Training Camp Stories

Brayden Point

Training camp is already well underway, but there still are some major players that are big question marks going into the season.  Of course, we’ve seen contract holdouts in the past before, but having this many high profile RFAs still unsigned is unusual and because of what Mitch Marner ended up getting, some of these contract negotiations could easily end up dragging into the regular season.

That could have a major impact on fantasy teams and it’s already influencing how people draft.  Keep in mind, that when players, especially young players, missing a good chunk or all of training camp, it tends to hinder their performance for a while afterwards, so with every day these players go unsigned, the risk of them underperforming in 2019-20 increases.

Meanwhile, there’s another major situation potentially playing out right now.  Dustin Byfuglien isn’t with the Winnipeg Jets right now for personal reasons and he’s reportedly considering retirement.  The Jets’ defense already took a hit over the summer and losing Byfuglien on top of that would be a major blow for them.  It might also lead to a major trade just before the start of the season.
With all these big moving parts right now, it seems like a good time to take stock of where we are by addressing what we know – or at least think we know – about each of these players’ situations at this time.

Brayden Point – Agent Gerry Johansson decided to publicly vent his frustrations on Thursday, saying that the Lightning and Point aren’t close to a contract.  If a recent report suggesting that the Lightning’s last offer to Point was a three-year contract with a cap hit of $5.7 million then it’s not hard to see why.  Point likely wants to use Marner’s six-year, $65,358,000 contract as his comparable, but in the case of Tampa Bay that might not be a realistic ask.

The Lightning have $67,391,666 committed to 13 players for the 2020-21 campaign even without Point or upcoming RFA Mikhail Sergachev, so they simply aren’t in a position to offer Point a massive payday unless they make a trade.  The Lightning’s cap situation also leaves them rather vulnerable to an offer sheet.  If another team were to offer Point, for example, a five-year, $50 million contract, then the Lightning would have an extremely tough time matching it and even if they did, it would cause significant problems for them down the road.  Johansson did say that his client isn’t pursuing offer sheets, but if this continues to drag on then perhaps that will change.  It’s also worth noting that if this drags into the season, then the situation becomes a bigger headache for Tampa Bay.  That’s because the first year of the contract will become prorated and consequently the first-year cap hit will become increasingly more extreme the later into the season this goes.  Given the Lightning’s cap situation for 2019-20, that will make it harder to fit Point’s contract in under the cap and make them even more vulnerable to an offer sheet.

Matthew Tkachuk – There’s been arguably less useable information regarding the Tkachuk negotiations than any of the other remaining RFAs, which is a bit of a shame because this situation is so interesting.  Tkachuk broke out last season with 34 goals and 77 points in 80 games and come with the added bonus of being a power forward.  What makes his position particularly interesting though is the Flames’ cap situation.
The Flames only have roughly $6.46 million in available cap space, per CapFriendly.  Keep in mind what I already mentioned with Point about how the first year of the contract will become prorated.  It’s already doubtful that the Flames will be able to fit Tkachuk under the cap without some maneuvering.  If this drags on too long, it could become a huge problem.  It’s likely that the Flames are going to have to make a trade, but the question is who.  TJ Brodie was a popular candidate during the summer and Michael Frolik might also make some sense.  Both are in the final season of their contract and come with cap hits in excess of $4 million, so trading either of them would leave Calgary with enough space to fit in Tkachuk.

As is the case with Point, the Flames are particularly vulnerable to an offer sheet.  They might be able to match whatever comes their way, but it would involve them scrambling to make a trade from a position of weakness given that the rest of the league would see them as a motivated seller.
Kyle Connor – Offer sheets have been a recurring theme and in the case of Kyle Connor, it’s a particularly popular topic.  Last week it was reported that three teams have been exploring the possibility of presenting Connor with an offer sheet.  I’m on the fence about whether Connor is a good target though.  Winnipeg has $15.45 million in cap space according to CapFriendly.  Sure, they also need to re-sign Patrik Laine too, which I’ll get to next, but the point remains that they have the ability to match an offer sheet here.

