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Florida Panthers Part Ways With GM Dale Tallon

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Aug 10: The Panthers have officially parted ways with Tallon, announcing that a search for their next GM has begun. In a short statement, owner Vinnie Viola explained what Tallon has meant for the club and why they were now moving on:

For the last decade, Dale raised the team’s profile, attracted key players to South Florida and brought character and class to our franchise. When we purchased the Panthers in 2013, we did so with a singular goal–to win a Stanley Cup. We have not seen our efforts come to fruition. We will now begin an organizational search for the next general manager.

Aug 7: The Florida Panthers were very unlikely to have made the playoffs this season under the standard format and few gave them a chance of an upset over the stout defense of the New York Islanders in the qualifying round. Yet, the organization is still not taking their elimination earlier today lightly. Fox Sports’ Andy Strickland reports that the hammer is set to drop on long-time executive Dale Tallon. The team is expected to move on from their GM shortly.

Tallon, hired as GM in Florida in 2010, had previously served in the same role with the Chicago Blackhawks and had a hand in the team’s Stanley Cup win the season prior to his departure. Tallon served as GM for the Panthers until 2016, when he was elevated to President of Hockey Operations. He then resumed GM duties as well in 2018. Having been around for a decade, Tallon’s influence can be found in every corner of the roster, even in long-time homegrown stars Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Aaron Ekblad, who were all drafted by Tallon.

However, Tallon’s mistakes have also made a lasting impression on the roster. This past off-season in particular, Tallon gambled with the Panthers’ salary cap space, spending big on goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, forward Brett Connolly, and defenseman Anton Stralman. It is hard to argue that any of the three have lived up to expectations in yet another disappointing season for the franchise, which has not won a playoff series since 1996. Yet, they are all multi-year deals and will continue to impact the team for seasons still to come. With little cap space heading into this off-season, top scorers like Mike Hoffman and Evgenii Dadonov could prove difficult to re-sign and the club could take another step backward next season. Other lasting mistakes have included a botched Expansion Draft strategy that saw the team give away Reilly Smith in order to ensure Jonathan Marchessault was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights, only to see both become reliable top-six forwards, not getting enough for forward Vincent Trocheck from the Carolina Hurricanes at the trade deadline this year, and simply flip-flopping on their organizational strategy too frequently.

In finding Tallon’s replacement, the Panthers need to find someone with a long-term outlook on the position and a concrete plan on how they will rebuild the club. Having made just three playoff appearances in the past ten years, Florida fans will likely be happy to miss the postseason for another year or two if it means sustained success down the road. That could start with some lottery luck in the form of the No. 1 overall pick and Alexis Lafreniere. Maximizing their four picks in the first three rounds one way or another will also be imperative for the new GM in his first draft. Finding a way to shed some dead weight salary and to add much-needed depth at all positions will also be key.

Not all of Tallon’s tenure in Florida has been bad – including the aforementioned homegrown standouts and a pair of division titles – but at the end of the day the Panthers have had no postseason success and they have their work cut out for them to change that any time soon. Tallon’s replacement will have plenty of work to do to undo some of the GM’s mistakes and to reverse the curse on the Florida franchise.

32nd NHL Franchise Named Seattle Kraken

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Say hello to the Seattle Kraken. The new expansion franchise and 32nd NHL team has officially announced its name after months of anticipation. The team will go with a blue and teal color scheme as they prepare to join the league for the 2021-22 season. They will play at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, where a full reconstruction of the old KeyArena is taking place.

After the success of the Vegas Golden Knights, it quickly became apparent that the league would be looking for another strong ownership group to bring the 32nd franchise into play. When high-profile financial backers like David Bonderman and Jerry Bruckheimer partnered with sports executive Tod Leiweke, that group was an obvious choice. Seattle as a market had been explored in the past and when the arena work was started it was obvious that an NHL team would follow.

The Kraken are expected to join the Pacific Division for the 2021-22 season, with the Arizona Coyotes switching to the Central at that time. There is an obvious geographical rivalry with the Vancouver Canucks that will likely be pushed by the league, but it’s hard to know just how well Seattle will navigate the expansion process.

The Golden Knights were one of the greatest expansion stories in sports history, making it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals in their inaugural season. That’s thanks to the exceptional roster they built through savvy expansion draft maneuvers, something that may not be quite as easy for Seattle to accomplish.

