The club also completed interviews with current interim GM Kyle Davidson and Carolina Hurricanes assistant GM Eric Tulsky, the team announced Friday.
Mellanby spent the last decade working in the Montreal Canadiens' front office. He started as director of player personnel before moving up the chain to assistant GM. He resigned in November after learning he was out of the running to become Montreal's next GM.
The 55-year-old spent 21 years in the NHL as a player, suiting up in 1,431 games between the Philadelphia Flyers, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, St. Louis Blues, and Atlanta Thrashers.
Tulsky has worked in the Hurricanes' front office since 2014, beginning as an analyst. He then served as director of analytics, vice president of hockey management, and most recently, assistant GM. The Harvard grad is a widely respected analytical mind in the hockey world.
Davidson became Chicago's interim GM after Stan Bowman resigned from his post in October. He previously served as the team's assistant GM and manager of hockey administration.
The Blackhawks will also reportedly interview former Boston Bruins and Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli.
Chicago is planning to speak to at least five candidates for the job, a source told Powers.
Former Blackhawks players Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, and Eddie Olczyk are assisting CEO Danny Wirtz and president of business operations Jaime Faulkner in the GM search.
Wirtz confirmed the team won't hire a president of hockey operations above the GM. The club has also stated it would like to fill the GM role before the March 21 trade deadline.
Connor McDavid may be in the midst of a tight Art Ross Trophy race, but the Edmonton Oilers superstar has bigger things on his mind.
"I truthfully do not care. I don't care about the scoring race," McDavid said during his All-Star media availability Friday, per TSN. "I don't really pay attention to where guys are at."
He added: "I want to win games in Edmonton, and with the team."
McDavid, along with Colorado Avalanche darling Nazem Kadri, is currently tied for third in league scoring with 60 points. The 25-year-old, who's won the award three times over the past five seasons, including last campaign, trails teammate Leon Draisaitl by three points and NHL leader Jonathan Huberdeau by four.
As for McDavid's top priority, the Oilers entered the All-Star break winning five of their last six games after struggling to string together victories in December. For McDavid, he feels his team has rediscovered its groove.
"I just feel like in the room, everyone's got their confidence back, everyone's got their mojo back," McDavid said. "It's a good feeling in the room right now."
He added: "The break, for us, kind of came at an inopportune time, just with guys starting to feel good, guys finding ways to win games. We want to keep playing, and the break came at a bad time, but we'll pick up where we left off."
McDavid will compete in the Fastest Skater event at the 2022 All-Star Skills Competition on Friday night. He'll also captain the Pacific Division's squad during Saturday's All-Star Game.
The Oilers return to action against the Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 8.
Vegas Golden Knights head coach Pete DeBoer said injured superstar Jack Eichel could be cleared for contact shortly after the club reconvenes from the All-Star break.
"The doctor was adamant that three months from surgery, there would be absolutely no contact," DeBoer said, according to the Review Journal's David Schoen. "I think coming out of this break, that's going to be on the table."
Eichel underwent artificial disc replacement surgery on his neck Nov. 12, shortly after Vegas acquired him in a blockbuster trade with the Buffalo Sabres.
He's back skating, but being cleared for contact is the key remaining hurdle before a possible return to game action.
"There's been a couple (practices) in the last week where he's maybe the best player on the ice, so I would say he's progressing pretty well," DeBoer said, per Sportsnet.
"We haven't started contact yet, I think that's the next step, and that's a big step. Obviously, everything changes once we get into full contact, but from a sheer practice and skill point of view, he's elite, elite. Every day we're out with him, I think the group gets more excited."
Eichel's addition to the Golden Knights' lineup could be what the franchise has been looking for to put it over the top. The 25-year-old is one of the top centers in the game, and he recorded 355 points over 375 games with Buffalo.
Vegas leads the Pacific Division through 46 games with 57 points. It returns to the ice after All-Star festivities Feb. 8 versus the Edmonton Oilers.
The past five months have been miserable for the Philadelphia Flyers. After two giant losing skids of 10 and 13 games, the Metropolitan Division club sits 26th in points percentage at the All-Star break.
Captain Claude Giroux, the Flyers' MVP so far with 35 points in 42 games, is the team's All-Star representative this weekend in Las Vegas. He'll compete in a skills event where players are tasked with shooting pucks into targets outside at the famous fountains of the Bellagio hotel. More intriguingly, though, Giroux will reportedly sit down with agent Pat Brisson in Vegas to discuss his future.
