Gabriel Landeskog and the Colorado Avalanche bury the competition on their way to being Stanley Cup Champions. 

Champions Issue 2022

The Hockey News Champions 2022

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Champions

CHAMPIONS ISSUE

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_nahl_130/823203-1-eng-US/champs_nahl_1302.jpg" title="champs_nahl_130" width="802" height="706"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>RYAN COUGHLIN</b><br>(JEFF LAWLER/NAHL)</p></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>INNING A CHAMPIONSHIP IS</b> a grind, and for the NAHL&rsquo;s New Jersey Titans, an emphasis on strength and conditioning paid off in spades with their first Robertson Cup title.</p><p>New Jersey beat Anchorage 3-0 in the one-game championship after a final-four, best-of-3 matchup that saw the Titans pull out wins in overtime and double OT against New Mexico. &ldquo;The championship game was our fourth game in five days,&rdquo; said coach-GM Craig Doremus. &ldquo;And I thought our guys could have played forever. A lot of credit goes to our strength and conditioning team and the Sports Performance Lab.&rdquo; That Lab training center, led by head strength coach Andrew Watkins, is located in the same Middletown facility as the Titans, so the players had constant access during the season.</p><p>The star of the final game was center Nick Ring, a 2022 draft prospect and NCAA New Hampshire commit. He matured as the year went on and learned how to round out his game. &ldquo;Talent was never the question,&rdquo; Doremus said. &ldquo;He just needed to go through some struggles and get experience. The playoffs were the culmination of all those good and bad experiences coming to fruition.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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N.J. SHOWS IT’S TOO FIT TO QUIT

<div class="byline">BY WILL MACLAREN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="champs_memc_137" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_memc_137/823009-1-eng-US/champs_memc_1372.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(VINCENT ETHIER/CHL)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE WORLD HAS CHANGED</b> substantially in the three years since the Memorial Cup was last handed out. One constant remains in the world of major junior, however: the Cup is staying within the confines of the QMJHL.</p><p>The host Saint John Sea Dogs, coming off a 38-day layoff following a first-round playoff exit, defeated the OHL champion Hamilton Bulldogs in the final. For the organization, now in its 17th season of operation, this marks its second CHL title and first since 2011. Meanwhile, the &lsquo;Q&rsquo; can boast its third championship in a row following the successes of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (2019) and Acadie-Bathurst Titan (2018).</p><p>Team captain Vincent Sevigny, who opened the scoring in the final and was a key contributor to a Victoriaville club that captured the QMJHL title in 2021, could not stress enough the work put in behind the scenes, especially after the Sea Dogs&rsquo; first-round exit to the Rimouski Oceanic in early May. &ldquo;The month we were off, we worked so hard to get here,&rdquo; Sevigny said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m so proud of the boys. We tried to get better every day, and we did it.&rdquo;</p><p>The Sea Dogs experienced a ton of turbulence over the past few seasons. Significant roster retooling, numerous coaching changes and, of course, a global pandemic were all storylines surrounding the organization entering this year&rsquo;s tournament. Following the club&rsquo;s last league title in 2017, the New Brunswick-based franchise went three years without so much as a playoff game to its credit, including one COVID-forced shutdown in 2020. This spring&rsquo;s first-round exit represented five straight years without a hint of post-season success. But these Dogs were different. Despite the lack of playoff results, the team featured a star-studded group that closed out the regular season with a 15-game winning streak. They also had one of the best records in the CHL after a resumption in action following a December-to-February pandemic-related shutdown in the QMJHL.</p><p>However, GM Trevor Georgie kept true to the core values of a blueprint drawn up in 2018 as the club descended to the bottom of the standings. The result was immensely rewarding to the architect of this roster, even if it was anything but conventional at times. &ldquo;When you put together a plan, it doesn&rsquo;t mean it&rsquo;s going to come together as planned,&rdquo; Georgie said. &ldquo;But we stuck with the guys we believed in, and we adjusted the formula accordingly. We obviously did not plan to be knocked out in the first round and have to make changes, but here we are today.&rdquo;</p><p>The roster turnover the team has experienced to bring all the right players in all the right positions was, to say the least, extensive. Twelve different players were brought into the fold over the past 12 months, including eight since the start of the regular season. One of those players was New York Islanders prospect William Dufour. Prior to joining Saint John, he was known as a two-way specialist. But he found his offense with the Dogs, leading the league in goals (56) and finishing second in points (116) in just 66 games. That carried over into the Memorial Cup, where his seven goals and eight points in four games earned him the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as tournament MVP. &ldquo;Trevor had complete confidence in me when he brought me in,&rdquo; Dufour said. &ldquo;When I came here, he said we wanted to be a winner at the end of the year. He did a fantastic job to bring in the right players.&rdquo;</p><p>Off the ice, Dufour and his family have faced their share of adversity, his mother having been diagnosed with Stage 1, Grade 2 breast cancer in April 2020. &ldquo;My parents have been there since Day 1,&rdquo; Dufour said. &ldquo;Now they&rsquo;re here with me as a champion. I&rsquo;m just speechless. To finish up in this way is unbelievable.&rdquo;</p><p>It was a long wait to regain respectability after the Sea Dogs&rsquo; unceremonious playoff gaffe. And it didn&rsquo;t come without its share of critics. The tournament hosts did all they could to silence them, collecting victories over Hamilton as well as the QMJHL-champion Shawinigan Cataractes in the round-robin, along with an overtime loss to the WHL title holders, the Edmonton Oil Kings, which provided the crew enough points under a new tournament scoring system to automatically punch its ticket to the championship final.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_memc_139/822995-1-eng-US/champs_memc_1392.jpg" title="champs_memc_139" width="1199" height="1130"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>WILLIAM DUFOUR, JOSH LAWRENCE & RAIVIS ANSONS </b>(MIKE DEMBECK/HHOF IMAGES)</p></figcaption></div><p>The man at the helm was the newest club member of them all. Following the dismissal of coach Gordie Dwyer on May 22, the organization turned to someone well-known for his ability to steer teams to the top. Gardiner MacDougall &ndash; and his seven Canadian university men&rsquo;s national titles with the University of New Brunswick Reds &ndash; made his way down from Fredericton to right the ship in the Port City. In the end, his results spoke for themselves. &ldquo;This process was about getting better every day,&rdquo; MacDougall said. &ldquo;Sometimes you can lose your focus. For us, it was about playing shift to shift. One of the sayings our guys had was &lsquo;minute to win it.&rsquo; We took care of the minutes, and the result took care of itself.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_memc_140/822988-1-eng-US/champs_memc_1402.jpg" title="champs_memc_140" width="760" height="852"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>SCORING MACHINE</b></p><p>Dufour&rsquo;s seven goals in just four games at the Memorial Cup earned him MVP honors on top of the championship.<br>(MIKE DEMBECK/HHOF IMAGES)</p></figcaption></div><p>Georgie was quick to bring into focus the trials his club faced head on throughout the season and the ability for his new coach, who intends to return to UNB following this triumph, to keep everyone on the ball as required. &ldquo;This team has been through a lot of adversity,&rdquo; Georgie said. &ldquo;A lot of our guys have been unfairly criticized. Because of the want and desire of this group, they really bonded in the face of that adversity. They bottled that adversity up, and then Gardiner seemingly rubbed that magic lamp and was able to get whatever was bottled up out of these guys. He did a tremendous job.</p><p>&ldquo;The decisions we make may not always be popular. But if we did everything based on what has been done in the past, we aren&rsquo;t standing here today. Conventional or not, we just won a Memorial Cup.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_memc_141/822981-1-eng-US/champs_memc_1412.jpg" title="champs_memc_141" width="801" height="1143"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>NIKOLAS HURTUBISE</b><br>(MIKE DEMBECK/HHOF IMAGES)</p></figcaption></div><p>After bringing the hockey community together in a fantastic environment that concluded with the building-shaking cheers for the home team as they claimed the title, any lack of popularity or concerns regarding convention went out the door. After all, the opinions held by the doubters are mere perception. The banner that will be raised to the rafters in Saint John is very much real.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

UNCONVENTIONAL BUT EFFECTIVE

<div class="byline">BY&#xA0;DAVID EMINIAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_sphl_126/823248-1-eng-US/champs_sphl_1262.jpg" title="champs_sphl_126" width="802" height="779"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>ALEC HAGAMAN</b><br>(TIM LESTER IMAGES/FIELD PASS HOCKEY)</p></figcaption></div><p><b>THE WINNINGEST TEAM IN</b> SPHL history won something for the first time in May: the President&rsquo;s Cup.</p><p>The Peoria Rivermen, in their fourth Cup final appearance, beat the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs 3-2 in overtime of Game 4 in the best-of-5 championship series to clinch the 40-year-old franchise&rsquo;s first title in 22 years. &ldquo;We talked about leaving a legacy,&rdquo; said Rivermen coach Jean-Guy Trudel. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d been to the SPHL finals three times and lost. Now we&rsquo;ve made our legacy. It&rsquo;s important for the fans, it&rsquo;s important for the players and the organization and the city. We will all be champions for the rest of our lives.&rdquo;</p><p>Rivermen goaltender Jack Berry was named the playoff MVP, leading the team through post-season series wins over Pensacola, Quad City and Roanoke. Peoria winger Marcel Godbout was named the rookie of the year, with his 33 goals marking the third-highest total in league history by a first-year player. Center Alec Baer claimed the scoring title, and Peoria-born captain Alec Hagaman won a ring with the team he grew up watching.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_sphl_127/823234-1-eng-US/champs_sphl_1272.jpg" title="champs_sphl_127" width="802" height="529"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(TIM LESTER IMAGES/FIELD PASS HOCKEY)</span></figcaption></div><p>It was a comeback season for both the Rivermen and the league. Peoria was among five of the SPHL&rsquo;s 10 teams to opt out in 2020-21 because of operational restrictions due to COVID protocols. The league came back strong in 2021-22 under commissioner Doug Price, put 11 teams on the ice and played all of its 56-game schedule with careful pandemic procedures in place.</p><p>In the end, the Rivermen went 38-11-7 and blitzed through the playoffs as a No. 3 seed.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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FOURTH TIME IS A CHARM FOR PEORIA

<div class="byline">By Ryan Kennedy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/rk_2020_cmy_032/821214-1-eng-US/rk_2020_cmy_0322.jpg" title="rk_2020_cmy_032" width="691" height="997"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(STEVEN ELLIS/THE HOCKEY NEWS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE STANLEY CUP FINAL</b> began in Colorado with <i>Tonight, Tonight</i> by the Smashing Pumpkins blasting over the speakers of Ball Arena, set to a pump-up video package of Avalanche highlights. With its galloping drum roll and soaring string section, it&rsquo;s the type of song that truly works in such a setting, with 18,000 fans losing their minds at the prospect of seeing their team claim a championship for the first time in more than two decades. Not gonna lie; it gave me the feels.</p><p>It was the sort of moment that climbs up the inside of your chest and gives your heart a little nudge. Because we have to acknowledge that it&rsquo;s been a rough few years on Planet Earth. Many folks have been struggling with mental health and yearning for some sort of connection bigger than themselves.</p><p>When Colorado fans started chanting &ldquo;We want the Cup&rdquo; before the opening faceoff of Game 1, that was a moment a lot of us could appreciate (maybe not Tampa Bay fans, but hey, they were playing with house money after two straight titles). And when the arena DJ threw on Blink-182&rsquo;s <i>All The Small Things</i> in the third period &ndash; introduced on the Jumbotron by singer Mark Hoppus, no less &ndash; a viral moment was born. The crowd sang the entire pop-punk anthem right through to puck drop, carrying on a cappella long after the music was cut because, you know, hockey was being played.</p><p>It&rsquo;s not the first time a crowd has done this, but, wow, did it feel like a moment. And it felt good. If there&rsquo;s one thing we need right now, it&rsquo;s to feel some goodness &ndash; and the Colorado fans delivered.</p><p>When the series shifted back to Tampa Bay for Game 3, the hometown Lightning were behind in the series 2-0 and coming off one of the most lopsided defeats in Stanley Cup history: a 7-0 whitewashing at the hands of the Avs. There had been questions during the second intermission of that game as to whether star goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy would sit the third period in favor of backup Brian Elliott, but that did not come to pass. Coach Jon Cooper backed his No. 1 and praised him for the competitive spirit that told Cooper his goalie would have wanted to stay in no matter what he said. So when the Lightning faithful kicked off Game 3 with chants of &ldquo;Vasy! Vasy!&rdquo; before the puck had even been dropped, I had to smile: they had his back, all the way.</p><p>And when the NHL Awards ceremony took place between Games 3 and 4 in Tampa Bay, many of the presenters represented perseverance and feel-good stories, such as Seattle Kraken fan Nadia Popovici, who alerted Vancouver Canucks equipment manager Brian &lsquo;Red&rsquo; Hamilton that a mole on his neck was cancerous (Hamilton presented with her). The biggest ovation (a standing &lsquo;O,&rsquo; to be specific) was for Calgary Flames assistant GM Chris Snow and his family when they came on stage. Snow was diagnosed with ALS a few years ago and has been fighting through the affliction ever since, even when the prognosis was bleak.</p><p>Of course, nothing will make you feel better than your team winning a championship, and this issue is full of such triumphs. We&rsquo;ve got underdogs, we&rsquo;ve got tales of perseverance, and we&rsquo;ve got straight-up winning. The crowds were back in full force, and the action on the ice was stellar. We may not be back to 100-percent normalcy, but we&rsquo;re closer than we&rsquo;ve been in years. And that&rsquo;s no small thing.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/ryankennedy_090/821207-1-eng-US/ryankennedy_0902.jpg" title="ryankennedy_090" width="375" height="167"></div><span class="image-inline"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/twitterlogo_083/821200-1-eng-US/twitterlogo_0832.jpg" title="twitterlogo_083" width="39" height="32"></span><p><b><a datastyle href="https://twitter.com/THNRYANKENNEDY">@THNRyanKennedy</a></b><br>Senior Writer<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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The First Word

THANKFUL TO FEEL THE FEELS

<div class="byline">By W. Graeme Roustan</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/0_graemerou_084/821266-1-eng-US/0_graemerou_0842.jpg" title="0_graemerou_084" width="655" height="1081"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY MICHELLE VALBERG)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE CHAMPIONS ISSUE MARKS</b> the end of the hockey season. In the annual edition, we take a look at all league winners and shine the light on the people who make winning happen for them.</p><p>The Hockey News began on Oct. 1, 1947. Its first publisher was Ken McKenzie, who was also an NHL executive at the time. Clarence Campbell gave the green light to start the publication in order to promote the NHL, so it&rsquo;s no wonder that its first season coincided with the NHL&rsquo;s 1947-48 campaign.</p><p>The Leafs won the Stanley Cup at the end of The Hockey News&rsquo; first season in print in 1948, and now we come to the end of our 75th season with the Colorado Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup. In this issue, we tell the stories of many champions who went through the grind of a long regular season followed by the second season of all-out, throw-your-body-in-front-of-a-puck style of hockey that has proven over time to be the only way to win the hardware.</p><p>Since The Hockey News has no competition in the hockey media global landscape to play against each year, we can only measure our success over the previous season. Rather than wins and losses, we look at quality and range of content and the attributes of the physical magazine. Our players are the journalists, editors, designers and subscription, circulation, customer-service, sales, accounting, legal and administrative professionals who deliver a winning product right into your hands all year long. The Hockey News team has been winning the Cup each year for 75 seasons straight. There is absolutely no other magazine in any sport anywhere in the world that can touch the history and significance to its sport the way The Hockey News has and does each year.</p><p>The issue you are holding in your hands has a storied history to it that is remarkable in business and in journalism. Our subscribers know this because they write to me all the time and tell me how much they, like I do, love The Hockey News and what it means to them. This past week, I called Christine, who had subscribed for her niece Martiza because she wanted to encourage her to read more, and since Martiza loves hockey, The Hockey News was perfect for her. While sorting through an address issue for her (yes, I do customer service) I mentioned to Christine that when I was a young boy growing up in Montreal, my mom would tell the story that I was spending all my time playing sports and not keeping up in school. Getting my hands on The Hockey News increased my performance in school as my reading skills improved significantly, as it was really the only thing I loved to read.</p><p>The most common comment I have received from subscribers during this 75th season is that the print magazine has never been better. One of our subscriber team members summed up the overall theme of messages by saying: &ldquo;Also please let the owner of the publication, W. Graeme Roustan, know that his improved product has not gone unnoticed. The quality of the paper, going to perfect bound and the increase in quantity of content was a huge factor in me continuing to be a subscriber. I was seriously going to pack it in when he came along.&rdquo;</p><p>The support I have received to improve the magazine from The Hockey News&rsquo; subscribers, teammates and our partners, like our printer, RBW in Owen Sound Ont., which is owned by a previous owner of The Hockey News, Transcontinental in Montreal, has been inspirational.</p><p>Since acquiring The Hockey News in January 2018, I have had to make some pretty difficult decisions along with some pretty easy ones, yet all of them represent change. Some people embrace change, while others dig in their heels. I can&rsquo;t tell you how many times I have been told over my 30-plus years of buying businesses that &ldquo;this is not the way we have done it before.&rdquo; Or the one that always points to the major problem of a failing company is when I am told &ldquo;that&rsquo;s not my job&rdquo; or &ldquo;that is my job&rdquo; when blocking change.</p><p>The 75th season of The Hockey News has been its best ever because, at its core, it is a group of individuals who have put the magazine first. Together as a team, we have all worked collaboratively just like a championship team will sacrifice themselves to block that shot from the blueline. We all do this to deliver a winning product to our readers, and we know it is working because you tell us all the time by renewing your subscription and sending me your thanks.</p><p>Thank you!</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/graemeroust_144/821259-1-eng-US/graemeroust_1442.jpg" title="graemeroust_144" 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>

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Opening Thoughts

75TH SEASON SUCCESS

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="buzz_thomps_122" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_thomps_122/821311-1-eng-US/buzz_thomps_1222.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">More masked men? Vegas used three goalies regularly in 2021-22, with Thompson taking the reigns late. <span class="photo-credit">(SERGEI BELSKI-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>T GOT SO BAD</b> for the New Jersey Devils this season that they had to take a 28-year-old junior hockey coach with them on a road trip to Long Island. It got so bad for the Arizona Coyotes that they picked up a 32-year-old Harri Sateri on waivers from under the noses of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who signed Sateri at the trade deadline. It got so bad that the Vancouver Canucks had an emergency backup goalie backing up another EBUG for their AHL team.</p><p>It used to be that you could shake a tree anywhere in Canada and NHL goalies would fall out of it. But in a compressed season that was wracked by the pandemic and some really inconsistent play from the guys who stand between the pipes, the ranks of masked men who played at least one NHL game swelled to a record-high 119 this season. The fact the NHL had a 32nd team this year, which added three goalies to the mix, was part of the reason for that. But the fact remains that 2021-22 was the first season in NHL history that the league had ever used more than 100 goalies.</p><p>That&rsquo;s an average of almost four goalies per team. In fact, the Calgary Flames (Jacob Markstrom and Dan Vladar) and Winnipeg Jets (Connor Hellebuyck and Eric Comrie) were the only two teams who made it through the calendar with the traditional starter-backup tandem through 82 regular-season games. It seems they&rsquo;re not making goalies like they used to. They sure don&rsquo;t seem as good, they&rsquo;re not as durable, and many are prone to long periods of subpar play. So that raises the question: are we at a time in NHL history when teams should begin to consider a three-goalie rotation instead of two, effectively creating more of a bullpen situation with goaltending?</p><p>&ldquo;I do think so,&rdquo; said Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald, who might have a recency bias when it comes to this subject, seeing as his team featured a league-high seven goalies this season. &ldquo;I mean, it&rsquo;s the most important position in the game, and you have two of them. You carry 14 forwards or seven defensemen. After this season, I&rsquo;m willing to look at anything.&rdquo;</p><p>Whether a team would entertain the notion has a lot to do with the state of their goaltending, which seems to be pretty fluid for a lot of teams from season to season. If you&rsquo;re the Tampa Bay Lightning and you have Andrei Vasilevskiy or the Jets with Hellebuyck or the New York Rangers with Igor Shesterkin, having a third goalie in what is essentially a flat-cap stretch of seasons would probably be a waste of cap space. But when you&rsquo;re still trying to figure out your goaltending situation, or you simply don&rsquo;t have that year-in, year-out consistent stopper who makes everyone&rsquo;s lives a lot easier, it could be a consideration. In fact, the Vegas Golden Knights essentially did just that this season, using Robin Lehner for 44 starts, Laurent Brossoit for 21 and Logan Thompson for 17. They were one of nine teams in the NHL this season where three or more goalies got into 10 or more games. &ldquo;The only negative I can see is, can you keep someone sharp when there are only two nets in practice?&rdquo; Fitzgerald said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;d have to find a way to keep the competition at a very good level and give these guys the reps. And if you could, why wouldn&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;</p><p>Of course, there were some mitigating circumstances that made the 2021-22 season rather unique from a number of different perspectives. You&rsquo;d have to think future seasons will not come to a screeching halt by a global pandemic &ndash; they won&rsquo;t, right? &ndash; and that there will not be the excruciating string of back-to-back games caused by 106 postponed games and a two-week shutdown. And there&rsquo;s no disputing the fact that some of the NHL&rsquo;s goaltending problem could be directly related to that, and things could even out from a goaltending standpoint a little more compared to past seasons. But there&rsquo;s also a trend that has developed over the past couple of seasons that would suggest there is more than a little volatility at the position.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_markst_123/821297-1-eng-US/buzz_markst_1232.jpg" title="buzz_markst_123" width="1021" height="1101"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>TWO&rsquo;S ENOUGH</b></p><p>Calgary and Winnipeg were the only teams to employ just two netminders throughout 2021-22. (SERGEI BELSKI-USA TODAY SPORTS)</p></figcaption></div><p>To put it more bluntly, are there enough NHL-caliber goalies out there to have three on each of the league&rsquo;s 32 rosters? That would increase the number of big-league stoppers from 64 to 96. There&rsquo;s a reason why teams have been going through multiple goaltenders, and some of it has to do with health. Some of it also has to do with performance. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a big disparity between the NHL&rsquo;s best and the goaltenders below that,&rdquo; said Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong, whose team went through six goalies. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s elite, and then there&rsquo;s below that. The question everyone is asking, has the NHL improved that much? But I think there has been a lack of elite goaltenders at times. I guess to answer your question, I don&rsquo;t know if there are enough NHL goaltenders to have three."</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>

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Buzz

THE NHL’S CREASE CRISIS

<div class="byline">BY&#xA0;JARED CLINTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="mask_oettin_059" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/mask_oettin_059/821356-1-eng-US/mask_oettin_0592.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DAVID GUNNARSSON/DAVEART.COM)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>JAKE OETTINGER</b></h2><h3>&gt;DALLAS STARS</h3><p class="dropcap"><b><span>P</span>ERHAPS NOT SINCE ED</b> Belfour, whose &lsquo;Eddie the Eagle&rsquo; sobriquet leant itself to eye-catching mask designs, has another goalie&rsquo;s nickname made an artist&rsquo;s job as simple as Jake Oettinger&rsquo;s &lsquo;Otter&rsquo; moniker. Sleek and streamlined, otters dart through the water in much the same way Oettinger flies around his crease. And given his superb playoff effort &ndash; he made 272 saves in a seven-game defeat &ndash; we&rsquo;ll no doubt see iterations of this otter for years to come.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/mask_oettin_060/821349-1-eng-US/mask_oettin_0602.jpg" title="mask_oettin_060" width="644" height="849"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/mask_oettin_061/821342-1-eng-US/mask_oettin_0612.jpg" title="mask_oettin_061" width="649" height="857"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

mask_oettin_059

BEHIND THE MASK

<div class="byline">BY&#xA0;RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/jersey_nors_067/821394-1-eng-US/jersey_nors_0672.jpg" title="jersey_nors_067" width="662" height="769"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>BLAKE MESENBURG</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(PETE KNUTSON/ST. CLOUD NORSEMEN)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>ST. CLOUD NORSEMEN</b></h2><h3><b>&gt;2021-22</b></h3><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE ST. CLOUD NORSEMEN</b> are coming off a regular-season division title in the NAHL, and when they wore these new third jerseys, they really did so with panache. You don&rsquo;t often see a nice twist on the Rangers-style diagonal lettering on a sweater, but using the runic/Viking lettering here really gives it a cool new dimension. The black-on-gray is an underused color scheme in hockey and definitely pops, while there is still room for the Norsemen&rsquo;s main primary logo on the shoulder. And though there are some fans and critics who don&rsquo;t like it when a team uses a short form on a sweater, going with &lsquo;Norse&rsquo; instead of Norsemen here pays off.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/jersey_nors_068/821387-1-eng-US/jersey_nors_0682.jpg" title="jersey_nors_068" width="661" height="768"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>NIK HONG</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(PETE KNUTSON/ST. CLOUD NORSEMEN)</span></figcaption></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

jersey_nors_067

JERSEY HOUND

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-0197/821425-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0013-01

HEATER-O-METER

<div class="byline">BY SAL BARRY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_cards1_069/821463-1-eng-US/buzz_cards1_0692.jpg" title="buzz_cards1_069" width="680" height="920"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>B</span>EN STELTER IS A</b> six-year-old Oilers fan battling glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer. On March 24, the Oilers asked Ben to participate in the team&rsquo;s pre-game skate. He was later named &ldquo;player of the game&rdquo; and was invited to hang out in the Oilers&rsquo; dressing room afterward. A month later, Upper Deck made Ben his own &ldquo;Heroic Inspirations&rdquo; card, picturing him with his hero, Connor McDavid, on the front and detailing his battle with cancer on the back. The first 2,000 fans at the Oilers&rsquo; game on April 28 received a copy of the card. Many quickly ended up on eBay and were selling for upwards of $200. To give more fans a chance to own Ben&rsquo;s card and raise money for a good cause, Upper Deck sold Ben&rsquo;s card on its e-Pack platform for $9.70, with net proceeds going to the Kids With Cancer Society.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buzz_cards2_070/821456-1-eng-US/buzz_cards2_0702.jpg" title="buzz_cards2_070" width="679" height="920"></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

buzz_cards1_069

IN THE CARDS

<div class="byline">BY SAL BARRY</div><h2><b>TEN ACTORS WITH HOCKEY CARDS</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>M</span>ANY ACTORS ARE BIG-TIME</b> hockey fans away from the silver screen &ndash; with some even lucky enough to get their own hockey card. These 10 stand out among the pack.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/puckculture_106/821557-1-eng-US/puckculture_1062.jpg" title="puckculture_106" width="728" height="989"></div><h3 class="ezoeAlignleft" align="left"><b>1. RALPH MACCHIO</b></h3><p><b><i>1991-92 Pro Set Platinum #295</i></b></p><p><i>Karate Kid</i>, <i>Cobra Kai</i> and <i>My Cousin Vinny</i> actor Ralph Macchio has been an Islanders fan since the 1970s. During the 1991-92 season, each NHL team appointed a &ldquo;celebrity captain&rdquo; for the league&rsquo;s 75th anniversary, and Macchio filled that role for the Isles. The 1991-92 Pro Set Platinum set featured cards of 12 celeb captains, including one of Macchio clad in an Isles jersey. He also had a bobblehead in his likeness given away at an Islanders game in 2016. And there was a hockey scene in a 2021 episode of <i>Cobra Kai</i> where his character, Daniel LaRusso, gets into a brawl with five angry hockey players after a rec-league game.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/puckculture_1143/821550-1-eng-US/puckculture_1142.jpg" title="puckculture_114" width="736" height="1007"></div><h3><b>2. JIM BELUSHI</b></h3><p><b><i>1991-92 Pro Set Platinum #300</i></b></p><p>Actor and comedian Jim Belushi, who hails from the Chicago suburb of Wheaton, is a longtime Blackhawks fan and was Chicago&rsquo;s &ldquo;celebrity captain&rdquo; in 1991-92. Like Macchio, Belushi also got a card in that year&rsquo;s Pro Set Platinum set, picturing him in a throwback sweater. The former <i>Saturday Night Live</i> alum also voiced the character Phil Palmfeather in the 1996 cartoon <i>Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series</i>.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/puckculture_1152/821543-1-eng-US/puckculture_1152.jpg" title="puckculture_115" width="736" height="992"></div><h3><b>3. MIKE MYERS</b></h3><p><b><i>1992-93 Alberta International Team Canada #14</i></b></p><p>Former <i>Saturday Night Liv</i>e cast member and <i>Austin Powers</i> star Mike Myers is a huge Maple Leafs fan. He also wrote, produced and starred in the hockey-themed comedy movie <i>The Love Guru</i> &ndash; but the less said about that, the better. In 1992, Myers was the &ldquo;honorary captain&rdquo; of Team Canada and had his own card in the team set, which also included cards of future NHL D-man Adrian Aucoin and future NHL coach Tom Renney.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/puckculture_107/821536-1-eng-US/puckculture_1072.jpg" title="puckculture_107" width="728" height="984"></div><h3><b>4. JASON PRIESTLEY</b></h3><p><b><i>2015-16 Champ&rsquo;s #300</i></b></p><p>Jason Priestley, best known for playing Brandon Walsh in the hit TV drama <i>Beverly Hills, 90210</i>, grew up playing hockey and later skated in celebrity charity games. He played an ex-hockey player turned detective in the TV series <i>Private Eyes</i> and was the love interest in the made-for-TV movie <i>Chicks with Sticks</i> (released on DVD as <i>Anyone&rsquo;s Game</i> in Canada and as <i>Hockey Mom</i> in the U.S.). He, along with several other Canadian celebrities and historical figures, had a card in the 2015-16 Champ&rsquo;s hockey set.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/puckculture_108/821529-1-eng-US/puckculture_1082.jpg" title="puckculture_108" width="728" height="992"></div><h3><b>5. PAMELA ANDERSON</b></h3><p><b><i>2010-11 Donruss &ndash; Fans of the Game #2</i></b></p><p>Pamela Anderson, star of the 1990s TV series <i>Baywatch</i>, is a Canucks fan and hails from British Columbia. As a guest on <i>The Tonight Show</i>, she gifted host Jay Leno his own personalized Canucks jersey. Anderson was a part of the &ldquo;Fans of the Game&rdquo; insert set, found in packs of 2010-11 Donruss Hockey cards. A much rarer autographed version was also issued.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/puckculture_1092/821522-1-eng-US/puckculture_1092.jpg" title="puckculture_109" width="736" height="992"></div><h3><b>6. ALYSSA MILANO</b></h3><p><b><i>2011-12 Pinnacle &ndash; Fans of the Game #7</i></b></p><p>Alyssa Milano, known for her roles in <i>Who&rsquo;s the Boss?</i> and <i>Charmed</i>, grew up watching her brother play hockey and is a longtime fan of the sport. Her family even had Kings season tickets before it was cool &ndash; that is, before Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s trade to L.A. She had a card in the 2011-12 Pinnacle &ldquo;Fans of the Game&rdquo; insert set &ndash; with both signed and unsigned versions.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/puckculture_1102/821515-1-eng-US/puckculture_1102.jpg" title="puckculture_110" width="736" height="1032"></div><h3><b>7. JAY BARUCHEL</b></h3><p><b><i>2012 Goon Promotional Card Set #NNO</i></b></p><p>It&rsquo;s no secret that actor Jay Baruchel is a passionate hockey fan. He wrote the book <i>Born Into It: A Fan&rsquo;s Life</i> about his love of the Canadiens. He also produced and co-wrote the screenplay for the film <i>Goon</i>, based on the eponymous book. Baruchel plays hockey fan Pat Houlihan, the best friend of protagonist Doug &lsquo;The Thug&rsquo; Glatt. Four <i>Goon</i> promotional trading cards &ndash; including one of Houlihan &ndash; were available to download and print from the movie&rsquo;s official website.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/puckculture_1112/821508-1-eng-US/puckculture_1112.jpg" title="puckculture_111" width="736" height="992"></div><h3><b>8. ELISHA CUTHBERT</b></h3><p><b><i>2017 Upper Deck Goon: Last of the Enforcers #6</i></b></p><p>Canadian actress Elisha Cuthbert is a lifelong hockey fan married to former NHLer Dion Phaneuf. She also wrote a column called &ldquo;Hollywood Hockey Thoughts&rdquo; as a guest blogger for <a href="http://NHL.com">NHL.com</a>. It was natural, then, for her to play Mary, a diehard Halifax Highlanders fan and sister-in-law of Doug Glatt, in <i>Goon: Last of the Enforcers</i>. Cuthbert was also included in the card set released to promote the film.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/puckculture_1123/821501-1-eng-US/puckculture_1122.jpg" title="puckculture_112" width="736" height="992"></div><h3><b>9. WYATT RUSSELL</b></h3><p><b><i>2017 Upper Deck Goon: Last of the Enforcers #2</i></b></p><p>Wyatt Russell, son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, recently starred in <i>The Falcon and the Winter Soldier</i>. But prior to his acting career, he played goalie in a few junior leagues and was a third-stringer for the University of Alabama-Huntsville behind future NHLer Cam Talbot. Russell then played minor pro in Europe before an injury led him to pursue acting. He got to combine his loves when he played Anders Cain in <i>Goon: Last of the Enforcers</i>. Upper Deck produced an eight-card set given out at advanced screenings and card shops in Canada. One of the cards pictures Russell as Cain, with stats and a player bio on the back.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/puckculture_1134/821494-1-eng-US/puckculture_1132.jpg" title="puckculture_113" width="728" height="1000"></div><h3><b>10. DENIS LEARY</b></h3><p><b><i>1994-95 Be A Player #R141</i></b></p><p>Comic and actor Denis Leary is a big-time Bruins fan. He starred as a NYC firefighter in <i>Rescue Me</i> and skates on the FDNY hockey team in the series. Leary was also the executive producer of the hockey comedy <i>Benders</i>. In the 1994-95 Be A Player set, Leary guest wrote humorous &ldquo;scouting reports&rdquo; for the card-back biographies for 10 of his favorite players, such as Cam Neely and Jeremy Roenick. He also got his own card in the set, which explains he loves hockey &ldquo;because it is the only professional sport in the world that would give me my own card!&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

puckculture_106

PUCK CULTURE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="awards_mcda_009" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/awards_mcda_009/821749-1-eng-US/awards_mcda_0092.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PERRY NELSON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>MARIO LEMIEUX AWARD&nbsp;</b><b>(Best player)</b></h2><h3><b>&gt;CONNOR MCDAVID, EDM</b></h3><p class="dropcap"><b><span>M</span>CDAVID BLITZED THE LEAGUE</b> for 123 points &ndash; tying him with Jaromir Jagr for third-most in any season this millennium. He could&rsquo;ve done even more damage had Edmonton not shot a measly 8.3 percent with him on the ice at 5-on-5, but he still managed his fifth 100-point season and fourth Art Ross Trophy win.</p><p><b>RUNNERS-UP</b></p><p><b>2.</b> A. Matthews, Tor</p><p><b>3.</b> L. Draisaitl, Edm</p><p><b>4.</b> R. Josi, Nsh</p><p><b>5.</b> N. MacKinnon, Col</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/awards_josi_010/821735-1-eng-US/awards_josi_0102.jpg" title="awards_josi_010" width="362" height="534"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(NICK TURCHIARO-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>BOBBY ORR AWARD&nbsp;</b><b>(Best defenseman)</b></h2><h3><b>&gt;ROMAN JOSI, NSH</b></h3><p><b>IT&rsquo;S BEEN NEARLY 30</b> years since an NHL defenseman put up as many points as Josi produced in 2021-22 &ndash; Phil Housley had 97 points in 1992-93, one more than Josi&rsquo;s total. At 31 and in his 11th season, Josi demolished his previous bests with a 23-goal, 96-point effort while leading the underdog Predators into the playoffs.</p><p><b>RUNNERS-UP</b></p><p><b>2.</b> C. Makar, Col</p><p><b>3.</b> V. Hedman, TB</p><p><b>4.</b> K. Letang, Pit</p><p><b>5.</b> J. Carlson, Wsh</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/awards_mcda_011/821721-1-eng-US/awards_mcda_0112.jpg" title="awards_mcda_011" width="362" height="685"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(SERGEI BELSKI-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>WAYNE GRETZKY AWARD&nbsp;</b><b>(Most valuable player)</b></h2><h3><b>&gt;CONNOR MCDAVID, EDM</b></h3><p><b>THE TWO-TIME HART WINNER</b>willed Edmonton into the playoffs, even setting career highs in hits (75) and faceoff percentage (53.7). He had a point on 43.2 percent of Edmonton&rsquo;s goals, and took the Oilers from being poor at 5-on-5 (47.3 percent of expected goals with him on bench) to elite (59.0 percent with him on ice).</p><p><b>RUNNERS-UP</b></p><p><b>2.</b> A. Matthews, Tor</p><p><b>3.</b> I. Shesterkin, NYR</p><p><b>4.</b> J. Huberdeau, Fla</p><p><b>5.</b> R. Josi, Nsh</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/awards_duch_012/821707-1-eng-US/awards_duch_0122.jpg" title="awards_duch_012" width="362" height="678"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PERRY NELSON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>SAKU KOIVU AWARD&nbsp;</b><b>(Comeback player)</b></h2><h3><b>&gt;MATT DUCHENE, NSH</b></h3><p><b>DUCHENE SCORED A GRAND</b> total of 19 goals in 100 games across his first two seasons in Nashville &ndash; including six in 34 games last year &ndash; as he aged out of his 20s and entered his 30s. So it&rsquo;s safe to say his breakout for a career-best 43 goals &ndash; his previous high was 31 &ndash; came as a very pleasant surprise for the Predators.</p><p><b>RUNNERS-UP</b></p><p><b>2.</b> V. Tarasenko, StL</p><p><b>3.</b> J. Skinner, Buf</p><p><b>4.</b> C. Price, Mtl</p><p><b>5.</b> K. Okposo, Buf</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/awards_shes_013/821693-1-eng-US/awards_shes_0132.jpg" title="awards_shes_013" width="802" height="585"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(NICK TURCHIARO-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>PATRICK ROY AWARD&nbsp;</b><b>(Best goalie)</b></h2><h3><b>&gt;IGOR SHESTERKIN, NYR</b></h3><p><b>IT WOULD BE HYPERBOLIC</b> to say Shesterkin is making Rangers fans forget about Henrik Lundqvist, but he&rsquo;s proving a worthy heir. He led the NHL &ndash; by far &ndash; in save percentage, goals-against average (2.07) and goals saved above expected (34.1). His .935 SP is second only to Tim Thomas (.938) in the salary-cap era among full-season starters.</p><p><b>RUNNERS-UP</b></p><p><b>2.</b> J. Markstrom, Cgy</p><p><b>3.</b> A. Vasilevskiy, TB</p><p><b>4.</b> J. Saros, Nsh</p><p><b>5.</b> F. Andersen, Car</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/awards_shes_015/821679-1-eng-US/awards_shes_0152.jpg" title="awards_shes_015" width="362" height="604"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DANNY WILD-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>CAM NEELY AWARD&nbsp;</b><b>(Breakout player)</b></h2><h3><b>&gt;IGOR SHESTERKIN, NYR</b></h3><p><b>SHESTERKIN ENTERED 2021-22 WITH</b> only 47 NHL games to his credit, then earned a Hart nomination for a dominant campaign that saw him backstop the upstart Rangers into the playoffs. And though post-season performance didn&rsquo;t factor into our awards voting, he was largely responsible for New York&rsquo;s surprising final-four run.</p><p><b>RUNNERS-UP</b></p><p><b>2.</b> T. Thompson, Buf</p><p><b>3.</b> T. Terry, Ana</p><p><b>4.</b> R. Thomas, StL</p><p><b>5.</b> J. Robertson, Dal</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/awards_reav_016/821665-1-eng-US/awards_reav_0162.jpg" title="awards_reav_016" width="362" height="537"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DENNIS SCHNEIDLER-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>BOB PROBERT AWARD&nbsp;</b><b>(Toughest player)</b></h2><h3><b>&gt;RYAN REAVES, NYR</b></h3><p><b>REAVES REMAINS THE NHL&rsquo;S</b> heavyweight champion and someone who you just don&rsquo;t want to mess with &ndash; as evidenced by the fact he&rsquo;s only fought nine times the past three seasons, including playoffs. The intimidation factor is real and Reaves uses it frequently and flagrantly, to the benefit of his suddenly braver teammates.</p><p><b>RUNNERS-UP</b></p><p><b>2.</b> T. Wilson, Wsh</p><p><b>3.</b> T. Jeannot, Nsh</p><p><b>4.</b> M. Lucic, Cgy</p><p><b>5.</b> N. Deslauriers, Min</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/awards_seid_014/821651-1-eng-US/awards_seid_0142.jpg" title="awards_seid_014" width="1240" height="1120"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JOHN E. SOKOLOWSKI-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>TEEMU SELANNE AWARD&nbsp;</b><b>(Best rookie)</b></h2><h3><b>&gt;MORITZ SEIDER, DET</b></h3><p><b>THE RED WINGS&rsquo; CHOICE OF</b> Seider at No. 6 in the 2019 draft had people asking, &ldquo;What did we miss?&rdquo; His play since has answered. Seider took on massive responsibility on the Wings&rsquo; rebuilding blueline, averaging a team-high 23:02 per game and playing in all situations. His 50 points led NHL rookie D-men.</p><p><b>RUNNERS-UP</b></p><p><b>2.</b> T. Zegras, Ana</p><p><b>3.</b> L. Raymond, Det</p><p><b>4.</b> M. Bunting, Tor</p><p><b>5.</b> A. Lundell, Fla</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/awards_slav_017/821637-1-eng-US/awards_slav_0172.jpg" title="awards_slav_017" width="362" height="383"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(SERGEI BELSKI-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>GUY CARBONNEAU AWARD&nbsp;</b><b>(Top penalty-killer)</b></h2><h3><b>&gt;JACCOB</b>&nbsp;<b>SLAVIN, CAR</b></h3><p><b>THE HURRICANES SHUT DOWN</b> 88 percent of opponents&rsquo; chances with the man advantage in the regular season &ndash; the best mark in the NHL since 2011-12 &ndash; and defensive ace Slavin was the catalyst, logging a team-high 255:00 total ice time on the PK. He&rsquo;s elite at limiting high-danger net-front chances while down a man.</p><p><b>RUNNERS-UP</b></p><p><b>2.</b> P. Bergeron, Bos</p><p><b>3.</b> A. Barkov, Fla</p><p><b>4.</b> J. Staal, Car</p><p><b>5.</b> R. O&rsquo;Reilly, StL</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/awards_gall_019/821623-1-eng-US/awards_gall_0192.jpg" title="awards_gall_019" width="360" height="346"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DANNY WILD-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>SCOTTY BOWMAN AWARD&nbsp;</b><b>(Best coach)</b></h2><h3><b>&gt;GERARD</b>&nbsp;<b>GALLANT, NYR</b></h3><p><b>RANGERS BRASS WANTED TO</b> forge a harder-to-play-against identity last off-season, and Gallant was brought in to effect such change. The veteran coach guided a team with middling pre-season expectations to its best record since 2014-15, and while the &lsquo;D&rsquo; wasn&rsquo;t always stifling, New York was top 10 in hits, blocks and takeaways.</p><p><b>RUNNERS-UP</b></p><p><b>2.</b> J. Cooper, TB</p><p><b>3.</b> D. Sutter, Cgy</p><p><b>4.</b> R. Brind&rsquo;Amour, Car</p><p><b>5.</b> A. Brunette, Fla</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/awards_saki_018/821609-1-eng-US/awards_saki_0182.jpg" title="awards_saki_018" width="362" height="375"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(RON CHENOY-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>SAM POLLOCK AWARD&nbsp;</b><b>(Best GM)</b></h2><h3><b>&gt;JOE</b>&nbsp;<b>SAKIC, COL</b></h3><p><b>SAKIC&rsquo;S AVS HAVE FINISHED</b> second, first and third overall in NHL standings in the past three seasons as Colorado has matured into a deep and uber-talented collection. With superstar power in place at the top of the lineup, the patient Sakic hit on a number of astute trades to strengthen the rest of the roster.</p><p><b>RUNNERS-UP</b></p><p><b>2.</b> J. BriseBois, TB</p><p><b>3.</b> B. Zito, Fla</p><p><b>4.</b> D. Waddell, Car</p><p><b>5.</b> R. Blake, LA</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/awards_slav_020/821595-1-eng-US/awards_slav_0202.jpg" title="awards_slav_020" width="362" height="351"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JAMES GUILLORY-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>ROD LANGWAY AWARD&nbsp;</b><b>(Best defensive defenseman)</b></h2><h3><b>&gt;JACCOB</b>&nbsp;<b>SLAVIN, CAR</b></h3><p><b>HE MIGHT BE MILD-MANNERED</b> Clark Kent with his gentlemanly approach to the game, but Slavin is nothing short of Superman on the defensive side of the puck. Great skater, great quickness, great stick, great positioning and great recovery ability. He takes away time and space from the NHL&rsquo;s biggest stars on a nightly basis.</p><p><b>RUNNERS-UP</b></p><p><b>2.</b> V. Hedman, TB</p><p><b>3.</b> C. Tanev, Cgy</p><p><b>4.</b> D. Toews, Col</p><p><b>5.</b> C. McAvoy, Bos<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

awards_mcda_009

THN AWARDS

<div class="byline">BY GEORGES LARAQUE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="bgl_iphone1_097" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/bgl_iphone1_097/821787-1-eng-US/bgl_iphone1_0972.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>THE CAMERA NEVER BLINKS</b></p><p>A bad decision or embarrassing moment can mar a player&rsquo;s reputation &ndash; or even destroy their career entirely.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(ERIC BOLTE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>THE DANGERS OF SOCIAL</b> media are real, and today&rsquo;s athletes have to understand them.</p><p>As things change and our society evolves, technology is becoming more and more of a hulking presence in our lives. It&rsquo;s crazy! This, of course, has its share of advantages and disadvantages.</p><p>When I played in the NHL, social media was not even close to what it is today. If you had a bad game, you would, no question, read about it in the papers the next day. But if the team decided to go out to the bars and party after a game, only the people who happened to be at that specific bar at that particular time would ever be aware. Compared to how things are today, we had much more privacy back then.</p><p>Today, things are different &ndash; and because of that, athletes have to be careful. Social media is so big that anyone who has a camera (so, their smartphone), an internet connection and an account on any of the big social-media sites can become a microcelebrity. All one must do is take a picture of an athlete in an awkward or embarrassing position, post it everywhere, and boom, your content can go viral and gain you tons of followers.</p><p>And it doesn&rsquo;t stop there. Many media companies actively seek out this content, so you can even <i>get paid</i> for photos or video of an athlete you might have caught in a compromising position. TMZ is the king of this. And we all know that some of those pictures and videos have ruined careers.</p><p>Athletes today have to realize there&rsquo;s always (or at least often) someone watching, with a camera at the ready, eager to capture your next mistake. For example, if you happen to be out late the night before a game, chances are someone will take a picture, and it&rsquo;ll make the rounds. If you get drunk in a public place &ndash; even if you had the day off &ndash; footage could be leaked online. If you get drawn into a fight, an argument, or kind of altercation, people are going to know about it. People are looking for anything to become instantly famous, and they don&rsquo;t mind using you to get there.</p><p>Another danger for athletes is &ldquo;sharks.&rdquo; These are people who will set you up for a payday. Today, it&rsquo;s just so easy to find your personal information. People can find out where you live, if you&rsquo;re married, have kids, anything you can imagine. There are cases where fans would seek out an athlete and attempt to put him in a compromising position so someone could take pictures and then threaten to expose the athlete&rsquo;s misdeed unless they pay up. As hard as this is to believe, it still happens today. It&rsquo;s not a common thing, but it can still occur.</p><p>NHL teams also have to deal with some of their players caught in different scandals every year, whether that scandal deals with leaked explicit photos, photos of illicit drug use, or whatever. I can go on and on about the different scenarios that happen. Athletes are learning about these issues every year, so many now stay away from social media entirely. On the flip side, some seem to focus more on their social media than on their careers. And they pay the price for that.</p><p>The thing is, playing a professional sport for a living these days comes with a price: you can face criticism every single day with social media. It&rsquo;s not just the press who can criticize your game; the fans can, too. This negativity can take a toll on athletes who are active online, as regularly reading negative comments about their performance can sometimes become too much to bear and can lead to anxiety and even depression.</p><p>Athletes must realize social media is a &ldquo;weapon,&rdquo; and it&rsquo;s one with which they must be cautious. It takes years to build an empire, but just one bad decision to destroy it.</p><p>Years ago, you could get away with a mistake or two, but not anymore. Therefore, be careful, and focus your energy on your career. Be a good role model in your community, be a good teammate, and you will avoid so many potential issues.</p><p>Yes, there are dangers to social media, yet there is also great content to be shared. Nourish your social-media feeds with value for your fans and with messages and/or inspiration you wish to impart. Now, that&rsquo;s a powerful way to use such a &ldquo;weapon.&rdquo;</p><span class="image-inline"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/twitterlogo_0832/821794-1-eng-US/twitterlogo_0832.jpg" title="twitterlogo_083" width="39" height="32"></span><p><b><a datastyle href="https://twitter.com/GeorgesLaraque">@GEORGESLARAQUE</a></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

bgl_iphone1_097

BGL's Corner

NOT-SO-SECRET WEAPON

<div class="byline">By Ryan Kennedy</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="top10_kadri_158" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/top10_kadri_158/821993-1-eng-US/top10_kadri_1582.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(GEOFF BURKE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>E SAW SOME AMAZING</b> performances this season in the NHL. And while Alex Ovechkin continued to pile up goals, the new generation stepped up as well, from Connor McDavid to Auston Matthews to Trevor Zegras. And while it&rsquo;s always difficult to distill the magic of an NHL season into just 10 events, we had some great highlights to pick from this year. We also welcomed the 32nd franchise into the league in the Seattle Kraken, and although the new kids didn&rsquo;t have much success in the standings, they definitely won in other ways. So let&rsquo;s count down the best of the 2021-22 campaign.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/top10_makar_159/821986-1-eng-US/top10_makar_1592.jpg" title="top10_makar_159" width="801" height="1143"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>BILL DALY & CALE MAKAR</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(GEOFF BURKE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>&gt;NO. 1: AVALANCHE</b>&nbsp;<b>WIN THE STANLEY CUP</b></h2><p><b>THE COLORADO AVALANCHE</b> won their first Stanley Cup in 21 years, defeating the back-to-back champs from Tampa Bay in six games. Defenseman Cale Makar won the Conn Smythe Trophy on the back of 29 points in 20 games and put himself in rarefied company with his win: the 23-year-old became the third-youngest D-man to win playoff MVP honors after Bobby Orr and Serge Savard. The Avalanche also got a crucial overtime game-winner in Game 4 from Nazem Kadri, who became the first Muslim player to win the Stanley Cup. He did so while gutting through a broken thumb, which he sustained in Game 3 of the conference final, that meant he couldn&rsquo;t tie his own skates. The Avalanche lost only four games during their playoff run (an .800 winning percentage), and they were beasts in opponents&rsquo; buildings, losing only once on the road.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/top10_matth_151/821965-1-eng-US/top10_matth_1512.jpg" title="top10_matth_151" width="1240" height="1031"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JOHN E. SOKOLOWSKI-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>&gt;NO. 2: MATTHEWS</b>&nbsp;<b>SCORES 60 GOALS</b></h2><p><b>IT WAS ONLY A</b> matter of time. During his young NHL career, Auston Matthews has become one of the league&rsquo;s deadliest goal-scorers, using his wicked and often disguised release to baffle netminders. Due to injuries and COVID-shortened campaigns, Matthews had yet to hit 50 goals in a season, but this year proved to be the one. And he didn&rsquo;t stop at 50. On April 26, he hit the 60-goal mark, becoming the first U.S.-born player to do so. He also became the first player in a decade to hit that plateau, after Steven Stamkos did it in 2011-12. Perhaps even more remarkable is that Matthews scored 50 goals in a 50-game span &ndash; a feat not achieved since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. Matthews didn&rsquo;t do it in the first 50 games of the season, but it was an impressive run nonetheless and helped him capture his second straight Rocket Richard Trophy.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/top10_yandl_148/821951-1-eng-US/top10_yandl_1482.jpg" title="top10_yandl_148" width="1681" height="1269"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(STEPHEN R. SYLVANIE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>&gt;NO. 3: YANDLE IRONMAN RECORD</b></h2><p><b>DOUG JARVIS&rsquo; RECORD STOOD</b> for 35 years, but the ironman chalice was finally passed on when Philadelphia&rsquo;s Keith Yandle played in his 965th consecutive game on Jan. 25 against the Islanders. The offensive defenseman had some close calls in the past, but he managed to push his streak &ndash; which began on March 26, 2009 &ndash; to 989 games before becoming a healthy scratch for a late-season contest against Toronto. Coincidentally, Jarvis&rsquo; streak also ended on a healthy scratch. Flyers coach Mike Yeo halted Yandle&rsquo;s streak in order to get some younger players into the lineup, but it was a controversial call given that Philly&rsquo;s season was long over. Yeo, who replaced Alain Vigneault in December, was fired at the end of the campaign. And while it took decades for Jarvis&rsquo; mark to fall, Yandle might get passed in mere months: 2022 UFA Phil Kessel is at 982 games and counting heading into 2022-23 &ndash; just seven games back.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/top10_zegra_149/821937-1-eng-US/top10_zegra_1492.jpg" title="top10_zegra_149" width="1405" height="1788"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JAYNE KAMIN-ONCEA-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>&gt;NO. 4: ZEGRAS</b>&nbsp;<b>LACROSSE PASS</b></h2><p><b>IN RECENT YEARS, THE</b> lacrosse-style goal &ndash; a.k.a. &lsquo;The Michigan&rsquo; a.k.a. &lsquo;The Svechnikov&rsquo; &ndash; has become a lot more popular at elite levels, and NHLers have gotten in on the action. While Carolina&rsquo;s Andrei Svechnikov had been the boldest, Anaheim Ducks rookie Trevor Zegras took things to the next level on Dec. 7 when he found himself behind the Buffalo net with the puck on his stick. Linemate Sonny Milano (a high-skill creative himself) called out to Zegras for a &lsquo;Michigan&rsquo; pass, and Zegras dutifully flipped the puck over the Sabres&rsquo; net. Milano then batted the pass out of the air past goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for one of the most spectacular goals ever scored in the NHL. Zegras scored a more traditional &lsquo;Michigan&rsquo; goal on his own later in the season, igniting a sour brawl with the Arizona Coyotes.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/top10_krake_146/821930-1-eng-US/top10_krake_1462.jpg" title="top10_krake_146" width="1237" height="2077"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(STEPHEN R. SYLVANIE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>&gt;NO. 5: SEATTLE&rsquo;S INAUGURAL SEASON</b></h2><p><b>THE NAME WAS A</b> hit, the uniforms looked sweet and the expansion draft reveal featured&hellip;Marshawn Lynch. Sure, the roster didn&rsquo;t exactly have a lot of scoring punch to it, but there was plenty of excitement swirling around the Pacific Northwest &ndash; and the rest of the league for that matter &ndash; as the Seattle Kraken suited up for the franchise&rsquo;s first game. On Oct. 12, the Kraken headed to Vegas, where the Golden Knights &ndash; who had set an incredibly high bar for expansion teams four years earlier &ndash; handed Seattle its first NHL loss, a 4-3 setback clinched by Chandler Stephenson in the third period. Ryan Donato scored Seattle&rsquo;s first goal in the second period, and the first win came two days later in Nashville. Seattle&rsquo;s first home game took place on Oct. 23, with geographic rival Vancouver earning a 4-2 victory over the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. Seattle finished its first season last in the Pacific Division and 30th overall.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/top10_mcdav_152/821916-1-eng-US/top10_mcdav_1522.jpg" title="top10_mcdav_152" width="2120" height="1239"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(SERGEI BELSKI-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>&gt;NO. 6: THE BATTLE OF ALBERTA</b></h2><p><b>OK, SO WE KNEW</b> the first playoff Battle of Alberta since 1991 would be wild, but how many predicted a five-game Oilers win that featured 15 goals in Game 1 alone and 45 goals overall? Goaltending was obviously not a strong suit, with Edmonton&rsquo;s Mike Smith getting pulled in Game 1 and letting in a shorthanded, game-tying Rasmus Andersson goal from 132 feet away in the third period of Game 4. Luckily for the Oilers, Calgary&rsquo;s Jacob Markstrom fared even worse, getting strafed by Edmonton throughout the series.</p><p>In the end, it was captain Connor McDavid sealing the series for the Oilers with an overtime marker in Game 5. McDavid finished the Battle of Alberta with 12 points, adding to the 14 he put up in the first round against Los Angeles. Not to be outdone, fellow Edmonton superstar Leon Draisaitl had an incredible 17 points in the Calgary series.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/top10_eiche_161/821888-1-eng-US/top10_eiche_1612.jpg" title="top10_eiche_161" width="593" height="914"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(AARON DOSTER-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>&gt;NO. 7: EICHEL</b>&nbsp;<b>RETURNS TO BUFFALO</b></h2><p><b>NOT TOO LONG AGO,</b> Jack Eichel was the cornerstone around which the Buffalo Sabres were rebuilding. The gifted center did all he could on a team that didn&rsquo;t have a lot of weapons for him to play with, and when Eichel and management butted heads on how to treat his neck injury, an irreparable rift formed. Eventually, the Sabres traded Eichel to Vegas in a blockbuster deal that saw Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs and more come to Buffalo. Tuch was an instant hit with the Sabres, while the young Krebs contributed at both the NHL and AHL levels. But the real heat came when the Golden Knights visited Buffalo on March 10. Eichel, now recovered from his neck surgery, was booed consistently, and a fan even threw one of his old Sabres jerseys on the ice. Buffalo won the game 3-1, with both Tuch and Krebs scoring. Eichel did get off a good line, though, noting it was &ldquo;the loudest I&rsquo;ve ever heard this place.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/top10_price_153/821881-1-eng-US/top10_price_1532.jpg" title="top10_price_153" width="803" height="603"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ERIC BOLTE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>&gt;NO. 8: PRICE</b>&nbsp;<b>COMEBACK</b></h2><p><b>ONE OF THE BEST</b> and most well-respected netminders the game has ever seen, Carey Price almost single-handedly took the Montreal Canadiens to the Stanley Cup final in 2021. Ultimately, the Habs fell short of the title, losing to Tampa Bay in five games. But the summer held more bad news for Montreal, as Price needed surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee. The recovery time was supposed to be 10-12 weeks, and Price was initially expected to be ready for the start of this season, but the future Hall of Famer had more issues to deal with. In October, Price announced he was entering the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program. He rejoined his teammates in November but was still rehabbing his knee. As the Canadiens cratered in the standings, Price continued his recovery, and on April 15, he finally made his season debut in a 3-0 loss to the Islanders. Price won just one of his five appearances &ndash; but it was great to see him back on the ice.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/top10_pens/821846-1-eng-US/top10_pens2.jpg" title="top10_pens" width="2120" height="1226"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(VINCENT CARCHIETTA-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>&gt;NO. 9: RANGERS-PENS TRIPLE OT</b></h2><p><b>PLAYOFF HOCKEY IS SUPPOSED</b> to be wild and unpredictable, but Game 1 of the Pittsburgh-New York first-round series took that concept to incredible heights. With the Penguins already missing starter Tristan Jarry due to injury, the team was forced to send in third-stringer Louis Domingue during the second OT period after backup Casey DeSmith got hurt. With Vezina favorite Igor Shesterkin in the Rangers&rsquo; net, it would have been pretty easy to assume New York had the game in the bag, but the Penguins had other ideas.</p><p>Domingue, evidently fuelled by an instantly famous pre-game meal of spicy pork and broccoli, had only played two NHL games this season, but he shut the door as his teammates continued to blitz Shesterkin. The Rangers star faced an incredible 83 shots on the night, the final being tipped past him by Evgeni Malkin for a 4-3 Pittsburgh win. Shesterkin got the last laugh, however, with New York taking the series in seven games.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/top10_macki_157/821839-1-eng-US/top10_macki_1572.jpg" title="top10_macki_157" width="1242" height="790"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ISAIAH J. DOWNING-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>&gt;NO. 10: MacKINNON</b>&nbsp;<b>END-TO-END GOAL</b></h2><p><b>WHEN THE CHIPS ARE</b> down, you need your best players to step up. Colorado faced a stiff challenge from St. Louis in the second round of the playoffs, and Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon made sure he stepped up for his squad. Colorado carried a 3-1 lead into the third period of Game 5, but the Blues tied things up with less than five minutes to play. Two minutes later, MacKinnon went end-to-end for a spectacular hat-trick goal that tore the roof off Ball Arena and gave the Avs the lead back. Unfortunately for Colorado, Robert Thomas&rsquo; last-minute equalizer pushed the game to overtime, where Tyler Bozak won it for the Blues. But Colorado finished off the series one game later, with veteran Darren Helm scoring the clincher.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

top10_kadri_158

Top 10 NHL Moments Of 2021-22

TOP 10 NHL MOMENTS OF 2021-22

mackinnon1

Colorado Avalanche

MOUNTAINTOP MACKINNON

<h2><b><u>&gt;GAME 1</u></b></h2><p><b>1.</b> Avalanche fans became known for their singing voices this spring, but others brought another type of noise.</p><p><b>2.</b> Colorado&rsquo;s Ball Arena was rocking as a frenzied crowd of 17,778 roared in anticipation prior to Game 1 puck drop.</p><p><b>3.</b> The struggle begins with Darren Helm battling Mikhail Sergachev for a loose puck along the end boards.</p><p><b>4.</b> Gabriel Landeskog buries the first goal of the Cup final as Brandon Hagel shoves the Avs captain into the net.</p><p><b>5.</b> The Bolts&rsquo; Sergachev and Anthony Cirelli team up to slow down Colorado superstar Nathan MacKinnon.</p><p><b>6.</b> Jack Johnson has 16 years of NHL service but still made sure to introduce himself to Pat Maroon early on.</p><p><b>7.</b> After falling behind 3-1 in the first period, the Bolts celebrate Sergachev&rsquo;s game-tying goal at their bench.</p><p><b>8.</b> The thrill on J.T. Compher&rsquo;s face reflects the home crowd&rsquo;s mood as the OT-winner eludes Andrei Vasilevskiy.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game1_26/822496-1-eng-US/game1_22.jpg" title="game1_2" width="900" height="707"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game1_16/822489-1-eng-US/game1_12.jpg" title="game1_1" width="900" height="665"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game1_46/822482-1-eng-US/game1_42.jpg" title="game1_4" width="1140" height="1453"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game1_56/822475-1-eng-US/game1_52.jpg" title="game1_5" width="2116" height="1371"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(1-4: ISAIAH J. DOWNING-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game1_66/822468-1-eng-US/game1_62.jpg" title="game1_6" width="1388" height="1164"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game1_9/822461-1-eng-US/game1_92.jpg" title="game1_9" width="817" height="664"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game1_76/822454-1-eng-US/game1_72.jpg" title="game1_7" width="815" height="706"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game1_83/822447-1-eng-US/game1_82.jpg" title="game1_8" width="1225" height="1453"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(5-7: ISAIAH J. DOWNING-USA TODAY SPORTS; 8: RON CHENOY-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b><u>&gt;GAME 2</u></b></h2><p><b>1.</b> Cale Makar tries to force Cirelli to take the long way around Darcy Kuemper as Game 2 gets underway.</p><p><b>2.</b> Helm and Lightning captain Steven Stamkos jostle for position along the boards, each balancing on one leg.</p><p><b>3.</b> Jan Rutta can&rsquo;t prevent Valeri Nichushkin from deflecting a PP goal past Vasilevskiy 2:54 into the game.</p><p><b>4.</b> Corey Perry, playing in his third Cup final in a row, stares down Kuemper after they take offsetting minors.</p><p><b>5.</b> Mikko Rantanen celebrates with Nichushkin after setting up the Avs winger for his second goal of the night.</p><p><b>6.</b> Makar and Tampa Bay&rsquo;s Ross Colton topple to the ice after a knee-on-knee collision in the second period.</p><p><b>7.</b> Perry checks back in with Kuemper as the Lightning endure a lopsided 7-0 shellacking in Game 2.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game2_16/822440-1-eng-US/game2_12.jpg" title="game2_1" width="2119" height="1456"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game2_26/822433-1-eng-US/game2_22.jpg" title="game2_2" width="829" height="1167"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game2_36/822426-1-eng-US/game2_32.jpg" title="game2_3" width="1209" height="1165"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(1: ISAIAH J. DOWNING-USA TODAY SPORTS; 2-3: RON CHENOY-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game2_45/822419-1-eng-US/game2_42.jpg" title="game2_4" width="1386" height="1165"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game2_66/822412-1-eng-US/game2_62.jpg" title="game2_6" width="821" height="964"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game2_56/822405-1-eng-US/game2_52.jpg" title="game2_5" width="822" height="582"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game2_76/822398-1-eng-US/game2_72.jpg" title="game2_7" width="1219" height="1631"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(4+7: ISAIAH J. DOWNING-USA TODAY SPORTS; 5+6: RON CHENOY-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b><u>&gt;GAME 3</u></b></h2><p><b>1.</b> Fans inside Amalie Arena know they need to be raucous to help get their beloved Bolts back in the series.</p><p><b>2.</b> Avs rookie Alex Newhook takes it all in from a new perspective, as Maroon battles the youngster to the ice.</p><p><b>3.</b> Colorado draws first blood. Again. Landeskog drives to the blue paint to deliver the game&rsquo;s first goal.</p><p><b>4.</b> Tampa Bay draws even on a weird one, as Cirelli loses control but the puck slips through Kuemper anyway.</p><p><b>5.</b> Vasilevskiy sprawls in desperation and somehow keeps the puck out of the net, inches from the goal line.</p><p><b>6.</b> Emotions run high as the Lightning let Colorado know they aren&rsquo;t ready to relinquish their crown just yet.</p><p><b>7.</b> Nikita Kucherov ensures things stay chippy, blasting Josh Manson into the boards midway through the third.</p><p><b>8.</b> Ryan McDonagh congratulates his victorious goaltender after Vasilevskiy stops 37 of 39 shots.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game3_16/822391-1-eng-US/game3_12.jpg" title="game3_1" width="2117" height="1339"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game3_26/822384-1-eng-US/game3_22.jpg" title="game3_2" width="1142" height="1479"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game3_36/822377-1-eng-US/game3_32.jpg" title="game3_3" width="900" height="665"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game3_46/822370-1-eng-US/game3_42.jpg" title="game3_4" width="900" height="731"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(1-4: MARK J. REBILAS-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game3_55/822363-1-eng-US/game3_52.jpg" title="game3_5" width="2119" height="1411"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game3_66/822356-1-eng-US/game3_62.jpg" title="game3_6" width="691" height="456"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game3_76/822349-1-eng-US/game3_72.jpg" title="game3_7" width="691" height="665"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game3_86/822342-1-eng-US/game3_82.jpg" title="game3_8" width="729" height="1206"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(5-7: MARK J. REBILAS-USA TODAY SPORTS; 8: GEOFF BURKE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b><u>&gt;GAME 4</u></b></h2><p><b>1.</b> Cirelli gets things going early for Tampa Bay, scoring 36 seconds into Game 4 after Kuemper loses his mask.</p><p><b>2.</b> Rutta sets a physical tone for the hometown Bolts, planting Compher with a solid open-ice hit.</p><p><b>3.</b> Landeskog and Vasilevskiy lunge for the puck, as a MacKinnon deflection ties the game for Colorado on the PP.</p><p><b>4.</b> Victor Hedman scythes through the Avs&rsquo; defense before beating Kuemper with a backhander to restore the lead.</p><p><b>5.</b> MacKinnon and Alex Killorn keep both eyes on the puck and one arm on each other as they battle for space.</p><p><b>6.</b> Grizzled veteran Andrew Cogliano&rsquo;s 13th career playoff goal is the biggest of his life, tying things up in the third.</p><p><b>7.</b> Nazem Kadri proves his surgically repaired thumb is feeling fine, roofing the OT game-winner past Vasilevskiy.</p><p><b>8.</b> The Tampa Bay crowd looks on in anguish as the Avalanche celebrate another step toward the Stanley Cup.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game4_16/822335-1-eng-US/game4_12.jpg" title="game4_1" width="1265" height="1413"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game4_26/822328-1-eng-US/game4_22.jpg" title="game4_2" width="775" height="790"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game4_36/822321-1-eng-US/game4_32.jpg" title="game4_3" width="775" height="581"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game4_46/822314-1-eng-US/game4_42.jpg" title="game4_4" width="1462" height="1206"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(1+4: GEOFF BURKE-USA TODAY SPORTS; 2-3: MARK J. REBILAS-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game4_56/822307-1-eng-US/game4_52.jpg" title="game4_5" width="733" height="711"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game4_66/822300-1-eng-US/game4_62.jpg" title="game4_6" width="733" height="730"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game4_76/822293-1-eng-US/game4_72.jpg" title="game4_7" width="1309" height="1484"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game4_85/822286-1-eng-US/game4_82.jpg" title="game4_8" width="2120" height="1337"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(5-6+8: MARK J. REBILAS-USA TODAY SPORTS; 7: GEOFF BURKE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b><u>&gt;GAME 5</u></b></h2><p><b>1.</b> The biscuit may not have found its basket, but the specially issued puck commemorates the affair in Denver.</p><p><b>2.</b> Rutta celebrates with Cirelli after powering a long slapper past Kuemper to put Tampa ahead late in the first.</p><p><b>3.</b> McDonagh steps up and shows Avs blueliner Manson that he, too, knows how to box his man out in the circles.</p><p><b>4.</b> Perry won&rsquo;t let the small issue of being on his backside keep him from hounding Nichushkin for the puck.</p><p><b>5.</b> A knuckler off the draw produces a juicy rebound and Nichushkin is there to slam home his fourth of the final.</p><p><b>6.</b> Up a man but down a goal, Makar breaks in alone. Vasilevskiy&rsquo;s quick pokecheck snuffs out the chance.</p><p><b>7.</b> With the game tied in the third and the Stanley Cup in the building, every net-front chance is a heart stopper.</p><p><b>8.</b> Ondrej Palat scores his 12th career playoff game-winner to send the final back to Tampa Bay for Game 6.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game5_17/822279-1-eng-US/game5_12.jpg" title="game5_1" width="899" height="664"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game5_26/822272-1-eng-US/game5_22.jpg" title="game5_2" width="900" height="706"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game5_33/822265-1-eng-US/game5_32.jpg" title="game5_3" width="1142" height="1457"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game5_46/822258-1-eng-US/game5_42.jpg" title="game5_4" width="2120" height="1352"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(1+4: RON CHENOY-USA TODAY SPORTS; 2+3: MARK J. REBILAS-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game5_56/822251-1-eng-US/game5_52.jpg" title="game5_5" width="1512" height="1166"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game5_66/822244-1-eng-US/game5_62.jpg" title="game5_6" width="1144" height="1455"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game5_76/822237-1-eng-US/game5_72.jpg" title="game5_7" width="900" height="665"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game5_86/822230-1-eng-US/game5_82.jpg" title="game5_8" width="900" height="707"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(5+6: MARK J. REBILAS-USA TODAY SPORTS; 7: RON CHENOY-USA TODAY SPORTS; 8: MICHAEL MADRID-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b><u>&gt;GAME 6</u></b></h2><p><b>1.</b> Stamkos takes advantage of an Avs turnover to give Tampa Bay an early lead and whip the crowd into a frenzy.</p><p><b>2.</b> MacKinnon answers back with a seeing-eye shot that ticks off Vasilevskiy&rsquo;s blocker and in to tie it.</p><p><b>3.</b> Trade-deadline acquisition Artturi Lehkonen proves his worth, firing the eventual Cup-winner past Vasilevskiy.</p><p><b>4.</b> The Avs&rsquo; Helm can&rsquo;t quite manage to keep his feet under him as Killorn looms in the foreground.</p><p><b>5.</b> The Avalanche spill out onto the ice in jubilation after finally summiting the NHL&rsquo;s ultimate peak.</p><p><b>6.</b> Makar adds to his quickly filling trophy case with a unanimous Conn Smythe Trophy selection.</p><p><b>7.</b> Landeskog, once the youngest captain in NHL history, lifts the Cup in his 10th season donning the &lsquo;C.&rsquo;</p><p><b>8.</b> Oops. Nicolas Aube-Kubel adds a little &ldquo;character&rdquo; to the Cup after falling to the ice on his way to the team photo.</p><p><b>9.</b> Nine months after their journey started in training camp, the Avalanche come together as one. Champions.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game6_14/822223-1-eng-US/game6_12.jpg" title="game6_1" width="1512" height="1248"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game6_2/822216-1-eng-US/game6_22.jpg" title="game6_2" width="900" height="664"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game6_34/822209-1-eng-US/game6_32.jpg" title="game6_3" width="900" height="622"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game6_44/822202-1-eng-US/game6_42.jpg" title="game6_4" width="1145" height="1372"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(1-2+4: MARK J. REBILAS-USA TODAY SPORTS; 3: GEOFF BURKE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game6_5/822195-1-eng-US/game6_52.jpg" title="game6_5" width="1140" height="1538"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game6_64/822188-1-eng-US/game6_62.jpg" title="game6_6" width="370" height="665"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game6_7/822181-1-eng-US/game6_72.jpg" title="game6_7" width="453" height="665"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game6_84/822174-1-eng-US/game6_82.jpg" title="game6_8" width="900" height="789"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/game6_94/822167-1-eng-US/game6_92.jpg" title="game6_9" width="2119" height="1268"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(5-6+8: MARK J. REBILAS-USA TODAY SPORTS; 7+9: GEOFF BURKE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

SERIES IN PHOTOS

<div class="byline">BY CAROL SCHRAM</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="champs_finl_099" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_finl_099/822579-1-eng-US/champs_finl_0992.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>ON TOP OF THE WORLD</b></p><p>The Finnish men&rsquo;s team claimed top spot in the IIHF world rankings for the first time in its history this year. (ANDREA CARDIN/HHOF-IIHF IMAGES)</p><p></p></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>S</span>IX MINUTES AND 42</b> seconds into a sudden-death 3-on-3 overtime period, the jam-packed crowd at the brand-new Nokia Arena in Tampere erupted in frenzied celebration. Finland had just joined Nordic archrival Sweden (2013) as the second squad in the past 36 years to capture IIHF World Championship gold on home ice.</p><p>The golden goal came with the host Finns on a 4-on-3 man advantage, with Canadian captain Thomas Chabot in the box after taking a hooking minor.</p><p>Mikael Granlund hit Sakari Manninen with a perfect cross-ice feed to set up a one-timer from the right faceoff dot. Canadian goaltender Matt Tomkins &ndash; pressed into action after Chris Driedger sustained a torn ACL on Finland&rsquo;s 1-1 goal early in the third period &ndash; never stood a chance.</p><p>The visiting Canadians almost managed to spoil things for the hosts, scoring two extra-attacker goals in 48 seconds late in the third after the Finns took a 3-1 lead. But Manninen&rsquo;s tally sealed things for Finland, and the party was on. &ldquo;Everything was really good at 3-1,&rdquo; said Finnish captain Valtteri Filppula. &ldquo;At the end, it was a little bit nerve-wracking, for sure. Obviously, I was really happy to see that goal go in, in overtime. It really wasn&rsquo;t too big of a difference between the two teams playing, so I guess that was a good way to end it.&rdquo;</p><p>Added Granlund: &ldquo;They tied it up in the third period, but we found a way in the end. This is just awesome.&rdquo;</p><p>From their opening-night 5-0 shutout of Norway, Finland was the team to beat. The hosts allowed just four goals in seven round-robin games, stumbling only in a 3-2 shootout loss to Sweden. In the knockout round, they dispatched Slovakia by a 4-2 margin, then beat the United States 4-3. That set up a third straight gold-medal showdown with Canada.</p><p>With four shutouts in eight starts and a 1.11 goals-against average, goaltender Jussi Olkinuora earned tournament MVP honors, was named the top goaltender and made the media-voted all-star team. Manninen was one of the three all-star forwards, and, one year removed from an NHL season with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Columbus Blue Jackets, Mikko Lehtonen was voted an all-star defenseman.</p><p>Finland&rsquo;s gold medal-winning 2019 worlds roster had just two players who&rsquo;d played in the NHL that season. But this year, a handful of current NHLers donned the blue and white. Forwards Joel Armia of the Montreal Canadiens, Juho Lammikko of the Vancouver Canucks and goaltender Harri Sateri from the Arizona Coyotes signed on from the outset. Then, Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell and Granlund joined after their NHL clubs were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. All were eager to augment a strong squad chasing another title just three months after the national team was victorious in Beijing, capturing the country&rsquo;s first Olympic hockey gold medal.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unbelievable,&rdquo; said coach Jukka Jalonen, who also guided the Olympic gold medallists and the 2019 worlds squad. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t even understand what has happened. Maybe in the summer, we can figure out what really happened. But three months and two gold medals, it&rsquo;s unbelievable.&rdquo;</p><p>Along with their coach, 17 players also suited up for both the Olympics and World Championship. Among them was the veteran Filppula.</p><p>Filppula, a 2008 Stanley Cup champ with the Detroit Red Wings and a veteran of 1,056 NHL games, had no idea he was on track to become the first Finn to join the IIHF&rsquo;s prestigious triple gold club &ndash; winning a Stanley Cup, Olympic gold and World Championship gold &ndash; when he signed on to play for Geneve-Servette in the Swiss League for 2021-22.</p><p>After his last NHL deal expired in 2021, the dependable two-way center wanted to play quality hockey with an easier travel schedule and spend more time at home as his wife, Jordan, prepared to give birth to the couple&rsquo;s first child. &ldquo;I was just looking forward to going to Switzerland and didn&rsquo;t really think of anything further,&rdquo; said Filppula from his off-season home in Helsinki after the celebrations had subsided. &ldquo;I played one tournament for the national team during the season and then started looking at, &lsquo;OK, maybe the NHL guys aren&rsquo;t going. Maybe I have a better chance to make the team.&rsquo; Things worked out really well at the end.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_finl_100/822565-1-eng-US/champs_finl_1002.jpg" title="champs_finl_100" width="933" height="997"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>VALTTERI FILPPULA</b><br>(ANDRE RINGUETTE/HHOF-IIHF IMAGES)</p></figcaption></div><p>COVID-19 concerns and game cancellations eventually took NHLers out of the Olympics, and Filppula&rsquo;s daughter, Vera, was born a day before he left for China.</p><p>When Filppula arrived in Beijing, he was named national-team captain for the first time, having worn an &lsquo;A&rsquo; at the 2016 World Cup and the 2017 World Championship.</p><p>Filppula had played once before at the Olympics, capturing bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Games. But back then, he missed out on the opening ceremonies due to his NHL commitments. In Beijing, he served as Finland&rsquo;s flagbearer. &ldquo;I found out two days before, maybe, that I was going to get to do that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That was quite the experience. It was a cool, cool event. Obviously, I was in Vancouver, but we didn&rsquo;t have a chance to even go to the opening. So this was nice.&rdquo;</p><p>In front of only a handful of spectators inside the &ldquo;closed loop&rdquo; in Beijing, the Finns won all three of their round-robin games. They then took down Switzerland and Slovakia in elimination games before eking out their 2-1 gold-medal win over the defending champions from the Russian Olympic Committee.</p><p>After the Olympics, Finland ascended to No. 1 in the IIHF&rsquo;s world men&rsquo;s rankings for the first time in history. And the players began to dream of double gold. &ldquo;We did talk about it with some of the guys,&rdquo; Filppula said. &ldquo;It would be cool to come back and then play at home and try to win that one, too.&rdquo;</p><p>But even with a chance to take a crack at the triple gold club, Filppula wasn&rsquo;t sure he was up to donning his country&rsquo;s colors again so soon. &ldquo;At that moment, I was not really sure if I was going to play in the worlds,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You feel kind of exhausted after the Olympics and still have the regular season to go back and play.&rdquo;</p><p>Geneve-Servette finished eighth in the SNL&rsquo;s 13-team standings, qualifying for the four-team pre-playoff round, but were quickly eliminated by Lugano in a two-game sweep.</p><p>The best-of-three series ended on March 20, Filppula&rsquo;s 38th birthday. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If the season would have gone much longer in Switzerland, how much I would have had left in the tank to play. I had a good chance to have a few weeks&rsquo; break of not skating, then still had a few weeks to get ready for the worlds.&rdquo;</p><p>Wearing the &lsquo;C&rsquo; once again, the triple gold became reality when Manninen&rsquo;s shot beat Tomkins in Tampere. The Finns avenged their 2021 loss to Canada, and the hockey-mad nation of just 5.5 million people tightened its grip on the top spot in the IIHF rankings.</p><p>Filppula said the triple gold club was not the driving force behind his decision to play at worlds, but &ldquo;it was a great bonus for a pretty great year.&rdquo;</p><p>He&rsquo;s the 30th skater &ndash; and the sixth from that 2008 Cup-winning Red Wings team &ndash; to accomplish the feat.</p><p>Nicklas Lidstrom won World Championship gold with Sweden in 1991, four Stanley Cups with Detroit and added Olympic gold in 2006. Russia&rsquo;s Pavel Datsyuk was a member of those 2002 and 2008 Cup winners, then picked up gold at the 2012 worlds and at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. Niklas Kronwall, Henrik Zetterberg and Mikael Samuelsson all did the Olympic/worlds golden double with Sweden in 2006, then won their Stanley Cup, along with Filppula, in &rsquo;08.</p><p>That team&rsquo;s bench boss, Mike Babcock, is the only coach in the club. The Canadian won a pair of Olympic golds (2010 and 2014) and the 2004 worlds.</p><p>The rabid Finnish hockey fans will get to take in more World Championship action next year. With Russia and Belarus sanctioned from participating in all IIHF events following Russia&rsquo;s invasion of Ukraine in February, the IIHF Congress announced in the spring that it had pulled the 2023 tournament from St. Petersburg, Russia. Instead, Tampere will share hosting duties with Riga, Latvia, the site of the mostly-fan-free 2021 event.</p><p>In March, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network named Finland the world&rsquo;s happiest country for a fifth straight year. The announcement came less than a month after Olympic gold and the ascent to IIHF No. 1 and two months before the worlds win.</p><p>So does a happy country make for a successful hockey team, or is all this winning the cause of the contentment? &ldquo;I would say if you if you asked after this tournament, I&rsquo;d say probably the hockey makes people happy,&rdquo; Filppula said. &ldquo;But maybe how we got to that point is the other way around.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

