In 2020, the NHL offseason is on steroids. Last Tuesday and Wednesday saw the league hold a marathon virtual draft, then on Friday it opened the annual free-agency window. Transactions have since flooded in, headlined by a handful of notable trades and both Taylor Hall and Alex Pietrangelo joining new clubs. Here are seven thoughts about what's transpired across the NHL:

Golden Knights roll out red carpet

The cost of doing business constantly changes. In life and sport.

The Tampa Bay Lightning - the most recent Stanley Cup champions - had Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow cost them two first-round picks at the trade deadline. The price tags were expensive, yet the payoff was worth it. Even now, Tampa is dealing with an unenviable salary cap crunch in the wake of going all in on a title run. Again, it's the cost of doing business.

Really, though, who cares if you have a ring, right?

That's basically the Vegas Golden Knights' mentality this offseason. On Monday, they landed an elite player in Alex Pietrangelo, inking the St. Louis Blues' outgoing captain to a seven-year, $61.6-million deal. In the process, general manager Kelly McCrimmon traded away two key contributors for pennies on the dollar. Pietrangelo, the all-situations defenseman, is in, but top-pairing blue-liner Nate Schmidt and No. 2 center Paul Stastny are out - for the measly return of a third-rounder, fourth-rounder, and Carl Dahlstrom.

Despite the risk, it's not to say Vegas shouldn't have gone down this multi-layered path. McCrimmon should be applauded for once again being bold and bringing another high-profile talent to Vegas. And given how close this team has come to winning a Cup in its first three years of existence, there's no use in being conservative. Go nuts. Roll out the red carpet. Put all your chips in the middle of the table. Make the big splash while you can.

Pietrangelo, who finished fourth in Norris Trophy voting this past season after recording 52 points in 70 games, addresses Vegas' only glaring weakness: the absence of a No. 1 defenseman. Now, after Shea Theodore's breakthrough in the 2020 playoffs, head coach Pete DeBoer might actually have a pair of back end studs at his disposal whenever the 2020-21 season begins.

It won't be easy - winning a Cup in the salary cap era never is - but the Golden Knights have secured favorite status in the West by grasping the idea of calculated risk and acting up on it. Pietrangelo is the type of guy you do everything in your power, within reason, to acquire if he's made available.

Viva Las Vegas.

Not much to complain about

Where are all the regrettable contracts?

We knew the COVID-19 pandemic would affect free agency. There was no fighting that reality. But we didn't know to what degree until the deals started rolling in. And, based on the activity through four days, it's obvious teams aren't doling out $56 million over seven years for a Matt Duchene type, or $80 million over seven years for a Sergei Bobrovsky equivalent. Both money and term have been in short supply, and only a few deals are raising eyebrows.

Matt Murray's and Josh Anderson's deals are probably the biggest "huh?" contracts of the past week or so. Murray, who the Ottawa Senators acquired during the draft and then signed to an extension a few days later, will earn $25 million over the next four years, while Anderson is due $38.7 million over the next seven seasons. You can talk yourself into the scenarios - Murray's paycheck helps the Senators reach the cap floor and Anderson is a rare power winger who can skate and score - but both deals have bust potential.

The list more or less stops there, though, in terms of non-sensical, egregious behavior. Sure, there's nitpicking to be done on every GM's recent track record. (Why did the Edmonton Oilers re-sign Mike Smith? How did Jack Johnson receive another NHL deal? etc.) Even so, the usual silliness in regard to contract terms has been minimized in this flat-cap, no-revenue climate.

According to PuckPedia, only three of the 46 contracts signed for $1 million or more by unrestricted free agents so far have included signing bonuses (Taylor Hall and Braden Holtby both have bonuses in Year 1; Jacob Markstrom has bonuses in Year 5 and Year 6). Among those 46 agreements, 28 were multi-year deals, while just 12 of the 28 multi-year contracts were for three seasons or more.

Another interesting development via PuckPedia: NHL clubs will dole out the lowest amount of compensation during the 2020-21 season in 21 of those 28 multi-year contracts. Put another way, teams backloaded many deals so they can pay players later rather than sooner, when presumably the league's economics return to normal, or close to it.

Rookie GMs getting to work

There have been four GM hirings in 2020: Bill Armstrong in Arizona, Kevyn Adams in Buffalo, Bill Zito in Florida, and Tom Fitzgerald in New Jersey. Armstrong's Coyotes have been pretty tame overall, making only minor moves, with depth forward Johan Larsson probably counting as the club's biggest get. Meanwhile, the other rookie bosses seem to be operating freely.

First of all, Adams deserves high praise for the sales job that landed the sought-after Hall. Nobody saw the one-year, $8-million deal coming, yet Adams made it happen. Props to him for, at the very least, injecting some positivity into the tortured Sabres fan base. (Nine years without the playoffs!)

While neither the Panthers nor Devils can claim to have reeled in a marquee name like Hall, both Zito and Fitzgerald have undoubtedly improved their squads. It's quantity over quality for those franchises.

On the heels of trading for power forward Patric Hornqvist from the Pittsburgh Penguins in late September, Zito acquired two players he knows intimately from his time with the Blue Jackets by signing defensive center Alex Wennberg and trading for shutdown defenseman Markus Nutivaara. Zito also nabbed bottom-six forwards Vinnie Hinostroza and Carter Verhaeghe, as well as rough-and-tumble blue-liner Radko Gudas for three years on a reasonable $2.5-million cap hit.

In short, Zito added depth to the one-line, one-pairing team he inherited.

New Jersey has also done alright for itself thanks to Fitzgerald's opportunism. Goalie Corey Crawford, a career-long Blackhawk, is a Devil for the next two years because Fitzgerald swooped in after Chicago didn't table an extension to the two-time Stanley Cup winner. Fitzgerald also acquired Andreas Johnsson - buried on the Maple Leafs' depth chart - for fellow forward Joey Anderson because the GM pounced after Toronto realized it couldn't afford Johnsson. The Devils also got defenseman Ryan Murray for basically nothing - a fifth-round pick in 2021 - because Fitzgerald swooped in when Columbus sorely needed to clear cap space in order to chase UFAs and extend restricted free agent Pierre-Luc Dubois.

Not too shabby for a few GM newbies.

Goalie carousel winners

Here's a non-chronological recap of the game of musical chairs goalies have played over the last while: Henrik Lundqvist left the Rangers for the Capitals; Holtby left the Capitals for the Canucks; Markstrom left the Canucks for the Flames; Cam Talbot left the Flames for the Wild; Thomas Greiss left the Islanders for the Red Wings; and Crawford left the Blackhawks for the Devils. Plus, the Wild shipped Devan Dubnyk to the Sharks while the Penguins dealt Matt Murray to the Senators.

It's an exhausting list to absorb and, frankly, it's difficult to grade since there are plenty of fair contracts and nice player-team fits in the mix. Popping off the page in the right way, though, are two similar situations: Holtby's arrival in Vancouver, and Crawford's departure for New Jersey.

Both goalies are past their prime; Holtby's 31 years old and Crawford's 35. But there's still tremendous value to be squeezed out of the tail end of their impressive careers. The Canucks are looking to make the transition from Markstrom to Thatcher Demko as painless as possible, and the Devils hope to do something similar with Mackenzie Blackwood. These well-liked veterans increase the probability of a smooth handoff, and they're no slouches themselves between the pipes.

On another note, the Markstrom ordeal in Vancouver could have been a complete disaster for Canucks GM Jim Benning. He could have lost Markstrom and struck out on Plan B. However, Benning apparently played his cards correctly and now has a solid 1A-1B combo with Holtby on board.

Suddenly sunny in Detroit

While being unveiled as the Detroit Red Wings' GM last April, Steve Yzerman repeatedly said, "There's a lot of work to be done." The 2019-20 season hammered that point home; the Wings lost 54 of 71 games and finished with a stunning minus-122 goal differential.

Conversely, the past couple of weeks have been awfully encouraging for the franchise. First, the Yzerman-built Lightning won the Stanley Cup, which is a confidence booster. A few days later, Detroit received glowing reviews after taking Swedes Lucas Raymond and William Wallinder fourth and 32nd overall, respectively, in a 12-pick showing at the NHL draft.

Yzerman then made some shrewd moves over the weekend, signing middle-six forwards Vladislav Namestnikov (two years, $2 million per season) and Bobby Ryan (one year, $1 million) to beef up the Wings' attack. The blue line has been reinforced, too, with UFAs Troy Stecher (two years, $1.7 million per season) and Jon Merrill (one year, $925,000) brought into the fold alongside veteran Marc Staal, who Detroit acquired via trade last month.

Toss in new starting goalie Greiss (two years, $3.6 million per season) and re-signed forward Sam Gagner (one year, $850,000), and you have a ton of short-term, low-cost, low-profile pickups. That's exactly what the Wings need in abundance right now as the franchise evolves from a miserable tanking team to a semi-competitive rebuilding club.

Former GM Ken Holland left Yzerman a mess to clean up - bloated contracts, a lackluster prospect pipeline, no hope - but the ex-captain is starting to leave his mark.

Offer sheet watch continues

Oh, to be a fly on the wall inside the Lightning's war room.

