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By now, everyone is aware of the NHL being the biggest and the best professional hockey league in the world. But it has come in spite of the selfish attitudes of the owners, and their repeated mistreatment of the players who make the game as great as it is. Between the years of 1942 and 1967 there were only 6 teams, meaning only 120 players got roster spots in the big league, and the owners had a vise grip on player negotiations. There were some very high quality players that stayed in the minors for long periods of time as a result of limited jobs, such as Hall of Fame goalie Johnny Bower. Though it made for quality hockey back then, the players had no power at the negotiating table, because the owners forbade the discussion of salaries between players, and when players like Fern Flaman, Jim Thomson, and Ted Lindsay tried to organize a union, it failed. All 3 players and other sympathizers were either traded or forced out of the league regardless of on-ice performance. However, an up-and-coming lawyer named Robert Alan Eagleson made his way into NHL circles as legal representation for many Maple Leafs players, and formed the Blue and White group with many of them. Bobby Orr is pictured on the left with his now former agent, Alan Eagleson. They had once been close friends, with Orr being one of his strongest supporters, but soon discovered that he had been misled by Eagleson, who left him bankrupt, and withheld the opportunity for him to own 18.5 % of the Boston Bruins. He wound up in Chicago due to Eagleson's strong friendship with Bill Wirtz, Chicago's owner. His arrival on the scene was only a couple years before the NHL announced the expansion of 6 more teams into the NHL: Oakland, Minnesota, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and LA. During the same year that the NHL doubled in size, the NHLPA was established as a union for the players. However, Eagleson was a player agent at the time, and because of that players that weren't represented by him didn't receive adequate help when they asked for it, and the owners knew they had him in their back pockets. The owners contributed to the NHLPA's funding, but Eagleson convinced the players to play in international tournaments to earn extra money for the association, not knowing that he did that to offset owner expenses. Between 1970 and 1975, 6 new teams bought in for a combined total of 36 million US $, and Eagleson did not stand up for revenue sharing. He also encouraged the NHL players to support the merger between them and the WHA on behalf of the owners, knowing it would kill the competition for the best players by eliminating an equally competitive league and reduce player salaries to what they were 10 years before. The merger also brought in 30 million US $ from the 4 WHA teams that bought in with expansion fees, of which the players received 0 $. As the 80s wore on, many players, past and present, grew dissatisfied with Eagleson's leadership, and his conflicts of interest as player agent, union president, international hockey promoter, and aspiring team owner. He survived a brief investigation in 1989 led by Ed Garvey, Ritch Winter, and Ron Salcer, but they still uncovered incriminating information against him. He was working with Peter Karmanos in the 90s to help him secure an NHL team, and the deal was that for every million US $ below market value Eagleson could find a franchise, Karmanos would give him 200 000 $. Karmanos eventually purchased the Hartford Whalers in 1994 for 38 million US $, but had long severed ties with Eagleson by that point, who had been charged by the FBI for fraud and racketeering. He was quick to point out in his search for a team that John Ziegler, the NHL president at the time, was hurting the league by going for the quick score, pointing out that 4 teams had gone under in the 70s. He established a vision that saw the league expand from 21 to 28 teams between 1990 and 2000. Though he couldn't see it through, due to him stepping down alongside Eagleson, Gary Bettman did, and to this day, many of those teams added during that time have only seen marginal success. It seems the NHL still has yet to learn from its mistakes of the past, and due to their constant PR failures and inability to promote the game, they should cease any discussion of expansion. The league has a long way to go and needs to be a thriving enterprise free of criminals and politicians such as Bettman, Eagleson, or Ziegler to be able to accept another franchise for expansion.

2023-24 season: 43-33-6, 5th in Central Division, 9th in Western Conference, 16th in league. A 4-game losing streak brought Craig Berube's tenure with the St. Louis Blues to an end. I thought the end of 2022-23 was a good time to do it, but Doug Armstrong was patient enough, thinking that the right roster would work. But the losses were embarrassing, having never lost by less than 2 goals until Berube was fired. This trend continued, as they only lost 9 games by 1 goal, which could be looked in 2 different ways: It could be looked at that they won a lot of close games, which is an asset needed for playoff time, or it could be looked at that their losses decreased the value of their victories that way. They were a team that finished 10 games above .500, but finished with a -11 goal differential. Doug Armstrong was very smart and calculated this season and offseason, not wasting away the season in the final 20 games with impulsive seller trades, but by firing Berube when he did in December and replacing him with Drew Bannister, he proved that he believed they had a shot until the very end, and Vegas throwing the regular season nearly worked for them. I doubt they would've beaten Dallas, but a playoff spot would've looked better on Armstrong's resume, as I believe he will be a GM on the hot seat this year. The Blues had 6 20-goal scorers this year, but none of their offense came from the blue line, which is an area they sought out to improve on this offseason. The offseason is a much better time to make moves, and I couldn't go forever without mentioning the offer sheet that I was happy to see screw over Edmonton. Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg have great potential to thrive with the St. Louis Blues, as Edmonton's lack of prospect developing was holding up their development. Broberg will likely be a no. 1 power play defenseman if they don't find anyone better and with Torey Krug being injured, and Holloway should be able to earn 2nd line ice time as a left wing on a team that doesn't have many scoring wingers. With a new coach and a large roster turnover, I expect a little more out of St. Louis this year. I believe they are capable of increasing their offense, and with a reliable backup in Joel Hofer behind Jordan Binnington, they will still be well off in net. Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Ryan Suter should provide some stability on the blue line, and Doug Armstrong's attitude towards this offseason was that of someone who still believes his team is competitive enough. They are by no means the best there is, but they're a playoff team, and in a Central Division that got a little tougher, they will find their window. I'm predicting they will finish 46-29-7, 5th in the Central Division, 8th in the Western Conference, and 16th in the league, with the 2WC spot, and that they will be swept in the 1st Round due to a lack of star power.

2023-24 season: 45-29-8, 4th in Atlantic Division, 6th in Eastern Conference, 13th in league, lost Eastern Conference Round 1 to Florida 4-1. The Tampa Bay Lightning are in strange territory this season that they haven't been in ever before. They're good enough to be barely hanging on, but they missed the 2nd Round in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2012-13 and 2013-14. Steve Yzerman constructed a masterpiece of a dynastic team throughout the 2010s, one that made the Eastern Conference Finals 6 times out of 8 seasons, and won the Stanley Cup in back-to-back season and came 2 wins short of a dynasty. But he left the team in 2019, and therefore was never able to legally take credit for the Stanley Cup teams he built. Julien BriseBois has succeeded Yzerman in that position, and he has managed horribly. Even though Jim Benning was still managing the Canucks until 2022, I haven't seen any GM with worse asset management skills than him in the last 5 years. He traded a 1st, a 3rd, and a 4th round pick for David Savard, an obvious overpayment for a depth option on defense who had a -8 in 14 games and didn't do anything until the playoffs before leaving for Montreal in the offseason. They also gave up 2 1st round picks and Taylor Raddysh and Boris Katchouk for Brandon Hagel and 2 4th round picks. They gave up Barclay Goodrow for a 7th round pick after having used a 1st round pick to acquire him, and that season they also gave up a 2nd round pick and Tyler Johnson to Chicago for Brent Seabrook's contract, and traded Ryan McDonagh to Nashville for Philippe Myers and Grant Mismash. They also gave up Cal Foote and 5 draft picks for Tanner Jeannot before flipping him to LA 1 year later for a 2nd and a 4th. This offseason they also reacquired Ryan McDonagh and Edmonton's 4th round pick for a 2nd and a 7th, and they traded Mikhail Sergachev to Utah for J.J. Moser, Conor Geekie, a 7th round pick, and a 2nd round pick. It can be easy as a GM to get caught up in the moment when you have a winning team by giving up everything that you have when you know you can win now, but the Lightning can't win now, or in the future, now that all of their assets are gone and that they let everyone go. They've also let go some very valuable members of their Cup team that they haven't been able to replace every year, as Blake Coleman left in 2021, Ondrej Palat left in 2022, Alex Killorn in 2023, and worst of all, they let Steven Stamkos leave this summer. No man has done more for the franchise than he has, and Julien BriseBois lowballed him this offseason by offering him 3 million $, after he put up an 81 point season for the team. In the summer of 2016 it was rumored that he would leave for Buffalo or Toronto, but on opening day in free agency, he signed for 8 million $, which was far less than they offered him elsewhere. He wanted them to maintain his salary, because every year he either played up to his salary or outplayed it. He's the same captain who brought them to 3 straight Stanley Cup Finals, and I was sure that at 8 million $ that was still less than what he could've asked for. BriseBois defended his offer, saying it was in the team's best interest to look at options to help them win by giving him a salary like that. But it was offensive for him as a representative of the team Stamkos cared about for so long to discard him like he was useless, and to then say those things to the media to defend his terrible decision. And for what's in Tampa Bay's "best interest to win" they need to fire BriseBois, because he has strip-mined their future while driving away the present, and if not for him, Tampa Bay could still be a Cup contender. I don't see goaltending holding up well for the Lightning, because Vasilevskiy is past his best days, but Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point should be able to drag them to the final spot in the East. I think the Lightning will finish 43-26-13, 4th in the Atlantic Division, 8th in the Eastern Conference, and 15th in the league, and they will lose in Round 1 in 5 games.

2023-24 season: 39-27-16, 3rd in Metropolitan Division, 7th in Eastern Conference, 15th in league, lost 1st Round against Carolina 4-1. For the 3rd time in 6 seasons, the New York Islanders got eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes. This time it happened with them being complete loser point capitalists, having had 16 overtime/shootout losses. They are the biggest reason this season why I am for returning to having ties be a thing again. The NHL should revert back to 10 minute overtimes, where if you lose in overtime, it's 0 points in the standings, and ties are 1 point. Keeping 3 on 3 for the full 10 minutes would also keep the loser merchants like the Islanders from cheating the system. The Islanders have some good players and enough skill to get by on most nights, but it isn't helping that Lou Lamoriello keeps trying to remake the New Jersey Devils model, which only ever worked when their goalie played well enough to stop 20 shots. It's also worth acknowledging that Lou never evolved past his failing model, which by 2013 wasn't working. He only got the job on the Islanders as a legacy name and he hasn't been able to build the strong defense that you need for a goalie-first kind of team. This season was as average a season that was had in the NHL. The high points weren't very high, and the low points never were rock-bottom. But when they were 4 games above .500, the Godfather, Lou Lamoriello, fired Lane Lambert and replaced him with Patrick Roy, who I thought would never leave the QMJHL for a Cup contender, let alone leaving for Fishtown. As a result of him leaving for Brooklyn, the Islanders went on 2 separate 6-game winning streaks to finish 3rd in a weak Metropolitan Division race. The offense somehow picked up the pace, which is showing that maybe he changed his style a little bit since leaving Colorado, but it still wasn't good enough for Carolina. With goaltending supposedly being their strong suit, I expected that to be how they would win a series, even though I knew Carolina had them beat. But they blew a 3-goal lead for the first time in their playoff history and lost 5-3 in Game 2, switched goalies twice during the series, and after rallying to tie Game 5, allowed 3 goals in the 3rd period to lose the series. Their goaltending was also barely average most of the season, with Sorokin and Varlamov combining for only 10.5 goals saved above expected. Sorokin was again expected to maintain the starting job, but his .909 save percentage led to him losing it to Semyon Varlamov. With a better team defense they strung together a lot of wins, but as the only playoff team with less than 40 wins it's pretty obvious they overachieved last year. Anthony Duclair was New York's prized free agent, and it was a rare occurrence where Lou Lamoriello brought in outside talent to help their scoring problems. They do a good job staying out of their own end with Patrick Roy coaching them, but when they are in the offensive zone they don't seem to know what to do. Duclair is a net-front presence with a proven track record of being able to play up and down the lineup, and he will provide a small boost to the team. Regardless, I still think Lou's on the hot seat to be fired if the team doesn't make the playoffs, which I don't think they will. I'm not expecting anything big from the Islanders, and even though I think they improved this offseason, I think that they won't overachieve like they did last year. I think they will finish 41-31-10, 5th in the Metropolitan Division, 9th in the Eastern Conference, and 17th in the league, and they will without a doubt be the best team to miss the playoffs this season.

2023-24: 39-34-9 6th in Central Division, 10th in Western Conference, 20th in league The Minnesota Wild are a 2000s expansion team, which means existing has not been easy for them. Like the Thrashers and Blue Jackets, they lack a history of success. They had an accidental appearance in the 2002-03 WCF, which ended with them scoring the fewest goals in a playoff series with only 1, and they didn't have an even strength goal that series. They are merely a token team in the NHL, one that the NHL can live with or without. They have 8 consecutive playoff series losses to call their own, and have not made the 2nd Round since 2015. They were thought to be a playoff team again this year, even with Dallas and Colorado at the top. Many also assumed Nashville would start to rebuild with Barry Trotz as GM, and that the Jets would struggle due to having an atrocious blue line and no forward depth, but their goaltending provided a cover for their issues and Nashville was a surprise team. St. Louis also played spoiler to decrease Minnesota's playoff chances this year despite not making it. Just simply existing has been a challenge for the Minnesota Wild, as they also tried out a jersey with the old North Stars colors, so I believe it's safe to say there's been an identity crisis in development despite Bill Guerin's accomplished resume as a player. He seems like a great guy who knows about winning, but he hasn't yet developed a team around Brock Faber and Kirill Kaprizov. The Wild got off to a rough start that saw their coach of the past 3 seasons, Dean Evason, get fired after a month, and even though John Hynes cleaned up the defensive mess enough to get them in the right direction, it was too little too late. With a 2nd pair like Jacob Middleton and Jon Merrill, you have someone who's a little too offensive-minded, and another who's over the hill. Zach Bogosian did well for having been acquired for a 7th round pick, but Frederick Gaudreau dropped to 15 points after seasons of 44 and 38 with Minnesota before. Filip Gustavsson was also a failure this season after carrying the Wild last season with a .931 save percentage, which was 2nd behind Linus Ullmark's .938. Not having a single goalie with a save percentage above .900 will hurt anyone, but it's especially embarrassing with Fleury on the team, because for how many Stanley Cups he cost Pittsburgh, he was still good in the regular season, but he couldn't even do that this year. I thought last year was a good time for him to retire, but now that he's fallen this far I think it's best that he calls it quits as soon as possible. I can see Minnesota being competitive if Filip Gustavsson can marginally improve, and if the Wild don't get hit with injuries, but they're out of the hunt for this year. I think they will finish 40-34-8, 6th in the Central Division, 11th in the Western Conference, and 20th in the league.

2023-24 season: 44-27-11, 3rd in Pacific Division, 7th in Western Conference, 12th in league, lost 4-1 against Edmonton Oilers in Western Conference 1st Round. I've never been high on LA's chances of doing anything, but this is the year I believe they'll do less than nothing. I'm not expecting a huge downfall, but let's just say it won't be the Oilers putting them out this year. It's been years since their luck ran out and left them here, not having won anything since 2014, with hardly anything to be excited about for the future. They started the season in a record-setting fashion, by winning their first 11 road games, but they skidded mid-season, and their hold on 1st place fell to Vancouver, who ran with it the rest of the season, and after firing Todd McLellan, they just never seemed to find their stride for the rest of the season. They played well enough, but they made a mistake winning the last game of the regular season against Chicago to move into 3rd. In the playoffs, they failed to take advantage of Stuart Skinner's inconsistency in Game 1, and it cost them when he was back to being good in Games 3 and 4. Winning Game 1 would've made all the difference against an Oilers team that spends every season playing from behind, but they didn't take advantage when they had the chance. The Kings have the winning experience to get over that hump, but it was evident throughout the season and the playoffs that Drew Doughty can't play the same kind of game he used to when he was an absolute monster on the ice. Anze Kopitar can still play at the same level as before, but with the future centerman of the franchise being Quinton Byfield, I'm not sure that their near future is in good hands. It's not a slight against Byfield, but he just isn't living up to the hype that most 2nd overall picks face. He did take a big step forward this season though, and if he can follow up with a stronger performance next year, I'll give the Kings a chance, but their blue line got undoubtedly weaker with Matt Roy leaving for Washington, and Viktor Arvidsson leaving for the Oilers. Arvidsson missed 64 games this year because of injuries, which affected LA a lot this season, and I believe that negative effect from his departure will be felt again. This year I am predicting a 40-30-12 record, a 4th place finish in the Pacific Division, 9th place in the Western Conference, and 18th in the league. They just don't have enough to compete with the Pacific Division's top 3, and the Central Division got a lot better.

2023-24 season:34-35-13 6th in Pacific Division, 12th in Western Conference, 25th in league The Seattle Kraken had an interesting season this year. They started off very poorly with a combination of untimely goals against and a general lack of offense, but they caught fire in January with a 9 game winning streak to put them back into the playoff race. But after a good month in February they skidded in March and again near the end of the season. Despite maintaining a winning record most of the season, their offensive struggles cost them and they finished 34-35-13. Despite this, Joey Daccord, their expansion draft pick from Ottawa, proved to be a pleasant surprise, as he shut out Vegas 3-0 at the Winter Classic and finished the season with a .917 save percentage and stole the starting job from Philipp Grubauer, who was thought to be the one they would build their team around. Knowing this is interesting, because Ron Francis played on teams with strong centermen, and teams built from the net out, and there's no doubt which one worked out better. I would think that the man who was instrumental in keeping Pittsburgh alive would acknowledge that his role as a 1A behind Mario Lemieux is what helped them win in 1991 and 92. He had the Game 4 hat trick against the NY Rangers in the 2nd Round that started their 14 game playoff winning streak, and he scored the Cup winning goal. Without him Pittsburgh would not win in 1991, and they wouldn't get past the Rangers in 92, never mind having the longest playoff winning streak in history. Meanwhile, in Hartford and in Carolina, they heavily relied on goalies like Mike Liut and Arturs Irbe and their era as playoff contenders was much shorter lived because they never built a team around Ronnie Franchise. He is one of the smartest guys to have ever played the game, and he should know from his own history that good teams can't win a Stanley Cup built from the net out. The Kraken have done a good job managing expectations and comparisons to their expansion counterparts in Vegas, and I appreciate their lack of cheating tendencies, and for that the Bettman Karma won't bounce back on them. All truthful jokes aside, many of their players overachieved last year, and regressed this year. The 4th best offense wasn't expected to fall nearly an entire goal per game in a single year. Vince Dunn was the only defenseman who didn't perform horribly last season, but he was injured for 23 games, and that didn't help their already struggling offense. As I mentioned before, I think Ron Francis has chosen how he wants to build his team, but he seems to have acknowledged the teams weaknesses down the middle and on the back end by signing Chandler Stephenson and Brandon Montour. They also went with a different Pennsylvania coach by firing Dave Hakstol and hiring Dan Bylsma, the 2009 Stanley Cup champion and 2011 Jack Adams Trophy winner. In addition to his awards, he also led the most successful Stanley Cup drought in Penguins history, as Pittsburgh had the best record when he was coaching them despite their delicate little flower, Marc-Andre Fleury, crumbling every playoff season. To say the least, that's not a mistake Francis will make twice, because to hire a good Flyers coach, you'd have to pull them out of their graves. The Kraken will be a competitor, and as much as I would love to see a playoff battle of the Northwest, it is Vancouver's territory, and that would be a quick sweep for Vancouver. The Kraken still won't be in the playoffs, but I believe they will be part of a more competitive Western Conference than last year. I can see them finishing 38-30-14, 5th in the Pacific Division, 10th in the Western Conference, and 19th in the league because I believe their goaltending can take them to overtime, but they simply don't have the offense yet to be vying for that top spot.

2023-24 season: 23-53-6, 8th in Central Division, 15th in Western Conference, 31st in league The Chicago Blackhawks had a horrible season, and it was no surprise. The attempt to surround Connor Bedard with talented but over the hill veterans did not go very well, as Chicago plummeted to the bottom of the standings as quickly as the season got going. If not for the Sharks and Connor Bedard, they would not have looked very good. They have Seth Jones as their best defenseman, and he is a mere shell of what he was in Columbus. Their -111 looked horrible, and in the games I did see, they were just not good. They also went 4 months without a road win, and their leading goal scorers had 22 goals. Arvid Soderblom had the worst save percentage of all goalies with 25+ games played, and knowing he had the Senators goalies to contend with, it isn't a good look, and they should be looking to move on from him to back up Petr Mrazek. Kyle Davidson did an adequate job this season by taking on some bad contracts for draft picks, by acquiring Josh Bailey and a 2026 2nd round pick, and by taking Sam Lafferty, Ilya Mikheyev, and a 2027 2nd round pick for a 2027 4th round pick. Connor Bedard's (in my opinion undeserved) Calder Trophy win was a bright spot for Chicago, but Luke Richardson needs to instill some defensive responsibilities in him. A -44 is embarrassing for any player who is going to be considered a franchise player, and it is the worst +/- of any Rookie of the Year. That in my opinion makes it seem like Richardson isn't doing his job to develop him as a defensive player, and I don't care how good somebody is, if they aren't backchecking or winning faceoffs, they need to be sat down or traded. If we're going to stack him against other generational talents, I'll quickly point out that Crosby and McDavid scored at a higher point per game pace and both only finished with a -1 on bottom 2 teams. This year's mission for Chicago needs to be going another year without criminal allegations re-surfacing or committing crimes themselves. I'm not a fan of Danny Wirtz being the Blackhawks owner, as his grandfather and father were pretty bad people and stingy businessmen more so than team owners. The Blackhawks were a powerful institution of the NHL under the previous 2, and I'm hoping that the grip they've held on the NHL is starting to slip. Unfortunately, as the Chicago Blackhawks continue to be bad, I could see Gary Bettman bending the rules for the Blackhawks to allow them another 1st overall pick. I would be surprised if the Blackhawks even came close to making the playoffs this year, but if Connor Bedard really did step up his game it wouldn't be impossible. But with Artyom Levshunov, their 2nd overall pick this year still in NCAA, they should just focus on making sure their free agent signings perform well enough to be traded at the deadline for a 1st round pick or 2. I think that this year their record will be 22-54-6, and they are the easiest pick for last place in the Central, behind only San Jose for worst in the conference and the league. There also isn't anyone in the East that is bad enough to match them.

2023-24: 41-32-9, 5th in Atlantic Division, 9th in Eastern Conference, 17th in league The Detroit Red Wings reached a peak in the Yzerman era, and jobs are on the line in Detroit. Derek Lalonde has been coaching the team for 2 seasons, with no playoffs, and a lot of young talent. The Atlantic Division is a tough one, but that isn't an excuse anymore with a weakening Lightning team that is past its Cup winning days, and a Capitals team that was the worst playoff team in over 30 years. They had no reason this past season to not have a 1st Round date with the Rangers, and with the obvious weaknesses on New York, there's no reason they couldn't have stolen a game or 2. The Red Wings got by this year by having a high-flying offense that had 12 guys with 30+ points this year, but James Reimer and Alex Lyon are not the goalies you need to get to the playoffs. Ville Husso was also a disappointment, having come from St. Louis as a free agent after a great season that saw him nearly steal Jordan Binnington's starting job. He has yet to post a .900 save percentage in Detroit after having a .919 in his last year in St. Louis. Yzerman did understand the need to improve goaltending, which he did by acquiring Cam Talbot from the LA Kings. But their center depth is lacking, with only Dylan Larkin as a good centerman. Andrew Copp is a glorified 3rd line center, and and their young guys for the rebuild aren't so young anymore. Their lack of high ticket free agents is also not convincing as many people as before that these Red Wings are ready for the playoffs. My predictions for this season are that they will actually regress for the 1st time since 2020. They will finish 35-31-16, 5th in the Atlantic Division, 10th in the Eastern Conference, and 21st in the league. They were absolutely brutal when they were playing with a lead, as they managed to gain a 4-0 lead over the Sharks once this year and lose that lead in the same period. They also blew a 4-goal lead against the Flyers before recovering in the shootout. Their inability to hold leads is going to cost them a lot in the loser point category, as it will be the main reason they miss the playoffs for a 9th season in a row.

2023-24: 38-33-11 6th in Metropolitan Division, 11th in Eastern Conference, 21st in league An incredibly weak Philadelphia Flyers squad was playing so far above their level for so long that they had everyone convinced that they had taken that next step to being a playoff team. John Tortorella was doing his thing, being a great coach, as he has consistently taken teams to the next level with an elevated standard. But there were a few details missing from Philadelphia that Tampa Bay, the NY Rangers, and the Columbus Blue Jackets had. All those teams had strong goaltending, good offense, or all of the above. Philadelphia's best defenseman is Travis Sanheim, their best forwards are Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett, and teams like that can survive, but they won't be very well off for a long run. Carter Hart was playing adequate hockey until his legal troubles surfaced, so the team turned to Samuel Ersson the rest of the season. Though they played well in front of him, his .890 save percentage eventually played into their late season collapse in which they lost 3rd place to the Islanders and the 2WC spot to Washington. Not that it would've made a difference; either way they would've been swept in Round 1. The Flyers appeared to be a strong defensive team early on in the year, and it made up for their lack of offense. Cam Atkinson, since being acquired from the Blue Jackets, has proven to be a disappointment, and has since been let go to Tampa Bay, had only 13 goals, and Sean Couturier only had 11, so it shows the mess that Danny Briere has been left with to clean up from Chuck Fletcher. But the younger players, like Owen Tippett, Joel Farabee, and Tyson Foerster showed a lot of promise. Even though the Flyers didn't make the playoffs, John Tortorella has built an identity where, like the rest of his teams, they are going to be defensively sound, and hard to play against. His teams block a lot of shots, and I saw that firsthand only twice this year when they played the Canucks, but they can enforce that style onto teams very effectively. Briere is already showing why Philadelphia hired him, because he made the best out of a bad situation by getting Jamie Drysdale from the Ducks and a 2nd round pick in 2025. They also got Colorado's 2025 1st round pick from them and Ryan Johansen for Sean Walker and a 2026 5th round pick, and with Colorado stagnating, the pick is likely going to be in the top 25 of this year's draft. Tortorella and Briere are trying to create their own thing, and shedding some of the team's previous baggage was crucial to their improvement. They let JVR go to the Bruins in free agency, and they let Tony DeAngelo, a notorious dressing room toxin, go to Carolina, and Carter Hart likely won't be back in Philly, no matter how his court case turns out for him, so there's a change going on where losing isn't considered acceptable anymore, and with a 2022 Stanley Cup champion in Erik Johnson, they have good leadership on the blue line for guys like Oliver Bonk and Travis Sanheim, who are likely in for the long haul. Their good improvement isn't much to convince me they'll be anything spectacular this season though, because their forwards don't score enough. Sean Couturier is nowhere near the player they need him to be for him to be considered captain material, never mind top 6 centerman. Tyson Foerster and Morgan Frost are the team's future down the middle, so they just need to cut their losses and get Couturier's contract dumped before it inhibits them from moving forward. His contract doesn't expire until the 2029-30 season, so if they want to develop, their money is better spent elsewhere, but they would need to wait another couple years before the benefits of a buyout are worth it, and for it to benefit the team, they would have to do it before he turns 35. Matvei Michkov is also going to be a big piece of the Flyers moving forward, and if they don't want to lose him to free agency because they can't pay him, Sean Couturier will have to go, because on rebuilding teams, the past doesn't matter, because you have to be useful today. With all that in mind, I have the Flyers finishing 37-36-9, 6th in the Metropolitan Division, 11th in the Eastern Conference, and 22nd in the league. I'm not predicting a massive step back, but a strong performance from Michkov will keep them afloat until April because of how weak the bottom of the Eastern Conference is right now.

2023-24: 27-50-5, 7th in Pacific Division, 14th in Western Conference, and 30th in the league. The Anaheim Ducks had a pretty terrible season, but it had its bright spots. They started the season 9-6, but only won 18 games the rest of the way. However, they figured out that Trevor Zegras is not fit to be the future of the team, and so Pat Verbeek made a very smart play by acquiring Cutter Gauthier from the Philadelphia Flyers, because he didn't want to play in Philadelphia. It was expensive, giving up Jamie Drysdale and a 2nd round pick, but the way it works now, and how it always has, is you need good centermen. Good defensemen come second as a priority in today's game, as it isn't the Dead Puck Era anymore. They had Ryan Getzlaf in 2006-07 when they won, and the Penguins had not 1 but 2 franchise changing centermen every time they won. Since joining the Ducks, Pat Verbeek has been a man of few trades, but the ones he has made look like they will work out, as Gauthier has already accomplished a lot before making it to the NHL. He has a gold medal from the 2024 WJC, and he led the team in scoring with 12 points in 7 games, and has a season of 38 goals and 65 points in 41 games at Boston College, and by signing an entry-level deal, he ended his college career, and he will most likely make the opening roster. Verbeek has also been strategic in how he pursues free agency, as he knows the Ducks aren't becoming contenders overnight, but what he is doing is bringing in veteran leadership in to teach the new guys, such as Alex Killorn, Radko Gudas, and Frank Vatrano, who were all key contributors. Killorn was a slight disappointment, but his offensive numbers were a little inflated, and as good as he was his last year in Tampa Bay, he had never played at that level before, and so a regression was expected. What I expect to go right for the Anaheim Ducks is that Lukas Dostal will continue to build on the season he had with a .902 save percentage with a terrible defense in front of him. I believe that Leo Carlsson will be able to get the no. 1 center job with Trevor Zegras out of the mix, and I think Pavel Mintyukov will build off of a good rookie season. They weren't exactly studs this year, but not every rookie is going to blow away the analysts, nor do they need to. I have no problem with picking the Ducks as a surprise team coming out of the Pacific, because I think they can be competitive, but not enough to seriously contend for a playoff spot. As for what Ducks management may want to do about their problem child, I believe that Pat Verbeek will find a place to send Zegras packing, because his one-dimensional game has not translated to positive results in the NHL. You can get away with being wildly talented for maybe 1 season in the NHL, but once players start to figure you out, your biggest flaws get exposed very quickly. Zegras is a classic Nail Yakupov case, where being so much better than his peers helped him get away with a lot, but talent is a superstar's biggest enemy in the NHL, because it's all caught up to you. Yakupov did well enough in his rookie season that he earned Calder Trophy consideration, but he was too arrogant for any team, and he relied so heavily on natural talent that he was a bottom 6 player by year 2 of his career, and by 2018 was completely run out of the league. Zegras has no game in the faceoff dot, he's in the box too much for the style he plays, and anyone who models their game after Patrick Kane probably shouldn't be on your team. I like what the Ducks did by going back to the Wild Wing logo that everyone loves, but they still kept the ugly color scheme. Regardless, it is a positive change, and a lot less of an eyesore. With good goaltending, and strong sophomore performances from Carlsson and Mintyukov, I believe that this year they can manage a winning record, finishing 35-34-13, 6th in the Pacific Division, 12th in the Western Conference, and 23rd in the league.

