On their own, those distinctions set Weatherby apart from most everyone else. He also boldly uses his platform as a high-performance athlete to draw attention to social justice issues in a manner that’s unusual for most hockey players.
“I’d drive down there six hours, my stepdad had season tickets since they were (an expansion) franchise, and I’d go to games. I think that it was an unbelievable opportunity, and at the same time I think that another year in college is only going to benefit me and maybe leaves me entering, hopefully, an NHL roster that much more prepared,” Weatherby, 23, said during a phone interview last month from his father’s home in Bend, Ore.
Completing his college eligibility and not signing with the Sharks could allow him to become a free agent next year, but he said that didn’t really influence his decision because of his attraction to the team and respect for general manager Doug Wilson and others in the organization.
“It was obviously a really tough decision,” Weatherby, a marketing major, said. “I really respect everything San Jose does from their GM to their player development coaches and even some of the younger prospects on the team. They’re great guys, but at the same time I was kind of thinking about my development and trying to get that degree. Just trying to build on my on-ice things that I can do well and trying to improve so when I do hopefully make that jump, I’m the best prepared I can be.”
As one of the top college hockey programs in the country, North Dakota is accustomed to having some of its best players turn pro before completing their NCAA eligibility. Fighting Hawks head coach Brad Berry is excited to have Weatherby back, especially after losing eight seniors and seeing junior defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker and sophomore forward Shane Pinto leave early to sign with the NHL’s Ottawa Senators.
“To have a player like Jasper come back four years, that says a lot about him,” Berry said by phone last month. “You know, I’m sure there’s probably opportunities for him to sign a pro contract with San Jose, but just talking with him and how mature he is (it’s great for UND) knowing that he wants to continue to round his game out and get better.”
After improving his production each year at North Dakota, including 14 goals and 24 points in 29 games last season, Weatherby is poised to continue his progression in 2021-22. In addition to training and watching his nutrition this offseason, he said he’s making sure to be mentally prepared so he shows up refreshed and feeling good for the start of the hockey season.
“He’s a big-bodied centerman, extremely smart, competitive, can make plays and also finish plays scoring goals,” Berry said of the 6-3 and 212-pound Weatherby. “So you know when you get players in college, when you recruit new players it’s sometimes tough finding big-bodied centermen that have all those attributes that I just described to you, and we’re very blessed and fortunate to have him in our group here for another year.”
Chasing a college hockey dream across a continent
Weatherby’s cross-continent hockey journey began in Ashland, which is better known for Shakespeare than slapshots. Weatherby was born in Portland, grew up in Ashland, and played his minor hockey 13 miles away at The Rrrink in Medford.
“In high school I kind of knew I was serious about the game, (so) I was going to have to leave the Rogue Valley in Oregon. There just wasn’t quite enough there to fulfill the dreams of trying to play college hockey and then hopefully pro hockey,” Weatherby said.
At 13 he enrolled in the Canadian International Hockey Academy outside of Ottawa where he played Bantam AAA in 2012-13 and Minor Midget AAA the next season. Weatherby had been in a spring league in Vancouver, B.C., in eighth grade, but immersing himself in the Canadian prep school hockey environment took things to another level.
“They’re unbelievable. I wouldn’t be here without them,” Weatherby said of the academy instructors at the boarding school in Rockland, Ontario. “It was an eye opening experience for sure.”
Weatherby had seven points in 29 games in his first season, and 18 points in 32 games in 2013-14 at CIH. The big jump in the quality of skills from Medford – “Oh my gosh these kids can really play,” he recalled about his introduction – greatly helped his hockey development.
While many classmates at CIH were eyeing the Ontario Hockey League route, Weatherby was focusing on playing college hockey instead of major junior. He moved to Nebraska where he finished high school and played two years for the Omaha AAA Lancers program in the North American Prospects Hockey League where he scored 23 points in 25 games for the 18U team in 2015-16.
After Omaha, Weatherby returned to the Pacific Northwest in 2016-17 to join the Wenatchee Wild of the British Columbia Hockey League. He said he “didn’t play a ton” in the first season, scoring 12 goals and 32 points in 46 games, but he learned a lot from veteran players and head coach Bliss Littler and his coaching staff.
“I think you can’t really go to Wenatchee without being a good human being,” he said. “They would rather have somebody who’s a good human being and maybe not as good a hockey player. But they want that team environment and everyone’s growing and looking to go and play college.
A painful longest game
Nearly three months after North Dakota lost a five-overtime epic to Minnesota-Duluth in the longest game in NCAA tournament history, the wounds were starting to heal for Fighting Hawks forward Jasper Weatherby.
“I think that as time goes you will look back on that as more of a positive memory. It’s just such a unique game to be a part of,” he said. “It was a lot of fun, and you learn a lot about the guys in that locker room, and you definitely think about it. Just happy and excited to be part of something kind of special like that.”