Aside from swapping picks on draft day, GM Julien BriseBois has made just four NHL-level moves since winning the Cup on Sept. 28. He extended Mitchell Stephens, Patrick Maroon, and Luke Schenn, and placed Tyler Johnson on waivers in an attempt to shift money off the books.

Otherwise, the Lightning - whose RFAs Anthony Cirelli, Mikhail Sergachev, and Erik Cernak could be spicy offer-sheet targets - have been inactive on the transaction front. Perhaps it's a game of chicken on BriseBois' part, where he's hoping some desperate GM calls him with a trade package that can free up more cap space for Tampa Bay. Or, perhaps, BriseBois is waiting for madness to ensue elsewhere.

The Lightning are definitely the most vulnerable team, but it seemed like the New York Islanders also could've been susceptible to an offer sheet before they traded underrated blue-liner Devon Toews to the Colorado Avalanche. Stud center Mathew Barzal, top-four defenseman Ryan Pulock, and Toews were all eligible to sign one as RFAs. Now, with Toews gone, New York has $8.2 million in space for Barzal and Pulock, keeping most of the attention on Tampa Bay.

On second thought, considering offer sheets are so rare - Sebastian Aho signing with the Montreal Canadiens last July was the first in six-plus years - and most NHL owners are cash poor anyway, which brave soul would dare toss an offer sheet at a player employed by a team run by legendary hockey executive Lou Lamoriello? Based on the respect the Isles GM commands across the league, the answer is, "Not many, if any."

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

To where? For how long? For how much?

Taylor Hall's decision to sign a one-year, $8-million contract with the lowly Buffalo Sabres on Sunday evening stunned the hockey world from so many different angles. Check that - just about every angle.

But it's true. Hall, a game-changing left-winger and the hottest commodity on the 2020 free-agent forward market, is willingly joining the team with the league's longest active playoff drought after competing in only 14 postseason games through the first 10 years of his NHL career. To be frank, Hall is betting on himself, agreeing to a show-me contract amid a pandemic and a flat salary cap.

This deal is also the ultimate sign of the times, a microcosm of the economic uncertainty surrounding the sport and the NHL in the face of COVID-19. There's no money in the system right now - Hall probably would have commanded $9 million to $10 million annually over five, six, or seven years in normal times - and nobody knows when the 2020-21 season will begin. How long revenues will sag and how hockey will look next offseason are puzzles themselves.

This environment has created a perfect storm for a player of Hall's caliber - the 2018 Hart Trophy winner, a three-time all-star, and the 2010 first overall pick - to do something unexpected and bold. Just two months ago, Hall told reporters that, "Honestly, it's probably all winning" when asked what was most important to him as he eyed free agency for the first time in his career.

But winning and the Sabres are not synonymous whatsoever. So that line of thinking carries no weight. Beneath the surface, though, there is a case to be made for Hall's decision, even with the Colorado Avalanche, Boston Bruins, and Nashville Predators among the other teams expressing interest in signing him.

Most importantly, Jack Eichel, a top-10 center in the NHL every day of the week, will be his running mate. One of Buffalo's top in-house wingers, whether it's Jeff Skinner, Victor Olofsson, or Sam Reinhart, will likely line up on the right side of Eichel with Hall on the left flank. That's a potent top line, to say the least. And keep in mind: Hall has never played alongside a player as talented as Eichel for any great length of time. There is a huge draw there.

There's also the very real possibility of frequently sharing the ice with dynamic defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, who, while not praised to the level of Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, or Miro Heiskanen, is almost certainly a Norris Trophy contender in waiting. What's more, Eric Staal, acquired by Sabres GM Kevyn Adams in a September trade with the Minnesota Wild, is a quality second-line center; teams tempted to focus all of their energy on shutting down Hall and the rest of the big guns better think twice.

In terms of the Sabres' pitch, the fact that Hall and Sabres head coach Ralph Krueger got along wonderfully during their brief time together with the Edmonton Oilers in 2012-13 is an easy add-on to the Eichel factor. Krueger seems genuinely beloved by players of all kinds, and Hall is clearly enamored. Krueger has a penchant for connecting with stars, in particular.

So put yourself in Hall's shoes for a moment. Sure, Buffalo has struggled to turn the corner on its seemingly endless rebuild. But the high-end pieces are there. And what's so risky about a one-year commitment? If things go poorly, there's no shame in heading back to free agency in 2021.

If Hall is ultimately playing the long game here - which he certainly seems to be - there are worse places to land. He's not coming off a particularly strong year, recording a ho-hum 52 points in 65 games in a tumultuous season split between the New Jersey Devils and Arizona Coyotes. The native of Calgary needs to reboot his value, and riding shotgun beside Eichel is a quick, playmaking winger's dream. The duo will be a nightmare to defend, especially in transition and on the power play.

Hall, who's listed at 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, turns 29 in November. He's no longer young by NHL standards, and he's endured his fair share of injury troubles through stops in Edmonton, New Jersey, and Arizona. He's had two seasons with 80 points or more, but he's in no way cemented himself as a guaranteed, knock-em-dead producer every single time he's on the ice.

In other words, there is a greater-than-zero-percent chance he doesn't enjoy a monster season in Buffalo. Even though the risk is low, he's still taking a leap of faith because the Sabres have been so dysfunctional for so long. As of this writing, Hall had not spoken publicly about the decision. Perhaps he can fill in a few blanks for us, such as:

To Buffalo? For one year? For $8 million?

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Quick-hit analysis of important NHL signings and trades completed Friday, Oct. 9, updating live as each transaction rolls in.

Signing: Canucks sign goalie Braden Holtby to a two-year contract
Analysis: Bye-bye, Jacob Markstrom. Moving forward, the Canucks' goaltending tandem will be youngster Thatcher Demko and Holtby, who'll earn $4.3 million a season on his new contract. This was pretty much GM Jim Benning's best-case scenario with Markstrom on his way out of town. And the price is justifiable given Holtby's resume. He's probably the only UFA goalie with starter potential, even at his age. Holtby, 31, can split the workload with Demko, who's still a little green. The veteran also brings stability, experience, and pedigree. Plus, according to TSN's Bob McKenzie, Holtby's deal doesn't include a no-movement clause, which means he's eligible for the Seattle expansion draft.

Signing: Oilers sign forward Kyle Turris to a two-year contract
Analysis: This is a tough one to project. On the one hand, good for Turris, who was recently bought out by the Nashville Predators. He gets a fresh start, a spot down the middle on Connor McDavid's team, and a solid paycheck at $1.65 million a year. On the other hand, from the Oilers' perspective, the term and money are fine, yet you wonder if they really need to be taking a gamble on a guy whose game has fallen off a cliff over the past few years. Edmonton needs to win now, and although this deal doesn't carry a ton of risk, it's far from a guaranteed success. Perhaps the change of scenery will help?

Signing: Wild sign goalie Max Talbot to a three-year contract
Analysis: After sending Devan Dubnyk to the San Jose Sharks earlier this week, the Wild have found a replacement in Talbot. The price tag is $3.67 million a year, or $11 million in total. This is Talbot's third team in three years following largely unsuccessful stints in Calgary and Edmonton. At the end of the day, there are more than a dozen goalies on the UFA market and GM Bill Guerin had to pounce on one of them sooner rather than later in order to have someone competing alongside Alex Stalock. Minnesota is in transition - as evidenced by Guerin's moves over the past few weeks - so shoring up the goalie position over the short term with a decent tandem is a smart bet.

Signing: Red Wings sign forward Bobby Ryan to a one-year contract
Analysis: Ryan, whose dedication to the game earned him the 2019-20 Bill Masterton Trophy, has found a soft landing spot after the Ottawa Senators surprisingly bought him out. The former 30-goal scorer is hoping to rebuild his career following multiple injuries and down years offensively. The woeful Wings could use some veterans in their lineup and at $1 million, this is a no-lose situation. The fit works on both ends. A+ signing on all fronts.

Signing: Panthers sign defenseman Radko Gudas to a three-year contract
Analysis: There's no denying Bill Zito, Florida's new GM, is looking to rock the boat this offseason. And here's one example: The addition of Gudas brings in a layer of physicality to the back end and a right-handed option to potentially replace MacKenzie Weeger, who is apparently on the trade block. Gudas, the former Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers blue-liner, will make $2.5 million a season. He'll also make life difficult on opposing forwards.

Signing: Maple Leafs sign forward Wayne Simmonds to a one-year deal
Analysis: GM Kyle Dubas said the Leafs would do what they could in the offseason to get harder to play against and their first transaction of the day is a step in the right direction. Simmonds, a 32-year-old who's no doubt past his prime after more than 900 NHL games, has signed for $1.5 million. The deal includes a no-movement clause, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun. Simmonds had been linked to the Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames in the lead-up to free agency but the Toronto native ultimately chose to come home. It's not quite a John Tavares-esque signing, but the Leafs add a 6-foot-2 right winger to their middle-six forward group. Low-risk, high-reward.

Signing: Blackhawks re-sign goalie Malcolm Subban and forward Dominik Kubalik
Analysis: After bidding farewell to longtime starting goalie and UFA Corey Crawford, Chicago re-signed Subban for two years at $850,000 per season. It remains to be seen if the Hawks' netminding tandem will indeed be Subban and Colin Delia moving forward, but that's what GM Stan Bowman has at his disposal right now. Meanwhile, Kubalik is coming off a 30-goal NHL debut that earned him Calder Trophy consideration. The Czech sniper's two-year extension comes in at a completely reasonable $3.7-million cap hit.

