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SPORT-SCAN DAILY BRIEF NHL 4/18/2020 Panthers 1183011 The positives and negatives of ’ first 1183038 Coach talks possible return and the as Ducks coach potential of the Florida fan base 1183039 Which bold preseason predictions held up? Not many 1183012 Coyotes' Chychrun learning piano, training at home during halt of NHL season Wild 1183013 Westgate businesses fighting shutdown and 1183040 Minnesota sports teams were in tough spot even before corresponding loss of Coyotes games health crisis hit Bruins Canadiens 1183014 Zdeno Chara writes thoughtful message to Bruins fans, 1183041 The way Andrei Markov retired was unjust, here’s how the healthcare workers Canadiens can fix it 1183015 Bruins' with a dose of reality: 'Older teams 1183042 How the Canadiens are harnessing data to get injured are going to struggle' when NHL returns players back on ice 1183016 Bruins post amazing TikTok video of some crazy Tuukka 1183043 An ode to Andrei Markov, the most anonymous superstar Rask moments in Canadiens history 1183017 Two stand above the rest: The all-time best seasons by Bruins left wings 1183044 Predators GM talks 'Tiger King,' NHL scenarios, salary cap, more 1183018 ‘It’s just wrong’: Former Sabres owner Larry Quinn on PSE’s firings 1183045 What Devils are thinking while deciding what to do with Flames Cory Schneider 1183020 Treliving wishes Peters well with KHL coaching gig 1183046 NJ Devils' Tom Fitzgerald talks NHL Draft prep, coaching 1183021 Brad Marsh on being first Calgary , Corral, big hair decisions and more and the out 1183047 Final rankings of greatest -New Jersey hockey teams 1183048 How the Devils are adjusting to a unique, uncertain 2020 1183022 Canes’ and wife providing lunches to 500 NHL draft process sanitation workers Blackhawks 1183049 Islanders' 1980 run was fueled by fear of 1183023 Should the Blackhawks explore bringing back Dustin breakup and lessons learned Byfuglien? 1183050 , Steve Albert called Isles games in first Stanley 1183024 and Jets mutually terminate Cup season contract 1183051 COVID-19 pandemic leaves Islanders coach 1183025 What I’m hearing about the Blackhawks, Max Shalunov heartbroken and inspired and more right now 1183052 Matt Bertani, and the 2016 Islanders challenge call that ’tilted history’ 1183026 Joonas Korpisalo signs two-year contract extension with Blue Jackets 1183053 A Black Hockey Player Faced Racial Taunts. Some Fans 1183027 Blue Jackets Joonas Korpisalo gets two-year Aren’t Surprised. deal with a big raise 1183054 NCAA coronavirus halt complicating Morgan Barron’s Rangers decision 1183055 As Mike Richter advances his business career, he 1183028 found ways to make use of his time while cherishes his NHL ‘yesterdays’ waiting for potential Stars playoff run 1183029 Why the absence of playoffs costs the Dallas Stars more than the Mavericks 1183056 If NHL does return this summer, it sounds like empty rinks 1183030 Stars super-survey results, part 1: Nill & Bowness report will be only option cards, team MVP & more Red Wings 1183057 Better to close sports down than to play for phony cheers 1183031 GM 's first year: What 1183058 Should Simon Gagne make Flyers Hall of Fame? we liked, didn't like 1183059 shares story of how bikers nearly stopped 1183032 'I knew what I was getting into': Patience defined Red Blackhawks from beating Flyers in Game 6 Wings GM Steve Yzerman's first year 1183060 What if…the Flyers had drafted Jaromir Jagr? 1183033 Red Wings will be in market for back-up goaltender 1183061 South Jersey Helpers: Snider Hockey pivots to provide for 1183034 Q&A: on his favorite moments, its most at-risk families memories and inspiration 1183062 What if…Flyers goalie Pelle Lindbergh had a full career? 1183063 What happens to the Flyers if the NHL cap decreases (or Oilers stays flat) in 2020-21? 1183035 From Kane and Ovi to Connor and Leon: you can't win if you don't buy in 1183036 Lowetide: The 10 most potent lines in Oilers history 1183037 ‘I thought he was gonna drop’: On the time fought Websites 1183064 Penguins on pause: Jason Zucker fills a top-six need now 1183093 The Athletic / An inside look at how the NHL is bringing its and into the future players to hockey-starved fans 1183065 His life saved, Ken Wregget hopes his restaurant survives, 1183094 The Athletic / DGB Grab Bag: A better standings page, too debating goalies and the Ballard era ends 1183095 The Athletic / LeBrun: Fans engage in tug-of-war over when NHL should resume play 1183066 Sharks' Brent Burns reveals first linemate who helped 1183096 The Athletic / The most attractive compliance buyout shape NHL career option on every NHL team 1183097 .ca / In Conversation: Mitch Marner and Natalie St Louis Blues Spooner on hand writing and home workouts 1183067 Blues' Blais has found a home in St. Louis 1183098 Sportsnet.ca / Flames' Cam Talbot proved his worth, but 1183068 Blues' gives new meaning to working return to Calgary in question from home 1183099 Sportsnet.ca / Andrei Markov's Canadiens legacy tied to 1183069 MacEachern agrees to two-year deal with Blues helping teammates cash in 1183070 Media Views: Unfiltered Buck opens up about personal life 1183100 Sportsnet.ca / Why Byfuglien will always have a special in sometimes R-rated podcasts place in history 1183071 Scandella gets 4-year deal with Blues; will this have ripple 1183102 Sportsnet.ca / A timeline of how Dustin Byfuglien's tenure effect on Pietrangelo? with the Jets ended 1183103 Sportsnet.ca / Which top UFA goalie deserves the biggest contract? 1183072 Quality of high school hockey in Tampa Bay may surprise 1183104 Sportsnet.ca / Canucks' Stecher reflects on bumpy you season, uncertain contract status 1183073 Simulating the 2020 NHL playoffs: Lightning vs. Leafs 1183105 Sportsnet.ca / How one season in KHL helped Flames' Giordano develop 'a lot' Maple Leafs 1183106 TSN.CA / Blue Jackets' Jones talks injury rehab, Torts 1183074 Emily Cave is living breath by breath as she waits to say going quiet and Norris dream goodbye to husband Colby 1183107 TSN.CA / Byfuglien's bitter breakup with Jets will fade with 1183075 What should a Zach Hyman extension look like for the time Maple Leafs? 1183108 USA TODAY / is fine with Bill Peters finding new 1183076 Better together: How a Toronto gym is fuelling wellness job, wants others to have that opportunity through a difficult time 1183077 Simulating the 2020 NHL playoffs: Lightning vs. Leafs Winnipeg Jets 1183083 Mike McIntyre looks back at the most memorable goals Canucks scored by the Winnipeg Jets since returning to the NHL to 1183089 Ed Willes: Green grasping at summer straws that Canucks 1183084 Big Buff leaves Jets with package of greatest hits will finish playoff drive 1183085 Goaltending, offensive skill kept defensively challenged 1183090 Dustin Byfuglien is a free agent. Should the Canucks try to Jets alive sign him? 1183086 Jets, Byfuglien part company; wife posts emotional 1183091 How Quinn Hughes’ dominant puck-moving stats compare message to team, city to his teammates 1183087 Byfuglien, Jets are done 1183092 Q&A: Nikolay Goldobin on his time in Vancouver, going 1183088 ‘Force of nature’: What made Dustin Byfuglien Winnipeg’s back to and the KHL one-of-a-kind talent World Leagues News 1183078 Golden Knights prospect Connor Corcoran finalist for OHL 1183109 How Trump’s plan for reopening America compares with honor California’s 1183079 Golden Knights prospect Jiri Patera earns top goalie honor 1183110 Georgia football staffer who battled coronavirus released in WHL from hospital to cheers 1183080 Players, fans get creative to raise funds in hockey minors 1183111 A's minor league coach with coronavirus breathing without ventilator 1183112 USMNT's Tyler Adams explains how his German team 1183081 Lyla and Leni apply makeup on a sleeping T.J. Oshie trains amid the coronavirus crisis 1183082 Why 'Happy Gilmore' is the perfect hockey move to watch 1183113 With professional sport on lockdown, athletic animals in quarantine seize the spotlight 1183114 Boxing referee Eddie Cotton dies at the age of 72 after contracting the coronavirus 1183115 Coronavirus changes college workouts 1183116 Pro golf plans to be the first major sport to return during the coronavirus pandemic 1183117 Von Miller says he was 'shocked' to learn he had coronavirus: 'It all started with just a simple cough' 1183118 Sports Hub's OCBC Arena, selected ActiveSG indoor halls to house foreign workers 1183119 Donald Trump says initial return of sports will be 'made for television' 1183120 E-Sports Take Center Stage As Coronavirus Pushes Sports To Sidelines SPORT-SCAN, INC. 941-284-4129 1183011 Anaheim Ducks Commit to developing his youngsters

With management giving a healthy nudge toward shifting the roster in a different direction, Eakins didn’t hesitate to give his younger players The positives and negatives of Dallas Eakins’ first season as Ducks many opportunities to grow their games at the NHL level. coach Up front, Sam Steel, Troy Terry, Max Comtois and Max Jones all were put in top-nine roles. Comtois, Steel and Terry got significant time on the By Eric Stephens 7h ago power play, while Jones was incorporated more into -killing as the year went on. Isac Lundestrom averaged 13 minutes when he was called up from the AHL when injuries arose.

With the equivalent of two full seasons and a handful more games under On defense, Eakins and assistant coach Marty Wilford stood behind his belt as an NHL , Dallas Eakins remains some distance Larsson when he went through some serious inconsistency in his play from evening his ledger — and convincing the hockey world that he will and gave Brendan Guhle chances to lock down a spot on the blue line become a success. before Murray brought in other options on the left side. If anything, Josh Mahura occasionally was the odd man out when he was up with Before the league’s season was put on pause last month, Eakins had Anaheim. compiled a 65-96-23 record with the and the Anaheim Ducks. His rough ride with the Oilers in 2013-14 and 2014-15 has been Push the club toward a style that emphasizes puck possession discussed and dissected often. In some ways, taking on an Anaheim franchise in a clear transition stage is a do-over for him. When they had elite players who could change the game with one deadly or a perfect setup pass to a teammate who could finish, the Ducks But how did the 53-year-old fitness demon and father of two fare in his could live with a dump-and-chase game that emphasized a hard first season with the Ducks? His record was 29-33-9 when the season forecheck to create turnovers and capitalize off them. stopped on March 12. Judging by that simple metric, the Ducks will have to go 6-4-1, if they play their final 11 games at some , to match last It is different now. They learned the hard way when they gave up the year’s record. And that season universally is considered an abject failure. puck and struggled mightily to get it back. Eakins pushed the envelope a little further this season by encouraging his more skilled forwards and There are variables to consider, such as the composition of the team by puck-moving defensemen not only to be more aggressive on the other general manager Bob Murray and how it stacks up against the league. side of the red line but also carry the puck into the offensive zone and How well or poor did individual players do under Eakins’ guidance? How make plays with it. did they mesh as a unit and compete against the opposition? Those factors also help determine what kind of job Eakins did. The underlying numbers show that it remains a work in progress in terms of getting the Ducks to carry the play more than the opposition. But The Athletic did a deeper analysis of Eakins’s first season, digging into according to Natural Stat Trick, there was a dramatic difference in the the things that he did well and those he can improve on. We also asked number of high-danger chances they created — 613 in 71 games to rank for your vote and opinion on his job performance in a Ducks survey we 13th this season compared to 662 in 2018-19 to rank 26th. Anaheim’s published this week. Those who haven’t voted can still do so, and the Corsi-for percentage also ticked upward to 48.32 from 47.60. The high results will be analyzed in a story next week. amount of quality chances allowed is still a concern.

What did he do well? What can he do better?

Keep his players invested all season Developing his top forward lines and sticking with them

Most new coaches have a grace period in a first season, when players The fact that Deslauriers, Rowney and Derek Grant was the only trio to are open to new concepts and motivated to make a good impression. Not play together over the longest stretch — until Grant was traded near the only did Eakins have the benefit of being a different voice, but he also end of February — showed Eakins’ inability to have a scoring line click kept the Ducks engaged and competitive in most of their games. for an extended period.

The Ducks bought in from the start, enthused by a bench boss who We subscribe to the theory that it’s more important for coaches to find fosters a personal touch in his communication and who was determined pairs — preferably a center and a wing — that they can lean on for to have the club play with more pace and a style that encouraged players offense, then rotate another wing in and out depending on success or to be aggressive. Over time, it was apparent that they simply did not matchups. But only wingers Rickard Rakell and Jakob Silfverberg proved have enough firepower to overcome the mistakes they made. to be dangerous over lengthy stretches, and they were separated because of limited success on the two other lines. “Team-wise, I like where our foundation is at,” Adam Henrique said in a recent video-conference interview. “I like the structure. The systems that Whether it is Murray giving Eakins more talent, or Eakins finding the right Dallas has brought in this year, it gives us that solid base to work off. As combinations and sticking with them for longer periods, the two must give far as the team, I think we still have some growing to go through. I think the Ducks a group of top-nine forwards that can back off opposing this season was good progression throughout the year. defenders and create hesitation or confusion. Getzlaf is now two years into having less-than-ideal linemates. Perhaps Sonny Milano and Danton “I think everybody individually still has to take steps to get better to Heinen can become options who develop more chemistry with the improve the team. We still have to find ways to get better throughout the longtime center and finish plays better. lineup. I think our foundation is there, and we’re trending in that direction.” Get more impact play from his youngsters

Use all parts of his roster While there was no reticence toward giving the kids minutes and placing them in important situations at times, Eakins needs to coax more Fourth-line forwards and third-pairing defensemen could appreciate how production out of them going forward. He’ll do well to have one break out Eakins spread around ice time. Those players consistently were sent and be the kind of player who can be relied upon. over the boards during even-strength play. For instance, Steel and Terry averaged 1:49 and 1:47 of power-play time Nicolas Deslauriers was the only regular player to not average 10 — essentially the equivalent of two shifts per game. But the two totaled minutes of action (9:47) and whose ice time vacillated greatly, from a low just one and nine assists with the man advantage (Steel had seven of 4:51 to a high of 14:39. Carter Rowney, one of two Ducks to appear in of those helpers). One thing Terry was effective at — drawing penalties. all 71 games, played 12 minutes or more in 48 games. Notably, all of His 1.23 drawn per 60 minutes was among the best on the Ducks over Anaheim’s defensemen hit the ice often — whether they were part- his 47 games. And he took only three minors. Now he must start making timers, everyday performers or new acquisitions. Jacob Larsson played opponents pay after getting them to commit misdeeds. the least on average, and it was still more than 16 minutes. Given that one of the reasons Eakins got the job was his work with young That meant dipping into the big minutes that leading players such as players in San Diego, it is imperative that he and his staff move their , Hampus Lindholm, Cam Fowler and Josh Manson development in a positive direction. It is possible that he could have received in prior seasons. All four averaged up to two minutes fewer. Trevor Zegras on his roster at some point next season if last year’s No. 9 overall draft pick gets stronger and shows that he can handle the daily rigors of NHL life.

Improve the special teams

Talent could be the problem here. Eakins doesn’t have a setup on the power play in which he can put someone like Alex Ovechkin in one circle, have Nicklas Backstrom work off the half-wall, insert an effective T.J. Oshie in the bumper position and let John Carlson run things from the point. But you’ve got to work with what you have, and Eakins and assistant Mark Morrison can do better.

The Ducks’ success rate of 14.7 percent with the man advantage was their lowest since 2014-15, when that talented 51-win group somehow scored only 15.7 percent of the time. But that team was also more proficient in 5-on-5 play. This outfit’s 27 power-play goals — with Henrique’s five leading it — was 15 under the league average. Boston’s David Pastrnak had 20 by himself.

And the penalty-killing has dropped off. The Ducks’ 77.0 percent success rate was the second-lowest mark in club history. Personnel has been adjusted in recent years, but the Ducks have struggled to remain as effective as they were when Andrew Cogliano and Ryan Kesler were at the top of their games and assistant coach Trent Yawney, who latched back on with Todd McLellan in Edmonton and then Los Angeles, was running the units.

Utilize the services of Ryan Miller more

The venerable netminder actually played in more games under Eakins (23) than in the previous season under Randy Carlyle and Murray (20). But there is a caveat.

Miller was healthier after dealing with a knee injury that knocked him out for six weeks during a critical part of the miserable 2018-19 season. But he made starts in back-to-back games just three times and the latter two involved playing in Buffalo, where he starred for many years, and right before the stoppage when John Gibson was dealing with a groin injury. Gibson prefers to work often, but Miller doesn’t need to be limited to starts in the second half of back-to-backs or simply get the nod to spell his crease-mate on a long homestand.

The Ducks could take a page out of the splits Boston does with Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak, or Dallas with Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin, and have Gibson play three times to Miller’s two in the first half of the season before letting a fresher Gibson take control down the stretch. Having a goalie play 60 to 65 games out of 82 is becoming less frequent these days. And it doesn’t hurt to have someone push the No. 1 more.

Not lock in solely on trusted players

The clearest example of Eakins turning to those he knows and feels most comfortable with is defenseman Korbinian Holzer, whom he dressed for a career-best 46 games. Holzer is the definition of an extra defender who can fill in when needed but can get exposed the longer he remains in a lineup. Meanwhile, Michael Del Zotto was putting together a solid season in handling limited and expanded minutes but at times still found himself out of the lineup for a few games.

Del Zotto might partially have been the victim of the club’s mandate to get younger, which was expressed to him at the start of the season. But when a player is doing well, he should be rewarded regardless of his age. It was clear that MDZ was doing better than other defenders, including Holzer, whose effectiveness with the Ducks wasn’t as good as other seasons. Ultimately, Holzer was traded.

Some will also bring up Daniel Sprong, an offensive-minded right wing who never meshed with the coach. I’m not sold on him, and kudos to Murray for getting puck-moving defender Christian Djoos for a player who was similarly buried in the AHL. And maybe Sprong has enough flaws in his game to where he won’t ever be a trustworthy winger in the NHL. But there was little effort to try taking advantage of the skills he does have or at least build his value in a season that was already going nowhere.

The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183012 Arizona Coyotes

Coyotes' Chychrun learning piano, training at home during halt of NHL season

Jesse Morrison, Published 10:00 a.m. MT April 17, 2020

Jakob Chychrun is making lemonade out of lemons during his time quarantined at home during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The Coyotes' defenseman said he is staying as busy as possible during the suspension of the NHL season.

"The biggest thing is just stay active," Chychrun said. "... It's so easy just to stay in bed or sit on the couch and do nothing. I think when you do that you feel lazy. That's not really good for your mental health."

Chychrun said a gift his grandmother gave him is helping him pass the time at home.

The gift, a piano, has been something Chychrun promised his grandmother he would learn and with the extra time on his hands, Chychrun decided to start playing.

"My grandma handed me down her piano," Chychrun said. "So that's been really special actually. It's really cool to have that in my house. She's great. She's the cutest person in the world. So it was really special when she gave the okay to give me her piano because I knew she wanted me to have it and she always says now that I have it in the house it's like I have a little piece of her with me. So it's really special. I promised her I would take lessons. ... So I downloaded an app on my phone. I actually picked it up pretty quick."

Chychrun, who is lucky enough to be quarantining with his parents, said he really enjoys the popular Netflix series "Ozark." He said he and his family were able to watch season three of the show together.

An NHL return this season seems less likely with each passing day but Chychrun is still keeping prepared as best he can while at home just in case the season does resume at some point.

"The team actually dropped off a bike and some workout equipment at my house here, Chychrun said. "So luckily, I have that equipment at the house which has been nice. Our trainers send little programs out to guys. Working with what you have really."

Chychrun said if the season is over, it will be a season remembered for ups and downs.

"I think we definitely had our highs and lows this year," Chychrun said. "I think we definitely started the way we we wanted to. We were able to get to first place in our division. And we were there for a little bit and then we kind of went through a couple tough patches where we kind of got away from things a little bit. And then we were able to eventually find our way back and come together as a team and kind of find a way and we were continuing to fight for a playoff spot there..."

Chychrun said it has been "weird" and "tough" not to see his teammates and said the team misses each other. However, he said the group stays in touch via Zoom and FaceTime.

Arizona Republic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183013 Arizona Coyotes “We don’t know what’s going to happen with hockey. We don’t know what’s going to happen with the NFL because the Cardinals Stadium is also right next to us. And I saw that arena football (the IFL), which Gila River Arena was going to host this fall, canceled its season. It’s nowhere Westgate businesses fighting shutdown and corresponding loss of near as big a hit for us as the Coyotes, but just in general, the hits keep Coyotes games coming. We need some wins.”

Unfortunately for Westgate’s businesses, there is no clarity on when those wins might be possible. By Craig Morgan Apr 17, 2020 “I don’t think anyone would stick their neck out and say they could

forecast how this is all going to end up, but obviously until people feel like I haven’t been to Gila River Arena or Glendale since March 2. From the they’ve got the green light to gather again, it’s not going to get much sad sight of it, neither have a lot of you. Westgate businesses are either better,” Eberhart said. “This is a convention hotel so it’s going to be closed or operating with skeleton crews to serve a severely reduced interesting to see what sorts of directives come out as far as large groups number of guests. gathering. We’re all just waiting to see how this all plays out and when we can hope to see some sense of normalcy again.” “Really tough times,” said Steve Eberhart, the general manager of the Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel and Spa that sits on the southwest The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 corner of Westgate’s footprint. “There’s just not a lot of reasons for people to be staying in hotels right now.”

“We’re getting enough business to stay open. Some people are still doing business in one way or another and then some people are coming in saying, ‘We just need to get out of the house,’ but we’re at the point now where we’re at least 90 percent off our normal business.”

I live a long way from Westgate so I enlisted pal and Glendale resident Cat Silverman to do some sleuthing and she kindly obliged. Silverman enjoys running, and one of her routes includes a loop around the arena.

As expected, Westgate is a virtual ghost town.

“Whiskey Rose has a sign that they’re closed for two weeks,” Silverman reported. “Ruby Tuesday and The Lola are closed entirely. Salt and Bar Louie are open. Saddle Ranch is closed until further notice. Which Wich is closed. Everyone else is open.”

I tried calling Whiskey Rose, McFadden’s and State 48 Brewery, but the calls were not answered or returned. Calls to Whiskey Rose do not even go to a voicemail; just an automated recording that says “Hello, we are not available. Please call again. Thank you for your call. Memory full.”

A staff member at State 48’s Surprise location said the Westgate location closed a couple of weeks ago but was hoping to open again by May 1. They originally tried to do carryout, “but a sinkhole (you can’t make this stuff up) opened outside the takeout area and customers couldn’t figure out where to go so they shut everything down,” the spokesperson said.

Yard House, a favorite watering hole for certain local hockey podcasters, is still offering family takeout meals that serve up to four, available through curbside pickup, with options such as steak and salmon, Nashville hot chicken, mac and cheese, pizza, wings and salad combinations, along with individual meals available to go, including burgers, sandwiches, salads and more. At the Glendale location, guests can also order beer growlers, wine and spirits to go. To view the menu and place an order, visit YardHouse.com.

While national spokesperson Meagan Bernstein said Yard House’s parent company, Darden Restaurants does not provide location-specific information, the company issued a business update on April 7 that “introduced a permanent paid sick leave program early last month, closed our dining rooms on March 20 and began to operate our restaurants in a to-go-only capacity. To support our hourly restaurant team members who have not been scheduled while our dining rooms are closed, we rolled out a three-week emergency pay program. Meanwhile, our hourly restaurant team members who are still working will receive an additional payment to help cover unexpected costs, such as transportation and childcare, incurred as a result of the current situation.”

Eberhart said the Renaissance staff has been reduced from about 260 people a month ago to “a couple handfuls of people” now.

“We can’t have the restaurants open, we can’t do banquets and the pool and fitness center had to be closed due to the mandates so we’re basically just operating rooms,” said Eberhart, who, like the other workers, is handling a variety of duties normally reserved for more specialized staff members. “It’s like we’re running a European hostel.”

Eberhart said not having Coyotes games is definitely impacting the hotel.

“A great deal,” he said. “The majority of visiting teams stay with us and we were hopeful that there was going to be a playoff appearance as well, and that would have been a nice boost to April. 1183014

Zdeno Chara writes thoughtful message to Bruins fans, healthcare workers

By Justin Leger April 17, 2020 10:09 PM

Zdeno Chara is itching to get back on the ice alongside his Boston Bruins teammates and the fans at TD Garden.

But until then, the B's veteran defenseman and his family are doing what they can to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Chara took to Instagram on Friday with a photo of himself and his two sons wearing Bruins masks.

The 43-year-old also wrote the following message to fans, his teammates, and to healthcare workers around the globe.

As a family we are doing our part in preventing the spread of this virus thanks to the masks made by @miriam_studienkova.

We all are looking forward to get back to playing hockey soon as it is safe.

My hope is to see our great Bruins fans soon to cheer our team on at TD garden when health restrictions are lifted.

I miss my teammates and more importantly the great people and fans of Boston.

Most importantly I want to personally thank all the first responders and healthcare workers who are the true heroes of our community.

Hope you all remain healthy and safe!

#stayhome #stayhealthy #staystrong #bostonstrong #besafe #weareboston

View this post on Instagram

As a family we are doing our part in preventing the spread of this virus thanks to the masks made by @miriam_studienkova. We all are looking forward to get back to playing hockey soon as it is safe. My hope is to see our great Bruins fans soon to cheer our team on at TD garden when health restrictions are lifted. I miss my teammates and more importantly the great people and fans of Boston. Most importantly I want to personally thank all the first responders and healthcare workers who are the true heroes of our community. Hope you all remain healthy and safe! #stayhome #stayhealthy #staystrong #bostonstrong #besafe #weareboston

A post shared by Zdeno Chara (@zeechara33) on Apr 17, 2020 at 10:10am PDT

A kind gesture from the Bruins captain.

The NHL season was halted March 10 with the Bruins leading the league in points. If and when play finally resumes, North Dakota and New Hampshire have been considered as potential sites for teams to play in with no fans in attendance.

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183015 Boston Bruins “You can stay active. You can stay moving and keep the conditioning level as ‘up’ as best you can. But the biggest thing is that it doesn’t matter what you do off the ice. You can run and you can bike, but nothing that you can do is going to simulate the workout that you do on the ice,” Bruins' Brad Marchand with a dose of reality: 'Older teams are going to lamented Marchand. “You can’t duplicate it. You can’t replicate it. It struggle' when NHL returns doesn’t matter who does what during this break, we’re all going to feel awful when we come back.

“We’re all going to be bad. It’s going to take a while to get it back, so By Joe Haggerty April 17, 2020 8:58 PM that’s going to be the biggest concern with this whole thing. If you take guys that have been off and had very limited opportunities to work out and train and haven’t skated in months, you can’t just throw them back While many Bruins fans think that a long leave of absence for NHL into games or everybody is going to get hurt. There’s going to be some players could end up benefitting the B’s when the NHL finally starts kind of ramp-up period, but it’s going to be really, really ugly for a couple again, that may not be the case at all. of games. It’d be nice to get a couple of games before the playoffs, otherwise, it’s going to be a free-for-all.” In theory, an older, veteran team such as the Bruins would be well-rested with bumps and bruises healed along with energy levels restored to what Clearly, there are more important things going on in the world than the they were at the beginning of the season. To the layperson, that would plight of the Bruins, but the NHL's return means we’re inching closer to be a good thing. normalcy in a world put on edge by the coronavirus crisis. Still, it's also a dose of reality to hear Marchand speak about the extended break and All one needs to do is look at the Black and Gold’s 15-4-0 record in the how it’s going to do no favors to Boston’s high hopes for a Stanley Cup 19 games after their 10-day All-Star break/bye week in January that given where they were when the season was paused. pushed the invigorated B’s to their very best stretch of the regular season. With even more rest, one might extrapolate that Boston would Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 04.18.2020 be in even better shape once the finally do roll around, if they ever do.

All those theories don’t seem to jive with reality, however.

In so many words, Brad Marchand implied he doesn’t think it’s going to work out very well for the Bruins if they get a chance to put a cap on a season where they’ve been the NHL's best for most of it. The months that the players are being forced to stay off the ice is going to take away their feel for the puck and push everybody to the same poor level of conditioning. Any momentum Boston had built up the first five months of the regular season is pretty much out the window now.

Instead, Marchand thinks the advantage will swing pretty strongly to teams with young skating legs that will simply turn playoff games into a track meet with the kind of raw NHL speed you normally only see in October.

Maybe it will benefit the Lightning getting Steven Stamkos back from a serious injury or the Hurricanes getting Dougie Hamilton back from injury as well. Still, it sure doesn’t seem to Marchand like it’s going to help a Bruins team that was sprinting to the President’s Trophy when the season was paused.

“I don’t think it’s going to help anybody," Marchand said in a virtual town hall with Bruins season-ticket holders on Thursday. " The only ones it’s going to help is teams with players that had significant injuries. Just look at [Steven] Stamkos, who was injured and guys like that. Now they have the time to regroup and get healthy.

“But it’s not going to help any teams that were playing well at the time. Maybe a few days [of rest] might have been good, but when guys are taking a few months it’s going to hurt everyone.

“You can’t skate, keep your conditioning up or keep up your skills. It’s going to hurt everybody. Everybody is going to be sloppy," Marchand said. "I think the only teams that are going to come back and look good are the really young teams like Toronto or Tampa. The really high-end skilled teams are just going to have the legs and be able to get it back quick. Older teams are going to struggle.”

The Bruins have some excellent young players, David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo among others, but they are most definitely an “older team” with core guys , Zdeno Chara, David Krejci, Tuukka Rask and Marchand well past 30.

For the veteran Bruins who rely on chemistry, conditioning, physicality and hockey awareness, it could prove a challenge if there’s only one or two games to warm up ahead of the postseason. Clearly, it won’t be the only challenge for the Bruins given the likelihood that teams will be playing in empty arenas and filling a summertime playoff slate when they’re usually out on the golf course somewhere.

Still, the NHL’s best players know that the biggest hurdle to jump over for any kind of successful conclusion to their season is going to be bouncing back from the longest stretch most of them have gone without skating in their adult lives. 1183016 Boston Bruins

Bruins post amazing TikTok video of some crazy Tuukka Rask moments

By Nick Goss April 17, 2020 11:18 AM

Tuukka Rask is not afraid to show emotion on the ice.

The Boston Bruins goaltender is one of the best players in the NHL at his position, and he's the most deserving candidate for the this season's Vezina Trophy.

Rask's career has been full of many memorable moments. Some good, some bad and some crazy. The Bruins shared some of his more crazy moments in a new TikTok video that's sure to give hockey fans a few laughs.

The Bruins have now posted two videos to TikTok and both are fantastic. The first one featured former Bruins star and current team president . It's fair to say the bar for the B's third video has been set pretty high.

The NHL season is on pause right now amid the outbreak of the coronavirus. There's no official timetable for when/if the 2019-20 season will resume. If the season does come back, the Bruins will be among the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. And if they are going to accomplish that goal, Rask will need to be at the top of his game.

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183017 Boston Bruins 34 67

Considered to be on the Mount Rushmore of left wingers for the Bruins, Two stand above the rest: The all-time best seasons by Bruins left wings beside Bucyk, Cashman and Marchand, Lucic was also one of the best power forwards of his generation and was a key element in the 2011 title. His teeth-shattering, bone-crushing bodychecks intimidated opponents, By Joe McDonald Apr 17, 2020 and Lucic could set the tone with his physicality.

Lucic and Krejci formed the foundation of the top line for many seasons in Boston, while the likes of Horton, and Loui Eriksson An impressive list of left wings has played for the Bruins. However, when served as right wings. Lucic not only protected Krejci on the ice, but the it comes to the best, there are only two who truly stand out: Johnny hulking forward could also produce offensively and scored some Bucyk and Brad Marchand. Their careers in the Black and Gold are important goals during his tenure in Boston. masterpieces. Lucic was only 22 in 2010-11, and it was the only time in his career he But that doesn’t mean others haven’t authored some great seasons in produced a 30-goal season. Boston, and that’s why we’re looking deeper to see some of the best individual years delivered by Bruins left wings. Right away, Joe Juneau "Dream come true kind of season," he told The Athletic. "I felt like and Wayne Cashman make a case for themselves. Players such as everything that could've went right for me went right. I was healthy again Milan Lucic and also get a mention. Lucic was a force after 2009-10 was injury-filled. My linemates were healthy and our and helped the Bruins win the Stanley Cup in 2011 while playing with chemistry was the best I've ever experienced in my career. Everything David Krejci and . Simmer had impressive back-to-back jelled. I give a lot of credit to my linemates for my success that season as seasons with 63 points (63 games) and 60 points (55 games), well because without them I wouldn't have put up the numbers that I did. respectively. And as great as it went personally, it couldn't have went better as far as team success went as well." Who had the best season of all? While Bucyk’s overall contributions will be tough to beat, Marchand can make a good run. To avoid too much 3. Brad Marchand, 2019-20 duplication, we have limited our results to two seasons per player; otherwise, Bucyk and Marchand might occupy the whole list. With that Real limitation imposed, there are a few names on this list that might surprise 28 you. 59 In its record keeping of NHL history, Hockey-Reference adjusts outputs by factors such as roster size, schedule lengths and scoring 87 environments. It is partly through this statistical lens and partly through big-picture interpretation that we present the top 10 seasons by left wings Adjusted in team history. 33

1. Johnny Bucyk, 1970-71 70

Real 103

51 Before this season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 65 Marchand was in the midst of one of his best seasons with 28 goals and 59 assists in 70 games. The 31-year-old forward has become an elite 116 player in the NHL, and it obviously helps that he plays with Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak. Looking at his adjusted statistics for a full Adjusted season, it's estimated that Marchand could finish with 33 goals and 70 46 assists for 103 points. He's a threat in every situation.

60 He's still an agitator on the ice and is considered one of the best trash- talkers in the league, but he's learned how to balance success versus 106 chirpiness.

Statistically speaking, "Chief" would own many of the best seasons by a If this season resumes and the remaining 12 regular-season games are left wing in team history, but no doubt this season was his apex, with 51 played, it's realistic he could produce another 100-point season. goals and 65 assists for 116 points in 78 games. It was the only time in his career he reached the 50-goal plateau and surpassed 100 points. He 4. Joe Juneau, 1992-93 played 21 seasons for the Bruins and won the Stanley Cup in 1970 and Real 1972. 32 Now 84, Bucyk watches most Bruins games from the alumni suite at TD Garden. He vividly remembers the moment he reached 50 goals on 70 March 7, 1971, against the St. Louis Blues at . He also made sure to collect the puck. 102

"That was a great feeling," he told The Athletic. "People respect that, and Adjusted I enjoyed it. I have (the puck) somewhere at home. I have so many damn 26 pucks — 250, 300, 500." 56 2. Milan Lucic, 2010-11 82 Real In his first full season in the NHL, the crafty winger notched an 30 impressive 102 points. It helped that he played with Adam Oates and 32 Cam Neely, but Juneau produced a career season and never came close to matching it again. It was so much fun to watch when that trio played 62 together. Unfortunately, Neely was limited to only 13 games that season, but he still produced 11 goals and seven assists. Adjusted Juneau was 25 years old and stepped up in a big way. He was a smart 33 player and scored more than anyone thought he was capable of. Unfortunately, his career in Boston didn't last long. The following season, 63 the Bruins traded him to the Washington Capitals for defenseman . At the time, Juneau had 14 goals and 58 assists in 63 games for Adjusted the Bruins. He finished the season with a combined 85 points between 26 Boston and Washington. Many consider it one of the worst trades in Bruins history. 24

As impressive as his rookie campaign was, the fact that Juneau 50 graduated from RPI with a degree in aeronautical engineering might be The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder spent three impressive seasons with the even more so. Bruins toward the end of his career. He started as a 20-year-old with the 5. Woody Dumart, 1945-46 in 1974-75 and later played for the Cleveland Barons and before he was traded to Boston on Oct. Real 24, 1984, for the Bruins' first-round pick in the 1985 NHL Draft. The Kings 22 would select forward Dan Gratton with that pick (10th overall).

12 Simmer was 30 when he arrived in Boston, and he quickly put up impressive numbers. He registered 63 points in 63 games in his first 34 season with the Bruins and followed with a 60-point season in 55 games in 1985-86. In his final season in Boston, he posted 69 points in 80 Adjusted games.

26 He was not gifted with speed and his game was slow and deliberate, so 20 he needed to rely on intelligence, and that's how he was able to outsmart opponents. He was positionally sound and always knew where to be on 46 the ice.

As a member of the famous "Kraut Line" along with Milt Schmidt and 8. Brad Marchand, 2018-19 Bobby Bauer, Dumart lost significant playing time due to World War II. During his career, he was known for his size, and he used his 6-foot, Real 190-pound frame to his advantage. In fact, that trio was considered one 36 of the toughest lines of all time. Known as "Porky" to his teammates, Dumart helped the Bruins to two Stanley Cup championships in 1939 and 64 1941. 100 Dumart, an native, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1942. When he returned to the Bruins for the 1945-46 season, Dumart Adjusted produced 22 goals and 12 assists in 50 games. Not bad after missing 36 three seasons. 64 Overall, he was ahead of his time as a solid two-way player and would often shadow the opposition's best players. After he retired in 1954, he 100 opened a sporting goods store in Needham, Mass. He was enshrined in After helping Team to a championship at the World Cup of the in 1992. But it was his first season back from Hockey in September 2016, when he played with Bergeron and Sidney WWII that really stood out. Crosby, Marchand's career reached an entirely new level the following 6. Wayne Cashman, 1973-74 season. He became a better all-around player on a more consistent basis. He also was one goal shy of reaching 40 for the first time in his Real career in 2016-17.

30 The following season, he notched 34 goals and 51 assists for 85 points 59 as he continued to open eyes and show that maybe he should be considered among the game's elite. 89 It was 2018-19 when he made that obvious to all, as he became the 11th Adjusted player in team history to reach the 100-point plateau and the first since Joe Thornton, who had 101 points in 2002-03. It was also Marchand's 28 fourth consecutive season with 30 goals. His performance on both ends 57 of the ice helped guide the Bruins to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final before losing to the St. Louis Blues. 85 Still, that great season was marred by a poor decision in the final game. Cashman, the man who would eventually replace Bucyk as team captain, In Game 7 of the final, Marchand made an ill-timed line change at the spent his entire 17-year career in Boston. The two-time Cup winner end of the first period, leading to a Blues goal with eight seconds produced an 89-point season in 1973-74 and played in all 78 games. It remaining and giving St. Louis a 2-0 lead to start the second period. was also the only time he scored 30 goals. Marchand said it would be a play he would regret for the rest of his career. As one of the most respected players of his time, Cash wore the "C" on his sweater for six seasons (1977 to 1983). In 1979, Cashman scored a 9. Johnny Bucyk, 1971-72 goal in the infamous "too many men" game against the Canadiens in Game 7. He was also known for his role on the Big, Bad Bruins. He Real served as an assistant coach for the Bruins from 2001 to 2006. 32

He was the last active player from the era when he retired 51 with the Bruins in 1983. "Cash" also played for Team Canada in the 1972 against the . 83

7. Charlie Simmer, 1984-85 Adjusted

Real 31

33 52

30 83 Chief guided the Bruins to a Stanley Cup title in 1972, and it would be another 39 years before the organization won again. It's a bit odd that Bucyk's best statistical campaigns each came a season after the Bruins won Cups in 1970 and '72. He produced 93 points in 1972-73, which was only the second time in his career he surpassed 90. Chief was a model of consistency during his tenure in Boston.

But in 1971-72 his leadership on and off the ice proved crucial in the team's second championship in three seasons, which is what earns him the spot here.

Even though he was a physical presence on the ice, he still earned the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy twice during his career. Chief also produced another 83-point season in 1975-76 at age 40.

10. Real Chevrefils, 1956-57

Real

31

17

48

Adjusted

38

21

59

With a name like "Real," he had to be a good player. His actual name was Joseph Maurice Roger Chevrefils, but his teammates called him "Chevy." He was known for his skills, but he battled alcoholism during his career. The Bruins traded him to the Red Wings for in June 1955. Less than a year later, Chevrefils returned to Boston.

The following season, he produced a career year with 31 goals and 17 assists for 48 points in 70 games. He had silenced his critics for one season. However, he lasted only two more campaigns and was done playing at age 26.

The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183018 Buffalo Sabres The Sabres have experienced a notable drop in ticket sales in recent years. Sinclair and his staff made the overdue move of revamping the arena pricing model this spring, yet the number of season-ticket holders is expected to drop substantially. Of course, Sinclair had the unenviable ‘It’s just wrong’: Former Sabres owner Larry Quinn on PSE’s firings task of trying to sell tickets for a team with a nine-year playoff drought, the longest in the NHL, while battling the dainty prices on StubHub.

“I don’t understand why you let go of a guy that knows every single By John Vogl Apr 17, 2020 season-ticket holder when you’re going to have to get them all back,” Quinn said. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

BUFFALO, N.Y. – It’s been nine years since Larry Quinn was minority Watching everything unfold was just too much for the former Sabres owner of the Sabres. He’s made a point not to talk about the organization owner, who still lives in Buffalo. He sees what the Sabres, Bills and their he sold to Terry and . As recently as February, when the employees mean to the community, and he couldn’t sit idly by without Sabres celebrated 2000s Night and welcomed Quinn back to KeyBank saying something. Center, he declined to answer a question about improvements he’d make “I don’t want this to be an attack on the Pegulas,” Quinn said. “I’m trying to the arena he developed, saying it wasn’t his place. to defend really, really good people that I think have just been wronged.” But Quinn can stay silent no longer. The mass firings this week by The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 Pegula Sports and Entertainment were unbearable, unfathomable and unacceptable to him.

“As you’ve noticed, I have not made a single comment about the Sabres since we left. I have practiced that religiously,” Quinn told The Athletic by phone Friday. “But this is – I just don’t understand. It’s just wrong.”

PSE fired 21 employees and furloughed 104 others Tuesday. Among those terminated were longtime employees John Sinclair, the vice president of tickets and service; Chris Bandura, the vice president of communications; and Jennifer Van Rysdam, the vice president of live events.

“If I had to name all the people that worked for us, the three I admired most would be those three,” said Quinn, who was part of B. Thomas Golisano’s ownership group from 2003 to 2011.

The termination of Sinclair hurt Quinn the most. The head of tickets has been with the Sabres since 1988, making Sinclair one of the few employees who worked for all four of Buffalo’s ownership groups. Quinn worked alongside him when Quinn was president of the Sabres in the 1990s and again when Quinn helped Golisano purchase the team.

“The way they’ve been treated, you don’t take a 32-year employee and say goodbye and give him two weeks of health insurance – not in the middle of a pandemic,” Quinn said. “You just don’t do that. I just don’t get it.

“There’s something wrong. I don’t know what it is. I know there’s challenges in the business, and I understand that people from time to time have to make economic choices. But you treat the people well that have worked for you for a long time if you’ve got to part ways, and I just don’t get it.”

Pegula Sports and Entertainment has been examining cost-cutting measures since before the arrival of the coronavirus. Some of the firings were set to happen during the offseason, but the pause created by COVID-19 moved up the timeline.

While PSE says the moves were necessary from a financial standpoint, the optics of billionaires letting people go during such a tumultuous time are not good. That’s especially true in light of the Pegulas’ earlier decisions to ax their hospitality department and ignore the sports-wide trend of owners paying game-night workers during postponements.

“Treat them right – and this is not right,” Quinn said. “I for the life of me don’t understand. It’s just staggering to me.”

Quinn has wondered from whom are the Pegulas getting advice. The owners spend more than half of the year in Florida to save money on taxes, so they rely on an inner circle in Buffalo to help them make choices. The remaining executive vice presidents include Ron Raccuia and Mark Preisler.

“This just doesn’t make any sense,” Quinn said of the shrinking list of VPs.

He praised Van Rysdam’s work in attracting big concerts, including the surge in artists who can fill New Era Field such as the Rolling Stones, Guns N’ Roses and Billy Joel. He noted how much Sabres players have loved working with Bandura since 2005. Quinn again commended Sinclair, noting his willingness to work seven days a week to make sure ticket sales run smoothly at every event. 1183019

Treliving wishes Peters well with KHL coaching gig

:Kristen Anderson

Publishing date:16 hours ago

Brad Treliving believes in second chances.

It’s also why the general manager of the Calgary Flames wishes former head coach Bill Peters the best of luck on his next coaching job with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg of the KHL which was officially announced on Wednesday.

Peters had been the subject of controversy when former National Hockey Leaguer Akim Aliu said he was the target of racial slurs when Peters had been coaching him in the with the Rockford IceHogs during the 2009-10 season.

More startling allegations surfaced when Michal Jordan alleged Peters had been physically abusive on the bench during his tenure with the Carolina Hurricanes, kicking him and punching the helmeted head of another player. Rod Brind’Amour, then an an assistant and now the Hurricanes’ head coach, confirmed those incidents.

Peters, who amid his second season as the head coach with the organization, released an apology letter to the Flames via the media during the team-led investigation into his previous conduct.

He resigned on Nov. 29.

“Bill made a mistake,” said Treliving who had only interviewed Peters for the job when he took over for Glen Gulutzan after the 2017-18 campaign. “He said he made a mistake. I know he’s making amends to make up for that. He’s a good coach, Bill is a good man. And he made an error. I wish him well. I can only speak for myself, but not everything we do is sometimes right, and we just hope people have grace for us, and we wish him well there.”

Aliu, himself, took the high road on Thursday when he released a statement on Twitter.

“Hockey is for all,” the statement read. “I believe in second chances for everyone, that we can all find forgiveness in our heart, and that real, positive change is coming if we continue to push forward together. I don’t resent a man for finding work, but I will fight to make sure those same opportunities are available to everyone, on and off the ice, regardless of race or ethnicity.”

During a video conference on Wednesday with Russian reporters, the 55-year-old native of Three Hills, Alta., was asked about the incident which — other than his letter of apology — he has not spoken publicly about since.

“I think as time goes on, we all grow and improve and become better versions of ourselves, and I’m no different than that,” he said. “You learn from all the experiences that you’re in, and you become better.

“It’s no different right now. We’re going through a very trying time right now in the world with the global pandemic. I believe we’re going to come out of this, and when we come out of this people are going to be better people for it and more passionate and compassionate towards each other and more patient.”

Calgary Herald: LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183020 Calgary Flames

Treliving wishes Peters well with KHL coaching gig

Kristen Anderson, Postmedia

Published:April 17, 2020

Updated:April 17, 2020 9:45 AM MDT

Kris Versteeg dishes on his first hockey stick, his NHL career and how he’ll stay ...

Brad Treliving believes in second chances.

It’s also why the general manager of the Calgary Flames wishes former head coach Bill Peters the best of luck on his next coaching job with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg of the KHL which was officially announced on Wednesday.

Peters had been the subject of controversy when former National Hockey Leaguer Akim Aliu said he was the target of racial slurs when Peters had been coaching him in the American Hockey League with the Rockford IceHogs during the 2009-10 season.

More startling allegations surfaced when Michal Jordan alleged Peters had been physically abusive on the bench during his tenure with the Carolina Hurricanes, kicking him and punching the helmeted head of another player. Rod Brind’Amour, then an an assistant and now the Hurricanes’ head coach, confirmed those incidents.

Peters, who amid his second season as the head coach with the organization, released an apology letter to the Flames via the media during the team-led investigation into his previous conduct.

He resigned on Nov. 29.

“Bill made a mistake,” said Treliving who had only interviewed Peters for the job when he took over for Glen Gulutzan after the 2017-18 campaign. “He said he made a mistake. I know he’s making amends to make up for that. He’s a good coach, Bill is a good man. And he made an error. I wish him well. I can only speak for myself, but not everything we do is sometimes right, and we just hope people have grace for us, and we wish him well there.”

Aliu, himself, took the high road on Thursday when he released a statement on Twitter.

“Hockey is for all,” the statement read. “I believe in second chances for everyone, that we can all find forgiveness in our heart, and that real, positive change is coming if we continue to push forward together. I don’t resent a man for finding work, but I will fight to make sure those same opportunities are available to everyone, on and off the ice, regardless of race or ethnicity.”

During a video conference on Wednesday with Russian reporters, the 55-year-old native of Three Hills, Alta., was asked about the incident which — other than his letter of apology — he has not spoken publicly about since.

“I think as time goes on, we all grow and improve and become better versions of ourselves, and I’m no different than that,” he said. “You learn from all the experiences that you’re in, and you become better.

“It’s no different right now. We’re going through a very trying time right now in the world with the global pandemic. I believe we’re going to come out of this, and when we come out of this people are going to be better people for it and more passionate and compassionate towards each other and more patient.”

Calgary Sun: LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183021 Calgary Flames years in the minors perhaps,” he said. “As a first-rounder, you were expected to play.”

Then again, the Flames had been in the market for defenders. If he was Brad Marsh on being first Calgary captain, Corral, big hair and the trade chosen by the , it would’ve been a much different out story.

“Yeah, you don’t have a hope in hell of making the team,” said Marsh. “Larry Robinson, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe — those three guys played By Scott Cruickshank Apr 17, 2020 all the minutes. You can fill a book with the various fourth, fifth, and sixth defencemen that played with the Canadiens.”

But Montreal had been the Cadillac of NHL franchises. For not the first time, the middle-aged gentleman, big and bald and bespectacled, finds his way into the . And the Flames, while decent enough in the regular season, could not find postseason purchase. The team had qualified for the playoffs four of Alone, he spends more than an hour walking the rink’s familiar six years, yet managed to win only a single game. Then, with Marsh concourse, basking in its idiosyncratic charm, appreciating its amazing aboard, they lost another opening-round matchup, this time to the range of one-of-a-kind photographs. . Reaching the postseason again in 1980, they fell to It’s something Brad Marsh likes to do every time he visits. the New York Rangers.

“Just looking at all the history on the walls there,” he said the other day. “It was an awesome place,” Marsh said of . “The misconception “It’s incredible what went on there. I’ve even told a few of the modern-day was that we didn’t have any fans. We had avid fans — they were loud, players, ‘Take your time. Walk through the old Corral.’ they were boisterous. They cheered, they screamed.”

“It’s like going back — a snapshot — in time.” But, he added, the distinct lack of springtime success was eroding the base. Centre frame in one of the city’s favourite snapshots is Marsh himself, the Calgary Flames’ first captain and, at 22, one of the youngest in NHL Not that anyone else in the hockey world much cared. history. He would go on to wear letters at every stop of his career — “It was every franchise out for themselves,” said Marsh. “Some of the Philadelphia, Toronto, Detroit, Ottawa — a journey that produced 1,086 owners in the league didn’t give a rat’s ass about the or appearances, thousands of blocked shots, countless net-front the or the Colorado Rockies or the Oakland Golden takedowns. Seals. If those teams faltered, they’d just find another place to move an But for Marsh, resident of Collingswood, N.J., and president of the Flyers NHL team.” alumni association, his time here remains special. Atlanta, along the way, did what it could to enhance its chances. “A lot of fond memories,” said the 62-year-old. “It’s really cool. I’m proud During Marsh’s two seasons in Atlanta, Fletcher switched coaches, from … because we really did establish the Flames in the city. They were just to Al MacNeil; orchestrated an eight-player blockbuster so thankful to have NHL hockey in the city. And to be captain of such a (moving , Greg Fox, Pat Ribble, Harold Phillipoff, Miles great franchise?” Zaharko to Chicago for , , Phil Russell); signed Time has passed, 40 years’ worth. .

That unruly mop, unrestrained by headwear, is gone, long gone. (“I had Nothing, it seemed, made a difference. big hair,” he cracked. “Now I have no hair.”) But Marsh remembers well a “It doesn’t matter what sport you’re in — or what market you’re in — if ride that began, in essence, June 15, 1978, at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel you don’t win, it’s hard to sell it year after year after year,” said Marsh. in Montreal. “When we lost again (in 1980), I really think everyone was demoralized. In those days, the NHL’s draft was for 20-year-olds and, after four stellar So when the offer came to sell the team, it was obviously looked at and it seasons with his hometown , Marsh figured to be an early was obviously accepted. And away we went. grab. Meaning he and his folks had been invited to the hotel’s ballroom to “I must say, the move from Atlanta to Calgary was tremendous. It was so watch the low-wattage proceedings. much fun. It was such a great feeling to be back in a hockey market. But, “It certainly wasn’t the hoopla it is now. It wasn’t a media spectacle. It more specifically, back in a Canadian hockey market where we were the wasn’t on TV or anything like that,” said Marsh. “There was no going to main dudes.” the stage and getting a jersey.” The following fall, the Flames moved into the Stampede Corral, a building He had heard rumblings that the Cleveland Barons, with the fourth that was already 30 years old. overall selection, were going to take him. “But they folded the morning of Fletcher’s office ended up being a trailer in the parking lot. The rink itself the draft and merged with Minnesota. So I really had no idea where I was featured legendarily high boards and low glass. Players’ benches, going.” believe it or not, had levels. The Flyers, flush with picks, had also expressed interest, but they “If you got lost in that third tier, the coach didn’t know where you were nabbed Behn Wilson at No. 6, at No. 7. There were also and you didn’t have a hope in hell of getting on the ice,” said Marsh, rumblings about the Detroit Red Wings, but, going ninth, they latched laughing. “And we had on our team and he was five-foot- onto Willie Huber. whatever — he couldn’t even see over the boards, let alone jump over At No. 11, Atlanta general manager Cliff Fletcher made the call — the them.” Flames would take the 6-foot-3 defender. With , the Flames’ captain now skating in Washington, Four months later, Marsh made his NHL debut at in a MacNeil put the C on Marsh, scrappy and all heart. 4-4 tie against the Blackhawks. In those days, he lived with a billet family. “I was surprised,” he said. “I think with the conversations of the newness “It’s not like I couldn’t fend for myself,” he said, “but it was nice just of the franchise … it was decided to give it to the youngster. I was very focusing on hockey and hockey alone … not worry about the various proud when they told me and I wore the C proudly for the old Flames.” things that go along with being on your own, like paying bills and He appreciated what it signified. In those days, the captaincy wasn’t responsibilities. I was just there to play hockey.” handed to the best player. Rather, it was a public recognition of And Marsh did that, skating in all 80 games, often alongside Dave character. Shand. The adjustment to the world’s best league had not been too bad, “The tendency in modern-day sports is to pick the fan favourite,” said after all. Marsh. “It’s a slippery slope. You’ve got to have players in the dressing “It wasn’t one of these things where you’re a first-rounder and they hope room who are willing to stand up and hold everybody accountable.” you develop by playing the rest of your junior (eligibility), then a couple If on-ice success is the measure, Marsh’s authority paid off. Still slotted in Atlanta’s old spot — the Patrick Division, with the New York Well, at least once he got used to those Cooperall getups, which the clubs, Philadelphia, Washington — the Flames dominated on home ice, Flyers (and Whalers) wore in those days. losing only five times at the Corral that first year. “They were brutal,” said Marsh. “I never liked them.” “We were huge … it was a very intimidating place to play,” said Marsh. “And what was so cool about the Corral? The fans were right there.” Sliding along the ice to block a shot — a near-shiftly experience for Marsh — is all about timing. With the knit socks and the friction they Right there as in right there. And not only close to the action. The home created, he knew precisely when to hit the deck to smother the incoming dressing room had been upgraded for the city’s new heroes, but getting puck. to the ice surface required players to march through the paying throng. “But when I put on these goddamn Cooperalls, it really messed things Marsh got a kick out of that. up,” he said. “You’re sliding on nylon and, holy doodle, I used to get the shots on the side, but, all of a sudden, you’re getting them on the upper “It was really unique,” he said. “You don’t see that at all anymore chest. So I really had to step back and rethink my shot blocking.” because everything now is private with the players. They park in a private lot, they enter through a private entrance, go through private this and Marsh later heard from Bobby Clarke and Keith Allen that it had been his private that, and the glass is a million feet tall — so there is really no performance the previous spring — the series against the Flyers — that interaction. made him a sought-after commodity in Philadelphia.

“When we left our dressing room, the fans were right there. They could “It was another opportunity,” Marsh said, “and it was up to me to take yell at you, they could boo you, they could scream at you. It was a really, advantage of the opportunity.” really neat feeling.” Seven seasons in Philly, including 66 postseason dates and two trips to That wasn’t all the newcomers had to get used to. the Stanley Cup final, were followed by a couple of winters in Toronto, then stops in Detroit and Ottawa. The Battle of , already well-entrenched, went full scale on the NHL stage, even if the participants weren’t quite abreast of the stakes. Now, after 15 years of patrolling the slot without a helmet, he’s in good health. “We were saying, ‘What the hell is going on here?'” said Marsh. “But it didn’t take long to realize that this was going to be the team (to hate). “I loved every minute,” he said. “I’m fine. I’m fortunate I have no bumps Certainly, reading the papers leading up to the first game and then after and bruises or ailments. I’ve come through it pretty good.” the games, everything was . To be honest, I don’t even remember who won the first game.” (One of his mandates as Flyers’ alumni president had been to set up physicals and concussion testing. “(Former) players could have their (Answer: Edmonton 5-3 at . Visitors’ goals went to brains looked at. I’ve had my old noodle tested. I’m happy to say it looks Willi Plett, Kevin LaVallee, .) pretty good.”)

“We soon realized that that was the team to beat,” he said. “If you lost to After retiring, Marsh worked in the Senators’ front office and owned bars NHL Franchise A, B or C? No problem. But don’t lose to the Edmonton in Ottawa. He’s done speaking engagements and network marketing. Oilers.” These days he works as the Flyers’ director of community development. If Marsh still hadn’t been convinced of the bad blood, Pat Hughes helped Wells Fargo Center is only 15 minutes away, just across the Delaware to make the argument, cranking the defender at centre ice one night in River. Edmonton. And he manages to stay as trim as ever. “He nailed me, man,” said Marsh. “I got up and I didn’t know where the heck I was or what was going on. You get to the bench and the “Well, I didn’t initially. Everyone goes through a lazy stage,” said Marsh. concussion protocol back then was, Bearcat (Murray) asked what your “After getting softer and softer and softer — that’s what I call it, as name was and then he asked what your phone number was. If you could opposed to ‘fatter’ — the lightbulb went off, ‘OK, I’ve got to do answer both questions, you were good to go. I passed. And I was back something.'” playing.” So, a decade ago, he embraced cycling. “It’s easy on the joints. I couldn’t Going 2-1-1 against the Oilers, the Calgarians finished 39-27-14, good run around the block if my life depended on it. Not because my back’s for seventh place overall. Which set up a first-round meeting with the bad or my knees are bad, it’s just too much work.” 10th-seeded . Suddenly, the organization’s playoff But Marsh is fit enough to still play hockey. whammy lifted. They swept the best-of-five, then eliminated the Flyers in seven games, before falling to the in the final four. A few years back he participated in the Flames alumni’s 3-on-3 tourney — and, of course, while here he found time to tour the corridors of the “Just a wonderful, wonderful year.” Corral.

Which was followed by the opposite as the locals staggered through “I have a lot of fond memories from Calgary and the memories continue opening weeks of 1981-82, compiling a woeful 2-11-4 record. (Only the when we go out there.” Washington Capitals, 1-14-0 at that stage, were worse.) The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 On Nov. 11, Marsh, as usual, got to the rink early. Bearcat told him to go see Fletcher in his trailer. He didn’t think anything of it.

“I went in, sat down, he said I was traded, and I cried like a baby,” he said. “I was shocked. I was upset.”

It was a one-for-one swap — Flames captain for Flyers captain .

The very next night, Marsh made his debut for the Flyers, suiting up in a 5-3 win over the . He blocked six shots and was named second star.

“The best time to be traded is during the season because you’re back playing right away,” said Marsh. “And, really, the same 20 personalities that were in the Calgary Flames’ dressing room are the same 20 personalities in the Philadelphia Flyers’ dressing room. So it was great to be back on the ice, playing right away.

“You get over the hurt of it, the shock of it, the disappointment of it, pretty darn quick.” 1183022 Carolina Hurricanes

Canes’ Don Waddell and wife providing lunches to 500 sanitation workers

BY CHIP ALEXANDER

APRIL 17, 2020 03:04 PM

Don Waddell, president and general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, and his wife, Cheryl, are buying approximately 500 lunches for sanitation workers in Raleigh, Durham and Cary.

Jon Chase, executive director of the Carolina Hurricanes Foundation, is organizing the logistics of the effort. He said the Waddells were donating $15 gift cards to 500 of the workers in recognition of their efforts during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We talked about what we can do for different organizations and charities and we’ve done some things for other people,” Waddell said in an interview Friday. “We were watching the news and saw the stores about the sanitation workers and how much harder they’re working now and that one had passed away from the virus. We said let’s do something special for them and show some appreciation for what they do for us as a community. They’ve got a pretty big task on their hands.”

Adrian Grubbs, a supervisor in the Raleigh Solid Waste Services Department, died in March from complications related to the coronavirus. Grubbs, 37, was a 17-year employee of the City of Raleigh.

The gift cards are for meals at Bojangles’ and Buffalo Brothers, which also are providing some of the cards, Chase said. They will be distributed early next week.

“In talking with officials in those cities, with social distancing, we’re not able to actually bring them food,” Chase said Friday. “This is for a group of individuals who work incredibly hard, year-round. Now you mix in the COVID-19 challenges.”

News Observer LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183023 Chicago Blackhawks

Should the Blackhawks explore bringing back Dustin Byfuglien?

By Charlie Roumeliotis April 17, 2020 1:00 PM

After a lengthy and messy dispute, Dustin Byfuglien and the Winnipeg Jets have officially reached an agreement to terminate the player's contract, the NHL and NHL Players' Association announced Friday. He is now an unrestricted free agent, effective immediately, although he is not eligible to play until the 2020-21 season.

So let's get right to the question everybody in Chicago is thinking: Should the Blackhawks explore bringing Big Buff back?

The simple answer is, sure, why not check in? But it's a complicated situation with several different layers.

First off, what kind of game shape is Byfuglien in? He last appeared in a game on April 20, 2019 — almost one year ago to the day — which is the first caution flag. But since then, he underwent ankle surgery in October and, as of February, had yet to resume skating, which is more concerning. And because he won't be able to play if hockey does return this season, Byfuglien, who turned 35 in March, would go at least 16 months without participating in any sort of game action.

The second question is, what kind of contract would he be looking for? By having his deal terminated, Byfuglien walked away from $14 million ($8 million this season and $6 million next season), which either suggests money isn't the primary motive here and fit is, or he will do everything he can to recoup as much of that as possible in his next contract.

It should be noted that because he's now 35 years of age, Byfuglien is eligible for performance-based bonuses, so that kind of structure in his contract would provide some sort of incentive for the player and be less of a risk for the team. A potential comparable would be 's one-year, $1.5 million contract with the Dallas Stars last summer that included an additional $1.75 million in performance-based bonuses.

From the Blackhawks' point of view, they're in a challenging financial position as it is given the legitimate concern of a flat salary cap for next season and the fact pending restricted free agents such as Caggiula, Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Strome and unrestricted free Corey Crawford are due new contracts. So if there's a reunion to be had between the Blackhawks and Byfuglien, the latter would have to take the larger financial sacrifice.

The third question is, where would Byfuglien fit in the lineup? Obviously, you would make room for a player like him if you felt he could still perform at an elite level, but that's far from a slam dunk at this point. The Blackhawks are preparing to give Adam Boqvist and recently-signed defenseman prospect Ian Mitchell larger roles going forward and adding an aging right-handed shot defenseman to the equation only complicates matters more.

But last, and most importantly, does Byfuglien even want to come back? John Shannon reported that Byfuglien has "no interest of playing hockey,” suggesting his NHL career is likely over. It would be a bizarre way to go out, but everything else is moot if Byfuglien has no desire to put on skates again.

While it's fun for Chicago to think about Big Buff in a Blackhawks sweater again, the chances of that happening are unlikely.

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183024 Chicago Blackhawks

Dustin Byfuglien and Winnipeg Jets mutually terminate contract

By Scott King April 17, 2020 10:38 AM

On Friday, the NHL and the NHL Players' Association announced that the Winnipeg Jets and Dustin Byfuglien mutually terminated his contract with the organization.

The agreement came following Byfuglien filing a grievance in September after he was suspended by the Jets. He's now an unrestricted free agent. The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun confirmed he wouldn't be able to sign with another team until the beginning of next season and Byfuglien reportedly wants to retire per NHL Insider John Shannon.

Byfuglien asked Winnipeg to go on personal leave on Sept. 12 and the team obliged. He was suspended by the club on Sept. 20 for failing to report to training camp.

The member of the Blackhawks' 2010 Stanley Cup championship team, didn't play at all this season and underwent ankle surgery in October.

His contract would have expired after the 2020-21 season with a cap hit of $7.6 million and a modified no trade clause.

The Roseau, Minnesota native was selected in the eighth round of the 2003 NHL Draft (245th overall) by the Blackhawks. He had 109 regular season points (55 goals, 54 assists) with Chicago from 2006-2010.

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183025 Chicago Blackhawks “I think so,” he said. “I played juniors four years. I’ve been to the finals and stuff. I feel like I’ve done mostly what a junior player would do. I practiced with Crow (Crawford) and I played last year at Traverse City with other pros and at Hawks camps, and I believe I would be ready for What I’m hearing about the Blackhawks, Max Shalunov and more right the American Hockey League. That’s my goal for next season. My goal is now to play there and see where it goes.”

Gravel was one of the top goalies in the QMJHL last season, but he had an up-and-down year this season behind a younger team. There were 17 By Scott Powers Apr 17, 2020 games where he faced 35 or more shots and eight games of 45-plus shots. He finished with an .893 save percentage this season compared to a .913 last season. Does Max Shalunov really want to sign with the Blackhawks? “I learned a lot (this season),” Gravel said. “I had to pretty much go to war Well, it seems to depend on whom you ask. every night. I averaged 40 shots probably. For me, it was just a battle to go out there and do the best that I can and shot by shot. I learned that if The Blackhawks’ amateur scout in Russia, Andrei Nikolishin, put that into you compete you can surprise teams, and we did a couple times this question and made some waves in Russian hockey on Thursday in an year. Generally, it was a great experience even though we would tougher interview with Championat.com. Translated from Russian to English, sometimes.” Nikolishin was quoted as saying the Blackhawks front office would have notified him if there was interest in signing Shalunov for next season and Blackhawks prospect Mathias From said this week he was also still that hadn’t happened. He also was quoted as saying he believed waiting to hear whether he’d get an entry-level offer. From recently talked Shalunov’s agent had made Shalunov’s NHL interest public to give him about his situation. more negotiating power with Shalunov’s current KHL team, CSKA. It doesn’t sound like the Blackhawks are close to signing any players out Shalunov’s agent, Shumi Babaev, said Thursday all of that was untrue of Europe right now. One source thought it’d be closer to this summer and he was upset Nikolishin would say as much. when some of European’s top free agents would decide where they’d end up. “It’s unprofessional,” Babaev said by phone from on Thursday night. “I’m going to recommend to my young players not to talk to this The source did believe the Blackhawks would pursue at least one scout. He violated ethical standards. He doesn’t know what’s going on. European free agent as a depth option, but they weren’t banking on I’ve already told CSKA we have no plans on signing for next season. another Dominik Kubalik walking through the door. Shalunov plans on playing in the NHL. We’d like to sign with Chicago.” The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 Babaev said he has made Shalunov’s intentions of wanting to play in the NHL clear to Blackhawks general manager and said they have discussed that possibility. Babaev said he hasn’t received a definitive answer either way from the Blackhawks yet, but he has never gotten the impression they had zero interest in signing Shalunov. Babaev hopes to again talk to Bowman in the coming days.

The Blackhawks drafted the 27-year-old Shalunov in 2011 and have continued to hold his NHL rights while he’s played in the KHL. The Blackhawks would continue to possess his NHL rights unless they traded those rights away or Shalunov signed with a European league that has a transfer agreement.

It’s unknown whether Shalunov’s game would translate to the NHL. Scouts have mixed opinions on him, but some do believe he’d have a chance considering he’s held his own against NHL players in international competitions and has had consistent success in the KHL. He could make sense to sign for the Blackhawks with little risk involved. Shalunov would only be eligible to sign a one-year, entry-level contract. It’s also likely he’d ask for a European clause to be included in his contract in case the Blackhawks wanted to send him to the AHL.

On the other hand, Shalunov may just fit what the Blackhawks need in a third-line role as a center/winger with size. The Blackhawks lacked a reliable net-front presence this season especially when was sidelined with a concussion. With Shaw’s future still unknown, Shalunov, who is 6-foot-4 and 216 pounds, may be a good insurance plan. Stay tuned.

Blackhawks goalie prospect Alexis Gravel is still waiting to learn his fate with the organization. The Blackhawks hold his rights until June 1.

“I’m just waiting to see what’s going to happen,” said Gravel, who was drafted in the sixth round in 2018. “I have a new agent with Allan Walsh. I’m waiting to hear what they’re going to say to me … I’d like to know, but I’m just going to go with it, just be patient. I have until June 1 to sign. I’m just going to wait and see.”

The Blackhawks’ goalie situation is one that can shake out a few ways in the coming months. They have Collin Delia, Kevin Lankinen and Matt Tomkins, their three AHL goalies this season, signed for next season. They also have goalies Corey Crawford, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent after the season, and Malcolm Subban, who will become a restricted free agent.

Alexis Gravel says he’s ready to turn pro. (Scott Powers / The Athletic)

Gravel, who turned 20 in March, thought he was ready to play in the AHL next season if the Blackhawks gave him the opportunity. 1183026 Columbus Blue Jackets

Joonas Korpisalo signs two-year contract extension with Blue Jackets

Brian Hedger

Apr 17, 2020 at 4:11 PM

The Blue Jackets addressed a key piece of their future Friday by securing goaltender Joonas Korpisalo for two more seasons with a contract extension.

Korpisalo, 25, signed a deal that will pay him $2.2 million the first season and $3.4 million in 2021-22 for an average annual value of $2.8 million against the NHL salary cap.

Korpisalo, who earned $1.15 million this season, earned the No. 1 goaltender role out of training camp and excelled. He earned his first NHL all-star invitation by going 17-10-4 with a 2.49 goals-against average, .913 save percentage and two before suffering a right knee injury that kept him out nearly two months.

"Joonas had the opportunity to play a lot of games for us early in the season before he was injured and responded by playing at an All-Star level," general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said in a press release. "He is a young, talented goaltender with a great work ethic and desire to succeed and we are very excited to see his continued development and improvement moving forward."

Korpisalo can become an unrestricted free agent July 1, 2022, after the new contract runs out.

Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183027 Columbus Blue Jackets

Blue Jackets goaltender Joonas Korpisalo gets two-year deal with a big raise

By Aaron Portzline Apr 17, 2020

COLUMBUS, Ohio — At some point, the Blue Jackets will have to decide between Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins. But the first order of business is signing both of their promising young to new contracts.

Korpisalo, who became an NHL All-Star in his first season as a starter, went first on Friday, signing a two-year, $5.6 million contract.

The deal, which carries a $2.8 million salary-cap hit, will pay Korpisalo $2.2 million next season (whenever that may start) and $3.4 million in 2021-22. He was set to become a restricted free agent when his current contract expired.

Korpisalo is back home in Helsinki, Finland, and was not available for comment. Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen was not immediately available for comment.

The 25-year-old finally stepped out of Sergei Bobrovsky’s shadow this season, setting career-bests in almost every category: games played (37), wins (19), goals-against average (2.60) and shutouts (two).

If fact, Korpisalo (.911 save percentage) played so well that Merzlikins had a hard time finding regular playing until Korpisalo suffered a knee injury in December.

Korpisalo, who was making $1.15 million this season, will be an unrestricted free agent when his new deal expires.

Merzlikins, 26, will likely be signing a similar contract. He’s also a pending restricted free agent this summer with one more season to go before he reaches his UFA years.

There were reports in March that the Blue Jackets made Merzlikins a three-year contract offer, but he strongly denied that report in a conversation with The Athletic last month.

Merzlikins, 26, went 13-9-8 with a 2.35 goals-against average and .923 save percentage this season, his first in North American after spending several seasons playing in Switzerland.

During one stretch in January and February, Merzlikins won eight consecutive starts, recording eight shutouts in the process.

The Blue Jackets believe both Korpisalo and Merzlikins are No. 1 goalies in the NHL, and they could be attractive commodities around the league this summer. But it could be a challenging time in the goalie market.

The Jackets don’t have to make a trade any time soon, of course, but Korpisalo and Merzlikins may not be comfortable sharing the workload for too long.

Also, the Jackets have a top prospect who should be arriving in North America next season. Daniil Tarasov, who spent this season in Finland, is expected to play for AHL Cleveland beginning in 2020-21.

The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183028 Dallas Stars painted it, we got this wood to go on the backsplash so that’s keeping us pretty busy.

"What I’ve learned about myself the most right now is how bad I am at Tyler Seguin found ways to make use of his time while waiting for putting things together. When I started going on Amazon a couple weeks potential Stars playoff run ago and buying things, for whatever reason it didn’t cross my mind that everything would come not put together.

“So I ordered hockey nets and I ordered a new office chair and all these By Brice Paterik things. I realized all this stuff comes in a box and you’ve got together which takes a while. So what I’ve learned about myself is that I’m not 4:22 AM on Apr 18, 2020 great at that.”

