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50 Articles

HAPPILY DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

THE MORNING OF THE gold-medal game at the 2022 World Junior Championship in Edmonton this past summer, I woke up and stared out my hotel window to see what kind of day it was going to be. As I gazed down at the city’s downtown core, I was perplexed, to say the least: many of the pedestrians seemed to be dressed like characters from Alice in Wonderland. At the mall a few hours later, lunch was served amid a steady throng of Mad Hatters and March Hares tucking into A&W burgers and wonderful food-court Chinese food. I had a feeling, I joked, that these folks were not in the neighborhood for hockey. And there were definitely more people cosplaying than there were at the bronze-medal game later that day. The fact is,…

HAPPILY DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

HOCKEY CANADA CHAIR VOLUNTEER

EACH YEAR, MORE THAN 100,000 people from around the world volunteer their time to their local hockey organization. They volunteer because they love the game and understand how important these leagues are to the community that they live in and to the development of youth into functioning adults in society. Hockey is often the very first way children understand the importance of being a productive member of a group and to work with others for a common goal. I’m a product of this very system of parents volunteering their time from the age of six. They were my coaches, timekeepers, on-ice and off-ice officials and even those people who came with shovels to clear the ice of snow before and during games. Yes, that’s right, shovels, as I only played in…

HOCKEY CANADA CHAIR VOLUNTEER

FREE TO EXPLORE

IN LOOKING AHEAD TO the 2023 NHL free-agent class, it’s important to get this one out of the way: David Pastrnak isn’t going anywhere. The Boston Bruins and the 26-year-old pending unrestricted free agent have spent the early season passing proposed contract terms back and forth like love notes, and there is little reason to doubt how this all ends. Boston is a competitive franchise with roughly $25 million coming off the books next summer. Given that financial flexibility – and projections of a significant rise in the salary cap – Pastrnak will get some semblance of what he wants. And Boston will keep its top talent in town. There is, however, far less certainty about another prime-aged pending UFA. Though the Detroit Red Wings slapped the ‘C’ on Dylan Larkin in…

FREE TO EXPLORE

BEHIND THE MASK

Alex Stalock & Petr Mrazek > Chicago Blackhawks THANKS TO OJIBWAY ARTIST Patrick Hunter and Potawatomi artist Nicole BanditGrey, Blackhawks netminders Alex Stalock and Petr Mrazek were able to take the crease in style throughout November’s Native American Heritage Month. Mrazek’s helmet, designed by BanditGrey, pays homage to Potawatomi culture through patterns that represent traditional beading and quillwork, one of the first art forms of the Potawatomi. Meanwhile, Stalock and Hunter worked together on a minimalist mask that honors Ojibway art and Stalock’s love of hunting and fishing – symbolized by arrows and antlers adorning the crown of the helmet.…

BEHIND THE MASK

Saskatoon Blades > 2022-23 WHERE DOES THE TIME go, eh? Throwback jerseys used to be from the 1970s and ’80s – or older – but the 1990s are now officially a long time ago. And the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades have gone strong with these retro jerseys featuring a look that the team wore from 1994 to 1999. The ‘City of Bridges’ is well represented here, while the steel-grey skateblade ‘L’ really pops thanks to the surrounding colors and the blue bridge underneath. These days, the Blades wear gold and blue, but this throwback brings red into the equation as well. Saskatoon was scheduled to play in these beauties five times this season, once per month.…

THIRTY YEARS AGO, ERIC Lindros was the most anticipated rookie entering the NHL. Naturally, card companies wanted to include ‘The Big E’ in their 1992-93 sets that fall. But Score had a deal with Lindros that allowed them to work exclusively with him until he played in his first NHL game. This caused problems for competing companies, who usually produced cards in the summer for release around the start of the season. Score used pictures of Lindros in his new Flyers uniform from a photoshoot they arranged, but other companies had to get creative. For example, Upper Deck performed a “head swap,” putting Lindros’ noggin and jersey number on a teammate’s body. Meanwhile, Topps used a photo of Lindros from a summer press conference. The card was secretly included in…

7 FUN FACTS ABOUT BLADES OF STEEL

1. IT WAS ORIGINALLY AN ARCADE GAME Best known for its home version on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Blades of Steel was originally a coin-operated arcade game released in 1987 – and it wasn’t cheap to play. One quarter bought you a minute of playing time, but you would earn 30 seconds of additional play time for scoring a goal – and lose 10 seconds for letting a goal in. Arcade owners could modify the period lengths from four minutes up to 20 minutes, meaning that it might cost as much $15 to finish a game. The arcade version of Blades used a trackball to control your skater and had a large red “Fight” button used to pick fights and throw punches. 2. THE HOME VERSION FIRST CAME OUT IN JAPAN…AND…

