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Road To The Cup - Mar. 11 2019 - Vol. 72 Issue 11 - Sheng Peng

THE WINNIPEG JETS ARE going to win the Stanley Cup in 2019. It’s true because the guys from The Hockey News wrote it in the paper. Or at least we predicted it in our annual Future Watch issue four years ago. And nothing has happened so far this season to cause us to backpedal from that prediction. So much has to go so right for a team to be the last one standing in June, and that will be the case again this year. But take one look at the Jets and it’s clear they have the size, the skill and the depth to be that team and end the 26-year Stanley Cup drought for Canada.

THERE WASN’T ANY HISTORY BEFORE US. WE GOT A CHANCE TO START A NEW CHAPTER, AND I’M PRETTY HAPPY TO BE A PART OF THAT

– Blake Wheeler

Before they can do that, though, the Jets have to get through the grind of the regular season. And it doesn’t get any grindier than a three-game trip though the Atlantic Division in February. This is the point in the season when the truly elite teams begin to separate themselves from the rest of the league. Sitting atop the Western Conference with fewer than 30 games remaining, Winnipeg has done just that. Sure, there are some trouble spots, as there are with any team, and this road trip will reveal Winnipeg’s few remaining warts. But the Jets are exactly where most people thought they’d be. They’ve gotten there with a good level of consistency heading into this road trip, which is a compressed one – three games in four days, including back-to-back afternoon affairs. They’re 14-10-0 on the road, a decent mark by NHL standards, and they swept a three-game trip through New York and New Jersey in December, so nobody would’ve been surprised if they came out of this one with three more victories.

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But there are no easy games in the NHL, not even when you’re the second-best team in the standings. This is a trip where the Jets can create distance between themselves and the Nashville Predators and they know it. Coming off a 3-2 overtime loss at home to the San Jose Sharks, it’s time for the Jets to hit the road and get back to work.

IT’S THE KIND OF morning that would make even the most fervent Montrealer wish to be somewhere else. Somewhere warm. It’s not the lose-the-will-to-live kind of biting cold that can sometimes grip Montreal. It’s that dreary, wet, windy frigidity that hangs in the air and chills the body to the bone. You wake up, and the first meaningful relationship you have is with your ice scraper. All the cars, caked in wet snow and salt, look as though they’ve just driven through a war zone.

The excitement of the Christmas holiday season now sits distantly in the rearview mirror. Neither Punxsutawney Phil nor Wiarton Willie saw his shadow just five days earlier, which is supposed to signal an early spring. But it’s clear those mangy beasts are only trolling us. These are truly the dog days of winter, and it’s usually the same for NHL teams as well. They’re all up over the 50-game mark by now, and there has been some tough sledding to get here. But there’s still a good chunk of the schedule left to play, and the frenzy of the playoff race is still miles away. If there’s ever a tedious point in the season, this is it.

A frozen, pea soup-thick haze envelops the city. But for the combatants in this game, things couldn’t be any brighter. The Jets and the Canadiens both play in cities where the NHL really means something, even a mid-season interconference game like this, and both teams are riding high. One is right where it should be, atop the Central Division. The other is defying expectations and thumbing its nose at the critics by holding its own in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

The Jets have done nothing to sway our opinion that the good people of Winnipeg will be swatting away mosquitoes this June as they watch the Stanley Cup parade through the intersection of Portage and Main. And on this night, they get a big piece of the championship puzzle back in defenseman Dustin Byfuglien. At 6-foot-5 and 260 pounds of ill temper and surprising skill, Byfuglien is a steamroller of a player who can impact the game in many ways. He’s been out with the ubiquitous lower-body injury (who’s kidding whom here, it was his left knee) for the past 15 games, after an innocent-looking hit behind the net by Luke Kunin of Minnesota.

But tonight he’s back, and the Jets are that much more dangerous. There’s a spring in their step this morning, one you can see near the visitors’ dressing room as Jack Roslovic, fresh off scoring a bazillion goals and being named player of the week, and Brandon Tanev casually sink three-pointers in a basket propped up on the wall that looks a little higher than the regulation 10 feet. “Oooh, that’s wet. You think that’s wet?” says Roslovic as he drains one of four consecutive shots.

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The morning skate is an age-old routine that traces its roots back to the Summit Series in 1972, when North America took notice of the fact the Soviets were being put through gruelling practice-like workouts on game days. The NHL followed suit and over the past half-century the routine has been seen as a way to get the kinks out before a game. Its validity has been questioned, and there’s little evidence to suggest it either hurts or enhances performance. But NHL players are creatures of habit, so it continues.

Prime practice time has been at premium for the Jets anyway, so this morning skate is somewhat necessary. Having played just two games in 12 days early in the season on their trip to Finland, coupled with their eight-day bye week in January, the Jets’ schedule has become an experiment in cramming 82 games into the season. On this trip, for example, they play three games in four days, and two of them are in the afternoon. So, in a five-day period (they take the day off after they return) they’ll have just one practice and one morning skate.

This one is also another chance for Byfuglien to get some reps in before his return to the lineup. Winnipeg has gone 10-4-1 without him, which speaks more to the team’s depth, particularly on the blueline, than it does about Byfuglien. Blake Wheeler, captain and undisputed spokesman for the team, stands in front of his stall answering all forms of questions from all sorts of media types, who use morning skates as a way to gather information in a more casual setting. After the crowd disperses, Wheeler is asked if Byfuglien’s presence makes the Jets skate a little taller, or at least changes the complexion of their roster and how their opponent prepares for them. “You know that’s a rhetorical question, right?” Wheeler says. “Just making sure. He makes us a better team in every way, shape and form.”

What you might not know about Byfuglien is that the guy is some kind of riot in the dressing room. The players love the give-and-take with him, and he dishes it out just as well as he takes it. That might be a surprise, since the general perception of him is one of a quiet, even shy, behemoth who rarely speaks publicly and looks extremely uncomfortable while saying little when he does. Byfuglien spoke the day before the game but doesn’t on this one. He’ll pretty much go into hibernation on the public front until the playoffs. But when he gets behind the dressing room door, he goes from being quiet and reserved to a force of nature. And the Jets follow his lead.