Did you finish putting together the hockey net? Finding sanity while sheltering in place is a difficult challenge for anyone, Seguin: “We finished it, yeah. We actually made two of them. I don’t let alone for a professional athlete whose season is suspended in limbo. know why I was surprised, but for some reason I just thought it would Finding a routine can be helpful for restoring a sense of order and Tyler show up all ready to go and it definitely wasn’t. That’s just honesty right Seguin appears to have found one. there. These things are showing up boxes after boxes to the point where Seguin joined Bad Radio on Sportsradio 96.7 FM/1310 The Ticket the UPS and FedEx guys that drop it off at my driveway I know there [KTCK-AM] to talk about how he’s found some sanity and what he’s names now and they know mine. learned about himself while staying home. Here are the highlights from “We’re just saying hi to each other every day and all these things are the conversation. showing up I bought whether it’s weights or a dumbbell or all these Where are you staying? things, and I’ve got to put them all together. So that was the big realization of my life during this quarantine.” Tyler Seguin: “I am in Dallas.” With a team full of players in their prime, losing a playoff run this year The Stars gave everyone a window to go home so obviously you didn’t would be devastating for the Stars. If the other players are as committed take it. to staying in shape as Seguin then Ben Bishop’s proclamation about Dallas needing less than a week to get in shape might hold true. Seguin: “I didn’t go home. I went to the Bahamas for about three weeks. I have a condo out there. So I went there, I have my own little gym setup Whether or not that prediction comes to pass, Seguin appears to have a and everything out there. It was good for three weeks. Then they were handle on how to make the best of a situation. Maybe his tips could help changing all the travel guidelines and stuff so we came back home and even those who aren’t professional athletes. we’re here for the future, no plans of going anywhere else." Dallas Morning News LOADED: 04.18.2020 What’re you hearing about playing hockey this year?

Seguin: “We’re hearing the same things you’re hearing. I think everyone wants to play hockey, you know I want to play hockey. So early on I was doing a six-week program and now I’m doing an 18-week program. So it’s almost pretty much like summer. We get our training from our trainer in Dallas, from the Stars, and my trainer back home sent me a program as well.

“I’m kind of doing a hybrid and telling myself we’re playing hockey. That’s the goal for everyone right now.”

Do you guys have team zoom calls going?

Seguin: “No, just phone calls. We have a team text group which is just the guys and that’s going on almost every day. Whether it’s hockey talks or we’re all just chirping each other.

“Then I talk to almost every single coach. I’ve got a missed call from John Stevens after I talk to you guys I talk to all the other coaches just seeing how everyone’s doing what everyone’s up to. So the communication lines are definitely open.”

What would be different if you played a game with no fans?

Seguin: “To be honest I haven’t really thought one second about what it’d be like to play without fans. Right now my mindset is the hope that we play. Especially being in the league now for 10 years you only get so many chances to win the Stanley Cup.

“Whether there’s 20,000 people in the stands or just the players, the prestigious Stanley Cup it comes around once a year and I always want that opportunity to win it. So I’m all for playing even if it’s with no spectators. But obviously we play for the fans as well. Hopefully something can happen and it can work out.”

How have you handled this mentally and what have you learned about yourself?

Seguin: “Mentally I’ve handled this by getting a routine down. So when I train each day, when I get up, what I’m eating, what my plan is for that afternoon, and I actually have a planner now that has all my workouts in it as well.

"Having just a schedule and something every day to kind of look forward to whether it’s going to Home Depot or whatever, that’s helped me keep sane. That, and activities. We decided to redo a whole bedroom. So we 1183029 Dallas Stars As much as the club was struggling to put pucks in the net, the Stars still had given up the fewest goals in the Western Conference. Ben Bishop is/was ready to do his thing again in the playoffs. The Stars are in a weird place where their young players are good but not quite ready to be the Why the absence of playoffs costs the Dallas Stars more than the best players on the team while their best forwards have shown age Mavericks beyond their years and not in a good way.

I get asked all the time — because there isn’t a lot to do besides ask and answer speculative questions at this point — whether the Cowboys, By Tim Cowlishaw Mavs, Rangers or Stars will bring the next parade to town. And I always 2:17 PM on Apr 17, 2020 say it’s the Stars, and I always wonder if that’s the smartest answer.

The Mavericks are more likely to win a title in the next seven years than any of the rest. But the Stars have a greater chance to win in the next In a perfect world — check that, in our highly imperfect world but one that two or three seasons. And that includes the one that really needs to we would dearly love to turn back the clock and rejoin, the Mavericks reach a finish line somehow this summer if the Stars aren’t going to get would be in Los Angeles this weekend for their first NBA playoff game beaten by a calendar that tells us the Mavericks’ time to shine is just since 2016 while the Stars would be battling for survival with the around the corner. . Dallas Morning News LOADED: 04.18.2020 Let the record show that the Stars are missing this experience at a much greater level than the Mavs, even if you’re all dying to see what Luka Doncic does in his first postseason run.

While no one can accurately predict whether or not the 2019-20 seasons will be restored in some quarantine fan-free fashion this summer, NBA2K predicted for The News that the Mavs would lose their first round to the Clippers in seven games.

So there’s that.

Hell of an achievement, if you ask me. Give them a hand, and get ready for next year. Better yet, Mavs fans, get ready for the 2024 playoffs when Russell Westbrook is 35 and James Harden’s 34, when Paul George is 35 and Kawhi Leonard is 32, when the three Golden State stars (Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green) are all 35 or 36 and when LeBron James is retired.

Surely.

For that spring, Kristaps Porzingis is 28 and Doncic is 25. The Mavericks are just getting started while the elite in the West have moved out of California. Dallas’ challenge could come from Memphis, from New Orleans, from or somewhere else. Who knows? But the Mavericks can play the waiting game better than anyone with their two young stars just getting revved up.

But I will say if there is no finale for this season, the Mavericks do miss a step. There’s no rule book for this sort of thing, but most championship teams stumble once, twice, three times before finding their way. Magic Johnson winning as a rookie and Larry Bird following up in his second year — those are the true exceptions. LeBron and Michael Jordan each got their first rings after their seventh trip to the playoffs. It can take a while, even for the world’s best.

More recently, Golden State won one series in its first two playoff trips with Curry and Thompson (2013 and ‘14) before a combination of coaching change and shared experience propelled the Warriors to five straight NBA Finals.

So even if it was destined to be a seven-game loss to the Clippers or a five-game loss to the Nuggets, that in itself would have been instructive for Doncic, Porzingis and even Rick Carlisle as he learned more about what is needed.

For the Stars, this was supposed to be their year. When you lose a second-round series to the eventual Stanley Cup champs in double in Game 7, you know you have legitimate reason to believe a championship is around the corner. In the summer of 2019, a team doesn’t add Corey Perry (34) and Joe Pavelski (35) because it’s thinking about capturing the Cup in 2023.

In case you have forgotten — and doesn’t it feel like forever ago that we were actually watching these games — the Stars were scuffling when the curtain fell. They didn’t win a game in March. In fact, only the fading New York Islanders have gone longer than Dallas, which last won a game on Feb. 25.

That slide didn’t knock the Stars from playoff contention. They remained in third place in their tough division. But having gone 0-4-2 in their last six games, the Stars were certainly allowing the posse in pursuit of them to close ground for the final playoff spots. 1183030 Dallas Stars In 38 games, Bowness had a 20-13-5 record. Despite the win-loss record, his job performance has been a divisive topic for fans, particularly on social media and in comment sections of various websites.

Stars super-survey results, part 1: Nill & Bowness report cards, team All things considered, Bowness did an average job according to our MVP & more survey results. More fans felt he did better than average compared to those who believe he was below average.

It’s important to remember that this is based on his work this season, not By Sean Shapiro and Saad Yousuf Apr 17, 2020 whether he should be the head coach at the start of the 2020-21 season.

So, yeah, the fans want a new permanent head coach whenever the next season begins. Earlier this week, many of you filled out a monstrosity of a survey about the Dallas Stars. As for the 26.7 percent who said maybe, what’s the criteria?

There were 60 questions. Yes, we may have gone overboard. Looking through the expanded responses, there tend to be three main reasons a fan answered maybe. The two of us went through all of the results on Thursday. We looked at the data, we read all of your answers and we also did some cold-calling, 1. Playoff success reaching out to about 60 additional people for further explanations on certain answers. Of the 300 maybes, 105 people mentioned the playoffs as the gauge for whether Bowness should be the Stars’ coach at the start of the next Here are the final results from the most comprehensive Dallas Stars season. survey you’ll find anywhere. Some of these answers have also given us story ideas for next week. And playoff success has varying levels.

Before we get into the actual hockey questions, it’s important to establish “If they win the cup.” who is filling out this survey. “Has to make it to the Stanley Cup — at least — to keep his job, in my More than half of the respondents qualify as long-term Dallas Stars fans opinion.” who bought into their fandom in the 1990s, either when the team moved “If the season doesn’t resume or if the Stars get past the first round of the from Minnesota or about six years later when they were a Stanley Cup playoffs, he should get a full season. If they lose in the first round of the champion and one of the top contenders of the era alongside the Detroit playoffs, Nill would be justified in changing coaches.” Red Wings, New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche. Respondents who defined success more specifically typically looked at Newer fans – those who adopted Stars fandom in the 2010s – make up winning two rounds as the benchmark for Bowness to get the interim tag the third-largest demographic. The mid-to-late 2000s, the start of the lean removed. Eight respondents said he needs to match what Montgomery years in franchise history, understandably weren’t as popular as a time to did in the playoffs last season. latch onto the team. There is also a smattering of fans who have followed the team since they were the North Stars. 2. Who else is available?

The age of the respondents lines up well with the era when they became This was the second-most-common thread amongst those who said Stars fans. maybe, with 93 people indicating in some shape or form that they’d like to see the Stars do a full search with Bowness as one of the candidates The 20-to-30 and 30-to-40 demographic both contain groups that line up for the full-time job. well with that 1999 Stanley Cup win. A 10-year-old watching the Stars hoist the Stanley Cup is now 30. “I think it depends on who is out there. I think he is a very decent coach. But, when you have names like Gallant and Vigneault there you have to As expected, most of the respondents live in Texas and in the DFW area. look at your options. I’m not a big fan of his usage of our younger More than 90 percent of the respondents live in the United States. players. But, does he even want the job? How would the team be different if he had training camp to himself? Hard to tell. I think you would In addition to Canada and Europe, we also had multiple respondents figure that out in the interview stage. I do believe the position should be from Australia, New Zealand and Japan. considered open, there should be an interview process.”

This is a pretty dedicated group of respondents when it comes to “My criteria is who else is available. He did a decent job maintaining watching the Stars. In total, 68.8 percent watch at least half the games in status quo from where Monty left it, but even he admitted he came to a regular season. Dallas to be an assistant and this was not an ideal situation. I’d love to sign Gallant, I think he would be a coach that can help take Dallas to This isn’t the definitive Stars survey because of the sample size. The another level.” number of respondents wouldn’t have even filled a section in the Cotton Bowl. But we do feel confident it’s a survey of some of the most “If they get bounced in the first or second round, I’d probably try and snag passionate members of the fan base. instead. Ultimately we need a coach who can develop a system that balances good defense with consistent offense. It does not That passion led to some long and insightful answers to many of these have to be a tradeoff of one or the other. If Boston can do both, there is questions. Between the two of us, we read them all and are happy to no reason to think the Stars cannot do both, especially with the caliber of share our findings about Stars fandom from this exercise. goaltending and offensive talent we have on this team.” Dallas lost six straight before the stoppage, reminding fans of what Gerard Gallant, whom the Vegas Golden Knights fired this season, came happened at the start of the season when the Stars were 1-7-1 in their up quite frequently during the more in-depth answers. Twenty-nine first nine games. different respondents mentioned him by name. Other coaches mentioned In between, the Stars were one of the best teams in the NHL. That by respondents included Bruce Boudreau (five people) and Peter includes a stretch in which they stunningly had to change coaches for Laviolette. unexpected reasons. 3. Can he prove he can coach offense? That losing streak at the end probably dampened some of the hype about The third-most-common theme amongst the “maybe” crowd was whether being a Cup contender. In theory, the number of “yes” votes probably Bowness could change his ways and prove he can run offense. would have been higher had this survey been done before the six-game skid. For some, this meant showing change when the season resumes, if it does. For others, it meant putting an assistant coach in charge of the stepped into the interim head coach role when Jim offense. There was also a handful of calls for presentations of why and Montgomery was fired in December. how Bowness will fix the offense. “I thought Bowness improved over time, but he was reactive. I like seeing “’s drafting is inconsistent and frustrating. Of the players he’s a coach experiment, and that’s one reason I really loved Monty. I don’t drafted as the Stars GM, only four play full time for the Stars. Two of think Bowness unlocked the offense, but he did a great job on defense. I those four, the 2019-2020 season is the first time they haven’t split think if he could present a plan for how he would progress with the noteworthy time between the Dallas Stars and the . Two offense and maybe bring in some assistants that he hand-picked rather more are regular call ups, also a new development this season, and one than guys that he inherited I think he could be great. The players seemed more — Val Nichushkin — is a legitimate NHL player for the Colorado to like playing for him and people forget that he was an outstanding A- Avalanche after being a complete bust in the end for Dallas.” level talent as an assistant and he’s got decades of experience. You could do a lot worse, and I think the players might like to have a familiar “At the draft, we’re improving (from worst in the league), but still not great and consistent voice in the locker room.” at all. Our amateur scouting team is still sorely lacking, which could be staffing but also likely is on the ideology stemming from management.” Some fans had a rather pessimistic perspective that no matter who the coach is, this team will struggle to score. “Jim Nill’s drafting is a bit interesting. He does not have much to show for outside of the no brainer in Heiskanen. I am starting to think that Nill goes “I don’t know what coach can help this team and their lack of care and for the home run every pick instead of taking the obvious pick. These motivation. There aren’t enough Torts or Brind’amour’s in the world that players he picks might take longer to develop, which is understandable, can get players to care.” but as a fan I am always in the “Win now” mindset which I know is not realistic to operate an NHL team. But the draft picks based off of “He’s performed as expected. I think we have too many potential character are starting to get kind of redundant. Go out and draft a offensive players that perhaps would benefit from a more open style. Radulov, somebody that is a little bit of a wild card as far as character However, Monty was doing that so maybe they aren’t as offensive as we goes. I understand character plays a huge roll in team chemistry but think.” show me a team full of Faksas that can win a Stanley cup.”

In general, fans looked at Nill’s work this season similar to his head Drafting and development are two different things. Drafting is on the coach, with 44.8 percent seeing 2019-20 as an average campaign for the scouts and, in particular, director of amateur scouting Joe McDonnell. Stars general manager. Development is mostly based on the AHL’s Texas Stars and how the More fans look favorably on his work this season than those that view it Stars handle prospects before they get into the pro pool. negatively. Which goes against the vibe you typically see on Twitter. The split was similar to the drafting question, but some respondents “Biggest issue I have with Nill is he tends to have a “type”. Nill very clearly have strong opinions one way or the other on the development obviously prefers the gritty, veteran workhorses with age and maturity with many of those middle votes swaying to above or below average and good habits on and off the ice. That in itself is not a bad thing, and when it came to development. every team needs some of that. But you also aren’t going to score if “My main criticism of Nill is his over-reliance on fair to middling veterans you’ve got 18 of those players on the ice (that’s an exaggeration, but you in a way that hurts the development of prospects. Particularly on get the point). Ultimately, I’d like to see Nill prioritize youth and energy a defense. Their lack of ice time due to an overcrowded depth chart bit more, considering that when our team is inconsistent we tend to look impedes their progress. Relatedly, he mishandled the Honka situation. a little flat and unenergized.” Even if they believed he wasn’t a fit for the organization, they tanked his “Jim Nill is a great GM in my opinion. His hands are all over this roster trade value. I think the team is stronger overall with him in the GM chair.” and really the only mistake I see is Pavelski. This team is good enough to “I see Nill making progress from our old development tire fire — we could win a cup in my opinion and some may think he has made some moves develop a Campbell today. We’re also developing staff through the that were questionable at the draft or the deadline, but he can GM for my minors (which has good synergy as better coaches will want to come team anyday. He has built a D corps that includes Klingberg, Lindell, Miro through our program and hopefully better develop our prospects).” and Johns.” “I think his drafting is paying off. We’re in Austin so we watch the Texas We thought it was important to take an expanded look at Nill’s work in the Stars a lot. Until this season they were fantastic to watch (most nights). entirety of his time in Dallas. And while he’s been considered average for So, seeing prospects become NHL’ers has been fantastic. I think JN the 2019-20 season, his overall body of work is trending positively with does think about and provide solid players for Texas so they stay Stars fans. competitive. Maybe a lot of folks don’t think about that.”

“He still might not get enough credit for getting Seguin here. Imagine The recent trade deadlines showed a wide variance in approach for Nill. where they’d be if that never happened. As far as the draft goes, they do Before the 2019 deadline, Nill swung big to get Mats Zuccarello. This fine at finding talent, but some of the mistakes (Tufte over Debrincat season he didn’t do much of anything, as the Stars flirted with the idea of stands out) are glaring. Need to do better at developing that talent and trading for Joe Thornton but not much else. molding the system towards their gifts, rather than molding their gifts to the system, if that makes sense. Gurianov’s development, for example, is “Jim Nill as a GM has never seemed to reach his potential and as such, a nice step forward in that regard.” neither has the team. Today we have a mediocre team lacking offense whose defensive game isn’t as brilliant as many seem to believe. They’ve “Loved the Spezza deal. Loved the Seguin deal. Getting Roope and been bailed out by elite goaltending all season long, and Jim Nill does Janmark for Cole was a big win. Russell was a bad move. Patrick Eaves not appear to be acknowledging or addressing this.” went really well. Moving Jordie was important, I think … I have him as a net-positive in trades. Regarding the ones he hasn’t made? I haven’t had Since 64.8 percent of respondents felt the Stars were a Cup contender much to squabble about as the only season he’s sat on his hands has with a Nill-built team, this answer was as expected. been this one. I think retaining Sekera and Janmark at this deadline were mistakes.” “Stars fans seem frustrated that the team hasn’t won a Cup in a long time, but sometimes I wonder which franchise they’re looking at to find a This has been one of the hot topics for both Nill and prior Stars general better example of trades/prospects/drafts/coaching/etc. It’s always easy manager . Do they draft well enough? to say, “things could be better” but the reality doesn’t often match. Fans seem to forget just how close the team was to winning the Stanley Cup Right now the jury on Nill is split, while it’s probably a good bet that’s it’s last season and it was in large part thanks to Nill. I really and truly trended from bad to average for some based on the recent success of believed this team was bound for the Cup this season, too. Anything players like Denis Gurianov and Roope Hintz. could happen, but after the early, inexplicable woes the team had they “Tufte is a miss. Dellandrea was a reach. I liked the move for Oettinger, just looked better and better. Everyone will think about the four-game showed some aggression. Hated taking Harley but it seems to have losing streak that ended the season, but a veteran defensive team with worked out. I feel there’s been an uncanny amount of Dallas Stars “12th three breakout young players (Miro, Guri, Hintz) and even Cup overall selections” when there’s been a distinctive consensus top 11 experience in Seguin and easily the best goalie tandem in the league… prospects in years past, which isn’t a Nill problem. He’s hit on some later These guys had issues at times but it’s about as good a team as I saw picks to provide solid organizational depth in the later rounds — Gardner, from any other team all season. They were outstanding. Think, too, about Caamano, Cecconi, Barteaux even Point and Nick Paul. Hated the how great this team was battling adversity! So many teams would have Honka pick, hated Gurianov over Barzal. I’m a fan of Denis but you can’t folded after the first ten games, folded when they were down in the count, overlook that miss.” this team just battled and fought and I think Nill is the architect of that ethos. Also, Nill’s a decent human being, he handled the Monty situation “I wonder how many of the failures we place on Nill actually lie with with grace and empathy, and he deserves a lot of praise for that.” Gaglardi’s meddling. Eg – we know that Nill wanted Gallant and Gaglardi wanted Hitchcock, and in hindsight, we know how that turned out. I “This may be a personal conspiracy theory, but since the Fucking wonder how many other decisions have been made like that which we Horseshit controversy, I believe the lines of what Nill does/doesn’t control don’t necessarily know about. We know that Nill is not a risk-averse GM, have been blurred. I think he takes a lot of the heat that should be put on as seen by his various acquisitions of Seguin, Spezza, Zuc, etc – but it’s others within the organization. All GMs make decisions that fans question so strange how he seems to get the obvious ones wrong? And why or doubt, but the only realm where I don’t like Nill’s decision making is would that be?” coaching. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 but this team hasn’t been fun to watch since . While I didn’t like Ruff’s firing, I hated Hitch’s “I like the way he has made it possible with funding to win Stanley Cup, hiring. It demoralized the roster. Monty was a great hiring. From and the way he is investing in the growth of hockey and other hospitality everything I read here and elsewhere, the players loved Monty, which ventures in TX. However, I strongly disagree with how he and makes it easier to play harder for him. Now, Monty dug his grave and put decided to publicly hang out and air the club’s dirty laundry! Very Nill in a corner and Bowness was a logical choice for an interim HC, unprofessional behavior! Especially for a hockey club that has prided which most fans I know agreed with. But once Gallant was placed on the itself on being “class acts” inside and outside the rink.” market (and still is!) I think the vast majority of fans clamored for his hiring, including this one. While I understand not wanting three coaches Who is the Stars’ MVP this season? in a season, and five in Nill’s tenure, Gallant seems like a slam-dunk of a Sixteen players got individual MVP votes. So did three coaches (Derek hire. With all that said, I firmly believe Jim Nill has earned the right to stay Laxdal, Rick Bowness, and Jeff Reese) and a line (the FCC). “Sean and put as Dallas’ GM.” Saad” also got a vote, but were tied with “The guy who makes the Brisket “For all of the deserved criticism of his drafting and development of in the Patron Lounge!!!” I’m surprised brisket didn’t get more votes. players, obsession with depth defensemen and veteran forwards (which The runaway winner of the MVP voting in our survey, however, was have already been discussed ad nauseam), I think his salary cap Anton Khudobin, even if his name was written in. We aren’t joking: He management skills are both underrated and under-discussed. He’s really appeared 46 different ways on the survey ranging from “35” to done a great job of looking at the long-term picture and structuring “DOOOBBBBY” to “Anton, who else?” contracts so that the team isn’t overly burdened with untradeable contracts. That’s really a topic ripe for a feature article comparing GMs. I Khudobin impressively also finished third as part of the co-MVP tandem also wonder how many of the decisions he’s been bashed for are with Ben Bishop. because of Gaglardi’s interference.” Here is the MVP top-10 list. In general, Stars owner gets positive reviews. 1. Anton Khudobin, 243 votes Respondents said he deserved credit for what he’s done with the franchise since he purchased it. 2. Denis Gurianov, 155

The Stars have gone filing for bankruptcy in 2011 and being purchased 3. The goalies, 133 by Gaglardi to hosting the NHL’s marquee regular-season event, the Winter Classic, in 2020. 4. Miro Heiskanen, 115

“He’s been a good owner. I think it’s even fair to say he’s a better than 5. Ben Bishop, 106 average owner. It doesn’t seem like he’s prevented Nill from pursuing 6. Roope Hintz, 68 any players, and he’s invested heavily in the team, players, and hockey culture throughout Texas. Even professionally, he’s growing his business 7. Esa Lindell, 36 and investing in DFW and central Texas. I can’t think of a better outcome after those horrible bankruptcy years, and if the Gaglardis and the Stars 8. Tyler Seguin, 31 take some time to recover from this crisis, I can understand that as a fan. 9. , 17 I hope fans feel incredibly luckily that he purchased the team.” 10. Stephen Johns, 11 “Tom Gaglardi is fantastic. He took a bankrupt franchise that hadn’t made playoffs in, what, 7 years (?) and almost instantly made us a franchise The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 that everyone wanted to be a part of. We’ve hosted the Winter Classic and the Draft. We have top-tier free agents every season that have us on their short list of teams. We have a new modern look with a fantastic color scheme (though I will always love the old-school green and gold). All in all, I have absolutely zero complaints about the job Gaglardi has done, and I hope he sticks around for a very long time. Unless he suddenly goes bankrupt and sells the team in the next few years, we will win multiple cups under his ownership.”

Gaglardi likely would have been closer to unanimous approval ratings if it wasn’t for Jim Lites’ comments about Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn last season.

“The Jim Lites horse comment was all Tom Gaglardi. It’s not Seguin’s fault the Vancouver real estate market crashed in the first year of his big contract. I appreciate him staying behind the scenes but he seems to have not stood in the way for big increases in concession and ticket prices. I do appreciate that he is willing to spend and get us right at the cap limit but considering his businesses are going to suffer massively because of the Coronavirus (hotels, real estate and restaurants) I’m worried about his willingness to spend going forward.”

“Gaglardi needs to get out of the way. If what I’ve heard is true, he was instrumental in bringing Hitchcock back as coach and his handling of the Jim Lites situation was inexcusable. He needs to take the time to hire good people to do a job and then let them do that job and shut the hell up. Then if the job isn’t done in the Coaching department, then go find someone else who can get it done and then give them the chance to try it their way. He sounds way too meddlesome and his attitude toward tearing down players is just…well wrong. More carrot and less stick.” 1183031 Detroit Red Wings The second trade acquired former first-round pick Brendan Perlini from the Chicago Blackhawks for defense prospect Alec Regula, a third-round pick from 2018. Despite being given a chance in the top six and on the power play, Perlini failed to produce, with one goal among four points in Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman's first year: What we liked, didn't 39 games. Regula, who is 6-foot-4, 205 pounds and shoots right-handed, like had 60 points in 56 games with the London Knights in 2019-20.

That trade looks like a loss, but flipping grinder Jacob de la Rose to the St. Louis Blues for former first-round pick Robby Fabbri in early Helene St. James, Detroit Free PressPublished 11:01 a.m. ET April 17, November was a win. Fabbri scored two power play-goals in his debut, 2020 | Updated 1:14 p.m. ET April 17, 2020 and ranks third on the team with 31 points in 52 games since Nov. 8. It’d be nice to see Fabbri improve defensively (minus-29 rating). but he was a welcome addition for a team that lacks firepower. Steve Yzerman talked about needing to be on his game. He had come home to a mess, and sorting through that to a path forward loomed as a Yzerman made another trade at the end of November when he sent demanding task. defenseman Vili Saarijarvi, a third-round pick from 2015 who no longer fit in the system, to the Arizona Coyotes for goaltender Eric Comrie. One year after being appointed general manager of the Detroit Red Comrie's audition lasted three games (4.28 GAA, .864 save percentage) Wings, Yzerman has put a small but significant imprint on the team. He before the Wings put him on waivers. A minor-league trade in December has jettisoned a couple of underperforming veterans for draft picks, saw defenseman Oliwer Kaski shipped to Carolina’s farm system for flipped a waiver pick-up for a player who looks like he can be a part of defenseman Kyle Wood. the future, mined waiver wires and taken at least one gamble that he may lose. The next trades Yzerman made were at the Feb. 24 deadline, when he swung two deals with the Edmonton Oilers GM , who When Yzerman took command of a team in rebuild mode on April 19, Yzerman succeeded in Detroit. Yzerman acquired a 2020 conditional 2019 — an appropriate date for the man whose No. 19 was sent to the fourth round pick for defenseman Mike Green, and second round picks in rafters six months after he retired in July 2006 — he was emphatic about 2020 and 2021, along with veteran , for Andreas Athanasiou the need for patience. Yzerman would know: It took 14 years for The and Ryan Kuffner. Green was a pending unrestricted free agent, and Captain to win his first Stanley Cup as a player, and that was after hitting Athanasiou had had a disappointing season with just 10 goals in 46 the motherlode in the 1989 draft, which yielded Hall of Famers Nicklas games. Lidstrom and . Yzerman knows it from the manager’s side, too, having taken control of a Tampa Bay Lightning team in 2010 Waivers that already featured center Steven Stamkos and defenseman Victor Yzerman claimed two players off waivers in February. Defenseman Cody Hedman and still missing the playoffs three times in his seven years as Goloubef, 30, was discarded by the Ottawa Senators. He played two GM. games then was a healthy scratch. Forward Dmytro Timashov 23, was When Yzerman returned to manage the Wings, they had missed the abandoned by the Toronto Maple Leafs. It took a few days to straighten playoffs three straight years. Yzerman knew 2019-20 would be rough. He out his visa (“Ukranian with a Swedish passport,” as Blashill put it) but he told coach to prioritize developing young players and not looked like he can add a bit of bite to the lineup after appearing in five worry about the record. Even so, it’s doubtful anyone in the organization games. envisioned the Wings would win just 17 of the 71 games they had played What's next when the NHL shut down March 12 because of the novel coronavirus. Their 17-49-5 record ensured a 31st-place finish. Yzerman has not revealed whether he intends to change coaches. During his last news conference, at the trade deadline, Yzerman backed Yzerman maintains a low profile and tight inner circle. But the he asked Blashill and said it was unfair to judge him on the team’s record. That for last April very much remains in demand as he continues to steer the was three days after the Wings were eliminated from playoff contention Wings toward the playoffs. for a fourth straight year. If Yzerman does make a change, former Here is a look at Yzerman’s first year in office. teammates Gerard Gallant and Lane Lambert are believed to be the frontrunners. Signings Yzerman has to finalize plans for whenever the 2020 draft takes place — Yzerman forayed into free agency in July to sign veteran forward and a 31st place finish, under normal draft lottery guidelines, means the former Wing Valtteri Filppula (two years, $3 million annual cap hit), Wings will pick no worse than fourth overall. The uncertainty of the veteran defenseman Patrik Nemeth (two years, $3 million cap hit) and situation surrounding the remainder of the season and how the salary journeyman goaltender Calvin Pickard (two years, $750,000 cap hit). cap will be impacted is going to impact free-agency planning, but Filppula has a reputation as a reliable two-way forward but he struggled Yzerman will, by market or by trade, have to acquire a goaltender to to demonstrate that on a team as bad as the Wings, registering 21 points replace Howard. and a minus-42 rating in 70 games. Nemeth (nine points, minus-10 in 64 games) was the solid defender the Wings expected him to be. Pickard Yzerman watched the majority of the Wings’ home games from the was a disappointment; he was supposed to be insurance for Jimmy manager’s suite at , seeing a product that struggled Howard or , but he played so poorly in three NHL to compete. He engineered a handful of changes, but as he embarks on appearances (5.46 goals-against average, .797 save percentage) that he Year 2, there is so much more to do. wasn’t called up even as Howard’s play deteriorated. Detroit Free Press LOADED: 04.18.2020 Trades

There’s something to be said for trading with those you know well. In August, Yzerman acquired forward Adam Erne from former understudy Julien Brisebois, who succeeded Yzerman as general manager of the Lightning. The Lightning received a fourth-round pick in 2020 for Erne. Erne brings a measure of physicality, but the Wings expected more offense than two goals (in one game) and five points and a minus-24 rating in 56 games.

Yzerman made two trades in October. The first was to acquire defenseman Alex Biega from the for prospect David Pope, a fourth-round pick from 2013 who has been a bust. He turned pro in 2018 after four years at University of Nebraska-Omaha, but struggled to even make it at the AHL level. Biega is a hard worker who earned a one-year extension. 1183032 Detroit Red Wings Acquiring forward Robby Fabbri from St. Louis (for expendable Jacob de la Rose), was Yzerman’s best acquisition, with Fabbri looking like a dependable scoring threat.

'I knew what I was getting into': Patience defined Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman made minor splashes in free agency last summer, signing Yzerman's first year defenseman Patrik Nemeth and forward Valtteri Filppula.

But with several contracts coming off the book this summer, and holes to fill in the lineup, Yzerman could be more active this free agent season Ted Kulfan, The Detroit NewsPublished 5:23 p.m. ET April 17, 2020 | (again, whenever that’ll be). Updated 4:53 a.m. ET April 18, 2020 Yzerman’s biggest decision, to date, could be upcoming regarding coach Jeff Blashill.

Detroit — The date of Steve Yzerman’s return to the Red Wings as the Yzerman strongly supported Blashill at the trade deadline, regardless of organization’s executive vice-president and general manager was fitting. the Wings’ poor record.

It occurred on April 19, 2019. Of course it did. For the man who made But with the Wings holding a team-option on next season for Blashill, the uniform No. 19 iconic for the Wings’ legion of fans. several big-name coaches available, and Yzerman possibly wanting to put his own coach in charge, speculation on Blashill’s future will mount. Sunday will be the one year anniversary of Yzerman taking control of the Wings’ organization — former GM Ken Holland was elevated in the front Yzerman’s first year was a struggle, and Year Two might be, also. office when Yzerman arrived, and shortly after left to become GM in Edmonton — and embarking on rebuilding the team. The roster will largely be young and inexperienced next season, and the talent gap is likely to remain between the Wings and the top teams in the Nobody expected it was going to be an easy task — and the first year of Eastern Conference. the Yzerman as GM era hasn’t been. But Yzerman is ready for the challenge. The Wings, before the coronavirus pandemic paused the NHL, had a 17- 49-5 record. Or, in other terms, they’d lost a staggering 54 of 71 games. “It doesn't do anybody good to feel sorry for themselves or for us to feel sorry for ourselves as an organization,” said Yzerman at the trade With 39 points earned, they 23 points behind the next lowest team, deadline. “We know what we gotta do. I don’t know what our record’s Ottawa, who had 62 points. going to be next year but a lot of things will be different, our team will be different. We’re adding more prospects into the organization, our salary Fittingly, the Wings scored the fewest goals (145) and allowed the most cap situation is going to be a little bit more favorable and we’ll just kind of (267). Their goal differential was an alarming minus-122. continue along the path.” At Yzerman’s final media gathering before the NHL paused, which was Yzerman’s first-year moves right after the Feb. 24 trade deadline, Yzerman expressed no surprise at the task at hand. Entry Draft: Surprsingly drafted D Moritz Seider, who has shown potential to be significant building block. The Red Wings were the only team to already have been mathematically eliminated from the NHL playoff race — the fourth consecutive year the Free agency: Signed F Valtteri Filppula and D Patrik Nemeth. Wings weren’t in the playoffs. Trades: Acquired F Adam Erne (for 2020 4th-round pick); acquired D “I knew what I was getting into, and I think I had a general idea what it Alex Biega for minor league F David Pope; acquired F Brendan Perlini for takes to build a team,” Yzerman said that day. “(Patience) is very difficult prospect D Alec Regula; acquired F Robby Fabbri for F Jacob de la to sell, and we gotta show progress. I’m hoping the progress shows next Rose; acquired G Eric Comrie for prospect D Vili Saarajarvi. year in wins and losses, but it will show in prospects and their development.” Acquired Edmonton’s 2020 conditional 4th-round pick for D Mike Green; acquired Edmonton’s 2020 and 2021 2nd-round picks (and F Sam The development of young players and prospects in the organization, Gagner) for F Andreas Athanasiou and prospect F Ryan Kuffner. and the continued accumulation of draft picks and stressing the importance of the draft, have been key issues for Yzerman. Yzerman's to-do list

At the trade deadline, Yzerman was able to send forward Andreas ►Decide on coach Jeff Blashill’s future. Athanasiou and defenseman Mike Green, both to, coincidentally, ►Prepare for Entry Draft (Wings have 10 picks, including possibly first Edmonton in separate trades. overall) In return, the Wings acquired second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021 ►Decide on the future of 12 restricted free agents in the organization. (along with forward Sam Gagner) for Athanasiou, and Edmonton’s 2020 Whom to retain, and who leaves? fourth-round pick for Green (it becomes a third-rounder if Edmonton reaches the Western Conference Finals). ►Devise a plan for unrestricted free agency, where the Wings will likely be moderately active. The Wings have 10 picks in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft (six in the first three rounds) — whenever that’ll be once a determination on this season ►Trades — Will there be opportunities to deal this offseason because of is given — with the Wings guaranteed a top-four overall pick given NHL economic NHL instability caused by the pandemic? lottery rules (if those remain in effect). Detroit News LOADED: 04.18.2020 “Ultimately, I believe you get as many picks as you can, as many high picks you can, just to increase your odds,” said Yzerman, of acquiring talent. “We’re rebuilding, we got to give up something if we want to be a good team 3-4-5 years down the road and somewhere along the way we’re going to have to hit on some of these picks and the only way to do it is to keep them and get more.

“Along the way, we need some of these picks to pan out for us. To simply sit there and hope our first-rounder is gonna work out every year, we need to do better than that. We need the picks and need to keep adding them where we can, for the time being.”

Yzerman made several deals earlier in the season, hoping to land a young player who had yet to reach his potential. 1183033 Detroit Red Wings 2019-20 cap hit: $3.3 million He slumped a bit in seven starts after the All-Star break but overall has

quietly strung together several good seasons on some mediocre to bad Red Wings will be in market for back-up goaltender Islanders teams.

6. Corey Crawford, Chicago

Updated Apr 17, 2020; Posted Apr 17, 2020 W-L-OTL: 16-20-3 GAA: 2.77 SV PCT: .917

Little Caesars Arena Age: 35

The Red Wings will have a new backup goalie next season when they 2019-20 cap hit: $6 million return to Little Caesars Arena. (Mike Mulholland/MLive) The two-time Stanley Cup champion and two-time Jennings Trophy By Ansar Khan | [email protected] winner has declined along with his team the past two seasons. But the Blackhawks moved Robin Lehner at the trade deadline, so they seem As bad as the Detroit Red Wings were this season, their record would inclined to re-sign Crawford. have been much worse without Jonathan Bernier. 7. Anton Khudobin, Dallas Bernier began the season as Jimmy Howard’s back-up but assumed the top job in mid-December and played well enough to give the team a W-L-OTL: 16-8-4 GAA: 2.22 SV PCT: .930 chance to win during most of his starts. Age: 34 Bernier, 31, will be back next season as the starter. Howard experienced 2019-20 cap hit: $2.5 million by far his worst season and isn’t likely to be re-signed. Veteran Calvin Pickard will return for the but didn’t show enough Khudobin has won 16 games in each of the past three seasons and was this season to make the organization believe he can be Bernier’s back- experiencing his best season at age 33. Is he content being Ben Bishop’s up. backup or will be seek a better opportunity elsewhere?

The Red Wings will be in the market for a free-agent goalie. Here is a 8. Cam Talbot, Calgary look at some goalies scheduled to become unrestricted free agents. The top ones, if they don’t re-sign with their teams, wouldn’t be interested in W-L-OTL: 12-10-1 GAA: 2.63 SV PCT: .919 coming to the rebuilding Red Wings as a back-up, but there are several Age: 32 others who will be looking for a job: 2019-20 cap hit: $2.75 million 1. Braden Holtby, Washington With David Rittich established as the Flames’ top goalie, Talbot could be W-L-OTL: 25-14-6 GAA: 3.11 SV PCT: .897 playing for his fourth team in three years next season.

Age: 30 9. Mike Smith, Edmonton

2019-20 cap hit: $6.1 million W-L-OTL: 19-12-6 GAA: 2.95 SV PCT: .902

A Vezina and Jennings Trophy winner and Stanley Cup champion whose Age: 38 numbers have declined the past three seasons, the Capitals likely will let him walk and go with promising, young Ilya Samsonov as their No. 1. 2019-20 cap hit: $2 million

2. Robin Lehner, Vegas A 14-year NHL veteran who showed this season he still has something left in the tank. He split duties with Mikko Koskinen, who is seven years W-L-OTL: 19-10-5 GAA: 2.89 SV PCT: .920 younger and had a slightly better season.

Age: 28 10. Aaron Dell, San Jose

2019-20 cap hit: $5 million W-L-OTL: 12-15-3 GAA: 3.01 SV PCT: .907

Played only three games for the Golden Knights, who acquired him from Age: 31 Chicago at the trade deadline. With Marc-Andre Fleury signed for two more years, Lehner will be moving on to his fifth team in four seasons. 2019-20 cap hit: $1.9 million

3. Jakub Markstrom, Vancouver He could continue being Martin Jones’ backup on a bad Sharks club and keep posting mediocre numbers or look to back-up on a better team. W-L-OTL: 23-16-4 GAA: 2.75 SV PCT: .918 Other notable impending unrestricted free-agent goaltenders: Laurent Age: 30 Brossoit, Winnipeg; Louis Domingue, Vancouver; , 2019-20 cap hit: $3.66 million Philadelphia; Jimmy Howard, Detroit; Michael Hutchinson, Colorado; Ryan Miller, Anaheim. He has posted fairly consistent statistics the past three seasons – good, not great – and probably isn’t going to reach another level. But it’s likely Michigan Live LOADED: 04.18.2020 good enough for the Canucks to keep him.

4. Jaroslav Halak, Boston

W-L-OTL: 18-6-6 GAA: 2.39 SV PCT: .918

Age: 35

2019-20 cap hit: $2.75 million

Halak, as Tuukka Rask’s back-up, plays more than a typical second- string and the Bruins appear just as confident when he’s in net. Doesn’t appear to be any reason for Halak to leave Boston.

5. Thomas Greiss, Islanders

W-L-OTL: 16-9-4 GAA: 2.74 SV PCT: .913

Age: 34 1183034 Detroit Red Wings

Q&A: Mickey Redmond on his favorite moments, memories and inspiration

By Max Bultman Apr 17, 202

Mickey Redmond knows how to tell a story.

It helps that he’s got years and years of them to tell — some coming from inside the most storied hockey franchises of all time — but even without all that, the man just knows how to lay down an anecdote. And with a serious appetite for some good old-fashioned hockey talk right now, there are few better people from whom to get a fix.

Fortunately, the Red Wings’ color analyst for Fox Sports Detroit was kind enough this week to answer some questions submitted from The Athletic’s subscribers. In doing so, he talked about a memory that doubles among his best and most embarrassing, shared an untold story from between the benches as an analyst, and also passed along his father’s wise words that inspire him to this day.

The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183035 Edmonton Oilers Like Kane and Ovechkin, McDavid and Draisaitl have a green light to use their superior talents to make things happen offensively when they see fit, but Tippett says they’re also showing a greater willingness to round out their overall games, as well. There is still the occasional fly by in the From Kane and Ovi to Connor and Leon: you can't win if you don't buy in defensive zone, but they’re working much harder at two-way play.

“They know they have a role to play, a big role,” said Tippett. “I believe that with players like that you gave to allow them to be themselves, Robert Tychkowski maximize the assets they have. But, that being said, they still have to buy Published:April 17, 2020 into some of the structure we’re dealing with because the team is trying to win. Updated:April 17, 2020 5:03 PM MDT “I’m really fortunate because both of those guys are hungry to win and they know they have to do their part. Playing without the puck, both of them have really tried to buy into what the team is doing. And we’ve been In a wide-ranging and informal video chat between three former Jack seeing some results. Adams winners — veteran coaches , Joel Quenneville and Barry Trotz revealed much in common Friday. “Both have been outstanding from a coaching standpoint. them wanting to do what’s best for the team. That’s one of the biggest things this year At the top of that list is the importance of getting elite level superstars to that I’ve taken out of coaching in Edmonton — their commitment to trying buy into the team concept if you want to win a Stanley Cup. to play as a team and to win is phenomenal.” Quenneville and Trotz have already enjoyed success in that avenue, Edmonton Sun: LOADED: 04.18.2020 winning with and Alex Ovechkin in Chicago and Washington, while Tippett is attempting to follow suit with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in Edmonton.

In Kane, Quenneville says there wasn’t much urging that needed to be done, given how ultra-competitive he was right out of the box, while Trotz described Ovechkin as more of a project.

“With Kane, he would always come in bigger, stronger and more fit (than the previous year) and he was committed to doing whatever he needed to get better,” said Quenneville, who’s now coaching the Florida Panthers.

“And he improved his defensive game. We gave our team a lot of freedom to play offensively — let him go play to his strengths — but he did buy into playing in his own end, working along the wall. He found ways to come up with possession in those situations.”

“That was a big part of our success. He kept everyone accountable. He was competitive to a different degree. When your best players deliver that message, with how they play and prepare, it makes our life a lot easier.”

Ovechkin was long regarded as a superstar who put up jaw-dropping numbers, but wouldn’t pay more than casual attention to the little things needed to get his Capitals deep in the playoffs. He was criticized for being one dimensional, even though he might be the best at that dimension in NHL history.

“There was a lot of frustration in Washington,” said Trotz, who needed Ovechkin to expand his effort in areas that didn’t necessarily require talent.

“As a young player, he was one of the most dynamic players in the league. And he produced. The thing that was missing was the winning. There were a lot of questions about whether you could win with Alex. There was no question you could, he just needed a little direction.”

So Trotz attempted the same conversion that Glen Hanlon, Bruce Boudreau, Dale Hunter and Adam Oates before him tried.

“We sat down and formed a relationship,” said Trotz. “I told him ‘If you stick with it, they will follow you. I guarantee you they will follow you. And everything (frustration and criticism) will be washed away.’

“And he got better at things that he didn’t value as much. Once he did that, it was very easy to follow Alex. He became a really good captain. He did all the things necessary as a leader for the rest of the team to want to follow. He led by example. He became a playoff MVP.”

In Edmonton, where frustration and failure were locked in place long before McDavid and Draisaitl showed up, Tippett in the midst of an overall culture change that involves more than just the top two players.

But in Edmonton’s two lead dogs, he sees a lot of Kane.

“Connor and Leon are unbelievable talents, but they both recognize individual players don’t win championships, teams do,” said Tippett. “They’ve been really strong advocates of making sure they’re playing a team structure.” 1183036 Edmonton Oilers Hagman is an important and overlooked part of Oilers history. He’s also one of the early connections between the NHL Oilers and the Boston Bruins and a key to the ease of adjustment for fellow Finn in the early days of his career. Hagman centred two brilliant and fast wingers in Lowetide: The 10 most potent lines in Oilers history ’81-82 and the trio scored even strength goals regularly: Messier had 40, Anderson 29 and Hagman 16 for a total of 85.

This was the season Messier scored 50 goals, Anderson assisted on 15 By Allan Mitchell Apr 17, 2020 and Hagman 10. It was a line that ran a little hot and cold depending on the wingers, Hagman an underrated if complementary piece of the unit’s success. In January, Dave Tippett moved Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to the wing, installed Leon Draisaitl as the No. 2 centre behind Connor McDavid and Brett Callighen——Blair MacDonald (’79-80) inserted young winger Kailer Yamamoto onto the right side with the two This trio had success in ’78-79, the season before the Oilers entered the veterans. The result? Music! NHL. During the ’79-80 season and for portions of ’80-81 this line had a We don’t know if this line will play a starring role in the Oilers’ future but great deal of success. Using even strength goals, the men accounted for early returns were stunning. It brings to mind other trios who found 83 (Gretzky 37, MacDonald 31, Callighen 15) in their full NHL season chemistry and success together over the 40 years of Oilers NHL history. together.

For the purposes of fairness, I’ll do five from the 1980s and five from the Gretzky was an instant impact player — coach told the years after the 1990 Stanley Cup. There is some overlap but the media a fire hydrant could score 40 on 99’s wing — and MacDonald was difference in scoring totals since 1990 makes a split fair for those who an expert marksman on the first great Oilers line. Callighen was the followed the Stanley Cup team. rugged left winger who could crash, retrieve pucks and cash enough goals to stay on the top line as a complementary player. I am ranking by even strength goals for all three men on the line, which includes goals together and apart during the season discussed. In years In 1980, two things changed for the line. Edmonton brought in new right where multiple wingers joined a centre, I’ve made every effort to identify wing recruits and they were very good (Jari Kurri, ), the most common linemates. meaning MacDonald was on the outside from the beginning. Callighen also had issues, resulting from an errant stick (Brad McCrimmon of the The 1980s to 1991 Boston Bruins) on Feb. 24, 1980. He had surgery in November 1980 and returned to score impressively on a line with Gretzky and rookie Kurri. Mike Krushelnyski—Wayne Gretzky—Jarri Kurri (’84-85) The GMC line was no more, made official when MacDonald was traded Although Krushelnyski isn’t a famous alum, the big man was on the most to the Vancouver Canucks in March 1981. productive scoring line in Oilers history. The number of even strength goals is phenomenal: 54 for Gretzky and Kurri, plus 31 for Krushelnyski. After 1991 That’s 139 in an 80-game season, counting only even strength tallies. Leon Draisaitl—Connor McDavid—Zack Kassian (’18-19) Krushelnyski was a tough winger who could also play in the middle. He could score goals and retrieve pucks for Gretzky and Kurri and scored No real surprise in terms of the high octane line that delivered the most more than the average left winger on the line. Although he played wing post-1990, it was sure to be a trio featuring a healthy McDavid (as you on the top line in other Oilers seasons, the ’84-85 production was never can see in the five successful lines below). His breathtaking speed spells matched. danger for opponents but the combination of speed married to vision and execution proved to be unstoppable for NHL teams. Esa Tikkanen—Wayne Gretzky—Jari Kurri (’86-87) After about 25 years without a league-leading offensive spark, McDavid This trio would spend time together from Tikkanen’s arrival (’85-86) to the ignited the Oilers in a heartbeat. He and Draisaitl both had 31 goals even Gretzky sale (summer 1988) and were regular linemates in two seasons strength and Kassian added 14 for a total of 76 in the discipline. (1986 through 1988). The ’86-87 season saw Gretzky score 42 even strength goals, Kurri 37 and Tikkanen 27 for a total of 106. The combination of 97 and Draisaitl is a magical mix, they are the first scoring forwards combination in decades who have delivered scoring Gretzky and Kurri were magic together, 99 finding his ideal winger at championships wearing the Oil drop. training camp in 1980. The emergence of Kurri effectively ended the GMC line but the replacement trios were even more dynamic. Patrick Maroon—Connor McDavid—Leon Draisaitl (’16-17)

Gretzky’s role remained the same. He was assigned the task of being the Maroon and Draisaitl were the only forwards to spend over 700 minutes best player in the league each fall and delivered handsomely. Kurri was a with McDavid in ’16-17. Milan Lucic and Jordan Eberle also spent time fantastic two-way presence, trained well to play effectively away from the with McDavid but Maroon won more work with 97 and 29 than anyone as puck while also passing exceptionally well and developing a quick the team surged to its first playoff berth in over a decade. release. McDavid scored 26 even strength goals, Maroon popped 24 and Draisaitl Tikkanen was the agitator, so good he drove his own teammates to posted 19 for a line total of 69. McDavid assisted on 13 of Maroon’s 24 distraction. I watched Gretzky’s entire Oilers career. For me, this line was even strength goals, the big winger finding the simplest thing (go to the the supreme 99 line. net with the stick on the ice) was also deadly effective.

Mark Messier—Ken Linseman—Glenn Anderson (’82-83) Patrick Maroon—Connor McDavid—Leon Draisaitl (’17-18)

Messier was a winger before he was a centre, and teamed up with Oilers fans warmed to Maroon, who gave the line some of the edge and Anderson and new acquisition Ken Linseman on an explosive line. swagger that had been missing for so long. In the trios second year Anderson led the trio with 37 even strength goals, Messier had 35 and together, McDavid scored 35, Draisaitl 16 and Maroon 14 for a total of 65 Linseman 19 for a total of 91. even strength goals. McDavid’s 35 goals are a thunderous total for this era of hockey. I remember this line as being a delight, but the group had no friends among their opponents. High speed, high skilled and spent most shifts The chemistry of this line is obvious, but one of the key features (which is doing something outside the rules of the game. During this time, now gone) is the sight of Draisaitl on his off-wing sending gorgeous Edmonton gained a reputation for swagger and arrogance. This line backhand passes to the middle. It was an extreme pleasure to observe helped that storyline take flight. while it lasted.

All three men were quality and all three men would play a major part in Joe Murphy——Petr Klima (’91-92) Edmonton’s Stanley Cup victory the following season. After Stanley left town, Sather was trading famous names for excellent -Matti Hagman-Glenn Anderson (’81-82) players who weren’t yet famous, and this line was mostly about a former Toronto Maple Leafs centre (Damphousse) delivering a splendid season in his one winter in Alberta. Damphousse scored 25 even strength goals, Murphy delivered 23 and Klima 16 for a total of 64.

By the summer of 1993 all had been traded in what was a period of transition for the Oilers.

Zdeno Ciger—Doug Weight—Jason Arnott (’95-96)

By the mid-90s, Sather’s procurement plan gave the Oilers some real quality youth and this line represented new hope. Doug Weight was the straw that stirred the drink; he was the most compelling skill forward in the time between Messier’s exit and McDavid’s arrival.

In ’95-96, Arnott had 20 even strength goals, Ciger 19 and Weight 16 for a total of 55 for the trio. Sather’s dream no doubt involved keeping these young players around but only Weight would (barely) make it to the end of the decade.

The gap in the value of a goal scored

I wanted to give you an idea about the gap between the 1980s and today in terms of the value of an even strength goal. Based on hockey- reference numbers for each season, even strength scoring per team in ’18-19 was 82.5 percent of scoring per team in ’84-85.

That means that the ’84-85 Gretzky line (139 even strength goals) could be estimated to score 114.7 goals in ’18-19 value. It puts the McDavid line in ’18-19 (76 goals) far closer than the raw numbers across the decades suggest. A reasonable guess would have the McDavid ’18-19 line No. 3 all-time on the Oilers list using these estimates (originally published by Dan Diamond in Total Hockey).

The exercise shows one thing to be absolutely true, though: The Gretzky line of ’84-85 is the top trio in Oilers history.

The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183037 Edmonton Oilers Muhammad Ali outside his Los Angeles home. Oilers players, coaches and trainers visited Ali on an off day ahead of the fight with Semenko. (Courtesy of Andy Moog)

‘I thought he was gonna drop’: On the time Dave Semenko fought When it came to sizing up fighters, Ali’s advantage was obvious. Muhammad Ali Semenko had taken boxing training but had never stepped into a ring against anyone close to Ali’s calibre. His decisive edges were age and fitness.

By Daniel Nugent-Bowman Apr 17, 2020 Semenko was a month shy of his 26th birthday and in his athletic prime by the time the two men fought. Ali, by contrast, was 41; he hadn’t fought

in a competitive bout in 19 months and hadn’t been heavyweight champ The lean, mean, fighting machine — best known for protecting Wayne in almost five years. Gretzky at all costs — was set to do battle again. Only this time was That seemed evident to Lowe long before Semenko and Ali started different. swinging. He wasn’t duking it out to stand up for a teammate, his familiar setting The Oilers players, coaches and trainers — plus the travelling reporters was completely overhauled, his gloves stayed on and his opponent had — bused to Ali’s Los Angeles house during an off day that season. The way more cachet than his customary foes. 30 guests stood in the beautiful grand foyer of the home for roughly half Dressed in white track pants and a crimson-and-silver terry-towel an hour and exchanged pleasantries. Lowe recalls most of the visit being bathrobe instead of his Oilers sweater, Dave Semenko was ready to weird. scrap in a boxing ring instead of on the ice at Northlands Coliseum. The Ali showed them his daughter’s record player and played some gospel- odd circumstances led to perhaps his most famous scrap — and certainly type music. He spoke in hushed, barely audible tones. his most unique one. “He was completely whacked out. He was punch drunk for the better part With Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” blaring through the arena speakers, of the time we were there,” Lowe said. Semenko ducked under the ropes, entered the canvas and waited for his combatant. Then, the flip switched right at the end. “It’s almost like he snapped to attention,” Lowe said. “Right away, he either knew or picked out Dave “His opponent, in the red corner, the greatest heavyweight champion of Semenko. all time — Muhammad Ali,” the announcer said. “It was all kind of strange, but you left with a good feeling about him and As The Athletic explores some of the most bizarre moments in sports, the experience.” there’s little doubt that a three-round exhibition between The Greatest and one of hockey’s greatest pugilists on June 12, 1983, ranks high on The end of the visit, more than anything, still resonates with Moog. the list. “He was the humblest man and the nicest host,” the goaltender said. “He “It was totally off the wall,” said Ron Low, a former Oilers goalie and was so soft-spoken and mild-mannered, but he made everyone feel like coach who was one of Semenko’s cornermen for the fight. this is OK.”

Although the event drew just 6,000 fans, there’s little doubt it was a Ali continued to put those around him at ease as the bout neared. Before crossover spectacle. the fight, Ali met Semenko in the Oilers dressing room to make sure the hockey player knew what he was doing. “It’s right up there with Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King,” said , Semenko’s longtime teammate. Ali raised his hands and moved around the room, asking Semenko to throw combinations. Credit the late Larry Messier, uncle of star Oilers forward Mark Messier, for putting an odd idea into action. “We’re gonna be fine,” Ali told him. “We’re just gonna look good.”

The older Messier was a promoter who’d worked his way into Ali’s Ali was simply trying to figure out Semenko’s reach, Low said. Once he entourage and persuaded the superstar boxer to take on Edmonton’s top did, he could dodge his attempts effortlessly. fighter. “Ali would just move his head,” Low said. “It was amazing.” Ali insisted he wasn’t doing it for the money, suggesting there was no way organizers could afford to pay him appropriately. There’s no doubt “I could tell that he was a little worried about me because right after that financial compensation was a factor, though. he went to the coaches’ room and took a nap,” Semenko told the makers of “Ice Guardians” while laughing. Oilers goaltender Andy Moog said Ed “Too Tall” Jones, one of his current golfing buddies in Dallas and a former Cowboys defensive end, tried to Semenko appeared ready to slug it out with Ali as he entered the ring arrange a bout with Ali in the late 1970s. Jones had briefly left football for wearing black high-top runners to go along with his track pants and a boxing career. “My people wanted to fight, too, for promotion and bathrobe. (“I didn’t know what I was supposed to wear and didn’t have a marketing,” Jones told Moog. boxing wardrobe kicking around the house,” Ali wrote in his autobiography, “Looking Out For Number One.”) Semenko eventually agreed, even if he initially seemed reluctant. Lowe said the bruising winger had increased his boxing lessons as the “It was something that Semenko was embarrassed about right from Day season went on. The Oilers were only a month removed from their first 1,” said veteran journalist John Short, then with the Edmonton Journal. Stanley Cup final appearance, losing to the Islanders. “He was the perfect example of the modest tough guy. “He looked in great shape — but he always looked in great shape. He “Most of the really tough athletes I met in my life were gentle people had a great body,” Lowe said. “He recognized that this is Muhammad Ali unless they had their work clothes on. That certainly applied to Sammy.” and he didn’t want to embarrass himself.”

Known as one of the fiercest fighters in the NHL during the 1980s, Semenko fought topless, but Ali never removed his blue-and-red Semenko’s battles generally came as a result of supporting a fellow tracksuit. Oilers player. It wouldn’t be such an instance. It was a little out of character for the man affectionally known as “Semenk.” “He was not in fighting shape,” Short said of the boxer.

“He wasn’t a bully by any stretch,” Lowe said. “I don’t think he loved the Still, “It was Muhammad Ali, man!” as Lowe said. Getting a chance to fighting part, but he was the classic policeman — making sure stuff didn’t watch “The Greatest” work up close was a sight to see. Lowe, Moog and happen. He wasn’t a limelight guy at all. several other Oilers players and their spouses watched the fight from the floor. “Interesting when I think back on it that he actually would have agreed to do it. Mark’s uncle was a pretty convincing guy.” “It was a big party for everyone except Dave,” Moog said. Those with the best views were Semenko’s cornermen, Low and “It wasn’t advertised nearly as well as it should have been. I think we Islanders forward . The players were friends growing up in could have filled the building,” Low said. “Semenk was one of the most and were in Low’s wedding party. well-loved Oilers ever. And Ali is probably the best boxer ever. It was kind of disappointing. There should have been 15,000 (fans).” Low wasn’t a big boxing aficionado but didn’t have to be asked twice to take on the assignment. “It was a different era,” Lowe said. “Nowadays with social media, you could just blast the hell out of that thing. I’m sure a lot of people didn’t “When you got probably the best fighter in hockey and the best fighter even know it was taking place.” that’s ever been a fighter in the ring, it’s kind of cool,” Low said. Short isn’t so sure. The fight was billed as an exhibition and that’s exactly “It was a blast. It really was. I was honoured and lucky to see it.” what it was, he said.

The bout began and Ali’s theatrics were in vintage form. His famous “I don’t know of any logical person who ever considered that it would be shuffle was constantly on display, earning an excited cheer from the more than Semenko and Ali showing what Ali’s skills and Semenko’s crowd on its first use. size, bulk and athletic ability,” Short said. “But in a ring with Ali, there’s no “He danced. He moved. He skipped. He went sideways,” Moog said. way he ever looked like a fighter because he never was, in that sense, a “Every once in a while he’d flash out a punch. fighter.

“It was amazing how he could launch these punches while seemingly in “We’re so much more sophisticated now that we wouldn’t go.” flight.” Of course, it’s not like we’ll ever know. It’s not like Georges Laraque Those punches weren’t exactly coming in fast and furious from Ali, fought George Foreman years later. The Semenko-Ali showdown was a though — even though both fighters were wearing well-padded gloves one-off. (16 ounces, Lowe believes). But it sure was an odd one-off.

“There was no pretense of him wanting to fight,” Short said. “It was bizarre, but that’s the way they sold it — the way (Larry) Messier Semenko was chasing him around the ring early on “in a plodding, presented it,” Short said. “In a sense, it was exactly as it was designed to aggressive style,” Moog said, but his tactics yielded little as Ali shifted be — a talking point.” away. “Put your skates on, Dave,” someone yelled from the crowd. Semenko, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2017, had better fights during Eventually, Semenko had Ali on the ropes in the second round. Instead his career and got more punches in most of the time on the ice. But those of defending himself or roaring back with a couple of shots of his own, Ali none of those fights were against “The Greatest.” opted to reach around Semenko and grab his butt. “People that were there that night remember it being worth being there “It irked him,” Low said of Semenko. and entertained,” Lowe said. “It’s what you would have hoped would happen — the local hero did well.” The event was meant to be a demonstration of Ali’s skills, not a title fight. Even Semenko admitted the two were “certainly pulling punches.” The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020

However, with Ali leaning in and Semenko perturbed by the ass squeeze, the hockey player tagged the boxer. (Or so it appeared. He’d later tell Short he never landed a solid punch.)

“I thought he was gonna drop,” Low said.

Ali brushed back, appearing staggered for about 20 seconds, Low said. He then countered with a steady stream of blows.

“Just to say, ‘I could do this if I wanted to,’” Low said.

“He stunned me; I had a little blood in my nose. I thought that was pretty cool,” Semenko said. “Muhammad Ali gave me a bleeding nose. He was amazing. He fought with his hands down. They came out of nowhere.”

Semenko attacked early. Ali came on late with a flurry of punches in the last minute of the fight.

“That was his profession and he wasn’t going to be outdone by a young hockey player,” Lowe said.

How the fight came off is in the eye of the beholder.

“There was not the slightest suggestion that it was a contest — and it was never intended to be,” Short said.

“It really ended up being full value,” Lowe said. “Semenk took it pretty seriously. I remember thinking, ‘Holy shit. This looks more serious than I thought it would be.’”

With the fight over, a winner needed to be chosen — but ultimately wasn’t.

“The fight is declared a draw with no rematch,” the announcer said to a smattering of boos and applause from the crowd.

There was no objection from the Oilers winger.

“Now I know he’s the greatest champion in the world,” Semenko said afterward. “I’m glad I met him when he’s over 40 years old.”

All these years later, we’re left to look back at the Semenko-Ali fight longingly and wonder what could have been.

Moog describes the event as a “carnival atmosphere,” yet only 6,000 people attended the fight. Given how big the Oilers of the 1980s were, fans should have theoretically flocked to see it. 1183038 Florida Panthers

Coach Joel Quenneville talks possible return and the potential of the Florida fan base

BY DAVID WILSON

APRIL 17, 2020 05:57 PM

Joel Quenneville spent the first month of the NHL’s COVID-19 hiatus at his home in South Florida before he finally retreated north to Chicago over the weekend. The coach is now in with family waiting out the next segment of inactivity as his Florida Panthers wait to see how play might resume.

This week, Quenneville is feeling optimistic about the future. On Friday, he joined Dave Tippett and Barry Trotz for a virtual roundtable discussion, touching on a number of topics, both hockey and coronavirus. He said he feels good about the chances the season will resume in some capacity, based on chatter around the league and the sport.

“It sounds like it’s a little more optimistic in the last couple of days than it’s been at any point in the process here,” Quenneville said on the Zoom Video Communications conference call hosted by an NHL spokesperson. “Now we’re in a situation where, hey, we would love to play and I think that the enthusiasm we’ve seen in the last little while — hopefully that’s going to happen and in the meantime I think there’s a little bit more excitement right now where I think we’re talking hockey. I’m thinking, Hey, it could happen and hopefully soon.”

The conversation between the three coaches was wide-ranging and spanned nearly an hour. Tippett, the Edmonton Oilers coach, talked about the joys of coaching Connor McDavid. Trotz, the New York Islanders coach, recalled his time rooming with New York Rangers play- by-play announcer when the two were both working in the minors.

Quenneville talked about somet the great players he coached, too. He also outlined the difference between coaching a team like the Chicago Blackhawks, one of the most storied franchises in the sport, and the Panthers. His biggest takeaway from less than a year in Florida is the potential of the fan base — as long as the Panthers start winning.

“We went down there with an open-minded approach,” Quenneville said. “Crowds improved this year. It’s a very passionate fan base. I think that you’re going to have to win. You’ve got to be a playoff team there. There’s a lot of excitement that can happen there. I think you’ve got to win in the playoffs — it’s been a long drought — but there’s a lot of enthusiasm in that area.”

Florida, which sat three points out of a playoff spot when play suspended last month, still had the third worst attendance in the league this season, but average attendance was up more nearly 1,000 people per game from 13,261 per game last season to 14,104 this year.

“We did have five or six full buildings this year where we had a full crowd and you can see the difference, you can feel the difference, but it’s up to us,” Quenneville said. “We’ve got to win and recapture that feeling.”

He also pointed out how trips to Sunrise are typically a beloved diversion on any NHL player’s calendar. When he was coaching the Blackhawks, Quenneville always welcomed his journeys to the BB&T Center as a chance to escape the frigid winter weather of the league’s mostly northern locales. It was always a welcome “change of scenery.”

He learned to appreciate the scenery even more this year when the league shut down indefinitely in March. He took advantage of the beaches before those closed, then still took advantage of the weather by going for bike rides to break up his time watching horse racing or “Tiger King” on Netflix.

It’s far different than his time coaching in Chicago, but he’s enjoying it so far.

“I’m enjoying the experience,” Quenneville said. “It’s a whole different place.”

Miami Herald LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183039 Florida Panthers Bobrovsky has said this was a tough year for him getting comfortable in the Florida net.

He was playing behind a new team, one that didn’t exactly play Which bold Florida Panthers preseason predictions held up? Not many defensive-first hockey as he was accustomed to in Columbus. He also fought through some injury problems, the latest one keeping him out of the past four games.

By George Richards Apr 17, 2020 The time away from hockey has seemingly been good for Bobrovsky as he was close to coming back when things were stopped.

If the Panthers resume play sometime this summer, Bobrovsky says he SUNRISE, Fla. — The best part of predictions may be the arguments is healthy and ready to go. Bobrovsky may not be in the Vezina they bring on. conversation, but he can still lead his team to the postseason. Another is looking back at them. THEN: Sam Montembeault will win 10 games. Time, for the most part, is not kind to my preseason bold predictions. NOW: The initial thought was Bobrovsky would start 65 games, giving his With the NHL season on hiatus, things have been left incomplete. The backup at least 17 starts. Turns out, the backup got more work. It just Panthers, after all, had 13 games remaining when life as hockey knew it wasn’t always Montembeault. was put on halt March 12. Montembeault went into the break with five wins in nine starts before Still, with 69 games in the books, we can look back at what was written at being sent back to the minors in November after a rough stretch. the end of training camp and see which calls were right and which ones Chris Driedger came up and turned into one of the biggest surprises of were not. the season, going 7-2-1 in 11 starts. He would have started March 12 in Onto the (old) predictions! Dallas and perhaps more after that.

PRESEASON PREDICTIONS With one more year on his contract after this, it looks like Driedger has earned a spot on the Panthers next season. THEN: The Panthers will make the playoffs for the first time since 2016. THEN: Henrik Borgstrom takes flight. NOW: With 13 games remaining in the regular season not played (and we don’t know if any will be made up), this one gets an incomplete. NOW: Although Borgstrom started the season centering Florida’s third line, he did not stay there. He played in just three games before being When we last left the Panthers, they were coming off consecutive wins scratched and then sent to the minors after Florida signed veteran Brian against the Canadiens and Blues. The victory in St. Louis on March 9 put Boyle. Florida a point out of the playoffs. Then the Maple Leafs beat Tampa Bay a few days later and play was halted. Borgstrom did not seem real happy being at AHL Springfield and his numbers reflected that. After a slow start, Borgstrom started playing So, as it stands now, Florida is three points back of the Leafs as well as better and had 11 goals with 23 points 49 games for the Thunderbirds. three points out of a wild-card spot. If the NHL does return, it is thought at least a few regular-season games will be played. If not, there is a chance Although his name was mentioned in numerous trade rumors, the some bubble teams (like the Panthers) would be part of an expanded Panthers held on to their first-round pick from 2016. They still have high postseason. hopes for Borgstrom moving forward and the thought here is he gets a chance to center either the second or third line in Florida next season. Right now, the Panthers are not a playoff team. But they still could be. We’ll see. THEN: The Panthers power play continues to light it up.

THEN: The Panthers’ top line will all reach 85 points with Sasha Barkov NOW: Last season, Florida had the second-best power play in the league scoring 100. behind Tampa Bay, scoring at nearly a 27 percent clip. It was the best power play in franchise history by a long margin. NOW: The Panthers did keep their top line of Barkov, and Evgenii Dadonov together for much of the season. Although the Panthers remained dangerous with the man advantage, Huberdeau became the team’s all-time leading scorer and made his first they could not keep up with last year’s pace. All-Star team. Heading into the break, the Panthers are tied with Toronto for 11th in the As we stand now, no one on the Panthers has hit 85 points. Last year, league with a 21.3 percent success rate. Barkov set the franchise record with 96 points as Florida had two 90- Since the All-Star break, Florida’s power play was a big reason the team point guys for the first time (Huberdeau ended with 92). failed to find much success as they scored seven goals on 56 chances Through 69 games, Huberdeau is the team-leader with 78. According to (13 percent) and went scoreless in 14 of 20 games. his points-per-game of 1.13, he was on pace to score 93 points. Still, in the history of the franchise, this year’s power play ranks right up As for the others, Barkov missed three games in February with a knee there with the team’s best. injury and was at 62 points; he would have been on pace to score 74. THEN: Expect Vincent Trocheck to get back to the numbers he put up a Dadonov was on pace for 56 points. few years ago — 25 goals, 60 points should be a target. So, unless Barkov and Dadonov finish this season on an absolute tear, NOW: I don’t think anyone saw the Panthers trading Trocheck at the they won’t hit 85 points — much less 100 for the captain. deadline when this season started or, for that matter, at the All-Star THEN: Sergei Bobrovsky is a Vezina Trophy finalist. break.

NOW: In October, I wrote “the Panthers hope to get the Bobrovsky who Yet after Florida’s horrid February, general manager decided won his second Vezina Trophy three years ago when he put the Jackets his team needed a change if the season was to be salvaged and on his back and carried them into the playoffs. They’re going to get it this Trocheck (one of the team’s core players) was traded to Carolina for two season.” NHL forwards and a pair of prospects.

Maybe next year? At the time of the trade, Trocheck was still centering Florida’s second line, although his line partners were changing by the game. Listen, Bobrovsky did not have a very good debut season with the Panthers, as his numbers clearly show. In 50 games played, Bobrovsky Trocheck had 10 goals and 26 points in 55 games with the Panthers (he is at or close to having the worst statistical season of his career with a missed seven games due to injury), which put him on pace to end at 14 GAA of 3.23 and a .900 save percentage. His goals saved above goals and 36 assists in 75 games. In seven games with Carolina, average is almost a minus-15. Trocheck had a goal and an assist. THEN: Joel Quenneville wins the for coach of the year.

NOW: Quenneville has only won the Adams once in his career — and he’s going to have to keep waiting.

The thought was, if Florida completely turned its fortunes around and was fighting with the likes of Boston and Tampa Bay for the Atlantic Division title, Quenneville would get a lot of credit for it.

Florida could still get into the playoffs if this season resumes, but the Jack Adams will be going elsewhere.

The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183040 But even with all of the excitement around the club as it won 101 games, the team was still looking at unique and aggressive ticket packages to get fans in the stands.

Minnesota sports teams were in tough spot even before health crisis hit It had a new ticket package called Twins Pass, where fans could pay just $49 per month to get access to standing room-only areas for every home regular-season game.

APRIL 17, 2020 — 7:17AM The Wild, meanwhile, announce a lot of sellouts, but it had a fair amount of single-game tickets for sale and attendance had dropped. SID HARTMAN The average attendance at Xcel Energy Center was 17,472 this season

compared with a peak of 19,827 per game in 2015-2016. There are a lot of questions about how sports will look in the next few The Timberwolves have struggled with attendance for over a decade, months when play eventually resumes, but teams around the Twin Cities except for a few seasons here and there, and this season was no already had been trying all kinds of different sales and promotions to try different. They ranked last in the NBA with just 15,066 fans per game, to get fans into the stands before the sports world shut down last month. down from 15,305 last season. The Gophers used different promotions with Cub Foods that were really The Vikings, meanwhile, are the lone exception in the state. popular last year when they were trying to build attendance for football, men’s hockey and men’s basketball. They sold out every game at U.S. Bank Stadium and averaged 66,849 fans per game. Their percentage of tickets sold was 100.3, above a Athletic director Mark Coyle said that the university simply had to do sellout, and ranked fifth in the NFL behind only the L.A. Rams, 49ers, everything it could to drive up attendance. Bears and Seahawks. “If you look at attendance across the country, programs all over the Another club that had ticket success was the Loons, who sold out every country are trying to get creative in terms of how to maintain and game during their inaugural season at Allianz Field, which holds just over enhance their attendance for their games. We are no different,” he said. 19,000 fans. “We have been working incredibly hard. If you recall with men’s hockey, we reduced season-ticket prices; I think they’re the lowest they have But every team in this town was trying to come up with unique ways to been since the early ’90s when we moved into 3M Arena in Mariucci. sell tickets and bring fans to games before the current health scare.