Plus, of all the players on this list, Connor should be the most affordable.  He had 31 goals and 57 points in 2017-18 and 34 goals and 66 points last season, so clearly he’s a great young player.  He’s just not quite the superstar like Marner, Point, and Rantanen nor does he have the elite potential of Laine.  Connor’s going to command a big payday, but he can’t hold up Marner as a comparable to the same extent the others might want to.  Of all the RFAs highlighted in this article, I think Connor will be the first to sign.

Patrik Laine – Laine had 36 goals and 64 points as a rookie and 44 goals and 70 points in his sophomore campaign.  If his third season had gone like that, he’d be among those pushing for Marner-like numbers, but instead the 2018-19 campaign was a shaky one for him.  At times, he was brilliant, but for long stretches of the season, he was ineffective.  He still averaged out to having value with 30 goals and 50 points in 82 games, but that’s a far cry from the extremely high expectations people had going into the 2018-19 campaign.
Unlike the rest of the remaining RFAs I’m talking about here, a long-term contract is likely off the table.  It just doesn’t make sense to do that when there’s so much uncertainty about his future.  Is he the second coming of Alex Ovechkin or should 2018-19 be taken as a big warning sign?  It’s better for both sides to settle on a bridge contract for now and see what he does over the next couple of seasons.

Clearly there is still some debate over what that bridge contract should look like though, otherwise he’d have already signed.  Brock Boeser recently signed a three-year contract with a $5.875 million cap hit which might now serve as a comparable.  Boeser has plenty of potential, but hasn’t fully lived up to it yet.  It would still make sense for Laine to command more than Boeser, but maybe $6-7 million annually over a three-year contract would be palatable for both sides?  We’ll find out.
I got to admit though, of all the players to try to hold out, Laine is the most vulnerable.  His 2018-19 campaign was already rough and now he’s disrupting his ability to properly get ready for 2019-20?  I realize this is his livelihood we’re talking about, but in the long run, a bad 2019-20 might cost him financially and having that kind of rough campaign is becoming increasingly possible as he misses more and more of camp.

Mikko Rantanen – This RFA situation might be particularly difficult to navigate.  Agent Mike Liut feels that Mitch Marner is a close comparable to Rantanen, but the Avalanche haven’t been swayed by the six-year, $65.358 million contract Marner ended up signing.  Instead, they’re trying to lock Rantanen up to a six-to-eight year contract with an annual cap hit of $8.4 million to $8.75 million.  That seems like something Rantanen isn’t likely to sign given that it’s not only well below what Marner’s getting, but also a worse contract than Sebastian Aho got when you factor in the length.
Maybe the solution is a bridge deal, but the problem there is that’s probably not palatable to the Avalanche.  Gabriel Landeskog and goaltender Philipp Grubauer only have two years left on their contracts.  Plus the Avalanche are looking ahead to Nathan MacKinnon, who has four years left on his team-friendly seven-year, $44.1 million contract and will command a huge payday after that deal is done, so locking Rantanen up now is in the Avalanche’s best interests.
It’s also worth noting that the Avalanche are currently swimming in cap space.  That affords them flexibility, but it also means that an offer sheet likely isn’t a way out of this situation.  Why would any other team bother trying when they know that Colorado would just match it?  Thus an offer sheet would serve little purpose beyond getting Rantanen to start playing for the Avalanche.  This is one situation I could see dragging on deep into the year if Colorado holds firm on their desire not to allow the Marner contract to dictate the market.

Dustin Byfuglien – Obviously this one is a very different situation.  Byfuglien isn’t a RFA or even unsigned.  However, as mentioned above, he is reportedly considering retirement.  Whether he’ll ultimately go that route is something I can’t speculate on.  That’s a very personal decision and ultimately I hope he does what he feels is best.  What I can do is talk about what might happen if he does retire.
First off, it’d be a big problem for the Jets.  He led Winnipeg in average ice time last season with 24:22 minutes and the Jets already traded away the defenseman that finished second in that category, Jacob Trouba and parted ways with two other prominent blueliners in Tyler Myers and Ben Chiarot.  In other words, the Jets’ defensive situation was already suspect and losing Byfuglien would throw gasoline on that fire.  On top of all that, the Jets still have two unsigned RFAs as we’ve discussed above, so there is a lot of major issues facing Winnipeg right now.

