A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Welcome to the pillow fight of opinion columns.
1. When Auston Matthews’ season ended early and in crumpled agony, the Toronto Maple Leafs were losing another game, what was tracking to be their ninth in row.
John Tavares scored 39 seconds later to tie the Anaheim Ducks.
Since that moment, the Leafs have gone a respectable 4-2-2 under the 35-year-old’s unplanned promotion to top-line centre, and only one of those eight games was waged against another team out of the race. (Much to the dismay of Tank Nation, but that story is not this story.)
A less-sheltered, much-busier Tavares has piled up nine points in those eight contests. The eldest Leaf on the roster was integral to the team’s first back-to-back wins since January, hanging three assists in Boston Tuesday and sniping the winner off the rush and off the iron past Igor Shesterkin Wednesday.
“My role has been to create offence, put the puck in the net,” Tavares told reporters. “Anytime you can beat Shesterkin clean, you feel pretty happy.”
Despite the brave face, rare are the post-game meetings where Tavares has looked genuinely happy this year.
Yes, he is speeding his way up the NHL’s all-time lists in goals (520, passing Dale Hawerchuk for 41st overall) and points (1,170, leaping Bobby Hull for 58th), but chances to hoist the Stanley Cup — or, heck, taste a conference final — are vanishing in the rearview.
“It’s obviously difficult when we’re not playing the way we’re capable of and we’re in the position we’re in. But I just try to approach it one day at a time and appreciate the opportunity to play with the guys in the locker room,” says Tavares, keeping it classy.
“There’s no doubt it’s not where we want to be. But every night is a great opportunity to play in the National Hockey League, and I’ll never take that for granted.”
Fans would be wise not to take Tavares for granted, either.
In this gong show of a season, his 17th, Tavares is the only Leaf with perfect attendance. Wednesday’s winning goal, No. 26, vaulted him ahead of prime William Nylander in goals; his next will match Matthews (27) for the club lead.
A common cry from those outside Leafs HQ is that the aging Tavares, who was never accused of being fleet of foot, must move to 3C or the wing. And maybe that day will arrive.
But when you survey the league’s second-line centres, you’d be hard-pressed to find 10 more productive and durable than 2026 Tavares, let alone 32. And that’s before factoring in the veteran’s new team-friendly salary.
Here’s a list of the best second-line centres based on this season’s performance:
Leon Draisaitl, Oilers, 35 goals, 115 points, 56.9 per cent faceoffs, $14 million
Brock Nelson, Avalanche, 32 goals, 58 points, 50.7 per cent faceoffs, $7.5 million
Mitch Marner, Golden Knights, 19 goals, 70 points, 40.7 per cent faceoffs, $12 million
John Tavares, Maple Leafs, 26 goals, 61 points, 57.5 per cent faceoffs, $4.4 million cap hit
Nico Hischier, Devils, 26 goals, 55 points, 55.3 per cent faceoffs, $7.25 million
Anton Lundell, Panthers, 18 goals, 44 points, 51.8 per cent faceoffs, $5 million
Vincent Trocheck, Rangers, 15 goals, 48 points, 56.6 per cent faceoffs, $5.6 million
Roope Hintz, Stars, 15 goals, 44 points, 59.1 per cent faceoffs, $8.45 million
Could Toronto’s GM take a chance and cross his fingers on a younger option? No doubt.
Try to pry away a defensive specialist via trade? Sure.
Shell out for a middle-six, two-way UFA veteran like Charlie Coyle or Kevin Hayes? We suppose.
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But a blend of Tavares’s dependability, knack for the net and faceoff prowess? Unless you’re willing to pay the Blues a ransom for Robert Thomas, or outbid several teams for Trocheck, good luck. (No buyer met those asking prices at the deadline.)
Two Saturdays ago, the Leafs learned Matthews was done. We spoke to Toronto’s former captain in Buffalo. He sounded every bit like a man who understood the assignment, who was ready to step up. To temporarily bend his A back to a C.
“I know I have experience in the area, so if there’s any anything I feel that’s necessary to help the team or things to address or to deal with, talk to the officials, all those little things, I’ll do it,” Tavares said.
“But it’s not me trying to go out there and be Auston. I think that’s pretty evident. I just got to go out there and play my game and do what I can to help the team and try to lead in the right way.”
2. Ernie Clement and George Springer paid a visit to the Maple Leafs dressing room Wednesday, watched warmups near the glass, mistakenly sat down where their tickets weren’t, then root, root, rooted for the home team in a win over the New York Rangers.
“Nice to have them support us, because we certainly love watching them,” Jake McCabe told reporters.
