Touting one of the finest young crops of players in the NHL, the Leafs are no longer a pushover club. A lot of that rejuvenation has to do with rookies like Mitch Marner.
Marner recognizes that in a hockey-crazed market like Toronto, an improved on-ice product means expectations off the ice are heightened: "Everyone just keeps telling me how many wins they want," Marner told Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun.
"But, it will be fun coming in here, believing in each other, believing in the one beside us. We do that and play the way we can, we’re going to be better than last year."
While Marner turned heads league-wide last season with his slick hands and offensive ability (19 goals and 42 assists), he realizes he'll need to become more of a two-way player in order for Mike Babcock to play him at crucial moments.
"You want to be out there to get a game tied so you can win it in overtime," said Marner. "You want a bigger role, go out on every shift like it’s your last. "Defense has always been important to me, it was always taught first. You’re always trying to see the guy coming in so they can’t back-door us."
Following a year in which Toronto qualified for the playoffs only one season removed from finishing dead last, the Leafs won't be surprising teams during this campaign compared to last.
That fact isn't lost on Marner.
"Last year, people didn’t know how we were going to," Marner said. "Now, we have to expect a hard game every night and that people will bring their 'A' game against us. We have to be ready."
The rest of the hockey world will find out if the Leafs are indeed "ready" when they kick off their regular-season schedule Oct. 4 with a visit to Winnipeg to take on the Jets.
Few athletes in the world of professional sports have the talent with which Roger Federer is blessed.
So, when the 19-time major champion chimed in with his assessment of countryman and New Jersey Devils forward Nico Hischier, people paid attention.
"I mean, look, we're very happy in Switzerland that we have such a great hockey player in the starting blocks who is hopefully going to be a great, great player," Federer said, according to Jeff Eisenband of The Post Game. "Hope he stays healthy. I'm only hearing great things about him. He's a good guy. Unbelievably talented.
"People predict a great future ahead of him. I had the same. It's always easy to predict. But he's the guy who has to put in the work and be the guy who does it every single night on the ice."
While Federer has been competing on the world's biggest stage for nearly two decades, Hischier is just embarking on his career.
And, while the buzz around Hischier's debut has been substantial, Federer was quick to caution the 18-year-old rookie about the noise that comes along with being pegged "The Next One."
"That's the tough thing about it. It's always easy for people to talk, predict you're going to be world No.1, best goal-scorer," said Federer. "Doesn't matter. You have to put your head down and just work as hard as you possibly can."
With New Jersey set to open training camp in a matter of days, Hischier might be wise to lean on his Swiss counterpart for some advice. Guidance that Federer is more than willing to provide.
"If he has questions, I'm always happy to help," Federer said. " ... But I wish him all the very best."
Here's the first update to the 2017-18 standard-league rankings. Updates will continue throughout training camps and the preseason as depth charts and roles become more clear.
These rankings apply to standard leagues. Yahoo! scoring counts goals, assists, plus/minus, penalty minutes, power-play points, and shots on goal for skaters. Goaltender stats consist of wins, goals-against average, save percentage, and shutouts.
At the completion of Boston's season in April, Bruins centerman Patrice Bergeron revealed that he played through the 2016-17 campaign with a sports hernia issue that ended up requiring offseason surgery.
Despite the injury, Bergeron produced respectable offensive numbers (21 goals, 32 assists) while earning his fourth Selke Trophy as the games' best defensive forward. And, following a summer of rehab, Bergeron finally feels healthy once again.
"Still doing some rehab. I'll be ready for camp," said Bergeron, according to Matt Kalman of NHL.com. "I feel good. There's still some restriction there that we have to work on, but overall, I feel pretty good. I feel good on the ice, I feel good in the gym.
"We still have to definitely do some treatments, but definitely I feel good and I know I'll be ready for camp."
While Bergeron admits he still has work to do to get back to 100 percent, he was also open about how the injury affected his production last campaign.
" ... It was hard that way, it was in my head also, but once I was past that hurdle of realizing it's going to be there for the whole year and just kind of not worrying about it, I felt better," Bergeron said.
"But that being said, it's still one of those where - it's not an excuse for the slow start I had and missing some chances - but still it was slowing me down a bit and was just annoying."
Regardless of last season's dip in offense, Bergeron is still one of the best two-way forwards in the game and an integral part of the Bruins' core. A healthy Bergeron to start the year can only mean good things for Boston.
"Hopefully I'll have a better start," he said. "That being said, I'm trying to get back to my game, playing both ways. You always want to push your limits, be better offensively but also defensively and in every aspect of the game."
We're just over a month away from the start of the NHL season, but a handful of summer subplots remain unresolved.
Several high-profile players are still awaiting new contracts, whether they be extensions on their existing deals or brand-new pacts for some aging players.
A talented center who's been the subject of trade talks for months hasn't been moved, and a longtime NHL winger is likely pondering his future after seeing a fellow veteran call it a career.
Here are five things we're still itching to see this summer:
Yes, he's old. Yes, he's probably looking for a decent chunk of change. But hasn't he earned it?
Jagr's exploits are well documented. He's the NHL's third all-time leading goal-scorer and ranks second on the league's career points list.
The 45-year-old scored 16 goals and played in all 82 games last season. It was his third and final campaign with the Florida Panthers, who cut ties with the living legend on July 1, officially putting him on the open market.
But numbers side, the mere act of signing Jagr would be a major public relations victory and a boon to a club's marketing efforts.
Somebody needs to step up to the plate and get his signature on the dotted line.
