Are We Getting Better?

It's hard for me to understand what direction the NHL's Winnipeg Jets are headed in based on what they say compared to what they do. I understand that a trade for Connor Hellebuyck hasn't materialized, but we need to be honest in looking at other aspects of the team that can be improved in order to keep their star goalie happy in his crease. One of those ways would be to have a better defensive structure overall which had me questioning why the Jets were so giddy about Jonathan Toews when David Gustafsson was better in all facets of his game. Sure, Toews has the name recognition and the long list of accolades, but that's the past. Gustafsson had been a solid foot soldier for years, toiling in whatever role the Jets wanted as he waited for his opportunity to shine in the NHL.

Thanks to the infinite wisdom of Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, we could see how good David Gustafsson can be when he skates with the Pittsburgh Penguins next season after Cheveldayoff swapped him for AHL defenceman Jack St. Ivany. It's probably for the best when it comes to Gustafsson's career that he gets a fresh start because it seems the Jets were content to bury him on the Moose rather than giving him a real shot at making the roster next season.

To his credit, St. Ivany did have a goal and six points in eight games with the AHL Penguins last season, but he struggled hard in Pittsburgh when playing against upper-echelon talent. He's a third-pairing defender who can use his 6'4" frame to move bodies, but the Jets aren't getting better with this trade. In fact, they may have gotten worse by sending Gustafsson away in today's deal.

In an article I wrote on April 26 after the Moose eliminated Milwaukee, I had high praise for David Gustafsson's game at both ends of the ice as he was the best Moose player in the series. I wrote,

"In all three games, he was excellent on the defensive side of the puck which makes me wonder why he wasn't skating in Jonathan Toews' roster spot this season. He wins face-offs, he checks well, he doesn't cheat up the ice, and he's a leader on this Moose team through his play. He's not going to be the vocal leader in the room, but Gustafsson sees the game well and understands what makes him successful. Those are the players the Jets needed this season."

Gustafsson wasn't recalled once this season to the Jets despite his AHL successes and despite the Jets' struggles, so it seemed like the Jets once again failed to recognize the talent they had skating in their own backyard. Alongside players like Ville Heinola, Jaret Anderson-Dolan who wasn't qualified today, and Kale Clague who signed in Russia, the Moose via the Jets have seen some solid talent walk out the door already this summer. What is Chevy doing?

For a guy who ran a successful IHL club in the Chicago Wolves and a decent AHL club in Rockford, Cheveldayoff has to know the value of seeing players being promoted. After all, he had Corey Crawford and Bryan Bickell in Rockford and saw them promoted when Chicago began its resurgeance. Chicago always had a handful of good players waiting in the wings for their chances, but it's almost like he learned nothing despite how closely he worked with the IceHogs.

I had joked earlier in the week on social media that Winnipeg's mantra of "draft and develop" always had the last part of "for other teams" said quietly, and Gustafsson's trade is more proof of that. Gustafsson was taken 60th-overall in 2018, and was selected ahead of Lukas Dostal, Connor Dewar, and Joel Hofer. 17 players selected before Gustafsson have played less games in the NHL than him and he has scored more points than 25 of the 59 picks ahead of him. And yet Winnipeg trades him for a physical defender who doesn't skate all that well and doesn't defend well against good offensive players.

What exactly are the future plans for the Winnipeg Jets when it comes to keeping their franchise players in Hellebuyck, Scheifele, and Morrissey happy on this roster? Because I have no idea.

With Toews retiring this summer, it seemed like David Gustafsson was the perfect replacement for him. Of course, that would require the Jets playing Morgan Barron as the second-line centerman which they seem absolutely against at all costs, but maybe Gustafsson could have stepped in there as the responsible second-line, 200-foot centerman who could play in front of the net on the power-play like he did for the Moose. And scored clutch goals because he's good.

I wish David Gustafsson all the best as he moves to Pittsburgh. The Penguins clearly see more in him than the Jets did, and my hope is he finds a way on to the roster where his offensive game can develop further while still playing solid defensive hockey. I don't know if Kyle Dubas has a plan to keep Crosby, Malkin, Letang, and Karlsson happy, but adding good players with unrealized offensive potential seems like a very low-risk move that offers all sorts of upside.

Frankly, it sounds like a philosophy Kevin Cheveldayoff should adopt.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Fully Committed To This Team

I can't predict the future in any way, but the image to the left could be what press conferences in Sunrise, Florida look like next season after the trade today that saw Brady Tkachuk acquired by the Florida Panthers where his brother, Matthew, plays. We already now that these two second-generation NHL forwards and brothers have combined to do a podcast, but now they set up their gear anywhere they want as they'll be playing for the same team for the foreseeable future. With a healthy team next year, Brady Tkachuk could make Florida better.

Florida certainly mortgaged their future by trading this year's ninth-overall pick, this year's 25th-overall pick, a second-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft, and a conditional first-round pick in the 2029. The return of Brady Tkachuk, though, seems to indicate that Florida is following a "win now" philosophy like the Vegas Golden Knights do as the "win at all costs" mantra might be a better fit based on this trade. For a team without a bonafide starting netminder, the Panthers seem to be on the Vegas blueprint in building a team.

Ottawa, meanwhile, can either package up one or more of these picks and make immediate moves to help their future or they can use them to add more firepower down the line. It was clear in their series against Carolina that they have the foundation on which they can build towards something bigger, but they're still a few pieces away from contending. Making this move today opens up valuable salary cap space and provides them with options moving forward.

Some may question why this deal was done now, and the Ottawa Citizen's Bruce Garrioch indicated that his sources were saying that "Tkachuk had indicated to the Senators that he had no plans to re-sign after his contract expired". Losing him for nothing simply wouldn't be an option, but the deeper message of Tkachuk wanting to be elsewhere gave Ottawa GM Steve Staios the evidence he needed to explore a trade. The easy solution was the Florida Panthers.

Having the two Tkachuks makes the Panthers even tougher to play against as they admittedly bullied both the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Carolina Hurricanes into submission in past playoff series. Depending on who he plays with in Paul Maurice's system, he could be the 30-goal scorer he once was with Ottawa, the physical force seen in international games, or the annoying pest that he can often be. The scary part is that he could be all three of those, giving the Panthers a headache combination of Marchand and the Tkachuks.

Taking a step or two back, I simply don't like this trade for two reasons: Tkachuk basically was able to demand where he goes thanks to his no-trade protection, and the Ottawa Senators came away with nothing more than future assets when it comes to building their team. I get that Staios had to accept the latter if he wanted to move Tkachuk and rid themselves of the questions surrounding his future in Ottawa, but the no-trade protection limited where Staios could explore when it came to getting the best deal for the Senators.

I made the case a couple of weeks ago about how any player who asks to be traded should have that protection waived, but this one seemed to be the team asking if Tkachuk wanted to be there, and he said, "Eventually, no," prompting Staios to initiate trade talks. Again, this is the danger of no-trade clauses in contracts, and it should be a stern warning to all general managers to tread lightly when it comes to this kind of protection. Staios likely will in the future.

For a guy who, on April 29, said, "I have been fully committed to this team, to this city and (the talk), it's just become a distraction. Frustrating to deal with," he won't have to worry about that distraction any longer as he's no longer an Ottawa Senator.

For a guy who, on April 29, said, "We have great communication with our players, so we really don't focus on it," he won't need to focus on it because that distraction is now a Florida Panther.

