Columbus Blue Jackets News Clips July 25-27, 2020

Columbus Blue Jackets PAGE 02: Columbus Dispatch: Four Blue Jackets had `normal’ time off in native Sweden PAGE 04: Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets’ Nathan Gerbe still proving himself PAGE 05: The Athletic: Blue Jackets unsettled, Tortorella irritated, as training camp 2.0 nears end PAGE 08: .ca: Tortorella calls out ‘key people’ as Maple Leafs showdown looms PAGE 11: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets still have lineup decisions to make PAGE 12: Columbus Dispatch: Coach John Tortorella wonders if Columbus Blue Jackets are prepared for series PAGE 14: Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets’ Dubois, Wennberg differ in personality

Cleveland Monsters/Prospects

NHL/Websites PAGE 16: The Athletic: ‘We don’t expect it to be perfect’: Updates on the NHL’s health and safety plans PAGE 18: The Athletic: What will happen to the NHL playoff handshake line during the pandemic? PAGE 19: The Athletic: ‘To be united is important’ – Inside the NHL’s plan to address racism PAGE 24: Sportsnet.ca: Inside the NHL's incredible effort to ensure the show goes on PAGE 26: Sportsnet.ca: Five stats-based predictions for the 2020 PAGE 29: Sportsnet.ca: Quick Shifts: 'Wild card' Nick Robertson pushes fate to the wire PAGE 35: The Athletic: NHL players share pandemic tales of personal and financial stress PAGE 41: Sportsnet.ca: NHL Playoff Primer: Everything you need to know ahead of post-season PAGE 43: Sportsnet.ca: NHL teams arrive in Toronto, ahead of league restart

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Columbus Dispatch / Four Blue Jackets had `normal’ time off in native Sweden By Adam Jardy – July 25, 2020

The indefinite suspension of the NHL season in March presented choices for the five Swedish players who were with the Blue Jackets at the time. With family across the ocean and the future of the season in doubt, the five — Alexander Wennberg, Gus Nyquist, Kevin Stenlund, Emil Bemstrom and Jakob Lilja — could choose to remain in this country or return home and ride out the coronavirus pandemic there. Those who chose the latter, however, would have to decide how comfortable they felt being out and about in a country that was taking a decidedly different approach to the virus than the United States. In general, Sweden decided against imposing lockdowns, meaning restaurants, bars, shops and many schools were allowed to remain open. Bemstrom and Stenlund, who are 21 and 23, respectively, went home, as did veterans Wennberg and Lilja. But Nyquist, a nine-year NHL veteran who will turn 31 in September, stayed here with his wife and daughter. Now, all but Lilja have returned and are in full preparation for the Jackets’ qualifying-round playoff series against Toronto that starts Aug. 2. They’re glad to be reunited and are focusing on the challenge ahead rather than the uncertainty that remains outside of the rink. "It’s a crazy world we live in right now," Nyquist said. "We didn’t end up going back to Sweden this summer because of the virus, not knowing what’s going to happen. It’s definitely something I hope we won’t have to go through again in our lifetime. "Obviously we paused the season for a good reason and hopefully we can come back and do it the right way here and do it a safe way." When the season was suspended, Stenlund said he returned home to be with his family for what would be an extended visit. His experiences in Sweden were different than what he had seen in the United States. "Here, when I went home (America) started to get locked down and all the restaurants and everything were closed," he said. "Back home there were restrictions but things were all open, so it wasn’t the same feeling. It was kind of normal. You can go to a gym and do this or that." Bemstrom said he mostly stayed home while back in Sweden, spending time with family and friends. "It’s been great," he said. "I hadn’t seen them in a while, especially my dad, so it’s been fun to see all of them." While everyone was scattered across the globe, the Blue Jackets had team quizzes to help keep them in communication with each other in addition to occasional video calls. Nyquist said he stayed in close touch with his family back in Sweden, in on them and making sure everyone was staying healthy. As the NHL shifted closer to returning, Bemstrom said he was able to start skating with Stenlund and Wennberg before players started to make their way back to their team cities amid the pandemic.

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Lilja, meanwhile, decided to stay in Europe and in June signed to play with a team in the Kontinental Hockey League. Those players who returned to the U.S. were required to quarantine upon arrival and, according to Stenlund, there was some memorable time spent at airports. "It was kind of weird to see the airport was pretty empty," he said. "It was like a dead town. It was a good flight and then days of quarantine and testing. It went well." Bemstrom and Stenlund said they spent a lot of time watching Netflix and playing video games while going through their quarantine upon arrival back in Ohio. And as they have prepared to take part in the NHL’s bubble, they have taken the necessary precautions. "You just have to be careful and try to stay healthy and follow the rules by the country you’re in," Bemstrom said. "You have to be careful anywhere you go and wear the mask, of course."

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Columbus Dispatch / Columbus Blue Jackets’ Nathan Gerbe still proving himself By Brian Hedger – July 25, 2020

If anybody had a reason to sulk, it was Nathan Gerbe. After reigniting his NHL career by helping the Blue Jackets stay in playoff contention despite a mountain of injuries, Gerbe was lumped into the Jackets’ second practice group when the team opened a training camp preparing for the league’s upcoming 24-team playoffs. Gerbe, of course, didn’t sulk about it. It’s not his style, not even a little, and it would have wasted time that he didn’t have to spare. Instead, the shortest player on record to play in the NHL put every inch of his 5-foot-4 frame to work — aiming again to prove that he’s worth a spot in the lineup when the Jackets open a best-of-five qualifying-round series on Aug. 2 against the . "First and foremost, I’m excited for the opportunity to play (in camp)," said Gerbe, who is slated to grind through another practice on Friday, his 33rd birthday. "Any time you get on the ice, it’s an opportunity to show something. "As of right now, I’m not in the lineup, but no matter what part I play on this team, I want to help it win — and if we get past the (opening round), then make a good, long run to the finals. That’s been my ." Nearing the end of camp, Gerbe appears to be making progress. He scored goals in two of the Jackets’ first four scrimmages and has shown typical tenacity and fearlessness in all four. He’s also back to skating at a high level after recovering from a hernia procedure in March. After leaving his wife and three young kids at their home near Cleveland, Gerbe’s focus now is entirely on the postseason. "Obviously, as you get older, you don’t get these opportunities too much, so you cherish your time at the rink at this time of the season," he said. "In playoff hockey, you cherish every moment you’re here." Ready to kill Before signing with Columbus last summer, Gus Nyquist hadn’t been used as a -killing forward. He logged a total of 7 minutes, 33 seconds in short-handed ice time in 481 games for the Red Wings over eight seasons, and only 19 seconds in short-handed situations in 19 games with San Jose. It was a different story with the Blue Jackets, who experimented with Nyquist as a penalty-killer early and continued as the season progressed. He finished the season with 45:56 in short-handed ice time and is prepared to keep filling that role. "We’ll see," Nyquist said. "I don’t think we’ve really gotten into that, but if that’s something they want me to do, that’s a role I take a lot of pride in and I want to be out there killing penalties."

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The Athletic / Blue Jackets unsettled, Tortorella irritated, as training camp 2.0 nears end By Aaron Portzline – July 25, 2020

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella wasn’t happy with Monday’s practice. We can only assume he wasn’t overly pleased with Tuesday’s lopsided intrasquad scrimmage, either, because — in fine midseason form — he refused to speak with media afterward. A day off on Wednesday did little to calm his nerves. The Blue Jackets were barely 15 seconds into practice on Thursday when Tortorella gave a trumpet-like blow on his whistle, bringing the first drill to an immediate stop and ordering the 15-player group to center ice. What followed was a stern lecture, chock full of expletives, the type Tortorella delivers better than just about anyone. Running time: about 90 seconds. Practice resumed, and a higher pace was maintained. But with two days to go before the Blue Jackets head to the bubble in Toronto, six days to go before they play an exhibition against Boston and nine days before they open a best-of-five qualifying series versus Toronto, the veteran coach wants to see an increase in urgency. Tortorella sees a couple of important players who haven’t been going full-throttle in practices or games. He declined to name names. “We have to be really careful to not fall into the trap of thinking we can wade into this,” Tortorella said. “Each day is an important day. This isn’t getting ready for the regular season and trying to find your game after 15 games in the regular season. This is a sprint. “Some guys have been dead-on right from the start. Other guys, not so much. We’re in single digits now as far as getting ready to play this game. I don’t want us to fall into the trap of wading into it. We have to be ready to go.” Every team in the league has tried to find the proper balance in these oh-so-strange training camps. They have to be ready to play high-stakes games right from the start because a best-of-five series gets serious quickly. But they also can’t run players into the ground after a four-month layoff. This is especially pertinent in Columbus, where the Blue Jackets were ravaged by injuries all season, leading the NHL with 419 man- games lost. During the first week of camp, the Blue Jackets seemed energetic and quick. The last week, with almost daily scrimmages, has seemed like more of a grind. “For the most part, I’ve liked what I’ve seen,” Tortorella said. “It’s just two or three guys that are pretty important people. It’s a concern of mine. The team concept … all of the things we’re teaching. I’m not sure we’ve gotten total concentration, and that’s what we’re trying to get to.”

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Columbus has seemed to have a swell of healthy confidence since sweeping Tampa Bay in the first round of the playoffs last spring. It was the first series win in franchise history and the first for most of the players on the roster. Now the Blue Jackets know what it feels like to win a series. They know what it takes, how to handle the inevitable surges in momentum during a series, how to deliver the death blow when a team is on the ropes. But the Blue Jackets — having lost forwards Artemi Panarin and Matt Duchene to free agency last summer — have almost zero margin for error against any club, much less one with the firepower of the Maple Leafs. The Leafs can outscore their mistakes on some nights. These Blue Jackets can play exceedingly well and lose 2-1. As this training camp has gone on, there have been worrying signs, too. Columbus’ forward lines that looked so interesting and creative early in camp — Alexandre Texier and Liam Foudy in top-six roles? — now look extremely unsettled, ill-fitting and uninspired. “I’m not settled, I’ll tell you that,” Tortorella said. “I’m not sure who’s playing with who. I know two (defensive pairs) that are going to be together. I know sets of forwards, two each, who are going to play together, but I’m not sure where everything else falls. “My concern is that some of the people who are going to need to make a difference for us to win a series … I don’t think … are ready right now. I don’t think they’re doing the things they need to do right now to get ready for that series.” On Thursday, the Blue Jackets had Pierre-Luc Dubois centering Nick Foligno and Oliver Bjorkstrand on the top line, Boone Jenner between and Cam Atkinson on the second line, and Texier and Emil Bemstrom flanking Alexander Wennberg on the third. Young burners Foudy and Eric Robinson skated with center Riley Nash on what appears to be the fourth line. This is all going to change, of course. It could be totally different for Friday’s scrimmages, or they could be retooled entirely by Monday’s practice. But it’s hard to look at the Blue Jackets’ forwards and imagine Toronto is too concerned. There is clarity on the other side of the ice, but that’s not entirely good news, either. Elvis Merzlikins has looked tall and confident since the first day of training camp and appears to have pulled ahead of for the right to start against Toronto. Nobody with the organization has stated this, to be clear, but Korpisalo gave up 13 goals combined in the Monday and Tuesday scrimmages. “We’re certainly evaluating,” Tortorella said. “The scrimmage games are big for the in evaluating. We’re not thrilled about 13 goals, but it doesn’t (concern you). We have two really good goalies. We still have to figure out who’s going to start.” Tortorella, for the record, was pleased with Thursday’s practice sessions.

