The Hockey News Best of the Best 2019-20

IN THE WONDERFUL AND wacky 1980s, Canadian bank Canada Trust introduced their ATMs, called them Johnny Cash machines and had The Man in Black himself as their star promoter. They produced some classically schlocky TV ads: “Life’s too short to walk the line,” Cash professes, as he expounds the convenience of the instant teller, walking past a long bank queue, with the soundtrack of his first No. 1 hit, I Walk the Line, bouncing in the background. Canada Trust also convinced Cash to license his likeness, in the form of life-sized cardboard cutouts, which they placed beside some of the ATMs. I remember this because my second-year university roommates and I thought it would be a good idea in the fall of 1986 to liberate a giant Johnny and hire him…

Dear readers, I’ve travelled around the world many times the past couple of decades on hockey business, and I always took with me the latest issues of The Hockey News and made sure I downloaded the latest podcasts as my preferred onboard entertainment. Quite often, The Hockey News issues were passed around the cabin on long flights to Moscow, and I never saw them again. I looked forward to when the dinner service had concluded and the cabin lights were dimmed, which was the cue for me to put on my headphones and start the first of several podcasts. I would recline and close my eyes, and it was as though I was at the table with Matt Larkin, Ryan Kennedy and Ken Campbell talking hockey for three-quarters of an hour, which…

QUICK, NAME SOME OF the best skaters in the NHL. The top candidates come to mind pretty easily, because they also happen to be some of the best players in the game: Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Taylor Hall. Now think of some of last year’s most notable skaters outside the NHL. Kendall Coyne Schofield of the women’s Dream Gap Tour (and an Olympic gold medallist with Team USA) made waves at the 2019 all-star weekend in San Jose with her speed, while Florida Panthers farmhand Anthony Greco was faster than everyone in North America – including McDavid – with his lap at the 2019 AHL all-star festivities in Springfield. All these players are excellent skaters, but why? If you’re looking to crack that code, Dr. Mike Bracko has a lot of information.…

AVANGARD OMSK | 2019-20 LAST SEASON, THE KHL’S Avangard introduced a bold uniform change, adding a fierce new hawk logo to its primary jersey. This year, they came out with exclusive pre-season sweaters featuring a giant slanted ‘A,’ pulled from the new logo, emblazoned on the front. And while there’s also a white version, it’s the grey base that steals the show. The jerseys were part of the franchise’s push to take its branding game to the next level, according to Avangard chairman Alexander Krylov. The hawk logo is perched on the sweater’s left arm, while the Omsk coat-of-arms gets placement on the right side.…

FEW NHLERS WORE GLASSES when playing – and even fewer were pictured on hockey cards while wearing them. Early cards tended to use posed shots, and players would ditch their eyewear when being photographed. But when cards started using game-action shots, a few NHLers were shown playing with glasses. Hal Laycoe, while not the first bespectacled NHLer, was the first to be pictured on a hockey card with glasses. Al Arbour can also be seen wearing specs on some of his later cards. Perhaps most interesting is Dan Lambert, who wore sport glasses for a handful of games in 1991-92, long enough for them to be immortalized on some of his cards the following year.…

WE USED TO CALL the Carolina Hurricanes’ defense ‘Nashville East.’ Now the Preds are ‘Carolina West.’ The Canes’ blueline is second to none. You can take any of Carolina’s top five defensemen and build a tandem that could be a top pair on some teams. The Canes have two high-end puck-movers in Dougie Hamilton and UFA signee Jake Gardiner. They have great shutdown options in Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce and new addition Joel Edmundson, acquired from St. Louis in the Justin Faulk trade. Last season, 55 ‘D’ pairs played 500 or more minutes together at 5-on-5, and Slavin-Hamilton ranked third in Corsi. The Canes have youngsters Haydn Fleury and Jake Bean ready for bigger roles, while Trevor van Riemsdyk is a safe stay-at-home option. Once his shoulder heals, the Canes will…