Secondly, wow, that’s certainly a way to start the off-season, isn’t it, Red Wings fans? Yeah, I’m still processing all this, I’m not going to lie. So, I’m just going to state it here: there are two potential paths for handling the Dylan Larkin trade request.

Trade Dylan Larkin

The obvious path is…trade Larkin. It’s what he wants, afterall. So, to who does he want to be traded to, and to who is the organization willing to send him to? Furthermore, what does Yzerman see as the path forward for the organization?

Where Does Larkin Want To Go?

I don’t know. What, you didn’t expect that answer? Well, it’s the honest one. That being said, we all know that’s an unsatisfying answer, so I’ll make a guess. Since someone in the Discord server already asked me this question, I’ll just copy and paste my answer (with some editing):

• Minnesota to play with Quinn Hughes and they're a playoff team who NEEDS a center. Plus, it’s not that far from Michigan.

• Toronto because that's his childhood team and he may think that they can be competitive again quickly, especially with his arrival. Plus, it’s not that far from Michigan.

• Carolina because their style of hockey fits his perfectly and they're obviously a contender.

The reality is, I don’t know his actual thought process. Is the only thing on his mind going to an immediate contender? Is playing with teammates from Team USA important to him? How important is staying near Michigan to him? Since I don’t know, it’s hard to make any guesses with any amount of certainty. I don’t feel certain in my guesses, I’m just making the best ones I can with the very limited amount of information I have.

Where Does the Organization Want Larkin to Go?

Probably not to where Larkin wants to go…unless he wants to go to Toronto and the Leafs are willing to part with the #1 overall pick. Look, Chayka is an abysmally bad General Manager, but I find it hard to believe he’d make THAT bad of a decision. That being said, if there was any General Manager in the league who would give up a #1 overall pick to compete now with a failed core, it would be Chayka. Also, I want to make clear to all of you who are already typing out responses: I am not saying the trade would be one-for-one, the Red Wings would have to send more than just Larkin. Also, once again, I would be very surprised if this happened. So, keep your whining to yourself, Maple Leafs fans. I see you typing. Now, where does the organization want to send Larkin? San Jose, Seattle, St. Louis, or Utah, likeliest. If the Blackhawks are looking to trade the #4 overall pick, then I’m sure Yzerman would love to dump Larkin there. Unfortunately for him, there is no chance Larkin wants to be in Seattle, St. Louis or Chicago (unless he’s that desperate to be with Bertuzzi and Blashill again). Now, I do think there are small chances he’d be ok with San Jose and Utah, because it’s not unreasonable to think they could be Cup competitive soon. Maybe even as early as next season they could be Cup contenders, depending on what moves they make. But, that’s a small chance Larkin would be ok with that.

To Restart the Rebuild or Persist in the Doomed World Yzerman Has Created?

Basically, the real question is: how divorced from reality is Steve Yzerman? How stubborn is he? We are about to find out. Ok, that’s maybe a bit harsh and also letting Chris Illitch off the hook too much. If Illitch is putting pressure on Yzerman to win soon, that will impact Steve’s decision. If Illitch thinks that taking a step back would impact how much he makes off the team, or at least, puts too much of a dent into his moneymaking, that will change things. Now, I don’t think Illitch cares about this team being successful on the ice. So, I doubt that he’s putting pressure on Yzerman to start winning. That being said, he is a very, very, greedy man. I have no doubt he heard the news about Larkin demanding a trade and his first thoughts were how it would impact his pocketbook. He will have a say in the direction of the team. If he trusts Yzerman still, and Yzerman accepts that this team needs to step back, we’ll see this team step back. If Illitch wants this team to stay in the mushy middle for the sake of his wallet, well, there’s little Yzerman can do. This is a decision that will not solely be Yzerman’s unless Illitch gives him a vote of confidence regardless of direction Steve plans to take.

You Will Not like the Return

Now, something needs to be said: you will not like the return for a Larkin trade. Whatever value you think he’s worth, expect to get less than that in return. Larkin has veto power and is demanding out. Plus, he’s at the end of his prime. Teams will use this against the Red Wings to lower the price they’ll have to pay for him. Just teach yourself now to expect a worse return then you would want. Now, if the Red Wings do get a lot for him, that’s great, just don’t expect it.

I now have a Buy Me A Coffee page for one-time donations if you want to show support for my work but do not want a subscription or cannot afford one.

Don’t Trade Larkin…Yet

This is a surprisingly popular option that fans on social media want. Many think Stevie shouldn’t trade Larkin, at least yet. Whether it’s out of spite, or because the team won’t have enough say on where to trade him, or they want one last go before DeBrincat’s contract is up, many aren’t ready for Larkin to move on yet. So, I will include it here because it is an option. If Yzerman is stubborn enough or Illitch demands it, there is a genuine chance they try one more time with this core and Steve goes out and sells the future to be successful this year. That, or he doesn’t trade Larkin this offseason for another reason: to hold out to try to get a better deal in a trade. Now, one thing that baffles me is that many seem to be under the impression that after this season Larkin’s 10-team trade list kicks in. I’ve seen many claim this. This is not true. It kicks in after the 2027-28 season. So, I would be highly surprised if the organization went down this route.

EDIT: I would be highly surprised if he waited until 2028.

Final Thoughts

Now, what do I want Yzerman to do? You already know. I wrote about this back in April. I said even at the time that I think the team needs to take a step back. This core is not winning anything, it’s time to fully commit to winning around Seider and Raymond, instead of having dual cores. I think it’s time to suck hard for one year at least, bring up all the kids, and get ready to make a serious push for the Cup in 3 or 4 years. It will hurt, and believe me, it’s not ideal, that being said, there are no ideal solutions when you’re stuck in the mushy middle and your #1 center and captain demands a trade out. At that point, you have to do what’s best for the future. Now, if we’re going to talk about what’s best for the future, that has to include firing Yzerman. He has to go. I said in my April article, and I will say it again: I don’t trust Yzerman at all, if this team wants success, they have to move on. If he gets another shot at rebuilding this team, I don’t see success happening. At best, they’re a regular playoff team, but not a serious Cup competitor. Both pro and amateur scouting sucks and Yzerman is incapable of committing to anything and makes too many poor decisions. I don’t see success happening as long as the current scouting groups are around and as long as we have our current front office. Restarting the rebuild but not cleaning house in the scouting departments and front office is just a band-aid on a massive gaping wound. It only does little for the future. If Illitch wants to beat the allegations that he doesn’t care about his teams, it’s time to show it by firing Yzerman now. Let the next General Manager decide what to do with Larkin. But, unfortunately, we all know that won’t happen.

With that being said, what do I think Yzerman will do? You know what I’m about to say: I don’t know. That being said I will make a guess. The thing is, we know Yzerman is stubborn and willing to play with fire. Because of this, I’m going to probably stun some people by saying this, but I do think there is a 60% chance they force Larkin to be a Red Wing this season. I do. I don’t trust Yzerman to make the correct decision. I think there’s a 40% chance Larkin gets traded this offseason, though. I don’t see there as being any chance that the organization waits until Larkin has to submit a list of 10 teams he’s willing to be traded to. Before the start of the 2027-28 season, this saga will be over. The question is: how long is the organization willing to drag this drama out?

The absolute last thing I want to say is this: We have no control and I think many fans are crashing out right now because they know that things are spiraling out of control and none of us know what’s going on or have control. Not only that, but many fans are finally coming to grips that the Yzerplan has failed and don’t know how to handle it. Then there’s also the fact that is one of the lowest points in the history of the franchise. There’s already a lot of strong emotions, and there will be many more strong feelings expressed for quite awhile. Show each other grace, try to keep a cool and calm head when interacting online with other fans. Everyone is feeling strongly about this. Let’s not cause unnecessary strife and division over this, please.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

Since the Stanley Cup Final is about to begin, it’s time for my official prediction on who will win the Cup. This year, I’m taking Carolina in 6. I think waiting over a week between games will have caused a bit of rust for Vegas (which they’ll shake off after game one), and frankly, I think finally having made the Cup Final will have energized Carolina too much. I think this breakthrough for the Canes will result in a Cup win, I think we’ll see them play with a purpose that we haven’t seen before. Plus, I just think they’re the better team.

Also, never done this before, but since the NBA Finals starts just a day later, I’ll make my first-ever NBA Finals prediction: San Antonio in 5.

Now, with all that said, I feel the need to say this to address the elephant in the room regarding Vegas’ star goaltender. I believe E.M., and I will not tolerate any apologia for the Canada Hockey Five. “Not guilty” does not believe “innocent”, and if you try to claim that ruling proves they didn’t do it, I hope you believe the O.J. Simpson court ruling.

The Men’s World Championship is over and Finland has won the gold medal, their third in seven years. Konsta Helenius scored the game-winner halfway through the first overtime period, in a 1-0 win over Switzerland. This is the fifth-straight loss in gold medal game appearances for the Swiss, a streak that goes back to 2013. Meanwhile, in the bronze medal game, history happened. For the first time ever, Norway won a medal in a top-division tournament. That’s for men’s, women’s, and juniors. They beat Canada in overtime, 3-2. The game-winner was scored by Noah Steen in a 2-on-1 against Jet Greaves, Canada’s starting goaltender.

Max Domi of the Toronto Maple Leafs is not okay. It was reported by Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun that Max Domi got back surgery and it wasn’t by the surgeon recommended to him by the organization. He went to someone of his own choosing (which isn’t unheard of). Unfortunately, the surgery went wrong and he was unable to walk even several days after the surgery. It is unknown how he is doing now. Obviously, this is a horrifying story and we can only hope for the best for Domi in this situation. This is bigger than hockey. No one deserves to have a surgery go wrong like that.

Claude Lemieux has committed suicide at the age of 60. He was a four-time Stanley Cup champion and the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 1995. Obviously this is a huge loss for his family, friends, and the hockey community in general. Hate him or love him, he left his mark on the game. You can’t talk about the NHL in the 90s without bringing him up. Something must be talked about regarding his death, and that is that this is almost certainly because of CTE, something the NHL denies the existence of. Look at this tweet by NHL Review and the players who died due to CTE. Now, putting Lemieux is a bit premature as we don’t know for certain yet that it was CTE. That being said, I think we all know it likely was. Probert doesn’t belong on this list due to having died of a heart attack, though he did have CTE. Chris Simon’s suicide and diagnosis of CTE were stories I covered here on Prism Hockey.

It is unfortunate that among all the activism that us on the left do to change hockey, CTE is neglected. The health and well-being of players should be as much of a priority for the left as all the other issues we regularly discuss in hockey. If it doesn’t anger you greatly that the NHL denies CTE and does nothing to protect their players: fix your heart. Athlete safety matters. These players deserve to live long lives without head trauma. It’s past time that fans rose up over this and never let the NHL live this down like we do with the Canada Hockey Five. The NHL is killing its players through negligence. This should be a massive scandal.

I hope Liiga lawyers are paying attention. There’s a new ECHL team, the Augusta Lynx, who will begin play in the 2027-28 season. This is the second iteration of the Lynx. The first iteration, which also played in Augusta, existed from 1998-2008. The original team used light blue, black, and silver as their color scheme. This one uses green, yellow, and black as their new color scheme. The reason for this is to serve as a nod to the PGA Master’s Tournament that is held in Augusta every year. Now, this is also the reason I jokingly said Liiga lawyers should be paying attention because they have a club, Tampereen Ilves, often just known as Ilves. The word “Ilves” is Finnish for “lynx”. Their color scheme? Green, yellow, and black. Anyway, here’s the new branding for the Augusta Lynx:

Is there any surprise that Declan Farmer won the USA Hockey Disabled Athlete of the Year Award for this year? He is quite simply, the greatest to ever do it. He is the Wayne Gretzky of sled hockey. Or, maybe, Wayne Gretzky was the Declan Farmer of men’s ice hockey. Anyway, he led the USA to gold medals in the Paralympics, International Para Hockey Cup (IPH Cup), and World Para Ice Hockey Championships (WPIHC) this season. This was the fifth-straight Paralympic hockey gold medal for the USA, third-straight gold medal in the IPH Cup, and the USA’s first win in the WPIHC since 2023. In the Paralympics, Farmer set the for both goals and total points for a single Paralympics tournament with 15 and 26, respectively.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

Here are my picks for who would receive what NHL award if I got to pick whoever I want:

• Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award: Kyle Dubas, Pittsburgh Penguins

• Hart Memorial Trophy: Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche

• James Norris Memorial Trophy: Moritz Seider, Detroit Red Wings

• Frank J. Selke Trophy: Nick Suzuki, Montreal Canadiens

• Calder Memorial Trophy: Matthew Schaefer, New York Islanders

• Jack Adams Award: Lindy Ruff, Buffalo Sabres

• Vezina Trophy: Logan Thompson, Washington Capitals

So, there are supposedly going to be “Hometown Remix” jerseys next season in the NHL, and we may have some leaks. Check out this tweet by NHL News:

I’ve been trained in graphic design, so believe me, I have opinions. The first thing is: there’s nothing about this I love, but I do like the Panthers jersey, even if I’m not in love with it. It’s actually unique for hockey. Why I can’t bring myself to quite love it, I don’t know. I think it’s because I don’t think it has quite enough color contrast. Even the “light” colors are still pretty dark. But, I like what they’re going for. The Islanders jersey is awful, they’ve never had a good logo and I’m tired of pretending as if they’ve ever had one. I do love the color scheme, though. Now,, I’m not going to comment on every team’s main color because that would be too long, so here’s just a few ones I really have strong opinions on:

• Ducks: I’m extremely curious to see what they’re going to do with green as the main color scheme. Best way to put it is: cautiously optimistic.