2023-24 season: 30-36-6, 8th in Atlantic Division, 15th in Eastern Conference, 28th in league. The Montreal Canadiens are in a new era, but the Atlantic Division does not subscribe. The Tampa Bay Lightning while they are a shell of their former selves, are still a playoff team, the Bruins and Maple Leafs are the cockroaches you can't kill, the Red Wings are at the end of an extremely long rebuild, and the Florida Panthers are the defending Stanley Cup champions. The Canadiens, while they couldn't win games this year, cemented the belief that their fanbase has in the management and the culture that Kent Hughes and Martin St. Louis are trying to instill in the team. The goaltending hasn't been the same since Carey Price's retirement, but Sam Montembault and Cayden Primeau were pleasant surprises, providing a .903 and a .910 save percentage on a bottom 5 team. Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield had good seasons, Mike Matheson had a great offensive season, and Juraj Slafkovsky broke out with a strong 2nd half to finish with 20 goals and 50 points, and they all played 82 games. What cost them this season though, was that they couldn't stay out of the hospital, with only 5 healthy players and hundreds of games lost to injuries. Even with the difficulties in strengthening the team, Kent Hughes has maintained a patience and calmness not often seen in GMs with teams that they think can be competitive. Yes, the Canadiens are on the way up, but what does getting swept in the 1st Round every year do for the team? Hughes understands this very well, and that's why every move he makes is intentional. Hiring Martin St. Louis as coach was no accident, as the team hasn't had a strong offensive catalyst since Alexei Kovalev showed up for a season in 2007-08. Hughes knows the game counts on game breakers, and he's counting on a 2-time Art Ross Trophy winner, Lester B. Pearson Award winner, Hart Trophy winner, 3-time Lady Byng Trophy winner, 2004 Stanley Cup champion, and an HHOF inductee in 2018 to lead the team. St. Louis was the short king in the NHL at a very tough time, before the league cracked down on headhunters, so Hughes believes he can help Cole Caufield develop into that for the Canadiens. They have also improved their goal differential every year since he became coach, so it isn't impossible to see them on their way up the standings as well. Acquiring Patrik Laine from the Blue Jackets this offseason shows that Kent Hughes is increasing the focus towards offense, as the Canadiens once again finished below 3 goals per game. He would likely play right wing on the 2nd line with Kirby Dach and Christian Dvorak, so long as they stay healthy, or he could play on his off wing on the top line with Caufield and Suzuki, but they would need to find a place for him in the lineup with as clear of a standard as possible. After all the problems in Winnipeg and Columbus, and not living up to his hype as the 2nd overall pick in 2016, this is a chance for him to have a fresh start, but St. Louis needs to play him properly. The Canadiens got a golden opportunity by acquiring Laine for a 2nd round pick, and he says he can get to 50 goals, so there could be a strong competition for the top spot on left wing between him and Slafkovsky, especially since they're both big guys that can throw their weight around as well as score. As the Canadiens continue to improve, I can see them pulling together an even record of 38-38-6, good enough for 6th in the Atlantic, 12th in the Eastern Conference, and 24th in the league. They're getting there, but once Tampa Bay falls off completely, there will be room for them in the playoffs again.

2023-24 season: 38-39-5, 5th in Pacific Division, 11th in Western Conference, 24th in league. It's been tough to be a Calgary Flames fan, or worse yet, a Flame. A Stanley Cup gone MIA since 1989, a heartbreaking Stanley Cup Final ending in 2004, a struggle for consistency, and a next level breakthrough that never materialized throughout the later 2010s and early 20s. Now they are in the rebuild cycle, and they also had to deal with the loss of one of their own, Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew. Johnny was a big part of the Flames biggest success stories in his tenure from 2014-2022, and Calgary's struggles over the last 2 seasons can be largely attributed to his and Matthew Tkachuk's departures. I remember him annihilating Vancouver in Game 6 of the 2015 1st Round, and being crushed that they blew a 3-0 to Calgary, and how he really came out as a gamer against the Stars despite their outstanding goaltending. Even in Columbus, Flames fans gave him a warm welcome back, and understood that he left to be closer to his family. As hard as this was across all fanbases, it cuts that much deeper for Calgary, who as a fanbase took a great liking to Johnny Hockey. I didn't want to string his name throughout the entire article, but since he was such a large part of the Flames for so long, and was very loved by every teammate, fan, and family member, it was only appropriate that I include a tribute to him in this paragraph. That was difficult to write about, but as far as the on-ice business with Calgary, the product dramatically declined. They were a borderline Wild Card team last year, but lost the last spot days before the season ended, but this year they never came close. They finished with a losing record for the first time since 2020-21, indicating that they have come full circle, that their time as playoff contenders came and went, and now they are in a rebuild mode. When they traded Matthew Tkachuk to the Panthers in 2022, I was laughing, thinking that Bill Zito got fleeced, and that Calgary had actually come out of a losing deal stronger than before. With that being said, I forgot to reference the history books, knowing people said the exact same thing about the trade that made Ron Francis a Penguin. Mackenzie Weegar was part of Calgary's return package, and he turned out pretty well, but Jonathan Huberdeau has been a disappointment. He set the record for largest single season point drop off by going from 115 points in his last year as a Panther to 55 points in his first year as a Flame. It wasn't a one-off either, as he duplicated that effort with 52 points, but his +/- dropped from +2 to -29. The star power in Calgary is non-existent, and it is cashing checks completely unearned, but they are ready to shed the baggage of over the hill players who still have use elsewhere in the league. The Flames did a lot of trading to get rid of some of their better players to contending teams, and the result in terms of obtaining draft picks was pretty successful. Nikita Zadorov went to Vancouver for their 2026 3rd round pick, and Chicago's 5th round pick in 2024. Elias Lindholm also went to Vancouver for a 1st round pick in 2024 (Matvei Gridin), Hunter Brzustewicz, Joni Jurmo, Andrei Kuzmenko, and Philadelphia's 4th round pick. They also managed to do 3-way deals to send Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin to Dallas and Vegas, and in return got Artem Grushnikov, a 2nd round pick (Jacob Battaglia), a conditional 3rd round pick in 2026, Daniil Miromanov, a conditional 1st round pick in 2025 or 26, and a conditional 2nd or 3rd round pick in 2025. They also unloaded Jacob Markstrom to New Jersey for a 2025 1st round pick and Kevin Bahl, and they sent Andrew Mangiapane to Washington for Colorado's 2025 2nd round pick. Right now Calgary is in Craig Conroy's sweet spot as the GM of their team, where he has a lot of tradeable assets to accelerate a rebuild around certain core players, but he also has a young team capable of competing for a spot. They don't have the goaltending to keep up, and their blue line is mediocre, but their forward group could surprise a lot of people this season who aren't expecting much from them. Last year's performance, however, doesn't indicate a strong 2024-25 season, and my prediction is a record of 30-37-5, 7th in the Pacific Division, 13th in the Western Conference, and 25th in the league. An unshakeable contract with Huberdeau, as well as his underperformance, are what will do them in this year, unless Dustin Wolf can bring his AHL game to the next level in net.

This is one of many investigative pieces that is to come with Hockey Canada, and many of them will be centered around the report that Justice Thomas Cromwell, a former New Brunswick judge, has conducted, and much of it is an indictment of Hockey Canada's practices. He was called in 2022 to conduct a report on Hockey Canada's business practices as the 2018 World Juniors sexual assault allegations resurfaced, and I will get to that in a separate article. There is no doubt that within Hockey Canada, there is a large monster called corporate capture that we are dealing with, and I could never cover the Thomas Cromwell report in just one article, so it will be a series of publications. This isn't just an offseason project, this is something that needs far more discussion that it gets. This report was written nearly 2 years ago, and after a brief acknowledgement, the media buried it very quickly. That won't be the case here, as I am aiming to break this case open, because after hearing some of the stories that are coming out, I decided I didn't like the direction that this sport or its culture is going in, and that it's time somebody shook things up for the better. Canada's national embarrassment is enough at the hockey stage as it is, from Alan Eagleson defrauding NHL players and exploiting the Canada Cups for personal gain to this, it's no secret we are a joke. Hockey Canada used to be looked upon as the exemplary governing board in sport, but over the years, it has been too heavily reliant on its lack of fierce competition, and this has led to them neglecting areas that require serious improvement. USA Hockey is growing faster and getting stronger, and with a Florida based team making the Finals 5 years running, we may start seeing American hockey players from areas we haven't seen much of before. Not only that, but Hockey Canada isn't as good at serving the CHL as a pipeline as it used to be, with more Canadians seeking the NCAA route after 2 years of Junior A. This is a critique piece on Hockey Canada, but I want it known that I don't want them to be eliminated as an institution, but what I do want is for them to be seeking reform, and to get with the times so that they can go back to serving their designated purpose, which is to govern the sport of hockey. Before I go too heavily into detail, it is important to get to know what me and a few of my friends from this case are dealing with. Thomas Cromwell introduces Hockey Canada as a not-for-profit corporation that is supposed to be governed by the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, SC 2009, c 23 (CNCA) . They are also a Registered Canadian Amateur Athletics Association, which is a designation under the Income Tax Act, RSC 1985, c 1 (5th Supp) . They were created in 1914 as the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), and they were designed to oversee amateur hockey at a national level, with professional hockey still being a new thing. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) began sponsoring local tournaments in 1930. In the 1950s, Team Canada lost in the 1954 World Hockey Championships and in the 1956 Olympics, and there was a common belief that the Soviet Union had beaten them at their own game, and they lost in the 1960 Olympics at Squaw Valley again. The year after, Bill C-131 was passed to encourage, promote, and develop fitness and amateur sport in Canada, and this saw the federal government begin to provide funding to volunteer driven national sports organizations. This allowed for the Ministry of National Health and Welfare to make grants to any agency, organization, or institution that was enabling fitness or amateur sport. In the 1960s, there wasn't much pride in the national team, and financing them was still an obstacle. They took to corporate donations and government grants through the CAHA, and from the revenues brought in by games that the National Team participated in. Hockey Canada was created in 1969 for the purpose of managing and financing the national teams of Canada. 2 years later, the federal government split their Fitness and Amateur Sport Program into 2 divisions: Recreation Canada and Sport Canada, with Sport Canada being tasked with developing the higher competitive levels. On May 1, 1981, they incorporated under the name Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, and in 1998 merged with Hockey Canada into one large organization. Their mission statement is to "Lead, Develop and Promote Positive Hockey Experiences", and to be "World Sport Leaders". They state that they believe in a positive hockey experience for all participants, in a safe, sportsmanlike environment, the development of life skills which will benefit participants throughout their lives, and the values of fair play and sportsmanship, including the development of respect for all people by all participants. Their other supposed values are to provide equal opportunities for everyone indiscriminately, the development of dignity and self-esteem, instilling honesty and integrity in participants, the promotion of teamwork, the representation of the proud tradition of Canada, the value of hard work, determination, and the pursuit of excellence, and the benefits of personal and physical well-being. As for the governing purposes of Hockey Canada as a regulatory body, they are supposed to regulate and promote amateur hockey in Canada and establish rules, oversee a structure of Clubs, Associations, Leagues and Teams, deliver a training program to help national and international levels, manage the national teams that participate in international competition, stage and sanction competitions, act as a Canadian representative on the IIHF, and carry out fundraising activities and redistribute funds for local Clubs. Their operations deal with all aspects of "organized hockey". Cromwell understands that the 4 categories of operations are regulating amateur hockey in Canada, growing and developing the game, representing Canada on the world stage, and business development. The regulation aspect appears to be flawed as it relates to the enforcement of rules, as Cromwell explains that they do not enforce compliance of the rules on Members as well as they should. Members are defined as associations/federations that manage amateur hockey in their respective regions. Some representatives of the Board have have indicated that enforcement does not occur, and this can be attributed to practical difficulties related to enforcement. Some Members themselves believe that Hockey Canada is simply one layer in a more complex structure, where each association is its own entity, and therefore Hockey Canada cannot effectively govern at the more local levels, and that creates too many inconsistencies in how the game is delivered to Canadians at all levels. When it comes to growing and developing the game, some Members have expressed that Hockey Canada has become too focused on high performance athletes, to a point where they are losing touch with some of the more grassroots levels. A counter-argument for why they focus on higher performance athletes, however, may be that the revenue from those high performance tournaments, such as IIHF tournaments and other amateur tournaments, respond to the financial needs of Hockey Canada due to a lack of government funding in certain areas. A lot of their tournaments are heavily sponsored, with companies like Esso and Telus having their names on a couple trophies. As for the business side, which is more of where my interest lies with this, their sponsorships and licensing partnerships earn them a significant amount of money. They operate hand in hand with the Hockey Canada Foundation, a registered charity that "provides secure, sustainable, long-term funding to support the future development of the game." The documents I have access to do not provide a review of the Hockey Canada Foundation, but that is something I will eventually look into. For the 2020-21 fiscal year, Hockey Canada reported total revenues of 61 902 000 CA$, of which 20 138 000 $ came from marketing, 5 653 000 $ came from government grants, and revenue from camps and national teams totaled 3 400 000 $. Due to recent scandalous allegations that surfaced 2 years ago, many sponsors, such as Bauer, Nike, Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons, Scotiabank, Telus, Chevrolet Canada, Sobeys, and Esso have tried to distance themselves from Hockey Canada, by reducing sponsorships or simply cutting ties all together. Their National Equity Fund totals 119 120 000 $ as of June 30, 2021. Marketing revenues, video content sales, championship photo sales, broadcast rights, licensing rights, and merchandising revenue represented 21-36% of revenues. International revenues represented as little as 3%, and as much as 37% of annual revenue. Insurance premiums represent 10-23% of annual revenues, and government grants represent between 7% and 12% of revenues. Administration and human resources represented 23-39% of expenses. Hosting the tournaments represented 5-29% of expenses. National Teams cost 11-27 % of annual expenses, and insurance premiums cost 9-17 % of annual expenses. When it comes to international tournaments, the revenues are split between the IIHF, the CHL, Hockey Canada, and Members. The IIHF received 15% of revenues over 15 000 000 $. The 2019 WJC generated 17 725 571 $ in profit, and after 4 200 000 $ was moved to Hockey Canada's International Pillar Fund, Hockey Canada received 6 353 950 $, the CHL received 4 447 765 $, and the Members received 1 906 185 $. Of the Members share, 200 000 $ was provided to the Member that hosted the event, leaving 1 706 185 to be split among the 12 others. Members also receive a lot of financial benefits paid for by Hockey Canada. Hockey Canada organizes coaching certification courses and Spring Programming, which covers the cost of the tournaments that various Members participate in. For the 2022-23 season, Hockey Canada paid nearly 1 486 000 $ for the Telus, Centennial, Allan, and Esso Cups. Members have confirmed that they have no say in how much or how little funding they receive in a year from Hockey Canada, and that they would welcome conditions being attached to the fundings that they would use. As sponsors distance themselves, and Members ask for more oversight on Hockey Canada's funding to them, that begs the question: Is Hockey Canada a governing board serving public interest? Or are they an indentured servant to the CHL and the IIHF?

