Connor McDavid wants to score more, Jagr to Calgary, the Duchene conundrum, Vegas, Turris and more in TSN Hockey’s Top 10 Storylines of the Week.
MCDAVID
Edmonton Oilers centre Connor McDavid, coming off a season in which he won the Art Ross, Hart and Ted Lindsay trophies and, the real prize, was named the No. 1 player in TSN’s Top 50 players.
The 20-year-old went into the offseason with an objective of scoring more goals and while that’s probably something every player should focus on, McDavid actually has the tools to do something dramatic in this regard.
Here's Connor McDavid's second goal with a speedometer attached. 41 km/h (25.4 mph) by the end of it, how the hell do you stop that? pic.twitter.com/cLXN3qp4d9 — Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) October 5, 2017
He carries the puck at a speed that is unprecedented, and while there are so many fast skaters in the league, few can match McDavid and none can process the game at an elite level while also using that blinding speed.
And it’s that speed that caught the eye of Jaromir Jagr, who has played with and against, well, just about everyone in the NHL since 1990.
Jaromir #Jagr thinks if Connor #McDavid made one adjustment he could score 150 goals a year. A post shared by TSN (@tsn_official) on Oct 5, 2017 at 2:23pm PDT
JAGR TO CALGARY
Speaking of Jagr, somehow the 45-year-old had remained unsigned through the entire summer and, then, just before the start of the 2017-2018 season, the Calgary Flames signed him to a deal that costs $1-million with another $1-million in achievable bonuses, a pittance for a winger who has produced 112 points over the past two seasons, a total that ranks 52nd in the league.
Yes, he’s slowed down and when teams are trying to get faster, that is the obvious reason for teams hesitating to bring him in, but the bottom line is that Jagr remains productive and could have helped a lot of teams. The Flames, who desperately need the skill upgrade on the right side, should reap the rewards and, if he is too old, the contract isn’t going to tie the organization in knots.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Jagr is a steal for the Flames. https://t.co/P6KVxCxDE7 pic.twitter.com/kBmJLf1veI — Scott Cullen (@tsnscottcullen) October 2, 2017
DUCHENE
Trade rumours had swirled around Colorado Avalanche centre Matt Duchene for such a long time that it seems preposterous that he started this season in Colorado. It seemed likely that he would get moved before last season’s trade deadline, and then it didn’t happen.
He finished with 41 points in 77 games, which didn’t enhance his value, but surely it would happen at the draft. Nope. Maybe in early July, once teams had explored their free agent options. Still no.
That leaves Duchene in an uncomfortable position, a player who is ready to move on, and a team that wants to move him, but can’t come up with a deal that they like.
So, the Avs started the season with Duchene centering a line with rookie Alex Kerfoot and 2012 first-overall pick Nail Yakupov, which hardly seems like putting Duchene in a position to succeed. Of course, if success for Duchene would mean improved production that would, in turn, figure to enhance his trade value.
Avs showing really strong commitment to Duchene here. https://t.co/myJa18xfmy — Scott Cullen (@tsnscottcullen) October 5, 2017
Now, Duchene had a goal and an assist in Game One, a 4-2 win at the Rangers, but watching the Avalanche handle this process has been difficult.
Regarding Duchene, a team exec texted, “How does this end?” Good question.
PENGUINS
The Pittsburgh Penguins, winners of back-to-back Stanley Cups, received their rings before the start of the season and expectations had the Penguins as the top team coming into this season.
They opened the season with a 5-4 overtime loss at home against St. Louis, which wasn’t alarming, but also not a great indication in a home game against a team missing quite a few regulars due to injuries.
That was small potatoes, however, because the Penguins followed that opening-night loss with a spectacular 10-1 blowout loss at Chicago. Even if they were playing on back-to-back nights, that kind of performance was not becoming of an NHL team, let alone the team expected to be the best in the league.
It had better improve quickly, though, because the Penguins host Nashville before back-to-back road games at Washington and Tampa Bay.
TOUGH CALLS FOR VEGAS
The Vegas Golden Knights are getting ready to play their first NHL game Friday night, and it appears that their roster is a tad unsettled.
They have sent No. 1 centre Vadim Shipachyov and potentially their best defenceman, Shea Theodore, to the AHL, presumably because the Golden Knights are trying to avoid putting some of their surplus defencemen on waivers.
And yet, they claimed goaltender Malcolm Subban on waivers, then somehow got goaltender Calvin Pickard through waivers on his way to the AHL. What's going on here?
