The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.

June 23, 2014

The Hockey News - Jun-23-14

<div class="byline">BY ADAM PROTEAU</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0055-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0055-01305/9993975-1-eng-US/f0055-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>YOUNG GUN</b></p><p>TYLER MCGREGOR WAS CANADA&rsquo;S SECOND-YOUNGEST PLAYER FOR ITS SLEDGE TEAM IN SOCHI.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(DENNIS GROMBKOWSKI/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>G</span>ROWING UP IN SOUTHEASTERN ONTARIO, TYLER MCGREGOR</b> was like thousands of other Canadian boys: obsessed with his hockey dream. He was making headway toward that goal &ndash; playing on a AAA squad and hoping to make the jump to junior &ndash; when he broke his leg as a 15-year-old in 2009.</p><p>That&rsquo;s where his story took a turn, and not for the better. As his leg was healing, he received word from his doctor that something wasn&rsquo;t right and needed a biopsy. One week after receiving that ominous news, he learned he had cancer and needed to have his left leg amputated above the knee. &ldquo;Suddenly, everything came crashing down,&rdquo; McGregor says. &ldquo;It took a while for me to understand there was no reason for me to feel sorry for myself.&rdquo;</p><p>Once he got past the initial shock of the situation and his eventual operation and chemotherapy, McGregor was at a crossroads. His dream of playing in the NHL was over. He could watch NHL games, but seeing his buddies from minor midget make their way into the junior scene was bittersweet. Then boredom set in. So when it was suggested to him that he give sledge hockey a try, he figured he could easily adapt and become one of the best players on the ice.</p><p>Of course, it wasn&rsquo;t nearly that easy. But Mc-Gregor quickly saw in the sledge game the same elements he loved about the hockey he could play before his amputation. And when he understood just how much time, dedication and heart it took to play sledge hockey at an elite level, he recognized he was getting a second chance to realize his dream. But it started with learning how to play all over again. &ldquo;At first it was frustrating and I didn&rsquo;t like it,&rdquo; Mc-Gregor says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big adjustment when you begin to keep your balance and stay on your blades, but the toughest thing is sledge hockey is an ambidextrous sport, and I&rsquo;m right-handed. In sledge, everything you do is with your hands. It was tough to learn how to skate and handle the puck at the same time.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0055-02198/9993968-1-eng-US/f0055-022.jpg" title="f0055-02" width="697" height="625"><figcaption class="caption-body">TYLER <b>MCGREGOR</b> <span class="photo-credit">(HARRY ENGELS/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Before long, McGregor&rsquo;s natural scoring abilities and feel for the game rose to the fore and he earned a spot on Canada&rsquo;s national sledge team. He was the second-youngest member of the squad that won a bronze medal at the 2014 Sochi Paralympics. It&rsquo;s an experience he&rsquo;ll cherish forever.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">IT TOOK A WHILE TO UNDERSTAND THERE WAS NO REASON TO FEEL SORRY FOR MYSELF<br>&ndash; Tyler McGregor</blockquote><p>But he&rsquo;s benefitted from more than just a renewed desire to win. The life lessons he&rsquo;s learned from teammates who had to overcome physical challenges are just as valuable. And he&rsquo;s used them to focus on education.</p><p>Now 20, he&rsquo;s scheduled to start business classes at the University of Guelph in the fall. And he&rsquo;s determined to make a difference in the battle against the disease that took his leg. Last year, he was a keynote speaker at the opening ceremony of the Road Hockey To Conquer Cancer event in Toronto, and he continues to support the tournament, which will take place this year on Sept. 27.</p><p>Most of all, he&rsquo;s grateful to have the support of the hockey world through his journey. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something I love about the game more than ever, that family feeling and knowing how close-knit the hockey community is,&rdquo; McGregor says. &ldquo;My advice would be to be positive. Do whatever you want with the situation you&rsquo;re in. Are you going to let adversity be stepping stones or stumbling blocks?&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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FEATURES

THE ROAD TO SLEDGE SUCCESS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-01261/9994037-1-eng-US/f0057-012.jpg" title="f0057-01" width="478" height="592"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(GUESS WHO: BRUCE BENNETT STUDIOS/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><blockquote class="pullQuote"><i>&ldquo;I scored 143 goals in just 126 career NHL games, including 44 in 20 games one season.&rdquo;</i></blockquote><blockquote class="pullQuote"><i>&ldquo;On Jan. 31, 1920, I scored seven goals in one game. My NHL record still stands today.&rdquo;</i></blockquote><blockquote class="pullQuote"><i>&ldquo;Between stints with the Habs, I played for the Quebec City/Hamilton franchise.&rdquo;</i></blockquote><p>WHO AM I: JOE MALONE<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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DEPARTMENTS

Guess WHO!

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MATT LARKIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-0574/9994137-1-eng-US/f0057-052.jpg" title="f0057-05" width="795" height="737"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MASK: STEPHANE BERGERON/GRIFFEORIGINALE.COM)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>ILYA BRYZGALOV</b> | MINNESOTA WILD</p><p>A <i>Sonic the Hedgehog</i> theme would be a little out there for some masks, but not Bryzgalov&rsquo;s. Artist Stephane Bergeron converted drawings from Bryz&rsquo;s kids into sharp-looking characters from the famous video game, with Wild colors and images mixed in.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Behind THE MASK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012518/9992052-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="542" height="739"></div><h2><b>RESPECT YOUR ELDERS</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><i><span>R</span>onnie Shuker writes that &ldquo;wearing the jersey of a player who is younger than you&rdquo; is the No. 1 hockey fan fashion faux pas (Inside Hockey, May 26). So fans over the age of 45 should not wear a jersey with a current player&rsquo;s name on the back? How moronically ageist is that? A senior Blackhawks fan who grew up watching Stan Mikita and Pierre Pilote shouldn&rsquo;t rock Jonathan Toews&rsquo; No. 19? I wonder if that young punk whippersnapper Shuker will feel the same way when he gets up there in age?</i></b></p><p><b><i>Hart Stoffman, Lake Echo, N.S.</i></b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021727/9992059-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="154" height="153"></div><p>LOVE OR HATE ONE OF OUR FEATURES/STORIES?</p><p>LET US KNOW BY EMAILING US AT <a href="mailto:letters@thehockeynews.com">LETTERs@THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM</a></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04666/9992045-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="474" height="125"></div><h2><b>PUCKPOLL</b></h2><p>WHICH OF THESE FREE AGENTS WILL GET THE BIGGEST PAYDAY?</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05527/9992038-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="493" height="341"></div><h2><b>GR8 DEBATE</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-031035/9992031-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="140" height="87"></div><p>How can Adam Proteau say the Capitals would be better if Alex Ovechkin went to the Kontinental League (Proteau Type, May 26)? Sure, they could bring in two or three players with the money saved, but would they electrify fans (and not just Caps fans) the same way? No. Washington has no one in their system who could even remotely replace Ovechkin&rsquo;s talent and marketability. The team would lose fans, which means they&rsquo;d have less money to spend on players, anyway. I wait for your next column explaining how the Penguins would be better if Evgeni Malkin left or how the Red Wings would be better without Pavel Datsyuk.</p><p><b><i>Paul Lefler, Trenton, Ont.</i></b></p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>TALKING TOUGH</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-06378/9992024-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg" title="f0006-06" width="140" height="87"></div><p>I don&rsquo;t agree with you giving Zdeno Chara the toughest player award (&ldquo;2013-14 In Lists,&rdquo; May 26). There are arguably tougher players on his own team. What about Gregory Campbell, who finished a shift on a broken leg, or Patrice Bergeron, who played with a punctured lung during last year&rsquo;s playoffs? Beyond that, Josh Harding has battled through multiple sclerosis. Or what about Niklas Hjalmarsson, who blocked a shot with his neck and didn&rsquo;t miss a shift. Chara&rsquo;s height doesn&rsquo;t equal toughness.</p><p><b><i>John Taylor, Aledo, Ill.</i></b></p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>SEA THE MISTAKE</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-07254/9992017-1-eng-US/f0006-072.jpg" title="f0006-07" width="140" height="87"></div><p>In your Top 5 Sophomore Slumps (&ldquo;2013-14 In Lists,&rdquo; May 26), you say Jonathan Huberdeau was a former Saint John Ice Dog. He was actually a Sea Dog.</p><p><b><i>Alex Graham, Rothesay, N.B.</i></b></p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>SEE AND DO</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-08160/9992010-1-eng-US/f0006-082.jpg" title="f0006-08" width="140" height="87"></div><p>As a 45-year-old beer-league player, I&rsquo;m amazed by NHLers who have the physical and mental wherewithal to continue to play into their 40s. It must take a rare blend of immense skill, sheer determination and a time-traveling DeLorean. I don&rsquo;t know how guys like Jaromir Jagr and Teemu Selanne continue to do it night in and night out. It&rsquo;s incredible. Sometimes I catch flak for continuing to play &ldquo;at my age,&rdquo; but I figure as long as guys can play at the NHL level into their 40s, I can surely press on in my &ldquo;just for fun&rdquo; league. Their perseverance is inspiring, and I&rsquo;m not retiring any time soon, either.</p><p><b><i>Bob Zabaga, Philadelphia</i></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

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THN INBOX

<p>WHAT&rsquo;S KEEPING YOU UP AT NIGHT? IF YOU&rsquo;VE GOT A QUESTION ABOUT THE GAME, SEND IT TO COLUMNIST ADAM PROTEAU AT <a href="mailto:ASKADAM@THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM">ASKADAM@THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM</a></p><p><b>QUESTION:</b> What would happen if Ilya Kovalchuk tried to come back to the NHL, as others such as Alexander Radulov and Jaromir Jagr have? Would New Jersey be allowed to block his move to another team?</p><p><b><i>Ryan Humphrey, Victoria, B.C.</i></b></p><p><b>ANSWER:</b> When Kovalchuk left for the KHL with 12 years remaining on his contract, the league placed him on its &ldquo;voluntary retired list&rdquo; and made it clear any return would require the approval of all teams. However, when he turns 35 in 2018, he&rsquo;ll be removed from that list and become an unrestricted free agent. So he&rsquo;s got four years before being free to choose his NHL fate. He won&rsquo;t be as effective at that age, but a star of his caliber will attract interest.</p><p><b>QUESTION:</b> There&rsquo;s been plenty of talk about the Rangers buying out Brad Richards, but what about Rick Nash? Nash&rsquo;s cap hit is higher, $7.8 vs. $6.7 million, so why has he escaped being the scapegoat?</p><p><b><i>Brandon Sparks, Fredericton, N.B.</i></b></p><p><b>ANSWER:</b> Nash has started to feel more heat and rightfully so: when you fail to score in the first two playoff rounds and you&rsquo;re paid as well as Nash is, you&rsquo;re going to hear about it. But here&rsquo;s the biggest difference between Nash and Richards: their age. The former is 29 years old and the latter is 34. In addition, Nash has four years remaining on his contract, while Richards has six. Those factors are at least as important as anything Nash does on the ice.</p><p>READ MORE &lsquo;ASK ADAM&rsquo; EVERY FRIDAY AT <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

ASK Adam?

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-012408/9992142-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="452" height="463"></div><h2><b>1 THE BIG DEAL:</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>E</span>ven if the boys are still adjusting to the new <i>Hockey Night in Canada</i>, they&rsquo;ll be wowed with the latest (and yes, the biggest) TV. At 50 inches, forget about camouflaging it in a cabinet.</p><h2><b>2 RAD PLAID:</b></h2><p>Comfort is key when enjoying the game &ndash; it could go into overtime after all. Warm up your space with flannel cushions to keep the space cozy &ndash; and hey, you could even repurpose those old plaid shirts you&rsquo;d promised to trash.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021850/9992135-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="404" height="327"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-031323/9992128-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="980" height="1185"></div><h2><b>3 A VERY COOL BAR:</b></h2><p>Make that thrift store find or hand-me-down from your mother-in-law a thing of beauty by retrofitting it as a 007-worthy bar. Shaken not stirred.</p><h2><b>4 SUPER-COOL STEINS:</b></h2><p>You know your stouts from your saisons, so of course you should impress your guests by serving up your beloved craft beers in stylish pub-worthy glassware.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04758/9992121-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg" title="f0008-04" width="738" height="992"></div><h2><b>5 GAME TIME:</b></h2><p>Foosball, pool table, video game or drum set &ndash; choose one of the games you love and integrate it as a focal point in your man cave.</p><h2><b>6 FIERCE FRIDGE:</b></h2><p>Don&rsquo;t let a clunky beer fridge ruin the aesthetic of your man cave. How about paneling the front of it to look like a built-in cabinet? You&rsquo;ll instantly elevate your testosteroom to clubhouse cool.</p><h2><b>7 PLAY IT AGAIN:</b></h2><p>It&rsquo;s PlayStation over chintz. Xbox over cushions. Wii over wenge. No apologies. Ever. After all, the modern den requires serious half-time activities.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-05540/9992114-1-eng-US/f0008-052.jpg" title="f0008-05" width="342" height="305"></div><h2><b>Win a $5,000 Housewarming Party!</b></h2><p>Visit <a href="http://littlethingsforyourhome.com">littlethingsforyourhome.com</a> to learn how you could win a custom housewarming party featuring all the little things that matter to you.</p><p>No purchase necessary. Must be legal Canadian resident of the age of majority in their province or territory. Contest opens May 29, 2014 and ends on July 27, 2014. Visit <a href="http://littlethingsforyourhome.com">littlethingsforyourhome.com</a> for complete rules. Void where prohibited.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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IN THIS ISSUE

Little things that matter in your new man cave

<div class="byline">&#x2013; KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021748/9992173-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">LOU <b>LAMORIELLO</b> <span class="photo-credit">(ANDY MARLIN/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-012383/9992180-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="138" height="156"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HERE WAS A TIME NOT SO</b> long ago when NHL executives thought a player&rsquo;s worth could only be evaluated by two eyeballs at the rink in the form of a scout whose belly was full of coffee and cold pizza. When the Buffalo Sabres scaled back their scouting staff and decided to do more video scouting, they were scoffed at by old-time hockey guys.</p><p>Now, though, video is as important a tool to NHL teams as a composite stick or a skate-sharpening machine. Every team employs video on a daily basis to the point where some coaches have iPads on hand to show a player what he did wrong during his most recent shift. If a team wants to sign a prospective free agent, there are companies out there that provide them with footage of every shift he took the previous season.</p><p>And that&rsquo;s about where we are right now in the evolution of advanced statistics in hockey. Those who run NHL teams, generally speaking, see value in them, but there&rsquo;s still some skepticism. Most GMs are smart enough to know any tool that gives them more information is a good thing, but they&rsquo;re all still feeling their way around this new phenomenon.</p><p>Lou Lamoriello of the New Jersey Devils is an interesting case. He just celebrated 27 years of running the Devils, but he&rsquo;s also one of the game&rsquo;s best thinkers and has an open mind about most things he thinks will improve the game. He&rsquo;s an old-school GM with a new-school mentality. He said the Devils&rsquo; new ownership group, which also owns the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA, has embraced analytics with its basketball experience and he&rsquo;s completely on board with it. The Devils, he said, are working their way toward having an analytics department, but he wonders whether analytics will ever be as prominent in hockey as they are in baseball. He still doesn&rsquo;t trust all the numbers he sees. &ldquo;Sometimes you can also get paralyzed with statistics in reading players,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;I saw something recently I thought was really interesting, but I probably would have lost my job if I had done a couple of things they said.&rdquo;</p><p>Ken Holland is a lot like Lamoriello. He has run the Detroit Red Wings hockey department, very well, for a long time and with enormous success. He&rsquo;s also an unconventional thinker and one of the more progressive voices in the game. He wants to embrace analytics, but like a lot of other hockey people, isn&rsquo;t sure the numbers tell a complete story. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been talking about it, but I wouldn&rsquo;t say it&rsquo;s a big factor in any of our decision making,&rdquo; Holland said. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s say you&rsquo;re Pavel Datsyuk&rsquo;s linemate. You move to another team and not playing with Pavel Datsyuk is going to have an effect on your lack of success. With baseball, it&rsquo;s more black and white because the pitcher is on the mound and he&rsquo;s going against the batter. But in hockey, you&rsquo;ve got four teammates and five opponents who are going to have some impact on what&rsquo;s going to happen.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">WE&rsquo;RE TALKING ABOUT IT, BUT IT&rsquo;S NOT A BIG FACTOR IN OUR DECISIONS<br>&ndash; KEN HOLLAND</blockquote><p>One of the problems with analytics is that the people doing them are taking their information from the event summaries provided by the NHL. Those summaries are done by human beings, all sorts of them, who might have a different interpretation of what just happened. Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill said it occurs often. He said the league will sometimes send out video of a disputed goal and ask 10 GMs if it should have counted. Five will come back saying it should count, the other five saying it should be disallowed. A giveaway or takeaway in one arena might not be one in another. Robert Svehla used to lead the league in hits when he played for the Florida Panthers, largely because he could count on being credited with double digits in hits every time he played a home game.</p><p>But there are things such as Corsi that take that kind of subjectivity out of the equation. When you&rsquo;re combining shots, missed shots and blocked shots, you&rsquo;ve got every kind of possible shot covered. A defensive zone start cannot be disputed, nor can things such as a goalie&rsquo;s save percentage.</p><p>Which brings us to another interesting wrinkle when it comes to analytics. The league and the NHL Players&rsquo; Association have criteria for what is admissible in arbitration from a statistics standpoint. According to the collective bargaining agreement, the league must make available all statistics kept by the league and by individual teams, and the NHLPA must provide all the stats it keeps. It doesn&rsquo;t expressly mention analytics and since there were no contracts that actually went to arbitration, it&rsquo;s all new territory. The NHLPA undoubtedly will argue that since analytics are culled from information the NHL already makes available, they should be fair game. It should be noted that for two years the league didn&rsquo;t make public its hits, ice time and giveaway/takeaway stats because it was concerned they would be used in arbitration. The NHLPA filed a grievance and won.</p><p>But there&rsquo;s no doubt analytics are becoming a bigger part of the negotiation process for players, as evidenced by one agent&rsquo;s dealings last year. He was negotiating with the team and it was pointed out to him the player had one of the worst plus-minus figures among forwards on that team. The agent pointed out that, for whatever reason, the goaltender had a worse save percentage when that player was on the ice than he did any other player on the team, which contributed to the bad plus-minus. The player signed a one-year deal this season and his plus-minus improved, largely because the goalie&rsquo;s SP when he was on the ice was better than it was for most of the other forwards on the team. &ldquo;I wonder if they&rsquo;re going to remember that and use it in their favor this time,&rdquo; he said.</p><h2><b>7</b></h2><p>Reilly Smith&rsquo;s NHL rank in Corsi Close for the 2013-14 season, tops among pending restricted free agents. The league&rsquo;s current collective bargaining agreement sets no precedent regarding the use of advance stats in arbitration<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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WARMING UP TO FANCY STATS

<div class="byline">By Charlie Teljeur</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011978/9992211-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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THE INSTIGATOR

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021441/9992242-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="514" height="686"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(RICHARD WOLOWICZ/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>+PLUS</b></h2><h3><b>MANTHA-STIC</b></h3><p>Red Wings prospect <b><i>Anthony Mantha</i></b> scores 57 goals in 57 regular season games and 24 goals in 24 playoff games for Val-d&rsquo;Or of the QMJHL.</p><h2><b>&ndash; MINUS</b></h2><h3><b>UNFAIR SHAKE</b></h3><p>Boston&rsquo;s Milan Lucic threatens Montreal&rsquo;s Dale Weise and Alexei Emelin in the handshake line after losing Game 7 of their playoff series.</p><h2><b>+PLUS</b></h2><h3><b>VIVE LA FRANCE</b></h3><p>Led by ex-NHL goalie Cristobal Huet, France upsets Canada at the World Championship for their first international win over Canada since 1995.</p><h2><b>&ndash;MINUS</b></h2><h3><b>DRUG TEST FAILURE</b></h3><p>Buffalo&rsquo;s Zenon Konopka suspended 20 games for violating NHL/NHLPA&rsquo;s performance-enhancing substances program.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0011-02

PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012320/9992273-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>GIANT KILLERS</b></p><p>Former NHL goalie Cristobal Huet helped France beat Canada at the World Championship.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(XAVIER LAINE/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>OW, BOB NICHOLSON MUST</b> have been far more valuable than we could have ever imagined. The guy retires as president and CEO of Hockey Canada and in its first game in international competition after Canada loses 3-2 in a shootout to France.</p><p>Digest that for a moment. Canada. Lost. To. France. Not field hockey, air hockey, table hockey, underwater hockey or tonsil hockey. (The last one we&rsquo;d have to give to France.)</p><p>Say what you want about the rest of the world catching up and improving. Go ahead and let yourself believe this was an Olympic year, and Canada didn&rsquo;t have access to some players who would have otherwise played. Soothe yourself by focusing on this being one of the youngest and least experienced teams Canada has sent to this event. But the reality is there&rsquo;s no way to put lipstick on this pig. Canada lost to a team that has a defenseman, Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel, who plays in the Central League. He plays for the Quad City Mallards, which shouldn&rsquo;t be confused with the Angers Ducs or Dijon Ducs. Three of their guys &ndash; Baptiste Amar, Yorick Treille and Luc Tardif &ndash; play for something called the Grenoble Bruleurs de Loups. Canada got stoned by Cristobal Huet, a 38-year-old goalie the Chicago Blackhawks paid $11.3 million not to play in the NHL.</p><p>That wouldn&rsquo;t have happened if Canada had sent an all-star team of American League players to Belarus. So I&rsquo;m going to put it out there. This, my friends, is Canada&rsquo;s worst defeat on the international stage. Here are some other contenders, listed in chronological order. Discuss among yourselves.</p><p><b><i>Feb. 26, 1933:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>Playing at the World Championship in Prague, Canada was represented by a team called the Toronto National Sea Fleas (seriously) and were coached by Harold Ballard. (Talk about your precursors.) Canada lost 2-1 in overtime to USA in the gold medal game, marking the first time &ndash; in six World Championships and Olympics &ndash; that Canada had not finished first.</i></p><p><b><i>Feb. 11, 1936:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>At the 1936 Winter Games in Germany, Canada lost 2-1 to a Great Britain team that had nine players who grew up playing hockey in Canada. The Canadians finished second, marking the first time they had not won Olympic gold.</i></p><p><b><i>March 15, 1963:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>At the worlds in Stockholm, Canada lost 4-1 to</i>&nbsp;<i>Sweden, then was beaten 4-2 by the Soviet Union to finish out of the medals for the first time in a World Championship or Olympics in which it had participated.</i></p><p><b><i>Sept. 2, 1972:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>Playing in Game 1 of the Summit Series at the Montreal Forum, the best players in the NHL were pummelled 7-3 when the Soviets beat Canada. The game began an eight-game wake-up call to a country that had previously thought its best players could beat anyone on the globe.</i></p><p><b><i>April 21, 1982:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>At the World Championship in Helsinki, Canada played to a 3-3 tie with Italy. Mama Mia! The Canadians did, however, redeem themselves by winning the bronze medal.</i></p><p><b><i>Jan. 4, 1987:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>Playing in the World Junior Championship in Piestany and leading the Soviet Union 4-2 midway through the game, Canada got involved in a brawl against the Soviets that resulted in both teams being kicked out of the tournament.</i></p><p><b><i>Jan. 4, 1992:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>This loss was so bad it was to a country that didn&rsquo;t even previously exist. At the WJC in Fussen, Germany, a Canadian club that included Eric Lindros, Paul Kariya and Scott Niedermayer lost 7-2 to the Commonwealth of Independent States, a team that started the tournament as the Soviet Union. It led to a disappointing sixth-place finish.</i></p><p><b><i>Jan. 3, 1998:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>If there is going to be any dispute about the worst Canadian game ever, this one will provide the fodder. Playing in the world juniors in Finland with a team that included Vincent Lecavalier, Matt Cooke and Roberto Luongo, and a coaching staff that included Peter DeBoer, Canada closed out the tournament with a 6-3 loss to Kazakhstan, which plummeted it to eighth place, its worst showing in the tournament.</i></p><h2><b><i>POST TO POST/</i></b></h2><p><i>Get features like this and a whole lot more daily at</i>&nbsp;<b><i><a href="http://THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM/BLOG">THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM/BLOG</a></i></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-01

INTERNATIONAL IGNOMINY

<div class="byline">BY AMY CLEVELAND & GUSTAN KOUMANTAROS</div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he starting goalies <b>(COREY CRAWFORD, JONATHAN QUICK AND TIM THOMAS)</b> of the past three Stanley Cup winners each posted a goals-against average of 2.00 or lower and a save percentage of .926 or higher in the regular season and playoffs of their championship years</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-031171/9992374-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="899" height="1195"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04803/9992367-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="1180" height="962"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011989/9992360-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="1108" height="859"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-012302/9992353-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="984" height="898"></div><p>At 42, the Czech Republic&rsquo;s <b>JAROMIR JAGR</b> was the oldest player at this year&rsquo;s World Championship. He&rsquo;s nearly 25 years older than Switzerland&rsquo;s Kevin Fiala, who was the youngest at just 17 years old</p><p>Ninety-five years ago, the Stanley Cup final was cancelled when several members of the <b>MONTREAL CANADIENS</b> contracted the Spanish flu. The only other year the Cup wasn&rsquo;t awarded was during the 2005 lockout</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021735/9992346-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="251" height="170"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-05552/9992339-1-eng-US/f0014-052.jpg" title="f0014-05" width="991" height="1236"></div><h2><b>97</b></h2><p>Post-season games the <b>SAN JOSE SHARKS</b> have played since 2005-06 &ndash; most of any non-Cup winning team</p><p><b>WINNIPEG</b> and Phoenix are the only active relocated NHL franchises to have never won the Stanley Cup. Carolina (2006), Colorado (1996, 2001) Dallas (1999) and New Jersey (1995, 2000, 2003) have all won before</p><h2><b>266</b></h2><p><b>CHRIS CHELIOS</b> is the all-time leader in post-season games played with</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-06427/9992332-1-eng-US/f0014-062.jpg" title="f0014-06" width="599" height="558"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021414/9992325-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="1372" height="965"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03984/9992318-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="299" height="250"></div><p>The <b>ALLEN AMERICANS</b> are the third Central League team to win back-to-back titles with their 4-1 series win over the Denver Cutthroats. Jamie Schaafsma was named playoff MVP with six goals, nine points in the final</p><p>Patrice Bergeron, <b>ANZE KOPITAR</b> and Justin Williams have dominated puck possession since 2011. They are the only players in the top 10 for Corsi in each of the past three years</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-05517/9992311-1-eng-US/f0015-052.jpg" title="f0015-05" width="225" height="193"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04737/9992304-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="452" height="583"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ALLEN AMERICANS: CLARISSA MAKI)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0014-03

Ice CHIPS BITS & BITES FROM THE HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">&#x2013; DEBRA RUGHOO</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-012066/9992405-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>IMMORTALIZED</b></p><p>Mike Ilitch&rsquo;s wife, Marian, has had her name engraved on the Stanley Cup four times.</p></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>VER THE PAST 120 YEARS,</b> 2,372 names have been engraved on Lord Stanley&rsquo;s Cup. The vast majority are men, but 12 women also have their names etched onto hockey&rsquo;s Holy Grail, with the first coming 60 years ago.</p><p>When Detroit Red Wings owner James Norris Sr. (after whom the Norris Trophy is named) passed away in 1952, his 24-year-old daughter, Marguerite took over as team president, becoming the first female executive in NHL history. In her second season, the Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens to capture the Stanley Cup, and Marguerite became the first woman to have her name engraved on the trophy. When Detroit repeated as champs the following season, her name was included again.</p><p>Marguerite stepped down as the Wings&rsquo; president after the 1955 Cup and was succeeded by her brother, Bruce. In the quarter-century he ran the Wings, the team never won the Cup again. In 1982, he sold the struggling club to current owners Mike and Marian Ilitch.</p><p>Under new ownership, Detroit eventually became contenders and won Stanley Cups in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008. Marian had her name engraved on the Cup each time, and her daughters Denise Ilitch Lites, Lisa Ilitch Murray, and Carole Ilitch did as well since they all own shares in the team. In 2002, Wings executive assistant, Nancy Beard, also had her name added to the chalice.</p><p>In total, half of the women who have their names on the Stanley Cup are part of the Detroit organization. The only other team that has more than one female etched into the trophy is the New Jersey Devils. When the club won the Cup in 2000, the names of Marie Carnevale, executive assistant to president and GM Lou Lamoriello, and Callie Smith, scouting staff assistant, were included.</p><p>The following year, New Jersey tried to defend its title, but lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the final. Since Charlotte Grahame was the first local employee for the Avalanche when the team moved to Denver from Quebec in 1995, GM Pierre Lacroix insisted her name be added. Three years later, Charlotte&rsquo;s son, John Grahame, won the Cup as a backup goalie with the Tampa Bay Lightning, making them the first mother-son combination to have their names on the trophy.</p><p>Another first happened when the Calgary Flames won their first and only championship in 1989. Co-owner, Sonia Scurfield, became the first, and only, Canadian woman to have her name engraved on the Cup. Sonia is the widow of Ralph T. Scurfield, one of seven businessmen who purchased the Atlanta Flames and moved them to Calgary in 1980.</p><p>The two other women of the group of 12 to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup are Marie Denise DeBartolo York, owner and president of the Pittsburgh Penguins when they won their first championship in 1991, and Susan Samueli, co-owner of the Anaheim Ducks when they claimed the trophy in 2007.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-01

LORD STANLEY’S LUCKY LADIES

<div class="byline">BY SAL BARRY, WEBMASTER OF THE HOCKEY CARD SITE PUCKJUNK.COM</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021573/9992443-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="437" height="624"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-031140/9992436-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="612" height="437"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ROBERT LABERGE/ALLSPORT)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>M</span>APLE LEAFS DEFENSEMAN BILL BARILKO</b> scored the series-clinching goal in the 1951 Stanley Cup final. Sadly, he died in a plane crash on a fishing trip that August. The Leafs didn&rsquo;t win another Stanley Cup until 1962, the year Barilko&rsquo;s body was found. A few cards have been made of Barilko&rsquo;s memorable goal, but a hand-colored photograph of &lsquo;Bashin&rsquo; Bill&rsquo; &ndash; flying mid-air as the puck crosses the goal line &ndash; stands out in the 1951-52 Parkhurst set. Forty years later, Pro Set issued a card using a sepia-toned version of the famed photo.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-02

In The CARDS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ALEX KOZOVSKI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011943/9992481-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>LIFELONG LOYALTY</b></p><p>Wayne Hollett has been a THN subscriber since 1948, a year after the magazine launched.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(WAYNE HOLLETT)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>AYNE HOLLETT IS A DIEHARD</b> fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs who used to listen to CBC games on radio before they were broadcast on television. But he has an even older hockey tradition that he&rsquo;s followed for more than half a century.</p><p>Hollett, 82, grew up and still lives in Burin, Nfld., where he remembers visiting local magazine stands regularly, picking up newspapers, books, pamphlets and anything to do with hockey. There weren&rsquo;t many accessible hockey publications around at the time, only picture-centric periodicals such as <i>Hockey Pictorial</i> or <i>Blueline Hockey</i>. He got his hands on anything he could until he heard about a new hockey-only magazine. &ldquo;The first volume I missed when I was 14 years old, back in 1947,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I remember going to our old post-office mailbox and getting eight The Hockey News&rsquo; at the same time. As a 15-year-old, I almost went nuts&hellip;Well, I&rsquo;m a hockey nut anyway.&rdquo;</p><p>He subscribed in 1948, after THN&rsquo;s inaugural year, and he continues the routine to this day. The 2013-14 season marks the 66th straight that he&rsquo;s filled out his subscriber card and carried it to the local post office. &ldquo;All through the years I&rsquo;ve saved them all,&rdquo; Hollett says. &ldquo;I have practically every one here. They&rsquo;re in my attic, but I don&rsquo;t know what they&rsquo;re like. I&rsquo;m afraid to look.&rdquo;</p><p>Hollett&rsquo;s mementos have settled in tote boxes, brimming with hundreds of issues, record books and scrapbooks &ndash; the history of the game at his fingertips. In addition to his THN archives, he&rsquo;s kept his old calendars from Maple Leaf Gardens, countless photos including prints from Dewitt &lsquo;Tex&rsquo; Coulter (an NFL player-turned-hockey artist from the 1950s) and a dozen scrapbooks, with one dedicated to Alex Faulkner, the first Newfoundlander to play in the NHL.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-031016/9992474-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="885" height="422"></div><p>His love for the game is recognized in the community, with locals referring to him as their own &lsquo;Mr. Hockey.&rsquo; When people ask him his name, he says &ldquo;I&rsquo;m Wayne, as in Wayne Gretzky.&rdquo; He regularly reminisces with a few close friends he&rsquo;s known for years, talking hockey whenever they get the chance, whether it&rsquo;s a run-in at Tim Hortons or a lengthy chat at the mall.</p><p>Hollett&rsquo;s passion for the game and collecting hasn&rsquo;t slowed down in more than 60 years. He still goes out regularly to buy packs of hockey cards. He watches every Leafs game &ndash; the only team he&rsquo;ll watch &ndash; but still recites the 1946-47 Leafs roster better than today&rsquo;s team.</p><p>Although he continues to receive his THN issues with the same excitement he did 66 years ago, Hollett did have some words of advice for us, which we&rsquo;ve heeded. &ldquo;The last couple of years on my subscription, I wrote on the bottom of the card, &lsquo;This is my 64th subscription,&rsquo; then &lsquo;This is my 65th subscription&rsquo;&hellip;hoping being that long of a subscriber that you&rsquo;d give me a free one. Tell your boss that.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-01

WAYNE’S HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">&#x2013; GUSTAN KOUMANTAROS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021432/9992512-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="229" height="228"></div><h2><b>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</b></h2><p><i>(1967-present)</i></p><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>n preparation for the Pens inaugural NHL season, the <i>Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</i> sponsored a contest to name the team. Despite 26,000 entries (more than 700 of which came up with &ldquo;Penguins&rdquo;), only Carol McGregor, wife of part-owner Jack McGregor, can claim responsibility. She wanted a name that started with &ldquo;P.&rdquo; When she heard the team&rsquo;s home rink, the Civic Arena, was nicknamed &ldquo;The Igloo&rdquo; by locals, she felt &ldquo;Penguins&rdquo; was the perfect fit. The inverted triangle of the team&rsquo;s trademark logo, with the penguin in front, represents the city&rsquo;s &ldquo;Golden Triangle.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-02

Behind THE NAME

<div class="byline">WITH ADAM PROTEAU</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-021263/9992543-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>CREASE CONUNDRUM</b></p><p>The Penguins face a big decision with Marc-Andre Fleury, whose playoff struggles continued in 2014.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(GREGORY SHAMUS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011696/9992550-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="193" height="229"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE PITTSBURGH PENGUINS&rsquo; FEEBLE</b> exit from the playoffs was a huge letdown for the team&rsquo;s fans, but it wasn&rsquo;t exactly an out-of-nowhere turn of events. As the season went on, there was a growing sense the Penguins no longer were on par with the upper crust franchises &ndash; Boston in the East and any one of four or five teams in the West &ndash; and that perception was validated by their collapse after a 3-1 second-round series lead against the New York Rangers.</p><p>The heat for the loss was directed at coach Dan Bylsma, captain Sidney Crosby and, to a lesser degree, Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury. But GM Ray Shero paid the biggest price: he was fired just three days after the Pens were eliminated. And you can understand why: Shero was responsible for the devolution of what four years ago was a perennial Stanley Cup contender.</p><p>In fact, I&rsquo;d argue Shero deserves the majority of the blame for the way things turned out. When you consider Pittsburgh&rsquo;s structural deficiencies, especially compared to, say, the Blackhawks, it&rsquo;s clear how many decisions made by Penguins management contributed to the crossroads at which they&rsquo;ve arrived.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">SHERO COULDN&rsquo;T ESCAPE CRITICISM OR FIRING FOR HIS ROLE IN THE DEVOLUTION OF A PERENNIAL CUP CONTENDER</blockquote><p>In the wake of Pittsburgh&rsquo;s 2009 Cup victory, Shero&rsquo;s strategy was clear: identify and commit long-term dollars to his core. That wasn&rsquo;t odd, but in tying up big dollars to two centers (Crosby and Malkin), Shero hamstrung what he could do with his wingers and has chased solutions in every season thereafter &ndash; acquiring veterans Alexei Kovalev, Brenden Morrow, Jarome Iginla, Jussi Jokinen and James Neal &ndash; while depleting his pool of prospects and draft picks.</p><p>By the end of the Rangers series, Crosby was playing on a line with journeyman Lee Stempniak and rookie Brian Gibbons. Neal, the only winger signed for the next four seasons, had just two goals and four points in 13 post-season games, while Jokinen, a Shero steal off the waiver wire from Carolina in 2012-13, likely will leave as an unrestricted free agent this summer.</p><p>Why? Because Shero&rsquo;s choices have left the Pens with $55 million in salary commitments for 2014-15 and only 14 players under contract. Restricted free agent Brandon Sutter needs a new deal, as do UFA defensemen Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen. It will be nearly impossible to bring all three plus Jokinen back.</p><p>This has led to speculation Shero&rsquo;s replacement will have to look at the possibility of dealing Malkin. The return the spectacularly skilled Russian would bring on the trade market is considerable and his $9.5-million cap hit next season could easily be spread out to players on the wing or blueline to make Pittsburgh a more well-rounded squad. It would be painful in the interim, but worth it in the long run.</p><p>Another of Shero&rsquo;s failures is the situation in net. If the team wasn&rsquo;t strapped for cap space, he could&rsquo;ve and should&rsquo;ve made a move for a healthy veteran backup to Fleury, but that didn&rsquo;t happen, and Fleury&rsquo;s consistency issues again rose to the fore. With Pittsburgh possessing both its amnesty buyouts, there&rsquo;s every chance it uses one on the final year (at $5 million) of Fleury&rsquo;s contract.</p><p>What the Pens are left with is this: they&rsquo;ve fired Shero and still could dismiss Bylsma; they&rsquo;ll hold onto Crosby, move Fleury and perhaps Malkin; and watch as one or two key free agents leave. Again, compare this to Chicago, where GM Stan Bowman retained Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Corey Crawford, Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp and Brent Seabrook with ease.</p><p>If that seems like an indictment of Shero, it is.</p><p><b>WANT MORE PROTEAU?</b> GET DAILY UPDATES AT <b><a href="http://thehockeynews.com">THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM</a></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-02

LOSING IS THE PITTS

<div class="byline">BY RONNIE SHUKER</div><p>IN THE <b>CREASE//</b>PRESENTED BY <b>SUBARU</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011696/9992651-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="330" height="195"></div><h3><b>&gt;No. 1</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-021213/9992644-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="217" height="338"></div><h2><b>TUUKKA RASK</b></h2><p><b><i>GP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>58</i>&nbsp;<b><i>RECORD:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>36-15-6</i></p><p><b><i>GAA:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>2.04</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>.930</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SO:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>7</i></p><p><i>Rask is the NHL&rsquo;s beast of the crease, using his lanky 6-foot-2 frame to cover the net and leave opponents with little but the big bad Bruin to shoot at. He&rsquo;s the perfect mix of sound positional play and highlight-reel reflexes, which is why he&rsquo;s the Vezina Trophy favorite.</i></p><h3><b>&gt;No. 2</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03848/9992637-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="217" height="338"></div><h2><b>JONATHAN QUICK</b></h2><p><b><i>GP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>49</i>&nbsp;<b><i>RECORD:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>27-17-4</i></p><p><b><i>GAA:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>2.07</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>.915</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SO:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>6</i></p><p><i>Quick had a second consecutive &ldquo;off&rdquo; year after his otherworldly 2011-12 campaign that culminated in L.A.&rsquo;s first Stanley Cup. But he&rsquo;s widely regarded, and rightly so, as one of the best goalies in the world, and is by far the NHL&rsquo;s most acrobatic netminder.</i></p><h3><b>&gt;No. 3</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04580/9992630-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="217" height="338"></div><h2><b>CAREY PRICE</b></h2><p><b><i>GP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>59</i>&nbsp;<b><i>RECORD:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>34-20-5</i></p><p><b><i>GAA:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>2.32</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>.927</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SO:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>6</i></p><p><i>Price is Antarctic cool when the heat is on, as he showed at the 2014 Winter Olympics when he allowed all of three goals in five games. He rarely gets rattled, which is precisely the mentality a goalie needs to perform in pressure-packed Montreal.</i></p><h3><b>&gt;No. 4</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-05365/9992623-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="217" height="338"></div><h2><b>HENRIK LUNDQVIST</b></h2><p><b><i>GP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>63</i>&nbsp;<b><i>RECORD:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>33-24-5</i></p><p><b><i>GAA:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>2.36</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>.920</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SO:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>5</i></p><p><i>The immaculately manicured &lsquo;King Henrik&rsquo; would be No. 1 on any list of most fashionable NHLers, but he&rsquo;s also top-five in all-world goalies. With a Vezina Trophy (2012) and an Olympic gold medal (2006), only a Stanley Cup is missing from his collection.</i></p><h3><b>&gt;No. 5</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-06300/9992616-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg" title="f0020-06" width="217" height="338"></div><h2><b>CORY SCHNEIDER</b></h2><p><b><i>GP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>45</i>&nbsp;<b><i>RECORD:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>16-15-12</i></p><p><b><i>GAA:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>1.97</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>.921</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SO:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>3</i></p><p><i>Schneider has yet to play a full season as an NHL starter, but that&rsquo;s due to circumstances out of his control. In 143 career games, he&rsquo;s a sizzling 71-41-20, with a 2.12 GAA and .925 SP. He&rsquo;s ready to be a legit No. 1, and next season he&rsquo;ll prove why.</i></p><h3><b>&gt;No. 6</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-07247/9992609-1-eng-US/f0020-072.jpg" title="f0020-07" width="217" height="338"></div><h2><b>SEMYON VARLAMOV</b></h2><p><b><i>GP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>63</i>&nbsp;<b><i>RECORD:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>41-14-6</i></p><p><b><i>GAA:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>2.41</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>.927</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SO:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>2</i></p><p><i>Playing in the shadow of the one of the greatest goalies ever, Varlamov went from average to all kinds of awesome under Avalanche coach Patrick Roy. His 41 wins topped the league, and he was the only goaltender to face more than 2,000 shots this season.</i></p><h3><b>&gt;No. 7</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-08179/9992602-1-eng-US/f0020-082.jpg" title="f0020-08" width="217" height="338"></div><h2><b>SERGEI BOBROVSKY</b></h2><p><b><i>GP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>58</i>&nbsp;<b><i>RECORD:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>32-20-5</i></p><p><b><i>GAA:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>2.38</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>.923</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SO:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>5</i></p><p><i>There are no more crease concerns in Columbus with Bobrovsky between the pipes. After winning the Vezina last season, &lsquo;Bob&rsquo; had a slow start to 2013-14 with the Blue Jackets. He got it going in the second half, however, to prove last season was no fluke.</i></p><h3><b>&gt;No. 8</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-09130/9992595-1-eng-US/f0020-092.jpg" title="f0020-09" width="217" height="338"></div><h2><b>BEN BISHOP</b></h2><p><b><i>GP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>63</i>&nbsp;<b><i>RECORD:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>37-14-7</i></p><p><b><i>GAA:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>2.23</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>.924</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SO:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>5</i></p><p><i>&lsquo;Big Ben&rsquo; was the biggest reason the Lightning made the post-season, and his absence in the playoffs was the main one why the Bolts went out with a whimper. Bishop was sensational in his breakout NHL year, earning him his first Vezina nomination.</i></p><h3><b>&gt;No. 9</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1099/9992588-1-eng-US/f0020-102.jpg" title="f0020-10" width="217" height="338"></div><h2><b>JONATHAN BERNIER</b></h2><p><b><i>GP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>55</i>&nbsp;<b><i>RECORD:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>26-19-7</i></p><p><b><i>GAA:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>2.68</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>.923</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SO:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>1</i></p><p><i>In his first season as a Maple Leaf, Bernier faced more rubber than a NASCAR speedway, with a league-leading 32.5 shots per game fired at him. His importance showed when he was injured late in the season and the Leafs ended up missing the playoffs.</i></p><h3><b>&gt;No. 10</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1174/9992581-1-eng-US/f0020-112.jpg" title="f0020-11" width="217" height="338"></div><h2><b>COREY CRAWFORD</b></h2><p><b><i>GP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>59</i>&nbsp;<b><i>RECORD:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>32-16-10</i></p><p><b><i>GAA:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>2.26</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SP:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>.917</i>&nbsp;<b><i>SO:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>2</i></p><p><i>Crawford is still fighting for his due despite winning a Stanley Cup in 2013 and leading Chicago to the Western Conference final this season. He gets overshadowed by the Hawks&rsquo; superstars, but they know he&rsquo;s every bit as important to the team&rsquo;s success.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-01

TOP 10 PERFORMERS

f0022-01

CANADA UNDER CONSTRUCTION

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA IN VANCOUVER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011521/9992727-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="655" height="485"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-021094/9992720-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="1112" height="1023"><figcaption class="caption-body">RYAN <b>KESLER</b> <span class="photo-credit">(JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HIRTY MINUTES AFTER THE NHL TRADE</b> deadline, Ryan Kesler took to the practice ice in Glendale, Ariz. Thirty minutes before the deadline, it appeared he might be flying to a new home.</p><p>Vancouver tried trading Kesler to Pittsburgh in a package deal and selling its no-thanks stance as a stronger push toward an unlikely playoff position. But a retool, rebuild or refocus &ndash; whatever you call it &ndash; remains the off-season objective after GM Mike Gillis and coach John Tortorella were fired in April. Rookie hockey operations czar Trevor Linden not only had to get his management house in order, but rebuild the foundation of a once-feared franchise that has serious cracks and is showing its age. The Canucks&rsquo; run to Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup final seems like a mirage.</p><p>Seven roster players will be north of 30 next fall. There are also nine no-trade clauses, seven significant contract extensions and two young Swedish goaltenders to shoulder the load. If all that isn&rsquo;t unnerving enough, the Canucks won one road game in the realignment death march through the Pacific Division, where they didn&rsquo;t match up well physically or skillfully. They had a humbling 1-8-2 record and were outscored 35-14.</p><p>The Canucks are a one-dimensional team. They can shut you down and were ninth on the penalty kill and 14th in goals against in 2013-14, but they can&rsquo;t score and had the 26th-ranked power play and 28th-ranked offense. If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, especially with an aging core, then some sanity prevailed a day before the trade deadline. Moving Roberto Luongo for Shawn Matthias and Jacob Markstrom, and picking up 15 percent of Luongo&rsquo;s remaining contract, was a start to provide the change fans have been clamoring for. Trotting out the same product got to everybody, and the only certainty entering the off-season was uncertainty.</p><p>The truth is that in Alexander Edler and Kesler the Canucks have two big chips to play on the trade market. Tortorella admitted he never connected with Edler, and the defenseman played tentatively. Far removed from a banner 2011-12 season in which he set career highs with 11 goals and 49 points, Edler looked lost and lacked confidence as his rating tumbled to a league worst minus-39. Detroit and Anaheim showed interest at the 2013 draft before Edler&rsquo;s six-year, $30-million extension kicked in.</p><p>With two years remaining at $5 million annually, Kesler can put a contender over the top. He also turns 30 on Aug. 31, so his window to win is narrowing, and he would waive his no-trade clause to go to one of six teams on his trade list.</p><p>The problem in any Kesler scenario is getting a prime center in return. The Canucks couldn&rsquo;t command that at the trade deadline, but Kesler is still coveted and there might not be an immediate timetable for a move. Vancouver could try to find him a winger, but notable unrestricted free agents are aging and expensive and the Canucks will have about $10 million to spend in free agency, more if they use their remaining amnesty buyout.</p><p>There&rsquo;s a development gap in Vancouver. With no prime-time prospect from the affiliate Utica Comets, 2011 picks Nicklas Jensen and Frank Corrado will make the big club next season. So will 2013 first-rounder Bo Horvat. The Canucks would like to believe they&rsquo;re one or two players &ndash; or a rejuvenation of Henrik and Daniel Sedin &ndash; away from contending again. They might be, but it won&rsquo;t be any time soon.</p><p>That sideways step no franchise wants to take has arrived in Vancouver.</p><h2><b>2.33</b></h2><p>Vancouver&rsquo;s goals per game. Only the Florida Panthers (2.29) and Buffalo Sabres (1.83) ranked lower</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03758/9992713-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="1426" height="767"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0024-01

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SPORTAK IN CALGARY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-011332/9992772-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="574" height="491"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02942/9992765-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="1153" height="1023"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARK <b>GIORDANO</b> <span class="photo-credit">(GERRY THOMAS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span>S MUCH AS THE SEA OF RED WOULD</b> love to storm again, it will be a long time before it comes around for a second pass. Sure, the teardown of the Flames is complete, but those finishing touches on building a Stanley Cup contender are so far off in the distance nobody can guess when they will happen. Maybe it&rsquo;ll be nice and quick, the way things went for the Blackhawks when Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews arrived in Chicago. Or maybe the Flames are staring at a long rebuild, a wandering-in-the-desert scenario similar to what the Hawks went through in their initial attempts to return to past glory.</p><p>For the Flames, the hard hat now belongs to Brad Treliving, the former Phoenix Coyotes assistant GM. He is being counted on to fix the mess Jay Feaster left behind. Ultimately, there aren&rsquo;t many key cogs or much top-end talent in place. Calgary&rsquo;s biggest piece appears to be 19-year-old Sean Monahan, whose 22-goal campaign is the best rookie season of any Flame since before he was born.</p><p>After Monahan, it&rsquo;s rather dicey who could be part of the solution. Defenseman T.J. Brodie appears to be the puck-moving, top-three blueliner all winning teams have. Centers Mikael Backlund and Joe Colborne both enjoyed huge leaps forward this season, but neither can be considered a first-line standout. Down the list, there are plenty of question marks surrounding skilled left wingers Sven Baertschi and Johnny Gaudreau, goalie prospects Joni Ortio and Jon Gillies, defensemen Tyler Wotherspoon and Patrick Sieloff, and forwards Markus Granlund, Emile Poirier, Morgan Klimchuk, as well as 2012 first-rounder Mark Jankowski.</p><p>Treliving, with president of hockey operations Brian Burke as his boss, has plenty of work ahead. Up first is the draft, where the Flames not only have the fourth-overall selection, but also extra picks in the second (Colorado&rsquo;s) and third round (Pittsburgh&rsquo;s). Not only must Calgary mine more than just a couple quality skilled players among those picks, some size and grit must come with them, too.</p><p>Teams haven&rsquo;t had to pay a high physical price against Calgary in recent years, because the Flames aren&rsquo;t big and mean enough. But the focus can&rsquo;t solely be on the truculence Burke is famous for touting. It&rsquo;s likely Calgary will also be in the mix to land Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel, phenoms in the 2015 draft, so dealing its first-rounder is a no-no. From there, the Flames must improve their development of youngsters. For whatever reason, too many draft picks simply haven&rsquo;t made the cut. Having their American League team now in Glens Falls, N.Y., should help the cause. The reduced traveling (compared to the past five years in Abbotsford, B.C.) should not only reduce the farm team&rsquo;s constant injury woes, but also allow for much more practice time.</p><p>One way the Flames could help their reboot would be to trade a couple veterans who would garner healthy returns. Burke has called captain Mark Giordano an untouchable, but he&rsquo;ll be 31 next season. He&rsquo;s coming off a career year and has a desirable contract for two more seasons, so there could be a bidding war for him. It also would be prudent to investigate trade scenarios for veteran forwards Curtis Glencross and Jiri Hudler. A buyout for under-producing defenseman Dennis Wideman may also be pondered, though the Flames don&rsquo;t need to clear payroll. More likely, they could add a big salary player or two.</p><p>Ultimately, the quick fix won&rsquo;t work without that base. The future of the Flames rests on staying patient and finding the right group of young, talented players to rebuild the franchise around.</p><h2><b>.79</b></h2><p>Calgary&rsquo;s 5-on-5 goals-for/against ratio. Only the Oilers (.71) and Sabres (.59) were worse this season</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03655/9992758-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="1416" height="757"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0025-01

