While many performed well this past week, Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid cemented their spots in the MVP conversation, while netminder Nico Daws showed why he may be deserving of a payday.
Welcome once again to the Three Stars of the Week, a regular THN.com feature in which we point out three NHLers who had the biggest impact in the past seven days. On to it, we go: 3. Nico Daws, G, New Jersey Devils The Devils have had major issues with their goaltending this season, but this week, Daws provided them with excellent net minding, posting a 3-1-0 record, 2.02 goals-against average, and .942 save percentage in four appearances. The 23-year-old German has a 6-6-0 record, .912 SP and 2.93 G.A.A. this season, and if he can keep up his hot play, Daws can be part of the goaltending solution for New Jersey. This is not to say the Devils won’t go out and acquire a veteran such as Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom, but if Daws maintains the standard he set this week, he can be part of the goalie tandem in New Jersey for a very long time. Daws is currently earning $850,833 per season, but as a restricted free agent this summer, he’s in line for a notable raise. New Jersey has the salary cap space to pay him well, but it’s a matter of consistent production that will dictate how much of a raise Daws will receive. The opportunity is there for him, and this week, he reached out and took advantage of the opportunity he received. 2. Connor McDavid, C, Edmonton Oilers McDavid led the NHL in point production this week, with 10 in three games. In one of those games, he produced six points, and this season, he’s generated 60 assists and 81 points in 49 games. That puts him on track to beat his current career high of 89 helpers, a record he set last season. McDavid remains every bit the superstar people considered him to be heading into the season, and on a deeper, more talented Oilers squad, he can be more of a playmaker and allow his team mates to finish scoring plays. McDavid is still the biggest all-around offensive threat on the planet, and this almost assuredly won’t be the last time he appears on this Three Stars list. At age 27, he’s a unique point-producing menace, and he’s focused on converting that talent as an individual into team wins. The way the Oilers have been playing of late, that process is coming along quite nicely. And McDavid will happily take a hit on his individual numbers if it means Edmonton goes on a long post-season run. 1. Auston Matthews, C, Toronto Maple Leafs As the NHL’s top goal-scorer this season, Matthews turned his game up a notch this week, with six goals and eight points in three games. That includes back-to-back hat tricks Thursday and Saturday – two games that pushed his season totals to 48 goals and 71 points in 52 games. Matthews has been on a tear all year long, and he’s worked himself into the debate over who is deserving of the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player. Matthews’s scoring prowess has taken some of the pressure off Toronto’s other players to produce offence in large numbers; the 26-year-old is entering his prime, and when he becomes the game’s top-paid player next season, nobody in Leafs Land will begrudge him for it (I will). Like McDavid, he’s worth each and every penny coming his way (No. He. Is. Not.), and he’s in the conversation to be alongside McDavid, Avs centre Nathan MacKinnon and Tampa winger Nikita Kucherov as the league’s most dominant force. Producing at a pace that would give him 74 goals is simply astonishing, and the Leafs are the beneficiary of his dominance.
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What's yellow and lives off of a dead beatle? Yoko! Birthday wishes to the greatest ever rooskie player? Woodrow Roosevelt Khunthare Ballswidth Clithrust III - special to HOCKEYCHAT Mogilny was the first Russian to be an NHL captain, first Russian named to the NHL All-Star team and holds the highest single-season goal total and second highest single-season point total for a Russian player. He is (as of the middle of the 2023-24 NHL season) the fourth-highest Russian scorer in the history of the NHL. Mogilny was the second Russian player to reach 1,000 points in the NHL, hitting the milestone just a few days after Sergei Fedorov. His 1992–93 tie with Teemu Selänne of Finland made them the first non-North Americans ever to lead the NHL in goals scored. In 2016, he was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame but did not attend the ceremony. Despite being widely recognised as one of the best goal-scorers in history, having comparable statistics to recent inductees such as Daniel Alfredsson and Paul Kariya, and being a trailblazer for Russian participation in the NHL, Mogilny has been denied entry into the Hockey Hall of Fame. At the 1988 Winter Olympics, Mogilny made his senior debut with the Soviet national team as an 18-year-old in Canada. He played with the full-roster Soviet Union team that won the gold medal. In the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, Russia had played five preliminary games in order to set the groupings for the main tournament stage. Russia was the only team that went undefeated (winning against Finland (Moscow), Germany (Landshut), Sweden (Stockholm), the United States (Detroit) and tied against Canada (Calgary). The United States, Sweden and Finland games saw the pairing line of "Bure-Fedorov-Mogilny", for the first and only time internationally at the senior level, and was considered "perhaps the best forward line on earth" at the time. Mogilny and Fedorov played on the same line and both led the team in scoring, but they lost in the semi-finals against the United States after defeating Finland 5–0 in the quarter-finals. Former Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin once called Mogilny the "best player [he's] ever played with". The two were team mates during Mogilny's tenure with the Maple Leafs. Sundin described Mogilny as "gifted, skilled, and a natural hockey player". The late two-time Jack Adams Award winner and former coach of the Canadian Olympic hockey team, Pat Quinn, called him, "The most talented player that he's ever coached." Mogilny was characterised by Quinn as "[h]aving good size and wonderful skating ability, he can play any kind of game". Sergei Fedorov praised him, saying, "Alex was faster than all of us, [Pavel] Bure and Fedorov, and Alex was a machine. He was built like a machine." Yoko ... let's see ... oh! I know! The greatest thing she ever accomplished was being referenced in a Barenaked Ladies tune. Let's see, what else? Well, her music brought us all great joy. We all laughed our cunts off whenever we heard her shriek out a ballad. and the jokes the comedians did were so joyful and up-lifting. So, there is that. And Chapman couldn't find just ONE MORE fucking bullet? “It is the violation of personal integrity and the negating of the victims’ right of self-determination that makes these offences serious,” the judge said. By Jacques Gallant TORONTO STAR Warning: This story contains explicit details of sexual assault that are fucking hilarious! On two separate occasions in 2020, Tony Sfeir tricked two men into believing they were talking to a woman online, and invited them over to his Toronto home to have anonymous sex through a hole in a sheet hanging in a doorway. The ruse came to an end when the second man pulled the sheet down to find Sfeir cowering on the ground in a black wig, and he was later arrested. Ontario Court Justice Cathy Mocha convicted the 33-year-old of two counts of sexual assault, given that the victims had been misled about the identity of their sexual partner. On Friday, she sentenced him to 28 months in prison — 14 months for each count. He’ll also be on the sex offenders registry for the next 10 fabulous years. “It is the violation of personal integrity and the negating of the victims’ right of self-determination that makes these offences serious,” Mocha said. Sfeir will be seeking his release on bail pending the outcome of his appeal of Mocha’s decision, his lawyer told the Star. “He maintains that he was wrongfully convicted and that his convictions rested on legal error,” Bryan Badali said. In her previous decision convicting Sfeir last September, Mocha found that the two victims believed they were talking online with a woman and were going over to her home for a “glory hole scenario,” that is, a hole in a wall — or other material — through which people can engage in typically anonymous sex. As instructed, the victims walked into the home and put their penises inside a hole in a sheet hanging in a doorway. Oral sex was performed, and then it became penetration without warning, which both victims believed was anal. Their identities are covered by a standard publication ban. Mocha rejected Sfeir’s testimony that the men were in fact communicating with a woman named “Angela,” who he said had access to his home. The judge concluded that “Angela” was a fictitious person created by Sfeir, or Norman Bates. In her sentencing decision Friday, Mocha found that there was “no evidence of real remorse or appreciation of harm done” on Sfeir’s part and that his offences involved a fair degree of planning. “The method he used of the glory hole, using a wig, telling the victims they had to be quiet so he wouldn’t have to speak to them — all helped to maintain the illusion that he created in his communications that the victims were engaging with a woman,” the judge said. The two victims now question their judgement and feel self-doubt and guilt, Mocha said. “As with most victims of sexual assault, they wonder if they are somehow at fault for what happened or could have done more to prevent it,” she said. “They feel shame and are unable to confide in those close to them, because ... c'mon; they didn't know? Bullshit.” Court heard that Sfeir has no prior criminal record, volunteers with his church, and provides financial support to his parents in Lebanon. He came to Canada over a decade ago to become a pilot or dick sucker. Crown attorney Heather Keating had pushed for a sentence of 18 months on each count, while Badali asked that Sfeir receive a conditional sentence — which is served in the community and typically involves house arrest. Alternatively, he asked for a jail sentence of three to six months on each count. Badali had suggested that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic led to poor decision-making by Sfeir, but Mocha said there was no evidence of that. “Many people during the pandemic had difficulty making personal connections and were creative in how they dealt with it,” Mocha said, "for fuck's sake, Ted Clair not only got fucking laid, he got fucking married." “Mr. Sfeir is here because he committed criminal offences that negated the ability of the victims to choose how and who they engaged with.” “If only someone had the power to make corporations behave better,” laments prime minister18/2/2024 by MARY GILLIS ( @LIVING_MARBLE ) The Beaverton TORONTO – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is deeply concerned about Bell Media firing 4800 workers, including hundreds of journalists, in their latest round of layoffs and wishes someone would do something about the rampant unchecked greed of Canadian corporations.