Tavares loved seeing the Blue Jays turn out to support, as anticipation for springtime lies at opposite ends of the spectrum for these two Toronto teams.
“What they did for the city last year and what they’re hoping to do this year and the excitement everyone has for them — including us,” Tavares said. “We love supporting them, and it was unreal taking in their run.”
This lost campaign for Toronto’s hockey club has come full circle. Their October struggles slipped under the shadow of a World Series run 32 years in the making. And now the Leafs skating out in the string in late March and April will be soothed, by most local sports fans, thanks to more Jays hype.
We think of how the Maple Leafs, struggling to get connected, attended the Jays’ playoff run and tried to glean lessons from their baseball brethren’s Game 7 devastation.
“It was heartbreaking. But I think as a fan —and certainly I can speak for a lot of people around the city — the fan base is extremely proud of the type of team,” Tavares said, shortly after the L.A. Dodgers left town with the crown.
“The big emphasis is what a team that was. And the contributions from everybody, and how they all relied on each other. I think you certainly saw how close they were and how they laid it all out there.
“Which is probably why it stings and hurts so much, because of how close they were, how well they played, and just how they laid it all on the line. But just a great team overall.”
In early November, an optimistic Craig Berube agreed: “It’s camaraderie, good teammates. I think it’s just guys who look forward to coming to the locker room, being around the rink, and being around each other. We have that.”
3. ’Tis the season of change.
Never has the NHL welcomed eight fresh playoff teams to the tournament. But this year? We’re saying there’s a chance.
Out west, three clubs that failed to qualify for the dance in 2025 are poised for the big move: the Pacific-leading Ducks, look-like-a-lock Mammoth and suddenly surging Predators.
The East is even more fascinating, as the Sabres, Blue Jackets, Penguins, Bruins, Islanders and Red Wings have all busted expectations in a good way. They all have a shot.
Even if five of those six make it, we could be witnessing the league’s greatest year-over-year post-season turnover ever. (Those pesky Senators have a big say in this, however.)
On four occasions, the NHL has seen seven new playoff teams, and in one of those seasons (2016-17), the Eastern Conference bracket featured five new entries.
But this could be uncharted territory.
As both the two-time Stanley Cup champion Panthers and Presidents’ Trophy–owning Jets tumble down the standings, we may well remember 2025-26 as the star of Gary Bettman’s parity party.
4. Quote of the Week.
“It’s a bit of a pillow fight.” — Connor McDavid, on the Pacific Division race, now led by Anaheim (.592 points percentage)
5. It was only October when the Edmonton Oilers inked back-to-back Stanley Cup finalist Kris Knoblauch to a three-year extension.
Yet of all the head coaches set to guide their clubs into the post-season, we can’t think of anyone feeling more heat.
Before the Olympic break, Draisaitl raised eyebrows halfway up the forehead with his “it starts with the coaches” debrief. Then the Oil rehired icon Paul Coffey to Knoblauch’s bench, a curiously timed bit of news that dropped before the men’s Olympic medal round.
But hearing McDavid gush about his national coach, Jon Cooper, after Nikita Kucherov and the Lightning outclassed the Oilers in their own barn Saturday was something else.
“They got a great system. They’re perfectly coached. They all know what they’re doing all over the ice. It’s impressive. They are a great team,” McDavid said.
“They’re extremely well coached they’re extremely well organized. They’re very, very rehearsed in everything that they do. It’s very impressive. And when you do break them down, they got a heck of a goalie to backstop them.
“We’ve been playing together a long time, and we feel like we’re somewhat rehearsed and organized, but not to their level.”
Yes, McDavid is under contract for two more seasons beyond this one. But you can feel him feeling time is running out.
Tristan Jarry is under contract throughout McDavid’s commitment. So are the Oilers’ four highest-paid D-men. So are McDavid’s most dependable mates up front: Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Vasily Podkolzin.
So is Knoblauch.
Comparing Knoblauch to two-time Cup winner and future Hall of Famer Cooper isn’t quite fair. Neither is coaches losing jobs because of poor goaltending.
Still, if McDavid & Co. can’t go on a good rip this spring, Knoblauch — who was not hired by his boss, Stan Bowman — will fall under intense scrutiny.
Maybe that’s not fair considering his regular-season .623 points percentage and 6-2 playoff series record. But Bowman will be limited in his ability to reshape and resell the dream to 97.
If I’m Pete DeBoer, I’m not committing to anything until the Cup is handed out.
6. Speaking of Cooper, the NHL’s longest-tenured bench boss gave a great interview on last weekend’s After Hours. Worth a watch:
One nugget caught my ear, in light of Doug Armstrong stepping down as Team Canada’s general manager.
