Ken Holland lives for early October baseball.

The Detroit Red Wings general manager spoke with TSN's Gary Lawless about the state of hockey and how to increase scoring, and added that he believes the NHL should expand from 16 playoff teams to 18.

"I'm all for an extra team in each conference qualifying for the playoffs and having a wild-card play-in game," Holland opined. "It would add excitement down the stretch for many more teams fighting for the additional wild-card spot and two extra teams would be involved in the playoffs. Those play-in games would be dramatic."

Major League Baseball added a wild-card playoff team in 1994, which advanced to the division series. In 2012, a second wild-card playoff team was added to the postseason mix, the result a winner-moves-on, play-in game between the two wild-card holders.

Last season, the Red Wings qualified for the postseason with 93 points, finishing third in the Atlantic Division. The Boston Bruins ended with 93 points, as well, but missed out on the playoffs thanks to one fewer regulation and overtime win.

The New York Islanders took the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, with 100 points, and the Philadelphia Flyers the second with 96 points. If Holland had his way, the Islanders would have been guaranteed a seven-game series after 82 games, while Boston and Philadelphia would have contested a one-game showdown for the right to move on.

There's little doubting Holland's statement about drama to begin the second - and most important - season. Everyone loves a Game 7, and in Holland's world, the Stanley Cup Playoffs would begin, essentially, with two of them.

Where do we sign?

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In the modern executive realm, there's isn't a more respected visionary than Detroit Red Wings architect Ken Holland.

So when Holland, the man credited with spearheading the NHL's adoption of 3-on-3 overtime, offered an opinion on the quick-fix proposition to increase scoring by increasing net size, it should come as no surprise that he introduced an important caveat to the conversation.

In an interview with TSN's Gary Lawless, Holland cautioned that if manipulated carelessly, increased scoring could actually take away from the game.

"We have games where one team will significantly outshoot the other and it will still be a close game in the third period. Bigger nets could eliminate close games on nights when the ice is tilted," Holland said.

In Holland's mind, the NHL has to protect the finish as it machinates strategies to increase scoring.

"I think the game's in great shape in terms of parity and competitiveness. So many of our games come down to the last few minutes and the tension and nervousness is critical and exciting for our fans."

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USA Hockey released its preliminary roster for the 2017 World Junior Hockey Championship on Monday, and 27 players are headed to camp in Buffalo, N.Y., later this month.

Five returnees from the squad that won bronze in 2016 will be back for another go-around:

Here's the full roster, which will be cut down to 23 in time for the tournament in Montreal and Toronto:

Goalies

• Tyler Parsons
• Jake Oettinger
• Joseph Woll

Defensemen

• Ryan Lindgren
• Jack Ahcan
• Caleb Jones
• Krys
• Casey Fitzgerald
• Adam Fox
• McAvoy
• Joe Cecconi

Forwards

• Luke Kunin
• Tanner Laczynski
• Patrick Harper
• Jordan Greenway
• Joey Anderson
• Erik Foley
• Boeser
• Jeremy Bracco
• White
• Clayton Keller
• Troy Terry
• Logan Brown
• Kieffer Bellows
• DeBrincat
• Jack Roslovic
• Tage Thompson

With only eight defensemen invited to camp, it's likely the three cuts will come from up front, where the U.S. boasts a lot of skill.

Boston University's Keller is dealing with a lower-body injury at the moment, but is expected to be fit for the tournament.

Six of the kids are from Minnesota, while five are from New York.

The tournament runs Dec. 26 through Jan. 5.

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It could be a Wednesday night in January or the Stanley Cup could be in the building, the NHL won't alter its new concussion protocol.

That's the latest from deputy commissioner Bill Daly, according to TSN's Frank Seravalli.

"We have no intention of changing the standards that are employed based on the situation in the game or season," Daly said, adding that the very message was passed on to each team's general manager.

On Sunday, NHL leading scorer Connor McDavid was pulled from the Edmonton Oilers' game against the Minnesota Wild in the second period by a concussion spotter, and No. 97 wasn't happy about it.

"I was pretty shocked, to be honest," McDavid said.

McDavid reached for his mouth after hitting the ice in a collision, and that's one of four signs league-mandated concussion spotters - in place for the first time this season - are looking for to determine whether a player needs to be evaluated for head trauma.