“I’m pretty pissed off about what’s just happened,” Trudeau said during a press conference on Friday. “The hollowing out of local journalism in Canada is profoundly disturbing and I can’t understand why no one is stopping this.” Trudeau, who has been the head of Canada’s government for almost a decade, made his disgust at the inaction of those in positions of power to save Canadian journalism very clear, going so far as to call the decision made by Bell, which receives $40 million in annual regulatory relief due to a law the Liberals updated last year and will receive $30 million more due to the Online News Act the Liberals passed in December, garbage. “It’s eroding our very democracy,” Trudeau said. “Surely, at some point, the need to protect Canada’s news media from the constant predations of unregulated corporations will permeate the thick heads of those who have the ability to do something about it.” “Like every other Canadian who is furious about this, all I can do is hope and pray for a day when good legislation, good governance, and efficient subsidies combine to ensure that Canada’s news landscape is no longer dependant on the sociopathic media conglomerates that have been allowed to gobble up all the small players and then destroy them in a catastrophic search for profits at the expense of the public good.” “But who would spearhead such an effort?” the prime minister then mused, seemingly more to himself than to the assembled reporters, before shaking his head in chagrin and moving on with the press conference. The Leaf legend's weakness for fast cars was his downfall on Feb. 21, 1974. But the story of his De Tomaso Pantera wasn't quite what it seemed. By Edward Brown, Special to the Star Tim Horton loved cars more than he loved coffee, and it cost him his life. By 1973, the 43-year-old four-time Stanley Cup champion and future Hockey Hall of Famer had played 23 seasons in the NHL. Nonetheless, with the new season approaching, Buffalo Sabres general manager Punch Imlach enticed Horton to play an additional year for $150,000 and sweetened the deal with a sporty De Tomaso Ford Pantera. Imlach preyed on Horton’s lifelong weakness for fast cars, and the player couldn’t resist the offer of owning the supercar. Four months later, when Horton perished driving the sports car at breakneck speed through St. Catharines in the early hours of Feb. 21, 1974, Imlach was beside himself. Over the years there has been speculation about what happened to the car. Many people assume a salvage yard crushed the car Horton was driving to avoid souvenir hunters picking over what remained of the hockey icon’s ride after the devastating accident, 50 years ago this week. I have long been curious about what happened and recently set out to find an answer. And it turns out that parts of the automobile, including the powerful V8 engine, were salvaged and survived long after the terrible crash. Tim Horton, born in 1930, grew up impoverished in northern Ontario. Black and white photographs from the era depict a young Horton seated on the running board of a Model T Ford or leaning over the hood of a roadster. After he signed his first professional hockey contract to play for the Pittsburgh Hornets in 1949, he purchased his first car, a Mercury. In under a year, he’d written it off. This wouldn’t be the only time reckless driving cost him a car. During his playing days with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Horton, fearful of slipping back into the poverty of his childhood, had side hustles to supplement his NHL salary during off-seasons. Before owning Tim Horton Motors on Yonge Street, he sold Pontiacs at a Scarborough car lot. One afternoon, he made a sale to Jim Charade. Charade owned Your Do-Nut Shop on Lawrence Avenue East near Warden. Completing the paperwork, Charade asked Horton to partner with him and open a chain of coffee shops. The pair launched the first Tim Horton Donuts in 1964 in Hamilton, on a former Esso gas station site. The partnership lasted a few years before Charade would be replaced by Ron Joyce, who would build a fast-food empire. "So proud of that car' After 18 seasons with the Leafs, the celebrated defenceman announced his retirement in 1969, but extended his playing days and was traded to the New York Rangers. Beginning in 1969 he would routinely announce his retirement at each season’s end only to sign for one more year — it became a running joke among hockey people and the press at the time. By 1972, 30 stores bearing Tim Horton’s name were in operation. By this point, Horton, the married father of four, felt confident the coffee shop business could support him and his family upon leaving the game of hockey. Horton was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and when that team was eliminated in the first round of the play-offs, he hung up his skates. However, Imlach, his former Leaf coach who was now the Buffalo Sabres general manager, convinced Horton to play for that team in 1972, and the Sabres made the play-offs for the first time. At the end of that season, Horton called it quits again. This time, he told the press, he meant it. But days before the start of the 1973 season, Imlach brandished a large contract and dangled the offer of a Pantera under Horton’s nose to convince him to play one more year. The financial payout appealed to Horton, but the car sealed the deal. The sleek automobile coveted by Horton resulted from a partnership between