Teams will have plenty of time to prepare their rosters for the draft—which will have the same rules, although Vegas will not take part—in order to not hand over the same kind of leverage to the Kraken. That said, with the flat salary cap there may be even more cash-strapped teams looking for help, something that Seattle GM Ron Francis could take advantage of.

According to Leiweke in today’s press conference, Seattle has already received over 10,000 season-ticket deposits and has more than 40,000 people on the waiting list.

Seattle Expansion Franchise Set To Unveil Name On Thursday

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The wait is finally over. At least, it seems that way. In a cryptic video shared on Twitter on Wednesday night, NHL Seattle announced that “the 32nd franchise comes to life” tomorrow, Thursday July 23 at 12pm ET/9am PT. While this was all the information that the team disclosed, they have additionally scheduled a press conference for the morning to announce “significant news”. It is expected that the franchise will reveal their name, as well as quite possibly their logo, colors, and perhaps even their jerseys.

As for the video accompanying the vague news, several hints can be inferred about a  possible name. The video shows a group of fishermen in Seattle’s Puget Sound bringing in their nets only to discover a red goal light, which begins to glow when a ship in the distance blows its horn. Barring a major misdirect, this all but confirms an aquatic theme for Seattle’s moniker. Hockey has arrived in Seattle and it came by sea.

So what might the name be? One of the more popular options among fans has been “Kraken”, the giant sea monster of folklore. Could the fisherman in the video asking “what is that?” about their haul indicate that the aquatic mascot is of a mysterious nature? Possibly. Could this video just be part one before the Kraken attacks the boat in part two? Maybe. However, the far more likely result is that the fishing theme of the video, coupled with the same aqua and salmon coloring in the net that the team has used in previous advertising, indicates that the name will be “Sockeye” or “Sockeyes”. The salmon species that is iconic in the area has been another popular possibility for the team name and the club’s video hint does little to dissuade the idea that this is the mascot that has been selected. However, we will find out for sure one way or another on Thursday.

Poll: Who Is Most Deserving Of The No. 1 Pick?

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We asked and you voted and the Pittsburgh Penguins are the team that readers least want to see win the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft by means of a second draft lottery. The Penguins were closely followed by the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers and unsurprisingly these are three teams loaded with star power who finished in the top-five among teams in the qualifying round. Yet, the Carolina Hurricanes, who hold the second best record among qualifying round teams, gained just 1% of the vote, while the Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks, the worst teams to qualify from each conference, finished fourth and fifth respectively in voting. This begs the question: who do you think is most deserving of the top pick?

Obviously, with the NHL Draft Lottery playing out as it did with each of the league’s bottom seven teams missing out on the top slot, the most deserving teams like the Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, or Buffalo Sabres won’t be an option for No. 1 this year. Instead, it will be one of the to-be-determined playoff teams out of the 16 who will play in a “knockout round” to open the expanded 24-team playoff field. All of these teams finished above .500 this season, so a good team will only get better in the form of Alexis Lafreniere, the elite talent at the top of the draft board. All eight losers of the qualifying round will have even odds in a second running of the lottery, but which franchise is most deserving of this boost?

The NHL has no shortage of teams with a history of losing, but the Florida Panthers have a strong argument for the title of unluckiest. Florida, who entered the league in 1993, has just 18 playoff wins in franchise history. A dozen of those wins came in the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in 1996, in which they were swept by the Colorado Avalanche. The remaining six wins have come in just four playoff series over the past 22 season, none of which have been won by the Cats. This series win drought is the longest current streak in the NHL. The team has also struggled with attendance over the years, due both to location and performance. The Panthers finished just 29th in capacity attendance this season and could use a young star player to draw more fans. The current Florida roster is not without talent but is strapped for cap space and set to lose some strong players in free agency. An affordable entry level deal for a top pick would go a long way to keep the Panthers competitive in the Atlantic Division.

