Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Rasmus Sandin has made good use of his team's extended layoff and is feeling better physically than he has before.
"I'm definitely a lot stronger. ... Even William (Nylander) can't even handle me on the ice right now," Sandin said, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.
The 20-year-old returned to Sweden when Toronto was eliminated from the 2019-20 postseason and has been training with teammate and friend Nylander, which Sandin said recently resulted in many broken sticks on the forward's end.
Sandin said that being able to practice against a more experienced NHL player has helped him measure his progression.
"He's obviously a great player, so going against him, I can play in a little bit of a different way," Sandin said. "Before I definitely was just more trying to have my stick and trying to be more in a good position. Now I can pair that up ... with pushing other players from the puck a bit more and winning those battles.
"That's why I feel like this (prolonged break) has helped me a lot on the ice."
Sandin appeared in 26 games with the Maple Leafs this past season, and he also spent 21 games with the AHL's Toronto Marlies.
Though a spot on the Maple Leafs' roster isn't a lock due to their sudden logjam on the blue line, Sandin hopes to do whatever he can to help the team succeed.
"Play all the games I can and make a bigger impact on the team this year - try to help the team win more games," Sandin said of his goals for the upcoming season. "I feel prepared and I can't wait to get camp started."
Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley poured cold water on a recent report indicating the club is looking to trade forward Max Pacioretty.
"We're not shopping Patches," Foley told KLAS TV. "We do have cap issues, and so some of those things have to be resolved as we go forward, we started getting into the season. But he definitely is not being shopped."
The Golden Knights' cap issues are front and center as the NHL inches closer to a potential return in mid-January. TSN's Frank Seravalli reported Tuesday that Pacioretty is on the block. Forward Jonathan Marchessault and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury were identified as other potential trade pieces by The Athletic's Jesse Granger on Wednesday.
Vegas is about $1 million over the $81.5 million salary cap, according to Cap Friendly. The Golden Knights' busy offseason saw them land prized free agent Alex Pietrangelo while also awarding goaltender Robin Lehner with a long-term extension.
Pacioretty counts for $7 million against the cap every year until 2023. He was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens in 2018 and led the Golden Knights with 32 goals this past season.
In the lead-up to the 2021 World Junior Championship, we're taking a look back at each of the 18 Canadian teams to capture the gold medal, culminating Dec. 25 with the start of the latest edition of the tournament.
Moscow was the setting of the 1988 world juniors as Canada claimed its third gold medal at the event with an undefeated seven-game run.
Canada's triumph came one year after it was disqualified from the tournament thanks to the infamous "Punch-up in Piestany" in 1987. Players from Canada and the Soviet Union went toe to toe in the biggest brawl in tournament history, a melee that got so out of hand that officials eventually turned off the arena lights in a feeble attempt to end the madness.
The roster
Player
Position
Age
Warren Babe
F
19
Rob Brown
F
19
Dan Currie
F
19
Rob Dimaio
F
19
Theoren Fleury*
F
19
Adam Graves
F
19
Jody Hull
F
18
Sheldon Kennedy
F
18
Trevor Linden
F
17
Mark Pederson
F
19
Mark Recchi
F
19
Joe Sakic
F
18
Eric Desjardins
D
18
Greg Hawgood*
D
19
Chris Joseph*
D
18
Marc Laniel
D
19
Wayne McBean
D
18
Scott McCrady
D
19
Jeff Hackett
G
19
Jimmy Waite*
G
18
*Denotes returning player All ages are as of the start of the tournament
The tournament
Canada opened the festivities on Boxing Day with a 4-2 win over a Sweden squad that was still a few years away from icing some of the most dominant players in tournament history. The Canadians followed that up with another 4-2 victory over Czechoslovakia, then tied Finland 4-4 for the only blemish on their record.
On New Year's Eve, Canada dispatched a U.S. team featuring future NHL stars Jeremy Roenick, John LeClair, and Mike Modano. Then came a clash with the Soviets, which Canada narrowly won 3-2. After beating their archrivals, the Canadians cruised to an 8-1 victory over West Germany and a 9-1 win against Poland to finish 6-0-1 and clinch the gold medal. (The tournament featured only a round robin until 1996.)
The stars
Canada iced a roster stacked with talent, but its future stars - notably Sakic, Linden, and Recchi - put up pedestrian numbers at the juniors before embarking on their NHL careers. Instead, it was the defenseman Hawgood who led the team in scoring, collecting nine points in seven contests. A 10th-round selection of the Boston Bruins in 1986, Hawgood went on to play 474 NHL contests.
