In our 100-page Playoff Preview, we have full-page breakdowns on each team with analysis, depth charts, fantasy rankings and more. Also, we've got features on Patrick Marleau, Darnell Nurse, the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and 15-year-old sensation Connor Bedard, plus a roundtable discussion on which Canadian team has the best Cup hopes.

Playoff Preview 2021

The Hockey News is an iconic, authoritative and trusted voice of hockey. It was founded in 1947 and grew to become known as The Bible of Hockey. Once a tabloid newspaper, it has evolved into a multi-platform brand that goes deeper and broader than anyone in the industry. The Hockey News publishes regular editions plus its special editions that include the Yearbook, Ultimate Pool Guide and Money and Power.

The Hockey News TBD 2 2021

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_032.jpg" title="common_03" width="550" height="73"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/edm_draisai_014/724235-1-eng-US/edm_draisai_0142.jpg" title="edm_draisai_014" width="790" height="1219"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>LEON DRAISAITL</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(PERRY NELSON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span>S CONNOR MCDAVID AND</b> Leon Draisaitl dominate the statistical leaderboards and trade individual hardware year after year, Oilers fans clamor for a Stanley Cup chase before the two superstars&rsquo; primes are wasted. With a team from the North Division guaranteed to make it to the final four and the Oilers looking more complete than they have in years, could this be the season for a deep playoff run?</p><p>There&rsquo;s no denying that the Oilers, when they&rsquo;re on their game, bring an offensive magic that few if any teams can match. McDavid&rsquo;s peerless talent exists on a plane separate from that of any other player. He&rsquo;s poised to join Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe as the only players to win three scoring titles by 24. Led by No. 97&rsquo;s brilliance, the Oilers are a top-10 offensive team in the league and boast an elite power play, augmented by off-season signing Tyson Barrie on the point. The Oilers are a lot less fun to face this year, too. Their team defense is improved. Darnell Nurse has broken out as a true star blueliner. Their checking forwards, from Josh Archibald to Jujhar Khaira, are as physical as any team&rsquo;s.</p><p>While Edmonton&rsquo;s defensive play is better, it&rsquo;s still not quite a strength. The Oilers rank near the bottom of the NHL in scoring chances and high-danger chances against per 60 minutes. It&rsquo;s a big reason why they were allowing four or more goals in roughly a third of their games. A key to Edmonton&rsquo;s success last season was the emergence of a dominant second line with Draisaitl between Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Kailer Yamamoto, but Yamamoto has regressed this season. Jesse Puljujarvi, back from his stint in the Finnish League, looks like a legit NHLer now, but his production is inconsistent. Edmonton remains top-heavy, with McDavid and Draisaitl scoring 32 percent of the team&rsquo;s goals.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p><b>MIKE SMITH</b> and Mikko Koskinen combined for an .869 SP in the bubble play-in round last year, helping the fifth-seeded Oilers get upset by 12th-seeded Chicago. Rather than address a seemingly glaring need in net, GM Ken Holland doubled down and re-signed the UFA Smith for his age-38 season. Smith has stunningly delivered the second-highest SP of his 15-year career. That said, he&rsquo;s at an age where the gas tank could run empty at any moment. Last year&rsquo;s implosion is a prime example.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0061-0170/724228-1-eng-US/f0061-012.jpg" title="f0061-01" width="1040" height="616"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0061-0248/724221-1-eng-US/f0061-022.jpg" title="f0061-02" width="1590" height="638"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p><b>LEON DRAISAITL</b> is such a potent 1B to Connor McDavid&rsquo;s 1A that it would be strange for anyone else to get the handoff, though grizzled Mike Smith also makes sense.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p>When opposing coaches are making blurs on whiteboards trying to figure out ways to limit McDavid and Draisaitl, <b>RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS</b> can often slip through the cracks. The elusive and versatile &lsquo;RNH&rsquo; has adapted his game to backdoor effectiveness &ndash; striking while the defenses are looking elsewhere. He had eight points in the four-game series loss to Chicago last year.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/nugent-hopk_015/724207-1-eng-US/nugent-hopk_0152.jpg" title="nugent-hopk_015" width="224" height="260"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

common_03

NHL PLAYOFF PREVIEW

EDMONTON OILERS

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="buzz_vasile_060" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_vasile_060/722410-1-eng-US/buzz_vasile_0602.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p>Vasilevskiy played 81 percent of the Lightning&rsquo;s games last season, bucking the NHL&rsquo;s new 1A-1B trend.</p><p></p> <span class="photo-credit">(SERGEI BELSKI-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span>NDREI VASILEVSKIY IS A</b> unicorn. When he raised the Stanley Cup above his head last June, er, September, he did so as the first goalie to win 18 games during a single post-season. Shining in the Tampa Bay Lightning&rsquo;s crease, Vasilevskiy started 25 playoff games in less than two months. Including the regular season, he started 77 of Tampa&rsquo;s 95 games, good for an 81-percent piece of the puck-stopping pie &ndash; all while the league-wide trend of burning goalies to the wick has actually been dissipating.</p><p>Looking at the past 20 full 82-game seasons, from 1997-98 to 2018-19, reveals a gradual shift toward spreading out workloads. From 1997-98 to 2011-12, an average of 3.4 goalies per season started more than 70 games. From 2013-14 through 2018-19, only three goalies <i>in total</i> did so. The 2018-19 season also produced the fewest goalies ever to start at least 60 games or even just 50 games. On the flip side, 2018-19 yielded the most goalies in NHL history with 20-plus and 30-plus starts in a season. In 1997-98, the peak of the workhorse era, teams&rsquo; goalie-usage trees were narrow, with 38 goalies starting 20 or more games. In 2018-19: 56 did &ndash; almost two goalies per team.</p><p>The reason for the shift is obvious: the demands of the position have changed. The crackdowns on obstruction in 2005-06 and, more recently, slashing in 2017-18 have allowed for more east-west puck movement, meaning goaltenders move laterally far more often in games. Shots on goal per game league-wide also were the highest in almost 50 years from 2017-18 through 2019-20. Goalies have never had to work harder during games, so the position takes a great toll on their bodies. That&rsquo;s why the rise of the 1B platoon partner has become so important. Gone are the days of Scott Clemmensen showing up for half a dozen games a year while Martin Brodeur started 75-plus for the New Jersey Devils.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">GOALIE COACHES HAVE GOTTEN THROUGH TO UPPER MANAGEMENT THAT IF THEY WANT TO KEEP THEIR CARS ALIGNED DURING THE YEAR, THEY&rsquo;VE GOT TO ALLOW TIME FOR THE TUNEUP<br>&ndash; Former NHL netminder Steve Valiquette on goalies getting more rest</blockquote><p>According to Steve Valiquette, a former NHL goalie who now works as a goaltending consultant and runs a hockey analytics company, a modern goaltender may get up and down from a butterfly position 300 times during a typical workday, putting tremendous stress on the groin muscles during each recovery to a standing position. Valiquette sees regular rest as paramount and believes the Lightning would not have won the Stanley Cup last year had Vasilevskiy not gotten the unexpected four-month rest&nbsp;during the COVID-19 pause, as he was on track to play too many games. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to always manufacture adrenaline, euphoria, energy, emotion, that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re trying to do as goalies with our game-day routines,&rdquo; Valiquette said. &ldquo;You do that 70 times, all your tricks are gone. And now you&rsquo;ve got to do it all over again in the post-season. It&rsquo;s too much to ask. It&rsquo;s as much a physical burden as it is a mental burden, and that&rsquo;s why teams aren&rsquo;t doing it anymore. Plus, goalie coaches have gotten through to upper management that if they want to keep their cars aligned during the year, they&rsquo;ve got to allow time for the tuneup.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_valiqu_059/722396-1-eng-US/buzz_valiqu_0592.jpg" title="buzz_valiqu_059" width="1018" height="1098"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>BRAIN GAMES</b></p><p>Former NHLer Valiquette says it&rsquo;s just as important for goalies to rest their minds as their bodies.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(DAVE MILLER-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>The trend has intensified this season while the COVID-19 pandemic takes a wrecking ball to rosters and has forced the league into a condensed schedule often requiring back-to-backs or patches of three games in four nights. As of mid-April, with most teams about 40-45 games into the 56-game schedule, 60 goaltenders had started at least 10 games in the 2020-21 season. In 1997-98, across an 82-game schedule, 52 goalies started 10-plus games.</p><p>So the recent goalie data overwhelmingly tells us the workhorse goalie who starts almost every game is extinct&hellip;in the regular season. In the playoffs, the past two decades of Stanley Cup-winning goaltenders are pretty much a list of every-game ironmen. Of the past 25 Cup-winning teams, 19, or 76 percent, had a single goaltender record all 16 victories en route to the championship &ndash; and it&rsquo;s 80 percent if you count Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who won 13 games in the 2007 Cup run because he missed time due to a family emergency but was the unquestioned starter when he was able to play.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_giguer_058/722389-1-eng-US/buzz_giguer_0582.jpg" title="buzz_giguer_058" width="1567" height="1140"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>JUST ONE &lsquo;JIGGY&rsquo;</b></p><p>When he was available, Giguere started every game for the Ducks on the way to their 2007 championship.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(GARY A. VASQUEZ/USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>We&rsquo;ve reached an era in which more teams than ever regularly start two goalies, yet it&rsquo;s still rare to see a true tandem win a Cup. It happened in 2017, when Marc-Andre Fleury backstopped Pittsburgh for two rounds before ceding the crease to Matt Murray for the last two, but they qualify as an extreme exception. Why?</p><p>There&rsquo;s no better person to answer that question than the busiest No. 1 goalie who&rsquo;s ever lived: Brodeur, the NHL&rsquo;s all-time leader in games, wins and shutouts. He played more than 70-plus games in 12 seasons and won all 48 games across the Devils&rsquo; Cup runs in 1995, 2000 and 2003. In his mind, sticking with one starter in the post-season is all about rhythm. &ldquo;Personally, I love to have a guy that is going to be there and run the table,&rdquo; Brodeur said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a matter of habits for a goalie. Because two goalies are not the same, they don&rsquo;t play the same, so your players are reacting to how the goalie plays. Let&rsquo;s say you have a guy who plays the puck a lot, and the other guy doesn&rsquo;t play the puck a lot. If you start switching goalies, it makes a difference in how you recover pucks or make plays defensively. It&rsquo;s a huge asset to be able to rely on one and live and die with it.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_brodeu_061/722382-1-eng-US/buzz_brodeu_0612.jpg" title="buzz_brodeu_061" width="1128" height="932"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>MARTIN BRODEUR</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(LOU CAPOZZOLA-USA TODAY NETWORK)</span></figcaption></div><p>Therein lies the paradox. It&rsquo;s proven that one workhorse goalie wins in the playoffs, yet one workhorse goalie isn&rsquo;t realistic in the regular season anymore. Even the legendary workhorse Brodeur admits the position is far more gruelling now than it used to be and that he would have a harder time handling it today. It seems the best formula is a hybrid: rolling with a 1A/1B battery in the regular season, managing the No. 1 goalie&rsquo;s load, but committing to the No. 1 for the duration of the playoffs. While the correlation between trusting one starter and winning a Cup is strong, the correlation between regular-season load management and winning a Cup is just as strong. Of the past 12 championship goalies, 11 started fewer than 60 games in the regular season.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">PERSONALLY, I LOVE TO HAVE A GUY THAT IS GOING TO BE THERE AND RUN THE TABLE<br>&ndash; Martin Brodeuron using one goalie for the playoffs</blockquote><p>Once the regular season ends and the playoff grind begins, teams are best off tapping the same masked man to tend goal every night. So don&rsquo;t expect a trend of playoff platoons winning eight games apiece anytime soon. &ldquo;I think the trend is going to stay the same,&rdquo; Brodeur said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see 1As and 1Bs. It&rsquo;s just too hard for a guy to get in a rhythm when he doesn&rsquo;t play a lot. In the regular season, you need your breaks, and there&rsquo;s no doubt about that. That&rsquo;s why you see those 70/30 breakups of goaltending. When you get in the playoffs, the guy that played 70 percent of the games, he should be your guy.&rdquo;</p><div class="sidebar"><h4>For up to the minute coverage, visit</h4><h3><a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">Thehockeynews.com</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></h3></div>

buzz_vasile_060

BUZZ

STANLEY CUP STALLIONS

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-0185/722562-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0013-01

CINDERELLA-O-METER

<div class="byline">BY W. GRAEME ROUSTAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="Roustan-column" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/roustan-column3/726707-1-eng-US/roustan-column.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY MICHELLE VALBERG)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>L</span>ATVIA WAS CONFIRMED TO</b> be the sole host of the 2021 World Championship after the IIHF and president Rene Fasel were put under a great deal of pressure to rescind Belarus as a co-host due to human-rights violations and a rigged election. The IIHF finally pulled the plug on Jan. 18, 2021, citing &ldquo;ongoing challenges placed by COVID-19.&rdquo;</p><p>As I predicted in my Publisher&rsquo;s Note in the Yearbook, published in November 2020, the IIHF would perhaps sidestep the questions on human-rights abuses in Belarus &ldquo;&hellip;if the World Championship are cancelled due to COVID-19 health concerns, but that inevitably kicks the pucks and politics of the human rights abuses question down the ice to China.&rdquo;</p><p>The IIHF decided that it would be safer to have the World Championship hosted by one country due to COVID-19 health safety and not split between the two host countries of Belarus and Latvia. The one country that the IIHF chose was Latvia, even though Belarus had more arenas and facilities to accommodate the players and delegates.</p><p>Also, at the time of this writing, the World Health Organization reports that Latvia has suffered 2,075 deaths with 112,983 cases while Belarus has suffered 2,453 deaths with 347,316 cases due to COVID-19. With the United Nations reporting that the 2021 population of Latvia being 1.9 million people and Belarus being 9.4 million people, Belarus had 261 deaths and 36,949 cases per million people while Latvia had 1,092 deaths and 59,465 cases per one million people.</p><p>Putting the numbers aside (if you can), what the IIHF did do was protect the individual athletes from having to consider whether to participate in the tournament or not based on a call from Belarusian basketball player Yelana Leuchanka and the Belarus Sport Solidarity Foundation, not to mention the outcry from human-rights groups were saying about Belarus human-rights violations.</p><p>Although Latvia is a deserving selection indeed for so many reasons, the IIHF could be accused of making a political decision by selecting Latvia and therefore avoiding answering the bigger question.</p><p>Now questions are being asked by human-rights organizations around the world if nations should be sending their athletes and delegates to participate in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, just as they did when they called on the IIHF to move the World Championship from Belarus. This time it is not just about hockey, but it covers all sports and entire Olympic organizations in each nation.</p><p>For full disclosure, I am a dual Canadian and U.S. citizen and have been associated with the Canadian Olympic Committee as an &ldquo;Olympic Supporter&rdquo; since 2017 because I believe in what the Olympics can represent and I support the athletes. My interest in the Olympics began when I first attended the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games and was cemented when I watched from the stands as Canada won men&rsquo;s gold in hockey at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. I saw firsthand what the Olympics can do to bring people from around the world together.</p><p>I have been supporting Olympic athletes for many years and am proud to have a couple of them work with me at The Hockey News and The Curling News. Through my 11 years, culminating as governor of the Canadian Women&rsquo;s Hockey League, I was privileged to have supported hundreds of players who played in the Olympics over the years. If you don&rsquo;t know any Olympic athletes yourself, find them out in your community and ask them how you can help support Olympic athletes, and they will be thrilled you asked and they will offer up suggestions.</p><p>I also believe that Olympic athletes have their own right to free speech and can and should be able to express themselves as they so choose. That is fine to say in the majority of countries, but in some countries, Olympic athletes and people in general do not have a right to free speech. Two athletes may be facing off on the field of play as equal opponents. However, once they leave the field of play, in some cases their respective human rights cannot be more unequal.</p><p>The International Olympic Committee&rsquo;s Rule 50 prohibits Olympic athletes from protesting at Olympic venues. No kneeling during a national anthem, no fists in the air, no arm-in-arm in solidarity, no nothing&hellip;just smile and wave&hellip;thank you very much. Dan Roan and Alex Capstick of the BBC reported on Feb. 4, 2021: <i>&ldquo;More than 180 organizations have called on governments to boycott Beijing 2022 because of reported human-rights abuses against ethnic minorities. The World Uyghur Congress described the event as &lsquo;a genocide Olympics.&rsquo;</i></p><p><i>&ldquo;China&rsquo;s treatment of its own citizens has been the subject of mounting criticism across the world. Composed of groups representing Tibetans, Uyghurs, residents of Hong Kong and others, the coalition of campaigners has issued a joint open letter calling for a boycott</i>&nbsp;<i>of the Games to &lsquo;ensure they are not used to embolden the Chinese government&rsquo;s appalling rights abuses and crackdowns on dissent.&rsquo;</i></p><p><i>&ldquo;But Canadian Dick Pound &ndash; the longest-serving member of the IOC &ndash; said barring athletes from participating in the event would be &lsquo;a gesture that we know will have no impact whatsoever.&rsquo;&rdquo;</i></p><p>Pound&rsquo;s quote referring to changing China&rsquo;s behavior caused quite a stir internationally. It could also be argued that other than death, nothing is 100-percent predictable, so should all of the reportedly more than 180 human-rights organizations and millions of people who support them believe Pound when he says a boycott of China &ldquo;will have no impact whatsoever&rdquo; on China&rsquo;s behavior?</p><p>As the longest-serving member of the IOC and an influential voice for the Canadian Olympic Committee, Pound might very well be right about China, but isn&rsquo;t that why races are run, games are played and fights are fought, because outcomes are not always 100-percent certain?</p><p>Shouldn&rsquo;t the IOC and all of its member countries be advocating for basic human rights for all people around the world and supporting athletes&rsquo; right of free speech?</p><p>Moving the IIHF World Championship exclusively to Latvia for &ldquo;COVID-19&rdquo; reasons saved the athletes from having to consider what human-rights organizations were saying about Belarus in their decision-making process as to whether or not they should go to Belarus while political prisoners were reportedly imprisoned and tortured.</p><p>Will families of the reportedly more than 100 Canadians imprisoned in China, including Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, be rooting for Canadian athletes in China while their loved ones are imprisoned in the host nation of China? Will the IOC follow the IIHF in a way that sidesteps the bigger question or will they leave it to the athletes to consider what reportedly more than 180 human-rights organizations are saying about China&rsquo;s human-rights abuses when making their individual decision whether or not to go to China in 2022?</p><p>Olympic athletes are the very best of what a nation produces, and the IOC and its member nations owe it to each and every one of the athletes to protect them from having to consider such a decision when selecting host nations and when putting on the Games.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/graemeroust_106/722344-1-eng-US/graemeroust_1062.jpg" title="graemeroust_106" width="583" height="124"></div><p><b>W. Graeme Roustan</b><br>Executive Chairman & Publisher,<br>Roustan Media Ltd.<br><b><a href="http://roustan.com">roustan.com</a></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Roustan-column

OPENING THOUGHTS

HUMAN AND ATHLETE RIGHTS

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="firstword_m_103" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/firstword_m_103/722275-1-eng-US/firstword_m_1032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(HARRISON BARDEN-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE SPORTS WORLD LOVES</b> a sappy old-timer success story. Always has. Maybe it&rsquo;s because we project the love of our parents onto grey-haired athletes. Or maybe, if we&rsquo;re the ones with the greying hair, we live out a vicarious fantasy watching someone who&rsquo;s supposed to be long retired competing for a championship trophy. Jack Nicklaus made everyone warm and fuzzy winning the 1986 Masters at 46, and Tiger Woods&rsquo; rollercoaster of transgressions and redemptions hit a peak in 2019 when he won it at 43. Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer won 16 games in 2008 and soft-tossed his way to a World Series ring at 45.</p><p>Hockey treated us to the incomparable Gordie Howe playing games in his 50s, but, if we&rsquo;re talking iconic old-guy winner imagery, Ray Bourque&rsquo;s Stanley Cup lift is the pinnacle. With exhausted jubilation, he ended a Hall of Fame career by crossing off the one item missing: a championship. The Colorado Avalanche devoted that season, 2000-01, so intensely toward winning a Cup for Bourque that he felt smothered by the cause, as he told The Hockey News in 2020. They wore ballcaps with &lsquo;Mission 16W&rsquo; stitched onto them. Ever since that season, there&rsquo;s been a tendency among media pundits to hunt for the next &ldquo;win it for Bourque&rdquo; candidate. We do it annually in our Playoff Preview edition, with a section of our team pages devoted to predicting which long-yearning player gets the first Cup pass.</p><p>So if you don&rsquo;t cheer for a specific team or you&rsquo;re a purist who believes the temporarily realigned divisional format renders this season a farce, why not place a bet on an old dog to root for? The most obvious is Patrick Marleau, who, in April, passed Howe for the all-time NHL games-played record. When Marleau&rsquo;s career began in 1997, <i>Seinfeld</i> was in its final season. Incredibly, he&rsquo;s shared the ice during games with 37 percent of players who have ever competed in the NHL. Yet he&rsquo;s never won the Cup. The closest he came was in 2016, when his underdog San Jose Sharks lost in the final. At press time, San Jose was a long shot to make the playoffs, so Marleau&rsquo;s dream was dead.</p><p>If we want to transfer the support for Marleau to someone else in these playoffs who&rsquo;s waited years for a ring, how about his longtime teammate, great friend and the only man chosen before him in the 1997 draft? Joe Thornton, sixth all-time in games and 14th in points, plays on a powerful Toronto Maple Leafs team with its best chance at a Stanley Cup in several decades. &lsquo;Jumbo&rsquo; could savor a Cup handoff from captain John Tavares before paying it forward to Jason Spezza, who turns 38 in June and has almost 1,200 games to his name.</p><p>Plenty of other sentimental favorites can stand in for games-played G.O.A.T. Marleau if he doesn&rsquo;t make the big dance. If we judge Cup worthiness by minutes spent on the ice, no player has a bigger share of that pie in the past decade than stalwart Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter. His former Nashville Predators partner Shea Weber wears the &lsquo;C&rsquo; in Montreal, so he&rsquo;d have first touch of the Cup. He&rsquo;d do so as one of the best all-time blueliners without a ring to his name. &lsquo;King&rsquo; Henrik Lundqvist&rsquo;s ailing heart will keep him out of the 2021 post-season, but hopefully he gets one more chance at the throne next year before riding off to the Hall of Fame as one of the millennium&rsquo;s pre-eminent puck-stoppers.</p><span class="image-inline"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01100/722289-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="39" height="32"></span><p><a datastyle href="https://twitter.com/THNMattLarkin">@THNMATTLARKIN</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

firstword_m_103

THE FIRST WORD

ROOTIN’ FOR THE OLD GUY

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="buzz_dumba" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_dumba5/722448-1-eng-US/buzz_dumba2.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>NOT TURNING AWAY</b></p><p>Dumba and teammate Jared Spurgeon spoke to local media the day after the Chauvin verdicts came down.</p><p></p> <span class="photo-credit">(MINNESOTA WILD)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>M</span>INNESOTA WILD</b> defenseman Matt Dumba paused when he was asked whether the three guilty verdicts delivered in the Derek Chauvin trial could be considered a win.</p><p>The question was not a flippant one, but of course the answer was no. After all, George Floyd is still dead. When police apprehended Floyd, a Black man, for passing an alleged counterfeit $20 bill 11 months ago, he died of &ldquo;positional asphyxia&rdquo; after Chauvin kneeled on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds while Floyd pleaded for mercy. On April 20, Chauvin, a white man, was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.</p><p>The overwhelming sentiment after the verdicts were handed down was that justice was served. Dumba thought that, too. And he chose to look at the development as one that will lead to better things: &ldquo;It&rsquo;d be a huge opportunity lost if we didn&rsquo;t take advantage of that optimism and the circumstances being so free to talk about what is wrong with systemic racism in our community and the police brutality that&rsquo;s happened in our backyard. These conversations need to be had.&rdquo;</p><p>But a win? It&rsquo;s pretty difficult to think that way when, during the Chauvin trial and nine days before the verdict came down, a 20-year-old Black man by the name of Daunte Wright was fatally shot by a white police officer in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center, after being stopped for a traffic violation. The veteran officer involved allegedly intended to fire a Taser gun. It&rsquo;s hard to find victory when the names of Black citizens being gunned down by police are becoming all too familiar. It was difficult for Dumba to be jubilant because, the verdicts aside, he knows the task at hand remains huge. &ldquo;There is that sense of optimism, but I know even last week, there&rsquo;s that feeling in our city of fear and desperation,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Just sitting in my apartment these past couple of weeks, all you hear are sirens downtown. There&rsquo;s constantly something going on in our city, and there&rsquo;s a level of trust (between police and the Black community) that has been broken. To repair that, it&rsquo;s going to take time.&rdquo;</p><p>Ever since his stirring speech prior to the first game in the Edmonton playoff bubble last summer, Dumba has been thrust into the role of social activist, one he has embraced. The interesting thing about him, though, is that his mother is at least half Filipino and his father is Romanian and German. He told The Hockey News for a story last fall that he identifies as Filipino. Even though he is not Black, it really doesn&rsquo;t matter. Many, many people have thought over the years that he is, and he has countless experiences of being called the N-word to back it up.</p><p>Dumba is a key player in the Hockey Diversity Alliance. Last fall, he was all set to launch the Matt Dumba Hockey Without Limits Camp for 150 kids to try hockey for the first time. Unfortunately, it was scrubbed because of the pandemic.</p><p>This is Dumba&rsquo;s fight, too, and he&rsquo;s not about to back away from it. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not concerned about my safety,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s about the kids in those communities, how they feel on a day-to-day basis. Their own anxieties that they have to live with, the exasperation that they feel because problems in their communities have always been swept under the rug. To be there for them, as role models and leaders in our community, we all have a hand in that and have to step up. I&rsquo;m really proud of my team, my teammates, my organization, how we&rsquo;re going to be there for the community.&rdquo;</p><p>Dumba and his teammates live in a community that has been on tenterhooks lately. As Dumba said, there is a lot of healing to do. Nobody knew how things were going to go or what the reactions to the verdict would be. As it turns out, it was a celebration, in stark contrast to what happened in the aftermath of Floyd&rsquo;s death.</p><p>Dumba helped spearhead an initiative called Rebuild Minnesota, which was established to raise money to clean up the area and help the small businesses and non-profits that were affected by the rioting that followed Floyd&rsquo;s death and the pandemic. But Dumba could absolutely see where those who took matters into their own hands were coming from, given their level of frustration. &ldquo;Everyone has their own way of handling this,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Looting and rioting have always been a form of protest against a society&hellip;that values products more than its people in those communities. So I could understand that, and to see the joy&hellip;that they got it right here, it&rsquo;s huge. For it to be all said and done and for the verdict to go the way it did, that&rsquo;s awesome.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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‘IT’S GOING TO TAKE TIME’

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="buzz_mask1" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_mask123/722493-1-eng-US/buzz_mask12.jpg"></div><h2><b>BRADEN HOLTBY</b></h2><h3>&gt;VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h3><p class="dropcap"><b><span>E</span>ARLIER THIS SEASON, </b>Holtby drew accusations of cultural appropriation for a mask that featured First Nations-inspired artwork but didn&rsquo;t use an Indigenous artist. Eager to make amends, Holtby sought out Coast Salish artist Luke Marston to produce a new, authentically Indigenous mask design &ldquo;inspired by the legend of the orcas and the wolves.&rdquo; Marston created the imagery on the sides. Swedish artist Dave Gunnarsson added the Canucks logo.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_mask220/722486-1-eng-US/buzz_mask22.jpg" title="buzz_mask2" width="652" height="858"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_mask316/722479-1-eng-US/buzz_mask32.jpg" title="buzz_mask3" width="648" height="854"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DAVID GUNNARSSON/DAVEART.COM)</span></figcaption></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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BEHIND THE MASK

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_bandit_065/722531-1-eng-US/buzz_bandit_0652.jpg" title="buzz_bandit_065" width="662" height="841"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>OWEN COLE</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(BROOKS BANDITS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>BROOKS BANDITS</b></h2><h3>&gt;2020-21</h3><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE AJHL&rsquo;S BROOKS BANDITS</b> have become one of the premier Jr. A franchises in Canada, and they&rsquo;ve looked good in the process thanks to their solid bandit logo. But who says a team can&rsquo;t have two sweet looks? This season, the Bandits introduced a black third jersey with a nice &ldquo;Brooks&rdquo; script across the front and a pretty fun accent: barbed wire on the bottom of the sweater, as well as the arms and on the socks.</p><p>Cale Makar&rsquo;s old squad still has that cool bandit mascot on the shoulder, and the new black, grey and red color scheme makes for an intimidating look.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_bandit_066/722524-1-eng-US/buzz_bandit_0662.jpg" title="buzz_bandit_066" width="662" height="840"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>JARED WHALE</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(BROOKS BANDITS)</span></figcaption></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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JERSEY HOUND

<div class="byline">BY SAL BARRY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_cards1_067/722600-1-eng-US/buzz_cards1_0672.jpg" title="buzz_cards1_067" width="676" height="918"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>H</span>OCKEY CARDS FROM THE</b> 1970s and 1980s often added a small blurb of text on the front when a player was traded or had retired, but the message on John Garrett&rsquo;s 1985-86 O-Pee-Chee card got it wrong. It stated that Garrett was &ldquo;now assistant general manager&rdquo; of the Canucks. Yes, that was the plan, but then GM Harry Neale was fired before he could hire Garrett as his assistant. Yet, this card &ndash; which came out seven months <i>after</i> Neale&rsquo;s firing &ndash; erroneously claimed that Garrett had become the team&rsquo;s assistant GM. With that job off the table, Garrett instead embarked on his long, and still active, career as a hockey broadcaster.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_garret_068/722593-1-eng-US/buzz_garret_0682.jpg" title="buzz_garret_068" width="654" height="1097"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>JOHN GARRETT</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(O - PEE-CHEE/HHOF IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

buzz_cards1_067

IN THE CARDS

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN COSTELLO</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="buzz_oreill_125" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_oreill_125/722827-1-eng-US/buzz_oreill_1252.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>RYAN O&rsquo;REILLY</b></p><p></p> <span class="photo-credit">(GREG M. COOPER-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>S</span>TORYBOOK ENDINGS ALL</b> end with a victory, right? Not by our standards. We believe a storybook ending can be all about the journey and not necessarily the destination. So an underdog team not expected to make the playoffs &ndash; or that just scraped into the post-season &ndash; can have a happy ending if it gained the satisfaction of a job well done.</p><p>Here&rsquo;s a look at each NHL franchise&rsquo;s best season from a squad not expected to be a contender. For some teams in the top portion of our countdown, that meant winning it all when expectations were lukewarm at best. For others further down the list, that meant getting to the Stanley Cup final &ndash; or even semifinal &ndash; when even their hardcore fans were expecting an early spring. Hence, some storybook endings don&rsquo;t always end in a win.</p><p>Recency bias lands the 2018-19 St. Louis Blues in the No. 2 position on the countdown. When the 2019 playoffs started, they were a surging squad in the middle of the pack. But three months before that, the sky was falling on the Blues and there was speculation some key players were going to get dealt &ndash; or team personnel fired. And who can forget the story of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights from 2017-18? They didn&rsquo;t end up winning in the Cup final, but when expectations were for 31st overall, that was quite the underdog performance.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/chi29/722869-1-eng-US/chi2.jpg" title="chi" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>1. CHICAGO&nbsp;</b><b>BLACKHAWKS</b></h2><p><b>1937-38, 6TH OVERALL, .385 PTS %</b></p><p>Won just 14 of 48 games. Somehow made playoffs with minus-42 goal differential. Stunned Leafs for Cup win.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/stl30/722862-1-eng-US/stl2.jpg" title="stl" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>2. ST. LOUIS&nbsp;</b><b>BLUES</b></h2><p><b>2018-19, 12TH OVERALL, .604 PTS %</b></p><p>Last place overall and whispers of a teardown in early January. Made playoffs by 13 points, then won Cup.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/tor30/722855-1-eng-US/tor2.jpg" title="tor" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>3. TORONTO&nbsp;</b><b>MAPLE LEAFS</b></h2><p><b>1948-49, 4TH OVERALL, .475 PTS %</b></p><p>Best of the bottom three teams meant playoffs in Original Six. Took Cup by winning eight of nine games vs. 1 & 2 seeds.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/la25/722848-1-eng-US/la2.jpg" title="la" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>4. LOS ANGELES&nbsp;</b><b>KINGS</b></h2><p><b>2011-12, 13TH OVERALL, .579 PTS %</b></p><p>Eighth seed in West toyed with Vancouver, St. Louis, Phoenix and New Jersey, losing just four games in four rounds.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/nyr30/722841-1-eng-US/nyr2.jpg" title="nyr" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>5. NEW YORK&nbsp;</b><b>RANGERS</b></h2><p><b>1949-50, 4TH OVERALL, .479 PTS %</b></p><p>Lowest-scoring outfit led by Hart-winning goalie Rayner. Rangers lost Game 7 Cup final to Detroit in double OT.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/veg29/722834-1-eng-US/veg2.jpg" title="veg" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>6. VEGAS&nbsp;</b><b>GOLDEN KNIGHTS</b></h2><p><b>2017-18, 5TH OVERALL, .665 PTS %</b></p><p>Shocked the world as expansion team. Balloon didn&rsquo;t burst in playoffs until five-game Cup final loss to Capitals.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/phi28/722820-1-eng-US/phi2.jpg" title="phi" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>7. PHILADELPHIA&nbsp;</b><b>FLYERS</b></h2><p><b>2009-10, 18TH OVERALL, .537 PTS %</b></p><p>Wasn&rsquo;t one of top 16 teams in league but pushed Chicago to Game 6 of Cup final, losing in OT on Kane&rsquo;s cloaked goal.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/van27/722813-1-eng-US/van2.jpg" title="van" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>8. VANCOUVER&nbsp;</b><b>CANUCKS</b></h2><p><b>1981-82, 11TH OVERALL, .481 PTS %</b></p><p>How on earth does a sub-.500 team play clubs <i>worse</i> than them in first three rounds? Isles schooled them in final.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/pit31/722806-1-eng-US/pit2.jpg" title="pit" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>9. PITTSBURGH&nbsp;</b><b>PENGUINS</b></h2><p><b>1969-70, 8TH OVERALL, .421 PTS %</b></p><p>Two wins away from Cup final despite minus-56 goal differential and offense led by Prentice and Schinkel, both 37.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/car29/722799-1-eng-US/car2.jpg" title="car" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>10. CAROLINA&nbsp;</b><b>HURRICANES</b></h2><p><b>2001-02, 16TH OVERALL, .555 PTS %</b></p><p>Won crappy Southeast Division, then had upset wins over New Jersey and Toronto. No match for Detroit in final.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/mtl27/722792-1-eng-US/mtl2.jpg" title="mtl" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>11. MONTREAL&nbsp;</b><b>CANADIENS</b></h2><p><b>1985-86, 7TH OVERALL, .544 PTS %</b></p><p>Atypical Habs Cup winner. Rookie goalie Roy takes Conn Smythe and Montreal avoids having to beat a top-five team.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/nj25/722785-1-eng-US/nj2.jpg" title="nj" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>12. NEW JERSEY&nbsp;</b><b>DEVILS</b></h2><p><b>1994-95, 9TH OVERALL, .542 PTS %</b></p><p>Lockout-shortened season ends with unlikely Dead Puck Era Devils special. Brodeur allows 34 goals in 20 games.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cgy30/722771-1-eng-US/cgy2.jpg" title="cgy" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>13. CALGARY&nbsp;</b><b>FLAMES</b></h2><p><b>2003-04, 12TH OVERALL, .573 PTS %</b></p><p>Flames were in 27th place when they acquired Kiprusoff Nov. 17. Phantom goal in Game 6 may have been Cup winner.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/clb36/722764-1-eng-US/clb2.jpg" title="clb" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>14. COLUMBUS&nbsp;</b><b>BLUE JACKETS</b></h2><p><b>2018-19, 13TH OVERALL, .598 PTS %</b></p><p>Does winning one round constitute a top-15 underdog success story? It does when you sweep record-setting Bolts.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_bobrov_122/722778-1-eng-US/buzz_bobrov_1222.jpg" title="buzz_bobrov_122" width="1021" height="1122"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>SERGEI BOBROVSKY</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(AARON DOSTER-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/sj30/722757-1-eng-US/sj2.jpg" title="sj" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>15. SAN JOSE&nbsp;</b><b>SHARKS</b></h2><p><b>2015-16, 11TH OVERALL, .598 PTS %</b></p><p>One of the few 21st-century seasons Sharks don&rsquo;t reach 100 points is their dark-horse year. Two wins shy of Cup.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/ana25/722750-1-eng-US/ana2.jpg" title="ana" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>16. ANAHEIM&nbsp;</b><b>DUCKS</b></h2><p><b>2002-03, 11TH OVERALL, .579 PTS %</b></p><p>Playoff MVP Giguere guided Ducks to upset wins of Detroit, Dallas and Minnesota before losing Cup final to Devils.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/dal34/722743-1-eng-US/dal2.jpg" title="dal" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>17. DALLAS&nbsp;</b><b>STARS</b></h2><p><b>1980-81, 8TH OVERALL, .544 PTS %</b></p><p>Minnesota rookie Ciccarelli scores 14 goals in 19 games. Three series upsets before a mismatched final loss to Isles.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/edm28/722736-1-eng-US/edm2.jpg" title="edm" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>18. EDMONTON&nbsp;</b><b>OILERS</b></h2><p><b>1989-90, 5TH OVERALL, .563 PTS %</b></p><p>Dynasty was said to be over with Gretzky and Co. moving on. But Messier, Simpson, Ranford nab last-gasp Cup.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/det25/722729-1-eng-US/det2.jpg" title="det" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>19. DETROIT&nbsp;</b><b>RED WINGS</b></h2><p><b>1996-97, 5TH OVERALL, .573 PTS %</b></p><p>After dominant &rsquo;95-96 (131 points) ended in heartbreak, Wings had &ldquo;ordinary&rdquo; 94 points in &rsquo;96-97 &ndash; and won Cup.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buf25/722722-1-eng-US/buf2.jpg" title="buf" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>20. BUFFALO&nbsp;</b><b>SABRES</b></h2><p><b>1998-99, 9TH OVERALL, .555 PTS %</b></p><p>Dallas&rsquo; foot-in-the-crease Cup win besmirched the Hasek show. Sabres rode his goaltending to final.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/nsh31/722715-1-eng-US/nsh2.jpg" title="nsh" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>21. NASHVILLE&nbsp;</b><b>PREDATORS</b></h2><p><b>2016-17, 15TH OVERALL, .573 PTS %</b></p><p>After years of playoff disappointment, eighth seed in West almost became wild-card winners. Lost to Pens in final.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/fla33/722708-1-eng-US/fla2.jpg" title="fla" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>22. FLORIDA&nbsp;</b><b>PANTHERS</b></h2><p><b>1995-96, 7TH OVERALL, .561 PTS %</b></p><p>Vanbiesbrouck led third-year expansion team to unlikely wins over Bruins, Flyers, Pens before getting swept by Avs.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/bos31/722694-1-eng-US/bos2.jpg" title="bos" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>23. BOSTON&nbsp;</b><b>BRUINS</b></h2><p><b>2010-11, 7TH OVERALL, .628 PTS %</b></p><p>Solid season but not expected to beat Flyers in Round 2 or regular-season champion Canucks in crazy Cup final.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/wsh33/722687-1-eng-US/wsh2.jpg" title="wsh" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>24. WASHINGTON&nbsp;</b><b>CAPITALS</b></h2><p><b>1989-90, 13TH OVERALL, .488 PTS %</b></p><p>Murray brothers split season coaching an underwater team that won two rounds before getting swept by Boston.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/nyi28/722680-1-eng-US/nyi2.jpg" title="nyi" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>25. NEW YORK&nbsp;</b><b>ISLANDERS</b></h2><p><b>2019-20, 11TH OVERALL, .588 PTS %</b></p><p>Touch and go to make playoffs before pandemic. Won rounds against Panthers, Caps and Flyers before losing to Tampa.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/ott25/722673-1-eng-US/ott2.jpg" title="ott" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>26. OTTAWA&nbsp;</b><b>SENATORS</b></h2><p><b>2016-17, 12TH OVERALL, .598 PTS %</b></p><p>Made playoffs on last weekend, then were one goal away from making Cup final. Double-OT loss to Pens in Game 7.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_karlss_123/722701-1-eng-US/buzz_karlss_1232.jpg" title="buzz_karlss_123" width="1022" height="789"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>ERIK KARLSSON</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(CHARLES LECLAIRE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/col30/722666-1-eng-US/col2.jpg" title="col" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>27. COLORADO&nbsp;</b><b>AVALANCHE</b></h2><p><b>1981-82, 9TH OVERALL, .513 PTS %</b></p><p>They were the tri-Stastny-led Quebec Nordiques who had epic upsets over Habs and Bruins before falling in semis.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/min29/722659-1-eng-US/min2.jpg" title="min" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>28. MINNESOTA&nbsp;</b><b>WILD</b></h2><p><b>2002-03, 10TH OVERALL, .579 PTS %</b></p><p>Sixth seed in West had upstart first trip to playoffs in third season. Knocked off Avs and Canucks before Round 3 loss.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/tb30/722652-1-eng-US/tb2.jpg" title="tb" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>29. TAMPA BAY&nbsp;</b><b>LIGHTNING</b></h2><p><b>2014-15, 5TH OVERALL, .659 PTS %</b></p><p>In buildup to powerhouse years, the Bolts were just very good. Upset Habs and Rangers before Cup loss to Chicago.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_stamko_124/722645-1-eng-US/buzz_stamko_1242.jpg" title="buzz_stamko_124" width="636" height="912"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>STEVEN STAMKOS</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(KIM KLEMENT-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/ari29/722638-1-eng-US/ari2.jpg" title="ari" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>30. ARIZONA&nbsp;</b><b>COYOTES</b></h2><p><b>1986-87, 6TH OVERALL, .550 PTS %</b></p><p>Winnipeg Jets were a distant third in the Smythe. Upset win over Flames in Round 1 only underdog success story.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/wpg31/722631-1-eng-US/wpg2.jpg" title="wpg" width="83" height="83"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>31. WINNIPEG&nbsp;</b><b>JETS</b></h2><p><b>2017-18, 2ND OVERALL, .695 PTS %</b></p><p>No true underdog runs in 20 years. Won two rounds and beat top-seeded Preds before loss to Vegas. All we&rsquo;ve got!<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

buzz_oreill_125

THE COUNTDOWN

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="buzz_jones" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_jones/722907-1-eng-US/buzz_jones2.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>TICKETS TO THE SHOW</b></p><p>Jones has spent the better part of two decades working for True North Sports & Entertainment.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(WINNIPEG JETS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>N WINNIPEG HOCKEY LORE,</b> it&rsquo;s a moment that lives in infamy: as a 22-year-old Dale Hawerchuk sliced into the Calgary Flames&rsquo; zone during Game 3 of the 1985 Smythe Division semifinal, he was felled by a vicious cross-check from Jamie Macoun that broke a rib. In an instant, Hawerchuk, Winnipeg&rsquo;s star and greatest hope for a deep run, was sidelined for the remainder of the playoffs.</p><p>Two provinces away at the time, a teenaged Linzy Jones muffled the sound of the radio by tucking himself under a blanket. He can still remember his feeling of devastation more than 35 years later. &ldquo;I mean, almost in tears,&rdquo; said Jones, now the vice-president of ticket sales and operations for True North Sports & Entertainment.</p><p>It was far from the last time Jones felt a similar sense of grief about his hometown heroes. There were plenty more heart-wrenching playoff defeats, but worse than any early exit was the team&rsquo;s relocation. Despite fan efforts to rescue the franchise &ndash; of which Jones was part, chipping in a couple hundred dollars as locals rallied to save the Jets &ndash; Winnipeg departed for Phoenix in 1996. Jones recalls watching those final contests and, at least at the time, watching his childhood fantasy dashed. &ldquo;I always said I want to work for the Winnipeg Jets one day,&rdquo; Jones said. &ldquo;That was my dream and aspiration.&rdquo;</p><p>In 2004, Jones&rsquo; dream found a spark. Having spent several years in local radio before transitioning to sales positions, a natural fit given his gift of gab, Jones saw an opportunity open up when Bell MTS Place, formerly MTS Centre, was set to open its doors and become the new home of the AHL&rsquo;s Manitoba Moose. &ldquo;I worked in customer-facing jobs all my life, had a knack for relationship building,&rdquo; Jones said. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s how I landed at (True North) in an inside sales role and worked my way up the ladder internally.&rdquo;</p><p>Jones didn&rsquo;t so much work his way up the ladder as he did skyrocket up the ranks. Within a year, Jones was on to a customer-service position. Less than three years after that, he was managing the department and the ticket-administration team. And in mid-2011, not long after TNSE announced the purchase and relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg, Jones became the director of ticket sales and service. Only months earlier, he had assisted in the drive to 13,000 season-ticket campaign. The seats &ndash; every last one &ndash; sold out in 17 minutes. &ldquo;The moment the phones started ringing off the hook once the announcement was made,&rdquo; Jones said. &ldquo;Wow, that was magical.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">I ALWAYS WANTED TO WORK FOR THE WINNIPEG JETS ONE DAY. THAT WAS MY DREAM AND ASPIRATION<br>&ndash; Linzy Jones</blockquote><p>Magic has taken on a different meaning for Jones in the decade since the Jets&rsquo; return. From his role during the Moose days to his present-day duties, which includes plenty of work with the NHL club, Jones has built longstanding relationships with season-ticket holders. He has watched families grow, children age and Moose fans lovingly embrace the Jets. Seeing the next generation fall in love with the team as he once did brings a joy to the job that goes beyond the glamour of working for a big-league organization. And while it was once a childhood dream, it&rsquo;s not something he could have expected when he first joined the team 17 years ago. &ldquo;One of my thoughts at the time was that, &lsquo;Wow, I can work for a hockey team, a sports team, as a diehard sports fan. Dream come true,&rsquo;&rdquo; Jones said. &ldquo;I thought I&rsquo;d take a chance on that, and then everything else happened from there.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

buzz_jones

A 'DREAM COME TRUE'

<div class="byline">BY SAL BARRY</div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>ODAY, NHL PLAYERS ARE</b> paid to appear on the covers of video games like <i>NHL 21.</i> But during the classic gaming era, game companies would use illustrations instead of photos. The artists who created the illustrations usually based their work off photos of NHL players, leading to some unintended endorsements</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/puckculture_051/722966-1-eng-US/puckculture_0512.jpg" title="puckculture_051" width="552" height="728"></div><h2><b>1.</b><b>&nbsp;BERNIE PARENT</b></h2><p><b>Video Olympics <i>(Atari 2600, 1977)</i></b></p><p>The Philadelphia Flyers won the Stanley Cup in 1974 and 1975, and their goaltender, Bernie Parent, won the Vezina and Conn Smythe Trophies those years. So, it made sense to picture Parent &ndash; without a Flyers logo &ndash; on the cover of <i>Video Olympics</i> a few years later.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/puckculture_052/722959-1-eng-US/puckculture_0522.jpg" title="puckculture_052" width="634" height="666"></div><h2><b>2.</b><b>&nbsp;WAYNE GRETZKY, MARK HUNTER & GLENN HEALY</b></h2><p><b>Superstar Ice Hockey <i>(PC, 1987)</i></b></p><p>In the United Kingdom, the box cover of <i>Superstar Ice Hockey</i> featured a colorful illustration of Mark Hunter and Wayne Gretzky. In other parts of Europe, the game was called <i>American Ice Hockey</i> and based its artwork on a photo of Kings goalie Glenn Healy.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/puckculture_053/722952-1-eng-US/puckculture_0532.jpg" title="puckculture_053" width="628" height="880"></div><h2><b>3.</b><b>&nbsp;KEN DRYDEN, GUY LAFLEUR & BOBBY ORR</b></h2><p><b>NHL Hockey <i>(Intellivision, 1979)</i></b></p><p>If you ever wanted to see Ken Dryden play for the Oakland Seals, or Guy Lafleur skate on the famed &lsquo;French Connection&rsquo; line in Buffalo, then check out the box for <i>NHL Hockey</i>. The game&rsquo;s artwork depicts popular players, but it altered their uniforms, numbers and likenesses just enough to avoid potential legal issues. Thus, Dryden is shown in a green uniform while Lafleur is clad in blue and gold. At least Bobby Orr is in Bruins colors.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/puckculture_054/722945-1-eng-US/puckculture_0542.jpg" title="puckculture_054" width="647" height="772"></div><h2><b>4.</b><b>&nbsp;MARIO LEMIEUX & PAT LAFONTAINE</b></h2><p><b>Face-Off <i>(Amiga & Atari ST, 1991)</i></b></p><p>Fittingly, the cover art to <i>Face-Off</i> shows two players facing off. In this case, it&rsquo;s Mario Lemieux and Pat LaFontaine, but in red and green uniforms, respectively. Neither player endorsed this game, but, coincidentally, Lemieux did endorse Mario Lemieux Hockey for Sega Genesis, which was also available in 1991.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/puckculture_055/722938-1-eng-US/puckculture_0552.jpg" title="puckculture_055" width="608" height="854"></div><h2><b>5.</b>&nbsp;<b>WAYNE GRETZKY AND TOMAS JONSSON <i>&hellip;SORT OF</i></b></h2><p><b>Blades of Steel <i>(NES, 1988)</i></b></p><p>Chicago artist Tom DuBois was commissioned to create the illustration for <i>Blades of Steel</i>. For the two main players, he referenced a <i>Sports Illustrated</i> photo of Wayne Gretzky and Tomas Jonsson &ndash; and got in trouble for it. &ldquo;I tried to get as far away from the photograph as I could,&rdquo; DuBois said, &ldquo;but, obviously, it wasn&rsquo;t far enough.&rdquo; Despite changing the faces, uniform colors and other details, <i>Sports Illustrated</i> noticed the similarities and contacted DuBois, demanding he pay $15,000 before the two parties settled on $10,000.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

puckculture_051

PUCK CULTURE

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="malarkey_ov_057" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/malarkey_ov_057/722997-1-eng-US/malarkey_ov_0572.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>ALL IS NOT LOST</b></p><p>Washington&rsquo;s Cup win in 2018 wasn&rsquo;t a season in the making. It came on the foundation of devastating setbacks.</p><p></p> <span class="photo-credit">(STEPHEN R. SYLVANIE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>F YOU FOLLOWED THE</b> Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; dynasty at its peak or enjoy learning about it, you probably remember Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s account of the 1983 Stanley Cup final. His Oilers, on the precipice of breaking through as a championship team, slammed into a brick wall, the veteran New York Islanders, who refused to surrender the chalice. They swept the Oilers, clinching a fourth consecutive championship. After the series, Gretzky walked by the Isles&rsquo; dressing room and was stunned to see how exhausted and banged up New York&rsquo;s players were. They looked like the losers of the fight. Gretzky famously claimed that moment showed him what it took to win.</p><p>A hockey clich&eacute; was born: the idea that every great team must learn how to lose first and suffer a significant heartbreak or, in the Oilers&rsquo; case, a didactic defeat before finally winning it all. Anecdotally, it&rsquo;s easy to think of examples. The 1997 Detroit Red Wings fell short the year prior despite winning an NHL-record 62 games. The 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Wings after losing to them in the final the previous season. The 2020 Lightning recovered from a devastating first-round defeat in 2019, when they&rsquo;d won 62 games.</p><p>But is the adage as universally true as it&rsquo;s hyped to be? Tracking teams&rsquo; paths in the salary-cap era, can we really say every champ took a licking before learning to win?</p><p>The 2006 Carolina Hurricanes came out of nowhere, having missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons before the 2004-05 lockout. They played with a blank slate. From 2007, however, a pattern quickly emerges. The 2007 Ducks lost in the Western Conference final a season prior but, more importantly, had several holdovers from the team that lost the 2003 Cup final in seven games, including starting goalie and 2003 Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jean-Sebastien Giguere and first-line center Andy McDonald. The 2008 Wings were sprinkled with future Hall of Famers who already had Cup rings, from Nicklas Lidstrom to Chris Chelios. We&rsquo;ve covered the 2009 Penguins, and the Pittsburgh teams who won in 2016 and 2017 carried over core members from the 2009 club, including Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.</p><p>The 2010 Blackhawks? They were a young team but had lost to the eventual champion Red Wings in the 2009 Western Conference final. The 2011 Boston Bruins are probably the quintessential example of the &ldquo;learn to lose&rdquo; mantra. They blew a 3-0 series lead to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference final the previous year. The 2012 Los Angeles Kings fall into the exception pile as a relatively young team that won on the strength of a few major trades and a mid-season coaching hire rather than an anguished history of playoff defeats. They kicked off a six-season run of mini-dynasties adding to their Cup totals: the Kings in 2012 and 2014, the Hawks in 2013 and 2015 and the Pens in 2016 and 2017.</p><p>Then we get to the 2018 Washington Capitals. Has any team this millennium endured more heartbreak to win its championship? It took captain Alex Ovechkin 13 seasons. After second-round losses to the Penguins in consecutive years, they finally slayed their Minotaur, ousting Pittsburgh in Round 2 before bringing the Cup to D.C. for the first time.</p><p>The 2019 St. Louis Blues missed the playoffs the season before and were fuelled by a rookie goalie in Jordan Binnington and a new acquisition in center Ryan O&rsquo;Reilly. So they didn&rsquo;t really learn to lose so they could win. But they&rsquo;re one of just three teams out of 15 who fit that description. Arguably 12 of the past 15 Cup champs learned to lose so they could win. The Pens, Kings and Hawks didn&rsquo;t flinch in high-stakes situations because they&rsquo;d already won before. The 2011 Bruins and 2020 Lightning suffered two of the most humiliating upsets in playoff history one year before triumphing. The Capitals jealously watched their bitter rivals in Pittsburgh hoist the Cup again and again before finally learning how to beat them.</p><p>So it appears Mr. Gretzky was right. I should&rsquo;ve known better than to doubt the most cerebral player who ever lived. The idea of a cathartic transgression teaching teams how to win is no clich&eacute;. So we should keep it in mind when assessing the 2021 playoff field. Teams like Tampa Bay and Washington are dangerous because they&rsquo;ve already won. But don&rsquo;t sleep on Vegas, whose first three post-seasons include a loss in the Cup final, an infuriating first-round exit after a blown penalty call and a Game 5 overtime loss in the West final. They&rsquo;ve taken their licks, and they&rsquo;ll learn from them.</p><span class="image-inline"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-0231/723011-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="39" height="32"></span><p><a datastyle href="https://twitter.com/THNMattLarkin">@THNMATTLARKIN</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

malarkey_ov_057

MALARKEY

DEVASTATION TO CELEBRATION

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="marleau1" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/marleau1/723063-1-eng-US/marleau12.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(STAN SZETO-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>H</span>ATS OFF TO PATRICK MARLEAU,</b> who passed Gordie Howe for the NHL&rsquo;s all-time lead in games played with a new record of 1,768. How rare of a feat is it? According to the NHL, Marleau is the first athlete in any major men&rsquo;s pro sport to usurp the all-time games leader since kicker Morten Andersen did it in the NFL in 2004. Of the 863 skaters who had played NHL games this season, 163, or 18.9 percent, weren&rsquo;t yet born when Marleau debuted in the NHL on Oct. 1, 1997.</p><p>Marleau, who hasn&rsquo;t missed a game since April 2009, is now the games-played king. Howe&rsquo;s reign lasted almost 60 years, as he held the lead since Nov. 26, 1961. Will Marleau&rsquo;s time at the top be as long? Given the toll the game takes on the body today, it feels like he&rsquo;ll never be passed. Then again, a few players are within shouting distance of Marleau, and there&rsquo;s a good chance he retires after this season.</p><p>So who might have a shot to pass Marleau someday? Picking the best candidates first requires us to consider the criteria that made Marleau the all-time endurance king.</p><p><b>1. Starting young.</b> Debuting in the NHL at 18 years and eight days, Marleau is the youngest to play in the league in 76 years.</p><p><b>2. Playing at a high level into your late 30s.</b> Even in his age-38 and 39 seasons, Marleau scored 27 goals. So anyone threatening his lead will have to stay relevant and worthy of an NHL roster spot into his 40s.</p><p><b>3. Durable.</b> That&rsquo;s the obvious correlation. Marleau has played every regular-season game 12 times in his career and never missed more than eight games in a year.</p><p><b>4. Already a good sample size.</b> If we&rsquo;re projecting out the best threats to Marleau, we can&rsquo;t bet on a current 19-year-old. Which candidates are already on trajectories that put them at a Marleau-like pace?</p><p><b>5. Fuelled by desire</b>. Marleau never won a Stanley Cup, and that presumably kept him competing until he got close enough to Howe that the games record became the carrot. When looking at the older Marleau challengers, we have to ask if they have motivators pushing them to stay in the game.</p><p>With those criteria in mind, here are a few candidates to take the torch from Marleau someday (games played as of April 19).</p><h3><b>ALREADY CLOSE</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/marleau3/723056-1-eng-US/marleau32.jpg" title="marleau3" width="655" height="635"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PERRY NELSON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>&gt;JOE THORNTON</b></h2><p><b>1,669 games</b></p><p>&lsquo;Jumbo,&rsquo; selected one pick before Marleau in the 1997 draft&rsquo;s top spot, sits 99 games back. To pass Marleau, Thornton would need to play two more full seasons and for Marleau to retire after this one. Thornton&rsquo;s tank isn&rsquo;t quite empty, but he&rsquo;d have to play through an age-43 season to claim the games mark.</p><h2><b>&gt;ZDENO CHARA</b></h2><p><b>1,598 games</b></p><p>Chara would have to flirt with 200 more games to leapfrog Marleau and Thornton and become the games-played G.O.A.T. With one more healthy season, however, Chara, 44, would pass Ray Bourque, Larry Murphy, Scott Stevens and Chris Chelios to become the all-time games leader among defensemen.</p><h3><b>VETERANS ON A GOOD PACE</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/marleau4/723049-1-eng-US/marleau42.jpg" title="marleau4" width="655" height="556"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(GEOFF BURKE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>&gt;ALEX OVECHKIN</b></h2><p><b>1,194 games</b></p><p>Ovechkin is synonymous with goals, but he&rsquo;s also synonymous with being pretty much indestructible despite playing such a heavy, hard-on-the-forecheck game. Ovechkin continues to pass legends on the all-time goals list. He&rsquo;s one away from besting Marcel Dionne for top-five status and should catch Brett Hull and Jaromir Jagr to crack the top three next season, assuming NHL teams play a full schedule. After that, 'Ovi' will need another season to pass Howe&rsquo;s 801 for second all-time and several more to summit the Wayne Gretzky mountain of 894. If we&rsquo;re thinking of the games-record challengers in terms of which ones have the most appetizing carrots to chase, Ovechkin&rsquo;s pursuit of the goals mark will keep him hungry and puff up his career games total.</p><p>Still, if we assume Marleau plays all of San Jose&rsquo;s remaining games to finish up at 1,779, Ovechkin, 35, would have to play the Caps&rsquo; last 10 games of this season, plus seven more seasons, plus two more games in an eighth season &ndash; without missing a game.</p><h2><b>&gt;ANZE KOPITAR</b></h2><p><b>1,115 games</b></p><p>Kopitar debuted in the NHL as a teenager and has rarely missed a game across his 15-season career, so he&rsquo;s already past the 1,100-game mark at just 33. Because he plays such a sound two-way game and doesn&rsquo;t rely on blazing foot speed to be effective, he could remain a useful player into his late 30s even if his scoring touch abandons him. If he maintains his durability, he&rsquo;ll cross the 1,600-game mark before turning 40.</p><h2><b>&gt;PATRICK KANE</b></h2><p><b>1,018 games</b></p><p>Kane, an easy first-ballot Hall of Famer in the making, jumped directly to the NHL in his draft year just like Marleau did. By his age-32 season, Kane has already crested 1,000 games. Marleau did so in his age-31 season, so Kane isn&rsquo;t far off. He&rsquo;d be right on pace if not for a couple injuries that cost him double-digit game totals in his mid-20s. Small players are often the most durable, and Kane has only missed one game in the past six seasons. He&rsquo;s still playing at an elite level and, with his supreme puckhandling ability, could still be putting up points on the power play into his late 30s or early 40s.</p><h3><b>DURABLE STARS IN THEIR PRIMES</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/marleau5/723042-1-eng-US/marleau52.jpg" title="marleau5" width="655" height="555"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JOHN E. SOKOLOWSKI-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>&gt;JOHN TAVARES</b></h2><p><b>859 games</b></p><p>Tavares is one of the more durable players of his era. He&rsquo;s played every game in six of his seasons so far and leads all NHLers in games played among those born after 1990. He&rsquo;s on track to reach 1,000 games by his age-32 season.</p><h2><b>&gt;JOHN CARLSON</b></h2><p><b>803 games</b></p><p>He&rsquo;s a stalwart on the Caps&rsquo; blueline. In his 11 full seasons, he&rsquo;s played in every game eight times, and he&rsquo;s missed two total games in the past four years. Don&rsquo;t be surprised if Carlson starts to mount a legitimate ironman streak in the years to come. He needs to more than double his career game total to challenge Marleau&rsquo;s record, meaning he&rsquo;ll have to play into his 40s for it to happen.</p><h3><b>ONE TO WATCH</b></h3><h2><b>&gt;LEON DRAISAITL</b></h2><p><b>465 games</b></p><p>We should check back on the Oilers superstar in another half decade. Draisaitl has played every game in four of the past five seasons. He&rsquo;s on pace to reach 1,000 games by his age-32 season, putting him on a similar pace to Kane, and Draisaitl&rsquo;s immense skill will keep him in the league for as long as he wants.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

marleau1

PATRICK MARLEAU

ALL HAIL MARLEAU

connorbedar_030

CONNOR BEDARD

CONNOR 2.0

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="isles1" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/isles1/723258-1-eng-US/isles12.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DAN HAMILTON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>HEN IT COMES TO DEFENSE,</b> Barry Trotz could teach a class on the discipline. In fact, he has. Last summer, Trotz gave an online seminar for the NHL Coaches&rsquo; Association, and that&rsquo;s no surprise given what he has accomplished with the Islanders during his time on Long Island.</p><p>As per usual, New York has once again been one of the best defensive teams in the NHL, sitting either at or near the top of the league in goals against over the course of the regular season. And as per usual, the Islanders are doing it with an underrated defense corps that doesn&rsquo;t boast any stars, though perhaps we&rsquo;ve simply been overlooking how good their blueliners have been. &ldquo;To me, the makeup of a modern defenseman, the No. 1 thing is the processing skills,&rdquo; Trotz said. &ldquo;You can be a great skater, you can have really good puck skills, but the ability to problem-solve is key.&rdquo;</p><p>On a Trotz team, breakout habits are important. When an Islanders defenseman goes back to retrieve a puck, the coach wants him skating as hard as possible until the hash marks because it gives the D-man the maximum amount of time and space between him and the incoming forechecker. As the defenseman skates back, a glance over his shoulder allows him to assess the enemy pressure and determine his breakout options once he gets the puck. Ideally, Trotz wants two shoulder checks from his guys. Once the blueliner gets the puck, he should cut as close to his net as possible as he wheels out &ndash; again, to alleviate pressure from the forechecker. Getting to the middle of the ice with the puck means more passing options. (Veteran Nick Leddy is one Isles blueliner who particularly excels in this aspect.) When the other team is on the rush, gap control &ndash; the space between the defenseman and the puck carrier &ndash; is crucial. For Trotz, the best gaps are usually anywhere from 10 to 12 feet. Through the neutral zone, he wants about half the zone as a gap. &ldquo;You want to be able to hold pressure areas,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We want to make those stands at the blueline, that stick-on-puck mentality forces them into a situation where they get nothing out of the rush.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/isles2/723251-1-eng-US/isles22.jpg" title="isles2" width="1599" height="1330"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b><custom name="underline">GUIDING LIGHT</custom></b></p><p><i>Trotz believes in building players up before placing them in overly difficult situations.</i></p> <span class="photo-credit">(ANDY MARLIN-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>Defensemen need to stay square to the player with the puck because there&rsquo;s a lot of speed in the NHL today and you don&rsquo;t want to get turned around. Johnny Boychuk was a shining example of what to do in this area before he had to retire due to an eye injury. In the defensive zone, Trotz wants his men to be quick and physical in the first seven seconds of enemy infiltration. Leverage is crucial in puck battles, and a quick little cross-check to the hips can knock a player off-balance, leading to a loose puck.</p><p>These are a few of the lessons from a two-time Jack Adams Award winner and Stanley Cup champion. And while the Isles don&rsquo;t have a Victor Hedman or Roman Josi, they do have an underrated shutdown pairing who have essentially grown up in the NHL under three years of Trotz hockey: Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech. New York&rsquo;s pre-eminent shutdown pair sees the lion&rsquo;s share of duty against the likes of Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron, yet Pulock and Pelech still rock the best possession numbers of any defensemen on the team. &ldquo;We played together in AHL Bridgeport coming up, and we&rsquo;ve played together for a while,&rdquo; Pelech said. &ldquo;That chemistry is really helpful.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">IN THIS GAME, WE WANT EVERYTHING TO HAPPEN RIGHT AWAY, AND WE TEND TO FORGET ABOUT THE PROCESS THAT GOES ALONG WITH IT, NOT ONLY THE GAME PROCESS BUT THE MENTAL PROCESS<br>&ndash; Barry Trotz</blockquote><p>As is the faith Trotz and his staff have placed in the pair. Pelech, an early third-rounder from the 2012 draft, made his name in the OHL with the Erie Otters, where Connor McDavid and Dylan Strome were on the ascent just as he was leaving. Pelech wore an &lsquo;A&rsquo; his last two years in Erie and played for Canada&rsquo;s World Junior Championship team in 2014. Pulock, born just two months later than Pelech, wasn&rsquo;t eligible for the draft until 2013, but his high profile as a member of the WHL&rsquo;s Brandon Wheat Kings warranted a first-round selection, so the Islanders snapped him up with the 15th overall pick.</p><p>The two players did indeed come up through Bridgeport together under the tutelage of Sound Tigers coach Brent Thompson, himself a former NHL defenseman. It didn&rsquo;t take long for Pulock and Pelech to get their cracks at the NHL, and it certainly didn&rsquo;t take long for the two to catch the eye of Trotz when he arrived as coach in 2018. Did he see the potential right away? &ldquo;I actually did,&rdquo; Trotz said. &ldquo;I saw it in them in the pre-season, and I talked to them about developing into a stopper pair against top lines. I tried doing it, and they weren&rsquo;t quite ready mentally. It was a big jump for them.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/isles3/723244-1-eng-US/isles32.jpg" title="isles3" width="1674" height="2209"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b><custom name="underline">TEAM DEFENSE</custom></b></p><p><i>The Isles are an anonymous bunch on the blueline, with Leddy leading the way offensively.</i></p> <span class="photo-credit">(ERIC HARTLINE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>For Trotz, the solution was to recognize that Pulock and Pelech needed more time to adjust to the assignment and to dial them back. Instead of seeing top lines, they saw second lines. This went on for about 20 games before Trotz tried them up top again &ndash; this time, with much better results. &ldquo;In this game, we want everything to happen right away, and we tend to forget about the process that goes along with it, not only the game process but the mental process,&rdquo; Trotz said. &ldquo;Sometimes they&rsquo;re not ready for it. And then they take a step backward and wonder why they&rsquo;re not doing as well, because we force it on them.&rdquo;</p><p>Trotz sees two schools of thought when it comes to development: you can recognize when a player needs to take a step back and pull some responsibilities from him and then slowly build him back up, or you can go &ldquo;sink or swim&rdquo; and hope it goes the right way for all involved. For Pulock and Pelech, the former was Trotz&rsquo;s approach, and it appears he was bang-on. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t have the trust in their own abilities yet, and if you start backing off of a top player in this league and not playing them aggressively and hard, they&rsquo;ll tear you apart,&rdquo; Trotz said. &ldquo;So we brought it down a notch, gave them secondary lines and they got that aggressiveness back. They had success and then you start feeling like they can play top guys and mentally they process it. Because they don&rsquo;t want to fail, they want to do well for the team. It&rsquo;s just recognizing it.&rdquo;</p><p>Once Pulock and Pelech had the confidence, they were on their way, because their skill sets were perfect for the job &ndash; and for each other. In Pelech, Trotz sees a player with a really good stick and a high IQ for defending who trusts those instincts. In Pulock, he sees a little more offensive potential, a little more skill and a powerful man. The combination covers all the elements: offense, IQ, physicality. And they&rsquo;re both mobile, so they can take on the elite forwards in the game.</p><p>Now in their mid-20s and firmly ensconced as the Islanders&rsquo; shutdown pair, Pulock and Pelech are starting to turn heads. While the Norris Trophy tends to go to a blueliner with elite offensive numbers, some in the local media were wondering if the two should at least get a sniff based on their excellent results in key analytic categories like Corsi For and Expected Goals For. It&rsquo;s a precipitous rise for a pair of players who are part of an excellent collective on the Islanders, but that&rsquo;s what development can do in the right hands. &ldquo;For me personally, what Barry has done to make me realize what I need to do to be successful has been great,&rdquo; Pelech said. &ldquo;We all love him, and everyone is thrilled with what they&rsquo;ve done with the organization over the past few years.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/isles5/723237-1-eng-US/isles52.jpg" title="isles5" width="2119" height="1454"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/isles6/723230-1-eng-US/isles62.jpg" title="isles6" width="1021" height="1212"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b><custom name="underline">HELPING HANDS</custom></b></p><p><i>Lamoriello acquired a pair of Devils in Palmieri, second above, and Zajac, above, after captain Lee was lost.</i></p><span class="photo-credit">(PALMIERI: BOB DECHIARA-USA TODAY SPORTS; ZAJAC: DENNIS SCHNEIDLER-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>From Pulock and Pelech to Leddy, Scott Mayfield, Andy Greene and rising youngster Noah Dobson, the Islanders have a versatile, staunch blueline corps to protect goalie Semyon Varlamov, who has done his part &ndash; with help from rookie Ilya Sorokin &ndash; to keep pucks out of the New York net. Marching in lockstep with Trotz is GM Lou Lamoriello, who has been just as crucial to the franchise&rsquo;s success in recent years, and not just because he hired Trotz. New York has been a thorny team to play against in the post-season during his tenure, and with things coming together neatly this year it&rsquo;s fair to put the Islanders up against anyone else to come out of the East Division.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">I&rsquo;M AT THE POINT IN MY CAREER WHERE I WANT A CHANCE TO WIN, AND I BELIEVE THIS IS A TEAM THAT HAS ALL THE ASPECTS OF A WINNING TEAM<br>&ndash; Travis Zajac</blockquote><p>OK, maybe it hasn&rsquo;t been completely neat. In March, New York lost captain Anders Lee to season-ending knee surgery. And while the Islanders have prided themselves on being a team rather than a collection of individuals, it&rsquo;s hard to get past the loss of a big, powerful, talented winger and the leader of the pack. But the Islanders didn&rsquo;t wilt. In fact, they kept on winning even without their captain. So Lamoriello picked up the phone and made a major deal with his former team in New Jersey, grabbing scoring winger Kyle Palmieri and two-way center Travis Zajac from the Devils days before the trade deadline. &ldquo;When we lost Anders, we didn&rsquo;t know what to expect because of what he brings both on and off the ice,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s still a part of this group, he&rsquo;s here every day, and he&rsquo;s still our captain and our leader. But the way the team responded in coming together certainly played a role in whatever I could do to get them some support in different areas. We can be flexible in our lineup, and I felt it was the right thing to do.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/isles8/723223-1-eng-US/isles82.jpg" title="isles8" width="1018" height="1165"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/isles7/723216-1-eng-US/isles72.jpg" title="isles7" width="1621" height="1307"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b><custom name="underline">DYNAMIC DUO</custom></b></p><p><i>Pulock, second above, and Pelech have been a pair for years, going back to their time in the AHL.</i></p><span class="photo-credit">(PULOCK: ERIC HARTLINE-USA TODAY SPORTS; PELECH: DENNIS SCHNEIDLER-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>So the Isles lost the services of their captain but managed to bring in experience, talent and competitiveness in short order. For Palmieri, the Islanders were a comfortable landing spot. He was born in Suffolk County and used to go to Long Island beaches as a kid thanks to his dad&rsquo;s surfing hobby. Now he has a summer home in North Fork, not to mention family in nearby Commack and Hauppauge. But, of course, the on-ice component was even more alluring. &ldquo;You see the way they play their system and how difficult they are to play against,&rdquo; Palmieri said. &ldquo;They have a lot of talent on the roster, but the biggest thing you notice is how well they play as a team and how dedicated they are to winning and doing the right things to give themselves an opportunity to win. And that&rsquo;s something they bring every night.&rdquo;</p><p>That&rsquo;s something Zajac is aware of, too. He may have missed the Devils&rsquo; glory years, but he did play under Lamoriello in New Jersey, so he&rsquo;s well aware of what it takes to be a Lou guy. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m at the point in my career where I want a chance to win, and I believe this is a team that has all the aspects of a winning team,&rdquo; Zajac said. &ldquo;To be able to be a part of that and to help in any way possible, I&rsquo;m excited about that.&rdquo;</p><p>And that&rsquo;s the key with the Islanders: being part of something bigger than yourself. Lamoriello knew Zajac from his days with the Devils, but he also watched Palmieri play high-school hockey at Saint Peter&rsquo;s prep in Jersey City and has been following his growth ever since. &ldquo;I know what they bring on the ice, and I also know who they are as people and how well they&rsquo;ll fit in the room here,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;Chemistry is extremely important to me.&rdquo;</p><p>With fewer than 20 games left on the schedule when Zajac and Palmieri arrived, it was also important that the Isles knew their acquisitions would fit in quickly and accept the team&rsquo;s philosophy. Sometimes that means a player has to sacrifice his identity in order to have success. But looking at the Islanders&rsquo; track record over the past few years, it&rsquo;s clearly worth it. Zajac and Palmieri wanted to be part of that culture, while Pulock and Pelech grew up in it and have thrived under Trotz. New York&rsquo;s players may not win individual awards, but the most important trophy in hockey can only be won by a team &ndash; and right now the Stanley Cup doesn&rsquo;t look out of reach.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

isles1

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

START SPREADING THE NEWS

roundtable__092

CANADIAN ROUNDTABLE

WHO RULES THE NORTH

<div class="byline">BY ERIN BROWN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="panthers1" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/panthers1/723411-1-eng-US/panthers12.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JASEN VINLOVE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE FLORIDA</b> Panthers were cruising to a second straight victory over Dallas when Aaron Ekblad went down. Having collapsed with his full weight on his left leg, he threw off his equipment and writhed on the ice. One night earlier, the Panthers were buoyed by the Norris Trophy contender&rsquo;s overtime heroics to snap their first three-game skid of the season.</p><p>A day later, Florida learned its top defenseman would be lost for the season. &ldquo;You could hear him scream. It must have hurt so bad,&rdquo; said Jonathan Huberdeau. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t really see it. I don&rsquo;t really want to see it.&rdquo;</p><p>At the time of Ekblad&rsquo;s injury in late March, Florida was steamrolling its way toward its first back-to-back post-season appearance since 1997. Building on a young core in its prime, off-season moves to fill voids on defense and a commitment to coach Joel Quenneville&rsquo;s system, the Panthers were off to one of their best starts in franchise history.</p><p>Ekblad, who shared the league lead in goals among defensemen and was averaging more than 25 minutes of ice time, was a big part of Florida&rsquo;s rise. Sasha Barkov and Huberdeau remain key offensive cornerstones, but the influx of talented players seeking to prove their worth has been a catalyst for the once underachieving team.</p><p>Carter Verhaeghe, who struggled to break into Tampa Bay&rsquo;s top six, has become a prolific contributor on Florida&rsquo;s top line along with Barkov and fellow cast-off Anthony Duclair. Patric Hornqvist and Alexander Wennberg have filled out Florida&rsquo;s productive second line with Huberdeau. &ldquo;All the guys we brought in are assets to the team, and all brought a little something different,&rdquo; said center Noel Acciari. &ldquo;It was an easy transition having these guys put into the lineup. We challenge ourselves to match whatever they bring.&rdquo;</p><p>Playing alongside Ekblad was MacKenzie Weegar, who, as Quenneville noted, has brought his game to another level. Outside the top pairing, Gustav Forsling and Radko Gudas have had a transformative effect on Florida&rsquo;s defense. Forsling, a waiver pickup who played for the Cats&rsquo; coach in Chicago, has shown the flexibility to excel in various roles. Gudas, meanwhile, has given Florida a personality with his physical play.</p><p>And tying it all together behind the bench is Quenneville, who is among front-runners for the Jack Adams award as the NHL&rsquo;s top coach. &ldquo;I could talk about everyone&rsquo;s contribution, but we&rsquo;re getting a little bit more from more players, more defensemen,&rdquo; Quenneville said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s been more consistency. Our D-zone coverage &ndash; not just the &lsquo;D&rsquo; &ndash; as a group of five has been improved along with the goaltending.&rdquo;</p><p>For the first time since 2017-18, Panthers netminders have registered a combined goals-against average below 3.00 and a save percentage above .900. Sergei Bobrovsky&rsquo;s rebound from a disappointing first season in Florida and journeyman Chris Driedger&rsquo;s rise have given the Panthers the luxury of dressing two starting-caliber netminders. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a guy when he&rsquo;s called upon, he brings his A-game,&rdquo; said defenseman Keith Yandle of 26-year-old Driedger. &ldquo;For us to have two goalies like that to count on every night is a huge advantage.&rdquo;</p><p>In an era of uncertainty, the Panthers have also managed to maintain a modicum of normalcy. While most teams were forced to limit indoor team activities due to the coronavirus, Florida shifted team meetings and workouts outdoors, where winter temperatures hover in the 70s. Players are still required to exercise in small groups, but it has offered a little extra time for bonding. The team has also kept COVID-19 cases away from its ranks despite South Florida being a hot zone. As of mid-April, Florida had lost just three man-games to players entering the league protocol. &ldquo;The effort they&rsquo;re putting into this &ndash; physically, emotionally &ndash; is really something,&rdquo; said GM Bill Zito. &ldquo;You really have to give significant credit to this room, so we did feel an obligation to help them as much as we could. We&rsquo;re never going to replace Aaron Ekblad, but there were players available to help, and we did feel a responsibility to make our team a little bit better, a little more competitive.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/panthers3/723404-1-eng-US/panthers32.jpg" title="panthers3" width="1390" height="917"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JEROME MIRON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/panthers2/723397-1-eng-US/panthers22.jpg" title="panthers2" width="657" height="667"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b><custom name="underline">MASKED MARVELS</custom></b></p><p><i>From Driedger&rsquo;s emergence as a 1B to Quenneville&rsquo;s guiding hand, everything is clicking for the Cats.</i></p> <span class="photo-credit">(SAM NAVARRO-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>In the two weeks leading up to the April 12 trade deadline, Zito followed the familiar plan to bring in hungry talent to keep Florida&rsquo;s hopes for a third division title and even a Presidents&rsquo; Trophy within reach. The Panthers bolstered their defense by signing undrafted North Dakota senior Matt Kiersted, who immediately jumped into the lineup. A week later, Zito acquired center Lucas Wallmark and defenseman Lucas Carlsson from Chicago for Riley Stillman, Brett Connolly and Henrik Borgstrom.</p><p>Just when it appeared the Panthers would move forward with a defense by committee in Ekblad&rsquo;s absence, Zito sent a third-round pick in 2021 to Buffalo for Brandon Montour. The 27-year-old, who was on Florida&rsquo;s radar at the deadline two seasons ago, checks many of Florida&rsquo;s needs. He is a right-handed shot capable of playing big minutes in all situations and contributing offensively. In the Panthers, Montour sees a team that may finally let his strengths show through. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s some high-end talent up front,&rdquo; Montour said. &ldquo;The defense like to move their feet and get in the play. My strengths lean toward that.&rdquo;</p><p>Florida also signed former KHL scoring champion Nikita Gusev to boost their offense and traded for a proven playoff performer in Sam Bennett, who has 19 points in 30 career post-season contests. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been a guy that tends to get up for big games,&rdquo; Bennett said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s physical, it&rsquo;s fast. It complements my game.&rdquo;</p><p>And while Florida does not need help in net, recently signed phenom Spencer Knight is lurking on the roster, just in case.</p><p>With this post-season being an extension of divisional play, the path to the franchise&rsquo;s first Cup will likely force Florida to go through both Carolina and defending champion Tampa Bay. A tough task, no doubt, but after many years of rebuilding and falling short, the Panthers may finally be in a position to prove the product on ice is as good as it looks on paper. &ldquo;We want this team to challenge,&rdquo; Zito said. &ldquo;We want this team to compete. We want this team to grow and get better every single day. The expectation is to go as far as we can in the playoffs.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

panthers1

FLORIDA PANTHERS

READY TO POUNCE

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="darnellnurs_116" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/darnellnurs_116/723484-1-eng-US/darnellnurs_1162.jpg"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HERE&rsquo;S</b>&nbsp;<b>NOTHING</b>&nbsp;like a Doberman Pinscher invasion to throw a pail of cold water on a conversation about plus-minus. So there&rsquo;s Darnell Nurse being a great big good guy, all respectful, polite and well-spoken, talking about how, even when you&rsquo;re near the top of the league in the category, plus-minus isn&rsquo;t the be-all and end-all, especially when there are 72 other defensemen in the league who have more defensive-zone starts than you have. Then in bounds Stan Lee, a 10-month-old Doberman that Nurse and his fiancee got after binge-watching all the Marvel movies during the first quarantine. Stan Lee has just returned from a field trip as part of his obedience training, and he&rsquo;s all excited to see Darnell and two-year-old Arya, Nurse&rsquo;s other Doberman. It will definitely be a full house when the couple welcomes its first child in June, at which time Darnell Nurse hopes to still be playing hockey.</p><p>But isn&rsquo;t he afraid of having two Dobermans in the house with a baby around? Aren&rsquo;t those things supposed to be vicious? That&rsquo;s what we see on TV, right? Well, turns out that&rsquo;s a bit of a misperception. They can be mean and aggressive depending upon how they&rsquo;re raised, but they&rsquo;re also loyal and loving and pretty good around kids. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re great, I love my Dobies,&rdquo; Nurse said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re very nice, very friendly and they have a great bark, great face. If you don&rsquo;t know them, you stay away from them. They kind of cover all the bases for me.&rdquo;</p><p>You see, it&rsquo;s all about socialization. It&rsquo;s kind of the same thing with the Nurse family from Hamilton, Ont. Like Dobermans, they&rsquo;re sleek, athletic and regal&hellip;and sometimes they can be a handful. Richard came to Hamilton from Trinidad as a young boy and met the former Cathy Doucette at a high school dance. Richard went on to play five years as a wide receiver for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Cathy played varsity basketball at McMaster University before having three kids, Tamika, Darnell and Kia. You may have heard of Kia, on account of she&rsquo;s the face of Canadian basketball at the moment, a former two-time NCAA champion at UConn who plays for the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA and the Canadian national team and is killing it as a basketball analyst on TSN. Tamika, nine years older than Darnell, played basketball at Oregon and Bowling Green. Richard and the girls, they&rsquo;re the vicious ones, while Darnell and his mom are more laid-back, something Richard attributes to those long car trips he and Cathy would take from Hamilton to Toronto so Darnell could play youth hockey in the Greater Toronto Hockey League, while he coached the girls in basketball.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/darnellnurs_120/723477-1-eng-US/darnellnurs_1202.jpg" title="darnellnurs_120" width="1015" height="1479"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PERRY NELSON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;My wife is very calm, more like Darnell, but I&rsquo;m crazy and high-strung,&rdquo; Richard said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m more of a &lsquo;f--- you&rsquo; guy where he&rsquo;s not. That&rsquo;s the old-soul piece for him, where Kia will say, &lsquo;I want to beat you,&rsquo; and Tamika will say, &lsquo;I want to rip your head off.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>All Darnell wants from his family when he goes home is for them to be proud of him. No middle-child syndrome here. The Edmonton Oilers defenseman doesn&rsquo;t need to be the alpha dog at the dinner table to validate himself, and the way Kia is going these days, there might be some tough sledding there. Plus, the calm and measured approach has served Darnell Nurse well throughout his career, no more so than this season, one in which he&rsquo;s become an elite offensive defenseman and part of the Norris Trophy conversation. As of early April, only Seth Jones of the Columbus Blue Jackets had spent more time on the ice, but none had logged as much 5-on-5 time as Nurse. When he jumped into the play and scored on a feed from Connor McDavid in overtime against the Toronto Maple Leafs in late March, it was his 12th goal of the season to lead all defensemen. More impressively, all 12 of them came at even strength. Paired with Tyson Barrie after Ethan Bear was injured in late January, Nurse has meshed well with his offense-oriented partner and been a big part of Barrie&rsquo;s revival in Edmonton. Or, as only Oilers GM Ken Holland could inimitably put it, &ldquo;One has helped the other and the other has helped the other.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/darnellnurs_117/723470-1-eng-US/darnellnurs_1172.jpg" title="darnellnurs_117" width="1642" height="2336"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>GOAL ORIENTED</b></p><p><i>Nurse works tirelessly on all aspects of his game, and it&rsquo;s paying off this season on the scoresheet.</i></p> <span class="photo-credit">(NICK TURCHIAROUSA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>As Richard recalls, Tamika and Kia were both naturally talented athletes from the beginning. Darnell was always big and gangly, not always the best player on his team, but one who would work out at a training center called The Pond in nearby Burlington, then run all 289 of the Chedoke Stairs, which run up the Niagara Escarpment in Hamilton. Nurse has been training at The Pond since he was seven and goes back every off-season, including this past summer when he returned with a specific to-do list with his skating coach, Michele Moore, even though his skating has always been his strong suit. When he&rsquo;s not practicing, Nurse can often be found breaking down every shift of the previous game with Oilers defense coach Jim Playfair. He watches and rewatches every shift of each game in the off-season and fine-tunes his skills based on what he sees.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">GUYS WHO PUT THE WORK IN AND ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT GETTING BETTER, YOU LIKE TO SEE THEM GET THE RESULTS<br>&ndash; Oilers coach Dave Tippett</blockquote><p>&ldquo;The offensive part of it is a bonus,&rdquo; said Oilers coach Dave Tippett. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s really put a lot of work into his game. I give him a ton of credit. He&rsquo;s an athlete who&rsquo;s all-in on making sure he&rsquo;s prepared and willing to do his part. With that, it just shows his leadership and importance to our team. Guys who put the work in and are passionate about getting better, you like to see them get the results. It&rsquo;s a great feather in his cap, and there are a lot of players who should be looking at what he&rsquo;s doing and recognize that&rsquo;s how you get better.&rdquo;</p><p>After the Oilers were bounced early from the playoff bubble by the Chicago Blackhawks in August, Nurse was faced with a five-month layoff. So after getting over the disappointment, he went back to work with Moore at The Pond in an effort to improve his edges and explosiveness. Rather than a complete teardown, it was more of a refinement of the skills he already had. It&rsquo;s actually funny how skills and conditioning can sometimes erode, even when you&rsquo;re practicing and playing games almost every day. That&rsquo;s what Nurse noticed in his game, and he was intent on not seeing one of his biggest advantages &ndash; being a big player who could get around the ice pretty well &ndash; have less of an impact. &ldquo;After his first skate, he said to me, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ve neglected this a bit, and I need to get it back,&rsquo;&rdquo; Moore said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny because he knows how important it is because of what he&rsquo;s practiced since he was seven years old. Maybe it was because he had more time on his hands, but he said, &lsquo;You know, I really want to focus on this.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>So the two of them set about targeting a couple of key areas in Nurse&rsquo;s skating. Moore noticed Nurse was fighting his edges rather than controlling them. His first three steps needed to get faster, and he wanted to accelerate through his turns the way the best skaters in the NHL can do these days. Three times a week, he came in and worked on things as minute as weight transfer and distribution.</p><p>Moore said he needed &ldquo;to quiet his upper body&rdquo; and let his lower body do the work. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s huge, so he&rsquo;s got to get low and he&rsquo;s got to get small,&rdquo; Moore said. &ldquo;You think your knees are bent, but they can be bent more. I tried to make him lighter on his feet so he&rsquo;s not pounding into the ice. When you want to be quick, you have to focus on having minimal blade on the ice and your weight has to be more forward in the blade.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/darnellnurs_118/723463-1-eng-US/darnellnurs_1182.jpg" title="darnellnurs_118" width="2237" height="1952"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b><custom name="underline">BATTLE TESTED</custom></b></p><p><i>Whether he&rsquo;s going up against the rival Flames or anyone else, Nurse doesn&rsquo;t back down.</i></p> <span class="photo-credit">(PERRY NELSON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>Perhaps we&rsquo;re getting a little too technical here. And perhaps Darnell Nurse won&rsquo;t like other people talking about him and giving away all his secrets. As hard as he works in the off-season, Nurse isn&rsquo;t about to go putting his workouts on Twitter or Instagram. He prefers to quietly do the work, whether it&rsquo;s during the season or in the off-season, and let the results speak for themselves, which they&rsquo;re doing in 2020-21. &ldquo;I like to work in the shadows,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>And, hey, things are still a work in progress for Nurse. On the plus side, there is no team in the NHL that enjoys as many high-danger offensive chances as the Oilers do when Nurse is on the ice. On the negative side of the ledger, only three players in the NHL are on the ice for more high-danger chances against. The penalty kill, a place where Nurse spends more time than any other Oiler and was second in the league last season, has faltered badly and is now in the bottom half of the NHL. Despite coming together a month into the season, the Nurse-Barrie pairing was at or near the top of the league in both goals against and high-danger chances against. But they have taken advantage of playing with some of the planet&rsquo;s best forwards, and Nurse would not be on the ice so much if he weren&rsquo;t an impactful player. When the Oilers learned that Oscar Klefbom would miss the season due to shoulder surgery, it was incumbent upon Nurse to step up, and he has done so. His offense has been a true weapon for the Oilers, a team that often has trouble generating offense when Nos. 97 and 29 don&rsquo;t score.</p><p>And Nurse has taken an enormous leap in ice time, playing almost 26 minutes a game, which is by far the highest mark of his career. That number will undoubtedly rise in the playoffs and as much as the Oilers rely on McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, their playoff fortunes will also be dictated by what Nurse does with those minutes. This is the year Nurse has inserted himself into the Norris debate, but both he and the Oilers are lacking a long, productive playoff run. When the Oilers came within a Game 7 loss of going to the Western Conference final in 2017, Nurse was playing only 17 minutes a game in the playoffs.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">I&rsquo;M A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT THAN THE NEW GENERATION. I WOULD SAY I HAVE A DIFFERENT MINDSET THAN SOME OF THE PEOPLE MY AGE<br>&ndash; Darnell Nurse</blockquote><p>It should come as no surprise that Nurse has matured, despite the fact he&rsquo;s only 26 and in his sixth season as a full-time NHLer. Defensemen take a little longer to hit their stride, and Nurse is doing that just in time to become an unrestricted free agent in 2022. With the numbers he&rsquo;s putting up and the impact he&rsquo;s having, Nurse is setting himself up for a massive payday. But it&rsquo;s unlikely that will change him much.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/darnellnurs_121/723456-1-eng-US/darnellnurs_1212.jpg" title="darnellnurs_121" width="1065" height="1458"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BOB FRID-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>Richard says there are times when people joke that Darnell is actually his father: &ldquo;He thinks like an old man, and he talks like an old man. He&rsquo;s a very mature person.&rdquo; From always asking people how their families are doing before any conversation, to actually caring what the other person has to say, to texts of encouragement to former teammates who might be hitting some bumps in their pro hockey journey, even Nurse acknowledges he&rsquo;s different than his peers. &ldquo;Yeah, I&rsquo;m a little bit different than the new generation, a little bit,&rdquo; Nurse said. &ldquo;I would say I have a different mindset than some of the people my age. The way I was brought up, you earned people&rsquo;s respect. It wasn&rsquo;t given, it was always earned, and that&rsquo;s always the way I&rsquo;ve tried to be.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/darnellnurs_119/723449-1-eng-US/darnellnurs_1192.jpg" title="darnellnurs_119" width="1524" height="1101"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b><custom name="underline">BEST OF THE BLUELINE</custom></b></p><p><i>Nurse&rsquo;s breakout season has him squarely in the conversation for the Norris Trophy.</i></p> <span class="photo-credit">(PERRY NELSON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>There&rsquo;s little doubt Darnell Nurse is earning the respect of the hockey world this season. And it will only grow by leaps and bounds if he and his talented Oilers teammates can finally turn all that talent and all that potential into some tangible playoff success.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

darnellnurs_116

DARNELL NURSE

THE STRONG, SILENT TYPE

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="tb_hedman2" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/tb_hedman22/723536-1-eng-US/tb_hedman22.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p>The Lightning are blessed with leading contenders for the Norris in Hedman and the Vezina in Vasilevskiy.</p><p></p> <span class="photo-credit">(CHRISTOPHER HANEWINCKEL-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HEY WON AN NHL-RECORD</b> 62 games in one season. They suffered a crushing defeat as a heavy Cup favorite. They rallied and won it the following season with a team of future Hall of Famers.</p><p>Are we talking about the 1996-97 Detroit Red Wings or the 2019-20 Tampa Bay Lightning? Both followed the same path, overcoming years of disappointment before breaking through as champions. That Red Wings team, of course, ended up winning back-to-back Cups in 1997 and 1998. So will the current incarnation of the Lightning keep walking in the footsteps of those &rsquo;90s Detroit teams and repeat as Stanley Cup champions?</p><p>From a pure hockey standpoint, the Lightning look as dominant as ever. They boast award-winning talent at every position. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy already has one Vezina Trophy and had the inside track on a second. Defenseman Victor Hedman already has one Norris Trophy and had the inside track on a second. With GM Julien BriseBois gradually shaping his roster into a well-rounded juggernaut that can win in many ways, the Bolts blend talent and all-around hockey IQ better than any team.</p><p>Hedman leads a mobile, two-way defense corps that has shutdown ability from Ryan McDonagh, puck-moving skill from Mikhail Sergachev and downright nastiness from Erik Cernak. The forward group has some of the league&rsquo;s best two-way centers in Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli, not to mention physical bangers who kill penalties with aplomb in Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow. Oh, and there&rsquo;s the sublime offensive skill of Steven Stamkos and, poised to return from hip surgery in time for the post-season, superstar Nikita Kucherov, two years removed from winning both the Hart and Art Ross Trophies.</p><p>So, yeah, the Lightning are otherworldly good and extremely balanced, ranking fourth in both goals per game and goals against per game, with the league&rsquo;s No. 6 power play, No. 9 penalty kill and eighth-best share of shot attempts at 5-on-5. As the reigning champions, they don&rsquo;t drag around the anchor of past disappointments anymore. They&rsquo;re chasing a high they&rsquo;ve already experienced. &ldquo;You might think, when you win one, you&rsquo;re going to become satisfied, but it worked the other way,&rdquo; Hedman said. &ldquo;When you win one, you want to do it again. So I thought we were ready to go from the start, and we didn&rsquo;t look back.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/tb_kucherov_077/723522-1-eng-US/tb_kucherov_0772.jpg" title="tb_kucherov_077" width="1021" height="1143"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tampa was tops in the regular season &ndash; and that was without Kucherov, who&rsquo;ll be back for the playoffs.</figcaption></div><p>The Lightning are overwhelming favorites to win the realigned Central Division and challenge for the Cup. Their biggest obstacle this time around: history. In the past 30 years, just three teams have won consecutive Cups: the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992, the Red Wings in 1997 and 1998 and the Penguins in 2016 and 2017. Why is it so hard to repeat?</p><p>Jim Rutherford, GM of the 2016 and 2017 Pens, feels there are just so many good teams now compared to the Original Six era when clubs could dominate their competition for years at a time. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said this for 10 or 15 years now, anybody that makes the playoffs can win the Cup,&rdquo; Rutherford said. &ldquo;You look at Nashville (in 2017), they got in on the last day, and they went to the final versus us and took it to six games. With breaks here or there they could win that series.&rdquo;</p><p>So what ingredients are most common across the three teams that repeated most recently, aside from the obvious facts that they had good players who already had won championships and were sharp all season because every opponent wanted to test itself against them?</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/tb_point5/723515-1-eng-US/tb_point2.jpg" title="tb_point" width="1196" height="894"><figcaption class="caption-body">With Kucherov out, No. 21 led the way on offense, pacing Tampa Bay in scoring through mid-April.</figcaption></div><p>Legend Scotty Bowman coached nine Cup winners, including the &rsquo;97 and &rsquo;98 Wings and the &rsquo;92 Penguins. He believes a distinct external motivating factor helped those two teams repeat and points out that, in both cases, it was a tragedy. After the Penguins won the 1991 Cup, coach &lsquo;Badger&rsquo; Bob Johnson was diagnosed with brain cancer. He turned coaching duties over to Bowman for 1991-92, and Johnson died in November 1991.</p><p>The 1991-92 Penguins were playing for their fallen coach. Days after Detroit won the Cup in 1997, defensemen Vladimir Konstantinov and Slava Fetisov and team masseur Sergei Mnatsakanov were involved in a horrific limousine accident that left Konstantinov and Mnatsakanov with life-altering injuries requiring significant rehab. The Wings played the following season with heavy hearts and wore jersey patches with Konstantinov&rsquo;s and Mnatsakanov&rsquo;s initials. &ldquo;That was what was on our mind more, then when the season started in the fall, the players really wanted to make up for the loss of Vladimir and dedicated that next season to the both of them,&rdquo; Bowman said.</p><p>Sadness clouded the Lightning&rsquo;s 2020 championship, too. They won it after living in a bubble, sequestered from their loved ones for months, during the COVID-19 pandemic, which claimed millions of lives around the world. The virus also muted the post-victory celebrations aside from the parade. Players didn&rsquo;t have their traditional days with the Stanley Cup in their hometowns. They&rsquo;re motivated now to win in an environment somewhat closer to normal, with vaccines being rolled out and small pockets of fans allowed in most U.S.-based NHL arenas. &ldquo;I still haven&rsquo;t seen my family since we left last summer before the bubble,&rdquo; Hedman said. &ldquo;I had my wife and kid over here, but I haven&rsquo;t seen my parents, my brothers. It&rsquo;s been a tough year for all the people in the world, but (the Cup) is something that I want to share with my family. It just couldn&rsquo;t happen because of what the world is going though right now&hellip;it&rsquo;s just one of the things you want to experience again and, hopefully, the full experience this time.&rdquo;</p><p>As Bowman also points out, the recent repeat champions also added some fresh blood, and having an impact player who doesn&rsquo;t have a ring yet can spur the defending champs. The 1992 Penguins traded for Rick Tocchet. The 2017 Penguins traded for Ron Hainsey. The current Lightning? They traded for a big shutdown blueliner in David Savard, who is expected to play a significant role during the stretch run and post-season.</p><p>So can the Bolts repeat? They at least have similar ingredients to recent repeaters: elite talent, an emotional off-ice motivating factor and a fresh face to root for. Would you bet against them? We won&rsquo;t. That&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;re picking them to win a second consecutive Cup.</p><div class="sidebar"><h4>For up to the minute coverage, visit</h4><h3><a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">Thehockeynews.com</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></h3></div>

BOLTS WILL GO BACK-TO-BACK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/tb_hedman32/723707-1-eng-US/tb_hedman32.jpg" title="tb_hedman3" width="474" height="537"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>VICTOR HEDMAN</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(KIM KLEMENT-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>1. TAMPA BAY&nbsp;</b><b>LIGHTNING</b></p><p><b>2. COLORADO&nbsp;</b><b>AVALANCHE</b></p><p><b>3. VEGAS&nbsp;</b><b>GOLDEN KNIGHTS</b></p><p><b>4. TORONTO&nbsp;</b><b>MAPLE LEAFS</b></p><p><b>5. NEW YORK&nbsp;</b><b>ISLANDERS</b></p><p><b>6. WASHINGTON&nbsp;</b><b>CAPITALS</b></p><p><b>7. CAROLINA&nbsp;</b><b>HURRICANES</b></p><p><b>8. PITTSBURGH&nbsp;</b><b>PENGUINS</b></p><p><b>9. BOSTON&nbsp;</b><b>BRUINS</b></p><p><b>10. WINNIPEG&nbsp;</b><b>JETS</b></p><p><b>11. EDMONTON&nbsp;</b><b>OILERS</b></p><p><b>12. FLORIDA&nbsp;</b><b>PANTHERS</b></p><p><b>13. MINNESOTA&nbsp;</b><b>WILD</b></p><p><b>14. MONTREAL&nbsp;</b><b>CANADIENS</b></p><p><b>15. ST. LOUIS&nbsp;</b><b>BLUES</b></p><p><b>16. DALLAS&nbsp;</b><b>STARS</b></p><p><b>17. NASHVILLE&nbsp;</b><b>PREDATORS</b></p><p><b>18. ARIZONA&nbsp;</b><b>COYOTES</b></p><p><b>19. CHICAGO&nbsp;</b><b>BLACKHAWKS</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

tb_hedman3

POWER RANKINGS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0054-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-0192/723738-1-eng-US/f0054-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(KIM KLEMENT-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>TEAM PREVIEW</b></h2><p>The skinny on each club, written by Ken Campbell, Jared Clinton, Brian Costello, Ryan Kennedy and Matt Larkin.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p>Each team&rsquo;s 10 best potential fantasy performers, ranked by Matt Larkin. Players who might still be on the shelf with an injury at the start of the playoffs are indicated with a +.</p><h2><b>X-FACTOR</b></h2><p>Intangibles are difficult to quantify, but they can play a big part in teams getting hot and going on a playoff roll.</p><h2><b>DEPTH CHART</b></h2><p>Linemates and &lsquo;D&rsquo; pairings can change on a coach&rsquo;s whim, but here&rsquo;s a starting look at team rosters.</p><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p>Which grizzled veteran or sentimental favorite deserves the captain&rsquo;s initial handoff of Lord Stanley&rsquo;s glorious mug?<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0054-01

WHAT’S INSIDE

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN COSTELLO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_042.jpg" title="common_04" width="520" height="71"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/ari_keller6/723797-1-eng-US/ari_keller2.jpg" title="ari_keller" width="773" height="1316"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>CLAYTON KELLER</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(JEFF CURRY-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE COYOTES</b> haven&rsquo;t had a true game-breaking offensive star since the days of Jeremy Roenick and Keith Tkachuk back at the turn of the century. So it&rsquo;s always been the Arizona way to get things done by committee, and that&rsquo;s no different in this pandemic-shortened NHL season.</p><p>Coach Rick Tocchet is an excellent communicator, so getting complete buy-in from his team is never an issue. The Coyotes are a hardworking squad that plays heavy on the forecheck with good structure in the neutral zone. The strength of the team is on the back end, where Jakob Chychrun has ascended to true No. 1 D-man status, leading the team with more than 23 minutes of average ice time. Veteran Alex Goligoski is playing his best and busiest hockey in years. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Jason Demers and Jordan Oesterle round out a blueline corps that&rsquo;s deep on experience and stingy in skill set.</p><p>The Coyotes rank among the bottom third of the league in goal production, but having a balanced attack keeps the output consistent. Phil Kessel&rsquo;s days as a 30-goal sniper are over, but he is scoring at his best pace in three years. Third-year man Conor Garland is the leader of the pack, with Clayton Keller, Christian Dvorak and Nick Schmaltz also contributing.</p><p>Where Arizona falls short is when games evolve into track meets. The Coyotes just don&rsquo;t have the horses. They&rsquo;ve won just one game all season when they allowed more than three goals. So quicker, fast-paced, puck-movement games often leave the Coyotes flat-footed.</p><p>Arizona plays so structured defensively &ndash; forcing the opposition to shoot from the perimeter &ndash; that it hasn&rsquo;t really mattered who plays between the pipes. Remarkably, Darcy Kuemper, Antti Raanta and Adin Hill all have similar save percentages, a testament to Tocchet&rsquo;s coaching style.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p>After a slow start, with just four points in his first 10 games, <b>CLAYTON KELLER</b> has been clipping along at a near point-per-game pace, and the Coyotes have surged. He plays a fast-paced style and is dangerous off the rush. Keller doesn&rsquo;t quite have the cachet of being a game-changer, but he&rsquo;s getting closer to that category. His edgework in the offensive zone makes him tough to defend. He&rsquo;s more of a playmaker, but Arizona would love to see him shoot more in order to thin out the defense.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0055-0185/723790-1-eng-US/f0055-012.jpg" title="f0055-01" width="1040" height="622"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0055-0257/723783-1-eng-US/f0055-022.jpg" title="f0055-02" width="1593" height="638"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p>A pending UFA on the cusp of 36, <b>ALEX GOLIGOSKI</b> may be in his final days with the organization. A great way to go out would be on top and with the first pass.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p><b>PHIL KESSEL</b> raises the level of his game in the playoffs. We know that. We&rsquo;ve seen it before. So don&rsquo;t be surprised if you see him achieve another gear with a post-season game on the line &ndash; he will get that space and opportunity. Banking on the Coyotes playing more than a half-dozen playoff games is another matter, though. Just consider him in the late rounds.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/kessel_phil_079/723769-1-eng-US/kessel_phil_0792.jpg" title="kessel_phil_079" width="223" height="258"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

common_04

ARIZONA COYOTES

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_052.jpg" title="common_05" width="511" height="73"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/bos_pastrna_080/723870-1-eng-US/bos_pastrna_0802.jpg" title="bos_pastrna_080" width="793" height="1227"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>DAVID PASTRNAK</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(WINSLOW TOWNSON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HERE&rsquo;S A FORMULA</b> for beating the Bruins, but it&rsquo;s not an easy one to pull off. This Boston iteration may not be as potent as the ones that preceded it, but the Bruins are still a playoff threat because of their system and the wealth of experience they bring to the table.</p><p>Having said that, there are some distinct factors that will determine their success or failure this year. Through mid-April, the Bruins were a one-line team, with Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak accounting for nearly half of Boston&rsquo;s goals. Nick Ritchie was the only other player with double-digit goals and that&rsquo;s a problem heading into the post-season.</p><p>Essentially, if you can stop the &lsquo;Perfection Line,&rsquo; you can stop the Bruins. Of course, the trio earned their moniker for a reason, and the lethal 200-foot game possessed by all three means that your best players have to be on top of their game whenever Bergeron&rsquo;s crew is on the ice. Boston acquired Taylor Hall at the deadline to boost the offense, but the 2018 Hart Trophy winner will need to rebound in a big way after washing out in Buffalo.</p><p>There&rsquo;s also that traditional Boston truculence. The Bruins have the NHL&rsquo;s best penalty kill, and the power play is in the top 10, so they&rsquo;re fine playing on the edge if it gets opponents off their game. Boston takes more penalties than it draws, but those margins tend to disappear in the playoffs, and the B&rsquo;s like to push the envelope.</p><p>As for goaltending, it&rsquo;s been a wild ride. Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak, the team&rsquo;s traditionally sound duo, haven&rsquo;t been the same drivers. Rask missed time due to an upper-body injury and Halak was in COVID protocol, leading to a situation where the team ran with rookies Dan Vladar and Jeremy Swayman. As it turns out, the kids put up better numbers &ndash; which isn&rsquo;t the situation you want to be in.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p>Boston lost two mainstays from its blueline in the summer with the exits of Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug. That means <b>CHARLIE MCAVOY</b> can expect his workload to increase even more, and it&rsquo;s fair to ask if there will be a breaking point. McAvoy is already playing more than 24 minutes, and no one else on the back end was averaging even 21 minutes. With unlimited OT in the playoffs, who is going to step up? Matt Grzelcyk and Brandon Carlo are possibilities, but the B&rsquo;s are looking unusually thin on &lsquo;D.&rsquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-0188/723863-1-eng-US/f0056-012.jpg" title="f0056-01" width="1044" height="622"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-0265/723856-1-eng-US/f0056-022.jpg" title="f0056-02" width="1592" height="638"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p>While <b>JAROSLAV HALAK</b> has delivered some great performances in the NHL and on the international stage, he has never won a Stanley Cup.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p>With 145 NHL playoff games to his credit, <b>DAVID KREJCI</b> ranks in the league&rsquo;s top 10 among active players. This will be the 12th NHL post-season and wouldn&rsquo;t you know it, his career output in the playoffs (.79 points per game) exceeds his average during the regular season (.75 PPG). In the three years the Bruins went to the Cup final, Krejci jacked his PPG to .92.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/krejci_davi_081/723842-1-eng-US/krejci_davi_0812.jpg" title="krejci_davi_081" width="223" height="264"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

common_05

BOSTON BRUINS

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_062.jpg" title="common_06" width="615" height="73"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/car_aho9/723943-1-eng-US/car_aho2.jpg" title="car_aho" width="639" height="1199"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>SEBASTIAN AHO</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(JAMES GUILLORY-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>T&rsquo;S ONLY BEEN</b> two seasons since the &lsquo;Bunch of Jerks&rsquo; stunned with an inspired run to the Eastern Conference final, but Carolina has traded its underdog moniker and adopted the expectations that come with perennial playoff contention. And this season, unlike the past two, a deep post-season run is forecasted by most.</p><p>In part, such an expectation is related to the Hurricanes&rsquo; trajectory. If one were to map Carolina&rsquo;s path, the franchise would still find itself in its upswing. More importantly, though, prognosticators are bullish on Carolina given they have built on the foundational elements that led to their success in the first place. To wit, a team that was an analytics darling and sleeper favorite during its 2019 run continues to be among the league&rsquo;s best in the underlying statistical categories at five-a-side. The Canes hound the puck, control the flow of play for large stretches and excel almost equally at chance creation and suppression. It&rsquo;s a recipe for success.</p><p>It is true, however, that puck dominance is only worth what coach Rob Brind&rsquo;Amour&rsquo;s group can do with it. The good news? Carolina has put their ample time on attack to good use. Led by Sebastian Aho, Vincent Trochek and breakout star Martin Necas, the Hurricanes have an exceptional attack, including a dominant power play. Dictating play as they have, Carolina has managed to maintain one of the league&rsquo;s stingiest defenses.</p><p>For all their strengths, depth scoring could become an issue once the post-season matchup game kicks into high gear, and questions surround netminder Petr Mrazek&rsquo;s playoff performances. His .906 save percentage in 16 post-season appearances since arriving in Carolina isn&rsquo;t particularly inspiring. If he stumbles, the job will fall to Alex Nedeljkovic, who, despite sound regular-season totals, has never seen NHL post-season action.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p>A shortened season can mess with the mind, but if it seems <b>ANDREI SVECHNIKOV</b> is suffering through a touch of an offensive downturn, that&rsquo;s no trickery: he&rsquo;s had a drop-off of about one-fifth of a point per game. Despite that, &lsquo;Svech&rsquo; continues to generate plenty and has been a victim of his individual shooting percentage more than anything. A scorer with his gifts doesn&rsquo;t stay asleep forever, though, and his combination of skill, size and physicality can be an awful lot to handle when he gets going.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-0183/723936-1-eng-US/f0057-012.jpg" title="f0057-01" width="1044" height="618"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-0265/723929-1-eng-US/f0057-022.jpg" title="f0057-02" width="1594" height="646"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p>The pillar of the Hurricanes&rsquo; blueline, <b>JACCOB SLAVIN</b> is sure to skate monster minutes in the post-season. Taking the Cup from Jordan Staal would be a just reward.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p>The beauty of Carolina&rsquo;s roster is that it&rsquo;s loaded with scorers. So rather than taking the first Cane or two off the board, wait several rounds and then grab the seventh or eighth guy. <b>NINO NIEDERREITER</b> or Teuvo Teravainen aren&rsquo;t a gigantic step down from Sebastian Aho in terms of production. Monitor Teravainen&rsquo;s health. He had seven points in five games before getting hurt.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/niederreite_082/723915-1-eng-US/niederreite_0822.jpg" title="niederreite_082" width="223" height="250"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

common_06

CAROLINA HURRICANES

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_062.jpg" title="common_06" width="615" height="73"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/chi_kane8/724016-1-eng-US/chi_kane2.jpg" title="chi_kane" width="830" height="1175"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>PATRICK KANE</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(JEROME MIRON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>P</span>EP GUARDIOLA, THE</b> manager of English soccer club Manchester City, once referred to rival Tottenham not by their name but as &ldquo;the Harry Kane team,&rdquo; alluding to their superstar striker. If any Kane has proven he can be a one-man army, though, it is Chicago&rsquo;s Patrick Kane. In a season supposed to be spent in the league&rsquo;s dump, the Blackhawks have instead been hoisted onto Kane&rsquo;s shoulders and elevated into playoff contention.</p><p>This is to say that as Kane goes, so go the Blackhawks. That is especially undeniable during a season in which Chicago&rsquo;s offense is largely what has kept it in the hunt. The Hawks&rsquo; attack is in the top half of the league, and it&rsquo;s driven by a power play among the NHL&rsquo;s most punishing. It helps when Kane has triggermen that include Dylan Strome, Dominik Kubalik and Alex DeBrincat, who shook off last season&rsquo;s struggles to return to the 20-goal club in a shortened season.</p><p>Unfortunately for the Blackhawks, however, there are two sides to the ice, and it&rsquo;s in their own end where things have gone awry for coach Jeremy Colliton&rsquo;s crew. The Hawks&rsquo; defensive play has been dire by almost every conceivable measure. One particular area of concern has been Chicago&rsquo;s inability to defend the high-danger areas, and it should be noted that the power play&rsquo;s positives have generally been undone by a ghastly penalty kill.</p><p>Defensively, the only saving grace for the Blackhawks has been goaltender Kevin Lankinen, who has emerged from relative obscurity into the Chicago crease and stunned the league with his readiness for life in the big leagues. Despite having one of the highest expected goals against numbers in the league, Lankinen&rsquo;s five-a-side save percentage and goals saved above average are top-tier marks. Next to Kane, Lankinen has been the Blackhawks&rsquo; most valuable player.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p><b>KIRBY DACH</b> had moments of brilliance as a rookie, and after putting it all together in the playoffs, the excitement for his sophomore year was palpable. Then, disaster. He broke his wrist during a WJC pre-tournament contest. An ahead-of-schedule return, however, saw Dach back in the lineup, and he was contributing offensively almost immediately. If he can build on last season, he&rsquo;ll give Chicago another top-six weapon and, more importantly, much-needed help at center given Jonathan Toews&rsquo; absence.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-0185/724009-1-eng-US/f0058-012.jpg" title="f0058-01" width="1045" height="622"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-0258/724002-1-eng-US/f0058-022.jpg" title="f0058-02" width="1592" height="638"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p>If Chicago is going to pen a Cinderella story, goalie <b>KEVIN LANKINEN</b> will have to steal a great number of games. Give him the second lap.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p><b>DYLAN STROME</b> has had a miserable season between injuries and bad puck luck around the net. The playmaking forward is normally an ideal fit for Kane and DeBrincat, especially on the power play, and has posted 60 assists in the past two seasons. This season, he may not get 10. Because he&rsquo;s so far down the scoring list, he won&rsquo;t be on a lot of radars until the late, late rounds.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/strome_dyla_095/723988-1-eng-US/strome_dyla_0952.jpg" title="strome_dyla_095" width="223" height="257"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_042.jpg" title="common_04" width="520" height="71"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/col_rantane_094/724089-1-eng-US/col_rantane_0942.jpg" title="col_rantane_094" width="892" height="1182"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>MIKKO RANTANEN</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(ISAIAH J. DOWNING-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>F YOU&rsquo;RE SEARCHING</b> for a weakness in the Avalanche, allow us to offer some advice: bring a shovel. It&rsquo;s going to take some digging to find faults on coach Jared Bednar&rsquo;s club. And the result of your excavation won&rsquo;t be all that exciting.</p><p>Don&rsquo;t believe it? Consider that these Avs not only pass the eye test with distinction but boast 5-on-5 analytics percentages that are league-leading or nearly so across the board. When trying to poke holes in Colorado&rsquo;s play, one has to look for miniscule flaws, such as middling shot and chance suppression on the penalty kill. Beyond that, Colorado&rsquo;s performance has been largely beyond reproach. On paper, maybe the blueline is missing name value beyond sophomore sensation Cale Makar, but claiming that among the Avalanche&rsquo;s impediments is grasping at straws.</p><p>Truly, top to bottom, Colorado appears as complete as any club in the league. Led by Nathan MacKinnon, the offense is deep and deadly and the power play is punishing. The trio of MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen can change a game in an instant, and even when slowed, the abundance of secondary scoring &ndash; be it Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovsky, Joonas Donskoi, Brandon Saad or others &ndash; allows the Avs to attack in waves and overwhelm opponents.</p><p>GM Joe Sakic did well at the trade deadline, too, shoring up holes through a handful of savvy swaps. With netminder Pavel Francouz sidelined, the Avalanche added Devan Dubnyk from San Jose as insurance for starter Philipp Grubauer, who has been superb.</p><p>A couple of former Avs returned via trade. Patrik Nemeth was added to support the blueline, while Carl Soderberg provides additional bottom-six security. At this point, the only thing that may be able to stop Colorado is a bout of bad luck, a white-hot opposing goalie or an untimely injury.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p><b>DEVON TOEWS</b> has been a brilliant fit on the Avalanche blueline. Acquired in the off-season, Toews has been a stud, skating big minutes and contributing in all situations. In fact, given the role he plays at even strength and on the penalty kill, it could be argued he&rsquo;s been Colorado&rsquo;s most valuable defender. But the time to truly prove his worth will come in the post-season when he&rsquo;s tasked with quieting the opposition&rsquo;s top stars. If he continues to succeed, there&rsquo;s no telling how deep the Avs can go.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-0165/724082-1-eng-US/f0059-012.jpg" title="f0059-01" width="1038" height="622"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-0241/724075-1-eng-US/f0059-022.jpg" title="f0059-02" width="1594" height="647"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p>Gabriel Landeskog wears the &lsquo;C&rsquo;, but the Avs are powered by <b>NATHAN MACKINNON</b>. He&rsquo;s been the engine throughout the transition from bottom feeder to Cup threat.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p>Cale Makar gets the headlines on the Colorado blueline, but <b>SAMUEL GIRARD</b> is an up-and-comer in his own right. He&rsquo;s been in the top 10 in NHL D-man scoring most of the season and ranks in the top 30 in ice time. If your fantasy pool requires you to draft blueliners, Girard should be among the top half-dozen selections based on the team&rsquo;s power ranking and his own star power.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/girard_samu_096/724061-1-eng-US/girard_samu_0962.jpg" title="girard_samu_096" width="223" height="254"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

COLORADO AVALANCHE

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_062.jpg" title="common_06" width="615" height="73"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/dal_pavelsk_013/724162-1-eng-US/dal_pavelsk_0132.jpg" title="dal_pavelsk_013" width="948" height="1287"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>JOE PAVELSKI</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(JEROME MIRON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE STANLEY CUP</b> hangover is supposed to affect the team that&rsquo;s spent the off-season celebrating a championship campaign, not the team that falls painfully short. Alas, it is the Stars &ndash; not the Tampa Bay Lightning &ndash; who have struggled most this season.</p><p>Granted, Dallas has had positively rotten luck. Only a handful of players have been able to suit up in each contest in a campaign that started with a team-wide coronavirus outbreak that saw 17 players test positive. Tyler Seguin hasn&rsquo;t played all season, nor has goaltender Ben Bishop. Alexander Radulov&rsquo;s time has been limited due to injury. And any hope that captain Jamie Benn&rsquo;s post-season performance would carry through to this season has fallen by the wayside. He&rsquo;s not a non-factor, but he&rsquo;s been more bit player than star scorer. A big part of the Stars&rsquo; overall scoring struggles doesn&rsquo;t come down to one individual, though. As a team, Dallas has simply been plagued by a near league-worst shooting percentage. Pucks just aren&rsquo;t going in.</p><p>But it is possible that&rsquo;s where the silver lining can be found for the Stars: bad luck can always change, and they do plenty of things well. They&rsquo;re exceptional at controlling the play, regularly outshooting, out-attempting and out-chancing the opposition. And it&rsquo;s not as though everyone is firing blanks. Joe Pavelski, Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson have been tremendous. Any team in the league would gladly go into battle with defenders Miro Heiskanen, John Klingberg and Esa Lindell as its leading blueline trio. And for a club with Dallas&rsquo; attributes &ndash; strong underlying numbers, talent up front and a solid top three on the back end &ndash; all it takes is getting hot at the right time. Need proof? See last season&rsquo;s Stars. Few thought that run possible, but this same Dallas group will understand what it takes to go deep.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p>It&rsquo;s not the story of last post-season &ndash; veteran keeper Anton Khudobin &ndash; we&rsquo;re talking about here. It&rsquo;s <b>JAKE OETTINGER</b>, who has been tremendous when called upon. Though admittedly well-protected by the defense, Oettinger posted among the best goals-saved-above-average numbers of any netminder. There&rsquo;s no reason to believe it&rsquo;s beyond Oettinger to steal a few playoff games. The rookie-goaltender-as-playoff-hero story is a familiar one. Can Oettinger add to that lore?</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0060-0164/724155-1-eng-US/f0060-012.jpg" title="f0060-01" width="1044" height="622"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0060-0237/724148-1-eng-US/f0060-022.jpg" title="f0060-02" width="1592" height="646"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p><b>JOE PAVELSKI</b> is a beloved, heart-and-soul player who has been painfully close to Stanley Cup glory twice. At 36, who knows if &ndash; or when &ndash; he&rsquo;ll ever get close again.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p>The days of <b>JAMIE BENN</b> being a contender for the Art Ross Trophy are over now, but he is known for stepping things up in the playoffs. The league&rsquo;s leading scorer in 2014-15 (and runner-up the following season) had a huge spike in his production when Dallas went to the Stanley Cup final last year. That reputation may have him going fairly early off the Dallas board.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/benn_jamie/724134-1-eng-US/benn_jamie2.jpg" title="benn_jamie" width="224" height="258"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

DALLAS STARS

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_062.jpg" title="common_06" width="615" height="73"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/fla_barkov6/724308-1-eng-US/fla_barkov2.jpg" title="fla_barkov" width="936" height="1331"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>ALEKSANDER BARKOV</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(JASEN VINLOVE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>F IT HAD BEEN</b> suggested prior to the campaign that an uptick in goaltending performance had set the Panthers right, the prevailing belief would&rsquo;ve been that Sergei Bobrovsky had ironed out the issues from his first season in Florida. Not the case, or at least not entirely accurate.</p><p>While Bobrovsky has been better &ndash; admittedly not a high bar &ndash; the emergence of Chris Driedger is what has truly brought good fortune to the Sunshine State. His shining record, excellent save percentage and stellar goals-saved-above-average mark allowed the Panthers to ride the hot hand, and after a campaign in which the Cats had one of the league&rsquo;s worst overall save percentages, coach Joel Quenneville&rsquo;s club has received some of the best netminding in the NHL.</p><p>The impact of quality goaltending cannot go understated, either, especially in a season when the Panthers&rsquo; offensive output has remained steady year over year. Keeping the attack ticking is the one-two punch of Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau, the former further cementing himself as a premier two-way pivot with the latter remaining one of the more underrated wingers. The breakout of Carter Verhaeghe has been the most welcome surprise. An in-state move from Tampa Bay to Florida has unlocked the best in the late-blooming winger.</p><p>One fear in Florida will undoubtedly be the issues the team has had on the penalty kill. The Panthers&rsquo; results when down a skater have been middling, but the cause of those difficulties are just as concerning. Across the board, Florida has been average on the PK &ndash; shots, chances and high-danger attempts against all point to some difficulties. This isn&rsquo;t a matter of goaltending letting Florida down when shorthanded, and special-teams issues are more often an Achilles&rsquo; heel for contending clubs.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p>Aaron Ekblad&rsquo;s injury put an end to a resurgent season for a defender of whom much more has been expected in recent years. At the time he broke his leg, Ekblad had skated 100-plus minutes more than any Panther. There&rsquo;s no replacing him, but GM Bill Zito acquired <b>BRANDON MONTOUR</b> to bolster the defense. The question now is how Florida&rsquo;s blueline will fare without its clear-cut No. 1. Responsibility will fall to MacKenzie Weegar. Plus Keith Yandle, Anton Stralman and Radko Gudas will need to shine.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-0169/724301-1-eng-US/f0062-012.jpg" title="f0062-01" width="1041" height="632"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-0236/724294-1-eng-US/f0062-022.jpg" title="f0062-02" width="1592" height="643"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p>This one&rsquo;s a no-brainer. <b>KEITH YANDLE</b> checks every box. He&rsquo;s a Cup-less veteran who is beloved by his teammates and into the twilight of an excellent career.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p>Barkov and Huberdeau will be the first Panthers off the playoff draft board, then it&rsquo;s a bit of a dry patch. If you&rsquo;re adventurous, give consideration to <b>SAM BENNETT</b>. Newly acquired from Calgary, Bennett can play either left wing or center and has a propensity for raising his game in the playoffs. The fact Bennett is also out to impress his new employers and teammates takes that up a level.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/bennett_sam_115/724280-1-eng-US/bennett_sam_1152.jpg" title="bennett_sam_115" width="223" height="250"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_042.jpg" title="common_04" width="520" height="71"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/min_kaprizo_003/724381-1-eng-US/min_kaprizo_0032.jpg" title="min_kaprizo_003" width="834" height="1216"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>KIRILL KAPRIZOV</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(NICK WOSIKA-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>M</span>EDIOCRITY HAS</b> long been the story in Minnesota, and many expected more of the same from the Wild this season. That is to say that, while few predicted coach Dean Evason&rsquo;s charges were set to bottom out in his first full year behind the bench, there weren&rsquo;t many championing Minnesota as potential world-beaters.</p><p>And while it&rsquo;s true the Wild aren&rsquo;t the latter, they are unquestionably a far more talented group than many anticipated. The results tell that story: after an unsteady start, they have been one of the league&rsquo;s top teams from mid-February on, with separate five- and six-game winning streaks powering Minnesota into a comfortable spot in the West Division.</p><p>Preternaturally gifted rookie Kirill Kaprizov has been behind more than his share of the Wild&rsquo;s successes. Not only has he been the league&rsquo;s top freshman scorer, he&rsquo;s delivered on a near nightly basis and led the offensive charge, fulfilling the long-held belief that he&rsquo;d become an instant impact player. Add to it Jordan Greenway&rsquo;s modest breakout, Kevin Fiala building on last year&rsquo;s late-season charge and Joel Eriksson Ek stepping into a larger role, and a once veteran-driven attack has been turned over to the young guns under Evason. Of course, there are still holes in the Wild&rsquo;s offense &ndash; namely, a dreadful power play that has left far too many opportunities on the table.</p><p>The Wild also aren&rsquo;t the most sturdy defensive unit. When it comes to shots against and attempts against, Minnesota is among the leakiest outfits in the league. It should be said, however, that the Wild keep much of that action to the outside, protecting the high-danger areas. The expectation, then, is that goalies Cam Talbot and Kaapo Kahkonen will pull their weight and stop what they see. That has borne out in the numbers for both netminders.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p>No one is going to confuse <b>ZACH PARISE</b> with his former 30-goal self. He&rsquo;s less of a triggerman now and more of a dependable veteran. But it should also be noted that he did suffer through rotten shooting luck throughout the campaign and has hovered at 0.85 PPG in the post-season since arriving in Minnesota. Depth scoring is vital in the playoffs, and Parise, 36, is the archetype of the veteran player who playoff-bound teams look to acquire at the deadline. Good thing Minnesota already has him.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0064-0164/724374-1-eng-US/f0064-012.jpg" title="f0064-01" width="1044" height="620"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0064-0242/724367-1-eng-US/f0064-022.jpg" title="f0064-02" width="1594" height="646"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p>If it&rsquo;s not <b>RYAN SUTER</b>, then what exactly are we doing here? The inexhaustible veteran has been and continues to be the anchor of the Wild&rsquo;s defense corps.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p>There&rsquo;s a natural assumption Kirill Kaprizov will be the first Wild player off the board, then many rounds will go by until the next. Minnesota advocates know you shouldn&rsquo;t sleep on <b>KEVIN FIALA</b>. After a bust-out 54-point campaign, Fiala was slow off the hop this season. But he&rsquo;s been lights out since late March, including 11 points in a seven-game span &ndash; three more than Kaprizov.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/fiala_kevin_005/724353-1-eng-US/fiala_kevin_0052.jpg" title="fiala_kevin_005" width="223" height="250"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

MINNESOTA WILD

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_032.jpg" title="common_03" width="550" height="73"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/mtl_toffoli_004/724454-1-eng-US/mtl_toffoli_0042.jpg" title="mtl_toffoli_004" width="744" height="1226"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>TYLER TOFFOLI</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(PERRY NELSON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>HEN THE SEASON</b> began, the Canadiens were a high-flying offensive juggernaut that was evoking memories of the distant past and, like those teams, was winning games and making believers of almost everyone. But as the months passed, the Habs regressed and were doing none of those things under a new coach and revamped roster. As the final quarter dawned, all the optimism they created with a 5-0-2 start had dissipated into another seemingly lost season.</p><p>Not everything is the same, but there are parallels to last season, when the Canadiens were invited to the playoff dance only because the NHL offered a bigger tent. And once that happened, Montreal rode the hot goaltending of Carey Price and went further than anyone thought possible.</p><p>So, on that historical precedent, can Habs fans expect a long playoff run? Logic suggests the answer is no, but we&rsquo;re talking about the Canadiens here, a team that has a long and illustrious history of overachieving in the post-season.</p><p>With the off-season acquisitions of Tyler Toffoli, Josh Anderson, Joel Edmundson, Corey Perry and Jake Allen and the trade-deadline deal that added Eric Staal, the Habs dramatically increased their Stanley Cup street cred. Over the past couple seasons, they&rsquo;ve also become bigger and more difficult to play against. That gaping hole down the middle that screamed for so many years now has some legitimate players, each of whom brings different dimensions to the game.</p><p>But there are many flaws in this team. If not for Allen, the goaltending would be a hot mess. As the season went on, the Canadiens had more difficulty creating offense and despite the addition of interim coach Dominique Ducharme, the Habs were worse in their first 25 games after the Claude Julien firing than they were before.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p>The <b>CAREY PRICE</b> the hockey world saw in the 2020 qualification round against Pittsburgh was the one who players have rated so highly in the past. After a poor season, Price was brilliant. And, in terms of the regular season, the same scenario may play out in 2021. Not only was Price maddeningly inconsistent, he had trouble staying healthy. But in the playoffs, whether it&rsquo;s warranted or not, he still has the ability to get into his opponents&rsquo; heads. But if he can&rsquo;t do that, Allen will have to carry the load.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0065-0179/724447-1-eng-US/f0065-012.jpg" title="f0065-01" width="1040" height="620"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0065-0260/724440-1-eng-US/f0065-022.jpg" title="f0065-02" width="1593" height="638"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p>The obvious pick is <b>CAREY PRICE</b>, the Habs&rsquo; longest-tenured player and, in many ways, the face of the franchise. If the Canadiens do win, he&rsquo;ll be a key component.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p>Heavy hockey is upon us, and that&rsquo;s rightin the wheelhouse of <b>JOSH ANDERSON</b>. The burly right winger plays the game with speed, intensity and power. And his hard shot will also come in handy in the post-season. Anderson started off well with the Canadiens and does the vast majority of his scoring in 5-on-5 situations. Four of his goals this season have been game-winners.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/anderson_jo_006/724426-1-eng-US/anderson_jo_0062.jpg" title="anderson_jo_006" width="223" height="250"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

MONTREAL CANADIENS

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_062.jpg" title="common_06" width="615" height="73"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/nsh_forsber_105/724527-1-eng-US/nsh_forsber_1052.jpg" title="nsh_forsber_105" width="878" height="1216"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>FILIP FORSBERG</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(CHRISTOPHER HANEWINCKEL-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>B</span>EING A TOP SEED</b> entering the post-season is an enviable position. And say what you will about being a playoff-less bottom-feeder, but at least those clubs know where they stand in the league&rsquo;s hierarchy. Less certain &ndash; and far more undesirable &ndash; is being mired in mediocrity, and that&rsquo;s where Nashville has lived the past couple seasons.</p><p>While the Predators remain a fundamentally solid group with strength and upside at every position, few of their attributes stand out. The offense has largely been spread around, with no one player truly carrying the attack. The Preds&rsquo; defensive record has been solid but not spectacular. The same can be said for the underlying numbers, where Nashville has been a league-average club at even strength. In a roundabout way, though, that adequacy might actually be one of the team&rsquo;s greatest assets: they won&rsquo;t overpower teams at either end of the ice, but the Predators aren&rsquo;t about to get dismantled in those zones, either.</p><p>As has long been the story in Music City, Nashville&rsquo;s greatest asset is goaltending. While Pekka Rinne&rsquo;s heyday has passed, Juuse Saros has made good on his promise as heir apparent. He hasn&rsquo;t often been spoken of in the same breath, but Saros&rsquo; 5-on-5 numbers are up there with Vezina Trophy favorites such as Andrei Vasilevskiy and Marc-Andre Fleury.</p><p>Of course, Saros has had to be that good given the Preds&rsquo; popgun attack. The downside of an offense relying on the sum of its parts is there&rsquo;s often the lack of a game-changer, and Nashville has struggled to consistently put pucks past opposing goalies. Add to it a poor penalty kill and a penchant for taking penalties, and that already inefficient offense has had to dig itself out of holes that it simply cannot. Given that&rsquo;s the case, the greatest threat to Nashville&rsquo;s success is that it simply sputters to a halt.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p>The hype surrounding <b>EELI TOLVANEN</b> in 2018 was outsized, but any hope he would be an overnight NHL sensation was quickly quelled. However, given the chance to settle into Nashville this season, Tolvanen has come alive. He unexpectedly challenged for the team goal-scoring lead, and his scoring rate per 60 at all strengths is in the same neighborhood as Ryan O&rsquo;Reilly, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jonathan Marchessault. The breakout potential exists if Tolvanen doesn&rsquo;t shrink in the spotlight.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0066-0164/724520-1-eng-US/f0066-012.jpg" title="f0066-01" width="1044" height="620"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0066-0238/724513-1-eng-US/f0066-022.jpg" title="f0066-02" width="1591" height="638"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p>Whether he&rsquo;s the starting goalie or watching from the bench, longtime face-of-the-franchise <b>PEKKA RINNE</b> is the clear-cut choice to take the Cup from Roman Josi.</p><h2><b>FANTASY</b>&nbsp;<b>ZONE</b></h2><p>While Nashville&rsquo;s forward production can be largely a mixed bag, what you see from <b>ROMAN JOSI</b> is what you get. During Nashville&rsquo;s two longest playoff runs (2016 and 2017), Josi finished No. 2 in playoff scoring both years. That&rsquo;s because he&rsquo;s on the ice in all situations and has his hand in most offensive opportunities. Regardless of how far the Preds go, Josi will be a headliner.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/josi_roman2/724499-1-eng-US/josi_roman2.jpg" title="josi_roman" width="223" height="264"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

NASHVILLE PREDATORS

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_052.jpg" title="common_05" width="511" height="73"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/nyi_barzal10/724600-1-eng-US/nyi_barzal2.jpg" title="nyi_barzal" width="813" height="1206"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>MATHEW BARZAL</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(BRAD PENNER-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>N</span>EW YORK&rsquo;S RECIPE</b> for success is no secret, but darned if it isn&rsquo;t effective. The Islanders have been one of the most difficult teams to play against during the reign of GM Lou Lamoriello and coach Barry Trotz thanks to a rabid, heavy forecheck, well-structured defense and above-average goaltending.</p><p>Once again the Islanders are one of the NHL&rsquo;s stingiest squads, and they&rsquo;re doing so without putting up dominant possession numbers. The offense is average, but the power play is down in the bottom third of the league.</p><p>While the team doesn&rsquo;t have a ton of high-end weapons, Mathew Barzal is the straw that stirs the drink, and forwards such as Brock Nelson and Jordan Eberle have upped their games in the post-season before. Bringing in Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmieri from the Devils adds more playoff pop. There&rsquo;s also the intrigue in rookie Oliver Wahlstrom, the talented winger who has found his NHL footing, and mobile first-year defenseman Noah Dobson, who&rsquo;s also making an impact while playing sheltered minutes.</p><p>The fact the Isles are used to playing tight, heavy-checking hockey tends to give them an advantage in the playoffs, though they have yet to break through. In the crease, Semyon Varlamov has been splendid, while Russian understudy and rookie Ilya Sorokin has fit in nicely during his first NHL campaign. Having two competent goaltenders is practically a necessity for the playoffs these days, and the Islanders can be confident in that respect.</p><p>Now, they have to face that existential question that has dogged them of late: can they beat an elite team in the later rounds? The Islanders have knocked off some unprepared teams in the past, but in order to get over the hump, they&rsquo;ll have to keep up with teams that score more than they do and also know how to lock it down.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p>New York isn&rsquo;t exactly loaded on the back end. Dobson will get there soon, but for now 30-year-old <b>NICK LEDDY</b> is the chief power-play guy and the leading scorer among Islanders blueliners by a wide margin. Leddy is also one of the few Stanley Cup winners on the roster. If the Islanders are going to make a long run, they&rsquo;ll need Leddy&rsquo;s minutes, playmaking and leadership. But, when it comes to point production in the playoffs, they&rsquo;ll need him to do more than he has done in the past.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0067-0138/724593-1-eng-US/f0067-012.jpg" title="f0067-01" width="1044" height="620"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0067-0213/724586-1-eng-US/f0067-022.jpg" title="f0067-02" width="1590" height="646"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p>As the senior member of the squad, <b>ANDY GREENE</b> is a great candidate, especially since he started his career in New Jersey a few seasons after the Devils&rsquo; glory years.</p><h2><b>FANTASY</b>&nbsp;<b>ZONE</b></h2><p>The exceptional all-situational play of <b>JEAN-GABRIEL PAGEAU</b> is what attacted the Islanders to him in the first place. There isn&rsquo;t a game scenario that would limit his turn in the rotation. It&rsquo;s quite the contrary &ndash; his ice time increases at crunch time. Pageau is also a proven playoff performer, potting goals at a much higher pace compared to his regular-season rate.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/pageau_jean_104/724572-1-eng-US/pageau_jean_1042.jpg" title="pageau_jean_104" width="223" height="250"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_052.jpg" title="common_05" width="511" height="73"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/pit_malkin5/724673-1-eng-US/pit_malkin2.jpg" title="pit_malkin" width="856" height="1238"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>EVGENI MALKIN</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(TIMOTHY T. LUDWIG-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>M</span>UCH LIKE RIVAL</b> Washington, Pittsburgh is a rollercoaster of a team this year. The Penguins score a ton, while also giving up a ton &ndash; so it&rsquo;s going to be interesting to see if this team can actually lock it down in the playoffs.</p><p>When it comes to offense, Pittsburgh still has the vaunted 1-2 punch of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to build around, and having two elite centers in the post-season is always an advantage. Add in Jake Guentzel, who often turns into a goal-scoring superhero in the playoffs, and you&rsquo;ve got a great base when it comes to offense. While the Penguins aren&rsquo;t as fast as they used to be, they&rsquo;ve still got some burners in wingers Jason Zucker and Kasperi Kapanen. Likewise, they&rsquo;re not the dominant possession team they were five years ago, but Pittsburgh is still decent in that category.</p><p>The Penguins also have the benefit of a battle-tested bench boss who has won before in Mike Sullivan, but behind that, the defense and goaltending are big concerns. While Kris Letang is still producing as the team&rsquo;s No. 1 option on the blueline, the cast behind him has degraded over the years. Michael Matheson has been better than most outsiders had anticipated, but this &lsquo;D&rsquo; group will need to really step up for the Penguins to have a chance of going far. The penalty-killing unit has been one of the worst in the NHL, and while injuries have taken a toll on the roster, at some point the bleeding has to stop.</p><p>Perhaps the biggest concern, however, should be the goaltending. Tristan Jarry has been subpar after being thrust into the starting role, while backup Casey DeSmith has been merely average. The Penguins have been prone to high-scoring games &ndash; and not always in their favor. Can one of their netminders really heat up in the post-season and go on a big run?</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p>When <b>EVGENI MALKIN</b> goes off, the Penguins usually have playoff success. The Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 2009, Malkin also led Pittsburgh in scoring en route to the Cup in 2017. Malkin missed time before the trade deadline due to injury, but if he&rsquo;s healthy when the playoffs start, he&rsquo;ll be one of the most dangerous players around. A surefire Hall of Famer whose big frame is matched by his dynamic skill set, he can take over a series &ndash; which means opponents have to pick their poison between him and Crosby.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0069-0136/724666-1-eng-US/f0069-012.jpg" title="f0069-01" width="1043" height="621"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0069-0217/724659-1-eng-US/f0069-022.jpg" title="f0069-02" width="1594" height="644"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p>Since all the Penguins&rsquo; veterans have already won titles, <b>JASON ZUCKER</b> works as a new guy who needs a lift. The 28-year-old has never been past the second round.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p>If you miss out on kingpins Crosby, Malkin and Guentzel &ndash; the latter because he&rsquo;s always even better in the post-season &ndash; a nice consolation prize in your playoff pool is <b>BRYAN RUST.</b> The crafty winger is close to 100 points in his past 100 regular-season games and he&rsquo;s usually on the ice with two of those stars, including prime power-play time. His on-ice vision is outstanding.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/rust_bryan/724645-1-eng-US/rust_bryan2.jpg" title="rust_bryan" width="223" height="256"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_042.jpg" title="common_04" width="520" height="71"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/stl_oreilly_047/724746-1-eng-US/stl_oreilly_0472.jpg" title="stl_oreilly_047" width="862" height="1287"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>RYAN O&rsquo;REILLY</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(JEFF CURRY-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span> CAMPAIGN RIFE</b> with inconsistency included a vile run into the trade deadline, but this particular Blues group possesses the one attribute that teams relish at this time of year: experience.</p><p>By and large, St. Louis&rsquo; roster looks awfully similar to the one that captured the Stanley Cup in the last pre-pandemic NHL season. In fact, there&rsquo;s been little turnover at the top end of the lineup. Still leading the way offensively, in much the same way they guided the top-six two years ago, are the likes of David Perron, Brayden Schenn and Vladimir Tarasenko, the latter&rsquo;s return a welcome addition as the league entered the homestretch. But the true guiding light, as he has been since his arrival, is captain Ryan O&rsquo;Reilly. The two-way dynamo won the Conn Smythe Trophy for his playoff performance back in 2019&rsquo;s Cup-winning campaign, and he remains the Blues&rsquo; greatest asset. He can dominate his matchups and erase almost any opposing pivot from the competition.</p><p>Of great concern, however, is the blueline, particularly beyond the top pair of Torey Krug and Justin Faulk. The relative newcomers &ndash; and two of the Blues&rsquo; three blueline regulars who weren&rsquo;t present for the Cup victory &ndash; have done well in their roles. The same can&rsquo;t always be said for the remaining rearguards. Marco Scandella, especially, has had a tough go in his first full season in St. Louis.</p><p>And chaotic defending has often led to catastrophic results for the Blues. Goaltender Jordan Binnington has had, as the club&rsquo;s results suggest, an up-and-down year that has been average and nothing more, while backup Ville Husso has had some howlers. So, while stout defensive play and exceptional goaltending were the calling cards during the championship run, this current Blues iteration has had neither. That generally isn&rsquo;t a harbinger of success.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p>Which <b>JORDAN BINNINGTON</b> shows up in the playoffs: the one who was on the shortlist of Conn Smythe candidates two years ago or the one who posted a putrid .851 SP in five games in the 2020 playoff bubble? We know Binnington has the ability to get red-hot and steal a series. His mix of experience and self-confidence can be a boon when the pressure is on in the post-season, and the entire hockey world has witnessed what can happen when the Blues netminder gets into a groove.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0070-0133/724739-1-eng-US/f0070-012.jpg" title="f0070-01" width="1040" height="620"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0070-029/724732-1-eng-US/f0070-022.jpg" title="f0070-02" width="1592" height="638"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p>As the blueline linchpin and player with more NHL games than any other Blue who has yet to hoist the Stanley Cup, <b>JUSTIN FAULK</b> takes the second lap.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p><b>JORDAN KYROU</b> will finish among the top five Blues in points, but monitor how he does down the stretch before making him an early pick off your St. Louis list. The return of Vladimir Tarasenko ate into Kyrou&rsquo;s ice time, including seven straight games below his season average. The offense dried up too, with points in just three of the first 17 games after Tarasenko&rsquo;s return.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/kyrou_jorda_046/724718-1-eng-US/kyrou_jorda_0462.jpg" title="kyrou_jorda_046" width="223" height="269"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

