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Answering 5 on-ice questions about the upcoming NHL season – Sportsnet.ca

Published

4 years ago

December 17, 2020

There’s a stark contrast right now between the speed at which the next NHL season is barreling down at us and the slow drip of news that continues to trickle in from around the league. That drip belies the truth of what’s soon coming, which is real hockey, so let’s turn our attention to some actual hockey questions to prepare, shall we?

How does Alex Steen’s retirement affect the St. Louis Blues?

There’s this awkward dance we’re left to do in the media when players retire due to injury with what appears to be fortuitous timing for both the player and the organization. I want to be clear that I’m speaking in generalities here, and that I’ve got the utmost respect for Alexander Steen and his wonderful career. I’m also expressing zero skepticism that his back is a mess and that it’d be much better for his long-term health to not force it through another NHL season. I’m certain it’s the right call.

I also had the utmost respect for Marian Hossa, I have the utmost respect for Johnny Boychuk, and I don’t think anyone is fabricating anything in these LTIRetired scenarios.

You can feel the “but” coming, I know.

BUT we’re left to do this awkward dance even when we know the above to be true, because we also know that nearly every veteran player has nagging injuries, and every player would benefit from stopping the cycle of working to get their body in a position to play each day so they’re able to sustain further damage each night. What doctor wouldn’t verify these players would be better to stop playing? (“Doc my back hurts me every day, do you think I should keep getting in small car accidents each night or no?”) But the vast majority of them continue to do so, for a variety of reasons.

The dance is just in acknowledging that truth – that this is obviously in the player’s best interest – while not coming off like a rube that sometimes the decision to LTIRetire is the best way to not forfeit money AND help the team out in the process.

Steen will be placed on LTIR and be paid his full salary on the final year remaining on his contract #stlblues https://t.co/Hz5cx2ELn2

— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) December 17, 2020

Whatever the case may be there in St. Louis, boy, is Steen’s $5.75 million cap hit coming off the books fortuitous timing (I’m sure they knew this was coming but likely would’ve preferred it be confirmed before the Pietrangelo negotiations, no?). They should have the space to pay Vince Dunn and still add some offence, whether in the form of Mike Hoffman or Mikael Granlund or Anthony Duclair or someone else they think can score them some goals in the (hopefully temporary) absence of Vladimir Tarasenko.

It’s impossible to know how this affects St. Louis off the ice, as Steen has been a smart, serious, thoughtful and respected leader there. But in viewing it from an on-ice perspective alone, this should allow the Blues to be improved in 2020-21.

How does having zero exhibition games affect your view of the NHL season?

The loss of exhibition games certainly doesn’t add anything to the credibility of the campaign, does it? There’s a real feeling-out process in the early part of the season, where teams can at least get a look at a few lines and special teams units, have a sense for how the whole thing is going to mesh together, and try to be properly prepared a few games later.

Players can be reminded of game pace and how that all feels, and there’s at least a couple games where playing competitively feels weird.

Those games will now count, which feels even weirder.

Which is fine.

At this point it is what it is and nothing is guaranteed this NHL season. Have you seen what COVID-19 is doing around North America right now? There’s the very real risk of having big swaths of games cancelled between January and April, meaning the league is going to need the biggest sample size possible on which to draw revenue and cobble together a regular season. It’s OK to admit we’re cobbling here, people.

So, in sum, having no exhibition games does hurt the legitimacy of the regular season. But right now the NHL is James Franco in 127 hours – it can sit around and hope for a magical best-case scenario to come through and die in the process, or cut off its own arm and live here. (OK that’s a bit dramatic, but at some point you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.)

Which players have the most to prove in the upcoming season?

I enjoyed this list put together over on The Hockey News about players who have the most to prove during the upcoming season. The 10 names they came up with: Freddy Andersen, Josh Anderson, Sergei Bobrovsky, Johnny Gaudreau, Philipp Grubauer, Taylor Hall, Jack Hughes, Matt Murray, Bobby Ryan, and Jesse Puljujarvi.