The Winnipeg Jets have improved since moving from Atlanta, but the team’s legacy is still one of failure. The Thrashers franchise, which has since become the second iteration of the Jets, entered the league in 1999. In 19 seasons, the club has qualified for the playoffs just four times and has won only 11 games and two series. Like the Panthers, the bulk of those wins came in just one postseason as the Jets won nine games in 2017-18. Unlike Florida, they have never appeared in a Stanley Cup Final. The Jets playoff fortunes have increased since leaving Atlanta, where they failed to win a single postseason game in more than a decade. The club may be able to figure out how to get to their first Cup Final without luck, but playing in a remote city with a passionate but small fan base limits the Jets financially and they could definitely use an affordable superstar like Lafreniere, even though the roster already contains a number of strong young players.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have an identical 11-20 playoff record to the Thrashers/Jets and seeing as how they entered the league one year later in 2000, it would seem they have been slightly more successful. Additionally, all of those wins have come within the past six seasons and the team has qualified in each of the past three years. However, the Blue Jackets have the unfortunate distinction of never coming close to a Stanley Cup in a way that no other NHL team can claim. Columbus has won just one playoff series – just last year in fact – in their existence, the fewest in NHL history, and in that season was eliminated ten wins short of a title, the furthest distance that any team can claim is their best. Columbus also lost three of their best players from the team that finally won a series last season. The Blue Jackets may be improving, but their fans have seen less playoff success than any team in the NHL and their roster is not one that seem likely to produce a Stanley Cup any time soon. Lafreniere would be a boost to the franchise the likes of which have never been seen.

The Blue Jackets’ partners in the 2000 Expansion class, the Minnesota Wild presented a return to the State of Hockey for the NHL and have always had the benefit of immense fan support. Yet, the Wild have struggled to give their fans much to truly root for. While their 26 playoff wins since they entered the league is far better than some of their peers, Minnesota has never made it to the Stanley Cup Final and were swept out of their lone Western Conference Final appearance, which came back in 2002-03. Minnesota has largely been a one-and-done team, winning just four playoff series in their existence. Regular season success can only get you so far and it would be good for the team and the league for Minnesota to see some more results in the postseason. The timing could not be better to land Lafreniere either; the Wild snapped a six-season playoff appearance streak last year and their roster is one of the oldest in the league. The team could desperately use a young centerpiece.

The original Winnipeg Jets, who moved to Phoenix and became the Arizona Coyotes in 1996, also deserve inclusion among teams who could use some luck. The Coyotes franchise is the oldest to have never appeared in a Stanley Cup Final, dating back to the Jets’ birth in 1979-80. In that time, they have just 41 playoff wins overall have qualified for the postseason just three times in the past 16 years. They have one of the longest active postseason droughts in the NHL, dating back seven years. The team also has the very unfortunate distinction of having the highest cap payroll in the league this season while placing just 28th in capacity percentage attendance. While star players have been a part of the franchise from time to time throughout its history, the current roster is lacking a young superstar, which is exactly what they need to increase fan interest as well as affordably improve their roster. Lafreniere would be the perfect fit.

As for other teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs have the longest active Stanley Cup drought at 51 years and are second only two Florida with a playoff series win drought of 14 years, so while they have a young, loaded roster, they may still deserve some sympathy. Similarly, while the Montreal Canadiens are the winningest team in NHL history and don’t need any more titles just yet, they are technically the worst team in the qualifying round and could desperately use the boost, as maintaining relevancy in the 21st century has proved difficult for the once-great franchise. The Vancouver Canucks are the oldest team never to have won the Stanley Cup and got painfully close with a Game Seven loss in the 2011 Final and have not won a series ever since. The Nashville Predators have also never won the Stanley Cup, but have gotten close. Like several other teams, sustained success in Nashville would have a beneficial affect on grassroots hockey. Finally, the New York Islanders are a strong team this year and have staying power in the Metropolitan Division, but their glory days of the 80’s are long gone and they have not made a Cup Final appearance in 35 seasons. Lafreniere landing in the New York market could also be great exposure for the game.

What do you think? Which team is most deserving of the No. 1 pick?

[Mobile users vote here]

Juuso Valimaki Unlikely To Re-Join Flames This Year

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While there is an ever-growing list of players previously deemed to be out for the season that are now appearing likely to be available to their respective teams at some point in the upcoming expanded postseason, don’t expect young Calgary Flames defenseman Juuso Valimaki to join the trend. Sportsnet’s Eric Francis reports that Valimaki, who has missed the whole 2019-20 season, is not likely to re-join the Flames in their qualifying round match-up with the Winnipeg Jets or at any point in the playoffs should they advance. The risk, both to the player and team, outweigh the potential gains in this situation and Francis does not believe that Calgary will take the chance.

