A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. I will not read too much into pre-season I will not read too much into pre-season I will not read too much…
1. Every new player who joins the Toronto Maple Leafs is quick to rhyme off the attraction of joining the all-stars at the top of the food chain, so it’s more interesting to ask them who on the roster has surprised them upon first impression.
“I didn’t know how big Kniesy was until you sort of walk up and see him,” major off-season signing Chris Tanev says. “He’s a big boy with a lot skill and a really good shot.”
Matthew Knies, who turns 22 in a couple weeks, is still the youngest Leaf expected to play opening night. The six-foot-three power forward is also the heaviest, after packing on 10 pounds between his rookie weigh-in (217) and his sophomore pump (227).
“Lots of ice cream and stuff like that,” Knies deadpans, before cracking a laugh. “No. I’ve just been working hard in the gym, on the ice, trying to get my full potential. I feel better than ever and stronger than ever.
“I’m looking forward to using that extra muscle to defend the puck and create momentum with it.”
Remember when Knies jumped directly from the NCAA championship to the show and burned Year 1 of his entry-level deal?
Well, that means he’s already entering his platform campaign, despite only playing in 83 NHL games.
“I haven’t really thought of it any differently than any other year,” Knies insists. “It’s the same as last year. Just try and make an impact. Be a contributor. Be a reason as to why we go farther in the playoffs. Be someone who helps the team win on a daily basis. That’s where my main focus is, and I don’t think it’s really changed.”
What has changed is opportunity.
With Tyler Bertuzzi gone, Knies has been stapled on Toronto’s top line every day in training camp alongside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. (New coach Craig Berube believes in forward duos.) He’s also seeing more reps on the power play (second unit) and the penalty kill — where he was hardly used as a rookie.
“It’s a privilege,” Knies says of his penthouse position on the whiteboard. “I have to earn my keep there. I’m going to work my tail off to stay there and support them. It’s a huge honour to play with those guys.”
Berube likes the forward’s size and physicality, how his forechecking can complement an improved stride and a set of soft hands that should have no issue eclipsing last season’s 35 points.
We like how he handles playoff and market pressure in stride and elevates his game when the stakes are highest.
But is Knies a 50-point player? Seventy? And how much does his production ceiling matter if he can mesh with the Leafs’ best talent, be trusted defensively, and handle the pressure?
“He’s a man already,” Matthews says. “I’m looking forward to seeing the progress he’s made. I think it’s pretty evident watching him skate out here.”
What’s not clear is how close Knies is to an extension.
GM Brad Treliving is high on the winger, no doubt. But does the organization hedge its bet and rush to lock him up long term before a potential breakout? Does the player prefer more modest term and let his play ratchet his value?
Knies, who is eligible to re-sign yesterday, politely declines to comment on the state of negotiations. But his contract year will be a subplot.
“I don’t really want to get into that,” Knies says. “But I want to stay here. I know a lot of guys want to stay here. It’s a pretty awesome place to play.”
2. So toxic has the Jeremy Swayman stalemate become, I wonder if Cam Neely wishes he could fire up the time machine and DeLorean back to late June.
The goalie is still holding a grudge over his arbitration experience from the summer 2023, which helps explain why he didn’t elect for a second round of arb this summer.
“Hearing you’re not worthy of what you think you’re worthy of, that was hard to hear. You don’t forget what was said,” Swayman tells the Faceoff docuseries crew following his star turn in the Maple Leafs series.
“I wrote them down, and I looked at them the other day, and I had a couple checkmarks. My biggest knock was how I wasn’t trustworthy in playoffs. Check.”
The scars of arbitration seldom heal fully. Ryan Johansen, P.K. Subban and Ilya Samsonov are a few recent examples of players who endured the process and eventually switched sweaters.
Had the Bruins filed to take Swayman to arbitration in June, he’d already be playing.
The risk there was twofold: (a) tick off a star player you hope to keep long term and (b) hand over some leverage to Swayman, who could have then chosen a two-year settlement and walked himself to UFA status.
Well, the ticking off part has already happened anyway. And an earlier negotiating deadline or at least two years of service at a reasonable market rate might be better than a standoff with a dug-in athlete and an agent, Lewis Gross, who has the rare experience taking these games of chicken right to the Dec. 1 deadline (see: Nylander, William).
Who blinks now?
Even with public sentiment starting to bend toward the club, Swayman is a unique case.
“We don’t have to shy away from it. There’s a contract on the line,” Playoff Swayman says in Faceoff. “I’m gonna be a (expletive) in the net.”
In the boardroom, too, it appears.
3. Hey, Max Domi: What is the ideal number of pre-season games?
“Zero.” (Flashes wide, toothless grin.) “That’s just me, though.”
It’s not just Domi.
The rash of injuries to marquee players skating in meaningless, HRR-padding exhibition contests — Drew Doughty, Patrik Laine, Artemi Panarin, Macklin Celebrini, David Reinbacher — has stirred enough criticism that the league’s governors were talking about it this week in New York.