Signing: Capitals sign goalie Henrik Lundqvist to a one-year deal
Analysis: Lundqvist is headed to Washington a week after the Rangers bought out the final two years of his contract in New York. At $1.5 million, the future Hall of Famer will slide in behind the promising Ilya Samsonov on the Capitals' goalie depth chart. At 38 years old and coming off a season in which he posted a .905 save percentage, Lundqvist is firmly in the Stanley Cup-chasing stage and could be an ideal backup/mentor to Samsonov, aged 23. The signing also signals the end of the Braden Holtby era. Holtby, a 31-year-old UFA, has spent his entire career in D.C., but there was never much of a chance of him signing another extension.

Trade: Jets acquire forward Paul Stastny from Golden Knights for defenseman Carl Dahlstrom and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2022
Analysis: Winnipeg has picked up Stastny for the second time in three-plus years as GM Kevin Cheveldayoff looks to plug a hole at second-line center. Stastny, a 34-year-old cerebral and battle-tested pivot, carries a $6.5-million salary cap hit for the 2020-21 season. If it doesn't work out between player and team, no big deal; Stastny is slated to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason. This swap between the Jets and Golden Knights, which involves a fringe NHL defenseman and a mid-round pick going to Vegas, makes you wonder if the rampant Patrik Laine trade rumors will fizzle out. Stastny, Laine, and Nikolaj Ehlers were fantastic together during Winnipeg's 2018 playoff run. Stastny recorded 15 points in 17 postseason games before inking a three-year deal with Vegas as a UFA.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

It's "July 1" but on Oct. 9. The NHL is set to open free agency at noon ET on Friday, more than three months later than usual. With the salary cap remaining at $81.5 million for (at least) the 2020-21 season, and with the 2021 Seattle Kraken expansion looming, there shouldn't be any shortage of action on the trade and signing fronts. Here are five teams set up to make cannonball-sized splashes in the coming days.

Vegas Golden Knights

The Golden Knights have been the opposite of subtle since joining the league in 2017. They've acquired Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, and Robin Lehner via trade, signed Paul Stastny in free agency, and been linked to seemingly every big name said to be available.

The lead-up to this free-agency period has been no different, with Vegas considered a front-runner to land 30-year-old defenseman Alex Pietrangelo if the Blues captain doesn't re-sign in St. Louis. Pietrangelo, an elite right shot who can eat minutes while playing in all situations, would be a tremendous complement to lefty Shea Theodore, who broke out during the 2020 playoffs.

Before general manager Kelly McCrimmon can get serious about pursuing Pietrangelo - or other UFA defensemen such as Torey Krug, T.J. Brodie, Kevin Shattenkirk if Plan A falls through - he'll need to shed salary. With 12 forwards, six defensemen, and two goalies signed on for next year, Vegas is currently over the cap limit at $84.3 million, according to CapFriendly.

One well-publicized way to create room would be to ship out goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and his $7-million cap hit through the 2021-22 campaign. The Golden Knights recently extended Lehner for five years at $5 million per season, so Fleury's days in Vegas appear to be numbered. He's ranked fifth on TSN's Trade Bait Board, while teammates Stastny (14th), Nate Schmidt (38th), Jonathan Marchessault (39th), and Alec Martinez (40th) also make the list. Not all of them will be traded, of course, but something has to give.

It's going to be complicated for McCrimmon. However, the Golden Knights have consistently proved they can land the big fish. There's no doubting the 2018 Stanley Cup finalists will pursue any and all opportunities to get better in the present as they attempt to capitalize on a slowly closing win-now window.

Winnipeg Jets

The Jets are back to the drawing board heading into free agency after going through hell last year with the departures of defensemen Jacob Trouba, Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Chariot, and Tyler Myers. The club's top priorities are pretty obvious: a top-four defenseman and probably a top-six center with No. 2 center Bryan Little's playing future up in the air due to lingering symptoms from a head injury.

Winnipeg has roughly $11 million in cap space, though currently only eight forwards, five defensemen, and two goalies are under contract for 2020-21. Does GM Kevin Cheveldayoff hold off on signing any more of his own guys (defenseman Dylan DeMelo inked a four-year extension Wednesday) so he can pursue out-of-market free agents? That's one way to attack the situation. But, the problem with that plan is twofold: 1) Winnipeg isn't perceived as a prime destination for UFAs, and 2) there aren't too many interesting centers available.

Through that lens, the idea of trading super sniper Patrik Laine - a rumor that's been circulating for weeks and has often included the Philadelphia Flyers as the partner - seems less crazy and could perhaps be the easiest way for the Jets to acquire a quality defenseman and/or forward. Of course, Cheveldayoff must be careful. If Laine reaches his ceiling as a regular 50-goal threat, you can bet everybody in the hockey world will be quick to let Cheveldayoff know who gave up on the Finnish sniper before he turned 23.

Columbus Blue Jackets

If you squint hard enough you can pinpoint what Columbus is up to this week.

On Tuesday afternoon, GM Jarmo Kekalainen acquired playmaking center Max Domi and a third-round pick from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for power winger Josh Anderson. Hours later, he shocked draft pundits by selecting KHL sniper Yegor Chinakhov at No. 21. Both moves signaled that the defensively driven Blue Jackets are in the market for some offense. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, he inked Domi to a two-year contract.

Expect much of the same moving forward. The Jackets have around $1.7 million in cap space, and RFA Pierre-Luc Dubois is in need of a big raise. That being said, buying out forward Alexander Wennberg - which seems likely at this point - could toss some money back into the fold and produce a scenario in which Columbus can chase a UFA forward. Mike Hoffman's lethal shot, Andreas Athanasiou's speed, or Anthony Duclair's mixture of both would be welcomed. You have to wonder, too, if Alex Killorn or Tyler Johnson, two skilled, middle-six forwards on the trade block in Tampa, might be of interest to the Jackets.

Where Kekalainen could really impact the offseason landscape is in the crowded goalie market. Reports suggest neither Elvis Merzlikins nor Joonas Korpisalo is untouchable, and one of them will probably leave Columbus this offseason. Both have two years left on their current deals, with Merzlikins making a fair $4 million per season and Korpisalo earning a measly $2.8 million. Teams looking to steer clear of the UFA goalie market, which will be inflated and hectic, could instead pivot to making a deal with the Jackets.

It'll be fascinating to see what this squad looks like when the dust settles. Dubois, Seth Jones, and Zach Werenski are Columbus' ride-or-dies over the long term. The rest of the roster appears to be in transition, and adding offensive punch is clearly the MO after 2019-20 underlined that deficiency.

Colorado Avalanche

The Avalanche are in an enviable position this offseason. Not only are they Stanley Cup contenders and arguably ahead of schedule on their trajectory, but they're also in reasonable shape financially - for the next year, anyhow.

GM Joe Sakic has approximately $22.4 million in cap space, and there are no marquee names that need to be re-signed for next season. However, top defenseman Cale Makar, captain Gabriel Landeskog, and starting goalie Philipp Grubauer are all due hefty extensions next offseason. For that reason, Sakic must project a bit, although there's no reason why the Avs can't pursue some of the biggest names on the market, including Taylor Hall.

Hall, a 28-year-old play-driving left-winger, would be a tremendous fit stylistically, with his excellent skating and transition play blending perfectly with how Colorado loves to push the pace. The 2018 Hart Trophy winner is said to be taking the wooing process slowly by fielding pitches from a variety of clubs Friday before sitting down to decide where he'd like to go. Aside from the style fit and available money, the Avs boast a wealth of talent on the roster.

Sakic added around the edges of Colorado's offense last summer, bringing in Nazem Kadri, Joonas Donskoi, Andre Burakovsky, and others. It made a huge difference. This year, he has an opportunity to pounce on an uncertain free-agent market reeling from the revenue impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. With all of that cap room, perhaps Colorado could even table an offer sheet for an RFA too.

Nashville Predators

There isn't a team giving off a "moves incoming!" vibe quite like the Predators.

On Wednesday, the last four years of Kyle Turris' contract were bought out and Nick Bonino was traded alongside two draft selections to the Minnesota Wild for Luke Kunin and one pick. Those two transactions cleared $8.1 million from the books and gives GM David Poile $17.7 million in cap space to sling around as he continues to revamp the forward group. Pending UFAs Mikael Granlund and Craig Smith won't be coming back either.

According to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun, Nashville is one of several teams vying for Hall's attention and have a meeting set up for Friday. If that push fails, perhaps Poile will take a healthy run at mid-tier forwards like Evgenii Dadonov, Tyler Toffoli, Hoffman, Duclair, and Athanasiou.

TSN's Trade Bait Board has Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen ranked 27th and 28th, suggesting an even deeper reorganization up front could be in the offing. Minnesota defenseman Matt Dumba has been the subject of trade rumors for months and could be another potential acquisition for a team desperately trying to make a statement.