Giroux, 34, is a pending unrestricted free agent with a full no-movement clause. The careerlong Flyer, who makes $8.275 million annually against the cap, has all of the power in the lead-up to the March 21 trade deadline. "It will be Claude's decision," Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher told reporters last week.
Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
Let's assume for a moment that Giroux does want to chase a Stanley Cup elsewhere. In no particular order, here are four possible landing spots:
Calgary Flames: With the Western Conference wide-open beyond Colorado and Vegas, the Flames are already primed for a playoff run. If Calgary can make the money work, why not pursue Giroux to upgrade the second line? Giroux can play both center and the wing and would have no issues blending into head coach Darryl Sutter's structure.
Minnesota Wild: The Wild are going to be in salary-cap hell starting next season thanks to the buyouts of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise. Pursuing a rental of Giroux's caliber - while they still can - could be worth the risk. Minnesota may not be in the top tier of Cup contenders, but they're awfully close. Acquiring Giroux would reward a devoted fan base before the cap pain hits.
Boston Bruins: The Bruins currently have $1.7 million in cap space, according to CapFriendly, so a third team would most likely need to be involved in a Giroux-to-Boston trade. That complicates the maneuver, of course, but the Bruins are still searching for a second-line center in the post-David Krejci era. Do desperate times call for desperate measures with only so many years left with this core?
Colorado Avalanche: Similar to Boston and its cap situation, Colorado is near the upper limit, which means a third team might be required to pull off a deal of this magnitude. That said, GM Joe Sakic is undoubtedly pushing all of his chips to the middle of the table this year, so the Avs can't be excluded from any trade discussion involving star talent.
Gagner still evolving
Ten years ago Wednesday, Sam Gagner had the game of his life.
The crafty center torched the Chicago Blackhawks for four goals and four assists in an 8-4 win for the Edmonton Oilers. To that point, a player had recorded eight or more points in a game only 15 times in league history. Gagner's explosion counts as the first and only eight-pointer this century.
Gagner - drafted sixth overall in 2007 thanks to his creativity with the puck and offensive instincts - is now a Swiss Army knife and mentor in Detroit. The Red Wings acquired him ahead of the 2020 trade deadline, and the team's re-signed him to cheap, one-year deals in the past two offseasons.
"I like to think my perspective throughout the years has helped me stay around as long as I have," Gagner told me in November. "The things I've learned, hopefully, I can impart that on some guys in our group."
Gregg Forwerck / Getty Images
Gagner's come full circle in a way - suiting up for the Wings during a substantial rebuild years after breaking into the league amid an Oilers rebuild. Twists and turns from his previous six stops (including two in Edmonton) have left him grateful for his role in Detroit as a bottom-six forward who kills penalties.
"There's only so many top-six minutes available, only so many power-play minutes available, and if you can add value in other areas, it helps you become an effective player in this league," said Gagner, who has 15 points in 47 contests while leading Wings forwards in shorthanded ice time per game.
"A lot of times in this league, once a player gets to a certain age, you think that's what he is," he added. "The coaching staff here has been really helpful in finding a different layer to my game and helping me get there. Hopefully, it helps me extend my career, and we can build a winner here."
Russia's goalie factory
The past two Stanley Cups were won with goaltending from a Russian (Andrei Vasilevskiy). This year's Vezina Trophy will likely be claimed by a Russian (Igor Shesterkin). The team atop the standings is backstopped by a Russian (Sergei Bobrovsky). One of the position's rising stars is Russian (Ilya Sorokin). The world's top netminding prospect is Russian (Yaroslav Askarov).
You get the point: Russia is producing star puck-stoppers at a striking rate.
Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
But why? Adam Francilia, a private goalie development coach/trainer who works with 10 NHLers, theorizes Russia has become so good because they don't try to shove goaltenders into a box at a young age. Instead, the "least robotic nation" encourages creativity and experimentation, which leads to well-rounded and adaptable goalies like Vasilevskiy, Shesterkin, and Sorokin.
"They teach all of the tools in the toolbox," Francilia said. "They expect all of their goalies to be able to use all of those tools, and then they let the goalies themselves decide which of those tools to use and how often they use them."
Finland, which has adopted a similar strategy, according to Francilia, is second on the goalie guru's power rankings. Canada, Sweden, and to a lesser extent, the USA, are too "cookie-cutter" in their approach to netminder development.