“Big names in big markets tends to bring out a lot of buzz about it,” says Max Pacioretty.
We’d argue that any more than four is unnecessary and would be fine with two, considering most of these professionals show up in expert conditioning and participate in a couple weeks’ worth of “unofficial” captain skates with their teammates before the additional three weeks of training camp.
The whole preamble is more bloated than a Quick Shifts blog.
Is it necessary? Nope. These events are of low consequence and pile minutes of injury risk onto a full-contact sport.
Do these extra games make money for the players and owners, many of whom force season ticket holders to purchase seats to glorified shinny? Absolutely.
(And if you don’t believe cash rules everything around me, remember that teams only played one “pre-post-season” game to shake off pandemic rust before entering the 2020 playoff bubble. No money-spending fans, no point.)
“You have to understand that there’s young guys trying to adapt to the speed of the NHL. You don’t want to see guys get hurt in games that don’t essentially mean anything to the team,” Domi says. “Back in the day, a big part of coming to training camp was utilizing this time and games to get into shape. But nowadays, guys are so dialed in throughout the summer that you can make a pretty good argument (against a long pre-season).
“I hope and I’m sure they are looking at it.”
There is no one-size-fits-all solution, however. Shorten exhibition, and we could see an elongated regular season (84 games is the word) — a precedent set by the NFL. Because money.
Plus, prospects love the delicious taste of NHL Lite, and some vets want the tuneup.
Pacioretty, for example, says he has always craved the maximum rehearsal time.
When he told his Carolina coach that in 2022, Rod Brind’Amour looked at him quizzically: “Really?“
Really.
“It’s hard to come into a new environment. It’s hard to switch teams. I’ve always wanted to get into as many games as possible,” Pacioretty says. “I’ve always thought it was a great time to build your game.”
McDavid, too, has come out in favour of the long ramp-up, volunteering to suit up for five pre-season games this fall.
“He’s got a lot more power in the league than I do,” Domi smiles. “If that’s the case, I guess we’re playing five or six. If I had a vote, I’d probably say, maybe one or two.
“Whatever the league decides to do, obviously we just work here, so we’ll do it. But I don’t think there’s much need to play more than a couple.”
Preach.
4. I hate that players must pay a toll (in this case, a flying horse collar) for delivering a clean and beautiful open-ice hit on a puck carrier.
I love that superstar Nikita Kucherov doesn’t blink before attacking his captain’s attacker in a, yep, meaningless exhibition.
Does that make me a hypocrite?
5. When Snoop Dogg rolled across Canada over the summer — and correctly predicted an Oilers Game 6 victory in the Cup Final — he brought combatants Ryan Reaves and Arber Xhekaj together.
Having missed Snoop’s concert in Montreal, the Canadiens defenceman made sure to catch the G-funk legend’s stop in Toronto… where he crossed paths with an on-ice foe while waiting to meet Snoop after the show.
Max Domi and Reaves were standing five feet away.
Domi, who’s friendly with Costco’s most famous alum, went over and chatted with Xhekaj for a bit, then went back to Reaves and encouraged him to do the same.
“Just go say hi. What is this? You guys are standing here like idiots,” Xhekaj recalled Domi saying, during an episode of Spittin’ Chiclets. “I got to meet him. He’s a nice guy, great guy. Obviously, he’s an old-school guy. We talked a little bit, and it was good.”
Was that brief meet-and-great enough to prohibit a long-awaited Reaves-versus-Xhekaj opening night rematch Wednesday at Bell Centre?
We’ll see.
Reaves made it clear he felt he was jumped by Xhekaj in 2023’s opener.
A one-man pre-season story, Xhekaj has dodged suspension after targeting Toronto’s Cedric Paré and Ottawa’s Tim Stützle in exhibition action.
So, both heavyweights are expected to lace ’em up next week.
6. Quote of the Week.
“We went in for some sparkling water, and we came out with a hot tub.” — Utah HC forward Jack McBain on he and roommate Dylan Guenther’s newfound infatuation with the world’s biggest Costco.
7. As NHL clubs waive and claim over the next 48 hours, as they stuff salaries on injured reserve and consider trades in order to comply by Monday’s salary cap deadline, hardcore fans will flock to Puckpedia.com — the go-to and most trusted site for keeping track of complicated and critical roster math.
Since the previous category leader, CapFriendly.com, shuttered upon its off-season sale to the Washington Capitals after nine years of public operation, Puckpedia’s traffic has rocketed exponentially.
“And we’re not even into the busier part of the hockey calendar,” says founder Hart Levine, who has staffed up and invested significantly as a result.
Because Puckpedia has been building relationships for six seasons, it is the most accurate and complete resource for fans, media, and industry folk in a hard-cap world. Puckpedia isn’t content to simply list players’ contract info.