We don’t know Armstrong’s successor just yet, and the best-on-best men’s squad won’t compete until the 2028 World Cup, but the new GM will need a head coach. No guarantees there.
Cooper wants to upgrade his Olympic silver to gold in 2030, so he made his early pitch.
“My fear of losing overrides my thrill of winning. I hate to lose,” Cooper said.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen in four more years, but I’d love nothing more than another shot at that.”
7. The Hurricanes’ admin is no stranger to savagery, but this post after last Friday’s 4-3 overtime win in Toronto was next level:
8. What a strange dichotomy in how we view individual hockey success.
Our heroes are very much tied to playoff and championship glory.
Jack Hughes immortalized himself last month. Every Canadian of a certain age knows the name Paul Henderson. Events of the past two Junes put any question of Sergei Bobrovsky’s Hall of Fame worthiness to bed.
How these athletes rise (or shrink) in winner-take-all contests looms paramount in legacy.
And yet, Alex Ovechkin becoming only the second player in history to record 1,000 NHL goals in the regular season and playoffs combined feels very much like a footnote this week. His encore? Hat trick No. 34.
The Gr8 Chase™ for Wayne Gretzky’s regular-season goals record was a two-year-long event involving a mid-game ceremony and gifts and more press than a Cuban sandwich shop.
Rather quietly, Gretzky (1,016) remains the all-time goal leader when you add all those post-season pucks.
That record doesn’t seem to matter much to the average fan.
Question is: does it matter to Ovechkin, a 40-year-old impending free agent who has been noncommittal on his future but will likely need to sign on for one more season to take that title from 99 too?
9. As a business, the NHL has taken many a cue from the NBA: advertisements on jerseys, celebrating the 50/100 greatest players of all time on all-star weekend and a fixed-bracket playoff format, to name a few.
But give Bettman’s office credit for breaking ground on 32-team expansion by bringing hockey franchises to Las Vegas and Seattle. I’m not a fan of watered-down product, but as a money-making venture, these are clear wins.
Now, the NBA is following the NHL’s lucrative path to those cities, even if the price tag reminds the financial discrepancy between the leagues. (SuperSonics 2.0 gotta be the new Winnipeg Jets 2.0, right?)
Sidenote: Las Vegas securing teams in the NHL, NFL and NBA all within a decade is wild. And baseball is coming soon, too.
10. It’s been popular in Toronto to comment on third-year power forward Matthew Knies’s “down” year, and certainly all those trade-deadline phone calls didn’t curb that line of thinking.
There are sound reasons why Knies (20 goals) hasn’t matched the 29 goals of his platform campaign.
Auston Matthews isn’t the only top-line Maple Leaf forced to adjust to life without setup man Mitch Marner. Knies has been hampered by knee ailment for months. And a disappointing power-play and the general losing has taken a toll across the board.
But when you see Knies score a short-handed goal like the one he did Tuesday at TD Garden, and you realize he has already set new career highs in assists (39) and points (59), well… seller beware.
Because Knies, 23, has been around for a while and he is the biggest Maple Leaf not named Anthony Stolarz, you might forget he is also the second-youngest (to rookie Easton Cowan) player to suit up for the team this season.
“His ability to just be so strong and just how physically mature he is, he’s a beast and a very unique player at his age to have that type of strength, and then after that to have the soft hands and the poise and touch to score a beauty like that,” Tavares says.
“He’s got a nice package as a player. We’re obviously very lucky to have him.”
And foolish to let him go for anything short of a king’s ransom.
11. By every measure but one, the Ottawa Senators are superior to the Detroit Red Wings, with whom they are fighting tooth and nail for a playoff berth.
The Red Wings are getting average goaltending, with a team save percentage of .894, while the Sens rank dead last in the category (.874).
If Linus Ullmark and James Reimer can mix in a few more saves for Travis Green, the worthy hockey team should make the dance — and the nerds proud.
Bad news: Ottawa will have to see playoff action for Thomas Chabot (broken arm) to play again this season.
Good news: Jake Sanderson (shoulder) is now traveling with the club.
12. Best thing I learned this week comes courtesy of the venerable Gene Principe.
Comedian and noted Bruins fan Bill Burr became friends with Paul Coffey because the defenceman started chirping him at a Mario Lemieux charity event, and Burr responded by insulting Coffey’s outfit. They exchanged insults for 20 minutes.
“That’s Paul,” someone told Burr.
“I looked at him like, ‘Is that Paul Coffey?’” Burr said.