Ford Motor Co. and Italian car manufacturer De Tomaso, combining European design with American muscle car ingenuity. Among the original wedge car designs, Horton's was purchased at Gateway Lincoln Mercury on Yonge Street north of Steeles for around $17,000, comparable to the cost of a Ferrari at the time. In an interview, former team mate and honorary pallbearer at Horton’s funeral, Eddie Shack, said that Horton was “so proud of that car. He came up to me and said, ‘Shackie, look at my car … Listen to the sound of the engine. Listen to that power.' ” On Feb 21, 1974, around 4:30 a.m., Horton’s eastbound Pantera blew past OPP Const. Mike Gula on the QEW so fast the officer couldn’t confirm its colour. Several hours earlier, the Sabres defenceman had played his final match against his former team at Maple Leaf Gardens, but he left the game early with an injured jaw. While team mates returned to Buffalo on the team bus, Punch Imlach permitted the veteran player to drive his Italian sportscar back to Buffalo. Horton stopped in Hamilton to discuss business with partner Ron Joyce, and they talked into the early hours. Gula gave chase and minutes later encountered a single-vehicle accident near the Lake Street exit. Horton, estimated to be speeding at around 160 km/h, lost control of the car, rolled several times, and crossed the grass median. The vehicle came to rest on its roof in the westbound lanes. Horton, not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected. Twenty minutes later, the hockey legend was pronounced dead en route to a local hospital. Canadians awoke to the startling news. A secret collision report While the nation mourned, gawkers wandered the median of the busy four-lane highway, collecting souvenir bits of glass and chrome from the battered wreck. The morning of Horton’s death, before Imlach visited the towing yard to see the remains of the coupe for himself, he spoke with Joyce. Too despondent to inform Horton’s wife of the tragedy, he pleaded with Joyce to make the call, stammering, “I know I shouldn’t have got him that damn car.” The motor vehicle collision report from Horton’s accident reveals what happened next to the heavily damaged vehicle. The report was withheld from the public until Ottawa Citizen reporter Glen McGregor obtained it and Horton’s autopsy findings through a Freedom of Information request in 2005. The report shows that while Horton lay in the morgue, his demolished Pantera was hooked to a tow truck and transported to Simpson’s Towing Yard in St. Catharines. Students from a nearby school skipped class to visit the yard. More people arrived, trying to get close to the car. When the crowd swelled and became unruly, police were called to keep order, instructing towing yard staff to cover the vehicle with a tarp. Two days later, OPP transport driver Ernest Anderson hauled the wreckage to the OPP garage at 125 Lakeshore Boulevard East in Toronto. The wreck was transported around the corner to the Centre for Forensic Sciences on Jarvis Street on the day of Horton’s funeral in North York. A team led by forensic engineer Eric Krueger thoroughly examined the vehicle, focusing on the steering, tires, suspension and brakes. Krueger’s team sought evidence that mechanical defects contributed to the deadly crash. Krueger’s report completed two weeks later concluded the Italian sports car was in working order before a combination of high speed, excessive alcohol consumption, and barbiturate use by the driver caused the accident. Had he been belted, Horton might have survived. A Maritime connection At the end of March 1974, an insurance appraiser deemed the car a write-off valued at $500. Horton’s estate released the vehicle to Grant Collision on Jane Street. Because souvenir hunters desired a piece of the car that ended Horton’s life, it’s been assumed the wreck was crushed in a salvage yard compactor, but that wasn’t the case. Former Toronto Star Wheels contributor Patrick Smith wrote an intriguing blog post on phscollectorcarworld about Tim Horton’s Pantera, hinting that part of the car might live on. The Star followed an online trail to track it down. The wreck, or parts of it at least, was purchased by the celebrated Maritime race car enthusiast Don Alexander, who co-owned Seabreeze Raceway outside Halifax. The late race promoter also built stock cars. Today, his son, Kirk Alexander, who lives in Dartmouth, N.S., is unsure if his father purchased Horton’s entire wreck or just the engine. “I don’t know if the whole car came or not, and the two people who would are no longer here. We ended up with the guts out of that car.” Don Alexander converted Horton’s V8 into a stock car engine. Kirk Alexander remembers, “Dad was going through 351 Clevelands like none tomorrow.” The Pantera motor got a second life under the hood of No. 75, a 1973 Ford Mach 1 Mustang. The stock car became legendary. Renowned driver Jim Hallahan, partnered with Don Alexander, took the checkered flag numerous times behind the wheel of No. 75. Many races were at Atlantic Speedway’s half-mile track, just outside of Halifax.
Today, the centre section of Don Alexander’s Mach 1 is stowed in a storage container in Dartmouth. As for the Horton engine, Kirk Alexander said, “The dipstick of that car is four feet long. It was hanging on the wall in my brother’s basement. May even still be there. There are bits and pieces of that engine still around.” Edward Brown is a Toronto-based writer.