Health continues to be the major issue at hand when it comes to Valimaki. The 21-year-old defenseman suffered a torn ACL in his right knee during off-season training last summer. He underwent surgery in late August. By all accounts, including that of Flames GM Brad Treliving, recovery and rehab from ACL reconstruction is ten months to a year. While Valimaki has been participating in voluntary skates with his teammates in Calgary, he has yet to be medically cleared by the team’s medical staff. If he is on pace for the latter end of that expected timeline, Valimaki would not be prepared for game action by the time the knockout round is set to begin and would have to prove he is up to the physical requirements of playoff hockey should the Flames advance.

However, the non-medical reason behind not playing Valimaki may be even more compelling. As Francis details, Calgary has more long-term, team building considerations to take into account in the form of the impending 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. Assuming the Flames protect seven forwards and three defensemen in the draft, they would eliminate a very difficult decision if Valimaki does not play a game this season. The young blue liner used up his first season of pro competition as a rookie in 2018-19, but will not be credited with a year of service if he does not play this year. This would make him ineligible for draft exposure, as only those with more than two years of pro service may be selected. However, should Valimaki play even one game this year, he would require protection in next summer’s draft or otherwise would be picked off by Seattle. Francise believes that Flames defenders Noah Hanifin and Rasmus Andersson are locks for protection and that Valimaki would be as well if eligible, leaving veteran captain and top defender Mark Giordano exposed and a very likely candidate to be selected.

Playing Valimaki this season is not worth that risk. The young defenseman is very talented but has not played competitive hockey in over a year and it is hard to imagine that his surgically reconstructed knee or even his conditioning would be ready for an immediate jump into postseason play. On top of that, the Flames have Giordano, Hanifin, Andersson, T.J. Brodie, Travis Hamonic, Oliver Kylington and Michael Stone to lean on, making Valimaki an expendable piece of this year’s playoff run, especially if it helps to maintain the roster for future title chances.

Pacific Notes: Burns, Kings, Coyotes, Flames

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There is plenty of time until the next expansion draft, which is expected to occur at some point after the 2020-21 season (whenever finishes), but teams are paying attention to it and how to avoid a major loss. The San Jose Sharks were well prepared three years ago when the team didn’t give Vegas many options with the Golden Knights eventually selecting defenseman David Schlemko, who them later flipped to Montreal for a 2019 fifth-round pick.

However, this time around, general manager Doug Wilson may have some much tougher decisions to make. The team only has two players that will have no-movement clauses before the expansion draft in Erik Karlsson and, unfortunately, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who at 33 years old, has six more years at $7MM per year. With cap room challenging in the future, Wilson may have to make a drastic move, and according to The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz (subscription required), the team may opt to expose veteran defenseman Brent Burns to the Seattle franchise.

While Burns’ numbers took a bit of a hit last season and he will be 36 years old when the expansion draft comes about, he still remains a solid top-four defenseman and is a candidate to age well considering his workout history. His salary still carries five more years at $8MM AAV, but he could be a valuable veteran piece for an expansion team and could help out the Sharks as well.

  • After having drafted centers in the first round of the past three drafts, (Gabriel Vilardi, Rasmus Kupari and Alex Turcotte) the Los Angeles Kings are lined up to likely select a fourth center in four years with the No. 2 overall pick, which is expected to be either OHL’s Quinton Byfield or German center Tim Stutzle. Regardless, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in his most recent 31 Thoughts column, writes that won’t stop general manager Rob Blake from taking a fourth center. “No,” Blake said. “You mention those three, we’ll take four centres like that.”
  • Former Coyotes’ reporter Craig Morgan reports that the Arizona Coyotes are expecting to have their entire roster in town by Monday. Several teams are already trying to get their entire rosters in town with plenty of time to get comfortable before training camp starts for the upcoming 24-team tournament and Arizona will be one of the first.
  • The Calgary Flames are also working on getting their team together as quickly as possible. TSN reported that Flames’ general manager Brad Treliving said that the team already has 18 players in Calgary, although several are still undergoing quarantine. However, the GM also said that he expects the rest of the team to be in Calgary by early next week.