At this point, if Byfuglien were to retire the Jets would really need to decide what their course is.  Winnipeg was a major contender in 2017-18 and 2018-19, but after losing so much, are they still prepared to go all-in for 2019-20?  The Jets do have some relatively young core pieces to build around, including Laine and Connor, if they do decide shift their focus towards competing seriously again in a couple of years.  However, there are also some young defensemen potentially on the trade market who would allow them to avoid choosing between winning now and setting up for a future run.  Buffalo’s Rasmus Ristolainen would fit that bill.  He’s recorded over 40 points in four straight campaigns while logging over 24 minutes in each of those seasons and he’s only 24-years-old (25 in October).  To make things even better, he comes with a very reasonable $5.4 million cap hit for each of the next three years.

There was plenty of trade speculation about Ristolainen over the summer, but ultimately nothing came of that.  Still, if Byfuglien does retire then that might be all the motivation the Jets need to take the plunge.  Buffalo’s asking price is reportedly rather high though and the Sabres have every reason to keep it that way given that sticking with Ristolainen is a perfectly fine scenario for them.
Justin Faulk is also believed to be on the trade block, though he’s less ideal.  He’d be a fit right now, but he can become an unrestricted free agent this summer, so he might end up being more of a stopgap than the mid-term solution the Jets would be better off pursuing.
It’s still possible that Laine, Connor, and Byfuglien will all be in the lineup for the Jets when their season opens, but it also wouldn’t be surprising if the Jets take a big step back this season.

Leafs lose in Seventh Game, season over.

 It is over, again. Same script, same ending.

 Tuukka Rask made 32 saves, and the Boston Bruins advanced to the Eastern Conference Second Round with a 5-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 of the first round at TD Garden on Tuesday. Sean Kuraly and Joakim Nordstrom each had a goal and an assist for the Bruins, who won the final two games of the series and will host the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game 1 of the second round Thursday.
"Well I think we've been there before," Bruins center Patrice Bergeron said. "I think a lot of guys, we try to rely on our experiences, try to share that with other guys. Most of the young guys were with us last year and lived it also. So I think it's definitely a great character win for us tonight against a really good team."

Frederik Andersen made 27 saves for the Maple Leafs, who have not won a playoff series since 2004 and were eliminated by Boston in Game 7 of the first round for the second straight season.
"I thought we played real good and carried lots of the play and executed and played the way we wanted to play," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "So it's disappointing. I thought our series this year compared to last year, we were a way better hockey club. In the end, we weren't rewarded."
Nordstrom scored from along the goal line on a shot that got through Andersen's pads short side to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 14:29 of the first period. It was a very weak goal to surrender.


"We were talking before the game that we wanted to have a shot-first mentality," Nordstrom said. "I was just trying to get a rebound, Kuraly was crashing the net. It ended up going in, so we'll take it."
Marcus Johansson made it 2-0 at 17:46, getting the puck behind the net following a turnover by Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner and skating into the left circle before scoring on a wrist shot off the far post.  Another Gardiner giveaway.


John Tavares cut it to 2-1 at 3:54 of the second period after Tyler Ennis forced a turnover along the right wall and poked the puck over to him.
"We have to find ways to get better," Tavares said. "We have a quality team, we have a lot of talent, we have a lot of youth, a lot of growth still ahead of us. ... (You) really realize you have to make the most of every chance you get. It's just difficult right now."
Kuraly scored on a wrist shot from the top of the left face-off circle at 2:40 of the third period for a 3-1 lead.

Charlie Coyle (17:26) and Bergeron (19:59) each scored into an empty net for the 5-1 final.
"Well, I personally felt good from the start of the series," Rask said. "I felt good pretty much all year. You know, obviously the workload hasn't been too much, so I feel fresh. It's all about feeling confident and preparing yourself the right way, trusting your teammates. I thought we battled hard for each other all year, and you know, I think it showed again today."


"We've got to push through this because you can't be talking after a playoff series that you're going home. That's the bottom line. We've improved our team drastically, you've witnessed it. This series we were a way better team than we were a year ago, but we're at the same point with the same result here today, and so that part is disappointing." --Mike Babcock, Maple Leafs Coach.
"It was amazing. The fans were obviously very excited, very loud, gave us extra energy, and we were obviously feeding off that. So thanks to everyone who came and cheered us on and everyone who was watching at home."  
 
Toronto is 12-12 in Game 7, including 5-11 on the road, where it has lost its past six. … Boston is 15-12 in Game 7, including 14-8 at home. The Bruins have the most Game 7 wins in NHL history, passing the Montreal Canadiens (14-9) and Detroit Red Wings (14-11). … Chara tied the NHL record by playing in his 13th Game 7, joining Patrick Roy and Scott Stevens. … Bruins center Kreczi has five points (two goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak. … Boston had a power-play percentage of 43.8 percent (7-for-16), its second highest in a Stanley Cup Playoff series (44.4 percent, 1978 quarterfinals against the Chicago Blackhawks). Bruins face the Blue Jackets next.

Marner the Magnificent

Mitch Marner is wasting no time in demonstrating his value to the Maple Leafs early on in the playoffs. 


After scoring Toronto's first goal in Thursday's Game 1 against Boston, the 21-year-old Toronto forward made Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask look absolutely silly by scoring a spectacular goal on the penalty shot in the second period.

Marner was hauled down by Jake DeBrusk on a short-handed breakaway and made no mistake to pull his team ahead 2-1. It was just the second short-handed goal of his career and is the first short-handed goal on a penalty shot in franchise playoff history.

Toronto went on to a 4-1 victory, taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. 


It's been nearly 20 years since a Leafs player has scored on a penalty shot in the playoffs. Former Toronto captain Mats Sundin scored one against Buffalo on May 29, 1999 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final. The Sabres won the series 4-1.


 As Maple Leafs faithful already know, Marner is in the final year of his entry-level contract and is in line for a big raise this summer. He's been making his case all season, reaching a career-high 94 points in the regular season. 

Toronto general manager Kyle Dubas is likely getting ready to back up that Brinks truck for Marner, but scoring such a timely goal against the team that's been such a playoff thorn in Toronto's side has to feel priceless.

Be Calm and be Leaf

The Toronto Maple Leafs scored three power-play goals in a span of 1:49 in the second period to hand the Colorado Avalanche their eighth straight loss, 5-2 at Pepsi Center on Tuesday.

"It was our power play," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "For a while tonight it was going badly. We weren't doing good things. When you don't do good things, good things don't happen. But when you start to do good things, you get competitive.
"It was great to see our guys be rewarded. Gives them a bit of swagger back and their play was the difference in the game."

Kasperi Kapanen and Nazim Kadri each had two goals, Auston Matthews had a goal and two assists, and Freddie Andersen made 34 saves for the Maple Leafs (35-18-3), who are 6-1-1 in their past eight games.
Toronto went 3-for-6 on the power play after going 1-for-18 in the previous six games.

"Like I said earlier, all being on the same page," Kadri said. "That makes a big difference. Trying to make little adjustments, talking amongst the five of us and trying to draw up little plays that possibly could work. That was the difference. It was nice to get a couple tonight, for sure."
Alexander Kerfoot and Ryan Graves scored for the Avalanche (22-23-11), who are 0-5-3 in the past eight games, allowing at least four goals in seven of them. Semyon Varlamov gave up four goals on 17 shots before being pulled. Philipp Grubauer made 10 saves in relief.

"I thought Grubauer did a really nice job coming in cold," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "I thought [Varlamov] was great. He was giving us a chance to win. What's he going to do on the power play? They're seam passes to quick spots on and off the guys' tapes. It's great execution by them and I don't think he has a chance.

"I pulled him simply because it's been a while since [Grubauer] got in the net and tried to spark our team. That was not a goalie pull, but he was great and [Varlamov] was pretty darned good too."
Toronto took a 1-0 lead at 3:17 of the first period on a breakaway by Kapanen off a lob pass from Matthews.

Colorado tied 1-1 at 15:16 when Graves scored through a screen from just inside the blue line.
The Maple Leafs went in front 2-1 on Matthews' power-play goal at 5:19 of the second period. John Tavares passed through the goalmouth to Matthews in the lower left circle for his 99th NHL goal.
The Maple Leafs stretched the lead to 3-1 at 6:46 on Kadri's power-play goal after Avalanche forward J.T. Compher was assessed a double-minor for high-sticking Travis Dermott. Kadri scored from the slot on a tic-tac-toe passing play from Tavares and Matthews.
"The story of the game for me was our penalty kill," Bednar said. "We take a double minor 200 feet away from our net. At this point, that's ridiculous. You can't do that, especially not against a team that definitely has one of the more dangerous power plays in the League."
Kapanen made it 4-1 with a power-play goal at 7:08, putting in a loose puck. Grubauer then replaced Varlamov.

