A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. We drop Easter eggs in this blog all year round.
1. Kyle Dubas is in Tampa this weekend to cheer on the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ top prospect in Saturday’s NCAA championship game and, presumably, swiftly sign him to an entry-level contract.
No pressure, Matthew Knies.
“They’ve obviously been very professional about it, and they’ve given me my space to let me focus on being here,” Knies told NHL.com this week after he touched down in Florida for the Frozen Four. “I haven’t really thought so much about it, and I think once the season really ends, I can sit back down with them and weigh the pros and the cons.”
Conveniently, the Maple Leafs are headed Knies’ way Sunday, and the team will have three low-stakes games to give the kid his first taste of NHL action and at least get a glimpse at how his game translates against grownups.
To hear Knies tell it, he envisions himself as an Alex Tuch or Alex Killorn type of power winger. It should be noted that both players — bona fide contributors, secure in their roles — needed 54 to 60 games at the AHL level before they were able to make the leap and stick in the Show.
“A little bigger player, smart with the puck, not too flashy,” Knies said. “I’m an old-style hockey player. I try to use my size (six-foot-two, 210 pounds) to my advantage and use my speed — that’s my greatest strength. I can drive the net and make plays. I think I am most dangerous around the net, so I like to make that my office and I can set up my teammates from there.”
Knies registered an assist in Minnesota’s semifinal victory over Boston University, but he had another assist wiped off the board because he (lightly) interfered with BU’s goalie driving the net hard. You love to see it.
“My job is to get in the dirty areas, get in the blue paint, battle on the boards,” Knies said. “You have to have confidence in yourself to do that, and I’m confident that I can go into those areas and come away with the puck. That’s what I like to do.”
Kevin Westgarth is a Princeton grad and Stanley Cup champion who’s proud of his NCAA path and is now the vice president of hockey development for the NHL. He, too, is in Tampa following the Knies story.
“There’s always an adjustment. I think there’s a benefit to have all these high-end players that get to depart after a season that’s going well. Matt Knies, you’re probably leaving your team with pretty good feelings if you win the championship. Obviously, getting to the championship game of the Frozen Four is a success in itself,” Westgarth told me. “You’re kind of riding high, and it almost doesn’t give you enough time to overthink it. So, sometimes you really do see that confidence shine through when they kick off their (NHL) careers, and some guys are able to maintain that and hold on.”
When he watches Knies, Westgarth thinks of another crease-crashing left winger.
Chris Kreider made the leap from a championship Boston College outfit in 2012, signed with the New York Rangers and was integral in the Blueshirts’ run to the Eastern Conference final that season — scoring five goals and two assists in 18 playoff games. Kreider didn’t make his NHL regular-season debut until the following season.
“I could definitely see that with Matt Knies, yes. It’s an exciting time for these kids. Because regardless of how it ends, it’s (also) going to be one of the saddest times of your life,” Westgarth explained.
“I remember myself going from the lowest moment of knowing that my time playing with my teammates at Princeton University was coming to an end, but an hour later basically signing a contract (with the L.A. Kings) and knowing that at least I was going to have a shot at trying to live that NHL dream.”
Standing between Knies’s Golden Gophers and the NCAA title is relentless Quinnipiac University, a school also housing an intriguing prospect whose rights are owned by a playoff-bound Canadian NHL squad.
That would be centre Skyler Brind’Amour, Rod’s son. He drives play, is diligent in the face-off dot and defensively responsible. (Funny enough, Quinnipiac’s relentless team play has drawn comparisons to the Carolina Hurricanes’ style.)
“I got to play for Roddy,” Westgarth said. “So, I can imagine that Skylar is a pretty darn hard worker and definitely going to bring that element of the game.”
Brind’Amour (six-foot-two, 185 pounds) is wrapping his fourth and best season at school (14 goals, 32 points in 40 games), so the Edmonton Oilers will need to decide soon whether their sixth-round pick from 2017 will turn pro.
“Anybody that knows Rod is impressed with both his work ethic and his leadership,” Westgarth said.
“You’re seeing some of that shine through on his kid. Exciting to see the name Brind’Amour on the ice.”
2. David Pastrnak‘s 100-point season and the Boston Bruins‘ general awesomeness has done a fine job of overshadowing Brad Marchand‘s curious skid.
For the first time in seven years, the elite winger is at great risk of producing less than a point per game. He’s at 63 points through 69 games, which is nice but not as nice as we’re used to.
Marchand is stuck in a five-game point drought and a 14-game goal drought. He’s scored once in his past 19 games.
His entertainment value remains high (see below), but Boston needs him to emerge from his offensive funk soon.
3. Quote of the Week.
“If it’s not a hell yeah, then it’s a hell no.” —Jonathan Toews, pending UFA, on his NHL future.
4. Tyson Barrie handled his trade call with the utmost class, and Ken Holland was polite and direct.
Interesting to get a peek into how the life-changing news gets broken.
“When you’re delivering bad news,” Holland told After Hours, “they just want to hear the bad news, and they don’t need a long chat.”
Bonus classy Barrie:
5. Take a deep breath.
Here is the list of injured Montreal Canadiens who are done for the season: Sean Monahan (groin), Alex Belzile (leg), Cole Caufield (shoulder), Arber Xhekaj (shoulder), Josh Anderson (ankle), David Savard (knee), Kaiden Guhle (ankle), Christian Dvorak (knee), Juraj Slafkovsky (lower-body), Carey Price (knee), Paul Byron (hip).
When the Habs roll into Toronto for the final Saturday night of the regular season, their roster will include nine players on their entry-level contracts and 11 making less than $1 million.
Yeesh.
