In attending the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, Mich., Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Lou Lamoriello got his latest opportunity to put eyes on the team's next wave of talent.
Fortunately for the up-and-comers, the legendary GM was more than satisfied with what he saw.
"We're extremely pleased," Lamoriello told Mark Masters of TSN on Friday. "I think our scouting staff has just done a tremendous job (with) the prospects that we have. We don't have room for a lot of them, so hopefully they can push some of the veterans."
Among the players taking part in the camp is defenseman Timothy Liljegren, who the Maple Leafs selected 17th overall in this year's draft. His presence wasn't lost on Lamoriello either.
"Last year, he had mono, so he missed quite a bit of the year," Lamoriello said. "Where he is today, and what we've seen of him, we're happy."
Liljegren's selection was widely considered a keen move by the Maple Leafs, as the Swedish blue-liner was seen as a top talent in this year's draft prior to a bout of illness that forced him out of the lineup and knocked him down the draft ranks.
The Maple Leafs' success at the draft tables in recent years has been no secret, as the club selected Auston Matthews with the first pick in 2016, after choosing Mitch Marner fourth overall in 2015, and fellow forward William Nylander with the eighth choice in 2014.
All three finished among the top six in Calder Trophy voting last season, while Matthews was the first Maple Leafs player to take home Rookie of the Year honors since 1966.
If Liljegren can have half of the impact of any of the aforementioned three, his selection will be another big win by the Maple Leafs.
The 24-year-old defenseman was limited to 41 games due to injury last season, but spent the entire campaign on the NHL roster after splitting the previous three seasons between Dallas and its AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars.
It's fairly safe to say no one within the Florida Panthers organization has been disappointed in the play of defenseman Aaron Ekblad, but the former Calder Trophy winner admitted he could have prepared himself better in the early stages of his career.
"I may have cruised through my first two years a little bit too much. The real work began this summer. I truly believe that and I truly believe I'm the most confident and ready that I have ever been to play the game," Ekblad said, according to Dan Rosen of NHL.com.
Ekblad was named Rookie of the Year for the 2014-15 season, after being selected first overall and posting 39 points and a plus-12 rating in 81 games. Both his point totals and number of games played dropped in each of his next two seasons, and he finished with just 21 points in 68 games in 2016-17, the final year of his entry-level contract.
The 21-year-old is viewing his worst statistical season as a wake-up call.
"That's a season where you really realize how hard it is, how hard this league is, how hard it is to stick around," Ekblad said. "It's easy to take that for granted with the money that we're paid and the opportunities that we get. You have to really humble yourself. Last year humbled me."
As he enters the first season of his eight-year, $60-million deal, Ekblad isn't ready to sit back and consider his job done.
"This league is not a league where you're invincible," he said. "You've got to fight hard every day to stay in it no matter how long your deal is and no matter how much you're getting paid. That is something that I learned and it's something I'm going to hold with me dearly to the end of my career.
Last season was the first of Ekblad's career in which he did not receive Norris Trophy consideration. Without his usual contributions, the Panthers finished sixth in the Atlantic Division and out of the playoffs.
The defending Stanley Cup finalist Nashville Predators lost two of their best players this offseason: Mike Fisher and James Neal. The former recently announced his retirement, while the latter was scooped up by Vegas in June's expansion draft.
Fisher, the club's second-line center last year, finished fourth on the team in scoring and fifth among forwards in ice time.
Neal, who's produced at least 20 goals in all nine of his NHL seasons, finished fifth on the roster in scoring and third among forwards in ice time.
In total, the Preds lost a combined 41 goals and 42 assists, and a whole lot of leadership. However, the club is well-equipped to deal with those losses in 2017-18.
Center depth
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
The Predators recently locked up No. 1 center Ryan Johansen with an eight-year extension, and signed unrestricted free agent Nick Bonino to be their No. 2 up the middle. So, Fisher would only have been Nashville's No. 3 center in 2017-18, and they have plenty of other candidates to fill that void.
Jarnkrok, 25, had 15 goals and 30 points last season while winning nearly 50 percent of his faceoffs in both the regular season and playoffs - a skill that usually progresses with age.
