In this week's episode of the Puck Soup podcast:
- Claude Julien is fired minutes before we record
- Greg reports from Lake Tahoe
- The Artemi Panarin situation
- Is Sidney Crosby headed for all-time top 5 status
- Let's trade Jack Eichel
- And lots more, including a weird new quiz...
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>> Or, listen on The Athletic or subscribe on iTunes.
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In this week's episode of the Puck Soup podcast:
- So that draft lottery sure was something
- Yeah, it was weird. But is that bad?
- Ranking the Lafreniere worthiness of each of the playoff teams
- Artemi Panarin weighs in as a new CBA nears
- The latest on hub cities, the biggest story in hockey that you secretly don't care about
- A new quiz
- Our favorite Arnold Schwarzenegger movies
>> Stream it now:
>> Or, listen on The Athletic or subscribe on iTunes.
>> Get weekly mailbags and special bonus episodes by supporting Puck Soup on Patreon for $5.
In this week's episode of the Puck Soup podcast:
- We try to figure out what the deal was with the Sebastian Aho offer sheet
- One of us thinks the Habs did a good thing; two of us do not
- Rounding up the rest of the free agency action
- Our thoughts on the big Leafs/Avalanche trade
- Greg and Ryan get into a heated argument over Joe Pavelski, Ben Bishop and the Stars
- Darryl Sutter joiins the Duck
- Something about Spiderman that I didn't pay attention to
- Plus Paul Fenton's weird comments about lizards and lots more...
>> Stream it now:
>> Or, subscribe on iTunes.
>> This is the final free episode of Puck Soup for the summer, but you can still get weekly mailbags and special bonus episodes by supporting Puck Soup on Patreon for $5.
Welcome to the deadline day power rankings. Please read them quickly, since there’s a good chance that at least a few of them will be completely out of date within a few hours.
But first, let’s do a quick round up of what’s happened so far. The star of the deadline show has been the Columbus Blue Jackets, who pulled off a pair of deals with the Senators for Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel while standing their ground on Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky. That means that as of this morning, at least, the Blue Jackets’ roster features four of the top pending UFAs in the league. And they may not keep any of them past this season. As things stand right now, Jarmo Kekalainen hasn’t just pushed all his chips into the middle of the table, he’s also tossed in his watch, wedding ring and his childhood teddy bear.
On one hand, that seems insane. If a team like the Lightning want to go all-in, sure, you could see that. Maybe somebody like the Sharks or Flames too. Those teams are legitimate Cup contenders. And maybe you could even talk yourself into it for someone like the Bruins or Penguins, where cap pressure and aging curves mean there’s a window of opportunity closing. The Blue Jackets’ window isn’t closing, because it was never open to begin with. This is a franchise that’s never won a playoff round and has spent the last few weeks barely hanging onto a wildcard spot in the East. This is the team that’s going to double down?
But on the other hand … well, yeah, maybe this is the team. Look at the Metro right now. The Penguins look worn down. The Capitals have too, at least for long stretches. The Islanders are a great story, but they’re not a team you just take a knee and concede the division to. The Hurricanes might be as good as anyone, but they’re also the Hurricanes. If you’re the Blue Jackets, and you still haven’t won that first playoff round after all these years, and you’re staring down this sort of field, why not take your shot? How many times can you kick the can down the road? Maybe more importantly, how many times can you ask your fans to let you kick the can down the road? If not now, when?
Maybe it doesn’t work and you lose in the first round or even miss the playoffs altogether. (As Ian Mendes pointed out, a last-weekend playoff miss could even come at the hands of the Senators, which would be just about the nightmare scenario for Columbus.) This is exactly the sort of gamble that can cost a GM his job. But that’s why it’s hard not to admire it. In today’s NHL, most GMs would rather play it safe than stick their neck out. Instead, Kekalainen is going old school. He’s pretty much burning the boats.
And he might not be done. We could still see a Panarin trade today, although that’s seeming less likely. At the very least, he won’t be traded for futures. Could we see an old school hockey trade instead? In theory, adding Duchene and Dzingel could give the Blue Jackets the flexibility to at least consider it, although time may have run out.