7 FUN FACTS ABOUT BLADES OF STEEL

IT IS DIFFICULT, WHEN one dies, to find people who have a bad word to say about the person who has passed on. The only thing is, it was almost impossible to find anyone who had anything but wonderful things to say about Borje Salming during the 71 years he spent on Earth, 17 of which were spent forging a Hall of Fame career in the NHL. Former Toronto Maple Leafs teammate Jim McKenny did, however, manage to point out a major flaw in the man teammates called ‘King.’ “He was late for f---ing everything,” McKenny said. “The only reason I was around for the last three years is I was punctual and got Borje to practice on time. The only time he was ever early for anything was at SickKids…

RETRO’S BACK IN STYLE

THE NHL AND ADIDAS unveiled the second edition of the Reverse Retro jerseys earlier this year, and during a slow news time for hockey, it provided both fans and media with plenty of fodder for discussion. Teams that had whiffed the first time got a second chance at glory, while a lack of options or an absence of creativity hemmed others in. Overall, some definite winners emerged from the crop. And the fun of seeing teams play each other in these jerseys was apparent as soon as they took to the ice. One aspect many of us should have thought of the first time around was how the pants and socks would elevate some of the jerseys. For instance, the Wild looked even better once they hit the ice – and…

RETRO’S BACK IN STYLE

THE FUTURE IS FAN FLUID

ANGELA RUGGIERO’S hockey career was filled with accolades. But that doesn’t mean she was always greeted by stands filled with fans who came to see her compete. The gap in media coverage – and fan recognition – between men’s and women’s hockey has existed since the dawn of the women’s game. Ruggiero, a 2015 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, won four Olympic medals – including gold at the inaugural women’s tourney in Nagano in 1998. She’s also a four-time world champion for Team USA. It was only at these major events that fans would flock to watch women’s hockey. After decades of work in the game, Ruggiero aims to make that treatment of women’s hockey a thing of the past. She and her company, Sports Innovation Lab, are looking to find hockey’s…

THE FUTURE IS FAN FLUID

SCORE TO SETTLE

WHEN THE DALLAS Stars showed up in Chicago for the 2017 NHL draft, they had no idea they’d be collecting a haul of franchise players – the kind of haul that GMs and head scouts dine out on for years. And after they’re finished dining out, they lean back in their chairs, pop a toothpick in their mouths and tell everybody the story of how it all came about. Sure, after winning the draft lottery and moving up to the No. 3 pick, the Stars were pretty confident they’d be getting a stud. That is exactly what they got when they selected defenseman Miro Heiskanen. And they certainly wouldn’t have given the Chicago Blackhawks a third-round pick to swap choices with them later in the first round and move up three…

IT’S A MORNING skate on a Saturday in Toronto, a venue that scientific researchers recently discovered is the most wonderful place to be in the hockey world. (Tied with Montreal.) But there’s a strange vibe in the Boston Bruins’ dressing room on this day. On one hand, the club is riding a seven-game winning streak, and the Bruins have established themselves as one of the best teams in the NHL, which should have everybody feeling pretty good about themselves. On the other, it’s the day after the team announced it had signed pariah-prospect Mitchell Miller to an entry-level contract, and, through absolutely no fault of their own, the Bruins players know they have some ’splaining to do. Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron is strategically located in the corner of the dressing room…

ANYONE EVEN marginally familiar with the world of home renovation – and in this we must include the sad souls who’ve been hoodwinked into wasting an otherwise pleasant and sunny Saturday perusing every last aisle at a Home Depot or Lowe’s – understands just how singularly daunting the beautification stage of any home makeover can be. Take the matter of wall coverings. The sage among us, of course, skip this home-couture hullabaloo by way of the tried-and-tested paint-and-brush method. Slap on a coat of 2-in-1 paint-and-primer and call it day. But the true DIY sickos understand there are myriad avenues down which the design-minded can travel. There are papers and panels and tiles and bricks and, as anyone with cable television and a terminal case of HGTV Brain can surely tell…

