SPORT-SCAN DAILY BRIEF NHL 07/31/19 1150316 The great Golden State debate — Which NHL team will 1150342 fire general manger Paul Fenton after only dominate California in 2022-23? one season 1150343 Canadiens prospect Cole Caufield scores a beauty for Team USA 1150317 CEO Ahron Cohen: Coyotes’ ownership change could 1150344 Dumont: An in-depth look at what makes Brendan mean long-term success Gallagher an elite scorer 1150318 How the Cam Neely trade continues to pay off for Bruins, 1150345 Minnesota Wild fire general manager Paul Fenton 33 years later 1150346 The Goose has landed: Sorting through all of the Devils’ 1150319 Bell: Council at 23% approval set to vote on arena lineup options after adding Nikita Gusev 1150320 Possible trade destinations for Michael Frolik 1150347 From top lines to special teams to Bridgeport, projecting 1150321 Hurricanes name Patrick Dwyer assistant coach for the the 2019-20 Islanders depth chart 1150322 Civian: The best Brind’Amisms of a wild Hurricanes season 1150348 More than halfway through their latest buyout window, the Rangers remain silent 1150323 Blackhawks forward Chris Kunitz retires and joins coaching staff 1150349 Big money trade: Sens deal goalie Mike Condon for 1150324 Chris Kunitz retires, joins Blackhawks’ coaching staff injured forward 1150325 Blackhawks forward Chris Kunitz retires, will remain with 1150350 Mike Condon trade clears up Senators’ crowded crease team as player development advisor and saves $2 million in salary 1150326 Avalanche signs forward to one-year 1150351 Joel Farabee showing highlight-reel stuff in 2019 World contract Junior Summer Showcase, but what must he show 1150327 Avalanche signs Vladislav Kamenev to one-year contract Flyers? 1150328 Vladislav Kamenev signs with Avalanche 1150352 Why Michal Neuvirth believes he can revive his career with the Maple Leafs 1150329 A peek at the Stars’ organizational depth chart and what to expect this season 1150353 Penguins Prediction Rewind: Carl Hagelin’s exit came earlier than expected 1150354 Former Penguins winger Chris Kunitz, ‘the ultimate 1150330 Wings prospect Joe Veleno leads Canada over U.S. at teammate,’ announces retirement junior tourney 1150355 Former Penguin Chris Kunitz retires after 15 NHL seasons 1150356 Chris Kunitz almost didn’t come to Pittsburgh: ‘Thank goodness he did’ 1150331 Q&A: Dave Tippett on rounding out his coaching staff, fixing Oilers’ special teams and using Connor McDavid 1150332 Lowetide: Handicapping the Oilers’ young defencemen 1150357 Shark Week: Where San Jose's 2005-06 team ranks in and their chances of replacing Andrej Sekera franchise history 1150358 The great Golden State debate — Which NHL team will dominate California in 2022-23? 1150333 Florida Panthers hire replacement for retiring TV analyst Potvin 1150359 Lightning trades Ryan Callahan to free up cap space Minnesota Wild 1150360 Five of Andrei Vasilevskiy’s best saves 1150334 Who might be the next Wild general manager? 1150361 The implications of the Lightning’s cap-saving Ryan 1150335 Craig Leipold shares blame in this Wild debacle Callahan trade and possible destinations for Louis 1150336 Minnesota Wild fire GM Paul Fenton after 1 season Domingu 1150337 Wild General Manager Paul Fenton fired by owner Craig Leipold 1150338 Wild owner Craig Leipold ‘missed’ on fired GM Paul 1150362 Dan MacKenzie named CHL’s first full-time president Fenton 1150363 Why Michal Neuvirth believes he can revive his career 1150339 Why Paul Fenton was fired and where the Wild could turn with the Maple Leafs for their next GM 1150340 Paul Fenton was the wrong hire and Wild owner Craig Leipold deserves the blame 1150341 aul Fenton relieved of duties as Wild general manager after one rocky season 1150370 Patrick Johnston: Trevor Linden left the Canucks a year ago. Not much has changed 1150371 Brock Boeser’s father battling cancer again 1150364 Golden Knights to take part in 6-team rookie tournament 1150365 Projecting the Golden Knights’ 2019-20 depth chart 2.0 1150366 Alex Ovechkin gets his own cereal, Ovi O's 1150367 20 Burning Capitals Questions: Will Michal Kempny be ready to return to a top-pair role after his injury? 1150368 'Ovi O's': Cereal to be named after Capitals' Alex Ovechkin Websites 1150372 The Athletic / ‘My quads are about to combust’: Inside a workout with NHL trainer Matt Nichol 1150373 The Athletic / Does Brent Seabrook have the ‘worst contract in hockey?’ Maybe. But he’s out to prove he’s not 1150374 .ca / 5 moves that will define Paul Fenton's tenure as GM of Wild 1150375 Sportsnet.ca / Luke Hughes following brothers Jack and Quinn on path to NHL 1150376 TSN.CA / Dach, Veleno and Lafreniere dazzle in top line tour de force for Canada 1150377 TSN.CA / How much can the Oilers play McDavid? 1150369 Introducing Team Manitoba: We’re old, we’re cold and gosh darn it, we’re a good deal

SPORT-SCAN, INC. 941-284-4129 1150316 Anaheim Ducks Carl Grundstrom Jaret Anderson-Dolan Michael Amadio

Defensemen

The great Golden State debate — Which NHL team will dominate LEFT DEFENSE RIGHT DEFENSE California in 2022-23? Tobias Bjornfot Drew Doughty

Kale Clague Sean Walker By Kevin Kurz, Lisa Dillman, Eric Stephens and Josh Cooper Mikey Anderson Sean Durzi Jul 30, 2019 Goalies

STARTING BACKUP GOALTENDER California used to be a gauntlet for teams coming to the Golden State on road trips in search of wins. Cal Petersen Jack Campbell

From 2010-11 through 2016-17 the San Jose Sharks (1) and Anaheim Sharks Ducks (5) won six of the seven Pacific Division titles. Over that stretch Forwards the won two Stanley Cups. The Sharks made the Stanley Cup final in 2016 and the Ducks made it to Game 7 of the LEFT WING CENTER RIGHT WING Western Conference final in 2015. Evander Kane Tomas Hertl Kevin Labanc “Absolutely it was tough,” an NHL coach said, “because you had three Timo Meier Logan Couture Sasha Chmelevski elite teams and usually three games in four nights, which made it hard in itself – but L.A.-Anaheim on back-to-back, both being heavy grinding Ivan Chekhovich Dylan Gambrell Joachim Blichfeld teams you had to beat … then you had San Jose, a deep, high-pressure skilled team that was very strong. Plus the Shark Tank was always a Lean Bergmann Noah Gregor Alex True tough trip. Three to four points (out of six) was considered a goal.” Defensemen Now, going through California isn’t exactly rough n’ tumble. Though the LEFT DEFENSE RIGHT DEFENSE Sharks made the Western Conference final this past season, the Kings finished 30th overall and Anaheim was 24th. Mario Ferraro Erik Karlsson

The latter two teams are rebuilding and don’t appear to be close to re- Radim Simek Brent Burns entering their windows of opportunity any time soon. The Sharks lost Joe Pavelski this summer, but hope a healthy Erik Karlsson and some big- Marc-Edouard Vlasic Ryan Merkley time steps by their younger players last season can keep them Goalies competitive for a while. STARTING GOALTENDER BACKUP GOALTENDER Recently, The Athletic’s Cali beat reporters – Lisa Dillman (Kings), Kevin Kurz (Sharks) and Eric Stephens (Ducks) – tried to guess what the Martin Jones Josef Korenar teams they cover will look like in three years. We decided to take it a step further and discuss which team might rule the state in three seasons, and Now for the debate! roped in The Athletic Los Angeles editor Josh Cooper to chime in. Kurz: One of the age-old debates in sports goes something like this — as First, a refresher on our projected 2022-23 rosters … a hardcore fan, would you rather root for a team that’s consistently competitive but has never won a championship, or is it better to endure a Ducks few seasons of misery that eventually lead to winning it all?

Forwards The Sharks, of course, are the only NHL team from California that has yet to win a Stanley Cup. Despite making the playoffs in 14 of the past 15 LEFT WING CENTER RIGHT WING seasons, they’ve had to watch Anaheim raise the Cup in 2007, the Kings Rickard Rakell Trevor Zegras Ondrej Kase in 2012, and the Kings again 2014 after they erased a 3-0 series deficit in the first round to eliminate the Sharks in stunning fashion in what is Max Comtois Sam Steel Troy Terry probably the lowest moment in franchise history.

Max Jones Getzlaf/Henrique Jakob Silfverberg But as the Ducks and Kings have regressed lately, the Sharks haven’t, advancing to their second Western Conference final in the past four FA/Ritchie/Shore Isac Lundestrom FA/Sherwood/Sprong seasons in 2019 while Anaheim and Los Angeles both missed the Defensemen playoffs by a wide margin. A similar situation could be in the cards for 2019-20, as the Sharks are still in prime shape to challenge for a Pacific LEFT DEFENSE RIGHT DEFENSE Division title while the Ducks and Kings don’t look like playoff teams at all. Hampus Lindholm Josh Manson But what about three years from now? Will the Sharks still be dangerous Brendan Guhle Cam Fowler when the 2022-23 season rolls around? How will they measure up to Jacob Larsson FA/Hunter Drew their rebuilding neighbors to the south?

Goalies In a recent exercise undertaken by many of our NHL writers here at The Athletic, we all did our best to predict what our teams’ respective rosters STARTING GOALTENDER BACKUP GOALTENDER might look like in the future. From my perspective covering the Sharks, I John Gibson Dostal/Eriksson Ek probably had it a little easier than some of my colleagues — particularly Eric and Lisa, as the Ducks’ and Kings’ rosters are much more uncertain Kings than the Sharks’ seems to be.

Forwards It took a little work for me to fill in the bottom two forward lines, but other than that, I only had to slot in two depth defensemen and a backup LEFT WING CENTER RIGHT WING goaltender to come up with a complete opening night lineup.

Adrian Kempe Anze Kopitar Rasmus Kupari So what does that tell us? Obviously, it means that many Sharks players Alex Iafallo Alex Turcotte Austin Wagner that are key to the team’s success in the present (and locked up on long- term contracts) will still have to be major contributors in 2022-23. Akil Thomas Samuel Fagemo Erik Karlsson is one of those, of course, as he’ll be in the fourth year of That hasn’t stopped us at The Athletic Los Angeles and The Athletic Bay his eight-year extension. After he endured some fairly significant injuries Area from embracing the heat. We’ve been asked to rank the California over the course of his career, and struggled with a groin injury in the teams, where the franchises will be in three seasons based on roster second half of his first season with the Sharks, his ability to remain an projections. elite player for the foreseeable future is a risk the Sharks decided was worth taking. Karlsson will be 32 when the 2022-23 season begins, and Here are mine: as long as he takes care of himself, he should still be at or near the top of Ducks his game in another three years. After all, 35-year-old Mark Giordano just won the Norris Trophy, right? Kings

Speaking of the defense, the Sharks’ top prospect at the moment is a Sharks player they hope becomes the next Karlsson or Brent Burns — Ryan The Sharks are the new Red Wings in this scenario. Merkley, the 21st overall pick in the 2018 draft. Merkley is an offensively gifted right-shot defenseman who still needs to work on his play in the They are going down the path Detroit once did. The Red Wings made the defensive zone, but he should be an NHL player by the time the 2022-23 playoffs 25 consecutive seasons, a model of consistency against all season begins as long as he continues along his current trajectory. He odds. They kept hanging on, but eventually time catches up with even gives the Sharks some insurance if either Karlsson or Burns — who will the best-run organizations, and the Red Wings are in the midst of a full- be 37 in three years — aren’t elite-level players anymore. on rebuild.

Up front, Tomas Hertl should be in the prime of his career. Logan San Jose has missed the playoffs once in the salary cap era (2014-15) Couture will be 33, but he should still be an effective second-line center. and has failed to reach the postseason just twice since 1996-97, a tribute On the wings, Timo Meier and Kevin Labanc will have to continue to build to Sharks management, coaches and players. on what they did during their breakthrough 2018-19 seasons. Along with Evander Kane — who might have to survive the expansion draft — that’s In the last 12 years, the Sharks have had two top-10 draft picks – Logan still a pretty good core. Couture (No. 9) in 2007 and Timo Meier (No. 9) in 2015. The lack of high draft picks in the pipeline, an aging core and a bold strategy of making Perhaps the most intriguing guy in terms of the future up front is Dylan moves for the present puts the Sharks behind the Kings and Ducks in our Gambrell, whom I have penciled in as the third-line center. Gambrell was projections for 2022-23. a second-round pick of the Sharks in 2016, but he’ll have to show the organization he belongs in the NHL this season. One pro scout I recently Then, it’s a matter of Kings or Ducks at the top of the California heap. chatted with considers Gambrell a smart, two-way player that should Twelve months ago, the Ducks were far ahead of the Kings in terms of eventually become an NHL regular, but others are on the fence about the prospects. But the Kings have rehabilitated quite nicely in the last little Bonney Lake, Wash., native who will turn 23 next month. while, a byproduct of finishing 30th this past season and a good draft in My guess? The Sharks don’t have a first-round pick in the 2020 draft, but June. I predict they’ll target a center with their first selection in 2021 or 2022 if They might struggle again this season but the silver lining could be they still have it. Their previous first-round pick at center, Josh Norris another high draft pick, which could help fast-track their rebuild. What (19th overall in 2017) was traded to Ottawa as part of the Karlsson deal gives the Ducks the edge here comes down to one player – goaltender last September. He could very well end up being the best asset the John Gibson. Assuming Gibson stays healthy, he arguably could be the Sharks sent to the Senators in that blockbuster deal, and he leaves a best goalie in the NHL in three years. hole in the organization that likely will have to be filled via the draft. Keeping the Ducks in the playoff hunt in the first half of the past season – Just as they’ve done throughout general manager Doug Wilson’s tenure before it all came crumbling down – was a tribute to Gibson’s single- with guys like Joe Pavelski, Justin Braun and Labanc, the Sharks will minded focus and excellence. have to hope that some of their late-round draft picks in recent years pan out. They may have struck gold in 2017 — Doug Wilson Jr.’s first season Cal Petersen is the Kings’ projected goalie of the future but he is still an in charge of the draft — when they took Sasha Chmelevski and Ivan unknown commodity. Gibson has enough of a track record to suggest he Chekhovich in the sixth and seventh rounds, respectively. They represent will be an elite goaltender at the NHL level for the foreseeable future. two forwards that have taken huge steps forward, and each might play That should be the tipping for Anaheim over Los Angeles. NHL games this season. Chmelevski is probably the closest, and has a real chance to make the opening night roster this fall. Cooper: Based on our roster projections I’ll go with the following:

Of course, a strong season or two in the Canadian junior leagues doesn’t Kings assure NHL success. While the Sharks have a handful of draftees that Sharks have put up big numbers, those youngsters have to show it at the professional level over the next few years — especially with the Ducks Ducks and Kings stockpiling some high-end prospects in the meantime. If that doesn’t happen, the Sharks could end up being an aging team in 2022- I think all three teams will be in solid shape in three years, but to me, the 23 without enough talent in the system to pick up the slack for some of Kings have stockpiled enough high-end prospects – and will have their declining stars. enough big-sized contracts off their books – to be competitive in three years. So which California team will be the best in 2022-23? Here are my rankings: They’ll have their goaltender of the future in Cal Petersen. Alex Turcotte, Rasmus Kupari, Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Akil Thomas should be full- Sharks time NHLers at that point, with Turcotte and Kupari having top-three forward potential. Tobias Bjornfot and Kale Clague – both likely top-four Kings defensemen – probably will be on the blue line. Bjornfot appears to have Ducks top-two ability.

The biggest reason is that I still like the Sharks’ core group three years Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty will probably still be effective by then, from now, but I also believe Wilson Jr. has already shown in his short supplementing the new core. The X-Factor is Gabe Vilardi and whether tenure as scouting director that he’s one of the game’s bright young his ailing back will be under control. If he gets healthy, Vilardi and minds. Along with Wilson the general manager and some of the deft Turcotte can give the Kings a solid 1-2 punch at center for a decade. moves he’s made in the past 16 months, there’s no reason to believe the Then again, we haven’t seen any reason to believe he’ll return any time Sharks are going to be sinking anytime soon. soon.

Dillman: As many of us have discovered, projection often can be a The Sharks will be old, but somehow they’ve always been able to stay controversial undertaking at The Athletic. competitive despite being on the high end of the aging curve for a long time. I still think Logan Couture will be a top-three forward by then and It was billed as a fun, even fanciful, look into the future, trying to project Timo Meier is a stud on the wing. Tomas Hertl will also be under 30 and what the Kings’ roster might look like in 2022-23 season. What we can finally appears to be realizing his potential. I’m not so sure how Marc- say is that the GM seat felt rather warm for a day. Edouard Vlasic (currently age 32) and Brent Burns (currently age 34) will age but I think Karlsson will remain elite in three years and will anchor While there are some positive signs that might put Anaheim back on a that defense. path to the playoffs, it needs a star skater or two among the young forwards to emerge as franchise focal points. San Jose already has Also, never underestimate Doug Wilson and his scouting staff’s ability to those. The stars will be three years older, and while that means the studs find top-end talent later in the first round or in the draft as a whole. Kevin on defense – Karlsson, Burns, Vlasic – might have a lot more miles on Labanc (a sixth-round pick in 2014) is just 23 and coming off a season in them, they should be stout enough up front to power the franchise before which he had 56 points and 17 goals. the championship window closes and it’s time to reload for another As for the Ducks, I think they’ll be a playoff team but – as things stand contention arc. If their top youngsters capably fill key support roles, they’ll right now – it doesn’t seem like they have the elite-level game changers be fine. The Ducks will close the gap but won’t overtake the Sharks until or veteran supplements the other two franchises have. Could I be wrong? after 2022-23. The Kings will be better but trail them both. Maybe. Trevor Zegras could turn into a high-end playmaker. And the Ducks have one other thing that the Kings don’t. His name is Max Jones, Max Comtois, Troy Terry and Sam Steel could all become John Gibson – the best goalie among the three teams. At 29, he’ll still be top-six, or top-three, scorers and Isac Lundestrom could turn into a one of the best in the entire NHL. heady two-way talent.

Ugh, this is hard. Now I’m re-thinking this; should I put the Ducks ahead The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 of the Sharks or Kings? Nah. I’ll just go with my original rankings. Either way I think the teams in this state should all be competitive in three years and beyond.

Stephens: Since my esteemed colleagues have each picked a different team to be the best among the three in the Golden State, it looks like I’m the one that has to break the tie here. Right?

It is really interesting how the teams have fared over the past 15 years or so. The Kings have had tremendous highs and lows, either missing the playoffs altogether often – nine times since 2002 – or wrapping the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cups around another conference final appearance.

The Sharks have been the model of consistency with just two missed postseasons since 1997 and four conference finals within the last decade, but there’s been no hoisting of the Cup. The Ducks have fit in between. They were the first of the California teams to win it all but then they’ve had just two more conference finals appearances — despite five straight division titles — until last season’s big stumble and fall.

Clearly, San Jose is the best team right now. The Sharks are built for the present, and longtime general manager Doug Wilson continues to show his aggressive side by not only trading for players like Erik Karlsson and Evander Kane but then following through — as he did with Brent Burns — by re-signing them to max-type contracts.

It will be weird not seeing Joe Pavelski in teal. But with players like Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier moving into their prime years, Logan Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic being bedrocks and developing talents like Kevin Labanc stepping into bigger roles, San Jose deserves to have high expectations.

The Ducks and Kings are obviously at different stages. Both tried to keep their windows of contention open as long as they could before the bottom fell out. Now they’re each in more of a rebuild mode. But we recently looked at what these three teams might look like in three years. We know which one is better now. Which one is going to be the better one in 2022- 23?

Here you go. In order:

Sharks

Ducks

Kings

The last couple of years have seen the Kings start to put some young talent with higher-end potential back into the pipeline. Alex Turcotte and Rasmus Kupari should lead the next wave. They’ll have to do better and be more judicious with free-agent signings, but they should have a new base to take more of the load off aging pillars Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty. It’s just going to take time.

Meanwhile, the Ducks are ahead of them in the reloading game. Their youngsters are breaking into the lineup this year and next, which will make them players they can lean on by Year 3. Sam Steel, Troy Terry, Max Comtois and Max Jones are going to play in this league and be productive.

Dazzling playmaker Trevor Zegras has star potential and could be ready to join them. Brendan Guhle and Jacob Larsson will also have a lot more experience and should be chewing minutes on the blue line. The question with that lot is how good can that next core be?

Is it good enough to move them back among the powers in the West? 1150317 Arizona Coyotes

CEO Ahron Cohen: Coyotes’ ownership change could mean long-term success

BY MATT LAYMAN

JULY 30, 2019 AT 4:16 PM

UPDATED: JULY 30, 2019 AT 11:00 PM

The Arizona Coyotes officially have a new majority owner after businessman finalized his purchase of the team on Monday.

Of course, only time can truly tell what this will mean for Arizona’s NHL franchise. But perhaps this is a key turning point, and the organization seems to believe that’s the case. Just ask president and CEO Ahron Cohen, who joined 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s Doug & Wolf on Tuesday.

“I think everybody should really feel very proud of this and very excited about what this means for the Coyotes’ future,” he said.

Long before taking over for as the Coyotes’ majority owner, Meruelo grew up in Los Angeles. His parents, Cuban immigrants, were business-owners who raised a business-owner: At a young age, Meruelo got into the pizza business, and many years later finds himself a billionaire.

“It’s just such an amazing story,” Cohen said. “You see this person through hard work and his entrepreneurial spirit become a billionaire. … What just really stood out was his passion for growing businesses and making things better. He’s not a guy that buys asset and says, ‘Okay, I’m going to hold it for six months and then I’m going to flip it and turn a profit.’ All these businesses that he has, he holds them and grows them.”

That should be key for Coyotes fans, who wish for not only on-ice success in the coming season but off-ice stability in the coming decades.

Fresh off of their best season in several years, the Coyotes finished just shy of a playoff spot and also saw a boost to their TV ratings, ticket sales and more. Yet, in the midst of that, rumors swirled about the team getting new ownership. Cohen saw on-ice success to be imperative, regardless of the arena logistics or ownership situation. The organization tried to check that box, no matter what.

Then, in addressing the ownership matters as the team fought for a playoff spot, the Coyotes wanted someone who would keep the team in the Valley.

“There had been a lot of rumors about us looking for investors and different ownership scenarios and things like that,” Cohen said. “But what I said at that time was a precondition to anything we were looking to do was that the person coming in had to be able to help us be successful here in Arizona for the very long-term. That’s what we were very focused on looking at and [we] looked at a lot of different things.

“He was also investing in an ascending asset. He saw some of the achievements that we accomplished over the past year in terms of record numbers and attendance and ticket revenues and sponsorships and sees a team that’s right on the cusp of making the playoffs and doing some great things. He was obviously very involved with myself and with [GM] John [Chayka] regarding the discussions around Phil Kessel.”

Cohen hopes that this change in ownership could mean getting the Coyotes to places they haven’t been before. And perhaps the belief that that’s possible was a selling point for Meruelo.

“One of the things I told him, and I know he’s a competitive guy, I said, ‘Look, we need to embrace this challenge because one day when we’re holding up the Stanley Cup here in Arizona for all of our fans to see, that’s going to be viewed as one of the greatest success stories in the history of sports.'”

Arizona Sports LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150318 Boston Bruins Kuraly, Frederic and Zboril are still standing. Kuraly is a lock for the 2019-20 roster. Frederic and Zboril could break camp with the varsity. Trades remain in all of their futures, which would extend the tree’s How the Cam Neely trade continues to pay off for Bruins, 33 years later branches.

But for this exercise, it is amazing to study how one transaction produced 19 players who, together, form a competitive lineup. By Fluto Shinzawa First line: Boyes, a clever center, would pile up points distributing pucks Jul 30, 2019 to Neely and Lucic. Two decades after Neely’s time as the NHL’s most fearsome power forward, Lucic, a fellow British Columbian, followed No.

8’s path. Consider the following lineup. It’s not bad, even if it’s one forward short of Second line: Even if Samsonov is playing his weak side, he would a full 20: produce offense by controlling the puck. This would allow Horton to find Milan Lucic-Brad Boyes-Cam Neely his sweet spots — high slot, top of the right circle — to rip off snappers.

Sergei Samsonov-Marty Reasoner-Nathan Horton Third line: Kuraly, Frederic and Stastny would be a matchup line. While they wouldn’t create much offense, they wouldn’t leak goals in their own Sean Kuraly-Trent Frederic-Yan Stastny zone.

Gregory Campbell-Jakub Zboril Fourth line: Campbell would have to babysit Zboril, the defenseman playing out of position. But depending on who double-shifted, the line Glen Wesley-Dennis Wideman could hold its own defensively. Kyle McLaren-Jeff Jillson First pair: This is an excellent all-situations partnership. Wesley and Johnathan Aitken-Colin Miller Wideman can play even strength, work the power play and kill penalties.

Martin Jones Second pair: McLaren and Jillson, both strongmen, would be the shutdown pair, happy to deliver cross-checks and slashes. Jeff Hackett Third pair: The coach would have to shelter Aitken and Miller, but they Then consider that all of these Bruins, former and current, share the could ride out shifts against third and fourth lines. bloodlines of one legendary trade. Goaltending: Jones would be the workhorse. Hackett could start well On June 6, 1986, Harry Sinden pulled off an all-time heist. The former over 15-20 games. Bruins general manager traded Barry Pederson to Vancouver for Cam Neely and a 1987 first-round pick. The deal planted the seed of a trade tree that continues to sprout. The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 Neely, of course, defined the meaning of on-ice maniac. But the complementary genius of the trade is how the 1987 first-rounder triggered a cycle of organizational replenishment. Thirty-three years later, the Neely trade tree continues to grow.

On June 13, 1987, the Bruins drafted Glen Wesley No. 3 overall. Wesley served the Bruins well for seven seasons as a do-it-all defenseman. On Aug. 25, 1994, Sinden traded Wesley to Hartford for Kyle McLaren, a 1996 first-round pick and a 1997 first-rounder.

One branch of the tree withered when Johnathan Aitken, the defenseman the Bruins drafted with the 1996 pick, left the organization after two seasons. But McLaren and the 1997 first-rounder kept the tree alive.

McLaren played in Boston for seven seasons. Sergei Samsonov, drafted No. 8 overall in 1997, seven slots after Joe Thornton, was a Bruin for eight years.

On Jan. 23, 2003, the Bruins traded McLaren to San Jose for Jeff Jillson and Jeff Hackett. On March 9, 2006, Samsonov was wheeled to Edmonton for Marty Reasoner, Yan Stastny and a 2006 second-rounder.

The Jillson transaction created another branch. On March 4, 2009, the Bruins sent the right-shot defenseman back to the Sharks for Brad Boyes. Boyes, formerly Patrice Bergeron’s linemate, played parts of two seasons in Boston before he was moved to St. Louis for Dennis Wideman. Wideman was a top-four defenseman for three full seasons before the Bruins traded him to Florida for Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell. The ex-Panthers were critical contributors on the 2011 Stanley Cup winner for the Bruins before signing elsewhere, Horton in 2013 and Campbell in 2015 — both, coincidentally, with Columbus.

Meanwhile, the 2006 second-round pick produced another limb on the tree. That draft would be a grand slam for the Bruins: Phil Kessel in the first round, Milan Lucic in the second, in the third.

On June 26, 2015, in one of his first major moves, GM Don Sweeney dealt Lucic to Los Angeles for Martin Jones, Colin Miller and a 2015 first- rounder. Later that day, the Bruins used the No. 13 pick to draft Jakub Zboril, who is entering his third pro season.

Jones was a Bruin for only four days. Sweeney traded Jones to San Jose for Sean Kuraly and a 2016 first-round pick, which the Bruins used to draft Trent Frederic. Miller, meanwhile, went to the Golden Knights in the 2017 expansion draft. 1150319 Calgary Flames Monday rolls on. People like Coun. Jeromy Farkas hope the Flames will agree to hold off on a vote. The city manager says she talked to them about it.

Bell: Council at 23% approval set to vote on arena Later in the day, the Flames tweet out about the decision Tuesday. Er … so much for that idea.

Rick Bell Nenshi feels the public have had their opportunity to speak out and speak up. July 30, 2019 5:00 AM MDT “It’s not that complex a deal to understand. I don’t think we need endless discussion and consultation,” says the mayor.

Most of city council has had a seven-day itch to get this arena deal. Sounds like Nenshi thinks it’s pretty clear how city council members are going to vote. Now, barring a miracle, they’re ready to scratch it. Tuesday afternoon. Farkas is in a familiar role. He’s like a character in an old western movie, Most city council members are all smiles Monday. Their long summer one of the last guys at the fort about to overrun. break is a day away. Their bets are on how big the Yes vote on the arena will be. “I can’t support the deal being rammed through the way it is,” says Farkas, adding there’s more time for talk on whether a patio gets They are the very picture of confidence with 10-5 for Yes as the lowest approval than on the arena. tally. Most money is on 11-4 or 12-3 Yes. There’s even a little dough on 13-2. “I love the Flames but I don’t like this deal. There are a lot of questions to be asked.” The idea of the arena not getting a thumbs-up Tuesday. That’s a wager for those who spend their coin on the lottery actually thinking they’re While Farkas makes his case to the microphones, recorders and going to win. cameras, other councillors hurry off to lunch or to triple-check their vacation plans. Yes, looking at city council, arena opponents don’t just need a Hail Mary they need the intercession of St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes. Jeff Davison, council point man on the arena deal, says delaying the vote just isn’t there as an option. Could there be a delay of the vote until after the summer? It’s possible. Me getting on Nenshi’s or Notley’s Christmas card list is also possible. “The current deal before us is the current timeline before us, which is So is a snowball surviving hell. Tuesday. Correct?”

We’re into the realm of miracles which are also possible. But what would happen if there was a delay of the vote until the end of September? Oh yes, there is the ThinkHQ poll. The nosecount hit the streets with a bang early Monday morning. “I suspect the deal would be dead,” says Davison.

The math shows Calgarians evenly split over the arena: 47% Yes and Nenshi doesn’t look fussed in the least. 47% No with 6% on the fence. “I’m remarkably Zen right now about many, many things.” Those making more dough are more likely to vote Yes. It’s that kind of day. The busy little beavers at ThinkHQ aren’t satisfied with one headline, they go for two.

Six out of 10 Calgarians think one week is not enough time to go ahead Calgary Sun: LOADED: 07.31.2019 and make a decision.

Even 35% of arena backers don’t believe it’s time for a vote.

And wait. Headline No. 3. Saving the best for last.

The city council making the arena decision now have an approval rating of 23%. You read it right. 23% approve. The number who strongly approve of city council’s performance is 1%.

Taking into account the margin of error those who strongly approve of council could be minus 2.9 points. Just kidding.

I’d sure to like to meet the 1% who strongly approve of city council. I want to know what’s in their Corn Flakes.

Hell, these numbers haven’t been this low since, well, we don’t know when. It’s been that long.

I think it’s when hard-drinking, chain-smoking, fedora-wearing newshounds hammered out copy on a manual typewriter and were truly ink-stained wretches.

You want to know how bad city council’s 23% approval is in the great scheme of things.

It’s only 4 points higher than former premier Alison Redford’s approval on the day she resigned.

We should be so lucky with these schmucks.

Since you’re asking, Nenshi’s approval is at 35%. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Council isn’t worried about ThinkHQ. Some laugh it off, laughing past the graveyard.

After all, the poll with a boot attached to it is two years away and more than a few think Calgarians will let the clown show continue. 1150320 Calgary Flames The new Flyers GM was one of the first guys to make a big splash this summer, acquiring the rights to from the Winnipeg Jets and then promptly signing the player to a long-term Possible trade destinations for Michael Frolik contract worth $7.14 million per year. Philadelphia just barely missed the playoffs last year and clearly have designs on making a jump back into the postseason in 2019-20.

By Kent Wilson The Flyers’ top end is more or less sewn up with guys like , , Jakub Voracek, , Nolan Jul 30, 2019 Patrick, Travis Konecny and Hayes all poised to eat up a lot of minutes.

Things get thin very quickly for Philly after that though, particularly on the Brad Treliving is slowly whittling down his summer to-do list. With Sam right side. Right now, the candidates for third and fourth line right wing Bennett extended and David Rittich signed, the only portion of that list left duty are German Rubtsov and Tyler Pitlick – a 21-year-old rookie and a to cross off for the Flames GM is to ink free agents Matthew Tkachuk and 27-year-old near-replacement level forward – respectively. Andrew Mangiapane. Frolik would give an immediate boost to the Flyers’ third line over the Of course, there is the small matter of needing some cap space before available options, currently projected to include van Riemsdyk or Oskar he can make that happen. Treliving opened a nominal amount of budget Lindblom at left wing and Patrick at center. He would also give them with the James Neal trade, but even with the deals for Bennett and another viable kill option, good news for a team that used both Rittich coming relatively cheap (2.55 million and 2.75 million, Jori Lehtera and Dale Weise while down a man last year (both gone). respectively), the team only has about $5 million in cap room. ($15.7 million in cap space) As a result, Calgary needs to clear another $5 million in cap space just It’s been a bloodbath in Columbus this summer. Blue Jackets GM Jarmo retain their two remaining restricted free agents – to say nothing of Kekäläinen had the option to buy or sell at the trade deadline last March, adding anyone to the roster or having a healthy cap buffer to work with and he opted to buy. The decision helped his club pull off this biggest during the season. As noted previously, Treliving has the option of upset in the playoffs when they swept the juggernaut Tampa Bay moving one of Travis Hamonic (unlikely) or TJ Brodie (more likely) to Lightning. Unfortunately, the fairy tale ended with Columbus getting beat help the bottom line. Another option is to dangle right wing Michael Frolik, out in the second round and all of the club’s big-name free agents fleeing who only has one year left on a contract with an average annual value for greener pastures this offseason. (AAV) of $4.3 million. Columbus has lost (Nashville Predators), Artemi Panarin With the forward UFA pool dwindling to older, riskier players like Patrick (New York Rangers), Ryan Dzingel (Carolina Hurricanes) and Sergei Marleau and Jason Pominville, or uninspiring bottom-sixers like Brock Bobrovsky (Florida Panthers) this summer and replaced them with … McGinn and Tobias Rieder, any team looking to buff up their top-six or Gustav Nyquist. Which means there’s plenty of room on the roster to add third line may be tempted by Frolik’s high utility and low-risk deal. another worthwhile veteran in Frolik (not to mentioned more than $15 Especially because the Flames won’t be asking for much in return. million in cap space to play with). With that in mind, here are some teams who could come calling for Kekäläinen is not going to want to see his club tumble down the Frolik. standings after his bold, but potentially ill-fated trade deadline bet. The options Keeping his team as competitive as possible in the wake of this summer’s free-agent bloodletting will help fans and ownership look past Ottawa Senators ($20.6 million in cap space) his inability to keep the 2019 playoff roster together.

The Senators fill the most obvious requirement in a salary dump trade Conclusion partner – they have plenty of cap space available. Ottawa also only has about 10 legitimate NHL forwards on their current roster, which means The one complicating factor in moving Frolik is his limited no-trade Frolik would immediately step in as one of the better players near the top clause. The player can submit a 10-team “no trade” list to the Flames, of the rotation. Seriously – when the season starts one of their top lines which very probably (though not absolutely) removes the Senators from will likely feature Bobby Ryan, Artem Anisimov and Mikael Boedker. contention as a trade partner. On the other hand, the Devils, Blue Jackets and Flyers are not the typical “salary dump” locations, with all While the Senators aren’t going to be challenging for a division title next three clubs hungry and poised to be competitive next season. year, Frolik does represent something else earnestly rebuilding teams covet – an asset that could be flipped for future assets at the trade Frolik remains a useful, high utility player. He can play any of the three deadline. Unless he falls off a cliff, Frolik is the type of player who could forward positions, is an adept penalty killer and boasts some of the best be auctioned off in March, meaning the Sens could at least recoup shot and chance numbers on the Flames at even strength. He can play whatever it might cost them to acquire the player now. In addition, against any level of competition and tends to score at a top-six pace at Frolik’s cap hit ($4.3 million) exceeds his actual salary this season ($3 even strength. million), a big boon to the NHL’s most cash-strapped organization. In fact, Calgary probably wouldn’t be shopping the player if they weren’t New Jersey Devils ($12.4 million in cap space) in such a poor cap situation. The team has yet to find anyone else who can play as well with Mikael Backlund and Tkachuk in a shut-down role Like the Senators, the New Jersey Devils boast a ton of cap space. at 5-on-5 and will likely be forced to shift one of the left wingers to the Unlike the Sens, however, the Devils are serious about being competitive right wing if they do succeed in moving him. With a cap hit of just $4.3 this season. The draft lottery winners picked Jack Hughes first overall million and a real salary of just $3 million, Frolik represents a pretty good and then added P.K. Subban, Nikita Gusev and Wayne Simmonds via bet for any team who needs an effective, middle rotation veteran up front. trade and free agency. Their roster also includes another first overall pick in Nico Hischier (now in his third season) and former Hart winner Taylor Hall (in the last season of his current contract). They are also a rumoured The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 destination for free agent Jake Gardiner.

Needless to say, the Devils are serious about climbing the ladder in 2019-20. However, their forward roster does appear to have a bit of hole in it. After veterans Hall (27), Travis Zajac (34), Simmonds (30) and Kyle Palmieri (28), there’s a lot of kids and bottom rotation players, including Hischier, Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Pavel Zacha, Miles Woods, Blake Coleman and John Hayden.

Frolik could step into the Devils’ middle rotation and provide value in almost any role, be it as a mentor to the younger guys, or a hard minutes shut-down guy with Zajac (freeing up the kids to score).

Philadelphia Flyers ($13.4 million in cap space) 1150321 Carolina Hurricanes

Hurricanes name Patrick Dwyer assistant coach for the Charlotte Checkers

BY CHIP ALEXANDER

JULY 30, 2019 02:22 PM

Patrick Dwyer, a short but feisty forward who played 770 games in the NHL and AHL, is getting into coaching.

The Carolina Hurricanes announced Tuesday that Dwyer, 36, has been named assistant coach of the Charlotte Checkers, the Canes’ affiliate.

“Patrick brings a wealth of knowledge from a long career,” Canes general manager Don Waddell said in a statement. “We’re excited to bring him back to the organization by adding him to the Checkers’ coaching staff.”

The Canes named Ryan Warsofsky as the Checkers head coach on July 10 after the departure of Mike Vellucci, who guided the Checkers to the 2019 championship.

Dwyer played 416 regular-season games for the Canes from 2008-15 -- and two games in the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs -- and has 354 games of AHL experience with Chicago, Albany and the Checkers. He played last season with the Belfast Giants of the EIHL.

Dwyer was a member of Team USA in the 2012 IIHF World Championship.

News Observer LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150322 Carolina Hurricanes Brind’Amour: “I’m not gonna be that guy.”

“Again?!” — when a Bruins reporter asked him to “talk about” the Patrice Bergeron line during the Eastern Conference Final. Civian: The best Brind’Amisms of a wild Hurricanes season “The goal was never to make the playoffs. Who cares?” — on Carolina’s deep playoff run.

By Sara Civian “Well, I don’t know what else they’d be doing. It’s a young group. What Jul 30, 2019 else do they have to do?”— when asked if he noticed how much fun the players were having at practice.

“I love the kid.” — on Andrei Svechnikov. The Hurricanes knew some personnel optics weren’t great last offseason. “It’s only important if you get it.” — on the first goal of the game.

If letting go of then-general manager Ron Francis and trading away Jeff “No one really watches us, they just look at the numbers.” — when an Skinner were new owner Tom Dundon’s attempt to clean house, out-of-market reporter asked a question that indicated he clearly doesn’t promoting franchise great Rod Brind’Amour from assistant to head coach really watch the Hurricanes. might’ve seemed like cold feet. “Not really, sorry. I’d love to.” — when asked if he could provide any Brind’Amour proved doubters wrong, initiating the culture facelift that sent injury updates. the Hurricanes to the playoffs for the first time in a decade and all the “You’ve got Billy.” way to the Eastern Conference Final. “I don’t know that when I played, I had that much joy. I was always It was a story of hard work, celebration and genuine camaraderie that chasing something, or always thinking about the next one. Now I get to intensified throughout the season. When it became clear that the team see these guys, and I’m enjoying it — how they’ve responded, how bought into his Grit and Grind plan, Brind’Amour would generally laugh they’re enjoying the run.” — on stopping and smelling the roses along with the antics that came along with such a tight-knit group. One sometimes. time he threw his hands up in the air and said that the room only got looser the more the team kept winning. “I thought the refs made the right call, but of course I’m gonna say that.” — on a questionable call that went the Hurricanes’ way in the playoffs. That’s exactly how I’d describe the coach’s first year at the helm, too. “I don’t know if we played a good game that whole series.” — after He was a refreshing interview from the start, with an ability to tell it like it sweeping the Islanders in the second round. is without making you feel like an idiot. He’s more willing than most to sit there with you and patiently explain a concept or decision. He got funnier “I don’t read a lot into back-to-backs, first of all. To me, that’s a myth that as the year progressed. people made up — that it’s tougher to play on a back-to-back, or this or that. I don’t know where that came from. Maybe you guys (media) get It’s tough to top Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy’s “Butchisms” as colleague tired of traveling around and it affects your game.” — clearly sick of us Joe McDonald just chronicled, but Brind’Amour’s first season as asking this question every single week. Hurricanes head coach was a quote factory of its own. “Stay at the rink.” — his advice to new father Jaccob Slavin. In no particular order, a journey into my iPhone voice memos before next season takes over: “Much respect to you. You can’t keep doing this.” — a stick tap to Zdeno Chara in the Eastern Conference Final handshake line. “We were so bad, I almost dressed and got out there. I might have been as good as what we were throwing out there.” — on a Jan. 18 loss to the “I learned I could handle it. As a new guy coming in the league you’re Senators, one of the few games the Hurricanes didn’t at least show effort never quite sure if the way you’re going to do it is going to be OK. You in last season. have nothing to look back on to see if it can work. I think I can handle it.”— on his first year as an NHL head coach “I’m just bored on the road.” — on why he spent a half-hour skating after practice in San Jose.

“He’s a trooper, I don’t expect him to not play. But we’re talking about The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 practice, right?” — when Jordan Martinook conveniently missed practice on the 17th anniversary of Allen Iverson’s “practice” rant.

“First of all, what does that even mean, that word you used? Does anybody really know? I’d like to know.” — when asked a question with the word ‘esoteric‘.

“No one knows what it is.” — on goaltender interference.