After falling behind 2-0 in the third period, North Dakota scored twice in 47 seconds with the goalie pulled for an extra attacker to even it up at the end of regulation. The teams had played an NCAA record 142 minutes and 13 seconds when the Bulldogs scored to win the game.
“You just kind of go back into your locker room and just kind of almost collapse in there,” Weatherby said. “They were just bringing us in all the food from the concession stand, and everything, you know, protein bars and anything that could get us calories.
“It’s pretty crazy. We have an intermission clock in the locker room that’s ticking down and (I’d) be like ‘all right, you know, two more minutes I gotta stand up here.’ I stand up and you’re just like kinda going into the zone and you’re like ‘all right, I’ve got a job to do.’”
That 3-2 loss March 27 in the Fargo Regional final cost the Fighting Hawks a spot in the NCAA Frozen Four and will provide Weatherby and his teammates with motivation to make it further next postseason.
“The big thing is you want to win those last four games of the season, if you were lucky enough to get in the tournament. So for us, my goal is always to win a national championship,” he said.
Jasper Weatherby had 14 goals, 10 assists and was a plus-seven as a junior for the University of North Dakota last season. (North Dakota Athletics photos)
“So that was a great experience. My first year we ended up losing in the playoffs the second round. And then the second year I came back and a lot of the guys, better players, had moved on to college, and I just kind of got given some opportunities and tried to put the work in that summer. Luckily they gave me some opportunities.”
In his second year he seized those opportunities, leading the league in scoring (74 points) and tying for the lead in goals (37) en route to winning the Vern Dye Memorial Trophy as the league MVP. Weatherby then led the BCHL playoffs in goals (15), assists (23), and points (38) as the Wild won the Fred Page Cup as league champions.
Weatherby’s successful stint in Wenatchee almost never happened, however. He wasn’t someone who was a top recruit guaranteed to get a roster spot. Weatherby got there with some hard work and good fortune.
“Not a lot of people know this, but I didn’t make a lot of junior teams and I think I must have been cut from like eight junior teams throughout those two years in Omaha and even before Omaha,” Weatherby said. “So Wenatchee was kind of like my last chance to make a good junior team. And I came in, there was I think five guys, and there was one spot. You know, I just played well and got lucky, and they ended up giving me that last spot.”
Oregon was not one of Wenatchee’s territory states from which it could recruit, but fortunately Weatherby’s mother was living in Lummi Island at the time. She had been filing his taxes from Washington state, so he was considered a resident and could compete for the Wild’s one opening for a Washington local (which explains why hockeydb.com lists his birthplace incorrectly as Lummi Island).
“It’s kind of funny how sometimes the stars align in that way,” Weatherby said. “I look back, if I hadn’t been from Washington, I wouldn’t have ever been able to play for Wenatchee because they did not have an opening for another import slot.”
A leader on and off the ice
Weatherby was an assistant captain last season and has a chance to become captain this year. Although the players vote to decide who wears the C and the A’s, Berry said he expects Weatherby to be wearing a letter again this season.
“I think he’s one of those guys that he doesn’t say probably a whole lot, but when he does it resonates in the locker room,” Berry said. “But you know the good leaders are the ones that back it up on the ice, or in the weight room, or in the community. They always do things at the highest level and every day. We call those guys ‘everydayers.’ And he is an everydayer, and guys follow that. And your bar is only going to go as high as your leaders, and he’s been an outstanding leader for us, especially over this last season. We’re really looking for great things for him and his leadership this year.”
Weatherby’s leadership extends beyond the dressing room and the ice rink. He’s one of three National Collegiate Hockey Conference representatives on the College Hockey for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion task force, and he’s a member of the UND Student-Athlete Inclusion and Diversity group.
After George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020, Weatherby and Bernard-Docker took part in a Black Lives Matter march in Grand Forks, N.D. Before the Fighting Hawks’ 2020-21 season opener, the two players knelt during the playing of the U.S. national anthem to protest racial injustice.
Believed to be the first Division I hockey players to kneel during the anthem, Weatherby wasn’t afraid of anyone’s criticism or trolling on social media. He said he and Bernard-Docker, who is from Canada, expected the mixed responses they received.
“So we kind of talked that summer, and I said I was going to do it. And he took his time … and decided that this was something he wanted to do,” Weatherby said of his close friend and former roommate of three years. “So we came out with an article beforehand kind of explaining why we’re doing it.
“The positive stuff for us really outweighed the negative stuff. We had minority people messaging us on campus saying, ‘Thank you for that; sometimes we feel that North Dakota isn’t the most welcoming place for people like ourselves.’ And for us that’s all we needed to hear. If we can make UND and North Dakota welcoming for one person who doesn’t feel like it’s welcoming then we’ve done our job, and we’ve done the best we can.”
