Latest news with #MarkLazerus
Time of India
2 days ago
- Sport
- Time of India
NHL analyst calls for Champions League-style global tournament to replace World Cup of Hockey
The 's next big international showcase may not look like the World Cup of Hockey after all. While the league has already confirmed plans for a 2028 edition, analyst Mark Lazerus believes fans deserve something bolder—a club-based global midseason tournament that mirrors soccer's UEFA Champions League. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now A Champions League-style format for hockey clubs instead of national teams Lazerus argued that fans are hungry for top-tier international hockey but not necessarily in the traditional country-versus-country format. Instead, he envisions NHL franchises facing elite overseas clubs in competitive matchups. 'I want a UEFA Champions League or Club World Cup-style global midseason tournament between teams, not between countries,' Lazerus said. '…And I want them to mean it.' He painted a picture of marquee showdowns like the Florida Panthers taking on Sweden's Frölunda or the Edmonton Oilers squaring off against SKA St. Petersburg. The appeal, he says, lies in the uniqueness of NHL teams battling clubs that dominate Europe and Russia, offering fans fresh rivalries beyond the usual regular-season grind. Lazerus pointed to February's 4 Nations Face-Off—featuring Canada, USA, Sweden, and Finland—as proof that fans crave more international events. 'If the 4 Nations Face-Off showed us anything, it's that people are clamoring for high-quality international hockey,' he said. Could this idea reshape hockey's global future? While commissioner Gary Bettman remains committed to alternating Olympics and World Cups, Lazerus believes a club-based event would generate greater fan engagement and financial upside. He noted that millions tune in for soccer's Champions League final, and though hockey won't hit those numbers, it could surpass the modest cable ratings of NHL regular-season games. '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,' Lazerus said. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now He suggested holding the event every other February, filling the gap between Olympic years, and boosting teams' 'national and international profiles — not to mention their bottom lines.' Also Read: For now, the World Cup of Hockey remains on the NHL's schedule. But if fan demand and creative ideas like Lazerus' keep gaining traction, the league may face mounting pressure to rethink how international hockey fits into its future.
New York Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- 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. 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Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Connor Bedard Addresses Future with Blackhawks Before Contract Year
Connor Bedard Addresses Future with Blackhawks Before Contract Year originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Connor Bedard has already shouldered franchise-level expectations as the young face of the Chicago Blackhawks. Advertisement Now, with his rookie contract set to expire in 12 months and the soon-to-be third-year player entering his final season under contract, Bedard's future is becoming a topic of growing interest. The 19-year-old Blackhawks center is eligible to sign an extension starting July 1, and The Athletic's Mark Lazerus asked him about his future in an interview published on Wednesday. 'I'll keep that pretty close to my chest,' Bedard said about whether he already talked to the Blackhawks about a contract extension. 'We have a great relationship, and everyone knows I want to be a Hawk as long as I'm playing. And I know they appreciate me and want me with the team.' Advertisement While he didn't commit to a timeline for signing or declining Chicago's upcoming offer, Bedard made it clear there's no tension between both sides. 'Whether it's done next week or during the year or at the end of the year, that doesn't stress me out too much,' Bedard said. 'Anything can happen, but the relationship with me and the team is really strong.' Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard (98) skates during a stoppage of play at the Canadian Tire DesRosiers-Imagn Images Bedard will enter his third NHL season coming off his first 82-game campaign, where he notched 67 points. He scored 61 points in 68 games a year before, his first in the league. Bedard acknowledged that he's still navigating a learning curve that included inconsistent stints last year. Advertisement 'There were some gaps in my game for a couple stretches of the season,' Bedard said. 'That's on me to do the right things.' Still, Bedard has notched 45 goals and 83 assists through 150 games. Bedard's numbers remain among the most impressive ever posted by a teenager, with the forward ranking 13th in total points among NHL teenagers through history. Related: Blackhawks' Connor Bedard Makes Final Decision on Hockey Canada's Call Related: Connor Bedard Sets Top Offseason Priority After Blackhawks' Finale This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 26, 2025, where it first appeared.
