A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. No stranger to riding the pine.<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0Lost in the hullabaloo over his half-game benching of the future face of the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> was how head coach Jim Hiller answered another question about his hockey team Thursday.<\/p>\n With fragile stabilizer Chris Tanev sidelined indefinitely, does Hiller believe the Leafs need to trade for a defenceman?\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNot my job, first of all,\u201d Hiller replied. \u201cAnd I think there\u2019s always a lot of noise about something, so I\u2019m not going to pay too much attention to it right now.\u201d<\/p>\n What the coach did not say was some version of this: \u201cNo. We trust the blue line we have. We can outscore our problems and fix this internally.\u201d<\/p>\n Hiller dipsy-doodled around a harsh reality, which is that \u2014 perhaps even with a speedy and sustained Tanev recovery \u2014 the Maple Leafs don\u2019t roll out a strong and fast enough defence corps to win a playoff series, if they can get into one.<\/p>\n No doubt, Tanev\u2019s absence is glaring. \u201cHe\u2019s an elite shutdown defenceman, and he\u2019s a leader in the locker room too,\u201d said No. 1 goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, back to stopping pucks in a hairy environment. \u201cSo, it\u2019s a big loss for us, definitely.\u201d<\/p>\n Without him, Jake McCabe isn\u2019t quite as effective. Darren Raddysh got leaned on for 27-plus minutes. And hard as they try, Troy Stecher, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Nick Blankenburg are being asked to do too much.<\/p>\n Internal solutions are imperfect. Marshall Rifai looked a tad shaky in his season debut. An AHL veteran like Dakota Mermis or Philippe Myers could pop up and eat a few minutes. We\u2019d like to see Ben Danford get a peek before more drastic measures are taken.<\/p>\n But the truth is, Toronto went into this season playing its best six D-men and, outside of the winless Flyers (23), no Eastern Conference team has given up more goals 5-on-5 than Toronto\u2019s 22. The Leafs have blown a lead in each of their five losses.<\/p>\n Hiller will, correctly, point out that the forwards need to take some ownership of that as well. But he\u2019s working with\u00a0literally<\/a>\u00a0the oldest blue line in hockey, and they\u2019re getting toasted off the rush.<\/p>\n Proactive GM John Chayka has already cleared a roster spot just in case an intriguing defenceman hit waivers. That\u2019s smart.<\/p>\n But a real hockey trade for one of the serviceable names that might be available \u2014 Zach Whitecloud? Rasmus Ristolainen? Carson Soucy? Brenden Dillon? Nick Perbix? \u2014 requires real assets.<\/p>\n A more likely difference-maker like RFA Simon Edvinsson or RFA Alexander Nikishin requires an even better package, plus tens of millions of dollars in contract commitment.<\/p>\n There are no easy answers. If there were, Chayka would\u2019ve made his 10th Leafs trade already.<\/p>\n Outside of Raddysh, Chayka\u2019s big off-season overhaul focused on forwards and a Hall of Fame goalie. Every team has a hole.<\/p>\n Toronto\u2019s has come into full, troublesome view before the season is 10 games old.<\/p>\n The best strategy for now, with some easier opponents on the schedule, might be for the Leafs to outscore their issues and hang in the standings race until true sellers drop out.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0Here is 2025\u2019s No. 1 draft choice, Matthew Schaefer<\/a>, talking about 2026\u2019s No. 1 draft choice, Gavin McKenna<\/a>, from a pre-season sit-down with Sportsnet features and the\u00a032 Thoughts\u00a0podcast:<\/p>\n \u201cGav\u2019s a great player. You know, he\u2019s so smooth, so silky. Great hands. Very high hockey IQ and a great guy too. So, I think he\u2019ll be awesome. If I had to give him some advice? Just enjoy it. Be yourself. Have confidence when you come in. But just learn from all the older guys and your coaches, because they can teach you so many things, and I think that\u2019s what helped me so much. A lot of the older guys took me under their wing, and I learned so much from them in my first year: how to take care of your body, the right things to do, and how to be a good leader. And really learn from all the older guys that are great leaders. So, do all that, but have fun with it too. Because you\u2019re in the best league in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Saturday already marks the second meeting between the two most recent\u00a0first overalls.<\/a><\/p>\n The NHL is increasingly a young man\u2019s league, but I was struck by Schaefer\u2019s appreciation for the Islanders vets.