"Goaltending is equal parts science and art - that left-brain, right-brain thing," Francilia said. "In North America, we have to do a much better job of allowing the artistic side within these guys to come out. We have to stop and say, 'OK, let's take the tools you've learned so far and go discover who the artist is.'"
Jeannot does it all
John Russell / Getty Images
At the break, there are three sure-fire Calder Trophy candidates: Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks, and Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond of the Red Wings. Each has a legitimate case to win rookie of the year.
Another Detroit player, goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, and Florida Panthers two-way forward Anton Lundell would probably round out most voters' ballots right now.
One rookie who doesn't seem to be getting his due is Tanner Jeannot, the Nashville Predators' feisty sharpshooter. Jeannot quietly leads all first-year players in goals (14), and only one has been on the power play.
"His game has so much substance to it," Nashville's head coach John Hynes said in a recent interview. "He doesn't really play on the power play (only 14:25 all year). He's one of our top-two penalty killers. He plays 15, 16 minutes a night total, and it's mostly hard minutes, a lot of D-zone starts. And he's producing offense in probably the most difficult way you can - at even strength."
It's rare for a rookie, even one as mature as the 24-year-old Jeannot, to embody the identity of his team. The crash-and-bang Preds rank first in the NHL in total fights and fifth in hits per game, with Jeannot leading the way in both categories (eight fights and 151 hits through 46 contests). The 6-foot-2 pest feeds off the intensity.
"It's no fluke: Tanner's a big, strong guy who's a fierce competitor," Hynes said. "He's got the physical abilities to play physical. Him, Yakov Trenin, Colton Sissons, and Mark Borowiecki - these guys are competitive, and they play hard. They're not just guys who run around, hit guys, fight. They've got good instincts, they can score. And Tanner's definitely been a big part of that."
Parting thoughts
Rocky Wirtz: A few days later, I'm still trying to process the toddler-style outburst from the Chicago Blackhawks owner. Zero accountability from somebody who should be begging for the public's respect. I can't imagine how Kyle Beach (and other Brad Aldrich victims) felt while watching Wirtz's condescending and combative responses to fair questions from reporters. There could be new lawsuits filed against the Hawks soon, according to TSN.
Skill competition: From a pure curiosity standpoint, I'm looking forward to the Fountains of Bellagio event this weekend. Two old-school events - fastest skater and hardest shot - also have my attention. Predictions for top three finishers: Connor McDavid (duh), Adrian Kempe, and Jordan Kyrou in fastest skater, and Victor Hedman, Adam Pelech, and Timo Meier in hardest shot.
Florida Panthers: There's a debate to be had over who the best team in the NHL is, but Florida is unquestionably the scariest offensive squad. The Panthers are relentless on the attack. Their speedy skaters and dizzying puck movement leave opponents lost on defense. They've scored eight goals in a contest three times, just one off the salary-cap era record with 35 games remaining. The 32-10-5 club boasts an incredible 11 players with 20 or more points at the break, including Jonathan Huberdeau and his league-leading 64.
Panthers 73 goals this January are the most by any NHL team in a calendar month in the last 25 seasons#TimeToHunt
Alex Ovechkin tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week, but unless that keeps him out long term, he'll still be vying for the Hart Trophy down the stretch.
Edmonton Oilers star Leon Draisaitl, on the other hand, has been in the MVP hunt this season, but he's no longer among the most deserving candidates due to his unspectacular underlying numbers and the superiority of his counterparts.
Here are our top five Hart contenders as we move further into the second half of the campaign:
5. Igor Shesterkin
Jared Silber / National Hockey League / Getty
GP
Record
SV%
GSAx
GSAA
29
22-5-2
.937
17.01
15.01
Shesterkin is pulling away as the Vezina Trophy favorite, and though he's not a top MVP challenger, the New York Rangers goaltender deserves to be on the fringes of the Hart discussion.
Chris Kreider's league-best goal total has obviously helped the Rangers climb to second place in the Metropolitan Division by points percentage, but Shesterkin has kept the club in games it's had no business being in.
New York ranks third-last in the NHL in shots per gameand has allowed more shots per contest than over half of the league's teams. Worse yet, the Rangers are last in scoring chances for percentage at five-on-fiveand have the fourth-worst expected goals for percentage in the same situations. Given those struggles, Shesterkin's excellence is even more commendable.
Despite his club's glaring weaknesses, Shesterkin leads all NHL netminders in goals saved above expected and ranks second in goals saved above average (both at five-on-five). New York wouldn't be a particularly competitive club without the 26-year-old's stellar play.
4. Auston Matthews
Kevin Sousa / National Hockey League / Getty
GP
G
A
ATOI
xGF%
39
29
22
20:47
62.3
Matthews won't get as much Hart consideration as others on this list due to the Toronto Maple Leafs' stable of skilled forwards. But the 24-year-old center has done most of the heavy lifting for his team in 2021-22 and has scored at a ridiculous clip lately.
Matthews has a whopping 22 goals over his last 22 games dating back to Nov. 24, with a seven-game scoring streak at the start of that run. He's tied for third in the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy race, and it's worth noting he's played fewer games than the three players above him.
While all of that is remarkable, what's keeping the American in the MVP picture is his takeover of his team's offense. Matthews has scored nearly 20% of Toronto's goals and notched a point on about one-third of them, tallying 12 more goals and 11 more points than his next-closest teammates.
Matthews also has a 61.97 scoring chances for percentage to go along with his sparkling expected goals for percentage, ranking fourth and third, respectively, among NHL players with at least 400 minutes at five-on-five.
3. Jonathan Huberdeau
Jared Silber / National Hockey League / Getty
GP
G
A
ATOI
xGF%
47
17
47
19:11
54.48
Huberdeau has been one of the NHL's preeminent playmakers for years, but he's been historically overlooked in MVP voting thanks to the presence of supremely skilled teammate Aleksander Barkov. The Florida Panthers have a deep supporting cast this season, but Huberdeau can no longer be a Hart Trophy afterthought.
The gifted winger has excelled in 2021-22, and he's proven his worth with Barkov missing over a quarter of Florida's gamesdue to injury. Huberdeau leads the NHL in assists and points at the All-Star break, albeit with more games played than everyone else in the top 10 in both categories. Still, few would have predicted this dominance before the season.
Huberdeau has been the biggest reason for his squad's success and is red-hot since the calendar flipped to 2022, totaling six goals and 20 assists across the last 16 games.
The 28-year-old has 16 more assists and 20 more points than his next-closest teammates. When Barkov was out in November and December, Huberdeau poured in 14 points over eight games. He's also collected 13 of his 17 goals (76%) and 43 of his 64 points (67%) at even strength while posting better underlying numbers than the Panthers captain.
2. Connor McDavid
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
GP
G
A
ATOI
xGF%
41
23
37
22:40
57.97
When the Oilers temporarily fell out of the postseason picture with a seven-game winless streak in December and January, McDavid's status as the season-long Hart Trophy front-runner had to be reconsidered. Then Edmonton reeled off four straight wins and returned to the playoff mix, where it narrowly remains based on points percentage.
McDavid wasn't to blame for the skid, nor did he deserve all of the credit for his team's resurgence. But like it or not, modern Hart voters consider a playoff berth all but mandatory for MVP consideration; with Edmonton's postseason hopes far from certain, the club's Canadian superstar is not yet a lock for the Hart.
McDavid's analytic figures are superior to those of the No. 1 name on this list, but he hasn't carried his team the way Ovechkin has buoyed his. Still, that's not to say the Oilers captain hasn't been his usual dominant self. A deeper look at the 25-year-old's underlying numbers confirms he has, and that's why he's high on this list as usual.
But despite Draisaitl's flaws, the German's immense production hurts McDavid's Hart chances, especially considering how much more Ovechkin has had to do for his squad. And while Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals have struggled by their standards, they're firmly entrenched in fourth place in the Metropolitan Division.
McDavid is still arguably the NHL's most explosive player, and he gives Edmonton a chance to win every game. But the two-time MVP is no longer the top dog in the 2021-22 race.
1. Alex Ovechkin
John McCreary / National Hockey League / Getty
GP
G
A
ATOI
xGF%
46
29
29
21:51
52.41
To say Ovechkin's output at 36 years old remains impressive is a massive understatement. At the most basic level, the prolific winger has been one of the best players in the league in 2021-22. He's among the NHL leaders in goals, points, and average ice time among forwards, leads the league in shots on goal and even-strength goals, and is tied for the lead in even-strength points. The Russian sniper's possession figures are favorable, too.