CALGARY FLAMES

<div class="byline">BY ROB TYCHKOWSKI IN EDMONTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011529/9992817-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="497" height="819"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-021103/9992810-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="1127" height="1136"><figcaption class="caption-body">TAYLOR <b>HALL</b> <span class="photo-credit">(DEREK LEUNG/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>WO MORE SEASONS OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS</b> and the Edmonton Oilers will match the worst stretch of futility in the 97-year history of the NHL set by the Florida Panthers from 2000 to 2011. That&rsquo;s how far the franchise has fallen since making the Stanley Cup final in 2006.</p><p>After eight straight years without a postseason appearance, it&rsquo;s clear the Oilers need fixing. The seemingly endless cycle of losing and losing and losing, then holding out their hats like street corner beggars, hoping the draft lottery will solve their problems, isn&rsquo;t working. The Oilers need to be more aggressive and pro-active because, to paraphrase the Bible, the draft helps those who help themselves.</p><p>Any 12-year-old with Wi-Fi and access to Central Scouting could have picked Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov, but in the eight painful years since the last time the Oilers were good, they have discovered there&rsquo;s much more to building a strong and successful program than waiting for teenagers to grow into champions.</p><p>New GM Craig MacTavish seems to be providing more of a take-charge attitude, making a flurry of trades in an attempt to shake up Edmonton&rsquo;s soft, losing culture. He robbed the St. Louis Blues by getting David Perron in exchange for Magnus Paajarvi and turned the netminding tandem of Devan Dubnyk and Jason LaBarbera into Ben Scrivens and Viktor Fasth. Good moves, but the Oilers need to address some major core issues if they&rsquo;re going to climb their way back to respectability.</p><p>It&rsquo;s not like they need a complete overhaul. Four new players could almost do it. The problem: the four players they need are the most sought-after commodities in the NHL. They need a pair of top-six power forwards in the 220-pound range to complement the small skilled forwards they already have, and they need a No. 1 and No. 2 defenseman. Those kinds of ingredients aren&rsquo;t easy to come by.</p><p>Up front, the makeup of the team is all wrong. Teams can&rsquo;t win in today&rsquo;s NHL with smallish forwards in their top six and with Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, Yakupov, Jordan Eberle and Sam Gagner, the Oilers have five. They need size and muscle in their top two lines to compete with the likes of Los Angeles, San Jose and Anaheim. David Perron has the aggressiveness but not the build to be a power forward. The Oilers need two more like him, only bigger.</p><p>On defense they need a ton of work. There are some prospects that might step into the No. 1 and No. 2 roles, but Darnell Nurse is at least a few years away from doing so, and Oscar Klefbom and Martin Marincin have combined for 61 NHL games.</p><p>Sitting on your hands and waiting/hoping they develop into Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith is too passive of a strategy. If the Oilers hope to fill at least some of those voids, and avoid seeing their eight-year drought turn into 10 or 11, they will require the bold moves MacTavish promised when he took the job. It means dealing away some of their prized youth. To get something you&rsquo;re going to have to give up something.</p><p>The Oilers also need to take a very close look at their scouting staff and the development model. There is virtually nothing on the roster that&rsquo;s come from outside the first round of the draft.</p><p>Finally, the franchise needs to develop an identity. The fast, skilled thing doesn&rsquo;t stand up well when you&rsquo;re one of the lowest scoring teams. The Oilers aren&rsquo;t high scoring, tight defensively or physically aggressive.</p><p>What else is there? Management needs to decide on a look for this team and acquire players who fit that look, and they need to do it before the oil spill spreads too far.</p><h2><b>4</b></h2><p>Times the Oilers have finished with fewer than 30 regular season wins in the past five seasons</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03856/9992803-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="1427" height="757"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0026-01

EDMONTON OILERS

<div class="byline">BY TIM CAMPBELL IN WINNIPEG</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-011404/9992862-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="598" height="667"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02985/9992855-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="1510" height="1085"><figcaption class="caption-body">ONDREJ <b>PAVELEC</b> <span class="photo-credit">(LANCE THOMSON/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>H</span>OW TO FIX THE WINNIPEG JETS? IF YOU</b> could snap your fingers and reduce goals against, get better goaltending and more consistent play from the team&rsquo;s core, you&rsquo;d be most of the way there.</p><p>The impatient, hair-on-fire crowd that seems to be getting more vocal in Winnipeg would like to start yesterday, but that exercise in what-ifs and maybes seems like a lot of hot air.</p><p>Why? Because there&rsquo;s no evidence GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is into high-risk transactions. His three years have seen tinkering at the edges &ndash; trading defenseman Johnny Oduya for a pair of 2013 draft picks; the acquisition of wingers Devin Setoguchi and Michael Frolik &ndash; but also a more-fervent-with-time message that the Jets will be a draft-and-develop team. So the attempted fix will almost certainly come from within.</p><p>Yes, the league&rsquo;s smallest market has generated middle-of-the-pack revenues, which would allow the Jets to spend, but Winnipeg isn&rsquo;t about to become an attractive free agent destination. With that option for acquiring impact players off the table, patience and internal development are it.</p><p>The Jets added bona fide NHL regulars in rookies Jacob Trouba and Mark Scheifele in 2013-14, payoffs already from the 2011 and 2012 drafts. But Winnipeg, with 237 goals against this season, has consistently been a bottom-10 team defensively. Its No. 1 goalie for five seasons, Ondrej Pavelec, has done little to inspire. His numbers, in particular his 3.01 goals-against average and .901 save percentage, were at or near the bottom among NHL starters in 2013-14 and aren&rsquo;t far from his career stats.</p><p>Pavelec was becoming a lightning rod of criticism near the end of the season &ndash; a compliance buyout has been suggested in more than one corner &ndash; but in his April postmortem, Cheveldayoff was as direct as he&rsquo;s ever been, declaring Pavelec will be the No. 1 goalie when camp opens in September.</p><p>Winnipeg finished seven points back of the final playoff spot, with no one issue triggering the failure: Pavelec&rsquo;s play, a franchise swoon in March, the inability of core players to reach the next level for a third straight year and a key injury to Scheifele were all factors.</p><p>The year was difficult to begin with when the franchise switched from the Eastern Conference to the West. Another tough adjustment came when coach Claude Noel was replaced with Paul Maurice.</p><p>Within a week of the season&rsquo;s end, Cheveldayoff extended Maurice with a four-year contract, a move that installs a more experienced coach who has a comprehensive plan for growth. The move didn&rsquo;t cause much debate and Maurice, who won nine of his first 11 as Jets coach, managed to coax a little more fight and bite out of the team.</p><p>After reaching a tie with eighth-place Dallas March 1, the Jets went into a lethal six-game losing streak. Three were lost in overtime or a shootout, and all defeats were well contested. That&rsquo;s a huge difference from the fatal five-game spiral in late 2012-13, when the team was non-competitive in surrendering 10 points and earning none.</p><p>Depth is building within the Jets organization. The team believes Trouba and Scheifele are the start of the next wave, but it&rsquo;s a little harder at this stage to identify the next area of improvement.</p><p>Big years from established players such as Evander Kane, Zach Bogosian or even Pavelec would help. Or the fix could come in a year or two with help from draft picks Josh Morrissey, Adam Lowry or Nic Petan, or perhaps from young goalies Connor Hellebuyck or Eric Comrie.</p><p>As much as some Jets fans would like it, Cheveldayoff isn&rsquo;t into speeding up the clock, so time will continue to tick.</p><h2><b>2</b></h2><p>Win streaks of two or more games after the NHL&rsquo;s Olympic break. Both were only two wins long</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03709/9992848-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="1433" height="777"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0027-01

WINNIPEG JETS

<div class="byline">BY MICHAEL TRAIKOS IN TORONTO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011505/9992907-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="560" height="566"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-021056/9992900-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="949" height="1086"><figcaption class="caption-body">DION <b>PHANEUF</b> <span class="photo-credit">(ABELIMAGES/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>B</span>RIAN BURKE ONCE SAID THAT THE GUY</b> who manages to bring a Stanley Cup to Toronto would have schools named after him. And the ones who fail? Well, there are a number of mental institutions always looking for names. That&rsquo;s the cost of doing business in a city that has been craving a Stanley Cup championship since 1967.</p><p>Burke, who constantly swung for the fences while he was in Toronto, failed to get the job done, just as John Ferguson Jr., Pat Quinn and countless others did before him. Now, it&rsquo;s Brendan Shanahan&rsquo;s turn to try fixing a franchise that isn&rsquo;t exactly broken but is still in need of several parts to get the machine running properly.</p><p>Shanahan, who was hired as Leafs president shortly after the season ended, inherits a team that famously imploded after losing 12 of its last 14 games and finished with the eighth-worst record in the NHL. Toronto lacks a No. 1 center, a No. 1 defenseman and is contractually obligated to pay David Clarkson $5.3 million a season (or about $1 million per goal scored) for the next six years.</p><p>It&rsquo;s not all bad. Phil Kessel has been one of the NHL&rsquo;s top goal scorers since the lockout, while Jonathan Bernier had a promising season in his first year as a starting goalie. And from James van Riemsdyk and Nazem Kadri to Jake Gardiner and Morgan Rielly, Toronto is rich with players 25 years or younger around which to build. Still, something needs to change after a season in which the Leafs had the league&rsquo;s worst shot-differential and became the poster boys for the analytics revolution.</p><p>So where does Shanahan start? If it were up to us, we would have replaced the coach and started fresh with someone who knows the names of the players on the fourth line. Instead, management rewarded Randy Carlyle with a two-year contract extension, meaning it&rsquo;s the players who have to change. The Leafs have six pending unrestricted free agents, so change is inevitable. But the core of the roster is anchored to the team&rsquo;s long-term future. Kessel is locked up for eight more years, Dion Phaneuf for seven, Clarkson for six, and Joffrey Lupul, Tyler Bozak and van Riemsdyk for four.</p><p>Let&rsquo;s start with the captain. Stripping Phaneuf of the &lsquo;C&rsquo; would be a symbolic gesture aimed at making someone accountable for this season&rsquo;s collapse, as well as the Game 7 implosion against the Boston Bruins in 2013. But if the Leafs really want to send a message, they should cut ties completely while they have the chance.</p><p>Phaneuf, whose offensive numbers have been declining since he was traded from the Flames, was re-signed in January to a seven-year deal worth $49 million that puts him on par with Zdeno Chara, Erik Karlsson and the league&rsquo;s best defensemen. Yet he might not even be the best blueliner on the Leafs. With Gardiner evolving into a top-pairing defenseman and Rielly not far behind, the Leafs should part ways with the 29-year-old Phaneuf while he still has value and use the cap space to get help on the back end or depth down the middle.</p><p>From there, it&rsquo;s a matter of being patient and prudent. The Leafs aren&rsquo;t one or two pieces away from challenging for the Cup, so instead of re-signing Dave Bolland (a Mimico, Ont., native just like Shanahan) to a $5-million contract, allow Peter Holland or 2013 first-rounder Frederik Gauthier to develop into the team&rsquo;s No. 3 center, try and find more free agent bargains like Mason Raymond, who scored 19 goals in 2013-14, and hope Clarkson remembers how to play again.</p><p>Who knows? With a little luck, Brendan Shanahan Public School might not be all that far away.</p><h2><b>2</b></h2><p>Wins Toronto had in its final 14 regular season games. All 12 losses were in regulation time</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03781/9992893-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="1427" height="759"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0028-01

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE GARRIOCH IN OTTAWA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011514/9992952-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="491" height="587"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-021044/9992945-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="1180" height="1189"><figcaption class="caption-body">JASON <b>SPEZZA</b> <span class="photo-credit">(ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>THE SENATORS DIDN&rsquo;T JUST TAKE A STEP</b> back last season, they took a giant leap.</p><p>Although they&rsquo;ll tell you they finished only five points out of the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, the Senators were a world away from the team that had success during an abbreviated 2012-13 season. Gone was the tenacity. Gone was the drive. Gone was the desire that made them successful despite missing a host of regulars and helped them advance to the second round of the playoffs.</p><p>Now, with a long summer ahead, Ottawa must pick up the pieces. The biggest decision facing team owner Eugene Melnyk, GM Bryan Murray and coach Paul MacLean: what do you do with captain Jason Spezza? He&rsquo;s a year away from being an unrestricted free agent, and his time in Ottawa may be coming to its end.</p><p>Trying to fill the big shoes left by the departure of captain Daniel Alfredsson, the Senators bestowed the &lsquo;C&rsquo; on their best player, and Spezza welcomed it with open arms before feeling the wrath of fans. And as the Senators prepare to head for the draft with no first-round pick after dealing it to Anaheim for winger Bobby Ryan, the only way to get one back would be to deal Spezza.</p><p>Spezza and the Senators have reached a crossroads in the 30-year-old&rsquo;s career. He went to the Stanley Cup final in 2007, but since then he hasn&rsquo;t been able to help this team get back there. Murray should spend time trying to gauge interest in what he can get for Spezza. If a team is willing to pay a No. 1 pick, a player who can help and a prospect, then a move should be made. And given that Spezza&rsquo;s contract isn&rsquo;t onerous, there&rsquo;s bound to be interest in him from teams like St. Louis and Anaheim.</p><p>However, that&rsquo;s not the only change necessary. Defensively, the Senators really struggled. Part of that had to do with personnel, while some of it had to do with the system the team utilized. MacLean was showered with kudos when he won the Jack Adams Award in 2013, but he was as close to getting fired as any coach in the league this season. He will be on a short leash in 2014-15. The Senators were one of the league&rsquo;s most penalized teams this season, and MacLean has to implore this team to start playing smarter hockey and being better defensively.</p><p>Of course, one of the reasons why Ottawa was so awful defensively (27th overall) is that Craig Anderson was nowhere near the goalie he was in 2012-13, when he had a 1.69 goals-against average and a .941 save percentage. Anderson had a 3.00 GAA and .911 SP this year.</p><p>On the back end, there&rsquo;s no question Erik Karlsson and Marc Methot can be better than they were in 2013-14. On the other hand, Jared Cowen can&rsquo;t be much worse than he was, and that&rsquo;s a good thing. Since Mark Borowiecki is on a one-way contract, he&rsquo;ll be full-time with the Senators next year. It may be time to move Patrick Wiercioch to see if the club can get a rugged player.</p><p>The Senators struggles have a lot to do with not being tough enough to play against. Borowiecki has an edge, but this team needs a fourth-liner who plays that way.</p><p>With five key players &ndash; Spezza, Ryan, Methot, Anderson and left winger Clarke MacArthur &ndash; set to become UFAs in the summer of 2015, this is an important offseason in which to set the direction of the franchise. The Senators fully intend to be back in the playoffs next spring. If that&rsquo;s indeed the case, changes must be made. Coming back with the status quo won&rsquo;t work. And even if players from within do improve, making the post-season is still going to be a challenge in the highly competitive Atlantic Division.</p><h2><b>34.7</b></h2><p>Shots allowed per game. Only the Toronto Maple Leafs (35.9) allowed more pucks on net in 2013-14</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03754/9992938-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="1413" height="767"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0030-01

