The 2004/2005 NHL lockout allowed Canada to ice one of their best World Junior Rosters of all time for the 2005 tournament. The team was stacked with many 19-year-olds who normally would have been playing in the NHL. Only two players, Sidney Crosby (17) and Cam Barker (18) were under 19.
In the mid-1990s, Rocky Thompson patrolled the blueline for the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League. He had long hair, crazy eyes, a short fuse and he would fight anyone. He could throw with both hands. On the ice, Thompson instilled fear in many players, but off the ice he was a scratch…
No fanbase in pro sports is more equipped to handle the disappointment of a season without their favourite sport than the NHL’s. In the past 30 years, you’ve endured three lockouts/strikes. The 1994/1995 season was reduced to 48 games, so too was the 2012/2013 season, and the entire 2004/2005 was washed out as the players…
Yesterday, Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley got people’s attention when he said, “Yeah, but they’re going to be playing in the Canadian Division next year,” in response to how it would be facing Nate Schmidt and the Vancouver Canucks. Many interpreted Foley’s comments as though a Canadian division is guaranteed. Is it?
Welcome to another edition of Help Me Understand. Sports, hot takes and narratives. Some make sense, others perplex me.
On June 29th, 2018, Corey Graham underwent a 10-hour procedure to remove a tumour in his back. It was inside his spinal cord. It ran up from the L3 to the T9. That is half of his back, almost eight inches long. Graham had been the voice of the Edmonton Oil Kings for eight seasons,…
NHL free agency is not where winning teams are built. How many long-term contracts, in the salary cap era, didn’t end up having buyers remorse? Zdeno Chara (five-year deal), Scott Niedermayer (four-year pact) and Marian Hossa (retired with four years remaining on his deal)? Any others? Prior to free agency starting, Ken Holland gave a…
Is Dylan Holloway a first line player? Will he be a second liner? Maybe bottom six forward? He might be all three at various times in his career. It is easy to project a superstar like Connor McDavid, but he and a few others are the rare “can’t miss” prospects. Many others have high expectations,…
The truth is none of us can answer that question accurately today. It creates a lot of discussion, but any claim the pick was right, wrong, good or bad is simply based on opinion. There are no concrete facts to say how good Dylan Holloway, or any of the players taken after him, will be…
Oscar Klefbom has played with shoulder pain for a few years. And he’s lived with it daily. His shoulder discomfort has even made sleeping uncomfortable at times during the hockey season. Two different sources confirmed Klefbom’s shoulder ailment has been an issue for years.
The 2020 NHL draft begins tomorrow with the first round and wraps up on Wednesday with rounds two through seven. There will be 216 picks (Arizona was forced to forfeit their second round pick for violating the NHL’s rules on pre-combine testing). Of those picks, how many should we expect to become regular NHLers? What…
The NHL salary cap will not be increasing for the first time since the 2013/2014 season. And a source told me, “I think it could be a flat cap for four seasons, not just two.” Right now, close to 75% of the NHL’s revenue comes from having fans in the stands, via tickets and food…