HEISE STANDARDS

THE JUNE 2021 exit meeting will forever remain in Taylor Heise’s memory. Heise had just finished her first United States senior women’s selection camp in Blaine, Minn. A three-time gold medallist and captain at the U-18 level, Heise seemed a logical candidate to make the jump to the senior team. Besides, she’d never been cut from a USA Hockey team since she received her first invite at 15. Yet something hadn’t clicked the way it usually does for the confident center. She went in with a bit of nervousness and wondered if she could do it. When she called home to give her parents daily updates, she would tell them as much. But now she sat with coach Joel Johnson and GM Katie Million, learning she would not even make the cut for…

WORLD JUNIORS PREVIEW 2023

WE HAD THE BUBBLE world juniors, the cancelled world juniors and the summer world juniors – all in Edmonton, as it turned out. Now, we’re back to the real real world juniors, hosted on the other side of Canada in Halifax and Moncton. The East Coast has always been a welcoming place, but the visiting teams will have to be on their toes in the Canadian Maritimes because, after a pandemic-related hiatus, relegation has returned to the top tier of the World Junior Championship tournament. If we learned anything from the summer tourney, it is that Russia’s exclusion from international play has opened the door for more parity, with Czechia making a run in Edmonton and higher expectations coming for Slovakia in 2023. On the flip side, it’s going to be up…

WORLD JUNIORS PREVIEW 2023

CENTERS OF ATTENTION

THN’S ODDS FOR GOLD | 2-1 TEAM CANADA WON GOLD on home ice in Edmonton this past summer, punctuated by Mason McTavish’s stunning goal-line bat-down save in overtime to keep Finland from snatching the title. Expectations will be as high as ever in Halifax and Moncton, especially if the Canadians get their full cohort of prospects from NHL teams. As usual, the strength of Canada’s squad comes down the middle, where the team will once again be blessed with an elite group of centers – so many, in fact, that some will have to slide to the wing (a much better problem than the inverse). Of course, the specific center of attention will be Connor Bedard. The Regina Pats superstar is the 2023 NHL draft’s top prospect. Not only has Bedard been…

CENTERS OF ATTENTION

WHAT THEY DON’T TELL you about those dryland-training tiles is all the noise that can be made when you actually use the things. Sure, you can browse the available brands and read all the selling points. This one trumpets its easy assembly, while this one brags about how it handles uneven surfaces. This one has a better price point, but this one comes in blue! And then there’s the whole matter of verisimilitude. That’s fairly big when the whole idea behind the darn things is trying to replicate that on-ice feel in the comfort of your home. No kidding, if you’re not careful, you can get so mired in the details you’ll need ice – the real, frozen-water kind – to soothe the brain-splitting headache incurred from researching something called “a…

BOOM OR BUST? BE PREPARED

THN’S ODDS FOR GOLD | 4-1 WHILE THE AMERICANS CONTINUE to churn out top-flight NHL prospects, the World Junior Championship has been a bit of a rollercoaster for Team USA in the past few years. Quarterfinal losses in 2020 (to Finland) and 2022 (to Czechia) sandwiched a gold-medal performance in 2021, so Team USA will have to be on point when they reach the knockout stage. This will also be a relatively inexperienced squad, with just seven skaters and two goalies eligible to return – and not all of them are guaranteed to make the roster. Team USA gets a change behind the bench as well, with veteran Quinnipiac University coach Rand Pecknold taking over for Providence College’s Nate Leaman. Up front, the U.S. will return two of its most important centers…

LUKE HUGHES DID NOT get to see his brothers, Jack and Quinn, earn their silver medals with Team USA at the 2019 World Junior Championship. The then-15-year-old was busy with a tournament of his own in Toronto, with his Little Caesars team. Six months later, the youngest of the three smooth-skating siblings did travel to Vancouver with his family. And while Jack made the media rounds ahead of his No. 1 overall selection by the New Jersey Devils at the 2019 NHL draft, the middle Hughes brother didn’t hesitate to talk up the potential of his youngest kin. “He’s gonna be a hell of a player,” Jack said. “He’s big, can skate, can think. He’s pretty much a clone of Quinn.” Jack also revealed that Luke had led a pack of family…

THN’S ODDS FOR GOLD | 3-1 HAVING PLAYED AT THE world juniors in August, it’s hard for Joakim Kemell to even see where last season ended and this one began. But regardless of how the tournament is allocated, it provided Kemell with a good opportunity to bounce back from a Liiga season that was interrupted by a shoulder injury. He scored 12 goals in his first 16 games in Finland’s Liiga in 2021-22 before being sidelined for a month, but then didn’t find twine again until March. Still, his eventual total of 15 goals earned him rookie-of-the-year honors. Even though Kemell had a long goal drought in the Liiga, he proved at the under-18 worlds – and again at the world juniors – that he ranks at the top of his age group.…

