Neal, who began his career with 10 straight seasons of 20-plus goals, has seen his production dip in recent years. The 34-year-old tallied just five goals and five assists in 29 games with Edmonton in 2020-21 and was a frequent healthy scratch. The Oilers bought out the final two years of his contract in July.
Frolik, 33, failed to record a point in just eight games with the Montreal Canadiens last season. He was regarded as a reliable two-way winger in his prime, but he's failed to carve out a consistent role for himself over the last two campaigns.
"There were definitely a bunch of different factors that went into it," Smith said. "And I don't want to sound like I was taking it for granted or that I didn't appreciate the life that hockey has given to me, but my heart wasn't into it the last couple of years. I guess I was a little jaded in some ways. You're playing well and then you learn the business side of it."
Smith played 11 of his NHL seasons with the Ottawa Senators, who drafted him in the third round of the 2008 draft. He was primarily known as a bottom-six grinder, but he scored double-digit goals four times in his career, including a career-high 25 in 2015-16. He also helped Ottawa reach the conference finals in 2017.
The Sens placed Smith on waivers in 2018, which the forward says affected him mentally.
"That was definitely the low point in my career, being told that I was placed on waivers," Smith said. "And I don't think I ever fully recovered from that or got my confidence back. Not even a full year before that, I thought I was doing well and doing what I was supposed to contribution-wise. And then that happened."
Ottawa traded Smith to the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2019 offseason for Artem Anisimov. He spent the 2019-20 campaign in the Windy City before sitting out the entire following season.
The Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, native finishes his career with 204 points in 662 games.
After a few years of turmoil that culminated in an unceremonious sweep in the 2021 playoffs, the Winnipeg Jets are officially done treading water in the defensive zone.
"We managed incredibly well over two years with a real extreme set of circumstances … It could have been devastating," Jets head coach Paul Maurice said, according to the Winnipeg Sun's Scott Billeck.
"I loved the defense corps last year individually ... But as a group, there was lots of room for us to get to another level."
Winnipeg's defensive exodus began in the summer of 2019 when they lost Jacob Trouba to the New York Rangers. Then Tyler Myers took his talents to the Vancouver Canucks on July 1, and Ben Chiarot signed with the Montreal Canadiens as a free agent three days later. Finally, the team granted Dustin Byfuglien a leave of indefinite absence in September of that year, with the two parties later agreeing to terminate Byfuglien's contract in April 2020.
The Jets have seemingly been piecing holes together on the backend ever since. Having a Vezina-winning goalie in Connor Hellebuyck certainly helps, but adding Brenden Dillon and Nate Schmidt in the offseason goes a long way in addressing the situation.
"We had a big back end, an expensive back end, and then really young kids," Maurice said. "We have a more veteran core there now, certainly on our blue line now, and our goalie who stops a whole lot of pucks."
At 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, Dillon is the heaviest defenseman on the roster and will inject physicality into the lineup. Dillon can play shutdown minutes and averaged 18:56 minutes of ice time per game for the Washington Capitals last season. Meanwhile, Schmidt is a strong two-way defender but had a tough time with the struggling Canucks last year.
Perhaps most importantly for Winnipeg, an improved defense means the forwards can focus more on offense.
Maurice asked the Jets to be defensive-minded to make up for their glaring weakness on the blue line, which reflected in their offensive numbers. Winnipeg scored 270 goals in 82 games the season before losing the bulk of the club's defense. In the shortened 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns, the Jets failed to produce more than 250 tallies over an 82-game season.
"This will be, I would say, the best-balanced lineup we've had," Maurice said.
Two of the NHL's generational talents have been tabbed as rivals since their first day in the league, but as the pair enter the latter half of their careers, Sidney Crosby is certainly rooting for Alex Ovechkin to break Wayne Gretzky's goal record.
"I hope he does. I told him today that I hope he does," Crosby said of Ovechkin's pursuit, according to ESPN's Greg Wyshynski. "It would be awesome. He's in range."
Crosby and Ovechkin are both set to enter their 17th season in the NHL this upcoming campaign. The two superstars have racked up countless trophies and accolades since their debuts and still perform among the league's best.