Sissons, 23, had six goals and 12 points in 22 postseason games last year, hovering around 50 percent on draws in the regular season and playoffs as well.
Gaudreau, 24, is the least experienced of the trio after playing in just nine regular-season games. However, he made an impact during his eight playoff contests, scoring three goals, including two game-winners.
Bounce-back and breakout candidates on the wing
(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
With Neal out of the picture, Craig Smith will most likely fill in as the second-line right winger - a role he excelled in before the emergence of Viktor Arvidsson. Smith had three straight 20-goal campaigns before he was demoted to a third-line role last season and scored just 12 times. That was also due to his shooting percentage, which plummeted to just 7.7 percent last year after he shot 10.2 percent across the three years prior.
The second bounce-back candidate is 35-year-old Scott Hartnell, who saw his role diminished last year in Columbus. He still managed to score 13 goals while playing on the fourth line, but could get that number closer to 20 with a permanent third-line job.
As for breakout candidates, there's none more obvious than 21-year-old Kevin Fiala. He had 11 goals in 54 regular-season games last year and added two more in five playoff games before fracturing his femur. The former 11th overall pick is expected to be ready for training camp.
The far less obvious candidate is another former first-round pick, Austin Watson. The 25-year-old hasn't shown much offensive ability thus far in his NHL career, compiling just 28 points in 140 games, but he did tally nine points in 22 playoff games. As a three-time 20-goal scorer in the AHL, the physical 6-foot-4 forward could very well pot 10-to-15 goals this season.
While not all of these forecasts will necessarily come to fruition, these players should be able to make up for the 23 goals lost by Neal.
Cap room
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
It may be a blessing in disguise, but losing Fisher and Neal provided Predators general manager David Poile with some nice cap flexibility, as the pair had a combined cap hit of $9.4 million last year. Losing the duo allowed Poile to lock up Johansen and Arvidsson long term, sign Bonino to a four-year deal, and add Alexei Emelin for depth on the back end.
Poile still has nearly $5.5 million in cap space to work with, and could conceivably sign one of the many veteran wingers remaining on the free-agent market, such as Jaromir Jagr, Thomas Vanek, Brian Gionta, Shane Doan, or Jarome Iginla. Jagr or Vanek, who are both still capable of playing a top-six role, would make Nashville's forward group very deep:
Line
LW
C
RW
1
Filip Forsberg
Ryan Johansen
Viktor Arvidsson
2
Kevin Fiala
Nick Bonino
Jagr/Vanek
3
Scott Hartnell
Calle Jarnkrok
Craig Smith
4
Austin Watson
Colton Sissons
Pontus Aberg
Extras
Cody McLeod
Frederick Gaudreau
Miikka Salomaki
With Fisher announcing his retirement, don't be surprised if Poile still has a trick or two up his sleeve before the season begins, especially considering Nashville's championship window is wide open.
Prust spent last season in Germany playing for the Nuremburg Ice Tigers, with whom he potted three goals and eight points while racking up 67 penalty minutes in 29 regular-season games. He also added six points in 11 playoff contests.
Jim Johannson has been named general manager of the United States men's hockey team for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, USA Hockey announced Friday.
The organization also announced Tony Granato will be the head coach.
Johannson may not be a household name, but has a wealth of experience when it comes to international competition. He played for the U.S. in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics and was part of the team's management staff at the 2006, 2010, and 2014 games.
Though Johannson's Olympic resume is impressive, perhaps his greatest accomplishments have come as GM of the U.S. national junior team, as he's led the nation to three gold medals (2010, 2013, 2017).
Granato, a veteran of 774 NHL games, is head coach at the University of Wisconsin. He was formerly the Colorado Avalanche head coach from 2002-03 to 2003-04, and again during the 2008-09 season.
In addition to Johannson and Granato, Ben Smith will be the director or player personal, while Keith Allain, Chris Chelios, Ron Rolston, and Scott Young will serve as assistant coaches.
Yes, hope abounded after a 30th-place finish in 2015-16 resulted in a draft-lottery win and the selection of Auston Matthews, who joined a prospect pool that already included Mitch Marner and William Nylander.
