A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and silly, and rolling four lines deep.
1. They always say hockey is a business. They never say it’s a fair or kind business.
Eight months ago, the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs convinced Milan Michalek to waive his no-trade clause and join the nine-player swap orchestrated to rid unwanted contracts. Brian Murray, then GM of the Sens, couldn’t sleep when he thought of moving the veteran winger.
“You know, Brian, I’ve played against Toronto for seven years now. It’s been a real rivalry,” Murray recalled Michalek saying. “It’s hard for me to accept, but at the end of the day, I understand what you’re doing in Ottawa.”
So Michalek left, and the Leafs could wash their hands of Dion Phaneuf‘s dollars.
“I think that’s why they brought me here—to show the young guys the way,” Michalek told me this summer.
“I’m actually really excited to be here [in Toronto]. I love the city. So does my wife. We’re expecting a second child now, so it’s going to be good.”
Turns out, Lou Lamoriello and Mike Babcock brought Michalek here to get out of the young guys’ way.
Michalek was waived this week. Rookie Connor Brown took his spot in the lineup, and waiver pickup Ben Smith (who wore 26 for Toronto last season) took Michalek’s sweater No. 18 — not a good sign.
Three of the players the Leafs received in the Phaneuf package have been waived, one of whom is embroiled in a nasty buyout controversy. The fourth, Tobias Lindberg, has three points in six games for the Marlies. (There’s also a second-round pick coming in the 2017 Draft.)
Babcock explained Michalek’s demotion on Prime Time Sports.
“He can play on this team. We just felt that we’re going to give Brown an opportunity because he gives Leo Komarov and [Nazem] Kadri more pace,” the coach said on air.
“The beauty of our situation right now here in Toronto is we have [Colin] Greening, [Brooks] Laich and him all in the same situation. We can use ’em.”
They can, but it doesn’t feel like they will. Speed kills.
2. Peter Holland shoots Ben Bishop’s front teeth out: An oral history
Ben Bishop, goalie: “The puck just hit me pretty square in the face there. I don’t know exactly how they got knocked out, if it was the mask or the cage or what. I felt both teeth pop out. They were sitting in my mask. One fell out and [Brian Boyle] picked it up. Painful, but not too bad, so I was able to stay in.”
Jon Cooper, head coach: “I couldn’t believe it. I thought he just took it off the head, then our trainer came to the bench with them. I couldn’t believe how big Ben’s teeth actually are. But gutty effort. The vibration knocked his teeth loose. Apparently they were fake anyway.”
Bishop: “The cage on the mask was bent, so I had to put a new cage on.”
Steven Stamkos, witness: “Great to see [him stay in]. It gives kind of a boost to the team when Bish takes one off the face. I think he lost a couple crowns.”
Bishop: “I gotta get my teeth fixed so I’m not looking like this.”
3. The Montreal Canadiens have rocketed out the gate with the NHL’s best record, Shea Weber may be the best defenceman in hockey right now, and Michel Therrien is so far removed from the hotseat, he can nurse a cup of draught on the bench like he don’t give one hell:
(OK, fine. But that’s one heck of an optical illusion.)
4. As part of his Blond Ambition World Tour, Wayne Gretzky made his way to the set of Conan to tell his Gordie Howe stories and popped by Bill Simmons’ Any Given Wednesday alongside comedian Bill Burr.
Great stuff.
Burr steals the spotlight on the HBO spot when he goes off on a keep-fighting-in-the-NHL rant.
“You see guys in other leagues and think, ‘That guy needs the [crap] kicked out of him.’ It never happens. In hockey, it does,” Burr says.
“They’re always saying, ‘Get the fighting out of hockey,’ but you don’t have to get it out of boxing?”
5. For every Peter Budaj — four straight wins! — there is a Malcolm Subban. My hearts breaks for the kid.
With Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin injured, Subban got the call up from the AHL to start Tuesday.
“I’ve been playing in the AHL developing for the last three years. I feel like I’m ready for the next step,” the first-round pick told me this summer.
