The Hockey News Dec. 14, 2020 - Meet The New Guy 2020

HOCKEY, WE’RE TOLD, IS for Everyone™. That it needs to be said aloud is indeed telling. There is much to love about the game. It’s graceful and brutal, fast and strategic. It can teach impressionable minds about teamwork, leadership, discipline, work ethic. Participants make lifelong bonds and communities of friends are forged. Who wouldn’t want this experience to be available, equally, to all? Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. For a cluster of reasons, hockey’s demographics aren’t in sync with the general population. There is no historical data that documents enrollment by minority, but there are enough indicators for us to draw the conclusion. According to Statistics Canada, nearly 20 percent of Canadians identify as a visible minority. The number is roughly twice as high in the United States. Yet, the average…

In my previous Publisher’s Note, I asked the question: do questions of human-rights abuses in Belarus and in China cause Hockey Canada and the IIHF to play the puck or consider the politics of human rights? I wanted to know what Tom Renney, CEO of Hockey Canada, and Bob Nicholson, chairman of the Edmonton Oilers and Canada’s only representative on the IIHF board, think. Neither of them responded to my open-ended questions. I guess they are both quite busy right now overseeing staff that is putting together this holiday season’s World Junior Championship in Edmonton, so it is understandable they don’t have the time to let Canadians know if they support the prime minister or government of Canada’s position in regards to the violence in the streets of Minsk, Belarus. Plus, Renney…

IT IS THE STRANGEST off-season of all-time for NHLers’ training schedules. Or it’s right up there with the 1945 off-season following the end of the Second World War, as the COVID-19 pandemic has been the single most disruptive global event in more than 70 years. For many players who competed in the 24-team bubble tournament, simply starting off-season training has been a mountain to climb. Their bodies endured a rigorous, condensed league schedule that regularly included three games in four nights and back-to-backs. In some cases, that meant back-to-back overtime games. The gruelling experience left players’ bodies battered, but that’s true after any deep playoff run in a non-COVID year as well. According to multiple high-performance trainers with clients who played in the bubble, the mental toll of the bubble was much…

ILYA SOROKIN | NEW YORK ISLANDERS THE ISLANDERS’ TOP GOALTENDING prospect arrives in North America and embraces the team’s fisherman logo – which turns 25 this year – on his first mask as an NHLer. It’s a sleek design from artist Dave Gunnarsson. The artwork is considered “2-in-1 contrast” – from a distance, the sharpness of the lighthouse on top and Sorokin’s No. 30 on the chin stand out. Up close, you get a detailed look at the fisherman and some other Isles logos on the sides.…

TRAKTOR CHELYABINSK | 2020-21 A RAFT OF KHL teams have new uniforms this season, but the most impressive redesign comes courtesy of Chelyabinsk. Traktor has long used a bear mascot as its crest, and this reimagining by Quberten Design gives the squad an incredibly unique and fresh bruin for their chest, and the stark black-and-white palette emphasizes the logo. The ‘Traktor’ nickname comes from the manufacturing factory in town, and the design was created to reflect that – with allusions to cogs and impressive striping on the arms and socks that warns of heavy machinery ahead. This jersey is a huge winner.…

SOMETIMES, A VERSUS COMPARISON can look like a no-brainer until digging deeper and discovering that strengths (and weaknesses) in different areas actually narrow the gap between two players. A comparison between Victor Hedman and Miro Heiskanen does the opposite. Both of these high-scoring defensemen are coming off a playoff run where they were stars. Every NHL team would jump at the chance to acquire either player and immediately sign them to big-money, long-term deals. However, the objective of this comparison is to go beyond these obvious facts. Comparing the value of Hedman and Heiskanen shows that there is actually a substantial gap between them. Let’s explain why. CAREER THIS COMPARISON IS UNFAIR to Heiskanen, but it must be made. Heiskanen is still only 21. He was drafted third overall by Dallas in…