My quick thoughts on a handful of those names:

Gaudreau: Great players can have one-off years that aren’t great for a variety of reasons, and the guy is 27 years old. But last season was definitely a concern, and I feel like if he has another off year the Flames will move him, so this is of utmost interest to me.

Hall: I’m not sure an NHL player has ever had a career like his and not gotten The Big Payday. He’s a first-overall draft pick who’s won a Hart Trophy and is a decade into the league but he’s yet to take home more than six million in a season. He’s gonna make eight this year, but if for whatever reason it isn’t a great year, and every team is tight in a flat-cap system, is it ever going to come for the guy?

Murray: The Sens don’t make too many big bets, and making one in the crease is the biggest bet you can make. Murray’s had some concerning numbers of late, but has proven he can be the guy in the past. Can he again?

What are the Capitals gonna do in the crease?

Breaking just this afternoon was the news that Henrik Lundqvist won’t be suiting up for the Capitals as it was originally believed.

Some tough news I need to share with you all.. pic.twitter.com/y7ZtAoo39Q

— Henrik Lundqvist (@hlundqvist35) December 17, 2020

It’s awful news, and here’s hoping Hank will be just fine and back soon.

The plan in net for a very good Capitals team was to have a solid veteran who can handle a decent workload provide cover for their hopeful starter of the future in rookie Ilya Samsonov. Boy, the pressure just ramped up on the kid, didn’t it? There will have to be a solution here for Washington, and I’m eager to see how they pursue filling that hole.

Players are returning for NHL camps, what will those look like?

One of my takeaways from working with an NHL team was just about how little time there is to prepare for and execute all that there is to do. Now teams head toward a 10-day training camp – tops – with no exhibition games and big decisions to make. Here in Toronto, numerous roster decisions are left hanging in the balance, I’m sure in part with the plan in mind of sorting them out at camp.

So watching how teams choose to operate during these camps is going to be wildly different, I’d wager, and thus fascinating. If you need to sort out roster spots you need to play games. Will there be scrimmages? You need to get conditioning up to game speed as quickly as possible, but there won’t be time for much rest, so how hard can you go? Can you bag skate? You need to get back to battle hockey too, which plays into that. There will be systems coaching, lines to sort out, and decisions that normally take three weeks and multiple games to make will have to be made in severely compressed timelines.

One thing’s for sure: whenever hockey comes back, coaches, staff and players will be working at nearly impossible levels to be ready for puck drop, heading into one of the weirder seasons in NHL history. I, for one, am ready for it, and I’m sure they are too.

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Red Wings sign Moritz Seider to 7-year deal worth nearly $60M

Published

8 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.

The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.

Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.

He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.

Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.

Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.

Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.

The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.

Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.

Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.

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Veterans Tyson Beukeboom, Karen Paquin lead Canada’s team at WXV rugby tournament

Published

9 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

Veterans Tyson Beukeboom and Karen Paquin will lead Canada at the WXV 1 women’s rugby tournament starting later this month in the Vancouver area.

WXV 1 includes the top three teams from the Women’s Six Nations (England, France and Ireland) and the top three teams from the Pacific Four Series (Canada, New Zealand, and the United States).

Third-ranked Canada faces No. 4 France, No. 7 Ireland and No. 1 England in the elite division of the three-tiered WXV tournament that runs Sept. 29 to Oct. 12 in Vancouver and Langley, B.C. No. 2 New Zealand and the eighth-ranked U.S. make up the six-team WVX 1 field.

“Our preparation time was short but efficient. This will be a strong team,” Canada coach Kevin Rouet said in a statement. “All the players have worked very hard for the last couple of weeks to prepare for WXV and we are excited for these next three matches and for the chance to play on home soil here in Vancouver against the best rugby teams in the world.

“France, Ireland and England will each challenge us in different ways but it’s another opportunity to test ourselves and another step in our journey to the Rugby World Cup next year.”