“Basketball prices, we looked at our basketball prices and made some And that’s only going to get more difficult now. adjustments there. We also looked at our scholarship seating prices and made some adjustments there. We are trying to be very creative and TV revenue matters working very hard to get more people to come to our games.” A big reason why sports teams may try to work out a way to play games It worked in football. The Gophers had the third-largest increase in without fans, if they have to, is because television revenue is such a big attendance in the nation from 2018 to 2019, going from an average of part of their budgets. 37,915 fans per game to 46,190. Even if teams can’t sell tickets, they can still make a lot of money But in other revenue sports, there was mostly bad news when it came to broadcasting games, and local partners such as Fox Sports North would attendance. probably see as big of a viewership bump as national stations such as ESPN or NBC. Gophers men’s basketball averaged 10,675 fans per game, down from 11,850 in 2018. And that number has been falling since a recent high of Last season the NFL TV deal gave each team $255 million, and it was 13,453 fans per game in 2010. reported that the league brought in $15 billion in revenue overall.

Vote: Would you attend a sporting event without a vaccine for Commissioner Roger Goodell has said he wants that number to be at coronavirus? $25 billion by 2027, and the biggest way he’s going to accomplish that is with a new TV deal. The current contract with “Monday Night Football” on Gophers men’s hockey averaged just 7,456 fans per game, a number ESPN runs through 2021 while all other deals run through 2022. that seems impossible when you consider that Mariucci holds 10,000 fans and the team averaged 11,552 fans per game during the 2013-2014 If the NFL plays games this year without fans and has huge TV numbers, season. Going way back, almost every men’s hockey game used to sell that could give the league a lot of leverage in negotiations. out, but whether it’s ticket prices or moving from the WCHA to the Big But there’s no doubt that leagues and teams would be much worse off Ten, attendance has fallen off big time. without having fans in the stadium. BTN revenue share Once leagues are given the OK to start having fans back in stadiums, The Big Ten Network continues to bring in huge dollars for the Gophers, they are going to have to work harder than ever to sell tickets. but if fans don’t come to games, it’s a huge blow not just financially but in Star Tribune LOADED: 04.18.2020 terms of the enthusiasm around the program.

Anyone who was at the Gophers football win over Penn State last year will tell you that fans can carry teams in huge moments.

When University of Minnesota sports shut down in March, President Joan Gabel was asked about the athletic department relying on the Big Ten Network for a big chunk of funding and how that could change over time.

“It is something that we talk about, the Big Ten Network leadership and the relationship of the Big Ten to it’s network is excellent and thoughtful, strategic, looking around corners,” Gabel said. “What you’re describing is something that everyone in every conference, certainly the ones that distribute over television the way we do.

“People are clever, they’re still watching but it’s just a matter of making sure you capture that interest in a way that makes sense for everybody involved.”

Pro teams, too

Maybe the biggest attendance success story last season was the Twins, who went from 1.9 million fans in 2018 to 2.3 million in 2019. 1183041 MontrealCanadiens players also suffered major injuries over that period, the short answer is no.

The Canadiens eventually learned to live without Markov; Carey Price The way Andrei Markov retired was unjust, here’s how the Canadiens became Carey Price, P.K. Subban and blossomed into can fix it elite players.

But here’s the nub of my argument: Andrei Markov stands second on the Canadiens’ all-time points table among defencemen, tied with very- By Sean Gordon Apr 17, 2020 much-a-Hall-of-Famer Guy Lapointe (who did it in fewer games, but alongside two of the best blue liners in history in Larry Robinson and

Serge Savard.) If Markov had been able to play his career average of 71 The sad fact is aging athletes don’t always enjoy the luxury of choosing games per season between 2009-10 and 2012-13, he’d have their moment to exit the stage; a few are able to engineer a triumphant leapfrogged Lapointe and flirted with 700 points, or top-25 all-time among departure, most just shuffle off into the wings as the footlights come up. defencemen. That’s territory, although his resume includes a Hart trophy. So it is for Andrei Markov, who deserved better. It all feels wrong, somehow. The Canadiens have the means for redress. It’s not Markov’s fault he played in an era that featured historically dominant defencemen like Nick Lidstrom, Zdeno Chara, Pronger, Hear me out on this: the words ‘Andrei’ and ‘Markov’ need to be added, Niedermayer (and later ), who basically passed the Norris preferably together and in that order, to the Ring of Honour at the Bell Trophy among one another. Or that he joined the club at its lowest ebb. Centre, and his number should be retired. Take all that on board. Consider not just what he actually accomplished, OK, I can already sense all the squawking and arm-waving. But he which definitely matters when it comes to weighing candidacies for doesn’t even have a Stanley Cup ring! That’s reserved for Hall of bodies like the Hall of Fame, but what he showed he was capable of. Famers, not Hall of Actually Quite Gooders. This is a caricature, of Remember what he did in before and in the years after he was hit by: a course, your spelling and usage are nowhere near that awful because we knee injury in April of 2009; a sliced ankle tendon on opening night in have the best readers (by the way, thanks for subscribing!). October of that year that sidelined him for three months; reconstructive knee surgery in May of 2010, and surgery to reconstruct the It’s true that Markov’s top-line numbers seem to offer a thin case for the reconstruction in December of 2010. Then, he had an arthroscopic Hall: 119 goals, 572 points in 990 games (or 0.58 points per game), two procedure in December of 2011 that kept him out until March. All-Star appearances, no individual awards, no Stanley Cup. no Olympic gold. You know how teams announce a player has undergone a successful operation? Markov is the case that proves those statements are often Whatever. expressions of hope rather than reality. I’m going to pick up where The Athletic’s Arpon Basu left off in his In the five years prior to that run of horrific injury luck he averaged .71 excellent appreciation of Markov. points per game, likely a Hall of Fame stat had he been able to sustain it. It’s past time for the Canadiens, who have now gone a quarter of the This is the player he revealed himself to be in the ashes of the 2004-05 entire history of the club without winning a championship, to bust out of lockout and would probably have continued to be. their hidebound thinking on this stuff. It is emphatically not Markov’s fault When he did ultimately return to form, at age 34, he recorded a slightly that he showed up in perhaps the franchise’s darkest hour (the 2000-01 more modest .57 points per game over the final four seasons of his season) and that management never succeeded in assembling a better career (during which he was remarkably healthy). In other words, there is group to play with him. a before and an after in Markov’s career, and an unknowable middle. But Write the man’s name in big letters inside the arena, raise his jersey to even assuming he’d started a statistical decline in 2010-11, he would the rafters while the cheers rain down on his tearful family as the man have remained a top pairing staple throughout that time, with top-pair stares forward, impassively. stats.

And as for the idea he needs to get in line behind the Jacques Lemaires He was The General, you need those if you want to win battles. and Guy Carbonneaus of the world, OK, sure. They deserve their seat in Now look at how he stacks up in comparison to all the other defencemen the Pantheon! But the Canadiens have made a conscious decision in who played between 2000-01, the year Markov became an NHL regular, recent years to stop dwelling on past glories; for instance, there are far and 2016-17, his last season in the league. fewer photos of the good old days in the areas where team employees go about their daily business. How about going whole hog and honouring Points scored by NHL defencemen 2000-17 a player the current generation of fans was able to watch? 1 If hoisting the Cup and getting a Hall of Fame ring are going to continue being the baseline criteria, they may as well put the bunting in storage Nicklas Lidstrom* and reassign the people who plan ceremonies. It’s going to be a while 646 before they needed. 871 As for why Markov deserves such an honour, counting stats don’t come close to telling the full story of just how great he was; the Canadiens’ 2 precipitous slide into blue line ineptitude immediately after he left, evidently brokenhearted, for the KHL might, though. Sergei Gonchar

As do the numbers when he was laid up with serious ankle and knee 627 injuries. He might not have leapt out as the best player on the ice when 937 he was out there, but you sure noticed when he wasn’t. 3 I distinctly remember settling into my press box seat next to the great Mike Boone of The Gazette just as the club announced Markov would Dan Boyle miss the last couple of weeks of the 2008-09 season after hurting his knee in a late-season game against the Leafs. I was opining about the 594 playoffs, and Boone looked at me with a sour expression: “No Markov, no 1058 chance. Look at the numbers.” There were other factors at play that year too, but yeah. They had no chance. 4

Montreal’s record without Markov between 2005 and 2010, during which Zdeno Chara time he missed 61 games with injury (41 of them in the 2009 calendar year): 19-35-7, for a .426 point percentage. With him: 193-115-41, or a 584 .670 point percentage. And if anyone is wondering whether other leading 1201 5 17

Andrei Markov Mark Streit

572 434

990 784

6 18

Kimmo Timonen Mike Green

526 431

1007 721

7 19

Duncan Keith Brent Burns

511 429

913 702

8 20

Tomas Kaberle *

501 425

845 666

9 21

Brian Campbell Dustin Byfuglien

499 418

1070 681

10 22

Lubomir Visnovsky Marek Zidlicky

495 417

883 836

11 23

Shea Weber Keith Yandle

485 410

841 743

12 24

Brian Rafalski Bryan McCabe

483 407

758 741

13 25

Dion Phaneuf Brent Seabrook

462 406

902 923

14 That’s… good. Especially considering the games played column.

Erik Karlsson Each of the players ahead of him won the Stanley Cup. Here is a selection of teammates they played with: Chris Chelios, , 456 Ryan Getzlaf, Scott Niedermayer, Jaromir Jagr, , Evgeni 556 Malkin, , Patrice Bergeron, Joe Thornton, Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Dave Andreychuk. All those guys are in, or 15 headed to, the Hall of Fame.

Chris Pronger* Number of bona fide, in-their-prime Hall of Famers Markov played with: zero. Again, is he supposed to be penalized for that? 450 It’s always possible Price or Shea Weber will get there someday, but 659 they’ll probably need a Cup. Saku Koivu might have been on that 16 trajectory at one point, but for injuries. In fact, Markov is the Koivu of defencemen, without the added emotional punch of having vanquished Ryan Suter cancer. Although he overcame plenty. Also, while we’re on the subject: put Saku in the Ring of Honour, the team belongs to the people, not 442 tradition. 913 One key argument against Markov will be that he was rarely, if ever, the he loved to rub the doubters’ noses in it. Basically everyone who joined best player on his team. The defence calls Max Pacioretty to the stand: his pairing suddenly became a better player. That’s said of lots of guys, “he’s the best player I’ve laced them up with.” Your witness. but it is factually, verifiably true in Markov’s case.

Pacioretty played with Koivu, albeit briefly. He played with Alexei In a kinder, more just world, his longtime employers would be stumbling Kovalev. He played with Price, and Weber. over themselves to recognize his contribution. And his former partners would chip in and buy him a nice gift. A helicopter, maybe. One of the reasons Markov was so often overshadowed is it suited him just fine not to be the focal point; he would rather play than talk. At the On second thought, just give the man the honour he deserves. same time he is not, contra appearances, a humourless individual. Markov might not talk all that much or all that often publicly, but when he The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 does it’s often funny as hell.

There aren’t a lot of truly quiet stars in sports, and the fact Markov was one shouldn’t count as a strike against him. Players who are integral to a team ought to be recognized as such.

Markov was key. He is the breakout master who ran the Canadiens’ transition game from the blue line; he was one of the best players I’ve ever seen at distributing the puck on the power play and at holding pucks in at the blue line; he was far better defensively than he got credit for (he is top-10 in defensive point shares among players who began their careers in 2017 or later, per Hockey-Reference.com.

Oh, and he was a leader. Not a shouty one, although he could also do that, like the time in 2010 where he got up in Price’s grill after a home loss to St. Louis and allegedly said “if you’re not going to play with heart, we don’t need you, go home.”

As for the “not a winner” tag, well he does have a World Championship gold, and a Gagarin Cup. Hardly Henri Richard-esque, but it’s not nothing.

He is third all-time in points by Russian defencemen, behind Sergei Zubov (Hall of Fame) and Gonchar (Hall of Fame-adjacent), far ahead of Slava Fetisov, the dean of blue liners from the old country – although it’s not a fair comparison given Fetisov played most of his career in Russia. Markov is also the 19th-highest scoring Russian-born player, tout court. Markov became a citizen of Canada in 2010, which provides eloquent testimony in itself, and would rank 27th on the all-time scoring list for Canadian-born defencemen (just ahead of Weber). Look, he counts. His knees were made, or at least installed here.

Critics will suggest Markov doesn’t deserve to be among the Canadiens’ franchise greats because he scored so many of his points on the power play. It’s true he tallied the majority of his offensive output with Canadiens a man up (51.3 percent). That’s a higher proportion than Lapointe (40 percent), Larry Robinson (33 percent) and Doug Harvey (45 percent) the names nearest to him on the franchise list.

But more context is in order. When you look at Markov relative to his generation of offensive-minded defencemen, he actually scored less on the power play than they did. Lidstrom: 51.6 percent. Pronger: 53.5 percent. Gonchar: 52.6 percent.

And did any of those players come within a point of leading their team in scoring, as Markov did in 2008-09 before Alexei Kovalev beat him to the title in the last week?

Here’s another reason Markov should be worthy of recognition: the sheer number of defence partners he made better and substantially wealthier.

When Sheldon Souray graduated to Markov’s side in 2006-07, his walk year, he set the single-season league record for power-play goals by a ; he scored 19, Markov assisted on 10 of them. No other player contributed to more of his goals. That summer, Edmonton offered Souray $27 million spread over five years.

The Canadiens had the best power play in the NHL in 2006-07 (duh), and the following year it dropped precipitously to… first? Mark Streit set a new career high for points, 62, and then joined the Islanders as a free agent in the summer. His contract: five years, $20.5 million.

Go down the list. Mike Komisarek? Played with Markov, made an unlikely All-Star appearance and signed a free agent contract with the Leafs for five years, $21.5 million. The Canadiens offered more or less the same deal, if he’d stayed alongside Markov maybe he’d still be playing. P.K. Subban? Won the Norris playing alongside Markov, signed for $9 million per year. Alexei Emelin? He played 600:12 with Markov in 2013-14, and promptly signed for four years, $16.4 million.

Markov had a unique ability to create space and exploit passing lanes; he was one of the best passing defencemen ever to wear the Canadiens uniform. He willed himself to return from a series of devastating injuries; 1183042 MontrealCanadiens eliminate asymmetry, it’s to return the body to its normal state of asymmetry, Douglas said.

The other thing the data reveals is players generally benefit more from How the Canadiens are harnessing data to get injured players back on shorter, intense workouts at game pace; if you’re wondering why NHL ice practices seem to be getting shorter and shorter: science.

The basic lesson Allard has drawn from his accumulation of facts and figures is pretty simple. By Sean Gordon Apr 17, 2020 “It tells us we need to have an individualized training approach,” he said.

That, in turns, means careful cataloging of gym workouts and weekly In the late fall of 2016, player after player at Canadiens training camp baseline exercises (the Canadiens use a couple of different technical began revealing a strange new accoutrement when they stripped off their tools for that, including one called Force Plates) and live monitoring of shoulder pads: a spandex harness containing a biometric transmitter that the player’s performance during on-ice workouts. Allard can often be tracks things like energy output and acceleration. spotted near the benches at the Canadiens’ practice facility with his laptop. Information is power, in the NHL as it is everyplace else, and Montreal was one of several NHL teams to acquire the new technology around Like every team, the Canadiens have been susceptible to injury setbacks that time from Catapult, an Australian company that got its start in rugby – sports medicine isn’t a perfect science – but they, like basically every analytics (Buffalo and Philadelphia were the earliest adopters). The other NHL team, have a much more granular understanding now about company now provides various services to about two-thirds of NHL what’s happening in their players’ bodies than in the past. teams and also has a contract with the league itself to provide video technology. Some of it comes from the gadgets they wear under their shoulder pads at practice. And a lot has to do with efficient communication. Not coincidentally, the Canadiens were in the process of established a fully-fledged Department of Sports Science in the 2016-17 season; it was Douglas talked about the crucial importance of having everyone from formally unveiled the following autumn, and long-time strength coach coaches to therapists to equipment staff to the players themselves Pierre Allard was unveiled as its head. buying into what the data is telling them.

Sports science is a small outpost workforce-wise in the vast sprawl that is Allard said that’s not a problem with Claude Julien, his colleagues on the the Montreal hockey operations department, but you can imagine it as medical staff, or the players; the key has been removing emotion from the intersection through which all traffic will eventually pass. The club the discussion and focussing it on facts. That makes it harder to make doesn’t tend to advertise the type of work Allard’s group does, but there decisions based on impromptu interactions – a highly-competitive player are clues if you know where to look. runs across the coach and says, “I’m good to go.”

The former French national team player – that’s where he caught the “At the beginning, we noticed it was something we needed to be better performance training bug in the 1990s – is studying toward a PhD at the at,” Allard said. University of Montreal, and in January he and three members of his If someone has been injured and is able to resume physical activity, he’ll department published a paper in the Journal of Strength and start with light workouts in the gym, perhaps tossing a medicine ball. Conditioning Research titled “In-Season Session Training Load Relative Then, follows a program of progressively more demanding concentric to Match Load in Professional Hockey” based on a study of 50 players and eccentric exercising, after which a player is allowed to return to the with the Laval Rocket who participated in a total of 3,200 practices, ice. games and morning skates in the 2017-18 season. Allard said “this is the most important phase, for me” given it’s when It considered defencemen, wingers and centres separately (goalies players start to feel antsy. But Julien has a hard and fast rule: if a player weren’t studied because of the different physical demands on the isn’t up to sticking with an NHL pace, he’s not allowed to practice with the position) in each of the four days that preceded games. team. Players tend to take a more realistic view of whether that’s at hand Boil it down, and the paper’s conclusions are this: the weekly training when Allard is able to show them evidence. load (or physical strain) on players remains constant throughout the So what kinds of numbers is he showing his injured players? season, the overall load is basically the same across positions, defencemen play games at a lower rate of intensity (overall load per The data team will set out a series of weekly targets, based on a minute) than forwards, but typically practice closer to game intensity than worksheet it devised with input from researchers at the University of forwards. Montreal and McGill; the partnerships are mutually beneficial, grad students from both institutions serve as a kind of force multiplier for But how to take pieces of information like this and put them to use? Well, Allard’s small team. Allard provided some insight during a free webinar broadcast via the Catapult website on Thursday. The process takes a player’s baseline metrics into account and specifies a number of ‘events’ that must be completed at or above baseline levels. It was an interesting and illuminating chat about the number-crunching Things like stops, starts, hard accelerations, tight turns, on-ice load, that goes into maintaining the Canadiens and Rocket players’ physical sprint average distance (how long a player can maintain peak fitness, and the process for getting back on the ice if and when they get acceleration and speed), and maximum speed. A player works through injured – and pretty much everyone gets injured to some degree. the progressions, skating both forward and backwards. This will surprise no one, but the evidence supports that players weaken Players must demonstrate they can meet the targets set out in their as the game wears on, and getting a player ready to resume NHL action worksheets on consecutive days before they can move on to the next requires certain benchmarks to be met. And because there are few set, Allard said. breaks in the season, the training load is high and unrelenting. As a quick aside, the data reveals players expend the equivalent of 34 percent of There’s a separate table that involves other associated metrics, which their game-time effort in morning skates. In other words, if a player takes can be thought of as the “puck battle” table. part in every game-day skate it’s like playing 12 extra games. According to the research, the basic rule of thumb is centres can expect Been wondering why this or that veteran player is taking a therapy day? to either initiate or absorb contact 25 times per game, on average; for Look no further. defencemen it’s 28. Before a player can be cleared to return to the lineup, he has to show he’s ready to absorb that punishment. Each member of the Canadiens has a baseline for a variety of metrics relating to his stride, power output and the like; Allard’s fellow webinar Some players like to demonstrate their readiness emphatically. participant Adam Douglas, a Hockey Canada consultant who also works for Catapult, pointed out hockey players typically have asymmetrical The guy playing the role of tackling dummy there is Patrick Delisle- strides (i.e., one leg is stronger than the other) and it’s useful to be able Houde, a former QMJHL and McGill varsity player who succeeded Allard to quantify that in order to measure fitness to play. The objective isn’t to as strength and conditioning coach in 2017. It’s a hilarious sequence, which is probably why Allard included it in his web presentation (“Pat really took one for the team there,” he joked).

In Allard’s view, an NHL player is “a sprinter, just on ice”; sprinting is a highly technical endeavour, and the Canadiens’ approach involves everything from maintenance conditioning to diet.

And there are occasionally eureka moments along the way. Like finding out the effort ratio in game-day skates.

Here’s another: a healthy scratch’s traditional path back into the lineup is to put in tireless hours of extra work after practice. And it’s completely counter-productive, the data is unambiguous about this.

“We realized they have a tendency to work way too hard,” said Allard. Load is cumulative, and constant, remember.

The science shows the best strategy is to ramp effort up as games approach, which means building slowly. That’s hard to do given the packed NHL schedule.

So what’s the next frontier?

Allard didn’t deal with that question in his presentation. But again, there are clues. The NHL is set to debut its new player tracking league-wide – it was expected to be in place for the postseason – which stands to bring a flood of new information to people like Allard, even if it’s a complement to what they already have instead of bold innovation it should open up new possibilities.

Then there’s something Julien said last week about goaltender Carey Price.

“I think Carey can be an even better goaltender if he’s allowed to have some decent rest,” he said. “That’s not to say we didn’t do that this year, because we did. There’s a lot of practices that Carey didn’t participate in, so it’s like a day off. That, to me, is no different than a goaltender (missing) a game instead. We tried to manage it the best way possible.”

Those comments were made in the context of Montreal putting a premium on finding an upgrade at backup, but it’s also true the Canadiens started being more diligent about limiting his practice time after he suffered a lower-body ‘irritation’ in the 2018-19 season. It wasn’t a coincidence.

It seems inevitable hockey will soon be delving more deeply into the wonders of the term Kawhi Leonard made famous: Load management.

Allard has biometric equipment, servers full of data and a small, but mighty army of smart people to make sense of it all. And he’s not afraid to use them.

The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183043 MontrealCanadiens Blackhawks on March 14, 2017. He would have easily passed Lapointe on the all-time points list by then.

The Canadiens would have honoured the achievement. Markov would An ode to Andrei Markov, the most anonymous superstar in Canadiens have received his silver stick and his pre-game ceremony and his history deserved moment. It’s appropriate because of how much time Markov missed due to injury over his career, how much those injuries cost him in terms of career numbers and milestones, but it’s sad as well.

By Arpon Basu Apr 17, 2020 Instead, that moment came on this night, between whistles, as Michel Lacroix informed the Bell Centre crowd about the historical importance of

that assist to Lehkonen. And the crowd immediately let Markov know I wish we would have known. what he meant to them.

Had we known this would be the last great Andrei Markov moment at the But let’s take a closer look at that assist. Because it perfectly illustrated Bell Centre, we would have treated it differently. We would have given what made Markov great for so long in so many ways. the moment the respect it deserved. The respect he deserved for It looks like a pretty innocent goal, one Kari Lehtonen probably should everything he had done in a Canadiens uniform, for the consistent, have had. But so much of that goal is what Markov was all about. understated excellence. Here is where the play begins, with Markov digging the puck out and But it was impossible to know on March 28, 2017, that this would be it. clearing the zone along the boards. That the assist Markov earned on a goal by rookie Artturi Lehkonen at 13:02 of the third period against the Dallas Stars would be the final As Alex Galchenyuk attempts to corral the puck in the neutral zone, regular-season point of Markov’s distinguished NHL career, coming in Markov is skating to follow the play, head up, watching everything unfold. the 985th of his 990 career games, all of them spent playing with the CH on his chest. Galchenyuk is unable to get to that puck before it bounces into the Stars zone, where John Klingberg collects it, spins and blindly fires a pass up We didn’t know what a disaster negotiations with would the middle. Markov is not on the screen … later become, with Markov foregoing an agent to represent himself and feeling he deserved more than he was going to get. All we knew that … until Markov suddenly is on the screen, with the puck on his stick, night was that Markov had done something special, tying Guy Lapointe having stepped into the area of the ice he suspected Klingberg would for the second-most points by a Canadiens defenceman. It was a attempt to pass the puck. foregone conclusion that night that Markov would one day pass Lapointe Watching the play develop from the Canadiens’ blue line was Shea on the list. Weber, who had been Markov’s partner for only a dozen or so games at He never did. that point.

Markov went pointless over the final five games of the regular season, “Last night he stepped up in the middle and got that bouncing puck and got an assist in a six-game, first-round playoff loss to the New York he knew exactly where Lehkonen was,” Weber said the day after the Rangers, and then he was gone. game. “The puck was rolling a little bit, but it worked out because it ended up being a knuckle puck for him. He went right through the middle Three years later, Markov is retiring as a professional hockey player and and he just fucking – excuse my French – but used his instincts and upon hearing the news, that night is the first thing that came to mind. dished it out and it ended up in the net.” That assist came to mind. That final point and how it epitomized so much of what Markov was came to mind. But we’ll get to that in a bit. You should know that Weber never swears in interviews. Never. That’s why he apologized immediately. But he couldn’t help himself in this case. Markov’s first NHL season in 2000-01 was also my first season covering Markov’s instincts called for swearing. the Canadiens. There are many players I have loved covering. I loved covering Josh Gorges. Loved covering Mike Cammalleri. Loved covering Here is Markov entering the zone after the interception. Look at his head. P.K. Subban. Loved covering Lars Eller. Loved covering Max Pacioretty. Now here is Markov letting go of the pass to Lehkonen a split-second Loved covering Brendan Gallagher. There are others. later. Look at his head. It hasn’t moved, but the puck is en route to its I loved covering those players because they were a wealth of destination. information. They enjoyed talking to reporters and had stories to share, “To me, it’s his passing,” Jeff Petry said the next day when asked what or they didn’t mind explaining the little details of the game to an ignorant made Markov special. “Coming up the ice, looking towards the boards reporter who understood little of how they were able to execute plays at and then just turning his wrists over and making the pass to the middle. such high speed on the ice. Those explanations and those stories helped Everyone reads that he’s going to make the pass to the boards, they’re me as a reporter, and I appreciated that. kind of cheating that way and he just kind of changes his angle.” In Markov’s case, it never got that far. Not even close. I was never able In this case, he did the opposite. He looked like he was going to rush the to build any kind of relationship with him. Other reporters did, but I didn’t. puck and instead sent a pass to his right, seemingly blindly. Except I consider it one of the great failings of my career. Because if there is one Markov never did anything blindly. But what stood out to his teammates player’s hockey mind I could have learned from the most, it was wasn’t the no-look pass, it was the pace of it, a pace that allowed Markov’s, because few players had a hockey mind like his. Lehkonen to get a one-timer off, a pace that most players wouldn’t think But I loved covering Andrei Markov because covering him meant I got to to apply in that situation. watch him. Every game. Night after night, doing things only he could do, “He didn’t just fire it to him,” Weber said. making passes only he could make, finding seams and lanes only he could find. “You look at that pass, it’s slow, it’s in his wheelhouse,” Pacioretty said that night. “Everyone talks about hard, crisp passes. If that’s a hard pass, But to learn about Markov, you had to speak to his teammates and listen Lehky can’t shoot it. That’s just an example of Marky, how he puts it in to them marvel about him. Marvel about his skill, his dedication, his your wheelhouse so often and gives you a chance to make the next play legendary sessions in the gym, his subtle leadership. Markov would on it … so many people would just kind of rifle that over and Lehky would never share those things himself, so we were left trying to assemble a have to stop it and the goalie would get set. But the way he made that jigsaw puzzle of what he was actually like, following a trail of pass is an example of what I’m talking about.” breadcrumbs left by various teammates. Pacioretty said a lot about Markov that night. It was perfect because, This is why that final point was so fitting because it encapsulated again, we were learning things about Markov through one of his everything that made Markov’s time in a Canadiens sweater so glorious, teammates. Because he had done something historic, because he had and everything that made it somewhat tragic as well. received that ovation, Pacioretty had an excuse to talk about Markov. During the 2016-17 season, from Dec. 17 to Jan. 31, Markov missed 19 And he was elated. games with a groin injury. Had that injury not happened, he would have played his 1,000th NHL game on home ice against the Chicago “I’m going to talk to him and see if I can get a smile out of him tonight,” Pacioretty said. “I have … I like to think at least I have a little connection with Marky. He’s best friends with my brother in law (), you know the Russian connection with my wife and family. My wife has known him since she was a little kid in Moscow. I’m just so happy to see how his game evolved. I was here so many years with the adversity he has had to face, and I see him right now and I’m so thrilled to see him get the exposure and recognition that I feel he’s always deserved.

“I’ve said it before tonight, he’s the best player I’ve laced them up with.”

Then, Pacioretty said something I’ve never heard anyone say about a player before.

“Everybody on the team always has such great chemistry with Marky because he always makes the next play so much easier for you, even the spin he puts the on the puck when he passes to you, the area he puts it in,” Pacioretty said. “That stuff doesn’t really get recognized the higher up you watch the game. But when you’re at ice level and you’re out there with him, that stuff doesn’t go unnoticed. I know that’s why people respect his game so much.”

The spin he puts on the puck? I needed a further explanation.

“Let’s have a little physics class,” Pacioretty said. “When a lefty passes the puck, the puck spins counter-clockwise. So, when a lefty shoots the puck you keep the spin going counter-clockwise. If it’s a righty shooting the puck, (the shooter) has to reverse the spin of the puck and it’s harder for it to come off your blade. So, you guys can write that and say that you can say that you came up with it.

“Try and ask one guy in here and no one would think about that. But Marky would.”

Markov did so many other things that typified his game that night. I’ve always said I wished the skills competition had an event for defencemen where they had to hold the blue line on a clearing attempt. Markov would have won every year.

“He knows exactly when to step in at the offensive blue line,” Weber said. “Like last night there was a time they were coming up his side and he knew the D-man was passing there because he got there as soon as the puck got there and he whacked it back in. In most cases, as a D-man you’d gap up, try to have a good gap and then accept them (coming up ice). But his instincts were right.

“He does that all the time. It’s not like it’s just random.”

Markov is probably the player who was most appreciated by his teammates I’ve ever covered. Listening to them talk about how he shamed them in the gym, how much easier he made their jobs on the ice with his patience and vision, how much money he made for so many players who had the opportunity to cash in all the goals he created for them.

The appreciation came from the subtleties in his game. The extra half- second he would hold on to the puck before making a pass, allowing the receiving forward to create an extra half step of space he could exploit once the puck landed perfectly on his tape. The spin he would put on a pass. The extra offensive zone possessions he would create with his instincts at the point.

“When someone gets traded here the first thing they say is, ‘I can’t wait to go out there with Marky. Some of these passes I see him make, I can’t wait to be on the other end of those,’” Pacioretty said. “So I know around the league and in this locker room he’s always gotten that recognition.”

The time will come when the Canadiens will give him that same recognition. When Markov will be invited back to the Bell Centre to get a proper goodbye, a proper ovation, one indicative of just how special a player he was and one that can replace the moment we didn’t know was so significant back on March 28, 2017.

And once the Canadiens realize the standard for such things has changed as their own standards have slipped from planning Stanley Cup parades along the usual route to hoping they simply make the playoffs, they should raise his No. 79 to the rafters.

The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183044 Nashville Predators

Predators GM David Poile talks 'Tiger King,' NHL scenarios, salary cap, more

Paul Skrbina, Published 5:00 a.m. CT April 17, 2020

Everything old is new to David Poile.

The Predators' 70-year-old general manager has kept plenty busy with work while the NHL is on pause indefinitely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But when he's not signing players or on a conference call with his coaches or on the phone with the league, Poile has moonlighted as a television critic, catching "Designated Survivor," a thriller series on Netflix that debuted in 2016. He said last year he "discovered a show called 'Friends.' "

Oh, and he checked out the Netflix series "Tiger King."

"I kind of regret that I watched that," Poile said with a laugh Thursday during a video conference call with local media.

Poile said he's kept an eye on this season and a potential return and has been thinking ahead to next season, specifically about upcoming unrestricted free agents Craig Smith and Mikael Granlund.

He said he's spoken to both players' camps but will need to know the impact this season's hiatus will have on next season's salary cap before he can make any decisions or offers.

"(If we can finish the season), certain revenues would be brought back into the pot and shared between the NHL and the players," Poile said. "If we don't have that there's going to be a deficit of money that was budgeted for, and all of this is going to affect the cap."

Knowing that number, Poile said, will be "paramount for every club."

"It would be really hard to go for certain players, at this time, not knowing what the cap is going to be," he said.

He said commissioner has been "very transparent" about different scenarios under which play could resume, the foremost being the safety and health of everyone. Playing in empty arenas and/or remote locations both are possibilities and Poile echoed what and Matt Duchene have said about players needing about three weeks of "camp" before returning to game play.

Poile said general managers across the league have been asking "on a daily basis and nobody knows that answer, so we're just going to have to react to what is presented in front of us."

Poile said most Predators players have stayed in Nashville during the self-quarantine, but added Juuse Saros, , Dante Fabbro, Korbinian Holzer, Calle Jarnkrok Mattias Ekholm and Colin Blackwell have returned home.

The pause in the season has allowed Poile and his staff to spend more time talking with coaches and scouts, getting to know them. That could be a good thing moving forward, he said, because during the season there's not usually a lot of time for that.

"We've had lots of time to talk about a lot of things," Poile said.

Poile said he and his wife Elizabeth also have had more time than usual to expand their tradition of spending evenings together, often taking walks like they do during the offseason.

Poile said the walks are necessary, too, because of the temptations presented within the walls of their home.

"Every time I've walked by the refrigerator it yells out, 'What do you want now?' " Poile said. "We're going to try to stay out of the kitchen a little bit."

Tennessean LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183045 New Jersey Devils Star Ledger LOADED: 04.18.2020

What Devils are thinking while deciding what to do with Cory Schneider

Updated Apr 17, 2020; Posted Apr 17, 2020

By Randy Miller

The Devils have franchise-altering decisions to make whenever this coronavirus-paused hockey season switches to offseason mode.

Ownership needs to decide if interim GM Tom Fitzgerald is worthy of being Ray Shero’s permanent successor. If not, a new GM has to be hired, and then whether it’s status quo or someone new, a decision has to be made on interim head coach Alain Nasreddine.

Also high on the Devils’ offseason priority list is figuring out what they want to do with goaltender Cory Schneider, who finally was earning some his big-money contract again just before the NHL closed shop on March 12.

“What Cory’s future? That’s on pause as well,” Fitzgerald said Thursday in a media conference call. "We can throw around all kinds of ideas. We all know what some of these options are.”

One is buying out Schneider, who has two seasons and $12 million to go on a seven-year, $42-million pact that isn’t far off from being hockey answer to the $153-million deal the Yankees gave to super-bust Jacoby Ellsbury a few years back.

If the Devils go the buyout route, which surely will be strongly considered, they’ll pay Schneider $8 million to go away and not come back, then deal with a $2 million cap hit for the next four seasons.

Another possibility is trading Schneider, which perhaps has a small shot of happening if the Devils agree to retain half of his remaining contract, which is the most allowed. If the Devils can pull that off, they’d probably get nothing better than a conditional late-round draft pick in return and be stuck with a $3 million cap hit for two seasons.

A third option is counting on Schneider next season to be the No. 2 goalie behind MacKenzie Blackwood, a 23-year-old who was a bright light in the last-place Devils’ disappointing season.

Schneider, 34, was so awful early on that he ended up playing 14 games for Binghamton during two AHL stints, but his second return to the NHL led into one of the best four-game stretches he’s had during his seven seasons with the Devils. From Feb. 25 until the shutdown, he was 3-0-1 with a 1.50 goals-against average, a .952 save percentage, a in Anaheim and a home win over the reigning Stanley Cup champion Blues.

But his overall numbers are awful – 3-6-2 record, 3.53 GAA, .887 save percentage in 13 games – and they also were bad in 2018-19 when he was 6-13-4 with a 3.06 and .903 in 26 games.

“I don’t think it’s a secret there were some struggles both years at the beginning of the season, this year in particular,” Fitzgerald said. “This season we felt what was best for him was to go find his game in the American Hockey League and basically rehab and get it back to where it needs to be.

“He got off with a tough start down there, but really turned it around and found his confidence. And we felt that he was back on the right track to respectability in the league.”

Was this stretch proof that Schneider, who was an All-Star in 2016, has fixed his issues and at least can be a decent backup going forward? That’s a dilemma that Fitzgerald probably has thought a lot about in the last month.

“Cory has left a good impression, that's for sure,” Fitzgerald said.

So has Blackwood, who was 22-14-8 with a 2.77 GAA and .915 save percentage this season as an NHL sophomore.

“I think McKenzie is up and coming,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s obviously showed that he's a No. 1 goalie. Now we’re trying to help him with a tandem. Whether it's Cory or somebody else, I don't have an answer for that right now.” 1183046 New Jersey Devils So, how does that affect future planning for Fitzgerald? It doesn’t. What affects future planning is not knowing when and if there will be a return to play.

NJ Devils' Tom Fitzgerald talks NHL Draft prep, coaching decisions and “I don't even know if you can even call it a summer,” Fitzgerald said. “The more hope is that the is back playing, and how does that impact our day-to-day work? We're going to be prepared, whatever those critical dates are. We all know what the critical dates are. How far back they push those critical dates, whether it's (qualifying offers) for your Abbey Mastracco, Published 4:18 p.m. ET April 17, 2020 RFAs, free agency, arbitration, things like that is all the unknown right now.

Tom Fitzgerald put his stamp on the New Jersey Devils in late February, But we do know when it does come, it'll be very, very short windows.” bringing in a solid haul at the trade deadline. He had a clear picture of Evaluating the goalies what to do next if given the chance, to run the Devils past the season. Goaltending has been the Devils’ biggest downfall in recent years, And then came March 12 when the NHL paused the 2019-20 season. despite the success of Mackenzie Blackwood. The rookie played 43 Nothing has been the same since. It’s a strange time for all of us, games this season and the team was pulling back on his usage late in especially for someone in an interim position. But back in February the season. They will not play him in 70 games moving forward and Fitzgerald said he was operating as a general manager, interim or not, strongly believe a tandem is the best way to win in the NHL, but can they with the goal of building toward success now and in the future. That goal trust that Cory Schneider’s late-season swoon will result in consistent doesn’t change during a pandemic. play next year? It didn’t last year so should Fitzgerald remain on as the “My job is to leave the hockey ops department until told otherwise,” he GM he’ll have to figure that out. said Thursday on a conference call with reporters. “And that's all I'm “One thing I promised them was, if he was to find his game and get it trying to do right now is continue to do the job and not think of the what- going in the right direction, that I would find a place for him at the NHL ifs, because I just think that can’t muddy the waters and distract an level to continue the rehab process and try to get his game back to where individual.” not only he wanted to be, but where we needed it to be,” Fitgerald said. Fitzgerald touched on a number of subjects ranging from the COVID-19 “And I think we were on that right path up to the point of the shutdown. I pandemic to the status of interim coach Alain Nasreddine. Here are the think his game seemed very confident every time he took the net. I don't biggest hockey operations takeaways from his Zoom call. think the players in front of them played differently than they have in the past. I think they just played knowing that Cory was going to make that The top scouting events on the amateur draft calendar have been first stop.” canceled and the draft combine and the draft itself have been postponed. We still don’t even know when the draft lottery will be held. The lottery The team saw some bad patterns when Blackwood was being overused can’t even occur until the league decides on some sort of resolution to and some good ones when he was able to get more practice time in with the 2019-20 season. goalie coach Roland Melanson. Regardless of whether or not Schneider is his tandem partner next year, the Devils will be using a tandem But preparation for the 2020 NHL Draft has begun. NHL’s Central system. Scouting Bureau released the North American and European rankings last week and teams are using the information and video they have from “We're all excited about Mackenzie,” Fitzgerald said. “He said it himself, prospects’ junior seasons and past international tournaments to make do the one thing he enjoyed was when his games were cut back and his their due diligence. practice time went up. That's where he feels, and he should feel, is where he got better.” Hockey executives are using the same tools we use to keep in touch with friends and family members while stuck inside: Zoom, FaceTime and Devils' position-by-position: Mackenzie Blackwood highlighted the 2019- other video conferencing services. NHL GMs: They’re just like us. 20 season

Teams are allowed to have contact with draft-eligible players without Returning to action restriction and the Devils intend to start interviews next week. Scott Jun 12, 2019; Boston, MA, USA; St. Louis Blues center Ryan O'Reilly Harris, the director of amateur scouting, is taking the lead and setting up (90) kisses the Stanley Cup after defeating the Boston Bruins in game interviews and determining who will be sitting in on the interviews. seven of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden. “We’re keeping our guys sharp, looking at looking at looking at lists of When Fitzgerald sent the Florida Panthers to the 1996 Stanley Cup Final players that may need more viewings,” Fitzgerald said. “I've been diving with a big slapper in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final, he learned deep into players as well. We'll have a hand in the amateur draft players a lesson about playoff hockey: It’s tough to play and even tougher to that I have seen live, obviously, and the pleasure of watching players’ advance. shifts is an incredible advantage that we're having right now. Every team has that but at least for us, we can stay sharp, and maybe get, you know, This unprecedented shutdown has led many to wonder if a different some different opinions on players that maybe the eyeball test, I guess format for the Stanley Cup Playoffs would be advantageous. An you see a little bit differently (on video).” abbreviated postseason wouldn’t affect the start of the 2020-21 season and it would be an opportunity to try out any new scenarios that may not Alain Nasreddine have otherwise been considered. Devils’ defenseman P.K. Subban said Alain Nasreddine, interim head coach of the New Jersey Devils, works he would be in favor of a full 31-team playoff. the game against the Colorado Avalanche at Prudential Center on Jan. 4, Fitzgerald isn’t a fan. Ultimately, it’s about a safe return to hockey and 2020 in Newark, New Jersey. the virus will determine that, not the league. But he doesn’t want the The Devils’ head coach also working under and interim basis. Alain tradition of the Cup sacrificed by some gimmicky tournament. Nasreddine took over after was dismissed in December and “I wouldn't want it to look like a small little tournament,” he said. “Winning Fitzgerald took over for Ray Shero about a month later. Hynes is now the the Stanley Cup is hard. It’s four rounds of seven games and you don’t coach of the Nashville Predators and Shero is still a free agent executive, want to take the integrity out of what it means to win the Cup. The sweat but the statuses of Nasreddine and Fitzgerald remain very much status and the tears, the aches, the injuries — that’s what it takes. So I quo. Sure, owners could Josh Harris and David Blitzer could fire both of personally think that if there is enough time, the Stanley Cup is played them right now but the optics would be poor. with four rounds of seven games. And that’s just how I feel.” There are several big-name coaches on the market but there will be Bergen Record LOADED: 04.18.2020 more coaches after the season finally concludes and there will be GMs on the market as well. Any GM is going to want to hire his own coach and a coach alone will not turn the Devils into contenders overnight. 1183047 New Jersey Devils First rankings of greatest New York-New Jersey hockey teams 2. 1999-2000 Devils

The regular season was blah, and in fact cost Robbie Ftorek his job Final rankings of greatest New York-New Jersey hockey teams behind the bench to Larry Robinson with eight games to go.

But the Devils transformed into a machine in the playoffs, paced by the By Larry BrooksApril 18, 2020 | 5:20am Patrik Elias-Jason Arnott-Petr Sykora “A Line,” a six-deep defense with Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermayer at the top and Vlad Malakhov on the third pair, depth players in Claude Lemieux, Alex Mogilny, Bobby Holik, and Scott Gomez, and Brodeur at the height of his We’re being treated to classic rewinds on MSG, with the network powers. televising noteworthy games from the 1980s and 1990s as well as many of the best and brightest from this century. 1. The Dynasty Islanders: 1979-80 through 1982-83

The trip down memory lane provokes memories and the opportunity to The greatest hockey team in NHL history, four straight Cups and a pro create rankings. In this case, The Post is ranking the greatest teams in sports record 19 consecutive playoff series victories stretching to 1984. New York/New Jersey hockey history. We’re not adding up WAR or GAR Talented, tough and deep. The 1981-82 edition is probably the best of or GAA numbers to create the list. Rather, it is based on eyeballs and the group, 54-16-10, bolstered by the additions of and experience. We’ve seen every one of these teams other than one. Tomas Jonsson, but each one of these four teams stands on its own. The aggregate playoff record through the Cup years: 60-18. In some cases, we combined seasons. The Dynasty Islanders are rated the GM, the coach, All-Stars, Hall-of-Famers, three of the best as an entry, as are the Rangers of 1970-71 and 1971-72, and the of all time in , and . This was the Rangers of 20013-14 and 2014-15. New Jersey’s three Stanley Cup perfect professional sports team. champions, however, are rated as distinct entities. New York Post LOADED: 04.18.2020 As follows, Nos. 7-1 of the all-time Baker’s Dozen:

7. 2002-03 Devils

The third and last Stanley Cup champion from New Jersey employed a stifling trap under Pat Burns, surrendering the fewest goals in the league while scoring only the 14th most. Jamie Langenbrunner and Jeff Friesen made their marks, Martin Brodeur was still at the top of his game at age 30, and the Devils upset Ottawa in seven in the Eastern Conference finals before defeating in another seven games.

6. 2013-14/2014-15 Rangers

The second edition became a powerhouse through the second half of the season, posting an 18-4-3 record while Henrik Lundqvist was sidelined with the vascular injury he sustained when struck in the throat by a shot. The team won the Presidents’ Trophy and overcame a 3-1 second-round deficit to defeat the Capitals in seven games before suffering an upset seven-game loss to the Lightning when injuries hobbled the back end and the team was shut out at home in both Game 5 and 7. The first edition, of course, made its magical run to the finals on the wings of the angel that touched the Blueshirts when Martin St. Louis’ mother, France, passed away during the second round.

5. 1994-95 Devils

The hangover that followed the previous season’s Game 7 Matteau loss dragged deep into the lockout-truncated season in which the Devils went only 22-18-8. But bolstered by (’s Magnificent Acquisition) and a deep lineup that included Stephane Richer, Claude Lemieux, Bobby Carpenter, Tom Chorske, John MacLean, Bruce Driver, Billy Guerin, the Bobby Holik-Randy McKay-Mike Peluso Crash Line and the 23-year-old Brodeur, New Jersey rampaged through the playoffs, outscoring Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Detroit by an aggregate 67-34.

4. 1970-71/1971-72 Rangers

The best teams in NHL history that failed to win the Cup, 49-18-11 followed by 48-17-13. Emile, Eddie, the GAG Line, Park, the Bulldog Line, Stemmer in triple overtime Game 6 against Chicago, Vic flinging Bernie Parent’s mask into the stands, Gene Carr scoring to salt away the semifinal sweep of the Blackhawks … and scoring from the trigger position in 1971 and doing that spinorama at the blue line in 1972.

3. 1993-94 Rangers

Climbed the beanstalk, slayed the dragon, did the impossible, won the franchise’s only Stanley Cup over the past 80 years following a 52-24-8 season. And did it in dramatic, storybook style, taking Mark Messier’s “We’ll Win Tonight” Game 6 over the Devils at the Meadowlands, winning the double-overtime Matteau Game 7 over the Devils, going seven to defeat the Canucks, all with the backdrop of the - machinations.

SEE ALSO 1183048 New Jersey Devils for the player. For the teams, it may be a little bit tougher to get a read on guys because you’re not there face to face.”

NHL teams are not allowed to ask for medical examinations or physical How the Devils are adjusting to a unique, uncertain 2020 NHL draft fitness testing. As Roy pointed out, every top prospect who shows up in process Buffalo for the combine is in shape.

Few guys ever hurt themselves with their combine workout performance. Plenty of great players have famously done poorly in one part of the By Corey Masisak Apr 17, 2020 combine testing or another. The medical component is different, though.

“The teams will probably look more deeply into players and their medical history, because they can’t see them at the testing,” Roy said. “I could It should have been an exciting day Thursday for 2020 NHL draft definitely see as we move closer to the draft, whether that’s gonna be in preparations. June or later, and if people could travel, I could see GMs or teams The IIHF Under-18 world championships, one of the most important lobbying to the league to be able to fly some of those guys in to tournaments on the scouting calendar, was scheduled to start April 16 in physically see them, that kind of stuff. That is yet to be discussed, but I Plymouth and Ann Arbor, Mich. The marquee matchup on opening day would think if a team has a top-five pick and is thinking of taking one of was the United States and Russia at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth. five guys that the league would maybe let them meet with those guys face-to-face at some point.” The Devils would have had several scouts at the game. Others might have been spread out across Canada to watch playoff games in the three Other leagues have dealt with similar new wrinkles with their 2020 draft major junior leagues. process. The NFL held its combine before the shutdown, but most individual players were unable to have their own “pro days” where they None of that happened Thursday. Interim general manager Tom work out at their college. Those are often more important than what Fitzgerald answered questions from media members through a Zoom happens in . The NBA shut down in-person workouts and teleconference, while the Devils continued to scout potential 2020 draft teams were not allowed to request video of workouts after March 11. prospects by watching video from their homes. Major League Baseball draft prospects lost most if not all of the high school/college season. The global pandemic has shut down the sports world, and fundamentally changed the 2020 draft process for everyone involved. “That’s an interesting factor because the players are the players. There is no more showcasing for them,” Roy said. “So for us as agents, I know “Video scouting has been a top priority for both amateur and pro I’ve gone an extra step and we’ve done a lot of video and advanced stats (scouts),” Fitzgerald said. “Trying to come up with potential draft orders, work that we’re spoon-feeding to teams on a week-to-week basis, not knowing when the draft is going to be, not knowing what’s gonna featuring different guys at different times, just to help promote our guys happen with the lottery. But keeping our guys sharp, and looking at lists and keep them fresh in teams’ minds. Because that’s the issue — if the of players that may need more viewings. I’ve been diving deep into draft gets moved to October, that’s a long time away from the last time players as well. Having the luxury of watching players’ shifts is an you’ve seen these players. So it makes our job as an agent even more incredible advantage right now. Maybe we’ll get some different opinions important when it comes to the draft. First promoting guys and really on players that maybe the eyeball test … I guess you see it a little bit pushing what their assets are and why they should be drafted in a certain different.” round.” The 2020 NHL draft is on hold, like everything else for the league The NFL is going to do its draft remotely next week, and the NHL and because of the COVID-19 outbreak. The lottery, which would have been NBA will be watching and taking notes in case they need to do the same the previous Thursday, April 9, the scouting combine in Buffalo during the at a future date. When the NHL draft does happen, it could be one of the first week of June and the draft, which would have been June 26-27 in most important in franchise history for the Devils. Montreal, are all postponed indefinitely. New Jersey could have three first-round picks for the first time since the Two key components of the combine are the physical testing and the franchise moved here in 1982. interviews. Teams would typically meet with dozens of the draft’s top prospects in Buffalo. There might not be a combine this year, so teams “Especially in the first round, and even into in the second round, I’m have started the interview process now. reading some reports … a lot of good players,” Fitzgerald said. “There’s a lot of quality out there. A lot of good forwards, high skill, high hockey “A lot of Zoom interviews, a lot of Skype interviews,” agent Alain Roy, sense. who represents Nico Hischier and several Devils prospects, said. “The Devils have been aggressive. I have a few guys they reached out on “It’s a really deep draft and we feel if we get these three first-round picks already and everybody seems to be doing the same thing — they’re this year, we’ll have three pillars that will help help carry this organization, going in draft order, meaning like the top guys are going to interview first to go along with the other pillars that we all know we have in place right and kind of work your way down.” now.”

An NHL spokesman said there are no restrictions on when teams can There is still plenty of uncertainty. Not only is the draft order unknown, talk to draft prospects. Fitzgerald said the Devils will begin conducting the two of the three potential first-round picks have conditions attached to interviews next week. Scott Harris, the director of amateur scouting them. The Devils will receive a 2020 first-round pick from the Coyotes if it operations, is coordinating the project, which includes setting up the is not one of the top-three selections, and they will receive one from the interviews through the players’ agents and which members of the Canucks if Vancouver makes the playoffs. Both of those picks would organization will take part in the call. slide to 2021 if those conditions are not met.

During a typical year, scouts will have contact with potential draft While Fitzgerald and the Devils prepare for the draft with plenty of prospects throughout the year but the combine is when the team meets unknowns that are out of their control, there is also the uncertainty of his with the players as a group. Roy said in the past teams have job status. He remains the interim GM, having replaced Ray Shero after administered a psychological evaluation, typically in writing either online he was fired in January. Alain Nasreddine remains the interim coach, or on paper, before the combine but now more teams have someone like after he replaced a dismissed John Hynes in December. the Devils’ director of performance and player development, Dr. Aimee Kimball, do it with an interview. “My job is to lead the hockey ops department until told otherwise,” said Fitzgerald, who noted he has a weekly call with the managing partners Players prepare for the combine interviews, and teams often try to ask for updates and planning purposes. “That’s all I’m trying to do right now is questions that they aren’t prepared for to see how they react. This continue to do the job, not think of the what ifs, because I just think that process is likely to be similar, just done in a video conference call instead can muddy the waters and distract an individual. I’m working like I’m the of a hotel room. general manager of the team. Naz is working like, well, he is the head coach of the team so we don’t let anything else interrupt or confuse us of “If anything, for the player maybe it’s a little less intimidating because what our responsibilities are at the moment.” you’re not sitting in a room with sometimes up to 15 people on the other side of the table staring at you,” Roy said. “So that’s probably a positive The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183049 New York Islanders And that was the year the Flyers seemed to be unbeatable. The focus was not very much on us.”

Goring was considered the final piece toward building a more balanced Islanders' 1980 Stanley Cup run was fueled by fear of breakup and four-line team that could play a scrappier and tighter defensive game. But lessons learned Torrey had made other key acquisitions.

Defenseman , traded away in 1977-78, was re-signed. Defenseman Dave Langevin was acquired in the offseason and gritty By Andrew Gross defenseman Gord Lane came via a December trade with the Capitals. joined the Islanders from Team USA immediately after the Updated April 18, 2020 2:55 AM Olympic victory in late February.

“The 1980 team succeeded whereas the ’78 and ’79 team failed because An inconsistent regular season, coupled with crushing back-to-back of additions made by Torrey,” said hockey historian , a playoff eliminations, had lowered outside expectations, even among the longtime television analyst on Islanders broadcasts. “The Butch Goring rabid fan base. Yet as the NHL postseason began in April 1980, the add for Billy Harris and Dave Lewis was not the only move that mattered. stakes were quite high for the Islanders to finally prove they could win. Instead of sending Ken Morrow to the AHL after the Olympic gold, Torrey brought him right up and Morrow starred alongside Denis Potvin. The It’s the 40th anniversary of the organization’s first of four straight Stanley other overlooked add was defenseman Gord Lane. No Islanders regular Cups. But earlier this month, Pat Calabria, who covered that dynasty for was more intimidating than Lane. ‘Opponents didn’t want to go near Newsday, recalled another reporter telling him during the first-round Gordie,’ Morrow told me the other day.” series against the Los Angeles Kings in 1980, “If this team loses, you better be ready to write this team’s obituary.” After Resch shared the net with Billy Smith through previous playoff runs, Arbour finally chose a No. 1 goalie. In 1980, Smith played in 20 of the 21 Those Islanders were a close-knit group. Some players were original postseason games, compiling a 15-4 mark with a 2.70 goals-against members of the organization from its birth in 1972 and others had been average and a .903 save percentage. with the team from the early seasons. Future Hall of Famers Denis Potvin and Bryan Trottier had adjoining lockers in the team’s dressing room for His combative personality meshed perfectly with the more physical style 13 seasons. the Islanders knew they had to play. A fight-filled, five-game quarterfinal win over the Bruins put to rest the notion that the Islanders were a soft But the anticipation created by three straight berths in the NHL semifinals team. from 1975-77 had given way to a reputation that the Islanders weren’t clutch or physical enough in the postseason. “ ‘We should have won already and we haven’t, so what do we need to do to get this thing done?’ ” Gillies said of the team’s thinking. “We all They were beaten and beaten up by the Maple Leafs in a seven-game applied ourselves a little more, whether it was on the physical side, quarterfinal series in 1978 after winning their first division title. The scoring-wise, thinking a little more, playing better team defense. Getting following year, after the Islanders finished with the most points in the Butchie at the trade deadline made that team a lot more dangerous and a league, the Rangers upset them in a six-game semifinal series. lot better defensively.”

General manager Bill Torrey had constructed a roster that he and coach The Islanders outscored their four playoff opponents 88-66 and won six Al Arbour considered good enough to lift the Cup. Another playoff failure, of their seven playoff overtime games, including, of course, the deciding and some thought Torrey might consider significant changes. Game 6 against the Flyers.

That provided motivation. Newsday LOADED: LOADED: 04.18.2020 “Yeah, I would say so,” Hall of Famer , who relinquished his captaincy to Potvin just before the start of the 1979-80 season, told Newsday this month. “There was always a little bit in the back of our minds. I can’t tell you what Bill Torrey was thinking if we didn’t win the Cup in ’80. Would he have dismantled the whole team? I doubt it. I’m pretty sure he would have had some pretty good sit-downs with some guys and say, ‘Do you want to win or not?’ ”

Said goalie Glenn "Chico'' Resch: “I just remember one sign at the [Nassau] Coliseum, ‘Trade Arbour, not our players.’ It was building up where everybody was sick and tired of losing and underachieving.”

The Islanders finished with 116 points in 1978-79 but started 1979-80 by winning only six of their first 21 games. They were 31-28-9 — the last category being ties — and were in the midst of a 4-8-1 slide when Torrey acquired second-line center Butch Goring from the Kings on March 10, 1980.

They no longer were considered a Cup favorite. The Montreal Canadiens had won four straight Cups, the Philadelphia Flyers set an NHL record with a 35-game unbeaten streak (25-0-10) during the regular season and the Big Bad Bruins still had the same core that reached the Cup Final in 1978.

But the Islanders finished the season on an 8-0-4 run and won 10 of their first 12 playoff games.

“We had had tremendous regular seasons and what did we have to show for it when it was all done?” Gillies said. “I don’t want to say we floated through the regular season. We finished fifth overall, which wasn’t horrible. But we took the lessons we had learned in ’78 when we lost to Toronto and ’79 when we lost to the Rangers and started to apply ourselves a little more.”

It culminated in a six-game win over the Flyers in the Cup Final.

“There were very few expectations going into those playoffs,” Potvin said. “We didn’t end up first overall in the league like we had the year before. 1183050 New York Islanders “So after the Nystrom goal, it was fun for me to go and do the interviews, but on the other hand, I wish I had had the chance to call the goal,” he said.

Tim Ryan, Steve Albert called Isles games in first Stanley Cup season “They could have said, ‘Sorry, Tim, I know you work for us now, but you don’t do hockey.’ They could have said, ‘You’re not on.’ But they did say, ‘This is kind of an unusual situation, and so here is our idea.’ I was disappointed. I would have preferred to do the whole game, but I thought By Neil Best it was a decent compromise.” Updated April 18, 2020 2:29 AM Albert, who had called games for the Nets’ two ABA championship teams in the mid-1970s, was happy to hop on the Islanders' train.

Ask 100 Islanders fans to name the team’s television play-by-play He recalled that the 1979-80 regular season was nothing special — the announcer during the early 1980s glory days and 98 likely will say Jiggs Islanders’ 91 points were their fewest in a season from 1975-76 to 1983- McDonald. (At least among those old enough to remember the early 84 — but that things began to click after the trade for Butch Goring from 1980s.) the Kings.

But while that mostly is true, it is not the whole story. When the Islanders “I recall Al Arbour entering the season put more emphasis on the playoffs won their first Stanley Cup in 1979-80, McDonald was calling Atlanta than the regular season,” Albert said. “That turned out to be a pretty good Flames games. He was in the Islanders’ division but not in their booth. strategy.”

That distinction goes to Tim Ryan, who called road games on WOR Ryan recalled the blunt efficiency with which Torrey and Arbour shaped (Channel 9), and Steve Albert, who worked home games on the team. SportsChannel New York. Recently retired former Islanders captain Ed “If they made a trade of someone who turned out to not fit in as a person, Westfall was their lead analyst. as a personality, he’d be gone,” Ryan said. “Michel Bergeron [whom the While Ryan and Albert, a member of the famed Albert family of Islanders acquired from the Red Wings in 1977-78] was one of those announcers, had long and distinguished careers, that era — and that guys. season in particular — still resonates. “Terrifically talented guy. Torrey said, ‘We made a terrible mistake with “It was really special,” Ryan said from his home in Victoria, British him. We wasted a trade.’ He was done. He didn’t fit. They just had an Columbia. “I was just a broadcaster of the road games, so I wasn’t ethic the players bought into . . . They were all great guys. There wasn’t hanging around them every day; I had another job [at CBS]. one jerk.”

“I was seeing them from afar with a chance to really get to know them at The bonds have endured for Ryan. His son Kevin lives in Boise, Idaho, the same time. And it was a thrill for me. I never saw a connection like where he is a passionate fan and watches every game. [coach] Al Arbour and [general manager] Bill Torrey.” Ryan has two Cup rings that Torrey insisted on giving him, even though Albert called more games than Ryan did and got to know the team more Ryan does not believe such honors should go to announcers. intimately because he was staying in an apartment complex in which “Torrey had my name engraved on rings each time, even though he several players lived across the street from Westbury Music Fair. never asked me to be a homer on my commentary, knowing I would not “The best part of living there was getting to know the Islanders as regular agree to that,” Ryan said. people, not just stars on the ice,” Albert said from his apartment in lower “I took pride in being objective in my calls, unafraid to be critical of Manhattan. performances. Islanders fans and the players themselves weren’t always “I remember hanging out with and his wife in the pool in the happy about that.” summer. My next-door neighbor was , the ‘Toy Tiger.’ He Albert has a ring from the first Cup season, after which McDonald took was kind of quiet off the ice. That was fine with me. I mean, who wants a over for home games when the Flames moved to Calgary. He said it is noisy neighbor?” one of two “terrific keepsakes” he has from that season. Ryan grew up in Toronto, was the original announcer for the expansion The other is a rare 1979 Christmas album the Islanders recorded called Oakland Seals and called Rangers games for two seasons in the early “Home for the Holidays.” 1970s while working as a sports anchor and reporter at WPIX (Channel 11). “To have the actual ring from the first of the four straight Stanley Cups is pretty special,” he said. NBC hired him to do its national game of the week in 1972 — teamed with analyst — but when NBC dropped the NHL in 1975, For several years, Albert thought he had lost the ring and had given up Torrey hired him for the Islanders’ broadcast team. on finding it. A few months ago, it turned up in an old briefcase.

(Torrey and Ryan had worked together in Oakland, and it was Ryan who “What a relief,” he said. “Can you imagine losing that ring? That is one of suggested Torrey when owner Roy Boe was searching for a general my prize possessions. You better believe I’ve got it in a very safe place manager for his new team.) now. I’m not taking any more chances. I’m so grateful I’ve got it.”

Ryan would stay with the Islanders through the second Cup, but in 1981, Newsday LOADED: LOADED: 04.18.2020 with his national TV responsibilities — now at CBS — expanding, he gave up the local telecasts.

It was the ride of a hockey lifetime, though, capped by the 1979-80 championship run.

When CBS opted to cover Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final nationally, Ryan found himself in a strange position. was CBS’ hockey announcer, but Ryan also worked for CBS and had been with the Islanders all season.

“The compromise wound up being I did the second period, Dan did the first and third,” Ryan said.

Kelly also called the overtime, including Nystrom’s Cup clincher at 7:11. Ryan was assigned to the aftermath at ice level. 1183051 New York Islanders

COVID-19 pandemic leaves Islanders coach Barry Trotz heartbroken and inspired

By Andrew Gross

Updated April 18, 2020 12:31 AM

Barry Trotz hears the firsthand accounts of battling COVID-19 from his Garden City neighbors who are health-care workers. The Islanders’ coach has no illusions about how horrific the situation is in New York.

“It’s really strange times,” Trotz said Friday on an NHL-arranged video conference call that included Florida Panthers coach Joel Quenneville and Edmonton Oilers coach Dave Tippett. “New York is right in the middle of it. It’s real. The rest of the country, maybe Canada, don’t realize how real this is.”

And the grim reality of New York being “sort of a canary in a coal mine right now for the nation” has left Trotz both heartbroken and inspired.

“You see the front-line workers here pushed to their limits,” he said. “Their families have been separated from them. Some of the front-line people have been separated from their families for 20, 30 days. They’re staying at hotels and going right back to work. My heart goes out to all of them and thanks them. The people that are still working in some of those essential areas — a grocery store — my heart goes out to them.

“We get the daily totals of how many people have passed on and it’s heartbreaking. To anybody who’s lost people, family members, or can’t get with their families, our thoughts are with you.”

Trotz said he also was inspired by how other families are making the most of the rare opportunity to spend so much time together. “So take advantage of that, and please pray for those who have lost,” he said.

Trotz is with his wife and two of their children on Long Island, preparing as if play will resume and acknowledging that “everybody wants to get back to their normal life.”

The NHL paused play on March 12 and has extended the self-quarantine period for its personnel through April 30. “If we do get back, as coaches, I think we have more issues than we think,” Trotz said.

Tippett, at his property in Arizona, is mourning the loss of Oilers forward Colby Cave, who died last Saturday at the age of 25 after suffering a brain bleed unrelated to the coronavirus.

“It’s just a true tragedy,” Tippett said. “He was just an outstanding young man. He was undrafted. He fought for everything he got. He’s got a great family. He was married for a year. A freak cyst on his brain took his life.

“It’s a sad week for the Oilers. The outpouring from the league has been outstanding. He was a young guy living his dream sadly taken too soon.”

Quenneville said he was in Chicago, where he traveled to celebrate Easter with his family after spending the first month of a self-quarantine in Florida.

Newsday LOADED: LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183052 New York Islanders “Usually one of our PR guys or our strength coach were hanging around watching the game, so I could just say, ‘Hey, give me another set of eyes on this one,'” Bertani said. “So Ekblad scores and I look at the entry and I’m like, ‘Whoa.’ We might have something here. And I’m screaming for Matt Bertani, and the 2016 Islanders challenge call that ’tilted history’ our guys — no one’s there. So I’ve got the radio to Dougie and I just say, ‘I have to look at this one — stall.'”

Capuano, now the Senators’ associate coach, finds it so much easier to By Arthur Staple Apr 17, 2020 delay the officials now. There are iPads on every bench. “We’ve got two video monitors in the floor behind our bench in Ottawa,” he said. “You’re never in the dark on these things and all the officials know that, so there Jack Capuano remembers it well. He is as detail-oriented as coaches really isn’t a strict time anymore. But that first year, once they blew the come and he watched as much video in six seasons as Islanders head whistle you had to make a call.” coach as most video assistants do, so he can recall all sorts of little moments from the Islanders’ six-game series win over the Panthers in Capuano, like his players, had no clue the Panthers could have been the 2016 postseason. offside. “But I hear Dougie asking Matty if he’s sure,” Capuano said, “so I’m just trying to get an answer. I’d been with Matty for almost a decade, And Game 3 will always be the same for him. so if he’s sure, that’s good enough for me.”

“That’s the game Matt Bertani won right there,” Capuano said. On the clip, you can see some snow fly up from Ryan Pulock’s skate that clouds the view of the puck and Huberdeau’s skate for a moment. “But There were many unlikely heroes of that first round, at least before John then, the first angle I saw, it just cleared and boom — you can see the Tavares put his stamp on it by tying Game 6 in the final minutes and puck’s behind his skate,” Bertani said. “So I’m yelling to Dougie, winning it in double overtime to give the Islanders their first playoff series ‘Challenge! It’s offside!’ And he goes, ‘Are you fucking sure?’ And I was victory in 23 years. Alan Quine was the Game 5 double-OT hero. just like, ‘Throw a garbage can on the ice, a stick, whatever — just give Thomas Greiss, who had 40 whole minutes of playoff experience, was me a couple more seconds.'” every bit as important as Tavares was to winning that series, including an overtime penalty-shot save on in Game 5. Thomas Referee Chris Rooney blows his whistle, which means a decision has to Hickey’s first playoff goal was the Game 3 OT winner. be made. “Dougie goes again, real slow: ‘Are. You. Fucking. Sure,'” Bertani said. “And I’m like, ‘Yes, I’m sure.’ My heart was racing though.” But Bertani wasn’t even a known entity to the most diehard Islander fans. He’d been Capuano’s video and assistant coach since 2008, when Capuano challenged, even to the surprise of the national broadcast crew. Bertani joined Capuano in Bridgeport to coach the Islanders’ AHL affiliate The review took only about three minutes, but “it felt like three hours to after three years working with the hockey program at Penn State; Bertani me,” Bertani said. “I took a picture and sent it to Snowy (GM ) got the call to join the big club in 2012, handling all the video duties plus just in case we lost the challenge and he could show it to everyone.” on-ice coaching work. The ruling came back, no goal, and the building came to life. So did the And yet that Game 3 turned on Bertani’s decision to tell Capuano and bench. “I don’t think any of us understood until they said no goal,” Hickey assistant coach Doug Weight to challenge Aaron Ekblad’s goal at 4:08 of said. “Tilted the game, tilted the series, tilted history for us, really.” the second period in Game 3, the first-ever playoff game in Barclays Center. The series was 1-1 and Ekblad’s goal made it 3-0. The Islanders Even still, it was a 2-0 deficit. But within a minute, the Islanders were on were on the way to trailing in the series, something that had proven too an extended five-on-three and Pulock, then a rookie, wired one home to tough for that coaching staff and that core of players in the 2013 and get the Islanders going. It would be a 3-3 game after the second, and the 2015 postseasons. players were eager to give Bertani his due.

“From the bench, it didn’t look there was anything to challenge,” Hickey “It was such a huge call, a pressure call, he deserved all the kudos from said. “We were quiet, the building was quiet, just trying to get ourselves us, even though that game wasn’t over,” Hickey said. ready for the next faceoff. I don’t even think I knew we were challenging It ended 12:31 into overtime, with Hickey beating Jaromir Jagr to the slot even after Cappy told the refs.” and snaking one past Roberto Luongo. That’s when Bertani really That Bertani, now 44 and working as an assistant coach under Jim Paek understood how big his call was. The in-house player of the game with the South Korean national team, would even have been in position “award” was a hideous, 1990s-vintage leather jacket with the Islander to challenge that play involved plenty of luck. The NHL instituted the logo on it. Hickey was wearing it when the media entered the dressing offside challenge before the 2015-16 season, so that first year was all room and a couple guys cracked that Bertani should have been in there about working out the kinks. It’s since become a frequent call and a thorn with it on. in the side of many players and fans, who abhor goals being taken off the “It was nice to hear guys tell you all after the game,” Bertani said. “Hicks board for a skate being half an inch ahead of a puck entering the zone. especially, he just scored the biggest goal of his life and he’s telling Due to the rise in challenges, almost every NHL team has two video reporters about me. It’s definitely rewarding for someone who stays assistants. One charts the game for clips the coaches will want to show behind the scenes.” during video sessions, and the other reviews every zone entry and every “That was such a close series, three overtime wins for us, a goal here or bump of a goalie for evidence of offside or goalie interference to there decides it,” Capuano said. “That’s why that call was so huge.” potentially challenge. Bertani was let go when Lou Lamoriello took over and worked last year Back in 2015-16, hardly any team had two assistants. “So you’re marking with a youth team from China that practiced at Northwell Health Ice the game (for coaching clips), you’re trying to look for offsides and there’s Center before signing on with the South Korean program. He’s been on even some concussion protocol stuff we had to do,” Bertani said. “It’s a lockdown in his native Pittsburgh with his wife and two young children lot for one person. Then you factor in it’s the playoffs, it’s a tie series and since last month; he had been in Finland with the under-18 South Korean we’re about to go down three. I was sweating.” team, training for the World Championships in Estonia. Bertani also runs But he was attentive for every entry thanks to a missed offside from camps for Overspeed Hockey in the offseason. earlier that season. “We were in Pittsburgh and I missed one — it was He watched the NBC Sports Network’s broadcast of Game 6 from that Christopher Gibson’s first game,” he said of Patric Hornqvist’s second- Islanders-Panthers series a few weeks ago and was reminded not just of period goal on Gibson, who’d just come in for Greiss. “They made it 5-0, his own part in it, but how that series encapsulated the years of it didn’t matter but I still missed it and I felt terrible for Gibby and the Capuano’s coaching staff and the work of that core of players. “Seeing team. After that, before just about every game, Cappy would say to me, Johnny score that goal, it gave me chills,” Bertani said. “We worked our ‘Matty, you better not be eating popcorn back there!'” way up from being a pretty lightly regarded team to pulling that one off. It Ekblad scored just a few seconds after Jonathan Huberdeau and the was great.” puck (in that order) entered the Islander zone, so there wasn’t much time And it happened, in part, thanks to him. to rewind the video. Or get a second opinion. “Cappy kind of said it after the game — with the challenge rule being new that year, it was kind of the first time someone not on the ice could have an impact in a game,” Hickey said. “And what a game to do that in.”