2023-24 season: 39-37-6, 6th in the Atlantic Division, 12th in the Eastern Conference, 22nd in the league. The Buffalo Sabres failed, once again, to build off a strong season that began with a promise to restore the long held faith in the organization from the fanbase. There were many career years in 2022-23, and it led many to believe that a young core was developing in the right direction, but their top 5 scorers from 2022-23 took big steps back last season. Alex Tuch dropped from 79 to 59 points, Tage Thompson from 94 to 56, Jeff Skinner from 82 to 46, Rasmus Dahlin from 73 to 59, and Dylan Cozens from 68 to 47. As a result, it was no coincidence that their goal-scoring dropped from 293 to 246, and their power play finished 29th with 16.6 %. There's no use in dancing around the issue. The Buffalo Sabres have the longest active playoff drought in all the major professional sports in North America. 13 years have gone by fast, and in no time as a hockey fan have I ever seen the Buffalo Sabres make the playoffs. With them being so close to the Leafs, it almost seems like they are in a race to the bottom, with the Leafs trying not to win a series, and Buffalo trying not to make the playoffs. After Toronto won a series in 2023, the Sabres were next in line for not having won a series since 2007. By trading Matthew Savoie to the Edmonton Oilers for Ryan MacLeod, they announced that they are looking to make the next step, but it still was a mistake to give up a future core piece that they drafted 9th overall for a 2nd line forward. It seems obvious that Kevyn Adams believes that Tage Thompson can still be a top line center, but if last season showed anything, it showed that Adams just put together a great 2nd line that got 1st line ice time. The Sabres are really just counting on guys that had one good season that may not be replicated. I don't know what Adams needs to do to get that team going, because even with their top 5 scorers failing the way they did last season, they have a lot of great talent coming up. They only have 2 players above the age of 30, and as shown by how many of their players won the Stanley Cup elsewhere, they are doing something right with their development, but somewhere along the line, they couldn't figure out how to keep it at home. Their last few drafts have been pretty good, and if this was almost any other team, I would say that they would have a shot at playoff hockey, but this is still the Buffalo Sabres. I don't think they will get much worse, but I can't see them finishing with a winning record yet, so I'm predicting a 31-39-12 record, 7th in the Atlantic Division, 13th in the Eastern Conference, and 26th in the league.

2023-24 season: 40-31-11, 4th in Metropolitan Division, 8th in Eastern Conference, 17th in league, swept in 1st Round by NY Rangers 4-0. The Washington Capitals were far from impressive this season, often lacking in the most important areas, but on the strength of a lot of coin toss kind of wins, they made it to the playoffs with a -37 goal differential. Of their 40 wins this year, 19 came by just 1 goal, and it wasn't the usual suspects leading the team. They did have Alex Ovechkin scoring more goals down the stretch, but Dylan Strome emerged as an unlikely hero, and Charlie Lindgren picked up the slack where Darcy Kuemper struggled, finishing with 6 shutouts and a .911 save percentage. They lacked depth, had only 3 20-goal scorers, traded off some of their better players, and were rather inconsistent throughout the season, but still made it to the playoffs despite the Flyers and Red Wings holding on for most of the season. Their weakness showed, however, when they went up against a Rangers team that could win a special teams battle against almost anyone. They were 2/17 on the power play and allowed 2 shorthanded goals, and they went 10/16 on the PK, and it stemmed from a lack of leadership from the veteran players. Much of the talk around the Capitals has been about Alex Ovechkin catching Wayne Gretzky's NHL goal total of 894. What they are ignoring, however, is Gretzky's 46 goals in the WHA, which merged with the NHL and was an equally talented league, which would bring his total up to 940. Gordie Howe also had 174 goals in the WHA, bringing his total up to 975. So if he really wants the record, he'll have to chase a lot further than they're telling you. I should also add that if Gretzky and Howe played as selfishly as him and just stood in one spot the entire game they could score more goals than him, but they wouldn't have been as valuable to their teams. It should also be noted that he is capable of doing more, because I have seen him dominate, but he will never get the real record if he can only try every 4th game. The fact that he also asked Brian McLellan to build a team for him to score goals, rather than to rebuild for the good of the team shows that his leadership is as piss poor as Mark Messier's. I will eventually write about how Messier's leadership skills are overrated, but for now I will stick to talking about how Ovechkin is too one-dimensional to be a captain. Due to Ovechkin's abilities being exclusive to the slot on left wing, I envision a large drop-off for Washington. They are honestly lucky they didn't finish in last place, because their season could've so easily taken that direction. They were the worst playoff team, statistically speaking, since the Hartford Whalers and Vancouver Canucks in 1990-91, and Lindgren won't make as many saves as he did this year. The false narrative of Ovechkin becoming a record breaker next season will also most likely become a distraction. I do believe that individual achievements are important to the team and are good to rally around, but when all you're doing is passing the puck to a winger that does nothing but stand still all game, that isn't an achievement that makes the team better for trying to get to. Their defense got better, but that doesn't change the direction in which I think this team is trending. Besides, it isn't like we haven't seen this kind of drop-off before with the Caps. One year they were Stanley Cup Finalists in 1998, and missed the playoffs the year after by 22 points. This year I wouldn't be surprised to see them contend for the 1st overall pick, because their forward group remains amongst the worst in the league, and they don't have a legitimate no.1 center. The reason why they always lost to the Penguins in the past is because they had center depth; at one time they were so great they had Sid and Geno, and right behind them was Jordan Staal, and decades before they had Mario Lemieux and Ron Francis going up against Michal Pivonka and Dale Hunter. Their 2nd best center was better than Washington's best, and still is. In today's game, and at almost any point in history, every great team had a Hall Of Fame worthy centerman. I mean no disrespect to those guys, or to Dylan Strome, because they are good, but they just aren't capable of leading the charge offensively. My prediction for this upcoming season is that the Capitals will finish with a record of 25-46-11, 7th in the Metropolitan Division, 14th in the Eastern Conference, and 28th in the league.

2023-24 season: They were the Arizona Coyotes, and finished 36-41-5, 7th in the Central Division, 13th in the Western Conference, and 27th in the league. The Winnipeg Jets were a proud success in the WHA, winning their division 3 times, the Avco Cup 3 times, including in back to back years in 1978 and 1979. But the merger into the NHL was a death blow to the franchise, as they sunk from WHA champions and the league's best franchise to being the joke of the league. Every team paid a dear price in expansion fees, most of which came in the form of dismantling teams. The WHA did not survive very well, but the teams that remained were better than many of the NHL franchises. But the NHL did not see it as fit if teams from the old league came in and won Stanley Cups, so they stripped away the talent, and it killed many careers on arrival, most of which were theirs. They gave up 3 of their top 6 scorers from the 1978-79 season, and by 1980-81, they had a record of 9-57-14. They did make the playoffs for 11 of the next 15 seasons, but they were just not good enough to stand in the Smythe Division with the Oilers and Flames. They eventually fell victim to NHL politics, as Gary Bettman put forward his mission to expand in the south, and it came at the expense of the Canadian teams. Though the struggles as the Jets were obvious, they only revealed themselves more the longer they stayed in Arizona. They made the playoffs in their first 4 seasons, but only made it past the 1st round once in 28 seasons as the Coyotes, and have become the 3rd active franchise to be relocated twice, after the California Golden Seals became the Cleveland Barons, and merged to become the North Stars, and the New Jersey Devils, who were the Kansas City Scouts and the Colorado Rockies before. The 2023-24 Coyotes began this season with promise, as Andre Tourigny was in his 2nd full season as coach, and he lead the best World Juniors team in 2022 for Team Canada. The Coyotes carried a strong start to maintaining a playoff spot for half the season, but a winless February pushed them out of contention and out of a winning record. Their offense was middle of the pack, and they had 6 20-goal scorers, which is a step in the right direction, but their defense ranked in the bottom 10. Sean Durzi was their best defenseman all season long, with 41 points and a -1, so that is a red flag that the team attempted to address in the offseason by acquiring Mikhail Sergachev from the Lightning. They also got John Marino from the New Jersey Devils, and Ian Cole from the Vancouver Canucks, which should help, but Cole will just score every Oilers goal when they play each other. They still need to address their needs with goaltending, as Connor Ingram is a good goalie, but he isn't a stable no. 1. He is a good starter, but there's a difference between a no. 1 and a starter. Karel Vejmelka isn't working out either, and that is a change they need to make. Their defense also just isn't capable of competing with the rest of the Central Division other than Chicago. I still believe that the Utah Hockey Club is cursed, but they can only get through that if they can put behind their cursed history. The Coyotes were kept in Arizona for 20 years too long, and they should've been a salary cap casualty in 2005. 1 division title and a conference final appearance for a 45 year NHL history is pathetic. The NHL is calling them an expansion franchise, which dilutes the definition of expansion, but they really are just the same thing, but without a name. They need to really establish a strong identity coming out of the gate, whether they're a winning team or not. Their decision to go a season without a team name is a big mistake, and it sets a negative precedence in the NHL. They also have the perfect combination of colors to call themselves the Utah Yetis, so it seems useless to put off the renaming of that franchise. I predict that the Coyotes will finish 7th in the Central Division, 14th in the Western Conference, and 27th in the league with a record of 30-40-12.

2023-24 season: 37-41-4 7th in Atlantic Division, 14th in Eastern Conference, and 26th in the league. The Senators started the season by ending an era that had yielded a lot of success but had also gone sideways the last few years. After Eugene Melnyk died in 2022, he left his estate to his 2 daughters, and that included the Ottawa Senators. The speculation that they would be sold didn't go away though, and longtime Montreal Canadiens minority owner Michael Andlauer bought a majority stake in the team with his business partners. He is known as a longtime Montreal Canadiens fan, so the move was a surprise to me, but he sold his minority stake in the Canadiens before the sale went through. As lucky as Ottawa was to temporarily escape off-ice problems with Andlauer's 950 million dollar buy, it appears as if they are being run out of the league. Shane Pinto was suspended 41 games for having been connected with a 3rd party proxy bettor, but the NHL did not clearly state why he was suspended. The cruel irony of what happened to Pinto is that he played much of this season with a BET99 ad on his helmet, and the details around his contract breach as it related to gambling rules was far too ambiguous to warrant the suspension it got. They also will be losing a 1st round pick in 2025 or 2026 because when they traded Evgenii Dadonov to the Vegas Golden Knights, they failed to provide his no-trade list to the Golden Knights. They did deserve to be punished for that, but at the same time, when Chicago was found guilty of covering up Brad Aldrich's sexual assault against Kyle Beach, they actually got rewarded in a way by Stan Bowman being forced out of the league and the Florida Panthers got punished by Joel Quenneville's firing, and they got to keep all of their draft picks, and even got the 2023 1st overall choice. This is a serious problem in the league that I will dive deeper into at another time, but as it is, the league is clear on their stance that they view the Blackhawks as an institution and every other team but the Rangers as an expendable tool. In my opinion, this season for the Senators is better remembered for what happened off the ice rather than on it, as the on-ice product was far from perfect, and the off-ice rumor mill and the happenings were far too big to be ignored. This year will be less eventful, but the team got worse in my opinion. D.J. Smith being fired was good for the team given that his replacement was Jacques Martin, but they went out and hired all the wrong people in the offseason. I say this knowing that they hired a lot of ex-Canucks coaches to coach the team, and all of them were from Vancouver's dark days or were setbacks to the team. Travis Green will not be able to coach a team with a terrible D-core like the one handed to him in Vancouver by Jim Benning. Nolan Baumgartner wasn't known for getting the best out of Vancouver's defensemen either, and Mike Yeo has never been the reason for any of his team's successes. As a former resident of Ottawa it's tough seeing how far the Senators have fallen, but I think they will fall further. My prediction for this season is that they will finish with a record of 27-50-5, 8th in the Atlantic Division, 15th in the Eastern Conference, and 29th in the league. And with that, there are all 4 of the last place teams for each division.

2023-24 season: 27-43-12, 8th in Metropolitan Division, 16th in Eastern Conference, 29th in league. The Columbus Blue Jackets got off to a brutal start before they even hit the ice. Hiring Mike Babcock was at first a move that many in the NHL circles complimented, and it only looked better when he announced at a press conference that he had changed from his days as a coach on the Red Wings and Maple Leafs. I won't go into what Mike Babcock did as a coach that was abusive or a power trip move, but many of us are aware that his mental warfare against his players had little to do with hockey. Just weeks after his hiring, the Spittin' Chiclets Podcast broke news that he had been screening other players cell phone pictures, and in many cases, making some of the younger players feel uncomfortable with how much time he spent looking. The NHLPA ruled this as an unjust breach of privacy, and I'm glad that they did, because there is no place in the game for coaches like him. Boone Jenner stood by him, most likely to save himself from criticism, but he confirmed that it was true, and he resigned before even coaching a game with the Jackets. The resignation was still unexpected, and the team didn't seem to know how to respond. As a result, they finished 31st in goals against with 298, and ranked 25th with 234 goals for. Their last-place finish in the Eastern Conference prompted ownership to fire Jarmo Kekalainen before the end of the season, and he has since been replaced as GM by Don Waddell, who unexpectedly resigned from the Hurricanes. Pascal Vincent was also fired at the end of the season, and was replaced by Minnesota's former coach Dean Evason. Columbus is a young team with the potential to bounce back from an embarrassing season, but it won't be on the ice. With Don Waddell and Dean Evason as the new GM and coach, establishing a standard and making Columbus a desirable team to play for should be what they are aiming to do. They are also still in rebuild mode, and I think it will take at least 2 more years of missing the playoffs to get back. Their problem last season was not having enough to trade away for draft picks, but they finally solved the Patrik Laine issue by trading him to the Canadiens for Jordan Harris and a 2026 2nd round pick. They did well with the 6 they did have though, by landing Cayden Lindstrom and Evan Gardner at 4th and 60th overall. Their prospect pool looks good too, with players like Gavin Brindley who are more than capable of making the team. As much of a mess as Don Waddell and Dean Evason inherited, they both have a strong track record of turning around new teams, as Evason was a Jack Adams Trophy finalist in 2020-21, and Waddell was a finalist for the Jim Gregory Award in 2018-19 in his first year with Carolina. Their prospect pool looks bright though, and if Boone Jenner could manage a good season, he could end up costing another team a 1st round pick at the deadline. Daniil Tarasov also managed to do well with a poor defense, having a .908 save percentage in 24 games for the 2nd worst defensive team. The fact that many of their top contributors are under the age of 30 has to be a comforting sign to management that the boat doesn't need to be rocked too hard, and getting rid of Patrik Laine was the right choice, because he was weighing the team down, and they can now replace him with solid veteran leadership. Waddell made a lot of trades in his first season in Carolina, and those trades got them to Game 4 of the ECF that year, so I wouldn't put it past him to accomplish a playoff spot with Columbus, but it is incredibly rare to work towards a championship without a full scale rebuild. The Stars may be a rare exception today with how good their team has become, but the exception does not disprove the rule, showing that most Stanley Cup teams have a top 5 pick from at least 5 years ago. This season won't be spectacular by any means, so I am predicting a last place finish again. I think they will finish 8th in the Metropolitan Division, 16th in the Eastern Conference, and 30th in the league with a record of 23-55-4. They won't be nearly as competitive as they were last season, and I do believe they have yet to bottom out. From the many championship teams that I've observed, all of them had to hit rock bottom at some point, so If I'm Don Waddell looking at a long-term vision for the team, the answer is simple: Aim to get James Hagens in the upcoming draft, and Gavin McKenna in 2026.