If there's one thing of which I think every can be certain, it's that both men got what they wanted with this trade. Gone is the media circus that would surround Tkachuk and the Senators for the entire upcoming season, and Tkachuk can go to a place where his unique skills and occasional lapse in maturity will be tolerated. I guess you can say that both men are fully committed to their teams.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Waiving The Clause

I had a good discussion tonight with a teammate in the adult beverage garden following our slo-pitch win. Normally, there are discussions about everything from trashy TV shows to funny family and work moments, but one topic that always seems to come up is hockey. Dylan Larkin's trade demand out of Detroit was the heated topic on this warm evening, and some were concerned that it may lead to similar outcomes for a handful of Jets. What caught my attenton in this was a quick conversation about how Larkin should be forced to forfeit his no-trade protection because it was him, and not the Red Wings, who asked for a trade. This got me thinking.

As we saw with the St. Louis Blues this season, Colton Parayko denied a trade to Buffalo because he had a no-trade clause in his contract. St. Louis had arranged a deal with the Buffalo Sabres, and they were forced to approach Parayko to see if he would be willing to waive his no-trade status that they had provided him. Of course, he did not, Parayko remained a Blues defender, and the Sabres moved on.

But what if it had been Parayko asking to leave St. Louis?

A no-trade clause protects a player from being moved by a team because the team clearly valued the contributions that a player was making. It is the team awarding this protection to a player, and the player has the right to deny a move through this clause if the team decides that it wants to move that player. In short, the team guaranteed that it wouldn't trade the player, so the player has every right to deny any trade involving him through that awarded clause.

What a no-trade clause doesn't do is allow a player to pick and choose where he can be dealt if the player decides he no longer wants to play for the team that awarded the no-trade protection. If a player demands to be traded, he essentially is waiving the no-trade protection that was provided for him. As such, the team should be able to make a deal with any team in the league at that point because the player has made it clear that he no longer wants to honour the terms of the contract and protection given to him.

I want to be clear that I have no legal basis for the above paragraph nor would it even pass the sniff test by a lawyer. All I'm suggesting is that any player who demands a trade while holding no-trade protection officially is waiving that protection. 31 other teams can and should be able to acquire his services if a deal can be reached.

I'm sure player agents and the NHLPA would go bananas over this change to no-trade protection if it were implemented, but the protection remains in place as long as the player isn't the one asking for a trade. If a team approaches a player with that protection, he is fully and legally allowed to reject any and all trades as long as his contract is valid. No one can take that protection from the player if he doesn't want to be moved to another team. It is binding.

However, a player should not be able to hold teams hostage and demand where he can be traded if a player decides he wants to leave. A modified no-trade clause can be negotiated if a team and player agree to it, but full no-trade protection given to a player doesn't give the player the power to pick and choose where he can be traded. The clause prevents that from happening unless the player waives the entire clause, not just part of it to go to specific teams.

By making this change to the no-trade clause, this would restore the balance of power between teams and players when these clauses are included in a contract. It's a commitment from both sides that they will honour the contract for its entire length of the term, and it prevents a team from simply blindsiding a player it once valued for his contributions by trading him away without notice. If the player has a change of heart, he forfeits all trade protection when it comes to leaving town. No exceptions except for modified no-trade clauses.

Rarely do I side with management in any cause, but seeing a player limiting a team's ability to get the best deal it can by submitting a list of teams for whom he'd rather play is not part of the no-trade clause. If a player decides he doesn't want to play for a team, he waives all protection he once held under the no-trade clause. That risk could make accepting no-trade clauses in the future a little harder to accept since players would be afforded no-trade protection as long as they were committed to that team for the length of the deal.

Would this be a change you'd like to see in a future CBA negotation? I know not everyone will approve of this change, and some will say it doesn't go far enough. It's a starting point, though, and that's where all negotiations begin. In knowing that, I'll ask the question: if a player with full no-trade protection demands a trade, should he be forced to waive that full no-trade protection? Leave your answer in the comments so there can be a discussion about this change!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

A Change At The Top

If anyone wanted a job working in hockey, this might be the year that jobs can be had. We already know the Nashville Predators are hunting for a general manager to replace the outgoing Barry Trotz, the Toronto Maple Leafs need someone for their general manager position, and the New Jersey Devils are looking for someone for their GM office as well. As of today after another somewhat shocking announcement, there's another high-ranking hockey job that will be available at the end of the season, so let's go back to the job board to see who is hiring.

According to the announcement today, Seattle Kraken president Ron Francis has decided to step down from his position after the season concludes next week as the 63 year-old leaves the organization after seven seasons in Seattle. Francis started his Kraken career as the general manager in July 2019, overseeing all of the early franchise decisions including the expansion draft, hiring the first coaches, and helping the Kraken reach the playoffs in their second season.

Francis was promoted to hockey operations president last April after four seasons as the general manager, helping the Kraken to a 142-153-33 record over those five seasons. In just one of the four completed seasons did Seattle post a record better than .500, and they only made the playoffs once. Not surprisingly, both of those happened in 2022-23 when they made the playoffs as the first wild card team, shocking the Colorado Avalanche in seven games before falling to the Dallas Stars in seven games in Round Two.

"Ron and I agreed that this is the right moment to make a thoughtful transition for both Ron and the organization, and move in a new direction," Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke said in a release highlighting Francis' contributions. He added, "We are grateful for his dedication and professionalism, and we wish Ron and his family the very best."

I'm not here to rain on Ron Francis, but he seemed to trade away more talent than he acquired as the GM of the Seattle Kraken. Outside of Kaapo Kaako, every player he traded for between 2021 and 2025 no longer plays for the Kraken. He acquired 21 draft picks in 13 trades, and none of the players selected with those picks have skated in the NHL. Seattle does have seven picks in the first two rounds over the next two drafts, so perhaps there will be better picks and an injection of youth into the Kraken lineup in the future.

The catch on this job vacancy, however, is that it seemingly has been filled as current GM Jason Botterill will remain in his role as general manager while adding the "executive vice president" title as he takes over the hockey operations for the Kraken. if you were prepping the résumé, the Kraken may not have the "Help Wanted" sign out.

I don't know if Francis will land with another franchise, and he may just want to take some time away from the game. He went from the Carolina Hurricanes to the Seattle Kraken in fairly quick fashion, so it might be time to recharge the batteries. Perhaps the Kraken were looking to make a change while seeking Francis's input, but it sounds like both sides determined that him stepping down was the right path for the franchise. The Kraken will move forward without him.

"It has been an honor to help launch and lead the Seattle Kraken over the past seven years," Francis stated in the Kraken press release today. "I am proud of the culture we built, the people we brought together, and the milestones we achieved, including our historic first playoff run. I want to thank our entire ownership group, everyone throughout the organization, and our incredible fans for their unwavering support. This organization has a bright future, and I'm grateful to have been part of its beginning."

That bright future will now be carried forward by someone else as Ron Francis's vision for the Kraken has come to an end. Where he goes after cleaning out his office next week will be up to him, but his future certainly is wide open for anything he wants to do.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hardest-Working Goal

As a person who follows Canada West women's hockey very closely, it's always great to see a player get rewarded for the hard work she puts in playing the game. Earning a professional contract somewhere across the planet is a big accomplishment for any player, but keeping a roster spot year after year takes dedication and hard work to continue to be an asset to a team. The player pictured with the Montreal Victoire has done that since she decided to make the jump into the professional ranks, and Friday night may saw the culmination of a lot of hard work finally pay off for her. Having watched forward Kailtin Willoughby score a pile of goals for the Saskatchewan Huskies, she finally got one with the Victoire after years of hard work!

I really wanted to see Kaitlin score during the Victoire's stop in Winnipeg after all the big goals she scored in Winnipeg while playing against the Manitoba Bisons, but the Victoire could only light the lamp once last weekend. On Friday night, though, Willoughby broke out of her goal drought with two goals against the Ottawa Charge at Canadian Tire Centre, removing any doubt as to whether she belongs among the world's best. However, it's all the hard work that you don't know about that made this moment even better for what it means.

Before we go any further, let's get Willoughby's goal posted from TSN.

What you didn't see when Willoughby scored for the first time in 75 PWHL games were all the overnight shifts at hospitals and early morning training sessions after a long night of work as a nurse. In her final year at the University of Saskatchewan where she was earning her degree, Willoughby shuttled between Calgary and Saskatoon often as she was playing for the CWHL's Calgary Inferno, working at Calgary Foothills hospital, and attending classes in Saskatchewan!

"I was living in Saskatchewan, living in Calgary, finishing my nursing degree and flying back and forth," she told Kerry Gillespie of the Toronto Star in 2024. That was the reality for players in the CWHL.

She'd continue to work as a nurse as the CWHL folded into history while training alongside the players from the Inferno. That would turn into an opportunity to play in the PWHPA where she couldn't play every weekend, but she squeezed in as many games as she could to keep her professional hockey dreams alive. After all, paying the bills that come with life and hockey means she had to keep working.

"Life is definitely expensive... so just trying to be financially in a good spot once hockey's done," she told Gillespie.

A new path opened up for women's hockey, though, and it has changed how Willoughby has approached the game. No longer does she need to work to play, but she can now focus on working on her play as her full-time career. Finding a roster spot with the Toronto Sceptres in 2023 allowed her to move into a more casual nursing role in the offseason while she continues to chase a Walter Cup.

"Looking back, it was some crazy long days and hard work and sacrifice, but I wouldn't have it any other way to get to where I am right now," she said to Gillespie about playing with the Sceptres in 2024. "Living this dream life, like, it's still a job, but it doesn’t feel like it because it's the best job in the world."

Being a professional hockey player doesn't come without some hardships, though, as Willoughby would need to pack up her life and head east on March 13, 2025 when the Sceptres traded her to the Montreal Victoire at the PWHL trade deadline for defender Anna Kjellbin. After 43 games in Toronto with one assist to her name, she was on the move as Montreal added her as forward depth.

In seven games with the Victoire, she doubled her assist and point total with another assist, and she was an addition that Victoire general manager Danièle Sauvageau was happy to have made as the Victoire re-signed Willoughby in the offseason to a new deal.

"Upon her arrival last season, Kaitlin quickly developed chemistry with our existing players, both on and off the ice. She played valuable minutes with us at the end of the season and during the playoffs," Sauvageau told The Canadian Press.

Without having to work overnights at the hospital or squeeze in shifts between games thanks to her PWHL contract, Willoughby circled back and began to put the work in to focus on improving her game.

"You're now pouring all of your energy into the sport and the training, so you can give 100 per cent every day," she told Gillespie in 2024. "I'm turning 30 next year and I still feel like I haven't reached a plateau. I'm still seeing myself get better."

Clearly, she knows what she's talking about as Willoughby had three assists this season before Friday night to eclipse her career total in one season. Her play alongside Catherine Dubois and Alexandra Labelle on Montreal's "U SPORTS line" has been excellent as a checking unit, but these three women have been showing some jump in recent weeks as they push the offensive side of their talents.

Of course, Friday night saw Willoughby toss the 800-pound gorilla off her back as she scored her first PWHL goal against Ottawa before doubling her output with an empty-netter late in the game! That night saw Ottawa play in front of its largest crowd at 17,114 fans while the win marked Montreal's 50th PWHL win in franchise history and the 39-save shutout for Sandra Abstreiter was also the first of her career on what was a big night for the Victoire in Ottawa!

Upon returning to the bench, Willoughby got hugs from both head coach Kori Cheverie and assistant coach Caroline Ouellette as they've been witness to just how hard Willoughby works everyday at practice.

"It's not for lack of chances I've had throughout the years; but my teammates, my coaching staff, everyone has just continued to believe in me and keep my confidence up," Willoughby said to habseyesontheprize.com's Jared Book about her big night after the game. "The support I've had from my teammates just keeps me going. They're like – 'it's going to come Willow'. And eventually it did, and now the floodgates might be open for me."

My hope is that it does exactly that - open the floodgates for a woman whose U SPORTS career saw her dent twine 50 times in 132 games. She's an incredible player to watch, and seeing that smile after she scored her first PWHL goal felt like the old Kaitlin Willoughby that terrorized Canada West goalies was back again.

I've heard from several professional hockey players that making the roster isn't where the hard work ends, but that the hardest work comes in keeping that roster spot. Kaitlin Willoughby has travelled between cities to practice and play hockey, work as a nurse, and take classes, so it was clear that she knew how to work hard before ever being signed by the Sceptres and re-signed by the Victoire.

It may have taken 75 PWHL games, but the hours put into reaching that pinnacle for Kailtin Willoughby are countless. Her ear-to-ear smile during the celebration says that all of the hard work, hours away from family, and sacrifices that she made were worth it. It may have been the hardest goal she's ever had to work for, but that's the effort that Kaitlin Willloughby brings to the rink everyday.

Congratulations, Kaitlin, on your first and second PWHL goals!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Three Head-Scratching Years

Far be it for me to question anyone's position in hockey from where I sit, but I always found it strange that the Toronto Maple Leafs hired Bred Treliving to be their general manager three years ago. That's not to say that Treliving wasn't able to do the job, but it's hard to ignore the immense pressure that comes with sitting in the big chair in a city that demands a winner. Being that 1967 is a lifetime ago and the Leafs moving away from a playoff spot has to come with consequences, and Toronto brass made the move today to correct the path the team is on by firing GM Brad Treliving.

The idea of a playoff spot is all but lost at this point in this season, but it's some of the asset mismanagment that likely called for a change in the management structure for the Maple Leafs. After all, the "trade" to move Mitch Marner for Nicolas Roy was one of the worst in the history of the Maple Leafs while his deal to trade prized prospect Fraser Minten and a first-round pick to Boston for Brandon Carlo is hard to even rationalize. Add in baffling free agent signings like John Klingberg, Ryan Reaves, and David Kampf while not finding elite goaltending, and the writing started to appear on the wall.

Toronto won't have a first- or a second-round selection this season at the NHL Draft, so finding some immediate help will have come via trade or free agency. The team will need to make decisions on Calle Jarnkrok, Matias Maccelli, and Nick Robertson, but it's hard to see either of Maccelli or Robertson sticking with Toronto if another team appears interested. Robertson has asked for a trade out of Toronto for the past two seasons before finding a roster spot this season, so we'll have to see if he'll return on a new deal next season.

If that mismanagement of depth players isn't enough, making the decision to fire Sheldon Keefe while hiring the defensively-minded Craig Berube is also a head-scratcher. Keefe recognized that the defence and goaltending was, at best, in the middle of the pack. To counter this, he pushed the offensive side of the play as the Leafs scored a lot during the regular season. That wasn't a great strategy for the Leafs in the playoffs where the defensive play gets ratcheted up a few notches, but Keefe was playing the hand he was dealt.