Preceding that season opener was a team meeting where everyone had a chance to share their views while others respectfully listened. By the sounds of it, a good percentage of our society could take a lesson from how the Fighting Hawks players from various parts of Canada and the U.S. learned about each other’s perspectives.
“It was really powerful to hear people’s opinions of what they believe in. And at the end of the day that’s kind of what makes these two countries so great is that people can have different opinions and still fight for the same cause,” Weatherby said. “I wasn’t gonna tell anyone that not kneeling is a bad thing, and I wasn’t gonna, hopefully, wasn’t gonna hear from my teammates that kneeling was a bad thing either. So we came to a mutual respect, and it brought our team a lot closer, which was a great thing.”
Family history of standing up against injustice
Weatherby’s grandmother and step-grandfather’s activism for social justice issues had significant influence on Weatherby and his family. Ann Macrory took part in the Selma to Montgomery, Ala., civil rights march in 1965 and was a civil rights lawyer. Ralph Temple, who was Jewish, moved to the United States from London at 7 because of Nazi advances across Europe, and he went on to become a civil rights lawyer who worked at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the ACLU. (Read the Grand Forks Herald’s coverage to learn about many more examples of Weatherby’s family’s passion for social justice.)
Jasper Weatherby is on the College Hockey for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion task force and UND’s Student-Athlete Inclusion and Diversity group. (North Dakota Athletics photo)
To those who make knee-jerk complaints that socially conscious athletes should be quiet and “stick to sports,” that’s not how Weatherby was brought up. To his critics, his response is, “educate yourself.”
“I’m a human being first, I have beliefs and feelings, and I’m an athlete second,” Weatherby, whose adopted brother is Black, said. “I think that sometimes in this world we like to put athletes on a pedestal and say just because you can shoot a ball through a hoop … that’s the only thing you are. And that’s so not true. I think that when you look at athletes who are able to voice their opinions and really become the people that they want, they’re just going to flourish in life. So I challenge those people and I say that my sport does not define who I am. Being a human being defines who I am and making choices for myself.”
Berry suggests Weatherby also developed his maturity, empathy, and some worldliness from moving around North America, living in different places, and being around different people.
“He’s a very deep thinking person. He’s a guy that is very sensitive, and he has a lot of care for everybody, and a lot of care for his teammates, and a lot of care for the people around him,” Berry said. “You know, he always approaches his day with kind of a deep thought process and that’s great to see.”
Being unafraid of standing out and drawing attention to yourself is quite unusual for hockey players. The culture of the sport has historically forced individuals to conform to certain restrained behaviors as a group. Being outspoken or drawing attention to yourself would be breaking one of those old “codes” that discourage actions that some might consider as individualistic.
Unfortunately it took awful events such as the killing of George Floyd, the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin, racism directed at former NHLer Akim Aliu, and other incidents to prompt more players to change old habits, but it’s a start.
“I think for a long time it has kind of been a sport that’s been so stoic maybe, and not in a bad way, but hockey players are tough and they’re good people. I think that sometimes that can be misled for staying in line and don’t step out of the boundaries, but I think what we’re realizing now is that it’s good to be unique,” Weatherby said.
Becoming the seventh Oregon-born player to skate in the NHL would be unusual. Courageously standing up against racial injustice, trying to make college hockey more inclusive, and working to improve diversity on UND’s campus are proof that Weatherby isn’t just an anomaly in hockey; he’s someone truly exceptional.
Jim Wilkie is a longtime Northwest journalist, former NHL editor and NHL Insider writer for ESPN.com, onetime GSHL All-Star, and SJHA hockey dad. Follow him on Twitter @jimwilkie.
The 2020-21 NHL season might have ended last week, but we are headed into two of the busiest weeks on the league’s calendar. We thought it would be a good idea to lay out the key dates and milestones and call out what to look for from a Seattle Kraken fan’s perspective.
Key Dates and milestones from the NHL calendar
Mid-July – There has not been a release day set for the 2021-22 NHL schedule, but we anticipate it will be announced around this time.
What to look for: Rivalry games and road trips. Let’s go!
July 13 – Last day NHL clubs can ask players to waive their no-movement clause (NMC) for the Seattle Expansion Draft.
What to look for: There are a couple teams that would love to have a player waive his NMC. Calgary has already gotten Milan Lucic to waive his, but other teams to watch are the Colorado Avalanche (Erik Johnson), Buffalo Sabres (Jeff Skinner), Florida Panthers (Keith Yandle), and Minnesota Wild (Zach Parise, Ryan Suter). Expect bits of information to leak out about the status of these players and their NMC’s. Colorado and Minnesota are probably the most intriguing from a Seattle perspective because if they do not get these players to waive, someone very talented should be exposed.
July 17 – Rosters freeze at noon PST and Expansion Draft protection lists are due to the league by 2 p.m.
What to look for: News will leak about who is protected and who is not, but the NHL will not publish the official protection lists until the 18th.
