Remembering the best seasons by a player who was traded midway through

With just one week left before the deadline, let’s kill some time on a Friday with a trade-themed question.

What are the best statistical seasons a player has ever had while being dealt during that same season?

It’s a tricker question than you might think. We’re used to seeing big names get moved at the deadline, but those stars aren’t typically having career years. After all, a player in the midst of a monster season wouldn’t typically be available – for all the talk this time of year about selling high, teams rarely seem to do that.

So today’s post will be a mix of familiar names you might expect, and a few you might not. And of course, any talk of the best statistical season hinges on which stat you’re looking at. Let’s start with the big one.

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Should your team make a big bold move at the deadline? Yes, and here's why

The trade deadline is just over a week away. Is your team going to make a blockbuster move?

No, because this is the NHL, where all the GMs are whiny babies and making trades is too hard. There will be trades over the next few days, maybe even lots of them. But they’ll be by-the-numbers stuff, a pick here for a rental there, not anything big and bold. Given the extremely middling talent expected to be available, that’s all anyone can do. Your team will play it safe.

But should they? That’s a different question. And for just about every team in the league, we could at least make the case that they should be aiming much higher than they inevitably will.

So that’s what we’ll do today. Every team gets the cursory nod towards why they won’t make a blockbuster, and then a longer section on on why they should. Is that fair? No, because we’re putting a thumb on the scale here, because trades are fun and we want all of the (many) NHL GMs who read my column to get to work. Here we go...

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NHL weekend rankings: Closing the book on a memorable 4 Nations Face-Off

We’re back, because the NHL regular season is back. Not very much of it, though, with only two days’ worth of games to go on for this week’s rankings. In other words, don’t expect many big changes from a few weeks ago.

Don’t expect a ton of deep dives on those games either, because I’ll be honest, it was a little tough to get hyped for matchups like Ducks/Bruins and Sharks/Flames after eight days of high-stakes best-on-best. Just a slight downshift in intensity, you might say. So sure, we’ll talk NHL where we need to. But we’re also going to get in one last round of 4 Nations talk, starting right now.

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Five reasons Team Canada will definitely beat Team USA tonight (and vice versa)

It’s Canada vs. the USA tonight, and it’s fair to say everyone is just a little bit dialed up.

On one hand, that’s great – hockey rules when it’s played with real stakes, and it’s been a long time since a game has felt this important. But more crucially, this makes life tough for me, a hockey writer who just wants to write a simple preview without getting yelled at. Do I know who’s going to win tonight? Yes, of course I do, but I also know that half of you aren’t going to like the answer.

So here’s the deal: I’ve got five reasons why Team Canada is definitely winning, and five more why Team USA is the obvious pick. You decide which ones you want to read. The only rule is that you’re not allowed to read both, because doing that is illegal and your continued scrolling of this article signifies your acceptance of the terms and conditions.

Agreed? Cool, let’s do this.

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Is Kyle Connor McDavid the best same-name combo player in NHL history?

We’re one day away from the biggest international showdown in 15 years, with Team USA hosting Team Canada in a grudge match that will feature all sorts of bad blood both on and off the ice.

And I’m going to be honest: My tummy hurts.

I know you're probably here looking for some sort of preview, or maybe historical context. I can’t do it. Not today. Right now, I could use a distraction.

So instead, we’re going to get dumb today. Call it a palette-cleanser. This is an idea I’ve had on my “too dumb to actually do” list – yes, of course that list exists, don’t act like you’re remotely surprised – for a while now, but it popped into my head again this week while watching Team USA.

That team has a pair of Connors… sort of. They’ve got Kyle Connor on the first line, and Connor Hellebuyck is goal. That had me wondering if Kyle Connor Hellebuyck would be the best combined name in international hockey history. And if we reach over to Team Canada, would Kyle Connor McDavid be the best offensive combo?

I have no idea, so I’m going to waste some of your valuable time figuring it out.

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NHL weekend rankings, 4 Nations Face-Off edition: A Saturday night for the ages

Here are this week’s NHL power rankings: The same as last week’s.

That’s it. That’s the list. As you may have noticed, there haven’t been any NHL games played over the last week, which means there’s no reason to shift any of the rankings. We haven’t even had any trades, meaning the only team that’s seen its outlook change at all is the Golden Knights, who lost a key defenseman to injury. They haven’t been in the Top 5 for a few weeks already, so it’s status quo.

So yeah, if you’re here for the NHL rankings, thanks for the click and we’ll see you next week. But there’s also an international tournament playing out, so let’s turn an abbreviated version of the rankings into a chance to talk about that instead.

