The Hockey News celebrates the best of the best with our Superstar Issue. Inside you'll find features on Alex Ovechkin, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Auston Matthews & Mitch Marner, Elias Pettersson and many more.

Superstar Issue 2020

The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. THN is published 18 times a year, including 14 regular issues and four special issues – such as Future Watch, Draft Preview, Yearbook, the #1 selling hockey annual in North America.

The Hockey News Mar. 9, 2020 - TBD

<div class="byline">BY LARRY HUMBER</div><h2>Name GAME</h2>Use the picture clues to uncover the name of a prominent hockey personality.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0081-0135/650248-1-eng-US/f0081-012.jpg" title="f0081-01" width="939" height="793"><figcaption class="caption-body">(NAME GAME & SEPARATED AT BIRTH: GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>Separated AT BIRTH</h2>Hockey doppelgangers: can you tell these two familiar faces apart?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/sablundgren_003/650262-1-eng-US/sablundgren_0032.jpg" title="sablundgren_003" width="215" height="331"></div><h3>DOLPH&nbsp;LUNDGREN</h3>In Rocky IV, caused Apollo Creed&rsquo;s sudden death. Born in Sweden. Starred in The Expendables. Rival of Michael B. Jordan in Creed II.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/sabristolai_001/650255-1-eng-US/sabristolai_0012.jpg" title="sabristolai_001" width="215" height="331"></div><h3>RASMUS&nbsp;RISTOLAINEN</h3>At 2014 world juniors, scored in sudden death to beat Sweden. Some trade rumors say he&rsquo;s expendable. Faced Michal Jordan three times.<h2>PUCK PUZZLE</h2>Can your hockey brain bring its A-game? The challenge is on!The Calder Trophy goes to the NHL&rsquo;s top rookie. Seven recent winners are listed here. Once you&rsquo;ve figured out who they are, the name of the oldest Calder winner &ndash; he was 31 &ndash; will appear in the red boxes.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0081-0224/650241-1-eng-US/f0081-022.jpg" title="f0081-02" width="909" height="775"></div>NAME GAME SOLUTION: LEON DRAISAITL PUCK PUZZLE SOLUTION: MYERS, BARZAL, MALKIN, MATTHEWS, PETTERSSON, LANDESKOG AND OVECHKIN. (FINAL ANSWER: MAKAROV) &#9632;

Time Out

TIME OUT

<div class="byline">BY SAL BARRY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/itc32/647696-1-eng-US/itc32.jpg" title="itc3" width="541" height="757"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/itc12/647689-1-eng-US/itc12.jpg" title="itc1" width="261" height="429"></div>WAYNE GRETZKY HAS BEEN featured on more than 10,000 hockey cards over the past 40 years. Some of his most interesting cards were found packaged with Neilson&rsquo;s chocolate-coated cookie bars during the 1982-83 NHL season. Each specially marked package, designed in Oilers colors, contained two Gretzky cards.The 50-card set gives a unique look at the life and career of Gretzky up to that point, including his childhood, his professional start in the WHA and his pre-dynasty years with the Oilers. Even the empty wrappers were worth saving, as 10 of them could be redeemed for a special Gretzky poster.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/itc4/647682-1-eng-US/itc42.jpg" title="itc4" width="540" height="758"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/itc22/647675-1-eng-US/itc22.jpg" title="itc2" width="539" height="754"></div> &#9632;

itc3

BUZZ

In the CARDS

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKINBY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="malarkey" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/malarkey2/648065-1-eng-US/malarkey2.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">PUT YOURSELF OUT THEREYoungsters like Jack Hughes and Cole Caufield are more comfortable online, having grown up with social media. (JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>THE CONVERSATION with Evander Kane remains burned into my brain more than two years later.During an interview for a feature in The Hockey News, he was reminiscing on the trouble he stirred up when he shared a picture of himself using a stack of money as a mock phone during the 2012-13 lockout. He opined his jocular social-media post would&rsquo;ve been embraced if he played a different sport. &ldquo;Part of selling your game is selling your players,&rdquo; Kane said. &ldquo;Fans and kids growing up wanting to see different personalities from players. It&rsquo;s boring to hear the same thing over and over again. If you look at the reasons why the NBA is so successful, it&rsquo;s because their best players speak out and show personality and do things outside the sport that are entertaining.&rdquo;He had a point. Hockey had the occasional blip in mainstream popularity, from Ron Duguay partying at Studio 54 in the late 1970s to Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s L.A. arrival, which culminated in a 1989 Saturday Night Live hosting gig. But hockey was primarily famous for its buttoned-down culture, in which Don Cherry would celebrate any player who put his head down after scoring &ldquo;because he didn&rsquo;t want to embarrass the other team.&rdquo;If you stood out, you were often perceived as selfish. That put the NHL in an awkward place when it tried to sell its stars, who became even more reserved in the 2000s and 2010s when they realized all their words could live immediately and forever online.Even NHL players who like showing their personalities have always had a unique disadvantage in sellability versus the other major sports&rsquo; athletes. An NBA superstar may spend 40 minutes per game on the court, his face exposed, the fans able to sit close enough to touch him. A superstar NHLer such as Connor McDavid plays less than half a game, his face obstructed by a visor and mouthguard, and competes in 45-second shifts.Perhaps that&rsquo;s why, in a rather embarrassing poll of Los Angeles Rams and New England Patriots players a year ago leading up to the Super Bowl, they couldn&rsquo;t identify McDavid. The Patrick Mahomes of hockey! The best of a generation! The gap in celebrity is that big.But will that always be the case? Hockey is undergoing many cultural changes right now. That includes scrubbing antiquated, prejudiced views out of the game but also includes a shift toward players showing their personalities more often.Brian Jennings, the NHL&rsquo;s executive vice-president of marketing and chief branding officer, believes social media has planted seeds of change. Players born in the late 1990s and early 2000s grew up with social media all around them and thus have excellent instincts in how to use them properly. They&rsquo;re comfortable expressing themselves, whereas the 30-and-over crowd belongs to a more conformist, team-first generation, Jennings says. He&rsquo;s quick to point out there&rsquo;s nothing wrong with the latter, as the awe-shucks culture has always been an endearing part of the game, but the young kids&rsquo; comfort level sharing their lives is exciting for the NHL from a branding perspective. &ldquo;Our players&rsquo; ability through their own social-media followers to go directly to their fan base is unlike any time in the past,&rdquo; Jennings said. &ldquo;If Auston Matthews wants to talk about his love of fashion or Jonathan Toews wants to talk about his love of cooking or David Pastrnak his love of travel, they can do that now in a way that, not only the team supports but goes directly to the fan.&rdquo;Teams really do embrace the idea. New Jersey Devils CEO Scott O&rsquo;Neil is also CEO of the NBA&rsquo;s Philadelphia 76ers and thus has a unique perspective on how two different major leagues market their athletes. For him, the future is content. &ldquo;I always think about how a lot of innovation has to happen at the team level,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neil said, &ldquo;because we have the most incentive to do it.&rdquo;The players are producers of content, and the Devils have a team of employees dedicated to managing it. Each of them has the ability to shoot and edit content, and they&rsquo;re present everywhere from practices to road trips. The team equips the players with the Greenfly app, which lets them post online content easily. The Devils even track their players&rsquo; social-media engagement. Not surprisingly, O&rsquo;Neil singles out rookie Jack Hughes as ahead of the curve, listing his use of TikTok videos as an example.Hughes is 18. He was born in 2001. The next wave of NHL stars will come from his age bracket and share his grasp of how to engage with fans. So maybe the NHL that Kane called &ldquo;boring&rdquo; a few years ago is changing. The new kids are open books. Bring it on.Twitter: <a datastyle href="https://twitter.com/thnmattlarkin?lang=en">@THNMATTLARKIN</a> &#9632;

malarkey

Malarkey

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

<div class="image-hero"><img title="1k" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/1k/647478-1-eng-US/1k2.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(CURTIS COMEAU/ICON SPORTSWIRE VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

A Thousand Words

BEWARE OF BLIZZARD

<div class="byline">Jason Kay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/jk_2020_4/647270-1-eng-US/jk_2020_42.jpg" title="jk_2020_4" width="691" height="962"><figcaption class="caption-body">(STEVEN ELLIS/THE HOCKEY NEWS)</figcaption></div>HOCKEY HAS A RAP, bad or otherwise, for being staid, stuck in tradition, resistant to change. That wasn&rsquo;t always the case. There was a time the game was as innovative as the ShamWow. Granted it was the early 20th Century, the era that gave rise to such marvellous inventions as the teddy bear, fortune cookies and the theory of relativity, so maybe we shouldn&rsquo;t be surprised.As much as anyone, Frank Patrick &ndash; with help from brother Lester &ndash; was at the business end of hockey&rsquo;s cutting edge. He&rsquo;s credited with the construction of hockey&rsquo;s first artificial rinks in Canada, the introductions of the blueline, forward pass and penalty shots, the creation of assists on goals and an attempt to form a women&rsquo;s league. And it&rsquo;s entirely possible Frank (or Lester) coined the term &ldquo;superstar.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s a label they attached to &lsquo;Cyclone&rsquo; Taylor after they convinced him to sign with the Vancouver Millionaires in 1912. Taylor, a skating and scoring demon, was the highest-paid player in hockey at the time. Notably, Taylor had another career, working in Ottawa as an immigration officer, a job from which he had to take a leave of absence to go west.Many of today&rsquo;s heroes also have secondary incomes, riding Zambonis in coffee commercials and posing for video-game cover shoots. Perhaps that&rsquo;s one way to determine if you&rsquo;ve reached superstar status nowadays: if someone wants to pay you millions to sell their brand, you&rsquo;ve scaled Mount Idol. We often debate in our office the definition of the term superstar, with the majority arguing it&rsquo;s too loosely applied. To me, it&rsquo;s subjective, my rule of thumb being if I have to ask myself whether a player is a superstar, they aren&rsquo;t.Undeniably, two clubs have been spoiled rotten with living legends in recent decades: the Oilers and Penguins. On those teams, Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Connor McDavid, Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have captured 17 of 39 Hart Trophies since 1980 (10 for Edmonton, seven for Pittsburgh). The Capitals are third during that span thanks to a trio of MVPs won by our cover story subject, Alex Ovechkin. Remarkably, players on those three teams have scored more than half the Harts over the past four decades.At The Hockey News we&rsquo;ve been fortunate enough to witness and chronicle the careers of all the aforementioned Hart throbs, and then some. Launched in 1947, we&rsquo;re closing in on 75 years of puck punditry. And now, as you might have heard, we&rsquo;ve locked arms with another venerable brand, one that dates to 1954, Sports Illustrated. It&rsquo;s an exciting partnership with myriad opportunities. We&rsquo;re starting the venture by bolstering SI&rsquo;s hockey content on all their platforms. In kind, you&rsquo;ll be treated to the writing of one of their top performers, Alex Prewitt, in our pages and online. We&rsquo;re featuring two of Alex&rsquo;s pieces in this issue, one on Carolina&rsquo;s Andrei Svechnikov, the other on the Kings&rsquo; Martin Frk. In addition, keep your eyes on <a href="http://SI.com">SI.com</a> in the coming months for the launches of sites for all NHL teams, channels powered jointly by us and SI.My ego is substantial, but not so big that I&rsquo;ll declare this a marriage of &ldquo;superstar&rdquo; sports publishing brands. We&rsquo;ll settle for iconic. We promise to remain true to our roots as we move forward, but don&rsquo;t be surprised when we toss a little old-school innovation your way.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/jasonkay_si_054/647263-1-eng-US/jasonkay_si_0542.jpg" title="jasonkay_si_054" width="422" height="231"></div>Editor in chief Twitter: <a datastyle href="https://twitter.com/jkthn?lang=en">@JKTHN</a> &#9632;

jk_2020_4

THE FIRST WORD

SUPERSTARS TAYLOR MADE

<div class="byline">W. Graeme Roustan</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/graeme_rous_106/647353-1-eng-US/graeme_rous_1062.jpg" title="graeme_rous_106" width="547" height="540"><figcaption class="caption-body">(PHOTO BY MICHELLE VALBERG)</figcaption></div>Dear readers,The Hockey News subscriber renewal rates are among the very best in the publishing industry, a trend that has been consistent for the past 73 years. In addition, newsstand sales of The Hockey News, whether at international airports or at big-box retailers such as Indigo, Chapters, Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart and Costco, are among the top tier of all magazines.One of the reasons that readers are so loyal is because the content the editorial team produces has consistently been the very best available to the serious hockey aficionado. Another reason is, as my grandfather once told me, hockey people are simply the best people in the world &ndash; and he never lied.As you depend on the deep-dive insight that The Hockey News provides, we depend on you to help support independent journalism in a tumultuous era. We&rsquo;ve all heard what Google and Facebook have done to hollow out advertising dollars that once supported all forms of journalism. I won&rsquo;t belabor that point other than to say it&rsquo;s forced everyone to adapt or wither. Subscription-based journalism is what keeps The Hockey News going, and we owe you a great deal of thanks for your continued support.Word of mouth from a loyal subscriber is the best endorsement The Hockey News can hope for. With that in mind, if you know anyone who you think would enjoy our offerings as much as you do, consider sharing the love and directing them to join up. The larger our subscriber base, the better we can offset losses in ad sales and keep your renewal costs down. It&rsquo;s a real win-win scenario.If you bought this issue from a newsstand and decide to purchase our Gold package at <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com/mag">TheHockeyNews.com/mag</a>, you&rsquo;ll also receive three free memberships to give to friends, family and linemates. In addition, following our recent alignment with Sports Illustrated, members of The Hockey News family can expect to see special offers coming down the pike in the ensuing weeks and months.If you&rsquo;ve been a subscriber for the past few years, you&rsquo;ve surely noticed all the additional content we&rsquo;ve been investing in and producing, and I want to thank you for all the great feedback you have provided to us. Without you, your loyalty and word-of-mouth endorsement, we wouldn&rsquo;t be able to continue the tradition that our founders began in 1947.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/7304_openin_108/647346-1-eng-US/7304_openin_1082.jpg" title="7304_openin_108" width="349" height="426"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/graemeroust_107/647332-1-eng-US/graemeroust_1072.jpg" title="graemeroust_107" width="583" height="123"></div>Executive Chairman & Publisher, Roustan Media Ltd. <a href="http://roustan.com">roustan.com</a> Twitter: <a datastyle href="https://twitter.com/graemeroustan?lang=en">@GraemeRoustan</a> &#9632;

graeme_rous_106

Opening Thoughts

Looking for a win-win scenario?

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/openingthou_110/647447-1-eng-US/openingthou_1102.jpg" title="openingthou_110" width="937" height="951"><figcaption class="caption-body">LEON DRAISAITL (ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>There&rsquo;s no other answer than Leon Draisaitl. His 1.61 points per game is the highest in the league since Crosby in 2010-11. McDavid, Neal, Kassian, Russell and others are all out of the lineup and he&rsquo;s carrying the Oilers (who are first in the Pacific). It&rsquo;s not a debate. @mitchywooPeople who say Draisaitl &ldquo;and it&rsquo;s not close&rdquo; are being hyperbolic and not looking at the details. Measuring goals and primary assists only, it&rsquo;s Draisaitl with 70 to Pastrnak&rsquo;s 69. &lsquo;Pasta&rsquo; has a Corsi For of 54 to Draisaitl&rsquo;s 47. David Pastrnak is the winner here (albeit it&rsquo;s VERY close). @pozzolaneNathan MacKinnon. The stats clearly show that he&rsquo;s putting the team on his back night after night. No other player has as much distance in scoring from the second-place guy on the team. Take him out of the roster, and nobody is talking about the Avs being in the playoffs. @AnimeJJack Eichel. He doesn&rsquo;t have the help that teams such as Edmonton, Colorado or Boston provide their candidates. Without Eichel, the Sabres would have practically no scoring. @pastajoe5Artemi Panarin plays with Ryan Strome and Jesper Fast. He has 78 points. Conversation over.&nbsp; @Rangers_NolesJacob Markstrom. He has carried Vancouver all season and without him the Canucks would be way out of the playoff hunt. @KylePaoleraAndrei Vasilevskiy by far. The guy&rsquo;s most recent stretch of games is 18-0-2. It&rsquo;s not even close.&nbsp;@puck_stops_hereSean Couturier. He has been just great all year and the Flyers would not be in the playoff chase without him. @BrianG1202<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/openingthou_1112/647384-1-eng-US/openingthou_1112.jpg" title="openingthou_111" width="496" height="627"><figcaption class="caption-body">JACK EICHEL (CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

openingthou_110

SOAPBOX

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="buzz1_turco_169" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz1_turco_169/647523-1-eng-US/buzz1_turco_1692.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ALEX TURCOTTEIt would be unreasonable to expect players to perform gruelling tests all year round for each individual team. (BILL WIPPERT/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>DOING SOMETHING unprecedented is usually a good thing in the NHL, but the Arizona Coyotes have made news for the wrong reasons. As first reported by TSN&rsquo;s Darren Dreger, the Coyotes were being investigated for allegedly putting at least 20 draft-eligible prospects through physical testing this season, which violates NHL rules.There are sometimes gray areas in the rulebook, but not when it comes to the fitness testing of draft-eligible players. And that&rsquo;s why even seasoned hockey executives hadn&rsquo;t heard about a case like this before. &ldquo;Never,&rdquo; said one GM. &ldquo;The rules are so strict on this.&rdquo;Basically, it&rsquo;s an ironclad law: NHL teams are not permitted to work out players before the NHL draft combine, which is held every summer, typically in early June. The rule has been on the books since at least 2008, and the punishment is severe. While Dreger reported that each infraction could result in a fine of $250,000 or more, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly noted that the penalty is whatever the league determines it to be &ndash; which gives the league a pretty big cudgel to wield if the allegations are proven true. And while the rules may not have been common public knowledge before now, those who work in scouting are intimately familiar with the issue. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been pretty straightforward,&rdquo; said one NHL team exec. &ldquo;No one has broken the rule or attempted to, because for every scouting staff in the league, their GM has been adamant on not breaking that rule because of the fine associated with it and the whole idea that we&rsquo;re all supposed to be on equal footing.&rdquo;The Coyotes reacted to the to the allegations in a statement: &ldquo;We are aware of the reports. We have discussed the matter with the NHL and we will have no further comment at this time.&rdquo;The issue can be a tricky one, however, because major-junior teams don&rsquo;t always know the rules, and even those who do may not raise a stink about it because it might damage their relationship with an NHL team. Others simply don&rsquo;t mind the imposition. But for the players themselves, it&rsquo;s a tough spot to be put in: after all, you want to impress your potential future employer and prove that you&rsquo;ve got what it takes to be an NHL prospect. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re 17, 18 years old, trying to make an impression,&rdquo; said one high-profile player agent. &ldquo;In most cases, they don&rsquo;t feel like they can say &lsquo;No&rsquo; on the spot.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s why agents work with teams when meetings are being set up with players &ndash; that way there are no surprises.For most scouts, the pressure is understood. &ldquo;You have to be fair to the prospects,&rdquo; said the team exec. &ldquo;If 31 teams worked them out during the year, they would be too tired to play games. We have a combine, we have rules in place that teams have followed for years, and this is the first instance of this happening on such a grand scale.&rdquo;Back before 2008, NHL franchises were allowed to test kids whenever they wanted to, and it could be overwhelming for the players. Top prospects could get three or four requests a week, and the asks could be on-ice tests, the merciless VO2 max bike (which is still used at the official draft combine) and a gruelling treadmill test &ndash; which at least had the side benefit of being able to help identify heart defects in a player. According to the agent, scheduling all this could be a lot for a player &ndash; who still had school and regular hockey games and practices to deal with &ndash; which certainly helps explain why the current rules were put in place.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="bi_1702.jpg" title="buzz1_combi_170" width="1022" height="894"><figcaption class="caption-body">31 BIRDS WITH ONE STONEThe combine lets players undergo their physical testing in once place with every team present to watch. (BILL WIPPERT/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Which is not to say scouts have to be entirely passive in their jobs these days. Teams are allowed to interview players during the season, and that often involves scouts or other team execs taking kids out to dinner when they&rsquo;re in town in order to get to know the teens on a more personal level. Some teams have also started taping the sit-down interviews they have with draft prospects, while others assign homework: specifically, psychological tests. These tend to be multiple-choice affairs, and all this is allowed under NHL rules.During the NHL draft combine, teams get interview access to 100-plus players in the draft pool, and that process takes up most of the week the combine runs. The event has been held in Buffalo the past few years and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Then there&rsquo;s the infamous physical tests, which give teams even more data about a player&rsquo;s upside but frankly can also be a dog-and-pony show with the occasional vomiting thrown in.If there are other players an NHL franchise would like to test out, it can invite them to a team-specific combine right after the official NHL event, and a growing number of teams are doing this (at least seven, including Buffalo, Montreal and Toronto). Once again, this is legal under NHL rules.Should the Coyotes be found guilty of these infractions, they&rsquo;d be in for some serious penalties. It&rsquo;s not an issue the NHL takes lightly and, since other teams seem to be fully aware of the ramifications, it&rsquo;s hard to believe a franchise could make a mistake about the rules.For up-to-the-minute coverage, visit&nbsp;<a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM</a> &#9632;

buzz1_turco_169

DRAFT RULES: NO PEEKING!

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_mask32_066/647568-1-eng-US/buzz_mask32_0662.jpg" title="buzz_mask32_066" width="966" height="1095"><figcaption class="caption-body">(NOAH ENNIS/SHELLSHOCKPAINT.COM)</figcaption></div><h2>JOHN GIBSON | ANAHEIM DUCKS</h2>WHEN KOBE BRYANT, HIS daughter Gianna and seven others died in a Jan. 26 helicopter crash, the grief transcended basketball. Athletes across sports paid their respects. Gibson did so via mask art from Shell Shock Designs. The sides feature Kobe&rsquo;s L.A. Lakers jersey numbers, 8 and 24, with the years of his five NBA titles and career-high single-game point total (81). On the back: a silhouette of Kobe and Gianna, plus the names of the other victims.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_mask12_058/647561-1-eng-US/buzz_mask12_0582.jpg" title="buzz_mask12_058" width="509" height="649"><figcaption class="caption-body">(NOAH ENNIS/SHELLSHOCKPAINT.COM)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_mask22_065/647554-1-eng-US/buzz_mask22_0652.jpg" title="buzz_mask22_065" width="527" height="706"><figcaption class="caption-body">(NOAH ENNIS/SHELLSHOCKPAINT.COM)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

buzz_mask32_066

Behind the MASK

<div class="byline">BY&#xA0;RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="jersey1" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/jersey12/647613-1-eng-US/jersey12.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARRETT PINONIEMI (COURTESY OF THE SIOUX FALLS STAMPEDE)</figcaption></div><h2>SIOUX FALLS STAMPEDE | 2019-20</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/jersey32/647599-1-eng-US/jersey32.jpg" title="jersey3" width="211" height="211"><figcaption class="caption-body">(COURTESY OF THE SIOUX FALLS STAMPEDE)</figcaption></div>THE USHL&rsquo;S DEFENDING CLARK CUP champions held their annual wiener dog race in February. It&rsquo;s been 13 years of dashing dachshunds, and the team rebranded itself as the Fighting Wiener Dogs for the occasion, complete with special uniforms. Sioux Falls already has the benefit of a nice color scheme, but the sight of charging wiener dogs on the crest really makes this one a winner.On top of watching races during intermissions, fans could learn about adopting dogs from the Dakota Dachshund Rescue. Proceeds from a jersey auction and chuck-a-puck also went to the rescue organization.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/jersey22/647606-1-eng-US/jersey22.jpg" title="jersey2" width="818" height="954"><figcaption class="caption-body">(COURTESY OF THE SIOUX FALLS STAMPEDE)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

jersey1

Jersey HOUND

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-0164/647644-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(OVECHKIN: FRANCOIS LACASSE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES; SUBBAN: KEVIN SOUSA/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES; MCDAVID: MINAS PANAGIOTAKIS/GETTY IMAGES; CROSBY: DARCY FINLEY/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES; MALKIN: MINAS PANAGIOTAKIS/GETTY IMAGES; LUNDQVIST: DARCY FINLEY/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0015-01

SUPERSTAR INFLUENCE-O-METER

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="countdown_l_102" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/countdown_l_102/647930-1-eng-US/countdown_l_1022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">JAROMIR JAGR & MARIO LEMIEUX (DENIS BRODEUR/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>WHAT IS A SUPERSTAR?It isn&rsquo;t simply a player who leads the league in scoring. Jamie Benn did that. Not all elite players are superstars, either. Grant Fuhr and Duncan Keith are two of the top players in NHL history, crowned the league&rsquo;s best goalie and defenseman, respectively, and they won multiple Stanley Cups, but they were outshone by superstars on their own teams.When defining a superstar for this exercise, winning major individual hardware helps, but my key criterion is whether a player was considered a top-five NHLer on the planet for at least two seasons with a given team. Alexander Mogilny&rsquo;s 76-goal explosion with Buffalo was magical, but he never came within 20 goals of it after that. Auston Matthews and Nathan MacKinnon feel like superstars right now but don&rsquo;t yet have the accolades to qualify.This list is highly subjective and thus relies on gut feel. Sergei Bobrovsky won two Vezina Trophies with the Blue Jackets, but it would feel strange calling him a superstar, right? He&rsquo;s never been part of the &ldquo;best hockey player on Earth&rdquo; barroom debate. Patrick Roy has. Dominik Hasek has. Even Carey Price has.Original Six teams don&rsquo;t automatically lap the field in superstars, either. Toronto has had one at most. Meanwhile, the Penguins, 50 years younger, have been spoiled.<h2>1. MONTREAL&nbsp;CANADIENS</h2>M. RICHARD, J. BELIVEAU, D. HARVEY, G. LAFLEUR, H. MORENZ, J. PLANTE,&nbsp;P. ROY, K. DRYDEN, C. PRICENo wonder they won 24 Cups. No team boasts more all-time legends. We could list more here, even. Robinson? Durnan?<h2>2. DETROIT&nbsp;RED WINGS</h2>G. HOWE, N. LIDSTROM, S. YZERMAN, T. SAWCHUK, S. FEDOROV&lsquo;Mr. Hockey,&rsquo; Lidstrom, Sawchuk are top-two all-time at their positions. Fedorov: Hart and Selke in same year.<h2>3. EDMONTON&nbsp;OILERS</h2>W. GRETZKY, M. MESSIER, P. COFFEY, C. MCDAVIDWayne: best of all-time. McDavid mirroring many of his feats. Messier only player to captain two franchises to Cup.<h2>4. PITTSBURGH&nbsp;PENGUINS</h2>M. LEMIEUX, S. CROSBY, J. JAGR, E. MALKINCornered market on generational talents since early 1980s. This quartet won 15 scoring titles in a 26-season stretch.<h2>5. BOSTON&nbsp;BRUINS</h2>B. ORR, E. SHORE, R. BOURQUE, P. ESPOSITOOrr a top-two superstar ever. He and Esposito rewrote record books in 1970s. Orr, Shore and Bourque may be three of top five defensemen of all-time.<h2>6. CHICAGO&nbsp;BLACKHAWKS</h2>P. KANE, B. HULL, S. MIKITA, G. HALL, T. ESPOSITOMany were best at their positions while active. Kane, Hull, Mikita: eight scoring titles, five MVPs, five Cups.<h2>7. NEW YORK&nbsp;ISLANDERS</h2>D. POTVIN, M. BOSSY, B. TROTTIERThe game&rsquo;s greatest dynasties were founded with superstars. Isles had three. Some say Bossy best pure sniper ever.<h2>8. COLORADO&nbsp;AVALANCHE</h2>J. SAKIC, P. ROY, P. FORSBERG, PETER STASTNY&lsquo;Burnaby Joe&rsquo; and &lsquo;Foppa&rsquo; won MVP each, two Cups. Late-career Roy was still best clutch goalie in game.<h2>9. LOS ANGELES&nbsp;KINGS</h2>W. GRETZKY, M. DIONNEPost-peak Gretzky was a superstar by a normal player&rsquo;s standard. Dionne would have lots of hardware if not for No. 99. Players still voted him their MVP twice.<h2>10. PHILADELPHIA&nbsp;FLYERS</h2>B. CLARKE, B. PARENT, E. LINDROSClarke, Lindros were both anointed the word&rsquo;s best player for brief stretches. Parent playoff MVP in both Cup years.<h2>11. NEW YORK&nbsp;RANGERS</h2>B. COOK, M. MESSIER, B. LEETCHSome of Cook&rsquo;s contemporaries claimed he was best RW of all-time. Messier was New York royalty. Leetch NHL&rsquo;s last 100-point D-man and &rsquo;94 playoff MVP.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/countdown_m_103/647881-1-eng-US/countdown_m_1032.jpg" title="countdown_m_103" width="1021" height="1122"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARK MESSIER (DAVE SANDFORD/GETTY IMAGES/NHLI)</figcaption></div><h2>12. VANCOUVER&nbsp;CANUCKS</h2>D. SEDIN, H. SEDIN, P. BUREYoung Bure flying with puck on stick was appointment viewing a la McDavid. Twins won consecutive scoring titles.<h2>13. TAMPA BAY&nbsp;LIGHTNING</h2>S. STAMKOS, M. ST-LOUIS, N. KUCHEROVStamkos one of two players to score 60 since 1995-96. Kucherov&rsquo;s 128 points last season were most in nearly 25 years.<h2>14. ST. LOUIS&nbsp;BLUES</h2>B. HULL, C. PRONGEROnly Gretzky has more goals in a season than Hull&rsquo;s 86 in &rsquo;90-91. Pronger lone &lsquo;D&rsquo; to win MVP in almost half a century.<h2>15. WASHINGTON&nbsp;CAPITALS</h2>A. OVECHKINOvechkin may retire as hockey&rsquo;s all-time goal leader if he keeps this up. Caps have never had another superstar.<h2>16. BUFFALO&nbsp;SABRES</h2>D. HASEKHasek&rsquo;s mid-1990s was most dominant goalie run in NHL history. Perreault was great but never even a first-team all-star.<h2>17. NEW JERSEY&nbsp;DEVILS</h2>M. BRODEURBrodeur owns all the goalie records. Niedermayer, Stevens were slam-dunk Hall of Famers but not superstars.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/countdown_b_104/647804-1-eng-US/countdown_b_1042.jpg" title="countdown_b_104" width="1022" height="790"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARTIN BRODEUR (DAVE SANDFORD/GETTY IMAGES/NHLI)</figcaption></div><h2>18. ANAHEIM&nbsp;DUCKS</h2>T. SELANNE, P. KARIYASelanne won back-to-back goal-scoring titles as a Duck. Kariya showed superstar talent whenever he was healthy.<h2>19. SAN JOSE&nbsp;SHARKS</h2>J. THORNTON, B. BURNS&lsquo;Jumbo&rsquo; was the best player on planet in his debut Sharks season. Burns one of top two offensive &lsquo;D&rsquo; of his generation.<h2>20. ARIZONA&nbsp;COYOTES</h2>D. HAWERCHUK, T. SELANNE&lsquo;Ducky&rsquo; a superstar but overshadowed by Gretzky, Lemieux. Selanne&rsquo;s 76-goal rookie season is unmatched.<h2>21. OTTAWA&nbsp;SENATORS</h2>E. KARLSSONKarlsson&rsquo;s throwback offense changed the &lsquo;D&rsquo; position. Two Norrises with Sens, but some believe he should have four.<h2>22. CALGARY&nbsp;FLAMES</h2>J. IGINLAIginla best power forward of generation. Led league in goals twice, points once, robbed in 2001-02 MVP vote.<h2>23. TORONTO&nbsp;MAPLE LEAFS</h2>C. CONACHERConacher one of seven in NHL history to lead league in goals five times &ndash; and he did it over a six-season span.<h2>24. FLORIDA&nbsp;PANTHERS</h2>P. BUREThat Bure, post-knee woes, flirted with 60 goals as a Panther during Dead Puck Era is a remarkable accomplishment.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/countdown_b_105/647741-1-eng-US/countdown_b_1052.jpg" title="countdown_b_105" width="401" height="648"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAVEL BURE (DOUG PENSINGER/ALLSPORT)</figcaption></div><h2>25. COLUMBUS&nbsp;BLUE JACKETS</h2>NO SUPERSTARSBobrovsky not synonymous with superstars, but he&rsquo;s only goalie in past decade with multiple Vezinas.<h2>26. DALLAS&nbsp;STARS</h2>NO SUPERSTARSModano, Zubov had great careers. Benn won scoring title in 2014-15. But franchise has never boasted a superstar.<h2>27. NASHVILLE&nbsp;PREDATORS</h2>NO SUPERSTARSWeber a perennial Norris runner-up. Rinne a Vezina winner. But Preds have never even had a 40-goal scorer.<h2>28. CAROLINA&nbsp;HURRICANES</h2>NO SUPERSTARSYoung Eric Staal was on superstar trajectory in 2005-06 breakout but never approached those heights again.<h2>29. WINNIPEG&nbsp;JETS</h2>NO SUPERSTARSKovalchuk was close. An elite goal-scorer for a long time. Will Laine ever get there? He has time, he&rsquo;s only 21.<h2>30. MINNESOTA&nbsp;WILD</h2>NO SUPERSTARSYoung Gaborik would occasionally flash superstar potential with monster games. Wild players have zero major awards.<h2>31. VEGAS&nbsp;GOLDEN KNIGHTS</h2>NO SUPERSTARSFleury might be a superstar in Vegas fans&rsquo; hearts, but the three-year-old franchise doesn&rsquo;t have a true icon yet. &#9632;

countdown_l_102

THE COUNTDOWN

<div class="byline">BY BILL HOPPE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="buzz_fedun2_015" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_fedun2_015/648003-1-eng-US/buzz_fedun2_0152.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">SITUATIONAL AWARENESSAfter bouncing from NHL organization to NHL organization, Fedun finally found a home with Dallas, where all the pieces fit. (ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>OFF THE ICE, TAYLOR Fedun loved everything about Rochester. The defenseman developed close friendships. The Americans&rsquo; dressing room was tight. His wife, Katie, enrolled in a nursing program at a nearby university. &ldquo;Couldn&rsquo;t have been better,&rdquo; Fedun said.On the ice, however, Fedun felt his career unravelling. When the Buffalo Sabres waived him during training camp in 2018, he thought his time in the NHL might be over. &ldquo;I was honestly wondering if I was too slow,&rdquo; he said.Then, shortly after being sent to the AHL, Fedun started wondering if his hockey career was over altogether. An excess of defensemen &ndash; the Amerks often carried 10 &ndash; forced him to sit out games as a healthy scratch. Suddenly, Fedun, a seven-year pro whose contract paid him $300,000 in the minors, couldn&rsquo;t crack an AHL lineup. &ldquo;Not being able to play was gutting,&rdquo; he said.As Fedun, who had just turned 30, sat in the press box watching game after game, he started discussing what he called &ldquo;hypotheticals&rdquo; with Katie. Having graduated from Princeton with a degree in mechanical engineering, he would have plenty of opportunities in his post-hockey life. &ldquo;I was like, &lsquo;I might have to start tweaking my resume here and think big-picture,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said.Katie, a member of the U.S. national field-hockey team at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, had a unique perspective into what her husband was experiencing. &ldquo;I just tried to be an optimistic force for him at that time as much as I could,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But there&rsquo;s only so much you can say.&rdquo;Fedun had overcome adversity before. After going undrafted, he signed an entry-level contract with his hometown Edmonton Oilers. During his first pre-season, he broke his right femur in a harrowing collision into the end boards during a game against the Minnesota Wild.His pro career could&rsquo;ve ended before it started, but he pushed through a grueling rehab, missing the entire 2011-12 campaign. &ldquo;His attitude is constructive,&rdquo; said Sabres coach Ralph Krueger, an Edmonton assistant when Fedun was a rookie. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he let anything or anybody or the circumstances slow him down in chasing his dreams.&rdquo;The Sabres dealt Fedun to the Stars in November 2018. Dallas had five injured defensemen and needed to add depth. Fedun was assigned to AHL Texas, where he played three games.Then Dallas summoned him.With Katie watching his Dallas debut at American Airlines Center, Fedun scored his first NHL goal in more than five years. &ldquo;It was euphoric,&rdquo; he said.Still, Fedun figured his time in Dallas would be short. &ldquo;I still thought once guys got healthy, I&rsquo;d be out of here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But guys would get healthy and then I&rsquo;d still be playing.&rdquo;For years, Fedun had mostly been an NHL placeholder. As an organization&rsquo;s eighth or ninth defenseman, he would fill in and then be sent back to the minors when an injured player returned. He played four games with the Oilers, seven with the San Jose Sharks and one with the Vancouver Canucks. &ldquo;What I&rsquo;ve learned being a part of it is there&rsquo;s so many players in the AHL that can play at the NHL level,&rdquo; Fedun said. &ldquo;One, you need to get the opportunity. Two, you need to play well when you get that opportunity.&ldquo;But a big part of it is having someone willing to give you more than one chance.&rdquo;When Fedun joined Dallas, he had made just 46 total NHL appearances. But he meshed well with the Stars and their coaching staff. Their high-end talent allowed a third-pair defenseman to stay in his comfort zone. He played 54 NHL games in 2018-19 and another seven in the playoffs. &ldquo;I really felt like I belonged and wasn&rsquo;t waiting for someone to get healthy so I could get sent back down, because, honestly, that&rsquo;s what my career was up until last year.&rdquo;Following the season, Fedun signed a two-year, two-way deal with the Stars. Other than a conditioning assignment, he had spent the entire year in the NHL. &ldquo;It was pretty crazy when you think about where he was, thinking this might be the end of the rope with him and his career, starting to think about alternatives after hockey, to playing almost a full season in the NHL, and then this year getting a (contract),&rdquo; Katie said. &ldquo;A pretty crazy turnaround.&rdquo; &#9632;

buzz_fedun2_015

AHL SCRATCH TO NHL STAR

<div class="byline">BY TOM THOMPSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0184/648034-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRAD MARCHAND AND&nbsp;ARTEMI PANARIN(MARCHAND: ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES; PANARIN: JANA CHYTILOVA/FREESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHY/GETTY IMAGES )</figcaption></div>UNLIKE SOME OF OUR elected politicians, let&rsquo;s begin our discussion by finding key areas on which we can agree. Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins and Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers are both elite-level NHL players. They are two of the best left wingers in the game. Both are among the league&rsquo;s scoring leaders and are noticeable in every Bruins or Rangers game you watch. Both are below average size, and neither was considered a top prospect when he was eligible to be drafted. Neither entered the NHL with a sense of entitlement.Bearing in mind these similarities, it is hard to imagine two top players at the same position whose styles are so different. Neither player is perfect. Both have aspects of their game which cause concern. But who is more valuable?<h2>CAREERS</h2>Panarin is 28. He comes from rural Russia and did not play for any Russian national teams until he was 19. When he was eligible for the NHL draft starting in 2010, he went unclaimed each time. He played for three different KHL teams and finally established himself with powerful St. Petersburg in 2013. After two productive seasons, he was signed as a free agent by the Chicago Blackhawks. He quickly became a first-line player with the Hawks and, in 2017, was traded to Columbus in a controversial deal. After two seasons as a top-liner with the Blue Jackets, he signed a mega-bucks UFA deal with the Rangers last summer. He&rsquo;s a dynamic offensive threat both as a goal-scorer and playmaker. He has registered more than 70 points in each of his five NHL seasons and has averaged almost a point per game in the playoffs, even though his teams have won only one series.Marchand is 31. He comes from Halifax and was drafted 71st overall from QMJHL Moncton in 2006. After two more seasons of major junior, he played 113 games in the AHL before arriving in Boston for good late in the 2009-10 season. He has been with the Bruins ever since. He did not, however, receive first-line ice time until 2015-16, the same season Panarin arrived in Chicago. During the past five seasons, Marchand has outscored Panarin while receiving votes each year for the Selke Trophy as the league&rsquo;s best defensive forward. In the playoffs, Marchand has averaged more than a point per game during the past five years, and he co-led the playoffs in scoring last season. His teams have won a Stanley Cup, gone to the final on two other occasions and won 12 playoff series. Panarin has a lot of talent, but he cannot at this stage match what Marchand has done in the NHL.&nbsp;EDGE: MARCHAND(Just for fun, let&rsquo;s redo the first round of the 2006 and 2010 drafts. Marchand would likely edge out Claude Giroux and Phil Kessel and battle Nicklas Backstrom for No. 2 overall behind Jonathan Toews in &rsquo;06. Panarin would compete with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Vladimir Tarasenko to try to displace the dynamic duo of Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin at the top of the &rsquo;10 class. Both players would undoubtedly be top-five picks. They have certainly beaten the odds.)<h2>ROLES</h2>Panarin is a first-line left winger and a key element of the first power-play unit. He virtually never kills penalties and has not recorded a shorthanded point in his five NHL seasons. Marchand plays on the left side on the Bruins&rsquo; first line, he&rsquo;s on the first power-play unit and he gets some time killing penalties, especially in key late-game situations. Over the past five seasons, Marchand has a league-best 23 shorthanded points, including 11 goals.&nbsp;EDGE: MARCHAND<h2>STRENGTHS</h2>Panarin is dynamic and exciting. He is one of those rare players who can create something out of nothing. His ability to make plays is amazing, even when he is off-balance and being forced away from his intended target. His shot is not powerful, but he has a quick release and exceptional accuracy. On the power play, he generally plays on the half wall on his off-wing side. From this position, his priority is to serve as a playmaker. Although not physical, Panarin competes hard and is a responsible player in the defensive zone.Marchand is a strong skater with a remarkable sense of positioning in all areas of the ice. To use a favored expression among coaches, he is exceptional at mirroring the puck. He always seems to be facing the play but still aware of where danger from the opposition is developing. He makes good, crisp passes to his linemates and can make plays off the forecheck. His shot is quick and accurate and often is used in tight quarters close to the net. Although not as creative as Panarin, Marchand has more assists over the past four seasons than Panarin. Marchand also has far more takeaways, blocked shots and hits. He used to play in front of the net on the power play, but he&rsquo;s now positioned on the half wall on his off-wing. Like Panarin, his primary role from that position is that of a playmaker. Marchand is particularly effective in late-game situations. His combination of sense, positioning and alertness makes him a valuable player when the heat is on.&nbsp;EDGE: MARCHAND<h2>WEAKNESSES</h2>There are no perfect hockey players. Panarin is small. His weight and strength are below that of other elite-level NHL players. On those nights where he does not produce offensively, he looks like a hardworking small player &ndash; one among many in the game. He is not used in defensive situations. His departure from Chicago resulted in large part from an ineffective playoff series where he was often pushed off the puck by bigger, stronger opponents. In the past two years in Columbus, he had good moments early in the first playoff round, but, in both years, he appeared gassed by the time the Blue Jackets were eliminated. He has yet to show he can carry a team deep into the playoffs.Marchand often does not know when to leave well enough alone. He can be provoked into taking retaliation penalties that often cross the line. The results are penalties to one of your star players and the threat of suspensions. His conduct can be obnoxious and often draw the ire of opponents and officials. One aspect of his actual game remains a weakness: for a smart player, he simply tries too many risky plays. Marchand often refuses to accept the fact that a simple dump-in may be the best option. He will try to feather lateral passes through several bodies and sticks in situations where the likelihood of success is remote. The result is an average of almost 75 giveaways a year over the past five seasons &ndash; an unacceptable rate.&nbsp;EDGE: NEITHER<h2>CONCLUSION</h2>Panarin is an NHL star. He is smart and highly skilled with a consistent work ethic. He is fun to watch. He also lacks breakaway speed and is smaller and weaker physically than other elite-level talents. Marchand usually is not as much fun to watch. He is a strong but not fancy skater who makes the correct play consistently. His conduct can be maddening. However, he can match Panarin in offensive production and outperform him defensively, and Marchand adds a physical dimension that increases the comfort level of his linemates. He has proven he can be a key factor in getting his club to the Stanley Cup final. Panarin is a valuable commodity in today&rsquo;s NHL, but Marchand is more valuable.Tom Thompson has been an NHL scout/director/assistant GM since 1985. &#9632;

