Canadiens And Red Wings Will Be Fighting For A Playoff Spot
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New York Times
12 minutes ago
- New York Times
Burning Red Wings questions: Who plays top-line left wing? Can youngsters level up?
It may be the dog days of summer, but as training camps draw closer — now just a month away — hockey is starting to work its way back into the public consciousness. And with it, some burning questions are coming back to the surface after letting the offseason moves settle. Today, we'll take a look at five such questions for the Red Wings: some of which may start to be answered as soon as next month, and others that could take the whole season. Advertisement It's technically still possible this one could be answered with a late-summer trade, but by this point in the offseason, it's a lot more likely the answer is going to be someone already in the organization. Or perhaps more accurately, multiple someones. This looks like an area where the Red Wings will have an opportunity (and frankly, a need) to experiment with different options, searching for what works best. The first domino will really be how Detroit wants to use Marco Kasper, who finished last season as the team's second-line center — likely his long-term position for the Red Wings — but looked just as good at first-line left wing before Andrew Copp went down with an injury. My gut feeling at this point in the offseason is that the Red Wings look to keep Kasper down the middle, bringing pace and jam between Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane. If that's the case, does Copp, who can make plays and operate in the hard areas of the ice, get the bump up to play with Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond? He'd bring some of the same heaviness and defensive elements Kasper did to that line, and could certainly be worth trying. But if it's not him, the next two candidates might be players who could otherwise be on Detroit's fourth line, in big-bodied wingers James van Riemsdyk and Elmer Söderblom. The 36-year-old van Riemsdyk can certainly do damage around the net and put up 16 goals a year ago. Söderblom has less of a track record, but there's plenty of skill in that 6-foot-8 frame and he showed improved willingness to finish checks when he was called up in the second half last season. There are outside contenders, such as J.T. Compher and Jonatan Berggren, and the Red Wings will no doubt give multiple different players a look throughout the season. The key, though, will be if any can really round out a line that needs to be a five-on-five threat in 2025-26. Advertisement John Gibson was the biggest acquisition in Detroit this offseason, and his talent (and history) suggest he should raise the ceiling of the Red Wings' goaltending this season. The more pressing question, though, might be whether he can raise the floor. Because while Gibson's .911 save percentage in 29 games last season would have led all Detroit netminders, it's not as though the Red Wings haven't gotten good stretches of goaltending over the last few years. Those positive stretches have just generally been outweighed by deep lulls as the year went on and workloads piled up. Gibson's numbers dipped playing behind a rebuilding Ducks team over the few seasons before 2024 in Anaheim, but his earlier-career track record was that of a legit No. 1 — the kind of goalie who could give Detroit 50 good starts this season without those same lulls. If he can do that, it'll make everyone's job easier. And perhaps most crucially, it would give some confidence to the group that every mistake won't end up in the back of the net. For a team that's really struggled with long slumps in March the last few seasons, that kind of mental boost could make a world of difference. Some of that falls to the players themselves to fix, of course. But never underestimate how energizing good goaltending can be for a team. This one will be the hardest to quantify, but that doesn't mean it's not real. The Red Wings looked markedly better after hiring Todd McLellan at Christmas, reviving their season in the second half. One of those aforementioned March slumps ultimately derailed any playoff hopes, but even with that lumped in, Detroit played to a 95-point pace under McLellan. That would have been enough to make the playoffs over a full season. Advertisement Of course, there won't be any new coach bump this time around. But in its place will be other advantages, like a full training camp to install McLellan's preferred systems and structures. And after how the second half went, the buy-in from players should remain strong. Ultimately, the players' effort and engagement level is probably more important than the particulars of which schematic McLellan and his staff decide on. And McLellan certainly got that out of the roster in his 48 games last season. Now the key will be to maintain the same blend of energy and instinct that fueled last season while also mixing in any new structures. That's easier said than done, but it could go a long way toward determining the season's trajectory. Outside of Gibson, Detroit's big additions this offseason were more of the role-player variety. van Riemsdyk could see time high in the lineup for stretches, but Mason Appleton looks like a classic third-line matchup player and Jacob Bernard-Docker will compete for time on the third defense pair. That means for the Red Wings to take a step forward, they'll need some of their returning players to find another level. And the most natural place to look is the youth. Certainly, the Red Wings would love to see one more step from Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, who both already qualify as NHL stars but do probably have another jump in them. But realistically, the most likely players to make a leap would be Kasper and Simon Edvinsson — both already impact players with just one full season under their belts — as well as Söderblom and Albert Johansson. Kasper's 'leap' could be as simple as proving he can keep up his second-half production, which had him scoring at a 30-goal (and near 60-point) pace. If he does that while maintaining his strong defensive impacts, it immediately makes the Red Wings much harder to match up against. And frankly, even scoring in the 50-point range probably accomplishes that. Edvinsson, meanwhile, has also had many stretches of excellent play in huge minutes, and part of a potential jump could come from getting more opportunity on the power play. His skating and stickhandling ability