SPORT-SCAN DAILY BRIEF NHL 8/13/2021 1219316 Ducks depth chart: Where the projected lineup stands 1219339 Warriors will enforce San Francisco COVID vax mandate; after a quiet offseason Sharks issue their own requirement 1219340 Watch Sharks' draft call with 'no brainer' pick Eklund 1219341 Sharks Aren’t Requiring Fans to Prove Vaccination to 1219317 , Siksika Nation sign historic partnership Attend Home Games — For Now 1219318 ‘It’s a homecoming, and it’s a triumph’: Chris Snow, beating ALS odds, returns to Fenway Seattle Kraken 1219342 The story of the Kraken’s expansion draft: COVID-19 Chicago Blackhawks tests, private jets and a race against time 1219319 As the Blackhawks face allegations and lawsuits, their fans are left to evaluate their loyalty 1219343 Lightning’s travels with the Stanley Cup: Ryan McDonagh, Columbus Blue Jackets Jon Cooper and Wayne Gretzky? 1219320 End of an era: Foligno bids farewell to Blue Jackets, says 1219344 Lightning announce single-game ticket sale dates Columbus is still 'home' 1219345 How the coronavirus pandemic has changed sports forever 1219346 Projecting Lightning roster and salary cap outlook through 1219321 ‘If he shows he belongs, he’ll be there’: Stars’ young talent 2023-24 season will have chances to crack the NHL roster Detroit Red Wings 1219355 Canucks re-sign depth defenceman Guillaume Brisebois 1219322 Dearborn Heights' Jordan Oesterle 'lucky' to come home, 1219356 Joining Canucks ‘too exciting to pass up’ for Langley’s join Red Wings Kyle Burroughs 1219323 Red Wings sign Jakub Vrana to three-year extension 1219357 The Athletic / By the numbers: Grading every NHL team’s contract efficiency, 2021 edition Oilers 1219324 Tyler Benson ready to make jump to Oilers this upcoming Vegas Golden Knights season 1219347 No plans for proof of vaccination for Raiders, Knights 1219325 Lowetide: What are the Oilers’ ‘perfect lines’ for next games season? 1219348 Trouble Ahead? Bookies Projects Golden Knights LAST in NHL Wealth Florida Panthers 1219326 Sam Reinhart says he wants to stay long-term with Florida Washington Capitals Panthers 1219349 Which Metropolitan team improved the most in the 1219327 Florida Panthers single game tickets go on sale Friday offseason? morning Websites 1219358 Sportsnet.ca / The do's and don'ts of skating with NHL 1219328 Expect to see Kirill Kaprizov in Wild green and red next players in summer hockey month 1219359 TSN.CA / Former Blackhawks coach gives investigators account of player abuse allegations 1219360 TSN.CA / Can the Oilers' offence deliver a legitimate 1219329 Robin Lehner sympathizes with Jack Eichel amid Sabres contender? mess 1219361 TSN.CA / 'Other' Americans to watch at the women’s worlds in Calgary 1219362 TSN.CA / Team Canada player profile: Sarah Fillier 1219330 proud of Rangers’ ‘resiliency’ last season 1219363 USA TODAY / Calgary Flames assistant GM Chris Snow 1219331 Rangers sign first-round pick Brennan Othmann throws out first pitch two years after ALS diagnosis 1219332 Rangers excited over big changes for coming season 1219333 Rangers sign first-round pick Brennan Othmann to entry-level contract 1219350 Copp gambling on self with one-year deal 1219351 Pionk excited about deal to stay with Jets Ottawa Senators 1219352 Pionk likes what he sees through Jets' window 1219334 The Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs expect to 1219353 Copp avoids arbitration, signs one-year deal with Jets have full capacity, but awaiting green light 1219354 The Jets’ cap-space problems and what it means for Andrew Copp’s long-term future Philadelphia Flyers SPORT-SCAN, INC. 941-284-4129 1219335 Ivan Provorov gets recognized on the streets of Philly because he’s a Flyer. But now, people just want to talk 1219336 Hart smiling about much more than just the money on his new contract Pittsburgh Penguins 1219337 Cha-Ching! Penguins Projected to be 7th Richest NHL Franchise by 2025 1219338 NHL Trade Rumors: The Top 5 Players Who Did Not Get Traded & Why 1219316 Anaheim Ducks finishing ability he displayed at lower levels and enters next season atop this position. But while Comtois is now a roster fixture and a potential 20- scorer, Anaheim isn’t particularly deep at left wing. Some of that Ducks depth chart: Where the projected lineup stands after a quiet could be remedied by a center being moved over. While he played right offseason wing for much of last season, Rickard Rakell has played a ton on the left side and could be inserted into a second-line spot.

But if there are no such movements, it could allow Jones the opportunity By Eric Stephens to hold down a full-time top-six role. Jones has played up on occasion, but the recent commitment to him reflects the Ducks’ view of him as a Aug 12, 2021 certain top-nine power forward with the potential to grab more. At worst, Jones is a physical complement to his linemates and is one of the few Ducks who is eager to mix it up in front of the net and play with a mean The recent signings of restricted free agents Max Comtois, Max Jones streak. Alexander Volkov can play on both wings and could move and Josh Mahura completed the offseason business for the Ducks when between the third and fourth lines. Nic Deslauriers returns for his third it comes to resolving the situations of their own players. season as the team’s protective element.

Is that all they will do to address the roster? Possibly, but there are still It’ll be interesting to see if Sonny Milano will come back from the 42 days left for further movement. But the majority of positions are filled, concussion issues that limited him to just eight games between the and the Ducks could take into next month’s training camp a group that Ducks and . AHL veteran Danny O’Regan had 16 goals looks a lot like the one that finished last season. and 37 points with the Henderson Silver Knights last season and should fill the void created when Chase De Leo signed with New Jersey after For those who pined for substantive change, it is a disappointing three years in Anaheim’s organization. Brayden Tracey got his first taste development. But the signings leave Anaheim as one of the teams with of pro hockey with a 12-game scoreless run with the Gulls and it’ll be substantial salary cap space heading into the 2021-22 season. Whether interesting to see if the 2019 first-rounder is in the AHL full-time or is they will use any of it before their Oct. 13 season opener is a different shipped back to junior for an overage season. Maxim Golod should have question. They also have five available contract slots under the 50- another developmental season in San Diego. contract maximum. Center It is worth looking at Anaheim’s organizational depth chart and where different players stand within it and whether there is any potential for PLAYER CONTRACT STATUS AGE players to move up and down. Or around. Just know that this won’t be the last time we do this. (Note: All salary figures listed are average Trevor Zegras annual value and pulled from Cap Friendly. Years listed are when the $925,000 (2023) contracts expire.) 20 Left wing Isac Lundestrom PLAYER CONTRACT STATUS AGE $874,125 (2022) Max Comtois 21 $2.038 million (2023) Ryan Getzlaf 22 $3 million (2022) Max Jones 36 $1.295 million (2024) Adam Henrique 23 $5.825 million (2024) Alexander Volkov 31 $925,000 (2022) Sam Steel 24 $874,125 (2022) Nic Deslauriers 23 $1 million (2022) Derek Grant 30 $1.5 million (2023) Sonny Milano 31 $1.7 million (2022) Benoit-Olivier Groulx 25 $822,500 (2023) Danny O'Regan 21 $750,000 (2022) Jack Badini 27 $805,000 (2022) Brayden Tracey 23 $863,333 (2024) Full of confidence and dynamism, Trevor Zegras went from starting in the 20 NHL on left wing to playing top-line minutes at center by the end of his Maxim Golod impressive 24-game audition. It remains to be seen whether Zegras will be regarded as a true No. 1 center after he goes through the entire $793,333 (2023) league. It also remains to be seen whether Dallas Eakins will feel bold enough to hand an all-important role to a 20-year-old right away. But it 20 shouldn’t be a question that Zegras will handle a first-unit power play that Having become a surprise leader of the Ducks in goals (16) and points already ran through him whenever he was on the ice. (33) during the shortened 56-game season, Comtois tapped into the Uncertainty abounds once you get past Zegras. Ryan Getzlaf isn’t the Vinni Lettieri is a proven AHL scorer who should be a fill-in once again, top-10 center who was the pulse of the lineup for many years. But as he after he got into five games with Anaheim last season. The presence of looks to reach the 1,000-point milestone, Getzlaf could be recharged Carrick and Lettieri will allow Bryce Kindopp to continue honing his game enough to head the second line if he is playing well and if youngsters at the pro level. Jacob Perreault, a 2020 first-rounder, got to advance his Sam Steel or Isac Lundestrom aren’t flourishing with top-six minutes. development with the Gulls while the was shut Adam Henrique is still around and can fill a middle-six role or move to left down. It was an up-and-down experience, as Perreault had only three wing if necessary, although his best work has come at center. goals but did finish with 17 points in 27 games. Because he played more Lundestrom was tried out on left wing without success at the start of last than 20 games, it is possible that Anaheim could keep him with San season. Diego instead of returning him to juniors with the . Buddy Robinson has spent the last two years in Calgary’s organization. Derek Grant didn’t have a year that matched up to his two prior turns with the team. But Grant has handled fourth-line duties and can win faceoffs Left defense and kill penalties, two things Eakins values. Andrew Agozzino’s departure should open a top-line role for Bo Groulx with the Gulls unless PLAYER CONTRACT STATUS AGE Sam Carrick doesn’t make the Ducks. Groulx, who has good size and Hampus Lindholm routinely wins puck battles, had an impressive first pro season and could put himself in a position to earn a call-up for his NHL debut should an $5.205 million (2022) injury leave a hole up front to fill. Jack Badini split time between San 27 Diego and ECHL Tulsa in his first pro season. Cam Fowler Right wing $6.5 million (2026) PLAYER CONTRACT STATUS AGE 29 Troy Terry Jacob Larsson $1.45 million (2023) $1.2 million (2022) 23 24 Rickard Rakell Josh Mahura $3.789 million (2022) $750,000 (2023) 28 23 Jakob Silfverberg Simon Benoit $5.25 million (2024) $809,166 (2022) 30 22 Sam Carrick Brendan Guhle $750,000 (2022) $800,000 (2022) 29 24 Vinni Lettieri Kodie Curran $750,000 (2022) $1 million (2022) 26 31 Bryce Kindopp Trevor Carrick $925,000 (2023) $750,000 (2022) 22 27 Jacob Perreault Anaheim can be a better club if Hampus Lindholm and Cam Fowler $894,167 (2024) remain healthy for an entire season and eat up more than 20 minutes 19 each on the top two pairs. Ironically, Lindholm has been dealing with the injury issues the last two seasons, while Fowler had missed some blocks Buddy Robinson of time each year. Once you get past those two, the competition for the $750,000 (2022) third spot on the left side could be open after Haydn Fleury was lost to Seattle in the expansion draft. 29 Jacob Larsson has had an uneven, if not unimpressive three years, This is a position at which someone has to emerge as a goal scorer. Not played mostly at the NHL level. But he does have 159 games with the one of the current right wings scored in double figures last season. Troy Ducks and some of his best outings with them came at the end of last Terry, Rickard Rakell and Jakob Silfverberg unequivocally fit into the top season. Larsson has been given a longer leash than Mahura and it is nine, but where each slot in among their first three lines should be interesting that Mahura’s new deal is two-way in nature for this season decided at camp. Terry finished the season playing with Zegras and before it switches to a one-way deal for 2022-23. It gives the appearance Comtois and it is possible they could start out together, given the that Larsson, a former first-rounder, might have the edge going into camp chemistry they showed as a trio. but that this might be his last stand to solidify himself in the team’s future. What could aid Mahura in staying with Anaheim is the fact that he would The Ducks could have a spot to fill on the fourth line, which was created have to go through waivers if he were sent down. after Carter Rowney went down with a knee injury. Numerous forwards were put there and there could be several options. If they stay in-house, Meanwhile, Simon Benoit has methodically moved into the mix with his Volkov could be put there. Although it might be more of a fallback, strong work for the Gulls, which got him a six-game NHL tryout. It could Getzlaf did play there at the end of the year as others got looks in the be an interesting conversation within Ducks headquarters if Benoit middle. Sam Carrick has mainly played in the middle but he can play on outplays Larsson and Mahura during the preseason. Often-injured the wing and might challenge for that spot if he can build on his inspiring Brendan Guhle played only with San Diego and had his season cut short play when called up last season. because of an apparent head issue after a heated tussle with Kings prospect Akil Thomas. Kodie Curran and Trevor Carrick will have regular roles with the Gulls. Both appear to be longshots toward making the 27 opening-night roster. Lukáš Dostál Right defense $822,500 (2023) PLAYER CONTRACT STATUS AGE 21 Josh Manson Olle Eriksson Ek $4.1 million (2022) $773,889 (2022) 29 22 Jamie Drysdale Roman Durny $925,000 (2023) $807,500 (2022) 19 23 Kevin Shattenkirk Signed to a max-term deal in 2018, John Gibson has been the $3.9 million (2023) undisputed No. 1 goalie for the last five seasons and will be for the foreseeable future. The goaltending pecking order is relatively 32 straightforward. Anthony Stolarz did enough in his eight games with the Brogan Rafferty Ducks last season to earn the chance at holding down a regular job at the NHL level for an entire season, and he should enter camp as $750,000 (2022) Gibson’s backup.

26 However, Lukáš Dostál looks to have the “ of the future” tag after an excellent season in which he got off to a roaring start with the Greg Pateryn Gulls following his transition from playing overseas, and shook off some $750,000 (2022) midseason struggles for a fantastic finish over his final 11 outings. Any injuries to Gibson or Stolarz could put Dostál up in Anaheim. Olle 31 Eriksson Ek did a commendable job in getting his most AHL action to date and figures to get one or two starts to every three that Dostal makes Axel Andersson for San Diego. Roman Durny put up good numbers — 14-7-4/2.31 $772,500 (2023) GAA/.916 SV% — in the ECHL with the Tulsa Oilers.

21 This, of course, is subject to change. Writers don’t make out the lineup. Fans would love to, but they can’t. Coaches do – perhaps with a level of Hunter Drew influence from the general manager – and they will make the determination on who fits where when practices are held, scrimmages $793,333 (2023) are conducted and preseason games are played. There may be enough 22 bodies in place but there are still roles to win. Let’s not forget that the forward lines will change halfway into the first game if the team is down Josh Manson wasn’t traded at the deadline and wasn’t dealt this by a couple of goals. summer. Whether he’ll be with the Ducks all year or beyond remains to be seen, but the eight-year defender and alternate captain occupies one The Ducks have quite a few centers and that will guarantee someone spot. Manson has played alongside Lindholm and Fowler in the past so lining up on a wing instead of at their natural position. What is more it’ll be up to Eakins and new assistant coach Mike Stothers to decide who crucial for them is the semblance of a true top six, if not a real top line, the pairs will be. Jamie Drysdale was thrown into the fire last season and that can lead this team and be a regular threat that makes it harder to it became clear that the teenager could not only survive but even thrive at defend. It can be argued that the Ducks, the league’s lowest-scoring times. His ascent to top-pairing status may not be a straight line but his team last season, has iced three third lines and a fourth line over the past ability to handle tough NHL minutes is obvious. two seasons.

Drysdale’s rapid rise could allow the Ducks to use Kevin Shattenkirk in a Who knows if Comtois-Zegras-Terry will be a thing on opening night more sheltered role that can accent his strengths and minimize his against Winnipeg? But the three had excellent underlying numbers and weaknesses. If Drysdale hits a bump and has a rough period, Shattenkirk drove play when united. They also appeared on the scoresheet as well, has the experience and can handle more minutes but will have to deliver combining for 14 points over the final seven contests. How the center much more in his second season in Anaheim. The deck has been position shakes out and whether anyone can produce offense in a reshuffled a bit as far as right-side depth. Greg Pateryn has played in 280 second-line role is something else that will go a long way toward any NHL games with five teams. Brogan Rafferty could be intriguing. Rafferty forward movement as a team. didn’t get much of an opportunity with Vancouver despite being third Six weeks remain until some answers start to be provided. Don’t worry, among all AHL defensemen in scoring in 2019-20. they’ll go by at the speed of a net-seeking slap shot. Pateryn and Rafferty should allow Axel Andersson and Hunter Drew to continue their growth. Andersson joined the Gulls late in the year after playing with second-division Sodertalje in Sweden. His smooth skating The Athletic LOADED: 08.13.2021 and effective puck movement were evident and he should get a lot of ice time under new San Diego coach Joël Bouchard. Drew played a fair amount at forward and might have to do so again if he can’t beat out the new veterans or Andersson.

Goaltender

PLAYER CONTRACT STATUS AGE

John Gibson

$6.4 million (2027)

28

Anthony Stolarz

$950,000 (2023) 1219317 Calgary Flames Calgary Sun: LOADED: 08.13.2021

Calgary Hitmen, Siksika Nation sign historic partnership

Staff Report

Postmedia news services, Calgary Herald

Publishing date:Aug 12, 2021

(L-R) Hitmen Vice President Mike Moore, Siksika Health Services CEO Tyler White, Siksika Nation Chief Ouray Crowfoot. The Calgary Hitmen Hockey Club and Siksika Health Services today announced the two parties have signed a first of its kind Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The historic partnership commits to several working goals which will be carried out in the months and years ahead. Among the pillars is to address stereotypes and racism by advancing inclusion in our communities through the promotion of the Blackfoot culture, language and history. A second key component is to promote healthy lifestyles for all youth and to highlight the benefits of participation in sport. Calgary Hitman/Candice Ward Calgary Hitman/Candice Ward

The Calgary Hitmen and Siksika Nation have signed a first-of-its-kind memorandum of understanding.

The historic partnership between the junior hockey club and Siksika Health Services commits to several working goals which will be carried out in the months and years ahead.

Among the pillars is to address stereotypes and racism by advancing inclusion in our communities through the promotion of the Blackfoot culture, language and history. A second key component is to promote healthy lifestyles for all youth and to highlight the benefits of participation in sport.

“On behalf of the Calgary Hitmen organization, I want to express our sincere thanks and appreciation to Chief Crowfoot, Tyler White and the entire Siksika Nation for the opportunity to partner and foster change, education and ‘reconcili-action’ in our communities,” said Hitmen vice- president Mike Moore.

“In the past few years, we have started to build a strong foundation with our partnership by introducing initiatives including the Every Child Matters game. The signing of the memorandum of understanding has been two years in the making and is monumental in adding strength and commitment to address racism in our communities, provide a platform for cultural education and utilize leadership and resources in the promotion of healthy lifestyles for all youth.”

To commemorate the agreement, a ceremonial signing took place Thursday morning at the Siksika Health and Wellness Centre and included an exchange of gifts.

“Thank you to the Calgary Hitmen for being true partners in reconcili- action,” commented Tyler White, CEO of Siksika Health Services. “We are continuously grateful for the support and encouragement that they have given Siksika Nation over the past couple of years.”

Other highlights in the memorandum of understanding include:

• Using mentors, Hitmen players and alumni to encourage recruitment, participation and retention of young hockey players with an added focus of helping to grow other sports, recreation opportunities, and physical literacy;

• Engaging to the full extent Siksika Health Services expertise to promote healthy lifestyles and continue to work to understand and educate on harm reduction during the Opioid Crisis.

This agreement builds on the existing working relationship between the Hitmen, Siksika Nation and Siksika Health Services.

Past highlights include the Every Child Matters game held on Feb. 1, 2020, at the Saddledome, which promoted and celebrated the Blackfoot culture. The Every Child Matters game will now become an annual event as part of the link between the two communities with the 2022 celebration to take place on Jan. 15, when the Hitmen host the Prince Albert Raiders.

1219318 Calgary Flames Snow gave up seven runs in the first inning and four more in the second.

“After the game, we took a team photo in front of the left-field scoreboard,” Snow said. “Behind us you can see the seven and the four ‘It’s a homecoming, and it’s a triumph’: Chris Snow, beating ALS odds, on the scoreboard. That was my last pitching performance, anywhere, returns to Fenway until today.”

And what a performance Snow gave us on Thursday. When he made his By Steve Buckley way out to the mound he was accompanied by Kelsie and the two kids. First, Willa threw a pitch to Wally the Green Monster, and then Cohen, Aug 13, 2021 the birthday boy, threw a legit laser beam to Sox catcher Connor Wong.

The last time Chris was on this mound and getting lit up, he was throwing right-handed. Now, because of the ALS, it’s easier for him to throw left- Chris Snow started hanging around with sportswriters when he was handed. And he delivered a nice, easy toss to Wong. about 8 years old. His old man was a Somerville school administrator who did some moonlighting as a hockey writer, and Bob would “I’ve told people that the gold standard for first pitches is President Bush sometimes bring little Chris with him to the old Garden when he was with the bulletproof vest at Yankee Stadium after September 11, throwing covering Bruins games. a perfect strike,” Snow said before making the toss. “And the floor, I think, is Dr. (Anthony) Fauci last year at Nationals Park. He threw it sort What a sight: The kid was skinny as a hockey stick, but he had this great, of toward first base. So I’m shooting for the midpoint.” big, blinding pie plate of a smile that was impossible not to notice, just as it was impossible not to notice how proud Bob was to have Chris sitting All things being equal, he did just that. There stood a very brave man, a next to him. fighter, an optimist, and the special added attraction was that standing with him were his wife and his two kids, both of those kids now in the “He used to call me Guy Smiley when I was a kid,” Chris Snow was books as Fenway hurlers. saying Thursday afternoon, and how cool, how righteous, that we were doing our talking in the press room at Fenway Park. For Chris Snow is However proud Bob Snow may have been when he’d bring little Chris the Melrose native who in the blink of an eye grew up, went to Syracuse into the press room at the old Garden, however proud he may have been University, did an internship at the Boston Globe, and in 2005, a few to see the kid emerge as a beat writer covering the Red Sox, however months shy of his 24th birthday, made his debut as the Globe’s Red Sox proud he may have been to see Chris make a daring career switch from beat writer. And how the old man loved that. baseball writing to hockey administration, we can only imagine how buttons-a-poppin’ the old man would have been to see his son standing “My dad had immense pride in the things I did in this city,” Snow said. on the Fenway mound Thursday afternoon, a winner before he had even “When I was covering the Red Sox, or when I was on NESN, he’d say, thrown a pitch. ‘This is my son.’ He loved that.” “To coach this guy and talk about Fenway, and talk about my childhood,” This is Bob Snow’s son in 2021: It has been a little more than two years Snow said, referring to Cohen, “and for Willa and Cohen throwing a pitch, now since he was diagnosed with ALS, the same disease that took his it’s a homecoming, and it’s a triumph. To walk in here, it feels so good.” father’s life in 2018. So good, so good. Snow has also lost two uncles and a cousin to the disease; when he was diagnosed there were fears he might live only another year.

Yet here he was on Thursday, back at Fenway Park, this time as a The Athletic LOADED: 08.13.2021 walking, talking reminder that the experimental drug therapies that were designed for his form of familial ALS are extending both his life and the quality of his life.

Invited to throw out the first pitch before the Sox series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays, Snow brought his own bullpen with him: his wife Kelsie, herself a sportswriting veteran, and their two kids — Cohen, who celebrated his 10th birthday Thursday, and Willa, who is 6.

“We know firsthand how well this drug is working for him,” said Kelsie. “He’s lost some things, but he’s not lost anything completely. He does things differently. It’s not perfect, but nothing about life has gone and not come back.”

Snow had long since made a career switch from sportswriting before he was diagnosed with ALS. He woke up one day and decided he wanted to be a front-office operative in the NHL, and he soon landed a job with the Minnesota Wild. He later became an assistant general manager of the Calgary Flames, for whom he continues to work.

For the time being, he’s returning to an old haunt by vacationing in New Hampshire with his family.

On Thursday, he returned to Fenway Park, yet another old haunt.

“The first time Chris and I ever spent any time together was in the Fenway press box,” said Kelsie, who noted that when the family walked past the press dining room on Thursday she told her kids, “Your dad and I used to have kind of dates in there.”

And just as this was not Snow’s first visit to Fenway Park, it was not his first time toeing the rubber at the old ball yard.

As a rookie beat writer in 2005, he was introduced to the traditional media baseball games played between the Boston and New York writers. In the Yankee Stadium showdown, he belted a double. For the Fenway game, he was named starting pitcher by the Boston manager, who happened to be Carl Beane, the late Fenway Park public address announcer. 1219319 Chicago Blackhawks forward, but you have to acknowledge what you did and you need to make it right. The true character of someone isn’t revealed in the mistake they made. It’s revealed in how they deal with that mistake and what they As the Blackhawks face allegations and lawsuits, their fans are left to do afterward. … Do a thorough investigation, acknowledge what they did evaluate their loyalty wrong, fix it going forward and hold people accountable that caused it to happen. That would bring me back and I could be proud of my team again. But I don’t have a lot of faith that they’re going to do the holding accountable thing.” By Mark Lazerus and Scott Powers The Chicago Blackhawks are a business, first and foremost. But in the Aug 12, 2021 eyes of Cheri Bradish, the director of Future of Sport Lab and Sport Initiatives at Ryerson University in Toronto, they’re also a public good, a vital part of the community. In her view, all pro sports teams are. Sandra Muer’s collection of Blackhawks memorabilia has grown immensely over the last decade. She has Duncan Keith and Brian “From a 10,000-feet-above lens, sport is done best and operated best as Campbell game-used sticks. She has signed pucks from Keith, a strong social example in one’s community,” said Bradish, who Campbell, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Corey Crawford, among others. She specializes in sports marketing and the social impact of sports. “And it’s has goal pucks from Keith, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp. She has disappointing when we have these situations that still don’t always jewelry made from pieces of game-used skate blades of Keith, Kane, demonstrate the best social decisions.” Crawford, Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews. In the last year, Bradish has seen the NHL commit, then falter, on And the memories well exceed the items. She was in the stands for diversity initiatives that sprung out of the murder of George Floyd in Andrew Shaw’s “I love shin pads” game-winning goal in the 2013 Stanley Minneapolis last year. She’s seen the Montreal Canadiens draft Logan Cup Final. She went to every home game during the Blackhawks’ 2015 Mailloux, and the immediate backlash both the team and league faced. Stanley Cup run and kept the ticket stubs and rally towels from each And she’s seen the Blackhawks handle the lawsuits with what she called game. She traveled to Prague to watch the Blackhawks play in 2019 and “tone-deafness.” created lifelong friendships with others she met on the trip. Every year But she’s also seen NHL teams celebrate Nashville prospect Luke she’d taken her extended family to a game around Christmas. Prokop’s decision to come out as gay. She’s seen corporate partners in And now all of that is stored away, the items in her closet, the memories all realms of business make a positive impact during the pandemic. in her mind. Muer has closely paid attention to the lawsuits against the Corporate social responsibility — CSR in business jargon — is an Blackhawks alleging they mishandled sexual assault complaints made by integral part of any organization’s business plan. a former player against then video coach Brad Aldrich in 2010. She was And Bradish said simply staying quiet and hoping to weather the storm is desperately hoping the Blackhawks would dispute the allegations, but no longer a wise strategy. she’s heard nothing from the organization publicly or seen anything in their court responses doing so. When she recently read the revised “We’re beyond the point in sound business practices where you ignore, complaint against the Blackhawks that included allegations of bullying or you don’t face head-on, some of these incidents that could be brand- and homophobic slurs from teammates, Muer had enough. She wrote a breakers,” Bradish said. letter to the Blackhawks expressing her feelings on how the organization has responded to the allegations, referenced her own experience with Bradish said the “best-case scenario” in these situations is for the team’s sexual assault and asked for the money back on her season ticket senior management to deal with it “head-on,” even if that means deposit for the upcoming season. admitting a mistake and taking responsibility.

“To be clear, this was not easy for me,” Muer said by phone. “This was “And then not only say we’re committed to dealing with this, but in some super difficult. I rode with them through thick and thin. I rode with them, cases once the investigation is revealed, be authentic to the situation at you know, through the bad hockey decisions. I rode with them through a hand,” she said. “If the allegations are true around sexual assault, talk ton of different things. I mean, I went to Prague to see these guys play. about it — ‘Here are some resources we’re partnering with it, some I’ve traveled all over the U.S. and Canada to see them play. I’ve invested sexual assault centers or abuse lines, here’s where we can authentically so much time, money and passion into this team. help the community understand this issue and how we’re dealing with it.’ To me, the best-case examples of leadership in sports are those who “Sending that letter and giving up season tickets that I waited like eight have said we had a problem, it was on our watch, here’s what we found years to get, it wasn’t an easy choice for me. When I was going to the and here is our stand against it. As you know, sport businesses are games, like the last season before they shut down in 2020 in March, I businesses, but they’re also public trusts and they need to take a very went to every game that season except for two and I live 2 1/2 hours high example when they’re dealing with these negative situations.” away. So, yeah, it took a lot for me to do this.” The Blackhawks have done little to publicly address the allegations. The Blackhawks’ legal fate remains uncertain. So, too, is their fate in the There’s been no comment from owner Rocky Wirtz, and general court of public opinion. Will more fans turn cold toward the organization, manager Stan Bowman — a central figure in the lawsuits as one of the as Muer did? Will ticket sales take a hit, ending the team’s streak of more four team leaders who were allegedly told of the sexual assault claims by than 500 consecutive sellouts? Will corporate partners be reluctant to skills coach Paul Vincent and chose not to report them — has work with the Blackhawks, cutting off a vital financial lifeline? Will the sidestepped questions about the lawsuits by pointing to the ongoing Blackhawks’ brand, so ubiquitous and revered in Chicago and so well- investigation. The Blackhawks did commission an independent review by known and well-respected beyond, be tarnished? the law firm Jenner & Block to investigate the situation, and team CEO Danny Wirtz said he’ll make those findings public when the investigation The Athletic reached out to 25 season ticket holders, as well as nearly is complete. two dozen major corporate partners and an expert in sports marketing and the social impact of sports, to get a sense of how the general public But Bradish noted that the investigation “buys them time,” and that once is feeling about the Blackhawks as the organization stays mostly mum the season starts, she says the team likely hopes that the focus will be and fights the allegations in civil court. on hockey, not the lawsuits. Winning has a way of making some people forget. And it’s clear the Blackhawks have some work to do to regain trust and credibility. Corporate partners might have even greater sway, however. Just as controversial television figures have been run off the air once their “I was waiting to hear what happened, but they kept saying nothing and advertisers abandoned them, a team’s hand can be forced by the nothing and their responses in the lawsuit where they’re saying, oh, companies that work with it. The Athletic contacted 22 of the Blackhawks’ statute of limitations, oh, technical argument,” Muer said. “I get that’s how biggest partners — BMO Harris Bank, Clorox, Bud Light, Boeing, Jersey you respond, but they’ve done zero to dispel that these facts being Mike’s Subs, FanDuel Sportsbook, AT&T, Chevy Drives Chicago, alleged are true. Enterprise, Constellation, Chick-fil-A, Hyundai USA, United Airlines, “It’s like I wrote in the letter: Words are cheap; show me. Do something Lexus, Captain Morgan, TransUnion, Fifth Third Bank, Athletico, for those guys (the plaintiffs). Make the people who did that accountable. American Express, Dunkin’ Donuts, Jewel Osco and ServiceMaster It’s great you want to go forward and be a different organization going Recovery Management. Three responded with a no-comment, TransUnion said it no longer works do that this year because of the allegations. It just isn’t sitting right. Four with the Blackhawks but said that decision predates the lawsuits, and the months ago, after our daughter was born, I was already cautiously other 18 didn’t respond at all. avoiding buying newborn Blackhawks clothes to wear to games that had the Native American logo because that issue isn’t sitting right with me, (The Athletic ran advertisements on the United Center scoreboard during either. Now it feels even weirder to think about taking our daughter to a the 2019-20 season, but that deal expired in June 2020 and was not game. Sure, she may be too young to understand any of this now, but I extended.) want to be that role model that helps her understand the right and wrong “You might see a public outcry, but it’s when the corporate partner and of things as she grows because my influence will matter. the pocketbook is impacted in a significant way, that’s historically when “In contrast, I also know that the money spent on our tickets eventually you see organizations try to rise to make the best decisions,” Bradish gets funneled down to the payroll of our ticket rep, our beer vendor said. outside of our seats and the custodial staff. Normal people that don’t If corporate partners are pressing the Blackhawks to make changes, or to deserve to get dragged down in this process. I don’t stand by a single address the lawsuits differently, they’re not saying so publicly. thing that they are doing, but I am OK with going to a game, paying for food and drink, and watching hockey.” That leaves the fans — the ticket-buying, jersey-wearing, TV-watching fans — as the biggest influencer to the Blackhawks’ bottom line, and T.J. Jarosch, who gave up his tickets in May, before news of the lawsuits therefore the Blackhawks’ decision-making. broke: “Ugh, I’ll still watch and follow. I’m loyal to a home team and can’t just give up hockey. More concerned with how I explain my thoughts to a Selling tickets hasn’t been a problem for the Blackhawks since Toews 7- and 5-year-old. I’ll probably just be a much more casual fan. Games and Kane showed up and changed the trajectory of the franchise. won’t be must-watch. (I) won’t buy or wear much merchandise.” Despite playing in the biggest arena in the league, with a capacity of more than 21,000, the team has sold out 531 consecutive home games, Erin: “I think it’s inevitable at this point that I’ll cancel my season tickets. counting regular season and playoffs. Even as the team sputtered to four My hesitation to do so up until now has been purely selfish; these tickets, poor seasons in a row, the lengthy waiting list for season tickets easily games, and supporting this team have been uniquely tied to the covered any fans who chose not to renew their tickets. relationship and memories I have with my dad.”

Given the excitement surrounding the acquisitions of defenseman Seth Eric Johnson: “I decided to give them up. Was a tough choice after 16 Jones and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, as well as the pending return years. At first, I did it because of the money. Just charging way too much. of Toews after he missed all of last season, that’s unlikely to change right Paying over $7,000 in tickets for a team going nowhere. Once the away. But there are certainly fans out there, like Muer, who are rethinking allegations came out, I felt even better about giving them up. Even all the their spending habits, if not their allegiances. There are also those who current moves they are making does not want me to get them back.” have no intention of ever giving up their tickets. And there are countless Anonymous: “Even if it’s a legal argument to try to protect themselves, people in between, feeling ambivalent as they try to weigh their love of it’s hard to see how it’s a moral one they can make and still look the team — and the friendships and fun they’ve made at games over the themselves, their players and their fans in the eye.” years — with their disgust at the allegations levied against it. Tony Crisman: “I’m indifferent to the lawsuits. We buy tickets for the Here are some examples from season ticket holders, some of whom product on the ice. No change in plans here.” chose to stay anonymous, or to use only their first names, to avoid any potential online backlash. Anonymous: “Honestly, I regret having season tickets this year. If I hadn’t already paid for half my season a year ago, I would want to give them up Kevin Carew: “Sports are so complicated now. Obviously, I don’t now. There’s no (good) benefits to being a STH (season ticket holder) condone that horrible alleged behavior from the Hawks, but if I keep my anymore, and now with these allegations and lawsuits facing the tickets, does that mean I’m willing to look the other way? What a horrible Blackhawks, I hate that I’ve put money towards a team so badly moral dilemma.” managed. It’s embarrassing to be a fan.”

Anonymous: “My thoughts on my four tickets are waiting to see this Tom Mahoney: “A few of the people in my group are not too thrilled in smoking gun of the letter of recommendation or positive job review (for supporting the team, me included. It is too late to give up the (two tickets) Aldrich) and see what the Wirtzes do with it. If it exists, with anyone still for this year, but I would assume it will be our last year. It is a shame employed by the Blackhawks’ name on it, I think I will be asking for my because they have been in the family since 1962.” money back as that would be inexcusable.” Matt: “I actually gave up my tickets for hockey reasons right before the Chuck: “I am a fan of the product on the ice. I go to be entertained. I do allegations were made public. I would say I felt even better about giving not let the actions of the ‘off-ice’ (and not just hockey) people dictate my them up when the allegations became public.” actions. Do I consider it? Yes, along with everything else.” Given the personal relationship that is usually built with a season ticket Chris: “I have not given any consideration to giving them up. The holder and their Blackhawks ticket representative, it’s likely the allegations and lawsuits are irrelevant to my support of the organization. Blackhawks are well aware of how many — or how few — fans are I’m not willing to pass judgment prematurely on (an) individual’s actions, wavering or are giving up their tickets because of the lawsuits and the nor am I willing to not be a fan of the Blackhawks due to these revelations that have accompanied them. circumstances. … At the end of the day, I just want the Hawks to be relevant and win again.” Muer spoke with her ticket rep after sending her letter and was refunded for her tickets. Drew: “We did decide to keep our tickets for this year since it is America and you are innocent until proven guilty. I think we will see where it goes “She acknowledged that I had this complaint,” Muer said. “She didn’t and what the investigation turns up. There is certainly no place in our argue with me at all. She did tell me she would get it up the chain. She society for things like this, and if the Blackhawks did anything wrong, I’d wasn’t sure how far up it would go. She said as she and other reps hear want to see people held accountable. And if no one is, then we might from people they would be making communications known to their come to a different decision on renewing for the 22-23 season.” supervision. She handled it very well. They didn’t argue with me at all. They just said, yeah, we’ll give your money back. I don’t think they want Anonymous: “My biggest frustration at this point is the lack of anybody making a stink about not getting money back from that.” transparency. The front office has not addressed the situation, and I feel like all of these trades are a smokescreen.” In response to The Athletic’s questions of how many requests they’ve gotten for ticket refunds in the last three months, the season ticket Keith Mellen: “I am watching to see what the lawsuit and investigation retention rate from last season, if they’ve lost any corporate sponsors find. I would hope that heads would roll and procedures would be put in due to the allegations or if they have a message for fans who are place so this sort of thing would not happen in the future, if the reconsidering their season tickets due to the allegations, the Blackhawks investigation finds what is alleged to be true.” issued this statement:

Grant Miller: “Honestly, we are keeping our tickets for next year mainly “From major offseason moves on the ice to many fans’ first opportunity to because it was covered from our payments of the previous seasons. If join us back inside the United Center since the beginning of the COVID- we owed on the tickets, then we very likely would not have renewed. We 19 pandemic, there is strong excitement and demand leading into the 21- usually raffle off some tickets at our office to patients, but we don’t plan to 22 season. But most importantly, on and off the ice, the Blackhawks are committed to a positive culture. Our fans and partners understand that the independent investigation takes time to ensure it’s done thoroughly and properly, and they know our pledge to share results is important to our entire organization.”

Given the timing, the long-term effect of the lawsuits in terms of season ticket sales might not be felt until next year, if at all. Some fans are repulsed by the allegations that have surfaced. Some fans are indifferent. But many of them — like the Blackhawks’ corporate partners, most likely — are waiting for the truth before making any decisions on how to spend their money. Or at the very least, hoping that the truth comes out.

“It’s a shame in the NHL,” Bradish said. “There have been so many stops and starts in the NHL over the last year, over what is the culture of the management of the league. That should be dictated by how they respond to these situations. And (more) often than not, there is no response.”

The Athletic LOADED: = 1219320 Columbus Blue Jackets with a congenital heart defect at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. That defect was twice repaired in Boston.

Both hospitals split a $1 million donation made by the Folignos in 2016 to End of an era: Foligno bids farewell to Blue Jackets, says Columbus is aid heart research. still 'home' “We got texts and e-mails saying how excited they were to have us in town," Foligno said of their Boston medical contacts. “We’d joked around Brian Hedger about it all those years ago, when they said, ‘It would be really nice if you played for the Bruins, so we can really cheer for you.’ So, now they’ve The Columbus Dispatch got to make good on their word.”

It wasn’t a two-horse race. The Minnesota Wild were also interested, which would’ve given them a second Foligno to go with the one they The clincher for Nick Foligno was an odd text message from Cam already have — Nick's younger brother, Marcus. Atkinson. “It was close,” Foligno said. “Minnesota is a good team, and they're It was sent July 24, a day after the Blue Jackets had traded Seth Jones poised to win, but I just felt like at this moment, Boston was a team that to the Chicago Blackhawks and four days before Foligno, the team’s checked more boxes for me. But it was hard. I've always said that dream beloved former captain, could officially delve into options as a free agent. of playing with Marcus has always been there, and hopefully it'll still be Atkinson’s message: “I just got traded.” there … maybe in a couple years.”

It was something Foligno wasn’t prepared to read. In fact, he thought it Columbus is ‘home’ was a joke – Atkinson’s attempt at humor while the Blue Jackets front The Folignos are selling their home in Upper Arlington, but plan to rent in office continued to demolish its ‘core group’ of veterans who forged the the Boston area. Summers will still be spent at their offseason home in most successful stint in franchise history, including four straight playoff Sudbury, Ontario, which leaves open the possibility of a return to the appearances and a memorable 2019 upset of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Columbus area at some point down the road. “I thought he was kidding,” said Foligno, who signed a two-year contract Will Foligno finish his career with the Blue Jackets? Will he return in a on July 28 with the Boston Bruins. “He texted me and I just thought he coaching or development capacity? Will the Foligno family simply return was messing around because the whole team was leaving. I was like, here at some point with no connection to the team and figure out what’s ‘Good one. Good luck, man.’ And then he's like, ‘No, seriously, I got next? traded.’” All are possibilities. Atkinson, a franchise pillar like Foligno, was dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers in a stunning swap for Jakub Voracek. It was termed a “hockey “I think this is home,” Foligno said. “We’ve said that before. Our ties to trade” by general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, who cited Voracek’s Columbus go way deeper than just me playing on a team. It’s become passing ability as something he wanted to add, but it was also a clear home. We have great friends outside of the game there and we just love message about the Blue Jackets’ intentions. the way of life. We love the people. So, there’s a lot of reasons why Columbus feels like home and is home for us, so there’s a big pull to Atkinson had just been at Nationwide Arena the night before, signing come back eventually, when I’m done, and raise our kids there, because autographs at a draft party. And when the move was announced, his it’s their home, essentially, too.” oldest son, Declan, was celebrating his third birthday surrounded by Blue Jackets decorations. Despite selling their home, the Folignos still own a parcel of land in the area where a new “forever” home could one day be built. If so, it would “I was dying laughing,” Foligno said. “Of course, that happens in those mirror what Foligno’s father, Mike Foligno, did following his playing moments, right? But I think that's kind of what showed me the direction career. The Foligno family lived in Buffalo, New York, where Mike had they're going, just in the sense that, ‘OK we're trying to get a new core played 10 seasons with the and ascended to the role of here. We're trying to build something for the future.’” team captain. Something that no longer will prominently feature Foligno, Atkinson, “All four of us kids were born at Buffalo, New York and we settled in Jones, Pierre-Luc Dubois, David Savard, Josh Anderson, Ryan Murray, Buffalo after he retired,” said Foligno, whose first return to Nationwide Markus Nutivaara or Riley Nash – not to mention Artemi Panarin and Arena with the Bruins is scheduled for Mar. 5. “It made a lot of sense until Sergei Bobrovsky, the first two dominoes to fall by leaving in 2019 as free he had his coaching career take off. So Columbus is where we want to agents. raise the kids. This is home and we'll figure out all the other stuff as it “I always said that my biggest regret is not being able to win, but we had goes. But hopefully Columbus is in our future down the road.” something building there and unforeseen circumstances with guys wanting to leave … Sometimes you’ve just got to deal with the cards that were dealt to you,” Foligno said. “So, we did our best. We just couldn’t Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 08.13.2021 overcome that hurdle towards the end. But, man, I was so proud of the direction we were heading. I’m just disappointed we couldn't keep us together for a little longer to see where it could have led.”

Shipping up to Boston

The Blue Jackets traded Foligno to the Toronto Maple Leafs in April, and this offseason asked him about returning as a free agent. The role they envisioned for him wasn’t a fit.

They wanted a mentor, whose impact would mostly be off the ice. The Bruins, hoping to chase the Stanley Cup in the waning years of the Patrice Bergeron era, wanted a veteran forward with some bite. It didn’t exactly hurt that Foligno’s daughter, Milana, underwent two life-saving heart surgeries at Boston Children’s Hospital.

“I never base my decisions on only those things, but when you add the family element, which I’m a dad first, it makes you feel good knowing that your kids are well taken care of,” Foligno said. “You're in a place that, if anything should ever go wrong, Milana’s going to have the care like she had a Nationwide Children’s.”

That includes the surgical team that saved her life, which Foligno’s wife, Janelle, feels is a touch of serendipity. Their daughter was diagnosed 1219321 Dallas Stars prepared for his next challenge. That’s how it is. I think we’re in a good position depth-wise.”

It’s worth noting, though, that Dellandrea only played in 11 AHL games ‘If he shows he belongs, he’ll be there’: Stars’ young talent will have prior to last season, which brought his career total to 19 games after an chances to crack the NHL roster eight-game run late last season in Cedar Park. If the career trajectories of Roope Hintz, Denis Gurianov and Jason Robertson serve as any indication, that AHL experience and the ability for players to grow their By Saad Yousuf game in the less intense environment can be beneficial. If Dellandrea isn’t ready for the full-time NHL stage in training camp, growing in the Aug 12, 2021 AHL would be a logical next step as well.

Damiani got that full AHL experience last season and passed with flying There comes a point in the offseason at which the list outlining potential colors. As a former fifth-round pick, the expectations were significantly upgrades to an NHL roster evolves. Before the start of the new league lower for him at this time last year compared to Harley and Dellandrea. year, it’s a list of potential free agents who could come in or re-sign and But 36 points in 36 games in the AHL changes things, and he’s worked make an impact. The Stars made their splash in that regard last month his way into that conversation with the top draft picks as guys who could by signing Ryan Suter and also bringing in Jani Hakanpää, Braden be an option for the Stars in the bottom six. Holtby, Luke Glendening and others. With the market dried up, the “It was a different AHL role than normal but nonetheless, (he) still avenue for upgrades has shifted to internal options among the young performed at a high level all throughout and was very consistent,” White talent in the organization. said. “From the standpoint of young talent, Riley’s got to come in like The Stars have three prime candidates. Ty Dellandrea and Thomas Thomas or Ty Dellandrea, for instance. They’ve got to come in and have Harley are first-round draft picks from 2018 and 2019, respectively, and a really good camp. Take advantage of whatever opportunities they’re 2018 fifth-round pick Riley Damiani burst onto the AHL scene last season given. Maybe an injury or two happens and they’re going to be the guy.” and claimed the Rookie of the Year award. Looking at the current depth Another player who seemed to be in the mix was Adam Mascherin. The chart for the Stars, each player will have a chance to claim an NHL spot 23-year-old forward put together a strong bounce-back campaign in going into the season. On the blue line, the Stars have a top four set in Texas last season, scoring 34 points in 37 games. He had a tough stone, with Hakanpää favored to claim half of the third pairing. That sophomore season in 2019-20 after a great rookie season the year would put Harley in a three-way battle with veterans Andrej Sekera and before, so he had gained plenty of experience and his game looked to be Joel Hanley for the final defenseman spot. coming around with consistency. However, Mascherin was a restricted Players go through different stages in their development, and right now, free agent this summer and opted to leave the Stars for a one-year deal Harley needs to play as much as he can, at the highest level possible. In in Sweden with the SHL’s Skelleftea. the AHL last season, results were promising for the top overall prospect “He evaluated his situation. I don’t know all of the ins and outs behind it,” in the Stars’ system, as he played a lot of minutes in a lot of different White said. “All players have a decision to make. It has a lot to do about situations. However, Harley has always been an intriguing offensive money sometimes. He was in the entry-level system NHL-wise and these talent who will need to bring his defensive game along to shine at the things happen sometimes. We’re just going to keep plugging away. We NHL level. His defense developed in the AHL last season, but how that move along and we’ve got a lot of other guys in minicamp that will be carried over through the offseason will be a determining factor in where playing for the that are all going to push.” Harley plays next season. Balancing the salary cap, especially in the current flat salary cap era, is “It’s completely up to how Thomas Harley performs in camp,” assistant something all teams have to work through. As White put it, “The cap is general manager Scott White recently told The Athletic. “That hasn’t the cap, too. You’ll hear me say that a lot. There are only so many pieces changed our approach at all. If he’s ready to be there, he’ll be there. It’s of the pie and you only have so much to spend.” In a perfect world, the going to be up to Thomas. What we don’t want is for him to be up in the Stars would have liked to have signed an impactful middle-six forward, press box watching games. He’s either going to be on the third pairing or but the No. 4 defenseman and goaltending insurance took priority. With he’s going to be in Texas. You know what, if he’s in and he’s deserved it some money leftover, but not quite enough to land a big fish, Dallas and he’s busting through the doors, as I’d like to say, that’s great. It signed players such as Andreas Borgman and Alexander Petrovic, who makes us do some things organizationally and that’s fine. Like any other will serve as organizational depth. They will primarily be in the AHL but player, if he shows he belongs, he’ll be there.” also will be on the shortlist to make the jump to the big team should If Harley is ready, the Stars’ defensive core will feature excitement on injuries arise. But beyond their on-ice contributions, Borgman, 26, and every level. The top four of John Klingberg, Esa Lindell, Miro Heiskanen Petrovic, 29, give the Stars some leadership in the AHL. and Suter is already one of the best, on paper, in the NHL. Hakanpää is “It’s vitally important,” White said. “The young guys are going to hear it a solid right-shot NHL defenseman who would be a good fit with Harley. from our coaches and things like that but hearing experiences from The excitement of Harley’s presence, though, needs to be balanced with players, whether it’s about on the ice or off the ice, is important. It was a patience. Harley’s standing as a first-round pick brings certain young group last year that we evaluated as a whole. I just felt, after expectations, which are mostly fair in terms of where he should get to in talking to (GM) Jim (Nill) and (assistant GM) Mark (Janko), we need to his NHL career. However, the when can be dicey. Not every defenseman add a little bit of experience down below to help out the Thomas Harleys who has exciting expectations attached to his name is going to be like of the world, whether it’s by position or whether it’s just by being in the Heiskanen, a 2017 lottery pick. In fact, most never will. Harley is already group as a whole and how you approach each day. From a professional a step ahead, given that last season, he should have played in the OHL standpoint, they’ve just been through it. It rubs off so if you can get the but got a jump start on his professional career by playing a full season in right guys, it only benefits the whole organization.” the AHL as a 19-year-old because of the OHL not playing due to COVID- 19. The Stars will give Harley a fair shot at being an NHL defenseman The Stars have no way of knowing right now where Harley, Dellandrea going into the season but also know it’s in the best interest of the team and Damiani are going to play next season. The best they can do is give and Harley not to rush anything. the young players the opportunity to win spots on the NHL roster and provide a strong environment for growth, regardless of the result of that Dellandrea, on the other hand, has more immediate NHL expectations. opportunity. All three players are likely to spend time in Cedar Park at Not only is he a year older than Harley, but Dellandrea also flashed some point throughout the upcoming season, and all three are in the potential in the NHL last year after making the roster coming out of organization’s vision for the future. Whether they are also a part of the training camp, due in part to injuries and COVID-related absences the present will be up to them to decide. Stars were dealing with. He played well, in spurts, providing the Stars with an energy boost and scrappy play, but it was tough, particularly for young players, to balance the job at hand while focusing on refining their skills and development. The Athletic LOADED: 08.13.2021

“Last year, Ty didn’t have experience and was thrown into the fire,” White said. “This year, he’s got a year under his belt, will probably be more 1219322 Detroit Red Wings But, again, Oesterle’s ability to play either side and play on both special teams likely will keep him in the lineup.

“I feel like there’s a lot of minutes for me to be able to grab,” Oesterle Dearborn Heights' Jordan Oesterle 'lucky' to come home, join Red Wings said. “They have a lot of very skilled, young defensemen and then some older guys are kind of teaching them the ways. I’m kind of in that middle gap. It’s great for me to join and hopefully grab a role and grow with it.” TED KULFAN | The Detroit News Oesterle played in 43 games with the Coyotes last season, with one goal and 10 assists. Over the years, he has transitioned from more of an offensive defenseman to one who is now sound on both ends of the rink. Detroit — Jordan Oesterle was the typical Red Wings fan growing up. “There’s been years I’ve put up some good points and years where the Oesterle went to games at Joe Louis Arena — his parents were season puck didn’t go my way,” Oesterle said. “I’ve grown a lot defensively over ticket-holders — he was a huge fan of Nicklas Lidstrom, being a the three years in Arizona, in the defensive zone, and getting up and defenseman himself, and he followed the team through all the good times being that fourth man up the ice in creating that extra attack.” and bitter disappointments. Oesterle has links to the current Wings roster, particularly because of his “Those guys were unbelievable,” Oesterle said. “To grow up and be able days at Western Michigan. to watch and go those games and see those guys play, there were a lot of players you could watch and emulate your game after.” Oesterle played with DeKeyser — who attended Oesterle’s wedding on July 16 in Michigan — and Blashill recruited Oesterle to WMU before Now, the circle has become complete. Blashill left to become an assistant coach with the Wings. Oesterle, a Dearborn Heights native who attended Dearborn Divine Child “When he (Blashill) left that summer, going into my freshman year, it was and Western Michigan, is back home. When unrestricted free agency kind of a whirlwind,” Oesterle said. “I didn’t know if I wanted to stay, but began on July 28 and there was an opportunity to join the Wings, then I was lucky enough to play for him at the (men’s) world Oesterle was quick to say yes to a two-year contract worth $2.7 million championships in 2018, so we kind of rekindled (our relationship). He’s ($1.35 million per season cap hit). obviously a great coach and someone I’m excited to play under.” “It’s obviously something I’ve dreamed about since I was a little kid,” Oesterle graduated from Divine Child in 2010, one year before current Oesterle, 29, said during a Zoom call after his signing. “I can’t be more Detroit Tigers catcher Eric Haase, who has enjoyed a breakthrough excited to play for this organization. season. “I didn’t know the chances. Going to free agency, the way their roster “It’s been cool to see what he’s been doing and has been able to do this was this year, I knew they were looking for a left-shot defenseman, so I year, and fun to watch,” Oesterle said. didn’t know if I was going to be the guy or have a chance (to join the Wings). Once I heard they were in the mix, I was narrow-minded to wanting this to be the destination. I was lucky enough for it to come to fruition.” Detroit News LOADED: 08.13.2021

There remains one sticking point from Oesterle’s way of thinking, with his dad and those season tickets.

“He decided to take my brother, who never played hockey, to the game where Pittsburgh won it in Detroit (in 2009),” Oesterle said. “I still don’t let him live that down to this day.

"(But) I have a lot of fond memories going to those games and seeing those colors. Obviously, I was a big Nick Lidstrom fan, Steve Yzerman, Darren McCarty. As I got older and started to become a defenseman, I really tried to watch Lidstrom and became a big fan of his.”

Oesterle didn’t tell his parents, who still live in Dearborn Heights, about his signing with the Wings until it became completed and official.

“This was kind of the back-burner, I didn’t really let them know to get their hopes up,” Oesterle said. “My mom and dad’s whole sides (of the family) are all in the Metro Detroit area. They were very pleased and excited to have my wife and I come back home.”

In signing Oesterle, the Wings added a versatile defenseman who can play either side of the ice, can play either power play or penalty kill, and has seven seasons and 252 NHL games (with Edmonton, Chicago and Arizona) of experience. Over Oesterle’s last three seasons in Arizona, he showed an ability to play in any situation, which will only make him more valuable for the Wings.

“He was used in Arizona kind of in all situations, really — power play, penalty killing, on even strength,” Yzerman, the Wings' general manager, said. “He’s a good skater, and we think that’s important, particularly when you get into four-on-four and then three-on-three overtimes. But we like his versatility and he’s even played a little bit on the right-hand side.

“He’s a real versatile, useful player. His skating is good. He complements our left side well and can fill in anywhere there.”

The addition of Oesterle creates more competition for playing time and provides coach Jeff Blashill and his staff with the good problem of deciding who plays among so many NHL-caliber defensemen.

Oesterle primarily played left side in Arizona. With the Wings, Oesterle joins Marc Staal, Danny DeKeyser and Nick Leddy on the left. Filip Hronek, Moritz Seider, Troy Stecher and Gustav Lindstrom are on the right side. 1219323 Detroit Red Wings

Red Wings sign Jakub Vrana to three-year extension

Updated Aug 10, 2021; Posted Aug 10, 2021

By Ansar Khan | [email protected]

The Detroit Red Wing and forward Jakub Vrana avoided a potentially unpleasant arbitration hearing by agreeing Tuesday to a three-year contract extension valued at $5.25 million per season.

Vrana was asking for $5.7 million per season through arbitration and the Red Wings were offering $3.65 million. The hearing would have taken place on Wednesday.

Vrana, 25, is coming off a two-year contract valued at $3.35 million a season. He tallied 19 goals and 36 points in 50 games in 2021, including eight goals and 11 points in 11 games with Detroit following the April 12 trade from Washington for Anthony Mantha, which also sent a first- and a second-round pick as well as forward Richard Panik to Detroit.

He brings a much-needed combination of speed and scoring skills for a team that struggles on offense.

Vrana will be an unrestricted free agent when the deal expires in 2024.

A native of Prague in the Czech Republic, Vrana has 84 goals and 84 assists in 295 games over five NHL seasons. The Capitals selected him 13th overall in 2014, two spots before Dylan Larkin was taken by the Red Wings.

The arbitration case for Detroit forward Adam Erne is scheduled for Aug. 21. But the sides will continue to negotiate in the meantime.

The Red Wings also have restricted free agents Filip Hronek and Givani Smith to sign.

Michigan Live LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219324 A hip and sports hernia injury hampered Benson through his time with the Giants and spend most of his time rehabilitating heading into the pro level. The injuries set Benson back on his development path, but he is Tyler Benson ready to make jump to Oilers this upcoming season back on track with consecutive off-seasons dedicated to training.

“That’s huge to be able to train and get stronger, I missed a few years of summer training, which kind of stunted my development and making Derek Van Diest these steps,” Benson said. “But I think I’ve made some really big strides these past years in the gym and on the ice. Publishing date:Aug 12, 2021 “Even this summer, I can see the gains that I made on the season I just

had.” Tyler Benson is ready to make the jump to the NHL. In Edmonton, Benson will look to earn a bottom-six spot, with an The Edmonton Oilers prospect has been developing in the American opportunity to move up the lineup. Benson’s offensive instincts were a Hockey League for the past three years after overcoming injuries coming reason the Oilers were so high on him during his draft year, yet it’ll be his out of junior, and is expected to challenge for an NHL roster sport this defensive ability keeping him in an Oilers’ jersey this upcoming season. upcoming season. “Personally, I feel I have the ability and the game that are NHL ready Benson, 23, signed a one-year, two-way contract extension, worth now,” Benson said. “I have the confidence just from the seven games a $750,000 in the NHL — announced Wednesday — and is ready to do couple of years ago. I think if I can play with confidence on the ice that I what it takes to be a full-time member of the Oilers in 2021-22. can be a full-time player. Mentally, I wasn’t as strong as I am now, knowing that I can play with those players and at that level.” “I’m excited,” Benson said Thursday. “I feel like I’m ready to make that jump and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Selected in the second round (32nd overall) in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, Edmonton Sun: LOADED: 08.13.2021 Benson spent last season in the AHL with the . The Edmonton product had 10 goals and 36 points in 36 games in Bakersfield and added another three goals and five points in six playoff games as the Condors won its division in a modified format due to COVID-19 concerns.

Prior to going to Bakersfield, Benson played in Switzerland with the GCK Lions, scoring two goals with 19 points in 15 games.

“Starting the year in Switzerland was a new experience for me, I enjoyed it over there and I think it got me ready for the season over here,” Benson said. “It got me up to speed and in shape for when I did arrive back in camp in Edmonton and then in Bakersfield.

“We had a good team in Bakersfield; I personally felt like it was my best year of pro hockey yet and I’m looking on keep building on that into the summer and into camp that’s coming up.”

Benson has spent the past three seasons in Bakersfield after four years in junior with the of the . The Oilers decided it was best for the six-foot, 190-pound forward to spend another year in the AHL instead of with the taxi squad in Edmonton.

Once in Bakerfield, there was little chance of Benson being called up to play with the Oilers during the season due to COVID-19 quarantine regulations.

“Personally, I believe if it wasn’t for COVID, I would have had another chance to play with the Oilers last season,” Benson said. “But there wasn’t anything I could do about it and I’m just looking forward to the next opportunity.”

Benson made his Oilers debut during the 2019-20 season, before it was postponed by the pandemic, playing seven games and scoring his first NHL goal.

Once designated to playing with the Condors, Benson made the most of the situation. He was given top-line minutes and finished tied for third in league scoring.

In all three of his seasons with the Condors, Benson has been productive offensively. He had 15 goals and 66 points in 68 games during his first year and added nine goals and 36 points in 47 games in his second.

“For me, I really liked my first year of pro hockey, I thought it was a good year and just jumping into it, I had a really good season,” Benson said. “My second year, I had some ups and downs; it was probably my least favourite year of how I played personally in the three years.

“I still think all three years were good and I think this past year, I took what I learned from my first two years and went with it. I think I was a more consistent player this past year.”

The bar has always been high with Benson, dating back to his bantam triple-A days with the Southside Athletic Club Lions. Benson set an Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League scoring record in 2013 with 57 goals and 146 points in 33 games. He was the first-overall selection in the WHL Bantam Draft that season and went on to play four years with the Giants. 1219325 Edmonton Oilers 45.4

Draisaitl and Kassian remain on the team, and head coach Dave Tippett will likely try dozens of combinations throughout the season. All McDavid Lowetide: What are the Oilers’ ‘perfect lines’ for next season? trios from past seasons delivered more than 50 percent of the goal share, save 2020-21 with Nugent-Hopkins and Puljujarvi.

By Allan Mitchell Aug 12, 2021 Holland added many options this summer, and the big piece for this line is Zach Hyman. He’s aggressive in turning over pucks, can score goals and reads plays well with and without the puck. He qualifies as a two-way winger based on his own past. Every indication has him starting the One of the annual rites of summer for Oilers fans is conjuring up ideas for season on the top line, though it’s uncertain if he’ll be on the left or right new forward lines in the fall. wing. Here’s McDavid and three possible wingers with last year’s Who are Connor McDavid’s ideal linemates? Should Leon Draisaitl’s numbers: wingers remain Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Kailer Yamamoto or is a Possible No. 1 line (five on five) tweak necessary? Should Yamamoto move down the depth chart to make room for newcomer Warren Foegele? Finally, is there anyone who PLAYER SHOTS PER 60 GOALS PER 60 could spike next season from the third and fourth lines? Let’s have a SHOOTING PCT look. Connor McDavid Who are McDavid’s ideal linemates? 8.25 McDavid’s main junior winger was Alex DeBrincat, who was a volume shooter. DeBrincat scored 51 goals alongside McDavid with the Erie 1.22 Otters in 2014-15, and in the two years that followed had 581 shots on 14.7 goal (4.7 per game) and a shooting percentage of 20 percent. Zach Hyman It seemed the ideal linemate in the NHL for the Oilers’ phenom would be a volume shooter. 8.2

When he arrived in the NHL, McDavid was hurt early in his rookie 0.84 season, and management immediately began procuring rugged wingers like Patrick Maroon, Milan Lucic, Zack Kassian and Alex Chiasson as 10.2 deterrents. Nugent-Hopkins, a two-way player, also spent time on the Jesse Puljujarvi line. 8 When it comes to identifying McDavid’s ideal NHL linemate, the overwhelming answer through six seasons is Draisaitl. He is not a 0.89 volume shooter, but rather a precision marksman. Here are the top lines 11.1 at five-on-five during the first six years of 97’s career. Warren Foegele LINES MINUTES GOAL DIFFERENTIAL SHOT DIFFERENTIAL 7.7

2016-17 Maroon-McDavid-Draisaitl 0.8

543 10.5

60.4 I believe all three wingers listed will spend time with McDavid and I’m intrigued by the idea of Foegele (puck protection, great speed, can score 54.2 goals) and Hyman (non-stop motor, turns over pucks, opportunistic 2019-20 Draisaitl-McDavid-Kassian scorer). I’m even more intrigued by the possibility of Draisaitl-McDavid- Hyman, but loading up one line is probably reserved for the final minutes 443 of a game with Edmonton down a goal.

52.8 I suspect we’ll see Jesse Puljujarvi (aggressive forechecker, powers off 46.2 the rush to the net, good one-on-one player without the puck) on the No. 1 line to start the season, followed by plenty of shuffle. 2017-18 Maroon-McDavid-Draisaitl Draisaitl’s wingers: Is a tweak necessary? 289 From January to March 2020, Draisaitl with the Nuge and Yamamoto 62.1 was the hottest trio in the NHL. The numbers, looking back, seem impossible: In 317 minutes of five-on-five play, the line finished 28-8 in 57.1 goal differential (77.8 percent) and 53.3 shot differential. Tippett went 2018-19 Draisaitl-McDavid-Kassian away from it in the 2020 postseason (fans remain angry) and the trio spent just over 100 minutes together at five-on-five in 2020-21 (4-5 284 goals), but the addition of Hyman and others should allow this group to reunite. 54.8 Possible No. 2 line (five on five) 49.5 PLAYER SHOTS PER 60 GOALS PER 60 2020-21 Nuge-McDavid-Puljujarvi SHOOTING PCT 258 Leon Draisaitl 48.2 5.14 54.2 0.86 2018-19 Draisaitl-McDavid-Chiasson 16.7 247 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 58.3 7 0.57 4.25

8.2 0.29

Kailer Yamamoto 6.9

5.1 Josh Archibald

0.56 5.52

10.9 0.42

Yamamoto is under some pressure here, based on last year’s numbers. 7.7 He had a fine start to the year, but didn’t get much done in the second half. In a long season, players get nicked up, but Yamamoto stayed in It’ll probably come down to Josh Archibald or Kassian on right wing, with the lineup — and stopped scoring. Ryan McLeod pushing Derek Ryan for the No. 3 centre position. The line needs skill, and despite these numbers, Ryan has great hands and will First 26 games: 6-7-13 (0.5 points per game) surprise fans with his skill set.

Second 26 games: 2-6-8 (0.308 points per game) Three perfect fit lines for the 2021-22 Oilers

If he can post 0.5 points per game this coming season, and can continue The top two lines are going to house McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins with an impressive goal suppression run at five-on-five, Yamamoto will and Hyman, with the two final spots the question marks. Puljujarvi and stay among the top-six forwards. Yamamoto arrive as the incumbents, Foegele the wild card and both Kassian and Turris as possible options if one or both arrives in camp If he struggles, Foegele could see action on the second line with pushing for a chance at redemption. Yamamoto moving down to the third line. In Hyman, Foegele and Ryan, Ken Holland has upgraded the third line Depth forwards who could spike? no matter who lands there. Looking at these players and their There’s a little seam on the Oilers roster after the top two lines (and performances a year ago, there’s a large number of possibilities, partly Foegele) and it’s possible we see some in that group playing on a skill due to so many players being capable at more than one position. line at times in 2021-22. Here are the candidates and their scoring totals Hyman—McDavid—Puljujarvi (39 goals in 2020-21) from a year ago. Nugent-Hopkins—Draisaitl—Yamamoto (27 goals in 2020-21) Possible top-six options (five on five) Foegele—Ryan—Archibald (15 goals in 2020-21) PLAYER SHOTS PER 60 GOALS PER 60 SHOOTING PCT Fifteen Oilers forwards scored 91 goals at five-on-five last season; the nine players listed here cashed 81 times (all of this in a 56-game Zack Kassian season).

3.51 With the knowledge that any lineup that splits McDavid-Draisaitl is by 0.39 definition not a perfect fit, and with the urge to run Foegele with the captain and Hyman an idea whose time will come, the perfect fit lines for 11.1 Edmonton are as above.

Kyle Turris This team is going to score goals. Lots of goals.

4.22

0.42 The Athletic LOADED: 08.13.2021 10

Kassian delivered five-on-five goal scoring seasons of 12 (2018-19) and 15 (2019-20) before scoring just twice in 27 games last year. Edmonton might look at him as a possible rebound talent, and could look to drive up his value in a pump and dump style trade later in the year or next summer. Kyle Turris also scored two goals in 27 games in 2020-21 and would be looking for the same kind of redemption.

One player not listed is recent signing Brendan Perlini, who posted 1.39 goals per 60 in 46 games with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2018-19. He is a long shot, but if that scoring touch remains, Perlini could be an inspired addition.

Third-line options

This will be a key to this year’s team, with Foegele and Derek Ryan at centre the major additions. To give you an idea about how much work is to be done by the third and fourth lines at five-on-five, here are the goal differentials from last season:

McDavid and Draisaitl complete five-on-five minutes: 86-64 (57.3 goal differential)

All other five-on-five minutes: 29-52 (35.8 goal differential)

There’s room to grow on the third and fourth lines, and here are the candidates to make it happen.

Possible No. 3 line (five on five)

PLAYER SHOTS PER 60 GOALS PER 60 SHOOTING PCT

Derek Ryan 1219326 Florida Panthers “This is a great deal and what it does is give us some ability to plan,” Zito told FHN on Thursday. “We have a little bit certainty for a couple of years. ‘OK, we know we’re OK here.’ In tandem with the certainty, we Sam Reinhart says he wants to stay long-term with Florida Panthers have flexibility.

“You now have the ability to move forward with multiple pieces who can play top 6 in multiple positions including center which is a luxury that Published 18 hours ago on August 12, 2021 you’re not always afforded. You’re able to plan and you’re able to start thinking one, two, three or four seasons out. You’re able to engage in By George Richards those exercises knowing where you are now and where we need to get to.”

It may have taken the Florida Panthers a few weeks to officially sign Sam Said Reinhart: “It’s nice to know both parties were OK with that and Reinhart to a new contract, but there was no drama and “no issues.’’ happy with that. I don’t think I can stress enough that both parties are confident this is going to work out and ultimately, it will be longer than The Panthers acquired Reinhart in a draft-day deal with the Buffalo (three years). That’s in the plan for both of us. Sabres late last month and on Wednesday announced that the two sides had agreed on a three-year deal worth an average of $6.5 million per “This is an opportunity to get down and get familiar and be part of this season. win-now mentality that has been building for year. Hopefully this year and in the following two, we can really reach our goals. It is something we The two sides started talking once the trade was complete but other envision can be a lot longer.” business — free agency for one — got in the way of an immediate deal being worked out. The Panthers, make no mistake, are a loaded team right now.

But there was no worry from either side that something was going to get Some players — such as Barkov, Verhaeghe and Huberdeau — are done. currently on extremely team-friendly contracts based on their high-end production. “It feels great,” Reinhart said from his offseason home in Vancouver on Thursday morning. “Just to have it behind us and focus on camp now. Verhaeghe will be getting $4.2 million starting in 2022-23 after signing a two-year, $2 million deal last October. “As far as being a Panther, it has been a couple weeks now and there were no issues with that in trying to sign a deal. Nothing new there. I’m Barkov and Huberdeau will be getting big raises sooner-than-later. just excited about the new chapter and the opportunity ahead.” When a team succeeds based on the production of its players, a bill In the end, the Panthers are happy to have Reinhart locked in for the comes due. next three seasons. The Panthers are trying to keep everyone happy and well paid while Reinhart, who played last season on a one-year deal, is happy to have trying to fit everyone in. something done and be able to set up shop in South Florida. Right now, everyone is happy and relatively well compensated. And, in two years, the two sides can go back to the table and start Now it is time to see what this team can do on the ice. working out a new pact. Last year was certainly a huge step in the right direction. But that is really getting ahead of things. Florida, thanks in great part to the additions of players like Verhaeghe For right now, Reinhart is ready to dive in with a playoff-ready team after and Duclair, were two points away from winning the third division title in a couple frustrating years with a Buffalo organization that appeared lost franchise history. at sea. Although the Panthers lost players such as Alex Wennberg, Chris “It is exciting and there is an extra level of motivation knowing the guys Driedger, Keith Yandle and Anton Stralman, some of those were by (Florida) has, the talent level that is there and what they’re setting out to design. do with their goals,” Reinhart said. Others, the team hopes to replace either from outside the organization “It is a great feeling and really refreshing coming into that mindset. I can’t (Reinhart) or from within (Spencer Knight). wait to do my part and fit into what they’ve already been building. Hopefully I will help put us over the top.” Reinhart did not get to see the Panthers up close last season as the Sabres played in the East Division, but he says he is excited to get to Said Florida GM Bill Zito: “It is exciting when someone is excited to come Florida and hop on the ice with his talented new teammates. here. I think it is a big compliment to our room, our players that he wants to come and join them. It is exciting.” “I saw a couple games against Tampa and that was a heck of a series,” Reinhart said. “To be able to see where they were able to get to and LIFE WITH A FLAT SALARY CAP where they want to get to is motivating to me especially this summer Although some thought Reinhart would have signed on for more than moving into camp and into the start of the season.” three seasons with the Panthers, Zito said it is a length of term which Sam Reinhart gives Florida Panthers a load of possibilities gives both sides some flexibility. The Panthers are a legitimate Stanley Cup contender right now and the In working with a current flat salary cap which isn’t expected to grow by addition of a versatile player such as Reinhart gives coach Joel more than $1 million per season over the next couple of years, Zito has Quenneville a plethora of options moving forward. to look years in advance in trying to keep his team as intact as possible. Reinhart is expected to start the season on the right side of a new top Sam Bennett excited about future of the Florida Panthers line which would include Barkov and Verhaeghe, although he could play This offseason, Zito has already extended the contracts of Carter with Huberdeau and Bennett — either as a center or right wing. Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett, Anthony Duclair, Gus Forlsing and Brandon Florida’s power play will also have a new look this season with Yandle Montour. bought out and off to Philadelphia. Some of Florida’s biggest names — Sasha Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau With 10 goals on the power play last year with the Sabres, Reinhart will and MacKenzie Weegar — will be up for contract extensions in the play a big role when Florida has the man advantage this year. coming years. “If you talk to coaches and GMs, no one is ever satisfied,” Zito said. “But I Barkov is up for one this summer with his new deal kicking in during the think Sam is — the word dynamic is overused — but for him it is really 2022-23 season. Huberdeau and Weegar can be extended next summer. applicable because of his versatility, his skill and his hockey sense. While teams cannot keep everyone, you have to try.

Zito is trying. “Really, he crosses the red line and he is a threat to make a play at any time and in any space on the ice. … He is a pretty significant hockey- playing package and that really gets you excited.”

SPRINGTIME IN BUFFALO

Reinhart, who turns 26 in November, spent seven seasons with the Sabres after being the second-overall pick of the 2014 NHL Draft behind new teammate Aaron Ekblad.

The Panthers do not travel to western New York until visiting the Sabres on March 7 and Reinhart said he is looking forward to the return.

Although things did not work out in Buffalo as either side had hoped upon his arrival, he said it was a big part of his life.

“It is going to be bizarre for sure but it is part of the business that so many guys have to go through,” Reinhart said.

“I’m going to try and enjoy it as much as I can because there are a few good memories there and I have relationships there that will last a lifetime. I have some excitement about going back and catching up with so many people.”

Florida Hockey Now LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219327 Florida Panthers

Florida Panthers single game tickets go on sale Friday morning

Published 19 hours ago on August 12, 2021

By George Richards

We are getting closer and closer to the NHL season kicking off and on Friday morning, the Florida Panthers will put single game tickets for the 2021-22 campaign on sale to the general public.

Starting at 10 a.m., tickets to the season opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 14 all the way up to the regular-season home finale against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning on April 24 will be up for grabs.

The Panthers plan on playing at full capacity at BB&T Center this season although a number of precautions put into place during last season are expected to remain.

Get a subscription to Florida Hockey Now today for all the latest Panthers news from the offseason to the postseason

While we don’t know what mask policies will look like tomorrow much less in October, we’ll get to that later.

The BB&T Center is Health-Safety Certified and will offer mobile-only ticketing and cashless payment options throughout the arena. That includes ordering concessions on the team’s FLA Live! app.

Florida Hockey Now LOADED: 08.13.2021

1219328 Minnesota Wild dazzling display of skill, creativity and playmaking. The Wild hasn't had an individual talent like this in its existence.

Kaprizov's camp needs to maintain some perspective, too. His NHL Expect to see Kirill Kaprizov in Wild green and red next month resume consists of only 55 games, and he didn't exactly dominate the playoff series against Vegas.

He would still be in his prime — 28 years old — if he signs a four-year AUGUST 12, 2021 — 6:11AM deal. If he continues to ascend into superstar territory, that bite at the contract apple would be especially scrumptious. Chip Scoggins @CHIPSCOGGINS This staredown might drag on a little longer, which will give Minnesota

sports fans more time to agonize over the worst-case scenario. Count me The MSA gauge spiked again this week. Not to unhealthy levels, but among those who will be shocked if Kaprizov is playing in Russia, and enough to increase the Minnesota Sports Anxiety reading beyond its not Minnesota, this season. default setting of dread.

The Wild is locked in a contract staredown with the most talented and Star Tribune LOADED: 08.13.2021 entertaining player in team history.

Gulp.

Now comes a report from Daily Faceoff that Kirill Kaprizov has a tentative one-year contract worth at least $10 million with a Kontinental Hockey League team in Russia if he can't reach a new deal with the Wild by Sept. 1.

Double gulp.

And did we mention training camp starts next month and the season opener is two months away?

Frustrating that it has reached this point, but decrease your MSA. This looks like a case of Negotiating 101, a superstar-in-the-making flexing his leverage muscle to maximize his value. The situation is complicated, for sure, but a threat that Kaprizov might return to Russia feels more like a bluff than a realistic option.

The safe bet remains that the Wild and Kaprizov find compromise on a deal that is fair to both sides. Sometimes these things just take time and patience, though Kaprizov's camp is certainly testing every ounce of patience in Wild General Manager Bill Guerin and a fan base that waits nervously.

Kaprizov's long-awaited arrival was a bumpy path of uncertainty, so why expect this episode to be any different?

In trying to make sense of their stalemate and look for clues in how it might end, start with this fundamental premise: Competitors love to test themselves against the best competition.

The NHL is the best hockey league in the world. As a rookie, Kaprizov showed himself to be a tough competitor. He thrived and seemed to enjoy going head-to-head against the best players in his sport.

So we're supposed to buy the notion that he's willing to play JV hockey instead if he doesn't get everything he's asking for in contract demands?

At a minimum, Kaprizov likely is looking at $35 million guaranteed in his next Wild deal. What if he suffered a serious injury playing in the KHL? And even if he spends a year playing in Russia, the Wild still owns his contract rights.

Obviously, Guerin can't afford to write off a season with a cornerstone player. That would be bad business — on the ice, in selling tickets and in optics. The Wild desperately needs Kaprizov in the lineup to avoid major disruption to what Guerin is attempting to build in his organizational makeover.

In his short time running the operation, Guerin has shown a willingness to make tough decisions that might be unpopular. Trading Kaprizov should not be an option even considered, no matter how frustrating negotiations become.

The Wild understandably would love to lock up Kaprizov to a long-term deal. And Kaprizov understandably would love to sign a short-term deal to become an unrestricted free agent as soon as possible.

Neither side is winning that battle. A reasonable comprise exists in the middle — a term of four or five years. The Athletic reported that the team is willing to go to $9 million annually on the deal, an offer that would be a record for the organization.

No doubt that this is a delicate negotiation. Kaprizov played better than advertised as a rookie, winning the Calder Trophy while showing off a 1219329 New York Islanders

Robin Lehner sympathizes with Jack Eichel amid Sabres mess

By David Lazar

August 12, 2021 3:52pm Updated

The Buffalo Sabres are a mess.

Their star player, Jack Eichel, has demanded a trade. This originated from many things – including years of losing – but the team’s treatment of the 24-year-old’s neck injury headlines the list.

Former Sabres’ goalie Robin Lehner knows how Eichel is feeling.

“I had a high ankle sprain, I tear everything in my foot and go through that and there was a bunch of problems,” Lehner said on The Cam & Strick Podcast. “They hired like 12, 13 new people on that team that year that never played, never been around hockey.

“The medical guys and [physiotherapists] and all that stuff. They took them in from all over the world and none of them had ever seen a puck in their life and I ended up getting a lot worse and ended up getting surgery at the end of that season because they just kept screwing it up.”

Robin Lehner empathized with Jack Eichel over the Sabres’ treatment of injuries.

Lehner suffered a lower-body injury in his first game of the 2015-16 NHL season and missed more than three months as a result. In his first season with the Sabres after being acquired in a trade from the Senators, Lehner played 20 more games after initially returning from the injury, but it ended his season early.

Lehner senses Eichel’s health is not being put first – similar to his experience with the Sabres.

“It’s another medical problem there too,” Lehner said. “I mean the shit they did to some of the players when I was there – and especially to me regarding my ankle – I mean it was crazy, man. I had a high ankle sprain they had me on the bike one week after.

“One week after I had my fully torn everything, worst-grade ankle sprain, one week after they put me on the bike in a special boot. I should’ve been walking on it maybe six to eight weeks after [surgery]. They had me doing leg presses with 300 pounds three weeks into [rehab] and I re- sprained everything and I had to have surgery.”

Since his time in Buffalo, Lehner has embarked on a successful career.

He signed with the Islanders on July 3, 2018, and in his first season, he was named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy – given to the top goalie in hockey – after going 25-13-5 with a 2.13 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage. He won the Masterton Trophy for perseverance and dedication after publicizing his battles with addiction and mental health issues.

Also on the podcast, the 30-year-old shared why his time with the team lasted only one season. Islanders’ general manager Lou Lamoriello was busy with free agents Anders Lee, Brock Nelson and Jordan Eberle after the 2018-19 season, and an extension with Lehner never materialized.

Nonetheless, Lehner is doing just fine.

He signed a one-year, $5 million deal with the Blackhawks that offseason, before getting traded to the Golden Knights. Since then, he agreed to a five-year, $25 million contract through 2024-25, and will take over the starting job in Vegas after 2021 Vezina winner Marc-Andre Fleury was traded to the Blackhawks.

New York Post LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219330 New York Rangers is to make the playoffs and that’s obviously at the front of every single player’s mind.”

Chris Kreider proud of Rangers’ ‘resiliency’ last season New York Post LOADED: 08.13.2021

By Mollie Walker

August 13, 2021 12:09am

Chris Kreider saw it as a sign of normalcy that he was attending Smashfest, an NHL player-driven charity event, Thursday night.

He roamed from table to table and socialized with fans during the fundraising pingpong tournament, which has been hosted by former Ranger Dominic Moore since 2012. Kreider couldn’t help but reflect on how far things have come since the coronavirus pandemic impacted the last two seasons, including the Rangers’ tumultuous 2020-21 campaign that culminated in a front office and coaching change.

“I think that we learned that we have a resilient group, which I think has been a staple of this team for as long as I’ve been here when we’ve had success,” Kreider said before giving his pingpong skills a go at The Loading Dock in Stamford, Conn. “At times, you might be down, but you’re not out and we showed signs of that right from the start of the year for the first two games where we got beat up by the Islanders, didn’t score a goal, and then came back to shut them out.

“Obviously, the response with the Washington games toward the end of the year. The guys who were out, myself included, were kicking ourselves for not being able to play in those games. But it was really cool to see that level of resiliency and that level of battle and fight from young guys.

Chris Kreider skates in the Rangers’ game against the Penguins.

“That’s got to be the culture of the Rangers.”

The 2021-22 season is set to begin in roughly two months, with a new general manager, Chris Drury, and a new head coach, Gerard Gallant, leading the way. Kreider is confident the Rangers can continue building the winning culture they have been working toward.

Norris Trophy-winner Adam Fox also participated in the event. Kreider made a point to acknowledge how beneficial the 23-year-old Fox has been to the Rangers and how much of an upside the rest of the young players on the team have.

“I think the future is pretty bright,” he said.

Thursday marked the first time in Smashfest’s existence that it was held outside of Toronto.

Instead of an influx of Maple Leafs fans, Rangers faithful poured into The Loading Dock to see Kreider and Fox headline a number of current and former NHL players, including legendary Rangers goalie Mike Richter, former Blueshirt Marty St. Louis and Colin Blackwell, who was taken from the Rangers in the Seattle Kraken expansion draft this offseason.

“We’ve always wanted to do Smashfest in more places because you see the way fans respond to it, they just love being a part of it,” said Moore, who played a combined five seasons with the Rangers after the organization drafted him 95th-overall in 2000. “I obviously have a lot of affinity for my time in New York and Rangers fans. I have a lot of loyalty to Rangers fans here and so do it in Rangers country, to have guys like Foxy and Mike Richter and Marty St. Louis and Kreids. … It’s really special.”

The event has helped fund research into rare cancers and concussions. Supported by the league and NHL Players Association, Smashfest surpassed the $1 million mark in funds raised in 2019, but anticipates another big turnout this year.

Even amid the excitement of the fundraiser, surrounded by his peers in the peak of the offseason, Kreider’s intensity came through when he was asked about the Rangers’ goal of making the playoffs for the first time in four seasons.

“Everyone just wants to punch their ticket to the dance,” he said. “That’s going to be our goal. Regardless of what people think of our roster, people think of what the state of the team is, our goal going into the year 1219331 New York Rangers

Rangers sign first-round pick Brennan Othmann

By Larry Brooks

August 12, 2021 12:31pm Updated

The Rangers have signed first-round draft pick Brennan Othmann to a three-year entry level-deal, the team announced Thursday. Terms were not released.

The 18-year-old winger, selected 16th overall last month, recorded 16 points (7-9) in 34 games for EHC Olten of the Swiss League, opting to play in Switzerland last season when the OHL shut down because of COVID.

Brennan Othmann (right) has signed with the Rangers, the team announced.

Othmann, who represented Canada in the U-18 tournament, is expected to return to the OHL Flint, where he posted 33 points (17-16) in 55 games in his age 16/17 season two years ago.

New York Post LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219332 New York Rangers A native of Scarborough, Ontario, he helped Canada win the gold medal at the 2021 World U-18 Championship, scoring three goals with three assists in seven games.

Rangers excited over big changes for coming season

Newsday LOADED: LOADED: 08.13.2021

By Colin Stephenson [email protected] @ColinSNewsday

August 12, 2021 10:14 PM

STAMFORD, Conn. — Training camp for the Rangers’ 2021-22 season is a month away, and as the NHL prepares to go back to a full 82-game season, with fans in arenas from Day 1, players are starting to get excited.

On Thursday, several current and former NHL players, including current Rangers Chris Kreider and Adam Fox, were able to gather in Stamford for Smashfest, the annual ping pong tournament organized by former Ranger Dominic Moore where players mingle with fans in an effort to raise money to fight against cancer and to learn more about concussions.

"I think this is one thing that really got lost in the craziness of the pandemic — we didn’t have the same opportunities to gather like this to contribute to a charity,’’ Kreider said. "So, to see this turnout, I’ve been to this event in Toronto — Dom has done a terrific job of building this to where it is now — and I’m really happy to be a part of this. This is a terrific event for an unbelievable cause, and it feels like there’s some element of normalcy.’’

Both Kreider and Fox were also excited to talk about the upcoming Rangers season, after all the change the organization has had since the 2021 season ended.

Team president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton were fired -- both replaced by Chris Drury and coach David Quinn was also let go, replaced by Gerard Gallant. Forward Pavel Buchnevich was traded to the St. Louis Blues, while the team also traded for, and then signed, former Tampa Bay Lightning forward Barclay Goodrow and former Vegas Golden Knights enforcer Ryan Reaves, while also signing free agent defensemen Patrik Nemeth and Jarred Tinordi.

"I’m really excited,’’ Fox said. "Obviously there are changes made — it stinks losing people that you got close with, [but] yeah, I’m definitely looking forward to get going.’’

Kreider was asked about the move by Drury to add grit and toughness to the lineup with the acquisitions of Goodrow, Reaves, Tinordi and Sammy Blais, who came from St. Louis in the Buchnevich trade.

"As a player, [adding toughness is] not something I really concern myself with, but I see guys who compete hard, guys who play ‘North,’ who want to get to the inside; who know who they are as players, who have played within a defined role and know how they can help a team win,’’ Kreider said of the new guys.

There was talk, too, about the possibility the Rangers may name a captain this season. They haven’t had a captain since Ryan McDonagh was traded to Tampa Bay at the deadline in February 2018. Both Kreider, the longest-tenured Ranger, and Fox, the newly minted Norris Trophy winner as the league’s best defenseman, would be candidates to be named captain. But both downplayed the significance of naming a captain.

"Thinking back the last couple years, regardless of whether someone was wearing a ‘C’ or an ‘A’ or nothing, we’ve had leaders in the room,’’ Kreider said. "We’re going to continue to have leaders. We’ve got some terrific veterans who have stepped up the last few years and I’ve been incredibly proud of that group.’’

The Rangers signed forward Brennan Othmann, their first-round pick in last month’s NHL draft, to an entry-level contract, the team announced Thursday.

Othmann, 18, played in the Swiss League in 2020-21 after the OHL did not play due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 34 games for EHC Olten, a second-division team, he had seven goals and nine assists (16 points) with 64 penalty minutes. The 6-foot, 175-pounder, whom the Rangers took 16th overall, played with the of the OHL in 2019-20 and had 17 goals, 16 assists (33 points) in 55 games. 1219333 New York Rangers

Rangers sign first-round pick Brennan Othmann to entry-level contract

By Colin Stephenson [email protected] @ColinSNewsday

Updated August 12, 2021 12:39 PM

The Rangers have signed forward Brennan Othmann, their first-round pick in last month’s NHL draft, to an entry-level contract, the team announced Thursday.

Othmann, 18, played in the Swiss League in 2020-21 after the OHL did not play due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 34 games for EHC Olten, a second-division team in the league, he had seven goals and nine assists (16 points) with 64 penalty minutes. The 6-foot, 175-pounder, whom the Rangers took 16th overall, played with the Flint Firebirds of the OHL in 2019-20 and had 17 goals, 16 assists (33 points) in 55 games.

A native of Scarborough, Ontario, he helped Canada win the gold medal at the 2021 World U-18 Championship, scoring three goals with three assists in seven games.