Ovechkin, who will turn 36 on Friday, inked a five-year, $47.5 million extension with the Washington Capitals to likely close out his NHL career with the club. After signing his deal, he stated that he wants to play five more years to take a shot at beating Gretzky's goal record. As it stands, Ovechkin needs 165 markers to surpass The Great One.
The Pittsburgh Penguins center said he believes Ovechkin's booming shot and the way he plays the game will allow him to remain productive as he gets older, adding that he can "score anywhere from inside the blue line."
Since entering the league in 2005, Crosby and Ovechkin rank first and second in points with 1,325 and 1,320, respectively. Ovechkin's 730 goals also rank first, while Crosby comes in at second with 486 tallies.
San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane believes he'll be cleared in the NHL's investigation of his estranged wife's allegations that he gambled and threw his own games.
"Obviously (the accusations are) incredibly false. It's unfortunate that transpired, and it's unfortunate that those false allegations were made," Kane told ESPN's Linda Cohn.
"I understood the magnitude of them immediately," he added. "I know (they're) not true. I know none of what she was saying was true. I was very confident, comfortable with knowing that I was going to be exonerated and am going to be exonerated of those allegations."
Kane's wife, Anna, shared the allegations on Instagram in July. He denied the claims, and the NHL promptly announced it would investigate. The results of the league's probe are expected to be released before training camps open next week.
The veteran is adamant he's never gambled on an NHL game, but he told Cohn his addiction led to him filing for bankruptcy earlier this year.
"When you have a problem, sometimes you can't control your decision-making at that time. I think that was an example of my problem getting the better of me. I had a gambling problem. And when you have a gambling problem, just like a drinking problem or a drug problem, sometimes you can't control your actions," Kane said.
"You just keep digging a deeper hole," he continued. "At the end of the day, it's something that I went through and I'm looking forward to moving (on)."
Kane is under contract with the Sharks for four more seasons at $7 million per campaign. He led with club with 49 points over 56 games in 2020-21, but reports surfaced this offseason that San Jose tried to trade the 30-year-old and several teammates don't want him back.
There's a modified no-trade clause in his contract for the remainder of the deal that only allows him to be moved to three teams of his choosing.
The venue is the home of the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats. It typically holds 23,000 spectators but can be expanded to 40,000 depending on the event.
"We are excited to announce that we will be presenting another Tim Hortons Heritage Classic this season," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said. "When the Toronto Maple Leafs meet the Buffalo Sabres at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, we again will honor Canada's preeminent role in the history of our game while renewing a great and longstanding NHL rivalry. In addition, by inviting the first U.S.-based team to a Heritage Classic, we will celebrate the greater Golden Horseshoe region as the home of so many fans of both the Leafs and Sabres."
This will be the sixth edition of the Heritage Classic. The event began in 2003 and was most recently played in 2019 in Regina, Saskatchewan.
The Sabres will be considered the home team, as the game was initially scheduled on the same date at the KeyBank Center.
The NHL has two outdoor games scheduled next season before the Leafs and Sabres clash. The Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues will take part in the Winter Classic, and the Nashville Predators and Tampa Bay Lightning battle in a Stadium Series contest.
Every story has two sides, so when Auston Matthews thrilled a Toronto crowd for the first time, somebody was bound to feel bummed.
Postgame, Erik Karlsson said the play touched off his most embarrassing two minutes in hockey. His Swedish teammate Niklas Hjalmarsson admitted feeling aged in the moment, even though he had yet to turn 30. Victor Hedman - well, take in what Matthews did to him on Sept. 21, 2016:
Sportsnet
Matthews and his teammates were buzzing. Connor McDavid had juked four Swedes to set up Matthews' dangle, the Maple Leafs sniper rising from his knees to score later in the sequence. Johnny Gaudreau proceeded to sneak behind Karlsson, call for a breakaway pass, and turn on the jets to draw a penalty shot. Gaudreau missed high, but Vincent Trocheck forced a turnover on the next shift, and 95 seconds after puck drop, his backhand from the slot put Sweden down 2-0.
They were representing Team North America, the 23-and-under squad whose speed and razzmatazz wowed fans and staggered elite veteran opposition at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. McDavid was a second-year pro. Matthews was weeks away from debuting in the NHL. They connected at Toronto's Air Canada Centre as part of an unprecedented experiment in roster building: bridge the Canada-United States divide and combine prodigiously skilled players who might not otherwise have appeared at the tournament.