July 18 – Expansion protection lists released. The Seattle Kraken can negotiate with any restricted or unrestricted free agents that are unprotected.
What to look for: All the mock drafts and projected protection lists are out the window at this point. It is important to understand that there will be side deals in the Expansion Draft and the Seattle Kraken might not always select the best player available if there has been a pre-arranged side deal with the respective clubs.
July 21 – Seattle Kraken must submit their list of expansion players to the NHL by 10 a.m. PST and the selections will be announced at 5 p.m. PST on ESPN2 that day.
What to look for: Selections will be leaked throughout the day as players are informed of their selection. The mystery will be in the trades and side deals that will happen as part of the Expansion Draft.
July 23 – Round 1 of the NHL Entry Draft begins at 5 p.m.
July 24 – Rounds 2-7 of the NHL Entry Draft
What to look for: Barring any big trades, the Kraken will have at least one pick in the first round, but if the Vegas Expansion Draft was any indicator, they could accumulate a few more first-round picks. Most of the players drafted in the first round will not play in the NHL during the 2021-22 season, but they will be the foundation of the team down the road.
July 26 – The deadline for teams to extend qualifying offers to their restricted free agents.
What to look for: In previous years, this deadline hasn’t been that interesting, but with the salary cap crunch the league is facing right now, teams might be unwilling to extend qualifying offers to players with arbitration rights. If teams extend qualifying offers to players that are eligible for arbitration, players could exercise their rights and potentially force the team to use more cap space on them. Players like Alex Nedeljkovic (Carolina), Andreas Athanasiou (Los Angeles), and Teddy Blueger (Pittsburgh) all fit in this category and could be surprise players to not be extended a qualifying offer. By not receiving a qualifying offer, they will enter unrestricted free agency and could sign with any team.
July 28 – Opening of NHL free agency.
What to look for: The Vegas Golden Knights were not big players in their first year of NHL free agency. We do not expect Seattle to make a big splash in its first year either, but because of the salary cap situation, Seattle could be a great destination for some value players that might not be able to find the dollars they want elsewhere. We anticipate a few players in the second tier of free agents – perhaps guys like Tyson Barrie or Brandon Montour – to be candidates for signing in Seattle.
Early September – No firm date has been communicated, but the Kraken Community Iceplex is expected to open to the public within the first two weeks of September.
Middle of September – Seattle Kraken prospect camp begins. No dates or communications have gone out about this, but Ron Francis hinted at a prospect camp right before training camp to minimize the travel and complications of crossing borders during a condensed offseason.
Mid-to-Late September – Seattle Kraken training camp begins.
What to look for: Expect a healthy number of practices that are open to the public. Open practices are an excellent way to connect with the community and with fans that might not have the ability to attend regular-season games.
Mid-October – 2021-22 Seattle Kraken Regular Season begins
What to look for: Everything!
It goes without saying that the next three weeks will be the biggest three weeks of the Seattle Kraken’s brief history. Anticipate a wide range of national coverage that will speculate wildly about future success or failures of the franchise. Read with caution. Most post-Expansion Draft articles from the Vegas draft picked the Golden Knights to finish dead last in the league. The Golden Knights then proceeded to play in the Stanley Cup Final. It would be foolish to expect the same type of success in year one for the Kraken, but we will not have a great idea about how this team will look until mid-November. No matter what, this is when the fun begins, enjoy it.
When the NHL puts the Pacific Division back in place for the 2021-2022 season, the Seattle Kraken will see a lot of the once mighty Los Angeles Kings. It seems like just yesterday they won two Stanley Cups in three years – the last win was 2014 – but since then the Kings have missed the playoffs in five of seven seasons.
Their two playoff appearances – in 2016 and 2018 – both ended in first-round knockouts.
The key players, like Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, and Jonathan Quick, from those Cup teams are still on the roster. So, what gives? Why are they bad? Time has played a role as those players are not as effective as they once were, but also, the supporting cast is gone, replaced by younger players.
Seattle should beware, however, because the Kings have cap space and some promising young prospects on the rise. Could an improving Kings team turn a division rivalry into a full-on hate fest? It’s easy not to like Doughty so the chance is definitely there for Seattle to lean into some Kings abhorrence.
Let’s get to know the Kraken division rival Los Angeles Kings
Established: 1967
Nickname history: The name ‘Kings’ came from a fan contest and was liked by original owner Jack Kent Cooke. The team’s original colors were ‘Forum Blue’ and yellow. The colors were changed to black, silver, and white for the 1997 season.
First season in NHL: 1967-1968 (31-33-10 record)
AHL affiliate: Ontario Reign
ECHL affiliate: None
Stanley Cup Final appearances: 1993 (lost to Montreal), 2012 (beat New Jersey), and 2014 (beat New York Rangers)
Presidents’ Trophies: none
Division titles: One (1990-1991)
All-time leading scorer: Marcel Dionne (1,307)
All-time leading goals: Luc Robitaille (557)
All-time leader in assists: Marcel Dionne (757)
2020-2021 record: 21-28-7 (sixth in West Division)
2020-2021 leading scorer: Anze Kopitar (13 goals, 37 assists, 50 points in 56 games)
Sometimes, hockey fans just need to express their feelings, especially during the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. I am a hockey fan. I am a long-suffering Minnesota Wild fan. Currently, my feelings are injured. If you happened to watch Game 3 of the Minnesota/Vegas series on Thursday, you understand that being a Wild fan really is a miserable state of being. After Minnesota jumped out to a 2-0 lead and dominated the first period, then appeared to take a three-goal lead, it felt like it was going to be smooth sailing. But wait! There’s an offside challenge! And it’s successful!
Boom. Back to 2-0.
Vegas predictably owned every inch of the ice the rest of the way, and Minnesota lost 5-2 while getting outshot 40-16 in total.
Sometimes I think I’m cursed as a sports fan. Sometimes I think I’m ready to throw 100 percent of my fandom behind the Seattle Kraken. Sometimes I think that me being a fan of the Kraken is actually the worst thing that could happen to that brand-new franchise that frankly does not deserve this brand of constant sports-induced agony.
Anyway, if you haven’t yet gathered, playoff hockey is here, and it’s been electric, with the highest of highs for some (Avalanche fans, Hurricanes fans, etc.) and the lowest of lows for others (Wild fans, Blues fans, et al).
Seattle Kraken news
After the big announcement last week that Seattle had signed its first ever player in Blainville-Boisbriand Armada center, Luke Henman, this was a much quieter week on the Kraken front.
Instead, we had just a couple of very small tidbits. The team unveiled some more details about its plans for youth programming at the new Kraken Training Center, and also announced a Covid vaccination pop-up at the Kraken Team Store at Chandler’s Cove on Tuesday, May 25. Get a shot and get 25% off on Kraken gear! How about that?
We are also happy to share that Seattle had a pretty good troll job on the Canucks this week, after that franchise continued its downward spiral into the abyss.
for everyone asking, yes, we are accepting applications for new fans. 😏
With the first round no deeper than Game 3 in any one individual series, it really does feel like we’ve already seen it all at this point. Goalie duels, back-and-forth affairs, overtime thrillers, you name it, we’ve already seen it. One can only hope that this riveting band of hockey continues as we move forward, and if history is any indicator… It will.
Imagine not being an NHL hockey fan during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Scary moment in Toronto
The hockey world held its collective breath on Thursday when Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares got hit in the neutral zone in Game 1 against the Montreal Canadiens, then fell awkwardly into Corey Perry’s knee. The video was downright scary, as medical staff rushed onto the ice and supported Tavares’s head while he went in and out of consciousness.
Tavares was eventually carried off on a stretcher and gave a thumbs up.
Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe told media on Thursday night that Tavares was conscious and communicating and his test results were coming back “clear.”
The Canadiens came away with a surprising 2-1 victory to open the NHL Playoffs, thanks to a spectacular goal by Paul Byron.
With the NHL Playoffs in full swing, people tend to forget there’s another world-class tournament that happens around this time, in which the best of the rest all get together to try to prove that they are good at hockey, despite not being able to carry their respective NHL teams. Yes, the IIHF World Championship starts on Friday in Riga, Latvia.
What’s most interesting about this tournament, though, is that it often gives some top prospects an opportunity to compete against professional players on a big stage. This year is no different as draft-eligible forward Matty Beniers will suit up for Team USA, while his Michigan teammate Owen Power and Winnipeg Jets prospect Cole Perfetti will play for Canada.
Canucks prospect Michael DiPietro will also be there, sporting one hell of a look.
Canada gets underway Friday against Latvia at 10:15AM Pacific. Team USA will start against Finland on Saturday at 6:15AM Pacific. Most of the interesting matchups throughout the tournament will be on NHL Network.
Everett Silvertips part with GM
The Everett Silvertips announced on Thursday that they would not extend the contract of general manager Garry Davidson.
Here’s SOH’s resident Silvertips expert, Josh Horton, with his thoughts on the matter:
Also, Garry was such a pro. I don’t think I heard anyone say a bad word about him while I was on the Tips beat. Amazing person to work with from my perspective and it’s going to be weird thinking of him not at the helm in Everett.
The Silvertips and Davidson have been synonymous with one another, and Everett’s success as an organization is very much thanks to Davidson’s efforts over the years.
Around the boards
Speaking of hockey executives named Davidson (I just couldn’t resist that segue), the Blue Jackets hired John Davidson as president of hockey operations and alternate governor. Davidson was canned by the Rangers on May 5 in the midst of the Great Tom Wilson Fiasco of 2021. He had previously worked for the CBJ’s in the same role up until 2019, when he left to join the Rangers. Davidson re-kindles his connection with Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen, who also signed an extension with Columbus through the 2024-25 season.