2023-24 season: 19-54-9, 47 points, 8th in Pacific Division, 16th in Western Conference, 32nd in league. This season was not a special one for the San Jose Sharks. They started with 11 straight losses to start the season, which included allowing back-to-back games with 10+ goals against the Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins. It was clear what their intentions were for this season right from the beginning, and it was to get Macklin Celebrini, the top prospect this year from the Boston University Terriers. He has already lived in the Bay Area, so if the Sharks do everything right this year, developing him will be their number 1 mission. The Sharks also have Will Smith, (not the Fresh Prince) who will likely start the season with San Jose as well. What went wrong this year is that the Sharks started with a horrible losing streak that resulted in them being in last place from the beginning. They never had a good goalie all season long, as Kaapo Kahkonen was thought to be a good goalie, but has only gotten worse since being traded from the Wild. They also couldn't score, as Mikael Granlund was their leading scorer with 60 points. Their -146 was the worst in the league, as Chicago's was the 2nd worst at -111. What went right is they either traded off aging players or traded for new young talent. For everything that went wrong off the ice, they got a lot of a return for who they sent away. They acquired Anthony Duclair for Steven Lorentz and a 2025 5th round pick, before trading him to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a 2024 3rd round pick and Jack Thompson. They also got Mikael Granlund, Mike Hoffman, Jan Rutta, and Pittsburgh's 2024 1st round pick, which they used to trade up to 11th to draft Sam Dickinson in exchange for Erik Karlsson. They also managed to pick up rejects with potential to be good, such as Ty Dellandrea, Klim Kostin, and Calen Addison, who they could develop into solid players for the future. They also got a 1st rounder and David Edstrom from the Golden Knights for Tomas Hertl and two 3rd round picks. What I think the Sharks will have in store for next season is another last-place finish. On paper, their season could have them finish as high as 24th in the league, but Tyler Toffoli and Macklin Celebrini can only take them so far. Mike Grier was smart to pick up Toffoli, not because they need his Stanley Cup experience, but he has shown to be a leader, and as someone who was one of Darryl Sutter's favorites, he is someone who can show Celebrini that to be a real player, you need to play in both ends of the ice. If I had a say in voting for the Selke Trophy, Toffoli would've had my vote more than once. Chicago isn't developing Connor Bedard properly, and it showed, not necessarily on the stat line, but his +/- was horrendous. You can't make an excuse for a -44 no matter how bad your team is if you're being called the future face of the franchise. San Jose has a chance to learn from Chicago's mistakes from last year. What I am predicting as far as their record goes, is that San Jose will finish with a record of 20-54-8, last in the division, conference, and the league. They will steal some games, but if they do it right, they will be back in the hunt for James Hagens, the favorite to be 1st overall next season

I can't deny I've been very critical of the HHOF over the last while ever since they announced their inductees, and it's not just because in 2022 I was spoiled with 3 Canucks legends getting in. Rather, I've been critical of them for who they've denied, over and over again. Alex Mogilny was an obvious example, but I have a Player and a Builder in mind. I have long ago made up my mind about Don Cherry being a deserving member, and only recently did I discover that Sergei Gonchar has yet to be inducted, as I believed him to be part of the Class of 2018. He started out as a Washington Capital and he played there for 10 seasons as their best defenseman. In his 10 seasons as a Capital, 7 times he had 10 goals or more, which was a team record until last year, when John Carlson had his 8th 10-goal season as a Capital. He was the first Russian defenseman to score 20 goals, something he did 2 times in his career. After finishing the 2003-04 season in Boston upon being traded by Washington, he signed as a free agent in Pittsburgh, where he became an instrumental piece on a rebuilding Penguins team that was seeing new young talent like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. After they finished 2nd last in 2005-06, he scored 67 points and led the Penguins to a 47 point improvement the following season. He followed that up by leading them to the Finals in 2007-08, where they lost to the Red Wings, and played through an injury to lead them on a revenge tour in 2008-09, where they dethroned the Red Wings in the Finals. In 2010 he left to join the Ottawa Senators, and it was no coincidence that Pittsburgh got noticeably worse after he left. After 3 season in Ottawa, he played one year in Dallas, before retiring in Montreal. After winning back-to-back Cups in Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017, he was let go by the Penguins, and has been a Defensive Development Coach with the Vancouver Canucks. In the 2000s, he led all defensemen in goals, with 137, was 2nd in assists with 378, and 2nd in points with 515. Overall, his 220 goals and 811 points are the most of any Russian defenseman in the NHL, and I think he will get his fair shake soon for a Hall nomination. I did not mention Ron MacLean in this article because I didn't want to string his name along with Don Cherry's legacy. I believe that man is a weasel for selling out his best friend like that and betraying him by making Don Cherry's exit as disgraceful as public perception allowed it to be. I met him in 2019 and though he seemed nice enough, any chance of me liking him disappeared when he betrayed Don like that. I can't say enough times that Don Cherry deserves to be a member of the HHOF, because he has been involved in the game for over 70 years. He won a Memorial Cup in junior hockey, playing as a Barrie Flyer, and then won 4 Calder Cups in the AHL, before moving on to become a coach. He became coach of the last place Rochester Americans in 1971, and by the end of the 1973-74 season, they were a 1st place team before losing in the first round. Regardless, that was enough for Cherry to earn Coach of the Year, and a promotion to the Boston Bruins. He played one game for them, before being a career minor-leaguer, and had moved around 53 times as a player, so he had paid his dues. Despite losing Bobby Orr in 1975 to knee injuries, he took the Bruins to 4 straight Adams Division titles, winning the Jack Adams Award as Coach of the Year in 1976. He also took the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Finals in back-to-back seasons, losing both times to the Montreal Canadiens. He also set a record by having eleven 20-goal scorers in 1977-78, a record that had not been matched before and has not been matched since. After a season in Colorado coaching the Rockies (they eventually became the New Jersey Devils), he was fired, and it was his last season as a coach. His broadcasting career, however, spanned over 30 years, and his show Coach's Corner was the most popular intermission show in all the sports. His flamboyance, and his outlandish suits were nothing like anyone had seen in hockey before, and people never took breaks during the 1st intermission, because Don Cherry was on. As an entertainer, he could make you laugh, he could make you cry, he could make you angry, but as long as you were passionate about the show, that's all that mattered, as everyone thought something of him. Over the years, as his popularity grew, so too did the game, because he brought so many new fans to the game by introducing it in a fun and simple matter on his show. He also used his platform to elevate the common Canadian, such as always giving a shout-out to veterans, or kids in local minor hockey, and he was always a champion for any Canadian he noticed doing good in their community. He went as far to show his support for the military by visiting a war zone in Afghanistan and signing a cardboard cut-out of himself for everyone. Behind his gruff, old-school hockey style was a kind heart that always gave back to his fans, as he always signed autographs for fans, he has raised millions of dollars for rescue shelters for animals, and created the Don Cherry Pet Rescue Foundation. He has contributed immensely to a positive image for the NHL and for hockey itself with his work, both inside and outside of the booth, and the Builder category clearly defines itself as: Coaching, managerial, or executive ability, or ability in another significant off-ice role, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to his or her organization or organizations and to the game of hockey in general. He has demonstrated excellent coaching ability, tremendous ability in the broadcasting booth, and his sportsmanship and character were always on display every show, and he contributed immensely to the CBC remaining alive and being renowned for its promotion of Canadian content, and he contributed greatly to both the NHL's brand and to its image by being good to the fans. He fits the definition for being inducted as a Builder perfectly, and I will be in Toronto when he gets the call, because he inspired me to pursue a career in sports media, and he will always be an inspiration to many Canadians and to the hockey world.

It's very difficult to describe how I feel about the more recent Classes of Inductees, but what I can say is that they seem to be getting increasingly political. I find it very hard to believe that Shea Weber and Pavel Datsyuk are more deserving of the 2024 HHOF induction than Alexander Mogilny and Theoren Fleury, as I believe they are amongst the great players left behind unfairly from the Hall for various reasons. What's more concerning, however, is that this year 1 member of the Class of 2024 is on the Selection Board. The reasons for Alexander Mogilny being left off the list again this year doesn't make sense, as his resume stacks up against many players already inducted. For instance, of all the players who played 1000 games or less, he ranks 4th on that list in goals, 5th in points, and 8th with 66 game-winning goals. Everyone above him in those categories is in the Hall already, and many below him are in as well. For instance, Pat LaFontaine, his old teammate in Buffalo, is in, Paul Kariya is in, Connor McDavid is guaranteed a spot when he retires, Maurice Richard is in, and Pavel Datsyuk got chosen over him. Mogilny has also won several awards, having become a part of the Triple Gold Club by winning an Olympic Games gold medal in 1988, a World Championship Gold in 1989, and a Stanley Cup in 2000. He's a 6-time NHL All-Star, a 2-time 2nd All-Star member, a 76 goal-scorer in 1993, the 2003 Lady Byng winner, and was the best forward in the 1988 World Junior Championships. As for Theoren Fleury, I believe his political opinions don't sit well with many of the people, but I also think that the NHL would be heavily scrutinized with his name being talked about again. The truth is, the NHL failed him many times in his career, especially later on, when he was with the New York Rangers. He failed 13 straight drug tests, which the NHL has denied, but that Fleury confirmed in his autobiography, and instead of putting him in rehab earlier on, they ignored his problems because he was a scorer. These are issues I would like to dive deeper into in another article one day, but that's enough for now. He scored 100 points in a season twice, he won the Plus-Minus award for 1990-91 with a +48, he won the 1989 Stanley Cup, won Gold at the 1988 World Junior Championships, at the 1991 Canada Cup, and he won Gold at the 2002 Olympics. He also was an effective 2-way player on what became some horrendous Calgary teams, while scoring 1088 points. As good as Shea Weber was, he never won a Norris Trophy in a league that to me seemed at times barren of superstar defensemen. I'm glad they inducted Jeremy Roenick, but the media has been unfair to him since he retired. NBC Sports unfairly fired him in 2020, and the league turned its back on him when he called out the fans for being a bunch of ungrateful bastards. He is more than getting his dues paid from the game by them recognizing his greatness for the HHOF. He is one of the best players to never win an individual award or a Stanley Cup. I mentioned Pavel Datsyuk earlier while trying to make a case for Mogilny to be inducted. This was not as a slight to him, but as a compliment to Mogilny. Having watched the later stages of his career, I didn't get to see the best of him, but he was still amazing to watch. I would go as far as to say his stickhandling was better than Connor McDavid's. His stick skills are the best of anyone's that I've seen, as he would beat goalies before he'd score, and he didn't chase points at the expense of team defense. He won 3 Selke Trophies, 4 straight Lady Byngs from 2006-2009. He is arguably the biggest steal of the 1998 Draft, as he was chosen 171st overall by the 2-time defending champion Red Wings. His 2 Stanley Cups bode well with the Hall, the first one as a fourth liner, and the 2nd as a key contributor. He is one of 3 players to win both the Selke and the Lady Byng in his career, the other 2 being Anze Kopitar and Ron Francis, so to be compared to those 2 is something incredible. He also won the final Plus-Minus award in 2008 and captained Team Russia to Gold in the 2018 Olympic Games. He is by far the most deserving member of the Class of 2024. As for the two female players nominated this year, Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell-Pohl, they are deserving of their positions. Natalie Darwitz has such a resume that it's hard to tell whether or not she deserves to get in as a Player or a Builder. In international competition, she won 3 Gold medals at the Women's World Championships, and won Gold twice at the 4 Nations Cup tournament. She had 39 goals and 72 points in 50 games internationally, and had 102 goals and 246 points in 99 games played for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. In 2005 she won the Bob Allen Women's Player of the Year Award, awarded by USA Hockey, and won the NCAA Frozen Four Most Outstanding Player. She also got inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame as a player this year. Her record as a Builder may not quite be enough, but she led the Hamline University Women's team to a 3rd place finish in the entire country. She was also the first GM in Minnesota in the PWHL, and led them to a Walter Cup before stepping down. I predict she will be one of those rare superstar players who carries that success off the ice as a coach or a GM. Krissy Wendell-Pohl was so good that when she was younger, she was able to play on boys teams until 1998. In 2000, she led Park Center High School in Minnesota to a state championship, and in 2 seasons in 1998-99 and 1999-00, she had 219 goals and 314 points. She is the school's all-time leading scorer to this day, and for those who don't know, in Minnesota high school hockey is bigger than the Minnesota Wild. At the University of Minnesota, she played 3 seasons, and in her final year in 2004-05, she had 43 goals and 104 points and was awarded the Patty Kazmaier Award as top female player in US college hockey. in 147 games representing America, she had 106 goals and 247 points. She won the Bob Allen Women's Player of the Year in 2001, and the Bob Johnson Award for international excellence in 2000 and 2005, and captained team USA to a bronze medal in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. In 2021, she was hired by the Pittsburgh Penguins as an amateur scout. I saved the Builders for last, as I am not particularly happy with the 2 choices for this year's, and in one of them there's a clear conflict of interest. David Poile is in after having been the only GM in NHL history to win 500 games and manage a team for 1000 games for 2 different teams, first with Washington from 1982-1997, and then in Nashville from 1997-2023. I will give him credit for putting 2 different cities on the roadmap in hockey, as the Washington Capitals' existence was teetering on the brink of relocation due to endless losing seasons from their inception, and he made them a contending team, and built most of their 1998 Stanley Cup Finalist team before leaving for the new expansion team in Nashville, and until 2023 had served as the only GM in Predators history. There were some struggles there at first as well, but no team has made the playoffs more consistently than they have since 2004. His induction, however, is tainted by the fact that he serves on the selection committee this year. I am not shy about maintaining that Colin Campbell does not deserve entry into the HHOF, as that would be an extremely low standard to set for a man who was appointed as the Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations, and when he was at it, ruined Marty McSorley's career and Todd Bertuzzi's with excessive suspensions. He also oversaw a lot of major rule changes that have made the game far more unsafe for players, such as the trapezoid rule, the reduction of center ice, or rules that just made the game worse, like the introduction of a shootout, which makes it so that some games are just reduced to a skills competition, or a metaphorical coin toss, if you will. In the years since the lockout on 2004-05, we have also seen an increase in distrust of officials doing their job unbiased, and he contributed to that. He called Marc Savard a faker when he was high-sticked by his son Gregory, and has sent e-mails to Stephen Walkom complaining about officials who called penalties against his son, and this was while he was Vice President of Player Safety. He was also a Bettman plant in the Player Safety Department, as he has repeatedly advocated against reforming the concussion spotter program, or research related to head injuries at all, for that matter, and has refused to apologize for any of the things that he has done wrong, and he still continues to work in the NHL. If he had any respect for the game, he would stop shitting on the players that make it what it is, collect his pension, and retire away from the game, because it has no place for spineless shits like him who use their position of trust to bully players and to shame those who get injured and seek help. I will quote word for word what he said about Crosby's season-ending concussion in 2011 in response to medical experts seeking to bring their research to prevent things like this as it is written in Rick Westhead's book Finding Murph. "I don't have the patience anymore for an intelligent, well-thought-out and polite answer like yours Kinger. (In agreement with Kris King, Senior VP of hockey operations) I am tired. Tired of watching every game. Tired of second0guessing every little boo-hoo that happens on the ice and asking...Was that dirty?...Was that on purpose?...Was that an accident?...How bad is he hurt?...Oh, he got carried off on a stretcher...Oh, he is back now! Get it!!!" He was leading the Department of Player Safety, complaining about having to do his job, and he dishonored the positions that he has held in the game such as that. If he has any self-respect or honor left in him, he will resign from the HHOF, as it has no place for pariahs like him. I'd put him in the same category of disgraces to the game as Harold Ballard, or Bill Wirtz. I will finish my thoughts on this year's inductees by highlighting not who was inducted, but by highlighting who should be inducted, and he is someone who has meant a lot to the game, and has done a lot, both on and off the ice. It is rare when someone retires from their sport, that they actually gain in popularity as they get older. That will be its own separate article, but in case you hadn't guessed his name yet, his name is Don Cherry.