OUR TEAM HAS WAY MORE FUN WHEN HE’S IN THE LINEUP. HIS PERSONALITY IS BIG. WHEN HE’S IN OUR ROOM, EVERYBODY HAS MORE FUN

– Paul Maurice on Dustin Byfuglien

“Our team has way more fun when he’s in the lineup,” Maurice says. “His personality is big. We have three different leaders. Blake Wheeler is just driven and intense and on fire each night. Mark (Scheifele) is the real cerebral guy, but he’s also the youngest of the group, so he handles that middle group. Dustin is, in a very competitive way, the opposite side of Blake. If the game is tied and there’s five minutes left and all the pressure is on, you’re going to catch him with a smile on his face. He has fun out there. Blake enjoys it too, but he’s snarling because they’re wired differently. When he’s in our room, everybody has more fun. It’s just funnier. Better chirps.”

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Explaining the difference between Byfuglien’s public persona and the one his teammates see, Wheeler describes it like this: “This is his environment. These are the people he trusts.”

In another corner of the room sits Brendan Lemieux. It’s a huge night for him. Not only is he continuing to gain Maurice’s trust, but every positive outing is another layer to the snowbank, which is important for a 22-year-old trying to establish himself as an everyday NHLer while playing for a second contract. He’s been scoring of late, too, and is becoming one-third of an effective fourth line with Andrew Copp and Mason Appleton. But the leash is short. When Lemieux was suspended two games for his headshot on Vincent Trochek during the Finland trip, he ended up a healthy scratch in seven of the 10 games after he returned. No Jets regular logs less than the 7:18 of ice time Lemieux averages, and in his first 40 games the most he saw was 13:13. But the only Jet with more penalty minutes is Byfuglien, and at this point in the season, Lemieux is bordering on double-digits in goals. “We’ve always known there’s some scoring there, but in truth, if the coach doesn’t put you out on the ice, you’re not going to score,” Maurice says. “If we can get him into the teens with the ice time he’s getting, we’d be really happy.”

This is also a big night for Lemieux because it’s the first time as an NHLer he’ll be playing in Montreal, the city where his father won one of his four Stanley Cups and forged an identity as one of the most enormous pains in the ass in hockey history. Claude Lemieux is one of the few players whose career points-per-game in the playoffs (0.68) exceeds his production in the regular season (0.65). With 158 career playoff points, he sits 26th all-time in that category. The only player with more who is not either in the Hall of Fame or en route there is Bobby Smith. Brendan may never equal his father’s exploits when it comes to points and Stanley Cups, but they’re undoubtedly cut from the same cloth. “I don’t know what it is about us, but it’s easier for me to piss people off than to make people happy,” Brendan says. “I’m lucky to be in a business where you can make a living doing that. That part comes natural. Playing hard pisses people off, and I have only one speed, pretty much in anything I do.”

It’s easy to see why Brendan is so popular on this day, given the local connection. But surprisingly, he doesn’t speak a word of French. His half-brothers Christopher and Michael do, but Brendan was born in Colorado, three months before his father won the 1996 Stanley Cup with the Avalanche, and he did most of his schooling in Arizona and California. As a teenager, he and his father moved to Toronto so he could play in the Greater Toronto Hockey League and attend an elite sports academy before playing four seasons in the OHL. His mother isn’t French, and his father never forced him to learn the language. “He never taught me,” Brendan says. “He was too busy learning English from my mom.”

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Like a lot of things that receive too much hype and expectation, this game fails to live up to its billing, though not for the Habs. They execute a perfect plan by turning the contest into a track meet. Even though the Jets are big and fast, they’re beaten to almost every puck and, worse, are goaded into a bevy of turnovers by a team that is on them every time they look up during the 5-2 loss. “Players were bad, coaches were bad, food was bad,” says Maurice in his post-game scrum. “Hope the plane works.”

THE FIRST ITEM ON the day’s agenda is to figure out what “red rotten” means. Maurice used it to describe his team the previous night and nobody can figure it out. It certainly stumped Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun and Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press, two reporters who represent an anomaly in Canada – competing newspapers that aren’t owned by the same company. As the Jets work out at a local rink in Ottawa with a skeleton crew of players, it’s the main topic of conversation. Maurice doesn’t even put his skates on today, deferring to his assistants to run a makeshift practice. Instead, he pulls up in a vacant dressing room for his daily update.

So what exactly does “red rotten” mean? “You’ve never heard that before?” Maurice asks. “Well, it means really f---in’ bad. Really rotten. Overripe.”

By that time, Maurice will have watched the video of yesterday’s game a couple times over. His attention to detail is legendary. One year when he was a television analyst for the playoffs, he used to spend all day watching every game from the first round and breaking it down. He was astounded that not everyone on the panel did that. On this day, he talks about his fondest memories as a child, watching the Montreal Canadiens on a Saturday night when his mother would give him popcorn with so much butter that he could barely see through his glass of pop and his father would swear at the television in both official languages. The Canadiens were a juggernaut, winning four straight Stanley Cups in the late 1970s. “I was Guy Lafleur, then I was Larry Robinson,” Maurice says. “Then reality hit.”

In his first year of major junior with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, Maurice was hit in the right eye with a puck, and it robbed him of 90 percent of his vision in the eye. But instead of taking a $50,000 insurance policy and retiring, he played out his junior career and retired as the Spits’ captain.

You wonder if Maurice rehearses some of what comes out of his mouth or whether it’s off the cuff. Perhaps it’s a little of both. Either way, it’s almost always gold. In his last year of junior, he was offered an assistant coaching job in major junior by owner Peter Karmanos, who would later purchase the Hartford Whalers and move them to Raleigh. “He told me I had a job for life,” Maurice once said. “And then after 17 years I got fired. Where’s the loyalty?” Maurice is the kind of guy who will get asked about the power play and say, “We’re workin’ on it,” then look around to the media throng to see if anyone catches the Slap Shot reference.

Sometimes it seems as though Paul Maurice was personally delivered to southeastern Manitoba on a chariot from the hockey gods. To be sure, there isn’t a better marriage of coach, market and roster in the league.

