New York Rangers (LW: 25)

28. St. Louis Blues (LW: 26)

27. Los Angeles Kings (LW: 28)

26. Chicago (LW: 20)

I’m honestly waiting for a sell-off to begin in earnest here. These guys might have entered the season with unreasonable expectations, but they’re not even living up to my own personal, significantly lower expectations.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Case in point: Not only did they go 0-fer in four games last week, but they got outshot by 47 in those games. That’s a bad number to be outshot by in like seven games.

25. Ottawa Senators (LW: 29)

Not a good team and a middling week but I really have to tip your hat to the beatdown they put on a good (on paper???????????) Sharks team in Erik Karlsson’s “homecoming” game.

I told my friend before it started that Karlsson was gonna have nine points but the joke was on him and me because Ottawa absolutely crushed them. Fun.

I may not like it, but I have to respect it.

24. Detroit Red Wings (LW: 24)

23. Anaheim Ducks (LW: 27)

Stop me if you’ve heard this before but these guys went 4-0 because John Gibson is going off again. I can’t tell you how hard he’d have to screw up to not be in my Vezina top-three at the end of the year.

But I saw something about how they’re finding their “identity” these days. Yeah. Nine goals against on 145 shots, and the team scored 14 on 101. Their “identity” is a lot like the 2013 Leafs’.

22. New York Islanders (LW: 19)

21. New Jersey Devils (LW: 17)

20. Florida Panthers (LW: 21)

I know the Panthers aren’t living up to expectations, but Dwyane Wade didn’t have to knee Sasha Barkov in the face in the middle of a Heat game.

19. Montreal Canadiens (LW: 16)

Weird that these guys can’t score all of a sudden. No way to see it coming. As an overly credulous Canadian media member, I thought Max Domi was gonna be point-a-game this year! :(((((((((((((((

18. Edmonton Oilers (LW: 23)

17. Arizona Coyotes (LW: 22)

In my opinion if they only give up four goals a week for the rest of the season, these guys are gonna be in good shape.

16. Dallas Stars (LW: 18)

15. Pittsburgh Penguins (LW: 14)

Well sure they’re not that good, but this Pettersson guy I’ve never heard of is gonna tighten up that defense in front of Matt Murray. For Sure.

14. Minnesota Wild (LW: 10)

This is something to monitor but I bet these guys aren’t as good as their run a few weeks ago suggested. Hmm. Hmmmmm.

13. Carolina Hurricanes (LW: 15)

12. Washington Capitals (LW: 11)

How about: “Wom Tilson.” Pretty good.

11. Columbus Blue Jackets (LW: 12)

10. Vegas Golden Knights (LW: 13)

It’s very funny to me that they’re not outshooting everyone by 50 a night anymore, but they’re winning way more games. Sacrificing quantity for quality works when you’re still putting up 30-plus shots a night, I guess.

9. San Jose Sharks (LW: 6)

I’m gonna give these guys until the All-Star break before I pull the chute on thinking they’re any good. That looks to be about seven weeks from now. You’re on the clock, fellas.

8. Buffalo Sabres (LW: 8)

7. Boston Bruins (LW: 5)

Increasingly seeing suggestions from the local media that the Bruins need to add a crash-and-bang puncher-guy if they want to be successful. How about if, instead, they just find a way to keep Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo, etc. off the IR?

The fact that they have as many standings points as they do with five of their planned top six defenders having played 18 games or fewer this year tells you how good this team is. And these clowns think reacquiring Adam McQuaid is gonna sort it out? Come on man.

Like, Steven Kampfer has played 15 games for the BOSTON BRUINS in the year TWO THOUSAND EIGHTEEN. Is there one of those fungi that infests your brain in the ceilings on the ninth floor of TD Garden?

Local media: “Gotta get tougher! Trade for Lucic! See if they’ll let you give him an even bigger cap hit than he already has!”

It’s easier to get these kinds of takes published by a Boston media outlet than it was to get a mortgage in 2004.

6. Winnipeg Jets (LW: 7)

5. Colorado Avalanche (LW: 9)

Y’know it’s obviously a thing where their top line and power play are just going so far in the right direction that they’re dragging an otherwise-okay team to great results.

But unlike the Devils, whose one-line success got them into the playoffs last year and they’re back to being terrible, it seems like MacKinnon and Rantanen are just gonna score like this forever. Which, you gotta just accept that at this point and say, “They’re a one-line team that can be a one-line team basically forever.” Good for them.

4. Calgary Flames (LW: 3)

Sucks when you go 2-0-1 in a week, crush your opponents in SOG, and also score almost 60 percent of the goals, but drop a spot because the three teams above you are easily the best teams in the league.

But that’s life!

3. Nashville Predators (LW: 1)

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Sucks, also, when you go 1-2-0 and drop out of a top-two spot for what I’m pretty sure is the first time all year (I can’t be bothered look it up) because the other two teams are really good and keep winning a ton of games.

2. Toronto Maple Leafs (LW: 4)

Obviously the Leafs aren’t the second-best team in the league (that defense is a problem, folks!) but they went 3-0 and just added a guy who is easily a top-30 winger on a nice little long-term deal.

Which, if you ask me, that’s pretty good. If these guys can free up some cap space this season or add a defenseman somehow, even as a rental, look out.

1. Tampa Bay Lightning (LW: 2)

They outshot their opponents by 40 in three games. Come on.

Opportunity knocks for Hurricanes in December

Andrew Schnittker, Sports Editor

In what’s been an up-and-down start to Rod Brind’Amour’s first season as head coach, the Carolina Hurricanes find themselves in a solid spot to open the month of December. With two games left in a three-game swing through California, the Canes are 12-10-4 on the season and just a point back of the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division.

The Canes would do well to end the month in playoff position, but more on that in a bit. Let’s first look at how favorably this month sets up for Carolina. Following these next two games against the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks, the Canes have a stretch of six of seven games at home, followed by road games against the Washington Capitals and New Jersey Devils and a home date with the Philadelphia Flyers to close out the month.

PNC Arena has been good to Carolina this season. The Canes are 7-4-3 in their own barn, and went 4-1-1 on a six-game home stand in November. Four of the team’s seven home games for the rest of the month come against teams currently outside the playoff picture.

If the Canes can repeat their form on the last home stand and go something like 4-2-1 at home, and go one game over .500 on the road (3-2-0), they’d sit at 19-14-5, with 43 points in 38 games, a likely playoff pace.

The Canes need to enter playoff position by the end of the month to give themselves the best chance at ending their 9-year drought. Over each of the last three seasons, the Canes

have entered Jan. 1 outside the playoff picture. Furthermore, in each of those three years, at least five of the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference on Jan. 1 finished the year in the playoffs.

So, what do the Canes need to do to win at the necessary clip to finish the month in that spot? In short, score more.

The Canes need to produce more on a power play that currently ranks 24th out of 31 teams. The Canes finished 0 for 6 on the man advantage in last Friday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Ducks, and 0 for 3 in a 2-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings Sunday. Carolina came up empty on a lengthy 5-on-3 with the game scoreless in the third period. Needless to say, at least one power-play goal in either game would have grabbed Carolina at least one more point in the standings.

The Canes need more of the same from leading point scorer Sebastian Aho, more of the same from leading goal scorer Micheal Ferland when he returns from his absence due to a concussion, for rookie Andrei Svechnikov to keep heating up and increased production from veterans like Jordan Staal and Justin Williams.

The team also needs more of the same in the net, with Curtis McElhinney 4-0-1 in his last five starts, and Petr Mrazek coming off one of his best games of the season in the loss to the Kings.

December has the potential to be a strong month for the Hurricanes. If this team is serious about getting back to the postseason for the first time since 2009, it needs it to be to set the table for a productive second half.

TODAY’S LINKS

https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/article222587025.html#storylink=cpy https://theathletic.com/694176/2018/12/05/down-goes-brown-which-teams-have-the-best-and-worst-odds-of-winning-a-stanley-cup-in-the-next-five-

years/ https://www.wralsportsfan.com/reality-of-outdoor-hockey-coming-into-focus/18041188/

https://www.nhl.com/hurricanes/news/notebook-brett-pesce-nearing-return-from-injury/c-302598224 https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2018/12/04/how-to-heat-up-ice-cold-hurricanes/

https://sports.yahoo.com/power-rankings-avalanche-sticking-around-143742561.html http://www.technicianonline.com/sports/article_cbab927e-f83f-11e8-91d3-5f325b1bee90.html

CAROLINA HURRICANES


1119026 Carolina Hurricanes

1119215 Carolina Hurricanes

The Canes aren’t scoring. Welcome to the grind

BY CHIP ALEXANDER

DECEMBER 04, 2018 09:02 AM

The Carolina Hurricanes wanted to play an exciting brand of hockey this

season, using their speed, allowing their defensemen to jump into plays and help juice up the offense, staying on the attack, staying aggressive.

But when you can’t score ...


The same offensive problem that has plagued the Canes in recent years

-- an inability to finish -- has cropped up again. The shots are there. The chances are there. The openings are there. The goals are not.

“When we’re on our game, when we’re at our best, we create enough opportunities to score a lot of goals,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour

said. “So it shouldn’t be an issue.”

It is an issue. The Canes have taken an NHL-high 1,007 shots on goal.

They have 65 goals and their 6.5 shooting percentage easily is the worst in the league.

“We’re going to be talking about this all year,” Brind’Amour said Monday. “That’s our group. We need to out-chance teams to be successful.”

The smorgasbord of 22 goals in the first five games, when the Canes started 4-0-1, is a fading memory. What’s fresh in everyone’s minds is the 2-0 shutout against the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday or scoring one goal -- rookie Andrei Svechnikov in four-on-four play -- in the past two games.

The Canes did score nine goals in back-to-back wins over Toronto (5-2)

and Florida (4-1) on Nov. 21 and Nov. 23. But in the past 16 games, Carolina has been shut out twice and scored two or fewer goals 10 times

in going 6-7-3.

Brind’Amour recently was asked if the Canes had enough scorers to get

where the team wants to go this season -- namely the playoffs for the first time since 2009. It was a question often posed to former coach Bill

Peters.

“I think so,” Brind’Amour said. “I mean, it’s going to be a challenge.”

It also raised the unpleasant possibility that the Canes might have to “win ugly” in more games. Rely on their solid defensive corps while hoping goalies Curtis McElhinney and Petr Mrazek are steady enough in net and win low-scoring games.

It could be a bit more conservative and boring. But barring a trade for scoring help, grinding out wins may be a necessity.

In the 2-1 overtime loss Friday to the Anaheim Ducks, the Canes came up empty on all six power plays. One power-play score and it could have

been different. Instead, the Ducks scored late to tie the score, then won in OT.

“We seemed out of sync. There was some sloppy play,” defenseman Justin Faulk said of the power plays.

It was more of the same Sunday against the Kings in a game that was scoreless until the final minutes of regulation. The Canes had 90 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play but couldn’t score and were 0-3 for the game in Los Angeles.

“We’ve got to put the game away on one of those power plays,” Brind’Amour said.

After the game, Brind’Amour mentioned centers Lucas Wallmark and Jordan Staal having good looks in front of Kings goalie Jonathan Quick and not being able to convert. Sebastian Aho was set up for a few openings, only to fan on the puck or mis-hit it.

According to Naturalstattrick.com, a hockey analytics website, the Canes had 16 high-danger scoring chances against the Kings, who had 13.

“How many chances has Wallmark had the last couple of games?” Brind’Amour said. “He’s been all alone in front of the net four or five times

and he can’t seem to buy one. There’s a bunch of guys. Jordan had I don’t know many chances right in front. Same thing.”

Wallmark has one goal in 26 games. Staal has five but none in the past 13 games. Warren Foegele, after scoring four goals in the first four games, is still looking for a fifth. The D-men have contributed little.

“Again, you can talk about it all you want,” Brind’Amour said. “We have to find a way to get it in there.”

Goal-scoring can’t be taught

One telling comment from Brind’Amour came when he was asked how younger players can be taught to be better finishers.

“You don’t,” he said. “Goal scoring is not something you can really

teach.”

The Canes had a natural goal-scorer in winger Jeff Skinner but traded him to the Buffalo Sabres in the offseason. Skinner, who scored 24 goals for the Canes last season, has 20 this season.

When Skinner was traded, general manager Don Waddell said Skinner’s production could be replaced by the influx of newcomers: Svechnikov and rookie center Martin Necas, defenseman Dougie Hamilton, forward Micheal Ferland.

“I don’t think goal-scoring is going to be a big issue for us as we move forward,” Waddell said.

Ferland has a team-high 11 goals but is out with a concussion. Svechnikov has six goals, Hamilton three and Necas is playing wing for

the Charlotte Checkers in the AHL.

Goal-scoring is a big issue.

CAROLINA HURRICANES



News Observer LOADED: 12.05.2018

1119304 NHL

Seattle Is Awarded an N.H.L. Expansion Team

By Ken Belson

The National Hockey League’s board of governors has unanimously approved a new franchise in Seattle, putting the league’s 32nd team in one of the country’s wealthiest and fastest-growing cities.

The still-unnamed team in Seattle arrives less than three years after the

league awarded a new team to Las Vegas, whose inaugural 2017-18 season was a smashing success.

The Seattle franchise is expected to begin playing in the 2021-22 season. The league will receive an expansion fee of $650 million, which will be split among every other team, except the Vegas Golden Knights.

Commissioner Gary Bettman said after the vote that the new franchise had the “three pillars” for success in the league: “Terrific and committed ownership, a thriving market and a state of the art venue.”

The team hoped to start play one season earlier, but Bettman said “the certainty over the construction timeline, or the lack of certainty, led us to believe that making the start of the 2021 season would be speculative at best and unlikely at worst.”

Seattle adds another team to the Western Conference, which will now have the same number of clubs — 16 — as the Eastern Conference.

Seattle’s team also will have an instant rivalry with the Vancouver Canucks, who play about three hours by car to the north. To make room for Seattle, the Arizona Coyotes will move from the Pacific Division to the Central Division.

Investors in Seattle had sought a new N.B.A. team to replace the SuperSonics, who moved to Oklahoma City after the 2008 season. Plans to build a new arena in Seattle fell apart repeatedly. Instead, the city

landed a hockey team in part because its City Council in September approved a $700 million plan to refurbish KeyArena, just north of

downtown.

Tod Leiweke, the team’s president, said the team would break ground on

the arena, which will have 17,000 seats, on Wednesday.

“It will be one of the finest arenas in the world,” he said.

Enthusiasm is running high. Well before the league made clear it would put a team in Seattle, more than 33,000 fans placed deposits for season tickets, leading the ownership group to create a waiting list.

That group is led by David Bonderman, a billionaire investment banker; Jerry Bruckheimer, the Hollywood producer; and Tim Leiweke, a longtime sports executive. They said in February that they hoped to bring an N.B.A. franchise back to Seattle, as well.

The effort to get an N.H.L. team has gone on several years, though the league insisted Seattle would not be considered until it had a viable arena.

The N.H.L. is attracted to Seattle’s growing stature. The region is home to corporate giants like Amazon and Microsoft, and the Pacific Northwest is a relatively untapped area for the N.H.L.

In a quirk of history, the first American team to win the Stanley Cup came from Seattle.

The Seattle Metropolitans, founded by Frank and Lester Patrick, played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. At the time, the winner of the P.C.H.A. played the winner of the National Hockey Association, the precursor to the N.H.L., for the Stanley Cup. In 1917, the Metropolitans beat the Montreal Canadiens in a best-of-five series.

The Metropolitans again played for the Cup in 1919 and 1920 before folding in 1924.

Since then, Seattle has had multiple minor league and junior hockey

teams, including the Thunderbirds of Western Hockey League, who play in Kent, Wash.

Seattle was awarded an N.H.L. franchise in 1974, but the offer was rescinded because the ownership group ran into financial troubles.

Another bid fell through in 1990.

Now that the N.H.L. has awarded Seattle a team, the ownership group

must start work on the redevelopment of the arena, open a practice facility and hire front-office employees and a coach. A team nickname

must be chosen, and tickets sold.

“We’re going to take our time,” Tod Leiweke said. “We’re going to listen to our fans and do it right.”

The league will hold an expansion draft in June 2021, and the rules will be the same as those for the draft for the Vegas Golden Knights. The Knights will not lose a player in the upcoming expansion draft.

Generous rules enabled the Knights to acquire top-level talent, which propelled them to the Stanley Cup finals in their first season.

Bettman said Tuesday that “we’re not looking right now and I think for the foreseeable future any further at any further expansion.” That could keep

Quebec City, which has been angling for a team, out of the league, at least for now.

New York Times LOADED: 12.05.2018

1119305 NHL

NHL Seattle expansion FAQ: Tickets, start date, KeyArena and more

By Evan Webeck

The NHL's expansion to Seattle gives us one big answers, and leaves a

lot of questions. How can you buy tickets? What it the team be named? We attempt to answer those and more in our FAQ.

How can I buy tickets?

The enthusiasm is noted, but the best you can do for now is to get on NHL Seattle’s waitlist for season tickets. By the end of the first day of sales, more than 33,000 people had put their name on the list. To give you an idea of NHL ticket prices, the average cost on the secondary-market ranges from $72 (Arizona) to $332 (Toronto), according to ticketIQ.

Here’s a more in-depth breakdown from Geoff Baker.

When will the team start play?

October 2021. Although there was hope for puck drop in 2020, the NHL backed away from that date as the Board of Governors’ vote

approached. Deputy commissioner Bill Daly, specifically, questioned whether KeyArena would be ready for the 2020-21 season. And, when

CAROLINA HURRICANES


the announcement came Tuesday morning, Seattle was awarded the 32nd NHL team — to start play in the 2021-22 season.

What will the team be named?

Officially? We don’t know yet. But throughout September and October, we solicited your suggestions, took the most popular and made a bracket out of them. The final four came down to the Sockeyes, Totems, Metropolitans and Steelheads, before you chose Sockeyes as the final champion. On Tuesday, Mayor Jenny Durkan said she favored the Kraken. At the culmination of our tournament, Leiweke said the team name announcement is “probably going to be this spring.”

How do they fill their roster?

The NHL will hold an expansion draft in 2021 at a remodeled KeyArena,

using the same rules as the Las Vegas Golden Knights did in 2017. Because Vegas is a new team, it will be exempt from this draft. Seattle

will select one player from each of the other 30 teams, who are allowed to protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie. Full

expansion draft rules here, via NHL.com.

Where will the team play?

A newly renovated KeyArena, which Skansa Hunt, the Oak View Group’s subcontractor, will break ground on Wednesday morning.

Speaking of which …

What’s the latest on KeyArena?

The cost of the arena seems to go up each time it’s mentioned. The

original proposed cost of $650 million is now $800 million, according to CEO Tod Leiweke’s comments Tuesday. Important to note, however,

that it is all privately financed by the Oak View Group. As for the timeline, Daly’s concerns were apparently valid. Even with construction set to break ground a day after the franchise became official, the renovated

KeyArena is slated to open in the spring of 2021.

How can I watch hockey in the meantime?

Well, there’s a pair of established minor-league hockey teams already in the Seattle area. To the north, there are the Everett Silvertips, who play at Angel of the Winds Arena. To the south, the Seattle Thunderbirds (who once called KeyArena home) play at the ShoWare Center in Kent. Both play in the Western Hockey League and have produced a number of future NHL players. The closest NHL franchise, and a surefire geographical rival for Seattle’s team, is the Canucks in Vancouver, B.C. The Angry Beaver in Greenwood brands itself as “Seattle’s only hockey bar,” but it’s hardly the only sports bar in town – more and more of which will certainly be adding NHL Center Ice as 2021 nears.

How will it affect the NHL?

When asked Tuesday about future expansion plans (Quebec City?), NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said “We’re not looking right now.” So the NHL will play with 32 teams for the time being. Here’s a handy graphic at

what that will look like when Seattle is added to the Pacific Division in 2021.

Seattle Times LOADED: 12.05.2018

1119306 NHL

How much money can Seattle NHL fans expect to pay for tickets? More than in most other sports

Geoff Baker

Better check your bank balance before splurging on tickets to see Seattle’s new NHL team.

The official announcement this week that the league’s 32nd team will launch at KeyArena in October 2021 could be followed next year by the actual sale of season tickets. The NHL Seattle group collected 33,000 season ticket deposits of $500 and $1,000 last March and has been renovating space at Seattle Center to use as a showroom for seat locations that should open next month.

Still, pricing for those seats won’t be revealed until later than that and is bound to surprise some fans. The NHL is among the priciest tickets in

team sports, partly because the league lacks national television deals as lucrative as the other “Big Four’’ circuits and is more reliant on gate

revenue.

But Jesse Lawrence, president of TicketIQ, a New York-based ticket

aggregating and resale company that tracks 90 percent of secondary market listings, says the high prices are also due to the loyalty of NHL

fans.

“NHL secondary prices are so high, in part, because more season ticket

holders are actually going and are real fans,’’ Lawrence said. “Which means there’s less open market supply.’’

According to Ticket IQ aggregation software, the average NHL ticket asking price at the start of the current season across the secondary market was $151. That was about 2½ times pricier than the average Major League Baseball ticket asking price of $64 this past season.

The Vegas Golden Knights, in their second year in the league and coming off a Stanley Cup final appearance, had the second-highest average list price at $271. That’s a jump from last season’s $161 average for the Knights, who ranked 11th of 31 teams in ticket listing prices their

first year.

The Toronto Maple Leafs again have the league’s highest asking price at

$332 after finishing last season atop the NHL at $317.

As for the actual sales price of tickets — which TicketIQ doesn’t track

nationally — Chris Leyden, a spokesman for secondary market giant SeatGeek, says the NHL for years has trailed only the National Football

League in cost. SeatGeek figures from last season show the average NHL ticket sold on its platform for $91, compared to $88 for NBA games, $45 for MLB and $166 for the NFL.

And it isn’t just loyal home fans driving NHL prices higher than in other leagues.

Prices also soar when teams from the NHL’s pre-1967-68 “Original Six’’ era — the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins — visit opposing cities.

These teams have fiercely loyal followings maintained for decades even

as fans moved from those cities and migrated elsewhere across North America. Those fans — and their children and grandchildren — pass

those loyalties onward and maintain them even when their current cities have NHL teams of their own. A study last year by sports merchandising

company Fanatics found fanbases of Original Six franchises among the league’s 10 most loyal in terms of arena occupancy, social media

following and jersey sales.

So, when an “Original Six’’ team shows up in any NHL city, ticket

demand and pricing jumps.

Forbes released a study this year, based off SeatGeek ticketing data from 2013-17, of the top-10 sports teams that drive up prices in cities they visit. Three of those were NHL teams, tied with the NFL for the most on the list.

The No. 6 Chicago Blackhawks drove up prices by 68 percent, the No. 9 Pittsburgh Penguins by 49 percent and the No. 10 New York Rangers by 33 percent. The Rangers and Blackhawks are “Original Six’’ teams while

Pittsburgh won the Stanley Cup twice during the surveyed period.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Vegas ticket prices on the secondary market were vastly impacted by opposing fans, some of which at times seemed to out-cheer the Knights at their T-Mobile Arena home games last season. Those visiting fans were largely tourists, while Seattle could similarly be impacted pricing-wise by tech industry transplants recently relocated here from New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, the Bay Area and elsewhere.

Also, nearby Vancouver, B.C., is home not only to Canucks fans, but transplanted supporters of the six other Canadian teams. Scores of native Vancouverites and their families also remain loyal to the Maple Leafs and Canadiens from the Original Six era predating the Canucks,

which is why it’s common for Rogers Arena to be half-full of opposing fans when either of those teams visits.

As hockey is considered Canada’s national game, those fans are often willing to pay more for NHL seats. And Seattle’s proximity to Vancouver

will provide an easy gateway for them to attend games here and drive up prices.

So, getting a discount off the single-game price by buying season tickets on the primary market from the team itself could be more palatable for

some fans. But if the Knights are any indication, those season tickets will still be a pricey endeavor.

When they invited fans to purchase 2017-18 season tickets at an open house, some invitees posted photographs of the team’s pricing scheme online. Back then, the Knights were charging $85 per game over 43 home contests for the cheapest lower bowl season tickets and $25 for the least expensive upper bowl seats.

That’s a season commitment of $1,075 on the low end and $9,275 on the high. Want VIP seating? That’s $350 to $400 in the lower bowl ($15,050 to $17,200 over a full season) and $65 to $75 in the upper ($2,795 to

$3,225 over 43 games).

Breaking it down further, sitting anywhere between the two blue lines

cost $215 per game in the lower bowl and between $50 and $60 in the arena’s upper deck. Lower bowl tickets from the blue line to the faceoff

circle were between $110 and $125 while similar upper deck seating was $50 to $55.

Corner rink seats were $95 to $105 per game in the lower bowl and $35 to $40 in the upper deck. And lower bowl seats directly behind the net were $85 to $105 while uppers were $25-to-$40.

So, anybody seeking two lower-bowl season tickets not in the corners or behind the net faced a minimum yearly tab of $9,460. And that was before the Knights raised this year’s prices $5 to $15 per seat per game plus a $3 “facility improvement fee’’ for an arena only two years old.

Will Seattle’s expansion team have similar pricing? No one is saying just yet, but there’s a strong chance a squad that begins play at KeyArena in 2021 won’t be selling cheaper seats than the Vegas franchise that will

have started four years earlier.


1119307 NHL

‘We’re all in’: After years of waiting, Seattle gathers to toast its newly

awarded NHL franchise

By Mike Vorel

Before the wait ended, the party started.

More specifically, it started at roughly 7 a.m. Tuesday, at Henry’s Tavern in South Lake Union. That’s when a steady stream of hockey fans began

to file through the doors, most donning lime green wristbands which

would allow each parched patron to order a drink. Upon entry, they were handed a gray beanie and a black pin, both reading, “RETURN TO HOCKEY: SEATTLE.”

“I don’t know if I’ve ever had a beer on a weekday at 7:30,” a man near the door joked to his friend.

And, unsurprisingly, a celebration ensued.

That included seemingly endless rounds of Bloody Marys, beers and mimosas. It included orange ricotta doughnuts, breakfast sliders, mini burritos and ice cream sandwiches shaped like hockey pucks. It included a full-capacity turnout of 260 guests, many sporting sweaters and hats

from various NHL teams. It included a cameo from smiling Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan.

It included Paul and Deidre Brownlow, and they have a story to tell.

“Today is just unbelievable, because we’ve been waiting for it for so long,” said Paul Brownlow, decked out in a game-worn, blue and white 1986 Seattle Thunderbirds sweater. “To actually see it happen, I’m going

to be pinching myself until they actually hit the ice on opening night.”

When the as-of-yet unnamed franchise hits said ice, both Brownlows will be there. That’s how it’s always been. Shortly after they started dating in 1986, Deidre bought Paul a Thunderbirds season ticket for his birthday.

[ Stone | Seattle’s rich yet niche hockey history finally ready for NHL » ]

She also reserved the seat next to him for herself.

“It was like, ‘I’m buying you a season ticket, and I’m going to have the

one next to it. So hopefully this thing lasts,’” Paul Brownlow said with a laugh.

Added Deidre Brownlow: “Here we are 30-some years later, ready for this team to come onboard. We’re all in.”

They aren’t the only ones. A few feet down the bar, Paul Buxton was wearing actual padded hockey gloves and holding a tattered roller hockey stick, as if a game might break out at any moment. The San Jose transplant was draped in a red-and-green-striped Seattle Metropolitans sweater as well. Buxton completed the ensemble with a black NHL Seattle hat that originally had four numbers etched across the front: 2-0-2-0.

On Tuesday, he taped over the final two and added a hasty correction: 2-

0-2-1.

Considering he arrived nearly three hours early Tuesday, Buxton was

clearly prepared to wait.

“When the NHL came to San Jose I fell in love with hockey after going to

one game,” explained Buxton, who has lived in Seattle for the past 12 years. “All it took was one game. It turned into a lifelong obsession.”

But, all obsessions aside, don’t those bulky hockey gloves make it difficult to eat and drink?

“A little bit,” he conceded. “I have to take them off every once in a while. I got here at 6:15 in the morning and it was pretty cold outside, so the gloves sort of helped.

“But I’m just being in the hockey mindset and just trying to soak in this day, because we’ve worked so hard as fans here in Seattle and the ownership and the stakeholders. It’s a thrill just to be here and experience this in person.”

Mayor Durkan was one of the more visible part of that experience — smiling for selfies with random fans, grabbing a headset for a radio segment, beaming as NHL commissioner Gary Bettman acknowledged

her efforts during his opening remarks.

“I grew up here,” said Durkan, surrounded on all sides by a mass of

media. “I lost two sports teams — the Pilots and the Sonics. I wanted this team to stay and for this to be their home. The local ownership group has

CAROLINA HURRICANES


deep roots here. So I think we’re going to have hockey for my kids and their kids.”

But first, they’ll have hockey for Paul and Deidre Brownlow; for Paul Buxton; for Andreas Tsircou, who took a day off from his job at Boeing and nursed a Bloody Mary at the bar. They’ll have hockey for Max Rubin, a native New Yorker who wore a white Islanders jersey and held a sign that read, “DEAR NHL: RELEASE THE KRAKEN”.

They’ll have hockey for the 32,000 fans who have already made season-ticket deposits, and the 260 more who drank beers at 7:30 a.m. and toasted Seattle’s first NHL team.

“Ultimately (this) is a dream that comes true for our fans,” said NHL Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke, his voice booming through the bar on multiple

flat-screen televisions. “They’re there at Henry’s, and I shout out to you. Thank you.”

Leiweke might not have heard it in Sea Island, Ga., but those fans in Seattle shouted back.


1119308 NHL

Niece from celebrated hockey ‘royal family’ on hand to see Seattle

awarded NHL team

By Geoff Baker

SEA ISLAND, Ga. — Bellevue realtor Beverley Parsons seemed a tad overwhelmed by it all.

More than 75 years since her “Uncle Lester’’ — the Seattle Metropolitans co-founder from the celebrated Patrick “royal family” of hockey — used to bounce her on his knee, here she was on a podium with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and others celebrating the creation of her hometown’s latest franchise. Parsons, 83, draped in a Metropolitans scarf, admits she’s from the “oldest’’ generation of the living Patrick family members and never thought she’d see the day the NHL finally arrived.

“I’ve wanted it for years and years and years and always dreamed about it,’’ Parsons said. “It didn’t seem as if we would ever do it. So, I’m so

thrilled with the men that have made it happen.’’

Parsons lived a block away from Lester Patrick, dubbed “The Silver Fox’’

and by then retired as a Hall of Fame player and serving as general manager of the New York Rangers.

“So, he came back from the Rangers every year and I would skip down the street, learn everything and then his sons would play with me,’’ she

said. “They’re my generation.’’

She doesn’t remember many stories about Patrick’s fabled playing days with the Montreal Wanderers, Victoria Aristocrats and Cougars, then the Metropolitans for a season along with other squads. Nor of how he and his brother, Frank, co-founded the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and then the Metropolitans in 1915.

But they did talk a lot of hockey around the family dinner table, especially when Lester was there with his NHL-playing sons Lynn and Muzz.

“They didn’t brag,’’ she said of the hockey-playing men. “But they would always talk about (Maple Leafs owner) Conn Smythe and what he was

doing in Toronto. And about living in New York, how it was so different from Victoria.’’

Her cousin Lynn, later had a son, Craig, a former NHL player now in the Hall of Fame as a builder.

Craig Patrick was an assistant coach to Herb Brooks on the “Miracle on Ice” U.S. Olympic team that won the hockey gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics. He later won a pair of Stanley Cups as GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992.

“He’s from that younger generation,’’ Parsons said. “Lynn was more of my generation, so he was the one I used to hang out with a lot.’’

It was about two weeks ago the NHL Seattle group approached Parsons to fly here for the awarding of the franchise.

“I said ‘Oh my God, I don’t know if I can do that.’ I was so excited. I thought it’s so wonderful to represent the Patrick family because they did

so much.’’

She was accompanied by Jaina Goscinski, 11, a Washington Wild girls’ hockey player in a league run by her mother, Kelly. Goscinski, like Parsons, was also a guest ambassador for the NHL Seattle group and

says she hopes having a team will inspire others like her to play the sport.

“I want them to know that pretty much anything is possible now,’’ Goscinski said. “Because now we have an NHL team. When I was younger, I’d wonder ‘How could this happen. Now, it’s happened.’ ’’

The Patrick brothers, Lester and Frank, had tried to bring women’s hockey to Seattle as a league in 1917. The league never started play but did stage a one-off women’s tournament in 1921 with teams that included the Seattle Vamps.

Both brothers died a month apart from heart attacks in 1960. The NHL since 1966 has given an annual Lester Patrick Trophy to honor contributions made to U.S. hockey.

As for Patrick’s niece Parsons, she last attended “a true Patrick family reunion’’ in 1990, but says family members do still visit each other around

the country. Her grandfather, Joseph Patrick, the moneyman behind sons Lester and Frank co-founding the PCHA and Metropolitans, “insisted that

every cousin know each other and act like we’re brothers and sisters.’’

One of her favorite things when traveling to the East Coast for such visits

is educating non-family members about Seattle’s hockey legacy.

“Of course, everyone on the East Coast is so shocked to hear that Seattle won the first American Stanley Cup,’’ she said. “I always shock people with that and give them the facts.’’


1119309 NHL

Three reasons Seattle’s NHL team could avoid city’s past franchise

failures

By Geoff Baker

Two of this city's major pro sports expansion franchises have already left town and two others nearly did. To succeed where other teams initially failed, Seattle's new NHL franchise needs to hit big on three main areas.

Our city’s latest sports expansion franchise is now official and hoping to avoid the pitfalls that nearly doomed all the other major professional teams here at one time or another.

The Seattle Pilots bolted after one Major League Baseball season in 1969, and the successor Mariners in 1995 threatened to leave unless a

new ballpark was built. Our NFL Seahawks relocated offices to Anaheim,

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Calif., before billionaire Paul Allen agreed to buy the team by 1996 on the similar condition of a new stadium.

Meanwhile, the SuperSonics, our first expansion team from 1967 and NBA title winner in 1979, left for Oklahoma City a decade ago. Sure, we’ve had better luck with the Major League Soccer Sounders and reigning WNBA champion Storm. But with teams from the “Big Four’’ pro leagues, our expansion record comes with a big yellow caution flag.

Still, our NHL team should have an advantage in three key areas those other teams never started with, at least not at the same time: Multi-billionaire ownership, a new arena deal and potential for a strong on-ice

start.

The NHL team’s majority owners include investment banker David

Bonderman and Hollywood film producer partner Jerry Bruckheimer, worth a combined $4.4 billion, according to Forbes. It took the Mariners

15 years to land a billionaire owner in Nintendo patriarch Hiroshi Yamuachi in 1992, while the Seahawks needed 20 years before Allen

bought them in 1996.

The Sonics had more stable ownership under Sam Schulman and later

Barry Ackerley, but neither had billionaire wealth. Interestingly, it was only once billionaire Howard Schultz bought the franchise in 2001 that the Sonics’ tenure in Seattle became truly shaky – namely, because he didn’t have his arena situation squared away.

The hockey team will play in the equivalent of a brand new venue being built under the existing KeyArena roof. The Seattle NHL group Tuesday pegged the renovation’s price tag at $800 million, which makes any comparison with KeyArena’s 1995 remodel foolhardy given the relative scope of the current undertaking.

“When people see what they’re building here, they’re not going to believe

their eyes,’’ said Tim Leiweke, CEO of the Oak View Group (OVG) company handling the remodel. “This will be something the likes of which

the city hasn’t seen before.’’

The remodeled venue will be compatible for NHL and NBA, and it will

have music partnerships through LiveNation and OVG to enable a steady revenue stream on nights the hockey team isn’t playing. As well, the new

$70 million NHL practice facility at Northgate Mall is expected to become a significant revenue generator through a naming-rights deal and corporate sponsorships within the three-ice-surface venue.

The lack of a similar practice facility and no control over luxury-suite revenue at KeyArena doomed the Sonics. A 15-year KeyArena lease signed in 1995 gave the City of Seattle those suite revenues – as payback for public bonds covering the previous arena remodel – just as NBA salaries were skyrocketing.

“I don’t think there can be any dispute that the Sonics have the least favorable building arrangement in the league,” former NBA commissioner

David Stern told reporters during a Seattle visit in May 2005.

The following year, Schulz sold the team to a Clay Bennett-led

consortium that relocated the franchise in 2008.

Both the Mariners and Seahawks, claiming huge losses at the Kingdome

by the mid-1990s, stuck around only after public votes whether to approve the construction of Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field and

acquiring luxury-amenity revenues within those venues. Seahawks owner Ken Behring already had moved team offices to California in early 1996

before King County council member Pete Von Reichbauer approached billionaire Allen with a proposal that he buy the team.

“There was nobody else that was prepared to do it,” Von Reichbauer said. “If he says no, then I firmly believe the Seahawks were finished here.”

Allen agreed to purchase an option to buy the team, but only if voters approved state funding for what is now CenturyLink Field. Voters already were in a testy mood regarding subsidies for sports teams and only narrowly approved Allen’s funding request by 51 percent.

A year before that Seahawks ballot, county voters in 1995 rejected funding what is now Safeco Field. But the state wound up bypassing public wishes and provided a mechanism for tax-dollar usage for the majority of construction costs.

Still, the two decisions at both stadiums left a sour taste with many voters. It also left politicians unwilling to test voters on further sports-subsidy requests, something that later haunted the Sonics’ efforts to stay.

The Pilots never had a chance to go to voters in 1969 after struggling attendance-wise at Sick’s Stadium that lone expansion season. The stadium was supposed to have been expanded to 30,000, but there were

only 1,000 seats ready for opening day.

The team’s cash-strapped owner, Dewey Soriano, had sold a controlling

47 percent interest in the team to Cleveland Indians owner William R. Daley before the Pilots even took the field. The duo also turned off fans

by charging the highest ticket and concessions prices in baseball to offset their six-figure losses.

MLB urged both to sell to local ownership groups throughout a dismal 1969 season, and a couple of those emerged. But Soriano by then had

negotiated a deal to sell the team for $10.4 million to car dealer Bud Selig, who relocated it to Milwaukee.

The expansion Pilots were a disaster on the field as well, going 64-98 and finishing last in their division. And just as the MLS Sounders making 10 consecutive playoff appearances since their 2009 debut helped that franchise’s growth, the long-term struggles early by Seattle’s major expansion franchises certainly hindered theirs.

The Mariners averaged 100 losses each of their first four seasons and didn’t have a winning record until their 15th in 1991. The following year, they were poised to move to St. Petersburg, Fla., until a group headed by

Yamauchi bought the franchise from Jeff Smulyan.

The Seahawks went 2-12 under coach Jack Patera their first year, 7-21

their first two seasons and didn’t make the playoffs until their eighth year.

“We didn’t have the great success,” Patera, who died last month at age

85, told The Seattle Times in a 2015 interview. “But we had an exciting team and good times. We had some fun times.’’

Still, despite that fun and players such as quarterback Jim Zorn and future Hall of Famers Steve Largent and Kenny Easley — not to mention four subsequent 1980s playoffs appearances — the Seahawks still nearly left town. Only under new owners and with new stadiums did both the Seahawks and Mariners reach their pinnacles – the Hawks going to three Super Bowls and winning one after the 2013 season, and the Mariners winning a record 116 games in 2001 in the midst of four consecutive seasons of at least 93 victories.

The Sonics ultimately left town, despite overcoming initial expansion hiccups. They went 23-59 their first season, 30-59 their next and didn’t

reach the playoffs until their eighth campaign. Still, they eventually made the NBA Finals in 1978, then won it all in 1979 and were finalists again in

1996.

But their fate was sealed when they couldn’t land the venue deal the

Seahawks and Mariners got.

The NHL team likely won’t have to wait as long to compete, enjoying the

same favorable expansion draft rules that helped the first-year Vegas Golden Knights make the Stanley Cup Final last season. The Seattle

team also has CEO Tod Leiweke, who was president of the NHL Minnesota Wild during its 2000-01 expansion season.

“We put a lot of emphasis on the history and tradition of hockey in Minnesota, and I think what happened is, the players felt pride in putting on that sweater,” Leiweke said of the Wild, adding he hopes to replicate that here. “It meant something to them to be playing for that team.’’

To help establish a similar culture in Seattle, Leiweke hired longtime NHL player and coach Dave Tippett as an executive consulting on all aspects

of the franchise.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


“There are a lot of key things, like where the infrastructure of the team is going to be and figuring out the market,” Tippett said. “But the ability to define the culture of a team that can really grow and prosper; that’s first and foremost. It comes before you start hiring people. Before you start getting players and doing drafts and stuff like that.’’

And if the NHL team wins early, it would have a leg up on those other expansion franchises because it already has the new arena. Of course, instant success isn’t guaranteed, and no one will know how the new arena will function until it actually opens.

But if it all blows up, the NHL team can take solace in one thing: it almost

certainly will not outdo the Pilots as the the shortest-lived Seattle expansion franchise.


1119310 NHL

Seattle’s rich yet niche hockey history is finally ready for the NHL

Larry Stone / Columnist

Until now, hockey has been a niche sport in the Pacific Northwest. That’s

about to change, with a vengeance. The tedious process of acquisition has finally played itself out. The hard-earned payoff came on Tuesday.

Rid your mind, at last, of all those stark, antiseptic phrases that dominated the past several years, as Seattle plowed ahead in pursuit of

a winter sports team.

No more “memorandums of understanding” or “environmental impact

statements” or “expansion applications.” No more red tape, no more politicians blathering, no more daydreaming about some hypothetical day way off in the future.

This is real flesh-and-blood hockey now. No more campaigning or posturing or dreaming. No more fighting. It’s truly happening.

Indeed, it has happened.

The NHL on Tuesday approved Seattle’s application for an expansion franchise that will become the league’s 32nd team in 2021. The

ownership group is led by Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer and private equity CEO David Bonderman, with the Leiweke brothers, Tod

and Tim, masterminding the Byzantine process en route to the unanimous vote Tuesday.

The Seattle group will shell out $650 million in expansion fees ($150 million more than the Vegas Golden Knights, who debuted just two years

ago), plus $800 million (the amount the group announced Tuesday) to renovate KeyArena, plus $70 million to build a new training facility.

But those are cold, impersonal numbers. Hockey is a visceral sport that must be lived, breathed, and felt to be truly appreciated. And now we will get to live, breath and feel it at the highest level of performance in the world. The speed, the athleticism, and the artistry of NHL hockey will astound you — far more in person than what you can glean off television.

So if you’re not already an aficionado, if you haven’t been living and dying with the Seattle Thunderbirds or the Everett Silvertips, get ready to embrace a whole new sports world. Junior hockey has scratched the itch for local diehards, but just wait until the likes of Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin come to town.

No, it’s not the Sonics, and there will still be a huge void in Seattle until they return. But the winter sports scene has been a dreary landscape for

the past 10 years, and this will be a jolt of fresh adrenaline in the cold, wet, gloomy months.

Maybe one day a Stanley Cup final will come to Seattle, and we’ll get to experience the most riveting playoff series in sports, beards and all. And who knows how quickly that will materialize, with expansion rules that are greased to benefit new teams and make them competitive from the outset.

Just ask the Golden Knights, who made it all the way to the Stanley Cup final last year in their inaugural season before falling in five games to Washington. It was the most successful expansion team in pro sports history by any measure — wins and losses, community impact, or attendance (more than 100 percent of capacity for the season).

It’s unrealistic to expect that sort of a fairy-tale debut. But the new Seattle team should push hard to forge the same sort of connection with its fan

base. It will be harder to accomplish here, no doubt. Seattle has had pro sports teams for more than 50 years, since the Sonics began in 1967-68,

while the Golden Knights were the very first one for Vegas. There’s an embrace that brings that can’t be replicated — just ask the lifetime

Sonics fans.

But the extraordinary response to season-ticket sales in Seattle —

10,000 sold in the first 12 minutes, 25,000 in the first hour, and 32,000 overall — is a sign of potential hockey mania. The sports marketplace in Seattle is crowded and competitive, but the new hockey team will stand out initially for novelty alone. After that, it’s up to the sport and the franchise to sell itself.

Part of the great fun will be watching the construction of a team, and an infrastructure, before our very eyes. Not just the arena itself, but the front office, the coaching staff, the scouts, and finally the players who will comprise the Seattle … what? The unveiling of the name will be an event in its own right.

Seattle has been the largest market in the country without a professional winter sports team, ever since the Sonics were yanked away to

Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season. That is true no longer. While the push for the NBA continues, let’s do that hockey, to steal Chance the

Rapper’s SNL mantra — and do it with the wide-eyed zeal of an open-minded convert.

If you’re already a puckhead, well, patiently help nurture the rest. The history is already here, if you look for it. The Seattle Metropolitans did become the first U.S.-based team to win the Stanley Cup in 1917, though they disbanded in 1924. The city has a rich legacy of junior and minor-league hockey. Yet it has been a niche sport in the region.

That’s about to change, with a vengeance. The tedious process of acquisition has finally played itself out (though the process of renovating the arena is sure to produce its share of headaches). The hard-earned payoff came Tuesday.