Outside of Columbus, we’ve still got lots of stories to sort through today. Mark Stone is the biggest name left on the block, and barring a last-minute change of heart, he’ll be traded within the next few hours; Pierre LeBrun has the favorites as “Winnipeg, Boston, Calgary and Nashville in there and perhaps to some lesser degree the Islanders and Vegas.” That’s also a pretty good list of the buyers we’re still waiting on for power moves and there may not be enough big names left for everyone to come away with an impact player.
Another name to keep an eye on: Wayne Simmonds, as the Flyers take the better-late-than-never approach to deadline selling.
#Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher has now engaged in trade talks for Wayne Simmonds today. He’d been waiting until the last moment before deadline to give his team every chance to claw back in the race.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 25, 2019
We’re also watching the Rangers, who have more selling to do, and the Red Wings, who should. The Hurricanes still seem like a team with something up their sleeve. And what do the Stars do after landing Mats Zuccarello, only to see him break his arm in his very first game?
We’ll know by 3 p.m. ET. Until then, let’s get to the final pre-deadline edition of the rankings.
The five teams that look like they’re headed towards a summer of keg stands and fountain pool parties.
There was an outdoor game on Saturday, a fact you had no doubt been looking forward to for weeks or only realized when you looked up from trade rumors and wondered why Gritty was running around naked. The novelty has certainly worn off these games, but this one ended up being a pretty good one despite some less-than-great conditions. The Flyers’ late comeback and overtime win probably won’t end up mattering all that much for them, but it could be the point that keeps the Penguins out of the playoffs.
In other news, we were this close to the pre-game shootout scenario. Maybe next time.
5. New York Islanders (36-18-7, +34 true goals differential*) – At least a few of the warning lights are starting to blink just a little brighter. The Caps are back within two points, and the Islanders haven’t looked great over the last few weeks, even as they’ve continued to earn wins. One of their Metro rivals has just improved, at least for now, and if others follow suit then Dennis Seidenberg isn’t likely to make up the difference. It’s possible that they have a quiet deadline and don’t belong in this spot by Monday afternoon. But it’s not Monday afternoon, and we don’t bump teams based on worst-case scenarios, so they’re still here for now.
4. Boston Bruins (36-17-9, +27) – They haven’t lost in regulation in over a month and have opened up a little bit of ground on the Maple Leafs for home ice in the Atlantic. The presence of the Lightning makes it hard for them to move much higher, but for now, their hot streak is enough to get them into the top five for the first time all season. Now, is it enough to convince Don Sweeney to pull the trigger on something big?
>> Read the full post at The Athletic
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In the Friday Grab Bag:
- I wrote a bunch of jokes about players on the trade block, and miraculously none of them got traded overnight to ruin it
- An important word to Islander fans about calling John Tavares Pajama Boy
- An obscure player who Don Cherry is mad at or something?
- The week's three comedy stars, featuring a lot more poop than usual
- And a YouTube look back at a distant past in which the Senators were cheap, losing players and facing arena delays. Sure glad those days are over!
>> Read the full post at The Athletic
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In this week's episode of the Puck Soup podcast:
- So Artemi Panarin apparently pooped his pants
- Lots of trade deadline talk
- I come up with my annual deadline odds, and Greg and Ryan place their bets
- An interview with Scott Hartnell
- Oh good, more Carolina Hurricanes celebration talk
- The Blues and Blackhawks are making the playoffs
- Ryan and I take the "Oscars vs. Cups" quiz
- And lots more...
>> Stream it now:
>> Or, subscribe on iTunes.
>> Get weekly mailbags and special bonus episodes by supporting Puck Soup on Patreon for $5.
One week to go.
We’re just seven days away from the trade deadline, and historically, this is when things really start to get busy. Fans love to talk about deadline day, and that’s still the main attraction. This time next week, we’ll all be fake-coughing our way through calling in sick to work and settling in to watch the various deadline day shows struggle to fill airtime until the flood gates open. It’s always a fun day.
But in recent years, the process has evolved to the point where we should really be referring to deadline week. We typically see almost as many trades during the week-long lead up to the deadline as we do on the day itself. And that means the wait is pretty much over. It’s go time.
Let’s crunch some numbers. In 2016, there were 21 trades on deadline day and 16 more in the week leading up to it. The 2017 deadline was nearly identical, with 23 deals on deadline day and another 16 the week before. Last year, the numbers dropped slightly, with 18 deals on deadline day and 12 in the week leading up to it. (All totals are from the various NHL.com trade tracker pages.)