ST. LOUIS BLUES

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_062.jpg" title="common_06" width="615" height="73"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/tb_hedman6/724819-1-eng-US/tb_hedman2.jpg" title="tb_hedman" width="833" height="1207"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>VICTOR HEDMAN</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(KIM KLEMENT-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE 2019-20 LIGHTNING</b> evolved and learned how to win ugly without sacrificing their unparalleled skill. The 2020-21 Lightning have the championship formula and, even without superstar Nikita Kucherov, play like a team hungry to repeat.</p><p>With players on Hall of Fame trajectories at every position, the Bolts have dynasty potential. Relative to age, goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, 26, is accomplishing things only legends have done. With a Stanley Cup, a Vezina Trophy and possibly a second Vezina coming, his career to date compares with the likes of Patrick Roy, Grant Fuhr and Terry Sawchuk at 26. Wow. Whereas the analytics in previous seasons suggested &lsquo;Vasy&rsquo; got a lot of help from his defense, he grades out as legitimately elite this year.</p><p>It helps that Vasilevskiy has a Norris Trophy frontrunner in Victor Hedman patrolling the blueline in front of him for about half of every game. Hedman seems to be getting better in his 30s. Team captain Steven Stamkos has delivered a (mostly) healthy season when Tampa Bay needed it most, recapturing his deadly goal-scoring touch. The Bolts have pretty much every type of player you need to win: great two-way centers in Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli, grinding checkers in Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow, a shutdown stalwart on defense in Ryan McDonagh and an emerging star puck-moving blueliner in Mikhail Sergachev. They can win in so many ways.</p><p>While the Lightning remain a decent defensive club, they&rsquo;ve slipped slightly. At 5-on-5, they rank close to the middle of the pack in allowing high-danger chances and actually sit in the bottom third in scoring chances against per 60, which is why Vasilevskiy has had to bail them out more often this season. Discipline remains an annual problem. Tampa Bay ranks among the three most penalized teams in the league for a third consecutive season.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p><b>NIKITA KUCHEROV</b> is expected to recover from hip surgery in time to for the playoffs. If he&rsquo;s even 80 percent, he&rsquo;ll be a better upgrade than any trade-deadline addition at forward. Across four seasons preceding this one, only Connor McDavid had more points, and only three active players average more points per game in the playoffs than Kucherov. But hip surgeries are no joke. It&rsquo;s difficult to dive into the intensity of playoff action with no warmup games. How long will he take to find his footing?</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0071-0135/724812-1-eng-US/f0071-012.jpg" title="f0071-01" width="1044" height="620"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0071-0213/724805-1-eng-US/f0071-022.jpg" title="f0071-02" width="1590" height="643"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p>Almost all the current Bolts players have 2020 Cup rings, but trade-deadline acquisition <b>DAVID SAVARD</b> would be a first-time champ after years in Columbus.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p><b>ALEX KILLORN</b> didn&rsquo;t have the offensive followup to match his breakthrough 2019-20 when he scored at a 30-goal pace. But the post-season is a different beast. Killorn plays top-six minutes, sees duty on the second unit of both special teams and is the type of depth forward who helps grind down the opposition. After the first wave of Bolts gets picked, Killorn comes next.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/killorn_ale_126/724791-1-eng-US/killorn_ale_1262.jpg" title="killorn_ale_126" width="223" height="250"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

<div class="byline">BY MATT LARKIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_032.jpg" title="common_03" width="550" height="73"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/tor_marner4/724892-1-eng-US/tor_marner2.jpg" title="tor_marner" width="722" height="1296"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>MITCH MARNER</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(JOHN E. SOKOLOWSKI-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span>FTER BOWING OUT</b> in their opening playoff series for a fourth straight year, the Leafs entered 2020-21 under as much pressure as any team in the league. Determined to make his club harder to play against, GM Kyle Dubas brought in shutdown blueliner T.J. Brodie, checker Wayne Simmonds, bruising defenseman Zach Bogosian and future Hall of Famer Joe Thornton. Doing so meant sacrificing skilled wingers Andreas Johnsson and Kasperi Kapanen to fit the payroll.</p><p>So did Toronto successfully blend stinginess with skill? The short answer is yes. They rank among the league&rsquo;s 10 best teams at limiting shots on goal, and they&rsquo;re finally a top-10 team in expected goals against per 60 at 5-on-5. Neither achievement had ever happened in the era of contention that began when the Leafs drafted Auston Matthews first overall in 2016.</p><p>Crucially, the Leafs have become a better two-way team without sacrificing their trademark high-octane offense. At press time, they boasted two of the NHL&rsquo;s top five scorers in Matthews and Mitch Marner, with Matthews leading the NHL&rsquo;s goal-scoring race. With John Tavares and William Nylander driving the second line, Toronto owns a top-four offense in the league, and only one team generates more high-danger shot attempts per 60 at 5-on-5.</p><p>The question is whether the Leafs&rsquo; new balanced identity will show up when it counts. While they&rsquo;re improved defensively, they&rsquo;re roughly at the league average when it comes to limiting high-danger chances. With unreliable goaltending, they can get caught in track meets. They&rsquo;re an elite offensive club, but their power play is strangely inconsistent, prone to ice-cold stretches. It&rsquo;s debatable whether this team knows how to win in high-stakes games, too. Jake Muzzin and Bogosian have Cup rings, but most members of the core group have never won a playoff series.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p>Hockey folklore suggests teams play better in front of some goalies than others, and there&rsquo;s magic when <b>JACK CAMPBELL</b> suits up. Having battled back after spending years with a &ldquo;bust&rdquo; label as a fallen first-round pick, he&rsquo;s one of the league&rsquo;s most liked players. He won his first 11 games of the season and was wresting the No. 1 job from an injured and inconsistent Frederik Andersen. Can Campbell be a playoff hero? It&rsquo;s not so crazy. His draft pedigree, after all, suggested he was supposed to become a star.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0072-0134/724885-1-eng-US/f0072-012.jpg" title="f0072-01" width="1148" height="672"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0072-0212/724878-1-eng-US/f0072-022.jpg" title="f0072-02" width="1592" height="638"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p><b>JOE THORNTON</b>, sixth on the NHL&rsquo;s all-time games list, might be the No. 1 sentimental pick league-wide among all active players who haven&rsquo;t won a championship.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p>It&rsquo;s a surprise that <b>WAYNE SIMMONDS</b> has never played beyond the second round of the playoffs and that his career output in the post-season pales in comparison to the regular season. He&rsquo;s made a career out of bearing down in the hardhat areas that become more expansive in the playoffs. And his versatility playing up and down the lineup will keep him in the spotlight.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/simmonds_wa_097/724864-1-eng-US/simmonds_wa_0972.jpg" title="simmonds_wa_097" width="224" height="250"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN COSTELLO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_042.jpg" title="common_04" width="520" height="71"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/veg_paciore_099/724965-1-eng-US/veg_paciore_0992.jpg" title="veg_paciore_099" width="736" height="1252"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>MAX PACIORETTY</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(JOHN LOCHER/POOL PHOTOS-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>ALK ABOUT THE</b> attributes of the Golden Knights and dialogue typically starts with snipers Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty. Then you get into the next wave of offense &ndash; William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault, Alex Tuch. And don&rsquo;t forget about Norris Trophy vote-getters Shea Theodore and Alex Pietrangelo on the blueline. This team can get you in so many ways.</p><p>But truth be told, it&rsquo;s mostly about defense in Vegas. The Golden Knights are the stingiest team in the league. That&rsquo;s a trademark of coach Peter DeBoer. He guided teams in San Jose, New Jersey and Florida in much the same way. Take care of your own end first, and the offense comes when it comes. Vegas is the highest-scoring team in the third period, so it&rsquo;s a formula that works.</p><p>The Golden Knights rank just middle of the pack league-wide in goal production and bottom third in power-play efficiency. That&rsquo;s a drop-off from their first couple years in the league when they were closer to the top. But they are very much about puck possession and learned early that controlling play is the best form of defense. And since DeBoer came over from San Jose in the middle of last season, they&rsquo;ve been close to head of the class. Only Colorado has a better record since Jan. 15, 2020, the date DeBoer replaced Gerard Gallant. A relentless forecheck and intense back pressure keep opposition chances at a minimum. Vegas is one of just three teams with more takeaways than giveaways, and its ratio is far and away the best in the NHL.</p><p>The Vegas blueline includes shutdown specialists Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb along with impressive youngsters Nicolas Hague, Zach Whitecloud and Dylan Coghlan. They&rsquo;re a big reason why Marc-Andre Fleury is experiencing a renaissance. Only Minnesota blocks more shots per 60 than Vegas (15.04).</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p>It was in this spot last year we had Robin Lehner after he came over from Chicago at the deadline to solidify the crease. But <b>MARC-ANDRE FLEURY</b> experienced a rebirth at 36, and he has the credentials to be a difference-maker &ndash; even after it looked as though he&rsquo;d be on the move before the season even started. Fleury is a big-game player who has been through the rigors of a long playoff run. Perhaps that&rsquo;s why the Golden Knights weren&rsquo;t ready to completely hand over the reins to Lehner.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0073-0142/724958-1-eng-US/f0073-012.jpg" title="f0073-01" width="1038" height="622"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0073-0223/724951-1-eng-US/f0073-022.jpg" title="f0073-02" width="1593" height="638"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p>It would make sense the first pass goes from Mark Stone to <b>WILLIAM KARLSSON</b> or Jonathan Marchessault, franchise leaders in games played and original Knights.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p>If you&rsquo;re one of those poolies who goes down the scoring list on a contending team drafting players, you won&rsquo;t have a chance at <b>REILLY SMITH</b>. That&rsquo;s because the rock-solid top-six winger is coming off a rocky regular season that had him well down the Vegas scoring parade. Fact is, Smith raises his game in the post-season, and what better time to see him revert to his norm?</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/smith_reill_098/724937-1-eng-US/smith_reill_0982.jpg" title="smith_reill_098" width="223" height="258"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_052.jpg" title="common_05" width="511" height="73"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/wsh_ovechki_134/725038-1-eng-US/wsh_ovechki_1342.jpg" title="wsh_ovechki_134" width="727" height="1269"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>ALEX OVECHKIN</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(GEOFF BURKE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>HEN THE CAPITALS</b> are on the ice, goals will be scored &ndash; at both ends. Washington has long been marked by offense during the Alex Ovechkin/Nicklas Backstrom era, and that has continued in 2020-21, where the Caps have ranked near the top of the NHL in goals and goals against. Part of that has been due to unexpected absences in net, from Henrik Lundqvist (heart) and, for a time, Ilya Samsonov (COVID-19), but another part is just the way Washington is built. The player perhaps most endemic of this idea is John Carlson, the star blueliner who racks up points while struggling defensively at times.</p><p>Having said that, the Caps are far from an easy out. Washington is a big, heavy team up front thanks to the likes of Ovechkin, Tom Wilson and T.J. Oshie (who plays bigger than his frame). Add Evgeny Kuznetsov, and you&rsquo;ve got more than enough game-breakers.</p><p>The Capitals are not a great faceoff team, and they&rsquo;re merely middle of the pack when it comes to puck possession, but they have been a surprisingly effective squad on the penalty kill. Speedster Carl Hagelin has done good work on that unit, while newcomer Zdeno Chara has used his reach and brawn to keep the front of the net clear as much as possible.</p><p>One major question heading into the post-season is in the crease. Samsonov was the reason Washington was comfortable parting with Braden Holtby, and the youngster has been getting his wins, albeit in a Grant Fuhr bend-don&rsquo;t-break way. Vitek Vanecek has also been a pleasant surprise, though neither youngster has impressive stats. Could unfamiliarity actually work to their advantage in the playoffs? We&rsquo;ve seen it happen with Matt Murray in Pittsburgh and Jordan Binnington in St. Louis &ndash; but the kids could also get exposed in a seven-game series.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p>It is hard to find players like <b>TOM WILSON</b> these days, which is why the heat-seeking power forward is so valuable. But Wilson is only valuable if he&rsquo;s on the ice, and suspensions have been a problem. If Wilson can walk that line between throwing devastating hits and suspendable hits, then he&rsquo;s a handful. Truly, it&rsquo;s up to Wilson to make sure he&rsquo;s on the ice as much as possible. From hits to fights to points, the menacing winger brings old-time heaviness to playoff games.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0074-0133/725031-1-eng-US/f0074-012.jpg" title="f0074-01" width="1044" height="622"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0074-0210/725024-1-eng-US/f0074-022.jpg" title="f0074-02" width="1592" height="636"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p>Henrik Lundqvist would be a no-brainer, but if you want someone in uniform, <b>ZDENO CHARA</b> is perfect. He&rsquo;s won already, but he&rsquo;s nearing the end of a Hall of Fame career.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p>Do you expect the Caps to go far in the playoffs? If so, make <b>T.J. OSHIE</b> a higher pick than you&rsquo;d expect from a player whose 82-game point range is 55 to 60. The further Oshie goes in the playoffs, the better he gets. In three consecutive extended playoffs from 2016 to 2018, Oshie scored at a much higher rate than he did during that year&rsquo;s regular season. He&rsquo;s a proven money player.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/oshie_t.j/725010-1-eng-US/oshie_t.j2.jpg" title="oshie_t.j" width="223" height="250"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

WASHINGTON CAPITALS

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_032.jpg" title="common_03" width="550" height="73"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/wpg_hellebu_135/725111-1-eng-US/wpg_hellebu_1352.jpg" title="wpg_hellebu_135" width="810" height="1104"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>CONNOR HELLEBUYCK</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(PERRY NELSON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>DIFFERENT SEASON, SAME</b> question: how far can Connor Hellebuyck carry the Jets?</p><p>Don&rsquo;t get the wrong idea. The Jets have plenty of strengths. Their top-six firepower is the envy of most clubs throughout the NHL, with top-tier scorers such as Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers leading the way. Winnipeg also possesses a versatile supporting cast up front. Andrew Copp&rsquo;s performance this season may price him out come free agency, Adam Lowry is a tremendous middle-six pivot, and, while he hasn&rsquo;t been a revelation, Pierre-Luc Dubois has been steady since arriving.</p><p>Even defensively, the Jets have the pieces. Neal Pionk continues to prove that Winnipeg didn&rsquo;t get swindled in &ndash; and maybe even won &ndash; the Jacob Trouba trade. Josh Morrissey, when at his best, is a steady top-pairing defender. And there&rsquo;s depth, too, with Dylan DeMelo and Tucker Poolman pulling their weight.</p><p>But the reality is the Jets&rsquo; style of play puts much of the onus on goaltending, and Winnipeg&rsquo;s playoff fortunes are almost wholly dependent on Hellebuyck&rsquo;s play. A cursory flip through the stats illustrates as much. At even strength, the Jets are among the league&rsquo;s most porous clubs in terms of scoring and high-danger chances. Yet, the Jets give up fewer goals against per game than two-thirds of the NHL. That&rsquo;s all Hellebuyck, who is proving again he is among the few truly elite netminders.</p><p>Troubling, however, is that since the Jets&rsquo; trip to the Western Conference final in 2018, Hellebuyck has only been OK in the post-season. He has a .909 save percentage in 10 games since that run, and Winnipeg hasn&rsquo;t won a series. It&rsquo;s only a matter of time before Hellebuyck delivers a dominant post-season performance, but anything less is almost certain to mean an early exit for the Jets.</p><h2><b>X- FACTOR</b></h2><p>Surely it&rsquo;s a grating narrative for <b>NIKOLAJ EHLERS</b>, but the numbers are the numbers, and his statistical performance in the playoffs leaves much to be desired. If ever there was a year for Ehlers to strut his stuff, though, this is it. No longer is he a bit player or Patrik Laine&rsquo;s buddy. He is the Jets&rsquo; most electric player, a threat every time he&rsquo;s on the ice. If he finds the playoff scoring touch that has eluded him, Ehlers has the ability to change any series. If he stumbles again, however, those nagging questions will persist.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0075-0131/725104-1-eng-US/f0075-012.jpg" title="f0075-01" width="1044" height="620"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0075-0212/725097-1-eng-US/f0075-022.jpg" title="f0075-02" width="1590" height="638"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon_012.jpg" title="common_01" width="152" height="326"></div><h2><b>1ST CUP PASS</b></h2><p><b>PAUL STASTNY</b> is by no means a superstar, but he&rsquo;s been a valuable cog everywhere he&rsquo;s played throughout his career. He&rsquo;s deserving of his Cup moment.</p><h2><b>FANTASY ZONE</b></h2><p>Fans are going to know to take <b>PIERRE-LUC DUBOIS</b> higher than where he finished on Winnipeg&rsquo;s scoring list. After all, he&rsquo;s a marquee center who cost the Jets Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic. But don&rsquo;t put him too high. Since arriving from Columbus, Dubois was getting just third-line minutes, was a distant ninth in power-play time on ice among forwards and had just one power play goal.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/dubois_pier_136/725083-1-eng-US/dubois_pier_1362.jpg" title="dubois_pier_136" width="223" height="268"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

WINNIPEG JETS

<div class="byline">BY WILL MACLAREN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="1971memcup1_023" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/1971memcup1_023/725212-1-eng-US/1971memcup1_0232.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>REDOUBTABLE REMPARTS</b></p><p><i>Quebec&rsquo;s high-flying offense, led by Lafleur, was the catalyst for their run to glory in 1971.</i></p><p></p> <span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO MODERNE/HOCKEY HALL OF FAME)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span> HALF-CENTURY HAS</b> passed since Andre Savard and his Quebec Remparts teammates hoisted the 1971 Memorial Cup on home ice. It was a remarkable triumph, made even more so given the drama leading up to it. It was a year of hockey that, 50 years later, is still fresh in the minds of those who were a part of it.</p><p>&ldquo;You remember the players, the moments,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;The memories will always be there.&rdquo;</p><p>The QMJHL was wrapping up just its second season in the spring of &rsquo;71. The league had been established in the lead-up to a large-scale reorganization of junior hockey by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, the precursor to the CHL. Canada&rsquo;s top junior ranks had been split into major junior and a second-tier circuit, now known as Jr. A, with the Memorial Cup as the major junior title. The QMJHL was very much fighting an arduous battle for respect, and out of the fledgling league emerged the Remparts. If the &lsquo;Q&rsquo; was going to earn a modicum of validity, this would be the team to deliver it.</p><p>In 1970-71, fans of the Remparts packed the Colisee in Quebec City, typically to beyond capacity. The Remparts were so dominant that their 54-7-1 regular-season record bettered their closest competitors, the Shawinigan Bruins, by a staggering 32 points. Back then, the only mention of the trap was in reference to either a goaltender&rsquo;s glove or perhaps a method of arena rodent control, but even with that wide-open style, the offensive feats posted by the players in red, white and black were otherworldly. Led by a 130-goal performance from a 20-year-old from Thurso, Que., named Guy Lafleur, the Remparts averaged over seven goals per game in the regular season. This display of dominance continued into the post-season, where the Remparts dispatched Verdun, Trois-Rivieres and Shawinigan to the tune of a 12-1-1 record. &ldquo;We had a lot of good offensive players,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;We had Guy, of course. He was dominant. But we also had guys like Jacques Richard, Rejean Giroux, Michel Briere. Back then there was no video. Did we have a clear system? Probably not.&rdquo;</p><p>Making up for the lack of systems was an abundance of motivation from behind the bench. Before he became the longtime GM of the Quebec Nordiques, Maurice Filion was tasked with keeping this star-studded lineup in check. &ldquo;Maurice was a coach that demanded a lot,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;He had us working hard in both directions. He knew we were good, and from game to game made sure we were ready. If we slipped, he didn&rsquo;t like it too much.&rdquo;</p><p>Prior to joining the Remparts, Filion had cut his teeth with the Drummondville Rangers, hometown team of a kid named Marcel Dionne. Looking back at the QMJHL&rsquo;s early years, it is Dionne who best exemplifies the league&rsquo;s struggle for legitimacy at that time.</p><p>In the fall of 1968, Dionne was coming off his first season with the Rangers in the Quebec Jr. A League when he opted to leave his hometown for the Ontario Hockey Association&rsquo;s St. Catharines Black Hawks. He quickly discovered the move was the right one and didn&rsquo;t return, even when the QMJHL was born a year later.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/1971memcup8_024/725205-1-eng-US/1971memcup8_0242.jpg" title="1971memcup8_024" width="977" height="1200"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>GUY LAFLEUR</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO MODERNE/HOCKEY HALL OF FAME)</span></figcaption></div><p>In 1970-71, while Lafleur was making a mockery of the QMJHL, Dionne was putting together another jaw-dropping campaign with the Black Hawks after posting 100 and 132 points in his first two years in St. Catharines. In his third season, he captured his second consecutive scoring title &ndash; with 143 points in 46 games &ndash; despite missing several weeks with a broken collarbone. Fully recuperated, Dionne led the Black Hawks as they blitzed through the OHA playoffs, knocking off Kitchener, Montreal and Toronto, losing just twice in the process.</p><p>Next up was a battle with the Remparts in the Eastern Canada final. For the Black Hawks captain, that meant a date with Filion, his former coach, and Lafleur, the player who would be his comparative for years to come. It also meant facing a select group of resentful, emotional and politically charged fans who felt slighted at Dionne departing for Ontario.</p><p>Though not completely foreign 50 years ago, the media presence within the world of prospects and scouting was a completely different one. Savard, who would be drafted sixth overall by the Boston Bruins in 1973 and is currently a pro scout for the New Jersey Devils, remembers this well. &ldquo;Nowadays the media really build up junior-aged players,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;Back then, there was no world juniors. We didn&rsquo;t think about whether or not there were scouts in the crowd because there was less attention. I didn&rsquo;t even have an agent (in 1971). Nowadays, potential first-rounders have so much attention directed at them. There&rsquo;s so much more pressure.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/1971memcup6_020/725198-1-eng-US/1971memcup6_0202.jpg" title="1971memcup6_020" width="1143" height="1949"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>PREVIEW OF POWER</b></p><p><i>Before Dionne and Lafleur lit up the NHL, they went head-to-head for major junior&rsquo;s top prize.</i></p> <span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO MODERNE/HOCKEY HALL OF FAME)</span></figcaption></div><p>Yet even though prospects weren&rsquo;t anywhere nearly as hyped as they are today, it was still hard to escape the fact that the Eastern Canadian junior champions would be led by one of the top two prospects available in that summer&rsquo;s NHL amateur draft.</p><p>With Lafleur and Dionne set for their showdown, the series opened in St. Catharines. The Remparts secured a 4-2 victory behind the stellar goaltending of Michel Deguise, who had been loaned to the Remparts by Sorel, a common practice at the time. Savard still recalls the importance of that initial victory. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t know much about the Black Hawks beforehand,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Winning that first game was the most important thing. It gave us a lot of confidence. They had a very small rink. Marcel Dionne was a hell of a player, and a lot of their other guys went on to the NHL. It was a grind.&rdquo;</p><p>The Black Hawks evened things up with a resounding 8-3 triumph in Game 2, after which the series shifted to the Colisee. It was there that the grind turned into a powder keg.</p><p>The months leading up to the 1971 final had seen already simmering tensions in the province of Quebec reach a crescendo among the radical Front de liberation du Quebec that had led to the October Crisis of 1970. It had been just seven months since the kidnapping and murder of Quebec labor minister Pierre Laporte and the invocation of the War Measures Act by prime minister Pierre Trudeau. Though not as radical as the actions of the FLQ, the revolutionary attitudes of average citizens led to sentiments that would cause increasing hostilities toward those who, in their minds, turned their back on their home province.</p><p>This was the backdrop for Game 3. Entering the Colisee long before warmups, the Black Hawks were nonetheless greeted by a few thousand opposition fans sitting in the stands shouting epithets directed largely at Dionne and Pierre Guite, a rugged winger originally from Montreal. But Savard insists the attitude of certain Quebec fans did not extend to the Remparts dressing room. &ldquo;We never made a big deal over them going to the OHA,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was never brought up in our room. We just knew that we were going up against a very good team, and we&rsquo;d have to work hard to beat them. Obviously, we wanted to beat the OHA, but it didn&rsquo;t matter who was on the team.&rdquo;</p><p>The contest was a hostile one, with the Remparts pulling out a 3-1 victory in a rambunctious affair. Things got worse in Game 4, which saw the Remparts cruise to a 6-1 victory, led by a Lafleur hat trick. Again, the game was brawl-filled. Savard recalls coming to the aid of Briere, his 5-foot-4 teammate, as the bulkier Black Hawks took out their frustrations on their opponents. &ldquo;That was the first time I had my knee injured,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;I went to help out Michel, someone fell on me, and I twisted it. I only missed one game but had to get surgery in the off-season.&rdquo;</p><p>Tempers continued to flare in the stands as well. Irate fans harassed members of Dionne&rsquo;s family, threw debris on the ice (including eggs, coins and a knife) and attempted to engage members of the Black Hawks as they left the ice. The visitors required a police escort for their bus that now featured a flattened back tire. Once back at their hotel, a local contingent circled the building while players laid on the floor between their beds, mindful of the possibility of projectiles making their way through the windows.</p><p>Game 5 took place at Maple Leaf Gardens, where St. Catharines triumphed 6-3 to prolong the proceedings. The question now was whether or not to continue the series. Word at the time was that most Black Hawks players were adamant about not returning to Quebec. However, as Dionne states in his autobiography with Ted Mahovlich, <i>Triple Crown: The Marcel Dionne Story</i>, it was actually their parents who voiced the most concern while a vote among players indicated both Dionne and Guite, the initial targets of the Remparts fans&rsquo; vitriol, were not opposed to returning to Quebec. With events at a stalemate, St. Catharines offered to play Game 6 at the Montreal Forum, a proposal summarily dismissed by the Remparts. Finally, the Black Hawks organization sent CAHA president Earl Dawson an official letter of forfeiture, which was accepted on May 13. &ldquo;To be honest, we didn&rsquo;t see what happened, with the players going to the bus after the game,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;There was no footage on TV. We only found out later on. They lived it, went through it. They obviously were rattled. We were all kids. We played the fifth game in Toronto. If we had to go back to St. Catharines, I have no doubt we would&rsquo;ve been rattled, too.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/1971memcup2_016/725191-1-eng-US/1971memcup2_0162.jpg" title="1971memcup2_016" width="2167" height="1398"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTOS COURTESY OF QUEBEC REMPARTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>Savard maintains that he and his teammates were not privy to all the details at the time. But having gone through a similar situation the previous year, he wasn&rsquo;t surprised. In the 1970 Eastern semifinal against the Charlottetown Islanders, the Remparts had lost the first game, and with the second game out of reach late in the third period a bench-clearing brawl broke out. Things got ugly, and police were involved. Undeterred, the Remparts swept the next three games in Quebec and then returned to Charlottetown to finish off the Islanders in Game 6. &ldquo;We got rattled the year before against Charlottetown,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;I went to jail in Charlottetown. There was a brawl, I got kicked out and came back out. The police were holding our guys back and a couple of Charlottetown players took advantage. I tried to stop it and the police chased me down. But we still went back to Charlottetown. And we won. I can&rsquo;t say if it was as bad as what St. Catharines experienced, but they got together and decided not to come back.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/1971memcup5_019/725184-1-eng-US/1971memcup5_0192.jpg" title="1971memcup5_019" width="1387" height="975"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>GUY LAFLEUR</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO MODERNE/HOCKEY HALL OF FAME)</span></figcaption></div><p>Ask Darcy Rota, a rookie on the 1971 Edmonton Oil Kings, who was most instrumental in that year&rsquo;s Memorial Cup reaching its conclusion, and the answer comes without hesitation. &ldquo;Bill Hunter, our fiery owner,&rdquo; Rota said. &ldquo;I have nothing but the greatest admiration for him. He was really the driving force to make that Memorial Cup happen. He was willing to bring the Eastern champion out to Edmonton for a best-of-7, all expenses paid, pay them $5,000 a game. That never materialized, obviously.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">THEY OBVIOUSLY WERE RATTLED. WE WERE ALL KIDS. IF WE HAD TO GO BACK TO ST. CATHARINES, I HAVE NO DOUBT WE WOULD&rsquo;VE BEEN RATTLED, TOO<br>&ndash; Andre Savard</blockquote><p>Hunter was a man who thought big. He went on to become one of the WHA&rsquo;s founding fathers and the man responsible for the creation of the Edmonton Oilers. He was also the catalyst of an ill-fated movement to relocate the St. Louis Blues to Saskatoon, Sask., in the early 1980s. And he was never one to bite his tongue if he wanted something done, as when he pointedly commented, &ldquo;If the prime minister wants to do something right for the West for a change, he&rsquo;ll use the War Measures Act to enforce a Memorial Cup final.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/1971memcup7_021/725177-1-eng-US/1971memcup7_0212.jpg" title="1971memcup7_021" width="1020" height="1408"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>TASK MASTER</b></p><p><i>Coach Filion had the respect of his players. &ldquo;He demanded a lot. He had us working hard,&rdquo; Savard said.</i></p> <span class="photo-credit">(PHOTOS COURTESY OF QUEBEC REMPARTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>Military intervention was not required when Hunter issued a challenge to the Remparts for the top prize in Canadian junior hockey. The best-of-3 series would be contested at the Colisee, something that left Rota and his teammates a tad unsettled until they actually reached Quebec. &ldquo;Initially, flying in, we didn&rsquo;t know what to expect after what happened with St. Catharines,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We were told everything would be fine and it would be safe, but in no way did we expect the reception we got. When we arrived in Quebec City, there were 2,000 people at the airport to greet us. We had a huge motorcade to take us into the city from the airport, we stayed at the&nbsp;Chateau Frontenac. We were treated royally.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">IF THE PRIME MINISTER WANTS TO DO SOMETHING RIGHT FOR THE WEST FOR A CHANGE, HE&rsquo;LL USE THE WAR MEASURES ACT TO ENFORCE A MEMORIAL CUP FINAL<br>&ndash; Bill Hunter</blockquote><p>The Oil Kings were a fleet-footed group that featured future NHLers Rota, Don Kosak, Tom Bladon and Phil Russell. Led in net by 15-year-old Larry Hendrick, they had eliminated Saskatoon, Calgary and Flin Flon for the Western Canada League title. Now, settled in their chateau, the Oil Kings proceeded to accomplish something they hadn&rsquo;t been able to do in almost two weeks: conduct a proper practice. After beating Flin Flon on May 5, they didn&rsquo;t know whether or not their season was over, so they went back to Edmonton&hellip;and waited.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/1971memcup9_022/725170-1-eng-US/1971memcup9_0222.jpg" title="1971memcup9_022" width="1079" height="1365"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>GUY LAFLEUR</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(PHOTOS COURTESY OF QUEBEC REMPARTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;There was no ice to practise on in our gear,&rdquo; Rota said. &ldquo;The only ice we could find was at a figure-skating rink with breakable glass. We couldn&rsquo;t practise with pucks. All we could do was skate in our sweatpants. We didn&rsquo;t have a full practise for 11 days. We were excited to go to the Memorial Cup, but we probably weren&rsquo;t as prepared as we could&rsquo;ve been simply because of that. Not taking anything away from the Remparts, but I always wonder, if we&rsquo;d had the opportunity to properly prepare, what might&rsquo;ve happened?&rdquo;</p><p>What did happen was a two-game sweep for the hosts. On May 17, Lafleur scored once and added four assists in a 5-1 Remparts victory. Two nights later, junior hockey&rsquo;s most infamous season concluded in front of over 11,000 fans, as Jacques Richard scored twice and Savard added a single in the 5-2 victory. The city&rsquo;s first Memorial Cup was serenaded by enthusiastic fans with the team song, <i>&ldquo;Ils sont en or&rdquo;</i> (&ldquo;They are golden&rdquo;).</p><p>The 1971 Memorial Cup signalled the end of an era. A new, three-team format was introduced the following spring featuring the respective champions of the three major junior leagues. Rota&rsquo;s Oil Kings made an appearance at the 1972 event, while Savard captained the Remparts to the 1973 tournament. Although several players who battled for the 1971 Memorial Cup enjoyed NHL careers, the two focal points remained, as it was preordained, Dionne and Lafleur.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/1971memcup4_017/725163-1-eng-US/1971memcup4_0172.jpg" title="1971memcup4_017" width="1311" height="895"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/1971memcup3_018/725156-1-eng-US/1971memcup3_0182.jpg" title="1971memcup3_018" width="2117" height="1226"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>MEMORIAL MEMORIES</b></p><p><i>Lafleur and other members of the 1971 Remparts gathered in 2015 to relive their championship year.</i></p></figcaption></div><p>Dionne was drafted second overall by Detroit later that June. He made his way to Los Angeles in 1975 and became the face of the Kings franchise in the pre-Wayne Gretzky era. With 731 goals and 1,771 points on his resume, he remains arguably the greatest player never to win a Stanley Cup.</p><p>Winning continued to follow Lafleur. Selected first overall by Montreal, he found his footing after ditching his helmet. By the time he retired in 1991, &lsquo;The Flower&rsquo; laid claim to a plethora of accolades including five Stanley Cups. In 2019, the QMJHL named him the greatest player of the league&rsquo;s first 50 years.</p><p>Since then, sadly, Lafleur&rsquo;s cancer diagnosis has garnered more headlines than his legacy, but his Remparts teammates still remember the ride he led them on a half-century ago. &ldquo;I spoke to (Canadiens alumni president) Rejean Houle a few weeks ago to leave a message for Guy,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re all thinking about him.&rdquo;</p><p>Despite the passage of time, the man known to a generation of fans as &lsquo;Le Demon Blond&rsquo; is still beloved and remembered. Even by those who remember him <i>&ldquo;en or.&rdquo;</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

1971memcup1_023

1971 MEMORIAL CUP

THE GOLDEN GUYS

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="womens_demp_025" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/womens_demp_025/725264-1-eng-US/womens_demp_0252.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTOS COURTESY OF NWHL)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>J</span>ILLIAN DEMPSEY IS ABOUT</b> to commit what is tantamount to a sin to anyone born and raised in Massachusetts. Matter of fact, by the time she wraps up a nearly hour-long conversation, she cops to three transgressions against Boston sports fandom.</p><p>The most vile &ndash; the admittance that she once sported a New York Yankees visor &ndash; can be forgiven. It was half a lifetime ago when she was only a child. And, frankly, under the strict laws governing game-recognize-game, Dempsey can be exonerated for invoking the names of Yankees great Derek Jeter and late Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant when recounting athletes who&rsquo;ve inspired her rise to NWHL superstardom. It doesn&rsquo;t hurt Dempsey is exceedingly fast to repent, issuing a mea culpa for going against something as sacrosanct as Boston&rsquo;s deep-rooted sports rivalries.</p><p>It&rsquo;s a testament to Dempsey, though, that Jeter and Bryant are counted among those she emulates not necessarily for their in-game exploits but their dedication to their craft. After Bryant&rsquo;s passing, Dempsey became enthralled with the way he &ldquo;embraced the grind.&rdquo; As for Jeter, she can pinpoint words of inspiration. &ldquo;He has this quote,&rdquo; Dempsey said. &ldquo;&lsquo;Maybe some people have more talent than you, but there&rsquo;s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s something that I really believe and really buy into.&rdquo;</p><p>Evidence of her commitment is found at Lawrence Larsen Rink in Dempsey&rsquo;s hometown, Winthrop, Mass., every Friday morning throughout the NWHL season. Dempsey&rsquo;s dedication to her morning skates, with 5 a.m. wake-up calls and 6 a.m. ice times, are a thing of legend. Logging those lonesome skill sessions before her days as an elementary school teacher encapsulates who she is. It&rsquo;s why dedication, tenacity and competitiveness are traits oft cited by teammates and why Boston Pride coach Paul Mara calls Dempsey, the Pride captain, the &ldquo;epitome of a leader.&rdquo; Said Mara: &ldquo;She&rsquo;s 100-percent go all the time. She never quits, she gives everything she has and leaves it all on the ice. That&rsquo;s the kind of player you want, the kind of leader you want.&rdquo;</p><p>There is, too, a selflessness to the way Dempsey leads. She bears the baked-in attributes of most any hockey player, with modesty, humility and team-first mantras. She doesn&rsquo;t crave the spotlight. She wants to share it.</p><p>Case in point, the Pride&rsquo;s celebration of their 2021 Isobel Cup victory. Dempsey had waited five seasons to hoist the trophy for a second time, but all she could do during commissioner Ty Tumminia&rsquo;s playoff-closing remarks was count the seconds until she could pass &lsquo;Izzy&rsquo; to teammate Kaleigh Fratkin, a Cup-less six-season league veteran. &ldquo;I knew I wanted to bring it right to her for that moment,&rdquo; said Dempsey, who was named playoff MVP. &ldquo;All the years, all the hard work, all the extra sessions she put in, I was honored to be the one to be able to give her the Cup. And to watch everyone have their moment with it, the pure joy on their face, that&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;s all about.&rdquo;</p><p>One doesn&rsquo;t become a superstar on effort and leadership alone, however. Accolades are required, of which Dempsey has her share. She is the NWHL&rsquo;s all-time leading goal-scorer and point-getter, the only player to reach the 100-point plateau, and her 40-point 2019-20 campaign is the highest-scoring season in league history.</p><p>Invariably, some will seek to discredit Dempsey&rsquo;s totals with bad-faith arguments about the NWHL&rsquo;s level of competition and lack of Olympic roster members. That is a fool&rsquo;s errand. Dempsey won silver at the 2012 World Championship with Team USA. She was a key contributor alongside current Olympic mainstays on Pride teams and Boston Blades clubs in the defunct CWHL. And those who have played with her and watched her know better.</p><p>Fratkin asserted that Dempsey has been criminally overlooked because she doesn&rsquo;t have &ldquo;Olympic status.&rdquo; Described by Pride standout Christina Putigna, Dempsey is &ldquo;elite&rdquo; and &ldquo;the best of the best.&rdquo; Pride alternate captain McKenna Brand made her point by recounting the first time she saw Dempsey play. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know who she was at the time,&rdquo; Brand said. &ldquo;I remember going to that game and being like, &lsquo;Wow, that kid is awesome.&rsquo; That was a team with Hilary Knight, Brianna Decker, a lot of the U.S. national-team players, and I remember going to that game and thinking she was the best player on the ice.&rdquo;</p><p>These days, that is often the case with Dempsey. Putigna said Dempsey is the Pride&rsquo;s most valuable player every single game. Brand said the Pride don&rsquo;t win the Isobel Cup without Dempsey, and Fratkin echoes that sentiment. It&rsquo;s also Fratkin who brings forth the idea that what is being witnessed with Dempsey is a new phenomenon. Historically, women haven&rsquo;t been able to experience the type of mid-career prime that Dempsey is, as those who weren&rsquo;t considered top players coming out of college usually ended up falling by the wayside. Dempsey is receptive to the idea &ndash; &ldquo;She might be on to something there,&rdquo; she said &ndash; but is quicker to credit her core value of effort-over-everything than she is her own skills reaching their zenith as she enters her best on-ice years.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/womens_demp_027/725250-1-eng-US/womens_demp_0272.jpg" title="womens_demp_027" width="1651" height="1058"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>CHAMPIONSHIP SMILE</b></p><p>Dempsey took the long way back to the NWHL final, but all the extra time and hard work was worth it in the end.</p></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/womens_demp_028/725243-1-eng-US/womens_demp_0282.jpg" title="womens_demp_028" width="1105" height="728"></div><p>One question she ponders, though, is how much longer she&rsquo;ll continue to play. Without any prompting, Dempsey, 30, recalls being asked that question and her teammates joking she can be the Pride&rsquo;s Tom Brady or Zdeno Chara, playing into her 40s. She does recognize she&rsquo;s become one of the older players in the league. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to think about some of those things,&rdquo; Dempsey said. &ldquo;If you asked me when I was growing up if I was playing until I was 30, I probably wouldn&rsquo;t have thought I would because we don&rsquo;t see that often.&rdquo;</p><p>So, the answer? Undetermined. Dempsey is happy to keep taking it year by year. What is for certain, though, is what it will mean to the Pride when the day comes where she walks away. As her teammates and coaches are quick to say, it&rsquo;s Dempsey who has created an environment and culture around the Pride that has made the team so successful.</p><p>&ldquo;The Boston Pride really isn&rsquo;t the Boston Pride without Jillian Dempsey,&rdquo; Fratkin said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really become that in the past four years. That&rsquo;s because she stepped into that position, got the chance and carved herself in that way. She&rsquo;s put so much pride and care into building this organization and into being a winning team, having the right culture. Whether it&rsquo;s on the ice or off the ice, she is the most integral part to the Boston Pride where it is today.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

womens_demp_025

NWHL

THE PRIDE OF BOSTON

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="internation_127" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/internation_127/725323-1-eng-US/internation_1272.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>RISE OF THE TEENAGERS</b></p><p>Belarus has been hothousing its best young players on under-17 and under-18 teams for the past decade.</p><p></p> <span class="photo-credit">(BELARUS ICE HOCKEY ASSOCIATION)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>S</span>TAYING ALIVE IN THE</b> top ranks of international hockey isn&rsquo;t easy, especially in a country with fewer than 10 million people. And though Belarus is passionate about hockey, developing talent at home is crucial when you&rsquo;re trying to keep up with other European programs.</p><p>From RuslanSalei to the Kos-titsyn brothers to Mikhail Grabovski to New Jersey Devils rookie Yegor Sharangovich, Belarus has produced notable talent over the years. But the key to surviving on the international stage may be its Team Belarus program.</p><p>Much like USA Hockey&rsquo;s National Team Development Program, the Team Belarus initiative brings together the best teenagers in the land. And like the Americans, the Belarusians boast both an under-17 team and an under-18 squad.</p><p>Originally formed for the 2011-12 season and the 1994 birth year, that first hothouse project saw teens play for a team called RTSOP Raubichi in the nation&rsquo;s third tier, the Vysshaya (&ldquo;Higher&rdquo;) League. In 2016-17, the program was renamed Team Belarus. The under-18s have since moved up to Extraleague B, the nation&rsquo;s second-best circuit, while the under-17 squad plays in the Vysshaya. (There also used to be an under-20 version, but it no longer exists.)</p><p>Playing against men back home, Team Belarus&rsquo; under-18s are obviously in tough on the local scene, but the results have been impressive. They didn&rsquo;t make the playoffs this season, but they didn&rsquo;t finish last, instead tying for fifth among seven teams. &ldquo;It turned out to be quite beneficial,&rdquo; said coach Dmitry Shulga through a translator. &ldquo;The guys practised their skills playing against much older players, who are also more experienced and make more mature decisions. They managed to get some experience, overcome their fears and show their character. It helps the guys to grow technically, tactically and psychologically.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/internation_128/725309-1-eng-US/internation_1282.jpg" title="internation_128" width="1023" height="770"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>ON-THE-JOB TRAINING</b></p><p>Under-18 coach Shulga says playing in Belarus&rsquo; second-tier league has been a valuable learning tool for his kids.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(BELARUS ICE HOCKEY ASSOCIATION)</span></figcaption></div><p>Left winger Sergei Kuznetsov is an alumnus of the program and now skates in the USHL for the Youngstown Phantoms. Through a translator, he also extolled the virtues of Team Belarus, particularly his time playing up a year with the under-18s. &ldquo;It has made me feel more confident playing in the USHL because I&rsquo;ve played against older guys,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good team. The older players back home helped by sharing their experience with me. I loved the team&rsquo;s atmosphere.&rdquo;</p><p>A big benefit of the program has been its impact on Belarus&rsquo; success at the world under-18s, where the national team once again competed in the top tier this year after making the quarterfinal in the previous two tournaments. (The 2020 tourney was cancelled due to the pandemic, so no one was promoted or relegated.) Simply surviving at that level has proven rather cutthroat of late. Consider that Slovakia, a nation that has medalled at both the under-18s and world juniors, was relegated to the second tier of the under-18s in 2019.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/internation_130/725302-1-eng-US/internation_1302.jpg" title="internation_130" width="1569" height="1081"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>MODEL DEVIL</b></p><p>New Jersey rookie Sharangovich is the latest Belarusian player to make it to the NHL.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(BRUCE BENNETT/POOL PHOTOS-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>This year, Belarus was in the same pool as Sweden and Canada. That may sound intimidating, but playing against those programs, as well as Team USA and Russia, in past tournaments has been a positive for the players. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big deal for my country to compete against those guys,&rdquo; Kuznetsov said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re the kings of hockey.&rdquo;</p><p>Heading into the tournament, which was held in Texas, Shulga acknowledged the challenge the traditional powers presented, but he also saw an opportunity for his players to see how they stacked up against the best. He planned to rely on the old coaching mantra of one win at a time, but he also wanted his squad to play aggressively. &ldquo;Our game will depend on the opponents we will face,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I think it will be fast, attacking and rough hockey.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">IF THE INSTITUTE OF NATIONAL TEAMS BRINGS UP PLAYERS WHO MAKE IT TO THE NHL DRAFT, THEN THIS INCREMENTAL GROWTH SERVES AS A BEACON THAT HELPS DEVELOP YOUNGER PLAYERS<br>&ndash; Dmitry Shulga, Belarus&rsquo; U-18 coach</blockquote><p>Along with team success, the Belarusians have also seen individuals thrive in the program. Sharangovich is a Team Belarus grad, as is Florida Panthers second-rounder Vladislav Kolyachonok, the two-way defenseman who captained the country&rsquo;s previous world under-18 entry. After Team Belarus, he went on to play for the OHL&rsquo;s Flint Firebirds and is now skating in the AHL for the Syracuse Crunch after starting the season in the KHL with Dinamo Minsk. &ldquo;When the guys start playing hockey, they have their own dreams,&rdquo; Shulga said. &ldquo;In order for their dreams to come true, it is important to see that players who are a bit older than they are have already succeeded. Then they understand that their efforts won&rsquo;t be in vain. If the institute of national teams brings up players who make it to the NHL draft, this incremental growth will serve as a beacon that helps develop younger players. Each of them dreams of playing in one of the strongest leagues in the world, and when they see there is a route ahead of them, it&rsquo;s easier to follow it.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/internation_129/725295-1-eng-US/internation_1292.jpg" title="internation_129" width="1082" height="729"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BELARUS ICE HOCKEY ASSOCIATION)</span></figcaption></div><p>And while there were no sure things on this year&rsquo;s squad, getting to play on the world stage gave Team Belarus&rsquo; players a chance to shine in front of a huge crowd of NHL scouts.</p><p>Because the pandemic has brought such chaos on the 2021 draft class, scouts were billing this year&rsquo;s world under-18s as the most important ever. Some of Canada&rsquo;s players were seeing their first organized action all year since the OHL hadn&rsquo;t started yet (and may not at all), while Finnish players on Helsinki-based clubs like Jokerit and HIFK hadn&rsquo;t been allowed to play since November. With all that as a backdrop, Team Belarus had to be on its toes all tournament. But if the program has proven anything in the past few years, it&rsquo;s that the Belarusians have been up to the challenge.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

internation_127

INTERNATIONAL

BLOOMING BELARUSIANS

<div class="byline">BY W. GRAEME ROUSTAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="business_no_132" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/business_no_132/725375-1-eng-US/business_no_1322.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BILL STREICHER-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>M</span>ORE THAN SIX YEARS</b> after he scored his last win as GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Dave Nonis secured a victory in court against the Canada Revenue Agency over federal income tax after he left the country.</p><p>The decision came April 14, 2021, when the Honorable Mr. Justice Randall S. Bocock found in favor of Nonis, who was relieved of his duties on April 12, 2015, after a 27-month term as Toronto GM.</p><p>While he was an executive of the NHL team and residing in Canada, Nonis had to pay federal income tax, which he did. But after he left his position and returned to live in the United States, the CRA required him to pay tax on his severance pay. But Nonis and his tax attorney, Mark Feigenbaum, saw it differently and took the matter to court.</p><p>Feigenbaum is considered by many a cross-border (Canada/U.S.) tax expert when it comes to professional athletes in sports and business executives&rsquo; affairs. He is an attorney and CPA on both sides of the border. When Nonis approached him with questions back in 2017, Feigenbaum decided he could take on the CRA. After a four-year battle, Nonis and Feigenbaum came out winners.</p><p>In David Nonis v. Her Majesty The Queen before the Tax Court of Canada Docket: 2018-1327(IT)G, the Honorable Mr. Justice Randall S. Bocock found in favor of Nonis.</p><p>The big winners, however, are all Canadian NHL teams, other professional sports franchises, entertainers and entities trying to attract the best and most talented executives from around the world to come to Canada. This one decision gives comfort and assurance to any executive coming north of the U.S. border for employment that they will not be hounded by the CRA once their job assignment ends in Canada.</p><p>NHL teams, and any Canadian business, for that matter, have difficulty attracting executives who are domiciled in other countries to join their organizations due to family concerns and tax considerations. The move is always a big decision for an executive, and this decision removes some of the issues that they have to take into consideration.</p><p>Nonis could have simply written the cheque to the CRA and been done with it, but the hockey player in him was prepared to go into the corners for his team if need be, and that is exactly where he ended up with the Canadian government.</p><p>The &ldquo;Nonis Rule,&rdquo; as it will undoubtedly become known, will help NHL teams and teams across Canada in all sports attract top front-office and sport-operations talent from around the world. This is great for hockey, basketball, baseball and every other sport and business in Canada. This is a big win for the Maple Leafs, six years after Nonis left as GM.</p><p><b><i>Disclaimer:</i></b>&nbsp;<i>Roustan Media Ltd., which owns The Hockey News, has used Mark Feigenbaum&rsquo;s professional services.</i></p><p><b>THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; OWNER</b> and publisher spoke with Mark Feigenbaum as part of his Peer-To-Peer series.</p><p><b>W. GRAEME ROUSTAN:</b> When you&rsquo;re taking care of your clients and they&rsquo;re about to sign a new contract or are in negotiations, obviously tax and planning for tax and legal implications are a big part of that. Do you get involved in the early stages with your clients, before they sign, for tax planning?</p><p><b>MARK FEIGENBAUM:</b> I leave where they&rsquo;re going to go to the agents and the players themselves. What I do is provide scenarios. And they&rsquo;re narrowing it down to a few places or were thinking about different kinds of contracts, I&rsquo;ll provide what we call the &lsquo;what ifs&rsquo; on &ldquo;what if we were to move here?&rdquo; And a lot of it depends on the teams that they play, so going to a division that plays more West Coast teams, or might be a division that plays more Canadian teams, or more East Coast. So there&rsquo;s a lot of scenarios we run, and I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s the deciding factor in anybody&rsquo;s contract. But I think there is a consideration of that.</p><p><b>WGR:</b> So you get in early on the planning stage. This is very important to all these professional athletes, the front office, executives, anybody travelling with the teams. You&rsquo;re very involved in the planning process from Day 1. That&rsquo;s what you provide your clients with, correct?</p><p><b>MF:</b> For sure. And in fact, even when they&rsquo;re drafted, I spend time at the drafts talking to potential (clients). And they don&rsquo;t have a lot of choice where they&rsquo;re going, but now we&rsquo;re down to scenarios of implications of going to certain teams. And then we have to work out where their AHL teams play. And there&rsquo;s a lot of factors involved. As well as getting people good financial habits at the beginning and getting their taxes done right from the beginning. And as I&rsquo;ve said, they use different rules for sports people. So it&rsquo;s not the regular parents&rsquo; accountants sometimes that are able to do this. And they get them on track. And it&rsquo;s a fun job, especially at the draft with so much excitement going on.</p><p><b>WGR:</b> I would imagine there are players that are playing in the States in, basically, no-state-income-tax states, like Florida, who are being traded to California, which probably has one of if not the highest state income tax, and so that&rsquo;ll have a financial hit on a player. Does that ever come up in the conversation, saying, &ldquo;Look, I&rsquo;m going to get traded, but in my contract, I don&rsquo;t want to get traded to certain teams because they&rsquo;re in states where I&rsquo;m going to have to pay a financial penalty?&rdquo;</p><p><b>MF:</b> Well, I think that&rsquo;s definitely a consideration the agents use in negotiating. What I do a lot of planning with is residency. Because the way the schedules work, they&rsquo;re a resident for the rest of the year in states that are warmer states that have less tax. And so in a lot of the cases that have been public about these kinds of things have resulted in somebody who was a resident of a southeastern state, which has less tax, but playing on a team that&rsquo;s in a northeastern state or a western state. And so there&rsquo;s planning to do, right from the beginning, of where you&rsquo;re going to live. And again, as a personal policy, I don&rsquo;t tell someone where to live, I give them options. &ldquo;If you want to live here, this is what it&rsquo;s going to cost you. Is that what you want?&rdquo; And sometimes they do. There&rsquo;s a personal preference that beats out the cost.</p><p><b>WGR:</b> One of your clients that everybody does know now is Dave Nonis, from the MLSE group, who recently won a big landmark case here in Canada. Do you want to talk about that case a little bit?</p><p><b>MF:</b> Sure. That&rsquo;s one of the first times that a tax case has gotten so much press. But again, it involves some interesting facts. And if I could back up a little, I&rsquo;ll tell you why the case is out there, is because there is a general rule that applies to businesspeople as well as sports people, just not the actual athletes that have their own rule. But generally, businesspeople, like the managers, coaches and other people that the taxes should be based &ndash; if you&rsquo;re a non-resident of a place, the tax is based on how many days you actually stand in that country and work. So he&rsquo;s a non-resident of Canada, and the tax should be based on that. And that&rsquo;s the way the tax was based for all the years. And everything was fine with that, and that&rsquo;s how it goes for everybody. And so he pays Canadian tax at that ratio. And then he was relieved of his duties in 2015 and then left to go back to the U.S. never to come to work in Canada again on that contract. And the CRA &ndash; the government &ndash; wanted to tax him based on historical percentage, as opposed to where he wanted to stand. And so he stood zero days in Canada, and they wanted a percent by pretending &ndash; they call it deeming &ndash; they pretended he was actually standing in Canada. And I thought that was extremely unfair, which is why I was excited to take on the case, which took about six years to go through from beginning to end. Because they really challenged that. And they realized this has great implications, for not just the hockey industry, or any industry, but all businesspeople who work for a Canadian firm while not in Canada. They would be subject to tax in Canada. And that&rsquo;s why I wanted to win. And it was challenging, and we did it.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/business_fe_133/725361-1-eng-US/business_fe_1332.jpg" title="business_fe_133" width="1569" height="894"></div><p><b>WGR:</b> How does this impact general managers, coaches, executives, who &ndash; at one point in time, they&rsquo;re in the States, they come to Canada, they have a few years in Canada and then they return. How does this impact all other professionals &ndash; not only executives in sports but just in business in general; what&rsquo;s the impact of this decision?</p><p><b>MF:</b> Thanks for asking that because that&rsquo;s the real important part of this case. It&rsquo;s not just for one single person. And I&rsquo;ve had a lot of the sports executives, and teams themselves, interested in this case. They knew about the case as it was in process. There were some articles when it was originally filed that got picked up. But it would be very difficult, I think, for a Canadian team to attract a U.S.-resident coach, GM, anything, if they know that they&rsquo;re ever getting relieved of their duties &ndash; which is fairly common in the industry &ndash; during their contract, and then move back to the States, to still be subject to Canadian tax. And so we were talking about how players sometimes think in their trades of what the tax implications &ndash; if a person knows that they&rsquo;re going to pay Canadian tax, which sometimes is substantially more, if they were ever relieved of their duties during their contract, I think that would affect them and it would be harder for someone to get a good person in Canada that wasn&rsquo;t a resident of Canada. Losing this one would&rsquo;ve been a really bad situation. As well as any business, any business in Canada that wants to bring somebody up from the U.S. to work and then send them back. To be evermore subject to Canadian taxes, as the court said, is absurd.</p><p><b>&gt; Watch the full interview with Mark Feigenbaum at <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com/P2P">TheHockeyNews.com/P2P</a></b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/mp21_cover3/725354-1-eng-US/mp21_cover2.jpg" title="mp21_cover" width="371" height="341"></div><div class="sidebar"><p><b>&gt; For more insider info on the business of hockey, pick up our Money & Power 2021 special edition, available at <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com/store">TheHockeyNews.com/store</a></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

business_no_132

BUSINESS

NONIS VICTORY A BOON TO NHL TEAMS

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="next_umass" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/next_umass/725434-1-eng-US/next_umass2.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>MASS CELEBRATION</b></p><p>After losing in the final two years ago, the Minutemen claimed their first title in program history this time around.</p><p></p> <span class="photo-credit">(CHARLES LECLAIRE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>HEN ZAC JONES</b> committed to the University of Massachusetts, the Minutemen were not world-beaters. In fact, the program was just beginning to dig itself out of a hole that saw UMass win only five of 36 games in coach Greg Carvel&rsquo;s first year behind the bench. But Jones saw a program with potential, and he loved what Carvel was preaching. Now, just a few years later, the Minutemen are 2021 NCAA champions.</p><p>Strategically, the Minutemen are a hard team to play against, with a nasty forecheck and enough offensive weapons to open things up. The blueline is mobile and talented, while the program boasts two excellent goalies in undrafted Matt Murray and Minnesota Wild pick Filip Lindberg.</p><p>But a lot of teams have talent &ndash; what the Minutemen have is a culture built by Carvel and his staff, one that pushed them through adversity all the way to the promised land (in this case, Pittsburgh, where the Frozen Four was held). &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve done it the right way for four years,&rdquo; Carvel said. &ldquo;We brought in great kids, we pushed them hard, and we do it every single day. And they respond every day. That&rsquo;s how you get better. That&rsquo;s how you build a program.&rdquo;</p><p>When Carvel took over as coach in 2016, UMass was an afterthought in Hockey East, sporting just four winning seasons since renewing Div. I hockey in 1993 (having previously existed from 1964 to 1979). But recruits were buying what he was selling, and Carvel and his staff had a knack for finding players who others overlooked.</p><p>That came into light dramatically this season. In the final against St. Cloud State, the first goal in a 5-0 waxing was scored by Aaron Bohlinger, a 5-foot-9 defenseman who garnered no big-school interest during his draft year. He went from the NAHL to the BCHL with no regard before catching the Minutemen&rsquo;s eye last year as a member of USHL Waterloo.</p><p>The team&rsquo;s leading scorer this season was 5-foot-8, 160-pound sparkplug Bobby Trivigno, while one of the impact freshmen was Josh Lopina, passed over in two NHL drafts but likely to be taken this year after proving he could produce at the college level.</p><p>And then there&rsquo;s Jones, another undersized defenseman who nonetheless showed a ton of promise when he came on UMass&rsquo; radar. &ldquo;The first time I saw him was two years before he got to campus,&rdquo; Carvel said. &ldquo;(Associate coach) Ben Barr asked me to go watch him in a summer-league game, and before I went (associate coach) Jared DeMichiel told me, &lsquo;This kid is pretty good, but he&rsquo;s undersized and everybody is afraid because of his size.&rsquo; I watched about four shifts and I called Ben and said we have to get this kid. I don&rsquo;t care how big he is.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/next_jones1_009/725420-1-eng-US/next_jones1_0092.jpg" title="next_jones1_009" width="1021" height="1101"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>ZAC JONES</b></p></figcaption></div><p>UMass got the commitment from Jones and then brought him in a year earlier than anticipated after he tore up the USHL as a member of the Tri-City Storm, forming a deadly pairing with Western Michigan commit Ronnie Attard. That summer, the New York Rangers drafted Jones in the third round, and he immediately made an impact with UMass as a freshman. &ldquo;Everybody here is a great person, and it starts from the coach to the equipment staff and training staff,&rdquo; Jones said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so welcoming for a freshman. Everybody is so nice to you and wants the best for you. It&rsquo;s something I knew coming in, and it&rsquo;s been great to be a part of.&rdquo;</p><p>Jones isn&rsquo;t just a part of the team along for the ride, however, he&rsquo;s been a big-time driver. &ldquo;When he got to campus, he was a high-end offensive player,&rdquo; Carvel said. &ldquo;A little bit of a liability without the puck, but that&rsquo;s been our focus, trying to make him a more complete player. He&rsquo;s extremely coachable, to the point where now you&rsquo;re seeing him being a physical presence on the defensive side of the puck. He&rsquo;s knocking guys down, and he&rsquo;s committed to playing the game the right way. He&rsquo;s going to be a really good NHL player eventually, and he&rsquo;s taken great steps in the two years he&rsquo;s been here.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/next_lindbe_008/725413-1-eng-US/next_lindbe_0082.jpg" title="next_lindbe_008" width="1018" height="1079"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>PERFECT GAME</b></p><p>Lindberg, a Wild prospect, pitched a shutout in the final, the fourth Frozen Four clean sheet of his career.</p></figcaption></div><p>Jones&rsquo; entry to the NHL might come sooner rather than later after he signed a three-year deal with the Rangers in April. He&rsquo;s hoping to join UMass&rsquo; crop of NHLers, led by Cale Makar &ndash; who took the team to the title game in 2019 before falling to Minnesota-Duluth. John Leonard and Mario Ferraro also made the NHL, while Mitchell Chaffee is in the AHL after signing with the Wild. &ldquo;The guys that have been here before set the standard for UMass hockey,&rdquo; Jones said. &ldquo;They came in and turned this program around. As a current player, you&rsquo;re trying to build that legacy and try to help in any way we can.&rdquo;</p><p>UMass had never before won the Hockey East tournament, and certainly had never won a national title. This year, they did both &ndash; and they did it, of course, as a team.</p><h2><b>DYNAMIC DUO DRIVES UMASS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/next_lindbe_010/725406-1-eng-US/next_lindbe_0102.jpg" title="next_lindbe_010" width="472" height="748"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>FILIP LINDBERG</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(RICHARD T. GAGNON)</span></figcaption></div><p><i>Lindberg needed some help from his friend and fellow goalie on his way to setting a new Frozen Four shutout record</i></p><p><b>HOW&rsquo;S THIS FOR ADVERSITY?</b> After winning their regional, UMass found out they would be missing goalie Filip Lindberg and three other players for the NCAA semifinal against the defending champs from Minnesota-Duluth due to COVID-19 protocols. But thanks to some heroics from 1B netminder Matt Murray, Lindberg got a chance for redemption, and he took advantage in the final, blanking St. Cloud State for a record fourth career tournament shutout.</p><p>Lindberg, a seventh-round pick of the Minnesota Wild who hails from Finland, found out he was getting the start the day before during an eight-hour drive from Amherst to Pittsburgh. &ldquo;I mean, basically I had eight days inside a hotel room,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was stretching a lot and thinking a lot about hockey. And I was prepared. I got to rest for eight days, too, which was nice. I mean, nothing to complain about. I was ready to go. And I had the mindset of, if I got the chance to play after this COVID incident, I would get the job done.&rdquo;</p><p>In three years with UMass, Lindberg&rsquo;s &ldquo;worst&rdquo; goals-against average was 1.91, and this year he rocked a miniscule 1.24 mark with a .949 save percentage. Platooning with Murray, he wanted more starts, so coach Greg Carvel challenged Lindberg to earn them. Having said that, Lindberg is great friends with his netminding buddy and thankful to have him as a teammate after Murray got the OT win over Duluth. &ldquo;He was a big part of our win for the chance to play on Saturday,&rdquo; Lindberg said. &ldquo;We push each other every day out there, every day at practice.&rdquo;</p><p><b>&ndash; RYAN KENNEDY</b></p><div class="sidebar"><h4>FOR DAILY PROSPECT COVERAGE, VISIT</h4><h3><a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">Thehockeynews.com</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></h3></div>

next_umass

FROM CHUMPS TO NCAA CHAMPS

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="next_lapier_113" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/next_lapier_113/725465-1-eng-US/next_lapier_1132.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ANDRE EMOND/CHICOUTIMI SAGUENEENS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>H</span>ENDRIX LAPIERRE&rsquo;S DRAFT YEAR</b> didn&rsquo;t exactly go the way he wanted it to, but it ended nicely when he was selected by the Washington Capitals with the 22nd pick in October. The Chicoutimi Sagueneens center would have gone higher had he not missed the majority of the 2019-20 QMJHL season due to a confusing injury: at first, concussions were suspected, but further medical tests indicated a neck problem was the main malady. Now mended, Lapierre has been one of the top scorers on the Sagueneens this year, averaging more than an assist per game. We spoke with Washington assistant GM Ross Mahoney to get the lowdown on the Capitals prospect.</p><h2><b>HOCKEY IQ</b></h2><p><b>&ldquo;WE THINK HIS IQ</b> is really high, especially with the puck. He&rsquo;s got the ability to find players that are open, and it&rsquo;s not necessarily the first or second option. He thinks the game so well, and it really contributes to his success. And he&rsquo;s good without the puck, too. He anticipates what the other team is going to do, and he has the ability to intercept passes and disrupt plays.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>COMPETE LEVEL</b></h2><p><b>&ldquo;HE DOESN&rsquo;T MIND THE</b> physical part of the play. He&rsquo;s really good about taking a hit to make a play. He&rsquo;s getting stronger, which will allow him to be better in his own end at being able to control bigger opponents.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>SKATING</b></h2><p><b>&ldquo;HE&rsquo;S A GOOD SKATER,</b> and one of the keys he has is that when you give him the puck, he looks like he&rsquo;s faster with it. It&rsquo;s almost like our guy Nick Backstrom in the sense that Nick looks like he skates faster with the puck than without it. Players like Hendrix, they have such good hands that it looks like the puck is glued to their stick. They don&rsquo;t drop their head when they skate and slow down a bit like some young players. And he&rsquo;s got good change of pace.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>DEFENSE</b></h2><p><b>&ldquo;IT&rsquo;S GOOD BECAUSE HE</b> has that good hockey sense. It&rsquo;s always an area for younger players to improve on, especially for players like Hendrix who are exceptionally skilled offensively. You want them to make sure they continue to improve defensively and put in the effort. To play in the NHL, you have to play a 200-foot game, and I think he&rsquo;s good because of his anticipation and intelligence away from the puck.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>PLAYMAKING</b></h2><p><b>&ldquo;HE&rsquo;S GOT INCREDIBLE VISION</b> and he&rsquo;s an excellent playmaker. Every high-end tournament he plays in, like the (under-18) Hlinka-Gretzky, he always has about three times as many assists as goals. It&rsquo;s not only the soft hands, but the vision and the selflessness that make him really good as a set-up player.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>SHOT</b></h2><p><b>&ldquo;HE HAS A GOOD</b> shot, it&rsquo;s more a matter of getting him to shoot more. He&rsquo;s always been a pass-first guy, and that&rsquo;s great, nothing wrong with that, but he could keep goaltenders a bit more honest since he has a tendency to be very unselfish, trying to set up other players all the time.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

next_lapier_113

SCOUTING REPORT

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="next_metcal_114" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/next_metcal_114/725496-1-eng-US/next_metcal_1142.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>QUACK BACK</b></p><p>Ducks prospect Metcalf spoke out against criticism of the new transfer rule. He thinks it will help keep coaches accountable.</p><p></p> <span class="photo-credit">(LIU ATHLETICS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span>N UNPRECEDENTED SHIFT IN</b> the college hockey world is going on right now, the ramifications of which will be truly fascinating. Due to the pandemic, the NCAA granted every student-athlete in the system an extra year of eligibility, meaning even this year&rsquo;s seniors will be allowed to play again next season. On top of that, the NCAA powers-that-be are about to approve a new transfer rule that will allow every student-athlete to change schools once without being required to sit out a year in between, as is currently the policy.</p><p>Needless to say, this has been huge on the men&rsquo;s side of the college game. The NCAA transfer portal has become a spectator sport recently as several hundred players have ventured into the new or the unknown. Perhaps the most heartening aspect is that the big boys don&rsquo;t necessarily have an edge: Minnesota, Michigan and Boston College both gained and lost players, while Long Island University snagged one of Yale&rsquo;s top scorers in Tyler Welsh, and brand-new Div. I program St. Thomas landed its first NHL draft pick in North Dakota goalie Peter Thome, a Columbus selection.</p><p>Some programs got rocked early &ndash; Bowling Green lost top scorer and Vegas prospect Brandon Kruse to Boston College &ndash; but with so many players still in the portal right now, the landscape is far from settled.</p><p>What&rsquo;s important to remember is that not all transfers are the same. There have been reports of programs telling players to enter the portal because they won&rsquo;t have a role on the team next year. That&rsquo;s a bit dodgy &ndash; but it also doesn&rsquo;t sound widespread.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">THE NCAA&rsquo;S NEW TRANSFER RULE ALLOWS PLAYERS WHO GOT BURIED ON THE DEPTH CHART TO SET OUT FOR A NEW OPPORTUNITY</blockquote><p>A big reason for the mass transfers is that extra year of senior eligibility: programs simply don&rsquo;t have enough scholarships to keep these new fifth-years while also honoring the commitments previously made to next year&rsquo;s freshmen. That&rsquo;s the case at UMass, where the new national champions are saying goodbye to the likes of Oliver Chau and title-game hero Phil Lagunov.</p><p>But in other situations it allows players who, for one reason or another, got buried on the depth chart and want to set out for a new opportunity. In the past, you either accepted your fate as a fifth-liner or sat out a year in order to transfer &ndash; not the most enticing scenario for a developing player. That gave coaches a tremendous amount of power, and for family advisors who represent NCAA players, the new rule is a godsend. &ldquo;They have freed the serfs,&rdquo; one told me.</p><p>Some coaches don&rsquo;t see it that way. UMass-Lowell bench boss Norm Bazin was interviewed by reporter Barry Scanlon after seven River Hawks entered the transfer portal. Bazin was not into it. While he acknowledged that everyone would have to adjust to the new reality, Bazin wondered aloud what it all meant for team loyalty and player accountability: after all, if a player gets benched now, will they just throw in the towel and head to another team?</p><p>A counter argument came swiftly on social media from Anaheim pick Garrett Metcalf, the big goalie who began his college career under Bazin at Lowell. Metcalf played four games as a freshman, then sat out a year so he could transfer to Mercyhurst (he finished his NCAA time as Long Island&rsquo;s first starter). For Metcalf, loyalty and accountability go both ways: if coaches and programs over-commit to players or promise ice time that doesn&rsquo;t materialize, shouldn&rsquo;t there be consequences for the adults in the room?</p><p>Now, hypothetically, that imbalance has been corrected. If you&rsquo;re old-school, you may see this as the continuing softness of the Young People, but I urge you to step back and look at it from the perspective of the players: they <i>want</i> to play, and they want to have faith in the coaches they committed to. If a player dogs it in practice, there are consequences. If a coach goes back on his word, should there not also be consequences?</p><p>Next year, you truly will need a program to know all the new NCAA names and faces. It will be both exciting and fascinating.</p><p><a datastyle href="https://twitter.com/THNRYANKENNEDY"><b>@THNRYANKENNEDY</b></a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

next_metcal_114

STRAIGHT EDGE

TRANSFER RULE OPENS DOORS

<div class="byline">BY JAMES BENESH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="rewind_john_111" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/rewind_john_111/725562-1-eng-US/rewind_john_1112.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>ERNIE &lsquo;MOOSE&rsquo; JOHNSON</b></p><p></p> <span class="photo-credit">(HHOF IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>OP-LEVEL HOCKEY DIDN&rsquo;T BEGIN</b> in 1917 when the NHL did. The Stanley Cup (which the league didn&rsquo;t have full dominion over until 1926) was first awarded in 1893, and there were highly competitive games going on even before that. The roots of the NHL can be traced back all the way to the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) in 1886. Over the course of 31 years, recurring disagreements between team owners led to the dissolution of four leagues and the emergence of replacement leagues (with most or all of the same teams and players as the previous season), and eventually the NHL&rsquo;s creation in 1917-18. The NHL wasn&rsquo;t the beginning of anything, just the continuance of what had been ongoing for decades &ndash; and thankfully 1917 was the last time the top hockey circuit was dissolved, restarted and renamed.</p><p>In our recent collector&rsquo;s edition, we counted down the Top 100 Defensemen of All-Time in the NHL, but plenty of great D-men either predated the league&rsquo;s existence or competed directly against the NHL and its immediate predecessor, the NHA. For at least 10 of them, there&rsquo;s enough evidence at hand to show their dominance in their time rivalled that of many of the early NHL stars.</p><h2><b>1. ERNIE &lsquo;MOOSE&rsquo; JOHNSON</b></h2><p><b>CAHL, ECAHA, NHA, PCHA:</b> 1904-1922</p><p><b>ALTHOUGH NOT THE NO.</b> 1 defenseman of his generation, he was surely No. 2 behind Sprague Cleghorn, and he was probably the better defender of the two, lacking only Cleghorn&rsquo;s offensive creativity and mean disposition. Johnson had great size for his era, excellent speed and played an assertive physical game. He was recognized as a first-team all-star in the NHA/NHL&rsquo;s rival league, the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, nine times in his 11 full seasons there. Although best known as a defenseman in the west, Johnson spent his early 20s in the east as the left winger of the Montreal Wanderers&rsquo; dynasty, picking up four Stanley Cups. Even more impressive (and perhaps why he was most successful playing the simpler defense position), was that he accomplished all this without the two fingers he lost from his right hand following a high-voltage electrical shock at the age of 14.</p><h2><b>2. HARVEY PULFORD</b></h2><p><b>AHAC, CAHL, ECAHA:</b> 1894-1908</p><p><b>IF THERE WAS AN</b> early prototype for the meat-and-potatoes defenseman we lionize today, Pulford is that guy. For 14 seasons, the Ottawa Hockey Club (also known as the Silver Seven and Senators) put up outstanding defensive results despite using six different starting goalies over that time. The one constant was Pulford, the big stalwart playing point. Not a particularly skilled skater or stickhandler, his natural athleticism and physical strength were all he needed to dominate in his own end. He contributed almost nothing to the offense, but you could say the same about most defensemen of his vintage. With Pulford manning the zone, the Silver Seven won three straight Cups after the turn of the century.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/rewind_pulf_112/725555-1-eng-US/rewind_pulf_1122.jpg" title="rewind_pulf_112" width="634" height="803"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>HARVEY PULFORD</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(HHOF IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>3. HOD STUART</b></h2><p><b>CAHL, IHL, ECAHA:</b> 1899-1907</p><p><b>STUART IS THE POTENTIAL</b> winner of the &ldquo;eye test&rdquo; measure &ndash; and probably the &ldquo;highest peak&rdquo; race, too &ndash; but his career lacked the fullness of Johnson and Pulford. This is because he died at 28 in a swimming accident, with only eight high-level seasons under his belt. During the two seasons prior to his death, newspapers in multiple cities tossed around the idea he was possibly not only the greatest cover-point in the game but the best player, period. Stuart was a great physical specimen who possessed every skill needed to excel at both ends. In 1925, MacLean&rsquo;s produced an all-time all-star team, and Stuart was named to the top defense pairing with Cleghorn.</p><h2><b>4. LESTER PATRICK</b></h2><p><b>CAHL, ECAHA, NHA, PCHA,</b>&nbsp;<b>WHL, NHL:</b> 1904-1927</p><p><b>THANKS TO THE ANNUAL</b> trophy awarded in Patrick&rsquo;s name, &lsquo;The Silver Fox&rsquo; is famous enough that many fans today know who he was. In addition to his extensive time as a major builder and innovator, he was a fine defenseman. After winning two Cups as a rover with the Montreal Wanderers, Lester and his brother Frank started the PCHA as a rival league to the NHA in the west. He went on to be a first-team all-star in that league in nearly every full season he played. Including his famous appearance in net in 1928, he competed in nine Stanley Cup challenges/finals, winning three of them.</p><h2><b>5. MIKE GRANT</b></h2><p><b>AHAC, CAHL:</b> 1894-1902</p><p><b>GRANT&rsquo;S CAREER WAS SO</b> long ago that it&rsquo;s difficult to find substantial information about him &ndash; but not impossible. While players such as Patrick are often credited as the pioneers of rushing the puck from the back end, Grant was actually doing it over a decade earlier. He was also the player given the most credit for the Montreal Victorias&rsquo; superb defensive record during his prime &ndash; always best or second-best in the league. With Grant leading the way, the Vics won four straight Cups from 1895 to 1898.</p><h2><b>6. &lsquo;BAD&rsquo; JOE HALL</b></h2><p><b>IHL, ECAHA, NHA, NHL:</b> 1903-1919</p><p><b>HALL&rsquo;S NAME IS STILL</b> alive today, since he is often cited as an example of a vicious, tough player from the old days. He&rsquo;s also the player whose death from the Spanish Flu caused the cancellation of the 1919 Stanley Cup final. But he&rsquo;s not just in the Hall of Fame for sentimental reasons &ndash; Hall was an excellent player. After eight seasons as a forward in multiple leagues, he settled in as a defenseman with the NHA&rsquo;s Quebec Bulldogs and made a real name for himself. He was always the top defenseman on what was usually an above-average defensive team, and he contributed points as well. He played at a high level right until the end, at which point he was the NHL&rsquo;s oldest player.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/rewind_hall_109/725548-1-eng-US/rewind_hall_1092.jpg" title="rewind_hall_109" width="470" height="789"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>&lsquo;BAD&rsquo; JOE HALL</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(HHOF IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>7. WELDON &lsquo;WELDY&rsquo; YOUNG</b></h2><p><b>AHAC, CAHL:</b> 1890-1899</p><p><b>THE ONLY PLAYER ON</b> this list whose career is older than the Stanley Cup, Young was already a seasoned veteran when Pulford joined him on the Ottawa Hockey Club. Young was known for his spectacular rushes, and he actually produced a surprising amount of offense for a defenseman in the 1890s. But with his style of play came risk, and he needed the steadier Pulford to bail him out occasionally. Young and Pulford were the MVPs of an Ottawa team that came painfully close to the first five Stanley Cup championships, but their offensive depth didn&rsquo;t match their defensive brilliance.</p><h2><b>8. LLOYD COOK</b></h2><p><b>PCHA, NHL:</b> 1915-1925</p><p><b>COOK JOINED THE PCHA</b> in 1914-15 and within a few years was arguably the circuit&rsquo;s second-best defenseman. On the surface, he was an offense-oriented blueliner who benefitted from Cyclone Taylor&rsquo;s skills and the Vancouver Millionaires&rsquo; high-flying system, but he actually did some solid defensive work himself. With Cook the mainstay at left defense, Vancouver dominated the PCHA regular season most years and represented the league in the Stanley Cup series vs. the NHA/NHL six times (three times without Taylor), winning in 1915.</p><h2><b>9. ART DUNCAN</b></h2><p><b>NHA, PCHA, NHL:</b> 1916-1931</p><p><b>DUNCAN EARNED FAME</b>as the first defenseman to lead a major league in scoring, pulling this off in the 1923-24 PCHA. But, technically, the PCHA and Western Professional League were like two divisions in one league and played an interlocking schedule. Looking at it that way, he was just fifth in points. Still, it was an impressive highlight in a career that saw him compete in four Cup finals along with his partner Lloyd Cook in Vancouver. They formed the PCHA&rsquo;s dominant rushing pair of defensemen in the league&rsquo;s final few seasons.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/rewind_dunc_110/725541-1-eng-US/rewind_dunc_1102.jpg" title="rewind_dunc_110" width="1021" height="976"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>ART DUNCAN</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(HHOF IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>10. ART ROSS</b></h2><p><b>CAHL, ECAHA,</b>&nbsp;<b>NHA, NHL:</b> 1905-1918</p><p><b>YES, THAT ART ROSS.</b> His namesake trophy is still awarded annually to the NHL&rsquo;s leading scorer, and many of his innovations in hockey are still staples of the game today. In 1907, he was a last-minute addition to the Kenora Thistles, who went on to beat the Montreal Wanderers for the town&rsquo;s only championship. Ross was credited as being a major reason why, and the Wanderers made sure to sign him for the 1908-09 season to prevent a repeat. The move proved successful, as Ross helped them to a title that season. It was the last he&rsquo;d win in a career that went on for 10 more seasons, but he did take Ottawa to the 1914-15 final with his &ldquo;kitty bar the door&rdquo; defensive strategy.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

rewind_john_111

REWIND

TOP 10 PRE-NHL DEFENSEMEN

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0096-0210/725600-1-eng-US/f0096-022.jpg" title="f0096-02" width="938" height="917"></div><h2>SEPARATED AT BIRTH</h2><p>Hockey doppelgangers: can you tell these two familiar faces apart?</p><p><b>CONNOR MCDAVID</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/separated_m_070/725614-1-eng-US/separated_m_0702.jpg" title="separated_m_070" width="217" height="332"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(CHL IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Child prodigy with savant-like hockey skills regularly puts on a clinic at the NHL level. Went on a scoring binge as an Erie Otter.</p><h3><b>FREDDIE HIGHMORE</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/separated_h_071/725607-1-eng-US/separated_h_0712.jpg" title="separated_h_071" width="217" height="331"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MINGLE MEDIA TV NETWORK)</span></figcaption></div><p>Plays a medicine prodigy and savant in <i>The Good Doctor</i>. Gave an eerie performance in the binge-worthy <i>Bates Motel.</i></p><h2><b>PUCK PUZZLE</b></h2><p>Can your hockey brain bring its A-game? The challenge is on!</p><p>The Shooting Stars competition at the 2020 All-Star Game went into extra time. Fill in the blanks to identify seven of the shooters who took part and the first name of the eventual winner will appear in the red boxes.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0096-034/725593-1-eng-US/f0096-032.jpg" title="f0096-03" width="745" height="800"></div><p><b>NAME GAME SOLUTION:</b> BRAD MARCHAND <br><b>PUCK PUZZLE SOLUTION:</b> PERRON, MARNER, KNIGHT, O&rsquo;REILLY, SEGUIN, TKACHUK, PASTRNAK (FINAL ANSWER: PATRICK)<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

TIME OUT

NAME GAME

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="lastword_ha_050" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/lastword_ha_050/725652-1-eng-US/lastword_ha_0502.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DOUG MACLELLAN/HHOF IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>S</span>ORRY, EXCUSE ME, UH,</b> pardon me, is this thing on? Yeah, OK. Sorry, but it&rsquo;s Canada here. Anyway, hate to bother you with this, but do you think there might be some way that maybe we could have the Stanley Cup for a year? It has permanent residence at the Hockey Hall of Fame in downtown Toronto, you say? Good point. And since 1967, that&rsquo;s the closest the Maple Leafs have ever come to it, save for a couple of years there where they almost came close to almost coming close to winning something. Anyway, if it&rsquo;s not too much of an inconvenience, and only if everyone agrees and nobody is offended, this year might be as good a year as any. Thank you. And we&rsquo;re sorry.</p><p>Canadians, generally speaking, are a docile, apologetic and maddeningly polite bunch. Unless, of course, it comes to the skatey-punchey. The same people who would hold a door open all day and repeatedly apologize for being bumped into, who would patiently wait in line and always obey the rules, are the same ones who worship at the altar of Tiger Williams and Tie Domi. Does it make sense? Not really. But that&rsquo;s how we roll north of the 49th.</p><p>You want to know another thing that makes no sense? The fact that the birthplace of this great game has gone without an NHL championship since the Clinton administration. Since the Montreal Canadiens last won the Stanley Cup in 1993, Canada has captured &ndash; wait for it &ndash; seven men&rsquo;s World Championships, 12 world junior gold medals, three under-18 World Championships, three men&rsquo;s Olympic gold medals, 12 Spengler Cups, eight World Women&rsquo;s Championships, four women&rsquo;s Olympic gold medals, five World Women&rsquo;s under-18 Championships, three World In-Line Championships, three Para Hockey Championships, one Paralympic gold medal and six World Amputee Hockey Championships. No unicycle or underwater titles, though. The Royal Commission into that begins next week.</p><p>As proud Canadian Mike Myers, in his Dr. Evil persona, would say, &ldquo;Throw us a frickin&rsquo; bone here.&rdquo; <i>Whoomp! (There It Is)</i> was the No. 2 song on the charts the last time the Stanley Cup called Canada home. Since then, the Vancouver Canucks twice pushed the Cup final to seven games and the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers did it once each. And Ottawa showed up for the final that one time. But the fact remains that anyone under 30 does not even have the faintest memory of a Canadian team winning the Stanley Cup. They probably don&rsquo;t have the faintest memory of what they did yesterday thanks to Canada&rsquo;s marijuana laws, but that&rsquo;s a rant for another day. (Wait, 7-Eleven delivers now? Sign me up!)</p><p>Look, everyone has suffered over the past year or so, but a Canadian team winning the Cup would be a pretty easy fix up here. The Memorial Cup has been cancelled&hellip;twice. Canada&rsquo;s pro football league didn&rsquo;t play a down &ndash; and it only has three to work with &ndash; last season and probably won&rsquo;t in 2021, either. At least you Americans got to see a drunk Tom Brady literally throw the Lombardi Trophy off a boat. In Canada, we never even got to see a guy get his tongue stuck to the frozen Grey Cup. Most people around here have been sitting in isolation in their ice-fishing huts waiting for a vaccine. The Toronto Raptors and the Toronto Blue Jays have decamped in the U.S., just because our government gets wiggy about people quarantining after crossing the border during a global pandemic. What&rsquo;s the big deal? As of this writing, Canada&rsquo;s largest province is shut down completely, including the golf courses. The Leafs, anticipating their annual early playoff exit, are reportedly lobbying for this one to be changed. And what did we get from our American friends through all of this? Murder hornets. That&rsquo;s what we got.</p><p>It&rsquo;s time Canadians got a little bit of encouraging news for a change. And with one of the teams from the North Division guaranteed a spot in the final four, 2021 is as good a time as any to cash in. Of the four teams that are all but assured a playoff spot in the Chico&rsquo;s Bail Bonds Or Whatever Conference&trade; final, only one of them has never won a Stanley Cup before. The Winnipeg Jets have a really nice team with a bunch of really nice players. And the people there are nice, too. And in mid-July they&rsquo;ll be busy brushing away blackflies the size of their heads, so they could use the distraction.</p><p>If not Winnipeg, one of Toronto, Edmonton or Montreal will do quite nicely as well. People are starting to forget that each one of them has not only won the Stanley Cup but were dynasties at one time or another. If one of them does win, it will have been 28 years between Cups for Canada. Let&rsquo;s not make it 30. Yeah, Canada has the Hart and Art Ross Trophies and the Ted Lindsay Award as well as the Vezina Trophy, but those baubles are currently owned by a German and an American. All Canada has to brag about is the Mark Messier Leadership Award, which is the NHL&rsquo;s version of Miss Congeniality.</p><p>This has to change. A team based in Canada has to win the Stanley Cup, and it has to win it right now. Did that come off a little too aggressively? Ooh, sorry about that. Only if it&rsquo;s not too much of a bother&hellip;</p><span class="image-inline"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/twitterlogo_049/725666-1-eng-US/twitterlogo_0492.jpg" title="twitterlogo_049" width="39" height="32"></span><p><a datastyle href="https://twitter.com/THNKENCAMPBELL"><b>@THNKENCAMPBELL</b></a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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