Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville isn't ruling out the possibility of the club's No. 8 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, Adam Boqvist, making the team out of training camp.
"I'm not throwing that out of the realm of possibility," Quenneville told The Athletic's Mark Lazerus on Thursday.
Boqvist, a right-handed shooting defenseman, is just 18 years old and is listed at anywhere between 154 and 170 lbs. Having him on the team's opening-day lineup may seem premature, but he might be their best option.
Defenseman Gustav Forsling underwent offseason wrist surgery and isn't expected back until mid-November. Meanwhile, fellow blue-liner Connor Murphy is expected to miss at least the first month of the season with a back injury.
Here's how Daily Faceoff projects the Blackhawks' blue line:
LD
RD
Duncan Keith
Henri Jokiharju
Erik Gustafsson
Brent Seabrook
Brandon Manning
Jan Rutta
If Boqvist wins a job out of camp, Chicago could play him for up to nine games before burning a year off his entry-level contract. In theory, this nine-game audition could provide the team with depth on the blue line while Forsling and Murphy recover from their injuries.
Boqvist played overseas in Sweden for his draft year, but would join the OHL's London Knights for the 2018-19 campaign if he doesn't make the Blackhawks.
For the past two seasons, Matthews was relegated to second power-play unit duties, while Rielly, Marner, and Kadri were joined by departed forwards Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk.
Matthews doesn't believe loading up so heavily on one unit will be problematic.
"Look at Pittsburgh's power play," he said to reporters. "They do pretty well for themselves."
The Penguins' power play, which features Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Phil Kessel, operated at a league-best 26.2 percent last season. Toronto was second at 24.9 percent.
As for the positioning, Rielly will patrol the top of the umbrella, flanked by Marner to his right and Matthews to his left, according to Masters. Kadri will man the middle while Tavares serves as the net-front presence - a role he told Babcock he wanted to play during the free-agency recruitment process.
Tavares doesn't have a lot of experience filling the net-front spot, but he did rack up 30 points with the man advantage last season - a mark that would've led the Maple Leafs.
Domi was assessed a match penalty for punching Ekblad in the face early in the third period.
The Canadiens have five preseason games remaining, including Thursday night's contest against the Washington Capitals.
Had Player Safety wanted to give Domi a regular season game or two, it would have needed to be an in-person hearing, FYI. The CBA for whatever reason doesn't differentiate on pre-season games or reg season games for purpose of the phone/in-person hearing threshold of 5 games.
To properly understand the perpetual infancy of Japanese hockey, consider the strange case of 1974 NHL draft pick Taro Tsujimoto.
Tsujimoto, an imaginary hockey player from Tokyo - literally created out of thin air in the middle of a professional sports league draft - was selected in the 11th round, 183rd overall, by his inventor, "bored" Buffalo Sabres general manager Punch Imlach. In the days following the draft, Imlach strung along media and fans, insisting Tsujimoto would be Buffalo-bound in due time. Spoiler: The kid never showed.
It's one of the strangest tales in hockey history and, in a roundabout fashion, remains symbolic of Japan's very, very long-distance relationship with the National Hockey League.
Only two real Japanese nationals have been selected by NHL teams since Tsujimoto: Defenseman Hiroyuki Miura went in the 11th round to the Montreal Canadiens in 1992, and in 2004, the Los Angeles Kings used an eighth-round pick on goalie Yutaka Fukufuji.
Meanwhile, there is no question China - the Asian powerhouse with a population of nearly 1.4 billion people - is the NHL's next frontier, as evidenced by this past week's pair of exhibition games in Shenzhen and Beijing, Gary Bettman dropping hints about holding regular-season games there, and Wayne Gretzky shaking hands.
The last Winter Games were hosted by neighbor South Korea and the 2022 Olympics will be in Beijing. So hockey in Japan must at least be benefiting from its proximity … right?