Eichel, Sabres need to agree on money
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Unlike Jagr, Jack Eichel is still under contract, but the young Buffalo Sabres star could enter the final season of his entry-level deal without an extension in hand.
Sabres general manager Jason Botterill said last week that both sides want the maximum amount of term on a potential new agreement, which under NHL rules would be for eight years.
The issue, then, is the cash, and that aspect of the negotiations has more than likely been impacted by the recent extensions signed by Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid and his talented teammate, Leon Draisaitl.
Still, the market has been established, and the Sabres need to recognize that. They can avoid the in-season distraction that the lingering talks would cause by paying their franchise player what he deserves before the puck drops again this fall.
Pastrnak needs an extension, too
(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
The Boston Bruins have their contract quandary with a young star to worry about.
David Pastrnak is a restricted free agent, so there's even more urgency to resolve his impasse than there is regarding Eichel in western New York.
The promising 21-year-old's agent, J.P. Barry, said Thursday that talks will pick up Friday, and frankly, it's about time they did. Barry revealed he's going to request an eight-year deal, which would be for a year or two more than the club reportedly offered them earlier this summer.
In other words, Pastrnak's response to apparently being offered far less than he's worth ($6 million per season) is to seek a deal for the maximum amount of term allowable under the NHL's CBA.
This is how negotiations work, and this particular one will likely culminate with the two sides meeting somewhere in the middle, but surely they could have gotten there by now.
But that was more than four months ago, and Iginla is an unrestricted free agent still searching for a new contract as autumn approaches.
Iginla had his moments with the Kings but failed to muster much production with the moribund Colorado Avalanche prior to the deadline deal that sent him to Hollywood.
There would be no shame for Iginla in bidding farewell to the NHL, and Team Canada will consider him for the 2018 Olympics if he goes that route, but he's certainly entitled to take his time to make such an important decision.
Will a Duchene trade ever happen?
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Matt Duchene has been on the block since at least last winter, so why hasn't a deal been consumated?
The Avalanche might be better served waiting until the 2018 trade deadline to maximize the return on a deal, but after the 2017 deadline passed without a Duchene move, the forward said there was "probably a good chance" a trade would be made this summer.
The end of the offseason is on the horizon, and a deal obviously hasn't happened yet, but the Avalanche clearly have no problem dragging this on until they get the package they want.
We're just over a month away from the start of the NHL season, but a handful of summer subplots remain unresolved.
Several high-profile players are still awaiting new contracts, whether they be extensions on their existing deals or brand-new pacts for some aging players.
A talented center who's been the subject of trade talks for months hasn't been moved, and a longtime NHL winger is likely pondering his future after seeing a fellow veteran call it a career.
Here are five things we're still itching to see this summer:
Yes, he's old. Yes, he's probably looking for a decent chunk of change. But hasn't he earned it?
Jagr's exploits are well documented. He's the NHL's third all-time leading goal-scorer and ranks second on the league's career points list.
The 45-year-old scored 16 goals and played in all 82 games last season. It was his third and final campaign with the Florida Panthers, who cut ties with the living legend on July 1, officially putting him on the open market.
But numbers side, the mere act of signing Jagr would be a major public relations victory and a boon to a club's marketing efforts.
Somebody needs to step up to the plate and get his signature on the dotted line.
Eichel, Sabres need to agree on money
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Unlike Jagr, Jack Eichel is still under contract, but the young Buffalo Sabres star could enter the final season of his entry-level deal without an extension in hand.
Sabres general manager Jason Botterill said last week that both sides want the maximum amount of term on a potential new agreement, which under NHL rules would be for eight years.
The issue, then, is the cash, and that aspect of the negotiations has more than likely been impacted by the recent extensions signed by Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid and his talented teammate, Leon Draisaitl.
Still, the market has been established, and the Sabres need to recognize that. They can avoid the in-season distraction that the lingering talks would cause by paying their franchise player what he deserves before the puck drops again this fall.
Pastrnak needs an extension, too
(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
The Boston Bruins have their contract quandary with a young star to worry about.
David Pastrnak is a restricted free agent, so there's even more urgency to resolve his impasse than there is regarding Eichel in western New York.
The promising 21-year-old's agent, J.P. Barry, said Thursday that talks will pick up Friday, and frankly, it's about time they did. Barry revealed he's going to request an eight-year deal, which would be for a year or two more than the club reportedly offered them earlier this summer.
In other words, Pastrnak's response to apparently being offered far less than he's worth ($6 million per season) is to seek a deal for the maximum amount of term allowable under the NHL's CBA.
This is how negotiations work, and this particular one will likely culminate with the two sides meeting somewhere in the middle, but surely they could have gotten there by now.
But that was more than four months ago, and Iginla is an unrestricted free agent still searching for a new contract as autumn approaches.
Iginla had his moments with the Kings but failed to muster much production with the moribund Colorado Avalanche prior to the deadline deal that sent him to Hollywood.
There would be no shame for Iginla in bidding farewell to the NHL, and Team Canada will consider him for the 2018 Olympics if he goes that route, but he's certainly entitled to take his time to make such an important decision.
Will a Duchene trade ever happen?
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Matt Duchene has been on the block since at least last winter, so why hasn't a deal been consumated?
The Avalanche might be better served waiting until the 2018 trade deadline to maximize the return on a deal, but after the 2017 deadline passed without a Duchene move, the forward said there was "probably a good chance" a trade would be made this summer.
The end of the offseason is on the horizon, and a deal obviously hasn't happened yet, but the Avalanche clearly have no problem dragging this on until they get the package they want.
