Despite what your natural inclination may lead you to believe, there wasn't a proud papa in the seats when Max Domi traded fists with Calgary Flames fourth-line forward Garnet Hathaway in December.
"I didn't have to say too much to Max. He knows," Tie Domi told Sportsnet's Luke Fox. "You learn from experiences and try to take a positive out of it. It's early in his career.
"It's OK to play with an edge, but fighting isn't part of the game."
That is, not a part of his son's game.
"I don't like it. I did enough fighting. I did it the most," he added. "So I did enough for our family and many more. He'll just take the positive learning experience out of it. He's just got to realize that he can't put himself in that situation."
The consequence, this time, was a broken hand suffered in the punch-up.
Max has already missed more than a month after having surgery to repair the damage.
"On the Fly," theScore's NHL roundtable series, is looking to the second half in its latest installment. Below are four players who are going to have big winters.
Patrice Bergeron
Justin Cuthbert: Stuck on single-digit goal and assist totals, and on track for a career-worst season statistically, you have to believe a star like Patrice Bergeron is about to bust out.
GP
G
A
P
5-on-5 P
PPP
SH%
TOI
42
8
9
17
12
5
5.1
19:18
That's not because he's "due," per se, but because he's been dominant.
Bergeron's line with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak has tilted the ice more effectively than any regular unit. They're up around 64 percent possession, and creating more shot attempts than any other trio.
As a result, Marchand and Pastrnak are on track for 30-goal, 60-plus-point seasons. But for whatever reason, and aside from his lowly 5.1 shooting percentage, Bergeron's production has lagged behind.
For now.
Ben Bishop
Cory Wilkins: You can't win without goaltending and Ben Bishop will play a big role down the stretch for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
With his recent injury woes behind him, look for Bishop to return as the clutch netminder who has 22 postseason wins over the past two years.
Among the goaltenders who appeared in at least 10 playoff games last spring, Bishop's .939 save percentage came second to only Braden Holtby - the lone netminder to finish ahead of Bishop in Vezina voting.
Bishop has struggled through the first half of this season, with just 10 wins in 23 games. Despite his average play and the constant trade chatter, Bishop has still outperformed the younger Andrei Vasilevskiy and remains the top option in Tampa Bay's crease.
Goalie
GP
5-on-5 SV%
High-Danger SV%
SH SV%
SV%
Bishop
23
.9217
.7879
.850
.908
Vasilevskiy
23
.9050
.8000
.889
.904
A year ago, the St. Louis Blues - a Stanley Cup contender like the Lightning - held onto their pending free agents at the trade deadline, most notably captain David Backes. The Blues' top priority was to win. With Tampa Bay in a Cup window of its own, we could see a similar non-move, where Bishop is considered more valuable as a current part of the team than as a piece in a deal focused on the future.
Nathan MacKinnon
Ian McLaren: If the Colorado Avalanche are intent on building around youth and speed, there are few better cornerstones than Nathan MacKinnon.
The thing is, the 21-year-old has gotten off to a slow start in this, his fourth NHL season. Through 39 games, he had recorded only 10 goals, putting him on pace for 21 - or three fewer than the career high he set as a rookie.
GP
G
A
P
5-on-5 P
PPP
SH%
TOI
40
11
17
28
19
7
8.2
20:11
MacKinnon did score his 11th goal Thursday, marking the second straight game he found the back of the net.
With questions surrounding the long-term futures of Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene, Colorado appears set to become MacKinnon's team, and he's going to show why with a big second-half performance.
Filip Forsberg
Navin Vaswani: After back-to-back breakout seasons with 64 and 63 points, including a career-high 33 goals last season, Filip Forsberg's on pace for 20 markers and 31 assists. Respectable, sure, but guys named Forsberg are better than that.
Things are going to change in the second half, and let last season be a lesson to all of us:
Filip Forsberg has reached 10 goals. It takes 42 games. He had 11 in 42 last year, finished with 33.
Forsberg lives for the cold. After a five-point January 2016, Forsberg erupted, scoring 19 goals and 34 points in 32 games after the All-Star break. And he's going to do it again, because the Nashville Predators need him to.
GP
G
A
P
5-on-5 P
PPP
SH%
TOI
42
10
16
26
20
6
9.3
18:41
The Swede's doing it already, in fact. Forsberg has eight goals and two assists in his last 15 games - he's heating up.
Last season was Forsberg's best on the power play, too, as he scored eight times and added 15 assists. Nashville converted on 19.7 percent of its man-advantage opportunities in 2015-16, and is at 18.7 percent in 2016-17. In other words, Forsberg's power-play points are coming - and they better be. Four goals and two assists isn't cutting it.
When they do, Forsberg will be a 60-point player once more, and the Predators a playoff team again.
Rask has been indispensable for the Bruins, and is really the driving force behind the club's success through the first half of the season. He has a .926 save clip, five shutouts, and 21 of the Boston's 22 victories in 34 starts.
Shortly after dealing the organization's longest-tenured player to the Nashville Predators in exchange for forward Felix Girard, Colorado Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic said he requested approval from the sandpapered forward first.
"After all the work he's put in for the Avalanche, I asked Cody what he wanted to do. I was going to treat him like basically he had a no-move (clause)," Sakic told Terry Frei of the Denver Post.
"I gave him the opportunity, I told him it was Nashville."