2000 Expansion Draft Retrospective: How Columbus And Minnesota Fared (Poorly) Versus Vegas

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Twenty years ago yesterday, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild were taking their first official steps as NHL teams, engaging in the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft. Yet the additions of the 29th and 30th NHL teams goes down as an utterly forgettable event in the annals of NHL history, given just how poor the results were. Fast-forward 17 years and the NHL finally adds team No. 31, the Vegas Golden Knights. Recency bias aside, the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft and especially the season that followed will have a firm foothold on their place in league history. The vast differences between these two drafts, both in format and outside factors, help to explain why the infant Golden Knights already seem to be more established in year three than the Blue Jackets and Wild, facing down their twentieth seasons in 2020-21.

Entry Fee

Columbus and Minnesota: $80,000,000
Vegas: $500,000,000

Like most things in pro sports, this story starts with money. The Blue Jackets and Wild paid just $80MM in 2000 to enter the NHL, not exactly a premium price even 20 years ago. As a result, their introduction to the league was never intended to be smooth. The odds were stacked against them in their inaugural seasons and beyond as they had to fight hard for their place in the league. The Knights on the other hand paid over six times that amount and the 2021 Seattle expansion team is set to pay even more, a record $650MM. With that comes more cushy conditions upon entry, allowing for immediate success to be more realistic.

Recent Expansion

Columbus and Minnesota: Nashville Predators (1998), Atlanta Thrashers (1999)
Vegas: None

The Blue Jackets and Wild also entered the league during a frenzy of expansion. The NHL added nine teams between 1990 and 2000 and Columbus and Minnesota were the unfortunate pair to bring up the rear. Talent was spread thinner than it ever had been before and Nashville and Atlanta, added in the previous two years, were completely exempt from the Expansion Draft. The expansion team thus drafted 26-man rosters. In contrast, when Vegas entered the league the NHL had not seen expansion in the better part of two decades. No one was exempt and talent had been replenished across the league, with Vegan able to pick from each of the 30 teams. Talent level continues to not be a concern approaching the 2021 Expansion Draft, in which Seattle will also have 30 teams to choose from other than Vegas, who also won’t receive a share of their entry fee.

Protection Schemes

Columbus and Minnesota: Nine forwards, five defensemen, and one goalie or seven forwards, three defensemen, and two goalies
Vegas: Seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goalie or eight skaters and a goalie

Nine forwards, five defenseman, and a goalie?! It’s no wonder that most people can’t remember the players selected by the Wild or Blue Jackets. They were either fourth-liners, bottom-pair defensemen, or minor leaguers. On top of that, the team were also competing with one another for these scraps. The secondary option in 2000 became the primary option for Vegas in 2017 minus a second goalie. This guaranteed that nearly every team would expose a top-nine forward, a top-four defenseman, and an experienced goalie.

Results

Columbus: G – Frederic Chabot, Dwayne Roloson, Rick Tabaracci; D – Radim Bicanek, Jonas Junkka, Lyle Odelein, Jamie Pushor, Tommi Rajamaki, Bert Robertsson, Mathieu Schneider, Mattias Timander; F – Kevyn Adams, Kevin Dineen, Dallas Drake, Ted Drury, Bruce Gardiner, Steve Heinze, Robert Kron, Sergei Luchinkin, Barrie Moore, Geoff Sanderson, Turner Stevenson, Martin Streit, Dmitri Subbotin, Jeff Williams, Tyler Wright

Minnesota: G – Zac Bierk, Jamie McLennan, Chris Terreri, Mike Vernon; D – Artem Anisimov, Chris Armstrong, Ladislav Benysek, Ian Herbers, Filip Kuba, Curtis Leschyshyn, Sean O’Donnell, Oleg Orekhovsky; F – Michal Bros, Jeff Daw, Jim Dowd, Darby Hendrickson, Joe Juneau, Sergei Krivokrasov, Darryl Laplante, Steve McKenna, Jeff Nielsen, Stefan Nilsson, Jeff Odgers, Scott Pellerin, Stacy Roest, Cam Stewart