"I haven't been put on too much power play," Kapanen said. "I'm grateful for the chance to get out there and then try to score goals. Lucky enough, I did today."
Kadri redirected William Nylander's pass to increase the lead to 5-1 at 5:42 of the third period.
The Avalanche pulled within 5-2 at 8:14 on Kerfoot's deflection of Samuel Girard's shot.
Colorado's line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen was held to two shots, both from MacKinnon.
"Just eliminating time and space for those guys," Andersen said. "Their top line is where they get most of their production. We wanted to eliminate that as much as possible."

AUSTON  MATTHEWS said it

"We'd like to be good home and away. It's tough, especially coming into a building like this where altitude obviously affects you. I thought the first 10 minutes we kind of weathered the storm. It was a big goal by [Kapanen] there and we just went from there. Power play came out big for us and the rest is history."

The Maple Leafs' three power-play goals in 1:49 tied for their fifth-fastest three in the regular season since 1933-34. The fastest was 1:16 against the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 9, 1952 … Tavares has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past five games … The Avalanche losing streak is their longest since nine straight (0-8-1) Jan. 12-Feb. 1, 2017. They have been outscored 35-16 in the streak.

At the Break

My favorite player..Dave Keon

There were no games Thursday night because of the All-Star break and the same will be true on Friday.  So while we wait, I thought it’d be fun to use this opportunity to reflect a little on the season thus far.  A lot of writers do that and they tend to focus on who they think is leading in the major award categories.  That’s interesting, but to be a little different, I wanted to focus instead on the biggest surprises, positive and negative, so far this season.

Forwards

Most Pleasant Surprise: Elias Lindholm (CAL).  He was taken with the fifth overall pick in 2013, so his breakout this season didn’t come out of nowhere, but it took long enough that people were starting to lose faith in him.  I think it’s fair to say that the Carolina Hurricanes had their doubts, otherwise he wouldn’t have been bundled with Noah Hanifin in the Dougie Hamilton trade, but perhaps the Calgary Flames foresaw this as they had the sense to not only acquire him, but then lock him up for six years over the summer with a cap hit of just $4.85 million.  Lindholm has blossomed on a line with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau, scoring 21 goals and 58 points in 51 games.  Before this season, Lindholm’s career-highs were 17 goals and 45 points.  In Yahoo leagues, Lindholm was typically the 151st draft pick and he was only drafted in 7% of leagues.

Honorable Mentions: Anders Lee (NYI), Alex Tuch (VGK), Zach Parise (MIN), Timo Meier (SJS).




Biggest Disappointment: Patrik Laine (WPG).  This one I feel requires some justification, because it seems rather harsh and maybe it is.  Certainly there have been notable players that have done far worse, often due to injury or other circumstances, as is the case in William Nylander.  In fact, Nylander was the player I heavily leaned towards putting here and I don’t think anyone would have batted an eye at that given that he has just seven points thus far.  However, Nylander was a risk going into the season and had an average draft position of 93rd overall.  Laine’s average draft position was 8th and for a player that was taken so high, he hasn’t done enough.  He has 25 goals and 34 points in 48 games this season, which puts him on a sub-60 point pace for the first time in his career.  That comes despite league-wide scoring being up this season.  His 25 goals is amazing, but his pace has been steadily declining.  He had 18 goals in the span of 12 games from Nov. 1-29.  Outside of that one amazing hot streak, this has been a really unproductive season for him.  Hopefully he’ll turn around in the second half, but right now I have serious concerns about him, at least as far as 2018-19 goes.

Dishonorable Mentions: William Nylander (TOR), Ilya Kovalchuk (LAK), William Karlsson (VGK), Rickard Rakell (ANA).