In January 2014, months after a one-year coaching stint in Russia, Maurice had made peace with the fact he was going to finish his hockey career as a TV analyst. He was undeterred by his two previous stints in broadcasting: for the 2005 World Championship in Austria, when he stood in the rain for two hours while they fed tape back, and the 2014 Winter Classic, when the heater broke in the broadcast booth and he sat and froze for six hours. He liked talking hockey and figured after two stints with the Carolina Hurricanes and one with the Toronto Maple Leafs, plus six years in the OHL and one in the AHL, the coaching carousel wouldn’t be coming around again.

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Less than two weeks after that Winter Classic, however, Maurice got a call from Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff. The Jets were floundering below .500 under another career coach, Claude Noel, and in danger of missing the playoffs a third straight year. Cheveldayoff had met Maurice only once in passing at a hotel in Washington when Cheveldayoff was going to the White House with the Chicago Blackhawks the same time Maurice’s Hurricanes were in town. Larry Simmons, Cheveldayoff’s assistant GM in Winnipeg, recalled that he had interviewed Maurice for the coaching job when Simmons worked for the Atlanta Thrashers. He kept his notes from that exchange, and the more Simmons talked about the interview, the more Cheveldayoff was convinced Maurice was his man. So, he called Maurice with a job offer for the rest of that season, basically giving both parties a chance to test drive the other before making a commitment. “We shook hands over the phone and I don’t think we even put anything on paper,” Cheveldayoff says. “He came in and it was clear from the beginning that he was a leader and commanded a lot of respect in our room. He had an immediate chemistry with Blake Wheeler, and had an immediate influence on Dustin Byfuglien. I wouldn’t call him a players’ coach, but he coaches for the players. He’s not a guy who’s coaching for his next job, so that gives him that confidence that he exudes all the time.”

YOU’VE NEVER HEARD RED ROTTEN BEFORE? WELL, IT MEANS REALLY F---IN’ BAD. REALLY ROTTEN. OVERRIPE

– Paul Maurice

The loss to San Jose prior to the road trip was Maurice’s 1,500th NHL game as a coach, something only five other men have done in league history. His teams have not always been good. Maurice’s career winning percentage is under .500, and his teams have missed the playoffs in 10 of the 17 full seasons he has been behind an NHL bench. He did coach Carolina to the Cup final in 2002, but this Jets team represents his best hope to win a Cup and join the legends ahead of him on the all-time games-coached list. Winnipeg enjoys the rare combination of being both extremely good and extremely young. Most contending teams in the league don’t have this many young players, which presents Maurice with the dual challenge of winning games while developing the kids. The Jets entered the season with an average age of 25.8, tied for the second-youngest team in the league with the Columbus Blue Jackets, just slightly behind the Hurricanes.

The youngest of them is Patrik Laine, who shouldn’t be out there during the optional skate, but he is. The only player in the NHL who has more goals than Laine during the course of his two-plus years in the league is Alex Ovechkin. He’s only 20 and already has more than 100 goals. But he’s also enduring the worst slump of his career. Laine played just 14:43 against the Habs, so he should be fresh. More worrisome is the fact he’s scored just one goal in 10 games – and two in 22 – and that he’s been demoted to the second power-play unit, replaced by Roslovic. The Jets have suggested he not speak publicly until he breaks his slump. But Sami Hoffren, who is based in Toronto and travelled to Montreal to speak with Laine, gets a couple minutes with him in Finnish. “There have been games where I didn’t have any interest in playing,” Laine tells Hoffren. “Just didn’t feel right. When that happens, it seems nothing goes your way.”

Of course, the Jets are concerned, otherwise he’d probably be saying that stuff in English and sending Winnipeg into a frenzy. But they also know he’s a 20-year-old kid who, as sublimely talented as he is, is still finding his way in the best league in the world. When the Jets talk about development with their young players, this is exactly what they mean. Rather than frame it as a negative, Maurice looks at it as a chance for Laine to learn. As much as he’d like to put him with Wheeler and Scheifele on the top line, Maurice hasn’t liked what he’s seen when Laine has been there and thinks that drawing the opponents’ top lines isn’t what is best for him right now.

“I want him to go through this process, to feel what the pressure is like when things aren’t going well, to develop a toolbox,” Maurice says. “It’s no different than Connor Hellebuyck three years ago. I pulled him five times and fired him right back in. It was a hard year for him. The struggles and adversities are not something that, as a coach, you need to fix right away. If you’re in a playoff series, you have to make those adjustments really fast, but right now you want to be patient and let the players find their way a little bit. It’s an important time.”

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IT’S HOCKEY DAY IN Canada and six of the country’s seven teams are playing one another on the one day of the year when the sport finally gets some recognition north of the 49th parallel. The standings tell us this is a good season for Canadian teams. Almost two-thirds of the way through 2018-19, six of the seven are battling for playoff spots. The most anticipated of the games is being played two hours northeast, where the streets of Montreal are undoubtedly filled with fans in Habs jerseys, the lobby of the Chateau Champlain is a zoo and the bars are doing a brisk business.

Contrast that with Ottawa, a city that is holding its annual Winterlude carnival, about the only thing worth celebrating here these days. The Senators are in the midst of an annus horribilis, a nightmare of a season that has been a cataclysmic disaster both on and off the ice. But especially on it, as they enter this game in last place by five points.

Castoff goalie Anders Nilsson is the star with 44 saves in a rare 5-2 Sens win. Unlike two nights previous, the Jets feel pretty good about the way they played in this defeat. They had lots of zone time and double-digit shots in each period, including 13 shot attempts from Byfuglien.

Still, there’s no sugarcoating this loss and the play of Laurent Brossoit. The first of back-to-back afternoon games has to go to the backup goalie, and when you’re playing the worst team in the NHL he has to deliver a victory, particularly in a game where your team outshoots its opponent by 14. But Brossoit, who has had such a remarkable turnaround after being rescued from the tire fire that is the Edmonton Oilers, is a big goalie who plays like a small one on this day, far too deep in his net at times. Four of Ottawa’s five goals are scored glove-side. Much of the job description for a backup is to be prepared to go long periods without playing and be ready to perform. Brossoit has done a good job of that to this point of the season and has been one of Winnipeg’s most pleasant surprises. There was little to suggest he’d be a dominant goalie when he was in Edmonton, and consistency has eluded him as a pro. But the Jets were bullish on Brossoit when he became a free agent, signing him to a league-minimum $650,000 deal after sending Steve Mason to Montreal in a salary dump that cost them Joel Armia.