Subban said he still thinks about his disastrous big-league debut, and the only NHL game he’d ever played. In February 2015, he was pulled after allowing three goals to the St. Louis Blues in 31 minutes.
“It wasn’t one I want to remember,” Subban said. “I’m using it as motivation, not an assessment. Hopefully I get back this year.”
After waiting 20 months, he did get back Tuesday. And the Minnesota Wild scored three goals on 16 shots. Subban was pulled, again, after just 31 minutes and has an NHL save percentage of .727.
The Bruins have turned to Zane McIntyre.
6. Rivaling Subban on the leaderboard for “2016-17’s Most Sympathetic Characters” is Taylor Hall. The winger is not only responsible for scoring 38 per cent of all goals for the New Jersey Devils this season, he may also be a clairvoyant.
“Once the regular season starts and you start seeing Edmonton piling up the wins,” Hall said in August, “it’s going to be a bit weird.”
What’s weird is Hall predicting the Oilers would pile up the wins — six of them in seven attempts, their best start since the Gretzky days.
7. Multi-tasker extraordinaire Joe Everson delivered the most creative anthem performance we’ve ever seen.
Warming up the Toledo Walleye crowd Saturday night, Everson belted out “The Star-Spangled Banner” while painting.
I can’t eat lunch and watch TV at the same time without getting chili on my shirt.
8. Richard Panik, 25, was waived by the Tampa Bay Lightning, picked up by Toronto, waived by Toronto, spent time as healthy scratch with the Marlies, then traded to Chicago for AHLer Jeremy Morin.
Panik has six goals in eight games with the Blackhawks and is tied atop the Rocket Richard Trophy race. Today he skated on a line with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.
9. Here’s a nice byproduct of Team North America, the team “too beautiful to live,” as Bruce Arthur put it.
After practising at the same time on separate Toronto rinks Wednesday, Florida’s Aaron Ekblad made a point of approaching the Leafs’ Auston Matthews to chat.
Y’know, one Calder winner to another.
Being part of that American-Canadian superclub mash-up has helped forge friendships between young superstars, many of whom would never get a chance to wear the same sweater otherwise.
10. After coaching Matthews as a member of Team North America’s staff, Lightning bench boss Jon Cooper became a massive fan. (He loves Morgan Reilly, too.)
“The one thing about Auston—he’s a really confident kid. Confident in his abilities. I’m sure when he played in the World Cup, the success he had, that helped drive him in this league. It’s no surprise what he’s doing,” Cooper says.
“It doesn’t matter how good you are, there’s still nuances within the game—who you’re playing with, other players’ tendencies—that you don’t know until you play with them. And he’s going to learn. His hockey IQ is off the charts. That’s a great get for the Leafs because he’s going to be a big-time player here for them for a long time.”
11. Kunlun Red Star forward Zach Yuen made history Thursday, becoming the first Chinese player to score a KHL goal.
Yuen, 23, was born in Vancouver, drafted in the fourth round by Winnipeg back in 2011, and reached his North American professional peak playing three games for the AHL Marlies in 2013-14. He’d been bouncing around the ECHL before joining the Beijing-based Red Star.
12. In effort to meet my editor’s desire for shorter word counts, I left a couple things out of my Jonathan Marchessault profile.
Watching him practice the day after the Panthers squandered a two-goal lead to Pittsburgh, the guy appeared to be on Cloud 9, claiming his goals on Roberto Luongo with great exaggeration and yukking it up with his teammates.
“I don’t want to take everything so seriously. Especially after a loss like that, guys get low,” he explained. “I want to bring the competition higher and give some life out there.”
I also asked if his hot start on Florida’s top line might make it difficult for Jonathan Huberdeau to reclaim his spot when he comes back from injury.
“He proved so much in the past years. He’s one of the best players on this team, so I’m not looking to that right now. I’m sure he’s not looking to that now,” Marchessault said. “Whatever happens, happens.”
What happened next was another two-goal performance, Thursday night against the Maple Leafs. He’s now tied for second in the Art Ross race with 10 points in seven games.
