A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Only I decide when I’ve thrown enough pitches.
1. In the nine seasons Mitch Marner was a Toronto Maple Leaf, only two franchises — the two-time Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning and two-time Cup finalist Edmonton Oilers — threw a more efficient power play over the boards (24.2 per cent).
One personnel change on a five-man unit shouldn’t make that much of a difference, right?
And yet the Maple Leafs were just a few seconds — and a fortunate bounce off a well-positioned Matthew Knies — away from going 0-for-10 on the man-advantage to start the post-Marner era.
Toronto and rebuilding Philadelphia are the only NHL teams to have a net power-play percentage of zero, having also surrendered a short-handed goal.
Meaning, thus far, their man-advantage has not provided any advantage at all.
How can that be when PP1 features a one-time 69-goal scorer, a one-time 47-goal scorer, a one-time 45-goal scorer, a one-time 29-goal scorer and a one-time 20-goal defenceman?
“Tough to get in a rhythm right now,” Auston Matthews conceded Thursday. “I don’t think we’re doing enough 5-on-5 to give ourselves more power-play opportunities. The more opportunities you get, the more rhythm you get. So, I think that’s on us to kind of break out of that rut.”
The Leafs ranked 20th in power-play opportunities in 2024-25 (2.6 per game) and are only drawing two per game this season.
There is a correlation here to how little offensive zone time and cycle chances they are generating. Far too seldom do the Leafs hang onto the puck and drive to the inside.
So, the PP needs more reps to get in a groove. Fair.
But it may also require a refresh of personnel soon.
That Knies goal was assisted by Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who currently quarterbacks the second unit but has plenty of experience up top and makes decisions quickly. Could he sub in for Morgan Rielly if the struggles linger? Will that be enough?
Further, Toronto’s No. 1 power-play lacks a creative, decisive passer. Its best facilitators, Max Domi and Matias Maccelli, share ice on PP2.
So long have the big guns on PP1 played together that one might simply assume they’ll figure it out sooner or later. Small sample size and all that.
But maybe the power play needs a shock to the system, not unlike it received last winter when a five-forward look gave it life. A passer to tee up Matthews or Nylander.
The Maple Leafs aren’t exactly overwhelming their opponents at 5-on-5 (48.7 per cent expected goals).
They need their power-play — one of their most trusted regular-season weapons — to become a serious threat.
2. GM Bill Guerin and head coach Mike Sullivan invested a whack of time during the 4 Nations Face-Off into developing a process for building the U.S. Olympic squad. All the same principals — coaches and management — are in place, and they did most of the roster and strategy legwork over the summer.
“Because it’s hard once the season starts. All of us have an obligation to our respective NHL teams, and that’s where our focus and our attention needs to be,” says Sullivan, who took a new job as Rangers coach. “And quite honestly, that’s where it is right now for all of us. But we put a lot of work into the process leading up to it that I think helps us.”
Guerin has stated that the Americans “have to win” gold in Milan, and Sullivan sees that as an indication of how far USA Hockey has come since winning its most recent men’s best-on-best, at the 1996 World Cup.
“Our expectation is that we’re going to win, and I think that’s all Billy’s saying,” Sullivan says. “American hockey is as good as it’s ever been, and we’re developing players at a decent rate. Just from a sheer numbers standpoint, there were guys left off that (4 Nations) roster that are elite players in their own right. Those are some of the most difficult decisions that our group had to make. And I would anticipate that’s going to be the case again when we go to the Olympics.”
3. Anthony Stolarz posted the NHL’s best save percentage last season (.926) but remains an Olympic longshot.
The Maple Leafs starter wasn’t invited to Team USA orientation camp in the off-season, nor engaged in discussions with GM Bill Guerin.
The Americans have yet to name any goaltender to their Milan roster for the Olympics; Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger, Jeremy Swayman and Joey Daccord entered the season as the top four in management’s power rankings.
That doesn’t mean a Jersey boy can’t dream.
“You’re gonna say yes as soon as you can,” Stolarz tells me.
“It’s one of those things you can’t really think about or control. I mean, you look at the goalies in the U.S., and there’s seven or eight guys that can be on that roster. So, just to even be in the breath — in the mention of it — is an honour.
“You know what? If I play well enough to be in the discussion for Team USA, it means that the Leafs are winning a lot of games. So, it’s a win-win.”
4. Double whammy for a pair of Atlantic Division squads counting on a return to the post-season.
That Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk and Florida heartbeat Matthew Tkachuk are sidelined for weeks as they rehab from their respective surgeries not only opens the possibility for other Atlantic powers to take advantage, it also means a couple important ingredients for the U.S. Olympic dream may be playing catch-up.
“The silver lining is, you potentially become bulletproof to injuries in the playoffs if you can figure out how to survive this now,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice told reporters in Detroit.
“That’s the only thing we get out of this, because we’re going to have to scratch and claw to make the playoffs, because the division is that good.”
5. The projected salary cap for 2027-28 is $113.5 million.
The Montreal Canadiens have prime Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Jake Evans, Noah Dobson, Kaiden Guhle and now Lane Hutson locked in for a total of $50.075 million that season.
That leaves more than $63 million to build a contender.
Tidy groundwork.
6. Not sure any team has needed a Game 4 win as desperately as the Buffalo Sabres, who mercifully gave KeyBank Center a reason to cheer — or, at least, not boo — by stomping the Senators 8-4 Wednesday.
Entering that game, Buffalo had mustered just two goals through three losses, never held a lead, had been jeered off home ice, and watched disgruntled fans go viral with their disgust.
The injury bug has taken a toll, absolutely.
But with “Fire Adams!” razzes at the ready and pending hometown UFA Alex Tuch already smashing pause on contract extension talks, this could be a long winter in Western New York.