• Bruins: I am so here for the brown, mainly because it reminds me of the Hershey Bears in the American Hockey League, and I love the Bears jerseys and logo.

• Blachawks: What the hell?

• Kings: We need the Kings to go back to purple, so I approve.

• Blues: No.

• Maple Leafs: Look, I love beige and wish teams would use it, especially for away jerseys. That being said, for the Maple Leafs? I’m going to have to be convinced on this.

So, the Vegas Golden Knights refused to talk to the media and got punished severely. I’m not sure why there’s any surprise over this. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: every single thing about this league is about lawsuit negation. They’re more scared about what media outlets will do if they don’t force Tortorella to speak to the press than if they don’t severely punish covering up sexual assault for a decade. I need you to understand that. There’s more of a risk of media outlets taking action for not getting player quotes than if they don’t punish crimes. That’s why we’re here. Hockey culture is broken, but Bettman isn’t the final boss of anti-wokeness as people make him out to be. I’m sure he’s a total conservative loser who would still be awful if they weren’t concerned about legal action. That being said, the current legal system is a bigger part to blame in all this than many on the left are willing to accept. It’s made an already horrible situation far worse. You can get rid of Bettman and put in someone “better”, but things will only improve somewhat. It’s not just him. There’s all of the rest of hockey culture, the right-wing colonizer culture outside hockey, and our broken legal system. He’s just the most obvious face of the many problems. Hockey culture is just a symptom of the problem, not the root cause of anything. It would not be the way it is if the rest of the culture wasn’t right-wing colonizer centered. If you want teams to be punished harsher for covering up crimes than not speaking to the media, it’s going to take a lot of work from many different angles. All of culture, economics, and our legal system will have to change. There is no magic light switch to turn on and off to change things. Everything will be done through hard work. We’re not likely going to see the fruit of our labor until decades from now. The unfortunate reality is, it’s going to take a very long time, and we’re going to have to be ok with that, and just keep working. Get involved in activism in your local area. Whether it’s tenant unionizing, labor organizing, disability liberation, pro-choice activism, whatever it is you’re passionate about, find a local organization that does activism for it, and get involved. Every small push to the left in some part of our society helps.

Speaking of culture and lawsuits, Rick Westhead wrote a very interesting article earlier this month. Hockey Canada refuses to join an abuse registry unless they’re forced to by the federal government. What do you even say at this point? We live in a society where exploitation of others, whether it’s their labor, the money they spend to be able to live (inflation), or their bodies, is completely acceptable. There are some organizations who are willing to provide athletes this crumb, one protection from exploitation. Understand this, though: even in organizations like Archery Canada which have joined the abuse registry, I’m sure they’re still exploiting their athletes in other ways. Until we take seriously all forms of exploitation and get serious about ending it all, which will require socialism, this is a mere crumb, and many organizations will feel comfortable not providing that one crumb. Exploitation is not seen as something genuinely evil and as something that seriously needs addressed. It’s seen as “just the way things go”. Until this mindset changes, nothing meaningful will change. That being said, screw you Hockey Canada for not providing even this one small crumb of protection.

This reminds me greatly of the Seattle Kraken when they decided to fire Dave Hakstol. I said it at the time: the problem wasn’t Hakstol. I’m going to say it here as well: the problem wasn’t Knoblauch. The Oilers are coming off two consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances, are tired, and none of their issues were fixed in the off-season. I just don’t see how this is on Knoblauch. Bowman is not a good general manager and this is just another poor decision by him. I’m sure the team will rebound next year and they’ll use that as “proof” the problem was Knoblauch when in reality: it was likely just tired legs and not enough improvement.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

The last time I felt this way was when Johnny Gaudreau was killed. Just like with Johnny’s death it feels surreal and didn’t truly hit right away. Like Johnny’s death, it’s too much to handle. Unlike Johnny, I didn’t like Kyle Busch.

Kyle Bush is a very controversial figure in NASCAR for a number of reasons. I’m not going to get into all that, you can do the research yourself if you really care why. I did not like him at all, especially due to being a Brad Keselowski fan (let’s put it this way: they got some beef with each other). That being said, this death still broke my heart. I can only think about his family, friends, and all those in NASCAR who knew him so well. The world is a worse place today, and USian motorsports are irrevocably changed for the worse. This has been a brutal past year for NASCAR, especially with Greg Biffle’s death late last year, and now it just keeps getting worse.

I don’t want to use this as a soap box, that being said, considering how sick he was and the fact that he tried to race through it, and that likely led to his death: I beg you all, please allow your bodies to rest. This is why I’ve stated before that we need to stop praising athletes for trying to perform through injury and illness. Even outside athletics, trying to work through your injury or illness can harm you. Let your body rest, please, and don’t be the next person to die too soon.

Anyway, I don’t have much to say, I just wanted to say something about Busch’s death because it is such a major sports story and considering NASCAR is my second-favorite sport, it hit close to home. Rest in peace, Rowdy. You are deeply missed.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

I’m going to be honest, I tried to write an article about the Columbus Blue Jackets, I really did. Unfortunately, I am far too apathetic about them to finish the article. I’ve tried for a month now to do so and I just cannot. I fundamentally do not care enough at this point to write entire articles about that team. So, I’m just going to discuss their off-season moves so far here. I already finished my section on Bowness, so I’ll copy and paste it from my draft article:

Rick Bowness coming back as head coach. I’m going to be honest, this doesn’t do anything for me. I do think he’s a good head coach and already one of the best head coaches in franchise history. Now mind you, that’s not as much of a praise of him as it’s a condemnation of most coaches prior. He is good, but I don’t think he’s the savior many fans make him out to be. I think the Bowness hype train is too much, and let’s be real, a lot of it is a celebration of his reactionary end-of-season “They don’t care” quote. Yes, it was reactionary, and I loved the quote at first. It was someone being openly as frustrated with the team as I was. Then I calmed down, and listened to some critiques and realized that he was just an old man desperate for a paycheck next season trying to find the magic words that would get Waddell to re-sign him. Whatever. I don’t care that he’s back. Considering that he’s better than most options out there, even if not ideal, I’m ok with it, just not thrilled with it.

Now, I will state my piece on Charlie Coyle getting signed for a…*checks notes*…six year deal. He’s 34-years-old and signed for six years. I’m sorry, but this feels like a desperation move. This doesn’t make me feel good about the team at all, especially realizing that the other players signed to long-term deals are:

• Conor Garland

• Damon Severson

• Ivan Provorov

• Mathieu Olivier

I’m going to be very real with you all: this doesn’t seem like a good plan to me. We have players like Kirill Marchenko and Adam Fantilli who are not signed to long-term contracts, but Olivier is? Even Kent Johnson, who I believe can be a legitimate contributor to the team, but has been woefully mismanaged, has doesn’t have one. To be fair, that’s probably because he’s been so poorly managed by the coaching staff. Every coach seems determined to ruin him and I don’t get it. Anyway, this team signing a third-liner near the end of his career but not your young stars to long-term contracts is very poor team building. I feel little confidence in the direction of this team right now. Charlie Coyle is a good player, I’m glad he’s sticking around, but I’m not sure if I’m ok with that price, especially considering who else this team is keeping around for the long-haul.

Unfortunately, Mitchell Miller discourse has hit social media again. I’ve written about him before and I have no interest in going over again why he’s a terrible human being. You can read my article about him from 2022.

Anyway, so one loser on Twitter who has a good amount of followers, including mutuals, had this to say:

This is a bad take. The NHL would not care if he and his father apologized. There are two reasons why he’s not the NHL right now. The first is that it’s a PR hit that no team at this moment is willing to take. Vegas was willing to take the hit on Carter Hart because a judge decided he was “not guilty”. Miller doesn’t have that excuse. He literally admitted in court that he committed a crime. Then, when one team decided to take the PR hit, it blew up BADLY in their face. Way worse than Carter Hart. This brings me to the second reason why it’s a bad take, and it’s a take posted by a mutual of mine, The Professor:

This is it. Well, it’s not the only reason, but I do think his and the Bruins revolt is the biggest reason why he’s not in the NHL. He is the one case where even the players were not willing to overlook character issues. NHL management absolutely remembers this every time they hear the name “Mitchell Miller”. The only way he gets signed is if some General Manager is 100% convinced that his locker room won’t revolt. They’ll take the hit from the fans, but not the locker room.

Some very interesting news came out a week ago about Cutter Gauthier. Here’s what PuckEmpire reported:

Almost everyone in the comments is praising Cutter. I’m not going to. This isn’t something to be praised. We need to stop pretending as if it’s a good thing that athletes sacrifice their health and safety to perform. Yes, there’s always a risk of something bad happening when you do athletics, but there’s a difference between taking a reasonable risk and an unreasonable risk. This is miles over the “unreasonable risk” line. You’re not brave or a hero for taking this kind of risk, you’re reckless. I think your family and friends would prefer you to not be paralyzed for life if you got hit in the spine during a game. Furthermore, the fact that doctors and the organization allowed him to play in this state shows negligence. They do not care about the safety of these athletes at all. They’re just talking and skating ATMs. That’s all they are. Stop praising athletes for taking such irresponsible actions and start demanding organizations and doctors to forbid athletes from taking them.

I have another article coming out tomorrow. It will be my first “Off the Ice” article since 2023. “Off the Ice” articles are where I discuss sports stories that have nothing to do with hockey but I still feel like there’s something I need to say. Be on the lookout for that.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

Well, this article is coming out later than I wanted. I wanted this to come out before Walter Cup Finals game one, but unfortunately, my offline life got in the way and I struggled to find much writing time. So, we’ll start with the Walter Cup Finals. Game one was last night (as of writing) and what a great start to the series for us neutral fans (and Victoire fans like Ollie Shane). What a roller coaster of emotions that last fifteen or so seconds of regulation where. First, Laura Stacey of the Victoire got injured, then the Victoire forced overtime with just 2.1 seconds left to go in regulation. What more could you want from a game one of a Finals series if you’re anything other than a Charge fan? I know I’m fully locked in now. Speaking of locking in, in my pre-season prediction article, I predicted that the Victoire would be the top-ranked team of the regular season and win the championship. Even before last night’s game started I locked in my prediction, holding strong with my belief that this is the Victoire’s year. Quick note: If you do look at my predictions article, please just ignore my prediction for where the Charge would land in the standings. It’s best if we all collectively forget that I expected them to suck hard.

Next, let’s discuss PWHL expansion. I’m going to be honest everyone: I’m getting really concerned about the direction of this league. This expansion feels poorly thought out. Detroit makes sense, it’s Hockeytown, afterall. It’s one of the strongest hockey markets in the nation. Frankly, I’m surprised they don’t already have a team. Hamilton and Las Vegas though? Those are certainly choices. Look, Vegas was always going to get a team at some point solely because it’s the gambling capital. Now, that shouldn’t be the reason why they get a team (I firmly believe all forms of gambling should be illegal), but that’s just reality, unfortunately. This early into the league’s expansion history though feels a bit like a stretch, though. That alone was not enough to concern me. What made me concerned was seeing that announced alongside Vegas. These two together feel like a “The cities we actually wanted we couldn’t get deals done with in time for next season, so let’s rush and find anywhere else” type of thing to me. That’s the only thing that makes sense to me seeing those two names. Hamilton is…*quickly brings up Google Maps*…42 miles from Toronto, who already has a team. Putting a team so close to Toronto just does not feel like the wisest choice. Even Montreal and Ottawa are at least over 100 miles apart from each other. Not saying Hamilton doesn’t deserve a team ever, I know they have a CFL team that lives alongside a Toronto one. Here in the states, we have Washington D.C. and Baltimore, who both have teams just 40 miles away from each other in the MLB and NFL. My main disagreement is two teams this close to each this early in the league’s life. Personally, I think this feels very rushed and there were better choices to go with. I’d rather them held off a year or two then do this which feels poorly thought out. I’ll finish this thought but saying there’s a really good thread on Threads that puts it all nicely and I encourage you all to read it. I’ll just hyperlink it here.

The absolute last thing I’ll say, though, is that if your concern is that the talent pool is being spread too thin: stop. This is not a legitimate concern in the least. The league could expand to 16 teams and I’d only then just start, and I mean, just start, getting concerned. There’s what? About 230 players who declared for the draft and a bunch of players who should be active on a roster sitting on Reserve Player Lists? The talent pool is fine, it’s a nonsensical concern.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, my offline life is a bit chaotic, so this article is now coming out even after game two of the Walter Cup Finals. For the sake of my family’s privacy, I will not go into details about what’s going on, I just ask for your thoughts and prayers for my family right now. Anyway, yeah, the Victoire are now up 2–0 in the series and look poised to clinch the Cup tonight.

Let’s move on to do a favorite past time of every NHL fan: complain about the NHL Department of Player Safety. Ridly Greig got suspended for two games for blind sucker punching Hurricanes defenseman Sean Walker. Two games for blind sucker punches. I don’t even know what to say at this point. The DPoS very clearly exists for one reason at this point: as protection against lawsuits. If it didn’t exist, the league would get sued for not protecting their players, so they decided to do the literal bare minimum to not get sued. They have no interest in protecting players, they want games to be violent, they just don’t want lawsuits. Once you see all their decisions as lawsuit management, everything begins to make sense. The NHL has zero regard for their players, they’re just ATMs who can skate for league ownership. Players are easily disposable, the only thing that matters at all is that team owners and Bettman stay filthy rich.