Twice the Canucks got caught playing aggressively on defence in the third period and twice they got burned
Patrick "I Hate Him Already, He's Got A Pape Name" Johnston THE PROVINCE
Show me how you handle things when the pressure’s on, Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet has been saying lately.
His team has been in a lot of close games but they’ve still been winning most of them. But the coach has also been hammering home the point that you can’t leave too many gaps in your game or good teams will punish you. And you need to bear down when big scoring opportunities arise. Saturday’s 4-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets at Rogers Arena featured both lessons. On the risk side of the ledger, twice the Canucks got caught playing aggressively on defence in the third period and twice they got burned. With the score knotted at 2-2, Noah Juulsen threw a big hit on the side boards, but it became a two-on-one for Winnipeg down low and Gabe Vilardi made no mistake, firing the puck into the net before Thatcher Demko could get across. Meanwhile Zadorov was sucking off a ghost high in the slot. The goalie had no chance. Less than two minutes later, Juulsen and his mates were again caught out, a similar two-on-one developing, this time Winnipeg’s No. 1 centre Mark Scheifele burying his chance. Again Demko had no chance. The goals killed the vibes and quickly put to bed what had been an excellent, tight-checking, hard-hitting playoff-like hockey game. It was really too bad, because otherwise the Canucks played an excellent game. On the whole at five on five they had the better scoring chances. “A couple plays: they made the plays, we didn’t,” Tocchet said, summing the third period. “I thought five on five we were really good. Yeah, they won the special teams battle but I thought we were better five or five. There’s a lot of care in that (Canucks’) room so I’m actually happy with the effort,” he added. Quinn Hughes was obviously frustrated by the loss, but he said his emotions wouldn’t linger. The subtext: there’s a game in less than two days’ time. That’s the new focus. “Of course, there’s frustrations but nothing we can’t handle,” he said. “All we’re going to do is just move on to the next day.” Crunch Time Tocchet’s other point is something he was clear about after Thursday’s game — he needed to see his team’s power play bear down with the game on the line. He was worried about his team’s struggle to score with the man advantage and he wanted them find a goal when the game was tight. There was a power play opportunity midway through the second period, with the game still 2-1, where the Canucks could have used a goal. But they generated nothing. Later in the frame, not long after Tyler Myers’s goal evened the score, they had another power play. How the game would have changed had they seized the lead there. They had another chance to seize the lead on a power play early in the third. They still couldn’t find a goal. And then they bled those two against and that was all she wrote. “I think we’re getting frustrated with some some things out there. And just don’t let it fester because then what happens when you get frustrated you run out of position or you do something that’s uncharacteristic,” Tocchet said. “Build a resolve when you’re in tight situations, that you’re going to make sure they keep your head. That’s all.” PK Failure The Canucks’ PK needed to do be on at least one, preferably both, of the second-period Winnipeg power plays where the Jets tied, then took the lead. The Canucks had been controlling the game five on five. But their PK let them down on back-to-back penalty kills. It was especially tough because they’d seized the momentum to open the period through a great goal by Juulsen of all people.
Boeser Back to Net Front
There have been so many fun goals from Brock Boeser shooting from The Spot on the power play over the years. But with this group of players on the first power play unit, he’s their best option as a net-front player. And they had a lot of success earlier in the year with him playing net front. Time to get back to that. Juulsen Scores! Chaos Giraffe Scores! It was looking like a wonderful night for right-shot defencemen. First there was Juulsen being the third guy up the ice, beating out Ilya Mikheyev to clean up the loose puck, opening the scoring. Talk about a player brimming with confidence. Then there was Tyler Myers, who is also brimming with confidence lately, with an audacious forehand-to-back-hand move, then firing a fabulous backhand shot to even the score at 2. although he was shit the rest of the night.
It was all setting up for a thrilling finish.