The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183053 New York Rangers Miller’s chat. The platform has been inundated by abusive intruders as its usage increased during the coronavirus pandemic.

The racist comments directed at Miller, Hess said, are reflective of A Black Hockey Player Faced Racial Taunts. Some Fans Aren’t hockey culture and are not an aberration. “That person is 100 percent a Surprised. hockey fan, because we encounter these types of attitudes all across the hockey fandom,” she said.

Farias agreed. By Erica L. Ayala “I knew this was going to happen with the chat, and it’s just so April 17, 2020 unsettling,” she said. A Bronx native and the daughter of Mexican immigrants, Farias said she felt an obligation to bear witness to any

harmful language Miller might face. She said the lack of an immediate As a stream of racial slurs directed at the New York Rangers prospect response during the chat justified her vigilance. K’Andre Miller popped up on fans’ screens during his online video chat “If you won’t protect and defend your players, you sure as hell are not with them this month, Alyx Farias was shocked yet not surprised. going to protect your fans,” she said. “That’s exactly how I feel going to Farias, 24, participated in the live Q. and A. session and captured a video the Garden.” of the slurs — which Miller, who is African-American, appeared to have In 2018, Hess founded Black Girl Hockey Club, a group whose mission is seen. Then Farias posted her screen grab to Twitter, where it quickly to create a safe community for women of color and their allies at hockey went viral. To date, Farias’s video has been viewed over 300,000 times. games. The group also advocates effective diversity and inclusion “You could see in the video that I posted, he sees it when he looks strategies in hockey at every level. “Black Girl Hockey Club is meant to down,” she said of Miller, a defenseman who was picked in the first round combat those types of attitudes, that type of racism and white supremacy of the 2018 draft. in hockey,” Hess said.

The language on the chat was the first public act of racism connected to She added: “In early February, I went to New York and I sat down with the N.H.L. since its December announcement of a “zero tolerance” policy the Rangers, and we had some really great, deep, interesting for abusive behavior and of required diversity and inclusion training for all discussions about race. So, it was really disappointing for me to see that coaches and general managers. that type of interaction wasn’t even, that they didn’t even anticipate it.”

Yet the league’s handling of the chat incident has come under fire from As part of the B.G.H.C. effort, Hess and the Pittsburgh Penguins had fans who say the N.H.L. and the Rangers should have been better scheduled a virtual meet-up for Hess’s group. A week ahead of time, they prepared, given longstanding problems with racist language in hockey scheduled their videoconference for April 4. The day before that, the arenas, which is often directed at players and diverse groups of fans. Miller Q. and A took place, and in light of what happened then, Hess and her fellow organizers adjusted their agenda. During the chat, an offscreen moderator asked Miller questions sent from listeners through a visible channel, but neither the moderator nor any Even before the Rangers flub, though, Hess had prioritized security for other Rangers representative immediately addressed the racist the chat, so that it would provide a safe space for a diverse group of fans comments, which came from hackers. The Rangers eventually disabled seeking refuge from the sport’s majority-white fan culture. the chat feature that displayed fans’ questions, and the Q. and A. Two Penguins executives, both of whom are black, had worked with continued without further disruption. The team released a statement Hess days before to arrange the logistics: Tracey McCants Lewis, the three hours after the video conference ended, after a furor arose online in team’s director of human resources, and Delvina Morrow, its director of part because of Farias’s screengrab. community initiatives. “We held an online video chat with fans and New York Rangers prospect, Kim Davis, an N.H.L. executive responsible for social impact initiatives K’Andre Miller, during which a vile individual hijacked the post to post who is black, had already been scheduled to join the conference, but racial slurs, which we disabled as soon as possible,” the statement read. Hess reached out by email to ask if she would specifically address the The Rangers also said the incident was under investigation. Miller incident. Shortly after, the league released a statement that condemned “racist, On the call, Davis called the act “deplorable” and personal and used a cowardly taunts,” adding that, “The person who committed this profanity to emphasize her point, according to multiple participants. She despicable act is in no way an N.H.L. fan and is not welcome in the also applauded the statements from the Rangers and the N.H.L. and community.” insisted that such racist language could never come from a hockey fan. Six days after the incident, John Davidson, the team’s president, The N.H.L. declined to make Davis available for comment for this article. addressed it as part of a Q. and A. for the Rangers’ YouTube channel, “I wish her voice was heard when the N.H.L. put out their statement,” calling the comments “not appropriate.” Farias said, “because it just said our fans don’t do that. And I’m like, way The message was in line with language used by N.H.L. Commissioner to dismiss all the harassment minorities get from your fans.” Gary Bettman when he introduced the zero-tolerance policy after a After Davis spoke, Black Girl Hockey Club resumed its scheduled former Calgary Flames player, Akim Aliu, said that Bill Peters, the program for the 60 participants who had joined from as far away as Calgary coach, had repeatedly called him the N-word when Peters had Kenya. Sarah Nurse, a Canadian Olympic player who is black, spoke. So coached him in the minor leagues. Peters, who was then also accused of did Anya Packer, who is the executive director of the players association physical abusing players during his coaching career, ultimately resigned for the National Women’s Hockey League and who identifies as a from the team. Peters this week signed on to coach a team in Russia’s lesbian. A Pittsburgh D.J. provided entertainment for the virtual after- Kontinental Hockey League. party. “Inclusion and diversity are not simply buzz words,” Bettman said in McCants Lewis said she hoped to use the Miller incident and the Black December. The league’s statement has been lauded by some for Girl Hockey Club event that followed as a road map for facilitating describing the slurs that appeared during the Rangers-sponsored Q. and conversations. The Penguins placed a moratorium on all Zoom A. as categorically racist. conferences and advised staff members to participate only in phone But for others, the lag time between the incident and an official response calls, or in video conferences on their internal system. The Rangers have was viewed as another stumble for a league that has struggled to since deactivated all conference chat functions and will pre-record address racism. Hockey fans online criticized the lack of a swift reply question and answer sessions with players and then post them on social from the Rangers, while others — including Renee Hess, the founder of media. The team declined to comment for this article and referenced its the Black Girl Hockey Club — argued that the team should have statement from the night of the incident. anticipated racially driven comments, given the racism that fans of color “Black Girl Hockey Club provides a safe space for people to talk among have experienced in hockey spaces and a recent explosion of targeted ourselves. Now, we have to have spaces that we’re bringing it to others hacks on Zoom, the videoconferencing app that the Rangers used for to hear so that they truly understand, and that there is connection and understanding,” McCants Lewis said. “I think this is an opportunity for us, and for any team, to have conversations within the organization about how to address diversity in hockey, and what that looks like.”

New York Times LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183054 New York Rangers

NCAA coronavirus halt complicating Morgan Barron’s Rangers decision

By Mollie WalkerApril 18, 2020 | 12:49am

Morgan Barron chose to play hockey at Cornell because he wanted to win a national championship, now that may never happen.

The 2019-20 season, Barron’s third with the Big Red after he was drafted by the Rangers in the 2017 NHL Draft, was beginning to look like his best chance at accomplishing that. But as the coronavirus pandemic swept the nation, suddenly there was no national championship to play for.

Cornell had lost just two games all season and was set to play in the Eastern College Athletic Conference men’s hockey quarterfinals just before the NCAA suspended play. The Big Red was on a 9-0-0 tear, charging to what would’ve been the program’s first Frozen Four appearance in 17 years.

“A lot of the emphasis for me at the start of the year was that I wanted to go and help the team win a lot of games in the postseason,” Barron told The Post in a recent interview. “Obviously, I didn’t get the opportunity to do that. I’m sure there’s a handful of teams around the country who were feeling the same way we were about having a really good chance. Especially for our program, who hasn’t won a national championship in 50 years, it was probably one of the better chances that Cornell has had to go in a deep postseason run.”

For Barron, the Rangers’ sixth-round (174th overall) pick in 2017, not having an opportunity to finish out this season may influence his decision regarding his hockey future.

The 21-year-old center was in the midst of the most dominant season of his career, collecting 32 points (14 goals, 18 assists) in 29 games to lead Cornell. He was a top 10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, given to the top player in college hockey, and was named ECAC Hockey Player of the Year.

After such a prolific season, Barron admitted he became more confident in his ability to compete at the NHL level.

Assistant general manager , who doubles as the general manager of the team’s AHL affiliate, , said Rangers brass had a feeling the 6-foot-3 lefty shot would have a breakout 2019-20 season. But the organization, according to Drury, has known Barron is special since drafting him.

“The more I’ve gotten to know him, over the last three-plus years, is that he’s just one of those kids and players that wakes up every day, looks in the mirror and says, ‘How am I going to get better today?’ ” Drury told The Post in a recent phone call. “It’s such a great quality to have because every year he has gotten better and better. Not only does he have the size, but his skating is very good for someone that size.”

Barron said he is still unsure if he’s ready to forgo his senior season to make the jump to the NHL. If he opts to go pro, the Rangers are sure he’s ready.

“We’re very confident that he’s ready to be a pro with what he’s done and his maturity on and off the ice,” Drury said.

Barron considers the extra time he has to make his decision the only positive part of the suspended 2019-20 season.

“There’s a ton of stuff [to consider],” Barron said. “Obviously, where I feel I’m at with hockey is going to be a big one, whether I’m able to jump in and make an impact at the pro level or whether I could use one more season in college. … My education is a big thing, I went to Cornell because I wanted to graduate and I need to figure out if that’s going to be a possibility if I leave.

“And like I said, I wanted to go to Cornell to win a national championship. That’s something that’s always going to be in the back of my mind while making this decision.”

New York Post LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183055 New York Rangers Instead, Richter went into the business world. He worked at some start- ups focusing on energy efficiency. Now he’s a part owner of a company called Brightcore Energy in Armonk, N.Y. Brightcore locates commercial buildings and helps determine how they can be more efficient, whether it As Mike Richter advances his business career, he cherishes his NHL be via solar energy, battery storage or other means. ‘yesterdays’ “So this is a pretty good way of floating that concept of ‘Can you make your building, without taking risks, more efficient and at lower operating costs?’ So yeah, there’s an environmental play where, if you make your By Rick Carpiniello Apr 17, 2020 car more efficient it uses less gas and therefore there’s less waste, less pollution. And also what we’re doing is filling savings.

If ever a pro hockey player could handle life after hockey, you’d figure “Prior to Covid-19 – coming out of this as we hopefully will sooner or Mike Richter would have been a safe bet. later, companies are stretched, operating budgets are cut, capital is low or non-existent. So I think our solutions will resonate more. We’re Preparation could have been Richter’s middle name – but so could many actually quite busy, surprisingly, in this moment in time, keeping the things. The man was always a thinker, one who analyzed what was next company alive, keeping our customers supported and growing our much more than what just happened. offering.”

He was one who prepped mentally, for instance, for the biggest save of He’s hands-on, as you’d expect, and now living in Greenwich, Conn., his life – against Pavel Bure on a penalty shot in the 1994 Stanley Cup with his wife, Veronica, and their three boys, aged 15, 17 and 19, all of final – yet always believed such a save wouldn’t much matter if he didn’t whom play hockey. Richter coached the younger son’s fairly serious also stop the next shot. travel team last season.

He was one who prepped physically to be among the top conditioned During his NHL career, Richter would often spend parts of his offseason athletes of his era or any era. training with NHL star Joe Nieuwendyk at the facilities at in Ithaca. That’s where he met Veronica, who was a grad The only thing for which Richter could not have been prepared was the student there at the time. So, yeah, hockey has left indelible ink all over way his hockey career ended – with a freakish skull fracture and this goalie’s life. Richter played 666 regular-season games for the concussion. Not to mention with six consecutive seasons out of the Rangers (301 wins), second to only Henrik Lundqvist, and another 76 playoffs. games in the playoffs. So his next life started abruptly after an entire NHL career spent with the Of course, he is the only Rangers goalie in the last 80 years to win the Rangers. Stanley Cup, for which he surely could have also won the Conn Smythe “I spent a couple of years just transitioning from one world to another,” Trophy that his great friend Brian Leetch captured, and as such had his Richter, 53, said. “Part of it was emotionally to have a different challenge uniform No. 35 raised to the Garden’s roof in 2004. because having been injured and stopping somewhat abruptly, you know But his career stats were curbed by ACL tears in both of his knees, and at 36, you know you’ve got more time in front of you than behind you. But then the fateful slapshot off the right side of his helmet by Atlanta’s Chris I could still play and loved what I was doing. So I was counting on and Tamer. Richter suffered a concussion, and then it was discovered he expecting to be playing for some time. also had a fractured skull. He came back to play in 13 games in ’02-03, “But look, athletic careers always come to an end, and when this did, but then a relatively minor jostle by Edmonton’s Todd Marchant caused you’re looking for something to fill that gap. The hard part is you’re very another concussion in November 2003. That would be the end of his experienced and well conditioned and focused and able to play, even career. Richter suffered all of the darkness concussions can cause, though your body starts to slowly break down – or in my case, quickly, including depression. with an injury.” He would grow frustrated with his inability to work out, especially when Richter always had education in his life, a love and need for information. lifting weights, without getting light-headed, which he still experiences. He spent a couple of seasons playing hockey at the University of He’d be agitated when there would be progress, followed by halts and Wisconsin, where he actually, you know, studied. Even during his hockey complete stops, due to symptoms. career, he’d return and take summer classes in Madison. When he lived He remarked that he’s gained knowledge through the experiences of so full-time in New York, Richter took classes at Columbia. And when he many teammates – including Jeff Beukeboom, Pat LaFontaine and Eric was forced into retirement, Richter at first moved north of New Haven Lindros, among many – who have gone through similar, ultimately and enrolled at Yale – an experience that he “absolutely loved” – to get a career-ending, head injuries. singular degree in three disciplines, Ethics, Politics and Economics. Now, all these years later, Richter is pretty much back to normal. “You’re starting down on a low rung in the real world so it was helpful to me to go back to school,” Richter said. “It was a challenge and it filled a “It seems every year I get older (my memory) is lower,” Richter laughed. great gap. I had a lot of time with my (three) sons in the summer and “I would like to blame it on something. between classes. You’re also working toward a degree and getting training to apply to your next challenge, which ended up being in this “I don’t know where, at this point, simply aging comes in, or not. When entrepreneurial space.” you first go through that, every time you misplace your car keys you think it’s that. You can maybe be hyper-aware of any shortcomings you may or Richter briefly explored the possibility of a career in politics. He had the may not have. name recognition and considered what that might offer him as far as the ability to give back what he’d been given as a pro athlete. “I really felt it for the first six months. The third month was worse than the first two. It got worse, as these things can, before it got better. After about “My father’s generation went through World War II, and that was their six months there was some slight improvements, but it was a year before public service,” Richter said. “I was thinking that would be a pretty good I started feeling good again.” thing to do, if you can go and measure the difference (one can make) even if it’s for a little while. The calculation in my eyes was, I had a young Though he knew he wouldn’t be cleared to return, Richter waited until family. Probably there’s better timing in your life. You always have to training camp in 2003 to announce his retirement officially. sacrifice something if you’re going to do something important. Then I “As time went on, it was less about career and more about, ‘I just want to thought that getting more experience would make me better at politics make sure I get my life back together. I have a kid and there’s a lot I want anyway, in everything, (with) a better understanding of the markets and to experience.’ And I think as we see around us now with the Covid-19, the economy and a lot of the issues that are out there. So just time wise, there’s nothing that precedes your health. If you don’t have that, you you give up a lot of personal freedoms to be in those positions. It’s not don’t have anything. So knowing you have an injury or any kind of health easy for children, always, or your spouse. So I think that was a large condition, it certainly puts a premium on getting back to feeling strong component in that too. Hopefully you’ll be better at making these and able.” decisions that affect a lot of people as you gain experience.” In the meantime, Richter has been honored by the jersey retirement, where he joined fellow ‘94ers Mark Messier, Leetch and Adam Graves. Richter, who won the World Cup MVP with spectacular play for Team All these years later, with a family and a new life and a different career, USA (he also played in three Olympics) was elected to the U.S. Hockey with all he’s learned, all he’s experienced, Richter will be defined as the Hall of Fame alongside Leetch in 2008. goalie who won the Stanley Cup.

A new award for the best goalie in college hockey each season has been “More and more I relive those things,” he laughed, “because there are named the Mike Richter Award. only yesterdays. There are not a lot of tomorrows in my game.”

“At the time, when you’re playing, you almost have to put all those kind of The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 things aside,” Richter said. “As the years go by, they mean more to you. Starting, just having your jersey retired, it really – the memories are all you’re left with, and the friendships and the relationships. You can’t change how much success you had. You can’t change the outcomes – plenty you wish you could, some still keep you up at night. But, man, it’s pretty gratifying to have that acknowledgement and more so than would have thought.

“For example, that Mike Richter Award, it’s incredibly humbling and flattering. I look at these kids every year and I’m blown away by the quality of players and have that award named after me is amazing, an amazing thing. It keeps you connected with the new generation, which keeps getting better. It’s actually awesome. They do mean a lot. If you asked me when I was still playing, (the answer would be), ‘Yeah, it’s great.’ All those things that you can’t give time to because you’re worried about the next practice, next game, season.

“This is a game we love. We loved it as kids. We’re fans to begin with. But we’re fans overall. To remain in the game one way or another is always a great thing. It’s incredibly gratifying and humbling.”

Richter used the same words to describe the honor bestowed upon him by Lundqvist, who wore a specially-made mask similar to Richter’s with his face painted on it to the game that followed the 1994 team’s 25th reunion ceremony in 2019.

“Crazy stuff,” Richter said.

Just as crazy is the idea that Richter never played another Stanley Cup playoff game after he carried a banged-up, big-name team to the Eastern Conference final in 1997, just before Messier was haphazardly booted out the door.

“Oh, yeah. Absolutely,” Richter said.

“We put a lot of effort, obviously, into winning in ’94. We were hoping to win for a few years. We still had a great team through ’95, ’96, ’97 and were dangerous and capable. We got to the conference finals in ’97, and we were a little injured, a little long in the tooth, but we had a lot of change from ’97 to ’98 and had a very different feel to it. Then we had a series of massive changes that continued, really.

“To have the success we wanted was tough to come by. We were still a dangerous team and had some great, great players come through here, but it makes you, in a way, so disappointed you didn’t have more success, but so thankful that we were able to put it together and get it right.”

Richter, of course, will always have ’94. He was asked how many times a day he thinks about that.

“That’s a great question,” he said.

“I don’t know how many times I think about it on a daily basis or a weekly basis or a monthly basis. But it’s woven into the whole organization, to every player, to every fan, everybody that was part of it. It’s a great part of your life that you never want to get rid of. So you do, you think about it a lot of different ways. Of course it comes up when you have the 25th anniversary or whatever touchstone that comes along that makes you think about it on a particular day. And often it is something like a story looking back on it or a particular moment in the NHL – ‘On this day in 1994 …’ It brings you back and you’re asked about it and it helps you relive it.

“One of the things that’s really cool about it is, unlike tennis and the individual sports, you’re winning with a team. I was blown away to see all the guys again in one spot. We keep pretty good tabs on each other. But to hear everybody’s perspective – to hear Alex Kovalev tell it from his point of view after all those years, and Mark and Brian – every time we get together you hear it in a slightly different manner. We all lived it through our own eyes, but to see it through someone else’s is really cool. You never get tired of talking about success and reliving that, but I just find listening to the experience through other people, is very interesting.” 1183056 Ottawa Senators “The worst part about the major sports is they’re all in big cities and everybody’s big city has a COVID-19 problem because it’s just so conducive to those densities, so you just can’t have it there,” said Sununu. “I don’t know if other sports would look to this model, but we If NHL does return this summer, it sounds like empty rinks will be only have talked to a few folks in the NHL and we’ll continue to have those option discussions.

“Ultimately, they have to decide what they want to do because they’re taking risks, too. Do these teams really want to come back to locker Bruce Garrioch rooms and sweating? How do you keep the physical distancing among the players? They’ve got to figure out a little bit of that on their end before we take too many steps forward, but we’re talking about it.” Bound and determined to finish the season, hold the playoffs and award the Stanley Cup, the NHL’s only option may be to start in empty arenas. The expectation is Bettman and NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly will hold their bi-weekly call with the 31 owners early next week to discuss Any chance of returning with fans — even a limited amount — in the the latest updates on COVID-19 and possible next steps. stands when the major sports do return was essentially erased when U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at Thursday night’s White Medical experts everywhere have differing opinions, but one they all House novel coronavirus briefing in Washington that in the beginning all seem to share is that being in large crowds is a bad idea so it would be sports will be played in empty venues and spectators will be brought surprising to see anyone in the stands in the foreseeable future when back in stages as the threat of COVID-19 subsides. hockey does resume.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is among those who has been doing Ottawa Sun LOADED: 04.18.2020 regular conference calls with Trump during the crisis to discuss how all sports will return. It sounds like they’ve discussed playing in empty buildings for television only, and that’s what the PGA Tour plans to do when it begins in mid-June with the Charles Schwab Classic in Fort Worth.

“As you know, I spoke to the commissioners of basically every sport (Wednesday) and many of them are going to be starting without the fans so it will made for television,” Trump said Thursday night. “The good old days, made for television, and they’ll go that way.

“Then, fans will start coming in, and maybe they’ll be separated by two seats, and then ultimately we want to have packed arenas when the virus is gone and we’re going to be back to normal.”

The question is, what will the new normal look like and when will that be?

That remains anybody’s guess, but Los Angeles has suggested it may cancel large-scale events until 2021. Now, that mindset can always change, but everybody has to be ready for any scenario, and even though the NHL is a gate-driven league there’s plenty of money from NHL television sponsors.

While the NHL has extended the self-isolation period for players to April 30, you can almost be certain that’s going to change again. Canada and the U.S. agreed Friday to extend the closure of the border between the two countries for another 30 days, which means we’re looking at at least mid-May before teams can even think of opening their facilities for small groups of players.

Plus, both countries have banned non-citizens from coming to their countries from overseas, and many of the European players have retreated to their homes as they wait to see what happens next.

The NHL is leaving no stone unturned in trying to get hockey back in the arenas, and if that means playing in empty rinks it will do it. The possibility of going to neutral sites like Manchester, N.H., Grand Forks, N.D., and has been discussed by the league, and Bettman told Anderson Cooper of CNN on Monday that every option is on the table because it would be pointless to rule anything out.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu told Boston radio station WEEI on Friday morning he’s held talks with Bettman about the possibility of hosting teams in a closed setting in New Hampshire where the players would all be tested for COVID-19.

“I’ve got to be careful here, there’s truth to that, I’ve had discussions about that and I don’t know whether it’s going to happen, but we’re talking about it,” Sununu told The Greg Hill show. “That’s all I can really say right now, but I can tell you it would be a very interesting opportunity for New Hampshire.

“But even the venues would have to say, ‘Yes, we want this,’ because what are the liabilities here? What if a team were to get sick? How’s it going to be managed? We’re working through some of those logistics, so that’s on the table for sure. I don’t want to overstep my bounds and say too much. I know they’re looking at a couple of different venues across the country and they’re looking in the northeast.”

Sununu noted it would be difficult for many NHL teams to return to their home rinks. 1183057 Philadelphia Flyers respective place as Las Vegas or maybe Moose Jaw, whatever the scientists and the bookies allow.

"It will definitely feel a little different," Flyers (still) rookie Joel Farabee Better to close sports down than to play for phony cheers said Thursday, "but at the end of the day we just want to play hockey. If we can play with no fans, we will do it. I think the biggest thing is just waiting until government officials say it’s safe for us to go back out and do what we love." By Rob Parent As for the fans, they can be damned, but only (fingers crossed) until next

season, or after the great vaccine holiday to come. So that once the The media and their cell phones were gathered around the managers. scientists get their jobs done, the "new normal" will finally be revealed for The players were warming up on the field. The home team employees, what it really is ... as phony as the baseball fans in Taiwan this week. delighted and eager to resume some semblance of work after such a Goodell and the other wooden leaders of the various sports leagues long coronavirus shutdown, were serving the fans. should ignore the jabber from the phony politicians mentally distancing No, not by welcoming them as they filed in, but rather filing their heads themselves from reality in Washington. down to fit onto their cardboard or plastic bodies. They want all sports businesses to be back and functioning fully for fiscal Baseball ... it's back. and electoral reasons. They don't want to foresee the obvious problems with giving green lights to something like baseball, which has teams in Or at least it was in Taiwan earlier this week. major league cities across North America, along with doomed businesses in many a minor league market. The five-team Chinese Professional Baseball League commenced its season, fully confident of everyone's safety because the coronavirus Yet as the virus hits peaks and valleys over the coming months in various curve has been clearly tumbling ... and not just because the government locales, anything other than a very abbreviated schedule in Arizona mathematicians are telling them that it is. would essentially be unworkable. After all, what if the predicted "second wave" of virus hits all those NFL markets in late September? What if a Of course, precautions still had to be taken. So the government's coronavirus hotspot suddenly crops up in a place like ... oh, I don't know, YouTube releases showed workers putting cardboard fans in the stands, the Greater Phoenix area ... sometime in August? mannequins strategically placed along the field and in other key locales. Chaos. Real fans? Not allowed to congregate, of course. So, don't open it up just yet. Consider instead to close it all down until Due to the revised allowable maximums of 500 people in this Chinese 2021. Yes, business is going to suffer. Yes, athletes will have to be told megalopolis, the games were allowed to proceed, and they're even going that their contracts may have to be arbitrated due to loss of revenue. And to be broadcast. good luck with that. Well, sort of: Word is that five Rakuten Monkeys games are being The inherent problems will be many and will be enormous. streamed this week live and in living cybercolor. But at least the approach is safer than a risky resumption of business as Cool. usual in front of cardboard and plastic "fans." So will the U.S. of Eh? follow suit? Delaware County Times LOADED: 04.18.2020 Word came down late Thursday from the latest Donald Trump Press Carnival that sports will indeed resume in 2020. No bigger a force than diminutive doc Anthony Fauci said that. Of course, it will only be in select parts of this stricken nation and certainly will be without fans in the stands. But hey, at least we, the closeted, entertainment-starved public, will tune in.

Or at least that's the economic theory.

"Many of them are going to be starting without the fans," Mr. President said. "It will be made for television ... the good, old days.”

Golly.

Good old Football, of course, will not hear of it. Not yet, anyway. Roger Goodell is too good for that. Or at least that's what his highly paid promoters and advisors and analytical savants tell him.

Goodell's NFL isn't worried about the start of the season or even training camp and the changes that would be in store. After all, they have a train wreck of a draft to conduct first.

Shortly after, Trump said Thursday and might have told Goodell and his commissioner counterparts recently, there will be "packed arenas,” because, "when the virus is gone, we’ve going to be back to normal.”

Amen. Then again, what exactly does "normal" mean?

Doc Fauci has offered his opinions on that, just not so much in the presence of his president.

Anyway, as for resumption of sports, the mighty institution of baseball will go for it. It's a natural. A slate of games in parks of varying size, all within 50 miles of Phoenix. And hey, if it's 110 in the shade at many of those parks as game night approaches, so what?

There's no fans, anyway. And the players are getting paid plenty to swelter in the early innings as the sun sets in the West.

And the NHL and NBA? Now given the green light of sorts, both may resume, but with hare-brained playoff "tournaments" in some such 1183058 Philadelphia Flyers Fordyce This is a no-brainer, Gagne’s name belongs in the Flyers Hall of Fame.

In 11 seasons with the Flyers, Gagne eclipsed 25 goals five different Should Simon Gagne make Flyers Hall of Fame? times, twice scoring more than 40 goals, including the 2005-06 season By Brooke Destra, Katie Emmer, Taryn Hatcher, Joe Fordyce, Jordan when Gagne scored 47 goals in just 72 games played. Gagne played 80 Hall April 17, 2020 5:35 PM games in his rookie season as a 19-year-old scoring 20 goals and registering 28 assists, and was in the top five in voting for the Calder Trophy as the league’s best rookie.

The topic: Should Simon Gagne make the Flyers Hall of Fame? Another attribute to Gagne’s robust Flyers résumé was his tendency to score big goals. In 2004, he forced a Game 7 against the eventual Destra Stanley Cup champs the Tampa Bay Lightning by scoring the game- If you don’t think Gagne deserves to be in the Flyers Hall of Fame, did winner in overtime of Game 6. His return from injury during the Eastern you even watch him play? Conference semifinals against the Bruins in 2010 marked the turning point in the series, as the Flyers became the third team to ever come During his time in Philadelphia, he became one of the most well- from down 3-0 to win a playoff series, with Gagne netting the game- respected athletes to ever come through the organization. On top of that, winner in Game 7. his performance night in and night out was some of the best we’ve seen since the century turned. Plain and simple, he’s a Flyers Hall of Famer.

There were three separate times during his career when he led the team Hall in goals — two of those coming in back-to-back seasons in 2005-06 and A telltale sign Gagne is Flyers Hall of Fame bound can be found in the 2006-07 (when he also led in points overall). His 47-goal season is the franchise's top-10 goal-scoring club. best by a Flyer since 1997-98 when John LeClair finished with 51 goals. Gagne is No. 9 on the list with 264 goals, ahead of Claude Giroux at No. And let’s be honest … these two goals alone should rightfully earn him a 10 with 257. Everyone among the top eight is in the Flyers Hall of Fame spot. and we know Giroux will one day be inducted. Emmer It would be surprising to see one of the organization's top-10 goal-scorers While Gagne wasn’t the most consistent point-getter throughout his 11 not get in. Gagne was drafted and groomed by the Flyers, played a long seasons, the fact that the Flyers were in the playoffs 10 out of his 11 time in Philly and is among the team's better all-time goal-scorers — both seasons goes without saying — this guy made a difference. regular season and postseason.

He had some great seasons in Philadelphia. That should get him in.

The 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons were some of his best: Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 04.18.2020

2005-06

• 33 even strength goals (most in NHL)

• 47 goals (seventh most in NHL)

• 0.65 goals per game (fourth best in NHL)

• plus-31 (tied for sixth best in NHL)

• 334 shots (fifth most in NHL)

2006-07

• 26 even strength goals (tied for eighth most in NHL)

• 41 goals (ninth most in NHL)

• 0.54 goals per game (seventh best in NHL)

• 2007 All-Star Game

While it would have been nice to see consistent production from Gagne, he still managed to help the Flyers achieve postseason runs every single year he played in Philadelphia except for one and had 524 total points with the club from 1999-00 to 2009-10.

Could he have done more? Maybe, but he gave the majority of his NHL career to the Flyers, he had some ups and some downs, like all good players do.

He should land in the Flyers Hall of Fame.

Hatcher

Let’s take a trip down memory lane to the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals. Gagne misses the Flyers' first three games in a best-of-seven series against the Bruins with an injured toe and the Flyers fail to record a single win while he’s sidelined. Gagne comes back for Games 4-7 and everything’s different. He scored game-winning and game-changing goals multiple times in the remainder of that series, a series the Flyers went on to win.

Gagne was an impact player for the Flyers for more than a decade. He accumulated 535 points and tallied 264 goals during that time, which (statistically speaking) puts him alongside Flyers left wing legends like , and LeClair. 1183059 Philadelphia Flyers

Kris Versteeg shares story of how bikers nearly stopped Blackhawks from beating Flyers in Game 6

By Jordan Hall April 17, 2020 3:20 PM

Ever since the puck found its way into the back of the net for the goal that nobody saw, Flyers fans have tried washing away the memory of Game 6 in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final.

Never talking about that night is one way to do it. Changing the channel any time Patrick Kane pops up on the TV is another coping mechanism.

But imagine if Chicago's 4-3 overtime victory simply didn't exist? Apparently some bikers (gotta love 'em) attempted to make that dream come true for all Flyers fans ahead of the infamous June 9 game in which the Blackhawks ended up hoisting the Cup on the Wachovia Center ice.

Kris Versteeg, who recently retired after 643 career NHL games (294 with the Blackhawks, 27 with the Flyers), shared a few amazing stories Thursday on NBC Sports Chicago's "Sports Talk Live" about Chicago's trip to the arena before its Cup clincher in Philadelphia. The former winger won two championships with the Blackhawks (2010, 2015) and Philly's drive to win will help him always remember the obstacles of winning the first.

We heard there was some biker gang, not like a biker gang but they have bikes or rode bikes and they were all together and they were going to stop us from getting to the rink, so they had to have the police — they escorted us to every game — but they were worried they were going to stop us on the road and put all their street bikes on the road to block us from getting to the game. I vividly remember that because we [had] to get on there before they [could] get on the highway to block us from getting to the game on time.

Hey, whatever it takes, right, Philly?

You've got to respect the effort and tactic of the bikers. And were these bicycles or motorcycles or like dirt bikes?

Regardless, bikes were about to be deep in hopes of stopping Kane and company.

If only it was the winter, those bikers would have been strapped with snowballs.

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183060 Philadelphia Flyers The Penguins surged and the Flyers took a nosedive, finishing 2-9-1 after Pittsburgh after the March 4 trade.

What if the Flyers had Jagr and were the ones to acquire Francis and What if…the Flyers had drafted Jaromir Jagr? Samuelsson as deadline pickups? Perhaps they make the run and the hated Penguins never get those Cups.

What if Philadelphia, not Pittsburgh, was the home of the mullet? Dave Isaac, NHL Writer Published 5:12 p.m. ET April 17, 2020 OK, maybe winning the 1991 Stanley Cup is far-fetched. Consider this wild idea, then.

This is part of a series in which important moments in Flyers history are When the Flyers had the sixth pick in the 1991 draft, which they used on re-visited and explored with a different lens, wondering the effect if things , Greenberg remembers the Flyers being higher on the had transpired differently. Swede than most others. Perhaps they could have had him as a mid- round pick. It was 10 days before the 1990 draft that the Flyers filled Bobby Clarke’s void as general manager after firing him in April. “Central scouting had him much farther down in the first round,” Greenberg said. “If (Farwell) blew the Jagr pick, then the next year he Russ Farwell was general manager of the ’s nailed one with taking Forsberg. But the big, big question, maybe the Thunderbirds when he was hired for the same position with the biggest question of all, can you imagine taking Jagr and then a year later Flyers, the first time since 1967 that a GM made the jump from junior having Forsberg? Oh my God, how good would they have been? I think hockey to the NHL. that’s the biggest what-if of all time for the Flyers.” His “good luck, pal” moment came when team president Jay Snider The Flyers did eventually get Jagr, for the 2011-12 season. While they brought with him a cardboard box that had accumulating scouting reports wanted to re-sign him, he inked a deal with the Dallas Stars while the in it. The Flyers were set to pick fourth overall after missing the playoffs. Flyers were trying to get their ducks in a row. The Jagr year was the “He said, ‘Well, here you are’ and set it on the desk and that was it,” second-best season Claude Giroux ever had and Scott Hartnell had a Farwell said by phone Friday. career-high 67 points that season as the three of them formed a line. Jagr, now 48, is still an active player in the Czech Republic for a team “One, I was green as grass and coming into it from a whole different that he owns. level, but I knew Gerry Melnyk really well. He was the head scout and I knew Gerry for years and that was a real positive thing for me getting Commitment never proved to be an issue. started in it. That was a big plus. We just kind of worked our way through “I’ll tell you one thing, as long as I don’t die, it’s not my last year of it.” playing hockey,” Jagr told the Courier Post in 2013 when he was with the went first overall to the Nordiques. Farwell and the New Jersey Devils. “I don’t know where I’m gonna play. I don’t know if I Flyers tried to move up two spots in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks play in U.S. or somewhere else but I’ll play until I cannot walk. I love the to select Petr Nedved, who played for Farwell with the Thunderbirds. game too much to leave it. Hockey’s not a job to me. It’s a hobby. I’m Vancouver wouldn’t bite and kept Nedved for themselves. Detroit getting (freaking) paid a lot of money for that, but it’s not a job to me. followed up and selected Keith Primeau third overall. People do hobbies until they die. That’s just me. Once hockey starts being my job, I’m leaving the game.” Then came the big decision. Courier-Post LOADED: 04.18.2020 Melnyk had been touting Jaromir Jagr as the best talent in the draft. Jagr had been noncommittal about coming overseas from Czechoslovakia immediately, though, and there was word he might have to stay anyway to fulfill a military obligation.

“The Flyers had identified as the next Bobby Clarke and that was a pretty hard thing to jump over because of the aura there and a guy we thought would be a long-term leader so we settled on that and decided that was our guy,” Farwell said.

“I remember them saying that (Jagr wasn’t committed to come, but I don’t know if that deterred us as much. There was just a little concern about how committed he was as a player. He was an impressive kid, big and strong. Gerry said it, ‘Talent-wise, he’s the best guy in this draft.’ We did interview him but we couldn’t move past the aura we had built around Ricci. It wasn’t his fault, it was ours, but that’s where we were and so that’s the pick we made.”

Jay Greenberg, a long-time Flyers beat reporter who authored historical Flyers books “Full ” and “The Flyers at 50,” was enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013 and remembers that Jagr wasn’t thought of as a runaway choice at the time.

“Jagr scared some people,” Greenberg said. “Ricci was a really solid choice. You couldn’t go wrong with Mike Ricci and he did play 17 years in the league. He played a long time. I remember clearly at one point he was considered the No. 1 prospect. Those other guys came along and he started to fade a little bit and you could see why. He wasn’t a great skater. He was a really hard worker. He was a skilled player, but he wasn’t Jagr. At that point he wasn’t Nedved and Nedved had an OK to good career, nothing spectacular.”

Jagr went fifth to the Pittsburgh Penguins and helped them win Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992 with his idol, . He played 24 years in the NHL, is second in all-time scoring, an eight-time All-Star and will go into the Hall of Fame if he ever stops playing.

Ahead of the 1991 trade deadline, the Penguins acquired and from Hartford and went on to win a championship. Pittsburgh was three points behind the Flyers at the time of the trade. 1183061 Philadelphia Flyers During normal circumstances, Snider Hockey tries to add one new wrinkle a year to help matriculate participants from youth hockey through college. Scholarships are a development that was added in 2015, and Tharp said he recently compiled a list of students who were awarded South Jersey Helpers: Snider Hockey pivots to provide for its most at-risk those scholarships and went on to graduate college and the number was families about 140.

Those are the success stories and the “end goal” is to have them come back and help Snider Hockey’s next class of kids. Dave Isaac, NHL WriterPublished 6:00 a.m. ET April 17, 2020 “I get emails every day from grateful parents from some of our kids, from

our alumni,” Tharp said, “particularly from alumni who want to know how Editor's note: This is part of a new series, The Helpers, shining light on they can help, which is really gratifying.” those in the community who are sharing resources and stepping up to Courier-Post LOADED: 04.18.2020 help others during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"No one has ever become poor by giving." - Anne Frank

Last weekend marked the fourth anniversary of the passing of Ed Snider, the Flyers’ founder and chairman who wanted his legacy to be the foundation he created in 2005 that benefits inner-city kids in Philadelphia and South Jersey.

Fifteen years later, Snider Hockey has bloomed into an organization that serves more than 1,600 after-school enrollees, approximately 200 of them in South Jersey out of the Flyers Skate Zone in Pennsauken. Those rinks are all closed now, however, due to the COVID-19 coronavirus, which makes Snider Hockey’s programming more important than ever.

“It was a daunting task to be his legacy,” said Scott Tharp, president and CEO of Snider Hockey. “Shortly before he died, he confided to us that we had surpassed his wildest dreams.

More Helpers: South Jersey Helper: Collingswood native helps combat coronavirus spread one stitch at a time

"In the four years since he died, I think we did what he had always asked us to do. Whenever I asked Ed, ‘What else can we do? What else do you see us doing?’ his response was always, ‘more, more and more.’ He came around to thinking that the ‘more’ wasn’t necessarily more kids, but it was more services to those kids that we had in our program.”

Those services usually pertain to hockey and education. These days, Snider Hockey has pivoted just to help their families survive.

Because the rinks are closed, the organization moved its services online and even that aspect created issues.

This content is being provided for free as a public service to our readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Help support local journalism with a Courier-Post subscription

“Our life skills coaches and mentors have made contact on a regular basis with every one of the kids in our program and (have) done a needs assessment,” Tharp said. “For instance, we’ve found that several of our families did not have adequate internet access or the technical equipment to be able to participate in the services that we provide and that the (Philadelphia) school district is starting this week. We were able to help those families so they’re gonna be prepared to do that.”

Snider Hockey also helped its alumni who were living in college dorms but were effectively homeless when those schools shut their doors for the semester.

The organization’s website has created a list of resources aimed at helping families with everything from lesson plans for students to health information, mental wellness tips and resources they can access for food and financial support.

On Monday, Snider Hockey finalized a deal with the Nutritional Development Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia that will ensure two rinks in the city will be used as food distribution centers.

“Our coaches will actually be at the sites to dole out the boxed meals,” Tharp said. “In this program, people from those neighborhoods can come every Monday and Thursday and they can pick up three meals per day for three days for every family member that they have.

"What makes our two distribution sites a little more unique is an added partnership through First Book, packaging five children’s books with each meal package for families so they can take the books home and keep them. It gives the kids something to do and most of the books we’re including, we included in our ‘Reading Buddies’ program so they can get a leg up when they do their read aloud with the kids.” 1183062 Philadelphia Flyers They had lost a franchise goalie…and had another coming right behind him.

If Lindbergh had lived and continued to play at a high level, what would What if…Flyers goalie Pelle Lindbergh had a full career? have become of 1982 sixth-round pick ?

After Lindbergh’s passing, “Bob Froese played very well,” Greenberg said. “In the playoffs he faltered a little bit but not significantly, but Dave Isaac, NHL Writer Published 6:48 p.m. ET April 16, 2020 Keenan looked at it like Hextall was a franchise guy and Froese would never be and that was fair and accurate.”

Hextall was playing in the minors with the Hershey Bears and came up to Flyers’ goalie Pelle Lindbergh, seen here facing Pittsburgh Penguins’ the NHL the following season. Hextall won the Vezina Trophy as a rookie right wing Rick Kehoe in 1982, played 157 games for the Flyers across and the as the MVP of the playoffs despite the five seasons. Flyers losing to the Oilers again in 1987. This is part of a series in which important moments in Flyers history are Hextall went on to have a 13-year career, 11 of those seasons coming in re-visited and explored with a different lens, wondering the effect if things Philadelphia. He holds Flyers all-time records for games played by a had transpired differently. goaltender (489) and wins (240) and trails only Hall of Famer Bernie There were several warnings before one of the most tragic events in the Parent, Lindbergh’s idol, in saves (Parent had 12,679 and Hextall history of the Flyers, one that altered the lives of everyone on the 1985- 11,660). 86 roster and changed the course of the franchise. Lindbergh played 157 games for the Flyers, 10th on the franchise’s all- Pelle Lindbergh loved his car, the bright red Porsche 930 Turbo that cost time list. him $117,380 and, ultimately, his life. He drove it fast, too fast for the According to Greenberg, “Ed Snider said, in lamenting the turn of events liking of some of his passengers. years later, ‘We had two of them. Do you imagine what we could have “Dammit Pelle, slow the hell down!” is what Gunnar Nordström, a done?’ Swedish reporter visiting Lindbergh, once yelled at him according to the “That’s the way he looked at it. Yeah, I guess they would have, but would book “Pelle Lindbergh: Behind the White Mask,” written by Bill Meltzer Hextall have still become Hextall if Lindbergh was there? If Lindbergh and Thomas Tynander. was winning, would they have won the Cup if Lindbergh remained a top Early in the morning of Nov. 10, 1985, Lindbergh was out with friends goalie, which I think he would have?” and teammates celebrating the Flyers’ ninth straight victory and a bit of Courier-Post LOADED: 04.18.2020 personal success. He had agreed to a six-year, $2.1 million extension with the Flyers that would have made him the highest-paid Swede in the NHL.

Coming off a Vezina-winning season where he led the Flyers to the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers, the 26-year-old Lindbergh was clearly the team’s goalie of the future.

As Lindbergh arrived at the after-hours bar attached to the Flyers’ old practice facility, the Coliseum, he was pulled over for speeding in the parking lot by Voorhees Police officer Ed Simpson.

“Pelle was just showing off, and at the time I didn’t have a ticket book, so I didn’t do anything,” Simpson told the Courier Post in 2012. “Everybody said he must have been drunk, but the way he handled that car coming in there, he was sober.”

Three hours after Simpson gave a warning, Lindbergh had crashed the Porsche into a retaining wall where Somerdale Rd. meets Ogg Ave. in Somerdale, severely injuring two passengers. Lindbergh was in critical condition himself and was declared brain dead later that morning. He was kept on life support for two days, before his parents, Anna-Lisa and Siggy, decided to allow their son’s organs to be harvested for transplants.

If Lindbergh hadn’t crashed that night, if he had gone on to have a full career, Flyers history and certainly their record books might look a lot different.

“He was the real deal,” said Jay Greenberg, former long-time Flyers beat writer reporter who entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013 as winner of the Elmer Ferguson Award, and author of historical Flyers books “Full Spectrum” and “The Flyers at 50.”

“He was so quick and he had gotten through his sophomore slump, which was pretty significant. I remember the one game in ’83-84 (a 6-5 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 12) he could barely stand up he was so messed up. The winning goal went trickling by him and he was slipping and sliding as it went by him. Moving ahead two years, he had that and (then coach Mike) Keenan had shown all kind of confidence in him. The few times he seemed to falter that year, he bounced back each time really well, probably from Keenan putting pressure on him. He was for real.”

No Flyer has worn Lindbergh’s No. 31 since 1985. While the number hasn’t been officially retired, they also won’t let anyone wear it and likely never will.

That season the Flyers finished with 110 points and lost a best-of-five playoff series to the New York Rangers in five games. 1183063 Philadelphia Flyers The model doesn’t have projections for or goalies, so we’ll give Patrick a one-year, $2 million contract as a reasonable guesstimate, and assume that Brian Elliott re-ups for the same cap hit ($2 million) as this season. We can debate these, but both feel like reasonable guesses. What happens to the Flyers if the NHL cap decreases (or stays flat) in 2020-21? Finally, we’ll assume that Patrick is good to go for next season, since he was skating with teammates and making progress when the pause took effect. As for Oskar Lindblom, the Flyers will retain his rights as he battles Ewing’s sarcoma, but considering the unknowns about the By Charlie O'Connor Apr 17, 2020 progress of his treatment, we’ll leave him out of the projected lineup and our cap calculations at this time.

More than a month after its pause, the 2019-20 NHL season remains in a The ‘cap goes up’ scenario state of limbo. With the global pandemic showing little sign of abating, To be clear, this is more of an “Earth 2” thought experiment, since it only one thing can be said with certainty regarding the immediate future: seems highly unlikely the NHL will finish the regular season and playoffs It’s impossible to predict the next time teams will take the ice in in front of the packed houses necessary to generate expected revenue meaningful games. levels. But it’s still good place to start, just to see where the Flyers would But the games will eventually return, whether that means the resumption have been from a cap standpoint had the coronavirus pandemic not of this season or a brand-new one, and whether the restart occurs this occurred. year or in 2021. At some point, the Philadelphia Flyers will be back at the With an $84 million cap, the Flyers would be sitting pretty, largely Wells Fargo Center, and their efforts to end the franchise’s long Stanley because neither Myers nor Aubé-Kubel breaks the bank, despite their Cup drought will restart. impressive rookie seasons. There’s room for two prospects on entry-level To do so, they’ll have to play by the rules of the roster-building game — deals to make the 2020-21 team — Morgan Frost hits camp as the the salary cap. COVID-19 doesn’t make the cap management game any favorite to fill out the top nine, but the Flyers still have the option of less important for general managers like . Even in an moving Laughton back up to the third line if Frost flops, replacing him on uncertain future, it’s a GM’s job to plan for as many contingencies as Line 4 with one of the many prospects champing at the bit for an NHL possible to give the team the best chance of long-term success. shot (Connor Bunnaman, Tanner Laczynski and German Rubtsov, among others). Fletcher must come up with lots of contingencies now. Because the salary cap ceiling is directly tied to league revenue, if revenue decreases The Flyers also have the cap space to bring back one of Braun — as it would in the event of a canceled season or games played at (projected contract: two years, $2.867 million cap hit) or Pitlick (three empty arenas — the amount of cap space at each GM’s disposal could years, $2.418 million per year) to either roll with a super-charged third- correspondingly drop. Suddenly, plans that seemed foolproof just a few pair or further beef up the bottom six. They can’t bring back both, though, months ago would need to be adjusted to account for the new status quo. without subtractions elsewhere.

A week before the season stopped, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly And the Flyers even have room to account for possible 2019-20 bonus projected at the Board of Governors meetings in South Florida that the overages and sign Lindblom to a one-year deal, if that’s the route they 2020-21 salary cap ceiling would fall in the $84-$88.2 million range — choose (or they could simply retain his rights via a qualifying offer and numbers that always seemed optimistic but now look positively ludicrous. agree to an arrangement in which he won’t sign a formal contract until his Even in a best-case-scenario, NHL revenues for the rest of the season hockey future becomes more clear), while leaving him on injured reserve will not meet pre-coronavirus projections, which likely means a cap for the time being. ceiling that either functionally matches this season’s $81.5 million mark A “run it back” approach on Earth 2 would have the Flyers tight to the or one that dips below it. cap, but still largely sitting pretty. This season, the Flyers were slammed up against the cap ceiling, and The cap stays flat had to tap into their long-term injured reserve allowance to stay cap- compliant. So if the $81.5 million ceiling holds, or even decreases Without any inside information aside from reading reports from plugged- dramatically, how would those scenarios affect Fletcher and the Flyers’ in national hockey insiders, this has always appeared to be the most ability to construct the 2020-21 roster? Would Fletcher be forced to make likely cap-related solution for 2020-21. major subtractions just to stay compliant? With league revenues destined to come in far below original projections, Some ground rules it seems extremely unlikely that the 2020-21 cap ceiling would increase. But as much as the NHLPA hates escrow, they know that a massive At its core, this is a thought experiment, since there are so many reduction in the salary cap to reflect revenue levels means fewer jobs unknown variables about the new cap ceiling, when hockey will resume, and more NHL-caliber players on existing contracts dumped into the the future of Philadelphia’s pending free agents (restricted and minors so teams can stay compliant. And owners surely don’t want GMs unrestricted) and Fletcher’s decisions on players currently under to have to blow up their teams and make rosters unrecognizable to contract. So it’s necessary to set some ground rules, or we’d end up returning fans. It’s in both sides’ interest to avoid cap armageddon. going down a 10,000-word, “Choose Your Own Adventure” rabbit hole. Still, many teams put together 2019-20 rosters operating on the First, we’ll look at only three cap scenarios and their potential impacts on assumption that the cap ceiling would rise the following season, as it the Flyers for 2020-21: the low-end of the originally projected cap ceiling always has. So even though another year of a $81.5 million cap — or a ($84 million), a flat cap that stays the same as this season ($81.5 million) functional flat cap in which the exact ceiling number changes but and a $77.5 million ceiling (essentially a 5 percent decrease). temporary adjustments are made to existing cap hits to account for the Second, our projected rosters will be constructed with the bias of trying to dip — wouldn’t be as devastating as a true drop, it’s still going to hit retain as much of the current team as possible. So no crazy trades or big some clubs very hard. unrestricted free-agent signings — they just add too many unknowns to Are the Flyers one of those teams? Let’s take a look. the equation. The team was playing well enough in the second half to justify a “run it back” approach anyway. Subtractions via trade will be Not too bad! This is where the Flyers really benefit from having a robust considered only to get below a cap ceiling. pipeline of young talent — being able to slide in two or three young forward prospects on cheap deals means that Fletcher doesn’t Third, all pending restricted and unrestricted free agents will be given necessarily have to make any tough decisions on his long-standing contracts based on Evolving Hockey’s fantastic contract projections players. model. That means: Justin Braun gets two years with a $2.867 million cap hit; Robert Hägg gets three years at $2.726 million; Tyler Pitlick And it’s not wishful thinking to assume that those prospects are NHL- receives three years at $2.418 million; Philippe Myers gets two years at ready. Players like Frost, Bunnaman, Carsen Twarynski and David Kaše $1.558 million; Derek Grant receives a one-year, $1.319 million deal; proved they can at least hold their own at the NHL level in short stints Nicolas Aubé-Kubel gets two years at $1.027 million; and Mark Friedman this season, and guys like Laczynski, Wade Allison, Rubtsov, Maksim gets a one-year, $729,000 deal. Can one quibble with these numbers? Sushko and even Mikhail Vorobyev aren’t far behind them. I’d also Sure. But at least they provide solid ballpark figures. expect Fletcher to add a couple of Andy Andreoff types in free agency on The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 contracts with ELC-level cap hits, and they’d be in the roster mix as well if the kids don’t impress.

The bad news? The Flyers probably have to say goodbye to their pending UFAs. It’s very difficult to fit in Braun unless the Flyers first walked away from Hägg, a soon-to-be-restricted free agent (or moved out another blueliner).

As for the forwards, it’s at least possible to imagine Pitlick or Grant coming back in the flat-cap world, but it would have to be on a deal in the range of $1.5 million per year, which is a bit of a stretch (especially for Pitlick). Even in that optimistic scenario, the Flyers would be slammed up against the cap and likely would have to roll with a 22-man roster rather than the maximum of 23.

Still, the core pieces are untouched, and even role players the next level down are safe. A flat cap puts the Flyers in a tough spot for the 2021 offseason — Carter Hart, Travis Sanheim, Laughton and Matt Niskanen will all need new deals, with the 2022 expiration of Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux’s contracts on the horizon as well. But Fletcher wouldn’t have to take a hacksaw to his roster to adhere to an $81.5 million 2020- 21 salary cap ceiling.

The cap goes down

This is where things get tough.

In fairness, if the cap ceiling does decrease by 5 percent for 2020-21, almost every team would have to make difficult decisions. The Flyers probably aren’t even in the top half of the league when it comes to how much their roster would have to be gutted in this scenario. (Thoughts and prayers, Toronto Maple Leafs.)

But they would need to excise at least one decently sized contract to get under a $77.5 million cap ceiling, in addition to moving on from all of their pending UFAs. And while there are a few candidates to be the odd man out, one stands above the rest.

Shayne Gostisbehere is something of a luxury piece for the Flyers — they’re basically allocating a $4.5 million cap hit for a third-pair power play specialist in the hopes that he regains past form. Even if he does, he’d likely still come in behind Provorov, Sanheim, Niskanen and probably Myers on the blue-line depth chart. And while I don’t subscribe to the belief that the Flyers playing their best hockey of the season with Gostisbehere on the shelf means that they are “better off without him,” they did play objectively great hockey without him for an extended stretch, which implies he’s not exactly an essential cog anymore.

Could the Flyers move Gostisbehere (without retaining salary) in a cap armageddon world? Probably. Puck-moving defensemen are coveted throughout the league, and it would be fairly easy to sell Ghost as a reclamation project. Add in that Mark Friedman is banging on the NHL door, and Gostisbehere makes sense as the contracted player most likely to be moved if cap space had to be cleared.

But even with Gostisbehere out of the picture, the Flyers’ cap situation would be extremely tight in this scenario. Assuming all of the RFAs are signed and Elliott is brought back to serve as Hart’s backup, that leaves just $2.66 million to fill up to three forward spots on the roster. Suddenly, the cap hits of players on entry-level deals become extremely important, as would the cap numbers for any cheap veterans added in the summer to provide depth and camp competition. Plus, it doesn’t account for Lindblom and his uncertain contract status, or any potential bonus overages.

Still, the Flyers could make it work without too much pain. A Hägg/Friedman/Samuel Morin third-pair rotation isn’t going to inspire a ton of confidence on paper unless Friedman or Morin dramatically exceeds expectations, but few teams are going to have fantastic third pairs in this cap hell world. And there won’t be many clubs that can boast of a better fourth line than Raffl-Laughton-Aubé-Kubel. This is still a fairly deep roster.

The real pain felt by the Flyers in a flat- or decreased-cap world wouldn’t come until 2021, most likely. The expected revenue shortfall is going to reverberate far beyond the 2020-21 season, and Fletcher is going to need all the cap space he can get for potentially large raises for Hart and Sanheim, in particular, that summer.

But in the short term, the Flyers should be able to weather the impeding league-wide cap shakeup, and remain a formidable force on paper entering the 2020-21 season — whenever it begins. 1183064 Pittsburgh Penguins

Penguins on pause: Jason Zucker fills a top-six need now and into the future

Mike DeFabo

The NHL has “paused” its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is unclear if it will resume. So, with one eye still on the future, the Post- Gazette’s Matt Vensel and Mike DeFabo are looking back at what each Penguins player did in 2019-20. We started with the captain, No. 87, and will count down by jersey number.

Long before Jake Guentzel crashed into the boards and created a massive void in the top-six, the Penguins had their eye on Jason Zucker.

For about three years, general manager Jim Rutherford coveted the skilled, slick-skating forward. He even had a deal in place with the Minnesota Wild to bring Zucker to Pittsburgh during the 2019 offseason. However, when used his partial no-trade clause, the deal fell through.

On Feb. 10, the Penguins found a way to make the deal work after all. In Rutherford’s most-significant trade of the season, the Penguins acquired Zucker from the Wild in exchange for their best defensive prospect (Calen Addison), a conditional 2020 first-round pick and struggling forward Alex Galchenyuk.

The trade can be explained in two ways. It’s a win-now move for a team that’s always looking to maximize the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin window. It should also help the Penguins win by playing their specific brand of hockey, a game predicated on speed and skill.

Zucker stepped right into Guentzel’s spot in the top line, skating on Crosby’s left wing. He also earned some time on the top power-play unit. In 15 games, the 28-year-old tallied six goals and six assists, bringing his season total to 20 goals and 21 assists. It marks the fifth 20-goal campaign in his last six seasons, including a 33-goal performance during the 2017-18 season.

When asked to compare the Penguins system to the Wild system, Zucker said the differences are “black and white.” However, in the long run, when Zucker becomes accustomed to the way the Penguins want to play, the speed game and the latitude the Penguins afford their skill players should, in theory, help him play to his strengths and elevate his game as time goes on.

DEFINING MOMENT: It took Zucker two games to show Penguins fans what Rutherford saw in him. During a Feb. 11 win over Montreal, Zucker tallied two goals, his first two points in a Penguins sweater.

STAT THAT STANDS OUT: Zucker averaged 0.8 points per game during his 15 games in Pittsburgh, the best per-game stats of his nine -year career. The next closest was when he averaged 0.78 points per game during his 33-goal season in 2017-18.

IF THE SEASON RESUMES: The Penguins will have some decisions to make in their top-six. All indications from Rutherford and coach Mike Sullivan are that if the season returns, Guentzel’s season might eventually resume along with it. If Guentzel steps back into his normal spot on Crosby’s left wing, Zucker could slide down to play next to Malkin. Or maybe Zucker jumps to the right wing on the top line? Either way, the Penguins will have options.

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK: One of the things that excited Rutherford about this trade is that Zucker remains on contract through 2022-23 on a deal that carries a $5.5 million average annual value. So while, yes, this is a “win-now” move. The definition of “now” extends well beyond this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs. In a sense, Zucker has become another piece of the Penguins’ core.

Post Gazette LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183065 Pittsburgh Penguins Baratz have partnered to produce meals for people with financial issues. Wregget’s restaurant is working with Baratz.

The plan works for everyone. Those in need are receiving the food and His life saved, Ken Wregget hopes his restaurant survives, too Wregget is able to get some of his employees much-needed work. Essentially, Wregget’s restaurant is working with Double Play to distribute food to charities that need it, with Casa San Jose, a Pittsburgh foundation, leading the way in this mission. By Josh Yohe Apr 17, 2020 “We’re getting as many meals as we can to Casa San Jose,” Wregget

said. “Look around. Food banks are in need. People are in need. A lot of It was Jan. 27, 2019, and Ken Wregget knew something was wrong. people need help right now. It just makes sense for us to do anything we can to help, to make lunches for people who really need it. I hope A few minutes later, he was in an ambulance en route to St. Clair everyone reading this goes to their website. Donate what you can. In the Hospital, the victim of a major heart attack. second address line, type in ‘double play.’ It will help local restaurants and help people who need it.” Fifteen months later, Wregget’s lifestyle is better, and so is his health. His life is back on track. The man who once made 54 saves in the Penguins’ Wregget is from Canada but very much considers himself a Pittsburgher. classic, four-overtime game against the Washington Capitals in 1996 is He was traded to the Penguins from the Flyers, along with looking to make one more huge, post-hockey save: Like so many and , in 1992. Even though he was traded to Calgary in business owners, these are tense times, and Wregget is the owner of 31 1997, he never sold his house in Pittsburgh. To him, this has always Sports Bar and Grille in Collier Township. been home.

“It’s a very concerning time for anyone in my position,” Wregget said. “All “I don’t know what it is about this place, but I’ve just always loved it here restaurants and businesses are taking a beating right now. It’s probably and have always loved the people in this town,” he said. “I still remember never going to be the way it was, and if it is, it’s going to take a while. I’m getting to know the fans when they were asking for autographs when I definitely concerned.” got here. I wasn’t Mario Lemieux or anything, but I signed for some people and I just immediately liked it here, liked the people. And I just Wregget, however, is taking a positive approach. The adversity he’s dealt wanted to be a part of it here.” with in the past couple of years has changed his entire approach. What he endured wasn’t a minor heart attack, but it was a major wakeup call. Wregget long had an interest in restaurant ownership and finally opened The goaltender enjoyed a successful NHL career from 1983 through his dream establishment in 2013. 2000, winning 225 games while playing for the Maple Leafs, Flyers, Penguins, Flames and Red Wings. He won the Stanley Cup with the “I was definitely always intrigued by this business and wanted to be part Penguins in 1992. The Athletic spoke to Wregget as part of its “Catching of it,” he said. “It’s a dynamic industry, and it’s an interesting one. It has up with” series. its challenges and we’re dealing with that right now. But anything worth doing in life is going to have challenges. Just to have a place we love, in The Manitoba native has always been a successful restaurant owner, as a city we love, has been so rewarding.” 31 Sports Bar and Grille has been a local favorite for seven years, showcasing some of the area’s best live bands. Many old teammates and coaches stop by. Eddie Johnston, Wregget’s old coach, showed up for Ugly Christmas Sweater night and was the Along the way, though, Wregget wasn’t taking care of himself despite his runaway winner. Frankie Leroux is a regular. Dave Hanson, of “Slap professional success. Shot” fame, also stops by quite often, as do a number of his former teammates. “What happened a year or two ago, it was a very tough time in my life,” Wregget said. “Had a lot of neurological issues. There were back issues. “It’s always great seeing those guys,” Wregget said. “And hopefully, Walking issues. Then, along the way, I have a heart attack. It was a very before too much longer, we’ll be seeing everyone again.” life-changing experience, to say the least. I started looking at life a whole lot differently than I had before. I’m a very lucky man. I’m very blessed to Until then, Wregget is doing his part for the community and hoping his still be here. It wasn’t a minor heart attack. If I were home by myself that business can survive. If it bounces back like its owner, everything will be night … luckily my girlfriend was there. And the doctors at St. Clair just fine. Hospital were amazing. So, what I’m doing now is, I’m living a better life. “You learn that every day is a gift,” Wregget said. “I love every minute of And I’m happier. I’m just trying to take advantage of the time I’ve been it now. And I love this restaurant. I’m hopeful everything gets back on given and I realize how lucky I am to be feeling good again.” track soon.” Hopefully Wregget’s newfound health and energy for life will come in The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 handy. His business is understandably struggling.

“Even if we start back up, restaurants might lose 40-60 percent of their business for a while because of social distancing,” Wregget said. “It’s been awful. We had to lay off pretty much our entire staff, other than three or four people who are helping out with some stuff, some social media, stuff like that.”

Some of the bands that had been slated to perform at 31 Sports Bar and Grille have conducted concerts that have aired in affiliation with the restaurant’s Facebook page. It’s Wregget’s way of getting the bands exposure while also keeping his establishment in as much of a spotlight as possible these days. John and Chad Graham, members of the popular West Virginia based band Cross Creek, will play tonight at 7, in fact.

“Thank God for the Internet,” he said.

A handful of employees remain at 31 Sports Bar and Grille for takeout duties. From 4 to 8 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays, the restaurant is open. Wregget has also gone out of his way to provide food for those in need in the community, as well as workers who are working in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as those in the medical field and local police officers.

Wregget is proud of his restaurant’s affiliation with Dr. Mark Baratz, a local hand surgeon. Baratz and partners have begun an initiative called Double Play, and the concept is a simple one. Local restaurants and 1183066 San Jose Sharks

Sharks' Brent Burns reveals first linemate who helped shape NHL career

By Alex Didion April 17, 2020 8:47 AM

The first one always is the most memorable.

The adjustment in jumping from minor league hockey to the NHL is steep, but those veterans that first take the ice with a young player can help navigate some of those growing pains.

Sharks defenseman Brent Burns began his NHL career as a forward with the Minnesota Wild, and benefited from that very situation.

"It changed a lot in my first year, because the lineup changed quite a bit,” Burns told ESPN. “But I played with Alexandre Daigle. I was a right wing, he was a left wing. And Marc Chouinard at center. It kinda switched off between Chouinard, Darby Hendrickson and Wes Walz.

“Wes Walz was an unbelievable leader and taught me a lot. Really helped shape me quite a bit.”

Walz was in his third season back in the NHL after a mid-career decision to play in Switzerland for five seasons.

Burns spent his first seven NHL years in Minnesota before being traded to San Jose in June 2011.

Now in his 16th season, Burns has an opportunity to do the same for young players coming up through the Sharks’ system.

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183067 St Louis Blues Blais has stayed in St. Louis since the NHL shut down play March 12, living in the Central West End with teammate Vince Dunn.

“We’ve been doing a lot of rollerblading (in Forest Park), lots of video Blues' Blais has found a home in St. Louis games, lots of body weight workouts that our trainers sent us from the Blues,” Blais said. “It’s been a weird time, but we’re not the only ones in the situation. So we’re just trying to stay positive.” Jim Thomas They eat at home and share in the cooking duties, although Blais says Dunn does a little more.

In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, Sammy Blais became a “He makes pretty good chicken, I’ll give that to him,” Blais said. millionaire. St Louis Post Dispatch LOADED: 04.18.2020 The 23-year-old forward from Montmagny, Quebec, agreed to terms this week on a two-year, $3 million contract extension. It might be premature to say that Blais has arrived as an NHL player, but he’s at least gained a foothold.

“It feels good to get that out of the way,” Blais said. “To be here for the next two years is really nice. I’ve had it pretty hard since I’ve been playing pro. A lot of call-ups — AHL, NHL — to get that contract, it means a lot. I really love playing in St. Louis, and with the group of guys we have, I really wanted to re-sign here.”

Blais had been scheduled for restricted free agency at the end of this season. But with general manager and his staff making the most of the down time caused by the NHL’s coronavirus-caused “pause,” Blais said the deal came together pretty quickly.

During his first two seasons with the Blues — 2017-18 and 2018-19 — Blais played a combined 43 games, constantly shuffling between St. Louis and the team’s American Hockey League affiliate in San Antonio. He made the trip so many times over those two seasons that it was suggested the highways between St. Louis and San Antonio be renamed the Sammy Blais Expressway. Of course, Blais was flying back and forth between the cities. But you get the point.

“It was really hard mentally,” Blais said. “But I just stayed strong. I knew I could play in the NHL and just kept working.”

A big factor in Blais’ development was having as his first pro coach, for the AHL’s during the 2016-17 season. Berube now is the Blues’ coach.

“I’ve had some tough love from him, but he wants the best from all his players,” Blais said. “I think that’s how he gets it. He’s really respected in the locker room.

“I know what he wants from me, and I know what he expects from me. So I just try to play my game and try to do all the details that they tell me to do. Try to respect the game plan. And I think when you have confidence from your coach, it just gives you confidence yourself.”

Blais had a strong pro debut with the Wolves, scoring 26 goals in that ’16-17 season. But he always has had skill when it comes to shooting, passing and elusiveness (although he’s not the fastest skater around).

Berube wanted him to add another element to his game — physical play.

“In junior (hockey), I was not really a physical player,” Blais said. “But when I came into pro hockey, ‘Chief’ (Berube) told me I was a big guy, I could use my shoulders more. I started doing it, and I think it was another aspect to my game. When I started using it, I became a better player. I think that’s why I’m in the NHL today.”

This season, Blais leads the Blues in hits per game (3.9). He was second, with 2.9 hits per game, in 2018-19 to Michael Del Zotto’s 3.0. But Del Zotto played in only seven games. Blais’ reputation as a physical player has grown to the point that other teams get aggravated with his hits, and retaliate.

Oh well.

“It’s part of the game,” Blais said. “I think it’s good for our team. We got a couple physical players on our team. It’s part of Blues hockey, and I think everyone gets into it.”

Another thing that helped Blais become an NHL player has been his offseason training the past couple summers. Last summer he worked in Montreal with Stephane Dube,’ who has been a strength and conditioning coach in the past for the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins.

“I did a lot of jumps, sprints, workouts,” Blais said. “So I think that was big for me, getting my legs stronger. Better starts. It was a good summer.” 1183068 St Louis Blues is to support the players in a sense of giving them the best chance to win. When I think we have an opportunity to sign someone that enhances our ability to win, you take it.”

Blues' general manager gives new meaning to working from home Some rushed to interpret Scandella’s extension as a grim foreshadowing of Pietrangelo’s departure. It said more about the Blues preparing for seasons without veteran defenseman , who suffered a significant heart ailment in February. Still, every signing affects the Ben Frederickson chance of another in some way.

“I think we have been pretty consistent,” Armstrong said when asked Doug Armstrong was free at 10 a.m. about the status of the team’s negotiations with Pietrangelo. “We do our work behind closed doors. When we have something to announce, we Make that 11:30. will.”

Then, voicemail. Here’s a good math lesson for parents trying to teach their kids from home. “Sorry,” said the Blues general manager Friday after he called back. “I was just on the other line and couldn’t jump off.” Pull up the Blues’ contract commitments for next season. The total is a little more than $78.5 million at the moment. It could have been MacKenzie MacEachern’s agent with good news. Let’s be optimistic for the Blues and say next season’s salary cap stays It could have been Blues coach Craig Berube with an update about the the same as it is this season ($81.5 million), and that it doesn’t decrease training camp plans he hopes to put into motion if this season resumes. because of the coronavirus-caused lost revenue — which it could. It could have been one of the scouts Armstrong has been pestering since Let’s be optimistic for Pietrangelo and say he matches the recent the season’s pause created more time to prepare for the draft. contract of a comparable player in Nashville’s Roman Josi. Last year What, you expected a global pandemic to force Armstrong into sitting on landed an eight-year extension worth a little more than $9 million per his sanitized hands? season, which Pietrangelo very well could not, considering the league’s cap hit could hurt his potential free agency. No way. How do the Blues make the captain fit? You don’t need a calculator to The executive who steered the Blues to their first Stanley Cup see the rub, even before pending restricted free agent Vince Dunn’s fate championship and put them on a promising path to defend that title spent is determined. Some funds will need to be freed up if Pietrangelo is going this week giving new meaning to the phrase working from home. to return.

Most of us are starting to feel a sense of accomplishment when we pick It could be trading backup goalie Jake Allen. It could be something jeans over sweatpants during the coronavirus shutdown. Armstrong unexpected. Armstrong’s next move is often hard to predict. finalized three contact extensions — Sammy Blais, Marco Scandella and Mackenzie MacEachern — from his home office. “I do things when they present themselves, and they make sense for everybody involved,” he said. “The last couple of days, things have “No rest for the wicked,” he said. worked out where I think everybody was content. We are going to keep “The games have stopped, but the business has not stopped. We want to trying to find common ground with other players as we move forward.” make sure we have a competitive team when we come back, and have a The general manager’s busy week did more than shape his team’s competitive team moving forward.” future. It moved his negotiations with the captain to center stage.

MacEachern’s two-year extension will pay him $900,000 in each of the One of the two doesn’t like to sit and wait. next two seasons. That deal came one day after the team surprised many with a four-year, $13.1 million agreement with pending unrestricted St Louis Post Dispatch LOADED: 04.18.2020 free agent Scandella. And that deal came one day after Armstrong locked in pending restricted free agent Blais with a two-year, $3 million deal. Grand total: Eight years, nearly $18 million, in fewer than 72 hours.

Suddenly, picking denim doesn’t feel like such an accomplishment.

“For the last decade, we have been one of the top two or three teams in the NHL,” Armstrong said. “My goal as a manager is to keep the train on the track for as long as possible.”

“The players that have come in, I think, have enjoyed it here. Someone like Scandella felt there was no need (to look around). He had been on other teams and felt this was a comfortable spot to be in moving forward. When you talk to him, he will tell you why he signed. I’m hoping we’ve created an environment where people feel on and off the ice, they have a chance to be successful.”

This is Armstrong being Armstrong.

Uncertainty, and there’s so much of it at this moment, will not lead to inaction when he sees chances to improve his team, and perhaps send a respectful yet direct message to his captain in the process.

An executive in Armstrong’s position could have handled this week differently. The lack of moves from other teams suggest many did. Unknowns hang over the league. Example: How much could next season’s salary cap decrease if coronavirus robs this season of its playoffs? A big unknown — the future of pending unrestricted free-agent defenseman and captain Alex Pietrangelo — hangs over the Blues, specifically. But a desirable contract available today might not be there tomorrow, and securing pieces around Pietrangelo is a must whether he stays or goes.