can make him a one-man breakout at times, and allow him to join the rush up ice as well. But for a player Detroit will lean on in important defensive situations, there's always a give and take to doing so, and that will be the other part of his next stage: continuing to calibrate the right moments to activate. Edvinsson has the potential to be a true all-situations defenseman who takes on huge minutes against top players and produces real offense. Getting to that point takes time, reps and some room to make mistakes, but any step he can take towards that this year would certainly help. Advertisement Söderblom and Johansson were both positive stories from last year, including Johansson spending some time on the second defense pairing. It looks possible he could be back in that role again with Detroit unable to find a proven top-four RHD in the offseason, and if that's the case, they'll certainly need the 24-year-old to take a step. He held his own in those minutes last year with some highlight moments, but if it's going to be a season-long deployment, Detroit will want him to help tilt the ice a bit more in their favor. As for Söderblom, it all comes down to two things: offense and physicality. In a small sample, the offense has been there at a respectable bottom-six level. But sustaining that over a full season is key, and he certainly has the tools to do it with slick hands and a shot that can be a true weapon. The physicality portion is probably the bigger key, though, because if Söderblom can consistently make his presence felt at his size, he'll add a sorely-needed element to Detroit's bottom six. This goes hand in hand with the last question, but just as Kasper, Söderblom and Johansson (and Edvinsson, though he wasn't technically a rookie by the NHL's definition) carved out roles last season, there will be some new rookies looking to earn spots in 2025-26. One, Carter Mazur, already made his debut, although he was injured early into it. Mazur brings the kind of hard-nosed play style that could help Detroit find a few more greasy goals around the net, and has the shot to score from farther out as well. He feels like a natural fit to see time in the bottom six at some point this season. Nate Danielson, the team's 2023 first-rounder, is another candidate for playing time as a two-way center who's a little different from Kasper, but who could similarly become a staple in the top nine by season's end with real playmaking ability. Sebastian Cossa is probably going to spend much of the year in AHL Grand Rapids again, but it wouldn't be surprising to see him get some action in Detroit if either Gibson or Cam Talbot miss time. He'll be looking to prove he's ready for the NHL after spending each of the last two years with the Griffins, and getting 8-10 games could be good for both him and the Red Wings heading into next year. And don't sleep on a couple more candidates for playing time in Amadeus Lombardi and William Wallinder. Both have logged plenty of reps in Grand Rapids, but Lombardi's up-tempo, creative scoring ability and Wallinder's excellent skating as a 6-foot-4 defenseman give both players paths to NHL games this season if the need arises. Advertisement Defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka or winger Michael Brandsegg-Nygård — two first-round picks who played in Sweden last season — might also impress and earn a surprise debut. None of these potential rookies are currently slated to play major roles early in the season, but if even one develops into an impactful player by midseason, it could really change the team's outlook as the season goes on. (Top photo of Marco Kasper and Thomas Chabot: Marc DesRosiers / Imagn Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Former Canadiens Honoured With A Statue
A few days ago, former Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price was honoured when a statue of the netminder in action, carved in wood with a chainsaw, was gifted to the city of Williams Lake by the district of Chetwynd. The work of art, titled 'The Goalie,' depicts the Habs goaltender in action with his glove hand extended. The unveiling took place at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex. While Price himself was unable to attend, his parents, Linda and Jerry Price, were in attendance to speak on his behalf. Canadiens: Montembeault's Big DayCanadiens Have Intriguing PTO Target To ConsiderCanadiens Performed Well Against Tragedy-Struck Blue Jackets Through his father, the Canadiens' winningest goaltender said that for someone who doesn't like to be the center of attention, it feels funny to have a statue of themselves, but also expressed how proud he was to be from the Cariboo Chilcotin and acknowledged the fact that the people helped to shape the man he became. Chief Kukpi7 Willie Sellers, who was also in attendance, mentioned that watching Price play in the finals when he was in junior hockey was one of his fondest hockey memories. He also credits Price for inspiring him to pick up the pads again, even if it wasn't at the same level as the Canadiens' netminder. Jeffrey Samudsocky of JMS Wood Sculpture is the artist who gave life to the statue, and this is one of the many statues that the District of Chetwynd has donated to other communities as a recognition of their partnership and to encourage collaboration. There's no denying that Price has been an inspiration to many First Nation youth during his NHL career, not only because of his performance on the ice but also because of the way he handled adversity. He fought his way through many injuries and setbacks to come back to play and wasn't afraid to seek help from the NHL and NHLPA Player Assistance program when he felt he needed it because of substance abuse. Unfortunately, after overcoming all that and winning the Bill Masterton Trophy, the all-star netminder only went on to play five more NHL games, winning the last one of his career, a 10-2 triumph over a watered-down version of the Florida Panthers who were resting some players in the previous game of the regular season. Canadiens stories, analysis, breaking news, and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News, never to miss a story. Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @ and Threads @karinehains. Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens. Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable on The Hockey News.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
‘Fix The NHL' draft: Non-standard rinks, fun uniforms, 3-point games — and relegation?
