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 20, 2016

The Hockey News - 6/20/2016

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IN EVERY ISSUE

SAYING NO TO STEVEN

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-014/13348-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>B</span>Y THE TIME</b> John Chayka was born in the summer of 1989, David Poile had been a GM in the NHL for seven seasons. Lou Lamoriello was two years into his job as the president and GM of the New Jersey Devils, and Ken Holland was a western Canada scout for the Detroit Red Wings. And Jim Rutherford had already been named the executive of the year &ndash; in the OHL.</p><p>As the youngest GM in NHL history &ndash; the youngest in the history of any professional sport, according to the Arizona Coyotes &ndash; Chayka will soon be talking trades and wheeling and dealing with men who were plying their trades since before he was born. How well he does will be a referendum on the analytics industry.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-022/13341-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="552" height="411"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tippett and Chayka will work closely on personnel decisions in the Coyotes&rsquo; new management setup. <span class="photo-credit">(NORM HALL/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/f0025-013/13334-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="110" height="114"></div><p>Yes, numbers are a huge part of Chayka&rsquo;s hockey expertise. But sometimes you just have to go with your gut. And Chayka knows that well. He will marry Kathryn Lahaie next summer, a girl he met on his first day of school at Western University in London, Ont., in 2010. Falling in love with the first person you meet on your first day in university? Not a terribly analytical thing to do, is it? &ldquo;It was calculus class, if that makes it any better,&rdquo; Chayka said. &ldquo;It was a purely emotional judgment call. It was pretty much immediate, to be honest. I can make a decision when I see value.&rdquo;</p><p>Chayka had just turned 20 when he showed up at Western, his plans of playing varsity hockey at Cornell University scuttled by serious back problems that ended his career. He had played much of his minor hockey with Jordan Nolan, and one of his coaches growing up was Jordan&rsquo;s father, former NHL coach Ted Nolan. But Chayka had already been way ahead of the curve when it came to planning for life after hockey. He had started a hockey development model and already established Stathletes, a hockey analytics company he founded with his brother-inlaw, Neil Lane, and sister, Meghan, which provided the springboard to Chayka&rsquo;s rapid ascension to Arizona&rsquo;s GM chair. The business that literally started in his parents&rsquo; basement is now the world&rsquo;s largest hockey analytics company with 50 employees and NHL clients that include the Vancouver Canucks. In fact, it was originally a business pitch to the Coyotes that sold the organization not only on Stathletes, but Chayka, who became their assistant GM last summer, one year after graduating from university.</p><p>Until now, the youngest GM in NHL history was Gord Stellick, who took over the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1988 at the age of 30. And we all know how that turned out. But Stellick came from a media relations background and was essentially thrown to the wolves by a deranged owner. The situation in Arizona isn&rsquo;t ideal. Otherwise the Coyotes wouldn&rsquo;t have fired Don Maloney, whose rebuild philosophy was starting to yield some promising results. And anytime a part-owner installs himself as president of hockey operations, the way Gary Drummond did after joining ownership group, it doesn&rsquo;t scream conventionality. But Chayka has a solid hockey foundation and a firm grip on analytics, and he&rsquo;ll lean heavily on coach Dave Tippett, who added the title of executive vice-president, hockey operations after winning a power struggle with Maloney over the speed of the team&rsquo;s rebuild. It&rsquo;s an indication they&rsquo;ll be more aggressive in their building plan, and they&rsquo;ve placed someone with one year of front office experience as one of their main stewards.</p><p>That doesn&rsquo;t seem to faze Chayka. To be sure, he brings unique strengths to the position, but he realizes his job will be about more than analyzing zone entries and 5-on-5 shooting percentage. There are contract negotiations, drafting and developing players, running a minor league operation and a host of duties you can&rsquo;t take care of simply by applying a formula. Hockey&rsquo;s old guard is probably waiting for him to fall flat on his face to prove the eye test is still the better way to evaluate players than analytics. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel as though I&rsquo;m carrying a torch for any type of movement whatsoever,&rdquo; Chayka said. &ldquo;I feel pressure to win, but I put that pressure on myself. I have my approach and my way I want to try to solve a problem here. I don&rsquo;t think it puts any pressure on me, and it&rsquo;s not something I&rsquo;m thinking about at all.&rdquo;</p><p>There&rsquo;s much work to do with the Coyotes, and more than a little to be excited about. Arizona has one of the best prospects outside the NHL in Dylan Strome, budding stars in Max Domi and Anthony Duclair, an established stud defenseman in Oliver Ekman-Larsson and two first-round picks in the draft. Relocation speculation has quelled for the time being, and the Coyotes have moved their minor pro affiliate to Tucson. But they have only two defensemen and seven forwards signed for next season. And there is the business of re-signing captain and franchise icon Shane Doan, who had a season in 2015-16 that hasn&rsquo;t been talked about enough for how good it was. &ldquo;Everyone is looking to improve their team, and that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m looking to do as well,&rdquo; Chayka said. &ldquo;We want to win a championship here.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

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STATS PACK

<div class="byline">&#x2013; WITH RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-014/12978-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="125" height="156"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 125px"><i>MATT BELESKEY</i><span class="photo-credit">(RECIPE BY PEARLE NERENBERG (WWW.PEARLESPORTSNUTRITION.COM), SMOOTHIE: ISTOCK, BJUGSTAD: JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES, BELESKEY: ROCKY W. WIDNER/NHL/GETTY)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>eading into this past summer, the Anaheim Ducks had been the only pro organization I ever knew. But with unrestricted free agency approaching and talks with the Ducks at an impasse, I had to prepare for the next chapter in my career.</p><p>So with the help of my agent, Murray Kuntz (now with the Definitive Hockey Group), I started to look for my new team. My initial list was long. We didn&rsquo;t want to leave any stones unturned, and there was a lot of interest, since I was coming off a strong 22-goal season in Anaheim.</p><p>Playing in the East was a consideration, since I&rsquo;m an Ontario boy, and security was important. In my seven years as a pro, there were a lot of ups and downs &ndash; and because of that, I had never bought a house in Anaheim. I wanted a long-term commitment from my next contract. My wife helped search out locations as well, because the city had to be a fit, too, not just the hockey team. When July 1 came, I signed with Boston (which was funny, because the day before I had visited Montreal). It was an Original Six city, and I like that tradition. The Bruins also play a physical style that I liked, and guys I knew who played there had nothing but good things to say about Boston.</p><p>The whole experience was pretty interesting for me. Murray did most of the heavy lifting in terms of negotiating, which included a no-trade clause early in the deal, but everyone was asking me about it. I&rsquo;d be at the golf course in the days leading up to July 1 and people would yell out, &ldquo;Where are you going?&rdquo; I&rsquo;d say, &ldquo;You know as much as me &ndash; just watch TSN!&rdquo;</p><p>Even though we missed the playoffs this year, I love Boston. We&rsquo;ve got a great group with some young players who are growing nicely. And I just closed on my first house &ndash; so I officially feel like I&rsquo;m home now.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

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WHAT IT’S LIKE...

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-052/13036-1-eng-US/f0017-052.jpg" title="f0017-05" width="310" height="326"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-043/13043-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="94" height="94"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p>&gt; Start with two groups of players, one in each corner</p><p>&gt; Place pylons in a row on each side of the ice, from the red line down to the edge of the circles</p><p>&gt; Players skate out of the corner into the neutral zone and around the pylon on the opposite side of the ice and put moves on the other two pylons, finishing with a shot</p><p><b>KEY TEACHING POINTS</b></p><p><b>+</b> Quick feet out of corner</p><p><b>+</b> Different move on each pylon</p><p>SEE A VIDEO OF THIS WORKOUT ON THE <b>SAMSUNG DRILL HUB</b> AT <a href="http://hockeycanada.ca">HOCKEYCANADA.CA</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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PUCK CONTROL — HALF-ICE WARMUP

<div class="byline">Jason Kay Editor in chief</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-015/12518-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="339" height="382"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JACLYN LOCKE)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>N OR SHORTLY</b> after July 1, we will learn the identity of the chosen ones. Fans and executives in Buffalo, Montreal, Detroit, Toronto, Tampa or &ldquo;insert name here&rdquo; will be letting out woots, patting backs, clinking glasses, perhaps even hugging and crying when it&rsquo;s announced their team has won the Steven Stamkos Sweepstakes. We wonder if those same celebrants will be feeling as jubilant in three or four years&rsquo; time.</p><p>Stamkos is the most coveted NHL unrestricted free agent ever. There has never been a player with this much skill and will to come on the open market at such a young age (or maybe any age). At 26, he&rsquo;s in the prime of his prime.</p><p>The club that woos him, though, will be incurring significant risk. It&rsquo;ll be spending $75 million, give or take, with the expectation Stamkos will lead the chosen people to the Promised Land. But it won&rsquo;t be a tap-in and it may never happen. At least three significant obstacles stand in the way.</p><p>First, empirical studies have shown NHL forwards peak at around 27 to 28, or the age Stamkos will be roughly two years after he signs. If Stamkos falls within that norm, it&rsquo;s a relatively small window through which he&rsquo;ll have to crawl, particularly if he joins a team in rebuild mode (ahem&hellip;Toronto, Buffalo).</p><p>Less scientifically, we did a data crunch that focused on the elite forwards of the past decade, and it produced similar results. Just one of the past nine Hart winners (Henrik Sedin) has been older than 27. The average age of that group is 24.8. The median is 25. Casting the net wider to include all first- or second all-star team forwards since the Great Lockout of 2004-05, we found their average age is 26.8. Not even freak of nature Martin St-Louis, who was named to four all-star teams from age 31 onwards, could derail this hypothesis.</p><p>And finally, the centerpiece forwards of recent Stanley Cup champs &ndash; the guys who led their teams to ultimate glory &ndash; were typically 26 or younger at the time. The anomalies of that cluster of 16 are Pavel Datsyuk (29), Henrik Zetterberg (28) and St-Louis (28).</p><p>Compounding the situation is the dreaded cap. Players such as Jonathan Toews and Anze Kopitar were relative bargains when they won their Cups, having not yet inked their eight-figure, career-defining deals. Stamkos will consume roughly 15 percent of his new team&rsquo;s cap, putting pressure on his GM to be creative with complementary talent.</p><p>Last, and perhaps most importantly, is Stamkos&rsquo; health. The blood clots that sidelined him this season have to be worrisome &ndash; to the player and the team &ndash; even if he comes with assurances he&rsquo;s no more susceptible to a recurrence than the next guy.</p><p>This perspective is a warning light, not an engine fail. And it&rsquo;s one with which not everyone agrees, including THN&rsquo;s Matt Larkin (see pg. 32). If anyone is capable of meeting daunting challenges, it&rsquo;s a player such as Stamkos, someone who&rsquo;s hard-wired to succeed and win. But if it doesn&rsquo;t happen in the next three years, it&rsquo;s likely it never will.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-025/12511-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="208" height="111"></div><p><b>@JKTHN</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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BELIEVE IN STEVEN?

<div class="byline">PHOTO BY GREGORY SHAMUS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-015/12547-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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THE VICTORS AND THE VANQUISHED

<p>HAVE YOUR SAY BY EMAILING US AT <a href="mailto:editorial@thehockeynews.com">EDITORIAL@THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM</a></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-015/12597-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="609" height="450"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JEFF CURRY/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Respect for the refresh</b></h2><p>I&rsquo;m mid-way through your Playoff Preview, the first issue of The New & Improved THN, and I&rsquo;m already loving it. Easy to digest format, awesome new features and extra large photos. More pages would be nice, but that&rsquo;s just nitpicking. But I&rsquo;d love to see Sean McIndoe contribute more than just one article per issue. I laughed all the way through his Worst Stanley Cup Finals Of The Past 50 Years feature.</p><p><b>KEVIN MCKEAGUE, SEATTLE, WASH.</b></p><h2><b>Choose your words more carefully</b></h2><p>As a teacher who has worked for six years supporting students with various learning challenges, I was surprised to read the following quote: &ldquo;if you&rsquo;re dumb, you&rsquo;re usually dumb for life. You can&rsquo;t fix dumb. If you&rsquo;re dumb now, you&rsquo;ll be a dumb hockey player later. That doesn&rsquo;t change.&rdquo; (&ldquo;Secrets Of The Scouting Game,&rdquo; Draft Preview)</p><p>Not only is this statement not true, but it is offensive to those of us who have committed ourselves to helping young people overcome challenges and work hard to achieve their goals.</p><p>While the article is clearly talking about scouting, this message is written and read in a generalized manner. I wonder how one of my students would feel if they were to have read this? Even for those aspiring hockey players out there, it&rsquo;s unnecessarily intimidating. It sends a terrible message to young people and society in general. Namely, that it is OK to attach demeaning labels to others and that people are incapable of overcoming challenges.</p><p>Blanket statements that contain demeaning language and negative predictions about a child&rsquo;s ability to succeed in future are highly inappropriate and damaging even if there is a degree of truth at play.</p><p>Mr. Armstrong should not have said it, and you should not have published it.</p><p><b>SHAYNA GOLDBERG , TORONTO</b></p><h2><b>Amazing Andy</b></h2><p>Thank you, Stan Fischler, for your wonderful tribute article to my childhood hero, Andy Bathgate (&ldquo;Broadway&rsquo;s Majestic Man,&rdquo; Playoff Preview). At my first game, in Pittsburgh in 1967, Andy skated over to me at the boards, signed my program, shook my hand, then reached down and handed me a puck. He started my love affair with hockey, which is still strong after 49 years. He had an awesome wrist shot and skated so smoothly and beautifully. I feel fortunate to have gotten an opportunity to have seen him play in person. People like Andy are what make this sport so great.</p><p><b>CHUCK VUCETICH, RED LION, PA.</b></p><p>The excellent article on Andy Bathgate was marred by the mistaken identification of Don McKenney, with whom Bathgate was traded to Toronto in 1964, as &ldquo;Doug.&rdquo; While Bathgate was a star, McKenney was no slouch, scoring 20 or more goals six straight years for the Bruins and winning the Lady Byng in 1960.</p><p><b>MICHAEL OLSEN, KANATA, ONT.</b></p><h2><b>Thinking of Josh</b></h2><p>I just read the Josh Karels story in your Playoff Preview edition. What a brave young man. I hope NHL players step up with donations and visits.</p><p><b>SANDRA TIMMONS, RIDGELAND, MISS.</b></p><p>I am a 16-year-old girl who is a huge hockey fan. I was really touched by the article &ldquo;The Boy and the Game.&rdquo; I know that when I went through a hard time the one thing I had to find comfort in was hockey. Since reading the article, I pray for Josh everyday.</p><p><b>HANNAH DREBIN, CHICAGO</b></p><h2><b>A rat thing to do</b></h2><p>So let me get this straight: the 1996 Stanley Cup final featuring the Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers is, according to Sean McIndoe, the second worst of all time, and yet &ndash; in the same issue, Playoff Preview, where you make this conclusion &ndash; you also feel compelled to include a sixpage retrospective on it for the 20th anniversary of the series? Nobody brought this contradiction up in a staff meeting?</p><p><b>BRANDON REICH-SWEET, DENVER, COLO.</b></p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-024/12590-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="75" height="61"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p>H</p><h2><b>THN POLL</b></h2><p><b>The Hockey News</b> @TheHockeyNews</p><p>Other than Steven Stamkos, who will be the highest-paid unrestricted free agent this off-season?</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-032/12583-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="162" height="203"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVID BACKES</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04/12576-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg" title="f0008-04" width="339" height="133"></div><p><b>36% David Backes</b></p><p><b>31% Kyle Okposo</b></p><p><b>8% Other</b></p><p><b>SUBSCRIPTIONS:</b> 1-888-361-9768, <a href="http://www.myaccount.thehockeynews.com">www.myaccount.thehockeynews.com</a></p><p><b>North America:</b> $52.95 incl. taxes &bull;<b>Outside North America, digital only:</b> $52.95. &bull; The Hockey News (ISSN 0018-3016) publishes 18 issues per year, including four specialty magazines &ndash; Future Watch (March), Draft Preview (May), Yearbook (August) and the Collector&rsquo;s Edition (October). <b>Mail In Canada:</b> The Hockey News, PO Box 5300 STN Industrial Park, Markham, ON L3R 9Z9 <b>Mail In the US:</b> The Hockey News, PO Box 904, Buffalo, NY 14240-0904 &bull;<b>Global:</b><a href="http://www.thehockeynews.com/subscribe">www.thehockeynews.com/subscribe</a><b>NEWSSTAND Minimum Single Copy Price:</b> $3.99. Distributed by Coast to Coast Newsstand Services Partnership. French Ultimate Fantasy Pool Guide national distributor is TVA Group (Cover Price: $9.99). Distribution Canadian publications Mail Agreement No. 41557548, Registration No. 09255 paid at Gateway, Mississauga, ON. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to TVA Publications Inc., 1010 rue de S&eacute;rigny, 4e &eacute;tage, Longueuil, QC J4K 5G7. In the US periodical postage (579-540) paid at Buffalo, NY, 14240-9544 and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER return undeliverable US addresses to THN Circulation, Box 904, Buffalo, NY 14240-9554. <b>PRINTING</b> Transcontinental RBW Graphics, 2049 20th St. E., Owen Sound, ON N4K 5R2 <b>OUR PRIVACY POLICY</b> On occasion, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened organizations whose product or service might interest you. If you prefer that we not share your name and postal address, you can easily remove your name from our mailing list by reaching us at any of the listed contact points. Review our complete Privacy Policy at <a href="http://THN.com">THN.com</a>. Canada We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) of the Department of Canadian Heritage. The Hockey News was co-founded by Ken McKenzie and W.V. Cote in 1947. Contents copyright 2016 for TVA Publications Inc. &copy; All rights reserved articles and photos 2016<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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YOUR SAY

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-015/12661-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marc-Andre Fleury is fresh off one of his best seasons, but his price tag and health concerns make him someone Pittsburgh might consider trading this summer. <span class="photo-credit">(GREGORY SHAMUS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>FOR UP-TO-THE-MINUTE COVERAGE, VISIT <b><a href="http://THN.com">THN.COM</a></b></p><p>12 THE INSTIGATOR 13 BEST OF THE BEARDS 14 DOWN GOES BROWN 16 LIKE A PRO: THRILL OF SKILL 18 GOODS, GEAR, LIFE: PULL UP YOUR BABSOCKS</p><p><b>TRADING SEASON ISN&rsquo;</b> just something that makes fans skip work one day in February or March anymore. It&rsquo;s now a series of peaks and valleys in activity throughout the year. The summer season, starting with the end of the Stanley Cup final, has taken over as the busiest juncture. Whereas teams divide themselves into buyers and sellers on deadline day, every franchise becomes a buyer on draft day.</p><p>Which players should be dealt over the summer &ndash; and where should they end up? Consider these five names, with varying degrees of plausibility.</p><h2><b>JORDAN EBERLE</b></h2><p>It&rsquo;s no secret the Edmonton Oilers plan to pursue some trades this off-season. They have a glut of skilled forwards and desperately need help on defense. One or two of Eberle, Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov could change homes. Drafting fourth overall means the Oilers will likely select a winger (Matthew Tkachuk, Pierre-Luc Dubois or Alex Nylander) if they don&rsquo;t trade the pick. That makes it palatable to lose Eberle, who is signed for three more years at $6 million per.</p><p><b>VERDICT:</b> Good as gone.</p><p><b>TRADE PROPOSAL:</b> Eberle to the Anaheim Ducks for Sami Vatanen. The Oilers need a right-shooting defenseman who can quarterback a power play. The Ducks are loaded with good young blueliners and could use Eberle&rsquo;s scoring with several forwards ticketed for free agency.</p><h2><b>KEVIN SHATTENKIRK</b></h2><p>The St. Louis Blues have nothing against Shattenkirk. He&rsquo;s only 27 and is one of the game&rsquo;s best puck-moving righthanded defensemen. But St. Louis has many core players with expiring deals in the next two summers, from UFAs David Backes, Alexander Steen and Brian Elliott to RFAs Jaden Schwartz and Jake Allen. Depending on which of those players GM Doug Armstrong chooses to retain, there won&rsquo;t be money left for Shattenkirk, whose contract expires next year. The emergence of right-shooting rookie blueliner Colton Parayko permits a Shattenkirk trade.</p><p><b>VERDICT:</b> Good as gone.</p><p><b>TRADE PROPOSAL:</b> Shattenkirk to the Boston Bruins for David Krejci, and don&rsquo;t re-sign Backes. Krejci is two years younger than Backes and has a manageable four years left on a deal paying him $7.25 million per.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-014/12654-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="155" height="196"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>EBERLE</i><span class="photo-credit">(EBERLE: ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES, SHATTENKIRK+LUNDQVIST: JONATHAN KOZUB/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES, FLEURY: FRANCOIS LACASSE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES, CHARA: STEVE 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/f0011-022/12647-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="137" height="188"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 137px"><i>SHATTENKIRK</i></figcaption></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-032/12640-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="139" height="219"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 139px"><i>FLEURY</i></figcaption></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-04/12633-1-eng-US/f0011-042.jpg" title="f0011-04" width="140" height="186"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 140px"><i>CHARA</i></figcaption></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-05/12626-1-eng-US/f0011-052.jpg" title="f0011-05" width="139" height="223"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 139px"><i>LUNDQVIST</i></figcaption></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>MARC-ANDRE FLEURY</b></h2><p>The timing of Fleury&rsquo;s two concussions may have altered his future as a Pittsburgh Penguin. It thrust prospect Matt Murray into the limelight, and he flourished in the Pittsburgh net early in the post-season. Murray is 10 years younger and has one year left on his entry-level contract at just $620,000, whereas Fleury makes $5.75 million for three more seasons. Could the threat of an expansion draft force the Pens to shop Fleury this summer? Fleury has a no-movement clause, and it&rsquo;s possible the rules would force the Penguins to protect Fleury as a result, leaving Murray exposed. With Murray seemingly ready to start full time in the NHL, Fleury might be redundant.</p><p><b>VERDICT:</b> One to watch.</p><p><b>TRADE PROPOSAL:</b> Fleury to the Calgary Flames for two of Calgary&rsquo;s three second-round picks this June. The Flames are starved for a No. 1 goaltender, with no NHL-ready ones even under contract for 2016-17, and the Penguins are starved for picks.</p><h2><b>ZDENO CHARA</b></h2><p>Bruins GM Don Sweeney denied the notion of a rebuild a year ago when he dealt Dougie Hamilton for draft picks, but is it time to recalibrate expectations? Boston has missed the playoffs two straight seasons. It could take a step backward to go eventually forward by dealing captain Chara, 39 and signed for two more years at a $6.9-million cap hit. He&rsquo;s still a good enough complementary piece to put a legit Cup contender over the top.</p><p><b>VERDICT:</b> One to watch.</p><p><b>TRADE PROPOSAL:</b> Chara to the Dallas Stars for Esa Lindell and a third-round pick. Lindell is a promising offensive defenseman, but the Stars have John Klingberg and top blueline prospect Julius Honka, another puckmover, on the way. Dallas is approaching win-now status, and two years of Chara could put a defensively deficient team over the top.</p><h2><b>HENRIK LUNDQVIST</b></h2><p>&lsquo;The King&rsquo; is a Broadway institution and future Hall of Famer. It would feel strange to see Lundqvist in anything but Ranger blue. Still, this team mortgaged its future to pursue a Cup in recent years and came up short. Has the window closed? If so, it may not make sense for Lundqvist, 34, to participate in a rebuild. He may not want to.</p><p><b>VERDICT:</b> Pipe dream.</p><p><b>TRADE PROPOSAL:</b> Lundqvist to Dallas for Kari Lehtonen, a 2016 first-round pick and prospect center Jason Dickinson. The Stars get a big-game goalie for their championship push, and the Rangers get some future help plus a stopper good enough to start for them. Moving Lehtonen&rsquo;s $5.9-million cap hit makes it more realistic for Dallas to take on Lundqvist&rsquo;s $8.5-million price tag. Lehtonen has a no-movement clause but could waive it for the opportunity to start again.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-01

CHANGE IN DIRECTION?

<div class="byline">BY CHARLIE TELJEUR</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-015/12690-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="659" height="873"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0012-01

THE INSTIGATOR

<div class="byline">&#x2013; SAL BARRY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-023/12719-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="210" height="335"></div><p><i>$19.95, ECW Press, 256 pgs, 5"x8"</i></p><p>THN BOOK REVIEW</p><p>Written by George Bowering, Canada&rsquo;s first Parliamentary Poet Laureate, <i>The Hockey Scribbler</i> starts with recollections of growing up in B.C.&rsquo;s Okanagan Valley during the 1940s and 1950s, then recounts how hockey influenced his career as a writer (included is his first published poem, entitled &ldquo;The ABCs of the NHL,&rdquo; from 1958).</p><p>The latter half of the book eases into the role of an eclectic historical account, focusing on a mish-mash of topics with oft-scathing commentary interspersed: He compares and contrasts brothers, and fathers and sons who played in the NHL. He recalls the 1972 Summit Series and how he became less enamored with the sport due to Canada&rsquo;s rough play. And he opines on how youth hockey has changed, not necessarily for the better. <i>The Hockey Scribbler</i> is part autobiography, part history book and part cultural treatise.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-02

THE HOCKEY SCRIBBLER

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MATT CARLSON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-033/12748-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="381" height="380"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(KEITH: BRIAN BABINEAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>HEALTH CARE COSTS</b> in the U.S. are way more staggering than the numbers the Chicago Blackhawks have posted over the past several seasons.</p><p>That fact hasn&rsquo;t eluded Duncan Keith, the Blackhawks&rsquo; Norris- and Conn Smythe Trophy-winning defenseman. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of a double whammy,&rdquo; Keith said. &ldquo;You get hit with the news about your health issue and then you get the bill.&rdquo;</p><p>Keith, who&rsquo;s from Fort Frances, Ont., has tried to help individuals south of the border with their medical costs since 2011 through a charity called Keith Relief. He founded it with his ex-wife, Kelly-Rae, whom he met in Penticton, B.C., his Canadian hometown since he was a teen.</p><p>While Canadians and their politicians debate and grouse about particulars of provincial health plans, the Keiths were shocked about the jaw-dropping and complex charges Americans face, even when they have &ldquo;good&rdquo; private health insurance. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t realize how expensive they are and what people are faced with,&rdquo; Keith said. &ldquo;So if we can have a charity where we can try to raise some money to help alleviate that&hellip;people have really appreciated that.&rdquo;</p><p>Keith has continued the effort and earlier this season hosted another packed fundraiser attended by more than 1,000 fans in a North-Side Chicago bar, raising well over $100,000. Beneficiaries include a special floor dedicated to pediatric transplant patients and their families at a local Ronald Mc-Donald House.</p><p>Most of Keith&rsquo;s teammates were at the fundraiser, and they mingled with fans before a performance by country singer Dustin Lynch, one of Keith&rsquo;s favorites.</p><p>The low-key Keith won&rsquo;t talk about how he feels about the state of politics in the United States, but he&rsquo;s willing to discuss people. &ldquo;There was a mother &ndash; she was working three jobs for her son&rsquo;s medical expenses &ndash; we helped a few years ago,&rdquo; Keith said. &ldquo;So that&rsquo;s a good feeling.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-03

HAWK HEART

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-014/12805-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="329" height="204"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><i>THE CHEATERS</i></p><p>BRENT BURNS AND JOE THORNTON Both Sharks stars started their growth long before the playoffs, but these manes are too epic to ignore.</p><span class="photo-credit">(BURNS+THORNTON: JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES, HOLTBY: JUSTIN K. ALLER/GETTY IMAGES, BOYLE: BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES, COSBY: PATRICK SMITH/GETTY IMAGES, JACKMAN: ROCKY W. WIDNER/NHL/GETTY IMAGES, ARNETT: JUAN OCAMPO/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-024/12798-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="184" height="184"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><i>THE TEENAGER</i></p><p>SIDNEY CROSBY &lsquo;Sid the Kid&rsquo; indeed. Let us know when his face hits puberty. No one rocks the patchy beard like Crosby can.</p></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-033/12791-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="183" height="184"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><i>THE GOALIE</i></p><p>BRADEN HOLTBY How does he fit all that foliage under his mask? Impressive and inconvenient.</p></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-042/12784-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="183" height="183"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><i>THE GENTLEMAN</i></p><p>BRIAN BOYLE Too groomed to technically be a beard, but Boyle grew out his classy mustachioed look as the second season progressed</p></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-052/12777-1-eng-US/f0013-052.jpg" title="f0013-05" width="183" height="184"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><i>THE PERFECT BEARD</i></p><p>BARRET JACKMAN So lush, so thick, complete coverage&hellip; and Jackman was clean shaven on Day 1 of the playoffs.</p></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0013-01

BEST OF THE 2016 PLAYOFF BEARDS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-07/12834-1-eng-US/f0013-072.jpg" title="f0013-07" width="336" height="336"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>C</span>heck out this absolute gem from @STLBlueshistory. It&rsquo;s actually the original design for St. Louis&rsquo; jersey when the franchise was first announced one year before the Blues stepped onto NHL ice for the first time. Designed quickly by coach Lynn Patrick, the sweater remained in his family for decades before it was sold to a collector in the 1990s, then re-sold again recently. The jersey was never worn in a game, and the Bluenote we have all come to know was designed later by Sid Salomon III, one of the team&rsquo;s original owners.</p><p>While this version isn&rsquo;t wildly different from the looks that St. Louis has worn in the decades that followed, it does offer a cool alternative history for the franchise.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0013-07

JERSEY HOUND

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-06/12863-1-eng-US/f0013-062.jpg" title="f0013-06" width="338" height="488"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>ILL ARNETT IS</b> a hardcore hockey fan, no question about it. The actor and comedian, best known as Gob Bluth from the cult TV hit <i>Arrested Development</i> and the voice of Batman in <i>The Lego Movie,</i> is a Toronto boy, and he even has a favorite THN cover: the iconic Mike Bossy shot featuring the Islanders sniper holding a flaming stick, from Arnett&rsquo;s youth.</p><p>Now the funny man gets a chance to take center stage in the hockey world as the host of the NHL Awards, which take place in Las Vegas June 22. Arnett has a level of comfort here, as he made an appearance at the 2012 event, with a series of videos lampooning the player safety clips his buddy Brendan Shanahan was making to explain suspensions at the time. &ldquo;It definitely helped, in that I got to know some of the people at the NHL,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They were super nice back then, so it feels friendly.&rdquo;</p><p>Arnett admits to getting star-struck sometimes. &ldquo;For sure I do,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I tend to work with people who are known as famous or &lsquo;celebrities.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s the nature of my work and you become desensitized. But with hockey players, the novelty never wears off.&rdquo;</p><p>Like at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, for example, when he made Shanahan strike up a conversation with Leafs legend Mats Sundin, who happened to be walking by the pair. Arnett, a big-time Toronto Maple Leafs fan, is stoked his team won the draft lottery, and he&rsquo;s no fan of Toronto&rsquo;s rivals &ndash; but even the vitriol in the Battle of Ontario can go only so far. When asked if he would have to bite his tongue if Ottawa&rsquo;s Erik Karlsson won the Norris Trophy the night he hosted, Arnett laughed. &ldquo;I enjoy the rivalries in hockey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But when it comes to the players themselves&hellip; how can you not get psyched about watching Erik Karlsson play? He&rsquo;s one of those guys you wish you had on your team.&rdquo;</p><p>As for the tone of the ceremony itself, the man with the quick wit and the radio voice knows what his job is in Las Vegas. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a night to celebrate the guys at the top of their game and the guys who had the best years,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;re also having fun. Sometimes award shows take it too serious and it&rsquo;s like, let&rsquo;s remember the context here. It should be a good time.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0013-06

WHY SO SERIOUS?

<div class="byline">BY SEAN MCINDOE</div><p>DOWN GOES BROWN</p><p><b>NAIL YAKUPOV HAS</b> reportedly asked the Oilers to trade him. That&rsquo;s probably not devastating news for Edmonton fans, most of whom have soured on the unproductive winger. Four years after being taken with the first-overall pick in 2012, there&rsquo;s little question Yakupov is dangerously close to settling into bust territory.</p><p>But there&rsquo;s good news for the Oilers. Trading a disappointing first-overall pick is far from unprecedented. In fact, history tells us it&rsquo;s even possible to extract some value from the deal. So let&rsquo;s look back on five times in NHL history when a first-overall bust was dealt a few years into his career, how those trades worked out and what lessons the Oilers might be able to learn from them.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-015/12920-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="592" height="560"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRIAN LAWTON<span class="photo-credit">(LAWTON: BRUCE BENNETT STUDIOS/GETTY IMAGES, DAIGLE: BRIAN WINKLER/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>BRIAN LAWTON</b></h2><h3><b>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</b></h3><p>THE BUST: In 1983, the North Stars made Lawton the first American to be taken with the top pick. Among the players they passed on were another American, Pat LaFontaine, as well as a pair of decent Canadians in Steve Yzerman and Cam Neely. Lawton managed just one 20-goal season with the Stars and never topped 50 points.</p><p>THE TRADE: Days into the 1988-89 season, the Stars sent Lawton, Igor Liba and prospect Rick Bennett to the Rangers for Mark Tinordi, Paul Jerrard, Mike Sullivan, Brett Barnett and a third-round choice.</p><p>THE AFTERMATH: Lawton didn&rsquo;t last long in New York, appearing in just 30 games before he was on the move again. Although, in fairness, that was five games more than Liba and Bennett would have in New York combined. In December, the Rangers packaged Lawton with Don Maloney and Norm MacIver and sent him to the Whalers for Carey Wilson and a pick.</p><p>Lawton bounced around with four more teams before his NHL career ended in 1993. He&rsquo;d go on to become a player agent and also had a stint as the Lightning GM.</p><p>While the pick was a painful miss for the North Stars, the Lawton trade worked out fairly well. Jerrard, Sullivan and Barnett combined for just five games in Minnesota, but Tinordi filled a regular role on the blueline until the franchise moved to Dallas in 1993. He went on to have a son who was <i>so good</i> that Maloney himself would trade away a certain fan favorite All-Star Game captain just to acquire him.</p><p>LESSON FOR THE OILERS: While missing on a first-overall pick is never fun, it is possible to salvage at least some value.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-025/12913-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="508" height="578"><figcaption class="caption-body">ALEXANDRE DAIGLE</figcaption></div><h2><b>ALEXANDRE DAIGLE</b></h2><h3><b>OTTAWA SENATORS</b></h3><p>THE BUST: Daigle was so heavily hyped coming into the 1993 draft that commentators were comparing him to Rocket Richard, and there were rumors the Senators tanked to get the top pick. He made things infinitely worse by dropping the infamous &ldquo;nobody remembers No. 2&rdquo; quote, which doesn&rsquo;t look good in hindsight considering that year&rsquo;s No. 2, Chris Pronger, was pretty darn good.</p><p>Here&rsquo;s the thing: Daigle isn&rsquo;t really quite as bad a bust as you probably remember. He had a pair of 51-point seasons despite the Senators being awful and scoring rates plummeting. Rocket Richard he was not. But he also wasn&rsquo;t Patrik Stefan.</p><p>THE TRADE: Midway through his fifth season in Ottawa, Daigle was sent to the Flyers for prospect Vinny Prospal, a second round pick, and &ndash; in what has to make this the greatest bust-for-bust trade in NHL history &ndash; Pat Falloon.</p><p>THE AFTERMATH: The change of scenery didn&rsquo;t help Daigle, and neither did short stints with the Lightning and Rangers. He was out of hockey by 2000 and moved on to the entertainment industry before attempting a comeback in 2002 with the Penguins. It didn&rsquo;t go all that well, but a 2003-04 stint with the Wild was reasonably solid, as Daigle recorded yet another 51-point campaign. He&rsquo;d stick around for one more unproductive year after the lockout before retiring for good.</p><p>As for the Senators, the trade was a minor win. Falloon didn&rsquo;t do anything, but Prospal went on to have a long career that included a few decent seasons in Ottawa.</p><p>LESSON FOR THE OILERS: Daigle doesn&rsquo;t remember Pronger. So apparently, Daigle is not an Oilers fan.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">THERE&rsquo;S GOOD NEWS FOR THE OILERS: TRADING A DISAPPOINTING FIRST-OVERALL PICK IS FAR FROM UNPRECEDENTED</blockquote><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-013/12906-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="517" height="517"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOUG WICKENHEISER<span class="photo-credit">(WICKENHEISER+STEFAN: BRUCE BENNETT STUDIOS/GETTY IMAGES, GREEN: STEVE BABINEAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>DOUG WICKENHEISER</b></h2><h3><b>MONTREAL CANADIENS</b></h3><p>THE BUST: The Canadiens owned the first-overall pick in 1980 thanks to yet another classic Sam Pollock &ldquo;trade veterans today for a first-rounder years down the road&rdquo; trick. But while other examples of that move yielded cornerstones like Larry Robinson, Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt, this one brought Wickenheiser, a WHL scoring phenom who never duplicated that success in the NHL.</p><p>While the 1980 draft was a thin one, the Habs did pass on three future Hall of Famers who went in the top six picks: Paul Coffey, Larry Murphy, and &ndash; perhaps most painfully for Montreal &ndash; French-Canadian star Denis Savard.</p><p>THE TRADE: After three lackluster years, the Canadiens made the decision to move on halfway through the 1983-84 season, sending Wickenheiser, Gilbert Delorme and Greg Paslawski to the Blues for Perry Turnbull.</p><p>THE AFTERMATH: While his numbers never really improved, Wickenheiser gradually morphed into a useful two-way center. He spent parts of four seasons in St. Louis before stints with the Canucks, Rangers and Capitals.</p><p>The Canadiens didn&rsquo;t gain much from the trade: Turnbull finished the season in Montreal, then was flipped to the Jets for two seasons of Lucien DeBlois. But the good news is that in 1990, the Habs righted their draft-day wrong by acquiring Savard from the Blackhawks. All it cost them was a secondround pick and a 28-year-old defenseman who probably only had a few seasons left. (Unfortunately, his name was Chris Chelios, and he played another 20 years.)</p><p>LESSON FOR THE OILERS: Maybe go easy on any future trades for Ryan Murray.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-023/12899-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="549" height="535"><figcaption class="caption-body">PATRIK STEFAN</figcaption></div><h2><b>PATRIK STEFAN</b></h2><h3><b>ATLANTA THRASHERS</b></h3><p>THE BUST: The expansion Thrashers took Stefan with the first-overall pick in the 1999 draft. The Canucks followed by taking the Sedin brothers with the second and third picks, after which all the NHL&rsquo;s GMs agreed that there was nobody left, this was the worst draft ever, and they should all just head to the bar. (The Red Wings snuck back a few hours later to grab some guy named &ldquo;Zetterberg.&rdquo;</p><p>Stefan lasted six injury-plagued seasons in Atlanta, never cracking the 15-goal mark or scoring more than 40 points, and he&rsquo;s widely regarded as the worst first overall pick of the draft&rsquo;s modern era.</p><p>THE TRADE: With Stefan&rsquo;s full-fledged bust credentials well established, the Thrashers finally pulled the chute in 2006, sending him along with veteran Jaroslav Modry to Dallas for Niko Kapanen.</p><p>THE AFTERMATH: Kapanen lasted half a season in Atlanta before being lost on waivers. Stefan played one year in Dallas, for which he&rsquo;s remembered for the infamous empty-net cough-up against the Oilers. Let&rsquo;s all agree to never speak of any of this ever again.</p><p>LESSON FOR THE OILERS: That Stefan highlight was fun, wasn&rsquo;t it? Try not to think about how it cost you Patrick Kane.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-032/12892-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="416" height="516"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK GREEN</figcaption></div><h2><b>GREG JOLY + RICK GREEN</b></h2><h3><b>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</b></h3><p>THE BUSTS: We&rsquo;ll go for a combo platter here, since these two picks serve as a helpful guide to the best and worst outcomes when trading a first-overall bust.</p><p>The mid-1970s Capitals will probably go down as the worst team in NHL history, and they ended up holding the first-overall pick for three consecutive years. They traded their 1975 choice to the Flyers, who took Mel Bridgman, but used the picks in 1974 and 1976 on a pair of disappointing defensemen.</p><p>The two barely even got to be teammates in Washington, as Joly was weeks away from being banished to Detroit by the time Green arrived in 1976. Neither was all that good, although it&rsquo;s worth pointing out both draft years were weak, largely because the NHL draft was just a mess back then.</p><p>THE TRADES: Joly went to the Red Wings for 34-year-old journeyman Bryan Watson in November 1976. Green lasted longer, making it through six years before heading to Montreal with Ryan Walter in exchange for Brian Engblom, Rod Langway, Doug Jarvis and Craig Laughlin in September 1982.</p><p>THE AFTERMATHS: The Joly trade was not good. The Caps turned the first-overall pick into two seasons of a grizzled defenseman in a little over two years. We mentioned the part about being the worst team ever, right?</p><p>But the Green trade worked out far better. Langway blossomed immediately, winning the Norris in each of his first two years in Washington. Sure, it was undeniably weird that Langway earned those honors even though Paul Coffey was outscoring him by 90 points, but it was the &rsquo;80s so we all just went with it. Meanwhile, Jarvis was an excellent defensive forward who won the Selke in 1984, and Engblom was flipped to the Kings a year later for Larry Murphy. The Green trade helped turn the Capitals from a laughingstock to a playoff team.</p><p>LESSON FOR THE OILERS: Know hope, Edmonton fans. Trading a first-overall bust can be hit or miss. But if you play your cards right, you could turn things around and eventually become one of the league&rsquo;s very best teams (within another three decades or so).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-01

TRADED DRAFT BUSTS

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-015/12949-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="693" height="992"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kids are bewitched by McDavid's sublime stickhandling, but experts stress skating is the skill every young player should learn first. <span class="photo-credit">(ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HERE&rsquo;S NO TRIED</b>-and-true development method, but every player&rsquo;s journey starts with the first steps on ice. Ask Jules Jardine, who has watched and had a hand in the development of Connor McDavid, John Tavares and P.K. Subban, to name a few.</p><p>Jardine, president and chief instructor at World Class Hockey Development, said that an emphasis on skating in the first few years of a young player&rsquo;s development, ages four to eight, can lay the foundation for a successful career. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny that in most sports &ndash; tennis, golf, those individual sports &ndash; there&rsquo;s so much focus on technical correctness,&rdquo; Jardine said. &ldquo;When you get into hockey, you see there aren&rsquo;t many people doing that. It&rsquo;s very important to build a proper, correct, technical stride at a young age, and that will stay with you forever.&rdquo;</p><p>It&rsquo;s not until the skating stride is down that development in the second stage, kids nine to 11 years old, can really begin. At those ages, development needs to continue to focus on skating, but individual basics and technical skills &ndash; puck control, passing, receiving, shooting &ndash; can be worked in. The greatest separator at this age, according to Corey McNabb, director of Hockey Canada&rsquo;s development programs, is being able to move freely about the ice. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s still a lot of skating, more trying to develop quickness, speed and power, but really working on acceleration, change of direction and agility,&rdquo; McNabb said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s really the focus at that level.&rdquo;</p><p>As young players reach the next stage of their development, between ages 12 to 15, the broader individual skills can be addressed. Players should be focusing on understanding proper positioning, coverages and how to transition from offense to defense, while developing the ability to protect the puck and read the ice. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s going to come more in the third age group, where someone&rsquo;s going to come and get you and you have the vision to put it on someone&rsquo;s tape,&rdquo; Jardine said. &ldquo;You know where everyone is on the ice, like a Gretzky-type thing.&rdquo;</p><p>The development of puckhandling ability can come in once a player reaches 16-plus. Those in their late-teens should be refining their puck skills through repetition, McNabb said, and learning to shoot, receive and complete passes and stickhandle without losing of speed.</p><p>But Jardine acknowledged hockey players should also be honest and recognize their specialties. &ldquo;You can play at a very high level doing a few things very well,&rdquo; Jardine said. &ldquo;So you can try to figure out what kind of player you are. Focus on that, do it the best, and you can go very far in hockey.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">IT'S VERY IMPORTANT TO BUILD A PROPER, CORRECT, TECHNICAL STRIDE &ndash; Jules Jardine, hockey instructor</blockquote><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0016-01

BEGIN WITH THE BASICS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; WITH EMMA MASON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-023/13007-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="537" height="469"></div><p><b>Who did you model your game after?</b></p><p>I was always tall and always skinny, so I liked watching players like Ryan Getzlaf and other bigger guys. Blake Wheeler is a Minnesota kid like me, so I watched him when I was younger. There are a lot of guys that I&rsquo;ve watched in the league that I take little things from, and I definitely keep learning stuff, especially being able to have 1-on-1 time with Jaromir Jagr. That&rsquo;s probably the best teaching I can get.</p><p><b>What's your favorite part about being an NHLer?</b></p><p>I thought about that today actually as I was coming to the rink. You just get to play hockey for a living. It&rsquo;s fun. It&rsquo;s definitely a privilege to be able to be in this league, and to get to this point a lot of people have helped me. Being able to come to the rink every day with a bunch of fun guys and compete for a few hours &ndash; it&rsquo;s the best job you could ask for. It&rsquo;s just an honor.</p><p><b>Which was your favorite NHL team growing up?</b></p><p>We didn&rsquo;t get the Wild in Minnesota until I was about 10 years old, so my favorite team was the Avalanche. I have family in Colorado, so I always visited, and I got to be a fan there.</p><p><b>What was your first major purchase after you signed your contract?</b></p><p>I bought a used car. I was a college kid, so I got a used Chevy Tahoe 2011.</p><p><b>What advice do you have for some of the young guys that are coming up?</b></p><p>Enjoy it, have fun, work hard and don&rsquo;t take it for granted. A lot of things work out for guys if they&rsquo;re working hard and having fun with it.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-02

RAPID FIRE

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JARED CLINTON</div><p>FUEL</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-033/13072-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="263" height="340"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>G</span>etting the necessary nutrients to keep energy levels high during a busy day isn&rsquo;t always easy, which is why finding ways to supplement meals can give athletes an edge. Smoothies are a healthy and effective way for those who don&rsquo;t have time to sit for a meal to get the power they need. &ldquo;The main fuel of hockey is carbohydrates,&rdquo; said sports dietician Pearle Nerenberg, author of <i>The Nutrition Edge for Hockey Performance</i>. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the only fuel you can use in an all-out sprint. To get that, you have something like your spinach.&rdquo;</p><p>Nerenberg lists oats, chia seeds, lentils, cranberries and mackerel as some other excellent superfoods, but said variety is as essential: &ldquo;To funnel it down to a shortlist is misleading.&rdquo;</p><p>Athletes are too often concerned with simply getting food into their bodies, but what makes spinach so effective is that, like many superfoods, the nutrients are held within a &ldquo;container.&rdquo; &ldquo;The nutrients are there &ndash; like the iron and the folate &ndash; and you have the container, which is the fiber of the plant,&rdquo; Nerenberg said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the fiber that actually works your digestive system as if it&rsquo;s gone to the gym.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>POWER SMOOTHIE</b></h2><p><b>INGREDIENTS</b></p><p>3 cups of fresh or frozen spinach</p><p>1 banana</p><p>&frac12; cup of unsweetened frozen blueberries</p><p>2 tablespoons of sunflower seeds</p><p>&frac14; of an avocado</p><p>1 cup of orange juice</p><p>1 cup of water</p><p><b>PREPARATION</b></p><p>Combine all ingredients. Blend until smooth. Makes two servings.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-03

GET YOUR QUICK FIX

<div class="byline">BY SETH JONES</div><p>GOODS | GEAR | LIFE</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-015/13129-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="286" height="337"></div><h2><b>FEET GET FUNKY</b></h2><p><b>IS EVERY INCH</b> of your man cave accented by sports except for that darn spot beside the couch? Then Team Tables has exactly what you&rsquo;re looking for. Its unique tables, which stand 26 inches high and weigh about 30 pounds, feature real skates and an aluminum stick as legs. The tables can be fitted to represent any NHL team or can be customized. &ldquo;The tables always seem to put a smile on people&rsquo;s faces,&rdquo; said Mike Brajak, one of the company&rsquo;s owners. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re very customizable, and stand at a different height than most tables, which makes them a very unique item.&rdquo;</p><p>If your space already has too much hockey gear, Team Tables also offers an option with a golf club, colorful pants and cleats. And baseball tables are also in the works. <i>(<a href="http://teamtables.com">teamtables.com</a>)</i> &ndash; MO CRANKER</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-024/13122-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="337" height="338"></div><h2><b>A MATCH MADE IN HOCKEY</b></h2><p><b>JUNO-NOMINATED DEL BARBER&rsquo;</b> fourth album, <i>The Puck Drops Here</i>, promises to get fans tuned up. Backed by the wonderfully named The No Regretzkys, Barber&rsquo;s 14-track record features covers of classic shinny songs like Tom Cochrane&rsquo;s &ldquo;Big League&rdquo; and Stompin&rsquo; Tom Connors&rsquo; &ldquo;The Hockey Song&rdquo; interspersed with three hockey-inspired original works. While <i>The Puck Drops Here</i> is rooted in country, Barber, a Winnipeg native, leaps across a spectrum of genres, infusing punk rock and hints of folk throughout this homage to Canada&rsquo;s game. &ldquo;I was up late one night,&rdquo; said Barber, &ldquo;and I was just expecting to read about a hockey album that somebody has made along the way in Canada, and I couldn&rsquo;t find it. So I thought we should do that.&rdquo;<i>(<a href="http://truenorthrecords.com">truenorthrecords.com</a>)</i> &ndash; MICHAEL FLETCHER</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-034/13115-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="321" height="227"></div><h2><b>CAN&rsquo;T KNOCK THIS DOWN</b></h2><p><b>IF ONE OF</b> the greatest stickhandlers the game has ever seen is interested in it, there must be something to the Fast Hands training tool. Through his agent, Pavel Datsyuk contacted creator Jim Marinoff and asked him to drop one off at his house in Detroit. A few months later, Philadelphia Flyers GM Ron Hextall ordered 12 units for his team&rsquo;s practice facility. Unlike other similar products, Fast Hands is built to last &ndash; and to stay in place. &ldquo;I was coaching some little kids on dryland stickhandling, and they kept knocking all the cones down,&rdquo; said Marinoff. &ldquo;This half octagon shape simply came into my head.&rdquo;</p><p>Each kit comes with the trainer, which is numbered 1 to 5 to help with pattern maneuvers, and a video with 25 drills that can also be downloaded and printed out. The trainer can be used on- or off-ice and with a puck or ball. &ldquo;I wanted to create a tool that would get a stick in player&rsquo;s hands and keep it in their hands because they don&rsquo;t get bored.&rdquo;<i>(<a href="http://fasthandshockey.com">fasthandshockey.com</a>)</i> &ndash; EMMA MASON</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-044/13108-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="338" height="230"></div><h2><b>A WINDUP TURNED WINDFALL</b></h2><p><b>NOT MANY GOOD</b> ideas are born out of beer league dressing rooms. Trust us. But Jake Mednick and Thomas McCole have turned an off-the-cuff joke into a booming business. That business is Babsocks, a one-size-fits-all sock adorned with the animated, disapproving face of Leafs coach Mike Babcock. &ldquo;I joked about Babsocks being something funny to create,&rdquo; Mednick said. &ldquo;Tom knew I was on to something and he hustled to get a prototype made.&rdquo; To date, they&rsquo;ve sold 5,000 pairs, including a big order from Babcock himself. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been incredibly gracious and supportive,&rdquo; Mednick said. &ldquo;He bought 30 pairs leading up to Christmas.&rdquo; The socks come in a variety of colors and specialty designs, with even more planned for the future &ndash; keep an eye out for the World Cup version. <i>(<a href="http://babsocks.com">babsocks.com</a>)</i> &ndash; IAN DENOMME</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-015/13101-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="1063" height="1531"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JAMIE SABAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>HELMET</p><p>CCM RESISTANCE</p><p>SHOULDER & ELBOW PADS</p><p>CCM U+ CRAZY LIGHT</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a CCM guy, and I love the gear. It&rsquo;s really light, like foam material. It&rsquo;s easy to break in. The elbow pads are the same thing.&rdquo;</p><p>STICK</p><p>CCM ULTRA TACKS</p><p>&ldquo;I like a happy medium. You don&rsquo;t want to be too whippy, because then you can&rsquo;t take slapshots or one-timers and it&rsquo;ll break too easily. Too stiff and you can&rsquo;t take wrist shots or snapshots. I like a lower kick point where the stick flex is a little lower. I&rsquo;m tall, so people think I have a long stick, but really it&rsquo;s just normal compared to everyone else&rsquo;s height. I grew up using a Joe Sakic curve. Different companies have different names for it &ndash; Backstrom, Taylor Hall &ndash; but my very first curve was a Sakic.&rdquo;</p><p>GLOVES</p><p>CCM U+ CRAZY LIGHT</p><p>&ldquo;Anything too big and they get too loose. These fit my palms pretty well &ndash; right to the fingertips. I like the cuff pretty loose around the wrist. It&rsquo;s better for movement.&rdquo;</p><p>SKATES</p><p>CCM TACKS</p><p>I&rsquo;ve been in a few different skates over the years, and these are what I&rsquo;m most comfortable with.&rdquo;</p><p>PANTS</p><p>CCM HP45 PRO STOCK</p><p>SHIN PADS</p><p>REEBOK KFS</p><p>When I find a pair, I like to keep them. I&rsquo;ve had these since WHL Portland. I&rsquo;ve changed the inner lining a couple times because it gets choppy. But until they break, I&rsquo;m not going to switch them.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-01

EQUIPPED

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN KENNEDY</div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>F</span>antasy drafts consist</b> of choosing players, but what if you had the No. 1 pick in a GM pool? It&rsquo;s a pretty important position, one we may see Las Vegas filling in the near future. Who is the best of the bunch? We surveyed a cross-section of agents (who deal with GMs and their staffs on a frequent basis) and prominent reporters to get the answer. The two criteria: (a) best in terms of talent evaluation, trade savvy and salary-cap savvy; and (b) smartest rebuild. That way, we didn&rsquo;t just get 10 GMs whose teams happen to be doing well. And to continue the theme of constant vigilance, we&rsquo;ve also included a projection of who each GM&rsquo;s top center, D-man and goalie will be in three years. Those &ldquo;Down the Middle&rdquo; depth chart positions are the most crucial in the NHL. Note that even some of the best GMs have work to do there. You will also find each GM&rsquo;s most savvy recent move and one he&rsquo;d probably like to have back.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0/13305-1-eng-US/f0022-02.jpg" title="f0022-0" width="263" height="298"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-015/13298-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="701" height="480"><figcaption class="caption-body">STAN BOWMAN<span class="photo-credit">(BOWMAN: CHASE AGNELLO-DEAN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES; YZERMAN: DAVE SANDFORD/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/f0022-022/13291-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="90" height="78"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>1 STAN BOWMAN</b></h2><p>No team shed more talent in recent years, yet Bowman still has three Cups and a core of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Corey Crawford intact.</p><p>DOWN THE MIDDLE: Jonathan Toews&ndash;Duncan Keith&ndash; Corey Crawford</p><p>SAVVY MOVE: Artemi Panarin, Calder Trophy finalist and smashingly successful KHL free agent pickup</p><p>DO-OVER: Bryan Bickell&rsquo;s anchor of a contract</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03/13284-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="95" height="106"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04/13277-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="103" height="77"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>2 KEN HOLLAND</b></h2><p>Since taking over as GM in 1997, Holland has guided Wings to the playoffs all 18 times a season was played. Like Bowman, he has three rings as GM and another as an assistant GM before that.</p><p>DTM: Dylan Larkin&ndash;None&ndash;Petr Mrazek</p><p>SAVVY MOVE: Sharpshooting winger Gustav Nyquist, drafted 121st overall in 2008</p><p>DO-OVER: Jimmy Howard&rsquo;s long-term deal. $5.3 million is a lot to pay for a platoon goalie</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-07/13270-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="95" height="104"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-08/13263-1-eng-US/f0022-082.jpg" title="f0022-08" width="108" height="88"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>3 JIM NILL</b></h2><p>A Holland acolyte, Nill has been a huge dealer in Dallas, landing elite players Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza and Patrick Sharp via trade and leading the Stars to the Central Division crown this season.</p><p>DTM: Tyler Seguin&ndash;John Klingberg&ndash;None</p><p>SAVVY MOVE: Snagging Mattias Janmark for a past-his-prime Erik Cole at the 2015 trade deadline</p><p>DO-OVER: Tying up more than $10 million in cap space on two &ldquo;No. 1&rdquo; goalies, Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05/13256-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="86" height="80"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-06/13249-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="337" height="459"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE YZERMAN</figcaption></div><h2><b>4 STEVE YZERMAN</b></h2><p>Another Detroit product, Yzerman has overseen some excellent drafts in Tampa, while also dealing with public scraps involving players Martin St-Louis and Jonathan Drouin. What other GM could potentially lose Steven Stamkos to free agency and not break a sweat over it?</p><p>DTM: Tyler Johnson&ndash;Victor Hedman&ndash;Andrei Vasilevskiy</p><p>SAVVY MOVE: Ondrej Palat, drafted 208th overall in 2011</p><p>DO-OVER: Matt Carle&rsquo;s long-term contract at a $5.5 million AAV (with a no-trade clause to boot)</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-013/13242-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="338" height="283"><figcaption class="caption-body">DALE TALLON <span class="photo-credit">(TALLON: JEFF SANZARE/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/f0023-023/13235-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="91" height="88"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>5 DALE TALLON</b></h2><p>Did a lot of the legwork turning Chicago into a powerhouse and now has a dangerous young squad percolating in Florida, where he was just promoted from GM to president. Marrying phenoms (Aaron Ekblad, Aleksander Barkov) with experience (Jaromir Jagr) has worked wonders.</p><p>DTM: Aleksander Barkov&ndash;Aaron Ekblad&ndash;None</p><p>SAVVY MOVE: Re-signing Jaromir Jagr</p><p>DO-OVER: Dave Bolland&rsquo;s albatross contract</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-032/13228-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="85" height="108"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04/13221-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="80" height="86"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>6 LOU LAMORIELLO</b></h2><p>As shrewd as ever, Lamoriello somehow works his magic in secret while operating in one of the NHL&rsquo;s leakiest media markets. Locking down Morgan Rielly and jettisoning the big contracts of Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf were just the beginning.</p><p>DTM: Auston Matthews&ndash;Morgan Rielly&ndash;None</p><p>SAVVY MOVE: Nikita Soshnikov, free agent (maybe Nikita Zaitsev, too)</p><p>DO-OVER: Getting very little return in the James Reimer trade with San Jose</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-05/13214-1-eng-US/f0023-052.jpg" title="f0023-05" width="81" height="107"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-06/13207-1-eng-US/f0023-062.jpg" title="f0023-06" width="72" height="87"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>7 DEAN LOMBARDI</b></h2><p>Recent disappointments notwithstanding, Lombardi put together a two-time Stanley Cup-winning squad in Los Angeles and still has a tight roster despite some salary cap issues.</p><p>DTM: Anze Kopitar&ndash;Drew Doughty&ndash;Jonathan Quick</p><p>SAVVY MOVE: Tyler Toffoli, 47th overall in 2010</p><p>DO-OVER: Dustin Brown&rsquo;s $5.9 AAV isn&rsquo;t terrible, but giving him eight years back in 2013 was a mistake</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-07/13200-1-eng-US/f0023-072.jpg" title="f0023-07" width="95" height="106"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-08/13193-1-eng-US/f0023-082.jpg" title="f0023-08" width="87" height="71"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>8 DOUG ARMSTRONG</b></h2><p>Instead of blowing up a roster that has underwhelmed in the playoffs, Armstrong augmented his Blues with rookies Robby Fabbri and Colton Parayko and veteran Troy Brouwer. Losing stink: washed off. Series win over rival Chicago: done.</p><p>DTM: Robby Fabbri&ndash;Alex Pietrangelo&ndash;Jake Allen</p><p>SAVVY MOVE: Colton Parayko, 86th overall in 2012</p><p>DO-OVER: Paul Stastny&rsquo;s four-year, $28 million giant of a contract (with a no-trade clause)</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-09/13186-1-eng-US/f0023-092.jpg" title="f0023-09" width="95" height="109"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-10/13179-1-eng-US/f0023-102.jpg" title="f0023-10" width="89" height="76"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>9 BRAD TRELIVING</b></h2><p>Dismissing Jack Adams-winning coach Bob Hartley proved Treliving will not tolerate mediocrity. He&rsquo;s got a great young core in Calgary that just needs goaltending and puck possession lessons.</p><p>DTM: Sean Monahan&ndash;T.J. Brodie&ndash;None</p><p>SAVVY MOVE: Stealing stud D-man Dougie Hamilton from the Bruins for picks on draft day 2015</p><p>DO-OVER: Thinking a Jonas Hiller-Karri Ramo-Joni Ortio goalie battery would survive</p><h2><b>SURVEY SAYS...</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-13/13172-1-eng-US/f0023-132.jpg" title="f0023-13" width="334" height="617"></div><p>TOUGHEST</p><p>NEGOTIATOR</p><p>LOU LAMORIELLO</p><p>EASIEST TO GET</p><p>ALONG WITH</p><p>BRAD TRELIVING</p><p>GM YOU&rsquo;D WANT TO HAVE</p><p>A BEER WITH</p><p>MARC BERGEVIN</p><p>MOST</p><p>UNPREDICTABLE</p><p>DEAN LOMBARDI</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-11/13165-1-eng-US/f0023-112.jpg" title="f0023-11" width="95" height="107"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-12/13158-1-eng-US/f0023-122.jpg" title="f0023-12" width="127" height="74"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>10 DAVID POILE</b></h2><p>The only GM the Predators have ever known orchestrated a huge upset win over favored Anaheim in the playoffs thanks to Pekka Rinne&rsquo;s goaltending and one of the most versatile defense corps in the NHL.</p><p>DOWN THE MIDDLE: Ryan Johansen&ndash;Roman Josi&ndash; Pekka Rinne</p><p>SAVVY MOVE: Oh man, that Filip Forsberg-Martin Erat trade is already legendary</p><p>DO-OVER: Being third team to try Cody Hodgson<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0022-0