“You guys got down, I can’t say … you got kicked in the ding ding right after the start.” — channeling Eddie Murphy in the postgame speech after the Hurricanes’ Game 7 win in Washington.

“I always thought everybody grows playoff beards but then their record isn’t very good. Only one team wins. Something’s not right with that. Something’s not adding up. There are 15 teams it’s not working for. And I don’t have a very good beard, so …” — on never growing a playoff beard.

“He looks like Rocky.” — on Calvin de Haan’s black eye.

“Everyone wants to do that. Everyone wants that to be their game. When we’re having power-play struggles guys will come up to me like ‘You know, I could be on the power play. …'” — when asked if Jaccob Slavin’s desire to score more points is something new.

The Athletic: Have you picked a starter yet?

Brind’Amour: Yep.

The Athletic: “Are you gonna … tell us?” 1150323 Chicago Blackhawks

Blackhawks forward Chris Kunitz retires and joins coaching staff

By CHICAGO TRIBUNE STAFF

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

JUL 30, 2019 | 9:00 AM

Blackhawks forward Chris Kunitz announced Tuesday he is retiring after 15 NHL seasons and will become a player development adviser for the team.

In that role, Kunitz will assist coaches for the Hawks and Rockford IceHogs, the Hawks’ American Hockey League affiliate.

“I feel very fortunate to have been a part of four amazing organizations over the last 15 years,” Kunitz said in a statement.

Over his 15-year career, Kunitz, 39, played for the Ducks (2003-04; 2005-09), Atlanta Thrashers (2005), Penguins (2009-17), Lightning (2017-18) and his final season with the Blackhawks.

Kunitz appeared in 56 games for the Hawks in 2018-19, highlighted by his 1,000th career game on Feb. 14.

[Most read] Parents transferring custody to get better college financial aid? ‘It never occurred to us that this was a possibility.’ »

“Every one of these organizations was the ultimate example, not only to me, but to my children, on what true professionalism should be,” he said. “I was given the opportunity to play with the very best teams and the very best players and I’m grateful for the laughs and the friendships that we shared together. Thank you for making my childhood dream come true.”

Kunitz won four Stanley Cups — with the Ducks in 2007 and the Penguins in 2009, ’16 and ’17 — and helped Canada win the gold medal in the 2014 Winter Olympics.

“Chris had an outstanding professional career,” Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton said in a statement. "His four Stanley Cups and Olympic gold medal speak for themselves. While coaching him last year, I recognized what an asset he would be for our staff and the organization. I’m very pleased to have him a part of our coaching group and also use him as a development resource for our young players in Rockford.”

Kunitz and his wife, Maureen, their son, Zach, and daughters, Payton and Aubrey, live in the western suburbs.

Chicago Tribune LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150324 Chicago Blackhawks

Chris Kunitz retires, joins Blackhawks’ coaching staff

By Ben Pope@BenPopeCST

Jul 30, 2019, 10:19am CDT

Chris Kunitz, who until Tuesday was an unrestricted free agent, will remain with the Blackhawks in 2019-20 — as a player-development adviser.

Instead of giving his playing career one more try, the 39-year-old forward has retired and joined the Hawks’ coaching staff. It’s hardly shocking news, considering that Kunitz was seen among the staff watching over the prospects at development camp two weeks ago.

Kunitz will be remembered most for his days with the Penguins, with whom he won Stanley Cups in 2009, 2016 and 2017. He also was part of the Ducks’ championship run in 2007.

Initially an undrafted free agent, Kunitz reached 40 points in 10 of his first 11 full seasons in the NHL and developed a reputation as one of the best complementary forwards in the league.

‘‘I feel very fortunate to have been a part of four amazing organizations over the last 15 years,’’ Kunitz said in a statement released Tuesday. ‘‘I’d like to sincerely thank the Anaheim Ducks, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks. Every one of these organizations was the ultimate example . . . on what true professionalism should be.’’

Kunitz was clearly on the back end of his career last season, his only one with the Hawks, but he made his veteran leadership felt. He was honored when he played his 1,000th career game in February and finished at 1,022.

Kunitz will help on the coaching side at both the NHL and American Hockey League levels. He’ll join a number of other recently retired players on the Hawks’ staff, including Brian Campbell.

‘‘While coaching him last year, I recognized what an asset he would be for our staff and the organization,’’ Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton said in the statement. ‘‘I’m very pleased to have him a part of our coaching group and also use him as a development resource for our young players in Rockford.’’

Chicago Sun Times LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150325 Chicago Blackhawks

Blackhawks forward Chris Kunitz retires, will remain with team as player development advisor

By Tim Stebbins

July 30, 2019 8:30 AM

Chris Kunitz is hanging up his playing skates, but he's not going anywhere.

Tuesday, Kunitz and the Blackhawks announced that the 39-year-old is retiring from the NHL following a 15-season career. However, he will remain with the Blackhawks, joining the hockey operations department as a player development adviser. In his new role, Kunitz will assist both the Blackhawks coaching staff and that of the Rockford Icehogs, the team's AHL affiliate.

Forward Chris Kunitz announced his retirement following 15 seasons in the @NHL. Congrats on an incredible playing career Kuni!

Kunitz joined the Blackhawks for the 2018-19 season, tallying 10 points (five goals, five assists) in 56 games. He spent the bulk of his career with the Penguins (2008-17), though, tallying 388 points (169 goals, 219 assists) in 569 games. He won three Stanley Cups (2009, 2016, 2017) with Pittsburgh.

Before joining the Penguins, Kunitz also played with the Anaheim Ducks (2003-05, 2005-09), winning the Stanley Cup in 2007.

"I feel very fortunate to have been a part of four amazing organizations over the last 15 years," Kunitz said in a press release. "First and foremost, I’d like to sincerely thank the Anaheim Ducks, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks. Every one of these organizations was the ultimate example, not only to me, but to my children, on what true professionalism should be.

"Secondly, I’d like to thank the owners, coaches, trainers, management. Your love for the game, the team and the community was exemplified daily. I am very fortunate to have worked with every one of you.

"Finally, to my teammates, thank you for everything. As a young player you taught me to give my very best. Your leadership helped mold me into the player I knew I could be. I was given the opportunity to play with the very best teams and the very best players and I’m grateful for the laughs and the friendships that we shared together. Thank you for making my childhood dream come true.”

“Chris had an outstanding professional career. His four Stanley Cups and Olympic gold medal speak for themselves," Blackhawks head coach Jeremy Colliton said in a press release. "While coaching him last year, I recognized what an asset he would be for our staff and the organization. I’m very pleased to have him a part of our coaching group and, also, use him as a development resource for our young players in Rockford.”

Kunitz, whose wife is from the Chicagoland area, will continue to reside in Chicago's western suburbs with his family.

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150326 Colorado Avalanche

Avalanche signs forward Vladislav Kamenev to one-year contract

By MIKE CHAMBERS | [email protected] | The Denver Post

PUBLISHED: July 30, 2019 at 11:43 am | UPDATED: July 30, 2019 at 2:18 PM

The Avalanche on Tuesday signed restricted free-agent forward Vladislav Kamenev to a one-year contract worth $750,000, according to a team source. The 22-year-old Russian will be a pending RFA after the 2019-20 season.

Kamenev suffered a shoulder injury Dec. 8 in his 23rd game of the season with the Avs and never returned to the lineup. He only played in three games in 2017-18 because of a broken arm.

Kamenev was acquired from Nashville on Nov. 5, 2017, in the three-team trade involving Matt Duchene going to Ottawa. Kamenev was selected by Nashville in the second round (42nd overall) of the 2014 draft.

Colorado has just two remaining RFAs to sign in forwards Mikko Rantanen and A.J. Greer. The Avs have more than $15 million in available cap space.

Denver Post: LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150327 Colorado Avalanche

Avalanche signs Vladislav Kamenev to one-year contract

By MHS Staff

July 30, 2019

The Colorado Avalanche announced Tuesday that the team has signed forward Vladislav Kamenev to a one-year contract for the 2019-20 season.

Kamenev, 22, registered five points (2g/3a) in 23 games this season before suffering a shoulder injury on Dec. 8 at Tampa Bay that forced him to miss the remainder of the regular season. He registered his first NHL point, an assist, on Oct. 27 at Minnesota and scored his first NHL goal on Nov. 1 at Calgary. The Orsk, Russia, native’s first tally came on the penalty kill, making him the first player to score his first career goal shorthanded since on Nov. 12, 2010.

Selected by the Nashville Predators in the second round (42nd overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft, Kamenev was acquired by the Avalanche in a three- team trade that also included the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 5, 2017 and has produced five points (2g/3a) in 28 career NHL contests. The 6-foot-2, 194-pound center has totaled 105 points (39g/66a) in 146 career American Hockey League contests with the , and and has two points (2g/0a) in six AHL postseason contests with Milwaukee.

Internationally, Kamenev captained Russia to a silver medal at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship in Finland, leading the team with five goals (5g/1a) in seven games. He also won a silver medal with his country at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship in Canada, tallying four points (1g/3a) in seven contests. Kamenev served as Russia’s captain at the 2014 IIHF U18 World Championship, where he shared the team lead in scoring with seven points (2g/5a) in five outings.

milehighsports.com LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150328 Colorado Avalanche

Vladislav Kamenev signs with Avalanche

BY CALLIE AGNEW

JULY 30, 2019

The Colorado Avalanche have re-signed forward Vladislav Kamenev to a one-year contract. Financial terms were undisclosed. He will be a restricted free agent again next summer.

Kamenev, 22, played in 23 games this season before getting coming injured in a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Kamenev sustained a shoulder injury resulting in surgery this season. Prior to the injury, Kamenev tallied five points (2g, 3a) this season with the Colorado Avalanche.

In the 23 games, Kamenev averaged 9:02 TOI, and even showed some faceoff acumen, winning exactly 50% of the draws he took. Kamenev scored his first goal as an Avalanche player in a November 1 game against the Calgary Flames. The goal was short-handed.

Kamenev has been bitten by the injury bug in his time in Colorado; during the 2017-2018 season, Kamenev was hurt just moments into his Avalanche debut and came back to make two more appearances before being shut down in the middle of a playoff race.

Prior to his arrival in Colorado Kamenev saw time in the Russian development team, the KHL, and the AHL. In the 2015-2016 season with the Milwaukee Admirals, Kamenev was selected to the AHL All-Star Game in a season in which he totaled 37 points in 57 contests.

Kamenev was traded to the Colorado Avalanche in the ever talked about Matt Duchene trade. The team has continued to have high hopes for him but back-to-back season-ending injuries are certainly one way to go about losing a spot in the NHL before ever really getting a chance to lock one down.

If Kamenev can shake the injury bug, he might have a real chance at staying in the NHL. It’s obvious the Avs like him but after a busy summer in which they put 12 established forwards in front of him, it’s also obvious they aren’t banking on him playing a prominent role next year. It will be up to him to prove he belongs.

Colorado’s only RFAs remaining are A.J. Greer and Mikko Rantanen.

BSN DENVER LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150329 Dallas Stars His college teammate Parker Mackay would be a good early fit with Tufte, and the former Duluth captain represents another potential low- risk, high-reward signing from the college ranks by Texas general A peek at the Stars’ organizational depth chart and what to expect this manager Scott White. Brad McClure spent the majority of last season in season the ECHL, but caught fire near the end of the season in the AHL and scored five goals in his final six games. It’s a fresh impression that’s going to give him a chance to make the opening night roster with Texas.

By Sean Shapiro Scratches: There is no roster limit in the AHL, so Texas can carry as many players as they wish and could have as many as 15 or 16 on the Jul 30, 2019 roster for opening night. That number will likely be whittled down a bit with some send-downs to the ECHL, but Texas could have a bit of a scratch rotation early on to see who wins a roster spot – or, better yet, Earlier this month, we did our best to predict the Dallas Stars’ opening who loses one. night lineup for Oct. 3 against the Boston Bruins. Josh Melnick, Diego Cuglietta and Anthony Nellis all played college While the 23 players on the NHL roster are certainly the most important hockey last season, while Tony Calderone split time between the ECHL part of the organization, they account for only a small percentage of the and AHL. All four represent the Stars’ reliance on signing undrafted players the Stars will employ in the 2019-20 season. college players to fill out their prospect pool and add competition to the minor-league levels. Dallas currently has 48 NHL contracts signed for the upcoming season – two short of the max of 50 – and 62 players on the NHL reserve list, Melnick is on an NHL contract, so it’s unlikely he ends up in Idaho. meaning Dallas still has their exclusive NHL rights. There are six Cuglietta, meanwhile, had 25 goals as a college senior last season and additional players signed to AHL contracts with the Texas Stars, who are could be a dark-horse candidate for a bigger role if he continues to put owned and operated by their parent club. the puck in the net. Either way, the trickle-down impact to the Idaho Steelheads will be positive. Today, we are taking a deeper look at the depth chart beyond the 23 players on the NHL roster, with an eye toward how the AHL team might Defensemen shake out. For this journey we are using my NHL projection as a foundation, which you can see here, and we are working under the First pair: The Texas defense is stacked by AHL standards, especially if assumption that Stephen Johns will be healthy. expectation becomes reality and Taylor Fedun ends up in the minors after Stephen Johns reports to camp with a clean bill of health in Forwards September. If that were to happen, the AHL club would have a projected defense with five players that dressed in the NHL last season, three of First line: Justin Dowling and Denis Gurianov have made the NHL roster whom played in NHL playoff games against the eventual Stanley Cup in my projections, but if either of those players were to slip to Texas in champions. training camp, they’d likely occupy a spot on Texas’ top forward unit. You could flip a coin on what would be considered the true first pair, but Joel L’Esperance played 18 NHL games last season, and I expect him to the top two groupings are likely going to include a veteran player and a play NHL games this season as a call-up. Adam Mascherin and Nick younger puck-mover. That’s what this projected first pair is, with Fedun Caamano didn’t play NHL games last season, but were called up as and Gavin Bayreuther, who acquitted himself well in the NHL last black aces – practice players – for the NHL playoffs. L’Esperance and season. In a different organization, Bayreuther would likely be playing on Caamano are at an interesting crossroads in their careers: If they make a third-pairing this season. the NHL, it will likely be in more of a bottom-six role, but they’ll be asked to produce in a top-six capacity in the AHL in the meantime. Second pairing: The second pairing, or 1B if you want another name, likely features Joel Hanley, the other veteran who played NHL playoffs Second line: Tanner Kero had 57 points in 67 AHL games last season on games last spring, with the other young puck-moving defenseman who a Utica Comets team that was in the middle of the Eastern Conference has a bit of offensive flair in Ben Gleason. Hanley, like Fedun, is more of standings. He was signed this summer as a top-six center for Texas and a short-term piece for Dallas – a call-up option in case of injury and could play himself into an NHL call-up (he does have 72 games of NHL veteran for the AHL team. Gleason, if his defensive game progresses, experience with the Chicago Blackhawks.) could be an enticing long-term solution on the third pair and second Jason Robertson and Tye Felhaber were neck-and-neck last season in power-play unit in Dallas within a couple of seasons. the OHL scoring race. Each is making the full-time jump to pro hockey Third pairing: Dillon Heatherington was a shocking lineup selection for this season and have lofty long-term expectations within the organization. one game against the St. Louis Blues in the playoffs, but he performed Both players will be in the mix for an NHL roster spot but are more likely admirably in a limited role. He’s still several injuries away from playing in to play top-six AHL minutes for this season. Felhaber has played center the NHL this season – which certainly could happen; see the 2018-19 throughout his junior career, but there is likely going to be some season – but is a stabilizing defender in the AHL who has started to show experimentation to see if he can play on the wing and develop the sort of more confidence with the puck on his stick. positional versatility that makes him a better long-term fit for Dallas. Reece Scarlett would have played in the NHL last season, and the Stars Third line: On paper, this Texas team is going to be deep and the third would have never traded for Fedun if Scarlett hadn’t blown out his knee line is a prime example of exactly how deep. Michael Mersch could play in the first game of the AHL season. Scarlett has been skating since in the NHL and had one call-up last season, even though he never February and began practicing with Texas in March as the season was appeared in a game. Joel Kiviranta was signed out of Finland to compete winding down. Monitoring his health after the knee injury is going to be for an NHL roster spot and recently won a gold medal at the IIHF World important, so he might not be an everyday player in the lineup should Championships back in May. Rhett Gardner rounds out the group down issues arise. the middle and quickly adjusted to AHL competition in a cameo last spring after a dominant faceoff showing in the NCAA ranks. Scratches: It’s important to note that this is a projected opening-night lineup for Texas, because there are going to be some rotations and Emil It’s a potential shutdown line featuring players in the position they’d likely Djuse is going to play a regular role with Texas if he doesn’t make the play if they end up cracking the NHL roster sooner than later. Kiviranta is NHL roster. Djuse signed with Dallas expecting to compete for an NHL the real fascination on this line, coming over from Europe; he could end job and the Stars have similar thoughts, so he’s going to play for Texas up playing in the NHL this season or in the AHL bottom six. (There is a even if it takes some creativity to get everyone into the lineup. lot to keep track of when it comes to training camp.) The same goes for Joe Cecconi, who had offseason shoulder surgery Fourth line: First-round picks get more opportunities and leeway than and who isn’t expected to be ready for training camp or opening night. others, so there’s no way Riley Tufte isn’t starting the season in the AHL Because of that injury, Cecconi will work his way uphill on the depth chart lineup. He won’t be gifted a larger role in the top-six with this sort of when cleared but will nevertheless be given opportunities as a righty who depth, but barring injury, he should be playing every night for Texas after could be a nice long-term fit in the NHL on the third pairing. a successful-yet-underwhelming collegiate career at Minnesota-Duluth. Tufte he won back-to-back NCCA titles but never really looked like a first- John Nyberg, Tanner Jago and Ondrej Vala are likely headed to Idaho round pick on the ice. and the ECHL rather quickly, while Nyberg might have the best chance of those three to play AHL games this season. Once again, like the The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 forwards, it’s a good development for the Steelheads.

Goalies:

Starter/1A: I don’t expect Texas to have a pure starter. The load will likely be split relatively evenly, but Landon Bow has the current edge after serving as Dallas’ No. 3 last season and spending extended time with the NHL club in the postseason. Bow is a tremendous story as an undrafted AHL signing who could be carving out a path to an NHL career as a backup goalie with a strong season.

Backup/1B: Jake Oettinger is the crown prince of the Stars’ goalie prospect pool. Others may get mentioned as potential future starters, but only Oettinger is truly revered as the heir apparent to Ben Bishop in the Dallas crease. He performed well in a cameo with Texas after his collegiate career ended last season, and he’s going to get a chance to build on that early in a tandem with Bow in Cedar Park.

ECHL-bound: Colton Point’s name has brought up some divisive comments when I’ve talked to scouts that have watched him closely. Some look at his rough rookie pro season as a necessary evil – it happens, and he’ll be better for it – while others see it as a reflection of who he is and believe he won’t ever make the cut as an NHL prospect.

Point’s path could be defined by this season. While the numbers likely force him to Idaho to start the season, a strong enough showing could force some changes, and he could be playing in Texas sooner than later. Another rough year in Idaho, however, would not be good for his long- term prognosis.

His partner in Idaho would be Tomas Sholl who, like Bow, has gone from a nobody to someone who has carved out a nice pro hockey career that no one expected. Sholl didn’t even start in college at Bowling Green, and his only professional opportunity came in the Southern Professional Hockey League, which he parlayed into an ECHL opportunity and then signed an AHL deal with Texas this summer.

OHL: After the AHL, much of the Stars’ focus on North American prospects centers on the OHL, particularly the long-term future of Thomas Harley, whom the Stars drafted 17th overall back in June. Harley is now arguably the top prospect in the system.

Riley Damiani is the only OHL player already signed to an NHL contract, while Nicholas Porco and Curtis Douglas are a pair of long-term project players from the past two drafts. You could also include Ty Dellandrea on this list of OHL players, but there is still a chance he starts the season in the NHL.

WHL: The Stars will have a decision to make about Dawson Barteux after this season. Dallas will forfeit his rights if he’s not signed by June 1, 2020, and he can re-enter the draft as an overager. Barteux’s play last season wasn’t overly noteworthy, so the 2019-20 season is going to shape how the Stars look at him long-term.

Europe: The two Swedish forwards from the 2018 draft, Oscar Back and Albin Eriksson, are both expected to play in the SHL this season, and the Stars are hopeful they’ll be ready for a North American debut sooner than later. Jacob Petterson and Fredrik Karlstrom are also playing in Sweden’s top league this season; they don’t hold the same cache as Back and Eriksson, but there is curiosity about whether they’ll pave a path to North America.

Jakob Stenqvist is one of the smoothest skaters in the Dallas system, but this season is going to determine whether there is enough other substance to his game before Dallas loses his rights on June 1, 2020. Samuel Sjolund is like a younger version of Stenqvist: He’s going to lay in waiting in Sweden for a couple of years and might turn into an NHL option someday.

Niklas Hansson and Matej Stransky are only on this list because the Stars have qualified them to control their NHL rights. Hansson is playing back in Sweden with Rogle this season while Stransky last played for Texas in 2017, and his rights will come off the books when he turns 27 next July.

NCAA: The Stars have had quite a few players come through the college ranks, but only one to worry about this season in Minnesota sophomore Ben Brinkman, who was one of the youngest players in college hockey last season. Brinkman was a sixth-round pick at the draft in Vancouver and could turn into a nice steal of a selection.

1150330 Detroit Red Wings

Wings prospect Joe Veleno leads Canada over U.S. at junior tourney

Staff Report

The Detroit News

Published 8:18 p.m. ET July 30, 2019 | Updated 10:06 p.m. ET July 30, 2019

Former Red Wings' first-round pick Joe Veleno had a goal and an assist in a 4-1 victory against the United States on Tuesday at the World Junior Summer Showcase at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth.

Veleno scored a power-play goal in the first period at the 12:11 mark with assists to Kirby Dach (Blackhawks) and Nolan Foote (Lightning).

In the second period, Veleno assisted on the first of two goals by Dach at 10:16. Veleno's linemate, Alexis Lafreniere (projected 2020 No. 1 overall pick), had an assist on Dach's other goal.

Foote also scored for Canada and goalies Oliver Rodrigue (Oilers) and Hunter Jones (Wild) combined to stop 30-of-31 shots.

Cole Caufield (Canadiens) scored the only goal for the U.S. and goalie Dustin Wolf stopped 18-of-22 shots.

The teams resume play on Wednesday with Canada facing Finland at 1 p.m., and the U.S. playing Sweden at 4 p.m.

Detroit News LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150331 Edmonton Oilers I have watched a lot. There are two sides to watching. I’ve watched some structure stuff – not just 5-on-5 play but both special teams – and then I’ve watched individuals, just to get familiar with what you see in them Q&A: Dave Tippett on rounding out his coaching staff, fixing Oilers’ and to try to envision roles they may play moving forward. Those are all special teams and using Connor McDavid things I’ve spent a lot of time digging into this summer.

You mentioned special teams. Edmonton’s PK has struggled for years. To what degree will new personnel address deficiencies there and how By Daniel Nugent-Bowman can you fix it?

Jul 30, 2019 That was part of our focus heading into the offseason with Ken (Holland). The goals against is something that has to be reduced. A big part of that

is the penalty kill. We’ve added some players that can really help us There’s no whistle in his mouth and he’s not drawing up drills for his new there. (Markus) Granlund is a good penalty killer. (Josh) Archibald’s a players on whiteboards, but to say Dave Tippett’s kicking back this very good penalty killer. We’ve added some personnel that can help us in summer couldn’t be further from the truth. those ends.

Tippett has been crisscrossing the western half of the continent – going But there are some simple parts that are easy to say, but they’ve gotta from Arizona to his summer home in Minnesota to his most recent get done. The first part is our goaltender’s save percentage on the dwelling in the state of Washington – all to ensure he has everything he penalty kill has to improve. Faceoffs can alleviate a lot of pressure by needs for his new place in Alberta’s capital. winning the draw and getting (the puck) down the ice early. Things like that will be real focal points of the penalty kill. That’s an area that Sure, he’s relaxed a bit. But the Oilers have been front of mind, too. certainly has to improve.

In recent days, he finalized his coaching staff and saw his general Jim Playfair will take the head on that. Like all staffs, will collaborate on manager acquire a player he previously coached. So, even in the the schemes we’re gonna use. But I feel like we’ve added some sweltering desert heat, with hockey weather nowhere in sight, Tippett is personnel that are gonna help it. Goaltender-wise, we’re enthusiastic ready to talk about the Oilers. about the two guys and making sure they’re both playing fresh all the time. I think we’ll get excellent goaltending, so hopefully that helps the Tippett spoke to The Athletic about his new assistant, some former- PK. turned-current players, ways to fix that ailing penalty kill and how he’ll deploy Connor McDavid. Other things that might help is to take fewer penalties. The Oilers have struggled in that area, meaning penalty differential. Brian Wiseman was just hired to round out your coaching staff. What should we know about him and how will he fit in with Glen Gulutzan and That goes without saying, too. That’s another good way to kill penalties. Jim Playfair? Don’t take them.

I think he’ll fit in very well. I wanted somebody I was familiar with and Is there anything you can do on the coaching end to change that? there wasn’t a break-in period with each other. This season is gonna be very, very important. I wanna be up and running early. You can instill hard discipline at the start, so everyone gets the message early. You can’t take bad penalties. They can be game changers. Why Brian is somebody I had as a player, a captain of a championship team in would you do that? You’re putting the team at a deficit. Houston. I had him as a video coach in Dallas. I’ve stayed in contact with him and watched him grow as a coach. When I was looking at a few Let’s be realistic, it’s gonna be tight. There are a lot of teams vying for different people here, I kept coming back to his name. I had a couple playoff spots. If we wanna be one of those teams and get one of those conversations with him. He was an excellent fit. spots, discipline is gonna be a big factor in how we do it. There’s discipline in how you play and discipline in staying out of the box. He was a high-skilled player when he played. He really sees the offensive side of the game and loves skill development. He’s a really You mentioned at your introductory press conference that you intend to good person. He’s spent the last seven or eight years recruiting in start the season with Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid playing college, so he really knows how to work with young players. All those together. Does the acquisition of James Neal change your thinking at all? things were intriguing to me. We had to talk him into leaving a real good Well, it opens up some more possibilities. Ken and I have talked that we job in Michigan. He did and he’s excited to join us in Edmonton. have to let things play out over the rest of the summer and then we’ll see So will Glen Gulutzan be in charge of the offensive side, Jim Playfair the how things play out in camp. The good thing about James is he has the defensive side and Wiseman will be the eye in the sky? ability to play either side and he’s comfortable on either side.

Yeah, that’s the way it’ll work. I’ve watched some tape and known him since he was a young player. There’s some areas I think he’s better in. We’ll see how it all pans out. As As for you, is there anything you learned from your time as a senior it stands right now, my thoughts are still to have Connor and Leon adviser in Seattle that you can apply to coaching? together, but we’ll see how things work out in training camp.

You know, it’s funny. When you’re coaching a specific team, you’re really It’s been a decade since you last coached him. What are you expecting dug in on that team. Before every game you go and look at the team from Neal after a down season in Calgary? you’re going to play against, but you don’t spend a week looking at another team. Being away from the game for a couple years allowed me First and foremost, I’m expecting a very motivated player. I think both to look at some other teams more than just a casual glance. I started to those players in that deal were looking for a change a little bit. It’ll help dig in with what’s going on around the league. both of them.

In Seattle, as much as the building infrastructure was a big part of what I I’ve known James for a long time. I coached him early (in his NHL career) was doing and putting together a hockey organization, I was also and I’ve bumped into him along the way. I’ve pretty familiar with the watching a lot of games. You get a good feel for different teams, different assets that he has. We’ll try to put him in places where he can use those players more than just a casual flyby, which is what you do when you’re assets to help us win. He’s enthused. coaching your own team. I think he was embarrassed with his season last year and wants to It sounds like you kept your coaching mind fresh over the last two years. improve. He’s putting in a lot of work this summer and he’s excited to get back up and going again. Hopefully he can come in and have some Yeah. I watched a lot of games. Probably more than my wife likes. success with us. (Laughs.) Another forward you know pretty well is Sam Gagner. In your experience, I know you said you watched some Oilers games last year. How much what makes him valuable as an NHL forward? tape are your poring over now from last year’s team and what stands out? Sam is a smart offensive player and he creates chances. He a versatile player, too. In Arizona, we played him at centre; we played him at right wing; we played him at left wing. We played him all over the place. He’s Do you have much of a read on Oscar Klefbom and Darnell Nurse smart enough to adapt to situations and adapt to his role. regarding which one is better suited to playing with Adam Larsson?

I talked to him a couple weeks ago. He’s very enthused about his work I’ve got some ideas there. But that’ll be another one that we’ll play this summer and wants to get in and find himself a spot on the club and around with in camp. I like to put defencemen in roles, just similar as the help the team try to win. I’m looking forward to getting to work with him forwards. I’ve watched a lot of video. Jim Playfair has watched a lot of again. video of the defencemen.

Do you see McDavid playing the full two minutes on the power play? You said earlier you are content with your goaltending tandem. What kind What do you think about him playing the PK? of starts ratio are you envisioning for your netminders? It seems like the sport is moving closer to a split and you could have that option with two I would venture guessing he’s going to play less PK this year. I would like veteran guys. to see him more at 5-on-5 and on the power play. I don’t have a number in my head. But both guys will play their share; As for the power play, that’s an interesting one. There are times when let’s put it that way. If one guy gets hot, he might run a little bit. your power play goes out and you’ve got them hemmed in that end. You’re not using as much energy as when you’re going up and down the I thought Koskinen had some spurts last year where he was excellent. ice four or five times. Then there’s time for a change. That one’s a hard Down the stretch, he looked tired. Smitty didn’t have a great start to the one to say. If your top players aren’t tired and they’re creating chances year, but the second half and the playoffs was outstanding. If we could and creating momentum for you, you let them play. get them each 41 games and they play their very best for 41 games, we’ll be in good shape. (Laughs.) But for the PK, my goal to start here is to have both Connor and Leon play less penalty kill than they did last year and have them fresher for 5- But I don’t have a number for each of them. Some of it will be dictated on on-5 and the power play. play and the rest ratio that makes them the most efficient players they can be. The one combo that was seldom used last season at 5-on-5 was Draisaitl with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. What are your thoughts about those two Mike Smith explained you reached out to him during the free agent playing together? period. I know you two have a long history together, but what made you think he’d be a good fit in Edmonton right now? We’ll see how it works out. I know from coaching against Connor and Leon, that’s a pair that works. I haven’t seen enough of Draisaitl and Well, he’s a very competitive guy. He’s 37 years old, but he’s one of the Nugent-Hopkins yet. Those are all things that’ll play out. I’m not ruling best athletes that I’ve ever coached. He’s a phenomenal athlete who’s in anything out. I’m not setting anything in stone. phenomenal shape. He’s a veteran guy who pushes himself. He has the ability to push his teammates. In terms of the bottom two lines, do you envision them playing a different style than your scoring units and starting them more in the defensive I thought we needed somebody who was more than a 15- or 20-game zone? backup guy. Koskinen, like I said, he played well at times last year. But it’s nice to have the option of two guys. I thought Smitty gave us more of I’d like to get it to where we have one real reliable shutdown line, a line a duo in net rather than a starter and a backup. that can play in a lot of situations. A lot of times those end up being defensive-zone situations. We’ll have to see how all the personnel plays Are you saying he’s 37 going on 27? out here and where we get to. Yeah, exactly. There are a lot of people who wish they were as good a I think our top two lines have some good skill. I think we have the shape as he’s in at 37. (Laughs.) capability of building another line of skilled players and one line with penalty killers and for shutdown situations. Those are ideas I have in my Finally, you must be one of the only people in Edmonton who’s looking head right now. forward to snow and colder days after two years off from coaching.

As you’re writing things down on napkins and thinking about things in (Laughs.) I’ve lived in the south for a long time. I’m looking forward to – your head, are there any other combos, lines or defensive pairings you’re not so much the snow – but I’m looking forward to the atmosphere of intrigued about other than McDavid and Draisaitl? being back in Canada.

Let’s just say I have lots of napkins. (Laughs.) Those things work I never played on a Canadian team other than growing up and in the themselves out. I have some ideas. Olympics. I never played on one in the NHL and I’ve never coached a Canadian team. I’m looking forward to that challenge and the passion I try to go a little more with pairs than I do with full lines. I think a lot about that the fans have – just the everyday engagement that comes with being the rhythm of the game, how the rhythm will play out. Those are things I in a Canadian market. I know some people that have said they’ve shied think about. I have a lot of those sketches on napkins. We’ll see which away from it. I’m looking forward to it. one comes out of the washer. You might miss Arizona in February. It looks like you’re going to break in one or two young defencemen in October. How challenging is it to do that while you’re trying to compete for a playoff spot? The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 We have some good, young defencemen coming. I watched a lot of there games from the American League last year. I watched (Joel) Persson play in Sweden. We have some good, young defencemen that are ready to make that step. It’s not just one or two of them. I think we have three or four of them that you could make a case for.

There’s five guys returning that are good, solid veteran defencemen. (Matt) Benning is only three years in now, but he’s played enough where he’s an NHL defenceman. There are five guys that are there. There’s an opportunity for one young guy to play or another young guy might come in and bump somebody out. We don’t know that yet. It’s gonna be good competition.

Talking to people around the organization, they really feel that some of these young defencemen are ready to take that next step. I’m interested to see how that goes in camp.

Kris Russell played the whole season on the right side as a left shot. In an ideal world, would you like to get him on the left side? Is that realistic?

In an ideal world, I would, yeah. We’ll see how everything pans out. 1150332 Edmonton Oilers Adam Larsson 224 (68 percent)

Andrej Sekera 221 (67 percent)

Lowetide: Handicapping the Oilers’ young defencemen and their chances Kris Russell 218 (66 percent) of replacing Andrej Sekera Matt Benning 205 (63 percent)

Eric Gryba 114 (35 percent) By Allan Mitchell Brandon Davidson 102 (31 percent) Jul 30, 2019 Those eight men played 1,600 of a possible 1,968 games (81 percent). We know that Sekera is no longer on the team, plus Gryba and Davidson are long gone. We’re about to see a shuffle, and as many as four men It rarely works as planned. Defencemen arrive in the NHL when out, with four new defencemen coming in over the next two-plus opportunities arise, and most often when injuries hit, and the timing is seasons. often damned inconvenient. As an example, consider the Oilers in November 1980: Doug Hicks, a big part of the Edmonton blue, missed If this were 1975, and cap worries didn’t exist, we could talk about the some games in exhibition play because of a collision with Dave foundation of the defence (Klefbom, Larsson, Nurse) extending well into Semenko, and then missed regular season time after Larry Hopkins ran the next decade. Alas, money is a part of the equation and Darnell Nurse him into the boards and broke his wrist. In between those two injuries, is going to receive an enormous raise next summer if he posts 40-plus the club lost capable veteran Colin Campbell on waivers (more in a points or has the kind of defensive season he posted in 2017-18. minute). At the time of the injury, Edmonton had youngsters Charlie Huddy and Mike Forbes in Wichita, plus veteran Tom Bladon, who had Oscar Klefbom has to be considered the top defenceman on the roster. refused a minor league assignment but was still hanging around. His cap hit is just over $4 million and he’s signed for another four Campbell was playing in Vancouver. seasons. Outstanding value, he should be a cornerstone for Dave Tippett well into the next decade. Although health issues impact him seemingly Fans map out the future as if roster moves take place on a chessboard, every season, his importance (as reflected in the 2017 playoff run) to but the truth is, as in November 1980, it’s a lot about fixing holes with both sides of the game is clear. young hopefuls and fading veterans. Adam Larsson is both vital to the team and coming off a subpar season, Back in 1980 with the added difficulty being his contract ($4-plus million and just two years left). I like the shutdown blue, but if Holland wants to increase foot The story of Edmonton’s blueline in 1980-81 goes all the way back to speed he could do it by sending Larsson away and bringing in a faster preseason and Bladon’s being shy about going to the minors. Campbell man. Who might that be? Tyson Barrie and Alex Pietrangelo are heading was a big part of the 1979-80 team, but lost his job to the youth into their free agent seasons, but history tells us it’s likely both sign with movement that included young phenom Paul Coffey. Campbell was their respective teams before July 1, 2020. claimed on waivers on the first day of the season, Oct. 10, by the Canucks. That day and its impact on the Oilers team is detailed briefly in Darnell Nurse scored over 40 points last season, and the previous the Peter Gzowski book The Game of our Lives and shows just how season he posted a 49.5 DFF against elites while playing 35 percent of uncertain ownership of a defensive position can be in the NHL. his total 5-on-5 time against the league’s best opponents (via Puck IQ). You can find Oilers fans who don’t value him, but that’s not reality. You As things played out, the team could have used Campbell but the injury can find Oilers fans who believe he’s the best defenceman on the team, to Hicks gave the team a chance to audition young Huddy. He played his but his established level of ability is less than Klefbom and Larsson first NHL game Nov. 15, 1980, scored his first goal the following night. It (despite a tough year in 2018-19 for Larsson). What we do know is that didn’t stop Glen Sather from looking for more proven options: John he’s a top 4D for the Oilers and that has high value. The next contract is Hughes, who had been a WHA Oiler, was claimed on waivers by the real worry. Edmonton from Vancouver in mid-December; Garry Lariviere, a true veteran would arrive in March. It did give Huddy a window, and Kris Russell has two more years left at $4 million and this could be his eventually led to a quality NHL career. final season with the team (he’s in the Pat Price 1980 position). Although maligned about his defensive play, Russell was 15-14 in goal differential If you walked into a bar on a Wednesday night in the 1980-81 season, against elites 5-on-5 last season. He’s a veteran who can play big chances are the defence was: No. 2 Lee Fogolin, No. 4 Kevin Lowe, No. minutes. Next summer, the Nurse contract may take him away, but for 5 Doug Hicks, No. 7 Paul Coffey, No. 8 Risto Siltanen, No. 26 Pat Price. now he can play hard minutes while the new coach eases rookies into Price went at the deadline to Pittsburgh for Pat Hughes in what was a the lineup. helluva trade for the Oilers. Early in the existence of the NHL Oilers, Glen Sather had a consistent defensive group who brought plenty of skill, Matt Benning is the forgotten one, but he has lots to recommend him. I toughness and durability. like the idea of him running second pair (at times) this coming season and his cap hit ($1.9 million, then RFA next summer) is a bargain. I don’t Huddy emerged as an NHL option in November and December 1980, think he lasts the 2019-20 season in Edmonton, and he might be in the playing 12 games and leaving a positive impression. There were Colin Campbell slot. roadblocks, like Sather’s appetite to acquire more veteran options, and a delay in the rookie (Huddy) establishing himself as a big-league player. Caleb Jones isn’t Paul Coffey (the top rookie on the 1980 team) but he is The following season, 1981-82, he split his season between the NHL and first in line among the group pushing. I think you could argue Jones’ the minors and finally found a job as a regular in 1982-83. presence made the Sekera buyout easier. Jones enters camp as the favourite for the No. 3 LD job and it wouldn’t be crazy to see him at This fall and winter, the Oilers will audition six hopefuls to replace veteran second pair RD next season at times (played there at times in Andrej Sekera, who was bought out to make room for an oncoming youth Bakersfield). movement and to give management room to wheel in terms of cap room. These young men are looking for a chance, just as Huddy, Forbes and He isn’t guaranteed the job, but Jones has the edge going in. Ken Bladon were in 1980. Hitchcock, a close adviser to Holland, said of Jones: “I know it’s a really small sample and I have to be careful here, but I see something special. The Chiarelli Oilers What I see is composure under fire, which is an easy thing to talk about Recent Oilers history has seen relatively few changes on defence. If we but a hard thing to handle. He doesn’t panic in high traffic, and that’s count 2015-16 through 2018-19 as the Chiarelli era, six men were part of something that not many players have. If he grows from that, we have a the regular rotation, with two semi-regulars also in the picture. Each of helluva player.” the six defensive positions included 82 regular season games times four Jones played in the NHL for the first time in 2018-19, showing terrific years, or 328 games. Here’s how little turnover we saw in those years: speed and acumen for the position. When playing with Larsson against Darnell Nurse 277 (84 percent) tough opponents (132 minutes) his possession totals suffered (43 percent), but his time away from Larsson (against lesser opponents) saw Oscar Klefbom 239 (73 percent) him post 49 percent possession in 158 minutes (via Natural Stat Trick). In Bakersfield, Jones 5-on-5 performance in goal differential led the young Condors hopefuls:

Jones 44-28 +16

Ethan Bear 41-28 +13

Logan Day 49-36 +13

William Lagesson 48-37 +11

As I see it, the Oilers will enter camp with Klefbom, Larsson, Nurse, Russell and Benning locked in to NHL jobs. The next name on that list, based on all indicators, is Jones.

Joel Persson has an excellent chance to make the team this fall, and finding his way into the NHL this season is vital for the right-shot defender. There are RH blue pushing up for Edmonton, so Persson, at 25, needs to establish himself at the NHL level. Puck mover, adept passer and he’s defended in an excellent pro league for the last two seasons. I wrote about him recently and detailed the numbers that have him just outside the NHL.

Evan Bouchard most closely resembles Coffey in this scenario, although his considerable skills are not a close match for Coffey. Bouchard could smash through during training camp and make the team, pushing all the other hopefuls to the curb. His expert passing is the drug this Oilers team needs. The prevailing wisdom has him spending some or much of the season in Bakersfield.

Bouchard was too good for junior, basically duplicating his previous season. In the AHL, during the playoffs, Bouchard posted 3-5-8 boxcars in eight games while also delivering 6-3 in even-strength on-ice goal differential. If he can deliver that kind of performance in the AHL during the regular season, he won’t be long for California.

William Lagesson doesn’t get as much attention as Jones, but his defensive ability is quality. In the long term, Lagesson is likely to settle in as a shutdown type and penalty killer, meaning his job description doesn’t resemble the other (puck-moving) hopefuls on the list. It’s possible Lagesson jumps up and grabs a job out of camp, but more likely he’ll see action as a recall during the season. Edmonton will need to make a decision this season, as he’ll be waiver eligible (along with Jones and Bear) in the fall of 2020.

Ethan Bear made it to the NHL in 2017-18, getting out in front of the trio (Jones, Lagesson) who arrived in Bakersfield in fall of 2017. He delivered a solid performance in Bakersfield in 2018-19, but did not receive a recall and battled injuries during the season. He was in a better spot entering camp a year ago and the competition has increased. This will be an important winter for him, and it’s possible he stays on the farm while Persson, Bouchard and others make the grade.