Newsday LOADED: LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219334 Ottawa Senators Sure, there needs to flexibility, but you have to have guidelines to work with as well and, at some point, Ontario Premier Doug Ford will have to announce when we’re going to return to normal operations throughout this province. The Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs expect to have full capacity, but awaiting green light The Leafs and Senators will open training camp Sept. 22nd and will play exhibition games in their own rinks a few days later. If you read the rules in Stage 3 of Ontario’s re-opening plan, it appears that if the season started tomorrow the Leafs and Senators would be limited to a capacity Bruce Garrioch of 1,000 people. Publishing date:Aug 12, 2021 Of course, we all know that’s not going to be the case, but sooner or later there does need to be a hard and fast number attached especially with full vaccination stats in Canada hovering at the 70% mark. For example, Two months from today, the Toronto Maple Leafs will host the Montreal if the Leafs, Senators and Raptors are to start the season with 50% Canadiens in their season opener at Scotiabank Arena and it’s anybody’s capacity then they do have the right to know. guess how many fans will be in the 19,800-seat building. No, there hasn’t been any public discussion about limiting tickets sales The next night, the Leafs will travel to the Canadian Tire Centre to take here to those fully vaccinated and it’s not known if teams in Ontario will on the Ottawa Senators and their home opener Oct. 14 at the Canadian be asked to go that route but it does make sense. It would make Tire Centre. Again, nobody knows how many of the 18,153 seats will be everybody feel comfortable but that’s a decision all the organizations sold. across the province will have to make.

We’re at the point where time is of the essence for both organizations If the requirement is for ticket holders to be fully vaccinated that’s not an and they’re not alone on the hockey front in Ontario. unreasonable request. We’ve also seen it with the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers and that’s a big reason why the Jets followed suit. It’s believed the stakeholders have held more talks this week to see where it all stands. Only two months to the season and still many questions remain unanswered for Ontario’s two NHL teams. Look, there’s no reason to believe that both buildings won’t be full with many of the vaccination thresholds already met to allow for indoor seating at ticketed events but it’s difficult for the NHL’s two Ontario-based teams to put single game tickets on sale if they aren’t sure they can sell Ottawa Sun LOADED: 08.13.2021 them all.

Lisa MacLeod, the minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries, has been good about staying in touch with representatives of all the organizations in the province to make sure they’re kept up to date on what the chief medical officer of Ontario is recommending for their return to play with fans in attendance.

While the CFL’s Ottawa Red Blacks, Toronto Argos and Hamilton Tiger- Cats will all have capacity limits of 15,000 people at their respective outdoor stadiums, the Senators and Leafs are waiting with baited breath to find out just how many people will be allowed inside their buildings with other NHL teams across North America making preparations.

Senators owner’ Eugene Melnyk, president of business operations Anthony LeBlanc and representatives of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment — which also owns the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, Toronto TFC and the Argos — need to find out what the landscape will look like when the season gets under way.

Officials with the Ontario Hockey League, a gate-driven league with 17 of 20 team based in the province, must be wondering what kind of capacity they can have. The Senators and Leafs both own their affiliates in Belleville and Marlies respectively so they want to know how many fans they can have as well.

No, you can’t throw caution to the wind, but we already know in Alberta the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers will be to be able to have full houses because there’s zero restrictions there. The Canadiens had limited capacity in the playoffs, however, the expectation is the Bell Centre will be close to capacity. Vancouver is in a tough spot with cases on the rise.

The Winnipeg Jets announced late Wednesday they’ve been given the green light by province of Manitoba to have full capacity of 16,345 next season. However, it comes with the proviso fans will have to be fully vaccinated.

“We have recently surveyed a selection of our customers and the majority of respondents told us they would only feel comfortable attending games if we required proof of full vaccination,” the club said in a statement. “Furthermore, approximately 70 percent of guests felt it was important that staff and guests be required to wear masks at games or events.”

A large part of the issue is warnings there’s a fourth wave around the corner. The Delta variant has numbers on the rise across the country, especially among those who have chosen not to get their jab, and that’s making everyone question what the fall is going to look like when schools reopen? 1219335 Philadelphia Flyers Drake can’t wait to be reunited with his dad next month. In fact, for Fairhurst, the bond that has developed between Drake and Provorov has surprised her most, especially considering it took two years for her to convince Provorov it was the right time for a puppy. Ivan Provorov gets recognized on the streets of Philly because he’s a Flyer. But now, people just want to talk about his dog “He’s awesome,” Provorov said. “I always loved dogs but, you know, a lot of times with the schedule and travel and currently living in the city in the apartment, [I was] thinking it wasn’t the right time or it wasn’t the best idea. But once we got him, we kind of settled in, and had the time to play Erin McCarthy around and go for walks, take him on the ice, or even run around the apartment … After that, it was all fun times and great moments.”

Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov is used to getting recognized by Someday, Drake will get a sibling, Fairhurst said, but not soon. For now, hockey fans. But in recent months, he’s been stopped on the streets of the spotlight is all Drake’s, and fans can expect the same volume of Philadelphia for another reason — one that is adorable, fluffy, and far adorable content as he grows up. less agile on the ice. “I think people have become really invested in logging on” to his All over the city, people are recognizing his now-4-month-old golden accounts, Fairhurst said. “I talk to people all over the world, Fiji England. retriever, Drake. To the dog’s more than 215,000 Instagram and TikTok People everywhere have really fallen in love with this dog. It’s really followers, he’s known as Drake The Pup Star. cool.”

Provorov’s girlfriend, Madison Fairhurst, created the accounts earlier this summer to share cute photos and videos with friends and family, as well Philadelphia Inquirer / Daily News LOADED: 08.13.2021 as with Provorov, who has been training in his native Russia since early July. The couple said they’ve been shocked to see how quickly Drake has gone viral, with fan mail coming in from all over the world and some of his TikToks getting more than a million views.

“It started with a lot of the Flyers fans loving that Ivan got a dog,” Fairhurst said in a recent video interview, with Drake perched on her lap in an orange Flyers bandanna — until he got bored a few minutes later and took to playing on the floor instead.

“Everyone loves cute puppies. And then he really just grew into his personality, and I think people can really connect with that.”

Drake — whose name was inspired partly by the rapper and partly by Center City’s Drake building — is among the latest viral pet stars to grace social media platforms, where users are hungry for adorable animal content.

There’s a lot of competition for the attention of dog lovers, but Fairhurst said she thinks what sets Drake apart is his expressiveness — the way he looks like he is smiling when he is happy and side-eyes his parents when he’s mad. It certainly doesn’t hurt, either, that his dad is a professional athlete, who still has more than double the Instagram followers of his pup (though Drake’s roughly 200,000 TikTok followers blow Provorov’s social media presence away), and that Drake has already started working with brands.

Yes, like all Instagram users canine and otherwise, Drake’s account showcases the highlights of his life — snoozing with dad on the floor and eating doggy ice cream — but he’s not afraid to share the low moments, too, like having to put on his harness or to stay in the crate for longer than he’d like.

He even documented a couple outings with his dad at the Virtua Center Flyers Skate Zone, the team’s Voorhees practice facility, and displayed his growing confidence on the ice.

“The first time, he was a little bit scared of the noise and the sound of the skates and the blades,” said Provorov, joining the interview from Russia. “But I think by the third time he went, he was running all over the place. He was chasing the puck. He was chasing me.”

“He’s so furry and so fluffy, so he really enjoys the cold,” Provorov added. “I played with him while he was on the ice. And then a few times I picked him up and skated with him, holding him, and kind of let him slide all over the ice.”

Drake hasn’t skated with any of Provorov’s teammates yet, though the couple plan to bring the dog to the rink once the season approaches.

But for now, Drake is keeping his mom company and splitting time between the couple’s Philadelphia apartment and a family home in Belmar, where the pup enjoys long walks on the beach and has recently tried stand-up paddle boarding.

Once a week, he also attends puppy obedience school, which Fairhurst said usually contains more lessons for her than for him. Last week, he was working on not jumping up and putting his paws on the table, she said. 1219336 Philadelphia Flyers In anticipation for a new year, putting the past in the past, Hart has the Flyers' Oct. 15 season opener in front of fans at the Wells Fargo Center circled on his calendar.

Hart smiling about much more than just the money on his new contract "I can't wait for opening night where it'll be a sold-out stadium again," he said. "How loud our stadium is and how loud they're going to be on opening night, it's going to be wild. We're all looking forward to it."

BY JORDAN HALL

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 08.13.2021 FLYERS

Naturally, Carter Hart cracked many smiles Monday.

And it wasn't solely about his wallet getting fatter. Playing out his entry- level contract, the soon-to-be 23-year-old signed a new three-year, $11.937 million deal. But the moola did not seem to be the overarching reason for why the Flyers' innocent netminder was smiling Monday.

Hart has enjoyed his summer back home in the Edmonton, Alberta area, a relished opportunity to start anew and put the forgettable 2020-21 season in the past. Last season, an unorthodox 56-game sprint in the world of COVID-19, featured little enjoyment and a lot of adversity for Hart.

"The past is in the past," Hart said Monday.

He has turned the page while his team has turned to a new look.

Hart expressed excitement for both.

"It's been great," Hart said about his summer. "Everything's open here now, no masks, you can pretty much do everything without any restrictions now, so that's good. It's been awesome to see all my family and friends, just kind of hang out. ... Take a nice breather from the game, took about a month or so off the ice. It was nice to kind of just recharge and relax a little bit. It's been good, it's been a good summer. I got a lot of golf in, so my golf game has improved. I know some of the boys might say otherwise. It's been really good. Playing a lot of tennis and just been outdoors quite a bit, so it's been a good summer. The weather has been great here and it's been great so far."

Hart went 9-11-5 with a 3.67 goals-against average and .877 save percentage last season before he was shut down for the Flyers' final 13 games because of an MCL sprain in his left knee. At that point, the Flyers' season was already lost. The club ended up yielding an NHL- most 3.52 goals per game and owning a league-worst .883 save percentage.

The results of 2020-21 sparked some significant change by general manager Chuck Fletcher. Much of it revolved around the back end with the acquisitions of defensemen Ryan Ellis, Rasmus Ristolainen and Keith Yandle. On top of that, Fletcher added Martin Jones in net and Cam Atkinson up front.

"I've heard great things, I've talked to some of those guys already and they seem like beauties," Hart said. "It's going to be a lot of fun this year and we're going to have a great locker room. Just looking forward to getting started.

"Definitely a lot of new faces coming in. Sad to see some of the boys go, for sure, but it's a business."

Hart is eager to compete and work with the 31-year-old Jones, who has 62 games of playoff experience and is eyeing a bounce-back season like Hart.

"I've heard great things about Jonesy and I'm looking forward to meeting him here soon," Hart said. "That's what you want, you want to have a good competition between the two 'tendies. Me and Jonesy will push each other to be better in practice and off the ice. I think that's only healthy; you want to have two goalies that compete hard to play games. I think in the long run, it will only be better off for the team and ourselves."

Hart, whose birthday is Friday, still has work to do this month before he comes back to the Philadelphia area ahead of September training camp. He said the offseason training and communication have been good.

"There's been a couple areas this offseason we've highlighted together, from our goalie coach in Philly Kim Dillabaugh, with my goalie coach back home here Dustin Schwartz," Hart said. "They're all on the same page. It's been a couple things there that we've targeted to work on and I think we've made a lot of good progress." 1219337 Pittsburgh Penguins

Cha-Ching! Penguins Projected to be 7th Richest NHL Franchise by 2025

Published 16 hours ago on August 12, 2021

By Dan Kingerski

The Pittsburgh Penguins have already established themselves as one of the benchmark franchises in the NHL. Of course, nearly 40 years of incomparable Hall of Fame players whom the league will remember forever as the best of their generations, and of all time, surely doesn’t hurt. The Penguins TV ratings eclipsed all other NHL and NBA teams last season. Pittsburgh Penguins’ social media is also one of the most active communities in sports.

According to Bookies.com, the Penguins’ growth will lead to pretty substantial riches.

Using a methodology based partly on the disputed Forbes revenue reporting (teams dispute it, anyway), the site first studied earnings from 2012-2019 (2020 excluded due to Covid).

The data includes all revenue streams and is the amount published by each team in their annual accounts. Bookies then ran their own forecast function to generate predicted revenue information for the years 2021- 2025.

According to Bookies, the Penguins will become the seventh richest NHL franchise by 2025, projected to earn over $278 million. That projected figure places them just behind the LA Kings and ahead of a division rival, the Washington Capitals.

The betting site projects the Pittsburgh Penguins to finish sixth in revenue this season with about $230 million and for revenues to climb steadily through 2025.

After 2025, the Pittsburgh Penguins may have a radically different roster if they don’t even sooner?

The Montreal Canadiens top the Bookies list with a very healthy projected revenue stream. The hockey-mad city could bring in over $327 million USD. The Vegas Golden Knights placed last in the projections, with revenue estimates near just $89 million.

Bookies projects the combined annual revenue of all 31 NHL teams (excluding Seattle) in 2025 to exceed $6 billion. Perhaps the salary cap will increase by then, too?

The site did not have such good news for the Pittsburgh Steelers, whose revenue projections place them 17th in the NFL, behind Miami and slightly ahead of Jacksonville.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219338 Pittsburgh Penguins Kuznetsov spends a little while on the straight and narrow, suitors will be lined up around the block.

Odds Kuznetsov remains in DC: 75%. NHL Trade Rumors: The Top 5 Players Who Did Not Get Traded & Why Jason Zucker, Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins are cap-strapped. Zucker has a $5.5 million AAV for the Published 17 hours ago on August 12, 2021 next two years, and the GM who chased Zucker like a lovestruck puppy for nearly a year is gone. It was natural Zucker’s name would appear in By Dan Kingerski the NHL trade rumors. However, nothing has come of it, including a whiff of substantial talks.

Last season, Zucker scored 18 points (9-9-18) in 38 games. He also It’s the time of the offseason and the anti-trade rumors. We considered suffered a significant lower-body injury midway through the season. putting on blast one of the anonymous bloggers who was reporting, step Pundits often mentioned teams like the Detroit Red Wings and the by step, a free agent signing on Wednesday..except for the fact that it Seattle Kraken via expansion draft, but it surely appears Zucker will didn’t actually happen. But there are other players whose names have remain a Penguin. His salary vs. his production is too much to swallow. appeared in reputable reports, NHL trade speculation, and we otherwise expected to see traded by now, including one by the Pittsburgh Odds Zucker remains a Penguin: 90%. Penguins. Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues While Eichel is still attempting to force a trade out of Buffalo and get his back surgery, the Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams is still holding up the Another case of player wants out. The team wants the player out. No show. The last NHL trade was two weeks ago when the Vegas Golden other team wants the player at his current salary. Tarasenko has a thrice Knights sent Ryan Reaves to the New York Rangers so that Tom Wilson rebuilt shoulder, and at 29-years-old, he is a question mark. At $7.5 won’t “ragdoll” the Rangers this season. million AAV for the next two seasons, he’s a question to which other teams don’t want the answer. Full pun intended. The New York Islanders and GM Lou Lamoriello are or were rumored to In fact, the NHL trade market has grown cold, even the Eichel chase. be interested, but the sith lord of the NHL GMs has remained in the Between the exorbitant cost for Eichel and New York Islanders GM Lou shadows. The secretive org may have the money. They may not. That’s Lamoriello’s underhanded tactic of agreeing but not finalizing free-agent the point of their game. contracts so he can negotiate harder on the trade front, it’s a log jam. But Tarasenko is still in St. Louis, and neither side is entirely pleased. Top 5 Players Rumored to be on NHL Trade Block, Why they Didn’t Get Traded. Odds Tarasenko remains in St. Louis: 20%. The Blues will crack, and Lou has his napkin tucked into his shirt, ready to feast. Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres Mathew Tkachuk, Calgary Flames Will somebody get the kid a Happy Meal?? Eichel’s agents firmly chided the Sabres for the process. Buffalo won’t let Eichel have the specific back Everyone’s ears perked up when the young, gritty forward with a nose for procedure he thinks is necessary. And, as National Hockey Now’s Off the the net popped up in the NHL trade rumors. However, it was perhaps a Record column was the first to report, Buffalo wants at least four assets false alarm. in return. The immediate rumor was Tkachuk wanted to play for the St. Louis The Eichel grab was one of our best gets this summer. Blues, where his father, Keith Tkachuk, starred. And St. Louis would send Tarasenko to Calgary. Easy! However, it wasn’t long before Toronto The Minnesota Wild also kicked tires, but like others, pulled out of the wanted in on the fun. running. Alas, it was not to be. Calgary GM Brad Treveling publicly quelled the It’s a good old-fashioned stalemate. The Player wants out. The team trade chatter with an appropriately firm statement on SiriusXM radio. can’t get enough for the player. The player needs surgery. Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl, country song is made. Eichel may have the Anchor 99.99% chance Tkachuk is in Calgary. Bar Blues soon. Just remember, trade talks are just that: Two sides talking. It’s not a trade Odds Eichel plays for Sabres this season: Still hovering at 5% but might report and certainly doesn’t mean anything is imminent. There are a climb to 10% next week. dozen more conversations that no one knows or doesn’t go anywhere for every bit of chatter we get. Everything can change in one phone call, for Evgeny Kuznetsov, Washington Capitals good or bad, and sometimes both.

It was a poorly kept secret the Washington Capitals were getting irritated with Evgeny Kuznetsov’s immaturity. There was the infamous Las Vegas hotel photo with either a lot of Columbian bam-bam, or the boys bought a Pittsburgh Hockey Now LOADED: 08.13.2021 few dozen powdered sugar donuts but didn’t clean up the mess. There have been lackadaisical play and internal attitude issues, being late for meetings, and two–yes two–suspensions for violating COVID protocol.

We won’t even get into the rumors surrounding the Pittsburgh Penguins rival.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported the Capitals were out of patience. However, a few weeks ago, Washington Capitals GM Brian McClellan walked that back, perhaps after the trade market was 10-ply soft.

“He’s a good player. We like the player,” MacLellan said regarding Kuznetsov. “We’ve never said we’re trading Kuznetsov. I said we’re open to discussions on most of our players for the (NHL trade market). If it comes up, it comes up, and if it doesn’t make sense, same as always. It’s never been ‘we’re moving Kuznetsov’ as it’s been portrayed in a few places.”

It’s tough to move such a talented young player. Of course, it’s not tough to lose an irresponsible guy who thinks the NHL is party time. Which one is Kuznetsov? The dirty bird remains in DC. Teams don’t want the distraction, nor are they willing to pay the price for his talent yet. If 1219339 San Jose Sharks

Warriors will enforce San Francisco COVID vax mandate; Sharks issue their own requirement

Next indoor event at Warriors’ Chase Center is a Sept. 15 concert by Tame Impala

By CURTIS PASHELKA | PUBLISHED: August 12, 2021 at 3:03 p.m. | UPDATED: August 12, 2021 at 4:31 p.m.

San Francisco’s new mandate requiring proof of full vaccination at indoor events is slated to affect only one function in the next five weeks at Chase Center.

The next indoor event at the arena is a Sept. 15 concert by Tame Impala, the stage name of psych-rock artist Kevin Parker.

The mandate takes effect on Aug. 20 and applies to those age 12 and over at indoor events of 1,000 or more.

In a statement, the Golden State Warriors, who own and operate the Chase Center, said they will enforce the new mandate starting with the Tame Impala concert, adding that “subject to applicable medical and religious exemptions, proof of a negative COVID-19 test will no longer serve as an accepted health pass for fans to enter Chase Center.”

The organization also said it will issue further information regarding logistics for fans to show proof of vaccination leading up to Sept. 15 concert.

San Francisco is the first major American city to issue such a full vaccine requirement for large indoor events. Children under 12, who remain ineligible for the vaccine, are exempt from the mandate.

San Francisco, as of Aug. 4, had a rolling seven-day average of 247 new COVID-19 cases per day, according to data on the city’s Department of Health website. That’s up from a seven-day rolling average of 34 on July 4. Hospitalizations have also increased, although no COVID-related deaths have been reported this month.

“Today’s announcement is really about making sure that people feel a little bit safer in our city,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said Thursday. “But more importantly, what we’re seeing now with his virus is very challenging, and a great concern to me, and I know many of you as well.”

Other indoor events at Chase Center scheduled for next month include the Gold Over America Tour, a gymnastics show headlined by Simone Biles on Sept. 28, and a Michael Bublé concert on Sept. 29.

The arena has several events slated for October. The NBA’s regular season is slated to begin Oct. 19 but the Warriors’ schedule for the 2021- 2022 season has not been announced.

SHARKS: Sharks Sports & Entertainment on Thursday announced it has instituted a mandatory vaccination requirement for all full and part-time employees, including arena event staff for all SAP Center events. The mandate is also for Sharks and Barracuda coaches and support staff, but not players.

As of now, the Sharks require all ticket buyers for SAP Center events to self-attest to being fully vaccinated or be able to produce a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of their ticketed event.

“SSE continues to engage in further discussions related to potential additional safety measures at SAP Center events, in conjunction with local and state health directives,” the organization said in a statement.

Asked if Santa Clara County was considering instituting the same mandate as San Francisco, a county spokesperson wrote, “We always look at actions taken in neighboring jurisdictions and will review what San Francisco has implemented.”

San Jose Mercury News: LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219340 San Jose Sharks

Watch Sharks' draft call with 'no brainer' pick Eklund

BY ALEX DIDION

Sharks general manager Doug Wilson called No. 7 overall pick William Eklund a "coach's dream" after the organization selected him in the 2021 NHL Draft. In new footage the Sharks released this month from inside the draft room, that thrill of Eklund falling to the Sharks was clear.

"Honestly I have no idea how you got to us, but we are so excited," Sharks director of scouting Doug Wilson Jr. told Eklund after the announcement of the selection.

Wilson Jr. also highlighted how Eklund was the 2021 recipient of the E.J. McGuire Award of Excellence, given annually to the NHL draft prospect who best demonstrates the "commitment to excellence through strength of character, competitiveness and athleticism."

"That was a huge role with us, so as we got to know him through our interview process, it just kind of made more sense that he'd be an amazing part of our community and he'd represent the Sharks very well," Wilson Jr. said.

Eklund was the top-ranked European skater by NHL Central Scouting going into July's draft.

The Sharks were "over the moon" with their choice in speaking to the media after making the selection, and it's clear that buzz from the top front office brass was genuine.

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219341 San Jose Sharks

Sharks Aren’t Requiring Fans to Prove Vaccination to Attend Home Games — For Now

By Sheng Peng

The San Jose Sharks — as of right now — are not requiring their fans to show proof of vaccination before attending Sharks games at SAP Center next year.

Per the San Jose Sharks: “Sharks Sports & Entertainment (SSE) has instituted a mandatory vaccination requirement for all full and part-time employees, including arena event staff for all SAP Center events. Currently, all ticket buyers are required to self-attest to either a) being full vaccinated or b) being able to produce a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of their ticketed event. SSE continues to engage in further discussions related to potential additional safety measures at SAP Center events, in conjunction with local and state health directives.”

Translation: All Sharks and SAP Center employees, save Sharks players, must be vaccinated. Fans can “self-attest” to being fully vaccinated or provide proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test.

This is in contrast to the Winnipeg Jets’ statement yesterday:

Statement from True North Sports + Entertainment regarding venue vaccination policy.

For more information, please read our FAQs found here >> https://t.co/6g4OMNH4Uy pic.twitter.com/jSRfM8k6mX

— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) August 11, 2021

“We will require all employees, event staff, and guests to provide proof of full vaccination,” the Jets’ statement reads in part.

Interestingly, just north of San Jose and Santa Clara County, San Francisco County is requiring proof of full vaccination for most major indoor activities. Following New York City’s lead, San Francisco is the second major American city to do so. This mandate will apply to the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, who play in San Francisco’s Chase Center.

Will that eventually be the case at SAP Center?

A Santa Clara County spokesperson told the Mercury News this afternoon, “We always look at actions taken in neighboring jurisdictions and will review what San Francisco has implemented.”

For what it’s worth, the San Jose Sharks are following current state of California guidelines.

Per the state: “For indoor events with 5,000 or more people, attendees must confirm proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 status in order to attend.”

The key phrase is “must confirm.” The California Department of Public Health expands on this edict by noting that self attestation is a form of confirmation.

So what exactly does it mean to “self-attest”?

“Each customer will be asked to confirm that they will meet the requirements for a negative test or are fully vaccinated before entry into the event,” the CDPH states. “Venue operators are encouraged to obtain this confirmation during registration or at ticket purchase. For sales made the day of the event, or for sales made through a third-party seller, confirmation can be made either in writing or verbally by the customer prior to entry into the venue.”

So don’t lie, okay?

However, based on past precedent, Santa Clara County, and therefore, the San Jose Sharks, will adhere to state of California guidelines. It’s worth noting that the most recent CDPH guidance is dated May 21, 2021 — which seems like a year ago, as COVID-19 cases surge nationwide once again in part because of the Delta variant.

San Jose Hockey NowLOADED: 08.13.2021 1219342 Seattle Kraken 19 test because he was in the United States. So they booked him a business class seat on a cross-country flight from Boston to Seattle.

There is what happened in Calgary with Eberle and Fleury needing The story of the Kraken’s expansion draft: COVID-19 tests, private jets COVID-19 tests. Of course, they received those tests. Getting those tests and a race against time completed within that deadline helped. So did the fact the Kraken were able to secure a private jet that would take the two players to Seattle in what was a relatively quick flight compared to everyone else.

By Ryan S. Clark And then there is what happened in Toronto when it came to getting everything sorted out with Mark Giordano, Jamie Oleksiak and Brandon

Tanev. Baxandall said the Kraken were working with all three to try to get All it took was three phone calls for Haydn Fleury to fully comprehend the COVID-19 tests. One of the biggest advantages or challenges, madness that was coming his way. depending upon the perspective, was time zones. Being on Eastern Time meant that Giordano, Oleksiak and Tanev ran the risk of potentially The first call came from Anaheim Ducks general manager Bob Murray, running into trouble finding a place that could give them a test. But the who told Fleury he had been taken by the Seattle Kraken in the Kraken had three people on Pacific Time, which meant there was still expansion draft. The second call was from Kraken GM Ron Francis, the plenty of time in their workdays to find answers. man who had used a first-round pick on Fleury seven years earlier, who asked his newest player if he would be willing to get on a plane and For example, Giordano was at the movies with his children when he got travel to Seattle for the expansion draft. The third call came from Kraken the call about flying to Seattle. It was a 45-minute drive from the theatre team services manager Brennan Baxandall, who told Fleury that he had to his house where he dropped off his family. The search for a COVID-19 30 minutes, maybe 40 at most, to drive from the north end of Calgary to test started at 8 p.m. ET the south side to get a COVID-19 test that would hopefully allow him to “Giordano and Tanev were getting COVID tests around 9 p.m. ET,” be cleared to fly the next day to Seattle. Baxandall said. “They were even showing up to places that were Fleury knew the clinic was open because one of his future teammates rejecting them. Sadie called and got rejected. Sadie then found a test had already undergone testing at the same facility. In fact, this same and told Tanev to go and then they told him they would not accept him mystery teammate was able to talk the clinic into staying open an extra because he was not the one who booked the test. So, there is Tanev in 10 minutes just so Fleury could have a bit of a buffer. So when Fleury person and Sadie is pleading with them over the phone and they finally arrived at the clinic, he was able to take his COVID-19 test while being gave in. I think Giordano found a place nearby that took him and it was able to introduce himself and thank his newest teammate for helping him not as much of a problem.” out. Oleksiak said his agent was finalizing a deal late Tuesday afternoon “We had Jordan Eberle get in for a COVID test and I said, ‘Hey Jordan, when they were approached about him coming to Seattle. What made keep this a secret. We are about to call Haydn Fleury and we are trying Olekiak’s search for a COVID-19 test less adventurous was that he had to get him a COVID test,” Baxandall said. “My introduction was, ‘Hey already traveled back and forth between Canada and the U.S. He knew Haydn. I can get into the details later, but I need you to get to south he could get a rapid test at Pearson International Airport. He arrived at Calgary right now. He drove from north Calgary to get his test before they 10:30 p.m. to get a rapid test ahead of what was supposed to be a 9 a.m. close. That is how those two found out they were teammates in that flight the next morning. moment.” But how does this all work? Isn’t there at least some concern that Surprises such as this ended up being part of the narrative in the someone might see a random NHL player getting a COVID-19 test a day backstory of how the Kraken pulled off getting six players in three before the expansion draft and start connecting the dots? different locations across two nations to arrive in a single city for one of “Pearson was not too bad. It was a drive-thru test,” Oleksiak said. “They the most significant moments in their brief existence. Originally, the plan stuck the thing in my nose and we were done. Overall, it is the world we was to find a way to get four players to Seattle leading up to the live in. You have to be careful with what you say and what you do. Me, expansion draft. Yet those plans changed when the Kraken were able to myself, I am a low-key guy. Playing in Dallas, you can walk down the add two more. street and not have anyone recognize you. People see a tall guy with Calling players and asking if they can drop whatever they are doing to tattoos and a missing tooth and think, ‘What is the deal with that guy?'” come to Seattle might sound easy. It’s more complicated than that. Cool. Everyone’s got COVID-19 tests that they have passed and there is Baxandall was one of a handful of Kraken staff members trying to nothing left to handle, right? coordinate plans over the phone. A player living in Canada needs a COVID-19 test? Fine. Let’s call every clinic in the area to see if they can Right? take one more client before closing their doors for the night. Trying to make travel arrangements? OK. Here are some reservations for a About that. Baxandall said the Kraken were still finalizing their travel commercial flight with the idea those plans will change if someone can plans for Giordano, Oleksiak and Tanev. Finding a private jet in Toronto find a private jet that can be used instead at the last minute. was an issue due to the high demand in the area. So the Kraken developed a contingency plan that would see the trio catch an early Oh, and let’s throw in one more surprise. The Kraken also drafted your morning flight to Calgary where they would meet up with Eberle and brother hours before you’re supposed to get on a flight to Seattle. Fleury and they would all take the same private plane to Seattle.