TOP 10 NHL GMS

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-015/13398-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MIKE STOBE/NHLI VIA GETTY IM AGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>P</span>RACTICE HAS BEEN</b> over for a half an hour, and the dressing room is largely empty. Most of the New York Islanders have already showered and changed into their civvies, strictly adhering to the NHL off-day dress code of sweat pants and backward ball caps. Some are already on their way out of the rink. A lot of them take the Long Island Rail Road home from the team&rsquo;s practice facility in Syosset, N.Y., and it&rsquo;s on a schedule. Welcome to the real world, fellas.</p><p>As the dressing room empties, Kyle Okposo remains slumped in his stall, still in full equipment, save for the Islanders cap replacing his helmet. His legs are splayed, his fingers intertwined as they rest on his chest. He&rsquo;s in no rush to move along. In fact, he looks as though he&rsquo;s getting ready to go out and take another twirl. Perhaps it&rsquo;s because he has a two-year-old and a newborn at home and realizes the chaos that awaits him. Or it could be that this is where he feels most comfortable. He speaks easily and relaxed, not the least bit ill at ease or scripted. Finally, a member of the training staff stands in front of him with the bin full of practice sweaters, hoping he&rsquo;ll take the hint. &ldquo;Oh, sorry,&rdquo; Okposo says, peeling off his sweater. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m kind of in La-La Land here.&rdquo;</p><p>Yes, there is much to ponder, both in the short and long term for a young man who blew out 28 candles on his birthday cake 19 days earlier. It&rsquo;s the second off day between Games 3 and 4 for the Islanders in their second-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, giving them an extra day to stew about a game that got away from them after giving up a late lead and losing in overtime. For his part, Okposo has been producing points at about the same rate he has during the regular season. But he&rsquo;s been an interesting case study in the analytics versus the eye test debate. He has been an analytics beast in the playoffs, largely because of an inordinately high number of offensive zone starts, but he has just one goal in nine games. He will score only one more, top corner from the sweet spot in front of the net on the power play, but it will be the last goal he and the Islanders score this season as they go quietly into the night.</p><p>Okposo is six feet tall, 217 pounds, and in a good season he can put up 25 goals and 60-plus points. In the dialect of Isoko, which is spoken by a small minority ethnic group in midwestern Nigeria where his father was born, his last name means &lsquo;Heavy Rains and Thunderstorms.&rsquo; It&rsquo;s something he and his older sister, Kendra, a successful lawyer at the office of equal opportunity and affirmative action in the University of Minnesota, joke about when there&rsquo;s a big storm. &ldquo;She&rsquo;ll shoot me a text and say, &lsquo;Hey, it&rsquo;s Okposoing outside right now,&rsquo; &rdquo; he says. In many ways, Okposo plays a game that matches his name, much the way Jarome Iginla matches his name in the Yoruba dialect, &lsquo;Big Tree.&rsquo; &ldquo;I try to play a hard game, and I try to make the opposition as uncomfortable as I can out there,&rdquo; Okposo says. &ldquo;So, yeah, I try to play that way, I guess.&rdquo;</p><p>When Okposo played at the Shattuck-St. Mary&rsquo;s hockey factory in Faribault, Minn., with Jonathan Toews, coach Tom Ward said there used to be fights at the stick racks among players who wanted to be on a line with Okposo. More than a decade later, there could be a similar scuffle among NHL teams wanting to get him in the prime of his career. Islanders GM Garth Snow signed him to a team-friendly five-year deal in 2011 that carried an average annual salary of $2.8 million, a stipend Okposo can expect to go up at least 100 percent on a long-term deal. Aside from Steven Stamkos, Okposo is the most attractive pending unrestricted free agent. He&rsquo;s going to get his money. We all know that and so does he. But this is a major life decision for Okposo. It&rsquo;s mentioned to him that the standard company line for all NHL free agents is for them to say they&rsquo;re not even thinking about their contract, as though they&rsquo;re programmed to wake up in the morning and only have cycling the puck on their minds at all times. &ldquo;Yeah, they&rsquo;re lying,&rdquo; Okposo says. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re just lying. And that&rsquo;s fine. But it&rsquo;s just not possible for it not to be a distraction.&rdquo;</p><p>Okposo tried not to allow it to affect his performance or creep into the dressing room, and he feels he did a pretty good job with that. He had 22 goals and 64 points, the third- and second- best totals of his career, but it was as much about quality as quantity. Including shootout winners, he scored 11 goals that put the Islanders ahead in games and eight that put them in the lead for good &ndash; both of which were team highs. He also led the Islanders with two overtime goals and five shootout goals. Three of those were game-winners, which tied for the league lead.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">THIS PLACE HAS BEEN A HUGE PART OF MY LIFE. THE WAY I LOOK AT THE WORLD HAS CHANGED SO MUCH SINCE I&rsquo;VE BEEN HERE</blockquote><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-015/13391-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="1156" height="1613"><figcaption class="caption-body">Okposo admits it&rsquo;s only natural to think about his pending UFA contract status during the season <span class="photo-credit">(GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>After the Islanders had cleared out their stalls following their quick second-round exit, Okposo said the team and his agent hadn&rsquo;t even spoken about a contract extension, and there&rsquo;s little to suggest anything will get done before July 1. Okposo will be pragmatic and practical when it comes to making a decision about his future. He and his sister were both raised to be introspective people and independent thinkers in a home where both parents were highly educated pharmacists. Their father, Kome Harrison Anthony Okposo, who was born 58 years ago to a tribal chief in Nigeria, fast-tracked his way through prep school and graduated at the age of 15. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t like it, so I did whatever I could to get away,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I studied as hard as I could and I skipped grades.&rdquo;</p><p>At that time, he couldn&rsquo;t go to college until he gained &ldquo;social maturity,&rdquo; which meant he had to be 18. So at the age of 16, he went to school at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, where he got his degree, then went on to the University of Minnesota, where he got his PhD in pharmacy, specializing in rheumatology and fibromyalgia. It was there he met Michele Dullinger, whom he was married to until 2005. Kome is now the senior director of medical affairs for a pharmaceutical company near Chicago that produces a remedy for gout.</p><p>It&rsquo;s no surprise someone who comes across the world to study in a foreign land at 16 would place a premium on having a solid work ethic. Kyle remembers his father would often be up in his study, reading medical journals and studying everything about the latest developments in the drug industry. As a hockey-crazed kid in Minnesota, Kyle wanted to direct his energy more to sports and would come home from school asking his parents why he even had to go there. That was fine with his father, as long as he was focused, determined and a self-starter. So as a young kid, Kyle would strap weights to his ankles and run up and down the stairs in his home leading to his father&rsquo;s study. &ldquo;I would go up to his office in the afternoon, where I&rsquo;d be talking to him and he would say, &lsquo;Did you run the stairs today?&rsquo; &rdquo; Kyle says. &ldquo;I would say no, and that would be it. That was all he had to say.&rdquo;</p><p>Kome has been back to Nigeria only once since he left more than 40 years ago, and his children have never set foot in the country. But Kome remains proud of his heritage and has passed that pride on to his children. One of Kyle&rsquo;s middle names is Evrovre, which translates into &lsquo;Forgiveness&rsquo; in Isoko. The name, as is the custom, was bestowed upon Kyle by his paternal grandfather. There&rsquo;s a story of significance attached to it, one that Kome prefers to keep private. &ldquo;Forgiveness at that time was a good one for what the family was going through,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Kyle&rsquo;s birth was very unique for us at that time.&rdquo;</p><p>Kendra&rsquo;s middle name is Oghenemaero, which means &lsquo;God is Great.&rsquo; When Kyle married Danielle Hirsch, herself a former varsity hockey player at St. Cloud State University, they decided they would carry on the custom. First they had a girl, Elliana, and Kome anointed her Seruo, which means &lsquo;The Cherished One.&rsquo; In April, they welcomed a son, Odin, into the world. His middle name is Ezi, which means &lsquo;Spirit.&rsquo; Had Kome decided not to fast-track through high school and come to North America for university, or had he decided to return home, life would have been so different for Kyle, a natural athlete who decided on hockey in his teens. &ldquo;If you were taking bets on what a Nigerian kid would become in this country,&rdquo; Kome says, &ldquo;you&rsquo;d probably take the over (on him becoming a hockey player). I mean, what are the odds?&rdquo;</p><p>When the father was faced with one of the most important decisions of his life, he did what was best for him. And like every other professional athlete who has confronted the same choice, the son will do the same. After years of failure, the Islanders are on the cusp of becoming a legitimate perennial contender, and the organization is the only one Okposo has known since he left the University of Minnesota in a controversial move in the middle of 2007-08. Okposo turned 20 later that season, has since married and fathered two children, earned more than $18 million and become a man. &ldquo;This place has been a huge part of my life,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Just the way I look at the world has changed so much since I&rsquo;ve been here. Hockey was the most important thing in my life before, and now it&rsquo;s a little different. Just the way everything has gone over the last eight years that I&rsquo;ve been here is something I&rsquo;ll never forget. I&rsquo;ll never forget my time here, and I&rsquo;ll always look back and say I really grew up here.&rdquo;</p><p>Now, not to put words in Okposo&rsquo;s mouth, but that doesn&rsquo;t sound like a guy who thinks he&rsquo;s going to be back, particularly when you have the options Okposo will on July 1. The Islanders aren&rsquo;t flush in cap space and have some key players to sign over the next couple years, including John Tavares, whose teamfriendly contract comes up for renewal in two years.</p><p>Part of the issue for Okposo is logistics. As dilapidated as Nassau Coliseum was, it was a perfect setup for the players. They all live in that area and were a short drive to work on practice days and game days. The move to Brooklyn has been work in progress. The practice rink in Syosset is about 30 miles away, and the drive into games in Brooklyn can be a challenge. About half of the players drive, while the other half take the train. The practice rink situation will be a lot more palatable when the team moves into Twin Rinks Ice Center, a $52-million facility just a stone&rsquo;s throw from the Coliseum that the franchise bought for just $8 million when cost overruns forced the owners into bankruptcy. But the players will still be faced with the commute to Brooklyn for games. After holding morning skates at the Barclays Center early in the season, the team abandoned that plan and moved them back to the practice facility.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-015/13384-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="1125" height="734"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(TOP: HARRY HOW/GETTY IMAGES; BOTTOM: MIKE STOBE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>The situation is described by many as less than ideal. Not impossible, not oppressive, but less than ideal. Midway through the season, Okposo was very vocal and public with his criticism of the ice surface at the Barclays Center, a situation that improved when the owners installed another dehumidifier and had ice guru Dan Craig on the case.</p><p>Okposo maintains that logistics will be only a small part of his decision, if indeed there is even a choice for him to make when it comes to the Islanders. He likens it to buying a new house. When you move, it&rsquo;s up to you to create the memories and make it a home. The Islanders and their fans are in the midst of that transition right now, and they were 25-11-5 at home &ndash; their 55 points was the most they earned at home since 2003-04 &ndash; so they must have been doing something right. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a difficult year, but it&rsquo;s been a good year,&rdquo; Okposo says. &ldquo;The transition hasn&rsquo;t been easy, but it&rsquo;s paid off. We&rsquo;ve all gotten a lot more used to the idea of the Barclays Center being our home.&rdquo;</p><p>If the Islanders don&rsquo;t re-sign Okposo, he&rsquo;ll have no shortage of teams interested in him. He&rsquo;s close friends with Toews, going back to their days at Shattuck-St. Mary&rsquo;s, but the Blackhawks are already over the cap. And the lure of coming home is always there, as it was with Zach Parise, but the Wild are right up against the cap and have restricted free agents Jason Zucker and Matt Dumba to sign, so there would have to be some creative work done to make it happen there. Okposo does spend much of the summer at home in Minnesota, where he works out with the likes of Parise, Drew Stafford, Jordan Schroeder and Ryan Carter. They show up to the gym in the morning and work out, then get a skate in and go off and spend time with their families at the lake. Ward, who coached Okposo in high school and considers him one of the best players in the history of Shattuck-St. Mary&rsquo;s, says the lure of coming home and playing in a vibrant hockey market is something that makes Minnesota such a draw for players from there. &ldquo;They can walk around and get just the right amount of recognition,&rdquo; Ward says. &ldquo;They can go to the grocery store and somebody might say, &lsquo;Hey, Kyle, you should come and play for the Wild,&rsquo; but they&rsquo;re not going to browbeat him. They get just the right amount of recognition and solitude they&rsquo;re looking for.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">FORGIVENESS AT THAT TIME WAS A GOOD ONE FOR WHAT THE FAMILY WAS GOING THROUGH. KYLE&rsquo;S BIRTH WAS VERY UNIQUE FOR US &ndash; Kome Okposo, Kyle&rsquo;s father</blockquote><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-014/13377-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="530" height="553"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p>THAT&rsquo;S THE GAME OF THE NAME</p><p>Okposo&rsquo;s game matches the meaning of his last name in the Nigerian dialect of Isoko: Heavy Rains and Thunderstorms.</p></figcaption></div><p>The player who came to the Islanders as a boy has now become a man. In Okposo&rsquo;s first year, the Islanders reached out to Iginla, who also has a Nigerian father, to speak to him and provide some guidance. They spent an hour on the phone talking about how Okposo would handle the responsibilities of speaking about Black History Month when Okposo was in the minors in Bridgeport. Then when the Islanders came to Calgary the next season, Okposo was rocked by Dion Phaneuf with a hit that sent him to the hospital. When Okposo returned to the rink hours after the game, Iginla was there waiting to see him.</p><p>It was a case of a veteran giving forward. And now Okposo is becoming that veteran. With experience come choices, and those have rewards and consequences . A huge decision looms, but it&rsquo;s one that will be made with an open mind and a sense of balance. &ldquo;When you bring emotions in is when you make poor decisions,&rdquo; Okposo says. &ldquo;When you get emotional is when your decisions become clouded and your thinking becomes clouded.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0026-01

MAKE IT RAIN

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-024/13462-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="506" height="563"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-032/13455-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="118" height="66"></div><p>Ducks need another high-end scoring winger to complement Corey Perry. UFA departures create cap space for them, too.</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-042/13448-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="87" height="75"></div><p>Old teammate Jonathan Toews makes Blackhawks enticing for Okposo. Would need stroke of genius to find the cap space.</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-052/13441-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="108" height="69"></div><p>Might Okposo be the next player to come home to Minnesota, like Zach Parise did? The Wild could really use an injection of goals.</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-062/13434-1-eng-US/f0030-062.jpg" title="f0030-06" width="102" height="70"></div><p>Canadiens have needed big, powerful scoring wingers for several seasons now. Okposo is a nice &ldquo;hockey fit&rdquo; in Montreal.</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-072/13427-1-eng-US/f0030-072.jpg" title="f0030-07" width="80" height="78"></div><p>It&rsquo;s too often overlooked that most UFAs have a soft spot for their original NHL teams. Comfort matters a lot.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

f0030-02

TOP 5 OKPOSO DESTINATIONS

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-015/13498-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="520" height="756"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p>REELIN&rsquo; HIM IN</p><p>Although he&rsquo;s 32 and on the decline, Backes will cash in once the prized free agent fish, Stamkos, is hooked.</p><span class="photo-credit">(BACKES: JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES; LUCUC: HARRY HOW/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>U</span>NRESTRICTED FREE AGENCY</b> is a strange beast. It&rsquo;s supposed to be a crucial reservoir through which teams replenish and augment their talent, but what they get rarely reflects what they pay to get it.</p><p>The problems with UFA contracts are (a) the open market naturally drives the prices upward, whether a player deserves it or not, which is how David Clarkson happened; and (b) most players become UFAs in their late 20s or early 30s, meaning teams pay premiums for past production and get diminishing returns. Anze Kopitar, who would&rsquo;ve been a UFA this off-season, will earn $10 million annually from the Los Angeles Kings over the next eight years starting at age 29. His best seasons are probably behind him, and the same can be said for other top 2016 UFA targets, such as David Backes, 32, and Eric Staal, 31.</p><p>Still, this year&rsquo;s class is intriguing. Not only does it dwarf last year&rsquo;s group in quality, but it&rsquo;s also younger. We published a top 20 UFA list on these pages a year ago, and it included 17 players 28 or older and no players younger than 27. Four of the top seven were at least 33. The average age of the top 20 was roughly 32.</p><p>In the 2016 class, all except prized catch Steven Stamkos and Mikkel Boedker are 28 or older, but the average age of the top 20 is 30. Only one of the top 10 is older than 31. Three of the top four &ndash; Stamkos, Kyle Okposo and Milan Lucic &ndash; are 28 or younger. Teams might not be buying peak years from anyone other than Stamkos and Boedker, but they can at least invest in quality lateprime years from several highend targets.</p><p>Stamkos, Okposo, Backes, Lucic and Andrew Ladd headline a strong group of forwards in this year&rsquo;s class. The best available blueliners, including Alex Goligoski and Keith Yandle, will find high-paying work, as minutemunching defensemen always do. It&rsquo;s a tough year to be a goaltender, however. There&rsquo;s a case to be made only one team &ndash; the Calgary Flames &ndash; seeks a true No. 1. That leaves James Reimer and Cam Ward to fight for the gig. The loser will have to settle for a timeshare situation, and that will mean a significantly smaller payday.</p><p>The true wild card of the 2016 UFA class is right winger Alexander Radulov, who announced his intent to return to the NHL. He last played in North America late in 2011-12, when he finished out his entry-level contract with the Nashville Predators. He&rsquo;s proven an effective NHL scorer, averaging 25 goals and 54 points per 82 games, and all but nine of those games came before he turned 22, so we haven&rsquo;t seen much of Radulov in his prime in the NHL. He has also been a dominant scorer over his five KHL seasons, with 113 goals and 322 points in 258 games. Evgeny Kuznetsov and Artemi Panarin have translated KHL success into NHL excellence in recent seasons, so there&rsquo;s reason for excitement &ndash; and a bidding war &ndash; over Radulov. At the same time, he&rsquo;s 29, nearing the end of his prime, and he&rsquo;s already left the NHL twice for Russia. Teams might be fearful about signing him to a longterm pact. Something shorter, three years or fewer, is likely.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-024/13491-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="353" height="294"><figcaption class="caption-body">MILAN LUCIC</figcaption></div><h2><b>FREE AGENT FRENZY</b></h2><p><b>HOW IT WORKS</b></p><p>&gt; Free agency begins July 1, 2016 at 12 p.m. EST. Teams have a five-day negotiating window with free agents beforehand, but no deals can be signed until free agency begins.</p><p>&gt; The most recent 2016-17 salary cap projection was $74 million. It was $71.4 million in 2015-16.</p><p>&gt; A team can re-sign a given player for up to eight years. Any team signing a new player can do so for up to seven years.</p><p><b>DID YOU KNOW?</b></p><p>&gt; Andrej Sekera signed the biggest contract last July 1 at $33m for six years with the Edmonton Oilers. His $5.5-million cap hit was topped only by Mike Green&rsquo;s $6-million AAV from Detroit.</p><p>&gt; Since the NHL introduced the five-day negotiating window leading up to free agency three years ago, an average of 86.3 players have signed July 1. In the four years prior, 58.8 players signed July 1 on average.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0032-01

PLENTY OF CASH FOR TOP CLASS

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-014/13527-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ALL: NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>STEVEN</p><h2><b>1 STAMKOS</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 26 <b>POS:</b> C</p><p>CAP HIT: $7.50m</p><p>Never has a talent of his caliber hit the open market so young. He could get a record deal unless blood clot scare drops price.</p><p>BEST FITS: TB, TOR, DET</p><p>KYLE</p><h2><b>2 OKPOSO</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 28 <b>POS:</b> RW</p><p>CAP HIT: $2.80m</p><p>More productive than Ladd or Lucic in recent years. He&rsquo;s less of a name brand and lacks a Cup ring, so he might come cheaper.</p><p>BEST FITS: ANA, MIN, MTL</p><p>DAVID</p><h2><b>3 BACKES</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 32 <b>POS:</b> C</p><p>CAP HIT: $4.50m</p><p>More mileage than most at his age. He&rsquo;ll still strike it rich as a big, mean center with excellent two-way skills.</p><p>BEST FITS: TB, CAR, DET</p><p>MILAN</p><h2><b>4 LUCIC</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 28 <b>POS:</b> LW</p><p>CAP HIT: $6.00m</p><p>Power forward hasn&rsquo;t broken down yet despite physical style. He has missed an average of 1.7 games over past six seasons.</p><p>BEST FITS: LA, ANA, VAN</p><h2><b>ANDREW</b></h2><h2><b>5 LADD</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 30 <b>POS:</b> LW</p><p>CAP HIT: $4.40m</p><p>A winner who fits in top six and plays strong 200-foot game commands big money. Will he take discount to stay in Chicago?</p><p>BEST FITS: CHI, MTL, PHI</p><p>ALEX</p><h2><b>6 GOLIGOSKI</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 31 <b>POS:</b> D</p><p>CAP HIT: $4.60m</p><p>More of a No. 2 than a No. 1, but he&rsquo;ll probably be paid like a No. 1. Plenty of teams could use his puck-moving skills.</p><p>BEST FITS: EDM, DET, COL</p><h2><b>LOUI</b></h2><h3><b>7 ERIKSSON</b></h3><p><b>AGE:</b> 31 <b>POS:</b> RW</p><p>CAP HIT: $4.25m</p><p>He earned millions for himself with bounce-back year. How would he look on a Swede line with Henrik and Daniel Sedin?</p><p>BEST FITS: PHI, BOS, VAN</p><p>KEITH</p><h2><b>8 YANDLE</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 30 <b>POS:</b> D</p><p>CAP HIT: $5.25m</p><p>Rangers need him unless they blow it up. But the Boston boy is an ideal fit for his defensestarved hometown team.</p><p>BEST FITS: BOS, NYR, DET</p><h2><b>ALEXANDER</b></h2><h3><b>9 RADULOV</b></h3><p><b>AGE:</b> 30 <b>POS:</b> RW</p><p>CAP HIT: N/A</p><p>He&rsquo;s a high-risk, high-gain proposition. He won&rsquo;t score like he does in the KHL, but he still has a respectable NHL resume.</p><p>BEST FITS: COL, FLA, ANA</p><p>FRANS</p><h2><b>10 NIELSEN</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 32 <b>POS:</b> C</p><p>CAP HIT: $2.75m</p><p>He plays major minutes in all situations and would be an underrated fit for any team&rsquo;s middle six forwards.</p><p>BEST FITS: CAR, NYI, ARI</p><p>ERIC</p><h2><b>11 STAAL</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 31 <b>POS:</b> C</p><p>CAP HIT: $8.25m</p><p>Prime candidate to be overpaid. He&rsquo;s not the offensive force he once was primarily because he has stopped shooting the puck.</p><p>BEST FITS: CAR, NSH, PHI</p><p>BRIAN</p><h2><b>12 CAMPBELL</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 37 <b>POS:</b> D</p><p>CAP HIT: $7.14m</p><p>Still a decent minute muncher. Age may scare some teams off and make him a bargain on a short-term contract.</p><p>BEST FITS: FLA, CHI, LA</p><p>JIRI</p><h2><b>13 HUDLER</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 32 <b>POS:</b> RW</p><p>CAP HIT: $4.00m</p><p>Had a career season in 2014-15, then stalled in contract year. He&rsquo;s still a handy playmaking forward for someone&rsquo;s top six.</p><p>BEST FITS: DET, NJ, COL</p><p>MIKKEL</p><h2><b>14 BOEDKER</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 26 <b>POS:</b> RW</p><p>CAP HIT: $3.75m</p><p>He&rsquo;s a speedy scorer with leftover potential to tap into if he gets a long-term chance with elite linemates.</p><p>BEST FITS: VAN, COL, NJ</p><p>JAMES</p><h2><b>15 REIMER</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 28 <b>POS:</b> G</p><p>CAP HIT: $2.30m</p><p>He has earned chance to start, but few teams need a bona fide No. 1. It has to be the Flames, right? There&rsquo;s no better fit.</p><p>BEST FITS: CGY, CAR, CLB</p><p>TROY</p><h2><b>16 BROUWER</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 31 <b>POS:</b> RW</p><p>CAP HIT: $3.67m</p><p>Big banger proved his worth in the playoffs. He could upgrade a Cup contender or add veteran help to an up and comer.</p><p>BEST FITS: STL, EDM, MTL</p><p>RADIM</p><h2><b>17 VRBATA</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 35 <b>POS:</b> RW</p><p>CAP HIT: $5.00m</p><p>One season removed from arguably being the Canucks&rsquo; best player. He&rsquo;ll attract teams starved for secondary scorers.</p><p>BEST FITS: CGY, ANA, FLA</p><p>DAVID</p><h2><b>18 PERRON</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 28 <b>POS:</b> LW</p><p>CAP HIT: $3.81m</p><p>Still relatively young and corrected his career course with Ducks. Plenty of reasons for both sides to stay together.</p><p>BEST FITS: ANA, VAN, COL</p><p>KRIS</p><h2><b>19 RUSSELL</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 29 <b>POS:</b> D</p><p>CAP HIT: $2.60m</p><p>A trap signing? Lauded for shot blocking but possession numbers suggest he was a belowaverage defender in 2015-16.</p><p>BEST FITS: CHI, LA, BOS</p><p>CAM</p><h2><b>20 WARD</b></h2><p><b>AGE:</b> 32 <b>POS:</b> G</p><p>CAP HIT: $6.30m</p><p>Several years removed from his peak, but injury-prone netminder has at least topped 50 games two straight years.</p><p>BEST FITS: CGY, CAR, TO<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0033-01

FREE AGENCY POWER RANKINGS

<div class="byline">BY DAVE HAZZAN</div><p>CANADIANS CAN BE OLYMPIC UNDERDOGS&hellip; IF THEY DON&rsquo;T PLAY FOR CANADA</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-015/14285-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="302" height="416"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JO TURNER)</span></figcaption></div><p>It&rsquo;s Saturday evening in the Seoul suburb of Anyang, and life is proceeding apace. Couples are canoodling in the cafes, groups of older men are getting drunk at the barbecue restaurants and families are glued to that evening&rsquo;s episode of <i>I Have a Lover</i> on Korean television.</p><p>Yet at Anyang Ice Arena, Goyang High1 have just upset Anyang Halla 4-2, finishing with a shorthanded empty-netter, six seconds before the end of the game. It&rsquo;s High1&rsquo;s first win in 10 games and Anyang&rsquo;s first home loss in 18. It wasn&rsquo;t supposed to happen his way, and the home fans are incandescent, screaming, booing and slagging off that cross-cultural punching bag, the referee.</p><p>In reality, though, it turned out to be a meaningless game. Forward Michael Swift, 29, and defenseman Bryan Young, 29, who are cousins, knew they and their High1 teammates wouldn&rsquo;t see the playoffs this season. And for Anyang forward Brock Radunske, 33, defensemen Eric Regan, 28, and Alex Plante, 27, as well as goalie Matt Dalton, 29, it was but a blip on a championship season, as Anyang finished first overall and went on to capture the Asia League Ice Hockey title after losing in the final last year.</p><p>All six Canadians&rsquo; professional careers have gone through various permutations of the NHL, AHL, KHL and other European leagues into the world of South Korean pro hockey. And although their efforts in the ALIH are appreciated, their primary job is clear &ndash; to make Team Korea competitive in time for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. This is no small feat, however. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to realize that four years ago, this country was in the third tier of the World Championship,&rdquo; Swift said. &ldquo;So for a country to that quickly play against the top competition in the world, we&rsquo;ve got to be realistic about it.&rdquo;</p><p>By virtue of being the host nation, South Korea is granted an automatic berth in the men&rsquo;s tournament. And Koreans don&rsquo;t like to lose, especially in a way that could embarrass them at home. So in a bid to strengthen its hockey talent, the country took the unusual step of granting citizenship to all six Canadians (as well as American Mike Testwuide). Radunske, Swift and Young were the first ones to receive their South Korean passports, while Regan and Dalton got theirs in time for the 2016 Div. I Group A World Championship in Poland. Plante is expected to get his next year.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-013/14278-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="732" height="671"><figcaption class="caption-body">Anyang&rsquo;s Dalton (top left and top right) will backstop South Korea at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang. Regan, Testwuide and Radunske (bottom left) and High1&rsquo;s Swift and Young (bottom right) will be South Korea&rsquo;s ringers trying to light the lamp. All were given citizenship to boost the talent on the host country&rsquo;s national team.<span class="photo-credit">(TOP RIGHT: LUKASZ LASKOWSKI/HOCKEY HALL OF FAME, LEFT + BOTTOM RIGHT: JO TURNER)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-023/14271-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="372" height="331"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-032/14264-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="372" height="221"></div><p>It&rsquo;s a process that begins before import players even arrive. &ldquo;As far as a negotiation tactic to get us over here, offering citizenship is one of the tools they use,&rdquo; Regan said, &ldquo;because when you take the leap to come to this league, it&rsquo;s definitely tougher to leave and go to a good league again.&rdquo;</p><p>Citizenship is generally reserved for those of Korean nationality, and dual-citizenship is prohibited, mostly to stop men from escaping mandatory military service. (One of the ALIH&rsquo;s three Korean teams, Incheon&rsquo;s Daemyung Sangmu, is made up of conscripted soldiers.) But South Korea has been on a tear recently, granting special dual-citizenship rights to &ldquo;talented&rdquo; individuals who might make a mark for the country. And the six Canadians were talented enough.</p><p>As white men, they get funny looks travelling on their South Korean passports, and Koreans rush to tell them they&rsquo;re standing in the wrong line at immigration. &ldquo;They tell us that the foreign line is across the way,&rdquo; Radunske said, laughing. &ldquo;We flash our passports and say, &lsquo;Actually, we belong in the short line.&rsquo; &rdquo;</p><p>The Korean national team&rsquo;s greatest strength is skating. Although a novice at hockey, South Korea has produced some of the world&rsquo;s greatest skaters, including figure skater Kim Yuna and speed skater Viktor Ahn. The Korean team is fast, but its biggest weakness is its size. The players are small and used to battling other small players in the ALIH. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s more of a skating game here,&rdquo; Radunske said. &ldquo;Back home, you have to move the puck because, for one, it&rsquo;s a smaller ice surface, and, secondly, there are going to be guys who make you pay the price for hanging on to it.&rdquo;</p><p>Seniority was also an issue. In Korean culture, it&rsquo;s expected that you defer to your elders, even when they aren&rsquo;t as good. &ldquo;When I first got here, a younger guy that was potentially more skilled was really hesitant to do what he could do on the ice when there were older players,&rdquo; Radunske said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;d just try to get the puck to the older guy. That&rsquo;s changed, just because of the talent that&rsquo;s come up from the younger generation.&rdquo;</p><p>The culture shock has affected each of the players differently. Radunske, Young and Swift, who have all been here five years or more, are well acclimatized and very happy. &ldquo;Korea has treated us unbelievably,&rdquo; Swift said. &ldquo;We could play anywhere else, go over to Europe, but after my first year, I couldn&rsquo;t leave this place.&rdquo;</p><p>Dalton, Regan and Plante, on the other hand, are still getting accustomed to their new home. Korea is packed and busy, especially when compared to spread-out, laidback Canada. &ldquo;There are just so many people and everyone is in such a hurry,&rdquo; Regan said. &ldquo;That takes a little getting used to and a lot of patience.&rdquo;</p><p>They all plan to re-evaluate their situations after the Olympics to see if it&rsquo;s worth going home. But for now, the focus remains laser-sighted on the PyeongChang Games. All except Plante recently played for South Korea on the world stage at the Div. I-A World Championship, where they finished fifth out of six teams with a 2-2-1 record. South Korea actually would&rsquo;ve finished second if they&rsquo;d beaten Italy on the tournament&rsquo;s last day, but the Italians eked out a 2-1 win.</p><p>When asked what they thought their chances were at the Olympics, Swift got a laugh when he yelled out, &ldquo;Nothing but gold!&rdquo; Although they know their chances for success are slim, they remain optimistic. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to put all this work in and just pack it in before we play,&rdquo; Radunske said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to be prepared and do everything we can to try to win a game.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0042-01

