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Rookie Issue 2025
In our 2025 Rookie Issue, our cover story focuses on Dustin Wolf, the Calgary keeper who’s “jumped” in to help the team in its surprising playoff push. We also profile other sensational NHL freshmen: Macklin Celebrini, Matvei Michkov and Logan Stankoven. In addition, we look at some of the top rookies from the PWHL, the AHL and the CHL, and we preview the NHL trade deadline, with breakdowns for all 32 clubs.
FIRST AND MAIN
FALSE MODESTY HAS BECOME so commonplace in professional hockey circles that it has reached a point of parody, and in few instances is that more apparent than in the build-up to draft day. So plentiful is the just-happy-to-be-here cohort that there are times you could be convinced there’s not a competitive bone in the collective bodies of those who hear their names called on draft day. But don’t count Sarah Fillier among that crowd. That’s not to say Fillier isn’t happy to be where she is. As she embarks on her first professional season with the New York Sirens, she’s thrilled about the challenge ahead and the opportunity the PWHL provides for her to continue her career. It’s just that Fillier has little use for any tired platitude or suggestion that she…
THE EDUCATION OF MATVEI MICHKOV
YEAH, SURE, SOME GUYS sashay into the NHL as teenagers and immediately start skating around like they own the place. Gretzky, Ovechkin, Crosby, Lemieux, Hawerchuk, Orr, Murphy, Barrasso. Freaks, every last one of them. For the vast majority of them, though, it’s a constant battle to continually prove they belong in The Best League in the World™. They learn pretty quickly why former-NHLer-turned-broadcaster Ray Ferraro thinks they should simply change the name of the sport to “hard.” Joe Thornton had seven points in his rookie season, eh? Jacques Martin once referred to a 19-year-old Jason Spezza as “a boy playing a man’s game.” One time during Brendan Shanahan’s rookie season, he lined up for a faceoff and the opposing winger asked the 18-year-old how things were going. “Not too good,” Shanahan…
SALT LAKE CITY MURDER MYSTERY?
IN THE EARLY AFTERNOON of Jan. 25, 1972, the NHL was just hours away from its annual All-Star Game when Dan Meyer took a break from a meeting between NHL and minor-league executives and went up to his suite on the 19th floor of the Radisson South hotel in Bloomington, Minn. Next door, Paul Henderson of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Pit Martin of the Chicago Black Hawks were reminiscing about their days as Detroit Red Wings linemates in the 1960s when they heard the sound of shattering glass. They looked out the window and saw the unthinkable: a man stepping through the broken window, straddling a metal bar. Henderson started to shake and become nauseous as the horrific nature of what was unfolding suddenly became clear. “We were up there…
COOL AS A COSSA
THEY SAY YOU NEVER forget your first. For 22-year-old goaltender Sebastian Cossa, that first came in the form of a rollercoaster NHL debut in December. The 6-foot-6 former WHL standout – who has anchored Detroit’s AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids the past two seasons – saw his fist NHL action in relief of Ville Husso against the Buffalo Sabres on Dec. 9. Cossa made 12 saves on 14 shots as the Red Wings rallied to defeat their division rivals 6-5 in a shootout. Becoming the first goalie in NHL history to win his debut via a shootout in a relief effort, Cossa was ecstatic. “Mentally, at that level, I’m preparing like I’m playing every game just in case I have to be ready,” he said. “Buffalo had some Grade A (chances) and…
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