Team USA legend Meghan Duggan was hired by the New Jersey Devils as a player development manager this week. Duggan, 33, has seven IIHF World Championship gold medals, two Olympic silvers, and one Olympic gold.
After a cross-up behind the net between Ilya Samsonov and Justin Schultz led the Capitals to a double-overtime loss to the Bruins in Game 3, Alex Ovechkin let (presumably) Samsonov have it. In times like these, it is important to remember that it is never the goalie’s fault.
Bad boys
Nazem Kadri has been offered an in-person hearing from the NHL after nearly taking Justin Faulk’s head off in Colorado’s Game 2 win over the Blues on Wednesday.
And speaking of the Great Tom Wilson Fiasco of 2021, I was texting with a Colorado fan about the Kadri hit on Thursday. He made a fair point that it’s hard to justify suspending for a split-second, blink-of-an-eye play like this when Wilson nearly smashing two players’ heads through the ice only earned him a $5,000 fine a couple weeks ago.
But the thing is, the NHL has absolutely set a precedent that it does not want this type of hit happening on its watch. Since the Department of Player Safety was established in 2011, it has been very consistent in always suspending for these Raffi-Torres-Matt-Cooke-lookin’-a$$ hits.
Kadri will absolutely miss a couple games for this one.
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at Sound Of Hockey and the host, producer, and editor of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is an inconsistent beer league goalie who believes that five players have to make a mistake before the puck gets to him. Follow him on Twitter @DarrenFunBrown or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
If it’s true that the North remembers, then this season will be unforgettable for Canadians. A whole season with an all-Canadian division is a dream come true and it hits its crescendo this week as the playoffs begin. The Toronto Maple Leafs open with the Montreal Canadiens and the Edmonton Oilers take on the Winnipeg Jets.
The North divisional playoffs feature marquee players and historic franchises. What’s not to like? Unfortunately, there won’t be fans in any of the buildings to juice the intensity, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to be treated to good hockey.
Can Toronto get out of the first round? Can Connor McDavid and the Oilers break through? Is this the year the Jets put it all together?
We are about to find out.
Montreal Canadiens (4) versus Toronto Maple Leafs (1)
When: Game 1, Thursday, 4:30 Pacific, NHL Network
There are storylines abound in a matchup between two long-standing NHL traditional franchises that have not met in the playoffs since 1979 – two months before Toronto center Joe Thornton was born.
The pressure is on Toronto here. The Leafs are stacked, led by Auston Matthews (41 goals, 25 assists, 66 points), Mitch Marner (20g, 47a, 67pts), and John Tavares (19g, 31a, 50pts) Toronto can score with the best of them – the Leafs’ 187 goals led the North Division in scoring in the regular season.
"It's two organizations with a lot of rich history in this league over the last 100 plus years."
Montreal started the season on fire but faded as it went along and ended up as the No. 4 seed. The Canadiens struggled with Toronto during the regular season with a 3-6-1 record.
They don’t have the scoring that the Maple Leafs feature and allowed more goals despite having better goalies, at least in theory. Carey Price (2.64 GAA, .901 SV) has been great over his career but split time with Jake Allen (2.68 GAA, .907 SV) as the goaltending was inconsistent.
Offensively, the Canadiens are led by offseason free agent pick up Tyler Toffoli (28g, 16a, 44 pts) along with Jeff Petry (12g, 30a, 30pts), and Nick Suzuki (15g, 26a, 41 pts). They will need everyone to be on their game if they hope to keep up with the high-flying Maple Leafs.
Wild Card
The Canadiens will need to score with the Maple Leafs if they want any shot of pulling the upset. Rookie Cole Caufield could help. Since joining Montreal at the end of the season the diminutive speedster scored four goals, including a couple of game-winners. Toronto used a merry-go-round of goalies this year thanks to injury. Frederik Andersen missed the latter half of the season and the Leafs will turn to Jack Campbell in Game 1. The one thing that could sink Toronto is suspect goaltending.
Kraken Watch
One of the common assumptions in trying to predict the Seattle Kraken Expansion route in goal is that Jake Allen will be the guy Ron Francis nabs from Montreal. Price has a hefty contract and a no-move clause and unless he waives that clause, Allen will be available. How much will he play in this series? He’s performed a tick better than Price during the season so the chances of him getting ice time here is high.
Who’s winning this?
Toronto’s big three played well against Montreal in the regular season, combining for 35 points in the 10 head-to-head meetings. That’s deadly and if they average three points a game here it will lights out and the Leafs will win their first series in 17 years. Whether it’s Price or Allen, Montreal doesn’t have the firepower to score with the Leafs. This could be over quick: Toronto in five.