FINLAND: SCOUTING REPORT

AT THIS POINT, WE have to slot Finland in as a gold-medal contender no matter what the roster looks like on paper. The program has been that consistent lately. Up front, there’s a lot of size – with the likes of Jani Nyman (SEA), Miko Matikka (ARI) and Niko Huuhtanen (TB) – but the focal point of the offense will be Joakim Kemell (NSH), who has regained his goal-scoring touch with JYP. If there’s a concern, it’s that the Finns don’t have an obvious No. 1 center, with most of the talent confined to the wings. The D-corps has the requisite puck-movers, led by Aleksi Heimosalmi (CAR), who was a point-per-gamer with the silver-medal squad in Edmonton. He’s the only blueliner eligible to return, opening up space for new blood…

JONATHAN LEKKERIMAKI

THN’S ODDS FOR GOLD | 5-1 THE START OF THE season didn’t turn out like Jonathan Lekkerimaki hoped it would. The Vancouver Canucks’ 2022 first-round pick (15th overall) struggled to find offensive production, potting just a goal and five points in his first 18 games, and he hasn’t been playing as much as he was hoping for with Djurgarden in the Allsvenskan, Sweden’s second-tier pro league. But the sniper isn’t worried about the current dry spell. “It hasn’t exactly gone as I imagined, but I’ve gotten into it more and more,” he said. “It’s mostly the goals that have been missing.” After contracting mono at the end of last season, Lekkerimaki had a hill to climb when the new season began – a season that kicked off with the 2022 WJC in August.…

JONATHAN LEKKERIMAKI

SWEDEN: SCOUTING REPORT

SCORING WAS AN ISSUE for Sweden in Edmonton, but they still took bronze thanks to goalie Jesper Wallstedt and D-man Emil Andrae. They’ve both aged out, so the Swedes need others to step up. The most obvious candidates up front are Fabian Lysell (BOS), Isak Rosen (BUF), Filip Bystedt (SJ), plus the Djurgarden trio of Jonathan Lekkerimaki (VAN), Noah Ostlund (BUF) and Liam Ohgren (MIN) – who can play on the same line, providing instant chemistry. The most exciting addition, however, would be 2023 draft star Leo Carlsson, who’s ripping it up in the SHL with Orebro. The big man – both figuratively and literally – eligible to return on the back end is Simon Edvinsson (DET), who’s playing for Grand Rapids in the AHL. He’ll have support from fellow…

SWEDEN: SCOUTING REPORT

JAROSLAV CHMELAR

THN’S ODDS FOR GOLD | 10-1 IT’S ONLY POLITE TO ask Jaroslav Chmelar how things are going. After all, the Czech winger is only months removed from making a major life decision. At 19, the New York Rangers prospect, drafted 144th overall in 2021, packed his bags and jetted across the pond. In doing so, he said goodbye to life in Finland’s Liiga in order to suit up with NCAA Providence College. So, how are things going stateside? Is he getting out and exploring his new surroundings? “I’m mostly on campus, but the boys are showing me around a bit,” he said. “I got lost in the mall once…” He says that without a hint of sheepishness. Matter of fact, he’s cracking up as he says it. Hard not to, really. But what…

JAROSLAV CHMELAR

CZECHIA: SCOUTING REPORT

YOU WON’T SEE MANY butterflies with the Czechs this year. They can return an incredible 19 players from the summer Edmonton tourney, including stars such as undrafted goalie Tomas Suchanek, No. 1 D-man David Jiricek (CLB) and clutch center Jiri Kulich (BUF). Amazingly, Czechia could return its entire D-corps from last time, and, in addition to Jiricek, there’s some solid talent there. Tomas Hamara (OTT) has been getting used to the North American game with OHL Kitchener, while David Spacek (MIN) has been excellent with Sherbrooke in the QMJHL. Stanislav Svozil (CLB) can provide intel on WHL Regina teammate Connor Bedard, while also bringing international experience. Up front, the Czechs will be big – and not very fun to play against – thanks to Jaroslav Chmelar (NYR), Jakub Kos (FLA)…

THN’S ODDS FOR GOLD | 20-1 SKATING FOR THE Slovakian League’s HK Poprad over the past two years was a thrill for Filip Mesar after having come up through the club’s junior ranks. And it was a valuable experience. He found out what it meant to play pro hockey. He came to understand the pressures to perform game in and game out, and he learned the challenges associated with squaring off against men sometimes more than a decade his senior. But Mesar is also an 18-year-old kid, still a teenager, which gives a certain charm to the Kitchener Rangers right winger’s take on one notable difference between the men’s game and life in the OHL. “When I came here, junior hockey, I can see it in the practices and sometimes in the…