Image Source: The Hockey News After reading this study, I decided to try to link this to the issues today with the player and team contract agreement. What I found is that the WHL falsely declares that it is a nonprofit organization, while making hundreds of millions of dollars from jersey sales, video game rights, hockey card rights, TV deals, ticket sales, and concession sales. They falsely declare that WHL players are amateurs, despite paying them a pathetic amount of money, and during the contract, they continue to refer to these players as "amateurs". They also falsely declare that verbal agreements are null and void, but it is a known fact that they can hold up in court with sufficient evidence. They also illegally withhold the copy of their contract from the player. They consistently refer to Regulations & Rules are stated as being in place from time to time, meaning that they can enforce whatever rules that they want at any given moment, which brings us back to the discretionary power that the 1976 study criticized. As the contract pertains to post-secondary education, they do not support players in this financially if it goes unclaimed after a year. Players forced to pay 10% interest compounded monthly for failure in post-secondary education, but the team will not cancel classes if you have to miss time due to injury. Players are ineligible for scholarship benefits if they have NHL contract, play for AHL team, play pro in Europe, do not enroll by September 15 after one year following his 20 year old season, or 2 years following his 19 year old season, or does not attend in consecutive years full-time the year after the benefits were first used, which narrows the capacity to receive one down to a small minority of players. The contract also defines scholarship expenses as reasonable if it is a publicly funded institution, which discourages academic excellence if they won't get a full ride. The contract says not to accept additional benefits from the club or any third party, despite them paying players and making them renounce their NCAA eligibility. It is also written in that the player transfers all rights, commercial or otherwise, to the Club and WHL, therefore going against another recommendation made by that study, stating that players should be allowed to market themselves. They go on to contradict themselves by saying in Paragraph 4.7 that they need to obtain the written consent of the players for his likeness, even though they already use the players names for video games, jersey sales, hockey card deals, and other merchandise. They then go on to say that the player is not allowed to use his own likeness in association with copyrighted logos for whatever reason without the written consent of the Club, WHL, or CHL, further eliminating economic opportunity for the player. It appears that they only wish for the players to seek endorsements if they get a piece of the action. They are not required to pay for disability insurance, so if a player gets injured in such a manner that they can't work certain jobs when they're finished with Junior hockey, the league does not back them up. The fact that all disputes between Club and player are sent to the WHL Commissioner shows a heavily tipped scale in favor of the owners, going against another recommendation from that study that players be given a fair right to recourse. Article 10 clearly states that the contract is null and void if they fail to honor their agreements to the Player. 10.1 (a) (ii) clearly states that rules and regulations are firmly established, contradicting themselves in many earlier paragraphs where they state that they are in place from time to time. Only if they are not on the protected list of 50 Players, they will get released by their Club, and they need to obtain a written release from the WHL, and pay 500 000$ in either currency, depending on where the team is located. Only if the Player is unfit as a result of an injury related to the WHL can they survive termination of the agreement. If the Player is injured in an off-ice accident, then the league has the option to terminate the contract, regardless of what happened. It also goes on to define certain medical expenses as reasonable, and says only certain medical assessments are reasonable, meaning that they only want their doctors in the picture, and therefore restrict the player's medical freedom. Players do not have unrestricted free agency after the season. They say that they pay for the player’s travel expenses, but there are personal testimonies saying otherwise, and they do not pay their players enough to even remotely cover gas expenses. Tutors and educational advisors are deemed only as reasonably necessary expenses, contradicting earlier statements that say that the Club must have them with the team. It is unknown how much the Players willingly consented to as individuals. For contracts to be fully in effect, there needs to be a 3rd party witness. This contract has been illegal, invalid, and unenforceable before, making the contracts extremely illegal. Only the province or state in which the litigation takes place may have jurisdiction over this, limiting the player's capacity for recourse. The warning issued in 1976 was clearly dismissed and shouted down, and so nearly 50 years later, we find ourselves fighting the same battle. The WHL uses ambiguous language, complicated terms, takes advantage of minors and their parents, and the few token bonuses that are there for players go largely unclaimed, due to a seemingly bureaucratic process and a short window to claim them. The contradictory nature in the contract also leaves many wondering, "What was the promise? Was there ever one? What did they really intend on giving us?" Every contract that the players signed is null and void, and they do not have to comply with the contract. If every player knew this though, what would the WHL do?

There was a particular study done back in 1976 on junior hockey, mostly conducted by Roger Jackson and Paul Kringle, and this study mostly pertained to high level amateur hockey and Major Junior. This was largely a reactionary study on the ethical and legal violations that the Canadian Major Junior Hockey Leagues were found guilty of committing. This study takes the position that the player should be allowed to play where he wishes, that he be allowed to play for the team of his choice, and that he should be granted fair working conditions, as are the rights that many workers in different industries enjoy. They heavily focused on the delicate balance between organizational needs and the player's wishes, and how the rules imposed by the governing bodies were only deemed "reasonable" by the organization. What this study uncovered was that in the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, they declared themselves as being above any review mechanisms, that they impose invalid restraints on individual liberty, and that they deny hockey players their right to natural justice. They compared it to a slave trade, stating how the advanced Junior leagues would enter into formal contracts with minors, that these minors have no bargaining rights, and that the league has conspired for there to be no unrestricted free agency. There was the case of Willie Crankem, who first had trouble with the system when he requested to transfer to a new team. The request was denied on the grounds that limit the amount of players that transfer in a season to keep a fair level of play, which are seemingly reasonable grounds. However, later in his life, as he rose through the ranks of amateur hockey, he found out through a radio broadcast that he was sold to another team. They didn't ask him, they didn't even tell him, and as a result of this sale, he had to chooses between pursuing further education and chasing a professional career. Back then, there weren't the options that there are now, as the Cold War was in full swing, and players didn't play overseas like they do now. As for the organizational structure, the NHL and the CAHA conspired to keep the World Hockey Association, a brand-new competitive league at the same level as the NHL, out of the rookie pool. The WHA did not invest into the CAHA, meaning that they could get their rookies at a lower cost, but that it would be too difficult to draw from the same pool as the NHL. The emergence of the WHA was thought by many to break the NHL's stranglehold on Junior hockey, which is why NHLPA Executive Director, Alan Eagleson, lobbied the current NHL players to support the merger in 1979. It went against the interest of the players to eliminate the competing league, but Eagleson was self-interested and in the back pockets of the owners. This study later goes on to state that the CAHA is monopolistic in its practices, having declared itself the only governing body in hockey in Canada. This claim is proven just by looking at their competition. There is none, and the practices that they employ keep players from going to play in college, and there was no knowledge of European leagues. These leagues existed, but they weren't on anyone's radar in North America. The study goes on to explain that the league disciplinary methods are discretionary, meaning that the penalty for violating certain rules are not known to the player until the infraction is committed. This means that the league can easily employ a 2-tiered justice system where players aren't even aware of how it works, because of how much the waters have been muddied. This study found the league to be indictable on the grounds that they use excessive discretionary power over players, the one-sided contracts, and the conspiracies to strip any freedoms that remain from the player. In response to these issues, they made recommendations of what to drain from the swamp. They proposed to eliminate the supremacy of the system, the lack of external reviews, the practice of entering formal contracts with minors, the practices of eliminating free market bargaining for players, the payment from the NHL for "player development costs", and the conspiracies between teams to prevent the player from marketing his skills. These statements about the leagues rang true then, and they ring true today, with the exception of a few face saving token concessions that have come at no cost to the organizations. When your organization tells you where to work, tells you you have no other option, and then prevents you from seeking justice, that sounds like obstruction of justice to me. If they couldn't obstruct justice, they would be walking from a cell to a courtroom for months before they would even begin their prison sentences.

It's a magical dream to become a professional hockey player for many Canadians. However, in the CHL, there seems to be an ongoing issue around the financial issues that concern the league, and there are many players that come and go, and there is a great many that had success in those leagues. Some were rewarded, some were not, but the ones who have long been forgotten about have never been given more than a kick in the ass on the way out the door. For many, the hurt is especially felt in the bank account, where they make as little as 35 CAD per week, and let's not lose sight of the fact that their players are aged 16-20, signing contracts that they don't understand, signing away their rights for what amounts to millions in jersey, t-shirt, and video game sales. For a good team in the CHL, they might make upwards of 50 million USD, and even for the worst, they may still come away with a good 10 million USD. Small town market teams may not make the same kind of money as the bigger market teams, such as the Vancouver Giants, Seattle Thunderbirds, London Knights, or the Quebec Remparts. However, there is still money to be made by linking hockey programs for younger kids to the big league junior teams, such as the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, or the Swift Current Broncos. They may not make much off of ticket sales, but they still have every square inch of the boards covered with sponsors and advertisements, and that alone is worth millions of dollars. The strength of the CHL's leverage is greater than most could imagine, and as a result, the NHL is completely dependent on it. In 2013, the CHL Commissioners, David Branch, and the Deputy Commissioner of the NHL, Bill Daly, drafted an agreement in which the NHL puts money into the pockets of the CHL for specific expenses. It was a 7 year-long agreement in which the NHL reimburses no less than 750 000 $ (all amounts paid to the CHL are believed to be in USD) to each of the 3 leagues under the CHL umbrella. The NHL also pays the leagues at least 255 000 $ each on average for the cost of educating players on substance abuse, gambling, and sexual activity. They also pay at least 315 000 $ for concussion related services, 775 000 $ for officiating, 500 000 $ for elite player skill development, and an annual grant to the CHL of 7 605 000 $ or however much the two parties deemed necessary just for the sake of giving them a grant. These amounts were paid to the CHL in 2 installments on November 14 and February 1st. After all the associated costs were listed, the total grant amounted to 79 800 000 $ over 7 years, an average of 11 400 000 $ per season. Another issue is the money they pay to the CHL to retain players to burn out the entry-level contracts, usually signed at 925 000 $ for 3 years. But because these contracts are 2-way, the big money only gets paid to players who make their NHL roster. They agreed to give the CHL up to 60 000 $ for a skater and up to 75 000 $ for a goalie who is retained after the start of the season. That amount increases to a maximum of 85 000 $ per skater and 100 000$ for the 2nd season being retained by the CHL. After all is said and done, the CHL not only makes money by withholding it from their players, but they stand to make money by saving the NHL big amounts. They save 307 000 000$ a year from the NHL, because they only have to pay the signing bonus to a player who signs an entry-level deal. The NHL pays you, why can't you pay your players?

In a very bold move to bring justice to players, I have decided to bring a couple of the recent lawsuits levied against the CHL to light. I have become personally frustrated with the lack of coverage around off ice financial matters, so I am taking matters into my own hands. I reached out to Thomas Gobeil and Lukas Walter today, and they both seem like good men looking out for their fellow player, so I am looking forward to being a part of this investigation with them . In this article, the CHL class action lawsuit that I am referring to is the one that Charney Lawyers previously worked with them on, and of the 30 million $ that they would have settled for, 11.8 million was to go to Charney Lawyers. Both players so far allege that they have refused to provide time sheets, billing records, and other information concerning mow much time they have spent on the case. As for my own personal experience with Charney, they don't even pick up the phone during business hours, and they only operate from 9:00 to 5:00, making it impossible for me to reach them from the Pacific Time Zone. They have also been very quiet in the media, with Ted Charney declining to comment on the allegations that his firm did not provide any records relevant to the case. The lawsuit concerning Walter and Gobeil is regarding the CHL skirting minimum wage laws and then lobbying provinces and states to exempt junior players from these laws. Walter is quoted saying, " When we first signed on to this worthy cause, we were promised a monetary award and a cultural change to the system of major junior hockey. In 2019, we entered good faith negotiations with the defendants. We now have documented proof to demonstrate that the defendants were not forthcoming with their financial position, nor can they accept responsibility or implement change given their conduct over the last four years. " This quote is what he said regarding the behavior of the defendants, who represent the interests of the CHL. If this case turns out to be what I think it is, then this could be the biggest case of corruption in professional hockey since Alan Eagleson defrauded NHL players.