Brossoit has the same agent as Hellebuyck, and the two work out together in the summer, so there’s familiarity there. Brossoit may be the most fit of all the Jets, and his dedication, if not his level of consistency, is phenomenal. So when goalie coach Wade Flaherty and former AHL Manitoba goalie coach Rick St-Croix recommended him, Cheveldayoff did what a good GM does – he listened to his people. “They were the ones who said to me, ‘If we can get Laurent Brossoit, that’s who we want,’” Cheveldayoff says. “The credit goes to those two guys for sticking their necks out.”

So put this game down as a bad day at the office, something Brossoit hasn’t had until this afternoon in Ottawa. Chances are, it won’t happen again for a while. He won’t elaborate but says he knows where he went wrong in his preparation. “A couple of things I didn’t do that I normally do, I didn’t think I needed to,” Brossoit says. “I’ll chalk it up to being a little nonchalant in that regard, and it came back and bit me in the ass.”

THE JETS GO INTO their third game in four days and their second straight matinee in a position that has been foreign to them this season: they are in the midst of their first three-game losing streak. Although there isn’t full-on panic, there is some level of angst. Nashville is closing in, just one point behind Winnipeg. Laine still isn’t scoring. It won’t be a pleasant flight home if the team can’t salvage at least one win out of this trip. On this afternoon, it’s the Jets’ turn to be outshot and for their goalie to shine. As much as this team relies on its youth, the veterans are the ones being looked to for answers. With under four minutes left, they find them by playing to their identity. Using their size and skill, the Jets dominate the Buffalo Sabres down low until Wheeler gets open in front of the net and Josh Morrissey finds him for an easy tap-in. For a Sunday afternoon in the middle of February in Buffalo, the Jets sure seem inordinately relieved to get that goal on their way to a 3-1 win.

Only three holdovers remain from Winnipeg’s incarnation as the Atlanta Thrashers: Wheeler, Byfuglien and Bryan Little. Maurice once called Wheeler “the hardest-working man I’ve ever seen in my life.” He might be one of the few players in the NHL who has defied logic and nature by getting better in his early 30s. He had a career-high 91 points last season at 31, and through mid-February he’s on pace to better that to 98 points. His play last season earned him a five-year extension worth $41.3 million that kicks in next season. There is no concern from the Jets that they’ll be attaching an $8.25-million cap hit to a player who, by all conventional thinking, should be a diminishing asset.

Wheeler is a huge part of the culture the Jets are building under Cheveldayoff. He is to Winnipeg what Joe Thornton is to San Jose – a charismatic leader who has chosen to stay and see this thing through to a title. “Since Day 1 (in Winnipeg), it’s brought something out in me, helping me become the player I am today and the person I am today,” Wheeler says. “There are so many people who genuinely care about what they do, so it kind of soaks into you. It becomes a part of who you are and when it came to my future and the possibility of leaving Winnipeg, I couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else. There wasn’t any history before us. We got a chance to start a new chapter, and I’m happy to be a part of that.”

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The Jets scored a coup at the trade deadline last year when Paul Stastny waived his no-trade clause to come to Winnipeg. But as much as the Jets wanted to keep him, they couldn’t work him into their salary structure and that’s why he’s no longer there, not because he wanted out. Winnipeg has yet to land a major UFA, but it doesn’t really matter. The way the Jets have built their organization, the goal is to ensure their own players want to stay. They’ve done that with Wheeler, Little, Byfuglien, Scheifele and Hellebuyck.

This isn’t the first time the Jets have been a championship-caliber team. There was a time when they ruled the defunct World Hockey Association, winning three of the last four Avco Cups. That was a big deal in Winnipeg, a city that landed Bobby Hull in the prime of his career and made an indelible mark on the sport by having Hull play on a line with Swedish sensations Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg. Lars-Erik Sjoberg was the captain of those teams and was the first to accept the Avco Cup. (The Winnipeg Victorias won the Stanley Cup three times from 1896 to 1902, so we’re assuming they must have been a pretty big deal, too.)

If the Jets win the Stanley Cup this year, making us look like geniuses for our 2015 prediction, or in the next few seasons, it will be Wheeler who takes it for a spin around the ice first. He’s invested in this organization. It’s home to him and he envisions what it would be like to be the first captain to bring the Cup to Winnipeg. “I think about it all the time,” he says. “Those are the reasons you wake up in the morning.” 

Former Detroit Red Wings forward Klim Kostin expected to play a role in the team’s offense after being acquired from the Edmonton Oilers during the 2023 offseason. 

His time in Detroit was relatively short, as he skated in only 33 games in a Red Wings uniform before being traded to the San Jose Sharks. 

Now an unrestricted free agent, Kostin recently criticized Detroit’s former coaching staff, claiming they told him his only role was to act as an enforcer. 

Ex-Red Wing Klim Kostin Points the Finger At Former Detroit Coaching Staff Throughout their history, the Detroit Red Wings have featured several players known not only for the punishing physicality they brought with their fists but also for their scoring ability.

"I was counting on a different role, I signed the contract hoping to play, but after I arrived they made it clear: your job is to fight," he explained. "It was a shock for me. They left no room for maneuver." 

Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-day coverage, and player features. 

Kostin reaffirmed his desire to continue his career in the NHL, and said he'd love to once again play for the Oilers, going so far as to say that he wanted "to die on the ice for the fans". 

"In Edmonton, I wanted to die on the ice for the fans," he said. "There are rumors that the Oilers might make an offer too. Of course, this is my dream. They say you can’t step into the same river twice, but I would like to try my luck again. This is the place where I felt most comfortable and was myself." 

Kostin was the final pick of the first round in the 2017 NHL Draft by the St. Louis Blues and appeared in 46 games with the club over parts of five seasons. In October 2022, he was traded to the Oilers in exchange for Dmitri Samorukov.

During the 2022–23 season, Kostin played 57 games for Edmonton, recording 11 goals and 10 assists. He also provided depth scoring in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, adding three goals and two assists during the Oilers’ run to the Western Conference Final. 

He was then acquired by the Red Wings that offseason and subsequently signed to a two-year, $4 million contract. Following his trade to the Sharks, he scored a total of six goals with 11 assists in 54 total games. 

With his contract now expired, Kostin continues to wait and see whether he’ll get another opportunity in the NHL and if the Oilers will honor his wish for a return.

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In hockey, the allure of the “savior” player is almost impossible to resist. Fans dream of a generational scorer who can break open games singlehandedly, the kind of player who defines an era and guarantees relevance with every shift.

Philadelphia knows this feeling all too well.

For years, the Flyers were defined by one franchise centerpiece—Claude Giroux—and while his brilliance kept them competitive, it never quite pushed them over the edge.

Now, the Flyers face a choice. Do they keep pushing chips to the middle in hopes of landing the guy who can elevate them overnight? Or do they keep stacking depth, fortifying four lines and three pairings until they’re impossible to push around?

The contrarian answer—and maybe the smarter one for where this team is today—is that depth is the better bet.

Why Depth Wins More Than We Admit

Hockey isn’t basketball. In the NBA, one transcendent player can change the trajectory of a franchise. In the NHL, even a transcendent talent like Connor McDavid can’t win on his own. The Edmonton Oilers have been a contender, yes, but their path to success only really opened once they finally insulated McDavid and Leon Draisaitl with reliable depth.

Depth smooths the peaks and valleys of an 82-game season. It insulates a team from injuries. It gives coaches flexibility to match up against any opponent. More importantly, it builds a team identity rooted not in the whims of one superstar, but in a system of interchangeable parts that can roll over opponents with relentless consistency.

That’s what the Flyers are building now—and why they’re better off leaning into it.

The Flyers’ Current Formula

Look at the makeup of the roster: Matvei Michkov might one day be the kind of player who tilts games like McDavid, Auston Matthews, or Nathan MacKinnon, but he doesn’t need to carry the entire weight of the organization.

“When I heard the word ‘savior’…kiss my ass.”

John Tortorella speaks on making sure Matvei Michkov isn’t facing added pressure and is integrating into the #LetsGoFlyers so that it’s not “Michkov and the [rest of the] team.”

— Siobhan Nolan (@SGNolan) November 22, 2024

Instead, he fits into a group where Travis Konecny scores at a near point-per-game pace, Owen Tippett adds another dangerous shooter, Tyson Foerster continues to develop into a complete top-six winger, and players like Trevor Zegras and Noah Cates add their own dimensions.

On defense, Travis Sanheim has stepped into the role of true No. 1, Cam York has shown he can skate with the league’s best, and Nick Seeler provides a dependable, physical backbone. Jamie Drysdale, when healthy, offers an inimitable offensive spark.

None of these players alone make the Flyers a juggernaut. But together, they form a roster that can play entire games and show up period after period, no matter who is on the ice—and in today’s NHL, that’s more valuable than hoping one savior player erases flaws.

The Problem With the “Savior”

Relying on a singular superstar can lead to dangerous roster construction. Teams that go all-in for the guy often overpay and sacrifice the supporting cast.

Look at Toronto, who locked themselves into a “core four” model. Yes, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner (who is now with the Vegas Golden Knights), John Tavares, and William Nylander were elite. But surrounding them with depth was a perpetual challenge, and the Leafs struggled to break through in the playoffs because hockey’s margins are too thin to survive on star power alone.

The Flyers can avoid this trap. Their current trajectory is about balance, resilience, and layers of contributors. That doesn’t mean they’ll ignore stars — Michkov is a potential franchise cornerstone, and Zegras, Tippett, and Konecny all have high-end upside. But instead of chasing a mythical savior, the Flyers are better off creating a system where any line can score, any pairing can defend, and any night, the hero can be someone unexpected.

Depth Now, Stars Later

None of this is to say the Flyers should turn their back on elite talent if it becomes available. If Danny Briere has the chance to add a franchise-altering player via trade or free agency down the line, of course you do it. But that can’t be the plan right now.

The plan, today, is to make sure the Flyers can ice four legitimate lines and three dependable pairings every single night. It’s to create a team where the pressure isn't on one singular player to be in top form every single night, because that is simply unrealistic in a full NHL season. It’s to give the Flyers a foundation that ensures when the big names do arrive, they slot into a structure that makes sense.

The Contrarian Path

So while it’s tempting to dream about one marquee addition changing everything, the smarter, more sustainable bet is depth.

The Flyers don’t need a savior. They need all of their players pulling in the same direction. They need to become a team that opponents hate to play against because there’s never an easy shift. 

Superstars may get eyeballs on the television, but true, consistent depth gets players' names on Stanley Cups. 

Welcome to this edition of The Hockey News' Vancouver Canucks Mailbag. In this series, we answer your questions about what is going on with the Canucks. Today, we answer questions about vibes heading into the season, Aatu Räty and more. 

What Kind Of Vibes Are You Getting From The Canucks Heading Into Training Camp And Preseason?

Based on interviews from the off-season, this group feels very determined to right the ship from last year. There are also a lot of positive vibes coming from the core players that the organization is bringing back a similar team. As for outside the organization, there is some angst among the fan base, as there are many questions heading into the season.

One thing to note when talking about vibes is the positive attitude of Adam Foote. Players have spoken about how excited they are to have him as a head coach, while Foote and his staff have said all the right things up to this point. Ultimately, there will be a lot of pressure on Foote this year as Vancouver can not afford to miss the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

What Is The Best-Case Scenario This Season for Räty?

Heading into the season, it appears that Aatu Räty will be the Canucks third-line center. The 22-year-old looks ready to make the jump full-time to the NHL and is projected to be a key piece of Vancouver's bottom-six. As for potential point totals, Räty should be in the 25-point range if he stays healthy and plays close to 82 games. 

