When the NHL called Manon Rheaume a couple of weeks ago to ask if she'd be interested in participating in the All-Star Skills Competition - set for this coming weekend in Las Vegas - her answer was a no-brainer.

"Yes, of course," Rheaume thought. "I mean, why not!?"

One problem: Rheaume, the long-retired goaltender who made history by appearing in an NHL exhibition game in September 1992, didn't own suitable gear. Bauer quickly sent Rheaume brand-new equipment so the former Canadian Olympian could squeeze in a few warm-up sessions before Vegas.

"I had not been on the ice in forever," Rheaume said Tuesday in an interview.

"I didn't realize how easy it is to get dressed now as a goalie and how light this stuff is. You can play with it right away. It's all broken in."

Rheaume, who covers the Red Wings as a TV analyst and reporter for Bally Sports Detroit, is one of four "special guests" taking part in Friday's skills event at T-Mobile Arena. The pro hockey trailblazer and current under-12 girls coach will face off against world-class danglers in the Breakaway Challenge, which also features Anaheim Ducks sensation Trevor Zegras.

"I hope the puck is going to touch me at some point," Rheaume joked.

While waiting at the airport for her flight from Detroit to Vegas, Rheaume chatted with theScore about a variety of topics - breaking new ground 30 years ago, the state of women's hockey, the rebuilding Wings, and more.

(Note: The following conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.)

Let's go back to 1992. You arrive in Tampa, Florida, for Lightning training camp. What are your expectations for the on-ice portion of the camp and also for how you'd be received off the ice by teammates, coaches, etc.?

It's funny, because back then I was 20 years old, and I had zero expectations. I had no idea how this whole experience would change my life. When I was younger, a lot of people would say no to me because I was a girl. They didn't want me to play at the highest level. And then suddenly, after getting cut three or four times, one coach picked the best goalie, and he picked me. So I played two years, bantam AA. And then (the next level) was midget AAA, and they invited everyone who had played AA except for me. Because I was a girl.

I faced so much of that along the way that when I got invited to Tampa, I told myself I didn't want to have any regrets, and I need to take this chance because, obviously, it's never going to come back. (laughs) And I just went there with zero expectations. I didn't know how I would be received. My English was not very good, so I just went there and tried to do my best.

I remember thinking that first time I stepped on the ice was probably going to be the most important moment. We started right away with a mini-tournament, and I did not allow any goals on 14 shots. I was the only goalie in that game who did not allow a goal. That totally changed how people saw me, too. It's almost like I gained respect from the players and the media and the people that were there.

It's after that performance that (then-Lightning general manager Phil Esposito) announced that, by the way she played today, maybe you'll see her in an exhibition game.

You made seven saves on nine shots in that exhibition game against the St. Louis Blues. What are the flashbulb memories 30 years later? What really resonates still to this day about the period you were in goal?

The walk from my locker room to the ice. It was probably the most nervous I've ever been. I remember my heart beating so fast. It felt like it was coming out of my chest.

But the cool thing is, when I stepped on the ice, I kind of forgot that I was playing an NHL game and what I was about to do. I just stepped on the ice, and the butterflies went away, and I was just ready to play a hockey game. That feeling was probably the coolest feeling I've ever had. It's almost like, "This is what you've been doing all of your life. This is what you love to do. And this is what you're about to do right now."

It was really, really a cool feeling. And then, right away, we got a penalty. They were on the power play, like, within the first minute of the game, and I'm thinking to myself, "Really!?" (laughs) But it was probably the best thing because I had two or three shots right away, and it got me into the game. And the Tampa players, too, they started to feel good about it. After the first period, it was 2-2, so for me, it was a big victory.

Women's hockey action at the Beijing Olympics starts this week. Do you recall what you were doing and how you were feeling a day or two before the 1998 Olympic tournament began in Nagano, Japan?

One memory is the bus pulling into the (athletes' Olympic) village, and you step out of the bus, and you're seeing the village in front of you, and it was just a very overwhelming feeling. Like, wow. It made it real.

The other moment is the opening ceremony. I remember, as a kid, always watching the opening ceremony, and every time Canada would come through (the stadium), I'd try to see how they were dressed. You had that pride of seeing your country walking around, and this time it was me. So I couldn't take the smile off my face the entire time I walked around.

If I'm picturing the Canadian athletes from Nagano correctly, you guys were wearing those famous - or infamous, depending on who you ask - red Roots caps. Do you still have the cap? Is it a souvenir?

I still have all of my Roots stuff. I have my jackets. I have my boots. I kept everything. It was an iconic hat, right? Like, everyone talked about that hat. We'd put it backward. It was just so cool.

While Finland has made up some ground in the women's game recently, the sport is still dominated by Canada and the United States. Heading into Beijing, who's your gold medal favorite? And why?

I played hockey in Canada, (I've) had a lot of friends on Team Canada over the years and some who continue to be involved. But I live in the States, so I've coached a lot of the young girls that play now. I coached Kendall Coyne, Alex Rigsby (Cavallini), Megan Bozek, Abbey Murphy. I have ties on both sides, knowing people. And I've just been enjoying watching the games.

What is really cool about the women's game is that when Canada and U.S. are on the ice, they're competing. They want to win. But they have such a respect for each other because they've all tried to grow the women's game. When we started, Canada and USA, we used to dislike each other (off the ice, too). The rivalry was different. Now, they still compete and fight, and there's intensity. But they're all also growing the women's game.

As far as looking at (who's going to win gold), Canada won the last world championship, but the U.S. had the last five. The U.S. won the last Olympics, but Canada won the last four. So, it could be either/or.

The (tune-up) games prior to the Olympics, yes, Canada won four of the six, but three of them went into OT. It could have gone either way, so to me, the way that I look at the Games is that it's going to come down to goaltending. Who's going to be the hottest goalie in the (gold-medal game)? And also discipline. In a lot of those big games, not a lot of goals are scored five-on-five. A lot of the goals are scored on the power play. So the team who is going to be the most disciplined and who has the goalie that's the hottest, to me, that's the team that's going to win.

You mentioned coaching Kendall Coyne. We all know about her incredible speed after her performance at the 2019 NHL All-Star Skills Competition. What else should people know about Kendall?

I coached her for quite a few tournaments, and I knew she was going to go far in life. Not just in hockey but in life. Because it was her drive, her work ethic, and she was always the best player on any team that I coached. But she also never acted like she was the best player. She always worked harder than anybody else on the ice, off the ice. Just a great person with a great work ethic, and really, a great team player.

The women's professional game remains in a holding pattern of sorts, where it seems like the consensus long-term solution is to establish a sustainable top league. What's your hope for the future?

You cannot have two or three leagues going at the same time. You're just fighting for players and splitting up players. Women's hockey is not big enough to have something like that. You need to have one league with the top players available to play in that league.

I think it would be important to have maybe a second league to give a chance to some young girls who maybe aren't making the team right away but could eventually. Or even some woman who doesn't make the top league but can still play somewhat professionally and make some money out of it. But trying to compete and have two pro leagues, or three, is just never going to work. It would be like having two NHLs. It's not going to work.

Speaking of the NHL, we're seeing women assume key roles in hockey operations, whether it's through management, player development, scouting, analytics. Have you given any thought to working in the NHL?

Of course. If the right opportunity would come, with all of the experience I have gained over the years, between coaching and building a (youth hockey) program and having two boys that play at a high level, I would consider it.

It's funny, sometimes I see some kids my sons played with that get drafted, or not drafted, and you just know the type of player they are when they're younger, and then you're like, "Ah, not surprised this person didn't make it." Or, "I knew this kid was going to make it." Because you saw what they were doing at a younger age, with their character and everything else. Knowing what you need to get to the next level, you have a good idea of who can make it. Hockey's been my life. Between playing and having kids that play, coaching. So, definitely, it would be something that I would consider if the right opportunity would come.

Do you know new Canucks assistant GM Emilie Castonguay?

I don't know her personally. But I do know her story. Obviously, she did an amazing job as an agent. Well-respected. It's the same thing you have in Montreal with (new GM) Kent Hughes, and we saw it with Pierre Lacroix years ago with Colorado. These are agents becoming managers. They understand the player side, and they also have dealt with management over the years, so they have a certain experience that other people may not have. I think that can be very beneficial, having been working on the other side for (so long).

Valid point. It can go as far as somebody who hasn't played high-level hockey bringing a fresh mind to the analytics department, right? It's smart to have different perspectives in your organization, period.

And it's not to have diversity just to say you have diversity. That's what, I think, people need to understand. Bringing diversity is bringing different ideas.

They made that book, "Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus," because we think differently, which means maybe we approach things differently. It doesn't mean one is better than the other one. But, as a team, as an organization, or even a company, the reason why you should want to find diversity is because you have different ideas, different views. Getting that perspective, that view, is just so valuable.

The reason I truly believe in this is because when I was coaching my boys at a younger age, I had so many parents that would say to me that the way that I was approaching coaching, because I'm a mom, was different. I communicated with the kids better, and I was more about positive reinforcement and trying to get to know the kids. You know which kids you need to be a little harder on, which kids you need to be more positive. You get to know how each kid reacts. Some of the male coaches, then, didn't have the patience to deal with it. And it's not bad, or it's not good, it's just their way.

That's where I feel bringing diversity to a team or a company can be very beneficial. It's a different look or a different view.

OK, let's finish with some Red Wings talk. Plenty of breakout years from rookies, including goalie Alex Nedeljkovic. From your perspective as a former goalie, what's been most impressive about Alex's season?

I like a lot of things about Nedeljkovic. But what I think I like the most is how competitive he is and how he is able to, at a young age, move on from a bad goal. That's a big strength as a goalie. Being a goalie - it's so much in your head.

He can read the play very, very well. And he's athletic. So he reacts to the play and to the shot. He's not a blocker, and that's why sometimes he makes those amazing saves, where it looks like he's doing whatever he needs to do to stop the puck. He's reacting to what's in front of him. He doesn't have the size (at only 6-foot-1) to be a blocker.

I also like the way he plays the puck. To me, a goalie who can play the puck is huge. It's like your third defenseman. Coaches know how important it is, defensemen and forwards know how important it is, but a lot of hockey fans don't understand the difference it can make.

Detroit could make the playoffs this season, but it's highly improbable at this point. How would you evaluate the state of the Red Wings and their rebuild? How far is this team from returning to prominence?

Bringing Steve Yzerman back to Detroit (as GM) was really the start of getting back to where the Red Wings want to be. It's never going to be like it was back in the day. That was before the salary cap. (laughs) They were able to get whoever wanted to win the Cup. They were all coming to the Red Wings. They were able to build those amazing teams. Now, with the salary cap, it's a little different.

But you saw what he did with Tampa Bay, building a Cup-winning team. Even just the decisions he's made so far in Detroit, drafting (Moritz) Seider. People were wondering why he picked him so early (at sixth overall). Same thing with (Lucas) Raymond. Yzerman just has this amazing hockey mind. He knows what it takes as a player because he was successful. He knows the style of player that he needs, and he knows now how to build a team after being in Tampa Bay. He knows he needs to be patient.

I truly feel that this season, with having Seider, Raymond, and Nedeljkovic, it has not been just a few good games. They've been consistent all year long, as players and as a team. They've sped up their rebuilding. They're a few years away from really making (a deep playoff run). We'd like to see them in the playoffs this year, but it's going to be a hard battle to get there.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

Copyright © 2022 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Jordan Eberle sat in front of a computer screen this past Friday, fielding questions from familiar voices while sporting a Seattle Kraken baseball cap.

Over Zoom, New York-area reporters asked the former New York Islander about the Kraken's inaugural season and life on the West Coast. In one response, Eberle made an apt comparison between his old and current teams.

"We didn't really have that juggernaut offensive talent, and we weren't going to outscore teams," Eberle said of those well-structured Islanders squads.

"And we're no different here," he said of the 14-25-4 Kraken.

For various reasons - including a dearth of goal scoring - Seattle sits 30th in the NHL standings, besting only the woeful Arizona Coyotes and Montreal Canadiens in points percentage. If the Vegas Golden Knights were a tidal wave that engulfed the sport, the Kraken have been a cold shower and a startling reminder of how elusive on-ice success can be for a brand-new franchise.

With help from Kraken forward Yanni Gourde, Root Sports TV analyst JT Brown, and HockeyViz.com's Micah Blake McCurdy, let's take a look at what's gone wrong so far and what to keep an eye on moving forward.

The glaring issue

After the dust settled on an offseason of roster building through the expansion draft and free agency, the Kraken opened their first-ever training camp with a lineup that, on paper, looked primed to challenge for a playoff spot in Year 1.

The team featured a promising goaltending tandem of Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger, a well-rounded defense corps anchored by 2019 Norris Trophy winner Mark Giordano, and a solid yet unremarkable collection of forwards. They had the hockey world believing the Kraken would be imbalanced, yes, but also competitive.

"I pegged them as being very weak offensively and very strong defensively," McCurdy said. The season preview he wrote for his website predicted the Kraken would finish third in the Pacific Division, behind Vegas and the Calgary Flames.

And here we are, just past the midway point of the season, and Seattle is already being counted out by predictive models at MoneyPuck.com, The Athletic, and McCurdy's HockeyViz.com. The Kraken - whose latest loss came Sunday against the New York Rangers - have dug a hole so deep that they've been given a roughly 0% chance of making the playoffs by all three models.

The primary source of disappointment through 44 games? Goaltending.

The Kraken's team save percentage is .876 - a shockingly poor rate given the Grubauer-Driedger duo had been widely celebrated as a strength before the season, even if it was unlikely Grubauer would replicate his Vezina-caliber performance from 2020-21. (For context, the 1999-00 Tampa Bay Lightning and '99-00 Atlanta Thrashers at .876 and .877, respectively, count as the last teams to finish an NHL season with a save percentage below .880.)

Kraken skaters have ostensibly done a bang-up job limiting the quantity and quality of shots fired toward their netminders during five-on-five action. Evolving Hockey ranks Seattle second in the league in expected goals against per 60 minutes, second in shot attempts against per 60, second in unblocked shot attempts per 60, and second in shots on goal against per 60.

Those underlying numbers suggest the goalies (including third-stringer Joey Daccord, who's appeared in four games) simply aren't holding up their end of the bargain. Gourde, for one, disagrees with that line of thinking, insisting the Kraken's forwards and defensemen haven't provided nearly enough support.

"I don't see it that way," the veteran center told theScore this past Friday. "We weren't playing solid as a team. Most of the time, (the goalie is) the last layer. If you're not playing well in front of them, it's easy to make them look bad. I don't think it's on them. As a whole, we weren't satisfied with our game."

You'll notice Gourde used the past tense in the above quote. That's because, at the time of our conversation, the Kraken had won four of six, with Grubauer posting single-game save percentages above .900 in four of his five appearances. It was the best stretch of the season for the entire group.

"The goalies been excellent lately, and they give us confidence," said Gourde, who's third in team scoring with 23 points in 36 games. "Every single night, we know we have a chance to win, and that's really helpful."

As Eberle noted, the Kraken aren't built to regularly outscore the opposition, and they've largely lived up to that characterization. Jared McCann may lead the team with 18 tallies, but he's outside the NHL's top 25 in goals, while Eberle (12) and Gourde (10) are the only other Seattle players in double digits.

The Kraken are scoring 2.6 goals a game, which makes the calculus pretty easy in a league where the typical contest features six total goals scored. "If you're going to play that way, you don't have much margin for error," McCurdy said. "Because if your goalie lets in a bad goal, that's the whole game."

The underlying problems

In contrast to Eberle's old Isles teams - who played responsible, straight-line hockey under coach Barry Trotz - Seattle has been too inconsistent from shift to shift, period to period, and game to game under bench boss Dave Hakstol.

Often, the Kraken have either started poorly and then been unable to find that next gear to mount a comeback (as evidenced by the club's 3-18 record when trailing after the first period) or started well and then been unable to keep the lead. "Teams always talk about 'finding a way to win' even when you're not at your best," Brown said. "That's one thing that Seattle hasn't been able to do."

This is a particularly concerning trend from the first half because the Kraken's team identity is supposed to be grounded by an all-for-one, one-for-all mentality. Whether it's forwards backchecking hard, defensemen taking care of the puck, or the special teams following the pre-scout and executing in-game, attention to detail is hugely important within Hakstol's system.

"Knowing how much talent there is in this league, and how difficult it is to win in this league," Gourde said, "you have to think about your own end first."

General manager Ron Francis made a few debatable selections during the expansion draft by choosing a largely defensive-minded crop of players. What's interesting in hindsight is that Francis didn't have a bunch of all-around, two-way forwards sitting there waiting to be picked. "Maybe two or three, with Eberle and McCann, and they got them both," McCurdy said.

"After that," McCurdy continued, "you have to choose guys who have an obvious flaw of one kind or another in their game. You can choose guys who are weak offensively and who are strong defensively, or you can choose guys who have some finishing talent and who are weak in their own end."

Gourde and free-agent signee Jaden Schwartz are two other Seattle forwards who have offensive pop. Like Eberle and McCann, they could easily assume a prominent role elsewhere in the NHL. And while the production could be better from these four quality NHLers, they're not necessarily the problem. Instead, a lack of elite talent to lead the attack is what's ailing the Kraken.

"The Kraken basically have a second line and then three third lines. And that's what you get when you're putting your team together from an expansion draft, right?" McCurdy said with a laugh.

The positive spin

The sky isn't falling in Seattle.

"If we have this same conversation at the end of the season and look at the splits - first half, second half - I think it's going to look a lot different," Brown said.

That bounce-back prediction is in part reliant on the Kraken's 23 players settling in, both individually and as a group. Let's not forget, they're still relatively new to the city, organization, and Hakstol's system. It's reasonable to expect the Kraken to look more cohesive in the back half of the schedule.

Brown, who played six full NHL seasons as a forward for the Lightning, Anaheim Ducks, and Minnesota Wild, also believes Seattle's goaltending is slowly moving in the right direction. And, when asked for a breakout pick in the coming months, he tapped Joonas Donskoi, the versatile ex-Colorado Avalanche winger who has 14 assists but no goals in 43 games.

"Once he gets the first one, it's going to turn around for him," Brown said.

As for the big picture, McCurdy notes outside observers can't forget the fact that the Kraken clearly have a concrete plan in place - an internal idea of how to build a sustainable winner. Francis was conservative in the expansion draft, and aside from signing Grubauer and Schwartz in free agency, put his phone away in the offseason. This patient approach has positioned Seattle nicely from a financial standpoint, which is extremely valuable in the salary cap era.

With five pending unrestricted free agents on the roster, it's likely Francis adds to his prospect pool and/or draft pick haul in the leadup to the March 21 trade deadline. Giordano, the No. 1 defenseman and captain, is the most appealing trade chip, and he's made a significant impact on the Kraken in a short time.

"Guys like that, they haven't been around this league for this long for no reason," Gourde said of Giordano, 38 years old and undrafted. "It's not about luck, it's about work ethic, and he brings it every day. Seeing what he does every single day, I think he can inspire a lot of people on our team, and hopefully, some of the guys take that and build a little bit on their own."

Ultimately, the Kraken are attempting to build a winning culture from scratch. Exactly like Vegas five years ago. This time, however, the process is taking longer than a few months - which is normal, given the circumstances.

"I'm not going to go out there and say they're going to win 20 straight and somehow earn a playoff spot," Brown said. "But it's all about being competitive. That should be the main goal, especially for an expansion team."

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

Copyright © 2022 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

What's driving Nazem Kadri's outsized production this season?

"Everyone keeps asking me that, and I'm not exactly sure how to answer," the Colorado Avalanche center told theScore earlier in January.

Kadri has erupted for 51 points in 35 games to rank fifth in points and fourth in points per game among all NHLers. He's already set a career high in assists with 36. After some prodding, the vote-in All-Star offered a few thoughts on why he's enjoying a career year at age 31 in his 12th NHL campaign.

First, Kadri noted, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar truly believes the forward is a "difference-maker" and "game-changer." That faith has seen Kadri average a career-high 18:50 of ice time per game alongside a group of wingers with complementary skill sets - Andre Burakovsky on the left side and Valeri Nichushkin, Logan O'Connor, or J.T. Compher on the right.

Secondly, Kadri believes his skating has never been this explosive, his shot has never been this accurate, and his release has never been this quick. Interestingly, unlike virtually all of his peers, Kadri opted not to work with a skills or skating coach this past offseason - a departure from previous training habits.

"I've been doing this for a long time, and at some point, you start to understand your body and what you need and certain drills that work for you," Kadri said of his offseason training regimen, which featured regular skates with NHLers. "I try to apply that mentality to each and every practice, and it seems to be paying off."

My two cents: There appears to be finer precision in Kadri's game this season. His timing around the puck has been just right, and he seems to activate "attack mode" - angling to the net intent on scoring, marching through the neutral zone with purposeful strides, etc. - more frequently.

Kadri admitted to entering 2021-22 with "a bit of a chip on my shoulder." He was suspended for eight games last postseason after delivering a blindside hit on Justin Faulk in Game 2 of Colorado's first-round series against the St. Louis Blues. The Avalanche were eliminated before Kadri returned from his sixth career suspension - and third during playoff action - so he sagged into the offseason with his approval rating at an all-time low.

Among the criticisms - most of which were fair, given Kadri's suspension history - was a scathing Denver Post column. It ran under the headline, "Avalanche should cut ties ASAP with cheap-shot artist Nazem Kadri."

"Stupidity," Mark Kiszla wrote, "is a drug Kadri can't quit. The Avalanche gave him a second chance after he wore out his welcome in Toronto, but general manager Joe Sakic would be foolish to think Kadri is capable of meaningful reformation."

Needless to say, Kadri's career year couldn't have come at a better time for his reputation or his wallet (he's a pending unrestricted free agent).

"And those people aren't so loud now," Kadri said, talking in general terms about his critics. "It's funny how that works. All of those naysayers come out after something like that (Faulk hit) happens, then you have a big performance, and everyone kind of fades away. For me, that's fuel to the fire. I want to be able to make these doubters look like fools."

Kadri has one thing left to prove: That he can play smart and continue this level of production - or some variation of it, anyway - over a long playoff run.