Here’s two stories I meant to cover awhile ago but haven’t yet:

• Two youth hockey players in Nova Scotia were charged as part of a sexual assault investigation. One was charged with Sexual Assault with a Weapon and Sexual Assault (two counts). The other was charged with Sexual Assault with a Weapon, Sexual Assault (two counts), and Assault with a Weapon. Two other youth players had their charges dropped. Police believe that there may be other victims that they don’t know of yet. The investigation began in January after an alleged victim reported being sexually assaulted as part of a hazing incident during a private team gathering in October of last year. There were witnesses and seemingly, other crimes were committed at other locations by the perpetrators.

• The Swiss Ice Hockey Federation fired their men’s national team head coach Patrick Fischer last month. The reason for this is that it was discovered by national public broadcaster, SRF, that he used a forged COVID vaccination certificate to go to the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. He had this to say about the forged documents: “I’m very sorry if I’ve disappointed people with this situation. I was in an extraordinary personal crisis because I didn’t want to be vaccinated. At the same time I certainly didn’t want to let my team down at the Olympic Games.” He was one of the most successful coaches the nation ever had, having led the team to three Olympics and two silver medals at the World Championships since taking over in 2015.

I have other stories I need to cover, but considering you all have waited more than a week between articles, I’m releasing this as is. If things calm down in my offline life enough for me to get work done this week, expect at least two more articles. I have a LOT I want to discuss. I am genuinely sorry for the gap between articles the last two months, unfortunately, there’s just nothing that could be done about that. Too many things going on offline in my life right now that I and my family have to deal with.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

Now, I know people also rebutted me by saying to go with the Gold Plan. I want to make it clear: If the Gold Plan has million haters, then I'm one of them. If the Gold Plan has one hater, then I'm that one. If the Gold Plan has no haters, that means I'm dead. It’s needlessly complicated and does nothing but punish bad teams for being bad. And no, sometimes teams are bad naturally, and not because they’re tanking. Even if they are tanking, who cares? If you actually do care, you need help. People who are actively anti-tanking are weird to me and I want you to keep your weird opinions to yourself or I will lose a lot of respect for you. Being anti-tanking leads you to becoming Adam Silver, the current commissioner of the NBA, who is dead set on ruining the sport. Don’t be an Adam Silver, don’t be anti-tanking. What I’m saying is: don’t be weird. I hate the idea that tanking is inherently bad and I hate the idea bad teams should be punished for being bad. I hate the Gold Plan so much it makes it hard for me to fully embrace the PWHL. It really does make leagues more unenjoyable for me. I genuinely hate it that much. I am the Gold Plan’s biggest hater and I want that to be known and is what I hope I’m remembered for. (Ok, maybe that’s not what I want to be remembered for.)

Now, what should be done is abolishing the Draft in general. The reason for this is that it’s anti-worker for the Draft to exist. Entry-level contracts are anti-worker, Restricted Free Agency is anti-worker, and a team telling you “you play for us now, no, you don’t get a say”, is anti-worker. In no other workplace would something like this be considered acceptable, but because they’re athletes, they have to put up with it? Athletic employment shouldn’t be considered some whole other realm of labor. It’s labor, just like your 9 to 5 or retail job, just you do athletics instead of stocking shelves. Their labor should be treated like other jobs. When you go into retail, there’s no draft to decide if you’re working at the local Kroger, Walmart, Target, Meijer, or Fresh Thyme. You apply for the job. It should be the same for athletes. It is ridiculous that it’s done this way.

I also want to say that I’m sorry for not coming to this conclusion earlier and it took people calling me out on social media to come around to this. I should’ve been on this side already as a Marxist. My deepest apologies.

I’m not going to go too much in-depth on this because everytime I try to write this section and go in-depth, I can’t help but say things I shouldn’t. So, I’m just going to state my piece and leave it at that. It’s time to stop allowing votes on the Norris Trophy. It’s clear at this point that it’s basically just a “Best 4th Forward” award. Now, some people, namely Oilers fans, pushed back on this with “What about Bouchard?” Fair question. So, I will amend my previous statement with “Best 4th Forward with name recognition” and sometimes, “Best 4th Forward who’s turn it is to win this award”. I think voting should leave this conversation entirely and I don’t think creating a “Lidström Award” would solve any problems. It would just eventually turn into a second Norris Trophy, a lesser Norris Trophy, even. The problem isn’t the award or its definition, but the voters. The voters place zero value on defense. If you do a “Lidström Award”, the Norris would continue to be a “Best 4th Forward” award while the Lidström would become the “It’s Their Turn” award. I’m telling that’s exactly what will happen because hockey media is predictable. Just end the charade, stop pretending defense matters for the Norris. Just give the award to whatever defenseman gets the most points in the regular season.

I want to end this article by bragging that a tweet of mine got used in an actual hockey promotion. It’s second from the bottom in the center.

So glad Detroit finally got a team. Considering how big hockey is there, I’m stunned it took this long, really thought it would have been in the last expansion wave, but at least this team finally exists. I now have a PWHL team to cheer for and have my mental health further obliterated by. I may never have lived in Michigan, but I am a Detroit sports fangirl through and through. Yes, I will be rooting for the Detroit WNBA team as well when they finally arrive (right now I’m an Indiana Fever fan due to living in Indiana, and yes, I supported them before Caitlin Clark). Anyway, I’m rambling on at this point. Go PWHL Detroit and thank you for FINALLY giving the Hockeytown a team.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

Here I was thinking that I was going to get to spend today finishing off my Columbus Blue Jackets article. Instead, I am going on a diversion to discuss Ben Johnson yet again. I have written about him on here three times before [1] [2] [3] and I hope and pray this is the last time I will have to do so. Somehow, I doubt it.

So, what is this convicted rapists new scheme to be around hockey? Going to NHL arenas during the playoffs and preaching the gospel there. Yep. His goal is to “make Heaven crowded” (he even has a hat for that message) and to “revive the hockey culture”. Considering what he did as a hockey player, I can only take this as a threat. I don’t know what to say at this point. If the NHL cared even one bit about the safety of their fans, they’d ban him from all arenas. Finding Jesus after getting a slap on the wrist legally after raping someone doesn’t absolve you of your actions. You aren’t entitled to getting a platform, to getting to be a celebrity. This man has no humility and is entitled. I do not believe at all that he’s changed. He’s just letting out his entitlement in a different way than sexual conquest now.

This next story is one I am very late to and only happened upon because the Threads algorithm thankfully showed me a post by Double Hockey Stix. On a sidenote, you should go and support DHX financially with a purchase from the store, or help someone else out through mutual aid as boosted by DHX. They are doing great work and are even more plugged in to the latest hockey culture news than I am. There’s been a few stories, including this I only found out about because of them. Go support them, they’re invaluable to hockey fandom and the fight to better the culture around this sport.

Anyway, so this story is about Evander Kane, again. Another guy I’m tired of writing about and the cause for my one Twitter ban. He has once again been accused of rape, this time from his time with the Oilers. I don’t know what to say at this point. Allegations don’t ruin men’s lives, only the victim’s, regardless of gender. I’m convinced that there are no allegations at this point that could keep him out of the NHL outside murder or assaulting a cop. Doesn’t matter how credible the allegations are, teams are lining up to sign him and fans will defend him. I’ve got nothing at this point. Hockey is diseased.

The NHL is continuing to worship oppressors. This time, it’s military worship. Of course, them worshiping the troops isn’t surprising, especially considering that they play the USian and/or Canadian anthem before every game. It’s still a problem, though, and it needs to be addressed. What also needs to be addressed is that they had the audacity to do their military worship on their NHL Unites Instagram account. Here’s the post if you want to see it for yourself. They have partnered with ForgiveCo to wipe out over a million in debt for US troops. This is genuinely vile. This is a blatant and unabashed support of imperialism. Each and every person who is in the military, creates weapons, drones, etc. for the military is complicit in imperialism. The US hasn’t fought a defensive war since World War 2, when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Even then, Pearl Harbor shouldn’t have been attacked because the US shouldn’t have been there. They were only there because of imperialism and deciding that they had the right to control Hawaii. Even then, we only entered WW2 because Japan attacked a military base in a wrongfully occupied country. We did it to protect our empire. Every war since then, though, has been openly and unabashedly imperialist and offensive. There is no way to be neutral on this. If you support the troops, you support imperialism. You support overthrowing governments so that imperialist powers can control everything. You support bombing innocent people, you support wars that exist solely to protect the Petrodollar. There is no way to separate the military from imperialism. And yes, that goes for Canada as well. They are a part of the imperialist order as well.

Furthermore, as stated earlier, the NHL did this on their NHL Unites account. The account devoted to “Hockey is for everyone”. Apparently, hockey isn’t for brown people. Apparently, hockey isn’t for those who live outside the imperial core. Apparently, hockey isn’t for victims of imperialism. You cannot claim to be inclusive while promoting and celebrating imperialism. I would say the NHL needs to choose one, but they already have. “Hockey is for everyone” is an absolute joke that none of the organizations promoting actually believe. It’s empty sloganeering that seeks to sportswash their support for the shedding of innocent blood and silencing rape victims. It’s absolutely vile and we need to stop pretending as if that slogan is anything but.

Quick note before we go: I plan tomorrow to livestream myself writing the Columbus Blue Jackets on article over on Kick and Twitch, probably starting sometime between 9 and 9:30 am EDT. I won’t have the mic on, but will be glad to talk to you in chat, whether it’s about the article, hockey in general, life, whatever.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

I have been sitting here unsure of what to say. Everytime I try to put my thoughts down, it quickly turns angry, and the article becomes a rageful manifesto. So, I will try again. This was the most disappointing and angering season yet for the Red Wings. I have never felt more apathetic or rageful about the direction of this team. I’m clinging on to my last vestiges of emotion, but I know if next season starts off slow, I will be fully in apathy mode. I will not care even one bit about the team. I never thought that I would ever say that before. But, then again, what Detroit team hasn’t put me in that spot yet except for the Red Wings? (Well, ok, the Tigers haven’t, but that’s because I don’t follow baseball, I just very casually root for their success.) Even my first love, the Detroit Pistons, made me apathetic just two seasons ago because I was so depressed at how they were wasting Cade Cunningham. The Lions made me apathetic when they hired Matt Patricia. I knew that hire would be a disaster and just couldn’t bring myself to care about the team any longer. I’m now almost to that breaking point with the Red Wings.

For the last few years, I have regularly been called a “reactionary” by a large portion of the fanbase. First, it was because I called for Derek Lalonde to be fired. A month later, he was. But, when I first released that article, some fans were angry with me and said the call was premature. Then, I started criticizing Yzerman [1] [2] (without calling for him to be fired) and that was unacceptable for many fans. You’re not allowed to criticize the Yzerman. I have not been popular in the Red Wings fanbase for some time now. What I say in this article will not be popular among Red Wings fans, but let’s be real: very few are reading my articles at this point. That’s beside the point, though. What I want to say is: I don’t know where you go from here. There are no good answers. This team is stuck, the timeline simply does not work, and what will be likeliest to ensure long-term success is a bitter pill to swallow.

For the first few drafts of this article, I went into the weeds of analytics and critiques of individual players and their performances. But honestly, who cares? Genuinely, who cares at this point? Every fan knows how every player played this past season, the diehards and terminally online know all the analytics, what’s the point? It’s just words for the sake of padding out this article when frankly, analytics and individual performance critiques don’t add much to this conversation. Do I really need to break down why Travis Hamonic sucks? Is anyone really interested in someone writing about why Michael Rasmussen is bad? How about how J.T. Compher needs to not be on this team anymore? Does anyone actually want to hear all this relitigated for thousandth time? What would I be adding to the conversation? It’d just be dogpiling at this point. Pointless calling out of players that everyone knows are bad and people have pointed out time and time again. There’s no new ground to tread here. Anything at all I say would well-trod ground. It’s all obvious at this point, it’s like saying “The Pope is Catholic”. Wow, John Gibson got played too much at the end of the season? NO! What a shocker! It’s not like every single fan said this many times over. Actually, I do want to discuss that, but not Gibson himself. I want to discuss that from a different angle, but we’ll get there. So, I don’t want to break down this season and how it went. Let’s be real, at this point we all just want to forget this past season. What I want to focus on is the future and what must be done to get the Yzerplan back on track because unfortunately, there is zero danger to his job security. Actually none.

Let me expand on that last point, especially since I know most of those reading this article won’t be Red Wings fans: Yzerman will not be fired. His job is completely secure. Fans could spend every game chanting “Fire Yzerman” and throwing jerseys on the ice, but as long as the organization keeps making more money than the year before (and the Red Wings keep doing that), nothing will change. Owner Chris Illitch will just say, “That’s a shame” while counting his fat stacks of cash. Whether I or other fans believe Yzerman should be fired or not is irrelevant (though, I do believe he should be fired). It’s not happening. There is no avenue for fans to be heard other than withholding their money from the organization. Problem is for me: I already don’t give the Red Wings any money at all, so, all I can do is whine on social media and write articles like this. News flash: the Red Wings don’t care about my social media posts or newsletter articles. Also, let’s be real: fans aren’t going to start withholding money solely for the purpose of getting Yzerman fired. That’s not happening. So, we are left with hoping that Yzerman figures it out and the Yzerplan delivers a Cup to Detroit.

I now have a Buy Me A Coffee page for one-time donations if you want to show support for my work but do not want a subscription or cannot afford one.

