The Carolina Hurricanes hired Justin Williams as an advisor to general manager Don Waddell, the GM announced Friday.
Williams retired as a player in October. He spent eight of his 19 seasons with the Hurricanes, helping them win the Stanley Cup in 2006 before claiming a title with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012 and 2014. He earned the Conn Smythe Trophy in the latter campaign.
The 39-year-old served as Carolina's captain in 2018-19 during his second stint with the club. Williams first suited up for the Hurricanes from 2003-09 before rejoining them for his final three seasons. He took a break from the league to start 2019-20 but returned to suit up for 20 games.
Williams is one of only nine players in NHL history to notch 100 goals and win a championship with two different franchises.
The former winger collected 320 goals and 477 assists over 1,264 regular-season contests, adding 41 markers and 61 helpers in 162 playoff games.
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There's nothing quite like waking up the morning after sweeping the board.
A 3-0 night Thursday continued the momentum from a 4-2 start to the week, and we're now sitting at 7-2 over the last four days heading into the weekend.
Here's what I'm looking to bet these next few days:
This is one of three plays I have on the ice tonight, but it's the one Friday bet I want to dive deeper on. The other two - Bruins over Flyers and Panthers over Predators - are down to getting the better team at a relatively short price with a significant edge in the goaltending matchup. Brian Elliott will start for Philadelphia, while Florida has a massive advantage between the pipes with Chris Driedger starting opposite Pekka Rinne.
For this West Division game, though, we care less about who starts in net. It's the first half of a back-to-back with these teams slated to meet again Saturday, but assuming John Gibson starts for the Ducks, the Sharks lose in this area regardless. Any changes in the crease can only help our cause.
San Jose moves down a weight class here after a tough schedule thus far, and a one-week break should have served the Sharks well - especially on the back end where Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson rank first and third in the NHL, respectively, in average ice time per game.
The Sharks are 30th in the NHL in expected goals for percentage at five-on-five, but much of that inefficiency can be attributed to their schedule. The Ducks, meanwhile, ranked 31st before their game against the Kings on Tuesday. San Jose is the better team at all strengths in Corsi For percentage, shot percentage, expected goals for, and expected goals against per 60 minutes, and it's generating more high-danger chances per game while allowing fewer. And this is all despite a tougher schedule. Simply put: The Sharks are bad, but the Ducks are worse.
These heated rivals meet Saturday night in this season's first edition of the Battle of Alberta. While these two teams are expected to be in a fierce scrap for a playoff spot in the North Division, I'm quite confident in which horse I'd like to back here.
The Flames don't have a Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl, but they're the better all-around team than the Oilers. They're deeper, they play a smarter and stronger game, they're far more adept defensively, and they hold a significant edge in goal.
Calgary has been strong at five-on-five this year, owning at least 54% of the expected goal share in all but three of its games. The Flames are top 10 in Corsi For percentage and expected goals for percentage, but they rank bottom 10 in shooting percentage; that combination screams positive regression. The Oilers, on the other hand, rank 22nd in Corsi For percentage and 15th in expected goals for percentage at five-on-five. The Flames play a more sustainable brand of hockey and have the better netminder in Jacob Markstrom, making them a bargain at this price.
As more people realize the Hurricanes are among the NHL's best, spots to back this team will become less and less prevalent. I've got Sunday's contest circled, though: We should get a reasonable price after the Blue Jackets beat the Stars and Carolina lost to Chicago to close out a somewhat unconvincing two-game series against the Blackhawks.
The Hurricanes controlled 58% of the expected goal share at five-on-five against Chicago, on par with their season mark of 56.68% - the second-best figure in the NHL. They were undone Thursday by three Blackhawks power-play goals, which isn't a concern here. Chicago's power play ranks fourth in the NHL, converting at a 32.7% clip through Thursday, while Columbus sits 24th with a modest 16.4% success rate.
Factoring in what we know about the Blue Jackets - that they struggle mightily in the first game against a new opponent - swings the needle further in Carolina's direction. I've used the chart below three times now, but there's been no reason to stray from it. Columbus has been terrible in its first go against a new opponent, and it's set for a date with a Hurricanes team that's better at five-on-five than any unit the Blue Jackets have faced this season.
Opponent
xGF% (Game 1)
xGF% (Game 2)
Predators
46.53%
64.05%
Red Wings
36.95%
53.83%
Lightning
33.33%
56.48%
Panthers
29.92%
48.55%
Blackhawks
37.41%
56.31%
Stars
42.06%
31.57%
With no special teams advantage or goaltending edge to consider for Columbus, I'd be comfortable playing Carolina all the way up to -140.