So in terms of the number of deals made, last year was quieter than a typical recent deadline, both on deadline day and in the week before. That could be a blip or the start of a trend. And if it’s the latter, we might expect that this week is relatively quiet too.
But something else stands out. In 2016, almost all of the action came in that final week; there were just four trades made around the league in the rest of February. In 2017, there were five. But last year, there were nine. Again, maybe that’s a blip. But it suggests GMs weren’t actually that much quieter last year after all — they were simply getting their deals done earlier.
So what about this year? It looks a lot like last year. We’ve already had eleven February trades. And that’s not counting the unusually busy January, which we talked about at the time. Back then, we wondered if the flurry of moves might predict a busy February. And in a sense, it already has, with more trades than usual over the last 17 days. But does that many deals already being done mean we’re now in for a quiet final week?
There are a few reasons to think we might be. The most obvious is the standings – the Western turtle derby has resulted in a scenario where virtually the entire conference is still in the race, or at least close enough to it that a delusional GM could try to talk himself into it. Thankfully, it doesn’t sound like teams like the Kings and Ducks will make that mistake. But if the rest of the conference still thinks they have a shot, there may not be enough sellers to support a busy market.
This year’s deadline also feels somewhat unique, in the sense that there are at least three or four players on the block who would be considered major stars who are still in their prime. Artemi Panarin, Mark Stone, Sergei Bobrovsky and Matt Duchene are bigger prizes than what we usually see available at the deadline. But they’re also the kind of names who could cause other teams to play wait-and-see. Are you really going to settle for Micheal Ferland as your big deadline acquisition if there’s a chance you could get Stone or Panarin? Maybe, but not until the last minute.
The good news, at least for fans who want to see some action, is that the last minute is almost here. And maybe I’m an optimist, but I don’t think we’re in for an especially quiet week. The situations in Columbus and Ottawa should come to a head soon, one way or another, and most of those Western wannabes are one or two more losses away from having no choice but to get real. The dam isn’t exactly going to burst, because it’s already been leaking steadily for weeks. But it’s probably not going to hold for much longer.
So this week, let’s do the regular top and bottom five rankings. But we’ll mix in a prediction for each of those teams along the way. Will I be right about any one them? Probably not, but that hasn’t stopped me before, so let’s do this.
The five teams that look like they’re headed toward a summer of keg stands and fountain pool parties.
The Carolina Hurricanes broke out a few new post-win celebrations this week, and Don Cherry criticized them for it. That meant we all had to spend the weekend playing yet another round of that game where we pretend that this is some sort of raging and divisive controversy, and not something that 95 percent of the hockey world already likes and supports. You’re being criticized by Don Cherry and Brian Burke and like three random dudes on Twitter, Hurricanes fans. Everyone else has your back. You’ll be fine.
In other news, the Hurricanes are going to make the playoffs, which will be good, and somebody is going to try to claim that they did it because they played duck-duck-goose after their games, which will be terrible.
5. New York Islanders (35-17-6, +33 true goals differential*) – Saturday’s win may have spelled the end of the Barclays Center era. The team doesn’t have any more regular-season games scheduled there, and they’ll play the first round of the playoffs at Nassau Coliseum. They’d be back at Barclays for the second round, though, meaning Islander fans are in the weird position of hoping to get a return to an arena they all hate.
As for the prediction, I admit that I love the theory that Lou Lamoriello will go out and land Panarin. It makes more sense than most of the other Panarin rumors.
Given the general manager, the assets and the irony (of how Tavares was handled last deadline), I think the Islanders might be my sneaky Panarin favorite.
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) February 9, 2019
But as much as I’d love to make that my prediction, I don’t think it happens. The hurdle is the Blue Jackets, who we’re told still want to make a playoff run. Would they really send Panarin to a team they have a good chance of facing in Round 1? Maybe, but I can’t see it. So instead, let’s pencil Lou and the Islanders in for a consolation prize from among the lesser names. Maybe Gustav Nyquist?
4. Winnipeg Jets (36-19-4, +30) – The schedule served up three winnable games, but the Jets only came away with three points. They didn’t lose any Central ground to the struggling Predators, but it was a missed opportunity to build a cushion. And now that Jordan Binnington and the Blues are unbeatable, the division no longer feels like a two-team race.