Image Credits: nhl.com/playoffs/2024/bracket I understand it's a bit late for Second Round predictions, but I'll give them anyway. It's also worth noting I went 8 for 8 for picking teams to win the First Round for the first time in my life. I didn't get the number of games right for all of them though, and we'll see why below. New York Rangers M1 vs. Washington Capitals WC2 Prediction: Rangers in 6 What really happened: Rangers in 4 I thought Charlie Lindgren was going to be good enough to steal a game or two for Washington, but he simply wasn't the same goalie that carried them to the playoffs. With that said though, I now see that the 5th worst offense went as far as it could go. In today's game, being able to score is nonnegotiable to win even one playoff game. It also didn't help that Ovechkin disappeared in the playoffs, and that their special teams could not compete with New York's. Carolina Hurricanes M2 vs. New York Islanders M3 Prediction: Hurricanes in 5 What really happened: Hurricanes in 5 I was right in that I thought the Hurricanes could sweep the Islanders, but I also figured that the Islanders would pull out a miracle win. The Hurricanes were simply the better team, with the Islanders goaltending failing with both Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov, who were once thought of as the exemplary goaltending duo of the NHL. Even with the Patrick Roy reunion, Varlamov couldn't stop a beachball, and the Islanders were no help defensively, and just didn't have the attack to outscore the Hurricanes on a nightly basis like they needed. Florida Panthers A1 vs. Tampa Bay Lightning WC1 Prediction: Panthers in 7 What Really happened: Panthers in 5 It's no secret the Tampa Bay Lightning weren't the luckiest team in the First Round, but they didn't exactly deserve to win either. In the playoffs, you need your big names to come up big, and that didn't happen, whereas the Panthers got a big save or a big goal when it mattered. Andrei Vasilevskiy also isn't the same goalie that carried the Lightning to back-to-back Stanley Cups, and if you can't be guaranteed even average goaltending in the playoffs, you can't get anywhere. Boston Bruins A2 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs A3 Prediction: Bruins in 7 What really happened: Bruins in 7 What can't be said in this series. This may be the worst of all of the above losses for the Leafs. Never mind that they lost 7 straight series against the Boston Bruins. Never mind that the last 4 have been in Game 7, or that they've never been more than 1 goal or 1 period away from eliminating Boston every time, or that of those 4 times, 3 of those, they had clawed back from down 3-1 in the series and held leads at some point in the 3rd period. I'd have a tough time arguing that this was worse than 2013, but it's par for the course. Mitchell Marner was crying on the bench in Game 4, Auston Matthews stormed down the tunnel and they disguised it as a flu in the media, and not only that, but when they were there, they barely showed up. They claw back though, with 2 close wins in Games 5 & 6, before taking a 3rd period lead in Game 7. And David Pastrnak scores because Mitchell Marner is lazy on the backcheck and sloppy with his line change. The bottom line is, nothing can save the Maple Leafs from themselves, and the loser culture is so heavily ingrained there that it will take another 20 years to even come back to respectability. Dallas Stars C1 vs. Vegas Golden Knights WC2 Prediction: Stars in 6 What really happened: Stars in 7 I was right to think Dallas had a leg up on Vegas this year, and though I thought it would be a close series, I didn't see a 7th game happening. The Golden Knights missed an opportunity in the series very early on to put the Stars away, as they were 1 goal away from taking a 3-0 series lead, and even if they won Game 4, that also would've put an end to Dallas' Stanley Cup hopes. But the salary cap circumvention karma has caught up to them, and their deadline acquisitions that they were saving for the playoffs didn't wind up working out at all. Winnipeg Jets C2 vs. Colorado Avalanche C3 Prediction: Avalanche in 6 What really happened: Avalanche in 5 The Winnipeg Jets defense and goaltending were the most hyped up x-factors on either side, but both of them failed to show up in the First Round against the league's best offense, which lit them up for 28 goals. Even in the game they won, they were awfully nervous sounding in their press conference after the game, citing that they were playing a game that they didn't want to play. The Avalanche played more like the 2022 Stanley Cup Champions than the team that limped into the playoffs barely hanging on with nothing more than a Central Division title to show for it, and were far better equipped with excellent forward depth to handle the Jets. Vancouver Canucks P1 vs. Nashville Predators WC1 Prediction: Vancouver in 5 What really happened: Vancouver in 6 The Canucks weren't a clear-cut favorite to win this series, but they played a good Nashville team that only got better at the end of the season and beat them in one of the closest series of the entire playoffs. The Predators gave up leads at really bad times, surrendering a 2-1 lead in the 3rd period in Game 1, giving up a 3-1 lead in Game 4 and losing in overtime, and just didn't take advantage of Vancouver not playing their best. Arturs Silovs also was an unexpected but pleasant surprise for Vancouver, as he shut out Nashville in the clinching game, allowing for Pius Suter to send them to the Second Round. Edmonton Oilers P2 vs. LA Kings P3 Prediction: Oilers in 7 What really happened: Oilers in 5 The Oilers looked shaky in the first 2 games as I expected, but they really found their game in the rest of the series, and LA simply wasn't good enough. When the Oilers are at their worst, they often beat themselves with avoidable defensive mistakes and costly penalties. But Stuart Skinner was big for them in the final 3 games, allowing only 4 goals on 82 shots in that time frame, and the Oilers defense played the best hockey that they've ever played.

Image Credits: NHL, YouTube P1 Vancouver Canucks vs. WC1 Nashville Predators I had Vancouver winning this one in 5 games. I just can't see a scenario where Nashville comes out on top, because the Canucks have the better offense, a shutdown defense that has only gotten better, and even at their worst, are still adequate. I also don't trust the Nashville Predators recent playoff track record, as they have lost 10 of their last 12 playoff games. P2 Edmonton Oilers vs. P3 LA Kings Image Credits: clutchpoints.com I have the Oilers pulling ahead in 7 games. Though the Oilers have the offensive edge, and arguably the better team, they simply rely on the superstars too much, and such a playoff formula is unsustainable. I'm also not too sure about Stuart Skinner's goaltending abilities in the playoffs, as last year he had an .883 save percentage, and was pulled in last year's series once. The only reason the Oilers are getting by the Kings is because the Kings don't quite have the defense to withstand McDavid and Draisaitl. C1 Dallas Stars vs. WC2 Vegas Golden Knights Image Credits: sportskeeda.com The Dallas Stars really caught fire down the stretch to beat out the Winnipeg Jets and the Colorado Avalanche to beat them to the Western Conference regular season championship. Their reward is revenge on the Vegas Golden Knights. The Golden Knights are not the same team as last year's, still hung over from last year's Cup win, and facing a team that gave them a good scare after it looked like they had them beat convincingly. Dallas has a very well balanced team, led by arguably the strongest forward group in the NHL. Even though Jason Robertson led the team with just 80 points, they finished 3rd in goals scored and had 8 20-goal scorers. For this series, it won't be pretty for Vegas, especially if Jake Oettinger can get back to his peak form, so I'm picking Dallas to win in 6. C2 Winnipeg Jets vs. C3 Colorado Avalanche Image Credits: news.betgrw.com I have to say that the Avalanche are going to win this one in 6 games. I know I didn't pick a single First Round sweep, but those are hard to predict sometimes. The Avalanche may have lost all their games to the Jets this year, but the Jets always disappoint in the playoffs, and with average goaltending, over a 7 game series, the Avalanche prevail. They have the best offense in the league, and 2 of the best playoff performers in Nathan Mackinnon and Cale Makar, and not to mention their right wing is stacked with Mikko Rantanen and Valeri Nichushkin. They also have one of the best shutdown defensemen in the league with Devon Toews, and a game where speed and puck possession is central. Connor Hellebuyck has also left a lot to be desired with a lackluster playoff performance last year as well.

Image Credits: Jaylynn Nash M2 Carolina Hurricanes vs. M3 New York Islanders I'm picking the Carolina Hurricanes to defeat the New York Islanders in 5 games. It's not even close in my eyes, because I cannot think of a single metric in which the Islanders have a clear-cut advantage. Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov are an equal if not superior duo to Sorokin and Varlamov, the Islanders can't score goals, and don't have a deep defensive core like the Hurricanes do. Not only that, but the Hurricanes won both previous series against them, and with a very similar team. The Islanders made a cute little run with their -17 goal differential and with Patrick Roy behind the bench, but it's real now, and the Hurricanes will make quick work of this team. Image Credits: Brad Penner, USA Sports M1 New York Rangers vs. WC2 Washington Capitals I have to pick the Rangers in 6 for this First Round series. I am aware of the Washington Capitals and their -37 goal differential, making them the worst playoff team since the 1990-91 Vancouver Canucks and the Hartford Whalers, but those teams still pushed their respective series to 6 and 7 games. The Capitals have a 20-2 record in games decided by 1 goal, and that is often what the playoffs come to, so they won't make it easy on the Rangers. A1 Florida Panthers vs. WC1 Tampa Bay Lightning Image Credits: Scott Audette This was the toughest of the series to pick, but this year I have Florida winning in 7. The Lightning seemed like a shell of themselves last year against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and though I see them doing better this time around, the Panthers have matured since 2022, and have gotten much better. This is not the same team that they beat in back-to-back years in 2021 and 2022. Since then the Panthers have been to a Stanley Cup Final, have improved on their defensive game with Paul Maurice behind the bench, and have gotten quality goaltending all year long. Image Credits: YouTube A2 Boston Bruins vs A3 Toronto Maple Leafs This series was not a hard pick at all, and not just because it ended the same way the last 3 times, but because there is a mountain of evidence to support the Bruins winning in 7. First of all, the Leafs have not won a playoff series over the Boston Bruins since 1959, and Boston has 6 straight series wins over them. The other thing is that despite the departure of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci in the same offseason, they still managed quite well with Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle. The other thing is that the Maple Leafs do not have great coaching, and the disappointment from Matthews not getting his 70th goal of the year could carry over into the playoffs. For this series, I cannot see the Leafs shaking the Game 7 curse, as last year was a one-off, so Boston will eliminate Toronto in 7, as usual. Conclusion: I did not pick any upset for the 2024 Stanley Cup First Round on the East side, but if I had to pick one, it would be Washington, and only because of their incredible luck around 1-goal games.

Image Credits: Unknown, Wikipedia This year, it seems as if the playoff teams were decided in December in the Western Conference. The Nashville Predators and Edmonton Oilers were hanging by a thread back then, but have picked up the pace to secure themselves favorable matchups in comparison to facing the prospect of having to play Dallas in the First Round as the 2nd Wild Card. The playoffs are getting more competitive by the year, and I'm having flashbacks to 2017, when the Eastern Conference was so good that the New York Rangers finished as the 1st Wild Card with 102 points. The Bruins did a similar thing in 2022, going 51-26-5 to get the 1WC spot, so I believe it's becoming a trend for the 1WC in a strong conference to finish around 100 points in the regular season. Many of us were not surprised at who is making it and who isn't, but what I am finding to be a surprise is how quickly the good and the bad separate. The Oilers may have been the only exception, but the exception does not define the rule. We knew right away that Vancouver and LA were going to be 2 thirds of the top 3 in the Pacific Division, that Boston, Florida, and Toronto would be top 3 tin the Atlantic, despite our preseason doubts. We also knew Dallas and Colorado would jockey for Central supremacy, and that the Hurricanes would be ready to one-up the Rangers. If Nashville and LA can win their last few games, it would be the first time since 2006-07 that 7 teams in the Western Conference finished with 100 points or more in the regular season. It would also be the 2nd time in 3 years that it happens to either conference, when the Washington Capitals were the 2WC and had 100 points. The playoff system still baffles me in the sense that there are very good teams making those Wild Card spots and having the best matchup that they could ask for. In Nashville's case, they are a playoff quality team that has Stanley Cup experience going up against the Canucks, who at this moment only have 13 points on them. For Tampa Bay, they also are only 13 points back of the 1st place Bruins, and we know that with Boston's playoff history and Tampa Bay's, this won't bode well for Boston. The idea of winning the division or scoring better in the regular season seems to be dead and gone, as does the idea of playoff upsets, which is a tragedy in my opinion, and it is keeping fans from being able to enjoy a good Stanley Cup Playoff. There's a reason why they play the games after Game 82, but you no longer have the crazy upsets of the 2010 Montreal Canadiens, or the New Jersey Devils losing 2 years in a row in the First Round as the top seed, or the 2006 Edmonton Oilers, just to name a few.

Image Credits: Sportsnet The Canucks, with a 3-1 win over the Oilers, accomplished one of many things with this win tonight. They swept the season series over the Oilers, and not only that, but it was their first clean sweep over the Oilers, meaning the Oilers didn't even score a loser point in 4 games. The Canucks also ended Leon Draisaitl's point streak against Vancouver, pulled 5 points ahead of Edmonton, and are now just 1 point away from their first division title since 2013, when they won the Northwest Division before being swept by the Sharks in the First Round. With this win, Vancouver has proven that they will likely be well suited to play in a playoff game. In this game, they displayed their usual talented selves, with the bottom 6 coming through for them, limited a potent Oilers offense to just 1 goal for the 2nd time this year, and the goaltending came through big for them tonight. The Canucks have been a very consistent team all year long, despite my criticisms of them lately. Thatcher Demko's absence hasn't helped, but the team has been consistent all year long, and even their worst stretches of play have been around the .500 mark. But the Canucks showed up to play against an Oilers team that is looking to contend for the Cup again, and with more desperation. It's no secret the Canucks owned the Oilers in the first few games of the year, being the single biggest cause for Edmonton firing Jay Woodcroft early in the year. However, the Oilers were doing much worse then than they are now, and I think that winning tonight mattered more than the other times because this win shows that Vancouver is built to handle speedy and skilled, and counter with some of their own. Early in the year, they handled the Oilers by frustrating their superstars, McDavid and Draisaitl, and getting under their skin. Because of this, they took stupid penalties, lost their cool, and they were easily able to keep them to the outside to keep them from following through on Draisaitl's one-T spot on the right wing. Though the Oilers were missing McDavid tonight, this game is a microcosm of what we can now expect from a talented Canucks team that is getting really good on the defensive side of the puck.

Image Credits: Abbie Parr, Associated Press I have not been shy about voicing my criticisms towards the Vegas Golden Knights and Gary Bettman about the LTIR cap circumvention, and that criticism will not cease until the Golden Knights and the NHL can prove that this is not blatant favoritism. I have my doubts about whether Mark Stone's injury was even legitimate, knowing that both of the last 2 years he has been magically healed in time for Game 1. I have to be careful when writing this article, because I do not want to be accused of slander, and I have worked very hard to get my facts right about this, so bear with me, and if I get anything wrong, please point it out in the comment section below. What we know about this year's timely injury is that the Golden Knights are saying that it was a lacerated spleen, and while I am a knowledgeable hockey fan, I am not a medical professional. However, I know a lacerated spleen, according to many medical professionals, should take 3-6 months to heal. To put this into context, he has been out for 2 months, so he theoretically shouldn't even be back until the Western Conference Final at the very earliest, if they can even get past Dallas and Colorado or Winnipeg. At this point now though, the lies are wearing thin. The last 2 years before were believable, as the injuries were true, even if they were exaggerated for cap relief, but they are growing more bold by the year, to the point where they will let it be known that they are openly cheating. The fact that they may have sent a fraudulent letter to the NHL to prove that Mark Stone had a lacerated spleen shows how much corruption is at the top of the NHL. Gary Bettman has treated each team according to how much he values them, and he's watching idly by as Vegas sits out healthy players to stack up at the deadline. In reality, the cap should carry over to the playoffs, but that wouldn't do the Golden Knights any good, so it won't happen. I want to make it very clear that I am not questioning Mark Stone's medical history, but I am questioning how it has been manipulated to take advantage of a 2-tiered rulebook. I don't doubt that there is some truth to his back injuries, but he probably just had a broken rib that was fraudulently presented as a lacerated spleen. This is a case that I intend on following up on, so this will not be the last I write of this.