Then there's his performance relative to that of his team, which is the ultimate indicator of value. He's scored over twice as many goals and 13 more points than his next-closest teammate, Evgeny Kuznetsov. Ovechkin has nearly 100 more shots on goal (213) than his countryman (121), who also sits second among Capitals skaters in that regard.
Those disparities are partly because of a slew of absences due to injuries and COVID-19, but Ovechkin has kept his team afloat when it's been shorthanded, and that's what being the MVP is all about.
Ovechkin had been the only Washington player to suit up for every game in 2021-22 before his positive test forced him to miss Wednesday's contest. The Capitals captain continues to average nearly 22 minutes of ice time, and his workload this season would be his highest since his fourth NHL season in 2008-09. Playing in his 17th campaign and despite his current health setback, the Hart Trophy is Ovechkin's to lose.
The 2022 NHL All-Star Skills Competition is upon us, and theScore has you covered. Below, we explain each event, introduce the participants, and predict the winners.
Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas When: Friday, Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. ET TV: Sportsnet, TVA Sports (Canada); ESPN (United States)
Fastest Skater
Scott Rovak / National Hockey League / Getty
In one of the marquee events of the skills competition, players will be timed for one full lap around the rink. Each skater can choose the direction of his lap and can start up to three feet behind the starting line.
Participants
Chris Kreider, New York Rangers
Adrian Kempe, Los Angeles Kings
Kyle Connor, Winnipeg Jets
Evgeny Kuznetsov, Washington Capitals
Jordan Kyrou, St. Louis Blues
Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings
Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
McDavid enters as the heavy favorite after winning three consecutive titles from 2017-19. Larkin, however, set the record with a blistering lap of 13.172 seconds in 2016.
2020 winner: Mathew Barzal Prediction: How can you bet against McDavid?
Save Streak
Dave Sandford / National Hockey League / Getty
All eight goalies and 36 skaters will partake in this shootout-style event as the goalies compete to make the most consecutive saves.
Participants
Jack Campbell, Toronto Maple Leafs
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning
Frederik Andersen, Carolina Hurricanes
Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh Penguins
Cam Talbot, Minnesota Wild
Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators
Thatcher Demko, Vancouver Canucks
John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks
2020 winner: Jordan Binnington Prediction: Vasilevskiy, who ranks second behind Linus Ullmark among active goalies in career shootout save percentage.
Fountain Face-Off
Ethan Miller / Getty Images Entertainment / Getty
This is one of two Vegas-inspired events the NHL is unveiling at this year's skills competition. Taking place on the iconic Bellagio Fountains, players will travel by boat to the "rink" and shoot pucks at five targets as quickly as possible. Fountain spray and winds off the Strip should make this extra challenging.
Participants
Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers
Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers
Jordan Eberle, Seattle Kraken
Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson, former U.S. Olympian
Roman Josi, Nashville Predators
Nick Suzuki, Montreal Canadiens
Zach Werenski, Columbus Blue Jackets
Mark Stone, Vegas Golden Knights
Prediction: Stone. Why not go with thecrowd favorite?
Hardest Shot
Bruce Bennett / Getty Images Sport / Getty
One of the most iconic events of the skills competition will see each participant get two attempts to blast the puck into the net from 30 feet away. If a stick breaks, that player gets another attempt. This year's field has shrunk to four.
Participants
Adam Pelech, New York Islanders
Timo Meier, San Jose Sharks
Victor Hedman, Lightning
Tom Wilson, Capitals
Shea Weber and Zdeno Chara won nine of the last 11 titles in this challenge, so there will be a changing of the guard.
2020 winner: Shea Weber Prediction: Hedman, whose 6-foot-6 frame should give him a big advantage.
Breakaway Challenge
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
This event returns for the first time since 2016. It's produced some very memorable moments, many of which featured Alex Ovechkin during his three-year reign as champion from 2008-11 (there was no skills competition in 2010).
Each player will take two shots, and a panel of judges will rate each attempt in what's essentially the NHL's version of the NBA's Slam Dunk contest. Competitors are rewarded for creativity, not effectiveness or practicality.
Manon Rheaume and Wyatt Russell will serve as celebrity goalies.
Participants
Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota Wild
Trevor Zegras, Anaheim Ducks
Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils
Alex DeBrincat, Chicago Blackhawks
Alex Pietrangelo, Vegas Golden Knights
All eyes will be on Zegras, who's become a must-watch player after pulling off both a Michigan and a Dishigan as a rookie. He's in Vegas this weekend strictly for this event.
2016 winner: P.K. Subban Prediction: Zegras, but don't sleep on Pietrangelo, who will aim to impress the hometown crowd.
21 in '22
NurPhoto / NurPhoto / Getty
The second of two locally inspired events will take place on Las Vegas Boulevard. Players will fire pucks at a deck of oversized cards on a rack and try to achieve a hand of 21 without going over - while taking the fewest shots possible. The player who wins two rounds is crowned "Puck Shark."
Participants
Nazem Kadri, Colorado Avalanche
Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
Joe Pavelski, Dallas Stars
Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
Prediction: Matthews, who has a flair for the dramatic and a deadly accurate shot.
Accuracy Shooting
Dave Sandford / National Hockey League / Getty
This event was an unmitigated disaster during the last skills competition. The league decided to use digital targets, which proved extremely unreliable and undermined the event.
But hockey fans can rejoice knowing exploding Styrofoam targets are back. The player who hits all four targets the fastest wins.
Participants
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
Clayton Keller, Arizona Coyotes
Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo Sabres
Sebastian Aho, Carolina Hurricanes
Jake Guentzel, Pittsburgh Penguins
Troy Terry, Anaheim Ducks
Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames
Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
Jonathan Marchessault, Vegas Golden Knights
This competition requires both an accurate shot and a cool head. In front of a packed house, competitors can get easily rattled in this event.
2020 winner: Jaccob Slavin Prediction: Bergeron, the most seasoned member of the field.
The Winter Olympics have opened in Beijing. Keep an eye on these five Canadian storylines as the Games progress.
Who will step up for men's hockey?
NHLers are absent again, so Canada's Olympic players hail from six pro leagues and the college and junior ranks. They range in age from 19 to 37 and their career stages vary accordingly.
Captain Eric Staal, the 1,000-point NHL scorer and 2010 Olympic champion, skated in last summer's Stanley Cup Final and played four tune-up games in the AHL last month. His fresh-faced teammates include Owen Power, the University of Michigan defenseman drafted first overall last year, and potent OHL scorer Mason McTavish, the No. 3 pick in 2021.
Owen Power. Codie McLachlan / Getty Images
Like defenseman Jason Demers, forwards David Desharnais and Daniel Winnik were decent NHLers for many seasons - Winnik played 798 games for eight teams - before they signed in Europe. Corban Knight left for Beijing as the KHL's third-leading scorer. Toronto Marlies winger Josh Ho-Sang, once a first-round pick of the New York Islanders, never stuck in the NHL but has game-breaking skill that's rare on the roster.
The goalies are a mishmash. Devon Levi backstopped Canada to world junior silver in 2021 and owns a .948 save percentage as an NCAA rookie at Northeastern. Edward Pasquale is an 11-year pro who played three NHL games in 2018-19. Head coach Jeremy Colliton could prioritize upside or experience in net, or he could start the third option, five-year pro Matt Tomkins, who is playing this season in Sweden.
Fifteen members of the 25-man team are in their 30s - so is Colliton, incidentally - and three of them won bronze for Canada at PyeongChang in 2018. In lieu of Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon debuting as Olympians, Maxim Noreau, Eric O'Dell, and Mat Robinson are off to their second Games.
Maxim Noreau. Richard Heathcote / Getty Images
Noreau, a nine-year veteran of Switzerland's National League, tallied two goals and seven points in six games in PyeongChang to lead Canada in scoring. He'll wear an "A" for Canada, which starts next week's tournament with round-robin matchups against Germany, the U.S., and host China.
"I played six (NHL) games, I came to Europe pretty early in my career, and a lot of people questioned if that was the right move or not," Noreau told theScore in 2020, reflecting on how he made the most of his first Olympic opportunity.
"I have no regrets. I'm very happy here. My family's very happy. We've been in Switzerland forever. But I think playing in a tournament like (the Olympics) - I wanted to show people that, hey, I'm a good player."
Can the curling teams bounce back?
Olympic men's and women's bonspiels have been played since 1998, and Canada has medaled in 10 of them. Mixed doubles gold in 2018 augmented the national edge: no country has finished on or atop more curling podiums.
Brad Gushue and Jennifer Jones, the men's and women's skips in Beijing, are former Olympic champions who waited a while to return to the stage. They'll be out to avenge Kevin Koe's fourth-place finish in PyeongChang and Rachel Homan's slip to sixth.