“When you are running a business, you have to run your business,” Armstrong said. “It all has to fall under a salary-cap umbrella, but my job 1183069 St Louis Blues

MacEachern agrees to two-year deal with Blues

Jim Thomas

For the third day in a row, the Blues have signed a player to a contract extension. At this rate, general manager Doug Armstrong will be done with his offseason roster-shaping before hockey resumes.

Forward Mackenzie MacEachern has agreed to a two-year contract worth $900,000 per season, the Blues announced Friday afternoon. It’s a one-way deal, meaning MacEachern makes the same amount of money whether he’s with the Blues or in the American Hockey League.

The Blues agreed to terms with defenseman Marco Scandella on Thursday and forward Sammy Blais on Wednesday.

MacEachern had seven goals and three assists in 51 games for the Blues this season when play was paused March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic. That’s pretty good production for someone who averaged a modest 8 minutes 57 seconds of ice time playing wing on the Blues’ fourth line.

MacEachern, 26, was a third-round draft pick (No. 67 overall) by the Blues in 2012. His only other NHL experience came during the Blues’ Stanley Cup season, when he appeared in 29 games with three goals and two assists. He did not appear in any playoff games.

He’s making $750,000 this year, and would’ve been an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent after this season prior to the extension.

MacEachern has good size at 6-2, 190, skates well, and plays with a physical edge. As the Blues have gotten healthier over the second half of the season, MacEachern has found it more difficult to get in the lineup; since Jan. 31, he has been a healthy scratch in 10 of 20 games.

Just before that stretch, he missed two games with a knee injury.

St Louis Post Dispatch LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183070 St Louis Blues They go on to talk about life under quarantine because of the pandemic. “I’m now finding out my wife is actually a brunette,” Buck says. “After all

these years, we are coming up on our sixth anniversary. I never knew her Media Views: Unfiltered Buck opens up about personal life in sometimes nails could get so jaggedy. … Now that nobody else can come in my R-rated podcasts house and she can’t go anywhere to get work done, she’s like an entirely different person to me. I’m more attracted to her every day, I swear to God."

Dan Caesar He then is introspective.

“I live in a puddle of guilt, an ocean of guilt that you want your own time,” he adds. “… I think guilt can be good to a small degree, keep you on the readily admits he has insecurity issues. right path. … Every therapist will tell you, even my own, guilt (is) the gift So Buck, the nation’s most prominent television play-by-play voice of his that keeps on giving.” generation for pro team sports, has taken to a public platform to discuss He also discusses in depth his relationship with his daughters, Natalie many of his personal feelings and family relationships in the latest step and Trudy, from his previous marriage to Ann Archambault and the he has taken in what he considers therapeutic release. troubles that came after he became engaged to Michelle. Buck, a lifelong St. Louisan who broadcast Cardinals and Mizzou games “They will tell you that it was hard for me to tell them that I was going to early in his career, has called the last 20 World Series as well as the get married because I feel like they felt they were losing their place with Super Bowl every third season in the last decade and half as me even more and somebody was replacing their mom,” Buck says. centerpieces of his long tenure at Fox Sports. And he has spent much of “They were old enough to get it all, they were 13 and 10. It was the his career in a world that his father, legendary Cardinals announcer Jack hardest conversation I’ve ever had in my life, when you have to sit down Buck, never experienced. and tell these two beings that you love, would lay down your life for, that The age of social media has allowed anyone to be a critic, often with a you’re making this gigantic change and mom and dad won’t be together degree of vile that only the cloak of anonymity can bring. And Buck has anymore. been a prime target. This, he freely acknowledges, bothers him. Even “… Michelle was unbelievable throughout this whole thing. She learned though he’ll be 51 next week he still has trouble turning the proverbial from her own stepdad. Being a stepparent is knowing when to step in, other cheek. So he has embarked on another effort to try to allow people when to step back, when to step up, when to step out. That’s how he to get to know him beyond the face, and mostly voice, that rolls into their went about it, and that’s how she went about it. She never forced herself living rooms or onto their mobile devices for big events. on (the girls). She was not any part of any reason why I wasn’t with their About 3½ years ago he published an autobiography, “Lucky Bastard,” in mom, which was a huge benefit.” which he candidly addressed many personal matters. Then he recently It has been rewarding, Buck says on the podcast. tried to show an approachable side by doing play-by-play of videos from everyday life events sent to him by people cooped up because of the “I feel like what I put in (to raising the girls,) I’m getting back now, coronavirus crisis. especially with the way they are with my boys,” he says. ”I have never had more joy, or something bring me to the verge of tears for the right He now is expanding on that with a podcast, “Daddy Issues,” with actor reasons, than watching my basically 2-year old sons grabbing my Oliver Hudson. Each is the son of prominent parents — Hudson’s daughters by their hands and walking them somewhere and sitting down biological father is musician Bill Hudson, his mom is actress Goldie Hawn with them and just being with them. It’s beautiful.” while actor Kurt Russell, Hawn’s longtime companion, is a stepfather figure. That leads to conversations about growing up in a household of But there were tough times. prominence. They also discuss their experiences as fathers, and bring on big-name guests to talk about their family relationships. Hudson asks Buck if the girls had accepted Michelle before she had the boys. “YOU DON’T KNOW ME … but you can if you try my podcast,” Buck has told his more than 260,000 Twitter followers. He also said, “If you think “Not to this point,” Buck says. “I remember Trudy saying, ‘This is about you know who I am, I GUARANTEE you don’t. But the pod will shine a Michelle, you don’t want more kids. This is about Michelle.’” light on what I’m about.” So Buck said he talked to Hudson’s sister, Kate. Buck certainly has delivered as advertised. He and Hudson can be lively “She’s Miss Free Love, and she’s like ‘Oh they should be so excited,’” and raw, are uncensored and seemingly no topic is off limits in Buck says. “Then I went and talked to a therapist and they’re like, ‘No, conversations that can reach R-rated levels. Subjects sway across the this is completely normal. Wait till the kids are born’ … and my therapist board — sports to sex, psychological issues to child rearing, pornography believed it would flip. Man, it was like clockwork. The minute those boys to summer camp. There also is plenty of general chat in the series that popped into the world it was like they wanted to eat 'em they couldn’t get posts, for free, on Thursdays (http://Apple.co/daddyissues). There have enough of 'em. Now were all together and it’s been the biggest silver been three episodes to date, the latest with baseball’s Alex Rodriguez. lining of all of this and it’s brought our entire family closer than it’s ever Getting personal been.”

Buck said he first was friends with his podcast partner’s sister, model- Hudson then steers the conversation elsewhere: “Now if she just will turned-actress Kate Hudson, then became buddies with Oliver through have sex with you …” golf outings. Big bucks? “We’re the odd couple,” said Buck, who is seven years older and comes Things went to another level on Friday when a porn website offered Buck from a much different background than Hudson. “While he’s a little more $1 million to do play-by-play of sex acts, evidently 25 calls a week carefree, I’m wound tighter than a drum. It’s a good mix.” through May. The shows start with Buck and Hudson having personal, often no-holds- Buck and his wife had some fun with the publicity stunt, an offer later barred discussions. To wit, here is some of the banter in Episode 2, extended to other sportscasters. before entrepreneur Mark Cuban joined them. "Today — this 17th day of April in the year 2020 — I became the first “How’s your sex life with your wife?” Hudson asks Buck, saying he had sports announcer to ever reject a 7 figure offer from a porn site," he been texting with Michelle Beisner-Buck and heard it’s “not too exciting tweeted. "@MichelleBeisner I want this on my headstone." for you.” She chimed in: "Of all the offers you’ve turned down to keep your day job The couple has twin boys who turn 2 near the end of the month. @buck — this one not only hurts the most, but also had the most “By the end of the day we’re done, we are frazzled,” Buck says. ”A bottle potential. Epic fail." of wine is open and now we’re watching ‘Ozark’ and we’ll get through an Buck on Buck episode, maybe two. ... And that’s our sex life.” Buck, in an interview, says the shows not only are fun to do but restorative.

“I think it’s good for me, it’s in some weird way liberating,” he said. “I think people have formed an opinion of me, after 26 years at Fox and all those years with the Cardinals and being my dad’s son, and kind of have me in a box. It’s good for my mind and my soul to throw out there a little bit more about who I really am. I’m as much my mom as my dad.”

It is a whole different business now than when his father, who died in 2002, was broadcasting on KMOX as welll as doing Cardinals games on the club's radio network and moonlighting by calling "Monday Night Football" on radio as well as other national sportscasting assignments.

“They were able to be more themselves on the air,” he said. “Some of the stuff my dad said during the sixth inning of a random Cardinals broadcast wouldn’t fly these days. They turned the mic on and he was himself. It’s really hard these days to be yourself on a national level.

“I probably worry about it more than I should, but I’m the only national broadcaster to do the World Series in the era of social media. It’s a different world, and complaints get delivered right to your phone — not through the U.S. Postal Service to the office at KMOX or CBS.”

He then became introspective.

“My daddy issues stem from I’m carrying my dad’s legacy with me wherever I go, if nowhere other than in my mind,” he said. “Oliver’s got it times three, almost four. He’s Kate’s brother, he’s (actor) Wyatt Russel’s brother and he’s Kurt and Goldie’s son. It’s hard to get away from those big shadows."

That is especially true for Buck, whose father was an iconic figure in St. Louis for decades.

"For a certain group of people of a certain age, especially in this city, I’ll never get outside my dad’s shadow," he said. "Thank God he and I were as close as we were, more friends than father-son. If we weren’t I’d probably resent a lot of that but it doesn’t bother me. But I still think of myself as this 21-year-old (from) the early '90s. And I’m about to be 51. … I still think of myself stuck in time like in the early '90s. It helps me talk with a microphone in front of my face and free wheel.”

He acknowledges some of the podcasts’ subject matter is not for everyone, and said on one of the episodes that he never has had pushback from Fox officials.

“I think I’m wise enough to know where I can and can’t go,” he told the Post-Dispatch. “But sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat the next day and (think), ‘What did we talk about?’ My daughters listen to it, my wife listens to it. As long as it passes my filters and their filters, then I’m OK with it.”

He said that while he doesn’t think his mom has tuned in, he also values the opinion of his sister Julie.

“She’s cool with it, she’s a good judge of where I should and shouldn’t go,” he said.

But he knows the language can be a problem for some — the full roster of obscenities is in play — and has heard about that.

“That’s just the way I talk,” he said. “I’m not saying that’s good, but so did the white-haired man that I followed into this business. He just didn’t talk like that when the microphone was on.

“I realize it isn’t for everyone. But it’s the way I want to do it. Open. Honest. Me. Otherwise I’m not interested.”

St Louis Post Dispatch LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183071 St Louis Blues But what about Alex Pietrangelo, who is scheduled for unrestricted free agency after this season? After agreeing to terms Wednesday with Sammy Blais on a two-year contract worth $1.5 million a year, and now Scandella at $3.275 million per year, is there enough money to re-sign Scandella gets 4-year deal with Blues; will this have ripple effect on the Blues’ all-star defenseman? Pietrangelo? The answer is “no” unless Armstrong makes some moves to free up salary. According to CapFriendly.com, the Blues have only $5.4 million of cap space under a projected salary cap of $84 million. And it’s possible Jim Thomas the cap could be less because of revenue lost during the coronavirus “pause.”

The Blues have another player under contract. Defenseman Marco “We have a plan and we just continue to sign guys," Armstrong said. Scandella has agreed to terms on a four-year contract worth $3.275 “Any organization, you can’t just do nothing and wait for one thing to million per year, the team announced Thursday afternoon. happen.

Suffice it to say that Scandella, 30, impressed the Blues in just 11 games “Our goal is to try and get Petro signed. We were gonna need a player with the team since being acquired via trade from the Montreal like Marco, with or without Petro. And now we have that done but we still Canadiens on Feb. 18. He had been scheduled for unrestricted free want to sign Petro.” agency after this season. St Louis Post Dispatch LOADED: 04.18.2020 “I think that in the games here, and how quickly he was able to partner with (Colton) Parayko, we thought we had enough information (to pursue an extension),” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said.

It was clear to Armstrong that Scandella was the player they thought they were getting from Montreal.

“And how he played in our group, what we asked him to do, and what we were replacing in terms of what Jay (Bouwmeester) was doing at that particular time,” Armstrong said. “A strong defender, good stick, decent skater. A ‘plus’ skater and a good partner for a guy like Colton.”

Paired with Parayko in all 11 games, Scandella had no goals and one assist and was plus-4. It was a seamless transition for Scandella, who averaged 20 minutes 18 seconds per game with St. Louis before the NHL suspended play March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

He also saw lots of duty on the penalty kill unit, averaging 2:22 of shorthanded ice time per game. Excluding goalies Jordan Binnington and Jake Allen, that was third-best on the team trailing only Bouwmeester (2:38) and Robert Bortuzzo (2:30).

“We obviously knew him well from his time in Minnesota,” Armstrong said. “A good, strong competitor that played against the other team’s better players — played against our better players. He came as advertised. I think he’s much more comfortable in the Western Conference. And fortunately for us, that’s where we play.”

After playing all or part of seven seasons with the Minnesota Wild, Scandella was traded to Buffalo prior to the 2017-18 season. After 2½ seasons with the Sabres, he was traded to his hometown Montreal Canadiens on Jan. 3 of this year and then shipped to St. Louis 1½ months later for a second-round pick in this year’s draft and a conditional fourth-rounder in the 2021 draft.

The Canadiens now get the fourth-rounder, because one of the conditions that would send them that pick was if the Blues signed Scandella to a contract extension.

Although not a big scorer, Scandella has a decent shot, and is capable of jumping into the play on offense. He has a physical element to his game as well.

“He can be a primary penalty killer,” Armstrong said. “Can be a primary shutdown guy. Can play deep into the third period when you’re up by a goal and tied in a game.

“You’re trying to build a team that has all sorts of different elements,” Armstrong said. “Marco gave us an element that we had in Jay, and now we have that moving forward. We like that style of defenseman — the rangy guys that have got good sticks and have good feet.”

By retaining Scandella through the 2023-24 season, the Blues almost certainly are moving on from Bouwmeester, who may retire after a life- threatening cardiac episode March 11 in Anaheim.

“I’d rather not comment on that,” Armstrong said. “Jay at his press conference (in March) said he was not gonna play the rest of the season and would make some decision in the summer. And I’ll just allow him to go down that path.”

No matter what Bouwmeester decides, his contract with the Blues expires after this season. 1183072 Tampa Bay Lightning Alumni Jassen Cullimore and Mathieu Garon coach at Jesuit. Dan Girardi and Vinny Lecavalier coach a travel team on which their sons play along with Lightning coach ’s son.

Quality of high school hockey in Tampa Bay may surprise you “We’re seeing better coaching because the success of the Lightning means these guys are staying in this community after retirement,” Bubley The Lightning have helped develop prep hockey in the area and have said. “They’re getting involved in the community hockey.” seen players drafted into the NHL and Canadian juniors. Besides coaching from former NHL players making players better, it also has an effect on other coaches. They pick up different pieces they get from the alumni — be it a drill, a play, a mental approach — and take it DIANA C. NEARHOS back to their team, then pass it on from there. The programs the Lightning sponsor try to do the same.

TAMPA — When Dan Bubley started coaching high school hockey 17 Jake Richard, center, takes a shot during a Lightning High School years ago, if someone had suggested that a player from the Tampa Bay Hockey League game. Richard was drafted into the Ontario Hockey area would be drafted into the NHL, he would not have believed it. League. [Courtesy of Jake Richard]

“We would have said, ‘Nah, not going to happen,’ ” the Steinbrenner High “You have a well-intentioned dad who raises their hands but they don’t coach said. “Now we say, ‘Why can’t it be me? Why can’t it be my son?’ ” have any hockey background,” said Jay Feaster, the Lightning’s vice president of community hockey development. “That’s something else we Tampa Bay and Central Florida hockey have come a long way. Nate take seriously. We want to develop programs where we develop Smith, who grew up in Hudson, was drafted by the Jets in the third round coaches.” two years ago. Jake Richard, who grew up in Jacksonville before moving to Lakeland, was drafted into the , part of the When the Lightning started their Build the Thunder ball hockey program, junior Canadian Hockey League system, this month. they were going to 15 or so schools a year. Now they visit more than 200. In 2011, the high school hockey league had 385 players. This RELATED: Are you bored without live sports? We have suggestions season it had 625 across 18 varsity teams. For comparison, the Buffalo area has 25 hockey teams out of its 90 high schools. Smith played for Mitchell High for two seasons before entering the American junior system and is now at Minnesota State in Mankato. He Wood and Bubley stressed that quantity breeds competition and thus started out playing ball hockey with a friend. Then when he was 11, that talent. team switched to . “I think people would be surprised by the quality of high school hockey It is a familiar development path and one the Lightning have embraced. down here,” Bubley said. “People don’t even realize it exists, and then The organization’s “Build the Thunder” program brings ball hockey into when they’re exposed to it, they’re surprised by the quality.” schools to introduce kids to the sport. Tom Garavaglia, the Lightning’s community hockey manager, said a player’s development can start with Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 04.18.2020 ball hockey, then go on to learn-to-skate programs, then something like the organization’s “Lightning Made” camps or clinics. Then athletes join rec leagues and maybe move on to travel leagues.

Richard’s main team is Florida Alliance, a travel team out of Estero, but last season he also joined the George W. Jenkins High team, which plays in the Lightning High School Hockey League, after moving to Lakeland. He is the first player to be drafted into the Ontario League out of the Lightning league.

A few others from this part of Florida also have played in Canadian League juniors. Avery Winslow, from Clearwater, came up through the Canadian system and is playing in the Ontario League. Dominik Tmej, born in Bradenton, played two years for Manatee before spending time in the Quebec Major Junior League.

Smith, the Winnipeg prospect, sees the value in having players reach these levels. He is aware of who came before him.

Players with Florida roots aren’t unusual in the NHL. Last year’s top draft pick, Jack Hughes, and his older brother, Quinn, a 2018 first-round pick, were born in Orlando while their father was an assistant coach with the Solar Bears but developed in Canada, where the family moved for their father’s career. Flyers defenseman was born in Pembroke Pines and played in the Florida Junior Panthers program before moving to while he was in high school.

But the examples of Smith, 21, and Richard, 15, make NHL success feel more attainable for area players.

“To see a kid their age make it, now they say, ‘Maybe if I could put in the work, I can be that next-level guy and it’s not so far off,’ ” Jesuit hockey moderator Andy Wood said. “It’s not just a NHL dream that seems far off; now it’s Jake Richard.”

Wood has seen growth in high school and youth hockey in the bay area. He sees learn-to-skate programs “jammed” before high school practices and games, and estimates attendance at double what it was 10 years ago.

Some of that is due to the Lightning effect. Wood’s son, Vincent, is a “Lightning Cup baby.” He was young when the franchise won its only Stanley Cup in 2004, but around then, he told his dad he wanted to be like the players on the ice.

Bubley also credits Lightning players staying in the area after they retire. 1183073 Tampa Bay Lightning The side drama in Game 1 was how physical and nasty things were early, including several fights – involving Clifford, Kasperi Kapanen and Freddy The Goat (!!!) – despite the fact the Leafs dropped the gloves just eight times all season. This could be a long, ugly series. Simulating the 2020 NHL playoffs: Lightning vs. Leafs – James Mirtle

This isn’t happening again, is it? By Joe Smith, James Mirtle and Dom Luszczyszyn Apr 17, 2020 That was the natural question in the stunned Lightning dressing room following a Game 1 defeat. The same group that had waited a full year for redemption from last season’s spring stinker has now put themselves The NHL isn’t back yet, but we’re going to pretend it is. Over the last in an early hole. They knew it would be tough starting the playoffs without month, we’ve run a simulation of how the NHL’s regular season might captain Steven Stamkos, who is nearing a return from early March core have played out if the league hadn’t been suspended on March 12. Now, surgery. The power play, which surprisingly struggled in the second half the standings have been set and we’re carrying that forward through the of the season, went 0-for-4, with Nikita Kucherov slamming his stick off playoffs. This time around, one of our beat writers from each team will be the boards after the last one in the third. The Lightning got baited a bit in charge of every lineup decision, the narrative for every playoff game into some fights, with a rare Anthony Cirelli bout taking the team’s and they’ll get to decide what “happened” in each game. Join us as we shutdown center off the ice during a critical stretch in the second when make our way through the simulated postseason to crown a virtual the Leafs scored twice. These teams were pretty evenly matched in their Stanley Cup champion. meetings this season, so expect a long series. This would’ve been one of the marquee matchups of the first round. Two “There’s no panic in this group,” coach Jon Cooper said. And this time, teams full of electrifying talent facing off in an offensive showcase for the it’s a little easier to believe. ages. Two teams that have something big to prove after massive disappointment in last year’s playoffs. Two teams that didn’t start the – Joe Smith 2019-20 season on the right foot. Game 2 There are a lot of parallels between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs, two teams built to outscore opposing teams into Despite taking Game 1, Toronto opts to make some lineup swaps, oblivion – they’re just on different parts of their trajectories. While the putting in Denis Malgin for Frederik Gauthier. Tampa Bay goes with the Lightning have been close in year’s past with this core and have been same lineup. dominant during the regular season, the Leafs are still in the early part of Uhhh … shades of last season for Tampa Bay in the making? Leafs their window and haven’t seen any playoff success yet, losing in the first extend series lead with 4-1 win. round in three straight seasons. This series is certainly shaping up as a defining moment for this young Toronto’s path hasn’t been easy, and it unfortunately doesn’t get easier team. here against a Tampa Bay team that finished second in the league and is ready to avenge last season’s embarrassing first-round sweep. Though it The Leafs followed up Game 1’s convincing win with an even better looked like Toronto finally found its bearings down the stretch, going 8-2- performance in Game 2, stunning the powerhouse Lightning yet again. 2 after reaching full health, the Lightning were even hotter, going 10-1-1. The line of Hyman-Matthews-Marner produced three quick goals in a wild Even without Steven Stamkos in the lineup, this first round looks second period and Andersen had his best game of the season in shutting decidedly tilted in Tampa Bay’s favour with the Lightning having a 66 the door late. percent chance of advancing (assuming Stamkos shows up at some point). Concerns over the Leafs defensive play – and the blue line in particular – have so far proven misguided as a fully healthy Rielly has been able to Once Stamkos returns, the two teams have a pretty equal Big Three and log nearly 30 minutes a game and Tyson Barrie has played some of his winning this series may hinge on which elite trio performs at a higher best hockey as a Leaf. Everything is coming up Toronto early in this level. After that though, the rosters mostly stack in Tampa Bay’s favour. series, especially given all the time they’ve spent on the power play after The Lightning have a deeper pool of forwards (once Stamkos and his 3.7 a season of not getting many opportunities. wins returns) and defencemen, plus more high-end talent on the backend thanks to Victor Hedman, valued as one of the league’s best. Morgan “I always knew this team had this in them,” coach said. “It Rielly is great, but not at that elite level. Toronto’s defence has come a was just a matter of digging in and finding it and getting past some of the long way in terms of total value (mostly provided at the offensive end of excuses and inconsistency. And we have. But this isn’t over. We’ve got the ice), but it can’t match what Tampa Bay has to offer, one of the work to do.” deepest groups in the league. – James Mirtle

That group arguably props up what is the team’s one Achilles’ heel which While this may be a defining moment for the young Leafs team, this is is in net. While Andrei Vasilevskiy tends to have strong surface numbers, certainly a gut-check moment for the veteran Lightning core. it should be noted that he does so in one of the easiest shot quality environments in the league. That’s not the case for Frederik Andersen They’ve worn the scars of deep playoff runs before, feeling oh-so-close and though he’s struggled this year, he has a long history of being a to the elusive Cup. But now they face an 0-2 deficit for the second strong goalie. If Toronto wins, it’ll likely be thanks to strong play from its straight spring and another promising season on the brink. netminder. The Leafs are a formidable opponent, but nobody in the Tampa Bay The Leafs will have to take advantage of that, plus the absence of room expected to be here, dropping the first two games at home. The Stamkos for a few games, in order to get by what my model considers to power play continued its funk. The blue line has had their struggles, with be the league’s best team. Hedman looking like he’s playing through something and Jan Rutta still working his way back from a lower-body injury he rehabbed the final few Game 1 months.

Toronto pulls off the upset in Game 1, winning 5-2. They could use a jolt and may get one as the series moves to Toronto. For a team that was Jekyll and Hyde all season, this was the best of the Stamkos is nearing a return, with sources telling The Athletic he could be Leafs, right away. opened the scoring on an early in the lineup for Game 3. The Lightning are putting up a confident front, power play and then John Tavares and William Nylander connected on with coach Cooper saying there’s no other team he’d rather be leading in two beautiful goals in the second to give Toronto a 3-0 lead, while this situation. Veteran Pat Maroon, the only Cup winner in the room, went outshooting one of the best teams in the NHL 22-8 to that point. a step further.

As they often do, the Leafs made things interesting by allowing a couple “We are going to win Game 3,” he said. “This is far from over.” of goals in the third, but it was an unlikely hero in Kyle Clifford who added – Joe Smith the insurance goal when a Jake Muzzin point shot went in off his face. (The fan base’s desire to re-sign Clifford just went up.) Zach Hyman Game 3 finished things off with an empty netter. As expected, Stamkos makes his triumphant return to the lineup in Game One concern, however, is the Leafs’ lack of production from their third 3 with his team down 2-0 after having lost both games at home. Cooper and fourth lines, other than Clifford’s off the face goal. Keefe hinted at will look to get more usage out of his big guns with more time for the top changes there for Game 5. six and with Hedman, Mikhail Sergachev and Ryan McDonagh seeing a bump in ice-time as well. Toronto, feeling confident after two three-goal – James Mirtle wins, makes no changes. Game 5

The Lightning win their first playoff game in nearly two years with a 4-1 Toronto opts to bring out its secret weapon, bringing in OHL sensation victory to make it a 2-1 series. Nick Robertson to the big leagues for his NHL debut in the playoffs Pat Maroon talked the talk with his Game 3 guarantee. against arguably the league’s best team. No pressure, kid. Malgin comes out and Pierre Engvall drops down to the fourth line. No changes for the And his Lightning teammates backed him up with their biggest win of the Lightning, who have found a groove. year, beating the Leafs in Toronto to cut their series deficit in half. Tampa wins its third straight, a close 4-3 victory, and is now one win Stamkos made a triumphant return, scoring the go-ahead goal late in the away from the second round. second period – from his “office,” the left circle, on the power play. This was far from easy. “Stammer set the tone,” Cooper said. “You could sense the guys on the bench felt a bit taller with having him back.” The Lightning, the first team to win a home game this series, needed double overtime to complete the feat – and put the Leafs season on the The Lightning rode that top line of Stamkos, Brayden Point and brink. Kucherov. And the Cirelli line helped finally slow down Matthews and Mitch Marner. Matthews, with the goalie pulled for an extra attacker, forced OT in the final seconds of regulation with a snipe from the slot. There were grade-A Sergachev delivered a monster, 25-minute performance on the back end. looks in the first OT, including Marner ripping a shot off the crossbar. And Vasilevskiy was at his best with 29 saves, including a behind-the- back glove stop on Matthews early in the third. It wasn’t until 14 minutes into the second OT when Alex Killorn tipped a Hedman point shot past Andersen. went nuts, as the We have ourselves a series here heading into a telling Game 4. This was Lightning are one win away from Round 2. the Lightning’s first playoff win in a couple of years, but could it be the start of something? But the players warned that winning a third straight game in Toronto would be their toughest test yet. “We’ve got a long way to go,” Stamkos said. “But this is the way we’ve got to play.” “We don’t want to come back to Tampa for a Game 7,” Maroon said. “Let’s not give them any life.” – Joe Smith – Joe Smith That was … not good. The Leafs vow that they’re not done yet – and are not prepared for yet “We just need to be way better,” Keefe said. another playoff heartbreak.

“We can and we will,” added GM . “We need to get back to Tampa for a Game 7,” Matthews said. “Give ourselves some life.” The coach vowed significant changes after some pivotal mistakes on the blue line but wasn’t tipping his hand postgame. “We can’t lose three times on home ice,” Keefe added.

Game 4 will be big. The players all agreed the probability of that is exceptionally low, so much so that it’s unlikely it would happen in any simulation anyway. They – James Mirtle remain confident about this not being the end.

Game 4 – James Mirtle

Toronto has decided to load up their top pairing, putting Rielly with Jake Game 6 Muzzin – likely playing the duo close to half the game. Leafs Twitter rejoices as rookie defender Rasmus Sandin steps in for Ceci. No Despite the strange timing of the season being on the line, Dubas alters changes for Tampa Bay. the morning routine to give an impromptu lesson on probability to the players after seeing an unnerving quote at The Athletic misunderstanding A narrow 3-2 win by Tampa ties the series at two apiece and the home the probability of losing three home games in a row. crowd in every game has wasted a lot of money. “I had to tell them that the probability is low if no games had been played We have ourselves a series. yet, but that what happened in the two previous home games holds no The Lightning came into Toronto a few days ago with their season on the bearing for our odds in Game 6,” Dubas explained. “We have our own brink and left with an entirely different vibe. They swept the two games internal game models, but I don’t usually talk about them with the here against the Leafs, spurred by the return of Stamkos, who is playing players. That’s not the way our program operates, but with this being some inspired hockey. such a pivotal game I didn’t want the group going in with a false sense of security.” The power play has found its confidence again, with Kucherov and Point each scoring with the man advantage in Game 4. But the game-winner Neither team makes changes to their lineup. was a shorthanded breakaway by Selke candidate Cirelli. He stripped Odds, schmodds – the Leafs force Game 7 with a decisive 7-0 win. Hold Reilly at the blue line and went end to end, slipping a backhand five-hole. on to your butts.

“He’s been our engine,” Sergachev said. Well, OK then.

Coach Jon Cooper continued to ride Sergachev and Hedman on the blue John Tavares’ first-period hat trick gave way to a surprise blowout, as the line. The “nuclear” line of Stamkos-Point-Kucherov was buzzing again. Leafs emphatically won their first home game of the series.

The key question, though, is will this carry over into a pivotal Game 5? Other goals finally came from the supporting cast, including 18-year-old The home team has to win at some point, right? Robertson’s first NHL marker, a pair from Mikheyev – leading to fans – Joe Smith littering the ice with soup cans – and Engvall’s first of the series.

The Leafs didn’t play poorly in Game 4. They’re simply up against one of Yes, you could say the Leafs have opened the Engvault. the best teams of this era. Is this finally the year Toronto breaks its Game 7 curse?

“We always knew this would be a long series,” Keefe said. “And I liked “This is our time,” Tavares said, in a dramatic postgame speech. “Let’s the way we played here.” get it done.” – James Mirtle

The Lightning knew the Leafs would be the more desperate team. Their season was on the line, the center of the hockey universe was on the verge of crumbling.

But wow. Nobody saw this coming.

The Lightning were dominated in this one and, quite frankly, weren’t too interested in re-living it. They kept the focus looking forward to a Game 7 at home. Their fans.

And they’re betting their Davis Islands homes that Vasilevskiy will bounce back after this rout.

“Vasy has been our backbone all year,” Stamkos said. “We’ve just got to look ourselves in the mirror and play the best game of our season. Or we’ll have another long summer ahead of us.”

– Joe Smith

Game 7

Don’t expect many minutes for either team’s fourth line or bottom pair. This game will be won by either team’s best players with both coaches looking to really push their top line and top pair. If there’s a game to go all-in, it’s this one.

Tampa Bay returns the favour with an equally decisive 5-1 victory to take the series.

This wasn’t necessarily how they drew it up.

But after outlasting the Leafs in a knockout, drag-out, seven-game series, there was a blend of relief and excitement coming from the Lightning dressing room.

Considering they opened the series by losing the first two at home, Tampa Bay showed the kind of resilience and mental toughness that they might have lacked in last spring’s stunning first-round sweep by Columbus. They felt “bulletproof” back then, according to coach Cooper, but a heightened sense of urgency and determination that carried them through this season helped them in the past few weeks. It’s not a complete redemption from last year, but it’s a start. After getting thumped in Toronto in Game 6, the Lightning returned the favor in Game 7, leaving no doubt.

Stamkos, who sparked the club in his return in Game 3, might have played the best playoff game of his career. He scored a hat trick in this rout. But it was just as important that he, Kucherov and Point were stout defensively against the Leafs big guns.

Now it’s on to Boston to face the Bruins, with the bad blood brewing during the season between the teams likely to come to a boil.

“They don’t like us – we don’t like them,” Maroon said. “We started to stir the pot this year. But they’re the team to beat.”

– Joe Smith

It happened again. To the Leafs.

The 2019-20 team will forever go down as one that had immense potential, but immense inconsistency, too. That played out in this series, with three great performances but some stinkers, too.

Losing in the first round is now a trend for this core, after four consecutive years. Even though they were the underdog, how they let this one get away will sting for a while.

And the challenge will be making this team better with a tight cap situation and a core that’s locked in with term.

– James Mirtle

The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183074 Toronto Maple Leafs Former Edmonton Oilers and Boston Bruins forward Colby Cave and new wife Emily Cave on their wedding day on July 19, 2019, at Chateau des Charmes in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Colby Cave died after having surgery to remove a colloid cyst on his brain that led to a brain bleed and Emily Cave is living breath by breath as she waits to say goodbye to his death on April 11, 2020, at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. husband Colby It hurt, she said, that COVID-19 protocols made it impossible for her to be at Colby’s bedside, even if she was grateful to the critical-care staff at Sunnybrook for passing on her messages of love. By Dave Feschuk “Colb always did this thing before we went to bed or if we were driving in

the car — he would squeeze my hand three times to tell me that he loved Moment to moment. Breath to breath. That’s how Emily Cave said she is me. Every night,” she said. “And I told that to the nurse ... And when I got approaching life in the wake of her unspeakable loss. And maybe the there the morning he passed away, the nurse said I want you to know I hardest part beyond the tragedy, she said, is that she can’t hold a proper was squeezing his hand three times so that he knew that you were with funeral for her husband. him.”

“I’ll be honest,” she said. “That’s my biggest struggle right now.” It was only last summer that Colby explained the couple’s origin story to guests at their Niagara-on-the-Lake wedding. As an 18-year-old junior If there is ever a moment that cries out for human contact, for hugging player Colby, the story goes, saw Emily’s picture on a mutual friend’s and weeping and consoling, it’s the one she’s enduring now. A little more Instagram feed and announced to teammates that he was going to marry than a week removed from the death of her husband, Colby Cave, the her. Edmonton Oilers forward who succumbed to the effects of a rare brain tumour in a Toronto hospital at age 25, Emily Cave is still grieving, mostly The problem was, Emily didn’t know Colby, and vice versa. Which didn’t alone, in the basement apartment of her parents’ home in Barrie. stop Colby from sending an unsolicited series of admiring direct messages. She has spent time planning a memorial for her husband, projecting a turnout of thousands given his status as a favourite son of his native “For two years he persisted. And I wouldn’t give him the time of day. I , where he captained the Western Hockey League’s Swift wanted nothing to do with him,” Emily said. “But eventually, I caved. Pun Current Broncos en route to making the NHL as an undrafted underdog. intended.” But the coronavirus has put those plans on indefinite hold. Emily said she Their digital courtship slowly turned into a long-distance relationship, is “overwhelmed and humbled” by the outpouring of support that has even if there were those close to Emily who were leery. When Colby, by been heaped upon her family. But when friends come by and she can then age 20, suggested she come visit him in Providence, R.I., where he only greet them from the porch while they console her from the cold was a professional rookie with the top farm team of the Boston Bruins, distance of the front lawn, there’s something missing as she mourns. Emily had to think it over. She said yes, in part, because she had friends “Not being able to have that funeral and have that closure — that is the living in Providence in case her date with her red-headed admirer didn’t most excruciating feeling other than Colby passing away,” she said. pan out.

It was a little more than a week ago that the Caves were riding out the “I thought it was a little weird,’” she said. “But as soon as I got there, I coronavirus together in self-quarantine. They had recently arrived in was with him for one minute and I knew the type of guy he was — Barrie from Bakersfield, Calif., where Colby had been playing for the respectful and caring.” Oilers’ American Hockey League farm team when the sports world was Respectful and caring and a strong believer in first impressions. put on pause. The couple had taken up residence with Emily’s parents, only socializing with them over a glass of wine on the deck at a “He said to me after that weekend, ‘I’m going to marry you,’ ” she said. responsible social distance. “And when I came back from that weekend in Providence and I said the exact same thing to my parents, ‘I’m going to marry him.’ ” And Monday, April 6, was a normal enough day. Colby sweated through one of the home workouts he had been sent by the Oilers’ training staff. They took their time, in the end. They dated for most of three years He made a healthy salad for supper. The couple settled in for another in before Colby proposed in the summer of 2018, bending the knee on the a series of quiet evenings. And then something happened that almost dock of his family’s cabin in Saskatchewan as the sun set over the never happened: Colby complained of a headache. horizon. They clicked, she said, because they accentuated the best in each other. “Honestly, Colby was like the healthiest person in the world. Never got sick, never had a cold, which maybe should have been a red flag. But for “You would often find us slow-dancing in the kitchen while we were him to have a headache, he just thought it was a bad migraine,” Emily making dinner, or in line in Starbucks paying for peoples’ orders behind said. us. The person we both brought out in each other was really, really incredible,” she said. He took an Advil and a Tylenol and went to bed early. But Emily noticed that he was unusually restless and that, by around 11 p.m., “he was in a Former Edmonton Oilers and Boston Bruins forward Colby Cave and lot of pain.” new wife Emily Cave on their wedding day on July 19, 2019, at Chateau des Charmes in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Colby Cave died after having “I asked him, ‘Should we go to the hospital?’ And he was like, ‘No. I’m surgery to remove a colloid cyst on his brain that led to a brain bleed and fine. I just need to sleep,’ ” she said. his death on April 11, 2020, at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. Asked if her husband was reluctant to go to the emergency room on Emily studied at Ryerson University and George Brown College and was account of the coronavirus, Emily said she didn’t think fear of the considering a career working for charities. But she put her own ambitions pandemic was a factor. When Colby vomited that night, they both on hold to help her husband achieve his. Bouncing between the NHL and theorized he had perhaps been the victim of food poisoning; hardly an the minors, she said, was “not always glamorous.” Colby played 67 NHL emergency. games and 131 AHL ones over the most recent three seasons, and the But when Emily awoke around 6 a.m., the situation turned urgent. airline connections from Bakersfield to Edmonton weren’t exactly enjoyable. But the adventure, she said, was worth the struggle. “I was shaking him to wake up, and he wouldn’t wake up,” she said. “He was breathing. His heart was still going. But he couldn’t walk. He couldn’t “It could be stressful, but it was a very exciting time for us every time he talk.” got the call (from the NHL),” she said.

Shortly after he was rushed to Barrie’s Royal Victoria Regional Health How he played, she said, didn’t affect how she saw him. Centre, he was airlifted to Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, “To me, he could have been a janitor and I still would have married him where emergency brain surgery was performed. And though doctors said for his character,” she said. “I didn’t care that he played hockey.” Colby had a “50-50” chance of survival, the damage done by the tumour — a colloid cyst that blocked vital fluid pathways in the brain and led to a Still, from the moment Colby was rushed to hospital last week, Emily said fatal buildup of fluid — proved insurmountable. Doctors told Emily her she has come to appreciate the relationships she and her husband owe husband’s case was “one out of millions. Just really, really rare.” to the game. Think of a player on the roster of the Bruins and Oilers of late, Emily said, and it’s safe to assume she has received a token of support or condolence with their name on it.

Veteran NHLer David Backes and his wife Kelly, who the Caves both looked up to as mentors when David and Colby were teammates in Boston, organized Zoom player conferences to give updates on Colby’s condition when he first fell ill.

Wendy Tippett, the wife of Oilers coach Dave Tippett, and Julie Cassidy, the wife of Boston’s , were instrumental in fanning out information among players’ wives and girlfriends. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ wife, Bre, had Emily laughing the other day via FaceTime as they reminisced about better times. Connor McDavid’s girlfriend, Lauren, also checked in. Packages of food and flowers have arrived from the families of Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron. The list of supporters, she said, is too long to detail.

“I’m so grateful to the NHL,” she said. “That’s how those two organizations are. Whether you’re staff or a player, you’re family … I will forever be grateful for Colby for bringing me into this hockey family.”

Edmonton Oilers' Colby Cave (12) died Saturday after suffering a brain bleed earlier this week.

There’ve been other small comforts, she said. There’s Chester, the couple’s eight-month-old Cavapoo puppy, whose coat has patches of red reminiscent of Colby’s hair. There’s the Colby Cave Memorial Fund, already set up by the Oilers and the Cave family, which will raise money for mental-health initiatives and to help underprivileged children get access to sports.

The other night in Barrie, Emily said, there was a drive-by tribute organized by family friends. She and her parents and siblings stood on the porch, most everyone decked out in a sweater from one of Colby’s teams, while a line of vehicles passed by, the passengers waving hockey sticks and flags. It was a smaller-scale version of the 15-kilometre motor brigade that greeted Colby’s family earlier this week in their hometown of North Battleford, Sask., as they made their return from Toronto.

Emily said she saw video of the Saskatchewan tribute, but that her memory of that day was “bittersweet.” As those cars lined that prairie highway, she was in an Ontario mortuary making decisions she thought she would never have to make. Less than a year after their idyllic wedding, she was planning Colby’s funeral — date to be announced.

“I can only imagine how many people will be there to support and show their love. And I know Colby will be really humbled by all of that,” she said. “I have to believe there’s a reason for this. And I have to believe that this (memorial fund) will help keep his memory alive and move his legacy move forward. I have to believe that every single day he’ll be with me. And I just have to take it breath by breath.”

Toronto Star LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183075 Toronto Maple Leafs centre, so that skews things a bit — although likely not all the way to the six-year, $5 million home run Pageau hit.

Further down the comparable list you get Nick Bonino, another centre, What should a Zach Hyman extension look like for the Maple Leafs? who signed for $4.1 million, albeit under a lower cap a couple years ago. There’s also Mathieu Perreault, who signed for $4.125 million with the Jets four years back as a UFA.

By James Mirtle Apr 17, 2020 None of these are perfect comparisons because there isn’t really one for a player like Hyman, who continues to improve despite his “advanced”

age. But those that we do have seem to place Hyman into the range of You’d be hard-pressed to find a more emphatic answer from an athlete 5.5 percent of the cap on a four- or five-year extension. when asked about potentially re-signing with their current team. Given the cap is likely to remain relatively flat into next summer, that puts Not that that should come as a surprise from Zach Hyman, who has a new deal at about $4.5 million a season. emerged this past few seasons as the heart and soul of the Maple Leafs. The Leafs cap crunch “First and foremost, I would love to stay in Toronto,” Hyman said when I I dug into the particulars on a deeper level here, but the Leafs are going asked about his pending negotiation on a conference call with media this to have to shed payroll this summer in order to get cap compliant — let week. “It’s where I grew up. I want to be a Leaf for a long time. That’s first alone improve their blue line. and foremost. The situation doesn’t exactly ease up any down the line either if the cap “I guess, in a way, with everything that’s happened now (with the is fairly flat for the next three years. The Leafs cap room will kind of be shutdown), I’m lucky that I have another year on my contract because what it is. That means, basically, if you pay Hyman $2 million more than everything will probably be sorted out by then with regards to the cap and he gets in 2020-21, that extra money will have to come from somewhere all those questions that nobody really has an answer for right now. So, else. yeah. To answer your question, I would love to be a long-term Leaf and re-sign here. And to be here and ultimately win a Stanley Cup here.” I wonder if they can get a little more creative with this contract. As I started working on this story, I was joking with Jonas that maybe this deal There aren’t really many NHL players with a career arc quite like will be the one that carries Hyman close to being a career-long Leaf, Hyman’s. A fifth-round pick by the Panthers 10 years ago, Hyman was something that’s usually a stretch for a middle of the roster type player, considered a long shot to make much of an impact at the highest level but wouldn’t necessarily be the case here. when the Leafs acquired him for Greg McKegg five years ago. (Go look where he ranked on Leafs prospect lists at the time.) Would it be that far-fetched to commit to Hyman with some serious term, in order to bring the cap hit down? I don’t think it was a coincidence that signed on as Leafs coach a month before that trade. Babcock was coaching the Wings when There certainly is likely to be some interest on the player’s part, given his Hyman played at the University of Michigan under and desire to stay. And if the Leafs can get the number down closer to was well aware of his talents. (Hyman’s full back story is worth a read if Donskoi territory, it may well be worth the risk of adding on additional you aren’t aware of it.) years.

From Day 1 as Leafs coach, Babcock talked up Hyman — something he Let’s face it: we have no idea what the salary cap and cap structure of took a lot of heat for in the early years. this league is going to look like five or six years from now. We’ll be into another CBA and, hopefully, another economic climate. But regardless of “I just think Hyman’s a really good player,” he said, back in early 2016, what things look like, the Leafs are better positioned than any other team when some folks thought he was nuts. to take these kinds of unusual gambles on non-star players, giving them Hyman himself took some arrows after only scoring 10 goals and huge term in exchange for lower AAVs. producing 28 points in his first full NHL season playing alongside Auston No. 1, they can disappear any injured player to LTIR later in their career, Matthews and William Nylander. But, as I wrote about the following if it comes to that. offseason, there were some very clear indications that there was more coming. But, probably more importantly, they can also creatively construct a longer contract to be frontloaded to the extent that the player will be Hyman is no 10-goal player. But I think it’s safe to say no one saw him easily movable down the line. being a consistent 25- or 30-goal man, either, and he was well on his way to that mark when the virus halted play this season. They sort of did this with Jake Muzzin’s new contract, as he gets $14.5 of the $22.5 million deal in the first two years. But they were somewhat One of the interesting results from our fan survey this week is where limited by the fact that Muzzin is already 31 years old, meaning they Hyman fit in. Not only did many Leafs fans write him in as their favourite couldn’t really go beyond a four-year pact. player, but the vast majority said they wanted to see him re-signed. (Full results from the survey will be presented here early next week. Thanks to With Hyman, I absolutely think you can. In fact, knowing how well he all those that filled it out — and there’s still time if you haven’t.) maintains his body, I wouldn’t blink at a six-year deal if the AAV is lowered. Even seven isn’t ludicrous, given he’ll only be 35. That all brings us to today’s story. What do you pay a player like Zach Hyman? Because of the variance rules, you can’t quite do what teams used to under the previous CBA, in tacking on a pile of $1 million years at the The comparables end of a contract to drop the money real low — Hossa style — but you When the season stopped, Hyman had 152 career points in 302 NHL can come close. Maybe Hyman’s last few years of the deal amount to games. For someone about to turn 28 years old, that’s not a ton of only $2.5 or $3 million a season, with nearly three-quarters of the dollar experience — less than four full seasons of games — or production. value stuffed into the front of the contract?

If we use age, UFA status, and production as our starting points, it Our stats guru, Dom Luszczyszyn, believes that would be a huge win for produces a very small group of players who fit in the Hyman-ish mold — Toronto. He believes Hyman can deliver higher value than most players and many of them are centres. who fall into that pay range, and that he can perform as a top-six forward all the way until 2026. Joonas Donskoi comes up as our top match, as he was 27 when he signed a four-year UFA deal with Colorado for $3.9 million a season last Yes, by Dom’s numbers, Hyman is providing $7 million in value right July 1. But his numbers are a bit more modest than Hyman’s (122 points now, on his $2.25 million cap hit. And he can stay close to that figure for in 283 games) and he had never hit the 20-goal or 40-point mark, which several more years before falling into the $5 million range for a while. are becoming routine for Hyman. So consider that figure a little low. I think if anyone on this roster is going to agree to take a bit of a haircut, Other comparables? Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who got a huge payday from and to get creative with the financials, it’s going to be Hyman. He grew the Islanders on an extension earlier this season. I like him as a match as up in a wealthy family in the city, has a lot of outside interests, and will he was in the midst of a breakout season, like Hyman, although he’s a probably work in hockey for a long time after his playing days — either as a coach or an executive. (You should hear how passionately he can talk about escrow and other complex CBA-related topics.)

If staying in Toronto is truly Hyman’s No. 1 goal, something he values over getting the highest dollar figure, I say the Leafs work with that and get something done that’s longer than many players in his situation would typically sign.

I doubt it’s a deal they’ll regret.

The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183076 Toronto Maple Leafs Don’t get me wrong: Not being able to do HIIT workouts or making use of a squat rack at your favourite gym is a very small thing in light of all of the real, serious sacrifices people have had to make during this time.

Better together: How a Toronto gym is fuelling wellness through a difficult But the gym was my therapy. And it wasn’t clear when it would return, in time whatever reality exists on the other side.

(Fuel Training Club)

By Dan Robson Apr 17, 2020 Thankfully, it didn’t take long for a partial solution to emerge. When the doors closed a month ago, Hetherington quickly arranged live virtual classes, using the video-conferencing site Zoom.

(Editor’s note: In an effort to support local businesses that are being I was skeptical about how it would work out. And at first, it was awkward. threatened by the devastating effects of the coronavirus, The Athletic is I kept my camera off so no one could see me working out. For some publishing an ongoing series of stories to highlight our treasured reason, I was very self-conscious about people seeing me squat in my communities. #supportlocal) own living room.

The other day, I demolished a patio stone with the 53-pound kettlebell. But after a couple of classes, it started to feel familiar. Hetherington would call people out by name, correcting form, offering encouragement Maybe it slipped — or, possibly, I was just too weak to thrust it over my and chirping any laziness of those he could see on his screen. Later that head. Either way, it crashed like a cannonball and smashed the concrete week, Fuel rented out pieces of equipment to help us work out. That’s slab in half. how I ended up with a 53-pound kettlebell. (I initially requested a more I’m not upset about it. In fact, I’m OK with the space near my barbecue manageable 35 pounds, but the big boy was all they had left.) that now slopes inward on a fault line, with edges protruding like a Evidently, there were a lot of people stuck in their homes who were sinking ship. I’m fine with the stubbed toes I’ll inevitably curse about, looking for a physical escape. More than 100 people joined that first because let’s be honest, it’s going to take me forever to get around to class, which is a huge leap from the half a dozen to dozen who were fixing it. typically in a class at the gym. Over the ensuing weeks, the numbers I’m grateful because the much-too-heavy kettlebell that crushed my stayed steady. People signed on from across Canada and the United terrace has been one of the best parts of my day for the past several States. Some people joined from faraway places like Barbados, London weeks. and South Africa.

It belongs to Fuel Training Club, a small gym that I go to in an old auto Through the tiny windows on the screen, you could see other people mechanic shop around the corner from my place in Toronto. Or rather, grimacing along with you as Hetherington called for another round of had gone to, before its doors were shuttered along with so many other hollow rocks or hand-release pushups. It was remarkable how similar it small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. seemed, despite the circumstances.

The gym operates small classes for people of all different fitness levels, The Fuel ethos is camaraderie — a shared pursuit, challenging your putting them through some legit athletic training. I stumbled in out of limits together — and even though we were restricted to our homes, that curiosity a couple of years ago, in the worst shape of my life. During my part hadn’t really changed. first class, I gasped for air while repeatedly squatting to heave a 25- It wasn’t exactly the same. Not really. It’s much harder to connect with pound medicine ball against a wall. the people and instructors that you casually met at the gym almost every I could barely walk the next day, but I was hooked. day. It’s impossible to not miss that. Still, the rapid adaption has been remarkable. And the mental break each day has been critical in the fight I’d stopped playing competitive sports years ago, and since then, I hadn’t against going stir crazy. Fuel added a daily live workout for kids and experienced any form of team training. I’d forgotten the effect of mutual hour-long mobility classes and 20-minute stretch classes. They’ve even motivation — of how seemingly impossible, painful things are so much added “on demand” videos of classes to better fit people’s chaotic more rewarding when you’re suffering with a group. schedules while working at home. Every Thursday, those who stick around after the evening class unmute their mics to chat and have a The routine of going to that gym and socializing with people — and beer. improving despite my age and lack of ability — quickly became essential to my physical and mental health. But the creative programming can only go so far.

Greg Hetherington, the gym’s founder, was a slotback in the CFL with the “For me, there is an underlying sense of joy here for me. I’m enjoying the Calgary Stampeders and the B.C. Lions. During his pro football career, challenge,” Hetherington said. “(But) I do think that’s going to wear off. I Hetherington also worked as a physical trainer. He loved playing football. do miss hanging out with people. Talking to a screen all the time is He also found that he loved the process of training to play just as much. tough.”

“I loved the camaraderie, I loved the challenge,” he said. “That was what The online classes are much cheaper than a regular membership. There I was really passionate about.” are still bills to pay at those physical locations. Most of the instructors who work at Fuel are also out of the job for now, though the gym is Initially, he envisioned a career working with high-performance athletes working on ways to get everyone on the team involved. Government instead of average Joes like me. But Hetherington soon realized there measures to help businesses and workers affected by the pandemic will was a gap in the market for a program for regular people, providing the hopefully help alleviate the damage, but the impact will still be significant. attention of personal athletic training within a small group setting. “We’ve got three locations where we’re paying rent. We have all of our “It’s human nature,” Hetherington said. “It’s as simple as that. People like software costs. Hydro costs. A lot of these things can be deferred or to be near other people. … When you’re with a smaller group you can negotiated lower, but there is still a significant number of bills that need to have meaningful conversations, you can build relationships. And that is a be paid that the online training just is not going to cover at this point,” very important part of mental health, emotional wellness.” Hetherington said. He launched what would become Fuel a decade ago, eventually Like most small business owners, he doesn’t know what the other side of expanding to three locations across Toronto. this looks like. But when the pandemic hit, it was just a matter of time before Fuel had to The fitness landscape is likely to become more digital. The convenience close its doors. of working out at home, the ability to interact with friends in live classes Until then, I hadn’t realized how much the routine of trying to do pullups despite geographic distance, and the ability to train with on-demand and complaining about burpees had actually meant to me. I hadn’t videos, are all features that he expects more people will seek when the realized how familiar the people I worked out with had become, and what pandemic is over. might be lost in not being able to sweat out life’s stresses with them. I felt “There’s going to be a permanent shift,” Hetherington said. “If you are in that pain in your throat that comes when you know you’re about to miss the fitness and wellness industry, you’re going to have to have an online something very much. component. … So how do you leverage that? That’s what everyone is trying to figure out right now.”

This pandemic will likely have a lasting effect on the way we interact with the gyms in our lives. At a time when we move to the other side of the street when we see someone walking towards us on a sidewalk, the idea of sweating it out in a small gym with others seems almost foreign — even though it was normal just over a month ago.

But whatever comes next, hopefully, we’ll still find ways to build community through athletic training. For now, the virtual world will do. Because whether we’re smashing patio stones at home or swinging kettlebells in an old mechanic’s shop, there’s still nothing quite like the shared pursuit of being better, together.

The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183077 Toronto Maple Leafs The side drama in Game 1 was how physical and nasty things were early, including several fights – involving Clifford, Kasperi Kapanen and Freddy The Goat (!!!) – despite the fact the Leafs dropped the gloves just eight times all season. This could be a long, ugly series. Simulating the 2020 NHL playoffs: Lightning vs. Leafs – James Mirtle

This isn’t happening again, is it? By Joe Smith, James Mirtle and Dom Luszczyszyn Apr 17, 2020 That was the natural question in the stunned Lightning dressing room following a Game 1 defeat. The same group that had waited a full year for redemption from last season’s spring stinker has now put themselves The NHL isn’t back yet, but we’re going to pretend it is. Over the last in an early hole. They knew it would be tough starting the playoffs without month, we’ve run a simulation of how the NHL’s regular season might captain Steven Stamkos, who is nearing a return from early March core have played out if the league hadn’t been suspended on March 12. Now, surgery. The power play, which surprisingly struggled in the second half the standings have been set and we’re carrying that forward through the of the season, went 0-for-4, with Nikita Kucherov slamming his stick off playoffs. This time around, one of our beat writers from each team will be the boards after the last one in the third. The Lightning got baited a bit in charge of every lineup decision, the narrative for every playoff game into some fights, with a rare Anthony Cirelli bout taking the team’s and they’ll get to decide what “happened” in each game. Join us as we shutdown center off the ice during a critical stretch in the second when make our way through the simulated postseason to crown a virtual the Leafs scored twice. These teams were pretty evenly matched in their Stanley Cup champion. meetings this season, so expect a long series. This would’ve been one of the marquee matchups of the first round. Two “There’s no panic in this group,” coach Jon Cooper said. And this time, teams full of electrifying talent facing off in an offensive showcase for the it’s a little easier to believe. ages. Two teams that have something big to prove after massive disappointment in last year’s playoffs. Two teams that didn’t start the – Joe Smith 2019-20 season on the right foot. Game 2 There are a lot of parallels between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs, two teams built to outscore opposing teams into Despite taking Game 1, Toronto opts to make some lineup swaps, oblivion – they’re just on different parts of their trajectories. While the putting in Denis Malgin for Frederik Gauthier. Tampa Bay goes with the Lightning have been close in year’s past with this core and have been same lineup. dominant during the regular season, the Leafs are still in the early part of Uhhh … shades of last season for Tampa Bay in the making? Leafs their window and haven’t seen any playoff success yet, losing in the first extend series lead with 4-1 win. round in three straight seasons. This series is certainly shaping up as a defining moment for this young Toronto’s path hasn’t been easy, and it unfortunately doesn’t get easier team. here against a Tampa Bay team that finished second in the league and is ready to avenge last season’s embarrassing first-round sweep. Though it The Leafs followed up Game 1’s convincing win with an even better looked like Toronto finally found its bearings down the stretch, going 8-2- performance in Game 2, stunning the powerhouse Lightning yet again. 2 after reaching full health, the Lightning were even hotter, going 10-1-1. The line of Hyman-Matthews-Marner produced three quick goals in a wild Even without Steven Stamkos in the lineup, this first round looks second period and Andersen had his best game of the season in shutting decidedly tilted in Tampa Bay’s favour with the Lightning having a 66 the door late. percent chance of advancing (assuming Stamkos shows up at some point). Concerns over the Leafs defensive play – and the blue line in particular – have so far proven misguided as a fully healthy Rielly has been able to Once Stamkos returns, the two teams have a pretty equal Big Three and log nearly 30 minutes a game and Tyson Barrie has played some of his winning this series may hinge on which elite trio performs at a higher best hockey as a Leaf. Everything is coming up Toronto early in this level. After that though, the rosters mostly stack in Tampa Bay’s favour. series, especially given all the time they’ve spent on the power play after The Lightning have a deeper pool of forwards (once Stamkos and his 3.7 a season of not getting many opportunities. wins returns) and defencemen, plus more high-end talent on the backend thanks to Victor Hedman, valued as one of the league’s best. Morgan “I always knew this team had this in them,” coach Sheldon Keefe said. “It Rielly is great, but not at that elite level. Toronto’s defence has come a was just a matter of digging in and finding it and getting past some of the long way in terms of total value (mostly provided at the offensive end of excuses and inconsistency. And we have. But this isn’t over. We’ve got the ice), but it can’t match what Tampa Bay has to offer, one of the work to do.” deepest groups in the league. – James Mirtle

That group arguably props up what is the team’s one Achilles’ heel which While this may be a defining moment for the young Leafs team, this is is in net. While Andrei Vasilevskiy tends to have strong surface numbers, certainly a gut-check moment for the veteran Lightning core. it should be noted that he does so in one of the easiest shot quality environments in the league. That’s not the case for Frederik Andersen They’ve worn the scars of deep playoff runs before, feeling oh-so-close and though he’s struggled this year, he has a long history of being a to the elusive Cup. But now they face an 0-2 deficit for the second strong goalie. If Toronto wins, it’ll likely be thanks to strong play from its straight spring and another promising season on the brink. netminder. The Leafs are a formidable opponent, but nobody in the Tampa Bay The Leafs will have to take advantage of that, plus the absence of room expected to be here, dropping the first two games at home. The Stamkos for a few games, in order to get by what my model considers to power play continued its funk. The blue line has had their struggles, with be the league’s best team. Hedman looking like he’s playing through something and Jan Rutta still working his way back from a lower-body injury he rehabbed the final few Game 1 months.

Toronto pulls off the upset in Game 1, winning 5-2. They could use a jolt and may get one as the series moves to Toronto. For a team that was Jekyll and Hyde all season, this was the best of the Stamkos is nearing a return, with sources telling The Athletic he could be Leafs, right away. Auston Matthews opened the scoring on an early in the lineup for Game 3. The Lightning are putting up a confident front, power play and then John Tavares and William Nylander connected on with coach Cooper saying there’s no other team he’d rather be leading in two beautiful goals in the second to give Toronto a 3-0 lead, while this situation. Veteran Pat Maroon, the only Cup winner in the room, went outshooting one of the best teams in the NHL 22-8 to that point. a step further.

As they often do, the Leafs made things interesting by allowing a couple “We are going to win Game 3,” he said. “This is far from over.” of goals in the third, but it was an unlikely hero in Kyle Clifford who added – Joe Smith the insurance goal when a Jake Muzzin point shot went in off his face. (The fan base’s desire to re-sign Clifford just went up.) Zach Hyman Game 3 finished things off with an empty netter. As expected, Stamkos makes his triumphant return to the lineup in Game One concern, however, is the Leafs’ lack of production from their third 3 with his team down 2-0 after having lost both games at home. Cooper and fourth lines, other than Clifford’s off the face goal. Keefe hinted at will look to get more usage out of his big guns with more time for the top changes there for Game 5. six and with Hedman, Mikhail Sergachev and Ryan McDonagh seeing a bump in ice-time as well. Toronto, feeling confident after two three-goal – James Mirtle wins, makes no changes. Game 5

The Lightning win their first playoff game in nearly two years with a 4-1 Toronto opts to bring out its secret weapon, bringing in OHL sensation victory to make it a 2-1 series. Nick Robertson to the big leagues for his NHL debut in the playoffs Pat Maroon talked the talk with his Game 3 guarantee. against arguably the league’s best team. No pressure, kid. Malgin comes out and Pierre Engvall drops down to the fourth line. No changes for the And his Lightning teammates backed him up with their biggest win of the Lightning, who have found a groove. year, beating the Leafs in Toronto to cut their series deficit in half. Tampa wins its third straight, a close 4-3 victory, and is now one win Stamkos made a triumphant return, scoring the go-ahead goal late in the away from the second round. second period – from his “office,” the left circle, on the power play. This was far from easy. “Stammer set the tone,” Cooper said. “You could sense the guys on the bench felt a bit taller with having him back.” The Lightning, the first team to win a home game this series, needed double overtime to complete the feat – and put the Leafs season on the The Lightning rode that top line of Stamkos, Brayden Point and brink. Kucherov. And the Cirelli line helped finally slow down Matthews and Mitch Marner. Matthews, with the goalie pulled for an extra attacker, forced OT in the final seconds of regulation with a snipe from the slot. There were grade-A Sergachev delivered a monster, 25-minute performance on the back end. looks in the first OT, including Marner ripping a shot off the crossbar. And Vasilevskiy was at his best with 29 saves, including a behind-the- back glove stop on Matthews early in the third. It wasn’t until 14 minutes into the second OT when Alex Killorn tipped a Hedman point shot past Andersen. Amalie Arena went nuts, as the We have ourselves a series here heading into a telling Game 4. This was Lightning are one win away from Round 2. the Lightning’s first playoff win in a couple of years, but could it be the start of something? But the players warned that winning a third straight game in Toronto would be their toughest test yet. “We’ve got a long way to go,” Stamkos said. “But this is the way we’ve got to play.” “We don’t want to come back to Tampa for a Game 7,” Maroon said. “Let’s not give them any life.” – Joe Smith – Joe Smith That was … not good. The Leafs vow that they’re not done yet – and are not prepared for yet “We just need to be way better,” Keefe said. another playoff heartbreak.

“We can and we will,” added GM Kyle Dubas. “We need to get back to Tampa for a Game 7,” Matthews said. “Give ourselves some life.” The coach vowed significant changes after some pivotal mistakes on the blue line but wasn’t tipping his hand postgame. “We can’t lose three times on home ice,” Keefe added.

Game 4 will be big. The players all agreed the probability of that is exceptionally low, so much so that it’s unlikely it would happen in any simulation anyway. They – James Mirtle remain confident about this not being the end.

Game 4 – James Mirtle

Toronto has decided to load up their top pairing, putting Rielly with Jake Game 6 Muzzin – likely playing the duo close to half the game. Leafs Twitter rejoices as rookie defender Rasmus Sandin steps in for Ceci. No Despite the strange timing of the season being on the line, Dubas alters changes for Tampa Bay. the morning routine to give an impromptu lesson on probability to the players after seeing an unnerving quote at The Athletic misunderstanding A narrow 3-2 win by Tampa ties the series at two apiece and the home the probability of losing three home games in a row. crowd in every game has wasted a lot of money. “I had to tell them that the probability is low if no games had been played We have ourselves a series. yet, but that what happened in the two previous home games holds no The Lightning came into Toronto a few days ago with their season on the bearing for our odds in Game 6,” Dubas explained. “We have our own brink and left with an entirely different vibe. They swept the two games internal game models, but I don’t usually talk about them with the here against the Leafs, spurred by the return of Stamkos, who is playing players. That’s not the way our program operates, but with this being some inspired hockey. such a pivotal game I didn’t want the group going in with a false sense of security.” The power play has found its confidence again, with Kucherov and Point each scoring with the man advantage in Game 4. But the game-winner Neither team makes changes to their lineup. was a shorthanded breakaway by Selke candidate Cirelli. He stripped Odds, schmodds – the Leafs force Game 7 with a decisive 7-0 win. Hold Reilly at the blue line and went end to end, slipping a backhand five-hole. on to your butts.

“He’s been our engine,” Sergachev said. Well, OK then.

Coach Jon Cooper continued to ride Sergachev and Hedman on the blue John Tavares’ first-period hat trick gave way to a surprise blowout, as the line. The “nuclear” line of Stamkos-Point-Kucherov was buzzing again. Leafs emphatically won their first home game of the series.

The key question, though, is will this carry over into a pivotal Game 5? Other goals finally came from the supporting cast, including 18-year-old The home team has to win at some point, right? Robertson’s first NHL marker, a pair from Mikheyev – leading to fans – Joe Smith littering the ice with soup cans – and Engvall’s first of the series.

The Leafs didn’t play poorly in Game 4. They’re simply up against one of Yes, you could say the Leafs have opened the Engvault. the best teams of this era. Is this finally the year Toronto breaks its Game 7 curse?

“We always knew this would be a long series,” Keefe said. “And I liked “This is our time,” Tavares said, in a dramatic postgame speech. “Let’s the way we played here.” get it done.” – James Mirtle

The Lightning knew the Leafs would be the more desperate team. Their season was on the line, the center of the hockey universe was on the verge of crumbling.

But wow. Nobody saw this coming.

The Lightning were dominated in this one and, quite frankly, weren’t too interested in re-living it. They kept the focus looking forward to a Game 7 at home. Their fans.

And they’re betting their Davis Islands homes that Vasilevskiy will bounce back after this rout.

“Vasy has been our backbone all year,” Stamkos said. “We’ve just got to look ourselves in the mirror and play the best game of our season. Or we’ll have another long summer ahead of us.”

– Joe Smith

Game 7

Don’t expect many minutes for either team’s fourth line or bottom pair. This game will be won by either team’s best players with both coaches looking to really push their top line and top pair. If there’s a game to go all-in, it’s this one.

Tampa Bay returns the favour with an equally decisive 5-1 victory to take the series.

This wasn’t necessarily how they drew it up.

But after outlasting the Leafs in a knockout, drag-out, seven-game series, there was a blend of relief and excitement coming from the Lightning dressing room.

Considering they opened the series by losing the first two at home, Tampa Bay showed the kind of resilience and mental toughness that they might have lacked in last spring’s stunning first-round sweep by Columbus. They felt “bulletproof” back then, according to coach Cooper, but a heightened sense of urgency and determination that carried them through this season helped them in the past few weeks. It’s not a complete redemption from last year, but it’s a start. After getting thumped in Toronto in Game 6, the Lightning returned the favor in Game 7, leaving no doubt.

Stamkos, who sparked the club in his return in Game 3, might have played the best playoff game of his career. He scored a hat trick in this rout. But it was just as important that he, Kucherov and Point were stout defensively against the Leafs big guns.

Now it’s on to Boston to face the Bruins, with the bad blood brewing during the season between the teams likely to come to a boil.

“They don’t like us – we don’t like them,” Maroon said. “We started to stir the pot this year. But they’re the team to beat.”

– Joe Smith

It happened again. To the Leafs.

The 2019-20 team will forever go down as one that had immense potential, but immense inconsistency, too. That played out in this series, with three great performances but some stinkers, too.

Losing in the first round is now a trend for this core, after four consecutive years. Even though they were the underdog, how they let this one get away will sting for a while.

And the challenge will be making this team better with a tight cap situation and a core that’s locked in with term.

– James Mirtle

The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020

1183078 Vegas Golden Knights

Golden Knights prospect Connor Corcoran finalist for OHL honor

By David Schoen

April 17, 2020 - 3:16 PM

Golden Knights prospect Connor Corcoran was named one of the 20 finalists Friday for the as the Ontario Hockey League’s most outstanding player award.

Corcoran finished with 54 points in 62 games for the , and his 19 goals ranked fourth in the major-junior league among defensemen. He had a plus-11 rating after posting a minus-45 the previous season.

A fifth-round pick (No. 154 overall) by the Knights in 2018, Corcoran is yet to sign an entry-level contract and would become an unrestricted free agent if he doesn’t by June 1.

LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183079 Vegas Golden Knights

Golden Knights prospect Jiri Patera earns top goalie honor in WHL

By David Schoen

April 17, 2020 - 11:47 am

Golden Knights prospect Jiri Patera was named the Western Hockey League Eastern Conference goaltender of the year Friday.

Patera posted a 24-12-2-2 record for the and set a franchise record for the lowest goals-against average at 2.55. He led the conference in wins and save percentage (.921), and his five shutouts were tied for second in the WHL.

The 6-foot-2-inch, 205-pound product of Prague, Czech Republic, allowed one goal or fewer in 12 of his 41 appearances and posted an eight-game winning streak from Dec. 30 to Jan. 24.

“Congratulations to Jiri,” Brandon general manager Darren Ritchie said in a statement. “We’re proud of his accomplishment, he gave our team a chance to win every night. He’s a great individual with a bright future and this is a great honour for Jiri and his family.”

Patera was a sixth-round pick (No. 161 overall) by the Knights in the 2017 NHL draft and remains unsigned. The team holds his rights until June 1, 2021.

By earning the conference honor in a vote by WHL general managers and head coaches, Patera also is nominated for the Del Wilson Memorial Trophy as WHL goaltender of the year.

LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183080 Vegas Golden Knights

Players, fans get creative to raise funds in hockey minors

By Stephen Whyno, Associated Press

Friday, April 17, 2020 | 12:52 p.m.

More than a month after the ECHL canceled the rest of its season, minor league hockey players are still hoping to get some financial help.

A relief fund set up by the league and Professional Hockey Players Association has $270,000 so far, about a third of the total goal. PHPA executive director Larry Landon estimates $850,000 is needed to cover paychecks from three lost weeks of the season. He hopes money can be sent to players beginning next week.

"We’ve got to get it out to the players that truly do need it as fast as we can," Landon said. “It’ll be a huge undertaking to get there, but if we can get them what they lost in the regular season, at least it helps them.”

With something of a shortfall and concerns growing about starting next season, players, fans and teams are starting to get creative. One fan has raised $7,000 by auctioning off memorabilia, and South Carolina goaltender Parker Milner hopes a quarantine concert brings awareness to the situation as well as some extra funds.

Longtime fan Dennis Seymour hopes to raise a total of $10,000 for the ECHL-PHPA COVID-19 Relief Fund and already bought a couple of $5 tickets for the Pregame Skate Quarantine Concert that will be live-streamed Saturday night. The effort is being spearheaded by Milner and Boston College teammate Brian Dumoulin of the Pittsburgh Penguins, with possible appearances from retired goaltender Mike McKenna, Kyle Palmieri of the New Jersey Devils and of the Philadelphia Flyers.

While the NHL and other pro sports leagues are considering returning without fans, that kind of business model doesn't work for minor league hockey. Landon said he's lost sleep worrying about the future.

“If there’s no group gatherings, how are we playing?” Landon said. “Your sponsors aren’t going to be sponsors if there’s no people in the stands. You need people in the stands.”

The immediate concern is trying to pay players for lost wages, but the uncertainty is unsettling among those who make an average of $700- $725 a week. Milner hoped Saturday's concert is just the start of publicizing what players are up against.

“Hopefully other guys will keep coming up with some stuff, but just finding cool ways to continue to talk about it,” Milner said. “Smaller little events like this or somebody just throwing in $10. I think down the line a lot of those smaller investments, especially as the summer progresses, will be the thing that really fuels this thing.”

LAS VEGAS SUN LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183081 Washington Capitals

Lyla and Leni apply makeup on a sleeping T.J. Oshie

By J.J. Regan April 17, 2020 10:00 AM

When you are the father of young girls, you nap at your own risk. T.J. Oshie seemingly learned that the hard way on Thursday.

Oshie's daughters, Lyla and Leni, were trying on makeup on Thursday. Lauren, Oshie's wife, was filming Leni talking to the camera when Lyla says off-camera that they should put makeup on their dad. Oshie was asleep on the couch which was a big mistake.

As the video shows, evidently Oshie is a deep sleeper as he does not initially react to the makeup being applied.