Alex Moretto is theScore's supervising editor of sports betting. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, loves a juicy puck line, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.
Technically, Chris Gerrie is a professional hockey player, having appeared in two ECHL games for the Wichita Thunder over the past 11 months. However, with his roster spot gone and the province of Alberta in lockdown mode, the only ice available to him right now is at outdoor facilities open to the general public.
"I've tried to use all the resources I can," Gerrie said.
At the mercy of weather conditions, ice quality, and crowd size at the two rinks closest to his apartment in Calgary, he's learned it's best to train under the lights after the neighborhood kids have retired for the night. Alone, bundled up, and wearing only half of his equipment, he'll skate laps and fire pucks at a vacant net:
Outdoor rink in Calgary area
Gerrie, a 24-year-old forward from Mount Royal University in Calgary, made his pro debut last March, just before the ECHL pulled the plug on its 2019-20 season. Throughout the summer and fall, he relied mostly on the Canada Emergency Response Benefit for income as he trained on and off the ice.
"You just kind of have to come to terms with it, I guess. It's so out of your control, right?" he said. "I definitely have my moments where I feel really sorry for myself, but you've just got to remember everyone's in this pandemic and people are in way worse situations."
The Thunder welcomed Gerrie back for training camp in December. He was sent packing shortly thereafter, though, because the club had received four AHL players on loan from the Toronto Marlies. He made $160 for two days of work.
"I'm starting to get experienced in all of this craziness," Gerrie said, with a nod to his place in pro hockey's pecking order. "It seems like there's new obstacles every week. But I've definitely gotten more mentally strong."
Chris Gerrie Adrian Shellard / Mount Royal Cougars
Groups of hockey players scattered across North America have either fallen through the cracks or had to reroute their 2020-21 plans.
Amid a flurry of NHL postponements, the AHL on Friday will open its regular season four months later than usual. Three U.S. franchises opted out of a campaign in which league-wide ticket revenue will be negligible and teams are playing between 24 and 44 games. Meanwhile, the AHL's all-Canadian division is in limbo while some clubs await approval from government officials.
The ECHL is arguably worse off, with only 14 of 26 teams competing in its 50-game regular season. Across both leagues, that's 15 teams and more than 300 roster spots temporarily slashed at the two levels directly below the NHL.
"There's only so many jobs. We feel for those guys. Believe me, we feel for them," Professional Hockey Players' Association executive director Larry Landon said in an interview. "They're members, they're part of the family."
The PHPA is the minor-league equivalent of the NHLPA. Last week, it wrapped up negotiations with the AHL on a return-to-play agreement, which includes a guarantee that players on one-way contracts will be paid 40% of their salaries in 2020-21. The minors rely heavily on game-day revenue, and without full buildings - or a plan to hold a Calder Cup playoff tournament - there's simply not enough money in the system to justify a better deal for the players.
Nick DeVito Steve Samoyedny / Four Seasons Photography
Nick DeVito has business and accounting degrees from SUNY Morrisville, so he understands the math. The out-of-work ECHLer isn't pointing the finger at minor-league owners as he spends his days training off the ice and making a few bucks on the side shooting on goalies and teaching kids how to skate.
DeVito signed with the ECHL's Adirondack Thunder this past November. The team opted out within days. "That was a blow," he said. "You get the highs of being like, 'All right, I'm set!' and then all of a sudden you're at rock bottom."
On Nov. 17, he vented on Twitter, saying, "I just want to play a hockey game."
"Literally. That's all I want to do," DeVito said about the tweet three months later. "I just want to play a hockey game. That still resonates. And that tweet meant everything."
DeVito, 25, is open to any opportunity at this point, including trying his luck overseas if there's a last-minute fit somewhere. The layoff has given him plenty of time to research the financial job market and, in general, contemplate his life path, though it's been impossible to shake the feeling that he was on the cusp of finding his groove at a new level of hockey.
Last March, DeVito, a smart, quick forward, registered an assist for the Worcester Railers in his first ECHL game. He's watched the replay "probably, I don't know, 150 times? Just to feel the happiness of getting a pro point and being a pro hockey player. It's tough to sit by and not play."
Participation in the PHPA's Career Enhancement Program has skyrocketed during the pandemic. Everyone from well-paid AHL veterans to cash-strapped ECHL newcomers is reaching out for career counseling, resume preparation, and connections to the real estate, firefighting, and construction industries.
"It's rough out there. Guys are definitely scrambling," said Steve Carney, the program's coordinator. "Some guys are panicking because they haven't really planned for anything else. There's nothing else they've ever known."