So, how does the Yzerplan get back on track? Until Saturday night: I was convinced it wasn’t going to. But now, I’m rethinking my previous stance. Now, what I think Yzerman will do is a bad idea, but I get why he’s likely to do it. Anyway, so what was my previous stance? That he was going to mostly stay put. The reason for this is because I assumed he would argue that because except for the 2024–25 season, every year the team has gotten more points than the last. This team finished with more points than any team prior in this rebuild, even the one that nearly made the playoffs in 2023–24. So, because this team is improving, even if it’s frustratingly slow, it’s proof the team is on the right track. That’s what I thought his plan was and what his argument for it would be. Now, though, I’m not so sure. I want to make clear: what I’m about to write is likely industrial-grade copium. This is probably the ravings of a woman pushed to the limits of her patience and just wishcasting, like when I predicted this team would make the playoffs. So I want to make clear: I am probably wrong in what I’m about to say. I’m going to say it anyway because I hope I’m right. I want to be right. I want the Red Wings to get out of the mushy middle so I will gladly convince myself that Yzerman has something good cooking. The reason for my copium is this: every prospect with a pulse (minus Plante and Bear) is now in Grand Rapids. All of them were signed after their seasons were done. My high on copium take is that they’re doing this to showcase the prospects to bundle them off to heavily improve the team via trade this off-season. The reality is: this year is the last chance for this core, it has to be. If you’re not trying to go all in this off-season, just step back, retool, or rebuild. DeBrincat will be gone after this year, even if Kane comes back his production is declining and he’s old, this is probably the last year of Larkin’s prime. This is the last shot of this core. The problem is, if you’re selling prospects, especially top prospects, with three of your top-six players being at the end of their primes or past their prime, your Cup contention window becomes very, very, short. We’re talking 2–3 years and I may be stretching it with three years. It’s not a good strategy, in my view. You’re getting two shots at a Cup and then many years of painful rebuild right after coming off a painful rebuild. But, if you win the Cup in that time, does it matter all that much? I don’t know, I might just be making stuff up because I want to see Yzerman actually commit to a timeline for once. While I don’t think doing this is a good idea, I do think it’s better than staying the course. That is a strategy that has demonstrably not worked and will not work, especially when you considering Cat’s contract along with Kane and Larkin’s ages. Detroit doesn’t have legitimate replacements ready for any of them. You have to go all in or take a step back.

While taking a step back and selling Cat and Larkin is my preferred option, it comes with a few problems.

1. This team has been bad to mediocre for a long time. It’s a very tough pill to swallow that the team is going to be bad again for a few years. I don’t like that, none of that sounds even remotely fun.

2. Larkin has a No Trade Clause.

3. As we learned from the first rebuild, the draft lottery can be a cruel mistress.

4. I don’t trust this organization’s junior scouting. I know that fans regularly claim that Detroit’s pro scouting is terrible but junior scouting is great. I reject that claim firmly. Detroit’s pro scouting is abysmal and every scout should be fired while their junior scouting is bad and only looks good because of one man: Håkan Andersson. I don’t trust that this team can build through the draft or through free agency or through trade. It’s not even just us losers on Substack that no one pays attention to anymore. It’s respected fans who are famous for their strong coverage of prospects and knowledge of the sport saying that drafting has been poor. The entire scouting department needs an overhaul. Otherwise, another rebuild or retool will go nowhere.

Even with all those problems, I do think it is the best option, even if it’s painful. This team does not have enough contributors or stars to go anywhere. There are no Larkin, Cat, or Kane replacements in the system. Detroit doesn’t have other prospects who can provide the needed support for such replacements if they had them in the first place. At this point, I think you have to hope that this time, even if it’s just once, that Lady Luck shines upon you in the draft lottery and you get a top-three pick. I just don’t see how you proceed on the current trajectory and I don’t think going all in for a 2–3 year Cup window is wise.

Before we end this article, I want to circle back to one thing I mentioned earlier. Something that has deeply harmed this rebuild. That thing is goaltending. I think it says a lot that this organization has so little trust in Cossa that they didn’t call him up when they didn’t trust Talbot while Gibson was playing every night, including back-to-backs. That can’t happen. If you’re trading up to draft a goaltender at fifteenth overall and don’t even take the consensus top pick, you HAVE to nail that pick. Look, I don’t care that they took Cossa over Wallstedt. What I care about is that they lost the gamble. You simply cannot afford to lose that gamble and they did. Steve Yzerman has made two major gambles in this rebuild: accelerating the rebuild in Bedard’s draft year and taking Cossa over Wallstedt. He has definitively lost both gambles. That is unacceptable. In my opinion, that’s a fireable offense. Those two decisions are in my mind the two biggest things holding back this rebuild. If even one of those gambles worked out, this team is in the playoffs right now. But, he lost both and this team, at least for now, is stuck in the mud for the forseeable future. And no, Trey Augustine is not the answer. I’m sorry, but for now, the most realistic outcome, if he makes the NHL, is to be a 1B goalie in a goaltending tandem. I hope I’m wrong, though, but I do feel that he’s been overhyped by Red Wings fans. He’s good, but he’s not a savior. He doesn’t make up for not drafting Wallstedt. And I want to make clear: I’m not declaring Cossa to be a bust. He will probably be in the NHL and will probably have a long NHL career. He simply won’t be a star, or at least, a franchise-level goaltender like this team needed him to be. His ceiling is being a 1A goaltender. That’s a result that cannot be deemed acceptable after trading up to get him at 15th overall over Wallstedt.

At the end of the day, this team is stuck. There are no good answers on how to proceed from here. The only answer I know is unacceptable is to keep doing what you’ve been doing, because that is clearly not working. Whether you want to see the Wings try to kick open a short Cup window or are willing to buckle up for a step back, I get it. I get both sides of the argument. While I lean more to stepping back, I can’t argue with those who want to sell every prospect with a pulse to win now. The fanbase is tired and done with mediocrity. It’s completely understandable. I just hope Yzerman chooses one of those two routes this off-season and is willing to live with the consequences.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

One of these stories I already wrote about over a week ago, and that’s Jason Robertson wearing a “Blue Lives Matter” jersey. I am bringing it up again because about a week later, the New York Islanders decided to up the ante. So, if you don’t know what happened, the New York Islanders put up on their jumbotron a fundraiser for a convicted cop named Erik Duran. Why Duran was convicted was for killing a man they set up an undercover sting operation for: Eric Duprey. During the operation, Duprey tried to flee on an electric scooter, so Duran picked up a cooler and threw it at him. This caused the scooter to go out of control, hit a tree, and Duprey was killed. He was sentenced for “three to nine years” in prison. To a normal human being, you’d come away with the conclusion that the cop got off lightly. To conservatives who worship modern-day slave catchers that we call the “police”, it’s persecution.

Conservatives and slave catcher unions are very upset over this court ruling. They believe that slave catchers have the right to kill criminals for the sake of killing criminals, because apparently, that makes us “safer”. One slave catcher advocacy group, the Sergeants Benevolent Association of the NYPD, gained approval from Islanders owner Jon Ledecky to put up a QR code on the jumbotron seeking funds to advocate for Duran. In fact, Ledecky, NYDP union boss Vallelong, and NY Post executive Pat Judge took a photo together celebrating this. That’s the not the only thing they did: a portion of that game’s raffle is going towards Duran’s legal fund.

None of this comes even close, though, to what New York Rangers owner, James Dolan is doing. He runs his own slave catcher force that patrols the neighborhood of Madison Square Garden. The surveillance state at his owned arenas is horrifyingly extensive. A recent WIRED article went in-depth on how extensive the surveillance state around Madison Square Garden is. The third part tells us one story: how Dolan’s private slave catcher force stalked a trans woman at Knicks games.

I don’t even know what to say at this point. Ownership for all these teams are straight-up fascists and the players, even if not fascist themselves (and I don’t think most are fascist), worship the army of fascists: the police. The NHL is a fascist organization and every team is doing its best to enable fascism and normalize the surveillance state. Where do you even go from here? The people running this sport hate their fans. I’m not just talking about fans that are minorities. They hate all of us. Their little surveillance states (which each and every team owner has, even if not as extensive as Dolan), support for fascists, etc. shows how much they hate the non-1%. They want what’s worse for us. Even if you’re a straight white male, these owners hate you and want what’s worse for you. Sucking up to these owners, or the rich in general, will not save you. It’ll just make you last in line for the boot coming down upon you in full force. Fascism in sports is a reflection of the culture. They couldn’t get away with this if society didn’t tolerate it. If you want an end to this slave catcher worship and normalizing of fascist surveillance states, you have to change the culture, the politics, of the world around sports.

Anyway, as a reminder: I am working on three rather large articles right now, one on the Blue Jackets, another on the Red Wings, and finally, one on being on more draft prospects. So, articles may be a bit slow in release these next few weeks, but be assured, I am hard at work.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

Also, I’m now streaming over on Twitch and Kick from Sunday-Thursday. Sundays and Wednesdays are writing streams, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday are retro gaming. Streams usually start around 10 pm EDT and I’d love to see you there!

The NHL regular season is over, and my two teams have disappointed again. But, this article is not about them. I will be tearing into them later. Today, we predict the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. In my preseason predictions, here’s who I predicted to make the Final:

• Florida Panthers (predicted a three-peat, that Barkov would be back just in time for playoffs and they’d be just good enough to squeeze into playoffs. Once Barkov was back, it’d energize them into the Final.)

• Colorado Avalanche (my predicted loser)

Well, the Panthers did not make the playoffs. They didn’t come even close. I’m not surprised, though. I knew in the article that picking the Panthers to even make the playoffs was a very risky prediction, but hey, if they did pull it off, I’d look great. If they didn’t, well, I’m used to getting playoff predictions wrong. The Avalanche, though, did make the playoffs, and rather easily I may add. So now, without further ado, here are my playoff predictions:

Eastern Conference

Round One

Buffalo vs. Boston: Here are two teams I didn’t think would make the playoffs, and yet, here they are. I’m going to be honest, I don’t know who to pick. The Bruins have playoff experience, but are definitely not as good as the Sabres. On the other hand, this Sabres squad lacks playoff experience, but is really damn good. But, they’re both about as mediocre these last 10 games and the Bruins are on a win streak. So, add to that their playoff experience, I’m going to go out on a limb and predict the Bruins in six. I’m going to be honest though, I have zero confidence in this prediction, I’m just grasping for anything at all to decide who wins it.

Tampa Bay vs. Montreal: Lightning in six. I’m not going into my reasoning, because I have rewritten this section several times over and everytime it gets longer and more in depth of my longstanding beef with the Habs fanbase. So, I’m just leaving it at that.

Carolina vs. Ottawa: Carolina in four. Do I even need to explain this one?

Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia: Oh boy, this will have a lot of hype. I don’t think the reality will live up to the hype, though, and I think we’ll see Pittsburgh win in five games as well. You have the big three playing well, a new exciting core, and this is their last run. If there’s any magic left, they’re going to find it. Meanwhile, Philly is seemingly just exiting their rebuild with a new young inexperienced core. To be honest, I’m not even convinced they’ll win a game, I’m just giving them a win because it’s a rivalry and I don’t want my friend Ollie Shane to have to experience their team getting swept.

Round Two

Buffalo vs. Tampa Bay: The Sabres have been a great feel-good story all year, but the magic runs out here. Talent and experience wins out, Sabres lose in five.

Carolina vs. Pittsburgh: The magic runs out for the Penguins big three, but they end their era putting up a fight. I think the Hurricanes win in six.

Conference Final

Carolina vs. Tampa Bay: Who are we kidding? The Hurricanes are perennial conference final chokers. Until they win a conference final series, I will never pick the Hurricanes to do so. I don’t believe that they have that dawg in them. Congrats on winning a game last year, but this year, business goes back to normal. Tampa sweeps.

Western Conference

Round One

Colorado vs. Los Angeles: Congrats on not facing off against the Oilers for once, Los Angeles! Unfortunately for you, this series will end the same way. Avs win in five. I’m only giving the Kings a win because it’s Kopitar’s last season and I hope his career doesn’t end in a sweep.

Dallas vs. Minnesota: This one is simple. Which team has centers, which team doesn’t? Wallstedt steals a game for the Wild, but the Stars win in five.

Vegas vs. Utah: Look, I like the Mammoth. They were one of my favorite teams to watch this season. They have a lot of players I enjoyed watching and found their blue line to be one of the most enjoyable units to keep an eye on throughout the season. They really don’t get enough love. That being said…Vegas sweeps the Mammoth.

Edmonton vs. Anaheim: The Ducks are young and exciting, and they’re only one point apart in the standings. Unfortunately, that won’t make for a good series. The Ducks are too inconsistent and they have been pretty bad to end the season. The Oilers win in five. I’m being very generous in giving the Ducks a win.

Round Two

Colorado vs. Dallas: The regular-season series between these two was split, and I’m going to be honest, I’m torn on who to choose here. The Stars are just Carolina West. They’ll make the conference final every year only to embarrass themselves upon arrival. Unfortunately for them, this year, they run into Colorado in the second round. This series could go either way, but I’m going to pick Colorado in seven. I’m only doing it because they’re the home team. That’s it. That’s the only reason.

Vegas vs. Edmonton: This is another coin-toss series for me. They’re about the same in the standings and they both have big problems. I’m going to predict my first upset, though. Tortorella coached teams haven’t made a deep run in the playoffs in a very long time. At some point, you have to look at history. Edmonton is coming off a few straight deep playoff runs. I’m picking Edmonton in six.

Conference Final

Colorado vs. Edmonton: Edmonton is knocking on the door of their third-straight Stanley Cup Final appearance…but I don’t think they’ll be able to open that door. Colorado is just too good. I’m taking the Avs in five.

Stanley Cup Final

Colorado vs. Tampa Bay: It’s a rematch of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, and like in 2022, I’m taking the Avs in six. I don’t think Tampa has the juice to win a Final against Colorado, but I do think they’ll put up a fight.

Now remember everyone, if you’re mad at my predictions which are almost never correct (no seriously, I am AWFUL at predicting playoffs), my Twitter handle is @frank_seravalli. So send your hate there.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, and Tumblr.

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Something that bugs me is the hatred of “bandwagon” and “fairweather” fans. Who cares? I’m sorry, but someone needs to be the reality check, and since no one else is doing it, I’ll do it. Sports are entertainment. For us fans, that’s all it is. It’s no different from being a movie fan, or a music fan, etc. It’s just that we built our personalities around athletics instead of a TV show or video game. If watching sports is a chore for you, stop watching (unless it’s your job, like it is mine, of course). I don’t understand this weird pride in sticking with a team through “thick and thin” and looking down on those who don’t. Sports aren’t supposed to be a cult, which is how you’re treating it, when you view sports like that. Life is too short to waste on something that makes you feel miserable, or at least, don’t enjoy, when you don’t have to. Go find something else that you enjoy. Please. That, and stop looking down on others who actually respect their time and themselves by not wasting their free time and money on something they’re not enjoying.

One of my most problematic opinions in hockey is that I am not only a John Tortorella fan, but I am also a Tortorella defender. He is my favorite coach of all-time and his reputation among left-wing hockey fans is deeply unfair to him. Just because he’s harsh doesn’t mean he’s not caring. He does genuinely care about his players. Just because he chews out media or can seem harsh to players in public, doesn’t mean he’s not genuinely caring. What I’m saying is that he’s not the uncaring, unfeeling monster that so many make him out to be.

Fascism abounds around the Dallas Stars franchise. First, we learned about their Nazi fans through a viral video. Then, fans had to pressure them to take any steps before they banned one of the fans. Now, Jason Robertson has been seen going into the arena before a game wearing a jersey supporting modern-day slave catchers, aka, the police. The Stars by their refusal to take action against the Nazi fans, then banning only one of them, and then thinking support slave catchers is awesome, shows who they really are. The Dallas Stars are a fascist organization. This shouldn’t be news, as it should be assumed until proven otherwise, that those in hockey will align themselves with the fascists when push comes to shove. Maybe they aren’t fascist now (though if they’re a higher-up, they probably are), but as our material conditions crumble around us, the fascists are who most of these people will align with. Assume everyone in hockey is some flavor of right-wing unless they’re proven not to be.

I know this will likely be controversial, but I’m going to say it. One thing that’s surprised me the last few years is how many fans these days prioritize a player’s political beliefs over their athletic feats. It’s just rather confusing to me when the point of sports is to be entertained and amazed by athletic feats. This isn’t music where a performer’s personality and worldview are an inherent part of their output. In hockey, political views make no impact on how you skate or shoot.

Now, I’m not saying that you should completely ignore political views. For instance, if a player is a neo-Nazi…screw them. They should never be allowed to live it down. What I’m saying though is that I think a lot of fans, mainly newer ones coming from Stantwt, need to learn that the point of sports is athletics. You’ll be a lot happier if you just accept that almost every player is conservative and to not root for athletes because of who they are as a person, but because of their athleticism. Once again, there’s always going to be and should be red lines somewhere. For instance, if someone is a sex criminal or supports genocide, yeah, that should be their defining trait. I just don’t think that for most players that’s the case. There’s nothing wrong with calling players out for bad political views, but if their political views is your main consideration of whether you like a player or not, you should probably not watch hockey. Sports is a different type of entertainment. We’re here for athleticism and not who they are as a person. I think a lot of newer fans need to understand that and hasn’t been transmitted well to them when they have no sports background and come from fan spaces for musicians or actors, or whatever. Sports fandom is a different type of fandom.

That being said, if you want to help push sports to the left, you will have to push society in general to the left. The best way to do that is by creating class consciousness through labor and tenant unionizing and joining your local Marxist organization. Find your local DSA chapter and join it, or find and then join the closest PSL chapter, or find and then join your local WWP chapter. Personally, I like both the PSL and WWP far more than the DSA, but if the DSA is all that’s in your area, it’s better than nothing. All that to say that this is the only way we’ll ever move society and as a result, sports, to the left. Politics are something you do, something you engage with, not something you passively see happen on the news and then vote on every four years. Politics are hardwork, it’s organizing, it’s talking to and educating people with different political beliefs, and facing down the ruling class. It requires constant education and willing to spend time reading through theory, learning history, unlearning propaganda, among other things. Engaging with politics in a meaningful way is not easy and requires effort. That being said, if living in a better world and having more athletes with good political beliefs is important to you, then you need to be organized and working with other members of the working class to do so. We’re not escaping fascism, we’re not pushing the culture left, without great effort.

Anyway, that’s just been something I’ve been noticing for awhile and decided it’s time to speak out on. I do think a lot of fans put too much of a focus on the political views of players when the point of sports is athletics, not player personalities. Once again, doesn’t mean you can’t call out harmful beliefs. I have and I will continue to do so here and on social media. I also just don’t think it’s productive to prioritize player’s political beliefs, unless they’re truly unconscionable, especially considering the bubble they live in and their financial privilege. Us calling them out will have little to no effect whereas doing so for a singer will likely do so. Because they’re in fundamentally two different types of fields. For singers, they have to appease fans and their worldview is inherent to their art. For athletes…not so much. Only way anything will change for them is if their bubble gets penetrated in real life and if society starts dragging them to the left. Support them for their athletic ability, not who they are as a person.

I now have a Buy Me A Coffee page for one-time donations if you want to show support for my work but do not want a subscription or cannot afford one.

Folks, unfortunately, it’s time for Ian Kennedy discourse. I know, I know, I’m sorry. I try to avoid talking about him as much as possible, especially because to be honest, I do think he gets hated on a bit too much. But, that’s also because I’m really only doing this today because of him. He’s one of my main inspirations for how I write about hockey, and therefore, even if he is problematic (and he definitely is), I can’t bring myself to be too negative towards him. So, I just generally try to avoid him so I don’t have to feel bad for not disliking him as much as I’m supposed to. Unfortunately, though, I couldn’t avoid this post, and I need to talk about it. Mainly because the post lacks understanding of Capitalism.

Alright, so, what does Ian not understand? There are three things to keep in mind:

1. This shirt is made with higher quality fabrics than most and made with union labor.

2. Capitalism has trained us colonizers to expect things for cheaper than they should be, and while it sucks, these prices are closer to the prices that we should be paying anyway.

3. Capitalist greed also makes things more expensive.

Let’s address points 1 and 2 since they go hand-in-hand. Apparel made ethically and with higher-quality fabrics will always be more expensive. That’s a good thing. The reason for this is that frankly, everything we buy, whether it’s food, or clothing, or electronics, etc. SHOULD be more expensive than it is now. The problem is…we live under capitalism. Under capitalism we have things such as inflation, which is not natural and instead is a product of capitalism. Things should be more expensive than they are now, but the prices shouldn’t keep going up, and our wages should be far higher than they are now. Plus, there should be an actual societal safety net. Unfortunately, we live under capitalism. So, capitalists only have incentive to keep raising prices and not raising wages. What I’m trying to say is, I don’t think that the price that they’re asking for when it comes to ethically made apparel is really as egregious as it’s made out to be (maybe a bit high, but not egregiously so). What is egregious is how we have so much unethically made apparel that has trained us to expect everything to be so cheap. Furthermore, capitalists keep raising prices and not our wages. Those things are egregious, not asking for a mostly fair amount of money for something not made by slave labor in other countries. Your problem shouldn’t be with how expensive the shirts are, but with capitalists training us to expect such low prices through imperialist slave labor and them not paying people fair wages.

In my last article, I shared an email parents received from a hockey organization regarding allegations of hazing and sexual assault. This was the email:

“[The allegations are] very offensive towards our board members, organization and program. We highly suggest you govern yourself accordingly as we will not accept any time of [slanderous] comments towards our organization and its members.”

On Threads, many shared their shock with me that such an email was sent out. The thing is…this is normal. This is what happens in the hockey world normally when ask for accountability. Over my many years of reading just about every article on criminal conduct in hockey or times when people have come directly to me with allegations, I’ve become completely desensitized to it. I’ve seen this so many times that it doesn’t even register with me anymore. So, when I saw the shock and horror at this email, it was a wakeup call to me. I’ve let hockey culture wear me down. I have seen and heard so much that I’ve become numb to it. So, I want to thank Threads users for reawakening my humanity, for reminding me such things are worth getting outraged over, and I need to guard myself against becoming numb to such things. None of this is ok, even if it’s normal. We must and should demand better, there must and should be regular outrage over such things. It’s something I have had gradually beaten out of me through years of covering this stuff. I needed that reminder and my readers provided it to me. Thank you.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

Back in 2016, Noah Corson, then 18, allegedly assaulted a then 15-year-old girl. He was playing for the Drummondville Voltigeurs in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). In 2024, he was found “guilty” and sentenced to 2 years less a day in prison. Now, the verdict has been thrown out and he will get a new court case.

This comes after Corson appealed the verdict. The verdict from the Court of Appeal says that Quebec court Judge Paul Dunnigan didn’t properly evaluate evidence favorable to Corson. This piece of evidence being Corson claiming that he was under the assumption that the victim was at least 18 and living in a student apartment with her friend. The student apartment was where they had sex. So now, he will get another trial.

Hockey Canada’s Independent Third Party has reportedly not responded after being informed of sexual assault, hazing, and bullying allegations in the Timmins Majors U-18 AAA hockey team. This is the claim of parents of alleged victims, that is. They say it’s been two months and they’ve heard nothing.

The allegations of misconduct in the locker room that we know of are thus:

• An older player urinating on a younger player in the locker room.

• Older players would masturbate in front of younger players.

• An older player embraced a naked younger player in the shower from behind and pretended to do a sexual act with him.

• Veteran players circulated sexually explicit images on the team group chat.

• A first-year player being forced to pick a condom off the floor and put it on the penis of a veteran player.

• A first-year player was forced to lie on the floor while teammates used hockey tape to pull off leg and pubic hair.

• A player took an Oreo from another player, took it to the bathroom, came back out, and claimed to have ejaculated on it.

• One player was repeatedly targeted by teammates in practice and cross-checked in the back and shoulder. When he got injured badly enough from it to miss a few games, an employee of the organization told him, “a long way from [his] vagina.”

• Team staff called the repeatedly cross-checked player an “albino”.

• The player from the last two allegations also claims to have been smacked in the face with another players penis.

The organizations response to these allegations was to tell the parents in an email:

“[The allegations are] very offensive towards our board members, organization and program. We highly suggest you govern yourself accordingly as we will not accept any time of [slanderous] comments towards our organization and its members.”

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

Leksand will be relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan, Sweden’s second-tier of hockey. HV71 swept Leksand in their best-of-seven series to determine who would remain in the top league, but Leksand did put up a fight in the final game. In fact, it looked as if Leksand was going to win game four by a score of 2-1, until Hugo Pettersson scored with only 10 seconds remaining in regulation. HV71 won 3-2 in overtime. Leksand has been in the SHL for seven straight seasons.

There was a rather wild playoff game between Rögle and Färjestad. So, Rögle had a 5-0 lead after the first period. David Tomasek led Färjestad with a hat trick to give them a 6-5 overtime win. Yes, his third goal was the game-winner in overtime. Färjestad is now the first team in league history to win after being down 5-0 in the playoffs.

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Fabio Wagner, defender for Red Bull München in Germany’s DEL, was suspended 14 games during the playoffs. He will also not be allowed to return to the playoffs. This is due to an illegal check to the head.

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In the Kontinental Hockey League we’ll start with what happened just before the playoffs began when Traktor snapped SKA’s five-game win streak. Then, USian forward Sam Anas of Dinamo tied the KHL’s single-season point record. The record is 89-points and was first set by Nikita Gusev in the 2023-24 season. Speaking of records, Avangard captain and defender Damir Sharipzyanov broke the league’s single-season record for most points by a defender. Chris Lee set the record back in the 2015-16 season with 65. Sharipzyanov finished the season with 67. Meanwhile, Vitaly Kravtsovo of Traktor is now the club’s all-time points leader with 239 (as of writing). The original record was set by Anton Glinkin with 234. The last bit of KHL news I’ll share is something you rarely see: a goaltender getting kicked from a game. Metallurg’s starting goalie, Alexander Smolin was ejected during a playoff match against Sibir after spearing Ilya Fedotov.

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Here’s a quick rundown of champions to be crowned around the world:

• Skautafélag Reykjavíkur won their 8th title when they swept Skautafélag Akureyrar after coming back from a 5-1 deficit to win 6-5 in overtime in game three. They’ve won 3 of the last 4 championships in the Skautafélag Akureyrar (Icelandic Men’s Hockey League).

• Brynäs IF swept Frölunda HC in the Svenska damhockeyligan final. The Svenska damhockeyligan is Sweden’s top women’s hockey league. It is their first championship.