Revisiting Laine-Dubois trade

Sunday marks one year since the Winnipeg Jets and Columbus Blue Jackets swapped struggling, unhappy young forwards in a blockbuster deal. Center Pierre-Luc Dubois and a 2022 third-round draft pick went from Columbus to Winnipeg, while winger Patrik Laine and center Jack Roslovic went the other way.

It was hard to crown a winner at the time. Would the change of scenery help Dubois return to the trajectory of an elite two-way center? Would it help Laine rediscover the sharpshooting magic that allowed him to score 80 goals in his first two NHL seasons?

Even after a year, neither question has been answered fully - though Dubois is certainly closer to his ceiling than Laine is to his. (Roslovic's play, meanwhile, hasn't tipped the value of the trade beyond the future value of that third-round pick.) So, Winnipeg has made out better in the trade, but it hasn't necessarily hit a home run.

The 2020-21 season was disastrous for both Dubois and Laine. Quarantines, injuries, and the complications of joining a new organization contributed to the worst season of each player's career. The separator, then, is Dubois' strong performance so far in 2021-22:

Points aren't everything, especially for two 23-year-olds aiming to round out their respective games (more offense for Dubois, more defense for Laine). But the eye test and statistics both show clearly that Dubois has had a greater impact in all three zones of the ice. In fact, he's arguably been the Jets' best forward behind Kyle Connor.

Context is key, of course, and observers can't ignore what Laine has endured. The Finn suffered an oblique injury in early November. While he was sidelined, he traveled home to say goodbye to his father, Harri, who died on Nov. 21.

On the ice, Laine has mostly had weaker linemates than Dubois. The pairing of Boone Jenner and Jakub Voracek doesn't quite stack up to a duo of Connor and one of Nikolaj Ehlers, Evgeny Svechnikov, and Andrew Copp.

That said, the results at the one-year mark speak for themselves, and the Jets have squeezed more on-ice value out of the trade than the Blue Jackets.

It's probably best to judge trades five years after they occur, so we'll see how the next four seasons unfold. Laine and Dubois are both restricted free agents this summer and set to hit unrestricted free agency in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

Fighting numbers up

After watching Nicolas Deslauriers and Kurtis MacDermid throw down during Colorado's game against the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday, I wondered if the recent rush of tilts I've seen was a trend or coincidence.

There have been 0.5 fighting majors per game this season, up from 0.46 in 2020-21. So, a small increase. But what about the per-game averages each season since 2010-11?

Fighting decreased significantly in the 2010s; the NHL went from an average of one fighting major per game to one roughly every three games. Over the past two seasons, however, the per-game average has crept back up.

Some theories as to why this may be: first, players are human, and some pandemic-related angst has been spilling onto the ice; second, empty or half-full arenas tend to breed energy-boosting acts - such as starting a fight; third, the addition of a 32nd team created 23 new roster spots league-wide, and some of those spots have been filled by less skilled, fight-happy players; fourth, there's been a small-scale swing back in the direction of brute physicality after a decade of obsession over skill and speed.

Though a span of last year's shortened season and this year's first half doesn't constitute a legitimate big-picture trend, the uptick in fighting is something to keep an eye on. As for the busiest fighters thus far, here's the leaderboard: Liam O'Brien (Arizona Coyotes, eight majors), Tanner Jeannot (Nashville Predators, eight), Mark Borowiecki (Predators, six), Deslauriers (Ducks, six), and Jacob Middleton (San Jose Sharks, six). Nashville has been particularly pugilistic with 27 fights, well ahead of second-place Arizona's 18.

Parting thoughts

Eastern playoff picture: The Eastern Conference standings are comically lopsided right now. Eight teams - four from the Atlantic Division, four from the Metropolitan - are firmly in playoff position with points percentages between .750 (Carolina Hurricanes) and .646 (Washington Capitals). From there, it falls off to .513 (Detroit Red Wings), .500 (New York Islanders and Blue Jackets), and so on. In other words, don't expect any thrilling playoff races out east.

Ryan Hartman: It sure looks like the Minnesota Wild have found Kirill Kaprizov's long-term center in Hartman, who thinks the game well, plays with an edge, and can really pick a corner. Hartman, 27, is a journeyman of sorts, having played for three NHL teams before joining Minnesota in 2019. The native of South Carolina has 16 goals and 14 assists in 35 games this season and carries a $1.7-million cap hit through 2023-24. He's a rare breed, too: a forward who's successfully moved from the wing to center. It's usually the other way around by the time a player reaches the best league in the world.

Montreal Canadiens: New Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes faces a unique challenge. His club isn't devoid of talent or weighed down by a bunch of immovable, albatross contracts. No, Montreal's roster is littered with guys who are in or around their prime, have been injured or haven't played well of late, and are signed for multiple years past this season (two examples: Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher). Keeping all of those pieces isn't the move for a rebuilding or resetting team. But the Canadiens have minimal leverage, so netting satisfactory returns via trade won't be easy either.

Takes, Thoughts, and Trends is theScore's biweekly hockey grab bag.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

Copyright © 2022 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

On Thursday, the Golden Knights welcome the Montreal Canadiens to Las Vegas for the final game in what's been a messy first half of the season for the club.

Vegas is first in the Pacific Division with a 23-15-2 record. However, the Knights, a preseason Stanley Cup favorite, rank 13th overall in points percentage. The team has been hammered by misfortune, already losing roughly 250 man-games to injury or illness. Meanwhile, superstar Jack Eichel, acquired from Buffalo in November, has yet to play a single shift for his new club after undergoing his long-awaited surgery.

All of this has forced head coach Pete DeBoer to project Vegas' future.

"We've played well enough without everybody in the lineup that I am optimistic that if we can get to full health here, we have the ability to really find another level," DeBoer said Tuesday in a phone interview with theScore.

DeBoer, 53, has been behind an NHL bench every season since 2008-09. He started in Florida, moved on to New Jersey and then San Jose, and then landed in Vegas two years ago. Only Colorado and Carolina own a better regular-season points percentage than the Knights in the DeBoer era, though both coach and franchise remain locked in on that elusive first Stanley Cup.

We caught up with DeBoer to discuss the state of the Knights and more.

(Note: The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.)

You're atop the Pacific Division with a plus-19 goal differential, but this season has been a journey thanks to a long list of injuries and COVID-19 absences. How would you evaluate your club's performance at what's roughly the halfway point of the season?

I'd use the word "resilient" in my evaluation. And I would say I still don't have a good handle on how good we are because of that. I've never had a year where we've had this many man-games lost to injuries. When you throw COVID-19 into it, which has hit us hard, (it hasn't been easy). And we haven't had good timing with it, either. It's been two or three guys every week instead of a large group where you get everybody back (at the same time). It's been a short lineup every night, and I think we've been resilient in our approach and in our ability to survive it.

When I look around the league, there are some teams that, in similar situations, have been buried. I'm looking forward to getting the injuries and COVID in the rearview mirror and seeing down the stretch what our team really has the opportunity to be.

What would you like to see your team improve upon in the second half?

Off the top of my head, we've got to defend better, from our goaltender (starter Robin Lehner has a .904 save percentage) through our team structure. That's what wins in the playoffs. That's what's always been foundational for us. We have to defend our net better. I think special teams can always use improvement. Those would probably be the two areas that jump out to me.

Take me back to November, when general manager Kelly McCrimmon acquired Jack Eichel. How did it all go down from your perspective? What kinds of thoughts ran through your head in those early moments?

I was looped in right from the beginning of the talks about Jack. A deal like that (involving three players, including a superstar, and three draft picks) doesn't get put together overnight. There's a long runway before you finally consummate something like that. I was looped in all along. I knew there was a possibility, but really, until the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed, as a coach, you don't let yourself go there because you don't want to get your hopes up. And there were other teams involved until the end.

When it finally happened and I got that call from Kelly, that's the first time you let your guard down and start thinking about what this guy could mean to our group and the importance of him. Obviously, with what we gave up, I think we all feel that we needed a true No. 1 center and a game-changing-type guy. They're really hard to find, and they're never available in their prime, so we're excited.

As a rival coach, you had an opinion of Jack as a player and person before he arrived in Vegas. I'm curious, now that you've worked with him on the ice and talked off it, what have you learned about Jack?

He's even more impressive once you get to know him. The package of skill and speed and size is really, really something. But, more importantly for me, is his determination to come back and prove to everybody that he's one of the best players in the world. You can feel that in the conversations with him. And that's exciting.

I know you get some version of this question fairly often, but I'll ask it anyway: What's the timeline for Jack's return? When are you expecting to finally plug him into the Golden Knights' lineup?

Well, he's been cleared to rejoin our group, but in a non-contact environment. All along, the time length from the surgeon who did the operation was no contact for at least 12 weeks, or three months. It'll be early-to-mid-February before we hit that threshold. And then, from there, it's really just based on how he's feeling and how comfortable he is, and how long it takes him to get back up to game speed. They said anywhere from three to five months. Obviously, we're hoping it's closer to three, but we don't know where that'll end up.

It's no secret that pieces will have to be moved to fit Jack's contract under the salary cap. The cap situation is what it is, players will be traded, waived, and/or scratched. How do you, as head coach, make sure all of this uncertainty doesn't become a distraction in the dressing room?

You know what, it's almost impossible for it not to be a little bit of a distraction. But it's no bigger of a distraction than the trade deadline, or if your team is in a slump and the rumors start. I think pro players at this level understand the landscape and are trained to deal with that. I don't really see it as an issue. I think, from the organization's perspective, it's a great problem to have - if we can get there - and that's too many healthy, really good players.

Do you feel lucky, in a way, to be a coach working for a management group that's historically been very aggressive with player acquisition? This is far from the first big splash the Knights' front office has made.

It was the single most attractive thing for me when I was speaking to them for the job - their all-in commitment to winning. It started Day 1, when Bill Foley, the owner, said the goal was to have a Stanley Cup within the first six or seven years. Everyone kind of rolled their eyes, but they've been to the Cup Final (in 2018 under former coach Gerard Gallant) and two conference finals (in 2020 and 2021 under DeBoer). We've been knocking on the door, and that's been the mandate since Day 1. A lot of organizations say that's the mandate, but they don't back it up. Here, their actions speak louder than words.

Center Chandler Stephenson leads the team with 37 points in 39 games. The knock on Chandler, at least in the past, has been that he's the beneficiary of great linemates. But there's definitely more to the story. Can you break down exactly what makes Chandler so effective?

One, I think Chandler's answered those questions about linemates this year because he's played with everybody. Mark Stone has missed significant time. Max Pacioretty has missed significant time. Those were his traditional linemates. He's answered those questions from Day 1 of this year with his production and what he's done with everybody (from Evgenii Dadonov to William Carrier to Mattias Janmark). His greatest asset is his speed. He has put-you-on-your-heels type of acceleration and speed. He's got a good competitiveness to him. He also came into the league as a fourth-line player and won a Stanley Cup in Washington, which gives you that foundation of the fourth-line workman-like identity. When you combine that with elite speed and skill, you've got a real good hockey player.

You guys hit the road next week, and the trip out east includes stops in Raleigh for a game against the Hurricanes, Sunrise for a game against the Panthers, and Tampa for a game against the Lightning. Has that three-game stretch become the new California? A gauntlet of sorts?