Winnipeg Jets (3) versus Edmonton Oilers (2)
When: Game 1, Wednesday, 6 pm Pacific, NBC
The temptation to refer to this series as the “Connor McDavid show” is strong because that’s pretty much what this season has been for the Oilers. We may have to invent new superlatives to describe what McDavid pulled off this year by piling up 105 points in just 56 games — 22 of those points came in nine games against the Jets. Obviously, he’ll be the key player in this series, but he’s not alone. On any other team, Leon Draisaitl (31g, 53a, 84pts) would be huge news but he’s been overshadowed. The Jets will be aware of him, however.
McDavid is the supernova in this series but it’s not like the Jets are devoid of offensive talent themselves. Mark Scheifele (21g, 42a, 63pts), Kyle Connor (26g, 24a, 50pts), and Nikolaj Ehlers (21g, 25a, 46 pts) are a formidable trio of scorers and will need to be on point against the Oilers.
On paper, the Jets have the edge in net with the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, Connor Hellebuyk (2.58 GAA, .916 SV) who will take on the challenge of slowing down the Oilers. Normally, that would inspire some confidence but in seven head-to-head games with the Oilers this season, Hellebyuk allowed 26 goals on a .877 save percentage. Yikes.
Wild Card
The Jets brought in Pierre-Luc Dubois this year and while he hasn’t been bad, he has not been the 2018-2019 version that scored 27 goals with Columbus. In 41 games with Winnipeg, he recorded 20 points and in a series where the Jets will need to get scoring from up and down the lineup, he needs to find his game if they want a shot.
Kraken Watch
The Oilers have interesting Expansion Draft options but a couple, Tyler Benson and Caleb Jones, may not see much playing time in this series, if any. Tyson Barrie had a good regular season for Edmonton and could be a free agent target for the Kraken.
Who’s winning this?
The Jets will need a full defensive effort to help Hellebyuk as well as all their players firing at a top level. They’re not going to be able to completely stop McDavid, but their best bet is to try and keep him from completely dominating and then holding on. Edmonton needs to ride McDavid and Draisaitl and not make too many mistakes. Look for the Oilers to move on to set up a big second-round tilt with the Maple Leafs. Oilers in five.
In the end, the two teams sitting atop the Honda West Division were the teams we all expected to be there heading into these playoffs. But most of us did not predict that the divisional title would come down to the final game of the season. The race was so tight that Vegas Golden Knights netminder Robin Lehner was publicly rooting for the LA Kings against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.
Lehner’s support was too little, too late, however, as the Avs overwhelmed the inferior Kings and rolled to a 5-1 victory, a Presidents’ Trophy, and a divisional title with 82 points. The Golden Knights also finished with 82 points, but Colorado had more regulation wins on the season to break the tie.
So the divisional field is set. Avalanche versus Blues, Golden Knights versus Wild.
Let’s do this.
Colorado Avalanche versus St. Louis Blues
GAME
DATE/LOCATION
TIME
TV
Game 1
Monday, May 17 in Colorado
7 p.m. PT
NBCSN
Game 2
Wednesday, May 19 in Colorado
7:30 p.m. PT
CNBC
Game 3
Friday, May 21 in St. Louis
6:30 p.m. PT
USA
Game 4
Sunday, May 23 in St. Louis
Time TBD
TV TBD
Game 5
Tuesday, May 25 in Colorado (if necessary)
Time TBD
TV TBD
Game 6
Thursday, May 27 in St. Louis (if necessary)
Time TBD
TV TBD
Game 7
Saturday, May 29 in Colorado (if necessary)
Time TBD
TV TBD
Can the Avs stay relatively healthy this time?
Thursday’s win over the Kings was a nice microcosm of how Colorado can play when it is on top of its game. The Avs move the puck with so much zest and creativity that their opponents end up looking two steps behind trying to defend.
Widely considered a Stanley Cup contender last season as well, the Avalanche bowed out in the second round with a Game 7 loss to the Dallas Stars. Contributing to the defeat was a whole host of injuries that hit the team at the same time, with Gabriel Landeskog, Erik Johnson, Joonas Donskoi, Matt Calvert, and goalies Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Fracouz missing at least a portion of the series.
This year, the Avs skate into the postseason with their star players mostly healthy. The one exception is Brandon Saad, who is dealing with a lower body injury and may miss the start of the playoffs.
Goaltending is again a bit of a question mark, at least at the beginning of the postseason. With Francouz missing the entire regular season, the Avs acquired Devan Dubnyk at the trade deadline to shore up its backup situation, but he is currently on Covid protocol and will not be able to return until at least Tuesday. He also hasn’t been great this season in general. Dubnyk’s absence should be moot, though, as Grubauer is good to go and has had an outstanding season, winning 30 games with a 1.95 goals against average and .922 save percentage.
Assuming they stay relatively healthy, it’s Stanley Cup or bust for this Colorado team which is just oozing with offensive talent both up front and on the blue line.