As for the best-case scenario, that would be Räty proves he can excel as a third-line center while also contributing on the penalty kill. One way the Finnish center can do this is by becoming a faceoff specialist who takes the opening defensive zone draws while shorthanded. Once Räty establishes himself as a full-time NHLer, then the conversation about him becoming a second-line center can begin. 

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Willander Makes The Team Right Off The Bat?

The hype around defenceman Tom Willander is justified as he has the potential to be a top-four defender in the NHL. That being said, the Canucks do have a solid defensive group, meaning that the 20-year-old most likely will start the year in the AHL. Starting Willander with the Abbotsford Canucks is not a bad move, as it allows the young defenceman to adjust to the pro game before jumping full-time to the NHL. 

While Willander will most likely start in the AHL, it is very possible he doesn't end the season there. If he can be a standout at training camp and have a strong start to the season, a call-up could be coming sooner rather than later. Injuries at the NHL level will also be a big factor in how many games Willander plays for Vancouver, as he could be the first defender called up this year.

Is Victor Mancini/Kirill Kudryavtsev The Best 7/8 Defense In The NHL?

How the Canucks utilize both Victor Mancini and Kirill Kudryavtsev this year will be fascinating. Like Willander, both could be AHL-bound to start the season due to Vancouver's depth on the blueline. It is also possible that Mancini and Kudryavtsev are partnered together in the AHL, which would allow them to show that they can be an efficient duo at the pro level. 

As for the question, while Mancini and Kudryavtsev are high-end prospects, there are other teams with more depth on the blue line. If both play NHL games and are strong during their call-ups, that answer can change, but as of right now, they are not the best 7/8 in the league. Ultimately, though, fans should be excited for Mancini and Kudryavtsev as both could have long careers in the NHL.

Once Chytil Gets Hurt, Do You Trust Räty, Blueger And Sasson As Your 2,3,4 Centres?

Filip Chytil staying healthy is one of the big question marks heading into the season. His injury history is well-documented and includes a concussion that kept him out for the final few weeks of the 2024-25 season. That being said, Chytil looks good to go for the season and ready to fill the vacant second-line center spot.

If Chytil gets hurt, the biggest question is whether Räty can fill in as a second-line center. Teddy Blueger should be able to slide into the third-line center spot, while the fourth-line center can be filled by Max Sasson, Linus Karlsson, Nils Åman or Ty Mueller. In the end, it all depends on how Räty is playing, as if he is not ready for the promotion, the Canucks may need to make a move to improve their center depth.

Do You Feel This Season Is A Disaster Waiting To Happen As I Do? I've Got Third-Degree LaForge Vibes.

Before talking about this year, it's good to remind people how bad Vancouver was under Bill LaForge. He only last 20 games in 1985, posting a record of 4-14-2. So no, I do not believe this year's Canucks will be as bad to start the year as the LaForge year. 

There are so many questions heading into the season, but it is hard to image that 2025-26 will go off the rails like last year. The players themselves seem motivated to have a strong season while the organization itself understands how important this year is. Based on the roster and overall positive vibe heading into the season, I do not believe it is a disaster waiting to happen. 

Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.

After a gruelling 82-game schedule, which in some cases involves an extended playoff run, NHL players are grateful for the time off to allow their bodies to recover from serious or nagging injuries and gear up for the upcoming season. 

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way for every player. In rare cases, a player may pick up an injury while training in the off-season. However, in most cases, the off-season does not provide enough time for a full recovery. 

Entering a new season while nursing an injury puts that player at a disadvantage. Many players use training camp and the pre-season to get themselves back into top shape, allowing them to start the season in rhythm. 

Here are five players who could miss time to start the 2025-26 season:

Matthew Tkachuk, LW, Florida Panthers

Tkachuk first sustained a lower-body injury at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off. He attempted to play through the injury in the final against Canada, but it was unfortunately too much to handle. The injury kept him out until the playoffs, and when he returned for the post-season, the 27-year-old was clearly dealing with the lingering effects.

Following the Panthers' triumph, Tkachuk revealed he was dealing with a sports hernia and a hip adductor injury, claiming he tore it right off the bone. Tkachuk had been pondering the idea of undergoing surgery to repair the injury, and after much discussion, he finally decided to go through with it.

The recovery process is intense, and the current timeline for the two-time 100-point scorer’s return is January, just prior to the 2026 Olympics. The Panthers are the deepest team in the NHL and should be able to mitigate his loss, but it could affect their positioning in the standings come April.

Rasmus Ristolainen, D, Philadelphia Flyers

Prior to the conclusion of the 2024-25 season, Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen went under the knife to repair a right tricep tendon rupture. The 30-year-old underwent surgery on March 26, and it was revealed that it was completed on April 24. 

The initial timeline given by the Flyers was six months, and he would miss training camp. His availability for the beginning of the season remains unknown.

The expectations for the Flyers are quite low once again. With new coach Rick Tocchet, the team is attempting to enter a new era, led by Matvei Michkov and several other young Flyers prospects who aren’t with the team just yet. Ristolainen has had his struggles throughout his NHL career, but he’s a trusted right-handed veteran defenseman who will likely log big minutes for Tocchet when he does return. Without him, the Flyers will be one of the weaker teams on the defensive side of the puck.

Zach Hyman, LW, Edmonton Oilers

Much uncertainty surrounds the Oilers’ Connor McDavid and his current contract negotiations. Currently, he is pondering all decisions, and the leading question is whether he believes the team is capable of winning. If Hyman misses the beginning of the 2025-26 campaign, the Oilers will likely struggle, and make McDavid’s decision increasingly difficult. 

Hyman suffered a dislocated wrist and damaged ligaments in the Western Conference finals against the Dallas Stars. The injury forced him to miss the Stanley Cup finals and resulted in him undergoing surgery. He is currently still fully engaged in rehab, but his availability for the beginning of the season is still in jeopardy. 

Adam Lowry, C, Winnipeg Jets

The Jets captain underwent hip surgery following the team’s elimination by the Stars in the second round of the playoffs. Lowry was given a 5-6 month timeline, which means he will be out until the end of October at the very least. 

Lowry set a career high in goals last season and was a stellar two-way center. He’s the heartbeat of the Jets, and his absence to start the season will have a greater effect than some may realize. He handles the opponent's top forwards, freeing up Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi to produce offensively. Without Lowry, Arniel may find it a bit challenging to give the trio offensive advantages. 