Image Credits: Joe Sargent NHL There are no secrets that this game is a big one for both teams, as they battle for one last playoff spot. However, there is much more at stake, because in my opinion, the teams are battling to see who will or won't be let go at the end of the season. Both teams suffered immensely last season, as the Red Wings had a good year until a series of losing streaks set them beck many points of a playoff spot. Pittsburgh wasn't much better, with inconsistent play costing them a 17th straight appearance in the playoffs, and accelerating the rebuild talks. But both of these teams also began this year with much promise, as Pittsburgh brought in Kyle Dubas and he turned out the whole roster. Detroit signed a number of solid free agents, such as J.T. Compher from Colorado, and bringing in Jeff Petry from Montreal appeared to help. However, the Atlantic Division proved to be stronger than anyone thought, and Detroit now sees themselves on the outside this late in the year. Pittsburgh has also mightily struggled the whole year, and it was never more evident than when Dubas traded Jake Guentzel to the Hurricanes for a package that included Michael Bunting and a 1st round pick in a move that made it look like they were giving up on the year. But Crosby has picked the team up again, as he has done so over and over again, and he is playing like it's his last shot. There are also off-ice factors that play into today's game as well. For example, Steve Yzerman has been given 5 years now to try to even get the Red Wings to the playoffs, and hasn't delivered yet. There is also pressure on Derek Lalonde to get this team over the hump, and there are a lot of great coaches to pick from if the Red Wings aren't satisfied with his work. So this may be a game for the playoffs, but the teams are also playing to save the asses of management.

Image Credits: nhltraderumor.com There are 13 games going on tonight, with only 6 teams left out tonight. However, everyone has something to be won or lost tonight, so for each game tonight and for each team, we will take a look at what is at stake. Boston vs. Carolina: The Hurricanes are playing a potential Conference Final opponent tonight with Boston, and the Bruins have a chance to clinch the Atlantic Division tonight. Though it isn't necessarily a reward to play the Lightning in the First Round, a game like this should help them prove to their doubters that they can still beat top-flight teams like Carolina. The Hurricanes also have a vested interest in keeping their chances at a President's Trophy alive, and for matters of personal pride, a 4th straight division title never hurts. Washington vs. Detroit: This is a chance for Ovechkin to have one last hurrah, as the Capitals are getting worse by the year to the point that a rebuild will be called for soon. The Detroit Red Wings should have a vested interest in getting to the playoffs, as ownership might be losing patience with how long the rebuild is taking and it could cost Steve Yzerman his job. They haven't been in the playoffs since 2016, when Tampa Bay bounced them in 5 games, so there is no tomorrow in Motown anymore. Ottawa vs. Florida: Though the Senators are out of the playoff race now, that doesn't matter, because it's a good opportunity to continue to develop Ridly Greig, who has been one of the few bright spots on what has been a nightmare of a season for Ottawa. Florida, meanwhile, has to maintain their chances at home ice advantage, because after a recent slide, the Leafs have been catching up. Philadelphia vs. Montreal: The Flyers have to shake off John Tortorella's criticisms of their play lately, and after playing themselves out of the playoff spot they held down for so long, this could be a confidence boost to get them going for that last spot. Montreal wants to prove that the rebuild is working, and Juraj Slafkovsky has a 20 goal season to aim for. Toronto vs. New Jersey: The Maple Leafs not only have to worry about the Tampa Bay Lightning crawling up the standings, but they have a chance to overtake Florida for 2nd in the Atlantic that wasn't there two months ago. New Jersey may just want to win this game to save face for what has been a very embarrassing season for them. NY Rangers vs. NY Islanders: The Rangers should want to win the President's Trophy for no other reason than to stick it to Carolina, knowing they won't likely come out of the Second Round. The Islanders should be aiming to prove to the Rangers that they won't be an easy opponent should they face each other in the First Round, and they are not the same team that depended on the loser point to stay alive. Columbus vs. Tampa Bay: Pascal Vincent should be looking to get the best out of his players, many of whom are inexperienced and need to learn how to compete amongst the best. Tampa Bay has a chance to inch within 4 points of 3rd place, provided that the Leafs lose in regulation, and should Florida stay in 2nd, an opportunity to show that Florida is still theirs would go a long way towards facilitating a Conference Final against the Hurricanes. Buffalo vs. Dallas: Buffalo should be aiming to retain whatever fans they still have, because they have once again played their way out of everyone's lofty expectations. Dallas has an opportunity to clinch the Central Division, and if not, they could clinch home-ice advantage, and that will be important for a Second Round that will likely see them face Colorado. Winnipeg vs. Nashville: This is the most important game for Winnipeg all year, as they should look to avoid Nashville giving them a run for 3rd. Nashville has a chance to clinch a playoff spot tonight, and a win against Winnipeg would have them taken seriously heading into Round 1. Minnesota vs. Colorado: As slim as Minnesota's playoff hopes are, they still aren't yet at 0, and they should aim to keep that chance alive, for no other reason than to prove that they have a good thing going with their nucleus of talent that feature Kirill Kaprizov and Brock Faber. The Avalanche should aim to end their recent skid, and fix the goaltending problem that has been Alexandar Georgiev. They also need to use this game to help them figure out whether to start Georgiev or Justus Annunen, who has been great since being called up from the Eagles. LA vs. Anaheim: LA has a spot to secure in the playoffs tonight, and they should have a vested interest in staying in 3rd, because of their familiarity with Edmonton. After coming close to beating the Oilers the last 2 seasons, they might break through this time. Anaheim just has to give the rookies in Olen Zellweger and Leo Carlsson as much ice time as possible, because for teams long out of the playoff hunt, this is the best possible audition for their younger stars. Arizona vs. Seattle: Both of these teams are out of the playoffs, so there isn't really anything to play for but pride. Calgary vs. San Jose: The Flames have to prove to Craig Conroy that they are a team worth tearing down to rebuild. The Sharks may likely try to tank to improve their odds at the 1st overall pick, even though this draft class lacks the depth of last year's. Pittsburgh: They just need to hope that the Detroit vs. Washington game stays in regulation, because one of these teams picking up an extra point could be detrimental to their playoff hopes. Vancouver: The Canucks are hoping for Nashville to lose, especially down the stretch, given that that is their likeliest opponent. Edmonton: The Oilers are hoping the Kings don't gain ground on their 2nd place spot. Vegas: They're hoping Minnesota will lose to Colorado and be eliminated from contention tonight. St. Louis: They're hoping for Nashville to lose, because their playoff hopes are hanging by a thread. Chicago: They have nothing to gain tonight, because due to suspicions of a rigged draft lottery, they will likely win no matter what, unless Vegas misses the playoffs, and then they will likely lose the lottery to them no matter the lottery rules.

Image Credits: Bob Frid, USA TODAY Sports As we approach the end of the regular season, we are seeing a separation between the good and the bad, the frauds from the underdogs, and unfortunately for Vancouver, it's looking more and more by the day that they've peaked too early. A look at why: The Canucks started the year off surprisingly strong, maintaining a top position in the league for a quarter of the season, and even when they were at their worst, the effort was always there. They were beating even some of the better teams pretty good, like the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Florida Panthers. However, they were never playing the best Pacific Division opponents, such as Vegas and LA, and they have not fared well against them since they started playing each other. The Canucks have just 1 regulation win in 7 games against LA and Vegas, have a record of 2-5, and have allowed 4 of more goals in 4 of those 7 games. The All-Star break is a time in the season where we really start to find things out about the teams, and that Vancouver sent 6 players and a coach was a sign to the league and the doubters that things were different this year. Once everyone started playing up to Vancouver, they stopped playing their game, and ever since the break they have looked disjointed. They had a 4 game losing streak where they scored the first goal every time, and their defense was uncoordinated, and they started taking undisciplined and lazy penalties. That the Elias Lindholm trade hasn't worked out yet isn't helping matters, and what they are up against with the prospect of facing LA or Vegas is the fact that these are battle tested teams that are physical, and have Stanley Cup quality rosters. With that being said though, the entire theme of Vancouver's season has been defying the odds and the critics, and as a fan and this time a critic, I am hoping they will prove me wrong this year.

Image Credits: Unknown, obtained from rss.com Yesterday, the PP3 Podcast sat down and had a conversation with me and my co-host, Reggie Lott. This was our first collaboration with another content creator, and it meant the world to us that they sat down and talked with us for 35 minutes about the state of the NHL at the 75 game mark of the year. However, there was a misunderstanding in the format of the show. They were hoping to come on to the show to talk about their hockey careers and what it's like launching into the media landscape. Despite their request to scrap the interview, which I did, I am still grateful to Nolan Wyatt and Nolan Kehoe for being so generous with their time. They are well connected in the game, have graduated from the VIJHL now, and now are new podcasters that started in the year 2024 just like me and Reggie decided to do. They show their unique insights into the game though some amazing dressing room stories, their own perspectives from having been players, and they both are winners of the 2023 Patterson Cup as VIJHL Playoff Champions, and they helped the Oceanside Generals win the regular season title that year. They also won a silver medal at the Cyclone Taylor Cup. This is a podcast which many of you will find funny, informative, and they will become Vancouver Island's next fan favorites.

Image Credits: Deve Sandford, HHOF Images As we take a look at some of the most recent Stanley Cup winners, we notice that there isn't much of a difference in between being a winner and a loser. However, many of us believe that if our team does not have the best team heading into the playoffs, that a hot streak is necessary. Though it isn't necessarily true, it can be said that if you are an inferior team that has struggled throughout the season, it is beneficial to go on a good winning streak. Of the teams over the past 10 years that won Cups, the 2015-16 Pittsburgh Penguins, 2017-18 Washington Capitals, 2018-19 St. Louis Blues, and the 2022-23 Vegas Golden Knights are the only 4 to have gone on insane post-deadline runs leading up to Game 1 of the First Round. Those were teams that had something to battle for. The Penguins fired their coach and were out of the playoffs when they did, the Capitals had to wrestle with their reputation as big game chokers, the Blues were in last place on New Years, and the Golden Knights had to fulfill Bill Foley's promise of a Cup in 6 seasons. How Vegas did it is a complaint for another time, but the common theme is that when the struggle has been real for however long, there is nothing like a confidence boost when the games matter more. However, more established contenders like the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020-21, and the Chicago Blackhawks in 2014-15 both finished with long losing streaks and still dominated their opponents. The 2021-22 Colorado Avalanche finished their last 10 games 4-4-2 and cost themselves the President's Trophy, but they still swept Nashville and Edmonton and lost only 4 games in the playoffs that year and finished the season 56-19-7. The lesson on this side of the argument is, don't let yourself get worried if your team is losing games at the end if they are going in as a clear-cut contender like Florida, Carolina, Colorado, or Dallas. There is some importance to keeping your best players on the shelf once you know you're a shoo-in for the playoffs (Not the way that Vegas does it, because the way they do it is illegal, but Bill Foley probably pays Bettman's salary).

Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports McDavid started the season pretty slow, but has picked up the pace since December, putting up more point than any other player since, and putting himself back in the Art Ross conversation. So the case should be made for and against this being McDavid's year. For: McDavid is arguably still the best player in today's game, and definitely the most accomplished. There are players like Sidney Crosby who are as accomplished who got their dues after years of playoff failures and who carried the team on their backs for years. The Oilers have overcome a lot to crawl back to where they are, and this is McDavid's 10th season as an Oiler, and Ken Holland's contract is expiring. They fired Woodcroft after a horrendous 12 game start, and ever since Kris Knoblauch took over the Oilers have gone on multiple long winning streaks to put themselves back up in the standings. They are treating this season as the end-all-be-all for McDavid, knowing that if his only memories of Edmonton are consistent playoff failures, he may want to sign elsewhere. Against: The Stanley Cup race this year is much stronger than last year's, where the Vegas Golden Knights and a much weaker Stars team were the representatives in the West. This year, every team in the West is strong. Dallas or Colorado will come out of the Central, and they have only gotten better, Vancouver is eager to prove themselves, Nashville has gone on a hot streak since the trade deadline, LA will be a problem for anyone, and the Oilers just can't seem to beat Adin Hill, who was Vegas' MVP in the Second Round last year. The Oilers also just don't have the same forward depth as the strongest contenders, and let's say they do make the Finals, they won't stand a chance in a 7 game series against Carolina or Florida, who are the strongest contenders coming out of the East. They also lack the defensive mobility of a team like Colorado, who beat them in 4 games in 2022 with a similar team. Though that Avalanche team has a different look, they still look the same with different players. Evan Bouchard is good, and Ekholm is having a career year, but there's a lot to be desired from Darnell Nurse and the rest of the Oilers defensemen. The Avalanche also have many defensemen returning from their Stanley Cup team.

Image credits: Preston Proulx In a truly heartbreaking fashion, the Victoria Cougars suffered a 5-3 loss to end their season in Game 7 at home. They had only lost 4 games including the playoffs at home leading up to this one, but fell behind 5-0 after two periods and despite mounting a late attempt to tie the game, they just couldn't get over a slew of penalties suffered over the course of the game. 15 minutes before puck drop, the Cougars broke a panel of glass at the end of warmups, and if you are the superstitious type, you might have been right to take that as a negative foreshadowing of what was to come. Until that point in the series, though the Predators had control throughout, it seemed as if Victoria had the momentum going into Game 7, having fought back in the series on the back of Ethan Barron's incredible display of goaltending in the absence of their superstar Ben Brant. Winning Games 5 & 6 would make you think that they were in control as well, having stopped Saanich from winning in their own building, and in Game 7 Saanich looked nervous heading into warmups. However, the extra time must've helped calm their nerves, and unsettle Victoria, as they got off to a fast start, bombarding the Cougar net, and ending the 1st with a 2-0 lead. It didn't help that Victoria's performance was marred by a number of bad penalties taken that could easily have been avoided. Though Saanich only went 1/8 on the power play, games are not won by the shorthanded team, and spending over a quarter of the game in the box with many of them being to some of the team's better players, it just shows that the game could have gone the other way with better discipline and emotional control.

User:Kalel2007. Wikipedia. It's no surprise that when the New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, Boston Bruins, and Florida Panthers are your possible playoff matchups, that that would be pretty scary. However, for some teams, they are so intimidated that they don't even want to bother trying. In 2022-23, the Florida Panthers shocked the entire hockey world by knocking off the record setting Boston Bruins after falling behind 3-1, who outdid them by 44 points in the regular season. But if you take a closer look, that team was just coming off of a President's Trophy win of their own from the year before, and this year they are proving that last year's trip to the finals was no accident. But this year is different, with 5 different teams on the outside that could realistically make it, but they seem more intent on giving up on the season. The Detroit Red Wings are once again questionable for the playoffs, knowing very well that they lost 7 straight to some teams like the Islanders, the Coyotes x2, and the Sabres that they should've beaten. Interestingly enough, Washington has a -31 goal differential, but has a better chance than Detroit at the playoffs. This year's race for WC2 is not the same as last year's, where Pittsburgh was trying to extend the streak, where the Sabres seemed to be on the upswing, the Islanders had something to prove, and the Panthers just needed to get in. Instead, it's a free giveaway to those who want Boston the least.