New York Times
01-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
NHL contract grades: Hurricanes commit to Logan Stankoven's high ceiling in 8-year deal
Logan Stankoven agrees to terms on an eight-year contract with a $6 million average annual value with the Carolina Hurricanes. Mark Lazerus: Logan Stankoven is not Mikko Rantanen. Likely never will be. And it's unfair to Stankoven that he'll always be linked to Rantanen because he was the consolation prize for the Hurricanes when Rantanen decided Raleigh just wasn't for him. But here's what Logan Stankoven is: A really good young player and the quintessential Carolina Hurricane. He's fast. He's relentless. He's tenacious. He makes up for his lack of size with an overabundance of hustle. And he probably tops out as a second-liner in terms of scoring. Stankoven is also just 22 years old, so he still can become something even more. Oh, and he wants to be in Raleigh, too. That matters. But this isn't some sort of saving-face move by Carolina, an attempt to show that the Rantanen trades weren't a total disaster. The Hurricanes got two first-round picks and a long-term piece in Stankoven for their part in the Rantanen saga. That's not bad at all. Advertisement By jumping right from his entry-level deal into a max-term contract, Stankoven is now set until he turns 30. And Carolina bought up his prime UFA years at a modest price. With the cap rising quickly, the thought of having a, say, 26-year-old Stankoven in the middle six for just $6 million a year has to make Hurricanes fans smile. Stankoven has a modest 20 goals and 52 points in 102 career games, but his ceiling is still quite high, and he's already proven to be a capable playoff performer. As a rookie in Dallas, he had three goals and eight points in a run to the Western Conference final. In his first postseason for Carolina, he had five goals and eight points in a run to the Eastern Conference final. Carolina gets a solid deal on a Logan Stankoven extension. Stankoven is small, but has some pretty high upside. — dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) July 1, 2025 Stankoven doesn't solve the Hurricanes' biggest need — a true star scorer like the here-and-gone Jake Guentzel and Rantanen, or Mitch Marner, or even Nikolaj Ehlers. But he does bolster the Hurricanes' biggest strength — their depth scoring — and their exhausting style of play. General manager Eric Tulsky still has one of the most flexible salary-cap situations in the league. It's just a matter of persuading a superstar to take all that money. Contract grade: A- Fit grade: A
New York Times
27-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
NHL trade grades: Noah Dobson gives big boost to Canadiens' dynamic blue line
Montreal Canadiens get: D Noah Dobson (signed to eight-year, $9.5 million AAV extension) New York Islanders get: Two 2025 first-round draft picks (No. 16 and No. 17), F Emil Heineman Mark Lazerus: The Canadiens took a massive step in their rebuild this past season, scratching and clawing their way into the playoffs. After years of waiting, it's no longer about the future for the Habs, it's about the present. Friday's massive trade made that perfectly clear, as they dealt away the Nos. 16 and 17 picks and Heineman, a 23-year-old winger, for Dobson, a high-octane 25-year-old defenseman. Whether Calder Trophy winner Lane Hutson moves back to his natural left side and pairs with Dobson or forms a pick-your-poison 1-2 punch on separate pairings, the Canadiens now have one of the most dynamic and exciting blue lines in the league. And will for years to come. Advertisement Yes, Dobson is coming off a down season. Yes, he can be power-play dependent, and his power-play numbers dropped precipitously this past season. Yes, he's not exactly Jaccob Slavin or Miro Heiskanen defensively. But he's one year removed from a 70-point season, his underlying defensive numbers are middling at worst, and he's only 25. Most defensemen don't really hit their prime until their late 20s. The ceiling for Dobson is remarkably high, and to lock him at for eight years with a $9.5-million cap hit — which is probably below market value and should age incredibly well as the cap continues to rise — is quite a coup for the Canadiens, who already have plenty of talent on the back end with Hutson, Kaiden Guhle and Mike Matheson, not to mention David Reinbacher, the No. 5 pick in the 2023 draft. Exciting times in the league's most exciting hockey city. If you're the Islanders, the concern here is that Dobson turns out to be another Devon Toews, a