By Sean McIndoe, Shayna Goldman, Mark Lazerus and Rob Rossi Today, four of us are going to fix the NHL. Or at least, we're going to try. And then you're going to tell us who did the best job. Oh, you don't think the NHL needs any fixing? The league, as currently run, is just about perfect? Cool, always fun to meet a satisfied customer. This post isn't for you — feel free to click back and find something else Gary …er, random reader. Advertisement For the rest of us, who believe there's always room for improvement: Welcome to the Fix the NHL draft. Here's how it will work. Four of us — Mark, Shayna, Sean and Rob — will take turns drafting ideas to improve the NHL. Those ideas can be big or small. They can involve the rulebook, the CBA or just about anything else. The only real rule here is that the picks have to be specific, tangible changes that are at least theoretically possible, even if they may not be especially realistic. 'Increase scoring' might be a worthy objective, but it's not a fix — but 'make the nets bigger' might be. 'Make more money' is a goal; 'put another team in Toronto' is a fix. 'Make the in-arena experience more enjoyable' is too broad, but 'fire anyone who bangs on the glass into the sun' could work. You get the picture. In essence, each of our drafters has been told to pretend that they woke up today as the NHL's new commissioner, with almost unlimited power to make five specific changes. We're doing a five-round draft, snake-style. And at the end, you can vote on whose group of five ideas you like best. Pick 1.1. Mark takes: Ditch the standard 200 x 85 rink I've never been more stressed about a draft pick than this one, because I feel like I'm setting the tone here. How seriously are we taking this enterprise? Because I could sit here and scream for the 137th time that the NHL should adopt a 3-2-1 point system or poach the PWHL's jailbreak goal or make all minors two-minute majors. Those changes are obvious and correct and worthy. But what fun are they? No, with the first overall pick, I'm creating a true home-ice advantage by drafting baseball's field-dimension variability. In baseball, a team can build a deeper ballpark because they favor pitching in the draft and free agency, and the Yankees can have a Little League right-field porch because they favor left-handed power hitters, and a team can grow its infield grass an extra inch or two because its pitching staff is composed mainly of ground-ball pitchers. Why can't hockey teams do that? Last change is nice and all, but let's create a real home-ice advantage. Advertisement You're a speed team? Make the rink 20 feet longer so you have more room for separation. You're a defensive team? Make the rink international width to keep opposing forwards a mile from the net. If you have a Wayne Gretzky running the power play from behind the net, move the goal line out a little farther. Got a Cale Makar on the back end? Push back the blue line closer to center ice to give him more room to operate. And bring back the wonky Joe Louis Arena boards that only the Red Wings knew how to use. Come on, let's get weird. Let's get some character back into the buildings. One caveat: If Houston gets a team, no hills. Pick 1.2. Shayna takes: Add one or two Designated Player tags It's about time star players get paid like the elite talents they are, without getting dragged through the mud for taking a pay bump in a cap world. Taking a page out of the footy/soccer world and adding one or two designated player tags would help avoid that, by letting teams sign one or two contracts that don't count against the cap. There still have to be some boundaries — teams can only tag two players at a time, one homegrown talent and one free agent. And to ensure teams with deep pockets don't have a massive advantage, there should still be an upper limit. But this would put a new spin on team-building and help the league embrace the idea of franchise players. Pick 1.3. Sean takes: Fix the standings The loser point made some small amount of sense when it arrived in 1999 as a way to discourage boring overtimes ending in ties. But once the shootout arrived, it served no purpose… other than artificially padding everyone's record, which has been the whole point for the last 20 years. (And no, it doesn't make playoff races closer.) GMs win, with their fake .500 records. Fans lose, as third periods in close games turn into boring slogs between teams obviously playing for overtime. Advertisement There are a few ways you could fix the standings, all of which would be massive improvements on the mess we have now. I'm going with the 3-2-1-0 system, where teams get three points for a regulation win, two for an OT/SO win, one for an OT/SO loss and none for a regulation loss. That flips the script on third periods, encouraging teams to play for the win. It makes every game worth the same number of points, which feels obvious. And it doesn't make the playoff races any different, because unlike the NHL, I think fans are smart enough to handle some basic math. Pick 1.4. Rob takes: Automatically review for offside on every goal How about we agree that the technology and manpower exists for the NHL to take a look at offside on every goal that is scored, and assign that task to employees in New York and Toronto. Just make reviewing for offside part of the process and take the challenge away from coaches. This happens with VAR in soccer. And while it does take a bit from the in-stadium celebratory experience, it also assures that every scoring play is legal and onside. If the aim is to get the call correct, get it correct every time — not just when a coach has a challenge available. Pick 2.1. Rob takes: Fun with uniforms Hockey has the best jerseys, but the NHL prohibits anything fun from being done. So, let teams have four home games when they go for something different, create extra revenue in the process. A Penguins St. Patrick's Day jersey would sell well considering they usually play in Pittsburgh on the day of that holiday's parade. Plus, we need a Flames jersey themed for the annual Calgary Stampede. And while I'm at it, players should be allowed to don gloves and skate boots that are different colors/designs in all games. Ppick 2.2. Sean takes: Extend overtime and reduce shootouts Advertisement We all love three-on-three overtime. We all hate the shootout. Some problems are so simple, you wonder why the NHL can't figure it out. Unlike most issues facing the league, we can't blame this one on Bettman and the GMs. Apparently this is a player problem, with concerns over fatigue for the stars. I get that, but I've also heard crazy rumors that teams have more than six players, and could use some of those other guys in overtime if they're that worried about wearing out their stars. It might even be fun to see some third-liners get their moment with lots of open ice. Make overtime 10 minutes. Almost every OT game will end with a (mostly) real hockey play. And the few that do go to shootout might feel novel again, instead of causing everyone to switch the channel. Pick 2.3. Shayna takes: Reduce the schedule, add a play-in wild card One way to avoid extra wear-and-tear after (rightfully) expanding overtime? Reduce the regular season schedule (to 70ish games). Then, make up lost revenue with a play-in tournament. I'm of the opinion that the playoff field should only include 16, but there can be a small expansion to decide which 16 teams make it. Seeds 1-6 should lock based on the regular season. To land in a wild card, there should be a three-game play-in of No. 7 vs. 10 and No. 8 vs. 9. That adds up to 12 more games to the schedule (at a higher price tag than the regular season). The new eighth seed then gets to play the conference leader, seven gets two (the other division winner), three versus four, and five versus six. Pick 2.4. Mark takes: Create a Champions League-style global tournament When I was a kid, I never really rooted for Team USA in the Olympics. I rooted for Slovakia, because I rooted for Ziggy Palffy, my favorite Islanders player. Jingoism is fun and all, but a fan's true loyalty is to his or her NHL team, not his or her national team. So I'll piggy-back off Shayna's wise choice of cutting back the schedule, but instead of a play-in tournament, I want a UEFA Champions League or Club World Cup-style global midseason tournament between teams, not between countries. Advertisement I want the Florida Panthers playing against Frölunda, the Edmonton Oilers playing against SKA St. Petersburg, the Dallas Stars playing against KalPa. And I want them to mean it. If the 4 Nations Face-Off showed us anything, it's that people are clamoring for high-quality international hockey. More than 100 million people watch the Champions League final every year. Maybe hockey can't quite chase those numbers, but they can sure get more than the 600,000 or so who watch a regular-season game on cable in the dog days of the season. Do this every other February instead of a World Cup in between Olympic years and NHL teams will see their national and international profiles — not to mention their bottom lines — skyrocket. Also, it'd be fun as hell. Pick 3.1. Mark takes: Relegation I hate tanking. It's become a necessary evil in North American sports, particularly in a hard-cap league like the NHL, but it's also gross, cynical and, most gallingly, insulting to the fans who are asked to shell out nearly $1,000 to take a family of four to see one game of a franchise that's not even trying to win. And the only way to get tanking out of the game is to punish it with relegation instead of rewarding it with a generational draft pick. If the team you own or manage finishes 32nd or 31st in the league for two, three, four straight years, the team you own or manage doesn't deserve to be in the NHL. Full stop. Bring me the Hershey Bears for a year or two. Is this feasible? Not with the current affiliation agreements between the NHL and the AHL, and probably not with so many AHL rinks holding about as many fans as Mullett Arena did. So this would take some real doing from a logistics standpoint. But I also believe that if the punishment for finishing in the bottom four for three or four consecutive years was relegation (you've really got to earn relegation in my NHL), it would never happen again. (For someone who doesn't watch soccer at all, I sure seem to like the way soccer works. Weird.) Pick 3.2. Shayna takes: Add a weekly 'RedZone' special With ESPN owning the rights to 'NFL RedZone,' it's time for an NHL version. But first, there have to be scheduling changes. The 'RedZone' day should be special and loaded up, so the rest of the week should get more balanced than the usual heavy Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday slates. That alone should increase viewership for casual fans, who generally can't watch as much due to overlap. Then the NHL needs to pick a day to own. Maybe it's Friday nights, or Saturdays after the college football season ends. The idea should be a time when people are able to stay up late and watch, or even at bars so this coverage can be aired and casual fans can see the most exciting elements of hockey. Advertisement Pick 3.3. Sean takes: Shooting the puck over the glass is icing now It's the dumbest minor penalty in the book. Even if you want to pretend that intentionally shooting the puck over the glass used to be common — I'm old enough to know that it wasn't — the current rule just adds random power plays for clear accidents. It's inevitable that some day, one of those will come in overtime of a Game 7 and decide a series or even the final, at which point the league will swiftly kill it, just like they did for the skate-in-the-crease rule. Until then, try explaining to a new fan why shooting the puck into the stands over there is a penalty, but shooting it into the stand over there is fine, but shooting it down the ice is not fine but also not a penalty. From now on, shooting any puck directly into the crowd is the same as icing — defensive-zone faceoff with no line change. (And if it's clearly intentional, refs can still call delay of game, just like they always could before this dumb rule was introduced.) Pick 3.4. Rob takes: Full time for power plays If an opposing player commits an infraction against Connor McDavid, make that player's team kill the full two minutes against the Oilers' power play even after a goal is scored. If Edmonton scores four goals in those two minutes — hey, that should make a player think twice before the next slash, hook, interference, whatever. Scoring will increase. So will tension. And no lead will ever feel safe. Pick 4.1. Rob takes: Equip all arenas with Canadian camera angles Any American fans who have watched a Canadian broadcast have quickly noticed NHL games look different when televised by our friends from the north. There's a reason for that; Canadian arenas have superior sightlines for cameras that deliver those moving images through the videoscope. Advertisement The NHL should pay the cost (won't be cheap) to build similar sightlines into American arenas. This would offer American viewers a greater perspective of the speed and skill that wows a majority of casual fans the first time they attend an NHL game in person. Pick 4.2. Sean takes: Institute the Gold Plan for determining draft order. If you root for a bad team, the end of the NHL season stinks. In theory, you've traded away some veteran dead weight, clearing the way for some youth. The future is arriving. You want to see them do well. Except you don't, because you want your team to lose, because that's what the lottery incentivizes. So teams shut it down and stop trying, which not only makes the stretch run miserable for fans of those teams, it also risks screwing up the playoff races for the good ones. There's a solution, it's called the Gold Plan, they already use it in other leagues, and it's time to bring it to the NHL. Yes, there are objections. No, you're not the first one to think of them. Yes, I already shot them all down, almost a decade ago. But most importantly: Yes, even if it's not perfect, the Gold Plan is way better than what we have now. Pick 4.3. Shayna takes: Introduce jailbreak goals to end penalties I agree with Rob that there is a way to increase scoring in special-teams situations … but we need a different approach. How about scoring to actually kill a penalty, like the PWHL. Those goals get a massive pop. But unlike the PWHL, the players on the ice for the infraction don't have to stay on to start the penalty. It will make players like Brandon Hagel and Seth Jarvis even more important, and maybe encourage stars to play short-handed minutes. There's just one catch: this only applies to minor penalties (and double minors). With majors, it doesn't matter how many short-handed goals are scored — the full five minutes have to be served. That should help separate the severity of minors and majors a bit more, too. Advertisement Pick 4.4. Mark takes: End TV blackouts The NHL needs to put its product in front of as many eyeballs as possible. The best way to do that is to lift the archaic blackout restrictions that infuriate so many fans. If someone shells out the money for ESPN+ or NHL Center Ice, they should be able to watch every single NHL game, full stop. Especially their own team's. An unthinkable 56 percent of Blackhawks fans — not