SLOVAKIA: SCOUTING REPORT

MUCH LIKE ITS NEIGHBORS from Czechia, Slovakia can return the vast majority of its 2022 WJC roster – as many as 16 players, in fact. And that doesn’t even include stars Filip Mesar (MTL) or Simon Nemec (NJ), both of whom skipped the tourney to prepare for their upcoming seasons in North America. Mesar brings scoring punch to a forward group that will also have weapons in Servac Petrovsky (MIN), Jakub Demek (VEG) and 2023 draft prospect Dalibor Dvorsky. Having Nemec running the power play and transition game from the point will also help the offense. Speaking of the blueline, Nemec will be aided by an experienced crew that can return five D-men from Edmonton, including 2023 draft prospect Maxim Strbak. In net, both goalies who played in Edmonton have…

SLOVAKIA: SCOUTING REPORT

Switzerland: Scouting Report

SWITZERLAND’S GREATEST win of the 2023 world juniors may have actually come a month before the tournament even began. That was when the national squad mended fences with star defenseman Lian Bichsel (DAL), paving the way for the NHL first-rounder to play for the team in the Maritimes after he didn’t suit up in Edmonton. Due to his packed schedule, Bichsel had hoped to join the Swiss after camp in the summer, but team officials wanted him there for the whole process. That impasse led to him missing the WJC and saw the Swiss lose all but one game in Edmonton (they beat Austria). With this year’s edition, 15 players are eligible to return from the 2022 crew. But from that cohort, only defenseman Brian Zanetti (PHI) has been drafted by…

Switzerland: Scouting Report

Germany: Scouting Report

THE BEST THING THAT can be said about Germany’s schedule is that, after starting the tourney with back-to-back nightmare opponents in Sweden and Canada, the team gets a day off before its crucial round-robin match with Austria. With Czechia also looming in the round-robin, Germany will need that win against its Alpine neighbors to make the playoff bracket. Can they make any noise otherwise? Expectations should be muted. Germany loses its two most important defenders from Edmonton – Luca Munzenberger and Maksymilian Szuber, both too old now – but the team should be a little better offensively than last time, so perhaps things balance out in that regard. Still, only three defenders are eligible to return from the summer, so experience is going to be lacking. In terms of forwards, there is…

Germany: Scouting Report

Austria: Scouting Report

THE SUSPENSION OF RELEGATION at the last world juniors likely saved Austria’s seat at the top table – as the 2022 edition of the squad got blasted in Edmonton. The Austrians scored just four goals in four games, while yielding 20 and getting shut out by both Sweden (6-0) and Team USA (7-0). A lack of puck possession was the biggest problem, and that will certainly be the situation again, especially since star center Marco Kasper (DET) won’t participate in the tournament, staying with his SHL club team Rogle instead. Without Kasper, the Austrians don’t have a game-breaker, and they would surely miss his competitive two-way game. Center Ian Scherzer, a 2023 draft prospect, could make a name for himself, though a leg injury threatened his participation as well. Another option…

Austria: Scouting Report

Latvia: Scouting Report

THE LATVIANS HAVE ALWAYS been long on compete level and short on skill, but perhaps we’ll see a bit more of the latter in the Maritimes. The offensive attack will be led by Dans Locmelis (BOS), a UMass commit who has been the leading scorer for Lulea’s junior team in Sweden this season. He’s one of three drafted forwards eligible to return from the summer squad that played in Edmonton. Klavs Veinbergs (TB) is a Minnesota State commit currently playing for USHL Lincoln, where the big, hardworking left winger is putting up decent offensive numbers. Meanwhile, fellow left winger Sandis Vilmanis (FLA) is contributing with OHL Sarnia, where he’s known for his great release. The blueline loses previous leading scorer Ralfs Bergmanis (who has aged out of the event), but there…

Latvia: Scouting Report

PRESSURE COOKER

ALL RIGHT, BEFORE WE get ahead of ourselves and start envisioning a Stanley Cup parade down rue Sainte-Catherine – for anyone over the age of 40, a.k.a. “the usual route” – perhaps a little perspective is in order. After all, it was just a November contest between two teams that have overachieved this season and, in all likelihood, will not make the playoffs. Then again, ya never know about that. But if you were at all curious about what the renaissance of the Montreal Canadiens looks like, a Saturday night game between the Habs and the Philadelphia Flyers would have done the trick. And if you wanted to get better acquainted with what the stubbled-face of the franchise is capable of doing, it was must-see viewing. Because Nick Suzuki’s fingerprints were…

PRESSURE COOKER

SILENT SHARPSHOOTER

IF NHL 23 COVER STAR TREVOR Zegras is all swagger and bravado, Troy Terry is the yin to his yang in the Anaheim Ducks’ offense. Think of Terry, the 25-year-old right winger and shootout ace, as more of a quiet assassin. Terry’s stealth attack delivered a team-leading 37 goals and 67 points for the Ducks last season. It’s a fitting approach for the native of Highlands Ranch, Colo., who was drawn to hockey by the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche teams of his childhood. As a seven-year-old, Terry was even coached by then-Avs captain Joe Sakic during the 2004-05 lockout season. “He’s the reason I wear No. 19,” Terry said. “He’s someone I try to emulate off the ice, just how soft-spoken and humble and down to earth he was.” The humble approach has…

SILENT SHARPSHOOTER

PACIFIC DIVISION

The rebuilding Ducks picked a good year to load up on draft picks, and it makes sense they’ll be in the giving spirit beyond the holiday season. Anaheim has a quartet of pending UFA defensemen who can bolster the bluelines of Cup contenders. John Klingberg, Dmitry Kulikov, Kevin Shattenkirk and Nathan Beaulieu could be on the move in the coming months for even more draft picks. The Ducks already have six picks in the first three rounds of a deep 2023 class. They could have eight or nine by the trade deadline. After an off-season of roster upheaval and the loss of stars Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary is looking for some peace and serenity that can carry through all of 2023. GM Brad Treliving has earned that right with…

GO TIME FOR SHOWTIME

PATRICK KANE HAS BEEN an elite playmaker since he made his NHL debut in 2007. His craftiness often hinges on his preternatural ability to hold the puck – seemingly too long at times – and draw defenders in close, then calmly dish to an open man or dazzle at the last second with lightning-fast stickhandling. The Chicago Blackhawks right winger is taking the same relaxed approach to his potential next big move off the ice. Kane and Jonathan Toews are the lone remaining marquee names on a franchise that won Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013 and 2015. Both stars are in the final season of twin eight-year, $84-million contracts. With the Blackhawks firmly in rebuild mode, GM Kyle Davidson could send Kane or Toews to a contending team before the trade deadline in…

GO TIME FOR SHOWTIME

CENTRAL DIVISION

Setting aside any ethical arguments against tanking, Arizona needs nothing more than the winning draft lottery ball. Not once while residing in the desert has the club drafted higher than third overall. In a talent-rich draft – which features an apparent superstar-in-the-making in Connor Bedard as the prospective No. 1 – a lottery victory could jumpstart the moribund franchise. “Franchise savior” isn’t an enviable position for any player, but no team needs a player to fit that bill as desperately as the Coyotes do. If the Blackhawks close the book on the Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews era, they should ask for a bidding war for the services of the three-time Cup champs. Experience, especially championship-winning experience, comes at a premium when the trade deadline rolls around, and Chicago’s best bet…

THE BEST OF BRATT

IF YOU REFERENCE THE popular capfriendly.com – and really, who doesn’t? – you’ll notice the letters ‘RFA’ accompanied by a gavel beside Jesper Bratt’s name under the 2023-24 season. That means Bratt is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, not that he’s going to clobber the New Jersey Devils in his next contract negotiation. Then again, after the way he’s played over the past 15 months… In many ways, Bratt embodies the current iteration of the Devils. He’s young, fast and skilled. And he’s going to get very rich because, at the age of 24, Bratt is using all those attributes, and he’s going to the areas of the ice where he’s bound to create offense. After an enormous breakout season in 2021-22, Bratt is beginning to look a lot…

THE BEST OF BRATT

The Hurricanes needed Martin Necas to step up after the young right winger took a step back last season, and he has come through. The Czech national was Carolina’s leading scorer early on, contributing at both 5-on-5 and the power play while averaging nearly 20 minutes of ice time per game. It might be a bit excessive to order him a tasty trdelnik spit cake from back home – but perhaps a suitable replacement can be found in Raleigh (as long as all that doughy goodness doesn’t slow him down on the ice). It’s probably too late already, but the Blue Jackets could use all the tensor bandages they can get their hands on right now. Star defenseman Zach Werenski is out for the year, sniper Patrik Laine missed a good…

BRAN-DON OF A NEW DAY

THE FLORIDA PANTHERS have been unfortunate in losing elite defenseman Aaron Ekblad to injury for three straight seasons. But the loss has revealed the quality of the Cats’ blueline depth. During Ekblad’s past absences, former Panther MacKenzie Weegar surfaced as a Norris Trophy dark horse, and Gustav Forsling developed into a waiver-wire steal. This season, it has been Brandon Montour’s turn to shine. Coming off a season in which he posted career-highs in goals (11) and points (37), Montour’s breakout is well-timed. After Ekblad tweaked his groin in the Panthers’ third game this season, the 28-year-old Montour seamlessly stepped into the role of Florida’s top defenseman. “I believe in my strengths and appreciate the coaches believing in me,” Montour said. “Any time I am out there, I try to create chances for…

BRAN-DON OF A NEW DAY

ATLANTIC DIVISION

Every Dec. 24, families in Czechia gather for a dinner of carp and potato salad, and rather than receiving a visit from Santa, Jezisek (or the baby Jesus) surreptitiously places gifts under the tree. With six players from Czechia on Boston’s roster – David Pastrnak, David Krejci, Pavel Zacha, Tomas Nosek, Jakub Lauko and Jakub Zboril – perhaps a trans-Atlantic visit from Jezisek is in order. And if Jezisek could bring with him an eight-year extension worth about $84 million for Pastrnak, well, that would be pretty great, too. As The Christmas Song tells us, Yuletide is the time of the year for “kids from one to 92.” The Sabres have the youngest roster in the NHL, but they also have the oldest player: 41-year-old goalie Craig Anderson. With only two…

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

IN VIRTUALLY ANY FIELD, life after college can be rife with challenges. Where to live? Who to work for? Will the skills acquired in college transfer successfully to the real world? Power forward Elizabeth Giguere is currently navigating that transition in the world of professional hockey. “It’s been a lot of changes in my life, but good changes,” she said. The 25-year-old native of Quebec City has moved to Boston to make her pro debut as a right winger for the PHF’s Boston Pride, and she is also suiting up for the Canadian women’s national team for the first time. Giguere’s standout college career included four seasons at Clarkson University. As a freshman, she put up 71 points in 41 games, including the OT-winner in the 2018 national-championship game. In her sophomore year,…

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME

WITH THE PWHPA’S 2022-23 Dream Gap Tour and the Rivalry Series between the Canadian and American women’s national teams filling her calendar this fall, the familiar rhythm of the hockey season is starting to click into place for veteran center Blayre Turnbull. “Dealing with the pandemic and so many of our events and games being cancelled, this is definitely starting to feel like the norm again,” said the 29-year-old, who spent four seasons balancing Team Canada commitments with games for the Calgary Inferno before the CWHL folded at the end of 2018-19. “We’re travelling a lot and playing a lot more games compared to what we did the last few years.” One of the first major sporting events to be cancelled as the pandemic took hold was the 2020 World Championship, scheduled…

MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME

NOT READY TO HANG ’EM UP

IT’S FAIR TO WONDER why someone like Cory Schneider – a veteran of 410 NHL games who has earned more than $50 million in his hockey career – is still playing in the AHL at 36 with all the mileage and hardship he’s endured in recent years. But in Schneider’s eyes, he’s making up for lost time. “The last two, two-and-a-half years have been such a loss,” said the Bridgeport Islanders goalie. “I basically lost three years of my career in that sense. I just wanted to find out, I wanted to see if I was still capable. I didn’t want to walk away until I just knew the answer one way or another.” Schneider’s career spiralled following a 2018 hip surgery. Before going under the knife, his career NHL save percentage…

NOT READY TO HANG ’EM UP

YOU’D BE HARD-PRESSED to find a player with a more unconventional route to pro hockey than Cam Bakker. The Indy Fuel defenseman – now a veteran of 126 ECHL games – grew up on a dairy farm 30 minutes south of Ottawa. Bakker, 29, skated in the Eastern Ontario Jr. B League before playing four seasons in the ACHA – otherwise known as “club hockey” – at Liberty University, a private evangelical school in Lynchburg, Va. “Coming from a small town, there wasn’t anything I looked into beyond college,” Bakker said. “I didn’t even know enough about the pro level to commit to trying to do something like that.” After finishing his senior season in 2015, Bakker traded his skates for chaff cutters and started helping out with the family business. For…