\u00a0<\/p>\n And we\u2019re seeing that with McKenna in Toronto, too. Just as Schaefer has shacked up with Matt Martin and his family, McKenna lives with John Tavares, has sleepovers at Auston Matthews<\/a>\u2019 place, and can be frequently seen chatting it up on the ice or walking to the bus with the Leafs captain. When McKenna\u2019s benching caused a stir Thursday, Matthews was quick to state: \u201cWe\u2019ve all got his back<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOlder players are the best. I just love it. Like, they\u2019re older players, but they act the same age as you in a way. You know what I mean? I\u2019m super close with Marty, but I can go over to (Scott) Mayfield\u2019s house or golf with all these guys. I mean, I\u2019m 19, but hopefully I don’t act like I\u2019m 19,\u201d Schaefer explained. \u201cThey want the best for you. It\u2019s easy to fit in when they include you. They were buying dinners for me for the first year, and I’m like, \u2018What a treat!\u2019 They just look out for you so much, and when you can hang around older guys and they give you that respect, it\u2019s pretty cool for me.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m only 19, but I hang around with all these older guys that are letting me come into their circle, and they brought me in from Day 1. So, I love just being with the older guys, and it\u2019s so fun. I always pick their brain. Hopefully, I can bring that young-kid energy to them and just chirp \u2019em and do all this nonsense stuff. They’re probably sometimes like, \u2018Schaef, that’s enough.\u2019 So, I love hanging out with the older guys. It’s something I’ve always loved. That could be because my brother’s nine-and-a-half years older than me, and I’ve always hung out with him and his older buddies.\u201d<\/p>\n The unanimous Calder Trophy winner played all 82 games as a rookie, piling an impressive 59 points. He has yet to score, but his six assists through six games has Schaefer on pace for 84 points \u2014 as a teenager.<\/p>\n With Cale Makar\u2019s $163.2-million windfall adjusting the pay scale for elite defencemen, Schaefer\u2019s emergence couldn\u2019t be timelier, financially speaking.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Islanders can extend the face of their franchise as early as July 1.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was funny. Someone\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, did your phone blow up after that contract?\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018No. No. It\u2019s not my contract.\u2019 But everyone talks about all contracts and stuff. I’m like, \u2018That’s a cool number, but I’m not the best at math. My dad’s good at math, so you can ask him that stuff,\u2019\u201d Schaefer chuckled.<\/p>\n \u201cThe contract stuff, I don\u2019t want to worry about that stuff. I mean, I had a good first year, but second year is going to be even harder. And it\u2019s another year where I want to prove myself.\u201d<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0Speaking of next contracts, no impending restricted free agent put up more points last season than San Jose\u2019s Will Smith (59 in 69 games). He\u2019s eligible to re-sign any day now.<\/p>\n And his captain, Macklin Celebrini \u2014 who raised the club\u2019s internal cap \u2014 would like that very much.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that goes without saying,\u201d Celebrini told me. \u201cEveryone in that room wants him to be Shark for as long as he wants to. I mean, I don\u2019t really know where they\u2019re at or what\u2019s going on in that situation. Overall, it\u2019s really up to him. But I think everyone would want him to stay in San Jose.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith, 21, spends most of his shifts on Celebrini\u2019s wing but has been occasionally used as a centre this month.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s got a lot left to show. I don’t think his points match who he really is,\u201d Celebrini said. \u201cHe\u2019s got a lot of a lot of space to show how great he is.\u201d<\/p>\n Back to mentorship: Smith moved in with another Calder winner, Kraken star Matty Beniers, over the summer in Boston. The two forwards trained wherever they could grab ice \u2014 Boston University, South Shore, Harvard, Warrior \u2014 while mixing in rounds of golf and afternoons on the boat.<\/p>\n Those Massachusetts guys stay close. Noah Hanifin, Charlie McAvoy and Jack Eichel would skate with them, too.<\/p>\n \u201cWe started working out together a couple years ago, and (Smith) was looking for a roommate. I like living with people, and so we shared a room together, and then got tight,\u201d Beniers said.