Defensemen

Most Pleasant Surprise: Thomas Chabot (OTT).  With Erik Karlsson gone, the Ottawa Senators needed Chabot to step up and boy did he ever.  Chabot went from averaging 17:31 minutes, including 1:53 with the man advantage last season to 23:54 minutes, including 3:01 power-play minutes in 2018-19.  Big minutes would help any player, but they don’t guarantee the level of success that Chabot has enjoyed.  He has 10 goals and 39 points in 42 games, already shattering his rookie totals of nine goals and 25 points in 63 contests.  He’s been a pretty consistent factor too, never going more than three games without a point, with the obvious exception of when he missed eight games in late December/early January due to an upper-body injury.  Chabot average draft position in Yahoo leagues was 161st and he was only drafted 16% of the time, so you can’t say that most fans saw this coming.

Honorable Mentions: Mark Giordano (CAL), Morgan Rielly (TOR), Mattias Ekholm (NAS), Jeff Petry (MON).

Biggest Disappointment: Shayne Gostisbehere (PHI).  Going through the list of defensemen, there aren’t any top-tier blueliners that are having absolutely devastating seasons and the fact that Gostisbehere could be terms as the biggest disappointment is a reflection of that.  The reality is that his season hasn’t really been that disappointing, though it is certainly less than what people were hoping for, especially when weighted against this season’s increased scoring.  Going into the campaign, Gostisbehere was regarded as one of the league’s top offensive defenseman after scoring 13 goals and 65 points in 78 games last season to rank fourth in the blueliner scoring race, just three points shy of the leader, John Carlsson.  That success at a relatively young age led to Gostisbehere being drafted an average of 66th overall, or eighth among blueliners.  However, with five goals and 20 points in 48 games, he’s not only well below last season’s pace, but he’s in a five-way tie for 45th place in the defensemen scoring race.  Meanwhile, the likes of Brent Burns, Mark Giordano, Morgan Rielly, John Carlsson, Erik Karlsson, and Kris Letang all have at least doubled Gostisbehere’s point total.

Dishonorable Mentions: John Klingberg (DAL), P.K. Subban (NAS), Charlie McAvoy (BOS), Alex Pietrangelo (STL).

Goalies

Most Pleasant Surprise: Robin Lehner (NYI).  This one’s easy.  Lehner had a 3.01 GAA and .908 save percentage in 53 games with Buffalo last season.  He was offered a fresh start with the Islanders this season, though it was expected to be a relatively tough task given how mightily the Islanders struggled defensively in 2017-18.  This season’s edition of the Islanders have proven to be much different though and Lehner has been one of the driving forces of that, posting a 15-7-4 record, 2.02 GAA, and .931 save percentage in 27 games.  Also, while I’m putting him here because of his results alone, I do think it’s worth mentioning that Lehner battled his own personal demons and on March 29th, 2018, he had to leave the game due to a panic attack.  Back in September, he opened up about his drug addiction and bipolar diagnosis.  He’s an inspiring story as well as one the league’s top goaltenders this season simply on the merits of his play.

Honorable Mentions: Curtis McElhinney (CAR), Jaroslav Halak (BOS), David Rittich (CAL), Jack Campbell (LAK).

Biggest Disappointment: Sergei Bobrovsky (CLM).  This has been a really rocky campaign for Bobrovsky.  He has two shutouts and he’s held the competition to just one goal on seven other starts, but he’s also allowed four or more goals eight other times, including two games where he surrendered eight goals each.  The result of that inconsistent play is a 19-14-1 record, 2.91 GAA, and .904 save percentage in 34 games.  Further complicating things is the recent team-issued, one-game suspension he served.  His future was Columbus was already in doubt given that he can walk as an unrestricted free agent this summer, but lately it’s looked like the Blue Jackets are already moving on.  Joonas Korpisalo started in four of Columbus’ final six games going into the break and he was solid.  That’s not to say Korpisalo will be the starter going forward – it’s too early to say and Korpisalo has had some low points of his own – but for a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, Bobrovsky is looking distinctly unremarkable this season.  In Yahoo leagues, Bobrovsky averaged as the 24th pick taken overall and the fourth highest goaltender.

Dishonorable Mentions: Braden Holtby (WAS), Jonathan Quick (LAK), Connor Hellebuyck (WPG), Martin Jones (SJS).

Babs is under fire

Mike Babcock was paid more money than any coach in hockey history to take over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

And now his greatest challenge – finding a way to fix a winning roster and a struggling team.