This seems like a lot of hoops to jump through in order to protect assets like Luca Sbisa, Griffin Reinhart or Brad Hunt. Vegas’ plan to draft lots of defencemen in the expansion draft was fine, but they needed to have follow-up deals lined up because now they are left holding the bag, at least it appears that way when they aren’t willing to demote some of their excess at the position.
What’s discouraging is that this team, which is already fighting uphill, isn’t even putting out its most talented possible lineup.
TURRIS TRADE BAIT?
Could Kyle Turris be a candidate for trade?
TSN’s Darren Dreger suggested that, if the Senators don’t come to a new contract deal with pending unrestricted free agent centre Kyle Turris, that a trade, while not imminent, “seems likely.”
The trouble this presents for the Senators is that, if they make that kind of move during the season, is that it will come across like waving a white flag. Turris is good and teams that have playoff aspirations don’t tend to trade good players for future assets. If
Ottawa expects to be a playoff team this year, it’s hard to imagine it with Turris subtracted from the roster.
Now, if the trade deadline is approaching and the Senators are well out of a playoff spot then that could change the calculation because, at that point, the team can start looking to the future when they can reasonably expect to have Logan Brown and Colin White ready to contribute at centre.
There will be lots of trade rumours throughout the year, but how the Senators handle the future of Turris, their 28-year-old No. 1 centre, will be worth keeping an eye on.
EICHEL'S NEW DEAL
The Sabres have hitched their wagon to Jack Eichel.
Just before the season started, the Buffalo Sabres signed their franchise centre, 20-year-old Jack Eichel, to a contract extension. The extension kicks in next season and is for eight years and $80-million; big dollars.
With Connor McDavid’s new deal set to pay him $12.5-million per season, and Leon Draisaitl now earning $8.5-million per season, Eichel’s contract is another data point for the rising young stars in the game. With Eichel getting $10-million, it seems a given that Toronto’s Auston Matthews and Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine will be looking at deals north of that price tag when they prepare to sign extensions.
It also appears that bridge deals no longer apply, especially to high-end talents. It’s not unreasonable for that change to have taken place, because these players are getting paid during their peak performance years, but it’s still a change in the way the business has operated.
As for Eichel, specifically, he’s a terrific player and the Sabres are hitching their wagon to him as the franchise star. After the Sabres cleaned house, firing GM Tim Murray and head coach Dan Bylsma after a reported rift with Eichel, there is suspicion that Eichel holds too much sway in the organization, but if the off-ice concerns aren’t a problem, it makes sense for the Sabres to sign Eichel and hope that he’s the cornerstone piece around which they can build.
Didn't even wait for the Eichel story to cool off.https://t.co/TiLPc0uNNj — Scott Cullen (@tsnscottcullen) April 20, 2017
TORONTO’S BIG START
The Toronto Maple Leafs opened the season with an impressive road victory, 7-2 at Winnipeg, and that’s done nothing to slow down the hype machine around the Maple Leafs, a young team that is coming into a season with expectations for the first time in a long time.
Getting better goaltending than the Jets isn’t the most notable accomplishment, but the Leafs’ skill was on display and that’s why optimism abounds for the Leafs. Not only do they have promising young stars Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner, but veterans Patrick Marleau, James van Riemsdyk and Nazem Kadri are contributing too, and that depth of talent is why expectations are higher for Toronto this season.
As they say, plan the parade.
WILSON SUSPENDED
Washington Capitals right winger Tom Wilson has been flirting with this for some time, even getting suspended for two preseason games this year, before his most recent incident, a boarding penalty against St. Louis’ rookie winger Samuel Blais, that resulted in a four-game suspension.
Washington’s Tom Wilson suspended four games for boarding St. Louis’ Sam Blais. https://t.co/DTQhWVmY2n — NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) October 3, 2017
To the league’s credit, they have needed to hand out harsher punishments for bad hits, so if they are going to tilt in that direction, and Wilson getting tagged moves them in that direction, then that’s probably for the better all around. There’s nothing wrong with expecting hits to be clean.
PASS THE HATS
This is a wildly small sample, of course, but there were some goals being scored in the first couple of nights of the season. Not only was there an average of seven goals per game (it won’t last), but four individual players – Connor McDavid, Wayne Simmonds, Brandon Saad and Alex Ovechkin – recorded hat tricks in their team’s season opener, something that last happened in the league 100 years ago.
Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca