A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. The blog that drags on longer than a Jonathan Toews ovation.
1. In the middle of this disillusioned (and, potentially, death-blow) homestand for his Toronto Maple Leafs, Craig Berube summed up the mood of the organization when he said that their standard has slipped.
Whatever momentum the hockey team was riding after their emotional overtime win over the lousy Jets in Winnipeg last weekend has gone poof over a 0-3-1 homestand that inspires as much confidence as a diagnosis from Dr. Nick.
Figurative banana peels are scattered all over the Scotiabank Arena ice, like the literal hats doffed for visitor Brock Nelson’s hat trick on Sunday.
The Maple Leafs are slipping all over the place, all over themselves.
Even way up in the press box, where an injured and smiling William Nylander flipped off the broadcast cameras. During the organization’s kid-geared “Next Gen” match, a rare matinee geared to win over the children, no less.
Some take longer to grow up, though.
Alerted that his viral moment might not be a good look, Nylander said “sorry” on Instagram. The 29-year-old characterized his middle finger as a “moment of frustration.” Video of the bird flip instead suggests a moment of “maybe this’ll be funny.”
Nylander owns one of the sport’s most enviable skill sets. He also owns the richest contract in Leafs history and, surely, some of the finest tank tops on the market.
What he does not own is a letter on his sweater.
And Sunday’s flippant approach served as a reminder of why that might be.
Are the Leafs treating this stretch of hockey as seriously as they should?
Don’t be mistaken: We’re not clutching pearls here. We’re hardly aghast or offended. People of all ages do dumb things they regret.
We are, however, wondering about the adults in the room, whoever they are.
The Maple Leafs faced four real opponents over the past seven days, and they’ve made the home team look weak.
Minnesota, Detroit, Vegas, and Colorado came into the Leafs’ barn and ran their show to a combined score of 18-8. The Leafs have lost six of their past seven, while giving up six goals in four of those losses. Their most recent regulation win was 16 days ago, over the tanking Vancouver Canucks.
The Leafs downplay capital-M moments like Mitch Marner’s return as “just another game,” then come out with just-another-game energy.
Even when their opponent is flying in tired off a back-to-back (Vegas) or is asked to play at 11:30 a.m. body-clock time (Colorado), they have no issue dictating pace.
Toronto’s captain is glumly trotting out gotta-be-better clichés as the inconsistent performances pile up, and their coach refuses to rip them too hard after another slow start. Probably because Berube understands he’s dealing with a fragile group.
“You can tell we’re not playing with a ton of confidence right now,” defenceman Jake McCabe says.
The ol’ new-assistant-coach bump is fading. So are the Leafs’ playoff chances, down to 7.6 per cent, per MoneyPuck.com.
What’s more concerning is the void of fightback on a bench that relies too heavily on a waiver pickup (Troy Stecher) and bottom-six forward (Scott Laughton) to provide heart.
“Right now, it’s quiet,” Berube says. “That’s not going to help. You gotta cheer for your teammate. You gotta have energy, no matter what situation.”
2. There is some (imperfect) precedent for punishing a middle finger, and the NHL is considering it in Nylander’s case.
Boston’s Andrew Ference was fined $2,500 and given a game misconduct for giving the Montreal Canadiens fans the ungentlemanly salute in the 2011 playoffs. But that was during game action.
At the time, Ference tried to pass off his bird as a “glove malfunction,” and somewhere Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake snickered and giggled.
“I can assure you, that’s not part of my repertoire. I don’t know if my glove got caught up, but I can assure you, that’s not part of who I am,” he told reporters post-game. “It looks awful, I admit it. I completely apologize as to how it looks, but you guys have covered me long enough to know that’s not part of my repertoire. I was putting my fist in the air.”
The player later came clean in a blog post titled “Things I Have Learned #1”:
Accountability is lacking in our world. Just look at nuisance lawsuits, or the finger-pointing of politicians around the globe. I am guilty myself of trying to blame a middle-fingered celebration after a goal in Montreal on a glove malfunction. In round one of the playoffs between two of the fiercest rivals in our sport, I scored a tying goal in the enemy’s building, only to have my fist pump turn into a sign language that crosses all borders. Facing the media and a possible suspension after the fact proved to be too much for my self-accountability. Self-preservation is a powerful thing… it is easier to place blame elsewhere and overlook your own responsibilities.
3. Our understanding is that, even five points and three teams away from a wild card, the Maple Leafs are not interested in turning deadline seller.
Between now and the trade deadline, GM Brad Treliving must figure out if he’s re-signing impending UFAs Laughton, Stecher, and Bobby McMann.
Asset management has been a problem in Toronto, and this roster isn’t good enough to cross fingers on “own rentals,” let alone invest more futures.
If you’re not keeping them long-term, don’t let them walk for nothing.
Tuesday’s divisional match against red-hot Buffalo feels about as close to a “must-win” as you’ll get in January.
“I don’t do fights. I score.” —Filip Gustavsson, Minnesota Wild goaltender
5. The Florida Panthers’ record since future Hall of Famer Sergei Bobrovsky skated 200 feet and threw down with San Jose goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic: 3-0.
If the champs rally into the post-season, how often will the first goalie fight in six years be referenced as a turning point?
“Best goalie in the world is doing that, it’s pretty incredible,” a prescient Matthew Tkachuk said post-game. “When one of our best players is kinda going out of his comfort zone, any goalie’s comfort zone, players should take that as a spark.
“We need to use that fire and that energy from our backbone, in Bob, on this next road trip because, to be honest, we’re not in a good spot at all in the standings right now.”
6. If the injured Brayden Point, whose Olympic availability remains in question, was slotted to play wing for Canada, Doug Armstrong must think long and hard about adding Zach Hyman as Point’s replacement.
Hyman’s relentless work ethic, two-way responsibility, special-teams acumen, and built-in chemistry with Connor McDavid are all assets.
He’s also the hot hand.
In Hyman’s past 23 games, he has 18 goals, nine assists, 27 points, and a plus-12 rating.
7. Todd McLellan’s Detroit Red Wings wake up in first place in the Atlantic Division and, barring a collapse, should snap the franchise’s nine-year post-season drought.
Remember when McLellan wasted no time ripping his players after their 5-1 loss to Montreal at the home opener?
There was risk of burning a card early, of making too big a deal over a 0-1 record. But the coach set a tone and nipped the slacking in the bud.
“Well, quite honestly, I drove home that night and it started with my son going, ‘You lost your marbles.’ I didn’t think I did, but then the rest of the hockey world did,” McLellan says.
“I didn’t feel that at all. I felt our team needed to be reminded that we came out of a real good training camp, and that if we were going to settle into our ways of the past, it wouldn’t work. I was really direct about it.
“I would have done that at Game 10 or Game 20, and I’ve done it since. Perhaps because it was after Game 1 (it made headlines), but our players reacted well. I knew they would. And they’ve been OK ever since.”
8. Patrick Kane’s next point will tie him with Mike Modano for the most by a U.S.-born player (1,374). Two points and he stands alone.
“You need talent, and it oozes out of them, not only physically but mentally. He’s got an unreal hockey mind. But then the drive, it goes away from people later on in life. And whether it’s a player or a coach or even the media people, it’s hard to keep it up. But his drive is not diminished one bit,” McLellan explains.
“In fact, with some of these attainable milestones, his drive has actually increased, and he’s excited about being at the rink.”
That was evident in Toronto Wednesday, when Kane held court for as long as reporters wished, happy to discuss any number of topics.
Kane has a reverence for his fellow American icons — rhyming off Chris Chelios, Pat LaFontaine, Phil Housley, Jeremy Roenick, and Modano — but wants to snap the record “sooner rather than later” and become one of few who can place Modano in the rear view.
“Probably not a better guy to have your name up there with, as far as American players and what he did for the game, and his flair and his ability to bring fans out of their seats, right?” Kane says. “He’s an exciting player and a guy that I really enjoyed watching when I was younger.”
McLellan describes Kane as a storyteller, a historian. Conversations with the veteran feel like sitting around a campfire or a family breakfast table, the coach says.
Kane is quick to acknowledge that his place atop the U.S. list may be short-lived, with 28-year-old Auston Matthews already stacking 769 points.
“One day he’ll probably be in the shoes I am right now,” Kane says. “So, that’s the guy, right? That’s the next guy for a lot of American kids that they’re looking up to now.”
9. No team in playoff position has anywhere close to as much cap space as the Red Wings: $30.84 million.
Steve Yzerman must use some of that and reward his group.
10. No one has more takeaways (35) this season than Josh Doan, who signed what should be a team-friendly seven-year, $48.65-million extension in Buffalo.
A couple of Nashville’s proven stars, Ryan O’Reilly and Filip Forsberg, are tied, but they see more ice.
Fun fact: Doan (35 points) is outproducing Utah’s JJ Peterka (34 points).
A nice little parting gift from Kevyn Adams?
11. Troy Stecher has built hundreds of Lego sets, and he keeps them all.
It’s a “therapeutic” hobby the Maple Leafs defenceman uses to distract his mind, but he has had no time to kill playing every other day and living out of a Toronto hotel room.
“My parents never threw it away. When I signed in Vancouver out of North Dakota, I went to my mom’s house, grabbed it all and brought it with me. So, I have hundreds and hundreds of sets. Like, I have a lot of Lego,” Stecher chuckles.
The 31-year-old is quick to point out that building Lego isn’t only a kids’ hobby, and 45-year-old actor Macaulay Culkin professed his love for Lego on Smartless last week.
Stecher has devoted hours on off days to assembling sets, and his vast collection is spread between his rental place in Edmonton, his home in Scottsdale, and his mom’s house.
He’s not a big fan of Star Wars films but loves the franchise’s Lego.
His most difficult project was clicking together a 7,800-piece Death Star.
“And then I’ve got a gunship, an AT-AT. I’ve got a bunch of them,” Stecher says.
“Sometimes, I’ll just binge it and finish (a set) in one sitting of six hours. And sometimes I’ll leave it on the kitchen table for two months. So, a lot of it depends on the hockey schedule.”
12. Tristan Jarry’s eight appearances with Edmonton: 5-2-1, 3.12 GAA, .880 SV%.
Stuart Skinner’s past eight appearances with Pittsburgh: 7-1-0, 1.63 GAA, .934 Sv%.