"Many people see Japanese hockey that way, but it was actually bigger before," Hiroki Wakabayashi, a globetrotting professional goalie coach originally from Osaka, told theScore. "It's actually (trending) down quite a bit right now."
Enter Yushiroh Hirano. Born, raised, and trained in Japan, the 23-year-old winger will be making the trip from Japan to the United States this weekend to compete for an AHL job in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Youngstown Phantoms
The Pittsburgh Penguins' top farm club was intrigued enough by the late-blooming prospect's upside to offer him a professional tryout. The AHL may not be the pinnacle of the sport, and there are no contractual guarantees for unsigned players, but success is relative.
"If he does well at the AHL level, or even the East Coast level, there's going to be more eyes towards Japan looking for players," said Chris Wakabayashi (no relation to Hiroki), who coached Hirano in the Asia League the past two years. "It's like Hideo Nomo when he first came over to the major leagues. That opened the door."
__________
If there is indeed a door to be opened, it's safe to assume Hirano will not tiptoe through the entrance. His 6-foot-1, 216-pound frame, snarling on-ice presence, and ability to shoot a hockey puck aren't the most subtle combination.
Hirano's shot is the stuff of legend. It is his weapon, his calling card, and a general hazard to netminders. While playing for the Youngstown Phantoms in 2015, he sent the opposing goalie to the trainer's room with a mangled mask.
"I gave Yush a pass like 10 feet inside the blue line and he just lined up and ripped a slap shot," recalled Chase Pearson, Hirano's linemate on the Phantoms. "It hit the goalie square in the mask and broke the front metal part in half.
"The goalie had to leave the game because he got cut. I think the entire rink went quiet because the impact of the puck was so loud."
Video footage of the blast is nowhere to be found online. However, the game report indicates Hirano scored seven seconds after the injured goaltender's exit, capitalizing on a clearly cold (and perhaps frightened) backup.
Then 20 years old, Hirano skated in 54 games and finished the 2015-16 season with 46 points - 24 of them goals, and many of those no-doubters. Fittingly enough for someone with his skill set, Hirano counts Alex Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos as two of his favorite players.
"My shot did not come naturally - I have been working on it since I was in high school. I decided then that I was going to try and have the quickest and hardest shot in Japan," Hirano told theScore in a recent interview conducted via email.
"Before and after school I would shot about 100 pucks in my yard. Even to this day, I go out to my yard and shoot over 100 pucks two or three times a week. ... I strive to have the best shot. I am a firm believer that if you want to improve you have to be willing to put in the time."
__________
The NHL is Hirano's best-case scenario. The ECHL is his North American floor. And even the AHL would represent a major accomplishment for Hirano and Japanese players in general.
Fukufuji, the goalie L.A. snagged in 2004, had a four-game cup of coffee in the NHL. According to Hockey-Reference.com, the 36-year-old (still stopping pucks in the Asia League) stands as the lone Japan-born player to crack the best league in the world. The AHL says Fukufuji is also the only Japan-born player to appear there. (Ryan O'Marra, who played in the NHL and AHL, was born in Japan but moved to Canada with his Canadian parents shortly after.)
Japanese players have carved out long pro careers in Europe and Asia; however, only eight have appeared in North America's third league, the ECHL, and none since 2009. With the exception of Fukufuji (again), none of them played more than 80 games, and two didn't even crack 10. The same weekend that Hirano played his first Phantoms game, Yuri Terao debuted for the Waterloo Black Hawks, making them the first players born in Japan to slip on USHL jerseys since it became a junior league in 1979.
Japan, a country of 127 million whose sports fans are loyal to baseball and soccer, has been a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation since 1930. It counts roughly 19,000 people as registered hockey players, according to the IIHF. (For context, China has 12,000.)
"I started playing hockey when I was 3 years old," Hirano said. "My father and his twin brother both played professional hockey in Japan. So I guess it kind of runs in the family."