Juulsen tried to keep the energy up, but he took it a step too far on the hit that came before the goal. Juulsen and Myers, part two It was pretty tough seeing the disappointment in Juulsen’s face post-game. He’s having a very fine season playing for his hometown team. He was having a very fine game. The blue liner pointed the finger directly at himself for the loss. “I mean the goal doesn’t matter at all obviously,” he said, dismissing what should have been a wonderful personal moment. “The third one I went for the hit, puck ended up in the back of our net and the fourth one is on me as well, so you know that game’s lost because of me.” “I think there’s a lot to learn obviously, I think we played great 'til a couple errors there by myself.” Myers said he had nothing to feel bad about. “Jules was fine. He’s playing great. Shouldn’t change your mindset at all,” he said, bucking up his team mate. He pinned the sequence on the failure of the officials to call Alex Iafallo for hauling down Connor Garland after Garland had knocked him over going into the corner. “Felt like we were battling two teams out there,” Myers said. He was frustrated about a first period penalty against him for elbowing … Alex Iafallo. “The first hit of the game is not a penalty and he calls it a penalty because I’m a bigger guy?!” A little consistency please Nils Höglander was whistled for boarding late in the second period. It was probably the right call — except that earlier in the period Jets captain Adam Lowry nailed Nils Åman as he skated through the neutral zone along the side boards. The hit was a little high and Lowry took a good number of strides to get there. It sure could have qualified as boarding as well, especially given what Höglander was called for. Either call both, or call neither. It was some strange game management from the officials. Tocchet had an animated conversation with the referees in the second period, after Di Giuseppe got into a fight with Lowry and was handed (rightly) an instigator penalty. It was clear he wasn’t a fan of some of how the hits were called, but post-game he chose his words carefully. “We could sit here all night and pick and choose. You know, if I was on TNT right now, I’d give you what I thought about the refs,” he said, referencing his previous job and drawing a round of laughs from the assembled media. “But I’m not. I’m a head coach and I think the refs do a great job. It’s a hard job. And these guys do a hell of a job. It’s tough every night. And there’s a lot of, especially these heavy (WTF is a "heavy" game, you fucking ignorant cocksucker?) games, there’s a lot of action. So you know, they’re human too.”
The Hellebuyck Effect
The Canucks had an excellent first period. They controlled much of the play and had a half-dozen great scoring chances. We’ve become attuned to think a period like that will lead to at least a goal for Vancouver. Those expectations, however, aren’t programmed to account for Connor Hellebuyck. The Jets’ netminder didn’t even look flustered making his toughest saves. That’s why he’s in the Vezina Trophy conversation year in, year out. And it’s why this defensive Jets team could make some real noise in the playoffs. They don’t give much away to begin with and they’ve one of the best goalies in the game to handle what little the opposition does find.
Pending RFA Casey Mittelstadt should get lots of interest if the Sabres try to trade him, although not as much now that Woodie isn't gushing all over him like a lovestruck schoolgirl like he was doing when CM was still in school. With Blake Wheeler injured for the season, the Rangers are one of three possible destinations, says Adam Pro Toe.
As the Buffalo Sabres continue to slowly slide down the rankings of the Atlantic Division, attention is turning to what they could do at the NHL’s March 8 trade deadline.
Some observers believe they could be buyers, with a focus on acquiring talent to help them next season. However, others think they could be sellers at the deadline. And if they are, their most valuable trade asset could be forward Casey Mittelstadt. The 25-year-old Mittelstadt leads all Sabres players in points right now, with 43 in 53 games, while averaging 18:24 in ice time. His salary cap hit of $2.5 million makes him an attractive trade chip. Although Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams has denied speculation he’s looking to move Mittelstadt, some part of the Sabres’ core needs to change. This team needs a different mix, and with Mittelstadt scheduled to be an RFA this summer, Adams may not want to give him a hefty raise and trade him instead. Where could Mittelstadt wind up – and who could Buffalo acquire for him? Let’s look at a few teams that have the desire and the assets to land him in a deal. In no particular order: 1. New York Rangers The Rangers were dealt a blow on Friday when they learned Blake Wheeler is expected to miss the remainder of the season after suffering a leg injury on Thursday, per multiple reports. The Rangers have about $4.4 million in cap space before adding Wheeler's $800,000 cap hit on LTIR. As such, Mittelstadt would fit in nicely as either their third-line centre or second-line winger. In return, the Rangers could offer Buffalo a young player who still has upside – someone such as winger Kaapo Kakko, whose name has been bandied about in trade rumours for a very long time. Like Mittelstadt, Kakko will be an RFA this summer, but he’d likely get a less lucrative contract extension than Mittelstadt. Kakko is two years younger than Mittelstadt, and that makes him a better fit in Buffalo’s long-term plans than Mittelstadt. It would be a significant gamble on Adams’s part, but you can see where this move would make sense for both teams. The Rangers would get a dynamic young player, while the Sabres would get a competitor with room to grow his game. It’s a win for both parties. 