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Columbus Blue Jackets News Clips April 8, 2020

Columbus Blue Jackets PAGE 02 .ca: Blue Jackets' Jones: Ankle 'felt good' during first skate since surgery

Cleveland Monsters/Prospects

NHL/Websites PAGE 03 The Athletic: LeBrun: Non-playoff teams using time wisely, one city playoff format unlikely PAGE 06 The Athletic: What would a centralized NHL playoff tournament look like? PAGE 11 The Athletic: Wheeler: Every lottery team’s biggest need at the 2020 NHL Draft PAGE 19 Sportsnet.ca: 'He's a warrior': Oilers' Colby Cave fighting for life due to brain bleed PAGE 21 TSN.CA: Gary Bettman: No Olympics gives NHL ‘broader window’ to play in summer PAGE 23 The Associated Press: Bettman raises chance of NHL not completing regular season

Sportsnet.ca: Blue Jackets' Jones: Ankle 'felt good' during first skate since surgery

By Emily Sadler – April 7, 2020

Columbus Blue Jackets fans got a little bit of good news this week when defenceman Seth Jones took his first strides on the ice after undergoing ankle surgery back in February. Jones, who posted a video of himself hitting the ice on Sunday, provided a brief update on his recovery process during an interview on Hockey Central on Tuesday. “The ankle felt good,” he said. “We’re obviously not rushing it too much at the moment, we’re handling things a little bit differently than if a season was going on still. So, taking it slow, just got out there in a track suit for a little Sunday skate. It was nice to lace up the skates again and stick-handle the puck again.” “I was a little rusty, but it was nice,” he said, adding that the skate lasted just 20 minutes. “Hopefully this week and next week I can start ramping up a little bit more.” Jones suffered a fractured ankle Feb. 8 against the and underwent surgery a few days later. The team estimated at the time that he would be sidelined 8-10 weeks, which would have meant missing at least the remainder of the regular season with a potential return for the playoffs should the team make the post-season. Despite a long list of injured players that includes Jones, Josh Anderson, Alexander Wennberg, Alexandre Texier, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Murray and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, among others, the plucky Blue Jackets currently sit in the second wild-card spot – just one point ahead of the Islanders in the east. With the league now almost four weeks into its suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains unclear how the NHL will proceed to conclude the 2019-20 season. For now, Jones will continue to focus on getting his ankle healthy. “I’m not pushing it too hard but keep getting on the ice, I’ll work a little bit harder and push it a little bit harder with each time I’m out there, try to kind of get back in the groove,” Jones said when asked about next steps in rehabilitating the ankle. “I’m doing a lot of cardio work and strengthening and balance things with it off the ice. The trainers are doing a great job with me. It’s definitely a waiting game for all of us at the moment, but for now I’ll be here in Columbus and working.”

The Athletic: LeBrun: Non-playoff teams using time wisely, one city playoff format unlikely

By Pierre LeBrun – April 7, 2020

Last Saturday marked what was supposed to have been the last day of the NHL’s regular season had COVID-19 not come crashing down on us. Whether or not there will be a season resumption remains up in the air, but some non-playoff teams have made the wise decision to move on with player evaluations and individual player interviews. I mean, why not? The , for example, have already started player exit interviews. “Where our organization is, we have to make adjustments for next year, and I want to talk to my players while it’s still fresh in their minds – what went on this year,’’ Ducks GM Bob Murray said over the phone on Tuesday from Anaheim. “If it gets too far down the road, it’s not going to be fresh. It’s going to be distant.’’ And Murray also notes that the players have welcomed the chats. They’ve got oodles of idle time on their hands and Murray has found his conversations with players have been terrific. “I spoke with Rickard Rakell today and it was two and a half hours, and it was outstanding,’’ Murray said of his player exit call with the Swedish forward. Maybe it’s therapeutic for everyone involved just to be talking hockey right now given what’s going on in the world. Either way, it’s a smart use of everyone’s time for teams that are obviously out of the playoff picture, such as Anaheim. Sure, the Ducks may be asked to come back this summer and play some regular- season games. But a handful of regular-season games isn’t going to change the narrative in these player evaluations and exit meetings for the Ducks. With 85 percent of the regular season played, the Ducks have a picture of their team. “I think it’s important for me and our players to talk about it now, we got to get better next year, and it’s good for them to talk about it now,’’ Murray said. What some other non-playoff teams are doing: San Jose is having player “update’’ calls. It’s not just an evaluation of their season but also in the event there’s a season resumption, it will help the players prepare for that. Los Angeles has started the review process with coaches but hasn’t begun player interviews yet. New Jersey coaches are working on player evaluations for coach/manager meetings which will be held at some point. No player exit meetings have been scheduled at this point. Buffalo has more player evaluation meetings this week with coaches, then the Sabres will have (virtual) “development meetings’’ with the players, but not exit meetings. The Sabres want to keep everyone ready for all potential options. Some other non-playoff teams I checked with are either waiting for official word from the league before moving on to player exit interviews or are operating under the assumption the season will resume and thus, have put the player interviews on hold. And yes, for now, the NHL and NHL Players’ Association remain focused on resuming the season even if it means July-August hockey, as we’ve been saying for a couple of weeks now. There’s been some confusion out there after a report from my good friend at Sportsnet suggesting North Dakota as a potential neutral site for NHL playoff games. For whatever reason, some people have taken that to mean the league would stage its entire tournament in North Dakota. This is not the case. First of all, sources suggest North Dakota was mentioned internally a few weeks ago along with several other neutral sites as the league spit-balled different scenarios and different neutral sites. But most importantly, I’m told it is very unlikely the NHL would consider going to one site only if it is forced to go the centralized route. That’s because the NHL doesn’t believe a single location would work for its purposes. It could be four cities for 16 teams as we’ve reported before, or two locations, provided they each had two rinks apiece which the NHL could utilize. It could even be eight cities. All kinds of scenarios are being discussed but there is no formal plan at this point. It’s all in the very early stages of discussion. But if the NHL is forced by the realities of the ongoing coronavirus threat to centralize its season resumption this summer, the only certainty as this point is the desire to have more than one location involved. I thought colleague Scott Burnside had a really interesting take on the centralized format idea this week. There’s been an ongoing discussion within the NHL Players’ Association about what to do with the players’ final paycheque, which is scheduled to be deposited into the players’ bank accounts on April 15. The debate among players has been whether to forgo their final paycheque to start paying down the money they’re going to owe the owners in escrow. With the season interrupted and the overall hammering pro sports is taking due to the pause, the players are facing major paybacks next year. One argument is, if the players are going to owe a large sum due to escrow, why not start now? The counter-argument is to keep the paycheques and worry about the rest later, especially when nobody is in a position to say for sure if next season will start on time, never mind whether this season will be resumed. It’s a tough call for players. There was an executive board conference call over the weekend (player reps), plus the NHLPA has been busy with individual team calls discussing the issue. It’s very similar to the way players can be on the opposite side of the growth factor debate every year when it comes to the calculation. Players on expiring contracts always want the highest possible cap. Players on long-term deals would rather see the lowest possible cap to mitigate escrow. In any case, there’s another executive board conference call set for Wednesday at which point a decision should be made. If the players decide to give away the entirety of their last paycheque, you’re looking at about $140 million back into the system. Of course, they could decide to make it 50 percent or keep it at the current 14 percent escrow rate. In the bigger NHL picture, I go back to what I wrote last week, about the CBA and potential (needed) labour peace long term as a way for the players and owners to help steer through the turbulent times which lie ahead for their business. Freeze the cap for three years, freeze escrow, there are longer-term solutions needed here. One team executive last week suggested to me that one idea that’s floating around is freezing the salary cap at $82.5 million for the next few years, so just a $1-million raise from the current $81.5 million. But that would still be significant given the expected losses in Hockey Related Revenue over the next year or two. Or three.

