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Meet The New Guy 2019
After perhaps the most chaotic off-season of all-time, we get you caught up and tell you what it all means with our Meet The New Guy Issue. We feature P.K. Subban, Robin Lehner, Joe Pavelski, Sergei Bobrovsky, Matt Duchene, Artemi Panarin and many more. Plus, NHL draft grades, breaking down the new NHL rules, the Rise and Fall of the CWHL, and July 1 winner and losers.
EUROPEAN VOCATION
I WILL ADMIT, I DO not know every player who was drafted in Vancouver this June. I know, I know – how can this be? While I pride myself on knowing the prospect world pretty well, the fact of the matter is that 31 NHL teams have differing opinions and a whole lot more staff than I do personally, and I’ve made peace with that. What does become fascinating on the draft floor is when, inevitably, selections come in that make me say, “Who is that guy?” In Vancouver, it began in earnest in the fourth round, which Ottawa kicked off by selecting 20-year-old Swedish center Viktor Lodin, who tallied five points in 41 games for Orebro. The fun continued a few picks later when Columbus – with its first pick…
COCKY? NO, JUST KAKKO
FINNISH TEENAGERS TEND NOT to be the most verbose interviews, which is understandable given how different their native tongue is to English (or most other languages, for that matter). But for right winger Kaapo Kakko, the searing media spotlight has already come for him, and it isn’t about to dim down once he arrives in Manhattan this fall. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NHL draft showed marked improvement in his English over the course of the past year and his agent, Andy Scott, believes Kakko is ahead of fellow Octagon clients Mikko Rantanen and Patrik Laine at the same age. On the ice, there’s no question of how good Kakko can be in the NHL. He has all the tools and has proven adept in pressure situations, from scoring…
JULY 1 WINNERS AND LOSERS
IT WAS QUITE AN opening for free agency, with major stars changing addresses and even a unicorn offer sheet being signed thanks to Montreal hooking up with Carolina’s Sebastian Aho. And while it would be pretty simple to declare the Habs and Canes winners or losers because of the offer sheet – which the Hurricanes announced they would snuff out to retain Aho shortly thereafter – other teams are more worthy of the mantles. After all, in the grand scheme of things, the Canadiens didn’t lose anything in trying the offer sheet, and the Hurricanes ended up finishing a contentious RFA negotiation with their best player earlier than expected. So who were the early winners and losers this summer? Officially, we should probably wait until actual hockey games are played, but…
A HOCKEY CENTENARIAN
WILF BEAULIEU NEVER played in the big leagues, but he shares a unique connection with the NHL – they both had a memorable rookie year in 1918. When he was born in Winnipeg on Sept. 25, 1918, the NHL was coming off its first season of 1917-18. At 100, Beaulieu is the world’s oldest living former pro hockey player. Today, Beaulieu lives in a retirement home in Winnipeg, watches hockey religiously and is active in social activities with residents. He even shares stories about his playing days in the 1940s. A team photo of the 1940-41 Pacific Coast League’s Portland Buckaroos hangs proudly in his condo and is a daily reminder of his pro hockey career nearly 80 years ago. Growing up in the St. Boniface neighborhood of Winnipeg, Beaulieu played baseball…
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