6. Since the Maple Leafs hired Spencer Carbery in 2021, elevating him from AHL Hershey, the assistant coach has overseen the NHL’s deadliest power play that does not include Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl.
The Oilers’ 5-on-4 unit over the past two seasons is in another stratosphere (29.5 per cent), but Carbery’s star-studded group in Toronto (26.1) has a healthy lead over the Lightning’s vaunted unit (24.6), which has been the third-most-efficient since Carbery entered the league.
“He’s connected with our best players there and really helped to put together a scheme to challenge those guys and put together the information they need,” said Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe.
“Also, I think he’s fit in really well with the rest of our staff, Manny Malhotra and … Dean Chynoweth.”
Carbery, 41, interviewed for head-coaching gigs last summer, but Keefe was thrilled to keep his bench intact. Former Leafs assistants Dave Hakstol and D.J. Smith are running the show in Seattle and Ottawa, respectively. All signs point to Carbery tracing a similar path.
“Spencer’s a tremendous coach who works very hard,” Keefe said, standing at the head coach’s podium. “And it won’t be long until he’s answering these questions.”
7. Mitchell Marner — hunting down his first 100-point season — had a perfect attendance record going this season … until Sunday.
The Maple Leafs sat their 2022-23 MVP for rest on the sleepy half of a back-to-back and lost at home, 5-2 to the Detroit Red Wings.
Marner has some minor bumps and bruises, but nothing so severe that he believes he couldn’t keep truckin’.
“Obviously, it sucks. You don’t want to miss games. You want to be out there with your team and help them win. Sometimes, we got people in here that do all the stats … I guess that’s what they’re paid for, to make sure we’re looking at a bigger picture,” Marner said.
“Definitely a tough one, but there’s bigger things.”
Marner’s tone makes it clear that he’s not a big fan of load management, but he’s trying to respect the decisions from above.
One quibble here: If he’s supposed to rest up, why have him come to the home rink at all and watch a meaningless hockey from up high?
8. Paul Maurice believes ground zero for hockey’s skill explosion can be traced to the crackdown on obstruction 16 years ago. The long-serving coach points to the tantalizing youth in Ottawa and New Jersey as prime examples of where we’re at — and where we’re headed.
“There are an entire generation of hockey players coming in who’ve only played under those rules. And that’s skill-based, speed-based rules. So now we’re seeing these guys evolve into that. That’s the players we’re getting. They’re incredibly skilled,” Maurice, now Florida’s head coach, said.
“Teams are built completely differently. Just think of it. Think of offensive defencemen. If you had one (in the early 2000s), you felt pretty good about yourself. If you had two, you had a luxury. And the other four guys were killers, right? They were there blocking shots with their face, and they were fighting every night.
“Your bottom-six forwards were in the same category. We didn’t develop those kinds of players. These kids come in at 18 years old and they’re NHL-skilled right now. And if they could skate well enough, they can play, and they can have an impact on the game.
“What happens when they turn 26 or 27?”
9. For the fifth consecutive season, ironman Phil Kessel’s ice time has decreased (now down to 12:48 a night, the most precipitous drop in his career).
Still, the logic-defying athlete is about to complete his 11th 82-game season (he has three more full seasons on his record that were cut short due to work stoppages).
An incredible feat.
Luke Schenn is the only player still in the league who was a Maple Leafs teammate of Kessel’s on the night his streak began.
“If you draw up what a hockey player is supposed to do on a daily basis to get results, and then you have Phil, who just does it his own way and has so much success, it’s against all odds,” Schenn said.
“He has had a heck of a career.”
10. Schenn — who racked up 325 PIMs over his three years in junior — shared strong feelings on the QMJHL’s plan to ban fighting, which is to start in 2023-24:
“I don’t love the staged fighting,” the Maple Leafs defenceman said. “But fighting in general, sometimes it’s not even about the fight; it’s the threat of there being a fight. So, that’s what polices the game a little bit and keeps guys accountable. If a guy gets running around, all it takes is one guy on the bench to say something to hold someone accountable.
“Now, with no threat of there being a fight, I think you’ll have more (chippiness or dirty plays) because there isn’t the threat of it, and you can just go out there and be an idiot and not be accountable for it.
“You don’t need 10 or 15 (fights). Sometimes it’s sticking up for a teammate or yourself; there’s not a lot of staged fights where you’re trying to change momentum anymore. The threat of being able to get into one — if a guy does something to your teammate and you’re coming in, you have the opportunity to hold them accountable without getting suspended or kicked out — I think that’s huge.
“I think it’s crazy (to ban fights). I don’t know this, but I’m assuming the people who are making the rules just never played.”
11. A popular betting site has been posting NHL awards odds for more than 15 years. For the first time, the book felt the need to stop accepting wagers on individual awards because the odds had become so lopsided.
Blame No. 97.
“Connor McDavid was a 1/100 favourite to win the Hart Trophy last month, and people were still betting it like crazy. We don’t believe anything is changing between now and the end of the regular season,” said Adam Burns, BetOnline.ag’s sportsbook manager.
“We expect these players to run away with these respective awards: Connor McDavid for the Hart and Rocket Richard Trophy, Linus Ullmark for the Vezina, Matty Beniers for the Calder, Erik Karlsson for the James Norris and Jim Montgomery for the Jack Adams.”
12. Golfer Brooks Koepka publicly razzed Aaron Ekblad on March 23. It did not sit well with the defenceman.
Since that night, Ekblad has embarked on a six-game point streak — his hottest stretch in more than 13 months — and the surging Panthers have gone 5-1-0, outscoring their opponents 26-12.
The Panthers now control their destiny as favourites for the second wild-card spot in the East.
Coincidence?