The NHL is coming to Seattle. In living, breathing color.


1119311 NHL

History on hand as Seattle awarded the 32nd NHL franchise for 2021-22 season

By Geoff Baker

SEA ISLAND, Ga. — An emotional morning for present-day Seattle team owners and a relative of previous ones from a century ago culminated Tuesday with the awarding of the National Hockey League’s 32nd franchise to our city.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Joining the eager Seattle ownership team in an adjacent “green room’’ as the NHL’s board of governors debated their fate behind closed doors was Bellevue resident Beverley Parsons, 83, whose uncles Lester and Frank Patrick founded the Seattle Metropolitans in 1915. Parsons handed NHL Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke a well-worn personal copy of the book “The Patricks: Hockey’s Royal Family” as a keepsake from what would soon become a historic day.

At that moment, the magnitude of the NHL’s pending unanimous awarding of the franchise to the Seattle ownership group of David Bonderman and Jerry Bruckheimer was ratcheted up several notches.

“I’m holding in a lot of emotions,’’ Leiweke said, moments after the team was made official to start play the 2021-22 season. “But today I think

about the fans. I woke up today thinking about the fans and what did they feel on March 1 when they put down deposits not knowing anything. No

team name, an ownership group they didn’t know very well. A building plan that was back then somewhat defined but fairly vague.

“Today was a great day for the fans and we owe them so much because that’s why today happened.’’

Those fans, who haven’t had professional hockey in Seattle since the minor league Totems folded in 1975, will have to wait a while to buy season tickets for the NHL squad’s scheduled October 2021 launch — which was put off by a year at the league’s request to ensure the KeyArena renovation timeline can be met. The price on that renovation, according to Leiweke, is now up to $800 million in private funds along with $650 million for the team — of which $100 million was paid out Tuesday as an initial installment.

The new team will start in the Pacific Division — with the Arizona Coyotes moving to the Central — and benefit from the same expansion

draft rules the Stanley Cup finalist Vegas Golden Knights did in 2017. That expansion draft will also be held in a remodeled KeyArena, which

Leiweke hopes to have ready by March or April of 2021 so the WNBA Seattle Storm can also open their season there on time.

Leiweke said the group is going to get working on a team name and likely a hockey operations search in the nearer term. On ticket sales: “We’re

going to go into the laboratory beginning tomorrow and begin to work this through.’’

But for now, this first day of official team existence, it was about savoring the moment. The anticipation ahead of the vote had been building inside the conference room where the Seattle group had been sequestered.

But as they prepared to enter the larger conference room, where the governors had just voted, they could hear the Seattle sports and business promotional video that Mayor Jenny Durkan had introduced in October to the league’s executive committee in New York playing in the background. Leiweke recognized the sound right away, as did Bonderman and Bruckheimer and minority owners David Wright, Adrian Hanauer and Jay Deutsch.

“We’re outside the door, we heard our video playing,’’ Leiweke said. “We thought ‘Well, that’s a good sign,’ because I always get goose bumps when I see that video. I’ve seen it 100 times and I still react to it.’’

They entered the room, where the 31 governors greeted them with a

standing ovation. Each member of the Seattle team shook hands with all 31 governors — who congratulated them and wished them luck.

At that point, relief flowed. Leiweke paid tribute to his older brother, Tim, CEO of the Oak View Group, for recognizing that KeyArena could be renovated despite naysayers.

“This has been a real journey that’s had challenges, and it’s not for the faint of heart,’’ Leiweke said.

Indeed, famed Hollywood producer Bruckheimer, whose movies have been hailed for decades, seemed a bit overcome by the moment. He grew misty-eyed discussing his father taking him up “in the rafters’’ to watch Red Wings games at the old Olympia Stadium arena in his native Detroit.

“It’s exciting and daunting and scary and all the things,’’ Bruckheimer said of an NHL ownership goal he’d pursued for nearly two decades. “You just want to do right for Seattle and bring great players and hopefully pick a name where we won’t get too many people mad at us.’’

Managing partner Bonderman said the team name, like the rest of the venture, won’t be a rushed process. Calling the franchise “a lifelong dream of mine’’ he said though his group had pushed for an October 2020 launch date — as recently as last week — they didn’t fight the league’s request to hold it back 12 months.

“We’ve been hopeful that we’d be able to get a ’20 start,’’ Bonderman

said. “But it became clear dealing with contractors, dealing with the city, dealing with the league, that because of the tightness of it, it probably

wasn’t a great idea to have to rely on it.’’

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the decision for 2021-22 was

“fairly easy’’ to make after discussions with the Seattle group.

“It was clear that this team wants to start in the absolute best right way,’’

Bettman said. “And the certainty over the construction timeline — or the lack of certainty — led us to believe that making the start of the ’20-21

season would be speculative at best and unlikely at worst. And we all agreed that it was better to get the building done right.’’

Bettman had heard from Leiweke for more than a decade — dating back to when he was president of the Seahawks — about the city’s virtues as an NHL franchise location. About its long hockey history, starting with the Patrick brothers and the Metropolitans and continuing to present day with thousands of adult and youth participants and transplants bringing their NHL fandom with them.

“They talk about psychographic fits,’’ Leiweke said. “There are demographics and then there’s psychographics. It was perfect for the

National Hockey League. It’s now up to us to deliver the championship team these fans deserve. We’re going to start working on that right now.’’


1119312 NHL

Three reasons Seattle’s NHL team could avoid city’s past franchise failures

BY GEOFF BAKER THE SEATTLE TIMES

SEATTLE-Seattle's city's latest sports expansion franchise is now official and hoping to avoid the pitfalls that nearly doomed all the other major

professional teams in Seattle at one time or another.

The Seattle Pilots bolted after one Major League Baseball season in

1969, and the successor Mariners in 1995 threatened to leave unless a new ballpark was built. Our NFL Seahawks relocated offices to Anaheim, Calif., before billionaire Paul Allen agreed to buy the team by 1996 on the similar condition of a new stadium.

Meanwhile, the SuperSonics, the city's first expansion team from 1967 and NBA title winner in 1979, left for Oklahoma City a decade ago. Sure, Seattle has had better luck with the Major League Soccer Sounders and reigning WNBA champion Storm. But with teams from the "Big Four" pro leagues, its expansion record comes with a big yellow caution flag.

Still, Seattle's NHL team should have an advantage in three key areas

those other teams never started with, at least not at the same time: Multi-billionaire ownership, a new arena deal and potential for a strong on-ice

start.

The NHL team's majority owners include investment banker David

Bonderman and Hollywood film producer partner Jerry Bruckheimer,

CAROLINA HURRICANES


worth a combined $4.4 billion, according to Forbes. It took the Mariners 15 years to land a billionaire owner in Nintendo patriarch Hiroshi Yamuachi in 1992, while the Seahawks needed 20 years before Allen bought them in 1996.

The Sonics had more stable ownership under Sam Schulman and later Barry Ackerley, but neither had billionaire wealth. Interestingly, it was only once billionaire Howard Schultz bought the franchise in 2001 that the Sonics' tenure in Seattle became truly shaky – namely, because he didn't have his arena situation squared away.

The hockey team will play at the equivalent of a brand new venue being

built under the existing KeyArena roof. The Seattle NHL group Tuesday pegged the renovation's price tag at $800 million, which makes any

comparison with KeyArena's 1995 remodel foolhardy given the relative scope of the current undertaking.

"When people see what they're building here, they're not going to believe their eyes," said Tim Leiweke, CEO of the Oak View Group (OVG)

company handling the remodel. "This will be something the likes of which the city hasn't seen before."

The remodeled venue will be compatible for NHL and NBA, and it will have music partnerships through LiveNation and OVG to enable a steady revenue stream on nights the hockey team isn't playing. As well, the new $70 million NHL practice facility at Northgate Mall is expected to also become a significant revenue generator through a naming-rights deal and corporate sponsorships within the three-ice-surface venue.

The lack of a similar practice facility and no control over luxury-suite revenues at KeyArena doomed the Sonics. A 15-year KeyArena lease signed in 1995 gave the City of Seattle those suite revenues – as payback for public bonds covering the previous arena remodel – just as

NBA salaries were skyrocketing.

"I don't think there can be any dispute that the Sonics have the least

favorable building arrangement in the league," former NBA Commissioner David Stern told reporters during a Seattle visit in May

2005.

The following year, Schulz sold the team to a Clay Bennett-led

consortium that relocated the franchise in 2008.

Both the Mariners and Seahawks, claiming huge losses at the Kingdome by the mid-1990s, stuck around only after public votes approving the construction of Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field and acquiring luxury-amenity revenues within those venues. Seahawks owner Ken Behring already had moved team offices to California in early 1996 before King County council member Pete Von Reichbauer approached billionaire Allen with a proposal that he buy the team.

"There was nobody else that was prepared to do it," Von Reichbauer said. "If he says no, then I firmly believe the Seahawks were finished

here."

Allen agreed to purchase an option to buy the team, but only if voters

approved state funding for what is now CenturyLink Field. Voters already were in a testy mood regarding subsidies for sports teams and only

narrowly approved Allen's funding request by a 51 percent margin.

A year before that Seahawks ballot, county voters in 1995 rejected

funding what is now Safeco Field. But the state wound up bypassing public wishes and provided a mechanism for tax-dollar usage for the

majority of construction costs.

Still, the two decisions at both stadiums left a sour taste with many voters. It also left politicians unwilling to test voters on further sports-subsidy requests, something that later haunted the Sonics' efforts to stay.

The Pilots never had a chance to go to voters in 1969 after struggling attendance-wise at Sick's Stadium that lone expansion season. The stadium was supposed to have been expanded to 30,000, but there were only 1,000 seats ready for Opening Day.

The team's cash-strapped owner, Dewey Soriano, had sold a controlling 47 percent interest in the team to Cleveland Indians owner William R. Daley before the Pilots even took the field. The duo also turned off fans by charging the highest ticket and concessions prices in baseball to offset their six-figure losses.

MLB urged both to sell to local owners groups throughout a dismal 1969 season, and a couple of those emerged. But Soriano by then had negotiated a deal to sell the team for $10.4 million to car dealer Bud Selig, who relocated it to Milwaukee.

The expansion Pilots were a disaster on the field as well, going 64-98

and finishing last in their division. And just as the MLS Sounders making 10 consecutive playoff appearances since their 2009 debut helped that

franchise's growth, the long-term struggles early by Seattle's major expansion franchises prior certainly hindered theirs.

The Mariners averaged 100 losses each of their first four seasons and didn't have a winning record until their 15th in 1991. The following year,

they were poised to move to St. Petersburg, Fla., until a group headed by Yamauchi bought the franchise from Jeff Smulyan.

The Seahawks went 2-12 under coach Jack Patera their first year, 7-21 their first two seasons and didn't make the playoffs until their eighth year.

"We didn't have the great success," Patera, who died last month at age 85, told The Seattle Times in a 2015 interview. "But we had an exciting team and good times. We had some fun times."

Still, despite that fun and players such as quarterback Jim Zorn and future Hall of Famers Steve Largent and Kenny Easley – not to mention four subsequent 1980s playoffs appearances – the Seahawks still nearly left town. Only under new owners and with new stadiums did both the Seahawks and Mariners reach their pinnacles – the Hawks going to three

Super Bowls and winning one the 2013 season, and the Mariners winning a record 116 games in 2001 in the midst of four consecutive

seasons of at least 93 victories.

The Sonics ultimately left town, despite overcoming initial expansion

hiccups. They went 23-59 their first season, 30-59 their next and didn't reach the playoffs until their eighth campaign. Still, they eventually made

the NBA Finals in 1978, then won it all in 1979 and were finalists again in 1996.

But their fate was sealed when they couldn't land the venue deal the Seahawks and Mariners got.

The NHL team likely won't have to wait as long to compete, enjoying the same favorable expansion draft rules that helped the first-year Vegas Golden Knights make the Stanley Cup Final last season. The Seattle team also has CEO Tod Leiweke, who was president of the NHL Minnesota Wild their 2000-01 expansion season.

"We put a lot of emphasis on the history and tradition of hockey in

Minnesota, and I think what happened is, the players felt pride in putting on that sweater," Leiweke said of the Wild, adding he hopes to replicate

that here. "It meant something to them to be playing for that team."

To help establish a similar culture in Seattle, Leiweke hired longtime NHL

player and coach Dave Tippett as an executive consulting on all aspects of the franchise.

"There are a lot of key things, like where the infrastructure of the team is going to be and figuring out the market," Tippett said. "But the ability to

define the culture of a team that can really grow and prosper; that's first and foremost. It comes before you start hiring people. Before you start getting players and doing drafts and stuff like that."

And if the NHL team wins early, it would have a leg up on those other expansion franchises because it already has the new arena. Of course, instant success isn't guaranteed, and no one will know how the new arena will function until it actually opens.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


But if it all blows up, the NHL team can take solace in one thing: it almost certainly will not outdo the Pilots as the shortest-lived Seattle expansion franchise.

News Tribune LOADED: 12.05.2018

1119313 NHL

Seattle moves into next phase after expansion approval

BY STEPHEN WHYNO AP HOCKEY WRITER

SEA ISLAND, GA. -Seattle's NHL expansion team has its roots in Dave Tippett's computer.

That's where the longtime coach-turned-senior adviser keeps a running list of players around the league who might be available in an expansion draft that is still 2 ½ years off. It is just an exercise for now but will become a key building block when Seattle picks its first players in June 2021.

"Every year it'll change a little bit," Tippett said. "By the time it gets here,

you'll have a pretty good idea of where you think teams are going to fall."

Long months are ahead before the as-yet-named team plays its first

meaningful game, but work is already under way and the effort can begin in earnest now that the NHL Board of Governors has officially awarded

Seattle a franchise. Groundbreaking on a total overhaul of KeyArena is Wednesday, and Seattle's front office will spend the rest of this season

plotting the course for an organization that has a tough act to follow after Vegas reached the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural season.

"Part of the DNA of this ownership group is we're extremely competitive," said Tod Leiweke, a minority partner, president and CEO of Seattle Hockey Partners. "We're here to win. And we want to win. So we're going to look at these timelines and how it can be put to our advantage."

That means Tippett will watch the rest of this season with an eye on the new team's future and he will sketch out the beginnings of a hockey operations department. He will likely be senior vice president of hockey operations and have a big say in choosing the first general manager of

the league's 32nd team.

Tippett will likely hire some scouts this summer and move forward on the

GM search.

"When you're a year or two out, everything continues to evolve," Tippett

said. "You continue to monitor things. It's an ever-changing world out there right now in the hockey world between coaches and GMs."

Veteran Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland is considered a potential candidate, and Vegas assistant Kelly McCrimmon would know the recipe

for a successful expansion draft after helping George McPhee put the Golden Knights together. The same rules will be in place that allow teams to protect only seven forwards, three defensemen and a goaltender, or eight skaters at any position and a goaltender.

That means for $650 million, Seattle will have an opportunity to win right away.

"It gives you an excitement that you can have a team that's not your expansion teams of the past with the NHL rules," Tippett said. "You can have a competitive team like Vegas. Nobody expected that from them. But it's not as if you're in a five-year rebuild or five-year starting point.

You actually can get some good players because of the rules."

Leiweke is friends with McPhee and Golden Knights president Kerry

Bubolz, and said his new team will build "brick-by-brick" like Vegas did.

First, there are real bricks. Majority owner David Bonderman said the immediate focus is on getting arena renovations and three-rink practice facility construction completed. Leiweke expects the 17,000-seat downtown arena to open in March or April 2021 and host the expansion draft.

Tippett has a hand in all those projects and is also working to settle Seattle's American Hockey League affiliate.

And he and the ownership group will, at some point, go on a hiring spree to try to replicate Vegas' success.

"We have momentum, and this is a business of recruitment," Leiweke

said. "We now really feel confident that we'll be able to recruit a top-flight staff. And we need to, because this is the most competitive league in the

world, and parity is the trademark of the National Hockey League today. So we're going to have to be really, really good at recruiting, but our

owners are going to give us everything we need."


1119314 NHL

Here are some of the best jersey concepts for Seattle’s new NHL franchise

BY ANDREW HAMMOND

We know there will be a hockey team, what we don’t know is what the

team name or the uniform will look like. We’re weeks, even months, from anything actually going down but why not go on a trip to fantasy land and

see what could a Seattle hockey team look like? I wonder if Adidas and the NHL are paying attention.

If you didn’t know, Seattle did have an NHL franchise back in the NHL’s early years and actually won the 1917 Stanley Cup as the Seattle Metropolitans.

Here are a few concepts that revive the name but also give it some modern flair.

Seattle Metropolitans Jersey Concept #NHL pic.twitter.com/g1vgs9t7st

— Jersey Concepts (@jersey_concepts) December 4, 2018

Congrats Seattle!! Check out these concept throwback jerseys I designed

#NHLSeattle #Metropolitans pic.twitter.com/CDgCRUL0F6

— ZashaDesign (@ZashaDesign) December 4, 2018

The Seattle Sea Lions? I really like the usage of the Seattle Seahawks colors here.

Honorable mention on @UniWatch 's article for the @NHLSeattle_ Uniforms check it out here! First concept in a long while from the Ol' Number9Concepts pic.twitter.com/Fcn2Dnyt5o

— Matt McElroy (@number9concepts) December 4, 2018

One common theme you’re going to see as the color and jersey reveal

date begins is a TON of green and gold jersey concepts. Even if the Seattle SuperSonics aren’t in town, that doesn’t mean the colors can’t be.

Actually....Seattle should use the old Sonics colours for their jerseys. No one in the NHL has that colour scheme and it looks good. Just look at the

Golden Bears. pic.twitter.com/5FdhotUNoV

— Joe Martin (@jamthefed) December 4, 2018

What would you name Seattle's new hockey team? pic.twitter.com/Tc5HN5yEln

CAROLINA HURRICANES


— BarDown (@BarDown) December 4, 2018

This concept by Justin Cox might be my favorite. Complete branding down to the last detail.

I'm proud to share my senior design project - a complete brand proposal for the Seattle NHL Franchise. I created this last semester and had been waiting to share until I finalized my website, but it's been going around and I'm happy to share it with you!https://t.co/IgrPHRnMUx

— Justin Cox (@justin_coxy) March 7, 2018


1119315 NHL

NHL expansion from Original 6 to Seattle

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A history of NHL expansion from the Original Six until the addition of Seattle as the 32nd franchise:

1942: Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs make up Original Six.

1967: Great Expansion doubles league in size to 12 with addition of California Seals, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues.

1970: Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks join to give league 14 teams.

1972: Atlanta Flames and New York Islanders join to give league 16 teams.

1974: Kansas City Scouts and Washington Capitals join to give league 18 teams.

1978: After Seals' move to Cleveland, merger of Cleveland Barons and Minnesota North Stars gives league 17 teams.

1979: League absorbs Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets from Western Hockey Association to get to

21 teams.

1991: San Jose Sharks become league's 22nd team to begin new era of expansion.

1992: Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning join to give league 24 teams.

1993: Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Florida Panthers join to give league 26 teams.

1998: Nashville Predators join to give league 27 teams.

1999: Atlanta Thrashers join to give league 28 teams.

2000: Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild join to give league 30

teams.

2017: Vegas Golden Knights join to give league 31 teams.

2018: Seattle approved as 32nd team to begin play in 2021.


1119316 NHL

Fans abuzz after NHL awards its 32nd franchise to Seattle

BY TIM BOOTH AP SPORTS WRITER

SEATTLE-John Barr understood it was likely a foregone conclusion and yet as NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman spoke nearly 3,000 miles away,

he found himself getting emotional watching the televisions in the packed bar.

Barr was among fans watching Tuesday morning as Seattle was awarded an NHL expansion franchise following a unanimous vote by the Board of Governors in Sea Island, Georgia, ending a lengthy dance between the league and the city that will finally see professional hockey return to the city. Seattle was the first U.S. city to win the Stanley Cup back in 1917. More than 100 years later, they'll have that chance again.

"I was always optimistic but I didn't think it was ever a guarantee. Might have got a little watery eyed there," said Barr, who has headed up the NHLtoSeattle.com website and been a voice for hockey fans in Seattle. "It's been a long haul and there's been some ups and downs but I think the wait is worth it."

The Seattle ownership group organized the watch party as a central

gathering spot to celebrate the announcement and hand out swag a short distance from the Seattle Center, where the yet-to-be named team will begin play in a reconstructed Seattle Center Arena in 2021.

"Is there a better hockey morning than this morning in Seattle?" said

Mayor Jenny Durkan, who took a little of the suspense out of Bettman's announcement by revealing the outcome of the vote about 10 minutes early. "This is just a great thing for Seattle and I'm so honored to be part

of it."

Dave Tippett, an adviser for the ownership group who had a front row seat for all the behind the scenes work that went into the pitch to the NHL, joined the fans in Seattle while his bosses were in Georgia.

"It's been coming a long time. The turning point for me, and this was before I was involved, was watching the season tickets go on sale and in 10 minutes sold 12,000 tickets," Tippett said. "We knew there was an unbelievable following here so it's been fun to get to know people here and get to experience some of the excitement of bringing a team here."

For now, the NHL will serve to satisfy Seattle's winter sports itch that's existed since the SuperSonics left for Oklahoma City in 2008. There's also hope that the rebuilt arena and the foundation being laid by the NHL's 32nd franchise will help bring the NBA back.

If there was a tinge of disappointment, it came with the decision that the team won't start until the 2021-22 season.

The initial was hope for a 2020 start, but arena renovations may not be done in time. As it stands, team President Tod Leiweke said the hope is the building will open in the first quarter of 2021. The first team to call the

facility home will likely be the WNBA's Seattle Storm, before the NHL team begins in the fall.

"I've been at this eight years so it's going to be another two years for 2020, another one for 2021, I can do it," Barr said. "They have all the

information. I think it's the right call. We want to launch this right."


1119317 NHL

NHL adds Seattle as league’s 32nd team, play begins in 2021

CAROLINA HURRICANES


BY STEPHEN WHYNO AP HOCKEY WRITER

SEA ISLAND, GA.-Seattle is getting a National Hockey League team. It will just have to wait a little bit longer to drop the puck.

The NHL Board of Governors unanimously approved adding Seattle as the league's 32nd franchise on Tuesday, with play set to begin in 2021

instead of 2020 to allow enough time for arena renovations. The as-yet unnamed franchise will be the Emerald City's first major winter sports

team since the NBA's SuperSonics left town in 2008.

"Today is a day for celebration in a great city that adores and avidly supports its sports teams and for our 101-year-old sports league," Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "Expanding to Seattle makes the National Hockey League more balanced, even more whole and even more vibrant. A team in Seattle evens the number of teams in our two conferences, brings our geographic footprint into greater equilibrium and

creates instant new rivalries out west, particularly between Seattle and Vancouver."

The announcement came a few moments after Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan let the news slip at a watch party in Seattle, prompting cheers: "I got a call from a mole in the room and it was a unanimous vote. We're getting hockey."

The decision was widely expected after the Seattle Hockey Partners group impressed the board's executive committee in October with a plan that had all the ingredients the NHL was looking for. Strong ownership led by billionaire David Bonderman and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, a downtown arena in a sports-crazed city and a season-ticket drive that drummed up 10,000 orders in 12 minutes all cleared the way for the NHL

to add another team less than three years after approving a franchise in Las Vegas.

Seattle Hockey President and CEO Tod Leiweke joked that he'd have to throw out some Seattle 2020 business cards because of the pushed-

back timing. But all sides agreed 2021 was the best time to start.

"They've always felt that we should have a little more time to build the

arena right," Bruckheimer said. "We wanted to bring it to 2020-21 because we want to get going right away, but it's not fair to the fans or to the players to not have a 100 percent finished arena when we start."

The owners will pay a $650 million expansion fee, up from the $500 million the Vegas Golden Knights paid to join the league just two years ago. Leiweke said arena renovations will cost $800 million and the addition of a state-of-the-art practice facility makes it a total investment of over $1.5 billion.

"(That's) a few bits of change which aren't around anymore," Bonderman said of the spending. "Seattle is one of my favorite cities and it's a

pleasure to be here. If it was someplace else, I wouldn't have done it."

The NHL will also realign its two divisions in the West for the 2021-22

season: Seattle will play the Pacific, home to its closest geographic rivals like Vancouver, Calgary and San Jose, and the Arizona Coyotes will

move to the Central Division.

"It was at the end of the day the simplest, most logical and least

disruptive option we had available to us and I think it'll work well for the Coyotes," Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said.

The remarkable debut by Vegas in 2017, which included a run to the Stanley Cup Final, gave the league more confidence about moving forward so quickly.

Seattle will benefit from the same expansion draft rules Vegas had. Its front office is expected to be led by Dave Tippett, a former coach who would lead the search for the club's first general manager and staff. Tippett signed on to the project because of a connection to Leiweke, a major force in delivering an NHL team to Seattle.

Leiweke got his start in hockey with the Minnesota Wild. He also worked in Vancouver and most recently helped build Tampa Bay into a powerhouse in the Eastern Conference. Leiweke left the Lightning in 2015 to become the COO of the NFL and didn't have any interest in leaving the league office until the project in Seattle began to gain traction.

Leiweke's job will be to capitalize on a market whose demographics have changed significantly since he left the NFL's Seahawks in 2010 after being largely responsible for the team hiring coach Pete Carroll. Seattle is the largest market in the country without a winter pro sports franchise and has seen an influx of wealth in recent years. Even when he was

running the Seahawks, Leiweke believed Seattle was ripe for the NHL and the response to the season-ticket drive only strengthened that belief.

"I woke up today thinking about the fans," Leiweke said. "What did they feel on March 1 when they put down deposits without knowing anything?

No team name, an ownership group they didn't know very well, a building plan that was back then somewhat defined but fairly vague. Today is a

great day for the fans and we owe them so much. That's why today happened."

The NHL's launch in Seattle will show how starved fans are for another team. Basketball is embedded in the DNA of the region thanks to 41 years of the SuperSonics and a lengthy history of producing NBA talent. When the rain of the fall and winter drive young athletes inside, they grab a basketball and head for the nearest gym to play pickup games. Basketball courts and coffee shops seem to be on every corner, but ice rinks are scarce.

A lot about Seattle is different from 2008, when the Sonics moved to Oklahoma City. The skyline is filled with construction cranes. Amazon has taken over an entire section of the city, joined nearby by satellite

offices of Google and Facebook. The amount of wealth now in the Seattle market is part of the reason Tim Leiweke, Tod's older brother and the CEO of event facilities giant Oak View Group, has regularly calls the city one of the most enticing expansion opportunities in pro sports history.

Seattle has become a city of transplants due to the booming local economy. A hockey franchise would provide those newcomers a team to

rally around, much like what happened when the Sounders of Major League Soccer arrived in 2009 — the last team added to the city's sport

landscape. The Sonics were the first, joining the NBA in 1967, followed by the arrival of the Seahawks in 1976 and Mariners in 1977 after

construction of the Kingdome.

There have been several attempts at solving Seattle's arena issues and

landing either an NHL or NBA team in the years since the Sonics left, but none had the support of the city or the private money attached until now.

Asked Tuesday about possibly adding an NBA team, Bonderman responded: "One miracle at a time."

While Seattle basks in the news, it's not clear the NHL will be satisfied at 32 teams even with the new team providing balance between the conferences and a natural, cross-border rival for the Vancouver Canucks. Daly said recently that there's no magic number, even though no major North American sports league has ever grown beyond 32 teams. Houston, Quebec City and Toronto have all been touted as possible new homes someday, but they'll also have to wait.

"We're not looking right now and I think for the foreseeable future at any

further expansion," Bettman said.


1119343 San Jose Sharks

Searching for answers, Pete DeBoer shuffles coaching staff responsibilities

CAROLINA HURRICANES


By CURTIS PASHELKA | PUBLISHED: December 4, 2018

SAN JOSE — The Sharks have shuffled forward lines all season long and have tinkered with their defense pairs from time to time, all in an effort to help become more consistent.

Now, with one-third of the regular season already gone and the Sharks sliding in the Pacific Division standings, Pete DeBoer is shuffling the responsibilities of his coaching staff.

Steve Spott, who formerly worked with the forwards, will now be working

with the defensemen, Dave Barr will now be on the bench working with the forwards and Rob Zettler will be moving from the bench to be the team’s ‘eye in the sky.’

For complete Sharks coverage

Formerly, Barr was the Sharks’ ‘eye in the sky’ and Zettler worked with the defensemen.

The Sharks entered Tuesday in third place in the Pacific Division with a 13-10-5 record, three points back of first place Calgary but also just three points up on fifth place Edmonton. The Sharks host Carolina on Wednesday.

Before they began their five-game road trip Nov. 24, the Sharks were in first place with a 12-7-4 record. San Jose is 5-6-2 since Nov. 8.

“We’re close, but we’ve been close for 30 games now almost,” said DeBoer, who added that this was his decision. “A third of the season’s

over and we’re not finding the right side of that line to get more wins.”

Spott officially joined the Sharks’ coaching staff roughly three months

after DeBoer was hired as the team’s head coach in May 2015.

Both Zettler and Barr were hired in July 2017, with Zettler at the time

taking over the responsibilities of Bob Boughner, who had been hired as the Florida Panthers’ head coach.

“Fresh eyes, fresh voice, a little different perspective, hopefully some ideas on how we find that line,” DeBoer said. “I think we’re all in synch on how we want to play. But starting with me, it’s got to translate into wins. We’re close, but we’re not close enough here yet.”

Special teams have not been a major issue lately for the Sharks. Entering Tuesday, the power play was ranked 11th in the NHL at 22.8

percent and the penalty kill was ranked second (85.5 percent).

San Jose ranked 13th in the league in average goals-for per game at

3.04, but is 19th in goals allowed per game at 3.11, and according to Natural Stat Trick, ranks 31st and last in the league in high danger goals

against at 43.

“As a group, we’re still searching for some consistency. We play great

stretches of hockey not resulting in enough wins, so obviously not sticking with it long enough,” DeBoer said. “Our special teams are in a

good place, analytics are, for the most part, in a good place, but it’s not resulting in wins.”

San Jose plays four games over the next six days, starting with a home game against Carolina on Wednesday night. The Sharks then play back-to-back games at Dallas and Arizona on Friday and Saturday, respectively, before they return home to play New Jersey on Dec. 10.

▪ Timo Meier was a full participant in practice Tuesday and appears ready to rejoin the Sharks lineup after a three-game absence with an upper body injury.

Meier went into room after being struck in face by McCabe's helmet

#SJSharks #Sabres pic.twitter.com/FjXC2Urzg5

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 28, 2018

Meier, who was hurt in a collision with Buffalo Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe on Nov. 27, was on a line with Joe Thornton and Marcus Sorensen.

Meier has 13 goals and 23 points this season and at the time of his injury had a goal and three assists in his last five games.

“(McCabe) came right with the helmet to my upper lip and kind of got me right in the head there,” Meier said of the hit. “When looked at it on video, it didn’t look too bad, but at time, it felt like a pretty hard hit to the face.”

Other Sharks lines had Logan Couture with Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl, and Antti Suomela with Evander Kane and Joonas Donskoi. The

fourth line featured Melker Karlsson, Kevin Labanc, Barclay Goodrow and Lukas Radil.

▪ It appears defenseman Radim Simek will be back in the Sharks’ lineup Wednesday. Simek, who was a healthy scratch for the Sharks’ first 27

games, made his NHL debut Sunday in Montreal as he was paired with Brent Burns’ in the Sharks’ 3-1 win over the Canadiens. The Czech

Republic native finished with 13:19 of ice time and certainly added a physical dimension to the Sharks’ blue line.

“I think part of our issue has been we’ve been a little soft in some areas,” DeBoer said. “A little soft on pucks, in some battles. That was really welcome, I think.”

“Maybe it’s my job. (Burns) is an offensive guy, and (Erik Karlsson), but I must play strong and be hard on the ice,” Simek said. “I think I did a good job.”

Simek, 26, had 27 points in 67 games with the Barracuda last season in his first year in North America, and signed a two-year contract extension with the Sharks in April.

“I felt really good because I played with (Burns) and he helped me every

shift,” Simek said. “I’m really happy for my first experience in NHL. It was a big moment for me and my family, and for team because we (won) after

four (losses).”

San Jose Mercury News: LOADED: 12.05.2018


Sharks notes: Peter DeBoer shuffles coaching staff's responsibilities

By Chelena Goldman December 04, 2018 6:16 PM

The Sharks' lines aren’t the only thing getting a shuffle as the team tries to put more tallies in the win column.

Coach Peter DeBoer said after Tuesday’s practice that he’s also shuffling responsibilities around among the coaching staff. It's all in an effort to

push the team over the line from playing well for stretches to winning more hockey games.

“As a group I think we’re still searching for consistency,” he explained. “We’re going to shuffle some coaches responsibilities around get some fresh eyes and voices on some areas.”

DeBoer said he plans to have assistant coach Steve Spott start working with the defensemen. Dave Barr, who’s been watching games from the press box, will move down onto the bench as he works with forwards and the penalty kill. Meanwhile, Rob Zettler will transition to watching games from up top.

“Fresh eyes, fresh voice, a little different perspective, hopefully some ideas on how we find that line,” DeBoer said.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


San Jose’s bench boss said this stint of musical chairs isn’t something new.

“These types of changes happen all the time,” he said. “We actually changed faceoff responsibilities earlier in the year. But most of it is behind the scenes. If your power play’s not going well, one of the other assistant coaches steps in and runs the power play. But it’s not out in front of you on the bench like this will be.”

At the end of the day, DeBoer and his staff all have same goal in mind. It’s just a matter of getting that extra push over the edge.

“I think we’re all in sync on how we want to play,” DeBoer said. “But,

starting with me, it’s got to translate into wins. And we’re close but we’re not close enough here yet.”

Timo Time (to return)

The Sharks expect winger Timo Meier will be back in the lineup Wednesday when they host the Carolina Hurricanes. The Swiss forward missed three games after suffering an upper-body injury against the

Buffalo Sabres last week.

He took line rushes with Joe Thornton and Marcus Sorensen during Tuesday’s practice.

“Nice to have him back, we miss him,” DeBoer said. “His goals, the way he backs defensemen off, his possession. You can see we’re a different team without him in the lineup.”

Additionally, defenseman Radim Simek is expected to play in his second NHL game after an impressive debut in Sunday's win against the Montreal Canadiens. DeBoer said it was important to get the physical blue liner some play time since he’d been with the team since the start of the regular season, but had not suited up.

“What a tough situation for a guy to go into, he literally hadn’t played a

game,” DeBoer said of Simek’s debut against the Habs.

“We were literally just talking about trying to get him some games with the Barracuda because he’d been practicing for two months without game action. So for him to step into that rink, that situation against that

type of team, with the speed they have, and play the game he did, was really impressive for me.”

When it was acknowledged it can’t be easy for a young skater to make his professional debut with a d-partner as dynamic as Brent Burns, DeBoer smiled.

“There’s worse partners in the league than a Norris Trophy winner,” he said with a laugh.

Why Labanc's often in the box

A few fans asked on social media recently why winger Kevin Labanc is

always tapped to go to the penalty box when the Sharks are called for having too many men on the ice. After a few such penalties were issued

to the Sharks over their last road trip, it was time to ask the 22-year-old about it.

When he was told fans have noticed he regularly serves the bench minor, Labanc let out a laugh.

“It’s like my second home,” he joked to NBC Sports California about regularly serving those two minutes in the sin bin.

The young forward took eight penalties for 16 penalty minutes through 28 games so far this season. Both times Labanc was in the penalty box during last weekend’s road back-to-back against the Senators and the Canadiens, it was to serve the Sharks’ bench minor.

When asked further if there was a reason, Labanc admitted he wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s because I don’t know play on the PK,” he said with another laugh. Then, he shrugged: “I’ll take one for the team, I don’t

mind.”

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 12.05.2018


Sharks' Brenden Dillon excited for NHL expansion franchise in Seattle

By Chelena Goldman December 04, 2018 2:58 PM

The NHL’s new franchise in Seattle might not take the ice until the 2020-

2021 season. But their home building, KeyArena, already is getting a makeover as it prepares to host professional hockey.

Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon -- who played at KeyArena when he was 16 -- saw the refurbishments taking place himself just a few months ago.

“I went down to a couple Seattle Mariners games this summer when I was back in Vancouver and they were already starting the renovations on KeyArena,” said the British Columbia native, who also played for the Western Hockey League's Seattle Thunderbirds for four seasons before joining the Dallas Stars organization in 2011.

Dillon told NBC Sports California he used to make the trek down to Washington as a young player before living in Bellevue while playing for

Seattle. He spent four seasons with the T-Birds, serving as captain in his final season before being signed by the Dallas organization. He

registered 94 points (11 goals, 83 assists) and 362 penalty minutes over 280 games with Seattle.

In addition to being in a great location, Dillon complimented the overall Seattle sports scene.

“Sports are alive and well up there in the Pacific Northwest,” he said. “Really cool arena, right in the downtown heart of things, right by the Space Needle."

“It’s great if you’re going down there for a bite to eat with your family or your buddies before a game," Dillon continued. "It’s going to be a great entertainment area.”

The new Seattle franchise is set to join the Pacific Division, just as the Vegas Golden Knights did prior to last season. VGK shattered the

expectations set for expansion teams by steamrolling their opponents and reaching the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season. This, of

course, adds extra intrigue to the yet-to-be-named Seattle team's maiden voyage.

Dillon says adding the team in Seattle will add another dimension to the division and will hopefully have the same fan appeal the Golden Knights

were able to generate.

“Hopefully they have some success just like Vegas did and build that

fanbase,” he said. “It’s going to be a great place to play hockey.”



NHL Seattle expansion approved for 2021, Coyotes to leave Pacific Division

By Marcus White December 04, 2018 10:01 AM

CAROLINA HURRICANES


The Sharks will have a new rival in the 2021-2022 season, as the Pacific Division is set for a makeover.

The NHL’s Board of Governors unanimously approved Seattle Hockey Partners’ expansion application to bring the league’s 32nd team to the Emerald City on Tuesday. The Seattle franchise will begin play in 2021-22, at the renovated KeyArena.

HISTORY: Seattle is awarded the NHL’s 32nd franchise. #ReturnToHockey #NHLSeattle

Full Story | https://t.co/9Zvs0kAF2R pic.twitter.com/jj9Hpse8xr

— NHL Seattle (@NHLSeattle_) December 4, 2018

Seattle will face the same expansion draft format as the Vegas Golden Knights last summer. The team will be able to select one player from 30 teams. That excludes the Golden Knights, who will not get a cut of the $650 million expansion fee NHL Seattle will pay.

The league’s newest franchise will play in the Pacific Division, and the Arizona Coyotes will move to the Central to give the NHL four divisions with eight teams. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters Tuesday that the Coyotes draw better attendance against Central Division teams.

But the divisional move combined with the Desert Dogs’ ownership and attendance issues will only drive speculation that a move away from Arizona is inevitable. Houston Rockets owner Tilman Feritta said last year he was “very interested in the possibility of bringing the NHL to Houston,” while Kansas City’s Sprint Center has hosted preseason games before and is ready for a tenant. With the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues already in the Central, there’s natural potential for a rivalry -- a la Seattle joining the Vancouver Canucks in the new-look Pacific.

The NHL initially authorized Seattle’s application to play in the 2020-21

season, but the team will join the league in 2021-22 because of possible construction delays at KeyArena, according to commissioner Gary

Bettman.

The league and the NHLPA can opt out of the current collective

bargaining agreement next September, which means the CBA would expire in 2020, which is when Seattle initially hoped to start play. A 2021

start may very well prevent construction delays, but it won’t do anything to prevent speculation the NHL is headed towards a fourth lockout since 1994.



Pete DeBoer deserves more time to get the Sharks sorted out — and he’ll probably get it

By Kevin Kurz Dec 4, 2018

At 13-10-5, good for third place in the Pacific Division and seventh in the Western Conference with 31 points, the Sharks aren’t quite where they are supposed to be a third of the way into a season in which anything less than an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final would be a disappointment.

A 1-3-1 road trip in which the team salvaged the final game in Montreal wasn’t very encouraging. The Sharks were pounded in Vegas, Toronto

and Ottawa, gained one point in a decent performance against a hot team in Buffalo and beat the Canadiens on Sunday. That win came only

after a meeting led by general manager Doug Wilson Sunday morning at Bell Centre, which seemed to spark the Sharks to give a full 60-minute

effort for at least one night.

Those of us who are required to be on social media for professional reasons or have scanned the resident message boards can’t escape the sense that the fan base is growing impatient with coach Pete DeBoer and his staff. While restless fans of any team are nothing new, the acrimony toward DeBoer seems to be particularly palpable of late. After all, the Sharks’ acquisition of Erik Karlsson was supposed to make the club a legitimate title contender. But as Logan Couture put it after the club’s 5-3 loss in Toronto on Wednesday, the team doesn’t seem close to that level at the moment.

But a coaching change? Sorry, but I don’t think that’s really worth

debating at this point.

For one thing, The Athletic recently learned from multiple sources that

DeBoer signed a contract extension in the offseason believed to be for either two or three more seasons. The Sharks don’t make such

information public, but the coach was reportedly entering the final year of an original four-year deal that he signed when he joined the Sharks in the

2015 offseason.

Logic dictates that the club would be much less inclined to jettison a

coach that it just deemed worthy of an extension a few short months ago.

But even more than that, let’s look at DeBoer’s first three seasons with the Sharks.

In 2015-16, the club was 18-18-2 on Jan. 9 before making a few deft moves with the roster and eventually advancing to the Stanley Cup Final. Not only did DeBoer take the franchise as far as it had ever been, he helped advise Wilson on some key midseason acquisitions for role players that he knew well. Not bad.

In 2016-17, the Sharks again looked primed to challenge for a championship despite the short summer, with several key players

competing in the World Cup of Hockey in September and then dealing with a condensed schedule. Untimely injuries to Joe Thornton and Logan

Couture occurred just before the playoffs and neither of the team’s top two centers was very effective in a first-round loss to the Edmonton

Oilers. As soon as Thornton tore up his knee and Couture got his mouth rearranged by an errant puck to the face, the playoff run was toast.

That’s surely not on DeBoer.

Last season, the Sharks were having tremendous trouble in the early months putting the puck in the net, which was predictable considering management’s decision to preserve cap space rather than attempt to replace the departed Patrick Marleau’s offense. Just when they started to get rolling, Thornton suffered a season-ending knee injury just before the All-Star break. But after Evander Kane was acquired in February, the Sharks changed to a faster, more rush-attack style — no simple feat. In the playoffs, they swept Anaheim in the first round and gave Vegas its

most difficult out in the Western Conference in the second round. I would argue that the Sharks overachieved, and that DeBoer did as good a job as any coach in the NHL last season other than maybe the Golden Knights’ Gerard Gallant.

I’ve seen the argument made that DeBoer didn’t last more than four seasons with the Panthers or Devils, so perhaps his message is getting stale right about now. Perhaps there’s some truth to that.

But the circumstances with those firings can’t be compared with his tenure with the Sharks. Over time, his roster with those previous clubs got progressively weaker. The Devils team that went to the Stanley Cup

Final in 2012 featured Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk in the primes of their careers; by the time DeBoer was fired on Christmas in 2014, those

two elite players had both moved on and no one else close to that caliber had replaced them.

Further, the biggest knock against DeBoer in New Jersey was that he didn’t play the young players. A few years later, we now know those

young players simply weren’t very good. No other coach worth his salt would have had those guys in, either.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


This isn’t to say that DeBoer, who announced a change in some of his assistant coaches responsibilities on Tuesday morning, couldn’t have done things a bit differently the past few weeks.

Maybe he was playing Karlsson, who looked out of shape and struggled early on, too many minutes in the first couple weeks of the season. Maybe Aaron Dell should have been making more starts while Martin Jones was trying to find his form. Maybe Melker Karlsson shouldn’t be in the lineup at all. Maybe Antti Suomela should have been kept on the same line as countryman Joonas Donskoi.

These are all arguments worth debating, but even taken as a whole,

they’re not worth firing someone of DeBoer’s pedigree.

The most valid complaint, to me, is that DeBoer may have split up

Karlsson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic too soon, putting Vlasic back with Justin Braun and Karlsson with Brenden Dillon. Frankly, Vlasic’s

tremendous regression this season is the most confusing development so far. Perhaps it’s up to the coach to get the defenseman to start

showing a little more effort on the ice rather than most nights looking like a guy who wants to be somewhere else.

Vlasic has now gone 12 games without being a plus player, the second-longest such streak of his career and the first time that’s happened since he was a rookie in 2007-08. Offensively, he has just one goal and five assists for six points, a tremendous slide from posting 32 points in 81 games last season.

Say what you will about plus/minus, but the eye test has shown, too, that there’s been a whole lot more bad than good going on out there for the Sharks when Vlasic’s on the ice.

Prior to the Canadiens game on Sunday, DeBoer was asked about his decision to split Karlsson and Vlasic, which came on Oct. 23 in Nashville.

“There was a bunch that went into it. Didn’t feel great at the time,” DeBoer said. “Now, we were at a different point in the season, it was

early in the year, Erik was still getting used to things. Vlasic had played with Braun for years, and they had a real comfort level together. Could

we have stuck with it longer? Maybe we could have, but we decided not to. I think our pairs are in a good place.”

