A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Dang. Snubbed again.
1. What colour of medal would Canada’s B team bring home?
Bedard – Scheifele – Guenther
Hyman – Thomas – Geekie
Johnston – Tavares – Jarvis
Bennett – O’Reilly – Konecny
Barzal – Batherson
Schaefer – Weegar
Chychrun – Bouchard
Ekblad – Montour
Matheson – Manson
Wedgewood
Blackwood
Allen
Bear in mind, January brings a heavy and truncated slate of NHL games, and we’d be stunned if some of the names above don’t end up on a plane to Italy based on the likelihood of injury. Heck, Bo Horvat already had quite the scare. As did USA’s Seth Jones during the Winter Classic.
No one wishes injury, of course, but some late roster tweaks simply feel inevitable.
2. Of all the almost Olympians, no player received a counterargument from their club coach as fierce as the one Connor Bedard was given by Chicago Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill.
While I’m fine with Bedard being left off the national squad this February — and have no doubt he’ll be draped in Red and White come 2030 in France — it’s smart for Blashill to speak his truth and back his guy.
Chicago has free-fallen down the standings since Blashill’s best weapon suffered a shoulder injury and could well be headed for another high lottery pick (which is probably a blessing in disguise).
With the franchise limping toward another losing season and its franchise star still in need of a contract for next year, good on the coach to sing Bedard’s praises publicly and remind both the player, the public, and his own bosses how critical this guy is to the organization.
3. The Eastern Conference standings is a museum of illusions.
Three-point games abound. Loser points have been awarded in the East 61 times already.
To climb the ranks takes a sustained run of consistent play and results, so beware.
There is no better example than the Buffalo Sabres, whose incredible and commendable 10-game winning streak brought them all the way to (*checks notes)… the second wild-card spot.
4. Quote of the Week.
“I don’t know what else I could have done.” —Mark Scheifele, on failing to make Team Canada after piling 20 goals and 28 assists in 39 games (a 100-point pace)
5. If Team USA has any trouble scoring, management will hear about it.
GM Bill Guerin and his staff left four of the country’s top seven goal-getters off the Olympic roster: Jason Robertson (24), Alex DeBrincat (21), Cole Caufield (20), and Cutter Gauthier (19).
On the back end, three of the top six American point producers were left off: Lane Hutson (40), John Carlson (29), Shayne Gostisbehere (29), and Adam Fox (28).
The strength of the group is elite goaltending, stingy defending, and hard-checking, responsible forwards. Not a bad formula at all.
But there is a stylistic choice being made here.
And if offence is too tough to generate, Team USA’s best shot at gold since Lake Placid will face blame on roster construction.
6. Regarding Fox, we couldn’t help but think of how Steven Yzerman’s decision to leave Martin St. Louis off Canada’s golden 2014 Olympic squad created some, uh, awkwardness between the star player and his club GM.
Fox played for his current Rangers coach Mike Sullivan at 4 Nations but was the one notable blue-liner from that group who was not named to the Olympic squad.
“I thought my play this year was worthy of it, and my track record as well,” the onetime Norris champ told reporters. “But it’s out of my hands at a certain point.”
Both Sullivan and Guerin had conversations with Fox. Both are keeping the details of those discussions private.
Meetings, in general, aren’t fun. But those ones would be brutal.
Fox did not have a great 4 Nations, to be sure, but he has bounced back with a much better season.
Interesting to see how the player-coach relationship is affected, if at all, as the Rangers strive to return to the playoffs.
7. Ex-Oiler Philip Broberg made Team Sweden. Current Oiler Mattias Ekholm did not.
Up front, Pontus Holmberg(!) made the national squad while veterans with fine starts like Marcus Johansson and Mikael Backlund were left on the outside.
Sure, it’s a young man’s game, but Backlund’s leadership and two-way play will be missed.
Some sore feelings amongst the more senior Swedes.
8. Steven Stamkos notched just one goal and one assist in October. He scored five goals and added a pair of assists in November.