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The Blue Jackets will have another scrimmage Friday, then take an off day Saturday so players (and staff) can spend one last day with their families before heading off on a road trip that — depending on how they play — could be lengthy. But if Tortorella doesn’t get the right responses from those “two or three players,” and if the forward lines don’t start to mesh, they could be home pretty soon.

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Sportsnet.ca / Tortorella calls out ‘key people’ as Maple Leafs showdown looms By Luke Fox – July 25, 2020

Starved for hockey after four-and-a-half months without it, there is a temptation to get all riled up over the blow-by-blow developments at the 24 accelerated training camps taking place around the NHL. Whatever is ailing ; whatever is keeping David Pastrnak from completing Boston’s star- studded line rushes or Corey Crawford away from Chicago’s crease; whatever is causing Frederik Andersen to allow 11 goals over the course of two lopsided intrasquad games — the leap to doom and gloom can be as swift as it is misplaced. Yet there has been a distinct tone of dissatisfaction in Columbus this week as the Blue Jackets ramp up preparations for charter to Toronto, home city of their play-in opponents. Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella has cautioned about drawing deep conclusions from watching his split-squad battles, but he hardly sounds content with the readiness of his roster. “You’re playing against the guy that you’re having lunch with an hour after the practice,” Tortorella said after watching his guys scrimmage Monday. “I hope [Tuesday’s] game is better than it was today because I thought today’s game sucked. Although one team beat another team 6-0, and that team may say something different, I just didn’t like our energy level at all today. “I wouldn’t change what we’ve done. I’m happy where we’re at. I thought today sucked, though.” And then there was this bit of tell-me-what-you-really-think evaluation, on Tortorella’s tentative top line of Alexandre Texier–Pierre-Luc Dubois–Oliver Bjorkstrand. “They were just brutal today,” Tortorella said. “I believe Luc and Bjorky have some chemistry. If Tex can play there, it can kind of give me an opportunity to balance some lines out, but I’m still up in the air as far as our lines are concerned.” Tuesday, the Blue Jackets mimicked a full game day: a morning meeting and stretch, a nap, followed by an evening puck drop. Again, Columbus’s top trio and more veteran goalie, Joonas Korpisalo, got their show run, 7-3. We can only guess Tortorella didn’t like what he saw from that scrimmage either. The coach elected not to speak to reporters at all post-game. Trying to conjure some imperfect balance of replicating playoff-like intensity and giving the players enough rest to keep them fresh for when the shifts actually matter, Columbus cancelled one scheduled workout this week and took Wednesday off. Similar debates are being held in the other 23 camps, as coaches wrestle with this unknown beast: preparing their clubs for the seriousness of do-or-die hockey without sapping their energy before what is, hopefully, a two-month gauntlet. Here is Jets coach on the value of the in-house scrimmage: “The minute it’s not close to game intensity, it hurts you.” As veteran Toronto checker Kyle Clifford explains, it’s like tiptoeing a line at top speed.

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“You don’t really want to be flirtin’ with it because you don’t want to injure your guys, but at the same time you want to make sure your teammates are ready for what Columbus is gonna bring. We know that the hard, heavy game they’re going to bring. There’s only one way to do that, and that’s play hard in these mini games,” Clifford said after the Maple Leafs wrapped their own five-game scrimmage series. “At the same time, if you get an opportunity to take somebody’s head off, you gotta let up a little bit because you know we don’t want any injuries coming out of this camp.” The tone in Leafs camp this week has been mostly a rosy one. Zach Hyman is back in action after absorbing a bit of friendly fire off the boot, injured top-six winger (knee) has returned from Sweden with an eye on Round 2, Andersen appears sharper, and Ilya Mikheyev — looking reborn after seven months’ rehab — was crowned the Leafs’ Phase 3 MVP Thursday evening. Coach Sheldon Keefe feels “pretty close” to finalizing his Game 1 lineup for Aug. 2 and has consistently sung the praises of his group’s conditioning. There is no debate over who will stand in the crease. Contrast that with the happenings in Columbus. Tortorella ripped into his troops Thursday loud enough for the local media to take notice: #CBJ coach John Tortorella just stopped practice 15 seconds into the first drill. He brought everybody together, let loose w an expletive-filled rant and started practice over again. He wasn’t pleased after practice on Monday, and couldn’t have been happy w Tuesday’s scrimmage. — Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) July 23, 2020 Afterward, from the podium, the finalist worried if the Jackets were falling into a trap of wading into their play-in round. “I’m not sure we’re getting total concentration out of key people,” Tortorella said. “Two or three guys, pretty important people. “Some of the people that are going to need to make a difference for us to win in a series, I don’t think they’re ready right now.” Tortorella is a notorious motivator who prefers the whip to the carrot, and he’s being upfront about the lingering questions. Only two of the Jackets’ three defence pairing are in stone, “two or three” lineup spots are still up for grabs, Nick Foligno spent some time away from the main group early this week due to soreness, and the combinations of the top six remain an experiment. “I’m not settled,” Tortorella said. And that goes for his Game 1 goalie as well. Korpisalo watched 13 pucks whiz by him in the first two scrimmages. Elvis Merzlikins turned around and gave up 11 in Friday’s intrasquad game. “We’re not thrilled about 13 goals [allowed],” Tortorella said. “We still have to figure out who’s gonna start.” How the Leafs-Jackets best-of-five plays out will shade this narrative.

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Is Tortorella wisely conjuring the necessary urgency to grind out three wins against a more talented roster? Or is Columbus entering the fray with too many question marks? “I’m not too concerned,” Foligno said Thursday. But he also added this: “We’re not a team that can just flip a switch.”

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Columbus Dispatch / Blue Jackets still have lineup decisions to make By Brian Hedger – July 26, 2020

The Blue Jackets will fly on Sunday to Toronto, where an NHL quarantine "bubble" awaits, but they still have lineup questions to answer. A starting goalie must be determined before Aug. 2, when either Elvis Merzlikins or Joonas Korpisalo will start the opener of a five-game series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. A third defense pairing also needs to be decided and coach John Tortorella must complete his forward lines. "I’m not settled, I’ll tell you that," Tortorella said Thursday. "I know two (defense) pairs are going to be together. I know sets of forwards, two each, are going to play together. I’m not sure where everything else falls into play yet." The top two defense pairings are Zach Werenski and Seth Jones as the first unit with Vladislav Gavrikov and David Savard as the second. is expected to play on the third pairing, assuming his body holds up, and his partner will be chosen from a group that includes Dean Kukan, Markus Nutivaara, Scott Harrington or possibly even rookie Andrew Peeke. There are just as many tough decisions up front, where rookies Liam Foudy and Alexandre Texier haven’t found a home yet and might be pressured to stay in the lineup by Nathan Gerbe, Devin Shore or Kevin Stenlund. Merzlikins appears to have a lead for the starting goalie job, especially after Korpisalo allowed a combined 13 goals in two scrimmages to start this week, but that’s not a sure thing. The Blue Jackets will get a few more practices plus an exhibition game next week in Toronto before a final lineup is set. Dealing with ‘soreness’ Nick Foligno returned to practice Thursday after being "unable to practice" Monday and Tuesday. The Blue Jackets’ captain, who missed one practice and two scrimmages, also added a slight measure of clarity to his health status. "I was just dealing with some soreness," he said. "Just a few lingering things, but it was nice to be back out there with the guys and get a little ‘Torts’ (conditioning) skate. It was good." ‘Kraken’ a joke Foligno has three young children, so his "dad joke" ability is elite, which he proved when asked about the release Thursday of the nickname for the NHL’s latest expansion team: Seattle Kraken. "We were ‘Kraken’ a lot of jokes in the locker room today," he said, trying to keep a straight face. Foligno quickly added some goodwill to his "Kraken" crack. "I think it’s great," he said. "It’s wonderful to have another team in the league. Pretty cool logo, pretty cool jersey. I wasn’t expecting those colors (three shades of blue), but I think it works."

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Columbus Dispatch / Coach John Tortorella wonders if Columbus Blue Jackets are prepared for series By Brian Hedger – July 26, 2020

Time is running out. After leaving the ice after practice Friday, the Blue Jackets essentially wrapped up a two-week training camp to prepare for the conclusion of the season, which was stopped in March 12 by the coronavirus pandemic — more than four months ago. They will leave Sunday for Toronto, one of the NHL’s two quarantine "bubble" hubs for an improvised 24-team playoffs, and a week later the Jackets begin a best-of-five qualifying-round series against the hometown Maple Leafs at . The Blue Jackets will hold a handful of practices in Toronto and play one exhibition game, July 30 against the . But the clock is ticking before the modified begin. In other words, this is not your father’s playoffs — nor was it his type of training camp. This is way different, and Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella is a little concerned that some members of his team don’t yet fully grasp that. "We’ve just got to be really careful not to fall into the trap of thinking we can wade ourselves into this," said Tortorella, noting some troubling issues in practices and scrimmage games this week. "Each day is an important day," he said. "This isn’t getting ready for regular season and then trying to find your game in 15 games during the regular season. This is a sprint. And I think some guys have been dead on, right from the start. Other guys, not so much." The unknown is how the Maple Leafs are practicing in the eyes of coach Sheldon Keefe, who played for Tortorella with Tampa Bay from 2001-03. Keefe and 22 other coaches might have similar concerns about players, all of whom went through the equivalent of a full offseason before the start of these camps. It wouldn’t be surprising if many players are fighting an inclination to methodically build their intensity, the way they usually do before a season. They are creatures of habit, and such a tack would only be natural. But that approach could be lethal to the hopes of any team hoping to win the Stanley Cup, especially teams such as the Jackets and Maple Leafs who are fighting to stay in the hunt right away. "We’re in single digits (in days) now, as far as getting ready to play (Game 1), and I just don’t want us to fall in the trap of wading in," Tortorella said. "We need to get ready to go." If they’re not, it could get ugly in a hurry. Toronto is loaded with elite offensive talent, especially among its forwards, and the Jackets got to this point primarily because of defense and goaltending, though each facet took time to round into shape in the regular season. The Jackets improved immensely in those areas between December and March, but nearly half the season was gone by then. This time, there is no time for "finding" their top level.

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"We’re hitting the ground running," said captain Nick Foligno, who returned to the ice Thursday after sitting out Monday and Tuesday. "We’re playing for something right away. Not to say the regular season isn’t important, but this is the Stanley Cup playoffs, so I do think it’s important to get that mentality. "I don’t want guys running each other through the boards (in scrimmages), but just getting that mentality that you’re going to go through somebody or through their stick — I think we’ve got to find that." The Jackets’ goaltenders, meanwhile, need to find the puck more often. Neither Elvis Merzlikins nor Joonas Korpisalo, who was riddled for a combined 13 goals in two scrimmages to start the week, has looked particularly solid in training camp. "We’re certainly evaluating," Tortorella said of his goaltenders, who had separate stretches of greatness during the regular season. "The scrimmage games are big for the goaltenders in evaluating them. We’re not thrilled about 13 goals, but it’s not … it doesn’t put you into a concern. "I think we’ve got two really good goalies. We still have to figure out who’s going to start, so … I’ll leave it at that." Other concerns included some important players looking less than prepared as the clock ticked down on the final camp workouts. "For the most part, I’ve liked what I’ve seen," Tortorella said Thursday. "It’s just two or three guys that are pretty important people. It’s a concern of mine that they do that type of stuff … the team concept, as far as our neutral zone, our reloads, all the things we’re teaching. "I’m not so sure we’re getting total concentration out of some key people. That’s what we’re trying to get."

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Columbus Dispatch / Columbus Blue Jackets’ Dubois, Wennberg differ in personality By Brian Hedger – July 27, 2020

It’s a pearl of wisdom Pierre-Luc Dubois still remembers clearly. "My dad always told me it’s easier to hold a horse back than to push one," Dubois said of his father, Eric, a hockey coach who also had played professionally. Dubois, the Blue Jackets’ 22-year-old center, thinks the advice applies to his career now more than ever. It also fits his teammate Alexander Wennberg, another center who could play a key role against the Toronto Maple Leafs in a five-game series to start the NHL’s 24-team Stanley Cup playoffs beginning next weekend. "I think my drive and fire has brought me to this point where I am today … but it can definitely work both ways if you let it take control of you," Dubois said. "So I’m working on that. But I think if you can control it, it can work really well for you." Left uncontrolled, though, Dubois’ hard-charging style can become an anchor. And the last thing the Jackets need is an anchor heading into a matchup against the Maple Leafs, a team filled with thoroughbred players. If they’re going to overcome the elite talents of , John Tavares, Mitch Marner and others, the Jackets need Dubois and Wennberg to harness their inner stallion to ride straight into a successful postseason. And when it comes to the old saw about holding or pushing a horse, the past three seasons have proved that Dubois and Wennberg cover both ends of the spectrum. Wennberg routinely gets pushed and prodded by Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella, who knows the talent that led to a 59-point season in 2016-17 is still inside a player whose offensive production has mysteriously nosedived. With Dubois, on the other hand, Tortorella begins pulling the reins whenever he sees the youngster’s fiery disposition start to boil over. The push and pull are almost constant with both players, largely because Tortorella knows how much weight they’re capable of toting. "He tries so hard, and when things don’t go his way, he gets frustrated," Tortorella said of Dubois, who’s on the cusp of becoming one of the NHL’s top pivots. "If it’s not a good shift, then forget about that and get ready to play your next one, because he’s going back on the ice. He’s a key man for us if we’re going to have success here, and I think sometimes he just needs to get out of his own way." Tortorella wants Wennberg to do the same, but by being more assertive more often. "There’s no secret as far as what I was hoping to get him to do, and that’s carry the puck, get to the middle of the ice (and) attack people with the puck, because I think that gives him the best opportunity to use his strength — and that’s distribute the puck," Tortorella said of Wennberg, who was the Jackets’ No. 1 center during his breakout season. "He sees the ice so well. So it’s the board play. It’s just being a hard player."

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Too often, however, the 25-year-old Wennberg is hard to figure out. After Dubois wrestled away the No. 1 center spot as a rookie in the 2017-18 season, it’s been an uphill climb for Wennberg, whose ice time and point totals dropped in consecutive years. He has also sparred with Tortorella at times and has been slowed by multiple injuries. He’s been scratched, benched, demoted — and yet, Tortorella senses the talent that sparked that one strong season is still there, waiting to be found. It started to re-emerge this season and would help the Jackets immensely if it resurfaces in the playoffs. Wennberg missed 12 games with an upper-body injury but still finished the season with a respectable five goals and 17 assists — a marked improvement from the previous two years. "I think he’s been more consistent, as far as doing some of the things we want him to do," Tortorella said. "It seemed like he cleared his head a little bit, as far as him and I (sparring), and we’ve gone at it a lot over the last couple of years, in trying to get him to be the player that we feel he can be. "I think he’s concentrated on some of the things we’ve wanted him to concentrate on, and I think he’s played better because of that." Dubois presents a different kind of tussle. His flashpoint for retaliation has put the Jackets into some sticky situations, and the young center also on occasion tends to beat himself up when shifts go poorly. Both traits are roadblocks to reaching his full potential, which both coach and player hope to diminish. "I’m 22 and I haven’t yet figured it out 100%," Dubois said. "But I think it’s something that guys work toward their entire lives. I’ve been reading and talking to people — athletes in other sports and in hockey — and it takes years and years to figure out. And when they finally do, that’s when it’s scary, in a good way. "So, obviously, I’m going to keep working on that. But it takes time, and you have to keep working on it."

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The Athletic / ‘We don’t expect it to be perfect’: Updates on the NHL’s health and safety plans By Daniel Nugent-Bowman – July 25, 2020

There are so many strict health protocols in place as part of the Stanley Cup qualifying tournament and playoffs in Edmonton and Toronto. Having players, coaches and officials in a secure zone or bubble is meant to cut off access with the public and mitigate the risk of COVID-19. Daily testing of said individuals, plus anyone capable of coming into contact with them, is designed to shift those with a positive test into isolation and prevent a spread of the illness. Still, there’s nothing foolproof about what’s about to happen in ’s and ’s capital cities. Referees and linesmen – 10 of each in both locations – began skating at the hub arenas Friday. Teams arrive Sunday and exhibition games commence two days later. There’s lots that could go wrong from now until the tournament is concluded – provided we get to that point. “I don’t sit back and try and dislocate my shoulder trying to either pat myself or anybody else on the back,” NHL commissioner said Friday. “If there’s any point where I’m going to feel substantial emotion, it’ll be a sense of relief when I get to present the Stanley Cup. “This has been an extraordinarily involved, difficult and unusual circumstance.” Bettman, as well as league and team officials, have continuously mentioned the health and safety of those involved as being the primary concerns as the NHL attempts its return – and conclusion – of play. Even though there are certainly financial incentives to having the playoffs occur, even the most hardened cynic can’t dispute the importance of keeping people secure. Fencing went up this week around the bubble areas in the respective cities, a measure designed to keep those inside locked in (apart from trips to practices and potential excursion activities) and those outside blocked out. In Edmonton, approximately 135 security personnel have been hired to patrol the borders. Theoretically, that, along with the daily testing and adhering to public health guidelines, should keep everyone safe and protected — as an infectious disease specialist recently told The Athletic. But even the NHL’s chief medical officer isn’t willing to believe or state that unequivocally. “We don’t expect it to be perfect,” Dr. Willem (Winne) Meeuwisse said. “We expect with the number of people that we’re going to have some positive tests, and we have a method and a process designed in advance to deal with that. And we’ll continue to consult with the local health authorities as that unfolds.” Flexibility was a theme of the discussion on an NHL conference call Friday. Family members were thought to have the option to join players in the bubble once the conference finals begin in Edmonton. That’s still the plan, albeit now with a more tentative slant.

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“The presence or not of families is still a work in progress,” Bettman said. “It’s something that the health authorities in Alberta, among others, will have to bless. We will take our cues from the medical people, both on behalf of the league and the players association.” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the option to have family close by later in the tournament was a provision negotiated separately with the NHLPA. Meeuwisse said those entering the bubble would have to limit their exposure for two weeks before travelling and obey whatever quarantine rules from the province of Alberta and the city of Edmonton. “We don’t want to have a situation where we’re going to be introducing potential infection from the outside as this tournament continues on,” he said. Yes, there are hard and fast protocols like the regularity of testing – under the league’s purview in Phase 4 – and the requirement to stay in bubbled areas. There are also aspects that aren’t so set in stone. The provincial government requires Albertans to isolate for 14 days if they come in close contact with someone with COVID-19, but the NHL’s protocols call for only daily testing during that same period. Self- quarantine is not required by the league if those close contacts test negative, don’t exhibit symptoms of the coronavirus and are fever-free. This plan was approved by Alberta’s top health . Meeuwisse opened the door for a potential shift to that stance. “We still will do contact tracing because there’s degrees of exposure and, if we feel a degree of exposure is unusually high, they still may be quarantined,” he said. “But this is a protocol that has a lot of involvement and input and signoff from the players association, so as a group the players are comfortable with it. “And I think it will continue to be the case that if players are quite uncomfortable, that they have the option not to participate.” It’s Bettman who has the final authority to decide if a player can or cannot play because of a health issue. He said, however, he’d be deferring to the experts – “the governmental authorities and our own medical people.” It’s clear the league is saying health and safety are priorities with the official start to the tournament barely a week away. However, some issues remain regarding how exactly this will all work. Another one: No one has said what it would take – how many positive tests or to whom – to remove a team from the tournament or cancel it altogether. The league is trying to be responsible yet adaptable. How it works out in the end, though, remains to be seen. “The sense that going to the hubs on Sunday is cause for celebration – this is just another step in what has been a long journey and still has many, many miles to go before we get to the ultimate place that we’re all striving for, which is the conclusion of the ’19-20 season,” Bettman said. “We still have a way to go to feel any sort of gratification.”

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The Athletic / What will happen to the NHL playoff handshake line during the pandemic? By Fluto Shinzawa – July 25, 2020

In real life, handshakes are out. They may never come back. Infectious disease experts caution that shaking hands sends out the red carpet for possible coronavirus invasion. So where does that leave the NHL’s postseason handshake line? “Hasn’t been specifically addressed yet,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly wrote in an email. “Some type of lineup and opponent acknowledgment will likely be permitted.” The handshake line is one of the NHL’s treasures. In the playoffs, enemies pound and slash and hammer each other for as many as seven games. But at the conclusion of said Game 7, everybody remains on the ice, extends an ungloved right hand and proceeds through the handshake line before retiring to their dressing rooms. Congratulations are offered. Shoulders are slapped. Some handshakes progress to hugs. It has seemingly always been this way. In 1952, the Bruins lost to in seven games. In the Game 7 aftermath, a battered Sugar Jim Henry, bent over either in deference or discomfort, clasped the hand of a similarly shattered . In more modern times, some players have sought out certain opponents. In 2018, Torey Krug made sure to acknowledge fellow offensive defenseman Morgan Rielly. A year later, Charlie McAvoy made extra time in the line for Auston Matthews, his former international teammate. It’s not as easy on the losing side. In 2014, the Bruins lost to the Canadiens in the second round. didn’t take it well. After a tight pump of the hand of good buddy Brendan Gallagher, who played for the same junior team, Lucic wasn’t as kind with Dale Weise. After some nasty words with Weise, Lucic offered similar sentiments to Alexei Emelin. Sore or not, just about everybody believes the handshake line is sacred. “It’s a great part of the game. Great tradition,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I’m a big fan of it. It just shows the mutual respect players have for one another. Especially after a tough, physical series. To be able to look the opposition in the eye and congratulate them or they congratulate you, I like it.” If the league’s medical advisers discourage flesh-on-flesh greetings, the NHL will find a way to approximate the ritual. It may be gloves-on fist bumps. It could be a stick salute. One way or another, it is one tradition that COVID-19 should not claim in its entirety. “It’s part of our game,” defenseman Connor Clifton said. “You battle with the same guys for, sometimes, seven games. It’s our livelihood, right? We’ve been playing the game so long. You want to advance so bad. You battle. You do whatever it takes to win. Obviously only one team can win a series. So it’s awesome to shake the other guys’ hands you’ve been battling with the last two weeks, three weeks, and just say, ‘Good game. Good battle. See you next time.’”