Seravalli writes that it was the league spotter watching from New York who made the call for McDavid to head off the ice.

"It remains a work in progress," Daly said, "but yes, we are comfortable with how the new protocol is working. It's always better to err on the side of caution."

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Alex Galchenyuk will be out indefinitely after undergoing tests on a lower-body injury suffered during Sunday's game in Los Angeles, the Montreal Canadiens have announced.

The initial tests took place in St. Louis, and Galchenyuk will be further evaluated in Montreal on Wednesday, at which time his status will be updated.

Galchenyuk leads the Canadiens in goals (nine) and total points (23) despite ranking fourth in ice time among forwards, and has emerged as a key piece for a club sitting first in the Atlantic Division.

Montreal next plays Tuesday against St. Louis, meaning Galchenyuk will miss one game, at the very least.

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The teddy bear toss is easily one of hockey's most entertaining traditions.

The AHL's Hershey Bears held their annual fundraiser Sunday afternoon and set a new team record in the process, with 20,662 teddy bears hitting the ice after Garrett Mitchell scored in the first period.

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The Vancouver Canucks are apparently establishing new lows when it comes to ticket demand on the secondary market.

"I didn't think it would get any lower than the Mike Keenan years - that's when they moved Trevor (Linden) out and brought in (Mark) Messier," Kingsley Bailey, the manager of local broker Vancouver Ticket, told Postmedia's Stephanie Ip.

Bailey said demand for resale Canucks tickets this season is at an "all-time low," or the lowest it's been since the late 1990s.

"It's got to the point where some ticket holders - they don't even want to go but they don't want to lose their priority number," he said. "So some of my season-ticket holders who were selling partial seasons are now selling me full seasons."

Canucks COO Jeff Stipec told Yip that the season-ticket renewal rate for 2016-17 plummeted to just over 80 percent, down from 97 percent in 2011.

Vancouver sits second-last in the paltry Pacific Division, and the Canucks have the fifth-worst record in the league at 11-12-2 through 25 games.

Things seemed similarly grim in the fall of 2014, when Bailey said there was "no demand" for Canucks resale tickets. The club missed the postseason in 2013-14 after five consecutive playoff runs, which included a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2011.

After being eliminated by the Calgary Flames in the first round of the 2015 playoffs, Vancouver missed the postseason again last spring and doesn't appear likely to be playoff-bound in 2017.

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Vancouver Canucks forward Derek Dorsett will undergo cervical fusion surgery to repair disc degeneration in his neck, general manager Jim Benning announced Monday.

Due to the nature of the procedure, no timeline will be provided, but he's expected to recover fully and resume playing.

"The decision to perform surgery was made after a thorough review of our options, including non-surgical treatment and rehabilitation," Benning said.

"Derek, our Canucks medical team, and Dr. (Robert) Watkins believe that surgery offers the best outcome both for his career and long-term health. Derek is an important member of our team and we are optimistic for a full recovery."

Dorsett, who hasn't played since Nov. 17, ended the Canucks' goalless streak of just under 160 minutes when he scored against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 5.

He's collected four points and racked up 33 penalty minutes in 14 games.

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Former NHL forward Marek Svatos' death has been ruled a drug overdose by a Colorado coroner's office.

From Tom McGhee of the Denver Post:

Former Colorado Avalanche winger Marek Svatos had codeine, morphine, and an anti-anxiety medication in his system when he died of combined drug intoxication last month, the Douglas County Coroner’s Office said Monday.

He had a history of heroin use and had gone through drug rehabilitation, according to the coroner’s report. He also had suspected depression, prior suicidal ideation, and “recent life stressors.”

“Drug paraphernalia was found at the scene,” the report said.

The Slovakia native was found dead at age 34 on Nov. 5 in a community outside Denver.

Svatos appeared in 344 career NHL games with the Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators, and Ottawa Senators, recording 100 goals and 172 points.

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Two Swedish junior hockey teams obliterated the NHL's single-game record for penalty minutes Sunday.

Aker/Strängnäs HC and Flemingsbergs IK racked up a whopping 871 penalty minutes during their game, which was played before a crowd of just 67. The NHL record is 419 minutes, set during a brawl between the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers in 2004.

- With h/t to SB Nation

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