A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Did Cale Makar just win the Hart by not playing hockey?
1. Reading between the lines of Mike Gillis’s compelling interview this week on Sekeres & Price, his first since interviewing for a job with the Toronto Maple Leafs, it sure sounds like he wanted to be president.
Thing is, the Maple Leafs elected not to elect one.
At age 67 and 12 years removed from his most recent NHL gig, Gillis believes there is still a viable role for him inside a front office and says he made it clear to the Leafs where he’d be best suited.
“Guys my age shouldn’t be on the front lines on a daily basis,” said Gillis, who no longer wants to be a general manager.
To be sure, NHL GMs are trending younger. The guy who got the Toronto job, John Chayka, is 36. Vancouver’s new man, Ryan Johnson, is 49. New Jersey just hired 48-year-old Sunny Mehta. But Jim Nill, 68, is regarded as one of the best in the biz — and will soon start a brand-new deal in Dallas.
Gillis presented a specific structure to the Maple Leafs, where he’d fit within it, and the roles he’d like to fill. His plan would require “short-term pain” in the form of firings, which has already begun in Toronto.
Presumably, his proposal was similar to the reporting structure he outlined when interviewing for the Penguins vacancy back in 2021:
“If I don’t think there’s alignment on how you view the organization and how it’s going to evolve and grow, it’s not really a place for me,” Gillis said. He explained that he would be best suited to guide younger managers, especially when external pressures in white-hot markets threaten to cloud their judgement.
“The Toronto Maple Leafs weren’t going to fill that role. It became apparent. So, it wasn’t the right fit.”
Gillis also said that he would “most definitely” have welcomed Mats Sundin into his Toronto office and spoke highly of the empathy retired stars have for current players.
And the former Canucks GM believes Vancouver knocked its recent restructuring out of the park, having Johnson under the leadership of co-presidents Henrik and Daniel Sedin, two natural leaders of great integrity.
“These guys understand the landscape better than anybody else,” Gillis approved.
2. Team Canada general manager Brad Treliving spoke publicly this week for the first time since getting fired by the Maple Leafs in March.
Treliving told TSN's OverDrive that, while busy selecting and running the national squad, he has spent time reflecting on his nearly three years with the Leafs. And plans to do some more.
The executive didn’t dive into the details of his disappointment, framing the team’s 30-point drop-off as a death of a thousand cuts. He believes the roster he passed off to Chayka is better than its 28th-place finish would suggest.
Agreed. The GM did not build a real contender, but the players he did assemble underachieved.
The most telling and damning thing Treliving allowed: “We didn’t have the buy-in.”
Several Leafs players we spoke to echoed that sentiment, and the product on the ice backed it up.
That will be the great challenge for whoever coaches this team next season.
3. Phillip Danault did not score a goal in 30 games with the L.A. Kings this season.
The checking centre potted six in the regular season for the Canadiens since getting reacquired mid-season and has added two more in these playoffs. With six assists, the veteran has already tied his career high in post-season points (eight).
All this despite seeing career lows in average ice time (15:59) and offensive-zone starts (30.3 per cent). The man has found his niche.
“It took him a little while to get acclimated (with) how we play,” Martin St. Louis told reporters. “But he’s fitting in nicely.”
Danault is signed through 2026-27 at just $4.25 million in real dollars, so Montreal should get another post-season out of the shutdown face-off beast.
For what is going to be a very late second-round pick, this is an absolute fleece job by Kent Hughes.
4. Quote of the Week.
“We weren’t ready to play playoff hockey.” — Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour, upon losing Game 1 to the Montreal Canadiens, after having 11 days off to get ready to play playoff hockey
5. When Connor Bedard passed on the 2025 world championships, we asked Morgan Rielly about participating in a not-quite-best-on-best tournament that holds more prestige in Europe than North America.
A young Rielly won gold with Canada in 2016, then turned down his country’s invite to defend the title in 2017.
“I didn’t go. And that’s one of my biggest regrets,” Rielly said last May. “You want to get back over there and do it.”
Well, a trip to Switzerland is Rielly’s consolation prize for missing the playoffs. A lightning rod in Toronto of late, the defenceman has chipped in a couple points and has found himself on the plus side of the ledger as Canada rolls undefeated through the preliminary round.
We can only imagine how refreshing this tournament is for the loyal Leaf, whose status under Chayka is still very much a mystery. Toronto’s GM is determined to find creative ways to shake up his mix on the back end this summer.
“Who knows what the future holds,” Treliving said, regarding Rielly. “But sometimes a change is good for everybody.
“I still think there’s a good NHL defenceman there.”
6. Not sure there is anything more Canadian than two generational hockey stars insisting that the other guy be captain.
Having already stitched the C on 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini’s sweater before Sidney Crosby, 38, joined the national club overseas, Treliving explained that both players were “adamant” that the other guy take the honour.
No! Please. You have the last slice. I couldn’t possibly.
Eventually, Crosby and fellow leaders John Tavares and Ryan O’Reilly all met with Celebrini. The vets insisted the teenager be captain with a simple message: It’s yours. We’re right here to support you.
On Tavares: Canada is using the centreman on the wing in this tournament, a move Treliving and his staff also considered in Toronto. Shedding some defensive responsibilities, the 35-year-old is thriving.
7. Another atrocious start to another Eastern Conference final for the Hurricanes, always quick to give away that hard-earned home-ice advantage in Round 3.
But things were going très bon before the puck dropped Thursday.
Mason Greer, Carolina’s 24-year-old anthem singer, chose to belt out a bilingual version of “O Canada” even though he doesn’t know a lick of French.
“I figured it would be nice to just add that touch to pay respects,” Greer told the Raleigh News & Observer.
Between Greer’s grace and Buffalo’s “O Canada” save, we’re making some nice strides.
8. If any NHLer with the ability to re-sign July 1 has a legitimate case for a max-money contract, it is the Norris-winning, gold-medal-owning, firmly-in-his-prime defenceman who spends more time on the ice than any other player in the league and just led his new team to its longest playoff run in 12 years.
But what makes Quinn Hughes’ negotiations with the Minnesota Wild so fascinating is the incredible leverage the player has here.
While we’d argue he still won the deal, Bill Guerin did give up a decent package of futures to acquire Vancouver’s MVP for what the Wild GM hopes is for more than two runs at a Cup. Furthermore, Guerin — and, more pertinently, owner Craig Leipold — has already shown a willingness to blow the doors off any internal cap to retain talent.
Kirill Kaprizov, 29, required the richest contract in NHL history (eight years times $17 million) to stick in Minnesota. Hughes, 26, is more important, more in his prime, and will be bargaining in a more favourable financial landscape.
The maximum AAV one hockey player can make is 20 per cent of his team’s cap. That would be $20.8 million in 2026-27 and $22.7 million against the projected ceiling of 2027-28, when Hughes’ next deal will begin.
(Sidebar: This fact must make the union shake its collective head and Stan Bowman thank his lucky stars considering Connor McDavid’s “new” $12.5 million salary only sucks up roughly 12 per cent of Edmonton’s budget.)
Will Hughes push to be the NHL’s first $20-million man? Probably not. Leave some for the boys to eat and all that.
But could he dare undercut himself and take less than Kaprizov? Probably not. That’s just bad business.
Hughes and the star forward tied for the team lead in points (15) in these playoffs, while the D-man was the only Wild skater with two game-winners. Plus, he logged seven more minutes per game than Kaprizov.
“I would definitely be open to re-signing,” Hughes said in his season-ending press conference.
“I really like it here. I love the team. I love the city and the fans. Being in that locker room, it’s a special group. I would definitely be open to re-signing here, with the guys that we have. There’s a lot of trust with Billy as well.
“I think it’s a great spot, great situation for me.”
We’re about to find out just how great.
9. Jackie Redmond shared a great behind-the-curtain moment with Martin St. Louis.
TNT’s rink-side reporter gave Montreal’s coach a pass on a planned in-game interview when the Canadiens were getting hammered one night in these playoffs. St. Louis later told Redmond that not only does his team not need any protection but that those interviews are arguably more valuable when a team is down.
A tiny tidbit that speaks volumes about the culture St. Louis is creating with the young conference finalist:
10. Sure, naming Hamilton’s new AHL franchise the Mustangs would’ve been a slick nod to Youngblood. But Hamilton Hammers hits hard.
This is the correct choice. (Although, one fan came up with a superior logo that goes ham.)
“Low-hanging fruit,” one Hamiltonian argued on the ol’ tweet box. “It just sounds good.”
Exactly.
Let’s! Go! Ham-mers!
11. Driving to Game 7 of the Habs-Sabres series along New York State Route 33, I found myself rubbernecking. The city’s roadside welcome sign has been modified: WELCOME TO LINDY RUFFALO.
A complete U-turn from those “Fi-re! Lin-dy!” chants in Jersey a few years back.
The early-season whispers in Buffalo positioned this season as the 66-year-old’s final one behind the bench. Rumours had Ruff beginning a transition to some less-demanding front-office role. Then the Sabres became an absolute wagon.
“When I took the job, I thought, No. 1, I wanted these guys to like being a Buffalo Sabre. I think they like being a Sabre, and I think they made our city proud. It wasn’t the result we wanted. And to a man, they’re all disappointed. But they gave me everything they had in the can,” Ruff said Monday, during an eloquent and heartfelt press conference.
Amid the heartbreak, Ruff spoke for nearly 10 minutes about the triumphs and failings of his team. Impressive bit of leadership.
The Sabres won over the city. The two-year extension for Ruff, GM Jarmo Kekäläinen’s inherited coach, was a no-brainer.
“He is so good at pushing us,” captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “There’s no time for effing around. You have to be uncomfortable every day. I think that’s what really helped us as a group. We took care of the other stuff, but he made sure he pushed us every day, and I think that brought us a lot of success.”
12. Fun fact!
The Gagarin Cup weighs 40 pounds, making the KHL’s championship trophy five and half pounds heavier than the taller Stanley Cup.
Yaroslav Lokomotiv goaltender and clean-and-jerk newbie Alexei Melnichuk discovered this fact the hard way. Get this man a spotter.
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