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Rookie Issue 2019
It’s THN’s Rookie Issue, with a focus on the NHL’s best freshman. Our cover story? Not surprisingly it’s Elias Pettersson, who’s busted onto the scene with the one of the best rookie seasons in recent memory. Also in the issue, we feature Rasmus Dahlin, Miro Heiskanen, Andrei Svechnikov, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and many more. Plus: Why Ottawa’s future is actually bright; Gaudreau vs. Marner: who would you take?; and Gino Odjick’s return from near death.
THE GOLDEN STANDARD
THE ANNOUNCEMENT was a mere formality, but it was exciting to hear NHL commissioner Gary Bettman make it official in December: Seattle had been awarded the league’s 32nd franchise. Thanks to some construction demands at the Seattle Center Arena and, reading between the lines, the threat of a 2020-21 lockout, we won’t see the yet-to-be-nicknamed squad on the ice until 2021-22. But speculation will swirl immediately on what that team will look like when it finally does debut. We already know Seattle will be subject to the same expansion draft rules as the Vegas Golden Knights were in 2017. The Knights are exempt, so Seattle will choose players from 30 teams, eventually paring that list down to 14 skaters, nine defensemen and three goaltenders. The AAVs of its player claims must…
ON TOP OF THE WORLD AGAIN
A QUICK RIDDLE TO WRAP your head around: can an underdog be a dynasty? With three championships in the past six years, Finland is as close as you can get to a dynasty at the modern world juniors, where there are legitimately five interchangeable programs at the top of the pile (Canada, Sweden, Russia and the U.S. being the others). At the same time, Finland is a nation of just 5.5 million people, and the team is just a couple years removed from playing in the relegation round of the tournament, where a loss would have sent it spiralling down to Division 1-A. And while coach Jussi Ahokas did his best Darryl Sutter impression before Finland’s upset of Canada in the quarterfinal this year (“All the pressure is on Canada,” he said.…
SWEET KAZAKHSTAN, GOOD TIMES NEVER…
I’VE ALWAYS THOUGHT OF the World Junior Championship as hockey’s version of March Madness. And like the NCAA basketball tournament that is synonymous with momentous upsets and competitors on the cusp of pro careers, the WJC gets its share of plucky underdog teams. Back in my day, I’d watch March Madness to see what a then-unknown program like Gonzaga could do or marvel at the fact there was a team called the Campbell University Fighting Camels. At the world juniors this year, the good folks in Victoria fell in love with the newest team to participate in the top rung of the under-20s: Kazakhstan. Now, Kazakhstan was a minnow in this tournament, to be sure. The team had no NHL draft picks – even Denmark had a couple – and no one…
JOHNNY GAUDREAU vs. MITCH MARNER
PROTOTYPES. EACH HOCKEY fan has a picture in his or her mind of what a particular type of player can do. Centers are the quarterbacks of hockey. They control the puck and often score goals, but, more importantly, the good ones make their teammates better. In modern lingo, they “dish” the puck to goal-scoring wingers or offensive defensemen who are “joining the play.” the good wingers are essentially goal-scorers who can finish the opportunities their centers create. Some, like Alex Ovechkin, are always visible. Others, like Patrik Laine, are often invisible until they are in a position to do immediate damage. Like Ovechkin and Laine, top NHL wingers are expected to have enough size and strength to win board battles for the puck. When the prototypes are broken, fans become confused.…
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