Prediction: Given their roster and cap situation, the Jets should be all-in on the biggest rentals. I’m with Murat Ates when he identifies Mark Stone as their best fit. It will cost a ton, but I think they might get him.
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In the Friday Grab Bag:
- Every sport should make tampering legal for one day of the year
- Your favorite team's GM drops by to reveal his trade deadline strategy
- Another obscure player from the Vancouver Canucks' weird goaltending history
- The week's three comedy stars feature a small child getting repeatedly injured
- And a YouTube look back at the next-day reaction to the Doug Gilmour trade
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With two weeks to go until the trade deadline, we’re well into that fascinating time of the year when wins and losses take a back seat to the rumor mill. Did your favorite team play last night? You’re not sure, but you heard a rumor about them trading a conditional sixth-round pick, so let’s argue about that for a few hours. Honestly, it’s a pretty great time to be a fan.
So today, let’s skip the standings and focus on a far more important ranking: Which teams are under the most pressure to make a deal or two (or three, or four) over the next 12 days? Who can afford to stay quiet if they have to and who absolutely has to do something big?
These aren’t necessarily the teams that will be the busiest; instead, consider it a ranking of the ones that have the toughest jobs ahead of them. We’ll go through the whole league, working our way up from the least to the most pressure. That’s always fun, because there are 31 spots to fill and every fan base adamantly believes that their team has to at least be in the top 10.
We’ll start with a team that’s had a recent habit of showing up in unexpected places on lists and power rankings and the standings.
31. New York Islanders
The Islanders are a good example of the difference between wanting to make a deadline deal and needing to make one. They’re a good team with a legitimate shot at the Stanley Cup and they’ll probably be looking to bring in reinforcements. They might even try to pull off something big, and if they do, their fans will be thrilled.
But what if they don’t? The Islanders are already the season’s best story. Lou Lamoriello, Barry Trotz and friends have pulled off a near-miracle. If they can dominate the deadline too, awesome. But even if they sit it out completely, they’ve already won. And even the most fickle Islanders fans couldn’t possibly have a word of complaint … could they?
30. Washington Capitals
You know that old saying about how when your team wins a championship, you’re not allowed to complain about anything for years afterwards? No fan actually believes that, and if the Capitals implode and miss the playoffs, Brian MacLellan will be ripped for it. But that seems exceedingly unlikely, and without any major holes to address or much cap room to do it with, expectations should be reasonable. Pierre LeBrun says they’ll be “careful buyers” and are “willing to tinker”, which sounds about right. But whatever happens, they’ve already got their rings.
29. Montreal Canadiens
28. Chicago Blackhawks
27. Vancouver Canucks
26. Philadelphia Flyers
Let’s call this the “playing with house money” section. All four teams are either making playoff runs we didn’t think they’d be anywhere close to, or at least looking far better than they did earlier in the season.
It feels weird to have Montreal this low, because it’s Montreal. But they’ve already exceeded expectations, and we’ve gone from Marc Bergevin being on the hottest seat imaginable to the local media insisting he was right all along. Plus, the Habs’ playoff spot seems relatively secure. Bergevin has already made some depth moves to bring in those heavy depth guys he loves so much, but the Habs have been largely absent from the rumor mill on the bigger names.
The Canucks, Hawks and Flyers are all in tougher spots in terms of the playoff picture, and may be tempted to bring in rental help. But with all three teams in various stages of rebuilds, it’s unlikely that any feel pressured to make major moves. The Flyers take the top spot in the group based on having one star UFA in Wayne Simmonds that they’ll need to find a home for, but otherwise at least a few Philadelphia fans are probably too enamored with Carter Hart right now to get mad about a quiet deadline.
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Trades are the best.
I mean, not for the players, who have to pack up on short notice and move to new cities, severing friendships and disrupting family lives. And not for the GMs, some of whom are going to make a mistake that ultimately gets them fired over the next few weeks.
But for fans? Yeah, for us, trades are the best.
We all know the song-and-dance that goes on in the NHL. You can’t make trades after free agency, because everybody likes their roster. And you can’t make them in training camp, because everybody’s healthy. And you can’t make them early in the season, because we can’t overreact to a few weeks. And you can’t make them in the middle of the season, because the salary cap makes that too hard even though it doesn’t.
But the trade deadline? Yes, you can make trades at the deadline. It can be done. So get to wheeling and dealing, boys. Let’s see some moves.