“I went to the gym Wednesday morning and I had a missed call and I Or at least that was the plan until the Kraken received a phone call that a thought, ‘This is weird,’” said Fleury while describing how he found out private plane had just become available. the Kraken also drafted his brother, Cale. “He is usually not up that early and he never calls me. I called him back and he just said he got taken by “We got confirmation and we had to pull the trigger on it,” Baxandall said. Seattle. We put our parents on a group call and told them, too. It was a “With a purchase like that, the head of finance needed to give the green pretty special moment.” light. He was at an investor’s dinner and we were able to get the approval. Ownership was more than happy to do the right thing. I sent Knowing the details of how the Kraken made everything possible means the three guys an email at 9:06 p.m. PT that they would have a flight at knowing the people behind the scenes. For starters, there is Baxandall. 10:15 a.m. and they found out right after midnight their time.” He was joined in this venture by Brooke Coyle and Sadie Klingman. Coyle is Francis’ executive assistant while Klingman is the executive Fleury said the short flight from Calgary to Seattle allowed him and assistant for hockey operations. They had no idea who the Kraken were Eberle to get to know each other better. They are both Saskatchewan- drafting until they were informed by Francis. born players who live and train in Calgary during the offseason. Fleury knew Eberle also lived in Calgary but their paths had never crossed. But they did have a plan before names even came across their desk: Be Sure, they talked about hockey. But they were able to connect on a ready to find a solution at all costs. different level by talking about their children. Fleury and his wife just had their first child earlier this summer while Eberle and his wife also have a Some situations were easy. Baxandall said goaltender Chris Driedger young family. was already in Boston when he received the call asking if he could come to Seattle. The Kraken did not have to worry about getting him a COVID- “It was good getting to know him and talking to him,” Fleury said. “By that time, it seemed like the whole list leaked and we were talking about that and if he knew any guys and if I knew any guys.”

Fleury estimated it took them an hour to reach Seattle.

Going from Toronto to Seattle, however, is a longer flight. Oleksiak said Giordano brought his iPad and headphones to watch a movie. Meanwhile, Oleksiak and Tanev did not bring anything with them. That led to them talking quite a bit before Giordano joined the discussion by acknowledging it was hard to sit back knowing he was also excited to be heading to Seattle.

For Oleksiak, being on a private plane to Seattle was an eye-opening experience. He said the gravity of the situation began hitting him when they were nearing the city and he saw Mount Rainier for the first time. That made him think about how much fun it would be to start hiking and take advantage of all of the outdoor activities the area has to offer.

Flying over Seattle gave Oleksiak even more to ponder. He is a massive grunge rock fan. So being in the city that was the epicenter for that movement meant quite a bit to him. That only intensified when discussing how Seattle has all these different areas like Ballard, Bellevue and Queen Anne which for him “makes it feel like in Seattle, there are four different cities within Seattle” and made him even more excited to explore the area.

“During the flight, we must have passed under a satellite,” Oleksiak said. “My phone started buzzing about me going to the Kraken. I guessed something must have happened and people must know. It was not until we landed when we learned about the situation. There was so many texts to go through and I wanted to put it on the back burner until the announcement was made. It was a weird situation. I did not like having to ghost people for a little bit.”

Both flights landed within a short time of each other at Boeing Field. Giordano, Oleksiak and Tanev still had no idea who was on the first plane. All they knew was that at least one of their new teammates was also in town. SUVs picked up each group and drove them to a hotel where arrangements were made to keep everything about their latest guests’ identity a secret.

Even if it was starting to get out that they were joining the Kraken.

“I was Harrison Falkner,” Fleury said of his fake hotel guest name. “They had explained to us our rooms were under different names. That was pretty cool and it was pretty funny. By that time, the list had already leaked and everyone knew. So, it might have been a little overkill at that point.”

Fleury said there was a point when all six players finally met in the lobby and discovered who else was going to be participating in the expansion draft before doing lunch together.

“I think you did not really know who was going to show up,” Fleury said. “You just took it as it came and met guys how you met them. It was pretty fun and we had a good time. It was like the first night of ‘The Bachelor’ and you don’t know who is coming out of the limo.”

The Athletic LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219343 Tampa Bay Lightning Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 08.13.2021

Lightning’s travels with the Stanley Cup: Ryan McDonagh, Jon Cooper and Wayne Gretzky?

The NHL’s championship trophy has more than 60 events planned for this summer, across six countries, 12 states and seven provinces.

By Mari Faiello

TAMPA — There’s not much free time when you travel with the Stanley Cup.

For the first time since 2019, the NHL’s championship trophy is on the move, visiting hometowns of players, coaches and scouts from the 2020- 21 Lightning squad. In addition, Tampa Bay is including former coaches and players from the ‘19-’20 Cup team who didn’t their day with the Cup last summer on this year’s tour.

The Cup has more than 60 events planned, across six countries, 12 states and seven provinces. So far, it’s made for a special summer for Phil Pritchard, one of the Cup’s keepers.

“Every guy we’ve done has wanted to do something with the community,” Pritchard said. “And I think that’s always important, and that’s why the Stanley Cup celebration tour is so amazing, because of the power it has with the community. It’s pretty special.”

Since completing a trip to New York, the Cup has visited recently departed center Tyler Johnson, head coach Jon Cooper, former assistant Todd Richards, defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Luke Schenn (who left via free agency), center Brayden Point and former defenseman Braydon Coburn.

Pritchard said one of the most memorable moments was when Cooper and Johnson took the Cup to Wayne Gretzky’s hockey camp in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in late July.

The only predictable thing about Hurricanes in Tampa Bay is that they coming. Are you prepared?

Some of the children at the camp did not expect the two to walk in with the trophy, Pritchard said. Cooper and Johnson also posed for photos, creating a “pretty special” experience for the campers, in Pritchard’s words.

Another memorable moment came when McDonagh took the Cup for a flight from Minnesota to Wisconsin in late July and participated in a (second) boat parade with his family on Balsam Lake in Wisconsin.

When McDonagh took the Cup to a private party at Shamrocks Irish Nook in St. Paul, Minn., a group of Irish bagpipers ushered him into the restaurant.

“It was pretty neat for Mr. Hockey,” Pritchard said, nodding to McDonagh’s honorary title after he was named Minnesota’s Mr. Hockey in 2007. “It was pretty unique.”

Pritchard said he’s seen the Cup at bagpipe-related events before, but not in a private event setting like McDonagh’s.

The party did stop there, as McDonagh was surprised later by longtime friends and current teammates Pat Maroon and Zach Bogosian.

“It’s cool when the teammates, they go beyond the teammates in the dressing room,” Pritchard said, “and they actually become friends, too, it’s pretty special for the guys, I think.”

The Cup started its Canadian tour on Aug. 1, visiting former Lightning forward Cedric Paquette, Schenn, Point and Coburn. It has more than 30 events scheduled over 31 days.

The Cup is currently in Quebec, where it will visit at least 10 people, including general manager Julien BrieBois. Lightning captain Steven Stamkos is expected to have his days with the Cup at the end of August.

The Cup is typically engraved before the start of the next season, but the timetable was pushed back this summer so the Lightning can maximize their time with the Cup during the shortened offseason. It is scheduled to be engraved in Montreal at some point after the Oct. 12 home opener. 1219344 Tampa Bay Lightning

Lightning announce single-game ticket sale dates

Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Aug. 19. Presales will begin on Tuesday.

By Mari Faiello

TAMPA — With just over six weeks until their preseason opener, the Lightning on Thursday announced on-sale dates for 2021-22 single- game tickets.

Tickets for preseason and regular-season home games at Amalie Arena, as well as the Oct. 5 preseason game at Amway Center in Orlando, will go on sale to the general public on Aug. 19 at 10 a.m. at TampaBayLightning.com/Tickets.

Special single-game presales will be open to season ticket members Tuesday at 10 a.m. Other groups with access to the advanced presales include the Lightning Priority Access Club, Flex Plan holders, Chase credit card holders and members of the Lightning Insider email club.

The first preseason home game will be Sept. 30 against the Predators. The Lightning will kick off the regular season at home Oct. 12 against the Penguins, when they presumably will raise their 2020-21 Stanley Cup championship banner into the rafters.

After playing in a reconfigured Central Division this past season, Tampa Bay will return to the Atlantic Division in 2021-22. It will play each division opponent four times, other conference opponents three times and inter- conference teams twice.

The NHL All-Star Game is scheduled for Feb. 4-5 in Las Vegas. The Lightning will play their first outdoor game Feb. 26 against the Predators at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans.

Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219345 Tampa Bay Lightning If more employees work remotely and the Howard Frankland Bridge no longer looks like a parking lot, does it make sense for Rays and Lightning games to start after 7 on weeknights? Read here.

How the coronavirus pandemic has changed sports forever Auto racing

From broadcasts to betting, tickets to practices, the COVID-19 era has NASCAR and IndyCar shortened some of their race weekends to limit permanently changed the sports landscape. exposure. Will they ever go back to longer stops? Read here.

Even when the masks go away, the coronavirus pandemic will leave an College recruiting impact on the sports world. The virtual recruiting visits schools and prospects relied on last year? Those will still have a place in the 2022 class and beyond. Read here.

By Matt Baker NFL schedule

The NFL changed its offseason schedule last year because of the pandemic. But teams and players didn’t seem to miss organized team As NHL commissioner Gary Bettman prepared to present the Lightning activities. Read here. with their second consecutive Stanley Cup, he took a moment to acknowledge how much had changed in the 10 months between their Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 08.13.2021 titles.

The first championship came in a buzz-free Canadian bubble, months later than usual, after a stop-and-start season. The second came in front of an electric crowd of more than 18,110 mostly mask-free fans at Amalie Arena.

“It feels,” Bettman said, “like things are normal.”

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman noted how normal things felt for the Stanley Cup final at Amalie Arena.

And, to some degree, they are, despite the latest surge caused by the delta variant.

But even if sports feel normal again, they’re still not the same as they were in February 2020. And they never will be.

“There has been so much that has happened,” said Dennis Deninger, a former sports TV executive and current professor of practice at Syracuse University, “that you can’t expect all of this dissembling of the sports landscape is ever going to reassemble the same way that it did before.”

Instead, the sports landscape is reassembling itself differently. The schedule adjustments, empty stadiums and social distancing requirements caused by the coronavirus have led to permanent changes in how sports are consumed and organized.

Broadcasts are becoming more creative with increased references to betting. Game-day experiences and recruiting are more digitized. Practice schedules have tightened.

The fan experience has been different because of the pandemic. It might never return to how it was in 2019.

In some cases, the changes continue pre-existing trends that were exacerbated by the pandemic. Others stem from only-in-2020 circumstances that will work even better in 2030.

Regardless, they’re leaving permanent effects on the sports landscape that will linger long after COVID-19 subsides.

Here are some of the key changes so far:

Broadcasts

The COVID-19 era led to record-low ratings across sports. That’s one reason why the pandemic has changed the way we’ll watch sports broadcasts in the coming years. Read here.

Betting

The Lightning’s run to the Stanley Cup featured at least four different nods to sports betting, from a broadcast company to ads on the ice. Expect to see more of them around sports because of the pandemic’s financial toll. Read here.

Social distancing at venues

“You don’t want to go back into a time capsule when you go into a sporting event.” You won’t have to with more cashless and digital ticket experiences, which will outlast the pandemic. Read here.

Game times 1219346 Tampa Bay Lightning pretty much filled. They’re really good players still in their prime, and really do believe they’ll be competing for a Stanley Cup over the next few years.

Projecting Lightning roster and salary cap outlook through 2023-24 “With all those under contract and filling those chairs, now we’re looking season for the right pieces to support them and fill in all the gaps.”

That’s why the Lightning’s value adds in free agency were so important, and will continue to be going forward, along with the progression of By Joe Smith Aug 12, 2021 young prospects.

Projecting a team’s cap situation months in advance, much less years in advance, is complicated and, quite frankly, impossible. There’s a lot of When Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois entered this unexpected player movement that can happen between now and then. offseason, he knew he’d be facing a whopper of a salary cap crunch. But for this exercise, we’re going to give it a shot, with major help from But not an impossible one. CapFriendly. Some ground rules were that the rosters we project will be based on signing RFAs and making no trades. This is just trying to show As BriseBois’ right-hand man, and salary cap guru, Mathieu Darche once where the Lightning are limited in flexibility, but how they can fill in the told me, “Show me a problem, we’ll find a solution.” gaps.

The Stanley Cup champs did just that, moving more than $11 million in 2022-23 season trading Tyler Johnson to Chicago and Yanni Gourde getting selected by the expansion Seattle Kraken. They were able to go $6.875 million over Estimated NHL salary cap: $82.5 million. the cap by acquiring the LTIR contract of Brent Seabrook in the Johnson Key unrestricted free agents in summer 2022: Ondrej Palat, Pat Maroon, deal with Chicago. BriseBois then reshaped his roster on the cheap, Jan Rutta, Brian Elliott bringing in veterans like Corey Perry ($1 million), Pierre Edouard Bellemare ($1 million) and Zach Bogosian ($850,000). He got prospects Restricted free agents: Mathieu Joseph, Otto Somppi, Alex Green, Simon , Boris Katchouk and Alex Barre-Boulet to each agree to Ryfors, Odeen Tufto, Sean Day Jimmy Huntington, Antoine Morand, identical three-year deals with $785,333 cap hits. Alexei Lipanov

And then Tampa Bay set their roster by locking up Cup hero Ross Colton Projected remaining roster, including estimated RFA/UFA contracts before arbitration, on a two-year deal that fit in just under the cap. How much just under? $9,045. Projected cap space remaining: -$2.7 million (though Tampa Bay can go over the cap by $6.875 million with Seabrook on LTIR) Come on. That’s like the team’s per diem for a long road trip. Roster pieces needed: Backup goalie, bottom-six depth, depth But these are also the razor-thin margins the Lightning will have to work defenseman. with in the next few years, especially with the salary cap only expected to go up by $1 million for 2022-23 ($82.5 million). Outlook: The value moves in free agency this summer will pay dividends next season, when Perry, Bogosian, Bellemare are all still under contract WITH COLTON SIGNED AT $1.125M, THE TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING at $1 million or less. ARE OVER THE SALARY CAP BY $6,865,955 There will likely be some key losses, with Ondrej Palat becoming a UFA BRENT SEABROOK'S CAP HIT IS $6,875,000 and hard to afford, even if he takes a cut from the $5.3 million AAV he’s played under the last several years. Palat projects on Evolving-Hockey THIS IS A DIFFERENCE OF ONLY $9,045. for four years at a $5.11 million cap hit, but obviously, things will change IN OTHER WORDS THIS ROSTER IS NEARLY PERFECT TO when that contract starts at age 31; that value is for him if he were to be MAXIMIZE THEIR LTIR RELIEFHTTPS://T.CO/IIYRJQFCQX a free agent right now. Jan Rutta has been a steady partner for Hedman, and there’s a chance he could return on a one-year deal, depending on — CAPFRIENDLY (@CAPFRIENDLY) AUGUST 9, 2021 how things go. How much of a step Cal Foote takes this season could go a long way in determining their next step on the blue bline, which will still The Lightning can go the equivalent of Seabrook’s $6.875 million AAV contain Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Mikhail Sergachev and Erik Cernak. over the cap each year through 2023-24 as long as he’s still under Bogosian has shown he can play with Hedman or in the bottom pair. contract and with Tampa Bay, though that does limit the team’s in- season flexibility in how they’d usually accrue cap space (more on that The forward group will still have most of the top six, with Killorn able to later). But BriseBois already has $81.8 million committed to just 17 slide up to the line with Point and Kucherov. Colton will be ready for a players for the 2022-23 season. top-six role, with Joseph (an RFA) potentially there too. How much BriseBois looks for veteran forwards in free agency will be based on how How will the Lightning pull it off and extend their Cup window? the rookies perform next year, whether that’s Raddysh, Katchouk or Well, their big-spending days are over, especially after the Lightning Barre-Boulet. Will Simon Ryfors and Cole Koepke surprise people and be extended Brayden Point to an eight-year, $76 million ($9.5 million AAV) ready sooner? extension on the first day of free agency. Starting in 2022-23, Tampa Bay Considering how good of a fit Maroon has been, would he be brought will have more than half its cap ($44.875 million) committed to just five back again? That’d likely depend on health and the rest of the kids. players. They’re pretty damn important players, of course: The backup goalie position could get addressed when Elliott’s contract is Nikita Kucherov: $9.5 million AAV through 2026-27 up, especially if prospect Hugo Alnefelt isn’t ready after a year of Andrei Vasilevskiy: $9.5 million AAV through 2027-28 seasoning in the AHL.

Brayden Point: $9.5 million AAV through 2029-30 2023-24 season

Victor Hedman: $7.875 million AAV through 2024-25 Estimated NHL salary cap: $82.5 million (there’s also a chance the cap goes up another million, depending on escrow and hockey-related Steven Stamkos: $8.5 million AAV through 2023-24 revenue). A lot goes into this, as our Sean Shapiro explains.

BriseBois feels good about having a No. 1 center, Hart Trophy-winning Key unrestricted free agents in summer 2023: Alex Killorn, Corey Perry, winger, Vezina Trophy-winning goalie and Norris Trophy-winning Pierre Edouard-Bellemare, Gemel Smith defenseman all locked in long-term. Their face of the franchise, and one of the generation’s top scorers, Stamkos, has three more years left on his Restricted free agents: Mikhail Sergachev, Anthony Cirelli, Erik Cernak, deal, which played a huge role in sparking the culture of players trying to Ross Colton, Cal Foote, Cole Koepke, Gabriel Fortier keep the core together. Projected remaining roster, including estimated RFA/UFA contracts “The reality is going forward, we locked up all the big-impact guys,” Projected cap space remaining: -$5.595 million (Lightning can exceed BriseBois said. “The next three years, all the premium positions are cap by Seabrook’s $6.875 million) Roster pieces needed: Fourth line center, bottom-six veteran forward, depth defenseman

Outlook: This is where it gets really interesting, with star RFAs Sergachev, Cernak, Cirelli all coming off bridge deals and likely looking for a long-term extension.

Just take a look at the roster before all the UFAs and RFAs are signed.

Woof.

It’s not as bad as it looks. But the Lightning have $60 million committed to just six players, so there’s a lot of work to do.

A good chunk of the remaining money is going to Sergachev, Cirelli and Cernak. It’s hard to project what their new deals will be, though it’s been Tampa Bay’s M.O. to lock their core players up to long-term deals after their bridge contract is up. My projections for Sergachev ($7 million AAV), Cirelli ($6.75 million AAV) and Cernak ($5 million AAV) are likely on the conservative end, especially considering the kind of money defensemen have been getting on the open market this summer. Would Sergachev climb past Hedman’s $7.875 million AAV?

According to a model by our Dom Luszczyszyn, Sergachev’s market value over the next seven seasons (so including the two years he’s under contract right now) is $7.7 million on average, as he goes between number one and top pair territory. These charts show his curve with comparable contracts weighed into it.

All three are going to be RFAs with arbitration rights, so they have more leverage. Perhaps BriseBois will try to re-sign the three a year ahead of time by negotiating next summer.

Colton will be an RFA again, and depending on how productive he is in a bigger role the next couple years, he’ll see a good bump from the $1.125 million AAV on his current deal. Foote should get a raise from his $835,000 as an RFA.

This is a young-looking forward group, with the likes of Barre-Boulet, Raddysh, Katchouk and Koepke up in the lineup. If the Lightning don’t re- sign Killorn or Palat, that’s a ton of experience and top-six ability that’s left the team. But the bottom line is that they won’t have the cap room to pay other forwards $5 million-plus, unless there’s a major, unexpected trade of money of a player like Stamkos. Tampa Bay should have some wiggle room, depending on trades, to find some Perry or Bellemare-type veterans to step in. Tampa Bay has become a destination spot for players, and that should play into the Cup champions’ advantage.

The real wild card is what happens after the 2023-24 season, when Stamkos’ $8.5 million AAV comes off the books.

The Athletic LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219347 Vegas Golden Knights Mark Anderson, Vincent Bonsignore, Sam Gordon, Ben Gotz and Ron Kantowski contributed to this report.

LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL LOADED: 08.13.2021 No plans for proof of vaccination for Raiders, Knights games

By Bill Bradley Las Vegas Review-Journal

Sports teams in Las Vegas have not announced any plans that would require fans to have proof of vaccination to attend events.

This comes after Thursday’s announcement by AEG that its owned and operated venues and the Smith Center would require spectators to have proof of inoculation in order to attend indoor events.

The Review-Journal polled area pro and college teams and found none are ready to make any requirements of fans beyond the guidelines offered by the Center for Disease Control.

AEG is affiliated with Allegiant Stadium, where the Raiders play, and helped to build T-Mobile Arena, home of the Golden Knights. However, AEG said its mandate does not apply to those venues since they don’t operate them. It said the decision is left up to the teams.

The Raiders open the preseason on Saturday against the Seattle Seahawks at Allegiant. They won’t play at home again until their season opener Sept. 13.

“Right now the focus is on Saturday’s game, which will be fully masked,” Raiders owner Mark Davis said.”We will see how that goes, and then see what happens beyond that.”

An NFL spokesman said there is no leaguewide mandate on vaccination proof as a requirement to attend games.

“The health and safety of everyone in the NFL family — fans, players, personnel — is our primary focus,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a text. “As we did last year, the league and clubs will continue to follow the latest guidance from local, state and federal public health authorities, including the CDC, with whom we are in regular contact.

“We are planning on full stadiums across the league this year but will remain flexible and adaptable as necessary.”

The Golden Knights said they had nothing official to announce on the matter. The Aviators did not respond to a request for comment.

The NBA Summer League, which lasts through Tuesday, has required proof of vaccinations for reporters who wished to attend postgame news conferences at the Thomas & Mack Center or Cox Pavilion this week. However, no such mandate has been made for fans attending the games.

A UNLV spokesperson said school officials haven’t made any decisions about vaccination requirements for its games at Allegiant Stadium or Thomas & Mack Center, but said the requirements will most likely be in line with state, county and campus guidelines. UNLV’s first football game is in three weeks.

One college added the vaccine requirement Thursday: Tulane became the first FBS program to require that fans show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test to attend games this fall at the Louisiana campus.

A spokesperson for the Aces, who resume their season Sunday after the WNBA’s Olympic break, said there are no vaccine requirements for attending games at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena, but spectators must wear masks.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway spokesman Jeff Motley said the track will not be requiring vaccination cards for now, although that is subject to change should the situation warrant for the Sept. 24-26 NASCAR South Point 400 weekend.

Lights FC owner Brett Lashbrook doesn’t expect his USL franchise, which plays at Cashman Field on Saturday, to change any safety guidelines.

“As an outdoor venue, we will follow whatever the local health district officials and government officials tell us to do,” he said. “We’re not looking to do anything above and beyond that.” 1219348 Vegas Golden Knights

Trouble Ahead? Bookies Projects Golden Knights LAST in NHL Wealth

By Shelly Anderson

For all the splashy times the Vegas Golden Knights have had in their brief history, the franchise might not be so “golden” in the coming seasons, according to an analysis by Bookies.com.

The betting website provided its list of estimates to Vegas Hockey Now and put out its NHL Rich List, aiming to rank each franchise by how wealthy they might be by 2025. The Golden Knights came in last, projected to earn $89 million then.

Bookies.com noted that the $89 million is still “a healthy” figure, but it pales next to most other 30 teams. (Bookies.com did not include the expansion Seattle Kraken, who join the league for 2021-22.)

The site noted that the Golden Knights made $141 in 2021, but it is projecting that the club will lose money in each of the next few years and thus decrease in value. The estimates project the club to have revenues of $128 million in 2022, $115 million in 2023, and $102 million in 2024 before dropping to the $89 million mark.

There is a fairly big gap between the Vegas Golden Knights and the second-to-last team on the site’s Rich List. Projections show the Arizona Coyotes to make $128.71 million by 2025 despite chronic issues with ownership and drawing crowds.

At the top of the list is Montreal. The Canadiens are projected to be the NHL’s richest team by 2025, potentially bringing in $327 million or more per year. The New York Rangers are a close second at $325.09 million.

For the rankings, Bookies.com analyzed data from 2012 to 2019 and used that to predict teams’ financial future. The expansion Golden Knights joined the NHL in 2017-18, so financial data was limited compared with other teams.

The combined annual revenue of all 31 NHL teams in 2025 is predicted to be over $6 billion. Perhaps the salary cap will increase by then.

If it makes the Golden Knights or their passionate fans feel any better, the Las Vegas Raiders are at the bottom of the similar rankings on the Bookies.com NFL Rich List.

Vegas Hockey Now LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219349 Washington Capitals New Jersey is really the only team that undeniably improved and by a significant degree. I will caution, however, that many felt the same way about the Devils in 2019 when they added P.K. Subban, Nikita Gusev, Wayne Simmonds and drafted Jack Hughes. Things did not work the way Which Metropolitan team improved the most in the offseason? many thought, so don't pencil New Jersey into the playoffs just yet. We have to see how all the pieces fit together first.

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 08.13.2021 BY J.J. REGAN & ANDREW GILLIS

Not every team can improve its roster in the offseason. Sometimes teams have to shed salary, other teams intentionally try to get worse in order to rebuild. But for most teams, the offseason is about putting together the best roster possible. Some teams managed that better than others.

Andrew Gillis and JJ Regan discuss which team in the Metropolitan Division they feel improved the most.

Andrew: New Jersey Devils

With all due respect to the Columbus Blue Jackets, who I thought had a nice little offseason, this one goes to the Devils, who catapulted themselves directly into the playoff conversation.

They brought in Dougie Hamilton, my pick as the Metro Division’s best move, to give them a true No. 1 defenseman at a relatively reasonable price on free agency day.

They added Jonathan Bernier, who somehow put up respectable numbers with the Red Wings last season, in net. He’ll likely replace Mackenzie Blackwood, who posted a .902 save percentage last season.

They added Tomas Tatar to their top six, and with the team desperate for wingers to play with centers Pavel Zacha, Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, Tatar will add a nice offensive burst and play-driving style to the Devils. With New Jersey, he’s got true 20-goal upside.

The Devils certainly didn’t catapult themselves to the top of the division in just a few weeks, but they made themselves a playoff contender in a Metro Division that should be wildly entertaining outside of the Blue Jackets.

JJ: New Jersey Devils

As much as I want to give a different answer, I can't. New Jersey is obviously the most improved team for all the reasons Andrew laid out above. Instead of repeating everything he said, let's go over the other teams in the Metro and why they did not improve as much as the Devils.

Columbus had a bizarre offseason in which they lost significant pieces, brought in significant pieces, ended up shedding no salary and look about as good as before which...wasn't great. Instead of committing to a rebuild which the departure of John Tortorella seemed to signify, they may be treading water for a while. No one will criticize them for having no direction, however, because we all have to applaud GM Jarmo Kekalainen for being bold, even when those bold moves don't pan out.

The New York Rangers got undeniably worse, deciding to sabotage their own rebuild in order to get tougher. Maybe, like Montreal in 2021, a more physical team will find playoff success, but you have to get to the playoffs first and the Rangers look worse than last year's team that didn't make it.

Carolina lost Dougie Hamilton, traded away Alex Nedeljkovic and brought in Tony DeAngelo which were some of the worst moves in the entire NHL in the offseason.

Philadelphia brought in Ryan Ellis, that's good. It also overpaid for Rasmus Ristolainen, that's bad. It shipped out Jakub Voracek who needed a change for Cam Atkinson, that's good. It also signed Martin Jones -- who has been horrible the last few years -- to back up Carter Hart who is coming off a really tough season, that's bad.

Overall, the Flyers look better, but it all hinges on whether Hart can rebound, and signing Jones means there is virtually no safety net.

Both the Caps and Penguins were handcuffed by the salary cap and had to shed salary. Neither team improved and both are hoping the pieces they lost won't be significant.

And the Islanders won't tell anyone anything about what they are doing so it's hard to judge. 1219350 Winnipeg Jets arbitrator split the difference in awarding a two-year deal at US$2.28 million.

"I would say it probably wasn’t a positive day, but at that point in my Copp gambling on self with one-year deal career I was ready to fight, I was ready to explain why I felt like I deserved more. And not only got to basically make my case for making more, but a lot of it was making the case that I had done really well in the playing time that I had gotten and I felt like I could contribute more to the Mike McIntyre team," said Copp.

"Half of going to arb wasn’t about the money, it was about the opportunity Andrew Copp admits he's taking a calculated gamble with his future. In to show management how good I think I could be with increased playing the process, he's helped the Winnipeg Jets double-down on their time. And it’s worked out. I’ve got a lot more opportunity the last two chances for success this coming season. years and taken steps in my game and continued to get better."

Copp, 27, signed a one-year contract extension on Thursday that will pay Copp put up career highs in goals (15), assists (24) and points (39) this him US$3.64 million for 2021-22, then walk him straight into unrestricted past season, playing both wing and centre and contributing on the power free agency next summer. It's a curious move for a restricted free agent play and penalty kill. Whether he can duplicate that production remains to coming off the best offensive campaign of his career, which would seem be seen. The Jets are stacked up front, with Stastny and Dubois joining like the perfect time to strike for some long-term security. But that simply Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers, Kyle Connor and Blake Wheeler in the wasn't in the cards this summer. likely top six in some fashion. Copp may be used primarily on a third line with Adam Lowry and another new winger following the departure of "I basically am betting on myself and have done that the last 10 years so Appleton. why stop now?" Copp said in a Zoom chat. "Just control what I can control. I’ve just kind of felt that way my entire The Jets had little financial wiggle room based on a number of off-season career and have just concentrated on getting better each and every day, moves, including re-signing UFA Paul Stastny (US$3.75 million) and RFA trying to prove that I belong as an important part of the team and a core Neal Pionk (US$5.875 million) and obtaining defencemen Nate Schmidt part of the team," said Copp. (US$5.95 million) and Brenden Dillon (US$3.9 million) in trades. "A lot of that comes from success from the team. We get to a second "Our first conversation happened in June and they kind of asked what we round and feel like you're a big part of that, and now we feel like we're wanted term-wise and we were thinking in that four or five-year range. poised to hopefully go even further. You look at Tampa and some of the And then, with how the expansion draft set out and with the trades that guys that were there, just winning just solves everything. That's my goal we made, the cap space went away pretty quickly," said Copp. is to come back and get as far as we can and win and just see where the chips fall after that. I'm not too worried about stats or anything like that. The Seattle Kraken chose forward Mason Appleton and his US$900,00 I'm just worried about helping the team win, and hopefully just trying to salary, rather than defenceman Dylan DeMelo which would have taken prove my worth and continue to do that and continue to improve." his US$3 million off the books. And while that may ultimately boost the on-ice product, it didn't necessarily help the bottom line for a team Winnipeg Free Press LOADED 08.13.2021 already tight to the US$81.5 million salary cap.

"So, one year was the agreed upon term because that’s what was basically available," said Copp.

"Yeah, I would have liked to maybe get a few more years, but I got a good contract, I’m happy with it, I’m happy with the improvements that the team made in the off-season. Obviously, a few key losses but a few key additions as well and we think that we’re a team that can go all the way this year."

Getting Copp signed at this number should allow the Jets to squeeze under the cap ceiling — barely — without having to perform any major roster surgery.

"I don’t want to say I wasn’t a team guy. But at the same time they probably gave me more than I would have gotten in arbitration, from accounts that we’ve looked at and probably that they’ve looked at too," he said. "It wasn’t a ton more, but it was something where we were just like ‘OK, let’s just get this done quickly.’ Obviously getting Neal (Pionk) in the fold a couple days ago made it easier and kind off solidified the space that they had."

Teams normally don't like to go into a season with a valued player on the verge of walking for nothing, so it will be interesting to see if there's an under-the-table type agreement already in place to sign Copp to a long- term extension when that window opens as early as Jan. 1. The Jets should clear some money off the books next year when Stastny's contract expires, and only pending RFA Pierre-Luc Dubois, who will make US$5 million this coming season, will need a new deal. It's also possible the flat cap goes up as well.

The Jets had a similar arrangement in place a few years ago with defenceman Josh Morrissey. They didn't have the ability to sign him long- term at the time, opting to go a cheaper two-year deal before pulling the trigger on a massive eight-year extension once they cleared out some cash

"I guess at this point I’m kind of comfortable being uncomfortable," Copp said of the uncertainty.

He had an arbitration hearing set for Aug. 26, which both sides desperately wanted to avoid. Copp went through the process two years ago, admitting it left a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He was seeking US$2.9 million, the club countered with just US$1.5 million, and the 1219351 Winnipeg Jets Pionk's new deal eats up two years of unrestricted free agency, expiring when he's 30. It also matches up to a number of other contracts surrounding core players on the club.

Pionk excited about deal to stay with Jets "We looked at a lot of different options, whether it was a longer-termed deal, a one- or two-year deal, but obviously we kind of met in the middle and we negotiated. That’s part of the business of hockey. A four-year deal just worked for both sides," he said. Mike McIntyre Pionk spent most of last season paired with Derek Forbort, who signed

with Boston this summer as a UFA. He isn't sure who his partner will be Winnipeg Jets defenceman Neal Pionk says there's no chance of for the coming campaign — Morrissey or Dillon are the two most likely developing a swollen head or big ego now that he's armed with a brand candidates — but is champing at the bit to get going. new contract. Not when he has a bunch of hometown buddies keeping "No preference for me personally but I think the biggest thing for me him humble. going into camp is if I do play with somebody new that came in a trade or "My good friends say I'm overpaid," the Minnesota native said with a maybe it’s a recent signing, is to get to know him as well as I can and chuckle during Thursday's Zoom session. "Depends who you ask, I might be something as little as having a conversation off the ice," said guess." Pionk.

Fact is, a legitimate argument could be made that Pionk left some money "But not only that but getting to know their tendencies on the ice, on the table when he signed a four-year, US$23.5-million extension watching the littlest things that they do, maybe have a conversation about Wednesday (US$5.875 million per year), avoiding an arbitration hearing how you’d like to play a certain play, what kind of plays you like to make that was set for Friday morning. with the puck. So the faster you can build that chemistry, the better of you’re going to be." But Pionk, who trails only 12 other NHL rear-guards in scoring over the past two seasons, doesn't see it that way. The 26-year-old gets some Winnipeg Free Press LOADED 08.13.2021 long-term security with a franchise he believes in, one which appears to be a legitimate hockey heavyweight. And the Jets get enough financial wiggle room to keep the band together, which included re-upping their other big restricted free agent, Andrew Copp, to a one-year pact on Thursday.

"I don’t think either side really wants to go to arbitration," said Pionk. "Obviously I’ve heard it’s kind of a messy process. We came to a conclusion that this was the best deal for both sides.

"It’s all part of negotiation. I think each side probably had to give up a little bit. And that’s where we kind of met in the middle, so to speak. I’m just really excited it worked for both sides and that I’m able to be part of the team for the next four years."

The Jets will head into training camp next month with arguably the deepest roster they've had since moving from Atlanta, one that has been bolstered by the additions of defencemen Nate Schmidt and Brenden Dillon this summer. Along with Pionk, Josh Morrissey, Dylan DeMelo, Logan Stanley and bright young prospects such as Ville Heinola and Dylan Samberg, Winnipeg's blue line now appears to be a real strength.

"Making those two additions is going to be huge for us," said Pionk, who has skated with Schmidt in their native Minnesota during the offseason.

"We had a couple of short conversations. Yeah, he’s a ball of energy so he’ll be bringing a lot of life to the locker room for sure. When I say short, I mean he talked and I listened. You can never have enough Minnesota guys on the team, that’s for sure."

As for Dillon, the former Washington Capitals defenceman will bring a much-needed physical element to the back-end, one that the undersized but hard-hitting Pionk is no stranger to.

"Obviously hockey’s a pretty small world so I’ve heard really good things about him," he said. "He’s one of those guys you hate playing against him, but you want to have him on your team bad, so I was really happy to see that we picked him up."

With 2019-20 Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck behind them, and a group of elite forwards up front, it's not a huge surprise Pionk sees a good fit around here.

"Obviously, we have a winning window. I see us as contenders too," he said. "From a team perspective, I think we have a great chance to win. We bolstered our blue line, we know the forward group that we have, and we have Helle in net. So I think it increases our chances to win by a lot."

After going undrafted and signing as a free agent with the New York Rangers, Pionk's career really took off after being included in the trade two summers ago. He had 45 points (six goals, 39 assists) in 71 regular-season games with the Jets in 2019-20, then followed that up with 32 points (three goals, 29 assists) in 54 games last year. Pionk also has six assists in 12 playoff games with Winnipeg. 1219352 Winnipeg Jets

Pionk likes what he sees through Jets' window

Paul Friesen

Somebody suggested to Neal Pionk that he may have left a little money on the table in his new contract with the Winnipeg Jets.

The 26-year-old defenceman, whose new four-year deal pays him an average of some $5.9 million, has heard the other side of the argument, too.

“My good friends say I’m overpaid,” Pionk said, Thursday, in a conference call from his home in Duluth, Minn. “Depends who you ask. I’m just really excited it worked for both sides and that I’m able to be part of the team for the next four years.”

What has Pionk most excited is the reworked blue line that’ll see the trade additions of Brenden Dillon and Nate Schmidt.

“Making those two additions is going to be huge for us,” he said. “There is a lot of possibilities. We have a great chance to win. We bolstered our blue line, we know the forward group that we have, and we have Helle (Connor Hellebuyck) in net. So I think it increases our chances to win by a lot.”

Pionk knows Schmidt a little and has heard a lot about Dillon.

“I know our forwards hated playing again him. He’s one of those guys you hate playing against but you want to have him on your team bad, so I was really happy to see that we picked him up.”

Pionk’s four-year deal, made public Wednesday, allowed him to side-step an arbitration hearing scheduled for Friday, something he wasn’t keen on going through.

That’s where a player’s agent argues how much their client deserves, while a team rep points out all his flaws in order to pay out a lower salary.

“I don’t think either side really wants to go to arbitration,” Pionk said. “I’ve heard it’s kind of a messy process.”

He’s giving up two years of unrestricted free agency, but says it’s well worth it.

“We have a winning window. I see us as contenders, too… bringing back Stas (Paul Stastny) and making those trades, they are huge for our team and I am excited to get going.”

Winnipeg Sun LOADED 08.13.2021 1219353 Winnipeg Jets

Copp avoids arbitration, signs one-year deal with Jets

Paul Friesen

A day after signing defenceman Neal Pionk to a new contract, the Winnipeg Jets did the same with forward Andrew Copp.

Unlike Pionk, who signed a four-year deal, Copp isn’t committing, long- term.

The restricted free-agent signed a one-year agreement that will pay him $3.64 million, up from the $2.3 million he earned last season.

That’s really all the money the Jets had left to stay under the NHL’s $81.5 million salary cap.

Copp says he was originally hoping for a longer-term deal, until he watched the available money go to defencemen picked up in trades.

“The cap space went away pretty quickly,” he said in a conference call, Thursday. “Yeah, I would have liked to maybe get a few more years, but I got a good contract, I’m happy with it. I’m happy with the improvements that the team made in the off-season. Obviously, a few key losses, but a few key additions as well, and we think that we’re a team that can go all the way this year.”

The Jets picked up defencemen Brenden Dillon and Nate Schmidt in trades, while signing free-agent forward Riley Nash.

Gone in free agency are defencemen Derek Forbort and Tucker Poolman, along with forward Mathieu Perreault.

The 27-year-old Copp recorded career highs of 15 goals and 39 points in 55 games last season, his sixth in the NHL, all with Winnipeg.

“I was able to contribute in a lot of different areas last year,” he said. “I have been working hard in the off-season to continue to improve in all those areas and improve my finishing… I’m still getting better and still have better years ahead of me.”

If Copp and the Jets hadn’t been able to come to an agreement, an arbitration hearing was scheduled for later this month.

He didn’t really want to go through that a second time.

Pionk avoided an arbitration hearing this week by signing his deal.

Assuming he has another good season, Copp should be able to cash in on a bigger contract as an unrestricted free agent next season.

“I basically am betting on myself and have done that the last 10 years,” he said. “So why stop now?”

Winning not only trumps personal stats, Copp added, it tends to solve everything else, including contracts.

Copp has become one of the more versatile forwards in the Jets lineup, playing a checking role with centre Adam Lowry and filling in on the top two lines, at centre or wing, when injuries call for it.

He’s not sure what head coach Paul Maurice’s plans for the season are, yet.

The Jets lost Copp’s linemate, Mason Appleton, in the Seattle expansion draft.

As much as that hurt, Copp says it should be a better team than it was last year.

“I think we’re right there. The difference is so small at the end of the day. We added two really valuable D-men that are great players in this league… different from what we have back there, too. So we’ve got a really well-rounded defensive corps now and depth back there.

“We get to a second round… and now we feel like we’re poised to hopefully go even further.”

Winnipeg Sun LOADED 08.13.2021 1219354 Winnipeg Jets Nikolaj Ehlers ($6.00M) Andrew Copp*

Adam Lowry ($3.25M) The Jets’ cap-space problems and what it means for Andrew Copp’s long-term future Kristian Vesalainen ($894k)

Jansen Harkins ($725k)

By Murat Ates Aug 12, 2021 Riley Nash ($750k)

Dominic Toninato ($750k)

Author’s note: As first reported Thursday by Elliotte Friedman, Andrew Luke Johnson ($750k) Copp has signed a one-year, $3.64 million extension with the Jets. He’s now scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. LD

Neal Pionk arrived in Winnipeg with an excellent attitude and next to no RD acclaim. Josh Morrissey ($6.25M)

“The way I look at it is, day one at training camp, I’m looking to prove to Nate Schmidt ($5.95M) them that I can be the player that they want me to be,” Pionk said in July 2019, shortly after signing the two year, $3 million AAV contract that Brenden Dillon ($3.90M) came to an end this summer. Neal Pionk ($5.88M) Pionk’s previous year in New York had been a mixture of triumph and tribulation; he’d started it by playing top pairing minutes but struggled, Logan Stanley ($900k) was injured, and experienced something of a crisis in confidence before Dylan DeMelo ($3.00M) the season was done. He got buried at 5-on-5 by eye, plus-minus, and shot metrics but showed promise on the power play. At 4-on-4, he was a Nathan Beaulieu ($1.25M) spin-o-rama savvy highlight reel. G But his first contract with the Jets back in 2019 was more of an “oh, good” blip in Winnipeg’s offseason than a cause for celebration or angst. Connor Hellebuyck ($6.17M)

Wednesday’s announcement of Pionk’s four-year, $5.875 million AAV Eric Comrie ($750k) contract extension was cause for both. This 22-man roster leaves just $3.9 million in cap space to sign Copp.

In his two years with the Jets, Pionk has grown into a surefire top-four This is clearly not enough cap space for Winnipeg to sign Copp to a long- defenceman as opposed to a gamble; where his track record in New term deal. Based on a combination of factors including age, ice time, and York was spotty, Pionk found confidence in Winnipeg, playing big point totals, Evolving Hockey’s model projects a long-term contract for minutes while producing offence on the power play and at even strength. Copp to come in at $4.99 million. My own math puts it at approximately His emergence was a revelation — particularly given the surprise $4.75 million. absence of Dustin Byfuglien — while his performance seemed to prove that, however you measure its value, Winnipeg had stolen a diamond (For what it’s worth, Evolving Hockey’s model projected $6.0 million for from the Empire State. Pionk has been Winnipeg’s top defender since his Pionk and $845,000 for Stanley, while I had the same figure for Pionk first season with the club. and $1.0M for Stanley. Based on Pionk’s $5.875 million contract and Stanley’s $900,000 it seems as though the writer and the model are in “It’s amazing what a little boost of confidence will do for you,” he had said the range.) at the end of this season. “I like this core — there’s no core I’d rather be a part of than this.” Teams can go over the cap by as much as 10 percent during the offseason, but how can Winnipeg add roughly $1 million in cap space Now that he has signed for four years, Pionk joins a defence corps with between now and opening night? more stability than any time in recent memory. Josh Morrissey, whose $6.25 million AAV contract stretches through the end of 2027-28 is the That’s where it gets tricky. most central figure; he’s also primed for a resurgence, likely as he is to The goaltending can’t get any cheaper — Connor Hellebuyck is a likely play with one of Pionk or Nate Schmidt, each signed through 2024-25. Vezina Trophy candidate while Eric Comrie’s $750,000 contract is the The Jets also have Brenden Dillon and Dylan DeMelo (check that: Dilly league minimum for 2021-22. Dilly!) signed through 2023-24, Logan Stanley a restricted free agent in 2023, and Ville Heinola and Dylan Samberg leading the next wave of On defence, I’ve already cut the Jets down from their eight NHL contracts defencemen. to seven. For the purposes of this exercise, Sami Niku has been traded or waived — not entirely unreasonable, given his spot on the depth chart So why the angst? and Winnipeg’s past attempts to shop him. Heinola ($863,000) and Dylan No, this isn’t another #FreeHeinola moment, although my goodness his Samberg ($925,000) are AHL stars as opposed to NHL cap burdens. continued AHL excellence will take us there sometime soon. Thus the only room for savings comes from moving an extremely popular The consternation in Winnipeg is entirely salary cap-related — player in Nathan Beaulieu. If he were to be traded (or waived and specifically in regards to forward Andrew Copp. claimed) and if Winnipeg replaced him with the cheapest contract available (Nelson Nogier’s $725,000) then the Jets would gain $525,000 Consider this Jets roster as a starting point, peppered with league- in cap space. That’s likely enough to sign Copp to a one-year contract minimum salaries and with Bryan Little assumed to be on Long Term but is unlikely to get Winnipeg far enough to keep him long term. Injured Reserve (LTIR.) Personally, I think the Jets would rather keep Beaulieu. They used him 2021-22 Winnipeg Jets as much as they could when he was healthy last season, he’s clearly LW C RW well-liked, and could be the ideal veteran to play spot duty as a seventh defenceman. Kyle Connor ($7.14M) Let’s look elsewhere for cap savings. Mark Scheifele ($6.25M) One other possibility is that Winnipeg finds a way to put more than just Blake Wheeler ($8.25M) Little’s $5.29 million on LTIR. This could be done if there were a last- minute injury in training camp, as there was via Dominic Toninato’s Pierre-Luc Dubois ($5.00M) illness in January of this year, which comes with the added trouble of Paul Stastny ($3.75M) needing to find cap room as soon as that player is healthy. These are the types of questions that Jets assistant GM, Larry Simmons, could be forced to deal with all season long.

Because the closer we get to Copp’s arbitration hearing, scheduled for August 26, the less likely I think it is that Winnipeg trades Copp.

The Jets added Schmidt, Dillon, and Paul Stastny to be a “win now” team. They have just three seasons left of Mark Scheifele, Connor Hellebuyck, and a past-prime-but-still-effective Blake Wheeler on their current contracts. They’re committed to spending to the cap to make all three of these years the biggest possible swing at a deep playoff run that they can manage.

If Copp makes it to arbitration — or agrees to a one-year deal outside of arbitration, before his hearing begins — I’m not convinced the Jets won’t just keep him as a playoff rental of their very own. If he performs well, he’ll get the UFA payday he deserves in 2022, perhaps even from Winnipeg if Stastny moves on after this season. It wouldn’t be ideal asset management in terms of recouping prospects or draft picks for a player who could sign elsewhere.

Instead, a one-year deal would be an avenue for a team that values a player and a player who fits in well on a team to get just enough of what they want to move forward.

So yes, it’s possible that the Jets move a player like Beaulieu, pull an unseen rabbit out of an LTIR hat, or pinch so many pennies through running a 21 man roster that they find room for Copp on their roster.

I just can’t find enough cap space to think it’s going to be a long-term deal.

The Athletic LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219355 Vancouver Canucks

Canucks re-sign depth defenceman Guillaume Brisebois

The 2021-22 season will be Brisebois' fifth professional season.

Patrick Johnston

Guillaume Brisebois is back for another kick at the Vancouver Canucks’ can.

The 24-year-old signed a one-year, two-way contract, the NHL team confirmed on Thursday.

Brisebois will make $750,000 when he’s on the NHL roster, $180,000 when’s skating with AHL Abbotsford.

Drafted in 2015, Brisebois has played in nine NHL games for the Canucks. He skated in eight contests with the Canucks in 2018-19 and a single game in 2020-21.

Otherwise he’s been a steady hand for the Canucks’ AHL affiliate, which was in Utica, N.Y., until this past season.

He also played nine games on loan with the in 2020-21, a move necessitated by the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols, which halved his quarantine time if he remained in Canada while playing in the AHL.

With Quinn Hughes, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jack Rathbone and Olli Juolevi already on the NHL roster as left-side defencemen, Brisebois is likely to once again serve as the primary defensive anchor for the Abbotsford Canucks, the Canucks’ new AHL affiliate.

Vancouver Province: LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219356 Vancouver Canucks “Stechie knows how exciting this is for me. He knows the opportunity,” Burroughs said. “It’s nice to be able to bounce things off him. He understands it all.”

Joining Canucks ‘too exciting to pass up’ for Langley’s Kyle Burroughs Burroughs did say that having the AHL team in Abbotsford was “another selling point” in signing with the Canucks, what with it being so close to Rugged blueliner who grew up idolizing the West Coast Express says he friends and family as well. He hasn’t been based this close to home since brings a ‘gritty game,’ does ‘things that some people don’t like to do … midget hockey. just be hard to play against’ He spent four seasons in the WHL, jumping from the Pats to the in a trade midway through his final campaign in 2014-15. Because of the league’s unbalanced schedule, his 250 WHL Steve Ewen regular season games included just two in Vancouver. He scored once each in both of those games; he had 22 goals with the Pats and Tigers combined. Kyle Burroughs was such a Vancouver Canucks fan growing up in Langley that while playing mini sticks in the basement he would pretend “We saw what happened with the Abbotsford Heat,” Burroughs said of to be Markus Naslund, Brendan Morrison or Todd Bertuzzi from the the Calgary Flames’ former farm team that never gained any traction in club’s famed West Coast Express line. the marketplace before bolting for greener pastures. “With the Canucks there, it’s going to bring in a lot more fans and it’s going to be a really On his minor hockey teams, Burroughs tried to get the No. 7 jersey every good place to play. season, which was his way of paying homage to Morrison. Any time Burroughs received a penalty he’d imagine himself busting out of the box “The team is going to be competitive right away. I know a lot of the guys after it had expired and receiving a breakaway pass, just like Bertuzzi that the Canucks have signed. I think the biggest thing is they’ve brought seemed to do with regularity in his time with Vancouver. in quality people and those are the teams that have success.”

Burroughs can still talk about how he and some buddies “had our hearts The Canucks have signed several other players with extensive AHL broken” by the conclusion of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. experience, including centre John Stevens, 27, who was a Burroughs roommate in Bridgeport, and centre Sheldon Dries, 27, who played with Now six years into his professional career, the 26-year-old right-shot Burroughs last season for the Eagles. defenceman was a part of the spate of free-agent signings by the Canucks on July 28, inking a two-year, two-way deal with the club after Burroughs has played 324 career AHL regular season games and spending last season with the and their farm club. recorded 86 points (18-68-86) and 431 penalty minutes.

Burroughs says he received free-agent interest from other NHL squads, Vancouver Province: LOADED: 08.13.2021 but it’s fair to suggest those teams didn’t have much of a chance once the Canucks entered the fray.

“When they called, my ears perked up for sure,” said Burroughs, who’s been skating this summer at Planet Ice Delta in a training group that includes Detroit Red Wings defenceman Troy Stecher, Calgary Flames left-winger Milan Lucic and Montreal Canadiens right-winger Brendan Gallagher.

“Being a hometown kid, I wasn’t sure I’d ever get the opportunity. Obviously the opportunity came about and it was too exciting to pass up on. I’m just ecstatic.”

Burroughs made his NHL debut last season with the Avalanche, getting into five games. He averaged 10:05 of ice time per game, and he recorded one assist and a plus-one rating for his efforts.

The 6-foot, 193-pound Burroughs spent a chunk of the year with the Avalanche taxi squad. He also got into 11 games with their American Hockey League affiliate.

The previous five seasons he was in the New York Islanders’ farm system. The Islanders used a seventh-round selection (196th overall) in the 2013 NHL Draft to land his rights. They dealt him to the Avalanche last October for forward A.J. Greer.

Burroughs said he brings a “gritty game,” and he does “things that some people don’t like to do … just be hard to play against.”

Burroughs looks destined to start the campaign with the Canucks’ new Abbotsford Canucks AHL affiliate, what with Vancouver appearing set on right-handed defencemen with Tyler Myers, Travis Hamonic, Tucker Poolman and Luke Schenn. Burroughs said that he’s coming to training camp to win a spot with the big club, believing that considering himself instantly destined for Abbotsford would be “doing myself an injustice.”

It is what you’d want him to say and to believe.

“I like to compete. I’m a competitor. Whatever happens happens, but I’m trying to set myself up and I’m trying to make decisions hard for the coaches and management staff,” he said.

Burroughs was a captain with the Islanders’ Bridgeport Tigers AHL team, and he also wore the ‘C’ for the , his junior Western Hockey League club. With the Canucks, the hometown-grown blueliner with a reputation for being team first on the scouting report does make it easy to draw parallels between Burroughs and Stecher, and Burroughs said he has been quizzing Richmond’s Stecher this summer about his experiences during his four years with the Canucks. 1219357 Vancouver Canucks matter. Even after the superstar talents, there’s some solid bargains and very few actually bad deals hurting the team. When one of the worst deals is for a depth defenseman that can be buried, you know you’re in a good spot. Colorado’s cap sheet is pretty pristine. The Athletic / By the numbers: Grading every NHL team’s contract efficiency, 2021 edition 2. Florida Panthers

Last season: 8th

By Dom Luszczyszyn Aug 12, 2021 After a strong season where the Panthers finally emerged as a league power, it should be no surprise the team made big moves here – especially since goalie contracts aren’t considered. The Sergei Bobrovsky deal is obviously all kinds of terrible and holds Florida back This week, we’ve gone over the league’s best and worst contracts, from actually belonging in second, but the skaters in front are great and determined by how much surplus value the deal is expected to provide on mostly sensible deals. Five are in the A-range. and the likelihood the player will provide it. Now it’s time to look at everybody else, grading each team’s total contract efficiency. That obviously includes superstars Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau, but with limited term left on those deals, it’s actually three Like last year, each team is graded based on the same methodology in others rated higher. One is MacKenzie Weegar who played Norris-caliber an attempt to measure which teams are most efficient with the money hockey last year and is signed for just $3.3 million. Remember when he they spend. The contracts being graded are every healthy, non-ELC was on the trade block last year? Remember too when Carter Verhaeghe skater that my model has a projection for, as well as any dead money a and Anthony Duclair were taken off the scrap heap, placed next to team has on their cap via buyouts, salary retention and cap recapture Barkov and turned into legitimate top-line players? Now they’re both on penalties. That means no RFAs without a deal, no players on an entry- great value deals. Gustav Forsling, another low-risk bet made last level contract, no players without significant NHL-playing time, no players season, also paid off and finds himself on a reasonable deal. on LTIR and no goalies. My model currently doesn’t have win projections for beyond one season or expected contract value, so they The two biggest problem contracts also have potential to not be problems were omitted. Unused cap space is also not part of the equation as at all if they keep up what they showed in Florida. Both Sam Bennett and there’s no telling exactly how that space would be used. This is just about Brandon Montour look overpaid here because their past history isn’t the value of each contract currently on the books, signed as of August 6. exactly glowing, but they looked like changed men after the deadline. If that’s who they really are those contracts might just look like steals too. Each team was graded based on the surplus value they bring in per player (all dead money counts as one) as well as the average probability 3. Toronto Maple Leafs those deals will provide positive value. Both are based on a player’s age- adjusted projected win output according to GSVA and the uncertainty in Last season: 5th that projection for future seasons, along with the cost of a win on the The Leafs always rank high by cap efficiency much to the chagrin of the open market. How much each team spends to obtain those wins will also commenters, but after these last playoffs they obviously have a point. be graded. This method ranks every player by their projected regular output and in The main goal is looking at what teams have on the books. What a player that case, everyone is indeed delivering with very few actually bad has already done holds no merit. They may have been worth their deal contracts on the books. Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William as a whole and been excellent value prior, but that may not matter going Nylander were all overpaid to varying degrees (Marner a lot, Nylander a forward. Future value means age is exceptionally important in terms of little) given they were RFAs, but there was never much doubt they would grading each contract, with players peaking between the ages of 22-26 be worth the price. Matthews was a Hart Trophy runner up, Marner is a and declining afterward. 100-point threat and Nylander is a quality first-line forward. On the open market, that costs more than what the Leafs are paying. Surplus value will depend on term, where more years left offer a larger opportunity to compound value, good or bad. Positive value probability After seeing what defense went for this free agency, it’s hard not to love depends on the certainty of a player’s projection, which depends on the what the Leafs have with their top four which comes in at $17.5 million size of the sample of the projection. Longer term means uncertainty combined and is one of the league’s best. That still feels weird to type for increases too. To save time (and my sanity) I used a typical age curve for a team that has always sucked in that department. projecting future seasons rather than average player comps as seen in Aside from Alex Kerfoot, the John Tavares deal which is in its later previous articles this offseason. stages, and David Kampf everyone is paid less than their fair share. Each contract was graded based on where a player’s combined surplus That’s to be expected for a team that looked like a legitimate contender value and positive value probability fall on the following percentile scale. last season.

Here’s how each team stacks up in regard to the efficiency of all the Of course, this is the Leafs. It would be obtuse not to mention that in the contracts they currently have signed. playoffs the complete opposite story is true. Slap in their playoff stats and this team is closer to the bottom of the league instead, fully deserving of 1. Colorado Avalanche any “overpaid bum” narrative. On the surface, every player is fairly paid, but until they actually deliver when it counts it doesn’t matter. Last season: 2nd 4. Boston Bruins As if it would be any other team. My model has a massive crush on the Avalanche after last season’s dominant showing (in the regular season Last season: 1st anyway) and holds many of their players in high regard. Naturally, it means it believes plenty of them are very underpaid, especially the Last year’s most efficient team drops a few places because the team’s top stars. Colorado has five A-plus contracts on the books and sweetheart deals grow one year closer to expiring, some inefficient one more A. The next best teams in that regard have three contracts money was added and one contract looks like an absolute mess. rated an A or higher. The deals for the team’s best five players remain the pinnacle holding Colorado had three contracts on the best contracts list with Cale Makar everything up, with two of the best contracts in hockey and four A-level in on the second-best deal of all while Nathan MacKinnon and Samuel total. Brad Marchand is signed for four more years at a bargain while Girard both bring in massive surplus value as well. On top of that, Devon David Pastrnak has two years left. Both could make eight figures Toews and Mikko Rantanen are both underpaid relative to what they annually on the open market, easily, but Boston still has them under $7 bring to the table and even the new Gabriel Landeskog contract looks million – a luxury. Patrice Bergeron is right there, though he has only one decent for now relative to the league’s contract landscape. year left and the top pair of Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk look incredibly underpaid as well. That’s a lot of value at the top and it’s why on average Colorado’s players have a surplus-value of nearly $10 million. The next best team is at $2.7 On top of those main five, the team has two analytics-adjacent bets that million. The Avalanche are playing a different sport here and maybe look likely to pay off with Craig Smith and Mike Reilly, plus a plethora of that’s the model overrating the team after playing in a weak division, but mostly fair deals. there’s so much room between them and the next team that it wouldn’t But even the best teams have a few problem areas and that has never The one big issue still is Brady Skjei. I’m still not quite sure why the team escaped Boston who has always had some of the best deals on the invested in him, but considering he costs 0.59 Hamilton’s to be nowhere books, but also some rather poor ones. Charlie Coyle’s is aging in that near the quality of player it feels like a costly mistake. Carolina has a vein and after a very down year it’s hard not to look at his five years left good cap sheet and will still be a good team next year, but it’s fair to at $5.3 million without some contempt. New deals for Nick Foligno and wonder whether the team could’ve been something more. Skjei’s contract Derek Forbort don’t grade out well either. isn’t the reason Hamilton is gone, but it’s not hard to draw a line between both decisions and believe Carolina came out on the wrong end of it. Brandon Carlo also rolls in with six years of negative value projected. Given the wild ride the defenseman market went on this summer, it may 8. Seattle Kraken be time to recalibrate the open market worth of the position. In terms of wins, Carlo doesn’t seem to move the needle much, but the model may Last season: New also be underrating his ability. That may make the Bruins situation look The new team in town is here and with a completely error-free cap sheet worse than it actually is. to start with it wasn’t too difficult to make it into the league’s top 10. It was 5. Vegas Golden Knights clear cap space was a massive priority for Seattle from the get-go with its expansion process and if cap space was accounted for the team might Last season: 7th rank even higher.