The Athletic: What would a centralized NHL playoff tournament look like?

By Scott Burnside – April 7, 2020

Even before U.S. President Donald Trump gathered the leaders of the continent’s biggest sports organizations for a conference call on Saturday, all those organizations were exploring options for what is next. The NBA is looking at holding its entire postseason in , and there have been similar discussions for the Premier League in England. Even baseball has imagined what regular-season games might look like concentrated in Florida or Arizona, as The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported. And in hockey, there have been discussions at various levels of the game about whether a centralized playoff tournament would work and what such a tournament would look like, with preliminary discussions between the NHL and NHL Players’ association about having teams gather in areas that are deemed to have emerged from the critical parts of the pandemic to – under strict supervision – play postseason hockey. First, let’s make it clear that the NHL and the NHLPA are not in a position to rush this into reality. The NHL and NHLPA are taking cues from health officials, elected officials, the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S., and Health Canada in Canada. But what logistics are involved in putting together a multi-city playoff tournament that would still maintain the integrity of the game and the spirit of the playoffs? One format discussed was having one host city for each of the four divisions with four teams from each division playing in each city to comprise a traditional 16-team playoff grid. John Shannon, a veteran producer of NHL and international hockey games, thinks the NHL and NHLPA are continuing to look at August as a window to resume not just playoff hockey but to play regular- season games before a postseason. And with the 2020 summer Olympics postponed for a year, there is a wide-open block of television inventory available, Shannon noted. NHL teams had played between 68 and 71 of the 82-game regular season when the season was paused on March 12. But even the option of jumping right to a playoff tournament using points percentage as a determining factor after a training camp period for players to get back up to game speed still presents significant challenges. “I think it’s simpler for the NBA than for the NHL,” Shannon said. With fewer players per team and no refrigeration needed to make ice, the NBA could run its playoffs in a way that’s not all that different than running the ACC tournament, Shannon said. So, where would these games be played? All kinds of options are being bandied about on this. There will be a huge demand for events like the playoffs as a way of returning to normalcy on some levels, as a diversion for fans, and as a way of generating revenue on a league-wide basis and in the local economies where the games might be played. One veteran broadcast executive who has produced professional sporting events in North America said the harsh reality is that it’s hard to imagine any mass gathering like a sporting event being held in the area for months and months. There are other areas, like Michigan, Illinois, Louisiana, that also seem unlikely based on current COVID- 19 numbers. There has been some discussion by the NBA about going to smaller venues, assuming that there won’t be fans in the buildings. That might create a more intimate broadcast atmosphere for basketball, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to hockey, several broadcast experts said. First, if the NHL and NHLPA were looking at major junior or college rinks, you’d need to ensure they had the technical capabilities to produce a show with multiple feeds and camera angles. There are lighting issues in many smaller buildings that would have to be addressed, another Canadian- based executive warned. Shannon identified Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario, home of the OHL’s London Knights – a miniature Scotiabank Arena, where the Maple Leafs play – as a place with “great camera positions, great facilities, good logistics.” Windsor, Ontario, has a terrific relatively new major junior hockey facility, as well. Both London and Windsor would make sense for travel given proximity to and Detroit. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, has a facility that might work for this kind of endeavor. Longtime Edmonton coach and GM Glen Sather might support having games in Banff and/or Jasper or even Lake Louise as those Alberta mountain resort towns were often employed as training camp sites for the Oilers and/or Team Canada squads prior to best-on-best international tournaments and would have the required infrastructure in terms of hotels and restaurants. Another longtime NHL player and executive with a strong connection to the U.S. college hockey world said that Boston University, Boston College and the University of Minnesota could also be options if the desire was to go into smaller facilities. It’s possible these non-NHL options would work for a play-in round if, as many teams have lobbied for, there is an expanded playoff grid with up to 12 teams from each conference included in the postseason. But a lack of hotel space and practice facilities in some of these smaller locales would likely prohibit them from hosting a four-team event. There is also the issue of technical staff to broadcast up to 14 games over a two-week period, assuming a best-of-seven format. A longtime producer who is based in the U.S. said he thinks, for a host of reasons – like staffing, technological infrastructure, external support like hotels, ease of travel – an event like this has to be held in an NHL building. Vegas has a couple of options, including T-Mobile Center and the Orleans Arena, where the team’s new AHL team is supposed to begin play in the 2020-21 season. Dallas could. Certainly Canadian centers could. Edmonton has a new arena with a practice rink in the same facility and a major hotel attached to the arena complex. Toronto has the Coca Cola Coliseum, home to Toronto’s AHL affiliate, which was used by teams for practices during the 2016 . Columbus likewise has a practice rink attached to Nationwide Arena. In a perfect scenario, games would be held in cities where health officials approved the gathering of large groups of people. But that seems overly optimistic at this stage, so let’s assume that such a playoff tournament would start with games in arenas without fans. Obviously one of the keys in considering this kind of setup is that it eliminates the issue of having teams and support staff flying all over North America, even if they are flying on private