In December? The NHL’s newest — and only third active — 600-goal club member exploded for 12 goals and five assists.
“All goals scorers, if they get some touches and get some goals, they can take off,” says Andrew Brunette. The Predators coach noticed an uptick in production and that Stamkos was getting shots in prime shooting areas once he placed the veteran on Ryan O’Reilly’s wing.
“He just took off,” Brunette says. “He’s been going for us. And if you look at his game, it hasn’t really changed — like our team. He’s just getting results.”
9. Nashville went 10-4 in the final month of 2025.
What looked like a lost season and the certain deadline selloff has a new wrinkle. The Preds have now climbed over three Central Division foes — St. Louis, Chicago, and Winnipeg — and are within a point of Utah.
“With the group, they’ve done a really good job of buying in. It was a hard sell on my part when things weren’t going well, but I give a lot of credit right from our leadership group. We stuck with it, and then we got some results,” Brunette says.
“Guys got some goals, and they felt better.”
Let’s not kid ourselves, though.
Getting Roman Josi back after a month injured was imperative, Brunette agrees.
He thinks back to his days coaching MacKenzie Weegar, Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour in Florida. What “a game changer” to have mobile defencemen triggering quick, clean breakouts and starting the offence from the back end.
“You’re seeing with Minnesota now — they grab Quinn Hughes. If you can get out of your own zone, it just gets you out (of) so much trouble. It’s kind of the engine. And when we have been our best, that’s what’s driven us,” Brunette says.
“You’re seeing players now that are six-foot-four, six-foot-five that can skate, and then they can defend too. I think it’s changed the whole game.”
Josi’s impact is a given. But is there another D-man Brunette can point to now?
Nick Blankenberg, the 5-foot-9 righty who’s already chipped in four goals and 13 apples.
“When he’s on his game, he can really skate,” Brunette says. “A great story. Undersized and always on the outside looking in, and he’s grabbed his opportunity and taken off.”
10. OK, allow me to get my “unc” off.
No one enjoys casualwear more than your Quick Shifts author, believe me.
Just ask my wife, who has replaced “Goodbye, have a nice day” in the morning with “Is that what you’re wearing out into the world?”
A daily reason to wear jogging pants and old T-shirts was the pandemic’s silver lining.
That said, it is strange to wrap my head around the NHLers’ (sometimes super-)relaxed dress code.
Those who work on the outskirts of a game day will get geared up in suits and ties, and then we’ll see some players in nice sweats or tracksuits or caps or… a tank top. Ha!
Despite the new league dress policy, which the Players’ Association fairly argued for, some teams have instituted limits. (The Boston Bruins, for instance, still want their players showing up in suits.)
At times, I feel a little kids-these-days! for my own good, but there is something about dressing sharp on game night, to attend your job as a pro athlete.
What is this, 2020?
11. Understanding it’s difficult to tinker with a winning blue line, we’d be tempted to fly super rookie Matthew Schaefer to Milan as the eighth D-man as both an investment in the future of Hockey Canada and some youthful enthusiasm.
He’s mature enough to handle it.
GM Doug Amstrong was loathe to talk too much about candidates who didn’t make the squad. He wasn’t going to detail the shortcomings he might’ve seen in, say, Sam Bennett or Scheifele, for example. But the executive made an exception for Schaefer, “because he’s an 18-year-old man that we’re talking about playing in the Olympics.”
An 18-year-old man logging nearly 24 minutes a night, taking hard matchups, and pacing 50 points for a team with playoff aspirations.
“I’ll be honest with you: He wasn’t on my radar at the start of the season, but his play is exemplary,” Armstrong said. “He’s a fantastic talent. He brings you out of your seat every night. He’s got maturity beyond his years on and off the ice.
“I was shocked at how quickly he worked his way into our conversations, and that’s a credit to him. And the Islanders are very lucky — and hockey is very lucky — to have a young player like that coming on the horizon.”
12. Might mess around a start a gratitude journal in 2026.
Entry No. 1: “Thank you, Almighty, for Will Ferrell. The man is a treasure.”