Jonas Brodin, D, Minnesota Wild

Brodin is among the best defensive defensemen in the NHL, and on a Minnesota Wild team that values defense very highly, his absence will be felt. 

The 32-year-old underwent surgery to fix an upper-body injury that he suffered after the World Championship and will be out to begin the 2025-26 season. The Wild are a deep team, especially on the backend, which should allow them to remain competitive even without Brodin. Although the Wild would love to ease Zeev Buium into the NHL, Brodin’s absence creates an opportunity for Buium to take a top-four role and run with it.

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We take overtime for granted in the National Hockey League. We shouldn't.

For 41 years – starting with the advent of Uncle Sam's entry into World War II – there was no overtime to settle NHL games. 

"It was stopped," remembered Rangers manager Frank Boucher, "because in those wartime days we all travelled by train and the railroads were moving troops all the time. That made our NHL scheduling harder to work. So the league halted OT."

When the war ended, the extra session could have been restored but the NHL moguls chose to stay with the status quo. The fans didn't like that, nor did the press guys.

Typical was a story in the New York Journal-American by Rangers beat writer Stan Saplin the day after a Blueshirt-Black Hawks game.

"Why couldn't the Rangers and Black Hawks have played a 10-minute sudden death overtime period to settle their 2-2 deadlock in the Garden last night? Both had the time. Rangers have nothing to do 'til Saturday. Hawks didn't leave town 'til 10 a.m. today. 

The Rangers Games I'll Never Forget, Sean McCaffrey Selects A PairPublisher of Blue Collar Blue Shirts, Sean McCaffrey has seen plenty of hockey over the decades. What's surprising – at least in The Maven's view – is that his choices are, shall we say, out of the box. 

"The fans would benefit if league legislation permitted extra sessions in such cases."

Saplin's plea was ignored. In fact the NHL did not restore overtime until June 23, 1983.

Now we take it for granted but when he wrote his column during the 1954-55 season, Stan Saplin never would have guessed that it would take 28 more years before league moguls were beginning to see the light re restoring the sudden-death period!

The Columbus Blue Jackets have 36 days until opening night at Nationwide Arena. Today, we look at the history of jersey #36. 

Let's take a look.

Sean Selmser - 2001 - Selmer was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1993 NHL Draft. 

Selmer played one game for the Jackets during the 2000-01 season, his only NHL game. He spent the rest of that season playing for the Syracuse Crunch and had 26 points. 

He left North America in 2002 for Europe, where he would land in Scotland. From there, he played 9 of the next 10 seasons in Poland before retiring in 2012. 

Donald MacLean - 2004 - MacLean was drafted by the LA Kings in the second round of the 1995 NHL Draft.

On July 17, 2002, MacLean signed as a free agent with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He would only play in four games for Columbus and had a single goal. He played most of his games with the Syracuse Crunch, where he had 68 points in 77 games. 

He left North America in 2007, where he would play in Switzerland, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, and Croatia. He retired in 2011 and coached in Croatia until 2015. 

Mathieu Roy - 2010 - Roy was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 2003. 

On July 14, 2009, Roy signed a one-year contract with the CBJ. He would total 10 points in 31 games playing for Columbus. He also played for the Syracuse Crunch that season. On March 3, 2010, he was traded to the Florida Panthers. 

He left for Europe in 2012 and landed in Germany. He also played in Poland and France before returning to North America to play in the LNAH. He retired in 2023 and went into coaching. 

Jonathan Marchessault - 2013 - Marchessault was undrafted out of Cap-Rouge, Quebec.

Marchessault signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets just before the 2012-13 season, where he played just two games. He spent the rest of his time playing for the Springfield Falcons of the AHL, where he had 67 points in 74 games. 

On March 5, 2014, he was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning, ending his time with Columbus. He would finally get his shot when he signed with the Florida Panthers in 2016. But after just one season, they chose to expose him in the 2017 expansion draft, where the newly formed Vegas Golden Knights would scoop him. He played the next seven seasons for Vegas, scoring 192 goals and totaling 417 points. 

He left for the Nashville Predators in 2024, signing a five-year, $27.5 million contract. 

Marchessault is considered "The one who got away" by many CBJ fans. 

Michael Paliotta - 2016 - Paliotta was drafted in the third round of the 2011 NHL Draft. 

On June 30, 2015, he was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets with Brandon Saad in exchange for Jeremy Morin, Marko Dano, Artem Anisimov, Corey Tropp, and a fourth-round draft pick. Paliotta would appear in just a single game for Columbus, instead spending his season with the Lake Erie Monsters. 

In 2016, he was not tendered a contract and would sign elsewhere. He hasn't played since the end of the 2020 season. 

Jussi Jokinen - 2018 - Jokinen was drafted by the Dallas Stars in the 2001 NHL Draft.

On January 16, 2018, after a long and storied career, the LA Kings put Jokinen on waivers. The Jackets claimed him, and he would play in 14 games for the Jackets.  On February 26, 2018, Jokinen and Tyler Motte were traded to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Thomas Vanek.  

He returned to Europe and played another three seasons before retiring on May 18, 2021. 

Justin Richards - 2023 - Richards was undrafted out of Orlando, Florida. 

Richards signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets on December 19, 2022. He played in only two games and spent all of his time playing for the Cleveland Monsters. He played in 61 games in his only season with Cleveland. 

He left for Europe before the start of last season and played in the DEL. He is signed to play in Italy for next season.

Christian Fischer - 2025 - Fischer was drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in the 2015 NHL Draft.

Fischer came to Columbus at the trade deadline in 2025. He played in a single game for Columbus. He was scratched for the rest of the games in 2025 after coming over from the Detroit Red Wings.

Fischer announced his retirement from professional hockey, to pursue a business opportunity in golf.  

With 36 days until opening night at Nationwide Arena, the anticipation for the season is in full swing. Take a look at the schedule of events below.

Blue Jackets Participate in 2025 Prospects Challenge in Buffalo

The Blue Jackets will take part in the Prospects Challenge in Buffalo from Thursday, Sept. 11 to Sunday, Sept. 14. They’ll play three games and have one day off.