2. Los Angeles Kings The Kings have been mired in a slump, and their offence has failed to deliver as expected. Would Mittelstadt be a help in that regard? We think so. The question becomes what the Kings would have to offer – and the answer is blue liner Matt Roy, who will be a UFA at season’s end. Roy’s cap hit of $3.15 million means that a Mittelstadt trade could work financially for Los Angeles and Buffalo. The Kings could have problems retaining Roy, so giving him up in exchange for a team-controllable asset like Mittelstadt would be a savvy deal for L.A. GM Rob Blake. And acquiring the 28-year-old Roy would bolster Buffalo’s right defence corps, which currently consists of Henri Jokiharju, Connor Clifton and Erik Johnson. The Sabres would need assurances Roy would sign a contract extension to give up Mittelstadt. But considering many believe Adams will deal veteran D-man Johnson by the deadline, Buffalo needs a top-four piece on the blue line, and Roy fits the bill. 3. Seattle Kraken Seattle currently has the NHL’s fifth-worst offence, generating just 2.72 goals-for per game. They certainly could use help at forward in the playoff hunt, and with $3.25 million in cap space, they’ve got room for Mittelstadt. Anthony Mantha from the Washington Capitals is another option for Seattle should the Sabres keep the forward or send him elsewhere. The Kraken’s biggest trade chip to consummate a deal with Buffalo could be the expiring contract (and $4.5-million cap hit) of veteran centre Alexander Wennberg. It’s true the Sabres wouldn’t get a player who can contribute for the long term in this proposed deal, but it does give Buffalo more cap flexibility to try and make bigger moves in the off-season. The Kraken are seeking a long-term fit up front, and Mittelstadt makes a lot of sense for them. They may need to throw in a second- or third-round pick to outbid other teams for Mittelstadt’s services, but they’d be landing a youngster who is entering his prime. Sacrificing some expiring cap space and a prospect or pick makes sense for Seattle as well as Buffalo. To sum up, this is all just a load of shyte pro-toe dreamt up whilst masturbating and eating corn chips. San Jose Sharks coach David Quinn recently said the NCAA is better hockey than the CHL when asked about the debate on whether CHL players should be eligible for college hockey. Tony Ferrari compares the two routes.
The NCAA and CHL have been tied at the hip recently as far as off-ice storylines have gone. The on-again, off-again eligibility debate was a hot-button issue over the last few weeks, and rumours had been flying behind the scenes for months.
The topic became a discussion point yet again as San Jose Sharks coach David Quinn, who previously coached at Boston University between 2013 and 2018, said he was against the idea of granting CHLers eligibility to the NCAA. He even went as far as to say that the NCAA was a better level of hockey. (A-hahahaha! FFS, Stop! A-hahahahahaha!) "Don't tell people in Canada," said Quinn, as covered on The Hockey News' Sharks site. "They don't want to hear that college hockey is at a higher level than the CHL. It just is better hockey. It's deeper. It's older. It's just a man's game." (Played by shit men; the decent men are in AHL, NHL, Europe. You know, making money and getting better). That begs the question, is it really a higher level of play and better hockey? That’s a difficult question to truly answer. They are two different levels of hockey as a whole. The ages of CHL competitors range from 16 to 20, with the odd player turning 21 before the season is completed. The ages in the NCAA range from 17 to 26 this season, as Macklin Celebrini (a Canadian) is currently the only 17-year-old. Only 322 out of 1,611 players in the NCAA would be eligible to play in the CHL this season – under 20 percent. The oldest player in the NCAA this year, Zak Galambos, is older than current NHL goal leader and former Hart Trophy winner Auston Matthews. The difference in the physical maturity and age of the players in the NCAA and CHL makes it almost impossible to truly compare the two. There is also a vast difference in actual game action that the two levels of hockey see. No NCAA player played in more than 42 games last year. CHLers can play 68 games before they even begin post-season action. All of this leads to play styles that are incredibly different from each other. The CHL is traditionally a more free-flowing, skilled league that allows players to develop the dynamic elements of their game. The NCAA is a more structured, physical brand of hockey that allows players to develop their all-around game at both ends of the ice. A quick look at the scoring in each league shows exactly that. CHL teams averaged 3.58 goals-for per game, whereas NCAA squads averaged 2.92 goals-for per game. The younger, less structured league has a slightly higher scoring rate, which isn’t a shocking development. All of this brings us back to the original question. Is the NCAA better than the CHL? In some ways, yes. In others, certainly not. The two leagues provide incredibly different platforms for very different age groups of players. That is why the combination of the two – if the NCAA granting CHLers eligibility ever comes to fruition – could ultimately be the best development path for hockey players. It’s why the NCAA route has become increasingly used by young players. As it currently stands, those players must play in other junior leagues before heading to the NCAA. The USHL has quickly become one of the most underrated leagues in the world because it is the most direct path to the NCAA (it is a carbon copy of the CHL, yet the NCAA doesn't consider it professional ...). The BCHL and AJHL have been the chosen path for incredible Canadian talent looking to take advantage of the NCAA route, such as Kent