A team that for almost a month now has too often lacked energy and urgency. A fast team that hasn’t looked or played fast of late. That was apparent Friday night in Florida. How much of that is playing and how much of that is coaching and how much of that is circumstantial will be unveiled in the coming months.

The Leafs have added John Tavares, Andreas Johnsson, a productive and confident Kasperi Kapanen and improved play from Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly to this year’s team – and yet the team isn’t a whole lot better than the one a year ago.

Babcock loves to talk about how hard a league the NHL is and how every point is earned. That removes some of the heat from his players and maybe from his coaching staff. This is January. The Leafs have lost five of their past six home games, all to teams below them in the standings at the time of the venture.

 Babcock is supposed to be as good as it gets when it comes to coaching. It’s his time now to work some magic and demonstrate again why the Leafs invested in him so heavily.

 What did missing training camp and signing late do for Johnny Gaudreau in 2016-17? Johnny Hockey scored just two goals in his first 14 games with the Flames that year. He went on to have his only sub-par scoring season in the NHL. He followed it up with an 84-point season last year and on pace for 120 points this year. To paraphrase Harry Neale, the only player he’s ever seen who missed training camp and didn’t miss a beat: Guy named Mario Lemieux … Just what the NHL needs: More computers on the bench. The league has struck a deal to supply coaches with new gadget and 60 real time stats during the game. If you think the offside challenge is bad, just wait … There are computer people out there telling me that William Nylander is playing just fine. He isn’t. And that has nothing to do with the, gulp, $10 million the Leafs are paying him this season … Talk amongst yourselves: Is the Nylander contract the best or worst thing to happen to pending restricted free agents? You can argue either side of this one … Why I wanted a World Cup of Hockey? I want to see Connor McDavid playing centre for Canada. I want to see Auston Matthews opposite him on Team USA. I want to see the Russians with Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov and Evgeni Malkin. When will we see that again? …I have to figure that Brian Burke, the general manager, would get crazy mad at Brian Burke,  the television and radio commentator, for the things he says… Erik Karlsson is back doing the kind of things only he can do. In his first 20 games with the San Jose Sharks, Karlsson didn’t look himself, putting up just 10 points. In the past 27 points, he’s scored 33 points, which is as hot offensively as he’s ever been … A scout on the greatest asset Lou Lamoriello has brought to the shocking New York Islanders: “Calm. Remarkable calm.”

Ducks finally clucking

The Anaheim Ducks went into Thursday’s action on a franchise-worst 12 game losing streak.  Over that slump they lost their playoff position, but they had enough of a cushion that they were still very much in the running.  Last night they took a step towards righting the ship with a 3-0 win against the Minnesota Wild.


Conveniently for Anaheim, Minnesota also holds the second Wild Card spot, so this win helped close the gap there.  The Wild still have the edge with 49 points in 47 games, but Anaheim is right in there with 49 points in 48 contests.  It’s a wide open race though with the Edmonton Oilers (49 points in 47 games, but a worse ROW than Minnesota), and Vancouver (48 points in 48 games) also very much in the mix.

Of course, the Ducks losing streak realistically couldn’t go for much longer, but this was a rather convincing win.  Anaheim jumped out to a 3-0 lead by 7:58 of the first period, chasing Alex Stalock out of the contest.  From there, Ducks goaltender John Gibson was the hero, stopping 37 shots to earn a shutout.  It isn’t ideal that Anaheim was outshot 12-2 in the second period and 15-8 in the third frame, but it also isn’t shocking given that they were playing with a sizeable lead.

Either way, the Ducks need to build on this win to avoid slipping further.  They don’t have much time to rest either, as they’ll play in New Jersey on Saturday and be hosted by the Islanders on Sunday.


BOSTON 5 ST. LOUIS 2

Carl Gunnarsson found the back of the net for St. Louis.  It was his first goal and fourth point in 13 contests.

Chris Wagner netted the game-winning goal and registered an assist.  He’s up to six goals and 11 points in 45 games.

David Krejci assisted on three of Boston’s five goals.  That gives him 10 goals and 40 points in 48 contests this season.

Tuukka Rask stopped 28 of 30 Blues shots.  He’s won six of his last seven games, bringing his record to 14-8-3.

Jake Allen allowed four goals on 26 shots.  He was perfect in the first period despite the Bruins out shooting St. Louis 13-9 in that frame, but he surrendered two goals in each of the second and third periods.