For sure. And you've seen the teams that have gone through (this) in the last month (struggle). There are a lot of O-fers on that trip. (Laughs). We've also got Washington on the front end of it, so it's a real test for us, and I'm excited to see how we respond to it. The last long trip we had out east was (Bruins), Islanders, Rangers, Devils. We ended up sweeping the trip. We're comfortable on the road, but this is a whole different test than anything we've had so far.

All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas is creeping up here. What's something you're looking forward to as not only the coach of the Pacific Division squad, but also as an ambassador for the host city and franchise?

Any time you get to coach in an All-Star Game, it's a great honor and it's a testament to your coaching staff and players, and this year, in particular, our training staff and our medical team. Without them, we wouldn't have been in a position to compete for first place when they decided who would coach in the All-Star Game. The thing I'm looking forward to the most - and I've coached in one before (in 2017 while with the Sharks) - is that it's in our hometown and our home rink and in front of our home fans. That's going to be extra special. The All-Star Game is always about enjoying the experience and making sure your family's around, so we'll try to do both of those things.

One last topic: I wanted to ask you about your longtime friend and coaching rival Paul Maurice. I assume you've touched base with Paul recently. How's he doing? And now that the shock has worn off, what do you make of his resignation from the Winnipeg Jets?

I've had some conversations with him. I check in with him fairly regularly. He's happy. I think the last few years, with COVID protocol and bubbles, have weighed on everybody, and particularly on him. When you combine that with the fact he's been doing this (level of coaching) for 26 years, he had the self-confidence to know what was best for him and his team. I think he's really happy with his choice. He sounds great when I talk to him. He's enjoying family time, which, in this job, you don't get an opportunity to do very often. I don't think he has any regrets.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

Copyright © 2022 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

About a month ago, Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba was connected with a youth hockey player in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area. The main topic of conversation wasn't the local NHL team, skill development tips, or Dumba's career. It was about how the player had been accused recently of "stealing stuff" from his own teammates.

"It's because he's the Black kid on his team," Dumba told theScore.

"He's been called racial slurs during games, and by his own teammates. Like, this is insane. For people to turn their cheek and have a blind eye (to these incidents), it's just really frustrating to our group. We see it every day."

Dumba relayed that anecdote earlier this week to help explain why the Hockey Diversity Alliance, in partnership with Budweiser Canada, chose to center its new #TapeOutHate campaign on raw examples of overt racism.

On Saturday, the HDA and Budweiser released a two-minute video spot highlighting the real-world abuse that many NHLers of color face on a regular basis:

Warning: Video contains graphic/offensive content

After a short introduction, the video starts by highlighting the kind of racist messages received by the players on social media, including a slur aimed at Dumba, who is Filipino Canadian.

Dumba later asks Wayne Simmonds of the Toronto Maple Leafs if he'd consider enrolling his kids in hockey. Simmonds, who had a banana thrown at him in the middle of an NHL exhibition game in Ontario in 2011, replies: "If I knew she was gonna have to face the stuff I faced, probably not."

Uncensored and censored versions of the commercial, which was filmed in Toronto last August, have been posted and shared online. The commercial will also be shown on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday when Simmonds' Leafs and Nazem Kadri's Colorado Avalanche meet in the broadcast's prime-time slot.

"We wanted to keep things as raw as possible," Kadri said in an interview. "Sometimes, for people to understand, they've gotta see (the vulgar language). I feel like if most people watch it and read those comments, they're going to be disgusted. ... For us, it's about us trying to create awareness and have people see things through a different lens and a different perspective."

The HDA was formed in June 2020 in the wake of George Floyd's murder by a Minneapolis police officer. Active players Dumba, Simmonds, Kadri, and Anthony Duclair, as well as ex-NHLers Akim Aliu, Trevor Daley, Chris Stewart, and Joel Ward, comprise the HDA's executive board. (Another founder, Evander Kane, has been on voluntary leave since last year.) The group's mission is "to eradicate systemic racism and intolerance in hockey."

The #TapeOutHate spot has been paired with HDA-themed hockey tape. The rolls of black tape (which are available for purchase online and, as of Jan. 22, at Canadian Tire stores) feature the words "RACISM HAS NO PLACE IN HOCKEY" in white lettering. Budweiser is funding the tape production by Renfrew Pro, with $1 from each purchased roll being donated to the HDA.

"The truth of the matter is that these are real stories," said Mike D'Agostini, a senior director of marketing at Budweiser. "These are real experiences that the players of the HDA experience - if not every day, then far too often. We felt like it was the right thing to do, to spread that message in the rawest form possible."

Over the years, at different levels of the sport, Dumba's been harassed in person and online. "Social media has become kind of a monster behind all of this," Dumba said. He has received hateful messages on Instagram and elsewhere - especially in the summer of 2020, after he delivered a speech condemning racism and then kneeled for the U.S. national anthem before a game in the NHL playoff bubble in Edmonton.

Dumba, 27, admits he feels numb to all the hate. "Which isn't right," he said.

"This is something that I've been dealing with for a long time," said Kadri, who's 31. "And for me to remember certain specific situations when I was 10, 11 years old - you know, this is 20 years ago - it must have had a pretty traumatic impact on me. It was definitely hurtful at the time, but, for myself, I think I had mental toughness to persevere. We're worried about the youth maybe not having that, this really affecting people long term."

The NHL is not involved in the #TapeOutHate campaign. After an initial partnership, the HDA broke off from the league in October 2020, saying the league was "focused on performative public relations efforts that seemed aimed at quickly moving past important conversations about race needed in the game."

Dumba said the NHL was "given several opportunities to be involved and participate and help spread this message," referring specifically to the #TapeOutHate campaign, "and they chose not to." He said the league is "scared to create real change and make real difference. At every turn." The blue-liner added: "It always has to be their idea or come from their people."

Asked about Dumba's remarks, a league spokesperson provided the following statement to theScore: "The NHL applauds our partner Budweiser and the Hockey Diversity Alliance for their efforts to promote diversity and inclusivity in the sport of hockey. This ongoing movement requires vision and commitment from every stakeholder in hockey. We welcome all who are using their voices and platforms to pursue these important goals and remain determined to continue to use ours and to do the work necessary to create real change."

Ultimately, both Dumba and Kadri said, the HDA would like to get on the same page as the league. In the meantime, the group is marching on.

"There's still racism in our game," Dumba said. "You see it, you hear these stories from these young kids, what they're going through. We've got to stay grinding on this and try tackling this all together."

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

Copyright © 2022 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

This NHL season has featured significant storyline after significant storyline.

Alex Ovechkin, Connor McDavid, and Leon Draisaitl have put up stunning point totals. A handful of organizations fired their managers and/or coaches. More than half of the league's teams have endured a COVID-19 outbreak. The Buffalo Sabres traded Jack Eichel, and he (finally) underwent surgery. Trevor Zegras pulled off the first "Michigan pass" and, in the process, managed to piss off a few old-school types. The NHL has bowed out of the 2022 Olympics. And so on ...

Nowhere above is there mention of Sidney Crosby, arguably the most important and best player in the salary-cap era. The lack of Crosby buzz can be partly attributed to him missing 12 games due to injury and protocol. Part of it is the 34-year-old's overall standing in the hockey universe right now - is he still a top-five player? Part of it is perhaps Crosby fatigue, considering the two-time MVP and three-time Stanley Cup winner's consistent greatness.

Whatever the reasoning, Crosby reminded us all of the kind of player he is on Wednesday night. After engaging in some pushing and hacking with Niko Mikkola in the second period, the bloodied captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins collected a goal and an assist (and first-star honors) in a 5-3 win over the St. Louis Blues. All game, he looked dialed in and in full control.

Crosby's long been known as the "superstar grinder" or "grinder at heart," a player whose generational talents (the vision, passing, hand-eye coordination, etc.) is matched by a willingness to win 50-50 puck battles and crash the net. Crosby may not be in his prime anymore, but he remains an impossibly complete player who refuses to back down from physical challenges.

Check out his goal against the Blues. It's vintage Crosby - gritty and skillful:

With Crosby on the ice, the Penguins outscored the Blues 3-0, controlled the run of play with a 27-16 advantage in shot attempts, and had the edge in scoring chances at 15-11 (per Natural Stat Trick). Keep in mind, the Blues are no pushover as the second-place team in a competitive Central Division.

Crosby "was in beast mode" Wednesday, Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters following the club's ninth straight victory. "He's the standard-bearer for the team," Sullivan added. "He raises the intensity level for our group. He establishes a certain expectation that flows through our bench, that everybody has the responsibility to play the game a certain way."

In his 17th season, Crosby has scooped up 24 points in 21 games (including two assists Thursday in the Pens' 10th straight win), a rate slightly below his career average. But Crosby's production could very well soar now that he and the Pens have found their groove. Exhibit A: Evan Rodrigues emerging as a legitimate offensive threat. Exhibit B: Kris Letang playing at a Norris Trophy-caliber level. Exhibit C: Both Jeff Carter and Evgeni Malkin, Crosby's longtime running mate in Pittsburgh, returning from injury sooner rather than later.

Crosby and the Pens are rolling. Look out.

Makar's 30-goal chase

There are two kinds of single-season milestone chasers in hockey.

The first is the player who's on an NBA Jam-level hot streak ("He's on fire!") but seems destined to come back to earth eventually, falling short of the milestone. The second is the player who's scorching hot and dominating the game in such a palpable way that a crash is possible but not likely.

Cale Makar fits into the second group as he eyes 30 goals for the Colorado Avalanche. Heading into a Saturday night tilt against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the superstar defenseman has 14 goals and 14 assists in 26 games, and the way he's sniping suggests he won't be cooling off anytime soon.

Makar's goal-of-the-season submission from the Avs' 4-3 overtime win Tuesday is a prime example of how pure talent is driving the march to 30:

A defenseman has scored 30-plus goals in a season just 17 times in history. The list of 30-goal scorers is a who's who of offensive D-men: Bobby Orr (five times), Paul Coffey (four), Denis Potvin (three), Mike Green, Kevin Hatcher, Doug Wilson, Phil Housley, and Ray Bourque.

A defenseman scoring 30 is remarkable, the equivalent of a forward putting up 65 tallies - something that's happened 24 times. The last blue-liner to score 30 was Green in 2008-09, while Ovechkin was the last to bag 65 in 2007-08.

Makar's on pace for 42 goals in 78 games (he missed four contests due to injury and COVID-19 protocol). The 5-foot-11, 187-pounder will still be in decent shape even if he cools off and his sky-high 19.2 shooting percentage dips to a sensible level. Makar needs to score 16 times in 52 games - or roughly once every third contest - to hit 30. His lethal weapon is a world-class wrist shot:

Notice how Makar almost exclusively unleashes his wrister in and around the slot area? His elite skating ability, coupled with excellent puck protection, allows him to waltz around the offensive zone and into a prime scoring spot.

The 23-year-old isn't dining out on power-play goals, either, as 11 of his 14 tallies have come at even strength. Again, this guy has earned his chance at scoring 30.

Hurricanes' Stoic rookie

The stats geeks at the league office recently compiled some end-of-year tidbits. Among them: 223 players made their NHL debut in 2021, the highest number of debuts in a calendar year in the league's 104-year history.

Top prospects aside, most of these first games came and went without much attention. Nevertheless, one caught my eye: Jack Drury in Carolina.

Drury scored on a fantastic individual effort on Dec. 16. He followed it up with another goal for the Hurricanes two days later before getting sent back to the AHL Chicago Wolves, where he's posted 16 points in 23 games this campaign.

Drury, 21, is an interesting cat. The 2018 second-rounder spent two years at Harvard University prior to winning a Swedish Hockey League title last season as a first-year pro. His dad Ted is a former NHLer, and his uncle Chris, an NHL star from 1998 to 2011, is the general manager of the New York Rangers.

What I find truly unique about Drury is his fascination with the school of ancient philosophy called Stoicism. He's read "Meditations" - a collection of journal entries by Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius - several times and has practiced Stoicism since his mid-teens.

"The main principle is, control what you can control," Drury explained when I asked him about Stoicism in a 2018 interview. "So, focus on the things that are within your control, not what people on the outside are doing. It's about using your emotions in the right manner, about not overreacting to situations. It's about staying steady and grounded, especially in tough situations."

Also on Drury's bookshelf: "The Inner Game of Tennis," by Timothy Gallwey. Like Stoicism, Gallwey's book deals with mental performance, specifically "how to get out of your own way to let your best game emerge." Clearly, Drury is a deep thinker who values a clear, focused mind.

Drury mentioned in 2018 that he had never signed up for a social media account. He doesn't appear to have one in 2022. A member of Generation Z who's shunned social media!? Yep, this NHL newbie is an interesting cat.

Parting thoughts

Boudreau Canucks: Mr. Regular Season has done it again - albeit in a small sample size - as the Vancouver Canucks are 8-0-1 under Bruce Boudreau. Vancouver sits 12th in the Western Conference, three points out of the second wild-card spot. MoneyPuck.com gives the Canucks a 15.7% chance of making the playoffs. The next two weeks will be a major test. After a meeting with Ottawa on Saturday, Vancouver plays Florida, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Washington, Nashville, Florida again, St. Louis, and Edmonton.

Noah Dobson: One of the rare bright spots on Long Island this season, Dobson has tied his career high for points (14) in just 26 games. He even scored an overtime goal on New Year's Day (below). It's difficult for a defenseman to break out offensively on the stingy Islanders, but Dobson has always had the skill set. The 12th overall pick in 2018 is finally playing top-four minutes (20:23). And hey, Happy Birthday, Noah - he turned 22 on Friday.

Dallas Stars: What a seesaw 30 games for the 2020 Stanley Cup finalists. The Stars won four of their first 10 contests, six of which went into overtime. Then they lost two. Then they won nine of 10. Then they lost five straight. Recently, they've won three in a row. Naturally, Dallas' record is a middling 16-12-2.

Takes, Thoughts, and Trends is theScore's biweekly hockey grab bag.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

Copyright © 2022 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The NHL not going to the Beijing Olympics sucks. Flat-out sucks.

Sucks for young players like Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews, who are in their prime. Sucks for older players like Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, whose careers are starting to wind down. Sucks for fans everywhere. Sucks for the NHL's image. Sucks for the sport, plain and simple.

But we've had a few days to dwell on it. Time to look ahead.

What the NHL and NHL players' association should be turning their collective attention to in the near future is the big picture. Because withdrawing from Beijing was a letdown in a series of letdowns. Hashing out a long-term international calendar is imperative to not only the growth of the sport but also to cultivating tradition beyond the Stanley Cup. And if that means prioritizing the World Cup of Hockey, so be it.

There needs to be a best-on-best international event and, as painful as it is to type this, it's become abundantly clear the Olympics aren't that event in the current climate. (Check back after commissioner Gary Bettman and PA executive director Donald Fehr have retired.) The league and PA can leave the door open for Winter Games participation while satisfying the international hockey itch by targeting non-Olympic years for the World Cup. How about starting a new era in 2023? A second event in 2025? Third in 2027?

Lock it in and get to work on making the World Cup standardized and meaningful. No Team North America. No Team Europe. Leave the gimmicks for All-Star Weekend. The World Cup should be eight of the best hockey countries competing for shiny medals and that strange-looking trophy.

It'll take a few cycles to build up momentum and tradition, of course. But if by 2027 the World Cup is the hockey event worldwide, well, everybody wins.

Doing it properly involves proper timing, too. September didn't quite work in 2016 - the tournament had serious preseason vibes. Try January or February, when the players are in fine form. Yep, it'll require shutting down the season for two or three weeks, but, again, you're investing in building a sustainable future of thrilling international hockey under the NHL/NHLPA banner.

Do it right and, eventually, the Olympics will just be the cherry on top.

Flames' Lindholm for Selke?

Elias Lindholm has received 15 votes for the Selke Trophy over his career - 14 in 2018-19 and one in 2019-20. None of those were for first place.

That may change by season's end.

Lindholm has been fantastic for Calgary through 28 games - a chief reason the Flames are fifth in the Western Conference in points percentage. He's been particularly effective on the defensive side of the puck, and if Selke ballots were due today, I might have the 27-year-old Swede in the No. 1 spot.

Everybody has their own process for evaluating a forward's defensive impact, so the strength of Lindholm's Selke candidacy is far from bulletproof, especially with so much of the season remaining. That said, he checks a lot of boxes.

The Flames are a juggernaut when Lindholm is on the ice at five-on-five. His on-ice goals for and expected goals for rates - 82.8% and 61.0%, respectively, according to Evolving Hockey - are elite. Looking strictly at defense, Calgary's five-on-five numbers with Lindholm are still fabulous - a mere five goals against in 389 minutes and a 2.0 xGA/60 rate.

Some forwards rank higher than Lindholm in certain on-ice metrics, but most of them play sheltered roles or bottom-six minutes against relatively weak competition. Lindholm is incredibly important to the Flames' entire operation; no-nonsense head coach Darryl Sutter leans on him for 20:15 of ice time a night, usually against the opposition's top talent.

Lindholm spends 2:15 a game playing shorthanded. It's not a deal-breaker for Selke consideration if a player doesn't see the ice in penalty-kill situations or while the opponent has its goalie pulled. But it's certainly a huge plus that Lindholm is a key member of the league's third-best penalty kill.

Also of note: Lindholm is solid in the faceoff circle with a 52.5% success rate. He's on the right side in penalty differential (plus-1). And he both steals pucks (20 takeaways) and eats pucks (16 blocked shots) on a regular basis. Anybody who's watched a Sutter-era Flames game knows each player benefits from Sutter's defensive structure and emphasis on responsible hockey. But Lindholm goes above and beyond with his consistent attention to detail.

On top of the defensive work, Lindholm's accumulated 11 goals and 16 assists for 27 points, just shy of a point per game. The definition of the award doesn't require the winner to be competent offensively, but I believe a good offense can be a good defense (and vice versa). In other words, while I don't automatically exclude defensive specialists from the Selke evaluation process, players who crush it in all three zones get bonus marks.

Four others with strong early season Selke cases (according to my personal parameters): four-time winner Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand in Boston, Anthony Cirelli in Tampa Bay, and Mark Stone in Vegas.

Paul Maurice, hockey savant

Plenty of digital ink has been spilled over Paul Maurice's resignation. And rightfully so - Maurice is well-respected as both a hockey coach and hockey philosopher. Plus, the timing of the resignation itself was notable.

Let's rewind for a moment ...

It's a decade ago. Rod Brind'Amour has recently transitioned into coaching after a highly successful playing career. Brind'Amour, then just a wide-eyed assistant in Carolina, walks into the coaches' room excited to tell Maurice, his boss, about a tiny detail he'd noticed in a practice or game. You know, something 99.9% of the population would never notice.

Maurice, who was in his second stint as the Hurricanes head coach, simply nods in response. "Damn," Brind'Amour thought to himself, "there's nothing this guy doesn't catch." This happened time and time again.

"There's a shit-ton going on in a game. I mean, so much," Brind'Amour told theScore during an interview in September, recalling the impression left by Maurice. "All the way down to every fine detail, there's a lot, and he doesn't miss any of it."

Back then, Brind'Amour figured this savant-level intelligence was typical of NHL head coaches. He became discouraged and started questioning himself. Was he smart enough to climb the ranks? Could he ever become a head guy?

"I was amazed," Brind'Amour said. "(Maurice) would have four assistant coaches talking to him as he was walking to the locker room, like down the hallway between periods. He'd go, 'What do we need to do? What's the adjustment?' And he'd have four different things thrown his way. 'We've got to do this, this, this, this.' As he's walking in, he'd go, 'OK.' Then he'd get to the front of the room and go, 'Duh, duh, duh, duh.' Everything at once."

Brind'Amour notes he's the opposite now that he's the boss in Carolina. The reigning Jack Adams Award winner needs to know ahead of time exactly what he's going to relay to his players between periods. And then Brind'Amour delivers it in a short burst.

"But he can just spit it all out and make sense of it clearly," he said of Maurice.

"Everybody plays basically the same way," Brind'Amour continued, talking generally about the influence of NHL coaches. "Honestly, there's such subtle differences. That's not where the differences lie. The differences lie in how coaches talk to players and get the most out of their players."

Ultimately, Maurice believed he was no longer able to get the most out of his Jets players. But that doesn't mean the hockey savant can't pull off the trick elsewhere. Maurice will be back soon. Count on it.

Don't sleep on Slovakia

Slovakia could easily lose three of four round-robin games at the world juniors in Alberta over the holidays. After all, they've been placed in a stacked Group B that also features the United States, Sweden, Russia, and Switzerland.

Regardless of the win-loss record, intrigue around the Slovaks will be exceptionally high. Slovakia is icing a handful of legitimate NHL prospects, including LA Kings pick Martin Chromiak and three projected 2022 first-rounders in Simon Nemec, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Filip Mesar.

Nemec, an all-situations right-handed defenseman, could potentially go in the top five next July. (Marian Gaborik, drafted third overall in 2000, is the country's highest NHL draft pick.) Scouts love Nemec's mobility and hockey sense. Named MVP at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in August, he's excelled in Slovakia's pro league this season, collecting 13 points in 22 games.

Up front, keep an eye out for the big-bodied Slafkovsky and speedy Mesar. Slafkovsky, a potential top-10 pick, is a playmaker who can really shoot the puck. He plays in Finland's Liiga. Mesar, who plays in Slovakia, is smaller in stature but possesses quick hands and feet, and a motor that doesn't quit.

Parting thoughts

Tank update: The 6-21-2 Arizona Coyotes are on pace for just 17 wins. GM Bill Armstrong is reportedly "gauging the market" on Jakob Chychrun. The star defenseman is worth a first-round pick and much more. Incredibly, Arizona already owns three first-rounders and five second-rounders in 2022.

Tage Thompson: From the doghouse to top-line center, what a first 30 games it has been for the giant Buffalo Sabres forward. Thompson has already set career highs in goals (10) and points (18). He might be the most pleasant surprise of the season.

Milestone check: Joe Thornton is two games played away from 1,700, potentially on his way to passing Ron Francis (1,731) and Jaromir Jagr (1,733) for a spot in the top four all time. Sidney Crosby is 10 goals away from 500, a mark only 45 other players have reached. Marc-Andre Fleury is already in the top 15 all time in shutouts, but he's one away from 70.

Further down the career leaderboards, Claude Giroux is one assist away from 600. Nicklas Backstrom is 19 points away from 700. Braden Holtby is six wins away from 300.

Takes, Thoughts, and Trends is theScore's biweekly hockey grab bag.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Over to you, Mr. Rutherford.

On Thursday, Jim Rutherford - the trade-loving architect of three Stanley Cup-winning teams in the salary-cap era - was named the Vancouver Canucks' new president of hockey operations. The soon-to-be 73-year-old also holds the title of interim general manager while he searches for a permanent replacement for Jim Benning, who was fired Sunday.

Rutherford has yet to speak at length with the media, so it's unclear how he'll attack the search. There are a handful of paths he can take here, including:

• Hiring a former NHL GM
• Hiring a current assistant GM with close ties to Rutherford
• Hiring a current assistant GM with little-to-no ties to Rutherford
• Hiring from within the Canucks' front office
• Hiring an atypical GM candidate

The first option, which winks at the possibility of chasing recently fired Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin, would be counterproductive. Considering Rutherford and his new GM will be leading the hockey ops department in tandem, there should be a diversity of thought and background. Rutherford brings an old-school approach, institutional credibility, and a history of making bold decisions. The Canucks don't need another Rutherford.

As for convincing a familiar assistant GM currently employed elsewhere to come work for the Canucks … well, that's much more palatable. Rutherford's management tree includes several high-profile names, including the Buffalo Sabres' Jason Karmanos and the Seattle Kraken's Jason Botterill. Would the mix of familiarity and differing skill sets (Karmanos and Botterill, both in their 40s, are considered modern execs) make for a solid fit? Probably. Going this route would be relatively safe because Rutherford will know exactly what he's getting.

If you remove the familiarity aspect from the equation, Rutherford's talent pool expands. For instance, the Colorado Avalanche's Chris MacFarland, who's been on the rise for a number of years, is an interesting name. A capologist and scout with a strong belief in analytics, MacFarland could be the type of well-respected executive who's worth taking a chance on. Also, MacFarland presumably wouldn't be a "yes man," which is something Rutherford should want in this arrangement.

There are also a few notable internal candidates. One is interim AGM Ryan Johnson, who, like MacFarland, is on track to become an NHL GM someday. Rutherford could see Johnson as somebody who has the pulse of the club, can be mentored, and won't command a hefty salary from ownership, which is now paying two top hockey ops execs (Benning had handled both roles). Meanwhile, franchise icons and senior advisors Henrik and Daniel Sedin seem destined to become Canucks co-GMs down the road. Do you start the succession plan earlier than planned, or do you let them continue to learn the hockey ops ropes? Probably the latter.

Lastly, Rutherford, who's known for his shocking trades, could hire somebody out of left field, like super agent J.P. Barry or broadcaster Ray Ferraro. This is a highly unlikely scenario, and who knows if either of those guys, or their contemporaries, would even be interested. But, as Rutherford has shown over the years, expect the unexpected when he's in charge.

Lightning striking again

The two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning are on fire, with a 5-0-0 start to December vaulting them into a three-way tie for the Atlantic Division's top spot.

On the surface, of course the Lightning are killing it. After all, over the past five-plus years, no team has accumulated as many regular-season points as Tampa Bay, and the club's enviable core of superstars remains intact.

That said, achieving this level of success through the first quarter of the campaign hasn't been easy, nor was it a foregone conclusion.

For starters, the capped-out squad entered the season with fewer impactful depth pieces. The Lightning lost, among others, all three members of the highly effective Barclay Goodrow-Yanni Gourde-Blake Coleman line. Tampa Bay has also been without the services of Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point for 23 and 10 games, respectively. Neither world-class player is replaceable. And, let's face it, the entire organization must be feeling at least slightly fatigued after competing in an NHL-high 200 total games since the start of 2019-20.

"I've gotta give them credit, they're finding ways to win," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper told reporters Tuesday after his players pulled out a 3-2 comeback victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Two nights later, the Lightning took down the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 while yet another invaluable piece, center Anthony Cirelli, was forced to watch from the press box due to injury.

Ten of Tampa Bay's 26 games have ended in overtime or a shootout. The Lightning have won six, giving them 16 of a possible 20 points in that scenario. Those kinds of early-season tests - and triumphs - are undoubtedly beneficial to a shorthanded group trying to become the first team in four decades to win three consecutive Stanley Cups.

So far, the Lightning's list of standout performers includes the usual suspects: Steven Stamkos up front (32 points, including 13 goals), Victor Hedman on defense (27 points, plus elite defending), and Andrei Vasilevskiy in goal (.927 save percentage). A second tier - namely forwards Ondrej Palat, Alex Killorn, and Corey Perry - has provided ample support, especially of late.

Perry, a former star who signed a two-year deal with Tampa Bay this past offseason, has found a niche as a bottom-six winger. He isn't the first player to be seamlessly folded into the team's winning culture.

"Everything he says makes sense," Cooper said Tuesday when asked about the 37-year-old's emerging voice in the dressing room. "There's no fluff to him. There's no BS."

It turns out there's been no BS, period, around the Lightning this season.

NHL's elite forward lines

We're at the point in the season where it's safe to drop the "it's early but … " caveat. Two months of on-ice action offers a big enough sample size.

Here we go: The Calgary Flames' top forward line of Elias Lindholm between Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau has been the NHL's best trio - by far.

In 324 five-on-five minutes, Tkachuk-Lindholm-Gaudreau has obliterated the opposition to the tune of a league-high plus-17 goal differential and an NHL-high goals-for rate of 87%. Territorially, the line is also a cut above the rest, with an expected goals-for rate of 66.9%, according to Evolving Hockey data.

In other words, the Calgary trio is dominating during the run of play and on the scoreboard, nailing down the process and enjoying the results.

Check out who's challenging them on the leaderboard:

You'll notice neither Connor McDavid nor Leon Draisaitl is mentioned above. Their lines don't stack up well here because these metrics exclude special-teams situations - where both players thrive - but include defensive play. It's no secret the Edmonton Oilers - not necessarily McDavid and Draisaitl, specifically - tend to give up plenty of shots, chances, and goals.

Bonus shoutout to the Anaheim Ducks' No. 1 line of Trevor Zegras between Sonny Milano and Rickard Rakell. The three of them have been on the ice together for only 119 five-on-five minutes this season, but they've churned out excellent numbers - 85.7 GF%, 68.8 xGF%, plus-10 goal differential.

Extra credit: Zegras and Milano hooked up Tuesday for an absurdly nice goal.

Wings prospect's off-ice detour

An oft-forgotten part of the transition to North America for players from places like Sweden is the task of getting from Point A to Point B in a foreign country.

I couldn't help but chuckle last month when Jonatan Berggren, a forward in the Detroit Red Wings organization, confirmed a humorous story about his introduction to life in the U.S. during a chat in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (I was there to report this feature about the Wings' extensive rebuild.)

Berggren, a 21-year-old from Uppsala, Sweden, was sent by the Wings to AHL Grand Rapids in early October after drawing into some NHL preseason action. Standard stuff; he wasn't projected to make the opening-day roster.

He and his girlfriend Tilde, who's also from Sweden, hopped in a rental car, Berggren punched the words "Grand Rapids" into the GPS system, and off they went. Two hours later, the couple arrived safely in Grand Rapids … Ohio, a farming town of roughly 1,000 people located 30 miles southwest of Toledo.

"In Sweden, we never have two places where the name is the same," Berggren said, smiling at the bungle, which made headlines back home. "I was thinking there was only one Grand Rapids in the U.S.A. But I was wrong."

For the record, Berggren and Tilde quickly realized the error, turned around, and had no issues finding the "real" Grand Rapids, which is two hours west of Detroit. Berggren's since settled in, posting 16 points in 20 AHL games.

Parting thoughts

Chris Kreider: The New York Rangers winger is at it again. After finishing with 20-10 in 50 games last season, Kreider is challenging for hockey's (totally pretend) Cy Young Award with a stat line of 17 goals and four assists (17-4). Others in the conversation: Andrew Mangiapane at 17-3 and Brandon Saad at 11-3.

Colorado Avalanche: The Avalanche, a popular preseason Cup pick, own a .652 points percentage through 23 games but rank 29th in goaltending. What gives? Well, they're scoring goals at the same rate as the 1995-96 Pittsburgh Penguins, a team with prime-time Mario Lemieux and peak Jaromir Jagr.

Jomboy: The internet personality Jomboy, best known for his MLB lip-reading videos, is now posting breakdowns of notable hockey moments. His blow-by-blow (bite-by-bite?) accounting of the Brendan Lemieux-Brady Tkachuk incident is must-consume content. Trust me.

Takes, Thoughts, and Trends is theScore's biweekly hockey grab bag.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Skates dig into the ice surface. A shot rings off the goalpost. Cursing fills the air after a shooter narrowly misses the net. A coach barks "Gap up! Gap up!" at a defenseman competing in a two-on-two drill.

In this hockey laboratory, there's one coach for every two-and-a-half players. The players' red hockey pants are emblazoned with the Detroit Red Wings' iconic winged wheel logo, but the Grand Rapids Griffins emblem on each helmet serves as a reminder of the present moment. This is the minor leagues.

"Up top, in the NHL, you're just worried about the final product," says Mike Knuble, the former NHL forward who's now an assistant coach for the Griffins. "Down here, it's more so about the process to create the product."

A variation of these sights and sounds can be seen and heard daily in AHL rinks across the continent, from San Diego to Laval, Quebec. All 32 NHL organizations are inherently invested in the development of their prospects - particularly in the AHL, where top affiliates compete not only for the league championship but also for the feeder league's highest graduation rate.

For the Red Wings, a proud Original Six franchise, the significance is amplified.

Amid an extensive rebuild, Detroit hasn't made the postseason since 2015-16, the last hoorah in a 25-year playoff streak that produced four Stanley Cups. Over the past five-plus seasons, the Wings' points percentage ranks 31st in the NHL, ahead of only the expansion Seattle Kraken, who've played all of 23 games.

Even though super rookies Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider have provided a jolt of momentum in 2021-22, the rebuild under general manager Steve Yzerman - also known as the "Yzerplan" - remains far from complete.

Effective and efficient player development is how Detroit intends to advance past the pain of the rebuild and into the competitive stage of the cycle. Eventually, if all goes according to plan, the Wings will start contending for Cups again.

"Every guy you draft isn't going to turn out to be an NHL home-run player. But what you want to do is maximize each guy the best you can," Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill says. "It's something that's been important to our organization for a long time. It's become even more in focus here in the last few years."

With 5:45 left in the third period of the Wings' eighth game this season, ESPN's John Buccigross could barely contain his excitement on national TV.

"That's the craziest sequence I've ever seen!" Buccigross blurted out.

The Wings had just denied eight straight scoring attempts in a whirlwind shift against a then-undefeated Florida Panthers squad. Forwards Adam Erne and Robby Fabbri each blocked two attempts in fearless fashion. Defenseman Danny DeKeyser blocked another, and then, as he tried to fire the puck out of harm's way, watched his stick snap into two pieces. In the thick of the chaos, goalie Alex Nedeljkovic frantically turned aside the three other attempts.

The Shift - as some Wings fans came to call it - was stressful and exhilarating. The boisterous home crowd supplied an appropriate soundtrack, the volume seeming to rise a few decibels after every defensive stop. "Detroit is a blue-collar town," says Knuble, who was drafted by the Wings and played parts of two seasons with them from 1996-98. "They've always liked guys like that - the Darren McCartys, the Kris Drapers, the Kirk Maltbys."