• The Beijing Lions are back-to-back champions in the still young Chinese Ice Hockey League (2nd season). They beat KRS Shenzhen 3-2 in the title game.

• The Extreme Hockey League (XHL), Japan’s second-tier of men’s hockey, just wrapped up its inaugural season. The Tokyo Wilds are the champions, and they clinched the championship with two games remaining on the schedule after getting enough points that second-place Nagoya Orques couldn’t catch up.

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In the IIHF we’ll start with the Men’s World Championship Division 2A as there has been turmoil with that tournament. First, Australia pulled out due to rising travel costs, no direct flights, and their players having other commitments. Then, after the imperialist war waged by the Epstein class of colonizer countries against Iran began, the tournament was forced to either be moved or canceled. The reason for this is that it was originally to be held in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. Now it has been moved to Tbilisi, Georgia.

The Men’s World Championship Division 4 tournament was not as lucky. It will be canceled and not relocated. It was originally to be hosted in Kuwait City.

Current IIHF president, Luc Tardif, will not run for re-election when his term ends in October. He has been president since 2021.

A few other quick stories:

• Don Granato will be the USA’s head coach at this year’s Men’s World Championship.

• Sam Hallam will remain as Sweden’s coach at this year’s Men’s World Championship.

• Radim Rulík will step down as Czechia’s head coach after the Men’s World Championship.

• Doug Armstrong is stepping down as Canada’s Men’s National Team general manager.

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Now we come to the Professional Women’s Hockey League, and we’ll start with player movement news. First off, the Boston Fleet and Seattle Torrent made a trade. The Fleet acquired forward Jessie Eldridge while the Torrent received forward Theresa Schafzahl. Later, the Fleet activated forward Sophie Shirley from Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR). The corresponding move was sending defender Olivia Zafuto back to the Reserve Player list. Over in Seattle, the Torrent would later activate captain Hilary Knight from LTIR, sending forward Brooke Bryant back to the Reserve Player list. They also put forward Mikyla Grant-Mentis onto LTIR and then signed forward Gabrielle David to an SPA.

Another trade happened later, when the Minnesota Frost acquired RFK Jr. fan Jincy Roese (yes, she follows him on Instagram) from the New York Sirens. In return, the Sirens received forward Denisa Křížová. Other moves the Sirens made included putting forward Taylor Girard onto LTIR and signed forward Clair DeGeorge to a Standard Player Agreement (SPA). They also put forward Kristýna Kaltounková onto LTIR while signing defender Nicole Vallario to an SPA. Back in Minnesota, they activated captain Kendall Coyne Schofield from LTIR, sending forward Kaitlyn O’Donohoe back to the Reserve Player list.

The Montréal Victoire placed forward Maureen Murphy and signed forward Maya Labad to an SPA. They also placed captain Marie-Philip Poulin onto LTIR while signing defender Nadia Mattivi to an SPA.

In the last bit of player movement news, the Ottawa Charge placed defender Brooke Hobson onto LTIR and signed defender Vita Poniatovskaia on an SPA.

Goaltenders have been on fire lately. First we’ll start with Raygan Kirk of the Toronto Sceptres and Aerin Frankel of the Fleet. They both joined Corinne Schroeder as the only goaltenders in league history to get consecutive shutouts. Frankel also became the first goaltender to get 15 wins this season. As if all that wasn’t incredible enough, she got three straight shutouts. She now has seven shutouts this season, which is more than any other goaltender has in their career. Meanwhile, Ann-Renée Desbiens of the Victoire also got her fifth shutout of the season.

In the last bit of PWHL news, the Walter Cup Finals will be broadcast on national television for the first time in the US. The games will be aired on ION (if you’re an antenna user like me and your local ION broadcasts in horrible quality, I recommend using Pluto TV to watch).

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In North American men’s hockey, we’ll start with news from the NCAA. Mercyhurst University announced that their Division 1 men’s hockey program will be discontinued at the end of the season.

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As per usual, we’ll end with the NHL. Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl is expected to miss the rest of the regular-season due to a lower-body injury.

Florida Panthers forward A.J. Greer was suspended three games after trying to intentionally trying to harm Calgary Flames forward Connor Zary. Another player who tried to intentionally harm another player was Washington Capitals forward Pierre-Luc Dubois. He received a match penalty for trying to harm St. Louis Blues forward Robert Thomas.

The Toronto Maple Leafs fired general manager Brad Treliving while the Dallas Stars extended their general manager, Jim Nill, for two extra years. In coaching news, the Vegas Golden Knights fired head coach Bruce Cassidy and replaced him with John Tortorella.

Lastly, the NHL draft lottery will take place on May 5.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

I was adamant before the Olympics that Bill Guerin had done a poor job building the team. Quite famously, I made a post saying that the team’s roster was equivalent to answering 2+2 as “5”. As it turns out, someone who’s job it is to build teams knows more about team building than I, a hack with a Substack, do. I was wrong, Guerin was right. It was enough in a year without Russia while Sweden was missing key players. I should’ve put that into account.

We really are not discussing Matthew Schaefer enough and what he’s doing. He’s made the New York Islander into “must watch TV”. No, seriously, you should be watching the Islanders. As of writing this, Schaefer leads all rookies in goals…and he’s a defender. As a rookie he will no doubt get Norris votes. He’s elite in both ends, fun to watch in both ends. It makes me angry that he plays for a New York team because I’d love to be able to root for him. I’m sorry, but even though I’m no longer a chud, as a life-long Midwesterner, I will forever hate New York City, Boston, and LA. As a life-long Detroit sports fan, I will forever hate Chicago. That being said, the Islanders I’ve always had a weird soft spot for. Maybe it’s because their fans aren’t as annoying as other New York teams. I just can’t bring myself to hate them like I should for a New York team.

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One thing I’ve noticed is that I’ve been enjoying watch the PWHL more this season. I just find it to be a more enjoyable experience. For one, games are shorter, mainly due to the games having more flow and less stoppage in play. So, I feel my time is respected a bit more, and things are happening more consistently than in the NHL. I also think not having a dog in the race helps. Why? Because there’s no one to disappoint me. Meanwhile, when I look at the NHL, all I experience is endless disappointment and heartbreak. It’s nice to just be able to experience high-level hockey without wondering how your heart is going to be ripped out of you, for once. Oh, and also, the jailbreak rule. Jailbreak goals are so cool that in my mind they’re a selling-point for the PWHL. I absolutely love them so much.

I know whining about offside reviews is the thing to do right now, especially in the Red Wings fanbase, but I’m going to differ. Offside reviews are good, actually. We should want calls to be correct. It’s a genie that will not and should not be put back into the bottle. Technology has advanced too much that unless we remove technology from the game, we should embrace it. That being said, I do agree that there should be a time limit. What I’m about to say goes for all reviews for goals, but I offside challenges get whined about the most, so I made the basis of the article. First off, I think coaches should get one minute to decide whether they’re going to challenge a goal or not. That’s all. Even if they decide to challenge on the 61st second, it’s too late. Have no mercy, and tell them to decide quicker. But, if the coach does decide in time, during the regular season, refs should get two minutes to review. If they can’t determine whether someone was offside or did goaltender interference or whatever in that amount of time, the call should stand. Now, in the playoffs, I believe the time should be moved up to three minutes, solely because the games mean just that much more, and therefore, getting calls correct means more. It prevents reviews from being unreasonably long while still giving officials time to get things right.

If both of my NHL teams miss the playoffs, I’m going to predict the tone of my articles about it now. For the Blue Jackets, the tone of the article will be depressed. For the Red Wings, the tone of the article will be pure anger. Ok, in reality, I will be angry, but tone down my anger for the article so I come across as more reasonable, and then I’ll barely promote the article because I feel that I watered down my message too much. Just like year, in fact.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

Gavin McKenna

Position: LW | Height: 6’0” / 183 cm | Shoots: L | DOB: 12/20/07 (18) | Nationality: Canadian | Currently plays: Penn State, NCAA

If you’ve heard the names of any prospects that will be in this year’s draft, this is the one. He’s been eagerly awaited for years, long-promised to be a surefire superstar. Sure, maybe not in the same tier as Bedard (that hype was absolutely absurd), but definitely hyped up more than many former first-overall picks. That being said…there’s a good chance he won’t go first overall. The hype has slowly quieted down these last few years and it’s common to see draft experts list him as the second or third best prospect in this year’s draft. What I’m saying is, if your eyes are solely on McKenna for the top of the draft because he’s the name you’ve heard these last few years, don’t. This year there are several players who could get reasonably get drafted first-overall.

Anyway, let’s get into why he still is likely to be first overall in this year’s draft. He’s great in transition and has elite hockey IQ when possessing the puck. Deception is a major part of his game and he uses it effectively to create shooting lanes for himself. That being said, shooting isn’t what he’s known for. His calling card is play-making. As I said before, he has elite hockey IQ when possessing the puck and it’s fully on display when passing it. His vision is almost unparalleled, seeing things that no player in his position should be able to. He uses his body and eyes to deceive defenders and goaltenders and then makes beautiful passes. When it comes to passing to him, he’s just as great. Any pass to him is a good pass, he will receive it.

That’s it for his positives, though. Now let’s discuss what’s holding him back from being a sure-fire #1 overall pick. He doesn’t play with pace except when in transition. His compete level is low when off-puck and doesn’t commit to the hard parts of the game like back-checking and fore-checking or board battles, etc. His defensive IQ isn’t high and doesn’t position himself well defensively. One of the biggest criticisms of him is his disengagement from play, where he’ll sit outside of it (defensively and offensively) until he believes he can make something happen.

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Keaton Verhoeff

Position: D | Height: 6’4” / 193 cm | Shoots: R | DOB: 06/19/08 (17) | Nationality: Canadian | Currently plays: University of North Dakota, NCAA

Keaton is a dark-horse candidate for first-overall pick. If he’s selected first, I will be surprised, but it won’t be out from nowhere. The main reason why he could go first overall is because whoever gets the top pick thinks he could be the next Matthew Schaefer. He’s great defensively and has upside offensively. One of the things that you’ll notice quickly about him is his high compete level. Keaton isn’t afraid to be physical and is an effective body-checker, great at defensive puck retrieval, is proactive, and uses his stick well. Offensively, he’s a great shooter. Scouts have told me he has one of the most elite releases in the draft. Add to that him being a powerful shooter, it’s enough to get scouts attention in a positive way. A few other things scouts love about him is that he’s a good passer, solid puckhandler, handles pressure well, and is a decent skater for his size.

That being said, while his skating is decent for a player his size, it’s also the thing that holds him back the most. Yes, what I’m saying sounds completely contradictory. Allow me to explain. He has a heavy, short stride (which isn’t necessarily bad) and lacks explosiveness and acceleration. That being said, he has does have a decent top speed, which helps make up for his skating shortcomings (but definitely not completely). If he were to get better at skating, his talent ceiling would be raised by quite a bit. Two other shortcomings in his game are that he gets the puck taken from him more than you’d like to see and he struggles with rush defense (and the latter could be solved by getting better at skating).

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Carson Carels

Position: D | Height: 6’2” / 188 cm | Shoots: L | DOB: 06/23/08 (17) | Nationality: Canadian | Currently plays: Prince George Cougars, WHL

From on defender who is strong on defense to another. Unfortunately for him, though, Carson has more holes in his defensive game than Keaton. Namely, his gap control is poor and he doesn’t engage with netfront forwards enough. That being said, his body positioning and stick usage on defense is great along with being strong and physical. With those positives, scouts will be more than willing to overlook his defensive deficiencies, and will look to fix them during development.

Another thing that makes him similar to Keaton is that he’s a great shooter. His playmaking abilities leave much to be desired, though. Another thing you’d like to see more of from him is consistent offensive engagement.

He’s a solid all-around player. He doesn’t have any glaring weaknesses, but he also doesn’t have any major strengths. Carson is the type of player teams will love to have in the NHL, but he probably doesn’t have all that high of a ceiling.

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Chase Reid

Position: D | Height: 6’2” / 188 cm | Shoots: R | DOB: 12/30/07 (18) | Nationality: USA | Currently plays: Soo Greyhounds, OHL

We have another defender and he’s…fine offensively and defensively. When on defense, he is good at using his stick, but struggles with body positioning. On offense, he has a high IQ, and is excellent at picking shots and scoring. His biggest weakness is his skating. While he has great edgework, his stride is not great.

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Caleb Malhotra

Position: C | Height: 6’2” / 188 cm | Shoots: L | DOB: 06/02/08 (17) | Nationality: Canadian | Currently plays: Brantford Bulldogs, OHL

We finally move away from defenders and now to center. Here we have the center of many scouts and teams dreams. So, why do scouts love him? Because he’s speedy and agile, a good shooter, great playmaker, has soft hands, and is solid defensively. Not only that, he has a high compete level, is a strong fore-checker, and can be physical (but isn’t always). He’s definitely a good player, but he’ll probably get drafted higher than he should because teams love centers with size, high compete levels, and know how to be physical.

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Daxon Rudolph

Position: D | Height: 6’2” / 188 cm | Shoots: R | DOB: 03/06/08 (18) | Nationality: Canadian | Currently plays: Prince Albert Raiders, WHL

Back to defense and yeah, he’s pretty much more of the same. He’s strong defensively, knowing how to use his stick, and good at gap control. Also, he’s genuinely elite at odd-man rush defense. In transition he’s effective. Offensively, he’s a good shooter and playmaker, but nothing great. That being said, like others in this article, his skating holds him back. He has a low top speed and has poor edgework.

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Tynan Lawrence

Position: C | Height: 6’0” / 183 cm | Shoots: L | DOB: 08/03/08 (17) | Nationality: Canadian | Currently plays: Boston University, NCAA

Tynan is a great skater. That is probably his best attribute. Well, he’s also great at puck and stick handling. Those are the only nice things I’ll say about his play. Yeah, I’m not high on Tynan, which I recognize is a very hot take and is one I very likely could get roasted for in years to come. That being said, I genuinely do not get why he gets so highly praised. His hockey IQ, to me, is very obviously low, and I’m genuinely baffled at those who say he’s always aware of what’s going on. I see a guy who keeps his head down, gets caught puck-watching on defense, doesn’t see play developing in transition or the offensive zone, gets the puck taken from him far too much, and doesn’t react to change of pace. He also tries to do too much on his own, including shooting when he needs to pass.

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Ilia Morozov

Position: F | Height: 6’3” / 191 cm | Shoots: L | DOB: 08/03/08 (17) | Nationality: Russian | Currently plays: Miami University (Ohio), NCAA

Ilia is the youngest player in college hockey and possibly the polarizing player in the draft. Depending on who you ask, he’s either a future top-six skill guy, or a future fourth-line grinder. Personally, I lean more towards him being a future bottom-six player in the NHL, but I also think saying he’ll be a fourth-line grinder is a bit harsh. More like a decent all-around third-liner. But also, I’m not an expert, so don’t take my opinions on any of these prospects too seriously. Genuinely, I can’t find a genuine flaw in his game outside his skating. His skating isn’t bad, just mediocre. That being said, while he doesn’t have a true weakness, he does have a true strength: defense. He is definitely one of the best defensive forwards in the draft. Scouts love his compete level and how good he is at all the hard parts of the game and how consistent he is at winning faceoffs. Because of all of this, his chances of being an NHL center are solid, which could help him get drafted higher than many would expect on draft day. Definitely a player I’ll be keeping an eye on during the draft.

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Ethan Belchetz

Position: LW | Height: 6’5” / 196 cm | Shoots: L | DOB: 08/03/08 (17) | Nationality: Russian | Currently plays: Miami University (Ohio), NCAA

Unfortunately, I am going to be harsh towards another prospect. Ethan is a lot like Tynan, except he can’t skate. Instead, his most positive attribute is his shooting. Like Tynan, he’s got good hands. Also like Tynan, he’s bad at everything else, in my view. He doesn’t adapt to the play around him, horrifically bad when leading play in transition, and sucks at the hard parts of the game.

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JP Hurlbert

Position: F | Height: 6’0” / 183 cm | Shoots: R | DOB: 04/11/08 (17) | Nationality: USA | Currently plays: Kamloops Blazers, WHL

We’ll end on a more positive note. Hurlbert is one of the best shooters in the draft. He can score in any situation and from any angle one could score at. He’s especially deadly on the rush and power play. Add to that his compete level on offense, him being a solid playmaker, and solid skating skills, there’s a lot to like about him. Unfortunately, for as good as he is on offense, he’s just as bad at defense. He may compete hard on offense, but he doesn’t even try on defense. You won’t see him back-check all that often and is usually watching the puck.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

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Over in Sweden’s SHL, we’ll start with the Champions Hockey League finals (CHL) rematch that happened between Frölunda and Rögle. If you remember, Frölunda won the CHL finals, but in this match, Rögle got their revenge, winning 3-2 in overtime. Frölunda had the lead or kept the game tied for the first 48 minutes of the match. They were up 2-1 with just over 11 minutes to go, but then Rögle forced a tie and overtime, where they won in just 16 seconds. Felix Nilsson scored twice for Rögle.

The latest Leksand and HV71 was a wild one. Leksand took a 3-0 lead in the first period, but blew it in the second period when HV71 scored three straight. But, in the end, the only goal of the third period was scored by Leksand’s Max Veronneau, giving his team the win after blowing their lead.

Some rather incredible things happened in the league. Djurgården, who is in the league for the first time since the 2021-22 season, pulled off two major feats. First, they finished the regular season ninth in the standings. Then, they tied Luleå for being the first teams in league history to sell out all 26 home games.

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In the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), the regular-season is winding down. That being said, there was a major story regarding a team who won’t be heading to the postseason. For the first time since February 2020, a KHL game was held in China. You may be asking, “What about the Kunlun Red Star or Shanghai Dragons? Aren’t they Chinese?” The answer is “yes”, but the Red Star, now the Dragons, don’t play in China. They play in St. Petersburg, Russia. So, these two games held in Shanghai are huge. The team does plan to eventually relocate permanently to Shanghai, and they’re probably looking even more forward to the eventual relocation after 12,000 attended the games.

I have only two more quick stories for the KHL. First, Avtomobilist’s seven-game win streak came to an end after losing to CSKA 3-0. Second, Dinamo forward, Sam Anas, is now the highest-scoring import in league history. The USian has 86 points for the season, while the previous record for an import was 80 (set last season by Josh Leivo).

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There are a few international tournament stories worth going over. In the Women’s World Championship Division 3 - Group B, Estonia won gold and will be promoted to Division 3 - Group A. Bosnia and Herzegovina won silver while South Africa won bronze. Then there was Israel in fourth, Philippines was fifth, and Singapore was last. Over in the men’s U18 World Championship Division 3 - Group A, Uzbekistan will be getting the promotion to Division 3 - Group B. The other two medal winners were Hong Kong, China with silver and Israel won bronze. Rounding out the bottom were where Türkiye at fourth, Bulgaria placed fifth, and New Zealand getting demoted to Division 3 - Group B.

The Winter Paralympic Games have just come to a close, and so did the sled hockey tournament. In it, USA won its fifth-straight gold and sixth overall when they beat Canada 6-2. Team Captain Declan Farmer won Tournament MVP honors. This was also a huge win for hockey in the US in a broader way, in that the USA is the first country to sweep Olympic and Paralympic hockey tournaments.

It’s also worth mentioning that we saw a Michigan goal in the tournament. It was scored by Nikko Landeros of Italy.

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Moving on to North America, we’ll start in the Greater Ontario Hockey League (GOHL). It’s a junior ice hockey league. Anyway, one of the teams, the Sarnia Legionnaires, has just made history in a bad way. They have become the first team in league history to lose every single game in a season. Yes, all 50 games.

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Over in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), I’ll start with some rather exciting labor news: the player’s association (PWHLPA) is no longer an independent union but has joined the AFL-CIO. They are the 65th union and 10th professional sports union to join the AFL-CIO. Solidarity forever, for the union makes us strong.

Let’s discuss what happened on the ice now and we’ll start with the Boston Fleet becoming the first team in league history to have two separate five-game wining streaks in a season. Not only that but they also became the second team that season to have a seven-game point streak. If that wasn’t enough, ended up winning six in a row and having an eight-game point streak, the longest of the season, but one shy of their record from last year. Unfortunately for the Fleet, that’s where the streaks ended. The Seattle Torrent, who were on a four-game losing streak, were the ones who ended the Fleet’s six-game win streak. But, they got back on track in the next game, when they scored four unanswered goals to beat the Montréal Victoire. The final score was 4-3 and the game was won in overtime.

Circling back around to losing streaks getting snapped, the New York Sirens snapped an even longer one: a five-game streak. They beat the Ottawa Charge 6-2, which is fitting considering that the losing streak started when losing to the Charge in overtime back in January.

In player news, Torrent forward Hannah Bilka was placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) while forward Jada Habisch was signed to a Standard Player Agreement. This is due to an injury sustained during the Olympics. Then, the Charge signed goaltender Kaitlyn Ross to a 10-day Standard Player Agreement.

The last bit of PWHL news is that for the first-time ever, there will be a game national broadcast in the United States. It will air on ION on March 28, 1 p.m. EDT. The match will be played between the Sirens and the Victoire in Detroit. For those who don’t know, ION is a free over-the-air station that you can find through your antenna or cable. I don’t know if this is the case everywhere, but as an antenna user in Fort Wayne, Indiana, I find the image quality for ION to be extremely poor. As in, nearly unwatchable. So, you may want to watch a broadcast of the game that actually looks good, and you can do so through Pluto TV. ION is one of the networks carried through that free service, and that’s how I watch ION sports broadcasts. You can watch through a web browser on your computer, through an app on your phone, tablet, smart TV, Roku, or video game console. I watch using my Xbox One X, for example.

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In men’s hockey we’ll start with the ECHL where the league board has agreed to suspend the operations of the Iowa Heartlanders. This will be for only one season, next season. Heartlanders owner Michael Devlin said this:

“This was an incredibly difficult decision that followed months of careful evaluation. Despite significant efforts to stabilize and strengthen the organization, we concluded that stepping back for a season is the most responsible course while we review long-term solutions. As stewards of the team, we believe this step gives the organization the best opportunity to return on a stronger and more sustainable footing.”

They are currently affiliates of the Iowa Wild and Minnesota Wild.

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As usual, we’ll end with NHL news, and there’s quite a bit this time. That’s because of the trade deadline, which occured after the last Hockey News Roundup article was released. I will not cover each and every trade, only the notable ones.

• The Columbus Blue Jackets received forward Conor Garland. In return, the Vancouver Canucks got a 2026 3rd round pick and 2028 2nd round pick.

• The Anaheim Ducks received defender John Carlson. In return, the Washington Capitals got a 2026 conditional first round pick and a 2027 3rd round pick.

• The Tampa Bay Lightning received forward Corey Perry. In return, the Los Angeles Kings got a 2028 2nd round pick.

• The Detroit Red Wings received defender Justin Faulk. In return, the St. Louis Blues got defender Justin Holl, a 2026 1st round pick, a 2026 3rd round pick, and prospect forward Dmitri Buchelnikov.

• The New York Islanders received forward Brayden Schenn. In return, the Blues got forward Jonathan Drouin, prospect goaltender Marcus Gidlöf, 2026 conditional 1st round pick, and a 2026 3rd round pick.

• The Colorado Avalanche received forward Nazem Kadri with 20% of his salary retained and a 2027 4th round pick. In return, the Calgary Flames got forward Victor Olofsson, prospect forward Max Curran, a 2028 conditional 1st round pick, and a 2027 conditional 2nd round pick.

Moving on from trade deadline news, we’ll start with Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evengi Malkin getting suspended for 5 games after slashing Buffalo Sabres defender Rasmus Dahlin. He wasn’t the only player to get suspended for 5 games, though, since our last Hockey News Roundup. Ducks defender Radko Gudas also received that punishment for kneeing Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews and ending his season with an MCL tear and quad contusion.

Speaking of injuries, two more notable players have gotten injured. Ottawa Senators defender Jake Sanderson is out on a week-to-week basis due to an upper-body injury. Detroit Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin, meanwhile, is out for at least two weeks thanks to a leg injury.

In more positive news, the Utah Mammoth signed forward Nick Schmaltz to an 8-year contract extension worth $8 million a year. Finally, forward Anže Kopitar is the all-time points leader for the Los Angeles Kings. The previous record-holder was Marcel Dionne, who had 1,308 points.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

We’ll start with the Columbus Blue Jackets because they come first alphabetically.

Conor Garland

The Blue Jackets sent a 2026 third-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick to Vancouver for Conor Garland. I’m so glad we got Garland. I was really worried that Waddell was going to screw up the deadline because of reports that he wanted “sandpaper”. The last thing this needs is more “sandpaper”. In fact, I’d argue this team has too much “sandpaper”. The team needs more talent, and thank god, Waddell went out and got this team more talent. I was already happy before I saw him in action in the Union Blue, and now I’m even happier. I’m genuinely thrilled with how Waddell handled this trade deadline. He helped give this team a legitimate shot at getting into the playoffs, and that’s all one could reasonably ask for.

So, let’s talk about what the Red Wings did at the trade deadline. They were busier than usual and made three trades. Let’s discuss them in order.

David Perron

The Red Wings traded a conditional 2026 4th-round pick in 2026 to Ottawa for David Perron. I like this move. It’s not what I was expecting, but the team needed a solid fourth-liner and a guy who can bring some energy to the locker room. Perron does both. They gave up very little for a small boost to the bottom-six and a huge boost to team vibes.

Elmer Söderblom

The next move the team made was sending Söderblom to Pittsburgh for a 2026 3rd-round pick. Söderblom was my comfort fourth-liner, so I am not happy with this trade. Ok, in all seriousness, Elmer needed a new start somewhere, so whatever. Perron should be better than Elmer, so I don’t care too much. Besides, I like Perron more as a comfort fourth-liner.

Justin Faulk

This one was surprisingly controversial. Red Wings fans have been vocal in wanting Steve Yzerman to use our many quality prospects to go big-game fishing. So, he does that. Sure, he may not be a star player, but he’s a higher caliber of player than we’re used to Yzerman going for. Trading for Faulk is a sign of confidence in this group that this team is playoff-ready. So, Stevie finally does what every Red Wings fan has been clamoring for. How do Red Wings fans react? By whining. This is why I don’t interact much with the fanbase these days. Anyway, I don’t get the complaining at all. It was a seller’s market, and this was the going price for a player like Faulk. Would you rather have sat pat? Actually, don’t answer. I know the answer to that because a lot of you whined even harder after Larkin got injured. We’ll get to that, though, in a minute. I want to first discuss why people complained at the start. It was because the Red Wings traded away the rights to Dmitri Buchelnikov. Look, at some point, the team was going to have to start selling big-name prospects; we all knew that. Yeah, it kinda hurt, but not as much as many fans are making it out to be. Buchelnikov is a fine prospect, but I’m going to be honest, I’ve never really understood why he got hyped up the way he did. I’m sorry, I just don’t see him becoming the next Kirill Kaprizov. If he does, well, glad for the Blues. Personally, I just don’t care all that deeply, even if he does somehow end up being a superstar. Honestly, the best I ever saw him become was a solid second-line player. Frankly, I think Carter Bear and Max Plante have higher ceilings. I’d also rather keep Brandsegg-Nygård and Eddie Genborg than Buchelnikov. Frankly, I just never saw Buchelnikov as special enough, especially considering other forwards in the prospect pipeline to be especially attached to. So, I’m fine trading him away. Now, let’s get back to Larkin. I don’t know how long he’ll be out. Maybe McLellan has stated how long, but I haven’t seen it. Let’s just pretend he’ll be out for the rest of the season: trading away this year’s first-round pick and Buchelnikov was still the right thing to do. A general manager should always be looking to improve their team, and in such a close playoff race, this team HAD to do something to get better to ensure they could keep pace with other teams. Throwing in the towel was not an acceptable option. Sure, it sucks potentially losing a good pick in the draft and sending away a good prospect for a player who wasn’t able to put the team over the edge due to Larkin getting injured, but it’s a risk you simply have to take. I’m glad Stevie took the risk, even if it doesn’t pay off. He did what he needed to give this team a boost to bolster the team’s chance of success. Out of all the things to be upset at Yzerman over, this isn’t one of them.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

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Speaking of Sweden, Strauss Mann, goaltender for Skellefteå, has broken a Swedish Hockey League (SHL) record. He is the first goaltender to have 10 shutouts in a season.

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Over in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), a lot has been happening. First, we’ll start with Avangard defender Damir Sharipzyanov being on the verge of tying a record. A few weeks ago, he became the second defender to ever get 60 points in a season. Now, he’s at 64 points, one away from tying the record of most points by a defender in league history. Speaking of records, Shanghai forward Nick Merkley has set a new record for most points in a season in franchise history. So far, he has 44 points; the previous record was held by Brandon Yip, who had 42. Before we move on, there’s also Sam Anas of Dinamo. He’s the fifth player in league history to get 80 points in a season.

Severstal blew a 3-0 lead, but stopped the bleeding in overtime, beating Metallurg 4-3. Just three days later, a more embarrassing game happened, but for Shanghai. They blew a 4-0 lead to CSKA and lost 6-5 in overtime. Two games in the last few weeks were impacted by war. The first was between Sochi and CSKA. The game was abandoned during the first period due to Ukrainian drone threats. Over a week later, Sochi had a game disrupted again, but in the third period this time, by Ukrainian drones. This game resumed after two hours.

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Here are a few quick stories around Europe:

• CS Sportul Studențesc Bucharest, who participates in the Romanian Hockey League, has been winless for seven years now. Their last win came in 2019, and they have been in last place in the league for 17 years now.

• Fife Flyers, who are in the UK’s EIHL, have lost their coach and general manager after placing last again. Jamie Russell announced his resignation via Twitter.

• Rikard Grönborg, head coach of Liiga team Tappara, has been suspended for three games. Along with that, the club was fined €10,000 for knowing about a premeditated fight. Emil Sylvegård of Tappara started a fight with Antti Tyrväinen of JYP just 17 seconds into the game over previous issues.

• Jaromír Jágr is likely retiring after claiming that he would “probably not” play another game. He’s currently 54 and in his 38th professional season.

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I now have a Buy Me A Coffee page for one-time donations if you want to show support for my work but do not want a subscription or cannot afford one.

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There’s been quite a bit going on in international hockey. First, Romania won the Women’s World Championship Division 3 - Group A tournament. Thailand won silver for the second straight year, Türkiye won bronze, Croatia was fourth, Serbia was fifth, and Bulgaria placed last. Over in Canada, Troy Ryan, the coach of the women’s national team, is likely stepping down. He said that it’s “very unlikely” he returns to coach the next World Championship.

In men’s hockey, Roger Bader, head coach of the Austrian men’s team, has gotten his contract extended. He will be the team’s head coach until 2028.

In para ice hockey, defender Akari Fukunishi of Japan will be the fourth women’s player to ever be in the para ice hockey Paralympic tournament.

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In North America, we’ll start with the PWHL. Victoire defender Erin Ambrose is on the Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) list due to an injury during the Olympics. The Fleet also had a player injured during the Olympics, forward Olivia Mobley. She is on LTIR, and now defender Olivia Zafuto has been moved from the team’s Reserve Player list to having signed a Standard Player Agreement. Minnesota Frost captain Kendall Coyne Schofield is also on LTIR due to an Olympic injury, and it’s Élizabeth Giguère who has been moved from the Reserve Player list to the regular roster. Finally, the last injury to mention is Seattle Torrent captain Hilary Knight, who is also now on LTIR. Rookie Sydney Langseth will be replacing her on the roster. Speaking of the Torrent, for the third time this season, the U.S. arena record for a women’s hockey game has been broken. This time it happened in the Torrent’s home, Climate Pledge Arena. There were 17,335 fans in attendance.

Last of all, we’ll get to the NHL, where Sidney Crosby will miss four weeks due to an injury from the Olympics. Then, the Los Angeles Kings fired head coach Jim Hiller. DJ Smith is the interim head coach.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.

I want to discuss a different angle of this discourse: how the US men’s national hockey team is a perfect illustration of the average USian. Most of these hockey players on that team clearly understand nothing of what’s going on or know a single thing about politics. Heck, the average USian, frankly, knows little to nothing about politics. If you were to go talk to your neighbor, they would probably not even know who their Representative in Congress is or who their Mayor is, etc. I know that may seem hard to believe because let’s be real: if you’re reading this newsletter, you are almost certainly politically aware. You know what’s going on, so you just assume everyone else does. Unfortunately, if you were to talk to the average person about politics, you’d quickly realize that they know nothing. It’s the same with hockey players. Our greatest enemy isn’t malice and politically active conservatives, it’s the couch, it’s apathy. It’s our job to get the apathetic to care. Afterall, there are far more of them than people who are conservatives because they genuinely believe in conservatism.

Now, I want to make it clear: none of this is an excuse for the hockey players. They should know better. The average person should be politically aware. If you are an adult, you should be politically active. I don’t care that they’re “depressing”, be an adult. Politics impacts all of our lives, and even if you don’t care about how they impact yourself, you owe it to those around you to know how politics is impacting them. Supposedly, we live in a society, so maybe we should act like it. That requires all of us pitching in to care for each other and move towards a common goal of building a better world for everyone. A world built because of care for each other. Right now, we do not live in a society. We live in an individualistic hellscape with no common goal, just looking out for oneself and no one else. Refusing to be political is a perfect example of that. It is selfish not be political. I’m not saying you need to make everything you do be about politics, but at least spend some time paying attention and educating yourself on the world around you. Not paying attention to politics because of how it makes you feel or because you think you’re above it is an example of why we don’t live in a society, and why everything sucks and keeps getting more depressing. Hockey players are included in this. These hockey players who don’t know anything about what’s going on are part of the reason why we don’t live in a society; they are part of the problem. They probably don’t even know that Trump is a pedophile, just that he triggers libs and kicks out the “criminal illegals”. Once again, before you come after me, I’m talking about the hockey players who don’t pay attention to politics, which is most of them. This doesn’t include the Tkachuk’s and Tage Thompson. They are clearly actual believers in conservatism, and frankly, just screw them. I’m talking about the Hughes brothers and Dylan Larkin, etc. They know nothing, but they should be more knowledgeable.

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The thing is, the only thing separating these hockey players and the normal USian is that they are celebrities. The average USian is not. These hockey players are known by millions, and in some cases, like Jack Hughes, tens of millions (at least). Your next-door neighbor who likes Trump because everyone they know likes him is not. To be a celebrity is to have a platform. To have such a platform is a gift…but it comes with great responsibility. The more of a platform you have, the more of a responsibility you have to society to use it well. Across all the platforms I’m on, I have over four thousand followers. I’m not even all that big in hockey media spaces. I don’t have the audience or the responsibility of a hockey player, or even hockey media figures like Frank Seravalli. That being said, I have more of a responsibility than the average hockey fan or my next-door neighbors, who have no platform at all. Part of one’s responsibility is to use one’s platform to benefit society and not promote anything harmful. Being “apolitical” is harmful. Not having an understanding of politics is harmful. Awareness and acting upon awareness to benefit those around us is how someone being responsible would act. The crime of most of these players isn’t being willful assets to fascism like many on social media seem to believe, or at least, act as if that’s what they believe. The crime of most of these players is being so unaware of anything going on around them that they get used as props for fascism. They are so apathetic to fascism that they unknowingly get used to promoting fascism. It’s the same for most of your neighbors. Most of your neighbors’ crimes, unless they’re openly supporting Trump, aren’t being fascists. It’s being apathetic to fascism because they feel no responsibility to society to improve themselves and improve society.

I write this article because we will never push anyone to our side, we will never improve the hockey world and fandom, or society at large, until we accurately identify our enemy and what we must do to combat it. Treating all players, hockey fans, conservatives, or conservative-leaning people around you as willful fascists or full of malice will get us nowhere. It has gotten us nowhere. It’s been the mainstream narrative by liberals and even some self-proclaimed Marxists for 10 years now. The thing is, we’re never likely to get the MAGA hat-wearing neighbor or Tage Thompson onto our side. Screw them. If they’re going to stop being fascists, it’ll be because they wake up on their own and realize how evil their beliefs are. Our job is to target the largest group of people: those who don’t pay attention to politics, or at least, very little. The people who are apathetic and believe there’s no point in being politically aware and active. It is our job to reach out to these people and bring them along with us. The thing is, we will likely never have a chance to try to sway Jack Hughes to our side, but you can probably have a chance to get other hockey fans onto our side. Whether it’s some hockey fan on Twitter or, more likely, at the sports bar you go to, talk to them, get interested in their life, and help awaken them to their social responsibility. Don’t let them remain a Jack Hughes or get radicalized into being a Matthew Tkachuk. Yes, you will have to have many of the same conversations over and over again, yes, you will have to argue things like why minorities deserve liberation. Get over it. If you want to positively impact society, we have to meet it where it’s at, and right now, the US is a far-right nation, and things as basic as having social responsibility or minorities having rights are a radical notion. You don’t get to go, “I shouldn’t have to argue this because it should be self-evident”. Well, the thing is, it’s not. All of the political messaging right now, which is all the average person hears, says otherwise. Go out there and fight back against it. The thing is, you will fail more than you win. Most people will not become socially responsible, and most will not get moved to the left. But, you must keep going, must keep trying, because you will eventually find those who are willing to do the work to be better and help better our world, our country.

The thing is, we ourselves are not going to change the hockey world. It’s too isolated and too privileged. If we want to change the hockey world, we have to change the culture, the political landscape. Make them the last or one of the last bastions of conservatism. Eventually, over time, it will move left. But, frankly, we will not likely see that happen for decades. I’m not saying that to depress you, but to motivate you. Shorten the time before good things happen by doing activism in your community. Even if it’s as small as making food for Food Not Bombs. Do something that builds class consciousness, something that helps push our country to the left. Get to know your next-door neighbors, start a tenants’ union, make a community bake sale, or start a community garden. Help the homeless in your area, donate to food pantries, etc. You don’t have to be a part of the DSA or PSL to do good (though I highly encourage you to join one of those organizations). This is how we change the hockey world…by changing the world around it so that eventually its walls break down. Complaining online will only do so much good. Sure, it may work great for small leagues like the ECHL, where they have to listen to fan feedback to survive, like when Ben Johnson got the boot. But complaining online is not going to do much to sway the NHL or national teams. You should complain, you should make known to the hockey world that we’re over its toxicity and conservatism, but don’t expect that to cause much change. Make the world around it move far enough left that the hockey world eventually gets dragged along as well. That is how change will be made.

So, to wrap this up, what I’m saying is: most of these men in the US men’s hockey team are not exceptionally evil; they’re not the way they are because they have genuine beliefs or hold malice in their hearts. They’re a reflection of the broader culture. They’re uninformed and willfully so. Their crime is willful ignorance. Sure, there are people who are genuinely just evil, but most people can be swayed; they just need someone to come into their lives and be patient with them as they grow and learn. They’re just apathetic, and we need to show them how damaging their apathy is and how to be politically engaged in a constructive way. Once again, none of this is an excuse for hockey players or your neighbors to unwillingly prop up fascism. They should know better and be better. It’s just an understanding of what’s going on so we can accurately address the issue. So, get out there and make a difference in this world, which hopefully someday will lead to a change in the hockey world.

CORRECTION: It has come to my attention thanks to a reader that Oettinger said that everyone knew who Kash Patel was and so I have removed that part of the article. I missed that and that’s my bad. I don’t think it’s enough to take away from my broader point. These people don’t understand much of the world outside their locker room and family group chats. When they say that they don’t see their post-gold medal winning actions as political, I believe that they genuinely do not understand how visiting the President or going to the State of the Union is political. They believe that being “good citizens” is not political. Why do I think they believe this? Because this is what the average person thinks. I know people in real life who think that singing the anthem and flying jets over stadiums before football games isn’t political. When something is completely normalized, it’s not political…what’s seen as “political” is the “not normal”, aka, minorities, not visiting the President after a championship, etc.

If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, Rednote, Threads, TikTok, Tumblr, and UpScrolled.