The Predators have made it out of the first round just once since they reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2017. It's time for massive changes, and Poile, a man not afraid to rattle the cage on occasion, seems dead set on charting a new course.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The NHL is holding its annual entry draft midweek for the first time since 1994. The opening round, conducted virtually on Tuesday night because of the COVID-19 pandemic, went smoothly - a big win for everybody involved.

Here's what we learned from Day 1 and what to watch Wednesday as the 2020 draft continues with Rounds 2-7 starting at 11 a.m. ET.

Preds go bold

Maybe we should have seen it coming.

Nashville Predators assistant general manager Jeff Kealty was asked last week about the idea of drafting Yaroslav Askarov, and he didn't exactly distance the organization from the tantalizing Russian goalie who was projected to go early on in the draft. In hindsight, Kealty kind of flirted with the notion.

"We would certainly consider it. He's a high-end talent," Kealty said. "Like a lot of these things, some of it is just dictated by who gets taken before you. But there's no question he's a top-end goaltending prospect."

The comment went largely unnoticed outside of Tennessee in part because Nashville - with an endless need for scoring and an abundance of NHL-caliber netminding in Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros - seemed like an unlikely destination for Askarov. Yet there was Preds GM David Poile on Tuesday, calling out Askarov's name at 11th overall despite a number of qualified forwards and defensemen still on the board. It was refreshing to see an NHL team unapologetically pick the best player available - especially when the player in question plays a position that GMs historically scoff at during the opening round.

Yes, Nashville left Tuesday's proceedings a huge winner for the simple reason that the club was bold but not too bold. (See: the jaw-dropper that was Yegor Chinakhov to the Columbus Blue Jackets at 21st overall.) In Askarov, the goalie-rich Preds have another franchise puck-stopper coming down the pike in two or three years, goalie controversies and drafting traditions be damned.

For the uninitiated: Askarov, a rare right-catching netminder, is supremely athletic for a guy standing at 6-foot-3. He processes the game at a high level and has already shown that, at just 18 years old, he can dominate in the KHL, the second-best league in the world. The scouting community says Askarov is the top goalie prospect since Carey Price, who went fifth overall to the Montreal Canadiens in 2005 and has strung together a mighty fine career.

The Preds' laudable pick came on the heels of the Buffalo Sabres taking a bit of a gamble on Ottawa 67's right-winger Jack Quinn at eighth overall. It was a head-scratching selection from new Sabres GM Kevyn Adams - whose hockey operations department is a shell of its former self after ownership fired 20-plus people in June - not because Quinn isn't worthy of the No. 8 slot, but because two players with arguably greater potential were still available.

NHL-ready center Marco Rossi, Quinn's OHL teammate, was widely believed to be the better option; he slipped to the Minnesota Wild a pick later. Meanwhile, ultra-smart Saginaw Spirit center Cole Perfetti - whom many prognosticators had pegged as a top-five pick coming into Tuesday - fell all the way to the Winnipeg Jets at 10th. Perfetti could be the steal of the draft.

Askarov may have been the biggest wild card heading into Tuesday night, but not far behind in intrigue was the theater surrounding which high-end defenseman would go off the board first. Jake Sanderson, a well-rounded, smooth-skating American, ultimately went fifth overall to the Senators, one pick ahead of dynamic Canadian Jamie Drysdale, whom the Anaheim Ducks scooped up. The fact that they went back-to-back indicates just how small of a gap there is right now between the two promising blue-liners.

We'll have to wait a few years to find out if Ottawa made the right choice. Either way, GM Pierre Dorion cleaned up in the first round. Patrick Kane clone Tim Stuetzle was a tap-in at third overall, Sanderson could be a top-pairing rearguard down the road, and agitating and skilled center Ridly Greig was an appropriate wrap-up pick at 28th overall. Ottawa could have traded down during Day 1, but it decided to stay the course, a smart call considering how far its rebuild is from completion. Dorion is stockpiling talent and has nine picks on Day 2, including four second-rounders.

Circling back on the defensemen topic for a moment: It was interesting to see only six blue-liners go in the first round, and none between Drysdale at sixth and Kaiden Guhle at 16th. The 2020 class isn't brimming with studs on the back end, but oftentimes NHL teams will reach in the early teens of the first round to fill a positional need. For context, 10 defensemen were chosen in Round 1 in 2019, 14 were picked in 2018, and nine were selected in 2017.

Players to watch on Day 2

Since the first round featured a number of selections that could be characterized as "reaches" - at least to the public scouting community - there's plenty of fascinating players itching to get picked up early on Day 2.

Tristen Robins, a right-winger who quietly put up 72 points in 63 WHL games for the Saskatoon Blades last season, certainly fits the description, according to one independent scouting service. HockeyProspect.com had Robins ranked 13th overall on its final 2020 draft rankings, though several competitors slotted the Manitoba native in the 50s or 60s on their final lists.

The staff at HockeyProspect.com see Robins as a Brendan Gallagher or Viktor Arvidsson kind of player. He's a feisty forward with plenty of skill and the ability to impact all three zones on the ice. He also possesses that "it" factor.

"Robins is a high-octane, instinctive, line-driving forward who overwhelms his opponents with a combination of determination and skill," reads a glowing scouting report in HockeyProspect.com's "Black Book."

"His build (5-foot-10 and 176 pounds) is a bit thick and at first glance, you wouldn’t think of him as someone with a lot of agility or explosiveness. His frame can be deceptive, though, as he’s not only an explosive and sound technical skater, but has a tremendous amount of agility on the ice. We were left watching sequences where we thought Robbins had skated himself into a dead play, only to be shocked as he effortlessly side-stepped an incoming opponent. His edges and pivoting ability make him very elusive in tight spaces and it really pronounces his puck protection game."

Ryan O'Rourke is a name that seems to have gained steam during the COVID-19 hiatus. He's a versatile defenseman whom NHL scouts and managers have clearly grown to appreciate after sifting through additional video and conducting extra background work. The 6-foot, 178-pounder was considered a potential first-rounder but didn't get the call Tuesday. There's a belief he could go off the board early in Round 2.

NHL Central Scouting ranked O'Rourke 27th among North American skaters, comparing him to the Winnipeg Jets' Josh Morrissey. He's been a stalwart on the Soo Greyhounds blue line since breaking into the OHL in 2018-19.

"Very intelligent. Ultra-competitive player that can only play one way and that is what drives him," Greyhounds GM Kyle Raftis said of O'Rourke, who racked up 37 points in 54 OHL games last season. "He's great in transition with a first pass and can add layers to offense in his ability to jump into the attack."

Just 17 at the time, O'Rourke was named captain of the Greyhounds for the 2019-20 season. "Leads by example," Raftis said, "always pushing others through his competitiveness, whether in practice or in the gym."

Everybody loves bloodlines at the NHL draft, and Tuesday did not disappoint. We saw Geoff Sanderson's son, Jake, go to the Senators at fifth overall, Robert Reichel's nephew, Lukas, go to the Blackhawks at 17th, and Yanic Perreault's son, Jacob, go to the Ducks at 27th. On Day 2, how about Alex Tuch's brother?

That's right, Luke Tuch, who is six years Alex's junior, is available heading into the second round. Luke, the 40th-ranked North American skater, collected 15 goals and 15 assists in 47 games for the U.S. National Team Development Program last season. Bound for Boston University, the 6-foot-2, 202-pound left-winger is currently waiting for the NCAA season to start.

Luke is described as a complete, 200-foot player with a physical edge. He's a powerful skater who can mix in some playmaking ability and scoring. NHL Central Scouting uses Jamie Benn for a big-league comparable.

For what it's worth, the Vegas Golden Knights - Alex's team for the past three years after the Minnesota Wild drafted him 18th overall in 2014 - own the 68th, 94th, 181st, and 215th picks. Lots of opportunities to tap the younger Tuch and add another layer to the bloodlines plot. Just saying.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Over the years, there have been some fascinating debates in the lead-up to the NHL draft. Taylor Hall versus Tyler Seguin in 2010. Auston Matthews against Patrik Laine in 2016. Heck, even this year's No. 2 discussion - Quinton Byfield versus Tim Stuetzle - is heated.

Though the greater hockey world might not realize it, similar debates often play out at lower levels. In early 2018, for instance, executives, coaches, scouts, and fans of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League were heatedly debating the merits of Jeremie Poirier versus William Villeneuve, two of the top defensemen available for the league's entry draft. As dominant players from different areas of southern Quebec, they carved out an on-ice rivalry while going head to head in a hard-fought midget AAA provincial semifinal series. Villeneuve's team, the Magog Cantonniers, defeated Poirier's Chateauguay Grenadiers in seven games, with both starring for their respective squads.

"Everybody was talking about it, taking sides," Saint John Sea Dogs general manager Trevor Georgie said. "Our staff was totally split, basically 50/50, heading into the draft."

This dynamic made for an awkward moment when the rebuilding Sea Dogs selected Villeneuve second overall and Poirier six picks later at No. 8. The QMJHL draft is typically held in person, so the oft compared rivals were forced to acquaint themselves in the club's suite.

"It was kind of weird at the beginning because we didn't expect to be drafted onto the same team," Poirier said of the pair's brief draft-day interactions. "But we were also so happy. We knew it'd be good to have two high prospects in Saint John."

"We were rivals," Villeneuve recalled, "but we always had the respect for each other."