Vegas: G – Jean-Francois Berube, Marc-Andre Fleury, Calvin Pickard; D – Alexei Emelin, Deryk Engelland, Jason Garrison, Brayden McNabb, Jon Merrill, Marc Methot, Colin Miller, Griffin Reinhart, Luca Sbisa, David Schlemko, Nate Schmidt, Clayton Stoner, Trevor van Riemsdyk; F – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Connor Brickley, William Carrier, Cody Eakin, Erik Haula, William Karlsson, Brendan Leipsic, Oscar Lindberg, Jonathan Marchessault, James Neal, Tomas Nosek, David Perron, Teemu Pulkkinen, Chris Thorburn

Kinda one-sided isn’t it? Sean O’Donnell, Filip Kuba, and Darby Hendrickson were some of the best players available to Columbus and Minnesota, while the vast majority of Vegas’ roster was at the very least as accomplished as that trio when they were selected. No one taken in the 2000 Draft can even be remotely compared to established players in their prime like Neal, Perron, and Fleury, young scoring forwards like Marchessault and Karlsson, or up-and-coming defensemen like Schmidt and Miller. The Knights’ entire draft roster also had NHL experience or earned it in their first two seasons, while a number of Blue Jacket and Wild picks never even saw the light of day.or

Draftees To Play With Team

Columbus and Minnesota: 11 apiece
Vegas: 19

To make matters worse, some of the most well-known players selected by the Blue Jackets and Wild – Mathieu Schneider, Mike Vernon, Dallas Drake – never played a game for the franchise. This was by design, as the teams opted to take the select players specifically to allow them to walk as free agents and recoup the compensatory picks, but it sill added to the overwhelming lack of player value selected in 2000. In 2017, the Golden Knights managed to retain more than half of a 30-man roster that was far too large to ever retain completely. In fact, the only player who did not join Vegas in their inaugural season or was not traded away was goalie JF Berube.

First Playoff Appearance

Columbus: 2009
Minnesota: 2003
Vegas: 2018

So how did these drastically uneven expansion results play out? The Wild made their first playoff appearance in their third season with some holdovers from the draft and even made it to the Western Conference Final. However, they finished last in the Northwest Division in the two seasons prior and subsequent to this underdog run. The Blue Jackets did not make the playoffs for the first time until 2009, nearly a decade into their existence. By then, there was no trace of their bleak expansion draft roster. The franchise has just six playoff series appearances in their history, with their first win coming just last season. Vegas on the other hand turned the expansion trope on its head with an incredible run in 2018, fueled almost entirely by draft selections. The team then qualified for the playoffs again last season and are a top-four seed in the West in the upcoming expanded postseason.

First Stanley Cup Final Appearance

Columbus and Minnesota: None
Vegas: 2018

The Golden Knights made it as far as any team can go without winning the Stanley Cup in their very first season. It was unheard of success for an expansion team in any sport and the structure and surrounding of the 2017 Expansion Draft played a major role. The Blue Jackets and Wild, limited for years by their own expansion restrictions, have never made the Stanley Cup Final and entering their twentieth season in 2020-21 don’t look particularly likely to do so next year either. These is a very strong likelihood that Vegas returns to the Final and possibly wins a Stanley Cup before Columbus or Minnesota and Seattle may very well share those same odds.

Twenty years later, the Blue Jackets and Wild are still struggling to establish themselves as top teams in the NHL and their struggles can be traced all the way back to the 2000 Expansion Draft. So while the anniversary can be celebrated for the formal additions of the franchises to the NHL – bringing pro hockey back to Minnesota and spreading the game to a market that has wholly embraced it in Columbus – it should also be remembered as the poorly-constructed entry device that limited these teams from the get go. The 2000 Expansion Draft will never be remembered for any individual players that were selected, but instead the complete lack of impact players selected and the factors that contributed to that result.

Snapshots: Face Shields, Seattle Expansion, Toronto’s Hub Pitch

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Some people around the NHL are exploring protections for players and other essential personnel for when play resumes. The focus of negotiations between the league and the NHLPA have largely focused on safety precautions and testing procedures for COVID-19, but those at Bauer, a hockey equipment manufacturer, is in talks with the league about an off-ice, lightweight visor that could help protect players and coaches, per Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press. A full face-shield for spectators will be met with some skepticism – as these types of changes often are – but Bauer vice president of global marketing Mary-Kay Messier is convinced that their new “integrated cap shield” could be benefit those near the ice. Said Messier, “There’s quite a lot of yelling from coaches. So when you think about and you talk about that yelling or loud talking that you are at greater risk for the droplets, I would say it is a very viable option at a lot of different levels.” 