North America's lineup featured five No. 1 overall draft picks. It included future Hart Trophy, Art Ross Trophy, Rocket Richard Trophy, Vezina Trophy, Selke Trophy, and Lady Byng Trophy winners. Not that it'll ever happen, but the thought of this group reuniting is awesome:
As it was, youth unburdened Team North America of expectations in group-stage matchups with Finland, Russia, and Sweden. Five years later, people remember the World Cup for the referee helmet cam; for Team Europe's surprise surge to the final; for Sidney Crosby and Carey Price leading battle-tested Canada to victory. North America's run was unforgettable, too, even as it ended short of the knockout round.
"That might have been the most fun 30 days I've had in hockey," Trocheck told theScore recently.
"(Icing a 23-and-under team) allowed those guys to come in and just focus on playing," said Craig Simpson, the retired NHL winger and TV color analyst who called the 2016 World Cup for Sportsnet.
"There's no standing back because you've got Sidney Crosby or Joe Thornton, an 18-year vet, that you're trying to defer to and show a little bit more respect to. I think it allowed them to galvanize each other and say: 'Hey, what have we got to lose?'"
Trocheck celebrates his goal against Sweden. Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
The 2016 tournament was the first World Cup since September 2004, when Canada edged Finland in the final on Shane Doan's winning goal and the NHL locked out its players right afterward. Bit of a downer. Teams North America and Europe, a melange of NHLers from eight countries, were added to the field in 2016 to generate buzz and raise the overall caliber of play.
Dismissed as gimmicky by cynics and traditionalists, these new entrants dared to play watchable hockey, exuding an enthusiasm that some marquee teams lacked. Canada's structured style stifled opposing offense and risked boring people. The U.S. went winless against Europe, Canada, and the Czech Republic after leaving Phil Kessel, annually a 30-goal threat, at home.
Just sitting around the house tonight w my dog. Felt like I should be doing something important, but couldn't put my finger on it.
Tellingly, North America's forward corps included the NHL skills competition's two most recent fastest skaters, Jonathan Drouin and Dylan Larkin - plus McDavid, soon to be a three-time winner himself. Given a few chances to practice together in Montreal and Quebec City, the young guns thumped Europe in back-to-back exhibition games, and then they flew to Toronto for every player's first taste of top-tier international competition.
They took to the challenge, Simpson remembers, as if "shot out of a cannon."
"Get out there and use your speed to your advantage. That's the game plan," Trocheck said, summarizing head coach Todd McLellan's instructions. "From game one, we jelled and figured out some line combinations early. It worked out. The transition from putting a random team together to having a lot of chemistry was seamless."
Playing loose, Team North America pounded 50 more shots on net (138-88) than its three Group B opponents. The kids handled Finland 4-1 on Sept. 18, the day after Matthews turned 19. They lost 4-3 to Russia the next night, but dusted a few opposing superstars on the opening goal. Resisting Alex Ovechkin's slashes as he circled the North America net, Colton Parayko got the puck to McDavid, who escaped Pavel Datsyuk in the neutral zone and fed Matthews at the foot of Sergei Bobrovsky's crease. The ref cam recorded his tap-in from up close:
Against Sweden's vaunted defense, Gaudreau atoned for the missed penalty shot by slipping free for a second breakaway, this one 14 minutes in, and fooling Henrik Lundqvist with a sweet deke. Sweden rallied to tie the score, but toward the end of three-on-three overtime, Nathan MacKinnon was left alone by the Swedish net, stickhandled in a phone booth, and roofed a backhand over Lundqvist, relieving the goalie of his stick in the process.
I think about Team North America vs. Sweden all the time. Entire game is unbelievably fun, but the OT takes it to another level.
Lundqvist and GIbson trading crazy saves, the Sedins working their two-man game, MacKinnon ending it with that bonkers move. It's got it all pic.twitter.com/kQGElrH2xs
Up in the Sportsnet booth, Simpson and broadcast partner Jim Hughson had already pointed out the lone problem: North America needed to win in regulation to reach the semifinals. McLellan and his staff didn't tell the players this, and when the Russians blanked Finland 3-0 the next day, they clinched a tiebreaking edge and advanced alongside Sweden at North America's expense.