There’s no doubt that at some point Vlasic is going to have to start playing better hockey and competing harder on a more regular basis if the Sharks are going to be an elite team. DeBoer has said more than once over the years that the team seems to struggle the most when their so-called defensive stalwart is out of the lineup, and for much of the season so far, Vlasic has been missing in a different sense of the word.

Of course, there’s no guarantee of anything in DeBoer’s profession. Anything can happen at any time in this league, like the somewhat surprising firings of Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville and Flyers general manager Ron Hextall recently.

The way the Sharks are currently built, this is a team that should be better than what it has shown so far. If they lose their next five games or

fall below .500 and out of the playoff race at the All-Star break then perhaps it would be time to consider a new voice behind the bench.

But Wilson has never fired a head coach in the middle of the season and I just don’t see it happening this season unless things get really bad. If I

had to guess about that meeting in Montreal, Wilson probably told the players that the coach isn’t going anywhere.

Perhaps it’s time for the guys in the dressing room to decide whether they want to be here with him.

The Athletic LOADED: 12.05.2018

1119189 Anaheim Ducks

The outlook for Daniel Sprong and his new Ducks teammates is getting sunnier

By HELENE ELLIOTT

DEC 04, 2018 | 7:45 PM

When he woke up Tuesday, the morning after he had been traded from

the Penguins to the Ducks, forward Daniel Sprong immediately knew he wasn’t in wintry Pittsburgh anymore. “I saw the sun for the first time in a

month. I guess that’s a good sign, get to see the sun still exists,” he said.

The Ducks hope he will soon see the goal light being illuminated after he puts the puck in the net.

Deep and mobile on defense with the development of rookies Josh Mahura and Jacob Larsson, the Ducks felt comfortable trading defenseman Marcus Pettersson to the Penguins for the speed and scoring potential of 21-year-old Sprong. He has produced in juniors — he had three 30-goal seasons — and in the American Hockey League, where he scored 32 goals and 65 points in 65 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Pa.) last season. Negotiating that last big step to the NHL has been a challenge: In 42 games over three seasons he has four goals and nine points with an average ice time of 9 minutes and 40 seconds per game. This season he was averaging 8:33 and had four assists in 16 games.

It’s a low-risk move for the Ducks, who rank near the bottom of the NHL in scoring.

“Right now there’s too much pressure on our defense and goaltending. We need to find a way to score more goals,” general manager Bob Murray said in a statement. “He will get an opportunity here to show what

he can do.”

Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford still had faith in Sprong, a second-round draft pick in 2015, but coach Mike Sullivan didn’t. That led to a change of scenery for Sprong and, he hopes, a second chance. “I

think when you play four, five minutes a night, you ask any guy, there’s not much you can do sitting on the bench the whole third period,” said

Sprong, who skated alongside Nick Ritchie and Adam Henrique in practice Tuesday. “You’re not getting out there, it’s tough to do things. Those are the cards I was dealt. But it’s a new beginning here, a new opportunity, and I’m excited.”

Sprong said he knew center Carter Rowney, also a former Penguin, and had played against forward Kiefer Sherwood, but otherwise had to go through a lot of hasty hellos. He appreciated that Henrique and Ritchie constantly communicated with him during practice to prepare him for his Ducks debut Wednesday against Chicago. “They’re two big guys, two big bodies that are very skilled,” Sprong said. “Of course, hard-working guys

as well, talking to me a lot on the ice to make me feel comfortable. I just try to play my game and build some chemistry off the start. See where it

goes.”

Sprong arrives at an interesting point in the Ducks’ season. Their

stunning 6-5 comeback victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals on Sunday extended their winning streak to four

and put them in first place in the Pacific Division for a few hours. The lead will change often before the season ends, and no team appears

capable of sprinting away from the pack. Calgary’s goaltending is suspect. So is San Jose’s, and the Sharks haven’t figured out how to best use defenseman Erik Karlsson’s scoring skills. Edmonton is still sorting out its problems on defense. Vegas has been playing better but isn’t on the magical mystery tour it enjoyed last season. The Kings’ scoring woes have been even worse than the Ducks’ and they’d need a miracle to get back into playoff contention.

The door is open for the Ducks — if they don’t trip over themselves. Except for the excellent goaltending of John Gibson and Ryan Miller they’ve been wildly inconsistent. “If we had the formula to eliminate all of

CAROLINA HURRICANES


that we’d have used it. I don’t know if anybody has that formula in team sports,” coach Randy Carlyle said. Performances like their rally at Washington, which sent them home with eight of a possible 10 points on a tough trip, are reminders they have the potential to dominate. But do they have the will?

“There’s no reason we can’t. It’s a matter of getting that consistency in our game where we’re playing period in, period out,” team captain Ryan Getzlaf said, noting they were flat in the early going at Washington and sabotaged their cause by taking penalties before their resilience kicked in. “We were in a pretty tough spot after a long stretch at home where we

didn’t play well on any kind of consistent basis. So we’ve built over the last five games an ability to play at a higher level for a longer period of

time. We’re definitely not where we want to be but better than when we left. It’s a long year. As long as we can hang around and put together

stretches, we’ve just got to grind away and get our lineup going the way we want it to, all the time.”

Sprong can play a part in that if he can recapture his scoring touch. “For sure there’s a lot of guys that have great resumes, a lot of guys that have

been in this league for a long time and guys that I watched playing when I was still in junior, so it’s pretty cool to see that,” Sprong said of his new teammates. “I’m excited to be here and play my game and help in any way I can.”

The sight of the red light going on behind the net would make the Ducks as happy as Sprong was to see sunlight and blue skies.

LA Times: LOADED: 12.05.2018


Cam Fowler could return for Ducks next month; Patrick Eaves out

indefinitely

By ELLIOTT TEAFORD | [email protected] | Orange County Register

PUBLISHED: December 4, 2018 at 3:22 pm | UPDATED: December 4, 2018 at 3:22 PM

ANAHEIM — Defenseman Cam Fowler could be back in the Ducks’

lineup by mid-January, if all goes well and he suffers no significant setbacks after undergoing surgery last month to mend fractures to his

orbital, cheek and upper jaw bones on the right side of his face, the team said Tuesday.

The Ducks also said right wing Patrick Eaves would be sidelined indefinitely after it was revealed he had been trying to play with a broken

rib, which led to a bout of back spasms. Eaves’ injury is not believed to be related to the shoulder surgery he underwent during the offseason.

All in all, it was a day of mixed medical news for the Ducks.

Fowler was hurt when a puck struck him in the face during the Ducks’ victory Nov. 12 over the Nashville Predators. He had blocked a shot with his stick blade, but the puck ramped up and struck him just under his helmet visor, causing multiple fractures that required surgery.

He avoided infections after the complicated procedure and is scheduled to resume unspecified exercise this coming weekend. If that goes well and he suffers no setbacks, Fowler could be cleared to resume skating

within seven to 10 days. If that goes well, then he could be ready to play again in January.

There is no timetable for Eaves’ return to the ice in any fashion. It was also unclear how or when he was injured. He played five games after his

season debut was delayed because of shoulder surgery and then was sidelined because of back spasms related to a broken rib.

Eaves has been limited to seven games in the past two seasons because of an illness and a shoulder injury and now these latest ailments. The Ducks couldn’t say for sure whether he would need a surgical procedure to mend his rib or whether rest alone would enable him to recovery fully.

WARM WELCOME

Daniel Sprong awoke in a new city and arrived at a new arena eager to meet his new teammates. A change of scenery was exactly what he wanted and it was exactly what he got after the Ducks acquired him

Monday from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for defenseman Marcus Pettersson.

“I saw the sun for the first time in a month,” the 21-year-old right wing, said with a smile. “I guess that’s a good sign. It’s good to see the sun still

exists. No winter coats for me. I guess that’s a good start, waking up and seeing the sun and not having to wear a toque or a winter jacket.”

Shhh, don’t let him know rain is in the forecast. It’ll spoil his perception of Southern California’s weather.

Sprong skated with left wing Nick Ritchie and center Adam Henrique during the Ducks’ practice at Honda Center, showing off some of the speed and skill the offensively challenged team coveted.

The Ducks averaged 2.34 goals per game, the second-fewest in the NHL going into Tuesday.

Sprong had four goals and nine points in 42 games in his NHL career, falling out of favor with the Penguins’ coaching staff earlier this season. He had 32 goals and 65 points in 65 games last season with the Penguins’ AHL team and 117 goals and 261 points in 199 games in junior-level hockey.

“Right now, there’s too much pressure on our defense and goaltending,” Ducks general manager Bob Murray said in a statement. “We need to

find a way to score more goals. (Sprong) is a player that has shown that ability. He has scored at every level on the way to the NHL.

“He will get an opportunity here to show what he can do.”

Orange County Register: LOADED: 12.05.2018


Trade for Daniel Sprong shows patient Ducks GM Bob Murray is fine with

calculated risks

By Eric Stephens

Dec 4, 2018

“Trader Bob” Murray is not a reference he’ll be likely be called anytime soon. If ever. But the Ducks’ longtime general manager offered up a bit of

proof Monday that he doesn’t have the team running solely on idle.

Murray’s trade of defenseman Marcus Pettersson for Pittsburgh forward

Daniel Sprong in a straight-up swap of young players working to become NHL fixtures shows that while he isn’t as vocal and eager to shake things

up as his Penguins counterpart in Jim Rutherford, he is willing to stretch out and make an occasional gamble.

This deal has Murray showing that he won’t always play it safe.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


This deal is no blockbuster. That would have been more along the lines of moving Brandon Montour as that particular Ducks defenseman has been a regular name in trade rumors. But why would you move a 24-year-old eating up 25 minutes a night, especially with the absence of the injured Cam Fowler? (And with William Nylander now re-signed in Toronto, that should help kill those rumors. Or put them to sleep for a little while).

But in obtaining Sprong and sending away Pettersson, it does show that Murray has some willingness to take risks. It is a calculated one as Murray’s trades mostly are. The emergence of Jacob Larsson – a 2015

first-round pick – as someone they can trust to play regularly on the blueline and the huge impression Josh Mahura made in his brief first

NHL stint no doubt played a role in this.

Add in picking up Jake Dotchin for third-pairing depth and Murray could

afford to part with the 22-year-old Swede. Larsson and Mahura, who also play the left side as did Pettersson, have more upside and both are even

a shade younger. Mahura also offers a power-play component. There is also the hope that Fowler is able to fully recover from complex facial

fracture surgery and return later in the year.

But the bet is on Sprong, a 21-year-old talent that the Ducks are bringing into Anaheim to see up close after scouting him in recent weeks. A native of Amsterdam, Sprong has been considered one of the high-end prospects in the Penguins’ system since they drafted him in 2015. Finding his way in the NHL has been a challenge.

Sprong has been up with Pittsburgh in 2018-19 after limited runs in the previous two seasons. He hasn’t been in every game. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has scratched him in nine contests. And in the 16 games he appeared in, the right wing totaled only four assists and a minus-7

rating.

But there has been a deep feeling among parts of the Penguins fanbase

that Sullivan hampered his development either with not playing Sprong at all or giving him limited fourth-line minutes when his skill set suggested

that he needs to be at least within a team’s top nine forwards, if not within the top six to maximize his potential. Sprong’s most ice time this season was 11:46 on Oct. 27 at Vancouver. He has games where his ice time

was 3:37, 4:18, 6:45 and 6:47.

There is also the feeling that while he has legitimate skill in some areas, the other components in his game are not up an NHL level. Whether he is willing to play the kind of defense that’s required to be a regular

player? Whether he can work well within systematic play and a team concept? Whether his game was good enough to put up points in juniors

and the American Hockey League but that the skill doesn’t stand out as much when he gets to facing the Maple Leafs, Sabres, Bruins, Blue

Jackets, etc.

Colleague Josh Yohe of The Athletic Pittsburgh offered this observation:

Daniel Sprong possesses a significant amount of upside potential and was easily the most gifted young forward in the Penguins’ system. His release is impressive. When Sprong shoots the puck, the whole building notices. It wouldn’t be a shock to see Sprong become an impactful, top-six right wing. His shot and feel in the offensive zone are impressive and his long reach should also benefit him.

However, Sprong is not particularly fast, isn’t especially interested in playing defense and has a history of irritating coaches. Mike Sullivan

rarely showed patience for Sprong, whose tendency to chase the puck instead of playing sound, positional hockey can be infuriating. This is a

classic boom or bust prospect. Could he become a 30-goal scorer? Absolutely. But there is also a frustrating nature to Sprong. He certainly

needed a fresh start. He’s talented but raw. It will be interesting to see how he develops.

Murray is taking a shot with Sprong because he can use another young player with high upside – if they can help him reach that. Rickard Rakell and Ondrej Kase are two of their most skilled players on the current roster and they’ve got plenty of productive years ahead of them. Taking a

flier on Pontus Aberg has paid off thus far but who knows if he is a long-term solution. But the other forwards on the Ducks are either at an advanced age or are more of the grinding variety. There isn’t a lot of pure goal scoring coming out of this group.

Sunday’s six-goal outburst in their stunning comeback to beat Washington was a season high. Murray is likely looking at that more as a one-off than the start of a scoring binge. His team still averages only 2.34 per game, which ranks 30th. Two power play goals during the rally at Capital One Arena marked the first time the Ducks have had more than one on the man-advantage in a single game. And they can’t assume to

get a lot out of an injured Patrick Eaves and Corey Perry, if and when they’re able to come back.

More skill is coming but it’s a hair too young still when it comes to being highly productive at the NHL level. Troy Terry, Isac Lundestrom and Sam

Steel are getting the development in the American Hockey League that they probably should have had all along. Max Comtois will have to do

one more season in the QMJHL but he’s proven that he has scoring touch. Max Jones, their top pick in 2016, is finding his footing as a pro

after dealing with a thumb injury.

Sprong may be able to help the Ducks now if he’s willing to find his place and put in the work at both ends of the ice. The Ducks may be able to help Sprong if they’re able to find the right place for him within the lineup. There hasn’t been a question about him being able to score goals. He has got to provide answers to the other questions about him.

This trade reminded me of one Murray made nearly four years ago when he dealt away Devante Smith-Pelly for Jiri Sekac. Smith-Pelly, a second-round pick who came up with the Ducks, frustrated them at times with inconsistency in his game and his conditioning off the ice. Sekac could

get up and down the ice while also possessing tantalizing skill.

That trade did not work. Smith-Pelly bounced between Montreal and New

Jersey but found a home in Washington where he once again showed to be a playoff performer with seven goals in the Capitals’ run to their first

Stanley Cup, including the tying score in the clinching Game 5 against Vegas. Back when he was with the Ducks, Smith-Pelly had a team-leading five goals in the 2014 playoffs. Sekac played a grand total of 41

games with Anaheim. He also bounced around other NHL teams before taking up residence in the Kontinental Hockey League.

This medium-level Pettersson-for-Sprong move can blow up in Murray’s face if Pettersson becomes a fixture in Pittsburgh’s defense corps and

Sprong never realizes the potential he and others see in him. But Murray has been willing to reach a bit and take a shot on a skilled forward that

showed flashes of scoring ability but left his organization wanting more until it decided he wasn’t worth the trouble any longer. The good thing

about the one that he took a chance on is that he didn’t have to lose an asset to see if they could unlock his potential.

His waiver claim leads the Ducks with nine goals this season. His name is Pontus Aberg.



NHL Trade Grades: Penguins sell low to fix today’s problems, while Ducks set sights on future

By Corey Pronman

Dec 4, 2018

CAROLINA HURRICANES


The Trade

Anaheim gets forward Daniel Sprong.

Pittsburgh gets defenseman Marcus Pettersson.

Anaheim Ducks: A-minus

In Sprong, the Ducks received a high-end talent who divides evaluators

and fans alike. Sprong lit up the QMJHL and was one of the most dangerous scorers in the AHL as a 20-year-old. He’s always been a point

producer and an elite shot generator at the levels below the NHL.

He’s got all the tools to succeed. He’s a high-end skater with great

hands, a bullet shot and the ability to make plays at the NHL level. When his game is clicking, he can be a real offensive threat. Some NHL folks don’t like Sprong’s makeup. Some claim he’s a good kid but just misunderstood. He’s an inquisitive player who shows an interest in analytics to better his play.

He’s by no means a perfect player, though. For years Sprong’s game has been dogged by inconsistent effort and poor play off the puck. It’s part of the reason why he and Penguins coach Mike Sullivan didn’t have a happy marriage despite his GM being a fan. Given Sprong’s need to clear waivers, it was either waive him, trade him or fire the coach.

Sprong didn’t look like himself playing in the NHL this season after an impressive stint with the top club in 2017-18. He lacked the pace and creativity I’m used to seeing from him and his ice time never got off the ground. The Ducks are betting on Sprong rediscovering himself, but it’s not immediately clear where he fits in unless some of their right-shots play the left side.

I previously projected Sprong as a top-end prospect, but have since adjusted that. I believe Sprong has the upside to be a second-line forward in the NHL. It remains to be seen whether that potential is ever

realized, but the upside on this deal is significant for the Ducks.

Pittsburgh Penguins: C-plus

The Penguins traded a prospect who was at times divisive and at other times exciting. In Pettersson, they get the opposite. He’s not exciting,

he’s not dynamic, but he’s steady. The 2014 second-round pick has rarely blown me away over the years. He’s never been considered a go-

to guy whether it’s U18 and U20 international events or the SHL, AHL and NHL.

However, he has enough tools to project to be a third pairing NHL defenseman. He’s a big defender who is a technically smooth skater with the mobility to skate at the NHL level. He’s not an overly physical defender, but with his wingspan, mobility and above-average hockey sense, he’s a quality defender who can penalty kill and be reliable at even strength.

Marcus isn’t devoid of offense, but it isn’t his strong suit. He’s never been a PP1 defenseman, but rather someone who makes a good first pass

and has enough vision to be useful at the pro level.

There’s a tad more upside than what he’s delivered for the Ducks, but

that is pretty close to what I envision his ceiling is as an NHLer.

Conclusion

I can see the arguments from the Penguins perspective on why they made this deal. The Sprong-Sullivan relationship wasn’t strong, Sprong

wasn’t playing well enough in very limited minutes to deserve more, he couldn’t be waived and the Penguins’ blueline could use some extra help.

The team isn’t an elite one anymore, but they could still plausibly have an extended playoff run if they turn their season around. From that perspective, it is logical that they want to cut their losses and find a player in Pettersson who may not provide a ton of value but could help their organization.

In the process, though, they moved a ton of talent and didn’t get equal return, likely because teams saw the wall they were up against. They were selling Sprong at a low point, leading to the marketplace being

unwilling to pay full price. The Penguins got 40 cents on the dollar, and the Ducks have the potential to get a lot of value from this trade.

This is no guarantee that the Ducks will emerge happy about this deal in three years’ time. Sprong still must get it done and he’s looked under replacement level this season.

Anaheim isn’t a good team this season. Retaining a just OK defenseman in Pettersson when players in their system, like Jacob Larsson and Josh Mahura, are at very similar talents levels doesn’t change its present or future outlook. Given the Ducks likely won’t win this season, the future takes priority, and Sprong could be a significant part of their future if he

finds his old form.

The Ducks get all the upside in this trade with minimal downside. Even if

it doesn’t work out, this was a great bet by their organization.


1119359 Toronto Maple Leafs

Matthews snaps home last-second winner as Maple Leafs edge Sabres in overtime

ROBERT MACLEOD

For John Tavares, who is in his ninth National Hockey League season, a

trip to Buffalo is always a special moment, and not because of hockey.

The sturdy centre of the Toronto Maple Leafs has played his fair share of

games against the Buffalo Sabres here at KeyBank Center over the years.

But when he walked into the arena ahead of Tuesday night’s game against the rejuvenated Sabres, his mind drifts back to when he used to regularly visit this hardscrabble city in upstate New York to watch his uncle, also named John Tavares, play professional lacrosse.

The lacrosse-playing Tavares forged a legend playing his entire career in the National Lacrosse League for the Buffalo Bandits. And when he retired from the game in 2015, he was the NLL’s all-time leader in games played (306), goals (815) and assists (934).

“Hard to count,” Tavares said when asked how many lacrosse games he saw in this building while growing up to be a hockey star. “A lot of good

ones, there was a lot of fun coming to watch my uncle. Great being in the locker room and kind of being out there for pregame warmups too, being

one of the ball boys. I really enjoyed it.

“Lacrosse is a big passion of mine and not too many people get to say

they’ve got one of the country’s best athletes as an uncle and a family member. So someone I really looked up to and was a great influence on

me.”

The Leafs and the Sabres renewed hockey hostilities Tuesday night in a cross U.S.-Canada border rivalry that suddenly has more sizzle now that Buffalo has emerged out of the shinny wilderness.

And the Leafs took the first meeting of the season between the two sides with a tense 4-3 overtime victory, Toronto’s fifth straight win. For the Sabres, it was their fourth straight setback after rattling off 10 wins in a row.

And it was Auston Matthews who potted he winner, using his patented snap shot to blaze the puck past Buffalo goalie Linus Ullmark with just

2.7 seconds left in the five-minute overtime affair.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


It was Matthews’s second goal of the game, giving him 15 in 14 games this season and it came at the end of a long shift with him gasping for air.

“We got a break there,” Matthews said afterwards. “I really didn’t know how much time was left, I was kind of pooped at the end of my shift. I decided to stay out there and was just able to pull it in and pick a corner. I was lucky to get it off.”

It was a well-played, fast-skating affair in which the Leafs carried a 2-1 lead into the third where Jack Eichel scored twice to allow the Sabres a 3-2 lead.

On his second goal, Eichel took advantage of a bad giveaway at the Leaf

blueline by Nazem Kadri. The puck found its way to Eichel’s stick and he manoeuvred into the slot where his wrist shot eluded Toronto goaltender

Frederik Andersen.

But Toronto fought back with Patrick Marleau jamming the puck home

behind Buffalo goaltender Linus Ullmark from the side of the Buffalo net at the 14:47 mark to draw the Leafs even.

The close proximity of Buffalo to Toronto has always ensured that there are plenty of Leaf fans making the cross-border trek to support their

heroes, and Tuesday’s game was no exception.

In the downtown core in Buffalo during the late afternoon, it was almost impossible to walk a block without encountering a festive group outfitted in Leafs’ garb.

Inside the arena, the Leaf supporters are more than able to hold their own against the home Sabres’ loyalists, although that scale may be tipping now that their hockey team has joined the land of the living.

After seven straight seasons of playoff-less hockey, the Sabres have been the surprise of the NHL this season. Buoyed by a recent 10-game win streak, the Sabres came into Tuesday’s game nipping at the Leafs

skate blades, just one point shy of Toronto’s mark in the Atlantic Division.

And the local fans have been lapping it up with renewed vigour, giving a

new sense of purpose to a stagnant rivalry.

“The other thing about it, let’s face it, just the proximity of the two teams,”

Leafs coach Mike Babcock noted. “It meant that every time we came here before there was always energy in the building, a lot of Leaf fans.

“And now, pretty soon Leaf fans won’t be able to buy tickets here because Buffalo fans will have bought them already.”

The Sabres enjoyed a wide territorial edge in a free-flowing opening period, outshooting Toronto 14-7, but the game remained goalless.

Matthews got Toronto on the scoreboard first at the 8:33 mark of the

second period, knocking the puck down at one side of the net before finishing with a nifty wraparound on the other side.

Buffalo would tie it when Sam Reinhart deflected a Nathan Beaulieu shot from the point behind Andersen.

With just 10 seconds left, Toronto’s Jake Gardner deposited a pretty backhand feed from Tavares behind Ullmark to send the Leafs into the third with a 2-1 lead.

Globe And Mail LOADED: 12.05.2018


Game Centre: Auston Matthews the overtime hero as Leafs down Sabres | The Star

By Rosie DiManno

BUFFALO—Whip-it hockey.

Plenty eventful and entertaining, that 4-3 overtime wrangle, with Toronto on the right side of the score against the Sabres.

The Leafs’ Auston Matthews celebrates scoring the game-winning goal with just 2.7 seconds left in overtime Tuesday night against the Sabres in Buffalo.

Nothing like old times, down blighted Buffalo way, eh? And possibly a first-round playoff preview.

Americans Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel — forever to be weighed

against each other and hopefully U.S. teammates at a future date when the NHL returns to the Olympics — displayed their stud bona fides, each with a brace of goals.

Except Matthews stood just a bit taller, wristing the winner with 2.7 seconds left in overtime, his 15th of the season in his 14th game.

Matthews was gassed, he admitted, thought he should have gone off the ice 20 seconds earlier on that shift.

“Honestly, I was so tired. I just shot it.’’

Wasn’t aiming, wasn’t much thinking either.

“I knew I was going against the forwards. I felt that I could maybe have a

little bit more time to get the shot off that I wanted. Just pulled it in and let it go. The rest is history.

“I was pretty winded by the end.”

It had looked, late in the third, like Eichel would be the hero on Tuesday

night, burying his second with eight minutes left in regulation to give Buffalo a 3-2 lead, with a 10-2-3 record in one-goal games on the

season.

But Patrick Marleau wiped that smile off the Sabres’ faces, pulling the

puck off the back wall to knot it 3-3 at 14:47.

Nothing seemed decided in overtime, despite a Kasperi Kapanen breakaway. Appeared headed for the rightly maligned shootout. Except Mr. Awesome Auston struck with the seconds ticking away.

That’s five wins in a row for Toronto.

Getting a jump: The Sabres may have played the night before in Nashville. They may have lost the night before in Nashville. The Sabres may have flown home the night before from Nashville.

But they were the ones who came out with the most jump on Tuesday, outshooting the Leafs 10-3 in the opening 10 minutes of play.

And just after that, on the 11th shot, Freddie Andersen — under that fusillade of rubber, seemingly abandoned by his mates — whipped out

the glove for the highlight Venus flytrap save of the first period, leaving Rasmus Ristolainen with his jaw open. The defenceman deked around

John Tavares and then tangle-footed Igor Ozhiganov before widening the whites of Andersen’s eyes.

Ristolainen looks rather like a Finnish cyborg — with one-note quotes to match — but he had himself a hell of an opening 20, including a nifty through-the-legs drop-pass at the side of the Leaf net. Andersen was again up to the task.

Cirque du glace: There were acrobatics at both ends of the rink in the second period, with No. 2 Buffalo goalie Linus Ullmark making some pretty spectacular use of a flung-out leg here and uplifted shoulder there. The first-year NHLer was all that stood between cranked up Leafs and blanks on the board. Until Matthews struck at 8:33, his fourth since he returned to the lineup a week ago.

Matthews snuck around the back of the net to pounce on a Ron Hainsey deflection, a backdoor bit of artistry that went in off the foot of Ullmark,

coming across the crease.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


A Sam Reinhart deflection of a point shot through a clot of bodies at the other end tied it 1-1. Then, with just 9.6 seconds left in the second, Jake Gardiner slotted the puck in, the beneficiary of a little drop pass by Tavares.

Hosers go home: Sabres players and fans have had it up to here with denizens of Leaf Nation taking KeyBank Center (and all its earlier iterations) hostage every time the teams meet. But with Buffalo a totally unexpected presence in the lofty standings, the easy-ducat days for visitors from the other end of the QEW may be over.

“It was sold out and pretty noisy the last three games we played at

home,” noted Kyle Okposo, who was expecting more of the same Tuesday night. And he was right, with the usually overwhelming blue

wave somewhat stifled.

“It’s electric,” said Mitch Marner of the atmosphere. “It’s fun to have both

fan-bases be a part of it. Usually the chants go back and forth. For us, it’s trying to get our fans involved right away.’

Marner never actually attended a Leafs-Sabres game in Buffalo as a kid. Surprisingly, neither did fellow Toronto thereabouts teammate John

Tavares, though he was on hand for plenty of Buffalo Bandits lacrosse games, his uncle John Tavares the National Lacrosse League’s all-time leading scorer. John Tavares the Younger was a ball boy for that team.

“They’ve been on quite a roll,” said Tavares of the Sabres who, among their other startling accomplishment this season, have won 10 of 14 one-goal games. “There’s a lot to play for, on the line. A lot of really good players, a lot of talent on both sides. Two very passionate fan bases.”

Au-stunning: Three games back from his shoulder injury, Matthews has endured both the quick-time highs and lows of a return to the NHL fray after missing 14 games over a month.

“The first game, you’ve got a lot of adrenalin and then it kind of dies down, you know? You’re back into a routine. I just want to continue to try

to feel better and better every game. Get your legs and your lungs back under you. Get a feel for the puck. It’s tough.

“I just want to make sure I’m skating and getting back to how I was feeling prior to the injury.”

Five goals and two assists in three games. Not half bad.

Taxi! Google Maps notes that it is precisely a 99.2-mile drive down the QEW from Toronto to Buffalo. Which, on Tuesday, this reporter covered by cab (but don’t tell anybody).

The same authority claims that it would take 33 hours to cover that distance by walking.

Not at my ambling pace. So best get started.

Toronto Star LOADED: 12.05.2018


Leafs GM’s promise to Nylander could be as good as the next trade offer | The Star

By Dave Feschuk

One of the Toronto sports surprises of the year arrived on Monday. Maple Leafs winger William Nylander held court with the media after signing a six-year deal that will pay him just short of $42 million (U.S.),

and the scene immediately conjured thoughts of … former Raptors all-star DeMar DeRozan?

Yes, different sport and different pay grades; under DeRozan’s current NBA contract, he’ll earn the equivalent of Nylander’s deal in about a season and a half. But given Nylander’s recounting of his pre-signing discussions with Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas, Nylander and DeRozan suddenly had something in common. They were now both adamant they’d been told by their respective Toronto sports franchises that they wouldn’t be traded.

William Nylander says Leafs Kyle Dubas has told him numerous times that he won’t be traded,, but plenty of pro athletes heard the same thing before they were moved to another team.

DeRozan, of course, was shipped to San Antonio in the Kawhi Leonard deal back in July, shortly after he says he was given assurances to the

contrary by Raptors president Masai Ujiri.

Nylander has long been the subject of trade rumours that have never

really gone away, partly because the Maple Leafs assembled an auction block of contingency trade offers during negotiations that ended

Saturday. Still, the 22-year-old Swede said he ultimately signed in part because of taking Dubas’s word he would not be moved.

"Kyle has told me multiple times that as long as he’s here, he’s not going to trade me," Nylander said Monday.

Said Dubas, nodding at the mention of Nylander’s eyebrow-raising assertion: “I don't know why that's a surprise. I've been on the record as saying that … it's our intention to have him here as long as we're here. He’s an excellent young player. I don’t think we want to get in the business of not having excellent young players.”

It was a genius stroke by the 22-year-old Swede to get the whole thing on the record for the assembled cameras. As the son of a former NHL player who was traded five times, Nylander probably doesn’t need to be

told that a GM’s words ultimately aren’t worth much.

“Unless it’s written on paper, it doesn’t really count,” Pierre McGuire, the

former NHL coach turned NBC analyst, said on TSN radio Tuesday.

Still, words uttered into umpteen cameras and recorders count a little

more than a whisper in an ear. There are savvy pro athletes who only begin to fret about changing addresses when they’ve privately assured

by a ranking executive that they’re not in danger of changing addresses.

As Luc Robitaille, the Hockey Hall of Fame winger who was traded three times, once said: “The day the GM gives you that speech, you’re gone.”

No-trade promises are the reason no-trade clauses were invented. But Nylander, emerging from his entry-level deal, wasn’t eligible for much on-paper trade protection. The sixth year of his deal includes a provision wherein Nylander can submit a list of 10 NHL teams to which he can refuse to be dealt. Beyond that, he can be swapped at the Leafs’ whim.

And hey, it can happen to anyone. Roberto Alomar, probably the greatest player in Blue Jays history, once called the general manager of the

Cleveland Indians “a liar” after Alomar was traded to the Mets shortly after he claims he was assured he wouldn’t be. The Cleveland GM at the

time, by the way, was current Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro.

It’s a long list of athletes who can tell similar stories. Which is not to say

Dubas was wise for setting up the possibility of authoring another.

“My first thought (after hearing Nylander’s comment) was nobody should

say that to anybody. Because you just don’t know,” said Ray Ferraro, the TSN analyst and former NHLer. “What if a trade comes up that is

incredibly attractive for Toronto and the other team says, ‘We want Nylander to be a part of that package.’ Then what do you do?”

Ferraro knows first-hand to be wary of such executive vows. He was 11 seasons into a 408-goal NHL career when he signed a four-year free-agent deal to play for the New York Rangers. He’d had other options in the summer of 1995. But as New York’s No. 2 centre behind a No. 1 named Mark Messier, Ferraro saw what he figured was his best opportunity.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


So it unsettled him when, early in his first season with the club, reports surfaced that general manager Neil Smith was pursuing trade scenarios that included Joe Nieuwendyk, a hall of fame-bound centreman who, if acquired, would make Ferraro redundant. Ferraro said it was “uncomfortable” to read about his new team looking for reinforcements at his position. Perhaps sensing Ferraro’s unease, Smith sent an envoy to soothe his nerves. Backup goaltender Glenn Healy assured Ferraro there were no plans to trade him.

“Neil had asked Heals to come talk to me,” Ferraro said. “So I was under the impression I was fine.”

Ferraro was fine. He scored 25 goals in 65 games for the Rangers. But by March of his first season, he was shipped to the L.A. Kings.

“I felt like the rug had been pulled out from under me,” Ferraro said.

Whether or not the Maple Leafs will one day see the necessity to pull the

rug out from under Nylander is, to Ferraro’s eye, a “legitimate question.” With Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner in need of new contracts, and a

roster beyond still to fill, it’s far from a given that Dubas will be able fit his current collection of young stars under the salary cap.

“If Mitch Marner gets 100 points this year and Matthews scores 40 goals in 68 games, they’ve got a problem on their hands,” Ferraro said. “It’s going to be this big sliding puzzle, and the fans and media will be a half-step behind because we don’t know what the Leafs’ grand plan is. But to say, ‘I’m not going to move one of the pieces’ paints you into a corner. Because you’re either going to honour that comment or you’re going to break that promise.”

As one long-time agent wondered the other day: “Why would (Dubas) say that? Now his credibility is put into play.”

Indeed, trading Nylander in the wake of publicly vowing not to trade

Nylander would make for memorable contrast in sound bites. You can see the “Kyle Dubious” headlines now. Nobody’s suggesting the GM was

being anything but honest in his assertions. Nobody’s suggesting he’s about to trade the kid. But how can Dubas pursue the unconditional

betterment of his team by definitively saying he’s not? If there’s one thing we know about pro sports, it’s this: Things change. The best-laid plans

go kaput. As DeRozan and Alomar and many others can attest, what’s true today might not be true tomorrow.



Maple Leafs’ Kasperi Kapanen happy to have buddy William Nylander back in the fold | The Star

By Rosie DiManno

BUFFALO, N.Y.—It wasn’t love at first sight.

Kasperi Kapanen and William Nylander kinda hated each other. But they were just wee things way back then, in kiddie rink-rat days, both sons of noteworthy NHL veterans: Sami Kapanen and Michael Nylander.

Amigos to roomies to teammates. Even made their Leaf debuts together on the same night — Feb. 29, 2016, against Tampa Bay.

“When I came in for development camp with Toronto, summer of 2015, he was one of the first guys I saw there,” Kapanen was recollecting on

Tuesday, ahead of a hotly anticipated tilt between Atlantic Division foes separated by one slim point, and who saw that coming?

“We started talking. Ever since then, we’ve been hanging out with each other, bonding over stuff. It was so easy to have somebody there. Not having that has been different.’’

Flying solo and segregated by Nylander’s contract wrangling.

The two lads — both now 22 — set up housekeeping together a couple of years ago, bit of an Oscar and Felix clash.

“I guess I’d be the neat-freak,” smiles Kapanen. “He’s … not sloppy exactly but not as neat as me. He doesn’t care where he leaves things. But living together was cool. We do things together, we play Xbox. I don’t cook at all but Willie knows how to make a few things, pasta, sometimes

meat on the side. I’d say 97 per cent of the time we ate out, though.

“His family comes over a lot. My family comes over every now and then.

So it was a good European feeling.”

Not all smooth sailing, of course.

“Sometimes we’d get on each other’s nerves and piss each other off.’’

So Kapanen had been pining all season for his contract-forlorn friend. Was even dreaming about M.I.A. Nylander.

“Yeah, I had a dream that he’d signed. I guess because it was in the air a lot and everyone was thinking about it. Weird. When I woke up I was a

disappointed that it had just been a dream.”

But he texted Nylander about it, who found it wildly funny. There wasn’t

much to laugh about over those impasse months with the club.

They’d hardly been equals as neophyte Leafs, Nylander the tiffany draft

pick protégé, Kapanen acquired in the Phil Kessel trade. The Swede stepped up quickly to the parent club and stuck; the Finn endured

multiple up-down jerks between the Leafs and the Marlies — the greater part of three seasons in the AHL — which was frustrating. But he’s a low-

maintenance fellow, never grumbled about his lot.

The irony, of course, is that Kapanen blossomed beautifully with Nylander out of the frame. In fact, it was precisely because Nylander was over in Stockholm through the first two months of the season, in protracted contract negotiations deadlock, that Kapanen found traction in Toronto, matriculating from the fourth line to the third line to the co-first line.

“Obviously it opened up a window for me. I started off the season pretty

well and we’re close to 30 games now. I think I can pick up the pace.’’

First he showed chemistry alongside Auston Matthews. Then, when

Mathews went down for a month with a shoulder injury, he segued into a nice fit with Nazem Kadri and Patrick Marleau — certainly helped Kadri

move off the no-goal schneid — and, since Matthews’ return a week ago, has been restored to that unit.

Indeed, Kapanen was on a tear, tallying 10 goals in 21 games when elevated to top-six status, nine of them at even strength, better than the

likes of Patrik Laine, Connor McDavid and Taylor Hall through November. More goals and points (18) than in the first 55 games of his NHL career. A couple of two-goal games and two game-winners,

including a shortie. This was finally the Kapanen Toronto had been hoping would surface because the skill set was indisputably there —

blazing speed, a good shot (and has been shooting more), thrilling breakaways.

The hand-eye co-ordination is a work in progress.

“Obviously, skating is my strength. The hands, you can work on stuff for that, practice moves with your shot. The thing that you really can’t develop is seeing the ice like Mattie sees the ice to make amazing plays. And Willie, probably one of the best players on our team to make plays and see the ice well.

“I think you’re kind of just born with that. Those guys are the top on our team, and Mitchie (Marner), those three guys. They really have an eye for it. They find guys, they make plays I can’t see.’’

CAROLINA HURRICANES


If a window opened because of Nylander’s absence, Kapanen counters, albeit gently, that his metamorphosis shouldn’t be entirely attributed to that.

“I like to think that if Willie had been here, I would still have worked my way up. I’ve been playing pretty well with different guys. Who knows how it would have been if he was here.”

Interestingly, Kapanen hadn’t lit the red lamp, heading into Tuesday’s game in Buffalo, since Matthews returned to the lineup. Which probably doesn’t signify much because the line has been uber-productive. In any event, everyone wants to play with Matthews.

Except that’s Nylander’s spot. Unless the coach decides not to break up a threesome that has coalesced with flair. Getting awfully crowded on the

right wing.

“When you look at our right side, especially with the emergence of

Kapanen, and we already had (Connor) Brown there, obviously the guys in the top-two group, there wasn’t a ton of space there,” coach Mike

Babcock said.

He was talking specifically about the wing-cluster, starboard, that

squeezed Josh Leivo out of town and pushed Tyler Ennis onto the fourth unit. But the same over-population applies to whither-Kapanen now, although he can also play on the left side with Kadri and Brown once Nylander gets back into games.

“I don’t know if that’s an advantage for him,” mused Babcock, about Kapanen deployed right or left. “When we’ve done that, we’ve flipped Brownie over there, tell you the truth, not Kappi. Once Willie gets here, with Mitch there, Kappi there, Brownie there, lots of people there. We’ll figure that out.”

Eager to ponder it, actually, once done with the Sabres, shocking

heavyweights in the NHL, largely off the avails of a 10-game winning streak, since followed by three consecutive one-goal losses. If the

playoffs started Tuesday, Toronto and Buffalo would be first-round opponents.

If Babcock is still sussing out his horn of plenty, Kapanen certainly doesn’t have a clue what to expect.

“No idea. It doesn’t matter where I go. We’ve got Willie back and our team’s going to be that much stronger. But it will be interesting to see the lineups.”



NHL free agents might want to think about the short term, and cash in later | The Star

By Kevin McGran

William Nylander’s contract. Seattle expansion. Potential labour strife. A hockey economy that is going to take off.

They are all related.

Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine is part of a talented class of restricted free agents that will be looking for significant pay hikes before next season.

Nylander skipped part of the season to force the Maple Leafs to give him a better deal, a front-loaded, six-year, $41.7-million contract with lockout

protection that may well become the template for negotiations to come.

“A slam dunk win for the player,” an agent told the Star in a text.

“Nylander would have never received this contract, structure and signing

bonuses in the summer or before camp. He was rewarded for taking the negotiation to the 11th hour.

“The Maple Leafs can spin this any way they like but in the end, they blinked and handed the player a win.”

The Leafs could face similar tough negotiations with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and maybe even Kasperi Kapanen. But they’re not alone: Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine, San Jose’s Timo Meier and Colorado’s Miiko Rantanen are among the soon-to-be restricted free agents who will want to get paid what they’re worth.

But if money is what matters, they might be better off with short-term

deals.

The NHL officially awarded a team to Seattle on Tuesday, and the move

into a top 20 television market, starting in 2021, will coincide with a new American TV deal and perhaps a sharp rise in the cap.

The cap has risen every year while NBC coughs up $200 million (U.S.) annually on average to hockey-related revenue. That deal ends after the

2020-21 season, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said.

In a new deal, the NHL could easily double that money, if not more, independent media consultant Brad Adgate said.

“It’s going up,” Adgate said. “If you look at what’s happening in media the last decade — so many sports networks, streaming video. Amazon is poking around. Facebook made a bid for cricket.

“If you look at the NBA, they tripled (their TV revenue). It’s reasonable to believe the NHL goes from $200 million to $500 million a year.”

The NBA went from $930 million (U.S.) a year in TV revenue to $2.4

billion annually when a new deal started in 2015-16, according to The Associated Press. NBC is paying $1 billion for six years of English Premier League soccer, content that takes less valuable real estate on

weekend mornings.

“There’s appetite for sports networks for live content, and streaming is going to make it more competitive and heighten the licensing fees,” Adgate said. “There will be a lot of people bidding on the NHL rights

when they start negotiating for the next round.”

So hockey-related revenue — which determines the cap — appears poised to spike around 2021-22, with a new team in a big market, new revenue streams, and a new TV deal. In addition, the annual amount Rogers pays as part of its 12-year, $5.2-billion deal rises as well. It started at $300 million a year and goes to half a billion by the time it ends.

That’s all beyond the regular growth of the league through ticket sales, merchandising and very lucrative sponsorships.

Arranging to be a free agent in 2021, or 2022 — even a restricted free agent — could leave a player with a big enough payday that taking a short-term deal now would be worth the risk of injury.

There is that risk. Players fear career-ending injuries, so long-term security often wins the day in contract talks.

There’s also a chance of a work stoppage. Both the players and the owners have until September to let the other know if it wants to end the current collective bargaining unit in 2020, or 2022. So any restricted free agents considering waiting until Dec. 1 next year before they sign on the

dotted line will risk losing two months pay in 2019-20 and missing more pay in 2020-21.

But short-term deals might be worth it in the long run.



CAROLINA HURRICANES


Art lesson from Matthews paints Leafs OT win over Sabres

Lance Hornby

BUFFALO — The Maple Leafs always draw fans here, but seldom bring

the artwork.

So it was a pleasant change Tuesday night at cursed KeyBank Center

when they put some nice touches on a 4-3 win in their renewed rivalry against the improved Sabres.

Before another pro-Toronto crowd, Patrick Marleau tied it late and Auston Matthews capped it with 2.7 seconds remaining in overtime, burying a Kasperi Kapanen feed for a 4-3 comeback win.

After he and Patrick Kane had a late-game goal exchange in Chicago earlier this season, Matthews’ second goal of the night and third point topped Jack Eichel’s two-goal effort.

“When you go against superstars on the other team, it motivates your game,” Matthews said. “We got our break. I didn’t really know how much time was there and it was near the end of my shift. I decided to stay out there and was lucky enough to get it off.”

Marleau tapped in a Morgan Rielly backboard rebound after Matthews won the draw, Marleau passing the late Stan Mikita on the NHL career

goal list at 532.

It was still just the 31st win ever for the Leafs here (31-64-12), but the

first time in seven years both teams have been in a playoff hunt this late in the schedule. It gave the Leafs 20 wins in their first 28 games this

season, a record that has stood since 1934-35.

Matthews has 15 goals in 14 games this year and seven points in three

games since returning from a month-long absence with a shoulder injury.