  • The NHL’s next expansion team is set for Seattle, but they’re not rushing to reveal details like the team name – at least not yet, writes Sean Leahy of NBC Sports. Leahy provides a quote from Seattle hockey CEO Tod Leiweke, who said, “It’s not the right time. Vegas did it a year out. We’ve got ample time, and the thing this organization will never be is tone deaf. So we’ve got to pick the right time, and we’ve got to make sure all of our ducks are in a row.” Other benchmarks remain more-or-less on track, including the construction on the KeyArena. There may be a small delay, but nothing that will impact the ultimate timeline of bringing the NHL to Seattle. 
  • There are many practical concerns for resuming play in any of the potential hub cities, though Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave some hope to those host cities by supporting the idea of the NHL returning to play and allowing for provinces to make some decisions about best practices. Logistics and health concerns aside, The Star’s Kevin McGran makes the case for Toronto, citing the many restaurant and hotel options, as well as rink availability. Obviously, any potential hub city will have to provide many options on all three counts. McGran also notes that more NHL players hail from the greater Toronto area than anywhere else, which could help ease player concerns about being away from their families. Another boon to Toronto’s chances is the presence of Sportsnet, a national TV rightsholder.

Toronto Notes: Six, Murray, Robertson

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The NWHL has a new franchise in one of the biggest hockey markets in the world. Today the Toronto Six were announced as the sixth team in the expanding women’s professional league, revealing their colors and logo in the process. The NWHL quickly started plans for expansion into Toronto last year after the dissolution of the CWHL.

The new Toronto team already has more than a dozen players under contract, but that doesn’t include Jaycee Gebhard who they selected sixth overall in the recent draft. Gebhard decided a few days ago to sign with Brynas IF in Sweden’s SDHL after captaining Robert Morris University.

  • Even though the Toronto Maple Leafs aren’t playing right now, they continue to make news as media members speculate about the future. That speculation has landed on Frederik Andersen this week, and whether or not the team will go out to acquire a different goaltender as he approaches free agency. Matt Murray, who has a connection to Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas and head coach Sheldon Keefe from their time with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the AHL has been suggested as a possible replacement. Murray is also in a situation with the Pittsburgh Penguins that may lead to a breakup, given the strong play and relative cost of Tristan Jarry. Luke Fox of Sportsnet addresses the Murray speculation in his latest mailbag, writing that he’s not convinced that the Pittsburgh netminder would be an upgrade on Andersen. The staff here at PHR gave our own takes on what Pittsburgh should do with Murray and Jarry recently.
  • One player that is hoping to play in Toronto regardless of who is in net behind him is young forward Nick Robertson, who told Joshua Kloke of The Athletic (subscription required) that his focus is “on the NHL right now.” It’s hard to have a better post-draft season than the 18-year old Robertson, who scored 55 goals and 86 points in just 46 games for the Peterborough Petes, while also starring for Team USA at the World Juniors. The 5’9″ forward fell all the way to 53rd overall in last year’s draft, but will already be pushing for an NHL roster spot come training camp. For what it’s worth, Dubas has already said he’ll give Robertson “every opportunity” to make the team next season.

PHR Panel: Naming Seattle’s New Team

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We’re now more than a month into an NHL postponement and there is still no clear timeline on when professional hockey will return. While fans of the sport have received small tidbits of news over that time, including college signings and contract extensions, the thirst for discussion has rarely been quenched.

With that in mind, we’re happy to continue our new feature: The PHR Panel. Our writing staff will give our individual takes on a question many hockey fans have been wondering about. If you’d ever like to submit a subject for us to discuss, be sure to put it in the comments.

To catch up on the previous edition, click here.

Today, with another report that the Seattle expansion franchise is close to revealing a team name, we’ll give our thoughts on what we would choose.

Q: What would you name the Seattle expansion franchise?

Brian La Rose:

Most people seem to like Kraken as Seattle’s eventual team name (and that’s what I think it will be in the end) so I’ll go in a different direction for this discussion. Let’s go back in time about 100 years back to the old days of the PCHA where there was a team called the Seattle Metropolitans. That team very quietly won the Stanley Cup back in 1917 and had a shot at another one in 1919 before the Spanish flu pandemic struck so there is some history worth celebrating.