Phil Kemp Yale Athletics
The American college and Canadian major-junior ranks are in states of flux, too. For instance, Big Ten teams have played between 16 and 18 games while all six Ivy League schools canceled their seasons months ago.
Phil Kemp, a 2017 seventh-round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers, was supposed to captain Yale this season before turning pro in 2021-22. The big defenseman now finds himself competing for Vasby IK in the Allsvenskan, Sweden's second-best pro league. He has five points in 18 games so far.
Kemp left Yale three credits shy of a history degree, so between workouts, practices, and games, he's been firing up Zoom to attend classes. In his mind, there's no reason why he can't continue his education virtually. "I could be in Antarctica and they wouldn't even know," he said with a laugh.
In general, Kemp can't really complain about how the last few months have unfolded since the Oilers were able to find him a comfortable place to develop. Still, the lack of closure on his college career, which ended abruptly last March, is "an absolute heartbreaker and it won't stop stinging for a while."
"'Chaos creates opportunity' is kind of the way I'm looking at it," he added. "Chaos opens up new pathways because it's unplanned. So I'm just trying to take advantage of those opportunities (because it) can be huge (for me)."
Colby Saganiuk Rena Laverty / USA Hockey’s NTDP
In Canada, the QMJHL season has been off and on due to numerous COVID-19 outbreaks, the WHL committed to a 24-game regular season but doesn't have a firm start date, and the OHL has yet to release a concrete plan.
These delays have affected every type of player in junior hockey - from the kids graduating minor hockey to more experienced athletes looking to get on the radar of pro scouts to the top prospects eligible for the 2021 NHL Draft.
Logan Mailloux of the London Knights falls into that last bucket. The 17-year-old defenseman's agency sent him to Sweden in November, and he's managed to get decent exposure to NHL scouts in the country's third-tier pro league. He's way up in Skelleftea, almost 500 miles north of Stockholm.
"It's a good learning experience," Mailloux said of the "unorthodox" scenario of battling with and against men as old as 30.
"It's a different path than a lot of other people have taken. Even though it might just be a taste of coming over, it could be the only time in my life that I get to play in Europe or in Sweden. I'm definitely trying to take it all in."
Mailloux tested positive for the coronavirus earlier in the season but says he's fully recovered after facing minor symptoms. "I've had colds that have felt worse than that," he said. "But obviously everybody takes it differently."
Erie Otters forward Colby Saganiuk is also eligible for the 2021 draft. He left the United States National Team Development Program and decommited from Penn State last spring in order to join the Otters. Unfortunately, he's still waiting for that debut shift in the OHL, and it might not come until 2021-22.
"It's just been really weird," Saganiuk said. "But I'm doing what I can."
Saganiuk, who turned 18 on Friday, considered some kind of European adventure, but the travel and living expenses coupled with the uncertainty of COVID-19 kept him in Pennsylvania. In the meantime, the 5-foot-8 forward has added enough muscle to tip the scales at 160 pounds, and he hits the ice three times a week, including once for scrimmages. He and other Pittsburgh-area juniors and pros are forced to gear up in the lobby, spaced 6 feet apart.
One silver lining for Saganiuk has been spending time with his grandpa Rocky Saganiuk, a former NHLer. The duo rents ice once a week to refine Colby's shot.
"What have I taken away?" he said. "You have to live in the moment."
Count Gerrie among the pros who are trying to tap into a similar mantra: "I have the mindset of, 'I'm going to play until they take away my skates.'"
John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer. You can follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) and contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).
Welcome to the third edition of "Looking North," our weekly Friday dive into the all-Canadian division. This installment dates back to Jan. 29.
The rundown
The Vancouver Canucks had a week to forget, dropping three of their four contests while getting outscored 19-12. The Montreal Canadiens finally suffered their first two regulation losses of the season. The Edmonton Oilers currently find themselves on a three-game winning streak, while the Ottawa Senators snapped a nine-game skid Thursday.
Team
Points over last week
Edmonton Oilers
6 (3-0-0)
Winnipeg Jets
5 (2-1-1)
Montreal Canadiens
4 (2-2-0)
Calgary Flames
4 (2-2-0)
Toronto Maple Leafs
3 (1-0-1)
Ottawa Senators
2 (1-2-0)
Vancouver Canucks
2 (1-3-0)
The stars
Andy Devlin / National Hockey League / Getty
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl put on a show this week. The pair combined for 19 points in Edmonton's three games, all of which were wins. At all strengths, the duo combined for 96 scoring chances while only allowing 37 against. After a big week, McDavid is now on pace to put up 112 points across 56 games, while Draisaitl isn't far behind with a 102-point pace.
Jeff Petry's incredible run to begin the season doesn't seem to be coming to an end any time soon, as he racked up three goals and five points over the Canadiens' last four games. He led all Habs defensemen with a Corsi For rating of 61.59% this past week and also generated a team-high 58 scoring chances.
Calgary Flames made a big commitment to Jacob Markstrom during the offseason, and so far it seems to be paying off. He made a number of big saves over his past three starts and kept Calgary in games. He helped his team win two of three, recording an impressive 3.25 goals saved above average and a .934 save percentage.
Canadian of the week
Andy Devlin / National Hockey League / Getty
After one of the worst seasons of his career with the Leafs, Oilers defenseman Tyson Barrie seems to be back on track with his new club. He started the season slowly but is once again looking like one of the league's premier offensive defensemen.
Barrie has totaled one goal and five assists over Edmonton's past three games. He ranked second on the team with an impressive Corsi For of 60.28% and is tied for second with 47 scoring chances. During that span, he also ranked second on the club with 22:03 minutes of ice time per contest. He's firmly established himself as a vital cog in the Oilers machine.
The moments
Jason Spezza turned back the clock Thursday night, potting his first hat trick since April 2016. After being put on waivers earlier in the season, Spezza has more than proved his worth to the Maple Leafs as a prominent bottom-six center and a key part of the locker room. The 37-year-old netted his third goal in remarkable style.
Tyler Toffoli already torched the Canucks for six goals in his first four outings against them, but he added insult to injury when he faced off against his former team for the fifth time. In what was becoming a blowout, Toffoli undressed Jordie Benn before unleashing a wicked backhand past Thatcher Demko.
Chris Tanev was one of Calgary's biggest offseason additions, and he finally secured his first goal with the club earlier this week. Just as he surely envisioned it would happen, Tanev corralled the puck after the opening faceoff in the second period and dumped it in toward Connor Hellebuyck - the puck took a couple of wild bounces and found twine.
Over the past week, the Canadiens played four times and Jake Allen appeared in net twice. He impressed with a .944 save percentage, though he only came away with one win. The big question in Montreal is whether Allen can keep up his great play as the season goes on.
The Canadiens made it clear when they acquired Allen that they were committed to getting Carey Price a legitimate backup for once. Allen has so far established himself as one of the best backups in the league, ranking seventh among all netminders with a .930 save percentage while earning a 3-1-0 record.
Quote of the week
After Jets captain Blake Wheeler was criticized for his recent play, head coach Paul Maurice didn't mince words when defending his team's leader.
"I've been in awe of this guy since I got here," Maurice said, per TSN. "His worth (ethic), like he's unimpeachable - and his character, how he runs that room and how he plays. He's got f------ 11 points in 10 games."
He continued, "You get a guy in your town that plays that hard and is such a fine, fine leader, and a fine man. Let's be real careful. If his plus-minus number isn't what you want - like he's prorated out at about 88 points, man. And we're 10 games in, we're 6-3-1, and you're beaking my captain. I'm offended by it."
Games to watch
Hockey fans will finally get their first taste of the Battle of Alberta this season when Edmonton meets Calgary on Saturday night. Ottawa will look to redeem itself Monday and Tuesday night when it takes on the Oilers after being steamrolled their last two meetings. Finally, Montreal and Toronto will square off after their sole matchup on opening night.
The Colorado Avalanche are the latest NHL team to be shut down due to COVID-19 protocols, with the league announcing Thursday that all their games through Feb. 11 are postponed.
Two Colorado players are currently on the NHL's COVID-19 list: Tyson Jost and captain Gabriel Landeskog, who was added Thursday.
Being placed on the COVID-19 list doesn't necessarily indicate a positive test, and it could just be a precautionary measure.
The Avs' schedule through Feb. 11 featured two games versus the St. Louis Blues and two against the Arizona Coyotes. No makeup dates have been announced.
However, the Blues and Coyotes rearranged their upcoming schedules and will play each other Feb. 6 and Feb. 8 while the Avalanche are sidelined, the league announced.
The 7-3-1 Avs most recently played the Minnesota Wild, who had four games postponed Wednesday. The Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, Vegas Golden Knights, and New Jersey Devils are among the clubs that have also dealt with outbreaks early in the season.
Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin buried career goal No. 709 against the New York Rangers on Thursday to move ahead of Mike Gartner and take sole possession of seventh on the NHL's all-time goals list.