Granted, we’re still three weeks away from deadline day, and in a typical year, we might be getting ahead of ourselves. But the trend in recent seasons has been away from the do-it-all-on-one-day approach, and more toward spreading out the action over the days and weeks before. That’s not good if you’re a TV producer with a 10-hour deadline day show to fill, but it works for the rest of us. And we’ve already seen two fairly big deals in the last week, so it’s possible that the deadline crunch is already here.
The first of those deals came on Monday, with the Leafs adding Jake Muzzin from the Kings. The Penguins and Panthers got into the act over the weekend, with Pittsburgh landing Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann in exchange for Derick Brassard, Riley Sheahan and three picks. That one was really the best kind of pre-deadline deal, in that it gave us plenty to talk about without actually taking a big name out of play since the Panthers are expected to flip Brassard again in the coming weeks.
We’ve still got plenty of big names on the board, including perhaps the biggest we’ve seen out there at deadline time in years. Artemi Panarin sure sounds like he’s going to be moved, even if there are arguments to be made that the Blue Jackets should keep him. Columbus has lost five straight and are in danger of falling out of a wild-card spot, so the situation there is getting to the critical stage. Patiently waiting three more weeks to see how everything shakes out may not be an option.
The Senators aren’t under quite the same pressure, but their decisions over the next few weeks will be just as important. There’s still no extensions in place for Mark Stone or Matt Duchene, or even really all that much buzz that they’re close. The latest word is that it may be trending towards both players being traded, which makes the Senators one of the key teams to watch.
We’re all still waiting for the Rangers to start making moves, with the Jets apparently a leading contender for Kevin Hayes. The Kings still have Jeff Carter and Alec Martinez. The Flyers will move Wayne Simmonds, if and when they stop winning every game they play. Micheal Ferland has becomes this year’s annual “guy that everyone is treating as a superstar so you just kind of go with it even though you didn’t think he was that good” deadline name. The Blackhawks might be open to moving Duncan Keith. And then there’s Jimmy Howard, Dougie Hamilton, Jay Bouwmeester and whatever hijinks the Oilers might get up to.
Not all of those guys will get moved, but it’s shaping up to be a fun few weeks. And now that it’s February, we can stop treating the deadline like some far-off destination and start talking about it in the present tense. It’s here. Or at least, it’s close enough. Let’s get crazy.
The five teams that look like they’re headed towards a summer of keg stands and fountain pool parties.
Good news, hockey fans: We’ve made it past the bye weeks. Group high-five.
This was the first year that the NHL grouped everyone’s byes into the two weeks surrounding the all-star game. It resulted in huge chunks of the league being off at the same time, but it made a certain amount of sense. And it had the advantage of making it easier to ensure that we wouldn’t get those matchups where one team is coming off of their bye while the other has already been back in action.
Except that, well, it didn’t do that after all. Almost half the league still got those type of matchups. That seems odd and is further evidence that none of us will ever understand how the NHL schedule works.
5. Nashville Predators (31-19-4, +27 true goals differential*) – Their next five are against the Coyotes, Stars, the Blues twice and then the Red Wings. Arizona’s playing well and they lost to Dallas just a few days ago, but that’s a stretch where a team like the Predators should pick up some serious points. If they can’t, we might be getting close to the point where we can call the race in the Central.
4. San Jose Sharks (30-16-7, +24) – Brent Burns scored a nifty OT winner on Saturday to help the Sharks keep pace with/gain ground on the Flames. But the bigger news in the Pacific these days is the Knights, who’ve lost four straight. We spent the last month watching these three teams pull away from the pack, and wondering which one would blink first. Now we know, and the question becomes whether the Knights get an opportunity to regain that ground, or whether we pencil them in for third spot and a road opener in the playoffs.
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In the Friday Grab Bag:
- A rant about Artemi Panarin and players who won't negotiate during the season
- NBA trades: Still way more fun than the NHL
- An obscure player who wasn't good but kept getting traded for guys that were
- The week's three comedy stars
- And a YouTube look back at the time Brett Hull saved Bill Goldberg from the NWO, kind of.
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In this week's episode of the Puck Soup podcast:
- We look at Pierre McGuire's treatment of Kendall Coyne Schofield, which was awkward or maybe something worse
- Reactions to all-star weekend
- What should the Blue Jackets do with Artemi Panarin, and is it ever OK to lose a star player for nothing?
