The Hockey News Rookie Issue 2019

WHEN I WAS GROWING up in Toronto in the mid-1970s, I knew one female hockey player. Her name was Lesley Greenspoon, a brave, wee pioneer of sorts who eschewed ringette to join us little dudes at Don Valley Village for a few years. Girls leagues were sparse; if she wanted to play hockey locally, it was all boys or bust. Fast forward to Christmas 2018, as I watched my then 12-year-old niece unwrap gifts, gushing with joy and gratitude as she got a hockey bag and an Ottawa Senators’ jersey to go along with the pair of Sens tickets she’d already received. Her little sister also plays, as does the seven-year-old daughter of my first cousin in Hamilton. During the time Lesley Greenspoon opted to be the only girl in a…

Clarify goalie interference once and for all and make it consistent. – @DarthTheChef Three points for a regulation win. Two points for OT or shootout win. One point for shootout or OT loss. Reward winning in regulation. – @jaegerbomb5 Fix. The. Playoffs. Straight No. 1-8 seeding. Best eight teams in each conference get in with 1 playing 8. Reseed after each round. – @osubluejacket Remove the pointless trapezoid from behind the goalie’s net. It is ineffective and serves no real gameplay advantage. The NHL having a DMZ for goaltenders handling the puck in the corners takes away the risk/reward of the act itself. – @MisterEMan55 Remove The Hockey News rule. Sorry, I mean the instigator rule. Clearly the NHL isn’t doing anything to protect star players. It’s time to go back to players policing…

Dear readers, Teemu Selanne had 76 goals in 1992-93. Sidney Crosby had 102 points in 2005-06. Wayne Gretzky won the Hart Trophy in 1979-80. These are among the absolute best debut seasons in modern NHL history. And it’s the type of target I was shooting for in Year 1 as rookie owner and publisher of The Hockey News. This edition marks the end of my first 12 months at the helm, and it’s been a truly tremendous experience. How did it play out? I joined a team of players with an imposing history dating to 1947 when Ken McKenzie and Wil Cote founded the publication. They were succeeded by, among others, Canadian entrepreneurs and iconic businessmen such as Remi Marcoux and P-K Peladeau. This marked the challenge of a lifetime for me, one…

THE ANNOUNCEMENT was a mere formality, but it was exciting to hear NHL commissioner Gary Bettman make it official in December: Seattle had been awarded the league’s 32nd franchise. Thanks to some construction demands at the Seattle Center Arena and, reading between the lines, the threat of a 2020-21 lockout, we won’t see the yet-to-be-nicknamed squad on the ice until 2021-22. But speculation will swirl immediately on what that team will look like when it finally does debut. We already know Seattle will be subject to the same expansion draft rules as the Vegas Golden Knights were in 2017. The Knights are exempt, so Seattle will choose players from 30 teams, eventually paring that list down to 14 skaters, nine defensemen and three goaltenders. The AAVs of its player claims must…

SLAPSHOT | WASHINGTON CAPITALS When you think America, one of the first symbols that comes to mind is the eagle. That’s why it makes so much sense that a hockey team located in the U.S. capital has an eagle named Slapshot as its mascot. Slapshot may be one of the most patriotic mascots around the NHL as well. On the Washington Capitals’ website, his favorite song is listed as the U.S. national anthem, while his bio information for the 2016 NHL All-Star Game in Nashville listed his go-to karaoke song as God Bless America. But it’s in that same bio that we realize even though Slapshot attends charity events on a regular basis and poses for photos with young fans, he may not have the best intentions for everyone, more specifically,…

MINNESOTA MULLETS | 2018-19 Sometimes you just gotta have some fun. The Minnesota Mullets caught some heat for their name and logo, but take a look at the logo and tell me it doesn’t make you smile. Hockey hair is a subculture all its own, and the mullet – business in the front, party in the back – has been a cherished part of that realm for decades. The Mullets play out of the United States Premier League, a junior circuit with a wide U.S. network. Chris Walby, the owner, GM and coach of the franchise, changed the name from the rather mundane Forest Lake Lakers, and the new logo, which comes complete with a handlebar moustache, is truly an original.…