Kraken fans should keep an eye on Ryan Graves, Tyson Jost, and Devon Toews, as at least one of those three should be exposed in the Expansion Draft.
The Avalanche have won five out of eight contests against the Blues.
But it would be foolish to assume St. Louis will go quietly into the night. Remember, it has only been two seasons since head coach Craig Berube took this club from dead last in the league on New Year’s Day to Stanley Cup champions in June.
There has been a decent amount of roster turnover, with Alex Steen and Jay Bouwmeester retiring and Alex Pietrangelo departing to Vegas in free agency. But the bulk of the team remains in tact, with Mike Hoffman and Torey Krug being added in free agency to help fill the holes left by the departures.
The real star of that 2018-19 Cup run was goalie Jordan Binnington, who burst onto the scene and carried St. Louis all the way through to the promised land. Binnington, now armed with a six-year whopper of a contract worth $36 million, appears ready to go back to work in the postseason. He hasn’t had that great of a season, but he has gone 6-0-3 in his last nine starts. If Binnington falters, Ville Husso has shown flashes of brilliance lately and is fresh off a 31-save shutout of Minnesota on Wednesday.
It was largely a three-team division during the regular season, with the Blues sneaking in as the best of the rest, but little was expected of them in 2018-19 as well and look what happened then.
The Blues have gotten stellar seasons out of captain Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron, who are each north of 50 points on the year.
St. Louis has also dealt with a lot of injuries, though, and has several key players out right now. Vladimir Tarasenko, who has had a very tough ride over the last couple seasons with serious shoulder issues, is now day-to-day with a lower body injury. Vince Dunn and Colton Parayko are also day-to-day, while Oskar Sundqvist is out for the year with a knee injury.
It’s been four seasons and four playoff appearances for the Golden Knights, who are once again legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. With a platoon of top-tier netminders in Lehner and Marc-Andre Fleury and heaps of talent throughout the lineup, Vegas is a well-oiled machine.
Still, there have been some odd bumps in the road this season, as general manager Kelly McCrimmon has played fast and loose with the salary cap, and it has come back to bite him. On Monday, Vegas could only dress 15 skaters because of the cap crunch and a few untimely injuries. That game was against Colorado, and a win would have clinched the Presidents’ Trophy and division for Vegas. Instead, the Golden Knights lost that night and ultimately frittered away that title chance.
The other consequence of the cap mismanagement for Vegas is that it has found itself in a tougher matchup. The Wild have surprisingly had the better of the Golden Knights, going 5-1-2 in eight meetings. Meanwhile, Vegas dominated St. Louis with a 6-1-1 record, so a first-place finish would have delivered a preferable opponent for the opening round.
Nonetheless, there’s a lot to like about Vegas’ chances. The VGK’s are so well balanced up front, with production coming from each of their top three lines. Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty have had incredible seasons, though Pacioretty has been dealing with an upper body injury, so we will see how that plays out in the playoffs. Meanwhile former Seattle Thunderbird Shea Theodore is emerging as one of the best offensive defensemen in the league.
Other than Theodore and fellow former Thunderbird Keegan Kolesar, there’s nothing to see here on the Seattle front, as Vegas is exempt from the Expansion Draft.
Wild have surprised all year
Minnesota was not really on the national radar coming into the season, but that quickly changed when fans started to learn the name Kirill Kaprizov. The 23-year-old rookie exploded out of the gate and has not looked back, notching 27 goals and 24 assists on the season and quickly playing himself into the “best player in franchise history” conversation. The budding Russian superstar is truly something special to watch.
There’s been a real changing of the guard for the Wild over the past couple seasons. Out went the likes of Eric Staal, Mikko Koivu, Jason Zucker, Nino Niederreiter, Mikael Granlund, and Devan Dubnyk, and in came Kaprizov, Kevin Fiala, Mats Zuccarello, and Cam Talbot.
General manager Billy Guerin, hired to replace the ousted Paul Fenton in August, 2019, was not responsible for all those moves, but he has made it clear that what players have done in the past no longer guarantees them a spot on the team. Coach Dean Evason has also done a masterful job at pushing buttons and eliminating similar assumptions about playing time, even going so far as to scratch Zach Parise and his $7.5 million cap hit several times this season. Parise very well could be in the press box for most or all of these playoffs.
The Wild also have a solid platoon of goalies in Talbot and Kaapo Kahkonen, who have made the timely saves that so often alluded this team in the past. The Achilles heel for Minnesota is center depth, because there simply is none.
The Wild are remarkably healthy heading into the postseason, though they skittered to a disappointing finish to the regular season after clinching a playoff spot.
Seattle Kraken fans should keep tabs on Talbot, Carson Soucy, Marco Sturm, and Marcus Foligno who will all likely be exposed, as well as longer shots Jordan Greenway and Matt Dumba.