Chicagoans at large, but actual Blackhawks fans — say they won't have access to CHSN this season, according to our summer survey. Ending the blackout restrictions — a relic of the past that makes no sense in a globalized age — would fix that, and at a far more reasonable price. Just about every team in the league would benefit from more viewers. You don't grow the league by making it increasingly difficult to watch. Pick 5.1. Mark takes: Ditch the divisional format and seed the playoffs 1 to 16. I have so many ideas that I genuinely love that many people will hate — have college basketball-style pep bands in each arena, stop allowing short-handed teams to ice the puck, abolish the junior-hockey system that removes kids from regular school and society and treats them as professional athletes at a dangerously young age — but I'm going to go with something a little more tangible. Conferences mean nothing anymore and charter planes are very comfortable. It's time to ditch Bettman's universally reviled divisional playoff format and just seed all the teams 1-16. Colorado shouldn't have to face Dallas in the first round, and the world should not be subjected to yet another Kings-Oilers series. The best teams get the best matchups, the end. But we still keep the 2-2-1-1-1 series format; 2-3-2 inherently favors the lesser team. Could it make for some long travel days? Sure. Might it bankrupt some traveling media outlets? Possibly. But it'll make for the best postseason, with new matchups and new rivalries. And it can't be any worse than trying to get from Edmonton to Dallas, or Edmonton to Fort Lauderdale, or Edmonton to Chicago, or Edmonton to … hmm… maybe the solution here is to bar Edmonton from the postseason? (I kid, I kid. Bistro Praha forever, man.) Pick 5.2. Shayna takes: Build a more consistent officiating and disciplinary system This requires a handful of tweaks: This would allow the NHL to maintain the human element in the officiating system, and hopefully create a better standard and baseline to follow. Pick 5.3. Sean takes: Start and end the season earlier We're getting kind of broad on the last few picks, which is fair, but it did wipe out a few of my sleeper options. Mark's playoff format pick means I can't pitch my crossover final idea, and Shayna just fixed the officiating, meaning I can't blatantly pander to the voters by picking 'just call the dang rulebook, am I right?' The one that really hurts was Rob drafting an offside review fix way back in round one, meaning I can't pick just scrapping offside review altogether. What I'm saying here is that all three of you have betrayed me, and I will not forget. Advertisement With those ideas off the board, I'll turn to what feels like a fitting pick. A peek behind the scenes: The whole idea for today's post originated from this tweet from Pierre, which led to the concept of drafting our own lists of fixes. I can't thank Pierre personally for the idea because he's at his cottage and every time I ask for the address I get left on read, so I'll do the next best thing. I draft Pierre's schedule, where we start the season in mid-September and finish at the end of May. Yes, sure, some U.S. teams don't like it because of football. My response: Too bad. Figure out how to market your sport better so you're not getting lapped by high school kids. Meanwhile, it's about time the league did something for those of us in more traditional markets. Pick 5.4. Rob takes: Overseas minor-league affiliates Each franchise should partner with an existing club overseas. Up to five prospects can be loaned in a single season. NHL teams can use this to make the transition easier for non-North American prospects while also expanding their and the NHL brand in overseas markets. The overseas clubs get to use top young talent on the NHL teams' dime, and by not forcing said prospects into AHL before they're ready for North America, NHL teams can add veterans to AHL clubs and make them more competitive for the Calder Cup. After five rounds, here's where we each ended up: Mark's list I know two things: All of my ideas are brilliant, and nobody will listen to any of them. Turns out being a hockey pundit is just like being a parent. Shayna's list Listen, I could have gone off the rails and thought of more chaotic and drastic changes. But this is the NHL, a league that can move at a glacial pace. Let's fix the small peanuts and then get wild. Sean's list I'm still mad I wasn't able to kill replay review once and for all. But beyond that, I think I hit most of the major points that I've spent years complaining about. Killing the worst aspects of the loser point, reducing shootouts and making the obvious puck-over-glass change were all at the top of my list, so I'm happy with how my draft turned out. Advertisement Rob's list Nobody ever listens to me. And even though each of my corrections would improve the look of the NHL, mine will be the black aces of this group. So, can I instead beg for a return to white jerseys at home? … up to you. (Use this link if the form is giving you trouble.) Loading… Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