Dmitri Samorukov is entering pro hockey this fall with a lot of momentum. He established himself as a quality shutdown defender, using size, speed and an edge to punish OHL forwards. He also blossomed with the puck, suggesting he may have more than one gear in his game. As promising as Bouchard’s arrival in pro hockey is, Samorukov’s style may allow for an easier adjustment.

A reasonable narrative has Jones replacing Sekera on the third pair opening night, with Persson also making the team over Brandon Manning as the No. 7 defenceman. Bouchard would be a likely recall some time during the season, with Benning being dealt to make room in-season (possibly at the deadline).

Next summer, Russell’s exit would coincide with Nurse signing a big contract, with Lagesson replacing Russell on the roster. By fall 2020, the top six defence might be Nurse-Larsson; Klefbom-Persson; Jones- Bouchard and Lagesson. Larsson’s next contract, in 2021, would offer another opportunity for Holland to change the look of the team.

One thing the 1980-81 Oilers teach us: Expect injuries, surprises and a general manager trying to adjust for age and experience all down the line. Don’t expect a Charlie Huddy, but there’s every chance this group of young defencemen will emerge with several NHL jobs in the next two years. Bouchard is the strongest bet, Jones is the closest to NHL ready and it appears Bear is the distant bell.

The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150333 Florida Panthers

Florida Panthers hire replacement for retiring TV analyst Potvin

BY BARRY JACKSON

JULY 30, 2019 05:55 PM

The Panthers didn’t wait long to replace retiring TV analyst Denis Potvin.

A day after Potvin left broadcasting, a familiar face got his old job on Tuesday: Randy Moller.

The colorful Moller has served a variety of broadcasting roles for the Panthers over 21 seasons, including radio play-by-play (a job that Doug Plagens took over in 2015) and for the past four years, as TV host and analyst between the benches.

Moller also has worked in the Panthers’ front office since 2011 and is the team’s vice president of broadcasting and alumni.

Moller, who will be paired with returning play-by-play man Steve Goldstein, played 13 seasons in the NHL with Florida, Quebec, the New York Rangers and Buffalo, recording 45 goals, 180 assists and 1,692 penalty minutes in 815 games.

In making the announcement, Panthers CEO Matt Caldwell cited Moller’s “Randy’s one-of-a-kind personality and knowledge of the game.”

When Moller worked alone on Panthers radiocasts, he punctuated goal calls with random lines from TV shows or movies - a creative touch that generated attention on Dan Le Batard’s radio program.

Miami Herald LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150334 Minnesota Wild

Who might be the next Wild general manager?

JULY 30, 2019 — 9:27PM

Only 14 months after concluding its search for a new general manager, the Wild is embarking on another one only six weeks ahead of training camp. A few possibilities:

Sean Burke: After interviewing with Seattle and being in contention for the Edmonton opening earlier this offseason, Burke could also end up on the Wild’s radar. The former goalie is scouting for the Montreal Canadiens but has added quite a bit of front-office experience to his résumé in recent years with Hockey Canada — including serving as GM of the 2018 Olympic team.

Tom Fitzgerald: The Devils’ AGM interviewed for the Wild GM job last year and could be back in the running this go-around. He’s crossed paths with owner Craig Leipold in the past, captaining Nashville during its first four seasons in the NHL when Leipold owned the Predators. After playing nearly 1,100 games, Fitzgerald retired and worked in player development and as an assistant coach before eventually joining management.

Ron Hextall: A former Vezina Trophy winner, Hextall was GM of the Flyers for four-and-one-half seasons before he was fired last year — ultimately getting replaced by Chuck Fletcher, whose exit from the Wild after 2017-18 paved the way for Fenton’s arrival. He also served as an assistant GM for the Flyers and Los Angeles Kings. That type of background could appeal to the Wild, but Hextall was criticized for his patience in retooling the Flyers — an approach that might give the Wild pause since it wants to get back to the playoffs next season.

Dean Lombardi: Experience will be an important factor considered by the Wild, and Lombardi has plenty of it. He was GM of the Sharks for seven seasons before taking over the Kings in 2006 and leading them to Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014, a pedigree that could be enticing for a Wild franchise also seeking that kind of breakthrough. Lombardi joined the Flyers as a senior advisor after getting fired from the Kings in 2017. He also has ties to Minnesota, working as assistant general manager of the North Stars from 1988 to 1990.

Bill Zito: Like Fitzgerald, Zito also interviewed for the Wild’s vacancy last year. He’s been assistant GM of the Blue Jackets since 2013 — a job that’s required him to negotiate contracts, scout, evaluate players and manage the salary cap and budget. Zito has been praised for his scouting ability; he previously founded hockey agency Acme World Sports. But Zito’s footing in Columbus might be solid, as he added the titles senior vice president of hockey operations and alternate governor only last month.

SARAH MCLELLAN

Star Tribune LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150335 Minnesota Wild Worse than the actual deals — which included Nino Niederreiter for the impossibly invisible Victor Rask — was the lack of intelligence behind them.

Craig Leipold shares blame in this Wild debacle Fenton made what he called “hockey trades,” meaning simple player-for- player transactions, when he should have been trying to win the deals. When he had a chance to move veteran center Eric Staal for value at the JULY 31, 2019 — 12:36AM trading deadline, he signed the 34-year-old to a two-year extension, meaning that the 2019-20 Wild will be simultaneously too young and too JIM SOUHAN old. JIM SOUHAN @SOUHANSTRIB Remember Filip Johansson? Didn’t think so. Fenton spent a first-round draft pick on him, which we can hope was simply a case of mistaken identity. Craig Leipold knew Paul Fenton, yet hired him. Fenton may have been able to survive even those mistakes had he Craig Leipold knows this Wild roster, yet likes it. looked interested in learning on the job, or treating people well. He couldn’t even fake those leadership indicators. Craig Leipold knows how his last big hire went, yet will lead the effort to find Fenton’s replacement, prompting an important hockey question: Blame Fenton for a rare blend of incompetence and arrogance, but only after you blame the guy who knew him, and hired him anyway. May the Can owners be drug-tested? next general manager’s name be drawn out of a large hat. Whatever Leipold’s preference for mood-altering substances, he doesn’t seem to lean toward those that are performance-enhancing. Star Tribune LOADED: 07.31.2019 The problem with him firing Fenton as the team’s general “manager” on Tuesday is that Leipold’s fig leaf is gone. Now Leipold’s decisionmaking, not Fenton’s, becomes the Wild’s biggest problem.

When Leipold owned the Nashville Predators, Fenton worked for him. After a little more than a year as his hand-picked general manager, Leipold fired Fenton, meaning Fenton will go down as one of the shortest-tenured personnel bosses in Minnesota history.

David Kahn, the Minnesota punchline, lasted four years. Tim Brewster, almost as funny, lasted 3½ seasons.

Tom Thibodeau alienated everyone in the Wolves organization and lasted three years. Bill Smith steered the Twins into a ditch and lasted four seasons.

To find a recent example of a personnel boss who didn’t have time to update his LinkedIn page before getting fired, you’d have to look to Fran Foley.

Remember Foley? Didn’t think so. Early in the Wilfs’ tenure as team owners, they hired Foley from the Chargers to become their personnel director, setting up the infamous “Triangle of Authority” with new coach Brad Childress and Vice President Rob Brzezinski.

Foley embellished his résumé — for good reason — and was fired after one draft and three months. After taking New Mexico center Ryan Cook in the second round, Foley bragged about his knowledge of “New Mexico football.”

Fenton displayed no such geographical strength, and only slightly more staying power. He proved to be a paranoid amateur, unable to follow even his own lead.

It’s hard to get fired after one year as a general manager, because getting the job requires laying out a coherent plan for the next three or five years, and owners love to buy into that kind of — what do they like to call it? — “vision.”

Getting fired after one year means you weren’t just bad at your job. It means you alienated lots of important people around you.

At a brief news conference Tuesday afternoon at the Wild headquarters, Leipold showed up in jeans and a sport coat, with no tie, and took full blame. He handled himself well, as usual. He comes across as honest and accountable, and he could receive credit for rectifying his mistake so quickly.

Go ahead, give The Everyman Owner his due. I’d rather take a hard look at the state of his franchise, which is almost as bad as Fenton’s new reputation.

Leipold brought in a trusted ally to rebuild on the fly, and together the old friends turned a frustrated contender into a lousy team with an uncertain future.

Even if Ryan Donato and Kevin Fiala become high-quality players, that won’t mean that Fenton made the best deals possible. 1150336 Minnesota Wild "We're kind of in an area of not really knowing where we're going to go. I really sense that we need to get recharged and we need to get refocused on who we are as a team," Leipold said, later adding: "I believe we are a Minnesota Wild fire GM Paul Fenton after 1 season playoff team. We have to get everybody believing that and moving in the same direction."

Bruce Boudreau was brought back as coach despite the drop in the By DAVE CAMPBELL Associated Press standings. Earlier this month, Fenton's last big move was to sign forward Mats Zuccarello to a five-year, $30 million deal with a full no-trade JULY 30, 2019 — 6:20PM clause. When Leipold phoned Boudreau to inform him of the decision, he took the news in the parking lot of a Toronto area Wal-Mart, waiting for his mother to finish shopping. ST. PAUL, Minn. — Less than 15 months after hiring Paul Fenton as general manager, Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold changed his "His reaction was, 'You've got to do what you've got to do,'" Leipold said. mind. "I think he was surprised."

Still confident he has a contending team, Leipold decided to fire Fenton Leipold had more calls to make with the players, too, with stalwart on Tuesday despite the unusual late-summer timing to try to redirect the defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who's due for a contract extension, at the franchise before it drifted further off track. The Wild's six-year streak of top of the list. making the playoffs ended in the spring. "The one theme I heard from everybody: 'I can't wait for camp to start. I'm "Our organization and our culture were a little different than the way Paul ready to play,'" Leipold said. "They just want to get the end of last year wanted to handle things. We just felt this was the time to do it," Leipold out of their system. Hopefully we can do that." said.

There was no "final straw," the owner said, but rather a series of "smaller Star Tribune LOADED: 07.31.2019 issues" that stacked up on his radar prior to the surprising move.

"It wasn't a good fit. That was really it. The culture wasn't the same," Leipold said. "I didn't have the same vibes with our employees in hockey ops, and I think the attitude of some of the players and all the people and the coaching and in the locker room and in the training room, it was just a feeling that we didn't have the right leader for our organization."

When Leipold picked Fenton to replace Chuck Fletcher there was no desire in the front office to embark on a significant rebuild, particularly in the NHL with a championship that is the most attainable of the major sports given the annual unpredictability of postseason play. Fenton initially obliged the owner's belief that "tweaking" was all that needed to be done, but the three forward-for-forward trades he made before the deadline neither boosted the team's chance of qualifying for the playoffs nor restocked the prospect pool while disassembling the once-promising core.

Ryan Donato showed flashes of productivity in his arrival from Boston for Charlie Coyle. Kevin Fiala is 4½ years younger, at least, than Mikael Granlund, the player who was shipped to Nashville in that deal.

Coyle thrived as the Bruins reached the Stanley Cup Final, though, as did Nino Niederreiter during Carolina's surge to the Eastern Conference finals. Victor Rask, the underperforming center acquired from the Hurricanes for Niederreiter, still has three years at $4 million each remaining on his contract.

Leipold, however, said he didn't factor those deals that have added angst to a frustrated fan base into the decision, even acknowledging they could wind up benefiting the Wild over time. The owner, instead, described Fenton and his no-nonsense personality as entirely overmatched for the job, with the exception of his "tremendous" scouting ability.

"It was the other portion of being a general manager, the organizational part, the strategic part, the management of people, the hiring and motivating of the departments," Leipold said. "When I talk about not being a good fit, that's what I'm referring to."

Fenton came from Nashville, where he was the long-time lieutenant under general manager David Poile. Leipold, of course, once owned the Predators. So why couldn't he have avoided the misstep in the first place?

"That's a great question. I missed it, and this is on me," Leipold said. "I don't like the fact that it didn't work out. Paul is a really strong, strategic scout. He identifies talent, understands development, all of that, but there were parts of his role that just wasn't working out to my satisfaction."

Fenton was unavailable for comment.

Assistant general manager Tom Kurvers was named acting general manager, until a replacement is hired. Leipold said he had no timetable for the search that also will be steered by team president Matt Majka and recently hired executive adviser Mike Modano. The owner said he'd prefer previous experience, which Fenton did not have despite working 25 years in the league. 1150337 Minnesota Wild forwards Victor Rask (Carolina), Kevin Fiala (Nashville) and Ryan Donato (Boston) — trades that drew criticism but transactions Leipold said didn’t cause Fenton’s firing.

Wild General Manager Paul Fenton fired by owner Craig Leipold And although Leipold had been mulling a change ever since the end of the season, which saw the Wild fade from contention amid a scoring shortage, Fenton continued to work. By Sarah McLellan Star Tribune His support staff was overhauled, as Andrew Brunette, Shep Harder and JULY 31, 2019 — 12:03AM Andrew C. Thomas were let go and Alexandra Mandrycky joined Seattle — this after senior vice president of hockey operations Brent Flahr

reunited with Fletcher midseason in Philadelphia, where Fletcher took Which players will take to the ice for the Wild next season is all but over as GM. finalized, the normal status for an NHL roster on the brink of August that Hires under Fenton, which included assistant general manager Tom has had nearly four months to recalibrate through the draft and free Kurvers, assistant to the GM Jack Ferreira and amateur scout P.J. agency. Fenton, will stay on board, Leipold said. Kurvers is acting as interim GM, But who will oversee this roster is suddenly unclear. and Bruce Boudreau remains as coach. His future beyond this final season of his four-year contract will be decided by the new GM. Only 14 months after hiring him, the Wild dismissed Paul Fenton from his post as general manager Tuesday — an unsurprising move in the sense This year’s draft haul was more traditional, with the Wild tabbing winger it capped off a tenure that was tumultuous but a decision that puts the Matt Boldy with the 12th overall pick, and Fenton attempted to address organization in a bizarre spot seeking leadership about six weeks ahead the offensives woes in free agency by signing right winger Mats of training camp. Zuccarello to a five-year, $30 million deal.

“The reason for the termination is not any one big issue,” owner Craig He also tried to move out Zucker at least twice, once at the deadline to Leipold said during a news conference at the team’s St. Paul Calgary and again in the offseason to Pittsburgh, and these botched headquarters. “Over a time, smaller issues just were building up and [I] trades only stoked confusion about the Wild’s plan. ultimately decided that this was not a good fit. Our organization and our “The culture wasn’t the same,” Leipold said. “I didn’t have the same vibes culture were a little different than the way Paul wanted to handle things. with our employees in hockey ops, and I think the attitude of some of the We just felt this was the time to do it, and we were going to move forward players and all the people and the coaching and the locker room and the in a different direction.” training room — it was just a feeling that we didn’t have the right leader Guiding the Wild past the first round of the playoffs and toward a Stanley for our organization.” Cup was Fenton’s objective when he was named the third GM in Leipold and Wild President Matt Majka led last year’s GM search, and franchise history on May 21, 2018, after 12 seasons as an assistant GM they’ll be at the helm again alongside new executive advisor and Hall of in Nashville. He filled Chuck Fletcher’s void after Fletcher’s contract Famer Mike Modano — an addition that should offer a hockey wasn’t renewed. perspective to the process. Modano is not considered a candidate. Instead, the Wild missed the postseason for the first time in seven years Already, Leipold has options in mind and plans to circle back on the list of and looked caught in the unenviable position of having too veteran a possibilities from a year ago. roster to embrace a rebuild but not competitive enough to seriously contend — a tricky no man’s land that Leipold seemed to acknowledge An experienced hire is Leipold’s preference, but he isn’t ruling anyone when he said, “We’re kind of in an area of not really knowing where we’re out at this stage. How a potential GM interacts with players, including the going to go.” trust between the two sides, will be a factor.

Leipold delivered the news to Fenton, 59, Tuesday morning over the The Wild isn’t operating under a deadline, a patient approach that makes phone, a conversation Leipold described as brief and one he sensed sense considering the calendar. Forwards Fiala and Joel Eriksson Ek caught Fenton off guard. The two had worked with each other in the past, and minor leaguers Louie Belpedio and Hunter Warner are the only when Leipold owned the Predators from 1998-2007. restricted free agents who remain unsigned.

While Leipold came to know Fenton as a strong scout and talent Still, the uncertainty in the meantime could be cumbersome. evaluator, Leipold said other facets of the GM role — such as his managerial style and how he motivated departments — didn’t meet Defenseman Jared Spurgeon is entering the last season of his four-year, expectations. $20.75 million contract and can sign an extension now. Leipold offered to meet Spurgeon in his native Edmonton this week, but the two decided to “I missed it,” Leipold said, “and this is on me.” have lunch another time.

Even though the timing of the dismissal is unusual, there wasn’t a “final Almost everyone else on the team also spoke to Leipold. Players were straw” that triggered it. Leipold said he might have liked to cut ties understanding of the situation and expressed an eagerness to get back sooner, but he wasn’t ready until now — evaluating a vibe that felt off in action. after exit meetings with players. When that happens, Leipold expects the Wild to be competitive despite “There was a sense there that just things weren’t all right,” Leipold how turbulent the last year-plus has been — a rough patch that has only explained. “So as we pulled back the onion of some of those issues, we plopped more adversity between the organization and its ultimate goal. realized that was maybe part of the problem. But I’m certainly not pointing the finger at Paul that, if there’s issues in our locker room, I’m “I believe we are a playoff team,” Leipold said. “We have to get not saying it’s Paul. I just didn’t think Paul was the solution.” everybody believing that and moving in the same direction.”

Fenton did not return a request for comment.

After making a controversial 2018 first-round pick at No. 24 in Filip Star Tribune LOADED: 07.31.2019 Johansson, an under-the-radar defenseman who struggled last season in Sweden, Fenton was conservative in his first free-agency period. He added three fourth-line forwards and third-pair defenseman Greg Pateryn in addition to re-signing defenseman Matt Dumba and winger Jason Zucker to long-term contracts.

Despite a steady first half, the Wild started to struggle after season- ending injuries to Dumba and captain Mikko Koivu, but Fenton didn’t acquire outside help to patch those holes.

Leading up to the trade deadline, he jettisoned popular pillars in Nino Niederreiter, Mikael Granlund and Charlie Coyle in exchange for 1150338 Minnesota Wild organizational part, the strategic part, the management of people, the hiring and motivating of the departments. When I talk about not being a good fit, that’s what I’m referring to.”

Wild owner Craig Leipold ‘missed’ on fired GM Paul Fenton There’s still work left to be done for whomever takes over for Fenton, with star defenseman Jared Spurgeon still un-signed, as well as restricted free agents Fiala and Joel Eriksson Ek. By DANE MIZUTANI | [email protected] | Pioneer Press It’s clear Leipold already has a handful of candidates in mind, and PUBLISHED: July 30, 2019 at 12:39 pm | UPDATED: July 30, 2019 at besides working alongside team president Matt Majka again during the 6:22 PM hiring process, he plans to enlist the help of Hall of Fame player Mike Modano, hired as an executive advisor in the front office this offseason.

“I’m thinking I would really like to get an experienced general manager if Wild owner Craig Leipold knew he made a mistake. He’d known for a the right fit is out there,” Leipold said. “That said, we’re not going to rule while, like for months. out anybody at this point. I just think that an experienced person would The decision to hire Paul Fenton as general manager had been eating at be a good fit for us.” him since April, when the Wild missed the playoffs for the first time in If one thing is clear amid all the confusion, it’s that Leipold still believes seven years. Finally, nearly four months later, he took the first step in the Wild are a playoff team. He’s excited about the current roster and correcting his error, abruptly firing Fenton after just 14 months in St. Paul. wants to find someone to get everyone else going in the same direction. “I missed it,” Leipold said Tuesday. “This is on me. I don’t like the fact “My phone has already been ringing off the hook,” Leipold said. that it didn’t work out.” “Everybody likes this job. It’s a great market. It’s a great opportunity. We It was a brief conversation, Leipold said, and Fenton left the phone call have good young players. This is a job that a general manager would surprised by the decision. How could he not be? It was a bombshell that love to have. And they’re all calling me right now.” nobody saw coming.

While there certainly was discontent throughout the organization since Pioneer Press LOADED: 07.31.2019 Fenton was hired away from the Nashville Predators last May, the timing of the move still comes as a surprise.

That said, Leipold made it clear that there wasn’t one big issue that led to this decision, no final straw that broke the camel’s back. Instead, it was a growing list of issues: questionable roster moves, a lack of clear direction and poor morale throughout the organization.

“Ultimately, I decided that this was not a good fit,” Leipold told reporters. “Our culture was a little different than the way Paul wanted to handle things. We just felt this was the time to do it and we were going to move forward in a different direction.”

That started on Tuesday. A search for a replacement will begin immediately; until one is found, assistant general manager Tom Kurvers will run the show. Asked why Fenton wasn’t let go before the NHL Draft and free agency, Leipold said, “I wasn’t ready at that point. I just wasn’t ready to pull the trigger.”

After making several unproductive moves at midseason, Fenton was allowed to wheel and deal this offseason, taking control of the draft last month and, most notably, signing Mats Zuccarello to a five-year, $30 million contract at the start of free agency this month.

“Would I have liked to have maybe done it sooner? Perhaps,” Leipold said.

No doubt Fenton had the ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup but it might have been the only place in which he aligned with the rest of the organization. Rather than retool a roster that had made the playoffs in six consecutive seasons, he dismantled it at midseason, leaving a team with no chemistry and the franchise with no direction.

Whatever his master plan was, Fenton’s decisions were uniformly unsuccessful. It started with signing defenseman Greg Pateryn, centers Eric Fehr and Matt Hendricks, and winger JT Brown last summer, none of which made the Wild better.

It only got worse when he traded away veterans Nino Niederreiter, Charlie Coyle and Mikael Granlund in separate moves netting Victor Rask, Ryan Donato and Kevin Fiala, respectively. He also seemed to have an obsession with reacquiring middling players he knew from his days as Nashville’s assistant GM. Pontus Aberg and Anthony Bitetto joined the team and did little.

In hindsight, maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Fenton saw his approval rating plummet.

In the end, it just wasn’t the right fit, and as much as Leipold thought he knew Fenton going back to when he was the Predators’ owner, there were things he couldn’t see coming.

“I knew him in a different way; he was an assistant general manager doing scouting,” Leipold said. “That was his role and he was tremendous at that. It was the other portion of being a general manager like the 1150339 Minnesota Wild with Spurgeon, but he’s on vacation and the two will get together in mid- August.

He spoke with everybody from captain Mikko Koivu to defenseman Ryan Why Paul Fenton was fired and where the Wild could turn for their next Suter, who was very close with Fenton. GM Leipold’s goal is to get all his players back on the same page so they’re invigorated to have a rebound season.

By Michael Russo “Listen, we have a good team,” he said. “I honestly believe that, that we Jul 30, 2019 have a team that can make the playoffs and will make the playoffs next year. We picked up a couple new players; we’re healthier now than we were last year. That always brings your locker room down when you miss the playoffs the first time in seven years. I think we’re gonna need to get Craig Leipold stood in front of the microphones and owned his mistake. a (GM) that has a lot of trust with the players. I think that will be a factor. “I missed it, and this is on me,” the Wild owner said of whiffing so badly We’re certainly going to probe how the general manager will interact with on last offseason’s hiring of now-fired Paul Fenton as general manager. players and motivate players, so that will be part of the interviewing “I don’t like the fact that it didn’t work out. Paul is a really strong, strategic process.” scout, identifies talent, understands development, all of that, but there Last year, Leipold and team president Matt Majka were the only ones were parts of his role that just wasn’t working out to my satisfaction.” conducting the interviews. This time around, they will have a “hockey Leipold, the original owner of the expansion Nashville Predators, knew guy” included in the process. Executive advisor Mike Modano, the former Fenton from his days there as assistant GM. In fact, the first person No. 1 pick of the North Stars and a Hall of Famer, might not sit in on Leipold interviewed last spring was Fenton, who was the immediate front- every interview, but he will provide questions and feedback. runner to replace Chuck Fletcher, in part because Leipold was so “I spoke to Mike today; he’s really willing to be a part of the process,” intrigued by his ability to identify talent. Leipold said. “And he was tremendous at that,” said Leipold, who nevertheless fired Leipold said his phone has been ringing off the hook with interested Fenton “during a short conversation” Tuesday morning after 14 months candidates. on the job because he was not the “right fit” for the organization. “Everybody likes this job. It’s a great market,” he said. “It’s a great So what ultimately did Fenton in? opportunity. We have good, young players. This is a job that a GM would “It was the other portion of being a general manager — the love to have. And they’re all calling me right now.” organizational, the strategic, the management of people, the hiring and After swinging and missing on Fenton despite the fact he had 25 years of motivating of the departments,” Leipold said. “When I talk about not being experience and was 58 at the time he was brought on, Leipold indicated a fit, that’s what I’m referring to.” he wants to hire somebody with vast GM experience. The Wild just can’t A lot has been made of Fenton’s much-maligned trades this past season, afford any more mistakes. but when it came to the reason he lost his job out of the blue so late in “In all honesty, I’m thinking I would really like to get an experienced the summertime, Leipold indicated it was because of the lack of qualities general manager if the right fit is out there, but we’re not going to rule out needed to be a good leader. anybody at this point,” Leipold said. “I just think that an experienced There was no final straw, Leipold said. person would be a good fit for us.”

Instead, it was a slow bleed of “smaller issues just building up.” Some front-office candidates who don’t have full-time NHL GM experience include last year’s runner-up, Tom Fitzgerald (New Jersey), Leipold acknowledged that he started to really wonder after the season if (Pittsburgh), Bill Zito (Columbus), Scott Mellanby (Montreal), he made a dire mistake. Exit interviews with players gave a sense that Norm Maciver (Chicago), Mike Futa (Los Angeles) and Paul Krepelka “things weren’t all right.” Several staff members, from the hockey ops (Carolina). As of now, it’s not believed Leipold has reached out for department to the locker room, have been unhappy with the way they’ve permission to talk to these candidates. been treated for some time. Leipold hoped he could work with Fenton this summer to improve on some of his weaknesses heading into next If he goes the experienced route, some names include former Flyers GM season. Ron Hextall, former Oilers and Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli, former Kings and Sharks GM Dean Lombardi, former Islanders GM Garth Snow, But when it became apparent to Leipold that nothing was changing, that former Lightning GM Brian Lawton and Hurricanes senior VP of hockey players were still unhappy, that the morale of his front office and operations Rick Dudley. coaching staff and locker room staff was low, he decided it was necessary to admit error and pull the trigger before further damage could Another intriguing name is Carolina president and general manager Don be done. Waddell, who helped guide the Hurricanes to the Eastern Conference final after acquiring Nino Niederreiter in a trade with Fenton and the Wild Leipold said he just wasn’t ready earlier this summer to make such a in January. Sources say Waddell is currently without a contract for next rash decision only one year into Fenton’s tenure. season.

“It was a realization that our organization was a little different than what Then there are untraditional candidates, like NBC’s Pierre McGuire, a we thought Paul was fitting into,” Leipold said. “That was really it. The candidate in 2009. culture wasn’t the same. I didn’t have the same vibes with our employees in hockey ops, and I think the attitude of some of the players and all the It’s very much believed Hextall is the leading candidate as of now. people in the coaching and the locker room and the training room — it Sources say Leipold and Majka have been doing due diligence on him for was just a feeling that we didn’t have the right leader for our a while and have already asked Philadelphia for permission to speak with organization.” him. Sources say Leipold and Majka might be interviewing Hextall as soon as Wednesday in Racine, Wisc. After informing Fenton of his decision Tuesday morning, Leipold made a round of phone calls to explain his reasoning to almost every player. The former Flyers goalie is a patient GM and an advocate of building a team from within. According to The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor, when he “They appreciated the call. They understand what’s happening. They all took over in Philly, he essentially convinced late owner Ed Snider — a want to get back,” Leipold said. “That’s the one theme I heard from notorious win-now guy — that making a concerted effort to replenish the everybody: ‘I can’t wait for camp to start. I’m ready to play.’ They just farm system would pay dividends down the road and be the path to want to get the end of last year out of their system. Hopefully, we can do winning a Cup. Like the Wild, he favored more of a “retool” than a flat that.” rebuild in Philadelphia, and he stated on numerous occasions he felt like it was important for the team to remain competitive even if it wasn’t a true One of his first calls was to defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who is mulling contender. over whether to sign a contract extension with the Wild before the season. Leipold was willing to fly to Edmonton on Friday to have lunch Hextall believes you don’t want to develop young talent on a bottom- feeder; you want them to join a roster with good players who can at least be in the mix for a playoff spot. He’s not a guy to trade away draft picks for short-term fixes if he thinks his team isn’t truly one of the best, or to dive headfirst into the free-agent pool. The goalie situation in Philly turned into a problem by the end of Hextall’s 4 1/2-year tenure. He relied on older guys with injury concerns (Brian Elliott, Michal Neuvirth) to be that bridge to Carter Hart, and that torpedoed the first half of 2018-19 when they got hurt.

Leipold said he has no timetable to replace Fenton, although one would assume he wants somebody in place well in advance of the Sept. 12 training camp.

He just wants it to be the right guy.

“I really sense that we need to get recharged, and we need to get refocused on who we are as a team and don’t let the outside elements distract us,” Leipold said. “I’m excited about our team. I like our defense. I like our goaltending. I like our offense. We should be a playoff team. I look at it and I believe we are a playoff team. We have to get everybody believing that and moving in the same direction. We have to believe we’re a playoff team and we’re going to be there next year.”

The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150340 Minnesota Wild As it turns out, any of them would almost certainly have been a better fit than Fenton and all should be considered for the now vacant post.

Fenton was not ready for the job, one league source said. Paul Fenton was the wrong hire and Wild owner Craig Leipold deserves the blame “Not even close,” he said.

The red flags waved even more emphatically during this past season when Fenton, who had already ruffled feathers with staff within the By Scott Burnside organization, moved to usher out core players Nino Niederreiter, Mikael Jul 30, 2019 Granlund and Charlie Coyle in the hopes of creating a new culture with a Wild team that had won just two playoff rounds in 14 seasons heading into last season.

What used to be commonly known as the State of Hockey has quickly It wasn’t that this idea was misguided. The team seemed to be crying out devolved into the State of Chaos. for a makeover of some degree and those core young players had not ascended to a level that put the Wild at anything more than a bubble There is no other way to assess what transpired with the Minnesota Wild team. But it was the execution that was lacking. And execution is what over the past year as one of the league’s most important franchises GMs do. Or they should. came untethered. The returns for those players ranged from mediocre to confounding to The mildly surprising hire of veteran NHL executive Paul Fenton just over disastrous. a year ago as the team’s general manager was followed by a rash of questionable personnel moves, attempted moves and clashes with staff. Ryan Donato is a good player who came to Minnesota in the Coyle deal, And it ended shockingly Tuesday morning with Fenton being fired by but several NHL sources said Coyle should have yielded more given his owner Craig Leipold. size and effectiveness when used at his natural position as a center, which is where he played for a Boston Bruins team that went to the It is one of the shortest tenures of a full-time GM in recent NHL history Stanley Cup final. and leaves the franchise trying to pick up the organizational pieces with training camp a little more than six weeks away. Kevin Fiala is a good player whom Fenton knew well from Nashville but certainly the undersized Fiala does not possess the skill set that Big picture, the bombshell of a move nudges the Wild into laughingstock Granlund, the leading scorer for the Wild at the time of his trade to territory, which is never a good neighborhood for a professional sports Nashville, boasts. Fiala ended up with just three goals in 19 games for franchise to take up residence. the Wild. When the GM of a pro sports team makes an error in hiring a coach, He will never be a game-breaker, one source said. making a trade or drafting poorly, he or she pays for those mistakes with his job. Niederreiter was a key contributor to a Carolina team that made the playoffs and went to the Eastern Conference final, while Victor Rask, who That’s the life whether you’re the dean of NHL GMs like Nashville’s David came to Minnesota in the deal, scored twice in 23 games and is a third- Poile or a newbie like Fenton, who spent a quarter of a century waiting line player at best – a fringe roster player at worst. for his chance at the coveted job after mentoring under Poile. At some point, the sand runs out. “A joke,” one NHL source said of the Niederreiter for Rask deal.

Usually, though, it takes longer than 14 months and that’s why the Another longtime executive said that the moves taken as a body of work Fenton case puts the Wild and Leipold under an uncomfortable spotlight. made little sense given that the Wild didn’t get more talented but only smaller; and while there is a trend to speed and skill over size, the When an owner makes crucial mistakes in judgment, whether in terms of Central Division is full of big, strong, skilled teams. making a critical hire, approving a preposterous salary or building a new facility, he doesn’t pay for it with his job but with his credibility and the There were other questionable moves, but what is strange and more than credibility of his franchise. a bit troubling is that Leipold insisted Tuesday it wasn’t any one moment or move that led to the decision to fire Fenton and specifically that it And that is why Leipold has to take ownership of what transpired since wasn’t the trades that led to Fenton’s dismissal. he took over the team in 2008, and more specifically, he must take ownership for hiring Fenton, which has now been revealed as a colossal If that’s the case, then this truly is a massive faux pas by ownership in error. hiring arguably the single-most-important employee in any NHL organization. It’s easy to toss a ton of dirt on Fenton now, but this fiasco ultimately lands at Leipold’s feet and he admitted as much in talking with the media If you’re an optimist – and who doesn’t love an optimist? – credit Leipold in Minnesota Tuesday afternoon. for looking out from his owner’s suite and understanding that this wasn’t working and that he’d made a grievous error in hiring Fenton. Now, there are a couple of ways to unpack this. Damage has been done, of that there is no doubt. But at least Leipold Leipold, who knew Fenton from Leipold’s days as the owner of the didn’t wait until next offseason or beyond to acknowledge that mistake. Predators, perhaps felt badly about passing Fenton over when he hired Chuck Fletcher to be the Wild’s GM in 2009 and opted to give Fenton his Lots of owners do not have the chutzpah to make that call. first NHL GM posting after Fletcher was dismissed at the end of the 2017-18 season. Of course, if you’re not so optimistic the question has to be asked how ownership could have made such a monumental hiring gaffe to begin Fenton clearly chafed at having to wait so long for such an opportunity, with. And how it was that a month ago there was still enough faith in but he learned at the knee of the winningest GM of all time in Poile, Fenton that he oversaw the team’s draft in Vancouver and a few days before finally getting an opportunity to build a winner of his own. That later that there was enough faith in him that he was allowed to author the was a nice narrative to sell to the good folks of Minnesota who have been free-agent signing of Mats Zuccarello to a five-year, $30 million deal, waiting perhaps not so patiently for the Wild to become something of a adding more skill but contributing to an overall diminishing team size? contender. Leipold mentioned that in player exit interviews, which he took part in, In hindsight, the fact that Fenton waited so long to finally snag a full-time there was some indication that things were not totally in sync with his GM gig now appears that it should have been a red flag. And given the new GM and the team. Why didn’t he act sooner, then, if there were crop of up-and-coming NHL executives with solid resumes that were troubling issues that surfaced in talking with players? Or is Leipold’s available to Leipold, it’s clear he badly misread Fenton and his ability to relationship with his players part of the problem with the Wild? work with those in the organization. Those potential candidates included former Nashville captain Tom Fitzgerald, who has worked in various Those familiar with the team talk about the friendly, close relationship executive roles with Pittsburgh and now New Jersey; Bill Guerin, who is that Leipold has with some of his players – most notably Ryan Suter and the current assistant GM in Pittsburgh; and Bill Zito, a former agent who . is now a top executive with the Columbus Blue Jackets. It’s important that cornerstone players like Parise and Suter are on board with the team’s long-term plan, but there is also a line that should separate ownership from the players lest there be confusion about the chain of command and just who is charting the organization’s course forward.

Owners own and make the sometimes hard decision about what the team is going to look like, how it’s going to act and how it’s going to be successful as a business, how it should fit as a part of a community and ultimately how it can be successful on the playing field.

Players play. The line between the two should be clear and unbroachable.

Have the Wild gone astray in terms of having those lines blurred?

And if so, can they be unblurred?

These are questions Leipold must ask himself.

Certainly the Wild have fallen behind most of the teams in the Central Division in recent years and specifically in the aftermath of the twin 13- year, $98 million deals signed by Suter and Parise in the summer of 2012.

No team makes those moves without the full blessing and often hands-on involvement from ownership. That’s a given. But those deals were expected to be the beginning of a grand run in one of the best hockey markets in the NHL. Those were deals that should have made Minnesota a destination market in the league.

Instead, the time since those two deals were inked has been marked by injuries to key personnel, coaching changes, long ill-timed slumps and quick playoff exits or, as was the case last season, missing the postseason entirely.

Now Parise and Suter are 35 and 34 respectively and the gap between the aging leadership group and the next generation of players ready to take over the mantel has never been greater.

Leipold told reporters he believes the Wild are a playoff team.

With Bruce Boudreau, one of the game’s most successful regular season coaches, behind the bench, Devan Dubnyk in goal and good health for Parise, Suter, Mikko Koivu, Eric Staal et al, they should be in the mix. Maybe they’re a playoff team. Most likely they are not.

One thing they aren’t is a Stanley Cup contender, which has been Leipold’s dream since taking over the team. And because of the owner’s missteps, they are further from that goal today than they were a year ago.

How much further will depend in large part on how fast if at all Leipold can recover from this embarrassment.

Hall of Famer Mike Modano will help in the search for Fenton’s replacement and that can’t hurt, although it’s worth noting that Modano has no real executive experience since retiring from the NHL in 2011.

At the end of the day, regardless of whether it’s Tampa or Minnesota, the job of building a Stanley Cup contender isn’t the job of the owner but of the GM the owner hires to perform that task.

Whether it’s Fitzgerald, Guerin, Zitto, Ron Hextall, Mark Hunter or Sean Burke, the buck will stop on this hire with Leipold. He must hire the right person and then take not just one, but several steps back into the shadows where almost all good owners reside.

Leipold’s job isn’t on the line, of course. But his credibility and the credibility of his team are definitely in play, which means he can’t afford to repeat the mistake he made just 14 months ago.

The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150341 Minnesota Wild had hit a wall in the playoffs. Just 14 months later, Fenton is out. (Michael Russo)

Fenton also nearly traded Jason Zucker at the trade deadline to the aul Fenton relieved of duties as Wild general manager after one rocky Calgary Flames on the same day he signed Eric Staal to a two-year season extension rather than trading him to what sources said was the Boston Bruins. It also got out in June that Zucker would have been traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins had Phil Kessel waived his no-trade. Michael Russo Beyond that, sources said there were numerous accounts of unhappy Jul 30, 2019 employees throughout the organization and countless other turbulent incidents that made their way into Leipold’s office. Sources said for

weeks that it was becoming abundantly clear to Leipold that Fenton was Paul Fenton waited 25 years to rise to the post of general manager. On not fitting into the culture that he and CEO Matt Majka had worked to Tuesday, his rocky tenure with the Wild came to an abrupt end after only create since Leipold purchased the team in 2008. Leipold also noted one non-playoff season, news that was first reported by The Athletic. Tuesday that exit interviews with players added to the sense that something wasn’t right. In a late-summer decision that will send shockwaves throughout the State of Hockey and the entire league, sources said owner Craig Leipold “I missed it,” Leipold said of Fenton not being the right fit, “and this is on called Fenton at his offseason home in Cape Cod late Tuesday morning me.” and cut ties with him a little more than 14 months after naming the So rather than giving Fenton another year’s chance to right the ship on longtime Nashville Predators assistant GM the Wild’s third GM in team the ice and off of it, Leipold obviously felt he better pull the plug now history. The team announced the move later Tuesday. rather than allow further potential damage to come. “After giving much thought to this difficult decision, I informed Paul today While there’s little doubt Fenton was blindsided by Tuesday’s phone call, that he was not the right fit for our organization going forward,” Leipold it’s believed he knew he was on thin ice after meetings with Leipold about said in a release from the team. “I believe we have a good hockey team, his job performance this offseason. a team that will compete for a playoff spot this year, and I look forward to hiring a general manager that will help us win a Stanley Cup. I would like Leipold’s antenna has been up, which explains why he has wanted to be to thank Paul for his time with the Wild and wish him and his family the in the know on several of Fenton’s decisions, sitting in on scouting best in the future.” meetings and staying to the right of Fenton on Day 1 of the draft. It’s not out of character, but Leipold was also in the war room on July 1 — the Obviously, the timing is unusual — 115 days into the offseason, 44 days opening of free agency — and has wanted to know about all trade talks. until training camp and less than a month after Fenton signed Mats Zuccarello to a five-year, $30-million deal. No one incident caused the It’s believed Fenton has two years left on his contract at around $1 ousting, but the lingering fallout from a series of arguably bad trades and million per season, so it’s a relatively inexpensive dismissal when one other personnel matters, along with internal issues that, sources said, considers Wild coach Bruce Boudreau makes almost three times as created low morale throughout the hockey operations department and much and Ken Holland was just hired by Edmonton as GM for a reported dressing room forced Leipold to make the move before Fenton could $5 million a year. even manage his second season with the Wild. Sources said Leipold and Majka will immediately launch a GM search, “The reason for the termination is not any one big issue,” Leipold said at with assistant GM Tom Kurvers named acting GM until a replacement a press conference Tuesday. “It was over time, smaller issues were can be found. No other changes in the front office have been made yet, building up. It was not a good fit.” so as of now Fenton’s senior advisor, Jack Ferreira, remains with the team, as does Fenton’s son, P.J., who co-ran the draft table. Leipold, the 11-year Wild owner who will be available to the media Tuesday afternoon, is clearly doing something that’s not easy — This could be a very expedited GM search because Leipold undergoes acknowledging that he feels he erred when choosing Fenton over New surgery on his right hip Sept. 17 and he’d surely want to have somebody Jersey Devils assistant GM Tom Fitzgerald in May of 2018. in place well in advance of the start of training camp Sept. 12 and the Traverse City prospect tournament Sept. 6. While this isn’t exactly Neil Smith being fired by the Islanders less than five weeks into his tenure in the summer of 2006, Fenton’s run in During the last search, Leipold and Majka interviewed a long list of Minnesota is among the shortest GM stints in recent NHL history. candidates that included Fitzgerald, Penguins assistant GM Bill Guerin, former agent Bill Zito, Bruins executive director of player personnel John Leipold, the original owner of the Predators, knew Fenton from his days Ferguson Jr., now-Lightning GM Julien BriseBois and Ducks assistant in Nashville and felt his eye for scouting talent would help fill the GM Dave Nonis. cupboard of an organization that traded a ton of draft picks the past several years and was paying the price for those decisions lately. It’s part After Fenton, it wouldn’t be shocking if the Wild decided to go the of the reason why Leipold ultimately hired Fenton despite the red flags of experience route this time around — Leipold said Tuesday he would him being turned down for several NHL GM posts over the past decade, prefer that, though he isn’t ruling anything out. If they do, there’s really including with the Wild in 2009. only a small list. Some candidates include former Philadelphia Flyers GM Ron Hextall, former Edmonton Oilers and Boston Bruins GM Peter Fenton’s most notable moves as Wild GM started last summer when he Chiarelli, former San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings GM Dean signed defenseman Greg Pateryn and forwards Eric Fehr, Matt Lombardi and former New York Islanders GM Garth Snow. Hendricks and J.T. Brown. All were moves that tweaked the fourth line and third defense pair but didn’t eat into a core that was coming off its Hextall, who did good work as assistant GM in L.A. and helped build fourth first-round exit in a six-year postseason run. quite the prospect pool in Philly, could be the leading contender. That would be ironic since former Wild GM Chuck Fletcher, who lasted eight Last season, in a five-week span, Fenton acquired Brad Hunt and Pontus more years in Minnesota than Fenton did, replaced Hextall as the Flyers’ Aberg, claimed Anthony Bitetto off waivers, and traded Nino Niederreiter, GM. Charlie Coyle and Mikael Granlund. The returns for the latter were, respectively, Victor Rask, Ryan Donato and Kevin Fiala, and the Bitetto Nino Niederreiter was struggling to recapture his 20-plus-goal form last pickup a day after acquiring Hunt triggered a series of events that helped season, so he was traded to Carolina, where he promptly found a derail a team that was suddenly rolling at the time. groove, scoring 14 goals in 36 games. (James Guillory / USA Today)

While the team has high hopes for Donato and Fiala, the Niederreiter If the Wild decide to look at up-and-comers again, Fitzgerald, Guerin and trade stung as he went on to shine in Carolina, while Rask struggled to Zito are still highly respected candidates, while BriseBois has since stay on the ice with the Wild. Entering this season, Rask’s likely going to replaced in Tampa Bay. be relegated to a fourth-line role with no special teams responsibility despite three years left on his contract at $4 million a season. Zito is a former agent who worked closely in Columbus with GM Jarmo Kekalainen, while Fitzgerald and Guerin have worked for years in NHL Last May, the Wild named Paul Fenton their new GM, with owner Craig front offices, so it wouldn’t exactly be an in-job training program if they Leipold hoping a fresh face could provide a positive jolt to a team that were hired by Minnesota. Plus, they have the type of personalities that would allow them to enter a fractured Wild dressing room in an attempt to patch things up.

During last year’s interviews, Leipold and Majka conducted the meetings without a so-called hockey guy as part of the process. A year later, Hall of Famer Mike Modano works for the Wild as executive advisor, so it would not be surprising if Modano is either part of some of the interviews or at least used as a consultant. He is not a candidate to take the GM position, Leipold said.

Fenton’s dismissal comes at a delicate time for the organization.

— Veteran Zach Parise, who turned 35 on Sunday and has six years left on his contract, is very worried about the current state of the organization and at his age isn’t intrigued by being part of a rebuild. He voiced his thoughts in an article in The Athletic on Saturday. Sources have also told The Athletic that Fenton had been talking to a handful of teams about Parise and was made one trade offer that has been described to The Athletic as underwhelming.

Surely, Leipold is hoping Fenton’s firing is met positively by Parise. Leipold, who recently met with Ryan Suter and is making the rounds with a lot of players to try to get some personalities back on the same page, met with Parise last week about his disenchantment. The two apparently had a good meeting.

— Also, defenseman Jared Spurgeon is entering the final year of his contract. Spurgeon told The Athletic earlier this month that he’s willing to commit long-term to the Wild, but he wanted to first meet with Fenton to hear his vision toward long-term success in Minnesota.

“You just get that itch that you only have so many years to actually have a chance and win and I just want to hear that plan,” Spurgeon said in early July.

Fenton was slow out of the starting gate in the Spurgeon negotiations, meeting with Spurgeon’s agent for the first time at the draft — peculiar because that would have been an ideal time to trade Spurgeon if the two sides discovered there was no way they could hammer out a deal.

Since that meeting, sources say, Fenton made an offer in the $6.8 million range to Spurgeon, but the market arguably shifted when Jacob Trouba signed last week with the New York Rangers at the tune of $8 million a year for seven seasons. So waiting so long now seems like an ill-advised decision by Fenton.

Leipold said he called Spurgeon on Tuesday and wanted to fly to Edmonton this weekend to meet with him. Spurgeon is on vacation, so Leipold will meet with him next month.

— The Wild also hope to sign last year’s KHL leading goal scorer Kirill Kaprizov, the No. 11-ranked prospect in Scott Wheeler’s recent piece, when his contract in Moscow ends April 30. Fenton flew to Russia last season to begin developing a relationship and actually chatted briefly with Kaprizov’s dad in a hotel restaurant during the world championships in May. The Wild will have to monitor how Kaprizov absorbs the news of Fenton’s departure and make sure the eventual new GM gets in front of Kaprizov fairly quickly into his tenure.

— The Wild are also working toward signing restricted free agents Fiala and Joel Eriksson Ek, although there has apparently been headway lately.

Director of Hockey Operations Chris O’Hearn will likely have the latitude to continue those negotiations with the hope of getting those deals done soon.

It’s surprising for a move of this magnitude to happen at this point in the calendar. But the Wild clearly felt a drastic course change like this was necessary to close the book on Fenton.

Now it’s on to the next chapter as the Wild attempt to resurrect their long upstanding reputation and elevate their brand back toward the top of the pedestal locally.

The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150342 Montreal Canadiens

Minnesota Wild fire general manger Paul Fenton after only one season

DAVE CAMPBELL

MINNEAPOLIS

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PUBLISHED JULY 30, 2019

UPDATED 13 HOURS AGO

The Minnesota Wild have fired general manager Paul Fenton after just one rough season, marked by the end of a six-year streak of making the playoffs and a disassembly of the once-promising core of forwards by trading Charlie Coyle, Mikael Granlund and Nino Niederreiter prior to the deadline.

Wild owner Craig Leipold said he told Fenton of his dismissal on Tuesday, shortly before the team made the surprising late-summer announcement.

“After giving much thought to this difficult decision, I informed Paul today that he was not the right fit for our organization going forward,” Leipold said in a statement distributed by the Wild. “I believe we have a good hockey team, a team that will compete for a playoff spot this year, and I look forward to hiring a general manager that will help us win a Stanley Cup. I would like to thank Paul for his time with the Wild and wish him and his family the best in the future.”

Assistant GM Tom Kurvers was named acting general manager, until a replacement is hired.

In less than 15 months with the Wild, Fenton made plenty of waves.

Though his first foray in free agency was relatively quiet, Fenton re- signed defenceman Matt Dumba (five years, US$30-million) and left wing Jason Zucker (five years, US$27.5-million) to long-term contracts. Then with the Wild struggling to keep up in the daunting Central Division, he traded Niederreiter to Carolina for Victor Rask, Coyle to Boston for Ryan Donato and a fourth-round draft pick and Mikael Granlund to Nashville for Kevin Fiala. Coyle and Niederreiter had productive debuts with their new clubs, which didn’t help assuage any angst-filled fans frustrated that the 19-year-old franchise has not passed the second round of the playoffs since 2003.

Bruce Boudreau was brought back as head coach despite the drop in the standings. Then Fenton signed forward Mats Zuccarello to a five-year, US$30-million deal with a full no-trade clause, as well as forward Ryan Hartman on a two-year, US$3.8-million contract.

Fenton was hired from Nashville, where he was the long-time lieutenant under GM David Poile.

Globe And Mail LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150343 Montreal Canadiens

Canadiens prospect Cole Caufield scores a beauty for Team USA

STU COWAN, MONTREAL GAZETTE

Updated: July 30, 2019

Canada beat the United States 4-1 Tuesday at the 2019 World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, Mich., but the one goal scored by Team USA will have Canadiens fans smiling.

Cole Caufield, the Canadiens’ first-round pick (15th overall) at this year’s NHL Draft, scored a beautiful power-play goal 43 seconds into the third period when he took a pass in the middle of the left faceoff circle and fired a shot short side over the shoulder of Team Canada goalie Hunter Jones.

Kirby Dach scored two goals for Team Canada, while Nolan Foote and Joe Veleno added singles.

Canada will play Finland at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the World Junior Summer Showcase with the U.S. taking on Sweden at 4 p.m.

You just can't give Cole Caufield that kind of room from the dot. He snipes one top shelf to make it a 2-1 game. Wow. #WJSS #GoHabsGo #NTDP pic.twitter.com/umbtat6Uo7— Stars n’ Stripes Hockey (@StarsStripesHKY) July 30, 2019

Caufield, a 5-foot-7, 163-pound right-winger, posted 72-28-100 totals in 64 games last season with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program’s U-18 team. Caufield’s 72 goals broke the previous record of 55 for the U-18 team that was set by Auston Matthews, selected No. 1 overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs at the 2016 NHL Draft. Caufield scored 126 goals in 123 career games with the U-18 team, breaking the previous record of 104 set by Phil Kessel, now with the Arizona Coyotes after a trade last month from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“Growing up, I watched a lot of Marty St. Louis,” Caufield said at the Canadiens’ development camp last month in Brossard. “I think just the size factor was just big there. Guys today like Alex DeBrincat (of the Chicago Blackhawks). He’s someone that I look up to a lot. I wouldn’t say I try to model my game exactly like him. I’m trying to be Cole Caufield but, obviously, there’s some things that we do similar and the similar styles of games that we play at a smaller size.

“I’ve been able to score at every level I’ve played at so far,” Caufield added. “So I’m obviously going to keep working at it because it’s only going to get harder from here.”

At the end of the development camp, Caufield said: “Every day you got to show up, you got to sleep like a pro, be a pro everywhere you go because everybody’s watching. And now that you go home you kind of represent the Montreal Canadiens wherever you are. You just got to carry yourself like a pro and act like it.”

Montreal Gazette LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150344 Montreal Canadiens But beyond quantity, Gallagher achieved a rare feat last season. He combined the highest shot rate with the highest individual high-danger chances per 60 in the league.

Dumont: An in-depth look at what makes Brendan Gallagher an elite goal In other words, he wasn’t just counting on quantity to beat , scorer he also focused on quality. It was Gallagher’s most productive season of his career because he managed to combine both elements.

By Marc Dumont There was a significant difference between Gallagher’s average shot distance last season compared to the two previous years. On average, Jul 30, 2019 his shots were taken from 28.8 feet away from the net, as opposed to 25.2 and 25.8 feet in 2016-17 and 2017-18, respectively.

That’s not because Gallagher shied away from the crease, but rather that It’s been said that Brendan Gallagher is a very special player. But what he found his sweet spot, and, of course, it helps to have two functional makes him so special? hands as opposed to one healthy paw and one mangled claw. The word ‘special’ is a particular favourite among hockey players, it’s an Confidence surely played a role in his ability to score. all-purpose qualifier that one uses about a teammate if you can’t come More than ever, we saw Gallagher take shots from farther out, closer to up with a specific form of praise in the moment. the right circle than the middle of the slot. He doesn’t have a particularly But Gallagher is the real deal, he is actually special, and I’ll explain why. heavy shot, but his quick release went a long way in fooling most goaltenders. It’s hard to put your finger on a single reason why he’s one of the best 5- on-5 players in the NHL. He works hard, that much has been established, Nose for the net but it would be unfair to point to that as the only reason he enjoyed such Gallagher’s newfound, or rediscovered, ability to shoot from farther out a great 2018-19 campaign, in which he scored 33 goals. didn’t negate his penchant for driving the net. He added another tool to To give you an idea of his impact, a quick look at his offensive heat map his toolbox instead of replacing one. As per usual, Gallagher made life tells part of the tale. hell on opposing goaltenders by constantly finding a way to beat defenders to the crease and then fighting tooth and nail for loose pucks, Here’s what it looks like when Gallagher is not on the ice for the and as most goaltenders will quickly point out, sometimes, if not most Canadiens: times, he would also fight for covered pucks. Gallagher definitely takes “play until you hear the whistle” to the next level. Not bad at all, though there’s definitely a lack of high-danger chances. Gallagher’s ability to sneak through the offensive zone unchecked is not And here’s what it looks like when Gallagher is on the ice, a.k.a “the a matter of luck or size. It’s a skill. crease-volcano effect.” His vision and relentless work ethic permit him to find open ice in the Consequently, he made a significant impact on the Canadiens’ overall offensive zone on almost every single one of his shifts. There are few underlying numbers, pushing them from a slightly above average team to players in the NHL that do a better job finding undefended scoring areas. a dominant one when he’s on the ice. It all starts in the neutral zone, where Gallagher does a great job backing To get an idea of how he accomplishes this, we must delve deeper into off defenders with his speed. In most cases, Gallagher is the vanguard his numbers and take a closer look at the footage as well. that creates chaos for opposing players, forcing them to adapt to the Quantity and quality threat of an incoming goal-scorer. That gives his linemates more time and space to break out of the defensive zone. There are two established ways of scoring goals in the NHL. The first is taking high-quality shots, coupled with pinpoint accuracy. The second, Once the puck is in the neutral zone, Gallagher vanishes. He drops down which is much more common, is volume. There are a few players that near the boards, out of sight from defending players. Once he’s out of combine both approaches, Alex Ovechkin, for example, but for the most sight, the defenders tend to focus on the puck, giving Gallagher plenty of part, you can separate players in the two aforementioned categories. ice to work with as he enters the offensive zone.

Gallagher falls in the latter, though we shouldn’t discount his ability to While the defenders and backcheckers swarm the puck carrier, take shots from high-scoring areas. More on that later. Gallagher has an open path to the net.

Last season, 256 of his 5-on-5 shots were on goal, far and away the This approach will often lead to odd-man rushes, where the defenders most in the NHL. Nathan MacKinnon finished second with 26 fewer shots are a step or two back from Gallagher, unable to prevent the scoring on goal, Patrick Kane finished third, with 40 fewer shots on goal. opportunity due to a lack of gap control.

If we filter the results by 5-on-5 shots per 60, Gallagher trumps his If the Canadiens choose to dump the puck into the offensive zone rather nearest competition by a significant margin, which connotes that he’s the than carry it in, Gallagher will quickly hound the defender tasked with most productive shooter in the NHL. retrieving the puck, often forcing him to make a quick decision which can lead to turnovers. His incredible shot rate partially explains why only two players scored more 5-on-5 goals than Gallagher last season, though it’s only part of the Once he takes a few wide turns to open up the gap on defence, equation. Gallagher’s edgework allows him to take several strides before a defenceman even has a chance to turn around. Obviously, Gallagher With the exception of Draisaitl, most of the players listed are volume strides are a bit shorter than say, Chara strides, however, he’ll usually shooters, which gives credence to the famous NHL adage: “You miss hold a speed advantage given that he takes half a dozen or more steps 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky (Michael while the defenceman is still pivoting. Scott). That’s a big reason why Gallagher creates so much havoc in the Gallagher ended up taking almost 11 percent of the Canadiens’ 5-on-5 offensive zone. He may not be the strongest or fastest player on the ice, shots on net last season. but his hockey IQ combined with a head start means he’s a factor in many puck battles below the red line. He doesn’t always win them, but it It’s fairly simple, the more shots you take the more opportunities you give allows his linemates to catch up to the play and it creates a hostile yourself to score. In a league where goaltenders save more than 90 environment for defenders, something they keep in mind throughout the percent of the shots they face, quantity is key. game. Gallagher isn’t just the quantity king, he’s also very consistent. He Gallagher officially had 53 takeaways last season, the second-most managed to take at least one shot on net in every single game and among the top 10 5-on-5 goal scorers, behind only Connor McDavid. His finished with four or more shots on net in 39 of the 82 games he played. ratio of giveaways to takeaways was even more impressive with just 25 giveaways, by far the fewest among the top 10 scorers. For example, Draisaitl, who also had 53 takeaways, managed to give the puck away 84 times. Gallagher also had 121 5-on-5 hits, the second-most in the top 10, defencemen to respect his high-end skill. Gallagher is the bulldog, the trailing only Alex Ovechkin, who had 204. The rest of the top 10 workhorse, the honey badger, whose relentless work ethic is impossible managed an average of 40 hits last season. to match.

His hits, combined with takeaways, indicates that he’s not just hitting for But in reality, they all possess those same abilities, just to varying the sake of hitting. He’s creating turnovers, which is a key component to degrees. the Canadiens’ offensive style of play. Danault is so much more than just a good centre, he’s a jack of all They don’t want to win a war of attrition, because that plan only really trades. Tatar was pushed out of Vegas’ lineup unceremoniously, only to works in the playoffs. The Canadiens want you to cough up the puck. To establish career highs in points, as well as secure the fifth-best individual do that, you need speed, vision, foresight and a strong work ethic, which shot control percentage in the entire NHL, at 58.9 percent. describes Gallagher quite well. And Gallagher, who is often typecast as a garbage-goal scorer, is a lot Chemistry closer in style to Alex Ovechkin than he is to Dino Ciccarelli, though he’s probably best described as a mishmash of the two. Facing a high quality of competition will certainly complicate things for any player, however, playing with a high quality of teammates tends to be The combination of the three (stick tap to Big Brother and the Holding more important in the grand scheme of things. Company) leads to goals that can only be scored by players that have the perfect level of chemistry and trust. In 2016-17 and 2017-18, Gallagher’s most common linemates were Tomas Plekanec, Paul Byron and Charles Hudon. And though they were Misnomer certainly adept at limiting scoring chances from opponents, they weren’t the most conducive linemates when it came to scoring. The first thing that comes to mind when discussing Gallagher’s style of play is his work ethic. He’s used ad nauseam as a perfect example of Placing Gallagher with Phillip Danault and Tomas Tatar was a stroke of where hard work and dedication can get you in the NHL, and while genius by Claude Julien. there’s certainly an element of truth to the notion, it’s not an accurate description. At 5-on-5 they controlled 60 percent of the shots, 66.7 percent of the goals, 63.2 percent of the high danger chances, as well as 69.2 percent Gallagher is a highly-skilled player. Perhaps not in the traditional sense in of the high danger goals. that he’ll rarely stickhandle his way through a sea of players to score a highlight-reel goal. But he’ll outskate better skaters. He’ll outwork Let that sink in for a moment. Those aren’t just good numbers. They’re stronger opponents. He finds more open ice than just about anyone else flat out dominant. in the NHL. He is one of the most effective defensive forwards in the To give you an idea of just how good those underlying numbers happen league thanks to his excellent vision and foresight. to be, we can reference the Colorado Avalanche’s line of Nathan Some of that is attributable to hard work, but they’re the finishing pieces MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog, which was lauded on a foundation of skill. Without the skill, Gallagher would be yet another as one of, if not the best line in hockey last year. fourth-line player that is credited with working hard to score, but hardly MacKinnon’s line scored six more goals, but they controlled fewer shots, scoring. high danger shots, high danger goals and had a lower expected goals for He uses his work ethic in accordance with his intelligence to create what percentage. Not to mention they allowed nine more goals. many coaches would describe as the ideal winger.

What makes Gallagher and company’s results so impressive is that they That’s why he controls the play. That’s why Julien trusts him more than weren’t just tasked with creating offence, they were also Julien’s most. And that’s why he’s an elite goal scorer. shutdown line. That allowed the Max Domi line to face a lower quality of competition and gave Julien more flexibility when it came to Jesperi It’s also why his event chart will end up looking three times busier than Kotkaniemi’s sheltered usage. In a sense, that one line allowed Julien to most on any given night: roll three different lines with relatively similar ice times, which made focusing against any particular line more difficult for opposing coaches. And though he doesn’t score very often on the power play, that’s a team- wide strategy issue rather than an individual problem for Gallagher. At first, many coaches tried matching power with power, but the results Without a healthy amount of power-play points in his back pocket, he’ll generally favoured the Canadiens, seeing as Gallagher’s line would never be considered an elite player by most, but the majority of the game outwork and outscore their opponents. Eventually, teams would keep is played at 5-on-5, where Gallagher reigns supreme. their best forwards away from that line, though that opened up more scoring opportunities. Who is Brendan Gallagher?

It was a win-win situation for the Canadiens. If you had read this article without knowing his exact size, you’d probably label him as a power forward. And while that may seem like a stretch, it’s One of the driving forces behind their elite ability to control the play is a legitimate argument given the evidence presented above, both in their defensive positioning, in particular, their work in the neutral zone. numbers and footage.

While Gallagher tends to push defencemen back toward their zone, Tatar He hits, he creates turnovers, he frustrates goalies, he outworks and Danault do a great job forcing turnovers in the neutral zone. It takes defencemen and he scores a lot of goals from high-danger areas. He good positioning to control the neutral zone, though that’s only the end makes his linemates better and he makes life easier on his goaltender. result of having good vision as well as confidence that your teammates are in the right position as well. When it goes right, it looks great and He combines all the best parts of a power forward with a very high leads to a plethora of scoring chances. But when it goes wrong, you are hockey IQ to provide some of the best hockey we’ve seen in Montreal in increasing the odds that your opponents will have an odd-man rush. the last 20 years. But he’s not a pure power forward and he never will be, Being aggressive is one thing, being aggressive at the right time is simply due to his 5-foot-9 frame, though he can probably put most of another. them to shame in the gym.

It takes patience, intelligence, trust and skill. The best way to describe him is part power forward, part defensive stalwart, part elite goal scorer, part leader and part pest, though he They complement their work in the neutral zone by hitting the blue line almost never crosses the line between frustrating an opponent and with a lot of speed, but also, with more than one passing option. When grabbing the undivided attention of the NHL’s Department of Player entering the offensive zone with control of the puck, more often than not Safety. you’ll see all three players hit the blue line at roughly the same time, which creates a lot of open space and options on the rush. A hybrid, if you will.

You could describe the line as having three different, yet essential skill In a way, it’s quite fitting that there’s no perfect descriptor for him sets. because when it comes down to it, there’s only one player quite like Brendan Gallagher in the NHL. Danault controls the middle of the ice and does a great job ensuring the defensive zone is taken care of. Tatar brings talent to the table, forcing That’s why he’s special.

The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150345 Nashville Predators

Minnesota Wild fire general manager Paul Fenton

Paul Skrbina, Nashville Tennessean

Published 2:20 p.m. CT July 30, 2019 | Updated 3:36 p.m. CT July 30, 2019

Former Predators assistant general manager Paul Fenton brought quite a few pieces of Nashville to Minnesota after he was hired to be the Wild's general manager.

Fenton was fired Tuesday after just one season on the job, though, The Athletic first reported.

Fenton's firing came at an odd time, a month and a half before training camp and just after he oversaw the draft and signed several free agents, including forward Mats Zuccarello to a five-year, $30 million deal.

Wild owner Craig Leipold, one of the original owners of the Predators, hired Fenton in May 2018.

“After giving much thought to this difficult decision, I informed Paul today that he was not the right fit for our organization going forward,” Leipold said in statement released by the team Tuesday. “I believe we have a good hockey team, a team that will compete for a playoff spot this year, and I look forward to hiring a general manager that will help us win a Stanley Cup."

Fenton acquired forward Kevin Fiala from the Predators for center Mikael Granlund in February. Other former Predators on the Wild roster include Ryan Hartman, Ryan Suter, Brad Hunt and Devan Dubnyk. The Wild also claimed Anthony Bitetto off waivers last season and had Pontus Aberg and Matt Hendricks on the team.

Fenton was the Predators' assistant general manager under David Poile for 12 seasons. He was the team's director of player personnel from 1998-2006.

Tennessean LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150346 New Jersey Devils Another analytics-focused writer who has specialized in NHLe-related work, Byron Bader (@Baderader) has more data that suggests the “Goose” could break loose for the Devils this season.

The Goose has landed: Sorting through all of the Devils’ lineup options There’s no question New Jersey is going to be a more talented team in after adding Nikita Gusev 2019-20. It’s going to be up to coach John Hynes to try and fit all of these new pieces into the right spots, while still trying to figure out where some of the returning ones belong. By Corey Masisak Gusev might not be a perfect fit in the spot that looks like it makes the Jul 30, 2019 most sense. Simmonds might not slot in where he was expecting. Subban’s defense partner might not be obvious. Guys who played well

during the injury-riddled 2018-19 season might not get as much playing The Devils began last season with a second line featuring Marcus time. Johansson, Pavel Zacha and Stefan Noesen. Jesper Bratt was supposed Step one was add more talent. That was Shero’s goal, and he’s done it. to be the third guy, but a puck hit the crossbar and then busted his jaw Step two will be figuring out the lineup combinations, and Hynes will likely during the last few minutes of the last practice before opening night in tinker as the season progresses regardless of the overall health of Gothenburg, Sweden. players. That original trio (Johansson, Zacha and Bratt) eventually spent a total of Here’s an updated depth chart: 12 games together before Johansson was traded to the Boston Bruins near the trade deadline. Zacha was banished to the AHL after a slow Now, let’s take a dive into some of Hynes’ best options for putting this start, and eventually settled in as the No. 3 center after his return. forward puzzle together. Noesen spent the entire year dealing with an injury from the offseason, and was cut loose at season’s end. Hall-Hischier-Palmieri

Two years ago, the Devils found a first line that works. Nico Hischier, Bratt-Hughes-Gusev flanked by Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri, has been one of the most Coleman-Zajac-Simmonds productive trios in the NHL the past two seasons when they’ve play together. The problem has been the lack of production elsewhere, and Wood-Zacha-12th Guy the need was clear: more secondary scoring, ASAP. Rooney Well, the cavalry has arrived. This could be the “chalk” lineup, where everyone fits on the overall depth General manager Ray Shero struck again Monday, trading a 2020 third- chart right now. The top line sticks together, Gusev slides into a top-six round pick and a 2021 second-round selection to the Vegas Golden role next to Hughes and Bratt, Simmonds bumps down to the third line Knights for Nikita Gusev, a tantalizing but somewhat mysterious talent. and there’s a huge battle for the last spot next to Wood and Zacha on the Add in No. 1 pick Jack Hughes and free-agent signing Wayne fourth line with at least a half-dozen potential options (Hayden, Rooney, Simmonds, and the Devils are suddenly significantly deeper up front. Jesper Boqvist, Joey Anderson, Nathan Bastian, Michael McLeod and Toss in P.K. Subban, pick up in a draft day trade, and 2018 first-round others). pick Ty Smith, if he makes the club, on defense, and New Jersey could have the greatest infusion of talent of any club in the NHL this offseason. The big talking point here is Bratt-Hughes-Gusev (or it could be Gusev- Hughes-Bratt). When Hynes looks at the first 11 forward names on his Like Subban the month before, Gusev was only available because the depth chart, the first question will be, is Hughes ready to be the 2C from Golden Knights had salary cap constraints. The Athletic’s Jesse Granger Day One? The second will probably be, is Gusev ready for a top-six role reported Vegas only had firm offers from two teams, New Jersey and from Day One? At some point, Hynes will need to ponder if Hughes, Bratt Columbus, and the Blue Jackets didn’t match the two picks the Devils put and Gusev actually fit together. in the deal. That’s three small guys and three pass-first players. That’s two players in Gusev turned 27 years old earlier this month and has not played in an their first NHL seasons. They might play together eventually, but don’t NHL game. He has also been hailed as the best player in the world not in expect to see it immediately. One of Hynes’ go-to phrases is “getting to the NHL, while racking up 215 points in 173 games in the past three the inside.” We don’t know if Hughes and Gusev are going to be able to seasons with SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL. do that enough to co-exist and create enough non-perimeter scoring chances to have success. Tampa Bay drafted Gusev in 2012, but Vegas grabbed his rights in a trade just before the Golden Knights’ expansion draft in 2017. Granger The combination of three pass-first guys can work, if the trio meshes reported earlier this offseason that Gusev’s camp and the Golden together well enough. It’s the other red flags that could keep Hynes from Knights were far apart on contract negotiations and Vegas was looking at playing them together. potential trade options. Hall-Hischier-Palmieri Projecting how KHL players will fare in the NHL isn’t easy. The Athletic’s Corey Pronman has watched Gusev play a lot and sees him as a middle- Gusev-Hughes-Simmonds six forward and not a potential star. Some members of the analytics- Bratt-Zajac-Coleman focused media are much higher on Gusev. Wood-Zacha-12th Guy Rob Vollman, formerly of Hockey Abstract and NHL.com and now in the Kings’ front office, and Emmanuel Perry (@mannyelk) from Corsica When the offseason began, Bratt seemed like a slam-dunk as a top-six Hockey have created NHLe formulas to translate stats from other option. Then the Devils won the draft lottery. And signed Simmonds. And leagues to the NHL. Both would project Gusev to be about an 80-point now traded for Gusev. Pushing Simmonds down the lineup might be the player next season over 82 games. most popular option for fans, but the Devils signed him for a few specific reasons — he’s bigger than Hughes/Bratt/Hischier, he adds some snarl, Two players Gusev gets compared to often are Artemi Panarin and he’s a right wing and he’s a shooter. Evgenii Dadonov because they both came from the KHL later than typical prospects. Panarin had 30 goals and 77 points in his age-24 season (his Part of “getting to the inside” is being able to physically get to the first in the NHL), and has 320 points in 322 career NHL games. dangerous spots on the ice when defenders are trying to prevent you from doing it. If Simmonds is healthy and the past two years didn’t Dadonov actually played in the NHL for parts of three seasons from ages indicate a general decline, he’s going to be able to do that and be a 20-22 before returning to Russia for five years. He has produced 135 productive finisher around the net for some of the chances Hughes and points in 156 games during his age-28 and 29 seasons the past two Gusev would create. years since returning to the Florida Panthers. This still leaves us with two NHL rookies (even if Gusev is 27) on the same line. So … Hall-Hischier-Gusev Hall-Hischier-Palmieri

Palmieri-Hughes-Simmonds Gusev-Hughes-Simmonds

Bratt-Zajac-Coleman Zacha-Zajac-Coleman

Wood-Zacha-12th Guy Wood-Rooney-Bratt

If Gusev is as good as some of the statistical projections suggest, he All of this has left out one of the other wild cards … Jesper Boqvist. He’s won’t be out of place on the top line. To put him there, Palmieri isn’t either going to play for New Jersey or return home to Sweden this dropping to the third line. This is definitely an “outside the box” idea, but season. Before all of these additions, slotting Boqvist into the lineup why not put two shooters with Hughes? looked relatively easy. Even if the Devils weren’t 100 percent sure he was ready, they might have kept him at the start of the season to see if Palmieri and Simmonds are both strong along the boards and in the he could play his way into it. corners. This would only work if Palmieri was comfortable playing on his off-wing, but this could be a great way to support Hughes’ strengths in Now, it looks a lot harder to find him a place that isn’t on the fourth line. the offensive zone. The big question would be if Palmieri and Simmonds Will the Devils keep him as a fourth-line wing, with the potential for him to would be able to amplify Hughes’ elite skating ability and help him move up in the lineup later in the season once he’s settled in? The transition into the offensive zone. stakes could be higher for Boqvist to perform in training camp. If he’s just OK, the Devils could opt for the patient route and let him develop for Hall-Hischier-Gusev another year with Brynas in the SHL.

Bratt-Hughes-Palmieri Let’s look at some lineups that do include Boqvist …

Coleman-Zajac-Simmonds Hall-Hischier-Palmieri

Wood-Zacha-12th Guy Gusev-Hughes-Simmonds

This is probably the simplest way to avoid the “three little guys” line. Just Bratt-Zajac-Coleman flip Gusev and Palmieri. And while we’re at it … Wood-Zacha-Boqvist Hall-Hischier-Bratt OR Gusev-Hughes-Palmieri Hall-Hischier-Gusev Coleman-Zajac-Simmonds Bratt-Hughes-Palmieri Wood-Zacha-12th Guy Wood-Zajac-Coleman Bratt played frequently on the top line with Hall and Hischier two years ago. It didn’t work as well as it did when Palmieri replaced him, and those Boqvist-Zacha-Simmonds three played a total of two games together last season. Bratt did spend some time on the top line with Hischier and Johansson after Hall got hurt. OR

Both of these lineups are pretty similar. And Simmonds doesn’t seem like Hall-Hischier-Gusev a great fit on a line with Coleman and Zajac that is going to see a ton of Bratt-Hughes-Palmieri defensive zone starts and tough assignments. Boqvist-Zajac-Coleman Hall-Hischier-Gusev Wood-Zacha-Simmonds Zacha-Hughes-Palmieri Boqvist’s place in the lineup could depend on Zacha being the No. 4 Bratt-Zajac-Coleman center, and therefore on Hughes being ready to handle all of the 2C Wood-Rooney/McLeod-Simmonds duties. If not, putting Rooney or McLeod at 4C makes it almost impossible for Boqvist to earn a spot, barring an injury. The lynchpin here is Zacha, or more specifically the desire to give Hughes some extra support. Zacha can handle faceoffs if Hughes is Keeping Boqvist makes more sense if he’s going to get to play with guys having a rough night in the circle or is facing a particularly tough like Zacha and Wood or Simmonds. That would be one of the most matchup. He could also handle the tougher defensive responsibilities. skilled fourth lines in the NHL. If he shows enough to be worthy of a spot Gusev and Palmieri could be flipped here, and maybe the second line is on the third line, then it should be an easy decision to keep him. Gusev-Hughes-Zacha. What is the optimal lineup? Let’s say everyone stays healthy during Bratt and Simmonds would have a hard time remaining in the top six in camp, and everyone that needs to have a great camp (Hughes, Gusev, this scenario, unless Gusev struggles to adjust to the NHL game and Boqvist, Zacha, Simmonds) does. This could be the dream set-up for needs to play further down the lineup. Bratt-Zajac-Coleman could be a opening night: great matchup/shutdown line. If McLeod has a training camp worthy of Hall-Hischier-Palmieri making the NHL roster, putting him between Wood and Simmonds could really help him find his confidence at this level. Gusev-Hughes-Simmonds

Zacha could be the club’s super utility guy, kind of like what Coleman Boqvist-Zajac-Coleman was last year. He could also end up on the third line if Hynes was to max Wood-Zacha-Bratt out the shutdown line with his three best defensive forwards besides Hischier. That line could help Hischier’s line with the toughest matchups, In this scenario, Hughes and Gusev are ready for second-line duty, and and get Hughes’ unit into some easier ones. Hughes doesn’t need extra help from Zacha. Simmonds is healthy and motivated to prove the past two years were injury-riddled flukes, and both Hall-Hischier-Gusev he and Gusev show they can keep up with and complement Hughes’ Bratt-Hughes-Palmieri skating.

Zacha-Zajac-Coleman Boqvist is not only ready for his NHL debut, but more than a fourth-line role. This ends up with three guys on the fourth line who all could or Wood-Rooney-Simmonds should be higher up in the lineup. One solution for Hynes would be to Putting Simmonds on the fourth line to start the season doesn’t seem like boost the ice time for them beyond a traditional fourth line. a likely outcome, even if he’s promised the chance to start on the first Teams are “rolling four lines” more than ever, but in general, forwards on power-play unit. In this specific scenario, it would be easy to put Bratt the first line get 18-20 minutes, the second gets 14-17, the third gets 13- there until something higher up in the lineup opens up. 15 and the fourth gets 10-12, depending on special teams’ roles and how many penalties are called. Hynes could flatten out the last three lines, and let it become more of a competition based on which trios are playing the best on a given night.

As for the power play and penalty kill, let’s assume Hall, Subban and Simmonds will be on the first power-play unit, and then some combination of Palmieri, Gusev, Hughes, Hischier, Wood, Zajac, Bratt, Will Butcher, Smith, Damon Severson and Sami Vatanen fill out the other seven spots.

We know Andy Greene is the first defenseman and Subban, Severson, Vatanen and Smith will fill out the rotation behind him (if any of those last three don’t play on the PP, they could see extra PK time). Zajac, Coleman and Zacha should be the top three forwards on the PK, and the fourth spot would go to Rooney if he’s in the lineup and either Hischier, Bratt or the 12th guy if it’s not Rooney.

To close, here’s another way to look at the depth the Devils have created. If Boqvist makes the team, trade addition John Hayden ends up as the 13th forward and the club keeps eight defensemen, here’s a quick guess at how Binghamton’s forwards could line up on opening night:

That group includes two draft picks and a guy who had 51 points in 72 games last year (Conner) outside the top 12, plus seven players who saw time in the NHL last season. The Devils coaching staff has some difficult lineup decisions to make at both levels in a couple of months.

The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150347 New York Islanders Thomas Hickey, Johnny Boychuk

Why we see it this way: At this point, it’s hard to imagine the line combinations going any other way if Dobson sticks this season and no From top lines to special teams to Bridgeport, projecting the 2019-20 one is moved out. The Pelech-Pulock pair had its ups and downs — the Islanders depth chart ups coming through the back half of the regular season and during the Pittsburgh series and the downs coming early on and then late against Carolina. It’s not a true No. 1 pair but Trotz likes pairing a skater with By Arthur Staple 200-foot impact alongside a more stay-at-home type, so this one starts the season at the very least. Jul 30, 2019 The same is true for Toews-Mayfield, though they won’t get third-pair

minutes anymore. Toews showed an awful lot in his 46 game stint plus We took a quick stab at the Islanders’ opening-night roster not long ago playoffs and Mayfield took some good strides, as well. and it’s not as if much has changed since then. The Isles haven’t added Leddy-Dobson doesn’t appear to be an ideal third pair — given how well anyone, there are still unsigned free agents who could fit what the Isles he worked alongside Pulock two years ago, Hickey might be best suited need and those big-talent RFAs are all still without contracts. to working in another high-caliber rookie — but Dobson isn’t going to sit But time’s a wastin’. So with just about six weeks until training camp and neither is Leddy if he’s still here when the season begins. Boychuk begins, we thought it was time to dig in on what the 2019-20 Islanders and Hickey are two of the most-liked players in the locker room and that’s could look like, from the top forward line on down to the potential call-ups $8.5 million against the cap as extras, but there’s really no other way to from ECHL Worcester to AHL Bridgeport. Let’s get going: chop this group up at the moment.

Projected lines Projected goalies

Anthony Beauvillier-Mathew Barzal-Jordan Eberle Semyon Varlamov

Anders Lee-Brock Nelson-Josh Bailey Thomas Greiss

Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck Why we see it this way: Not many options! Only three other teams have two goalies on the roster 31 and over and there’s no real competition Michael Dal Colle-Tanner Fritz-Leo Komarov from the group of goalies the Isles will bring to camp. Greiss was able to turn things around and play as well as Robin Lehner did last season, so Tom Kuhnhackl don’t assume he’s the clear backup here. Camp will decide who gets the Injured reserve: Andrew Ladd nod out of the gate. But given Varlamov’s four-year, $5 million per deal, one has to assume he gets the majority of the starts this season. Why we see it this way: Lee worked well on that top line with Barzal and Eberle down the closing stretch of the regular season and into the playoff Projected power-play units sweep of the Penguins, though from a scoring standpoint it was more Toews-Barzal-Eberle-Lee-Nelson about the Barzal-Eberle duo being reunited than that full line. With Eberle back for good, it stands to reason that the Barzal-Eberle show should Leddy-Pulock-Beauvillier-Bailey-Dal Colle continue from Day 1. Why we see it this way: New assistant coach Jim Hiller likely has some Beauvillier is the wild card here. He bounced around the lineup last fresh ideas for a group that will essentially be the same as last season, season but played the most 5v5 minutes with Barzal and they had an but since he’s not sending over his notes, we’ll go with what worked in expected goal-for percentage of 51.1 ((xGF and other numbers courtesy the playoffs for the top unit. of Natural Stat Trick), decent enough to justify higher expectations from those two 22-year-olds. Lou Lamoriello striking out on adding a top-six Toews worked quite well as a distributor and his quick-release wrist shot winger means that Beauvillier, an RFA who’s still unsigned, has to take made him an ideal QB. Many would love to see Pulock and his big shot the biggest step forward of just about anyone on this projected roster. If on the top unit, but with Barzal preferring to work the half wall on his off- he’s not a top-six regular, the Islanders will have problems. hand side — the spot where Pulock would need to be to have any impact — it’s hard to see that working. Eberle continuing his goal line spot, Lee Lee and Nelson were also a solid pair over the majority of the regular in his office and Nelson as the off-wing shooter make the most sense. season, with an expected goals-for percentage just under 50 thanks to some superb save-percentage numbers and timely scoring. Lee-Nelson- The second group has room to grow and use some different schemes Eberle was Barry Trotz’s de facto No. 1 line in terms of 5v5 usage much and personnel, given the relative lack of depth the Isles have up front. of the season, but this one with Bailey on the right would seem to set up Dal Colle as the net-front body is a plus, with Beauvillier in the bump-out as a consistent second line that will get plenty of minutes deployed shooter’s spot in the slot — Clutterbuck was there for much of last against top opposition. season but it’s hard to imagine he’s still the best option given his health. Leddy functions more as another passer here than a QB and Pulock, the It’s hard to imagine that Trotz or Lamoriello will mess with the Martin- only righty, can fire away from the Ovechkin spot as long as the other Cizikas-Clutterbuck line at least at the start of the season, provided four are moving around and providing some sort of threat. Clutterbuck is fully healed from offseason back surgery. If not, Kuhnhackl makes the most sense to slide in; if Lamoriello or Trotz buck six Even without much new blood, this can still be a better special teams unit combined decades of taking the simplest path, let us suggest a third line than its No. 29 ranking last season. of Dal Colle-Cizikas-Josh Ho-Sang as a dynamic alternative. That’s Projected penalty-kill units provided Ho-Sang shows what he needs to in camp, but Cizikas and Ho- Sang have had some decent moments together in years past. Cizikas-Clutterbuck-Pelech-Mayfield

The fourth line is a hodgepodge. Komarov and Fritz need to put some Fritz-Komarov-Leddy-Pulock chemistry together quickly or Komarov, who benefited from finding a good connection with Valtteri Filppula early last season, will stick out Nelson-Bailey even more than usual. The Dal Colle-Fritz tandem should work; if and Why we see it this way: The Cizikas-Clutterbuck duo is a lock, given the when Ladd is ready to return, putting him with those two gives more pop pair’s long history together and the loss of Filppula from the PK forward to a bottom-six line than you would normally find. rotation — Trotz surely wants some familiarity in his first two guys over Projected defense pairs the boards. Pelech and Mayfield became the No. 1 PK defense pair when Boychuk was out with injury last season and also worked well. - Things get a little unsure after that, though. Leddy hasn’t PKed more than Devon Toews-Scott Mayfield a handful of games in any of his nine NHL seasons, but if Dobson is in the lineup, Leddy will be pressed into duty as it’s hard to see Trotz Nick Leddy-Noah Dobson putting Toews in all situations just yet. Pulock is a PK regular, so that may help ease whoever’s on the left side. Up front, it’s good to be reminded that, under Trotz, everyone has a role; Projected goalies if Fritz is to win the 4C job, it comes with PK2 responsibilities. His ability to work with Komarov is important, since Leo is going to be a PK regular. Christopher Gibson Nelson and Bailey have worked into the rotation before, as have Jared Coreau Beauvillier, Kuhnhackl and Martin, so there are options beyond the first four forwards. Linus Soderstrom

That was the “easy” part. Now, let’s try to determine who will fill what role Why we see it this way: Gibson is entering his fifth season in the in Bridgeport. Brent Thompson used his personnel in very strict ways last organization and still hasn’t really advanced beyond emergency call-up, season; lots of younger prospects were scratched at various times, so this would seem to be his make-or-break year. The Isles signed especially among the crowded defense. With an even younger group this Coreau as insurance for Soderstrom, who likely won’t be ready for a season, how things start will almost certainly not be how things are a backup role in the AHL right away. It’s Gibson’s net for the time being, month into the AHL season. but no one here seems to be a legitimate threat to make any waves at the NHL level. So, armed with the knowledge we have now, let’s take our best shot: More depth forwards Projected Bridgeport lines Ryan Hitchcock Kieffer Bellows-Otto Koivula-Oliver Wahlstrom John Stevens Matt Lorito-Cole Bardreau-Steve Bernier Jeff Kubiak Nick Schilkey-Mason Jobst-Josh Ho-Sang Yannick Turcotte Travis St. Denis-Bobo Carpenter-Ross Johnston Kyle MacLean Scott Eansor, Arnaud Durandeau Nic Pierog Why we see it this way: That top line is more hopeful than realistic, given that Thompson has rarely, if ever in his six seasons as Sound Tigers Erik Brown coach, used three young prospects on the same line. But those are the Kubiak, a big center, posted 9-12-21 in 54 games for Bridgeport last three most promising young players at each forward spot, so maybe it season and is certainly in the mix for a job. Same for Hitchcock, who had happens this season? We can wish at least. The Bellows-Wahlstrom 49 points in 46 games with Worcester last season. Stevens was hurt combo on the wings should be a priority for the Isles organization even most of the year but has been a good bottom-six center option in his two though both are shoot-first types. Koivula, coming off a 21-goal pro pro seasons with the Sound Tigers. Turcotte is a tough winger who’s debut, doesn’t shy away from shooting either, so this could either be an been in Worcester the last two years. Brown signed after a good showing incredibly dynamic top line or one with three young guys going in three in prospect camp and, at 23, could give some depth on the wing in his different directions. first pro season. Pierog had 32 goals for Manchester of the ECHL in his The second liners are the three senior players at each position — Bernier first pro year. And MacLean, 20, is just getting started. signed an AHL deal, so he’d need to sign a new deal to be called up. More depth defensemen Bardreau comes from Lehigh Valley, where he struggled through a couple of injuries in his four seasons with the Flyers affiliate but is a solid David Quenneville two-way center. Lorito missed most of last season with an injury, but posted good numbers when healthy and is the second-oldest player on Ryan MacKinnon the projected roster. He’s also played center quite a bit in case some of Justin Murray the newer center additions don’t pan out immediately. Mike Cornell Schilkey and Jobst are old Ohio State teammates, with Schilkey showing some decent skill and jam in two seasons with Charlotte, the Hurricanes’ Quenneville had a decent first pro season with Worcester and will be affiliate. Jobst is 25 but in his first pro season, so he’ll be one to watch. battling for a spot on Bridgeport’s crowded D corps. MacKinnon also had Ho-Sang will almost certainly get top-line minutes if he earns them and a nice first full pro season in the ECHL. Murray signed as a free agent should be first in line for a call-up if the Isles need a winger (or any after prospect camp — the LHD was a teammate of Wilde’s in Saginaw forward, really), but that is TBD for him at this point. of the OHL last season. And Cornell, 31, is in his third season in the organization, a veteran heavyweight. St. Denis is another established Bridgeporter who can score. Johnston hung around the Isles all last season but with the logjam on defense it’s Overall, the organization is far deeper than it’s been in recent years. That hard to project him being the permanent 14th forward while playing as may not show at the highest level, with a team that looks very much the little as he did. Carpenter may be a quick study at center and earn some same heading into next season as it did last year. But Bridgeport will be more minutes quickly. younger and more dynamic, likely with two highly touted teenagers on its roster. There may not be much battling for spots in camp, but there will Durandeau surely won’t be a scratch given his status as a first-year pro. be a load of young players eager to mix things up. If he can’t crack this top 12 he’d go to Worcester. Eansor hasn’t been healthy much the past two seasons, but he’s a gamer.

Projected defense pairs The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 Sebastian Aho-Grant Hutton

Mitch Vande Sompel-Kyle Burroughs

Parker Wotherspoon-Bode Wilde

Seth Helgeson

Why we see it this way: With the potential (and likely) addition of Wilde, Bridgeport can finally have the same left-right balance that Trotz prefers. Aho played some on his off-side last season and won’t have to now; one could project down the road that Aho and Wilde would be the top pair, but the bigger, older Hutton makes for a good partner for Aho at the moment.

Burroughs is the likely captain this season and is as steady as ever to complement Vande Sompel’s skating. Wotherspoon has bounced around in a role, but starting off with the offense-minded Wilde seems wise. Helgeson as the senior member of the crew will get his minutes. 1150348 New York Rangers So the wait goes on. As discussed often, other options would be a trade or a buyout of Vlad Namestnikov (who carries a $4 million cap hit) or a trade of Ryan Strome (whose $3.1 million cap hit would require another More than halfway through their latest buyout window, the Rangers move of some sort). remain silent Be sure of this: Gorton and Davidson are exploring every potential move and won’t be rushed into a bad decision just because the buyout window is closing. By Rick Carpiniello The Rangers remain likely to use a buyout by the 5 p.m. deadline, but Jul 30, 2019 they aren’t bound to do so. And Shattenkirk remains the prime buyout target, but it certainly is possible he remains on the roster after the

window closes. Through more than the first half of their 48-hour buyout window, the

Rangers remained silent. The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 The window, which was opened Monday at 5 p.m. after the team settled Friday with restricted free agent Pavel Buchnevich on a new contract upon his filing for arbitration, closes Wednesday at 5 p.m.

A source told The Athletic that defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, the Rangers’ top buyout candidate, had not been notified one way or another about his immediate fate.

As a player with a no-move clause, Shattenkirk did not need to pass through waivers before being bought out. Similarly, we were told that though Brendan Smith would not necessarily have required Tuesday waivers to be a buyout candidate. So it remains a possibility that Shattenkirk (or Smith, or Marc Staal) will be an ex-Ranger by Wednesday evening.

A buyout of Shattenkirk would mean a savings of $5.167 million this coming season, a savings of only $566.667 in ’20-21 (when the Rangers would have a hit of $6.083 million on the books for a player no longer here) and dead cap space of $1.433 million in each of the following two seasons. If the Rangers don’t buy out Shattenkirk, they live with his cap hit of $6.65 million each of the next two seasons and then his contract comes entirely off the books.

So it’s not an automatic, nor is it a perfect option.

The Rangers have many more avenues to travel this summer in order to get under the salary cap by opening night and the only deadline they face is the closing buyout window.

One of the avenues would be a trade of Chris Kreider, and once again this needs to be said: If the Rangers trade Kreider this summer, it won’t be about getting under the salary cap. It will be all about Kreider’s next contract and the team’s unwillingness to go to seven years and north of $7 million per for a player who will be 29 when such an extension would kick in next season. Kreider otherwise will be an unrestricted free agent and would command such a contract on the open market next July 1, so the Rangers are extremely likely to be dealing him now, later in the summer, during the season, or at the very latest at the next trade deadline.

But Kreider has drawn lots of interest on the trade market and if Rangers GM Jeff Gorton and team president John Davidson can make a Kreider trade work now they won’t need to complete a buyout, which would leave dead cap space for twice the remainder of the bought-out player’s contract (in the case of Shattenkirk, Smith or Staal, for four years).

At the end of ’20-21, the Rangers, without using a buyout this summer or next, will shed the contracts of Shattenkirk, Smith, Staal and Henrik Lundqvist to the tune of $25.2 million of new cap space.

The option also exists that the Rangers exercise a buyout of any of those players next summer, prior to the final year of said player’s contract, resulting in only two years of dead cap space rather than four.

On the other hand, if the Rangers let the buyout window close without making a move, it will be slightly more challenging – but certainly not impossible – for them to get under the cap by the Oct. 3 opener against Winnipeg.

The Rangers are about $4.1 million over the cap of $81.5 million according to Capfriendly.com, but that number is fluid, depending on which players are actually on the opening night roster. Kreider is due to carry a $4.625 million cap hit into the 2019-20 season, so a trade of the team’s alternate captain could solve the issue entirely. But Gorton and Davidson will absolutely not give away Kreider in a hockey trade that doesn’t make sense, especially when they can get a first-rounder for Kreider as a rental to a contender at the deadline. 1150349 Ottawa Senators Until Condon is able to showcase himself in the big leagues again, the Lightning will be paying a lot of money for a minor-league goaltender.

At the same time, though, the Senators didn’t get much else from the Big money trade: Sens deal goalie Mike Condon for injured forward Ryan Lightning for helping to alleviate their salary cap crunch. Callahan While the Senators acquired Tampa’s fifth-round pick in 2020 in exchange for a sixth-round selection in the same draft, it’s not likely going Ken Warren to amount to much.

If, as expected, the rebuilding Senators finish near the bottom of the standings next season, the Lightning would be selecting early in the sixth Don’t rush out to buy Ryan Callahan sweaters, Senators fans. round. If the Lightning returns to the top of the standings, the pick acquired by Ottawa will be at the tail end of the fifth round. Technically, Callahan’s impressive 13-year career as a character player will end with his contract expiring as a member of the Ottawa Senators, Presumably, the Lightning would have been prepared to pay a higher but he will never wear the organization’s colours in a National Hockey draft price if Tuesday’s trade didn’t include Condon and his contract. League game. Nobody should be all that surprised at the financial footwork by the The accounting gets a tad complicated, but Tuesday’s trade to acquire Senators. Callahan from the Tampa Bay Lightning for injury-plagued goaltender Mike Condon — we’ll get to the swap of fifth- and sixth-round picks later So far, at least, this is the part of the grand plan to save as much money — is effectively a marriage of salary cap convenience. as possible in the short term and to stock up on draft picks as part of the long-term promise to rebuild around young stars such as defenceman In the funny financial world involving the NHL’s collective agreement, the Thomas Chabot and forward Brady Tkachuk. low-budget Senators saved themselves $2.06 million by picking up what remained on the contract of the 34-year-old Callahan, who had career- Owner has pledged several times to pay what it takes to ending degenerative back issues last season. keep those two, and fans are waiting for Melnyl to honour that commitment. It’s a follow-the-money transaction, along with housecleaning that allows the Senators organization to clear space in what had been a crowded Chabot could become a restricted free agent next summer and Tkachuk crease. would be in that position in 2021.

Callahan has a salary cap hit of $5.8 million for the 2019-20 season, the There is certainly no danger in spending over the salary cap in order to final year of a $34.8-million deal he signed in 2014. It was a sliding keep them in town. As Tuesday’s deal made clear, the current order of contract, however, meaning he was paid less in the deal’s final years. His business is simply to stay above the cap floor. 2019-20 salary is $4.7 million. Ottawa Sun LOADED: 07.31.2019 This is where the NHL’s long-term disability insurance program kicks in to the Senators advantage.

With insurance covering 80 per cent of that total, the Senators will pay only $940,000.

Meanwhile, Condon’s $3 million salary for 2019-20 goes to the Lightning.

After the swap of contracts, the Senators are technically committed to $65.86 million in salary cap payments, according to capfriendly.com. That puts them above the floor of $60.2 million, plus restricted free agent centre Colin White also needs to be re-signed.

Keep in mind, though, that those gross numbers include salary cap commitments to fellow injured forwards Marian Gaborik ($4.875 million) and Clarke MacArthur ($4.65 million), whose payouts are also covered by insurance. The Senators are also on the hook for a $729,000 payout to defenceman Dion Phaneuf, as part of his contract buyout by the Los Angeles Kings.

Add it all up and that’s $16 million for players turned spectators.

Meanwhile, the Lightning are $11 million and change below the salary cap maximum of $81.5 million, giving them more flexibility to re-sign restricted free-agent forwards Brayden Point and Adam Erne.

The trade of Condon, who played only two NHL games last season because of severe hip issues, provides a little more clarity to the Senators’ goaltending situation.

Craig Anderson and Anders Nilsson are expected to start the coming season in Ottawa, with Marcus Hogberg set to be the No. 1 netminder with Belleville in the American Hockey League. Filip Gustavsson and Joey Daccord will battle for ice time with Belleville and/or Brampton of the ECHL.

“We believe we have the right mix of goaltenders both for the upcoming season and the future,” Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said in a statement. “We are pleased with how our young goaltenders have been developing in Belleville, so this trade allows us to focus on continuing their growth at a proper pace while keeping two established goaltenders here in Ottawa.”

All signs point to Condon playing with Tampa’s AHL affiliate in Syracuse as he looks to rediscover the form that helped carry the Senators to the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs. 1150350 Ottawa Senators Needing help, Dorion traded a fifth-round pick in 2017 (Jan Drozg) to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Condon on Nov. 2, 2016.

Condon saved their season. He had a shutout in his first game with the Mike Condon trade clears up Senators’ crowded crease and saves $2 Senators and went on to have a 19-14-6 record while starting franchise- million in salary record 27 straight games. The Senators made the playoffs and went on a run to the Eastern Conference final where they lost Game 7 in double overtime. By Chris Stevenson Jul 30, 2019 The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019

One of the big questions facing the Ottawa Senators heading towards training camp was answered on Tuesday when goaltender Mike Condon was traded to Tampa Bay.

The Senators cleared up their crowded crease situation by sending the 29-year-old to the Lightning along with Ottawa’s sixth-round pick in 2020 for injured veteran forward Ryan Callahan and the Bolts’ 2020 fifth-round selection.

The deal accomplishes two things for the Senators: it streamlined the goaltending depth chart while moving out the $3 million Condon is owed on the last year of his contract (cap hit of $2.4 million according to capfriendly.com).

Callahan, who has one year left on his contract and is owed $4.7 million this season (cap hit of $5.8 million), was placed on LTIR by the Lightning last month with a potentially career-ending back injury.

Given his medical situation, 80 percent of Callahan’s contract will likely be picked up by insurance, leaving the Senators on the hook for approximately $940,000. Considering they were set to pay Condon $3 million, it represents a potential savings of just over $2 million.

“It’s a degenerative disc disease is what I have, and unfortunately there doesn’t even seem to be anything they can do immediately to fix the problem,” Callahan told tampabaylightning.com last month, “and that’s never easy to hear when you’re speaking to a couple of doctors and all of them agree on the same thing.

“Just knowing what I went through this year with the pain of it, dealing with it day to day, kind of not knowing how it was going to react in games, I wouldn’t be able to go through another year like that without having something done to it.

“I don’t think a year off or two years off is going to help it to be honest with you. From what the doctors have said and the way I feel, it doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to come back.”

Even with Callahan on the books, the Senators still have plenty of cap space.

According to CapFriendly, this Ottawa’s current cap situation:

After Condon’s departure, this is how the organization’s goaltending depth chart shapes up: Craig Anderson and Anders Nilsson in the NHL; Marcus Hogberg in Belleville of the AHL along with Filip Gustavsson; and Joey Daccord probably starting his season in the ECHL with the chance to play some games in Belleville.

“We believe we have the right mix of goaltenders both for the upcoming season and the future,” Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said in a statement. “We are pleased with how our young goaltenders have been developing in Belleville, so this trade allows us to focus on continuing their growth at a proper pace while keeping two established goaltenders here in Ottawa. Our cap flexibility allowed us to proceed with this trade, which will also benefit us as we continue making adjustments to create a hardworking, exciting team.”

Condon didn’t fit into the Senators plans after a nightmare season in 2018-19. Expected to back up Anderson, he played in two games, gave up eight goals, including a shorty from the blue line against Arizona. He was sent to the to sort out his game but allowed six goals in his only AHL start and was out until April with a hip injury.

After receiving stem cell treatments, he was declared healthy near the end of Belleville’s season. If the Senators playoff fate had been decided before their final game of the regular season, Condon would have had the opportunity to play.

It was a sad ending to one of the great stories in Senators history. After Anderson left the team in October 2016 to be with his wife Nicholle, who had been diagnosed with cancer (now in remission), Andrew “The Hamburglar” Hammond sustained a groin injury. 1150351 Philadelphia Flyers

Joel Farabee showing highlight-reel stuff in 2019 World Junior Summer Showcase, but what must he show Flyers?

By Jordan Hall July 30, 2019 1:15 PM

Joel Farabee is fun to watch and there's a discernible pro readiness to his game — hence, why the 19-year-old is turning pro in 2019-20 after one year at Boston University.

Along the wing, Farabee is loaded with skill, speed and smarts. He's a prolific goal-scorer who plays hard and in a lot of situations. These are reasons why Farabee is considered by many to be the Flyers' top prospect and will push for a roster spot during the fall (see story).

"In terms of hockey sense, skill, skating, passion to play the game — he has all of those elements already," Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said in June. "It's just going to be a question of time and really maturity."

Before the fall comes, Farabee is putting his strengths on display in the 2019 World Junior Summer Showcase. Through two games with the U.S., Farabee has a pair of goals, an assist and a plus-3 rating.

On one of his goals in USA Blue's 7-1 win over Sweden last weekend, Farabee made his ability abundantly clear (as you can see in the video above).

His other marker was just as impressive. Farabee is a strategic and accurate goal-scorer. Former Flyers general manager Ron Hextall raved about Farabee's deception last summer. You can see some of it here with his hands.

Second of the game for Joel Farabee (PHI). 4-1 USA. #WJSS pic.twitter.com/9uABHkJoVN

— Lassi Alanen (@lassialanen) July 28, 2019

So what does Farabee need to do in order to crack the Flyers' roster and win a third-line job? Prove he's ready to play in all zones, against NHL size, on a nightly basis.

"Probably the down-low game," he said at development camp. "It's pretty grindy in the [AHL] and the NHL, so you've got to be able to withstand an 82-game season, plus. I think that's the biggest thing right now."

The Flyers clearly want to see Farabee's thinner build not be a major factor or hindrance. There's a chance it may not matter if he's doing everything else well — which he often does.

"You watch a Joel Farabee, you watch the way he thinks the game, especially the small area hockey games out there — he's a guy that I can imagine you put him with NHL players, he can play," Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr said in June. "Whether he's physically ready or mentally ready to handle the grind of an NHL season, I'm not sure. I'm not sure that's realistic."

In late June, Farabee said he was 6-foot-1, 175 pounds, and by the end of his career, would like to be in the 185-190 range.

If he has a slight frame, that could be a knock on him but he's hockey strong. That's kind of a force that is a little bit misunderstood sometimes by people outside the game. You can have a slight frame, and as long as you've got that unbelievable balance and skating ability on your edges, it doesn't affect you to be light.

- U.S. national team development program coach John Wroblewski (see story)

Farabee will be worth watching in training camp. As you can see, he's also worth watching right now in the summer showcase, along with Flyers prospects Bobby Brink (USA), Cam York (USA) and Adam Ginning (Sweden). USA plays today at 4 p.m. against Canada on HockeyTV. The remainder of the showcase can be watched on NHL Network

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150352 Philadelphia Flyers The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel made the case for Andersen getting fewer starts through the stretch run of the regular season in 2018.

On Thursday at Dominic Moore’s annual Smashfest charity ping-pong Why Michal Neuvirth believes he can revive his career with the Maple tournament, Andersen was asked about scaling back his workload next Leafs season.

“Here we go,” Andersen said with a smile. “I just prepare to try to be in By Joshua Kloke Jul 30, 2019 the best shape possible and be the best I can be and then once we get closer to camp and the season I think we’re going to have that discussion.”

Michal Neuvirth left Philadelphia this spring unsure of what would come “They can get pretty banged up,” Neuvirth said of how shrinking next in his career. workloads help starting goalies. “When you start the playoffs, you need to be fresh and ready.” His two-year, $5 million contract with the Flyers was up. And after playing just seven games last season as one of eight — yes, eight — goalies to That is partly what inspired Neuvirth to push for a back-up job in the NHL suit up for the Flyers, he knew his next stop would be elsewhere. instead of taking a starter’s job in the AHL. The trend only serves to benefit him. Once free agency opened on July 1, Neuvirth’s agent, former NHLer Patrik Stefan, began putting out feelers to clubs that might be interested “It’s good for back-ups,” said Neuvirth. “That’s why every team needs a in his services. Neuvirth said at least one NHL team offered him a good back-up.” “guaranteed spot” as an AHL starter. After his run with the Capitals, Neuvirth continued to serve as a back-up He remained convinced that he could play in the NHL. All he wanted was in stops with the and the New York Islanders before what he calls a “fair camp” and the opportunity to fight for a spot on an signing in Philadelphia. But as can often be the case with Flyer goalies, NHL roster. Neuvirth’s time in Philadelphia was tumultuous.

That’s what makes the PTO contract he signed last week with the Maple His workload decreased in every one of his four seasons as a Flyer, from Leafs so exciting for the 31-year-old. After all, it took just one phone call 32 games in 2015-16 to just seven last season. His save percentage with Leafs GM Kyle Dubas to accept the deal and leave another bounced back and forth, from a very notable .924 in 2015-16 to a much guaranteed contract on the table. less exemplary .891 the following season.

“It was always my dream to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs,” Neuvirth Neuvirth’s last season was riddled with injuries. And as the Flyers said on a phone call from his home in Prague. brought in goaltender after goaltender to decrease what would eventually end up as the third-most goals allowed in the league, Neuvirth’s stock During that conversation with Dubas, Neuvirth became convinced the continued to plummet in the organization. Leafs could be the right fit for him even without the security of a contract. He felt he’d get a “fair camp” in Toronto. He also knows the Leafs have At the end of the 2017-18 season, Neuvirth required arthroscopic surgery Stanley Cup aspirations with the team they’ve built, so he jumped at the on both hips. The recovery took far longer than he anticipated. This led, opportunity. in part, to his heavily reduced workload last season. His last game was a Jan. 3 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes during which he allowed five “I knew right away,” said Neuvirth, “that’s where I want to be.” goals on 28 shots against. Neuvirth is under no illusion about why he’s being brought to Leafs’ “I wasn’t strong enough after the surgery,” said Neuvirth. “But now I feel training camp. Though he was once the starter on the Washington really good.” Capitals, posting a .914 save percentage over 48 games during the 2010-11 season, Neuvirth has not played more than 40 regular-season He’s hired a new personal trainer to get him ready for camp. The time games since that time. away from the game has allowed him to properly recover and also left him at peace with a four-year stint in Philadelphia that never really His goal in camp is to challenge for the back-up job and that suits him panned out. He insists he enjoyed his time there. just fine. Neuvirth said the Leafs were looking for a “quality back-up for a couple of years,” and he believes he can fill that role. It’s all an effort to stay grounded ahead of what he hopes will be a long stay in Toronto. He signed his tryout agreement with the Leafs before they sent Garret Sparks to the Vegas Golden Knights last Tuesday. “Life goes on,” he said his time in Philadelphia. “We move on. Here we go.” Toronto’s need for an upgrade in the back-up goalie position is obvious but also a relatively new development. In 2017-18, Curtis McElhinney Neuvirth returned to his native Czech Republic soon after the season provided more than ample support for Frederik Andersen, posting a .934 ended and began working out in on- and off-ice sessions throughout the save percentage in 18 games. Yet the organization opted to waive summer with his former Czech team, Sparta Praha. McElhinney ahead of last season to clear the way for the Sparks, who was coming off being voted the AHL’s outstanding goaltender. The increased exposure that comes from playing with the Maple Leafs could lead to more opportunities elsewhere around the league. Still, The move didn’t pan out as hoped as Sparks struggled to take the reins Neuvirth wants to be part of the Leafs. He said their current position as in his 20 games and was dropped from the lineup ahead of the playoffs in Stanley Cup contenders was one of the biggest factors that led him to an effort to regain his confidence. join the organization.

Enter Neuvirth. “The future is very bright for them,” said Neuvirth. “It would be huge to be a part of it.” An upgrade at backup becomes all the more important considering Frederik Andersen could see his workload decrease. After playing 66 So does Neuvirth have a shot at unseating Michael Hutchinson? The regular-season games in both of his first two seasons in Toronto, Leafs traded for the 29-year-old midway through last season. He Andersen played 60 games last season. appeared in five games, spent the majority of the season with the Marlies and was then signed to a one-year, one-way $700,000 contract on June Starting goalie workloads have decreased as of late across the NHL as a 27. general trend, too. Neuvirth’s career NHL save percentage sits at .910 over 257 games, just Last season, the Stanley Cup finalist Boston Bruins only played Tuukka slightly better than Hutchinson’s career .908 save percentage over 111 Rask in 46 regular-season games and relied more heavily on Jaroslav games. Neuvirth is betting on his experience, including 16 playoff games. Halak, who played 40 regular-season games, in an effort to keep Rask ready for a deep playoff run. Whether that experience tips the scales remains to be seen.

For different reasons altogether, the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Neuvirth plans on spending the next four weeks continuing to work out Blues only had Jordan Binnington play 32 regular-season games. with Sparta Praha before arriving in Toronto 10 days ahead of the start of training camp. In a perfect world, Neuvirth said he would crack the team’s roster, happily oblige as the back-up to Andersen and be part of a deep playoff run.

That’s his hope, for now. He has just a little over a month before he can begin writing the next chapter in his career.

“It means a lot to me and my family,” said Neuvirth. “It’s a great opportunity.”

The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150353 Pittsburgh Penguins • Rutherford can be accused of many things, but sentimentality isn’t one of them. Twelve of the 20 players dressed for Game 6 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final are now gone, including the entire HBK line.

Penguins Prediction Rewind: Carl Hagelin’s exit came earlier than Tribune Review LOADED: 07.31.2019 expected

JONATHAN BOMBULIE | Tuesday, July 30, 2019 4:45 p.m.

Last summer, beat writer Jonathan Bombulie made a series of predictions leading up to the start of the 2018-19 season. Some were OK. Some were hilariously off the mark. In this series, Bombulie will explain what he was thinking and where his logic went off course.

THE QUESTION

Carl Hagelin is entering the final year of his contract. When will his time with the Penguins end?

A. He’ll re-sign with the Penguins.

B. He’ll move on in free agency.

C. He’ll be traded during the season.

THE PREDICTION

B. He’ll move on in free agency.

THE RIGHT ANSWER

C. He’ll be traded during the season.

THE RATIONALE

• With and Matt Murray in line for significant raises and bottom-six centers Derick Brassard and Riley Sheahan both entering the final year of their contracts, the Penguins had more important things to spend scarce salary cap money on than a middle-six winger who averaged around nine goals per season. Therefore, an extension for Hagelin was unlikely.

• The Penguins wouldn’t trade Hagelin during the season, however, because they’d need more speed, not less, to be championship contenders.

READER REACTION

A sample of Facebook comments:

• “The Pens will probably let him walk. A trade is unlikely, since few teams would value him at his cost. His main asset is his speed, and he’ll likely lose some of it in his 30s.”

• “Hags could do the same thing that Horny did. He enjoys where he is and would like to stay longer, maybe? A shorter deal, say a two-year extension, for roughly the same amount. $4m a season for a top six forward isn’t expensive. His value isn’t necessarily in scoring. We all know this.”

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED

• The Penguins sputtered out of the gate, and after a five-game losing streak in early November, general manager Jim Rutherford traded Hagelin to Los Angeles for winger Tanner Pearson, citing a need to freshen up a stagnant roster.

• Hagelin was flipped in February to Washington, where he signed a four- year, $11 million extension. Pearson was flipped to Vancouver for Erik Gudbranson at the trade deadline.

THE FLAWS IN THE LOGIC

• Predictions that the Penguins would trade Hagelin were based around the idea that they would need salary cap space to make another move or would need to deal from a position of strength to shore up a position of weakness. In reality, Hagelin was sent out to try to shake the team up after a poor start.

• Many of these predictions were also predicated on the idea that the Penguins were in the market for a scoring-wing left wing. That type of trade never really materialized. The closest thing was the addition of Jared McCann at the trade deadline.

LESSONS LEARNED 1150354 Pittsburgh Penguins “He’s the ultimate teammate for a lot of different reasons: the way he treats people, the way he handles himself, the way he plays every single night,” Crosby said. “That’s no fluke that he’s won four Stanley Cups. A Former Penguins winger Chris Kunitz, ‘the ultimate teammate,’ great person and a great teammate.” announces retirement try not to cry watching this Kunitz goal. pic.twitter.com/UYNM5E771a

— Tim (@timmshady) May 26, 2017

JONATHAN BOMBULIE | Tuesday, July 30, 2019 9:21 a.m. Kunitz’s final goal in a Penguins uniform was his most memorable.

He took a pass from Crosby and beat goalie Craig Anderson to net the Chris Kunitz, a key component of three Stanley Cup teams for the winning goal in the second overtime of Game 7 of the 2017 Eastern Pittsburgh Penguins, announced his retirement Tuesday at age 39. Conference finals against Ottawa.

Kunitz, who played for the Chicago Blackhawks last season, will stay with “It meant a lot, never knowing if you were going to play in Pittsburgh that organization as a player development adviser, working with young again, to be able to carry your team on to going to the Stanley Cup players on the NHL roster and on the club’s AHL affiliate in Rockford. Final,” Kunitz said. “Everybody has to have a moment at some point to help your team win, and for whatever reason, it just turned out I was In his retirement announcement, Kunitz thanked the four teams with having a good day that day. which he spent most of his career — Anaheim, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and Chicago — and their owners, coaches, trainers and management. “It wasn’t the best shot in the world, but it found its way in the net. I think He saved his most poignant words for his former teammates. when you look back at think about getting a pass from Sid to be able to move your team to the Stanley Cup Final, I think that’s something I’ll “As a young player, you taught me to give my very best,” Kunitz said. remember forever.” “Your leadership helped mold me into the player I knew I could be. I was given the opportunity to play with the very best teams and the very best Tribune Review LOADED: 07.31.2019 players, and I’m grateful for the laughs and the friendships that we shared together. Thank you for making my childhood dream come true.”

4 Stanley Cups.

3 in Pittsburgh.

2OT goal we'll never forget.

1 incredible career.

Congratulations on your retirement, Kuni! pic.twitter.com/55X4Xi8GIV

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) July 30, 2019

Kunitz forged an impressive legacy in his 15-year NHL career and will go down as one of the top players in Penguins history.

First and foremost, he will be known as a winner.

In addition to the three championships he won with the Penguins, he was a member of Anaheim’s Stanley Cup club in 2007. He’s the only NHL player to win four championships since the turn of the century.

He also won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.

“Very fortunate is probably the first thing that comes to my mind, being able to play on some really good teams with some great players,” Kunitz said in 2017. “I feel extremely fortunate to be able to win but also make all those friends and be part of other peoples’ careers throughout your own career.”

Kunitz also will be known as an underdog who overcame numerous obstacles at the start of his pro career.

Undrafted out of Ferris State, Kunitz was waived by Anaheim in 2005. He was claimed by the Atlanta and played two games with the Thrashers before being waived again and reclaimed by the Ducks.

“You start thinking, ‘Is hockey for me? What am I supposed to do?’ ” Kunitz said in 2009. “I thought I had a good chance of making it with Anaheim. Then you go to another team, and they don’t want you, either. A lot of thoughts were going through my head.”

Kunitz persevered, and a trade to the Penguins in February 2009 sent his career to the next level.

He quickly became one of Sidney Crosby’s most effective linemates. The chemistry he showed playing alongside the Penguins captain helped him compile one of the most impressive stat lines in team history.

Kunitz recorded 169 goals and 388 points in 569 regular-season games in eight-plus seasons. He ranks ninth on the team’s all-time goal-scoring list.

Kunitz also recorded 23 goals and 76 points in 123 career playoff games. He ranks eighth on the team’s all-time playoff scoring list. 1150355 Pittsburgh Penguins Blackhawks last year. Kunitz’s wife is from the Chicago area, and Rutherford said it was the family’s goal to stay in that area.

However, no matter where he settles, the mark Kunitz made in Pittsburgh Former Penguin Chris Kunitz retires after 15 NHL seasons won’t soon be forgotten.

Post Gazette LOADED: 07.31.2019 Mike DeFabo

After 15 NHL seasons, four Stanley Cups and one of the most memorable goals in Pittsburgh playoff history, former Penguins winger Chris Kunitz has called it a career.

The 39-year-old, who played last season with the Chicago Blackhawks, announced on Tuesday that he’s hanging up his skates to join the Blackhawks hockey operations department as player development adviser.

“I feel very fortunate to have been part of four amazing organizations over the last 15 years,” Kunitz wrote in a statement. “First and foremost, I’d like to sincerely thank the Anaheim Ducks, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks. Every one of these organizations was the ultimate example, not only to me, but to my children, on what true professionalism should be.”

"I feel very fortunate to have been a part of four amazing organizations over the last 15 years." pic.twitter.com/QEoc7iZuCG

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) July 30, 2019

4 Stanley Cups.

3 in Pittsburgh.

2OT goal we'll never forget.

1 incredible career.

Congratulations on your retirement, Kuni! pic.twitter.com/55X4Xi8GIV

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) July 30, 2019

Kunitz, a native of Saskatchewan, Canada, signed with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim as an undrafted free agent in 2003. He went on to win his first of four Stanley Cups with the Ducks in 2007.

During the 2008-09 season, Kunitz was traded to the Penguins in exchange for defenseman Ryan Whitney. In Pittsburgh, Kunitz enjoyed nine productive seasons and played an integral role in three Stanley Cups (2009, 2016 and 2017).

“Terrific person. Terrific player,” Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford said Tuesday. “He had great character and leadership. He always played the game at 100 percent and went about his business in a quiet way.

“Family man. A team guy. He was just one of those really good guys that you’d like to have more of on your team.”

Kunitz had a flare for creating big plays in key moments, starting with his first postseason with the Penguins.

Before the first game of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs, Kunitz's wife, Maureen, went into labor overnight. She gave birth to their first of three children, Zachary James, at 9:41 a.m., about 10 hours before the Penguins’ opening-round game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Kunitz was running on almost no sleep, and there were questions as to whether he'd play at all. Yet, on his first shift, he laid a hit that began to set the tone for the 4-1 Game 1 victory and the series as a whole.

Kunitz went on to become one of Sidney Crosby’s most-trusted and productive linemates. He ranks ninth in goals (169) and 14th in points (388) in Penguins franchise history.

None of the goals were bigger than the final one of the 2017 Eastern Conference final. In double-overtime against Ottawa, Kunitz buried the winner to send the Penguins back to the Stanley Cup final for the second straight season.

“It was such a big game for us,” Rutherford said. “We don’t get that game, we don’t get the Cup.”

Kunitz left the Penguins following the 2016-17 season as a free agent. He played with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2017-18 and the Chicago 1150356 Pittsburgh Penguins Ray Shero traded for Kunitz and Eric Tangradi that season, sending Ryan Whitney to Anaheim in one of the more one-sided deals in Penguins’ history.

Chris Kunitz almost didn’t come to Pittsburgh: ‘Thank goodness he did’ Rutherford almost changed Shero’s plans.

“I always liked that guy so much when he was in Anaheim,” Rutherford By Josh Yohe Jul 30, 2019 said.

A general manager always has scouts, of course. But Rutherford is old school and, to this day, makes it a habit to watch as many west coast If there is a snapshot in time that best illustrates Chris Kunitz, it came just games as he can, trying to identify the right players for his respective past midnight on May 26, 2017. team. Rutherford watched Kunitz a lot that season.

Kunitz had just scored his final goal with the Penguins, one of the grand “I wanted to bring him to Carolina before Ray traded for him in goals in franchise history, the one that sent the exhausted defending Pittsburgh,” Rutherford said. “I really did. I thought he’d be a really nice fit champions back to the Stanley Cup final. The Penguins were still for us. I really had my eye on him and wanted to make it happen.” celebrating in their locker room. Ushers and fans were still high-fiving. Media members were running through the hallways of PPG Paints Arena Usually when Rutherford wants to make a trade happen, he does. like headless chickens. There was chaos in every direction. But the Penguins, who weren’t afraid to spend money because they Except for one. knew their new building was about to produce a windfall of profit, were ready to spend to the salary cap limit. Plus, eliminating Whitney’s deal In the corner adjacent to the Penguins’ locker room, there was quiet and actually helped their situation. calm. Kunitz had disappeared from the noise and was sitting on the ground, most of his uniform still on, having a group hug with his three Rutherford didn’t have such a luxury. children and his wife, Maureen. The moment perfectly captured “The cap got in the way,” he said. “From a budget standpoint, we everything that Kunitz was and is: family man, professional, quiet, always ultimately couldn’t afford to bring Chris to Carolina and Pittsburgh got seeing the big picture. him. It would have helped us getting a hockey player like him. But Kunitz announced his retirement from the NHL on Tuesday, ending his Pittsburgh got their guy. He ended up a Penguin. Thank goodness he career just two months before his 40th birthday. And what a career it did.” was. He will join the Blackhawks’ Hockey Ops department as Player Kunitz signed as a free agent with Tampa Bay in the summer of 2017, Development Adviser. after it was clear that the Penguins would no longer keep him.

• Kunitz won the Stanley Cup four times, three times with the Penguins Rutherford didn’t want to lose Kunitz. He couldn’t afford him, the same as and once with the Ducks a decade earlier, only in much different circumstances.

• He won an Olympic gold medal and scored a goal in Canada’s clincher “You hear me say it a lot,” Rutherford said. “Sometimes the cap gets in against Sweden in 2014 the way of your plans. It’s tough losing any player, especially one that • Kunitz scored 268 goals in 1,022 NHL games despite being undrafted you’ve won championships with. I hated to see him go but he got a good out of Ferris State deal in Tampa. It was one we just couldn’t afford to give him.”

And yet, for all of his accomplishments, much of Kunitz’s legacy will Kunitz’s appeal struck Rutherford one final time. always gravitate to that night against the Ottawa Senators. Last summer, the Penguins had some wiggle room financially. They had Once a preferred winger of Sidney Crosby’s, Kunitz had become a already agreed to terms with Jack Johnson. They had Matt Cullen on bottom-six player by 2017. His skills were beginning to erode. Through speed dial and eventually did bring him back for his final season. almost three rounds of playoff action, he hadn’t registered a goal. Before Rutherford called Cullen, though, he gave Kunitz a call.

Then came Game 7. “He wanted to finish up in Chicago,” Rutherford said. “His wife is from Kunitz gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead in the second period when he there. It’s where they wanted to settle down. It was the right contract for tapped home a feed from Conor Sheary. He later picked up an assist on him and I’m really glad he’s still in the game. He’s the kind of guy who Justin Schultz’s dramatic, go-ahead goal. Then, in the second overtime, should always still be in the game. But yeah, before he signed with the he found himself on the ice with his old center. Kunitz was still on the ice Blackhawks, I called him just to make sure that he was sure. I was while a fresh Crosby jumped on. Instinctively, Kunitz floated to the high considering bringing him back one more time.” slot and Crosby found him one last time, this one for all the marbles. Rutherford believes that a player like Kunitz, who went from not being “I still remember the game he played that night,” Jim Rutherford said drafted to being an NHL standout, will be perfect to mentor young Tuesday morning. “You know, if he didn’t play the way he played in that players. game, the Penguins probably don’t win the Stanley Cup that season. But Just like he was perfect in a Penguins’ sweater for almost a decade. he did. And the thing about him was, you always knew he’d show up and be great in the biggest games. I think that say a lot about him as a man.” “I think he always carried that chip on his shoulder because he wasn’t drafted,” Rutherford said. “He carried it with him everywhere he went. But It couldn’t have been easy for Kunitz to swallow his pride during the final he wasn’t bitter. He carried that chip with dignity. Just a great, great man. two Stanley Cup runs in Pittsburgh, which happened to mark his final two He was a special leader for us for a long time.” seasons with the Penguins. The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 But he went from Olympian and Crosby’s preferred winger to perfectly willing fourth-liner.

“That’s the thing about Chris,” Rutherford said. “That guy never complained. Never. Not about one thing. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a guy take everything in stride the way he always did. He went about his business in the most professional of ways.”

Rutherford wasn’t just an admirer of Kunitz’s after presiding as his general manager for three years. In fact, Rutherford’s intrigue with Kunitz very nearly altered the course of Penguins’ history.

During the 2008-09 season, Rutherford was the general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes. He sensed his team had what it took to make a Stanley Cup run. And indeed it did, as the Hurricanes eventually would lose to the Penguins in the Eastern Conference finals. 1150357 San Jose Sharks But midway through Game 2, Edmonton's Raffi Torres got San Jose's Milan Michalek with a vicious, blindside hit to the head, sending Michalek to the dressing room. After scoring three points in the first four periods of Shark Week: Where San Jose's 2005-06 team ranks in franchise history the series, Michalek missed the next two games and was held off the score sheet for the remainder of the series.

The Sharks never responded in-kind to Torres' hit, and that proved to be By Brian Witt July 30, 2019 5:21 PM a momentum-changing event as Edmonton reeled off four consecutive victories to defeat San Jose in six games. The Oilers ultimately finished

one win shy of lifting the Stanley Cup. Editor's note: In honor of Shark Week, NBC Sports California will look Had the Sharks gotten a clutch save here, or an unexpected goal there, it back at the five best teams from Sharks franchise history. Numerous might have been a different outcome. But they didn't, and that's why they factors have been taken into consideration, including overall team rank where they do in franchise history. success, roster makeup, historical significance and more. We continue with the 2005-06 Sharks. Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 07.31.2019 The first Sharks team to win at least 44 regular-season victories came in as the fifth-best team in franchise history. The next to accomplish the feat comes in fourth.

San Jose emerged from the 2004-05 NHL lockout arguably better than it went into it. After reaching their first-ever Conference Final in 2003-04, the Sharks took advantage of the new rule changes put in place during the lockout that were designed to increase scoring.

The degree to which they took advantage, however, shot up several notches midway through the season, after the most important trade in franchise history changed the trajectory of the team for the next 15 years.

Here's a look back at the 2005-06 Sharks, the fourth-best team in franchise history:

Why they're the best

The 2005-06 Sharks stand apart from all others in franchise history due to the sheer concentration of scoring power. San Jose scored 266 goals that season, the second-highest single-season total in franchise history behind only this past year. More than a third of those goals came from two players: Jonathan Cheechoo and Patrick Marleau, who combined to score 90. Cheechoo's 56 goals still stand as San Jose's single-season scoring record, 12 more than the next-closest finisher.

39 of Cheechoo's 56 goals came off an assist from Joe Thornton, with 28 of those being of the primary variety. Of course, that all came within just 58 games, as Thornton only joined San Jose in December. He came over from Boston in exchange for Marco Sturm, Wayne Primeau and Brad Stuart.