“I just want to try and feel better and better after every game,” said Matthews. “Get your legs and your lungs back, get a feel for the puck. The first game, you have a lot of adrenalin, then you’re back into more of a routine. It’s important that I’m skating and getting back to how I was feeling before the injury.”

Said John Tavares: “Auston was just on top of the goalie so fast, he just puts it where he wants it. It’s hard to feel there is anyone as lethal right

now.”

Frederik Andersen was once more facing more than his fair share of

work with 14 saves in the scoreless first period on his way to 39. In eight of his past nine games, he Leafs have allowed shots in the high-30s or

more and 40-plus in the past four.

With his previous win in Minnesota, Andersen had passed James Reimer

for 10th in Leafs goaltending wins with 86 and a shot to join the 100 club in the new year.

“(Matthews) is good practice for me,” Andersen said. “His first goal was more impressive.”

Eight minutes into the second period, when Ron Hainsey’s shot went airborne, Matthews stretched back to snag it with his glove from Conor Sheary and then swept around the net to beat defenceman Zach Bogosian and goalie Linus Ullmark.

Sam Reinhart tied it on a tip of Nathan Beaulieu’s shot through a Jeff Skinner screen, but a late Jake Gardiner goal put Toronto in position for a mark of 15-0-0 when leading after 40 minutes. The prelude was two beautiful backhand passes from Mitch Marner across the slot to Tavares

and back in front to Gardiner. Marner has 11 helpers in his five-game assists streak.

Head coach Mike Babcock changed some fourth-liners around, moving Frederik Gauthier to the wing as Par Lindholm prepares for a switch to

centre when William Nylander is activated sometime this week.

But the Sabres were able to get Eichel’s line out against them on the first goal and outworked that group on the third-period tying marker, defenceman Rasmus Ristolainen spotting an open Eichel with a lot of yawning cage.

Ullmark had to come up with a big glove save on a Tavares breakaway in the third, which could have haunted the Leafs after a Nazem Kadri giveaway turned into Eichel’s second goal and a 3-2 lead. Eichel gave an emotional shout-out to Sabres fans in the front row, but it was Matthews with his favourite fist pump to stir up the blue and white sea.

Before the match, Kyle Okposo said he hoped to see Buffalo’s 10-game

win streak — and their four close games since it was broken — carry over to more opponents so they aren’t relying on a couple of visits by

Toronto to get fired up.

“Our last three games at home (Philadelphia, Boston and San Jose) have

been louder than any game I’ve played in against Toronto,” he said. “It’s definitely ratcheted up by where we both are in the standings.”

The Sabres might have been drained for this first game of the season series, having lost 2-1 in Nashville the night before.

“Every time we came here before, there was always a lot of energy in the building, a lot of Leafs fans,” Babcock said. “Now, pretty soon ,Leafs fans won’t be able to buy tickets anymore because Buffalo fans will have bought them already.”

ENNIS COMES HOME

The building’s name has changed a few times, but Tyler Ennis knew his way around the KeyBank Center quite well on Tuesday morning.

Nine years ago, he played the first of more than 400 games as a Sabre, just one of their players to stick a fork in Toronto over the years in matches played here.

“I just think these games are easier to get up for, a lot of fans creating a lot of noise,” Ennis said.

But after a disappointing year in Minnesota, where the 5-foot-something forward didn’t mesh very well with the big Wild lineup, he’s revived

himself in Toronto. He might not hit 20 goals again, but he’s a hit in the room.

“It’s a fun team to be on, a younger team,” the 29-year-old Ennis said. “We practise hard and fast and try to translate that to the game.

“I try to provide leadership and a good attitude. I came in early (after signing in the summer), met the staff, made the transition. I didn’t know very many guys on the team, but the whole organization was welcoming.”

He was brought in to try out as a fourth-liner, but was in the coveted role on Matthews’ right side at the start of the season when William Nylander wasn’t around.

“He plays on our second power-play, he’s a really good person, he’s got

good energy about him and that stuff is contagious,” Babcock said. “Sometimes on the fourth line, you don’t get to play as much as you’d like, so being energized and upbeat is really important to a team. He’s

done that he’s chipped in with some goals for us. You can move him in on different spots.”

BABS ON LEIVO LEAVING

Babcock didn’t want to classify the Josh Leivo trade to Vancouver as a “numbers” issue, believing the right winger had a few chances in his three years on the fringe of the main Leafs roster to separate himself.

But he acknowledged the Leafs quickly built up a lot of depth on right

wing.

“When you go through it all, especially the emergence of Kapanen and

that we already had Connor Brown there (both were projected to be behind Marner and Nylander), there wasn’t a ton of space.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


“Or on the left side. Leivo was happy Monday, we’re happy for him. He’s going to get an opportunity and ideally get himself a real footing and get playing in the league a long time.”

WILLIE PLAY SOON?

Nylander wasn’t in Buffalo on Tuesday, the short trip and optional game-day skate not worth taking him away from being evaluated at the practice facility.

When he does play, perhaps Thursday at home against Detroit, or more likely by Saturday in Boston, Babcock was asked about moving Kapanen across to the left side to play with Nylander and Matthews, leaving the

Zach Hyman-Tavares-Marner line intact. Patrick Marleau was to join the Matthews-Nylander duo in the summer, before the latter’s contract kept

him away.

“I don’t know if that’s an advantage for (Kapanen). When we’ve done

that, we’ve flipped Connor Brown over there, not Kappy. Without Willy here (yet), we still don’t have that concern. Once he gets here, we have

Mitch, Kappy, Brownie … that’s why we had the Leivo situation.

“Lindholm will play on the wing at times because he’s in the top nine, he’ll

(also) play in the middle.”

COAST IS CLEAR

The approval of Seattle as the 32nd team received enthusiastic approval from Babcock, who coached Spokane of the Western Hockey League.

“One of the best cities in the world,” Babcock said of Seattle. “That waterfront. You come in (on a plane) and all that (university) rowing is going on, the sun is going down, it’s spectacular. All the seafood and the restaurants. It’s a home run for the NHL.”

Under his current eight-year contract, Babcock would still be coaching the Leafs when the unnamed expansion club begins play in 2021-22.

Next happiest to Babcock to hear the news would be Vancouver-born defenceman Rielly.

JACK IT UP

Matthews and fellow American Eichel have to be pleased to hear renewed talk of a World Cup in a couple of years. The pals would be a huge part of an American team in the absence of re-creating the North American Young Guns from the first event in 2016.

“That was a great experience,” said Matthews, who warmed up for his Calder Trophy season in that event with Sabre star Eichel. “I think everybody enjoyed it. If we do it again, that would be special. I don’t know about a decision (by the league and the players union) or what will be made of it, but I think everyone involved definitely enjoyed the experience as a whole.”

ANIMAL INSTINCTS

Ullmark had an interesting career alternative.

“Zookeeper or veterinarian,” he told The Athletic Buffalo. “I would sort of say they go hand in hand. I just like exotic animals; pandas, tigers, bears, whatever. My dream job would be to work with pandas if I weren’t being a hockey player.”

His only house pets are corgi dogs, Bob and Barry. For now, the Swede has worked a bear design into his pads after trying a buffalo, which was fine until he went into the butterfly stance and it looked like it had fallen on its back. Ullmark has also put movie Minions on his mask to the delight of young fans.

Toronto Sun LOADED: 12.05.2018


SIMMONS: In very personal battle, Leafs’ Matthews finds way to beat Sabres’ Eichel

Steve Simmons

BUFFALO — It’s personal, these battles between Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel, old friends and new enemies. It’s personal the way each

elevates his game for the one night dance and scrap against the other, the great hockey battle between the young American superstars.

Eichel scored twice Tuesday night in the third period and the Buffalo Sabres probably should have beaten the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Matthews scored twice, including an inexplicable, almost unexplainable, out of gas, wrist shot with three seconds left in overtime that gave the somewhat overmatched Leafs a victory at a soldout KeyBank Center with half the fans in Maple Leafs blue and white and half the fans in Sabres colours.

And back and forth it went, the game, the matchup, tennis volleying on ice with bounces and the very different but very determined game changing centreman tilting the ice in various directions.

And then there was Matthews, barely able to breathe, barely able to move his legs, with time running out and his heart beating at a desperate

rate, and there it was. The shot. The Matthews shot. The winner — almost impossible to describe.

And the Maple Leafs won in Buffalo 4-3. Matthews scored his 15th goal in the 14 games he has played this season. How, the question was

asked in the Leafs dressing room, over and over. The answer, for the most part, hell if I know.

One Leaf said he practises the Matthews wind up. All of them do, to be honest. They just can’t do it. Not like he does. Not with the quickness of release. Not with the accuracy of direction. Not with the power.

No one ever shot better than Mike Bossy, and as different as Matthews delivers and aims and lets his wrists fly, he is like most great goal scorers, he is an original. Sometimes he shoots off the right foot. Sometimes he shoots off the wrong foot. Sometimes he shoots with windup. Sometimes no windup at all. He doesn’t know which is coming when. “I just shot,” he said of the overtime winner. About 20 seconds earlier, he was half bent over, seemingly at the end of his shift, with nothing left.

“Honestly, I was so tired I just shot it. I knew I was going against a forward. I thought I’d get a little more time. I just pulled it in. The rest is history.”

Bossy was a remarkable goal scorer. So was Brett Hull. So is Alexander Ovechkin. Each of them had and has their own style, their own way, their own place on the ice to score. Matthews doesn’t have an office yet. The

ice is his office. He scored once Tuesday night on a wrap around that bounced off the goalie or a defenceman to score, he wasn’t sure which. “I

caught a break. I didn’t know how much was left (when he scored the winner) and I was kind of towards the end of my shift and I stayed out

there, pulled it in, picked the corner. I was lucky to get it off.”

Lucky is his word. It isn’t the reality. This is anything but luck. Matthews

missed 14 games to a shoulder injury. He has been back for three games. In that time, he has scored five goals and two assists. His legs

aren’t back to how he wants them, his conditioning doesn’t yet feel right, He has seven points in three games.

What happens when he’s really back to form?

“He’s a guy that’s counted on,” said John Tavares, who is used to being the best player on every team he plays on. Just not anymore. “It’s great for myself,” he said. “It’s great for all of us. We push each other. He loves these opportunities. He has the puck on his stick, game on the line, and that’s it.”

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Freddie Andersen, the Leafs goalie, has never seen a shooter like Matthews before. He thought Teema Selanne was remarkably accurate as his teammate in Anaheim. “But he didn’t shoot hard like this,” said Andersen. He was impressed with the way Ryan Getzlaf toe-dragged the puck and shot away. That was a quickness thing. “Not like Matthews.”

Eichel isn’t like Matthews either. He is having a terrific season in Buffalo, leading the Sabres to a 10-game winning streak earlier this season, but he is as much if not more playmaker on his line with Jeff Skinner and Sam Reinhart, than he is goal scorer. He probably knows deep down, if this is a race with Matthews, he is destined to finish second. Deep down,

he’s probably OK with that, too. It doesn’t mean he isn’t going to gather every piece of energy and score two third period goals to put Buffalo

ahead.

They learn from each other, from playing against each other, the way

Tom Brady would learn from Peyton Manning. They are a year apart, these two young giants, with Eichel older, Matthews more natural.

The other Leafs watch Matthews, try to emulate what he does. They watch his hands, his feet, his angles, the way he loads up his shot. And

they try it themselves. Players forever trying to learn from great players. “We try it,” said one Leaf, all but giggling after the game, “we just can’t do it.”



‘ALWAYS A BIG GAME’: Success intensifies Leafs-Sabres rivalry

Lance Hornby

BUFFALO — The Maple Leafs usually bring out the best of the Sabres on this side of the Peace Bridge.

But Kyle Okposo hopes to see that effort carry over to more opponents so that Buffalo isn’t relying on a couple of visits by Toronto to get fired up.

“Our last three games at home (Philadelphia, Boston and San Jose) have been louder than any game I’ve played in against Toronto,” said the

three-year Sabre forward of the benefits of winning 10 in a row and getting points in 11 of 13.

“I’m sure the building will be electric (Tuesday night). It’s definitely ratcheted up by where we both are in the standings.”

The Sabres have a chance to pass the Leafs in the Atlantic Division, which had four teams separated by nine points before the game. While

Buffalo absorbed a 2-1 loss to Nashville on the road the night before, their record of 64-30-6-6 here is a continual source of frustration for the

Leafs and the many who drive the QEW to out-shout the host club.

“Every time we came here before, there was always a lot of energy in the building, a lot of Leaf fans,” head coach Mike Babcock said. “Now, pretty soon Leaf fans won’t be able to buy tickets anymore because Buffalo fans will have bought them already.”

Headlining the renewed rivalry as the Sabres seek to reverse seven years out of the NHL playoffs is Jack Eichel against Auston Matthews.

“I’m sure there is (urgency in Buffalo), but just like us, we want to beat them,” Matthews said. “It’s always a big game for us when we come in. They were on that hot stretch and everyone in the league took notice.

They’re not a team you can take lightly. Their D are moving the puck and are up in the rush all the time; their forwards have been dynamic.”

Sabres coach Phil Housley is not happy at losing three straight after the 10-win run was snapped but took into account the defeats were all by a goal.

“They’ve got hope back,” Housley said of the local fans getting excited again and pointing out he sees more Sabres sweaters in the stands on the road of late.

Okposo and other Sabres insist they aren’t worried about a mid-season slump undoing their November success.

“You go on a 10-game streak that ends and you kind of have an emotional letdown. That’s natural. We have to make sure we get back on

the horse,” Okposo said.

“We have to take the fight to them. This is our building and we’ve been

pretty good here. We want to defend it.”

William Nylander was not with the Leafs for this short trip, which did not include a full practice. He’s expected to be in full workout mode by Wednesday or Thursday. The home game Thursday against Detroit is a

possibility for his season debut after signing a six-year, US$41 million deal, but Saturday in Boston is more realistic.

Babcock is being coy about which line right winger Nylander returns to play for, but putting him with Matthews and Patrick Marleau was the plan back in the summer. Babcock has options to move Connor Brown down on right wing or perhaps try Kasperi Kapanen on the left side.

Linus Ullmark will start in net for Buffalo.



ULTIMATE LEAFS FAN: The party’s on in Carolina and cannons in Columbus

Mike Wilson

RALEIGH — PNC Arena, home of the Carolina Hurricanes, is well known for a tradition not usually associated with hockey: Tailgating.

The Maple Leafs’ visit, half of a swing that included Columbus, was on a

night of wintery chill. But walking to the rink, the aroma was charcoal burning in the air with parties set up throughout the expansive lots.

Living in Raleigh the past 20 years, ex-pat Keith MacMillan was flipping burgers on his barbeque and happily reminiscing about the 2002 Eastern

Conference final with the Canes.

“It was the May 2-4 weekend,” MacMillan said. “I pull up to the gate and the security guard says, ‘Go to the left parking lot, the Leaf fans are there.’

“So I pulled in a few hours before game time and turning the corner it was a sea of blue and white. It was an awesome sight I’ll never forget.”

Raleigh is one of those places that may not be on your list to visit, but

once you arrive, you’re glad you did. Within a 40-minute radius are Duke University, the University of North Carolina and local North Carolina State. I felt like Rodney Dangerfield in ‘Back to School.’

Myrtle Beach is a few hours’ drive, so if you love college sports, NHL,

golf or the NFL (the Carolina Panthers play three hours away in Charlotte), you won’t be disappointed.

Next on my pre-game tour was Chapel Hill, with its UNC Basketball Hall of Fame on campus. Ex-Raptor Vince Carter is honoured in a couple of

CAROLINA HURRICANES


places, though I couldn’t help chuckle thinking of this guy attending his graduation ceremony instead of preparing for a Game 7 final.

No player is larger here than Michael Jordan, but the entire history of this place had me drawing comparisons to the Leafs and their ties to Leafs Nation.

Duke is another iconic basketball institution and archrival of UNC. When they play each other annually, securing tickets is next to impossible. I was fortunate to see NC State play on the trip, though U.S. Thanksgiving meant there was less than the 18,000 capacity.

My friend Sean Mitton, who wrote an excellent book a few years ago on

what Canadians were doing the day Paul Henderson scored, greeted me at Raleigh-Durham Airport the morning after Toronto won its home game

against the Jackets.

Sean had graciously offered a room in his home and volunteered as tour

guide. Our first hockey stop was the Canes’ practice facility, catching the tail end of their workout. The rink is old, cold and a reminder of life before

the NHL for these players, but it suits the team fine while a new facility is in the planning stages.

Noah Mitchell originally from New Jersey, lives an hour outside of town and works for the American military. His grandmother from Lambeth, Ont., was a die-hard Leafs fan and he’s carried that through his many travels.

“When she passed, my dad was a Canadiens’ fan so someone had to carry the tradition,” Mitchell said. “I can tell you when I lived in Alabama, I was the biggest Leafs fan. But my biggest memory of the Leafs was a sad one (the collapse in Boston in 2013). I was in Ranger school at the time and followed it on my phone. Man, I thought Ranger school was tough, that was way worse.”

At game time, the rink was two-thirds’ full, but again there was a good showing of Leaf supporters.

Ian Carter from Calgary is another fan with a vision like mine: Visit every rink in the NHL as long as the Leafs are playing. PNC — and Nationwide

in Columbus a few nights later — would be No. 21 and 22 checked off for him.

Peter Bednarsky from upstate New York was wearing a 93 Doug Gilmour sweater, fondly remembering the ‘92-93 Leafs runs led by Killer

“My dog is named Dougie,” Bednarsky proudly shared. “Gilmour was a small guy, larger than life to me, playing through illness, a superhero in the hockey world. As cheesy as that sounds, it’s why I cheer for the Leafs over the Rangers or Sabres.”

The Canes’ won, 5-2. Their victory celebration is a sight to behold — and for me, it’s not in a good way. It’s one thing to sell the game, but high school antics at the professional level is unacceptable and they look ridiculous doing it.

Mike Wilson and Debra Thuet pose with a cannon in the rink in Columbus.

Travelling around Thanksgiving Day down here is not at the top of anyone’s bucket list. The good news? No traffic near airports or on main

roads, but walking to my dining establishment in Columbus, the CVS drug store was the only thing open. Not even a vagrant could be seen on

the street.

On game day, Deb and I toured the Ohio state capital, another hidden

gem of a city with charm and appeal. Very clean streets, people-friendly, none more so than the proprietor of the Peanut Shoppe with the famous Planters sign out front. Columbus is known for the brand, but it’s not original to the area. My curiosity was the history and particularly their hockey connection with Bobby Orr, who promoted it in Canada. Don Cherry also did a Planters TV commercial with Orr. Though he had lots of historical pieces in the shop, he unfortunately couldn’t find anything for me with the hockey connection.

Mr. Peanut in Columbus (Mike Wilson)

The German and Distillery neighbourhoods along with North Market are popular, while Nationwide itself, in the ‘Arena’ District, is also a beautiful facility surrounded with restaurants and bars.

Ohio State was playing rival Michigan that weekend in football and every place Deb and I visited had the Buckeyes’ previous win against the Wolverines replaying on TV.

For 28 years, friends Derek Emerson, Scott Smith, David Gallant and James Twell have attended a Leafs game along with another sporting event, usually football, and this year they chose Columbus.

Deb and I also met up with Brett Lawrence who made the three and a half-hour trek from Pittsburgh with his wife Sarah and son Maxwell.

Christine and Kyle Hamilton also drove down from Woodstock, Ont., to be with family for Thanksgiving, but planned the Leaf game around their

visit.

Kyle’s Leaf moment is not a happy one: The Stanley Cup final that never

happened.

“It goes back to the Gretzky high stick on Dougie that should have been called and wasn’t. It should have been a Montreal-Toronto final and that would’ve been great,” he said.

Of course, the goal cannon inside Nationwide is a must-see for hockey tourists such as us, lined up all evening long for photos. Unfortunately for us, it went off more than it should have that evening in a 4-2 loss. My Leaf pride was hurt — and so were my ears.



Leafs Report Cards: Game 28 at Buffalo

By Ian Tulloch Dec 4, 201

That was fun! Toronto secured its fifth straight win Tuesday night, beating the Buffalo Sabres, 4-3, in overtime. It wasn’t the Leafs’ prettiest game of the season, but they found a way to win (as they usually do when I’m on

report card duty, unlike Dom the bad luck charm Luszczyszyn). Let’s take a closer look at who played well (and who didn’t) by diving into the

grades.

One or two words to describe how the team looked

Sloppy — Considering they were facing a tired team on the second half of a back-to-back, Toronto didn’t exactly dominate this game. In fact, they

get pretty severely outshot. When you take shot quality into account, though, Toronto actually had the slight edge. With star players making

highlight-reel plays at both ends of the ice, it was definitely a fun game to watch, especially with Auston Matthews potting the game-winner in overtime (because the Leafs know better than to let games get to a shootout).

Image from Moneypuck.com

Gotta hear both sides

Glass half-full: The Leafs have won five straight and are going to be adding a Top 10 right-winger to their lineup any day now.

Glass half-empty: Toronto had multiple days off, Buffalo was on the second half of a back-to-back (after flying in from Nashville), yet the latter

looked like the better team for a good portion of the game.

Player Reports

CAROLINA HURRICANES


��

Best player on the ice: Mitch Marner – 22.3 minutes, 2 shots, 1 assist, almost half the game with the puck on his stick

The puck has a way of following Marner around the ice — at least that’s the way it seems most nights. There was a great Babcock quote about star players looking like they have all the time and space in the world when they’re on the ice, and that’s exactly what it felt like tonight watching Marner. He makes the game look easy with the way he’s able to turn on his edges with the puck at full speed, helping him create separation from opposing defenders in transition to make room for the

cross-ice pass that we all know is coming (and it’s not going to Zach Hyman).

THIS IS JUST BULLYING IN MY OPINION.

MARNER ➡ TAVARES ➡ GARDINER

PIC.TWITTER.COM/VJ2DTYKRJ0

— THE LEAFS NATION (@TLNDC) DECEMBER 5, 2018

He has a habit of making one or two of these magical plays every night,

and it’s a huge part of the reason his team has a high shooting percentage when he’s on the ice. It might be a bit unsustainably high

right now (I don’t think he’s going to score over 100 Points this season), but when you can make plays like these on a nightly basis, your team’s

going to score a lot of goals.

Andreas Johnsson – 12.6 minutes, 2 shots, tons of fantastic plays in the

OZ

That was as good an audition as you’ll see for the first line. Andreas Johnsson was flying tonight, making tons of great plays in transition to get the puck into dangerous areas. He probably would’ve ended up with a goal or two had Connor Brown been able to complete a pass to him in the offensive zone, but that’s another conversation for another … paragraph. Ask yourself how many of Toronto’s left wingers can make this play:

WHAT A NICE MOVE FROM ANDREAS JOHNSSON ON THE POWER PLAY. HE'S ABLE TO MOVE AROUND THE DEFENDER

SEAMLESSLY AND IS ABLE TO GET HIMSELF A GREAT SCORING CHANCE. #LEAFSFOREVER PIC.TWITTER.COM/7KUHMO1POU

— MAPLE LEAFS HOTSTOVE (@LEAFSNEWS) DECEMBER 5, 2018

I don’t know if we’ll see him get to spend some time next to Matthews

and William Nylander (I’d personally love to see them try Kasperi Kapanen there), but with the way Johnsson’s been playing lately, he

certainly deserves an opportunity to succeed in the Top 9.

Jake Gardiner – 24.8 minutes, 1 goal, 1 assist, all the zone exits

I thought Gardiner looked amazing tonight. He’s always going to make one or two plays that frustrate you (“Ahh, why would you make that pass?”) but his gunslinger mentality is a big part of the reason he was able to complete so many passes up the ice tonight to his forwards in stride, resulting in a ton of chances off the rush. He even jumped in on one of them and potted a goal at the end of the second period.

In the offensive zone, I thought Gardiner was the best Leaf on the ice tonight (that Marner guy was pretty good too). The way that he was able

to walk the line while under pressure was a thing of beauty, which helped him create tons of passing lanes to the slot, where he found a few

teammates tonight. Tonight was a great example of Good Jake™ in action, which is something the team is going to miss if he walks as a free

agent this summer.

��

Kasperi Kapanen – 19.1 minutes, 1 goal, 1 assist, 1 place I’d like to see him play: beside Matthews and Nylander

Tonight made me wonder: Who are the best backcheckers in the NHL? Because I think Kapanen’s probably in the Top 10. His speed alone

makes him a nuisance, but he’s been battling hard to win body position and stick-lift the puck away from opponents in the neutral zone. I also thought he looked pretty dynamic in the offensive zone, using his speed to back the defender off, then stop on a dime to create space for a pass. I’m not sure where he’s going to play on the lineup when Nylander gets back, but he’s certainly earned time in the Top 6 with the way he’s been playing lately.

John Tavares – 22 minutes, 5 shots on goal, 1 assist, all the sauce

Although it’s usually Marner who gets the credit for making the flashy plays (and rightfully so — he’s been a blast to watch this season),

Tavares’ ability to create space for him tends to fly under the radar. He’s one of the best passers in the world, especially when he’s under

pressure in the defensive zone. His ability to make soft little saucer passes to Marner is a big part of the reason that line’s been so

dangerous in transition this year — most centres aren’t able to make those kinds of passes under duress (they’ll just bang it off the boards),

but Tavares has the poise to always make the “right” play up the ice.

His play might not always be flashy (even though his assist tonight was a

thing of beauty), but Tavares’ ability to open up space for his linemates is a big reason they tend to have career years when they play with him.

Frederik Andersen – Saved 38 of 41 shots (although very few of them were dangerous chances)

Despite spending most of the game in their own zone, I thought the Leafs actually did a solid job of limiting high-quality shots in this one. It wasn’t the toughest night for Frederik Andersen (compared to some of the games he’s had to steal recently), but he looked solid again tonight. I hope Leafs fans appreciate the .931 goaltending he’s been giving them this season — it’s helped cover up the fact that the team hasn’t been

playing that great at even strength.

Auston Matthews – 23.4 minutes, 5 shots on goal, 2 goals, 1 assist

What’s funny is that I was prepared to give Matthews a mediocre grade tonight (I was underwhelmed with his play at 5v5), but then he scores

that ridiculous game-winning goal with his trademark curl-and-drag wrist shot. This leaves me in a weird position. Personally, I prefer to weight

these grades mostly on how well the player performed at even strength (with PP, PK, and other situations being a bonus).

It didn’t feel like Matthews was “taking over” the game in the offensive zone like we’re used to seeing, but at the same time, he had two goals and an assist — it would feel almost evil not to give him a great grade after that. I’ll compromise and give him four stars tonight (this is clearly a very scientific process).

��

Morgan Rielly – I thought Rielly did a solid job of moving the puck tonight, but I wasn’t a big fan of his decision-making in the offensive zone. It felt

like he was settling for a lot of low-percentage shots when he had the opportunity to skate the puck down the wall and look for a better option.

His pairing also looked like a bit of a mess in the defensive zone, but that’s been the case for well over a year now, so I’m not sure what else

to say about it at this point (Rielly’s never been a great defensive player, but playing a soon-to-be 38-year-old alongside him on the top pairing

seems like a less than stellar game plan).

Nikita Zaitsev – I don’t actually remember much of Zaitsev’s game

tonight, which means:

a) He didn’t make any brutal mistakes

b) He wasn’t flipping the puck off the glass when he had better passing options (I remember those plays)

Considering how much b) has been bugging most Leafs fans all season, we have to give him credit when he takes better care of the puck in transition. I know it didn’t show up in the shot metrics tonight, but all things considered, I thought Zaitsev had a pretty solid night.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


��

Travis Dermott – I was getting ready to give Dermott a poor grade tonight after a rough first period, but then this happened.

TRAVIS DERMOTT. PIC.TWITTER.COM/WGFO1WDDEU

— NICK DESOUZA (@NICKDESOUZA_) DECEMBER 5, 2018

I still didn’t think it was his greatest game (he turned the puck over a few times unnecessarily when he had an opportunity to get it out of his zone

and up the ice), which is why I’m only giving him two stars tonight, but do yourself a favour and watch that clip. It shows off his high-end transition

ability — one of the traits that make him such an effective defenceman at the NHL level.

Nazem Kadri – This was a really weird game for Kadri. I thought he made a few good plays throughout the course of the game, but he had a brutal turnover in the third period that resulted in a goal five seconds later. One play does not a player make, but you need to make smarter decisions than that in the third period. All things considered, I feel like two stars is

reasonable (despite that one terrible play, he had a solid game, so I feel like this helps balance out everything).

Igor Ozhiganov – Although his pairing got caved in tonight at even strength, I thought Ozhiganov had a decent game. He was doing a much better job of moving the puck than we’ve seen in recent games, not to mention the fact that his foot-speed didn’t get exposed in transition (which has been a problem all season). It definitely wasn’t a “great” game for him, but I thought he looked all right out there.

Connor Brown – He was excellent in the defensive zone, and pretty awful with the puck on his stick in the offensive zone. There were so many occasions where Brown had an opportunity to get the puck to either Kadri or Johnsson in the slot and he just missed them. I definitely understand

why fans and coaches fall in love with Brown (he’s a hard worker and defensively responsible), but he’s looked like a fourth liner offensively this

season. I think that’s where he should play moving forward.

Ron Hainsey – I’ve grown tired repeating myself about Ron Hainsey’s

lack of foot-speed or inability to move the puck, so here’s an old picture of Kapanen and Nylander with puppies.

�

Worst player on the ice: Frederik Gauthier – It turns out Freddy the Goat isn’t the best left winger in the world.

Tyler Ennis – This entire fourth line was so bad against Buffalo that I’m giving all of them one star tonight (even though Ennis probably deserves two, this is about sending a message). I know that isn’t fair, but life isn’t fair.

Par Lindholm – So Josh Leivo … it turns out he might’ve been pretty good eh?

Zach Hyman – I know we give Hyman credit for doing the little things, but

on nights where he’s so clearly an anchor on the offence, I think we need to call a spade a spade. What’s funny is that his linemates clearly

recognize this. At one point Marner looked him off on a 2-on-1 so he could pass the puck to Tavares in double-coverage. Think of an NFL

quarterback not throwing to an open receiver because he knows he’s going to drop it (or fumble). We’ve essentially reached that point with

Zach Hyman.

Did they even play tonight or am I blind?

Patrick Marleau – I thought this was one of Marleau’s worst games of the season, but then he somehow managed to score off of a weird bounce in the third period.

PATRICK MARLEAU �

THE POINT SHOT BOUNCES OFF THE BOARDS AND LANDS PERFECTLY FOR PATTY. 3-3 GAME. PIC.TWITTER.COM/2KLYDAOXVB

— FLINTOR (@THEFLINTOR) DECEMBER 5, 2018

I like to be more process-oriented when I make these grades (#TrustTheProcess), so I’m going to put Marleau in this category and politely request he play with Kadri on the third line when Nylander comes back (Kapanen-Matthews-Nylander or Johnsson-Matthews-Nylander would be much more dangerous in my opinion).

Game Score

Most important GIF of the night

AUSTON MATTHEWS CURL AND DRAG OT WINNER

PIC.TWITTER.COM/YRHHIWPUSN

— FLINTOR (@THEFLINTOR) DECEMBER 5, 2018

Can anyone else in the world do this? Matthews’ ability to curl and drag the puck while in his shooting motion is unique — it’s crazy how much power he’s able to get on that shot considering how close his hands are in tight to his body when the puck comes off his stick.

It’s been baffling goaltenders (and defencemen) for a while now, and I really don’t see that ending any time soon. If he can stay healthy, the Matthews vs Laine battle for Rocket Richard Trophies is going to be a fun race to watch for the next decade.

Questions and concerns from the game

Kapanen-Matthews-Nylander?

Yes please.

Johnsson-Matthews-Nylander?

Oh man, I really like that too.

Marleau-Matthews-Brown?

… we’re probably going to see that at some point this season, aren’t we?



Wheeler: On the value of hanging onto the puck and how the Leafs’ escape artists make their teammates better

By Scott Wheeler Dec 4, 2018

BUFFALO — Over the course of the last few years, if there’s one thing we’ve learned about NHL hockey, it’s to place increased value on having the puck.

People far smarter than I have studied it and have developed a wealth of data sets that best put a number on the value of possession. Teams have changed the way they play, all but removing fighters and the league’s least-skilled players from the game in order to build rosters that are four lines deep with talent. Coaches have changed the way they strategize and have asked their players to make plays through the

neutral zone with speed in order to avoid, as best they can, the dump plays that can turn over possession too easily.

We still try to inject the narrative and the feel that have made hockey the sport it is over the last century. Ahead of Tuesday night’s matchup

between the league’s third-place Leafs and fourth-place Sabres, the build-up centred around the heavy contingent of inbound Leafs fans and

the potential for a renewed rivalry between the two young, surging teams — a rivalry most of the Leafs players didn’t really subscribe to, though

Mike Babcock ate it up.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Reporters asked. Players dutifully answered.

“They have a lot of skilled guys,” Rasmus Ristolainen said of the Leafs, mirroring the answers Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Tavares all gave of the Sabres.

But then there was a game to play.

And there are certain players that are able to hang onto the puck better than others. Over the course of those same last few years, I’ve tried to identify, through video, how those players function and how they benefit their linemates.

The early conclusion I’ve come to is that the players who can escape traffic with the puck (ie. the ones who can come away from traffic, or through it, and maintain possession) are the ones most well-placed to

succeed. Because the other skills are easy. The majority of NHL players can make the smart chip play when it’s their only option. The majority of

NHL players can make heads-up passes through the neutral zone when their linemate has more speed and space than they do.

But keeping your feet moving under pressure, or evading a 200-pound defenceman with your edges and puck protection, instead of instinctually

slapping the puck up the boards…

That takes a unique kind of cerebral patience and speed.

The Leafs, in a lot of ways, are a perfect case study in the theory because Matthews doesn’t fit its confines. He’s not actually particularly gifted at escaping with possession from the kinds of situations described. But he can curl the drag and release it under the bar better than anyone on the planet, so he can make it work. There are other players like him, too.

But increasingly, lines need a player that can escape. They make guys like Matthews better. And when his line struggles, it’s normally because

Kasperi Kapanen and Patrick Marleau aren’t particularly gifted at it either.

Three Leafs players do it exceptionally well. Here’s how they do it, and

how they made their linemates better on Tuesday night — and contributed to the Leafs’ win along the way.

Tyler Ennis

When the Leafs dealt Josh Leivo on Tuesday, they were probably faced with a choice that involved considering, at least peripherally, Tyler Ennis’ value.

“He plays on our second-unit powerplay, he’s a really good person, he’s got good energy about him, he loves the game, and that stuff’s contagious. Sometimes on the fourth line you don’t get to play as much as you’d like so being upbeat and energized every single day is really important to a team. He has done that, he has chipped in some goals, he’s got some skill and you can move him onto different spots and he’ll be good,” Babcock said.

“If you look at our right side and you go through it all, there wasn’t a ton

of space there and then on the left side when you go through it it’s the same. There’s lots of people there, that’s why we had the Leivo

situation.”

It’s that second-to-last part, the part about Ennis’ malleability with

different spots, that jumped out at me. Before the game, Ennis spoke about it too, touching on both how his speed complements the Leafs’

lineup and how it complements him. He’s different than a lot of their forwards — the Connor Browns, the Zach Hymans, the Par Lindholms.

It starts with that ability to escape.

This goal, against the Blue Jackets, probably springs to mind first:

There, after lifting the puck out of traffic, Ennis hangs onto the puck instead of making a quick play, using his speed to change directions and his footwork and puck skill as a handler to avoid reaching sticks.

He has done it all year.

Sometimes, it involves sliding away from traffic and hanging onto it for an extra second to make a play around a diving stick:

Other times, it’s evident in the patience needed to step around a defender, instead of looking to release the puck from a standstill (to the benefit of Leivo, below, coincidentally):

Or stepping around them to turn a bad angle shot into a decent one:

Even when these plays don’t result in goals, as shown below, they result in small productive plays that eventually do over the long haul.

In Buffalo, on Tuesday night, that was the case. Watch, here, the way

Ennis uses body positioning and patience to come out of a 1-on-2 battle with possession, before keeping his feet moving to keep the play alive to the point:

Or the way he hangs onto the puck and attempts to escape the pressure of a leaning defender to make a play on net off the rush below, rather than sending the puck low to commence a cycle:

This skill set, the kind we can observe and track with our eyes, is supported by the outcomes it creates, too. In a limited role (only Frederik Gauthier plays less than Ennis at 5-on-5), Ennis has excelled this season because of it. In 217 minutes at 5-on-5 (just over nine minutes per game), all six goals that have been scored with Ennis on the ice have run through him, including five of six through primary points (four goals, one primary assist). That 100 Individual Points Percentage is followed closely by only Matthews’ 91 per cent clip. His 1.75 points per 60 minutes and 1.1 goals per 60 rank fifth and sixth among Leafs forwards, ahead of Nazem Kadri, Hyman and Marleau. His six points in his last 12 games, and three-in-three heading into Buffalo, all came while playing no more than 14:05 in any of them.

Travis Dermott

For a long time, Jake Gardiner gave the Leafs a unique element that they lacked on nearly all of their pairings because of his ability to escape

pressure with possession. These days, while it’s still a strength, he relies increasingly on his two-zone outlet passes to make those plays.

Dermott has filled the void.

That was true on the entry ahead of his very first NHL goal (the end of

the below clip has been extended for a reminder of Dermott’s face after that goal!) in the way he used his feet to avoid a check and carry the puck deep into the offensive zone:

It was true in the way he avoided pressure to score in last year’s playoff series against Boston, too:

And it was true, once more, on the brilliant evasion below, where he side-steps the forechecker, uses his feet to make it impossible for Jeff Carter to track back with him, and sets up Andreas Johnsson for the 4-1 goals against the Kings:

On Tuesday night, its was evident all game long not only in the way it

allowed Dermott to draw attention and open up space for his forwards, but also in the way Igor Ozhiganov comfortably sat back waiting for a

drop pass (with ample space to then make a play) if Dermott decided he needed to turn back because he wasn’t able to escape.

Dermott’s go-to move is a little stop-up play he uses sometimes in the double digits each game to jump past a check. It looks like this:

But it’s also evident in the way he can shade away from pressure and turn up ice to use his feet, rather than a pass or a chip, to make a play. At

the AHL level, it made him an excellent penalty differential player — something head coach Sheldon Keefe routinely pointed to as a unique skill for Dermott.

Late on Tuesday, he drew another against the Sabres:

Sometimes, it enables him to turn plays where he doesn’t have options in one end into scoring chances in the other.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Watch, below, the way he’s able to escape two different forecheckers when Matthews and Marleau don’t open up soon enough as passing options, carrying the puck from behind his goalline to bring the Sabres to him and feed Matthews for a chance at the other end:

As with Ennis, the results match up with the way he makes his linemates (or in this case his pairing) better.

Dermott carried five points and 16 shots in his previous 10 games into Tuesday. His 55.4 Corsi For percentage and 55.5 Scoring Chances For percentage both lead all Leafs at 5-on-5. He is the only Leafs player with a Shots For percentage over 50 per cent, at 51.34. He has done this by

playing at exactly a 1.00 PDO (a testament to the fact that it hasn’t been carried by luck). And for as much as he generates, he’s equally strong at

preventing chances against (his 51.4 Corsi Against per 60 minutes leads all Leafs, on a team that gives up a lot, too).

Mitch Marner

“Just the speed element. He has great speed and we’re going to have to

try to manage that. We can’t feed his transition,” Sabres head coach Phil Housley said of Marner ahead of Tuesday night’s game.

And isn’t that the truth, these days. The thing is, though: You can’t manage Marner. Because he’s more than just fast. He’s the poster child for the evading pressure — which often means slowing down, not speeding up. Watch, in the back half of this brilliant shift, the way Marner uses his feet and his stick handling to go both into traffic and away from it within a split second.

In doing so, Tavares and Hyman are able too simply play off him (much like Leivo did with Ennis in spurts). While everyone is watching Marner, look at the way Tavares’ head is up, in order to try to stay ahead of his linemate:

And now look for that exact same thing on Jake Gardiner’s pivotal 2-1 goal, while the Leafs were in the midst of getting outplayed:

“I just had a sense I had to step into some open ice and you see Mitch with the puck you know he’s going to have a good sense of where

everyone’s at. When he’s got the puck, you know he’s going to make good decisions,” Tavares said of the play. “As soon as I see him get it I’m

hungry to get open and let him make the decision. It’s hard to go wrong with what he sees out there and the plays he makes.”

When the Leafs have struggled, there have been times where it’s been directly correlated to the fact that they don’t have enough players like Ennis and Dermott (Marner is a bit of an anomaly because he’s so far ahead of everyone else). They don’t have a slew of Jeff Skinners or Rasmus Dahlins. The Kadri line has struggled in extended stretches in part because they lack someone with a skill set like Ennis’. That’s true of the Marlies and the success players have playing with Jeremy Bracco and Trevor Moore, who share that ability to hang onto the puck.

Tavares fits so well with Marner because he can play off him.

The speed on the entries like this is what grabs your attention, but it’s the

way Marner slows up and then steps by his defender on the reach-in that turns a good entry into a successful play to his linemate:

The combination of Gardiner and Marner’s ability to retrieve pucks in feet and make a play generated a successful shift below, too (notice, at the

end, the way Gardiner takes a few strides off the wall before making the pass that creates the entry):

Or the way he changes directions, below, to create an entry and make a play. Neither of the two plays on the puck Marner makes on this shift happen because he’s playing particularly fast.

They happen because he’s got the patience and the wherewithal to hang onto the puck to make a tough play, instead of the simple one:

And the Leafs have taken notes.

“Mitch has got that kind of ability. The good players keep making plays over and over when there’s no room for the rest of us but for those few

guys they seem to be able to do it,” Babcock said after the 4-3 overtime win.

“We try to steal something good off of all the really good players, whatever that may be. You try to give it to your development team and see if they can’t do it better. Willy’s going to come back now and you’re going to see what he can do and what Mitch can do. When we were sending out clips this summer we were sending out clips of the way Mitch can do things to the kids because we want them to follow that lead.”

Sometime later this week, when they do add Nylander, they’ll be getting a fourth likeminded player.

Don’t be surprised the players he plays with suddenly look better because of it.



NHL Trends: The downfall of Chicago, Alex DeBrincat’s struggles and the rise of the Leafs and Thomas Chabot

By Dom Luszczyszyn Dec 4, 2018

The end of every month is a great time to look back and reflect on the previous month of hockey to see which way teams and players are

trending. A one month sample is usually obfuscated by hot and cold streaks, so it’s valuable to find ways to separate the signal from the

noise. Those at the extreme ends of the spectrum also make for some great stories.

The Athletic has a model we use for projections and probabilities that is updated each day and provides a look at how much has changed under the hood on a daily basis. Our season preview series offered a snapshot of how and why each team was rated the way it was and this is an opportunity to provide further context as the season progresses. It’ll hopefully be an interesting look into how the model operates and how much perception changes from month-to-month and it’s a question many have asked after seeing the daily probabilities operate.

What you’re getting is two articles in one. The first looks at the teams and players who’ve made the biggest changes from where they were last

month. The second is a brief run through of each team with accompanying charts looking at how each player’s value has changed

over the last month – an appendix of sorts for the rest of the league that wasn’t mentioned here for those that want to take a deeper dive into

every team or simply curious about their own.

Hottest teams

Toronto Maple Leafs

Last Month Strength: .577

Current Strength: .611

At the start of November, the Leafs were a bonafide Cup contender, but not the team to beat – that honour belonged to either Nashville or Tampa Bay. It looked like the team might struggle during the month with their best player, Auston Matthews, out with an injury for about four weeks.

Flash forward one month and the team is now considered the team to beat by my model. That’s because the Leafs played surprisingly well without Matthews, earning a league-best plus-17 goal differential and a

9-5-0 record. He’s back now and the team won both games with him in the lineup, pushing their record to 19-8-0 on the season.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


That time without Matthews allowed other players to shine, upgrading their standing by my model. Mitch Marner really led the way here with an average Game Score of 1.36 in November off the strength of 20 points in 14 games. John Tavares wasn’t far behind with 10 goals and 17 points with an average Game Score of 1.33 and their linemate, Zach Hyman, saw a tidy upgrade in his value as well.

Also not pictured in the chart above: the play of Frederik Andersen. The Leafs defence always comes into question, but things aren’t so bad when Andersen is on his game. He earned a .942 save percentage for the month, pushing his season total up to .931. That will likely come down (I

have him projected for .922), but it has put him behind just John Gibson and Pekka Rinne in projected goalie value.

Oh, and they just got their $7-million “sixth best player” back (included in the projected strength figure), so he might help matters further.

All that means that the Leafs are now rated as the best team by my model, increasing their Cup chances from an already good 11 percent to

a slightly preposterous 20 percent, a very high mark this early in the season.

Buffalo Sabres



The hottest team in the standings for November was surprisingly the Buffalo Sabres, but my model has not been as quick to anoint the team just yet, upgrading the Sabres’ true talent level to just .468, or an 87-point team. Before the season, Sabres fans would’ve been elated with that figure, but have been vociferous in their displeasure now after a 10-game winning streak and 11-3-1 record for the month. I don’t blame them, but I’m still skeptical the team is for real especially considering the nature of

the win streak itself (nine one-goal games, seven overtime games, plus-nine goal differential).