charters. That would mean that host buildings would need to ensure that all four teams have their own space in the building. That might be easier to accomplish in buildings where NHL teams share space with NBA teams. The NHL and NBA teams have their own dressing rooms and workout facilities. But in many of those arenas, including Scotiabank Arena in Toronto and American Airlines Center in Dallas, the visiting hockey and basketball teams use the same dressing room. Most NHL teams have converted ice level space for lounges, restaurants and family areas, so those could be retrofitted to accommodate a team, including areas for working out, coaches’ offices, video and the like, team officials indicated. In Nashville, for instance, there is a rehearsal hall that was used as a media room during the team’s run to the Stanley Cup in 2017, which could be employed as space for additional teams. “Logistics like that are going to be just as important as anything else,” Shannon predicted. “There wouldn’t be anything shared anymore.” As for the broadcasts themselves, there are several ways to look at this. Several producers said you could use an Olympic style setup where there is a global feed and broadcasters call the game from a remote site. You could use a bare-bones broadcast support staff to keep the number of people actually in the arena to a minimum – say 30 people. Many of those in the broadcast team are in trucks and never physically enter the arena proper. Still, one longtime executive suggested the opposite tack would be more beneficial. Instead of paring down the production teams, add to it to produce a unique broadcast. What’s the difference between having a bare-bones staff of 30 or a full complement of 50 or 60 camera people, technicians, etc., involved when you normally have 18,000 or 19,000 people, he asked? If there are no fans in the building you could take down the netting and install cameras anywhere you wanted in the rink to provide a unique broadcast experience. The NHL has been working for some time with its rink board technology – shown at the All-Star Game earlier this year – which could be employed to satisfy advertisers. If the local broadcasters are allowed a bigger bite of the playoff experience – traditionally locals broadcast only the first round of the playoffs – there could be ad revenue generated locally, too. Having locals involved for more of the playoffs would also allow for enhanced production possibilities, one U.S.-based producer said. If you had Sportsnet, NBC and the locals all combining with different angles and views, the resulting product would be outstanding, he predicted. It would also mean hiring more crew – many of whom have been hit economically by the pause in all sports. “This is such an anomaly, such a unique experience,” this veteran producer said. “I think this is the year you just throw caution to the wind (in terms of the production ideas). “Everybody has suffered through this, let everybody benefit from it,” if it can be held, he added. The other byproduct of holding games without fans is that ice conditions, always an issue in the latter stages of the playoffs, should be markedly better. Buildings are always colder during morning skates later in the playoffs, but the dynamics change when the public begins arriving 90 minutes to an hour before the start of the game and the climate inside changes perceptibly. That variable is eliminated if the fans aren’t in the building. Couple that with the fact that many top players have said in recent days they think a playoff tournament held after the pause might create the highest level of competition seen in a long time given the ability for injured players to heal and players in general to be refreshed instead of worn down by the normal 82-game grind. One issue of broadcasting without fans is what does it sound like? You would certainly hear the game in a different manner – the sounds of the skates, the puck on the stick – but you’d also hear the players in a way that might not be exactly what the normal hockey viewing family wants to hear. “You know the competitive juices of these guys,” Shannon said. That means trying to ensure choice comments from players or officials don’t make it to air while balancing broadcasting the sounds of the game action. “So, how are we going to create that ambiance?” Shannon wondered. There simply isn’t anything in sport like the sound and feel of an NHL playoff game. When television was in its infancy, there were laugh tracks on sitcoms. Do you recreate crowd noise to replicate the feel of a real playoff game? “Would it feel natural anymore? I don’t think it would,” Shannon said. On the positive side, scheduling would be a breeze. With no travel, you could run two games a day if you needed to on weekends, and teams could play back-to-back as a way of speeding up the process. Shannon said he remembers talking with NHL Gary Bettman at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 while sitting in one of the hockey facilities. The commissioner wondered why the facility wasn’t bigger in terms of seating capacity, and Shannon said he told Bettman it was less about a mass fan experience and more about creating a different environment. “What you’re talking about is creating theater sport,” Shannon said. And because the focus isn’t on the entire building experience but the stage itself, the ice and the size of the building won’t matter in terms of the broadcast. Another Canadian broadcast executive noted that Florida has been broadcasting games with a half- empty arena for years. So, while it is an interesting exercise to explore what it would look like, and where and how it would work, an important question remains. Should it happen at all if it can’t happen as playoff games were meant to be played: To a packed house with media, concessions and the whole nine yards? “I don’t think this is a sports issue anymore. This is a life issue. If it’s not safe for everybody to be there then it’s also not safe for the players to be there,” Shannon said. Another veteran national broadcast executive who has been involved in most of the game’s most important moments shares those sentiments. If you can’t check all the boxes, starting with keeping everyone healthy and having fans in the buildings, then you shouldn’t do it, he said. If it’s safe enough for the players, then it should be safe enough for the fans, he added, if not then it’s completely self-serving for the players and the league. “If you’re going to do this, then do it for the right reasons,” the executive said. “If it’s not 100 percent perfect, it creates a level of doubt. It creates, to me, a question of why are we doing this?”