f0020-01

BRAD MARCHAND Vs. ARTEMI PANARIN

<div class="byline">BY ALEX PREWITT | SPORTS ILLUSTRATED</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="svech1" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/svech1/648145-1-eng-US/svech12.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">WHAT A WHIRLWINDFrom his signature scoring move to his superstar upside, Svechnikov is taking the Hurricanes by storm. (JAYLYNN NASH/ICON SPORTSWIRE VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>INSIDE A CRAMPED REFEREES&rsquo; dressing room with low ceilings and wood-paneled walls &ndash; a bucket of hot rocks away from a small sauna, basically &ndash; Andrei Svechnikov is lacing up his skates and listening to instructions. Alongside fellow Carolina Hurricanes winger Martin Necas, the 19-year-old will soon make a guest coaching appearance at a practice for some under-10 boys and under-12 girls teams. It won&rsquo;t be a heavy lift, Emile Hartman, the Hurricanes&rsquo; youth and amateur hockey coordinator explains to them. Just hop into drills, pass pucks, bump fists&hellip;&ldquo;And,&rdquo; said Hartman, nodding toward Svechnikov, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure all the kids will want you to pull out the move.&rdquo;Well, duh. Ever since Svechnikov whipped that mind-melting goal over Calgary Flames goalie David Rittich&rsquo;s right shoulder in late October &ndash; the only successful lacrosse-style attempt in NHL history, until he did so again less than two months later &ndash; greater Raleigh hasn&rsquo;t stopped gushing over his signature, eponymous skill. Especially its youngest fans. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s created a following,&rdquo; said Hurricanes veteran Justin Williams, who coaches his son Jaxon&rsquo;s team. &ldquo;My practices have gotten like five minutes longer because after picking up pucks, these kids are always trying &lsquo;The Svech&rsquo; behind the net and I&rsquo;m trying to get them off the ice.&rdquo;Sure enough, as he emerges from the dressing room and hops over the boards on this mid-January evening, Svechnikov is tasked with helping oversee a simple skating and shooting drill involving some cones and tires. Instead he is quickly encircled by awestruck skaters, the station grinds to a halt, and nothing much productive gets done for the next half-hour. The goalie, a girl rocking a hot pink mask, abandons the crease to follow Svechnikov behind the net, poking his midsection and badgering him about trying the move on her.At last Svechnikov relents, scooping a puck onto the blade of his stick, swooping it through the air, and shoveling it just underneath the crossbar. Everyone cheers. Nearby, one of the team&rsquo;s coaches shrugs, his expression clear: who can blame &rsquo;em for wanting some magic?It&rsquo;s easy to see why the masses are so enthralled. Happily nabbed by Carolina with the No. 2 pick behind Buffalo&rsquo;s Rasmus Dahlin in the 2018 NHL draft, Svechnikov has already surpassed his rookie point total while maintaining a 30-goal pace as a sophomore and averaging two extra minutes of ice time, more of a top-six horse than a one-trick pony. Skilled and tenacious yet loose and creative, the Russian teen is also the perfect on-ice avatar for these Bunch of Jerks-era Canes, a shot-generating monster with a player-produced post-game show looking to build off last season&rsquo;s run to the Eastern Conference final.And, obviously, he has super sick moves. &ldquo;I go to a lot of elementary schools for hockey clinics,&rdquo; Hartman said, watching practice from the bench beneath a banner featuring a picture of Svechnikov, part of a series of Hurricanes-themed decor at the Garner Ice House. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the main topic. All the kids want to do &lsquo;The Svech&rsquo; now.&rdquo;This night is no exception. &ldquo;Can you do the lacrosse goal?&rdquo; one girl asked Necas on the ice. &ldquo;No, that&rsquo;s Svech,&rdquo; the 21-year-old replied. &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; she shot back, &ldquo;why are you pro then?&rdquo; Svechnikov, meanwhile, is clearly in his element. He&rsquo;s 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds, but he&rsquo;s a kid at heart. He plays keep-away from a mob of skaters, practices shootouts with the goalie in the pink mask and grins the entire time. As practice winds down, a whistle blows.&ldquo;Raise your hand if you had fun?&rdquo; said a coach.Before anyone else can budge, Svechnikov&rsquo;s stick shoots into the air. His voice fills the rink. &ldquo;WOOOOOOOOO!&rdquo;As his teammates will testify, Svechnikov is prone to excitable outbursts. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s always yelling at people,&rdquo; said winger Jordan Martinook.Four years ago, Svechnikov moved to the U.S. without any command of the English language. Now he&rsquo;s nearly fluent and hardly shy about speaking up. On the team bus, losers in the card game Chase the Ace are bombarded with catcalls: &ldquo;Good night, brother, see you next game!&rdquo; The Canes&rsquo; marketing staff, meanwhile, is planning to put another one of his catchphrases, a pre-game callout for defenseman Dougie Hamilton &ndash; &ldquo;LET&rsquo;S GO DOOOOOGIE!&rdquo; &ndash; on T-shirts. &ldquo;Sometimes I know I&rsquo;m saying stupid things, but it&rsquo;s sometimes funny, you know?&rdquo; Svechnikov said. &ldquo;I try to be funny, always have fun.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">SOMETIMES I KNOW I&rsquo;M SAYING STUPID THINGS, BUT IT&rsquo;S SOMETIMES FUNNY, YOU KNOW? &ndash; Andrei Svechnikov</blockquote>Just don&rsquo;t confuse a silly personality with an unserious player. Aside from perhaps coach Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, whose daily exercise regimen begins with a warmup of weighted-vest chin-ups, no one in Carolina works harder than Svechnikov. &ldquo;We have this shooting area and there would be days (the team) would be done at noon,&rdquo; said Hurricanes GM Don Waddell, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;d go in there at 3 p.m. and he&rsquo;s shooting pucks.&rdquo; He has also been known to head out for a quick twirl after Canes games as well, cruising around PNC Arena in shorts and a T-shirt while testing out a new skate blade. &ldquo;As I&rsquo;m leaving, he&rsquo;s still at the rink,&rdquo; Brind&rsquo;Amour said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;Go home!&rsquo;&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/svech2/648124-1-eng-US/svech22.jpg" title="svech2" width="1021" height="1372"><figcaption class="caption-body">NO. 2 WITH A BULLETSvechnikov, drafted second overall in 2018, has an offensivearsenal, but his biggest weapon is his lethal shot. (JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Added Hamilton: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s always working on stuff, and that&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s no surprise that he has one of the best shots in the league.&rdquo;&ldquo;Yeah,&rdquo; Martinook said flatly, &ldquo;he&rsquo;s a freak.&rdquo;This ceaseless ethic was instilled in Svechnikov at an early age thanks to his brother, Evgeny, now a 23-year-old winger with Detroit&rsquo;s organization. &ldquo;I always try to look up to him, see how he practices,&rdquo; said Andrei, though it wasn&rsquo;t long before he was able to tag along, given that he started skating at two. &ldquo;I learned that when I stay another 10, 20 minutes on the ice, shooting pucks, I feel more confident after that.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/svech4/648117-1-eng-US/svech42.jpg" title="svech4" width="2117" height="1897"><figcaption class="caption-body">SCORING SENSATIONSvechnikov has already blown past his rookie totals, and it&rsquo;s just the beginning for the sophomore winger. (DEREK CAIN/ICON SPORTSWIRE VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>The week before Evgeny was drafted 19th overall in 2015, for instance, the brothers joined agent Todd Diamond at a local Ft. Lauderdale gym for daily 6:30 a.m. workouts. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;d play 12 months a year if it were possible,&rdquo; said Diamond of Andrei. &ldquo;Eighty-two games isn&rsquo;t enough for him. He&rsquo;s doing what he loves to do.&rdquo;Asked about his childhood in Barnaul, located in southwestern Siberia, Svechnikov describes a &ldquo;tough life. Sometimes we didn&rsquo;t have enough food. But my parents did everything for my brother and me. They moved everywhere we had to go to be better hockey players.&rdquo;One such place was the city of Kazan, where Andrei spent two seasons before leaving for the North American major junior ranks in 2016-17 and where he recently took some of the money from his $950,000 rookie contract to build a spacious apartment for the whole Svechnikov family to enjoy.After spending one season with the USHL&rsquo;s Muskegon Lumberjacks and then capturing OHL rookie-of-the-year honors with the Barrie Colts in 2017-18, Svechnikov entered the 2018 draft as NHL Central Scouting&rsquo;s top-ranked North American skater. With Buffalo locked on Dahlin, the Hurricanes were gifted an easy choice, though it helped that Svechnikov blew away Carolina&rsquo;s front office during his combine interview with his strong English and deep hockey knowledge.<blockquote class="pullQuote">WE WERE HOPING WE WOULD GET SOMEONE WHO WAS A STAR. AND I THINK WE DID &ndash; Carolina owner Tom Dundon</blockquote>In particular, Waddell recalls Svechnikov asking a volley of curious questions about Ilya Kovalchuk, a fellow Russian and one of Waddell&rsquo;s former players with the Atlanta Thrashers. &ldquo;He was always very at ease, very honest,&rdquo; Waddell said. &ldquo;Some of those interviews are so staged. I came away from there saying, &lsquo;This kid is the real deal.&rsquo;&rdquo;Whether the Hurricanes would&rsquo;ve chosen Svechnikov over Dahlin if they had nabbed the No. 1 pick is a hypothetical debate that still sparks friendly discussion in their scouting meetings, according to Waddell. &ldquo;Now, of course, that we know Andrei, all of my guys will say Andrei,&rdquo; Waddell said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s too tough.&rdquo;But everything turned out fine. Dahlin is a cornerstone blueliner who could win a Norris Trophy. And Svechnikov? &ldquo;We were just hoping, when we got the pick, that we would get someone who was a star,&rdquo; said Carolina owner Tom Dundon. &ldquo;And I think we did.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/svech3/648110-1-eng-US/svech32.jpg" title="svech3" width="1570" height="1372"><figcaption class="caption-body">PUTTING IN THE WORKSvechnikov is fine-tuning some aspects of his game &ndash; defense, for example &ndash; but he doesn&rsquo;t lack for desire or dedication. (DEREK CAIN/ICON SPORTSWIRE VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Want some magic? Svechnikov can oblige. Bored with the existing activity options on team flights last season, he decided to delve into the fine art of legerdemain. &ldquo;I was, like, &lsquo;I have to do something,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said. A few YouTube videos and practice sessions later, and he was baffling teammates by plucking their chosen card out of a shuffled deck or making a coin disappear. This year, a stage magician visited Raleigh to perform for the Hurricanes and taught Svechnikov several more tricks that he is excited about debuting for his teammates.Granted, there&rsquo;s nothing wrong with rolling out a crowd-pleasing classic, either. Such was the case on Dec. 17, when Svechnikov corralled a loose puck below the right faceoff dot, wheeled behind the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; net, pivoted to his forehand and scored his second lacrosse goal, this time without breaking stride. If you watch the replay, pay attention to Carolina captain Jordan Staal in the slot. It&rsquo;s hilarious. As Svechnikov begins celebrating, Staal just&hellip;stands there, staring at the coin-slot-sized space where Svechnikov tucked the puck, arms raised in disbelief. &ldquo;I knew it was coming,&rdquo; Staal said. &ldquo;I was soaking it in, to be honest.&rdquo;Svechnikov first learned about the lacrosse shot after Nashville&rsquo;s Mikael Granlund pulled it off for Finland at the 2011 World Championship. But several years passed before he started practicing in earnest, inspired by seeing Evgeny try it after one of their summer training sessions back home in Russia. &ldquo;I came to him,&rdquo; Andrei said, &ldquo;I was like, &lsquo;Bro, you have to teach me that for sure. I have to know how to do that.&rsquo;&rdquo;The dirty secret? He stunk at first. &ldquo;Then I try to do that more and more,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how I think I have improved so much.&rdquo;As always, Svechnikov had faith that hard work would pay off. But even he couldn&rsquo;t have predicted how widespread the move would become, from Nashville winger Filip Forsberg&rsquo;s successful try this season to the &lsquo;Svech Challenge&rsquo; held by some of the girls teams in the Jr. Hurricanes program, in which players shared videos of their attempts. &ldquo;This season, it&rsquo;s got like so popular, you know?&rdquo; Svechnikov said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so fun when you see some eight-year-old kid doing that in a game, parents so happy for him. It&rsquo;s so fun.&rdquo;The official name for the move, pioneered in the 1990s by minor-league journeyman Bill Armstrong and the University of Michigan&rsquo;s Mike Legg, has become a matter of regional preference. But the choice is clear in Raleigh. &ldquo;People know the name Andrei Svechnikov now,&rdquo; Williams said, &ldquo;and he should probably trademark &lsquo;The Svech.&rsquo;&rdquo;For his part, Svechnikov declines to wade into the debate. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I mean, I would love if people would call it &lsquo;The Svech&rsquo; or something. I&rsquo;m not going to call it that. That would be a little bit cocky. I&rsquo;m just going to call it &lsquo;The Michigan.&rsquo;&rdquo;Besides, assuming his career continues to progress at its current pace, Svechnikov will be known for plenty more than any one or two tallies. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t really know how strong he is and how fast he is,&rdquo; Staal said, &ldquo;but when he gets going he&rsquo;s almost impossible to stop.&rdquo;Like any young player, his game includes the occasional &ldquo;hiccup,&rdquo; as Brind&rsquo;Amour puts it, whether it&rsquo;s a defensive lapse or an ill-advised trip to the penalty box. But the Hurricanes aren&rsquo;t shy about projecting his potential, singling out his slick hands with the puck, keen vision and wicked wrist shot. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to score 50 goals in this league, there&rsquo;s no doubt about it,&rdquo; Waddell said.Still, Svechnikov isn&rsquo;t the type to limit himself. Not with the countless hours spent firing pucks or testing skate blades after everyone else has gone home. Not with the on-ice battles from which he refuses to back down. (Just ask Alex Ovechkin.) And not with a single signature move, no matter how super sick it might be. After all, there is always something new to try, some other way to have fun. &ldquo;Now I can do other things, right?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now I can do other things.&rdquo; &#9632;

svech1

Andrei Svechnikov

The Rise Of ‘The Svech’

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="mackinnon1__048" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/mackinnon1__048/648204-1-eng-US/mackinnon1__0482.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">CAREER GOALSThe main one is obvious: win the Cup. And if MacKinnon makes a few enemies along the way, that&rsquo;s OK, too. (DEREK CAIN/ICON SPORTSWIRE VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>IF SPEED IS WHAT separates Nathan MacKinnon from his NHL peers, it did not on this night. But it&rsquo;s not just about the speed in the fastest-skater event at the All-Star Game skills competition, it&rsquo;s about the turns, and perhaps MacKinnon took the corners a little too wide. And hey, who knew Mathew Barzal was that fast? Whatever. MacKinnon finished fifth behind Barzal, Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Chris Kreider. But give these guys a puck and have them try to beat a defenseman wide, and we&rsquo;ll see where they finish.Anyway, a guy from the Colorado Avalanche website was trying his best to generate some content from an otherwise forgettable evening when he pressed MacKinnon about why he went clockwise and whether or not he moved his feet enough through the turns. &ldquo;Ron, you&rsquo;re reachin&rsquo; right now,&rdquo; MacKinnon said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just trying to go as fast as I can.&rdquo;But then Ron hit on something. He asked MacKinnon whether the St. Louis crowd booing Patrick Kane took a little heat off him, you know, with them being Central Division rivals with the Blues and all. &ldquo;Do they not like me here?&rdquo; MacKinnon asked. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve never played them in the playoffs. Chicago and St. Louis have played each other so many times in the playoffs. Maybe if I went to Calgary or&hellip;I don&rsquo;t know who&rsquo;d boo me.&rdquo;That gets you to thinking. MacKinnon is emerging as a legitimate NHL superstar, but there are still a couple holes in his resume. The first is obvious. He hasn&rsquo;t won a Stanley Cup. Hasn&rsquo;t come close, actually, but neither has McDavid. The second is it&rsquo;s tough to develop a real hate-on for the guy. McDavid, now there&rsquo;s someone you can really despise if you&rsquo;re not an Edmonton Oilers fan. Ask fans in Philadelphia what they think of Sidney Crosby. Just make sure there aren&rsquo;t any kids around. MacKinnon works out with fellow Nova Scotians Crosby and Brad Marchand in the summer, and he&rsquo;s the only one whose middle name isn&rsquo;t an expletive to rival fans.MacKinnon needs at least one NHL city to hate him the way the Moncton Mudslides do. The good people of Moncton still have trouble reconciling how MacKinnon was kidnapped to help the Sunnyvale Trailer Park win the Stanley Bong in 2019. &ldquo;He was unbelievable,&rdquo; said Ricky LaFleur, MacKinnon&rsquo;s Sunnyvale teammate. &ldquo;He was like a racehorse on skates.&rdquo;&ldquo;I mean, he&rsquo;s in a whole different league than most of the players who were in that tournament,&rdquo; said Bubbles, another Sunnyvale teammate. &ldquo;Some of the Moncton S---hawks and some of those people. They&rsquo;re called the Mudslides, but we call them the S---hawks.&rdquo;For those who aren&rsquo;t in tune with pseudo-Canadian pop culture, Ricky LaFleur and Bubbles are characters on a boundary-pushing mockumentary called Trailer Park Boys, a cult TV hit where F-bombs and other really dirty words are a part of the vernacular. MacKinnon has appeared twice on the show, once on the regular version where he was roped into teaching at Ricky&rsquo;s hockey school and once in the animated version where he won the Stanley Bong for Sunnyvale.Here&rsquo;s how the episode goes: Ricky abducts MacKinnon to help them win the Stanley Bong. But after a thwarted dine-and-dash, MacKinnon is arrested. A rather dubious lawyer gets MacKinnon out on bail and brings him to Sunnyvale in time for the big game. But then on the last play of the game, MacKinnon is cut down by a slash and can&rsquo;t take the final penalty shot. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not as tough as I thought,&rdquo; Ricky said. &ldquo;He got slashed and all of a sudden, he couldn&rsquo;t take the penalty shot because his legs hurt.&rdquo;&ldquo;They were broken, Ricky!&rdquo; Bubbles said.Bubbles ends up taking the penalty shot instead and scores. With his eyes closed, no less, on the advice of MacKinnon. &ldquo;He was a good guy, really easy to work with,&rdquo; said Ricky, who gave up nine goals on 10 shots to Peter Forsberg in another episode. &ldquo;But he didn&rsquo;t like dope, which kind of disappointed me a little bit.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">HE FIGURED IT OUT, AND NOW HE&rsquo;S CONSISTENT WITH IT. THAT&rsquo;S HOW YOU GO FROM A STAR TO A SUPERSTAR &ndash; Tyler Seguin</blockquote>&ldquo;Ricky, he&rsquo;s an NHL player, he can&rsquo;t just go smokin&rsquo; dope,&rdquo; Bubbles said.So now MacKinnon has a Memorial Cup, a World Championship gold medal, a Calder Trophy and an IMDb page. And then there are the ubiquitous Tim Hortons commercials he does with Crosby. (Just so you know, MacKinnon does have to pay for his coffee at Tim Hortons. He said so himself.) So it&rsquo;s not as though MacKinnon has been underexposed or anything. To be sure, a lot has changed since the shy little boy began drawing comparisons to fellow Cole Harbour star Crosby, who was only 16 himself and hadn&rsquo;t even played a game of major junior yet. People would refer to MacKinnon as &ldquo;the next Sid&rdquo; like it was a mantle any well-adjusted eight-year-old should handle with ease. &ldquo;It was a pretty easy, almost lazy comparison,&rdquo; said Jon Greenwood, who coached MacKinnon in peewee and bantam in Cole Harbour.But it never sat well with MacKinnon. In fact, he hated it. &ldquo;It was a lot for someone that young, and I didn&rsquo;t really like it. I just wanted to be my own person,&rdquo; MacKinnon said. &ldquo;I was a shy kid growing up, so it didn&rsquo;t make me feel good. Maybe it would make some kids feel good and get comfortable. I wanted to get better and make the NHL, but I was kind of shy growing up, so I didn&rsquo;t like that kind of attention. I wasn&rsquo;t antisocial or anything, but I just kind of kept to myself.&rdquo;Of course, MacKinnon could have gone in the other direction and become a big-headed, entitled product of a minor-hockey system that constantly reminds gifted kids how special they are. But there wasn&rsquo;t much chance of that happening. Not the son of Graham and Kathy MacKinnon of Cole Harbour, which is as working class as it gets. Kathy, who was the youngest Canada Games competitor in 1977 when she swam for Nova Scotia, worked in programming for a nearby city, and Graham, who was a former Jr. C goalie, worked for CN Rail. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re the kind of people who go to the rink and sit in the stands quietly,&rdquo; said Greenwood, now an assistant coach with the QMJHL&rsquo;s Halifax Mooseheads. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re very unassuming people, and I think he got that. He wasn&rsquo;t going to let anything go to his head that way, and I don&rsquo;t think he has to this day.&rdquo;And certainly not the guy with three more years remaining on a contract that will pay him an average of $6.3 million a season, making MacKinnon the undisputed best bargain in the NHL. That puts him 82nd in the league in terms of cap hit, and he&rsquo;ll be well out of the top 100 by the time his contract expires in 2023. MacKinnon has no trouble with the fact linemate Mikko Rantanen makes an average of almost $3 million per season more than he does. MacKinnon has already said he regrets nothing about his contract and would sign it again if it brought him close to winning a Stanley Cup.Greenwood remembers an ultra-competitive kid who always expressed himself best on the ice. &ldquo;Right from the beginning, he was always so competitive and expected so much of himself,&rdquo; Greenwood said. &ldquo;Teetering on exploding with competitiveness, no matter what it was we were doing. You kind of knew then that he was a kid who was never going to be satisfied because he was so competitive and demanded so much of himself.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/mackinnon2__049/648197-1-eng-US/mackinnon2__0492.jpg" title="mackinnon2__049" width="993" height="1261"><figcaption class="caption-body">BANG FOR THE BUCKMacKinnon is the best bargain in the NHL and will be for a while. He&rsquo;s signed for three more years at $6.3 million per season. (CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>After being drafted first overall in 2013 and winning the Calder Trophy in 2014, MacKinnon spent the next three seasons spinning his wheels before breaking out as a Hart Trophy finalist in 2017-18. &ldquo;Something happened to him one summer, and a switch kind of flipped,&rdquo; said Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like he was cruising early on &ndash; but kind of figuring it out. And once he figured it out, he took another stride, and now he&rsquo;s consistent with it. That&rsquo;s how you go from a star to a superstar.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/mackinnon3__050/648190-1-eng-US/mackinnon3__0502.jpg" title="mackinnon3__050" width="1544" height="1246"><figcaption class="caption-body">FULL THROTTLEMacKinnon brings a lot to the table, but it all starts with his flat-out speed and ability to process the game quickly.</figcaption></div>But this season has represented an entirely new stratosphere for MacKinnon, for whom a league investigation will be launched if he doesn&rsquo;t repeat as a finalist for the Hart. There&rsquo;s a good chance he&rsquo;ll even win it. Near the end of February he was on pace for 120 points and, unlike other great players in the league, he&rsquo;s done much of it by himself. David Pastrnak has Marchand and Patrice Bergeron in Boston. McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have each other. They have been playing apart of late, but there&rsquo;s always that option in Edmonton. But there are two players in the Hart Trophy mix &ndash; MacKinnon and Jack Eichel of the Buffalo Sabres &ndash; who have been flying solo for much of this season. MacKinnon&rsquo;s regular linemates, Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog, each went down with an injury in late October. In the 17 combined games they missed, MacKinnon scored 12 goals and 30 points and helped the Avalanche tread water with a 9-7-1 record. And now that Rantanen is set to miss extended time with another upper-body injury, the Avs will look to their superstar center to put up similar numbers again for the rest of the regular season. &ldquo;I thought that was my best hockey of the season, that stretch in November,&rdquo; MacKinnon said. &ldquo;I played with a lot of different guys, and I seemed to really click well with (Joonas) Donskoi. That really seemed to work well. It was just simple hockey, a simple style of hockey. Guys were moving quick and going to the net. I don&rsquo;t know, it just worked out great. We&rsquo;re a better team with those two in the lineup, but when they got hurt I definitely felt a sense of urgency.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">THAT WAS MY BEST HOCKEY OF THE SEASON&hellip; IT WAS JUST SIMPLE HOCKEY &ndash; Nathan MacKinnon</blockquote>The difference between 2018 and 2020 is that the Avs are now a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. The sense of artistry has always been there with MacKinnon. Anyone who saw his goal on Henrik Lundqvist at the World Cup in 2016 or has watched the 10 minutes (10 minutes!) of MacKinnon highlights on YouTube can see that. &ldquo;My five-year-old has probably watched that 500 times,&rdquo; Greenwood said.And, oh my, that speed. But now, led by MacKinnon, who had three goals and eight points in Colorado&rsquo;s first-round ouster of the Flames in last year&rsquo;s playoffs, the Avs are primed for some very good things. MacKinnon has found a unique chemistry with rookie defenseman Cale Makar, who looks as though he&rsquo;ll follow in MacKinnon&rsquo;s footsteps as a Calder winner. With the rosy-cheeked Makar only 21 and MacKinnon just three years older, the possibilities are intriguing.The rest of the league has taken notice. Kane, a Calder and Hart winner, counts MacKinnon among a small group of players he most enjoys watching when he&rsquo;s not playing against him. Kane agrees that MacKinnon has entered the superstar ranks in the NHL. &ldquo;Oh yeah, I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s any doubt, he probably did it a few years ago,&rdquo; Kane said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of, if not the best player in the league. He does it night in and night out.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/mackinnon4__051/648183-1-eng-US/mackinnon4__0512.jpg" title="mackinnon4__051" width="994" height="1369"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JOHN CROUCH/ICON SPORTSWIRE VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;You can tell the confidence that he has in himself to play that way. But, yeah, he&rsquo;s a special player the way he kind of gallops around the ice and the way he can stickhandle and make plays. You can tell he knows he&rsquo;s good on the ice, and you can kind of feel that confidence when you&rsquo;re watching him play.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s one thing to have eye-popping skills and blinding speed, both of which MacKinnon possesses. McDavid is arguably the only player with faster feet and a quicker mind with the puck on his stick than MacKinnon. And the gap isn&rsquo;t as wide as you might think. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s his first three steps in terms of physicality, and I think mentally it&rsquo;s his first three thoughts,&rdquo; Seguin said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s just all instincts, and he&rsquo;s quick with everything. You can tell by the way he reads plays. He sees them quicker than anybody else, and that&rsquo;s what makes him special.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/mackinnon5__052/648176-1-eng-US/mackinnon5__0522.jpg" title="mackinnon5__052" width="1542" height="1112"><figcaption class="caption-body">EVERY GOAL COUNTSNot only does MacKinnon rank with the NHL&rsquo;s offensive leaders, he has shown the clutch ability to score when it matters most. (MARK BLINCH/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s another thing to be a truly impactful player, and that&rsquo;s something MacKinnon has become. You know you&rsquo;ve watched a game in which MacKinnon has played. He doesn&rsquo;t take nights off the way he occasionally did earlier in his career, and the goals he scores are big ones. As of early February, the only player in the NHL who had more goals (not including shootout winners) to put his team ahead in games was Pastrnak with 16. Eichel and MacKinnon were tied with 14. MacKinnon, Eichel and Marchand were tied for the league lead in goals that put their teams ahead in a game for good, with eight. Four of MacKinnon&rsquo;s goals had tied the game for the Avalanche, meaning about half of his goals this season have either tied the game for his team or put them ahead.<blockquote class="pullQuote">HE&rsquo;S A SPECIAL PLAYER THE WAY HE GALLOPS AROUND THE ICE AND THE WAY HE CAN STICKHANDLE AND MAKE PLAYS &ndash; Patrick Kane</blockquote>The sign leading into Cole Harbour reads: &ldquo;Home of Sidney Crosby.&rdquo; It says nothing of MacKinnon. That&rsquo;s the kind of cachet that three Stanley Cups, two Hart Trophies and two Olympic gold medals gets you. &ldquo;Nathan would be the first to say he doesn&rsquo;t deserve that yet,&rdquo; Greenwood said.But MacKinnon is just getting started. And he&rsquo;s getting better. A Hart Trophy this season and a Stanley Cup for the Avalanche would certainly build his case. As for the Olympics, the myopic view of the NHL when it comes to participating may rob MacKinnon of the opportunities that Crosby has had to represent his country on the biggest stage in sports, which would be a shame for him and his cohort, who possess the most mind boggling talent levels the game has ever seen.Crosby has held three Stanley Cup parades in Cole Harbour, and MacKinnon would like nothing more than to host a couple himself, perhaps with a Conn Smythe Trophy at his side. If he does win it, however, another stop will be necessary, otherwise Ricky LaFleur might have to kidnap him again. &ldquo;Bring the Cup to Sunnyvale,&rdquo; Ricky said.&ldquo;I know what Ricky would do with it,&rdquo; Bubbles said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;d try to smoke dope out of it somehow, and he&rsquo;d probably f---in&rsquo; destroy the thing. And I know for a fact that players do dirty things in the Cup. Randy (the assistant manager at Sunnyvale) would probably try to cram his big belly right into the Cup.&rdquo;Well, that would be a sight to see. But MacKinnon has to win one first. Like Reggie Dunlop said in Slap Shot, he&rsquo;s workin&rsquo; on it. And he might just get there soon. &#9632;

Nathan MacKinnon

Can’t Hate Nate

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="josi1" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/josi1/648291-1-eng-US/josi12.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JONATHAN KOZUB/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>YOU&rsquo;D BE FORGIVEN IF you came out of the 2008 NHL draft in Ottawa thinking about someone other than Roman Josi. After all, this was the year of &ldquo;Seen Stamkos?&rdquo; when the Tampa Bay Lightning telegraphed their first overall selection of Sarnia Sting center Steven Stamkos as part of a rebranding for the franchise. And yet it was also an exciting year for defensemen, with the daring Drew Doughty, beastly Zach Bogosian and all-around excellent Alex Pietrangelo going in order after Stamkos. Heck, if you were looking for a hidden gem on the back end, you were probably intrigued by the skinny Swedish kid taken by the host Senators with the 15th overall pick &ndash; Frolunda&rsquo;s Erik Karlsson.But over at Nashville&rsquo;s table, GM David Poile and his team were pleased to land Josi early in the second round with the 38th pick. (Earlier, Nashville selected Colin Wilson seventh and Chet Pickard 18th.) Poile was happy, but a little puzzled. &ldquo;His name wasn&rsquo;t getting mentioned, other than by our scouts,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;You hope he&rsquo;s a guy you can swoop in and get. I realize he was a second-round pick, but there wasn&rsquo;t a huge amount of fanfare about him, at least in my memory. I don&rsquo;t remember anyone telling me, &lsquo;That was a great pick,&rsquo; at the time. But we were bang-on.&rdquo;Twelve years later, Josi is the captain of the Predators and a Norris Trophy candidate. Playing for a franchise that has made its name on defensemen, Josi is the top dog after years of learning from some of the best in the game. While Nashville is having a down season that saw coach Peter Laviolette fired and goaltending become an unusual weak spot, 29-year-old Josi is proving to be worth every penny of the eight-year, $72-million contract extension he signed last summer. And once it kicks in next season, he&rsquo;ll still be paying dividends for a long time.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/josi2/648284-1-eng-US/josi22.jpg" title="josi2" width="1022" height="915"><figcaption class="caption-body">SECOND THOUGHTSThe Preds pulled off a draft-day surprise when they selected a relatively unknown Josi in the second round in 2008. (DAVE SANDFORD/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>The story of Josi is the tale of development perfected. The kid from Bern, Switzerland, stayed home for two more years after the Predators drafted him, allowing him to get reps against men in his home nation&rsquo;s best league and playing in multiple world juniors. He wasn&rsquo;t among Nashville&rsquo;s top 10 prospects in Future Watch 2009, but arrived in FW10 at fifth, then rose to third in FW11. When he came over to North America in 2010, the first thing he did was pay his dues in the AHL. &ldquo;I like the way the process worked,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;He was a young kid eager to come over, and he understood where he had to play. He went to Milwaukee, where we had a lot of good young guys at the time, then came to Nashville and played a lesser role behind guys like Ryan Suter and Shea Weber, where he learned the game and leadership.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">I DON&rsquo;T REMEMBER ANYONE TELLING ME, &lsquo;THAT WAS A GREAT PICK.&rsquo; BUT WE WERE BANG-ON &ndash; Nashville GM David Poile</blockquote>Ah yes, Suter and Weber &ndash; they were OK for Nashville, eh? The Predators were building something special on their back end, but nothing came easy in Nashville in those days, when money from ownership was tight. Suter was a pending UFA in the summer of 2012 and ended up signing a massive 13-year deal worth $98 million with Minnesota. Soon after, Philadelphia smelled blood and tried to swipe Weber away with an offer sheet worth $110 million over 14 years. At the time, the situation looked bleak, but the Preds had a young ace up their sleeve. &ldquo;Talk about timing,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;That summer we lost Suter and matched the offer sheet on Weber. Suter was one of the top five or six defensemen in the league. People wondered how we were going to replace him, and bang, we had a replacement right there. Roman&rsquo;s like a good stock. We bought low and we&rsquo;re getting a very good return.&rdquo;And so, after a lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign split between Bern and Nashville, Josi began his master class in the NHL, helped along by captain Weber. &ldquo;Just watching him prepare daily for practice, for games, the way he plays the game, there were so many things I learned from him,&rdquo; Josi said. &ldquo;He had a huge influence on my career.&rdquo;The admiration went both ways and continues to this day, even though Weber is now with Montreal. &ldquo;Really good kid, works hard,&rdquo; Weber said. &ldquo;I enjoyed being around him. He was very young, at the start of his career. You could see the talent there. He just needed time. As you grow as a player you get more experience and consistency and his game has grown, it speaks for itself.&rdquo;Looking back at the Predators&rsquo; 2013-14 defense corps is wild. Weber and Josi were joined by Seth Jones, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm, all of whom have become fantastic NHLers and, in the case of the first three, Norris Trophy candidates, albeit with different teams. &ldquo;Roman is a special player,&rdquo; said Jones, the ex-Pred and current Columbus star. &ldquo;Probably twice the player now than he was when I was there. He&rsquo;s grown that much. His offensive instinct was one of the best I&rsquo;ve seen. We were both starting to get into our careers, and he was a great guy off the ice.&rdquo;Poile describes that time as &ldquo;priceless&rdquo; for Josi, as he could take as many lessons as possible from partner Weber and use them to grow. &ldquo;Everybody learns from different guys,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;You watch, you learn, you steal things from other people&rsquo;s games, you see how they conduct themselves as a pro off the ice: how they dress, how they engage the community, what charitable work they do. Shea Weber was the man in Nashville, and now Roman is doing the same things.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/josi3/648277-1-eng-US/josi32.jpg" title="josi3" width="1569" height="1475"><figcaption class="caption-body">FOLLOW THE LEADERA young Josi was able to study under some of the NHL&rsquo;s best defensemen in Nashville, with Weber a shining example. (ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>But Josi doesn&rsquo;t just draw his mentors from hockey. Like a number of other NHL stars, he&rsquo;s a huge fan of tennis icon Roger Federer. The fact both of them are Swiss surely has something to do with it, but Josi sees a true professional in Federer, and following the tennis player&rsquo;s career has clearly influenced his own athletic trade. &ldquo;First of all, he&rsquo;s the best ever, don&rsquo;t question me on that,&rdquo; Josi said. &ldquo;Then it&rsquo;s the way he behaves. With all the success he&rsquo;s had, he&rsquo;s still a humble person. I&rsquo;ve got to meet him a couple times, and that was definitely something that impressed me.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/josi4/648270-1-eng-US/josi42.jpg" title="josi4" width="1022" height="831"><figcaption class="caption-body">(ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>When Weber was traded for P.K. Subban, Mike Fisher took the &lsquo;C&rsquo; for a season before Josi was named captain in 2017. In determining who would wear the &lsquo;C,&rsquo; Poile and Laviolette consulted not only each other but also a lot of people in the organization, from hockey operations to trainers and equipment staff, and the feedback all suggested Josi would make a great leader. Now, Poile sees a player who has evolved into the role and someone who is a lot more vocal than he used to be in the dressing room. &ldquo;You learn a lot when you become captain,&rdquo; Josi said. &ldquo;Shea had a big influence, Mike Fisher, too, those were two great captains. As you go on, there are so many ups and downs, and you learn to deal with certain situations. It&rsquo;s been a lot of fun and a huge honor to be captain.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">SHEA WEBER HAD A BIG INFLUENCE, MIKE FISHER, TOO, THOSE WERE TWO GREAT CAPTAINS &ndash; Roman Josi</blockquote>Before he earned the &lsquo;C,&rsquo; Josi also got a taste of the ultimate prize in hockey &ndash; the Stanley Cup final. The Predators fell to Pittsburgh in six games in the spring of 2017, but the playoff run left an indelible mark on Josi, who was on the cusp of taking the next step in his career. &ldquo;You realize how hard it is,&rdquo; Josi said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s such a long journey, but it&rsquo;s such an awesome journey. The games are hard, the games are intense, there are so many momentum swings, but looking back it was unbelievable to have a run like that. It makes you want to go back and get the win this time.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/josi5/648263-1-eng-US/josi52.jpg" title="josi5" width="2119" height="1517"><figcaption class="caption-body">ONE GOALJosi wants to take his two-way game back to the Cup final, after the Preds came up short against Pittsburgh in 2017. (STEVEN KINGSMAN/ICON SPORTSWIRE VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>That Cup run also threw a huge spotlight on Nashville itself, where the party scene on Broadway and the car-smashing fun outside of Bridgestone Arena helped many an outsider fall in love with the city. It&rsquo;s something Josi was already privileged to know about. &ldquo;The fans have always been great in Nashville,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I remember the first time I played at home, I was like, &lsquo;Wow, this is loud and the crowd is awesome.&rsquo; With us going to the Cup final, it took it to another level, and it&rsquo;s definitely a hockey city. The support we get is unbelievable.&rdquo;And the city&rsquo;s cultural DNA is seeping into Josi&rsquo;s life as well. Coming from Switzerland, he knew nothing about country music when he arrived in Tennessee, but after years of meeting some of the genre&rsquo;s biggest stars at Preds games, he&rsquo;s taken a shine to it. He also found the love of his life in Nashville.&#8233;Ellie Ottaway is from the suburbs of Detroit, but the fashion model moved to Nashville to study music at Belmont University. Josi and Ottaway were engaged at Christmas of 2017 and tied the knot last summer (and just to make the story even more Nashville, their venue used to be Reba McEntire&rsquo;s house).Of all the growth that has come to Josi, settling down is right up there in terms of impact. &ldquo;I definitely feel like I&rsquo;m at a different point in my life,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re married, two dogs, living a little bit outside the city, things definitely change. I love spending time at home with my wife and my dogs, it&rsquo;s good.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/josi6/648256-1-eng-US/josi62.jpg" title="josi6" width="1020" height="1663"><figcaption class="caption-body">SETTLING DOWNAfter getting married last summer, Josi and Ottaway &ndash; and their two dogs &ndash; have made a home in the Nashville suburbs. (MIKE COPPOLA/GETTY IMAGES FOR CMT)</figcaption></div>So the off-ice component of Josi&rsquo;s life is locked in. On the ice, hope is not lost for a playoff spot. The West is wide open, and Nashville still has their solid array of blueliners who can change a game at either end. While Subban is now struggling in New Jersey, three of the D-men from the Weber era are still hanging around, making more of an impact than ever. &ldquo;Most of us, Ellis and Ekholm and me, we&rsquo;ve been playing together a long time,&rdquo; Josi said. &ldquo;We grew up together in Nashville&hellip;We have such a great group of guys and some really good defensemen.&rdquo;Josi is having the best season of his career, averaging about a point per game and playing more than 26 minutes a night &ndash; putting him among the NHL&rsquo;s leaders and opening eyes league-wide. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a big fan,&rdquo; said Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s unbelievable. He skates really well, he&rsquo;s got a good stick, thinks the game really fast, and his offensive talent is pretty special. He&rsquo;s not just offensive, he&rsquo;s not just defensive, he does it all. He skates so well, it makes it tough to beat him.&rdquo;While Washington&rsquo;s John Carlson will have something to say about it, Josi is in the conversation for his first Norris Trophy. And with years of productive hockey left, he has found his sweet spot both on and off the ice. So what advice would he give to Young Josi, that eager kid from Bern? &ldquo;Enjoy it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It goes by so quick. I remember the day I came into the league and played my first game. Now I&rsquo;m 29 turning 30 in my ninth season.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/josi7/648249-1-eng-US/josi72.jpg" title="josi7" width="1021" height="1163"><figcaption class="caption-body">BLUELINE BRETHRENJosi and Subban were teammates for three seasons, and the Preds captain also counts stalwarts Ellis, Ekholm as his main &lsquo;D&rsquo; men.(COPYRIGHT 2018 NBAE, RON TURENNE/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Thinking back to those early days, Poile can still picture the fresh-faced Josi, full of potential and positivity. &ldquo;Always a smile on his face, upbeat, someone who loved to play the game,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;You felt right away that this kid could be really good. His skating, his personality, every game I&rsquo;ve ever seen he&rsquo;s got the puck all the time, and that&rsquo;s not exactly the norm for a defenseman. I don&rsquo;t think any of us had the foresight to see how the game would change in 10 years, but if we did we wouldn&rsquo;t have taken him in the second round, we would&rsquo;ve taken him in the first.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">HE&rsquo;S UNBELIEVABLE. HE&rsquo;S NOT JUST OFFENSIVE, HE&rsquo;S NOT JUST DEFENSIVE, HE DOES IT ALL &ndash; Mark Scheifele</blockquote>That certainly would have caused a lot of chatter on the draft floor, but the result would have been the same: Roman Josi, captain of the Predators, here to pleasantly exceed your expectations &ndash; even if those who were around at the beginning could see the future. &ldquo;Nashville knew,&rdquo; Jones said. &ldquo;We all knew how good he was going to be.&rdquo; &#9632;

Roman Josi

ROMAN’S EMPIRE

Alex Ovechkin

The Gr8est One?

Connor McDavid

BLAZING ANOTHER TRAIL

<div class="byline">BY SHELLY ANDERSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="crosby1" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/crosby13/648559-1-eng-US/crosby12.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">SELKE SMOOTHCrosby is still putting up big numbers, but he&rsquo;s also getting some love for his defensive acumen. (JONATHAN KOZUB/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>SOME GO-GETTERS toss around the cringeworthy notion that they don&rsquo;t want to slow down and will sleep when they&rsquo;re dead. Sidney Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain, takes a more palatable approach to his tireless drive and relentless push to improve. At 32, he still craves his routine and loves working on the details of his game. Call him the deliberate superstar.For all his accomplishments, it&rsquo;s not in Crosby&rsquo;s nature to wallow in nostalgia. Nor does he have a list of things he still wants to prove to the hockey world. &ldquo;I always just try to be my best, whatever that entails, whatever that means working on or improving,&rdquo; Crosby said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s probably more specific to a timeframe, how you feel that year, or that week even. Just constantly always trying to learn and get better. That&rsquo;s the biggest challenge, and it&rsquo;s something I think I continue to tell myself.&ldquo;I love the game, and I love to learn, love to get better. That&rsquo;s how I look at it. I don&rsquo;t look at it as trying to prove anything to anybody. The greatest person (to convince) is yourself. You&rsquo;ve got to prove it to yourself. That&rsquo;s how I look at it.&rdquo;Crosby has won three Stanley Cups, two Olympic gold medals (including one he clinched with a famous overtime goal), two Conn Smythe Trophies, two Hart Trophies, three Pearson/Ted Lindsay Awards, two Art Ross Trophies and two Rocket Richard Trophies.<blockquote class="pullQuote">YOU&rsquo;VE GOT TO PROVE IT TO YOURSELF. THAT&rsquo;S HOW I LOOK AT IT &ndash; Sidney Crosby</blockquote>He&rsquo;s not in line to add to his haul of regular-season awards this year after missing more than two months due to a core-muscle injury that required surgery Nov. 14. The time off was a departure from recent seasons. He hadn&rsquo;t missed more than seven games in any season over the previous seven years following struggles with concussions earlier in his career.Crosby was called and promoted as the face of the NHL for several years. That moniker has seemingly faded, but his place in hockey has not.Sure, there&rsquo;s a stable of young stars sharing the NHL stage these days, electrifying players such as Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, David Pastrnak and Nathan MacKinnon &ndash; the last of whom is a buddy, summer workout partner and humorous coffee-commercial co-star of Crosby&rsquo;s in their hometown of Cole Harbour, N.S. But that hasn&rsquo;t caused Crosby to look over his shoulder. The only one who really pushes Crosby is Crosby. He is still fast enough to flourish in Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan&rsquo;s high-paced system. He still has one of the best, if not the best, backhanders in the NHL, and that&rsquo;s on both shots and passes.It&rsquo;s not all offense. There was a Pittsburgh-centric campaign last season to get Crosby consideration for the Selke Trophy. Sullivan, stoking that movement, has often called Crosby &ldquo;the best 200-foot player in the game.&rdquo;One of Crosby&rsquo;s teammates, defenseman Jack Johnson, isn&rsquo;t surprised at Crosby&rsquo;s rise to stardom and ability to maintain it. They played hockey together as teenagers at Shattuck-St. Mary&rsquo;s, a Minnesota prep school. &ldquo;Absolutely you saw something special,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;He was obviously a talented hockey player. It was just the way he went about it. He was very grounded. He was always driven. Even as good as people were telling him he was, he was very humble. I think he was more special in terms of the type of kid he was. You could tell he was going to be great just because of that.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/crosby23/648538-1-eng-US/crosby22.jpg" title="crosby2" width="1570" height="1147"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BRIAN BABINEAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>&nbsp;Now? &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the same person, and that&rsquo;s the greatest thing about him,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;He could have changed, but hasn&rsquo;t. You could get comfortable, and he&rsquo;s far from that.&rdquo;Crosby is too busy focusing on his next game, his next shift, what his body needs on a day-to-day basis to worry about the bigger picture, future or past. He was asked whether at, say, 50 he might finally take the time to reflect on his career &ndash; assuming he&rsquo;s not still playing, of course.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/crosby32/648531-1-eng-US/crosby32.jpg" title="crosby3" width="1019" height="1122"><figcaption class="caption-body">(CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>That last part made Crosby let out a snort and a wide grin. &ldquo;Yeah,&rdquo; he said, but he didn&rsquo;t specifically rule out playing that long.For up-to-the-minute coverage, visit the&nbsp;<a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM</a> &#9632;

crosby1

THE TAO OF SID

<div class="byline">BY SHELLY ANDERSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="nhlmalkin" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/nhlmalkin/648597-1-eng-US/nhlmalkin2.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">EVGENI MALKIN (RICHARD A. WHITTAKER/ICON SPORTSWIRE VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>PENGUINS CENTER EVGENI MALKIN has posted some interesting things on Instagram in recent summers. Catching big fish. Snorkeling with a whale shark. Soaring on a Flyboard.Last summer was different. His photos chronicled rigorous workouts. In one he flashed a serious six-pack &ndash; abs, not beverages &ndash; as he ran on the beach. It was an indication of Malkin&rsquo;s mission.He wanted to prove, at 33, he wasn&rsquo;t fading, and, furthermore, he was still a superstar. So far, so good. Malkin, despite missing time with injury, led the Pens with 58 points in 44 games.His 21 goals in 2018-19 were a career low for a full season. His 89 penalty minutes were the most on the team. He was minus-25, linked to his propensity to turn the puck over. &ldquo;I want to show everyone I&rsquo;m not done,&rdquo; the toned-up Malkin said coming into the season.He has his coach&rsquo;s vote. &ldquo;We believe that our core is in the prime of their careers,&rdquo; Mike Sullivan said.And though Malkin is the oldest of that core, he wants more to add more to a resume that already features three Stanley Cups, as well as six other individual trophies.On the day in November that Pittsburgh learned its other superstar center, Sidney Crosby, had core-muscle surgery, Malkin was in New Jersey talking about stepping up when a fire alarm went off. &ldquo;I need to be fire,&rdquo; Malkin said with a smile. &ldquo;I will be fire.&rdquo;He was. He racked up 11 goals and 38 points in 26 games without Crosby. And he didn&rsquo;t back off. In Crosby&rsquo;s first 10 games back, Malkin had five goals and 15 points. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s only a handful of guys that can take over a game and continue to be dominant,&rdquo; Crosby said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s so dominant.&rdquo; &#9632;

nhlmalkin

MALKIN ON A MISSION

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="matthewsmar_005" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/matthewsmar_005/648649-1-eng-US/matthewsmar_0052.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOUBLE TROUBLEThe combination of Matthews and Marner has resulted in career-best seasons for both of the Leafs&rsquo; 22-year-old stars. (CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>TORONTO&rsquo;S SEASON HAS BEEN more chaotic than the Maple Leafs would have preferred, with Mike Babcock fired as coach, injuries left and right, goaltending a near-constant sore spot &ndash; and a berth in the playoffs far from a sure thing.It&rsquo;s a jarring outcome for a team that was supposed to be close to contender status, but there have also been some bright spots, and two of them happen to be playing together.Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner are two of the NHL&rsquo;s most exciting offensive threats and, while both have been excellent with different partners in the past, the pair of 22-year-olds have made magic together this season. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s really smart,&rdquo; said Matthews of Marner. &ldquo;Obviously a guy that makes plays, sees the ice really well and is great on his edges. When we&rsquo;re out there, we just try to get into positions where we can feed off each other with give-and-go&rsquo;s and support each other all over the ice and let the instincts take over.&rdquo;In his fourth NHL season, Marner is on pace for his best numbers yet. An ankle injury that stole most of his November may have hurt his raw totals, but the crafty right winger had a better points-per-game rate through late February than he did last year, when he put up a career-best 94 points.<blockquote class="pullQuote">LOOK UP AND DOWN THE LINEUP, AND WE&rsquo;VE GOT GREAT SKILL. IT&rsquo;S A BIG TRIBUTE TO THE GUYS I PLAY WITH EVERY NIGHT &ndash; Auston Matthews</blockquote>Obviously Marner had a pretty good center before in John Tavares, so it&rsquo;s not so much that Matthews is a big upgrade as it is a different look for opposing defenses to deal with. &ldquo;Hopefully it scares them,&rdquo; Marner said. &ldquo;We want to be a line that&rsquo;s out there and holds the puck and creates a lot of offense, but, at the same time, we want to be responsible with the puck and make sure we&rsquo;re responsible in our &lsquo;D&rsquo; zone, covering our guys, getting back, helping out and not taking too long of shifts.&rdquo;Luckily for Tavares, he still sees time with Marner on the power play, which has been a strength for the team. &ldquo;He always talks about trying to find lanes, because he&rsquo;s always setting everything up,&rdquo; Tavares said. &ldquo;He has the ability to manipulate the opponent by making them think one thing and open up a seam for another.&rdquo;Lately, Marner has found a lot of seams for Matthews. The big pivot had shown runs of dominance in the early portions of his NHL career, but this season Matthews has stayed healthy, and he&rsquo;s in the process of demolishing his personal bests. His career high for goals in a season had been 40 &ndash; which he accomplished during his Calder Trophy-winning rookie season of 2016-17 &ndash; but this year he hit that mark in February. &ldquo;It means a lot,&rdquo; Matthews said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to play with some really great players. On any given night, you look up and down the lineup and we&rsquo;ve got great skill. It doesn&rsquo;t matter who you play with. It&rsquo;s a big tribute to the guys I play with every night.&rdquo;And more often than not, it&rsquo;s been Marner. New coach Sheldon Keefe even experimented with a super-line of Matthews, Marner and William Nylander in mid-February, and, even though the early results weren&rsquo;t too effective, it is scary to think of all the different combinations the Leafs can throw out there. The interesting thing about the Matthews-Marner tandem is how close their individual stories hew together.Both players arrived in Toronto amid plenty of fanfare, and neither has disappointed (though playoff success has eluded the team itself during this short era). Both players had contract negotiations recently, with Matthews signing a five-year extension with an annual cap hit of $11.6 million last season and Marner inking a six-year extension with a $10.9-million cap hit during the off-season. With both contracts came heavy expectations, especially since Toronto GM Kyle Dubas has been battling the salary cap thanks to a cluster of big-money deals (with Tavares also owning a heavy ticket).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/matthewsmar_006/648628-1-eng-US/matthewsmar_0062.jpg" title="matthewsmar_006" width="801" height="935"><figcaption class="caption-body">AUSTON MATTHEWS & MITCH MARNER (MARK BLINCH/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Both players have also experienced discomfort in the spotlight. In the wake of Babcock&rsquo;s firing came the revelation the coach had betrayed a rookie Marner by having the newbie rank his teammates&rsquo; work ethics, then shared that list with the players in question.As for Matthews, it was revealed in September he had been charged in Arizona for an off-ice incident in which he and some buddies allegedly harassed a female security guard in the middle of the night. The parties settled out of court in November.Nonetheless, Matthews&rsquo; humbling autumn did not affect his on-ice production. The Leafs&rsquo; centerpiece has been able to put up big numbers, aided even further by an uptick in ice time since Keefe took over behind the bench. More importantly, Matthews has been crucial in keeping Toronto&rsquo;s playoff hopes alive. &ldquo;(He&rsquo;s) just so good in all areas of the game,&rdquo; Tavares said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s arguably no better shooter, with the type of shot he has, so when you&rsquo;re out there with him and he has any time and space in any area in the offensive zone, you want to get the puck to him. He&rsquo;s locked in right now, playing like an MVP. Such a catalyst for us.&rdquo;And with Marner on his wing, Matthews is even harder to stop. They&rsquo;re the dynamic duo that truly brings the dynamics every night. &#9632;

matthewsmar_005

TWO FOR THE SHOW

<h2>Boston Bruins</h2>Wasn&rsquo;t CHARLIE MCAVOY drafted as a dynamic offensive blueliner? He&rsquo;s been a physical minute-muncher but had a measly one goal and 20 points in 50-plus games, including one power-play point despite playing 1:22 a night with the extra man. At 22, he still has time to bloom.<h2>Buffalo Sabres</h2>JEFF SKINNER&rsquo;S pattern of good year, bad year was just a coincidence&hellip;or was it? His career-best 40 goals last season earned him an eight-year, $72-million deal. This year he&rsquo;s not even on a 20-goal pace. Even by Skinner&rsquo;s yo-yo standard, the decline in productivity is shocking.<h2>Carolina Hurricanes</h2>While JORDAN STAAL has always been more of a shutdown guy, the Canes could use some offense from him. Staal is on pace for his worst season since his sophomore slump in Pittsburgh more than a decade ago, hanging next to Brett Pesce and Joel Edmundson in team scoring.<h2>Columbus Blue Jackets</h2>The Blue Jackets went into camp with a lot of hope for their netminding, and ELVIS MERZLIKINS answered the call. The rock-star Latvian rookie found a serious groove when Joonas Korpisalo went down with a knee injury Dec. 31. Merzlikins posted four shutouts in 23 appearances.<h2>Detroit Red Wings</h2>Multiple knee surgeries limited ROBBY FABBRI to 83 games in three seasons entering 2019-20. A trade to Detroit felt like a last chance for a once-promising career. He responded by scoring at a 25-goal pace. It&rsquo;s a stunning rebirth considering he scored two goals in 32 games last year.<h2>Florida Panthers</h2>NOEL ACCIARI, goal-scoring machine? The Panthers paid him a $1.67-million AAV on a three-year pact to be a momentum-shifting grinder. By mid-season, he&rsquo;d scored 17 goals, including consecutive hat tricks. He later crashed back to earth, but he&rsquo;s given Florida more than expected.<h2>Montreal Canadiens</h2>The Habs reached for positional need when they drafted JESPERI KOTKANIEMI third overall in 2018, but he acquitted himself well as an 18-year-old. Few expected the step backward: a mid-season demotion to the AHL to regain confidence. He&rsquo;s still just 19, so it&rsquo;s too early to worry.<h2>New Jersey Devils</h2>When the Devils acquired P.K. SUBBAN from Nashville, it was an exciting day in Newark. But the grim reality is that New Jersey has been just as bad as last year and Subban has been a bust. He&rsquo;s on pace for his worst offensive season. His numbers also took a hit last year in Nashville.<h2>New York Islanders</h2>Individual performances are not necessarily a big deal with the Islanders. But it&rsquo;s surprising how little NOAH DOBSON has played. True, he&rsquo;s a rookie teen D-man, but playing half the games and not being released for the world juniors is disappointing for his development.<h2>New York Rangers</h2>The Jersey boy has found his place on Broadway. TONY DEANGELO has been a revelation for the Rangers, leading the team in scoring from the blueline and proving essential on the power play. DeAngelo can be temperamental, but his offensive acumen is undeniable.<h2>Ottawa Senators</h2>Anthony Duclair&rsquo;s breakout was surprising, but he was always talented. No one saw bruising blueliner MARK BOROWIECKI&rsquo;S breakout coming. He had eight goals in 333 career games &ndash; then scored seven times in Ottawa&rsquo;s first 50 games. It&rsquo;s a fluke, but the Sens value his leadership.<h2>Philadelphia Flyers</h2>What happened to CLAUDE GIROUX? The captain of the Flyers is having his worst offensive season in a decade. He was largely invisible in January, but luckily the Flyers were still winning. For a team scrapping for a wild-card spot, they&rsquo;ll need him to turn it around down the stretch.<h2>Pittsburgh Penguins&nbsp;</h2>He may not have the workload, but TRISTAN JARRY has the stats to be a Vezina contender. With Matt Murray struggling, Jarry has been a crucial member of an injury-ravaged squad that defied odds to rise up the standings. Jarry had a .928 save percentage through mid-February.<h2>Tampa Bay Lightning</h2>ALEX KILLORN turned 30 in September. In his previous six seasons, he&rsquo;d scored between 14 and 19 goals and 36 and 47 points. There was no indication he&rsquo;d set a career high in goals by Game 46. The reason: puck luck. His shooting percentage of 20.2 is almost double his career mark.<h2>Toronto Maple Leafs</h2>Anyone who did homework on WILLIAM NYLANDER&rsquo;S 2018-19 knew his advanced metrics suggested he was better than &ldquo;seven goals in 54 games.&rdquo; But a 35-goal pace by mid-season? A new coach in Sheldon Keefe &ndash; and a new center in John Tavares &ndash; unlocked Nylander&rsquo;s potential.<h2>Washington Capitals</h2>The Braden Holtby situation is interesting now that ILYA SAMSONOV has mounted a charge for the Calder Trophy. The rookie netminder has been red-hot for the Caps, making pending UFA Holtby look expendable. Samsonov cemented himself with an 11-game win streak. &#9632;

EASTERN CONFERENCE - BIGGEST SURPRISE

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="petterson1__026" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/petterson1__026/648844-1-eng-US/petterson1__0262.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">LET&rsquo;S GET PHYSICALPettersson worked hard to get stronger and be able to better handle the extra attention he&rsquo;s receiving in Year 2. (DEVIN MANKY/ICON SPORTSWIRE VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>IN A MOMENT OF needed levity, the constant hounding of Elias Pettersson by the media and opposition players was tempered by a hygiene question. What is the skin regimen for the slick Swedish center?After all, the Vancouver Canucks star has a blemish-free complexion that looks like something out of a magazine &ndash; soft, supple and shiny. Not what you usually associate with a 21-year-old acne-challenged athlete. &ldquo;A lot of water,&rdquo; Pettersson laughed.Hydration isn&rsquo;t the secret to his on-ice success, but Pettersson has avoided the sophomore slump by continuing to craft his eye-popping game, building strength and stamina and having a backbone to address added physical attention while being even harder on himself.Amid all that, another side of the 2018-19 Calder Trophy-winner is slowly emerging. The camera captures the steely-eyed focus, but there&rsquo;s a playful side in the assimilation to the North American game and culture. And that says something, because Pettersson is so dialled in to play a complete game that he will critique his rare mistakes instead of being content with the points he&rsquo;s piling up. &ldquo;I feel more comfortable every day,&rdquo; said Pettersson, who had 57 points through 57 games to rank in the top 20 in league scoring. &ldquo;I play with instinct, and if I feel I can drive the net or shoot the puck earlier, I just do it. Whatever comes to my mind first.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">I PLAY WITH INSTINCT, AND IF I FEEL I CAN DRIVE THE NET OR SHOOT THE PUCK EARLIER, I JUST DO IT. WHATEVER COMES TO MIND FIRST &ndash; Elias Pettersson</blockquote>That comfort extends to off the ice. He&rsquo;s more relaxed when facing the media &ndash; &ldquo;&ldquo;My first interviews were terrible,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was shaking.&rdquo; &ndash; and he&rsquo;s developed a social circle with teammates. He kills it in the NHL 20 video game and destroys a mountain of pancakes in regular breakfast club forays with teammates Quinn Hughes, 20, and Brock Boeser, 22 &ndash; but not captain Bo Horvat. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s too boring,&rdquo; Pettersson joked, poking fun at the married 24-year-old center, who&rsquo;s considered somewhat old on the transitioning NHL team. &ldquo;I must be,&rdquo; Horvat chuckled. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been invited, and that&rsquo;s disappointing. Ever since I announced I&rsquo;m going to be a dad, they&rsquo;ve been a little bit more distant.&rdquo;All joking aside, Horvat has noticed Pettersson&rsquo;s maturation. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s definitely quiet, but when he wants to be, he can be funny and quick-witted and chirp around with the guys.&rdquo;Troy Stecher was born and raised in Richmond, B.C., and grew up a Canucks fan. The 25-year-old defenseman knows what it&rsquo;s like to be immersed in the fishbowl of a hockey-mad market. It&rsquo;s why he has a level of amazement that Pettersson instantly applied his electric game to the NHL after dominating the Swedish League as a scoring leader, playoff champion and MVP. &ldquo;Any time you&rsquo;re put on a pedestal, you&rsquo;re going to get more attention, and it&rsquo;s like second nature to him,&rdquo; Stecher said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s impressive at a young age. You can only think of how good he&rsquo;s going to be with everything when he gets older.&rdquo;In the interim, Pettersson still needs the opportunity to exhale and act his age. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s enjoyable to be around, definitely an Xbox guy, and he&rsquo;s pretty fashionable, too,&rdquo; Stecher said. &ldquo;He takes pride in what he wears, and he likes good food. We go for dinners on the road, and we have our five spots in Vancouver.&rdquo;And what about breakfast club? &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gone multiple times,&rdquo; Stecher said. &ldquo;Pancakes with whipped cream and ice cream, cherries, strawberries, bananas, two eggs on the side and bacon, the whole thing.&rdquo;For Pettersson, the biggest adjustment on the ice this season has been all the increased attention. Increased strength and stability have allowed him to handle hits better and be more physical on the forecheck when trying to force turnovers, but engaging the opposition has also invited more targeting.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/petterson2__027/648823-1-eng-US/petterson2__0272.jpg" title="petterson2__027" width="801" height="1187"><figcaption class="caption-body">ELIAS PETTERSSON (JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>In a Feb. 8 game against Calgary, Pettersson was treated like a pinata and got frustrated to the point where he took just his seventh minor of the season. It detracted from his superior speed, stickhandling, playmaking and one of the best releases in the NHL. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not my game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I need to focus on what I can control, and I can&rsquo;t focus on what they do to me.&rdquo;And if he needed any guidance during Sedins Week &ndash; a seven-day salute to franchise legends Henrik and Daniel before their numbers were raised to the rafters Feb. 12 &ndash; Pettersson got some sage advice. &ldquo;There are going to be games where you get hit and fall down and take a beating,&rdquo; said the oft-targeted Daniel. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s done a good job of just playing his game. Just do the same thing again and again, and he&rsquo;ll get through it. He&rsquo;s such a complete player. He shouldn&rsquo;t focus on those types of things. It&rsquo;s a testament to how good he is because other teams are going after him. It&rsquo;s a positive, because he&rsquo;ll be better for it.&rdquo; &#9632;

petterson1__026

BREAKFAST CLUB AND SKINCARE

<h2>Anaheim Ducks</h2>After six goals in 22 games as a rookie, 2016 first-rounder SAM STEEL hadn&rsquo;t even hit that mark through 55 games of his sophomore season and was on pace for a meager 30 points. He must be more involved and drive possession if Anaheim is going to rise from the ashes of its rebuild.<h2>Arizona Coyotes</h2>CONOR GARLAND has been a prolific producer at every level. But after a 47-game NHL stint last season in which he scored at a 22-goal pace, there were still questions whether the diminutive winger could do it for an 82-game grind. He leads Arizona in goals and is on pace for 27.<h2>Calgary Flames</h2>In the first half of 2018-19, JOHNNY GAUDREAU was having a Hart Trophy-caliber season. He sputtered after the all-star break and was quiet in Calgary&rsquo;s first-round playoff exit. He&rsquo;s been sluggish throughout 2019-20, sticking mostly to the perimeter and is rarely a difference-maker.<h2>Chicago Blackhawks</h2>A repeat of his 41-goal campaign wasn&rsquo;t the expectation for ALEX DEBRINCAT, though no one would have predicted he&rsquo;d fail to hit the 20-goal plateau. A tanking shooting percentage is partially responsible, but the right winger has had a tough time gelling with linemates this season.<h2>Colorado Avalanche&nbsp;</h2>Left winger ANDRE BURAKOVSKY was saddled with a depth role in Washington, but he&rsquo;s flourishing in Colorado since his acquisition last summer. He&rsquo;s second in scoring among Avalanche forwards and on pace to surpass his previous best output by 24 points.<h2>Dallas Stars</h2>ROOPE HINTZ&rsquo;S rookie surge last season earned him meaningful minutes in the playoffs, and he&rsquo;s cemented himself in the middle of the Stars&rsquo; lineup with an excellent sophomore term. The left winger has played so well that he&rsquo;ll make some depth pieces expendable this summer.<h2>Edmonton Oilers</h2>Just when it looked like ZACK KASSIAN was locked into a role as a fourth-line power forward who could chip in the odd goal, he&rsquo;s found a scoring touch. In his first three years with the Oilers, he had 17 goals in 189 games. Last year he had 15, and he&rsquo;s a good bet to top 20 this season.<h2>Los Angeles Kings</h2>Not many pre-season depth charts had SEAN WALKER down as a second-pair blueliner for the Kings, but the 2018 free-agent signing out of Bowling Green has seen his development fast-tracked. Walker, 25, plays a composed two-way game and is assertive on the rush.<h2>Minnesota WIld</h2>Paul Fenton&rsquo;s turn as GM won&rsquo;t be remembered fondly in Minnesota, but his acquisition of left winger KEVIN FIALA appears to have been a coup for the Wild. He&rsquo;s on pace for 20 goals and nearly 60 points, and the 23-year-old has plenty of room to grow.<h2>Nashville Predators</h2>Nashville isn&rsquo;t paying RYAN JOHANSEN $8 million to be a 50-point player. The 27-year-old center is expected to be an offensive focal point, but he has struggled to find consistency and his contract is beginning to look like a burden that doesn&rsquo;t expire until after 2024-25.<h2>San Jose Sharks</h2>Most people wrote off MARTIN JONES&rsquo; poor 2018-19 as an aberration. After all, he had previously posted save percentages of .918, .912 and .915 and was the NHL&rsquo;s second-most active goalie over the past four years. This year he&rsquo;s been dreadful. Maybe we should&rsquo;ve seen it coming.<h2>St. Louis Blues</h2>Acquired and inked to a seven-year extension, JUSTIN FAULK hasn&rsquo;t lived up to his billing. Offensively, he&rsquo;s not producing like he did in Carolina and he&rsquo;s on pace for the worst output of his career. The 27-year-old defender has also slipped to fourth on the Blues&rsquo; depth chart.<h2>Vancouver Canucks</h2>When Sven Baertschi and Nikolay Goldobin were demoted to start the season, one of the reasons was JAKE VIRTANEN had earned the ice time begat to a middle-six forward. The 23-year-old winger has earned his keep and more. He hit career highs by the all-star break.<h2>Las Vegas Golden Knights</h2>WILLIAM KARLSSON was the breakout player of the year in 2017-18, scoring 43 goals for the expansion Golden Knights. A market correction was in order and he followed up with 24 goals. The hope was 24 goals would be the floor for this season. Instead, he&rsquo;s on pace for just 15.<h2>Winnipeg Jets</h2>Most pundits believed the Jets got fleeced in the Jacob Trouba trade, but NEAL PIONK, 24, has been a perfect fit in Winnipeg. He&rsquo;s posting the best offensive numbers of his career, leading all Jets blueliners in ice time and has provided much-needed stability on a shaky defense corps. &#9632;

WESTERN CONFERENCE - BIGGEST SURPRISE

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="womens1" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/womens14/649032-1-eng-US/womens12.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">REACHING THE YOUTHLamoureux-Davidson says seeing the reaction from kids during the Dream Gap Tour was &lsquo;pretty emotional.&rsquo; (DAVID KIROUAC/ICON SPORTSWIRE VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>JAYNA HEFFORD has learned a lot from a life spent in the women&rsquo;s game. A superstar scorer with the Canadian national team with four Olympic golds and seven world championships on her resume, she has done it all. Her name even adorned the CWHL&rsquo;s most outstanding player award, that honor coming a few seasons before she was named the interim, and ultimately final, commissioner in the league&rsquo;s history.Despite her familiarity with the women&rsquo;s game, however, when more than 200 elite women&rsquo;s players came together last May to form the Professional Women&rsquo;s Hockey Players&rsquo; Association following the sudden and stunning closure of the CWHL, Hefford had many of the same questions as the rest of the hockey world. &ldquo;I think they knew what their mission was, and they were very clear on what the goal was,&rdquo; Hefford said. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t think anybody had any understanding about what that meant for the upcoming season. Were they going to have games? Were they not?&rdquo;And for nearly four months, it remained unclear. There were occasional whispers, but through the establishment of the PWHPA and on through a leadership change &ndash; Hefford replaced Bryan Hicks and took the helm as operations consultant &ndash; the organization was tight-lipped. Then came the August announcement of the Dream Gap Tour, beginning with September&rsquo;s Unifor Showcase in Toronto. The two-day, four-game exhibition sold out, and the PWHPA carried the momentum from its first showcase on to successive stops in Hudson, N.H., Chicago, a second run in Toronto and March events in Philadelphia and Arizona.The successes were plentiful for the PWHPA. That there&rsquo;s greater awareness of the current landscape of the women&rsquo;s game, which is lacking true professionalism and sustainability, is one of the notable triumphs, Hefford said. More tangible victories, however, relate to the sold-out events, elite-level competition and support throughout Canada and the United States.The spotlight also shone on many of the PWHPA members at the NHL All-Star Game, where all but one of the 20 women participating in the elite women&rsquo;s 3-on-3 had skated on the Dream Gap Tour.For Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson, who was among the players invited to NHL all-star weekend, the impact on young girls has been one of the most positive outcomes. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s always pretty emotional to see the signs, to see them wait in line for autographs,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;There were these couple of girls in Toronto that were at the rink all day, watched three games back-to-back, and that&rsquo;s pretty special.&rdquo;But with the stop in Arizona, the Dream Gap Tour reached its culmination for the 2019-20 campaign. When the World Championship in Halifax and Truro, N.S., is complete, too, it will signal the end of the women&rsquo;s hockey calendar.But now, even with the strides taken by the fledgling PWHPA, questions persist, the most pressing of which is the matter of what comes next.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/womens23/649018-1-eng-US/womens22.jpg" title="womens2" width="1571" height="808"><figcaption class="caption-body">BIG-STAGE GIGThe 3-on-3 game at the NHL all-star weekend brought a new level of exposure for women&rsquo;s hockey. (PATRICK MCDERMOTT/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Given the existence of the NWHL, which experienced growth of its own during its fifth season, and the NHL&rsquo;s oft-repeated stance that it will not intervene and create its own league while another women&rsquo;s circuit is in operation, there does not appear to be an NHL-led women&rsquo;s league in the works. Regardless, the PWHPA&rsquo;s viewpoint remains that the best way forward is a partnership with a successful and established men&rsquo;s league, like has happened with the Women&rsquo;s National Basketball Association and the National Women&rsquo;s Soccer League. &ldquo;The two leagues that we see that have been successful in women&rsquo;s sports are the WNBA and the NWSL,&rdquo; Hefford said. &ldquo;The WNBA now is going into its (24th) season. They&rsquo;ve put their time in, and hopefully we can learn a lot from that experience, and I&rsquo;m sure the mistakes along the way, maybe we can avoid some of those.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">THE WNBA NOW IS GOING INTO ITS 24TH SEASON&hellip; HOPEFULLY WE CAN LEARN FROM THAT EXPERIENCE &ndash; Jayna Hefford</blockquote>While working towards making that a reality, the PWHPA&rsquo;s plan presently is to return to the ice next season, though it may not take on the same format. To an extent, the PWHPA&rsquo;s schedule through its first campaign as an entity was dictated not by what they had, but what they were without: time.Hefford said it was at times a scramble to get Dream Gap Tour events in place, particularly at the beginning, and Lamoureux-Davidson added the calendar and the participants at each event were cobbled together as the year progressed.Having an off-season to lay out a schedule should alter the structure, create a more professional atmosphere and lead to greater player participation. &ldquo;It depends on where we can get the games in,&rdquo; Lamoureux-Davidson said. &ldquo;If that means two teams are playing back-to-back in one market and two different teams are playing in another market on the same weekend&hellip;I think next year can look a little different, creating more opportunities for fans to come see us and more opportunities for players to play.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/womens33/649011-1-eng-US/womens32.jpg" title="womens3" width="1020" height="1370"><figcaption class="caption-body">JAYNA HEFFORD (PATRICK MCDERMOTT/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>During the off-season, too, Hefford said the PWHPA will do what it can to maintain its relevance, remain in the public eye and get its message to the public. &ldquo;We knew around the holiday break that we had a lot of momentum to come into the new year with the Toronto event, all-star weekend, two other NHL-club events, a Japan tour and the World Championship, so lots of great things happening, but we haven&rsquo;t figured out what that off-season looks like yet,&rdquo; she said.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a constant conversation we have around progress and how we continue to grow and share our message to even broader audiences.&rdquo; &#9632;

womens1

WOMEN

WHAT’S NEXT?

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="grassroots1_028" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/grassroots1_028/649112-1-eng-US/grassroots1_0282.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">HISTORY LESSONThe tour is counting on education to make a difference at the grassroots level in order to grow the game. (DAVE REGINEK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>EVEN IF YOU NEVER set foot inside the 18-wheeler and chose only to admire its exterior, you&rsquo;d be blown away. It&rsquo;s magnificent, adorned with images of Willie O&rsquo;Ree, Grant Fuhr and Jarome Iginla, among others, with the words &lsquo;PIONEERS,&rsquo; &lsquo;HISTORIC&rsquo; and &lsquo;ICONIC.&rsquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/grassroots4_029/649098-1-eng-US/grassroots4_0292.jpg" title="grassroots4_029" width="756" height="552"><figcaption class="caption-body">CURATOR, KWAME MASON (COLE BURSTON/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Once you enter the NHL Black Hockey History Tour&rsquo;s mobile museum, it&rsquo;s even more impressive. A mockup of dressing room stalls features the sweaters of famous black players, customized depending on where the tour has stopped. During the 2020 NHL all-star weekend in St. Louis, for instance, Fuhr&rsquo;s uniform hangs along with Ryan Reaves and Jamal Mayers. Facts about the history of black hockey participation are scrawled all over the walls. An attendee spins a giant trivia wheel and quizzes visitors of all different skin colors on their black hockey knowledge.The event, co-curated by documentary filmmaker and black hockey historian Kwame Mason, also attracts the sport&rsquo;s most famous black players to show their support. In St. Louis, Team Canada winger Sarah Nurse and ex-NHL goalie Kevin Weekes get swarmed for interviews outside. Retired NHL right winger Joel Ward shows up just to admire the exhibit. &ldquo;As you can see, we&rsquo;ve been playing hockey for a long time, we&rsquo;ve been at it,&rdquo; said Ward with a proud laugh. &ldquo;What a cool thing to do.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/grassroots2_030/649091-1-eng-US/grassroots2_0302.jpg" title="grassroots2_030" width="635" height="552"><figcaption class="caption-body">AKIL THOMAS(COLE BURSTON/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES; DUCLAIR & WEEKES)</figcaption></div>The tour, now an annual league initiative, runs from January through March. It feels more relevant than ever this year after Akim Aliu spoke out against the racist actions of his former AHL coach, Bill Peters, who resigned as the Calgary Flames&rsquo; bench boss as a result in November. It seems hockey is undergoing a wholesale culture change in which more people than ever question if enough is being done to make the sport inclusive. Weekes summarizes it with an out-there but genuinely illuminating analogy. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been to Italy numerous times, I have a lot of Italian friends in Toronto and New Jersey, and they never say, &lsquo;Pasta&rsquo;s our food, it&rsquo;s just ours. Nobody&rsquo;s allowed to eat it. You can&rsquo;t have it. You can&rsquo;t have marinara sauce. You can&rsquo;t have buffalo mozzarella. It&rsquo;s just for us,&rsquo;&rdquo; Weekes said. &ldquo;Nobody says that! So we can&rsquo;t be saying that in hockey. We can&rsquo;t. It&rsquo;s the most ludicrous thing in the world.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/grassroots6_031/649084-1-eng-US/grassroots6_0312.jpg" title="grassroots6_031" width="516" height="713"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANTHONY DUCLAIR (DAVE SANDFORD/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>The NHL has been developing its Hockey is for Everyone campaign for three years. In 2017, it hired Kim Davis, a black woman, as its executive vice-president of social impact, growth initiatives and legislative affairs and tasked her with working on projects that make the game more inclusive to people who feel like outsiders. Her work includes spearheading events like the Black Hockey History Tour, which visits 14 NHL cities. It promotes the idea that learning about other black players can plant the seed in minorities that, &ldquo;If he or she can play, so can I.&rdquo; That&rsquo;s why trailblazers such as O&rsquo;Ree and Angela James are so important. They inspired the next wave, which inspired the next wave, and so on.<blockquote class="pullQuote">AS YOU CAN SEE, WE&rsquo;VE BEEN PLAYING FOR A LONG TIME, WE&rsquo;VE BEEN AT IT. WHAT A COOL THING TO DO &ndash; Joel Ward</blockquote>Like so many elements of hockey culture, everything starts at the minor-hockey level. That&rsquo;s where the values are forged. So are we seeing a tangible impact at the grassroots level as a result of increased commitment to making the game inclusive? It&rsquo;s difficult to know just yet. Hockey Canada does not track its enrollment data by race. USA Hockey doesn&rsquo;t yet but plans to in hopes of getting a more accurate idea of participation among minorities. It has just begun requesting that information from subjects during the registration process and expects to have some statistics by June. It will take several years of data collection to get a big-picture understanding of the participation trends, however. Once that happens, the national hockey programs and the NHL can get a better sense of whom to target and how to target them for recruitment within those demographics.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/grassroots5_032/649077-1-eng-US/grassroots5_0322.jpg" title="grassroots5_032" width="975" height="553"><figcaption class="caption-body">NHL BLACK HOCKEY HISTORY TOUR'S MOBILE MUSEUM (COLE BURSTON/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Until then, sharing the stories of black stars in hockey is as powerful as any tool when trying to encourage people of color to participate in the game. A total of 94 players who are black or bi-racially black have played at least one NHL game. O&rsquo;Ree was the first on Jan. 18, 1958. Between then and 1979, five more players debuted. From 1980 to 2000, 34 players debuted. From 2000 to present day, 54 players have debuted, though the league is obviously bigger now, which explains some of the spike. Still, theoretically, the more young black players see other black players at the highest level, the more they&rsquo;ll be inspired to play.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/grassroots3_033/649070-1-eng-US/grassroots3_0332.jpg" title="grassroots3_033" width="635" height="545"><figcaption class="caption-body">(COLE BURSTON/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES))</figcaption></div>That&rsquo;s why giving kids the chance to learn at the Black Hockey History Tour and other events like it is so important. During a tour stop in Scarborough, Ont., for instance, Akil Thomas, who is just 20 and scored the tournament-winning goal for Canada at the 2020 world juniors, played ball hockey with kids in attendance. It&rsquo;s a powerful thing to know other black athletes make it to the highest level. It&rsquo;s even more affecting to witness it and play with them.Players like Ward are proof of the long-term effect. He&rsquo;s a product of being inspired by the generation before him. &ldquo;For me, growing up, there weren&rsquo;t too many black players,&rdquo; Ward said. &ldquo;Kevin Weekes in our family was the end-all of superheroes. So for the kids to come out here and get a glimpse and learn a little more about history and all the brothers that played, it&rsquo;s really cool.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/grassroots7_034/649063-1-eng-US/grassroots7_0342.jpg" title="grassroots7_034" width="754" height="550"><figcaption class="caption-body">SARAH NURSE AND KEVIN WEEKES (DAVE SANDFORD/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

grassroots1_028

GRASSROOTS

LOOKING TO INSPIRE

<div class="byline">BY SLAVA MALAMUDBY SLAVA MALAMUD</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="internation_019" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/internation_019/649164-1-eng-US/internation_0192.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DEADLY MISTAKEA lack of proper safety equipment at the SKK Arena site led to the death of a worker. (ROMAN PIMENOV\TASS VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>THE DISASTROUS COLLAPSE of St. Petersburg&rsquo;s SKK Arena, which killed one construction worker during a botched demolition on Jan. 31, is raising uncomfortable questions for the KHL and Russian hockey elites.The worst thing about the catastrophe isn&rsquo;t that it was avoidable, but that the circumstances were utterly unnecessary and manufactured. The enterprise was one gigantic, almost unfathomable, Chernobyl-level circus of mismanagement and incompetence, which speaks volumes about things much more important than merely the state of Russian hockey. There are serious questions about whether SKK needed to be demolished in the first place instead of merely renovated for the 2023 IIHF World Championship. The demolition/rebuilding project was awarded, without a bidding process, to a company owned by Gazprom, Russia&rsquo;s energy giant with ties to Vladimir Putin and SKA St. Petersburg ownership. The deadline for the demolition was set for Jan. 31 because of the chance that on Feb. 1 the Russian Society for Preservation of Historical Sites would designate SKK a protected venue, which would complicate the plans. For the same reason, and possibly to save money, SKK wasn&rsquo;t demolished via implosion, but instead workers were sent on the roof to cut the support cables manually. Those workers weren&rsquo;t provided with proper safety equipment, which resulted in the eventual victim having to cut the final cable while physically on the roof and not tethered to the crane. The company didn&rsquo;t even have an official permission to begin the demolition due to the pending historical site decision.It&rsquo;s hard to imagine how this could have been managed any worse, and it is a wonder that only one life was lost. Yet the higher-ups in Russia put forth their best effort to shrug off the disaster. Immediately after the collapse, the governor of St. Petersburg opined that the tragedy only proved the decision to demolish the building was the right one (the statement, published on social media, was quickly edited after a public outcry).Whether the calamity endangers the 2023 worlds isn&rsquo;t really much of a question. Russians are worldwide experts in completing immensely complex projects in the last minute and severely over budget. For further evidence, see the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. With Putin&rsquo;s inner circle this closely involved, a new arena will undoubtedly be built in SKK&rsquo;s place. At this point, the still-developing Russian doping scandal has a better chance to derail the worlds (as Russia is ostensibly banned from hosting major events) than the deadly demolition of SKK.Interestingly, however, the arena&rsquo;s collapse might reverberate throughout the league in some unexpected ways. For one thing, talk of impending change at the top of the KHL hierarchy has intensified. In particular, the current KHL boss, Gennady Timchenko, might be forced to face the music. Officially, Timchenko is the chairman of the board, but the league&rsquo;s outgoing president, Dmitry Chernyshenko, was originally Timchenko&rsquo;s business associate and wholly subordinate to his real-life boss. This left Timchenko, Putin&rsquo;s close and longtime friend and partner, free to also run SKA St. Petersburg and help arrange the league&rsquo;s rules and bylaws in his team&rsquo;s favor. Recently, however, Chernyshenko was promoted to deputy prime minister, a drastic shift in status that puts him on at least an even footing with Timchenko. Inside the club, Timchenko&rsquo;s deputy is Roman Rotenberg, a scion of a powerful and wealthy family (his father and uncle are Putin&rsquo;s childhood friends) who appears to be ready to supplant his superior.<blockquote class="pullQuote">IT&rsquo;S HARD TO IMAGINE HOW THIS COULD HAVE BEEN MANAGED ANY WORSE. IT IS A WONDER THAT ONLY ONE LIFE WAS LOST</blockquote>If Timchenko is indeed forced to leave, which seems all but inevitable now, the KHL&rsquo;s business model will be greatly affected. In recent years, Timchenko appeared to have taken a progressive, more Western-oriented view and became a proponent of a &ldquo;hard ceiling&rdquo; (the Russian term for a salary cap without a luxury tax). The current &ldquo;soft ceiling&rdquo; was designed to be nothing but a slight inconvenience for the KHL&rsquo;s richest teams, Timchenko&rsquo;s own first and foremost. With the rise of oil-money superpowers such as CSKA Moscow, Ak Bars Kazan and Salavat Yulayev Ufa, SKA was staring at a future of an ever-escalating arms race, which Timchenko found unappealing.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/internation_020/649150-1-eng-US/internation_0202.jpg" title="internation_020" width="1571" height="915"><figcaption class="caption-body">WHAT OF THE WORLDS?Some wondered whether the collapse would impact the 2023 tournament. With Russia&rsquo;s record, it&rsquo;s unlikely. (SERGEI MIKHAILICHENKO/SOPA IMAGES/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Timchenko&rsquo;s advocacy of the NHL-style salary cap was gaining steam, despite severe opposition from several quarters. Its institution would go a long way to bringing transparency and financial accountability to Russian hockey but would hamper the ability of some franchises to go after NHL talent or otherwise utterly dominate the perennially underfinanced majority of the league. But now, with the boss bearing at least some responsibility for the SKK tragedy, Timchenko&rsquo;s opponents have a ready-made excuse to stymie his proposals and reverse the transition to an NHL-like model. At his introductory press conference, the incoming KHL president, ex-NHLer Alexey Morozov, said that the league will remain committed to its plans for a hard cap, which will eliminate &ldquo;an unfair advantage&rdquo; to some teams. Whether he succeeds, and what other reforms he is able to introduce or salvage, remains to be seen.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/internation_021/649143-1-eng-US/internation_0212.jpg" title="internation_021" width="1205" height="1103"><figcaption class="caption-body">GENNADY TIMCHENKO (SERGEI KARPUKHIN\TASS VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>If things should go sideways, it will indeed be a sad irony that Timchenko&rsquo;s &ldquo;hard ceiling&rdquo; would be buried under a collapsed roof.Twitter: @<a datastyle href="https://twitter.com/SlavaMalamud?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">SLAVAMALAMUD</a> &#9632;

internation_019

INTERNATIONAL

AFTERSHOCKS OF A TRAGEDY

<div class="image-hero"><img title="business_wi_166" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/business_wi_166/649230-1-eng-US/business_wi_1662.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOTTLE THAT SUCCESSWirtz took a lot of what he learned in the beverage business and applied it to the Hawks when he took over in &rsquo;07. (COURTESY OF THE CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS)</figcaption></div>AS PART OF OUR ongoing Peer-To-Peer series, The Hockey News owner Graeme Roustan talked with Chicago Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz.GRAEME ROUSTAN: In preparing for this conversation I had done my standard reading on you, but then one of your people sent me The Breakaway, the book about your family business, and it threw me off completely as to what I was going to ask you. It&rsquo;s a great book and everybody in the hockey world should read it, it tells a great story about your franchise.ROCKY WIRTZ: Well, thank you. The Wirtz family, we came over in 1857, we were farmers and didn&rsquo;t have a pot to piss in. My great-great-grandfather was a farmer, and we still have the original family-land grant, 60 miles north of Chicago. So, it humbles you to think where you came from, and the only way we got into the sports business was because he bought defunct properties and they were old stadiums. At one time he had the Detroit Olympia, Chicago Stadium, the old Madison Square Garden and St. Louis Arena. They bought the franchises in those deals, so we had the Blackhawks on our balance sheet for $20,000. I don&rsquo;t know what they&rsquo;re worth today, but I know it&rsquo;s more than $20,000.GR: That&rsquo;s a big capital gain.RW: It is, so we&rsquo;re not selling it. We&rsquo;re looking at four generations in the family business. In the U.S., if you think about how few companies are run for four generations, it&rsquo;s down to single digits, it might be six or seven percent, and it drops even more when you get to the fifth generation, and there&rsquo;s very few in the sixth. So we&rsquo;ve been in the business a long time, but it&rsquo;s a business, and of course, winning is everything. You have to make money, or you&rsquo;ll never stay in business. Everything we do, we try to figure out how we can make money, not just for people today but to pass this business on to the next generation.GR: When you took over in 2007, you took the experience you had from running other businesses, the beverage business, real estate, and brought it to here to the Blackhawks.RW: In the beverage business, we&rsquo;re in the sales business, so operations, sales and finance have to work together like a three-legged stool. When I came over to the Blackhawks, I didn&rsquo;t think we had that approach, that front office, business operations, hockey operations and finance. Hockey operations was treated far more superior within the organization, but I knew with the others, you had to have good people, and you can&rsquo;t run things without having good people around. So the first person I talked to after dad&rsquo;s passing was Jerry Reinsdorf. He had won rings in more than one sport, baseball and basketball. And he&rsquo;s a Hall of Fame individual. A wonderful man, his word is his bond. I said, &ldquo;Jerry, do you have any advice for me?&rdquo; He said, &ldquo;You want to be involved in the other businesses. You need a full-time president.&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;Do you have any idea who that would be?&rdquo; He said, &ldquo;No, quite frankly, I don&rsquo;t.&rdquo; So I knew we needed a full-time president, and I admired the job John McDonough had done with the Chicago Cubs for many years. I&rsquo;d never met the man, I was a White Sox fan myself way before Jerry bought the White Sox. But I admired the job McDonough did with the Cubs with a team that was, for many, many years, subpar on the field. He led the league in attendance, and he had one of the higher ticket prices. How are you able to do that with a subpar team for 20-plus years? You have to be a really good businessman.GR: So you brought in John and surrounded yourself with a great management team. You had run a bunch of businesses, did you ever have a thought of, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m gonna run it myself?&rdquo;RW: No, I never did. I was here to support John, the first non-Wirtz president in many years. I thought it was important not to get so involved in the day-to-day because it&rsquo;s not fair to the organization, and I thought John could shape a better organization without me meddling. But he and I talk all the time, and there are no surprises. We have a terrific working relationship. We have a flat organization, that&rsquo;s a big thing. John was working for the Cubs, and he was used to asking permission. I said, &ldquo;No, no, we ask for forgiveness, we just move ahead.&rdquo; What was surprising at the time, this was back in &rsquo;07, the Hawks hadn&rsquo;t done too well. That first year, we had 10 sellouts, which is more than the previous five years combined. What I didn&rsquo;t know, which was the biggest surprise, was how much the Hawks were hemorrhaging money. I saw the tax return, but dad would never share individual financial savings of the Blackhawks. So, in &rsquo;07, a few days after his death, I got a call from the Blackhawks controller saying, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re out of cash.&rdquo; I said: &ldquo;What do you mean we&rsquo;re out of cash? We have 13 pay periods for the hockey players.&rdquo; He said, &ldquo;We went through it all on our first paycheck.&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;Well, we have 12 more. How much will I need to fund for those players?&rdquo; He said, &ldquo;Oh, probably $35 million or closer to $40 million.&rdquo; So the only way to do it was roll up your sleeves and do what you needed to do. And I worked on my relationship with John, who was always very good at relationships, and we had people with the Blackhawks who wanted to work. But I also realized we didn&rsquo;t have enough people. I mean, coming from the beverage business, you need a sales force, you need people out there to drive your top line. We had cut so many expenses, we didn&rsquo;t even have bottled water in the dressing room. A sixth-grade girls&rsquo; soccer team has water in the dressing room, but that&rsquo;s how bad it had gotten, cutting expenses. You can&rsquo;t cut your way to prosperity, and so we had to change the whole culture, and we said we&rsquo;re going to do it the right way. We&rsquo;re going to spend money and we have to train people and give them support and then let them do their job and get out of their way. If they don&rsquo;t do their job, we&rsquo;ll find people who will.GR: From a business point of view, did you feel like your back was against the wall a little bit? You came into this thing cold and all of a sudden you have a capital call of $40 million, plus you&rsquo;ve got to invest more money to make this thing work. Did you have some sleepless nights?RW: Well, I knew we could always sell the team and at the time we probably could&rsquo;ve got $100 million, $120 million for it. And that was just 12, 13 years ago. You look at Seattle, it&rsquo;s $650 million now. But I knew we had the third-largest media market, we had a vehicle to make money, so I thought, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s too easy to give up, why not give it a good shot?&rdquo; So you surround yourself with good people and work on that, and for whatever reason the fans started warming up to the team. And it&rsquo;s like all of a sudden when you&rsquo;re invited back to Thanksgiving dinner after being ostracized for many years. The fans wanted to be a part of the Hawks, but they weren&rsquo;t going to give the Wirtzes money if they thought they were going to be marginalized and taken for granted. So we started talking about different things and development, and the first thing we said was, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to bring in free agents just to bring in free agents, but we&rsquo;re going to fill those gaps where they need to be.&rdquo; John and I had talked from Day 1 that what we wanted to do was model the Blackhawks as a golden franchise, not only in hockey but any sport. And I thought we could do that because we had the vehicle to do that. We were lucky enough to be Original Six, so we had a pedigree. You can&rsquo;t buy a pedigree, but we had one. Now, granted, we&rsquo;ve been very fortunate to win three Cups, in &rsquo;10, &rsquo;13 and &rsquo;15. That helps a lot, but we&rsquo;ve been two years out of the playoffs and our fans have been very loyal.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/business_wi_165/649216-1-eng-US/business_wi_1652.jpg" title="business_wi_165" width="1178" height="935"><figcaption class="caption-body">HIGH AT HIGHS AND LOWSFans showed their support during the Cup years, of course, but they&rsquo;ve stuck around during recent lean years. (COURTESY OF THE CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS)</figcaption></div>GR: I want to talk to you about the executive committee. It&rsquo;s a group of 10 owners and, I mean, all owners are important and have a role to play, but those 10 really set the tone. They&rsquo;re close to Gary Bettman, and they&rsquo;re bouncing ideas around for the future vision of the league. You&rsquo;re in that group, what&rsquo;s on your mind when you&rsquo;re walking into an executive committee meeting? What do you want to accomplish?RW: First of all, you want to be on the same page. Gary does a good job of communicating with us (about) having a healthy league and being on strong financial footing and making sure the league is being run the right way. We&rsquo;re always learning from other owners what they&rsquo;re doing.GR: Gary is the NHL CEO, and he&rsquo;s got a terrific track record. From the outside looking in, I don&rsquo;t know any other CEO put in that position who could&rsquo;ve done it as well as he has.RW: Well, (we got) a hard salary cap. It took a lot of pain. For a year we weren&rsquo;t doing business and there was a lockout and those are painful times. But it puts us on a strong footing for the future, and I think the players realize that we all want to make money. And if we want to make money together, we need a strong league to do that. The only way to do that is to work together. A lot of it is just communicating and letting people know why you&rsquo;re doing these things. Most of the time, there are good reasons for decisions, but people don&rsquo;t always know why they make those decisions. Gary has done a good job, and I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s a commissioner in any sport who has had the tenure that he&rsquo;s had.GR: How much time do you spend on grooming leaders within your organization? Is that high on your agenda?RW: Well, I have my son and daughter. My son is 42 and my daughter is 40, and Danny was working on stuff at the United Center and with the Hawks and different things. So, yes, it&rsquo;s very important to grow future leaders. My job is to have the next generation of CEO of the Wirtz Corporation to be a far better CEO than I&rsquo;ve been. If he or she does a much better job than me, then I&rsquo;ve done my job.Watch video of the full Q&A with Rocky Wirtz at <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com/P2P">TheHockeyNews.com/P2P</a><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/mp20_cover3/649209-1-eng-US/mp20_cover2.jpg" title="mp20_cover" width="791" height="747"><figcaption class="caption-body">For more insider info on the business of hockey, pick up our Money & Power 2020 special edition, available at&nbsp;<a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com/store">TheHockeyNews.com/store</a></figcaption></div>&nbsp; &#9632;

business_wi_166

BUSINESS

ROCKY SMOOTH

mp20_cover

100 people of power and influence

<div class="byline">BY JAMES BENESH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="rewind_tayl_014" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/rewind_tayl_014/649992-1-eng-US/rewind_tayl_0142.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">FIRST STAR IS BRIGHTESTTaylor, top right, controlled play from his &ldquo;cover point&rdquo; position. He played like an early-era Bobby Orr. (B BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>AS YOU LOOK THROUGH The Hockey News&rsquo; The Top 100 NHL Players of All-Time, one name you won&rsquo;t find is Fred &lsquo;Cyclone&rsquo; Taylor. That&rsquo;s too bad. His accomplishments stand up to those of any other players from his era. So why isn&rsquo;t he on the list? Because never played in the NHL.&lsquo;Cyclone&rsquo; was the fleet-footed virtuoso every NHL team covets today. And those tools, coupled with his versatility, meant he had no peers at his time.Taylor got his start in pro hockey in 1905-06 with Portage Lakes, Mich., in the IHL, the first openly pro major league. Playing mostly center and occasionally &ldquo;cover point&rdquo; (comparable to a defenseman), Taylor was called, by writers at the time, the finest player in the league by the time he was 22.He returned to Canada for the 1907-08 season, beginning a four-year run in the NHL&rsquo;s predecessors, the ECAHA, ECHA and NHA, in which he mainly played cover point for Ottawa and Renfrew (Ont.). The rules at the time, which forbade forward passes, favored a speedy player such as Taylor on the back end. He was so fast, it was said, that when he played forward he&rsquo;d frequently end up ahead of his linemates and offside.Taylor&rsquo;s time in the East was his most storied. He earned his nickname courtesy of Earl Grey, Canada&rsquo;s governor general. Grey evidently thought Taylor&rsquo;s legs moved in cyclonic fashion &ndash; always swirling.It was also during this stint, while playing for Renfrew, that Taylor&rsquo;s most legendary play occurred. He once boasted he could skate through the entire Ottawa team backwards to score, and it was widely reported for decades that he did just that. The truth is, however, that while Taylor did rush the puck end-to-end and split the defense, he only skated backwards the last few strides before scoring. (It&rsquo;s not often mentioned this occurred in a 17-2 rout.)Taylor would have been playing for Ottawa that night had Renfrew not blown him away with a $5,000 contract in 1909-10, making him the highest-paid pro athlete in the world (on a per-game basis).In newspaper accounts, little attention was given to Taylor&rsquo;s defensive play and toughness &ndash; he was mainly a finesse player. But what finesse. Primary among his skills was blazing speed. He was faster than all but one or two players and made the most effective use of his speed thanks to outstanding puck-ragging and elite passing. He scored highlight-reel goals, but he was probably even more effective setting up teammates. Connor McDavid may be a perfect modern-day comparison.In the final chapter of his career, in the Patrick brothers&rsquo; Pacific Coast Hockey Association, &lsquo;Cyclone,&rsquo; now well within his prime and back at the more offense-oriented rover position, demonstrated statistically that he was hockey&rsquo;s most electrifying superstar. In seven full seasons from 1912-13 through 1918-19, Taylor led the PCHA in points five times, goals three times and assists five times. His career point-per-game average of 2.02 is 0.62 higher than the next-highest career rate of PCHA players.But this wasn&rsquo;t the NHL or even its predecessor, the NHA (where early-era stars Newsy Lalonde, Joe Malone, Cy Denneny, Frank Nighbor, Sprague Cleghorn, Georges Vezina and Clint Benedict all played). So should we take Taylor&rsquo;s stunning accomplishments seriously? Absolutely.The PCHA, if not 100 percent on par with the NHL, was very close. In eight Stanley Cup series between 1915 and 1922, the PCHA and NHA/NHL battled to an 18-18-1 gridlock. And, following the NHL&rsquo;s 1926 absorption of the Western leagues and their players, seven of the 15 names to finish top-five in Hart Trophy voting the next three years came from the west, while six were established NHLers.Taylor worked for many years in the immigration department of the Canadian government before retiring. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in its second class, in 1947, and was later named to the selection committee.Taylor remained a devout student of the game. Articles in The Hockey News from 1959 and 1960 recounted comments he made following week-long excursions during which he observed Soviet hockey players and spoke with their coaches. He warned Canadian hockey powers that if they rested on their laurels, the Soviets could surpass them within 10 years. As everyone knows, that nearly came to fruition in just 12 years, and Taylor saw it coming.Taylor died in 1979, two weeks shy of his 95th birthday. He had his moments in the public eye late in his life. In the mid-1970s, a reporter asked him how many goals he&rsquo;d score in the modern NHL. He replied, &ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;d say about 15.&rdquo;&ldquo;Only 15?&rdquo; the reporter said, surprised at the low estimate.&ldquo;Well, you gotta understand,&rdquo; Taylor said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m almost 90.&rdquo; &#9632;

rewind_tayl_014

REWIND

HOCKEY’S FIRST GENERATIONAL SUPERSTAR

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="rewind_meek_040" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/rewind_meek_040/650023-1-eng-US/rewind_meek_0402.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">CALDER COMEBACKThree years after having his legs shredded by a grenade, Meeker was the NHL&rsquo;s best rookie. (BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>NO WAY HOWIE MEEKER should have won the Calder Trophy in 1947.As a 20-year-old Canadian solider, he was nearly killed in the Second World War. &ldquo;A grenade went off between my legs,&rdquo; he told Saturday Night magazine in 1975. The explosion blew him high and shell fragments badly injured his mangled legs. &ldquo;I thought I&rsquo;d blown (hockey) for sure.&rdquo;Meeker survived, recovered, returned to Canada and by war&rsquo;s end got a gig with the Stratford Seniors in the Ontario Hockey Association. Although nobody was talking up Meeker as an NHL prospect, Toronto coach Hap Day remembered him as a promising junior in 1942 with Stratford. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know about Day,&rdquo; Meeker said, &ldquo;but Hap knew about me.&rdquo;It didn&rsquo;t matter to Day that Meeker was small by NHL standards (5-foot-9, 165 pounds) and was out of hockey for all but 22 games in four seasons from the age of 19 to 23. In the fall of 1946, when the two-time Cup-winning coach offered up a $4,500 contract, Meeker signed it faster than you can say Conn Smythe, the manager who co-signed the pact. Still seething over the Leafs&rsquo; failure to make the 1946 playoffs, Smythe had a brainstorm &ndash; gamble on rookies. &ldquo;Youth is the answer in this game,&rdquo; Smythe said. &ldquo;Only the kids have the drive, the fire and the ambition. Put the kids in with a few old guys who still like to win and the combination is unbeatable.&rdquo;Meeker wasn&rsquo;t bubbling with confidence. &ldquo;I was green as grass,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But so were a lot of other fellas. Seven of us rookies made the team.&rdquo;Day placed Meeker at right wing alongside center Ted &lsquo;Teeder&rsquo; Kennedy with Vic Lynn on the left side. They blended like cream in coffee.Nicknamed &lsquo;The Kid Line,&rsquo; the unit had a touch of everything a winning coach desired. Kennedy was the leader, a superb playmaker and smart. The burly Lynn was tough and loved a fight. Meeker could&rsquo;ve been nicknamed &lsquo;Mr. Hustle.&rsquo; &ldquo;I could skate and check, but without the puck, I was a dumb player,&rdquo; said Meeker in his autobiography Golly Gee It&rsquo;s Me. &ldquo;But with Kennedy firing the puck to us young scooters, we could pop away at the net. Teeder kept Lynn and me in the league.&rdquo;Meeker scored five goals against Chicago on Jan. 8, 1947, en route to a 10-4 Toronto win. Shortly after, Sport magazine ran a double-page, full-color spread of &lsquo;The Kid Line,&rsquo; pointing out how the crew-cut Meeker no longer was an unknown freshman but a deadly scorer.Meeker helped lift the underrated club to heights not even Smythe nor Day had imagined. The Leafs finished in second place, six points behind defending champion Montreal. The rookie had 27 goals and 45 points in 55 games and was beloved for his rambunctious play.Meeker extended his starry season into the playoffs. Toronto knocked off Detroit, who boasted a clever rookie named Gordie Howe. Against the dominant Habs, the Leafs were less than daunted. &ldquo;We had 10 really tough hockey players, most of them true NHL-caliber,&rdquo; Meeker wrote in his book. &ldquo;The tougher it got, and that is the key, the better the guys played.&rdquo;Few were better than Meeker. In Toronto&rsquo;s Cup-winning sixth game, on April 19, 1947, the Leafs were down 1-0 in the second period. A Meeker pass to Kennedy and a relay to Lynn tied the score. Then Meeker fed Kennedy with less than six minutes left, and Toronto had a 2-1 lead &ndash; and soon the Stanley Cup.<blockquote class="pullQuote">YOUTH IS THE ANSWER IN THIS GAME. ONLY THE KIDS HAVE THE DRIVE, THE FIRE AND THE AMBITION &ndash; Toronto GM Conn Smythe</blockquote>The soldier who had come so close to losing both legs in the war not only was named rookie of the year but became an integral part of a dynasty. Toronto became the first NHL team to win three straight Cups. Two years later, in the 1951 final against Montreal, Meeker again set up the Cup winner, scored in overtime by Bill Barilko for Toronto&rsquo;s fourth title in five years.Late in his career, Meeker became a Canadian member of parliament for two years. Then, after his playing days were over, he became a hockey analyst and hockey educator, one of the first and best of his kind. He&rsquo;s now 96 and living in Parksville, B.C.Was this one-time awed rookie surprised by his success? Not at all. &ldquo;By my third year,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I knew I could make any team in the league.&rdquo; &#9632;

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THE UNLIKELIEST CALDER WINNER

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="next_bourqu_042" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/next_bourqu_042/650061-1-eng-US/next_bourqu_0422.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">THE NEED FOR SPEEDBourque&rsquo;s game is built on skill and savvy, and he&rsquo;s working on becoming a more explosive skater. (OLIVIER CROTEAU / SHAWINIGAN CATARACTES)</figcaption></div>MAVRIK BOURQUE IS NO stranger to the spotlight. As one of the highest-ranked QMJHL prospects for the 2020 NHL draft, he will get a lot of attention when the event hits Montreal this summer. But the Shawinigan Cataractes center has already been a high pick and he&rsquo;s no stranger to high-profile events.The Quebec International Peewee Tournament is a bucket-list event for hockey nuts, and Bourque had the privilege of playing in it twice, first with Victoriaville, then with Drummondville right before the old Colisee arena was torn down. &ldquo;The first year I won the tournament, the year after I lost in the quarterfinal,&rdquo; Bourque said. &ldquo;It was amazing. They opened up the top (seats) and there were 12,000 fans watching. Now to continue to grow and to be in the present moment is fun.&rdquo;Bourque&rsquo;s success in youth hockey led to the Cataractes taking him third overall in the 2018 QMJHL draft, and while that sounds like a pressure situation, it didn&rsquo;t faze the kid: he finished second in team scoring as a rookie with 25 goals and 54 points in 64 games. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t give me pressure,&rdquo; Bourque said. &ldquo;They told me not to look at points in my first year and just play to get better. This season is going well as I build off last season.&rdquo;What Shawinigan does well is let their kids play. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the value of our franchise,&rdquo; said GM Martin Mondou. &ldquo;We take our young players, give them responsibility and teach them. That is, for us, the best way to make sure those players end up being dominant prospects down the road. It&rsquo;s unrealistic to have a kid come in at 16, be a fourth-liner, then next year expect him to come in and burn up the league. It&rsquo;s not true. Mavrik played big power-play minutes last year, and he played against top lines, so it gave him a lot of experience, with positive teaching around it. That really paid off in his development.&rdquo;This year, Bourque is leading the Cataractes in scoring (with 71 points through 49 games), while linemate Xavier Bourgault &ndash; a 2021 NHL draft prospect due to a late 2002 birthday &ndash; ranks second. Bourque is destined to be a first-rounder this summer, and while he wants to work on his explosiveness, scouts would also like to see more grit to his game.Having said that, there&rsquo;s a lot to like about what he brings to the table. &ldquo;Even though he has a lot of skill, his IQ is very good and his compete level is good,&rdquo; Mondou said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what sets him apart from a lot of prospects right now, he really finds a way to change the game night after night. He can play with a lot of different players and perform. He&rsquo;s not a big guy, but he&rsquo;s hard to take the puck off of.&rdquo;His unique first name sets him apart, too, but don&rsquo;t go cruising for the story behind it. &ldquo;My parents didn&rsquo;t give me a reason,&rdquo; Bourque said. &ldquo;Some people told me about the movie Top Gun, but it&rsquo;s not from that.&rdquo;Well, at least we can still say he puts goaltenders in the danger zone.For daily prospect coverage, visit&nbsp;<a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM</a> &#9632;

