The Hockey News Nov. 30, 2020 - Yearbook

HINDSIGHT MAY BE 20/20, but it doesn’t take pristine vision to recognize 2020 sucked. Locusts, floods, fires, murder hornets and a pandemic. If things weren’t so dire, we’d make a Moses joke. The hurt was exacerbated by a deluge of polarized political vitriol that separated us when we needed cohesion. Bright spots were on ration. Fortunately for those of us who like our ice carved, the NHL was among them. A team that features silver in its color scheme seized the silverware in a silver lining moment. The Lightning earned their championship. Instead of asterisking it, their triumph should be denoted with an array of gold stars. Because of the inherent challenges of playing in a bubble and the universal hunger for scraps of normalcy, Tampa Bay’s 2019-20 Stanley Cup win…

BELARUS IS ONE OF the most beautiful countries in the world, and I should know as I have been there many times and travelled extensively throughout the world. The city of Minsk is breathtaking as the architecture has everything from the classic USSR look to the ultra-modern. However, the best part of Belarus is not its cities, countryside or culture, rather it’s the citizens who are as friendly as you will find anywhere in the world. Many of its citizens are friends of mine after having played in president Alexander Lukashenko’s hockey tournaments in Minsk since 2008 on its IIHF, Canada and USA teams. According to a Canadian Press story published Sept. 29, “Canada and Britain have levelled sanctions on the president of Belarus, his son and various government officials over…

IT’S PROBABLY BEST THE NHL decided to put off the start of the 2020-21 season until at least Jan. 1. With the way the calendar year went in 2020, there’s no sense tempting fate. But all things considered, the league had a pretty good run in 2019-20, what with holding a 24-team playoff tournament in the midst of a global pandemic without one positive test and all… Man, that was crazy, wasn’t it? While our inclination on New Year’s Eve would be to tell 2020 to take a hike and not let the door hit it in the rear end on the way out, the fact is the 2019-20 campaign did contain some incredible moments, both pre- and post-COVID. Just in case you wanted to strike 2020 from your memory bank,…

THEY’VE GOT A NAME and they’ve got a look. Now the NHL’s 32nd franchise just needs some players. The Seattle Kraken were officially born July 23, 2020, with CEO Tod Leiweke presiding over the introductory festivities with socially distant construction workers at Climate Pledge Arena – or at least the bones of what will become the new arena in the near future. Guessing the name of Seattle’s expansion team had been a cottage industry since the city won its bid for an NHL franchise in December 2018. Everything from Sockeyes to Totems was bandied about, but none inspired as much intrigue as Kraken – the mythological sea monster of the deep. Part of the reason was the internet meme of actor Liam Neeson bellowing “Release the Kraken!” in the movie Clash of…

THE NHL’S 2020-21 rookie class promises to be a unique one, marked by uncertainty, but that doesn’t mean it’s a poor class. The confluence of several high-end prospects brings an exciting group of Russians who will all be vying for the Calder Trophy at the same time – and thanks to positional differences, you could almost fill out an entire all-rookie team ballot from that one hockey nation. The Russian kids have varying degrees of experience from the KHL, and some have already been league champions back home. Their challengers? An assortment of high-end hopefuls coming in one year removed from their draft year plus the first overall pick in 2020. The big X-factor? How many of Alexis Lafreniere’s peers will join him straight from the (virtual) draft podium? Sweden’s ‘Terror…

WHO BELONGS ON THE NHL’s Mount Rushmore in 2020? Alongside the sculptures of four U.S. presidents, let’s pretend hockey has won the right to carve the faces of four superstars. The hockey gods have awarded the first three spots to Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr. They have also eliminated from consideration such worthy candidates as Bobby Hull, Mario Lemieux and Maurice Richard. Connor McDavid is deemed to be too young. It’s down to Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. Both have firmly established their positions as all-time greats during their 15-year careers. Both are guaranteed first-ballot Hall of Famers. Which one of them deserves to be the fourth face of hockey on Mount Rushmore? CAREER BOTH OVECHKIN AND Crosby have completed 15 NHL…