The Hockey News January 22, 2018

THERE’S AN OLD SCHOOLYARD gag that has one child asking another to say “toast” five times quickly. You may know it. After the second kid says “toast, toast, toast, toast, toast,” the first one then asks, “what do you put in a toaster?” Typically, the answer comes back as toast. Instead of bread. It’s a micro-brainwash. Repeat a mantra frequently enough and it becomes programmed. Knee meet jerk. Sadly, that’s often the reaction among some fans, media members and hockey personnel when an innovative rule change is suggested to improve an already terrific game. A recent case in point is the notion of one-minute penalties, a concept that surfaced at the NHL GMs’ meetings in the fall. Forget for a moment what these penalties would be for, because that’s not the…

The prototype for the model was Gordie Howe. It just isn’t how big a player is or how many fights they were in, but how they play. Power forwards crash the front of the net. They wreak havoc in the crease. They get garbage goals, they aren’t the pretty goal scorers. – Eamonn Brosnan Eric Lindros. The player dominated the ice. He could either go through you or dangle around you. He took on the best players every night and put up points and wins for the Flyers. He made John LeClair a goal scorer. Imagine if he had a goalie…Cups would be lined up. – @cdnguinness Mark Messier – put a team on your shoulders and carry them: ‘The Messiah.’ Only player ever to captain two teams to Stanley Cup wins. Second in…

> FOR UP-TO-THE-MINUTE COVERAGE, VISIT THN.COM AARON PORTZLINE WAS 18 when he joined the Columbus Dispatch. In nearly three decades of service, he became the newspaper’s Columbus Blue Jackets beat writer and, eventually, one of the best NHL beat writers around. But the veteran reporter could see things were changing. The Columbus Dispatch used to be family-owned. Then it was sold to a major chain. The paper even moved from its old building, and all of a sudden the magic was gone. “Even the halls didn’t have the same feel,” he said. And let’s face it: the newspaper industry isn’t in the strongest of positions these days. So when the opportunity came for Portzline to join an internet startup called The Athletic, he made the leap. “I had to think about it…

DOUGIE HAMILTON | BAUER VAPOR 1X I SWITCHED TO BAUER after I was drafted in 2011, and I’ve had a pretty similar stick the whole time. I haven’t changed much with the exception of adding a thing here or there when the technology improves. I try to keep it pretty much the same and work with it. I feel it works for me, so I don’t change it too much. I don’t do a whole lot to my sticks, just little things and not during the season. A lot of guys will change their sticks when it’s not working, but I don’t think it’s the stick, it’s the guy using it. I just try to keep it the same and work with it and it seems to work for me. My…

> EVANDER KANE The Sabres are buried in the playoff race, Kane’s contract expires this summer, and he’s having a monster season. Teams will line up with offers for his unique power forward skills. > MIKE GREEN If the Wings slide out of playoff contention, Green will be the most coveted rental on the market as a right-shot offensive blueliner with an expiring deal. The list of suitors should be long enough to force an overpay from a defense-starved club. > ALEX GALCHENYUK The Habs never miss a chance to publicly stomp on one-time 30- goal man Galchenyuk’s confidence, so a team looking to add a young, high-ceiling forward could attempt a lowball offer to swipe him away. > JOE THORNTON The Sharks aren’t a playoff shoo-in. If they sit outside the bubble by mid-winter, might pending…

ROCKFORD ICEHOGS | 2017-18 ROCKFORD’S REGULAR CREST IS perfectly serviceable by AHL standards. But the IceHogs took things to another level when they created their alternate sweater for this season. The crest brings to mind the third jersey worn by the Boston Bruins for nearly a decade before the recent league-wide uniform change, and I love how Rockford went with a realistic pig here. This looks like a restaurant I would eat at every time I was in that town. On top of the great crest, you get a really nice grey color scheme here while still shouting out the parent club Chicago Blackhawks on the shoulder patches.…