But all three needed to hit the ground running as rookies, and a host of other pieces had to fall into place for Toronto to contend for a 2016-17 playoff spot - much less clinch one.
That's exactly what happened. Then the upstart Leafs gave the Washington Capitals all they could handle in an opening-round loss, signaling the dawn of a new era in the center of the hockey universe.
So have the Leafs finally arrived? Can they be penned in as a playoff team and penciled in as legitimate Stanley Cup contenders beginning this season?
Not so fast.
The numbers
On the positive side, the Leafs ranked fifth in goals (3.05) and fourth in shots (31.9) on a per-game basis last season. On the other hand, they allowed a 22nd-ranked 2.85 goals against per game, and only the Sabres and Coyotes allowed more average shots against.
Zooming out a bit, Toronto's Corsi For rating at even strength was a 13th-ranked 50.38, meaning shot attempts for and against them were fairly even.
Further to that, the Leafs ranked 12th in PDO in five-on-five play, as a somewhat inflated shooting percentage (8.3) coupled with their save percentage (92.92) added up to 100.59. As a reminder, any team with a PDO over 100 is perceived as having a measure of good luck on its side, and regression closer to that number is expected sooner or later.
In all situations, Toronto's PDO came in a bit higher at 100.83 (9.55 shooting percentage + 91.27 save percentage), good for 10th overall. The Leafs' offense was boosted by a second-ranked power-play success rate of 23.8 percent, and the club was able to kill 82.5 percent of its penalties, again good for 10th in the league.
These base numbers suggest the Leafs played slightly over their heads last season, but not so much that a major decline would seem imminent.
An apple a day ...
It's in the medical department that luck really appears to have been on the Leafs' side. Toronto's top 10 scoring forwards (minus Josh Leivo, who played only 13 games) missed a total of 10 games between them due to injury.
Player
Points
Games Missed
Auston Matthews
69
0
James van Riemsdyk
62
0
Nazem Kadri
61
0
William Nylander
61
1
Mitch Marner
61
5
Tyler Bozak
55
4
Connor Brown
36
0
Leo Komarov
32
0
Zach Hyman
28
0
Matt Martin
9
0
The defense remained relatively healthy, too. Jake Gardiner and Nikita Zaitsev played in all 82 games, while Matt Hunwick (10), Roman Polak (seven), and, most notably, Morgan Rielly (five) missed 22 games combined. The big loser on this front was Martin Marincin, who missed 17 games in the first half of the season and was never able to re-establish himself in the lineup.
In net, Frederik Andersen suffered a pair of upper-body injuries, the second occurring in the penultimate game of the season wherein Toronto clinched its playoff spot. Overall, Andersen made 66 starts, second-most among all goalies.
The big addition to this group this summer was Patrick Marleau, who hasn't missed a regular-season game since 2008-09. He will, however, turn 38 prior to opening night.
Altogether, the Leafs' remarkable good health played a role in their success last season, and there's no certainty that luck will continue.
A crowded field
Finally, consider the competition.
Expected to lead the way in the Atlantic last season, the Florida teams were beset by significant injuries early on. The Lightning and Panthers are expected to rebound in 2017-18, and things won't get any easier elsewhere in a competitive Eastern Conference for a Leafs team no longer able to take opponents by surprise.
Yes, the future is bright, and something special - perhaps even great - appears to be brewing. But nothing is guaranteed in today's NHL, and expecting a clear upward trajectory with zero obstacles would be foolish.
Are the Leafs in for a major regression? Probably not, but several teams will be vying for their playoff spot, and the competition will look to keep Toronto's young guns in check all season long, should - and this is key - they remain healthy.
It's a promising group, but the Leafs' immediate return to the postseason isn't set in stone.
On Thursday night, TSN's Darren Dreger reported that Tony Granato will be named head coach of Team USA for the 2018 Winter Olympics, with an official announcement to take place Friday.
Joining him behind the bench will be assistant coach Chris Chelios. However, former Dallas Stars great and Hall of Famer Mike Modano has thrown his hat into the ring, tweeting Thursday night that he would be willing to join as a consultant.
Congrats @TonyGranato on @usahockey men's coach. If you need a consultant I'm available.