Between them, Gushue and Jones own nine Canadian championships and three world titles, plus Olympic gold from Turin in 2006 (Gushue) and Sochi in 2014 (Jones). The Jones rink went undefeated in 11 matches at Sochi. Her longtime third, Kaitlyn Lawes, paired with John Morris to achieve mixed doubles glory four years ago. Jones and Gushue's seconds, Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, happen to be engaged.
Jennifer Jones in 2014. Hoch Zwei / Corbis Sport / Getty Images
World curling is deeper now than it was in Canada's heyday. The eventual champion U.S. upset Koe's team at PyeongChang, while South Korea and Japan won their first Olympic medals at Homan's expense. Those letdowns inspired some introspection about how Canada picks its Olympic rinks. Men's and women's national trials go down about two months before the Games, which tests but risks exhausting the winners.
Speaking to theScore before he left for Beijing, Gushue shared his preferred solution: hold Canadian trials about 10 months ahead of the Olympics, at the end of the previous season. At that point, the losing men's and women's skips could shift their focus to mixed doubles. Homan and Morris were handpicked to pair up in Beijing after COVID-19 nixed those national trials around New Year's.
"If we give ourselves that little bit more cushion by pushing (each event's trials) back," Gushue said, "there's a lot of things that are corrected from the format we have right now."
In any case, that's a dilemma to resolve after Beijing. Homan and Morris are already in the midst of contesting the mixed doubles round robin, while Gushue and Jones open play next week.
Brad Gushue. Todd Korol / Getty Images
Is Kingsbury inevitable in moguls?
Mikael Kingsbury is favored to dominate Saturday's men's moguls final, which begins at 6:30 a.m. ET. Winning would crown him the event's back-to-back champion - his decisive run in PyeongChang was four points better than the silver medalist - and give him three Olympic medals. (He placed second in Sochi.)
Kingsbury's World Cup feats are untouchable. For nine straight years from 2012 to 2020, he was named the top overall skier on the men's freestyle circuit, his excellence perched upon the 62 moguls races he won in this span.
Fractured vertebrae that Kingsbury suffered in a training fall sidelined him early in 2021, but he's long since returned to peak form and leads the 2021-22 World Cup standings. He's won four of seven events to date this season, while Japan's Ikuma Horishima, Kingsbury's lone serious challenger, has won the other three.
Mikael Kingsbury. Lars Baron / Getty Images
"I feel I’m in a better position than I was in 2018. I’m a better skier," Kingsbury told The Canadian Press recently. “I’ll be the only skier (in Beijing who's won gold), so that plays into my advantage. I still like my odds better than my competitors, so I’ll always bet on myself first.”
In Beijing, Kingsbury and Justine Dufour-Lapointe could become the first Canadian skiers to medal at three straight Games. (Mark McMorris has the same opportunity in snowboarding.)
Dufour-Lapointe won moguls gold at Sochi and came second at PyeongChang, 0.09 points behind France's Perrine Laffont. She finished 10th in qualifying Thursday to advance to Sunday's women's final. Naturally, Kingsbury qualified first on the men's side.
Constrained by the nature of his specialty - moguls Olympians have only one event to contest - Kingsbury would need to shine in Beijing and again in 2026 to break into the ranks of Canada's top medal earners. For context: If Charles Hamelin, the 37-year-old short track speedskater, manages to medal this month, he'll equal Cindy Klassen's record six at a Winter Games.
Will the figure skaters expedite the rebuild?
As in curling, Canada's figure skaters usually deliver a couple of podium performances. They won two gold and two bronze medals in PyeongChang, outshining the powerhouse Russian and American programs to top the field.
Seven skaters helped elevate Canada to the podium in the team, women's, pairs, and ice dance events. Five of them have retired: singles skaters Patrick Chan and Kaetlyn Osmond, pairs skater Meagan Duhamel, and the ice dance legends Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. Gabrielle Daleman didn't qualify for Beijing after enduring a hellacious spate of injuries this quadrennial.
The seventh skater, Eric Radford, took a few seasons off but returns to the Games with new pairs partner Vanessa James, who placed fifth in PyeongChang competing for France alongside Morgan Cipres. Partners since last spring, James and Radford both tested positive for COVID-19 in December, then withdrew from last month's national championships before the free skate. They made the Olympic team anyway.
Vanessa James and Eric Radford. Joosep Martinson / ISU / Getty Images
"If you look at the international season, Vanessa and Eric out of all our pairs teams had the strongest scores," Mike Slipchuk, Skate Canada's high-performance director, told The Canadian Press after nationals.
"We look at the body of work of all athletes, and we want to make the best assessment for the strongest team we feel has the best ability for us at the Games."
Five peripheral members of the 2018 Olympic team have risen to leading roles.
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier nabbed bronze in ice dance at last year's world championships, excelling outside of Virtue and Moir's shadow. Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro, Canada's top pairs duo, placed sixth at those worlds; so did men's skater Keegan Messing. Meanwhile, national women's champ Madeline Schizas is one of Canada's youngest Olympians at age 18.
The team competition in Beijing wraps up late Sunday night Eastern time, followed in order by the men's event, ice dance, the women's event, and pairs.
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier. Joosep Martinson / ISU / Getty Images
How many medals will Canada win?
This week, the data analytics firm Gracenote predicted Canada will bring home six gold medals and 22 in total. In Gracenote's forecast, that performance equated to fifth in the overall table behind Norway, Germany, Russian athletes, and the United States.
Six victories would be Canada's fewest at a Winter Games since Nagano in 1998. Seventeen medals at Salt Lake City in 2002 is the national low this century. Canada set national records in both categories at recent Olympics, bagging 14 gold medals at home in Vancouver in 2010 and ascending 29 podiums in PyeongChang in 2018.
Expectations are lower in Beijing for a range of athletes, including the figure skaters and Canadian lugers.
Three-time bobsleigh medalist Kaillie Humphries competes for the U.S. now, but Christine de Bruin ranks fourth internationally in the two-woman discipline. (Elana Meyers Taylor, the American world No. 1, is in COVID-19 protocol.) De Bruin and Cynthia Appiah are contenders in monobob, a new Olympic event, while Justin Kripps - who piloted Canada to two-man gold in 2018 - ranks second in the world in two-man and four-man.
Ivanie Blondin. Dean Mouhtaropoulos / ISU / Getty Images
Medals in other sports seem like safe bets.
Canada's women's hockey team has appeared in every Olympic final and eclipsed the U.S. at the world championships last summer.
Including Kingsbury and Dufour-Lapointe, seven freestyle skiers have won Olympic gold before and/or rank top five in the world this season. The others are the halfpipe riders Rachael Karker and Cassie Sharpe and the ski cross racers Brady Leman, Brittany Phelan, and Marielle Thompson.
Four snowboarders who medaled in slopestyle or big air in PyeongChang - McMorris, Sebastien Toutant, Max Parrot, and Laurie Blouin - helm Canada's deep roster.
In long track speedskating, Canadians lead the World Cup standings in the men's 500m (Laurent Dubreuil), the women's long distances (Isabelle Weidemann), the women's mass start (Ivanie Blondin), and the women's team pursuit (Blondin, Weidemann, and Valerie Maltais). PyeongChang two-time medalist Ted-Jan Bloemen is the world No. 2 men's long-distance skater.
Kim Boutin, the short track star, could match Hamelin's career podium count by repeating as Olympic medalist in her best events, the 500m and 1,000m. Courtney Sarault is a medal threat at 1,000m and 1,500m and Pascal Dion is the world's top men's skater at 1,000m.
Due to COVID-19, Olympic results have never been harder to predict. Omicron's emergence upended training schedules, while the mixed doubles trials, Canada's final long track qualifier, and women's hockey exhibition games all were canceled ahead of Beijing. Testing positive there could foil a contender's coronation, or sideline any Olympian from their event. Keep healthy and their turn in the spotlight awaits.
Fans craving a best-on-best international hockey tournament may get their wish in February 2024.
The NHL and NHLPA met last week to start planning the 2024 World Cup of Hockey, and there's a "strong possibility" it could take place in February of that year, sources told TSN's Pierre LeBrun.
The last three World Cups (2016, 2004, 1996) all took place in September - ahead of the upcoming seasons. The 2024 event would be the first World Cup to take place in the middle of a campaign.
There were initially plans for a World Cup of Hockey in 2021, but the league called it off in December 2019 due to a lack of planning time.
The NHL was supposed to attend the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, but COVID-19 derailed those plans.
There hasn't been a best-on-best international hockey tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Canada won that event, sweeping Team Europe in the best-of-three final.