Hirano turned 3 in 1998, in the midst of the NHL's effort to capitalize on the attention generated by the Nagano Olympics by staging seven regular-season games in Japan between 1997 and 2000. The league has not returned since. Japan's men's program is ranked 23rd worldwide, sandwiched between Great Britain and the Ukraine (the women's program is much farther along, ranking seventh).
The Wakabayashis both expressed disappointment over the current iteration of Japanese hockey. Cheaper sports such as golf, speed skating, judo, and sumo command the attention of kids and parents, and they lamented a lack of long-term planning and direction at the national level, saying it's inhibited growth in recent years.
"The national federation is mostly volunteer guys," Chris Wakabayashi said. "They don't emphasize enough on generating revenue and sponsorship. They rely a lot on Japanese Olympic committee for money."
Hiroki Wakabayashi took it one step further: "Make it to the Olympics, you get money. When you don't, you've got no money."
__________
Hirano flew to the U.S. on his own dime to showcase his skills for the Phantoms, who didn't have a book on the power forward at the time. Beyond his attendance at Chicago Blackhawks development camp in July 2015, he'd exclusively plied his trade across the pond, including a season in Sweden's SuperElit junior league and three games with the team's Division 1 affiliate.
"He paid his way to come over for the tryout. When/if he made the team, Youngstown would reimburse him," ex-Phantoms coach John Wroblewski said. "It was quite a financial impact but he made the team with just an unbelievable work ethic. It was outstanding to watch this kid - how bad he wanted it and how hard he worked to get it. ...
"He had gone through a 36-hour travel day and all of a sudden you watch him shoot a puck and you're like, 'Oh my dear Lord.' He shot it just like a guy would in the American Hockey League."
His future linemate Pearson didn't know what to expect when the Phantoms GM told him Hirano was coming to camp.
"I was like, 'Ah, we'll see what happens,'" said Pearson, who's now a Detroit Red Wings prospect and the University of Maine's captain. "But he ended up being one of our best players."
While the USHL wasn't familiar with Hirano, the league and the country were unknowns to him too. The language gap was so wide that, at night, he felt the need to huddle up with a Japanese-English dictionary. Impressively, Wrobleski says he didn't miss a beat during practice, rarely making mistakes on drills requiring complex explanation.
Toward the end of the USHL season, Central Scouting, the NHL's in-house talent evaluation department, ranked Hirano 184th on its 2016 list of draft-eligible skaters playing in North America. In June, he went undrafted in his fourth year of eligibility. He secured a spot at San Jose Sharks development camp, but it didn't lead to future opportunities.
Though NCAA schools were interested, Hirano's brief stint in Sweden's Division 1 had cost him his college eligibility, and he skated in the Asia League in 2016-17 and 2017-18. He recorded 1.2 points per game for Chris Wakabayashi's Tohoku Free Blades and jumped to Sweden's Division 2 to close out last season with eight goals and five assists in 18 games.
Youngstown Phantoms
Mark Dennehy, the Penguins' ECHL coach this summer (he never stepped behind the bench, accepting a job with the AHL's Binghamton Devils in August) connected with Hirano's representatives. Dennehy saw potential and extended an invite for camp, which begins with physicals Sunday and holds its first on-ice session Monday. Wilkes-Barre general manager Bill Guerin saw no reason to cancel the PTO after the coach's departure.
"You have to manage expectations. We don't want to put pressure on any player, but it's all up to them," said Guerin, noting Hirano's shot - surprise! - received high marks in scouting reports filed during his USHL stint. "For us, the risk is minimal. We just felt that there was enough there to give him this opportunity.
__________
For all his skills, tools, and potential, Hirano was a flawed player when he last lived in America. Skating was not his strong suit.
"His brain's there, his shot's there, he's got vision. It's whether or not he can play at the pace," said Wroblewski, who's now a coach for the U.S. National Team Development Program. "That's really what defines anybody who is trying to transcend a level."