Safe to say, the Sharks won that trade.

In those 58 games, Thornton tallied 20 points and 72 assists, finishing one point shy of Cheechoo for the team lead. Think about that -- 92 points in 58 games.

Imagine leaving Thornton off the NHL's 100 Greatest Players list. Absolutely ridiculous.

With Cheechoo, Marleau and Thornton -- in the middle of a Hart Trophy campaign as the league's MVP -- all entering their primes and on top of their games, the Sharks arguably have never been led by such a high- powered trio.

Why they're not

The long layoff caused by the 2004-05 lockout didn't do San Jose's goaltending any favors.

In the season prior, Evgeni Nabokov posted a .921 save percentage and 2.21 goals-against average. In 2005-06, his save percentage nosedived to .885, and his goals-against average exploded to 3.10. Consequently, Nabokov was passed up on the depth chart by Vesa Toskala.

While Cheechoo, Marleau and Thornton couldn't be kept off the score sheet, there was a significant dropoff behind them. Outside of that trio, only Nils Ekman topped the 20-goal plateau, and he and defenseman Tom Preissing were the only other players to tally more than 35 total points.

Verdict

The Sharks' goaltending and scoring depth issues caught up to them in the playoffs. After defeating the Nashville Predators in a five-game first- round series, San Jose won the first two games of their Stanley Cup playoff second-round series against the Oilers. 1150358 San Jose Sharks Carl Grundstrom Jaret Anderson-Dolan Michael Amadio

Defensemen

The great Golden State debate — Which NHL team will dominate LEFT DEFENSE RIGHT DEFENSE California in 2022-23? Tobias Bjornfot Drew Doughty

Kale Clague Sean Walker By Kevin Kurz, Lisa Dillman, Eric Stephens and Josh Cooper Jul 30, 2019 Mikey Anderson Sean Durzi

Goalies

California used to be a gauntlet for teams coming to the Golden State on STARTING GOALTENDER BACKUP GOALTENDER road trips in search of wins. Cal Petersen Jack Campbell

From 2010-11 through 2016-17 the San Jose Sharks (1) and Anaheim Sharks Ducks (5) won six of the seven Pacific Division titles. Over that stretch the Los Angeles Kings won two Stanley Cups. The Sharks made the Forwards Stanley Cup final in 2016 and the Ducks made it to Game 7 of the LEFT WING CENTER RIGHT WING Western Conference final in 2015. Evander Kane Tomas Hertl Kevin Labanc “Absolutely it was tough,” an NHL coach said, “because you had three elite teams and usually three games in four nights, which made it hard in Timo Meier Logan Couture Sasha Chmelevski itself – but L.A.-Anaheim on back-to-back, both being heavy grinding teams you had to beat … then you had San Jose, a deep, high-pressure Ivan Chekhovich Dylan Gambrell Joachim Blichfeld skilled team that was very strong. Plus the Shark Tank was always a Lean Bergmann Noah Gregor Alex True tough trip. Three to four points (out of six) was considered a goal.” Defensemen Now, going through California isn’t exactly rough n’ tumble. Though the Sharks made the Western Conference final this past season, the Kings LEFT DEFENSE RIGHT DEFENSE finished 30th overall and Anaheim was 24th. Mario Ferraro Erik Karlsson The latter two teams are rebuilding and don’t appear to be close to re- entering their windows of opportunity any time soon. The Sharks lost Joe Radim Simek Brent Burns Pavelski this summer, but hope a healthy Erik Karlsson and some big- Marc-Edouard Vlasic Ryan Merkley time steps by their younger players last season can keep them competitive for a while. Goalies

Recently, The Athletic’s Cali beat reporters – Lisa Dillman (Kings), Kevin STARTING GOALTENDER BACKUP GOALTENDER Kurz (Sharks) and Eric Stephens (Ducks) – tried to guess what the teams they cover will look like in three years. We decided to take it a step Martin Jones Josef Korenar further and discuss which team might rule the state in three seasons, and Now for the debate! roped in The Athletic Los Angeles editor Josh Cooper to chime in. Kurz: One of the age-old debates in sports goes something like this — as First, a refresher on our projected 2022-23 rosters … a hardcore fan, would you rather root for a team that’s consistently Ducks competitive but has never won a championship, or is it better to endure a few seasons of misery that eventually lead to winning it all? Forwards The Sharks, of course, are the only NHL team from California that has LEFT WING CENTER RIGHT WING yet to win a Stanley Cup. Despite making the playoffs in 14 of the past 15 seasons, they’ve had to watch Anaheim raise the Cup in 2007, the Kings Rickard Rakell Trevor Zegras Ondrej Kase in 2012, and the Kings again 2014 after they erased a 3-0 series deficit in Max Comtois Sam Steel Troy Terry the first round to eliminate the Sharks in stunning fashion in what is probably the lowest moment in franchise history. Max Jones Getzlaf/Henrique Jakob Silfverberg But as the Ducks and Kings have regressed lately, the Sharks haven’t, FA/Ritchie/Shore Isac Lundestrom FA/Sherwood/Sprong advancing to their second Western Conference final in the past four seasons in 2019 while Anaheim and Los Angeles both missed the Defensemen playoffs by a wide margin. A similar situation could be in the cards for LEFT DEFENSE RIGHT DEFENSE 2019-20, as the Sharks are still in prime shape to challenge for a Pacific Division title while the Ducks and Kings don’t look like playoff teams at Hampus Lindholm Josh Manson all.

Brendan Guhle Cam Fowler But what about three years from now? Will the Sharks still be dangerous when the 2022-23 season rolls around? How will they measure up to Jacob Larsson FA/Hunter Drew their rebuilding neighbors to the south? Goalies In a recent exercise undertaken by many of our NHL writers here at The STARTING GOALTENDER BACKUP GOALTENDER Athletic, we all did our best to predict what our teams’ respective rosters might look like in the future. From my perspective covering the Sharks, I John Gibson Dostal/Eriksson Ek probably had it a little easier than some of my colleagues — particularly Kings Eric and Lisa, as the Ducks’ and Kings’ rosters are much more uncertain than the Sharks’ seems to be. Forwards It took a little work for me to fill in the bottom two forward lines, but other LEFT WING CENTER RIGHT WING than that, I only had to slot in two depth defensemen and a backup goaltender to come up with a complete opening night lineup. Adrian Kempe Anze Kopitar Rasmus Kupari So what does that tell us? Obviously, it means that many Sharks players Alex Iafallo Alex Turcotte Austin Wagner that are key to the team’s success in the present (and locked up on long- Nikolai Prokhorkin Akil Thomas Samuel Fagemo term contracts) will still have to be major contributors in 2022-23. Erik Karlsson is one of those, of course, as he’ll be in the fourth year of That hasn’t stopped us at The Athletic Los Angeles and The Athletic Bay his eight-year extension. After he endured some fairly significant injuries Area from embracing the heat. We’ve been asked to rank the California over the course of his career, and struggled with a groin injury in the teams, where the franchises will be in three seasons based on roster second half of his first season with the Sharks, his ability to remain an projections. elite player for the foreseeable future is a risk the Sharks decided was worth taking. Karlsson will be 32 when the 2022-23 season begins, and Here are mine: as long as he takes care of himself, he should still be at or near the top of Ducks his game in another three years. After all, 35-year-old Mark Giordano just won the Norris Trophy, right? Kings

Speaking of the defense, the Sharks’ top prospect at the moment is a Sharks player they hope becomes the next Karlsson or Brent Burns — Ryan The Sharks are the new Red Wings in this scenario. Merkley, the 21st overall pick in the 2018 draft. Merkley is an offensively gifted right-shot defenseman who still needs to work on his play in the They are going down the path Detroit once did. The Red Wings made the defensive zone, but he should be an NHL player by the time the 2022-23 playoffs 25 consecutive seasons, a model of consistency against all season begins as long as he continues along his current trajectory. He odds. They kept hanging on, but eventually time catches up with even gives the Sharks some insurance if either Karlsson or Burns — who will the best-run organizations, and the Red Wings are in the midst of a full- be 37 in three years — aren’t elite-level players anymore. on rebuild.

Up front, Tomas Hertl should be in the prime of his career. Logan San Jose has missed the playoffs once in the salary cap era (2014-15) Couture will be 33, but he should still be an effective second-line center. and has failed to reach the postseason just twice since 1996-97, a tribute On the wings, Timo Meier and Kevin Labanc will have to continue to build to Sharks management, coaches and players. on what they did during their breakthrough 2018-19 seasons. Along with Evander Kane — who might have to survive the expansion draft — that’s In the last 12 years, the Sharks have had two top-10 draft picks – Logan still a pretty good core. Couture (No. 9) in 2007 and Timo Meier (No. 9) in 2015. The lack of high draft picks in the pipeline, an aging core and a bold strategy of making Perhaps the most intriguing guy in terms of the future up front is Dylan moves for the present puts the Sharks behind the Kings and Ducks in our Gambrell, whom I have penciled in as the third-line center. Gambrell was projections for 2022-23. a second-round pick of the Sharks in 2016, but he’ll have to show the organization he belongs in the NHL this season. One pro scout I recently Then, it’s a matter of Kings or Ducks at the top of the California heap. chatted with considers Gambrell a smart, two-way player that should Twelve months ago, the Ducks were far ahead of the Kings in terms of eventually become an NHL regular, but others are on the fence about the prospects. But the Kings have rehabilitated quite nicely in the last little Bonney Lake, Wash., native who will turn 23 next month. while, a byproduct of finishing 30th this past season and a good draft in My guess? The Sharks don’t have a first-round pick in the 2020 draft, but June. I predict they’ll target a center with their first selection in 2021 or 2022 if They might struggle again this season but the silver lining could be they still have it. Their previous first-round pick at center, Josh Norris another high draft pick, which could help fast-track their rebuild. What (19th overall in 2017) was traded to Ottawa as part of the Karlsson deal gives the Ducks the edge here comes down to one player – goaltender last September. He could very well end up being the best asset the John Gibson. Assuming Gibson stays healthy, he arguably could be the Sharks sent to the Senators in that blockbuster deal, and he leaves a best goalie in the NHL in three years. hole in the organization that likely will have to be filled via the draft. Keeping the Ducks in the playoff hunt in the first half of the past season – Just as they’ve done throughout general manager Doug Wilson’s tenure before it all came crumbling down – was a tribute to Gibson’s single- with guys like Joe Pavelski, Justin Braun and Labanc, the Sharks will minded focus and excellence. have to hope that some of their late-round draft picks in recent years pan out. They may have struck gold in 2017 — Doug Wilson Jr.’s first season Cal Petersen is the Kings’ projected goalie of the future but he is still an in charge of the draft — when they took Sasha Chmelevski and Ivan unknown commodity. Gibson has enough of a track record to suggest he Chekhovich in the sixth and seventh rounds, respectively. They represent will be an elite goaltender at the NHL level for the foreseeable future. two forwards that have taken huge steps forward, and each might play That should be the tipping point for Anaheim over Los Angeles. NHL games this season. Chmelevski is probably the closest, and has a real chance to make the opening night roster this fall. Cooper: Based on our roster projections I’ll go with the following:

Of course, a strong season or two in the Canadian junior leagues doesn’t Kings assure NHL success. While the Sharks have a handful of draftees that Sharks have put up big numbers, those youngsters have to show it at the professional level over the next few years — especially with the Ducks Ducks and Kings stockpiling some high-end prospects in the meantime. If that doesn’t happen, the Sharks could end up being an aging team in 2022- I think all three teams will be in solid shape in three years, but to me, the 23 without enough talent in the system to pick up the slack for some of Kings have stockpiled enough high-end prospects – and will have their declining stars. enough big-sized contracts off their books – to be competitive in three years. So which California team will be the best in 2022-23? Here are my rankings: They’ll have their goaltender of the future in Cal Petersen. Alex Turcotte, Rasmus Kupari, Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Akil Thomas should be full- Sharks time NHLers at that point, with Turcotte and Kupari having top-three forward potential. Tobias Bjornfot and Kale Clague – both likely top-four Kings defensemen – probably will be on the blue line. Bjornfot appears to have Ducks top-two ability.

The biggest reason is that I still like the Sharks’ core group three years Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty will probably still be effective by then, from now, but I also believe Wilson Jr. has already shown in his short supplementing the new core. The X-Factor is Gabe Vilardi and whether tenure as scouting director that he’s one of the game’s bright young his ailing back will be under control. If he gets healthy, Vilardi and minds. Along with Wilson the general manager and some of the deft Turcotte can give the Kings a solid 1-2 punch at center for a decade. moves he’s made in the past 16 months, there’s no reason to believe the Then again, we haven’t seen any reason to believe he’ll return any time Sharks are going to be sinking anytime soon. soon.

Dillman: As many of us have discovered, projection often can be a The Sharks will be old, but somehow they’ve always been able to stay controversial undertaking at The Athletic. competitive despite being on the high end of the aging curve for a long time. I still think Logan Couture will be a top-three forward by then and It was billed as a fun, even fanciful, look into the future, trying to project Timo Meier is a stud on the wing. Tomas Hertl will also be under 30 and what the Kings’ roster might look like in 2022-23 season. What we can finally appears to be realizing his potential. I’m not so sure how Marc- say is that the GM seat felt rather warm for a day. Edouard Vlasic (currently age 32) and Brent Burns (currently age 34) will age but I think Karlsson will remain elite in three years and will anchor Is it good enough to move them back among the powers in the West? that defense. While there are some positive signs that might put Anaheim back on a Also, never underestimate Doug Wilson and his scouting staff’s ability to path to the playoffs, it needs a star skater or two among the young find top-end talent later in the first round or in the draft as a whole. Kevin forwards to emerge as franchise focal points. San Jose already has Labanc (a sixth-round pick in 2014) is just 23 and coming off a season in those. The stars will be three years older, and while that means the studs which he had 56 points and 17 goals. on defense – Karlsson, Burns, Vlasic – might have a lot more miles on them, they should be stout enough up front to power the franchise before As for the Ducks, I think they’ll be a playoff team but – as things stand the championship window closes and it’s time to reload for another right now – it doesn’t seem like they have the elite-level game changers contention arc. If their top youngsters capably fill key support roles, they’ll or veteran supplements the other two franchises have. Could I be wrong? be fine. The Ducks will close the gap but won’t overtake the Sharks until Maybe. Trevor Zegras could turn into a high-end playmaker. after 2022-23. The Kings will be better but trail them both.

Max Jones, Max Comtois, Troy Terry and Sam Steel could all become And the Ducks have one other thing that the Kings don’t. His name is top-six, or top-three, scorers and Isac Lundestrom could turn into a John Gibson – the best goalie among the three teams. At 29, he’ll still be heady two-way talent. one of the best in the entire NHL.

Ugh, this is hard. Now I’m re-thinking this; should I put the Ducks ahead The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 of the Sharks or Kings? Nah. I’ll just go with my original rankings. Either way I think the teams in this state should all be competitive in three years and beyond.

Alex Turcotte will likely lead the next Kings’ core. (Rena Lavert/USA Hockey)

Stephens: Since my esteemed colleagues have each picked a different team to be the best among the three in the Golden State, it looks like I’m the one that has to break the tie here. Right?

It is really interesting how the teams have fared over the past 15 years or so. The Kings have had tremendous highs and lows, either missing the playoffs altogether often – nine times since 2002 – or wrapping the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cups around another conference final appearance.

The Sharks have been the model of consistency with just two missed postseasons since 1997 and four conference finals within the last decade, but there’s been no hoisting of the Cup. The Ducks have fit in between. They were the first of the California teams to win it all but then they’ve had just two more conference finals appearances — despite five straight division titles — until last season’s big stumble and fall.

Clearly, San Jose is the best team right now. The Sharks are built for the present, and longtime general manager Doug Wilson continues to show his aggressive side by not only trading for players like Erik Karlsson and Evander Kane but then following through — as he did with Brent Burns — by re-signing them to max-type contracts.

It will be weird not seeing Joe Pavelski in teal. But with players like Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier moving into their prime years, Logan Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic being bedrocks and developing talents like Kevin Labanc stepping into bigger roles, San Jose deserves to have high expectations.

The Ducks and Kings are obviously at different stages. Both tried to keep their windows of contention open as long as they could before the bottom fell out. Now they’re each in more of a rebuild mode. But we recently looked at what these three teams might look like in three years. We know which one is better now. Which one is going to be the better one in 2022- 23?

Here you go. In order:

Sharks

Ducks

Kings

The last couple of years have seen the Kings start to put some young talent with higher-end potential back into the pipeline. Alex Turcotte and Rasmus Kupari should lead the next wave. They’ll have to do better and be more judicious with free-agent signings, but they should have a new base to take more of the load off aging pillars Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty. It’s just going to take time.

Meanwhile, the Ducks are ahead of them in the reloading game. Their youngsters are breaking into the lineup this year and next, which will make them players they can lean on by Year 3. Sam Steel, Troy Terry, Max Comtois and Max Jones are going to play in this league and be productive.

Dazzling playmaker Trevor Zegras has star potential and could be ready to join them. Brendan Guhle and Jacob Larsson will also have a lot more experience and should be chewing minutes on the blue line. The question with that lot is how good can that next core be? 1150359 Tampa Bay Lightning That leaves questions around Spencer Martin and Zach Fucale, the later of whom is on an AHL contract. One could go to the ECHL. BriseBois did not commit to who would be in Orlando, saying the team would find a Lightning trades Ryan Callahan to free up cap space good spot for all of the goalies, whether in this organization or another.

Tampa Bay receives goalie Mike Condon from Ottawa and swaps late- He spoke with the agents of all of the goalies Tuesday morning to make round draft picks. sure they were on the same page.

“The reality is this is something we will have to manage,” BriseBois said. “This is about cap flexibility. But I’d rather be managing too many By Diana C. Nearhos goaltenders than not enough.”

Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 07.31.2019 Julien BriseBois found a way for the Lightning to avoid using long-term injured reserve. The Lightning traded Ryan Callahan to Ottawa for goaltender Mike Condon.

“(This) trade was all about cap flexibility,” BriseBois summed it up. “It allows us to get under the cap.”

This move is about salary cap issues for both teams, with opposite reasons. The Senators need to be above the minimum. The Lightning needs space.

“I want to thank Ryan Callahan, who worked with us to make this trade happen,” BriseBois said, “and also for the great years of having him on our team.”

Putting Callahan, who can no longer play hockey due to a back disease, on long-term injured reserve would have allowed the Lighting to exceed the salary cap but still had consequences.

The teams also swapped draft picks. Tampa Bay gives up a fifth-round pick in 2020 and gets a sixth-round pick. BriseBois was happy to work out a deal that didn’t require giving up a prospect or a high-round pick to convince a team to take on Callahan’s cap hit.

He said given the insurance on Callahan’s contract, the cash cost of Condon’s $2.4 million is greater than on Callahan’s $5.8 million deal.

Why didn’t the Lightning want to use LTIR?

When BriseBois shared that Callahan would not be able to play anymore, he said he was still looking to move his contract, that using long-term injured reserve wasn’t the ideal solution. It carries use-it-or-lose-it relief.

If the Lightning can come up under the cap without it, the team can bank any space it has for later use. Beyond that, using long-term injured reserve would have meant deferring performance bonuses to the next year’s salary cap. BriseBois expects next year to be even tighter.

Andrei Vasilevskiy’s extension worth $9.5 million a year kicks in next season. Erik Černák, Anthony Cirelli, Mathieu Joseph and Mikhail Sergechev will all come off their entry-level contracts as well.

After the trade, the Lightning, which needs to sign Brayden Point and Adam Erne, has $8.7 million in cap space. BriseBois plans to assign Condon to the AHL and is looking for a trade for Louis Domingue, which would bring the cap space up to $11 million, according to capfriendly.com

BriseBois has ongoing talks with a couple of organizations for Domingue, but the goalie market is always an interesting one. That each team only carries two makes it different than other positions.

What about all the other goalies?

BriseBois joked that the Lightning has cornered the market on goalies with seven in the organization now.

Vasilevskiy is the obvious starter, and BriseBois reiterated that Curtis McElhinney, signed in free agency, will be the backup. He plans on having Condon and Scott Wedgewood in the AHL.

The Lightning still plans on Wedgewood being the third goalie, the first option for a recall in case of an injury. But now Condon would provide a good option as well. Both contracts expire after this season.

Condon’s reputation as a hard worker and good teammate makes BriseBois believe he’ll be a good presence in Syracuse. He had a strong AHL career before his last four years in the NHL. Last year, however, he had a rough start and was sent to the AHL, where he had a hip injury. Condon only played three games total.

BriseBois suggested this could be an opportunity to rehabilitate his career, as time with the Crunch was for Domingue. 1150360 Tampa Bay Lightning Vasilevskiy, in position tracking McDavid at the far side, dove back across the net, reaching across his body. The puck deflected off his mask and out of play.

Five of Andrei Vasilevskiy’s best saves Sprawl and smother

The Lightning goalie, who received a hefty extension Monday, has a Vasilevskiy has the controlled sprawl down. He looks like he is flailing knack for robbing players with his arms behind his back. until you realize he was where he was meant to be.

He made a couple of turns to end up covering a shot by Brayden Schenn By Diana C. Nearhos on Feb. 7, 2019. Colton Parayko tried to tuck the puck inside the post but Vasilevskiy stuck a skate there.

Schenn tracked down the rebound, likely figuring to have an open shot at Andrei Vasilevskiy, who received an eight-year contract extension the other side of the net. Vasilevskiy flipped over, ditching his stick in the Monday, has a knack for the big saves. process, and threw his body across the crease. He reached out, trying to cover some of the upper portion and took the shot to the face, At 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, he takes up much of the net, but the goalie also smothering the puck underneath his body. has an athleticism that belies his size. Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 07.31.2019 That combination is often cited by opponents as what makes Vasilevskiy so hard to go up against. It also leads to jaw-dropping saves. Here are some of Vasilevskiy’s best:

Behind the back

There’s highlight-reel and then there’s NHL commercial quality. Vasilevskiy’s behind-the-back swipe caught the NHL marketing team’s eye.

Anze Kopitar appeared to have the angle in a Feb. 10, 2018, game. It was a tight angle almost at the red line, but he was behind Vasilevskiy. Nope.

Vasilevskiy bent over low, looking through Dustin Brown’s legs. He tried to push himself backward, but couldn’t get there fast enough. Vasilevskiy stuck his arm out behind him and caught the puck, making it look as easy as a catcher who told the pitcher where to throw it.

Eyes in the back of his head

In his first game back from a fractured foot on Dec. 13, 2018, Vasilevskiy made 48 saves. One came almost flat on his stomach, again with the puck behind him.

It was really three good saves in one, two of which would have been impressive on their own.

Patrick Marleau flipped the puck at the gap inside the post and Vasilevskiy tipped it with his glove. Marleau reached to tip the puck in the air but Vasilevskiy got it with the back of his skate.

With the puck still loose, Vasilevskiy reached his leg straight back, lifting it over the puck and then lowering the pad to catch the puck just before the goal line with his toe.

He could have ended up pushing the puck into the net, but was able to position his leg behind it instead of knocking it.

No sure goals

Getting behind a goalie should equal a goal. Vasilevskiy’s multiple behind-the-back saves demonstrates that it’s not just luck. He also did it against Charles Hudon to secure a shootout victory for the Lightning against Montreal on Feb. 24, 2018.

Hudon didn’t try anything flashy with his approach in the shootout. He crossed to Vasilevskiy’s stick side.

The goalie stuck a pad out and lurched forward. Hudon tried to elevate over the pad, but Vasilevskiy reached behind his back to make a glove save.

Diving deflection

Connor McDavid is an assist machine. He and Nikita Kucherov have that in common. Kucherov commented that he enjoys drawing a double team and finding an open teammate. McDavid almost pulled that off against Vasilevskiy in Edmonton’s Nov. 4 visit to Tampa.

Almost.

He drew Ryan McDonough and Brayden Point to him, then passed to Ty Rattie trailing the play. McDonagh dropped off McDavid and tried to drop down for a block. 1150361 Tampa Bay Lightning “(Condon) had a very promising career before it got derailed,” BriseBois said. “He’s got a great reputation for being a good teammate, hard worker, and will be a positive presence in Syracuse. We hope it works The implications of the Lightning’s cap-saving Ryan Callahan trade and like Domingue — get his career on track and have some really good possible destinations for Louis Domingue options for recalling goaltenders if we have injuries in Tampa.”

Former Senators goalie Mike Condon will likely begin the season with Syracuse in the AHL. (Bob DeChiara / USA Today) By Joe Smith Jul 30, 2019 Then there’s the elephant in the room: Domingue, who is on the trade block. Domingue did a really nice job as the backup for Vasilevskiy the last year and a half, including setting a franchise record for consecutive TAMPA, Fla. — Remember back in July, after the Connor Ingram trade, wins (11) this past season. He was a fan favorite for his creative when the Lightning goalie cupboard was nearly bare? postgame celebrations and community impact, like having pediatric Then you had to at least chuckle upon hearing the news of Tuesday’s cancer patients design his mask. trade of Ryan Callahan to Ottawa, which brought back veteran Mike But Domingue will likely have a new home in short order. BriseBois said Condon, who is now the organization’s sixth netminder. they’ve spoken to a few teams about finding a fit. “I know it looks like we’ve got the goaltender market cornered,” GM “(The goalie) market is fickle,” BriseBois said. “It can change in a hurry. Julien BriseBois joked. You can go from no one looking for a goaltender to three teams looking In reality, of course, the point of this trade was cap flexibility. The for a goaltender. I’ve had ongoing talks with a couple of organizations, Lightning were able to shed the remainder of Callahan’s $5.8 million cap and hopefully something pans out over the next coming weeks here. I’m hit to the Senators as opposed to dealing with the complicated and fairly confident he’ll find a new home prior to the start of the season.” inflexible nature of putting him on the long-term injury exemption list. The What are some possible destinations for Domingue, who has just a $1.15 fact that the Lightning could indeed move Callahan, who will retire after million cap hit next season? this season due to degenerative back issues, without giving up a prospect, rostered player or draft pick is “as good an outcome as we Maple Leafs: The Leafs’ backup situation is a bit precarious, with could have expected,” BriseBois said. journeyman Michael Hutchinson currently set to back up Frederik Andersen, with Michael Neuvirth coming in on a training camp tryout. Tampa Bay merely swapped a fifth-round pick in 2020 for a sixth- Could they look to upgrade? Would Tampa Bay be interested in helping? rounder, with the largest hit coming to the pocketbook of owner Jeff Vinik, who will have to pay more in salary to Condon in the minors than he Columbus Blue Jackets: The Blue Jackets, who lost long-time No. 1 would have for Callahan, who would have all but $940,000 of his $4.7 Sergei Bobrovsky to the Panthers in free agency, are expected to count million salary covered by insurance. Condon’s $2.4 million cap hit on a tandem of Joonas Korpisalo and 25-year-old rookie Elvis Merzlikins, becomes $1.32 million if he is in the minors, but his $3 million base who has yet to make his NHL debut. That’s a pretty steep drop-off from salary still has to be paid. having a two-time Vezina-winning workhorse.

The Lightning now have $11.1 million of cap space for this season, giving Florida Panthers: The Panthers are set at No. 1 with Bobrovsky, whom them enough cushion to sign star restricted free agent Brayden Point and they signed to a seven-year, $70 million deal. But with Roberto Luongo fellow RFA Adam Erne. (For the record, BriseBois maintains he “fully retiring and Scott Darling bought out, the backup spot is left to 22-year- expects” to get a Point deal done before the mid-September start of old prospect Samuel Montembeault. Florida doesn’t have much cap training camp. Here’s a look at what potential Point deals could look like.) space, just $2.4 million with RFA forward Denis Malgin still to sign, so they would have to make another move to create space. But shouldn’t But another big benefit of the Callahan trade will be next season, when Florida at least kick the tires with their cross-state rivals? BriseBois admits the Lightning will be even tighter to the cap than this summer. Had Tampa Bay kept Callahan on LTIR, which doesn’t allow San Jose Sharks: The Sharks have Martin Jones as their No. 1 and a cap space to accrue during the season, they wouldn’t have been able to logjam of three goalies in the AHL who could create internal competition. pay what could be $1 million in performance bonuses for their players, But there’s a chance they could look to upgrade at backup — where BriseBois said, meaning that would have to carry over into next year’s Aaron Dell is under contract for one more year at $1.9 million — if they cap. That would mean that Tampa Bay would have been $1 million in the think it’s worth it. hole when they already have $67 million committed to 13 players (not including Point), with Mikhail Sergachev, Anthony Cirelli and Erik Cernak Colorado Avalanche: The Avs have No. 1 Philipp Grubauer under all due raises as RFAs. contract for two more years at $3.33 million AAV, but they have a very inexperienced backup in Pavel Francouz, whom they signed in May to a “Today was all about cap flexibility,” BriseBois said. one-year deal. Francouz has two games of NHL experience, but the Avalanche are trusting that his strong AHL results can parlay into 20- BriseBois thanked Callahan in Tuesday’s conference call for accepting some appearances this year behind Grubauer. But if Colorado wants to the trade to Ottawa, which was not among the 15 teams on the veteran’s consider a veteran upgrade who can push Grubauer, Domingue could be modified, 15-team no-trade list. For Callahan, nothing really changes, a fit. other than who retains his rights. Callahan said he and his family still plan to live in Tampa this year and continue their work for his foundation. The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 There is still a chance Callahan could rejoin the Lightning organization in a post-playing career role.

“We appreciate everything he’s done for us,” BriseBois said.

As for the Lightning’s menagerie of goalies, BriseBois isn’t done. The plan for the NHL roster is the same, with Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy — and his new eight-year, $76 million deal — the No. 1 and Curtis McElhinney as his backup. AHL veteran Scott Wedgewood will be Tampa Bay’s No. 3 goalie and the expected starter with AHL Syracuse, with Condon potentially playing in a tandem with him.

Condon, 29, has played in 129 career NHL games with the Senators, Penguins and Canadiens, but he suffered a setback due to hip surgery last year. BriseBois said the early plan — barring another trade — is to help Condon resurrect his career in the AHL, much like Louis Domingue did with the Crunch two years ago. (Either Spencer Martin or Zach Fucale, on an AHL deal, could be sent to the ECHL affiliate in Orlando or moved elsewhere.) 1150362 Toronto Maple Leafs

Dan MacKenzie named CHL’s first full-time president

By Mark Zwolinski

The Canadian Hockey League has found its replacement for David Branch, and they’ve dipped into the NBA to find him.

The CHL — made up by the three top major junior leagues in Canada — unveiled longtime NBA executive Dan MacKenzie as its first full-time president Tuesday, behind a vision to grow major junior hockey’s presence through marketing and fan-player experience.

MacKenzie, a native of Guelph, takes over his new post in September, allowing the 70-year-old David Branch to return to his duties as Hockey League commissioner, after running both the CHL and OHL since 1996.

“Dan has a unique combination of league operations, sports marketing and business experience along with being a former school teacher. His experience will help the CHL continue to grow and expand our programs and player experience,” Branch said in a statement.

MacKenzie has spent the last eight years of a 20-year NBA executive career as managing director of NBA Canada. The Canadian arm of the NBA, with the Raptors winning a historic first league championship, enjoyed unprecedented growth in television viewershipand record sales in league merchandise.

MacKenzie will work with Branch, and fellow commissioners Gilles Courteau (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League), and Ron Robison () as part of the CHL’s executive council. That group will also work with a nine-member board of directors to grow the game across Canada.

While the CHL has not released specific targets, reaching more fans through expanded TV coverage and possibly expanding the 60-team CHL remain potential plans for the future.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the commissioners on strengthening the CHL and building on the strong foundation that currently exists. Growing up and living in Guelph, Ont., I understand the unique position that CHL teams hold in their communities and look forward to working with our teams to deepen the connection with our fans,” MacKenzie said in a statement.

The CHL continues to be the leading pipeline to the NHL, with 71 of its graduates among the 217 players selected in the latest draft (32.7 per cent). Twenty-five of those 71 players came from the OHL, but the odds of having a lasting career in the NHL remain extremely low (research done in part by former Toronto Star hockey writer Ken Campbell estimated that 0.02 per cent of players drafted in Ontario go on to play at least 400 games).

Branch argued against the establishment of a CHL players’ union, citing amateur player-student status, and provincial labour laws. All three leagues in the CHL were ultimately unified in holding off the union, with governments in nine Canadian provinces, and in the states of Washington and Michigan, exempting junior hockey players from local labour laws in the past four years.

While there was backlash against the failed unionization movement, MacKenzie enters what appears to be a potential to grow junior hockey’s commitment to player and fan experience through expanded education plans, and marketing-social media endeavours.

Toronto Star LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150363 Toronto Maple Leafs The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel made the case for Andersen getting fewer starts through the stretch run of the regular season in 2018.

On Thursday at Dominic Moore’s annual Smashfest charity ping-pong Why Michal Neuvirth believes he can revive his career with the Maple tournament, Andersen was asked about scaling back his workload next Leafs season.

“Here we go,” Andersen said with a smile. “I just prepare to try to be in By Joshua Kloke Jul 30, 2019 the best shape possible and be the best I can be and then once we get closer to camp and the season I think we’re going to have that discussion.”

Michal Neuvirth left Philadelphia this spring unsure of what would come “They can get pretty banged up,” Neuvirth said of how shrinking next in his career. workloads help starting goalies. “When you start the playoffs, you need to be fresh and ready.” His two-year, $5 million contract with the Flyers was up. And after playing just seven games last season as one of eight — yes, eight — goalies to That is partly what inspired Neuvirth to push for a back-up job in the NHL suit up for the Flyers, he knew his next stop would be elsewhere. instead of taking a starter’s job in the AHL. The trend only serves to benefit him. Once free agency opened on July 1, Neuvirth’s agent, former NHLer Patrik Stefan, began putting out feelers to clubs that might be interested “It’s good for back-ups,” said Neuvirth. “That’s why every team needs a in his services. Neuvirth said at least one NHL team offered him a good back-up.” “guaranteed spot” as an AHL starter. After his run with the Capitals, Neuvirth continued to serve as a back-up He remained convinced that he could play in the NHL. All he wanted was in stops with the Buffalo Sabres and the New York Islanders before what he calls a “fair camp” and the opportunity to fight for a spot on an signing in Philadelphia. But as can often be the case with Flyer goalies, NHL roster. Neuvirth’s time in Philadelphia was tumultuous.

That’s what makes the PTO contract he signed last week with the Maple His workload decreased in every one of his four seasons as a Flyer, from Leafs so exciting for the 31-year-old. After all, it took just one phone call 32 games in 2015-16 to just seven last season. His save percentage with Leafs GM Kyle Dubas to accept the deal and leave another bounced back and forth, from a very notable .924 in 2015-16 to a much guaranteed contract on the table. less exemplary .891 the following season.

“It was always my dream to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs,” Neuvirth Neuvirth’s last season was riddled with injuries. And as the Flyers said on a phone call from his home in Prague. brought in goaltender after goaltender to decrease what would eventually end up as the third-most goals allowed in the league, Neuvirth’s stock During that conversation with Dubas, Neuvirth became convinced the continued to plummet in the organization. Leafs could be the right fit for him even without the security of a contract. He felt he’d get a “fair camp” in Toronto. He also knows the Leafs have At the end of the 2017-18 season, Neuvirth required arthroscopic surgery Stanley Cup aspirations with the team they’ve built, so he jumped at the on both hips. The recovery took far longer than he anticipated. This led, opportunity. in part, to his heavily reduced workload last season. His last game was a Jan. 3 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes during which he allowed five “I knew right away,” said Neuvirth, “that’s where I want to be.” goals on 28 shots against. Neuvirth is under no illusion about why he’s being brought to Leafs’ “I wasn’t strong enough after the surgery,” said Neuvirth. “But now I feel training camp. Though he was once the starter on the Washington really good.” Capitals, posting a .914 save percentage over 48 games during the 2010-11 season, Neuvirth has not played more than 40 regular-season He’s hired a new personal trainer to get him ready for camp. The time games since that time. away from the game has allowed him to properly recover and also left him at peace with a four-year stint in Philadelphia that never really His goal in camp is to challenge for the back-up job and that suits him panned out. He insists he enjoyed his time there. just fine. Neuvirth said the Leafs were looking for a “quality back-up for a couple of years,” and he believes he can fill that role. It’s all an effort to stay grounded ahead of what he hopes will be a long stay in Toronto. He signed his tryout agreement with the Leafs before they sent Garret Sparks to the Vegas Golden Knights last Tuesday. “Life goes on,” he said his time in Philadelphia. “We move on. Here we go.” Toronto’s need for an upgrade in the back-up goalie position is obvious but also a relatively new development. In 2017-18, Curtis McElhinney Neuvirth returned to his native Czech Republic soon after the season provided more than ample support for Frederik Andersen, posting a .934 ended and began working out in on- and off-ice sessions throughout the save percentage in 18 games. Yet the organization opted to waive summer with his former Czech team, Sparta Praha. McElhinney ahead of last season to clear the way for the Sparks, who was coming off being voted the AHL’s outstanding goaltender. The increased exposure that comes from playing with the Maple Leafs could lead to more opportunities elsewhere around the league. Still, The move didn’t pan out as hoped as Sparks struggled to take the reins Neuvirth wants to be part of the Leafs. He said their current position as in his 20 games and was dropped from the lineup ahead of the playoffs in Stanley Cup contenders was one of the biggest factors that led him to an effort to regain his confidence. join the organization.

Enter Neuvirth. “The future is very bright for them,” said Neuvirth. “It would be huge to be a part of it.” An upgrade at backup becomes all the more important considering Frederik Andersen could see his workload decrease. After playing 66 So does Neuvirth have a shot at unseating Michael Hutchinson? The regular-season games in both of his first two seasons in Toronto, Leafs traded for the 29-year-old midway through last season. He Andersen played 60 games last season. appeared in five games, spent the majority of the season with the Marlies and was then signed to a one-year, one-way $700,000 contract on June Starting goalie workloads have decreased as of late across the NHL as a 27. general trend, too. Neuvirth’s career NHL save percentage sits at .910 over 257 games, just Last season, the Stanley Cup finalist Boston Bruins only played Tuukka slightly better than Hutchinson’s career .908 save percentage over 111 Rask in 46 regular-season games and relied more heavily on Jaroslav games. Neuvirth is betting on his experience, including 16 playoff games. Halak, who played 40 regular-season games, in an effort to keep Rask ready for a deep playoff run. Whether that experience tips the scales remains to be seen.

For different reasons altogether, the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Neuvirth plans on spending the next four weeks continuing to work out Blues only had Jordan Binnington play 32 regular-season games. with Sparta Praha before arriving in Toronto 10 days ahead of the start of training camp. In a perfect world, Neuvirth said he would crack the team’s roster, happily oblige as the back-up to Andersen and be part of a deep playoff run.

That’s his hope, for now. He has just a little over a month before he can begin writing the next chapter in his career.

“It means a lot to me and my family,” said Neuvirth. “It’s a great opportunity.”

The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150364 Vegas Golden Knights

Golden Knights to take part in 6-team rookie tournament

Ben Gotz July 30, 2019 - 2:46 PM

The Golden Knights will take part in a six-team rookie tournament from Sept. 7-10 at Great Ice Park in Irvine, California.

The event will feature the Knights, Ducks, Kings, Coyotes, Sharks and Avalanche each playing three games.

Tickets for all nine games will be available Monday, Aug. 12. Fans can express interest in tickets here. Individual game tickets will be $10.

LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150365 Vegas Golden Knights Speaking of this line, they should be back together again in 2019-20. Over the weekend, Marchessault said that, while playing with Stone during the world championships was fun, he expects to be back with his Projecting the Golden Knights’ 2019-20 depth chart 2.0 usual linemates in October.

“Mark Stone is a world-class player, but obviously me, Karly and Smitty have a great line,” he said. “(Stone) is one of the best in the NHL for a By Jesse Granger Jul 30, 2019 reason, so obviously anyone would want to play with a guy like that. He’s an unreal player. He makes everyone around him look good, and it would

be a treat but it’s out of my control. (Gallant) will take care of that.” It’s been a busy offseason for the cap-strapped Golden Knights. Considering the three have played 1,529 minutes together over the past Many dominoes have fallen this summer. From trading Erik Haula and two years, it’s safe to say that’s what Gallant will go with, at least to start Colin Miller to open up cap space after signing William Karlsson to an the season. He could switch things up if the team struggles offensively. eight-year deal to navigating restricted free agents Malcolm Subban and Line 3: Brandon Pirri, Cody Eakin, Alex Tuch Tomas Nosek. And Monday morning the final domino fell when Vegas traded Nikita Gusev to the New Jersey Devils. Here’s where things get interesting. The Golden Knights’ top six forwards are all but cemented into their spots in some order, so predicting the It’s likely the last significant move for the Golden Knights this summer. bottom-six is much more of a guessing game. They still have to sign restricted free agent Jimmy Schuldt, but that should be clerical now that everything else is settled. The roster as it Last season, during the 173 minutes at even strength that Alex Tuch and stands today is pretty much what you’ll see when they host the San Jose Brandon Pirri were on the ice together, the Golden Knights outscored the Sharks on opening night Oct. 2. opposition a combined 11-1. It’s a small sample size, but impressive nonetheless. Despite losing key pieces through trades and free agency, president of hockey operations George McPhee is confident in his 2019-20 squad. With Stastny centering the line, they held an 8-1 goals advantage, and with Cody Eakin centering them, they outscored the opposition 3-0. “We’re a better team because we had depth in the positions where we Those are the two best goal-share totals of any line on the team last moved players from,” McPhee said. “In moving Miller, we have lots of season (again, the sample size is small). young defensemen that need opportunity and some defensemen that may become defensemen that are better than third-pair defensemen. Tuch is entering his third season, and after a massive leap in production With respect to Erik Haula, he didn’t really play for us last year. We didn’t from years one to two, he could be emerging as one of the Golden know what to expect this coming year coming off of the injury. And we Knights’ most consistent offensive weapons. moved Gusev for draft picks. We are a team that, I believe, is a contender. It’s a very good team.” Vegas’ biggest weakness the past two seasons was its inability to get consistent scoring from the bottom six, so the success of this line could McPhee made it clear he believes an injection of youth is important. It’s determine the Golden Knights’ season. It doesn’t help that every goal something Vegas hasn’t had much of in its brief history. A player drafted Gusev scores for the Devils will focus the attention on this line’s by the Golden Knights has yet to play an NHL game for them but, production, as this is where most expected him to slot into the lineup. according to McPhee, that could change in the near future. Line 4: Tomas Nosek, Cody Glass, Ryan Reaves “Well, we’re pretty high on some of our young players, defensemen and forwards and that’s part of it,” he said. “I really think we’re a good club, no I’ve been reluctant to place Cody Glass on the fourth line in previous real weaknesses and young players to compete for positions on the lineup prognostications, but I’m warming up to it. The No. 6 overall pick in team. This will be the first year where we really have some of our entry- the 2017 draft proved he’s ready for the NHL, after dominating junior level players pushing for jobs, and if you want to be a good team in this hockey, the World Junior Championships as Team Canada’s No. 1 league, you have to have young players coming in every year to fill holes center, and helping lead the to the Calder Cup final — for players who have gone elsewhere via free agency or players who all in one season. have sort of aged out.” Glass projects to be a top-six center with a tremendous amount of And with that in mind, here’s an updated look at the projected Golden offensive skill, and sometimes those types of prospects don’t fit on the Knights opening night roster (first version from just after Vegas was fourth line. I think Glass can make it work. eliminated from the playoffs). He worked hard with the to become one of the Line 1: Max Pacioretty, Paul Stastny and Mark Stone team’s top penalty killers, telling me multiple times that he knows Gallant reveres a complete center with a 200-foot game. He proved he can hang This was the Golden Knights’ top line during the first round of the in the AHL playoffs, known for some of the most physical, ugly hockey in playoffs, despite being listed on the lineup sheet as the second line. the world, and all he did was lead the team in scoring.