How about that Saturday night?

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Every Canada vs. USA matchup from a men's best-on-best tournament, ranked

On Saturday night, after over eight years of waiting, it’s finally back: Canada vs the USA in a best-on-best men’s hockey tournament.

OK, maybe the 4 Nations Face-Off doesn’t have quite the same claim to “best-on-best” status as some of the tournaments that have come before, given that there are only four teams competing. But those four teams are bringing the very best players they have available, so yes, this is a best-on-best matchup. And it should be a good one.

Tomorrow marks the 20th time in men’s hockey history that Team Canada has faced Team USA in a true best-on-best, by which we mean the Canada Cup, the World Cup, and the Olympics in years where the NHL sent its players. Canada has dominated the head-to-head with a record of 14-4-1, but it’s been closer since the dawn of the World Cup and Olympic era, and this year the Americans may be slight favorites.

We’ll see how it turns out, and whether we have to settle for just this one game or also get a rematch in next week’s championship game. For now, let’s look back on those 19 previous matchups and rank them from worst to best.

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Which NHL team has the best all-time roster from one country that isn't Canada?

Since we’re all in an international hockey mood this week, let’s try a roster challenge that reader Derrick sent in a while ago. His question was simple: Which NHL team could produce the best lineup of three forwards, two defensemen and one goalie from the same country, that isn’t Canada.

That sounds just about perfect for a Wednesday time-killer while we wait for tonight’s return of best-on-best hockey. Let’s see where this takes us.

And yes, before we start, I know what you’re thinking. It’s the same thought I had when I first saw Derrick’s question, and he told me he had it too. It’s that this is too easy, because the answer is obviously going to be the Detroit Red Wings and their Russian contingent. Start with the famed Russian Five, mix in Pavel Datsyuk, and this one is over before it starts. Except it isn’t, because it turns out that the Red Wings have never had a Russian goaltender, meaning they can’t ice a team for this challenge.

That tells me two things. First, today’s column won’t be 200 words long, and second, this might be tougher than it sounds. Let’s find out.

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NHL weekend rankings: No, your predictions are wrong

Yes, it’s yet another batch of predictions. But this time it’s not me or the other writers making the picks, but you. Yes, you, personally, because I’m going to assume that you took part in The Athletic’s recent survey. More than 2,500 readers did. Including you.

And that means that this week, I get to tell you why your predictions are bad.

Oh, how the turns have tabled. Give me a second while I get into full “comment section” mode. (Hits self in the head with a brick several times.) Heh heh… clicks. OK, let’s do this.

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The 4 Nations Face-Off can't have any trades, obviously... but what if it did?

There are no trades in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

There couldn’t be. It wouldn’t make any sense. Players play for their home countries, just like every other international tournament. Each team has a GM, but that guy’s job is simply to assemble the best roster he can from the players available to him. Making trades with that roster? That would be dumb.

So let’s be very, very clear: We acknowledge that what you’re about to read is indeed dumb, and we’re doing it anyway.

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Emergency Cap Court session: Does the rising cap change the verdict on these stars?

But the cap is going up.

For years, it’s been the go-to excuse for any questionable contract signed in the NHL. Aside from the years immediately following the pandemic, the NHL’s cap ceiling always goes up, at least a little bit. And that meant that any criticism of a contract would immediately be met by a condescending reminder that the cap would eventually go up. A rising cap was an optimistic fan’s – and an overspending GM’s – very best friend, even when it was obviously nonsense.

Except…

Well, now the cap is really going up. Like, way up, by an amount that’s enough to have us reconsidering what we thought we knew about how the league’s economics work. So today, I’m convening a special session of Cap Court, the feature where we put contracts on trial. We’re going to reach back into the last few editions of this column to find deals that got the dreaded “bad contract” verdict, and give them another look based on last week’s news.

I went back through the archives and found five contracts that have a solid case for appeal. Let’s see if any of those can reverse the original call.

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NHL weekend rankings: Huge cap news, more blockbuster trades, and oh yeah, games

It was another weekend where the biggest stories came off the ice, including our second consecutive Friday night blockbuster. We’ll get to the J.T. Miller trade, and the follow-up deal with the Penguins, in a bit.

But first, let’s focus on the biggest news of the weekend, a story that will have repercussions in the league for years to come. The salary cap is going up – way, way up. After years of stagnation due to the pandemic, the ceiling will rise from the current $88 million to an estimated $113.5 million over just three years, an average jump of $8.5 million per year. And it’s possible those numbers end up being even higher.

Let’s break down what this could mean.

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