A cynic might suggest The Shift was a single moment in a long, 82-game season, a blip on the radar in the middle of a deep rebuild. Besides, getting hemmed in one's zone for nearly a minute, no matter the degree of sacrifice, isn't exactly conducive to winning. (The Panthers went on to win the game 3-2 in overtime.)

Those inside the organization wouldn't disagree with the cynical viewpoint, but they believe The Shift is also tangible proof the 2021-22 Wings players care a great deal about each other and the team's record. Shot-blockers Erne and Fabbri instantly earned respect and admiration from fans and teammates, as well as players and coaches within the Wings' farm system.

"Stuff like that is infectious. It spreads like wildfire," Griffins head coach Ben Simon says. Grand Rapids' dressing room was buzzing about The Shift the following day, he adds. The coaches didn't bring it up; the players did.

If nothing else, The Shift is daydream material - a playoff-style sequence in an encouraging season. Through roughly a quarter of 2021-22, the Wings are 12-9-3 and occupy the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. For the first time in a while, promise is being turned into progress.

Yzerman, who captained Detroit to three Cups as a player, didn't set a firm timeline for the rebuild when he took over from Ken Holland in April 2019 - an approach that helps manage expectations both internally and externally. Yzerman's previous work as GM of the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning has armed him with additional credibility. Few teams have figured out how to assemble a sustainable winner in the salary-cap era quite like Tampa Bay, and now the Wings have one of the Lightning's masterminds.

Under both Holland and Yzerman, Detroit hasn't been shy about using the trade market to acquire draft capital. The team has selected a whopping 52 players since 2017, which is 17 more than the number normally allotted to teams over a five-year span. They've had horrible luck at the draft lottery, though, receiving a top-five pick only once (Raymond, fourth overall in 2020).

This dynamic - a boatload of picks but none at the very top of the draft - puts the onus on identifying hidden gems and then developing them into NHLers.

"At the end of the day, if you're going to be an organization that has success and wins Stanley Cups, there's gotta be some of those guys," Shawn Horcoff, the Wings' director of player development, says of unearthing future NHLers later in the first round and beyond. "Obviously you need your superstars, your high picks to turn out. But you have to find a way to draft and develop other players that eventually come into the league and become impact players."

At the moment, the Wings' core of young, full-time NHL stars (or, in some cases, potential future stars) features Raymond, Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, Jakub Vrana, and Filip Zadina at forward; Seider and Filip Hronek on defense; and Nedeljkovic in goal. Interestingly, only Raymond, Vrana, Seider, and Hronek are signed beyond next season, so there's a chance not all of the eight names listed above will be around to see the rebuilding process through.

The rebuild has already cast aside two first-round picks. Yzerman sent forward Anthony Mantha (2013, 20th overall) to Washington at last season's trade deadline for a package that included Vrana and picks. Defenseman Dennis Cholowski, the Wings' 20th overall pick in 2016, was left unprotected and selected in Seattle's expansion draft.

There are plenty of roster spots up for grabs. And once a player makes the big club, he can't rest on the accomplishment. "The minute you get stagnant or too pleased is the moment when you maybe take a step or two backwards," says 22-year-old depth forward Michael Rasmussen, another Holland-era first-rounder. Some of those NHL jobs are expected to be nabbed by blue-chip prospects, such as 2021 top picks Simon Edvinsson and Sebastian Cossa, and others by players acquired via free agency or trade.

The rest? Horcoff and the six-man player development group, in lockstep with the five-man AHL coaching staff headed by Simon, are tasked with guiding the organization's less-polished prospects into the conversation.

In 2015, Joe Veleno became the first player in QMJHL history to be granted "exceptional status," allowing him to enter the league at age 15. Three years later, the Wings scooped up the offensively gifted forward on Day 1 of the draft. A projected top-20 selection, Veleno fell into the club's lap at No. 30.

Veleno attended his first NHL training camp in September 2018, impressing in preseason action. He was trending in the right direction. After the Wings sent him back to the Drummondville Voltigeurs, however, he failed to dominate the QMJHL. He was in his own head, thinking junior was suddenly beneath him.

The big club noticed. Horcoff quickly booked a three-day trip to Drummondville for what Veleno now refers to as "the wake-up call." Horcoff diagnosed and dissected Veleno's on-ice issues while educating the youngster on proper nutrition and sleep habits. They went out for dinner one night and also spent time assessing the setup at Veleno's billet home.

One interaction from Horcoff's visit still resonates. Veleno remembers being greeted by multiple video screens and a bunch of detailed notes when he first walked into Horcoff's hotel room. "I was like, 'Oh god,'" Veleno says, laughing.

"We had a pretty big talk about what I can do better," Veleno adds. "He told me, 'If you want to play in the NHL, you've got to do this, this, and this. It's necessary. The next level, it's just so much different.'"

Even back then, when Veleno had a tendency to cut corners on defense, the Wings believed he could be groomed into a two-way NHL forward. There was no reason the skating ability, hockey IQ, and stick work that made Veleno a dangerous offensive player couldn't be applied to other parts of his game. Luckily for the Wings, he was coachable - a tireless worker who accepted criticism well.

Now 21, Veleno is much closer to a complete, 200-foot player. He turned pro with the Griffins in 2019-20 and spent most of last year with the Malmo Redhawks in Sweden while the AHL was shuttered because of COVID-19. In 2021-22, he's been called up to the Wings on two occasions. (He's currently on the roster but is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.) In nine total games, there have been glimpses of a future in which Veleno slots in as the team's regular second- or third-line center.

Based on the lofty expectations associated with the "exceptional status" label in junior - John Tavares, Connor McDavid, and Aaron Ekblad also earned that distinction - a projection as a top-nine NHL center is underwhelming. For a 30th overall pick, though, a top-nine center would be good value for the Wings and a meaningful role for Veleno.

"I just want to be the best version of myself and be the best player I know I can be," Veleno says. "I definitely know I have that potential to be great, and I've gotta try to figure it out by coming to work every day trying to be better."

Todd Krygier, the Griffins' forwards coach, has assured Veleno multiple times that he's already an NHL-caliber player. The yo-yo between Detroit and Grand Rapids is more or less rooted in one thing: Refining the areas of Veleno's game that will help him contribute every single night, regardless of how confident and dialed in he may feel with the puck on his stick.

"If you don't have your 'A' game, try to find and bring your best 'B' game," Veleno says, reciting one of the Wings' frequent talking points. Winning a defensive zone draw late in the game or backchecking while on a power play are two examples that would apply to Veleno and others trying to permanently bridge the gap between the AHL and NHL.

The Holland-era Wings gained a reputation as a franchise that kept its prospects in the AHL until they were "overripe." That term may not be thrown around in an official capacity within the organization in 2021, but the player development philosophy hasn't changed drastically under Yzerman.

"Dominate down here, marinate down here, and then when you're ready - even when you're over-ready - go up to Detroit. And when you go up, don't come back. That's our goal," Simon says. "Sometimes that happens and sometimes that doesn't happen. The NHL is a hard league."

In Grand Rapids, an AHL/NHL tweener like Veleno assumes a first-line role at even strength and a top-unit spot on both the power play and penalty kill. A revved-up workload and list of responsibilities can test a player physically and mentally, though concrete results rarely arrive overnight. "Part of development is learning by failing," Simon says. "How many times do you get back up?"

So many prospects don't make it to Veleno's stage in the development process because the jump from junior or college to the AHL presents its own set of unique challenges. For a brand-new pro, finding consistency can mean learning how to "become boring," as Simon puts it. "You have a good routine at and away from the rink. You stick with it. You do the little things right."

In his best-selling book "Atomic Habits," author James Clear argues that "you do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." Simon, who's in his fourth season as the Griffins' bench boss, hasn't read Clear's book, but he subscribes to the exact same thought process: the AHL environment should be focused on habit formation and fine-tuning.

"You resort to your training level, you don't rise to the occasion," Simon says in his own parlance. "In practice, it's the coaching staff's job to make sure these guys are doing everything the right way. It's our job to make sure they're attentive to detail and they're ready when that call comes from the Wings."

In an alternative universe, Sam Gagner is a Stanley Cup champion. He would have champagne-soaked memories with Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the fellow first-rounders on those pre-McDavid Edmonton teams. The Oilers, after all, were the up-and-coming club a decade ago.

"It's interesting talking to those guys about it now - what they've learned, what I've learned," says Gagner, who's in his second full season in Detroit.

Individual struggles can easily weigh on young players, Gagner explains, and the pressure only mounts when a team playing in a demanding market decides the best course of action is to lean heavily on a handful of skilled youngsters. Without patience, a cap-era rebuild can spiral out of control.

"I don't think you can expect young players to come in and turn it around all on their own and in a short period of time. They need to be insulated by other good players. It takes a full roster to build out a successful team," Gagner says. He notes he's grateful for the Oilers experience; it's perspective.

Gagner, now 32 and playing on a one-year contract in his 15th NHL season, says he fully intends to stay in Detroit - assuming Yzerman's on board with an extension. A bottom-six forward who leads the team in shorthanded minutes, Gagner's pleased with the niche he's carved out within the Wings' lineup. Off the ice, he's embracing the mentor's role.

"There's 82 games in a season. In some 10-game segments, things are going to feel easy and in others it's going to feel really hard," he says when asked to share a pearl of wisdom. "You need to make sure you go about your business every day in the same way and keep the same mindset. Guys generally work really hard, regardless of the situation, but it's the mindset that tends to change when things don't go exactly the right way."

Gagner was drafted in 2007 and since then the amount of money and resources devoted to NHL player development has skyrocketed. Every franchise now has a specific arm of hockey operations dedicated solely to developing prospects. Also, video and statistical analysis have evolved significantly. The introduction of tracking devices has opened up a whole new world of biometric data. (Wings prospects can volunteer to have their heart rate and energy output, among other things, monitored.)

These investments lead to fully personalized development plans. The plans are only useful, of course, if players take ownership of their own trajectory.

"What do you guys think? How are you seeing it?" Krygier asks rhetorically. "If you're not giving them ownership, I don't think you're going to get the quality of results that you want. You want everybody to take ownership of their game and their situation. When they start to take ownership, they become better."

Blashill adds: "You can push players. You can help provide the right avenue for them to be successful and provide the right resources. But they have to have the inner drive."

In one-on-one video sessions, the Griffins staff will fire up clips of alumni turning a weakness into a strength so current players can relate to the material and advice being passed on by the coaches. For instance, Zadina has been used as a pseudo-template for crafty Swedish forward Jonatan Berggren.

Zadina, drafted sixth overall in 2018, wasn't shooting from dangerous areas of the ice in the early days of his North American career. The sniper had flourished on the perimeter back in the Czech Republic and in junior, but in the AHL and NHL a large portion of goals - 85%, according to Krygier - are scored in the slot and crease areas. Zadina adjusted his approach in time, supplementing his lethal shot with a hungry net-drive game.

Berggren, chosen 27 spots behind Zadina and three behind Veleno in 2018, says he likes to be an "entertainer player." The organization doesn't want to quash what made the 5-foot-11, 195-pound winger productive on the larger rinks in Europe. The Wings just want him to add versatility to his game by deploying his low center of gravity as a weapon.