Canada's second-most productive player was Brown, who tied Fleury for the team lead with six goals. Brown eventually enjoyed a lengthy NHL career that included a 115-point campaign with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1989.
Hawgood, Fleury, and Waite made the tournament All-Star team as top players at their positions.
The key moment
Canada's win over the Soviet Union ultimately sealed its gold-medal triumph. The Soviets' roster featured two of the tournament's top five scorers in Alexander Mogilny and Sergei Fedorov, but they were unable to deliver a victory on home ice.
The Soviets settled for silver despite finishing with a better goal differential than Canada and the same number of wins. Their head-to-head loss was the difference.
The fallout
Canada's junior squad missed the podium with a fourth-place finish in 1989 but won gold again in 1990.
Hawgood and Sakic each received Calder Trophy votes in 1989, while Fleury, Recchi, Linden, Graves, and Desjardins were on the cusp of starting their NHL careers.
Selected eighth overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1987, Waite struggled to establish himself in the NHL. He went on to become a successful goalie coach, however, and won a Stanley Cup in 2015 with the club that drafted him.
The Golden Knights need to shed just $1 million to become cap compliant, so the team would only need to move one of these players - not all three.
Marchessault is signed for four more seasons carrying a $5-million annual cap hit. The 29-year-old tallied 20-plus goals for the fourth consecutive season in 2019-20, registering 47 points in 66 games. There would usually be no shortage of suitors for a top-six forward on a fair contract in normal times, but the flat salary cap has left several teams with their hands tied.
Fleury, 36, would seemingly be difficult to move. He has two years remaining on his deal with a $7-million annual cap hit, and his play declined last season. His .905 save percentage was tied for his lowest since 2005-06, and his -6.5 goals saved above average was the third-worst of his career.
Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon said in October that Fleury wasn't going anywhere, despite re-signing fellow goaltender Robin Lehner to a five-year, $25-million deal.
McCrimmon dug himself into a cap hole by signing prized free-agent blue-liner Alex Pietrangelo to a seven-year pact carrying an $8.8-million average annual value. It came at the cost of trading away Paul Stastny and Nate Schmidt for pennies on the dollar.
NHL teams are allowed to be 10% over the salary cap during the offseason, but can't be higher than $81.5 million once the season starts. A Jan. 13 start date is reportedly the league's target now.
If the Golden Knights want the ability to carry the usual 19-21 skaters without trading any of its top players, it may require the trade of two of the following four depth pieces: Tomas Nosek ($1.25M AAV), William Carrier ($1.4M), Nick Holden ($1.7M), and Ryan Reaves ($1.75M).
Time is of the essence, and this offseason has not proven to be a seller's market.
It hasn't been an ordinary time, but some things have remained consistent. For the sixth straight year, the New York Rangers have topped Forbes' list as the NHL's most valuable franchise.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, and Boston Bruins rounded out the top five. Largely due to lucrative local TV deals (specifically for New York, Toronto, and Montreal), these five teams accounted for nearly a quarter of the league's revenue. Forbes estimates the NHL would have lost $50 million if it weren't for these clubs.
Other teams weren't as fortunate. Outside of the top five, only two teams - the Stanley Cup-winning Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Islanders - didn't receive a negative value change. The Isles actually generated the league's second-lowest revenue, but the incoming Belmont Park Arena (expected to be ready for 2021-22) boosted the club's financial outlook.
Overall, the average team fell 2% - the first decline since 2001. The league's total revenue decreased by 14% and its operating income was down 68%. All of this, of course, is largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There were actually no changes to the order of the top 15 compared to 2019. Here's the full list:
While the NHL and NHLPA continue to work on a framework for the 2020-21 season, commissioner Gary Bettman says the league will likely need to realign, which would include an all-Canadian division.
"There are a lot of things we have to do to return to play. ... We have travel issues because of the restrictions at the border between Canada and the U.S. You can't go back and forth, so we're actually going to have to realign," Bettman told the "Maccabi USA Sports Show," according to NHL.com's Tom Gulitti.
"If everything stays the way it is, we're probably going to have to have a Canadian division and realign in the U.S., and we're trying to focus on dealing with all of those challenges."
The NHL and NHLPA have reportedly dropped discussions regarding financial changes in an effort to begin a new season Jan. 13. Both sides apparently prefer to play a 56-game schedule in 2020-21.
The NHL has a call scheduled for 4 p.m. on Wednesday with the league's Board of Governors to update the teams on the ongoing negotiations, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun.