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Meet The New Guys 2024
In this edition of The Hockey News, we say goodbye and celebrate the lives of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau. Also in the issue, we look at the biggest names to change teams this summer, including Steven Stamkos, Jake Guentzel, Jake DeBrusk and more. In addition, we look back at the "forgotten" 1974 Summit Series on its 50th anniversary.
BACK IN BLUE
IN 2018, JOHN TAVARES dominated the NHL’s free-agent discourse when he chose to sign with his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs. Six years later, Daryl Watts did the same in the PWHL. Watts, 25, is a Toronto native who grew up loving the Leafs just like Tavares did. “I was a huge Mats Sundin fan,” she said. “I think I had his jersey when I was a kid.” Darcy Tucker was another favorite from that era, but kids are fickle. When those two players moved on in 2008 and Toronto’s playoff drought continued, Watts’ nine-year-old attention span shifted 230 miles southwest, where another Original Six squad was competing for Stanley Cups. “I kind of switched to a Red Wings fan for a bit,” she said. “So I loved (Pavel) Datsyuk, (Henrik) Zetterberg, (Nicklas) Lidstrom.” Phil…
SUMMERTIME WINNERS AND LOSERS
WHAT HAD already been an intriguing summer became even more so in mid-August when the St. Louis Blues extended offer sheets to not one but two young Edmonton Oilers at the same time. It was a brazen gambit that did indeed land the Blues defenseman Philip Broberg and left winger Dylan Holloway when Edmonton eventually declined to match. That week of suspense – during what is usually a slow time for hockey news – captivated fans and media alike, ending with St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong giving a quote for the ages when he claimed he would offer-sheet a team even if his own mother was the GM. But let’s not forget everything that came before. After all, July 1 and the beginning of free agency was pretty seismic itself, with big…
MEET THE NEW GUY: CENTRAL DIVISION
TYLER BERTUZZI’S Original Six tour continues. After checking off Toronto, Boston and Detroit, the 29-year-old signed in Chicago on the heels of the fourth 20-goal campaign of his career. Though not the type to generate offense out of thin air, he is a prime candidate to do the grunt work on a line alongside Connor Bedard, particularly given Bertuzzi’s willingness to get his nose dirty. Whether he reaches his past 30-goal, 62-point highs is to be seen, but opportunities abound on a thin Blackhawks roster. Once the centerpiece of the package that the Vegas Golden Knights sent to the Ottawa Senators to land Mark Stone, ERIK BRANNSTROM arrives in Colorado looking to jump-start his career. Once considered a top defense prospect, Brannstrom, 25, has yet to meet expectations, but his puck-moving…
UTAH JAZZED
THE 2024 NHL DRAFT in Las Vegas was a lot of things for a lot of different groups. For the San Jose Sharks, it was the opportunity to cement a No. 1 center of the future in first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini. For the NHL, it was the chance to stage a bold marquee event in one of the world’s most buzzed-about new venues, The Sphere. (For the record, it was fantastic). But there was another group who made a big splash in Las Vegas, and it was the Utah Hockey Club, inhabitants of the newest locale in the NHL and the team formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes. For it was in The Sphere that the hockey media got their first in-person scrum with new owner Ryan Smith. Not only that, but…