Treliving was questioned for firing Keefe who was 212-97-40 over parts of five campaigns, but his playoff record shows that success was fleeting as he recorded a 16-21 record in the postseason including a 1-5 series mark. At the time, Treliving stated, "Sheldon is an excellent coach and a great man. However, we determined a new voice is needed to help the team push through to reach our ultimate goal."

Craig Berube was hired by Treliving following his brief success in St. Louis, the Leafs finally won just their second playoff series in more than 20 years under Berube's watch, but the Leafs dropped from 54 wins to 52 wins in 2025 before winning just 31 games to this point this season. If losing Mitch Marner had that much of an effect on the Leafs, this squad under Berube is more than just a few tweaks and minor moves away from being a Stanley Cup contender again.

In three consecutive seasons under Treliving, the number of wins and points fell. For the first time in ten seasons, the Maple Leafs are poised to miss the playoffs. For the first time since 2016, it appears there's a good chance that the Leafs won't have a 30-goal scorer on their roster. Some of that can be attributed to coaching, but a lot of it has to do with the roster that was assembled this season. The Leafs weren't good enough, weren't deep enough, and didn't get the contributions they needed with the personnel they currently have.

As was discussed in yesterday's article about the Golden Knights, accountability for the roster's successes or failures ultimately falls on the general manager. Based on the significant drop-off this season and the slight decline last season, changes had to be expected in Toronto. The first domino fell today with the dismissal of Brad Treliving as the Maple Leafs will look for a new candidate to lead them out of this mess and into a better, more successful era.

I can't deny that Toronto amplifies it by a million times, but hockey is still a results-driven business where winning matters. Brad Treliving is the latest evidence of that reality after being dismissed today.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

It's Time For Some Accountability

I have never met Bruce Cassidy, but people have said that he's a well-spoken, thoughtful man who would give insights to his decisions made while coaching. We can debate all day about his reluctance to name Logan Thompson the starter in Las Vegas, eventually leading to Thompson being traded to Washington where he's now 4-0 against his former team including stoning them in the shootout yesterday, prompting the reaction above. The knee-jerk reaction by Vegas to fire a coach who led the team to the Stanley Cup and who has turned in excellent results since that victory reeks of "what have you done for me lately". Being in a results-driven business, Kelly McCrimmon fired Cassidy and hired John Tortorella for the rest of the season.

Vegas has struggled this season as they currently sit in third-place in the Pacific Division and staring down a first-round matchup with the Edmonton Oilers. They're six points back of the Anaheim Ducks with eight games to play, and they don't face the Ducks again. They still have a shot at capturing first-place in the Pacific Division, but they're going to need some help while playing nearly-perfect hockey from this point forward as the John Tortorella era begins today.

The problem is that the four goaltenders that Vegas has employed this season have a woeful .879 save percentage as they've allowed 216 goals on 1788 shots. The fact that they're even in a playoff spot should surprise people because that kind of mediocre goaltending usually results in management hunting for a significant upgrade between the pipes. Adin Hill, who appears to be Vegas's starter, will bring his 3.10 GAA and .866 save percentage to the playoffs against the likes of McDavid and Draisaitl if Vegas doesn't catch Anaheim.

Logan Thompson played 46 games for the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023-24 where he went 25-14-5 with a 2.70 GAA and a .908 save percentage. Adin Hill, who split time in the crease with Thompson, was 19-12-2 with a 2.71 GAA and a .909 save percentage. As you can see, Thompson likely had every right to believe he could win more games based on his statistics that season, so asking the team for greater responsibility in the crease should have been a discussion where Cassidy and McCrimmon could have laid out a scenario where Thompson was given the opportunity to be the starter, especially after Thompson played well from January through to the playoffs.

Instead, it seemed like there was always going to be a competition between the goalies in Las Vegas, and Thompson made the decision to ask for a trade where he could seek a starter's role with another team. Vegas obliged, and he was traded to Washington at the 2024 NHL Entry Draft in exchange for two third-round picks. The rest, as they say, is history as Vegas has struggled in the crease while Thompson has played well for Washington with two sub-2.50 GAA and .910-or-better seasons, earning a Canadian Olympic roster spot.

Clearly, this problem goes higher than the coach as it wasn't Bruce Cassidy's decision to trade Thompson despite Steven Valiquette's assertion that Cassidy and Pete DeBoer not liking Thompson. Add in the fact that Vegas only has six picks on the first three rounds of the next four NHL Entry Drafts with no first-round picks until 2028, and there's more evidence that management is making bad decisions. It also bears mentioning that Adin Hill and his 3.10 GAA and his .866 save percentage are being paid $6,250,000 until 2031, making the general manager's office the source of Vegas's problems. Spending their way into division titles was a win-now ideology.

Perhaps spending $12 million per season on Mitch Marner was a good idea in the moment as Adin Hill held a 2.47 GAA and a .906 save percentage, but those numbers were the best numbers Hill has posted in any NHL season to date with the number of games he played. They weren't trending in that direction; they were an aberration away from his rather pedestrian baseline numbers. McCrimmon went seeking more help in the crease when he gambled on Carter Hart which, for the most part, has been an utter disaster on the ice as well as for the team's public image, and his follows his trade of fan favourite Marc-Andre Fleury, bailing on Robin Lehner when he needed help, and trading away Thompson. Now we'll see another coach to try cover up the damage that McCrimmon has caused with his short-sighted, win-at-all-costs mentality.

At some point, Kelly McCrimmon has to be responsible for the team he's assembled. Yes, the coach can and will make mistakes when it comes to player deployment or line combinations, but Bruce Cassidy proved he has the skills to do the job with the Stanley Cup ring he earned. Instead, this year's push will fall to John Tortorella after McCrimmon fired Cassidy one day after the Logan Thompson fist pump at the end of the shootout. Tortorella is only signed through to the end of the season, so this coaching carousel could start up again the moment that Vegas is eliminated from the 2026 playoffs.

Perhaps at that point, Kelly McCrimmon will finally be held responsible for results turned in by Kelly McCrimmon's team.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

I Forgot About Marty

Marty McSorley isn't a player that one forgets about thanks to his impact on the game when he played. The 62 year-old enforcer was a decent defenceman who was known more for throwing knuckles than making crisp passes, but he was memorable. Whether it was the illegal stick in the 1993 Stanley Cup Final or the stick-swinging incident against the Vancouver Canucks, McSorley may also be remembered for the major mistakes he made while playing the game. One of the things that I forgot, though, was that he took bit parts in movies while playing for the Los Angeles Kings, and I encountered one of those movies tonight as I was searching for something to watch.

Known mostly for wearing #33, I had forgotten that he wore both #36 and #55 while skating for the New York Rangers during his nine-game stint in Manhattan that saw him, Shane Churla, and Jari Kurri traded to New York from Los Angeles on March 14, 1996 for Ray Ferraro, Nathan LaFayette, Ian Laperriere, Mattias Norstrom, and a draft pick. He had just two assists in those games and held a -6 rating, but he did pick up 21 PIMs during that short spell in The Big Apple.

On April 7, 1995, Columbia Pictures released Bad Boys, an action movie featuring Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, and Tea Leoni that was the directorial debut for Michael Bay while being produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The film brought in just over $140 million at the box office against a production cost of around $20 million, so it seems audiences liked the Smith-Lawrence duo. The studio certainly did as it has now spawned three sequels since the original hit theatres.

As I re-watched the film for the first time in what has to be decades, I found myself shocked when one of the thugs staked out to watch detective Marcus Burnett's house began to look quite familiar to me.