Despite the subdued meeting, Georgie and the coaching staff worried about how "explosive" the upcoming training camp might be. With playing time and clout within the organization hanging in the balance, there was a decent chance Poirier or Villeneuve - or perhaps both - would put up a fuss or refuse to cooperate. Instead, the two hit it off.

"You wondered how they were going to manage it," Sea Dogs assistant coach Jeff Cowan said. "From Day 1, though, there was no big competition, no big egos or unhealthy competitiveness, nothing like that."

Roughly two years later, after anchoring Saint John's blue line through a rebuild, the still-green Poirier and Villeneuve are once again up for a draft, this time with NHL teams making the selections. Plenty of junior teams will see several players picked during the 2020 NHL Draft, which is being held virtually on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the Sea Dogs are one club to keep a close eye on because they have three draft-eligible defensemen. (The third is Charlie DesRoches, also scooped up in the 2018 QMJHL draft.) The crown jewel, Poirier, might be the most polarizing player in the entire class.

On one hand, Poirier is a tantalizing offensive weapon, a one-man wrecking crew from the back end who can stickhandle through an entire team before creating a scoring chance for himself or a teammate. On the other hand, he's been, as one NHL scout framed it recently, a "train wreck defensively." The Montreal-area product is projected to go late in the first round. However, since he's the type of player teams either love or hate, he could slide into Day 2.

Georgie offered a sports-car analogy to simplify Poirier's strengths and weaknesses at this point in his career. "Whoever drafts Jeremie," he said, "is purchasing the Ferrari knowing that the transmission needs some work. Everyone knows the transmission needs some work, but it's a Ferrari."

Poirier racked up an impressive 53 points in 64 games last season. He led all QMJHL defensemen with 20 goals despite being just 17 years old. The Ferrari-like attributes are easy to identify. Poirier operates with supreme confidence when he's on the attack, dancing in and out of zones. He can regroup, dish a nifty pass, or unleash his trademark shot, which is hard and accurate.

"He's got a shot that gets through to the net. It's not getting blocked and turning into two-on-ones the other way," Dan Marr, longtime NHL Central Scouting director, said of the 6-foot-1, 196-pounder whom the agency ranked 18th among all draft-eligible North American skaters. "He sees the ice well enough and he's got a quick release where he really steps into it."

"He's so good at making plays in tight, making little dekes and plays under guys' sticks," said Cowan, who played eight NHL seasons. "For me, having coached here in Saint John for seven years, I haven't seen a defenseman or maybe a forward who has that skill with the puck. He's so confident with it in the plays he makes. Those are his pluses. His skill level is crazy."

Poirier elicits oppositely extreme views for his play without the puck. His slow pivots from skating forward to backward are a concern. Scouts question his dedication to defense, in general, because of his poor body language and lackadaisical approach to battling. He also turns the puck over far too often.

Georgie, Cowan, and Poirier himself all accept this to be true. There's no question his risk-reward ratio must be recalibrated, and his attention to detail, or lack thereof, in certain areas of the game needs an adjustment. That said, the GM, coach, and player report a change in approach over the offseason and into the start of the 2020-21 season. To them, these deficiencies can be fixed.

"When I was coming back into the defensive zone, I was thinking about offense, trying to gain the puck back, go on offense, and go, go, go," Poirier said of his first two years of junior, which featured an ugly minus-66 rating. "Now, I'm trying to be more aware of what's going on in my zone. Stop the play, get the puck back first, and then change my focus."

"Jeremie is committed. He wants to be dominant. He wants to be an elite-level player," Georgie added. "The feedback I'm getting, unprovoked from teammates, is that this is a different Jeremie Poirier."

Poirier looked up to superstar Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane as a kid and played forward until his peewee coach suggested he switch to defenseman so he could expand his view of the ice and, most importantly, get more ice time. Asked if any teams in pre-draft interviews broached the subject of reverting back, Poirier had a good laugh.

"I make sure everybody knows I'm a defenseman," he said. "It's good to have this really big offensive upside because I can bring it every night. There's not a lot of defensemen in this draft year and around the world who can play offense like I do. If I keep improving my defense and keep getting better, overall, it'll help me be one of the top defensemen."

One thing that isn't up for debate is how abundantly aware Poirier is of his shortcomings. His own coaches have let him know. NHL scouts too. And, of course, the internet, with Poirier trying his best to avoid the criticism but nevertheless stumbling upon some negativity while cruising social media.

"At the end of the day, it can be frustrating if you're reading all of those comments," Poirier said of what he's read on Instagram and elsewhere. "But I'm just here to improve and get better. Sometimes I take those criticisms as motivation. I can go out there and improve."

That brings us back to Villeneuve, who's not only one of Poirier's best friends now but was also his defense partner for the 2019-20 season. (The pair has been split up to start 2020-21, which began with back-to-back losses over the weekend. Poirier recorded a goal and three assists.) In Villeneuve, Poirier has found someone to lean on for brotherly support on and off the ice.

"Some people are bugging him about his defensive game, but they don't really know how hard he's worked over the past two years," Villeneuve said defiantly.

"I like to say that we went through the same things," he continued. "Being 16 years old in the (QMJHL) is not easy. Also, coming into a rebuilding team (the Sea Dogs have won just 43 of 134 games since the duo's arrival), we've had some good but also tough moments, playing a lot of hard minutes. To have a player like Jeremie and a person like Jeremie by my side to go through everything, it's been great. Since we put our feet in Saint John, we've been hanging out a lot together. We push each other to get better every day."

Villeneuve, a 6-foot-1 righty, was the top point-getter among QMJHL defensemen last year with 58 in 64 games. He's not as flashy as Poirier, but he does earn high marks in the vision and poise categories. He's expected to go off the board relatively early on Day 2, perhaps in the second round not long after Poirier.

"He doesn’t have the high-end skills of a Poirier, but he’s a notch above him in terms of defending and hockey sense," reads a report on Villeneuve in HockeyProspect.com's draft bible. "We are hoping that as he continues to physically mature, some of those skills will continue to improve, such as skating and shooting. He has some two-way upside, but his lack of athleticism and high-end skills might hurt his chances of one day playing in the NHL."

Once rivals, Poirier and Villeneuve are close to inseparable in Saint John. They were classmates at a French-speaking high school prior to finishing Grade 12, they play the NBA2K video game together, and they've been known to frequent Tim Hortons and a local mall as a pair. In a strange, pandemic-shortened draft year filled with criticism, it's been nice to have each other.

"I think JP's improved a lot defensively and he's still working on it. We both need to," Villeneuve said. "People are really hard on him, but I'm not worried about him. He's going to prove them wrong really soon."

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

On the surface, the Jan. 30 meeting between the Sudbury Wolves and Barrie Colts was just another game in the 2019-20 OHL season, the 37th contest of a 63-game year shortened by COVID-19.

The way MacAuley Carson sees it, though, the Wolves' 3-2 victory was more than just another game. It was the game in which he witnessed superstar teammate Quinton Byfield call his shot with Sudbury down 2-1 early in the third period.

Byfield, as Carson tells it, told a yapping Colts player to buzz off and then gave him a warning: Not only did Byfield plan to tie the game 2-2, but he would do so in spectacular fashion by rifling the puck top corner on a breakaway. You can probably guess what happened the next time his skates hit the ice.

In-game chirping is rampant in junior, Carson notes, but this was different. Byfield put his money where his mouth was and hushed the Colts faithful mid-celebration. "It was probably the first time I ever saw a guy say he was going to do something, and then actually do it the next shift," Carson said earlier this week, still amazed eight months later.

For good measure, Byfield later scored the overtime winner, burying his sixth shot of the night to cap the Wolves' late-game comeback. "That was the moment where I'm like, 'OK, this kid's pretty good,'" Carson said with a laugh. He likened the 6-foot-4 center's performance to an NBA player taking over in crunch time.

Byfield will again command attention Tuesday when the NHL gathers virtually for the first round of the 2020 draft. The New York Rangers are expected to select Canadian forward and consensus top prospect Alexis Lafreniere first overall. The Los Angeles Kings pick second and are projected to take either Byfield or German phenom Tim Stuetzle, with the Ottawa Senators taking the other at No. 3.

Truthfully, there is no wrong choice for the Kings. But if it were up to TSN's Craig Button, Byfield would be bound for California.

"My opinion on the selection at No. 2 is simple. We all know what Anze Kopitar means to the LA Kings. When I look at an Anze Kopitar-type player like Quinton Byfield, who better to learn from than the player you might be very similar to?" said Button, a former NHL general manager and scout.

It's rare for a prospect to be compared to Kopitar, one of hockey's most unique two-way forwards. But Byfield, who only turned 18 on Aug. 19, actually qualifies. He boasts formidable size, explosive skating, high-end skill, and advanced vision. Byfield isn't currently in Kopitar's ballpark when it comes to his play away from the puck - the latter is a former Selke Trophy winner - yet Button believes he has the desire, attitude, and tools to eventually "make an impact on every square inch of ice" at the NHL level.

"I see him as a real, real bright prospect," Button said. "The athletic ability, the hockey ability, the determination, the competitive spirit - it's all there, it's all there. It's about continuing to grow and develop."