We’ve seen a shift in recent years towards franchises embracing the past. Retro uniforms are quite popular (though I’m not advocating for the Metropolitans to go back to their old sweaters – they were a bit of an eyesore) and alumni nights in some cities are more frequent. We’ve seen an old team name revived in the past with the Ottawa Senators (who coincidentally played against the Metropolitans in the 1920 Stanley Cup Final) so there is some precedence here as well.

Yes, there could be some confusion with the team effectively sharing the same name as the Metropolitan Division. But there’s an easy fix to that – just change the name of the division which wouldn’t be a bad idea in the first place. Embrace some of hockey’s past and fix a poorly-named division at the same time? That’s a win-win situation right there.

Holger Stolzenberg:

I keep looking at all the names and there are several I like. However, whenever I see a new team coming up with a nickname (in any sport, at any level), I often find myself disappointed in generic names that don’t tie in with the city or town’s local history.

I keep hearing the name Kraken over and over again. Not sure whether that will end up being that name, but naming the Seattle franchise after a mythical creature doesn’t make much sense to me. I look at a name like the Sockeyes and I like how the name ties in with the Seattle salmon culture, while also being a name that could have a second-meaning of being punched in the eye, which seems very hockey-like in my opinion.

Granted, I’m not the one making the decision, nor should I, but I definitely am a fan of the Sockeye and hope that is what the Seattle franchise eventually goes with. Will I be disappointed if they go with anything else? No. I can even live with the Kraken, but I would rather see that name tie in with the city in a better way than a mythical creature.

Zach Leach: 

The name, logo, and colors of an expansion team is more important than you might think. While merchandising and licensing are just a small fraction of a franchise’s income, the first impression created by their name and look has a far greater reaching impact. Especially in the internet age, a new club can build their fan base beyond their geographical limits by having a “cool” name, popular mascot or unique color scheme. Just look at the Premier Lacrosse League for example; the 2019 start-up had no geographical attachment and most fans were left to pick a team to root for by color and logo only, leading to a number of creative and diverse designs.

So while the Seattle expansion team has several nostalgic traditional names on the table– Metropolitans and Seals for example–as well as more locally-influenced options such as Rainiers and Emeralds, I believe the team should go in a more progressive direction and choose a name, logo, and colors that more widely appeal to North American and even global audiences and the younger generation.

To accomplish this goal, I would say that Kraken is the best option for the team name. The uniqueness and whimsical nature of the name will stand out and there is a ton of potential for a great logo and colors. I think that the Kraken is different enough from any other professional moniker out there to really drum up interest in the team via merchandise sales and publicity. If the majority opinion online is any indication, Kraken would be a hit.

In that same vein, the internet also reacted strongly to a rumor that the team’s colors could be salmon and teal, which would likely indicate the Sockeyes moniker. Has any pro team ever attempted such bold color choices? Such a move would be sure to sell a ton of merchandise that would undoubtedly turn heads. Sockeyes would also appeal to the local fan base, as would the alliteration that seems to be a theme with Seattle sports.

While it may not realistically be on the board, I will also throw out Sasquatch as a great option to draw attention to the new club. The mascot alone would be a game-changer and there is potential for a good logo. However, this does toe the line of too silly if not done properly and there is no clear color scheme either.

Gavin Lee:

Let’s get this out of the way immediately; I hate the name Kraken. I hate it. I don’t want the Seattle Kraken in the NHL. I’m probably going to be disappointed when they announce it as the team name, but I just hate it.

I get the idea behind the traditional names, especially the Metropolitans and Totems. But I don’t think I would name the new franchise those either. I would go for something new and non-alliterative.

I kind of like the idea of the Seattle Freeze. It’s a clever way to poke fun at the city—Seattle Freeze has been a way to describe the population’s standoffish demeanor for years—and could lend itself to some interesting marketing opportunities. Even that name though brings a little bit of hesitation, because of the corny connection to ice, but it might be what I go with.

Honestly, as long as it’s not Kraken I would be happy. Totems. Metropolitans. Pilots. Sockeye (or Sockeyes?). Wait, no I don’t want Emeralds or Sasquatch either. I’m a bit pickier than I thought.

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