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Playoff Special 2024
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
CAN’T BE STOPPED-O-METER
One player can’t decide a playoff series on his own, but he can become the bane of an opposing fan base’s existence. No one has matched Rick Middleton’s record of 19 points in one round, but here are the best single-series efforts since 2005
WINTER HEATWAVE
LOOK AROUND THE JUNIOR hockey world and you’ll often see teams go through cycles. After bottoming out, they groom and develop their top draft picks. Then, as they get close to competing for a championship, they push their chips in by dealing picks and prospects for established players who they hope will get them to the top of the mountain. Under current coach-GM Mike Johnston, the Portland Winterhawks have employed a more even-keeled approach. On Feb. 17, the Winterhawks clinched a playoff spot for the 13th consecutive season, a streak stretching back to Johnston’s second year with the team in 2009-10. The Winterhawks rely on their scouting staff to identify promising young talent, and then the club sticks with those youngsters. “We take a lot of pride in making the fewest trades…
NOT SO FAST
IT WAS SHORTLY AFTER the Winnipeg Jets had lost in the first round to the eventual Stanley Cup-champion Vegas Golden Knights when coach Rick Bowness started calling the players asking for their summer wish list. The answer he got back was universal. The players didn’t necessarily want a high-scoring winger. Or a puck-moving defenseman. No one asked for more grit or more skill or even more experience. Instead, they asked for loyalty. “Everyone told us, ‘We just want players here that want to be Winnipeg Jets,’” Bowness said. And with that request, Pierre-Luc Dubois was shipped to Los Angeles for a package that included Gabe Vilardi, Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari. A few days later, former captain Blake Wheeler – who had the ‘C’ removed from his jersey a year earlier – was bought…
NATE THE GREAT
HARD WORK BEATS SKILL when skill doesn’t work hard, but what happens when one of the most skilled players in the league is also one of the hardest workers? You get the colossus that is Nathan MacKinnon, in what could be the Colorado superstar’s first Hart Trophy campaign. Twice in his career, MacKinnon has placed second in MVP voting, most recently in 2019-20. After establishing a career high in points last year with 111, the powerful Avalanche center zoomed past that total with a month left in 2023-24, a campaign in which he’s been one of the NHL’s top scorers virtually post-to-post. “He’s just taken it to another level,” said longtime friend and fellow superstar Sidney Crosby. “We’ve seen it time and time again, especially in the playoffs, where you’d think,…
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