The Athletic: Wheeler: Every lottery team’s biggest need at the 2020 NHL Draft

By Scott Wheeler – April 7, 2020

If there were a bracket for hockey clichés, one declaration made by NHL teams leading up to — and after — the draft would have to be a contender for the title. “We’re going to take the best player available,” they say in the days and weeks before draft day. “He was the best player on our board,” they say in the days and weeks after draft day. It’s used so often that it has become synonymous with the entire process. BPA, baby. BPA. But we know that it’s layered in half-truths or excuses. Because, every so often, we get a glimpse into the roundabout ways that teams talk themselves into going certain directions. “If all else is equal, we’ll go with a centre,” they’ll say. “All else was equal, so we took the defenceman,” they’ll say. And while we know that players can’t possibly be created equal (they’re too dynamic, too different), it’s a debate that has at least some merit. It’s not hard to understand why teams prefer centres or defencemen to wingers. Just like it’s not hard to understand how teams have made mistakes in that pursuit. Rightly or wrongly, when NHL teams feel a void needs to be filled, some talk themselves into filling it. So what might the 2020 NHL Draft look like, if every team drafted for need? Here, through an analysis of the prospect pools of each lottery team, I tried to answer that question for the first 15 picks of the draft. For this exercise, I didn’t pretend to know how the NHL season was going to end, whether the lottery system was going to be altered, or how many teams were going to participate in a hypothetical playoffs. Instead, the order here is sorted by points percentage according to the standings at the point of postponement. Note 1: Though my focus was on the needs of the prospect pool and not the NHL roster (due to the uncertainty of where Team X will be in two or three years when Player Y is ready), I did factor in NHL lineups when considering the needs of the teams closer to the top of the draft, given the proximity of some of the projected top picks to the NHL. Note 2: Remember, these are not the picks I would make but rather those I believe to be the most likely in the various scenarios based strictly off of need. My final top 100 ranking for the 2020 draft drops in May. Until then, you can refer to my midseason top 62 for my analysis of the players in question. 1. Position of need: Forward Pick: LW Alexis Lafreniere This is the one spot where this exercise is redundant. Lafreniere's going first overall, so position won't play a factor. And though a first-line centre is every team's preference in this scenario, there's a reasonable argument to be made that the Red Wings pool is deeper at centre (three of their top prospects have all played the position in Joe Veleno, Michael Rasmussen and Robert Mastrosimone) than at wing (where Jonatan Berggren and Ethan Phillips are probably the only prospects with top-nine potential). Alternate scenario: If the Red Wings slip to fourth overall (the most likely outcome), you can probably rule out top-ranked defenceman Jamie Drysdale, if need is a leading factor, given the strength they already boast at the position in their system with , Jared McIsaac and Antti Tuomisto. The Red Wings' need for a first-line forward is greater than that for a top defenceman at this point. Though a centre like would definitely be in the mix at fourth overall, the Red Wings are likely one of the teams near the top of the draft that are most likely to target a winger like Lucas Raymond in that spot, or a hybrid player with experience at both positions like Tim Stützle. Without Lafreniere, their rebuild also probably has a longer timeline and NHL readiness becomes less of a factor (another reason Raymond may be a good fit for Detroit). 2/3. Position of need: Centre, then wing Picks: C Quinton Byfield, then RW Lucas Raymond (or C/LW Tim Stützle) The Senators are in an interesting spot as an organization these days in that their two glaring holes – a first-line centre and a future starting goalie – are the two biggest holes an organization can have. Though they have excellent depth in their prospect pool at centre with Josh Norris, Shane Pinto and Logan Brown, their first target in this draft will be one of the top centres. At second overall, I'd be shocked if they didn't take Byfield. Things would get interesting with No. 3 though, because while the aforementioned depth at centre has an obvious hole at 1C, it may give them enough reason to take a winger at No. 3, given how nicely Norris and Pinto likely fit in as a 2/3C combination. As with the Red Wings before them, given the Senators' strong depth on defence (see: Erik Brannstrom, Lassi Thomson, Jacob Bernard-Docker and Thomas Chabot), I doubt Drysdale would be an option at third overall. Instead, if the Senators are looking to address a need, adding a high-skill line-driving winger like Raymond to help insulate Drake Batherson at the right-wing position may be their play sooner than adding Stützle underneath Brady Tkachuk at left-wing. I could see this going either way but for this exercise and with handedness in mind, I'll go with the Senators taking Raymond in this scenario. Though that could go either direction, the Sens are almost completely devoid of talented right-shot wingers these days. Alternate scenario: If the lottery balls for both picks don't bounce in Ottawa's favour, I think the outcome, position-wise, is likely the same, even if the players aren't. They probably take a centre first, with Rossi or Stützle as the likeliest options, followed by a winger, with Raymond (if he's available) as the likely follow-up. No matter how it goes, the Sens are in a can't lose scenario. 4. Position of need: Defence Pick: RHD Jamie Drysdale The Kings are the team best positioned to go the BPA route because they've built the top prospect pool in the league. But if there's one position they're least likely to feel pressure to fill, it will be at centre. Alex Turcotte, Gabe Vilardi, , Tyler Madden, Rasmus Kupari and Aidan Dudas give them unrivalled prospect pool depth down the middle, as well as options to switch to the wing and join high- end scorers like Arthur Kaliyev and Samuel Fagemo on the wing depth chart. The latter two may also make them reluctant to go after another scoring winger like Holtz. And though they have some options coming on defence in players like Tobias Bjornfot and Jordan Spence, none rise to the level of Drysdale as a potential No. 1 defenceman. If the Kings don't win the lottery and Drysdale is available, I suspect he's their most likely pick as a result. Alternate scenario: If they fall, say, to pick No. 6 or No. 7, and Drysdale is off the board, they probably go the wing route before the centre route, so you're probably looking at Stützle if he's still on the board (his playmaking ability would fit with someone like Fagemo or Kaliyev nicely) or Cole Perfetti. If the Kings slip, I wouldn't be shocked if they were one of the teams that considered targeting star goalie prospect Yaroslav Askarov, either. That would really solidify them at every position. While Askarov's selection is harder to predict given how rarely goalies go in the top 10, he starts to be a wild card for a team like the Kings, especially if they can't land Drysdale. 5. Anaheim Ducks Position of need: -scoring wingers and right-handed defencemen Pick: RW/LW Alexander Holtz My top-five Ducks D prospects all shoot left, so the right-handed Drysdale would be a perfect fit for Anaheim's system. With Drysdale off the board though, they probably look where the teams ahead of them haven't: for a winger with finish to play alongside playmaking centres like and Sam Steel. Perfetti and Stützle are considerations here but Holtz's strength and goal-scoring acumen are probably too good a combination to pass up, given how perfectly they fit. Alternate scenario: Honestly, Holtz may still be available even if they fall. The Ducks should be well- positioned to land one of the top wingers no matter what happens with their range of potential picks. 6. Position of need: Forward Pick: LW Cole Perfetti Given that the Devils already boast one left shot and one right shot high-end D prospect (the lefty Ty Smith and the righty Reilly Walsh, as well as a plethora of lower-end D prospects who project further down the lineup), they'll almost surely take a forward with this pick once Drysdale is off the board. Though the Devils have enviable depth at forward in their prospect pool, the Tyce Thompsons and Joey Andersons of the world aren't game-breakers. Because that will be available with this pick, they'll likely leap at the opportunity. At this point, we're entering into some pretty interesting territory because while Rossi and Stützle are probably the best players available here, it almost feels like they could continue to fall if I'm being honest. Stützle's elite speed and pass-first approach sound a lot like Jack Hughes, and taking Rossi, the centre, could create a crowded depth chart down the middle with Hughes and Nico Hischier. Perfetti's blend of stickhandling skill, shot creation and game-breaking talent as a finisher might make him a more natural fit as their future first-line winger and a goal-scorer for a power play that already boasts pass-always players like Hughes and Nikita Gusev. Alternate scenario: If two or three teams behind the Devils win the lottery and they slide back, they could, like the Ducks before them, still be well-positioned to land Perfetti. 7. Buffalo Sabres Position of need: Playmaking winger or high-end defenceman Pick: C/LW Tim Stützle (or RW Lucas Raymond if the Senators picked Stützle) The Sabres prospect pool could really use a defenceman but if Drysdale is gone, it's probably too high to reach so far for a need that you take the next-best defender on your board. But luckily for the Sabres, the stars have aligned and exactly the kind of player the team is looking for up front should be available. After taking centre Dylan Cozens last year as the future 2C to Jack Eichel, the Sabres look for someone who can play with Eichel's pace and get him the puck. Stützle is the perfect pick and the Sabres get a luck best-case scenario outcome for the second year running. If that second Senators pick were Stützle, I think everything that follows plays out the same way and the Sabres may get lucky with Raymond, who would also fit in nicely with Eichel. Either way, the Sabres probably end up with an excellent outcome at pick No. 7, given the team preferences ahead of them. Alternate scenario: What's fascinating about the way this might play out for the Sabres is that even if they win, say, the third lottery pick, I still think the player they end up with at No. 7 may be the same they pick if they win it. I do believe, accounting for need, that Stützle stands a good chance of being their guy at No. 3, as well. 8. Canadiens Position of need: First-line centre Pick: C Marco Rossi The Canadiens have serious depth on the way on the back end, one of the game's top wing prospects and a plethora of long-shot middle-six forwards with lots of puck skill. But they lack a true No. 1 centre and given the needs of the teams in front of them, they may end up laughing their way off the stage (or the conference call ...) for the second year in a row, with a gem. There are scenarios where Rossi is probably long gone (if the Senators don't get Byfield, for example) but this one may well result in a no- brainer -- and a home run -- for the Habs. I'd be surprised if they considered anyone else here, honestly. I'd watch a power play with Marco Rossi, Nick Suzuki and . Alternate scenario: As with the Sabres, I wonder if the outcome is the same even if the Canadiens win the third lottery pick. They'll take Byfield if they land the No. 2 pick but it's probably Rossi (or Stützle) even if they land No. 3. The real danger is if they fall because it probably means they don't get any of the above. The Canadiens are right on that brink, odds-wise, where the results of the lottery could have a serious impact. The teams ahead of them are going to end up with an A-level prospect in a position of need even if they fall a spot or two. If you're a Habs fan, you should be celebrating if they end up with No. 8, because the outcomes a pick or two lower could look drastically different. Finnish centre Anton Lundell is probably their next target if Rossi is off the board and they're picking ninth or tenth. 9. Chicago Blackhawks Position of need: Forward and goalie Pick: C Anton Lundell The Blackhawks pool skews heavily towards defencemen, so their pick will likely be one of the easier choices to predict across a variety of potential draft spots. In Adam Boqvist, Ian Mitchell, Nicolas Beaudin, Alec Regula and Ryan Shea they'll have a healthy competition among young defencemen for NHL spots. A couple of those kids are destined to rise to the top of that crop. But outside of Evan Barrett and Philipp Kurashev, things really thin out at forward, especially given the volatility in the scouting community's opinion of Mackenzie Entwistle and Michal Teply. Lundell makes a lot of sense here. He's a top-five pick in most drafts but he seems to have become a bit of an afterthought relative to the eight players taken ahead of him here. He could provide major value as a high-end 2C, adding more size and skill to go along with Dylan Strome and Kirby Dach as the Blackhawks' potential top nine centres for the post-Toews era. Alternate scenario: The Blackhawks don't have a single goalie in their prospect pool that I like, so they are among the teams that could take the Askarov plunge. That becomes more likely if a couple of teams behind them win the lottery and they end up selecting 10th or 11th. 10. New Jersey Devils Position of need: Forward Pick: RW Jack Quinn This is where things are going to go completely off the rails, draft boards are going to look dramatically different and need is likely to go from a factor to the factor in a decision. Given the obvious ties/trust between the Devils and the Ottawa 67's, as well as New Jersey's continued need for scorers even after taking Perfetti at No. 6, Quinn, one of the best goal scorers in the draft and one of the lone 50-goal scorers of the CHL's 2019-2020 season, seems like an obvious choice. Half of the 67's are already Devils property, what's one more? He'll likely still be available if the Devils slip a spot or two here as well. Alternate scenario: The other potential outcome here might be the most interesting because this pick was acquired from the Coyotes and it's lottery protected. The Coyotes would likely be wise to take Lafreniere or Byfield at No. 1 and No. 2, but I'd bank on them taking a centre (ie. Rossi or Stützle) if they land the third pick. They've got depth at wing, a top D prospect in Victor Soderstrom, but very little on the way down the middle outside of John Farinacci, who is years away and tops out as a middle-six option. 