If you combine regular season and playoff totals, this line averaged 3.77 I believe Glass can center a line with Nosek, who provides him some even strength goals per 60 minutes and 2.26 goals against per 60. If you offensive skill to work with, and Ryan Reaves, who is perfect to make extrapolate that over a full regular season (assuming they play together sure no fellow fourth-liners are head-hunting the organization’s top roughly the same amount of minutes as Vegas’ top line this past season), prospect. Glass would only have to play a handful of minutes each game. they would score 51 goals at even strength. That would’ve been third in If he handles it well, Gallant can increase his role as necessary. the NHL in 2018-19, behind only Toronto’s line of , Mitch Marner and Zach Hyman (55), and Calgary’s line of Sean Monahan, McPhee seems to agree and indirectly described this exact scenario of Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm (52). easing Glass into the lineup.

They have the potential to be one of the most dynamic lines in all of “We have some openings for young players that can grab one of those hockey and can be as good defensively as they are offensively. There jobs,” he said. “We’re breaking them in at the right pace. They don’t have has been some chatter of moving Stone onto William Karlsson’s line with to hold down a big-time job on the team, they can go lesser minutes. Jonathan Marchessault after Stone displayed a ton of chemistry with We’ve got a good veteran core that they can rely on and the young guys Marchessault at the world championships, but I don’t believe Gerard can come in and push up from the bottom. Part of trying to be a good Gallant will do that, and that’s what this exercise is supposed to project. team is you have to have young guys coming in and can’t be sinkers.” It’s what I believe Gallant is most likely to do, not what I myself would do. Top Pair: Brayden McNabb and Nate Schmidt

Gallant has played the Karlsson, Marchessault, Reilly Smith line more No two Vegas defensemen have played more time together over the past minutes than any combination in Golden Knights history, and it would be two seasons than Brayden McNabb and Nate Schmidt. In their 1,341 extremely out of character for him to change things up when both lines minutes of ice time, they’ve registered a solid Corsi percentage of 51.82 were playing really well the last time they were on the ice (I know it’s despite playing nearly all of those minutes against opposing top lines. been a while). Schmidt is by far the most reliable defenseman on the team and skates Line 2: Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith well enough to activate into the offensive rush when required. He finished last season playing mostly with Deryk Engelland, and I think it stunted his ability to jump into the play slightly. McNabb’s physical presence on the back end allows Schmidt to reach his offensive potential, which could be as high as 45-50 points this season.

Second Pair: Jon Merrill and Shea Theodore

Perhaps no player on the Golden Knights outplayed his expectations last season more than Jon Merrill. Down the stretch he was one of the most consistent defensemen on the team, and he finished third on the team with 3.4 defensive point shares (behind only Schmidt and McNabb) despite playing only 57 games.

Extrapolate that level of play over a full season with second-pairing minutes, and Merrill’s projected defensive point share would be 5.2. Yes, he’ll be playing tougher competition, but he’ll also be playing with Theodore, who is far more talented than Merrill’s most common defensive partners last year — Holden and Miller.

At only 23 years old, Theodore is rapidly improving his defensive awareness and that should continue again this season. But Merrill is only 26 himself and could be coming into his own as an every-night defenseman.

Bottom Pair: Jimmy Schuldt and Deryk Engelland

This pairing appears all but perfect for the Golden Knights, as it allows 37-year-old Engelland to face less-talented offensive lines, while mentoring the rookie defenseman as he enters the NHL.

Training camp will essentially be an open competition amongst the rookie defensemen for the final spot on the roster, and Schuldt should be the favorite, in my opinion. He’s older than the rest of the rookies by quite a bit and is fresh off a college season where he finished third in Hobey Baker Award voting.

Schuldt got his first taste of the NHL during last season’s regular season finale in Los Angeles and looked great. He was solid in his own zone and made a handful of splash plays in the offensive zone, including a gorgeous assist to Valentin Zykov.

But this spot could also easily go to Zach Whitecloud or 2017 second- round pick Nic Hague, if they impress in the preseason.

Starting goaltender: Marc-Andre Fleury

From here down, nothing has changed from my previous prediction.

This season Fleury begins the first year of his three-year, $21 million extension. The Golden Knights will need him to be stellar, especially in the postseason, if they hope for a longer run than last season’s first round exit. In order to ensure he plays to his potential well into April, May and hopefully June, Vegas will need more regular season reps out of backup Malcolm Subban.

Fleury was injured down the stretch after starting 61 games last season. At age 35 with more than 800 NHL games worth of mileage on his tires, Fleury should play around 50 games this season.

Backup goaltender: Malcolm Subban

Subban signed another one-year deal worth $850,000 this summer and will once again be a restricted free agent next offseason.

He followed up a tremendous rookie season in 2017-18 with a below- average sophomore campaign. That had more to do with the team in front of him than his play, although he did have some rough patches.

Expect Subban to be used more regularly in 2019-20 and return to his level of play from his first year in Vegas.

The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150366 Washington Capitals

Alex Ovechkin gets his own cereal, Ovi O's

By Adam Zielonka - The Washington Times - Tuesday, July 30, 2019

What’s for breakfast? How about a nice, big bowl of Ovi O’s?

Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin soon will appear on cereal boxes at a Giant food store near you as the face of a “collector’s edition” cereal called Ovi O’s, set to hit store shelves closer to hockey season.

The Capitals blog Russian Machine Never Breaks reported on a leaked image of the box with Ovechkin’s smiling face on it, then confirmed the photo’s legitimacy.

The box describes the product as a “sweetened, toasted oat cereal with honey and natural almond flavor,” making it sound akin to Honey Nut Cheerios.

View this post on Instagram

You guys, Ovi’s getting a cereal! Get ready for…Ovi O’s. This image was first leaked on Facebook and we’ve confirmed it is indeed real and coming soon to Giant Foods. ( : True Capitals Fan Zone Facebook Group)

A post shared by RMNB (@rmnb_blog) on Jul 29, 2019 at 10:18am PDT

Giant will sell the cereal exclusively, the report said.

Ovechkin is keeping busy this summer in more ways than one. He will make a promotional trip to Beijing the week of Aug. 4 to serve as an NHL “ambassador” to China.

Now, Ovechkin joins a storied list of athletes who sponsored cereals — and not just those appeared on boxes of Wheaties. Doug Flutie debuted “Flutie Flakes,” Justin Verlander put out “Fastball Flakes” and Chad Johnson had “Ochocincos,” which accidentally printed on its boxes the phone number for a sex line instead of for the charitable organization Feed the Children.

Washington Times LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150367 Washington Capitals There’s no question the Capitals need Kempny back. The blueline was unbalanced without him and even now they don’t really have experienced depth on that side of the ice the way that they do on the right side. Jonas 20 Burning Capitals Questions: Will Michal Kempny be ready to return to Siegenthaler, a rookie, eventually joined Carlson on the top pair during a top-pair role after his injury? the playoffs. He’d have to make a big leap forward to handle the minutes and duties of Kempny or Dmitry Orlov if either is lost to injury again this season.

By Brian McNally July 30, 2019 10:45 AM A steady, big-minutes player who can hold his own at even strength next to Carlson is invaluable. Washington probably doesn’t win the Stanley

Cup in 2018 without the Kempny trade. That’s how important he was and The long, endless summer is only halfway done. The Capitals last played is going forward. Now they have to hope the hamstring has healed and a game on April 24 and will not play another one until Oct. 2. Kempny is ready to get back to that role.

But with free agency and the NHL Draft behind them now, the 2019-2020 Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 07.31.2019 roster is almost set and it won’t be long until players begin trickling back onto the ice in Arlington for informal workouts.

With that in mind, and given the roasting temperatures outside, for four weeks NBC Sports Washington will look at 20 burning questions facing the Capitals as they look to rebound from an early exit from the Stanley Cup playoffs, keep alive their title streak and get back to their championship form of 2018.

The list will look at potential individual milestones, roster questions, prospects who might help and star players with uncertain futures. Today, we look at what’s in store for defenseman Michal Kempny as he continues to recover from a torn hamstring sustained in March.

The Capitals best stretch of hockey during the regular season in 2018-19 came to an abrupt end when Michal Kempny fell awkwardly during a scrap with the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Cedric Paquette on March 20.

On a 9-2-1 heater since acquiring forward Carl Hagelin and defenseman Nick Jensen a few days before the NHL trade deadline, their depth solidified, the Capitals suddenly lost one of their top pair defensemen. They would spend the rest of the season trying to figure out how to make up for Kempny and never really did.

No one knows how that first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes goes if Kempny is there to play his normal heavy minutes with John Carlson. The Capitals still went 5-3 down the stretch, but there were clear issues on the blueline. A comfort level developed over more than a year was gone.

Jensen was eventually forced to the left side and never looked comfortable there even if in Washington’s system defensemen are asked to switch sides during the flow of a game as a matter of course. But Jensen hadn’t played more than 10 games in that system let alone while trying to make up for Kempny’s absence. It wasn’t THE reason they lose to Carolina, but that injury was one of them.

The issue now: Will Kempny be able to play his critical role again? He had surgery on April 2 to repair the hamstring and was expected to miss four-to-six months. That means his entire summer is about rehabbing the injury and not training for the upcoming season.

Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said on June 20 that Kempny was progressing and they expect to have him at training camp in September, which is now about six weeks away. And Kempny’s own Instagram account showed him running steps at an arena in his native Czech Republic last week.

Those are goods signs. But the Capitals might ease Kempny into things in the preseason. The Oct. 2 opener against defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis will be at the tail end of his recovery period. There’s no reason to push things before then. If he has to play his way back into it, so be it.

Kempny should heal fine given he doesn’t turn 29 until Sept. 8 and few players on the team keep themselves in better condition. He’s been a reliable partner for Carlson since Washington acquired him in February 2018 from Chicago, where he languished as a healthy scratch. Only four Capitals players played more minutes than Kempny last season (1201:46) and he did that in just 71 games.

If prone to taking too many penalties, Kempny transitions the puck well out of the defensive zone and lets Carlson use his skill to take advantage of his offensive opportunities. It didn’t hurt that Kempny added six goals and 19 assists for 25 points of his own. That crushed all of his career highs since joining the Blackhawks during the 2016-17 season. And that came with zero power-play time. 1150368 Washington Capitals

'Ovi O's': Cereal to be named after Capitals' Alex Ovechkin

By Paige Leckie July 30, 2019 9:09 AM

NHL superstar, Washington Capitals captain and, as of just over a year ago, Stanley Cup Champion , will have a cereal named after him, as was first reported Monday.

A leaked image of the cereal, named "Ovi O's," surfaced on Facebook on Monday and was almost immediately shared all over Twitter, before the original Facebook post was deleted.

The cereal will appear in Giant Food grocery stores, described as a "sweetened, toasted oat cereal with honey and natural almond flavor," according to the image of the cereal box.

Last summer, after the Capitals' much-awaited Stanley Cup victory, Ovechkin (and the rest of the team) partied hard with good ole' Stanley.

One of the few things Ovechkin didn't do on that multi-day bender--or when he took the Cup back home to Russia--was eat cereal out of it. (Some other champions have, like T.J. Oshie, who had his own cereal "Oshie O's" made back in 2015).

Giant Food and Monumental Sports & Entertainment have worked together multiple times since the former was named an "exclusive partner" of the teams under the Monumental banner. That includes a canned food drive, plus multiple in-store autograph sessions with Tom Wilson.

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 07.31.2019 1150369 Winnipeg Jets 2018-19 stats: 33 goals, 73 points in 77 games

Mark Stone has spent the better part of his career as the NHL’s best defensive forward and doesn’t have a Selke to show for it. In the scheme Introducing Team Manitoba: We’re old, we’re cold and gosh darn it, we’re of the universe, that’s a travesty but for Team Manitoba it’s just one more a good deal reason why we’re as hungry as a well-vintaged Palomino Club patron. We have needs.

By Murat Ates Jul 30, 2019 Helping Stone’s case is a long run of brilliant 5-on-5 play, even while carrying two rookies in Ottawa before being traded to the Golden Knights last season. He has a massive defensive impact and adds offence that consistently hits close to a point per game — most of it at even strength. We’re old, we’re cold, we have the longest naturally frozen skating trail in We’re going to be an incredibly hard team to play against in every zone. the world and we’re here to — very politely — kick your team’s ass. Second line Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to introduce Team Manitoba. Left wing Let me get one thing out of the way early. While we’re polite, friendly and cap compliant, we also cheated — but only the tiniest, most humble of , Vancouver Canucks, Swan River ways. We weren’t willing to trifle with Saskatchewan — sorry, Ryan Getzlaf and Jordan Eberle, the Manitoba Inn is closed to you. Nor were 2018-19 stats: 17 goals, 40 points in 71 games we willing to stage a full-scale invasion of Northwestern Ontario — a part Giver, giver, Swan River! A proud representative of the Cree Nation, of the world that rightfully belongs to us (and we have the receipts to Micheal Ferland helps us smash through the perimeter and start to prove it). explore the rest of what our province has to offer. Nestled in the valley However, we were so desperate for goaltending that, while assembling between Manitoba’s Duck Mountains and Porcupine Hills, Ferland’s our team of the best Manitoban born or bred talent we could muster, we hometown is as beautiful as the community spirit that raised him. also made a quick pitstop at the Hoito in Thunder Bay to kidnap Matt Ferland was the middle of three children raised in Swan by his mom Murray. And we’re not even sorry about it. Dianne Ferland. His hockey career depended on donations from With that out of the way, The Athletic Winnipeg is proud to have scoured KidSport and the Manitoba Metis Federation, plus an older sister who the province and put together a team of Stanley Cup champions, Conn went without sports because the family could only afford to outfit one kid Smythe winners, talkers of trash, bringers of bash, great players and to play. Ferland’s family story, captured by the Calgary Herald’s Kristen even better citizens. Odland, is inspiring and filled with kindness throughout.

We recognize a good deal, so we’re cap compliant. We appreciate our Combine Ferland’s humble roots, the strength he showed in overcoming heritage so we have ties to the Winnipeg Jets. We believe in our roots so an alcohol addiction and his on-ice skill and grit and you’re left with a a we have speakers of English, French and Cree. player perfectly suited to punch above his weight on Team Manitoba’s second line. And, heck. We’re also very, very good at hockey. Center Without further ado, here is Team Manitoba: Travis Zajac, New Jersey Devils, Winnipeg First line 2018-19 stats: 19 goals, 46 points in 80 games Left wing That’s it; back to Winnipeg! Travis Zajac, the oldest of four hockey- Max Domi, Montreal Canadiens, Winnipeg playing brothers, anchors our second line with the wily veteran savvy that comes with 922 NHL games and 507 career points. Tom and Trish’s 2018-19 stats: 28 goals, 72 points in 82 games eldest will be given plenty of time on the power play, the penalty kill and Max Domi was born in Winnipeg almost exactly one year before the at even strength where we’re counting on him to find chemistry between original Jets played their last NHL game — the 4-1 loss to Detroit that Ferland and up-and-comer . sent the Red Wings to the second round and the Jets to Phoenix. For this Finally, between Zajac and his former UND teammate Toews, you’d have reason, Tie’s son is more than a breakout offensive star on Team better odds of getting into a Festival du Voyageur tent after midnight than Manitoba’s top line — he is a complex and conflicting symbol for a winning a faceoff from Team Manitoba’s top two lines. province with as many tragedies as triumphs in its hockey heritage. Our greatest teams have either been disbanded, pillaged by expansion, Right wing relocated to Arizona or defeated by Vegas. Domi’s prominence reminds us that nothing gold can stay/the chance may never come again/you only Nolan Patrick, Philadelphia Flyers, Winnipeg get one shot. 2018-19 stats: 13 goals, 31 points in 72 games

Center If we’re forecasting into the future, Nolan Patrick is Team Manitoba’s Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks, Winnipeg franchise centerman — the heir apparent to Toews’ multiple decades of NHL excellence. On this particular team, we’re easing Patrick’s defensive 2018-19 stats: 35 goals, 81 points in 82 games load and giving him gritty, skilled linemates who can get the most of the longtime Wheat King’s offensive wizard. Jonathan Toews has won gold medals at the World Under 17 Hockey Championships, World Junior Hockey Championships (x2), World That or we need wingers in a big way. Hockey Championships, Olympic Games (x2) and the World Cup of Hockey. He has won the Stanley Cup three times, the 2010 Conn Team Manitoba is counting on Patrick, whose father Stephen Patrick and Smythe trophy, the 2013 Frank J. Selke award and the 2015 Mark uncles James Patrick and Rich Chernomaz played 1581 regular-season Messier Leadership Award. He was given the keys to Winnipeg in 2010 NHL games between them, to take the next big step forward in his own and had a lake north of Flin Flon named after him the same day. career. What better sweater to put on for his breakout campaign than the (presently fictitious) jersey of his home province? Conveniently for our inaugural Team Manitoba captain, Lake Toews also doubles as the fountain of youth. Third line

Toews set carrer-highs in goals, assists and points last year proving that Left wing Captain Serious, the 31-year-old, fluently bilingual pivot can still play the Jordan Martinook, Carolina Hurricanes, Brandon game at its highest level. 2018-19 stats: 15 goals, 25 points in 82 games Right wing Born in Brandon, then raised in Alberta, Jordan Martinook is our second Mark Stone, Vegas Golden Knights, Winnipeg straight late-blooming left winger. We’re counting on big things from the 27-year old father of one who recently re-signed in Carolina and, given Seriously, read that trash-talking link — a story by our Jesse Granger — his sterling 5-on-5 impact in all three zones, we think Martinook can and tell me you wouldn’t want Reaves on your Team Manitoba. deliver. Extra Center Eric Fehr, UFA, Winnipeg Alex Steen, Winnipeg 2018-19 stats: 7 goals, 15 points in 72 games 2018-19 stats: 10 goals, 27 points in 65 games Eric Fehr recently signed with Geneve-Servette in Swizterland but 2019 Stanley Cup winner Alex Steen is the second Team Manitoban despite playing in a different league, the 33-year old who has played in available to us through a family connection to the Winnipeg Jets. Steen 652 regular-season NHL games, is our 13th forward. We like his faceoff was born in Winnipeg, raised in River Heights and Tuxedo and he’s ability and his strong Mennonite name. Plus he wrote “The Bulliest fluent in Winnipeg whiteout culture — he participated in them until leaving Dozer” — an anti-bullying children’s book — and that’s just so dang- the city at the age of 11. darned decent of Fehr that we can’t help but include him on our team.

As an adult, Steen has gone onto an impressive NHL career — 605 Down in the farm: Darren Helm (St. Andrews), Detroit Red Wings; Dale points in 963 games played mostly at left wing and a defensive game that Weise (Winnipeg), Montreal Canadiens; Cody McLeod (Binscarth), UFA has lasted well into his 30s. For our purposes, Thomas’ son is our third- line centre but it should also be noted that, in true Manitoban form, Steen Defensemen is giving back to his home province through a partnership with KidSport. First pairing

Also, have you been to Great Big Adventure — that enormous kids’ play Travis Sanheim, Philadelphia Flyers, Elkhorn centre on Lorimer? That’s Steen, too. 2018-19 stats: 9 goals, 35 points in 82 games Right wing Travis Sanheim is an emerging NHL star from a tiny prairie town. Matt Calvert, Colorado Avalanche, Brandon Elkhorn, Manitoba, is home of the Manitoba Antique Automobile 2018-19 stats: 11 goals, 26 points in 82 games Museum, the inspiration for an indie rock song (“Dear Elkhorn” by Said Keeping it classy from Brandon’s Vincent Massey, Matt Calvert is here to The Whale) and the birthplace of our top pairing left defenceman. hit everything that moves. Sanheim is a brilliant skater, an emerging point producer and one of just Look, I get it. We’re the polite province — Friendly Manitoba — and when a few Flyers who can say he had a brilliant 2018-19 season after seeing someone lets us into their lane, we acknowledge with a wave in the his roles and responsibilities skyrocket in a big way. Team Manitoba is mirror like good and kind human beings are supposed to do. For his part, all-in on Sanheim’s prairie sky-high upside — we believe we have a top Calvert is so welcoming that he’s let Avalanche newcomer Cale Makar pairing defenceman for years to come. move into his home like a good Manitoban mentor might do. Ryan Pulock, New York Islanders, Dauphin

But not everyone in the NHL plays nice. 2018-19 stats: 9 goals, 37 points in 82 games

When push comes to shove and the dropping of gloves, Calvert is here Team Manitoba is proud to have an all-Westman top pairing. for us — Team Manitoba won’t be pushed around between whistles or after them. Those 26 points aren’t bad either, so we’re moving Calvert to Born in Dauphin and raised in Grandview, 24-year-old Ryan Pulock was right wing to ride shotgun with Martinook and Steen. Finally, as a big fan a four-season Brandon Wheat King before turning pro. His 2018-19 of a Little Scrapper, I can’t help but include one on this team. season was a bit similar to Sanheim’s in that he saw his usage skyrocket — and was mostly full value for it. Fourth line Pulock is a power-play quarterback, an increasingly capable defender Left wing and a good bet to play on New York’s top pairing for a lot of years to Brendan Leipsic, Washington Capitals, Winnipeg come. Continued offence could make his next contract an expensive one but, this season, he’s making a team friendly $2 million and boy, do we 2018-19 stats: 7 goals, 23 points in 62 games like a good deal.

Freshly inked to a $700,000 contract in Washington, Brendan Leipsic has Second pairing had long and not always a smooth road to the NHL. But as every Manitoban knows, a few tiny potholes aren’t enough to stop us from Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks, Winnipeg reaching our destination. Team Manitoba is proud to give Leipsic a shot 2018-19 stats: 6 goals, 40 points in 82 games at ending construction season in style on our fourth line. Sometimes it feels like Duncan Keith has been a top-pairing NHL Center defenceman since Louis Riel was alive; despite starting his NHL career Cody Eakin, Vegas Golden Knights, Winnipeg at 24 years old, Keith has been Chicago’s cornerstone for one metric forever. 2018-19 stats: 22 goals, 41 points in 78 games Like Toews, Keith is a three-time Stanley Cup champion and one-time Manitoba’s centre depth lets us play Nolan Patrick on the wing and still Conn Smythe trophy winner as playoff MVP. Like Toews, he’s a born roll Cody Eakin and his career-high 41 points on our fourth line. He’s our Winnipegger who has apparently discovered the fountain of youth — first centreman in his 20’s, bucking our greybeard trend, but we’ll forgive Keith hit 40 points as a 36-year-old last season — but unlike Toews, the 537 game veteran his comparative youth. The former Bantam AAA Keith was a Winnipegger for just a little over a year. Fear not: Team Winnipeg Monarch has put in the work and his more than deserving of Manitoba is friendly and forgiving — we’re more than willing to overlook our fourth-line centre spot. Keith’s residency in other provinces so long as he continues to stave off father time. Right wing Travis Hamonic, Calgary Flames, Saint-Malo Ryan Reaves, Vegas Golden Knights, Winnipeg 2018-19 stats: 7 goals, 19 points in 69 games 2018-19 stats: 9 goals, 20 points in 80 points With Keith playing the role of offence-first old guard, Travis Hamonic will The NHL’s third-best trash talker is coming for the throne. He has the be asked to stay at home on Team Manitoba’s second pairing. The on- sharp tongue, the taunting laugh and the quick fists to back up his poetry ice role suits the defensive stalwart perfectly — his 5-on-5 results were with pugilism — plus an eminently likable off-ice demeanor. brilliant in Calgary last season — and the role of off-ice leader suits him, Why are we picking Ryan Reaves over Stanley Cup champions like too. Darren Helm or the pride of Binscarth, Cody McLeod? Because fun. Hamonic and his wife Stephanie are active in First Nations communities. The ESPN special, “In the name of The Father,” details Hamonic’s commitment to kids who, like him, have lost an important family member. into Thunder Bay hurts your prairie sensibilities, pretend Murray isn’t Darren Haynes’ story at The Athletic details how Hamonic has continued here. We’re more than happy to run with James Reimer and Calvin his “D-Partner” program for kids in Calgary, too. Pickard in your imagination.

Turning personal tragedy into greater community healing is a On the ice, we want the Stanley Cup-winning Murray, whose career .917 transformative, powerful act. Team Manitoba is honoured and proud to Sv.% is better than anything local. have a human being like Hamonic on our team. James Reimer, Florida Panthers, Morweena Third pairing 2018-19 stats: 13-12-5, 3.09 GAA, .900 Sv.% , St. Louis Blues, Brandon Oba jo! 2018-19 stats: 2 goals, 11 points in 64 games In a perfect world, James Reimer would be the Mennonite starting When Joel Edmundson took the Stanley Cup to his hometown of goaltender of Team Manitoba’s dreams. In reality, we’re a little worried Brandon earlier this summer, 4500 hockey fans showed up at the about the man from Morweena’s .900 Sv.% last season and see him as Keystone Centre to celebrate with him. For Edmundson, it was a special more of a backup. moment — the young man from Brandon spent a lot of time at the Keystone Centre as a kid — and the community support he received In signing Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida appears to agree with us but that is showed exactly the kind of prairie pride you’d expect. not our concern. No Team Manitoba is complete without a player from a town you’ve probably never heard of and Morweena ticks off our Michael Stone, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg geographical requirement. We should also point out that Reimer’s career .914 Sv% is completely decent and, if Murray falters (or mutinies to 2018-19 stats: 0 goals, 5 points in 14 games Ontario) we’re more than happy to sustain ourselves on farmer sausage, While Team Manitoba has young defencemen like Brady Keeper and yerba mates and zumma borscht. Madison Bowey waiting in the wings, Team Manitoba is running with Down on the farm: MacKenzie Blackwood (Thunder Bay, ON), New Michael Stone’s family connection — this team needs some brothers — Jersey Devils; Calvin Pickard (Winnipeg, via Moncton, NB), Detroit Red and his long and impressive career as a stay at home NHL defenceman. Wings. A blood clot slowed the elder Stone to just 14 games last season but we believe in his recovery (and his Team Manitoba connection to the Salary cap situation fountain of youth that is Lake Toews.) Look, I get it. Every now and again, a Manitoban you know will fully earn Extras his or her stereotype as coming from a province known to be frugal.

Madison Bowey, Detroit Red Wings, Winnipeg I’m not here to support or deny that stereotype. Instead, let’s point at everything all of the other provinces are doing wrong. Team Ontario 2018-19 stats: 2 goals, 10 points in 50 games costs a rich, bloated $143 million. Team Quebec succeeds for once in Madison Bowey won the Stanley Cup with Washington in 2018 but was dodging politics but we’re not convinced it will survive traded to Detroit partway through last season. At 24 years old, the former Nordiques/Canadiens heritage-based infighting. Bantam AAA Winnipeg Monarch is still working on carving out full-time In place of other provinces’ ambitious, egoistic foolhardery, Team minutes in the NHL but has shown enough promise to hold down a spot Manitoba is friendly, polite and cap compliant: on Team Manitoba. Total cap hit: $78,470,605 (21 contracts with two more to sign: Off the ice, Bowey shared terrific stories about his heroes — Willie Edmundson and Fehr) O’Ree, for one, his father Will for another — with Emily Kaplan of ESPN here. The intelligent and articulate Winnipegger holds down Team Cap space: $3,029,395 (plenty of wiggle room because dangdarnit we Manitoba’s first extra spot on defence. read our Adbusters)

Brady Keeper, Florida Panthers, Cross Lake Projected point total

2018-19 stats: 0 goals, 0 points in 1 game Using Sean Tierney’s WAR (Wins Above Replacement, a metric that aims to estimate how many wins a team gets from a player compared to Cross Lake’s Brady Keeper played his first NHL game last season — a replacement-level player) and his lineup creator (which uses data from and, in doing so, made for one heck of a good story. After an impressive Evolving-Hockey) to best project how many points the roster would earn NCAA career with the University of Maine, Keeper became the first over a full season: we’ve built a 96-point team. person from Cross Lake to play in an NHL game and became an inspiration in the process. Sure, there’s a pothole or two but we’re built to win, darndangit!

APTN’s feature story on Keeper is a good place to learn how he went Tierney’s calculator believes Team Manitoba a virtual lock to make the from a backyard rink made of “materials he found in a garbage dump” to playoffs. the bright lights of the NHL. TSN’s story is a great place to go deeper. Finally, here at The Athletic, George Richards’ feature story is a simply Our 96 point pace would have qualified us for a Western Conference stunning read. Keeper is a promising young defenceman who is an playoff spot in eight out of the past 10 NHL seasons. inspiration to people at the Pimicikamak Cree Nation, Manitoba at large We’re cap compliant; we have Cup winners; we have Conn Smythe and Indigenous communities across Canada. winners; we have some tremendous humans using their power to give Down in the farm: Justin Falk (Snowflake), Carolina Hurricanes; Cam back to communities all over Canada; we have skill, heart and grit; we’re Barker (Winnipeg,), Tampere tough to play against; we can trash-talk; we can fight; we have the NHL’s best defensive forward, its most serious captain and access to the NHL’s Goaltenders only fountain of youth — Lake Toews, north of Flin Flon.

Matt Murray, Pittsburgh Penguins, Thunder Bay, ON. Bring it on, world.

2018-19 stats: 29-14-6, 2.69 GAA, .919 Sv.% The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019

At least Thunder Bay isn’t Toronto.

Matt Murray is the one exception we’re willing to make for the “Team Manitoba as 100% Manitoban” rule. We refused to trifle with Saskatchewan, we thought the Staal family was a little too important to Ontario’s heritage and I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but Chris Pronger retired a long time ago.

Plus we really needed a legitimate starting goaltender. If our imperial expansion down the No. 17 highway, past the Lake of the Woods and 1150370 Vancouver Canucks what you spend your free-agency money on and how often you win your trades count.

Don’t be the Edmonton Oilers is the lesson there. Patrick Johnston: Trevor Linden left the Canucks a year ago. Not much has changed Vancouver Canucks owner talks to AGM John Weisbrod during day 2 of the 2019 NHL Draft at Rogers Arena. Jason Payne / PNG

Patrick Johnston Initially, Francesco Aquilini said he was going to find a new president. As we know, inquiries have been made here — Dean Lombardi — and there — Gillis — but nothing concrete has ever been offered. Instead, general The Canucks have gone a year without a president. There are signs of manager Jim Benning remains atop the hockey department, his assistant on-ice improvement, but are they a mirage? GM, John Weisbrod, more involved than ever.

With a year’s distance now behind him from being fired as president of With more and more data coming available, the modern NHL front office, the Vancouver Canucks, you do wonder what Trevor Linden thinks about you’d think, would be getting bigger, with more specialists than ever. it all. That’s what’s happened in other sports, but that’s not the case here.

The former team captain had been the club’s president for just over four Instead, the Canucks’ executive suite has featured mostly departures, years when the axe came down last July. In the moment, it was a bit of a with few replacements. Linden’s departure was succeeded by Jeff Stipec shock. In hindsight, it becomes less so. and TC Carling, preceded by Laurence Gilman and Lorne Henning. Stipec was replaced internally, but the duties of the other four have been There were rumblings for some time that there was discord between the shuffled onto the desks of others. president and the team’s ownership, but the crux of Linden’s sudden dismissal came down to how long it would be until the NHL playoffs came The signs have been slowly accumulating, but suddenly this appears to back to Vancouver. And yet, the Canucks missed the playoffs again this be a budget-conscious organization. A steady run of playoff revenue may past season. The first instalment of the post-Linden program, where the yet turn the off-ice spigots back on, but given how tight budgets are in the Canucks once again chased free agents to shore up depth, didn’t work. rest of the Aquilini businesses, that’s also not a straightforward assumption. Round 2 leans on the expected growth of their budding stars Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser, and the marginal When the Canucks return to the playoffs, Linden’s tenure may turn out to improvements made to the roster this summer. It’s a better team, yes, be a mere footnote. Did it even matter that he was in the front office? one with an outside chance that the Canucks make the playoffs next year, but hardly a lock. Linden declined a request earlier to talk about how life is going out of hockey — saying simply that he is “enjoying being out of things and Quinn Hughes looks for the puck after clearing Dallas Stars Jason laying low” — so his Instagram presence will have to speak for itself. It’s Dickson from in front of Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom in March. clear that life has been treating him well. He continues to cycle and ski, Gerry Kahrmann / PNG both passions for him. He shares videos of his son Roman, who is due to turn two. If the Canucks miss the playoffs again, essentially proving Linden right, he’s not likely to gloat about the situation. After all, he was hired to get He may not have succeeded in his return to hockey, but he does seem to the Canucks back to the promised land and he didn’t get to see his be succeeding in life, and in the big picture, that’s really all that matters. project to the end. Vancouver Province: LOADED: 07.31.2019 It will forever be ironic that Linden was dismissed for belatedly coming to the same conclusion his predecessor, Mike Gillis, had reached once the Canucks were upset by the San Jose Sharks in 2013. Gillis realized the Canucks needed to stop thinking about the playoffs for a few seasons, that to focus on becoming true contenders again meant going big on acquiring young talent. That meant turning veterans into picks in the top three rounds of the NHL Draft, picks that almost always become NHLers now. But a different path was chosen.

Twice in the four years with Linden at the helm the Canucks did manage to add an extra pick in the first three rounds — but twice they didn’t. That unevenness is a reminder of what the focus continued to be, the notion that the Canucks could hit home runs on a handful of picks every year while also signing or trading for vets in a continual chase for a handful of home playoff dates.

And therein lies the rub. The Canucks have missed the Stanley Cup playoffs for five of the last six seasons. The message has become clear, championships are lovely, but playing a few extra games in the playoffs ever year is better.

The fact that Linden went 1-for-4 in his own efforts to make the playoffs surely didn’t help his cause for retention.

Of course it can be claimed that building a contender can still be accomplished while playing a handful of playoff games along the way, but that’s been a rarely trodden path. Time and again we’ve seen how hockey teams go through boom-bust cycles, with a couple years of pain stacked against several years of joy.

You do need to pick high in the draft once in a while to find your elite talent. No matter how good you are at drafting outside the top of the draft it’s pretty hard to survive without an occasional injection of slam-dunk talent.

Don’t be the Minnesota Wild is the lesson here.

One need look no further than Hughes and Pettersson to understand why the Canucks are hopeful. But they also by themselves don’t solve the problem. The rest matters. How you draft in Rounds 2 and 3 and beyond, 1150371 Vancouver Canucks Vancouver Province: LOADED: 07.31.2019

Brock Boeser’s father battling cancer again

Patrick Johnston

The Canucks' winger shared the news via his Instagram on Tuesday.

Life has rarely been easy for Brock Boeser.

Tuesday was yet another reminder of how challenging life away from the rink is for the Vancouver Canucks star. He shared news on his Instagram that his father is battling cancer again.

He linked to a post where his mom, Laurie, writes that his dad, Duke, shared the difficult news. Duke was previously diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017.

According to her post, the lung cancer reoccurred six weeks ago and has metastasized to his liver and his bones. On Monday, a blood clot in a lung triggered heart failure.

He was taken to hospital and is now in intensive care.

“They are cooling his body to let his heart and brain heal,” Laurie Boeser wrote. “Still not out of the woods for the next 48 hours, considered critical. We are currently waiting to hear what is next.”

The Boesers live in Burnsville, Minn., south of Minneapolis.

Health challenges have been part of the Boeser family’s life for nearly a decade now.

When Brock was in Grade 7, Duke was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He was just 49.

Two years after the Parkinson’s diagnosis, Duke broke his pelvis in three places, suffered a lacerated spleen, as well as a further brain injury when someone blasted through a red light and T-boned the vehicle he was in.

On top of challenging rehabilitation for his pelvis and spleen injuries, the brain injury exacerbated his Parkinson’s.

Five years ago, one of Boeser’s high school friends was killed when the truck he and three others was riding in rolled over. The other three, all friends of Boeser’s, were hurt. Ty Alyea, the teen who died, wore No. 6 for their high school hockey team. So did Duke when he was young. Boeser has worn the number in tribute to the pair ever since.

But the hits kept coming: a fall at home led to a shoulder replacement for Duke. And just weeks after Boeser made his NHL debut at the end of the 2016-17 season, Duke was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Before Duke was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, the recession had hit his painting business hard, to the point where he was driving a delivery truck for UPS part-time.

After he fell ill and became unable to work, Laurie picked up work where she could — in a tax office during tax-return time, administrative work for an orthopedics company, and as a server at an Outback Steakhouse.

Hard work has been a fact of life for Boeser. Suffering a serious back injury at the end of the 2017-18 season was frustrating, he admitted, because not only was he forced to rest in his recovery, he also fell behind in his preparations for the 2018-19 season.

This summer, he said in April, would be all about getting himself as right as possible before the 2019-20 season. Invariably, his dad’s fight has served as inspiration for Boeser; daunting as it may be, one can imagine that outwardly Boeser will present this as yet another challenge to overcome.

Internally, though, we can only imagine.

He still needs a new NHL contract, but we can now see why talks have been slow. The new deal will come, no doubt.

For now, Boeser has a simple request.

“Please send prayers for my dad Dukey,” he wrote in an Instagram Instastory post. “It would be greatly appreciated.” 1150372 Websites his clients have been there for years, while new clients are able to train with him if there are spots available and the timing works out.

His gym is small and no-nonsense. And, if it’s your first time visiting, you The Athletic / ‘My quads are about to combust’: Inside a workout with will most likely end up asking if you’re in the right spot. The gym lies at NHL trainer Matt Nichol the far end of St. Mike’s Arena. Stationary bikes line the glass behind the net, as do a few massage tables. The gym itself is about the size of a studio apartment, maybe 500 square feet. Nichol is proud of his space. By Hailey Salvian Jul 30, 2019 Nichol’s gym is hidden at the North corner of the St. Michael’s College School Arena.

My legs are burning. “It’s my gym, and I love it,” he said, adding that the size of the gym sometimes weeds out guys who want something more luxurious, leaving I’m almost certain I’ve discovered muscles in my thighs I didn’t know a group who want to work hard. existed for the first 24 years of my life. I don’t complain, though. If Tyler Seguin can do it, so can I, right? The longer I do these exercises the less On a typical day at the start of the summer, Nichol will be at his gym from sure I am. 5:30 a.m. until around 7:30 p.m. working with his NHL clients, NCAA and junior clients. A typical day for an athlete varies. I’m working out on the high school track at St. Michael’s College School in Toronto with Matt Nichol, the pioneer of BioSteel sports supplements “If you came at the start of the offseason, they may be in and out of the and performance coach who trains the likes of Seguin, Connor McDavid building in an hour. If you came on a day like today as we get into and Wayne Simmonds in the offseason. August, they may be here for four or five hours, it just depends on what we are doing on any given day,” he said. Nichol’s group of NHL clients are long gone by the time I arrive on a late Monday afternoon. They train early in the morning, working in the gym, “Most of the guys were here today for three and a half hours, tomorrow the track and on the ice for hours each day. A handful of junior athletes they are going to be here for about two hours. Wednesday their are working out in a small gym at the back of the school’s rink that Nichol obligation to be here is about 45 minutes, but some guys will be here has operated out of for nearly a decade. about five hours if they want to get a massage, if they want to do pilates, get acupuncture, Watch video – they could be here all day if they want to We opt to train on the track today to warm up and work on speed and be.” power drills. It’s raining slightly, but we stay outside. At this point, we’ve warmed up my quads and hamstrings with some dynamic stretches. I’ve I’ve been here about 30 minutes and I’m only about a quarter of the way sidestepped, walked forward and backward with a band around my through my workout, and I’m working harder than I thought I would be knees for extra tension and added a few squats in for good measure. during what Nichol says is still the warmup. But we start getting into This is part of the warmup that Nichol’s athletes will do on their own something more up my alley in track and field drills. every day before getting into the real training. For context, I ran varsity cross country at Ryerson University and trained He apologizes often that the exercises aren’t more exciting. for track and field as well, but never raced because of a knee injury. I still run and workout about four times a week, but not anywhere close to the “I know this may seem boring,” he says while I lie on the ground in way an NHLer works out. discomfort doing a foreign side plank, hip raise movement. “But these are the little things we want the guys to do every day to wake up their Nichol demonstrates how he wants me to perform a slow march, going muscles so that in March or April if they feel a tweak while they are up on my toes and pausing at each step. Then we start to speed it up stretching it’s an early signal that something may be wrong.” over two progressions up to a full high-knee skip. Each time he is surprised. It’s only fitting that on the wall inside the gym the following is written: “Do the little things savagely well.” “That’s better than most of my hockey players!” he said with a laugh.

