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The Rookie Issue 2020
It’s THN’s Rookie Issue, focusing on the NHL’s best freshmen. Inside you'll find features on Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, Jack Hughes, Kaapo Kakko, Ethan Bear, Nikita Gusev, Thatcher Demko, Victor Olofsson, Blake Lizotte, and a Rookie Watch for each of the 31 teams. Also in the issue: How Akil Thomas went from fourth-liner to world juniors hero; an oral history of the Miracle movie; why it's the season of the comeback in the NHL; Jonathan Huberdeau Vs. Gabriel Landeskog; and more.
Soap Box
Who’s the best defenseman in the NHL today? John Carlson. Obviously hilariously good in the O-zone, but it’s his vision and ability to threaten with his shot AND passing that make him scary. He’s also very good defensively and is physical, has a great stick and makes elite breakout plays. He’s all around excellent. – @CKNX_Drury Cale Makar. He plays a Drew Doughty-like two-way style while putting up Erik Karlsson-like numbers. He has one of the best hockey senses that has come from college hockey in the last decade. His strides are incredible, and his vision is equally as impressive. He is a 21-year-old rookie who has a legit case for both the Calder Trophy and the Norris Trophy, which has never been done before. – Bryce Aldrich Victor Hedman. He is the…
THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD
COACH DALE HUNTER HAD a hunch. Akil Thomas had a dream. The combination of the two landed Canada a dramatic gold medal at the 2020 World Junior Championship, the nation’s first on European ice since 2008 – the previous time the Czech Republic hosted the tournament. Thomas, a Los Angeles Kings center prospect, jumped on the puck late in the third period just before it reached Russian goaltender Amir Miftakhov, then backhanded it top-shelf with a jaw-dropping move that lifted the roof off Ostravar Arena in Ostrava, which was filled with Canadian partisans. It was a good time for the 20-year-old to score his first goal of the tournament – it gave Canada a 4-3 lead it would not relinquish. Now Thomas will get his name mentioned in the same breath as…
SMALL-TOWN BOY, BIG-LEAGUE DREAMS
LINDSTROM, MINN., POPULATION 4,442, is the kind of idyllic small town that seems to exist only in movies on The Hallmark Channel, while favorite son Blake Lizotte has had the kind of career that typically happens only in Disney’s inspirational sports films. If anyone ever does make a movie about the 5-foot-7, 172-pound Lizotte, it should be required viewing for every undersized kid, in every undersized town, who skates on an undersized back pond. His story begins with two appearances for Chisago Lakes High School in Minnesota’s fabled high-school hockey tournament, includes unexpected twists and turns and culminates with an NHL home in Los Angeles. “Every kid in Minnesota plays on their back ponds, dreaming of being able to play in (the state high-school) tournament,” Lizotte said. “It’s a pretty big…
APPETIZING LEFTOVERS
WHILE THE RUSSIANS AND Finns lost their last games of the medal round, the showcase that is the WJC did help some of the players on those squads. Egor Sokolov, Kristian Tanus and Joonas Oden have all been passed over in the NHL draft, but expect that to end this summer in Montreal. Sokolov, a massive power forward who plays for Cape Breton in the QMJHL, was a force for the heavy Russian team and has gotten looks in the past from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Sokolov saved Russia’s bacon in the semifinal against Sweden when his late goal from a difficult angle tied the game – which Russia then won in overtime. “Honestly, I didn’t see anything,” he said. “I got the puck, and I know I have a good…
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