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The Athletic / ‘To be united is important’ – Inside the NHL’s plan to address racism By Ryan S. Clark – July 25, 2020

Practically every prominent North American sports league has done something to publicly address race and racism over the past several weeks. Major League Baseball players knelt before the national anthem during scrimmages. The league’s Twitter account took an active stance in supporting Black Lives Matter, with the Boston Red Sox following suit by displaying a billboard alongside the Massachusetts Turnpike. Major League Soccer witnessed more than 100 of its Black players raise their fists while also taking a knee for eight minutes, 46 seconds, the same amount of time police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on the neck of George Floyd. NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from its races while its crew members and drivers stood with Bubba Wallace just days after a noose was found in his garage. NBA players have openly discussed this subject for several years, but the league’s activism has elevated with actions like Philadelphia 76ers forward Tobias Harris using his media availability to discuss how he believes the officers involved in Breonna Taylor’s death should be arrested. NWSL players Casey Short and Julie Ertz, who play for the Chicago Red Stars, cried and knelt together during the national anthem while wearing Black Lives Matter shirts. Such displays have amplified awareness while presenting several questions with one of them being: What is the NHL going to do to address racism when it returns to play? The NHL announced Thursday its “We Skate For” initiative, which will bring attention to those fighting racism while also honoring those who have worked to combat COVID-19 over the past several months. Sources told The Athletic that the league wanted to create a plan to address both subjects. The sources said players will wear helmet decals among other apparel while there will also be in-arena branding along with in-game presentations. Each team will get a chance to choose a person or organization within their respective communities to promote while also taking an active part in fundraising for those causes when the league resumes play. “It is a campaign that will speak to all 31 of our clubs and not just the 24 in the playoffs. It will speak to the power of everyone,” said Kim Davis, the NHL’s executive vice president for social impact, growth initiatives and legislative affairs. “It will highlight front-line work and those who have been on the front lines relative to COVID and those on the front lines relative to racial equality. We will have specific stories and each club is going to be highlighting individuals.” Davis said discussions around “We Skate For” went on for about two months, with both Davis and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman meeting with the NHL Players’ Association to present the idea. She called the conversations that took place with NHLPA executive Mathieu Schneider and his team “very positive and supportive” – a characterization the Stanley Cup winner agreed with. “First of all, I have been proud of a lot of guys and the messages they have sent throughout the last few months,” Schneider said. “For us, the supporting vehicle, if you will, to allow guys to express themselves individually is important. … It can be challenging for guys, and I think the nice thing about the message is really, it comes from a place of unity. The league, the players, 31 clubs, 700-plus players. I think that is

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the importance of it. Sometimes, you have a lot of different voices – and nobody knows that better than a union – that they can be lost in the shuffle. “To be united is important.” Floyd’s death led to Black and White players throughout the league speaking up about an issue that has often been under-discussed. winger Evander Kane praised the fact that White players were becoming more vocal about race and racism, while White players like center Tyler Seguin opened up about why they felt the need to speak up and a desire to educate themselves going forward. The recently invited Tru Pettigrew, a Black author whose background includes leadership and inclusion, to speak with the team. Wild coach Dean Evason said the team is “as aware as everybody is of the situation that is going on and the situation here in Minnesota,” and that the club is trying to educate itself in an effort to “eliminate racism completely.” “I think without getting into too much depth about it, hearing his perspective on the way he viewed things as opposed to the way I view things was eye-opening, and I think everyone in there, I mean you could hear a pin drop,” Wild forward Zach Parise told reporters. Schneider described the discussion around race in the NHL as “definitely new territory,” while stressing why it needs to be discussed. Schneider, 51, was one of a few Jewish players in the league when he played. From his view, hockey players and athletes as a whole at that time were taught to “roll everything into a ball and tuck it into your stomach and tough it out.” “When I came to the players’ association and started looking at all the things where we do have an impact and what is the role and where do we fit in, I think the area where we have the ability to make the biggest impact and have the biggest impact is with the youth,” Schneider explained. “There is an influence our guys have on young players and this young generation of boys and girls playing our game. Over the last few years, we have done a lot of work to make sure everyone feels included. … I think the thing we need to do and have the ability to do in hockey is to reduce the barriers of entry on so many different levels. That’s cost, travel, equipment, etc. “If we truly want to bring everybody into the fold and into the mix, we’re going to have to figure out ways to make this game affordable and accessible for everyone.” Another item Schneider raised was how the NHLPA, like so many other organizations and people, is doing a lot of learning. He said there are players who have done the research, have read books and are listening to others. But he also knows there are others who are not 100 percent sure about their approach. Knowing this situation exists is, to Schneider, how the roles of players’ associations have changed over the past several years. The players’ association’s previous function was to negotiate and enforce a collective-bargaining agreement while trying to get players paid. But now? These organizations are tasked with how to make players better when they are around the game and away from it. He said the NHLPA is figuring out how it can best support players learning about social justice issues in addition to other areas like its members getting a high school diploma or college degree. Schneider was adamant that “young kids coming into our game should not have to experience racism or bigotry.” He said there has to be a zero-tolerance policy, and he thinks that starts with the NHL before

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working its way down hockey’s hierarchy. Schneider said society now, more than ever, is looking at athletes as role models – a change from when he played at a time when Charles Barkley in 1993 famously declared in a Nike commercial he was not a role model. “I think we are way past that. You have to be cognizant of what you are doing all the time, especially with social media,” he said. “We have a rookie orientation program and we touch on racism and bigotry. … The name on the back of your jersey, that is your brand and you have to think when you are outside the sport and when you’re out to dinner or at a bar. You’re representing your family. You don’t embarrass your family. You think about, ‘If my mom would be upset if she saw me doing this right now.’ That is an important message.” Davis said she had not yet presented the “We Skate For” initiative to the Hockey Diversity Alliance but expected to do so soon. The HDA was created by seven current and former NHL players in June “to eradicate racism and intolerance in hockey.” It operates independently of the NHL but has already had two meetings – June 24 and July 14 – with Davis and Bettman, she said. One of the questions raised regarding the NHL and its potential plans to address racism was about Bettman’s visibility. He has been criticized for not being a more public figure on the subject compared to his counterparts such as MLB’s Rob Manfred, MLS’s Don Garber, NBA’s Adam Silver and NASCAR president Steve Phelps. Bettman appeared in a minute-long video condemning racism alongside Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby, NHL commentator Anson Carter and Willie O’Ree, who broke the NHL’s color barrier. Bettman also addressed the issue at the NHL Draft lottery in late June when he said the league was going through a period of “self-awareness and self-evaluation” over the last couple of decades. But added that “this has been a wake-up call to do more … (to) make sure everybody knows that racism has no part in our game.” I’M SO PROUD TO BE A PART OF THE NHL COMMUNITY. LEADERS CAME TOGETHER WITHOUT HESITATION LENDING THEIR INCREDIBLY POWERFUL VOICES TO AN IMPORTANT ISSUE THAT IMPACTS PLAYERS AND OUR FANS! #BLACKLIVESMATTER#STRONGERTOGETHER PIC.TWITTER.COM/JFJ4EXJBTH — ANSON CARTER (@ANSONCARTERLA) JUNE 5, 2020 “I think you have to ask the question what does front-and-center mean,” Davis said when asked about Bettman. “Go back to December when we made an announcement on how we would proceed following the incident. Clearly, the commissioner was front and center and his voice that spoke to our leadership and what the way forward was going to be. Gary is empowering his senior executive team and his resident experts in a particular discipline. It is not different than other industries I have seen. I would also tell you Gary digs deep on these issues with the meetings we have had with the Hockey Diversity Alliance. “We have had two substantive meetings that lasted two hours each. When it counts and where it counts, he is right there front and center.” Richard Lapchick, the director for The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, authors the annual Racial and Gender Report Card that assesses the hiring practices of minorities and women throughout the MLB, MLS, NBA and NFL, among others.

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Lapchick said his group is now having “the most productive discussions” they’ve ever had with the NHL about the report card. He said the group did an NHL report card in the late but that ended around 2000. Those conversations between the NHL and TIDES restarted about four or five years ago. It was a discussion initiated by the NHL. Lapchick said the report card appears as if it will be part of the NHL’s short-term future, which he called a positive step. And he thinks the league wants to hold itself accountable and recommended its first report card be private. From there, it can then create policies and then go public with its findings. “From the people they have hired like Kim, they are serious about race and diversity and inclusion,” Lapchick said of the NHL. “If you are not serious about it, you do not hire people who are serious about it. I feel that in my gut they want to do something about it. It’s going to be starting from ground zero, especially with the teams. I believe that they will use this report toward bringing about change at the club level so their teams look more like America and Canada, in their case.” But how does the NHL get there? What can the league do to make its clubs more diverse? Davis said the league is making more progress than most believe and that more people tell her they are now interested in hockey because they see a woman of color in a senior role. The league and its teams are also actively working to promote people of color and their work. The Penguins have Tracey McCants Lewis, a Black woman, as their deputy general counsel and director of human resources. Cuban-American businessman Alex Meruelo purchased majority ownership of the last summer and became the first Latinx owner in NHL history. In June, the club announced Xavier Gutierrez as the team’s president, CEO and alternate governor. The move made Gutierrez the first Latinx team president and CEO in league history. “The other thing we are trying to do is forge national partnerships with organizations that would allow us to scale our ability to create internship programs and source talent,” Davis explained. “There are conversations we are having with groups like SEO, which is Students for Educational Opportunities. Xavier is a scholar out of SEO and he came through SEO. He and I have had great conversations about building a sports partnership with SEO.” Gutierrez explained how groups like Management Leaders for Tomorrow, SEO and the Toigo Foundation have worked with companies in providing opportunities to diverse candidates throughout industries such as banking, consulting and technology companies. He said those organizations allow minorities a chance to see what a career within a particular industry looks like while also giving them the chance for a seat at the table. The Harvard graduate, who also has a law degree from Stanford, noted how those same philosophies could be applied toward sports. to show that people can have an impact not just as athletes but as owners or executives. For Gutierrez, part of his mission is figuring out how he goes about providing the same opportunities he has had to others. “It is what enterprises need to think about. It is also the right business decision,” Gutierrez said. “It is like said: Where is the puck going? Where is the puck going in America? Someone once asked me a question about being in the Phoenix area where there are a lot of Latinos. I said, ‘Yeah. Have you been to , , Chicago or Miami? There are kind of a lot of people in those communities too.'”