champs_finl_099

WELCOME TO THE CLUB

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="champs_ahl1_165" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_ahl1_165/822638-1-eng-US/champs_ahl1_1652.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>QUICK ON THE DRAW</b></p><p>While linemate Leivo was playoff MVP, Drury stood out as the best young player in the AHL post-season.<br>(ROSS DETTMAN/CHICAGO WOLVES)</p><p></p></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>S</span>HORTLY AFTER THIS SEASON</b> began, the Chicago Wolves did short question-and-answer segments with each player on the team as a way of introducing them to the fans. They featured all the standard getting-to-know you questions, including, &ldquo;What type of player are you?&rdquo; When it was Jack Drury&rsquo;s turn to answer the question, he looked the questioner directly in the eye and smiled before saying, &ldquo;Winner.&rdquo;</p><p>The young people call this kidding on the square, which means you&rsquo;re making a joke, but you&rsquo;re actually serious. For Drury, it turned out to be downright prescient. Wolves coach Ryan Warsofsky certainly sees Drury in that light. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a winner. He&rsquo;s a winner through and through,&rdquo; said Warsofsky of Drury during Chicago&rsquo;s playoff run. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got a long career ahead of him.&rdquo;</p><p>By the time Drury had joined the Wolves as a rookie, he was already a winner, having led the Vaxjo Lakers to the Swedish League championship in 2020-21, while carrying a virtual full course load in his junior year at one of the most challenging post-secondary institutions in the world. There were times during the season when Drury would play a game for Vaxjo, then come home at about midnight and log onto a night class at Harvard University. &ldquo;He even did a final one night after a playoff game,&rdquo; said Ted Drury, Jack&rsquo;s father and a former NHLer himself. And he earned a 93 on it.</p><p>That was nothing compared to how the 22-year-old Drury aced his first pro season in North America. He followed up an outstanding regular season with an even better playoff, helping the Wolves to their third Calder Cup title with a five-game triumph in the AHL final over the Springfield Thunderbirds.</p><p>With the past two playoff seasons wiped out by the pandemic, it marked the second straight time a Carolina Hurricanes affiliate has been crowned as AHL champion, with the Charlotte Checkers winning the title in 2019. Drury&rsquo;s linemate and NHL journeyman Josh Leivo was named the playoff MVP, and rightly so, but Drury was by far the league&rsquo;s best young player in the playoffs, recording nine goals and 24 points in 18 post-season games, including two goals and eight points in the final. &ldquo;It really helps playing on a really good team,&rdquo; said Drury of the Wolves, who cut a swath through the league in the regular season and went 14-4 in the playoffs. &ldquo;I really enjoy playing in the playoffs. We went on a deep run in Sweden last year, and I think that definitely helped me transition to this year.&rdquo;</p><p>Veteran hockey people will tell you that a young player&rsquo;s most difficult transition is from junior/college/Europe to the AHL, not from the AHL to the NHL. But for Drury, the transition could not have been more smooth. It was made easier, in part, because he was able to live at his parents&rsquo; home in Winnetka, Ill., about a 25-minute drive from Rosemont, the suburb where the Wolves play. (The Winner From Winnetka. Has a nice ring to it, no?) Living at home for the first time since he left at 16 to play in the USHL, Drury insisted on paying rent. His parents, both members of the Harvard University Sports Hall of Fame, his father in hockey and his mother in lacrosse, were thrilled to have him home, and it gave Drury an excellent support system, not to mention a continual game of mini-sticks with his three younger brothers and sister. &ldquo;He really got used to his mother&rsquo;s cooking,&rdquo; said Ted, who was drafted 42nd overall by the Calgary Flames in 1989, 29 years before his son was selected in exactly the same slot by the Hurricanes. &ldquo;The rest of his career, he&rsquo;s not going to have that. He&rsquo;s going to have to figure something out.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_ahl2_167/822624-1-eng-US/champs_ahl2_1672.jpg" title="champs_ahl2_167" width="1680" height="1016"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ROSS DETTMAN/CHICAGO WOLVES)</span></figcaption></div><p>If that&rsquo;s the case, he might want to enroll in cooking classes right away, because the only way he&rsquo;ll be spending more time in Chicago is when the Hurricanes visit the Blackhawks or his trajectory to the NHL gets completely derailed. The plan for Drury this season was always for him to spend it in the AHL, but he did get called up for two games in December when the Hurricanes, like a number of other NHL teams, were ravaged by COVID-19. Drury scored in each of the games he played, but was sent back to Chicago when the Hurricanes got healthy. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m surprised,&rdquo; said Hurricanes GM Don Waddell. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got the will to make things happen. He&rsquo;s one of those guys who&rsquo;s never going to be satisfied. If he comes to camp the way we expect him to, somebody&rsquo;s going to have to take his (NHL) job. He&rsquo;s earned the right, but he&rsquo;s also got to take advantage of that right. (Hurricanes coach) Rod (Brind&rsquo;Amour) has watched a lot of Chicago&rsquo;s games, so he knows what he&rsquo;s getting for sure.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_ahl3_168/822617-1-eng-US/champs_ahl3_1682.jpg" title="champs_ahl3_168" width="801" height="1060"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>JOSH LEIVO & JACK DRURY</b><br>(ROSS DETTMAN/CHICAGO WOLVES)</p></figcaption></div><p>Having a father who played in the NHL and won a Hobey Baker Award, plus an uncle who won Stanley Cups and is currently a GM &ndash; the Rangers&rsquo; Chris Drury, has given Drury the kind of perspective a lot of young players lack. So many of them seem to be in such a hurry to get to the NHL and often they&rsquo;re not ready for it. When Drury begins his rookie season, he&rsquo;ll be as ready as any rookie in the league in 2022-23. The way Drury sees it, the only thing over which he has control is the way he plays, and he&rsquo;ll continue to do that to the best of his abilities. &ldquo;If I&rsquo;m focusing too much on which guys I&rsquo;m competing with for roles or what league I&rsquo;m playing in, that takes away from my focus on my play,&rdquo; Drury said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll use an analogy to golf. A lot of the players out there are playing against the course, they&rsquo;re not playing against each other. That&rsquo;s the strategy I want to have.&rdquo;</p><p>It&rsquo;s one that won him a Calder Cup in 2021-22 and will have him competing for a Calder Trophy in 2022-23.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

champs_ahl1_165

A WINNER IN WOLVES’ CLOTHING

<div class="byline">BY SLAVA MALAMUD</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="champs_khl1_118" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_khl1_118/822697-1-eng-US/champs_khl1_1182.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(YURY KUZMIN/KHL PHOTO)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>N A SUMMER EVENING</b> in 1990, Sergei Fedorov, a young Soviet Army officer in its fabled hockey regiment, CSKA Moscow, went AWOL from the national team&rsquo;s hotel in Portland, Ore., and took his formidable hockey talents to Detroit. More than three decades and three Stanley Cups later, the Hall of Famer &ndash; with his &ldquo;desertion&rdquo; long forgiven &ndash; took his former club to newfound glory, such as it is in today&rsquo;s depleted KHL.</p><p>For CSKA, this was a big year by design. It&rsquo;s the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union&rsquo;s most famous franchise, and the team marked the occasion with a plethora of events, truly atrocious uniforms featuring gaudy sleeve camo and the shock signing of a rookie 52-year-old coach. Critics everywhere panned the move.</p><p>Fedorov, previously CSKA&rsquo;s last-ever GM &ndash; the club eliminated the position after demoting him to &ldquo;scouting manager&rdquo; in 2016 and handing over his former dutiesto the club president &ndash; got his bench assignment on direct orders from one of Russia&rsquo;s most powerful men. Igor Sechin, a member of Vladimir Putin&rsquo;s inner circle and the CEO of Rosneft, the Russian oil giant and CSKA&rsquo;s parent company, wanted the NHL legend as his coach. There is only one person in Russia who can say no to Sechin &ndash; and he does not sit on the CSKA board &ndash; so it was done, despite the loud groans of hockey experts.</p><p>&ldquo;To all the wise guys who didn&rsquo;t believe in us, this is our victory,&rdquo; said CSKA president Igor Yesmantovich after the thrilling seven-game win over Metallurg Magnitogorsk (the team for which Fedorov skated in his last season as a player). &ldquo;The more bad things you write about us, the better, since this will make us win more.&rdquo;</p><p>Fedorov himself was more gracious in triumph, admitting that the thought of winning the Gagarin Cup in his debut season as coach only came to him &ldquo;maybe in some fantasies, but this was not serious.&rdquo;</p><p>But Fedorov was perhaps playing it a little bit coy. After all, the two &ldquo;army teams,&rdquo; CSKA and SKA Saint Petersburg, don&rsquo;t have any serious competition in the Western Conference, and they haven&rsquo;t in a while. That was true this year as well, despite some high-profile departures after Russia&rsquo;s invasion of Ukraine. CSKA, in particular, lost a pair of Swedish forwards, Lucas Wallmark and Joakim Nordstrom, who left Russia in disgust as soon as the club publicly supported the war.</p><p>CSKA and SKA&rsquo;s dominance of the West &ndash; the teams advanced to the conference final having lost a total of one game between them &ndash; wasn&rsquo;t worth too much, however, given the higher overall quality of the Eastern Conference. Early on in the Cup final, Metallurg seemed primed to crush CSKA, as it grabbed a 3-1 series lead and pitched back-to-back road shutouts in Games 3 and 4 in Moscow. But, six minutes away from elimination, a Maxim Sorkin goal propelled CSKA to send Game 5 into overtime. They didn&rsquo;t look back from there, shoving the Magnitogorsk squad aside in three straight games. Alexander Popov, 41, scored the series-winning goal and was named playoff MVP despite missing the previous three games with a serious injury &ndash; reportedly a bone fracture in his leg or foot. Popov played the decisive game on painkillers and paid for it dearly, as he wasn&rsquo;t even able to come out on the ice for the awards ceremony.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_khl3_116/822683-1-eng-US/champs_khl3_1162.jpg" title="champs_khl3_116" width="1360" height="1080"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>OLD AND BROKEN DOWN?</b></p><p>The 41-year-old Popov played through a reported fracture and claimed playoff MVP honors.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(YURY KUZMIN/KHL PHOTO)</span></figcaption></div><p>Fedorov&rsquo;s CSKA squad employed an aggressive, attacking style that the famed Red Wings scorer stuck with even in the playoffs. The Red-Blues used their superior speed and strong forechecking to utterly overwhelm Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and Dynamo Moscow &ndash; the only other Western Conference teams who can even theoretically challenge the CSKA-SKA dominance &ndash; in back-to-back sweeps. They then battled tooth and nail against SKA in a seven-game spectacular that lived up to its tremendous advance billing.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_khl2_117/822676-1-eng-US/champs_khl2_1172.jpg" title="champs_khl2_117" width="838" height="935"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p>Fedorov defied critics, leading CSKA to a title in his first season behind the bench.<br>(YURY KUZMIN/KHL PHOTO)</p></figcaption></div><p>CSKA winning its second Gagarin Cup in its anniversary season certainly reminded its fans of their Soviet salad days, and Fedorov was being hailed as the future of Russian coaching. Nobody is likely to challenge CSKA&rsquo;s position in the West, as the conference will only grow weaker with the exodus of foreign clubs and players. But whether CSKA can stave off challenges from the stacked East is another matter. Whether or not Rosneft, or any other hockey-adjacent energy conglomerates, can keep writing blank cheques in Russia&rsquo;s new economic reality &ndash; or whether there will be much talent to purchase with them &ndash; is also far from certain.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

champs_khl1_118

CSKA ON THE WAY

<div class="byline">BY SLAVA MALAMUD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_vhl1_120/822749-1-eng-US/champs_vhl1_1202.jpg" title="champs_vhl1_120" width="802" height="613"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY RUBIN TYUMEN)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>NLY FIVE YEARS AGO,</b> the fans of Rubin Tyumen wrote a letter to Vladimir Putin begging him to save their team. In Russia, with its highly centralized political system, petitioning the president, even for the most trivial matters, is not unusual. But while such pleas are common, their success is not &ndash; and they are usually seen as a sign of desperation. Rubin, one of Siberia&rsquo;s older clubs, was indeed in desperate waters, playing in a dilapidated 3,350-seat arena and having run out of money. Unable to pay its players, Rubin even had to pull out of the 2015-16 season in the VHL, Russian hockey&rsquo;s second-tier league. This was only five years after the club won the league&rsquo;s title.</p><p>In the end, they didn&rsquo;t need Putin at all. The local government found resources by merging Rubin with Tyumen&rsquo;s pro soccer club. While the arena is still tiny and decidedly obsolete (renovation plans have been in place for years), being able to actually write paycheques does wonders in a league as beset with difficulties as the VHL.</p><p>Rubin&rsquo;s 2021-22 campaign, led by coach Denis Yachmenev (a seventh-round pick by Florida in 2002), was a master class of performance under pressure. In the playoffs, Rubin was 12-1 in one-goal games, including 7-0 in overtime. Dispatching two St. Petersburg teams, SKA-Neva and Dynamo, in the final two rounds, Rubin kept the Petrov Cup in Siberia after Ugra Khanty-Mansiysk won last year.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_vhl2_121/822735-1-eng-US/champs_vhl2_1212.jpg" title="champs_vhl2_121" width="802" height="644"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY RUBIN TYUMEN)</span></figcaption></div><p>Winning the Petrov Cup this year, though, will come with a stiff penalty. As the KHL experiences leakage of foreign talent, its teams will increasingly look for Russian players, which will lead to severe shakeups of VHL rosters, particularly those of the better clubs. In fact, Rubin began shedding players immediately after winning. And this time, an appeal to Putin isn&rsquo;t on the table.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

champs_vhl1_120

THE ROAD BACK

<div class="byline">BY RISTO PAKARINEN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="champs_tapp_092" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_tapp_092/822794-1-eng-US/champs_tapp_0922.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b><custom name="underline">TIP-TOP TAPPARA</custom></b></p><p>The Liiga juggernaut added to its all-time haul with its 18th league championship.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(PHOTOS COURTESY OF TAPPARA TAMPERE)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>AMPERE, THE CRADLE OF</b> Finnish hockey, is going strong. In December, the city&rsquo;s two Liiga teams, Ilves and Tappara, moved from the country&rsquo;s first indoor rink, built for the 1965 World Championship, to the brand-new Nokia Arena, constructed with the 2022 World Championship in mind. EU sanctions against the Russian owners of the Helsinki Halli put that arena out of commission, so the Finnish national program moved its home base to the Nokia, making Tampere the current capital of Finnish hockey.</p><p>In April, Ilves beat KooKoo 3-2 in the Liiga bronze-medal game. Days later, Tappara downed TPS in Game 5 of the league final, with former Winnipeg Jets winger Joona Luoto scoring the game&rsquo;s lone goal just 35 seconds after puck drop. Luoto also picked up the Jari Kurri Trophy as the playoff MVP and was the runner-up in playoff scoring with eight goals and 17 points in 14 games, two points behind TPS&rsquo;s Markus Nurmi. Tappara&rsquo;s Anton Levtchi led the league in regular-season scoring, with 61 points in 55 games.</p><p>&ldquo;Our fans have supported us through everything during this incredible year,&rdquo; Luoto said. &ldquo;And now they got to be with us when we won.&rdquo;</p><p>Tampere becoming Finland&rsquo;s hockey hotbed again is fitting for a city steeped in the sport&rsquo;s history. Finnish hockey is said to have begun on Lake Pyhajarvi on the south side of Tampere when the chairman of the Finnish Skating Association threw a bunch of hockey sticks on the ice. &ldquo;Play some hockey, boys,&rdquo; he told local bandy players. And today, Tampere&rsquo;s Tappara (along with predecessor TBK) and Ilves top the all-time Liiga record books with 34 combined titles. Tappara/TBK have a slight edge on their intra-city rivals &ndash; 18 to 16.</p><p>However, the Tampere derby has recently lost some of its former luster because Tappara has been something of a dynasty in Finland. Including this season, the team has appeared in nine consecutive Liiga semifinals, while Ilves&rsquo; most recent trip to the semis prior to this campaign came in 2001. Ilves last reigned as Liiga champions in 1985.</p><p>Since then, Tappara has won seven Finnish championships, six silver and three bronze medals.</p><p>However, the home-and-home series between Ilves and Tappara in early December kicked off a new era in Finnish hockey.</p><p>It was emblematic of the league leaving the tough 2020-21 pandemic season behind it &ndash; though this season had hurdles, too &ndash; with its one-step-forward, two-steps-back moments and restrictions being lifted and put back in place. Also, due to pandemic postponements, three teams didn&rsquo;t play the full 60-game schedule, and the league determined the final standings on the basis of points percentage.</p><p>By April, the restrictions were in the rearview mirror. Thanks to two big-arena teams from major markets making the final and Ilves going deep in the playoffs as well, the Liiga could celebrate breaking its playoff attendance record from 2016.</p><p>But for Tappara players, the only thing that mattered was hoisting the Canada Bowl &ndash; donated by Finnish-Canadians to the Finnish federation in 1950 &ndash; as champions. The title was Tappara&rsquo;s 11th since 1976, the year the Finnish top division became the Liiga. No other club has eclipsed 10 titles in that time. For coach Jussi Tapola, it was his third championship, ranking him fourth on the Liiga all-time list, behind Hannu Jortikka (six), Kari Jalonen and Rauno Korpi (four apiece).</p><p>The only blemish in Tappara&rsquo;s otherwise perfect season was a loss in the Champions Hockey League final to Sweden&rsquo;s Rogle in March. &ldquo;We want to be the best team in Europe,&rdquo; Tapola said.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_tapp_093/822780-1-eng-US/champs_tapp_0932.jpg" title="champs_tapp_093" width="1240" height="1185"></div><p>Outside the champs, a couple of fledgling teams made significant noise around the league. KooKoo, who joined the top division in 2015-16, finished fourth, their best-ever result. And Mikkeli-based Jukurit, coached by former Panther Olli Jokinen, shook the Liiga establishment to the core. Jokinen was new to coaching at the pro level, despite having built and coached in a hockey academy in South Florida with former teammates Tomas Vokoun and Radek Dvorak since hanging up his skates.</p><p>Jokinen brought in fresh ideas, though an inexperienced staff didn&rsquo;t help in the early going. The team outsourced their off-ice training to consultants, focused on individual training and preached a more active style of play than other Finnish programs. Jokinen brought in Sergei Krivokrasov as an assistant, while the other assistant coach, Vesa Surenkin, had seen time coaching in, among others, Tunisia, Turkey and Italy &ndash; not exactly hockey hotbeds.</p><p>When Jukurit started the season slowly, Jokinen&rsquo;s approach was pooh-poohed in the media. But after 60 games, Jukurit &ndash; who hadn&rsquo;t made the playoffs since joining the Liiga in 2016-17 &ndash; sat second in the standings, only two points behind Tappara.</p><p>They bowed out in the first round, losing their quarterfinal series to KooKoo in seven games, but for next season, Jokinen has a solid foundation to build on.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

FIT AND FINNISH

<div class="byline">BY RISTO PAKARINEN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_imat_094/822846-1-eng-US/champs_imat_0942.jpg" title="champs_imat_094" width="802" height="623"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTOS COURTESY OF IMATRAN KETTERA)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>MATRAN KETTERA HAS DOMINATED</b> the Finnish second division &ndash; the Mestis &ndash; for half a decade now. They won the league championship in 2019 and 2021, and they had the best record in 2019-20, but that season&rsquo;s playoffs were cancelled due to the pandemic.</p><p>A capacity crowd of 1,350 gathered in Imatra&rsquo;s bandbox rink for Game 5 of the 2022 final between Kettera and Kiekko-Espoo. The crowd bore witness to their hometown heroes taking both the game and the series by identical 4-1 counts.</p><p>Kettera&rsquo;s Janne Kettunen led the league in playoff scoring with eight goals and 15 points in 17 games.</p><p>Semifinal opponent RoKi gave Kettera its toughest test, pushing the series to a decisive seventh game. On home ice, Kettera clinched its berth in the final with a thrilling 4-3 win.</p><p>Imatra is a small town in eastern Finland, with a population of 26,000 &ndash; and declining &ndash; and since there&rsquo;s no promotion system to the Liiga, Kettera is stuck with winning the Mestis. Final adversary Kiekko-Espoo has set its sights higher, with good reason.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_imat_095/822832-1-eng-US/champs_imat_0952.jpg" title="champs_imat_095" width="802" height="644"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>VILLE PAALANEN</b></p></figcaption></div><p>The predecessor to the current incarnation of the team went bankrupt in 2016, and the organization was relegated to the third division. They quickly earned promotion to Mestis, and, with time, the team from Finland&rsquo;s second-biggest city may get an invitation to join the Liiga. Helsinki-based Jokerit, now without a home league after departing the KHL, could impact that potential invitation, however, if they rejoin the top flight first.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

champs_imat_094

THREE IN A ROW IN FOUR-YEAR RUN

<div class="byline">BY UFFE BODIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="champs_shl2_175" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_shl2_175/822905-1-eng-US/champs_shl2_1752.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>LINUS J HANSSON</b><br>(STEFAN ERIKSSON/F&Auml;RJESTAD BK)</p><p></p></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span>S ONE OF SWEDEN&rsquo;S</b> most storied franchises, there are always high expectations for Farjestad BK. For the past few years, the team had underachieved, failing to live up to the promises of the names on the roster. But this turned out to be the season it all changed for the better. This was the year the city of Karlstad got to celebrate its 10th championship title. The journey to success, however, demanded a coaching change made possible by events in the NHL.</p><p>When the Chicago Blackhawks fired coach Jeremy Colliton in November, it also meant the end of a North American adventure for Swedish assistant coach Tomas Mitell. The 41-year-old had been a surprise appointment by the Blackhawks back in May 2019. He had never coached at the highest level in Sweden, but he worked alongside Colliton with Mora IK during the successful 2016-17 season, when the team played its way to a promotion from HockeyAllsvenskan to the SHL.</p><p>Once Mitell was out of a job in the NHL, it was only a matter of time before he got his chance to coach in the SHL. When Farjestad decided it was time to make a change behind the bench, that opportunity came knocking. &ldquo;Although Tomas is young, he has a lot of experience and the perspective from coaching in both Sweden and North America,&rdquo; said GM Rickard Wallin in a statement. &ldquo;He comes into our organization with a lot of hunger to take us forward.&rdquo;</p><p>Farjestad had made a concerted effort to put a winning team on the ice ahead of 2021-22. But despite bringing in several big-name players, the results during the regular season were pedestrian at best. When the team fired coach Johan Pennerborn and replaced him with Mitell in late February, they were in seventh place.</p><p>After the coaching change, the results improved slightly. But it wasn&rsquo;t until the playoffs that the &ldquo;Mitell effect&rdquo; became truly apparent. Farjestad had previously been known as a team with offensive pop but not a whole lot of structure or defensive stability. That all changed in a hurry under Mitell. Suddenly, this was a team that was winning tight, low-scoring games.</p><p>After overcoming Skelleftea AIK in the first round of the post-season, Farjestad faced Rogle BK in the semis. Rogle came in as heavy favorites after being the top team during the regular season, amassing almost 20 points more than their opponent over the 52-game schedule. But under Mitell&rsquo;s watch, Farjestad pulled off the upset, eliminating Rogle in six games.</p><p>The toughest test came in the final, where Farjestad, once again the underdog, faced a veteran Lulea team. The series went all the way to a Game 7 after the home team won every game &ndash; a trend that changed in the last game of the season.</p><p>After two scoreless periods, defenseman Jesse Virtanen silenced the Lulea crowd by putting Farjestad up 1-0, a lead they nourished with two more goals before the horn sounded. Mitell&rsquo;s structured and responsible brand of hockey had turned the fortunes for Farjestad. &ldquo;This was obviously what we were looking for,&rdquo; said Mitell as he celebrated with the Le Mat Trophy. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an amazing feat by these guys to collect themselves and grow stronger as a group. We&rsquo;ve made an incredible journey with this team.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_shl3_174/822891-1-eng-US/champs_shl3_1742.jpg" title="champs_shl3_174" width="802" height="1102"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>GUSTAV RYDAHL</b><br>(STEFAN ERIKSSON/F&Auml;RJESTAD BK)</p></figcaption></div><p>Not surprisingly, Mitell wouldn&rsquo;t take responsibility for the success. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just a small piece of the puzzle,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This is a good team, a strong organization that has come together.&rdquo;</p><p>Among the players, veteran winger Per Aslund, 35, was named the playoff MVP, receiving the Stefan Liv Memorial Trophy after being the top scorer with 18 points in 19 games. Aslund has played more than 800 regular-season and playoff games for Farjestad without much fanfare after making his SHL debut back in 2006. This was his moment in the limelight.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_shl1_171/822884-1-eng-US/champs_shl1_1712.jpg" title="champs_shl1_171" width="2119" height="1421"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p>Farjestad embraced the underdog role en route to the 10th league title in franchise history.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(STEFAN ERIKSSON/F&Auml;RJESTAD BK)</span></figcaption></div><p>Another prominent player for Farjestad was former NHLer Jacob de la Rose. The 27-year-old left North America after seven seasons to be closer with his family after his mother, Christina, was diagnosed with cancer last spring. She died right before the season started, and de la Rose dedicated the title to her.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_shl4_173/822877-1-eng-US/champs_shl4_1732.jpg" title="champs_shl4_173" width="1242" height="561"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(STEFAN ERIKSSON/F&Auml;RJESTAD BK)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve carried this the whole season,&rdquo; said an emotional de la Rose after the final buzzer. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy and proud to win this title, but I would&rsquo;ve loved to have her here, alive, to celebrate with me. I know that she&rsquo;s proud up there in heaven.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