CANADIAN KIMCHI

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-015/14321-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="635" height="747"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(RICK DENHAM/HOCKEY HALL OF FAME)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-024/14314-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="406" height="563"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRANDON CRAWLEY & CLIFF PU</figcaption></div><p>FOR UP-TO-THE-MINUTE COVERAGE, VISIT <b><a href="http://THN.com">THN.COM</a></b></p><p><b>YOU HAVE TO ADMIRE</b> Cliff Pu&rsquo;s faith. Coming into the season, he was staring at a London Knights depth chart that wasn&rsquo;t just packed &ndash; it was doublestuffed. Toronto prospect Mitch Marner and Arizona pick Christian Dvorak were still headlining the forwards, but coach Dale Hunter and GM Basil McRae had brought in top 2016 draft hopefuls Matthew Tkachuk and Max Jones, Columbus signee Kole Sherwood, Toronto pick J.J. Piccinich and USHLer Sam Miletic. It would have been easy for Pu to get a creeping sense of dread surrounding the most important season of his junior career, being a 2016 draft prospect himself. So what was he thinking? &ldquo;I honestly couldn&rsquo;t tell you,&rdquo; Pu said. &ldquo;My agent told me to trust Dale. He&rsquo;ll play you if you play well, and Dale rewarded me. I played on the second line almost all year, so it&rsquo;s been real fun.&rdquo;</p><p>It was particularly fun in the playoffs, as the Knights steamrolled the competition to win another OHL title. While the top line of Marner-Dvorak-Tkachuk went off for an ungodly 119 points in 18 games, opponents were vexed by Pu&rsquo;s performance centering the second unit. His 13 points in 18 playoff games came as a surprise after an unimpressive first full season in London.</p><p>Pu was drafted by Oshawa but became trade bait when the Generals were making a title run last season. The Knights had a &ldquo;down&rdquo; year (they still made it to the second round) and traded veteran D-man Dakota Mermis and big Montreal prospect Michael McCarron to Oshawa. Pu only averaged about a point every two games this season with the Knights, but in the playoffs, his offensive output took a big jump. And so did his draft stock. He eventually landed as a late first-rounder in THN&rsquo;s Draft Preview. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s really using his speed,&rdquo; Hunter said. &ldquo;When he&rsquo;s skating and using his speed on the forecheck, he&rsquo;s very effective.&rdquo;</p><p>London crowds noticed Pu&rsquo;s effectiveness, too. During the playoffs, fans began to chant &ldquo;Puuuuuu!&rdquo; anytime he got the puck, much like NHL fans have chanted &ldquo;Luuuu!&rdquo; for Roberto Luongo throughout the star goalie&rsquo;s career. &ldquo;At first I didn&rsquo;t know they were doing it,&rdquo; Pu said. &ldquo;(Teammate) Emanuel Vella told me after one of the games, and by the last game of the Owen Sound series I started hearing it a lot. It&rsquo;s pretty funny, and it&rsquo;s better than them booing.&rdquo;</p><p>Next season promises to be even more fun for Pu. The Knights will lose No. 1 center Dvorak to the pro ranks, and while there is an outside chance Marner comes back and slides over to center from the wing, the more likely scenario installs Pu as the top pivot, so his linemates will be better and he&rsquo;ll get more power play time.</p><p>Once again London has found a winner. And Knights fans can continue to chant his name next season, with eyes on another championship.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0044-01

TRUSTING THE BRAIN TRUST

<div class="byline">BY DANIEL NUGENT-BOWMAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-015/14357-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg" title="f0045-01" width="520" height="612"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hajek has found a comfortable home in Saskatoon, where the Blades have struggled with results but hit on imports.<span class="photo-credit">(STEVE HISCOCK/SASKATOON BLADES; NYLANDER: GRAIG ABEL/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE SASKATOON BLADES</b> have fallen on hard times of late, but one exception has been their ability to find top Europeans. The latest example is Czech shutdown defenseman Libor Hajek, a potential first-round pick in June. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s exceeded our expectations,&rdquo; said Blades coach-GM Bob Woods. &ldquo;Depending on where he gets drafted, we should see him around here for at least two more years, which would be awesome, because he is an elite player.&rdquo;</p><p>Hajek is trying to join goaltender Andrey Makarov and right winger Nikita Scherbak as recent Blades from Europe who have appeared in an NHL game or been drafted in the first round. Russians Makarov and Scherbak &ndash; both brought in by previous management &ndash; were stars on underwhelming Blades squads. Makarov, a two-time world junior, was named team MVP twice and signed with the Buffalo Sabres in September 2012. He earned top goalie honors at the 2013 Memorial Cup in Saskatoon, despite the Blades finishing last. Scherbak, too, was the Blades&rsquo; MVP in 2013-14, when he had 78 points for a nonplayoff group. He was then selected 26th overall by the Montreal Canadiens.</p><p>The Blades chose Hajek second overall in the CHL import draft after finishing with the WHL&rsquo;s worst record last season. Woods relied on Hajek&rsquo;s agents, Newport Sports&rsquo; Jason Taylor and Greg Landry, for intel. Woods and Taylor were teammates with the Brandon Wheat Kings in 1987-88. &ldquo;We got pretty honest feedback on him,&rdquo; Woods said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s lived up to everything they said.&rdquo;</p><p>Woods counts Hajek&rsquo;s skating, shooting and physicality as strengths. But the physicality doesn&rsquo;t extend to fighting &ndash; which is odd for a player who calls the <i>Rocky</i> series his favorite movies. &ldquo;I never fight before &ndash; I don&rsquo;t know how,&rdquo; Hajek said, chuckling. &ldquo;I should maybe learn, because every game guys fight.&rdquo;</p><p>Besides enduring the roughand-tumble WHL, Hajek is pleased with his move to Canada. He had visited Toronto a handful of times because his paternal grandmother and aunt live there, but Saskatoon&rsquo;s accessibility reminds him of home in the Czech Republic.</p><p>Hajek played in all situations for the Blades, who are still recovering from expending assets to acquire Brayden Schenn in 2011 to load up for the Memorial Cup. Hajek had three goals and 26 points in 69 games and notched an assist in the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.</p><p>Like his predecessors, Hajek chose to play in the CHL because he thought it was the best place to gain exposure, and that plan has worked: he&rsquo;s ranked 33rd in Draft Preview. &ldquo;Junior hockey is very good, the best in the world,&rdquo; Hajek said. &ldquo;Every game is in front of scouts from the NHL. They can see me every game.&rdquo;</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-024/14350-1-eng-US/f0045-022.jpg" title="f0045-02" width="86" height="78"></div><p><b>LIBOR HAJEK</b></p><p><b>POS</b> D <b>AGE</b> 18 <b>HT</b> 6-1 <b>WT</b> 198 lbs <b>STATUS</b> Ranked 36th for 2016 by ISS<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

f0045-01

SASKATOON’S IMPORT BUSINESS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-033/14386-1-eng-US/f0045-032.jpg" title="f0045-03" width="252" height="386"><figcaption class="caption-body">ALEX NYLANDER</figcaption></div><h2><b>1. ALEX NYLANDER</b></h2><h3><b>MISSISSAUGA (OHL)</b></h3><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he OHL rookie of the year led the Steelheads in scoring with 75 points in 57 games and also came up big in the playoffs. The quick and gifted left winger also helped Sweden to silver at the world under-18s in North Dakota.</p><h2><b>2. OLLI JUOLEVI</b></h2><h3><b>LONDON (OHL)</b></h3><p>Smarts and smoothness are the hallmarks of the Finnish defenseman, who was an all-star selection at the world juniors. On top of his gold medal in hometown Helsinki, Juolevi also helped the Knights cruise through the OHL playoffs.</p><h2><b>3. MIKHAIL SERGACHEV</b></h2><h3><b>WINDSOR (OHL)</b></h3><p>Sergachev was a big reason why the Spitfires surprised this season. He logged big minutes and has been called the most NHL-ready D-man in the draft. But Windsor hosts the Memorial Cup next year, so he should be back in town.</p><h2><b>4. MARKUS NIEMELAINEN</b></h2><h3><b>SAGINAW (OHL)</b></h3><p>Though he played on a mediocre team, there was no chance of missing the towering Finn&rsquo;s potential. The 6-foot-6 blueliner has great mobility and a gold medal from the world under-18s.</p><h2><b>5. VITALI ABRAMOV</b></h2><h3><b>GATINEAU (QMJHL)</b></h3><p>Scouts love him for playing a &ldquo;North American&rdquo; style of game, getting gritty for goals despite his smaller frame. And Abramov had a lot of goals this season, leading the &lsquo;Q&rsquo; in rookie scoring with 93 points in just 63 games. Tons of skill there thanks to his quickness.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0045-03

EUROPEAN EXPRESS

<div class="byline">WITH RYAN KENNEDY @THNRYANKENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0046-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-015/14415-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BROWN: DENNIS PAJOT/GETTY IMAGES, KELLER+BELLOWS+ MCAVOY: RICHARD T GAGNON/GETTY IMAGES, BEAN: DEREK LEUNG/GETTY IMAGES, KUNIN:GREG ANDERSON/UW ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS, DEBRINCAT+ BASTIAN: GRAIG ABEL/GETTY IMAGES, HART: MARISSA BAECKER/GETTY IMAGES, TUFTE: MJOY PHOTOGRAPHY/FARGO FORCE, NIEMELAINEN: SAGINAW SPIRIT, LABERGE: MINAS PANAGIOTAKIS/GETTY IMAGES, HAJEK: STEVE HISCOCK/SASKATOON BLADES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>01 AUSTON MATTHEWS</b></h2><p>CENTER ZURICH</p><p>This is the player Toronto needs, the center who can be that elite, two-way player you win with. How about Matthews on a line with Mitch Marner and/or William Nylander in the future? Nice.</p><h2><b>02 PATRIK LAINE</b></h2><p>RIGHT WINGER TAPPARA</p><p>An incredibly dangerous shooter who plays a bullish physical game to boot. Winnipeg has some nice talent coming through the ranks already, but Laine has ability to be a game-changer.</p><h2><b>03 JESSE PULJUJARVI</b></h2><p>RIGHT WINGER KARPAT</p><p>No slouch himself, Puljujarvi could also go second, but the Jackets win either way. With Puljujarvi, they get a determined 200-foot player who can also put the puck in the net.</p><h2><b>04 MATTHEW TKACHUK</b></h2><p>LEFT WINGER LONDON</p><p>Montreal needs a big winger with talent, and Tkachuk is worth trading up for. He&rsquo;s smart, plays the game with an edge and can load up the scoresheet. Plus, he&rsquo;ll be NHLready very soon.</p><h2><b>05 JAKOB CHYCHRUN</b></h2><p>DEFENSEMAN SARNIA</p><p>Part of a threeman cohort of blueliners that could go in any order, Chychrun offers the best physical package and would give Vancouver a tough but talented future cornerstone.</p><h2><b>06 PIERRE-LUC DUBOIS</b></h2><p>LEFT WINGER CAPE BRETON</p><p>Nasty and skilled with a 200-foot game, Dubois would be an excellent addition to a young Flames forward core that has some skill and some size, but not really both at the same time.</p><h2><b>07 OLLI JUOLEVI</b></h2><p>DEFENSEMAN LONDON</p><p>The Coyotes have plenty of forwards coming up, but not much on the defensive end. Juolevi is a smart and gifted puck-mover who would look great as a baby Oliver Ekman-Larsson</p><h2><b>08 ALEX NYLANDER</b></h2><p>RIGHT WINGER MISS ISS AUGA</p><p>With Jack Eichel leading the future down the middle, the Sabres could use playmates on the wings, and few can match the dazzle factor of Nylander, who played the left wing in the OHL.</p><h2><b>09 MIKHAIL SERGACHEV</b></h2><p>DEFENSEMAN WINDSOR</p><p>The Oilers can only trade down so far because they still want a D-man. Sergachev is a great option because he&rsquo;s responsible and well rounded. He won&rsquo;t need much more junior time.</p><h2><b>10 MAX JONES</b></h2><p>LEFT WINGER LONDON</p><p>The Avs are in need of some size and skill on the wings, and Jones is a perfect candidate. The Knights product has lots of nastiness and plays a very effective north-south kind of game.</p><h2><b>11 TYSON JOST</b></h2><p>CENTER PENTICTON</p><p>New Jersey needs skill in the system and getting one of the most dynamic pivots available would work. Jost is committed to North Dakota and, historically, the Devils have liked NCAA kids.</p><h2><b>12 LOGAN BROWN</b></h2><p>CENTER WINDSOR</p><p>This would be a great coup for the Sens, since Brown has always spent his summers in the Ottawa area. On the ice, the big kid has the raw potential to be that No. 1 center Ottawa needs.</p><h2><b>13 MICHAEL MCLEOD</b></h2><p>CENTER MISSISSAUGA</p><p>Carolina is flush on the blueline but needs more up front. McLeod is as fast as they come and possesses a great deal of topend talent. Injuries slowed him down this year, but he&rsquo;d be an asset.</p><h2><b>14 CLAYTON KELLER</b></h2><p>CENTER U.S. NTDP</p><p>Bound for Boston U. (though Windsor will chase), Keller is superskilled and has played well versus older competition. He would give the B&rsquo;s the future high-end center they lack.</p><h2><b>15 JULIEN GAUTHIER</b></h2><p>RIGHT WINGER VAL-D&rsquo;OR</p><p>Size and scoring prowess are a need in Minnesota, and Gauthier is the perfect tonic. He moves well for a big man, and he can snipe with the best of them. It was a breakout year for him.</p><h2><b>16 JAKE BEAN</b></h2><p>DEFENSEMAN CALGARY</p><p>The Red Wings have always been good at icing a skilled lineup, but they do need a high-end guy for the future of the blueline. Bean is a great offensive defenseman with room to grow.</p><h2><b>17 DANTE FABBRO</b></h2><p>DEFENSEMAN PENTICTON</p><p>Fabbro is committed to Boston U., but don&rsquo;t let the Jimmy Vesey experience scar you, Preds fans. Fabbro is a two-way blueliner and best player available at this slot. Bright future ahead.</p><h2><b>18 KIEFFER BELLOWS</b></h2><p>LEFT WINGER U.S. NTDP</p><p>The Flyers have a raft of great defensive prospects but not a lot of guys who can put the puck in the net. That&rsquo;s Bellows&rsquo; specialty, as one of the deadliest shooters in the draft class.</p><h2><b>19 ALEX DEBRINCAT</b></h2><p>RIGHT WINGER ERIE</p><p>Traditionally, the Isles have bucked the orthodoxy and drafted talent, no matter the size of the player. DeBrincat is small but can fill a net like no one&rsquo;s business. Why pass that kind of skill up?</p><h2><b>20 CHARLIE MCAVOY</b></h2><p>DEFENSEMAN BOSTON U.</p><p>Wouldn&rsquo;t be shocked if he went earlier. McAvoy is a confident puck-mover who is dangerous in the offensive end. If the Coyotes get him and Juolevi in the same round, they&rsquo;re laughing.</p><h2><b>21 LUKE KUNIN</b></h2><p>KUNIN CENTER WISCONSIN</p><p>Another forward for the D-stacked Canes. Kunin played on a bad Badgers team that is poised for a jump with new coaches and solid recruits. Lots of skill and energy from him.</p><h2><b>22 LOGAN STANLEY</b></h2><p>DEFENSEMAN WINDSOR</p><p>The Leafs have multiple picks and should use them to move up. Stanley is a towering blueliner who defends well and, with Matthews in the fold, the Leafs&rsquo; second pick should be a &lsquo;D.&rsquo;</p><h2><b>23 CLIFF PU</b></h2><p>CENTER LONDON</p><p>Florida is playing with house money thanks to star kids up front and on defense, so let&rsquo;s go best player available and tab Pu, the Knights&rsquo; second-line center who killed it in the playoffs.</p><h2><b>24 CARTER HART</b></h2><p>GOALTENDER EVERETT</p><p>Hear me out here: a looming expansion draft likely costs the Ducks Gibson or Andersen. Hart is an excellent prospect who won&rsquo;t be NHL-ready for years but ascends when needed.</p><h2><b>25 RILEY TUFTE</b></h2><p>LEFT WINGER BLAINE HS</p><p>Dallas is in winnow mode, giving GM Jim Nill the luxury of looking to the future. Tufte is a big, skilled Minn.-Duluth commit and the best raw prospect out of Minnesota in years.</p><h2><b>26 GERMAN RUBTSOV</b></h2><p>CENTER RUSSIA J18</p><p>Yes, it&rsquo;s easy to have the Caps take the Russian kid, but they do it a lot! Plus, Rubtsov will need some time to develop, and Washington is flush with talent now, so the fit actually works.</p><h2><b>27 MARKUS NIEMELAINEN</b></h2><p>DEFENSEMAN SAGINAW</p><p>Tampa has some pretty good big blueliners now (Hedman, Coburn, Sustr), but Niemelainen can replenish the ranks in the future. He&rsquo;s a tower at 6-foot-6, with great reach and mobility.</p><h2><b>28 NATHAN BASTIAN</b></h2><p>RIGHT WINGER MISSISSAUGA</p><p>Tough not to equate Boston with bigness, and Bastian would give the Bruins a powerful winger who would complement skilled linemates (say, fellow draftee Clayton Keller).</p><h2><b>29 PASCAL LABERGE</b></h2><p>CENTER VICTORIAVILLE</p><p>The Blues have a great system already, so this pick is all about depth. Laberge is a feisty and competitive player with nice offense to his game. He needs to get stronger, but St. Louis can wait.</p><h2><b>30 LIBOR HAJEK</b></h2><p>DEFENSEMAN SASKATOON</p><p>Winnipeg is set up front for years thanks to Laine joining an already impressive cast, so let&rsquo;s fill out the back end a little more. Hajek projects as a shutdown guy with pro size.</p><h2><b>TRADE LOG</b></h2><p>Teams always trade at the draft, so I&rsquo;ve included a couple hypotheticals here. Montreal trades its two second-rounders (No. 39 overall and Minnesota&rsquo;s, No. 45) and No. 9 to Edmonton for No. 4. The Oilers use the extra picks to build their system or package in another trade to land a veteran defenseman.</p><p>Later, Toronto trades a 2017 second-rounder (they have three right now) and Pittsburgh&rsquo;s firstrounder (from Phil Kessel trade) to Winnipeg to get No. 22 overall from the Jets, who are stacked with prospects now but would benefit from the future pick.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0046-01

THN’s MOCK DRAFT 2016

<div class="byline">BY STU HACKEL</div><p>ED SNIDER 1933-2016</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-015/14444-1-eng-US/f0048-012.jpg" title="f0048-01" width="519" height="669"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(THN ARCHIVES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>RUMOR HAD IT</b> that a Flyers logo tattoo adorned Ed Snider&rsquo;s posterior. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s what people say,&rdquo; an amused Snider told Jeff Klein of the <i>New York Times</i> in 2011. &ldquo;It probably should be.&rdquo;</p><p>No single person was ever more identified with a team than the Flyers founder, owner and chairman was with his beloved franchise. Snider passed away in April, leaving a void in the hockey scene that will be difficult, if not impossible, to fill.</p><p>In addition to his role with the Flyers, he was also the longest serving member of the NHL&rsquo;s board of governors, on the board&rsquo;s powerful executive committee and a member of the league&rsquo;s competition committee.</p><p>&ldquo;There is probably nobody more knowledgeable in the game and in the business of the game on the ownership level,&rdquo; NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told Klein.</p><p>Beginning in the mid-1960s &ndash; when a Snider-led group of partners scurried from bank to bank to secure the $2 million expansion fee for one of six new franchises &ndash; until his death at 83, he exerted a major, often controversial, impact on the sport that extended beyond Philadelphia.</p><p>His most divisive stance came early in his tenure. After St. Louis manhandled the Flyers in two successive playoff springs, Snider insisted his team would never again be pushed around. Flyers management assembled a roster that combined unprecedented pugnacity with skill and determination, set records for fighting and penalty minutes and ultimately won the Stanley Cup in 1974, their seventh season, the first expansion club to do so.</p><p>They repeated the following year, and their brawling spawned imitation throughout the hockey world, throwing the sport into turmoil. It imparted a brutish image, which, decades later, lingers in the mass mind. &ldquo;We happened to be badder than everybody else,&rdquo; an unrepentant Snider said in the 2010 HBO documentary <i>Broad Street Bullies.</i> &ldquo;We were able to beat up everybody else.&rdquo;</p><p>They also drew the NHL&rsquo;s biggest crowds on the road. In Philadelphia, however, Snider&rsquo;s vision for his team proved most appreciated. Unlike the other expansion cities, Philly had only a sketchy history with minor league hockey prior to the Flyers&rsquo; arrival. But it didn&rsquo;t take long for a love affair to blossom between fans and the club.</p><p>In the fashion of many owners of the mid-20th century, Snider remained a throwback. Even though he delegated dayto-day operations to others as far back as 1983, he remained a hands-on guy when it came to club fortunes. While the Flyers have been part of a corporate structure for 20 years (Comcast Spectacor, of which Snider was chairman while he personally retained a one-third ownership stake in the club), Snider was the face of the team, visible and involved to a degree that, at times, bordered on meddling. &ldquo;He was a fan&rsquo;s owner,&rdquo; wrote Kevin Allen in <i>USA Today</i>, &ldquo;a man who rode the roller coaster of emotions about his team as much as the people who bought his seats.&rdquo;</p><p>Starting with the stylized &ldquo;P&rdquo; and sleek striping of their distinctive orange and black, and extending to the tribal, Flyersfirst mentality, the competitive Snider fostered a unique atmosphere, holding everyone to the highest standards. Yet, he often visited the dressing room after games, stopping at each stall to shake players&rsquo; hands and chat.</p><p>The Flyers were his passion, but Snider also saw the bigger picture on issues facing the game. He was involved in nearly every league decision for decades. He was an early advocate among owners in the 1970s on ending the destructive war between the NHL and the WHA. While some of his colleagues resisted a settlement, Snider recognized that prolonging the conflict was bad for the business and stability would be more beneficial. Time proved him right: the NHL in the post-WHA era enjoyed steadily rising attendance and revenues.</p><p>Snider also championed making hockey more inclusive by establishing the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation in 2005. The program, conducted at seven inner city rinks in the Philadelphia area provides opportunities for kids to play the game for free.</p><p>Snider considered the foundation his &ldquo;legacy,&rdquo; telling the <i>Camden Courier-Post</i> in 2014, &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the only thing I&rsquo;ve ever put my name on.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">HE WAS A MAN WHO RODE THE ROLLER COASTER OF EMOTIONS AS MUCH AS THE FANS WHO BOUGHT HIS SEATS</blockquote><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0048-01

FOUNDER OF FLYER PASSION

<div class="byline">BY LARRY HUMBER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-014/14494-1-eng-US/f0049-012.jpg" title="f0049-01" width="485" height="485"></div><p><b>ACROSS</b></p><p>1 Home of the CWHL Blades and NWHL Pride</p><p>4 The Rangers share the Garden with this NBA team</p><p>9 Timer</p><p>10 Vancouver&rsquo;s Alexander ___</p><p>11 Home of the AHL&rsquo;s Comets</p><p>12 Bolster: two words</p><p>13 San Jose&rsquo;s Joel ___ , pictured</p><p>15 Pass the puck to a teammate</p><p>18 Shoot, pull the ___</p><p>21 T.J. ___ is a shootout sensation</p><p>23 Unmarked</p><p>24 Tire out</p><p>25 ___ Praha is a celebrated Czech team</p><p>26 Devils captain Andy ___</p><p><b>DOWN</b></p><p>1 A ___ goalie sees limited playing time</p><p>2 Letters that appear on Finland&rsquo;s sweaters</p><p>3 A 1967 expansion city</p><p>5 San Jose&rsquo;s Matt ____</p><p>6 Johnny Gaudreau played at Boston ___</p><p>7 Fights</p><p>8 Those who play for pay</p><p>14 ___ State is new to NCAA Div. I hockey</p><p>15 Player who isn&rsquo;t strong on backchecking</p><p>16 Eric, Jared, Jordan and Marc are the ___</p><p>17 Scratch</p><p>19 Visitor</p><p>20 On-ice officials</p><p>22 Benoit ___ helped Dallas to its only Cup</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-024/14487-1-eng-US/f0049-022.jpg" title="f0049-02" width="279" height="199"></div><p>GUESS WHO!</p><p><b>CLUE #1</b></p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m the only player in NHL history to score 500 goals and amass 2,500 penalty minutes.&rdquo;</p><p><b>CLUE #2</b></p><p>&ldquo;I won my first and only Stanley Cup at 35 as a member of the Dallas Stars in 1998-99.&rdquo;</p><p><b>CLUE #3</b></p><p>&ldquo;I played at 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds and earned the nickname &lsquo;The Little Ball of Hate.&rsquo; &rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-033/14480-1-eng-US/f0049-032.jpg" title="f0049-03" width="234" height="242"></div><h2><b>BEHIND THE MASK</b></h2><p><b>SCOTT DARLING | CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</b></p><p>Darling grew up the Chicago suburbs and loves paying tribute to his home city on his masks. He and artist Dave Gunnarsson have outdone themselves with their latest design, a Michael Jordan theme. It captures multiple phases of Jordan&rsquo;s NBA career, showing him wearing his famous No. 23, but also his days sporting No. 45 when he returned in 1995 after temporarily retiring to pursue a pro baseball career. &ndash; MATT LARKIN</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-043/14473-1-eng-US/f0049-042.jpg" title="f0049-04" width="277" height="263"></div><p>CROSSWORD SOLUTION: ACROSS 1. BOSTON, 4. KNICKS, 9. CLOCKER, 10. EDLER, 11. UTICA, 12. SHORE UP, 13. WARD, 15. FEED, 18. TRIGGER, 21. OSHIE, 23. ALONE, 24. FATIGUE, 25. SPARTA, 26. GREENE DOWN 1. BACKUP, 2. SUOMI, 3. OAKLAND, 5. NIETO, 6. COLLEGE, 7. SCRAPS, 8. PROS, 14. ARIZONA, 15. FLOATER, 16. STAALS, 17. DELETE, 19. GUEST, 20. REFS, 22. HOGUE</p><p>GUESS WHO ANSWER: <b>PAT VERBEEK</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0049-01

CROSSWORD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-025/14523-1-eng-US/f0050-022.jpg" title="f0050-02" width="499" height="407"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p>LOOKING FORWARD TO HAPPY MOMENTS</p><p>Lombardi would much prefer a few months of handshaking rather than a summer of handwringing.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(DAVE SANDFORD/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/f0050-015/14530-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg" title="f0050-01" width="138" height="114"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>HATEVER DIRECTION</b> Dean Lombardi takes the Los Angeles Kings in this most crucial of summers, at least he&rsquo;ll be able to do it with a clear mind. And if you don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s important, you&rsquo;ve never had an off-season like Lombardi had in 2015. As he assembles his roster for next season, his thinking won&rsquo;t be clouded with the challenge of difficult reallife issues. Nor will he be torn between scouting meetings and appointments with therapists, investigators and social workers. &ldquo;This year when I talk to the staff, it&rsquo;s like, &lsquo;We&rsquo;re way ahead of schedule,&rsquo; &rdquo; the Kings GM said. &ldquo;&lsquo;We can talk hockey today and not about the symptoms of domestic violence. So we&rsquo;ve got that going for us, so let&rsquo;s get to it.&rsquo; &rdquo;</p><p>The Kings&rsquo; on-ice product will receive all Lombardi&rsquo;s attention now, which is good, because it badly requires some fixing. For the three years prior to last season, the Kings were too busy winning Cups and going deep in the playoffs to address much in their hockey department. And let&rsquo;s face it, isn&rsquo;t it human nature to not worry about something when things are going so well? Try as you might, it&rsquo;s difficult to not get smitten with your team and the way you&rsquo;re doing things when you have two Cups and a seven-game loss in possibly the best conference final ever to your credit in the span of three seasons. Last year, when the Kings missed the playoffs and finally had a chance to take stock, their off-season was sabotaged by the Slava Voynov domestic violence case and the Mike Richards and Jarret Stoll drug arrests. It resulted in all three players no longer being Kings. It took an enormous amount of energy and resources and gave Lombardi yet another reason to put his roster lower on the list of priorities. &ldquo;It was a draining experience, it was gut-wrenching,&rdquo; Lombardi acknowledged. &ldquo;The whole (Richards) thing just killed me.&rdquo;</p><p>That is behind the Kings now, the only on-ice vestige of it being the enormous void left by the decision to terminate Voynov&rsquo;s contract and the $1.57 million on the cap recapture and settlement for Richards, $1.32 million of which will be there until the end of 2019-20. There is much to do for Lombardi. After signing coach Darryl Sutter to an extension, he is now faced with two major tasks: re-signing or replacing Milan Lucic and upgrading the depth on the blueline. And neither will be easy. The Kings already have $63 million committed to 18 players, and that&rsquo;s after removing Vinny Lecavalier and cap hit. (The Kings picked up Lecavalier, 36, from Philadelphia on the understanding he&rsquo;d retire at season&rsquo;s end, so his $2.25 million each of the next two years will come off the books. He hadn&rsquo;t officially retired as of mid-May.)</p><p>That leaves about $12 million left for five roster spots. Lucic is sure to command at least $6 million if he&rsquo;s to remain a King, which doesn&rsquo;t leave much leftover for a backup goalie, RFA Brayden McNabb and a few of UFAs the team might want to retain.</p><p>Regardless of which way the Kings go, they&rsquo;ll have to be creative. Captain Dustin Brown, at almost $5.9 million each of the next four years, is almost untradeable. Trevor Lewis, one of the most valuable fourth-liners in the league, has to be re-signed. But there needs to be an infusion of talent from within, and the Kings, whom many people forget finished tied for their second-highest point total in team history this season, might have to take a step back to move forward. Their chances of finding quality talent in this year&rsquo;s draft will be greatly diminished because they have no first-, third- or sixth-round pick.</p><p>Their prospect list is not, on the surface, one that inspires excitement. At least not when our panel of hockey people was assessing it for Future Watch. We had them ranked 29th. But the Kings&rsquo; AHL affiliate in Manchester won the Calder Cup last year, then became the Ontario Reign and made it to the semifinal this year. The Kings have a 50-goal scorer in Mike Amadio graduating from the OHL and a 19-year-old left winger in Adrian Kempe who has two long AHL playoffs to his credit.</p><p>Lombardi spent the first part of the offseason assessing each aspect of the Kings hockey operations for areas than can be improved. The way he sees it, if the Kings can coax a five-percent improvement, they could put themselves back into contention. And he may be right. After all, is Jordan Nolan going to have another goal-less season? Is the Kings defense corps going to be that banged up next season? Is Jonathan Quick, who was outstanding during the regular season, going to struggle that badly in the playoffs again?</p><p>The Kings are at a crossroads. Another bad year or early playoff exit and they&rsquo;ll have to give some thought to buying some TNT. They can whine about lacking cap space and the void Voynov left or they can be proactive and do something about it. Including Sutter, they can adapt and change, perhaps putting less of a premium on cycling and puck possession and more on mobility. They still have a good, young core of players and two of the best players in the league in Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty.</p><p>One thing we can be sure of is that with Lombardi at the helm, they will not be static. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a lot of work to do,&rdquo; Lombardi said. &ldquo;Somebody told me you&rsquo;re probably not going to get it until you go through it, and now I get it. We better have learned.&rdquo;</p></div><div style="clear: both;"><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></div>

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June 20, 2016

SAYING NO TO STEVEN

STATS PACK

WHAT IT’S LIKE...

PUCK CONTROL — HALF-ICE WARMUP