OTTAWA SENATORS

<div class="byline">BY&nbsp;RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011493/9993039-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>DATS FANCY</b></p><p>Pavel Datsyuk is the measuring stick to determine whether a new stat has merit.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(DAVE REGINEK/NHL VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HERE IS A REVOLUTION GOING ON</b> in the hockey world and it&rsquo;s not slowing down. Advanced statistics have brought an entirely new way of thinking into the culture of the sport, and as many of these concepts begin to work their way into the mainstream, the bloggers and analyzers who originally trumpeted the metrics are finding a new, bigger audience for their findings.</p><p>Skeptics remain, but when the Toronto Maple Leafs crashed out of the playoffs this season, it wasn&rsquo;t hard to figure out what happened: a team that had been dominated in the puck possession game all year long finally ran out of luck when goaltending and a high shooting percentage fell back to earth. For those who paid attention to the numbers, it was inevitable.</p><p>But what are these statistics and why should you know about them? Let us walk you through the world of advanced stats and answer those queries.</p><p><b><i>&gt; FIRST OFF, WHO ARE THESE GUYS?</i></b></p><p>Eric Tulsky is a hockey blogger who has written for numerous sites including <i>Broad Street Hockey</i> (he&rsquo;s a Flyers fan). He now has his own blog called Outnumbered on SB Nation. Tulsky works for a startup in Silicon Valley and has a PhD in chemistry from Cal-Berkeley as well as chemistry and physics degrees from Harvard.</p><p>Darryl Metcalf runs <a href="http://extraskater.com">extraskater.com</a>, which offers a great primer into the advanced stats world as well an assortment of different metrics. He&rsquo;s a Maple Leafs fan with a background in engineering, and he&rsquo;s also a consultant for a web firm.</p><p>Rob Vollman is the author of <i>Hockey Abstract</i> and runs <a href="http://hockeyabstract.com">hockeyabstract.com</a>, which is famous for its player usage charts. He grew up in Ottawa, where he created his own stats using The Hockey News, local box scores and hockey cards as references. He works in Calgary as an IT manager for the oil and gas industry and has a degree in computer science.</p><p>Others worth checking out are <a href="http://behindthenet.ca">behindthenet.ca</a>; <a href="http://mc79hockey.com">mc79hockey.com</a>; and James Mirtle, a writer for <i>Globe and Mail</i> (and guest columnist on pg. 36 of this issue).</p><p><b><i>&gt; WHAT STATS SHOULD I KNOW ABOUT?</i></b></p><p>The two main measurements are Corsi and Fenwick. Corsi is named after Jim Corsi the former Buffalo Sabres goalie coach who came up with a formula to track how busy his netminders had been the night before, thus giving him a sense of how hard they should be worked the next day in practice. His work was modified by blogger Vic Ferrari to apply to skaters and referred to as the Corsi rating. The statistic measures all shots directed at an opponent&rsquo;s net, including missed shots and blocked shots. When you add the same amount of shots given up, you basically have a plus-minus for puck possession, but with way more data points.</p><p>Fenwick (created by blogger Matt Fenwick) is similar, but doesn&rsquo;t count blocked shots. So why use Fenwick when Corsi is available? &ldquo;The shots that get blocked aren&rsquo;t scoring chances,&rdquo; Tulsky says. &ldquo;They were never going to be goals. So in the long run, Fenwick is a better approximation.&rdquo;</p><p>But Tulsky still uses Corsi for most of his work involving the short-term or when using  smaller sample sizes. Corsi is a better measure for a player, for example, while Fenwick is better for a team, since you get more data when looking at what 18 guys did versus one. Both are an expression of puck possession, which is at the heart of the advanced stats movement. Essentially, you can&rsquo;t score if you don&rsquo;t have the puck, so over the long run, you want to have the biscuit more than your opponents. Leading the league in blocked shots suddenly isn&rsquo;t so noble an accomplishment for a team, since it likely means it rarely has possession.</p><p>It&rsquo;s worth noting three of the past four Stanley Cup winners ranked in the top four of Fenwick that season, with Boston the only outlier (the Bruins finished 16th in 2011). The San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues were excellent Fenwick teams this season, but were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round by lower-seeded competitors. A hole in the theory? Nope, they lost to the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks, both of whom had even better Fenwick numbers than their opponents. And the fact the Colorado Avalanche were edged by the Minnesota Wild in the first round was no shock either. The Avs were a terrible possession team all year, but survived because of the amazing goaltending of Semyon Varlamov. In the long run, however, even he couldn&rsquo;t save them. The Wild dominated puck possession in a seven-game victory, even when Minnesota was forced to play its third- and fourth-string goaltenders due to injury.</p><p>To get an even more accurate picture of puck possession, there&rsquo;s also the Corsi close and Fenwick close metric. &ldquo;Close&rdquo; refers to situations in which the score is tied in any period or within one goal in the third period. The rationale being that a team shouldn&rsquo;t be penalized for playing a defensive style when they&rsquo;re up by a couple goals, nor should a team be rewarded for throwing the kitchen sink at an opponent once they&rsquo;ve already conceded a big lead.</p><p>Zone starts are another key metric, as they indicate how a player is deployed by his coach and how effective the player is at driving the play forward. Mike Ribeiro of the Phoenix Coyotes, for example, started 71.7 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone, but finished there only 55.6 percent of the time, meaning he was sheltered from defensive duty by coach Dave Tippett, but not really sustaining any pressure on the attack. Teammate Lauri Korpikoski on the other hand, started just 49.7 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone, but ended up there 55 percent of the time. So Korpikoski played a bigger defensive role, but still got the puck into the offensive end. All of these stats are based on 5-on-5 play.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-011323/9993032-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="1398" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>LEAN ON ME</b></p><p>Advanced stats didn&rsquo;t favor the Avs, but Semyon Varlamov&rsquo;s play in goal helped them buck the trend.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(MICHAEL MARTIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b><i>&gt; WHO ARE SOME UNDERRATED AND OVERRATED PLAYERS ACCORDING TO ADVANCED STATS?</i></b></p><p>The darlings of the advanced stats movement are Anze Kopitar of the Kings and Patrice Bergeron of the Bruins. Los Angeles and Boston dominated the Corsi rankings this season, with six of the top seven players. Only Chicago&rsquo;s Jonathan Toews snuck in between at No. 5. Kopitar was the best in the NHL in terms of possession. If he played all 60 minutes in a game and no penalties were called, the Kings would be expected to throw 25 shots more at the opponent&rsquo;s net. Bergeron wasn&rsquo;t far behind (a little more than 23) and has inspired high praise from the stats community. &ldquo;We feel he&rsquo;s basically a Pavel Datsyuk,&rdquo; Vollman says. &ldquo;He does everything at an elite level.&rdquo;</p><p>Datsyuk is kind of a patron saint for Vollman: any time he and his peers try out a new stat, they look for Datsyuk&rsquo;s name. If Datsyuk doesn&rsquo;t fare well, the stat doesn&rsquo;t pass the sniff test. Two other players favored by Vollman are Frans Nielsen of the Islanders, for his puck possession, shootout prowess and ability to draw penalties, and Winnipeg&rsquo;s Bryan Little. Vollman likes that the Jets center gets tough minutes, drives possession and plays defense.</p><p>On the other side of the ledger, you have the shooters, who are overrated in the minds of the advanced stats folks. &ldquo;The skills that get a lot of attention often don&rsquo;t correlate with team success,&rdquo; Tulsky says. &ldquo;Shooters like Ilya Kovalchuk or Daniel Briere don&rsquo;t help to push the play forward, because they&rsquo;re black holes on defense.&rdquo;</p><p>Since the financial value of players is also going to factor into how advanced stats are used in the near future, it&rsquo;s also worth looking at former Islander Andrew MacDonald. He was acquired by the Flyers at the trade deadline and begins a new six-year, $30-million contract next season. &ldquo;Philadel-phia picked him up presumably to help as a shutdown player,&rdquo; Metcalf says. &ldquo;But his possession numbers don&rsquo;t suggest that as a strength. Based on the money they&rsquo;re going to be paying him, I wouldn&rsquo;t be too happy about that if I was a Flyers fan.&rdquo;</p><p><b><i>&gt; ARE GOALIES SCREWING THIS WHOLE THING UP?</i></b></p><p>Yes, to an extent. Jonathan Bernier made the Maple Leafs look like a playoff team until his groin wore out, while Varlamov and Carey Price got their teams into the postseason despite Colorado ranking 25th and Montreal ranking 26th overall in Corsi. Meanwhile, New Jersey missed the playoffs even though the Devils ranked third in the NHL &ndash; ahead of Boston &ndash; in Corsi. So what happened there? Martin Brodeur played poorly and too often (Cory Schneider had much better numbers, but only appeared in 45 games). Also, the Devils went an incredible 0-for-13 in shootouts and, to cap it off, were basically the least-clutch team in history. &ldquo;This is my favorite,&rdquo; Vollman says. &ldquo;If New Jersey had the same record as Colorado in one-goal games or games decided by an empty-net goal, they could have challenged Boston for the President&rsquo;s Trophy.&rdquo;</p><p>The fact several teams cheated the system for stretches shouldn&rsquo;t convince them that a bit more luck will get them further next year, however. Tulsky points to netminders such as Steve Mason during his first year in Columbus or Mike Smith and his 2011-12 campaign in Phoenix as harbingers of things to come: when those goalies weren&rsquo;t red-hot in the following years, their teams missed the playoffs. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re better to improve your puck possession,&rdquo; he says.</p><p><b><i>&gt; SO DO ADVANCED STATS EXPLAIN EVERYTHING?</i></b></p><p>Of course not. One of the most intriguing metrics is Corsi Relative to Quality of Competition, which is essentially a way to measure how tough the opponents a player faced were head-to-head. Toronto defense partners Dion Phaneuf and Carl Gunnarsson led this category, while Nashville&rsquo;s duo of Shea Weber and Roman Josi was next in line. In straight-up Corsi, Phaneuf and Gunnarsson got shelled, though now part of the reason seems obvious: they were always tasked with defending the other team&rsquo;s most talented players. So did Phaneuf have a good season in terms of advanced stats or not? Tulsky says that&rsquo;s something he is still wrestling with, which is why Quality of Competition is an &ldquo;unintegrated&rdquo; stat for him, because there&rsquo;s subjectivity even in numbers and people can decide for themselves.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011515/9993025-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="1390" height="1093"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>ALL RELATIVE</b></p><p>Shea Weber&rsquo;s Corsi is stronger when you factor in the quality of competition he faces nightly.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(FREDERICK BREEDON/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>When Phaneuf makes a defensive gaffe that leads to a goal against, he looks like a dingbat, but maybe that&rsquo;s because we&rsquo;re forgetting about all the successful shifts he has against NHL&rsquo;s stars when he shuts them down. It also puts into perspective how valuable an elite blueliner like Zdeno Chara is. He ranked among the league leaders in quality of competition, but also posted one of the best Corsi ratings among blueliners.</p><p><b><i>&gt; WHAT&rsquo;S NEXT?</i></b></p><p>Perhaps the most stunning thing about the advanced stats movement is how grassroots it is. Folks are tallying up game summary numbers and creating vast databases and graphs based on the info, even though there&rsquo;s little help from the NHL itself. The biggest asset would be official video, and pro basketball may have the solution. &ldquo;NBA SportVU cameras would be amazing for hockey,&rdquo; Metcalf says. &ldquo;It would do wonders for determining who actually has the puck on their stick, who is making the entries into the zone. If the NHL made those videos public, we&rsquo;d see some amazing things.&rdquo;</p><p>In the NBA, six SportVU cameras help software track every player on the court and the ball 25 times per second, helping to determine metrics such as how far a player ran in a game, how fast he was running or how many passes he threw. Right now, hockey enthusiasts can do little more than record games and freeze the picture every 10 seconds to jot down info, but that&rsquo;s not exactly ideal and can only measure what the broadcast shows. According to Tulsky, player fatigue is one area that hasn&rsquo;t been fully fleshed out, while identifying individual contributions better would also help. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re always playing with Crosby,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;we don&rsquo;t know if you&rsquo;re driving the play or he is.&rdquo;</p><p><b><i>&gt; SO THIS ISN&rsquo;T GOING AWAY, IS IT?</i></b></p><p>Probably not. Numerous old-guard hockey writers have guffawed about advanced stats, only to be embarrassed on Twitter. Although the &ldquo;nerd&rdquo; crowd can be just as annoying online, those who stay in the center of the discussion just want to put the information out there. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not about being right or wrong,&rdquo; Vollman says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s about adding to the debate, adding clarity. The onus is on us. How can advanced stats improve your appreciation and love of the game?&rdquo;</p><h2><b>CORSI Close</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02920/9993018-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="187" height="358"></div><h2><b>FENWICK Close</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03712/9993011-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="189" height="360"></div><h2><b>TOP POSSESSION PLAYERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04582/9993004-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="678" height="312"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05492/9992997-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="678" height="316"></div><h2><b>Quality of Competition</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-021063/9992990-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="678" height="316"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03836/9992983-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="678" height="316"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0032-01

ADVANCED STATS.101

<div class="byline">BY&nbsp;JAMES MIRTLE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-011416/9993070-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>PAPER TIGER</b></p><p>The advanced stats accurately foreshadowed regressions for Dion Phaneuf and the Maple Leafs.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(STEVE RUSS ELL/TORONTO STAR VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>THIS IS A DEBATE THAT, FOR ALL</b> intents and purposes, is already over in North America&rsquo;s three other major sports.</p><p>Forget the well-worn story behind <i>Moneyball</i>, Bill James and Billy Beane. When NBA teams started hiring GMs with computer science backgrounds and MIT degrees and superstars like Kevin Durant have their own personal analytics guru following their every move to improve their shooting efficacy, the conversation has changed in an undeniable and fundamental way.</p><p>And, whether some old school types like it or not, that kind of sea change is underway in hockey. We have already seen plenty of evidence that what started as hobbyists and gamblers looking for a greater understanding of the NHL 10 years ago has become something increasingly adopted by those within the game.</p><p>All one had to do was watch a broadcast during these playoffs to see how far analytics have come. <i>Hockey Night in Canada</i> and TSN have been littered with Corsi references as a way of highlighting which team is controlling the balance of play, a process of educating viewers that would have been unheard of even last season. High-profile websites have also begun hiring some of the aforementioned hobbyists. Tyler Dellow, a Toronto-based lawyer who has become a prominent voice, is now writing a weekly analytics column for Sportsnet. And Eric Tulsky, a Harvard grad who works with nanotechnology in Silicon Valley (see pg. 22), is now the hockey voice with Nate Silver&rsquo;s data journalism site, FiveThirtyEight.</p><p>Both are on the verge of being hired to work with clubs full time, joining the dozens of as-yet relatively faceless folks who are already listed as statistical analysts or directors of analytics with NHL teams.</p><p>More high-ranking types have also begun to shed light on how these statistics impact their work, with Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman recently boasting their proprietary analytical work is &ldquo;a competitive advantage&rdquo; over what others are doing. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really trying not to talk about it,&rdquo; Bowman told the <i>Chicago Sun-Times</i> in May. &ldquo;I think what we do gives us an advantage over other teams. They might say I&rsquo;m wrong, but we&rsquo;re pretty confident that what we have works.&rdquo;</p><p>The Blackhawks&rsquo; two Stanley Cups the past four seasons &ndash; and another appearance in the final four this year &ndash; offer some pretty compelling confirmation there. More than that, though, where you see analytics working these days is on the ice. Good possession teams (like Chicago and the New York Rangers) are succeeding, more often than not. Poor ones &ndash; the Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche being the most high-profile test cases in 2013-14 &ndash; are falling short. Teams and players with unsustainably high on-ice shooting (or save) percentages are regressing like clockwork year after year, with Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf&rsquo;s cratering plus-minus to end the season just one individual example. So if you want confirmation that this new way of deconstructing the game works, it&rsquo;s out there &ndash; more than ever before.</p><p>Are the projections &ndash; and the statistics behind them &ndash; perfect? No. And while there&rsquo;s improvement to be made, especially with the addition of camera-capturing technology, they likely never will be, not when we&rsquo;re dealing with probabilities and with a game as chaotic and random as this one. But what analytics have become is an integral addition to traditional scouting &ndash; and that alone will be enough to change the sport. Due to people like Bowman, they already are.</p><p><i>James Mirtle is a sportswriter for</i> The Globe and Mail<i>. He&rsquo;s covered hockey, the NHL and the rise of analytics in the game since 2004. Follow him on Twitter at @mirtle.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0036-01

BEHIND THE TIMES

<div class="byline">BY&nbsp;DAVID SHOALTS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-011264/9993101-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>SKEWED STATS</b></p><p>When certain new metrics rate Sidney Crosby outside the top 150 NHLers, they need ironing out.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(JAMIE SABAU/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>IF I EVER FIND MYSELF IN CHARGE</b> of an NHL team, there will be a hockey analytics person on my staff.</p><p>This may be a heck of a way to start an argument against analytics, but my problem is more with the people than their statistics. Aside from the fact few of them have a sense of humor and most of them have an overweening sense of their own importance, too many analytics types ignore the fundamental truth about statistics: they are a tool, not the be-all and end-all in determining the value of a player or the competence of a team.</p><p>These people have come up with some equations, Corsi and Fenwick being the most notable, that generally say the fellows who have the puck most usually win. Really? Knock me over with a feather. If you look it up, I think Cyclone Taylor might have said the same thing around the turn of the previous century. Yet the analytics people carry on like they are the oracles of the game, finally arriving nearly 100 years after the birth of the NHL to show us hockey bumpkins the light.</p><p>There&rsquo;s a lot more work to be done before any of them can claim to be hockey prophets. Hockey isn&rsquo;t a game that lends itself to the rigidity of statistics. Even the most wild-eyed of the numbers proselytizers will admit to some trouble accounting for the vagaries of a team game played at high speed with a bouncing puck that can make the most skilled athlete look like a lummox in the blink of an eye.</p><p>For example, Corsi is the difference between the shots attempted by a team when a player is on the ice at even strength and the shots the team allows. Well, what if you are cursed to be a good player on a bad team, stuck with linemates who cough up the puck and don&rsquo;t cover their man in your end? That&rsquo;s one number you won&rsquo;t take into contract negotiations.</p><p>These statistics are still in their infancy, and uniformity outside of the aforementioned Corsi and Fenwick is elusive. The numbers crowd comes up with new equations every day, some of which are laughable. In that regard, I give you one with the typically modest name of Total Hockey Ratings (THoR). This purports to take into account the unpredictability of the sport in judging the value of a player. The eggheads at the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference were so impressed they voted the paper presented by THoR&rsquo;s creators the second-best at their 2013 bacchanal.</p><p>In perusing the THoR rankings for this season, I can only assume this was a distant second-place finish in a two-paper race. As Neil Greenberg of <i>The Washington Post</i> pointed out, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin didn&rsquo;t even make the top 150. Now, I know Crosby and the Penguins disappointed a lot of people this spring, but that&rsquo;s just a bit much.</p><p>So the analytics guy on my NHL team will only be asked to submit his numbers as one part of the equation. The big decisions will still depend on the eyes. Actually watching games, which seems anathema to some of these people, will tell you which player to put on the ice in the last minute of a one-goal game or which player is most likely to make a risky play at the worst possible time and lose the puck.</p><p><i>David Shoalts is a columnist for</i> The Globe and Mail<i>. He&rsquo;s written about hockey and the NHL since 1987. Follow him on Twitter at @dshoalts.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0037-01