The underlying play wasn’t enough to be enamoured with much of the team’s depth, with modest upgrades here and there, and slight

downgrades elsewhere. It was the play of the team’s stars the carried them, with Jack Eichel earning 18 points in 14 games (with 17 assists)

and Jeff Skinner pitching in 13 goals and 15 points. Along with Sam Reinhart, who was strong himself, those guys were the offence and there’s not much support after them. If the top of the Sabres forward lineup gets cold at any point – something that happens to all players – the team doesn’t look like it has the depth up front to survive. In that case, Buffalo will have to rely heavily on goaltending to stay on track, and while Carter Hutton, another big part of the team’s strong November, has been up to the task so far, he doesn’t have a lengthy track record and is far from certain to maintain this level of play.

If there’s any consolation here, it’s the rosy projection for Rasmus Dahlin

who is already firmly a top pairing defender and could inch his way closer towards being a legitimate number one defender sooner rather than later,

especially if the team smartly gives him more ice time. He had nine points in 14 games and his 50.6 percent Corsi was tops among defencemen for the month and second behind just Skinner on the team. Dahlin’s continued emergence might be the difference between a team that got hot in November fading shortly after, and a team that discovered its potential with a winning streak and running with it to an unlikely playoff berth.

Honourable mentions

Ottawa Senators/Detroit Red Wings

No team saw its value rise further than Ottawa’s and Detroit’s wasn’t far off either. Both teams were supposed to be laughing stocks of the league, but that hasn’t been the case so far this season, especially for the Red Wings who rattled off a 9-4-1 record for the month. As nice as November was for both teams, it’s unlikely either factors into the playoff picture over the remainder of the season (they were 29th and 30th in

Corsi for the month), but at the very least they both deserve an honourable mention.

Colorado Avalanche

After the Senators and Leafs, the Avalanche were the third biggest riser for the month and looks like they can upset the Central dynamic at the top of the table. They were featured last month as a team on the rise and parlayed that into a terrific November, going 8-3-3 on their way to second in the Central, a spot they have a decent chance of finishing in come April.

Coldest teams

San Jose Sharks



Before the season started, many of us had high hopes for the Sharks, but the team has mostly sputtered out of the gate with a rather pedestrian 13-10-5 record to start the year with things really falling apart over the last month. The team has gone 7-7-2 since Nov. 1, and while the team’s possession rate of 53 percent is still good, it’s a far away from where they were in October at 60 percent. That drop was to be expected given the softer schedule the Sharks played in October. Despite having a talented team and being in an awful division, the team has looked shaky and saw the fourth biggest drop of the month in terms of playoff odds, going from 90 percent to 72 percent.

In November the problem has mostly been goaltending, where Martin Jones had an .880 save percentage for the month, the second worst mark in the league among starters. Aaron Dell didn’t fare much better at .895. Neither number is good enough and it’s a testament to the team’s shot rate dominance that their record didn’t fall further with goaltending

like that.

It wasn’t just the goaltending though as the skaters all saw massive

downgrades across the board, none bigger than Marc-Edouard Vlasic who had a team worst 44.2 percent Corsi to go with a minus-seven goal

differential at 5-on-5. Vlasic has always been underrated by my model because his talent was on the defensive end of the ice, but his work there

over the past month has been awful. Methinks having Erik Karlsson as his partner wasn’t the problem and it might be prudent for the Sharks to revisit that duo to get the team’s mojo back.

Joe Thornton is another guy who curiously dropped, but much of that is due to an ice-time decrease. He’s now playing just 15:29 per night despite continuing to be a stalwart in both ends, leading all Sharks forwards in Corsi percentage at 59.4 percent. The team is obviously trying to spread the wealth up front, and having Thornton on the third line is dangerous, but perhaps the team would be better served with him further up the lineup.

Chicago Blackhawks



No team has seen their playoff chances drop over the last month more

than the Blackhawks, who have gone a league worst 3-10-2 since Nov. 1 and have seen their playoff chances go from 52 percent to 12 percent as

a result. After a 6-2-2 start to the season, there was reason for optimism for a bounce-back, but the team has only won three of its 18 games

since. Not good!

That led to the dismissal of longtime head coach Joel Quenneville at the start of November and things only went from bad to worse. Under new head coach Jeremy Colliton, the team has seen their shot share drop drastically to 47.4 percent, a big contributor to Chicago’s awful performance under a new bench boss.

Not helping matters is the play of superstar goalie Corey Crawford. Over the last six seasons, Crawford’s lowest save percentage has been .917

CAROLINA HURRICANES


back in 2013-14. He’s been at or above .924 four times, and has averaged .922 over the timeframe, good for fourth in the league. Crawford’s as safe a bet as any between the pipes, but a return from a year-long concussion behind some horrific defence hasn’t helped him get back on track. He sits at .903 to start the season.

The stars haven’t been great either as Patrick Kane had 11 points in 13 games in November while getting outshot heavily and sporting a team low minus-nine at 5-on-5. Jonathan Toews looked subpar, Duncan Keith is a shell of his former self and even young gun Alex Debrincat – the team’s brightest future hope – hit a wall after a terrific opening month.

Nearly every Blackhawk saw a drop in his numbers, but his was the largest.

The empire has fallen, quicker than my model can even course correct for. As of now, it expects the Blackhawks to finish with 83 points off a

true-talent strength of .487 for the remainder of the year. Given how the team has looked of late, that’s likely far too optimistic.

Honourable mentions

Dallas Stars

Despite going 9-5-3 since Nov. 1 and currently sitting in a playoff spot – all while without top defender John Klingberg – my model has severely downgraded the Stars’ underlying strength. Mostly, it’s because during that timeframe, the team had a better shot share than just three teams: Ottawa, Detroit and the Rangers. All three were expected to be bottom five calibre teams, so that’s not good company.

Los Angeles Kings

No team has fallen further since the start of the season than the Kings who have gone from being viewed as a true talent .500 team all the way down to .423. No team was more anemic offensively in November than

Los Angeles who sported an all situations goals-per-60 rate of 2.19.

To see more charts for how the value of every player on each team has

changed over the last month go here.

Hottest players

Pontus Aberg

Last Month GSVA: 0.42 wins

Current GSVA: 1.19 wins

On a team that gets outshot as heavily as Anaheim has all season, it’s always impressive seeing a player buck the trend. That it’s coming from

waiver-wire acquisition Pontus Aberg makes it all the sweeter.

Since scoring at a near point-per-game pace in the AHL back in 2016-17,

Aberg has struggled to find his footing in the big leagues. In 49 games with Nashville, he only managed 10 points while being a heavy five-on-

five detriment. In a brief 16-game stint in Edmonton, he seemed to find his game a bit with eight points in 16 games and break-even relative shot

rates, but he found himself on the outside looking in during training camp. That happened to be Anaheim’s gain as Aberg has made good on the promise he once showed in the Nashville system.

Through 23 games this year, Aberg has 14 points in 23 games, a 50-point pace, and 10 in his last 16 after a slight ice-time bump. He even started shooting the puck more, firing 37 shots over his last 16 games after hitting the net just 10 times in his first seven games. His ability to

fire pucks at will is what made his AHL play so promising and it’s something he’s struggled with at the NHL-level. Great to see him get

back on track and it’s a part of what’s made his most recent stint much more successful.

But as mentioned before, it’s the team’s shot rates with Aberg on the ice that make him worth keeping an eye on. Aberg’s 54.5 percent Corsi led all Ducks since Nov. 1, an especially impressive feat considering the team was at 43.6 percent with him on the bench. Not bad for a guy the Ducks got for free at the start of the season.

Thomas Chabot



Erik Karlsson who, amirite?

Kidding aside, it’s extremely rare for a team to lose a generational

defencemen and be able to replace much of his offensive output internally, but that’s exactly what Ottawa did with Thomas Chabot this

year. After a promising rookie season, Chabot has exploded in his sophomore campaign leading all defencemen in points with 31 in 27

games. The new Senators system that allows the defence to get involved in the offence as much as possible has certainly helped Chabot’s production, but that doesn’t discredit that he’s been a machine in the

offensive zone.

Every shift with Chabot is an adventure as he still has kinks to iron out defensively, but his big numbers can’t be ignored as he’s made the most of the massive opportunity afforded to him with Karlsson’s departure. He

may not ever be a complete defencemen, nor a generational one like Karlsson, but he’ll be a special player in his own right and is already

cementing himself as one of the game’s best and brightest on the backend.

Honourable mentions

Lucas Wallmark

A bit of an afterthought before the season and to start it, Wallmark has really come in to his own of late. He’s getting over 15 minutes per night, had nine assists in 13 games in November and was Carolina’s top possession player at 60.4 percent.

Mark Scheifele

Patrik Laine got all the hype last month because of his 18 goals, but Scheifele was arguably just as good. He had 17 points and was a beast at 5-on-5, earning a plus-34 Corsi and a plus-12 goal rate at 5-on-5 with the latter mark leading all skaters in November.

Coldest players

Alex DeBrincat



The 2018-19 season started with a lot of promise for the super sophomore, but as mentioned above, Alex DeBrincat hit a lull over the

last month earning one of the biggest drops of the month by my model.

DeBrincat represented a youthful resurgence for Chicago, the team’s

best hope for a bright future. That was on full display in October with an over point-per-game month where he fired over three shots on net per

game and was a solid two-way contributor at 5-on-5. It was a big month that had my model believing he could entrench himself as one of the

game’s elites. He was getting a bigger role with the team and thriving with it.

That wasn’t so in November where he had just two goals and six points in 13 games. Considering he shot 19.5 percent in October, a drop-off shouldn’t have been too surprising. Part of that wasn’t his fault either as his power play time dropped from 3:14 in October to just 2:02 in November. For a team with the league’s worst power play, it’s a strange decision to keep one of your most dynamic offensive talents off the top unit for stretches of time, though the team’s recent trade of Nick Schmaltz has changed that.

Either way, it’s not like DeBrincat did enough to deserve the minutes (his power play points-per-60 was just 1.95) and perhaps some tough love

from a new coach was in order to get back to what made him successful in the opening month. His struggles at 5-on-5 further that point, as he

was carrying the worst shot rates on the team among forwards at 44.8

CAROLINA HURRICANES


percent. DeBrincat is one of Chicago’s best players, but he didn’t play like it in November.

Jakub Voracek



I mentioned Jakub Voracek’s awful season in my 31 Stats column, but it bears repeating: the dude has been awful and was particularly woeful in

November. Just six points in 12 games isn’t enough for a guy getting paid $8-million per year and Voracek’s struggles are a big part of why

Philadelphia has disappointed so far this season. When your big guys don’t step up, you’re in big trouble.

What’s hurt the most is how much the team has struggled at 5-on-5 with Voracek on the ice. For the month, the Flyers had a respectable 51.4 Corsi percentage as a whole, but were a mess whenever Voracek was out there. Voracek had a team low 42.6 percent Corsi and the team was at 55.2 percent without him. That 12.6 percent difference was the fourth

lowest of any player during the timeframe, and it showed up on the scoresheet too, with the Flyers being outscored 9-4 with Voracek on the

ice. They were at 24-16 otherwise, a dominant figure.

Where the team also struggled was on the power play where there 4.62 goals-per-60 was fifth last in the league. In 26 minutes, Voracek had zero points and only mustered four shots on net. That nine shots-per-60 mark is much lower than where he usually is in the 14-to-18 range.

If the Flyers are going to turn their disappointing season around, Voracek needs to figure it out and fast.

Honourable mentions

Charles Hudon

He was an analytics darling last season, but has looked anything but so far this season. He had just one point in November and was among the team’s worst two-way players.

Matt Niskanen

What the hell happened to Niskanen? He’s generally been a very dependable defensive defencemen, but that hasn’t really been the case this season. No player was outshot more than Niskanen whose Corsi differential was an ugly minus-109 for the month.



William Nylander rejoining Auston Matthews a big deal for high-octane Toronto attack

By Scott Cullen Dec 4, 2018

The Toronto Maple Leafs are already tied for third in the league, averaging 3.63 goals per game, and that offense is about to get a shot in

the arm with the return of William Nylander.

While Nylander’s contract negotiations got a lot of the media spotlight, it’s

not entirely without reason. He’s a really productive player about to enter his prime years. Among active players, there are 23 skaters that have

recorded at least two 60-point seasons through their age 21 campaign, and Nylander is on that list.

Last season, Nylander played primarily with Auston Matthews and Zach Hyman, and among lines that played at least 300 5-on-5 minutes together, that trio ranked third with 4.13 goals per 60 (GF60).

This season, Matthews has missed 14 of 27 games after suffering a shoulder injury and Nylander has yet to play. Presumably, once they get in gear, that will add a dominant line to Toronto’s already formidable attack.

Even without Nylander, Matthews has had some success skating with Patrick Marleau and Kasperi Kapanen. That trio has ranked eighth (minimum 100 5-on-5 minutes together) with 4.64 GF60 this year. Add Nylander to that group and the Leafs are really in business, and ridiculously deep up front. (The line of Zach Hyman, John Tavares and Mitch Marner is clocking in with an even 4.0 goals per 60, ranking 16th.)

The Leafs could very well keep Marleau on the left side of that top line, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Kapanen gets a chance

there, too. He really took advantage of the opportunity presented by Nylander’s contract stalemate, producing 10 goals and 18 points in 27

games. For fantasy owners, the choice of a third player to skate with a couple of high-end linemates presents an opportunity, so stay on top of

the latest line combinations offered by Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock.

There is an argument that, perhaps, Nylander is a product of playing with

Matthews, an elite goal-scorer who dominates at even strength. They have been one of the most productive lines in the league since the start of last season, thanks in part to a high on-ice shooting percentage (12.43%) and a lot of that would appear to be fueled by Matthews, who generates a lot of high-quality shots. The fact of the matter is that they are both clearly better when they are together, scoring 3.40 goals per 60 over the previous two seasons while playing together, as opposed to 2.42 (Nylander) and 2.89 (Matthews) goals per 60 when they are apart.

Since the start of the 2017-2018 season, these are the most productive (GF/60) lines during 5-on-5 play (minimum 300 minutes):

GF/60 RANK

Team

GP

TOI

GF/60

CF/60

xGF/60

Sh%

1

Dadonov-Barkov-Bjugstad

FLA

51

484.81

4.33

66.34

3.13

11.33

2

Zucker-Staal-Granlund

MIN

85

326.03

4.23

CAROLINA HURRICANES


67.54

3.84

10.85

3

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander

TOR

59

639.94

4.13

64.22

3.19

12.43

4

Giroux-Couturier-Konecny

PHI

82

718.00

4.09

64.51

2.81

11.37

5

Forsberg-Johansen-Arvidsson

NSH

74

661.89

4.08

68.44

3.08

11.03

6

Hall-Hischier-Palmieri

N.J

73

487.45

4.06

62.65

3.32

11.04

7

Hyman-Tavares-Marner

TOR

27

314.98

4.00

68.00

3.24

11.23

8

Benn-Seguin-Radulov

DAL

95

802.77

3.96

65.92

2.97

10.95

9

Beauvillier-Barzal-Eberle

NYI

67

429.31

3.91

67.08

2.93

9.96

10

Panarin-Dubois-Atkinson

CBJ

67

575.05

3.86

65.00

3.20

10.66

11

Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen

COL

96

1134.90

3.86

60.90

2.42

11.50

12

Giroux-Couturier-Voracek

CAROLINA HURRICANES


PHI

98

443.51

3.79

65.88

2.84

10.22

13

Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel

PIT

78

370.84

3.72

62.13

2.63

10.65

14

Ehlers-Scheifele-Wheeler

WPG

65

324.65

3.70

63.21

2.72

10.75

15

Gaudreau-Monahan-Ferland

CGY

65

704.91

3.49

66.05

2.87

10.12

16

Ladd-Barzal-Eberle

NYI

68

350.07

3.43

64.79

2.74

10.00

17

Namestnikov-Stamkos-Kucherov

T.B

56

507.92

3.43

64.97

2.43

10.51

18

Huberdeau-Barkov-Dadonov

FLA

58

372.64

3.38

63.60

2.47

9.33

19

Schwartz-Schenn-Tarasenko

STL

66

500.60

3.36

69.52

2.94

8.67

20

Aho-Staal-Teravainen

CAR

66

446.80

3.36

63.12

2.90

10.08

21

Hagelin-Malkin-Hornqvist

PIT

60

326.35

3.31

69.50

CAROLINA HURRICANES


3.30

8.04

22

Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith

VGK

88

1025.75

3.28

63.29

2.83

9.61

23

Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak

BOS

68

734.75

3.27

66.31

2.69

9.78

24

Fiala-Turris-Smith

NSH

79

657.24

3.20

70.29

3.05

8.50

25

Rakell-Getzlaf-Perry

ANA

43

484.06

3.10

58.63

2.62

10.55

26

Marleau-Kadri-Marner

TOR

74

387.98

3.09

60.47

2.68

9.48

27

Perron-Haula-Neal

VGK

48

533.33

2.93

59.18

2.04

9.32

28

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson

WSH

62

514.57

2.92

63.55

2.71

9.43

29

Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler

WPG

76

740.67

2.92

57.35

2.58

8.74

30

Baertschi-Horvat-Boeser

VAN

47

375.22

2.88

52.45

1.89

10.71

31

Panarin-Dubois-Anderson

CBJ

CAROLINA HURRICANES


60

381.90

2.83

74.78

2.70

7.00

ON THE FRINGES

There have been quite a few transactions involving fringe players, but

fringe players that have enough offensive upside and might offer some value in deep leagues.

LEIVO TRADE

In order to make room for Nylander in the lineup, the Maple Leafs dealt 25-year-old left winger Josh Leivo to Vancouver for 22-year-old AHL winger Michael Carcone.

Leivo has had a hard time cracking the Leafs lineup in previous years, but did dress in all 27 games this season. He’s produced 28 points in 84 career games, enough to consider that he could be an NHL regular, and it’s even more impressive because even when he’s dressed, he’s played

so little. Since he made his NHL debut in 2013-2014, Leivo’s primary points/60 rate is 1.36, which is entirely respectable, ahead of Tyler

Bozak, Nazem Kadri, Zach Hyman and Connor Brown among Leafs regular forwards in that span.

In Vancouver, there is a legit chance for Leivo to play, and show whether or not he can produce as a full-time NHL player. He’s not likely to light

the world on fire just by changing teams, but if Leivo gets regular top-nine minutes with the Canucks, he could very well pot 15-20 goals. From

Vancouver’s perspective, they have little to lose by giving him the opportunity to find out if he belongs in this league.

Carcone is something of a late bloomer, undrafted out of the QMJHL, and he’s off to a nice start (17 points in 20 games) in his third AHL season. He’s not likely to be an NHLer, but he wasn’t likely to be scoring 17 points in 20 games this year, either.

SPRONG TRADE

It’s been no secret that the Pittsburgh Penguins have been disappointed

in 2015 second-round pick Daniel Sprong. Expectations were high for the 21-year-old this season after he scored 65 points in 65 games as an AHL

rookie last season. Given his chance in Pittsburgh, he’s frequently been a healthy scratch and has no goals and four assists in 16 games.

That untapped potential could get an opportunity to shine in Anaheim, where Corey Perry is expected to be out for most of the season, but it

shouldn’t be considered an automatic boost. Ondrej Kase and Jakob Silfverberg are reasonably established on the right side, and Pontus

Aberg leads the Ducks with nine goals. Sprong has long-term upside and that’s the value to the deal for Anaheim. Considering his track record, it’s reasonable to expect that Aberg’s run may not last and Silfverberg is set to be a free agent at season’s end, so the value in Sprong just might take some time before it takes hold.

The Penguins received 22-year-old defenseman Marcus Pettersson, who has been steady while playing 14 minutes a night for the Ducks. His offensive contributions are modest, but Pettersson should offer a defensive upgrade for Pittsburgh.

ZYKOV, SCHERBAK, LEIPSIC WAIVER CLAIMS

Some intriguing names changed teams on waivers over the past week, highly-touted offensive prospects that couldn’t get into their respective

lineups.

The Edmonton Oilers claimed 23-year-old winger Valentin Zykov from Carolina. He’s a sturdy winger who scored 33 goals in 63 AHL games last season and has put up 11 points in 25 career NHL games. He’s not a sure thing, but it’s well worth it for the winger-needy Oilers to find out if Zykov can be a legit scorer in the NHL.

The Los Angeles Kings are taking advantage of their prime position on the waiver wire, selecting Nikita Scherbak from the Montreal Canadiens and Brendan Leipsic from the Vancouver Canucks. Scherbak was a 2014 first-round pick who has just seven points in 29 career games, but put up 30 points in 26 AHL games last season and, again, it’s probably worth it

for the Kings to find out if he can be a bona fide NHLer.

Leipsic has bounced around a bit since getting drafted by Nashville in

2012. The 24-year-old has played for Toronto, Vegas and Vancouver in the NHL, compiling 30 points in 81 games. He’s on the small side, but is

skilled and has a chance to secure a spot with a bad Los Angeles squad. With Carl Hagelin and Ilya Kovalchuk hurt, there is a crack open for

Scherbak and Leipsic to play and earn a role.

GETTING A CHANCE

Here are some other players getting significant opportunities with quality linemates. For fantasy owners, their appeal may be fleeting, but keep an eye on them anyway.

Colby Cave, C, Boston – With Patrice Bergeron out, the Bruins are giving the 23-year-old a shot between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak. He only has one point in five NHL games this season, but had 18 points in 15 AHL games before getting called up.

Ryan Hartman and Eeli Tolvanen, LW, Nashville – Injuries have decimated the Predators lineup, with Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson, Kyle Turris and P.K. Subban all injured. Hartman has just two goals in

the past dozen games, but he has moved up to the top line alongside Ryan Johansen and Kevin Fiala. Tolvanen, the 2017 first-round pick, had

11 points (4 G, 7 A) in 21 AHL games before getting moved up to Nashville, where he’s skating on the second line and has a couple of

points in his first two games since getting recalled.

Robert Thomas, LW, St. Louis – The highly-touted 2017 first-round pick

struggled to get ice time early, but it’s been moving in the right direction lately. He has four points (2 G, 2 A), while averaging 15 minutes of ice time, in the past five games and is now skating on the top line with Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko.

Tage Thompson, LW, Buffalo – Part of the Ryan O’Reilly trade with the Blues in the offseason, the 6-foot-6 winger has moved up the depth chart to skate with Casey Mittelstadt and Kyle Okposo. After managing just one assist in his first 14 games this year, Thompson has five points (4 G, 1 A) while playing a more significant role in the past eight games.

Jared McCann, C, Florida – In the aftermath of Vincent Trocheck’s injury,

it might have been expected that Nick Bjugstad would be the one to move up, but 22-year-old McCann is centering Evgenii Dadonov and

Frank Vatrano on the Panthers’ second line.

Alex Chiasson, Drake Caggiula, and Jesse Puljujarvi, Edmonton – The

Oilers’ desperation to find wingers to fill top-six roles has led to surprisingly productive Chiasson and Caggiula getting spots much higher

than expected on the depth chart, while Puljujarvi, the fourth pick in the 2016 Draft, is getting a chance even though he has managed two goals in 16 games this year. Is it any wonder they would claim Zykov?

Sam Bennett, RW, Calgary – With Michael Frolik injured, Bennett is getting a chance to skate with Matthew Tkachuk and Mikael Backlund and while he has five points (2 G, 3 A) in the past nine games, Bennett has also averaged more than 16 minutes of ice time per game in that

span.

Brendan Perlini, LW, Chicago – Recently acquired from Arizona, the 22-year-old winger has no goals and two assists in his past 14 games, and he’s generated just one shot on goal in four games for the Blackhawks,

CAROLINA HURRICANES


but he’s getting a chance on left wing with Jonathan Toews and Brandon Saad.

Brett Connolly, RW, Washington – With T.J. Oshie out, Connolly gets a look with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jakub Vrana on the Capitals’ second line. Connolly has been okay in small doses when he moves up in the lineup.



Scott Stinson: With NHL Seattle expansion, a second Quebec team remains pure fantasy

Scott Stinson

The list of coming events for the Videotron Centre in Quebec City next month is straightforward. There are some junior hockey games, and one concert: Bryan Adams.

An entire month anchored by a 59-year-old rock star performing such hits

as Summer of Soixante-Neuf is not what Quebec politicians had in mind when they put on Nordiques jerseys and picked up spades some years

back to break ground on the arena, the shovels being an excellent metaphor for the $330-million of public money that was being dumped

into the place.

What they had in mind was NHL hockey, the dream of a return of the

world’s premier league featuring men on skates. And with Tuesday’s formal news that the league was expanding, again, but this time to

Seattle, a second Quebec team and eighth in Canada will remain very much a fantasy.

That this result has been in the works for months does not make it any less awkward for fans in Quebec City, and those politicians — from all levels of government — who spent piles of their money following the NHL’s preferred path: Build an arena, and we’ll talk.

The arena boosters started promoting the benefits of such a building in the early part of this decade, even as NHL commissioner Gary Bettman,

in his patented dismissive way, kept saying publicly that, gosh, the league just had no plans to expand. There was a frisson of excitement in

the summer of 2015 when the NHL announced that it would allow interested parties to submit expansion proposals, but a year later

Bettman said that it was granting a team to just one of the applicants — Las Vegas. Quebec City was receiving a tousle of the hair and a pat on

the cheek: the bid was fine, with the spiffy arena and a deep-pocketed prospective owner in Quebecor, but the Canadian dollar was weak and

the city itself was over there in the East, which would have exacerbated the league’s conference imbalance. That both these things were true before the NHL solicited expansion bids at $10-million a pop did not

seem to concern the commissioner in the least. Good try, Quebec City. Tousle, pat.

The Centre Videotron is shown on Tuesday, September 8, 2015 in Quebec City. Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press

That the Seattle group that is now the steward of the NHL’s 32nd franchise didn’t have to win any bid process of the sort that the Quebec capital endured must only make it that much more galling to those who were turned down. Some wealthy men with an eye on renovating an old arena batted their eyelashes at the NHL, and the indications right from the beginning were that the league was receptive. Seattle, conveniently situated over on the west coast, allows the NHL to have 16 teams in each conference and also the economy does not run on those colourful Canadian dollars. The success of the Vegas experiment was barely two months old when the NHL gave the Seattle group the go-ahead last year

on the expansion that was formally approved on Tuesday. Whatever the merits of Seattle as an NHL market, and they appear to be many, the broader reason for the move is money. The other NHL owners now get to spilt a US$650-million expansion fee, on top of the US$500-million they divvied up from Vegas. They also get that windfall with some distance between now and the scheduled end of the current collective-bargaining agreement with the players in 2023, a point at which the league will inevitably start tutting about troubled team finances and the need to squeeze certain concessions from the union. It is hard to pull that off when you are rolling around in a fresh $1.15-billion in expansion fees.

But all that free money ignores the larger question of whether the NHL truly needs to be in 32 markets, which was the same question asked

when Vegas became the 31st. Ever since the league began its aggressive southern expansion in the 1990s, there has perpetually been

a handful of problem franchises. Some of these have changed over the years, and even teams that seem solid today like Tampa have staggered

through ownership changes amid indifferent markets. When the Nashville team was going through bankruptcy, a trade for Ottawa’s Mike Fisher

was reported in the local paper as “Predators Trade for Carrie Underwood’s Husband.” Today’s problem teams — Arizona, Florida, the Brooklyn Islanders — have been problems for years now. Even the Carolina Hurricanes, with new ownership and everyone swooning over their goofy-but-fun post-game celebrations, are still 29th in attendance at

fewer than 13,000 per game. Does the NHL really need to add another team when it always has at least a couple of franchises seeking some

combination of a new arena, new investors, and a lot more fans?

Naturally, this is where Quebec City comes back into the picture. It could

be a landing spot for one of those teams, just like Winnipeg was for Atlanta. It could also be Kansas City, which built an arena in 2007 and is still without a major-league tenant.

In February, the event list for the Videotron Centre includes junior hockey and, again, one concert: Montreal singer-songwriter Jean-Pierre Ferland. He is 84.

Note to NHL: there remains room for you on the schedule.

LOADED: 12.05.2018

1119415 Websites

The Athletic / More slam-dunk than surprise, Seattle named NHL’s newest team

By Katie Strang

Dec 4, 2018

SEA ISLAND, Ga. — Tod Leiweke, approaching the gilded meeting room where the NHL’s Board of Governors convened on Tuesday, could hear through the closed door sounds of the video he had already heard at least a hundred times.

It was the same Jerry Bruckheimer-produced pitch that aired in front of the game’s power brokers back in October, as a cinematic overture of the Seattle ownership group’s desire to bring another team to the Pacific Northwest.

He took this as a good sign.

But to build up Tuesday’s announcement as a dramatic, white-knuckled moment would be misleading, considering it was practically treated as a

foregone conclusion. In an effort to be diplomatic, those involved in the project demurred about discussing anything specific before Tuesday’s press conference, but the minority owners’ presence alone was anything but discrete.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Bruckheimer, the celebrated Hollywood filmmaker, could be seen toting around a digital camera, presumably to capture some of the day’s events. Leiweke was practically gliding through the marbled hallways of The Cloister (a property owned by L.A. Kings owner Phil Anschutz) slapping backs and accepting well wishes. David Wright, a minority owner whose family brought the Space Needle to Seattle, did little to obfuscate the fact he was holding onto a personalized NHL jersey, which he later gifted to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, garnished with his own Hockey Hall of Fame commemorative patch.

Even if it were not for the gathering of local Seattle TV crews, shooting

footage of owner David Bonderman’s arrival, or Beverly Parson’s green-and-red Seattle Metropolitans scarf, it was pretty clear what was slated to

be the primary item on the Board of Governors’ two-day agenda.

Seattle was getting an NHL team.

In both the proverbial and literal sense, the doors opened for Seattle. Leiweke said he went around the room – cordoned off to the ownership

group until the vote, which was unanimous, took place – shaking the hand of each NHL governor, who wished them good luck. Finally, they

were in as the NHL’s 32nd franchise.

When Bettman announced the news shortly after noon on Tuesday in a news conference that was streamed live, there was a round of polite applause, delayed a half-second, perhaps, by the reminder that, though this has been seen as a slam-dunk for months (strong ownership, state-of-the-art arena in the works, a large, dynamic workforce to fuel ticket sales, plenty of deep-pocketed corporations locally, etc), there were fans gathered on the opposite coast who were eagerly awaiting the news.

“I know obviously that those words are words that the passionate and patient fans in Seattle have longed to hear,” Bettman said. “So today is a

day for celebration in a great city that adores and avidly supports its sports teams and for our 101-year-old sports league.”

Bettman touted the expansion franchise, which came with a price tag of $650 million, as one that would bring the two conferences in line with 16

teams apiece, in addition to helping the NHL expand its “geographic equilibrium” and create a built-in rivalry between Seattle and Vancouver.

Since Seattle submitted its expansion application, back in February, the question was not so much “if” the city would be awarded a team but when. And while the Seattle group held onto some hope that there was a possibility of beginning their inaugural season in 2020, the league announced that the club would not play until the 2021-22 season.

Bettman, deputy commissioner Bill Daly and Leiweke all cited construction of the arena as the primary reason for the timeline — Bettman called a 2020 opening “speculative at best, unlikely at worst” — though it is hard to discount how uncertainty over the labor landscape between the NHL and NHL Player’s Association factored into that decision as well.

The estimated cost of the arena renovation is now $800 million.

Regardless, the extended time frame allows the ownership group for a more deliberate approach to some of the logistical factors in building a

franchise from the ground up, something that Leiweke said he has already been in discussions with front office folks from recent expansion

franchise the Las Vegas Golden Knights about.

The team must iron out any arena kinks, including some technological

considerations, flesh out its hockey operations staff and figure out a way to accommodate the 33,000 season ticket deposits they received (32,000 of which came within the first 24 hours of becoming available). Not to mention settle on a team name (Totems? Emeralds? Sasquatch?).

“It’s exciting and daunting and scary and all the things,” said Bruckheimer, who flew in for the unveiling in between shooting his current movie in production, Top Gun: Maverick. “You just want to do right for Seattle, and bring great players and hopefully pick a name where we won’t get too many people mad at us. That’s the daunting challenge that we have, but we know that Seattle has the greatest fans. We’re

going to educate the ones that don’t understand hockey on what a wonderful sport it is. There’s a lot of fans that are already there. We’re very excited to be a part of that community.”

Bruckheimer, a rabid hockey fan who grew up in Detroit attending games with his father, got the hockey bug as a school-aged kid. Once Wayne Gretzky came to Los Angeles, he took skating lessons and started to play (“I get up and down the ice as slowly as possible, but I still get there”). Tuesday was part of a dream years in the making.

So, too, for Beverly Parsons, the niece of Frank and Lester Patrick, who founded the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and established the

Seattle Metropolitans, who won the Stanley Cup in 1917. Parsons, who now works as a real estate agent in Bellevue, Wa., recalled how she

used to skip over to her uncle Lester’s place, just a block away, and be regaled with stories from his hockey-playing days with the New York

Rangers. She has long wondered whether hockey would ever return.

“I’ve wanted it for years and years and years, and always dreamed about

it and it didn’t seem like we would ever,” Parsons said.

Bonderman, the billionaire businessman who is also a minority owner of

the Boston Celtics, said Seattle was the only city that could have prompted him to get involved. He went to school there and worked on the Space Needle in 1962. The place has a special place in his heart.

“I woke up today thinking about the fans,” said Leiweke, who will serve as team president. “What did they feel on March 1st when they put down deposits without knowing anything? No team name, an ownership group they didn’t know very well, a building plan that was back then somewhat defined but fairly vague. Today is a great day for the fans and we owe them so much. That’s why today happened.”

He said that the day represented a day of hope, promise and heaps of

hard work, which will begin in earnest soon.

But first, a brief break to relish an event which, while not unexpected,

was momentous nonetheless. Only to be surpassed when the puck is dropped in 2021.

“This weekend I’m going to do a couple of things,” he said. “I’m going to have a glass of wine, and I’m going to have a nap, and I’m going to start

thinking more about what that night’s going to be like with all of those fans in the building.”


1119416 Websites

The Athletic / LeBrun: With Seattle official, next step is to hire a GM — and try to replicate the early success Vegas had

By Pierre LeBrun

Dec 4, 2018

SEA ISLAND, Georgia — Seattle may very well deviate from its expansion cousin Vegas in one paramount decision: the timing of a GM hire.

When launching in the fall of 2020 was still the goal, the Seattle group had originally planned to follow the Vegas script and hire its GM about 15 months out from puck drop as the Golden Knights did with George

McPhee.

But the decision over the past week to delay Seattle’s on-ice debut until

the fall of 2021 could potentially change that strategy. Sources within the

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Seattle group confirmed Tuesday, after the team was officially voted in by the Board of Governors, that there has been talk about the advantages of hiring a GM two years out. So perhaps as early as this summer.

On the flip side, the group has also discussed the merits of waiting as long as possible if it means not missing out on a great candidate.

Of the two, I would think hiring a GM as soon as possible makes the most sense. For as much as McPhee and his front office had a decent window to get ready for the expansion draft and the team’s first season in Vegas, I guarantee if they had a six months head start at the very least it would have made things less stressful for them. Not that you would know

from the tremendous success they had not only on the ice but with the off-ice roster maneuvering and planning.

So while it’s an accepted notion already that Seattle will have a harder time leveraging other NHL teams in this expansion process because of

the lessons learned from the Vegas experience (more on that below), if I were the Seattle group I would try to counter-act that by giving its front

office more lead time than Vegas had. And I have a feeling that’s what we’re going to see.

Good luck to that first GM in Seattle. Seriously, he will need it.

The overthinking that went on by some teams in trying to finesse their protected list around Vegas led to some rather dubious decisions and side trades. Which all worked to Vegas’ advantage.

You get the feeling this time around most teams won’t overplay their hand. Which make things more difficult on the Seattle GM to gain the same kind of leverage — and panic in some cases — that McPhee held over his counterparts.

“Having been through it one more time we’ll know a bit more about it and we’ll plan accordingly,’’ Rangers GM Jeff Gorton said. “Everybody did

what they thought was right for themselves but I think it will be a bit harder (on Seattle) moving forward. There might be more of an approach

to just take the guy. It’s just one guy.’’

“I think it’ll be something that’s thought of a bit differently,’’ added Jets

GM Kevin Cheveldayoff.

Veteran Predators GM David Poile wasn’t so sure.

“It’s a case by case situation,’’ said Poile. “You have to now go back and look at all the contracts and figure out what we have coming up, it allows us time to plan and sign or not sign… but everybody is going to lose a really good asset.’’

The two-plus year lead-in to the June 2021 expansion draft is double the preparation time, which should help the 30 teams strategize better this time around (Vegas is exempt from this expansion draft).

“I think what’s important is that we know the rules well in advance now,’’ said Devils GM Ray Shero. “If you go back, it was a lot tighter time frame when we found out the rules before Vegas. So I think the Seattle GM will

have a harder time, but who knows?’’

Daly for the millionth time confirmed the expansion draft rules will be

exactly the same for Seattle as they were for Vegas. The deputy commissioner was satisfied with the integrity of the Vegas trades in and

around the expansion draft, so the hope now is that the same will hold true with Seattle. But the league will keep a close eye on things.

GM candidates in Seattle

This is pure speculation on my part because Seattle hasn’t yet reached

out officially to anybody. It was pretty busy trying to get voted in as a franchise first.

But now that that has happened, the GM search can begin.

Some names to consider, in my opinion:

Ken Holland: The veteran Red Wings GM signed a short-term extension

in Detroit which means the timing could work out nicely. He’s a British

Columbia native and he’s also the kind of experienced hockey man the NHL likes to see hired as the first GM of an expansion team. The league was supportive of McPhee getting the gig in Vegas. And he brings instant credibility with his Stanley Cup rings. He’s a proven winner with the experience and track record which would make him a rock star hire in Seattle.

Kelly McCrimmon: If you’re going to try to duplicate the tremendous success Vegas had, why not steal from that brain trust? The Golden Knights assistant GM was instrumental in helping McPhee navigate the expansion draft process. He’s also a former WHL executive who knows

the Seattle market well. The lone drawback is that he’s never been an NHL GM himself and the Seattle decision-makers will key on experience

in making their GM hire. Still, there may actually not be a single candidate more uniquely qualified than McCrimmon based on what he

just lived in Vegas.

Michael Gillis/Laurence Gilman: Reunite the old Vancouver Canucks

band down the highway in Seattle? Why not. Gilman, assistant GM in Toronto these days, has paid his dues and I believe is ready for a GM

gig. The idea here on my part is seeing Gillis as the President of Hockey Operations in Seattle with his old sidekick Gilman as GM. I’m surprised to some degree that Gillis hasn’t re-surfaced since his firing in Vancouver. He was ahead of his time in many of the things implemented with the Canucks. He’s a forward thinker. So is Gilman. It’s a tandem Seattle should consider looking at. Gilman, as an added bonus, helped the NHL draw up the expansion draft rules for Vegas. So he knows it inside out.

Doug Armstrong: Perhaps it’s a reach to include the Blues GM since he just last year signed a long-term extension in St. Louis. But stranger things have happened. If Seattle felt strongly enough about reaching out to the Blues about him, what’s to stop them from at least asking? Armstrong has the kind of experience and résumé that would check the boxes for Seattle, a GM that’s never been afraid to make bold moves even if they don’t always pan out. He’s not afraid to be aggressive. Given that building the Seattle roster appears to be looking like a more daunting task after teams learned from their mistakes in the Vegas process, a guy like Armstrong could be what’s called for. But that’s only if he’s even

available. Right now he isn’t.

Bill Zito: The assistant GM of the Blue Jackets recently interviewed with

the Flyers. This guy will make a terrific GM one day. The former play agent has an excellent blend of negotiating skills and expert CBA

knowledge as well as player talent evaluation. The knock against him when it comes to the Seattle job would be the fact he hasn’t been an

NHL GM.

Dave Nonis: The senior advisor for the Ducks recently interviewed for the

Flyers GM job. He’s been a bit forgotten and kept a low profile in Anaheim but as a former Canucks GM he would have a keen understanding of the Seattle market. He also has that experience Seattle is looking for having been the GM in demanding markets in Vancouver and Toronto.

Ron Francis: The former Carolina Hurricanes GM has an obvious Hartford Whalers connection with former teammate Dave Tippett, now an executive with the Seattle organization.

There are other candidates that will pop to be sure. And don’t forget that Tippett will have some influence on that GM hire.

The NHL made official what we’ve been speculating for months — the Coyotes will be moving to the Central Division starting with the 2021-22

season with Seattle going into the Pacific.

The league had communication with the Coyotes for nearly a year about

this, but according to sources Arizona owner Andrew Barroway had his reservations about the move on the eve of the Board of Governors. Too

late by then. The train had left the station.

I asked Barroway for comment but he politely declined Monday night and didn’t respond to a text message Tuesday after it was made official.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Coyotes team president Ahron Cohen did put a positive spin on things in a statement released to media:

“We are happy to welcome Seattle as the NHL’s 32nd franchise as the NHL continues to grow the game of hockey throughout North America,” said Cohen. “We will work with the League to ensure a smooth transition into the Central Division in time for the 2021-22 season, and we appreciate the League’s willingness to assist with logistics and scheduling to make travel as easy as possible between our home in Phoenix and the other Central destinations.

“Our fans should take comfort in knowing they will continue to see us

play our Pacific Division rivals multiple times a year — including squaring off with Vegas for desert bragging rights—while also getting to see new

rivalries with some legacy franchises. Regardless of what division we are in, our goals remain the same: win on the ice against whomever they

put in front of us on the schedule, build Coyotes fandom throughout the entire State of Arizona, and positively impact our Arizona community.”

I asked Daly about the cynical take some have had on Arizona moving to the Central Division, that it simply sets up nicely for a team re-location to

Houston eventually. Which he obviously didn’t agree with at all.

“I mean, I would say you’ve got to look at the other side of that which is, there was no other change that was more logical than moving Arizona like we did. One has nothing to do with the other,’’ Daly said.

I followed up by asking whether the league had any concerns with the future of the Coyotes.

“I don’t have any concerns,” said Daly.

It’s also worth noting that for those of us who dream of seeing the return of the Quebec Nordiques one day, commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday there are no current plans for further expansion. But that

doesn’t mean there won’t ever be expansion. Just not at the moment.

One important agenda item for team executives is getting that salary cap

projection for next season. It always comes out at this December Board of Governors meeting.

Bettman projected an $83-million figure Monday to governors, which obviously still depends on negotiating the escalator with the NHL Players’

Association in June.

The actual range is between $81 million to $85 million but the league figure around $83 million is what’s most likely, up from the current $79.5 million cap.

Every cent of cap space matters for contending, cap-squeezed teams like Tampa Bay, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Nashville.

“This affects every club as to what you can do and not do,’’ Poile said. “The next big thing it will play in is the trade deadline. So, are you getting rental which means there’s no salary going forward or someone who might have years or a long-term contract? It’s important to know what

that number is.’’

“You still got to be somewhat careful because it’s a projection but one

thing the league has done over the years is be able to see trends and different things like that,” said Cheveldayoff. “So I guess you feel a little

more information so you start moving forward. But you have your own internal projections.’’


1119417 Websites

The Athletic / NHL Trends: The downfall of Chicago, Alex DeBrincat’s struggles and the rise of the Leafs and Thomas Chabot

By Dom Luszczyszyn

Dec 4, 2018

The end of every month is a great time to look back and reflect on the

previous month of hockey to see which way teams and players are trending. A one month sample is usually obfuscated by hot and cold

streaks, so it’s valuable to find ways to separate the signal from the noise. Those at the extreme ends of the spectrum also make for some

great stories.

The Athletic has a model we use for projections and probabilities that is updated each day and provides a look at how much has changed under the hood on a daily basis. Our season preview series offered a snapshot of how and why each team was rated the way it was and this is an opportunity to provide further context as the season progresses. It’ll hopefully be an interesting look into how the model operates and how

much perception changes from month-to-month and it’s a question many have asked after seeing the daily probabilities operate.

What you’re getting is two articles in one. The first looks at the teams and players who’ve made the biggest changes from where they were last month. The second is a brief run through of each team with accompanying charts looking at how each player’s value has changed over the last month – an appendix of sorts for the rest of the league that wasn’t mentioned here for those that want to take a deeper dive into every team or simply curious about their own.

Hottest teams

Toronto Maple Leafs



At the start of November, the Leafs were a bonafide Cup contender, but not the team to beat – that honour belonged to either Nashville or Tampa Bay. It looked like the team might struggle during the month with their best player, Auston Matthews, out with an injury for about four weeks.

Flash forward one month and the team is now considered the team to beat by my model. That’s because the Leafs played surprisingly well

without Matthews, earning a league-best plus-17 goal differential and a 9-5-0 record. He’s back now and the team won both games with him in the lineup, pushing their record to 19-8-0 on the season.