11. Position of need: Defence Pick: LHD Jake Sanderson The top six Wild prospects in my midseason pool rankings were all forwards, so this shouldn't surprise you. Though the Wild have learned the drafting-for-need lesson the hard way with Filip Johansson, there will be a reasonable argument for a defenceman as the BPA in this slot and there's an obvious void in the pool at the position. Though I think the second defenceman off the board could be several different defencemen, Sanderson is the frontrunner for most scouts and the Wild went to the ole' NTDP well successfully with both and Marshall Warren last year. Sanderson's not going to be the No. 1 D they'll desperately need in a few years but there isn't one available here and he's got a chance to be an excellent second pairing option. Plus he's got a July birthday so we may see a steeper incline in his progression moving forward than in most other kids. An Askarov pick wouldn't shock me here either, even though the Wild clearly have some belief in Hunter Jones and Filip Lindberg has shown some promise at UMass. Alternate scenario: The Wild are probably one of the teams most likely to take Drysdale if they win the third overall pick. I wouldn't complain about that decision either, given what they have coming up front in Boldy, Kirill Kaprizov and Alexander Khovanov. 12. Position of need: Right-handed defenceman or centre Pick: RHD Braden Schneider The Jets aren't likely to take a left-handed D due to the depth , Dylan Samberg and Declan Chisholm may provide at the position. They also have one of the best goalies on the planet locked up for four more years, with one of the best young goalies in the AHL as insulation. But they're running low on right-handed D prospects (Leon Gawanke and Jonathan Kovacevic are fine but they aren't going to move the needle long term) and forward prospects, where, outside of Kristian Vesalainen and Jansen Harkins, their pool leaves a lot to be desired. Given the depth the Jets already have up front, though, I suspect they're more likely to go after a right-shot D here than a forward. There are only three defencemen who have enough of a track record and notoriety to fit the bill: long, late-birthday CHL defencemen Braden Schneider and Justin Barron, as well as SuperElit standout Helge Grans. The latter two have become a little volatile in the scouting world, while Schneider provides a safer projection as a worthwhile pick at 12th overall. If they go the centre route (the Jets' organizational depth at wing is at a lot stronger than it is down the middle) then WHL star Connor Zary, and QMJHL standouts , Mavrik Bourque and Hendrix Lapierre will likely get serious consideration. Alternate scenario: If they end up with No. 1 or No. 2, it'll go how we expect it to. At No. 3, Rossi or Drysdale would fill the holes best. Rossi also gives a team like the Jets, who still have a chance to contend in the west for the next few years, another top-nine option as early as next season. That matters to them and could give Rossi the edge of Drysdale, especially given the cap relief Rossi would provide to a Jets team that desperately needs cheap depth now. 13. Position of need: Forward Pick: LW Dylan Holloway The Rangers are the last team that's going to say, "You know what we need more of? Good young defencemen and goalies?" As such, you can all but pencil them in for a forward here. I don't think the position of the forward will be of particular concern to them. They've got Vitali Kravtsov coming on the wing and as a potential third-line centre but they're not a position to be picky up front. Holloway's speed and physical traits would give their pool a different element, one that players like Kravtsov, Lauri Pajuniemi, Karl Henriksson and Leevi Aaltonen tend to lack. They would've got a good look at him while scouting and evaluating K'Andre Miller at the University of Wisconsin this year, as well. Alternate scenario: As mentioned above, once this draft leaves single digits, there's going to be a lot of volatility. Other forward names to do some research on if you're a Rangers fan: Dawson Mercer, Hendrix Lapierre, Connor Zary, Seth Jarvis and maybe even Jan Mysak. 14. Position of need: Centre or right-handed defenceman Pick: C Connor Zary The Panthers have arguably the top drafted goalie prospect in the world and a plethora of future options at LHD, RW and LW, but their cupboards are virtually empty at C and RHD. I suspect they're one of the teams most likely to draft for need as a result. And while the aforementioned Grans and Barron could be options here if they go the D route, I suspect they're more likely to go with a centre given the strength of the available players down the middle. Alternate scenario: Zary's tenacious blend of speed and skill made the most sense for me relative to the direction the Panthers have gone with other recent picks. He turned many scouts into believers this year. But if it's not him, I'd bank on it being one of Mercer, Lapierre, Jarvis or Bourque. I think the Panthers will be in a good position to take a talented centre no matter where the lottery balls land for them. 15. Columbus Blue Jackets Position of need: Everything Pick: C/RW Dawson Mercer (?) They've got arguably the worst prospect pool in hockey. There's no one need that I can to point to and say "the Blue Jackets are likely to go in this direction." Even though I like Veini Vehvilainen and Daniil Tarasov as potential NHL goalies, neither are going to be a starter, so maybe they consider Askarov? I like Kirill Marchenko and Liam Foudy, as well as the Blue Jackets' young core of NHL forwards, but the depth isn't so strong that it's reason enough to say "we don't need to go after a forward." And then there's almost nothing coming on the back end. So I went with some combination of prospect-who-is- universally liked and would represent a value pick relative to my board. Alternate scenario: Let's face it, they're probably not moving up. Final thoughts Though there are a few teams I highlighted as likely to give Askarov legitimate consideration, he wasn't actually picked here. That either speaks to the uncertainty that comes with picking a goalie in this range or my cowardice. Probably the latter, honestly. He's going to be the big disrupter in the first round and I'd put better than 50/50 odds on him going in the top 15, so that could really shake things up. There are going to be some darn good forwards available to playoff teams. After the big eight forwards go, there's that next tier with Zary, Bourque, Mercer, Lapierre, Quinn, Holloway, Jarvis and Mysak. More than half of that list is basically guaranteed to be available in the second half of the first round – and that's without any mention in this piece of wild cards like Noel Gunler, Rodion Amirov and Zion Nybeck, who I adore but I suspect will end up slipping further than they should. The needs of the teams that will be looking for defencemen tend to skew towards righties (shocking, I know), so there could be real value found in some favourites of mine that didn't get a nod here, including the diminutive Emil Andrae, Jeremie Poirier and Lukas Cormier. Lefty Kaiden Guhle, who I have had in the 25-40 range of late, is another defender I continue to hear a lot of good things about from other scouts. It wouldn't shock me if he's taken ahead of Sanderson or Schneider at this point.