Unlike Kopitar, the lone Slovenian to star in the NHL, Byfield hails from a hockey hotbed. Though his father is from Jamaica and didn't grow up around the game, Byfield was born and raised in the Toronto suburb of Newmarket, becoming addicted to the sport at an early age. By his mid-teens, he'd established himself as a blue-chip prospect, drawing crowds of scouts before the Wolves eventually selected him first overall in the 2018 OHL draft. He delivered immediately, posting 61 points in 64 games to earn rookie of the year honors.

"He came in and played both roles, offensive and defensive. He would be out there late in games with goalies pulled," Wolves head coach Cory Stillman said. "If we pulled our goalie, everything ran through him. If their goalie was pulled, we had him on the ice because we knew he was going to get the puck out.

"He's smart, he can read plays, and he has a great stick. We knew from Day 1 that having him on the ice late in games was an advantage for us."

Commitments with Team Canada's world junior squad, a mid-season wrist injury, and the coronavirus pandemic truncated Byfield's sophomore OHL season, yet he still managed to bag 32 goals and add 50 assists to lead the Wolves with 82 points in 45 games. Scouts were impressed once again, this time by his constant improvements in blending the various aspects of his game.

"He has a power element, but it's combined with speed," explained Dan Marr, the director of NHL Central Scouting. "He's got nice, soft hands for a big guy, and he's got very good hockey IQ. This is an all-situational player."

Like most scouts, Marr would rather not compare prospects to NHL stars. But he can't help himself with Byfield. Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins, a popular comparable across the industry, comes to mind thanks to similarities in skating ability, stature, and puck skills. He also sees Byfield as a "clone" of 18-year-old Leon Draisaitl, who became the No. 3 pick in the 2014 NHL Draft and is now the reigning winner of the Art Ross and Hart trophies at 24. Interestingly, Marr's favorite comparable is a major throwback: Jean Beliveau of Montreal Canadiens lore.

"The way I like to describe him is that he plays the game the correct way. He has all the tools and the talent to flourish," Marr said of Byfield. "When I watched him initially, the way he handled himself, carried himself on the ice and off the ice, I'm sitting there and telling the other guys, 'Hey, this is like a Jean Beliveau-type player,' in terms of his impact on and off the ice."

Eric Lindros, you'll notice, is left out of the comparable conversation. Byfield isn't cut from the same cloth as Lindros, a bulldozer of a power forward in his heyday. At 220 pounds, Byfield is leaner, cleaner, and craftier. As Marr put it, the left-handed shooter is "a big guy who can show up on the highlight reel doing things that normally you only anticipate with smaller guys."

Erie Otters defenseman Jamie Drysdale, another top-10 talent in the 2020 draft, was asked last week for a scouting report on Byfield, his OHL opponent and international teammate.

"He's got the size, the speed, the hands, and pretty much all the tools you need to be a high-end forward," Drysdale said. He added: "The second that guy gets a step on you, you're kind of toast."

Drysdale and Byfield both made Canada's world junior team as underagers. They each appeared in seven games, but Byfield's impact on the squad's gold-medal run was minimal. He didn't see the ice often, and when he did, the dominant player seen in OHL rinks was nowhere to be found. This so-so showing, not uncommon for a 17-year-old suiting up in a best-on-best under-20 tournament, continues to follow Byfield. On a video call with reporters last week, he said adjusting to the lack of ice time was a "learning curve."

The OHL has yet to approve the opening of training camps due to COVID-19, so Byfield is in limbo until at least November. During this extended offseason, he's been training off the ice with fitness guru and ex-NHLer Gary Roberts, and competing on the ice against Connor McDavid and other Toronto-area pros such as Josh Anderson and Chris Tierney. Like all top prospects, his goal is to make the NHL next season. Is he truly ready, though?

From Button's vantage point, Byfield could play in the NHL immediately, but he doesn't project to be a key contributor right away. "I think it would be a massive mistake for the team who drafts Quinton Byfield to have him in the NHL next year," Button said. "Massive mistake."

Button would rather Byfield dominate every single night in the OHL and crush the 2021 world juniors, which are scheduled to take place around the winter holidays in a bubble environment in Edmonton. Remember, Button warns, Byfield is young, 10 months younger than Lafreniere and, despite his resume and makeup, still quite raw.

"I say this in the most complimentary way," Button said. "I honestly believe Quinton is still in the process of finding how good he can be."

Carson, for his part, has aged out of the OHL and is now playing for the University of New Brunswick men's hockey team. The former Wolves forward leans on a quote plastered on the walls of UNB's facilities to describe the road ahead for Byfield, a potential franchise-changing center who's just getting started.

"Your talent is your floor," he said. "And then your work ethic is your ceiling."

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

It was mid-afternoon on Aug. 19, and Jon Cooper looked exhausted.

He seemed spent - like he was just glad it was all over, wholly relieved the Tampa Bay Lightning had claimed a first-round Game 5 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets inside Toronto's Scotiabank Arena during the strangest NHL postseason ever. Finally, the weight was off his shoulders.

"We had 422 days to think about it, but who's counting?" Cooper, the NHL's longest tenured head coach, quipped to reporters after the 5-4 matinee.

A series win over Columbus was no ordinary playoff triumph for Tampa. The Blue Jackets had swept the Lightning in the opening round of the 2019 postseason more than a calendar year earlier. It had been an epic upset, a psyche-rattling ouster for a team that had demolished the competition during the regular season, appearing unstoppable while winning 62 of 82 games.

But after another successful regular season, nearly five months off as the sports world stopped to tend to a pandemic, and a long, stressful run-up to the playoff bubble, Tampa emerged the postseason victor - not Columbus.

"A lot of learning went into last year," Cooper said later in the press conference. "We had to grow as a team. We didn't necessarily need to tweak how to play the game. I don't know if it was as much on structure as it was between the ears."

It was hard not to think of Cooper's insight Monday night as injured captain Steven Stamkos hoisted the Stanley Cup high over his head. Lightning players, coaches, and staff - isolated from the outside world, including loved ones, for 65 straight days split between Toronto and Edmonton - celebrated the second Cup in franchise history. The Cooper-era Lightning squad, perennial contenders and 2015 Cup Final losers, are now 2020 champions.

The Lightning capped off an incredible 25-game - which featured a 2-1 record in the round robin before series wins over the Blue Jackets, Bruins, Islanders, and Stars - with a 2-0 Game 6 victory Monday over the Dallas Stars in the Cup Final. And all under unprecedented circumstances, too: No fans, no travel, and a condensed schedule inside a closely monitored bubble, with the COVID-19 pandemic and racial injustice protests unfolding outside of it.

"It was so special to do it this year in the style that we did it," captain Steven Stamkos said postgame, before adding: "It's something we talked about at the beginning of (summer) training camp, that it's not just going to take 20 guys to win the Stanley Cup, it's going to take every single guy in this bubble, and I'm so proud of each and every one of them."

Forward Pat Maroon was less poetic, but equally effective in describing the accomplishment: "We worked our nuts off, and we deserve this," he said.

All-world defenseman Victor Hedman is the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP after racking up 10 goals and 12 assists in 25 games while playing 26:28 nightly against the opponent's most dynamic skaters. Top-line forwards Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point brilliantly combined for 21 goals, including four game-winners. Stud goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy posted a .927 save percentage through all 1,708 minutes of the club's run. There's no denying Tampa's best players were their best players from start to finish.

Amazingly, the Lightning managed to reach the mountaintop without a healthy Stamkos, who was sidelined the entire postseason aside from a magical five-shift cameo in Game 3 of the Final. But a mixture of the team's long-term core and its versatile supporting cast filled the Stamkos void, which is what made this squad unique - it was star-studded and super deep.

"The beauty of our team is everyone was chipping in," Point said. "We got contributions from anyone and everyone at different times, and that’s what makes this win so special."

And through a big-picture lens, the Lightning's Cup victory is just as much about what they didn't do as it is about what they did.

For starters, the organization's top decision-makers - namely owner Jeff Vinik and general manager Julien BriseBois - didn't panic after the shocking and embarrassing Columbus sweep. They didn't fire Cooper or trade away a star player. No, BriseBois instead began to workshop how he could leave no stone unturned in the 2019-20 season and reel in key contributors via free agency and at the annual trading deadline. They aimed to get harder to play against, a little tighter defensively, and add layers of support to an already deadly team.

"When I got the call from Julien and Coop, they wanted my presence in the locker room and bring a different atmosphere, bring guys together, and bring a different game to the Tampa Bay Lightning. I think I did my job," Maroon, a free agent pickup and the roster's lone Cup champion before Monday's win, said on the Sportsnet broadcast moments after lifting the trophy.

The newcomers included defensemen Kevin Shattenkirk, Luke Schenn, and Zach Bogosian, as well as forwards Maroon, Blake Coleman, and Barclay Goodrow. No marquee names, yet all six moved Tampa closer to becoming bulletproof on paper and made BriseBois look genius - especially in the marathon postseason, when their combined efforts were needed most.

"Ultimately, at the deadline, if you are a buyer, you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t," BriseBois said in late February after giving up two first-round picks and a high-end prospect to acquire third-liners Goodrow and Coleman in separate trades. "And I decided I was going to take the risk of being damned if I do because I did."