- Greg interviews Jillian Fisher
- What the bubble teams should be doing at the deadline
- What might have been if the Oilers had made the Ryan McDonagh trade
- I sit quietly while Ryan and Greg discuss who should play Batman
- And lots more...
>> Stream it now:
>> Or, subscribe on iTunes.
>> Get weekly mailbags and special bonus episodes by supporting Puck Soup on Patreon for $5.
One of the biggest stories of the NHL season is what’s happening with the star-studded free agent class of 2019. And what’s happening is: not much.
That’s a big deal. Every summer, we look ahead to the following year’s potential free agents and get excited over all the big names. And every year, almost all of those big names end up signing extensions long before they get anywhere near free agency. By the time July 1 rolls around, there’s rarely much star power left.
But so far, that hasn’t happened for most of the class of 2019. A few big names have signed, including Max Pacioretty, Pekka Rinne, Blake Wheeler and Ryan Ellis. But that’s left several top stars who still need extensions, and who are now less than seven months away from hitting unrestricted free agency.
We can start with Erik Karlsson in San Jose, who could end up being one of the offseason’s biggest stories for the second straight year. The Blue Jackets have both Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin. Buffalo’s Jeff Skinner is having a career year. And the Senators have both Matt Duchene and Mark Stone.
Those six players would all figure to hit the jackpot if they made it to the open market. But the list goes on, with names like Wayne Simmonds, Jake Gardiner, Joe Pavelski, Jordan Eberle and Cam Talbot all on expiring deals. And then there’s Anders Lee and Eric Staal and Tyler Myers and Mats Zuccarello and Semyon Varlamov and … you get the picture. The list is stacked.
Karlsson is expected to use Drew Doughty’s $11-million cap hit as a starting point. Bobrovsky and Panarin could both be looking at deals that would carry cap hits north of $9 or even $10 million. Skinner won’t be far behind, and Duchene was on track to get there too before his groin injury sidetracked a career year. Stone is in the same ballpark, although he can’t officially sign an extension until Jan. 1. And many of those other names figure to be looking at cap hits that would at least start with a six or seven on a multi-year deal. That’s a ton of talent, and a ton of potential money.
Hockey fans might be wondering whether it’s unusual for this many big-name pending UFAs to make it this far into the season without an extension. The short answer: Yes, it’s extremely unusual. For the longer answer, and what it might mean for 2019, let’s dive into the recent history.
Most star players sign extensions relatively early. Some do it right on July 1, the first day they’re eligible; we saw that this year with Doughty and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Others take a few weeks, like Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane in 2014, or even make it past opening night, like Brent Burns last year. But by the time the calendar flips over to December, most of the big names are already locked down.
When a pending UFA does make it this far into the season without an extension, there are basically three ways the situation can play out. The first is that they eventually sign during the season and stay with their team. If you’re a fan of a team that has one of those big names above, that’s the scenario you’re looking for.
The second possibility is that the player doesn’t sign during the season, but avoids free agency by agreeing to an extension during the offseason. In theory, that’s just as good. But these cases often involve the player being traded first, either as a deadline rental or in one of those June deals that sees his rights dealt in exchange for a middling draft pick. It doesn’t always work that way; as we’ll see, there are players who’ve made it through the season without an extension and then re-upped with their team weeks before free agency, and if you’re a contending team like the Sharks or Blue Jackets, maybe you’re willing to roll the dice while you chase a Cup right now. But if you’re the Senators or Flyers, can you take that chance?
And then there’s the third option: The player doesn’t sign during the season, they don’t sign during the offseason and they make it to the free agency period. At that point they’re free to shop their services to any team and the odds of them coming back are slim.
So how common is it for a star player to make it to December without an extension? And when it happens, how often do each of those three situations above play out?
Opening night is almost here, with the NHL regular season kicking off Wednesday night. That means it’s time for an annual hockey tradition: People reminding you to stay calm, to avoid panic, and not to overreact to every little thing that happens in a team’s first game or two of a long season.
Will we listen? No we will not. Those people are annoying, and it’s way more fun to overreact to every minor thing that happens in the season’s earliest days. We didn’t wait out three whole months of offseason just so we could be calm and measured once the season started. We want to hyperventilate now.