Sportsnet.ca: 'He's a warrior': Oilers' Colby Cave fighting for life due to brain bleed

By Mark Spector – April 7, 2020

EDMONTON — Colby Cave is fighting for his life at a Toronto hospital, a 25-year-old player who has always been the picture of health suddenly in a medically induced coma. “What do you say? What are the words for this? It’s unbelievable,” said Cave’s Saskatchewan-based agent, Jason Davidson, reached shortly after the announced the forward’s condition Tuesday. “There is bleeding on the brain. He is in a medically induced coma, and he was headed for the critical care unit,” said Davidson. “The most confusing part for everyone is that you’re talking about a young, healthy athlete. This isn’t supposed to happen to people to like Colby.” The Oilers said later Tuesday that Cave is out of emergency surgery at Sunnybrook Hospital after doctors removed a colloid cyst that was causing pressure on his brain. After complaining of some headaches, Cave was transported to a hospital in Barrie, Ont., Monday evening, Oilers general manager Ken Holland said. Cave and his wife, Emily, were residing in Barrie closer to her family, riding out the coronavirus and the ensuing NHL stoppage. From Barrie, Cave was airlifted to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, where he was admitted into intensive care. “He has great medical care,” Holland said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Emily, Colby and the Cave family. We’re just here, hoping and waiting for good news.” Cave, who grew up on a cattle ranch in Battleford, Sask., is a player who defines the term “Triple A- plus.” He requires no more seasoning at the level, having spent parts of five seasons with Boston’s and Edmonton’s farm teams. Yet, he has struggled to stay among the top-12 forwards on the Oilers. In the truncated 2019-20 season, he was assigned to AHL Bakersfield four times by the Oilers, and recalled to the NHL roster as many times. “Scored a huge goal for us in Pittsburgh to help us get a big win there early in the season, when we were scratching and clawing,” noted Holland. “Colby is a great kid. He’s a battler, a competitor and he’s respectful of people of the game. When we had to tell him to go down to the American League, he was disappointed but he was never down. He took it like a pro, went down there, played hard and we called him back up a few times. “He’s a true battler.” That trait, those close to Cave say, will hold him in good stead through this, clearly the biggest fight of his life. “He’s a warrior, a solider,” Davidson said. “If anyone will come out of this healthy, it will be Colby.”

TSN.CA: Gary Bettman: No Olympics gives NHL ‘broader window’ to play in summer

By Frank Seravalli – April 7, 2020

There is plenty of runway left for the NHL to resume the 2019-season. That is the message NHL commissioner Gary Bettman delivered in an interview with NBC Sports Network’s Mike Tirico on Tuesday, saying that the league is still weeks away from making a decision on whether to drop the puck again. “I think right now, there’s too much uncertainty,” Bettman told NBCSN. “Hopefully we’ll all know more by the end of April. “We’re all going to have to wait until we have a lot more information, maybe in the next few weeks, before we can make any decisions.” There also does not appear to be a limit on how deep the NHL is willing to play into the summer to award the Stanley Cup in 2020. The NHL could lose approximately $1.1 billion in revenue, responsibility for half of which falls to the players, if the remainder of the season is not played. Bettman confirmed the fact that the Tokyo Olympics, which were scheduled to take place from July 24 to Aug. 6, have been postponed to 2021 provides the NHL with a deeper window to play games. Previously, the NHL’s two concerns with playing into July and August were network commitments and arena availability. NBC is the sole U.S. television rightsholder for the NHL and the Olympics is also their marquee sports property; there is now a hole to fill in that schedule. “I do believe we can play into the summer, well into the summer,” Bettman said. “And on the NBC platform, the fact the Olympics have been postponed gives us a broader window to focus on when and how we can play.” In that case, Bettman said sweltering summertime temperatures and the league’s ability to produce playable ice surfaces are “the least of the issues we’re focused on.” As far as potential scenarios where the NHL has reportedly discussed a potential Stanley Cup tournament conducted at centralized sites, Bettman reiterated that “nothing has been ruled in and nothing has been ruled out.” “It doesn’t even pay to speculate because nobody in any of the sports knows enough now to make those profound decisions,” Bettman said. Sources say the NHL has not contacted arena staff or investigated the potential of hosting games at University of North Dakota’s sparkling Ralph Engelstad Arena, as has been reported. “From an NHL standpoint, and I’m sure this is what the other leagues are doing, we’re viewing all of our options,” Bettman said. “We want to be ready to go as soon as we get the green light.” The problem the NHL is facing, as Bettman acknowledged, is the “green light may not be crystal clear because there may still be some places in the country that you can’t play and other places where you can.” It’s an even more multi-layered approach when you factor in hockey’s unique border-crossing situation, plus the fact that many players have already returned home to Europe, where different travel restrictions may be in place. Bettman joined U.S. President Donald Trump on a conference call Saturday with other sports leagues and representatives. He said the call was a “very cordial, constructive conversation,” but the “uncertainty of the times weren’t clarified in that call.” “Our first focus is keeping everybody healthy and safe,” Bettman said. “We want to get back to playing for our fans, and for the love of the game, as soon as it makes sense and is safe to do so.”

The Associated Press: Bettman raises chance of NHL not completing regular season

By John Wawrow and Stephen Whyno – April 7, 2020

For the first time since halting play four weeks ago, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman raised the possibility Tuesday of not completing the regular season in order to squeeze in time to award the Stanley Cup. Bettman also acknowledged during an interview with NBCSN the league is considering having games played at neutral sites in the event not all teams will be allowed into their home rinks. Bettman, however, stressed these are among myriad options being considered with nothing determined because it will take at least two more weeks to gain a clearer picture on how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the league’s 31 markets. “We’re looking at all options. Nothing’s been ruled in. Nothing’s been ruled out,” Bettman said during the interview broadcast on the league’s U.S. broadcast partner. “The best thing and the easiest thing would be if at some point we could complete the regular season and then go into the playoffs as we normally do,” he said. “We understand that may not be possible. And that’s why we’re considering every conceivable alternative to deal with whatever the eventuality is.” Bettman had not previously raised the possibility of shortening the regular season, which was halted on March 12 with 189 games remaining. ADVERTISING The 16-team playoffs were scheduled to open Wednesday, though they likely won’t begin until late June – at the earliest – and could stretch into August and potentially September. NHL players have been asked to self-quarantine through April 15, a date that has been pushed back twice already and is expected to be moved once again. The number of NHL players testing positive for COVID-19 rose to eight Tuesday as the league announced a third Colorado Avalanche player tested positive, joining five members of the Ottawa Senators. The season was put on hold with teams having played an uneven amount of games and with tightly contested races taking place in each of the two conferences. The NHL has not placed a firm deadline on the latest when the playoffs could start. Deputy Commissioner , however, acknowledged in an email to The Associated Press the league will eventually have to establish “some last possible day” so not to cut into the start of the following season. “It’s nothing that we are even close to setting at this point in time,” he wrote. Florida Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky said it would be unfair for the NHL to dump what remains of the regular season. “There’s a lot of games (left) and we’re right in the mix, and we have the opportunity to be in there,” Bobrovsky said. “The season is 82 games and then the playoffs. So you can’t just cut of where we are and jump right into the playoffs.” The possibility of playing at neutral sites is being considered because the pandemic is affecting regions at different times. North Dakota, among a handful of states without stay-at-home orders, was mentioned as a potential site because the state isn’t densely populated and the University of North Dakota features an NHL-caliber facility. Buffalo has also been discussed because the Sabres, who are out of contention, have a two-rink practice facility connected to their downtown arena and a 200-plus room hotel. Boston defenseman Torey Krug urged the NHL to take a patient approach. “Look, we all want to get back to playing,” Krug said. “If we do have the opportunity to get back to playing, let’s be safe about it and be smart,” he added. “No one wants to jump back into a situation where we put a bunch of people in one area, and all of a sudden this thing takes off again.” Bettman sees the potential of games being played into the summer and doesn’t expect the ability to maintain NHL-caliber ice sheets to be an issue because of the league’s modern and air-conditioned facilities.