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Good morning to everyone except whoever invented time zones. Five games last night, and three of them start past my bed time? Unacceptable. Um, I mean, I’m a national hockey writer and I definitely watch West Coast teams. You know what, disregard that whole paragraph, we never had this conversation.
Brad Treliving. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
Leafs fire Brad Treliving
We had some late-breaking news last night, with the Leafs firing GM Brad Treliving. No replacement was named, interim or otherwise, and with the trade deadline already passed, they’ve got some time before they’ll need one.
The news itself isn’t exactly shocking, given what a disaster this season had been in Toronto and how little action Treliving had taken to fix that. But you never know, especially with teams that are run the way the Leafs usually are — sometimes a GM who can manage up to his bosses can survive longer than anyone expects. Instead, the Leafs got it right and even did it early enough to get a minor head start on what will be one of the most important hires in modern franchise history.
(On the other hand, the timing does raise the question of why they’d let Treliving handle the trade deadline if his job was already this shaky.)
The bigger question: Who’ll do the hiring? MLSE president and CEO Keith Pelley made the call on Treliving, but this team needs a president on the hockey ops side. Pelley made the call not to replace president Brendan Shanahan last year, which didn’t work out great. Now, we’ll see if he’s willing to bring in a big name who can handle a tough market, or whether counting pennies towards the bottom line is the bigger priority.
We’ll have a ton more analysis of this move and what comes next. For now, check out:
John Tortorella speaks at a news conference after his first game with the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday. (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
Still StunnedWhat’s going on in Vegas?
We’re also still trying to work through the fallout of a Sunday stunner, with the Golden Knights firing Cup-winning coach Bruce Cassidy with just eight games left in the regular season. It’s a nearly unprecedented move (although we have seen it work once, as Pierre LeBrun noted yesterday), and it comes with the heavily hyped Knights still trying to nail down a playoff spot in one of the weakest divisions ever.
If you read the Weekend Rankings, you’ve already seen my initial thoughts on the move. With another day to digest it all, I’ve got four more:
1. Jesse Granger is right, it’s all about the culture — Every team in the NHL is constantly droning on and on about its “identity,” even though pretty much all of them are aiming for the exact same one (details-oriented, defensive, “hard to play against” and boring). But the Golden Knights? That’s a team with an identity. Specifically, one where nobody is safe and winning is the only option. While the rest of the league celebrates loyalty, the Knights view it as purely optional. If there’s somebody out there who can do your job just a little bit better than you can, pack your stuff.
Jesse calls it their “relentless culture” in this must-read column, and he nails it. The Vegas Way works, or at least it has for most of the last eight years. But it also seems exhausting, at least from a distance. Flags fly forever, and lots of us wish our team was as focused on winning at all costs. But you do wonder how long this approach can last. Apparently, the Knights are willing to find out.
2. John Tortorella? Huh. — I mean, it could work. Maybe not for long, but that’s not the plan, with Tortorella apparently not even signed past this season. We’ve seen firings in Buffalo and Columbus result in almost brand-new teams, so maybe the Knights get a bounce here. And let’s be honest, the whole “Tortorella is impossible to play for” narrative is overdone and largely based on his early years in the league. Being a jerk to the media doesn’t mean you can’t lead players, and plenty have said they enjoyed playing for Tortorella. The coach had some fun last night in his first game with the Knights, snapping the team’s three-game skid and calling Nic Dowd the wrong name for half the game.
Still, it’s fair to wonder how this will all play in the Knights’ star-studded room — we’re all wondering about Mitch Marner here, right? But the answer to that could be that it works just fine, at least long enough for the Knights to re-emerge as the favorites in the pacifist Pacific.
Here’s Jesse again, with more on Tortorella’s approach.
3. I can’t wait for Oilers vs. Knights — Both teams were supposed to be elite contenders. Both teams have had miserable seasons. Both have had issues with goaltending and coaching. One team fired its coach and kept its goalie, and one team traded its goalie and kept its coach. And it sure seems like they’re destined to meet in the playoffs, which means one team is going to be right and the other will be lamenting a massive missed opportunity. Playoff projections here.
4. That’s not the last of Bruce Cassidy — He’s a good coach with a recent Cup win who was done in by lousy goaltending. We’ll see him again somewhere, and probably soon. Honestly, you could make an argument that the three best coaches available this summer — Cassidy, Pete DeBoer and Gerard Gallant — are all the Knights’ former bosses. And maybe Tortorella too, if he doesn’t re-sign. (Or if he has a bad first few games and Kelly McCrimmon fires him too.)
Speaking of coaches getting fired …
Robbie Ftorek. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
💡 Trivia Time
You’re going to hear the name Robbie Ftorek this week, because he was the victim the last time an NHL contender made a change behind the bench this late in the season.
That was in 2000, when Ftorek had the Devils on pace for 100 points and an easy playoff spot thanks to a solid offense and a defense that could bottle up opponents. But with a late slump threatening to send the season to the garbage can, GM Lou Lamoriello fired Ftorek with eight games left. Rather than stick with Ftorek, Lamoriello replaced him with Larry Robinson and was rewarded when the Devils won the Stanley Cup that spring.
Just a few weeks before being fired, Ftorek served a rare coaching suspension because he threw something on the ice during a game. What did he throw?
(Hint: I hid the answer somewhere in this question. Did you catch it?)
Answer at the bottom.
Coast to Coast
🚨 Hey, remember when the Wild were contenders? Michael Russo and Joe Smith look into what happened and what comes next.
👶 The 2026 draft is only three months away, so what better time to look all the way ahead to 2027? Scott Wheeler debuts his top 25.
🥅 One year after Ivan Demidov’s arrival in Montreal, Arpon Basu went deep into the Russian rookie’s mystery.
👦🏻 Kevin Kurz writes on incoming prospect Porter Martone, who debuts tonight, and whether he can help the Flyers right away.
🎙️ On “The Athletic Hockey Show,” special guest Chris Pronger joins the boys to discuss the Vegas change and more. Listen or watch here.
Detroit’s Alex DeBrincat and Ottawa’s Artem Zub. (Jaime Crawford / Getty Images)
Can’t Look AwayConflicts of interest 🥊
With so little of the regular season left to play, it’s foolish to try to rank which teams are more interesting than others. After all, we’re at the point where teams are shifting into and out of contention based on a single night of results.
Luckily, I’m a fool. So, today, let’s take a snapshot of the five most interesting teams to watch right now, with the understanding that this list might look completely different in just a few hours. Fair warning, the top team is pretty obvious, unless you skipped past the second section of this newsletter.
5. Ottawa Senators — They’re still more likely to make the playoffs than not, though back-to-back losses have hurt and the rest of the schedule features some tough games. At this point, it seems like there are two possible outcomes: The Sens slip in as a wild card and everyone picks them as their dark horse, or they fall just short and we have to figure out where they rank among the best teams to ever miss the playoffs.
4. Columbus Blue Jackets — Don’t start stumbling now, guys. You’ve been too good a story to have it all crumble now. They’ve got two paths into the playoffs, either through a wild card or a top-three spot in the Metro, so their odds are better than you might think. Still, it might all come down to this week’s home-and-home with Carolina, and just how seriously the Hurricanes want to take these final weeks.
3. Detroit Red Wings — After ranking near the top of last week’s “most pressure” list, they’ve lost three of four in regulation. The good news, such as it is: There’s only one game left in March, the month this team probably wishes it could skip every year.
2. St. Louis Blues — There’s no way this is really happening, right? This is not a good team, it sold at the deadline, and it’s too far behind for this late win streak to do anything but torpedo its draft pick. I think. I’m pretty sure. Except … maybe? In a season where nothing makes sense, this year’s Blues making a frantic playoff push based on their goaltending is as realistic a scenario as any.
1. Vegas Golden Knights — This will be their first losing season, in the true sense of those words, as opposed to the fake points percentage one. With just over two weeks left, they still haven’t locked in a playoff spot, and the Oilers are starting to look like they may have found their level. We can worry about that first-round matchup later, but a Knights miss would be one of the biggest disasters in recent memory. That was enough to put them somewhere on this list already, but Sunday’s shocking coaching change pushes them to the very top. Good luck, Torts. You might need it.
What to Watch
📺 Canadiens @ Lightning
7 p.m. ET on ESPN+ / TSN2 / RDS
This one is looking more and more like a first-round preview, a classic scenario where a young, up-and-coming team faces the weathered veterans with the closing window. They face each other again next week in Montreal, and then … well, we’ll see.
📺 Red Wings @ Penguins
7 p.m. ET on ESPN+
It’s a day that ends in a Y, so it must be time for the Red Wings to play the most crucial game of their season. A regulation win means Detroit would catch Pittsburgh in the standings, although that may or may not actually help them, given how the wild card works. Either way, both teams desperately need points. And the rest of the Eastern logjam wants to see this one end in 60 minutes.
📺 Islanders @ Sabres
7 p.m. ET on ESPN+
📺 Senators @ Panthers
7 p.m. ET on ESPN+ / TSN2 / RDS
📺 Flyers @ Capitals
7 p.m. ET on ESPN+
Call it a three-for-one of games that might not matter a ton to the home team, but the visitors need to find a way to secure two points to keep pace in the Eastern race.
Full NHL schedule here. Try streaming games like these for free on Fubo.
(Steven Ryan / Getty Images)
No Dumb Questions
We believe that in hockey, as in life, there are no dumb questions. So, if you have something you’ve always wondered about the sport, ask away by emailing us at redlight@theathletic.com.
Long and short of it 📐
I’m embarrassed, but I’ve never understood the concept of “the long change,” or what the period of the long change is, and how this impacts the game being played.
I would love an explanation. — Jim L.
Happy to help, Jim.
In the NHL, teams switch ends each period, which is to say they alternate which goal they’re defending. But they don’t switch benches, because it would be a pain in the neck to move all that stuff.
That means that in the first and third periods, a team is defending the goal closest to its bench. That makes life a little bit easier because players don’t have as far to go when changing after being in the defensive zone.
But in the second period, each team is defending the net that’s farthest from the bench. That’s the “long change,” and it can be dangerous because it’s easier to get trapped in your own zone. That’s especially dangerous when it comes to defensemen. (If you watch closely, you’ll notice that blueliners typically switch which sides of the bench they sit on from period to period, staying closer to their goalie.)
It all adds up to longer shifts, more tired defensive players and, ultimately, more goals. Not a ton more, but enough to be noticeable over long periods of time. We see more scoring in the second period than in the first. (The third period is harder to compare because the game score and situation impact both teams’ strategies.)
Note that in the playoffs, the long change also applies to the first overtime period, as well as the third OT and potentially beyond. So, expect to see teams being extra careful around line changes, often getting guys off the ice earlier, rather than risking being caught out too long.
Trivia Answer
No, Robbie Ftorek did not get suspended for throwing a garbage can. Or a bottle. Or even a stick. The answer is even weirder than that.
Just a few months before his now-famous firing, Ftorek was suspended by the NHL for throwing a bench onto the ice. No, really. You can read about it here.
Somewhat amazingly, a coach tossing furniture around only led to a one-game suspension. I guess the league felt like it was only a bench minor.
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