The only cure is winning… or perhaps rebuilding, again, around the kid practising at Pegula Ice Arena?
7. Quote of the Week.
“I think I saw the exact same scene in The Mighty Ducks, so I tried to reenact that.” — No. 1 pick Matthew Schaefer on his pile-diving first NHL goal
8. The Nashville Predators have adopted a new motto: no free offence.
On the heels of a 30th-place finish last season in which the “winners” of 2024’s free agency gave up a leaky 3.34 goals per night, the Preds (2-1-2) are making a concerted effort to tighten up, and they’ve snatched points in four of their first five.
“There’s not as many expectations around this group, and they’re embracing it,” said Andrew Brunette, whom many believe entered this season on the hot seat. “They’ve been bringing it every night.”
The coach believes the changes in Music City are more mental than personnel-based.
Brunette wonders if the spending splash and preseason hype of 2024 — when Nashville outbid rivals for prized UFAs Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei — had an adverse effect.
The staff and the veteran core needed to decompress and take a hard look internally.
“The expectations were so big around us, starting July 1, we just weren’t able to fulfill them,” Brunette said. “We were looking for results and forgot about the process. And this year, we’re trying to reverse that. Worry about the process first, and results will follow. No expectations on our group.”
Brunette explains that through “constant communication through the summer,” the staff and the skaters deepened their relationship via an exchange of opinions on how to get the team back to respectability in a tough division.
Why not pick the brains of Cup-winning captains like Stamkos and Ryan O’Reilly?
“We were able to build a plan everybody believed in, where it was both of our ideas. And we’re trying to implement it. It’s gonna be hard. We know that coming in, it’s not easy. But we’re going to try to get better every day.”
9. Yes, the New York Rangers began their centennial celebrations by not scoring a single goal at Madison Square Garden through three games.
Yes, they mercifully ended their goal drought at 170:39 Thursday night in Toronto and still lost.
But we’re betting on a turnaround.
The Blueshirts have elite goaltending and look tighter defensively under Sullivan, allowing a league-best 1.5 goals per game. (They ranked 19th in that department last season, allowing 3.11.) They also have a stingy penalty kill (91.7 per cent).
The addition of Vladislav Gavrikov is huge. Just ask the L.A. Kings; the second-best defensive team in 2024-25 now ranks 27th.
The Rangers are incredibly snakebitten offensively, converting at a league-worst shooting percentage of six.
Artemi Panarin’s contract campaign through six games: zero goals, two assists, minus-3. Yikes.
A swing in puck luck, surely, is around the corner — and it should start from positive habits on the back end.
“I see more aggressive defending out of the offensive zone with them. Their D are tight. They’re bearing down on ya; they’re reloading hard. Like, it’s a faster game. I believe Sully, his D zone is a lot like ours,” says Leafs coach Craig Berube. “They’re gonna take care of the middle of the ice and box people out in their own zone.”
Sullivan isn’t sweating the sluggish offence. He’s celebrating the instant buy-in to play smart without the puck.
“We’re limiting the quality looks and the quantity of looks throughout the course of the games. We’re getting better with every game that we play. And the last couple of games we played some pretty good teams (Washington, Edmonton, Toronto) that have people that are as good as it gets, as far as generating offence,” Sullivan says.
“It’s a credit to the players and their commitment to embrace the message. And I don’t think it’s been at the expense of generating offensive opportunity. The puck hasn’t gone in the net for us, but I believe that if we continue to play the game that we’ve put on the ice over the last couple of games, the pucks will go in.”
10. In selecting J.T. Miller as his first captain in New York, Sullivan recalled the forward’s ability to drag his Team USA teammates into the fight during February’s best-on-best.
“Well, it certainly gave me a better opportunity to get to know him as a person and get a better understanding of what makes him tick,” Sullivan says.
“The one thing that jumped out at me with respect to J.T. at the 4 Nations is, he is a fierce, fierce competitor, and he has an incredible appetite to win, and he’s willing to do what it takes to win. And for me, those are great attributes to have if you’re a captain of an NHL hockey team.”
11. Leafs rookie Easton Cowan is getting a taste of the good life — literally.
“The dinner is very good food, nice hotels, so just being grateful for each and every day,” says Cowan, who was raised on a farm in Mount Brydges, Ont., of Week 1 in the show. “It’s called the Never Hungry League for a reason.
“I’ve been eating a lot, lots of good food.”
Including tuna tartare, a delicacy not widely available in Western Ontario hamlets.
“Not a big fish guy,” Cowan grins. “It was OK, but I don’t think I’ll go back to it.”
It reminds the undrafted Chris Tanev of how he’d never tried sushi until he began playing for the Canucks.
“Going to a nice steakhouse, never really went to those growing up as a kid,” Tanev adds. “You sort of get thrown into a whole different life.”
Raw fish wasn’t the only eye-opening experience for Cowan at one of these upscale Leafs dinners.
“I was sitting with the younger guys on the team, and the waiter came over and handed me a bill,” Cowan says. “I thought I was gonna have to pay for it, but it was just Domes [Max Domi] and Auston playing a prank on me.”
The 20-year-old got “pretty nervous,” seeing as how he’s beginning his entry-level contract and the total due was large enough that he’d rather not say.
“But Kniesy (Matthew Knies) helped me out, looked at the bill, and made sure it was fake. So, yeah, definitely nervous for sure,” says Cowan, starting to become one of the boys.
“Little jokes like that are funny and go a long way. It’s just cool. They can joke around, and you gotta be able to take it.”
12. When life gets you down, when you feel dragged into a scrum you never asked for, be like Frank Nazar.
Get up, dust yourself off, and celebrate anyway…
