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Burning Questions 2018
Does Karlsson make the Sharks the Cup favorite? Will the Caps be too hung over to contend? Which version of Carey Price shows up this year? We explore these topics and several others in our Burning Questions Issue. Also in the magazine: Ken Campbell reports from Humboldt after the Broncos' first game following the tragic crash; NHL '94, an oral history; how the NHL will deal with the legalization of marijuana in Canada, and much more.
MEET GRITTY
FIRST, A CONFESSION: I’VE always kind of thought of the New York Rangers as the Evil Empire, even though the narrative usually doesn’t fit. But that all changes this season. Why, you ask? Because the Rangers are the only team in the NHL that hasn’t stooped to employing a mascot. With the Philadelphia Flyers unveiling Gritty, the Rangers are the last holdout on a trend that has seen teams create a bunch of big, dopey doofuses aimed at attracting a younger audience – even though it’s hard to envision a universe in which a creature such as Gritty would do that. First impressions on social media were not flattering. The memes were instant and hilarious. One Philadelphia sports blog introduced Gritty with the headline, “The Flyers’ New Mascot Is Here To Murder…
MAKING VEZINA THE VEZINA
This is the fourth in our series revisiting the years in which the NHL’s official trophies weren’t awarded or had different criteria. THE OBJECTIVES OF THE retroactive awards series are to learn more about NHL history, spark debate, and honor early players whose performances would have been award-worthy, while also respecting those who earned the awards when they did exist. Historical revisionism is not on the menu. Accordingly, in our first three installments, (Conn Smythe, Norris and Hart), we focused on the seasons before the existence of each award, going back to 1917-18, the NHL’s first season. The Vezina Trophy is a unique case that requires further explanation. Following Georges Vezina’s death of tuberculosis at 39 in 1926, the award was created to honor the NHL’s top goalie. Unfortunately, the way the…
POT, PAINKILLERS AND PUCKS
AS AN OLD, MUMBLY guy once said, the times, they are a changin.’ And while hockey has always been conservative in its culture, the topic of drugs in the sport is getting more complex as the years go on. Changes to laws regarding marijuana use are putting that notion in the spotlight. Recreational use of marijuana is now legal in nine American states, plus D.C., featuring seven NHL franchises: Anaheim, Boston, Colorado, Los Angeles, San Jose, Vegas and Washington. On Oct. 17, the drug will also be legal for all adults in Canada, adding seven more teams to that list. According to a couple of recently retired NHLers, usage among players is already pretty common, with their estimates ranging from 20 to 40 percent partaking in the herb. “If Gary Bettman…
PUTTING IT ALL IN PERSPECTIVE
JOE VITALE HAD NEVER been hurt like this before. He’d fought 10 times to that point in his five seasons in the NHL, but the aftermath of this fight was different. His face was numb and his left eye hurt like hell. As he sat beside Arizona Coyotes teammate Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the penalty box, he knew something was seriously wrong but couldn’t communicate how badly he was feeling. “I was just really sick,” Vitale said. “I knew I was just in so much pain.” At 5-foot-11 and 205 pounds, Vitale was no heavyweight, so when he took on Kevan Miller on Oct. 17, 2015, he was giving up at least three inches and five pounds to the Boston Bruins defenseman. But after being a healthy scratch in the first four games…
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