The man on the left is none other than hockey pugilist Marty McSorley in his first Hollywood role as an actor! As per IMDB, his role listed him as "Henchman" in the script, but he got a few lines in the next scene!

Back at the police station, he's intensely interrogated by Detective Sanchez, played by Nestor Serrano, and Detective Ruiz, played by Julio Oscar Mechoso, as they try to get a name out of McSorley's character as to who hired them to watch Burnett's house, eventually getting the name "Fouchet" out of McSorley. The detectives would then piece together the crime and where it would be going down, and all four detectives - Lowery (Smith), Burnett (Lawrence), Sanchez, and Ruiz - set out to capture Fouchet, played by Tchéky Karyo. Commentary on McSorley giving up his boss aside, he played his role well in the film!

If you're wondering how McSorley landed in the film, it's reported that Jerry Bruckheimer began working out and playing hockey with several Los Angeles Kings players including both Luc Robitaille and McSorley. McSorley has also landed in other Bruckheimer productions including Con Air and CSI: Miami, so the hockey connection between the two men seems to have worked out quite nicely for both!

No one will mistake Marty McSorley for Martin Short, Martin Landau, or Martin Sheen, but his small roles saw him work alongside Will Smith, John Malkovich, Nicolas Cage, and Billy Crystal. That's a pretty cool side gig when you consider his "day job" was skating alongside the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, and Joe Thornton. Who else can claim those coworkers for their jobs?

He didn't win an Oscar nor did it help his hockey talents, but I had completely forgotten Marty McSorley was in Bad Boys. Rewatching the film certainly gave a "Michael Bay movie" feeling, but it was pretty cool seeing Marty McSorley's acting debut in the action film!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Trade DUD-Line Day

I have no idea why anyone makes a big day out of Trade Deadline Day any longer. Everyone was making a big deal about how the Nazem Kadri trade from Calgary to Colorado was a "blockbuster", yet all I did was shrug my shoulders because Colorado added a third-line centerman. Yes, Kadri likely could play higher up in the lineup, but Colorado's lineup doesn't need him in the top-six forward group. For as much as TSN, Sportsnet, and the NHL Network make Trade Deadline Day a thing, it's not. And it shouldn't be moving forward.

As we've seen in past years, the best or most intriguing trades were made in the days leading up to the deadline. In the salary cap era, seeing star players switch teams at the deadline rarely happens now, and this year's new set of rules made it even harder for teams tight against the salary cap ceiling to find any sort of wiggle room. Even in the years before the salary cap, some of the biggest trades weren't made on deadline day. How did Trade Deadline Day become notable?

You can argue that 1994 may have been the year when the "excitement" started. That was the year that the New York Rangers loaded up for their Stanley Cup run by trading away Mike Gartner, Tony Amonte, and Todd Marchant to bring in Glenn Anderson, Brian Noonan, Stephane Matteau, and Craig MacTavish in three deals. 1994 also saw Al Iafrate join the Boston Bruins in exchange for Joe Juneau who went to Washington, and St. Louis acquired Craig Janney from Vancouver for Jeff Brown, Bret Hedican, and Nathan Lafayette.

The 1999 trade deadline saw a few more big names on the move as the Detroit Red Wings acquired Chris Chelios, Bill Ranford, Wendel Clark, and Ulf Samuelsson in four deals that saw Anders Eriksson, Kevin Hodson, and six draft picks shipped to three different teams. Vincent Damphousse was traded to San Jose by Montreal for three picks, and a trade that sent Peter Zezel from Vancouver to Anaheim was nullified days later after Zezel refused to join the Ducks.

The 2002 NHL Trade Deadline saw the New Jersey Devils acquire Joe Nieuwendyk and Jamie Langenbrunner from Dallas for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first-round pick. The Devils also acquired Stephane Richer from the Penguins for a seventh-round pick, and then Pittsburgh traded Darius Kasparaitis to Colorado for Rick Berry and Ville Niemenen. However, the number of "big names" being moved was starting to dwindle as star players were dealt earlier.

2008 saw a few known stars dealt on the deadline as the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis from the Atlanta Thrashers for Colby Armstrong, Erik Christiansen, Angelo Esposito, and a first-round pick. Shortly thereafter, the Dallas Stars acquired Brad Richards and Johan Holmqvist from Tampa Bay for Jeff Halpern, Jussi Jokinen, Mike Smith, and a fourth-round pick. Buffalo traded Brian Campbell and a seventh-round pick to the San Jose Sharks for Steve Bernier and a first-round pick. Aside from a few big-name players who were past their primes when they got moved later in the day, 2008 had some NHL stars that changed addresses.

2013 had a few big trades happen on deadline day as the New York Rangers sent Marian Gaborik, Blake Parlett, and Steven Delisle to Columbus for Derek Dorsett, Derick Brassard, John Moore, and a fourth-round pick. Tampa Bay sent Cory Conacher and a fourth-round pick to Ottawa for Ben Bishop. Washington dealt Filip Forsberg to Nashville for Martin Erat and Michael Latta. In the days leading up to the deadline, all of Jaromir Jagr, Jay Bouwmeester, Robyn Regehr, and Jarome Iginla were traded, but why worry about those details?

As stated above, most of the stars were dealt to their new teams prior to the final day of swaps in the NHL over the past thirty years. Don't tell network television producers that, though, because they're already blocking off eight hours and booking three dozen analysts to sit in their studios and break down the deal that sent the fourth-line center to a new team for a mid-round pick for an hour. They can review the bigger trades that happened earlier in the week, but it's not thrilling TV if those analysts aren't breaking blockbuster deals.

It might be time to retire "Trade Deadline Day" when it comes to network television. A one-hour recap with a couple of analysts would be more than enough based on how few "blockbuster" trades there are on the actual deadline day, but we know that won't happen because anyone who doesn't break the biggest trade of the day will lose status as an insider. And none of the personalities want that.

I stopped watching years ago. There aren't the big deals that everyone hopes there will be, and the TV just isn't that good. Maybe next year's deadline will be different, but I wouldn't count on it.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 702

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, invades the UMFM studios once again as there's a pile of hockey chatter to go over from leagues and places all over the North American map. It's been a busy week with playoffs starting, teams pushing for playoff spots, and teams loading up for playoff runs, so we'll talk about a lot of that stuff tonight with a few more stories mixed in. We'll be all over the map as we discuss all sorts of stories tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason dive into a pile of news and information that should be entertaining. They discuss the Cross Border Classic sledge hockey series happening at the Hockey For All Centre this weekend that you should attend, they take a look at the Canada West semifinals which have given us the finalists and Canada West's teams for the National Championships, and they discuss all the non-deadline trades that have happened so far. On top of that, there will be stories about North Dakota going green, Troy Ryan looking for a change, James Hardie's incredible adventure, Maryville University stepping up, and a legend stepped away from the game. It's going to be a busy hour, so settle in for The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat about parahockey action, playoff craziness, ridiculous trades, going green, stepping down, stepping up, an incredible adventure, deserved time off, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: March 5, 2026: Episode 702

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

TBC: We Want Fish Sticks

If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you likely know that I'm a fan of the infamous New York Islanders' Fisherman jersey. That's not to say that I'm not fan of the traditional Islanders jersey nor am I trying to compare the two in terms of which one is better, but I always thought the Islanders were ahead of their time when the Fisherman debuted. The fact that the jerseys lasted for just two seasons after Islanders fans demanded the team go back to the original logo didn't get the jersey any sort of time to become part of the identity, and today's book looks at that as Teebz's Book Club is proud to review We Want Fish Sticks: The Bizarre and Infamous Rebranding of the New York Islanders, written by Nicholas Hirshon and published by University of Nebraska Press. If you were looking for a direct examination into the reasons why the Fisherman jersey failed, this book pulls back the curtain on what happened in Nassau County!

From his biography on his website, Nicholas Hirshon, a former New York City journalist, is an associate professor of communication at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. He holds a Bachelor's in Journalism from St. John's University, a Master's in Journalism from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from Ohio University. Hirshon won an AEJMC Promising Professors Award in 2014 and the Society of Professional Journalists' New Jersey Journalism Educator of the Year Award in 2019. In 2015, his Ohio University students nominated him for a Graduate Associate Outstanding Teaching Award, and he became the first journalism instructor to win the award in eight years. He has published three books on New York City sports in his career.

We Want Fish Sticks is the kind of writing I appreciate because it feels like Hirshon pulled no punches in his quest to understand and illustrate the reasons why the New York Islanders' logo and jersey redesign in the mid-1990s failed so spectacularly. He doesn't sugar-coat stories nor does he soften the words he chooses to describe some of the evidence he provides. In what feels like a journalistic style, Hirshon simply states things matter-of-factly and lets readers come to their own conclusions through the evidence he presents.

For me, the key to We Want Fish Sticks being a credible and reliable source of information about an era that happened thirty years ago is that Hirshon spoke to "fifty-three hockey insiders" about that 1995-97 period of Islanders hockey. While Hirshon admittedly constructed the narrative of the book, these fifty-three insiders gave Hirshon their honest thoughts about that era in Islanders history. Players spoke of wearing the Fisherman jersey. Designers spoke of the process it took to get the logo and jersey onto NHL players. Others simply gave stories that seemed larger than life. In the end, We Want Fish Sticks is an incredible look inside the rebranding process of an NHL team.

Hirshon makes it clear in We Want Fish Sticks that there were missteps at almost every key point in the rebranding of the New York Islanders. Whether it be rushing to get it into production from the design aspect, ignoring market research, having a less-than-competitive NHL team, hiring the wrong people, absentee owners, and a con man who was eventually thrown in jail, all of these factors seemed to contribute to the Fisherman's failure. It wasn't one major problem, but We Want Fish Sticks points to the Islanders' rebrand failing due to death by a thousand cuts with the mistakes made.

Not surprisingly, Hirshon illustrates this well when he wrote,

"Within the franchise the logo quickly became a scapegoat for the Islanders' poor play. Only two months into the season the team already had two four-game losing streaks, and the players' dislike for the jerseys had them searching for other motivations to get through a long season. Rich Pilon said that he stayed driven by focusing on the men sitting beside him on the bench. "You put the jersey on for the team, so to look past that when you're wearing that jersey that I didn't care for on my side - lots of players didn't either - then you're playing for teammates, right?"

That kind of recap about how the first two months of wearing the Fisherman went likely doesn't give anyone a good feeling. One could say that the jerseys had nothing to do with how the team played which is true, but it seems like the Fisherman logo was emblematic of the problems behind the logo within the Islanders' franchise.

We Want Fish Sticks isn't all doom and gloom, though. Hirshon spoke of some of the positives that the franchise experienced during this time period as well. The emergence of players like Žigmund Pálffy and Travis Green gave fans hope for better times, and the acquisitions of Bryan Smolinski and Mathieu Schneider bolstered a lineup that needed some star power. Victories over the hated New York Rangers were celebrated by all Islanders fans, and people were jubilant over John Spano's reported puchase of the team until they weren't. We Want Fish Sticks highlights all of this and the fallout.

Overall, We Want Fish Sticks is an incredible look at the four-year period where the idea of an Islanders' rebrand began to its inception to its eventual end. Hirshon's interviews and research gives fans an incredible look into the NHL branding process while following the rather sad fortunes of the Fisherman Islanders jersey. We Want Fish Sticks won't change my view on the Fisherman jersey nor will it prompt me to sell the one I have, but Hirshon's incredible look at the New York Islanders' most forgettable period of time in their history is absolutely deserving of the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval!

We Want Fish Sticks was published in 2018, but it can still be ordered through the University of Nebraska Press website if one wants a copy. Alternatively, you might be able to find a copy at your local bookstore or library. No matter where you find a copy, We Want Fish Sticks is a good read for all hockey fans, especially New York Islanders fans, and is recommended for all without any of the mocking chants!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 691

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, was all set and ready for a night of laughs and hockey action while being live at a local rink, but Mother Nature had other ideas as Winnipeg was walloped by a snowstorm last night. Since then, it feels like I've been chasing my tail in trying to ensure plans are still on, coming up with contingency plans, and figuring out whether traveling to anywhere is worth the effort. The good news is that we figured it all out by 3pm CT today - yes, we cut it close! - but we'll be talking hockey tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

We'll start with the live broadcast being cancelled due to traveling anywhere in the city or coming into the city was treacherous to say the least. With Teebz and Jason settled at their humble abodes, they discuss the 2028 World Junior Championship location that was named this week, the ridiculous saga into which the EIHL's Fife Flyers have gotten themselves, a similar situation with the EIHL's Sheffield Steelers, an interesting study was done on youth hockey helmets, and there was a massive trade in the NHL. All of these topics are examined tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat tournament locations, bad signings, smart releases, terrible decisions, protecting brains, saving money, trading a superstar, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: December 18, 2025: Episode 691

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

V̅DCCI On A Big Day

I found this Stuart Skinner facial expression funny and appropriate today for a number of reasons. I'll get to the reason for the title in a second, but the biggest reason was because the man making the facial expression was traded in what was being described as a "blockbuster" trade by pundits hours before an actual blockbuster trade happened. Perhaps we should stop throwing around hyperbole? At this point, everyone is asking why this trade was made, but I think we need to look deeper than the key pieces of the deal. There's one player involved who could be the lynchpin for a better season for another player and his new team if he's played correctly.

Yes, Quinn Hughes is now part of the Minnesota Wild after the Vancouver Canucks opted not to wait to see if the trade offers would get any better, but that's not the trade I want to look at today despite how intriguing that may be. Instead, I'm curious about the earlier trade that happened between the Edmonton Oilers and the Pittsburgh Penguins where goaltender Stuart Skinner, defenceman Brett Kulak, and a 2029 second-round pick were traded in exchange for goaltender Tristan Jarry and mostly-AHL forward Sam Poulin.

It might come as a surprise to most that the Penguins would trade Jarry at this point in the season when it seems he's having his best campaign in some time, but Jarry has never been a poor performer in the regular season behind the Penguins' lineup. Just once in the last seven seasons has he finished a season with a record below .500, so he's been good enough to help the Penguins fight for a playoff spot. That goal hasn't always been reached, but Jarry gave the Penguins middle-of-the-pack goaltending whenever he was in the crease.

The catch, for me, was that the Penguins still have the remainder of this season and two more seasons where they were paying Tristan Jarry $5.375 million annually for a goaltender who hasn't won a Stanley Cup playoff game since 2021. That should be concerning to anyone who wants to see Sidney Crosby hoist the Stanley Cup one more time before he retires, but Jarry has never been known to steal games at any point either. He's had some good games in his career, but I can't recall anyone saying a team got "goalied" by Jarry.