Beukeboom serves as captain in the injury absence of Sophie de Goede. The 33-year-old from Uxbridge, Ont., earned her Canadian-record 68th international cap in Canada’s first-ever victory over New Zealand in May at the Pacific Four Series.

Twenty three of the 30 Canadian players selected for WXV 1 were part of that Pacific Four Series squad.

Rouet’s roster includes the uncapped Asia Hogan-Rochester, Caroline Crossley and Rori Wood.

Hogan-Rochester and Crossley were part of the Canadian team that won rugby sevens silver at the Paris Olympics, along with WXV teammates Fancy Bermudez, Olivia Apps, Alysha Corrigan and Taylor Perry. Wood is a veteran of five seasons at UBC.

The 37-year-old Paquin, who has 38 caps for Canada including the 2014 Rugby World Cup, returns to the team for the first time since the 2021 World Cup.

Canada opens the tournament Sept. 29 against France at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver before facing Ireland on Oct. 5 at Willoughby Stadium at Langley Events Centre, and England on Oct. 12 at B.C. Place.

The second-tier WXV 2 and third-tier WXV 3 are slated to run Sept. 27 to Oct. 12, in South Africa and Dubai, respectively.

WXV 2 features Australia, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa and Wales while WXV 3 is made up of Fiji, Hong Kong, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Samoa and Spain.

The tournament has 2025 World Cup qualification implications, although Canada, New Zealand and France, like host England, had already qualified by reaching the semifinals of the last tournament.

Ireland, South Africa, the U.S., Japan, Fiji and Brazil have also booked their ticket, with the final six berths going to the highest-finishing WXV teams who have not yet qualified through regional tournaments.

Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team WXV 1 Squad

Forwards

Alexandria Ellis, Ottawa, Stade Français Paris (France); Brittany Kassil, Guelph, Ont., Guelph Goats; Caroline Crossley, Victoria, Castaway Wanderers; Courtney Holtkamp, Rimbey, Alta., Red Deer Titans Rugby; DaLeaka Menin, Vulcan, Alta., Exeter Chiefs (England); Emily Tuttosi, Souris, Man., Exeter Chiefs (England); Fabiola Forteza, Quebec City, Stade Bordelais (France); Gabrielle Senft, Regina, Saracens (England); Gillian Boag, Calgary, Gloucester-Hartpury (England); Julia Omokhuale, Calgary, Leicester Tigers (England); Karen Paquin, Quebec City, Club de rugby de Quebec; Laetitia Royer, Loretteville, Que., ASM Romagnat (France); McKinley Hunt, King City, Ont., Saracens (England); Pamphinette Buisa, Gatineau, Que., Ottawa Irish; Rori Wood, Sooke, B.C., College Rifles RFC; Sara Cline, Edmonton, Leprechaun Tigers; Tyson Beukeboom, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England);

Backs

Alexandra Tessier, Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton, Que., Exeter Chiefs (England); Alysha Corrigan, Charlottetown, P.E.I., CRFC; Asia Hogan-Rochester, Toronto, Toronto Nomads; Claire Gallagher, Caledon, Ont., Leicester Tigers (England); Fancy Bermudez, Edmonton, Saracens (England); Julia Schell, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England); Justine Pelletier, Rivière-du-Loup, Que, Stade Bordelais (France); Mahalia Robinson, Fulford, Que., Town of Mount Royal RFC; Olivia Apps, Lindsay, Ont., Lindsay RFC; Paige Farries, Red Deer, Alta., Saracens (England); Sara Kaljuvee, Ajax, Ont., Westshore RFC; Shoshanah Seumanutafa, White Rock, B.C., Counties Manukau (New Zealand); Taylor Perry, Oakville, Ont., Exeter Chiefs (England).

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Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform, formerly known as Twitter

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

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Vancouver Canucks star goalie Thatcher Demko working through rare muscle injury

Published

9 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.

The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.

He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.

Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.

He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.

Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

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