Let us know what you think below.

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The schedule looks like this:

Thursday, Sept. 11 7 p.m. vs. New Jersey Devils

Friday, Sept. 12 `No Game Scheduled

Saturday, Sept. 13 7 p.m. at Buffalo Sabres

Sunday, Sept. 14 3:30 p.m. at Pittsburgh Penguins

This will be the second year Columbus has participated in the Prospects Challenge. Before that, they played in the NHL Prospect Tournament in Traverse City. As for the roster, it won’t be released until closer to the tournament.

More From THN Columbus

The Hockey News Sunday Recap: Columbus Blue JacketsFrom Ex-players to current players and everything in between, we've got you covered.  Report Suggests Stars Had Interest In Blue Jackets' OlivierEarlier this week, a report surfaced from Jeff Marek suggesting that the Dallas Stars were one of the teams interested in Columbus Blue Jackets' forward Mathieu Olivier if he had hit the open market.

May 18, 2017; Nashville, TN, USA; Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne (35) makes a save during the second period against the Anaheim Ducks in game four of the Western Conference Final of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

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Yearbook 2016-17

Aug 1, 2016

NASHVILLE PREDATORS

BY DAVID BOCLAIR

PREDICTION 2nd in CENTRAL

STANLEY CUP ODDS /// 17-1

The Nashville Predators have barely been around long enough to have traditions. Yet recently the organization has turned away from two of its most prominent ones: an unyielding devotion to the draft and a defense-first style of play.

Increasingly, the Predators have looked to the trade market rather than waiting on prospects to develop. The June blockbuster in which they traded Shea Weber for P.K. Subban came five months after dealing Seth Jones for Ryan Johansen. And Nashville’s leader in goals and points each of the past two seasons, Filip Forsberg, was acquired in a 2013 deadline deal with the Washington Capitals. These are now the Go Go Predators. They still rely heavily on a steady blueline – only now, it’s a young, fast and mobile group, anchored by the offensively adept Subban and Roman Josi.

offense Conditioning is at the center (literally) of Nashville’s attempts to become more dangerous on the attack. Johansen is the first true No. 1 center in franchise history, and his skills are obvious, but he has yet to show a willingness to get himself in the kind of shape for him to compete hard every shift. Mike Ribeiro is the first choice to center the second line, but management has challenged the 36-year-old to improve his fitness after his play waned late (no goals, three assists in the final 14 games) and he was scratched for a couple playoff contests. The primary job for both is creating scoring opportunities for Forsberg, James Neal and Craig Smith, the team’s top-three goal scorers each of the past two seasons.

DEfENsE The brass believes their top four is the NHL’s best. It almost certainly is the most mobile. With Josi, Subban, Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Ellis, Nashville has four players who can join the rush or carry the puck to quickly transition and outnumber opponents. They’re not a physically intimidating bunch, especially with Weber out the door. Instead, they rely on speed and positioning in their own end. The question is how – or if – all those similar parts fit together. To that end, the addition of Yannick Weber is notable because he has played with Josi on Switzerland’s national team. He’s a proven option if Josi and Subban can’t mesh.

GoalTENDING Pekka Rinne’s health issues are behind him. The 33-year-old played 130 games over the past two seasons, including 66 (the second-highest total of his career) in 2015-16, and there is no reason to think he won’t maintain that pace. There will be a newcomer behind him on the depth chart, though. Prospects Marek Mazanec and Juuse Saros will battle for the No. 2 job in camp. Both will likely see the net at some point this season.

spEcIal TEams Weber’s slapshot was the primary power play weapon, and everything was built around it. Subban shoots with comparable power, but he is harder for penalty killers to track because he isn’t a stationary target. That’ll make the power play less predictable. Weber led all NHL defensemen with 14 power play goals, though, while Subban had only two. The penalty kill hasn’t been as effective in recent seasons, and now there are no sturdy, shutdown defensemen to occupy space. Opponents will find room to operate.

2015-16 NUMBERS

RECORD 41-27-14 (96 pts)

Ot/sO 2-12/4-2

DivisiOn 4th (playoff wild card)

OvERall 14th

OffEnsE 2.73 GPG (T-12th)

DEfEnsE 2.60 Gaa (14th)

POwER Play 19.7% (10th)

PEnalty Kill 81.9% (12th)

sCORE/vEnuE aDJ. 5-On-5 CORsi 52.73% (4th)

1-gOal gamEs 18-9-14 (.439)

2-gOal gamEs 9-4 (.692)

3+ gOal gamEs 14-14 (.500)

iCE timE lEaD ( f) James Neal (19:04)

iCE timE lEaD (D) Roman Josi (25:29)

FAST FACTS

gm David Poile

COaCH Peter Laviolette

aREna Bridgestone arena

CaPaCity 17,113

2015-16 attEnDanCE 16,971

aHl affiliatE Milwaukee admirals

ECHl affiliatE Cincinnati Cyclones

PlayOff RECORD 14-16 (since 2012)

INTaNGIblEs The franchise decided speed is necessary to win a Stanley Cup, and it has compiled as much as possible at every position. The roster will likely include 16 players 26 or younger. There will be deficiencies in some areas, but the Preds believe they can stay ahead of the competition most nights and maybe (finally) take the next step in the post-season.

RookIEs Kevin Fiala, drafted 11th overall in 2014, posted 50 points in AHL Milwaukee and could make the jump. Colton Sissons, Austin Watson, Viktor Arvidsson and Miikka Salomaki each played between 34 and 6 1 games last season, so they’re not rookies, but they’re 24 or younger and will get the chance to play expanded roles.

x-facToR Colin Wilson was one of Nashville’s best players in the past two post-seasons (10 goals, eight assists in 20 games). In between, he had just six goals and 1 8 assists during 2015-16. He has always been streaky and hasn’t quite reached his potential since being drafted seventh overall in 2008.

ThE bRass David Poile is 66 and has been an NHL GM since 1982. He has had one team reach the conference final, and that one got swept once it got there. His recent willingness to make big trades suggests he’s losing patience and sees few remaining opportunities to pursue a Cup.