A quick mix of the things we took away from hockey week, serious and not so serious, and four lines deep. Come and join us on a fantastic journey.
1. Midway through the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 2019-20 campaign, Morgan Rielly approached Sheldon Keefe with a proposal that he hoped would benefit the team, although it certainly wouldn’t do him much good.
The No 1 defender offered his position in the club’s deadly top power-play unit to team-mate Tyson Barrie, an attacking playmaker who had not played to his strengths.
Well, given the lack of right backs on Toronto’s injured blue line, Rielly is once again ready to pick one for the team.
A natural left-handed shooter who thrives best when left with a stay-at-home RD, Rielly has taken on reps at right flank during Leafs camp.
his idea.
“To be honest, I didn’t even realize it. Just looks like Mo out there,” says Auston Matthews. “The backbone of our D Corps.”
“He’s a damn good player,” adds Mitch Marner. “He can play both sides.”
Rielly, 28, is entering the first season of an eight-year extension – signed early and with little fanfare – that could lead him to a string of franchise records for defenders.
He has security and respect. It has charm and wheels. He also has no playoff series wins and is eager to change that narrative.
So he’s ready to step out of his comfort zone and give a few options to a left-handed coaching staff.
“Mo always wanted to bring more employees there,” revealed Keefe. “He sees the situation and knows that the more flexible we are, the better. He sort of volunteered to do those replays, which I think is great because we played a six left-footed (defense) game (Wednesday) tonight.”
Rielly rarely patrolled his offsides, and Mike Babcock’s Jake Muzzin-Rielly pairing in the pre-Keefe era was as awkward as it was short-lived.
TJ Brodie, a left-hander who regularly plays right, says, “I don’t think it’s as big a deal as it’s portrayed to be.”
Still, Rielly, Muzzin and Rasmus Sandin are more comfortable on their familiar side. Ice views change and you are forced to handle more pucks on your backhand.
“You’re just trying to get used to it,” says Rielly. “Over time you get more comfortable and you just work at it. It’s actually nice in the offensive zone. You can go in the middle with your forehand. Like, there are perks to that. It’s just a matter of getting used to it.”
Though Rielly raises his hand (Mark Giordano is also flexible, but he doesn’t log as many minutes), Keefe isn’t convinced that removing his strongest defender from a position of strength is the best solution to his lack of RD.
“We have to see where everyone is,” says Keefe, stepping on the brakes. “I wouldn’t say that we necessarily have a top candidate. I haven’t lost sight of the fact that Rielly and Brodie (as a couple) work very well for us.
“I’m assuming he’s on the left.”
2. There’s a counterpoint to Mitch Marner’s defensive experiment, which I think is a compelling risk that could pay off, especially when preseason stakes are so low.
Doesn’t the fact that Keefe is considering adding a forward at this point underscore the fact that the Maple Leafs have failed to meet a significant need this offseason?
With Timothy Liljegren injured, organization comes down to Justin Holl as the only natural right with big-league experience – and that includes depth options on the farm.
3. Spencer Knight’s shiny new three-year $13.5 million extension signals a whopping $14.5 million increase for the Florida Panthers from 2023-24 to 2025-25.
The Cats are already one of just three teams — LA and Tampa being the others — to shell out two netminders in the eight figures, and that’s before Knight’s raise kicks in. (LA will soon get relief with Jonathan Quick in the last year of his contract. )
On the surface, allocating such a large percentage of your dollars to one position – a critical but unpredictable position – feels like a gamble.
However, an out can occur.
Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida’s $10 million man, has brought his contract forward and will see his actual salary drop to $6.5 million in 2024-25 and $6 million in 2025-26. These are also the years when his full no-move clause transitions into a modified no-trade.
4. John Tortorella has arrived in Philadelphia with guns blazing. The coach is on a mission to shake up the culture and the youth movement is underway.
GM Chuck Fletcher says the Flyers may keep 10 players ages 25 and younger depending on how camp develops.
“I’ll play the kids, I’ll tell you that in a minute,” Tortorella announced.
He doesn’t have much of a choice. Sean Couturier and Ryan Ellis will be unavailable for a while.
And the list of household names not to be contacted — Cam Atkinson, Carter Hart, Joel Farabee, Artem Anisimov — is concerning.
I enjoyed this mini-documentary from the Flyers camp and the no-nonsense tortorella’s introductory speech from a year ago that certainly feels like a rebuild:
“I will be honest with you every day and I expect the same kind of respect for myself. And it can’t be good stuff. But be f—— honest with me. Understand that. Let’s be honest with each other.”
5. Count me among the masses who refuse to read much into exhibition actions.
That won’t stop us from enjoying a little hockey for hockey’s sake.