Levine’s squad has added a national-team feature to its fun Puck GM tool, allowing fans to build their own 4 Nations Faceoff rosters for February’s showcase. They’ve improved the search and filter capabilities of the site’s Player Dashboard, launched a Waivers Tracker, and have partnered with Sportsnet’s Jason Bukala to feature The Pro Hockey Group’s scouting cards for top drafted prospects.
An important void needs filling, so it’s great to see Puckpedia rising as next site up.
8. As a resident of Toronto, where the local squad has no issues selling out the barn, I’m quick to encourage fans to plan a road (plane?) trip if they want to see more affordable action from the best hockey players in the world.
Before covering the NHL became a job, I had seen as many or more live games in Detroit, Buffalo, Florida, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, Dallas, and Denver as I did in my own town (one). Kinda crazy, right?
The result of affordability and adventure.
Well, the folks at ticket seller Gametime crunched the median ticket prices for every franchise’s home games in 2024-25. The results aren’t incredibly surprising, but they are useful if planning to take in a game this winter.
Note that none of the most affordable nine teams made the playoffs, which helps explain why owners loathe the long rebuild.
Decent value to see contenders in Vegas and Nashville. Unfortunately, there will be nothing fun to do after the buzzer in those towns:
1. New York Rangers ($359.85)
2. Toronto Maple Leafs ($211.35)
3. Boston Bruins ($196.76)
4. Dallas Stars ($188.47)
5. St. Louis Blues ($179.77)
6. Edmonton Oilers ($172.81)
7. Colorado Avalanche ($167.54)
8. Florida Panthers ($157.13)
9. Vancouver Canucks ($148.29)
10. Carolina Hurricanes ($138.61)
11. Los Angeles Kings ($135.46)
12. Utah Hockey Club ($131.95)
13. Seattle Kraken ($125.04)
14. Tampa Bay Lightning ($120.63)
15. Vegas Golden Knights ($115.32)
16. Philadelphia Flyers ($112.88)
17. Montreal Canadiens ($109.38)
18. Washington Capitals ($104.60)
19. Detroit Red Wings ($102.15)
20. Minnesota Wild ($99.12)
21. Pittsburgh Penguins ($95.76)
22. Nashville Predators ($95.09)
23. Winnipeg Jets ($89.94)
24. Chicago Blackhawks ($88.64)
25. New Jersey Devils ($79.55)
26. New York Islanders ($78.53)
27. Ottawa Senators ($71.84)
28. Buffalo Sabres ($70.89)
29. Calgary Flames ($70.73)
30. Columbus Blue Jackets ($62.75)
31. Anaheim Ducks ($52.74)
32. San Jose Sharks ($49.82)
9. Craig Berube gave a fun scrum answer this week when asked for his favourite team-bonding memory as a player:
“Mike Keenan took us to Lake Placid. I was a rookie. It was in the middle of the year, and we went there for three days. We get dressed for practice, right? We’re going to go out to practice, and here comes Mike Keenan in the room fully dressed [in hockey equipment]. He says, ‘Let’s go, boys. You want a piece of me? I’m going to be playing today.’ So, we went out to scrimmage and Mike was playing, but nobody took a shot at him. I got a good kick out of it, though.”
10. With injured Jake Muzzin and John Klingberg coming off the books, the Maple Leafs had a shot at becoming a cap-space-accrual team this season.
Nope.
It certainly appears the Maple Leafs will max out their cap and make use of long-term injured reserve once again.
Yes, defenceman Jani Hakanpää (knee) and forward Connor Dewar (shoulder) practised with their teammates this week. But we should pump the brakes on scribbling their names into the opening-night roster.
With Monday’s deadline for cap compliance looming and neither playing in the pre-season, expect Toronto to shelve both players on LTIR instead of rushing them into action.
“That’s a tough one,” Berube said of Hakanpää’s timeline to return. “I can’t really answer that question right now. We have to wait and see. We got a little bit of time yet and see where he gets to and where he’s at. He’s got to be comfortable with getting in there and playing a game.”
By the time Dewar and/or Hakanpää is healthy enough to play, someone else on the roster might get injured and temporarily shifted off the books.
This is the dance.
11. My way-too-early regular-season awards predictions…
Hart: Connor McDavid
Art Ross: Connor McDavid
Calder: Matvei Michkov
Norris: Cale Makar
Vezina: Juuse Saros
Jack Adams: Sheldon Keefe
Frank J. Selke: Aleksander Barkov
Maurice Richard: Auston Matthews
Lady Byng: Brayden Point
Presidents’ Trophy: Edmonton Oilers
12. Matthew Tkachuk’s chirps in Faceoff are elite.
In Round 2, he targets Brad Marchand when the Bruins star is managing some pain on the bench: “You all right? You all right? Never seen a captain quit on his team.”
Well, brother Brady’s mouth can run pretty good too. It’s pre-season, but the Senators captain’s insult game is in mid-season form.