MERGER, AT LAST

THE 1977-78 SEASON ended with us, the Hartford Whalers, losing to the Winnipeg Jets in four games. It was some season for us in Hartford, starting with the signing of the Howes, then the roof collapse, followed by a temporary move to Springfield. Meanwhile, in Birmingham, John Bassett had started signing a group of potentially great underage juniors. It was a bold move, one that would undermine the system of player supply the NHL had enjoyed for years. Prior to the WHA, players had no options. In Canada, it was basically predetermined which NHL team a Canadian player would end up with. Bobby Orr, for example, knew before he was a teenager that he would be a Boston Bruin. In the days of the Original Six, NHL teams all had sponsored…

MERGER, AT LAST

THE NHL’S THIRD EXPANSION of the modern era commenced 50 years ago, with the 1972-73 season. The Atlanta Flames and New York Islanders joined the fold to become the circuit’s 15th and 16th teams. That followed the league doubling in size from six to 12 teams beginning in 1967-68, and the addition of the Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks three seasons later. Both Atlanta and New York paid the NHL an expansion fee of $6 million. (The Islanders were also required to pay the New York Rangers a $4-million territorial rights indemnification fee.) In their debut season, the Flames finished seventh of eight teams in the West Division with a record of 25-38-15. The Islanders finished last of eight East Division teams with a woeful 12-60-6 mark. The Flames then qualified…

FROM THE AIR TO THE ICE

BY LARS INGELS IN THE 1930S, THE main ice sport in Sweden was “bandy.” Think field hockey on ice, played with short sticks and a ball. At the time, hockey hadn’t spread much beyond Stockholm. Swedish hockey teams had occasionally faced off against Canadian clubs, including at the Olympics, the worlds and even some exhibition tours, but hockey was almost exclusively contained to the capital city in the southeast of the country. When hockey later made its way into the county of Dalarna in central Sweden by the mid-1930s, traditional bandy players in the small town of Mora were, after some initial hesitation, eventually converted. Even though they had never even seen hockey before, much less played the sport, the smaller ice surface was enticing and seemed much better to play on. From…

FROM THE AIR TO THE ICE

Q&A WITH PAT KELLEHER

IN NOVEMBER, AS PART of his Peer-To-Peer series, W. Graeme Roustan spoke to USA Hockey executive director Pat Kelleher about the link between Christian Hockey and USA Hockey. W. GRAEME ROUSTAN: We’ve known each other for 25-plus years. I want to ask you today about Christian Hockey. As you know, I own Christian Hockey, and the history of Christian Hockey goes back to the original ‘Miracle on Ice,’ which is 1960. What do you think about the 1960s? Do you think much about the 1960 gold medal? PAT KELLEHER: We do for sure. It’s incredible to think that is such a big part of our history. To win that gold medal in 1960…and just the people, like the Christian family, probably primarily, and the Rileys…you just go back, historically, to all the…

Q&A WITH PAT KELLEHER

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Shuts out 4 Current Canuck who captained Canada’s WJC team to gold in 2015 (first name) 9 Decker, whose injury hurt Team USA at the 2022 Olympic Games 10 Given name of North Dakota alum off to ‘Cy Young’ start in Ottawa (pictured) 11 Schuler, who coached the Canadian women at the 2018 Olympics (and played in 1998) 12 Garth ___ piled up 200-plus PIM six times 13 Sid ___ captained and coached the Wings 15 Fight, ___ it out 18 Jarry, who tends net in Pittsburgh 21 NHL vet Yawney, who coached in Chicago 23 If the Stars ___, Dallas could win the Cup 24 He wears No. 77 in Washington 25 The quietest month on the hockey calendar 26 Stops shot after shot, ___ on one’s head DOWN 1 Mishandle a shot, ___ it 2 “Goodbye” in Gatineau (and other ‘Q’ cities) 3 U.S.…

THERE’S NO SEPARATING HOCKEY FROM REALITY

WITH THE WORLD JUNIOR Championship on all our minds right now, it’s hard not to think about the powerhouse team that will not be participating in the tournament. Russia will once again be kept out of international competition, and the hockey team can only look to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as the reason. It’s a shame, really: not only has Russia produced some of hockey’s most exciting talents, but the national team has always been an archrival for many of the other countries: Canada and the U.S. always go back to the Cold War, while bordering Finland fought a literal war against the Soviet Union in 1939-40 when the Finns were invaded. And if you want to know how the Czechs feel about the people who oppressed them during the…

THERE’S NO SEPARATING HOCKEY FROM REALITY

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