Watch as Calder favorite Matty Beniers fires that short-side laser over the shoulder of Oilers goalie Olivier Rodrigue.
I’m not sure which is more impressive: the pinpoint accuracy or how lithely he reaches back in step to take a pass (probably for trailer Oliver Bjorkstrand) with his backhand and put it in firing position.
“I think it’s the same,” Beniers shrugged when asked by a reporter about his shot choices. “I don’t think that’s going to change too much.”
6. According to this report by Elliotte Friedman, the 2024-25 season is forecast to see a sharp increase in the salary cap.
This is welcome news for UFA Class 24. Auston Matthews is the farewell speaker for this group. Other well-timed contract expiries include Jake Guentzel, William Nylander, Connor Hellebuyck, Sebastian Aho, Sam Reinhart, Mark Scheifele, Elias Lindholm, Devon Toews, Steven Stamkos, Ilya Sorokin and Noah Hanifin.
These guys should get paid.
7. History was made before my time, but I loved seeing members of Team Canada gather and reminisce about their experiences in 1972 for the 50th anniversary of the Summit Series Wednesday in Toronto.
Eight-time Stanley Cup winner Serge Savard compared the aftermath of an NHL championship to what it felt like to win in Russia.
“We all went into the room, sat down and everyone was quiet. Everyone was silent before anyone entered the room. Two, three, four minutes,” says Savard.
“You know, when you win the trophy, the champagne is there, the trophy is there and everyone is screaming and singing and drinking. That wasn’t the case in ’72. It was like… mission accomplished.”
So what were you thinking during those four quiet minutes?
“Nothing,” he replies.
“I was so happy inside. Everyone was happy inside. But no one commented.”
8th. There was much talk at the time that the Faceless Russians were the enemy, an evil that must be defeated.
The thing is, when Team Canada was first put together, there were a lot of internal grudges that had to be overcome first.
“I hated Phil Esposito before I played with him and those big bad Bruins. He was cocky. Bobby Clarke? Hated his guts,” says Savard.
“And then we sat next to each other for six weeks, we became friends, and we started saying hello while warming up and it was different. It changed the whole thing.”
Today, it’s not uncommon for members of rival NHL teams to curry favor between the locker rooms after games, eat at All-Star games, or laugh at media and charity events. There’s a camaraderie that extends beyond the crest on her sweater.
Savard explains that’s because modern players have already shuffled in junior or teenage national teams. That didn’t exist in the 70s. You wouldn’t dare speak to an opponent.
“If we walked into a restaurant and someone else from another team walked in, we walked out,” says Savard.
It also explains the shift in the All-Star Game, which has morphed from a competitive event where the best players tried to humiliate the cup champions to a happy-go-lucky-high-five festival.
“We weren’t really friends with the other guys. The game wardens? We hated the Rangers. We hated the Bruins. We hated the Blackhawks. We hated everyone else. And that’s why it took us a while to become a team,” says Peter Mahovlich. “Who the hell wants to be friends with Bobby Clarke?”
bind teams. Championship teams even closer. Legendary teams…
“I saw Bobby two months ago. I was in Sarasota, Florida for two days. One day I walk in and he has this huge dog – and the dogs love me for some reason. So the next day I bring the dog some treats and the dog loves me more and more,” Mahovlich continues.
“I’ll go and hug (Bobby). I don’t think his parents ever hugged him. He said, ‘What is that?’ He accepted. And it just tells you what we were all about as a team when it was done.”
9. Where does Alex Galchenyuk go from here?
The forward was released from his PTO with the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday after suffering an injury. Had he made the cut, the Avs would have been the 2012 third-place finisher’s eighth NHL stop.
he is 28
10 Now that the “best shape of my life!” storylines are considered, reporters can dive into what really matters at boot camp.
Like a gambling site’s response to this very arbitrary ranking of the NHL’s most attractive head coaches:
While our own personal list of these men’s attractiveness doesn’t quite match, all of the quotes from the bank bosses gave us a kick.
San Jose’s David Quinn is pretty good about being number 29: “It means I’m not last. That’s what coaching does with you. Look at me.”
Quinn on No.3 Derek Lalonde is better: “I know Derek Lalonde. He’s not No.3. There’s a 3 in there but it’s a different number after it. Please quote me.”
11. I get excited every time I hear hockey references in rap songs because my two favorite worlds collide.
The new album by STS and RJD2 has a lot of good tunes. Lyrically, I agree with STS’ expanded ice hockey reference to “Goals”:
I score more goals than most hockey sticks/ Bobby Orr, Mario Lemieux/ What does it matter?
12. If anyone is shaking their heads at how the Arizona Coyotes or Chicago Blackhawks are doing business this season, show them this clip:
#Fast #Shifts #Morgan #Rielly #ready #team
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