IT’S NOT US, IT’S THEM

<div class="byline">WITH MATT LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-011374/9993139-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>HARD-EARNED HARDWARE</b></p><p>Mike Keenan cherishes his KHL title because coaching in a foreign land brought unique new challenges.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(YURI KUZMIN / COURTESY OF KHL)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><i><span>C</span>oaching legend Mike Keenan has enjoyed a poetic spring. Twenty years after winning a Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers, he claimed the Kontinental League&rsquo;s Gagarin Cup with a seven-game victory over Lev Prague. Keenan catches up with The Hockey News to discuss his fascinating journey, including the high standard of play, Russia&rsquo;s crazy drivers, karaoke and the possibility of an NHL return</i></p><p><b>THE HOCKEY NEWS:</b> What attracted you to the KHL job?</p><p><b>MIKE KEENAN:</b> I wanted to get back into coaching, and the NHL showed no interest. It was not only an opportunity to experience a different hockey setting, but also a cultural opportunity to study other people from a different country.</p><p><b>THN:</b> Paul Maurice had a similar experience before you, leaving the NHL to coach Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Did you seek him out for any advice before you embarked?</p><p><b>KEENAN:</b> I talked to Paul quite a bit prior to my departure or even accepting the job (on a two-year deal), just to get a feel for the environment I was going to face. Just as importantly, I wanted some detailed information about the organization itself. He had his own opinion, and I respected it, but I probably went with a completely different approach. In fairness, I&rsquo;m a little bit older. I think he was a bit more anxious about coaching in the NHL, and I was more interested in the experience.</p><p><b>THN:</b> Were you recognized quickly and easily around town, or did a KHL coaching gig afford you more anonymity than an NHL one?</p><p><b>KEENAN:</b> Magnitogorsk isn&rsquo;t a very big city. It&rsquo;s about 400,000 people. The hockey team&rsquo;s a focal point for the community, and immediately I was recognized by the public everywhere I went.</p><p><b>THN:</b> Any culture shock? What stood out as different from home?</p><p><b>KEENAN:</b> We had a driver, and I don&rsquo;t know if there were any rules on the road, but it was completely different than what you&rsquo;d experience in North America. They&rsquo;re a lot more aggressive. They drive fast. The other aspect is that I was anticipating a little bit of a different food menu (laughs). As it turned out, it wasn&rsquo;t a great deal different. I was surprised. There were a lot of fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, fresh fish, meat, poultry. The food was great. But other than that, I was at the arena most of the time. If not, I was back at the baza where I lived, which is like a university dormitory. They&rsquo;ve got a KHL station, which is 24/7, 365 hockey. I watched quite a bit of that. I also had access to English news like BBC and CNN, and some other English channels. So between that and the hockey, that&rsquo;s pretty much the existence of our home life.</p><p><b>THN:</b> Was the language barrier between you and many of your players difficult to overcome?</p><p><b>Keenan:</b> No. We were very fortunate. Ilya Vorobyev was one of our assistant coaches and our translator. He&rsquo;s excellent at it. His father is a legendary coach in Russia. Ilya has mastered not only the English language, but besides being a Russian and speaking Russian, he mastered the German language. He was our lifeline from the beginning. He was able to communicate at an intellectual and/or emotional level what we were trying to accomplish. And a few players could understand a bit of English, enough to follow instructions. We had five imports, three Canadians. So if we were doing a drill, I&rsquo;d put the Canadians up front so they could demonstrate what we wanted done. And everyone picked it up quickly. There were some challenges, but we had a good staff and an open-minded, receptive group of players.</p><p><b>THN:</b> People are always comparing the caliber of play between the NHL and KHL. Did anything surprise you?</p><p><b>Keenan:</b> In our first KHL game, I was shocked. I didn&rsquo;t think it was going to be that intense or that good. We went through 10 pre-season games and our team did well, went 8-1-1. Then we came to our opening game on the road. We played Dynamo Moscow. They&rsquo;d won two consecutive championships. I wasn&rsquo;t ready and the team wasn&rsquo;t ready for the level of competition and the intensity of the play. That was a big wakeup call for me in Game 1. I knew the league was good, but I didn&rsquo;t think it was <i>that</i> good. That surprised me. So I had to make some adjustments in terms of our preparation. It took a little bit of time.</p><p><b>THN:</b> What struck you as unique about the league structure or style?</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-011259/9993132-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="1032" height="633"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(VLADIMIR BEZZUBOV AND YURI KUZMIN / COURTESY OF KHL)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>Keenan:</b> The hockey itself is completely different playing on an international-sized ice surface. Yet, in the final, we played in a hybrid arena. It&rsquo;s between the Olympic size and width and the NHL&rsquo;s. The NHL and the Olympics are 15 feet different, and this is probably about seven or eight feet different in terms of width. It&rsquo;s the same length for all of them. So you had to make adjustments. Vladivostok is a new team, and it&rsquo;s a Russian team, but there&rsquo;s a big push there to try to have the game played on NHL ice surfaces. So they had two arenas, one NHL size and one Olympic. And when we played them in the playoffs, we played on the NHL-sized rink. That&rsquo;s their choice.</p><p><b>THN:</b> How are the KHL playoffs versus the NHL&rsquo;s?</p><p><b>KEENAN:</b> Our playoff series against Prague was just as competitive as any NHL series I&rsquo;ve been in. Maybe the final in the NHL would be a little bit better, but certainly the final in the KHL would be comparable to what you&rsquo;re seeing in the NHL today. It was very fierce, very intense, a lot of skill. The rules are different for different teams. There are eight countries represented in the league, next year there will be nine, and the Russian teams can only have five imports. The non-Russian teams can have as many as they like. And the team we played in Prague had 16 imports. We had five. So we were playing an all-star team from the Czech Republic, and on top of that there were players from Canada, Sweden, Finland, and Slovakia.</p><p><b>THN:</b> Given the challenges you overcame with Magnitogorsk, where does this championship rank for you?</p><p><b>KEENAN:</b> Winning in New York is a much bigger deal, my first NHL Stanley Cup victory. But this ranks up there because of how much more difficult it was to go to a foreign country, to play in so many different countries, to travel vast distances. Some of our road trips were eight hours of flying just to go to a game. One thing I appreciated when I got there: I reflected on my NHL experience when a number of foreign or import players came to our teams. I was so unaware of what their needs were, not even thinking, &ldquo;They can&rsquo;t speak English, they&rsquo;re in a foreign country.&rdquo; We should&rsquo;ve had interpreters for them. We should&rsquo;ve had people going grocery shopping with them, driving them around until they got acclimated. Because that&rsquo;s exactly what it was like when I first got to Russia. I said, &ldquo;Well, how do I get to the grocery store? How do I communicate with somebody at the store? How do I ask for a certain product? How do I even get to an address? I don&rsquo;t know the streets.&rdquo; That was the other thing besides the driving. The time it took to be comfortable with your surroundings. I&rsquo;m thinking, &ldquo;Man, I&rsquo;m not sure many NHL players who couldn&rsquo;t speak the language were able to give us their best shot, because there were so many other issues they had to deal with.&rdquo; It was a real eye-opener.</p><p><b>THN:</b> During the Gagarin Cup celebration, your players were really tossing you high in the air. Any scary moments?</p><p><b>KEENAN:</b> No, not at all. That&rsquo;s a Russian tradition. They do it for most Russian coaches if you win a championship. And they asked one of our assistants if it would be OK if they did. He just said, &ldquo;Sure, go ahead.&rdquo; He told me that afterward (laughs).</p><p><b>THN:</b> And the karaoke? It needs no introduction at this point.</p><p><b>KEENAN:</b> Sergei Tereschenko heard I was in a rock &lsquo;n&rsquo; roll band. You wouldn&rsquo;t tell by my voice now, but when I was a kid. He said, &ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you sing for us?&rdquo; And I said &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll sing for you if we win the championship.&rdquo; So when we won, he came across the dressing room and said, &ldquo;Well, now you have to sing.&rdquo; And I said, &ldquo;You&rsquo;re right.&rdquo; That was fun.</p><p><b>THN:</b> The song was in Russian, right? Did you pick up some words?</p><p><b>KEENAN:</b> No, but I knew that song a little bit. Ilya was singing it in Russian, and I&rsquo;d heard the song enough to know some of the lyrics. I think they thought that was pretty cool.</p><p><b>THN:</b> You&rsquo;ve learned so much over the last year. What advice would you pass on to any other ex-NHL coach crossing over to the KHL?</p><p><b>KEENAN:</b> Make sure you&rsquo;ve got a great translator who&rsquo;s able to deliver the messages you want the players to receive, whether it&rsquo;s something on the ice, something in between periods, whatever the case. The environment I was in was heartland Russia. I wasn&rsquo;t in fancy Moscow, where a lot more people can speak English, or St. Petersburg. I was in the middle of the country, in the Ural Mountains. Very few people speak English there, even now, compared to the more populous cities.</p><p><b>THN:</b> Is it true you wouldn&rsquo;t return to coach in the NHL? Is there no perfect offer that would tempt you?</p><p><b>KEENAN:</b> Yeah, I said that, but the context should be clarified. Someone asked me and I said, &ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;ve had no interest from the NHL. So I&rsquo;m not even thinking about it.&rdquo;</p><p><b>THN:</b> So, theoretically, you&rsquo;d have an open mind if a team came knocking on your door.</p><p><b>KEENAN:</b> Yeah (laughs), obviously I would.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0038-01

RED HOT IRON

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0040-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02641/9993191-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BRIAN BABINEAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01846/9993198-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="59" height="67"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>T WAS THE MORNING OF GAME 3 OF</b> the 2001 Eastern Conference final and Darius Kasparaitis was coming to grips with the fact his busted toes would keep him out of Pittsburgh&rsquo;s lineup that night. It was then he learned he&rsquo;d be replaced by Marc Bergevin, who had missed the six previous games with bruised ribs. &ldquo; &lsquo;Bergy,&rsquo; he&rsquo;s a good guy and a good player,&rdquo; Kasparaitis said. &ldquo;I just hope he doesn&rsquo;t throw the puck in our net.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03498/9993184-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="234" height="158"></div><p>After taking a couple seconds to allow it to register, the dressing room exploded in laughter. Kasparaitis, of course, was referring to the playoffs the year before when Bergevin, then a member of the Blues, inexplicably grabbed the puck out of the air and threw it into his own net during St. Louis&rsquo; first-round upset at the hands of the San Jose Sharks. (Kasparaitis wasn&rsquo;t exactly prescient, but his concerns were warranted. Later that night, Bergevin was on the ice for all three Devils goals in a 3-0 loss.)</p><p>We mention this because Bergevin is on some kind of run of success as GM of the Montreal Canadiens. Virtually every move he has made has been golden. He has ushered the Canadiens into an era of prosperity, and his personnel moves, from hiring Michel Therrien as coach to stealing Thomas Vanek at the trade deadline, have one by one added to the layers of genius. But not everything he touches turns to gold. Sometimes, Bergevin stumbles and bumbles and throws the rock into his own net for no apparent reason.</p><p>It&rsquo;s too early in Bergevin&rsquo;s tenure as an executive for this off-season to define his legacy, but what he does with Montreal&rsquo;s roster over the summer will have a defining effect on the future of the franchise. The Canadiens have a staggering list of players eligible for free agency, but, as was the case during the Habs&rsquo; playoff run, everything will center on Pernell Karl Subban.</p><p>Depending on your perspective, Subban can be the most electrifying, most flamboyant, most infuriating, most energetic and most confident player in the NHL. He could also become the face of the NHL, and he will want to be paid as such.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02567/9993177-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="1258" height="933"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>MARC&rsquo;D MAN</b></p><p>Marc Bergevin has flashed genius with his roster moves, but this off-season should define him.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(BERGEVIN: BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Bergevin has the following players to sign or replace as pending unrestricted free agents: Andrei Markov, Thomas Vanek, Brian Gionta, Mike Weaver, Francis Bouillon, George Parros and Douglas Murray. Along with Subban, he has to deal with restricted free agents Lars Eller, Dale Weise and Ryan White. For those of you keeping score, that&rsquo;s about half the roster. And with $43.7 million already committed in salaries for next season, Bergevin will have to be creative, particularly if the cap goes significantly below the projected $71.1 million for next season. There&rsquo;s speculation it could go as low as $68 million, but it will likely be somewhere in the $70 million range.</p><p>Even though Subban is an RFA, he&rsquo;s very much in control. Unlike contemporaries such as Drew Doughty, Alex Pietrangelo and Tyler Myers, who all signed long-term deals coming off entry-level contracts, Subban settled for a two-year bridge contract. So instead of being four years away from unrestricted free agency, Subban is just two seasons away.</p><p>And that&rsquo;s where things get interesting. Montreal can offer Subban an eight-year deal that would take him to his 33rd birthday. That would be the longest, most expensive contract the team has ever signed. Kris Letang is getting $58 million over eight years, Doughty $56 million over eight and, most importantly, Shea Weber will have earned a whopping $92 million over the first eight years of his mammoth deal with the Nashville Predators. It&rsquo;s not a stretch to suggest Subban is at least on par with all those players. At last check, none has a Norris Trophy to his credit. At least not yet, since Weber is a finalist this season.</p><p>On a long-term deal, it&rsquo;s difficult to see the Canadiens not having to pay Subban at least $8 million a season. One thing is certain. If they set the bar at the $6.5 million earned by co-MVP and good friend Carey Price, negotiations won&rsquo;t go well. Subban also has arbitration rights this time around, which will make things even more interesting. If he files for arbitration, Montreal has the option of taking a one- or two-year award. If he doesn&rsquo;t file and the Canadiens do, the option of taking one or two years shifts to Subban. That would take him to UFA status and the very real possibility of making $10 million per season if he continues his upward trajectory.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-03463/9993170-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="540" height="857"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(SUBBAN: RANCOIS LAPLANTE/FREESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHY/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>As an RFA, Subban could also receive an offer sheet the Canadiens would almost certainly be forced to match. After the Predators matched the 14-year, $110-million deal the Philadelphia Flyers gave to Weber two summers ago, some GMs wondered whether it was even worth the trouble of making up an offer sheet. That was a completely different scenario, though, because Nashville had a mother lode of cap space and Montreal doesn&rsquo;t. So let&rsquo;s say you&rsquo;re an Atlantic Division rival, such as the Ottawa Senators. And let&rsquo;s assume you manage to move Jason Spezza&rsquo;s $7-million cap hit. Perhaps you make a mammoth offer sheet to Subban. That way, you end up with two of the most dynamic young defensemen in the world, or you put a division rival in such a financial jam that it can&rsquo;t afford to sign some of its other free agents.</p><p>Markov also presents a rather vexing situation for Bergevin. He&rsquo;s 35, but he hasn&rsquo;t suffered a major injury the past two years. He and defense partner Alexei Emelin give the Canadiens a shutdown and physical dimension that is invaluable. &ldquo;They simply have to sign Markov,&rdquo; one agent says, &ldquo;because they can&rsquo;t replace him.&rdquo;</p><p>The only problem is Markov, despite being paid a lot of money to be injured, is looking for a three-year deal with a slight raise on the $5.8 million he makes now. Three years at $6 million per would get it done, but the Canadiens might not want to make that kind of commitment. Adding to the intrigue: Markov fired superagent Don Meehan this season and replaced him with unproven Sergei Berezin, his good friend and former Habs teammate. Most of Markov&rsquo;s bargaining leverage comes from the age-old laws that govern supply and demand. Among UFA defensemen, there is Markov and Matt Niskanen, then the quality drops off precipitously.</p><p>And we haven&rsquo;t even gotten to Vanek and Gionta. Vanek seems intent on going to July 1 and while he has been productive at times, his bargaining position isn&rsquo;t as advantageous. Montreal might want him back, but not at an outrageous price. And the market for UFA forwards is more robust. The Canadiens might not be able to replace Vanek, but they could get someone for half the cost at two-thirds the production.</p><p>Gionta was shopped at the trade deadline, but seemed to be rejuvenated by the playoff run. He reportedly wants to stay in Montreal and the Canadiens, who haven&rsquo;t had a player retire as captain since Bob Gainey, want him back. If he&rsquo;s willing to take a pay cut on his $5-million salary, say $3 million to $3.5 million per on a three-year pact, there might be a deal to be struck.</p><p>Weaver, who somehow couldn&rsquo;t play for the Florida Panthers and was picked up for a fifth-round pick (see earlier references to Bergevin and his brilliant moves), has probably earned himself another deal, while Parros, Murray and Bouillon face uncertain futures.</p><p>Bergevin cannot say the same. He knows exactly what he&rsquo;ll be doing in the off-season, and it likely won&rsquo;t involve making too many sandcastles on the beach. He&rsquo;ll be making some tough decisions and hoping his Midas touch stays with him.</p><h2><b>6</b></h2><p>NHL D-men with 2014-15 cap hits of $7 million or higher. None of them has won a Norris Trophy. P.K. Subban has<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0040-02

SWEET, HORRIBLE FREEDOM

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0042-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01900/9993236-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>OIL AND WATER</b></p><p>Ryan Miller fares better when he sees a lot of rubber, yet the Blues specialize in limiting shots.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(MARK BUCKNER/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>R</span>YAN MILLER AND ST. LOUIS SURE</b> looked like an ideal match at first. He went 7-0-1 in his first eight games after arriving from Buffalo via a trade in late February. The Blues were THN&rsquo;s Stanley Cup pick, and we viewed Miller as the goalie to take them all the way.</p><p>The honeymoon phase fizzled quickly, however. The Blues ended the regular season with six straight losses and Miller started five, allowing at least three goals each time. The slump cost St. Louis the Central Division and led to a matchup with the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks. Miller wasn&rsquo;t the reason St. Louis lost in six games, but he didn&rsquo;t steal any. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews beat him with backbreaking overtime winners in Games 4 and 5. He posted an .897 save percentage.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02596/9993229-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="183" height="183"></div><p>Miller&rsquo;s future is cloudy for the second straight summer. He&rsquo;s 34 in July and an unrestricted free agent. Pundits can&rsquo;t decide if he&rsquo;s overrated or underrated, one good situation away from recapturing his 2010 Vezina Trophy form or doomed never to win the big game. Miller declined a request to discuss his future.</p><p>In two months, &ldquo;When will the Blues re-sign Miller?&rdquo; became &ldquo;Should the Blues resign Miller&rdquo;? At the very least, dismissing goalie coach Corey Hirsch suggests the Blues brass are directing blame for their early exit away from Miller.</p><p>Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, for his part, reserves judgment given the sample size. &ldquo;I wish we had more practices with him,&rdquo; Hitchcock says. &ldquo;Because we had played four or five less games than anybody, our March and April were absolutely packed. We had very limited time working with Ryan and the rest of the players.&rdquo;</p><p>&lsquo;Hitch&rsquo; compares the situation to when Ed Belfour joined the Dallas Stars, then helmed by Hitchcock, in 1997. But there was one crucial difference. &ldquo;Eddie came to us in training camp and exhibition, and then the start of league play, and there was a two-month adjustment phase,&rdquo; Hitchcock says. &ldquo;Ryan came to us at the trade deadline, so we were still in somewhat of an adjustment phase, but he was good. It&rsquo;s the handoffs between the goalies and the defensemen, it&rsquo;s the way you play in front of the net, it&rsquo;s the way you play odd-man rushes. When you&rsquo;ve been in the same program for a dozen years and then it changes overnight, there&rsquo;s an adjustment phase.&rdquo;</p><p>Is Miller worth ponying up for? One Western Conference executive believes so. He says, all things being equal, he&rsquo;d pursue Miller in free agency, and values him in the $6-million range. &ldquo;Certainly you scrutinize goaltending more,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But if you really look at it, a guy like Stephen Weiss played only a handful of games the year before, and his value didn&rsquo;t get hurt at all. He ended up signing a multi-year deal. If you&rsquo;re a good player, you&rsquo;re still going to have value some place.&rdquo;</p><p>All things aren&rsquo;t equal in St. Louis&rsquo; case, however. Jake Allen, 23, is the fourth-ranked goaltending prospect in the sport according to THN Future Watch. He&rsquo;s as NHL-ready as it gets, having acquitted himself well during call-ups, and Blues GM Doug Armstrong has gone on record saying Allen will make the NHL roster next season. That leaves room for only Miller or UFA Brian Elliott, who posted superior numbers to Miller&rsquo;s, is younger and will cost half as much.</p><p>Shortly after the Miller trade, I asked Hirsch about his expectations. Hirsch predicted an awkward transition to a decreased workload. The Blues have finished no worse than third in shots against four straight seasons, so Miller, peppered in Buffalo, would have to adjust to the Ken Dryden effect. In 2013-14, Miller saw 40 or more shots 10 times in 40 games with the Sabres and posted an SP of .922 or better every time. He faced 40 once with the Blues in 19 regular season games and once in the playoffs, always clearing the .922 mark. He fares better with lots of shots. Under Hitchcock, the Blues aren&rsquo;t about to start allowing more. &ldquo;The last few years he&rsquo;s been under siege (in Buffalo), and maybe his focus stays being under pressure more than it does with a team like St. Louis,&rdquo; the executive says.</p><p>Miller also may feel a pull toward the Pacific, as his actress wife Noureen DeWulf resides in Los Angeles. The San Jose Sharks pulled Antti Niemi twice in the playoffs and would be an ideal suitor for Miller if they deal him. All things considered, don&rsquo;t be surprised if the Blues and Miller acknowledge they&rsquo;re just not that into each other.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0042-01

MATCH MADE IN HELL

<div class="byline">BY DOUG WARD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02618/9993281-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="854" height="921"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(EVAN GOLE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>M</span>ARIAN GABORIK&rsquo;S IMPACT IN</b> Los Angeles has been sudden, but will it last? After a March 5 trade sent him to the Kings, the right winger, 32, departed Columbus determined only to &ldquo;fit in and do his job&rdquo; in L.A. He did that and more, turning in some of the best work of his playoff career while finding a sense of camaraderie with his new teammates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01877/9993288-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="204" height="175"></div><p>Gaborik had his share of injuries and playoff disappointments. He&rsquo;d played just 88 games the past two seasons and, prior to this year, he had 18 goals in 54 playoff games. With L.A., however, he developed instant chemistry with star center Anze Kopitar and scored eight times through 13 post-season tilts. &ldquo;Anze is one of the top playmakers in the league,&rdquo; Gaborik says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really exciting to be his winger.&rdquo;</p><p>But Gaborik&rsquo;s Hollywood star turn could still be a cameo. He&rsquo;ll be an unrestricted free agent July 1, and the Kings need to fit him in under a salary cap expected to be around $71 million. They have around $13 million available, which creates room for Gaborik, who earned $7.5 million (but cost the Kings only a $3.75 million cap hit). They must make decisions on UFAs Willie Mitchell and Matt Greene, restricted free agents Dwight King and Linden Vey, and several others.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03514/9993274-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="1704" height="1208"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>SHORT REIGN?</b></p><p>Marian Gaborik was originally a rental, but may have earned a long-term pact with his playoff play.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(JEFF GROSS/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Gaborik was viewed as a rental when he arrived, but a willingness to go to the net and to play defense for coach Darryl Sutter has made him an all-around asset.</p><p>Kopitar is chief among the Kings who would love to see Gaborik return. &ldquo;A left winger with a left-handed shot is something we were missing for a long time,&rdquo; Kopitar says. &ldquo;Every time he comes in the offensive zone, everyone is paying attention to him, so maybe that gives me a few more inches to work with.&rdquo;</p><p>Whether he stays or goes, Gaborik will be remembered for his heroics in the Kings&rsquo; second-round series with Anaheim. With the Kings trailing 2-1 in Game 1, Gaborik tied the game with seven seconds remaining. Then, 12:07 into overtime, he tipped in a Kopitar pass to become the first player in playoff history to tie a game in the final 10 seconds and win it in OT. Two nights later, he scored 34 seconds into Game 2 to propel the Kings to a 2-0 series lead. In 12 minutes and 48 seconds, Gaborik scored three momentous goals, with Kopitar assisting on all of them. &ldquo;We got put together very late,&rdquo; Kopitar says. &ldquo;You try to develop as quick as you can and it seems like it has been clicking for us.&rdquo;</p><p>Kopitar is not the only teammate who wants to see Gaborik back. &ldquo;Marian is a respectful guy that works hard every time he comes to the rink,&rdquo; says center Jarret Stoll. &ldquo;He got accustomed pretty quickly to what we are all about in this room. Great guy, great teammate.&rdquo;</p><p>For his part, Gaborik is living in the moment. Whether he stays remains to be seen. Either way, L.A. has proven a soft landing spot for the former hardluck winger.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-04393/9993267-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="471" height="768"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(NOAH GRAHAM/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>768</b></h2><p>Seconds it took Marian Gaborik to score a tying goal, overtime goal and opening goal in Games 1 and 2 against Anaheim<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0043-02

KING’S LANDING

f0044-01

NHL TEAM REPORTS

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-01473/9993840-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg" title="f0050-01" width="895" height="1095"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>TRIPLE THREAT</b></p><p>Kevin Fiala competed at the under-18s, world juniors and World Championship this year.</p></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>HEN KEVIN FIALA STEPPED</b> on the ice to represent Switzerland at the World Championship May 9, he did something no player had done for 11 years.</p><p>By suiting up for his home country, Fiala became just the third player in history to play in the Under-18, Under-20 and Men&rsquo;s World Championship in the same year. The only two to do it previously were former NHLer Andrei Kostitsyn and Vadim Karaga, who played in all three tournaments for Belarus in 2003. Kostitsyn, coincidentally, played for the host country in this year&rsquo;s tournament as well.</p><p>Fiala&rsquo;s feat is quite impressive considering he doesn&rsquo;t turn 18 until July, about a month after he almost certainly goes in the first round of the 2014 NHL draft. In our freshly released Draft Preview edition, The Hockey News ranks Fiala as the 13th-best prospect.</p><p>Fiala is an undersized winger at 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds, but that has not stopped him from becoming a dynamic offensive player. Instead of staying in Switzerland, Fiala moved to Sweden, where he split time this season between HV71&rsquo;s junior and Swedish League teams. With the likes of Sven Baertschi and Damien Brunner on the Swiss roster, Fiala was unlikely to pull off the trifecta of leading each of the three teams in scoring, but it wasn&rsquo;t as though he&rsquo;d never excelled against elevated competition before. &ldquo;This guy plays bigger than his size,&rdquo; said one NHL scout. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s dynamic. He creates offense in a similar way to Patrick Kane, but he&rsquo;s not as heavy. It&rsquo;s funny using the word &lsquo;heavy&rsquo; when talking about Patrick Kane, but these two guys have the same explosiveness and they have very similar skill sets in terms of releasing the puck when they&rsquo;re moving without breaking stride.&rdquo;</p><p>The criticism of Fiala is, as it is with many young players, his defensive play. Scouting reports on his game below the dots in his own zone range from &ldquo;dreadful&rdquo; to &ldquo;needs work,&rdquo; but there is no denying his offensive tools. He was Switzerland&rsquo;s second-leading scorer at the Ivan Hlinka Tournament last fall, he scored a goal and five points in five games to top all Swiss scorers at the world juniors and he exploded for four goals and nine points in five games at the Under-18 World Championship.</p><p>But his impressive scoring isn&rsquo;t limited to playing with his own peers. In 17 games with HV71, Fiala put up respectable 3-8-11 totals playing on the third line with and against men. Competing above his age group and weight class is nothing new for Fiala, though. His father Jan, a Czech ex-pat who played in the lower Swiss leagues, began coaching his son after he retired and had him playing against 15-year-old players when his son was just 11.</p><p>In 2010-11, Kevin played with Switzerland&rsquo;s under-17 team and scored 10 goals and 20 points in 25 games. &ldquo;The thing I like about him is he wants to be a difference maker in every single game,&rdquo; said another scout. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s almost like he takes it personally when he&rsquo;s playing with a guy at his level in the draft. Lots of times you wish you could get more compete from the skill guys, but with him you almost have to pull it back.&rdquo;</p><p>Fiala has developed nicely in Sweden and there&rsquo;s no reason for him not to continue his development there, but it will be interesting to see whether he is selected in the Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s Import Draft this year. The NHL draft, of course, won&rsquo;t be in doubt. He&rsquo;ll hear his name called early.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-03182/9993833-1-eng-US/f0050-032.jpg" title="f0050-03" width="362" height="456"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ANN KARLSSON / HV71)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-02360/9993826-1-eng-US/f0050-022.jpg" title="f0050-02" width="288" height="263"></div><h2><b><i>DRAFT PREVIEW 2014</i></b></h2><p><i>Kevin Fiala ranks 13th among all prospects in THN&rsquo;s recently released Draft Preview 2014 edition. Pick up the magazine on newsstands or online at</i>&nbsp;<b><i><a href="http://THN.COM/MAG">THN.COM/MAG</a></i></b></p><h2><b>KEVIN FIALA</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-04147/9993819-1-eng-US/f0050-042.jpg" title="f0050-04" width="268" height="149"></div><p><b>POSITION</b> Left winger</p><p><b>AGE</b> 17</p><p><b>HEIGHT</b> 5-10</p><p><b>WEIGHT</b> 180 lbs</p><p><b>DRAFTED</b> 2014 eligible<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0050-01

LITTLE BUNDLE OF TALENT

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0051-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-01360/9993899-1-eng-US/f0051-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>CALIFORNIA CHASE</b></p><p>L.A. native Chase De Leo hadn&rsquo;t heard of the WHL when the Hawks drafted him. But they still got him.</p></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>ITH FOUR STRAIGHT TRIPS TO</b> the Western League final, including a title from last year, the Portland Winterhawks have become the class of the &lsquo;Dub.&rsquo; Hard to believe it was just five seasons ago the franchise lay in utter shambles.</p><p>Back then, the Hawks were a neglected afterthought and a shell of the organization that won the first Memorial Cup title by a non-Canadian franchise in 1983. Billionaire Bill Gallacher bought the team and Mike Johnston was hired as GM and coach. Very quickly, the franchise turned around and it now draws the second-most fans in the league behind Calgary. Talent flocks to the team and a path of succession guarantees the Hawks will once again contend for a title next year. It would be easy to call Gallacher and Johnston miracle workers, but the GM points out he hasn&rsquo;t done it alone. &ldquo;They had two good draft years with (former GM) Ken Hodge,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;And Gary Davidson was head scout for the 1994 birth year.&rdquo;</p><p>Hodge gifted Johnston with emerging players such as Ryan Johansen, Ty Rattie and Tyler Wotherspoon, while Davidson landed Derrick Pouliot (first overall), Brendan Leipsic and Taylor Leier in Johnston&rsquo;s first WHL bantam draft.</p><p>But the real revolution came in augmenting those savvy picks with talent from elsewhere. Specifically, the Import Draft and the U.S. With Gallacher on board, Portland created a successful environment for players, making it easier to attract Europeans such as Nino Niederreiter, Sven Baertschi and Oliver Bjorkstrand to the banks of the Willamette River. Johnston also went gung-ho on bringing American kids into the fold. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s our territory,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A lot of teams ignored states like Minnesota, Texas and California because the kids weren&rsquo;t coming. But if we get even one percent out of Minnesota, that&rsquo;s all we need.&rdquo;</p><p>The current Hawks are a perfect example. Power forward and 2014 draft prospect Keegan Iverson hails from Minnesota, where he was plucked from the famous high school ranks and steered away from the NCAA route. &ldquo;My high school team was in the single-A category (for smaller schools),&rdquo; Iverson said. &ldquo;So if I wanted to progress in my hockey career, Portland was the place to go.&rdquo;</p><p>Paul Bittner, another big Minnesotan whose late 1996 birthday means he won&rsquo;t be eligible until the 2015 draft, was another score for Johnston. But in terms of opening a kid&rsquo;s eyes, 2014 prospect Chase De Leo has the best tale. &ldquo;Honestly, school was always first for my family,&rdquo; said the Los Angeles native. &ldquo;I had already visited Boston College and Denver and the day before the bantam draft, my coach told me I might get picked. I had no idea what the WHL even was.&rdquo;</p><p>When Portland called his name in the ninth round, the notion got exciting for the talented center. Now the 5-foot-10 De Leo projects to be a second-rounder in the NHL draft. &ldquo;Everyone says he&rsquo;s small, but that&rsquo;s all they can say about him.&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;He has vision, great instincts, he&rsquo;s competitive and he plays well at both ends.&rdquo;</p><p>De Leo racked up 39 goals and 81 points in 72 games, making him a top-20 scorer in the WHL, despite playing on Portland&rsquo;s second line and second power play unit. Not bad for a kid who discovered the sport as a roller hockey goalie in California.</p><p>Iverson has a bigger frame than De Leo and utilizes a booming shot while throwing his weight around on the ice. Scouts love that he does so in a clean manner, and he&rsquo;ll get more opportunities next year as some of Portland&rsquo;s best players move on to the pro ranks. The same goes for physical North Dakota native Alex Schoenborn and Colorado&rsquo;s Dominic Turgeon, the son of former NHLer Pierre Turgeon. Dominic plays against the opponent&rsquo;s top line most nights, kills penalties and was hailed by Johnston as the team&rsquo;s most improved player. He and Schoenborn are also up for the draft this year.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0053-01337/9993892-1-eng-US/f0053-012.jpg" title="f0053-01" width="1163" height="1258"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>MAIN MAN PETAN</b></p><p>The Winterhawks are successful for a number of reasons and center Nic Petan is just one of them.</p></figcaption></div><p>While the flood of Americans is obvious now, it took Portland a while to bust the dam. The team couldn&rsquo;t get California&rsquo;s Rocco Grimaldi away from the University of North Dakota, while A.J. Michaelson stuck with his plan to attend the University of Minnesota. But the Hawks did entice Seth Jones over to the WHL when the now Nashville Predators blueliner was considering North Dakota before the 2012-13 campaign.</p><p>All this success has also brought scrutiny to the franchise, however. Last season the team was punished by the league for recruiting violations over the past five seasons, such as paying for the captain&rsquo;s cell phone, flying parents out to Portland and paying for summer training. Some called it just desserts for the franchise, while other insiders believed it was a witch hunt initiated by jealous old-guard owners in the league. Johnston was suspended midway through the season, leaving Travis Green to helm the ship &ndash; which the current American League Utica Comets coach did, all the way to the WHL title and Memorial Cup final. Needless to say, the Hawks were more than motivated to win it all this time with Johnston back. &ldquo;Definitely,&rdquo; Iverson said. &ldquo;We were so close last year and to have him pushing us again, we&rsquo;re excited to win it with him.&rdquo;</p><p>The long-term effects of the punishment, on top of Johnston&rsquo;s 2013 ban, involved the forfeiture of draft picks. Portland lost nine selections, including its first-rounders this year and every year until 2018. The team was also fined $200,000. But whether you see the Hawks as cheaters or martyrs, it doesn&rsquo;t look like the punishment will have much of an effect if the team can continue to recruit from the United States. Keoni Texeira, for example, was taken out of California in the second round of the 2012 draft and is already a regular on the team, while Seth Jones&rsquo; younger brother Caleb could join the team in the near future after his time is up with the U.S. National Team Development Program.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0053-02234/9993885-1-eng-US/f0053-022.jpg" title="f0053-02" width="1368" height="1442"><figcaption class="caption-body">MATHEW <b>DUMBA</b></figcaption></div><p>Now that they&rsquo;re on firm footing again, the Hawks are all about reloading, not rebuilding.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-02258/9993878-1-eng-US/f0051-022.jpg" title="f0051-02" width="317" height="660"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MARISSA BAECKER/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>2</b></h2><p>Current Winterhawks cracking the overall top 50 in THN Future Watch, led by Derrick Pouliot (20)</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0053-03169/9993871-1-eng-US/f0053-032.jpg" title="f0053-03" width="327" height="626"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MARISSA BAECKER/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>4</b></h2><p>Consecutive NHL drafts with a Portland player taken 13th overall or higher. Seth Jones went fourth in 2013</p><h2><b>MIKE JOHNSTON&rsquo;S TOP STUDENTS</b></h2><p>The best Winterhawks to graduate from his nest</p><p><b>1.</b> Ryan Johansen</p><p><b>2.</b> Nino Niederreiter</p><p><b>3.</b> Seth Jones</p><p><b>4.</b> Sven Baertschi</p><p><b>5.</b> Ty Rattie</p><p><b>6.</b> Derrick Pouliot</p><p><b>7.</b> Tyler Wotherspoon</p><p><b>8.</b> Nic Petan</p><p><b>9.</b> Brendan Leipsic</p><p><b>10.</b> Taylor Leier<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0051-01

WILD SUCCESS IN THE WEST

<div class="byline">WITH STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0054-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-02211/9993930-1-eng-US/f0054-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>LOOKS LIKE VICTORY</b></p><p>Nick Metz, Wally Stanowski and Don Metz, left to right, savor their Stanley Cup win in 1947.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(NAT TUROFSKY/HHOF IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-01350/9993937-1-eng-US/f0054-012.jpg" title="f0054-01" width="193" height="227"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>F</span>OR ALMOST A DECADE IN THE 1940S, UNOBTRUSIVE CAREER</b> minor-leaguer Don Metz strived to become a full-time NHLer with the Toronto Maple Leafs alongside his starry big brother, Nick. But poor, beleaguered Don endlessly failed.</p><p>That&rsquo;s the bad news. The good news is, over a nine-year span, Don, a Saskatchewan wheat farmer, became only one of three Toronto skaters to play for five Stanley Cup winners. (Hall of Famers Turk Broda and Ted Kennedy were the others.) &ldquo;I was lucky that way,&rdquo; Metz told me during a telephone interview I conducted with him more than 10 years ago.</p><p>Don was more than lucky. He was the right Metz at the right time with the right team. His older brother excelled for the Maple Leafs over 518 games compared with Don&rsquo;s paltry 172 contests, but Nick never could top Kid Metz&rsquo;s feat.</p><p>How could this icy aberration have taken place? For one thing, Don was available for a cup of NHL coffee at critical moments and invariably delivered big time for Toronto. In 1942, for example, Toronto trailed Detroit three games to none in the final. Suddenly, coach Hap Day benched his leading scorer, Gordie Drillon, replacing him with unsung Don. Metz emerged as the playoff-scoring hero as the Leafs became the only team in history to win the Cup after losing the first three games of the final.</p><p>Don celebrated his feat by enlisting in the Canadian Armed Forces, returning to suit up for the 1945 final when Toronto beat Detroit in seven games. But the aforementioned heroics were small potatoes compared to Don&rsquo;s headline grab in 1946-47. This time it was a blockbuster check that would pave the way for an astonishing upset Cup win two months later.</p><p>During 1946-47, the defending champion Montreal Canadiens seemed a sure bet to repeat. Armed with a spate of Hall of Famers, coach Dick Irvin relied on offense from his famed &lsquo;Punch Line,&rsquo; featuring center Elmer Lach and wingers Maurice Richard and Toe Blake. Subtract Lach, the theory went, and the line&rsquo;s punch would be acutely softened. That&rsquo;s precisely what happened, thanks to Don&rsquo;s thundering whack job on Lach that had long-term implications in determining the Cup champion.</p><p>The thumping was delivered Feb. 6, 1947, at the Forum as Lach launched an attack from his zone. Forechecking Don cut across the ice as Lach, doing an NHL version of the Titanic, swerved into him. The collision sent helmetless Elmer tail spinning, his head violently striking the ice. &ldquo;I hit Elmer from the side,&rdquo; said Don, pleading innocent and later being exonerated by NHL president Clarence Campbell, &ldquo;but did not see him fall.&rdquo;</p><p>Long after Lach was hospitalized with a fractured skull, Montrealers continued crying foul, and charges of dirty play reverberated all the way into April when the Habs and Leafs coincidentally met in the final. Then, in a strange move, Irvin invoked God to once and for all referee the endless Metz-Lach furor. &ldquo;Irvin prophesied that the outcome of the series rested solely in the hands of Providence,&rdquo; wrote columnist Jim Coleman in the <i>Globe and Mail</i>. &ldquo;He said that if the (Metz-Lach) accident was only an accident, the Leafs would win the series. If the injury was deliberate, Providence would intervene and the Canadiens would win the Cup.&rdquo;</p><p>With Don in the lineup, and without any known divine intervention, the rookie-laden Leafs triumphed in six games &ndash; good for Don&rsquo;s third ring, but not good enough for GM Conn Smythe to guarantee him a spot the following season. In 1947-48 Don paid Pittsburgh another AHL visit in addition to playing 26 games with Toronto. At playoff time Don was a Leaf again and almost magically won his fourth ring, seemingly his last.</p><p>Meanwhile, big brother Nick retired with his four rings. Since no NHL team had ever won three straight Stanley Cups, nobody expected Don to add to his jewelry collection. This was especially the case in 1948-49, when Toronto finished a dismal fourth, burdened with a sub-.500 (22-25-13) mark.</p><p>Ah, but there was one lucky Cup remaining on coach Day&rsquo;s roster. Don had done his annual minor league service, having played 17 games for the AHL Hornets, but was a Leaf again at playoff time. With Don back on the roster, Toronto disposed of the Boston Bruins in five games and then Detroit in four for an unprecedented third straight Cup and a fifth ring for Don.</p><p>To this day nobody in hockey history can match the marvelous Don Metz, who played for five Cup-winners in Toronto without ever playing a single full season with the Leafs.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0054-02

METZ’S CAMEOS ALWAYS PAID OFF

<div class="byline">BY JOSH ELLIOTT</div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>N</span>ATHAN PERROTT IS NO STRANGER TO THE TRIALS OF TRAINING</b> camp. His NHL career started at Nashville&rsquo;s in 2001 and ended when he was released from New Jersey&rsquo;s in 2006. He&rsquo;d been through plenty of gruelling hockey trials, but nothing that could help him in the preparation needed for his current job: use of force, gun training, shooter situations, rapid troop deployment and advanced counterterrorism tactics.</p><p>It&rsquo;s all Jack Bauer <i>24</i>-type stuff, crammed into 12 weeks of boot camp at a military base. Not your typical NHL training camp and not your typical job. As a former NHL enforcer, Perrott used to get paid to defend his teammates with the Predators, Toronto Maple Leafs and Dallas Stars, but now he&rsquo;s part of a paramilitary team paid to defend the world&rsquo;s second-largest nuclear power plant. He still wears a helmet to work, but he&rsquo;s traded his shoulder pads and stick for a Kevlar vest and assault rifle.</p><p>And just like when Perrott played in the NHL, his team at the Bruce nuclear plant in Owen Sound, Ont., has its superstars. The Bruce tactical response team has won multiple SWAT championships in the U.S. &ldquo;They train hard, those guys,&rdquo; Perrott says. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re right there with any of the NHLers for being in shape.&rdquo;</p><p>His career has taken him through minor leagues, the NHL (four goals, nine points, 251 penalty minutes in 89 games), Russia and the pro boxing world, but Perrott never expected he&rsquo;d grow up protecting the same nuclear plant where his mother worked during his childhood.</p><p>At 33, four years removed from playing in the NHL, Perrott was in nearby Walkerton, Ont., for a senior hockey game when a friend urged him to apply at Bruce Power. &ldquo;I realized it was time to turn the page in my life and I wasn&rsquo;t getting any younger so my hockey skills were quickly diminishing,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I saw the security job and I thought that&rsquo;d be a perfect fit for me.&rdquo;</p><p>Nowadays, Perrott, 37, is fitting in as a skills coach with the Ontario League&rsquo;s Owen Sound Attack and as an assistant minor hockey coach for the oldest of his three sons. And he&rsquo;s got plenty of experience to share. After the Devils made him a second-round pick in 1995, Perrott later signed as a free agent with the Chicago Blackhawks. But he didn&rsquo;t play for either team. It wasn&rsquo;t until Chicago traded him to Nashville in 2001 that he had his first regular season action. He spent parts of the next four seasons with the Predators, Leafs and Stars before winding up with Chekhov Vityaz of the Russian Superleague in 2007. Perrott played there for two seasons and witnessed the dawn of the Kontinental League, along with some of its early hiccups. &ldquo;They made everybody take a 20-percent pay cut,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The Russian guys always said, &lsquo;Well, it&rsquo;s Russia, what do you expect?&rsquo; &rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-01278/9994006-1-eng-US/f0056-012.jpg" title="f0056-01" width="924" height="1310"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>I GOT YOUR BACK</b></p><p>Nathan Perrott could always be counted on to protect teammates over his four NHL seasons.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>If Perrott learned one thing in Russia, it was to expect the unusual. He remembers the old lady who used to pay Chekhov players out of a shopping bag packed with millions in U.S. dollars. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s coming from the bank, guys would line up by the (dressing room) door and they&rsquo;d pay your bonus money,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;This little old lady wouldn&rsquo;t even have a guard with her.&rdquo;</p><p>Chekhov Vityaz&rsquo;s owner was the money guy behind Olympic boxing gold medalist Alexander Povetkin, whose Olympic training gym was near the Vityaz rink. Perrott soon started training there as a boxer and returned to North America for three pro bouts. He went 1-2, winning his debut fight over Makidi Ku Ntima. &ldquo;That was awesome because the guy was tough,&rdquo; Perrott says. &ldquo;I knocked him out right at the end of the fourth round.&rdquo;</p><p>But even that taste of boxing glory couldn&rsquo;t beat his greatest hockey memory. For most NHLers, that moment is a big goal or a title. For Perrott, it was an opening faceoff at the Air Canada Centre. It was the only time he started a game in the NHL and he was in good company. Ed Belfour was in net. Tomas Kaberle and Bryan McCabe were on the blueline. And lining up at left wing, skating alongside Mats Sundin and Alexander Mogilny, was lifelong Leafs fan Nathan Perrott. &ldquo;It was really exciting,&rdquo; Perrott says. &ldquo;You dream about it as a kid and it&rsquo;s way better. The reality is better than anything you can imagine.&rdquo;</p><p><b>FOR MORE TALES</b> OF PLAYERS PAST, CLICK ON <b><a href="http://THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM/BACKCHECKING">THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM/BACKCHECKING</a></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0056-01

NUCLEAR DETERRENT

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-02188/9994075-1-eng-US/f0057-022.jpg" title="f0057-02" width="222" height="396"></div><h2><b>TUUKKA RASK</b></h2><p>Keeps pucks moving in one direction as Boston&rsquo;s X-factor in net. Two straight years at No. 1 in shutouts.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-03142/9994068-1-eng-US/f0057-032.jpg" title="f0057-03" width="222" height="396"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(STYLES: DAVE J HOGAN/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>HARRY STYLES</b></h2><p>Joined band <i>One Direction</i> via <i>X-Factor</i> on TV. Three straight albums at No. 1 on the music charts.</p><p><b>Submitted by:</b> Jason Proot</p><p>Email your suggestions to <b><a href="mailto:sab@thehockeynews.com">sab@thehockeynews.com</a></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0057-02

Separated AT BIRTH

<div class="byline">By Larry Humber</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-04117/9994106-1-eng-US/f0057-042.jpg" title="f0057-04" width="913" height="913"></div><p><b>ANSWERS AVAILABLE IN THE NEXT ISSUE AND AT <a href="http://THN.com/XWORD">THN.com/xword</a></b></p><h2><b>ACROSS</b></h2><p>1 Howie Morenz was &lsquo;The Stratford ___&rsquo;</p><p>4 Kansas City&rsquo;s short-lived NHL team</p><p>9 Home of 2009, 2010 Memorial Cup champs</p><p>10 Michael ___ is now a Devil</p><p>11 Dave ___ calls the shots in Toronto</p><p>12 The W in WHL</p><p>13 ___ Sundin was Toronto captain for a decade</p><p>15 Entertain, play ___ to</p><p>18 Tries hard</p><p>21 The NHL playoffs begin this month</p><p>23 Take a series 4-0</p><p>24 Claude ___, pictured, won Conn Smythe in &rsquo;95</p><p>25 Outcome</p><p>26 Another Anaheim-based team</p><h2><b>DOWN</b></h2><p>1 Clinching, ___ up</p><p>2 A ___-___ is a scrap or fight</p><p>3 &lsquo;Gretz&rsquo; got an astonishing 163 one season</p><p>5 Hall of Famer ___ Chelios</p><p>6 Embarrass opponent with a clever move</p><p>7 Hall of Fame is sometimes called hockey&rsquo;s ___</p><p>8 The Kings&rsquo; ___ Doughty</p><p>14 Scores shortly after the other team gets one</p><p>15 ___ the puck, play it to a teammate up ice</p><p>16 Pursuer</p><p>17 An enforcer often ___ his muscles</p><p>19 Toronto&rsquo;s Joffrey ___</p><p>20 ___ Lake City was venue for 2002 Olympics</p><p>22 Jeff ___ is goalie coach in Philly</p><p><b>MAY 26 ISSUE&rsquo;S CROSSWORD SOLUTION ACROSS</b> 1. KREJCI, 4. ROBBED, 9. SIGNING, 10. TORSO, 11. EXTRA, 12. RUSSIAN, 13. SALO, 15. CARL, 18. UNDRESS, 21. RALPH, 23. RIVER, 24. OVERALL, 25. YANDLE, 26. BLASTS</p><p><b>DOWN</b> 1. KASPER, 2. EIGHT, 3. CHICAGO, 5. OATES, 6. BERNIER, 7. DIONNE, 8. IGOR, 14. ANDY VAN, 15. CORNELL, 16. MURRAY, 17. CHELI&rsquo;S, 19. ERROL, 20. SHOT, 22. LEAFS<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0057-04

CROSSWORD

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-0651/9994168-1-eng-US/f0057-062.jpg" title="f0057-06" width="614" height="638"><figcaption class="caption-body">NICK <b>UGLEM</b> <span class="photo-credit">(JERSEY: MINNESOTA MAGICIANS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he North American League&rsquo;s Minnesota Magicians have only been at it for one season, but they cut an impressive look on the ice. Logos are fraught with peril, especially at the minor league level where budgets are tight, but the Magicians have a cool one featuring their mascot, &lsquo;Presto.&rsquo;</p><p>The shoulder logo, which features an &lsquo;M&rsquo; wearing a top hat cocked on an angle, is a fantastic secondary mark, and the team&rsquo;s font is pretty attractive. Simple colors, simple striping, too, and there&rsquo;s nothing wrong with that.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0057-06

JerseyHOUND

<div class="byline">WITH KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-02190/9994199-1-eng-US/f0058-022.jpg" title="f0058-02" width="678" height="909"><figcaption class="caption-body">THOMAS <b>VANEK</b> <span class="photo-credit">(FRANCOIS LACASSE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-01283/9994206-1-eng-US/f0058-012.jpg" title="f0058-01" width="192" height="212"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>T WOULD BE TEMPTING TO LOOK AT HOW</b> the Minnesota Wild struggled to score this season, how they turned on the heat and out-chanced the Chicago Blackhawks and fell short, and determine that the answer to their ills is right in front of them.</p><p>And it&rsquo;s in the form of Thomas Vanek, a big guy with an offensive pedigree who by all accounts would love to come back to the place where he met his wife and went to school. Man, that&rsquo;s low-hanging fruit. And, hey, it was that kind of hometown loyalty that convinced Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to turn down more money to come to Minnesota two years ago.</p><p>If you watched the Wild&rsquo;s series against the Blackhawks, you&rsquo;d see that, for the most part, they were just as good as the defending Stanley Cup champion. If you watched their Game 6 elimination game, you&rsquo;d see that if they simply had one more go-to offensive player, they would have turned all those scoring chances into the margin of victory and would have lived to play a Game 7.</p><p>Vanek would love to play there, and the easy decision would be to sign him to a seven-year deal to tell your fans you&rsquo;re serious about addressing the team&rsquo;s shortcomings and delivering on all this promise. But GM Chuck Fletcher isn&rsquo;t paid to make easy decisions. He must look to this team with one eye on the present and the other on the future, and if he does that, he might come to the conclusion that signing Vanek doesn&rsquo;t make sense.</p><p>This is not two years ago. When I asked Fletcher about the risk of signing Parise and Suter to identical 13-year, $98-million deals in 2012, he said, &ldquo;There was much less risk in agreeing to the offers than in not agreeing to them.&rdquo; And he was right. The Wild had missed the playoffs for four straight seasons and hadn&rsquo;t been out of the first round in eight years. Not only were they bad, they were boring.</p><p>If any franchise needed a radical reboot, it was the Wild. Two years later, much of the hockey world agrees Minnesota is a team on the rise with a ton of promise. In large part because they signed Parise and Suter, the Wild are progressively making strides in the Western Conference and primed to only get better. In fact, their group of prospects outside the NHL and the under-21 players currently on the roster was ranked fourth in THN&rsquo;s annual Future Watch edition.</p><p>And that&rsquo;s precisely why Minnesota doesn&rsquo;t need to go after Vanek. Erik Haula proved during the playoffs that he&rsquo;s on the cusp of breaking out and becoming an opportunistic impact player. Mikael Granlund, Jonas Brodin, Charlie Coyle, Nino Niederreiter and Justin Fontaine will all be better and more battle-tested for their experience next spring.</p><p>Most of all, they&rsquo;re all young and cheap right now, but that won&rsquo;t always be the case. If the Wild really want to, they could find the cap room to get Vanek under contract for next season. Depending on where the salary cap ends up next season, Minnesota will have between $20 million and $22 million to spend for 2014-15. But that&rsquo;s not the problem. All of those good young players are on entry-level deals, and they&rsquo;re going to want big raises when those deals expire. So if the Wild sign Vanek, let&rsquo;s say at a seven-year deal worth $7 million per season, they&rsquo;re going to have to do it at the risk of losing some of those talented young players just as they&rsquo;re hitting their most productive years.</p><p>So if the Wild are interested in taking a one- or two-year run at winning the Stanley Cup without any regard for the long-term future, signing Vanek might be a good idea. And there wouldn&rsquo;t be anything wrong with that. When you have a team that can seriously contend for a Stanley Cup, it&rsquo;s reasonable to swing for the fences and worry about the long-term future when it comes. But then you risk becoming the Pittsburgh Penguins, whose Stanley Cup victory in 2009 is beginning to look like a long time ago. As sure as you can say the 1961 Chicago Black Hawks, there&rsquo;s no way you can consistently and legitimately contend for multiple Cups with a top-heavy roster that lacks depth.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">ALL THOSE GOOD YOUNG PLAYERS ARE ON ENTRY-LEVEL DEALS AND THEY&rsquo;RE GOING TO WANT BIG RAISES</blockquote><p>Besides, the Wild would be better off addressing their goaltending situation, no? Niklas Backstrom has two years left on his deal and Josh Harding has one. But Backstrom had one of the worst statistical seasons of his career and was limited to just 21 games due to an abdominal injury. Harding is dealing with multiple sclerosis, a condition that only deteriorates, never gets better. The Ilya Bryzgalov experiment worked while it lasted, and the Wild should just be grateful it did and not go there again.</p><p>Minnesota could be on the cusp of greatness, with or without Thomas Vanek. Just because he wants to be there doesn&rsquo;t mean the Wild need to accommodate him.</p><p><b>CAN&rsquo;T GET ENOUGH CAMPBELL?</b> GO TO <b><a href="http://thehockeynews.com">THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM</a></b> FOR DAILY UPDATES<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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June 23, 2014

THE ROAD TO SLEDGE SUCCESS

Guess WHO!

Behind THE MASK

THN INBOX