cap dump that never should have been made, and one that haunts New York to this day. If Hutson and Dobson become the new Cale Makar and Toews, that'll be tough to swallow foe the Islanders. Of course, the return for Toews was a mere pittance, two second-rounders. The haul for Dobson is a significant one, and can get even more significant if new Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche can somehow re-package it and move up high enough in the draft to take Long Island native James Hagens on top of defenseman Matthew Schaefer, the presumptive No. 1 pick. If Darche pulls that off, this grade jumps up a few notches, for sure. But at the moment, it's still trading a bird in the hand for two in the bush, a sure thing for a couple of lottery tickets. The Canadiens got better immediately. The Islanders are taking a step back in an effort to secure a brighter future. It might be wise, but it's hardly guaranteed. Making the money work was going to be a challenge for the Islanders, for sure, but the thought of having Schaefer, Dobson and Ryan Pulock down the right side of the blue line was a tantalizing one, and now one that will never materialize. Schaefer now replaces Dobson rather than supplements him. But hey, there's only so much power-play time to go around. Now, Dobson can fight it out for PP1 minutes with Hutson instead. Canadiens grade: A- Islanders grade: B- Shayna Goldman: Dobson isn't a perfect player, and there's no use pretending he is. He isn't Makar, Quinn Hughes or Zach Werenski. Not after 2024-25, at least. But it feels like recency bias has negatively affected his value. Dobson's offense was a standout in 2022-23 below the surface, and popped more on the scoresheet in 2024-25. Yes, a 39-point season this past year was a massive disappointment — there's no way around that. He was supposed to be the difference, both at five-on-five and on the power play, to lead the team out of its struggles. But even despite last year's dips, and some really glaring defensive mistakes, he is still the kind of player worth betting on. It was worth seeing what he could do under a slightly adjusted coaching staff, after assistant changes. Advertisement Dobson, at 25, still fit the timeline of the Islanders' retool. And while they are likely to draft Schaefer tonight, having both wouldn't necessarily be redundant, either. If anything, it would allow the Islanders to split two offensive threats across the top four, which could help activate more of their forwards. The Canadiens are about to gain that with Dobson and Hutson. It's easy to jump to the conclusion that he wasn't worth this big of an extension. But franchise defenders don't come cheap, and the $9.5 million cap hit isn't bad value, either — especially with the growing cap ceiling. Even after a disappointing 2024-25 season, his top comps still are encouraging — Seth Jones, Drew Doughty, Ryan Suter, Duncan Keith and Ryan McDonagh — so the path to being a true top-pair defenseman is there. If he follows Thomas Chabot's path or Kevin Shatterkirk's, it's a lot dicier. Taking a step back for draft picks is a much more uncertain path. Maybe it works out. Maybe those picks can be flipped to move up in the draft for Hagens, which would be special. It just shouldn't have come at the cost of Dobson. Because if that doesn't happen, those picks are going to be used to draft a player the team only hope will have Dobson's ceiling. Like Mark said, it's giving off Devon Toews vibes. That's why the Canadiens come out the winner here. Montreal took a massive step this season, and adding Dobson should help the team build on that. While his path to top power-play time is likely blocked by Hutson, which could impact his point totals, this gives the Canadiens another play-driver from the back end, which should thread the needle more at five-on-five. Those potential usage adjustments (and scoring effects) do impact Dobson's market value, but having this deal come in below the $10 million mark makes it all check out. After rebuilding over the last few years, the Canadiens can afford to move draft picks (and Heineman) in exchange for someone who can take this team to the next level now and in the long run. It's an exciting time in Montreal. While this is a big swing, the Canadiens are finally in position to take these leaps. Plus, with Hutson on his entry-level contract for another year, and Ivan Demidov for the next two, it should help offset some of the costs of Dobson's raise. Canadiens grade: A- Islanders grade: C+ (Photo of Noah Dobson: Rich Graessle / Getty Images)