But even a good old-fashioned freak out works better with a plan. So to help you get started, I’ve come up with a half-dozen early storylines that will be ripe for overreaction. Feel free to get a few practice reps in before the puck drops, so that you’ll be ready to once it’s time to start mashing that panic button.
What could happen: Alexander Ovechkin doesn’t score and the Capitals drop their home opener to the Bruins.
What it would mean: Maybe if the Caps had spent less time doing keg stands and more time doing pushups they’d be ready to repeat like Sidney Crosby and the Penguins did.
The Capitals summer-long quest to drink all the alcohol was easily one of the offseason’s best stories. After almost a decade of hearing about how they could never win the big one, the team finally broke through and captured their first Cup, with Ovechkin capping it all of by taking home the Conn Smythe. Hockey players aren’t supposed to ever seem like they’re happy about anything, but the long-suffering Caps apparently decided it would be OK to let loose a little and enjoy the aftermath. There was drink, song, and a half-naked swim in a fountain. It was great.
And for the most part, the old-school traditionalist types let them have their moment. If there were any lectures about proper decorum, I don’t remember them. It’s safe to say Ovechkin and friends don’t either, because I doubt they remember anything. Either way, the party-pooper brigade stayed down.
But if Ovechkin and the Caps start off slow, all bets are off, and it’s not hard to imagine the critics coming after Washington’s stars if they seem to stumble out of the gate. You can almost picture the hot takes in advance. Good Canadian boys like Crosby and Jonathan Toews win multiple Cups because they celebrate with a lukewarm mug of skim milk and then get back to training, but apparently one ring is enough for glory boys like Ovechkin.
Or maybe not: It should go without saying that any sort of celebration-shaming would be nonsense. The Caps didn’t do anything different from every other Cup winner, other than not working as hard to hide their fun from the cameras. Trying to read anything into a slow start would be silly.
And that slow start is certainly possible; the Caps kick off their season with five straight against teams that made the playoffs last year, including four that posted at least 100 points. Things get easier from there, with eight straight against non-playoff teams, but by that point, the narratives will be set. Ovechkin won’t start off as super-nova hot as he did last year, but here’s hoping he can net a goal or two to ward off the fun police.
In this week's episode of Biscuits, the Vice Sports hockey podcast:
- Dave and I react to breaking news about Nikita Kucherov
- The Erik Karlsson watch continues
- Shea Weber was hurt and the Habs didn't tell anyone
- Artemi Panarin sounds like he wants out of Columbus
- Reader questions and lots more...
>> Stream it now:
>> Or, subscribe on iTunes.
In the Friday Grab Bag:
- The new offside review rule isn't perfect, but it's a good step
- Thoughts on the NHL's Declaration of Principles
- A Duchesne trade... in the obscure player section
- The week's three comedy stars feature bread shoes
- And an old (old, old, old) school debate over Wayne Gretzky's million-dollar salary.
The NHL handed out its awards Wednesday night, an event that was just slightly overshadowed by the league also handing out a brand new team. Still, awards night is one of the highlights of the off-season; hockey players in suits making awkward speeches and trying to be funny is always can’t-miss entertainment.
And now, fans can move on to the second half of the festivities: Yelling at the stupid writers for their stupid ballots full of stupid votes. As a voting member of the PHWA, I had a ballot for this year’s awards. I’ll post it here, then head down to the comment section where I swear I will fight every one of you.
(A reminder that all ballots were cast between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs. The PHWA does not vote on the Vezina, which is picked by the general managers; the Jack Adams, which is picked by the broadcasters; or the GM of the Year, which is just weird.)
Hart Trophy (“to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team”)
The winner: Patrick Kane, who ran away from the field for an easy win.
My ballot:
1. Patrick Kane, CHI
2. Sidney Crosby, PIT
3. Joe Thornton, SJS
4. Jamie Benn, DAL
5. Anze Kopitar, LAK
Kane wasn't an especially tough choice here after pulling away with the Art Ross. I don't factor any off-ice stories, good or bad, into my voting for awards that are meant to recognize on-ice accomplishments only, and Kane's numbers made this a relatively easy call. I had Thornton a little higher than most, but otherwise this probably isn't an especially controversial list.
—
Norris Trophy ("to the defence player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position")
The winner: Drew Doughty, in a not-all-that-close vote over Erik Karlsson that people are still fighting over on the internet.
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