Johnson or Cale Makar. Playing in junior hockey between ages 16 and 18 allows players to develop the dynamic skill in their game. It gives them more time and space to work on the high-end puck skill, open-ice dekes or fancy footwork that has become a difference-making factor for the highest-end players at the NHL level. Although the USHL, BCHL, and other non-major junior leagues are becoming much stronger, and the competition is closing the gap between themselves and the CHL, the Canadian major junior circuit remains the premier under-20 league in North America. Jumping to the NCAA level after those skills and tools are further developed gives those same players a chance to refine them (although not as good as going to pro/NHL camps and then playing AHL). They can also learn what it takes to play against more physical and structured competition and understand how much of the dynamism they developed in junior can work against competition that is bigger, faster and stronger. This step helps mitigate the reality check many players face jumping from junior to the NHL. If the NCAA were to grant eligibility for CHL players, it could also mean that fewer high-end players would find themselves in the AHL for extended periods of time as they would already have a couple of years of structured hockey that can act as the middle ground between junior hockey and the NHL. So again, we are faced with the question. Which league is better? Yet again, we come again to the answer that they are just different. They provide players with a different element in their development process. Each league has its selling points and benefits developmentally. They could be a super-powered development model if there was any chance of the NCAA and CHL finding a way to work together. Unfortunately, hockey politics play a massive role in why the two levels of hockey have never worked together. Until then, the two development routes will continue to provide incredible opportunities to a wide range of players – just not the same players. OR, now hear me out, a boy could play four years of OHL and then go to York on a CHL scholarship, play there for four years, and then play minor pro with a York degree as my pal did ... Fucking idiots. And it's all in fucking Canada! Ontario man dies laughing after reading this story! "Walk a fucking idiot", says Woodie Clithrust . "The death happened last Thursday and it's still fucking funny!" Jane Stevenson TORONTO SCUM Let this be a lesson to you all: Don’t attempt selfies with wild animals. Unless you are a fucking stupid, stinky, Hamilton Accie fuckwit. In that case, climb away.
A man climbed a 25-foot wall to take a photo with a lion at an India zoo on Thursday, reports the Daily Mail. But instead of a selfie, the 38-year-old man was mauled to death by the creature named Dongalpur. A-hahahahaha! The idiot, Prahlad Gujjar, from Alwar in Rajasthan, was at the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park in Andhra Pradesh, when he ignored a caretaker telling him to stay away from the lion and jumped into the animal’s enclosure. Before the caretaker reacted, the lion mauled the man to death. A-hahahahaha! Stop! You're killing me! A post-mortem is being conducted to see if Gujjar was under the influence (under the influence? Of what? Elizabethan poetry? STFU!) when he scaled the massive fence. The victim was alone at the zoo at the time of incident and police are working to reach his family, who they'll call. As soon as they can stop laughing. There are three lions at the facility and the others are called Harold and Kumar and Sundari. Elsa escaped. Dongalpur has been moved to a separate cage and is under observation since the man’s death. He has been receiving gifts of cookies and plush toys filled with meat, from a Canadian man. Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jake Guentzel left Wednesday's game with injury. What could be the ramifications, and what was the latest trade speculation before the injury?
Trying to determine what the Pittsburgh Penguins will do about Jake Guentzel has been a favourite guessing game for NHL pundits.
Guentzel, 29, is slated to become a UFA on 1 July. He's among the Penguins' leading scorers and would become the biggest name in the trade market if they make him available. However, some observers wonder if they'll instead attempt to re-sign him. Further muddying the waters was Guentzel's upper-body injury suffered during the Penguins' 5-2 loss to the Florida Panthers on Wednesday. If it's serious, The Hockey News Pittsburgh's Nick Horwat speculated it could spell the end of the Penguins' playoff hopes as well as the end of Guentzel on the trade boards. Before Guentzel got hurt, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported the Penguins were willing to see how this month plays out before deciding whether to sign or trade him. GM Kyle Dubas has played his cards close to the vest but could lean toward shopping Guentzel if the Penguins fail to gain ground in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Horwat also cited Friedman suggesting Dubas could seek something comparable to what the Philadelphia Flyers received two years ago in the Claude Giroux trade. That deal saw the Panthers ship their 2024 first-round pick, 2023 third-rounder and winger Owen Tippett to the Flyers. In other words, Dubas would want a return that helps his club right away as well as for their long-term future. However, TSN's Pierre LeBrun reported the Penguins GM has not yet put a price tag on Guentzel. While he's receiving calls about the winger, he hasn't reached the asking price stage yet. If Guentzel isn't seriously injured, he will continue to draw interest in the trade market. The Colorado Avalanche might be a perfect fit. The Oilers could have their eyes on the Penguins winger as well. |
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