A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. I need a recovery beer.
1. The case of Alexis Lafreniere gets the wheels turning.
About the shame of sitting out a game in your civvies. About the player-coach dynamic and the limited tools available to motivate. About how draft position shapes our expectations for performance and treatment.
To think: Leading up to the 2020 draft, there was a reasonable debate to be waged over whom should be the No. 1-overall pick. Maybe, some suggested, Quinton Byfield deserved closer consideration.
The lottery-lucky Rangers went with the consensus and chose Lafreniere, who made the immediate leap from the QMJHL to the show, and whom head coach Gerard Gallant healthy-scratched this week in the name of inconsistency.
The coach’s decision splashed headlines.
There’s a reason those on the receiving end have termed it a “health bomb.” At the very least it’s a resounding, blatant message; at worst, it’s damaging to the coach-player or organization-player relationship.
Byfield, meanwhile, was the No. 2 pick in the same draft. He hasn’t just been scratched. He’s been sent down to the farm, multiple times, and the Kings brought the 20-year-old back up more confident after he tore it up to the tune of nine goals and 15 points during a 16-game run with the AHL Ontario Reign.
First-overall picks — and those coaching and managing them — seldom get the luxury of developmental patience. Which makes Lafreniere’s situation so touchy.
Equally prickly: John Tortorella’s sit-down of Flyers leading scorer Kevin Hayes, which prompted Hayes’ friend and former teammate Keith Yandle to wonder if coaches should be eligible for healthy scratches too.
Yandle’s ironman streak, you may recall, was extinguished by a healthy scratch. And we may be inching toward the day Phil Kessel’s remarkable run meets a similar fate.
The healthy scratch is many things to different people: a teaching tool, a punishment, a flare in the sky signalling a fading superstar, a slap in the face, a coach running out of answers, a preview to a terminated career, a wake-up call, or a trade about to go down.
Hayes and Lafreniere’s press-box trips remind us how swiftly core players or prized picks can get a reality check.
Here are some of the other notable victims of the scratch already this season, each ruffling feathers in their respective markets: Jonathan Drouin, Marco Rossi, Evgenii Dadonov, Denis Gurianov, Shane Wright, Ethan Bear, Rasmus Ristolainen, Kasperi Kapanen, Andrei Kuzmenko, Mathieu Joseph, Ryan Reaves, Tyson Jost, Arber Xhekaj, Josh Bailey, Tony DeAngelo, Jack Roslovic, Milan Lucic.
One could build a half-decent NHL roster from that group.
2. Nathan MacKinnon, who has been on injured reserve since Dec. 5 is now “really close” to returning to action, according to Avalanche coach Jared Bednar.
Though the superstar hasn’t shed his non-contact sweater at practice just yet, Bednar says MacKinnon is “possibly” an option Saturday for the New Year’s Eve showdown versus the Maple Leafs.
“When he tells me he’s ready to go, he’ll play,” Bednar told reporters Friday.
When MacKinnon missed weeks last season due to an early-season injury, his comeback game was against Toronto — and he didn’t miss a beat, putting up a couple of points.
3. Mullett Magic™.
No, we’re not referring to the wizardry Jaromir Jagr and Andre Agassi channelled in their heyday. Nor the spell Patrick Swayze cast over Jennifer Grey.
We’re talking about the Arizona Coyotes fully embracing their tiny billet home on the Arizona State University campus.
Following Thursday’s comeback win over the Maple Leafs, the scrappy Coyotes are now 7-3-2 at Mullett Arena, where all pros are visitors in the Sun Devils’ barn.
Sure, the woebegone Yotes could whinge about the dim lighting, the punchline-worthy 4,600 seating capacity, or a Jumbotron roughly the size of the average boomer couple’s family-room flat-screen.
Instead, they’re making lemonade.
“We’re playing well here. The atmosphere out there is fun to play in. Our fans give us a lot of energy, so we just have to keep the wins coming here,” says Lawson Crouse.
Jack McBain believes hard work can trump bells and whistles.
“Everyone buys into the systems that are being preached, and I think everyone’s doing a good job of that. We’re a hard team to play against, and teams don’t like coming into the Mullett. It’s a different rink to play in for a lot of people, and we’re trying to use it to our advantage. We’re having some fun with it,” says McBain, acknowledging the desert can draw snowbirds.
“It’s a great atmosphere, even though some aren’t cheering for us.”
On television, the shadows and camera angles affect the product.
In person, a night at the Mullett is loud and fun — and free of traffic and lineups.
It is bizarre, though.
Visiting skaters must walk outside to reach their dressing room. Reporters are placed not in a press box but right on the concourse, within arm’s reach of beer-swilling, chicken-tender-chomping fans. And even the visiting healthy scratches are accessible to the general public.
We witnessed Wayne Simmonds and Jake Muzzin get recognized and graciously pose for photos and chat with fans in Leafs gear mid-game (Special glass-banging guest Vince Vaughn did the same).
“The atmosphere is great. The fans are into it. We love it,” says coach André Tourigny, tasked with harnessing the magic. “Now we believe in ourselves, so it’s building up.”
What the Mullett does offer is good, smooth ice and shallower corners that spark quick rims and add to the game’s pace.
“We’re one of the fastest (NHL rinks) for sure,” Tourigny says.
In the heat of battle, can you feel the fans on top of you?
“Oh, yeah,” Tourigny says
“We feel… home. That’s for sure.”
4. The moment Dryden Hunt got traded to the Maple Leafs, he started running down the roster, thinking of guys he knew. There was Morgan Rielly from way back in their Notre Dame days and Michael Bunting from the latter’s callup to the Arizona Coyotes.
“I knew Malgs!” Hunt recalls thinking, unaware for whom he’d been dealt: Denis Malgin, now awaiting revenge Saturday in Denver.
From the perspective of the injury-riddled Avalanche, Malgin represents an offensive life preserver in the absence of MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin (depth forward Darren Helm plus key D-men Josh Manson and Bowen Byram are also on IR).
So far, that hasn’t materialized, as Malgin has yet to register a point and is a minus-2 with his new club.
Though Hunt’s role in Toronto won’t be defined by production, the checker perks up when his temporary promotion to the Rangers’ top line, alongside Artemi Panarin, is brought up.
“Yeah, that was special. As a guy like me, you don’t always get that opportunity. Depending on who you ask, it was a good 20 to 25 games. Some people didn’t really see the bigger picture of it. But it was exciting,” Hunt says.
“He’s a world-class player, does a lot of good things. So, for a guy like me to go out there and create space for him and [centre]Ryan Strome — who is a good player too — it was a lot of fun playing that role.”
One wonders if circumstances might lead the Leafs to try Hunt farther up the chart at some point before his deal expires.
“You always want to contribute — whether you’re on the first, second, third, fourth line. I don’t think it’s as expected on the fourth line, but whenever that fourth line can chip in and take a little bit of that weight or stress off the top guys, that’s huge,” says Hunt, eager to make a good impression in his new surroundings.
“You want to put a bit of pressure on yourself to contribute where you can.”
5. With so many tantalizing rental options of varying abilities potentially available at centre — Jonathan Toews, Bo Horvat, Ryan O’Reilly, Sean Monahan, Bo Horvat, Lars Eller, Max Domi — one must imagine the Avalanche investing at the position before going on its title defence.
That’s not to take away from the fine work of J.T. Compher, who is averaging more than 20 minutes a night and has 20 points. But Colorado’s long playoff run surely taught the organization the value of centre depth, having to survive without Nazem Kadri for a spell.
We could be seeing a rare buyer’s market for centres, but keep in mind that the Avs have already spent their second-, third-, and fourth-round picks in 2023.
Does rookie GM Chris McFarland put his first in play, too, or does he shed from his prospect pool?
6. Mikhail Sergachev was in a recent scrum, speaking in imperfect but improving English about teammate Nick Paul.
“He’s kinda like Yanni Gourde but big,” Sergachev said. “Big presence… kind of a goof.”
The reporters had a chuckle over his description, and the D-man went on to answer a few more questions about Tampa’s power-play or whatever.
When the interview session concluded, Sergachev turned to a Lightning employee, concerned.
“Is goof a bad word?” the 217-pound man asked, sheepishly.
It was a small, nothing moment, but a quick reminder of the challenges European players face trying to say the proper things in front of live cameras in a second language.
7. Quick: Name the NHL’s most dangerous offensive team.
I had to triple-check upon realizing it’s the streaking Buffalo Sabres, whose 4.00 goals per game rank first overall — despite sitting eight points out of a wild-card spot.
Wild stat.
In the modern era, only one team — the 1947-48 Chicago Black Hawks — has led the league in regular-season goals and missed out on the dance.
They scored 195 goals (3.25 per game) and finished last overall with 46 points.
The 1919-20 and 1920-21 Montreal Canadiens are the only teams to average more than four goals per game and not qualify for the postseason.
In short: Tage Thompson is a beast.
8. When the Los Angeles Kings acquired Kevin Fiala from the Minnesota Wild, many wondered how the forward would perform away from the dynamic Kirill Kaprizov.
Now we’re wondering where the Kings’ middle-of-the-pack offence would be without Fiala, who leads his new club in points (35) and rates second in shots (109).
“He’s got the puck on a string,” says Kings D-man Sean Durzi, who perks up when asked about Fiala. “He’s awesome. Awesome player on the ice, but even to have him in the room, he’s even more special.
“Funny guy. Really, really good and wants his teammates to do well, which is awesome. That’s all you can ask for in a teammate.”
Coach Todd McLellan points to Fiala’s edgework and knack for navigating traffic as the greatest surprise, comparing the 26-year-old to former linemate Kaprizov.
“How he plays on his edges, I think Kevin’s got a lot of that. I never realized that or knew that as much as I do now,” McLellan says. “We were aware of it. But when you see it night after night…”
9. As of Saturday morning, 572 NHL games have been played… and not a single head coach has lost his job.
Such stability behind the bench is highly unusual in today’s impatient climate.
The previous season with the most games played until the first coaching change was 2005-06 when 463 games elapsed before Michel Therrien replaced Eddie Olczyk as the Penguins’ head coach.
10. We’re calling it.
The Florida Panthers — defending Presidents’ Trophy champs — are not making the playoffs.
Fumbling around with a 16-16-4 record and a .500 points percentage, the Cats must leap four clubs to snatch a wild-card spot.
Worse: GM Bill Zito spent so much draft capital chasing a deep run last spring that Florida is at risk of sucking away all the momentum it had gained from a wonderful 2021-22 campaign.
The Panthers’ first-overall choice in 2023 was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for 30 games of Ben Chiarot.
The. Pick. Was. Not. Lottery. Protected.
Particularly when considering the blue chippers available in this June’s draft, we may look back at Zito’s gamble as a franchise-altering misstep.
Having expended its ’23, ’24 and ’25 first-rounders, its ’24 second-rounder and its ’23 third-rounder, Florida must hit on late picks or risk empty cupboards.
11. Those who truly believe Michigan attempts or joyous goal celebrations are a problem probably have UNREDEEMABLE stamped on their files.
(Yes, I watched Spirited while socked in over Christmas. Fun stuff.)
12. This keeps making me smile:
Don’t get stuck in the same spot. Change something up for 2023.
Happy new year, everyone. Thank you for reading my blog.