He added, "We moved him as, first of all, a favor to him and (to) give him an opportunity. And he welcomed it. I know it was probably a hard decision for him, but I think hockey-wise, where he is in his career, he wants a chance.
"This is all respect for Cody."
Of course, the move also benefits the Avalanche. It will give them a chance to evaluate forward Matt Nieto, who was picked up on waivers from the San Jose Sharks.
Colorado will also have 60 percent of McLeod's $1.33-million freed up on the payroll next season.
With the entrance of the Vegas Golden Knights, each team can protect seven forwards, three defensemen, and one netminder from the expansion pool, or a combination of eight skaters plus a goalie.
For the Penguins, that means keeping young goalie Matt Murray in the fold over Fleury.
Fleury has been a steady presence for the Penguins, but it's hard to argue with Murray. The 22-year-old made his NHL debut last season, and has lost just six times through 33 regular season games. Not to mention last spring's Stanley Cup run, in which Murray posted 15 wins and a .923 save percentage.
The complication is Fleury's contract.
The 32-year-old is signed through the next two seasons at a reasonable $5.75-million cap hit, but a 12-team no-trade list can dictate where he is traded to, not to mention if he's willing to waive it to spend the final years of his career with an expansion club.
A pair of Pacific Division foes see the value of Martin Hanzal.
The NHL trade deadline is set for March 1 and with the Arizona Coyotes sitting 16 points back of a playoff berth as of Friday, the "for sale" sign is up in the desert.
That means moving out pending unrestricted free agents - a group headlined by Hanzal.
Friedman added that the St. Louis Blues have also expressed interest.
Hanzal made his NHL debut with the Coyotes in 2007 and has been a reliable pivot over the years, used on both the power play and penalty kill. He has tallied 15 points in 34 games this season after scoring a career-high 41 points a year ago.
According to Friedman, Coyotes general manager John Chayka is believed to be seeking a young player, preferably a center, in return for Hanzal.
Ugly goaltending usually waits until the postseason to rear its head in Missouri, but given the shaky play of Jake Allen, we haven't needed to wait that long.
Blues bench boss Ken Hitchcock needed just 25 minutes Thursday before giving Allen the hook after allowing three goals on 15 shots in the Blues' eventual 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
It marked the third time in five outings where Allen finished the game on the bench, a stretch that's seen him surrender nine goals on just 40 shots.
After a strong start to the year, things have gotten worse for Allen with each flip of the calendar:
Month
GP
Record
SV%
GAA
October
7
4-1-2
.923
1.83
November
11
7-2-1
.903
2.78
December
11
5-6-0
.892
3.14
January
4
1-2-0
.870
3.66
Backup Carter Hutton hasn't done any better in relief, owning an .894 save percentage in 16 appearances. But if the Blues are to do anything this year, their success can't hinge on Hutton alone.
This year marks 50 years in the NHL for St. Louis. It also currently looks like a safe bet that it'll soon be 50 years without a Stanley Cup.
After advancing beyond the second round of the playoffs last year for the first time since 2001, the Blues are now at risk of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2011.
St. Louis sits third in the Central, but just a single point above the final wild-card slot. Four teams are within three points or fewer of the Blues in the wild-card race, with Colorado and Arizona the only teams far out of the mix in the West.
For the Blues to keep their playoff hopes alive - as well as what little flicker remains of their Stanley Cup aspirations - their goaltending needs to be fixed sooner rather than later.
It's a delicate balance for the Blues, who have about $1.3 million in cap space. That's not a lot of room for pre-deadline creativity to fix their crease concerns, while the shaky confidence of a 26-year-old Allen still hangs in the balance.
St. Louis Reunion
Interestingly enough, among the top pending free agents and potential trade-deadline targets who could be moved are three individuals who have all manned the crease in St. Louis in the past:
Goalie (Team)
Record
SV%
GAA
Cap Hit
Age
Ryan Miller (VAN)
12-10-3
.914
2.64
$6M
36
Ben Bishop (TB)
10-10-2
.908
2.75
$5.95M
30
Brian Elliott (CGY)
8-10-1
.889
2.95
$2.5M
31
Salary cap aside, things become further complicated by two of the above netminders currently residing on teams competing for playoff positions in the West. The Flames own the top wild-card seed, while the Canucks are one point out of a playoff spot.
Given his more affordable deal, could the Blues reconsider Elliott? St. Louis dealt the veteran goaltender to Calgary in an draft-day deal last summer, but he's struggled in his first season in Alberta.
Calgary sits in a playoff position largely to the credit of Chad Johnson, who was brought in as the intended backup to Elliott. But Johnson has rolled with the top job, owning a winning record of 15-9-1 and a sparkling save percentage of .923 on the season.
In acquiring Elliott, the Flames sent two picks to St. Louis, with one conditional on Elliott re-signing in Calgary. That doesn't look to be in the cards, but could a virtual reversal of this deal - sending a pick back to Calgary for Elliott - be enough to save the season in St. Louis?
The trade deadline is set for March 1, so only time will tell.
On Dec. 25, the uncle of 8-year-old Lucas Bydak tweeted out a letter the boy wrote to Laine wishing him a Merry Christmas and inviting him to his birthday party. "Worth a shot," the uncle said.
He's missed the last eight games with a groin injury.
Dealing with minor injuries throughout, Nash has missed more than a quarter of the schedule, but it's been a reasonably successful bounce-back season for the three-time 40-goal scorer. He's scored at a top 20 per-game rate league wide with 13 goals in 30 games.