Nichol – who spent seven years as the Maple Leafs’ head strength and I don’t get too excited though, like I said, this is still just the warmup. conditioning coach and nutritionist – doesn’t have a label for his style or format for coaching. Some coaches specialize in speed work, powerlifting My slice of humble pie comes shortly after in the form of a race against or mobility. Nichol says he specializes in “whatever the hell works.” Nichol. Everything he implements for his players has intense research behind it, Now, I don’t usually swear when I’m interviewing people, but I don’t and he believes will maximize performance and extend careers. usually find myself lying face down on a football field about to race one of “I never played hockey, I can barely skate at all, so for me when I got the my subjects. We are doing what Nichol calls push up accelerations. It’s job with the Toronto Maple Leafs, I had worked with some NHL players, simple, we both start down in a push-up position and have to pop up and but I wasn’t a hockey expert by any stretch of the imagination,” he said. sprint 10 yards. “So, it forced me to really study the sport scientifically and I thought it “We don’t go on command,” Nichol explained. “They aren’t sprinters and would be a major disadvantage, but it turned out to be a major advantage don’t go on a starting gun. But one would be the rabbit and the fox, so I because I had no emotional attachment to any style (of) training. would react to you. Sometimes we tell them to react to a sound, to a “We did a ton of research when I was there on the biomechanics and the movement – we change the queues, so they aren’t just running and physiology of the sport so now really what I’m doing with these guys, it’s sprinting. They are paying attention and thinking the whole time they are not really my opinion anymore, it’s hockey training as best I understand it out here.” from a scientific standpoint.” In our race, I am the rabbit and Nichol has to react to my movement Take a look at some of his clients and you will see a pattern of success before he can jump up and start to run. Even though I get to start moving that makes Nichol a hot commodity. Three of his clients – Robby Fabbri, first, Nichol bursts up and beats me easily. Michael Del Zotto and Jordan Binnington – lifted the Stanley Cup in June “Oh crap! How did you do that so fast!?” with the St. Louis Blues. McDavid has taken the NHL by storm. Seguin has been a star with Dallas for a number of years. The list goes on. Each He just laughs. summer Nichol trains roughly 24 NHL players, with the addition of a few new clients who come to his gym for rehab or post-surgical needs – like Every summer for the past nine years, Nichol has hosted a training camp Frank Corrado did last summer. – known as BioSteel Camp – for players as a precursor to NHL training camps. It’s become a major week-long event in Toronto where several “For every guy we have, we turn away about two to three NHL guys and NHL stars train in front of media and fans who crowd the outside of the six to seven juniors,” he said. “We aren’t trying to be exclusive or track. anything, we just want a high coach-athlete ratio.” It has developed a lot over the years to include a player draft and Nichol said he never wants a player waiting in line to do a drill or an tournament for players to compete for the Ray Emery Cup named after exercise. He wants pucks on sticks as much as possible throughout the the late Ray Emery, who died unexpectedly in the summer of 2018. summer and he wants them to get all the attention they need. Many of Nichol said it was never his intention to have the camp become such a their bodies more comfortable being in the uncomfortable positions they big event. often find themselves playing hockey.

“Only reason we had the camp in the first place was because when I first VIEW THIS POST ON INSTAGRAM got here we only had about a dozen guys and we wanted to do a couple of real good scrimmages before training camp so we would have a SHHHH…. I'VE GOT A LITTLE SECRET TO SHARE… ⁣ ⁣ TODAY WE couple of guys come out and it kind of took off,” he said while letting me DID "HOCKEY SPECIFIC TRAINING" BUT NONE OF MY ATHLETES have a water break. KNOW… SO PLEASE DON'T TELL THEM!! ⁣ ⁣ WE WORKED ON ⁣ ⁣ – BALANCE⁣ – PROPRIOCEPTION⁣ – FOOT AND ANKLE “It wasn’t about the videos and the party and stuff it was just about STRENGTH⁣ – LOWER BODY STRENGTH AND POWER⁣ … AND having guys here to practise and have games. Now we have enough DID SOME KILLER AEROBIC CONDITIONING TO TOP IT ALL OFF⁣ ⁣ guys training all summer that we don’t have to invite extra guys.” BUT I TRICKED THEM AND TOLD THEM WE WERE JUST HAVING FUN MOVING IN THE SAND  ⁣ ⁣ LET'S KEEP THAT OUR LITTLE Nichol has a full roster of players and he is their general manager. He brings in NHL coaches every summer. World-class chiropractors, SECRET, IF THEY EVER FOUND OUT IT WAS ACTUALLY A strength coaches, therapists, anything the players need. WORKOUT THEY MIGHT NOT LOVE IT AS MUCH⁣ ⁣ ⁣ THANKS TO DANIEL AND GEORGE @BEACHBLASTTO FOR ALWAYS BEING “We have athletes that are doing intensive vision training with sports AMAZING HOSTS AND THANKS TO ALL THE GUYS FOR PUTTING IN optometrists, we have athletes that would never use that service. We A SERIOUS EFFORT THIS MORNING! have athletes that are going offsite and doing pilates training and athletes that don’t. We try to customize the program as much as we can for A POST SHARED BY MATT NICHOL (@MATT_NICHOL) ON JUN 21, everybody,” he said. 2019 AT 12:34PM PDT

“I treat it like this is my team of guys and I would be the GM or director of It’s not just his clients that he wants playing multiple sports. it’s all kids. performance, but within that framework, we have a set menu with the “I could kick out all my NHL clients and fill my gym with kids and make option to go a la carte. It’s a buffet here.” way more money, but that’s not what kids should be doing,” he said. Part of my buffet for the afternoon is resistance sprints, which Nichol said “They should be playing a variety of sports becoming well-rounded is a huge part of what they have on the menu. athletes, then who knows — I hope if kids see some of the best players in the world playing different sports, that they realize ‘if it’s cool enough He hooks me up to what appears to be a death trap harness with a sled for Tyler Seguin to do yoga and Tai Chi, then maybe it’s cool enough for attached. He stands on the sled and tells me to lean forward. I lean until I me.’ feel like I’m going to fall on my face and then he lifts his foot off and has me explode into a sprint. “If these top NHL guys play volleyball and do gymnastics, then certainly if you are a 13-year-old then it’s OK for you to take some time away from We do a few sprints then add some weight to the sled and we go back to hockey and have some fun.” the marches we did in the warmup, but with 50-pounds attached to my back. Then we switch the harness around so I can drag the sled I did about a quarter of the workout for a McDavid or Seguin, but I backwards. He adds more weight just for fun. After 20 yards of walking certainly had fun trying out the exercises and talking about Nichol’s backwards in a squat position with about 100-pounds strapped to me, philosophy. He said he tried to give me some of the “more exciting” Nichol thinks it looks too easy for me. So, he tells me to do another 20 things to try, but at the end of the day he said what they do in his gym is yards. As we approach the 30-yard line, I think my quads are about to “pretty basic,” which he adds is challenging in the age of social media. combust. “I think now it’s always a competition of who can post the most insanely “You can do it come on, only five more yards,” he said at the 35-yard line, heavy lift or the craziest most complicated wacky standing on a swiss ball casually leaving out the fact I have to walk the 100-pound sled back underwater juggling chainsaws exercises,” he said trying to go as straight as possible. “It has forced a lot of people in my profession to try to keep up with the As I rest, we talk more about Nichol’s philosophy of doing “whatever the Joneses and I think it’s a tough thing for us because we try to hold true to hell works,” and it’s eye-opening for someone who has not closely our principals and what I believe in, but unfortunately that sometimes studied hockey-specific training. Nichol is so detailed and researched, it doesn’t sell on social media.” is clear why players want to train with him. In his over 20 years training professional athletes, Nichol has had a lot of For example, instead of doing agility drills, having players tap cones or players extend their careers beyond expectations. A lot of his NHL clients run through ladders, Nichol has his players play a game of tag. have over 1,000 games played. That is what he chooses to focus on.

“We put them in a small space and there’s 20 of them in there dodging “That’s the cool part for me is the legacy,” he said. “That it’s cool for each other, their head is on a swivel trying not to get caught,” he said. these guys to go to bed on time, it’s cool to eat healthy, it’s cool to be a “On the ice, the other players aren’t stationary, so why would players good person, be polite and responsible and I’m happy with that.” train with a stationary pylon?” The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 He does show me one pylon drill he will do occasionally. He sets up four cones in a square and I stand in the middle. He numbers them, and they all have colours. He calls out either a colour or a number and I have to turn and run to each one and back. To make sure I’m thinking, he points to the red cone but yells “black,” or he yells “two” but points to red.

It’s hard, and as I get more fatigued, I find myself getting confused more and taking longer to figure out where to go. But we don’t do this for long, and neither do his players. Nichol is not only very smart, but he is self- aware.

“Fifteen minutes from now if I’m still making you tap pylons, you’re going to want to walk out on me,” he said with a laugh.

As well as playing tag, he will send his goalies to play squash instead of throwing tennis balls against a wall. Doing stationary hand-eye coordination work gets boring. But put two ultra-competitive goalies in a small room and have them play squash and “they will go crazy for hours,” he said.

Nichol is a big supporter of multi-sport athletes. He has his players switch things up to play beach volleyball, cross-train or do gymnastics to get 1150373 Websites It’s hard to change your habits on the fly. You end up thinking instead of reacting. And we just didn’t have enough practice time. You need a week or two weeks to get things in, or even just three days of practice. And we The Athletic / Does Brent Seabrook have the ‘worst contract in hockey?’ just didn’t have it. Once the schedule lightened up (the Blackhawks Maybe. But he’s out to prove he’s not done yet. played 33 games in Colliton’s first 66 days as head coach), you saw the change in our play. We were much better. We’ve just got to spend time on it. And now we have that time.”

Mark Lazerus Jul 29, 2019 Seabrook doesn’t deny his struggles last season. It’s why he’s genuinely excited about his 15th training camp coming up. Established veterans

typically dread the drudgery of camp. Seabrook has been no exception. It’s a strange thing to ask a proud person about being a punchline. But this year, it’s different. This year, the practice time is crucial.

Brent Seabrook is a three-time Stanley Cup champion, an Olympic gold “With Joel there for a long time, we had the same team and we had the medalist, a ridiculously accomplished athlete with a career most athletes same coach and training camp was just sort of getting guys back into would kill to have. hockey-playing shape and just rolling,” Seabrook said. “With Jeremy coming in, he tried to implement some things last year throughout the In theory, he is a man with nothing left to prove. season. I know I had a tough time with making the switch from Joel to Jeremy’s style, and I’m looking forward to getting off on the right foot and But in reality, Seabrook is a man with five years left on a very expensive having a good training camp, learning how to play it the right way, and contract, one that takes up 8.4 percent ($6.875 million) of the just taking off from there.” Blackhawks’ salary-cap space next season. It’s a contract that hasn’t matched his performance over its first three years, and a contract that Paul Goodman saw what you saw last season. The Blackhawks’ strength likely will look increasingly troublesome in the future. That’s why The and conditioning coach saw a big man in his mid-30s struggling to keep Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn anointed it the worst contract in the NHL. up in an increasingly fast sport. But he didn’t believe he was seeing a lost And according to his model, it wasn’t even close. Nine hundred and cause. He saw an exciting project that he was just getting started on. ninety-nine times out of 1,000, the deal is a net loss for the Blackhawks. There’s no sugar-coating that. “There are limitations with age, unfortunately,” Goodman said. “But I don’t think that’s handcuffing us by any stretch of the imagination. Brent So I waited out the press horde at the Blackhawks convention Friday has a motor on him; he wants to be great. Every single day. I’ve never night, biding my time to ask Seabrook what he thought about that seen him not take it to the Nth degree when I’ve been working with him. I assessment. Seabrook is notoriously averse to talking to reporters, and don’t think there’s a limitation on that from a work ethic, from a desire when I joined the Blackhawks beat before the 2013 season, he was the standpoint.” one everybody warned me about. The conventional wisdom is that Seabrook is out of shape, a throwback But I’ve always enjoyed a good relationship with him, knowing that you’re to an era of hockey when sheer mass was every bit as important as going to take a little crap and that you have to give a little bit back. His speed and agility. And there’s no denying that Seabrook isn’t a physical schtick can be intimidating if you don’t know him, but it’s more playful freak like longtime partner Duncan Keith. He’s not obsessed with “total once you do. In a scrum setting, Seabrook can be prickly and curt. One- human optimization” like Jonathan Toews, and he’s not finding new on-one, though, he’s a thoughtful, introspective, engaging personality — fitness frontiers like Patrick Kane. just so long as you don’t ask for him too often. But Seabrook’s durability is undeniable. “This is your one time this month,” he usually deadpans when I pull him aside in a dressing room. He’s missed just 18 regular-season games in the last 13 seasons. On top of all that, he played 112 playoff games in a seven-year span. He played He’s half-joking. But only half. 62 playoff games between 2013-15, logging 26 minutes a night during the memorable 2015 Stanley Cup run. Few players in the league have So once everyone had left, I asked him bluntly about the universal more hard miles on them than Seabrook, and yet his body never breaks consensus that he has the worst contract in the NHL. There’s a part of down. me that wants him to acknowledge it, the way Roberto Luongo famously did at the 2013 trade deadline, saying “My contract sucks — that’s what But there’s a significant gap between Seabrook and the elite athletes on the problem is,” when the Canucks failed to move him. That was the the ice these days. Goodman, now in his second summer working with beginning of a remarkable PR turnaround for Luongo, who quickly Seabrook, thinks he can narrow that gap, if not close it entirely. Because became one of the most likable players in the league. while last year was a transition year for Seabrook on the ice, it was one off the ice, too. Scott Hebert, Seabrook’s fitness coach of 18 years — A significant portion of the Blackhawks fan base holds Seabrook’s dating back to his junior hockey days — died in March 2018. So just like contract against him — as if any rational person would have pushed the he spent last season learning new systems, strategies and terminologies paper back across the table and asked for less money — and Seabrook with Colliton, Seabrook spent last summer adjusting to a different routine would be well-served to at least acknowledge it. with Goodman. But again, he’s a proud man. An accomplished man. And while his eyes The first summer with him is largely about learning, Goodman said. The briefly bulged when I said the words “worst contract in the NHL,” he didn’t second summer is when everything kicks in. He saw it when he started take the bait. working with Marian Hossa with an ocean between them, and he saw it “It doesn’t bother me,” he said. “People are going to write what they want last year when working with Seabrook, with half a continent between to write. I’ve never been one to read media articles and get pissed off, or them. get too high or whatever. I’m focused on myself. I’m coming to camp to “A guy that’s done it a certain way for a long period of time now has a make the team, that’s what my job is. I’ve got two months left until whole new language to learn — not just the actual execution of a drill, but training camp and I’m focused on being the best Brent Seabrook that I literally the language,” Goodman said. “What am I trying to communicate can be.” to this individual? Do they understand what I’m trying to get across? I Ah, there’s the rub. There’s the real question. Who is the best Brent don’t envy that for any athlete that’s coming into it from afar. Visuals and Seabrook at this stage of his career? And will it ever be good enough? video obviously help, but the actual education of what that visual and video is providing comes in the finer details of communication. Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton saw what you saw last season. He saw Seabrook getting burned a little too often, out of position a little too “What Brent went through last year is the same thing that Marian went often, a step slow a little too often. But he didn’t believe he was seeing a through. This year, he already has a little bit of that. He understands the declining, aging player. He saw a player with 10 years of muscle memory basic language. Now we can make it more detailed and force him to telling him to do one thing, and a new coach telling him to do another. He actually challenge himself in another verbiage. He understands the basic saw a player who just needed some practice. framework of what I’m providing. He understands the full pattern, understands the work demand. And now he’s got to push himself when “It looked to me like it was difficult for him,” Colliton said to me during a he’s by himself to be able to do that, and derive the best out of himself quiet moment at the convention. “You play one way for so long, and when no one’s watching. The grinding, and the garage time spent (over you’re just used to a certain style of coach, of system, all those things. the summer), that’s the stuff that’s not glorious. It’s not fun. But it’s Is there any part of him, behind the shrugs and platitudes, that everything. With Brent, it’s resonating now.” desperately wants to shove it all back in everyone’s faces?

Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook celebrates a goal last fall at the Seabrook smiled. United Center. (Patrick Gorski / USA TODAY) “Oh, yeah,” he said. “We’ll get to that.” You’ll hear countless players mention that they’re in “the best shape of my life” over the next two months. At 34, Seabrook isn’t going to say that. The Athletic LOADED: 07.31.2019 But he agreed with Goodman about how much of a difference a year has made.

“I feel like I’m ready to go right now,” he said. “I feel good. I had a trainer for 18 years and I knew exactly what he wanted, and when we would talk, I knew exactly what to get out of it. Obviously, I don’t have an 18- year relationship with Paulie like I did with (Hebert). But yeah, it seemed more natural this summer. The workouts have been easier to comprehend. I know a lot more, and I’m definitely feeling better.”

Stan Bowman saw what you saw last season. But he insists he didn’t see an albatross on skates. He saw a player with some work to do, but a player who still brings so much to the table. He still has the big, booming shot. He can still hit the deck to break up a 2-on-1. He still is one of the few players on the team who can throw a hit. And he’s still the most beloved guy in the dressing room, a vital voice for veterans and rookies alike.

When I asked Bowman what he could reasonably expect from Seabrook not only this season but the four that follow, he wasn’t entirely certain. But he’s as curious as anybody to see what Seabrook’s second summer with Goodman yields.

“You’re not trying to add muscle and trying to add strength, you’re trying to increase your flexibility, increase your quickness,” Bowman said. “You’re leaning out as opposed to adding bulk. So I don’t know if I have a specific expectation, but players get into their 30s, their type of training is different than what it was before. It’s more about flexibility and the ability to withstand and not break down and have injuries.”

It won’t come easy. As he reached his mid-30s, Hossa frequently lamented how much more effort he had to put in. Younger Hossa rolled out of bed ready to play. Older Hossa showed up at the rink more than two hours early, taking the early bus from the hotel for road games to properly prepare his balky back for the rigors of the sport. Every game became harder. Every offseason became more arduous. Every season became more grueling. And that wasn’t even counting the amount of time it took to tend to the skin condition that ended his career early.

For elite athletes, it comes easy in your 20s. Accepting and embracing the extra work that comes in your 30s is half the battle.

“You certainly have to train harder in your 30s than you do in your 20s,” Bowman said. “We see that across the board. We see guys that are good athletes and good at maintaining their level of play to the age of 35 and beyond, it’s because they put more emphasis on the physical preparation of training. They didn’t have to do it when they were 25. They could just do the workout and they were fine. Now they’ve got to do extra and they’ve got to do different workouts to (stay) limber and recover. It’s not as easy anymore. You play three games in four days and you take a day off, you’ve got to do some maintenance work in there, where you used to just have to rest. That’s all stuff that we’re going to help our veteran players do. We have to.”

So what will we see this season from Brent Seabrook? What’s a fair expectation? It’s unreasonable to expect him to be the player he was in the late 2000s and early 2010s. But it’s not unreasonable to expect more from a guy making $6.875 million. The leadership is invaluable, yes, but there has to be more.

Bowman knows this. Colliton knows this. Seabrook knows this.

“I think he’s got a lot of hockey left,” Colliton said. “He’s got a lot to offer still. His leadership and experience and that presence within our group — when he’s playing well, it’s all magnified because of his voice and what he means to the organization. It’s our job to help give him every tool possible to play at the highest level he can.”

It’s just a question of what that highest level is. A full training camp to turn Colliton’s system into muscle memory will help. A second offseason with Goodman to better prepare his body will help.

And Seabrook’s own prickly pride should help, too.

After I asked him about having the worst contract in the league and the vitriol that has come along with it, I followed it up with one more question. 1150374 Websites Donato struggled to stay in the lineup with the Bruins, but found a spot in the Wild’s top-six forward group. He posted 16 points in 22 games with Minnesota after only scoring nine points in 34 games before the trade. Sportsnet.ca / 5 moves that will define Paul Fenton's tenure as GM of On July 16, Fenton signed Donato, who was a restricted free agent, to a Wild two-year, $3.8-million contract.

Coyle slotted in on the Bruins’ third line and helped the team reach the Stanley Cup Final. While he struggled in the regular season (only scoring Josh Beneteau | @jbenny15 July 30, 2019 six points in 21 games) he added 16 points in 24 playoff games, including an overtime winner in Round 2 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Feb. 25, 2019: Traded Mikael Granlund to Nashville Predators for Kevin The Minnesota Wild sent shockwaves through the hockey world Tuesday Fiala by firing general manager Paul Fenton after only 14 months on the job. At the trade deadline, Fenton got pennies on the dollar by sending skilled “After giving much thought to this difficult decision, I informed Paul today forward Granlund to the Predators for the enigmatic youngster Fiala. that he was not the right fit for our organization going forward,” said team owner Craig Leipold in a statement. “I believe we have a good hockey Granlund, 26, had 15 goals and 49 points at the time of the trade, team, a team that will compete for a playoff spot this year, and I look consistent with his career average in seven seasons with the Wild. By forward to hiring a general manager that will help us win a Stanley Cup.” comparison, Fiala, who is 23, had 32 points.

So where did things go wrong? The biggest criticism of this trade was that Fenton couldn’t get more in return for Granlund. While Fiala is a respectable (and younger) player, he Let’s take a look at some of Fenton’s most notable moves to find out. doesn’t bring the same offensive upside Granlund does. July 25, 2018: Re-signed Jason Zucker to a five-year, $27.5-million According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, “the lingering fallout from a contract series of arguably bad trades and other personnel matters,” led to Fenton Zucker’s extension with the Wild was the second major contract Fenton being fired by the Wild. handed out as GM —⁠ Matt Dumba signed a five-year extension four days This trade could certainly fall under that description. earlier —⁠ but it makes this list because of what happened afterwards. July 1, 2019: Signed free agent Mats Zuccarello to five-year, $30-million In the summer of 2018, Zucker was coming off a career-year with 33 contract goals and 64 points. But months after signing his new contract, his name started popping up in trade rumours and a deal that would have Fenton’s final major move as GM of the Wild was a big splash in free reportedly sent him to the Calgary Flames fell through on deadline day. agency when he signed Zuccarello to a five-year contract with a $6 million cap hit. After the season ended, Zucker’s name kept getting included trade rumours, including discussions of a deal for Phil Kessel, but he remains Zuccarello had 40 points in 48 games with the Rangers and Stars last on the roster today. As part of his big extension, a modified no-trade season, but missed significant time with a broken arm. After clearing out clause kicked in on July 1, further limiting the Wild’s ability to move him. younger players in trades during the season, committing big money to a 32-year-old winger raised some eyebrows. “As far as I know, they don’t want me to leave and I don’t want to, but again, that’s kind of part of the business,” Zucker said in June. “But I will “Mats is a very competitive, high-energy player,” Fenton said of the say, I do want to be somewhere I’m wanted.” signing. “He brings a high level of skill and character to our lineup and we’re very excited to add him to our team.” A weekly deep dive into the biggest hockey news in the world with hosts Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek. New episodes every Thursday. Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 07.31.2019

Jan. 17, 2019: Traded Nino Niederreiter to Carolina Hurricanes for Victor Rask

Fenton’s first major trade came in January, when he traded Niederreiter for Rask, swapping 26-year-old forwards and gaining a little bit of cap flexibility.

At the time, both players were struggling and the idea was a change of scenery would benefit both sides. But while Niederreiter broke out with the Hurricanes, Rask continued to struggle in Minnesota.

In 46 games with the Wild last season, Niederreiter had nine goals and 23 points, but in 36 games with the Hurricanes, he had 14 goals and 30 points. Rask, on the other hand, had one goal and six points in 26 games for the Hurricanes, and only two goals and three points in 23 games for the Wild.

“We’re looking for consistency,” Fenton said when he made the trade. “For me, when you make a change like this, it shows players that nothing is forever and it gives them an alert that if they want to be here they’re going to have to play and play the way that we want them to play and be successful.”

This trade played a big part in the Hurricanes turning their season around and ultimately reaching the Eastern Conference Final. The Wild were tied for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference at the time of the deal, but by the end of the season, they missed the playoffs by seven points.

Feb. 25, 2019: Traded Charlie Coyle to Boston Bruins for Ryan Donato and a fourth-round pick

As the Feb. 25 trade deadline approached, Fenton made a couple moves to make his team younger. The first one was trading 26-year-old Charlie Coyle for 22-year-old Ryan Donato. And this trade still could end up benefiting both teams. 1150375 Websites It just so happens that a couple who can are from Luke’s family. And before you know it, they’ll all be doing their thing at the highest level.

Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 07.31.2019 Sportsnet.ca / Luke Hughes following brothers Jack and Quinn on path to NHL

Ryan Dixon | July 30, 2019, 12:07 PM

The 2021 NHL Draft may feel like it’s a long way off, but everything involving Luke Hughes tends to happen in a hurry.

The Hughes family story of three hockey-playing boys has come up at the two most recent NHL drafts. Roughly 13 months ago, Quinn Hughes was selected seventh overall by the Vancouver Canucks. And, just five weeks back, Jack Hughes headlined the 2019 event, joining the New Jersey Devils via the first overall pick.

Next fall, when his older brothers figure to be kicking off their NHL rookie seasons, Luke will begin playing with the same U.S. National Team Development Program both his siblings shined for. Like Quinn, Luke is a defenceman, one who spent last season tearing up the minor midget AAA ranks with the Detroit-based Little Caesars Hockey Club.

The coach of that team was former Atlanta Thrasher and Dallas Star Patrik Stefan, a first overall pick himself in 1999. This marked the second consecutive season Stefan was behind the bench of Luke’s team and he also saw Quinn play a bunch in recent years, as the latter was close by at the U.S. NTDP, then the University of Michigan. While Jack has his own obnoxiously good thing going on at centre, it’s pretty easy to draw a line between the two blue-liners.

“They are a little bit different, but in the ways they excel it’s very similar,” Stefan says of Luke and Quinn. “The way they skate the puck up, it’s almost impossible to hit [them.]”

Ryan Dixon and Rory Boylen go deep on pucks with a mix of facts and fun, leaning on a varied group of hockey voices to give their take on the country’s most beloved game.

Eluding contact was probably most critical for Luke when he faced some fired up old teammates with the Toronto Marlboros. That’s the AAA club he used to skate for when the family was located in Toronto because the Hughes patriarch, Jim, served as director of player development for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Hughes crew moved to Michigan around the same time as the Stefans, who were coming from California. Stefan was already coaching his son, James Stefan, on the west coast and had competed against Luke in AAA tournaments involving the 2003-born kids. When Jim was looking for a place for his youngest son to play, Stefan laid out a two-year development plan with Little Caesars. It’s safe to say things worked out wonderfully for both the team and Luke, who — in 2020-21 — will join the same Michigan Wolverines club Quinn played for last season.

“Great family, great kid,” Stefan says. “From Day 1 you could see the high-end hockey sense.”

He certainly comes by it honestly. Jim was a four-year NCAA player who, in addition to his front office experience, has a long history of coaching at the American Hockey League and NHL levels. Ellen Weinberg-Hughes, meanwhile, was a multi-sport college athlete and skated for Team USA at the 1992 World Women’s Hockey Championship.

That means awesome, icy bloodlines is just one of the things Luke and James Stefan have in common. This past season, Luke registered an incredible 83 points in 71 contests from the back end, while James — who is also on the 2021 radar and will start his Western Hockey League career with the Portland Winterhawks in September — paced Little Caesars with 95 points in 71 games as a centre. The two have become good buddies through time spent at the rink, family homes and attending college football games. James raves about all aspects of Luke’s game, but with this young man, the conversation always comes back to those feet.

“His stride is the same as Quinn’s,” James says. “It’s so weird, but it picks up so much speed. It’s crazy. You see him at the goal line [and] he’ll be at the next goal line in no time. The creative part of his game is off the charts. He makes moves that not a lot of players can do.” 1150376 Websites Dale Hunter decided to promote Kirby Dach to Canada's top line after his chemistry with Alex Lafrenière and Joe Veleno on an early power play couldn't be ignored. Mark Masters has more on the new look for TSN.CA / Dach, Veleno and Lafreniere dazzle in top line tour de force for Canada's top line after their win over the Americans. Canada Cole Caufield scored the only goal for the Americans on Tuesday and it was a vintage Caufield snipe.

Mark Masters "That's why he's lit it up pretty good," Hunter said breaking into a big smile. "I imagine Montreal was pretty happy with that shot."

Caufield didn't seem to have much space over the shoulder of six-foot- TSN reporter Mark Masters checks in with news and notes from the four Peterborough goalie Hunter Jones, but has proven time and time World Junior Summer Showcase. Team Canada beat Team USA 4-1 on again he doesn't need much space to make magic. Tuesday at the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, Mich. "The guy gave me a little room so I decided to take advantage of it," he It's early, but Team Canada head coach Dale Hunter may have already said. "I kind of know where I'm going to shoot based on where I am on found his top line for this year’s World Juniors. Saskatoon’s Kirby Dach, the ice. You can kind of guess where the goalie's going to be before you Drummondville’s Joe Veleno and Rimouski’s Alexis Lafreniere dominated even get the puck. It's all just preparation and knowing where you're on Tuesday combining to score three of Canada’s four goals. going to put it before you get it."

Hunter elevated Dach, the third overall pick in June’s draft, to the top unit You just can't give Cole Caufield that kind of room from the dot. He after the Chicago Blackhawks prospect made a beautiful, backhand, no- snipes one top shelf to make it a 2-1 game. Wow. #WJSS #GoHabsGo look pass to set up Veleno for the ice breaker on the power play. #NTDP pic.twitter.com/umbtat6Uo7

"It was a sick pass," said Veleno, a Detroit Red Wings first round pick in — Stars n’ Stripes Hockey (@StarsStripesHKY) July 30, 2019 2018. "He's a hell of a player. I haven't seen him play too much out West, but going third overall, you know, you got to have something … he's a Caufield potted a whopping 72 goals in 64 games last season with the real special player." U.S. National Team Development Program. So, what's his best shot?

"They were clicking on the power play so I thought I'd get Dach in the "I’d probably say my snapshot," the Montreal Canadiens’ first round pick, middle between them," Hunter explained. 15th overall, said. "I can score in many different ways – the slap shot, a little one-T – but I just think my quick release helps me with the snapshot. Kirby Dach makes a beautiful pass to Joe Veleno, who opens the It just gets off your stick a little bit quicker, surprises the goalie, the goalie scoring at 1-0. #WJSS pic.twitter.com/mfLwgPt7Nl can’t pick it up as fast and he doesn’t know where it’s going to go off the stick. So, any way I can cheat the goalie, get it off faster or hide the puck — Steven Ellis (@StevenEllisTHN) July 30, 2019 from the goalie, I just keep trying to learn and find ways to grow." The trio combined on a pretty tic-tac-toe play off the rush on the second That makes sense to Team USA linemate Alex Turcotte, who is also off Canadian goal with Lafreniere’s subtle drop pass to Veleno raising to the University of Wisconsin this fall. eyebrows in the press box and among those in the crowd, which included Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion. "His snapshot, honestly," said Turcotte, a Los Angeles Kings prospect, when asked about Caufield's best weapon. "It catches everyone off "It was a pretty underrated play," Veleno noted. "I don't think too many guard. He scored 72 last year and a lot of them were off snapshots." people saw that little pass, but on the ice you see it and it’s pretty nice." Inside the shooter's workshop: Caufield on valuing the snapper and "I saw Joe before and I knew he was behind me,” said Lafreniere, learning from goalies projected to go first overall in the next NHL draft, nonchalantly. "That was a real nice goal and it's a line effort." Canadiens prospect Cole Caufield already has an array of offensive weapons but what shot does he consider his best at the moment? The "He sees the ice and he knows where the players are," said Hunter, "and 18-year-old breaks down his snap shot while his teammates marvel at when players have that, that’s hard to defend … he just has the feel that how quickly he can get it off. he knows where the guy is and it makes a big difference and all the good players in the have it." Caufield credits teammate Spencer Knight, the top netminder picked in June's draft (13th overall to the Florida Panthers), for helping him better Lafreniere didn't get an assist based on the announcement, but understand the mind of a goalie. should. Excellent touch pass in space to Veleno to allow Dach the time to sneak back door. https://t.co/9EQMcF89Z2 "I roomed with him a lot this past year so I got to pick up some little things that were big for me," he revealed. "What I’ve learned most from him is — Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) July 30, 2019 that the other guys on the ice distract him so the more you can look off Veleno and Lafreniere made Canada's World Junior team as under-agers and distract him the better chance you have in just surprising the goalie." last year and Dach, who finished the night with two goals and an assist, Former NHL goalie John Vanbiesbrouck, now GM of Team USA, likes is looking to follow in their footsteps. what he sees from the sniper so far at the summer camp. "He’s really smart, always at a good spot on the ice and he’s easy to play "What’s impressed me about Cole is obviously his release and getting with. He wins every battle and does everything the right way," said the shot through, that’s what pros do," Vanbiesbrouck said. "They don’t Lafreniere. "He's so big and he's so fast at the same time, it’s unreal." get their shot deflected very much. He rarely gets it deflected. He’ll miss. "It's huge for me," said Dach, who stands six-foot-four, when asked about He’ll shank some shots, but he very rarely gets it deflected or blocked. I his skating ability. "The game has gotten so much faster now and you think every goalie’s going to have to pay attention to him when he’s on see so many smaller guys step into the league and they're elite players the ice. If you’re not watching where he is, it’s going to be trouble for and for a bigger guy, it's tougher for us to move around the ice, but I've you." worked on skating for a while to kind of take my game to the next level The diminutive winger has studied NHLers to hone his craft and become and that's helped me out a lot." even more explosive. Who's his favourite guy to watch? The hockey IQ of all three players was evident in their first game "Alex DeBrincat is someone I try and model my game after," Caufield together, which came in the middle of the summer. said of the Blackhawks winger who also stands just five-foot-seven. "The "They’re big guys and they’re creative," Hunter said, "and they can skate way he does it at the highest level is something that really stands out to so they move the puck well. When you move the puck it's hard to defend. me, just being like him, a similar stature. He just completes and doesn’t When you move the puck, the puck does the work, good things happen. quit on pucks and that’s what I like most about him." They didn’t do it individually, they did it as a line and I think that’s how Anyone else? lines are successful." "Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews," he said, referencing the American Dach's promotion lays the ground work for new top line centre whose NTDP team goals record of 55 he obliterated this season. "They really know where to be and where to put themselves. They don’t Woo, who missed Canada's practice on Tuesday due to a minor injury, always have to pick a spot and get there. They can be in the right spot still sees lots of room for him to grow. and just rip it past the goalie. So, there’s a bunch of different ways to score." "For me to get to the next level everything about my game has got to be better," he said. "Obviously, I want to get quicker, faster and smarter as I Habs prospect Caufield appreciates how Leafs' Matthews, Marner find go up and a lot of those things go with the reps." ways to score Canucks prospect Woo rides wave of confidence to offensive Cole Caufield is a student of the game and he has paid close attention to breakthrough players like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Alex DeBrincat, specifically how they always seem to put themselves in the right positions Canucks prospect Jett Woo is crediting his confidence for his improved on the ice to score goals. offensive game as well as his teammates in Calgary. The 19-year-old defenceman is aware that in order for him to reach the next level, every ---- aspect of his game needs to improve.

Vancouver Giant Bowen Byram considers Toronto Maple Leafs ---- defenceman Morgan Rielly a good role model as he looks to launch his professional career this fall. Team Canada lines to start Tuesday’s game against the United States:

"I've just read stuff about his character in the room," the 18-year-old Forwards explained, "and how good he is on both sides of the puck. I mean, he Lafrenière - Veleno - Thomas logs a lot of minutes so I think I have similar characteristics to that so I like to think I'm somewhat like him." Foote - Dach - Rees

Although TSN director of scouting Craig Button sees Byram as being McBain - Groulx - Damiani more in the mould of Blackhawk Duncan Keith, providing offence with an Newhook - Suzuki - Dudas edge. McShane "I definitely think we have a similar compete level," Byram agreed, "so I definitely see myself as similar to him as well." Defencemen

With Canada's three potential returnees on defence – Ty Smith Diliberatore - Addison (Spokane, NJD), Noah Dobson (Rouyn-Noranda, NYI) and Jared McIsaac (Halifax, DET) – all unable to participate on the ice this week, Byram - Barron Byram is in the spotlight. But the fourth overall pick in last June's draft is Bahl - Bernard-Docker hoping he'll be with the Colorado Avalanche and not in the Czech Republic come December. Chisholm

"If you're not going to camp with the attitude that you’re going to make Goaltenders the team, then you might as well not show up," he said. "That's what it’s all about. I want to go in there and play in the NHL so that’s my goal, for Rodrigue sure." Jones That said, Byram insists he'll be extremely motivated should he return to Team Canada lines in practice: the WHL for another season. Forwards "Yeah, for sure," he said when asked if he had anything left to prove in junior hockey. "I want to win a championship wherever I am." Laferriere - Focht - Lavoie

He came close last year losing in overtime of Game 7 in the league Burzan - Fortier - Tomasino championship series against Prince Albert. Byram ended up leading the WHL playoffs in scoring with 26 points. Combine that with his record six Foudy - McMichael - Noel overtime winners in the regular season and Byram is becoming known as Defencemen a clutch contributor. Harley - Schneider "I managed to play my best hockey down the stretch in the playoffs and I think that showed on the points sheet, but also with how far our team Tychonick went," he said. Goaltenders Button: 'Byram is the definition of a complete defenceman' Gravel Drafted fourth overall by the Avalanche, defenceman Bowen Byram is the complete package on the blue line and is expected to be a key Ellis contributor for Canada at the World Juniors. TSN Director of Scouting Team Canada’s summer camp schedule: Craig Button analyzes what makes Byram such an exciting young prospect and compares him to an active Norris Trophy winning defender. Wednesday - Game against Finland at 1 pm ET

---- Thursday - Day off

Jett Woo broke out offensively last season posting 66 points in 62 games Friday - Game against Sweden at 1 pm ET with Moose Jaw. The defenceman had recorded 47 points in his first two seasons in the WHL (109 games). So, what changed? Saturday - Game against USA at 4 pm ET

"The biggest thing is just my confidence," the Canucks prospect said. TSN.CA LOADED: 07.31.2019 "This year was my first time being consistently on the power play and the penalty kill and being one of the go-to guys ... and, obviously, growing and being an 18-year-old guy, more of a leader last year as well, is something I used to my advantage."

But the Winnipeg native still prides himself as being a defensively sound player.

"No matter where I am and what team I'm on I’m always going to take the defensive side of the puck first and I’ve always said that since I was a little kid so even though I’m getting a lot of points here and there I’m always going to take the defensive side first," he said. 1150377 Websites answer (for a multitude of reasons), but last year was certainly interesting from a workload perspective.

I think if you asked McDavid about last year (which, by the way, was the TSN.CA / How much can the Oilers play McDavid? sixth highest usage rate in the entire modern era), he probably would concede it wasn’t his best defensive season. The Oilers gave up 3.3 goals per-60 minutes with him out there, and it wasn’t just bad Travis Yost goaltending – expected goals against were 3.1.

One of the things I have become curious about is if extreme usage tends to carry a detrimental effect on both shot volume and shot quality. The It will take some time to assess whether general manager Ken Holland’s theory would seem rather intuitive – the more you are working, the more plans can turn around the fate of the Edmonton Oilers. That’s one of the you will see erosion in off-puck play. unfortunate realities any time an executive assumes command of a team with virtually no salary cap space in year one. So let’s look at the heaviest usage rates we have seen since the 2007-08 season and each player’s associated impact to expected goals against. But the Oilers know they need to be competitive in 2019-20. The gift and Remember: the more positive the number, the more detrimental an effect the curse of having someone as otherworldly as Connor McDavid on the the player had on his teammate’s abilities to suppress dangerous roster is that it’s a minimum expectation that his team will be competing attacking sequences against: for a championship every season. Absent a hellacious season from Ryan Getzlaf in 2009-10, I think you That hasn’t been the case so far in the McDavid era. Four seasons in, see something of a trend: the more extreme usage rates tend to have we’ve seen him in the playoffs once (2016-17), and that run ended in the detrimental effects defensively. It’s still hard to know where to draw a line second round. The Oilers have been the league’s 25th best team since in the sand, but most of these forwards – elite, first-line talents, by and then, playing at a 79-point pace over the past two seasons. large – had an undesirable impact on the defensive side of the ice in a It’s no secret what has killed the Oilers. The team has struggled to given season. secure depth competency for four seasons now. Even in the 2016-17 That’s not a slight on any of these players. In their heyday, these are season, where it seemed like everything was clicking across the lineup, some of the best attacking forwards in the league, and their respective the Oilers were still negative in goal differential at 5-on-5 (-4) and all coaching staffs understood the opportunity cost of trying to squeeze as situations (-25). But that’s far more palatable than what the Oilers did last many minutes as possible from players who were surely better options year when the team was 34 goals in the red at 5-on-5 and 77 goals than whatever was below them in the lineup. across all situations. It brings us back to a simple math problem that’s facing the Oilers. Over a four-year window, this is what it looks like on a per-60 minute McDavid can probably expect a usage rate at or just above 35 per cent at basis: 5-on-5. If he carries his historical goal differentials forward at least one You are reading that correctly. For every 60 minutes of ice time that more year, the Oilers would be about 17 goals better than their McDavid hasn’t played, the Oilers fall a goal behind. It has been, in one opponents with him on the ice. And if the rest of the Oilers carry their word, stunning. historical goal differentials forward at least one more year, the Oilers will be about 25 goals worse than their opponent with him off the ice. They Let’s bring this back to the 2019-20 season outlook. The Oilers haven’t are already in the red, and that’s just at 5-on-5. been able to do much with the way player payroll piled up under the previous regime, so most of Holland’s first off-season was spent tinkering The Oilers need at least one positive wild card to help turn the tide. A at the margins. monstrous penalty kill. A lethal power play. A pair of goaltenders standing on their heads. A prospect pool that explodes one year early. Without The team retained Alex Chiasson on a two-year deal and brought in that, the depth of talent is still too shallow, and another Herculean effort depth forwards like Markus Granlund and Tomas Jurco to soak up some from McDavid may be washed away by the bottom half of the lineup. bottom-six minutes. The team also has prospects like Cooper Marody, Kailer Yamamoto and Tyler Benson working their way through the ranks, TSN.CA LOADED: 07.31.2019 but some of Edmonton’s youngsters will likely start in a developmental league due to the numbers game up front.

All in, it seems that the 2019-20 season behind the McDavid line will be a repeat of what we’ve seen historically. (Edmonton Oilers radio analyst Bob Stauffer took a stab at a projected lineup last week, and it is quite grim.)

With free agency all but over and trade options limited, the Oilers won’t be able to do much until next summer. That puts all of the attention back on McDavid. The reality for the 2019-20 team is simple: McDavid’s line needs to continue their domination over the league, but that alone won’t be enough to push this team into the postseason.

On McDavid: I don’t think his potential has been fully realized yet, which is scary. But you wonder what the ceiling is for one player when it comes to driving goal differentials. If we incorporate teammate effects, McDavid already carries the second best impact to teammate goal differential in the entire league at +0.8, trailing only Vegas Golden Knights forward Mark Stone. McDavid is easily the league leader in offensive impact, while Stone is easily the league leader in defensive impact.

You also have to wonder what the usage rate ceiling is. One of the ways to combat top-heaviness is to play into it. We see this all of the time in the postseason, where coaches who are skittish about playing their bottom six and/or third pairings tend to load up ice time for their star players. The problem for the Oilers is that we are already seeing a massive usage burden on McDavid – one that has grown with time.

McDavid has three of the 15 highest usage rates in the last four NHL seasons. In a vacuum that’s not alarming – you want your best players to see as many minutes as possible. The question worth asking: What usage rate exceeds optimal limits and what might that mean for next season? It’s a question the hockey community hasn’t quite been able to