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Davis said the NHL has also been in contact with Jopwell, an organization that represents Black, Indigenous and Latinx professionals and students looking to advance their careers. The firm lists Facebook, Google, Goldman Sachs, Peloton and Spotify among its partners. Lapchick said there are a number of items that make him feel hopeful that the NHL, along with society in general, could be headed toward a serious change. He said millennials and Generation Z are more progressive groups who care about social justice issues. They also have technology that allows them to see what is going on in the world in real-time. As someone who lived through the Civil Rights Movement, he recalled seeing a photo of Emmett Till in his coffin. Till as a 14-year-old Black male was lynched and mutilated before being and tossed into a river in Mississippi in 1955, after he was accused of whistling at Carolyn Bryant, a White woman. Till’s mother, Mamie Till Bradley, held an open casket service for her son so the world could see what happened. Till’s photo being circulated throughout the world became one of the defining Images of the Civil Rights Movement. “Now we have the technology that we literally watched a man draw his last breath with a police officer kneeling on his neck. I don’t think anyone with a conscience can shake that image,” Lapchick said. “It opened discussions where White people are listening more than ever. They are asking Black people to share. You see more people demonstrating than ever before who are White. I think that the Hockey Diversity Alliance is really important. That final factor that makes me feel this is different is athlete activism. … For the athletes I grew up with, it was stories about ‘Are you going to recover from injuries?’ or ‘Are you going to make the playoffs?’ “They are now being asked questions about life that really matter and are being shown as multi-being people with intellect. Activism is here to stay and it is an important factor in how we move forward.”

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Sportsnet.ca / Inside the NHL's incredible effort to ensure the show goes on By Mark Spector – July 25, 2020

EDMONTON — One of the seldom referenced elements of about spending an adulthood around the is this: You come to learn that more than just sport, hockey is show business. And in hockey, as in show business, the show must go on. Come pandemic, come rain, come flood — all of which apply here in Edmonton — the players can’t even begin to play the NHL game until the people around the game do their jobs. “This is … the most challenging endeavour any of us have ever been involved with,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said on Friday, referencing the 150 NHL league office employees on the ground, and “well over 1,000 people combined in each city working on every detail to make the hub what it needs to be.” Even in a normal playoff season, the games you watch are like the siding on a house. Or the paint job on the high performance car. Without the engineering of the structure underneath, they are merely a pile of aluminum or a puddle of paint. They can’t happen without all the things that make major league sports what it is — a spectacle worthy of having the NHL shield affixed to it. And this endeavour? It’s above and beyond when it comes to the engineering part. “To turn the lights on (after losing four months to the pandemic), it takes an incredible effort,” said Steve Mayer, chief content officer for the NHL, from inside Place. “Edmonton is now my home. I am in Day 10 of being an Edmontonian, on the way to Day 85. I love this place!” From the Stanley Cup Qualifiers to the Stanley Cup Final, livestream every game of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, blackout-free, on Sportsnet NOW. On Friday, the powers that be across the NHL and outlined the process of bringing hockey out of a pandemic and into the public. They spoke about creating “Secure Zones” in Toronto and Edmonton, where 52 members of 24 separate travelling parties — 31 players apiece — will arrive on Sunday, and then taking an empty arena and finding a way to both create some atmosphere and show well to the television audience. All under the proviso that health and safety trumps everything. Some 133 security and “health ambassadors” will roam the bubble and arena in Edmonton, ensuring that proper protocol is adhered to while helping players and staff navigate this maze of restrictions. There are 14 open restaurants inside Edmonton’s bubble, with pop-ups and food trucks expected as well, from steak to vegan, tacos to Tim Hortons. Pool, ping pong, basketball, pickle ball, areas to play soccer and run… Player meeting rooms. VIP areas for coaches and GMs. Each team gets a team suite and a player lounge, affixed with TVs, card tables, places to eat.

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Inside the arenas, the game presentation unveiled on Friday is unlike anything a hockey fan has seen before, as a league with the financial might of the NHL has its widest tablet — 18,000-seat arenas devoid of fans. That means several more cameras than fans are used to, in positions that are impossible to install when people are in attendance. Huge video screens hanging down to the lower bowl showing video components imported from the teams that are playing. “Pump-up videos, goal horns, goals songs,” Mayer said. “Things that would be traditional in their arena.” Here's a rendering of what the arena will look like during the NHL restart. The league is promising a unique look and feel to every game played, including the local goal horns and songs of each team participating. pic.twitter.com/dwMAocHe2c — Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) July 24, 2020 They’ll “lean towards” more content from the home team off the top of the tournament, but may yet play the goal song of the visiting team as well. “We’re going to bring these arena to life through the art of video, audio and lighting.” As a homage to Canada, artist Michael Buble will sing the anthems on Opening Night in both Toronto and Edmonton, where last week’s flooding simply added to the to-do list of people like Oilers senior vice president of operations Stuart Ballantyne. “We had a lot of water enter the facility — it’s never fun to have that level of water come in,” he said. “But we are now up and running. We will have unfinished drywall in the building in certain areas, but they are bruises and bandages of honour, to be honest, in terms of what we’ve had to accomplish since last Thursday.” The League promised good ice, with the yoke of opening the doors to let 18,000 fans in — and the humidity that follows — lifted this summer. And to this point, knock wood, the 24 teams have navigated through Phase 3 without any major COVID-19 scares. The house is built, the car engineered. On Aug. 1, the fun starts. We can’t wait.

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Sportsnet.ca / Five stats-based predictions for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs By Andrew Berkshire – July 25, 2020

With the NHL set to return to play next week after more than four months off, it’s tough to know how much the regular season will factor into what we’ll see in the playoffs. Older players are more rested entering the playoffs than ever before, rookies have had time to add the bulk we would only have seen at a 2020-21 training camp, and at any point, an impactful player could test positive for COVID-19 and be sidelined. All signs point to this being the least predictable playoffs we’ve ever seen. So…let’s make some predictions! Using the data we have from the 2019-20 season, we can make our best bets on how things will play out in the qualifying round that starts Aug. 1. This is such an unprecedented season, though, that we have no idea how relevant this data really is right now. But that’s half the fun, right? Let’s see how well we can do with some of these predictions. The Minnesota Wild will upset the This is maybe not the most shocking way to start if you pay attention to analytics, but I’ve gotta dip my toe in the water first. So much of this matchup is dependent on goaltending. Jacob Markstrom was superb in the regular season before being injured, and Devan Dubnyk might have been the worst starting goaltender in the league. With Markstrom coming back from injury and Dubnyk able to rest and possibly shake off the brutal season he just had, it’s tough to know if we’ll see the performance we expect from either goalie. The Wild aren’t a great team in general but they are the best team in the league at protecting the most dangerous area in their own zone, which gives their goaltenders easier shots to face than pretty much any other team in the league. The amount of control Minnesota exerts on the inner slot area is only rivalled by the league’s top Stanley Cup contenders, but they’re just not special in most other areas. The Canucks, meanwhile, were driven by their incredible power play and Markstrom’s consistent excellence, so they were able to paper over extremely underwhelming performance at 5-on-5, including league-worst control over rush chances. They’re lucky they didn’t draw in against a great rushing team, but if the Wild focus their attack on that area, this series could be over quickly. If the qualifying round is officiated as loosely as it usually is in the playoffs, Vancouver’s incredible top power play unit will have less impact as well, which makes this even more of an uphill climb. The ’ regular season wins over the Edmonton Oilers mean nothing Regular season head-to-head matchups are always a bit of a dicey way to break down a playoff matchup. Things are so different in the post-season, but seeing some people fret on Twitter about Edmonton’s matchup against the Blackhawks makes me think they’re drastically overvaluing the results of a couple games played months ago.

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The Oilers are an average to below average team with two of the sport’s most dazzling offensive stars pulling them into “good” status, so if they play against a well-rounded team that can shut things down defensively, they might be in tough. The Blackhawks though? Their defensive numbers leave a lot to be desired. Slot passes against? Ranked 31st. Rush passes against? 30th. Inner slot shots against? 31st. Slot shots against? 31st. Total slot shot attempts against? 31st, and a 100 more allowed than the next worst team. Rush chances against? 29th. Chicago can generate a lot of offence, but if they want to go up against the Oilers playing a run and gun style, I think the combination of ’s tactics and the presence of both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl is going to burn them up. If Juuse Saros struggles and the turn to Pekka Rinne, he’ll be fine Much was made of Pekka Rinne’s struggles this season, and on the surface his .895 save percentage at 37 years of age would make you assume that he’s fallen down the proverbial elevator shaft. The truth is Rinne’s struggles have been extremely odd this season, because they’ve only come from one specific area. At 5-on-5, among the 35 goaltenders who have played at least 1,500 minutes in 2019-20, Rinne finished tied for sixth in save percentage from the inner slot with a stellar .825, 10th in slot save percentage at .854, and middle of the pack overall at 18th with a .923. So why is his overall save percentage so low? It’s because, from the inner slot in shorthanded situations, Rinne has posted the worst save percentage in the league by a drastic margin. The tiny fraction of shots Rinne has faced from that area in shorthanded situations drops his numbers from respectable to terrible. We have to look at all shots a goalie faces to properly evaluate them, but this is such an egregious outlier that it’s hard to believe it will continue. In just 36 shots faced from the inner slot while his team was shorthanded, Rinne allowed 16 goals, 15 per cent of all the goals he allowed this season. Outside of that area, Rinne was decidedly above league average. We can’t discount those results, but it seems unlikely he would struggle that much. Considering there are fewer power plays in the playoffs as well don’t be surprised that, if Rinne plays, he gives the Predators a good chance. and William Nylander are going to score a lot Aho had his coming out party as a franchise player in 2018-19 and had a decent playoff on top of it, but both he and Nylander have changed up their shooting games this season, leading to higher scoring rates than ever before. Only Brady Tkachuk and Kyle Connor put more shots on net from the inner slot than Aho did in 2019-20, and Nylander was right behind him. Of Aho’s 38 goals this season, 30 were scored from in tight. Of Nylander’s 31 goals, 24 of them were scored from the inner slot. The ability to get in tight and battle for pucks is huge in the playoffs, and these are two mega-talented shooters who have started to get to the net-front like fourth line grinders. Beware of Anders Lee A 20-goal season — on pace for 24 — wouldn’t be a disappointment for most people, but Anders Lee scored 102 goals over his previous three seasons, so his standard is higher than average. It’s not like he didn’t put in the work either. He was top-10 in inner slot shots this season, but he’s scored just eight

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goals from there, finishing only 10 per cent of the time whereas an average forward scores at nearly twice that rate from there. In 2018-19 Lee scored on 23 per cent of his inner slot shots, and in 2017-18 he scored on 29 per cent of those shots. I don’t think Lee’s shooting talent has been cut by at least half since the end of the 2018-19 season, so he’s overdue for a lot of goals.

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Sportsnet.ca / Quick Shifts: 'Wild card' Nick Robertson pushes fate to the wire By Luke Fox – July 26, 2020

A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Today’s column marks the final one of the pause. Real hockey is upon us. Believe it. 1. Coach Sheldon Keefe’s message to Nick Robertson with Game 1 only a week away? We’re saying there’s a chance. The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t made a final decision on the 18-year-old terror quite yet, but throughout this Phase 3 fantasy camp, Robertson has gotten to try out pretty much everything except Frederik Andersen’s new pads. The top power-play unit, the top six, the third line, the fourth line — Robertson has seen shifts with them all. “Every other player that’s in this camp has had experience and has played games in the NHL, played in the minors and all those things. They know what to expect from those experiences,” Keefe explained. “Nick is the wild card here, in terms of what he can bring and how quickly he can adapt and adjust. We have to be able to give him those opportunities to be able to see how quickly we can get him up to speed. “It’s been really positive. Early on, it was a little bit slower for him, but it seems the more experience and opportunity we’ve given him he’s done well with it.” Absolutely, a competitive professional camp like this one is much better for the prospect’s development than roller-skating around cones and pounding protein shakes back home in California, but despite Keefe’s consistent tempering of the Robertson hype, a guy like, say, third-line left wing Pierre Engvall must be at least wondering if his job is in danger. Engvall, 24, is a big body (six-foot-five, 214 pounds) used to checking grown men. He kills penalties and is defensively sound. Plus, he has the ability to slide into the middle and take draws. Electing to go with Robertson instead would signal an all-in on trying to outscore the Columbus Blue Jackets with all four lines. “I’m pretty comfortable with Pierre and the job that he’s done in that spot, but we’re trying to take advantage of the days we have and give Nick those opportunities,” Keefe said. Keefe stresses that Toronto’s lone exhibition game, Tuesday “at” Montreal, will help refine Robertson’s status. Teams have convinced the league to allow 13 forwards and seven defencemen to participate in the tune-up contests so as to complete their tryouts. (Side note: Expect multiple teams to trot out both goalies in their exhibition.) Even though Robertson’s fate will come down to the wire, he has already left an impression on his teammates and could be next man up should an injury arise or the bottom six take a beating. “I’ve really liked the progression that he’s shown. There are other things at play here, of course. There’s his play, his development through all this, and then there’s also decisions to make on the other players

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who’ve played for us up until the pause,” Keefe said Thursday night. “Then making a decision based on all those factors on what’s going to help us best prepare to win Game 1.” Feels like yesterday that Auston Matthews was the hungry new kid at camp all the pros were fielding questions about. Now he’s the one pumping the teenager’s tires. “He’s really tenacious,” Matthews said of Robertson. “He’s hard on the puck. He’s obviously got a really hard shot. He likes to shoot it, and rightfully so — he gets it off quick. He works extremely hard. “He’s gonna be a really good player for us, regardless if he plays in these playoffs or in the future. I think he’s got a really bright future in this organization. It’s exciting for him, and it’s exciting for us as well.” 2. Ilya Mikheyev was the runaway MVP (as voted by attending reporters) of the Maple Leafs’ five-game Phase 3 scrimmage series, capping off his head-turning performance with a hat trick in Thursday evening’s contest. (Souperman came within a rung post of hat trick in Sunday’s scrimmage, too.) But a few other wingers’ names kept popping up as reset camp standouts. We asked Matthews who’s caught his eye, and he gave some love to a guy who’s been riding that thin line between the AHL and NHL his whole career. “You know, I was actually thinking about that on the bench today. Last couple scrimmages Nic Petan has looked really good. The puck’s following him around out there,” Matthews said. “It just seems like he had the puck a lot, was making plays and was really involved.” Kyle Clifford echoed the universal praise for Mikheyev and Robertson, but kicked off his list with Kasperi Kapanen, who had begun coming on in the second half of the regular season. Kapanen, who nicknamed he and Clifford the “Smash Bros,” also got a nice nod from coach Keefe as the player who has picked up the pace and made himself known. “If I look at his progression through the first three days of camp on to this … second phase of this camp, Kappy has really raised his level. The way that he’s played the game in terms of using his speed, getting on the puck, just having second and third efforts on the puck,” Keefe praised. “Those are the kind of things we need to see from him. He’s a real difference-maker for us when he does that, and I’ve been happy to see that. It’s a real positive sign for us.” 3. The biggest advantage for the eight confirmed playoff teams could be in net. While the other 16 starting goalies will be thrown directly into the fire after four-and-a-half months off and pressured to win games, easing back into action with some round-robin contests should serve goaltenders on the top teams well. Tandem-based teams like Columbus, Calgary, Nashville and Edmonton won’t have much room for error when it comes to selecting their most dialled-in starter. While a club like Vegas, which has already qualified for the Sweet 16, has three games to experiment. “We’ve got two starting goalies, so we’re going to play them both,” said Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer, who has Robin Lehner and Marc-Andre Fleury at his disposal. “I haven’t decided on any of the specifics of that, but both guys are going to play and then we’ll go day to day from there.” Keep an eye out for quick hooks in the play-in round, as there can be no patience for a goalie to find his groove.

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4. Again, no wingers finished among the final three vote-getters for the Frank J. Selke Trophy. This makes 17 years and counting since a winger has received the ultimate acknowledgement for his two- way game (Jere Lehtinen, 2003). It’s an award Toronto’s Mitch Marner has made it be known he’d like to earn his way into contention for one day. As far as the defensive arts are concerned, Marner draws inspiration from Ryan O’Reilly, the 2019 Selke champ who has a shot at repeating. The two were teammates on Team Canada’s silver-medal-winning 2017 world championship squad, and Marner was blown away by O’Reilly’s professionalism and practice habits. “He’s a guy that doesn’t get as much love as he should. And he’s a guy that every single night plays his heart out. He does a lot of things right. He plays every aspect of the game right. Plays penalty kill, power play. If you need a goal, if you gotta stop a goal from going in, he’s always on the ice,” Marner said. “So, he’s a guy I’ve been watching a lot and really enjoy watching.” 5. Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine delivered a quick one-liner when asked about his involvement and thoughts on the NHL and PA’s new collective bargaining agreement: “I just work here.” On the other end of the spectrum, Maple Leafs rep Zach Hyman took it upon himself to get heavily involved in the talks. Quarantined in his condo, he had extra time on his hands and was keen to educate himself on the business of the game. “If something affects you, I want to be able to learn about the process behind it and learn about potentially making it better,” explained Hyman. “I was fortunate to be part of the process and be on that negotiation committee and be in the loop.” Hyman would hop on multiple calls daily as the negotiations intensified. After having discussions with guys who’d been involved in the 2013 labour dispute, he gained an understanding for the importance of player involvement in the union and was happy to keep other Leafs in the loop and relaying their feedback to the owners. “For us, it was about stability and making sure that our league is in a spot to prosper over the next six years,” Hyman said. “To provide certainty for players and their families was really important for us, so I think that the deal reflects that.” 6. As you may have heard, for safety reasons, all player interviews will be conducted via Zoom and no reporters will be granted face-to-face interactions with the team. It’s been that way throughout Phase 3 as well. Vancouver’s Jacob Markstrom believes this arrangement will alleviate some pressure off the young Canucks. “It’s for sure a lot different than it could have been, especially in a Canadian market,” Markstrom said. “In previous years, when you’ve been in the playoffs, the locker room is pretty much full of media. We’re not going to have that right now. “That’s going to be good for our team. Nothing against you guys, (but) it makes it a little bit easier for a lot of young players who have never been in playoff games that play for us.”

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7. Anyone else pleasantly surprised by the league announcement Monday that, among all the players returning for Phase 3 of camp, only two more positive COVID-19 tests were recorded? With 18 rosters training in the U.S., those results are fantastic. Further, on Thursday evening, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said there were no more additional confirmed positives this week. Great encouragement as clubs fly to the bubbles Sunday. “That’s a great sign heading into the hub,” Leafs forward Alexander Kerfoot said. “It speaks volumes to how committed everyone is across the league. I can only speak to our team, but we’re doing everything we can. The rules are there for a reason, and we’re pretty much at home and at the rink. “So, it really limits the interactions with the outside world and limits the ability to contract the virus.” 8. While the majority of NHLers will be stuffing Xboxes and PlayStations into their bubble luggage, John Tavares likes to read books before going to sleep. The latest page-turner on Tavares’ nightstand is Ryan Holiday’s Stillness Is Key, which draws from Stoic and Buddhist philosophy to illustrate the power of slowing down in getting ahead. Tavares said he leans on nonfiction, self-improvement and philosophical texts to not aid his game but his family and personal life as a whole. “Beliefs and who you are and obviously what you do every day as a hockey player — your commitment and desire for that — I think they’re all kind of in sync and in synergy. They all kind of work together and affect one another, and it’s how can I continue to be better in all areas and learn more and continue to challenge myself to improve who I am as a person, as a hockey player,” Tavares explained. “I read and look a lot of stuff to improve my game. I’ve always been curious and always wondered what’s made great hockey players or great athletes or why people are successful. But now, especially having a family and where I’m at now in my life, having a better sense of improving all aspects of my life and how they kind of work together is important.” Dr. Ellen Choi is a Ryerson professor and social psychologist specializing in the effects of mindfulness training as it relates to performance under pressure. We informed her of Tavares’ reading material, and she sent this list of further reading for athletes looking to gain a mental edge: George Mumford, The Mindful Athlete; Phil Jackson, Sacred Hoops; Daniel Goleman, Focus; Michael Singer, The Surrender Experiment; Gary Mack, Mind Gym; Mark Divine, The Unbeatable Mind; Vishen Lahkiani, The Code of the Extraordinary Mind; Amy Saltzman, A Still Quiet Place for Athletes: Mindfulness Skills for Achieving Peak Performance and Finding Flow in Sports and Life. 9. A return-to-play topic that has popped up during radio hits is ice quality. How will the league keep the playing surfaces in Toronto and Edmonton fresh in August while hosting triple-headers and multiple overtimes? For starters, there will be no morning skates at Scotiabank Arena or Rogers Place in the early going, and the main arenas will be used exclusively for games. That’s where the practice facilities come into play.

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But the main benefit for summer ice will be the absence of fans. Maintenance crews won’t be battling the body heat of 19,000 people, and the barn doors won’t be swinging open, thus keeping the worst enemy of good ice — humidity — at bay. Further, unlike past playoff runs in certain cities, there will be no need to flip-flop between the ice pad and a basketball court. Edmonton and Toronto each laid fresh ice in the hubs this week. “We have no issues, no concerns about ice conditions,” NHL director of hockey ops Colin Campbell assured Friday. From the Stanley Cup Qualifiers to the Stanley Cup Final, livestream every game of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, blackout-free, on Sportsnet NOW. 10. Meanwhile… being eliminated early doesn’t look so horrible. This 1,000 Game Club gift for the Sharks’ Marc-Edouard Vlasic is something else. BRB, asking Santa for a Lift Foil for Christmas. 1000 @NHL games gift from the boys! @Liftfoils pic.twitter.com/56pzlhsa63 — Marc-Édouard Vlasic (@Vlasic44) July 24, 2020 11. Quietly, it says much about how the Maple Leafs view AHL Teemu Kivihalme that after just one run with the Marlies (a) he was invited to Phase 3’s training camp and (b) he was awarded a two-year, two-way contract extension this week when so many of the organization’s pending RFAs have yet to be taken care of. Yes, Kivilhame is already 25, but the Finn’s cap-friendly deal and the late-blooming of fellow Minnesota resident Justin Holl hints that he could be a depth option in the future. “In my time with him at the Marlies, I really started to appreciate a lot of things about his game, in particular how he uses his skating, which is really, really strong. It’s his greatest asset and utilizing it to defend, which is something we’ve talked about him trying to do,” Keefe explained. “He’s always kind of seen himself as a guy that skates the puck and is involved on the offence and all that part of it. There’s a lot of things that can happen with guys who skate as well as he does that can really become an asset in defending. Calle Rosen is similar in that nature with his development. We like that about him, and you can never have enough depth on defence.” Yesterday, Toronto signed Teemu Kivihalme to a 2-year, 2-way contract with an AAV of $725,000 at the NHL level. Kivihalme improved as the AHL season progressed and earned the trust of his coaches – by the end of the season he played on the 1st defensive pairing for the Marlies pic.twitter.com/xGGIfAMfS7 — Finnish Jr Hockey (@FINjrhockey) July 19, 2020 12. Count me among the immediate fans of the Seattle Kraken, players or no players. From the carbon-footprint-free to the hiring of the NHL’s first female pro scout (Cammi Granato) to the new Twitter bio (“now that we have a name, we’re strategizing all the ways to

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draft your favourite player”) to the historic repurposing of the Key Arena roof, the Kraken have our full attention. I’m loving the colour scheme and logo, especially the secondary mark, which subtly incorporates the Space Needle into an anchor. Bravo. “It’s pretty awesome that Seattle’s gonna get a good hockey team. It’s a great sports city. I grew up a pretty big Kevin Durant fan when he was drafted there, so now it’s exciting to have more variety of sports there,” said Matthews, at little risk of getting exposed in the expansion draft. “The jerseys and everything, they kind of went similar with the Golden Knights — a little flashy, but I think it’s a pretty nice.” Who did this?!?! Literally, who did this….I want a name! pic.twitter.com/dnL5HeWoUl — NHLtoSeattle (@NHLtoSeattle) July 24, 2020

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The Athletic / NHL players share pandemic tales of personal and financial stress By Murat Ates – July 27, 2020

Nick Foligno’s daughter, Milana, was born in 2013 with a congenital heart defect. Her mitral valve wasn’t closing enough to prevent a flow of blood back into her heart, necessitating a seven-hour heart surgery that saved her life. So when COVID-19 prompted the NHL to shut its doors in March, Foligno’s first and most urgent concerns were not those of a captain. They were the concerns of a father. “Our first call was finding out that it hadn’t affected her age demographic — that was a good feeling — and that, even with her condition, it shouldn’t affect her the way that it might have affected others. Our next ‘what if’ was: ‘What are we doing? Where are we staying? How is this all working?’ The NHL hadn’t shut down in 100 years unless it was a lockout. It was a wild moment.” The Foligno family — Nick and wife Janelle, along with Milana and her brothers Landon and Hudson — eventually returned to their summer home near Sudbury, Ont. Foligno’s needs were met, and his children were safe. The irony of surviving the pandemic in the dream home that had once been a source of stress was not lost on him. “It sounds trivial to talk about this now, but we were talking about it in 2011,” Foligno says now. “My wife and I had just gotten married — we were really excited, we wanted to start our life together. Building a home was a great way to do that.” Out came the drawing board, the ambitious plans and the lakeside dream. Then came a visit from Chris Moynes, Foligno’s financial adviser. “He said, ‘Listen, here’s the situation you’re up against: It’s not that you can’t do it, but is now the right time? You have a possible lockout looming — who knows how long that’s going to go? — and you don’t want to be in a situation where money is tight. You’re starting your life off.'” Foligno calls it an honest conversation and one that he and his wife needed to have. At the time, Foligno was earning $1.2 million per season — big money by civilian standards but far less than the $5.5 million AAV he earns now. After consultation with Moynes, he and Janelle decided it was a better idea to hold off on such a major expenditure until the new CBA was negotiated and their income was secure. When a lockout wiped out nearly half of the 2012-13 season, they were happy to have extra liquid cash with which to navigate it. “In the end, we didn’t have to nickel-and-dime it. We did it the right way, and now we’ve enjoyed this house for so many years.” Foligno building his dream home is an example of the type of major life decision NHL players had to make before the pandemic. And while large salaries protect professional athletes from most of the financial stresses non-millionaires endure, athletes do understand that life is bigger than a house. Especially now, when their decisions come with much higher stakes.

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“Am I broke?” Cap Friendly estimates Dennis Wideman’s gross career income to be just above $41 million, earned over 13 years in St. Louis, Boston, Washington and Calgary. Still, when stock markets dove around the world in February and March, the former defenceman thought it would be prudent to have a check-in with Moynes. “I just texted him: ‘Do I have any money left?'” Wideman recalls. Wideman sent that text from Waterloo, where he lives with his wife, Lindsay, and their three children, ages 6, 4 and 2. The two parents are often run ragged as they adapt to COVID-19 life in the home they purchased in 2012. When the pandemic hit, Wideman was working in neighbouring Kitchener, where he is an assistant coach with the . There was no plane to catch or border to cross, just a drive home to a new life. He says the financial uncertainty of 2020, especially for a former professional athlete, is nothing compared to the adjustments at home. “There’s definitely been some great days with the kids, and there’s been some bad days where there’s a lot of fighting and people aren’t in good moods. There’s a lot of ups and downs, but it is what it is — you’re learning to be around people more than ever before. In a normal circumstance, there’s no one in this world that’s around four people for this long in the same place.” Put another way: No matter how much you love and adore the people you’re with, it can be hard to give up your personal space for months on end. Wideman says that, by nature, he’s a person who needs to have his space. Without that time and space on his own, his patience gets strained — especially when multiple loved ones are hanging off his arms and legs at the same time. After a lifetime spent on the road in the NHL and OHL, Wideman has forced himself to carve out 90 minutes to two hours cycling each day so he can be at his best when he’s at home. Lindsay is an avid runner and has done the same, making sure to take time for herself. As long as he’s had his ride and she’s had her run, the Widemans are refreshed enough to tackle parenting three young children together. He says the kids are usually pretty good at playing with one another — and he feels for anyone out there parenting an only child — but they’re full of energy after going months without their usual playdates, sports and time with their cousins. “It’s a great test to a marriage,” Wideman says. “I’ve learned a lot.” And he got good news by text, too. Moynes quickly replied that, no, Wideman was not broke and yes, he had money left. In a sense, it was Wideman’s lack of pedigree as a junior that kept him safe. Wideman was Buffalo’s eighth-round draft pick in 2002, but the Sabres didn’t sign him. Wideman’s professional career started in the AHL. “The majority of hockey players think, ‘I’ve got this much money and I can spend it.’ You’re not really planning for the future because every guy thinks he’s going to play in the NHL forever.” Wideman took the opposite attitude from the moment his career began, using Moynes’ advice — and that of Rick Weiss, head of private banking at RBC Waterloo — to start investing part of his income, even while making money.

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When the pandemic hit and the stock market grew volatile, Wideman didn’t panic. He’d already been playing the long game for most of his adult life. His high-stakes decisions have become about family time, parenting and working with his wife to decide how to keep his family safe from COVID-19. Professionally, he’s just waiting to find out when the OHL season will start up again. “I haven’t logged on to check (investments) once,” says Wideman. Then he laughs. “I guess Moynesy could be lying to me — maybe I am broke and he just doesn’t want me to lose my mind.” “If I were to ask you, ‘What’s the difference between mental health and mental illness?’ — what would you respond?” The person asking the question is Mike Kostka, a former NHL player and current master of human kinetics student with a specialization in mental performance at the University of Ottawa. If that program name sounds like a mouthful, know that Kostka’s area of study is helping athletes build mental health tools to improve their overall performance. When he graduates, Kostka won’t be diagnosing mental illnesses; he’ll be helping athletes optimize their performance and well-being. He explains that the terms “mental illness” and “mental health” get used interchangeably so often that their meanings are sometimes lost. “Yes, mental illness is the presence of a disorder, but you can have mental illness and also have good mental health and be taking care of yourself.” After a 10-year, 15-team professional hockey career spanning the NHL, AHL and Sweden, Kostka knows about resilience in sports firsthand. The only two-year contract of his career was his entry-level contract, signed with Florida in 2008; every deal that came after it was for one year at a time. And while he was an AHL All-Star, scoring 267 points in 517 games as a defenceman, he was never able to cement himself into a full-time NHL job. Kostka’s body started to show its wear and tear in the final few seasons of his career. Injuries to both shoulders were the biggest source of pain, but they were not the only change he was feeling. After a decade of chasing a professional career through 15 teams in three leagues, his heart simply wasn’t in hockey anymore. “I started shifting out of it mentally,” he says. “But it wasn’t until I retired that I started thinking about (my future) more seriously. ‘OK, what’s next? What’s my next career going to be?’ And, really, the major initial stressor: ‘How the heck am I going to make some money?'” At first, the question seemed impossible to answer. Retirement from professional sports felt like being told he could pursue any passion he could think of except the only one he had always known. But then he started to study his own history. Kostka always found psychology fascinating and had studied it at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. One unforeseen perk of being a late bloomer was that his college hockey career lasted long enough for him to complete his bachelor’s degree. And when he considered his professional hockey career, he saw that a tremendous amount of resources went into physical well-being, while mental health was often overlooked.

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“Teams want to win so they want performance — and they want performance on demand,” Kostka says. “The reality is that no one can perform well over time if they’re not well mentally.” The decision was made: The master’s program was applied to and enrolled in. Then the pandemic happened. The NBA shut its doors on March 11. The NHL followed suit on March 12. Sports leagues around the world moved into a state of paralysis, including the volleyball program at College La Cité, where Kostka was doing his internship. As he scrambled to deal with Zoom meetings and other unexpected disruptions to his studies, an altogether expected disruption arrived. On March 19, his wife, Pascale, gave birth to the couple’s first child, Rémie. “The best way I can explain it is it was as if there was a gap or a hole in my life that I just didn’t know was there until she came into it,” says Kostka. “It’s very fulfilling — literally fulfilling. And I thought I felt full before.” Mother and baby are healthy and well at home in Ottawa, where the family has entered into what they call their “baby bubble.” Kostka says the hardest thing about becoming a dad in the middle of a pandemic isn’t the sleeplessness or the worries that come with being a first-time parent. It’s wanting to be able to share Rémie with close friends and family but not being able to. Pascale is an epidemiologist — there’s no way the Kostka family was going to be taking unnecessary risks with the size of their bubble. “For the first three months, no one was able to hold her,” he says, “which was really weird. So much of what I’ve realized now, with my parents being able to hold her, is how much joy you get as a parent to see other people enjoy your child.” Rémie was the first grandchild on both sides of the family by three weeks. Her cousin was born three weeks later. Now, with COVID-19 restrictions loosening, the two have met, their grandparents have held them and the joy has been shared. Kostka says it makes the long hours of Zoom calls and mental performance coaching by teleconference all the more bearable. While Kostka’s side hustle as a public speaker has taken a big hit, he’s still on pace to graduate this December and start his second career in 2021. Rémie’s birth raises the stakes for that career. In the meantime, being at home with her and Pascale has been a silver lining that Kostka holds dear. “This will be a time that really shapes who we all become,” he says. “For better or for worse. And a lot of that is very individual. For me, there’s been a lot of sadness. There’s been a lot of frustration. But it’s been such an amazing time in our lives, welcoming our daughter into this world. “In terms of my career, I’m really getting the feeling of some footing underneath me as I’ve worked my way through this program and gotten into more of the applied side of it. It’s challenging and tough in a really wacky time. But I gotta say, like, I’ve been waking up every morning feeling excited about the day, and what else do you want?”

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A long, thoughtful pause goes by before Kostka adds: “But that takes work.” When two-time Stanley Cup champion Kris Versteeg was 20 years old, he kept a list of his expenses in the back of a Bible. The book was a gift from his mom, something to keep him company on the road during his first full season as a professional hockey player. Versteeg isn’t a religious person, but he does love his family, and as a result, that Bible traveled with him to every corner of the . For a player who had already burned through his NHL signing bonus — and then some — the bookkeeping was as important as the literal keeping of the book. “I had no financial planning when I started,” says Versteeg. “I spent a lot of money partying and doing things, and when I got my cheque, I didn’t realize I even had to pay taxes, to be honest.” Versteeg had gone from making $80 every two weeks working at Sport Chek to a $75,000 signing bonus, paid in three installments. The first $40,000 was due on July 1, 2006, and Versteeg remembers thinking he had won the lottery. But when the cheque arrived, some $14,000 was missing. “I’m like, ‘Where the fuck is all my money?’ “My dad said, ‘Well, you’ve got to pay taxes, you know.’ “And I was like, ‘What the hell? That much?’ Those are things I didn’t even know at 20 years old.” Versteeg’s big-league ambitions and AHL paycheque meant he finished his first full season in debt. The Bible became his way of fighting back. He found a few empty pages at the back and started mapping out his bills — mostly basics like cellphone, food and rent. Eventually, he connected with Moynes, the same financial adviser Foligno worked with. He got his finances under control, won two Stanley Cups with Chicago and started planning for his retirement. He had no way of knowing he’d end his 15-year professional hockey career in the middle of a pandemic that has forced him to put his second — and third — careers on hold. Versteeg’s second career is that of an NHL broadcaster, at which his Sportsnet colleagues Ryan Leslie and call him “a natural.” The pandemic has impacted hockey coverage in a lot of ways. In Versteeg’s case, it means the next big swing he takes at the TV industry will have to wait until next season. His third career is a yet-to-be-announced hockey-related passion project alongside his brother, Mitch. Versteeg has been plotting his next steps from his Brooklin, Ont., home with his wife, Brittany. But being back in Canada didn’t automatically lead to the family time he hoped for; he was too concerned about his mom, whom he hadn’t seen since the in December, to visit her. “No one goes over there,” he says. “She was a cancer patient and just got done with her chemo. But there’s a mental aspect to it, too — you don’t want your mom to be alone for too long.” These are the modern risk assessments in the 34-year-old Versteeg’s life. When the pandemic first took hold of North America, he and his wife decided to keep their three kids at home. He didn’t see his parents or his grandparents. His father-in-law occasionally came to visit, but the kids stayed socially distant in the backyard when he did.

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Then a conversation with his grandma changed his perspective. Versteeg calls his grandmother on his dad’s side his oma, the Dutch word for grandma. She is 90 years old and lives in Alberta, as does most of his family on both sides. Perhaps unsurprising for the grandmother of an NHL player: She’s fit. She dances three times a week. She curls. She lawn bowls. She works at a store. Or she did. “She told me: ‘I’ve never been at home by myself — ever — for more than a couple days.’ And now she’s like, ‘No one comes and sees me for three months. I’m alone. And I don’t feel good.'” The reason she’s so strong at 90, Versteeg says, is because she’s lived such a full, active life. “Now she’s closed off and she’s alone. The way she explained it to me is, ‘I’d rather have you guys come over and talk to me and be around me for a month than be alone for years by myself.’ “So when she was speaking to me like that — not to say you’ve got to go out to a restaurant — but you realize how much those people need you. Whether you’re in the backyard with them or just on FaceTime, you really need to take care of the people who need care the most right now. You realize just how much humans need each other.” Versteeg is in Lethbridge this week — solo, socially distanced and without his wife and kids. He is seeing his mom and his grandparents, including Oma, for the first time all year; his next career moves will have to wait.

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Sportsnet.ca / NHL Playoff Primer: Everything you need to know ahead of post- season By Ryan Dixon – July 27, 2020

This all feels a bit weird, right? Though we’ve had weeks to talk about how the Stanley Cup Playoffs were about to become a two-city, August-to-September experience, it’s still hard to wrap your brain around the fact that, come next weekend, we’ll be watching live post-season NHL hockey from lunchtime until midnight. As a range of sports continue to make long-awaited returns, we figured it might be useful to have cheat sheet for a summer hockey session that figures to be unlike anything we’ve seen. In case you’ve forgotten — because you’ve got nothing else on your mind these days, right? — here are some need-to- knows about this puck extravaganza happening in Toronto and Edmonton. From the Stanley Cup Qualifiers to the Stanley Cup Final, livestream every game of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, blackout-free, on Sportsnet NOW. Who is in and how are we doing this? The NHL ranked teams by points percentage and put the top 12 from each conference into the post- season. The best four teams in the East and West will play one game against each of the other three clubs to receive a bye in its conference to determine seeds No. 1 to No. 4 for the main draw of the playoffs. Those games will be decided by the usual regular season three-on-three and shootout rules if necessary, and any ties in the round-robin standings will be broken by teams’ regular-season points percentage. Teams five through 12 on each side are playing a preliminary round featuring best-of-five series, with the No. 5 seed facing No. 12, No. 6 squaring off against No. 11 and so on. These games will not use three-on-three overtime or shootouts; extra time is 20-minute periods until we have a winner. Collectively, these games are being put under the umbrella of 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers. All player statistics from these contests will count toward playoff totals. So if you score three goals during the Qualifiers and 10 more in the playoffs, for the purpose of the history books, your total for the 2020 post- season is 13. Once eight teams emerge from the qualifying round, the main playoff draw will appear as it always does with four rounds of best-of-seven series. There is no March Madness-style bracket this year for the first time since the 2013 playoffs. Instead, the highest-seeded team at the start of each round will play the lowest-seeded team, as was the case for many years before the league moved to a four-division format in 2013-14. Each team is getting started with one exhibition game that will occur beginning on Tuesday. What’s up with the Draft Lottery? As you likely recall, when it came time to reveal who would select first overall in the 2020 NHL Draft, deputy commissioner Bill Daly flipped over a card with an NHL logo on it. As should have been expected based on the math, a “placeholder” team — meaning one of the 16 squads playing in the preliminary round — had its number called for the top pick. Each of the eight teams that lose a best-of-five series —

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regardless of where they finished in the regular season — will have a 12.5 per cent chance to pick first overall in October. The second and final phase of the lottery will happen before the first round of the main Stanley Cup tournament. Who does he play for now? The trade deadline fell on Feb. 24 this year, so we only had about two-and-a-half weeks to get used to seeing guys who moved on or around that day in their new surroundings before the league went on hiatus. Here’s a quick refresher on some of the moves made five months ago. The created a huge splash, picking up defencemen Brady Skjei (from the Rangers) and Sami Vatanen (from the Devils). Carolina also may have found a No. 2 for the next decade by fleecing the for Vincent Trocheck. The Vegas Golden Knights made a big play to get goalie Robin Lehner from Chicago in a zany three-way deal that involved the Maple Leafs so Toronto could retain 50 per cent of Lehner’s salary. The padded their blue-line depth by adding Derek Forbort and Erik Gustafsson, moves that look even more important now that defenceman Travis Hamonic opted out of this summer event. (Remember, players had the option to skip this tournament penalty-free if they had concerns of any kind. A handful have decided to go down that route, with Edmonton’s Mike Green being the most prominent after Hamonic.) The Penguins re-patriated Conor Sheary from Buffalo and picked up Patrick Marleau from San Jose; the Jets added middle-man Cody Eakin from Vegas and the Islanders landed crafty centre and former Ottawa Senator Jean-Gabriel Pageau. While Green won’t be suiting up for the Oilers, they do have newcomers Andreas Athanasiou and Tyler Ennis in the mix. Unfit to play NHL teams have never been forthcoming with injuries — especially come playoff time — and it will be no different now that they’re bubbled up. Against the backdrop of this global pandemic, the league will offer no specifics in terms of why a certain player is not at practice or in the lineup; he will simply be declared “unfit to play.” Consider the injury obfuscation some form of warm familiarity in these oddest of times.

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Sportsnet.ca / NHL teams arrive in Toronto, Edmonton ahead of league restart By Sportsnet Staff – July 27, 2020

After a couple of weeks skating in their home cities, NHL players, coaches and staff are making the journey to Toronto and Edmonton as the league prepares for the long-awaited restart to the season. Once they’re settled into the hub cities, the 24 teams will prepare for a slate of exhibition games starting on July 28. The Stanley Cup qualifying rounds and round-robin play will begin on Aug. 1. Here are some of the best sights and sounds around the league, as teams enter the NHL bubble. The Toronto Maple Leafs and decked out their hotel floor with team decals on the elevators and walls. Nashville Predators players shared pictures of photo frames already placed on their nightstands as they walked into their hotel rooms in the Edmonton bubble. “I’m not crying, you’re crying,” said forward Matt Duchene in his photo caption. Strum for us, Islanders! Multiple players brought their guitars with them to Toronto. Looks like there will be plenty of singalongs in the bubble! Sorry Charlie, no dogs allowed While there are a lot of people heading to the NHL bubbles today, unfortunately canine friends are not allowed. Boston Bruins forward Charlie McAvoy snapped a quick picture of his dog Otto trying to blend in to his luggage, later tweeting #LetOttoCome. Joining in on the musical theme in the bubble, multiple Bruins were also spotted carrying guitar cases. Oilers roll into Hub City life While it was not a far commute, the Edmonton Oilers are officially set up inside the Edmonton bubble. Golden Knights get sendoff from fans In typical Vegas fashion, the team got a passionate sendoff from fans, who lined up in the parking lot to wave and cheer as the team buses left. You might remember, when the Golden Knights acquired Mark Stone from the , the forward was greeted by members of the team’s drumline and cheer team — as well as the mascot, Chance. Nate Schmidt took some time to send a thank you to the fans that showed up and made sure to say one last goodbye to his dog. Panthers have arrived to Toronto The Florida Panthers were one of the first teams to arrive to the Toronto bubble on Sunday. The team is staying at the Fairmont Royal York hotel. Canucks make sure to have their masks handy in Edmonton

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The Vancouver Canucks made the trip to Edmonton on Sunday, making sure they followed social distancing protocols by wearing masks. Elias Pettersson also decided he wanted to lend a hand producing some video content to capture the team’s journey to the hub. Hurricanes fans line the streets for team sendoff Passionate Carolina Hurricanes fans lined the streets to send off their team to the Toronto bubble. Jordan Martinook and Hurricanes president and general manager Don Waddell rode in the back of a pickup truck, along with the team’s signature storm siren. Flames are ready for a road trip No planes were needed for the Calgary Flames, as the team piled into a bus to head to the Edmonton bubble. It’s about a three-hour drive to Edmonton from Calgary. Derek Ryan also showed off some family photos set up in his hotel room. Penguins prepared for ‘longest road trip ever’ The are hoping for its “longest road trip ever” as it heads to Toronto. Winger Jason Zucker said he has packed “37 suitcases” for the bubble. “Obviously you’ve got to plan to be there until October, and it’s just making sure you have everything you need to be comfortable,” Zucker said. Winnipeg ‘Jets’ off to Edmonton bubble The are cleared for takeoff to the Edmonton bubble. The Jets will face the Flames in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers. The Minnesota Wild travelled in style on Sunday as the team wore matching tracksuits for its flight to Edmonton. The wore masks as they got off the plane after touching down in Toronto. Keith shows off quarantine hair Not having access to a barber has allowed Duncan Keith to show off his luscious locks. It was difficult to recognize the former Norris Trophy winner at first, but the Chicago Blackhawks decided to lend a hand with that.

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