That time without Matthews allowed other players to shine, upgrading

their standing by my model. Mitch Marner really led the way here with an average Game Score of 1.36 in November off the strength of 20 points in 14 games. John Tavares wasn’t far behind with 10 goals and 17 points with an average Game Score of 1.33 and their linemate, Zach Hyman, saw a tidy upgrade in his value as well.

Also not pictured in the chart above: the play of Frederik Andersen. The Leafs defence always comes into question, but things aren’t so bad when

Andersen is on his game. He earned a .942 save percentage for the month, pushing his season total up to .931. That will likely come down (I

have him projected for .922), but it has put him behind just John Gibson and Pekka Rinne in projected goalie value.

Oh, and they just got their $7-million “sixth best player” back (included in the projected strength figure), so he might help matters further.

All that means that the Leafs are now rated as the best team by my model, increasing their Cup chances from an already good 11 percent to a slightly preposterous 20 percent, a very high mark this early in the season.

Buffalo Sabres


CAROLINA HURRICANES



The hottest team in the standings for November was surprisingly the Buffalo Sabres, but my model has not been as quick to anoint the team just yet, upgrading the Sabres’ true talent level to just .468, or an 87-point team. Before the season, Sabres fans would’ve been elated with that figure, but have been vociferous in their displeasure now after a 10-game winning streak and 11-3-1 record for the month. I don’t blame them, but I’m still skeptical the team is for real especially considering the nature of the win streak itself (nine one-goal games, seven overtime games, plus-nine goal differential).

The underlying play wasn’t enough to be enamoured with much of the team’s depth, with modest upgrades here and there, and slight

downgrades elsewhere. It was the play of the team’s stars the carried them, with Jack Eichel earning 18 points in 14 games (with 17 assists)

and Jeff Skinner pitching in 13 goals and 15 points. Along with Sam Reinhart, who was strong himself, those guys were the offence and

there’s not much support after them. If the top of the Sabres forward lineup gets cold at any point – something that happens to all players –

the team doesn’t look like it has the depth up front to survive. In that case, Buffalo will have to rely heavily on goaltending to stay on track, and while Carter Hutton, another big part of the team’s strong November, has been up to the task so far, he doesn’t have a lengthy track record and is far from certain to maintain this level of play.

If there’s any consolation here, it’s the rosy projection for Rasmus Dahlin who is already firmly a top pairing defender and could inch his way closer towards being a legitimate number one defender sooner rather than later, especially if the team smartly gives him more ice time. He had nine points in 14 games and his 50.6 percent Corsi was tops among defencemen for the month and second behind just Skinner on the team. Dahlin’s continued emergence might be the difference between a team that got hot in November fading shortly after, and a team that discovered its potential with a winning streak and running with it to an unlikely playoff berth.

Honourable mentions

Ottawa Senators/Detroit Red Wings

No team saw its value rise further than Ottawa’s and Detroit’s wasn’t far off either. Both teams were supposed to be laughing stocks of the league, but that hasn’t been the case so far this season, especially for the Red Wings who rattled off a 9-4-1 record for the month. As nice as

November was for both teams, it’s unlikely either factors into the playoff picture over the remainder of the season (they were 29th and 30th in

Corsi for the month), but at the very least they both deserve an honourable mention.

Colorado Avalanche

After the Senators and Leafs, the Avalanche were the third biggest riser for the month and looks like they can upset the Central dynamic at the top of the table. They were featured last month as a team on the rise and parlayed that into a terrific November, going 8-3-3 on their way to second in the Central, a spot they have a decent chance of finishing in come April.

Coldest teams

San Jose Sharks



Before the season started, many of us had high hopes for the Sharks, but the team has mostly sputtered out of the gate with a rather pedestrian 13-10-5 record to start the year with things really falling apart over the last month. The team has gone 7-7-2 since Nov. 1, and while the team’s possession rate of 53 percent is still good, it’s a far away from where they were in October at 60 percent. That drop was to be expected given the softer schedule the Sharks played in October. Despite having a talented team and being in an awful division, the team has looked shaky and saw

the fourth biggest drop of the month in terms of playoff odds, going from 90 percent to 72 percent.

In November the problem has mostly been goaltending, where Martin Jones had an .880 save percentage for the month, the second worst mark in the league among starters. Aaron Dell didn’t fare much better at .895. Neither number is good enough and it’s a testament to the team’s shot rate dominance that their record didn’t fall further with goaltending like that.

It wasn’t just the goaltending though as the skaters all saw massive downgrades across the board, none bigger than Marc-Edouard Vlasic

who had a team worst 44.2 percent Corsi to go with a minus-seven goal differential at 5-on-5. Vlasic has always been underrated by my model

because his talent was on the defensive end of the ice, but his work there over the past month has been awful. Methinks having Erik Karlsson as

his partner wasn’t the problem and it might be prudent for the Sharks to revisit that duo to get the team’s mojo back.

Joe Thornton is another guy who curiously dropped, but much of that is due to an ice-time decrease. He’s now playing just 15:29 per night

despite continuing to be a stalwart in both ends, leading all Sharks forwards in Corsi percentage at 59.4 percent. The team is obviously trying to spread the wealth up front, and having Thornton on the third line is dangerous, but perhaps the team would be better served with him further up the lineup.

Chicago Blackhawks



No team has seen their playoff chances drop over the last month more than the Blackhawks, who have gone a league worst 3-10-2 since Nov. 1

and have seen their playoff chances go from 52 percent to 12 percent as a result. After a 6-2-2 start to the season, there was reason for optimism

for a bounce-back, but the team has only won three of its 18 games since. Not good!

That led to the dismissal of longtime head coach Joel Quenneville at the start of November and things only went from bad to worse. Under new

head coach Jeremy Colliton, the team has seen their shot share drop drastically to 47.4 percent, a big contributor to Chicago’s awful performance under a new bench boss.

Not helping matters is the play of superstar goalie Corey Crawford. Over the last six seasons, Crawford’s lowest save percentage has been .917 back in 2013-14. He’s been at or above .924 four times, and has averaged .922 over the timeframe, good for fourth in the league. Crawford’s as safe a bet as any between the pipes, but a return from a year-long concussion behind some horrific defence hasn’t helped him get back on track. He sits at .903 to start the season.

The stars haven’t been great either as Patrick Kane had 11 points in 13 games in November while getting outshot heavily and sporting a team

low minus-nine at 5-on-5. Jonathan Toews looked subpar, Duncan Keith is a shell of his former self and even young gun Alex Debrincat – the

team’s brightest future hope – hit a wall after a terrific opening month. Nearly every Blackhawk saw a drop in his numbers, but his was the

largest.

The empire has fallen, quicker than my model can even course correct

for. As of now, it expects the Blackhawks to finish with 83 points off a true-talent strength of .487 for the remainder of the year. Given how the team has looked of late, that’s likely far too optimistic.

Honourable mentions

Dallas Stars

Despite going 9-5-3 since Nov. 1 and currently sitting in a playoff spot – all while without top defender John Klingberg – my model has severely downgraded the Stars’ underlying strength. Mostly, it’s because during

that timeframe, the team had a better shot share than just three teams:

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Ottawa, Detroit and the Rangers. All three were expected to be bottom five calibre teams, so that’s not good company.

Los Angeles Kings

No team has fallen further since the start of the season than the Kings who have gone from being viewed as a true talent .500 team all the way down to .423. No team was more anemic offensively in November than Los Angeles who sported an all situations goals-per-60 rate of 2.19.

To see more charts for how the value of every player on each team has changed over the last month go here.

Hottest players

Pontus Aberg



On a team that gets outshot as heavily as Anaheim has all season, it’s always impressive seeing a player buck the trend. That it’s coming from waiver-wire acquisition Pontus Aberg makes it all the sweeter.

Since scoring at a near point-per-game pace in the AHL back in 2016-17, Aberg has struggled to find his footing in the big leagues. In 49 games with Nashville, he only managed 10 points while being a heavy five-on-

five detriment. In a brief 16-game stint in Edmonton, he seemed to find his game a bit with eight points in 16 games and break-even relative shot

rates, but he found himself on the outside looking in during training camp. That happened to be Anaheim’s gain as Aberg has made good on the

promise he once showed in the Nashville system.

Through 23 games this year, Aberg has 14 points in 23 games, a 50-

point pace, and 10 in his last 16 after a slight ice-time bump. He even started shooting the puck more, firing 37 shots over his last 16 games

after hitting the net just 10 times in his first seven games. His ability to fire pucks at will is what made his AHL play so promising and it’s something he’s struggled with at the NHL-level. Great to see him get back on track and it’s a part of what’s made his most recent stint much more successful.

But as mentioned before, it’s the team’s shot rates with Aberg on the ice that make him worth keeping an eye on. Aberg’s 54.5 percent Corsi led all Ducks since Nov. 1, an especially impressive feat considering the team was at 43.6 percent with him on the bench. Not bad for a guy the Ducks got for free at the start of the season.

Thomas Chabot



Erik Karlsson who, amirite?

Kidding aside, it’s extremely rare for a team to lose a generational defencemen and be able to replace much of his offensive output

internally, but that’s exactly what Ottawa did with Thomas Chabot this year. After a promising rookie season, Chabot has exploded in his sophomore campaign leading all defencemen in points with 31 in 27 games. The new Senators system that allows the defence to get involved in the offence as much as possible has certainly helped Chabot’s production, but that doesn’t discredit that he’s been a machine in the offensive zone.

Every shift with Chabot is an adventure as he still has kinks to iron out defensively, but his big numbers can’t be ignored as he’s made the most of the massive opportunity afforded to him with Karlsson’s departure. He

may not ever be a complete defencemen, nor a generational one like Karlsson, but he’ll be a special player in his own right and is already cementing himself as one of the game’s best and brightest on the backend.

Honourable mentions

Lucas Wallmark

A bit of an afterthought before the season and to start it, Wallmark has really come in to his own of late. He’s getting over 15 minutes per night, had nine assists in 13 games in November and was Carolina’s top possession player at 60.4 percent.

Mark Scheifele

Patrik Laine got all the hype last month because of his 18 goals, but Scheifele was arguably just as good. He had 17 points and was a beast at 5-on-5, earning a plus-34 Corsi and a plus-12 goal rate at 5-on-5 with the latter mark leading all skaters in November.

Coldest players

Alex DeBrincat



The 2018-19 season started with a lot of promise for the super sophomore, but as mentioned above, Alex DeBrincat hit a lull over the last month earning one of the biggest drops of the month by my model.

DeBrincat represented a youthful resurgence for Chicago, the team’s best hope for a bright future. That was on full display in October with an

over point-per-game month where he fired over three shots on net per game and was a solid two-way contributor at 5-on-5. It was a big month

that had my model believing he could entrench himself as one of the game’s elites. He was getting a bigger role with the team and thriving

with it.

That wasn’t so in November where he had just two goals and six points

in 13 games. Considering he shot 19.5 percent in October, a drop-off shouldn’t have been too surprising. Part of that wasn’t his fault either as

his power play time dropped from 3:14 in October to just 2:02 in November. For a team with the league’s worst power play, it’s a strange decision to keep one of your most dynamic offensive talents off the top unit for stretches of time, though the team’s recent trade of Nick Schmaltz has changed that.

Either way, it’s not like DeBrincat did enough to deserve the minutes (his power play points-per-60 was just 1.95) and perhaps some tough love from a new coach was in order to get back to what made him successful in the opening month. His struggles at 5-on-5 further that point, as he was carrying the worst shot rates on the team among forwards at 44.8 percent. DeBrincat is one of Chicago’s best players, but he didn’t play like it in November.

Jakub Voracek



I mentioned Jakub Voracek’s awful season in my 31 Stats column, but it

bears repeating: the dude has been awful and was particularly woeful in November. Just six points in 12 games isn’t enough for a guy getting paid $8-million per year and Voracek’s struggles are a big part of why Philadelphia has disappointed so far this season. When your big guys don’t step up, you’re in big trouble.

What’s hurt the most is how much the team has struggled at 5-on-5 with Voracek on the ice. For the month, the Flyers had a respectable 51.4 Corsi percentage as a whole, but were a mess whenever Voracek was out there. Voracek had a team low 42.6 percent Corsi and the team was at 55.2 percent without him. That 12.6 percent difference was the fourth lowest of any player during the timeframe, and it showed up on the scoresheet too, with the Flyers being outscored 9-4 with Voracek on the ice. They were at 24-16 otherwise, a dominant figure.

Where the team also struggled was on the power play where there 4.62 goals-per-60 was fifth last in the league. In 26 minutes, Voracek had zero

CAROLINA HURRICANES


points and only mustered four shots on net. That nine shots-per-60 mark is much lower than where he usually is in the 14-to-18 range.

If the Flyers are going to turn their disappointing season around, Voracek needs to figure it out and fast.

Honourable mentions

Charles Hudon

He was an analytics darling last season, but has looked anything but so

far this season. He had just one point in November and was among the team’s worst two-way players.

Matt Niskanen

What the hell happened to Niskanen? He’s generally been a very dependable defensive defencemen, but that hasn’t really been the case this season. No player was outshot more than Niskanen whose Corsi differential was an ugly minus-109 for the month.


1119418 Websites

The Athletic / Can nearby WHL teams continue to thrive with the NHL coming to Seattle?

By Daniel Nugent-Bowman

Dec 4, 2018

As a senior adviser for the NHL Seattle group, and one of its most recognizable faces, Dave Tippett gets the same two questions almost every time he talks to a hockey fan.

“My name’s on the list; what do I have to do to get my tickets?

“And what’s the name of the team?”

“We’re working on the name and we’re working on the tickets,” Tippett said. “There’s great enthusiasm around and it’s great to see.”

Seattle being granted the NHL’s 32nd team has been one of the worst kept secrets in sports over the last few months. That notion became

reality on Tuesday with board of governor approval in Sea Island, Ga.

As the queries regularly poised to Tippett suggest, interest in the soon-to-be NHL squad is sky high.

Anecdotes aside, the proof is in the pudding.

The NHL Seattle group reached its goal of 10,000 deposits in 12 minutes when a season-ticket drive launched on March 1. Within 48 hours, at least 32,000 people had either plunked down $500 or $1,000 for a club seat.

For some context, it took Vegas two days to reach 5,000, a month to hit 9,000, and more than 18 months to hit its goal of 16,000 season tickets

when they actually went on sale.

“I’ll tell you right now; the baseball team (the Seattle Mariners) couldn’t

do that,” said local radio and television journalist Ian Furness.

That’s roughly twice as many season-ticket holders than can be accommodated.

“I don’t know how that’s gonna work. That’s not my department,” said a laughing Tippett, who promises to have a prominent role with the franchise in the weeks and months ahead.

Perhaps it’s no surprise demand is so great given Seattle’s rich history of pro hockey. The Metropolitans were the first American team to win the Stanley Cup in 1917, whereas the Ironmen, Bombers, Americans and Totems played in various leagues from 1944 to 1975.

When the Totems folded, it was junior hockey that filled local arenas.

First, the Kamloops Chiefs moved to the city in 1977 to play as the Breakers in the then-Western Canada Hockey League. They became the Thunderbirds in 1985. Just to the north, the Everett Silvertips joined the Thunderbirds in the WHL in 2003.

The Thunderbirds and Silvertips are two of the most stable franchises in

the WHL. They’ve enjoyed recent success, too, with the former winning the championship in 2017 and the latter reaching the final last season.

But can they both continue to thrive with the NHL coming to Seattle?

“I was worried,” said Dick Fain, a host on the Seattle sports radio station 950 KJR. “I was like, ‘Is this going to be the end of the Seattle Thunderbirds? Is this going to be the end of the Everett Silvertips? Would

they be disbanding the teams?’”

Fain’s fears for the worst have been eased during frequent appearances on his radio show by Tippett and prospective team president and CEO Tod Leiweke.

While uncertainty for the two local junior teams does exist thanks to the NHL’s impending arrival, there are several reasons for optimism that their situation will hold steady – or could even improve.

The Thunderbirds are as much a part of Seattle as the NHL Senators are to Ottawa.

Much like the Sens, who play in suburban Kanata, Thunderbirds games are hosted in Kent – 37 kilometres to the south of the Emerald City. But unlike the Sens, who are seeking a downtown arena, the T-birds are just

fine where they are.

Russ Farwell’s history with the Thunderbirds dates back to 1988. He managed the team for two years before assuming the same role with the Philadelphia Flyers for four seasons during which he pulled off the Eric

Lindros trade.

Farwell returned to the Thunderbirds in 1995 and bought the franchise in 2002. He made one of his most important decisions seven years later when he moved the team down the road.

“Traffic was choking us out,” said Farwell, who sold the team in 2017 but remains vice-president of hockey operations. “People couldn’t get to games on a Friday night. We weren’t the level where people were gonna come straight from work. We were really struggling and wouldn’t have survived there.”

The Thunderbirds ranked ninth in WHL attendance last season with an average of 4,950 fans last season in what was a rebuilding year.

The Silvertips were seventh with 5,129 people attending each game and saw a bump of roughly 700 fans per contest on their playoff run. Everett is 47 kilometres north of Seattle.

With the I-5 north-south highway essentially a parking lot during rush hour, it takes a special – and rare – breed of fan to attend games in Kent or Everett while living in Seattle.

Hailey Robinson became invested in hockey during the 2010 Olympics and started going to Silvertips games after being convinced by a friend who went with her father. Robinson was living in Redmond, to the east of Lake Washington, when she got hooked on the Ryan Murray-led Tips.

Now a junior at the University of Washington, the 20-year-old journalism student is a media relations intern for the team and rides the bus for an hour each way to get to the rink.

“It’s a little bit of a trek,” she said.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


“I ended up following the team because it was the closest hockey in the area and the highest level in the area.”

Silvertips GM Garry Davidson said most of the team’s fans come from Everett or communities to the north – not Seattle, like Robinson.

Thunderbirds data indicates 13 percent of season-ticket holders come from Seattle, whereas 61 percent hail from communities south of Renton – 13 kilometres to the north of Kent.

Of course, tickets to watch junior hockey cost a fraction of NHL ducats.

“I don’t know how much cross-pollination you’ll have with season-ticket

holders,” said Furness, a 950 KJR colleague of Fain’s, who was a colour commentator on T-birds radio broadcasts from 1991 to 1994.

“I just don’t think we’re competing for the same fan,” Farwell added.

That the Thunderbirds and Silvertips aren’t trying to reach the same fans plays to their advantage, said Vancouver Giants owner Ron Toigo.

Toigo helped bring an expansion WHL team to Vancouver in 2001 when the Canucks were well established. He put the Giants in the Pacific Coliseum, the Canucks’ old rink.

While the Calgary Hitmen existed at the time and the Edmonton Oil Kings eventually joined the league in 2007, they’re owned by their respective

NHL teams and play in the same arenas as the big clubs.

The Giants quickly became a hit. Their fourth year, 2004-05, was the

NHL lockout. They won WHL title the following season. And they won the Memorial Cup as tournament hosts after losing the in the league final the

next.

“Everything fell into place,” Toigo said. “We were very fortunate with our

timing.”

But interest waned as the team’s performance suffered. The Giants

averaged 8,760 fans in 2006-07. That number plummeted to 5,169 in 2015-16 as they missed the playoffs for the third time in four seasons.

The drop off, along with rising rent and advertising costs, prompted a move 45 kilometres southeast to Langley.

Although the Giants averaged 3,383 fans in the small arena, Toigo believes his team is in a better place.

“It’s more the model of what Seattle and Everett is,” he said. “You’re out of the downtown and in the suburbs where you’re more focused on the

families. It’s a bit different demographic and it’s less costly to operate there than it is to operate in the city.”

With the Thunderbirds and Silvertips entrenched in their respective communities, there doesn’t seem to be much to be concerned about.

“They’re established. They have their season-ticket base. They’re probably going to be better off down there,” Toigo said. “I don’t see them

losing anything. I probably see them gaining.”

“The junior teams have put a strong footprint for a lot of hockey

enthusiasts around,” Tippett said. “I think the NHL coming with help both those teams. The continued passion for the game will rise as the NHL team comes.”

The Thunderbirds and Silvertips are established teams.

They draw well for CHL standards. Furness said TV broadcasts get respectable ratings, too.

However, a niche group of devout hockey fans can only move the needle so much – especially since both teams reside outside of the city’s metropolitan area with roughly 3.7 million residents.

The NHL could put the sport on the map in Washington in a way junior

can’t.

“It wasn’t even an afterthought. It was a nothing-thought,” Fain said.

“Unless you were a hardcore fan of the Thunderbirds or a hardcore fan of

the Silvertips, you never even thought about hockey. People grew up not even thinking about hockey in this city.

“They think it’ll be on the forefront of people’s minds and that it’ll help these two franchises.”

Not even Davidson has much of a dispute for such criticism. Yet, he, too, sees the positive of the NHL coming to the area.

“I really think, for the most part, Americans don’t have any idea what major junior hockey is. They hear ‘junior’ and they think ‘youth hockey.’ It’s always an educational thing,” he said. “It’s always an uphill battle trying to inform people what we’re all about. We try to correlate it with

single-A baseball where we have the up-an-coming prospects within our program here.

“The thing is there’s lots of people that haven’t been to a hockey game. This is a huge population here. With the NHL arriving here, it’s just going

to give us a much, much greater exposure for our sport. We hope that it’ll work to our benefit.”

The way Furness sees the situation, having an NHL team will allow fans to learn about the WHL.

They might want to see top prospects on the Thunderbirds or Silvertips or view drafted players on rival clubs with Seattle ties.

“You might lose a few here and there, but for every fan you lose I think you’ll gain a handful who are interested to see the up-and-coming stars for the NHL team,” he said.

With the junior teams in the suburbs anyway, it seems Seattle residents have gravitated toward the NHL club.

Tippett said a “large percentage” of the season-ticket deposits were made by people “within a four-mile radius of the KeyArena.”

“There’s a real core interest from Seattle proper itself,” he said.

That doesn’t surprise Furness and Fain, who see Seattle – the 15th biggest market in the United States – as a major-league sports town that’s starving for a winter team to cheer for after the NFL Seahawks’ season ends.

NHL intrigue has always been prevalent, said Furness, noting the radio station saw a bump in its ratings when it aired Vancouver Canucks games during their postseason run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final.

“There are more hockey fans here than people realize,” he said.

There is the concern that too many of them from the surrounding area

will focus too much of their attention on the NHL team.

“There’s definitely the chance that people would even rather watch their

local NHL team on TV than go out to a WHL game,” said Robinson, an aspiring hockey journalist.

“I’m sure our fans are going to check it out and watch a game or two,” Davidson said. “But in the end, maybe some of the new fans that are

going to be attracted to the NHL will also come our way, too.”

Tippett has attended both Thunderbirds and Silvertips games this season to better understand the marketplace. Farwell was Tippett’s last NHL general manager in Philadelphia during the latter’s playing days, allowing them to reconnect.

Using Thunderbirds players and facilities, the NHL Seattle group sponsored a seven-part Hockey 101 series through the Fox affiliate for which Furness works. The series is meant for those unfamiliar to the sport.

“They wanna work in collaboration, not against them. They wanna help

each other,” Furness said. “It’s a very symbiotic relationship so far.”

Growing the game

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Tippett has been with the NHL Seattle group since June. He accepted their offer a month after agreeing to a meeting initiated by Tim Leiweke, who knew him in the early 2000s when Tippett was an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Kings. Tim’s brother, Tod, and Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer were also at the meeting.

Tippett liked what he had to hear. On the hockey side, one of the things Tippett was enthralled by was plans for a training centre in Northgate, 13 kilometres north of Seattle off I-5, which will house the team’s offices and three ice pads.

“It’ll enhance the growth of the game,” he said.

In addition to the NHL team, the training centre will be used by underserved adult and youth teams. It’s welcome news to Davidson,

who’s organization has co-run the Everett Silvertips Youth Hockey program for the last five years. The number of participants has doubled

to 300 during that time.

Farwell hopes the training centre will spark more enrollment in the sport

and lead to rinks being built in places south of Seattle like Renton, Burien, Federal Way, Vancouver, Olympia and Yakima.

There are only 13 Washington-born players ever to play in the NHL. Washington Capitals winger T.J. Oshie, from Everett, is the only active player from the greater Seattle area.

“If we had two or three more ice sheets in the south, along with the ones that are going in the north, that means there’ll be some players produced,” Farwell said. “We don’t have a lot of players produced from this area because we don’t have enough ice.”

Farwell points to Thunderbirds prospect Mekai Sanders, from Gig Harbor, just southwest of Kent, who’s spent the last two seasons playing for Detroit’s Compuware program. Sanders felt he needed to move away

from home for more ice time and better competition.

To Farwell, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Tyler Johnson, who played the

entirety of his minor hockey career (and junior) in the east of the state in Spokane should be the norm and not the exception.

“There’s no reason there can’t be more players like that,” Farwell said. “But they need to be able to stay here and play here and have

competition every night to push them and get better. Hopefully, the whole quality can improve here if we get some ice rinks.”

Tippett hasn’t been in Seattle long, but doesn’t think the situation is so dire. Having coached in Dallas and Arizona, he believes the initial footprint is more pronounced in Seattle.

“Both those places have done a great job to grow the game,” he said. “There is more hockey here to start with. I still think you’ll see enormous growth throughout.”

Getting people to the rinks is paramount for having that growth take place.

The junior teams are counting on the NHL franchise to make some headway there. The hope is the conversation about hockey gets louder

at the grassroots level and impacts junior.

“I’m meeting people all the time that have never been to a hockey game,”

Farwell said. “Hopefully it’ll spill over and do some good for us. That’s what we’re banking on.”

It’s not a sure thing. But given the buzz surrounding the new NHL team, that’s certainly the expectation.

“It’s a win-win for hockey,” Furness said. “If it’s a win-win for hockey, it’s a win for the Tips and it’s a win for the Thunderbirds.”


1119419 Websites

The Athletic / The answer for women’s hockey is one league. The question is, how do we get there?

By Kaitlyn McGrath and Hailey Salvian

Dec 4, 2018

In five years, women from all across the globe will be playing in a North

American-based professional hockey league.

It will feature the best players on the planet facing off against each other, night after night. Behind the benches, there are female coaches. And in the press boxes, there are female GMs.

The league is small — maybe six or eight teams. But teams are located in hotbed hockey markets. The stands in every home arena — albeit arenas still modest in size — are packed. Games will be broadcast on national television.

Most importantly, players are paid a liveable salary. It won’t be the millions their counterparts in the NHL make. (Not yet.) But in five years’

time, women will be paid to play, earning enough so they don’t have to juggle another job to make ends meet.

That, at least, is what people want women’s hockey to look like.

The Athletic asked individuals involved in women’s hockey — from

current players to executives to ex-players — what they want the game to look like five years down the road. They all described a scenario

resembling the one outlined.

And while the future of women’s hockey lies in unity, presently, women’s

hockey remains divided. There are two leagues in North America, the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, in its 12th season, and the National Women’s Hockey League, in its fourth.

Both league commissioners have said publicly that having one league is what’s best for the game. So far, though, any sort of merger has proven easier said than done.

The challenges of the two leagues becoming one are plentiful. But having a premier women’s pro league will pay dividends for the growth of the

game. As the chorus of voices calling for one league grows louder, it’s time for the leaders in the women’s game to find a path to make it

happen.

The CWHL was born in 2007, created by a group of players, with the

help of volunteer business professionals after the former NWHL folded.

The CWHL has six teams, four in Canada — Montreal, Toronto,

Markham and Calgary — one in Boston and an expansion team in China. (Last season, there were two Chinese-based teams but they have since

merged).

For years, it was the only option women had to play hockey in North America following college. That is, until 2015.

That year, the NWHL was founded by businesswoman Dani Rylan. In its first season, the league consisted of four teams — Buffalo, New York (since relocated to New Jersey), Connecticut and Boston. It’s since added a team in Minnesota.

While at heart, each league strives to grow the game of women’s hockey, the two leagues differ in their business approaches.

The NWHL is a for-profit league backed by a group of private investors. It

was the first women’s hockey league to pay players. Initially, teams ran on a salary cap of $270,000 with player salaries ranging from $10,000-

$26,000.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


After its launch, there was an exodus of American players from the CWHL. With the lure of a salary, some Canadians left, too.

However, in its second season, the league ran into financial trouble. Salaries were cut in half to keep the league afloat. Today, $100,000 is allocated per team to pay players.

The CWHL, meanwhile, operates as a not-for-profit league, relying on revenue, sponsorships and donations. An elected board of directors helps steer strategic and financial planning.

The CWHL did not pay its players until 2017, after a landmark five-year deal to add a Chinese expansion team. The leagues budget reportedly

grew by $1.5 million. The following season players were paid between $2,000-$10,000.

And so began the saga of two women’s hockey leagues. The talent was bifurcated, with each league trying to draw the best players to build the

best product. That competition, however, could be healthy, said Sami Jo Small, a CWHL founder and current GM of the Toronto Furies.

“Having the NWHL has not been a bad thing for the CWHL,” she said. “I think having the NWHL has forced the CWHL to up their game — to get

better at social media, to start paying their players.

“People talk about having one league. But if we never had the NWHL push us to do a lot of these things, I don’t know that we would have done them as quickly as we did.”

For women’s hockey to take the next step forward in its evolution, forces need to combine.

“I believe in one league and that’s the only way to go,” said Brenda Andress, who was the CWHL commissioner from 2007 through 2018. “And we believed that right from the beginning, and you know, Dani decided back then she wanted to try it. You can’t blame an entrepreneur

for wanting to try something different, but I think everybody would agree out there that one league is the right way to go. I think it’s time.”

The skill in the women’s game is better than it was 10 years ago, observers will tell you. One league would only help to make it better, a

plus for players and fans, said Erika Lawler of the Metropolitan Riveters.

“The reason I think it’s important to have one league is two-fold: It’s for us

personally, as players, to develop and it will make a better product on the ice for everyone to watch,” she said.

With all the world’s top players centralized, it would truly be the best-on-best competition that’s missing in today’s game outside of international competition. And if every player, not just national team members, could dedicate their life to hockey the skill level would only improve across the board.

“If you want to keep developing and keep improving it’s so important to be around people who are pushing you every day,” said Lawler. “You want everybody to be committed at the same level that you are and you

want your teammates to challenge you and your opponents to challenge you too.”

A six-team league would force the cream to rise to the top. While the downside is roster spots would be limited, that’s not necessarily a bad

thing, said Liz Knox, a goalie for the Markham Thunder

“If it happened this year, I would probably be out of a job,” said Knox,

also a member of the CWHLPA. “But that’s what you want, though. You want the best product on the ice.”

Not to mention it would change the landscape internationally. Girls could grow up in Sweden, Finland, Russia, and beyond knowing they could one day pursue a hockey career, said Cassie Campbell-Pascall, a former Team Canada captain and supporter of one women’s league.

“To me, having a professional North American women’s league is going to grow the international game like we’ve never seen before,” she said. “I just think it’s so important for the survival of women’s hockey.”

If Olympic viewership is any indication, there’s an appetite for women’s hockey. The sport’s popularity peaks every four years — almost eight million people tuned into the 2018 Olympic final between Canada and the U.S. on NBC and CBC — but it wavers in between. If a league could replicate Olympic intensity, eyeballs could follow.

“We need all these people to come to games, buy tickets and sit in the stands and when you do that you can potentially have a greater opportunity to generate TV contracts and as you do that you create more fans,” interim CWHL commissioner Jayna Hefford said. “It’s a cyclical process, but I think when you get to the point when you have all the best

players in one league that’s certainly a better selling point.”

Hefford is a four-time Olympic gold medallist with Team Canada. She

remains the team’s second-highest scorer in history with 291 points and was recently inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, the sixth woman to

earn the honour.

In other words, she has done her fair share as a trailblazer for women’s

hockey. But when Hefford was named CWHL interim commissioner this summer, replacing Andress, she set her sights on another goal: to be an

architect behind a premier hockey league for women.

“My motivation is working every day to try to build the sport and do what I feel like is right,” Hefford said. “In my heart that is where I believe we need to get to. I think I would be proud and happy to be a part of that if I could help get the sport there.”

To get there, Hefford will need to work closely with Rylan, the NWHL commissioner.

After four years running the U.S.-based league, the 31-year-old recently told the Associated Press one league was “inevitable,” her strongest public endorsement of bridging the gap between the two leagues. Rylan

expanded on her comments in an email to The Athletic, noting specifically her role in growing the sport in the U.S.

“One league with the best players in the world and with teams in the U.S. and Canada has always been the logical next step after we started the

NWHL. There wasn’t a league in the U.S. until 2015, and many people don’t seem to realize or want to acknowledge that,” she wrote. “We’ve

built our league steadily, strategically. Thanks to our partners and staff, along with the fans and especially the players, we’ve made many strides in the NWHL in these three years, just as the CWHL has over the last decade. Now that we’ve begun to illustrate the value of women’s hockey and these great players, it’s time to come together to build one league for North America.”

How they will build it, however, remains a big question mark.

The biggest obstacle is their differing business models — not-for-profit vs. for-profit. Those opposing philosophies mean simply merging overnight is not an option.

There’s also the matter of which teams stay and which teams go. Between the leagues, there are 11 clubs — four in Canada, six in the

U.S. (including two in the Boston area) and one in China. Most observers suggest the league should start with six, possibly eight, franchises in

established hockey markets to ensure its viability.

“It’s not an easy fix,” Hefford said. “It’s not something you can throw two

leagues together and say, ‘all right, here’s one league.’ I think people that understand business understand the challenges involved in it. Maybe it’s

a little idealistic to believe it’s as easy as merging two leagues, but there’s a lot more to it than that.”

Hefford has talked to Rylan since becoming interim commissioner and she said the lines of communication between them remain open. However, it’s clear any discussions so far have been preliminary in nature.

But now that the major parties involved have made their visions clear, it’s on them to make it come to fruition. Players from both sides are counting on it.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


“I think if there’s two people that are going to make it happen,” said Knox, “I really have a lot of faith in Jayna and I really think that her and Dani can find some common ground.”

The other commissioner in the mix is Gary Bettman, who has expressed his support of one women’s league.

While on a Calgary radio station in March, the NHL commissioner acknowledged interest in the women’s game, saying “if there were no league, the NHL would probably start one under the NHL umbrella.” But Bettman said then — and has repeated since — that the NHL is not interested in competing with either league.

In the early days of the CWHL, Andress tried to present the idea of a women’s league to the NHL, mirroring the original WNBA model where

the NBA owned the teams. The idea never took off. Instead, Bettman suggested the CWHL establish partnerships with individual clubs.

Those alliances still exist today with NHL and CWHL teams in Toronto, Montreal and Calgary aligned. Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment

has partnered with the league to host the All-Star game and the Clarkson Cup final at their facilities.

South of the border, the New Jersey Devils have a partnership with the Metropolitan Riveters while the Buffalo Beauts were recently purchased by Terry and Kim Pegula, owners of the Buffalo Sabres. The NWHL has held its All-Star games in NHL arenas.

If the NHL wanted women’s hockey fully under its wing, though, they would want to do so on a “clean slate,” Bettman told the Associated Press. “If at some point the leagues say, ‘We’ve had enough, we don’t see this as a long-term solution, we’d like you to start up and we’ll discontinue operations,’ then we’ll do it. But we’re not pushing it,” he told the AP. “If we’re going to get involved, it cannot fail, which means it has

to be on us.”

In an interview with The Athletic’s Eric Duhatschek, Hayley Wickenheiser

said: “I know the Canadian Women’s Hockey League would be happy to fold and hand it over to the NHL. They seem to be the reasonable people

in all of this. The NWHL wants to make a go of it – or if they are going to hand it over to the NHL, want a lot of money to do so, and that doesn’t

make any sense. So, I question the motives there.”

Multiple sources confirmed that with Andress at the helm, the CWHL was willing to dissolve to move ahead with an NHL-backed league, believing it was best for the future of the game. However, Andress wanted any subsequent league to continue to play a full season, pay players and include women in leadership roles, multiple sources from the CWHL said.

“She cared a lot about the league and she cared about the players and she wanted to make sure that if any decisions were made and any steps were taken that the league and the players would be looked after,” said Rebecca Michael, CWHL director of hockey operations.

Asked about the league’s position on dissolving, Andress said: “All I can tell you is the CWHL would have done what is right for women’s hockey

and always will and always has.”

According to Campbell-Pascall, who was a longtime member of the

CWHL board of directors, the NHL has always been a part of the league’s long-term vision.

“It’s communicated with sponsors on a regular basis, that the ultimate goal of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League is to have a league under

the NHL umbrella, and they’re set up governance-wise, they’re set up sponsorship-wise,” said Campbell-Pascall.

Meanwhile, it stands to reason that with investors behind the NWHL product, the goal of that league — like any business — is to increase its value. From the NWHL point of view, folding would be counter to that. According to an NWHL source, “Dani Rylan doesn’t understand why the league should have to give up and cease operations for the NHL to be involved. She’d like to think we could all be part of the solution.”

Bettman told the AP he does not believe in either of their models.

Without knowing exactly how the NHL could be integrated into women’s hockey, players nonetheless were open to the idea of NHL involvement, citing the business acumen and marketing power behind the 31-team league could be an asset.

“I think definitely it would be incredible to have them jump on board and support us and do what they need to do to take this league to the next level,” said Erica Howe of the Markham Thunder.

Since taking over the reins of the CWHL, Hefford has had discussions with Bettman about their visions, though she would only say his remarks matched what has been said in the media. Bettman has also been an

advisor to Rylan in her role with the NWHL.

Based on public comments, it’s obvious the NHL will not become deeply

involved until there is a mutually agreed upon resolution between the two leagues. But if the men’s league were to indeed support women’s

hockey, what might it look like?

“Is there a possibility that it’s a women’s NHL? Certainly yes,” Hefford

said. “Is it a possibility that it’s a league in partnership with the NHL? I think that could work. Is it a league that all the teams are in partnership

with NHL teams, but they aren’t necessarily an NHL league? I think that could work. I think those are all the things that we are continuing to look at and evaluate and consider.

“I think if there is one thing that we are all on the same page about is that we need to get to one league,” she continued. “And when we do get to one league we need to make sure it’s a success.”

Campbell-Pascall is tired of all the talk. It’s time for action.

The three-time Olympian became vocal of her support for one women’s league earlier this year after she resigned as a CWHL governor in March, a decision that came on the heels of Bettman’s comments.

Campbell-Pascall is among those who believe the best way forward for women’s hockey is through the NHL.

“When I came out and said one league, it was about the NHL — it wasn’t about the NWHL and CWHL joining cause that’s not the process that it’s

going to take,” she said. “For me, one league was, let’s get this WNHL going.”

Leaving the CWHL after spending the better part of 10 years there growing the league and securing sponsorships was difficult, she said, but necessary in order to add her prominent voice to the cause. More than six months later, though, the status quo in women’s hockey remains. Campbell-Pascall’s patience is wearing thin.

“I truly believe both commissioners know exactly what needs to happen,” she said. “So until it happens, the talking, it just goes in one ear and out the other.

“I feel bad for the current players because we are so close,” she added. “I believe we’re closer than we’ve ever been before and they just want to

play. They just want to play in the best possible scenario and so it’s been difficult to watch the struggle and it’s been difficult to know what needs to

happen in order for us to move in that direction and the fact that nothing is happening. I’m not even playing anymore and I’m extremely frustrated.

I can’t even imagine what the players are thinking.”

Because, in the end, this whole matter is really about the players.

While current players preferred to highlight the progress made during their lifetimes — more opportunities for young girls to play, the

emergence of pro leagues and compensation, growing fan bases — rather than dwell on the frustrations that still exist, there is no doubt there are times when they wish they did not have to fight for liveable wages, viewership, or one league.

“We need one league and that part is the frustrating part because you’ve got people in the game who say they’re in it for the love of the game, for the growth of the game, but clearly their actions don’t really hold weight,” said Hilary Knight, who declined to elaborate on the “people” she was

CAROLINA HURRICANES


referencing. “I’m always a firm believer in talk doesn’t cook rice, so I think from the competitor standpoint in me, from the person who just absolutely loves the sport, from somebody who represents the sport in the U.S. or North America or in the world, I really want this problem to get ironed out.

“It’s actually a good problem to have. But at some point, we all need to sit down at the table and say, ‘Look, one league is in the best interest of the players, the fans and also the model moving forward.’ And I think the players have all the power in creating what they see fit for their league as we go forward.”

Which begs the question, what can the players do?

Wickenheiser suggested the top players in the world could refuse to play

in either league until there is one.

“That would be a last-case scenario,” said Knight, who was a member of

the U.S. national team that nearly boycotted the world championships during a standoff with USA Hockey for fair wages. “But if push comes to

shove and we’re not making any movement, someone’s going to have to figure out what’s next … The top players in the world have these

platforms that we can utilize and motivate.”

Meanwhile, Knox was cautious about pursuing such a drastic measure.

“I don’t know how it would be received, and I just know from talking to players that at the end of the day, we just want to play hockey,” she said. “It’s tough. It would be really tough for girls, who say, maybe that’s their last season, and we put forth a boycott. Who wants to go out like that?”

So here we are, and unfortunately, we’re still left with more questions than answers about the future of women’s hockey.

When will one league become reality? And what will it look like?

Will the NHL be involved, and if so, to what extent?

And if the two leagues can’t find a workable arrangement soon, will the players have to take a stronger stand?

There are questions about how it will get there, but everyone involved agrees one league is the answer for women’s hockey.

So what will women’s hockey look like in five years? We can’t say for certain. But if it were up to Hefford and Rylan — and, well, at this point it kind of is — here is what they envision.

Hefford: “Women (would be) playing in a league where they are earning a living wage, they don’t have to have other jobs to support themselves.

I’d like to think they’d be in a situation where we’d have full arenas every night, may not be 20,000 seat arenas, but full arenas. And they (would)

truly be professional athletes and people would pay to go and see them on a consistent basis. That’s where I’d love to see the game in five years or 10 years.”

Rylan: “In five years, I see professional women’s hockey thriving as a

league across North America with 12 teams or more. We all know the talent can support it, and so will the rising popularity of our sport. I also believe we’ll have a committed broadcast partner that will help drive the

exponential growth of the girls’ game. From the beginning, our viewpoint has been that if you can see it, you can be it. As the league continues to

grow, so will our revenue streams and players’ salaries.”


1119420 Websites

The Athletic / NHL Trade Grades: Penguins sell low to fix today’s

problems, while Ducks set sights on future

By Corey Pronman

Dec 4, 2018

The Trade

Anaheim gets forward Daniel Sprong.

Pittsburgh gets defenseman Marcus Pettersson.

Anaheim Ducks: A-minus

In Sprong, the Ducks received a high-end talent who divides evaluators

and fans alike. Sprong lit up the QMJHL and was one of the most dangerous scorers in the AHL as a 20-year-old. He’s always been a point producer and an elite shot generator at the levels below the NHL.

He’s got all the tools to succeed. He’s a high-end skater with great hands, a bullet shot and the ability to make plays at the NHL level. When his game is clicking, he can be a real offensive threat. Some NHL folks don’t like Sprong’s makeup. Some claim he’s a good kid but just misunderstood. He’s an inquisitive player who shows an interest in analytics to better his play.

He’s by no means a perfect player, though. For years Sprong’s game has

been dogged by inconsistent effort and poor play off the puck. It’s part of the reason why he and Penguins coach Mike Sullivan didn’t have a

happy marriage despite his GM being a fan. Given Sprong’s need to clear waivers, it was either waive him, trade him or fire the coach.

Sprong didn’t look like himself playing in the NHL this season after an impressive stint with the top club in 2017-18. He lacked the pace and

creativity I’m used to seeing from him and his ice time never got off the ground. The Ducks are betting on Sprong rediscovering himself, but it’s

not immediately clear where he fits in unless some of their right-shots play the left side.

I previously projected Sprong as a top-end prospect, but have since adjusted that. I believe Sprong has the upside to be a second-line forward in the NHL. It remains to be seen whether that potential is ever realized, but the upside on this deal is significant for the Ducks.

Pittsburgh Penguins: C-plus

The Penguins traded a prospect who was at times divisive and at other

times exciting. In Pettersson, they get the opposite. He’s not exciting, he’s not dynamic, but he’s steady. The 2014 second-round pick has

rarely blown me away over the years. He’s never been considered a go-to guy whether it’s U18 and U20 international events or the SHL, AHL

and NHL.

However, he has enough tools to project to be a third pairing NHL

defenseman. He’s a big defender who is a technically smooth skater with the mobility to skate at the NHL level. He’s not an overly physical

defender, but with his wingspan, mobility and above-average hockey sense, he’s a quality defender who can penalty kill and be reliable at even strength.

Marcus isn’t devoid of offense, but it isn’t his strong suit. He’s never been a PP1 defenseman, but rather someone who makes a good first pass and has enough vision to be useful at the pro level.

There’s a tad more upside than what he’s delivered for the Ducks, but that is pretty close to what I envision his ceiling is as an NHLer.

Conclusion

I can see the arguments from the Penguins perspective on why they

made this deal. The Sprong-Sullivan relationship wasn’t strong, Sprong wasn’t playing well enough in very limited minutes to deserve more, he

couldn’t be waived and the Penguins’ blueline could use some extra help. The team isn’t an elite one anymore, but they could still plausibly have an

extended playoff run if they turn their season around. From that

CAROLINA HURRICANES


perspective, it is logical that they want to cut their losses and find a player in Pettersson who may not provide a ton of value but could help their organization.

In the process, though, they moved a ton of talent and didn’t get equal return, likely because teams saw the wall they were up against. They were selling Sprong at a low point, leading to the marketplace being unwilling to pay full price. The Penguins got 40 cents on the dollar, and the Ducks have the potential to get a lot of value from this trade.

This is no guarantee that the Ducks will emerge happy about this deal in three years’ time. Sprong still must get it done and he’s looked under

replacement level this season.

Anaheim isn’t a good team this season. Retaining a just OK defenseman

in Pettersson when players in their system, like Jacob Larsson and Josh Mahura, are at very similar talents levels doesn’t change its present or

future outlook. Given the Ducks likely won’t win this season, the future takes priority, and Sprong could be a significant part of their future if he

finds his old form.

The Ducks get all the upside in this trade with minimal downside. Even if

it doesn’t work out, this was a great bet by their organization.


1119421 Websites

The Athletic / The all-time best and worst sticks, favourite stick stories

and how they’re changing the game

By Justin Bourne

Dec 4, 2018

When I first learned that The Athletic was planning a feature week on the future of the NHL, I volunteered to take on a subject I’ve come to feel pretty familiar with after a lifetime of growing up in dressing rooms: hockey culture. Still, I wasn’t exactly sure what the angle would be.

What I really wanted to find was a thread that binds all hockey players.

From men, to women, to the Kenyan National Team, to my brother’s sledge hockey team in Kelowna, BC. It was then, after requesting some

questions for a mailbag post I wrote last week, when I came across the perfect topic: hockey sticks.

Almost every player fawns over their hockey stick. The brand, the tape job, the flex, the wax, the knob … your stick is your baby and only you

know how to perfectly take care of it.

Here was the simple question:

I started answering this simple question … then kept answering … and then kept answering, before realizing that this is the shared passion amongst almost every player and would be my topic for this series. And in the vein of the “Future of the Game” theme, it made me think about how much the changing stick technology has shaped how the game looks today and how it’ll look tomorrow.

What you’ll get today is my very detailed mailbag answer, which includes several of my own hockey stick experiences (which, after writing them down, I realize have been surprisingly weird). Then I’ll get into how the technology has changed and continues to change the game we love.

I suspect many of you will be able to connect to the memories of some these old-school models, so let’s begin our look ahead by looking at the

past.

Again, the question:

Well this is a fun question. The worst came to mind immediately. My memory is totally hazy on how I came to own it – my Dad was almost always coaching somewhere in the U.S. as I grew up, so the places and years blur – but I believe it was called a “Trilage.” Which would make some sense, as the shaft was legitimately triangle shaped with somewhat rounded edges. To this day it may be the dumbest commercial idea I’ve ever seen come to fruition in my life. For it to sit right in your hands, the blade either had to be fully closed or fully open. Playing with it felt like trying to eat tomato soup with a fork.

Runner-up worst goes to whichever company tried to pull off those “offset” blades for shafts (for some reason I think they were Gretzky

branded). I’m not trying to correct a slice here, guy. That’s way over-thinking the hockey stick.

For the best, you have to go by era. For context, I’m 35 years old.

Kid years: Wooden Sherwood PMP, Coffey curve. The blade had a hook

like the letter “C” back when curves were fairly muted and highly regulated. Let’s say you were standing on the road at a four-way stop

aiming straight ahead. You’re right-handed. If you took a slapper with a hard orange hockey ball and caught it off the toe that ball would need it’s left blinker on; that thing would curve so much there’s no way it would make it through the intersection. That stick was a nightmare for road hockey goalies.

Teen years: Easton Z-bubble will be a good, common pick here (as well as the Ultra-Lite). Still, I’m going with the Innovative rubber shaft. It was light, and the grip was so legitimately car-tire rubber the stick brand might as well have been Goodyear. Players vary on how much grip they like – I was a guy who loved a ton of it, so this was right up my alley. I think I

was using the Pavel Brendl curve at the time. (The initial silver and gold Synergys came out when I was in junior, and my hot take is that they

were only just OK, as you’d expect with initial models. I also thought they were so cool I was afraid to take slapshots with them which kind of

detracted from their usefulness.)

Teen years honorary mention: This is really from the death throes of the

wood stick era, but the blacked-out Bauer Supreme 3030’s were cool, and the Branches with the shaved down handle was fun in its own unique way.

Early 20s: Here’s where I’m going to expose myself a little. Contrary to the appearance of the few paragraphs above, I’m not a true gear guy. Some players fully obsess over it, but for the most part in college and pro hockey, the school/team/league has an exclusive deal with a single manufacturer. It’s the old “why try on a wedding dress if you know it’s outside your budget?” Why bother to test drive a Ferrari if you know

you’re gonna be driving a Kia?

(OK, let’s take our first quick trip to tangent town here. Part One: Every player in the AHL has to use a CCM stick, save for three exempted players per team, per game or the team could be fined from the league. Those exemptions are determined by the team, but are often negotiated into player contracts by agents during the summer. For example, William Nylander didn’t like the sticks he had to use with the Marlies, but the three nightly exemptions were solidified in other player contracts – and not necessarily for players who needed the precision of a scalpel; for a couple of guys, shovels would’ve done just fine.

I believe there were some games the team rolled the dice and let him use the Bauers he preferred, basically testing to see if anyone would notice,

and if they did, they’d just pay the fine. When exempted guys would get hurt or scratched, the team would find the best player using a stick he

didn’t prefer and say “good news, you can use the one you do like tonight.” It’s a terrible idea, all around. I’m getting way off track here,

tangent one complete.)

ANYWAY, the point was I’m exposing myself because I was going to have to use whatever brand was required anyway. At one point in college it was these skinny grey Mission shafts and flimsy blades, which were

CAROLINA HURRICANES


both just atrocious products. I just didn’t bother paying attention. I’d tell our trainer “here’s the curve/flex I like,” and that would be that and I wouldn’t think of it again. It was out of my control.

Because of all that, as of a couple days ago, I couldn’t tell you the make/models I preferred during some of the most important years of my playing career – my NCAA days. All I remember is liking a stick with blue/orange wrap, and one that was white/black/green. Fortunately, equipment managers tend to have incredible gear-related memories, so after contacting my college equipment manager, the venerable P.D. Robertson of UAA, I have my answers. Apparently I liked the blue/orange

CCM Vector 120 and had my most success with the white/black/green Bauer XXX Lite. (Thanks, P.D. But I still don’t forgive you for the

Missions.)

Mid-to-late 20s: These are the years I played pro. To understand my stick

adventures here, there are some consideration that must be made. I started in Alaska with the Aces after college, before landing in Long

Island, then Bridgeport, then Salt Lake City, then Bridgeport, then Salt Lake, then Bridgeport, then Salt Lake, then Hershey, then Reading, then

Idaho. Needless to say, nobody was ordering me a dozen custom “Bourne” sticks in the make and model of my choosing. I was generally told to find the player who’s stick I liked the best when I got to the team and to pull from their stock as need be. Sometimes that was fine, sometimes disastrous.

Knowing how particular some people are about sticks, I was wondering if Kyle would remember any details about that incident, which would’ve taken place almost 10 years ago, so I hit him up. His answer truly highlights how much attention hockey player’s pay to their most important tool.

“If I recall correctly, the blades were too short and too thin (from top to bottom). Also the shafts were wrong. I like square shafts and the ones they sent me were too rounded.”

And just like that, I inherited a bushel of free one-piece sticks. Because

Kyle’s so attentive to sticks, as so many players are, I thought I’d see what his favourites were growing up.

“I have two favourite sticks of all time. First, is the original gold Synergy grip. It had performance 10 and wear 9 on it. I actually contacted the head of Easton a couple years ago to try and get them to make a throwback of that. Guys would love that. My other favorite was the Synergy SL grip. It was silver and had the red on the bottom. I used them

my freshman year in college.”

I used those SL’s too, but I think I was a senior. That hurts. Anyway, that he remembers the performance and wear on the sticks further drives the point home.)

In a nutshell, given the transient nature of my hockey career during these years, nothing stuck with me long enough to label as a favourite. But I will always cherish the Eric Boguniecki RBK I have in my garage, the only stick remaining from my time with the Islanders.

Late 20s/Early 30s: Once upon a time I ran the social media accounts for Easton Hockey, which was a pretty cool gig and offered up plenty of samples. I’ll keep it short: they had the little known, not all that popular white Easton Mako, which is maybe the first hockey tool that was built for specifically me. It was square and solid with a big blade, but still had great feel and flex. I adored it, and still do.

(Tangent Town, Part Three: I think I know why I like this stick. You see those first three words I used there, “square and solid with a big blade?”

Well as I mentioned, my dad coached in the U.S. when I was 12 and on up, so he obviously had access to free gear. If I needed some shinpads,

he’d just ask the trainer for a pair, put ’em in a box and mail ’em on up.

One year after the season was over he drove his truck home, meaning

he had some extra storage. There was a player who wasn’t returning the next year who had a bunch of sticks leftover, so dad grabbed them for me so I wouldn’t have to buy any the whole next season. That player? Mick Vukota. You may remember him from such films as Face: Punchy

Punchy and Face: 2 Punched 2 Punchisized and Face: The Repunchening.

In 573 NHL games Vukota scored 17 times and racked up over 2000 PIMs, so needless to say, he could’ve been carrying a 2×4 and done the same job (in fairness, he basically was). These sticks could’ve been used as rebar for a condo building they were so heavy, and the blade – or rather the paddle – was literally to the max size specs that the league had laid out. They were goalie sticks. They were railroad trestles. I was 12 and built like a less-durable Gumby, yet I used them for an entire year of my minor hockey days. I was knocking pucks out of the air like I was

using a tennis racquet. It’s no wonder I came to enjoy the first one piece I found to be sturdy.)

Current: My days of trying dozens of different sticks are over, but I’m currently using a Warrior Dynasty that’s pretty amazing. Sticks have

come so far. I seriously think if I had this stick in college I’d have been good for a few more goals a year. I could barely raise the puck with that

old Mission two-piece.

Looking at you, P.D.

With all that nostalgia behind us, it’s interesting to look at how advancements in hockey stick technology has changed the game.

One of the biggest ways is playing out in real time, with so many young players having such remarkable shots. For years, goalies improved at a rate that outpaced stick technology, essentially getting to a point where players simply couldn’t beat unscreened goalies from any real distance. You had to get up around the net, you needed to tip pucks in, find rebounds and get gritty.

This increased the value of big heavy defencemen, those guys who could clear the crease, which in turn increased the desire for bigger, more

physical forwards.

But this generation that’s taking over the NHL right now is really the first

that grew up using only one-piece sticks. They’re the first generation that’s been shooting with the appropriate flex sticks all their lives (my

Vukota’s didn’t have much give, as you can imagine, nor did the roughly 60000 flex aluminum Branches shafts I used when I was 10). They’ve

come to understand how to manipulate the tool better than ever, and now we’re seeing players like Patrik Laine and Auston Matthews beat squared up goaltenders cleanly, even from distance, since they know how to harness the torque and power of today’s stick technology. (I wrote about the specifics of Laine’s shot here, and Matthews shot here.)

In today’s NHL, you can no longer give players space in the offensive zone, even if that space is at the top of the circles. In turn, you need defenceman who are quick and mobile, who can jump out on open players to take space away, yet still be able to get back to the net front after the shot is released. That’s shifted the importance of specific traits in D-men from size to speed, making headway for more small, quick, talented defenders. Some early adopters have caught on to this, while others continue to get burned by grunts more familiar to playing in an era where “keep ‘em outside” was good enough D. Now that some players can score from outside, that antiquated way of defending is no longer good enough.

That will be a change we continue to see as more and more players can whip pucks past tenders from anywhere. Parking at the netfront and waiting for forwards isn’t a safe strategy anymore. We’ve already seen

fighting largely go extinct – the next endangered species is the stay-at-home D-man.

I don’t know how far stick technology can go, but the one thing I do expect is hyper-customization. If you go to a proper golf club-fitting,

they’ll watch your swing, mark the club face, check ball speeds and ball spin and all the rest. They’ll eventually come up with a specific set of

specs that includes the flex of the shaft, the angle of the club (upright or the opposite), and a half-dozen other player-specific tweaks to make sure that player has the perfect tools to succeed on the course. That’s coming in hockey.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


NHL players already get some help with that, but you can see what a difference it makes when you look at a guy like Phil Kessel and his crazy-low kickpoint on his shaft. If he were just using one of the rack, he couldn’t shoot like that. Logically, everyone at the highest levels should be fitted for their perfect stick.

We’re starting to see an uptick in goals each year, which as a fan, I can fully get behind. It’s never easy to beat an NHL goaltender, but as a generation of players that can release a puck faster and with more heat than ever enters the league, I expect we’ll see more of it.

We all have a shared love for the hockey stick, like we have a shared

love of the game. It’s pretty crazy to think that the technology has gotten so good that the former is having a pronounced effect on how the latter is

played.


1119422 Websites

The Athletic / The age of the skills coach: NHL players of tomorrow will

be more skilled than ever before

By Sean Gordon

Dec 4, 2018

Imagine for a moment you’re an NHL player, goalie or skater, it doesn’t

really matter.

A problem arises. The difficulty we’re talking about even has a name. It’s

Johnny Gaudreau.

There are, of course, other deadly perils called McDavid, Matthews, Marner, Laine, Boeser, MacKinnon, Aho, Pettersson — suffice it to say it’s a long and growing list. But Gaudreau is ideal for the purpose of this discussion given he is perhaps the league’s pre-eminent master conjurer.

You, a professional hockey player, might think you have a handle on his intentions and the options at his disposal. Then he’ll go out and do this to prove how catastrophically wrong you were:

Note the look-off to the right, the pregnant pause, the spot where he’s holding the puck (not ahead of his feet but to the side, on his forehand),

how neutral his stance and skate angle are, how little he gives away even as he closes in on Anton Khudobin. But perhaps the most eloquent

demonstration that nobody has a clear idea of what he’s planning is the decision made by Dallas penalty killer Blake Comeau.

At the start of the sequence Gaudreau shifts the puck to his right and briefly shows pass. That fools Comeau into concluding his best option is

giving a clear lane to the net to a player who over his career has scored on 12.3 per cent of his shots, has a 30-goal season on his resume, and is on pace for 40 this year. Khudobin, not surprisingly, is placed at a fatal disadvantage. In fairness to Dallas’ defenders, Gaudreau’s puck skills and agility mean his alternatives in that situation can also kill you (i.e. a lateral pass to Mark Giordano for a one-timer), and probably will. Oh, and have we mentioned this is all happening at top speed?

Okay, now picture an NHL where every team has multiple players with Gaudreau-like inscrutability. Or a Patrik Laine-like shot. Or Connor McDavid-level speed and agility. Or – why the hell not – all of it at once.

The natural instinct is to scoff at the idea of that kind of hockey chimera taking form. It might not happen, but it won’t be for lack of trying.

“Today’s hockey player can take the best of everybody,” said Vancouver-based skill consultant Ron Johnson, a shot specialist who has worked

with dozens of NHL players like Mathew Barzal and Joe Pavelski, and who is one of the people involved in building a less predictable hockey player.

In the western United States there are seven-year-olds already being touted as scholarship candidates at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, the Minnesota prep school and hockey factory that produced the likes of Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon, among many others. There are parents willing who fly their 10-year-olds from the New York City area to Toronto monthly for a few hours of ice time with a highly-regarded skill coach. In multiple Canadian and U.S. cities youth players are spending four and

five hours per week with agility coaches and shooting gurus (in Finland, their counterparts have been exposed to similar training on the state’s

dime since 2013).

In a recent chat with The Athletic, Gaudreau remarked that he never

worked with specialized skill coaches as a kid; he might be an auto-didact, but the next Gaudreaus aren’t. And make no mistake, they are

already out there. In fact they’re destined to be better, given the knowledge base and sophisticated training at their disposal.

“These guys,” Johnson said, “are going to destroy the world.”

Precocity is nothing new in hockey — McDavid is far from the first player to feel the ping of the hockey world’s radar in grade school — what’s different is the extent to which high-level youth players are working to develop their skill and the quality of the advice they’re getting on how best to do it.

Genius-level knowledge has been democratized.

It’s not an exaggeration to say childhood exposure to pro-level specialized skill training will be a baseline requirement for the NHL within the next half-decade or so. In fact, it may already be.

“The difference between the first line guys and the fourth line guys is smaller than it’s ever been . . . when I came into the league whenever the

fourth line came on the ice I had my leg over the boards trying to get on to take advantage,” said the Stars’ Jason Spezza, later adding

“everybody who comes up now is taught with skating coaches and skills coaches and specialty coaches.”

Or as Canadiens goalie Carey Price put it: “They can all dangle now.”

There are threats all over the ice, at all times, and they’re only going to multiply in the future. Fear for the NHL goalie’s cognitive load and central nervous system.

Once upon a time, a Mario Lemieux or Wayne Gretzky would burst onto the scene almost organically – here’s a fully-formed record-smashing virtuoso, enjoy. After a few decades of biomechanical analysis, data processing, video breakdowns and evolving pedagogical methods, it turns out that much of what was previously assumed to be innate and un-teachable can in fact be learned.

That’s been a boon to the NHL players — already the elite of the elite — who have the physical ability and financial resources to leverage it into

marginal gains and ever-increasing feats of skill. It’s also raised the baseline for kids, who are turning to many of the same teachers and

methods in ever-increasing numbers.

There’s an arms race feel to the behind-the-scenes rivalry between

goalie coaches and skills coaches, but the balance of power has shifted. Three decades or so ago, François Allaire and his star pupil Patrick Roy

revolutionizing goaltending with the butterfly technique spurred a stupendous amount of innovation. Some of it is manifest in the equipment, like rotating leg pads; when engineers and material science types develop an interest, it can literally change the game.

There’s also been a radical evolution in technique and strategy.

Got issues with depth in the crease? There’s an expert for that — several, actually. And head positioning/eye tracking, and post-sealing, and how to tilt your pelvis to achieve a more efficient stance. No element

of goaltending minutiae is as yet unexplored by the coaching fraternity.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Also, today’s NHL goalies tend to be freakish athletes. They are fanatical about studying shooters’ tendencies and do things like read bottom-hand grips and stick-blade angles from 50 feet away.

So how to beat them? Sleight of hand. And if the netminders held an advantage for a few decades, the magicians have gotten their noses out front – maybe even decisively so. Also, they’re not done. Skill coaches are dabbling with methods to help players assimilate more information and make quicker decisions on the ice; they’re tinkering with posture and balance; they’re dreaming up ways to disrupt timing and flow by taking advantage of the spaces in between.

“I don’t think it’s going to get any easier for goalies,” said Johnson, who has been involved in coaching for four decades.

It’s not as if teaching puck skills like shooting, passing and stick-handling is a new concept, but contemporary methods bear little resemblance to

what, say, Anatoly Tarasov explained to his Central Red Army teams of the 1960s and 70s. Today’s skill instruction is data-driven and rooted in

evidence, it is incredibly detailed, and the pace of innovation is best described as dizzying. In the NHL it’s been speeded by exogenous

factors like high-definition video and the Internet, and endogenous ones like shot quality analytics, bespoke one-piece sticks, the crackdown on interference and slashing, and the cap-related necessity for entry-level players to be difference makers.

As a reactive position, goaltending is essentially a series of trade-offs; now there is an entire industry of people whose livelihood depends on exploiting them.

The result is that as goalies get better at reading the play, shooters learn to drop fake clues. Netminders make a breakthrough on tracking pucks, shooters mess with depth perception by holding their blade in a way that

shows more ice. Or they develop wrist and foot techniques to alter the aspect of their stick blade in mid-release.

“Matthews, I think, is the best of anyone at that little wrister. He can shoot it off each foot, he can change the blade angle, he always seems

to have the time to do whatever he wants,” said Spezza, himself an early-adopter of skills coaching. The Dallas centre was barely out of grade

school when he began working with Jari Byrski, a Toronto-based coach whose client list has included the likes of Steven Stamkos.

Since Spezza began adhering to Byrski’s occasionally eccentric methods – singing is sometimes involved – a couple of decades ago, the business, like goalie coaching, has become increasingly specialized.

There are teachers who mostly do stickhandling, others who focus on shots (there are sub-branches of each). Skating instruction is also evolving rapidly; speed matters, of course, but so do efficiency and, perhaps more than anything, edge-work. In Johnson’s words, modern hockey is 85 percent turning and has become “outside edge dominant.” Call it the product of small-area games, which minor hockey associations the world over have turned to (Canada is a late convert).

One of the nettlesome side-effects associated with developing greater individual skill is acquiring it at the expense of game sense and vision. Price noted “it’s trending in the way of skill over play reading, I feel. The people who can separate themselves are the guys who think the game more.” He’s right. But if the skill explosion teaches us anything, it’s to be skeptical of the idea something can’t be taught. How long before “hockey sense” consultants begin dotting the landscape?

Anyway, it’s cold comfort. Goalies rely on reads, homework and what poker players call “tells” — tics, routines and patterns that hint at what’s

coming. It can be a head tilt, or a glove sliding down the stick as the shooter loads. With help from their advisers, modern shooters are

eliminating their tells, unless they want to use them to set the goalie up for something else. It’s getting very meta: I know that you know what I

know. Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning often comes up as a leading practitioner of this kind of mental jiu-jitsu.

“We know a lot more about the puck release now, which allows you to add branches to the tree,” said Tim Turk, a shooting consultant who has

worked with a number of NHL organizations, including the Canadiens, during his decades in the business. Among his recent students: 30-goal man Brendan Gallagher (whose stick pattern and toe curve appear to have inspired a trend), and the Maple Leafs’ Mitch Marner, a player who somehow always has options in reserve.

Some branches are simple enough to add. Turk, who serves as a skills instructor for the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights, has been teaching his players to shoot the puck without making a tell-tale “clap” snap-shots typically make. Why? Because he learned goaltenders are sometimes taught to listen for that sound in situations where there is

traffic or multi-level screens; it’s an auditory cue to get into blocking mode (Turk says he spends a lot of time speaking to his goaltending coach

brethren).

Another of the branches flows from a more sophisticated understanding

of things like foot alignment. As the Leafs’ skill maven Darryl Belfry likes to say, shooting starts with the feet. Belfry, a celebrated and sought-after

coach whose client list includes Matthews, Kane, Crosby and a litany of other NHL A-listers is, somewhat inevitably, a former goalie.

The great leap forward in scoring and puck handling ability, and the application thereof, has occurred in the service of multiplying the options at a given player’s disposal.

Going back to Gaudreau, here’s how former foe and now teammate James Neal described a recent three-on-three drill at practice: “I was checking him at the end and really you don’t have much of a chance. His ability to stop up, change speeds, spin off, turn; and he’s such a good passer you want to take away the pass, so then he toe-drags you. He opens up his blade and shows he’s going to dish then he skates right by.”

See? Options. And somewhere there are aspiring Johnny Hockeys

pulling apart YouTube clips and working with coaches who can help them achieve a new level of wizardry on both feet, in full stride, without

changing their hand or head position. Neal said the new breed of up-and-comers “just don’t take any time off.” He would know, training in the off-

season with the likes of McDavid, Mark Scheifele and others in former NHLer Gary Roberts’ fitness program (Neal reckons he may have been the first client).

The challenge for goaltending and defensive coaches is colossal, Belfry framed it elegantly in an interview with The Athletic’s Craig Custance.

“The highest expression of skill is the manipulation of game conditions inside your assets, that’s really the thing,” he said. “If you do it right, there should be no answer.”


1119423 Websites

The Athletic / The future of NHL TV broadcasts is coming, and it looks

very different

By Fluto Shinzawa

Dec 4, 2018

The future NHL broadcast may include some or all of the following elements: multiple screens, three dimensions, swearing, 4K definition,

interactivity with announcers, personalized isolated camera shots, a north-south view instead of east-west, and gambling on who scores next.

What it will not be: sitting on the couch and staring at the television screen on your wall. That concept is as much of a relic as a black-and-

white set with rabbit ears.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Jack Edwards, who handles play by play duties for Bruins broadcasts on NESN, does not even consider the gigantic, shiny, and crystal-clear set in your living room to be your primary device in the years to come. Because if the majority of today’s viewers use a phone, tablet, or laptop to complement the television, it’s assured that tomorrow’s hockey fans will not just do the same, but will amplify such usage.

“The last briefing I got from NESN on this subject — where our audience is technologically — was about five years ago. One hundred percent of the people we surveyed under 30, every single person under 30, had a second screen going during a Red Sox or Bruins game,” Edwards said.

“It’s part of life. Now, that might have been text messaging a boyfriend or girlfriend, or going to hockey-reference.com. But it was a second screen.

And if there’s a second screen diverting that person’s attention, that’s revenue either lost by the primary screen or to be won the primary

rightsholder.”

TV used to be a passive experience. You sat back, watched, and listened

to the game.

But there is a reason the industry hungers for optimal audience

engagement. Shifts in technology and viewing habits have made the viewer an active participant. You don’t just watch a hockey game. You consume it by clicking, swiping, maximizing, minimizing, optimizing, commenting, and tweeting your way through three periods, overtime, and shootout, engaging not just with the game, but with other members of your hockey-crazed community.

The future will be all this on steroids.

Sam Flood has a specific wish list. The executive producer of NBC Sports wants near-unlimited access when future viewers experience his network’s broadcasts. That means microphones on every player and

coach, cameras atop every helmet, and freedom to air every delicious curse that is hockey’s soundtrack — one that currently requires bleeping.

“It would be two different screens,” Flood said. “One would be the traditional telecast: play-by-play, inside the glass, analyst. The other

would be, ‘Here we go, on the ice with these guys.’ Players and coaches fully miked. F’s and S’s get used a lot. It’s the unfiltered stuff that is so

incredible. You’d be hearing all the cute exchanges people have, the exchanges between opponents. I think it would be an incredible way to consume the game.”

The trick that hockey has perpetually tried to turn is translating the energy inside the rink to the viewer on the couch. No sport crackles in person like hockey because of the way it attacks every sense: the sight of the speed, the sound of the hits, the feel of the glass on your fists, the taste of an expensive but refreshing beverage, even the smell of the funk rising from both benches. It is impossible to package all of this onto a

two-dimensional screen.

“If we could find a way to bring the element of what it’s like to watch live,” Bruins president Cam Neely said of his ideal broadcast. “Because I still think it’s the best live sport. TV’s a little more challenging, although HD has made a huge difference.”

This season at TD Garden, NESN has introduced what it calls the ankle cam, a low camera within the end boards that several teams and networks have begun using this year. It gives the casual viewer another perspective of the sport’s speed. For the enthusiast, it is a different lens through which to understand the game’s nuances.

The more cameras, the better.

“I’m amazed by how Patrice Bergeron wins as many puck battles as he does,” said NESN analyst Andy Brickley. “You see him in his suit, you say, ‘No way, right? He’s 185 pounds or whatever he is. How does he

win these battles?’ Now with an ice-level camera — we call it an ankle camera because we do have one now this year — you can see his

technique, his leverage, and why he wins battles. I love that. I think the viewers like that.”

Video: A glimpse of the ‘ankle cam’

As an analyst, one of Brickley’s challenges is to serve both the casual and hardcore markets. It may not be a worry in the future. Like everything in life, sports is trending toward customization. Amazon recommends other items you might like based on prior purchases. You have a personalized Facebook feed.

At the rink, additional cameras, perhaps unmanned, will be programmed to follow specific targets: the puck, players, systems.

So if you are a hockey geek interested in monitoring, for example, proper shorthanded stick placement, you will be able to go picture-in-picture — the standard puck-following view in one box, a penalty killer in another —

with an isolation camera. You may even experience what it’s like to skate next to a player.

Jed Drake, formerly ESPN’s senior vice president of product innovation, believes sporting events will be broadcast holographically. According to

that concept, you could theoretically step inside a shift and feel like you are on the ice.

If watching holograms sounds out there, think of this: Scrapping the traditional left-to-right shot. The view from Camera 1, as it is commonly

called, is the one everybody knows. But it does not capture the whirls, sprints, and approach vectors that the players and the puck take around the rink.

Consider that coaches, when going through their pre-scouts on opponents, usually prefer an overhead shot. It provides more intelligence on systems play than the view from Camera 1.

“Overhead for systems,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Absolutely.”

Video games like EA Sports’s NHL franchise use a north-south view. By installing cables and pulleys for cameras, like the overhead shot seen in many NFL games, teams could outfit their arenas to make these shots

reality.

NBC took a step away from Camera 1 during the All-Star Game in

January at Tampa’s Amalie Arena. The network used JitaCam, a system using a 360-degree camera mounted above the ice. It was a swoopy look

that that felt like it pulled the viewer closer to the action.

Shifting away from Camera 1 full-time might be a jarring change for the

viewer. But it would provide a better approximation of how the game is played.

Broadcasters, teams, and the league are required to enhance the consumption experience. The industry’s survival is counting on it.

Keeping them hooked

“No one will admit it,” Edwards said. “But there’s audience erosion on every single break. Every single break. Even if it’s a 1-1 game and there’s 90 seconds to go in regulation, we still lose audience. They go searching around. Sometimes it’s an infinitesimal loss. But it’s never positive. Nobody ever stops on an ad and says, ‘OK, I’m going to wait.’

You don’t pick up audience during ads.”

Networks like NESN earn revenue from subscribers and advertisers. But

the business is under assault on multiple fronts. Viewers have hundreds of other traditional channels one push away. Netflix, Amazon Prime, and

Hulu offer deep content. Cord-cutting is common practice.

Then there are the auxiliary devices with their shows, games, and social

media available with one swipe. It is not good business for Ford, for example, to purchase an ad touting the next F-150 if standard viewer

practice is to change the channel, pick up the phone, or not be watching the broadcast altogether. It does NBC no good to pay $200 million annually for NHL rights if its business partners identify more efficient avenues to target their consumers.

Today’s viewers are flooded with options and struggle with attention span. Imagine what tomorrow’s watchers will be like.

It’s why every party involved is intent on making the product so good — the quality of both the game and broadcast — that viewers have no

CAROLINA HURRICANES


choice but to watch. It may even be that hockey follows the soccer model of no commercial breaks. Fewer hands would be reaching for remotes if the three TV timeouts per period were eliminated, with advertisers blending their products into the broadcast via scrolls, graphics, or a yet-to-be-considered innovation.

“The audience is splintering more and more every day,” Edwards said. “The one thing we have that’s a magnet, that’s a surefire winner, is the quality of action on the ice and the game we’re offering. The more people you offer that to, the better you’ll do.”

Which is why audio may be just as critical as video. Part of the reason

HBO’s 24/7 series was so revolutionary was because of what the coaches and players said: Peter Laviolette ripping the officiating at the

Bell Centre as “Montreal typical,” Bruce Boudreau cursing with every other word, Dan Bylsma praising Deryk Engelland for fighting Colton Orr.

Salty language stole the show.

“I’ve had numerous conversations with (commissioner) Gary (Bettman)

and others in the league about someday trying it,” Flood said. “Not yet. It’s a pretty big risk. How does it alter the way people play the game?

You never want to interrupt athletic competition.”

Networks will also have to master gambling on sports, which is approaching quickly. In November, NESN hired Rick Jaffe as vice president of programming and production. Jaffe previously worked as executive producer at Vegas Stats & Information Network, which is dedicated to sports gambling.

Such experts are in high demand. It’s guaranteed that the networks that optimize the gambling interface will have greater audience retention — and, thereby, more revenue.

“The odds on (David Pastrnak) scoring the next goal. Bergeron coming

back from the dead for the next goal. Whatever it may be,” Flood said. “You’ll have the ability to predict who will score the next goal, which

team, and the odds for all that.”

Perhaps the most efficient way to blend the game, broadcast, and

gambling is through the second screen. It would take just one tap on your phone to bet on the outcome you’re watching with your eyes.

This would become even easier if second-screen broadcasts became the norm. Viewers, after all, are no longer leashed to the couch. Connectivity is everywhere, from the sports bar to the airport lounge to the Uber back seat. Since 2017 Bruins fans who subscribe to NESN through a cable provider have been able to stream games on the NESNgo app.

“How do you get more eyeballs?” Neely asked? “You give them more opportunity to watch the game wherever they are.”

In that way, television can be considered an outdated description. People in the industry already talk about electronic media devices more than the TV on the wall. The future is whatever gadget it is airing whatever game

possible.


1119424 Websites

Sportsnet.ca / Maple Leafs, Matthews rise to the occasion against Sabres, Eichel

Damien Cox | @damospin

December 5, 2018, 12:57 AM

BUFFALO — The Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres are hopeful they can rekindle their rivalry for the first time this century.

No worries. Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel can wait for that to happen. Right now, they have their own, and it’s humming along just fine.

The two young American stars, both products of the U.S. national team development program, went at it head-to-head on Tuesday night in Western New York, both scoring two goals, both making it clear that neither they nor their abundantly talented young teams intend to wait their turn to become dominant forces in a rapidly changing NHL.

While clubs like Los Angeles, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit and even

Pittsburgh retreat from the upper echelons of the league, with their stars either no longer the forces they once were or no longer surrounded with

enough talent to support them, teams like Toronto, Buffalo and Colorado are elbowing their way up the NHL ladder.

Sportsnet NOW gives you access to over 500 NHL games this season, blackout-free, including Hockey Night in Canada, Rogers Hometown

Hockey, Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey, the entire 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs and more.

The Leafs and Sabres have both had splendid starts to their 2018-19, with Buffalo winning 10 straight games at one point and the Leafs off to their best start in more than eight decades. It was Toronto that emerged with the 4-3 overtime win on Tuesday night, with Matthews potting a spectacular winning goal after Eichel had almost singlehandedly willed his team out of a third-period deficit and into the lead.

With KeyBank Centre almost equally divided between Leafs and Sabres supporters, or even slightly weighted towards the visiting team, the game delivered much of the speed and skill many had been looking forward to, if not the bang, crash and fisticuffs that once typified collisions between

the two clubs.

For the Leafs it was a 20th victory in 29 games, and an 11th win in 14

road games, something no Leafs team has ever accomplished. Matthews, after watching Eichel’s two goals turn a 2-1 Buffalo deficit in to

a 3-2 lead, scored his 15th goal in 14 games on a manoeuvre few players in the world could manage.

With less than 10 seconds left in a conservatively played overtime, the Leafs gained control and charged down the ice. Kasperi Kapanen dropped a pass to Matthews, and with Sabres winger Evan Rodrigues in front of him, the 21-year-old centre pulled the puck into his skates and then snapped a wrist shot that soared past the catching glove of Linus Ullmark with three seconds left in the game.

“I didn’t know how much time I had left, but I was able to pull it back and pick a corner,” said Matthews, who has five goals in three games since returning from a shoulder injury.

That was his explanation, but it really wasn’t one. Who, exactly, can

precisely explain the ability of Matthews to produce such power and accuracy within such a small radius of operating space?

“He’s able to do it in a telephone booth,” marvelled teammate John Tavares. “And he obviously loves the opportunity with the puck on his

stick and the game on the line.”

Matthews provided the final play, but it really was an evening in which

both sides displayed the assortment of young talent they’ve acquired by first being among the worst teams in hockey for several seasons.

For the Leafs, Mitch Marner picked up another assist to stay fourth in league scoring, and defenceman Morgan Rielly continued to keep his name in the Norris Trophy conversation with a strong night and almost 26 minutes minutes of play. Buffalo, led by Eichel, showed its flashy riches on defence with first-overall pick Rasmus Dahlin (29:15) and Rasmus Ristolainen (27:00), while steady Sam Reinhart had a goal.

Eichel’s goals were both the result of powerful moves, the first a slapshot after a hard diagonal pass through the zone from Ristolainen, the second

a drive through the slot and a finishing shot past Freddie Andersen.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Matthews’ two goals were a little more creative, the first a quick wraparound after deftly fielding a puck high off the ice and tucking home a wraparound, the second the gorgeous drag move with one eye seemingly on the clock.

“You kind of treat it like as another game, but when you go against superstars on the other side like (Eichel), I think it elevates your game,” said Matthews.

It was Buffalo’s third straight defeat after those 10 triumphs, but this one seemed to particularly sting.

“This one is disappointing,” said Reinhart. “I wouldn’t say we’d been

eyeing this game for a long time, but we were definitely prepared for it. When you have an opportunity to play one of the best teams in the world,

you want to make the most of it.”

The Leafs, of course, plan to strengthen their team in the near future,

perhaps as soon as Thursday at home against Detroit, with the return of William Nylander. Nylander signed a new six-year contract on Saturday

and flew back to Canada the next day, but already head coach Mike Babcock is itching to get him back in the lineup.

Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 12.05.2018

1119425 Websites

Sportsnet.ca / Takeaways: Flames top line dominant in wild win over Blue Jackets

Eric Francis | @EricFrancis

December 4, 2018, 11:02 PM

Typically when a team erases a three-goal deficit to win, it becomes a significant story.

However, when the game ends up being the highest-scoring affair of the NHL season, the number of storylines dwarfs the number of saves the four goalies combined for.

Wrapping up a two-game Dad’s Trip in which the Calgary Flames did well

to show off for their fathers, the Flames erased a 4-1 deficit in Columbus to win 9-6.

Perhaps the more impressive scoring line is Calgary Flames: 4, Rest of the NHL: 3.

Yes, four times this season the Calgary Flames have scored five goals in a period – something the other 30 teams in the league have combined to do just three times.

Sportsnet NOW gives you access to over 500 NHL games this season, blackout-free, including Hockey Night in Canada, Rogers Hometown Hockey, Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey, the entire 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs and more.

On this night the bulk of the damage came in the middle frame, shortly after the Blue Jackets scored an early goal to go up 4-1.

The Flames then scored two goals in a 51-second span, followed by three more in a span of 1:53.

The irony being, the high-scoring Flames entered the game as the NHL’s lowest-scoring team in second periods.

No longer.

Yet, it was a one-goal game very much in doubt heading into the third period.

Here are some takeaways from a night the Flames and their fans won’t soon forget after scoring eight times on two-time Vezina Trophy winner, Sergei Bobrovsky.

Top line shines

Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm had a dream-like outing, scoring five goals and accounting for 10 points on the night.

Monahan, who also dominated in the faceoff circle, had two power-play

goals and two assists. Gaudreau had a similar stat line and Lindholm finished with one and one.

Seems strange to call a goal “timely” in a 9-6 scrimmage but Monahan’s first came right after the Flames killed an early, second-period penalty and closed the gap to 4-2.

Fifty-one ticks later it was 4-3 thanks to Lindholm.

Same thing early in the third when Monahan pounced on a puck in the high slot and buried it to increase the Flames lead to 7-5.

Gaudreau was at his creative best all night, all three buried their chances and the group elevated its status amongst the league’s very best trios.

They did the same two nights earlier in Chicago.

It would be unfair to suggest this line’s dominance is why the Flames are

seventh in the NHL standings right now.

But their prolific start certainly explains how a team can score five goals

in a period four times in 28 outings.

Lucky No. 13

Flames analyst John Shannon reminded viewers why Gaudreau wears No. 13 – because of his diminutive Boston College mentor, Cam

Atkinson, who is four years older.

Both wore 13 at B.C., both wear it now and both were on fire Tuesday night.

Atkinson’s sixth-career hat trick was overshadowed by Gaudreau’s four-point night and a score that looked more like an NFL score.

Gaudreau has openly admitted he was inspired and driven by Atkinson’s collegiate success – something he, himself improved upon before making the jump to the bigs.

For the record, Atkinson’s 31 goals and 52 points in 39 games his third and final season at school was beaten by Gaudreau who had 36 snipes

and 80 points in 40 games as a junior.

Atkinson is on an 11-game point streak and has 19 goals this season,

while Gaudreau’s 12 goals and 35 points moved him into a sixth-place tie in NHL scoring with Connor McDavid.

Flames goalies… did enough

It might seem odd to throw praise towards the goalies in a shootout like this one.

Alas, the merits of a 1a/1b goalie tandem shone through for the Flames when Mike Smith was summoned to start the second period after David

Rittich allowed three goals on 14 shots in the first.

Smith, who has had three solid starts to battle his way back to

respectability, filled in admirably.

Like those shootouts of the ’80s it seemed the netminder that made the

last save of the game would win.

More to the point, the goalie who made the timeliest save got the victory.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Less than a minute into the third period of a 6-5 Flames lead, Smith made a stellar glove save on Cam Atkinson to temporarily deny him from completing the hat trick while on the man advantage.

Had he not come up big the game would have been tied and who knows how it would have ended.

Instead, the Flames killed the penalty and a minute later scored a power-play goal of their own to begin salting the game away.

We’re at the point where it may be a mug’s game to try and determine which goalie Bill Peters will start, but you can bet he’s leaning towards Smith Thursday night at the ‘Dome when Minnesota comes calling.

AND ANOTHER FEW THINGS

The Flames power play, which has improved from 29th last year to 13th currently, scored a goal for the fifth straight game. All told, the Flames power play was 3-for-4, accounting for several key goals … It was one of the rare games of late the Flames have been outshot, 30-28 … the last time the Flames scored nine goals was Valentine’s Day 2011, against

Colorado … The Flames entered the game averaging 3.37 goals per game to sit eighth in the league. You can bet they’ll wake up much higher

than that … Mark Giordano was a beast, again, with the three assists and Matthew Tkachuk was also stellar, with one power-play goal and two assists including a nifty, between-the-legs backhand pass to set up Noah Hanifin’s goal … Austin Czarnik also got a big confidence boost when he beat a defender wide and made a nice finish to score his second goal as a Flame … T.J. Brodie had a goal and finished plus-1 to move into first-place in the league.


1119426 Websites

Sportsnet.ca / Canucks' penalty kill continues to bleed goals in loss to Wild

Iain MacIntyre | @imacSportsnet

December 5, 2018, 1:58 AM

VANCOUVER – There is a pathway to freedom for the Vancouver

Canucks. It’s lined with Josh Leivos.

Unfortunately, the National Hockey League team has only one Josh

Leivo, plucked at clearance prices from the Toronto Maple Leafs’ fourth line. And although he scored Tuesday in his Canucks debut – on his first

shot in Vancouver — he didn’t kill penalties.

Neither did anyone else on the Canucks, who allowed the Minnesota

Wild power play to go three-for-three as Vancouver lost 3-2 to recede even farther in the standings. The Canucks are on a 1-10-2 free fall.

If they lose in regulation Thursday against the Nashville Predators, who are merely the Western Conference’s best team, their 0-4-1 performance at Rogers Arena will equal Vancouver’s worst five-game homestand since January, 2009. Nearly 10 years.

It feels about that long since the Canucks’ last winning streak.

Of their seven deadly sins – that figure may be low – the worst currently is the way they’re bleeding goals while shorthanded.

Their pre-game penalty-kill ranking of 23rd in the NHL, with 25 power-

play goals against in 29 games and a 76.9 per cent kill rate, was misleading. In the last 18 games, they’ve surrendered 21 power-play

goals and their success rate has been a ghastly 67.2 per cent.

Sportsnet NOW gives you access to over 500 NHL games this season, blackout-free, including Hockey Night in Canada, Rogers Hometown Hockey, Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey, the entire 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs and more.

This nightmare began the night shutdown centre Brandon Sutter left the lineup with a dislocated shoulder when he crashed into the boards against the Wild on Oct. 29. Oddly, that was also the start of the Canucks’ 4-0-2 surge. Since then, however, they’ve won once in 13 games. Eight of the 12 losses, including the first four on this homestand, have been by a single goal.

The return from injury Tuesday of Jay Beagle, another veteran checking centre who specializes in killing penalties, did nothing to help the PK.

"You can’t give up three on the PK," Beagle said. "I thought we played a really good game and we give up three on the PK. We have to find a

way, we have to be better. I like to think I’m a big part of that and I need to be better.

"We have a good system. We have a good plan in play to go after them. We’ve just got to make sure that we execute it. For instance, on that five-

on-three, I’m a foot off and they put it in the back of our net. So that one’s on me. You can’t miss those reads. Your PK has to be a difference-maker."

In a way, the Canucks’ PK has been a difference-maker. In combination with a spotty power play, special teams have been keeping them from winning.

The Canucks had a terrific third period on Tuesday as they outshot the Wild 14-5 while pressing for a tying goal. At even-strength, they outscored Minnesota 2-0. But the penalty-killing was awful.

The things the Canucks do well aren’t enough to compensate for a

penalty kill that essentially puts Vancouver down a goal before games even start.

Minnesota’s power play, which went two-for-two in its 6-2 dismantling of Vancouver in St. Paul two weeks ago, barely broke a sweat at Rogers

Arena. It took the Wild just 15 seconds after Michael Del Zotto’s first questionable penalty to tie the game 1-1 at 12:17 of the first period when

Matt Dumba’s uncontested point shot was tipped in by Zach Parise.