Guerin agreed, adding, "With a lot of players, it's not necessarily that they can't play with the pace, it's that they're mentally not willing. So, if we get willing skaters - guys who are willing to play with pace - and if they have the ability to score like he does, then they can make something of it."
By all accounts, Hirano has a growth mindset and the level of desire required to crush a new challenge. At 23, though, he's not exactly young. Not every prospect follows a linear path, but it's unlikely for a player in his mid-20s to win a roster spot if he hasn't managed to stick anywhere in North America after two NHL development camps and interest from ECHL teams.
"Since my ultimate goal is to get to the NHL, I have to work on everything," said Hirano. "I need to raise the bar. I need to skate better, be stronger, read the play better, and I have to get NHL hungry. ...
"I would like to make all my family and friends proud of me. But, more than that, I would like to change the image of hockey in Japan. I would like to take hockey in Japan to the next level."
A few current prospects appear to have a chance to change the course - and perception - of Japanese hockey. Aito Iguchi, a highly touted 15-year-old master stickhandler, has garnered plenty of social media fame. Both Iguchi and Ikki Kogawa, 15, have played minor hockey in Canada. Kohei Sato (21) and Yuki Miura (22) are playing Division I college hockey for New Hampshire and Lake Superior, respectively.
But none of those players have an AHL tryout yet, and as the 2018-19 season begins, Hirano is as close as it gets for Japanese hockey. Taro Tsujimoto, if he existed, would be proud.
"Yush loves the game. He cares," Chris Wakabayashi said. "You're not going to get many chances in North America, so I hope he makes the best of it."
John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer. You can find him on Twitter @matiszjohn.
Pavelec signed a one-year contract with the New York Rangers last summer to back up Henrik Lundqvist. He suited up in 19 games for the Blueshirts in 2017-18, posting a .910 save percentage.
He finishes his career with 398 appearances, recording 156 wins and 18 shutouts.
As a season filled with uncertainty surrounding Artemi Panarin's future draws near, don't count on Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen rushing to move on from his superstar.
Panarin is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in July 2019, and he's already stated he won't discuss a contract extension during the season. His next move is unclear, but Kekalainen has made it known Panarin isn't on the trade block.
TSN's Darren Dreger said Wednesday on "Insider Trading" that Kekalainen "has no interest in trading him and his principle point of interest is trying to convince him to re-sign."
Panarin arrived in Columbus via trade in 2017 and registered a career-high 82 points in his first season with Blue Jackets before adding seven more in six playoff contests. With him in the fold, Columbus has a significant chance at competing again in the Metropolitan Division but faces the risk of losing him for nothing if he decides to bolt in free agency.
Columbus faces a similar predicament with all-world goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who is also a UFA in 2019 and said at the start of training camp that he's already informed the team of his future plans.
If Erik Karlsson wants to ink a max deal with his new team, he'll have to wait a while.
The superstar defenseman cannot sign an eight-year contract extension with the San Jose Sharks until after the 2018-19 trade deadline on Feb 25, according to a CBA rule unearthed by The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.
LeBrun cited page 285 of the NHL-NHLPA agreement, and specifically Rule 50.8, subsection (b) (iv), which states:
An SPC with a term of greater than seven (7) years, provided, however, that a club may sign a player to an SPC with a term of up to eight (8) years if that player was on such club's reserve list as of and since the most recent trade deadline. With respect to potential unrestricted free agents only, the ability to re-sign a player to an SPC of eight (8) years expires when the player becomes an unrestricted free agent. With respect to a player who becomes a Group 2 restricted free agent, a club may sign such player to an SPC with a term of up to eight (8) years provided such player was on such club's reserve list and/or restricted free agent list as of and since the most recent trade deadline.