<\/p>\n \u201cYour family\u2019s there and you have other hometown buddies, but they\u2019re all doing nine-to-five. So it\u2019s nice to have someone that you’re with. You both wake up, you go to breakfast, you go work out, then you go skate, and maybe you’re both going to sauna after, going to get treatment after. You have someone that you can kind of do your day with, and then you can go golf and enjoy it after.\u201d<\/p>\n In Beniers\u2019 mind, how much growth does Smith have as a player?<\/p>\n \u201cSky\u2019s the limit,\u201d Beniers beamed. \u201cEspecially in his situation. He\u2019s a very elite player. The way he sees the ice, the way he can make plays, and he\u2019s obviously with Mack as well. So, you know that\u2019s going to be dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou got to believe that performance tonight will embarrass them enough to stop this, right? Because if they\u2019re not embarrassed by that, we don\u2019t want them on the team. It\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d\u00a0\u2014 Rick Bowness, throwing down the gauntlet after his Blue Jackets\u2019 7-3 loss to Florida<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0In the bowels of Denver\u2019s Ball Arena is a wooden door. And on that door, in Avalanche burgundy and blue, hangs a\u00a0BEWARE OF DOG\u00a0sign.\u00a0<\/p>\n We\u2019re told this is the door to mascot\u00a0Bernie the Saint Bernard<\/a>\u2019s dressing room. But we\u2019d rather imagine Nathan MacKinnon<\/a> pacing angrily in that tiny room in the minutes leading up to game time, gnawing raw sirloin and guzzling sweet-potato smoothies before the puck drops and the Nate Dogg is unleashed.<\/p>\n In Saturday\u2019s thriller against the Maple Leafs \u2014 a game overflowing with No. 1 draft picks, all-stars and Olympians \u2014 MacKinnon rose to another level with his speed and intensity.<\/p>\n \u201cVery explosive player. Watching him on the bench, it\u2019s pretty crazy to see what he does and how fast he is, just the way he kinda controls the game,\u201d McKenna observed. \u201cA big motivator for me to try to be there one day.\u201d<\/p>\n MacKinnon didn\u2019t drop the gloves that night, but he did a few days prior (with L.A.\u2019s Brandt Clarke) and since (with Dallas nemesis Roope Hintz).<\/p>\n We are seeing an incredibly visceral version of MacKinnon in the early going here.<\/p>\n Matthews, who put on a four-point show on the Dogg\u2019s territory, admits he gets amped up extra for his twice-a-year head-to-head meetings against his fellow Hart winner.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think you have to. Or else you\u2019re just going to spend the whole night in your own end, and they’re going to get the merry-go-round going, and it’s not fun,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the best in the world. It’s always really tough challenge. I mean, he’s a really hard guy to contain. He’s explosive. He possesses so much power when he skates and when he moves, you got to have a bit of a group effort to kind of contain him \u2014 because he\u2019s too good one-on-one.\u201d<\/p>\n In terms of taming a dog like MacKinnon, Leafs veteran Jake McCabe compared the task to limiting the smooth-skating Jack Eichel: Best not to let them rev up in the first place.<\/p>\n \u201cYou really have to pay attention when they\u2019re in their own end. From their own D-zone is almost where they\u2019re most dangerous sometimes,\u201d McCabe explained.<\/p>\n \u201cIt sounds silly, but when they build that speed and you don\u2019t see it coming, they get that puck in the middle of the ice, it\u2019s hard to close the gap.\u201d<\/p>\n 6.\u00a0During a TV break, the Avalanche played a Jumbotron video in which the players respond to the question:\u00a0Do you sleep with your socks on?<\/p>\n Overwhelmingly, the Avs skaters said definitively no. Because they\u2019re not serial killers.\u00a0<\/p>\n MacKinnon, however, paused and gave the idea some thought: \u201cI have seen things where you should put them on at 3 a.m. I\u2019m not going to get into all of the science right now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Not one to suffer fools, captain Gabriel Landeskog threw the whole premise out the window: \u201cDon\u2019t try to normalize wearing socks while you sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n 7.\u00a0Whatever\u2019s irking Dylan Larkin had no effect on buddy Alex DeBrincat<\/a>, a pending UFA who reupped with the Red Wings for the maximum term and $91 million. The two spent nearly every summer day training together. They spoke about Larkin\u2019s dissatisfaction early. But at some point, what\u2019s left to say?<\/p>\n \u201cChange is scary. You know, for a couple days, you\u2019re like, \u2018What\u2019s going to happen? What\u2019s going to happen?\u2019 And then, as time passes, it\u2019s like anything. I just gotta focus on myself and focus on my training,\u201d DeBrincat said during the Player Media Tour.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, it was a dream of mine as a kid to play for the Red Wings and put on that jersey, and myself and everyone in that locker room takes pride in putting on that jersey, the history that comes with it, all the responsibility that comes with it. So, I think it\u2019s been awesome for me. Obviously, I wish we\u2019ve had a little bit more success and gone to the post-season and done something there. But we’re still a young team and we’re still moving towards that goal.\u201d<\/p>\n Expensive as the Michigan-born sniper has become, interim GM Shawn Horcoff and the Detroit fan base needed a win, a lockup without drama.<\/p>\n Alex\u2019s father, David, has been a die-hard Wings fan since birth, and that love is genetic. As Horcoff & Co. try to right this listing ship, having the commitment of someone who gets the importance of the team matters.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such a cool thing for my parents to be close to me. They get to watch me more than they ever have before, and they come to every game. It\u2019s such a cool thing for them to see me play there and really be a part of the organization in their own way,\u201d said DeBrincat, who believes in the Wheel more than you do. \u201cWe\u2019re a lot closer than people give us credit for. We have a good team. We had a good team last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very optimistic about how the year is going to go and when we can get back in the playoffs and do something special there. We don\u2019t have too many expectations this year, and I think that might be a good thing for us \u2014 to just go out there and not worry about anything and play hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n 8.\u00a0Got a kick out of this fun fact from my boy Matt Larkin\u2026 but mostly just happy to stop watching Dodgers playoff baseball. It was giving me\u00a0PTSD<\/a>.<\/p>\n 9.\u00a0Connor Hellebuyck<\/a> (.916 career save percentage) remains inactive as the Winnipeg Jets prepare to host the Heritage Classic, and yet 23 teams have a team save percentage of .895 or worse (as of Friday evening). Eleven teams have a save percentage below .880 (!), and most of them have playoff aspirations.<\/p>\n Who gets desperate first? And how wary are GMs of a goalie, no matter how accomplished, who is drifting ever further behind the NHL\u2019s moving train.<\/p>\n Jeremy Swayman was the last stud netminder who started late due to a stalemate, and his 2024-25 campaign was by far his worst (22-29-7, .3.11, .892). It was the only season Swayman missed the playoffs.<\/p>\n 10.\u00a0You can\u2019t make the playoffs in the first month of the season, but you can miss them.<\/p>\n From feel-good story to October laughingstock, the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> have been booed off home ice, chirped online and are still desperately seeking their first win as they suit up for Game 10 against Ottawa Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n Just how ugly is the worst start in Flyers\u2019 history? Even the rebuilding, barebones Flames have a better goal differential than Philadelphia\u2019s minus-22. Eight of their nine losses have come at the hands of conference rivals.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not all Rick Tocchet\u2019s fault, but it could be his problem.<\/p>\n Outside of the injured Ristolainen (UFA 2027), obvious trade candidates are scarce \u2014 unless GM Danny Briere deals a core player with term to jolt a comfy room.<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s the business we\u2019re in; it comes with the territory,\u201d Tocchet acknowledged to reporters. \u201cWe owe the fans a better product on the ice, and we haven\u2019t given it to them yet. When that doesn’t happen, it\u2019s on me. I\u2019ve got to take the blame on that.\u201d<\/p>\n Feels like a decade ago when\u00a0jersey tucks<\/a>\u00a0were the gravest issue in Philly.<\/p>\n 11.\u00a0Now in his sixth season guiding behind the bench in Arizona-turned-Utah, Andr\u00e9 Tourigny has never been under so much pressure to succeed. The coach needs a new contract and, more importantly, needs to make sure the Mammoth (a summertime spender) take another step. For the first time in a long time, there are legitimate expectations with this previously woebegone franchise.<\/p>\n So far, so good. Utah dished Edmonton its first regulation L and sits atop the heavyweight Central Division \u2014 under Tourigny\u2019s organized, roll-the-lines approach that has hints of Hurricane.<\/p>\n