And just seven seconds after Del Zotto’s second questionable penalty put the Canucks two men short at 15:29 of the second period, Ryan Suter scored from the point on the five-on-three. Del Zotto was still sitting in the penalty box when Jason Zucker whipped in a one-timer from Mikael Granlund’s pass through the Canucks’ "box" to give the Wild its first lead at 16:31.

"The first one I haven’t seen," Del Zotto said of his first-period tripping penalty on Jordan Greenway. "The second one, I thought was a soft call."

With Alex Edler already off for interference, Del Zotto was penalized for cross-checking Parise, who is strong on his skates but not that time.

"I probably make that play 10 times a game," Del Zotto argued. "It’s a battle down low. You give the guy a little shot and he goes down fairly

easy. Penalties are going to happen. (But) we didn’t kill one.

"Five-on-five, we’re OK. That’s a really good hockey team over there. But

the PK gives up three and power play doesn’t score any. You lose the special-teams battle, more often than not you’re going to lose the game.

That’s just the way this league is."

The Canuck power play was shut out on three chance. It hasn’t scored on the homestand and was ranked 21st before the game.

"Typically, you don’t rely on your power play," penalty-killing defenceman Erik Gudbranson said. "It’s not that they’re not good, but you rely more on your PK to get you through tough games, especially against good teams. We’ve got to find a way to figure it out. The PK is not getting the

CAROLINA HURRICANES


job done; I’m not getting the job done. We win that game if it wasn’t for our penalty kill, so it’s very frustrating."

Goals by Leivo, on a quick release from the slot at 7:02 of the first period, and Tyler Motte had given the desperate Canucks a 2-1 lead on home ice with 25 minutes remaining.

"I don’t think it’s one thing," Edler said of the special teams’ problems. "It might be confidence."

Given the last month, that’s understandable.


1119427 Websites

Sportsnet.ca / Claude Julien's key decision sparks Canadiens in win over Senators

Eric Engels

December 5, 2018, 12:30 AM

MONTREAL—Claude Julien played it coy.

The Montreal Canadiens coach made a decision halfway through Tuesday’s meeting with the Ottawa Senators that changed the complexion of the entire game. He pulled Paul Byron off a line with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Artturi Lehkonen, put him with Max Domi and Jonathan Drouin, and shifted Andrew Shaw down into his place. And afterwards he had no interest in explaining what motivated his thinking on it.

"None of your business," he said jokingly. "I’m going to tell you the same

thing I tell everyone; it’s called coaching."

"I see certain things," Julien continued, but no real explanation followed.

At least not one that satisfied these ears.

This is a man who’s reticent to change things in-game. He resists making

changes high up in his lineup, period. It’s why Domi and Drouin have played together since the first game of the season. Ditto for Brendan

Gallagher and Tomas Tatar, who connected on Montreal’s fifth goal in their 5-2 win over Ottawa.

The timing of Julien’s decision to swap Byron and Shaw was totally peculiar. Especially after Domi had set up Drouin for the game’s first goal and gotten into a fight on Shaw’s behalf after Drake Batherson got his elbow up on a reverse check. And especially after Drouin had scored such a beauty—forehand, backhand, five-hole on Craig Anderson—and had had such an effective first period in stealing pucks, leading rushes, backchecking and drawing a power play.

Julien’s timing was peculiar, but it was also impeccable.

The score was 1-1, the shots were 22-22. It was just after a shift where Dylan Demelo had tied things up for the Senators when Montreal’s bench

boss pulled the trigger on this game-altering move.

On Byron’s first shift with Domi and Drouin, he charged in on the

backcheck and stopped a sure goal by lifting Brady Tkachuk’s stick right as a pass came across Carey Price’s crease.

And then, just a couple of minutes later, Byron made a hard forecheck in the offensive zone and forced the Senators to reverse the puck. Drouin

was waiting right there, he intercepted, set up Domi in the slot, and the Canadiens took a 2-1 lead.

On their next shift as a trio, Byron took a pass in the neutral zone and immediately bumped it to Domi, who moved it over to Drouin. A three-on-two developed—with Byron taking a hard line to the net and Domi fading behind Drouin.

Drouin then used Byron as a decoy and dropped the puck to Domi, and a rising wristshot from the right faceoff circle made it 3-1 Canadiens.

It was 49 seconds later that Shaw came over the offensive blue line on his strong side and in possession of the puck. He moved it quickly to Kotkaniemi, who corralled it and pushed it across the crease for a tap-in for Lehkonen.

"Ironically, they both became good fits on both lines I put them on," said Julien of Byron and Shaw.

We may never know why he made the change when he did, but it’s not hard to understand why both players fit in their new spots. Even if Julien

didn’t quite want to get into it.

If Domi and Drouin play the game at 100 miles per hour, Byron can’t slow

them down going 110. That he brings the same tenacity—and willingness to attack the net—as Shaw does only helps his case.

That Byron can play in all situations and handle first-line minutes helps it, too. That he scored at least 20 goals in each of the last two seasons prior to this one makes it.

And Shaw—who plays as fast as he can, but nowhere near as fast as Drouin, Domi or Byron—is a natural fit with Kotkaniemi. He benefits as a right-handed option for the left-handed centreman, and he can do a lot of the dirty work on a line that’s more inclined to cycle the puck and play down low in the zone.

The 18-year-old Kotkaniemi is a six-foot-two, 184-pounder who hasn’t yet grown into his frame—and hasn’t fully developed his skating stride to

where it will be down the line. Those growing pains explain how he felt about playing with Byron, who was placed on his line after a four-week

absence with a lower-body injury to help finish off some of the plays Kotkaniemi was creating. Plays Lehkonen and Charles Hudon weren’t

capitalizing on.

"He’s flying there, so it’s fun to get him on my line," Kotkaniemi said prior

to last Saturday’s 5-2 win over the New York Rangers. "Sometimes it’s hard because I’m a slower guy, so it’s a little bit harder."

Even if Lehkonen broke through with two goals in Saturday’s game, things appeared a bit disjointed between him, Kotkaniemi and Byron. They continued to appear disjointed through a 3-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Sunday, and they were just ordinary through the first half of Tuesday’s game. If we saw it, certainly Julien did too.

He made the change and the Canadiens out-scored the Senators 4-1 and out-shot them 19-8 after he did.

"You see certain things because you know your players well enough,"

Julien said. "Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t."

This time it helped the Canadiens improve to 13-10-5 on their season. It

helped them earn a second win over their last three games after losing five in a row. It helped them avoid being caught in the standings by the

Senators, who came into Tuesday’s game just two points behind. And it helped them pull within a point of the Boston Bruins, who lost 5-0 to the

Florida Panthers.

Just some good old-fashioned coaching, eh.


1119428 Websites

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Sportsnet.ca / Golden Knights' Ryan Reaves ejected for blindside hit on Capitals' Tom Wilson

Emily Sadler | @EmmySadler

December 5, 2018, 12:08 AM

Vegas Golden Knights forward Ryan Reaves was ejected from

Tuesday’s game against the Washington Capitals after a late hit on Tom Wilson.

The blindside hit occurred late in the second period, and sent Wilson’s helmet flying. He did not have the puck at the time of the play, and was in a vulnerable position as he was turned away from Reaves and clearly did not see the Golden Knight coming. Wilson, who appeared to be shaken up on the play, stayed down on the ice before being helped off by teammates. The team officially ruled him out for the remainder of the game.

Reaves was issued a five-minute major penalty for interference, and was ejected.

Reaves and Wilson had been battling all game, with the pair getting into

a scuffle in the first period after Reaves knocked Wilson down twice in the same shift.

Though the main point of contact was not the head, Reaves’ hit was late which means he could be getting a phone call from the NHL’s player

safety department.


1119429 Websites

Sportsnet.ca / NHL's Seattle expansion: Everything you need to know

Rory Boylen | @RoryBoylen

December 4, 2018, 2:02 PM

In a press conference at the Board of Governors meetings in Sea Island, Ga., on Tuesday, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced the arrival of the league’s 32nd team in Seattle.

The long-awaited and expected approval was voted on unanimously, though the new team remains nameless for now and won’t start playing games for a couple of years.

There will be many steps to take before the puck drops on the new franchise, but in the meantime, here is what you need to know about the NHL’s newest team:

WHAT WILL THEY BE CALLED?

Although the NHL announced Tuesday that Seattle will become the league’s 32nd team in 2021-22, the franchise has no official name yet.

When Seattle previously won the Stanley Cup out of the Pacific Coast League in 1917, they were known as the Metropolitans, but given there is

a division in the NHL that already goes by that name, it’s likely not a prime candidate for the expansion team. An official name unveiling will

be released at a later date, but in the meantime we can look to 13 names that have been registered by the Oak View Group, the company that is

renovating KeyArena.

Here is the list of 13:

• Rainiers

• Kraken

• Evergreens

• Seals

• Emeralds

• Sea Lions

• Sockeyes

• Whales

• Eagles

• Totems

• Cougars

• Firebirds

• Renegades

Also of note is that the Seattle Times recently ran a poll for readers to weigh in on some of these names. A total of 146,144 votes were cast,

with the Sockeyes (a type of salmon common to the area) winning out over the Totems, with Metropolitans coming in third.

“We’re going to listen to our fans and we’re going to do it right and we’re not going to have a time pressure, but it’s something we’re working on each and every day,” said CEO Tod Leiweke.

WHEN WILL THEY START PLAY?

As made official by Gary Bettman at the announcement press conference, the puck will drop in Seattle for the 2021-22 season, meaning the next expansion draft will take place in June 2021. This comes after Seattle’s mayor said her belief was that the arena would be ready to open in 2020.

With this in mind, it’s worth noting the potential for a disturbance to the

2020-21 season, which was the original projected start date for Seattle. Both the NHL and NHLPA have the option to opt out of the CBA in

September 2019, which would come into effect one year later. The two sides would still have 12 months to renegotiate a new deal, but if one is

not struck another work stoppage would commence in September 2020. With this uncertainty, it wouldn’t be an ideal time for an expansion team

to set off.

But the league maintains the biggest hurdle to Seattle starting in 2020 was the uncertainty the arena would be ready in time. The Seattle ownership group had floated the idea of playing out of an alternate site in the meantime should the project not be complete, which was not an ideal situation for the league.

WHERE WILL THEY PLAY?

The home of the former NBA franchise SuperSonics, KeyArena (renamed Seattle Center) will be host to the NHL team, although expect it to look much different on the inside. It’s undergoing a vast redesign that

will rise to an estimated cost of $700 million paid for by OVG and private equity. In fact, ground will break on the project Wednesday.

“Some call it a renovation, we’ll keep the historic roof but everything else will be new,” Leiweke said. “We’ll go down approximately 15 feet

expanding from 400,000 square feet to 750,000 square feet. And we believe it will be one of the finest arenas in the world. It’s the only arena

in the world located in a park. It’s right in the heart of our city and that’s why they call it Seattle Center.”

When a season ticket drive was launched earlier this year to gauge fan interest, 33,000 deposits were put down in less than an hour. The renovated arena will only hold roughly 17,400 for hockey, though.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


HOW WILL THEY PICK PLAYERS?

At the GM Meetings last March, Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reported the next expansion team would play under the same draft rules Vegas did in 2017 and that was confirmed on Tuesday. The only exception was that the Golden Knights would not participate, so Seattle will not have a crack at choosing any players off Vegas’s roster.

Teams can either protect seven forwards, three defencemen and a goalie, or eight skaters (forwards/defencemen combined) and a goalie. First- and second-year professionals are automatically exempt from the expansion draft and do not count against their team’s number. Likewise,

unsigned draft picks are also exempt.

As a reminder, here are what the minimum requirements were for the

kinds of players teams needed to leave exposed to Vegas:

i) One defenceman who is a) under contract in 2017-18 and b) played in

40 or more NHL games the prior season OR played in 70 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons.

ii) Two forwards who are a) under contract in 2017-18 and b) played in 40 or more NHL games the prior season OR played in 70 or more NHL

games in the prior two seasons.

iii) One goaltender who is under contract in 2017-18 or will be a restricted free agent at the expiration of his current contract immediately prior to 2017-18. If the club elects to make a restricted free agent goaltender available in order to meet this requirement, that goaltender must have received his qualifying offer prior to the submission of the club’s protected list.

Injured players who have missed more than the previous 60 consecutive games to injury, or who have a career-threatening injury, cannot be used for a team to hit these exposure requirements. As well, any players with

no-movement clauses at this time will be automatically protected.

Seattle will have to pick one player from each of the 30 participating

teams, with the requirement to end up with at least 14 forwards, nine defencemen and three goaltenders.

WHICH DIVISION WILL THEY BE IN?

Seattle will slide into the Pacific Division, which of course already has

eight teams so there will be more realignment. The Arizona Coyotes, the only team off the coast that also doesn’t have a long-held rivalry with anyone in the Pacific, will move to the Central Division to make an even 8-8-8-8 split across all four divisions.

“We thought that it made the absolute most sense on a whole host of levels, geographic rivalries among the other teams in the Pacific, the fact that for most of the season Arizona is on Mountain Time, not Pacific Time, so in terms of the way broadcasts and the like, when you look at the matrix of scheduling, the difference between being in the same conference in a division, it doesn’t mean there will be a whole lot more

travel,” Bettman said. “And in fact, our scheduling will ensure, like we do with Tampa in the Atlantic, that it’s a little more efficient.”

WHAT IS THE EXPANSION FEE?

When Vegas came into the league, it cost owner Bill Foley $500 million

paid to the NHL, to say nothing of the cost to build the brand new T-Mobile Arena. With Seattle coming in a few years later, that expansion

fee cost has risen to $650 million, plus the cost of renovating KeyArena to make it NHL ready.

WHO WILL BE THE GM?

Former Arizona head coach Dave Tippett is already in place as an advisor with Seattle’s group, so he surely will play some significant role with the new team, but just what that is remains unclear. He has said, however, he neither wants to be coach or GM. Leiweke spoke to Sportsnet’s David Amber about what comes next in their search for a GM.

“We now get to really think about that timeline. Do we wait and have a full field of candidates a year out, or do we go early and give our general manager a chance to lay eyes on these players for two full seasons? Ownership’s committed, we have resources to do this right,” he said. “No timeline yet.”


1119430 Websites

Sportsnet.ca / 'Chess match' begins for Seattle's NHL franchise

Chris Johnston | @reporterchris

December 4, 2018, 3:49 PM

SEA ISLAND, Ga. — They have been at this for so long that the joy couldn’t be contained when Seattle made its long-awaited return to hockey.

Tod Leiweke, the team CEO, raised his left fist in celebration after NHL

commissioner Gary Bettman officially gave the city its 32nd franchise. Jerry Bruckheimer, the wildly successful Hollywood producer and a

minority partner in NHL Seattle, sat in the front row giddily snapping photos on a digital camera.

David Bonderman, the majority owner, was asked about the possibility of an NBA team eventually returning to the Pacific Northwest as well and

responded: “One miracle at a time.”

There was no suspense about this announcement at the conclusion of

the NHL’s Board of Governors meeting, but there was relief. The league has long had Seattle at the top of its list of desired destinations and Tuesday’s expansion vote passed with unanimous approval.

The enthusiasm wasn’t even dampened by a launch for the 2021-22 season — something league officials pushed for to ensure there was adequate time to complete the $800-million Seattle Center Arena project.

Sometimes the best things are worth waiting for.

The Seattle ownership group badly wanted a 2020 start date after

collecting more than 32,000 season-ticket deposits in one day. They hoped to reward that article of faith from fans as quickly as possible. But

the deeper they got into discussions with league officials the more they came around to the value of having another year to get ready.

“I have business cards I’m going to have to toss out that say Seattle 2020,” said Leiweke. “This is an organization that’s going to be built

around our fans, and as we thought about this on behalf of our fans, we realized that perhaps we wouldn’t open the season with our fans in our

new building, perhaps the training centre wouldn’t be ready. Now, an expansion draft will be held in our building.

“Our players can skate at that training centre in time for our first [training] camp, and we know opening day will be truly spectacular. So waiting a little longer seemed to make a lot of sense and we ultimately agreed with the league.”

It remains to be seen how the extra time will affect the construction of the hockey operations department.

They may still hire a general manager as soon as this coming spring, which would give the successful candidate two seasons to prepare for a

June 2021 expansion draft. That will be conducted under the same rules given to the Vegas Golden Knights and ensures that every player

CAROLINA HURRICANES


currently in the NHL today will have to either be protected or made available.

“The chess match begins,” said Leiweke.

There is also the matter of a name and logo to be sorted out. A team known as the Seattle Metropolitans captured the Stanley Cup in 1917, but Bettman hinted the NHL didn’t favour that nickname since it already boasts a Metropolitan Division.

Other possibilities include the Totems, Kraken and Sasquatch.

The Seattle ownership group already seems to possess a top-end sense

of occasion, including flying Beverley Parsons, the niece of original Seattle Metropolitans owners Frank and Lester Patrick, in for Tuesday’s announcement.

The only thing that kept them from joining the NHL sooner was the presence of a viable building. It’s telling that shovels will be put in the ground on the site of KeyArena during a momentous ground-breaking ceremony on Wednesday morning.

There’s no time to waste.

“Part of the DNA of this ownership group is we’re extremely competitive,” said Leiweke. “And we’re here to win. And we want to win. So we’re going to look at these timelines [with a 2021-22 start] and how it can be put to our advantage.

“We’re going to make the best use of this time. And ultimately, for our fans, this will be a good thing. Not only will the building be on time, but we’re going to be really sharp on the hockey side of things as well.”

In the eyes of the NHL, this decision was a no-brainer. Bettman said the

addition of Seattle makes his league “more balanced, even more whole and even more vibrant.” It also comes with a $650-million expansion fee, which will be split by the Original 30 owners with Vegas being exempted.

The arrival of Seattle will allow the NHL to have four eight-team divisions, with Arizona shifting over to the Central and ceding a spot in the Pacific.

The league likes that it will provide a natural geographical rival for Vancouver while filling a need in a city under-served for professional sports. There has been a hole in the winter calendar there since the NBA’s SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008.

“It’s a young, dynamic, engaged market that supports its professional

sports franchises,” said deputy commissioner Bill Daly. “It’s an area of the continent that can be served well by a NHL team. It’s good, solid ownership, it’s going to have a first-rate arena. There’s not a whole lot not to like.”

From afar, this has long felt more like “when” than “if.”

But for those in Seattle it’s been an excruciating process full of stops and

starts, and several failed arena projects. There was even a botched NHL expansion attempt in the 1970s because of a missed payment.

Soon, it will all be nothing but a distant memory.

“Sixteen years ago they started saying that the arena didn’t work,” said Leiweke. “Over the course of that time, we lost a NBA team, we’re not even close to where we should be relative to concerts. And how can a world-class city like Seattle not have a world-class arena?

“So tomorrow we break ground and we solve that issue. Tomorrow we start building and it’s really exciting.”


1119431 Websites

TSN.CA / Matthews drives Leafs to fifth straight victory

Kristen Shilton

BUFFALO – Auston Matthews led the Maple Leafs to their fifth straight

victory on Tuesday, scoring twice in a 4-3 overtime decision against the rival Buffalo Sabres. The 21-year-old winger scored the Leafs’ first and

last goals, burying the overtime winner with 2.7 seconds left on the clock. Toronto moves to 20-8-0 on the season with the win, and slide up to

second place overall in the NHL standings.

About 20 seconds before Matthews scored the Leafs’ overtime winner, he probably should have gone off for a change. Instead, he stayed on the ice, exploiting his matchup in the 3-on-3 setting and rifled a perfectly-placed shot high on Linus Ullmark with 2.7 seconds remaining in the extra frame.

It was not only Matthews’ fifth goal in three games since returning from a shoulder injury last Wednesday, or his 15th goal in 14 games this season, but it was also his second awe-inspiring goal of the game. The first came in the second period, when he snatched a deflected shot by Ron Hainsey out of the air, planted it on the ice and scored a wraparound goal on Ullmark before anyone else on the ice realized he was in control of the puck.

The play encouraged a round of “Aus-ton Matth-ews” chants from the Leafs-friendly crowd at Keybank Centre, in the same building where Matthews was drafted first overall by Toronto in 2016. After the game, Matthews admitted he was “so tired” on the overtime winner after not taking advantage of an opportunity to change earlier, and that his conditioning still isn’t where he wants it to be after that 14-game layoff

recovering from injury.

But while there still may be some work to do to get his skating back to

where it was, Matthews’ playmaking and scoring ability haven’t taken a hit and that’s what has helped drive the Leafs since his return. He

finished with two goals, one assist and a plus-3 rating, his second multi-point game in his last three outings.

In a wider context, Matthews became the second NHL player since 1996-97 to score 15 or more goals within his first 14 games of the season (Sam Gagner had 15).

Rivalry: Renewed

The Leafs and Sabres don’t have a long history of playoff meetings – that’s only happened once, in 1999 – but being divisional rivals in close geographical proximity has still nurtured plenty of drama over the years. Even with the Sabres in an eight-year postseason drought, they’ve continued to play the Leafs tough, especially at home. Going into Tuesday’s game, the Sabres owned a 15-5 record over Toronto in their

building, and until the waning seconds of overtime it looked entirely possible they’d add another win to the pile.

Despite having played the night before and traveling back from Nashville, Buffalo looked like the more rested squad early against Toronto, and

were outskating the Leafs early on. After a goalless first period, Matthews broke through first, but Sam Reinhart tipped home an equalizer six

minutes later to keep the Leafs on their toes.

With 9.6 seconds left in that middle frame, Mitch Marner and John

Tavares had a pair of terrific assists teeing up a tap-in for the hard-charging Jake Gardiner on Ullmark’s doorstep to put the Leafs back up, 2-1.

By late in the third, Toronto had gone from in control to into a hole, courtesy of two slick goals from Sabres captain Jack Eichel (the second go-ahead goal facilitated by Nazem Kadri’s egregious turnover at the blueline). It took a shortside strike with less than four minutes left from Patrick Marleau to tie the contest 3-3 and put the Leafs into overtime.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Reaching extra time, the Sabres rolled around the Leafs’ end with ease and frustrated their offensive stars, until Kapanen and Matthews took off in the dying seconds of overtime to connect on the winner.

From the electric fans to the electrifying play by young stars on both stars, the Leafs and Sabres look to have re-ignited their rivalry in a big way.

Andersen stays hot

For all the good Matthews did for Toronto on the scoresheet, goaltender Frederik Andersen led the way through a dicey first period and set up opportunity for success down the stretch.

The Sabres controlled play in the opening frame at 54 per cent possession overall, and were outshooting the Leafs 13-3 just past the

halfway mark of the first period. Andersen held Buffalo at bay when the Leafs’ defensive structure broke down, including on a particularly potent

chance by Rasmus Ristolainen after he danced through the Leafs’ defenders.

Andersen was impenetrable until six minutes remained in the second period, and Reinhart tipped defenceman Nathan Beaulieu’s snap shot

over his blocker to tie the game 1-1. The play started off a lost defensive zone draw, a recurring issue for the Leafs that cost them a goal.

After being stymied by Andersen earlier, Ristolainen eventually got to the goalie, sending a hard shot from the point for Eichel to bury from the right circle and tie the game 2-2 in the second. When Eichel’s second goal went in, Andersen re-set and stayed poised through a frantic end to the third and into overtime.

Making 38 saves on 41 shots, it was the third straight game Andersen has seen that number of pucks and fourth straight outing he’s seen 40 or more. His 16 wins currently lead the NHL.

Marner on point(s)

There was only 9.6 seconds on the clock in the second period when

Gardiner saw something brewing between Marner and Tavares. Marner was streaking towards the top of the circle and sent a hard pass right to

Tavares down low. Hoping there was a trailer behind him, Tavares flipped the puck behind him to a hard-charging Gardiner, who had ID’d

the play and put himself in position to send the pass right over top of Ullmark to give Toronto a 2-1 go-ahead goal.

That play was manufactured by Marner’s speed and vision, and produced the third-year winger’s 33rd assist of the season and 11th helper in his last five games. It’s been quite a run for one of the Leafs’ top playmakers, who continues to find new ways to stay on top of opponents who fully expect he’ll make a pass rather than use his shot. Indeed, there were occasions on Tuesday when Marner seemed to forgo open shooting lanes to defer to a teammate, but so far the results of his work are coming up in the Leafs’ favour. He finished the game plus-1, with two

shots on goal.

TSN.CA LOADED: 12.05.2018

1119432 Websites

TSN.CA / Finally, some life in the QEW rivalry

Mark Masters

TSN Toronto reporter Mark Masters checks in daily with news and notes

on the Maple Leafs. The Leafs (optional) and Sabres (optional) skated at KeyBank Center before tonight's game in Buffalo.

Kyle Okposo did his best to stir the pot when asked about the Maple Leafs this morning.

"I think their power play is pretty bad," the Sabres forward said letting the words sit for a moment.

Greeted with dumbfounded stares, Okposo immediately broke into a smile.

"No, I’m just kidding. Their power play’s been spectacular, obviously."

Okposo later joked that he was simply trying to give the Toronto media something to talk about now that the William Nylander saga is over. He's

a self-proclaimed "hockey junkie, hockey nerd" and was well aware of the breathless coverage surrounding the Swede's contract.

He also knows the Leafs power play is 4-for-5 since Auston Matthews returned two games ago.

Meanwhile, Buffalo has allowed a power-play goal in four straight games so discipline is a key this evening. Although the power play is far from the only part of Toronto's game that Buffalo has to be concerned with.

"They’re able to get the puck from defence to offence extremely quickly so we’re going to have to make sure we’re staying on top of our checks and we have to take the fight to them," Okposo declared. "This is our building and we’ve been pretty good here at home so we want to defend it."

The Sabres are 9-2-1 at the KeyBank Center this season owning the best home points percentage (.792) in the NHL. A win tonight would be Buffalo's seventh straight on home ice, which is something they haven't accomplished since 1999.

"The last three games that we’ve played at home have been louder than any game against Toronto that I’ve played in and I’m sure tonight will be a step up from that and we’re looking forward to it," Okposo said.

It wasn't long ago that the Leafs simply couldn't win in Buffalo, dropping 17 of 19 contests from 2009 to 2016. But two seasons ago, as Toronto's rebuild took the next step, the tide turned and the Leafs have now won three of five in Buffalo. And many blue-and-white-clad fans have enjoyed

making the short trek across the border to rub it in.

"Usually the chants going back and forth are always exciting and, for us, it’s about trying to get our fans involved right away," said shifty Leafs winger Mitch Marner. "I think everyone’s ready to play this game, both sides, everyone comes ready to play. It’s always a war out there."

Babcock on Buffalo's improvement: 'Soon Leafs fans won’t be able to buy tickets here'

The Maple Leafs have won three of their last five games in Buffalo, and Toronto fans have enjoyed coming across the border to rub it in. Tonight, the Sabres look to reestablish a little home ice advantage in the rivalry.

Now that the Sabres rebuild seems to have turned a corner, the hope in

Buffalo is they can re-establish a little home-ice advantage in this rivalry.

"Hopefully it will be loud, electric," said defenceman Rasmus Ristolainen, "and more Sabres fans than the Maple Leafs fans.”

"Just the proximity of the two teams make it that every time we came here before there was energy in the building," said coach Mike Babcock, "a lot of Leafs fans and now, pretty soon, Leafs fans won’t be able to buy tickets here because Buffalo fans will have bought them already."

Has Sabres captain Jack Eichel conveyed to his buddy and old U.S. National Development Program teammate Matthews that there's a special meaning to beating the Leafs?

“No, but I’m sure there is," Matthews noted. "Just like for us, we want to beat them. It’s always a big game for us ... we expect their best game

tonight and we expect ours as well."

Okposo jokes Leafs PP is "pretty bad"; Sabres must "take the fight" to

Toronto

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Kyle Okposo admits that he's a hockey junky and has watched quite a few Leafs' game this year and knows how dangerous their power play is. He also says they need to take the fight to the Leafs with them having home ice.

The Sabres surged to the top of the standings thanks to a 10-game winning streak in November.

"They were on that hot stretch and I think everybody in the league kind of took notice," said Matthews. "They’re for real."

"I've been impressed," Babcock agreed. "I've seen these guys a number of times and then obviously the last two games they've played, we've

really dialed in on. I'm impressed with their team, their structure, their speed, their work ethic, the whole thing. I think they've got a good hockey

club and it's going to be a good game."

This is the first time these divisional rivals have met this late in the

season with both teams in a playoff spot since Dec. 16, 2011.

What's the biggest difference with these Sabres?

"They’ve always had skilled players," observed Marner. "I think the confidence of their team just keeps getting higher and higher as the games go on so that’s probably something they didn’t have before."

"It's our resiliency and the buy-in that we have," explained Okposo, who's in his third season with Buffalo. "We have a tight-knit group here and we never really seem to change the way that we play and we have a lot of belief in each other and when you have that I think some pretty powerful things can happen."

Buffalo just returned from a tough three-game trip, losing to Tampa Bay, Florida (overtime) and Nashville. What's the confidence level like right now?

“The confidence better be there, it’s only a few games," Ristolainen said.

"Got a point in Florida, could've got more. In Tampa, we weren’t ready to start, but just measure us as a team tonight. We need to answer from last

night and we need the win."

The schedule hasn't done Buffalo any favours as the Leafs were in town

waiting for them last night while the Sabres lost a tight one against the Predators. Buffalo should have at least one fresh body in the lineup as

winger Conor Sheary is expected to play after missing four games with an upper-body injury. Meanwhile, defencemen Jake McCabe (upper body) and Marco Scandella (upper body) will be game-time decisions.

Buffalo will start backup Linus Ullmark in goal while Toronto is expected to counter with Frederik Andersen.

Matthews on Sabres: "They're for real... everybody in the league took notice"

Auston Matthews and the Maple Leafs know they have to be careful with the resurgent Sabres and Buffalo talk about their resiliency after their 10-game win streak was snapped.

Nylander wasn't at the rink this morning in Buffalo and a timeline for his return to game action remains unknown. So, the Leafs are also being

forced to make a lineup change after Josh Leivo was traded on Monday. Frederik Gauthier draws back in tonight after sitting as a healthy scratch

in the last two games.

Which centre will play on the wing: Gauthier or Par Lindholm?

"That's a real good question, one of them does," Babcock said. "Lindy is going to play on the wing at times, for sure, because he's going to be in the top nine at times. He's going to play in the middle. Someone is taking the faceoff and the first guy back will play down low."

William Nylander underwent medical testing on Monday but Mike Babcock didn't have any update on when he might return to the lineup. Mark Masters has more on the Leafs lines and what they might look like with the departure of Josh Leivo.

Having coached in Spokane of the Western Hockey League for six seasons, Babcock has a pretty good idea of what the NHL will be getting by awarding a franchise to Seattle.

"It's one of the best cities in the world," Babcock gushed. "That waterfront there, I don't know if you've ever come in – I don't know if it's the University of Washington where all that rowing is done there – you come in and the sun is going down and they're out there rowing. It's spectacular. The waterfront, all the seafood and the restaurants, this is a home run for the National Hockey League."

Gary Bettman announced that the NHL's Board of Governors

unanimously approved a plan of expansion that will bring a team to Seattle. The team will begin playing in the 2021-22 season and will play

in the Pacific Division, while the Coyotes will move to the Central.


1119433 Websites

TSN.CA / Division race gives Leafs-Sabres rivalry added edge

Kristen Shilton

BUFFALO – The Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres have a long-

running rivalry rooted in geographic proximity. Now, for the first time in years, they’re also close in the standings.

Buffalo is one point back of Toronto in the Atlantic Division race going into their first meeting of the season on Tuesday, giving this matchup

some added edge.

“The way we’ve started and they’ve started the season, and how tight the division race is at this point, there’s a lot to play for,” said John Tavares after the Leafs’ optional morning skate on Tuesday. “They’ve been on quite a roll. [There’s] a lot on the line and a lot of really good players and a lot of talent on both sides.”

Tavares is new to the Leafs-Sabres dynamic, but spent chunks of his formative years in Buffalo watching his uncle, also named John Tavares,

star for the Buffalo Bandits lacrosse team. He knows the city as a “really good sports town” that must revel in the Sabres owning a 15-5 record

over the Leafs on home ice since January 2010.

It’s been eight years, though, since Buffalo made the postseason, and

now that the games matter more, Tavares anticipates the atmosphere will reflect it.

“They really care about their team, so you can expect they’re going to be behind that and what they’ve been able to do to start the season,” he

said. “We have to be ready to play. It’s fun playing in great environments like that, so it should be fun to play in.”

Fun has been in short supply for the Sabres over the last week. Since their 10-game winning streak came to an end on Nov. 27, Buffalo has lost three straight, including a 2-1 decision to the Nashville Predators on Monday. Meanwhile, the Leafs have won four straight, and are 8-2-0 in their last 10.

Sabres’ forward Kyle Okposo sees the perfect opportunity for his team to reset in front of a “loud and electric” home crowd on Tuesday.

“We have to take the fight to them. This is our building,” Okposo said.

“We’ve been playing pretty good at home, and we want to defend it. Their team speed and their transition game, they’re able to get the puck from

defensive to offence very quickly, so we’re going to have to make sure we’re staying on top of our checks.”

CAROLINA HURRICANES


One Leaf who is intimately familiar with how the Sabres operate is winger Tyler Ennis. He was with the organization from 2009-17, playing 419 games with 97 goals and 139 assists before departing as a free agent for the Minnesota Wild last season.

Ennis can well remember what made going up against the Leafs so special and why the fans were so invested in the outcome.

“These games are easy to get up for. There’s such great energy in the building,” he said. “It’s noticeable how much the intensity and the noise of the crowd elevates [against Toronto]. We’re good rivals from across the border, and I’m looking forward to being [on the other side].”

With William Nylander not quite ready to return to action after signing his new contract on Saturday and Josh Leivo dealt to the Vancouver

Canucks on Monday, the Leafs have only 12 game-ready forwards. They will have to use them all in Buffalo, meaning Ennis will get Frederik

Gauthier back as his centre on the fourth line, while Par Lindholm slides over to the wing.

Now in his fourth season coaching the Leafs, Mike Babcock has seen plenty of unfavourable decisions for Toronto at Buffalo’s hand, but is

always struck by how excitable the crowd is.

“Every time we’ve been here before there was a lot of energy in the building, a lot of Leafs fans,” he said. “Now, pretty soon Leaf fans won’t be able to buy tickets here because Buffalo fans will have bought them already. I’ve been impressed with their team.”

That feeling is mutual for Auston Matthews, who will play his third game back from a shoulder injury on Tuesday. The centre, who has three goals and one assist in his last two games, is eager to see how Toronto stacks up against one of their closest competitors.

“They’ve been playing some really good hockey lately,” Matthews said.

“…It’s going to be a good challenge for us. It’s a good rivalry, going to be a good atmosphere. I think everyone is looking forward to the game.”


1119434 Websites

TSN.CA / Seattle officially approved as the NHL's 32nd franchise

Frank Seravalli

SEA ISLAND, Ga. — Say hello to Seattle.

A century after Seattle became the first American residence of the

Stanley Cup, NHL hockey is finally coming to the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Commissioner Gary Bettman announced Tuesday that the league’s

board of governors voted unanimously to approve Seattle as home to the 32nd franchise, with play to begin in October of 2021. The Arizona Coyotes will move from the Pacific Division to the Central Division that season to provide perfect balance with four divisions of eight teams.

“Seattle, the NHL is thrilled to welcome you,” Bettman said. “The league’s expansion decision was only made possible because Seattle will possess the three pillars essential to the success of any franchise – terrific and committed ownership, a thriving market and a state-of-the-art venue.”

Beverley Parsons, niece of Frank and Lester Patrick - the founders of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, was on hand to mark history. The

PCHA’s Seattle Metropolitans toppled the Montreal Canadiens in 1917 as Stanley Cup champions.

Parsons wore an old Metropolitans scarf to the announcement, but Seattle hopes to put a name to the team next spring.

“I’ve wanted it for years and years and years and always dreamed about it, and it didn’t seem like we would ever [get a team],” said Parsons, a Seattle resident.

The truth is the NHL has wanted to be in the Emerald City for years and years, too.

Tuesday realized the NHL’s long-held fascination with Seattle, a city better known for the Space Needle and Starbucks, which has been without a major professional winter sports team since the NBA’s

SuperSonics bolted to Oklahoma City in 2008.

Movers and shakers from Seattle first pitched Bettman on the idea in

2007, along with representatives from Winnipeg, Las Vegas, Houston and Kansas City. The NHL sifted through various potential ownership

groups and waited out three failed arena projects to find what they believe is the best fit in the United States’ 15th-largest market. They will

break ground on an $800 million gut-job renovation of Key Arena on Wednesday.

“This has been a real journey that’s had challenges and it’s not been for the faint of heart,” Seattle Hockey CEO Tod Leiweke said. “I’m holding in a lot of emotions. Today, I think about the fans. I woke up today thinking about the fans. What did they feel on March 1st when they put down deposits without knowing anything? Today is a great day for the fans and we owe them so much. That’s why today happened.”

Those fans are ready to explode and a rivalry is already brewing. Located just 110 miles south of the Canadian border, Seattle is a ready-made rival for the Vancouver Canucks.

The Canucks and owner Francesco Aquilini were very supportive of

Seattle’s bid from the start. The team issued a statement welcoming Seattle to the league, saying “today is an exciting day for the NHL and

especially hockey fans in the Pacific Northwest.”

“I don’t want to stoke the flames here, because those guys are my

friends, but bring it on,” Leiweke said. “We can’t wait. It’s going to be an intense rivalry and it might be the one night I walk into the locker room

and say to the boys, ‘Give it a little more tonight.’”

Leiweke will be the face of Seattle’s ownership group as the former CEO of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks. Billionaire David Bonderman, 76, brings the financial backing, along with Hollywood producers Jerry Bruckheimer, vice chair David Wright, and a host of minor local partners. They will be responsible for wiring the initial payment toward a record $650 million expansion fee later this week.

Hockey operations decisions are expected to be made by longtime NHL coach Dave Tippett, who hosted the watch party back in Seattle on Tuesday. Off the ice, Bruckheimer is part of the creative genius tasked

with following the Vegas Golden Knights and their famous on-ice pregame productions. He is expected to be heavily involved in the team

naming process.

“Every name has a chance right now,” said Bruckheimer, the man behind

the Pirates of the Caribbean and CSI franchises.

Popular candidates for the team name include Steelheads, Kraken,

Totems, Metropolitans and Pilots.

“We want a name that will stand the rest of time, not only in Seattle, but

has the chance to grow as a global brand,” Leiweke said. “We’re going to take our time, we’re going to listen to our fans and we’re going to do it right.”

A giant red flag that said “NHL 2020” flew over the Space Needle in March, on the day 32,000 fans plunked down money on season-ticket seat deposits for an arena with a 17,300 capacity.

Clearly, Seattle envisioned an earlier entrance to the league to convert this momentum to cash, but a new timeline for the Key Arena renovation

CAROLINA HURRICANES


completion was pushing Dec. 2020. That was too late for the NHL to feel comfortable guaranteeing a 2020 arrival, a delay that also makes a potential work stoppage a non-issue.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said a work stoppage was not the primary concern: “If we had adequate assurances that the building would be done on time and the team could be launched correctly, I think we would have gone forward with 2020.”

Instead, as Leiweke said, a 2021 start date will allow Seattle to “do it right,” hold the expansion draft in the building in June 2021 and then be ready to roll for opening night.

That will be a moment more than five years in the making, a night Leiweke is already thinking about.

“It’s going to be an incredible night, but there’s a lot of work to get to that point,” Leiweke said. “Today is a day of hope, promise, and we’ve got a

lot of hard work in front of us.”


1119435 Websites

TSN.CA / A look at the NHL's expansion history

Staff Report

With the announcement that the NHL will add Seattle as its 32nd team for the 2021-22 season, it's worth taking a look back at the league's expansion history.

The NHL first expanded in 1967 with the addition of the Oakland Seals, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings and Minnesota North Stars. The Seals later became the Cleveland Barons before merging with the North Stars to become the modern-day Dallas Stars in 1993-94.

In the years after the original expansion, five Canadian teams were added, but two would eventually move to American markets. The Vancouver Canucks were the first to join in 1970-71. The Atlanta Flames

moved to Calgary in 1980-81. The Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets and Quebec Nordiques arrived in 1979 from the WHA. The Nordiques

became the Colorado Avalanche in 1995, while the first incarnation of the Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996 and are now known as the Arizona

Coyotes. The Ottawa Senators joined in 1992-93.

Of the 25 post-1967 expansion teams to join the league (excluding

Seattle and recently inaugurated Vegas), 16 of those teams are in their original cities. Atlanta had the Flames before they left for Calgary but

would later add the Thrashers. The Thrashers were unsuccessful in Atlanta, which led to Winnipeg getting the second version of the Jets in 2011-12.

On the ice, 13 of these teams, including any current editions, have won the Stanley Cup. Vegas was a success right off the bat as they were the third team in NHL history to go to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural year.


1119436 Websites

USA TODAY / Seattle will become NHL's 32nd team. Here's what you should know about expansion franchise

Kevin Allen, USA TODAY

Published 11:55 a.m. ET Dec. 4, 2018 | Updated 6:08 p.m. ET Dec. 4,

2018

Seattle has been unanimously approved by the NHL’s Board of Governors in Sea Island, Georgia, to start the 2021-22 season as the

league’s 32nd team.

More than 30,000 fans have already paid a deposit on season tickets. The franchise will play games at a a redeveloped KeyArena, which will cost $700 million.

The expansion fee cost of the franchise is $650 million, $150 million more than the Vegas Golden Knights paid to join the NHL last season.

“Today is an exciting and historic day for our League as we expand to one of North America’s most innovative, beautiful and fastest-growing cities,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement.

“We are delighted to add David Bonderman, Tod Leiweke and the entire

NHL Seattle group to the National Hockey League family. And we are thrilled that Seattle, a city with a proud hockey history that includes being

the home for the first American team ever to win the Stanley Cup, is finally joining the NHL.”

Here are five things you need to know about the new Seattle entry:

The nickname

Unsettled. Detroithockey.net reported earlier this year that a lawyer representing Oak View Group, the expansion applicant, registered 38

different domains involving these names:

Seattle Cougars, Seattle Eagles, Seattle Emeralds, Seattle Evergreens, Seattle Firebirds, Seattle Kraken, Seattle Rainiers, Seattle Renegades, Seattle Sea Lions, Seattle Seals, Seattle Sockeyes, Seattle Totems and Seattle Whalers.

Each of those names had received support on social media when tickets were being sold.

The general manager

Former Arizona Coyotes coach Dave Tippett has been advising the ownership group, but it doesn’t appear he will be the GM.

If the Seattle team follows the Golden Knights' successful script, which included a trip to the Stanley Cup Final, they will hire a veteran general

manager similar to George McPhee. That opens the door for Dean Lombardi, Ron Hextall, Ron Francis, Don Maloney and Garth Snow,

among others.

If Seattle wants a fresh face, Columbus Blue Jackets assistant general

manager Bill Zito, who recently interviewed with the Philadelphia Flyers, could be a choice. Golden Knights assistant GM Kelly McCrimmon could also get a look. The Carolina Hurricanes considered Zito, Los Angeles Kings assistant GM Mike Futa and Detroit assistant GM Ryan Martin last summer. Pittsburgh Penguins assistant GM Bill Guerin was interviewed in Buffalo when Jason Botterill was hired. Chris Pronger is an adviser with the Florida Panthers and has become a hot name. Former NHL goalie Sean Burke is also mentioned as a future NHL executive.

Realignment

Seattle will slot into the Pacific Division and the Coyotes will move into

the Central. Although having Arizona away from Vegas and the California teams isn’t ideal, the solution causes the least amount of hardship. Each

conference will have 16 teams and each division will have eight teams.

CAROLINA HURRICANES


Player distribution

The NHL is going to follow the same expansion draft rules that allowed the Golden Knights to put together a contending team.

Seattle will be able to select one player from every team except Vegas. The 30 teams can protect either seven forwards, three defensemen and a goalie or eight skaters total and one goalie.

It’s impossible to know what protected lists will look like when Seattle drafts in the summer of 2021.

But having gone through an expansion draft in 2017, general managers

will probably be better prepared than they were then. It will remain difficult to hide quality players.

McPhee’s success was aided by general managers' decisions to give up draft picks and prospects to save specific players. Some GMs have said privately they would be more inclined this time to lose one desirable player rather than give up multiple assets to save one.

Why Seattle is desirable

According to Station Index, Seattle is the USA’s 14th largest TV market, and it’s the largest city without a winter sport. The NHL will not be competing against the NBA for attention.

The Seattle TV market is larger than markets in Minnesota, Colorado, St. Louis, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Carolina, Vegas and Buffalo.

Seattle and Vancouver should be natural rivals. They are only 2 1/2 hours apart by car. Seattle has plenty of hockey history. The Seattle

Metropolitans won the Stanley Cup in 1917 and were in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1919 when the championship series was canceled because of a

flu outbreak.

USA TODAY LOADED: 12.05.2018

carolina hurricanesdownloads.hurricanes.nhl.com/clips/clips120518.pdf · everyone’s minds is the...

Documents