As hilarious as this is, there is only one thing missing: We do not get to see the final product. How did Oshie look? The world needs to know!

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183082 Washington Capitals I forgot Gilmore's first girlfriend early in the movie was a kindergarten teacher. My wife is too. I'm going to have to tell her, "I've seen those finger paintings you bring home and they suck!" and see if she gets the reference. Now that I think about it, I don't think she has ever brought Why 'Happy Gilmore' is the perfect hockey move to watch in quarantine finger paintings home. I'm not sure that is a thing anymore.

Ben Stiller as the mean orderly at the nursing home is one of the best cameos ever. By the way, when Gilmore tries to pay him to take extra By J.J. Regan April 17, 2020 6:00 AM care of his grandmother, he tries to slip him a single dollar bill.

"Golf is no different than hockey." Uh, yeah it is. Sorry Chubbs, I'm not With live sports on pause and most people stuck at home due to the buying it. coronavirus, hockey fans have to find other ways to pass the time. Every time I watch this and Gilmore says, "Golf requires goofy pants and Watching a good hockey movie can certainly help. No doubt you will see a fat ass" I stand and applaud. plenty of lists on what are the best hockey movies to watch (including ours), but I'll let you in on a secret. Most people doing these lists didn't Every time my wife tells me something hurts, I always tell her good news! just watch all the movies they are listing. It's not like I watched all four Now you're back's going to hurt because you just pulled landscaping movies I put on the "must see" list the night before just to make sure they duty. We have a very happy marriage. each hold up. The fact is, most of the hockey movies we love, many of us haven't seen in years. Some of us haven't seen these movies since we When Venit and the tour president are discussing whether to kick were kids. Gilmore off the tour for his behavior, you can hear him swearing in the background on the TV. Brilliant scene. So how good are they really? Do they actually hold up? With nothing but time on our hands, let's find out. Why does Shooter care at all about Gilmore? The interview he does after the first even really sets the stage. He just won and all the questions he Every Friday during the pause, I'll have a hockey movie review in which I is getting are about this guy who just showed up out of nowhere and is will watch a movie the night before, take notes and provide those notes terrible. He is finally the best golfer in the world and he is being and a grade for each movie just to see how good they really are. overshadowed by this side-show. Sometimes the motivation for villains can be glossed over or are so cartoonishly stupid you don't really This week's movie: "Happy Gilmore" understand what the movie is going for. In this case, I get it. This was one of my favorite movies growing up. Many of you may not I can't hear the song "Endless Love" without picturing the Zamboni driver remember, but Adam Sandler used to make funny movies. Not movies singing it in the dark after seeing this movie. that are just called "comedies" despite being unfunny because we don't know what else to call them, but I mean movies that would actually make I would think it would be frowned upon for PR of the tour to date the you laugh. "Happy Gilmore" was one of his best. golfers, but that's just me.

I felt when I saw this movie like it was written specifically for me as it The best scene in the movie? The fistfight with Bob Barker. Barker did all combines both my love for hockey and my deep-rooted hatred for golf. I his own stunts in the movie, too. remember seeing this movie for the first time in middle school at a friend's house. We rewound the scene where the main character, Happy "The price is wrong, *Bob*." If you have ever watched this movie on TV, Gilmore, punches a spectator out of his shirt about 10 times. you probably know exactly what I'm referencing.

Gilmore, played by Sandler, loves hockey and dreams of playing How have I never seen this before now!?! professionally, but he is horrible at just about every aspect of the game I never watch golf, but the Pro-Am heckler which led to Gilmore fighting except for his great slap shot. His grandmother's house gets Barker, wouldn't they have tossed him from the crowd? I mean, I think repossessed as she has not paid her taxes in over 10 years and Gilmore golf would be better if people were allowed to cheer and golfers just had decides to become a professional golfer to try to get the house back to battle through it, but I know that's not how it is so wouldn't he have despite never having played the game and pretty much hating everything gotten booted? about it. Something I have never understood. Shooter buys grandma's house to The story is a fun intersection of two cultures that seemingly do not have try to force Gilmore out of the tour and agrees to give it to him if he quits. much in common. Sure, I know there are plenty of people out there who Gilmore then makes a bet with him that if he wins the championship, he enjoy both hockey and golf, but picture a typical hockey fan in your head gets the house, but if he loses to Shooter he'll quit. Doesn't that mean and a typical golf fan. They're pretty different, aren't they? Seeing how Gilmore would have gotten the house either way? If he wins, he gets it, if hockey fans and people who actually like to do things like cheer and he loses, he quits and still gets the house. So why is Shooter trash- have fun at sporting events invade the golf course is half the fun of the talking during the championship about what he's going to do with the movie. house? And if you understand the bet to mean that if Gilmore loses the The cast is excellent. Sandler is very funny as Gilmore, but Christopher championship, he loses the house too, that's a dumb bet. He should have McDonald is perfect as the villain, Shooter McGavin, as is Frances Bay just taken Shooter's offer and quit. who plays Gilmore's grandmother. Carl Weathers also brings his A-game I mean...Gilmore did kind of kill Chubbs, right? Right? as Gilmore's instructor, "Chubbs." Julie Bowen is fine as Gilmore's love interest, Virginia Venit, though the movie doesn't give her much to do. By In the scene where Gilmore overshoots the hole and the ball slowly turns the way, I had no idea she was the mom in "Modern Family" until just and makes its way back in, the camera goes to an overhead view and now. you can see the divots in the green that they used to get the ball to turn.

Fun facts So let's get this straight. A guy manages to drive his car onto the course, run over one of the golfers and...they just keep playing? Not only should The movie is evidently based on a childhood friend of Sandler's who they not have let Gilmore keep playing, they should have shut the whole played hockey and always beat Sandler at golf. thing down. The tower collapses on the last hole because they just left Vincent Lecavalier is in this movie. He's one of the players in the tryout at the car there after it had crashed. No one moved it! the beginning who makes the team over Gilmore...for obvious reasons. You have to give credit to Shooter, that was a heck of a shot off of a McDonald turned down the role of Shooter McGavin more than once guy's foot. before sitting down with Sandler to talk about the movie. In most versions of the movie, you never see the evil orderly (played by Here are my notes when watching the movie: Ben Stiller) get his comeuppance. He does in a deleted scene where Gilmore tosses him out of a second-story window and all the people run Gilmore can't skate, but is a good fighter with a monster slap shot. I feel out of the front door. like there would have been a place for him on the fourth line in the 80s and 90s. If not in the NHL, then certainly in the AHL where half the team Final grade: A- was employed essentially just to protect the future NHL players. While "Happy Gilmore" ultimately does not have that much to do with hockey, it is a hilarious movie and remains very funny even 24 years later. I may find it a little funnier than most because of my affinity for hockey and hatred for golf, but even the biggest golfers out there won't feel alienated by this. This is one of Sandler's best back when he was still making great comedies.

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183083 Winnipeg Jets a year-ending, career-threatening ear and head injury after being struck with an errant slap shot from Nikolaj Ehlers.

The much-needed victory also helped stop a 1-4-0 skid for the Jets and Mike McIntyre looks back at the most memorable goals scored by the seemingly helped launch a November to remember in which they went Winnipeg Jets since returning to the NHL to start the 2011-12 season 10-3-1 to get right back in the playoff race.

8. Joe Morrow beats Devan Dubnyk at Bell MTS Place on Apr. 11, 2018

Mike McIntyre The veteran journeyman defenceman has just 10 goals on his NHL resume, but none bigger than the one that gave the Jets their first playoff Posted: 04/17/2020 9:00 PM | Last Modified: 04/17/2020 9:54 PM victory in 2.0 history.

His one-timer from the point, off a nifty backhand feed from Nikolaj Ehlers, deflected off Charlie Coyle and went right through Dubnyk’s five- notched the first one. Kyle Connor fired the last one. In hole with just over seven minutes left in the third period. It broke a 2-2 between, there have been 1,870 other goals scored by the Winnipeg Jets deadlock and stood up as the game-winner. since returning to the NHL to start the 2011-12 season, not including shootouts or pre-season games. Talk about a feel-good moment. Morrow was only in the lineup that night because of injuries to regulars Toby Enstrom and Dmitry Kulikov as the Add it all up and that’s a lot of red lights, cellies and group hugs. first-round series got underway. (They told me there wouldn’t be math in sports. They lied). "If you believe in karma and trying to be a good person and eventually Not every tally is created equally, of course. Some were rather you get rewarded for it? Yeah, absolutely," Morrow said in an emotional meaningless regular-season markers in blowout losses or victories that post-game interview. "I’ve had a major roller coaster of an NHL career so were quickly forgotten. Others carried a lot more punch, either as far. To have a little, I don’t even know if you want to call it a Cinderella milestone moments or because of the significance of when they story of a night, it makes you feel good. It makes all of the bad times and occurred. all of the times you’ve battled so hard to try and get an opportunity, it makes them go away. It washes them away and you get to enjoy it in With the season currently on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic and front of a crowd like this and a city like this." goal lights around the league currently collecting dust, it’s a great time to take stock of some of the most memorable snipes in Jets 2.0 history. 7. Tanner Glass beats Marc-Andre Fleury at Bell MTS Place on Oct. 17, 2011 This was a meeting of local hockey minds, as I consulted with Free Press colleagues Jason Bell, Mike Sawatzky, Jeff Hamilton and Taylor Allen, Three straight losses to start the first season took some of the shine off along with TSN Jets broadcasters Dennis Beyak, Paul Edmonds and the honeymoon phase for the Jets. And a date with the mighty Pittsburgh Brian Munz, to compile an extensive list spanning all nine seasons. Penguins suggested they’d have to wait a bit longer for their first victory.

I then whittled that down to a personal Top 10, ranked by significance, Cue the GST line. along with five others that just missed the cut. Tasked with shutting down the Penguins high-powered offence, the trio Let the debate about my ultimate findings begin: of Glass, Jim Slater and Chris Thorburn did an effective job, and then some. Glass blasted a shot past Fleury late in a dominant opening 10. Nik Antropov beats Carey Price at Bell MTS Place on Oct. 9, 2011 period, giving the Jets a 2-0 lead and earning a raucous standing ovation in what was an eventual 2-1 triumph. The only goal on this list that came in a losing effort. Glass scored just five goals in his only season with the Jets, but this was The Jets came down with a case of stage fright and fell behind the truly one to remember. Montreal Canadiens 2-0 in their much-anticipated debut. Early in the third period, however, fans finally got their chance to erupt. "At the end of the day, it has to come from within this room. I think it just gives you a good feeling when you’re doing the right things of what it Mark Stuart put a shot on net through heavy traffic, which included takes. The feeling in here right now is just so much better than after teammates Brett MacLean and Antropov in front of Price. Antropov was those three losses," Jets captain said following the game. hauled down seconds earlier and a delayed penalty was coming to Montreal. But it wasn’t necessary as Antropov picked himself back up 6. Patrik Laine beats Frederik Andersen for his third goal of the game at and managed to get his stick on the loose puck, sliding it past Price Bell MTS Place on Oct. 19, 2016 before he was again taken down, leading to a celebration on his backside. Oh what a night this was for Jets fans.

I actually wonder if the goal would even count by today’s standards, as The home team dug themselves a 4-0 deficit against the Toronto Maple MacLean looks to be committing what is now frequently flagged as Leafs in the first-ever meeting between the top two draft picks from the goaltender interference. In any event, the Jets had life, cutting the deficit previous summer in Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine. in half, but that’s as close as they’d get in an eventual 5-1 defeat. But with a national audience looking on, Laine took over, scoring three "Easily the loudest crowd I have ever been a part of and although we times including the overtime winner on the rush — which came mere lost, I was lucky enough to be on the ice for the first goal and all I seconds after Matthews was stopped on a breakaway by Jets goaltender remember is the roar of the crowd, that will sit with me forever," MacLean Michael Hutchinson. recently told the Free Press. "Hat trick" Laine was born. 9. Bryan Little beats David Rittich at Mosaic Stadium on Oct. 26, 2019 "I think it was just a normal regular-season game," Laine cracked, Regulation settled nothing in Winnipeg’s second-ever outdoor game. And displaying the kind of dry wit that has become his hallmark. that set the stage for the veteran Little to play the role of hero, taking a 5. Mathieu Perreault beats Al Montoya for his fourth goal of the game at sweet feed from Connor on a two-on-one for the tap-in overtime winner Bell MTS Place on Jan. 13, 2015 during three-on-three action. Otherwise known as the night Gail McDonald nearly won $1 million. "It was definitely frustrating watching from the sidelines and not getting to experience it," Little said of missing the 2016 Heritage Classic against Mathieu Perreault celebrates his fourth goal of the game against the Edmonton due to injury. "So, when I heard we were playing outside I Florida Panthers in 2015. definitely had this one circled on my calendar and it definitely lived up to everything," Mathieu Perreault celebrates his fourth goal of the game against the Florida Panthers in 2015. It wasn’t just that this was a big goal on a big stage. It was perhaps the lone highlight of the year for Little, who missed the first nine games of the Perreault exploded for four goals against Florida, his final one coming in season with a concussion and returned for just seven before he suffered the second period, in an 8-2 rout of the Panthers. And McDonald, an elementary school principal from Brandon, was on the edge of her seat, knowing one more tally would mean a hefty payday through the Safeway "In games like this, sometimes you don’t want to shoot from everywhere, Score and Win promotion. but I think when you’re in tight like that you want to shoot it," Stastny said. "Just because those are always kind of those awkward saves for goalies, And he had his chances for No. 5, too, including a third period breakaway and they give up rebounds," said Stastny, the trade deadline addition that just missed. who proved his worth in a big way in this game alone.

"I wish I knew, Sorry Gail!" Perreault said in a memorable post-game Until the Jets can take an even bigger step towards the Stanley Cup, it interview after being informed of the high stakes. will be tough to top this performance.

4. Jacob Trouba beats Devan Dubnyk at Bell MTS Place on Apr. 18, A few that just missed the cut, but were still pretty big: 2018 — Little’s third goal against Colorado on Dec, 5, 2014 which marked the With a chance to win their first playoff series in franchise history, Jacob first hat trick in Jets 2.0 history and sparked an impressive comeback Trouba and his Jets teammates quickly stepped on the throat of the victory. Minnesota Wild. — Brandon Tanev’s rather improbable hat trick on March 27, 2018 in a Trouba took a pass from and wired a wrist shot past shootout win against Boston. Dubnyk just 31 seconds into the game, sending an already electric home crowd into a full-blown frenzy. The Jets would quickly pile on with three — Laine’s first, second and third goals on Nov. 1, 2018 while playing in more goals in that opening frame, and the Wild were reeling. his home country of Finland as part of the NHL’s Global Series.

The end result was a convincing 5-0 victory and a date with the Nashville — Josh Morrissey’s goal late in the third period on Oct. 26, 2019 to tie Predators in the second round. the Heritage Classic against Calgary.

"It couldn’t have gone any worse at the start for us, and it couldn’t have — ’s goal on Dec. 20, 2019 in his home state of Minnesota gone any better for them," Wild forward said. to tie for the franchise lead in points.

No kidding. Winnipeg Free Press LOADED 04.18.2020

3. Jacob Trouba beats Pekka Rinne at Bell MTS Place on May 1, 2018

After splitting the first two games in Music City, the Jets were back in front of their Whiteout-clad fans for the next biggest game in franchise history. It didn’t exactly go as planned off the hop, as Winnipeg fell behind Nashville 3-0 through 20 minutes.

Trouba celebrates after scoring against the Nashville Predators in 2018.

Cue the comeback. The Jets rallied for four goals in the middle frame, perhaps none bigger than Trouba’s which tied the game just 18 seconds after Dustin Byfuglien had made it a one-goal game.

The Jets had all the momentum of a runaway freight train, which they carried to a convincing 7-4 comeback victory and a 2-1 series lead.

"That’s probably the most charged I’ve ever seen that building. It was a super frantic play in the Preds end and he was stationed right in front of Rinne," recalled Free Press colleague Jason Bell.

"We got kicked in the teeth a little bit in the first, and our team has always responded well this year, whether it be a bad game or a bad period," said Jets captain Blake Wheeler.

2. Patrik Laine beats Jake Allen for his fifth goal of the game at on Nov. 24, 2018

Without question, Laine’s biggest night in his biggest month as a pro.

The Finnish sniper was on fire, setting a franchise record with five goals as the Jets routed the St. Louis Blues 8-4. He finished November with 18 goals, the first NHL player to score that much in any month since Mario Lemieux in 1996.

The puck seemed to follow Laine around all night, including his milestone fifth marker in which he was somehow left all alone in front of Allen. And that meant Winnipegger Christopher Haley would pocket a cool $1 million as part of the Score and Win contest.

"Just try to score, try not to celly so hard," Laine said of his plan as the pucks kept going in.

1. beats Pekka Rinne at on May 10, 2018

This is all about the moment. And you can take your pick on which Stastny goal was actually more significant — the one midway through the first period to give Winnipeg a 2-0 lead in a win-or-go-home Game 7, or the one midway through the third period which increased Winnipeg’s advantage to 4-1 and snuffed out any hope of a comeback by the Predators.

If we had to pick, it’s Stastny’s first tally — backhanding his own rebound in — which chased Rinne from the game and clearly put the Jets in the driver’s seat as they ultimately cruised to the Western Conference final for the first time ever. 1183084 Winnipeg Jets when he signed a five-year contract extension rather than hitting the open market that summer as a prized free agent.

"Dustin's choice was to be true to himself and not put himself and maybe Big Buff leaves Jets with package of greatest hits the team and everybody in a difficult situation. If he really didn't have it in him to continue to play, that's probably the most honest thing that he could say," said Cheveldayoff.

By: Mike McIntyre | Posted: 04/17/2020 7:00 PM In that sense, this was truly a case of Buff being Buff, a phrase I've heard many times around the team over the last few years. It typically spoke to

him dancing to his own beat. It took all of five seconds for Dustin Byfuglien to win the hearts of hockey "Dustin's choice was to be true to himself and not put himself and maybe fans in this province. the team and everybody in a difficult situation. If he really didn't have it in The date was Sept. 20, 2011. The puck had just dropped on the first pre- him to continue to play, that's probably the most honest thing that he season game in the 2.0 era of the Winnipeg Jets and No. 33 wasted could say." absolutely no time announcing his presence, catching poor Matt Calvert — Winnipeg Jets GM in the trolley tracks right off the opening draw. We saw that on the ice when he'd enter a scrum and single-handedly pull You couldn't have scripted a better first impression as Bell MTS Place out two, or more, opposition players on his own. We saw that when he'd came unglued. A star was definitely born that night, a larger-than-life sit in the penalty box singing along to the arena music. I'd see that when presence who would dish out plenty more big hits and highlights over the he'd reject interview requests by the club's PR staff, who were powerless next eight years while becoming one of the most unique, most beloved to convince him otherwise and often told where they could go if they tried athletes we've ever seen around these parts. to get him to change his mind. I bring this all up today as a reminder to all those who now want to cast And now we're seeing it one last time. The fact he hasn't filed retirement Byfuglien as the villain, the result of an contract ongoing saga with the papers at least leaves the door open for an NHL return next season, but I Jets that finally concluded on Friday. Sadly, his time with the Jets ended wouldn't hold my breath on that happening. not with the bang of his initial debut, but with a whimper. "Dustin played the game and a lot of times played it on his own terms. In There was a short media release from the team, the NHL and the NHLPA this situation here, he did things on his own terms again," said that sounded like it was written by lawyers and announced a mutual Cheveldayoff. termination. There was a telephone scrum with general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, where his side of the story was explained in detail. And, During this soap opera, there's been an inclination to want to draw a line not surprisingly, there was nary a word from Big Buff himself, which is in the sand and take sides. In my eyes, no legacy has been tarnished just the way he likes it. here, nor should it be.

As the story goes, Byfuglien deserves ridicule and scorn because he Byfuglien's US$7.6-million cap hit will be a valuable asset for turned his back on the team during training camp last fall, taking his puck Cheveldayoff going forward, either to try to add to his roster or hang on to and going home and leaving Cheveldayoff in the most precarious some of the valuable assets he has, especially with the COVID-19 position — with a gaping hole on his already depleted blue line and no pandemic threatening to bring the salary cap tumbling down. ability to immediately fix it heading into a most important season for his club. The big defenceman's absence also allowed for the emergence of other Jets this past season, with Neal Pionk and both Forgive me if I have a hard time painting anyone who willingly walks benefiting directly. And the Jets almost seemed to use the adversity of away from US $14 million as selfish. True to form, Byfuglien remains a Byfuglien's situation, along with countless other things that happened in riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma to the very end. the course of this season, to rally around as part of their "stay in the fight" motto. There's no question his timing wasn't great, but as the old saying goes, the heart wants what the heart wants. In the case of Byfuglien, his For local hockey fans, Byfuglien provided countless priceless memories, apparently no longer wanted to play professional hockey. beginning with that memorable first shift on that magical night at the downtown rink. He gave the Jets his all, until his heart wasn't in it He was 34, coming off a frustrating season in which he suffered three anymore. Don't begrudge him for that. different injuries and missed half the games. Byfuglien was butting heads at times with captain Blake Wheeler, the other alpha male in the room. At some point down the road, I expect to see Byfuglien flashing that He already had a Stanley Cup ring from 2010 with the Chicago trademark cheeky grin as he stands on the ice soaking up a standing Blackhawks, had pocketed more than US$50 million in career earnings, ovation from the capacity crowd, watching his jersey deservedly get had a wife and three young kids at home, and is known for enjoying raised to the rafters along with other franchise greats while a package of some of the simpler things in life, such as fishing, hunting and his greatest hits plays on the screen. snowmobiling. After winning so many hearts around here, there's no doubt Byfuglien Byfuglien is helped off the ice by a trainer during a game in December of has now broken more than a few as well. But as the great Dr. Seuss 2018. The Jets defenceman would suffer three different injuries and miss once said, "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." almost half the games that season due to injury. Winnipeg Free Press LOADED 04.18.2020 THE CANADIAN PRESS/JOHN WOODS

Byfuglien is helped off the ice by a trainer during a game in December of 2018. The Jets defenceman would suffer three different injuries and miss almost half the games that season due to injury.

In other words, it's easy to understand why Byfuglien might consider hanging up his skates.

If Byfuglien was truly the self-absorbed egomaniac that some now want to paint him as, the easy thing to do would have been to report to camp, keep cashing his hefty cheques and go through the motions, likely on the injured list the majority of the year. Or, demand a one-way ticket out of town.

But as Cheveldayoff noted on Friday, this clearly wasn't about the money. Nor was it about finding a fresh start in another NHL city, something the GM said he broached with Byfuglien and his agent on multiple occasions. Byfuglien loved it here, which he proved in 2016 1183085 Winnipeg Jets Only the Colorado Avalanche created more odd-man rushes than the Jets did this season, nearly doubling up the Anaheim Ducks, the league's worst team in that area.

Goaltending, offensive skill kept defensively challenged Jets alive Even looking at a relatively small group of metrics, you can see what drove the Jets’ success this season and the style they were essentially forced into playing. Unable to control play at even-strength and struggling at limiting shots-against, the Jets hunkered down and focused on Andrew Berkshire defending passing plays and relied on Hellebuyck to bail them out. Posted: 04/17/2020 2:58 PM With opponents maintaining long possessions in the Jets’ zone, the most impactful way to run the offence was to pounce on limited opportunities and make the most of them, hence the large number of odd-man rushes After rattling off four straight wins before the season went on hold, it’s that occur when opponents get too aggressive in the offensive zone. difficult to figure out what might have been with the Winnipeg Jets, a team that seemed to go against all odds all season long on its push into The odd man rushes allowed the Jets to convert on a higher rate of their a playoff spot. shots, along with strong slot-area puck movement when they did gain the offensive zone for a full possession. These higher-quality plays work well Arguably the most unlikely team to be in contention, the Jets of 2019-20 with a very talented top end of their forward group, and allowed them to are — or maybe were — a team of stark contrasts. With that in mind, let’s consistently outperform expected results. take a look at the biggest weaknesses the team faced this season and its biggest strengths. This isn’t a style of play that anyone would suggest you build a team around, it’s highly volatile in the long term and is unlikely to ever win you Let’s start with the weaknesses: a championship, but dealing with the cards they’ve been dealt, it’s a strategy that has given the Jets a lot of success. The axes in the graphs are set at league averages to give context to how far off the Jets are, positively or negatively. Winnipeg Free Press LOADED 04.18.2020 The Jets’ two most glaring weaknesses at even-strength are likely related, posting the fifth-worst defensive-zone turnover rate at just over 14 per cent of their plays in the defensive zone ending up on the sticks of their opponents.

That high turnover rate has a lot to do with the roster turnover on defence and was worsened by Josh Morrissey having a very poor season when he was supposed to be their lynchpin.

Turnovers are going to cause more dangerous scoring chances against, but it’s not the sole reason why the Jets’ biggest weakness exists. Only the Chicago Blackhawks have given up more shots on net from the inner slot per 60 minutes of even-strength hockey than the Jets have, with those two teams far separated from the next grouping of poor defensive teams.

It would be easy to say this is a function of the turnovers and that the Jets need to be safer with the puck, but the Dallas Stars have an even- higher turnover rate in the defensive zone than the Jets do and only the Boston Bruins allow fewer inner-slot shots-against than Winnipeg does.

Team-level defensive talent is a factor here with both the Bruins and Stars boasting some great defensive-zone players. What it comes down to more than anything is how players react to a turnover. Do they panic or reform their defensive structure? Unfortunately for the Jets this season, defensive structure just hasn’t been steady and they get hurt more than the average team does for their mistakes.

While they’ve been giving up the chances, Connor Hellebuyck has been stopping them at an alarming rate — keeping them in games and robbing opponents of golden opportunities.

The Jets do some good work defensively as well, keeping slot passes- against to the exact league average, which prevents catastrophe by allowing Hellebuyck to get set up properly more often than not on these dangerous shots, which leads us into team strengths.

The Jets’ goaltenders save a third of a goal per game above expectations, behind only the Blackhawks, Blues and Coyotes and tying them with the Avalanche.

Hellebuyck’s ability to stop dangerous shots and rarely give up a weak goal this season has been the biggest reason why the Jets have been able to stay in the playoff hunt all year long and he’s undeniably been the team’s most valuable player.

Outside of Hellebuyck it was a bit more difficult to find an area where the Jets truly stood out as a top-tier team. They rank in the top-10 in a variety of statistics, particularly in generating slot passes for themselves in the offensive zone, where they’re the eighth-best in the league. But if you’re looking for their greatest strengths, you’d like to see a top-five ranking.

One area that was a bit surprising after how they played last season is how often they were able to take advantage of counterattack plays and generate odd-man rushes. 1183086 Winnipeg Jets and Hankinson at Winnipeg's home-opener on Oct. 10 for further discussions.

Surgery was performed on Oct. 23, and Byfuglien was expecting to Jets, Byfuglien part company; wife posts emotional message to team, city resume skating in mid-January with the idea of returning to play shortly after. But that never happened.

"His agent informed me that he was not going to continue with his rehab Mike McIntyre and that the ankle was healed, but that he was not going to play hockey," said Cheveldayoff. Once again, he inquired if a trade was being Posted: 04/17/2020 12:26 PM | Last Modified: 04/17/2020 3:17 PM requested. It wasn't.

Meanwhile, a grievance had been filed by the NHLPA, essentially The Dustin Byfuglien era in Winnipeg is over, the result of a mutual arguing Byfuglien should have been paid while injured, but no hearing contract termination with the Jets that sees the big defenceman with the was ever set. It appears the grievance didn't have a lot behind it; even bigger personality walk away from US$14 million to face an Byfuglien made no mention of the lingering ankle issue when he reported uncertain hockey future. for camp, Cheveldayoff said.

"Obviously this was never our desired outcome or ending with Dustin. If it The matter has now been dropped. And Byfuglien's final two years, with were the Jets writing the perfect script, it would've ended with Dustin an annual cap hit of US$7.6 million, are off the books. holding a great, big silver trophy over his head at centre ice and flashing "It was a pleasure going to battle with Buff every night. I won’t miss all of that great, big smile of his," general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said the slappers he hit me with over the years, but I will miss the way you Friday morning in a conference call. played the game, kept the room loose, and had my back for eight years. "But we're grateful for the time that we did have with Dustin here. He was Our families will be friends for life and maybe I’ll let you take me fishing a force of nature on and off the ice. He has a tremendously infectious one day," Jets captain Blake Wheeler said in a social media-post Friday. personality that you can't help but like the person. He played a significant Winnipeg Free Press LOADED 04.18.2020 role on our team for a long time."

Byfuglien, 35, is now officially a free agent who could sign with any team for the start of next season. But that remains a long shot, since the Stanley Cup champion (with Chicago) apparently made it clear on multiple occasions he's contemplating retirement after 935 regular- season and playoff games, including 555 with the Jets.

"There’s only one person and one person only who can answer if he’ll ever play again, and that’s Dustin," said Cheveldayoff.

Byfuglien has yet to speak publicly, but his wife, Emily, thanked the Jets organization and the city Friday in a lengthy social-media post.

"I have nothing but gratitude towards the Jets for an amazing eight years in Winnipeg. What an awesome experience it has been. From having our first baby here, to now raising three kids in this much-loved community. We have grown up together and as a family here, and I wouldn’t change that for the world. The support from Winnipeggers has been overwhelming," she wrote.

"I never thought for a second our time here would be cut short under these circumstances. The past eight months have been the hardest of my life. I struggled to come to terms with the situation. I struggled as a wife and as a mother under the stress. I didn’t want any of it to be true. This has been the only life I’ve known for a long time, and I am beyond devastated to have to leave here. I love this city, and the people in it."

Cheveldayoff shed new light Friday on the timeline of how this played out. Byfuglien first approached him on Sept. 11 — the night before training camp was going to start — with a surprising announcement.

"He informed me that he didn't know if he had it in him to continue playing in the NHL. It was a very emotional time. It was something that I think is still somewhat of a private matter, and that'll stay somewhat private. But it was emotional. It was tough on him to even come and talk to me," said Cheveldayoff.

"At that time I did ask him if he wanted a trade and he said, no, it had nothing to do with a trade. He just didn't know if he had it in him to continue playing."

Cheveldayoff met again with Byfuglien on Sept. 21 with training camp well underway and roster decisions looming.

"He said he still didn't want to retire but still didn't know that he had it in him to continue to play. At that time I said, 'Look, I've got to suspend you,' and he understood and we left it at that," he said.

The saga took another turn on Oct. 3.

"I received a phone call from his agent () saying that he had good news, that Dustin wanted to play again but wanted to have surgery on his ankle. That was the first conversation that was any indication, one — that he wanted to play and, two — that there was some intervention with a surgery," said Cheveldayoff, who met with Byfuglien 1183087 Winnipeg Jets “At the end of the playoffs the year prior, he played 25-plus minutes a night in the St. Louis series, and he was a force out there,” Cheveldayoff said. “We had no indications during the summer there was anything going on. We had regular contact with him and all our players, like we Byfuglien, Jets are done normally do.”

Either way, Byfuglien’s grievance didn’t have a leg to stand on, since he hadn’t reported to camp and didn’t follow through with the on-ice portion Paul Friesen of his rehab. Published:April 17, 2020 Cheveldayoff says there is no payment to Byfuglien in the final Updated:April 17, 2020 6:01 PM CDT agreement to quash his contract.

So he walks away from $14 million: he wasn’t paid the $8 million his contract called for this season, and he had one additional year at $6 The Dustin Byfuglien saga is over. million remaining.

The talented defenceman and the Winnipeg Jets have agreed to Hankinson declined comment, but confirmed Cheveldayoff’s version of terminate his contract, ending a long, winding and peculiar dispute that events. began when Byfuglien didn’t show up for training camp in September. Despite the fact the issue curtailed, somewhat, his ability to make moves The news came in the form of a statement from the NHL’s public to improve his roster, Cheveldayoff says he’ll choose to remember the relations department, released on Twitter, Friday. unique contributions Byfuglien made to the Jets, and not allow the final chapter to tarnish the entire story of No. 33. The statement said the Jets and Byfuglien have “mutually resolved” the grievance Byfuglien filed after he was suspended in September, and that “Dustin showed his integrity in the sense that he didn’t have it in him,” his contract has been terminated “effective immediately.” Cheveldayoff said. “He wasn’t just going to go through the motions… Dustin’s choice was to be true to himself and not put himself and maybe In a conference call with reporters, Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff recalled the team and everybody in a difficult situation. If he really didn’t have it in his initial meeting with Byfuglien on Sept. 11, the night before training him to continue to play, that’s probably the most honest thing that he camp began, a meeting that would begin a seven-month saga that came could say.” down to one, simple truth: the big man’s heart was no longer in the game. Byfuglien played eight seasons for the Jets, scoring 102 goals, 261 assists, for 363 points in 528 regular-season games. He added seven “It was a very emotional time,” Cheveldayoff recalled. “It was something goals, 18 assists, in 27 playoff games. that I think is still somewhat of a private matter, and that’ll stay somewhat private. But it was emotional. It was tough on him to even come and talk But his value went beyond statistics, both as an intimidating force for to me. At that time I did ask him if he wanted a trade and he said, no, it opponents and as a wise-cracking, media-avoiding and pressure- had nothing to do with a trade. relieving presence to his teammates, on and off the ice.

“He just didn’t know if he had it in him to continue playing.” “We’re grateful for the time that we did have with Dustin here,” Cheveldayoff said. “He was a force of nature on and off the ice. Cheveldayoff says he met with Byfuglien at the defenceman’s Winnipeg Obviously this was never our desired outcome or ending with Dustin. home the next day and the two decided to take some time to think. “If it were the Jets writing the perfect script, it would’ve ended with Dustin The two met again on Sept. 21, at the arena, and had “another long holding a great big silver trophy over his head at center ice and flashing conversation,” the GM said. that great big smile of his.” “He said he still didn’t want to retire but still didn’t know that he had it in Byfuglien immediately becomes a free agent, but, at 35, it would be a him to continue to play,” Cheveldayoff said. “We were getting to the point shock to see him lace up the blades again. where we had to start making some roster decisions and cap decisions. At that time I said, ‘Look, I’ve got to suspend you,’ and he understood “There’s only one person who can answer if he’ll ever play again,” his and we left it at that.” GM said. “And that’s Dustin.”

Things seemed to change on Oct. 3, when Cheveldayoff says he took a He’s not talking. call from Byfuglien’s agent, Ben Hankinson, who said Byfuglien wanted to play again. Which is the only thing about him that’s predictable.

There was a catch: he needed surgery on his ankle. Emily Byfuglien says goodbye

“That was the first conversation that was any indication, one, that he Dustin Byfuglien hasn’t uttered a word about his decision to hang up his wanted to play and, two, that there was some intervention with a skates. surgery,” the GM said. But it seems this season’s unexpected turn of events have even taken One week later, the day of the Jets’ home opener, the three got together, his wife by surprise. confirmed where things stood, and on Oct. 23, Byfuglien underwent In a post on Instagram, Emily Byfuglien bid farewell to Winnipeg and all surgery in Minnesota. the fans who’d reached out. He rehabbed until January, and Cheveldayoff says that’s when his “I never thought for a second our time here would be cut short under comeback went off the rails. these circumstances,” she wrote. “The past eight months have been the “His agent informed me that he was not going to continue with his rehab,” hardest of my life. I struggled to come to terms with the situation. I Cheveldayoff said. struggled as a wife and as a mother under the stress. I didn’t want any of it to be true… and I am beyond devastated to have to leave here. Instead of returning to the ice to start skating, Byfuglien returned to his original position: he was through with the game. “I had the best 8 years of Dustin’s NHL career here in Winnipeg.”

“We did have some further conversations at that point in time, the agent Emily Byfuglien thanked the Jets organization and a city she says treated and myself, to try and see if there was a potential trade-and-play type of them like family, saying she’ll miss the schools, the kids’ sports and the situation,” Cheveldayoff said. “But it really wasn’t about that. Dustin didn’t other Jets wives and girlfriends. want to play and we respected that, and went into the trade deadline in “We have grown up together and as a family here, and I wouldn’t change that manner.” that for the world,” she wrote. “The support from Winnipeggers has been Byfuglien’s decision to have the surgery raised the possibility he’d never overwhelming. fully recovered from injuries sustained the previous season, a notion the “There is just something about Winnipeg that is different. I will always be Jets discount. a Winnipegger at heart.” The couple has three children.

The Byfuglien Saga

Sept. 11: The night before the start of training camp, defenceman Dustin Byfuglien texts Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff to ask for a meeting. They get together, and he drops the bomb: he’s not sure he wants to play anymore.

Sept. 12: Cheveldayoff visits Byfuglien at his home to discuss things further. They decide to let some time pass. Cheveldayoff is hoping Byfuglien changes his mind.

Sept. 13: After the first day of on-ice workouts, head coach tells reporters there’s “nothing sinister” to Byfuglien’s absence. “He needs some time and he was given that.”

Sept. 20: Head coach Paul Maurice tells reporters he met with Byfuglien a day earlier. Discloses nothing about their conversation.

Sept. 21: Cheveldayoff and Byfuglien meet at the arena to discuss where things are at. The GM tells the defenceman he needs to start making roster decisions, and that he’ll have to put Byfuglien on the suspended list.

Oct. 3: Byfuglien’s agent, Ben Hankinson, calls Cheveldayoff with good news: his client wants to play again. But he needs surgery on his ankle, first.

Oct. 10: The day of the Jets’ home opener against Minnesota, Cheveldayoff meets with Byfuglien and Hankinson here in Winnipeg, and they reiterate Byfuglien’s desire to get the surgery done and resume his career.

Oct. 23: Byfuglien has surgery in Minnesota and begins his rehab. The news leaks out about a week later.

Nov. 20: The NHL Players Association files a grievance against the Jets and the NHL on Byfuglien’s behalf, challenging his suspension.

Mid to late January: Hankinson contacts Cheveldayoff to tell him Byfuglien’s ankle has healed but he’s had a change of heart and will not move to the next step of his rehab, which is skating, because he no longer wants to play.

February: Cheveldayoff asks Hankinson on a few occasions about possibly trading his client before the deadline, but it’s become clear Byfuglien doesn’t want a trade because he simply doesn’t want to play.

April 17: The NHL announces Byfuglien’s grievance has been dropped and his contract terminated, making him a free agent.

Winnipeg Sun LOADED 04.18.2020 1183088 Winnipeg Jets “I used to think he was a created player, where you make him as big as possible, as tall as possible, weigh as much as possible and then have all the skill and everything that goes with it. There was no one else in the NHL like him,” said former Jets defenceman Ben Chiarot, who broke into ‘Force of nature’: What made Dustin Byfuglien Winnipeg’s one-of-a-kind the NHL with Byfuglien as a partner and now plays for the Montreal talent Canadiens.

“If you think back at any era in the NHL, you can’t think of someone who was 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds and can skate. He could keep up with By Ken Wiebe Apr 17, 2020 anybody.

“He was so unique and I can’t imagine we’ll see another player quite like How will you remember the Dustin Byfuglien era? that – at that size, being that athletic but at the same time, as skilled as anybody on the ice.” The question is relevant and the answer may change for some over time, now that the mutual contract termination was agreed upon by the player Byfuglien was mostly a gentle giant, but he had a mean streak when he and the Winnipeg Jets and announced on Friday. reached the end of his fuse. Pulling multiple players out of a pile started happening with a bit of regularity, though part of that was for show. There was no financial compensation attached. The Jets clear $7.6 million in cap space for next season and Byfuglien becomes an “Once it happened once, then it became a thing,” said Chiarot. “I’m pretty unrestricted free agent should he decide to make a comeback at some sure Buff clued into that, so every time there was a scrum, he would grab point. two guys just to kind of make a joke out of it. And if I wasn’t in there right away, he would let me know afterward. He would be like ‘where the hell To say things ended with a whimper would be an understatement. were you?’ He was great that way.

When word came down that Byfuglien had asked for and received a “That’s just his personality. He’s never serious really about anything, personal leave of absence on the first day of training camp in September, unless it’s a hockey game and even then, there can be portions of the it sent shockwaves through the organization. time when he’s not that serious during a game even. That’s when he’s at his best, when he’s loose and relaxed. But he knew how to turn on the Details were kept quiet, but it was clear something wasn’t right. intensity when he needed to.” “It’s nothing sinister,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said at the time. He was also a human-highlight reel, though his more than occasional No, it was nothing sinister in nature, but Byfuglien’s decision to take at forays in the offensive zone left his defence partner scrambling with least a temporary step away from the game had long-lasting ramifications some regularity. on the Jets blue line – one that was already in flux. Byfuglien was an artist who scribbled . That meant his This isn’t about assigning blame or about putting a bow on the soap creative side sometimes got the best of him. opera that played out throughout the course of the season and at one His care-free nature could be both an asset and a detriment, but even his point included a grievance filed by the NHLPA on behalf of Byfuglien. questionable on-ice choices had nothing to do with pursuing personal When it comes to Byfuglien’s legacy, his contributions to the Jets simply glory. can’t be ignored. “He’s not wired the same as everybody else and that’s clear to anyone He’s one of the most popular players to ever wear a Jets jersey – and not that knows him,” said Noel. “He’s always going to play the way that he just the 2.0 version either. plays. He’s a riverboat gambler, that’s just in his DNA. You’re not going to really change that. Although he preferred to stay out of the spotlight, those who knew him well speak incredibly fondly of him. “It’s never from a selfish standpoint or self-serving. It’s just the way that he thinks. He was a great person to coach. He’s got great hockey sense, “He’s one of a kind,” said St. Louis Blues forward Troy Brouwer, who but sometimes he could wander – and it could be at any part of the broke into the pro ranks with Byfuglien in the Chicago Blackhawks game. That’s just part of him, too.” system and still remembers rooming with him at their first prospect camp. “There’s a fun side of him that a lot of people don’t get to see day in and Byfuglien was such an imposing presence on the ice, but off the ice was day out. He had the same attitude that he has now. He likes joking another matter entirely. around and having a good time. He just made me feel comfortable and at “It’s completely opposite,” said former Jets forward Tim Stapleton, who ease all the time, that’s the kind of guy that he is. roomed with Byfuglien when both were playing for the “He doesn’t want to be defined by the game. He wants to be left alone a in 2010-11. little bit, but he’s an awesome guy who loves his family, loves his fishing “On the ice, he definitely likes to have fun with the game, but he’s known and just loves being a good person away from the rink. A good friend and as that big, strong defenceman that you don’t want to have to run up a good family man.” against because you know he’s going to blow through you. Some players When it comes to his incredible combination of brute strength and who don’t know him think that maybe he’s a killer because he runs remarkable skill, Byfuglien stands alone in his 6-foot-5, 270-pound frame. everyone over.

“He’s a force of nature, he really is,” former Jets head coach Claude Noel “But off the ice he’s just a big teddy bear, to be honest. He’s different in a said in a telephone interview. “He’s a beast. The first thing I thought of is good way. He’s quiet at times and at others, he’s joking around. He’s we’ve got a Norris Trophy candidate. He was capable of being that good. always giggling and never that serious. He has that laid-back, northern He’s got such good skills and power. He has power that no one else has. Minnesota attitude. Hockey was hockey at the rink. Being his roommate, He’s got it in his legs, his arms, his shot. It’s unreal.” he never talked hockey in the hotel room.”

Whether it was holding off an opponent with one arm, unleashing a blast Although his teammates made it clear Byfuglien could be a prankster and from the point, delivering a bone-crushing check or pulling two opponents liked to keep things loose, he kept his guard up around those folks he out of a pile, Byfuglien oozed passion for the game. wasn’t as familiar with.

“For him to do what he’s done, to play forward and D and be dominant at “If he doesn’t know you, he could come off as if he doesn’t like you,” said both positions, it’s pretty impressive,” said Brouwer. “His physical stature Stapleton. “He just likes to do his thing. He would prefer to either be speaks for itself, with the way he can manhandle guys. And if you ever alone or around the people he really feels comfortable around. He’s a get him angry, watch out.” quiet guy, but if you get to know him, he’s not and you had to tell him to shut up at times. Byfuglien’s teammates even joked about how it seemed like he was one of those imaginary players that gamers built from scratch in a video “He definitely has an image to him that might be misread a lot. With the game. media, he might come off in an interview as being aggressive or not wanting to spend time doing stuff like that. But it was more a matter of not being comfortable (in that setting). He loves the game. He was like a It would have been just as easy for Byfuglien to show up for training grownup playing . He still has that in him. He’s an camp and put in a half-hearted effort and collect his $8 million salary. unbelievable player and he’s a really good person.” That’s not who Byfuglien is either. Byfuglien was also an important part of the long-term commitment made by members of the core group. Many will say his departure is simply another example of Buff being Buff and there’s some truth to that. Although Byfuglien only suited up for three seasons on the five-year deal he signed, his decision to forego free agency because he believed in the When it comes to being the guy who was most likely going to end up direction the organization was going spoke volumes. skating off into the sunset with no warning, Byfuglien would be at the top of that list. Since that time, captain Blake Wheeler, Bryan Little, Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers, Connor Hellebuyck, Kyle Connor and Josh Morrissey He never wanted a farewell tour or to have a season filled with farewells have all made similar long-term commitments. or pomp and circumstance.

“He’s obviously someone of unique abilities,” Jets general manager You can be darn sure he doesn’t want to hold a misty-eyed retirement Kevin Cheveldayoff said during a conference call Friday. “Some players press conference – and the next interview he accepts is probably going that just have natural ability and natural grace, and that was Byfuglien. to come from The Fishing Network. You get him on the ice to see him move around as he did as freely as he Once the dust settles and some fans take the emotion out of it, could and with the skills that he had, it’s an interesting one. Byfuglien’s is a career worth celebrating.

“It shows his hockey sense and his ability to adapt. And Buff loved to play Whether he shows up for the ceremony – and hopefully he does – there the game a certain way. He played it physically. He could intimidate you should come a day down the road when Byfuglien is honoured for the because of his size, but he really wasn’t that dirty of a player when it contributions that he made. came to it. But his skills and that obviously that’s how he truly likes to play. He likes to play with having an impact on a game and sometimes A proper sendoff is something both parties should eventually make a there was high risk and sometimes there was high reward.” priority, something Cheveldayoff hinted at during Friday’s conference call. It’s been almost a year since the mammoth defenceman suited up in a game for the Jets. “We wish him well and I look forward to the day when he comes back into the arena and we have a great night for him,” said Cheveldayoff. History will record his final shift was taken as the buzzer sounded at the conclusion of Game 6 of the opening-round series with the St. Louis The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 Blues.

Byfuglien scored a third period goal and added an assist in the 3-2 loss to the Blues, but the late surge was just window dressing in a game St. Louis dominated through 40 minutes of play.

Although it was an early exit for the Jets, Byfuglien did his part in the series, chipping in two goals and eight points in six games while averaging just under 26 minutes of ice time per game.

He missed nearly half of last season with a series of injuries that included a concussion from a colossal collision with Jamie Oleksiak and a pair of ankle injuries – one suffered when he was checked by Minnesota Wild forward Luke Kunin and the other when Colorado Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen was giving chase on what looked like a harmless play (until his ankle gave out).

The injuries took an obvious toll, with Byfuglien limited to about half the season.

Byfuglien kept under the radar in the summer, the only hint of something being amiss was that he skipped out on playing in Da Beauty League – the summer hockey event organized by Hankinson that he’d participated in for the past several years.

A red flag? Not exactly, but in looking back it was the first sign.

Byfuglien arrived in Winnipeg for informal skates with the Jets players a bit earlier than usual, but at the one I attended, something didn’t seem right.

The normally animated Byfuglien wasn’t up to his old tricks. There was no knocking sticks out of the hands of opponents and during the scrimmage, he kept the roaming charges to a minimum.

He wasn’t nearly as involved as usual and his sunny demeanour was nowhere to be found.

The snapshot stayed with me, though in and of itself, was not necessarily a harbinger of what was to come, either.

Everyone is entitled to having a bad day.

Byfuglien never got the passion to return to the game and in January, he chose to stop the therapy he was going through after ankle surgery.

If this is it — and I continue to believe that it is — Byfuglien’s career, especially his time in Winnipeg, should be remembered fondly.

The topic of legacy isn’t all that complicated to me.

Sure, the timing of Byfuglien’s decision put the Jets in a tough spot. That can’t be argued. 1183089 Vancouver Canucks It certainly goes for the coaches. This week Green said he conversed intently with assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner on a subject that would only be interesting to those in his profession.

Ed Willes: Green grasping at summer straws that Canucks will finish “In our defensive-zone coverage we were talking about expanding our playoff drive wingers more quickly,” Green said. “In some areas, four feet here or four feet there can make a difference. It sounds silly but it means a lot to us. We’re looking for an edge. We don’t want to take away from our offence but we feel we need to defend better.” ED WILLES Which is music to goaltender Jacob Markstrom’s ears. Published:April 17, 2020 “The whole game is connected,” Green continued. “I could talk to you for Updated:April 17, 2020 2:47 PM PDT five hours about the things we talk about. There’s no rock that hasn’t been turned over.”

"I’m just trying to be as prepared as we can be. Everyone wants to play, The next question is when will this new defensive-zone coverage be the coaches, players, fans, everyone. I try not to worry about it but it’s applied to the Canucks? In a couple of months when some mutated form hard not to think about it all the time.” — , Vancouver of this season resumes, or next season, whenever that begins? Green, Canucks coach the hockey coach, wants things to start tomorrow even if Green, the citizen, knows that’s not possible. When the NHL went dark more than a month ago, Travis Green freely admits he experienced some dark nights of the soul. But over the course of this conversation, the one takeaway to emerge is the degree to which the coach was invested in this team and this season. Who could blame the coach? After two consecutive seasons in which his team played doormats to the rest of the NHL, the Vancouver Canucks “It’s been three years (his time as the Canucks’ head coach), and this were engaged in a legitimate playoff drive that had engaged the city. was the most exciting time,” he said. “We had this plan and we’ve all There was excitement in the air. There was a sense the organization’s been waiting to get to these games. We were getting to that moment rebuilding plan was finally coming together. where we were playing meaningful games instead of playing out the string. Then the season was suspended by the COVID-19 breakout. Just like that. And Green was left to wait and wonder if anything will ever be the “For it just to be gone is tough. I really have belief in our group. I have no same. doubt they were going to play their asses off and get themselves there.”

“You’re running so hard on adrenalin and it’s gone,” Green says over the If it’s not too much to ask, he’d still like to find out if he’s right. phone. “It’s like wow. Emotionally I felt like I hit a brick wall.” Vancouver Province: LOADED: 04.18.2020 So maybe it’s understandable the Canucks’ head coach is trying to keep the latest twist in the novel coronavirus saga in perspective. He’s aware there’s finally hope. He’s aware the NHL is now talking about resuming play this summer.

But he’s also aware that about 3,000 things have to happen before the game returns, which is why he’s defaulted to hockey’s time-honoured position: Take it one day at a time, put in the work and the preparation and, above all, control the things you can control.

Right now that’s not a lot. But it’s more than it was two weeks ago.

“I sense it’s changed in the last four or five days,” Green said. “But for me I’m just trying to be as prepared as we can be. Everyone wants to play, the coaches, players, fans, everyone. I try not to worry about it but it’s hard not to think about it all the time.”

Green is speaking this day from his off-season home in Irvine, Calif., where we learned his neighbours include Esteban Toledo, the professional golfer who now plays on the Champions Tour.

But we learned a couple of other things over the course of a 25-minute conversation.

In a world where nothing is normal, Green has tried to normalize his routine as best he can. He’s practised his own form of social distance learning, taking part in a couple of online sessions with other coaches. He checks in with players remotely and monitors their conditioning.

“I’ve stressed to the guys there aren’t going to be any excuses for not coming back in shape,” he said. “You have to find a way. It’s really not that hard.”

He also allows the tone of his conversations with GM changed this week, largely because NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said publicly: “My guess at this point is we’re probably going to be playing into the summer.”

That got his attention, even if he tries to moderate his excitement.

“I know it’s not going to happen in the next week or two,” he said.

But it doesn’t take much to get the competitive juices flowing again.

“I feel like we’re ready to roll,” he said. “I feel this break could help our team. We’d be healthy coming back. The first day they get back to work they’ll be pretty excited. I think that goes for everyone.” 1183090 Vancouver Canucks

Dustin Byfuglien is a free agent. Should the Canucks try to sign him?

PATRICK JOHNSTON

Published:April 17, 2020

Updated:April 17, 2020 10:21 AM PDT

Dustin Byfuglien is free. The NHL announced Friday morning that the burly defenceman and the Winnipeg Jets have come to terms on a mutual termination of his contract after resolving a grievance filed by the defenceman against the NHL team, who had suspended him last September for not reporting to training camp.

The @NHLJets and Dustin Byfuglien reach agreement – Player’s contract terminated. pic.twitter.com/K6pYFkmy8Y— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) April 17, 2020

The 6-5, 260 lbs. beast hasn’t played in a year because of a serious ankle problem. He might not play again.

But if he can, even though he’s 35, surely he’ll draw interest from other teams.

His last season, 2018-19, he was limited to 42 games because of his ankle and he still managed to post 31 points, while being a positive- possession player.

And as obvious as it may be, but I checked again anyway, the NHL confirms Byfuglien can’t sign with a team for the rest of this season (if there is one). Earliest he can sign is for next season. https://t.co/H7rzmxdQ1p— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) April 17, 2020

Because of his age, signing him would be a dicey proposition. The contracts of players 35 and older basically can’t be buried, either in the AHL or on the long-term injured reserve list. Buyouts of their contract also don’t provide any cap relief.

This all means that players this age sign shorter-term deals.

The Vancouver Canucks, of course, are in a looming cap bind. It’s believed that because of it is almost certain the coronavirus pandemic is going to lead to a reduction in hockey related revenue, which will suppress growth in the salary cap — it’s most likely to remain flat, highly unlikely to actually be lower than last season’s — there’s a good chance that teams will be granted a one-time buyout window.

Numerous sources suggest Byfuglien’s NHL career is over…”He has no interest in playing”. https://t.co/CJqOJHGw2V— John Shannon (@JShannonhl) April 17, 2020

If there is a buyout allowed in the coming off-season, it’s plainly obvious the Canucks would use one, almost certainly on Loui Eriksson, whose nearly unmovable $6-million cap hit will otherwise mean the Canucks won’t be able to retain all the pending free agents they’d like to keep.

But if Byfuglien were an option, might that change their thinking? He’s a right-shot defenceman, an area of challenge for the Canucks given Chris Tanev and Troy Stecher are both pending free agents.

The former Jet, who was a thorn in the Canucks’ playoff sides over a decade ago when he was with the Chicago Blackhawks, would likely command a decent salary, so you certainly wouldn’t be able to retain both Tanev and Stecher and also sign him.

And this is without mentioning the reality of Jacob Markstrom and Jake Virtanen both needing new contracts. Both are after raises, though with the altered free agency market, you do wonder about how much bargaining power Markstrom now has. Virtanen can opt for salary arbitration and given his production this season, it’s likely he’ll earn a raise that way.

It’s complicated. Far from straight forward.

But given all this, would you look to sign to the man nicknamed Buffy?

Vancouver Province: LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183091 Vancouver Canucks Right away, you’ll notice that Hughes jumps out in that nearly 50 percent of his exit attempts result in a clean breakout. It’s also volume and not just the efficiency department where Hughes shines as he also doubled all but two of his teammates in generating nearly 17 possession exits per How Quinn Hughes’ dominant puck-moving stats compare to his 60 minutes. Both figures are among the best marks in the NHL, and we teammates can fairly comfortably conclude that at 20-years-old, Hughes is already one of the game’s elite puck movers.

This much shouldn’t come as a surprise, but perhaps what’s most By Harman Dayal Apr 17, 2020 impressive is how little risk Hughes has taken on while so incisively pushing play up the ice. Many of the game’s top puck movers are criticized at one point or another (think of Erik Karlsson or Jake Gardiner) His first NHL shift is all Quinn Hughes needed to show that he’s a breed for the number of pucks they turn over, but in Hughes’ case, his failed of defencemen that the Canucks hadn’t seen in at least a decade. exit rate (turnovers plus icings) is actually cream of the crop on the Canucks. More specifically, all he needed was his first breakout. Who Failed Breakouts The Least? As a loose puck emerged behind the net, Hughes established inside position and spun off a much heavier Kings forechecker to gain Quinn Hughes possession – pressure still behind him and a second forechecker looking to pounce from the opposite side. 20.6%

Under heavy duress and with his defence partner Luke Schenn nearby Christopher Tanev ready to accept a pass, Hughes had the simple option available– the 21.7% easy D to D option that 95 percent of defencemen in his skates, let alone a rookie in his first shift, would choose.

But Hughes isn’t like 95 percent of defencemen. He’s wired differently. 21.9%

The young American prodigy looked off Schenn and sent a backhand Tyler Myers saucer over the stick of the second LA forechecker and right onto the tape of Adam Gaudette on the wing in a pass that exuded tremendous 22.1% confidence and composure. Troy Stecher In that play, the decision to send a saucer pass to the half-wall instead of 22.1% a simple dish to his partner meant the difference between a breakout with possession that the Canucks actually manufactured versus the dump-out Jordie Benn Schenn would have probably had to resort to had he received the puck. 26.4% Subtle plays like that add up over time and make a meaningful impact in pushing the possession and territorial needle in the right direction. And OK, so we know where Hughes stands, but how about the rest of the when you see data that shows Hughes stands in a league of his own Canucks’ blue line? How well do they hold up? among Canucks’ defencemen at engineering clean breakouts, it reaffirms To examine that, we can not only key in on data from this season but that his mindset consistently prioritizes the best exit option over the most years previous as well. obvious one. Black dotted line represents league average, red bar represents 2019-20 Who Created the Most Possession Exits? Alex Edler has consistently underperformed the league average Quinn Hughes possession exit rate of 34.6 percent. His transition game fell off quite 48.1% significantly last year and continued to wane this season. The notable thing about Edler’s results, however, is that while he doesn’t move the 16.8 puck well at this stage in his career, he’s rarely turning it over. He prefers the safe option with his breakouts and needs a partner who can handle Christopher Tanev the bulk of the transportation load. 35.0% Chris Tanev and Troy Stecher were both roughly league average in 10.4 terms of moving the puck this year. The latter’s numbers have been by far the most predictable and stable of the bunch – he’s cemented himself Troy Stecher as an average transporter. Tanev’s numbers improved a lot this season – the biggest difference is that he cut his turnovers by a drastic margin in 34.6% going from a 27.3 percent fail rate down to a solid 21.7 percent. 8.7 I’m inclined to believe, however, that playing alongside Hughes might Tyler Myers have been a major driving force behind those results. Just like playing alongside elite teammates might prop up a player’s point totals or 30.5% possession numbers, one would have to think that partnering with one of the NHL’s best puck movers makes life much easier on breakouts. A 7.1 partner like Hughes can hang on to the puck for a split second longer Jordie Benn than most backs to draw forecheckers and create space for his teammates – something Tanev would unquestionably benefit from. 30.2% If Tanev benefitted to some degree from playing alongside Hughes, then 8.1 Myers is on the opposite end of the spectrum in that his numbers may Alexander Edler have been tainted by spending most of his minutes with Edler and Oscar Fantenberg – two defencemen that grade among the NHL’s bottom tier of 25.8% blueliners in transition. Still, I don’t think partner quality is enough to justify Myers’ underwhelming possession exit numbers. Puck moving was 7.2 one of Myers’ biggest strengths in Winnipeg and that didn’t translate to Between the games that myself and Corey Sznajder have tracked this Vancouver in this dataset. season, we’ve got 20 games worth of zone exit data from 2019-20. This It’s possible that a bigger sample of games would have revealed better obviously won’t tell us the complete story of the season but considering numbers because his shot and scoring chance metrics show that he did that research has shown it only takes 15-20 games for a sample size to a good overall job of driving play (it’s hard to see how he would have stabilize, it will hold meaningful value in analysis. accomplished that if he was subpar defensively and at moving the puck). 18.1% In either case, I’ll be keeping a close eye on Myers’ zone exit numbers moving forward. Tanner Pearson

Viewed in totality, the Canucks’ defence corps is pretty pedestrian after 42.5% Hughes with respect to breaking the puck out, but some of the biggest 17.2% gains they made this season come because of who they lost. Bo Horvat 2018-19 Zone Exit Data 38.7% Troy Stecher 14.5% 34.6% Loui Eriksson 22.4% 35.7% Christopher Tanev 14.3% 32.9% If you’re looking for an explanation as to why the Lotto line was so 27.3% dominant in possessing the puck and spending their shifts in the Ben Hutton offensive zone, look no further than how effectively they worked as a five- man unit to break the puck out. Elias Pettersson leads the way with an 30.3% elite 62.3 percent possession exit clip, but and J.T. Miller have been almost equally crucial. Boeser, in particular, has taken a big 22.7% stride forward in this area compared to last year where his clean Alexander Edler breakout rate was only around 45 percent with a failed rate almost double what it was this season. This is a prime example illustrating one 26.3% of the many parts of his game that Boeser has rounded out.

22.0% Miller doesn’t stand out with his hands or speed, but it’s been a genuine breath of fresh air to see how smart he is at assessing pressure and then Derrick Pouliot resetting the breakout when necessary. He never panics with the puck 24.9% and is willing to hang on for a second longer to make the play that ensures his line keeps the puck. 35.5% On the other side, an interesting stylistic trend is how safe the second- Erik Gudbranson line opted to go with their exits. You’ll note that Tanner Pearson and Bo Horvat both infrequently moved the puck up ice with possession. They’ve 17.8% been much more prolific with this in years past and the really low failed 34.1% exit rate suggests that this was more an intentional strategy to ensure they got the puck out at all costs against top competition – even if they Erik Gudbranson was predictably a tire fire with the puck in his own zone, didn’t get to keep it themselves. but Derrick Pouliot was almost equally destructive. Both defencemen turned possession over or iced the puck on more than a third of their All things considered, the Canucks have taken a big step compared to breakout attempts and did very little to advance play up the ice. years prior when getting the puck out of their end was a nightmare. They’ve still got runway to improve, but with at least one elite puck mover What about the forwards? on their backend and the integration of more skill up front, they’re certainly trending in the right direction. As I broke down last week, the Canucks were one of the league’s most improved team on zone exits. The majority of that is because of Hughes’ The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 addition coupled with the departure of some of the blue line’s biggest liabilities, but forwards play a pivotal role in successful breakouts as well.

Forwards' Zone Exit Data

Elias Pettersson

62.3%

19.7%

Brock Boeser

54.2%

11.9%

J.T. Miller

51.3%

20.5%

Adam Gaudette

50.0%

23.1%

Josh Leivo

49.0%

11.8%

Jake Virtanen

44.6% 1183092 Vancouver Canucks of improving your overall game as you look ahead to a couple of seasons in the KHL?

I know I’m an NHL player and that I can play at this level, but sometimes Q&A: Nikolay Goldobin on his time in Vancouver, going back to Russia it doesn’t work, something doesn’t work. I don’t know if it’s not the right and the KHL coach or if maybe I didn’t do some stuff right, but I know I can handle this level.

For these two years in CSKA, I just want to be the best. And I know I can By Thomas Drance Apr 17, 2020 be one of the best players, and that’s how the organization is treating me. Hopefully, me and the coach will go along together and do big things

together, because I’m a little bit of a different player. For hardcore Vancouver Canucks fans that suffered through some of the There have been some guys who’ve struggled in North America as leanest years in franchise history in the middle of the last decade, younger players, gone back to spend a few years in the KHL, then they Nikolay Goldobin meant a bit more. come back and establish themselves as top-line NHL players. You think Perhaps it’s because of how he was acquired. Goldobin arrived in about a guy like Evgenii Dadonov. Do you think of that as a model for Vancouver at the 2017 NHL trade deadline for Jannik Hansen, as what you want to accomplish here over the next few years? Canucks management belatedly began to accumulate future assets. The Why not? Yeah. trade was widely celebrated in the marketplace, framed in sharp contrast with what came before. That deal, paired with a separate trade that sent I don’t feel like I’m taking a step back. The KHL is a good league as well, Alexandre Burrows to Ottawa, was received locally as an organizational obviously. I know everyone wants to play in the NHL, but I’m just taking a acknowledgment that bottoming out was the only legitimate course different road for now. And hopefully, in the end, I’ll come back to the forward. NHL.

Goldobin had a big smile and a loud offensive toolkit. For a fanbase When the AHL season was postponed, what was that experience like? weary of watching under-skilled veterans, his playmaking ability was a And when did you end up heading back to Russia? breath of fresh air. An island in a sea of Granlunds. It was weird. We had a good season with the team, we had me and Sven Ultimately, Goldobin didn’t deliver on his promise during his time with the Baertschi, Reid Boucher and some good young guys as well. We were in Canucks. He had some auspicious stretches, particularly when he got an the playoffs, and I felt like we could go far. It was so weird, I can’t even extended look on Elias Pettersson’s wing during the 2018-19 season, but describe my feelings. All of a sudden it was more about life than it was his two-way game didn’t develop to match his offensive skills. Many about hockey. around the team, and the wider hockey industry, believe that Goldobin didn’t make enough of a meal during his plum assignment while riding We were thinking the season was going to continue, but I could tell it shotgun with Pettersson. wasn’t. Because it was really bad. You look at what was happening in Italy a month ago, and I could just tell something was going to happen. After signing a one-way deal before training camp this past September, So I spoke with Utica’s general manager and he told me to get tickets Goldobin lost his spot on the roster. The acquisition of forwards like and fly back home. Tanner Pearson, J.T. Miller and Josh Leivo added depth to Vancouver’s wings, and the continued development of young forwards like Zack Over the last couple of weeks, what was it like to be a free agent – MacEwen, Adam Gaudette and Jake Virtanen made spots even harder to talking to Russian teams, and talking to the Canucks – in the middle of a come by. pandemic?

Cut before opening day, Goldobin cleared waivers and appeared in only Weird, it was weird. When I signed a one-way deal, I was excited, but the one game for the Canucks during the 2019-20 season, playing fewer season didn’t go as I expected. than nine minutes in a meltdown Canucks loss in Pittsburgh in late I thought they were going to sign me again, but they said they won’t. So I November. was kind of disappointed. This past week, Goldobin signed a two-year deal with CSKA Moscow of They’d traded for me and I don’t think I’m a bad player, the sort of guy a the KHL. On Thursday morning, The Athletic Vancouver caught up with team just wants to get rid of. So I decided not to wait. I knew I could’ve Goldobin from his home in Moscow to discuss the probable end of his waited and just become a free agent, but with what’s happening in the Canucks tenure, being a free agent during a pandemic and how he’s world, the wait seemed too long and risky. passing the time while social distancing at home. So you decided you wanted more certainty? Canucks fans responded well to you, I think because you always had the smile and the positive energy. Do you have a message for Canucks fans Yeah, I just want to play hockey. who supported you during your time here, now that you’ve moved on? When we spoke back in November in Utica, it seemed emotionally like it Yeah, I’d love to. I was thinking about posting an Instagram story, but I’m was challenging for you. You said you learned a lot about yourself, about not sure enough people follow me. how much you hate to lose. Reflecting on the season in the context of your career, what stands out to you about those emotional challenges? But I want to say that I had a beautiful time. It wasn’t full NHL time, but I enjoyed every second of it. I loved the city and the fans who were nice to It was a huge challenge for me. The big help was having Sven Baertschi me. Some of them weren’t so nice, but that’s normal. It’s life. Can’t be because he wasn’t expected to be sent down or end up on waivers too. loved by everyone, you know? I wasn’t going to be the ideal guy for everyone. We would kind of help each other. We’d just say that we’re still playing hockey, we’re still making good money – even better money than NHL For the fans that really supported me, I appreciate it. I’m still getting money because we didn’t have any escrow! So we were trying to cheer some texts from people saying “I’m sorry to see you leaving, one day ourselves up. hopefully you’ll be back.” But I don’t know. In the NHL I’ll be back, hopefully one day, because it’s my dream, but I don’t know with who. And it worked! We practiced hard, we played really well, we started the Hopefully with the Canucks. season 10-0-0.

It was my home. Even though I love Russia so much – and every There were good guys around us, young guys. Sven and I were sort of Russian guy loves Russia, especially Moscow – but when I was there, I the leaders, just trying to show the young guys. felt like it was my home too. I felt comfortable there, and the people were It was hard, but I love hockey too much. Eventually, I stopped thinking so nice. about it and just playing.

You’ve said the NHL is your dream and you already indicated to Rick Jim Benning this week told the local papers in Vancouver that he thought Dhaliwal that ultimately you do want to come back to play in the NHL, but you were given a fair shot over the course of your Canucks tenure. Do you’ve signed a two-year deal in the KHL. What’s your goal now in terms you feel like you were? Well, last year, when I spent the full season in the NHL, I was playing with Elias Pettersson and we played really good. I had a stretch where I couldn’t score – and I think some times every player, even superstars, have games like that – and after that, I felt like I lost the trust of the coach.

After that, I thought I was struggling a little bit. It wasn’t that me and the coach struggled, we still talked every week and stuff. And I was still playing.

I didn’t score a lot of goals, but I got pretty good point totals for a full season. It wasn’t a bad season, it wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t a bad season. It’s just tough, I guess I don’t know.

So overall, is it fair to say that you feel like you maybe deserved a little bit more rope?

Yeah, I don’t think I got a lot of rope like other players. I got chances, but maybe if the coach believed in me a little more maybe I would’ve opened up as a player and I could’ve done big things with the team.

Back in Moscow, what’s your day-to-day life like in quarantine at the moment? Anything you’re doing to pass the time?

I have a lot of hobbies in my life. I’m reading some books, I’m doing some LEGOs.

Nice, what have you built?

I have a lot of cars, like big cars. I built a Porsche!

But yeah, my family and I are going to a cabin we have in the woods. We’re going to go soon because it’s safe.

Mostly, just trying to stay safe and healthy. Ordering everything to my house, because there are 3,000 people getting sick every day in Moscow right now.

And I started cooking as well. Made a nice pasta with meat, always making nice salads and some other Russian food. No cheeseburgers, no pizza!

The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183093 Websites • the re-airing of classic games with key players and other principles talking about their memories of the game while they re-watch it;

• the Wayne Gretzky-Alex Ovechkin sit-down interview with Kathryn The Athletic / An inside look at how the NHL is bringing its players to Tappen, which will air on Monday at 5 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network hockey-starved fans and Sportsnet;

(Courtesy of the NHL)

By Michael Russo Apr 17, 2020 • and the #HockeyAtHome craze that has hockey fans and players posting videos of themselves playing hockey at their homes during this mostly nationwide quarantine. These homemade videos have been viewed 88 million times with 8.2 million engagements, the NHL says. John Dellapina piped up during a moment of levity last week and asked: “What other wacky ideas do you have, Steve?” It was during this brainstorming session that Mayer and his team came up with the crazy idea of hosting a Zoom call with the entire St. Louis Steve Mayer is the NHL’s executive vice president and chief content Blues’ team as a reunion of sorts on what should have been the first day officer. He and his cohort of creative minds at league HQ have given of the Blues’ attempt to repeat as Stanley Cup champs. hockey fans an inside look into the lives and personalities of their favorite players during this monthlong (and counting) COVID-19 pandemic and Everybody was skeptical, of course. league shutdown. First of all, how the heck could the league and the Blues get 25 players So at Dellapina’s crack, the seven folks gathered for this hourlong Zoom who were scattered all over the world to join? Second of all, how would it conference call broke out in laughter. They know that Mayer has 10 new not look like a convoluted mess from a technological standpoint? ideas before he even sits down to breakfast. But with the help of the Blues’ PR department and general manager Mayer was just getting rolling: “Hey, Bill, I’ve got a fun idea …” or, “You Doug Armstrong, and thanks to a couple players calling and texting less guys are going to hate me, but …” or, “OK, on the surface, this is really a tech-savvy teammates when their video or audio wasn’t on, the NHL silly idea, but just listen: We turn the players into cartoon animals, and became the first league to publicly reunite an entire team since sports as then …” we know it was halted.

“Oh, Come on!!!” would be the reaction to some of Mayer’s musings as NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is so involved that Mayer and the six others laughed out loud. Other times, it would be: “Oh, that’s Dellapina, the NHL’s senior vice president of communications, joke that brilliant,” or, “Hilarious,” or, “That would be outstanding if we can pull it he has become almost like a “co-executive producer.” He watches every off.” show and even gives real-time notes to Dellapina during the video conferences. Mayer said Bettman has a “great eye” and offered such “I would say I actually have more like 30 ideas before breakfast,” a valuable feedback from the Subban show that they’re implementing his laughing Mayer said during a phone interview from his New Jersey home changes in the next trivia show. on Easter Sunday. That call came two days after the NHL allowed The Athletic to sit in on the league’s daily meeting of seven executives and “I thought what we did with the St. Louis Blues was extraordinary,” content leaders. Bettman said during an interview with The Athletic on Tuesday. “I don’t know that anybody’s ever done that. I think what we are accomplishing “I think with a lot of these ideas, everybody will throw a shadow of doubt — and by we, I mean, the league and the people at the clubs — with this on most of them,” Mayer said. “But we have an incredible team, so it’s content is absolutely creative, extraordinary and fun. one thing to have the ideas, it’s the next thing to execute them. “Our players are always great. I think our guys, when it comes to “And the chances of executing these type of ideas in this period of time accessibility, are fantastic. And based on the fact that everybody’s day- are so much greater than they would be at any other time. So we’ll give it to-day schedule has been altered, it’s clear that they’re using some of a try.” this free time to really engage our fans, make them feel a part of the This has been a renaissance of league engagement and it was game and hopefully be a distraction and put a smile on people’s faces.” fascinating to be a fly on the wall as the creative team sorted out a flurry And about providing those “notes,” Bettman said, kiddingly, “When of new ideas for the coming weeks. somebody gives you a project and you’re seeing 95 percent of it being It was in this kind of meeting, which includes the heads of PR, social, perfect, it’s easy to pick out a couple of things when it’s all laid out in front dot.com, and stats and information, where the league decided to host of you. All of our people, whether it’s Steve Mayer and his group or eight divisional “captains” in video chats with reporters. It worked out so (executive vice president of communications) Gary Meagher and his well, Matt Cubeta, the NHL’s senior director and editor in chief of group, they have all been extraordinary in their creativity and their effort. NHL.com International, conducted a call for Swedish media last week “The creativity is always there. We have a content counsel that meets on and on Thursday he held two calls with Finnish media. Cubeta plans calls a regular basis all before we found ourselves in this unusual for Russian and French Canadian press next. circumstance, but I think what’s truly amazing is how quickly they figured On the meeting I sat in on, the league decided to do the Zoom where out how to marshal our assets, adapt quickly and make sure that the , Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner had a “family game was still top of mind to our fans.” reunion” and played a version of the “Newlywed Game.” They also came But Bettman reiterated, the players deserve a lot of credit. up with the idea of a coaches get-together involving St. Louis’ Craig Berube, Arizona’s Rick Tocchet and Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour where As of Monday, according to Heidi Browning, the league’s chief marketing they talked about their years with the Flyers. It’s where they concocted officer, 511 active NHL players have posted on their social media the idea of a hockey “nerds” show (OK, they were kinder, and called it, channels about everything from health and safety and donations to their Hockey Obsessives) featuring Patrick Kane, Mark Scheifele and Mathew lifestyles and workouts. As of last week, there were over 170 posts from Barzal, a chance for the three hockey-hooked stars to test the depth of players across all 31 teams sending out COVID-19 messaging, like stay their knowledge. It was here where they dusted off an idea they’ve long at home and wash your hands or showing recognition and appreciation wanted to try: an NHL Hat Trick Trivia contest hosted by charismatic for first responders, doctors, nurses and essential workers. Devils defenseman P.K. Subban. While Bettman and Mayer said the NHL Players’ Association has been The call also included stuff like: tremendous with its cooperation throughout the league’s pause, there’s no doubt players are also doing things organically on their own. • “Motivational Mondays” on social media (where teams broadcast out a great dressing room speech or exciting video clip to help fans get through The Wild’s Jared Spurgeon recently started a public Instagram account another tough week); because he said he wanted to “connect with the fans more and show off my personality a little bit.” • a March Madness-style bracket of the “64 Greatest Moments of the NHL Season … So Far;” “I just think the league’s done a great job lately of promoting us as off-ice people, and it’s really fun to see a lot of guys getting into it,” Spurgeon • player Q&As on Instagram, which have been a smashing success; said. “I think it’s going to be real beneficial when we get out of this showing their personalities a bit, where we realized we could start putting because I think our fans will know a lot of us better as human beings. out content that just entertains and shows off the players’ personality. So, off we went and we’ve been doing it ever since and players are into it.” “I think they’ll relate to us better and realize we’re just regular guys and not any different from them. We just happen to play hockey for a living.” The Staal brothers, from left, Eric, Jordan and Marc, with and David Amber. (Courtesy of the NHL) So, Spurgeon has posted videos of his wife, Danielle, giving him a haircut, a picture of his family’s Easter Sunday dinner table (the couple The video calls that day were Sidney Crosby, Claude Giroux, and Marc has four children) and very funny videos of Spurgeon brushing the and Jordan Staal, then Ovechkin, , Nick Foligno and Subban family’s two giant dogs they rescued through Secondhand Hounds. One on a second call. of the dogs, with all due respect, looks as big as Spurgeon. The video calls, which have generated 7 million views so far, have But Spurgeon is one of hundreds. Just go on the NHL’s Instagram and ranged from fascinating, like Ryan Getzlaf showing off the chicken coop you can see scores of these pictures and videos. he built, to kind of gross, like Zdeno Chara saying he’d never want to be quarantined with Boston Bruins teammate Tuukka Rask because of an There’s Brent Burns cooking at his Texas ranch. There’s Dustin Brown apparent flatulence problem. putting frosting on cookies he’s making with his kids. There’s Ovechkin playing fetch with his dog and Evgeni Malkin posting a selfie off an Players have discussed everything from child care and home-schooling elevator mirror. There’s the Nylander brothers, Nico Hischier and Nick to all the Xbox they’re playing and wondering aloud if unwitting “Tiger Suzuki doing TikTok videos, Ilya Kovalchuk working out and the Tkachuk King” anti-hero Carole Baskin may have killed her first husband. brothers playing hoops. During one call, Dellapina, who hosts many of the roundtables, dropped The Live Q&A’s Browning and her team have organized that have off the line, so Chicago’s , Nashville’s Roman Josi and featured David Pastrnak, Tyler Seguin, Tyler Johnson, Sebastian Aho, St. Louis’ Alex Pietrangelo began talking amongst themselves: Leon Draisaitl, Jeff Skinner, T.J. Oshie and Robert Thomas have generated, as of Monday, 18.6 million impressions, 194,000 Pietrangelo: “He disappeared.” engagements and thousands of questions from fans. Toews: “Must be it then, boys!”

Each Monday, the league releases a “best of” compilation video of the Pietrangelo: “What was I watching the other day? They had an old, old Q&A’s, and there’s a plan to turn a compilation of many of the league’s (game) … like 30 years ago. It’s crazy how different the game is.” shows during the pandemic into a TV show that will air on social media, NHL.com and NHL Network, NBC Sports Network and Sportsnet. The Toews: “Oh, it was Chicago-Pittsburgh, wasn’t it? league plans to also curate the best #HockeyAtHome social media Pietrangelo: “Yeah.” content that is posted by players and fans to create this new show. Pietrangelo: “It’s pretty fun to watch those old ones. Goalies are the best As hockey fans everywhere desperately miss the sport, especially as the part.” first round of the playoffs would just be hitting high gear, NHL players are welcoming fans into their lives. Toews: “Go on YouTube and check out Rock ’em Sock ’em … they played the highlights of a whole playoff series. It was just one hit after “I think a lot of players are doing some great things – sending messages another. It’s like literally one suspension after another.” to their communities and giving back in other ways,” said Kane, the Blackhawks superstar. “I also think things like this call (with Barzal and Pietrangelo: “More hits than you’ll see in a week now in the NHL … it’s Scheifele) are cool, too. Guys are getting on video chats and talking crazy.” about themselves and the different situations they’re going through. And what this all shows, to me, is how much we all love and need sports.” On one call, Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler told Jamie Benn he wasn’t missing the Stars captain trying to fight him 20 times a game and And what it also shows, the Wild’s Eric Staal said, is that hockey players Colorado’s Gabriel Landeskog talked about how much he respected are accepting and dealing with the same stay-at-home orders that much Minnesota’s Zach Parise, especially in the Avs’ home opener in 2015 of the rest of society is. when Landeskog crushed Parise in the third period and the Wild scorer nonchalantly hopped to his skates, went to the net and scored to trigger a Basically, they’re all going through what we’re going through. Wild comeback win. Players are on full-time dad duty, like they are in the summertime. “And no way is Landeskog telling that story in the middle of a playoff They’re cooking meals or ordering takeout. They’re finding new ways to series,” TSN analyst and former NHLer said. “I think the stuff exercise, new TV shows to binge and movies to watch. has been awesome because the guys are removing the harness. They’ve And whether it’s on their own via social media or through the platform the been away a month and I think they feel free a little bit.” league is providing, they’re able to connect with fans about the sport they For the league video calls, reporters are invited to ask questions the day all love and they’re all missing. before and a handful of those questions are chosen during the “I think it’s cool that a lot of sports are doing their best to try and keep production. people engaged and even though it’s through home cameras and Some reporters have scoffed that NHL hasn’t allowed live questions, but computers, it’s still giving a glimpse into how guys are just like everyone Dellapina says there are valid reasons why the league hasn’t allowed else,” Staal said. real-time access for reporters: 1) The league at first didn’t know if it could Earlier in the league’s pause, Staal was one of the first NHLers to take pull this off technologically; 2) Players, clubs, the league and the NHLPA part in a specialized NHL-produced show. Tappen and David Amber were worried about players answering specific COVID-19 questions early hosted a “Brothers” show that included Jack and Quinn Hughes, Brady on; 3) The league never intended this to be the only media access to its and Matt Tkachuk, and Eric, Marc and Jordan Staal. players. It was a way to transition to something more closely resembling normal order, but when it worked so well, it was decided to keep the As the often self-deprecating Eric Staal said, “Some guys are more video chats going as just one piece of player interaction with media and interesting than others,” but, to be fair, one of the cutest parts of the Staal fans; 4) And maybe most importantly, the league heard about “Zoom- Bros. segment was Eric teaching his son, Finley, piano. bombing” before launching the calls, so it was scared to death about “The first seven to 10 days after we suspended our season, the players allowing real-time access from the outside. did it for us,” Mayer said of the league’s expansive content. “The players That fear turned out justified earlier this month when the New York were putting out messaging, the players were at home and we were just Rangers hosted a Zoom Q&A with rookie defenseman K’Andre Miller, a amplifying what they were doing. Minnesota native who is black. The first 500 fans were able to click on a “But we also saw that the fans were actually super interested and Twitter link to listen in on the interview. Somehow, the chat was hacked wanting more. Everybody we talked to gave us the green light to do a and a racial slur was written across the screen hundreds of times. little more. And then I think it was the first press conference that we did, The league, NHLPA and hockey players and fans across the world the video press conference, which was March (26), where the players condemned the action. The FBI is investigating and issued a statement were going after each other, having some fun, a little smack talk, just saying there have been multiple complaints since the pandemic began league continues to be hopeful it can complete the 2019-20 season, even about Zoom meetings being hacked and disrupted. if that means resumption doesn’t come until July or August and next season doesn’t start until November. So what’s coming down the pike? “We are over 100 years old. We’ve been at this a long time,” Bettman Everything from “Untold Stories” video features to talent shows to each said. “The great thing about sports, ours in particular, it’s all about team’s Mount Rushmore. That will be a takeoff on social memes that storytelling. And there are great stories. We have great history, great superimpose famous hockey players on Mount Rushmore. The NHL will tradition. And we have great players, either former players and current likely choose three of the faces with the fans getting to vote on the fourth. players. I don’t think there’s ever a shortage of stories to be told and An esports NHL20 tournament featuring NHL players that will be retold.” broadcast to the world starting in a couple weeks. Former Wild coach Bruce Boudreau, not the savviest when it comes to The Gretzky-Ovechkin sitdown came off well, especially in light of the social media, loves what the league’s doing to sell the personalities and fact that Ovechkin is 188 goals from matching Gretzky’s record of 894 hopes it continues. goals. It went so well, in fact, the league plans to do a lot more of these Same with Ferraro. types of interviews by pairing others, like a celebrity and a player, or another former player with a current player. “The league is on to something here,” Ferraro said. “It’s how they can push it forward that will be really interesting because in my experience, “Alex was so thoughtful and respectful. He was great,” said Dellapina, during the season, the teams are the biggest challenge when it comes to who listened in on the taping. “He just really paid tribute to Wayne and players being able to do things like this.” treated Wayne like who Wayne is. And Wayne’s admiration for Alex was obvious. It was really something to watch.” Ferraro has a good point.

Almost every piece of content the league pulls off ends up on NHL.com’s Part of the NHL’s hope is that players and teams will do more of this foreign language sites and has been translated into Russian, Finnish, during an actual hockey season. Swedish, German, Czech, Slovak, French and Spanish. After all, while Bettman says the “millennials and Gen-Z’s” have long Similarly, the league so much liked the way Ed Olczyk hosted last week’s been willing to promote themselves and the game on social media, many in-game roundtable with Jarret Stoll, and still are leaving their comfort zone. during a re-airing of the 2014 Kings’ Cup clincher against the Rangers that it planned to record two more this week: The Mark Messier Hockey players often feel they have to conform to a team-first mentality “Guarantee” in Game 6 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Final that where they never step above the dressing room. And while that might be included Messier, Mike Richter and discussing the game what we love about hockey players, it can also present marketing throughout, and the 2018 Penguins-Flyers playoff game in which Jake challenges. Guentzel scored four goals. Liam McHugh would host that one with Teams also often frown on players doing extracurricular promotional Guentzel, Conor Sheary and Penguins coach Mike Sullivan discussing appearances during off times because they feel it’s a potential distraction the game throughout. that’s not worth the benefit.

Next month, the NHL would love to re-air the dueling Crosby-Ovechkin But it’s so self-defeating in a league that’s always trying to elevate the hat tricks from the 2009 playoffs and get Crosby and Ovechkin to talk fast, exciting sport to non-traditional fans. throughout the game. “They’ve always had a personality, but now they’re actually showing it What’s more, Mayer discussed a couple other ideas rolling around his off,” Mayer said. “So I think it’s only going to help us engage after we’re brain during Friday’s league meeting. done and get fans more interested in a lot of our players.

How about 10-minute meals with celebrity chefs and NHL players? “We put out a mini-featurette the other day: ‘We miss hockey, we miss They’re searching for the right players who would be on one side of a you, we’ll be back.’ I’m reading the comments that are associated with screen with their family and would cook the same meal as the celebrity that video and you see that our fans really miss the game and are chefs on the other side of the screen. touched by the fact that the players are still doing this stuff.”

“We’re talking world-famous Food Network-type chefs, and we’ve already The well isn’t dry for Mayer or the rest of his team. got them,” Mayer said. During last week’s NHL meeting, the seven executives and content Mayer has been talking to his friends at Warner Music who are willing to heads pushed one theme: How do we engage our fans even more? pair some of their musical artists with NHLers who double as musicians for Instagram Live concerts. “We’re just going to keep it going, and do it until we’re ready to come back,” Mayer said. “I’m hoping that a lot of the things we started, we’re He’s thinking about a stunt show hosted by the Tkachuk brothers. And, going to continue to do once we come back and play. We’re creating Browning really wants to create a trivia show aimed for the age of ideas that will have legs for a long time. And we’re also cool, if children and, yes, there’s that “silly” cartoon animal idea. something’s not great, OK, we’ll move on. We’ll do something else, and Here’s how that came about. There’s an animator that the NHL loves that’s fine, too. Not everything is going to be a hit show. working with who came up with the idea of a dream sequence where “We’ve accepted that, but behind the failed show will be another idea that NHLers turn into cartoon animals and continue the hockey season. “This we’ll bring on in. I think for everybody out there, they should just keep on comes from the category of no idea is too crazy, too silly, to be pitched looking out because we’re not going to stop until we’re back and right now,” Mayer said, laughing, “but we really like it and think the hopefully past that as well.” players would have fun with it.” The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 Some of the ideas triggered roars of laughter on the call.

Croc Boeser, Tiger Seguin, Paul Bison-ette, Alex O-fetch-kin, Gabriel Landes-hog, Lion O’Reilly.

“Oh, goodness,” one of the executives uttered before the team actually began spitballing ideas like working with Upper Deck to create trading cards if the league decides to go with this idea.

And because there’s lots of TV blocks available on NBC Sports Network, Sportsnet and NHL Network and the NHL’s many social media platforms, the league knows all of this content will be seen by a large audience.

There’s no shortage of ideas, and there better not be because on Tuesday, the NHL announced that its self-quarantine recommendation for players, coaches and staff would be extended through April 30. The 1183094 Websites The first star: Brendan Gallagher gives the world the bird – If it’s any consolation, Jack the Bird stuck around longer than most top-tier free agents the Habs try to talk to.

The Athletic / DGB Grab Bag: A better standings page, debating goalies Debating the issues and the Ballard era ends This week’s debate: The NHL website put out a ranking of the best goaltenders of the expansion era and they chose Martin Brodeur over options like Dominik Hasek or Patrick Roy. Did they get it right? By Sean McIndoe Apr 17, 2020 In favor: They sure did! Brodeur may not measure up to some of the others when it comes to fancy stats, but he’s a winner. A goalie’s job is to win games and win Cups, and Brodeur was the master of coming Let’s pretend the NHL is able to resume at some point this summer but through in the clutch. He’s definitely the best goalie of his era! has to go straight into the playoffs. No more regular season, meaning some teams will have finished with more games played than others. And Opposed: Sure. for the sake of argument, no wild card play-in round either. Just the best 16 teams in the league and off we go into the usual four rounds of In favor: Yeah but you … wait, did you say “sure?” playoffs. Opposed: Yeah. I’m with you. It’s fine. Which 16 teams should that be? In favor: But you’re supposed to be … opposed. That’s kind of our whole Or to put the question slightly differently: Do we rank teams by total deal. points or by points percentage? Opposed: I know. But these days, I’m not really in much of a mood to That ends up being an important question. In both conferences, the argue over silly hockey stuff, you know? Given everything else going on, answer will determine who would get the last spot. In the East, the Blue these sort of arguments feel kind of pointless. Jackets are ahead of the Islanders in raw points but are behind in points In favor: Do they? I figured they could be a fun distraction. percentage because they’ve played two extra games. In the West, the Jets and Flames would get spots instead of the Predators and Canucks. Opposed: Maybe. I’m just not in that zone where I can get all worked up over some minor hockey debate. Just put me down for whatever. So which is it? Total points or points percentage? In favor: You OK dude? I’m going to make a guess here: Unless you’re a Columbus, Winnipeg or Calgary fan, you probably think the answer is pretty obvious. Of course Opposed: Not really, no. we have to go with points percentage. It would be silly to fixate on raw points when everyone has played a different number of games. In favor: You’re kind of bumming us all out.

I think that’s the right answer. I’m not even sure there’s a good case to be Opposed: I know. Sorry about that. made for using raw point totals. If a team has an extra point or two In favor: You sure it wouldn’t make you feel better to mix it up a bit with because they’ve played more games, that’s not really being ahead in any your fellow fans? Just for old time’s sake. meaningful sense of the word and it would be weird to pretend otherwise. It just feels unfair and wrong. Opposed: I don’t think so.

Great. So why do we always go by total points whenever we’re talking In favor: Just for fun. Come on, call me a moron one time. about the standings during the season? Opposed: Nah. Not in the mood. We do it all year long. Well, this team is three points out of a playoff spot, we’re told. Then you look at the standings and they have five games in In favor: Huh. Well, OK, I guess that’s your choice. Up to you. hand. They’re not really behind at all. But we all talk like they are. Opposed: Thanks.

I’m pretty sure the answer here is that we’re just going by the standings In favor: It’s just a shame that you won’t get to hear my hot take about page and pretty much all of them don’t list points percentage as a how well the loser point is working. column. None of them sort by it. So we all just get lazy and glance at a list and go yep, that team’s ahead, even if common sense says they’re Opposed (perking up slightly): You … like the loser point? not. In favor: Maybe. So be it resolved: Whenever the NHL does come back with regular season hockey, let’s smarten up and start talking about the standings Opposed: You couldn’t. based on points percentage. Especially if we’re going to keep seeing big In favor: I mean, it’s not perfect … gaps in the games played column, let’s account for that. At the very least, update all the standings pages to include points percentage. Ideally, we’d Opposed: Thank you. make that the default sort too, but let’s at least put the important numbers In favor: … like the shootout. in front of us so we can look at the standings in a way that makes sense. Opposed: Dude. That still leaves the question of how we actually talk about them; saying a team is .04 percentage points out of the playoffs doesn’t quite roll off the In favor: Also, I think we should make the nets three feet wider, puck- tongue. We’ll have to figure that out. But in the meantime, let’s get the over-glass penalties should be automatic majors and every Original Six column onto every standings page. We’ve been going by total points team should be forced to do a Storm Surge after every game. forever, on the assumption that was good enough because it would all even out in the end. This year called our bluff. Once things get back to Opposed: … normal, let’s make the change permanent and start talking about the In favor: Win or lose. standings in the way we all just instinctively realized works better. Opposed: (trembling) The (last few) week’s of comedy In favor: Come on, let it out … The third star: – When he wasn’t coming dangerously close to challenging Mike O’Connell to a barn fight, Burke was reaching out Opposed: You blind delusional idiot! Maybe if you had ever laced them and renewing acquaintances with old friends. up and actually played the game you would know something about this sport. Take off your homer glasses and ditch the East Coast bias and The second star: Thomas Greiss’ dogs – Nice leap, Wofie, but I’m Team maybe someday you’ll understand what real hockey is. Until then, go Willow all the way on this one. watch figure skating or the NBA or play Fortnite and let the rest of us enjoy the game the way the hockey gods intended it!

In favor: OK but also the Islanders … Opposed: (flips a table so high it exits the mesosphere and burns up in Oh hell yes, it’s Toronto sports media legend and Grab Bag Hall of the sun) Famer Dick Beddoes. This clip just levelled up.

In favor: Feel better? Beddoes has apparently just attended the service, and I love the fact that he’s wearing a bright yellow shirt with matching turtleneck. You know, Opposed (breathing heavily): I actually do, yeah. Thanks, man. funeral clothes. He’s also rocking his trademark hat and drops what In favor: I got you. might be the all-time “Yeah but he was good with the media” take in sports history. What a legend. The final verdict: Let’s all agree to continue to argue over every dumb little thing that enters our hockey fan brains for as long as we can, if only We cut to Di Battista, who informs us that Ballard has been buried next to to stay sane. his late wife. Hold that thought, this is about to get confusing.

Obscure former player of the week “The private service in Forest Hill lasted 40 minutes,” Di Battista tells us. “Yeah, just like the Leafs’ playoff hopes every season for the last If you’re an Obscure Player fan, I hope you caught last week’s list of the decade,” mutters every Leafs fan. worst players to wear every NHL number. That was basically the “We Are The World” video of obscure players. We go back to Beddoes, who is pontificating about “a state of grace, as the Christians say.” Can we just point out that he’s doing this interview But for this week, I want to circle back to a classic Stat Spoiler that while casually leaning on a gravestone? I unironically love Dick Beddoes. several readers flagged a decade ago, back in January. Beddoes informs us that there’s been some subterfuge around the day’s Wow. Anytime you’re sandwiched between Ray Bourque and Bobby Orr, events, as Ballard’s family misled the public about the location of the that’s some elite-level Stat Spoiling. So yes, let’s bestow belated services. That’s partly because they didn’t want a media circus. But Obscure Player honors on . mainly, as Beddoes explains, they didn’t want Yolanda Ballard to show up. Hampton was a talented offensive defenseman who put up good numbers as a junior in the OHA. The Golden Seals made him the third Hoo boy. How to explain Yolanda Ballard? She was Harold’s longtime overall pick of the 1974 draft, which was notable because it was one of companion and a frequent figure in various Ballard controversies in the the few years the Seals’ pick didn’t end up getting stolen by . 1980s. Fair enough, you might think, but didn’t we just say that Harold Hampton made the team immediately, because they were the Golden was buried next to his wife? Well, yeah. Harold and Yolanda were never Seals and you or I probably could have cracked the roster. His rookie married – her last name was Ballard because she legally changed it in numbers were just OK; he played the full season, but only managed 25 1988, largely because she knew it would annoy his kids, who couldn’t points. His sophomore season was better, as he broke out for a career- stand her. high 51 points. He was still just 19, meaning he played two full NHL seasons as a teenager. Yolanda’s ongoing attempts to get Harold to marry her were fodder for plenty of tabloid talk back in the day. According to reports, she nearly Hampton and the Seals were off to Cleveland in 1976, and he spent two succeeded just a few months before his death, only to have him back out more years with the Barons before they folded. His numbers were decent hours before the ceremony. Depending on which story you believed, she but falling, and when the Barons were merged into the North Stars, his was either a gold-digging fraud or the only person who actually cared rights wound up with the Kings as compensation for a free agency about Harold enough to be by his side in his final years. The whole thing signing. He played two partial seasons in L.A. but didn’t do much, and his was a decade-long soap opera and kind of sad. NHL career was over in 1980 before he turned 24. In all, he played 337 games and managed 172 points – 44 percent of which came as a We head over to the location of the fake service and meet a few fans teenager. with, um, varying reasons for being there. Morris seems to genuinely want to pay his respects, while John wants to see “what’s her name” Still, we’ll always have that legendary unibrow and the story of the time show up and cause drama. But my favorite is Franca, who clearly has no he made all his teammates hate him by cross-checking Bobby Clarke. idea who is or what he meant to the Maple Leafs but is damn well going to fake her way through this. As a kid who did more than Classic YouTube clip breakdown a few book report presentations on books I never read, I respect her Last week I wrote about why is my favorite player and how commitment. much of it has to do with the hopelessness of the Harold Ballard era. You Laura leaves us with a cliffhanger: What will happen with Ballard’s will? really had to be a Leafs fan back in the day to know how awful it was to Not surprisingly, that ended up turning into a legal train wreck; ownership have an owner who was crusty, incompetent and petulant and who really of the Leafs was left in the air and Yolanda was almost entirely cut out didn’t care that the entire fan base hated him. and lawyers got involved. Coincidentally, last week was also an important anniversary in the history As for Ballard, he’s yet to reemerge. Apparently the gravedigger that of the Ballard era: It’s been 30 years since it ended, with the longtime buried him did a good job. I wonder what ever happened to that guy? owner’s death in April 1990. And in typical Ballard form, the end came with a dose of family drama, some deception and a special guest The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 appearance from a media legend.

It’s April 1990, a few days after Ballard’s passing on April 11. He’s been laid to rest and Leafs fans around the world are paying their respects while waiting for him to inevitably pop up out of his crypt and shamble off to Maple Leafs Gardens to continue trading away every good player the team accidentally acquires.

Man, I miss those sweet CityPulse openings. By the way, Gord Martineau lasted another quarter-century before retiring a few years ago and he looked exactly the same the entire time. Seriously, I’ve aged more every day of the last month than Gord Martineau did in his entire career and it’s annoying.

After a quick intro in which we learn Ballard’s real first name was Edwin, we throw to reporter (and future novelist) Laura Di Battista and a dramatic shot of Ballard’s casket being carried through a graveyard. I don’t know who the pallbearers are but Steve Yzerman doesn’t immediately show up and undress all six of them so they’re clearly not the 1990-91 Maple Leafs defensemen.

We hear a voice saying nice things about Ballard, kind of, including calling him a rogue. That’s a little bit strange. But wait a second. Laid- back delivery, contrarian viewpoint, colorful vocabulary … could it be? 1183095 Websites But I would say more importantly, there is a large financial incentive to conduct a postseason, even with no fans in the stands. According to sources, a significant portion of the NHL’s national broadcast/media revenue is generated during the playoffs. And there’s also sponsorship The Athletic / LeBrun: Fans engage in tug-of-war over when NHL should revenue dedicated to the playoffs as well. That revenue can still be resume play preserved.

How much? I’m told between $400 million to $500 million. However, after I speculated those numbers on “Insider Trading” on Thursday, another By Pierre LeBrun Apr 17, 2020 industry source told me those numbers were a tad ambitious. Either way, there’s significant money tied to the completion of the playoffs.

This is an emotional time in our lives. People are on edge. But back to Tyler’s first point on no fans and the atmosphere that makes playoff hockey so special. And that range of emotions is evident in people’s reactions to the potential return of sports. A former NHL player reached out to me this week and pointed out just how weird it would be in the very moment that the Stanley Cup is On the list of priorities right now, in a world where delivery people are awarded, to have it done in the near silence of an empty building. It risking their lives to drop packages off at your front door, whether or not would be like a beer league team winning its season title as far as there’s hockey again this season doesn’t rank very high. atmosphere, he argued. Well, there is that.

And yet it’s a decision – either way – that will have to be made by the Could you mic every player to help fill the void? I don’t know. But that’s a people who run the NHL. good point. It would be surreal to have the Cup won with no atmosphere to speak of. Other than hearing the players on the ice scream in delirious One thing I’ve noticed over the past few weeks both in reader comments joy. at The Athletic and from Twitter followers is the wide range of opinions when it comes to the return of sports. And I mean, if you’re following me This is from Kevin Gibson, the TSN stats guru. I get your point, Kevin, on Twitter or subscribe to The Athletic, you’re a sports fan. nobody looks back at the 2012-13 Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks and puts on asterisk on them just because the season was shortened by But sports fans are engaged in a real tug-of-war right now on what’s right the lockout. The difference this time around would be the four months when it comes to the timing of sports resuming. between games, which we will get into a little bit later. Therefore, I decided this week, as unscientific as it is, to put out a Twitter Where I disagree with you is saying the 2020-21 season is not relevant. poll in an attempt to get a sense of the hockey community’s perspective. In fact, both NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly and NHLPA head Don The question: Fehr came on to our “Two-Man Advantage” podcast in the past month and suggested that a full, 82-game season next year is paramount If the NHL can actually drop the puck this summer (most likely without regardless of whether they complete this season or not. Although both fans in the rink), are you in favour of a season resumption? the NHL and NHLPA have also added the caveat that next season can More than 62,000 people responded. be delayed until a November start. By cancelling the All-Star Game and the bye weeks, you can get a full season in next year starting in The results: November, with the Cup awarded in late June 2021. That’s one scenario that’s been discussed. Yes – Stanley Cup awarded Even under the no-fans-in-stands scenario, holding games in some NHL 58.9 percent markets may still be unsafe. Which is why the NHL has discussed the No – cancel rest reason potential of neutral and/or centralized sites. One scenario discussed was having the 16 playoff teams play in four different cities, for example. 41.1 percent The Penguins, I’m told, would be willing to offer up its practice complex in Now, I understand that Twitter doesn’t perfectly reflect society’s frame of Cranberry which has two rinks, lots of hotels in the surrounding area, mind. But it’s something. I mean, 62,000 votes from hockey fans are still plus a medical facility next door. That’s the kind of setup that could work, 62,000 votes. In 24 hours no less. among many other potential sites.

Honestly, I thought the poll would end up much closer to a 50-50 split. All things being equal, the league would rather make its return in every But maybe the angst from the “No” crowd just seems louder. And maybe NHL rink, but they also understand the need to be flexible, depending on it’s because I’m not sure myself if there should be hockey again this the landscape come July. season. But more on that at the very end of this piece. These two tweets were a common response from fans, who largely Let’s dive into some the Twitter responses to my poll and add in my consume the NHL product from the privacy of their homes, especially thoughts: given how expensive NHL tickets are in many markets. From that perspective, the TV-only reality of summer hockey wouldn’t bother a lot Yes. Thanks for pointing that out, Jordan. The problem with Twitter, of of those fans. course, is you can’t write a million caveats. But clearly, I was asking about a return to the NHL season only if health authorities advise the NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has stated that the league will only league that it’s safe to do so, which would mean likely mean playing with resume if they can guarantee that the playoffs have “integrity.” I guess no fans in the stands. until we see which of the numerous scenarios they’ve discussed internally (and some of which we’ve reported on) wins the day, but until That idea got a boost this week from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United then, the jury will be out on the integrity part. There are all kinds of ideas States’ top infectious diseases expert, who said that a return of sports being spit-balled, but how do we feel if the opening three rounds of the this summer without fans in the stands could be possible. playoffs are best-of-five instead of best-of-seven? How do we feel if the An interesting exchange here between Tyler and Berg and lots to chew playoff field is expanded? Is it really OK based on what we’ve seen on. through 85 percent of the regular season that the 12th place team in each conference has a shot in an expanded playoff if that’s a scenario First, it’s a popular question I get these days from fans and it’s a good the league looks at? How many regular-season games can the league one: why the urge to finish the season without fans in the stands which squeeze in to help decide a 16-team playoff field if that’s the route it goes means no gate revenue? What’s the point? instead?

For starters, I think the fact that not having a Cup winner in 2005 due to If the season can be completed, whatever schedule/format goes ahead the lockout still doesn’t sit well with the NHL to this day. Furthermore, will need to pass the smell test when it comes to how we all look back on given that 85 percent of the regular season has been played, there’s a it. It won’t be unanimous no matter what it is. But some formats are more strong desire by the league and NHLPA to see its completion. legit than others. OK, so the last four tweets have similar themes but also highlight different worries. There is a real concern, I know I share it, about the health and safety of the players jumping into playoff hockey after four months off. I am mesmerized every April during the early stages of the playoff’s first round at how the level of physicality and intensity is ratcheted up from regular-season play. It is really jarring. And awesome. But how can we expect that this summer after the players have been off for four months? It’s a concern Connor McDavid and many other players have raised, jumping right into the playoffs cold. Which is why the proper amount of preparation has to be in play: training camp, exhibition games and regular-season games. The players have to be able to ramp up their bodies and stamina.

“You can’t go right into the playoffs. There’s no way,’’ Taylor Hall told me on Wednesday.

“We understand that with what will obviously be a lengthy break between games, players are going to want to have an ability to reacclimatize themselves to NHL competition before having to play games that could end their seasons quickly,” Daly told me last week.

“I’m sure our managers feel the same way. We get it and we will certainly go to great lengths to accommodate those concerns.”

A couple of “No” votes here. I understand what Tom is saying and he is certainly not alone. Many others share the view that the desire for the return of sports is misplaced considering the tragedies playing out in real life. The counterargument is that the return of sports will help bring normalcy and joy to a broken society. I’m not here to judge either sentiment because they both make legitimate points. Shannon, meanwhile, brings up another important and popular concern about the players’ safety in terms of catching or spreading the virus. Again, smarter people than me will have decided if it’s safe enough to play and put into place the proper protocols to help alleviate those concerns. But know that nothing will ever be 100 percent safe, that’s just a reality. It’s about deciding the threshold everyone can live with. Believe me when I say the safety aspect – both in how it affects the players and their families – is the No. 1 conversation among NHLPA staff and officials.

The questioning of the legitimacy of a season resumption would not be about the games played but rather the four months between games. That’s as long as a normal NHL offseason. That’s what some of the “No” fans are pointing to.

And so the last several tweets here really grab the spirit of the “Yes” crowd, the more popular choice in my poll. Like sports after 9/11, there’s a healing aspect that you can’t discount. It’s real. And I get that.

Where do I fall in all this? I guess I’m neither a “Yes” or a “No” to my own poll question. I understand why the NHL and NHLPA would want to return both for financial reasons and the sense of obligation to finish the season and award a Cup. Selfishly, both for myself and all my friends and colleagues in the media industry, a season resumption would be good for business, let’s not be hypocrites about that.

But with so many strings attached, I do have serious concerns about a season resumption. The health of the players being one, going 100 miles an hour after four months off seems like a recipe for disaster. And if the non-playoff teams are asked to come back four months later to pay about six to eight regular-season games before shutting it down again, I worry about what incentive those teams would have to ice their best lineups. More than anything, of course, I worry if a season resumption somehow exacerbates the pandemic in any of the regions where hockey would return, even if in a very sheltered way.

There is some merit in just cancelling the season and putting all the effort and focus into preparing for next season, while the pandemic hopefully wanes in the coming months.

But again, I also understand all the reasons why that’s a difficult choice to make for the NHL and NHLPA, whose very business is facing costly damage. I suspect with Dr. Fauci giving his blessing to the possible return of sports without fans, there’s no turning back now as far as plans for a season resumption.

Just know that I’m not fully at ease with it.

The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183096 Websites Milan Lucic, Calgary Flames Three years remaining, $5.25-million cap hit

The Flames tried to make the best of their lousy James Neal situation The Athletic / The most attractive compliance buyout option on every this past summer, flipping his overly generous contract for that of Lucic. NHL team Both players are overpaid bottom-six forwards at this point in their respective careers, but the key distinction between them from a Calgary perspective was that Lucic’s physical game seemed a better fit for third- By Jonathan Willis Apr 17, 2020 or fourth-line work.

He’s delivered as expected, improving modestly on his totals of last year. He’s still overpaid relative to that production, and the structure of his deal For an NHL front office, offseason planning is an exercise in uncertainty. means that a conventional buyout is impractical, so it makes sense to Revenues, no matter what, are going to be down, but there’s no way of use the compliance mechanism. knowing how far they’re going to drop or how the league is going to adjust so that teams can still go through the routine business of finding No buyout, Carolina Hurricanes money to sign players for next year. Ryan Dzingel has been mildly disappointing. Brock McGinn and Jordan One possibility is a tool that the NHL has used before: compliance Martinook are probably marginally overpaid relative to their role on the buyouts. team. Florida cap dump James Reimer has been excellent. There just aren’t any really bad contracts on the Hurricanes roster. Compliance buyouts work the same way regular buyouts do, with one all- important difference: the money doesn’t count against the salary cap. Jake Gardiner probably comes closest to being the exception. He’s had a tough first year with Carolina and he has three years left at a $4.05- What would teams do with a compliance buyout window if given the million cap hit. He’s also only 29, had a 53 percent on-ice expected goal opportunity? The following are my estimates as to which players would share and a career-worst .900 on-ice save percentage (down from .940 be the most likely choices. In cases where there wasn’t a clear in 2018-19). All of these point to the likelihood of a rebound performance. candidate, I said so and explained the reasoning. Let me know what you think in the comments. Brent Seabrook, Chicago Blackhawks

David Backes, Anaheim Ducks Four years remaining, $6.875-million cap hit

One year remaining, $4.5-million cap hit Seabrook was an important part of three championships with Chicago, which is perhaps why the Blackhawks abandoned good sense and At the trade deadline, the Ducks used their ample cap space to take on a signed him to an eight-year, $55-million contract that would carry him bad contract: Boston’s David Backes. They got a first-round pick and a through his 40th birthday. There aren’t a lot of good 39-year-old prospect in return for Ondrej Kase and taking on the Backes money, and defencemen, and the deal was extravagant even before it got loaded with if a compliance buyout window opens they’ll have the opportunity to signing bonuses and a no-movement clause. erase that contract from their books. With Ryan Kesler not expected to be healthy enough to play again, Backes is the obvious choice. This summer will mark the halfway point of the contract. At the time of the NHL’s pause, the 34-year-old Seabrook had four points in 32 games, Michael Grabner, Arizona Coyotes was averaging a career-low 18 minutes per game and was statistically One year remaining, $3.35-million cap hit one of the worst defencemen in hockey.

Like most budget teams, the Coyotes don’t have a lot of obvious dead That combination of age, term, structure and performance makes him a weight on their roster. Grabner probably comes closest. Coming off back- no-brainer in the event of compliance buyouts. to-back 27-goal campaigns, Arizona signed him to a reasonable three- No buyout, Colorado Avalanche year deal. Injuries and performance issues have wrecked the first two years, in which he has just 27 points over 87 games played. Some of the Avs recent free agent forays are arguably a little overpaid. One could point to Joonas Donskoi’s middling underlying numbers or Ian Derek Stepan is also in a steep offensive decline, but one would imagine Cole’s modest average time on ice and quibble, but it’s too big a step to Arizona would be reluctant to buy him out. Because of his contract go from quibbling to arguing for buyouts. structure, Arizona would save just $666,667 in real dollars with a buyout, and that likely outweighs the desirability of clearing his cap hit from the The closest candidate is probably Erik Johnson, given his age (32) and books. the three years left on his $6-million AAV pact. He is, however, a minute- munching right-shot defenceman with decent underlying numbers. The John Moore, Boston Bruins Avs have defencemen on the way, but not much on the right side, and Three years remaining, $2.75-million cap hit pushing him out would leave them with a hard-to-fill hole.

Boston got out of most of its worst contract at the deadline, flipping David Brandon Dubinsky, Columbus Blue Jackets Backes to the Ducks in the Ondrej Kase trade. In this scenario, they’d One year remaining, $5.85-million cap hit also get some cap relief from Anaheim using a compliance buyout on the player. Moore, a frequent healthy scratch, is the clear runner-up for the The Blue Jackets were a great story this year, overcoming the loss of team’s title of worst contract. His underlying metrics are OK, but he was high-profile free agents to remain competitive in the East. It’s a story also carefully sheltered by the coaching staff and after two years of Dubinsky didn’t get to take part in, thanks to a wrist injury which sidelined steady role reductions it’s safe to say the Bruins could find better uses for him out of the gate. He’s trying to stave off retirement and stay in the his money. game, but from a cap standpoint Columbus could do a lot of things with the cap space that he’ll take up upon his return. , Buffalo Sabres There’s a case to be made for Alexander Wennberg as well. The reason Three years remaining, $6-million cap hit he falls behind Dubinsky on this list is one of age. Regular buyouts treat Okposo’s deal is one of those nightmare contracts from the free agent young players differently, clearing two-thirds rather than the usual one- class of 2016, a set of pacts which litter this list. The 32-year-old had 19 third of total salary. If the Jackets go down that road they’ll be looking at points and was averaging fewer than 13 minutes per game when the only a six-figure cap hit left on the books, and that’s a pretty mild problem NHL season paused. That production simply doesn’t match the money for a tool as impressive as a compliance buyout. Buffalo has committed to him. Andrew Cogliano, Dallas Stars The wild card in all this is that his contract probably isn’t the worst on the One year remaining, $3.25-million cap hit team. Jeff Skinner has had an awful year, and scored 14 goals after putting up 40 a year ago. But could the Sabres really stomach going back There’s a very good argument against buying out Joe Pavelski, the 36- on an eight-year, $72-million contract after only one season? year-old with a $7-million cap hit and underwhelming scoring. He only has three years left on his deal, he had really good underlying numbers this season and he’s had basically one bad year offensively. He also gets Of course, if you want to really push the envelope, you could make the 80 percent of his money next year in the form of signing bonuses, but if argument. he struggles the last year of his deal is all base salary and can be reasonably handled by a regular buyout. Zach Parise, Minnesota Wild

That leaves Cogliano, a brilliant defensive player whose hands have Five years remaining, $7.538-million cap hit faded in his 30s. Cogliano had just three goals when the season paused Both Parise and Ryan Suter qualify here less because they’re no longer and was coming off a six-goal campaign last year. He handles tough productive players ⁠ — they are — but as a result of the incredible cap deployments and has solid underlying numbers but if Dallas has to clear liabilities they represent. Signed to matching 13-year contracts back up cap space it’s reasonable to bail on the last year of his deal. when every team in the league was tacking on dirt-cheap extra years to Justin Abdelkader, Detroit Red Wings lower cap hit, the duo are major risks from a cap recapture perspective.

Three years remaining, $4.25-million cap hit Those cheap years at the end might be huge liabilities on the recapture side, but they’re perfect for a compliance buyout. The Wild would only The Red Wings have two excellent candidates for a compliance buyout. have to spend $12-million in real dollars (spread out over 10 years) to , who had nine points and carries his $5.25-million contract clear the $37.7-million in remaining cap hit on Parise and entirely through 2022, is tempting, especially since half of the money remaining neutralize the risk he represents. As much as he’s still a useful player, on his deal is in the form of signing bonuses. However, with Detroit that’s an easy out from under a looming threat. rebuilding and just two seasons left on his deal, waiting him out is a plausible course of action. If any team in the NHL should push for two compliance buyouts, it’s the Wild, who for a real-world cost of $2.4-million per year could knock $15- Abdelkader is tougher. His performance is worse; he had no goals and million and change off their books for each of the next five seasons while three points when the NHL stopped action. His contract is a massive simultaneously squeaking their way out from under Gary Bettman’s overpayment for each of the next three seasons. His remaining dollars elaborate cap recapture machine. are all straight salary, so a regular buyout is an option but would leave Detroit carrying dead money on the books for six years. Karl Alzner, Montreal Canadiens

James Neal, Edmonton Oilers Two years remaining, $4.625-million cap hit

Three years remaining, $5.75-million cap hit Montreal has its share of iffy contracts. Former bargains like Brett Kulak and Paul Byron have had tough years. Long term, the six years left on The other half of the Lucic-Neal trade was brought in by Edmonton with Carey Price’s expensive pact look scary, especially given the the hope that he might score more than the departed Lucic and the degradation in his performance since turning 30. knowledge that even if he struggled, the structure of his contract was far more amenable to a standard buyout. Some of the justification for that There is an easy choice here, though: Alzner. He’s spent most of the last trade will disappear if the league opens the door to compliance buyouts, two seasons in the AHL, and done it for about six times the cost of a but that wasn’t foreseeable and the Oilers would benefit anyway since typical ‘tweener on a minimum-wage NHL deals. If the Habs get a they’d no longer be carrying retained salary on the books. chance to clear the two years they still owe him from the books, they should take it. Neal has scored, but at this stage of his distinguished career he’s more power play specialist than all-purpose player. He’s overpaid for the role Kyle Turris, Nashville Predators he’s in, and if the Oilers get a chance to walk away with no negative Four years remaining, $6-million cap hit salary cap ramifications they should take it. Turris was coming off a 27-goal, 55-point season when Nashville gave No buyout, Florida Panthers him a six-year, $36-million contract extension midway through 2017-18. The obvious candidate here is Sergei Bobrovsky, signed last summer to In the two seasons since it’s kicked in, he’s combined for just 16 goals a seven-year, $70-million contract. He’s got a .900 save percentage on and 54 points. He’ll be 31 this summer, and when a player’s coming off the year. His backup, Chris Driedger, is 25 and spent time in the ECHL two rough seasons at that age it’s not all that hard to think he’ll be further last season but was rocking a .938 SV% at the break. That’s terrifying, diminished by 34. but the problem Florida has is the same one Buffalo has with Jeff A buyout removes an underperforming player and four years of cap Skinner: you don’t make that kind of commitment and then just flush tens liability from the Preds’ books. of millions of dollars down the toilet after one bad year. Cory Schneider, New Jersey Devils The other is Mike Matheson. He carries a $4.875-million cap hit for the next six seasons and the real dollars on the deal escalate each year, Two years remaining, $6-million cap hit peaking at $6.5-million (with $2-million in signing bonuses) in his final two seasons. He’s 26 and although he logs significant minutes in four P.K. Subban’s first year in New Jersey has not gone well and the seasons he’s never once been a positive player by on-ice goal differential defenceman has two years left at a $9-million cap hit. That being said, he or on-ice expected goal share. Some of that’s related to deployment and was a deserving Norris finalist in 2018, he wasn’t bad for the Predators context, but that’s a lot of long-term liability vs. not much upside. He last year, and the Devils have been a mess. It’s worth thinking about but might well be tradable, which is why he doesn’t get the nod here. probably makes more sense to let things play out another season.

Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings Schneider, on the other hand, is fairly well-established as a .900-ish SV% goalie these days and he’s three years older. I liked the trade that Three years remaining, $5.8-million cap hit brought him to New Jersey and thought his contract with the Devils was reasonable and just didn’t see him crashing at 30. It happened, though, is a two-time Stanley Cup-winning starter with the Kings. and a compliance buyout offers a way for the team to get off the hook. He’s been a Vezina finalist twice, has a Conn Smythe Trophy on his wall, and not only deserves loads of respect from L.A. fans but is probably Andrew Ladd, New York Islanders bound for the Hockey Hall of Fame. This is not an effort to disparage a brilliant career. Three years remaining, $5.5-million cap hit

Quick is 34. Since the start of last season, he ranks 57th among the The Islanders have a ton of guys in their late 20s and early 30s signed to NHL’s 62 most-used goalies by save percentage. He’s probably not rich, multi-year contracts and it’s a virtual certainty that they come to going to be better at 37 than he was at 32. Most importantly, because his regret some of those deals. deal is one of those back-diving contracts, the Kings would have to pay a None of them are in the same ballpark as Ladd, who between age and grand total of $6-million to erase $17.4-million of cap liability. If that injury is no longer close to being the player the Islanders thought they sounds cold and calculating, bear in mind that had Dean Lombardi been were signing in 2016. Ladd had 14 points in 34 AHL games this season a little less sentimental about the Kings’ Cup-winning heroes he’d and continues to be paid like a top-six NHL forward. Moreover, three- probably still be the GM and L.A. might not be embarking on a rebuild quarters of his remaining money coming in the form of signing bonuses, even now. making a regular buyout impractical. If New York gets a chance at two compliance buyouts, the two seasons .900 save percentage (.894, seven points back of 61st ranked Louis left on 36-year-old Johnny Boychuk’s $6-million AAV deal seem the Domingue). logical second choice. His average ice time fell to a career-low 17:17 per game this season, and by goals both expected and actual he was one of It’s not all on him by any stretch, but enough of it is. According to Natural the team’s worst defencemen. Stat Trick, the typical goalie playing his minutes would be expected to allow 177 goals over those two years at 5-on-5; Jones, at 232, is 55 Brendan Smith, New York Rangers goals over that number. Even if that metric overstates matters, it’s fairly clear he’s lost his status as a trustworthy starter. One year remaining, $4.35-million San Jose has a bunch of high risk contracts, especially on the blue line, It comes down to one of two pricey defencemen on New York’s roster, but goalie is the only position where they could make a single change each with a single year remaining on their current contracts. Marc Staal’s and perhaps see massive dividends. $5.7-million cap hit is an overpayment for a defenceman with poor underlying numbers who has seen minutes reduced as the NHL game Alex Steen, St. Louis Blues gets faster. That being said, he’s still a full-time defenceman playing 17- plus minutes per game. One year remaining, $5.75-million cap hit

Smith has been converted into something of a rover, at times playing When the season paused, the 36-year-old Steen had 17 points, down forward, and he’s paid too much to be a part-time energy line grinder and from 27 a year ago and 46 two years ago. At this stage in his career he’s part-time defenceman. That the Rangers were lit up with him on the ice still a useful bottom-six player, but that remuneration represents a at 5-on-5 (outscored 25-11, 41 percent expected goal share) is merely dramatic overpayment for those services. As a bonus, his back-diving confirmation that he’s their best candidate. contract is cheap to buy out in terms of real dollars, which is all that matters with the magic of the compliance buyout making the cap hit No buyout, Ottawa Senators disappear.

Ottawa’s in a unique situation. They don’t spend to the cap and have less No buyout, Tampa Bay Lightning incentive than virtually any other team in the NHL to worry about cap hit. The key question with them is real dollars, and neither of the two most I don’t totally trust that Andrei Vasilevskiy deal. I can see the argument obvious candidates fit. that Tyler Johnson might eventually become a cap casualty, a good but pricey forward on a team with ridiculous wealth up front. Certainly I’d Bobby Ryan, for example, has signing bonuses as part of his deal, agree that Yanni Gourde had a poor year and is a bit of a risk going meaning that although a buyout this summer would clear major cap forward. But Vasilevskiy was just signed and is playing well, a lot of space, the Senators would average just $1.83-million per year in real- teams would line up to trade for Johnson and Gourde had great dollars savings. That’s probably not enough to justify it for a team not underlying numbers and a bad shooting percentage and certainly worried about cap space. deserves another year. The Bolts have cap issues but they’re mostly the cap issues that come with being a legitimate contender. Nikita Zaitsev has four years of term left on his pricey deal, but after playing heavy minutes this year he’s probably safe, too. No buyout, Toronto Maple Leafs

No buyout, Philadelphia Flyers The Leafs have cap problems but where can they cut? Frederik Andersen has had one mediocre year but if he returns to form the last The first place to look is at older veterans with term left on pricey deals. year of his contract will represent less than his true value. Their pricey The Flyers have some, but both Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek have young players are all eminently tradable and their LTIR contracts are all enjoyed relatively strong seasons. That leaves us scrounging for second- on the verge of expiring. That leaves Toronto’s other big, long-term tier candidates making real money, and there are two that stand out. deals, and those are relatively new ones belonging to productive skaters James van Riemsdyk is having an off-year in terms of scoring and John Tavares and Jake Muzzin. playing a reduced role for Philadelphia, averaging just 15 minutes per Loui Eriksson, Vancouver Canucks game. That said, he’s still a productive scorer with excellent underlying metrics and at 5-on-5 in particular he’s still potting goals at about his Two years remaining, $6-million cap hit usual rate. If the NHL does go the compliance buyout route, the 2020 buyouts are Shayne Gostisbehere is more interesting. He’s had a lousy season going to be the endpoint of a lot of those 2016 free agent contracts. scoring-wise and has poor advanced metrics, especially given the Eriksson is no exception. He’s 34, in his fourth year as a Canuck without relative ease of the minutes he plays. That being said, he probably still clearing 30 points, and still has miles to go on his current pact. A has value around the league. He’s young enough (26) to rebound, he compliance buyout is the only way to get his signing bonus-laden deal doesn’t carry that heavy a cap hit ($4.5 million) and he’s generally been satisfactorily off the books. better than he’s shown this season. Since he should be tradable, he doesn’t qualify for this exercise. Would the Canucks use multiple buyouts if they got the chance? They have some options. Sven Baertschi is earning big money to light up the Jack Johnson, Pittsburgh Penguins AHL and has a year left on his deal while 34-year-old Jay Beagle has earned $6-million for five goals the last two seasons and still has two Three years remaining, $3.25-million cap hit seasons remaining on his contract.

Pittsburgh has a crowded blue line with all kinds of emerging young No buyout, Vegas Golden Knights talent. The Penguins are also a contending team carefully managing a delicate salary balance. Vegas is in a tough spot. After a year of frantic maneuvering to stay on the right side of the salary cap, there just aren’t many options left. If the Those two forces make Johnson the obvious choice for a compliance cap forces their hand, any of the more obvious options would hurt badly. buyout. His $3.25-million cap hit is not extraordinary, but given that he’s easily the worst defenceman on the team by on-ice goal share (46 Paul Stastny has been extremely productive (17 points in 22 games, percent) and on-ice expected goal share (47 percent) he’s the kind of along with his habitually good underlying numbers) since the coaching extravagance that’s difficult to justify for a team with depth at his position change, to the point where his $6.5-million contract looks too reasonable and pressing against the cap ceiling. to sacrifice via compliance buyout. Alex Tuch has had a nightmare season but scored 52 points a year ago and is just 23. Marc-Andre Martin Jones, San Jose Sharks Fleury has also had a tough year but has been the team’s rock over its Four years remaining, $5.75-million cap hit short existence.

Jones had been a solid starter in San Jose for three seasons when his No buyout, Washington Capitals current six-year, $34.5-million contract kicked in. Two years into the deal The Caps have a bunch of older players on risky long-term contracts but and he has two seasons with matching .896 save percentages. Focus all of them have been reasonably productive this season. The most exclusively at 5-on-5 and the picture gets even uglier: of the NHL’s 62 obvious buyout candidates based on performance this year are all recent most-used goalies the past two years, Jones is the only one with a sub- signees, guys like Nick Jensen and Richard Panik, but none of them make big money and given the arc of their careers as a whole Washington shouldn’t be eager to pull the trigger on any of them. Jensen probably comes closest but competent right-shot defencemen are hard to find.

Mathieu Perreault, Winnipeg Jets

One year remaining, $4.125-million cap hit

This is more placeholder choice than anything. Uncertainty over Dustin Byfuglien remains, but it seems likely that he and the Jets are heading toward a mutual contract termination, which will free Winnipeg of the need to clear his money from the books. There’s also uncertainty over the status of Bryan Little, whose season was wiped out by injury; if he’s healthy there’s a reasonable argument that the four years left on the 32- year-old pivot’s deal represent the Jets’ greatest cap liability.

In the absence of more definite news on those two fronts, Perreault offers an easy way to open up cap space. His performance declined sharply this year, as he fell to just 15 points and a career-worst 43 percent expected goal share.

The Athletic LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183097 Websites

Sportsnet.ca / In Conversation: Mitch Marner and Natalie Spooner on hand writing and home workouts

Sportsnet Staff | April 17, 2020, 5:41 PM

On Friday’s edition of In Conversation with Ron MacLean, Ron MacLean is joined by Toronto Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner and Olympic Gold medallist Natalie Spooner to discuss how the two are keeping busy during the COVID-19 outbreak and how they continue developing their hockey skills.

In Conversation with Ron MacLean is a new digital roundtable show airing exclusively on Sportsnet’s Facebook page, YouTube channel, SN NOW and sportsnet.ca on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT.

In the 20-30 minute show, MacLean will interview notable Canadians from all corners of the sports and entertainment worlds.

Future guests will be regularly announced on Sportsnet’s Twitter account.

Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183098 Websites “I think as long as I would get a fair chance off the bat (to be the starter) — I don’t know if this year I really got that,” said Talbot of a potential return.

Sportsnet.ca / Flames' Cam Talbot proved his worth, but return to “I know that they kind of wanted to see what was going on with the Ritter, Calgary in question but I kind of knew that coming in. I think that once I got my opportunity to come in and show what I can do that I still would be able to carry the mail. Obviously, I’d like to play more than 50/50, but 50/50 would be, you know, another step up from what I got this year, so I’ll take it.” Eric Francis | April 17, 2020, 2:03 PM No matter how flat the salary cap is, Calgary will have the wiggle room to

increase Talbot’s salary. In the midst of trying to entertain their three-year-old twins, Cam Talbot The question is, how many other teams will be vying for his services, and his wife, Kelly, have been packing up their Calgary rental home. driving up his value. Their plan is to head back to Ontario in the next few weeks, which says Losing Talbot would be a significant blow, especially given how popular plenty about how doubtful they are about the possibility the NHL can he became after giving the Battle of Alberta its very first goalie fight, shoehorn in a conclusion to this season. which will be rebroadcast Saturday on Sportsnet West. Assuming they do depart by month’s end, there’s a chance they won’t be “As long as I’m part of the battle, I think it will keep coming up,” chuckled returning to Calgary next year. Talbot of his centre ice tilt with towering Mike Smith. While Flames fans and management would love to see Talbot and David “It’s just kind of weird that it was the first in history, which has got to count Rittich return as the team’s tandem in net next season, the former has for something.” earned the opportunity to explore options he likely opened up for himself this season. It sure does, in the eyes of players on both sides.

Bouncing back after two subpar years, his strong play with the Flames “Zack Kassian texted me after the game, saying that Smitty really not only made him the team’s likely playoff starter, but demonstrated he respected me for meeting him out there and doing what we did,” said has regained the form that made him a proven No. 1 the three previous Talbot. seasons. “All the guys in our room and all the guys that I talked to said I was ‘nuts’ “That’s why I wanted the one-year deal — I wanted a redemption year,” for going out there because of how big he is, but good on me for doing said the 32-year-old unrestricted free agent, who signed for $2.75 million it.’” after coming off a nightmarish season with Edmonton/Philadelphia. Kassian was one of a handful of his former Oilers teammates who “I knew that if I came to camp healthy and in the right situation, I was reached out, including Darnell Nurse, who was the one who directed confident I was going to be able to get back to that form. I think I played Talbot’s attention to Smith while all hell broke loose. through some stuff that maybe I shouldn’t have played through the year before, and toward the end of the year before that, so that had a lot of “Yeah, it was funny, it was his birthday a few days later, so I sent a happy mitigating factors behind my declining play those years. But I think my birthday wish and then a few expletives in there as well for throwing me record shows that when I’m healthy and on top of my game I can be one to the wolves,” said Talbot. of the best in the league.” “We both had fun with it.” His 42 wins three years ago proved that. So did the rest of the province. Talbot and Rittich made the same amount of money this year, but the Stay tuned to see if Talbot is around next year for a rematch. team’s focus was on finding out just how dependable the latter could be as a starter. Rittich flourished early on, playing more games than any Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 04.18.2020 other goalie by December, relegating Talbot to spot duty.

Sent in to play the second half of back-to-backs in some of the league’s toughest barns, Talbot’s solid play was overshadowed by the team’s inability to score with him between the posts.

By Christmas, that all turned around, giving him an increasingly demanding workload that he parlayed into a 9-4-1 record after Jan. 1.

His 2.63 GAA and .919 save percentage this season were better than Rittich’s, setting the stage for him to vie for a starting gig somewhere next season.

“I hope that’s the case,” he smiled.

“I obviously wouldn’t mind coming back here either. I loved it here. It’s a great situation, a great locker room and, obviously, I have a really good relationship with Ritter and Siggy (goalie coach Jordan Sigalet). So I mean, I wouldn’t rule out coming back, but, obviously, my goal coming here was to show the rest of the league that I still have it in me to be a starting goalie and I think I accomplished that.”

He’s most certainly in for a raise, making it a tough decision for the Flames to decide how to move forward with a position where the organization has very little depth.

Undersized Everett hotshot Dustin Wolf is the best goalie in junior hockey, but turned 19 Thursday and is years away from the bigs. Tyler Parsons’ injury woes had him playing in the ECHL last season.

This franchise has major goalie decisions to make, and believing Talbot will automatically re-up here is misguided at best.

Rittich’s second-half fade for the third-straight NHL season is a legitimate cause for concern, making an even-keeled pro such as Talbot a perfect tandem-mate. 1183099 Websites “Again, it’s become a lot more popularized now, but if you look back at games a decade ago, the coaching was still of the mindset of trying to dumb it down and simplify it in a lot of ways. You still hear the clichés and the rhetoric of that, but it’s much more open-minded now. When it was Sportsnet.ca / Andrei Markov's Canadiens legacy tied to helping closed, it didn’t matter to Markov; he just had the confidence to make the teammates cash in play he thought was best for the team at that point.”

Markov almost always made the right pass, and so many players benefited from that. Eric Engels | April 17, 2020, 4:54 PM It was those plays Markov made that helped Sheldon Souray score 26

goals and 64 points with the Canadiens over the 2006-07 season — MONTREAL — Michel Therrien famously dubbed Andrei Markov “The setting the hard-shooting defenceman up for a five-year, $27-million General,” but I had a different nickname for him. To me, Markov will contract he signed with the Edmonton Oilers in short order. always be known as “The Moneymaker,” because, to put it bluntly, he With Souray gone, Mark Streit became the next beneficiary of Markov’s helped several players he lined up with earn some of the biggest brilliant playmaking. The Swiss defenceman rode it to a 13-goal, 62-point paycheques of their careers. season that was rewarded with a five-year, $20.5-million contract from On Thursday, the 41-year-old, who was best known for his incredible the New York Islanders in the summer of 2008. vision, his perfect first passes and his power play wizardry, left the pro And then there was Mike Komisarek. His stay-at-home bruising style was game for good and did so as quietly as he came to it. a perfect complement to Markov’s puck-moving, rush-joining and That Markov’s retirement was announced by Sport-Express reporter Igor pinching ways, but he’d be the first to say that playing with the 6-foot, Eronko in a 215-character tweet, that it was later confirmed to multiple 200-pound Russian was the biggest reason he squeezed a five-year, media outlets by agent Sergey Isakov and devoid of a single comment $21.5-million contract out of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the summer of from the man himself, was totally fitting. Markov’s game was loud, 2009. expressive and avant-garde in many senses, but his persona away from It was just a few months later that Marc-Andre Bergeron came to the the ice left much to the imagination. Canadiens with his NHL career hanging by a thread. But even over parts There are men of few words, and then there’s Markov. He was the of an injury-riddled season, Markov did his part to boost Bergeron’s master of the one-word answer. He had a sense of humour as dry as the power-play production and played a pivotal role in helping him secure the Sahara and relied on it almost exclusively when dealing with reporters — first of two more contracts with the Tampa Bay Lightning thereafter. delivering jabs in deadpan monotone. And it wasn’t so much that he P.K. Subban won a Norris Trophy on his way toward an eight-year, $72- didn’t suffer fools as it was that he didn’t suffer anyone. million payout, but not without plenty of assistance from ‘The As a result, few of us in the media ever truly got to know the real Markov Moneymaker.’ over parts of 16 seasons he spent with the Montreal Canadiens. As a young Canadiens fan, Subban idolized Markov. As his teammate Heck, in speaking with them, few players who dressed alongside him and defence partner later on, he quickly understood why Markov was over that time got past his gruff exterior to really connect with him. able to help everyone around him.

But everyone (media and players alike) had a keen sense of what made Markov was well-versed in adaptation. Markov a special hockey player. Even a guy like Mike Cammalleri — The Voskresensk native was initially a forward who was selected by the whose three seasons with the Canadiens from 2009-2012 coincided with Canadiens in the sixth round of the 1998 Draft. He came over to North the most injury-plagued portion of Markov’s career — could offer a America without much fanfare and quickly became one of the highest- perfect description of it. profile defenceman in the world. And before all was said and done, he “He had the ability to make plays that other guys just didn’t,” Cammalleri earned status as an NHL all-star, an Olympian, a world champion and a told Sportsnet in a telephone interview Friday morning. “He had a lot of Gagarin Cup winner in the KHL. deception in his passing. He was one of those guys that could swing a In 990 regular season games with Montreal, Markov scored 119 goals seam-pass or a cross-ice pass or a pass up the middle without anyone and recorded 572 points — more than any Canadiens defenceman in reading what he was going to do. It’s become much more in vogue now; history not named Larry Robinson or Guy Lapointe. And his 60 power those plays are actually encouraged by coaching staffs now, but back in play goals place him second among Canadiens defencemen behind only those years the mentality from most coaching staffs in their systems was Robinson, who scored just five more but in 212 more games. to still keep the puck on the wall. Along the way, Markov earned $63,190,853, but in representing himself “But Marky had this ability to just look up the wall and hide it — especially in his final negotiation with the Canadiens failed to secure the contract on his forehand — and throw a pass up the middle and just hit someone that would have seen him realize his dream of playing his 1000th game right on the tape. And sometimes guys didn’t even suspect it, the passes with the only NHL team he had ever played for. were so good. I remember his ability to do that really standing out for me.” He earned millions more on a two-year deal with the KHL’s and, after a failed attempt to return to the NHL this past summer, It wasn’t just the vision, the creativity and the passing that stood out to played out the final season of his illustrious career on a one-year deal me. Markov’s defensive game was as sound as they come. His physical with the KHL’s Yaroslavl Lokomotiv. play was as underrated as his penalty-killing ability, and it was because he was so captivating and brilliant on offence that those things were “The General” was an appropriate nickname for Markov. The man was a largely ignored in the evaluation of his overall game. fierce competitor who battled through lots of adversity — two torn ACLs and a ruptured Achilles’ Tendon — to cement his place as a legend and Regarding his offence, you saw it shine through most on the power play. a well-respected leader. Markov’s awareness allowed him to sneak his way through coverage for many back-door goals and it enabled him to time his pinches perfectly. But I’ll always think of Markov as the guy who helped make his partners His quick reflexes kept plays that were destined for death alive at the that much richer than they ever dreamed of being. offensive blue line. His pure skill made everyone around him better. Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 04.18.2020 Cammalleri only sampled it for 65 games over that three-year period, but that was enough to form a lasting impression.

“He had this heel-curve and he would shelter a shot and pass and hide it with great deception on the power play,” Cammalleri said. “He had the ability to freeze people. He’d freeze the defenders, freeze the goalie and make a pass that, A) people weren’t suspecting, and B) people weren’t inclined to try. 1183100 Websites adoration in thunderous cheers so loud it shook the ribs in your chest. It was joyous. It was magical. It was cathartic. It was deafening.

It was Winnipeg at its best. Sportsnet.ca / Why Byfuglien will always have a special place in In that moment Byfuglien looked up at the crowd with an awed smile. Winnipeg Jets history That wonder in his eyes, that figurative tip of the cap meant something. It gave Winnipegers permission to realize the city and its fans aren’t just another hockey crowd; they are something special. They’ve known it ever Sean Reynolds April 17, 2020, 1:43 PM since.

Break-ups are the worst. And let me tell you Jets fans, if Byfuglien does put on another NHL jersey, it’s going to hurt. And it should. Because It took all of four seconds for Dustin Byfuglien to tattoo himself on the when he was a Jet he gave you everything he had. And you loved him for brains and hearts of Winnipegers. it. He did it in the first shift of the first pre-season game played by the Jets Would it have been better to watch him play out his contract and ride off 2.0 when the 6-foot-5, 260-pound defenceman hammered Matt Calvert of into the sunset? Of course. But as the saying goes: it’s better to have the Columbus Blue Jackets with a thundering hit. Seconds later he loved and lost than to have never loved at all. dropped Tomas Kubalik. Moments after that he ended his shift by dropping the mitts and rag-dolling Cody Bass. Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 04.18.2020 The arena exploded. Jets fans went mad. It was love at first sight.

Byfuglien created more excitement in that first shift of an NHL pre-season game than the city’s previous 15 years of AHL and IHL hockey. No disrespect to those leagues or the players therein, but Winnipegers were in a better position than anyone to discover the difference between the minors and “the big league.”

“The big league” contains the type of skill, achievement and superhuman strength that elevates athletes to the status of Gods among men. And when Byfuglien put on that Jets jersey, the Gods trembled.

I’ve always marvelled at the way opponents talked about Byfuglien. No one ever bad mouthed him. Even boxer Mike Tyson took lip from the likes of Peter McNeely in an attempt to make a name for themselves. No one dared with Byfuglien.

I once asked Washington’s TJ Oshie if he had played against Byfuglien as a kid. Oshie grew up in Warroad, Minn., just 26 minutes down the road from Byfuglien’s hometown of Roseau. The two were just a year apart in age.

He paused slightly to ponder the question, a far away look creeping into his eyes. A wistful smile grew on his face.

“No,” he said. “I never got to play him as a kid. But I grew up hearing the stories. The mountain of a hockey player who could skate like the wind.”

The way Oshie said that sounded as though he was speaking of a myth. Like Paul Bunyan come to life.

And that’s what it will sound like when you tell your kids stories about Byfuglien. The man who grabbed two professional athletes at once and shook them like they were unruly school boys. The playful giant was so in control of the play he could pause amidst a puck battle to mug for the camera on the other side of the glass. He was a force of nature who could hit tough guys like 6-foot-4, 233-pound Luke Gazdic and launch them in the air like a helicopter propeller.

In Byfuglien it was clear you were witnessing a player the likes of which had never been seen before. Whenever he decides to hang up the skates and announce his retirement, whether that comes this year or after a return to another team, his type will never be seen again.

In this ugly divorce that took months to unfold, I’ve seen many speculate Byfuglien’s exit from the Jets will forever tarnish him in the eyes of Manitoba’s sports fans; that he’s fallen from the pantheon of the Jets greats.

I don’t buy it.

Sports resonate and lives on through iconic imagery. We remember it in tiny moments. Like GIFs. Bobby Orr diving through the air. Mario Lemieux splitting the D.

It’s no different in Winnipeg. Teemu Selanne shooting his glove out of the air. Dale Hawerchuk’s 50th goal on a spin-o-rama backhander. But in the end there’s no Jet, past or present, who gave us a higher volume of lasting imagery than Byfuglien.

One of my favourites has nothing to do with goals, hits, fights, celebrations or penalty-box-sing-alongs. It was Oct. 9, 2011, Winnipeg’s first regular season game. The players were introduced to the fans, one by one, gathering at the centre ice circle. Around them rained down 1183101 Websites adoration in thunderous cheers so loud it shook the ribs in your chest. It was joyous. It was magical. It was cathartic. It was deafening.

It was Winnipeg at its best. Sportsnet.ca / Why Byfuglien will always have a special place in In that moment Byfuglien looked up at the crowd with an awed smile. Winnipeg Jets history That wonder in his eyes, that figurative tip of the cap meant something. It gave Winnipegers permission to realize the city and its fans aren’t just another hockey crowd; they are something special. They’ve known it ever Sean Reynolds April 17, 2020, 1:43 PM since.

Break-ups are the worst. And let me tell you Jets fans, if Byfuglien does put on another NHL jersey, it’s going to hurt. And it should. Because It took all of four seconds for Dustin Byfuglien to tattoo himself on the when he was a Jet he gave you everything he had. And you loved him for brains and hearts of Winnipegers. it. He did it in the first shift of the first pre-season game played by the Jets Would it have been better to watch him play out his contract and ride off 2.0 when the 6-foot-5, 260-pound defenceman hammered Matt Calvert of into the sunset? Of course. But as the saying goes: it’s better to have the Columbus Blue Jackets with a thundering hit. Seconds later he loved and lost than to have never loved at all. dropped Tomas Kubalik. Moments after that he ended his shift by dropping the mitts and rag-dolling Cody Bass. Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 04.18.2020 The arena exploded. Jets fans went mad. It was love at first sight.

Byfuglien created more excitement in that first shift of an NHL pre-season game than the city’s previous 15 years of AHL and IHL hockey. No disrespect to those leagues or the players therein, but Winnipegers were in a better position than anyone to discover the difference between the minors and “the big league.”

“The big league” contains the type of skill, achievement and superhuman strength that elevates athletes to the status of Gods among men. And when Byfuglien put on that Jets jersey, the Gods trembled.

I’ve always marvelled at the way opponents talked about Byfuglien. No one ever bad mouthed him. Even boxer Mike Tyson took lip from the likes of Peter McNeely in an attempt to make a name for themselves. No one dared with Byfuglien.

I once asked Washington’s TJ Oshie if he had played against Byfuglien as a kid. Oshie grew up in Warroad, Minn., just 26 minutes down the road from Byfuglien’s hometown of Roseau. The two were just a year apart in age.

He paused slightly to ponder the question, a far away look creeping into his eyes. A wistful smile grew on his face.

“No,” he said. “I never got to play him as a kid. But I grew up hearing the stories. The mountain of a hockey player who could skate like the wind.”

The way Oshie said that sounded as though he was speaking of a myth. Like Paul Bunyan come to life.

And that’s what it will sound like when you tell your kids stories about Byfuglien. The man who grabbed two professional athletes at once and shook them like they were unruly school boys. The playful giant was so in control of the play he could pause amidst a puck battle to mug for the camera on the other side of the glass. He was a force of nature who could hit tough guys like 6-foot-4, 233-pound Luke Gazdic and launch them in the air like a helicopter propeller.

In Byfuglien it was clear you were witnessing a player the likes of which had never been seen before. Whenever he decides to hang up the skates and announce his retirement, whether that comes this year or after a return to another team, his type will never be seen again.

In this ugly divorce that took months to unfold, I’ve seen many speculate Byfuglien’s exit from the Jets will forever tarnish him in the eyes of Manitoba’s sports fans; that he’s fallen from the pantheon of the Jets greats.

I don’t buy it.

Sports resonate and lives on through iconic imagery. We remember it in tiny moments. Like GIFs. Bobby Orr diving through the air. Mario Lemieux splitting the D.

It’s no different in Winnipeg. Teemu Selanne shooting his glove out of the air. Dale Hawerchuk’s 50th goal on a spin-o-rama backhander. But in the end there’s no Jet, past or present, who gave us a higher volume of lasting imagery than Byfuglien.

One of my favourites has nothing to do with goals, hits, fights, celebrations or penalty-box-sing-alongs. It was Oct. 9, 2011, Winnipeg’s first regular season game. The players were introduced to the fans, one by one, gathering at the centre ice circle. Around them rained down 1183102 Websites October 23: Byfuglien has surgery With the surgery completed, a course can be charted for Byfuglien’s

return to the Jets, who now hope to have him back in the New Year. Sportsnet.ca / A timeline of how Dustin Byfuglien's tenure with the Jets “It was done by a doctor that Dustin had seen the year prior as part of the ended medical evaluation process when he was injured in the prior season and deemed healthy to play,” said Cheveldayoff. “Obviously he had the surgery and it was something he felt he needed to take the next step.” Sean Reynolds April 17, 2020, 5:11 PM November 20: NHLPA files a grievance

The situation took a turn toward conflict when the NHLPA filed a As the Winnipeg Jets surprised a lot of people this season by contending grievance on Byfuglien’s behalf that challenged his suspension. Pressed for a playoff spot at the time of the pause, one of the biggest stories on the issue, Cheveldayoff downplays the situation calling it “procedural.” following the team had nothing to do with what was happening on the ice. Despite the grievance the Jets are still expecting Byfuglien to return to the team post-surgery. Dustin Byfuglien, the 6-foot-5, 260-pound, mountain of a defenceman who manned the Jets’ blue line for eight years, didn’t play a game for the January 2020: Byfuglien is supposed to begin skating but something team in 2019-20. After first contemplating retirement, Byfuglien missed changes camp, was suspended by the team, and then had surgery on an injury to try and return instead. It all led to a grievance filed by the NHLPA on After the surgery, Cheveldayoff said Byfuglien’s rehab took him to a Byfuglien’s behalf, which has been going on since November. place where in January he was scheduled to get back on the ice again. However, at this time, Byfuglien’s agent informed the Jets GM that the But it all came to an end on Friday, with the mutual termination of his defenceman was not going to continue working his way back to the NHL. contract. Byfuglien is walking away from the remaining $14 million and two years left on his deal and will become an unrestricted free agent. “We did have some further conversations at that time, the agent and myself, with respect to trying to see if there was a potential trade and Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff spoke to the media and was able play type of situation,” Cheveldayoff said. “It really wasn’t about that. to shine a light on a process that left many in the dark. Dustin didn’t want to play and we respected that in that fashion and obviously we went through the trade deadline in that matter.” Here’s a timeline of how the situation broke down from beginning to end. This conversation would be the last time Cheveldayoff and Byfuglien Sept. 11: The night before training camp talked before Friday’s mutual contract termination. All following Cheveldayoff explained that Byfuglien had asked to meet him the night correspondence went through Hankinson. before the team opened camp, and that’s where the player said he Apr. 17: Jets and Byfuglien mutually terminate contract wasn’t sure if he had another NHL season in him. The GM noted it was an emotional and private conversation that will remain that way, but he Cheveldayoff confirmed this was not a financial settlement and that asked Byfuglien if he wanted a trade. The answer was no. Byfuglien was walking away from the remaining $14 million on his contract. The termination officially made Byfuglien a free agent, though “He just didn’t know if he had it in him to continue playing,” Cheveldayoff only he would know if an eventual return to the NHL somewhere else is said. something he wants to do. “When Dustin first came and talked to me, my first initial reaction to the “At the end of the day, everybody has a choice,” Cheveldayoff said. emotion was genuine concern. I care a lot about all my players. They “Dustin’s choice was to be true to himself and not put himself, and maybe have families. They have feelings. I wanted to make sure he was in a the team and everybody, in a difficult situation. He didn’t have it in him to good spot. From the team standpoint, you have to adjust. From that point continue to play. That’s the most honest thing he could say.” on, we were finding ways to adjust. You don’t put emotion into that.” Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 04.18.2020 Sept. 12: The player and GM talk again at Byfuglien’s house

With a night to sleep on it, and camp opening, Cheveldayoff said this is where they decided the best next step was to give Byfuglien some time away from the team to “think through some things and to see if there was any change of direction or change of mind.”

September 13: The team works to guard Byfuglien’s privacy while calming fans

“There’s nothing sinister to this,” said head coach Paul Maurice, highlighting the team’s belief that with a little time and thought Byfuglien may be brought back into the fold.

Sept. 21: Cheveldayoff and Byfuglien meet again

Training camp rolled on for Winnipeg, but the season was creeping up and they had to know whether Byfuglien would be back in 2019-20 or not as they made their roster and dealt with cap implications. Byfuglien’s mind remains unchanged. He’s still not ready to play, though he tells his GM he’s not ready to retire either.

Cheveldayoff tells Byfuglien he will be suspended as a matter of procedure, something he reiterates in the media.

Oct. 3: Byfuglien changes his mind

This is the moment the Jets have been hoping for, but it also brings foreboding developments. Before getting back to the team, Byfuglien wants to have surgery first on his ankle. As he was under suspension at the time, the Jets say surgery falls outside their purview.

Oct. 10: Jets home opener

Byfuglien and his agent Ben Hankinson meet with Cheveldayoff again and reaffirm Byfuglien’s intent to return after recovering from surgery. 1183103 Websites The Vancouver Canucks’ MVP before getting hurt near the end of February, Markstrom has quietly been very strong for each of the last four seasons, with his ability to stop high-danger or inner-slot shots skyrocketing over that time. Sportsnet.ca / Which top UFA goalie deserves the biggest contract? This season he has seen his efficiency in the high slot drop, which I’m guessing has something to do with the Canucks’ porous defence off the rush, and he’s never been particularly special on perimeter shots, but Andrew Berkshire | April 17, 2020, 8:25 AM overall he’s been exceptional.

A .918 save percentage may not seem that impressive in a league where With the 2019-20 NHL season in limbo, one of the biggest questions right the average save percentage is .910, but Markstrom faces much tougher now is what happens to unrestricted free agents? With no confirmation of shots on average than most goalies do, and he’s now been consistently this season being over yet, and no confirmed date to start the next strong as a starting goaltender for three seasons on a rebuilding team. season, there’s more uncertainty than ever heading into a summer of The generally poor results from the perimeter can lead to some soft goals collective bargaining agreements. now and then, but on the tougher shots that make or break games, he’s With the situation up in the air, how will the market react to solid players been one of the better goaltenders in the league for a while. entering free agency at the most confounding and uncertain position in Also 30 years old, it’s always a huge risk to go long-term on any player the sport: goaltending? entering the back half of their career, but considering Markstrom seems Senior Writer Ryan Dixon and NHL Editor Rory Boylen always give it to have just hit his stride as a starting goaltender recently, he may have 110%, but never rely on clichés when it comes to podcasting. Instead, more gas in the tank than normal. I still don’t think anything over five they use a mix of facts, fun and a varied group of hockey voices to cover years is advisable, but Markstrom has earned some level of term. Canada’s most beloved game. Robin Lehner A lot can change between now and July 1, but at the moment there are There’s a pretty clear arc going on with Robin Lehner, who was decent some heavy hitters who could be available to teams looking to fill their but above average, then inconsistent while dealing with personal issues, net with a starting goaltender. Three of the biggest names out there are then stellar since recovering. I expected he would drop off considerably Braden Holtby, Jacob Markstrom and Robin Lehner. this season with the Blackhawks being one of the worst defensive teams Lehner and Markstrom are coming off excellent seasons, while Holtby in the league the last several years, but his performance is actually better greatly struggled, but easily has the highest pedigree of the trio. In order overall. to get some idea how these players are trending and whether they’re While Lehner’s save percentage has dropped off from his lofty .930 he worth the risk of a long-term contract in an uncertain time, let’s look back recorded on the defensively sound Islanders, he’s maintained a .920 this over multiple seasons of their careers and analyze their save percentage season despite facing drastically tougher shots by simply being much by shot location. better in the slot, high and low. Raw numbers tell us something, but let’s remember that the game has His save percentage on perimeter shots has dropped a bit, but not below changed over the last few years, and expected save percentages have average overall, and not enough to eliminate the huge improvement he’s dropped considerably. So, in order to control for that, let’s look at each made in other areas. goaltender’s save percentage by shot location relative to the expected save percentage of that season. That should give us a better idea of who At 28 years old, Lehner is the goaltender that shows the clearest is trending up or down, and control somewhat for the team structure that trajectory of positive performance, and should be the one who gets the each play behind. most money and term. And yet that was probably true last year as well, and he ended up signing with a non-playoff team for a single season. Braden Holtby Maybe NHL GMs wanted to see Lehner prove it again, but he’s clearly Following the year Holtby won the Vezina in 2015-16, things haven’t done so, and he should have as much leverage in free agency as a been so rosy for the Capitals’ longtime starting goaltender. His 2016-17 goalie can have. season was pretty stellar, with Holtby saving shots from the high slot more than four percentage points better than an average goaltender at 5- Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 04.18.2020 vs-5. His play was strong overall as his only weakness was in the inner slot, where the Caps didn’t give up much anyway.

Since then it’s been a very bumpy road for Holtby in the regular season. The playoffs are a different story of course, as he’s struggled with consistency while his grasp on the starting job in Washington seems to get looser by the year.

The 2018-19 season was a bigger rebound season than most people realized, with the Capitals struggling defensively in the regular season and Holtby above average everywhere except for the high slot on special teams, which dragged his overall save percentage from the high slot slightly below league average.

This season is a bit all over the place, as he’s been strong from the high slot at even strength and absolutely lit up there on special teams. From the inner slot he’s been below average again, posting the worst numbers of his career so far.

At 30 years old, Holtby likely isn’t done. It’s too early to through in the towel on him overall, but one thing that stands out to me a little bit with him is that he has seen his save percentage relative to the rest of the league on perimeter shots overall drop in each of the last three seasons.

Generally speaking there isn’t a lot of variance in perimeter save percentage — goalies stop about 97 per cent of those shots. Holtby has gone from nearly unbeatable from there to simply ordinary, and taken along with his other metrics being erratic and trending down overall, I’d be worried about giving him a long-term deal.

Jacob Markstrom 1183104 Websites didn’t want any more updates,” Stecher said. “I just wanted to focus on my game.

“Playing with Eddie helped. I really believe we have good chemistry, the Sportsnet.ca / Canucks' Stecher reflects on bumpy season, uncertain two of us. Confidence is the biggest thing in this league, I think. If a contract status player’s confident, you’re going to have a lot more success than when you’re doubting yourself. It was tough early on, maybe playing some lower minutes. But I didn’t want to let it affect my teammates.

Iain MacIntyre | April 17, 2020, 8:49 AM “Every day is a new day. You just kind of cherish the day you had and try to make the most of them. Honestly, I have no idea (what will happen)

because this has taken such a toll on the entire world, affected so many VANCOUVER – The 7 p.m. cheer started as heartfelt acknowledgement people. It’s so much bigger than hockey. So right now, I’m not even for health care workers but quickly became something more. focused or concerned about my personal contract. That’s probably the best way to put it.” That nightly ruckus of shouts and whistles, clanging pots and pans, became a cheer for everyone. It is about community. It’s about not only When the league gave players permission to leave their NHL cities a few thanking medical professionals for putting their lives at risk to fight the days after the shutdown, Stecher isolated himself initially at a friend’s novel coronavirus, but encouraging each other to keep going. We may be lakefront cabin in the B.C. Interior. But he has spent most of his time isolating, but we’re not alone. since then downtown, where he lives with his girlfriend, Emma Vincent, and his dog, Phoebe. Vancouver Canucks defenceman Troy Stecher has some perspective on the evening ritual, and not because he is in the middle of it, standing on The Bernese mountain dog has her own social media accounts. his fifth-floor apartment balcony downtown. Stecher is one of only a “She’s getting 24 hours of attention,” Stecher said. “(Isolating) is right up couple of Canucks who is from here. her alley. She loves it. He grew up across the river in Richmond. He has seen the city at its best “It’s such a unique city, so beautiful. There’s so much to do outdoors that and worst, and right now it’s kind of both. I feel you can still isolate and take precautions, but you can get out and “I just think it’s pretty cool to see the city come together like that,” Stecher stay sane.” told Sportsnet this week. “It’s loud. Everybody is on their patio or their Senior Writer Ryan Dixon and NHL Editor Rory Boylen always give it little balcony making noise. I’ve heard there’s a DJ now, but nobody like 110%, but never rely on clichés when it comes to podcasting. Instead, that in our area. they use a mix of facts, fun and a varied group of hockey voices to cover “Seven o’clock every night, I’m out on the patio making noise.” Canada’s most beloved game.

His noisemaker? Stecher said he gets updates on the NHL situation from captain Bo Horvat, the Canucks’ player rep, but has no idea whether the suspended “I whistle and clap,” he said. “Old-school basic.” season will be finished.

Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman talk to a lot of people around the hockey “I’ve actually talked this out a little bit with my family,” he said. “Just being world, and then they tell listeners all about what they’ve heard and what from here, and being this close to the playoffs for the first time in my four they think about it. years, it was something I was really looking forward to, something I believed our team was going to achieve. To have that cut short so That’s kind of how Stecher conducts himself as a professional, too. Old- drastically like the way it was, it was pretty heartbreaking. But there was school basic. nothing you can do. You have to do what you have to do to protect The 26-year-old, who has spent only four games in four seasons in the yourself and your family. minors since signing with his hometown Canucks as an undrafted free “I think having that taste of winning early on in the season added some agent out of the University of North Dakota, shows up and works hard. belief in our room. I guess that was part of the struggle the last three He doesn’t pound his chest when things are good, doesn’t complain years and why this year felt so different. when things aren’t. This season, he could have done both. “With the 50/50 split with the revenue, I’m sure that both players and Stecher had a poor start to the season, struggling on a third pairing with owners are going to want to play to recover some of the loss. I’m sure if newcomer Jordie Benn while averaging only 12:53 of ice time in October there’s a way to figure it out, they’ll find a way. But right now, I don’t think – a full seven minutes fewer than he logged the previous year as a there are many answers for anything in the world, let alone hockey.” second-pairing defenceman. Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 04.18.2020 He got almost no special teams time and halfway through the year was still averaging less than 15 minutes a night for coach Travis Green. But in January, Stecher started to play more regularly with No. 2 defenceman Alex Edler, his old partner, which gave him more ice time and confidence.

Richard Deitsch and Donnovan Bennett host a podcast about how COVID-19 is impacting sports around the world. They talk to experts, athletes and personalities, offering a window into the lives of people we normally root for in entirely different ways.

Stecher sweated through February’s trade deadline and by the time the NHL season suddenly halted on March 12, the five-foot-10 blue-liner’s average playing time had inched up to 15:21. Four of his top-seven TOI games this season were in the last three weeks before the shutdown.

Stecher’s surprisingly bumpy ride through his fourth campaign in the NHL had the added gravity of coming in a contract year. He is a restricted free agent whenever this season ends, but may not get a qualifying offer on his expiring $2.325-million salary due to his diminished role and other free agents who are a higher priority.

He loves his hometown, but there’s no guarantee he’ll play another game here for the Canucks.

“There was a moment during the season when I didn’t feel I was playing very good, and my agent (Eustace King) and I talked and I told him I 1183105 Websites It may never have happened without him taking a leap of faith and gaining that KHL experience.

“I developed a lot later than other guys, but always had that passion to Sportsnet.ca / How one season in KHL helped Flames' Giordano develop play.” 'a lot' Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 04.18.2020

Mike Johnston | April 17, 2020, 2:40 PM

“One time downtown I saw a guy walking a bear on a leash.”

Calgary Flames captain took an unconventional path to the NHL and gained some unique experiences along the way – especially during his one season in the KHL.

Giordano played minor hockey in Ontario, working his way up from the from the GTHL to the OPJHL to the OHL. He played two seasons with the Owen Sound Attack but went undrafted. His junior career did, however, net him an invitation to Flames’ training camp, where he impressed enough to earn a contract and spent the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons with Calgary’s AHL affiliate, even sprinkling in a handful of NHL games.

He spent more than half of 2006-07 with the Flames, but was at a turning point in his career after that season. So, he decided to sign with Moscow Dynamo in the KHL and spend the 2007-08 season playing in Russia.

“I was a borderline call-up guy at the time with Calgary,” Giordano said Friday during an appearance on . “I was 23 turning 24 and I was like, ‘Man, I gotta take care of myself. I got a life to live here and I gotta figure this out which way it’s going to go,’ so I went over there prepared to stay there and if I had to make a career in Europe I was going to do it.

“Went over there not knowing what to expect and the lifestyle was tough. The language barrier, people don’t realize how tough that is and you gain a lot of respect for guys who’ve done it the other way and come to North America from Europe.”

Giordano played 50 games in a Dynamo uniform, registering 13 points and 89 penalty minutes.

“The hockey side of it, everyone thinks it’s way more skilled and way more wide open – the guys are really skilled over there – but the game’s actually a lot like how the Olympics were in Sochi,” Giordano said. “You gotta pack it in, everyone sort of traps and plays in between the dots, so it’s actually less scoring over there.

“But in saying that, I got a lot of ice time, a lot of playing time, a lot of good experience. The team treated me really well and had a good year. I think I developed a lot over there, so it was pretty cool, but the lifestyle was tough. I’m not gonna lie.”

Some of Giordano’s teammates that year included NHL veterans Danny Markov, Vitali Yachmenev, Dmitry Afanasenkov, Eric Landry and Sergei Fedorov’s younger brother, Fedor.

“We had our practice facility and they’d feed us three times a day over there, but there’s the veterans who go first and they take all the good stuff and then they leave the scraps for everyone else,” Giordano added with a chuckle. “It was funny. They do things differently like I never realized drinking tea in between periods was a thing. Hot tea to stay warm and stay energized.

“My sticks would get stuck at the border every time and go missing, so I was using a different curve and different stick. … For the whole year, I was using basically not my stick. Little things like that. Definitely was an experience that’s for sure.”

Giordano added six points in nine playoff appearances for Moscow and won the Spengler Cup with Canada while overseas.

Following that 2007-08 campaign, the Toronto native signed back with the Flames on a three-year deal and didn’t play another game in the AHL. He earned a five-year contract extension in 2010 and eventually developed into one of the NHL’s top blue-liners.

He inked a lucrative six-year extension in 2015 and won the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenceman for 2018-19 after registering a career-high 74 points and an NHL-best plus-39 rating. 1183106 Websites "The fans are so important to our game, they give you energy when you play at home, they give you energy when you play on the road as well so it would be difficult, but I do think it's possible. Our TV contracts are big revenue for our league so I think if everyone can't come to the game then TSN.CA / Blue Jackets' Jones talks injury rehab, Torts going quiet and obviously everyone would love watching us play whenever that time Norris dream comes or if that time comes."

Without fans, will it be harder to ride waves of momentum in games?

By Mark Masters "Yeah, for sure. I think fans are a big part of momentum swings, especially when you're playing at home. You have a few good shifts in a

row and there's a stop in play then the fans are up on their feet, they're Seth Jones is one of the few National Hockey League players still at the cheering and it gives you more and more energy. So, it will be a little bit rink these days. The Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman is recovering of a change. You're going to have to create a little of your own energy from a fractured ankle so he's allowed to check in daily for treatment and and try to play a more simple game and a clean game where you can rehab during the COVID-19 pandemic. control those momentum swings."

"It's been an uphill battle, but I'm starting to skate again and figuring out If there's not enough time to finish the regular season, do you have a that stuff and getting back to 100 per cent," he said. "We're obviously preferred idea for a playoff structure? taking it a little slower than we would in season. Of course, we have a "Obviously, we're in now (on points), but if they go with points percentage little more time on our hands now so just not overworking it and going we wouldn't like that very much. But, it'd also be tough for a team behind through it slowly and the process has been good so far." us like the Islanders, who have played two games less than us and are Jones, who sustained the injury on Feb. 8 and underwent surgery three one point back, you know, you can't just say, 'Hey, too bad, sorry.' So a days later, spends around three hours at the team's facility each morning fair way is to (include) a lot of the teams that are close to a spot. I know and is skating every other day. they're talking about the 24-team playoff, play-in kind of thing with teams getting byes. It's just all up in the air. It's a waiting game for us right now. "I'll go in and do a lot of strengthening of the ankle and try and get the But I think it'd be cool to see something a little different and spice it up a ligaments and everything back and firing again and get the muscles bit for the fans, especially with this two, three months we're off and not around it going. I'll do a little bike ride to kind of loosen it up," he said. playing."

The initial timeline for recovery was eight to 10 weeks. How long will it take teams to get up to speed if the season resumes? Seems like a two or three-week training camp is being considered, does Once the recovery process is complete Jones hopes to join brother that sound about right to you? Caleb, a defenceman with the Edmonton Oilers, at their mom's place in Dallas. "Yeah, that sounds about right. I think there's been talks about anything from two to four. I know the NBA is talking about four (weeks) at the "When I leave the rink, there's not much going on. I come home and play moment, but anywhere between two to four really (works). We're all in a little Call of Duty with the teammates and with the brother and try to the same boat here so no one's really getting an advantage. I think our cook some dinners now and then." training camp before the season is about three weeks anyway so I think How are his culinary skills? two weeks is a pretty good time to start the season back up."

"Coming along," he says with a grin. "I've been trying some different If the season resumes it will obviously be hot outside and the ice may not things here and there, but at the end of the day there's only so much you be as good as usual. What do you make of playing meaningful hockey in can do. I'm not a pro chef so I cook some salmon, chicken and steak. I the dead of summer? try and mix it up whenever I can ... Everyone has a lot of time on their "I don't think that's going to be on our minds, the ice quality, it will be fine hands." wherever we're playing. It's really the same in a lot of buildings now with Jones spent some of that time doing a Skype interview with TSN on how big they are. It will be weird though. I think a lot of guys' time frames Friday. During a wide-ranging conversation, the 25-year-old theorized will be off and so it will be an adjustment, for sure. It's going to be about why fiery head coach John Tortorella hasn't reached out much imperative to maybe get a couple games in before the playoffs. It's going during the season pause and also reflected on his personal quest to win to be very tough to go into it, you know, (with) how the playoffs are ... it's a Norris Trophy. an all-out war so to go in there without any games under your belt after that period of time is going to be difficult. But us and the NHL can work The following is an edited transcript of the exchange. out a way to make it safe and fair for everyone."

After you got hurt in the first period on Feb. 8 you stayed in the game and Whatever happens, it's been quite a season in Columbus. You guys ended up playing more than 23 minutes against the Colorado Avalanche. stayed in the race despite losing Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin in You also scored a goal and appeared to be in a lot of pain. What do you free agency and then dealing with a string of injuries. What are you most remember about that? Where does that rank in terms of painful proud of about how the Jackets played? moments? "Just our relentlessness. We went through a lot of injuries. We lost one of "Man (smiles), it was up there. We did what we could to tape it. the best forwards in the league, one of the best goalies in the league and Obviously, we had no idea it was broken when I went back and played. It we had to find a way to play a little bit different this year and we did that. was too small of a break for the X-rays to show it so I went back out and A lot of the guys who came up from the AHL, from Cleveland when we you just have to play through it. It's one of those things where you don't had injuries up here did a heck of a job playing our systems to the best of think about it. Obviously, when you're on the ice it’s hurting. It was up their ability and giving us energy every single night. And then just playing there in terms of pain tolerance that I've had to endure in my career. It like dogs, really. That's what we did as a group. We played together. We was pretty cool that I scored on it, too." weren't always perfect. We found ways to win games we shouldn't have Seth Jones. and we lost games we probably should've won along the way. The position we're in is a good spot for us, I think." Were you surprised to learn it was broken? You guys had a league-leading 15 losses after regulation with 11 in "I was, I was. You know, we just thought it was a pretty bad sprain with overtime and four in a shootout. Just an unlucky year in that department? the X-ray not showing anything. We thought it would be high ankle What went wrong? (sprain), but then getting the MRI the next day, it showed it. You know, I was surprised. I've never been out this long in my whole career even "I don't know (smiles, shakes head) we just couldn't figure it out. We had before the NHL so that was a gut punch, especially the timing of it and some bad bounces, we had some bad reads, probably myself included in where we were in the playoff position and things like that. That kind of a lot of that since I'm playing in overtime. It was a little bit of an made it all a little bit worse." adjustment because when you have a guy like Panarin you can literally just give him the puck and just go get open, it's literally that simple. So, If the NHL season resumes it certainly sounds like it will be without fans you take that creativity out and you have to figure out other ways to in the stands. How would that change the dynamic? create open ice and create mismatches for your team and create speed so a little bit of an adjustment and hopefully we can get better in the future."

Tortorella was getting some Jack Adams Trophy buzz this season. What did he do well?

"He did a great job right from the start. You could tell the fire that he had just from all the doubters and, obviously, with the free agents leaving, it's one of the first things we talked about this season. He gets a lot of mixed reviews on how he coaches, but I think the way he coaches our team with the youth and way we need to learn to play the game every, single night, he's done an exceptional job for us. He may come with more fire than you may want sometimes, but that's part of it. His anger is just a reflection of how bad he wants to win and how bad he wants us to win together."

Have you heard much from him during this season pause?

"No (chuckle) not really. We haven't, no. I think he likes the pause more than everybody else does. He doesn't really want to see us, I'm sure (laughs)."

He's sick of seeing you guys every day?

"Exactly, exactly (laughing). It's a nice, little break."

Where do you think you're at in your development?

"I thought my season was OK this year. I didn't start the way I wanted to start and, for whatever reason, the consistency wasn't in my game. But with each year I've been growing and getting a little smarter and your reads are just quicker, because you do something over and over and over again. It was my seventh year this year and I feel like I'm getting old, but I'm only 25 so it's been a fun process. I'm learning every day. I get to play with some great players. Obviously, Zach (Werenski) has been my partner for the last three years so watching him be great this year and playing with him has been a real treat."

Who are the other defencemen in the NHL that you watch and admire?

"I would say probably (Victor) Hedman, he does it on both sides of the ice, plays in a lot of situations for his team. (Roman) Josi's been having a phenomenal year as well. I mean, obviously (John) Carlson, you look at the point totals there, and you can't take out a guy like (Drew) Doughty. There are probably five or six defencemen in the league that every single year are considered the best of the best, cream of the crop and, obviously, I want my name in that group for years to come."

How close do you feel you are to fulfilling your potential?

"Well, there's still a lot of room for improvement so I'm not sure. I'll come back from this injury and obviously I want to play my best every single time I step on the ice and I want to do what's best for the team as well. I like to play in all situations - power play, penalty kill, really whatever the team needs me to do I'll do. Hopefully, I can continue to grow. It's a dream of mine to be up for the Norris (Trophy) and to win the Norris so I'm definitely pushing for that."

Dustin Byfuglien's contract with the Jets was terminated today and his future in the NHL is up in the air. What stands out the most about Big Buff?

"He was tough to handle when he was playing. Whether it was his physicality or offensive ability or his skating ability, when he was engaged it was crazy, really. His size and his shot, he really had it all as a defenceman and he was an unbelievable offensive defenceman for Winnipeg. It'd be weird not playing him anymore, but I'm sure he's probably enjoying himself."

Any Byfuglien moment stand out?

"I don't know when it was, it may have been in the playoffs when they played Nashville maybe two, three years ago, there was a scrum and he had two guys like this (grabbing gesture) and he pulled two guys out of the scrum. That's the one memory I still have of him. That's just how big and strong he was and that had nothing to do with the skill. You put the skill on top of it and it was pretty special."

TSN.CA LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183107 Websites If there was no waytoadequately fill the gaping hole left by No. 33, it was literally impossible then since the Jets had to set aside his $7.5 million cap hit in case he decided to return or won the grievance.

TSN.CA / Byfuglien's bitter breakup with Jets will fade with time Cheveldayoff said he doesn’t ask himself "coulda-woulda-shoulda" questions. Byfuglien could have crippled the Jets’ season, but they hit the pause of the NHL season in a playoff spot, winners of four straight and leaving coach Paul Maurice thinking this "could be the year" since By Frank Seravalli they were hot at the right time.

"You can sit there and say you would have done this or done that, but at Dustin Byfuglien’s divorce from the Winnipeg Jets was a long and the end of the day, everybody’s got a choice," Cheveldayoff said. "And meandering process, one that included tense moments, a formal Dustin'schoice was to be true to himself and not put himself and maybe grievance – and yes, even a squabble over money. the team and everybody in a difficult situation.

But when it was finalized on Friday, GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said he "I would say that,to me, Dustin showed his integrity in the sense that he knew how he was going to remember Big Buff’s time with the Winnipeg didn’t have it in him. He wasn’t just going to go through the motions and Jets. go out there and not be the player that he wanted to be emotionally."

"To me, the legacy is always going to be him grabbing two people out of That’s the other thing about legacies. They usually get better over time, a pile and throwin’ ‘em around," Cheveldayoff said, recalling Byfuglien because the bitterness of a breakup fades and the sweetness of ragdolling Vegas’ Colin Miller and Tomas Nosek at the same time during Byfuglien shimmying along the blueline after a big blast becomes the the 2018 Western Conference final. lasting taste.

"To me, the legacy is always going to be the hit at centre ice on [Mark] "This was never our desired outcome or ending with Dustin," Stone from Ottawa. The legacy for me is going to be the big slap shot Cheveldayoff said. "If it were the Jets writing the perfect script, it would’ve from the point, to blast it by a goaltender." ended with Dustin holding a great, big silver trophy over his head at centre ice and flashing that great, big smile of his." But legacies are complicated and messy. They are usually muddled with too many moments to be just one thing, pure and clear. It’s a smile that we might not see again. There may never be another Big Buff, the freak and force of nature who transitioned from forward to That same is true with Byfuglien, even for the most popular player of the defence with ease, and marched in and out of the NHL to the beat of his Winnipeg Jets 2.0. The everyman NHLer – who enjoyed ice fishing with a own drum. 24-pack of beer as much as he enjoyed blasting 20 goals from the blueline – agreed to mutually terminate his contract with the Jets on "There’s only one person, and one person only, who can answer if he’ll Friday. ever play again – and that’s Dustin," Cheveldayoff said. "We wish him well and I look forward to the day when he comes back into the arena Byfuglien dropped his grievance and officially walked away from the $14 and [we] have a great night for him." million that was owed to him over this season and next. He is now an unrestricted free agent, free to sign with any of the 30 other teams that TSN.CA LOADED: 04.18.2020 might try to coax the game-breaker back into the rink next season on a special over-35, bonus-laden contract.

It all happened in a way that some say only could with Byfuglien, just ‘Buff being Buff,’ the same guy who played a style that Cheveldayoff said was both "high risk and high reward."

"Dustin played the game and a lot of times played it on his own terms," Cheveldayoff said Friday in a conference call with reporters. "In this situation here, he did things on his own terms again."

Byfuglien has not spoken to reporters since last season. There has been no insight into his thinking, why a 6-foot-5 behemoth who bullied with brute force would suddenly walk away in the prime of his career – let alone with so much guaranteed money on the table.

When he last appeared, Byfuglien led the Jets with eight points in six games in their first-round loss to the St. Louis Blues. He averaged a team-high 25:41 with what we now know was a busted ankle.

It’s the timing, what Byfuglien didn’t say and when, that has complicated his legacy. If he told Cheveldayoff even eight weeks after the season ended, before the NHL Draft, that he was contemplating retirement, the Jets might not have lost Tyler Myers and/or Ben Chiarot.

Cheveldayoff confirmed Friday that Byfuglien waited until the eve of training camp to have that conversation. The Jets were blindsided along with the rest of the hockey world.

"It was a very emotional time," Cheveldayoff said. "It was tough on him to even come and talk to me. At that time, I asked him if he wanted a trade and he said ‘no’ - it had nothing to do with a trade. He just didn’t know if he had it in him to continue playing."

Regardless of his emotion, fans in Winnipeg – and maybe even some in the Jets' organization – viewed his decision as selfish. It left the Jets in a lurch. After saying goodbye to Jacob Trouba, Myers and Chiarot in the summer, Byfuglien was going to be counted on more than ever – and waiting until the last possible moment before the season left Cheveldayoff with no notice to replace him.

Byfuglien’s decision to then undergo surgery on that ankle, without consultation from the Jets, and file a grievance with the NHL Players’ Association further handcuffed the Jets’ season. 1183108 Websites

USA TODAY / Akim Aliu is fine with Bill Peters finding new job, wants others to have that opportunity

Mike Brehm

Akim Aliu, the former NHL player whose accusation led to the resignation of Calgary Flames coach Bill Peters, has no problem with Peters landing a new job, saying, "I believe in second chances for everyone."

"I don’t resent a man for finding work, but I will fight to make sure those same opportunities are available to everyone, on and off the ice, regardless of race or ethnicity," Aliu tweeted Thursday.

The Nigerian-born Aliu, who revealed last fall that Peters had used a racial slur in his presence a decade earlier, was responding to news that the coach signed a two-year deal with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg of the Kontinental Hockey League.

Aliu had told the Canadian television network TSN that he was playing for the Rockford (Illinois) Ice Hogs in 2009-10 when Peters addressed him about his music selections in the dressing room and used the slur.

Others came forward to say Peters had struck them. The Flames accepted the coach's resignation on Nov. 29.

“I think as time goes on we all grow and improve and become better versions of ourselves, and I’m no different than that. You learn from all the experiences that you’re in, and you become better,” Peters said Wednesday during a video conference call with Russian media after his hiring.

Aliu said he was looking forward to the outcome of the NHL’s investigation into Peters.

"Only with past behind us can we focus on the future," Aliu said. "That means bringing hockey to underprivileged youth in order to make the game more diverse, affordable and accessible to all regardless of race, gender and economic background."

USA TODAY LOADED: 04.18.2020

1183109 World Leagues News Businesses would continue to maintain distancing. Does the president’s plan have anything like that?

A The White House plan includes for all phases recommendations to How Trump’s plan for reopening America compares with California’s continue hygiene practices, hand-washing, avoiding touching your face, frequent disinfection and wearing of face masks in public, particularly for public transit. Employers would continue with temperature checks and not letting sick workers into the workplace. By JOHN WOOLFOLK | PUBLISHED: April 16, 2020 at 3:26 p.m. | UPDATED: April 17, 2020 at 1:32 p.m. The first phase of the reopening calls for maintaining remote “telework” where possible, minimizing non-essential travel, closing common areas

at work. Schools, day care and camps would remain closed. Visits to President Trump spoke with the nation’s governors Thursday outlining elder care facilities would remain banned and more vulnerable older and his administration’s plans for a phased approach to lifting coronavirus sicker people would be advised to consider maintaining the stay-home stay-home orders and allowing more people to return to work. restrictions.

The guidelines come two days after California Gov. Gavin Newsom However, it would allow gatherings of up to 10 people. Restaurants, outlined six indicators his administration was looking to see before the movie theaters, places of worship and sporting venues could open with Golden State’s stay-home order could be eased. “strict physical distancing protocols.” Bars would stay closed but gyms could reopen with appropriate physical distancing and sanitation. How do they compare? Like Newsom, Trump said his plan would be “science-based.” Q What do the next phases of the White House plan allow?

Q Earlier this week, Trump had insisted reopening the country was his A The second phase would kick in after satisfying a second two-weeks of decision — not the states — so what does the White House plan say the “gating criteria” with no evidence of a rebound in cases. Schools, about the role of state and local authorities? day-cares and camps could reopen. The elderly and medically vulnerable would be advised to remain under shelter-in-place, but gatherings of up A The White House plan is not framed as a mandate, but rather offers to 50 people would be allowed, with appropriate physical distancing. “Guidelines for Opening Up America Again,” with “proposed state or Non-essential travel could resume. regional” criteria. It says the phases of reopening are “implementable on statewide or county-by-county basis at governors’ discretion.” But telework would be encouraged where possible and common areas at workplaces would remain closed. Theaters, places of worship, sporting It also notes that “state and local officials may need to tailor the arenas could reopen with “moderate” distancing measures. Elective application of these criteria to local circumstances.” It also says that surgeries could resume, and bars could reopen with “diminished “where appropriate, governors should work on a regional basis,” as many standing-room occupancy.” are already doing. Newsom has coordinated with the governors of Washington and Oregon on reopening along the West Coast. Q So what’s the third phase?

Q Newsom’s outline for modifying restrictions did not mention a timeline, A After a third two-week period of meeting the gating criteria, the third but does Trump’s? phase calls for unrestricted staffing of workplaces and allowing the vulnerable and elderly to resume public interactions with appropriate A The outline of the White House plan doesn’t mention dates, but Trump physical distancing and sanitation measures. Visits to elder care facilities told governors over a conference call that some states would be able to could resume with hygiene measures in place. reopen businesses and schools before May 1, when federal social distancing guidelines are set to expire, according to Bloomberg News. Q Will we see packed sports arenas? Also, the White House plan mentions 14-day periods of declining cases A Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and as triggers for lifting restrictions. Newsom’s plan is not that specific. Infectious Diseases, said Thursday that “we’ll be able to have sports Trump said Thursday that dozens of states, which he would not name, events where we have participants,” but it may not be uniform across the are close to reopening, and said 29 are “in that ballgame” where they country. Trump said he spoke to the commissioners “of almost every could open “maybe not right away, but soon.” But he said hard-hit New sport” this week and that many of them will be starting seasons “without York and New Jersey, “they’ll be there at some point,” but that they won’t the fans” in the stadiums, with games broadcast on television, but that be “one of the earlier states.” they may eventually have fans “separated by two seats.”

Q Newsom’s plan calls for modifying his stay-home order after reaching “When this virus is done,” Trump said, “we’ll have packed arenas.” “indicators” that new infections and hospitalizations are easing, testing Bay Area News Group LOADED: 04.18.2020 and tracking capabilities are sufficient to monitor cases and hospitals can manage surges of patients. What does the White House plan say about that?

A The White House plan calls for state and local governments to satisfy “gating criteria” before lifting their restrictions in three phases. Those criteria are a “downward trajectory” of influenza-like illnesses, “covid-like syndromic cases,” documented positive cases and positive tests as a percentage of total tests reported within a 14-day period. They also include hospitals having the ability to “treat all patients without crisis care” and a “robust testing program in place for at-risk healthcare workers, including emerging antibody testing.”

Q Newsom’s sixth “indicator” was the ability to reimpose restrictions as needed. Does the White House plan also envision reimposing restrictions?

A Yes, it says that as reopening occurs, state and local officials must “monitor conditions and immediately take steps to limit and mitigate any rebounds or outbreaks by restarting a phase or returning to an earlier phase, depending on severity.”

Q Newsom’s plan called for businesses, schools, and child care facilities to continue to support physical distancing as they reopen, and he laid out a stark picture of life in California as restrictions are eased. Restaurants might have half as many tables, food servers in masks and gloves, disposable menus, temperature checks of diners at the door. Schools might have staggered schedules with continued online learning at home. 1183110 World Leagues News “What probably helped him to no end, he exercises almost every day,” she said. “There’s a gym right by where he lives. That’s his life: the football team, exercising and every sport you can think of. He was in great shape.” Georgia football staffer who battled coronavirus released from hospital to cheers UGA informed the campus community on the day Klawsky tested positive that an Athletic Association staff member was positive for COVID-19 and was being treated in a local hospital. He was last on campus on March 6. The school said at that time that another athletics staff member who had Marc Weiszer contact with Klawsky, who had not been identified publicly before Apr 17, 2020 at 1:52 PM Thursday, was under self-quarantine at home with no symptoms.

If there was ever a time to Ring The Bell, it's now! Jeremy Klawsky, our football video coordinator, has been released from @PiedmontHealth Georgia football coach Kirby Smart joined hundreds at Piedmont Athens after his battle with COVID-19. Regional Medical Center on Thursday, April 16, to cheer an athletic department employee who went from being critically ill with the novel Thank you to all of the healthcare workers that took care of him and coronavirus to being released. continue to keep Georgia safe. pic.twitter.com/Q4xydhp6cA

UGA football video coordinator Jeremy Klawsky needed to be intubated — Georgia Bulldogs (@UGAAthletics) April 16, 2020 after being hospitalized, and doctors and nurses at Piedmont Athens UGA says 29 members of the school’s community have tested positive Regional cared for him during his five-week stay. for COVID-19 as of Thursday. Among the hundreds who celebrated his discharge at about noon were After he tested positive for the coronavirus, his parents were not able to hospital employees inside as he came through the hall and UGA athletic visit him in the hospital. staffers outside including AD Greg McGarity, director of sports medicine Ron Courson and other coaches. “He was completely out,” she said. “He was in a paralyzed state. Any time they had to put him on his stomach, he had to be completely out.” “We are just thrilled that he is home,” his mother Sherry Klawsky said from his Athens townhouse. “The hardest part, when he was on the The plan is for Klawsky to rehab in Athens and his parents, who will mark ventilator, is over. He’s home now and he can start to get stronger and 40 years of marriage in June, will stay with him. really move forward.” Stew is a teacher who has taught classes virtually during the pandemic. This is what victory looks like. This is what hope looks like. Sherry works for a telecommunications company and already was accustomed to working remotely. Jeremy Klawsky arrived at Piedmont Athens Regional weeks ago. He was critically ill with COVID-19, but he recovered and was discharged “It’s amazing how communities and people all over the globe have come today as hundreds cheered. together,” she said. “A lot of my background is I worked internationally in telecommunications and we have heard from people literally all around Klawsky, 32, started as an assistant football video coordinator at Georgia the globe.” in 2018 and his current title is video coordinator. Savannah Morning News LOADED: 04.18.2020 In that role, he films footage on game day that goes to NFL teams, is involved with videos used for recruiting and provides “cut-ups” of video for Bulldog coaches.

Klawsky, from Plantation, Florida, is a graduate of Nova Southeastern University where he studied sport and recreation management. He also worked for the Detroit Lions and interned with the Miami Dolphins. He worked on the grounds crew at Joe Robbie Stadium and was a former intern for the Miami Marlins.

This was the first time hospital employees had a “hero’s walk” celebration like the one on Thursday at a discharge for a COVID-19 patient, Piedmont Athens Regional spokesperson Sydney Walker said. Physicians, nurses, therapists, administrators and support staff took part.

“I really want people to know the staff in the hospital, especially the ICU, is just an amazing group of people,” his mother said. “When you think about it, it’s overwhelming for a family coming in, never having a family member sick like this, and having to understand terms and numbers to really understand what the condition is like.”

She traveled from South Florida to Athens on Feb. 22 to help out after Klawsky and his girlfriend had adopted a puppy from Alabama. Her husband Stew a week later flew to Athens and they drove back to Florida.

On March 2, Jeremy Klawsky felt ill and went to an urgent care center and tested positive for flu A. On March 6, he felt worse and two days later he experienced shortness of breath.

“We weren’t thinking COVID,” she said. “All we heard was flu A and that was about it.”

After running a 105-degree fever at a doctor’s appointment on March 10, he was taken by ambulance and went to the ICU where he remained for more than four weeks. His breathing tube was removed on April 3, his mother said.

Klawsky did not have any underlying condition that would have made him more susceptible to COVID-19, she said. He was tested for the virus on March 16 and it came back positive on March 18. She suspects that he may have contracted the virus at the urgent care clinic. 1183111 World Leagues News

A's minor league coach with coronavirus breathing without ventilator

By Marcus White April 17, 2020 5:30 PM

An A's minor league coach's battle with the coronavirus took a positive turn.

Webster Garrison now is breathing without a ventilator after needing one for more than three weeks, Nikki Trudeaux -- his fiancee -- tweeted Thursday.

#WebbyStrong #KeepPraying pic.twitter.com/vrSHUTiOF2

— Nikki Trudeaux (@cajunurse911) April 16, 2020

"[He] is now breathing on his own [100 percent] and his oxygen saturation level is at 100 percent," Trudeaux wrote.

The San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser reported on March 28 that Garrison tested positive for the coronavirus, and the A's announced the same day that a minor league staff member -- who they did not name -- had been hospitalized after a positive test. Trudeaux posted on Facebook on March 27 that she, too, was "physically suffering from the virus as well."

She tweeted on March 31 that Garrison had been "100 percent" dependent upon the ventilator a day prior, but that he already was making progress.

#WebbyStrong pic.twitter.com/q4rLbOAEUQ

— Nikki Trudeaux (@cajunurse911) April 1, 2020

Garrison, 54, completed his 21st season as an A's minor league manager or coach in 2019. He managed the Stockton Ports last season and was set to manage one of Oakland's Arizona rookie short-season teams in 2020. Garrison played five games for the A's in 1996.

The A's closed their minor league facility in Arizona for two weeks last month after Garrison's diagnosis, Slusser reported. Garrison left the A's complex on March 13, and the team asked players and coaches to self- quarantine through March 27.

Comcast SportsNet LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183112 World Leagues News able to return to his home country. “It’s hard,” he said. “What this has kind of taught me is to put everything into perspective to pick up the phone and call my brothers, call my parents more on a daily basis and just keep in contact with everybody.” USMNT's Tyler Adams explains how his German team trains amid the coronavirus crisis On second thought, maybe he’s not so unlucky after all.

Yahoo Sports LOADED: 04.18.2020

Doug McIntyreYahoo SportsApril 17, 2020

Tyler Adams sure hasn’t had much luck over the last year. After walking into emerging German Bundesliga power RB Leipzig’s starting lineup within weeks of his arrival from the New York Red Bulls in early 2019, the U.S. midfielder missed the end of last season and the first half of this one because of injuries.

By the time he had sufficiently recovered from groin and toe ailments to make his much-anticipated Champions League debut in a knockout- stage match against England’s Tottenham Hotspur on March 10, the entire sports world was just days away from shutting down because of the global Covid-19 pandemic — not that Adams necessarily saw it coming.

“One day we're playing our Champions League game against Tottenham,” Adams said Friday during a virtual roundtable discussion with reporters. “And the next day, all of a sudden, our games are canceled for the weekend. So things happened and progressed rather quickly.”

But while sports officials across the globe are postponing and, increasingly, cancelling games and tournaments because of health concerns, there are still a couple of silver linings for the 21-year-old Adams.

Unlike just about every other league, teams in the top two divisions of German soccer have been training in small groups over the past couple of weeks as part of an ambitious but well-thought-out plan to become the first major sport to resume. The hope is that games can be played in empty stadiums as soon as next month. Time will tell if it happens. To hear Adams tell it, though, just getting back to some semblance of normalcy has been cathartic after weeks of self-isolation in a foreign land.

“It's just a good feeling to have the ball out at your feet,” he said. “When you're stuck at home and you're not able to really socialize with anyone, at least you can have a couple of teammates here to get out of the house.”

On a typical day, Adams drives to RB Leipzig’s practice facility, changes in his own room at the complex, then works out with three teammates as an assistant coach puts them thorough their paces for 45-minutes to an hour. Afterward, he showers, picks out food prepared by team chefs that is left outside his door, and heads back home.

“I think the players do feel really safe; I know from a personal perspective I do,”Adams said. That said, he also acknowledges that there’s a big difference between working on the individual skills he’s been limited to so far and a full match in which players are engaging in hard-fought physical battles for 90 minutes.

“Being able to go out and play [real games] would be a great feeling, but you only want to do so when it keeps everybody safe — all the players, all the staff that are involved in running games, and of course the fans. If we continue to play with no spectators, and that keeps them safe, then I think that we'd be glad to do that.”

Whenever the matches return, Adams will be as healthy as he’s been since he arrived in Europe. That’s the other bright side of the shutdown, at least on an individual level. “Being injured in the beginning of the season and not really being able to participate in preseason, I'm almost having a preseason right now,” he said. “I'm really building up to my full capability now and getting that full length of fitness.

“Right now the body feels great,” he added. “I feel fully recovered from any past injuries that I've had. My mental state is clear...it's going to help me.”

Of course, there are far more important concerns at hand. Mature beyond his years, Adams — a native of New York, the current epicenter of the outbreak — is quick to mention the bigger picture. He’s not sure when he’ll be able to see his family again. It might be months before he’s 1183113 World Leagues News

With professional sport on lockdown, athletic animals seize the spotlight

Amy Tennery

NEW YORK (Reuters) - On a chilly afternoon in the quiet of lockdown life in Aamli, Norway, Kiara decided she would take a crack at volleyball.

Her first punt on the ball swung far to the right, forcing team mate Mathias Berntsen, a professional beach volleyball player and Olympic hopeful, to crane his arm backward and make contact.

Her second was perfect: dead centre with the right amount of elevation to allow Berntsen to unleash a cracking spike on his opponents.

That any novice could so quickly master the manoeuvre would be impressive - that Kiara did so despite being a 3-year-old Flat-Coated Retriever-Labrador mix was even more so.

“She just sort of found her own way to bounce the ball back,” Berntsen told Reuters, days after a video of the encounter went viral on social media, attracting more than 145,000 views on Instagram and an offer to audition for America’s Got Talent.

Sport broadcaster ESPN’s flagship programme, Sports Center, highlighted Kiara’s performance on its social media accounts with the caption: “This dog is elite.”

“I haven’t trained her in any specific way,” he said. “It’s kind of special – I don’t know how to explain it either.”

Berntsen, who now spends roughly three or four hours a day responding to the legions of media requests and fans, is among a growing group of professional athletes and commentators whose pets have grabbed the spotlight in life under quarantine.

With millions across the globe adopting social distancing measures, pets have emerged as a particular source of comfort, with adoptions surging in the U.S. and Britain.

Four-time Olympic gold medallist Simone Biles proudly posed with her new pair of puppies on Twitter this week, amassing more than 37,000 likes.

“I don’t need a puppy. I don’t need a puppy. I don’t need a puppy. I don’t need a puppy,” Biles, the most decorated American gymnast of all time, wrote in the social media post. “Well... meet the new Biles puppies.”

When the BBC’s Andrew Cotter observed his dog Mabel slowly stealing a bone from her older counterpart last week, the veteran sports commentator was there to narrate the incident in a video that delighted more than half a million on Twitter. volleyballdog

“Some sports are slower,” he wrote. “More about the strategy.”

For Berntsen, whose goal to qualify for the Tokyo Games has been put on hold, Kiara’s companionship helps as he adjusts to a slower pace of life.

“She’s really loyal,” he said. “She loves cuddles - that’s like her main thing.”

LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183114 World Leagues News

Boxing referee Eddie Cotton dies at the age of 72 after contracting the coronavirus

Brian Campbell

Apr 17, 2020 at 12:03 pm ET

Retired boxing referee Eddie Cotton, who was the third man in the ring for a career that spanned nearly a quarter century, died Friday at age 72.

Cotton, who was also a professional judge for 11 years, was best known for refereeing the 2002 blockbuster pay-per-view bout between heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson. He succumbed to complications from COVID-19 after being hospitalized for 10 days.

A native of Paterson, New Jersey, Cotton officiated his first pro bout in February 1992 in Atlantic City. He closed out a memorable career in 2014 by working consecutive title bouts in Germany -- Wladimir Klitschko-Alex Leapi and Felix Strum-Sam Soliman.

Cotton began his career in boxing while serving as a Paterson City Council member. He worked his first amateur bout in July 1980 at Paterson's Hinchcliff Stadium and had a long history working the New Jersey penal system boxing championships.

"Paterson has lost a legend," Mayor Andre Sayegh told the Paterson Times on Friday. "Ed Cotton was an accomplished boxing referee, a respected community leader and a cherished friend."

The husband of current Paterson councilwoman Ruby Cotton, he will also be remembered as the city's first African-American president of the City Council and public works director.

"Sad news. Boxing has lost another good man to Covid-19," promoter Lou DiBella tweeted Friday. "One of the most well known and respected referees in the world, Eddie Cotton was also one of the nicest people in our sport. Gutted for his wife and family. Prayers up.

Cotton also worked well with heavyweights and referred other memorable bouts including Riddick Bowe-Andrew Golota II, George Foreman-Shannon Briggs and Tyson Fury-Steve Cunningham.

CBS Sports LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183115 World Leagues News Van Wyk is the only strength and conditioning specialist on the Dordt staff. He also teaches classes in the health and human performance department in addition to prescribing workouts for 12 Dordt teams.

Coronavirus changes college workouts He said while the athletes are missing the competitive aspect of being in the same room for workouts and pushing each other, most athletes who have reached the college level have the right mentality to handle this situation. Scott Byers Apr 17, 2020 Updated 9 hrs ago “They need to display a high level of self-discipline,” he said. “They have

to move away from that mindset of where you need someone else to REGIONAL—Changing up your workout routine every once in a while is push you when you have a day where you aren’t feeling that motivated generally recommended procedure. and toward a mindset of just doing what is expected of you. I tell them ‘Motivation is what gets you going but discipline is what will keep you However, for the athletes at colleges around the nation, the adjustments growing.’ You get out of it what you put into it.” that have been made due to the coronavirus pandemic are a little extreme. Team effort at NWC

The student-athletes cannot be around their teammates or coaches. While Van Wyk handles the task on his own, Northwestern strength and They cannot use the facilities on campus, or any other facilities outside conditioning coach Kyle Ochsner has an assistant, a graduate assistant their own home. They have to use whatever tools they can find to keep and five seniors who are taking strength and conditioning classes to help themselves physically and mentally sharp. him along.

The strength and conditioning coaches at Dordt University in Sioux The five seniors — Emily Reynen, Riley Bennett, Colin Snyder, Drew Center and Northwestern College in Orange City are doing their best to Schutt and Cole Joachim — have shouldered a larger than anticipated help that process along. role.

System in place “One of the reasons I came back here and took the job was to help develop strength and conditioning as an academic program,” said Dordt sports performance coach Kyle Van Wyk had an advantage in all Ochsner, a 2012 Northwestern graduate. “We have what we call a of this. practicum series. Starting in their sophomore year, the students are kind of at an introductory level. We meet once a week and find things on When the 2010 Dordt graduate returned to campus to take the job in strength and conditioning from all sorts of media and investigate that. January 2018, his predecessor Adam Conway already had an online system for delivering workouts to student-athletes in place. The system “In the second year they take what they learned and they start to apply the Defenders use is called TrainHeroic. that to create plans to get the result they want. In between their junior and senior year they do an internship somewhere. Then once they get to “I’m able to do it on my laptop and the students download an app to their senior year they are each assigned one of our teams. We try to access it,” Van Wyk said. “That was already in place when I got here. I keep it to a smaller one, 30 athletes or so.” can adjust it for specific student-athletes if I need to. As long as they have a phone, they have access to our workouts.” The Red Raider teams still were on their normal routines on March 11-12 after returning from spring break. The NCAA then started to suspend or While Van Wyk has no personal contact with the athletes due to the cancel events and that quickly trickled down to the NAIA level. government restrictions at this time, the app does allow for some demonstration when necessary. “At first you could still train, but it couldn’t be mandatory. I had to create a schedule so that our facilities wouldn’t be overwhelmed with all the teams “I can assign a link to a video that helps explain it if it is something we and athletes in there at once,” Ochsner said. “I had just got it situated haven’t done before or something they aren’t real familiar with,” Van Wyk and was ready to hit send on the e-mail when the word came down that said. “You can get more technical that way. I can use it to demonstrate after Friday we were done.” how I want it done, which gives me some piece of mind that the students are not only going to do it, but do it safely.” Ochsner was stunned. He decided to drop everything he was doing and head out to the Northwestern baseball game. The online route became the primary option quickly. “It was super somber the whole day,” he said. “Normally, when you win “It came in two phases,” Van Wyk said. “The first was while the students your last game by the 10-run rule you are pretty excited, but everybody were on spring break. At first we were just told spring break was going to knew that was it. We were done.” be extended for a few days. At that point we had no inkling they wouldn’t be coming back to campus. Then around March 26 we were told we were Sports were called off and students had to leave campus, but Ochsner’s going to remain online only for the rest of the semester. Now, we’re not senior students had eight weeks of class left when the pandemic caused sure what to expect before this carries itself out.” Northwestern to go to online classes only.

He said his workout plans have changed in phases as well. “Once most everything was shut down it was hard to write a program. Anything we give to the athletes now can’t be mandatory,” Ochsner said. “Over break I was looking at it from the perspective that almost all of “We had a meeting and we had to develop at-home training programs. It them would have some access to gym equipment at their local workout is how we can adapt and keep everyone on the same page.” facilities,” Van Wyk said. “Now I have to assume those gyms are closed. There are some that have some sort of a home gym with a bench and a Northwestern did not have a computer program set up, so it decided to squat rack, but we have to figure they are doing a lot of body weight use its Instagram page to relay the information. That mode had an added workouts for the time being.” bonus.

While devising workouts, Van Wyk has a checklist of things that need to “We recognize we are not the only ones dealing with this,” Ochsner said. be done to help build more well-rounded athletes. He tries to work the “There are plenty of people from across the Northwestern community and muscles front and back and work on pushing and pulling motions. He around the country that are not allowed access to a weight room. It made sometimes utilizes unusual tools, like milk jugs or the tailgate of a pickup, sense for us to provide this service to anyone and everyone, which is to accomplish those goals. why we used Instagram. As a staff of Christ followers, we firmly believe in our calling to utilize our gifts and resources for the greater love and In addition to strength, athletes in certain seasons need conditioning service of others. This is one way in which we could display them.” work too. He decided on the guidelines and parameters, but the five seniors are “We do a lot of tempo runs, which isn’t a sprint but it isn’t a jog either,” assigned to do all scripting and posting of the workouts. With five in the Van Wyk said. “It’s about 70 to 80 percent runs, and the best thing about practicum it worked out perfectly. those is all you need to do it is space. We can add to them by either distance or time. It all differs depending on the sport.” “They each get one day per week,” Ochsner said. “We also cycle them through so that they are not always programing the same parameter. They get the information, pictures and videos to me the afternoon before it’s going to run and I simply tag them and post them to our @NWCPerformance Instagram page that evening in case there is an athlete that likes to get up early in the morning to train.”

The parameters are power on Monday, work capacity on Tuesday, strength on Wednesday, work capacity on Thursday and power on Friday. Ochsner said it was important to make sure the workouts were easy to do and practical for someone who cannot access gym equipment.

He said the students have been creative in designing the online workouts.

“They are finding ways to provide exercises that are familiar using some different equipment,” Ochsner said. “One of them used a doughnut spare tire. One used a propane tank. We want them to all have that underlying thing, the work capacity, strength and speed. If you have those three things you are going to be in great shape.”

He wants to make sure the athletes do not lose anything during the break and can pick up right where they left off. While he cannot really check progress, Ochsner said the Red Raider athletes have found ways to push each other.

“You lost some of the team camaraderie and social interaction, but as long as they stay connected they can push each other,” Ochsner said. “This generation is very used to doing things on social media. Some of the athletes are taping their workouts and putting them up there. When I see it I try to repost. We want to try to keep that momentum going.”

The N'West Iowa REVIEW LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183116 World Leagues News majors. Monahan said the Tour has worked together with the PGA of America and other industry leaders to identify the best possible schedule for fans and players.

Pro golf plans to be the first major sport to return during the coronavirus "I think it was really important as a sport to come together to present a pandemic schedule that we knew our fans would love that would help our sport re- emerge," Monahan said.

CNBC LOADED: 04.18.2020 PUBLISHED FRI, APR 17 20201:22 PM EDTUPDATED 6 HOURS AGO

Jessica Golden

The PGA Tour plans to be the first major sport to return to play during the coronavirus pandemic.

The first planned tournament starts June 8, and will be played without spectators.

The PGA Tour says its number one priority is health and safety of fans and players.

The PGA Tour is looking to be the first major sport to return to action following the coronavirus outbreak, but there will be one key change when players return to the links for the June 8 Charles Schwab Challenge. There will be no spectators in the stands.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan appeared on CNBC's "Squawk Alley" to talk about golf's return and how the decision was made at a time when coronavirus has infected more than 2 million people around the globe.

Monahan said the Tour didn't take the decision lightly and he and his team spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about the logistics of the return and getting feedback from their players.

"We've had over 10 conference calls, some lasting two hours, as we've thought about our resumption," Monahan said.

The discussions have included Jordan Spieth, Kevin Kisner, Charley Hoffman and about a dozen other players who sit on the Tour's policy boards.

"Our players are eager to return, excited to inspire this country, but also know that in announcing the schedule, we are going to do so in a safe and responsible way," Monahan said.

It's not surprising golf is the first sport to return. Being an outdoor sport played on hundreds of acres of land, it is more conducive to social distancing than many other professional sports. The Tour said the first four tournaments will be spectator free and they will then make decisions on future tournaments based on the advice of federal, state and local governments.

When it comes to testing players, the Tour said it's working with its medical experts and are closely following the developments of large- scale testing capabilities and rapid-response type tests to develop a protocol for potentially testing players in the future.

Another issue is travel. With travel restrictions in place around the world, the logistics of getting the 93 Tour members from 28 countries to and from tournaments has been a major focus for organizers. Officialssaid they are continuously monitoring travel, border restrictions and other issues that may impact their players abilities to get to and from tournaments.

In addition to his role as PGA Commissioner, Monahan is a member of President Donald Trump's economic advisory panel that is advising the federal government on how to reopen the country and jump start the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic. The panel is made up of the major sports commissioners, several team owners and CEOs.

Monahan said the president recognizes the important role of sports in our culture and called the leaders together to share some of the challenges they are facing as they think about the resumption of play in their respective sports.

"To be able to share that with the administration, to hear from other leaders and other sports about how we're thinking of returning, and then getting access to resources to help us connect to these challenges is very, very helpful," Monahan said.

The Tour is also making several changes when it comes to it's upcoming schedule. The 2020-2021 season will feature an unprecedented six 1183117 World Leagues News

Von Miller says he was 'shocked' to learn he had coronavirus: 'It all started with just a simple cough'

Jordan Dajani

Apr 17, 2020 at 11:02 am ET •

On Thursday, Von Miller's agent confirmed that the Denver Broncos pass rusher became the second NFL player to test positive for COVID- 19. He was said to be in "good spirits" and just simply resting at home.

The following day, Miller sat down with "3rd hour of TODAY" to discuss how he was dealing with the coronavirus and how he first knew that something was wrong. Miller has asthma, but said he knew something was different about his health early on.

"I'm feeling better," said Miller. "It all started with just a simple cough and it got worse. I also have asthma -- and my girlfriend was telling me that I wasn't sounding normal, and I should try my nebulizer. So I did, I tried the nebulizer which I do before football games and before practice regularly, but this time was different. It really didn't work like it should. I waited another day, the cough still didn't go away, and my assistant said 'Why don't you just go get tested? There's no harm in getting tested.' I went down the street and got tested and two days later my doctor called me and said that I had a positive result for COVID-19."

Like many around the country, Miller took the pandemic seriously and was practicing social distancing -- but somehow still found himself sick. The eight-time Pro Bowler was more than surprised to hear that he had come down with the coronavirus.

"I was shocked," Miller said. "We have been taking this seriously since day one. I started in San Francisco training where I normally train, and San Francisco was one of the first cities to have a stay-at-home order. Right when San Francisco had the stay-at-home order, we made the decision to come back to Denver.

"I've been here in Denver for about four weeks now and within that four weeks I probably left the house four times. With all of those four times, I never got out of the car, it was just to drive to pick up food and come back home. So I really just have been taking it seriously, staying at home -- of course I have had people come in and out like workers, maids and people who come in and do the plumbing -- just everyday stuff but it was really nothing crazy. I had a cough and here we are today."

While the coronavirus has wiped out virtually every sport, it remains to be seen if the NFL season will start on time in the coming months. Miller was asked about playing football in an empty stadium, and he said that he would be willing to do whatever the NFL deems as safe.

"Whatever is safe," said Miller. "That will always be my first precaution ... to do whatever is safe. Whatever we have to do to get things back to normal that's what we should do. We shouldn't move too fast, just do whatever is safe."

CBS Sports LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183118 World Leagues News will become Covid-19 facilities. Both venues were recently used to stage the SEA Games.

The Philsports Complex has a bed capacity of 150 to 200 while the Rizal Sports Hub's OCBC Arena, selected ActiveSG indoor halls to house Memorial Sports Complex can hold up to 100 patients. foreign workers 5. SANTIAGO BERNABEU STADIUM, MADRID

The 81,044-seater is the second-largest stadium in Spain and home of PUBLISHEDAPR 17, 2020, 4:42 PM SGT one of the world's top football teams, Real Madrid.

Arvinash Ravindran It will be converted into a storage facility to hold medical supplies donated to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

6. PRINCIPALITY STADIUM, CARDIFF SINGAPORE - Due to the coronavirus pandemic, hospital resources worldwide have been strained and the need for more places to house The home of Welsh rugby now has giant tents over its pitch to control the Covid-19 patients, who need to be isolated, has become an issue for temperature within the stadium. It took only a few weeks to turn it into a many countries. hospital with a bed capacity of 2,000.

In some of these countries, authorities have turned to converting sporting Also known as the Dragon's Heart Hospital, its purpose is to house venues to help fill the gap. Covid-19 patients and to help ease the pressure on Britain's already- strained National Health Service. While Singapore has not used sports facilities to house patients, the Singapore Sports Hub and national agency Sport Singapore (SportSG) According to Wales Online, it will also have a mobile CT scanner, four X- will use some of their venues to accommodate foreign workers who ray machines and a mobile laboratory. provide essential services, and do not have Covid-19 symptoms. 7. HONGSHAN GYMNASIUM, WUHAN The Sports Hub has converted its OCBC Arena Halls to temporarily The building was converted into a medical facility to house Covid-19 house about 800 foreign workers from Friday (April 17). patients in the city of 11 million, where the coronavirus first emerged late It said: "Strict protocols will be in place to manage their entry and last year. presence at all times, and during the stay, they are to remain within the It was shut last month, after the number of new infection cases began halls and are to follow strict health and safety measures according to the dropping. guidelines." 8. UNITED CENTER, CHICAGO Similarly, SportSG will activate some of its facilities. Starting from Friday, ActiveSG sport halls at Pasir Ris, Jurong West, Clementi and Home of the NBA's , and the National Hockey League's Hougang will be housing these workers progressively. Chicago Blackhawks, the United Center is at the forefront of the city's fight against the coronavirus. Here are what some other sports venues around the world have done: It is being used as a hub for food distribution and medical supplies, as 1. BILLIE JEAN KING NATIONAL TENNIS CENTER, NEW YORK CITY well as for first responder staging. The site of the annual US Open tennis tournament has converted a Singapore Press Holdings LOADED: 04.18.2020 portion of its sprawling 42-acre complex into a makeshift hospital, with some 475 beds, including 20 for ICU patients.

It will accommodate the patients in its 100,000 sq ft indoor training facility.

Last week (April 10), New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose city has been hardest hit by the coronavirus, with over 120,000 confirmed cases and more than 8,600 deaths as of Thursday (April 16), told local media that if it is not used as a hospital, it can also be used as a place to quarantine people.

2. HARD ROCK STADIUM, MIAMI

The venue for January's Super Bowl has been turned into a testing facility for the coronavirus.

Patients of all ages who exhibit symptoms can get tested at the drive- through site, which is home to the National Football League team Miami Dolphins, to confirm if they have contracted the virus.

The facility handles 400 tests a day and has so far conducted over 11,000 tests.

3. THE MARACANA STADIUM, RIO DE JANEIRO

One of the wold's most fabled stadiums, it staged the 1950 and 2014 World Cup football finals and was also the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Olympic Games.

However, with future sporting events cancelled in the country, the 78,000-seater's car park will be transformed into a 400-bed temporary hospital to hold Covid-19 patients.

Many of Brazil's World Cup stadiums have been converted into makeshift hospitals and vaccine centres during the pandemic.

4. PHILSPORTS COMPLEX & RIZAL MEMORIAL SPORTS COMPLEX, MANILA

Armed with a steady water supply and fully air-conditioned, the Philsports Complex in Pasig City and the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila 1183119 World Leagues News

Donald Trump says initial return of sports will be 'made for television'

TOM GATTO

President Donald Trump said Thursday that sports will likely resume at first in empty stadiums — "(like) the good old days, made for television." Then will come partially filled venues with fans observing social distancing, and then finally full stadiums and arenas.

Trump did not indicate when games would resume, however. All the major North American professional leagues have halted play amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and individual states' stay-at-home and social distancing orders remain in place.

Trump on sports: "Depending on the area, you will have large areas of the country where this has been totally eradicated. You will be able to have those full arenas..."

The White House's point person on the coronavirus response, Dr. Anthony Fauci, laid out a possible scenario for a restart Wednesday, saying in a Snapchat interview that a sport's entire schedule could be played in one venue with no spectators. Athletes would need to be tested for the virus frequently.

Fauci was more circumspect during Thursday's daily White House coronavirus press briefing, but he did say there was a path to getting sports back in action, in some form, within the parameters of a three- phase set of federal guidelines for states to reopen that was released Thursday.

Leagues have been exploring restarts in empty venues and in neutral sites. MLB, for example, is considering playing at spring training complexes in Arizona and Florida.

Trump has tapped high-profile team owners such as Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft and Mark Cuban to be part of an advisory committee on getting U.S. economic activity restarted. The president is also speaking regularly with league commissioners, most recently on Wednesday.

Commissioners of the FBS conferences in college football spoke with Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday. CBSSports.com reported that the commissioners told Pence that games won't resume until students can return to campuses.

Trump on Thursday referred to Alabama football when asked about what "normal" will look like in a post-coronavirus sports world.

Bryant-Denny Stadium's listed seating capacity is 101,821. sportingnews.com LOADED: 04.18.2020 1183120 World Leagues News “It is a tough time right now in the world, but you know, it’s our job and responsibility as a league to provide our fans with everything that is essential to being a great league, and that's providing them and giving them our best effort," he said. "Letting them know that we’re here and E-Sports Take Center Stage As Coronavirus Pushes Sports To Sidelines we’re going to still put on a show for you guys, whether it’s live or remote.”

Online video games have become a place for community when most By Esteban Bustillos social interactions have been restricted or forced to change. But will they April 17, 2020 continue to fill that role that once people can leave their homes again and congregate? Loew from Becker said he believes they will.

“There’s a game for everybody. Just like there’s music for everybody, Earlier this month, Becker College in Worcester, Mass., hosted what there's a game for everybody out there," Loew said. "You can find a could be the only kind of intercollegiate competition still underway in community that’s passionate about it. You’ll find friends. … And just Massachusetts. because they’re folks who are online doesn’t make it any less valuable than a sort of physical proximity relationship that we can’t share right E-sports teams from Becker, UMass Amherst, Murray State University now.” and Emerson College gathered — virtually — for Becker’s Spring Overwatch Invitational Tournament. Overwatch is one of the most For traditional athletes, sports have been forced to be put on hold. For e- popular team-based video games on the planet, and Becker was the first sports players, though, the games still go on. school in New England to establish a varsity e-sports program in 2018. WGBH LOADED: 04.18.2020 For Tim Loew, the general manager of Becker’s program, the tournament was about more than just the competition. “I think it was a good example of what collegiate e-sports brings to the table at this moment in time,” he said.

As sports have essentially shut down due to the coronavirus, e-sports and video games remain among the only outlets for competitive diversion left standing. Whether it's people playing at home or in more organized events online, e-sports are filling a vacuum for fans.

Loew said for those in collegiate e-sports, organized competition remains largely intact.

“What’s really changed is the fact that that big audience is starting to pay attention to what’s going on on the screens versus what’s going on on the courts or the fields," he said. "So it’s pretty exciting."

Even before the pandemic forced much of the world indoors, e-sports had already established itself as an entertainment mainstay. Over half a billion people are expected to watch e-sports by 2023. Thousands of people fill stadiums to watch championship matches on big screens. Celebrities from Robert Kraft to Michael Jordan have ownership stakes in e-sports teams. ESPN has dedicated increased television coverage to them.

Alan Ritacco, the dean of the School of Design and Technology at Becker, said he believes e-sports are at a pre-inflection point — the moment right before they're about to explode.

“This will be larger — maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe in 10 years — than the NFL," he said. "It will be larger because it’s a national-international audience base. It just crosses spectrum.”

Right now, e-sports and video games are helping people scratch their competitive itch. Some professional leagues sidelined by the coronavirus have gotten into the act. Major League Soccer is simulating its season on the soccer video game FIFA.

Instead of actual games, the NBA arranged for some of its players go head-to-head on the basketball game NBA 2K in contests streamed live.

The matches were filled with trash talk and bravado, just like a NBA league game.

Ahmed Kasana, who plays for CLTX Gaming, the Boston Celtics' NBA 2K League team, admits the hoopers have virtual game as well.

“You see a lot of these guys that are amazing, amazing athletes — but they’re also great e-sport players," he said.

Kasana, who plays NBA 2K professionally, had been looking forward to the league's official start on March 24. Like so many other seasons, it got postponed, but the league still did smaller competitions online to keep fans engaged. There’s a possibility that the season will begin remotely.

“The great thing about our league is we can do that. We can play live in front of you on land, or we can play remotely from our homes," he said. "And that’s the great thing about being an e-sport. I feel like that’s why e- sports (are) growing.”

As the world struggles to deal with the wide-ranging impacts of coronavirus, Kasana almost views it as a duty to keep on playing.