In other words, if Karlsson - a pending unrestricted free agent - wants to sign a pact for seven years or fewer with San Jose, he can do so at any time, but if he wants the maximum eight years, he has to wait until the clock strikes 3 p.m. ET on Feb. 25.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly sent a memo on the subject to all 31 teams in July as a reminder, sources told LeBrun, who added that the Sharks were very much aware of the rule as they negotiated the recent trade that landed Karlsson from the Ottawa Senators.
After acquiring the all-world blue-liner last week, Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said, "It's a long-term approach, and we think Erik fits for now and for a long time."
Leading up to the start of the 2018-19 season, theScore will be counting down the top 100 players in the game today, as voted on by four of our NHL editors.
Murray faced some adversity last season in his debut test as the Pittsburgh Penguins' true starter, but the 24-year-old has established himself as one of the league's premier netminders on the strength of a .923 career postseason save percentage and two Stanley Cup rings. -- O'Leary
99. Aaron Ekblad, Panthers
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
NR
NR
98
84
In just four NHL seasons, Ekblad has already emerged as one of the most well-rounded defenders in the game. His 16 goals last season tied for the second most among all defensemen league-wide, and he also logged the most minutes on the penalty kill of any Panthers blue-liner. -- Hagerman
98. Devan Dubnyk, Wild
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
93
NR
NR
88
Since 2014-15, Dubnyk has cemented himself as one of the NHL's best goaltenders, posting a .922 save percentage and a 2.30 goals-against average in that span. Last season wasn't necessarily his best campaign, but any team would take a .918 save percentage from its netminder in an "off year." -- Wegman
97. Jonathan Huberdeau, Panthers
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
NR
96
94
87
Huberdeau is one of the league's most overlooked playmakers, as he uses his exceptional hand-eye coordination to generate scoring chances and convert them consistently. He poured in a career-high 27 goals and 42 assists last season while playing in all 82 games for the first time, and the six-year veteran is still only 25, so don't be surprised if he keeps improving. -- Gold-Smith
96. Viktor Arvidsson, Predators
Frederick Breedon / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
99
84
92
NR
Arvidsson has scored 60 goals with 62 assists over the last two years. A fourth-round pick in 2014, the 5-foot-9 speedster plays with the high motor you'd expect from a late-round pick. The winger is also one of the league's best penalty killers, having scored more shorthanded goals (eight) than any other player over the past two seasons. -- Wegman
95. Morgan Rielly, Maple Leafs
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
96
83
97
100
Rielly's game elevated to new heights in 2017-18, as he racked up a career-high 52 points, including 25 on the power play. And at five-on-five, he fared relatively well against opponents' top lines, driving possession at a 50.84 percent rate despite starting the bulk of his shifts in the defensive zone, per Corsica. -- Wegman
94. Brayden Schenn, Blues
Claus Andersen / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
94
NR
93
85
A proven scorer and a versatile two-way center, Schenn drove possession (54.63) and posted 70 points while logging more average ice time than Evgeni Malkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov in his first season with the St. Louis Blues. He should continue to grow in 2018-19, especially considering the Blues' new additions. -- Gold-Smith
93. Alexander Radulov, Stars
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
NR
97
95
66
After joining the Stars last offseason, Radulov helped form one of the top trios in the NHL alongside Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. He has all the tools to be a lethal point producer and averaged the second-most points per 60 minutes on the club at five-on-five, behind only Benn. -- Hagerman
92. Charlie McAvoy, Bruins
Maddie Meyer / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
88
88
88
90
In just one NHL season, McAvoy proved he has all the tools to eventually challenge for a Norris Trophy. He has a smooth stride, is a strong defender, and above all else, he's an elite offensive player. The 20-year-old finished fifth in Calder Trophy voting last season despite missing 19 games due to injury. -- Hagerman
91. Shea Weber, Canadiens
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
65
98
86
98
Weber could be on the shelf until mid-December, but he's an anchor on the blue line when healthy. With an accurate, blistering point shot and undeniable power-play quarterbacking abilities, the veteran is still an impact player, even at his age. -- Gold-Smith