Between inconsistent play and injuries, a lot of people struggled with the how Kyle Dubas paid Jarry more than $5 million per season when he was re-signed in 2023. At 28, he hadn't really shown a knack for winning big games, but, again, he was good enough to help the Penguins reach their goal of competing for a Stanley Cup. Not lost on anyone is the fact that this season, with Jarry now 30 years-old, was looking like another opportunity for the Penguins to take a shot.

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, perhaps Kyle Dubas finally stumbled upon that reality when Edmonton Oilers GM Stan Bowman reached out last week about Jarry's availability. With the Oilers having cap space issues already, they needed to open some space, so flipping Stuart Skinner back to Pittsburgh was something that had to be done no matter who wanted to keep him. The other piece, however, is the player that intrigues me the most for what he might be able to do beside a player like Kris Letang or Erik Karlsson based on his history.

Karlsson is having his best season in years on both sides of the puck, and part of that reason is due to his defensive partner in Parker Wotherspoon. Every advanced statistical measure has Karlsson excelling with Wotherspoon beside him, handling the load of the defensive responsibilities while Karlsson pushes the play. That's not to say that Karlsson isn't having a strong defensive season, but it allows Karlsson to do what he does best more often in pushing the offence from the blue line. The end result is Karlsson is thriving again.

Kris Letang, meanwhile, has logged most of his ice time with Ryan Shea who, at times, looks out of place beside Letang. Their advanced metrics - Corsi-For percentage and Shots-For percentage - are both below 50% despite their expected-goals being above 50%. While the Penguins are finishing their offensive plays with Letang and Shea together, this seems unsustainable if Letang and Shea are deployed against better defensive opposition or with players who are less offensively-inclined. Something has to change on this pairing.

That's where Brett Kulak's acquisition is, on paper, the most important piece of this trade. You can see in the 2024 analysis done by The Oil Rig that Kulak was invaluable to the Oilers regardless of which side of the ice he played. Kulak made his defensive partner better - specifically Darnell Nurse - when played away from the likes of McDavid and Draisaitl. Kulak can play both sides of the ice, and he appears to be a more experienced version of Parker Wotherspoon.

Kulak, this season, had been paired mostly with Ty Emberson where he hasn't seen the same advanced statistical success, but there's a significant difference between Emberson's play and Nurse's play. That's where acquiring Kulak might benefit Letang and the Penguins if head coach Dan Muse decided to pair the playoff-tested Kulak with the free-wheeling Kris Letang. The proof may be in the 181 games playing beside oft-described "defensive liability" Evan Bouchard where Kulak and Bouchard had a CF% of 56.81 and an xG% of 55.45 while just having 35 offensive zone starts. They were good together.

I'll be very intrigued to see how Muse employs Kulak in Pittsburgh, so highlighting this trade as a goalie-for-goalie swap, while factual, might hide the underlying acquisition that Dubas sought. If the blue line gets better with a defence-first defender, the goaltending should improve as well. The opposite can be said in Edmonton where we'll have to watch to see if Emberson's number start to fall without Kulak beside him. If they do, Jarry may not be the answer after all.

I don't do a lot of advanced statistical analysis on this blog because I'm not all that convinced that stats are the be-all and end-all in hockey. I do like to watch trends, though, so asking the questions as to why Brett Kulak was included in this deal was one that required a little more digging. After all, good defensive players are harder to identify because there aren't many statistics that support what they do, but Kulak's comparisons with respect to who he plays beside tell a story that says Brett Kulak makes true offensive defenders better.

As for the title of the article, you may need to brush up on your Roman numerals because today is article #6701 - V̅DCCI in ancient Rome - on this blog. It's a big day whenever I pass by a new checkpoint, and it makes me laugh that I've had 6700 thoughts about hockey that I've published here. That's a baffling number to me.

Where does this ride stop? I have no idea, but post #6800 is not even on the horizon. Let's just take it one day at a time for now.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 680

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, hits the airwaves tonight with the business of hockey in the air as we sit less than one week out from opening night of the NHL season and just one day out from the start of the Canada West hockey season! With rinks gearing up for hockey, the financial people will be patting each other on the back as the NHL franchise valuations were published. There are some big numbers in that discussion, so our hosts will grab their calculators and dig into the numbers tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will dive into the Sportico article that looks at the valuations of all 32 NHL franchises. There were a few teams who jumped up the list while others may leave you scratching your head. After breaking all that down, our hosts will look at an oblivious baseball guy, the potential for another Canada West hockey team getting closer, there was some history made in Delaware, two NHL teams make curious goaltending moves, a former top-ten draft pick is on the move again, New Mexico has an ECHL team now, and there are some ECHL news and notes to discuss. It's another busy show with a lot to go over from the hockey world on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. It's a solid app.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason discuss big money, dumb statements, returning teams, new teams, historic firsts, goalie trades, underachieves, key dates, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: October 2, 2025: Episode 680

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Stop-Gap Goaltending

HBIC is not a blog where you'll read a lot of Toronto Maple Leafs news mainly because this site lives by the ABT motto: Anybody But Toronto. In saying that, I do want to extend a heartfelt wish for all things positive to Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll who left the team to attend to a personal family matter. I'm hoping it's not something that involves the loss of a family member, but I also respect his privacy so I shall not comment or speculate further. The Leafs, though, are now down a starting goalie with Woll being away from the team, and they decided to dip into the free agent pool and jump back to 2012 to solve their stopper problem.

The Leafs announced that goaltender James Reimer had signed a professional tryout contract with the team to stabilize the goaltending position while Woll is on his personal leave. The 37 year-old Reimer played with Anaheim and Buffalo last season, posting a 10-10-2 record. His two losses with Anaheim aside, Reimer posted very respectable numbers with the Sabres as he had a 2.85 GAA and a .901 save percentage in 22 games with the always-brutal Sabres.

Reimer will likely see a number of starts if Woll doesn't return by October 8. 24-year-old Dennis Hildeby has just six NHL games on his resume, and the oft-injured Anthony Stolarz is the other option who will likely form the goaltending tandem for the Leafs until Woll's ready to play. Stolarz and Reimer are a very capable goaltending pair, so the Leafs shouldn't see a serious drop-off in the crease when it comes to potentially stopping pucks and winning games.

You culd argue that 28 year-old Ilya Samsonov might have been a better signing, but it might be a tough sell to return to the team for a guy that Toronto let walk in the summer of 2024. Outside of Samsonov, Alexandar Georgiev would be another goalie with notable NHL experience who is still unsigned, but his numbers were worse than those of Reimer. In short, the Reimer is the Leafs' best option.

The question will be what to do with Reimer when Woll returns. If the Leafs intend on having the best goaltending they can, they can turn this opportunity for Reimer into a three-goalie competition where the top-two netminders remain as the team's tandem. However, with Woll signing a three-year deal last season that kicks in on October 8, this might be the Leafs' way of trying to figure out the second goaltending roster spot between Reimer and Stolarz. Either way, one of those two netminders will likely be waived or traded once Woll returns.

Reimer where he needs to show he can be an elite goaltender immediately, but that pressure doesn't seem to be affecting him.

"I haven't had that much fun in a long time," Reimer said after Saturday's practice. "It's been a special experience to be back here. A lot of memories and a lot of good emotions and really enjoying the moment and just enjoying being back. It's a lot of fun."

"This is where I started," he continued, answering a second question. "This is where the whole thing got going. It's a special city. I mean, it's the greatest game on earth and the greatest city to play the game in. I got so many good memories. I'm sure there were some bad memories in there. I don’t remember any of them. I'm sure nobody else does either."

All joking aside, Reimer was traded from the Leafs to the San Jose Sharks with Jeremy Morin for Alex Stalock, Ben Smith, and conditional third-round pick in the 2018 draft on February 27, 2016 as the Leafs went with Jonathan Bernier and Garrett Sparks as their tandem. Stalock played for the Marlies for one season, Ben Smith spent 52 games in Leafs' colours, and that 2018 pick turned out to be Riley Stotts who has now played four seasons of Canada West hockey.

Roster mismanagement in 2016 aside, Reimer continued to be an NHL goalie as he bounced around the league, so the Leafs should look to try and maximize Reimer's trade value by playing him as the starter. As a 37 year-old on a PTO, he's clearly the most expendable between himself and Stolarz, but, if he shows some skill and is waived, it's likely a team needing a goalie will claim him and the Leafs will lose him for nothing. And it kind of feels like 2016 all over again.

This is the problem with stop-gap goaltending. Had the Leafs been developing a netminder who was ready to take the next step, bringing in James Reimer wouldn't be necessary. That's not to say that Reimer can't or won't be a solid netminder for however long he's in Toronto this time, but this wouldn't even have been a discussion had Dennis Hildeby or Artur Akhtyamov been ready. The Leafs clearly believe they're not, so Reimer is the stop-gap until Woll returns.

Whatever happens to Reimer after Woll returns is the result of the Leafs not having an NHL-ready replacement at the AHL level upon who they can call. I don't fault James Reimer for seizing the opportunity to return to Toronto and play for the Maple Leafs again, but it seems like his days are already numbered as a stop-gap goalie.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Almost A Capital

Back in 1996, there were a handful of centerman that were highly coveted by teams. One such player was Jeremy Roenick who, after seven seasons with the Blackhawks, was traded to in the summer of 1996 after he became a restricted free agent and was reportedly seeking an annual salary somewhere between $4.5 million and $6 million. Chicago Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz was never shy about not giving into salary demands when it came to his star players, and the Blackhawks dealt Roenick's rights to the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for Alexei Zhamnov, Craig Mills, and a 1997 first-round selection. Roenick would eventually sign in Phoenix and have a solid campaign, but one has to wonder if things would have been better in DC.

You might be thinking, "Teebz, where are you coming up with this madness?", but it seems that Roenick was set on getting paid in 1996. One of the teams he met with as a restricted free agent was the Washington Capitals who desperately needed a first-line center.

On August 20, 1996, the Associated Press reported that Roenick met with Capitals GM David Poile "for six hours" about joining the Capitals!

It's not a stretch to suggest that the Capitals may have been seeking a better centerman than Michal Pivonka to play alongside Peter Bondra, and Jeremy Roenick would certainly be an upgrade on the likes of Pivonka, Joe Juneau, and Dale Hunter. Add in the fact that Washington had added Phil Housley to a blue line that boasted both Sergei Gonchar and Calle Johansson, and it looked like the Capitals were gearing up for a big 1996-97 season in the Atlantic Division.

This meeting came four days after the Coyotes had acquired Roenick's rights, so one had to wonder why the Coyotes weren't aggressively trying to sign their newest star. It seems the Coyotes weren't interested in paying Roenick what he believed he was worth just like Chicago, and that prompted Roenick to seek employment with other NHL teams who would pay what he wanted to be paid.

Obviously, we know that Washington didn't sign Roenick as he never appeared in a Capitals' jersey in his career, and he would eventually sign a five-year, $20-million contract with the Phoenix Coyotes on October 15 after the Coyotes needed a centerman following an injury to Cliff Ronning. It seems that for all the nickel-and-diming the Coyotes were doing, the contract made sense with Roenick finishing the 1996-97 season with 29 goals and 69 points in 72 games.

Phoenix would fall in seven games to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the opening round of the 1997 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but that was further than Washington got as the Capitals missed the playoff altogether. Clearly, the Capitals could have used Roenick as much as the Coyotes needed him, but we'll never know if he could have made a bigger impact in Washington than what he made in Phoenix.

JR in DC - it almost happened in the summer of 1996!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Next Door To Gretzky

I always thought that the comparisons that people made between Wayne Gretzky and Eric Lindros were unfair to Lindros. That's not to say that he wasn't a great junior player where he stood as a man among boys, but we saw him look exceptional before Scott Stevens caught him in the trolley tracks. That's not to say that Lindros wasn't a good player after he got his bell rung, but I feel like any comparisons between players in somewhat different eras is unfair. What might have given Lindros more of an honest comparison would have been part of a season in the second-best league on the planet before reaching the NHL like Wayne Gretzky had. That almost happened in southern California in 1992.

As most hockey fan are aware, Eric Lindros was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in 1991 which immediately set off fireworks as Lindros refused to wear the Nordiques' jersey at the draft and refused to play for the team. In 1992, he opted to join the Canadian National Team which was heading to the Olympics in Albertville, France as he and his agent aimed to force a trade from Quebec to anywhere else.

Canada fell to the Unified Team in 1992 in capturing the silver medal, but Lindros showed his worth as he score five goals and 11 points in eight Olympic games while playing alongside names like Dave Tippett, Joe Juneau, Sean Burke, Kent Manderville, and Jason Woolley. The Canadians were a solid team, and the addition of the young Lindros made them more formidable as they marched toward the podium.

With the saga in Quebec over him playing for the Nordiques continuing, speculation ramped up as to where he may be traded. Quebec seemed in no hurry to make a deal with anyone as they still wanted Lindros as the centerpiece for their rebuild, but Lindros' camp held firm that he would not be wearing the fleur-de-lis. That's when a new IHL owner decided to enter the bidding war!

According to the following article from the February 28, 1992 edition of the Brandon Sun, the Associated Press reported that soon-to-be San Diego Gulls owner Fred Comrie had made an offer to Lindros to join the IHL club for the remainder of 1992 and all of 1993!

It shouldn't come as any surprise that Comrie couldn't offer NHL money for Lindros to play with the Gulls, but he would have been joining a Gulls team that was on the upswing. In 1992, the Gulls finished with a 45-28-9 record before absolutely crushing the IHL in 1992-93 with a 62-12-8 record. Led by Dmitri Kvartalnov, Ray Whitney, and Ron Duguay, the addition of Lindros would have been interesting to see considering how offensively-minded the IHL was.

Of course, we know Lindros never signed in 1992 to finish the season in San Diego, and he never actually played in any professional league other than the NHL as he avoided the minor leagues throughout his career. The Nordiques would end up trading Lindros to both the Flyers and Rangers at the 1992 NHL Entry Draft only for the NHL to rule that the trade to Philadelphia happened first, meaning that Lindros was a Flyers' forward. From there, it was all on Eric Lindros to make the most of his career. 372 goals and 865 points later, I'd say he did well.

I still wonder how Lindros would have looked with the Gulls in 1992 with Kvartalnov leading the IHL with 60 goals and 118 points, Len Hachborn leading the IHL with 73 assists and third in scoring with 107 points, and Ray Whitney scoring 36 goals and 90 points. Adding a player of Lindros' size and skill would have made the Gulls even better, and they may have even rivaled the Los Angeles Kings' popularity in California following the 1988 Wayne Gretzky trade.

Sometimes, I wish I could see an alternate reality where Eric Lindros joined the IHL's San Diego Gulls or Quebec Nordiques just to see how things played out. Until that's a superpower I possess, I'll just have to ask "what if" and wonder if the Gulls could have been bigger.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!