What good is cap space if a team isn’t spending it wisely? Vegas is an What’s concerning though is what the team did with the cap space. In elite team. Elite teams spend to the cap. How Vegas has spent to the cap free agency, they overpaid for both Jaden Schwartz and especially Alex is very strong for the most part – therefore, even without much actual Wennberg. The “extensions” for both Jamie Oleksiak and Adam Larsson space, the team has a pretty efficient salary structure. The Golden were a bit rich for me, and I’m still baffled that the team took on the Knights belong near the top. Brandon Tanev contract without getting a sweetener back in return. That all takes away from some of the early luster and it’s not like there are any The defense is pretty funny when looking at opposite ends. Shea slam dunk deals on the books either. Jared McCann is a bargain, but Theodore has one of the best contracts in the sport. Alex Pietrangelo, only for one more season. one year in, is looking a bit overpaid (but again, $8.8 million looks like a steal after this summer). Together though? That’s $14 million for one of It kind of says a lot about the rest of the league that this cap sheet, which the best one-two punches in hockey. A team getting either for $7 million isn’t that impressive ranks inside the top 10. What is everyone else doing is laughing. It’s also fair to wonder if the model doesn’t properly rate here? “eating minutes” where some of Theodore’s elite value is a byproduct of Pietrangelo making things a bit easier for him. That context is always 9. Pittsburgh Penguins worth considering with all of these evaluations, even if it’s not explicitly Last season: 3rd mentioned. After a long and illustrious career, it finally happened: Evgeni Malkin was Aside from that interesting dichotomy, the rest of the cap sheet is good to not worth his price tag. You can give it a pass because he’s been worth average. Many of the team’s most important forwards are signed under well above it for his entire career, but it’s still noteworthy that he currently market value with the “worst” deal, William Karlsson’s, still looking very isn’t. It’s part of the reason the Penguins don’t grade out as high as they close to fair for the life of the deal. If there’s any issue, it’s with the did last season. At that point, they had a lot of great contracts on the acquisition of Evgeny Dadonov. After trading Marc-Andre Fleury’s cap hit books, but there’s less time on those now and some other contracts have away, it feels weird to see Vegas use it that way. aged poorly.

6. Tampa Bay Lightning The Jake Guentzel and Sidney Crosby deals remain the cream of the Last season: 6th crop here which makes sense for the team’s two best forwards. Guentzel has been a consistent top line sniper for the Penguins, a steal at $6 The reason Tampa Bay is rarely in an actual cap grind is that they have million and, well, Sid is Sid. Bryan Rust has the next best contract after good players they can deal. That’s the key to having cap problems and that, but with only one year left the total surplus value is limited. the Lightning look mostly in the clear for now. The Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point deals are obviously the team’s best and should age very After those three the deals are mostly middling: slight over or underpays. well, but the team also has a trio of top-four defenders looking fairly The newly signed Brock McGinn is an exception to that and I’m not sure underpaid. Victor Hedman is closer to a $10 million defenseman (and how he was able to receive four years of term. Jason Zucker has been arguably more after seeing other contracts), Mikhail Sergachev closer to awful as a Penguin and his contract now looks pretty rich. Nothing is as what Hedman makes, and Erik Cernak closer to what Sergachev makes. bad as Mike Matheson’s deal which still has five years left, but to his Funny how that works. credit he’s made it look less bad as a Penguin where he’s played mostly fine. There’s also other solid deals up front with Anthony Cirelli and Alex Killorn being fairly paid (a slight surprise for opposite reasons given the It’s a top 10 outlook, but that’s not saying much these days. It just means discourse at the time), and Steven Stamkos and Ondrej Palat being slight everything is mostly fair, although that’s a pretty good thing considering bargains. It’s all very good, as you’d expect from the league’s smartest how most contracts age. franchise. 10. New York Islanders

The only reason Tampa Bay isn’t higher? That Ryan McDonagh deal. It’s Last season: 21st a pretty hefty eyesore in comparison to the rest of the team’s cap outlook and it may be what cost the team some assets over the years, especially Aside from the new team in town jumping straight into the top 10, no this past summer. Five years left isn’t pretty and helps justify Tampa team had a bigger year-over-year glow-up than the Islanders who went Bay’s slightly lower standing. (It’s also important to remember that every from bottom third to top third. The Adam Pelech extension is what helped future year is age-adjusted and the Lightning aren’t exactly the young put the team over the top, but it’s also the team taking a legitimate leap bucks they used to be). last season where the model began to respect the club a lot more.

7. If using comps, a few contracts look a little worse. Zach Hyman was one previous example, and Pelech’s is another, but it’s something that Last season: 11th applies to all long term deals for players in their late 20s or 30s. The age The Hurricanes had an interesting offseason, to say the least. Letting curve used makes things quicker, but it’s also a little too generous with its Dougie Hamilton walk was certainly A Choice, as was re-signing Jordan aging effects. Regardless, the Pelech deal is still a great one and the Martinook for three seasons. I hope Tony DeAngelo’s surplus value is best one on the books with $12.8 million of surplus value. worth the PR headache of giving him his 18th chance. That’s due to the additive effect of it being eight years, but Pelech’s Aside from that, the core is still mostly intact and signed to strong deals. partner, Ryan Pulock, looks much more underpaid with one year left on Sebastian Aho’s offer sheet is predictably aging well and Brett Pesce is a his deal. That was a bargain when signed and he proved it last year with bargain on the blue line. That’s two A-level contracts to go with Vincent an excellent season. With Scott Mayfield and Andy Greene, the whole Trocheck, Teuvo Teravainen and Jaccob Slavin all being fairly underpaid defense grades out well and is what’s keeping this team in the top 10. as well. Just like real life. Up front, it’s basically just Mathew Barzal who is on a great deal with arguably a McDavid byproduct. The Nurse extension quickly became one everyone else being varying levels of overpaid. Brock Nelson and Anders of the league’s very worst, adding $40.9 million of negative value to the Lee look fine for now and Josh Bailey isn’t bad either. In terms of long- books. That’s just a shade over McDavid’s positive contribution and it term deals, it’s just Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s that looks to be an issue. dropped Edmonton out of the top 10. Having said that, it’s again important to note this only measures regular- season value and Pageau is a playoff beast. That makes his contract a Not too far down as the team still does have the McDavid and Draisaitl bit more worthwhile. contracts. This projection doesn’t mind the Zach Hyman deal either (though using comps makes it much less flattering) and there are a few 11. New Jersey Devils others that are fairly positive. But Nurse’s extension puts a bit of a stink on everything. It will be very hard to live up to as he’s being paid like he Last season: 17th can replicate last season for eight years. I’m not convinced he can do it It is very hard for a team to have their two best contracts come via free next year. agency, especially in today’s market, but New Jersey somehow found a 14. Minnesota Wild way. That the Devils rank 11th is a small miracle as a result, but there’s not a lot on the books period and they made two smart bets with some Last season: 18th analytics favorites. While cap space isn’t included in this analysis, dead money is – though Tomas Tatar has been a top-line caliber scorer for each of the last three perhaps not very well. I figured the Wild would be a lot lower after buying seasons and the Devils got him for a decent price tag without having to out the remainder of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter contracts sacrifice on term. That’s a good day’s work, but the real prize is Dougie considering that leaves them with… $50 million (!!!) in dead money over Hamilton whose deal looks better and better every single day. Hamilton the next several seasons. It’s the equivalent of some of the league’s is signed for the next seven years at $9 million and that looks like a worst contracts with zero chance of providing positive value. It feels like bargain when seeing that all three of Seth Jones, Zach Werenski and the team should’ve sank a lot lower for that. Darnell Nurse signed for a bit more around the same time frame. None of those players are on Hamilton’s level and he’s the cheapest of the four. It The rest of the cap sheet is solid though and that’s likely confounding the may not age well, but for now he should put up elite results which should team ranking enough to rank above average. Marcus Foligno and Joel make him well worth the price tag. The Yegor Sharangovich deal looks Eriksson Ek highlight the efficiently paid forward group, two-thirds of one pretty great as well. of the best shutdown lines in hockey. Those are Minnesota’s two best deals, but the Wild also have a solid fleet of B-level deals on top of that On the books are two main issues. The first is P.K. Subban who is with no albatross on the books. The worst deal is Jonas Brodin’s and at overpaid by nearly $8 million. He didn’t pan out here, but luckily there’s 43 percent that still has a decent chance of hitting. only one year left. The second is a bit more concerning as its 2017 first pick Nico Hischier. He’s young enough that he can still grow into his New contracts to Kirill Kaprizov and Kevin Fiala should elevate the team contract and he’s already not far off. But as it stands now it does look like further, but like you I was shocked to see the dead money not sink the a bit of an overpay. Wild to the league’s bottom third. That’s an incomparably ugly situation.

12. Calgary Flames 15. Detroit Red Wings

Last season: 10th Last season: 16th

This time last year the Rasmus Andersson contract looked like a bargain, What once looked like one of the most grotesque cap situations in but a very poor season from the young defender means it’s now one of hockey is finally looking much cleaner. The worst deal on the book, Frans Calgary’s worst. That’s a completely different script for Chris Tanev who Nielsen’s, is done after this year, as are the deals for Danny DeKeyser goes from the team’s worst defense contract to the best after an and Marc Staal, both of whom are overpaid for what they bring to the incredible resurgent season. The model was way off on both there, an table. Nick Leddy probably also qualifies for that. important reminder that everything here is probabilistic, and not a Aside from that, this is about as boring a cap sheet as you’ll find in the certainty. league. Nothing long term, nothing outside the box in either direction. It Milan Lucic still takes the cake for worst contract with two years left, but makes sense that Detroit lands almost square in the middle of the Andersson may take over barring a turnaround. Calgary will also need league. Blake Coleman to show he’s a legitimate top-six player for the majority of 16. Washington Capitals the contract in order for him to be worth it. Aside from those three, it’s a decent number of fair deals. Last season: 23rd

At the top of the forward list though are the team’s four best forwards, all I’m a bit shocked to see Washington improve over last season underpaid to various degrees. Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau considering the team is older, in decline and just signed Alex Ovechkin to both have one year left and are $9 million players, so to be paid $7 his retirement contract. There are times where nerds will tell you why a million or less is a bargain. Calgary can’t let that go to waste, nor can the contract is bad, but never let anyone say anything negative about Flames waste Andrew Mangiapane’s sweetheart deal, one of the Ovechkin making it rain until he’s 40. He deserves every penny for likely league’s biggest steals who also only has one year left. At least Elias being underpaid for most of his career and now we can watch him chase Lindholm has three years left on a very sensible deal, but after this The Great One. season Calgary is going to have to make some choices. The “D” stands for damn anyone who speaks ill of Ovie. 13. Edmonton Oilers The Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov contracts are both equally Last season: 9th bad on top of that as the Capitals’ core essentially gets their “ride off into the sunset” money. I can only respect that. There are some decent deals Edmonton was firmly in the top 10 up until a couple weeks ago. The on the books and the T.J. Oshie and John Carlson contracts are both Cody Ceci contract signed in free agency was poorly thought out, as was aging surprisingly well, but most of the deals are just fair. Nothing much the trade for Duncan Keith and his contract. The Zack Kassian contract more or less. which is still on the books is pretty bad too. But aside from that the cap picture was looking a lot better, headlined by two of the absolute best 17. Philadelphia Flyers contracts in hockey: McDavid’s and Draisaitl’s. The duo combine to be Last season: 12th worth 10 wins on their own, which is half of a playoff team. On the open market McDavid is worth more than the max and Draisaitl isn’t far off. For There’s a fair bit of red here, headlined by the Kevin Hayes deal. That the Oilers to be paying just $21 million for both is an incredible luxury and deal looked way too rich at the time and will only continue to be an issue is enough to elevate even the worst cap sheets in the league. Together, going forward with five years left. Newly acquired Rasmus Ristolainen is they give Edmonton over $60 million in excess value through the life of paid $4.2 million too much and there’s also the risk that the Flyers will their deal. give him a raise on top of that if they like what they see. For whatever reason. At least the other defender the team acquired, Ryan Ellis, is on a It took one contract to squander nearly all of it. McDavid didn’t take a strong deal. If he can get Ivan Provorov back to looking like a top pair hometown discount for the team to waste all of it paying Darnell Nurse, defender the team kills two birds with one stone and gets Provorov’s I just… I don’t get why the Rangers would do what they did this contract value back up above positive as well. offseason. They were on the right track creating an uber-skilled team, but decided to go all in on grit after Tom Wilson ruffled their feathers. The Sean Couturier remains the cream of the crop here, but with only one end result is trading for Ryan Reaves who is no longer an NHL-calibre year left there aren’t a lot of slam dunk deals on the books. That player, and signing Barclay Goodrow to an inexplicable six-year deal. happened primarily due to a down season where many players’s deals The only reason that it’s not the team’s worst deal is because Jacob began to look much worse. Travis Konecny looked like he had one of the Trouba still exists. Overpaying Patrik Nemeth and signing Jarred Tinordi league’s best deals last season, but now it’s much closer to ‘fair’ than a at all also doesn’t look wise. bargain. The rest of the deals here are pretty fair. The Rangers have a couple of good deals on the books in their two 18. Dallas Stars centers, Ryan Lindgren and Artemi Panarin for the next four years, but a Last season: 24th fair bit of bad too. A team that’s coming out of a rebuild shouldn’t already have this many contract inefficiencies. There are four really bad deals here that sink the Stars to below average, but the rest is really good. 22. Anaheim Ducks

First, the bad. Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn just haven’t aged well as the Last season: 19th duo aren’t the superstar scorers they were when they signed. It happens The Ducks remain the league’s least interesting team. No stars, little to the best of them, something both Philadelphia and Anaheim have had depth, and though they have some exciting young talent coming up, it to deal with, but I don’t think many expected it to be this quickly. That does pail in comparison to what other rebuilding teams have to offer. Seguin has six years left isn’t ideal at all as he simply isn’t a $10 million player anymore. Maybe a full offseason of rehabilitation can help, but I Anaheim has a lot of bad players making much more than they should. have my doubts with his injuries. In between those two on the chart is Adam Henrique is overpaid by nearly $2.5 million per year while Jakob Radek Faksa who the model just doesn’t hold in high regard at all. Same Silfverberg is overpaid by over three. Both contracts aren’t as bad as goes for Esa Lindell who is a second pairing defender making strong Cam Fowler’s as he’s struggled to be a legitimate top pairing number two defender money, for four more years. defensemen during the life of the deal. His deal is among the league’s worst as he’s paid $6.5 million and should be closer to $3 million. All four have a deficit over $10 million with a low chance of adding positive value, but there’s a fair bit of value elsewhere to make up 23. Vancouver Canucks ground. John Klingberg is still a bargain and Miro Heiskanen will be by the time his contract is up. Roope Hintz was a man possessed last year Last season: 22nd and the fact he makes $3.2 million for the next two seasons feels Not satisfied with one terrible defenseman contract on the books, the outrageous. Alex Radulov, Denis Gurianov and Joe Pavelski all have one Canucks decided to collect two more this offseason like they were the year left, but are underpaid by about $2 million apiece. In total it’s not opposite of infinity stones. Vancouver will be paying $15.8 million to enough to make up for the negative value, but it does help keep the team Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Tyler Myers and Tucker Poolman to cost the out of the bottom third. team 1.2 wins. Cost. Myers was already on the books, a mistake anyone 19. Montreal Canadiens could’ve seen from a mile away, but trading for one of the worst contracts in the league and then signing an AHL-caliber defender to a multi-year Last season: 13th pact? The Canucks are what you get when you combine desperate and misguided, and the Ekman-Larsson trade stinks of that. They could’ve Shea Weber on LTIR hurts in the short term on the ice, but it improves been rid of three bad deals with some patience, $12 million off the books the team’s accounting long term. for 2022-23. Instead, they have a past-his-prime defender who doesn’t The team has a few long-term deals which are very hit or miss. Brendan move the needle eating up $7.3 million for the next six years. Gallagher and Tyler Toffoli are top-line caliber wingers and have very Aside from those three everyone is paid relatively fairly. Elias Pettersson efficient contracts for the team. Josh Anderson nullifies that completely, and Quinn Hughes will likely be bridge deal steals. The best deal belongs with Mike Hoffman and Joel Armia being overpays on top of that. Jeff to Conor Garland, one of the most under-appreciated forwards in hockey. Petry just played some of the best hockey of his career and should see He doesn’t totally make up for the Ekman-Larsson blunder, but he his contract age well. Newly acquired David Savard may be the opposite certainly helps and will get his due in a bigger market playing with an after the worst season of his career. Four years is a huge risk, but I’ve actual top line center. The five-year pact is excellent value and is the been wrong about defensive defenders on $3.5 million deals on this very main reason the Canucks aren’t any lower. team before (hello, Joel Edmundson). 24. Arizona Coyotes The biggest issue with Montreal’s cap picture is the only one not listed here though and that’s Carey Price. Even after a Stanley Cup Final run Last season: 26th for the ages, he couldn’t be given away to Seattle. That’s on the contract and the Canadiens would rate far worse if that was considered. This looks a lot better than it did last year and that’s thanks to the team shipping out Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s toxic deal and Jakob Chychrun 20. St. Louis Blues blossoming into a young stud defender. Four more years at $4.6 million is an incredible bargain for one of the league’s best young defensemen, Last season: 14th a player who solidified himself as a legitimate number one defender last The Blues added Pavel Buchnevich and signed him to a strong deal, but season. If the team could get Clayton Keller to take a similar leap they’d that couldn’t stop the year-over-year trend where the Blues drop in be in great shape as he still hasn’t grown into his contract just yet. It’s efficiency. When the whole team is down bad, the contracts start looking currently the team’s worst one. The same can probably be said for Nick a lot worse. Schmaltz too.

Justin Faulk’s contract was always awful and though he had a solid first The rest doesn’t matter at all. It’s filler with plenty of cap casualties from month of the season, that predictably did not last. Six more years at top other teams littering the cap sheet to make the situation worse than it pairing money, yikes. The Torey Krug deal looked fine at the time, as did actually is. It won’t matter because this team will be one of the league’s Marco Scandella’s, but neither looked any good last year. very worst next year. After that, nearly $30 million comes off the books. With that much cap space, Arizona could be dangerous in a few years – Up front there’s still David Perron and Ryan O’Reilly providing value, but it just needs to do this rebuild right. a fair bit of red below. Obviously Vladimir Tarasenko is there given the team wants to get rid of him, but his contract isn’t the biggest offender 25. Winnipeg Jets here. Ivan Barbashev is too rich for a fourth liner, Brandon Saad’s term Last season: 20th might be a problem and Brayden Schenn really regressed last year. That contract looked fair once, but not if he’s dropped down to second line As we all know by now, this model isn’t fond of the Jets skaters, seeing territory with… gulp… seven years left. the team as Connor Hellebuyck and friends, just or not. Naturally it won’t look at the cap picture fondly, but even if you have an inkling to be more 21. New York Rangers generous to the group than the model does, it’s difficult to envision this Last season: 28th as an above average situation. The Josh Morrissey deal is tough. Analytically, he’s been awful ever was acquired in a one-for-one swap with Cam Atkinson and is on a since Jacob Trouba was shipped out and while we can account for his worse contract. Sean Kuraly, a below replacement level center, is making tough situation, maybe it’s not giving him enough credit. That’s the way too much for way too long for negative value. And then there were biggest cap mishap on the books and is one of the league’s worst the two extensions, overpayments to keep talent around after seeing so contracts. It’s the main reason the Jets land so low, but there’s also the many players willing to leave. Boone Jenner really didn’t need to be Blake Wheeler deal which has aged terribly (he was awful defensively extended for four more seasons and isn’t worth just under $4 million, last year), and the Adam Lowry deal which is way too much for a bottom while Zach Werenski’s extension was truly eye-popping for a defender six center. A mediocre one at that. The team also traded for Nate yet to prove he’s a legitimate number one guy. Schmidt who doesn’t have the best contract which is why Vancouver traded him away in the first place. Those are Columbus’s five worst contracts and they were all tendered within the last year. They all have the chance to be better, but they look Nikolaj Ehlers, Winnipeg’s best forward, is on an incredible deal that’s like very expensive risks right now. underpaying him nearly $3 million per year, but the team’s other two stars, Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor, are pretty fairly compensated. 29. Buffalo Sabres One big bargain, and a fair bit of junk. Last season: 25th

26. Chicago Blackhawks Buffalo’s cap sheet is mostly clean as the team stripped everything bare. Last season: 27th The Sabres are almost out of the Kyle Okposo deal too. Finally.

Things were on the way up for Chicago. The team got out of the last two But for the next six years, they’ll have to live with an even worse deal and years of the Duncan Keith deal unscathed (collecting actual assets!) and that’s Jeff Skinner’s. Overpaid by $41 million in total and just a nine the team carried a lot of long term flexibility. The longest deal on the percent chance of living up his salary. It’s one of the worst contracts in books had three years remaining, but most were just one or two years – the league and it’s why the Sabres rank so low. Everything else is pretty mostly at market price. There were some liabilities like the remainder of close to fine – though there aren’t many big wins – but one big hole can Jonathan Toews’s deal and the final year of Calvin de Haan’s, but mostly sink a ship. the team was looking good. 30. Nashville Predators

Then they signed Seth Jones for eight more years, whose contract Last season: 15th singlehandedly dropped the team 12 spots in these rankings. Without the Jones extension, Chicago’s cap sheet looks pretty pristine relatively The Predators were once one of the league’s most shrewd teams, but speaking, with the recent Brandon Hagel extension looking solid too. their cap picture has quickly spiraled out of control as their long-term bets simply haven’t aged as gracefully as expected. I understand the Jones discourse is nauseating for many. He’s better than his numbers say, he’s worse than his eye test suggests. Let’s live in That’s mostly on the team’s worst contract which is Ryan Johansen’s. He that middle ground and simply appreciate that Chicago gave him the the may have once been worth the price tag, but his value quickly third highest salary for a defenseman, for eight years, that starts in 2022- evaporated. To fix that, Nashville signed Matt Duchene to an identical 23, the year after his worst season, before he’s played a single game for deal and that looks to be aging almost as poorly after only two seasons. the team. The Blackhawks received no discount for that risk because Even the Roman Josi extension, which looked solid when signed now best case scenario, he actually plays like a $9.5 million defenseman and appears a shade below average after a down season. The Mikael gets paid as such a year from now. That’s a possibility! But it’s a gamble Granlund deal was pretty inexplicable given what he’s shown as a because there’s also the downside risk that what Jones showed last year Predator and then there’s the Colton Sissons contract which somehow wasn’t a blip or a fluke, but a sign of things to come. There’s a chance he has five years remaining? Sure. just doesn’t fit into Chicago’s scheme. What hurts most is that the team’s two best deals belong to two of their It’s a huge bet to make with very little upside because there’s also the best players, but both have just one year left. Given the direction the fact that half those years will come in Jones’s 30s. He may be elite next team is heading, it could mean a lucrative deadline haul though so the year to be worth the contract, but can he maintain that as he ages? It’s key will be keeping the cap sheet clear enough for when this team comes very unlikely and that leaves a huge sore spot on the team’s books. No out the other side of the rebuild. other contract carries less surplus value. 31. 27. Ottawa Senators Last season: 30th Last season: 29th That’s… a lot of red. Newcomer Viktor Arvidsson is on the best deal and It’s always funny to me seeing the surplus value for players when I don’t at this point of his career, it’s mostly just fair. That’s the only deal default to league minimum as the cutoff at the bottom. Let’s see how far expected to deliver positive value, though that could change once the down this thing really goes, ya know? For example, Nikita Zaitsev is set Kings start turning the ship around. Anze Kopitar may find new life with to be paid $13.5 million over the next three years and carries a surplus more talent around him, Phillip Danault might age better than expected value of minus-$14.7 million. In other words, he should pay $1.2 million and Alex Iafallo could continue to be solid in a lower role. Matt Roy has for the trouble. shown some promise in the past.

Obviously that’s a little unfair and why I usually default to league But it doesn’t help that almost all of the short-term deals are slight over- minimum, but it helps accentuate some players whose value goes far payments to varying degrees and simply having poor players – like below replacement level. Zaitsev is one of three players who carry Brendan Lemieux, Carl Grundstrom and Olli Maatta – doesn’t help either. negative surplus value over $10 million with Colin White and Thomas The biggest issue is, of course, Drew Doughty’s mega-deal which goes Chabot being the others. With the latter, at least there’s hope he can live on for six more seasons. It’s not impossible that Doughty returns – a six up to the deal when the team starts getting better. For now it’s a little too percent chance is like rolling an 11 with two die – it’s just very unlikely rich. and continues being more unlikely as he goes farther into his 30s. Last year he bounced back enough to be top-pairing caliber, but his contract As for good deals, the newly minted Victor Mete pact isn’t bad, and demands elite play and that’s a very tall order. As long as he’s playing, Artem Zub was a nice surprise for the Senators last year as well. Not and not playing at that level, the Kings will be at the bottom of these much else though which explains the low standing. rankings.

28. Columbus Blue Jackets 32. San Jose Sharks

Last season: 4th Last season: 31st

Oof. No team took a bigger year-over-year tumble than Columbus, which Last year’s least efficient team stays at the bottom as the 2020-21 is to be somewhat expected since the team itself went from pretty good season did nothing to dispel the notion that this is a bad team with bad to pretty awful. players on bad contracts.

Mostly, the issue is everything that’s happened since. Patrik Laine has With three players on the top 10 worst contracts list, it should be no been an awful fit and isn’t worth his substantial cap hit. Jakub Voracek surprise San Jose lands here. For the next five years, the Sharks will be paying Logan Couture, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Erik Karlsson $26.5 million. That’s awful and contributes to the team’s woeful average surplus-value of just under $9 million, three million clear of the next worst team. There’s also $12 million of dead money on the books after the Martin Jones buyout that makes the situation look even worse.

I’m not even sure how a team gets out of such a mess other than being patient and hope for LTIR or retirement. On top of those three millstones, the Sharks also have Brent Burns’ onerous deal to worry about while Kevin Labanc’s deal doesn’t seem so hot either.

It’s those deals that are anchoring the Sharks to the bottom, but at the very least most of the team’s forward contracts are actually fine. Tomas Hertl is extremely underpaid and the model strangely loves Alex Barabanov for some reason. The Nick Bonino deal signed this summer was a steal too.

It’s not all bad, but what is bad is horrific and that’s why they’re here.

The Athletic LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219358 Websites number with their slapshot on a radar gun than they could on a standardized IQ test. What that means is the way they score in-season is they way they try to score in-shinny, which is Not Bright.

Sportsnet.ca / The do's and don'ts of skating with NHL players in summer Shooting through screens is a great way to score in hockey, but that’s not hockey an option in summer shinny until about September, when players are truly ramping it up for camp. When you wind up from distance with legs in In the fall of 2020, while awaiting the NHL's return, Connor McDavid and the way, again, you’re forcing the defenders to get out of the way to Auston Matthews practising together in Arizona became a must-watch protect themselves because you’re not courteous enough to do it for spectacle. them. It’s hockey, and it’s a high-risk game, but that doesn’t mean those risks need to be taken by ankles in August two hours before a tee time.

DO enjoy some off-season playing-style luxuries. Justin Bourne August 12, 2021, 10:58 AM To make it, many players have to play heavily coached hockey, and

that’s not a brand of hockey anyone actually set out to play as a kid. At around 19 or 20 years old, I found myself invited to skate in a summer Some guys get paid to dump it in and forecheck and hit and get off the shinny game that was packed full of pros, mostly by luck (I had a rink quickly. Some players make millions playing 10 minutes a night. So personal relationship with one of the players unrelated to hockey). I first sure, with no coach on the bench, everyone can play a little more pond started skating there around 2002, which in Kelowna at the time meant hockey, where you try to score and stay on the ice for chances both young Canadian Olympians were well represented there, with Duncan ways. But come on now, Keith and Shea Weber and Dany Heatley and -- on the very rare DON’T exceed a courteous shift length. occasion -- Jarome Iginla and Carey Price. If you’re on the rink with pro hockey players in the summer, chances are The years all blend together, as I’d skate there many years after, but you’re pretty good yourself. And at that level, everyone is in good shape, needless to say the best 20 skaters between the two teams would’ve or close to it. So yes, everyone could stay out on the ice for five minutes assembled a formidable NHL team at the time. shifts if they wisely conserved their energy and skated in bursts. I was a measly junior A hockey player -- a pretty OK one, I should note -- But for the love of god does the quality of play deteriorate quickly when but I started in that game as a junior player nonetheless. That meant players play “burst and conserve” hockey, and when they take long shifts being A) quite bad in that game, and B) being sadly short on the etiquette because they’ve just spent 17 minutes on the bench waiting to get back that comes with participating in those skates. I’ve written about those on the rink. Go play for 90 seconds, it’s a treat! But don’t stay out until years before, but this time I thought I’d break it down into five simple do’s you’re in-season-level tired. and don’ts just in case you, too, should find yourself in that situation. Cause I assure you, it’s not as simple as “Do your best.” 31 Thoughts: The Podcast

Oh god, don’t do your best. Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman talk to a lot of people around the hockey world, and then they tell listeners all about what they’ve heard and what That would not go over well. they think about it. What you should do is… DO dish it and go east-west. DO try, DO compete. As I said, this is everyone’s chance to play a more fun version of the You cannot be the “This is summer hockey, it doesn’t matter, so I’m not game, which isn’t “drive wide and fire one low off the pads for a rebound, even gonna try” guy. You can’t. Hockey doesn’t function that way, or it for the good of the team”-style hockey. Part of the fun of playing with ends up looking like the NFL pro bowl. Not trying results in a other great players is the brand of hockey. This is usually the biggest meaningless show of going through the motions, miming hockey-like takeaway for new players in these skates. conditions, rather than giving everyone the chance to improve. So yes There may be three crisp, hard passes that create an open look, and backcheck a bit, yes defend that one-on-one with some vigor, yes pass it excitement builds, then the guy passes it backdoor! Oh that was exciting. hard and shoot it to score. …But then that player touches it back to the slot, then it goes back to the DON’T try too hard there, Hustles. original guy, and 11 seconds later the goalie is angrily dragged off to some room with padded walls and the puck’s in the back of the net. There’s a fine line between working hard to keep the integrity of the game going, and going in after loose pucks with the intent of winning DON’T re-imagine yourself as Pavel Dastsyuk. them at all costs. Do you think the above leads to some over-passing, just maybe a little? Nobody wants an honest attempt at a net-front box-out from a D-man in Summer shinny is obviously different than in-season hockey, but there’s these games, as those involve cross-checks and anger and in turn, pain. a couple things to consider. If you’re driving a D-man wide on a one-on-one and cutting in hard, One is that you don’t want to develop habits so bad you get off to a bad forcing that D-man to either hit you or push you into the goalie, you’re start in the real season. Like if the Islanders' “Identity Line” comes out in using effort as a means of showing others up, because you put them in a September and starts looking tic-tac-toe rather than crash-bang-boom, position where they have to let you go (or risk injury to you and the Barry Trotz is going to have a chat with them after the first glimpses of goalie). You’re saying “You be the bigger person to keep us all safe, that. You wouldn’t mess around with your golf grip at the driving range for cause I’m not willing to do that.” a couple months and expect things to feel the same on the course. So So it’s a reasonable ask. Nobody needs an injury in summer hockey. you have to strike a balance there. Relax, Turbo. The other is just that goalies are a thing, too, and they generally hate DO try to score. skating in shinny at all, because of all the things mentioned above. It’s a lot of “don’t shoot until it’s almost a sure goal,” so they’re constantly Goalies don’t wear less equipment in summer hockey than they do in- pushing laterally and facing very few shots. They deserve better. At some season. So as long as the one you’re shooting on is at your ability level points, obvious shooting positions should result in shots. or higher, let it buck. Now, you have to be considerate, too. Goalies aren’t trying to get hit in the head in the summer. But, in general, you And finally, can’t play goaltender with a “no shooting for the top corner” DO enjoy seeing the skill of great players. rule, so yeah man. Be smart -- keep it away from high and mid-net -- but fire away. You get to see everyone unchecked from hooking and holding and coaches, and skill is never on more pure display. But… DON’T try to score through traffic. DON’T believe what your eyes tells you about players in the summer. There are always a couple players who are professionals purely because they have all the raw tools: they’re almost certainly big, they can bomb it, Players train with different focuses at different times, and come back to maybe they skate great. But, a lot of those people can post a higher the ice in a wide array of game shape. I usually skated all summer long, so when the NHLers came back in August, I looked pretty good by comparison.

Spoiler alert: I was not.

Some players are better suited for shinny than real hockey (also a strength of mine). But in these settings, fighters score goals, talented players toe pick on breakaways, and so until the action you’ve seen has come from real games with referees and coaches and effort, maybe relax on extrapolating what you see in the off-season to the real one. Summer shinny leads to all sorts of “wait until you see the season this guy has” hopes and dreams that are crushed by November.

Those off-season pro skates are an animal unto themselves, where the key is to find the right mix of trying without being a try-hard, making skilled plays without trying to be something you’re not, and trying to get better without getting hurt. It’s a delicate balance, yes, but one thousands of pros around the world are working at striking during these dog days of summer.

And, if you find yourself out there, you should try your best to do the same.

Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219359 Websites Investigators asked him in the Aug. 7 interview if the words “handjob” or “blowjob” were used by the players who approached the former Blackhawks coach. Vincent answered no.

TSN.CA / Former Blackhawks coach gives investigators account of Asked whether the players had said they had been ejaculated on, player abuse allegations Vincent answered no. Asked whether a woman or drugs such as “roofies” might have been involved in the alleged incidents, Vincent responded Former Chicago Blackhawks skills coach Paul Vincent told investigators that he did not know. probing abuse allegations that after two players confided in him that they were sexually assaulted by former video coach Brad Aldrich, he shared The interview offers a glimpse into how Jenner & Block lawyer Reid their accounts with both the team’s sports psychologist and director of Schar – a former assistant United States attorney who assisted in the security. Rick Westhead has more. prosecution of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich – is exploring allegations that have been raised in recent months after the Blackhawks were sued by both a former Blackhawks player and a one-time high school hockey player. By Rick Westhead The former Blackhawks player, referred to in court documents as John

Doe 1, alleges that Gary told him any incident with Aldrich was his own Content Warning: The following article contains references to sexual fault and that the Blackhawks covered up his alleged assault. assault The high school hockey player, referred to as John Doe 2 in court Former Chicago Blackhawks skills coach Paul Vincent told investigators records, was sexually assaulted by Aldrich in Houghton, Mich., in 2013. probing abuse allegations that after two players confided in him that they (Aldrich was sentenced to nine months in prison and 60 months were sexually assaulted by former video coach Brad Aldrich, he shared probation for that offense.) The player alleges that the Blackhawks fired their accounts with both the team’s sports psychologist and a security Aldrich in the summer of 2010 and provided him with a positive job officer. reference when he left the team.

During an Aug. 7 interview via Zoom with three lawyers from Jenner & The Blackhawks have asked an Illinois court to dismiss both lawsuits. Block – the Chicago law firm hired in June by the Blackhawks to The team says that it did not have a legal responsibility to report the scrutinize claims that team management covered up the alleged sexual abuse allegations of the former player because he was not a minor, not abuse of two players – Vincent said he first learned of the allegations disabled, and not over the age of 60 and living in a care facility. The from Chicago defenceman Nick Boynton in May 2010 when the team Blackhawks have also said they aren't responsible for the abuse of the was in San Jose during the Stanley Cup Western Conference final. teenage player because Aldrich was not provided with a job reference specifically for the coaching position with the Michigan high school team. Vincent recorded the hour-long interview with Jenner & Block and provided a copy to TSN. Schar has declined to comment on the scope of his investigation and referred all questions to the Blackhawks. In the interview, Vincent said that after talking with Boynton, he then spoke with the two alleged victims for about 10 minutes. The Blackhawks have pledged that Schar’s findings will be made public but have refused to provide any details about the scope of his “They explain to me what happened,” Vincent told the Jenner & Block assignment, including whether current team employees will be required lawyers. “I didn’t need all the details. I knew that it was wrong. They told to cooperate with Schar or whether he will have access to team me that [Aldrich] had tried to touch their penis, wanted to touch their employee emails, text messages, and other potentially relevant penis. That’s all I needed to know. I said, ‘It’s not my spot. I’m not a documents. police officer any more. I will go to the proper people.'" During the hour-long interview, Vincent described both his relationship Vincent said he shared the allegations with Blackhawks sports with Blackhawks players and Aldrich’s relationship with the Blackhawks psychologist James Gary and Brian Higgins, a security officer. coaching staff.

Eric Lifvendahl, Higgins’ attorney, told TSN in an interview on Thursday Vincent said he was hired by the Blackhawks in early 2008 by then- that while his client worked at the United Center during the 2009-10 general manager Dale Tallon, who was fired in July 2009 and replaced season, he did not start working officially for the Blackhawks until with Bowman. After Chicago hired coach Joel Quenneville, Vincent said October 2010. Lifvendahl said Vincent’s statement that he told Higgins he was given the assignment of working with players with both the about the alleged abuse is false. A Blackhawks spokesman did not Blackhawks and their minor-league affiliate in Rockford, Ill. respond to an email requesting confirmation. “With the big club, I was friendly with just about everybody, , all of them,” Informed of Higgins' denial, Vincent said he stands by his statement to Vincent told Schar. “From [Dustin] Byfuglien to all of them. I was, as a Jenner & Block. couple guys described, I was their grandfather that was a coach.”

A day after speaking with the two Blackhawks players, Vincent said he Vincent told Schar he believed Aldrich got his job with the Blackhawks was called into a meeting with team officials including president John through the connections of his father Mike, a long-time equipment McDonough, general manager Stan Bowman, vice-president of hockey manager of the San Jose Sharks. It’s unclear whether Mike Aldrich is operations Al MacIsaac, and Gary. Vincent told the Jenner & Block speaking about his son with Schar. lawyers another person was present at the meeting but he could not recall who it was. A Sharks spokesman did not respond to an email requesting comment. Vincent told Schar that he and other coaches saw Aldrich every day “I come in and Al MacIsaac says to me, ‘What do you know?’” Vincent during the 2009-10 season. Aldrich had a cubicle in the coaches’ room said. “I said, ‘The same thing I told [Gary and Higgins].’ And with that, Al where he edited game video. MacIsaac did most of the speaking. He said, ‘We’ve got it handled. You are assuming something happened and we’re going to look into it. You However, during road trips when coaches typically dined together, don’t need to look into it anymore.’” Vincent said he advised the Aldrich was never invited, Vincent said. “He was not in the inner circle,” executives to report the alleged abuse to police. “I did say to them I think Vincent told Schar. you need to call the Chicago PD (Police Department) and have them Vincent also said during the Aug. 7 interview that some coaches had quietly investigate,” Vincent told the Jenner & Block investigators. “That’s other concerns about Aldrich’s behaviour during the 2009-10 season. when MacIsaac said, ‘You don’t need to worry about this. We’ll take care Vincent said that Aldrich brought interns to the players’ locker room after of it… You can leave now.’ So I walk outside. Two of the coaches are still games to drink alcohol. waiting for me, John Torchetti and Mike Haviland. I said, ‘You won’t believe what just happened.’ I explained it. And we went off to dinner.” “Some of [the interns] looked younger, looked like minors and he was having drinks with them,” Vincent told the investigators. Vincent previously told TSN the players shared their stories with him on May 16, 2010, before Game 1 of the Western Conference final against Vincent said a Blackhawks coach whom Vincent did not identify spoke to San Jose and was called into a meeting with Blackhawks management Aldrich and told him that what he was doing was not appropriate. on May 17. Aldrich routinely had a 14-year-old boy stay weekends at his apartment, Vincent said, adding that he understood the boy’s family was close to Aldrich. “Family friend, that’s what I was told,” Vincent told Schar, adding that the boy has developed into “a pretty successful hockey player… moved along and became an NHL player.”

Vincent declined to tell Schar the name of that player.

Vincent was asked about the circumstances around Aldrich’s departure from the Blackhawks during the summer of 2010.

Vincent said he recalled Aldrich being present in a team photo after the Stanley Cup win and was on a schedule for a “day with the Stanley Cup.”

“One day he was gone,” Vincent said. “Normally when you win a Cup everybody gets an extension. He’d been broomed out, let go, fired.” “What’s your take on how it was handled?” Schar asked.

“All I know is it never got beyond the Chicago Blackhawks,” Vincent responded.

At the end of the interview, Schar asked Vincent to schedule a second interview. Vincent told TSN that won’t happen.

“I’ve told them all I have to say,” Vincent told TSN on Thursday.

TSN.CA LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219360 Websites four forwards in the league (Patrick Kane, Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, and Patrik Laine) conceded more expected goals on a rate-basis over the last two-seasons.

TSN.CA / Can the Oilers' offence deliver a legitimate contender? - Third line, third pairing: One caveat here is that you will surely see Evan Bouchard in this mix – the big defensive prospect the Oilers are betting Our Seven Questions series continues with the Edmonton Oilers, where on as part of their future. We don’t know much yet about Bouchard at the Travis Yost looks at a team betting big on the offensive side. NHL level, but every indication is he’s primed for long-term top-four work and may be one of the Oilers best defensive options in short order.

Additionally: I thought the Foegele trade was a nice upgrade and By Travis Yost something the team desperately needed. If nothing else, Foegele plays with the type of pace and aggression that can wear opposing defences down, with limited scoring upside – the 25-year old’s career year was back in 2019-20, where he added 13-goals and 17-assists in 68-games. Seven questions, chapter four. We will leave the nation’s capital and their And yet again we are talking about a group that has failed to slow down looming goaltending quagmire and head to Edmonton, another opposing offences – a group of skaters who have played in different organization looking to return to the post-season after a lengthy layoff. deployments and with different teammates, it should be pointed out. Few front offices were more active than the Edmonton Oilers this - Depth options: Derek Ryan and Devin Shore are both capable fourth- summer. Zach Hyman signed a 7-year, $38-million dollar contract line options and give Edmonton some flexibility for penalty kill work if through free agency. Defenceman Darnell Nurse was extended on an 8- they’re available. year, $74-million dollar deal. The Oilers also acquired Duncan Keith’s enormous contract. Secondary cap space was used on more weaponry, All in, this is a decent Edmonton lineup – one that should be able to work like re-signing defenceman Tyson Barrie and trading for forward Warren towards a post-season berth in a weak Pacific division. But it is going to Foegele. And it does feel like a last stand of sorts – with limited cap be truly captivating watching this team over the course of the regular flexibility going forward, the Oilers will either need to deliver a winner with season, and in particular against some of the better teams in the Western this group, or be forced to answer serious roster construction questions Conference. Does a rising tide (the brilliant Edmonton attack) lift all boats going forward. (the very many holes around this roster, most specifically a team that’s going to struggle to limit goals against all year), or will this team struggle Hyman aside, the Oilers have – intentionally or otherwise – bet on to find its footing like last season? offence to deliver a contender this season. Can an all gas, all-out attack strategy work in Edmonton? That’s the most pressing question heading One thing is certain: this season will be a referendum on Ken Holland into next year, and I’m not sure I see a viable alternative to the playoffs and the broader Oilers front office’s work to build around Connor for a team built in this manner. McDavid. Now we get to see what happens.

Do not marginalize the offensive component of this roster. It is electric. TSN.CA LOADED: 08.13.2021 And quite frankly it’s much harder to come across elite, game-breaking offensive talent than players who can slow down opposing offences. But I am absolutely fascinated by this theoretical Oilers lineup because it is rife with one-dimensional players playing with other one-dimensional players.

Let’s consider a theoretical Oilers lineup heading into next season for illustration purposes. The below shows possible five-man units and their respective offensive and defensive contributions over the last couple of seasons measured relative to their peers. (We will use Evolving Hockey’s regression based Goals Above Replacement model for comparison purposes.)

We know what this Edmonton team is – some truly gifted individual offensive players with some high upside puck movers on the back-end. We also know what this team is not. They won’t be winning very many games on the strength of their depth players, off-puck defensive play, or goaltending. Like most every team in the salary cap era, you can’t buy everything.

That said, the dichotomy within this lineup fascinates me. Consider the extremes observed even just within five-man units:

- First line, first pairing: That’s an awful lot of offensive firepower. McDavid’s scoring numbers since he entered the league are unrelenting, and he’s proven it matters not who is on his wing when he’s in the offensive zone. But the issue with the McDavid line has always been how to turn that relentless offence into a material goal advantage – defensive miscues and goaltending shortfalls have routinely muted this group’s net impact, which is why I think you will see a lot of McDavid with Jesse Puljujarvi and Zach Hyman, quality two-way forwards. I also think you will see that because for as great Darnell Nurse and Tyson Barrie are in transition and finding passing lanes in the defensive third, they can be a complete mess in front of their own net, unable to chase shooters from the slot and vulnerable to turnovers on breakouts.

- Second line, second pairing: We have seen this line in the past, and the offensive chemistry is there in spades. In about 450-minutes together, the trio has out-scored the opposition 34-to-19 (+15), and in those minutes Edmonton carried a considerable territorial advantage. But it’s likely they are going to see a lot of minutes with Duncan Keith’s pairing. Again, interesting issue here: there have been creeping concerns about Keith’s defensive play for years now, he’s going to be playing with a defender in Cody Ceci who has struggled to find his footing in any sort of top-four role, and they’ll be behind a line that features one of the most one-dimensional attackers the league has to offer in Leon Draisaitl. You don’t ever want to shorten the leash of a player like Draisaitl, but only 1219361 Websites Forward Age: 22

Compher made her world championship debut in 2019 as a 19-year-old, TSN.CA / 'Other' Americans to watch at the women’s worlds in Calgary albeit in a limited role, and took home gold. She was named to the roster While the current United States roster boasts 15 players who won gold at for the 2020 world championship that was cancelled due to COVID-19. the 2019 women’s worlds, it also features several up-and-coming “She's just a well-rounded player that I look forward to and that has the players, many of whom will be making their world championship debuts kind of skill set [that] gives you a long shelf life as a professional hockey later this month at the 2021 tournament in Calgary. player,” Johnson said.

Compher is coming off an impressive four-year stint with Boston By Meaghen Johnson University. She ranks fifth all-time in school history in assists (81) and ninth in points (127). In her sophomore season, she ranked third in the nation with 61 points and was a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award, given annually to the best collegiate player in women’s hockey. If the American women’s hockey team is going to claim a sixth straight gold medal at this month’s women’s world championship, it’s going to In a pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, Compher led the Terriers with need contributions from other players beyond the big names of Kendall seven goals and 11 points in nine games, and her 1.38 points per game Coyne Schofield, Hilary Knight and Amanda Kessel. was fifth best in Division 1. She was also named to the Hockey East All- Star team for a third straight year. The United States will begin its defence of its 2019 gold medal at the pandemic-delayed 2021 IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championship in On the international level, Compher, a native of Northbrook, Ill., won Calgary. The top-ranked Americans open the tournament on Aug. 20 back-to-back gold medals at the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship against Switzerland, which can be seen live on TSN. in 2016 and 2017. She also played with the senior team during the Rivalry Series against Canada at the end of 2019 and spent some time The Americans have been led by some of the biggest names in women’s centring the top line. hockey during this run of gold medals. “Jesse's a really versatile player,” said Johnson “She always has been…. In 2019, Knight was the tournament’s top scorer and Coyne Schofield She's that kind of a unique personality that doesn't need to be in the was named best forward. Two years before that, Brianna Decker was spotlight but isn't afraid of it.” named tournament MVP. Caroline Harvey While the current U.S. roster boasts 15 players who won gold at the 2019 women’s worlds, it also features several up-and-coming players, many of Defence whom will be making their world championship debuts. Age: 18 Here are some Americans that fans and opponents will want to keep an eye on at this year’s tournament. The youngest player on the American roster, Harvey has yet to make her NCAA debut with the Wisconsin Badgers after signing her letter of intent Natalie Buchbinder with the school last fall.

Defence Along with Britta Curl, Lacey Eden and Abbey Murphy, Harvey is in line to become the first U.S. woman born in the 2000s to play in a world Age: 22 championship. She will also be the first 18-year-old American to make It’s been an eventful year for Buchbinder. The senior for the Wisconsin her women’s worlds debut since Megan Keller in 2018. Badgers made her return to the ice in January after a 10-month layoff “Caroline is somebody who just kept raising her hand as we went through due to a combination of COVID-19 and injury. Last September, she had some evaluation camps, and said, ‘Hey, don't forget about me. I can play surgery to repair a torn labrum that she had been playing with for a year, too, even though I'm young,’” said Johnson. a procedure which had been postponed from March due to the pandemic. Harvey, a native of Pelham, N.H., was also the youngest player invited to an American evaluation camp last year, which did not go unnoticed by Buchbinder’s return to the Wisconsin blue line was summarized by her Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson. teammate, Delaney Drake. “[Harvey] brings a strong compete level who has proven her abilities at “We were able to breathe again,” Drake told Madison.com. “’OK, we’re the highest level within her age level,” he said. “She brings physicality going to be fine. Nat’s back there. She’s got my back.’” and finesse to our blue line. She will be relied on to stop opponents' top Two months later, Wisconsin won the national championship, the second forwards and contribute offensively on special teams." straight title for Buchbinder and the Badgers after the tournament was Harvey has competed in two IIHF U18 Women’s World Championships, cancelled in 2020. Ten days after that, Buchbinder, a native of Fairport, winning both silver (2019) and gold (2020). At the 2020 tournament, she N.Y., was named to the U.S. roster for the world championship, which posted a team-best plus-4 rating in five games and was named one of was originally slated for May in Halifax and Truro, N.S., before ultimately the U.S. team’s top three players of the tournament. being rescheduled for August. “The reason she's on this team is because she's fast, and she's big, and “She's certainly capable of being an offensive threat, but also easy for she's strong,” said Joel Johnson. “When you combine those physical her to settle in and be a stay-at-home defenceman, which is tough to find abilities with the unique plays that she's able to make, in particular with – someone that can contribute in both ways,” U.S. head coach Joel the puck – it's just impressive. She's a special player and a special Johnson told TSN in April. “She can rush the puck, she makes clean exit talent… I think as time goes on, you will see that she is one of the most passes, she's a great offensive player on the blue line with not only her dynamic players for Team USA.” ability to shoot the puck, but just her ability to read the play and instincts that she has.” Harvey will also now have the opportunity to play alongside one of her former coaches on the under-18 team, Brianna Decker, who served as Buchbinder’s success this year is just the latest in what is already an an assistant with the squad. impressive career. As a junior, despite playing with a torn labrum, she recorded 42 blocked shots, second-most on the team, and was a plus- Abby Roque 29. Forward On the international stage, she won gold at the 2017 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship. She made her debut with the U.S. senior team in Age: 23 the 2019-20 Rivalry Series against Canada, picking up an assist in the Roque has been the star of the PWHPA Dream Gap Tour this year. In United States’ 2-1 win in the second game of the series. her professional debut for Minnesota’s Team Adidas on Feb. 27, Roque Jesse Compher netted two goals and added two assists in a 5-2 win over New Hampshire’s Team WSF.

She followed that up the next night with another goal and two assists in a contest at Madison Square Garden, the first-ever professional women’s hockey game played at the arena, earning high praise from her teammates.

“I think she’s going to be the best player in the world, plain and simple,” Knight said after the game at MSG. “It’s incredible to see her develop on a daily basis. Watch out for her. The sky is the limit. When she gets to put it all together and gets some time under her belt, it’s going to be lights out.”

Roque finished as the leading scoring in the American section of the Dream Gap Tour with six goals and 11 points.

“Abby Roque can be one of the great players to put on the sweater for USA Hockey,” said Johnson. “There's nobody that plays the game with more pure joy and love for the game while also having a really healthy chip on her shoulder that allows her to compete.”

Her early professional success comes after an impressive career at the University of Wisconsin. As a junior, she helped lead the Badgers to a national championship and Wisconsin was 29-0-2 when Roque recorded at least a point.

In her senior year, she was a finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award and recorded a career-best 26 goals and 58 points. She finished ninth on the program’s all-time scoring list with 170 points.

Canadian fans may already know Roque’s name, as she made her debut with the U.S. national team in the 2019-20 Rivalry Series, picking up two goals. She’s also a two-time medallist at the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship, taking home silver in 2014 and gold in 2015. Roque was set to make her women’s worlds debut at last year’s tournament before it was cancelled.

Roque is a dual American/Canadian citizen. Her father, Jim, was born in Sudbury, Ont., and is currently a pro scout with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Roque, who is Native American, grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and is part of the Wahnapitae First Nation, located near Sudbury, Ont.

Grace Zumwinkle

Forward

Age: 22

Zumwinkle is coming off a standout season for the Minnesota Gophers, which led to her being named a finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award as well as an All-American.

She finished with 17 goals in 20 games, second-most in the NCAA, and just eight off her personal best in a shortened season. She has 84 career goals with Wisconsin, 10th most in school history, and 148 points.

Her coach at Minnesota, Brad Frost, told pattykaz.com: “She’s always been somebody that has had a great shot and great speed, but she’s worked incredibly hard on getting to the net and a little more into those greasy areas, and she’s been really successful.”

Zumwinkle already has a winning pedigree on the international stage, winning back-to-back gold medals at the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship in 2016 and 2017. In the 2017 tournament, she led the Americans in scoring with four goals and six points in five games. She also netted the game-winner in the gold-medal match against Canada, scoring with just over two minutes remaining in regulation.

The native of Excelsior, Minn., was set to make her debut with the U.S. national team at the 2020 women’s worlds before its cancellation.

“Grace Zumwinkle has some separating factors to her game,” said Johnson “There's not many people who can shoot the puck harder or better. But what's equally impressive is the other details that maybe weren't strengths of hers that she has now turned into strengths to get to this level.”

TSN.CA LOADED: 08.13.2021 1219362 Websites In her sophomore year at Princeton, Fillier picked up where she left off. Serving as team captain, she finished eighth in NCAA scoring with 57 points and ranked second in the nation in points per game (1.84). She was once again named a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award TSN.CA / Team Canada player profile: Sarah Fillier and a Second Team All-American.

When a player makes her debut with the Canadian women’s hockey Filler was especially impressive in the ECAC playoffs, as Princeton won team as an 18-year-old, people are going to take notice. Sarah Fillier did its first-ever conference championship. In the Tigers’ quarter-final series exactly that in 2018, and she has marked herself as the future of against Quinnipiac, Fillier scored the series-clinching goal in double Canadian hockey. overtime. She finished with four goals and nine points and also earned Most Outstanding Player honours.

“Sarah is one of the best 200-foot players in North America,” Princeton By Meaghen Johnson head coach Cara Morey said. “She sees the game at an elite level and is often one step ahead of her opponents. She contributes in all areas of the game. She can shut down opponents defensively and can also Sarah Fillier contribute offensively on the scoreboard.”

Position: Forward Princeton qualified for the NCAA Championship in 2020, but the tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19. The Tigers also had their Hometown: Georgetown, Ont. 2020-21 season cancelled after the Ivy League suspended all winter Age: 21 sports.

When a player makes her debut with the Canadian women’s hockey Fillier has seen little time on the ice since the premature end of her 2019- team as an 18-year-old, people are going to take notice. Sarah Fillier did 20 collegiate season. She was set to make her women’s worlds debut at exactly that in 2018, and she has marked herself as the future of the 2020 tournament, but that was also cancelled because of the Canadian hockey. pandemic.

Fillier was a multi-sport athlete growing up in Georgetown, Ont., taking TSN.CA LOADED: 08.13.2021 part in badminton, basketball, flag football, ultimate frisbee and track and field. With hockey, she played for the North Halton Twisters and Halton Hurricanes Boys AA before joining the Oakville Jr. Hornets in the Provincial Women’s Hockey League (PWHL).

In her first season with Oakville in 2015-16, Fillier had 11 points in 22 games and won silver at the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association (OWHA) provincials. She really started to turn heads the following season, recording 24 goals and 50 points in 34 games. She also finished with 11 points in 12 playoff games, helping the Hornets win the PWHL Championship and OWHA provincials.

Fillier was named Oakville’s captain for the 2017-18 season. While the Hornets were unable to defend their titles in both the PWHL Championship and OWHA provincials, taking home silver in both competitions, Fillier led the PWHL playoffs in scoring with 12 points in 10 games, and she earned MVP honours at the OWHA provincials.

She also picked up two gold medals while playing for Ontario Red, taking home the top prize in 2016 and 2017 at the National Women’s Under-18 Championship. Fillier finished with a combined eight goals in the two tournaments and was also named MVP in 2017.

At 16, FIllier made her debut with Canada’s under-18 team and won silver with the squad at the 2017 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship. One year later, she captained the team to bronze at the tournament, finishing with five points in six games.

In 2018, Fillier burst onto the NCAA scene with Princeton after committing to the team in Grade 10. As a rookie, she led the team in scoring, led the NCAA in both rookie scoring and points per game (1.97), and helped the Tigers to an Ivy League championship. She took home many awards that season, including national Rookie of the Year (becoming the first-ever ECAC player to win the honour), Ivy League Player of the Year, NCAA Second Team All-American, and she was a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award, given annually to the top collegiate women’s hockey player.

FIllier made her debut with the Canadian senior team as an 18-year-old – the only collegiate freshman on the squad – at the 2018 Four Nations Cup. Playing on a line with Natalie Spooner and Sarah Nurse, Filler netted her first goal in a 6-1 win over Sweden in the preliminary round, becoming the first player born in 2000 to score for the national team.

“The first 2000-born player, I take a lot of pride in that,” she told the Canadian Press. “I want to prove myself at this level and not just be here because they want me to get the experience. I want to make a difference at this level.”

Fillier also spent time with Canada’s development team and she featured in the two-game exhibition series against the United States in the fall of 2019, scoring her second-ever goal with the senior team in a 4-1 win for Canada. 1219363 Websites

USA TODAY / Calgary Flames assistant GM Chris Snow throws out first pitch two years after ALS diagnosis

ALYSSA HERTEL | USA TODAY

Chris Snow, the assistant general manager of the Calgary Flames, will throw out the first pitch at Fenway Park on Thursday when the Boston Red Sox play the Tampa Bay Rays.

While ceremonial first pitches have become routine in baseball – with celebrities and other athletes taking the mound – Snow’s experience will be different. He was diagnosed with ALS in June 2019 and was told he would only have one year to live. Snow is familiar with the aggressive form of Lou Gehrig’s disease; he lost his dad, his cousin and two uncles to ALS.

Now, more than two years since his own diagnosis and one day after his 40th birthday, Snow will return to a stadium he knows all too well, having grown up in the Boston area and worked as a beat reporter covering the Red Sox for the Boston Globe.

He’s also familiar with the sport, coaching his son, Cohen, in baseball. Moments like this have become a family affair, with Cohen – and daughter, Willa – joining his dad in throwing out a pitch Thursday. Cohen is ready for his five minutes of fame, but he also knows it could go terribly wrong.

Special day at Fenway, as Flames assistant GM (and former Globe writer) Chris Snow throws out the first pitch with his family.

Snow, who celebrated his 40th birthday yesterday, was diagnosed with ALS more than 2 years ago.

The entire Snow family continues to be an inspiration. pic.twitter.com/OrAdlRtKZk

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) August 12, 2021

“Most first pitches are fails,” he told the Calgary Sun. “So, I’m really hoping that doesn’t happen to me.”

Snow is prepared as well, joking that he’s aiming for the middle ground between George Bush at Yankee Stadium and Dr. Anthony Fauci at Nationals Park. He shared a video on social media of his practice leading up to the pitch.

The Flames executive has become an inspiration in the ALS community, showing that the degenerative disease won’t hold him back from the things he loves. As his wife, Kelsie, put it when her husband was first diagnosed, “Someone has to be the first person to live with ALS rather than die from it.”

Snow is still heavily involved with Flames’ operations, working in contract negotiations and data analysis. He and Kelsie have raised more than $500,000 for ALS research. He’s spent time biking to work, playing golf and kicking a field goal, showing that his disease won’t slow him.

His focus right now is throwing out as good of a first pitch as he can. Come October, he’ll start his 15th season working in the NHL and 11th with the Flames.

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