START SLOW, END STRONG

<div class="byline">BY UFFE BODIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_hock_172/822950-1-eng-US/champs_hock_1722.jpg" title="champs_hock_172" width="802" height="727"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JOHAN FREIJD/HV71)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HERE ARE NO WORDS</b> to describe the agony that the fans of HV71 felt when their team was relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan in April 2021. The team out of Jonkoping had been one of the most successful Swedish franchises during the past 30 years, winning five SHL championships, most recently in 2017. The 2021-22 season presented the organization with a whole new challenge, one that they handled with poise and determination. After a dominant regular season where they won 40 out of 52 games, the team rolled through the playoffs. They only lost one game through the first two rounds before facing Bjorkloven in the final.</p><p>After a few hiccups, HV71 took the series in six games, with the younger brother of Nashville Predators star Filip Forsberg emerging as hero. Fredrik Forsberg scored a hat trick in Game 6, including the championship-winning goal in double overtime. He was voted playoff MVP after scoring 13 goals in 15 games. &ldquo;We never felt like we belonged in HockeyAllsvenskan,&rdquo; Forsberg said. &ldquo;HV71 is such a great organization with great fans. We deserved this because we were the best team from start to finish.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

champs_hock_172

DISCONTENT TO DOMINANCE

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="champs_ncaa_003" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_ncaa_003/823068-1-eng-US/champs_ncaa_0032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p>Denver appeared to be doomed in the final, but Chrona kept his team in it until the scorers showed up.<br>(BRIAN FLUHARTY-USA TODAY SPORTS)</p><p></p></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>F YOU WENT OFF</b> pure vibes alone, the Minnesota State Mavericks were destined to win their first Frozen Four when the NCAA&rsquo;s national tournament came to Boston in April. Walking down Causeway Street on a beautiful spring evening, you could hear the Minnesota State band from blocks away, perched on a balcony outside a Guy Fieri restaurant, pumping up what seemed to be half the population of Mankato, all dressed in purple and gold.</p><p>Not only were the Mavs deep, experienced and well-coached, but starting goalie Dryden McKay had won the Hobey Baker Award the night before.</p><p>But when all was said and done at TD Garden, another netminder reigned supreme: Denver&rsquo;s Magnus Chrona.</p><p>The 6-foot-5, 218-pound Swedish titan led the Pioneers to their record-tying ninth NCAA men&rsquo;s hockey title in a 5-1 win, a victory that had seemed improbable through the first two periods of the final.</p><p>Chrona, who could probably wear the six-foot McKay like a backpack, weathered Minnesota State&rsquo;s attack while keeping his Pioneers in the game as they struggled to break through the Mavericks&rsquo; stifling defensive shell. In fact, Denver managed just eight shots through two periods, and it was hard to see Minnesota State losing its 1-0 lead.</p><p>But the Pioneers kept testing that defense, and the floodgates opened in the third as Denver put three goals past McKay before crushing the opposition&rsquo;s last efforts with a pair of empty-netters. &ldquo;A big thing for me this year has been pretty easy, just breathe,&rdquo; Chrona said. &ldquo;But honestly, as soon as we had one&hellip;I felt almost immediately that we were going to get a second goal. And after that, it was just pure joy and trying to stay in the moment for the time and enjoy it.&rdquo;</p><p>It was a big season for Chrona, who was drafted by Tampa Bay in 2018 but saw his rights traded to San Jose last year for defenseman Fredrik Claesson (do you remember where <i>you</i> were when that blockbuster was announced?).</p><p>The junior&rsquo;s 37 appearances tied him for fourth in the nation, while his 28 wins ranked third. For a Pioneers team that struggled under last season&rsquo;s COVID restrictions, there was cautious optimism about what the group could do in 2021-22, but there were no guarantees of success. Chrona arrived in Denver in 2019-20 &ndash; a year before anyone had planned &ndash; spurred on by the fact that fellow Swedish netminder Filip Larsson had left school early to sign with Detroit. &ldquo;Magnus had a really good freshman year,&rdquo; said coach David Carle. &ldquo;His sophomore year was indicative of a lot of players in our program, it was a real challenge to gain any traction within the environment we were forced to be in around the regulations that we had in our local community. And I give him and a lot of our players a ton of credit, they worked very hard last summer. They came back focused. They built a foundation. Magnus came back with a very refreshed, growth mindset, I would say. And he improved from Day 1 in exceptional ways.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_ncaa_006/823054-1-eng-US/champs_ncaa_0062.jpg" title="champs_ncaa_006" width="1239" height="1475"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>OVERCOMING ADVERSITY</b></p><p>A year after posting their first losing campaign in more than 20 seasons, Denver bounced back in a big way. (BRIAN FLUHARTY-USA TODAY SPORTS)</p></figcaption></div><p>Chrona also had a personal extra incentive this season. In March, just before Denver played a series against Colorado College, he found out that his grandmother had passed away. &ldquo;Ever since, I dedicated every single win to her,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s definitely a relief that we won. I did it for her.&rdquo;</p><p>Getting to that stage took a lot of work on Chrona&rsquo;s part. Blessed with an NHL frame and solid athleticism, the physical aspect of the game wasn&rsquo;t much of an issue, but the 21-year-old did mature a lot on the mental side. &ldquo;So much of it for him was between the ears,&rdquo; Carle said. &ldquo;Just showing up ready to work with a great attitude and really being a leader and the rock back there for his teammates.&rdquo;</p><p>Habits were vital as part of that process. &ldquo;I would say it was my consistency,&rdquo; Chrona said. &ldquo;Coming in with an open mind every day and always working hard, even if it might not be my day, it might be a tough day, but I believe that I was more consistent this year, and I believe our whole team was consistent.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_ncaa_005/823047-1-eng-US/champs_ncaa_0052.jpg" title="champs_ncaa_005" width="1680" height="1143"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>SHAI BUIUM</b><br>(WINSLOW TOWNSON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</p></figcaption></div><p>As for the team overall, Denver rebounded from a COVID-impacted 2020-21 season that saw the Pioneers post their first losing season record &ndash; a shortened 10-13-1 campaign &ndash; in more than 20 years. This year, Denver lost to Minnesota-Duluth in the NCHC tournament semifinal but played well enough overall to earn a No. 1 seed in the Frozen Four regionals, getting revenge on the Bulldogs in the second round.</p><p>With scores of Pioneers fans waving cardboard cutouts of unsanctioned (but adorable) mascot Denver Boone in the TD Garden stands, Denver took out a loaded Michigan squad in the Frozen Four semis in overtime before squaring off against Minnesota State.</p><p>The Pioneers admitted to having some nerves at the beginning of the game, but they settled down in the third period against the favored Mavs. &ldquo;Once we started supporting pucks, that kind of worked,&rdquo; said left winger Ryan Barrow, who scored Denver&rsquo;s first goal. &ldquo;I think maybe on the big stage, you get a little timid, you&rsquo;re not really talking, but once we started opening our mouths, once we started helping each other out there, I think it made a huge difference.&rdquo;</p><p>But the Pioneers don&rsquo;t get to that point without Chrona holding down the fort, both before and after Denver got on the board. He ended up making 27 saves &ndash; several of the spectacular variety &ndash; while McKay gave up three goals on 18 shots. &ldquo;We felt if we could get to doing what we do, we would give ourselves a chance,&rdquo; Carle said. &ldquo;And Magnus made save after save there in big moments.&rdquo;</p><p>Not only that, but Chrona has already committed to play for Denver again next year &ndash; so the big saves will keep on coming.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

champs_ncaa_003

PIONEERING SUCCESS

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="champs_ncaa_104" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_ncaa_104/823113-1-eng-US/champs_ncaa_1042.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>BUCKEYES BOSS BOLD & BRASH</b></p><p>Ohio State coach Muzerall called her shot before the season began, saying her squad would reign supreme. (PHOTO BY OHIO STATE ATHLETICS)</p><p></p></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE PUCK HADN&rsquo;T EVEN</b> dropped on the 2021-22 NCAA season, but already Nadine Muzerall knew the Ohio State Buckeyes were going to win a national championship. That&rsquo;s not revisionist history. It&rsquo;s a statement of fact, as Muzerall did a bit of pre-season shot-calling that would make even the ghost of The Great Bambino blush.</p><p>As the story goes, it was at a pre-season Buckeyes athletics rally that the Ohio State bench boss made her proclamation. To that point, the event at the Covelli Center had been standard fare. Each coach stood up, introduced themselves and gave a quick shout-out to their team, summarily followed by a cheer from the athletes. In any other year, the day would have been nothing but a footnote on the athletic calendar. But Muzerall made it memorable.</p><p>&ldquo;She stands up and says, &lsquo;Hi, I&rsquo;m Nadine Muzerall, I coach the women&rsquo;s ice hockey team, and we&rsquo;re going to win a national championship this year,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Buckeyes forward Clair DeGeorge. &ldquo;And then she sits back down, and the rest of us kind of sit there, like, &lsquo;Oh my gosh, did she just say that out loud?&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>Whether it was a moment of prescience or pressure, the coach made clear her expectations for a talented group, and it has become the stuff of legend among the Buckeyes players &ndash; not least of all because the prognostication came true.</p><p>In March, with a 3-2 victory over Minnesota-Duluth, Ohio State&rsquo;s women&rsquo;s program won its first national title. However, the unbridled belief that Muzerall&rsquo;s Messier-esque guarantee represented is perhaps most instructive about what propelled the Buckeyes into the winner&rsquo;s circle for the first time in their 22-year history.</p><p>Be it Patty Kazmaier Award finalist Sophie Jaques, senior forward Paetyn Levis or fifth-year standout and Bemidji State transfer DeGeorge, when assessing what guided the Buckeyes to glory, &ldquo;confidence&rdquo; was No. 1 with a bullet. The faith Ohio State had in its ability reached its pinnacle at just the right time, too: a two-game sweep of Wisconsin during the final weekend of the regular season. DeGeorge said that weekend represented the team becoming a &ldquo;unified front&rdquo; &ndash; the offense and defense working in perfect harmony. Added blueliner Jaques: &ldquo;That gave us the confidence we needed to show that we are the best team in the country, and if we play our game, we can beat anyone. That weekend against Wisconsin was a real turning point, and I think from there, we knew we had what it took to win it all.&rdquo;</p><p>Rare is the title run that comes without hurdles, and top-dog Ohio State had its nervy moments, especially the Frozen Four quarterfinal against Quinnipiac. The 4-3 win required two OTs and a friendly bounce for the Buckeyes &ndash; the normally pass-first DeGeorge shovelled a puck on net, which hit a defender&rsquo;s stick before finding twine. But there was no panic in Ohio State, not in that next-goal-wins situation, not when the team fell behind 1-0 in the semifinal and not when tied 2-2 with less than 10 minutes left in the national championship. &ldquo;It stems from us players,&rdquo; Jaques said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s in our team. We trust in each other and have confidence in ourselves and know amongst us that we all manage to stay calm. We had a good group of girls this year who all really played into that. We all had that same mindset.&rdquo;</p><p>In the end, Kenzie Hauswirth&rsquo;s tally with 6:40 left in the title game delivered Ohio State its crown. Levis earned tournament Most Outstanding Player honors, posting a goal and an assist against the Bulldogs to go along with her semifinal tally. For Levis &ndash; who, like Jaques, will return for a fifth season at Ohio State &ndash; the victory is that much more significant, particularly given the path the Buckeyes have taken to arrive atop the collegiate mountain. &ldquo;To win that first national championship and to always be remembered as the first is really cool, because no one will ever be able to take that away from you,&rdquo; Levis said. &ldquo;We needed every single person we had this year, and it was the right people at the right time, and we all made it click and work together.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

champs_ncaa_104

‘RIGHT PEOPLE, RIGHT TIME’

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="champs_ushl_128" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_ushl_128/823158-1-eng-US/champs_ushl_1282.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY SIOUX CITY MUSKETEERS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span>S THE EDMONTON OILERS</b> reaped the benefits of ace complementary winger Zach Hyman this season, a similar narrative was unfolding to the south. Dylan James put on quite the show with the Sioux City Musketeers, earning the 2022 NHL draft prospect the USHL&rsquo;s rookie-of-the-year-honors and helping Sioux City to the Clark Cup over the Madison Capitols. &ldquo;Coming off last season where we played in the conference final, we had pretty high expectations,&rdquo; said GM Andy Johnson. &ldquo;But when you lose a goaltender like Akira Schmid (who made his NHL debut with New Jersey this season), I don&rsquo;t think any of us saw a Clark Cup champion. But we knew we had some foundational pieces that would be really good. When guys like Dylan took that next step in the second half, that&rsquo;s when we started to believe.&rdquo;</p><p>Musketeers scout Keegan Bell tipped off Johnson to James, who was playing for the U-18 Calgary Buffaloes as a 15-year-old. Johnson went to see James at the Telus Cup in Thunder Bay, Ont., and met with the youngster and his family, beginning the process of wooing him to the USHL after the Musketeers drafted him that summer. James spent the past two seasons in the Alberta Jr. A League with Okotoks before arriving in Iowa. &ldquo;Honestly, in Western Canada, no one knew about the USHL, at least at 16, I didn&rsquo;t, so the thought of it was new to me,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;A.J. and Keegan Bell scouted me, and I learned more about it day by day. I came down here and never looked back. It was probably the best decision I ever made.&rdquo;</p><p>James found chemistry with Philadelphia Flyers prospect Owen McLaughlin, and the two formed a potent 1-2 punch. &ldquo;Owen gives you that high-end skill, and Dylan&rsquo;s game is so crazy consistent,&rdquo; said coach Luke Strand. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a workhorse, and for me, you have to surround skill with some other fashions of skill, and &lsquo;Jamer&rsquo; is about as complete a player as you&rsquo;ll find with his legs, his stick, his brain and his competitiveness.&rdquo;</p><p>While the Musketeers weren&rsquo;t the favorite heading into the playoffs, they did finish second in the West and had confidence playing against the top-seeded Tri-City Storm, who they ended up beating in the second round. &ldquo;We played a hard and honest game, committed to all parts,&rdquo; Strand said. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have highlight-reel skill, but we did have a ton of balance and a really sturdy lineup.&rdquo;</p><p>As for the Hyman comparison, James has been watching video of the Oilers winger. &ldquo;I feel like I play like him,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got the offense and defense and can play with very skilled guys.&rdquo;</p><p>The Oilers got a lot out of Hyman, and whichever NHL team drafts James will get the same. Sioux City already got a USHL title with his help.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

champs_ushl_128

SIOUX CITY SURPRISE

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MONTROSE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="champs_echl_131" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/champs_echl_131/823286-1-eng-US/champs_echl_1312.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(WARD BENJAMIN/HOCKEY HALL OF FAME)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>CAM JOHNSON&rsquo;S FIRST</b> post-season as a professional ended with him celebrating as a Kelly Cup champion and ECHL playoff MVP.</p><p>The Florida Everblades goalie stopped 36 shots against the best scoring team in the ECHL, the Toledo Walleye, in a decisive 4-2 win in Game 5. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re a defensive team,&rdquo; said captain John McCarron. &ldquo;We have Cam in the net. As long as we can keep them to the outside, they&rsquo;re not going to score. We did that in second and third and crushed their spirits.&rdquo;</p><p>Johnson had missed the playoffs in previous years due to COVID cancellation, placement on weaker AHL teams and time on NHL Columbus&rsquo; taxi squad, so when the opportunity came in April to rejoin his ECHL mates in Southwest Florida, he pounced. &ldquo;So, this year, I got to finally play playoffs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I told the boys we&rsquo;re not losing this thing. It feels good.&rdquo;</p><p>The rest of the team&rsquo;s core players celebrated what they had been working toward &ndash; and falling short of &ndash; for years. McCarron, who arrived in Estero along with coach Brad Ralph in 2016, suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Colorado Eagles in the 2018 final. In 2020, Florida was tied for the ECHL&rsquo;s best record when the pandemic shut down the league. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a long time coming, but this group is unbelievable,&rdquo; Ralph said. &ldquo;Our culture beat the X&rsquo;s and O&rsquo;s and every hurdle we&rsquo;ve faced, so all the credit goes to these players, their mindset and how badly they wanted it. Amazing feeling. It&rsquo;s the best moment of my hockey career.&rdquo;</p><p>The Everblades struggled early this season but turned it on late and continued their scrappy defensive play through the playoffs. The first-round series against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits saw three of the six games decided in overtime. They then swept the Jacksonville Icemen to move on to the Eastern Conference final, where they toppled the Newfoundland Growlers in five.</p><p>And, in an indicator of how hockey is growing in the Sunshine State, the team&rsquo;s leading playoff scorer was rookie Zach Solow. Solow, a native of nearby Naples, Fla., played for the Everblades&rsquo; youth travel team before moving on to junior and college. He had been playing in the AHL with the Milwaukee Admirals in March when he was sent down to Florida. &ldquo;They had a lot of guys on the roster, and I wasn&rsquo;t getting games in,&rdquo; Solow said. &ldquo;So they told me, &lsquo;You&rsquo;ve got to go down to Florida to play games.&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;Absolutely. I&rsquo;m joining Johnny Mac and the boys. Are you kidding me?&rsquo; And now we&rsquo;re champs.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

champs_echl_131

MANY HAPPY RETURNS

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="womens_open_024" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/womens_open_024/823352-1-eng-US/womens_open_0242.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p>Grant-Mentis made history when she signed women&rsquo;s hockey&rsquo;s first $80,000 contract this off-season to join the Buffalo Beauts.<br>(COLLIN NAWROCKI/MINNESOTA WHITECAPS)</p><p></p></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span> RECENT WILLIS TOWERS </b>Watson survey indicated American employees received an average wage bump of about 2.8 percent in 2021. North of the border, the number was much the same &ndash; identical, actually, according to a similar survey. And while 2.8 percent might not be a huge increase, it can add up to a decent chunk of change over time. These days, it may even be enough for a tank of gas.</p><p>But if that was the average increase, how then would you describe what Mikyla Grant-Mentis received? Calling it a &ldquo;raise&rdquo; hardly feels apt. With the Toronto Six this season, Grant-Mentis earned around $20,000. And given how she broke into the league &ndash; paying her own way through a three-game stint with the Buffalo Beauts in 2019-20 &ndash; this season&rsquo;s earnings were more than she&rsquo;d ever earned for her services, by an order of magnitude. And then her agent slid across the proverbial table an offer she couldn&rsquo;t refuse: a one-year, $80,000 deal that would see the 2021 PHF MVP depart Toronto for a return to the Beauts. &ldquo;When he said it, I was like, 'Oh, OK. Fair. That's a lot of money,&rsquo;&rdquo; Grant-Mentis said. &ldquo;After, I was talking to my teammates, and they were like, &lsquo;That's a ton of money. That's a lot to play for.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>What the contract signified didn&rsquo;t dawn on Grant-Mentis, at least not at first. It wasn&rsquo;t until she heard the chatter that she realized she had not only become the highest-paid player in league history but also in professional women&rsquo;s hockey history.</p><p>It was a watershed moment, and tracing the steps that led to Grant-Mentis&rsquo; piece of history is a bit like following a bouncing puck. It&rsquo;s a contract that doesn&rsquo;t happen without the PHF&rsquo;s salary cap more than doubling to $750,000 and the league adding a salary floor of $560,500. It&rsquo;s a contract that doesn&rsquo;t happen without the league&rsquo;s board of governors committing to invest $25 million into the league over the next three seasons. And it is a contract that assuredly doesn&rsquo;t happen if the women&rsquo;s professional hockey landscape isn&rsquo;t as promising, isn&rsquo;t growing as fast and isn&rsquo;t nearly as competitive as it is at this very moment.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">I WAS LIKE, &lsquo;OH, OK. FAIR. THAT&rsquo;S A LOT OF MONEY.&rsquo; AFTER, I WAS TALKING TO MY TEAMMATES, AND THEY WERE LIKE, &lsquo;THAT&rsquo;S A TON OF MONEY&rsquo;<br>- Mikyla Grant-Mentis</blockquote><p>As it pertains to the latter, the game has never been in a better place. Period. Standouts from the collegiate ranks have found second acts in the soon-to-be-eight-year-old PHF, and the league has been the catalyst for creating stars such as Grant-Mentis, 2022 MVP Kennedy Marchment and speedy sniper Allie Thunstrom.</p><p>Meanwhile, the PWHPA, home to Canadian and American Olympians, has continued to give its athletes a chance to strut their stuff at showcase events and sponsor-backed mini-tournaments. The singular joy of watching a superlative talent such as Marie-Philip Poulin carve up the opposition is no longer an international-tournament-only opportunity.</p><p>And when it comes to the landscape, consider the facts: last year, the PHF struck a landmark deal to air its games on ESPN+ in the U.S. and TSN in Canada while maintaining its relationship with Twitch by way of an international streaming deal. Partnerships were struck with Warrior, Upper Deck and Discover, among others. The PWHPA, meanwhile, ran back its Secret Dream Gap Tour, had airtime on Sportsnet in Canada and earned sponsorship backing (both for teams and events) from the likes of Bauer, Scotiabank and Sonnet. Real dollars are now supporting the game, and at a time when the WNBA, NWSL and women&rsquo;s sports as a whole are seeing significant gains in viewership, visibility and financial support, women&rsquo;s hockey has momentum on its side.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/womens_pwhp_026/823345-1-eng-US/womens_pwhp_0262.jpg" title="womens_pwhp_026" width="2120" height="893"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DAVE HOLLAND/PWHPA)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;It's an emerging market that people are starting to see as an important market,&rdquo; said PWHPA operations consultant Jayna Hefford. &ldquo;From where we're at in terms of women's professional hockey, there's still some uncertainty and whatnot, but I think when we look at the progress that's been made in terms of the advances in support and the way the women are treated and salaries and other things, obviously the game continues to grow in a lot of different areas.&rdquo;</p><p>So, what comes next?</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/womens_heff_027/823338-1-eng-US/womens_heff_0272.jpg" title="womens_heff_027" width="1058" height="1372"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>OPPORTUNITY ABOUNDS</b><br>PWHPA operations consultant Hefford says having two leagues benefits players by giving more of them chances to play.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO COURTESY OF PWHPA)</span></figcaption></div><p>What we know for certain is it won&rsquo;t be an official partnership with the NHL. For what has felt like time immemorial, much of the big-picture discussion surrounding women&rsquo;s hockey and its growth has focused on the NHL&rsquo;s involvement or lack thereof. The PWHPA has made clear its interest in working with the top men&rsquo;s league since its inception in the wake of the CWHL&rsquo;s sudden shuttering in 2019. At various points in time, PHF (formerly NWHL) management has similarly invoked the idea of NHL backing. And there have been flirtations, at least on the club side. Relationships forged with individual organizations have borne fruit as the PWHPA has collaborated with the New York Rangers, Calgary Flames and Washington Capitals, among others, on showcase events. The PHF, too, has been friendly with NHL outfits. Some Boston Bruins have even strutted into games wearing Boston Pride gear, representing the club with which the NHL team shares its practice facility.</p><p>As for the NHL itself, however, commissioner Gary Bettman has repeatedly made clear the disinterest the powers that be have in sticking their collective noses into the women&rsquo;s hockey business while competing entities still exist. Perhaps the closest the NHL has come to outright involvement was this past March, when league officials attempted to assist in bridging the gap between the PHF and PWHPA. &ldquo;We tried to get everybody on the same page,&rdquo; Bettman told reporters in May. &ldquo;They chose not to. I respect that. But based on our view as to the likelihood of success under these circumstances, we've said, &lsquo;We're taking a step back. You&rsquo;re each on your own.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>And the chasm between the PHF and PWHPA is no closer to shrinking. Not only did the two sides walk away from the March discussion without any sort of agreement, but <i>The Athletic</i> reported &ndash; and Hefford confirmed to The Hockey News &ndash; that the PWHPA has since entered into a partnership with Billie Jean King Enterprises and the Mark Walter Group. The latter is led by Mark Walter, chairman of MLB&rsquo;s Los Angeles Dodgers and part-owner of the WNBA&rsquo;s Los Angeles Sparks and the English Premier League&rsquo;s Chelsea FC. The intent, now, is for the PWHPA to explore the creation of its own league.</p><p>In some corners, the formation of a PWHPA-related league will be seen as a reversion to or facsimile of the same two-league system some believe has hindered growth. In others, it will be seen as a merciful end to the constant calls for, and at times tiresome debate about, the PWHPA and PHF finding common ground. Hefford, a Hall of Famer and former interim CWHL commissioner, has had a front-row seat to the slow and often turbulent rise of women&rsquo;s hockey, and while some think concentrating talent in one league is the best way forward, Hefford is not necessarily of that belief. &ldquo;One of the things that's really challenging, and I would say many times frustrating to us, is the idea of one league,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We don't want to take opportunities away from women, and that&rsquo;s exactly what one league would do.&rdquo;</p><p>Though not in perfect harmony, PHF commissioner Reagan Carey, who took the post in April, echoed the idea and added having two leagues could greatly benefit players. &ldquo;Options are great for players,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I think that also drives the competitive efforts. My hope, if there are two leagues, is that we're still working together for the sport, even if we're somewhat in competition with each other with regards for opportunities for players to play in different places.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/womens_phf1_028/823331-1-eng-US/womens_phf1_0282.jpg" title="womens_phf1_028" width="1493" height="810"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p>Boston lured some former PWHPA talent to its squad in free agency, making a big off-season splash. (MICHELLE JAY/PHF)</p></figcaption></div><p>How that competition shapes up hinges on the format of the to-be-announced PWHPA circuit, but the allure of the already operational PHF has drawn in some previously PWHPA-affiliated athletes. Notably, this season saw goalie Katie Burt and defenseman Kali Flanagan join the Pride. Headlining the list of those making the switch ahead of 2022-23 is Brittany Howard, who inked a reported one-year deal with the Toronto Six worth in the neighborhood of $70,000. The signings of Burt, Flanagan (Boston) and Howard (Toronto) are especially notable as each played in current PWHPA regions.</p><p>One opportunity the PWHPA looks primed to provide that the PHF cannot match is for athletes based outside the densely populated East Coast hockey hubs. For example, Calgary has long been home to women&rsquo;s hockey in Canada and is the westernmost region in the PWHPA&rsquo;s current setup. It is a near certainty any PWHPA league will include a Calgary-based outfit, building on the legacy established by the CWHL&rsquo;s Inferno and NWHL/WWHL&rsquo;s Oval X-Treme.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/womens_care_025/823324-1-eng-US/womens_care_0252.jpg" title="womens_care_025" width="865" height="769"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>NEW VOICE, NEW TEAMS?</b><br>Carey was named PHF commissioner in April and is now getting up to speed on the league&rsquo;s expansion landscape.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(JERRY LAI-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>The PWHPA may also have a leg up in Montreal, home to stars such as Poulin, Melodie Daoust and Erin Ambrose. Though the PHF initially planned to expand to Montreal in 2021-22, no doubt with sights set on persuading top talent to join the league, those plans were postponed due to pandemic-related concerns.</p><p>Former PHF commissioner Ty Tumminia had previously confirmed to The Hockey News that Montreal expansion was on the docket for the coming season, but the league&rsquo;s free-agency period opened with the PHF mum on expansion. &ldquo;We're still vetting the expansion opportunities,&rdquo; Carey said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really getting up to speed on where we stand and doing my own due diligence on what makes sense for the league this season and moving forward. Obviously, we need to finalize those decisions here sooner than later. That's a priority to do that. From there, we'll move forward with a very strategic plan on expansion and evaluating all the areas that are interested in that and all the proposals we have in front of us for that.&rdquo;</p><p>Regardless of whether expansion to additional Canadian markets arrives in the not-so-distant future or if the PHF branches out into another U.S. market &ndash; and rumors of an eighth franchise abound &ndash; what is evident is that as the PHF and PWHPA compete for space and talent, women&rsquo;s hockey is fast becoming a players&rsquo; market. And in a sport where players have long been underpaid &ndash; if paid at all &ndash; and in one where there are still many without livable-wage salaries, it may not be long before the rising tide lifts all boats and contracts such as Grant-Mentis&rsquo; become the norm rather than the outlier.</p><p>&ldquo;Seeing another player be supported in that way, that's really great,&rdquo; said Hefford of Grant-Mentis. &ldquo;Without the advocacy of what our group is doing, maybe salaries don't get pushed that high, but competition is good for the market. We see that in every industry. Women's hockey is not unique for that. It's great to see that baseline continue to rise, and there are going to be more players that are going to be rewarded in ways like that.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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State of Women's Hockey

STATE OF THE (NON) UNION

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="nj_hughes1" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/nj_hughes1/823404-1-eng-US/nj_hughes12.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DAN HAMILTON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>F</span>IRST OF ALL, YOU</b> need to know that Jack Hughes wanted nothing to do with this story. But, because he&rsquo;s as good a young man as he is a hockey player, he felt compelled to do his part. It&rsquo;s just that when he looks at his NHL career so far, he&rsquo;s not the least bit satisfied. He wants to shift the focus from himself until he feels he deserves the attention. So, when a chronicler approaches him with an angle about him being on the verge of greatness at the same time other players are laying their bodies on the line to try to win a Stanley Cup, Hughes gets a bit uncomfortable.</p><p>So, in the end, he agrees to answer a couple of questions via email. There has been a continual cycle of focus on Hughes since he was about 15 years old, and now he wants to start proving he&rsquo;s worthy of that buzz. The time to talk is over. He must now begin to show some things. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t done a ton in this league just yet,&rdquo; Hughes said. &ldquo;You watch all these playoff hockey games going on, with guys putting it all on the line, battling and doing what it takes to advance. That&rsquo;s where we all want to be as a team, what our young group really wants to get to.&rdquo;</p><p>New Jersey Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald is informed of this, and, of course, he&rsquo;s thrilled. Having a star player with that attitude makes people like Fitzgerald sleep much better at night. Fitzgerald has watched Hughes progress through his first three NHL seasons, seeing enough after two-plus seasons to sign him to an eight-year extension worth $64 million, which kicks in this fall. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a proud moment,&rdquo; Fitzgerald said. &ldquo;It really tells me what his priorities are. I&rsquo;ve known that about Jack for a long time.&rdquo;</p><p>A lot has changed in the three years since the Devils selected Hughes No. 1 in the 2019 draft and he became the first player to make the jump directly from USA Hockey&rsquo;s National Team Development Program to the NHL. The steep learning curve in Year 1 was entirely predictable. Hughes came into the league the way most 18-year-olds not named Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid do, thinking they know what it takes to play in the best league in the world before discovering they still have much to learn. He took steps in his second year, giving more frequent glimpses of what kind of player he could be.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/nj_hughes22/823390-1-eng-US/nj_hughes22.jpg" title="nj_hughes2" width="1570" height="1018"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">( BOB FRID-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>Then came this season, when Hughes showed the world he has the skill set and the mentality to be among the NHL&rsquo;s elite &ndash; when he&rsquo;s not injured. If 2021-22 taught us anything, it&rsquo;s that Hughes is on the precipice of breaking out as a major NHL star.</p><p>All he has to do is stay healthy. Injuries bookended Hughes&rsquo; season &ndash; a dislocated shoulder in the season&rsquo;s second game kept him out of the lineup for six weeks and an MCL injury shut him down with 13 games remaining. But in between, Hughes shone. His 26 goals and 56 points in just 49 games put him in the top 25 in the NHL in points per game (1.14).</p><p>Of the 137 players who scored 20-plus goals this season, only Evgeni Malkin, Evander Kane and Nikita Kucherov played fewer games than Hughes. He began cashing in a lot more on the opportunities his speed and skill created, and his confidence soared. &ldquo;And it was like, &lsquo;Whoa, this kid is special,&rsquo;&rdquo; Fitzgerald said.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/nj_hughes32/823383-1-eng-US/nj_hughes32.jpg" title="nj_hughes3" width="1022" height="778"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ED MULHOLLAND-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p>This is nothing Hughes hasn&rsquo;t been hearing since he was a kid. And because he&rsquo;s surrounded by supportive people, in his parents and his brothers Quinn and Luke &ndash; you may have heard of them &ndash; he has a very interesting blend of self-confidence and humility. Hughes knows how good he is, and he&rsquo;ll tell you honestly if you ask him about it. But the fact that he&rsquo;s adamant that now is the time for him and the Devils to make serious inroads is an indication that this is a young man whose feet are planted firmly on the ground.</p><p>&ldquo;We want to be better in the standings, obviously, we want to be playing important hockey,&rdquo; Hughes said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really hard to win in this league.&rdquo;</p><p>Yes, it is. This is a league where only half the teams qualify for the playoffs and, if that&rsquo;s not enough, the Devils play in the group-of-death Metropolitan Division in the bigger group-of-death Eastern Conference, where each team that made the playoffs this season had more than 100 points. The Devils are not there yet, and they still have a way to go. Since Hughes joined the NHL, the Devils have finished eighth and seventh in the Metro, with a seventh-place finish in the makeshift East Division between those two seasons. The reality is the Devils haven&rsquo;t been close. But they are continuing to build, and Hughes is emerging as the centerpiece of the foundation. This season was an enormous step forward for both Hughes and his young teammates. With an average age of 26.0 years old, the Devils were the second-youngest team and the third-least experienced in the NHL. A major breakout season for Hughes would be both welcomed and expected. For Fitzgerald, it&rsquo;s all about how a player has the capacity to make his teammates better, and, in Hughes, he sees a player who does that.</p><p>&ldquo;You can see how he&rsquo;s elevated his linemates,&rdquo; Fitzgerald said. &ldquo;(Yegor) Sharangovich has become a 20-goal scorer. Can he get to 30 playing with Jack? (Dawson) Mercer, if he stays and plays with Jack, what can he do? (Alexander) Holtz, we expect Holtz to score goals. Can Jack&rsquo;s game help elevate Holtz into the 30-plus goal-scorer we think we have? I saw it with Sid (Crosby, when Fitzgerald was an assistant GM in Pittsburgh). Pascal Dupuis scored 20 goals with Sid, and (Colby) Armstrong played with Sid, and he raised everybody&rsquo;s game up. And I&rsquo;m hanging my hat on Jack and Nico (Hischier) being able to elevate their linemates to another level.&rdquo;</p><p>(And just imagine the points New Jersey native Johnny Gaudreau could put up next season playing on Hughes&rsquo; port side. You still there, Tom?)</p><p>In reality, Hughes isn&rsquo;t experiencing anything unique when it comes to the development of a No. 1 pick. The reason they go so high is that the team that acquires them, in almost all cases, has earned that right by being a bad team. The Devils are well-run, young and have lots of good picks and prospects on the way. It should be exciting to see how this all plays out, particularly with Hughes entering his prime and poised to make a big breakthrough. &ldquo;It was a tough first three years for me and the team with the adversity, but I hope the next three years has more excitement and more wins,&rdquo; Hughes said. &ldquo;No one in our group likes losing. We want to be playing the important hockey we&rsquo;ve been talking about.&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>

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THE DEVIL’S IN THE DETAILS

<div class="byline">BY IAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="buf_krebs1" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buf_krebs1/823449-1-eng-US/buf_krebs12.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>TIME AND PLACE</b></p><p>Krebs says his instinct is to try to score on every shift, but he&rsquo;s learning to pick his moments.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(JOHN E. SOKOLOWSKI-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>HEN BUFFALO SABRES</b> fans look back on the franchise-altering 2021 blockbuster deal with Vegas, they hope it will someday be referred to as the &ldquo;Peyton Krebs trade&rdquo; instead of the &ldquo;Jack Eichel trade.&rdquo; And if his performance this season is any indication, Krebs is ready to take the first steps toward that daunting summit.</p><p>The season&rsquo;s biggest NHL swap sent former Sabres captain Eichel to the Golden Knights for Krebs, Alex Tuch, a 2022 first-round pick and a 2023 second-rounder.</p><p>Vegas originally took Krebs 17th overall in the 2019 draft. Prior to tearing his Achilles tendon two weeks before the draft, he was looking like a potential top-10 pick. The trade meant Krebs, 20 at the time, and his girlfriend had to pack up their lives, including their dog, and move across the country. But after graduating from the WHL&rsquo;s Winnipeg Ice, Krebs was used to the nomad life &ndash; having played for Vegas and AHL Henderson prior to the November 2021 trade and seeing time with AHL Rochester immediately after, then finally being recalled by the Sabres.</p><p>&ldquo;Being traded was a shock at the start,&rdquo; Krebs said. &ldquo;You get drafted by a team and you obviously want to play as long as you can with that team, but as I got to know the people in Buffalo and Rochester, I felt more at home every day.&rdquo;</p><p>Krebs had only one assist in 13 career NHL games across two partial seasons with Vegas, but his arrival in Buffalo changed his fortunes. Aiding that growth was a return to his natural center position with Rochester. Americans coach Seth Appert believes Krebs has elite building blocks that just need to be molded into place. &ldquo;Peyton has elite competitiveness and elite hockey intelligence, so you combine those two things together and you have such a great framework to start as a hockey player,&rdquo; Appert said. &ldquo;His character as a human and as a hockey player is off-the-charts high.&rdquo;</p><p>Elite or not, Krebs was disappointed with his post-trade assignment to the AHL. But a chat with Appert turned his mentality around. &ldquo;I was a little stressed out,&rdquo; Krebs said. &ldquo;I said I wanted to play in the NHL. We talked about just working hard and having fun, relaxing and being yourself, and you&rsquo;ll be great.&rdquo;</p><p>Putting up 15 points in 18 AHL games, Krebs started to show the playmaking ability that scouts drooled over in his draft season. His heady play earned him a call-up to Buffalo, where he posted seven goals and 22 points in 48 games. Still, the six-foot Alberta native believed he was only scratching the surface of his big-league potential. &ldquo;When you get called up for the first time, you&rsquo;re nervous,&rdquo; Krebs said. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t want to mess up, you don&rsquo;t have that calm to your game. I can make all those plays, but I need to add some calmness and not rush the offense. I want to score every shift, but I need to have a more time-and-place mentality.&rdquo;</p><p>When Buffalo&rsquo;s season ended, Krebs was returned to the AHL. This time, though, it wasn&rsquo;t a demotion but rather an opportunity to gain playoff experience, and he arrived armed with renewed confidence.</p><p>Appert believes the experience will help Krebs take the next step. &ldquo;To be trusted defensively, to be out there in the last minutes of an elimination game and have to execute, those are important moments,&rdquo; Appert said. &ldquo;Sometimes, a younger player in the NHL can just survive, and that&rsquo;s OK because the older guys are doing the heavy lifting, but in the AHL, we&rsquo;re counting on our younger guys to deliver. It&rsquo;s a healthy pressure and you gain and earn a lot of confidence in yourself.&rdquo;</p><p>That confidence showed in Krebs, who immediately produced at a point-per-game pace for Rochester.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buf_krebs2/823435-1-eng-US/buf_krebs22.jpg" title="buf_krebs2" width="1021" height="1354"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>PEYTON KREBS</b><br>(WALTER TYCHNOWICZ-USA TODAY SPORTS)</figcaption></div><p>In major junior, Krebs could almost score at will. As a pro, he&rsquo;s learning to be the complete package and choose his moments. With that, he believes success will find him. &ldquo;Honest defense equals offense,&rdquo; Krebs said. &ldquo;Some shifts, I might just have to chip it in and live to fight another day, and other shifts, I have to capitalize. In junior, you can just run and gun every shift and score goals, but you really have to narrow down your defensive zone up in pro hockey and allow yourself to blossom offensively.&rdquo;</p><p>During the off-season, Krebs plans to head home to rest and train. It will be a welcome return to time spent on the water, wake surfing and preparing for what he and the Sabres hope will be a breakout season in 2022-23.</p><p>Although big expectations await, Krebs is focusing on the present. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a live-in-the-moment guy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The biggest thing was just getting comfortable being myself, that&rsquo;s the biggest mentality, just be yourself and don&rsquo;t try to be a player you&rsquo;re not.&rdquo;</p><p>It&rsquo;s a healthy stance following a trade &ndash; and a season where he played for four different professional teams. And as Krebs continues to develop confidence and belief in himself, that top-10 pick potential will continue to shine through.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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BUFFALO’S SHINING KNIGHT

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/bos46/823529-1-eng-US/bos2.jpg" title="bos" width="175" height="175"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>F</span>or the past 15 years, Boston hasn&rsquo;t had to worry about its goaltending. And while <b>JEREMY SWAYMAN</b> isn&rsquo;t in the Tim Thomas/Tuukka Rask stratosphere just yet, the future looks bright. Swayman took over the net from Linus Ullmark in the first round and gave the Bruins a chance to win the series while gaining valuable playoff experience, which he carried into a strong World Championship for the U.S. After a season that had some definitive highs and lows, Swayman came out a better and more experienced goalie.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/buf37/823522-1-eng-US/buf2.jpg" title="buf" width="175" height="175"></div><p>When the Sabres hosted Edmonton early in the season, <b>DYLAN COZENS</b> drew the assignment of trying to shut down Connor McDavid. Not only was McDavid held to one power-play assist, but Cozens also outscored the NHL&rsquo;s scoring champion 2-0 in 5-on-5 play. It confirmed what the Sabres already knew: &lsquo;The Workhorse from Whitehorse&rsquo; is one of the most diligent and responsible young players in the game. Things will get better at the offensive end if Cozens can improve on his career shooting percentage of 7.7.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/det38/823515-1-eng-US/det2.jpg" title="det" width="175" height="175"></div><p>Despite playing only 46 games for the Wings this season, <b>GIVANI SMITH</b> led the team in penalty minutes&hellip;by more than 40 minutes. As a bottom-six forward, Smith fought a lot, accounting for almost half of Detroit&rsquo;s 19 fighting majors. But despite sparse ice time, Smith showed he could produce a modicum of offense. With more responsibility, he could develop into a Ryan Reaves-type of impact forward. If Smith can continue to contribute something beyond a physical element, he&rsquo;ll earn more ice time and opportunity.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/fla46/823508-1-eng-US/fla2.jpg" title="fla" width="175" height="175"></div><p>Just like the rest of his team, the regular season was a revelation and the playoffs were a disaster for <b>ANTON LUNDELL</b>. In the post-season, he scored just one goal and was a healthy scratch for Game 3 of Florida&rsquo;s second-round sweep at the hands of Tampa Bay. But that shouldn&rsquo;t diminish a rookie season in which he contributed in all situations. He was a key penalty-killer, leading Panthers forwards in shorthanded ice time. He&rsquo;ll likely keep drawing third-line minutes next year, but his spot is secure.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/mtl41/823501-1-eng-US/mtl2.jpg" title="mtl" width="175" height="175"></div><p>Much was made of rookie Cole Caufield&rsquo;s progress under coach Martin St-Louis. Still, no player logged more ice time than <b>ALEXANDER ROMANOV</b> after St-Louis replaced Dominique Ducharme as Montreal&rsquo;s coach. That led to Romanov finding more confidence in his game, both in terms of imposing himself physically and creating offense by handling the puck and shooting it more. As a core piece of the Canadiens&rsquo; future, Romanov is primed for more growth in his game as he enters his third pro campaign.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/ott39/823494-1-eng-US/ott2.jpg" title="ott" width="175" height="175"></div><p>With all of the young players in Ottawa, it was easy to forget about <b>SHANE PINTO</b>. That tends to be the case when your season ends after just five games. A hard hit from San Jose&rsquo;s Mario Ferraro eventually led to season-ending shoulder surgery for Pinto, but 2019&rsquo;s 32nd-overall pick is expected to be healthy for training camp, and he impressed with seven points in 12 games in 2020-21 after two years at the University of North Dakota. There&rsquo;s a spot for him to grab down the middle in the bottom six.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/tb45/823487-1-eng-US/tb2.jpg" title="tb" width="174" height="174"></div><p>All <b>ROSS COLTON</b> had to do for the Lightning this season was move up the depth chart and center the third line, the same line that was wiped out by expansion and free agency and was a huge part of two Stanley Cup titles. Not only did Colton do that, but he was a significant offensive contributor. Colton has more to give offensively, and a run of seasons of 50-plus points is not out of the question. A fourth-round pick (118th overall) in 2016, Colton can be added to Tampa&rsquo;s long list of astute late draft selections.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/tor45/823480-1-eng-US/tor2.jpg" title="tor" width="174" height="174"></div><p>The Leafs put a lot of time and resources into developing <b>TIMOTHY LILJEGREN</b> as an NHL defenseman. Four years after drafting him in the first round, those efforts began to bear fruit. Liljegren was outscored among D-men only by Morgan Rielly and T.J. Brodie. Liljegren added physicality to his game, and his analytics were solid. He is sure to draw in more than the 61 games he played this season, and his 16:24 average time on ice is sure to rise. A continued upward trajectory will improve his chances of increased work.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

READY TO BREAK OUT: ATLANTIC DIVISION

<div class="byline">BY MIKE STEPHENS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="phi_tippett_162" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/phi_tippett_162/823581-1-eng-US/phi_tippett_1622.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>SECOND CHANCE</b><br>With the Flyers, Tippett will get an opportunity at a top-six spot that he wasn&rsquo;t able to grab in Florida.<br>(JEAN-YVES AHERN-USA TODAY SPORTS)</p><p></p></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>WEN TIPPETT HASN&rsquo;T HAD</b> time for Netflix this off-season. Not with what&rsquo;s at stake. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t really been able to start any shows because I&rsquo;ve just been so busy being back in the gym,&rdquo; said Tippett with a laugh. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure there are some new ones out there that I&rsquo;ll have to check out when I can.&rdquo;</p><p>Though the calendar had just flipped to June, the 23-year-old winger was already in the thick of his off-season training regimen, one created by BioSteel founder and fitness guru Matt Nichol and undertaken alongside several current and future NHLers, as he prepares for the challenges that lie ahead.</p><p>It&rsquo;s unlikely next season will be any more chaotic than the one he just endured. Tippett&rsquo;s 2021-22 campaign challenged his mental fortitude, shuttling him up and down between two different leagues on three different teams spread across two separate organizations.</p><p>In a sport where preparation hinges so heavily on routine, it can sometimes seem impossible to find your footing. Tippett certainly struggled to do so. He had to fight for a spot among arguably the NHL&rsquo;s most crowded forward corps, and the Florida Panthers&rsquo; plethora of offensive talent pushed Tippett further and further down the depth chart as the season wore on. He was in and out of the lineup for large chunks of the schedule before eventually landing in the AHL shortly after the calendar turned to 2022.</p><p>For a top-10 draft pick who had thrived at every level he&rsquo;d reached to that point, it was a tough pill to swallow. And Tippett is the first to admit it. &ldquo;It can be tough mentally, going up and down, and in and out of the lineup,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But the biggest thing is that you just have to stay ready. Ready for when your time comes. Obviously, it can be tough mentally, and you lose confidence along the way. And I think I struggled with that a little bit.&rdquo;</p><p>As his role in the only NHL organization he&rsquo;d ever known hung in the balance, Tippett searched for ways to center himself amidst the chaos, ultimately turning to a one-word mantra: simplify. It applied to everything, both on and off the ice. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re trying to do too much, it&rsquo;s not going to help,&rdquo; Tippett said. &ldquo;For me, just simplifying everything and making sure I was doing what I needed to do to make sure I was playing a good game and then worry about building off of that once I was comfortable with where my game was at.</p><p>&ldquo;That was my biggest thing. Keeping everything simple when things are starting to slide a little bit.&rdquo;</p><p>That approach paid off. Tippett made the most of his time in the AHL, racking up an impressive 18 points in 12 games for the Charlotte Checkers. Things were finally beginning to click.</p><p>Then came the trade deadline. And everything changed once again.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/phi_tippett_163/823567-1-eng-US/phi_tippett_1632.jpg" title="phi_tippett_163" width="1021" height="1187"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>OWEN TIPPETT</b><br>(ERIC HARTLINE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</figcaption></div><p>Tippett knew his time in the Panthers organization was coming to an end before it officially happened. After being held out of a number of the Checkers&rsquo; games in mid-March, the Panthers finally dealt Tippett to Philadelphia two days before the deadline, including him as the centerpiece of the package that netted them Flyers captain Claude Giroux.</p><p>In a 20-hour span, Tippett went from driving to the Checkers&rsquo; home rink to watch them play at 6 p.m., to hopping on a 9 p.m. flight to Philadelphia, to making his Flyers debut at home at 2 p.m. the next day. He barely had time to introduce himself to his linemates before he found himself in front of a packed house that knew he was just dealt for a franchise icon.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">I WANT TO GO IN AND BE A GO-TO GUY. I WANT TO BE A STEADY, EVERYDAY PLAYER<br>&ndash; Owen Tippett</blockquote><p>Tippett, ever the optimist, didn&rsquo;t mind the self-described whirlwind. His instant indoctrination as a Flyer forced all distractions to the periphery, preventing him from over-thinking or over-processing the way his tenure with the Panthers had reached its end. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s just how life is sometimes,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve just got to live on your toes and be ready for anything that comes at you.&rdquo;</p><p>The stability that Tippett searched for this season appears to be far more attainable in 2022-23. With the Flyers, Tippett is now a priority &ndash; one whose individual development is of extreme importance to the future of an organization in the midst of a quasi-rebuild. Tippett is no longer the ancillary piece he was in Florida. He will get a regular opportunity as a top-six forward to show off his elite-level shot.</p><p>Tippett believes he has the potential to be the player who drew the Flyers to him in the first place. And he&rsquo;ll stop at nothing to reach it. &ldquo;I want to go in and be a go-to guy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I want to be a steady, everyday player. With the opportunity there, I think it&rsquo;s a good opportunity for me to come in and prove myself and get a fresh start.&rdquo;</p><p>Only then, it seems, will he allow himself to catch up on his Netflix queue.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

phi_tippett_162

NO NETFLIX, BUT CHILL

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/car43/823661-1-eng-US/car2.jpg" title="car" width="175" height="175"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>lready getting the bulk of his reps on the top line in Carolina, <b>SETH JARVIS</b> has the momentum to post big numbers next season. The undersized right winger (who can also play center) put up a solid 40 points in 68 games as a rookie and kept it going in the playoffs, where he played with Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov. Jarvis&rsquo; combination of skill and drive makes him hard to get a bead on in the offensive zone, and another summer in the gym will only further his development as an NHL sophomore.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/clb48/823654-1-eng-US/clb2.jpg" title="clb" width="175" height="175"></div><p>As Columbus rebuilds, there is ample opportunity for blueliner <b>ADAM BOQVIST</b> to seize a larger role. Besides Zach Werenski, the Blue Jackets don&rsquo;t have much firepower on the back end, and Boqvist is skilled and nimble. Boqvist&rsquo;s 0.42 points per game were second only to Werenski among regular Columbus D-men this season, but he finished fourth in total blueline points due to injury absences. Staying healthy will be vital, as his puck-moving ability is invaluable for a Jackets team with room to grow offensively.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/nj38/823647-1-eng-US/nj2.jpg" title="nj" width="175" height="175"></div><p>OK, hear us out: <b>NICO HISCHIER</b> is primed for a breakout. He&rsquo;s already the Devils&rsquo; captain, and his 60 points ranked second on the team this year, but the Swiss center hasn&rsquo;t been able to avoid injuries the past few seasons. Once he plays a healthy 82 with a stronger support cast, he could easily be an 80-plus point guy. With Alex Holtz likely joining the top six and continued growth from Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes, Hischier could become that top-tier producer thanks to his smarts and skill. It&rsquo;s a matter of time.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/nyi41/823640-1-eng-US/nyi2.jpg" title="nyi" width="175" height="175"></div><p><b>NOAH DOBSON</b> and his growth on the blueline didn&rsquo;t get much outside love &ndash; perhaps because the Isles struggled so mightily this year. The puck-moving ace finished third in team scoring and first in average ice time and power-play points. Expectations were high for him as a prospect, but if the rest of the team can keep pace next year, he could make the leap into the next tier of offense-minded D-men. With his excellent skating and puck skills, Dobson could go from a 50-point guy to a 70-point defenseman.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/nyr46/823633-1-eng-US/nyr2.jpg" title="nyr" width="175" height="175"></div><p>Carrying over mojo from the end of the season, <b>ALEXIS LAFRENIERE</b> had a solid playoff showing, forming an effective &lsquo;Kid Line&rsquo; with Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil. For Lafreniere, the No. 1 overall pick in 2020, such growth was important, as the spotlight hadn&rsquo;t been kind to him early on. Consistent production has eluded him, but with more confidence, Lafreniere could easily be a physical, offensive threat as soon as next season. We&rsquo;ve seen him dominate in junior &ndash; now we&rsquo;re starting to see it at the NHL level, too.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/phi42/823626-1-eng-US/phi2.jpg" title="phi" width="174" height="174"></div><p>During his 2016-17 draft season, <b>NOAH CATES</b> was the kind of prospect that scouts hoped their peers had missed. Playing for Minnesota&rsquo;s Stillwater High School, he had the unceasing motor and versatility to one day become an impact NHLer. And that day may be upon us. After a stellar NCAA tenure with Minnesota-Duluth, Cates hit the ground running this year with nine points in 16 NHL games. With Philly in a reset, chances will be plentiful, and Cates has the all-around game to be an important piece right away.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/pit46/823619-1-eng-US/pit2.jpg" title="pit" width="174" height="174"></div><p>With Kris Letang&rsquo;s future unclear, Pittsburgh will need more back-end skill, and <b>P.O. JOSEPH</b> can deliver. While the former QMJHL star made his name on offense, Joseph has rounded out his game in his first few pro years, spent largely in the AHL, with some NHL action thrown in. He&rsquo;s also added leadership and work ethic to his resume, so the next step is proving he can be an NHL regular. With his puck-moving and power-play skills, Joseph could become a solid two-way contributor &ndash; and add much-needed youth.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/wsh47/823612-1-eng-US/wsh2.jpg" title="wsh" width="174" height="174"></div><p><b>CONNOR MCMICHAEL</b> was one of the few to benefit from the nixing of the 2020-21 OHL season. He had a chance to play in the AHL early and took full advantage of his time with Hershey. McMichael played top-six minutes and helmed the power play, then became a regular for Washington this year. While his production was just OK as a rookie, McMichael is a proven sniper, and as he gets stronger, he&rsquo;ll get more comfortable in the NHL. On an aging Caps roster, the center&rsquo;s ascent will be needed sooner than later.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

READY TO BREAK OUT: METRO DIVISION

<div class="byline">BY JARED CLINTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="ari_hayton1_101" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/ari_hayton1_101/823713-1-eng-US/ari_hayton1_1012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>SHOOT FOR THE MOON</b><br>Hayton feels he&rsquo;s progressed well since arriving in Arizona, but says he still has a lot more to give. (SERGEI BELSKI-USA TODAY SPORTS)</p><p></p></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>H</span>EADING INTO BARRETT</b> Hayton&rsquo;s draft year, scouts keeping tabs on the then-Soo Greyhounds standout described him in many ways. &ldquo;Hardworking&rdquo; was among the top descriptors, as were comments about his two-way play. But perhaps Hayton&rsquo;s most impressive attribute was one he showcased off the ice. At the OHL&rsquo;s 2018 awards ceremony, Hayton, boasting a near-90 percent average, accepted the Bobby Smith Trophy as the league&rsquo;s scholastic player of the year.</p><p>That alone, of course, would be impressive enough, but it&rsquo;s all the more admirable given Hayton wasn&rsquo;t exactly taking the path of least resistance. Among his courses were university-level classes in math and science, including advanced functions and data management.</p><p>So, as the Coyotes prepare a move to Arizona State University&rsquo;s campus &ndash; the NHL club will share a facility with the NCAA Div. I men&rsquo;s program for the next three seasons &ndash; is Hayton considering hitting the books again? &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t rule it out of the equation,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Right now, obviously, being so busy and being so focused, it&rsquo;s something I don&rsquo;t really see myself doing in the near future, but it&rsquo;s something that&rsquo;s good to have in the back of your head if you want to one day pursue that.&rdquo;</p><p>Fair enough. And it makes sense Hayton isn&rsquo;t yet ready to jump into what ASU might have to offer, given the 22-year-old pivot is currently on the fast track to a big-league education.</p><p>Consider this season, in which Hayton parlayed a four-game stint in the AHL into full-time NHL duty. He said that starting the campaign in the minors put a bit of a chip on his shoulder, and it was evident once he got the call to join the big club in late October that he had no intention of going anywhere. The Coyotes&rsquo; coaching staff made that clear, too, putting Hayton in a sink-or-swim position rather than slowly ushering him into the lineup.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">I WANTED TO GENERATE MORE OFFENSE, BE A BIT MORE CREATIVE AND DYNAMIC. THAT WAS A FOCUS OF MINE IN THAT LAST STRETCH<br>&ndash; Barrett Hayton</blockquote><p>Case in point: Hayton averaged 11:17 of ice time across 34 games in his first two NHL seasons but skated more than 15 minutes in his first NHL contest this season and eclipsed the 18-minute mark five times in his first 15 games. It no doubt helped Hayton&rsquo;s cause that there was familiarity with Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny, an assistant on Canada&rsquo;s World Junior Championship club that Hayton captained to gold in 2020. &ldquo;I took a lot of pride in earning minutes, earning matchups, earning ice time in different situations throughout the game,&rdquo; Hayton said. &ldquo;It was something I was ready for. I always want to be that player who plays big minutes and is impactful on the game. It was something I really strived for, and I felt comfortable when I was in that situation.&rdquo;</p><p>But while Hayton was getting opportunities to kill penalties and play key defensive minutes for the Coyotes, a role in which he felt he was excelling, he was critical of his offensive output. He mustered only two goals and six points in 26 games before being sidelined by a hand injury in January. It wasn&rsquo;t up to his standards. &ldquo;Coming through that second half, the end of February and March and the rest of the season, I really wanted to generate more offense, have a bigger impact offensively, be a bit more creative and dynamic,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That was a focus of mine in that last stretch. I felt that I was able to learn a lot there, get a good feel for what that takes.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/ari_hayton2_102/823699-1-eng-US/ari_hayton2_1022.jpg" title="ari_hayton2_102" width="1021" height="1104"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BARRETT HAYTON</b><br>(TERRENCE LEE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</figcaption></div><p>The numbers bear that out, as Hayton posted eight goals and 18 points in Arizona&rsquo;s final 34 games. And though that might not seem an otherworldly total, only Phil Kessel, Clayton Keller, Shayne Gostisbehere and Nick Schmaltz contributed more to Arizona&rsquo;s meager attack during that stretch. Hayton&rsquo;s production provided a window into what he can mean to a Coyotes squad looking for a core group who can, at long last, lead the franchise to sustained success.</p><p>The opportunity to be such a player isn&rsquo;t at all lost on Hayton, either, and he welcomes the responsibility. In fact, it&rsquo;s something Hayton said he and others &ndash; he name-checks Keller and Schmaltz &ndash; take pride in, adding they&rsquo;re hungry to prove the future is bright in the desert.</p><p>As for his own game? Hayton isn&rsquo;t shy about what he wants to accomplish. &ldquo;My development over the past couple years has progressed, progressed, progressed,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and personally, I want to reach my highest potential and get everything I can out of my game. That was reciprocated by the coaching staff. Everyone wants your trajectory to be as high as it can. They spoke on some identity stuff and all that in my game, stuff to dial in on in the off-season, and to be ready to come in next year and have a big impact.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

ari_hayton1_101

GRIN AND BARRETT

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/ari43/823793-1-eng-US/ari2.jpg" title="ari" width="174" height="174"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>C</span>oyotes coach Andre Tourigny will be looking for defenders to step into larger roles and prove themselves capable of big minutes. That will give 21-year-old rearguard <b>VICTOR SODERSTROM</b>, the No. 11 overall pick in 2019, every opportunity to translate his AHL success into full-time NHL duty. In addition to third-pairing work across his 16 games in Arizona this season, Soderstrom was given a taste of power-play and penalty-kill minutes, and his responsible play makes him a prime candidate to leap up the lineup.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/chi44/823786-1-eng-US/chi2.jpg" title="chi" width="175" height="175"></div><p>On a per-60 basis at 5-on-5, winger <b>PHILIPP KURASHEV</b> ranked fifth on Chicago in shots and sixth in individual expected goals (minimum 50 games played). But he was a statline-killing 14th in shooting percentage. Still, the 22-year-old potted six goals and 21 points despite awful puck luck and averaging less than 13 minutes a night. Given his nose for the net and Chicago&rsquo;s need for secondary scoring, Kurashev stands to be the perfect fit for a middle-six role on a club hungry to find its next cadre of young talents.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0077-0145/823779-1-eng-US/f0077-012.jpg" title="f0077-01" width="175" height="175"></div><p><b>ALEX NEWHOOK</b> may have left Boston College, but he&rsquo;s still in line for a big-time graduation. With the cap crunch about to snow Colorado under, Newhook, 21, is in pole position to take the sizable step into top-six life and shoulder a significant portion of the second-line center load if (read: when) Nazem Kadri heads elsewhere as a big-ticket UFA. The good news? Newhook can no question replace the offensive output. His 33 points in 71 games came despite averaging just 13:34 in ice time. It&rsquo;s only up from here.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/dal50/823772-1-eng-US/dal2.jpg" title="dal" width="175" height="175"></div><p>Say what you will about the Stars&rsquo; punchless attack, but Dallas&rsquo; blueline scouting has been brilliant. And the next standout is on the way in 20-year-old <b>THOMAS HARLEY</b>. The 2019 first-rounder has shone in the AHL because of his offensive instincts, and he did well to prove he can handle the transition to the NHL during a 34-game stint with the big club in 2021-22. He will have tremendous mentors in Ryan Suter and Esa Lindell, and Harley&rsquo;s track record suggests he is primed to flourish in his sophomore season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/min45/823765-1-eng-US/min2.jpg" title="min" width="175" height="175"></div><p>A deadline change of scenery didn&rsquo;t inject life into <b>TYSON JOST&rsquo;S</b> offensive game, but the 24-year-old pivot possesses yet-to-be plumbed upside. Minnesota provides Jost with opportunity to reach his potential, too, as middle-six minutes are there for the taking. Add to it that coach Dean Evason has overseen the breakouts and career-best campaigns of Ryan Hartman, Frederick Gaudreau and veteran Marcus Foligno, and there&rsquo;s reason to believe Jost has found himself in the ideal situation.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/nsh48/823758-1-eng-US/nsh2.jpg" title="nsh" width="175" height="175"></div><p>Patience is a virtue, but that we&rsquo;ve had to wait this long for <b>EELI TOLVANEN</b> to bring the firepower that made him a KHL star to the NHL borders on sin. At last, the breakout seems to be in the offing, not least of all because Tolvanen, 23, was among Nashville&rsquo;s most trigger-happy skaters this season. As Filip Forsberg sees major power-play minutes, the UFA&rsquo;s future will play an integral role in how sizeable a leap Tolvanen takes. But even if Forsberg stays, if Tolvanen continues to fire away, the dam is due to break.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/stl47/823751-1-eng-US/stl2.jpg" title="stl" width="175" height="175"></div><p>If not for injuries, <b>SCOTT PERUNOVICH</b> may have already been competing for regular top-four minutes on the Blues&rsquo; blueline. But given the makeup of St. Louis&rsquo; back end and that Marco Scandella is on the downturn, it seems a lock that Perunovich, 23, will assume a top-four role next season. The 2020 Hobey Baker Award winner has proven himself more than capable in the AHL and earned valuable playoff minutes that will serve as a learning experience and only make him sharper in his first full NHL campaign.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/wpg47/823744-1-eng-US/wpg2.jpg" title="wpg" width="175" height="175"></div><p>No matter how the off-season shakes out in Winnipeg, <b>COLE PERFETTI&rsquo;S</b> abridged performance &ndash; two goals and seven points in 18 games &ndash; will earn him a place on the Jets&rsquo; opening-night roster. While the 20-year-old probably doesn&rsquo;t start at center, his upside makes him certain to battle for a top-six wing spot. His creativity, specifically on the PP, gives him huge boom potential. Six of his 15 AHL points this season came up a man, and his passing ability could make him the focal point of Winnipeg&rsquo;s second unit.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

READY TO BREAK OUT: CENTRAL DIVISION

<div class="byline">BY DOUG WARD</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="la_kaliyev1_085" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/la_kaliyev1_085/823845-1-eng-US/la_kaliyev1_0852.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>KING OF STATEN ISLAND</b><br>Kaliyev and his family moved from Uzbekistan to the NYC borough of Staten Island when he was two. (ERIC BOLTE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</p><p></p></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span>RTHUR KALIYEV LIKES</b> the No. 34. He likes it so much, in fact, that it&rsquo;s been on the back of his jersey in every season of hockey he&rsquo;s played. Kaliyev has no such attachment to No. 33, but what it represents will be in the back of his mind every time he takes the ice from here on out.</p><p>The L.A. Kings picked Kaliyev 33rd overall in the second round of the 2019 draft, and he&rsquo;s determined to prove that every team that passed on him missed out on something special. &ldquo;I want to prove to other teams they made a mistake not drafting me,&rdquo; Kaliyev said.</p><p>He put those teams on notice early, finding the back of the net at 5:32 of the second period in his NHL debut Feb. 2, 2021 against Anaheim. &ldquo;It was a really special moment,&rdquo; said Kaliyev, who became the 21st King to score in his first NHL game.</p><p>Los Angeles sent Kaliyev back to its AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, after the game. That early-February contest with the divisional-rival Ducks was the only NHL action Kaliyev appeared in during 2020-21. But more memorable moments were in store for the right winger. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s dangerous when he&rsquo;s got the puck in and around the net,&rdquo; said Kings coach Todd McLellan.</p><p>Kaliyev spent all of 2021-22 in the NHL, scoring 14 goals and 27 points in 80 games. He tied for 12th in rookie goal-scoring. His six power-play goals placed him second among NHL freshman behind only Trevor Zegras.</p><p>Although he dropped to the second round of the draft, Kaliyev&rsquo;s ability to make a sudden impact with his goal-scoring prowess should surprise no one. He scored 126 goals in 192 games across three seasons with the OHL&rsquo;s Hamilton Bulldogs, developing a reputation as a pure scorer with a devastating shot and a strong nose for the net. Kaliyev&rsquo;s career high of 51 goals in his 2018-19 draft year placed him fourth among OHL lamplighters.</p><p>The 6-foot-2, 210-pounder is not a smooth skater, but he has an undeniable knack for getting himself in the right place at the right time. &ldquo;The puck seems to follow him around,&rdquo; said Kings director of player development Glen Murray. &ldquo;He goes to the spot where you can score goals. It&rsquo;s just a gift he has.&rdquo;</p><p>Added Kaliyev: &ldquo;I try to find the open spots for teammates to find me.&rdquo; A left-handed shot, Kaliyev prefers playing the off-wing because &ldquo;you are able to take those one-timers.&rdquo; That one-time shot has quickly become his calling card.</p><p>Kaliyev, 21, has always been able to position himself for success, even if the route wasn&rsquo;t always conventional. Born in Uzbekistan, he moved to the U.S. with his family at two and fell in love with hockey while growing up in the New York City borough of Staten Island.</p><p>By the time Kaliyev was a teenager, hockey had become the focal point of his life. &ldquo;When I was 13, I got invited to Little Caesars camp in Detroit,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was probably a top-five team in the country. When I made the team, I realized I could be a really good player.&rdquo;</p><p>So Kaliyev and his family left New York for Michigan, where he played for the Little Caesars and Compuware programs before Hamilton made him the 26th pick of the 2017 OHL priority selection &ndash; one slot before Saginaw nabbed NCAA-bound future King Alex Turcotte.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/la_kaliyev2_086/823831-1-eng-US/la_kaliyev2_0862.jpg" title="la_kaliyev2_086" width="1021" height="1104"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>ARTHUR KALIYEV</b><br>(GARY A. VASQUEZ-USA TODAY SPORTS)</p></figcaption></div><p>Kaliyev responded with 31 goals during his rookie season with the Bulldogs. &ldquo;After his first year,&rdquo; Hamilton GM-president Steve Staios said, &ldquo;people were asking &lsquo;how did you get him at 26?&rsquo; It&rsquo;s amazing how the two drafts sort of mimic themselves, the Ontario League and the National League, and I think it&rsquo;s going to turn out just as well for the L.A. Kings as it did for the Hamilton Bulldogs.&rdquo;</p><p>It worked out well for Team USA at the 2021 WJC, too. Kaliyev had three goals and five assists as the Americans struck gold in Edmonton, where he played alongside future Kings Turcotte and Brock Faber.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">WHEN I WAS 13, I GOT INVITED TO LITTLE CAESARS CAMP. WHEN I MADE THE TEAM, I REALIZED I COULD BE A REALLY GOOD PLAYER<br>&ndash; Arthur Kaliyev</blockquote><p>When Kaliyev arrived in L.A., he carried a well-earned reputation for being a sniper and for the unique tape job on his stick, with the knob resembling the grip on a tennis racquet. Fittingly, Kaliyev&rsquo;s sister, 18-year-old Elvina Kalieva, is a promising Florida-based tennis player who made her grand-slam debut in mixed doubles at last year&rsquo;s U.S. Open.</p><p>Kaliyev wants to build a reputation for being a three-zone player. &ldquo;I want to play a 200-foot game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Not just someone trying to score every shift. Playing great D-zone, playing the coach&rsquo;s system. Contributing offensively, whether it&rsquo;s scoring or making plays.&rdquo;</p><p>Kaliyev has worked on those aspects of his game while adjusting to the pros. He scored 14 goals in 40 AHL games in 2020-21 before making the jump this season. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s more physical, faster,&rdquo; Kaliyev said. &ldquo;Every game got better. I got more used to the game&rsquo;s pace.&rdquo;</p><p>And if that improvement continues, teams will indeed rue the day they overlooked him at the draft.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

la_kaliyev1_085

ARTHUR HE DOES AS HE PLEASES

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/ana39/823925-1-eng-US/ana2.jpg" title="ana" width="175" height="175"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>magine if you had the foresight to envision Troy Terry following up seasons of 13, 15 and 20 points with one that produced 37 goals and 67 points? Which Duck will follow in his footsteps? <b>ISAC LUNDESTROM</b> is a good bet, though surely not at Terry&rsquo;s exponential rate. The Swedish center improved from nine points in 41 games a year ago to 16 goals and 29 points this season. With Ryan Getzlaf retiring, Lundestrom moves up the depth chart with increased opportunity. A 25-goal, 50-point season isn&rsquo;t out of reach.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cgy45/823918-1-eng-US/cgy2.jpg" title="cgy" width="175" height="175"></div><p>Excellent speed and crafty stickhandling skills are the reasons why more offense is predicted from <b>DILLON DUBE</b>. But for most of the season, he was earning the nickname &lsquo;Too Bad&rsquo; for all the chances he was creating that were getting thwarted before the puck crossed the goal line. Then a late surge &ndash; eight goals in his final nine games &ndash; put him at 18 goals on the season. Can he smooth out the production and reach 25 goals and 50 points? He&rsquo;ll get that opportunity as an important middle-six contributor.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/edm43/823911-1-eng-US/edm2.jpg" title="edm" width="175" height="175"></div><p>With his booming shot and offensive inclination, <b>EVAN BOUCHARD</b> can score double-digit goals and 40 points in his sleep. So projecting a 20-goal season to go along with 60-plus points isn&rsquo;t really a reach for a blueline stud on the high-octane Oilers. Bouchard, 22, ranked just eighth on Edmonton in power-play time on ice, with less than half the time that defensive mate Tyson Barrie received. Thirty-five of Bouchard&rsquo;s 43 points came at even strength. Some season soon, you&rsquo;ll see him producing 25 PP points alone.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/la40/823904-1-eng-US/la2.jpg" title="la" width="175" height="175"></div><p>Jonathan Quick started all seven playoff games, while <b>CAL PETERSEN</b> saw just 32 minutes of mop-up duty. Playing time was more evenly split during the season, but L.A. went with the hot hand in the post-season. Expect the pendulum to swing in Petersen&rsquo;s favor. Quick, 36, will be in the final season of his contract next year while Petersen, 27, is the Kings&rsquo; goalie of the future. The Notre Dame alum started out well but wore down by mid-season. Look for him to play 50 games for the first time in his career next year.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/sj44/823897-1-eng-US/sj2.jpg" title="sj" width="175" height="175"></div><p>Watch <b>ALEXANDER BARABANOV</b> zip around the ice during games and you&rsquo;re shocked if he doesn&rsquo;t appear on the scoresheet by the end of the night. The 28-year-old winger was a veteran of six seasons in the KHL with St. Petersburg before he came to North America in 2020. He&rsquo;s a hound for loose pucks and ranked behind just Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier in points per 60 minutes this season. Barabanov can play on either wing, and his reasonable cap hit the next two years will keep him a valued middle-six producer.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/sea10/823890-1-eng-US/sea2.jpg" title="sea" width="175" height="175"></div><p><b>MORGAN GEEKIE</b> scored just seven goals in 73 games this season, but a few of them were of the highlight-reel variety. The tall, lanky center was an expansion-draft pick from Carolina, and the Kraken were impressed with the promise he showed in his second full NHL season, even if the offense was slow to come. Geekie has excellent poise with the puck and was Seattle&rsquo;s best center in the faceoff circle &ndash; his 52.5 winning percentage far surpassed Yanni Gourde&rsquo;s 49.5-percent rate. A big breakout is projected.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/van41/823883-1-eng-US/van2.jpg" title="van" width="175" height="175"></div><p>Nils Hoglander and <b>VASILY PODKOLZIN</b> are two wingers the Canucks have been high on since drafting them in consecutive rounds three years ago. Hoglander cracked the NHL lineup at 19 before hitting a bump in the road this season, slumping from 27 points as a rookie to 18 in 60 games in 2021-22. The ceiling is higher for Podkolzin, the No. 10 pick by Vancouver in 2019. Podkolzin had 14 goals and 26 points as an NHL rookie, getting stronger down the stretch with three multi-point games in the final month.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/veg44/823876-1-eng-US/veg2.jpg" title="veg" width="175" height="175"></div><p>We&rsquo;re playing Captain Obvious here, but let&rsquo;s face it: the Golden Knights have a lot invested in <b>JACK EICHEL</b>, and dammit, he&rsquo;s going to break out in so many different ways for Vegas. The marquee trade acquisition from Buffalo was a little rusty this year, having played just 21 games since the start of the pandemic. He battled other ailments in 34 games with his new team, scoring 14 goals and 25 points. Given a full summer to completely heal, Eichel could approach triple-digit points for the first time in his career.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

READY TO BREAK OUT: PACIFIC DIVISION

<div class="byline">By Jon Rosen</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="khl_opener" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/khl_opener/823991-1-eng-US/khl_opener2.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(YURY KUZMIN/KHL PHOTO)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>S</span>AMI KAUHANEN&rsquo;S</b> first day on the job started out simple enough. It was Monday, Feb. 21, 2022, the day after Finland had defeated Russia to win gold at the Winter Olympics, and he was looking forward to getting back to work. Two months earlier, he had left his previous post as CEO of Suomen Hippos, Finland&rsquo;s national equestrian organization, to become Jokerit&rsquo;s new CEO. On that Monday, Kauhanen went to work, met his office staff and gave them a speech. Then everything changed.</p><p>The next day, Russia declared the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk independent states. A Jokerit fan group demanded that the team leave the KHL immediately, but the plan was still to forge ahead with the season. Despite the heavy, menacing rhetoric coming from Russia, there was disbelief that war would actually break out in Europe.</p><p>By Wednesday, with Russia&rsquo;s invasion of Ukraine imminent, Kauhanen met his new team for the first time. His introduction to the players was to let them know that should the team be forced to withdraw from the KHL, they&rsquo;d all be released from their contracts to sign with teams in the Liiga or elsewhere.</p><p>By Thursday morning, the scope of what he&rsquo;d walked into had become catastrophically clear as a belligerent Russia roared. &ldquo;When I woke up and checked my phone and realized (the war had begun), it was official,&rdquo; Kauhanen said. &ldquo;We knew it was all done.&rdquo;</p><p>That evening, the team withdrew from the Gagarin Cup playoffs. Three days later, so did Dinamo Riga in Latvia. In early April, the teams announced they were leaving the KHL altogether. After years of a westward push influenced more by political diffusion than market capitalism, the KHL was back to being an insular Russian league, with one team each in China, Belarus and Kazakhstan.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/khl_jokerit_176/823984-1-eng-US/khl_jokerit_1762.jpg" title="khl_jokerit_176" width="1570" height="1047"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>OVER AND OUT</b></p><p>Jokerit withdrew from the KHL playoffs on the day that Russia invaded Ukraine.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(MIKKO TAIPALE/JOKERIT.KUVAT.FI)</span></figcaption></div><p>Jokerit, with a minority stake held by a Russian billionaire&rsquo;s energy company and its 14,000-seat arena owned by Vladimir Putin confidants, had its fate sealed as soon as Russia&rsquo;s army crossed into Ukrainian territory. The invasion had fulfilled a version of the calamity that many in the stands and in the media had warned of when, in 2013, owner Harry Harkimo sold his shares of the team to a group comprised of three Russian oligarchs: Gennady Timchenko, investigated around the same time for laundering illicit funds toward Putin through U.S. financial institutions, and brothers Boris and Arkady Rotenberg, the latter often said to be Putin&rsquo;s judo partner. All three were billionaires awarded preposterously exorbitant energy and infrastructure contracts, deeply embedding them into the operation of the Russian state and the company of Putin himself. In the summer of 2014, while Jokerit was transitioning from the Liiga to the KHL, the three were sanctioned by the U.S. during Russia&rsquo;s annexation of Crimea. Shortly afterward, the European Union announced its own sanctions, accusing Arkady Rotenberg of benefiting from a contract awarded by a state-owned company to conduct a study on the feasibility of a bridge from Russia to Crimea, &ldquo;which in turn further undermines the territorial integrity of Ukraine.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">WHEN I WOKE UP AND CHECKED MY PHONE AND REALIZED (THE WAR HAD BEGUN), IT WAS OFFICIAL. WE KNEW IT WAS ALL DONE<br>&ndash; Jokerit CEO Sami Kauhanen</blockquote><p>No one is crying for Jokerit, not with the horrific details of atrocities committed in Bucha and Kramatorsk, murder funded by the osmotic pool of state and oligarchical capital. There&rsquo;s no empathetic comparison between the derailment of hockey careers and the killing of innocents. But for many in the hockey world, major life and safety decisions had to be made quickly, with little information. Only a week earlier, many had either been enjoying the twilight of their Olympic break or were hustling home from Beijing. Five Finns had returned with gold medals around their necks, while two Americans went back to their respective clubs for the KHL playoffs.</p><p>Other than those residing in Omsk, 400 miles to the west, few would consider Novosibirsk an easy travel destination. A tri-point border with Mongolia and China is 600 miles to the southeast. This is not information learned from firsthand travel. But it&rsquo;s an experience that Nick Shore, Novosibirsk&rsquo;s 2021-22 leading scorer, appreciated as unique in a career that brought him to Siberia via USA Hockey&rsquo;s National Team Development Program, the University of Denver and then the Los Angeles Kings organization. With the Kings, he began a 299-game NHL career as a responsible center who earned Darryl Sutter&rsquo;s defensive-zone trust easier than most.</p><p>There are the miles travelled and nights spent on the road by the NHL&rsquo;s farthest-flung Western Conference teams, and then there&rsquo;s what Shore experienced this season, his second in the KHL and first in Siberia. An Olympian, Shore returned to Novosibirsk from Beijing the weekend of Feb. 19-20, earlier than he and his U.S. teammates had hoped after a disappointing quarterfinal loss to Slovakia. Within a week, he was flying back to Denver. Very few players, at the end of their club seasons, change planes in Dubai.</p><p>It&rsquo;s clear Shore was enjoying his time in Novosibirsk, which is sunnier and more temperate than how most picture Siberia. &ldquo;I was actually surprised that it was a relatively mild winter,&rdquo; Shore said.</p><p>The weather was similar to that of his hometown of Denver, the fans were wonderful and, as the team hit its stride late in the season, the camaraderie and confidence grew. A team whose only Gagarin Cup series win immediately preceded cancellations due to the onset of COVID-19 was on a tear.</p><p>Then came the third week of February.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll watch a ton of the news, here (in Denver), pretty much every day, and I think most people would say that it&rsquo;s different than the news they&rsquo;re getting there,&rdquo; Shore said. &ldquo;I think everyone was under the impression that it certainly wasn&rsquo;t going to drag out.&rdquo;</p><p>But as that week progressed, Shore explained, the environment and stakes became clearer. For several days, the events were a study of the remarkable efficiency with which hockey players can compartmentalize and prioritize tasks while eliminating distraction &ndash; traits that help maintain balance over a long regular season.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to overrate the situation, but hockey players have been taught to overcome any situation, and believe that they can overcome anything,&rdquo; said Pierre Page, a former coach with the Minnesota North Stars, Calgary Flames and Anaheim Mighty Ducks. After leaving the NHL, he coached, managed and consulted for top club teams in Switzerland, Germany and Austria from 1999 to 2019. The Quebec native is seemingly at the axis where 360 degrees of European and North American hockey connections converge.</p><p>And just as players have been taught to process and move on &ndash; &ldquo;park and ride,&rdquo; as Sutter would say &ndash; so did Shore as he packed up the life he&rsquo;d brought to Siberia into boxes and suitcases. It took 12 hours, and then he was on his way back to Denver.</p><p>&ldquo;Once I made the decision to leave, I wasn&rsquo;t going to spend more time there than I had to,&rdquo; Shore said. &ldquo;I let the team know. I think I was fortunate where my organization was really helpful for me. Everyone knew it was a difficult time, so they tried to make it as easy on me as they possibly could. But it wasn&rsquo;t just about me personally. I felt safe. I felt safe the whole time I was there. But I didn&rsquo;t want my family and friends back here having to worry about me every single day.&rdquo;</p><p>Not all players and coaches from Western countries left. Those who remained weren&rsquo;t comfortable speaking over the phone about their experiences during the KHL playoffs. (One used a friend as an intermediary to politely relay this.) For players and coaches in Russia so focused on the playoffs ahead, it took effort to access information as security infrastructures tightened at the earliest sparks of war.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">ONCE I MADE THE DECISION TO LEAVE, I WASN&rsquo;T GOING TO SPEND MORE TIME THERE THAN I HAD TO<br>&ndash; former NHLer Nick Shore</blockquote><p>&ldquo;If you listen to Russian TV, you don&rsquo;t really know what&rsquo;s going on,&rdquo; Page said. &ldquo;So, if you are able to use your VPN, if you talk to friends, you find out. But people who are there really don&rsquo;t want to say anything. They just want to finish on a high note, and they took a chance that everything is going to be smooth at the end.&rdquo;</p><p>Players were equally reticent to discuss year-end contractual or financial negotiations. None expect many imports to play in the KHL next season, if they&rsquo;re even allowed.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/khl_shore/823977-1-eng-US/khl_shore2.jpg" title="khl_shore" width="1021" height="1021"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>ROAD TRIP</b></p><p>In the span of a week, Shore went from the Beijing Olympics to Siberia to his home in Denver.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(VIKTORIYA TRUFANOVA/KHL PHOTO)</span></figcaption></div><p>Finland and Sweden took the added step of blacklisting those playing in the KHL in 2022-23 from their national teams, with Sweden&rsquo;s statement referring to the KHL as a Russian &ldquo;propaganda tool.&rdquo; Three Swedes who played in the KHL championship between CSKA and Magnitogorsk were left off Tre Kronor&rsquo;s Euro Hockey Tour roster. Not all necessarily had choices. Some KHL clubs were more permissive in dissociating than others. Shore was fortunate, but Mikko Lehtonen of SKA was reportedly threatened with a multimillion-Euro fine if he ended his four-year contract three years early. Lehtonen would, however, sign a two-year deal to play for the Swiss National League&rsquo;s ZSC Lions in May.</p><p>&ldquo;Some, from what I heard, wanted to leave right away, and the biggest concern was to get the money, because after a while, there was no chance to get your money out of the bank,&rdquo; Page said. &ldquo;Everything was frozen, so you didn&rsquo;t have access. That was the biggest fear of what&rsquo;s going to happen, that all of a sudden you worked the whole year and you had no access to your bank anymore.&rdquo;</p><p>Shore will have good options for the upcoming season. He&rsquo;s been offered a contract by SHL club Lulea HF, less than 100 miles from the Arctic Circle, buffered from Russia by 200 miles of glacial Finnish till.</p><p>Shore&rsquo;s departure was similar to Brian O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s, his Calder Cup and Olympic teammate. A Yale graduate from the northern Philadelphia exurbs, O&rsquo;Neill is headed to EV Zug in the SNL next season after six years with Jokerit. The rich get richer: Zug, the defending champions, can now call on a point-per-game forward who lit up the notoriously stingy KHL, finishing top 10 in league scoring in each of the past four years despite missing time due to COVID-19 in 2021-22. Though the 5-foot-9 O&rsquo;Neill was an undrafted free agent when he signed with Los Angeles in 2012, he&rsquo;s the type of player who could have been a mid-round draft pick today amid the NHL&rsquo;s gravitation toward skill and deemphasis on size.</p><p>O&rsquo;Neill played 22 games for the New Jersey Devils in 2015-16, but for the past six years attached himself so deeply to the pulse of a high-profile KHL team and one of Europe&rsquo;s most intelligent, hockey-crazed cities that he was nicknamed &lsquo;Mr. Helsinki&rsquo; by Jokerit teammate Jesse Joensuu. Like Justin Williams&rsquo; &lsquo;Mr. Game 7,&rsquo; it was appreciated but also tolerated, applied by fans and the media more frequently than the players.</p><p>Within a span of three weeks in early 2022, O&rsquo;Neill had become a father, participated in his second Olympic Games and then had to abruptly find a new place to play and live.</p><p>This episode, like many across the hockey diaspora, was emotional and difficult for those involved, but O&rsquo;Neill, like many others, will be fine. He and his family experienced a substantial and abrupt life change; Ukrainians enveloped by attempted Russian subjugation and cruelty do not have such authority.</p><p>A political science major whose senior thesis detailed the United Nations&rsquo; humanitarian intervention in Rwanda, O&rsquo;Neill remains humble about his curriculum. Professional hockey, to a greater degree than other major sports, draws from an Ivy League talent pool, and Ivies are difficult enough without devoting an additional 30 hours a week to hockey.</p><p>&ldquo;To sound smart in some of those classes, you&rsquo;ve got to do a majority of the reading,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;which is next to impossible.&rdquo;</p><p>O&rsquo;Neill is educated on Finnish independence, the Winter War and tempestuous centuries-long relations with Russia. But he&rsquo;s also a non-native, sharing quickly that he wasn&rsquo;t an expert on Finnish-Russian relations as the war unfolded.</p><p>&ldquo;Stuff started to happen that we didn&rsquo;t expect, and we were concerned as a group, as a team,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neill said. &ldquo;Obviously, the situation between Finland and Russia is very delicate, especially considering the role Jokerit plays in the KHL. So we knew that any second something could happen. But honestly, we were pretty optimistic that we would keep playing.&rdquo;</p><p>And then, like his new CEO, O&rsquo;Neill woke up on Thursday, Feb. 24, and saw the news that Russia had invaded Ukraine.</p><p>&ldquo;Right then and there, we knew our season was pretty much over,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neill said. &ldquo;And it was confirmed later that night. It&rsquo;s just an impossible situation because obviously you&rsquo;re so worried about yourself personally in that moment, and you don&rsquo;t really know the magnitude of a decision like that at the time.&rdquo;</p><p>As Jokerit became increasingly competitive on the ice this past decade, its books indicated a disregard for material losses that would make North American CFOs shudder. That the team lost meaningful sums of money every year after its admission to the KHL played into the criticism that its courtship was influenced more by Russia&rsquo;s political aims to spread its influence west. Many fans in Finland and beyond certainly saw it that way, whether they filled Hartwall Arena in support of Jokerit or not.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/khl_oneill/823970-1-eng-US/khl_oneill2.jpg" title="khl_oneill" width="1022" height="727"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>BRIAN O&rsquo;NEILL</b><br>(MIKKO TAIPALE/JOKERIT.KUVAT.FI)</p></figcaption></div><p>Built deeply into bedrock but rising above a viaduct connecting arteries and rail lines to the center of the city, what was once known as Hartwall Arena is visible in so many directions. From the gleaming glass-and-steel telecommunications offices in the rapidly developing and neo-corporate uptown Pasila district, the now-unsponsored rink (since renamed Helsinki Halli after Russia&rsquo;s invasion of Ukraine) sits dormant above a braid of rail lines toward a glistening train station that for three years has handled the city&rsquo;s surges of business commuters.</p><p>For the World Championship this past spring, games originally scheduled for Helsinki Halli were moved a few miles south to the vintage, concave-roofed and classic rock-blasting Helsinki Ice Hall, home of Liiga club HIFK until their new multi-use arena is completed in the Taka-Toolo neighborhood. Jokerit&rsquo;s search for a new home is much more opaque.</p><p>With staff furloughed, two employees are now reconstructing Finland&rsquo;s most iconic club and national-team springboard. One is Kauhanen. The other is Jari Kurri.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/khl_kurri/823963-1-eng-US/khl_kurri2.jpg" title="khl_kurri" width="1022" height="730"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p>Jokerit GM Kurri is trying to navigate the team&rsquo;s return to Finland&rsquo;s Liiga after its KHL dalliance. (MIKKO TAIPALE/JOKERIT.KUVAT.FI)</p></figcaption></div><p>Timchenko and the Rotenbergs sold their shares of Jokerit in 2019 but retained ownership of what until six months ago was the largest arena in Finland. It&rsquo;s a slow process, but it&rsquo;s one that leaves Kauhanen guardedly optimistic that the sale could be completed in time for Jokerit&rsquo;s return in late summer 2023, which will almost certainly be in Liiga. The team&rsquo;s trust and brand has been damaged, but Kurri and Kauhanen do not exactly envision making this return with hat-in-hand.</p><p>Kurri was brought back to Jokerit as GM upon Timchenko and the Rotenbergs&rsquo; purchase of the team in 2013. After becoming the full owner in 2019, he then sold 40 percent of club shares to Nornickel, a mining company owned by Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin, while retaining a seat on the KHL&rsquo;s board. When Russia invaded Ukraine, Kurri resigned his KHL seat, bought out the club&rsquo;s remaining shares from Nornickel, and began the team&rsquo;s quest to return to Finnish competition in 2023. Most importantly, Kurri and Kauhanen are committed to offering full transparency to the Finnish government and to Liiga and its fans and sponsors.</p><p>&ldquo;We have to convince the audience that we&rsquo;re free from Russian finance, that&rsquo;s the basic thing,&rdquo; Kauhanen said. Courting investors and part-time owners with Kurri absorbs much of their focus, &ldquo;whether they&rsquo;re Finnish or European or whatever, but they can&rsquo;t be Russian.&rdquo;</p><p>With Jokerit extricating itself from Russian money and poised to re-enter top-flight play two years into the league&rsquo;s three-year television deal, Kauhanen understands the public&rsquo;s consternation but foresees a return that will be good for Liiga&rsquo;s competitive and financial strength.</p><p>&ldquo;I feel that we are welcome back,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everybody sees the benefit.&rdquo;</p><p>Kauhanen is making presentations for investors and sponsors and calculating figures that will afford Jokerit a better operational foundation than when underworld owners with bottomless pockets wrote off obscene losses. &ldquo;They want to see more closely our (books),&rdquo; said Kauhanen of external partnerships.</p><p>It will happen. There are far too many reasons and Euros for it not to. And though not in the same dimension as the suffering, existential trauma and violence faced by those fleeing the war in Ukraine, or the worldwide markets and economies that have been forced to react, the hockey world, too, will remain connected to the global balance of freedom and despotism.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

khl_opener

KHL Fallout

IN REAL TIME

hockeycard-_056

Hockey Card Comeback

HOCKEY CARD COMEBACK

<div class="byline">BY W. GRAEME ROUSTAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="business_op_071" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/business_op_071/824249-1-eng-US/business_op_0712.jpg"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>E</span>VERY FALL FOR THE</b> past two decades, The Hockey News&rsquo; team of editors, journalists and executives start a three-month-long process to select the top 100 people in the game of hockey who have the power and influence to make the game bigger and better.</p><p>These people wield more impactful voices than those of the others in their respective silos and, in some cases, across all the different silos of people who we include on the list. Half of the NHL team owners don&rsquo;t even make the annual list because they are not as impactful to the game as other owners or other people in other silos.</p><p>Moving day in Montreal was always June 30, after the last day of school, as most new rental apartment leases started on July 1. Each year, one or more of my friends from the street would move away, which was sad. However, it was a great opportunity to meet and make new friends as they moved into the neighborhood.</p><p>As we reach the halfway point of 2022, I wanted to see what Moving Day for some of the 2022 Top 100 People of Power and Influence looked like. With everything that is going on in the world and the hockey industry, here are some of the 2022 Top 100 who have moved out, making room for new names to show up in our 2023 Top 100 People of Power and Influence list.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/business_fe_073/824242-1-eng-US/business_fe_0732.jpg" title="business_fe_073" width="1570" height="1185"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>NEW BOSS ON THE WAY</b></p><p>The NHLPA announced in April that Fehr would be replaced as executive director &ndash; once a new head is found.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(DAN HAMILTON-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>NO. 7: DON FEHR</b></h2><p><b>NHLPA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR</b></p><p>The NHLPA announced on April 29 that executive director Don Fehr would be replaced after serving in that position since 2010. He will, however, retain his position with the association until his replacement can be found. The vote to seek a new executive director comes after Fehr&rsquo;s and the NHLPA&rsquo;s role in the Kyle Beach investigation began prompting the players&rsquo; union to seek an independent examination of what happened. The report prepared by a Philadelphia-based law firm about the NHLPA&rsquo;s conduct did not find &ldquo;individual wrongdoing or institutional failures of policy or procedure.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/business_ov_076/824235-1-eng-US/business_ov_0762.jpg" title="business_ov_076" width="473" height="499"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JOE CAMPOREALE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>NO. 11: ALEX OVECHKIN</b></h2><p><b>WASHINGTON CAPITALS LEFT WINGER</b></p><p>Russia invading Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, has put pressure on all Russian athletes to make statements to condemn the war. During Ovechkin&rsquo;s press conference on Feb. 25, he said, &ldquo;Please, no more war. It doesn&rsquo;t matter who is in the war, Russia, Ukraine, different countries, we have to live in peace.&rdquo; What really hurt his influence and marketing power was his past closeness to and open support of Russian president Vladimir Putin. CCM Hockey dropped all Russian hockey players from its marketing, according to TSN, on March 1.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/business_re_074/824228-1-eng-US/business_re_0742.jpg" title="business_re_074" width="472" height="853"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY HOCKEY CANADA)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>NO. 20: TOM RENNEY</b></h2><p><b>HOCKEY CANADA PRESIDENT</b></p><p>Renney, Hockey Canada&rsquo;s CEO, resigned on April 20, 2022, having been appointed to the post in 2014. But his moving day is July 1, just like thousands of other renters in Canada. Canada&rsquo;s Parliament is investigating sexual-assault allegations connected to Hockey Canada that occurred in 2018.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/business_ro_077/824221-1-eng-US/business_ro_0772.jpg" title="business_ro_077" width="472" height="748"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(VLADIMIR BEZZUBOV/KHL)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>NO. 23: ROMAN BORISOVICH ROTENBERG</b></h2><p><b>ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION OF RUSSIA FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT</b></p><p>Russia&rsquo;s invasion of Ukraine has had a ripple effect throughout Russian hockey, from its disqualification of the Russian Hockey Federation within International Ice Hockey Federation tournaments to the crumbling of the KHL. Rotenberg is the de facto head of all hockey in Russia and is on the sanctions list in the U.S. along with his father, Boris, and uncle Arkady. With the RHF in exile and the KHL losing teams and expats as players, Rotenberg is still the king of hockey within Russia but currently has no influence internationally.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/business_fa_078/824214-1-eng-US/business_fa_0782.jpg" title="business_fa_078" width="471" height="1102"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(SCOTT ROVAK-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>NO. 35: RENE FASEL</b></h2><p><b>INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION LIFE PRESIDENT</b></p><p>The past president of the IIHF has been very busy since stepping down in 2021. He became an advisor to the KHL immediately after, which I believe was his payday after leaning toward Russia in the years he held office. Even former IIHF communications director Szymon Szemberg has publicly referred to &ldquo;Fasel&rsquo;s shady connections to Putin.&rdquo; The IIHF council has asked an independent ethics board to investigate the RHF and Fasel over issues related to the war in Ukraine.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/business_zu_075/824207-1-eng-US/business_zu_0752.jpg" title="business_zu_075" width="472" height="915"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY TURNER SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>NO. 55: JEFF ZUCKER</b></h2><p><b>WARNER MEDIA NEWS & SPORTS CHAIRMAN</b></p><p>Zucker was the chairman of Warner Media, which did the TNT deal with the NHL. He resigned on Feb. 2, 2022, however, for having a consensual relationship with a subordinate, which was against company policy. Zucker was previously the head of NBC Sports when it had the NHL TV contract and was the top guy at Turner Sports, TNT and Bleacher Report.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/business_fr_079/824200-1-eng-US/business_fr_0792.jpg" title="business_fr_079" width="1020" height="1392"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY SEATTLE KRAKEN)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>NO. 56: RON FRANCIS</b></h2><p><b>SEATTLE KRAKEN</b>&nbsp;<b>GENERAL MANAGER</b></p><p>Francis was on every NHL GM&rsquo;s speed dial for all of 2020-21 and a good chunk of this season. He was the architect behind the creation of the Seattle Kraken&rsquo;s initial roster last summer, and when the expansion franchise struggled to make a dent in the NHL standings, teams were looking to Francis again on NHL trade deadline day. The Kraken GM is still very much in the news, just not as much as the team closes out Season 1.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/business_le_082/824193-1-eng-US/business_le_0822.jpg" title="business_le_082" width="1021" height="1039"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY PITTSBURGH PENGUINS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>NO. 64: MARIO LEMIEUX</b></h2><p><b>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS CO-OWNER</b></p><p>Lemieux, the Pens&rsquo; former majority owner, captain and arguably the greatest all-around player the NHL has ever seen, has sold all but a less-than-five-percent ownership stake to Fenway Sports Group. Although he will always be influential in the hockey industry and the greater Pittsburgh and Quebec communities, he has, unfortunately, moved out of the top 100.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/business_mo_080/824186-1-eng-US/business_mo_0802.jpg" title="business_mo_080" width="473" height="478"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(CHARLES LECLAIRE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>NO. 73: DAVID MOREHOUSE</b></h2><p><b>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS PRESIDENT, CEO, GOVERNOR</b></p><p>The Penguins CEO since 2007 resigned on April 27, 2022, after controlling ownership interest was sold to Fenway Sports Group. Morehouse was one of the best CEOs in NHL history and is credited for much of the team&rsquo;s success on and off the ice. Being the humble man he is widely known to be, he would push off all the credit to Lemieux, Sidney Crosby and the hundreds of players and staff he has worked with over the years. This guy will be missed around the NHL.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/business_tu_081/824179-1-eng-US/business_tu_0812.jpg" title="business_tu_081" width="472" height="561"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY PREMIER HOCKEY FEDERATION)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>NO. 90: TYLER TUMMINIA</b></h2><p><b>PREMIER HOCKEY FEDERATION COMMISSIONER</b></p><p>The Premier Hockey Federation, which rebranded from the National Women&rsquo;s League, lost its commissioner on Feb. 19, 2022, when Tumminia resigned. She took the position as interim commissioner in October 2020 and dropped the &ldquo;interim&rdquo; tag in June 2021.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

business_op_071

Opinion

100 PEOPLE OF POWER & INFLUENCE

<div class="byline">BY VALERIE CAMILLO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/opinion_cam_034/824301-1-eng-US/opinion_cam_0342.jpg" title="opinion_cam_034" width="997" height="997"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>VALERIE CAMILLO</b><br>(PHOTO COURTESY OF PHILADELPHIA FLYERS)</p></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>VER THE COURSE OF</b> the pandemic, NHL clubs have been forced to innovate more than ever before. Here in South Philly at the Wells Fargo Center, we&rsquo;ve made dozens of innovations to our game-day experience, and many of those are here to stay. We&rsquo;ve changed the way we refresh the air in our arena by investing in a new, $11-million HVAC system. We&rsquo;ve made it possible for fans to manage and pay for their parking, tickets, food and retail experiences entirely through their phones. We&rsquo;ve even been able to decrease the environmental impact of our building&rsquo;s operations. Almost every part of attending a Flyers game is easier and safer than ever before.</p><p>In many ways, there is a new normal that&rsquo;s actually better than the way it was before the pandemic. There&rsquo;s one forced innovation, though, that simply doesn&rsquo;t work for the long term, and that&rsquo;s restricting members of the media from the dressing rooms.</p><p>Given the difficult circumstances we&rsquo;ve faced these past few years, interviews and press conferences conducted virtually have sufficed as a temporary measure. But the fact is that when reporters and columnists can&rsquo;t speak face to face with players and coaches, something fundamental is lost, and it just isn&rsquo;t the same. It&rsquo;s not the same for players and coaches who want to explain to trusted reporters what they&rsquo;re working on and candidly discuss the team&rsquo;s successes and challenges. It&rsquo;s not the same for the members of the media who put in the hard work of building relationships and trust that can only be established in person. And most importantly, it&rsquo;s not the same for our fans, who aren&rsquo;t able to get to know their favorite players&rsquo; personalities beyond the game highlights and too-often-bland post-game press conferences. Both the NHL and individual clubs are marketing players in new and creative ways, but there&rsquo;s no denying that reporters and columnists bring a different, crucial perspective that fans crave.</p><p>Of course, there is the obvious caveat that health and safety have to be prioritized, and if we see troubling new COVID variants or dangerous increases in the spread and severity of the virus, we have to respond accordingly. But if it can be done safely &ndash; and right now, it can &ndash; we should return media to dressing rooms next season. We&rsquo;re already seeing reporters back in MLB dressing rooms, and earlier this month, CJ McCollum, the president of the NBA Players Association, made clear he understands the importance of reporter access in NBA dressing rooms, too.</p><p>We should do the same, and we have to resist the unspoken but unmistakable preference by some in our sport to push away the cameras and reporters while scoffing at the role they play in creatively marketing and engaging fans in our players and our game. We can&rsquo;t dismiss media access as an annoyance or a distraction &ndash; that simply won&rsquo;t work for our sport anymore. Right now, the NHL is seeing record growth, TV ratings are strong, a new generation of young stars is capturing the attention of fans, and this year&rsquo;s playoffs were incredibly exciting.</p><p>But make no mistake, we need to market our sport, our league and our players more than ever before. League-wide, attendance hasn&rsquo;t fully rebounded yet, and we need to reconnect fans with the incredible experience of live hockey. Plus, in an ever-diversifying media market, we&rsquo;re competing for attention, clicks and eyeballs every day, and we can&rsquo;t leave any stone unturned when it comes to bringing attention and passion to hockey. At the end of the day, that&rsquo;s what drives attendance, viewership and our ability to continue growing the game.</p><p>So, we need all the help we can get, and that includes help from members of the media, who are critical to bringing the color, context, detail and passion of the NHL to sports fans everywhere. To do that properly, the media needs to be in the dressing rooms when the season begins.</p><p>In the 2012 Eastern Conference quarterfinal, the Flyers played the Penguins, and after multiple recent playoff matchups, the rivalry was red-hot. In Game 3, tensions boiled over, and Sidney Crosby and Claude Giroux dropped the gloves, prompted in part by Crosby knocking away Flyers winger Jakub Voracek&rsquo;s glove on the ice. After the game, Sam Carchidi, then with the <i>Philadelphia Inquirer</i>, was in the Penguins&rsquo; dressing room, asking Crosby about the night&rsquo;s events, and after some initial, measured responses, Crosby burst out: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like them&hellip;I don&rsquo;t like any guy on their team.&rdquo;</p><p>If you know anything about Philly, you can probably guess our fans took that and ran with it. Within days, custom T-shirts were made mocking the quote, and the next time Crosby took the ice in South Philly, every fan in the building made it clear they&rsquo;d heard his words loud and clear. Ten years later, any diehard Flyers fan still remembers that series and that quote, and it&rsquo;s part of our franchise&rsquo;s history, all because a reporter was in the room to get the <i>real story</i>.</p><p>Our sport and our league need that kind of reporting again, and during the Cup final, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly said during their press conference that the league wants to get back to full access for media. That&rsquo;s exactly the kind of leadership we need, and as I speak with other club presidents, it&rsquo;s clear they also understand how important this issue is for our sport.</p><p>Oh, and in case you&rsquo;re wondering, the Flyers won that series against the Penguins.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

opinion_cam_034

TIME TO BRING BACK THE MEDIA

<div class="byline">BY LARRY HUMBER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0096-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0096-0133/824367-1-eng-US/f0096-012.jpg"></div><h2><b>CROSSWORD</b></h2><h3><b>ACROSS</b></h3><p>1 J.P. or Zach ___</p><p>4 Marie-Philip ___ is known as &lsquo;Captain Clutch&rsquo;</p><p>9 AHL team located in Fredericton from 1981-88</p><p>10 Coin-flip possibility</p><p>11 Four-time Hart winner and HHOFer Shore</p><p>12 The Coyotes first played at ___ West Arena</p><p>13 Shane Wright was ___ Family Award winner in 2020 as the OHL&rsquo;s top rookie</p><p>15 Pierre ___ coached the North Stars, Nordiques, (Calgary) Flames and Mighty Ducks</p><p>18 2003 Conn Smythe-winning stopper J-S</p><p>21 Award for &lsquo;divers&rsquo; in hockey?</p><p>23 Vanderveer, near the top of THN&rsquo;s masthead</p><p>24 Keith Yandle is the NHL&rsquo;s reigning _____</p><p>25 Harold Ballard branded them &lsquo;chickens&rsquo;</p><p>26 Sew up</p><h3><b>DOWN</b></h3><p>1 Quebec City is famous for its _____ Hockey Tournament</p><p>2 The ___ City Rush belong to the ECHL</p><p>3 He&rsquo;s remembered for his bruising checks, especially one on Eric Lindros</p><p>5 T.J. with the Caps, pictured</p><p>6 Ahead</p><p>7 The Isles long called ___ Coliseum home</p><p>8 The A in ALIH, which has four Japanese teams</p><p>14 E.J. who was director of NHL Central Scouting</p><p>15 Claude ___ won nine Cups but isn&rsquo;t a HHOFer</p><p>16 Comes to terms on a contract, say</p><p>17 Rene Robert was a member of Buffalo&rsquo;s &lsquo;___ Connection&rsquo;</p><p>19 Wipe out</p><p>20 Staal who captained Canada&rsquo;s men in Beijing</p><p>22 &lsquo;The Rocket&rsquo; was originally dubbed &lsquo;The ___&rsquo;</p><h2><b>Hockey</b>&nbsp;<b>TRIVIA</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/timeout_pro_030/824360-1-eng-US/timeout_pro_0302.jpg" title="timeout_pro_030" width="472" height="456"></div><h3><b>&gt; BEGINNER:</b></h3><p>This player, pictured, scored the only penalty-shot goal in Stanley Cup final history in 2006&rsquo;s Game 1 &ndash; though his team later lost the game and series.</p><h3><b>&gt; INTERMEDIATE:</b></h3><p>With 223 career playoff wins, this nine-time Cup-winning coach is exactly 100 victories clear of second-place Al Arbour all-time among bench bosses.</p><h3><b>&gt; EXPERT:</b></h3><p>Though goalies can no longer be official on-ice captains in the NHL, one netminder in league history captained his team to a Cup. Name him.</p><h2><b>Word</b>&nbsp;<b>SEARCH</b></h2><p>Auston Matthews joined the list of NHLers to score 60 in a year. Here are the others.</p><h3><b>NHL&rsquo;s 60-Goal Club</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/wordsearch__029/824353-1-eng-US/wordsearch__0292.jpg" title="wordsearch__029" width="857" height="922"></div><p>GRETZKY</p><p>HULL</p><p>LEMIEUX</p><p>ESPOSITO</p><p>MOGILNY</p><p>SELANNE</p><p>KURRI</p><p>NICHOLLS</p><p>BOSSY</p><p>MCDONALD</p><p>OVECHKIN</p><p>YZERMAN</p><p>ROBITAILLE</p><p>JAGR</p><p>LEACH</p><p>STAMKOS</p><p>BURE</p><p>LAFLEUR</p><p>SHUTT</p><p>MARUK</p><h2><b>PUCK PUZZLE</b></h2><p>Can your hockey brain bring its A-game?</p><p>The challenge is on!</p><p>The NHL&rsquo;s &lsquo;Keeper of the Cup&rsquo; is always there when the trophy is awarded. His name will appear in the red boxes after you fill in the blanks to identify nine coaches who&rsquo;ve lost Cup finals since 2007 (happily, several have also won it).</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0096-0212/824346-1-eng-US/f0096-022.jpg" title="f0096-02" width="1021" height="943"></div><p><b>CROSSWORD SOLUTION: ACROSS</b> 1. PARISE, 4. POULIN, 9. EXPRESS, 10. HEADS, 11. EDDIE, 12. AMERICA, 13. EMMS, 15. PAGE, 18. GIGUERE, 21. OSCAR, 23. ERIKA, 24. IRON MAN, 25. SWEDES, 26. STITCH <b>DOWN</b> 1. PEE-WEE, 2. RAPID, 3. STEVENS, 5. OSHIE, 6. LEADING, 7. NASSAU, 8. ASIA, 14. MCGUIRE, 15. PROVOST, 16. AGREES, 17. FRENCH, 19. ERASE, 20. ERIC, 22. COMET <b>TRIVIA ANSWERS:</b> CHRIS PRONGER, SCOTTY BOWMAN, CHARLIE GARDINER&nbsp;<b>PUCK PUZZLE SOLUTION:</b> COOPER, MURRAY, JULIEN, LAVIOLETTE, BABCOCK, THERRIEN, DUCHARME, DEBOER, CASSIDY (FINAL ANSWER: PRITCHARD)<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0096-01

Timeout

TIMEOUT

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="lastword_ma_033" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/lastword_ma_033/824398-1-eng-US/lastword_ma_0332.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST</b></p><p>With the Norris and Conn Smythe in his pocket, Makar finished the year by hoisting the ultimate award: the Stanley Cup.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(GEOFF BURKE-USA TODAY SPORTS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span>S THE STANLEY CUP</b> final found its shape, it became pretty clear the Conn Smythe Trophy race was essentially a two-man field. If Tampa Bay won, goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was gonna be the guy. If Colorado took the title, defenseman Cale Makar was the obvious choice (you also had the occasional sicko suggesting Connor McDavid, who did end up the playoff scoring leader despite his team being swept by the Avs in the West final).</p><p>With the Avalanche winning the Cup in six games, Makar indeed was named the Conn Smythe winner on the strength of 29 points in 20 games. Not only did that lead all Colorado players, but it put him third overall to McDavid and Oilers teammate Leon Draisaitl and ahead of Lightning star right winger Nikita Kucherov, who played three more games than Makar. And Makar did it while averaging an impressive 27 minutes of ice time per night.</p><p>But you didn&rsquo;t need stats to buttress Makar&rsquo;s case; just watching him play was all that was required. Makar has risen to superstar status in the NHL thanks to his uncanny puck skills on the blueline, not to mention his ability to defend with mobility and deft stickwork. As unstoppable as McDavid is, Makar was one of the few blueliners who could at least contain the Edmonton phenom for the most part, because he could keep up with him on the rush.</p><p>And just to make things scarier, there is still room for improvement in Makar&rsquo;s game. There were times in the final when he lost his assignment or tried to do too much with the puck. This is when we remember that Makar is only 23 and has just completed his third NHL season. The fact he is this good already is remarkable. The hockey world has taken notice.</p><p>Heading into the NHL Awards ceremony, which took place in Tampa Bay between Games 3 and 4, the race for the Norris Trophy seemed to come down to Makar and Nashville Predators captain Roman Josi. The third finalist, the Lightning&rsquo;s Victor Hedman, was another worthy candidate, but Josi&rsquo;s eye-popping 96 points in the regular season (Makar &ldquo;only&rdquo; had 86) seemed to be a pretty big statement of claim.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">CALE IS A HUMBLE, HARDWORKING GUY. SUCH AN UNBELIEVABLE HOCKEY PLAYER<br>&ndash; Colorado GM Joe Sakic</blockquote><p>But by a razor-thin margin, Makar won his first Norris. Josi garnered more first-place votes, but Makar won out down-ballot thanks to more second-place nods. It was always going to be a tight race, but I&rsquo;ll admit I thought Josi would prevail based on his prodigious output this season.</p><p>What is clear now is this is Makar&rsquo;s league. We are seeing a player with many prime years ahead of him and the supporting cast to allow him to thrive, whether or not the Avalanche can go for their own dynasty after dethroning the Lightning.</p><p>Colorado went against orthodoxy by jamming its blueline with mobile puck-movers, and Makar&rsquo;s partner, Devon Toews (who got some Norris votes himself), can also lead the rush and transition the play. Samuel Girard, knocked out of the playoffs with a broken sternum, has hops, while youngster Bowen Byram showed Makar-esque flair at times. It&rsquo;s truly an embarrassment of riches for a team that was built to win in today&rsquo;s environment by GM Joe Sakic. And the Hall of Famer knows what he has in Makar. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anything goes to his head,&rdquo; Sakic said. &ldquo;Cale is a humble, hardworking guy. Such an unbelievable hockey player, and off the ice, he&rsquo;s really focused on what he needs to do to help the team. I&rsquo;m not sure there&rsquo;s a more humble guy than Cale.&rdquo;</p><p>While he will have competition in the coming years from the likes of Josi, Hedman, Adam Fox and perhaps Quinn Hughes or Owen Power, Makar threw down the gauntlet this season. He earned the Norris and the Conn Smythe to go with his first Stanley Cup, and based on his trajectory, he&rsquo;s just getting started as one of the most important players in the NHL now and for the future.</p><span class="image-inline"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/twitterlogo_0833/824405-1-eng-US/twitterlogo_0832.jpg" title="twitterlogo_083" width="39" height="32"></span><p><b><a datastyle href="https://twitter.com/THNRYANKENNEDY">@THNRYANKENNEDY</a></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Champions Issue 2022

CHAMPIONS ISSUE

N.J. SHOWS IT’S TOO FIT TO QUIT

UNCONVENTIONAL BUT EFFECTIVE

FOURTH TIME IS A CHARM FOR PEORIA