The last Lightning player to touch the puck Sunday was Goodrow, who chased it through the neutral zone and into the Dallas end before tossing his stick into the air in jubilation at the final buzzer. Coleman, the prototypical modern energy guy, had a strong playoff performance, particularly in the early going. The pair's center, the undrafted Yanni Gourde, had his moments too. Together, they formed the famous Gnats trio - a highly effective third line.

Gourde's draft status is notable, of course, because he's not their scouts' only find. Tampa took Kucherov in the second round, Point and two-way center Anthony Cirelli are third-rounders, top-line winger Ondrej Palat is a seventh-rounder, and Tyler Johnson - one of eight players remaining from the 2015 team - is another undrafted gem. Stamkos is on the other end of the spectrum as the first overall pick in the 2008 draft and a career-long Lightning player. He's joined by Hedman, who Tampa selected in the No. 2 spot a year later.

"We've been together since Day 1," Stamkos said of Hedman. "To go through all the ups and downs, this is what you play for, to watch Heddy win that Conn Smythe, to be the best player in the world in the playoffs, and to just watch our relationship grow to where it is today, it's just love and admiration."

Tampa built this 2020 Cup team in every which way and over several years: Through the draft, through free agency, and through trades. Drafting, developing, and then pouncing on the market at the right time. Don't lose hope, trust the process. Easier said than done, right? You can thank former GM Steve Yzerman for a large portion of those moves, but BriseBois finished the job. And despite the new faces on the ice, the Lightning stayed true to their core, their brand of hockey, and their ultimate goal. Amid a pandemic, the payoff is enormous, a huge reward, and certainly mighty fulfilling.

Just ask Cooper.

"We basically went from the outhouse to the penthouse," he said.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The postseason is for cliches. Regardless of the level of competition, those well-worn hockey catchphrases take on practical meaning when everything is on the line.

Play a full 60 minutes? You better, or your season will be over. Get pucks in deep? You must if you plan to wear down the opposition over the course of a series. Traffic in front? It's a time-tested way to score playoff goals.

In the 2020 Stanley Cup Final, one of the greatest cliches of all time is firmly rooted.

"If you're going to win," Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said Wednesday after his team took a 2-1 series lead over the Dallas Stars. "Your best players have to be your best players."

Cooper, who's known for his thoughtful, non-cliche quotes, is spot-on. Through three games, the body of work from each team's stars has tilted the scales in Tampa's favor. There's a giant gap between the accomplishments of Cooper's top guns and those of Dallas' best players.

The Lightning are a deadly outfit because they boast an abundance of star power coupled with enviable role-player depth. When both groups are humming, as they have been over the past week, Tampa is a treat to watch. A clinical juggernaut.

Nikita Kucherov, the club's most dangerous offensive threat, leads the playoffs with 30 points in 22 games. He's played with a certain moxie against Dallas, battling through various painful moments - especially in Game 2 - to produce four points in three games, including a goal and an assist in Wednesday's 5-2 Game 3 victory. In a word, he's been dominant.

Victor Hedman, Tampa's all-world defenseman, has laid waste to the Stars. With Hedman on the ice, the Lightning have controlled 56% of the shot attempts and 53% of the expected goals (2-2 in actual goals) in 46 minutes of five-on-five action against Dallas' top players. The big Swede also has a series-leading five points.

Center Brayden Point and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, meanwhile, continue to make playoff MVP cases of their own. Point, who's battled injury throughout Tampa's two-plus months in the bubble, has 28 points in 20 games. Vasilevskiy has started all 22 of the Lightning's games and ranks second in goals saved above average (7.24) among goalies who've played at least 500 minutes this postseason.

Even captain Steven Stamkos - who until Wednesday had been sidelined since Feb. 25 - has authored a defining moment. Despite being limited to 2:47 of ice time, Stamkos impacted Game 3 greatly. His lone shot on goal, a bullet of a wrister off the rush, zoomed past Dallas goalie Anton Khudobin's right shoulder to put Tampa up 2-0.

"He only had five shifts, but they were as efficient five shifts as you're ever going to see in a National Hockey League game," Cooper said of Stamkos. "We're with these players day in, day out, all year. This is the season that never seems to end. To do what he did on the biggest stage at the biggest time of the year, you had to marvel at it. It was pretty damn cool."

Contrast Stamkos' fairytale cameo with what's happening on the Stars' side of things. Their No. 91, Tyler Seguin, hasn't scored a goal in a month - his last tally came on Aug. 26 in Game 3 of Dallas' second-round series against the Colorado Avalanche - and he's registered one lonely assist since. Seguin is playing fine overall, and he certainly can't complain about ice time; he's logged more than 21 minutes in two of three games in the final. But the $9.85-million man needs to start producing.

"Do we need more from him? Yes," Stars interim head coach Rick Bowness said Tuesday. "Do we need more from a lot of other players? Yes. I know (Seguin) gets all the attention - and, OK, that comes with the territory, so he's got to deal with that. But, as a coach, I'm after a few more guys to give us more."

Seguin's longtime linemates, Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov, haven't exactly taken the postseason by storm either. Benn's been buzzing of late, but he's yet to record a point in this series. Radulov has a trio of assists against the Lightning and 17 total playoff points, but he took two boneheaded penalties in Game 3, one of which resulted in Tampa's eventual game-winning goal. Dallas' top line isn't getting top-line results.

"They've got to figure it out," Bowness said. "It's as simple as that."

Defensemen Miro Heiskanen and John Klingberg round out Dallas' list of stars. Both have been solid against the Lightning and far from the problem, though Heiskanen did get burned Wednesday on Tampa's opening goal. "Tonight we made some errors," Klingberg said. "That's hockey. That's sports. It's 2-1, they're up one. We're going to even the series on Friday."

Therein lies another trusty cliche: Take it one game at a time. Really, it's the only mentality to hone right now if you're a member of the Stars. Seguin can't focus on the fact he's scored twice on 61 shots on goal in these playoffs. Radulov must put those penalties behind him. Heiskanen can't dwell on one mistake in an otherwise brilliant, Conn Smythe-worthy postseason. The list goes on.

Ironically, the first three games of this series have shown that Dallas, despite being outmatched on paper, can hang with Tampa. The final has been nastier than predicted, creating an environment and atmosphere that can most definitely play into the Stars' hands.

When Dallas limits the Lightning's grade A chances in the offensive zone, as it did in its 4-1 win in Game 1, Khudobin can take care of the rest. When the Stars stay out of the penalty box and find a rhythm for an entire game, they size up pretty well stylistically. When they produce some semblance of offense - rather than going long stretches without recording a shot on goal, as they did in Games 2 and 3 - they absolutely can scratch and claw their way to a victory, or two, or three. It's not an impossible task.

In Game 4, Bowness and the Stars will again have the luxury of last change as the "home" team. Also of note: Dallas hasn't logged as many miles as the Lightning have in the month of September. Heading into Friday, the first day of a back-to-back scenario, the Stars will have played eight hard-fought games in 19 days, while Tampa will have played nine contests in 18 days. These small differences can add up.

It's fair to wonder, too, what kind of impact the currently unfit-to-play Ben Bishop might have on the series - good or bad - if Bowness taps him as the Stars' starting goalie for an upcoming game. Mind you, none of it will matter if, to expand on Cooper's thoughts, one team's best players embarrass the other team's best players at the most important time of year.

Both Kucherov and Hedman noted this week that Tampa's players couldn't care less about padding personal statistics or challenging long-held records. They're worried about winning the Cup and absolutely nothing else.

It was grossly cliche. And, to be honest, perfectly said.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Bowness had just informed Thomson that he was going to be sent down to the Senators' AHL affiliate in New Haven, Connecticut. The player could accept the demotion itself, but one element troubled him.

"I absolutely cannot go to New Haven," Thomson recalled telling Bowness.

Two seasons earlier, Thomson's mother died of cancer and his brother was killed in a car accident. He was playing for the New Haven Nighthawks at the time of both deaths.

Bowness, then in his late 30s and at the helm of a team that would go on to lose 74 of 84 games in its inaugural season, told Thomson he understood.

"He almost got a tear in his eye," Thomson remembered. "He definitely felt my pain. He said, 'Leave it with me.'"

Days later, the Senators shipped Thomson to the LA Kings.

"I'll never forget that," Thomson said of Bowness' empathy. "In the world of hockey, there's no favors. It's pretty ruthless, especially then, in the '90s. You're a piece of meat."

"Rick Bowness is the ultimate team guy, ultimate glue guy," added Darrin Madeley, Thomson's teammate in Ottawa. "He just happens to be a coach."

Thomson and Madeley are far from the only ones rooting for Bowness right now. The Dallas Stars interim head coach, whose pro hockey career spans multiple generations, has a golden opportunity to win his first Stanley Cup in his 45th year as a player or coach. Eight weeks into a bubbled-up playoff run, the third Cup final of Bowness' career is here, his first as the head man.

"When you watch a team play, you can tell who they're playing for," Stars general manager Jim Nill said Tuesday while Dallas awaits the conclusion of the Eastern Conference final. "This team is playing for the coach, and the coach is coaching for the players. That's a great reflection on everybody."

Earlier this postseason, Bowness shrugged at the suggestion that he's a player's coach. The man nicknamed "Bones" doesn't like labels. "I don't believe in all that stuff," he told reporters. "I'm just me. I just do it my way."

Bowness is, at the very least, somebody who fits the profile of a player's coach. By all accounts - including more than a dozen interviews with retired and active NHL players and coaches - the 65-year-old possesses a high level of emotional and social intelligence. He's authentic and selfless, treating equipment managers, security guards, role players, and superstars with equal amounts of respect. He's extremely passionate about the game, thorough in his preparation, and always evolving, never losing sight of the ultimate goal: Winning titles.

"He's a hockey lifer," Vegas Golden Knights head coach Pete DeBoer said of the longtime rival who helped end the Knights' season Monday. "He loves the game, has made a great impression on everybody he's come in contact with. He's going to leave that legacy behind, which is really rare."

"He's a coach you just want to do everything for, lay your body on the line for," Stars captain Jamie Benn said. Teammate Joel Hanley added this common compliment about Bowness: "When he talks, you listen to what he says. Respect is probably the biggest word."

Nobody in NHL history has coached as many games as Bowness, who is nearing 2,500 after breaking Scotty Bowman's record of 2,164 in 2017. The Halifax native began his coaching odyssey as an AHL player-coach in 1982 and hasn't looked back, missing only two seasons - 1998-99, after getting fired as head coach of the New York Islanders, and 2004-05, thanks to the lockout.

Over the years, Bowness has alternated between being an assistant coach, associate coach, and head coach. He's held the title of NHL bench boss, permanent or interim, six times - for the Winnipeg Jets in 1988-99, Boston Bruins in 1991-92, Senators from 1992-93 to 1995-96, Islanders for 1996-97 and 1997-98, Phoenix Coyotes in 2003-04, and the Stars since last December.

Including playoffs, Bowness' all-time record as an NHL head coach is 164-317-48-8. It's an ugly winning percentage, but considering he was hired midseason four times, oversaw the expansion Senators, and got fired one year into his tenure with the Bruins, his raw record shouldn't be viewed an indictment of his coaching abilities. If anything, the fact that Bowness has remained relevant through various eras - as both a front-and-center head coach and a behind-the-scenes assistant - attests to his versatility.

"There's a lot of people who are good at being head coach, but they can't be an assistant coach. Or you have guys who are very good at being an assistant coach but you wouldn't trust them to be a head coach," former Coyotes forward Danny Briere noted. "It's impressive that Rick's able to take on either role, whatever's needed from whomever he's working with."

Cody Hodgson, who played under Alain Vigneault and Bowness in Vancouver, took Briere's train of thought a step further: "You get some coaches who are very talented and not necessarily good people," he said. "But Rick's a great coach and also a good person. So I can see why he's lasted so long in the game and will be able to stick around as long as he wants to."

Bowness' tenure covers four labor disputes between the league and the players' union, several facelifts for the on-ice product, and plenty of upheaval in the coaching ranks. He's a walking, talking, story-telling hockey encyclopedia who's been coaching so long that he's gone from being a peer to his players to being old enough to be their grandfather. Which raises the question: How often does he tap into this reservoir of experiences?

"Everything depends on the situation and the individual involved and your rapport with them. Some guys, when you're talking to them, you know they need a pat on the back. Some guys, they need a good kick," Bowness said. "A lot of it depends on the situation, the timing, but over the years you learn to read people better. Communication with my players has always been the top priority for me, so I get to know them and I make sure I talk to everybody pretty much every day."

Even though Bowness was a forward for nine years as a pro, including 178 NHL games split between the Atlanta Flames, Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues, and Jets, he's made the blue line his area of expertise as a coach. He's widely credited with helping transform Victor Hedman into arguably the best defenseman on the planet. Bowness rarely discussed hockey-related topics within the first few weeks of meeting Hedman, a promising rearguard drafted second overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2009. Instead, he chose to build trust via a personal connection and slowly transitioned into teaching.

"He cares about his players. You can just see it in his actions. Not only in what he says but also in his actions too," said George Gwozdecky, who worked as an assistant with Bowness for Lightning head coach Jon Cooper from 2013-15. "He will never chastise them; he will never embarrass them in front of his peers or in front of other people. If there is a tough conversation to have, he always does it behind closed doors."

Bowness can game plan for difficult opponents, make savvy lineup changes, and knows as well as anyone when to challenge a contentious call. He's a smart hockey mind. However, his true value is reflected in his relationships. Stars defensemen Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, and John Klingberg are better players because Bowness has taken the time - first as an assistant, now as the boss - to get to know them over the past two years.

Stephen Johns, another key member of Dallas' deep blue line, leaned on various members of the organization during a harrowing 22-month absence from hockey. At one point, Johns considered suicide as he experienced post-traumatic headaches and post-concussion syndrome from injuries he suffered in the 2017-18 season. Bowness was among those who offered unconditional love and support throughout. "I can't thank him enough for that," Johns told The Athletic's Sean Shapiro in June. "He cared about me, not just Stephen, the hockey player."

"The leader doesn't have to be General George Patton. The leader doesn't have to be Bill Belichick," said Madeley, the former Senators goalie. "This is a weird thing to say, but I would have taken a bullet for Rick during those times because he always treated me with respect."

"Xs and Os are one thing, but if you don't have the communication skills or the ability to connect with people, then I don't think the Xs and Os matter anymore," added University of North Dakota head coach Brad Berry, who played for Bowness in Winnipeg and years later worked with him in the Canucks organization as an NHL scout and AHL coach.

Bowness' willingness to be open, honest, and vulnerable was on display in August when he became the first person inside an NHL bubble to speak at length about the mental strain of this most abnormal playoff tournament. He said what was on the minds of not only some of his players but his rivals.

The 24-team postseason provides a window into Bowness' reach. He has coached at least one player on 18 teams, according to research by The Associated Press' Stephen Whyno. Plus, he coached three current GMs: Nill, Boston's Don Sweeney, and Columbus' Jarmo Kekalainen, as well as two coaches, Arizona's Rick Tocchet and Vancouver's Travis Green. The freshest coach-to-coach connection is Cooper, Bowness' boss in Tampa for five seasons.

"When I came into the NHL, I was a little green. I was comfortable as a coach, but I wasn't comfortable with the NHL yet, and Rick really helped me with that," Cooper said of Bowness' "invaluable" counsel. "He was kind of that mentor you needed - or I needed - and the nuances of the NHL that I didn't know about, he really helped me with."

Bowness was 16 when he met his wife Judy, a hockey lifer herself. Colleagues often cite Judy's warm personality as a nice complement to Bowness' fit within the team structure. She often contacts incoming wives and girlfriends to make them feel welcome. The couple has three adult children: Kristen, who is the manager of diversity development and sled hockey for the Lightning; Ryan, a 2001 eighth-round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who is the director of pro scouting for the Pittsburgh Penguins; and Rick Jr., the former sports information director for the University of Denver men's hockey program. The sport is in the family's DNA.

"At some point, if Rick decides to do his memoirs and reveal some of these stops along the way, people will marvel at it," Gwozdecky said. "You talk about organizations and businesses and why they fail, it's the inner turmoil and the lack of leadership. Yet there's one guy saying, 'Hey, hang in there, follow me, we're going to be OK,' and all of a sudden that team or business continues to succeed as everything else is falling apart around it. That's Rick. He's been that one guy. When everything's falling apart, he's able to keep things together, keep people believing, keep players believing."

"We're now joined by the Western Conference champion head coach of the Dallas Stars, Rick Bowness," an unidentified voice announced to kick off Bowness' virtual media availability following Monday's clinching win.

Bowness looked to the left with a wry smile, tapped his fingers on the table, glanced toward the camera, then glimpsed to his right. It was the demeanor of a man letting it all soak in. Head coach of a conference champion, a first in a hockey coaching career like no other. He's been to two previous Cup finals, in 2011 with the Canucks and 2015 with the Lightning, but never as the leader. Bowness feels energized by this incredible Stars run.

"It's so rare to get to the finals, man," he said, "you've got to enjoy every minute of it."

Bowness took over in December for Jim Montgomery, who was fired for "unprofessional conduct" and entered rehab shortly afterward to deal with a substance abuse problem. Dallas has since stabilized as a group, found its rhythm offensively, and managed to defeat three quality squads - the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, and Golden Knights - in close-fought playoff series.

Technically, Bowness still is an interim guy. But, as Nill said Tuesday, he's "earned the right to come back as the coach." The question is, once Bowness exits the bubble and exhales, will the fire inside burn brightly enough for him to continue his epic coaching journey? He's said multiple times in the bubble that he's going to stay in the present and deal with 2020-21 in the offseason.

"Every year, there seems to be guys on the team - whether it's guys that have been in the league for so many years and haven't won, you see the Cup passed to that older guy, older vet. For us, it's really our coach," Stars forward Tyler Seguin told a Dallas radio station in late August.

"He's just such a passionate man and the ultimate role model as far as a hockey guy and a father and a husband," Seguin added.

Thomson, the ex-Senator, wouldn't argue. Some 28 years later, he remembers that moment in the coaches' office like it was yesterday. He can picture Bowness' body language, hear his words, and feel his empathy.

"The man friggin' cares," Thomson said. "Bottom line."

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.