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A TOP GUN NAMED MAVRIK

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="next_brisso_013" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/next_brisso_013/650106-1-eng-US/next_brisso_0132.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">FAST LEARNERBrisson was a late arrival in Chicago but it didn&rsquo;t hurt his trajectory: he&rsquo;s projected to be a first-round pick. (PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHICAGO STEEL)</figcaption></div>THE CHICAGO STEEL ARE the class of the USHL. That&rsquo;s not a new development. The Steel have made two trips to the Clark Cup final &ndash; winning once &ndash; in three years and are a favorite to get back to the championship again.Recent alumni include Jack Dugan (Vegas), Robert Mastrosimone (Detroit) and Nick Abruzzese (Toronto), but this year&rsquo;s squad looks to be the best of the bunch: center Brendan Brisson and wingers Sean Farrell, Sam Colangelo and Gunnarwolfe Fontaine will all surely be taken in the 2020 NHL draft, while defenseman Owen Power is a contender to go first overall in 2021.Thanks to good ownership and a strong front office, the Steel have become a development machine. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re in a class of their own,&rdquo; said one NHL scout. &ldquo;They take care of everything. Their players have the most in-depth training regimens in terms of taking care of their bodies pre- and post-game. Their sleep cycles are tracked, their nutrition is tracked and each player has a specific development plan. It&rsquo;s really like a mini-NHL.&rdquo;Chicago works with a company that specializes in &ldquo;mindset resiliency development,&rdquo; while on the ice they have a contract with one of the best: Darryl Belfry, who made his name as a skills coach for Patrick Kane and John Tavares and now works for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Belfry and fellow skills guru Adam Nicholas add another layer of excellence to the Steel&rsquo;s foundation. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s great when him and Adam come out,&rdquo; Brisson said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re always working on different things, whether it&rsquo;s our shot or escaping or different O-zone techniques, where to get open, how to pop out.&rdquo;All of those resources, however, means there&rsquo;s a lot to pack in, and players need to buy in if they&rsquo;re going to keep up. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re on the ice a couple times a day, and we have a lot of meetings,&rdquo; said Steel GM Ryan Hardy. &ldquo;For them it becomes challenging. They have to fill out questionnaires and report honestly on where they&rsquo;re at. It&rsquo;s pretty sophisticated, and it&rsquo;s why we need a certain type of person who loves hockey and wants to do all of this.&rdquo;And the team knows what it wants in a player. The Steel traded up in the 2019 USHL draft to grab Farrell, whose eligibility with the U.S. NTDP had run out, while Brisson was acquired from Green Bay with the knowledge that he really wanted to play for the Steel. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking for the largest collection of highly motivated talent we can find,&rdquo; Hardy said. &ldquo;And once we get them here, we get them indoctrinated into what we do, then we see how much development we can influence in them. Then the challenge is finding enough opportunity for all of them.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/next_power/650092-1-eng-US/next_power2.jpg" title="next_power" width="1021" height="686"><figcaption class="caption-body">OWEN POWER (PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHICAGO STEEL)</figcaption></div>The results speak for themselves. Not only have the Steel been a top team in the league all season, but they&rsquo;ve done so despite losing coach Greg Moore to the AHL&rsquo;s Toronto Marlies during the season when Sheldon Keefe was promoted to the Maple Leafs. That put assistant coach Brock Sheahan at the helm, and the Steel haven&rsquo;t missed a beat. &ldquo;When coach Sheahan took over from coach Moore, he kept nailing in the things we were learning the first couple months of the season,&rdquo; Farrell said. &ldquo;Nothing really changed, and we continued to get better and have success.&rdquo;On an individual basis, Chicago has given its stars a great platform, and Brisson leads the charge. &ldquo;He was late to arrive on the scene, and the trajectory he&rsquo;s on is really exciting,&rdquo; Hardy said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got skill, he can make plays and he can score. He&rsquo;s a good kid and we&rsquo;ve worked a lot on defensive habits. To his credit, he has worked really hard on it. He&rsquo;s been a pleasure to have on our team.&rdquo;The son of super-agent Pat Brisson is a potential first-rounder this summer, while the big, strong Colangelo is probably a top-50 pick. Farrell is top-75, while Fontaine, who was passed over last year due to his size and skating, has added more deception to his offensive game and will certainly be taken this time. All four are top-20 scorers in the USHL, with Farrell right at the top. &ldquo;With his hockey sense, skill and competitiveness,&rdquo; Hardy said, &ldquo;he really checked all the boxes for us.&rdquo;Now the mission is to bring that championship back to Chicago &ndash; and the Steel have done their homework. &#9632;

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WINDY CITY WONDERS

<div class="byline">BY ALEX PREWITT | SPORTS ILLUSTRATED</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="next_frk1_1_008" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/next_frk1_1_008/650165-1-eng-US/next_frk1_1_0082.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">REIGN OF TERRORPlenty of goalies &ndash; from youth hockey to the pros &ndash; have the bruises to prove the power of Frk&rsquo;s shot. (PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ONTARIO REIGN)</figcaption></div>THE OFFICIAL TOURISM website for Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, touts the relaxing attractions of a &ldquo;spa town like no other,&rdquo; complete with 15 mineral springs whose waters reportedly possess &ldquo;curative effects.&rdquo; No doubt these sites were frequented throughout the 2000s by local youth hockey goalies seeking to soothe their limbs after facing shots from Martin Frk.Here is one of many stories: when he was 12 or 13, Frk ripped a slapper that struck the opposing netminder in the glove and knocked the kid out of the game. That was in the first period. In the second, another howitzer from Frk pummeled the backup in his stomach. &ldquo;So we had to stop the game halfway, because they didn&rsquo;t want to go back to the net,&rdquo; Frk said. &ldquo;Their head coach was like, &lsquo;Well, we don&rsquo;t have any more goalies, you hurt both of them.&rsquo;&rdquo;It was one of the earliest instances that Frk, now 26, recalls sticking out for how fast pucks zoomed off his stick. The latest example came at the AHL all-star skills competition where Frk, a right-handed right winger for the host Ontario Reign, set a pro hockey record with a 109.2-mph blast, breaking Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara&rsquo;s mark of 108.8 mph, which had stood since 2012.Perhaps this was eye-opening news for casual fans, if only because Frk, drafted in the second round (49th overall) by Detroit in 2012, doesn&rsquo;t resemble a classic cannonballer. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, he gives up eight inches and 45 pounds to the towering &lsquo;Big Z.&rsquo; But few who have crossed Frk&rsquo;s line of fire were surprised, least of all those who were tattooed with bruises after doing so. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t forget it,&rdquo; said former AHL and NHL goalie Mike McKenna, now a TV analyst for the Vegas Golden Knights. &ldquo;When somebody shoots the puck that hard, it&rsquo;s not something that goes out of your mind. There&rsquo;s an elite grouping of players in professional hockey that catch your eye when they shoot the puck. And there&rsquo;s usually one at the top of the list. For me, it was Martin Frk.&rdquo;Three years after his Syracuse Crunch lost to the Grand Rapids Griffins in the 2017 Calder Cup final, McKenna can still easily rattle off the damage that Frk inflicted. &ldquo;One to two on the arms, one on the hands that stung like crazy,&rdquo; McKenna said, not to mention the deep thigh bruise that took nearly three weeks to fade away. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re pretty well-padded these days. It didn&rsquo;t matter with him.&rdquo;Of course, the most painful moment came when Frk cranked a long slapshot through traffic in the third period of Game 6 that ultimately clinched the series.Now an AHL all-star midway through his sixth pro season with 23 goals for the Reign &ndash; and three in six games for their NHL affiliate, the Los Angeles Kings &ndash; Frk is certainly more than the updated answer to a bar trivia question. (Though he does seem to have that market staked out, given that his debut with Carolina in October 2016 marked the first appearance of an NHL player with a no-vowel last name.) But his reputation is well-earned.After leaving the Czech Republic to play major junior, Frk shattered three panes of glass during separate practices with the QMJHL&rsquo;s Halifax Mooseheads in a two-week span. &ldquo;They told me they wanted me to sign the glass,&rdquo; he said of his Mooseheads teammates.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t end up doing it, but they were asking.&rdquo;Even victims wear their lumps like badges of honor. Many offered testimonials following the all-star skills competition, including this gem from Reign center Brett Sutter: &ldquo;I soaked one right between the nipples this year. I thought I had a heart attack.&rdquo;Others reached later were all too happy to share. Like Jeff Lerg, the starting goalie for the ECHL&rsquo;s Toledo Walleye in 2014&ndash;15, Frk&rsquo;s second pro season. &ldquo;Once in a warmup prior to a game I wasn&rsquo;t starting, he buckled my knees on a shot, and I fell to the ice, and put an ice bag on my shoulder for the whole game while I sat on the bench, hoping I&rsquo;d wake up the next morning and I could still move it,&rdquo; Lerg said.And yet the origins of such a superhuman shot are surprisingly&hellip;ordinary. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I did anything really special besides shooting a puck on the net,&rdquo; Frk said.Like countless kids, he loved practicing in the backyard of his home. As a righty, he gravitated to watching similar-handed players such as Alex Ovechkin and Ilya Kovalchuk. &ldquo;They all seem to have pretty good shots, so I tried to learn as much as I could when I was younger,&rdquo; Frk said.But practice alone doesn&rsquo;t bless someone with the ability to hit 109.2 mph. Technique matters, too. Spiros Anastas, a former Grand Rapids assistant coach, compares Frk&rsquo;s smooth shooting motion and extended follow-through to a golfer&rsquo;s swing. The result? &ldquo;Loudest sound ever when he&rsquo;d hit the bar,&rdquo; wrote Anastas in a text.And while Frk might not be an imposing physical sight, his one-timers are a torquing, full-body affair. Once he whiffed so hard that he sprained his ankle. &ldquo;Everyone in (the) league knows to look the hell out,&rdquo; said Mike Knuble, a former NHL right winger and current Griffins assistant coach. &ldquo;Duck or hide behind someone.&rdquo;Frk, meanwhile, credits the whippy 70 flex and Ovechkin-esque banana curve on his stick, which slings shots off his blade like a clay-pigeon thrower. &ldquo;Back at home in Czech, when I was younger, I used two-piece sticks with the wood blade, so I&rsquo;d bend my blades with a heat gun and curve it how I felt was good,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Then I had a chance to do custom sticks when I got to pro. I&rsquo;m definitely really happy how my stick feels now. That took me a little while to figure it out, but now I have it, and now I can put the number up that I did now.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/next_frk2_1_010/650144-1-eng-US/next_frk2_1_0102.jpg" title="next_frk2_1_010" width="1021" height="1039"><figcaption class="caption-body">(PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ONTARIO REIGN)</figcaption></div>Heading into the all-star weekend, Frk wasn&rsquo;t taking aim at Chara&rsquo;s record. He didn&rsquo;t even realize what he had accomplished until ex-Griffins teammate Matthew Ford told him on the ice. His only goal was 105 mph, because that&rsquo;s what his Reign teammates told him would be a good number to reach.His first attempt was uncorked at 104 mph, right under the crossbar. After some fellow all-stars advised him to aim lower for maximum velocity, Frk charged forward and made history. &ldquo;I knew I already (had won) the competition at 104, so I was like, &lsquo;OK, I&rsquo;ll try to really lay into it,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When the 109 popped up, I was like, &lsquo;Oh my god, for real?&rsquo;&rdquo;On the ice, Frk was mobbed by players rubbing his head, patting his back and offering congratulations. Some asked for his stick, as though marveling over the weapon of choice. &ldquo;That was a really special moment,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really happy all the guys were so nice to me.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/next_frk3_1_009/650137-1-eng-US/next_frk3_1_0092.jpg" title="next_frk3_1_009" width="1022" height="769"><figcaption class="caption-body">SIZE DOESN&rsquo;T MATTERDespite standing just 6-foot-1 &ndash; eight inches shorter than Chara &ndash; Frk now holds the hardest-shot record. (PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ONTARIO REIGN)</figcaption></div>Back in the dressing room, his phone soon blew up with more than 200 text messages. Eventually Frk responded to each one, though not before first celebrating over beers with his family and fiancee. &ldquo;I will for sure remember the record for the rest of my life,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Until someone beats me. I bet there will be someone.&rdquo;Still, Frk is hoping to set the bar higher himself someday: &ldquo;I would definitely want to try again and see if I could get 110.&rdquo;Count McKenna among those people confident he can get there. &ldquo;I told everybody ever since that Calder Cup final, &lsquo;Marty Frk has the hardest shot I&rsquo;ve ever seen,&rsquo;&rdquo; McKenna said. &ldquo;And they&rsquo;d go, &lsquo;Who?&rsquo; I told them, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re going to hear about this guy.&rsquo;&rdquo; &#9632;

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HERE COMES THE BOOM

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDYBY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="straightedg_168" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/straightedg_168/650196-1-eng-US/straightedg_1682.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">MORE SEASONING NEEDEDThe Habs rushed Kotkaniemi to the NHL as an 18-year-old last season. He wasn&rsquo;t ready and was sent to the AHL in February. (DAVID KIROUAC/ICON SPORTSWIRE VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>HYPOTHETICALLY, the Montreal Canadiens could have been a playoff team this year. Despite some key injuries, despite going 0-4 against the lowly Detroit Red Wings and Carey Price having an up-and-down campaign, there is one statistic that simply blows my mind: when Jesperi Kotkaniemi was out of the lineup, the Habs went 12-3-1. When he was playing for them, they went 11-19-6. And in the first five games after the young center was mercifully sent down to the AHL, the Canadiens went 4-1-0. Keep in mind, Kotkaniemi missed games during two separate stretches due to injury, then one more as a healthy scratch &ndash; so it&rsquo;s not like the Habs just happened to get hot for one segment of the schedule. There is a correlation here.So why, why did Montreal insist on keeping the affable Finnish teenager in the NHL this season? For that matter, why did it bring him straight to the NHL from the 2018 draft stage in the first place?When Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin selected Kotkaniemi third overall that summer, Bergevin bucked the draft rankings in doing so. And hey, that&rsquo;s fine if you believe you&rsquo;re getting the best player available. But in no world was Kotkaniemi a better bet than Quinn Hughes or Brady Tkachuk, both of whom appeared at the NHL All-Star Game this year and were still on the board at the time.But Kotkaniemi was a center &ndash; well, kind of, as he spent part of his draft year playing on the wing in Finland &ndash; and the Canadiens needed help down the middle.Most GMs and scouts will tell you it&rsquo;s a terrible idea to draft by position that high. Bergevin is not most GMs. Usually it&rsquo;s easy to find a top-end center in the lottery, whether it&rsquo;s Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews or Nico Hischier. But 2018 was the anomaly, and, while it&rsquo;s still early, the best players from the class have been wingers (Tkachuk, Andrei Svechnikov) and defensemen (Hughes, Rasmus Dahlin).Kotkaniemi &ldquo;earned&rdquo; a roster spot right out of camp in Montreal, but it&rsquo;s not like he had much competition. The Canadiens had Phillip Danault and a converted winger in Max Domi ahead of the rookie on the depth chart. Eventually they would add Nate Thompson, but he&rsquo;s not a scoring center. Kotkaniemi was fine, tallying 34 points and playing a little less than 14 minutes a night. The Habs were not a playoff team.I spoke with a pro scout from another NHL organization who still loves Kotkaniemi&rsquo;s smarts and skill, and he has liked him during his brief AHL sojourn. But the scout also pointed out Kotkaniemi needs to get a lot stronger, and that was reflected in his NHL struggles. The talent hawk also acknowledged that teams often believe they can do the best job of developing their prospects hands-on, which in Kotkaniemi&rsquo;s case meant the NHL and AHL, rather than going back to Finland, where he would have been an impact player in the Liiga.Young players can also dazzle in training camp because they&rsquo;ve got so much adrenaline and youthful energy &ndash; and sometimes it can be tough for an NHL franchise to identify who has staying power and who is simply riding a wave. So the Canadiens get cut some slack from their peers on a couple of points here.Montreal&rsquo;s other two young center prospects, Ryan Poehling and Nick Suzuki, were left in college and junior, respectively, last season, and Suzuki &ndash; acquired from Vegas in the Max Pacioretty trade &ndash; really benefitted from the extra time, leading the Guelph Storm to an OHL championship where his line dominated the high-flying Ottawa 67&rsquo;s in the final series. When I witnessed the magic in person, Suzuki reminded me of a baby Patrice Bergeron with his elite two-way game.This year, Suzuki has been excellent for Montreal. He&rsquo;s been one of the team&rsquo;s top scorers and a gem on the power play. He is not yet a finished product, and he too needs to get stronger as time goes on, but at least his jump to the NHL was more organic.With Montreal a non-factor in the playoff race, there may be temptation to bring Kotkaniemi back up at the end of the season for more reps, but I hope he stays in Laval. There is certainly still hope for Kotkaniemi, but there is also a great lesson here for all involved: the race to NHL stardom is a marathon, not a sprint. OK, that&rsquo;s more of a bad clich&eacute;&hellip;but it still rings true.Twitter: <a datastyle href="https://twitter.com/THNRyanKennedy?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@THNRYANKENNEDY</a> &#9632;

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THE STRAIGHT EDGE

THE FUTURE TAKES TIME

<div class="byline">WITH KEN CAMPBELLWITH KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="lastword_mc_164" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/lastword_mc_164/650300-1-eng-US/lastword_mc_1642.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">CONNOR MCDAVID (CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>BELIEVE IT OR NOT, there was once a time when NHL superstars received paycheques that were commensurate with the top performers in other sports. That is most definitely not the case anymore. Today, you could argue the players who most drive revenues have been the biggest casualty of cost certainty in hockey.Back in 1999-2000, Jaromir Jagr was coming off his third scoring title and his first Hart Trophy and was the NHL&rsquo;s highest-paid player at $10.4 million. That was just slightly less than the $10.75 million the Dallas Cowboys were paying the NFL&rsquo;s highest-paid player, quarterback Troy Aikman. Albert Belle of the Baltimore Orioles was the world&rsquo;s highest-paid baseball player at $11.9 million. The outlier at the time was Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers, the NBA&rsquo;s biggest earner at $17.1 million.Contrast that to 2019-20, when Connor McDavid is the best hockey player in the world and the one with the largest annual average salary at $12.5 million. That represents a raise of just over 20 percent on Jagr&rsquo;s stipend 20 years ago. Meanwhile, the salaries of top players in the other leagues have skyrocketed.In the NFL, Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks pulls down $35 million annually for a 226-percent raise. Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels makes slightly more. At $35.8 million, he earns 206 percent more than Belle did. The NBA&rsquo;s top-paid athlete is Russell Westbrook of the Houston Rockets, who comes in at $41 million, 140 percent more than the top-paid basketballer at the turn of the century.In the summer of 1999, Peter Forsberg signed a three-year contract extension with the Colorado Avalanche worth $30 million. If there had been a salary cap then, that would have represented a $10-million annual cap hit. Twenty years later, his cap hit would be tied for 11th in the NHL, ahead of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos and Leon Draisaitl. And remember, Forsberg was not paying a penny of escrow on any of that money. &ldquo;The top players in the NHL are the most underpaid in all of professional sports,&rdquo; said agent provocateur Allan Walsh. &ldquo;You can make the argument that salary caps suppress all player salaries. But for the elite NHL player, the current system is costing them between $15 million and $20 million per year.&rdquo;Ever wonder why the league has locked out the players three times? Well, look no further than that statement. Prior to the last collective bargaining agreement, the players received 57 percent of hockey-related revenues. After locking out the players for half of the 2012-13 season, the league managed to get that down to a 50-50 split. So the owners gave up half of one season in order to grind the players&rsquo; share down by seven percent. If you add up what the owners have saved in the seven years since that agreement, you&rsquo;ll see they&rsquo;ve added slightly more than $2 billion to their coffers based on that seven percent. Two. Billion. Dollars. And that doesn&rsquo;t even take into account how much franchise values have skyrocketed over the course of this agreement or the money they&rsquo;ve received from expansion revenues. No wonder the owners had no desire to opt out. The players? Well, they had a lot of reasons.So why have the salaries of stars in other sports skyrocketed while NHL cheques have remained virtually the same? Well, there are a couple of theories out there. One of them is because they&rsquo;re hockey players, who instinctively always think team-first. Not that there&rsquo;s anything wrong with that when you&rsquo;re actually playing the games, but if you don&rsquo;t think the owners are taking advantage of that quality, you&rsquo;re probably a little naive. The players have been conditioned to think, &ldquo;Why would I ever need more than $10 million? What&rsquo;s the difference?&rdquo; It&rsquo;s that kind of philosophy that has seen them fall so far behind other sports, despite the fact that hockey players&rsquo; employers are thinking the exact opposite.Take McDavid, for example. He absolutelycould have demanded the ceiling of $15 million per year. Nobody in the world is more talented than he is, and you could argue that nobody, from superstar to fourth-liner, has worked harder to exploit those gifts. But McDavid, being a hockey player, took an annual salary of $12.5 million on his contract extension, thinking the extra money would be used by the Oilers to supplement the roster around him. It turned out to be a foolish notion. Are the Oilers demonstrably better than they would be with a $15-million McDavid? No, they are not.But it goes much further than that with the superstars. When the power brokers of the NBA negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with the players, they are often sitting across the table from the likes of LeBron James, Chris Paul and Dwight Howard. When Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly lock horns with the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, they&rsquo;re staring across at a good number of fourth-liners and sixth defensemen. How much pressure is a guy who is fighting for his career going to put on the league? And how much are those guys going to look out for the interests of the players who actually drive revenues? It has been that way since time immemorial, from the days when Gordie Howe refused to help the fledgling union, right through Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and McDavid to this day. Until the star players start taking a legitimate interest in the affairs of their union, they&rsquo;re going to be the ones who pay the biggest price.In the end, NHL superstars are no different than the actor who gets paid $50 million for appearing in a movie or the CEO who receives hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation and stock options. They are the ones creating the wealth for everyone. They are the ones who are making it possible for so many others to earn a very good living.And in almost everywhere but the NHL, they get paid for it.Twitter: <a datastyle href="https://twitter.com/THNKENCAMPBELL">@THNKENCAMPBELL</a> &#9632;

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