"That was disappointing," Simpson said. "(But) I don't think it was any surprise at all that that group would be as competitive and explosive as they were back then. Because they still are today. Look at the names on the list. So many of them are at or near the top of the game."
No doubt about that. Five NHL seasons have elapsed since the World Cup ended, and North America's collective production has been prolific.
Different numbers contextualize how these players have impacted the league. Seven of them - McDavid, Matthews, MacKinnon, Gaudreau, Sean Couturier, Aaron Ekblad, and Connor Hellebuyck - have combined to win 16 major NHL awards. Twelve players, more than half the North America roster, are part of a team captaincy group. Brandon Saad was a two-time Stanley Cup champion before the tournament, and now Matt Murray is, too. Parayko won the Cup in 2019 with the St. Louis Blues.
Even though the World Cup is in limbo - the NHL and NHLPA failed to strike a deal to hold one last year - the 2016 tournament was the last true best-on-best event played on the international stage. Skipping the 2018 Olympics delayed McDavid and Matthews' chance to star for their respective national teams until this coming February. As many as 10 of their World Cup teammates (MacKinnon, Couturier, Ekblad, Mark Scheifele, Jack Eichel, Larkin, J.T. Miller, Seth Jones, Hellebuyck, and John Gibson all come to mind) ought to expect to join them in Beijing.
Andre Ringuette / World Cup of Hockey / Getty Images
Their North America experience was unique, but Simpson sees a historical parallel.
He was Mario Lemieux's Pittsburgh Penguins teammate in September 1987, when Lemieux skated on Wayne Gretzky's line at the international Canada Cup. Lemieux was a dominant young pro before Canada won that showcase, but he returned to Pittsburgh ready to elevate his game even further. He upped his career high in points from 141 to 168 to claim the 1988 Hart Trophy, denying Gretzky a ninth straight win. Two Stanley Cups and two more MVP nods soon followed.
"He came back a completely different guy. He was around guys who were winners. Guys who have been champions. (He saw) how they respond, how they interact. To me, it catapulted him to be the greatest that he was," Simpson said.
"I think the young guys (in 2016) got the taste of each other and how they could bond together. How they could compete," he continued. "But they also got a chance to watch and play against the best guys in the world. Any time you get a chance to do that, it speaks volumes about the experience that you can gain, and how much you can grow and be a better player going forward."
Time to broach the inevitable comparison: What would Team North America look like if the next World Cup was about to be held? Forget that the future of the tournament is uncertain and get to judging the merits of players born in or after October 1997, a cutoff that mirrors the 2016 event's eligibility rules.
Here's one proposed roster and set of line combos. Sound off in the comments about the decisions you like and hate, and predict how this team would fare against the 2016 crew.
Six quick-hit notes about this lineup:
Man, that right side of the defense. Fox won the Norris Trophy last season and Makar and McAvoy placed high in the voting, affirmation that they're redefining what it means to be an elite blue-liner. Fleet of foot, creative, and savvy with the puck, these defensemen are liable to dominate any shift.
The Tkachuk brothers in the same top six? Yes, please. On that note, the Ottawa Senators' full first line gets second billing among this forward group, with Brady Tkachuk and Batherson flanking Norris.
Matthew (left) and Brady Tkachuk. Icon Sportswire / Getty Images
Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, and Kailer Yamamoto were close exclusions at forward, as were Ty Smith and Noah Dobson on the back end and Jeremy Swayman in goal.
As was the case in 2016, close to half of these players are 23 years old. The October birthday cutoff renders Matthews ineligible by a couple of weeks, but Matthew Tkachuk, DeBrincat, and McAvoy were born late enough in 1997 to be included.
None of these players are teenagers - unlike in 2016, when McDavid and Eichel were coming off standout rookie seasons and Matthews was Team North America's lone NHL unknown. An impetus to win now squeezed Alexis Lafreniere, Quinton Byfield, Jamie Drysdale, and Owen Power out of consideration. Better hypothetical luck next year.
For what it's worth, this team features 16 Americans and a mere seven Canadians: Dubois, Batherson, Suzuki, Dach, Makar, Girard, and Hart, who'd tentatively start in net over Oettinger despite his recent season to forget.