"I need to have the courage to take my body to the net," Berggren says. "It will hurt, but sometimes you need to just get ugly goals, not the fancy plays."

There are two Calder Trophy front-runners to study, too. Despite being 19 and 20, Raymond and Seider are complete players who play a mature game.

"People see some of the fancy plays he makes," Blashill says of Raymond, the NHL leader in rookie goals (10) and points (22). "But he does it in a way that doesn't take on any unneeded risk. He'd be one of our lowest players in terms of scoring-chance minuses. He does it with very little risk, and I think that's critically important to becoming a winning team."

It's Friday afternoon, the day after Griffins practice, and Blashill is sitting inside a restaurant at Little Caesars Arena. It's at ice level, directly across from the Wings' dressing room. On game nights, fans in the restaurant can watch Detroit players pass within close view on the way to the ice.

The interactive bit might feel tacky elsewhere. In Hockeytown, it hits, because throughout the arena are reminders of the franchise's prestige - a statue depicting the legendary Ted Lindsay in the concourse, framed photos of other all-time Wings greats above each dressing-room stall, a gigantic banner showing Yzerman hoisting the Cup near one of the arena gates.

"Something I believe, and what's certainly been made clear to me by Steve Yzerman, is that we want to create a playing style that's going to win long term," Blashill says. "We want to teach our guys how to play winning hockey, so that when we do have the pieces in place to win, we're ready to win."

Blashill is talking about The Shift within the scope of the entire rebuild.

"We want to have lots of moments like that. They may not all go viral, but we'll see them," says Blashill, who was promoted from Griffins head coach to Wings head coach in 2015.

"We'll know when our sacrifice is to that level. That's the type of culture we're trying to rebuild here. That type of culture of sacrifice, when you'll do anything it takes to win a hockey game, and it doesn't matter if it's in October or April or May, it's the same type of sacrifice. Slowly but surely, we're building that."

Larkin, the captain at age 25 but already in his seventh season, is the heart and soul. Raymond and Seider are cornerstones. Others - from Hronek to Nedeljkovic - are key pieces, too. Veleno and a few of his peers are on their way to full-time duty. What's still to be determined are the timelines for each player and then the team as a whole. Detroit won't rebuild forever.

"Hopefully all of our young guys can be up there together one day," Veleno says. "I think it's sooner than later that it'll happen."

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Friday marks 10 days since the law firm Jenner & Block released a report on its investigation into how the 2009-10 Chicago Blackhawks mishandled and covered up sexual misconduct allegations against ex-video coach Brad Aldrich.

In that time, Kyle Beach revealed himself as "John Doe" in an emotional interview with TSN; Blackhawks executives Stan Bowman and Al MacIsaac left the club; the NHL fined the Blackhawks $2 million; former Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville resigned from his job with the Florida Panthers; the NHL cleared former Blackhawks assistant GM Kevin Cheveldayoff of any responsibility on the matter; Aldrich's name was removed from the Stanley Cup; and the NHLPA announced it's conducting an internal investigation of its own handling of the matter.

This story and its various subplots aren't going away any time soon.

Here are seven key questions that remain unanswered:

1. What will the NHLPA's internal investigation reveal about executive director Donald Fehr's supposed inaction over the past 11 years? Fehr, based on Jenner & Block's investigation, appears to have known about the allegations against Aldrich around 2010 but failed to act. He could be forced to resign.

2. Will former Blackhawks president John McDonough accept blame for his poor leadership? McDonough is believed to be the highest-ranking member of the Blackhawks front office who knew about the allegations against Aldrich back in 2010. Bowman, for one, blamed McDonough in his statement. Yet McDonough hasn't spoken about the scandal in any public forum. It's unlikely he will until it's clear whether the Blackhawks plan to sue him.

3. Will we get an outcome from the investigation into Bill Peters? Two years ago, former players Akim Aliu and Michal Jordan accused Peters, the Blackhawks' AHL coach in 2009-10, of racist and abusive behavior. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said earlier this week the investigation had concluded and the parties contacted. Aliu's lawyer stated that it's "news to me and not true."

4. Will the Blackhawks offer Beach a satisfactory settlement? All of this public scrutiny of the Blackhawks began in May when Beach and "John Doe 2" filed lawsuits against the team. Beach's lawyer and the Blackhawks' lawyers had a "respectful and cordial" meeting earlier this week, which is promising.

5. Will the NHL compensate "John Doe 2" in any way? Beach's lawyer, Susan Loggans, is also representing the former Michigan high school hockey player who had been assaulted by Aldrich following his Blackhawks tenure. When asked whether the NHL owed him any consideration this week, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman wouldn't commit to covering the same counseling costs the league had promised Beach.

6. Will an active NHL player finally admit to being aware of the allegations in 2010? There's been a divide among the responses to questions between active NHLers and retired or European-based players. The active players, such as Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Duncan Keith, have essentially claimed innocence, while Brent Sopel (retired) and Shawn Lalonde (Europe) are among those who have said that virtually everybody around the team at least vaguely knew about the allegations.

7. Will Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz and CEO Danny Wirtz ever fully explain themselves? Credit to the Wirtz family for not standing in the way of a thorough investigation and for making its findings public. However, unlike Bettman and Daly and others tangentially involved in this scandal, neither the owner nor the CEO have taken questions from the media. The Block & Jenner report found that the Wirtzes were not aware of the allegations but as the one at the top of the organizational hierarchy, their fans deserve to hear from them.

Unpacking Ovechkin's start

It's rare for Alex Ovechkin to shock us these days. We've watched him terrorize goalies for too long to consider most of what he does to be outlandish.

Yet Ovechkin, in his 17th NHL season and at the ripe age of 36 years old, is off to an attention-grabbing start to the season with 10 goals in 10 games. Which prompts the question: Is Ovi doing something different to maintain this incredible pace?

Checking on the Capitals sniper's shot profile is a good place to start ...

Ovechkin, with 4.8 shots on goal per game, is shooting for volume at a typical rate. He's getting roughly 57% of his shot attempts on target, a rate also comparable to his career average. His shooting percentage, on the other hand, has ballooned to 20.8% from his career average of 12.8%. This uptick suggests he may be benefiting from some puck luck to start the season.

Then again, maybe we should expect Ovechkin to score on a higher percentage of his shots this year (OK, maybe not 21%, but 15% is realistic). After all, he's starting 85.9% of his shifts in the offensive zone, a career high by a significant margin. If Ovechkin's line, with Evgeni Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson, is consistently starting in the O-zone, he will naturally exert his early-shift energy on trying to score a goal.

Ovechkin is not only getting a head start territorially, but he's also playing 21 minutes and 28 seconds a night, which stands as his highest average TOI since 2009-10. The increase is mostly from the power play, where Ovechkin's been hanging out in the Ovi Spot for roughly one additional minute per night.

So, to recap, the changes are subtle and some of what Ovechkin's doing is unsustainable. But one variable (deployment and ice time) is notable.

Regardless, Ovechkin has inched closer to Wayne Gretzky's all-time record for goals scored with this start. He's up to 740, so if he hits 50 in 2021-22, he'll be at 780 - or 114 behind The Great One. He's within striking distance.

Canada's goalie puzzle

According to reports, Carey Price, Marc-Andre Fleury, Darcy Kuemper, Jordan Binnington, Carter Hart, and Mackenzie Blackwood are the goalies on Hockey Canada's "long list" for the Olympics, which are just three months away.

Relative to other medal contenders - namely Russia and the U.S. - Canada lacks both star power and depth between the pipes. Heck, only four of their six options have appeared in an NHL game this season, with the Canadiens' Price in the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program (he's rejoining the team on Monday) and the Devils' Blackwood out with an injury.

Among the four active guys, there's a clear divide in performance in the early going. Small sample size alert, but Binnington (Blues) and Hart (Flyers) have significantly outplayed Fleury (Blackhawks) and Kuemper (Avalanche):

There's still time for Kuemper and Fleury - last year's Vezina Trophy winner - to rebound and earn a starting or backup role on Team Canada. Same goes for 2014 Olympic starter Price, assuming he gets in enough games before final Olympic rosters are due.

Right now, though, the three goalie spots are too difficult to project. Binnington and Hart, for how good they've been lately, simply haven't been consistent enough in their young careers to automatically warrant a spot.

Generally speaking, Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong must determine whether it's best to favor the hot hand or the proven veteran. Perhaps he plays it down the middle and mixes the hot hand with the vets.

Sizing up D-men contracts

Earlier this week, Adam Fox became the seventh defenseman since late July to sign a long-term deal with an average annual value of $9 million or higher.

This rush of contracts completely reset the market for elite D-men. It also makes it easier to compare these blue-liners (who are all 28 or under) in both serious and trivial ways. In the spirit of the latter, let's have a little fun by assigning a high school yearbook-style superlative to each new contract.

Cale Makar at 6 years, $9-million AAV: Most Likely To Cash In Big (Again). Already elite of the elite at 23. Deal takes him straight to unrestricted free agency.

Dougie Hamilton at 7 years x $9M: Most Likely To Look Overpaid in Years 6 and 7. Just the nature of aging curves. Will be 35 when the deal expires in 2028.

Darnell Nurse at 8 years x $9.3M: Most Likely To Play The Most Minutes. Workhorse quality to him and Oilers tend to rely heavily on its big-ticket stars.

Seth Jones at 8 years x $9.5M: Most Likely To Regret His Decision. Honestly, given the horrid start to Chicago's season, this superlative may already apply.

Charlie McAvoy at 8 years x $9.5M: Most Likely To Grow Into Fat AAV. Hefty price tag now but the dominant five-on-five player has Norris Trophy in the future.

Adam Fox at 7 years x $9.5M: Most Likely To Look Underpaid Sooner Than Later. Reigning Norris winner. Only 24. May win it again, perhaps this season.

Zach Werenski at 6 years x $9.6M: Most Likely To Remain Team's Highest Paid Player Throughout Term. Blue Jackets don't typically pony up in negotiations with stars and there are no obvious eight-digit paydays coming down the pike.

3 parting thoughts

Carolina Hurricanes: The Bunch of Jerks remain undefeated. On Saturday, Carolina has a chance to tie an NHL record for best start in NHL history. A win over the Panthers, who are 9-0-1 themselves, would improve their record to 10-0-0. The 1993-94 Maple Leafs and 2006-07 Sabres both came out of the gate with 10-game winning streaks. I say the 'Canes win at least 11 in a row.

Detroit Red Wings: Heading into Friday's games, Detroit Red Wings newbies Lucas Raymond (10 points) and Moritz Seider (nine points) sit first and second in rookie scoring. The last time teammates finished atop the leaderboard was way back in 2001-02, when the dynamic duo of Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk debuted for the Atlanta Thrashers. The future's bright in Detroit.

Arizona Coyotes: Based on how thoroughly GM Bill Armstrong has gutted an already-mediocre roster, we knew the Coyotes could be unwatchable this year. But we didn't imagine them recording one measly point through 10 games. The 0-9-1 squad has dug itself a hole so deep that the 2016-17 Avalanche (48 points in 82 games) suddenly look half decent.

Takes, Thoughts, and Trends is theScore's biweekly hockey grab bag.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

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