NY ISLANDERS 4 NEW JERSEY 1

Anders Lee led the charge for the Islanders with a pair of goals.  He has 18 markers and 37 points in 46 games.

It was Michael Dal Colle that accounted for the game-winner though.  It was his first goal and second point in 14 career games.

Robin Lehner saved 16 of 17 shots versus New Jersey.  This is the second straight start where he held the competition to just one goal, though obviously not much got through to him this time.

Mackenzie Blackwood wasn’t horribly busy easier, but allowed three goals on 25 shots.  He’s 5-3-0 with a 2.33 GAA and .930 save percentage in 11 games.

Andy Greene netted the Devils’ lone goal.  That gives him three goals and 14 points in 47 games.

NY RANGERS 4 CHICAGO 3

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 24 of 27 shots to pick up his second straight win.  This one was the 445th victory of his career, which puts him in a tie with Terry Sawchuk for sixth place on the all-time wins list.  He’s also within striking distance of Curtis Joseph (454 wins).

At the other end of the ice, Collin Delia turned aside 29 of 32 shots.  He has a 3-2-3 record, 2.75 GAA, and .929 save percentage in nine contests.

Brandon Saad scored a power-play goal for the Blackhawks.  It was his 14th goal and 26th point in 47 games.

Chris Kreider scored a goal and registered an assist.  The Rangers forward has 22 goals and 37 points in 47 games.

Mika Zibanejad scored the game-winning goal.  That gives him 15 goals and 42 points in 47 contests.

TORONTO 4 TAMPA BAY 2

Nazem Kadri scored a goal and registered an assist.  He’s up to 10 goals and 28 points in 46 games.

Patrick Marleau also had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs.  He has 11 goals and 22 points in 46 contests.

Frederik Andersen stopped 36 of 38 Lightning shots.  This was his first win and second game since returning from a groin injury.

Brayden Point found the back of the net and registered an assist for Tampa Bay.  That gives him 30 goals and 63 points in 48 games.

Andrei Vasilevskiy saved 27 of 30 shots last night.  He has a 19-6-2 record, 2.48 GAA, and .925 save percentage in 27 starts.

Hooray for the Leafs !!!

WINNIPEG 5 NASHVILLE 1

Brendan Lemieux scored Winnipeg’s first and last goals of the contest.  He has five goals and six points in 31 games.

Mason Appleton contributed the game-winning goal.  It was his second marker and fourth point in 21 games.

Nashville’s only goal was scored by Viktor Arvidsson.  He has 18 goals and 25 points in 25 games.

Pekka Rinne stopped 29 of 34 Jets shots.  He’s surrendered an ugly 14 goals over his last three starts.

Connor Hellebuyck saved 37 of 38 shots on Thursday.  He’s won four of his last five starts, giving him a 21-13-1 record.

ANAHEIM 3 MINNESOTA 0

John Gibson earned a 37-save shutout.  Obviously the Ducks were struggling as a team going into tonight's action and he was no exception.  He had allowed 22 goals over his previous six starts.

Zach Parise fired a staggering 11 shots on Gibson.  That’s the most shots Parise has ever recorded in a single game.

Adam Henrique scored the first and therefore game-winning goal.  It was his ninth marker and 26th point in 48 games.

Rickard Rakell also found the back of the net for Anaheim.  He’s up to eight goals and 24 points in 35 games.

Alex Stalock stopped just five of eight shots in 7:58 minutes of ice time.  Devan Dubnyk stepped in and made 15 saves the rest of the way.

 LOS ANGELES 2 DALLAS 1

Jack Campbell stopped 29 of 30 shots in his first career game against Dallas.  The Stars are the team that originally took him with the 11th overall pick in 2010.  He almost had a shutout too.

Esa Lindell scored the Stars’ goal at 18:56 of the third period.  It was his seventh goal and 18th point in 48 games.

Carl Hagelin netted the game-winning goal.  He has two goals and six points in 27 contests.

Dustin Brown also found the back of the net for Los Angeles.  That gives him 12 goals and 28 points in 38 games.

Ben Bishop saved 17 of 19 Kings shots.  He’s lost three of his last four starts, which gives him a 15-12-2 record this season.