The Hockey News Playoff Preview 2021

THE SPORTS WORLD LOVES a sappy old-timer success story. Always has. Maybe it’s because we project the love of our parents onto grey-haired athletes. Or maybe, if we’re the ones with the greying hair, we live out a vicarious fantasy watching someone who’s supposed to be long retired competing for a championship trophy. Jack Nicklaus made everyone warm and fuzzy winning the 1986 Masters at 46, and Tiger Woods’ rollercoaster of transgressions and redemptions hit a peak in 2019 when he won it at 43. Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer won 16 games in 2008 and soft-tossed his way to a World Series ring at 45. Hockey treated us to the incomparable Gordie Howe playing games in his 50s, but, if we’re talking iconic old-guy winner imagery, Ray Bourque’s Stanley Cup…

LATVIA WAS CONFIRMED TO be the sole host of the 2021 World Championship after the IIHF and president Rene Fasel were put under a great deal of pressure to rescind Belarus as a co-host due to human-rights violations and a rigged election. The IIHF finally pulled the plug on Jan. 18, 2021, citing “ongoing challenges placed by COVID-19.” As I predicted in my Publisher’s Note in the Yearbook, published in November 2020, the IIHF would perhaps sidestep the questions on human-rights abuses in Belarus “…if the World Championship are cancelled due to COVID-19 health concerns, but that inevitably kicks the pucks and politics of the human rights abuses question down the ice to China.” The IIHF decided that it would be safer to have the World Championship hosted by one country due…

ANDREI VASILEVSKIY IS A unicorn. When he raised the Stanley Cup above his head last June, er, September, he did so as the first goalie to win 18 games during a single post-season. Shining in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s crease, Vasilevskiy started 25 playoff games in less than two months. Including the regular season, he started 77 of Tampa’s 95 games, good for an 81-percent piece of the puck-stopping pie – all while the league-wide trend of burning goalies to the wick has actually been dissipating. Looking at the past 20 full 82-game seasons, from 1997-98 to 2018-19, reveals a gradual shift toward spreading out workloads. From 1997-98 to 2011-12, an average of 3.4 goalies per season started more than 70 games. From 2013-14 through 2018-19, only three goalies in total…

MINNESOTA WILD defenseman Matt Dumba paused when he was asked whether the three guilty verdicts delivered in the Derek Chauvin trial could be considered a win. The question was not a flippant one, but of course the answer was no. After all, George Floyd is still dead. When police apprehended Floyd, a Black man, for passing an alleged counterfeit $20 bill 11 months ago, he died of “positional asphyxia” after Chauvin kneeled on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds while Floyd pleaded for mercy. On April 20, Chauvin, a white man, was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The overwhelming sentiment after the verdicts were handed down was that justice was served. Dumba thought that, too. And he chose to look at the development as…

BRADEN HOLTBY >VANCOUVER CANUCKS EARLIER THIS SEASON, Holtby drew accusations of cultural appropriation for a mask that featured First Nations-inspired artwork but didn’t use an Indigenous artist. Eager to make amends, Holtby sought out Coast Salish artist Luke Marston to produce a new, authentically Indigenous mask design “inspired by the legend of the orcas and the wolves.” Marston created the imagery on the sides. Swedish artist Dave Gunnarsson added the Canucks logo.…

BROOKS BANDITS >2020-21 THE AJHL’S BROOKS BANDITS have become one of the premier Jr. A franchises in Canada, and they’ve looked good in the process thanks to their solid bandit logo. But who says a team can’t have two sweet looks? This season, the Bandits introduced a black third jersey with a nice “Brooks” script across the front and a pretty fun accent: barbed wire on the bottom of the sweater, as well as the arms and on the socks. Cale Makar’s old squad still has that cool bandit mascot on the shoulder, and the new black, grey and red color scheme makes for an intimidating look.…