Roughly a year ago, Stephen Walkom was still processing the carnage. Over the course of the 2019 NHL playoffs, the league's director of officiating was seemingly forced to deal with a new headache involving his best referees and linesmen every time he turned around.

"Mistakes happen. Our job as officials is to recover. Last postseason wasn't easy," Walkom said in August 2019 at the league's annual officiating scouting combine. "A lot of unfortunate incidents affected results. And, our team collectively, we know we need to be better. That's life, and we'll learn from it."

This postseason won't be easy for Walkom and his crew, either, but for completely different reasons. The NHL is trying to crown a Stanley Cup champion through a 24-team tournament while the world continues to wrestle with a pandemic. Like all leagues trying to restart now, the NHL is walking a tightrope, and the health and safety of its on-ice participants is a significant issue.

Not a single official lost their job during the league's hiatus, according to Walkom, despite the absence of games to officiate. So for the past four-plus months, management has tried to keep spirits high, minds sharp, and bodies in shape. Now, a total of 40 officials - two groups of 10 referees and 10 linesmen - are stationed in Edmonton and Toronto. Nobody tested positive for the coronavirus before commuting to their hub city and, in the few days they've been acclimating to bubble life, nobody has received a positive test.

"Our team was kept at the ready," Walkom said Friday in a lengthy phone interview, adding: "Now we know our guys are safe to go and skate."

The bubbled officials hit the ice for the first time in groups Friday and will commence two-day mini-training camps Sunday. They'll call their first games in nearly five months over a slate of exhibition games Tuesday through Thursday.

How will officials navigate the various obstacles inherent in the NHL's restart efforts? Walkom let us in on the group's mindset, role, and stiffest tests.

Is there some rust to shake off for officials since they're coming off a long layoff? It's essentially like coming out of the summer in a normal year.

Stephen Walkom: It is. To mitigate that, that's why we did the dryland training. (It helped us) simulate skating, to simulate agility and mobility. That's what we really worked on because we know that that's going to be our biggest challenge. These teams are going to come out of the gate hard. We made sure that we came into the hub early so that we'd have lots of opportunities to get on the ice and get up to speed so that our skill set would match the pace of the game. That's what we planned on doing.

From a practical perspective, how might an official's job be changed during the pandemic? Are there going to be fewer discussions with coaches and trips to the penalty box?

SW: Once you get on the ice, you're really just trying to stay out of the way. (laughs) It's probably good - at any time - to stay out of the way. But, no, I think everyone in the bubble knows that all the participants that are on the ice have been thoroughly tested. I do believe that subconsciously you're going to understand that social distancing is probably in your best interest, even if everyone has been tested. I don't even know if (officials will) have enough time to think about it out there, but I'm sure it's going to be in the back of people's minds when you're on the ice.

There's been plenty of talk about players having to adapt to buildings with no fans. How about officials? No booing, different sight lines, you can hear the players and coaches easier. What do you think it'll be like?

SW: Unless they pipe in boos, we should be good in that regard, right? (laughs) The fortunate thing is, when you're on the ice, you don't really hear much besides the people you're in tune with. It's amazing in a hockey game. You will hear a linesman's voice, but you won't hear the fans, and the linesman will be over at the (far) blue line. You will know the difference between a coach that's trying to get your attention on the bench and the player who might just be venting a little bit. It's amazing what you hear in that environment and you're almost conditioned to only hear what you need to hear.

So, I would think that you're not really going to notice as an official. If you're looking into the crowd or listening for the crowd, your focus is probably in the wrong place. And that's no different than being a player. As a player, you score a goal and you hear the fans screaming. But as you're flying up the ice and just about to beat a defenseman and then shoot a puck, you're probably not hearing anything. You're so focused in on playing. For the officials, I think it's the same thing. You're so focused in on officiating that you're really oblivious - except on stoppages - to people in the rink. So I don't know if it's going to change that much for officials. But, having said that, when you're an official and you step on the ice at the same time that a team steps on the ice, you hear the fans. You know for sure they're not cheering for you. There are times when you notice, but it's not during playing time. Do you understand what I mean?

Yeah. You're just so dialed-in. Being attentive is a big part of the job.

SW: You have to be dialed-in; A) for your safety, and B) to do a good job. You need to be absolutely focused on the game.

On a conference call with media earlier today, you talked a little bit about a new whistle for your officials. Can you expand on what's happening there? And, as a follow-up, is there anything else that's new about NHL officials in terms of equipment, uniform, or anything like that?

SW: I think that's the only thing that you'll notice, but it's not that big of a change for us. It's just a pealess whistle from Fox 40. Most people don't know, but we've been using it at the outdoor games for some time. The thing is, it has the same trill as a normal whistle, but it requires less force to blow. Less exhale. It doesn't have anything coming out of the top of the whistle, which may be better or it may not be better (for officials to use during the pandemic). I'm not a medical doctor, I've never tested it, but we thought this might be the best environment to test it in.

Was there any debate at all about officials wearing face coverings during games?

SW: No, not really. We're following the guidelines of whatever we're instructed to do, so I'm not sure what discussions went on in relation to that, but I think with all the (COVID-19) testing that they're doing, they feel pretty good about us going out there and being able to skate and do our jobs without the masks.

Are officials who get injured or fall ill going to be deemed "unfit to officiate" in the same way players are deemed "unfit to play," or is the league going to come out and say explicitly what the issue is?

SW: I think we're going to be following the guidelines no different than the players. Whoever our medical authorities are here, they'll let us know. I know that we've had two days of testing - really, we've probably had 10 days of testing (total) - and our test results have all been negative, which is good. But if someone does get injured, we are going to ensure, even for the play-in games, to have a standby referee and a standby linesman ready to go. As you know, we could have two or three games a day (in each hub city) and we don't really have a lot of time in between games. If we can reduce the time for an official to get ready, without delaying a game, we're going to do it. We hope that our guys all stay healthy, but if for some reason they don't, we'll deal with it as it comes.

Is there going to be any connection between officiating, game operations, and the broadcast? Are officials going to be mic'd-up, for instance? Be part of the entertainment at all?

SW: I'm hoping the majority of the entertainment comes from the players, but as you know, our guys have always cooperated with events (staff) in terms of being mic'd-up. We'll do the same going forward. Whatever they need us for, we'll help them out. Which is good. From what I'm told, I believe we're going to have a (microphone mounted at center ice pointed towards the top of the officials crease) for announcing penalties, so it won't be something we'll have to take off and transfer every single game. I think they're trying to minimize touchpoints in terms of the mics. You'd (normally) take off a mic and the next guy would wear it and the next guy would wear it (and so on).

As well, we're going to have separate dressing rooms. A crew will work a game, and then they'll leave, and that room will be completely cleaned. Another crew that's working the next game will be in a different room that's already been sanitized and cleaned, much like the players' dressing rooms. We're all part of making sure the dressing room is clean after each and every use to mitigate the risk of transferring anything. That's a really good thing.

What kind of treatment are officials going to receive inside the bubble? Do they have their own hotel floors? Private rooms? Will families be allowed in eventually? Can they access the same amenities as players?

SW: They've been pretty good with the hotels. Everybody has their own room. We're following the same procedures for the cleaning of your room. For our officials, if you leave your room, you have your mask on. You have a set time to be tested (for COVID-19) every day. We go down as a team, get tested, and we leave. We have common rooms to minimize our exposure to other people and other players. Everything we do, we're going to be doing it apart yet together to keep our guys as safe as possible. I think when it comes to families and such, our focus is to work the hockey games. We do understand the players and playing for a Stanley Cup and wanting to celebrate with their family. I think that's what the (players' association) is talking about. We know we're not the players in that regard.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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

On Sunday, chartered planes in 22 NHL cities across North America will take off carrying professional hockey players, coaches, and staff. One of two Canadian cities will be the destination: Edmonton for those from the Western Conference, Toronto for those in the East. The Oilers and Maple Leafs, "home" teams by geography only in an ambitious 24-team playoff tournament set to begin next Saturday, will be there waiting.

Once on the ground, those groups of up to 52 people from each city - "traveling parties" is the official NHL term - will be transported by bus to assigned hotels. Proper physical distancing will be expected en route and as buses pass into fenced-in areas surrounding Sutton Place and the JW Marriott in Edmonton, and Hotel X and the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto.

Everyone from the star forward to the backup goalie and from the equipment manager to the social media manager must follow the same protocol once inside one of these four high-end hotels. The hub-city "secure zones," or bubbles, are designed to shield all participants of the NHL's return-to-play efforts from the coronavirus, the cause of the pandemic that halted the 2019-20 season on March 12.

"Paramount in everything we've done to date and everything we'll be doing moving forward is the health and well-being of all NHL personnel," commissioner Gary Bettman said Thursday in a video presentation released by the league.

Ultimately crowning a Stanley Cup champion in October amid a pandemic - easily the greatest logistical undertaking of Bettman's 25-year tenure - will rely upon the tightness of these bubbles over the coming weeks.

Can they pull it off? We'll see. A better question right now might be: What do players think of the bubble and what will soon be their new reality?

"We don't really know what to expect, to be honest with you," Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said last week as details were still being ironed out. "But, at the same time, it'll be like a little tournament. We're used to going to tournaments as kids (where) you're together as a team."

"Maybe guys will get a couple of mini sticks and have some good old times," Canucks forward Tanner Pearson added, half-jokingly. "I would imagine that we'll have a common room or something, where we can all hang out and at least get out of our rooms and not lay in our beds all day."

It turns out amenities in both cities will be fairly extensive.

Edmonton's secure zone, which includes the two team hotels, a third hotel for overflow staff, an events plaza, and Rogers Place, offers 14 restaurants, bars, pubs, food trucks, and pop-ups. On-site food options range from tacos to Tim Hortons, while concierge service is available for orders at grocery stores, pharmacies, and other restaurants within the city.

Also in the Edmonton bubble are eight movie theaters, dining areas, and activities spaces; 24 lounges, suites, and offices within Rogers Place; and 13 fitness centers, weight facilities, and practice rinks. Among the activities the NHL is promising players are pingpong, cornhole, basketball, and soccer.

"We're hoping our lifestyle, food-wise, doesn't change," Blues forward David Perron said. "We're guys who like to take care of ourselves, who like having good, healthy food. It's nice every once in a while to have a cheat day and eat whatever you want, but I think it's important that we're being taken care of that way."

Toronto has two secure zones - one downtown near Scotiabank Arena and another a few blocks west at Exhibition Place, a mixed-use district in which Hotel X is located. Similar to Edmonton, there will be plenty of bars and restaurants, movie theaters, and team-dedicated rooms within the confines. Noteworthy perks: players will have access to BMO Field, home of Major League Soccer's Toronto FC, for leisure purposes - pickleball is being promoted as a marquee pastime - and the league's secured private access to the underground tunnel that connects Scotiabank Arena and the Fairmont Royal York.

The most interesting part of both setups might be that players are being encouraged to watch other games from suites inside the arenas. It's kind of like a minor hockey tournament, after all.

"Appreciate what you have," Stars forward Joe Pavelski said. "We get to play some hockey, and we get to get back to compete. It's going to be unique as far as a bunch of teams in the same hotel, games going left and right once they get started. And no fans."

"You have to keep a mental sharpness, in a sense where there's going to be a lot of time in the hotel rooms," Coyotes forward Derek Stepan said. "In order for us to do this thing right, guys have to be really smart. You've got to be able to keep your head on your shoulders, stay sharp, and not get into dulls and lulls and have good energy when you come to the rink. I think that's a mental toughness thing."

Meanwhile, inside the hotels, every player is assigned his own room on a floor exclusive to the team, according to the NHL's Phase 4 health and safety protocol. No guests are allowed in private rooms - not even teammates, coaches, or staff. Housekeeping staff will be limited to every third day.

Hotel pools are open, but saunas, steam rooms, and spas are not. Fist bumps, high-fives, and handshakes are big no-nos, and face coverings must be worn at all times, with obvious exceptions, such as eating and exercising. And no talking during elevator rides, which have rules regarding physical distancing.

So far, the NHL's avoided a major outbreak; only two players tested positive during Week 1 of training camp out of a pool of more than 800. Teams have handled daily COVID-19 tests throughout Phases 2 and 3, but they'll pass that duty to the league upon arrival to hub cities. Those inside will be tested daily and know results within 24 hours.

These are high stakes from a health perspective and a competitive perspective. The protocol document states that breaking rules in the bubble environment could result in "significant penalties, potentially including fines and/or loss of draft picks."

"Leaving the bubble is just not something that we can tolerate," Bettman reiterated in the presentation. "Everybody's used terrific judgment to this point, and I know that we can count on everybody moving forward."

"I'm just trying to have an adequate number of shows downloaded before I get up to Canadian Netflix," Lightning goalie Curtis McElhinney quipped. "I'm not sure what to expect. I don't know what our lives are going to look like once we're up there. I think the teams, the organization, and the NHL are trying to do their best to make sure that everyone feels comfortable and accommodated. It'll certainly present its challenges, but it'll give us an opportunity as a group to spend a lot more time together."

The Lightning's longest road trip this season lasted two-and-a-half weeks. A Stanley Cup favorite ahead of the restart, Tampa Bay's now bracing for a lengthy stay at Hotel X. Players could conceivably be living in the same room for weeks, potentially months, with the last possible day of the Stanley Cup Final tentatively scheduled for Oct. 4.

"We're going to bring a lot more stuff than when we go on a normal road trip. You plan on being there for two months," Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau said.

"Travel's just getting there, and once you get there you can set up," Pavelski said. "You don't have to pack up every other night. You can get your room how you want it and go from there."

Capitals goalie Braden Holtby plans to bring one of his guitars; Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Muzzin won't forget his golf putter; Bruins forward Charlie Coyle is making room in his luggage for supplements and healthy snacks; Jets defenseman Luca Sbisa has "loaded up" on books; Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook will be recruiting teammates to play the board game Super Tock; Rangers forward Ryan Strome fully expects poker games to commence in the team's common area; and seemingly every other player headed to one of the hub cities is ensuring all video game devices - XBox, PlayStation, Nintendo Twitch, etc. - are accounted for.

There should be fewer formal suits spotted this postseason. The players' association negotiated a looser game-day dress code into the resumption of play agreement, and Leafs center Auston Matthews and other fashion-forward NHLers expressed their excitement. Meanwhile, the Wild, the West's 10-seed, instituted a casual dress code featuring team-issued collared shirts and matching pants.

Steve Mayer, the NHL's chief content officer, said Friday that players were told "in a very stringent tone" to remain separated from players from other teams for the first five days of the bubble experience. It's uncertain how much, if any, inter-team mingling will be permitted following those initial guidelines, but the idea of two bitter on-ice rivals grabbing a beer at the hotel bar on an off day is intriguing.

"That's going to be the real neat part, being in the same hotel as the teams you're playing against. That'll be different," Holtby said. "There's so many quality people around the league on different teams. I think guys can turn it off pretty quick once you get away from the game to see old friends and that kind of thing."

"It's going to be hard not to see the other guys," Sbisa said. "You're going to share elevators on your way up to your floor. You're going to see all the other guys, so it's definitely going to be different. But it's going to be the same for everyone. Everyone is in the same boat. Everyone has to deal with the same thing. It's an even playing field."

Depending on who you ask, the concept of a bubble's no big deal. These players are adults and professionals. The issue is leaving family behind. Families aren't permitted inside the bubbles until the conference finals, which will take place in Edmonton in September.

"I'm not worried about me," Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. "I'm going to be around my teammates, I'm going to be in a hotel, and playing hockey, really. For me, the hardest part is going to be everything going on back home. (My wife) and our kids and how all of that's going to work on the day-to-day. So that's going to be the hardest part, sort of weighing those things and being out of touch with that aspect of things. It's been four-plus months of doing it together and to just kind of up and leave is definitely tough. But it's all part of what I do for a living."

Players can leave the secure zone for only three reasons: to receive medical assessment or care; to get a second opinion on a health matter; or to return home for an urgent matter, such as a death in the family. If a player does leave - Washington's Lars Eller said he'll likely leave for the birth of his child - he must pass four consecutive COVID-19 tests over a four-day period before returning to normal bubble activities.

"I was quite against the league and the PA when it came to not being able to bring our families from the get-go," Golden Knights goalie Robin Lehner said. "I had a lot of discussions with them about that. … It's not just about the players' mental health, it's about the families' mental health, too. There's a lot of players with young kids and wives and stuff, and we're going to leave them at home, alone, quarantined in the house with the kids. It's going to be equally as tough for them as it is for us."

Players are about to enter the unknown on the ice - playing in empty arenas after a very long layoff - and off it. The integrity of the entire return-to-play plan rests on members of each traveling party looking out for themselves and one another.

"I've seen some quotes from other guys around the league saying, 'We have food, we have a bed, we have the boys,'" Strome said. "When you're on the road, I think that's all that goes on. It's just a good time to bond."

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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

Travis Dermott looked down at the dressing room floor for a moment before staring at the questioner with a curious grin.

"This is deep," said the 23-year-old Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman.

Dermott had just been asked a very specific question: What's the hardest skill or trick to master, the most difficult thing for you to do on the ice, as a professional hockey player?

It's a simple yet loaded inquiry. By the time NHLers reach the pinnacle of the sport, most hockey-related skills are second nature. But no player, not even Connor McDavid, has mastered every aspect of the game. There's always something to work on, a skill or trick that still regularly stumps them.

"High-flipping a puck really consistently is a pretty sought-after skill," Dermott said after some reflection. "I could be better at that."

Dermott then referenced a sequence in the Maple Leafs' Jan. 2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets. Handling the puck deep in his own end with 13 seconds left in the first period, he flung a Hail Mary pass to streaking teammate William Nylander. The puck traveled over the heads of three Jets players and found Nylander. He couldn't corral the bobbling rubber disc, killing the rush.

"That's it," Dermott said, locking in his answer. "Getting high flips to land flat."

In the months following that January conversation with Dermott, theScore posed the same question to several of his NHL peers. Here are some of the best answers and explanations as training camps ramp up ahead of the 24-team postseason:

Practice makes perfect

Fact: Nobody has tipped more shots on goal than Anders Lee since the 6-foot-3 center made his NHL debut on April 3, 2013. The New York Islanders captain has scored 38 goals from 214 recorded tips, trailing only Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers (42) in tipped tallies over that period.

One would think Lee has the net-front playbook mastered. Not so, he says, noting that freeing himself from defenders to find perfect tipping positioning at the perfect moment is a skill he still polishes during practice.

"It's timing, right? And you've got to be careful with pushing off," Lee said. "There's a little bit of gamesmanship in front when shots are coming through from the point. If I see (teammate Mathew Barzal) rolling off and I think he's shooting, then it's a small jab or a turn of my body the right way.

"At the same time, you have to screen the goalie and then find the rebound. There's a lot of moving parts. Sometimes you do two of the three things and it goes in. Sometimes you don't do any of them and the puck doesn't go in."

Emulating Lidstrom

Keep your head up, kid!

It's a coaching order usually reserved for young players carrying the puck into dangerous areas of the ice. But the phrase has another meaning for Calgary Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin: Keep your head up, kid, when you walk the blue line.

"You look at a guy like (Hall of Fame defenseman Nicklas) Lidstrom and he was probably the best at it - ever," Hanifin, 23, said. "He would walk the line and take a slapper, and he'd have his head up the whole time so he could find the guys who were looking to tip."

Hanifin, the fifth overall pick of the 2015 NHL Draft, played in all situations during the 2019-20 regular season, earning 21:10 of ice time a night. Skating has always been his calling card and he has decent puck skills; a change of habit - head up! - while handling the puck at the point could go a long way toward increasing his middling production (22 points in 70 games).

"It's a practice thing. I mean, it is hard, not an easy thing to do," he said. "But Lidstrom got a lot of his goals and points by having that ability to see everything while he was walking the line. He kept his head up. Erik Karlsson does it really well, too. I think that's something I want to master."

Quick feet, quick hands, quick mind

Ask 100 scouts to identify the one thing that vaults McDavid above other NHL stars, and you'll likely get a unanimous vote for his propensity to do everything at warp speed.

McDavid can blaze down the ice at upwards of 30 mph, and he consistently keeps his brain and hands operating at a similar rate. This triple-whammy of quickness is the envy of players across the league, according to forward Evander Kane, whose San Jose Sharks were victims of McDavid's brilliance earlier this season:

"If you ask any player, that's almost impossible to do," Kane said. "Because when you have the puck on your stick, you have to concentrate a little bit more, with people trying to hit you. Yet you have to have your head up. So to stickhandle with your head up and to go as fast as possible, that's what separates McDavid from everybody else, by far."

The two-time 30-goal scorer continued: "In the NHL, whether it's a first- or fourth-line guy, everybody has hands. But can they use their hands to the best of their ability with any sort of speed? That's the key. That's the really hard part."

Outsmarting the forecheck

By Tyson Barrie's estimation, there's an optimal mindset for the puck-retrieving NHL defenseman trying to elude a pesky forechecker, and it starts with assessing the zone and controlling the sequence of events.

Easier said than done.

"You try to read where the forechecker is, where your D partner is, where your outlet - the forward - is. All while trying to not get put through the end wall," the Maple Leafs defenseman said. "If you can get the net (involved) with the puck (on your stick), they should never get the puck from you. But that's not always the case. It's just the ideal scenario."

Barrie has dressed for a total of 554 NHL games across eight seasons with the Colorado Avalanche and the Maple Leafs. He's learned over the years to avoid being predictable and, under some circumstances, to allow the forechecker to make the first move.

"Instead of going 100 miles an hour back to the puck, it's better to almost let the guy ride you in and get a feel for where he's going and try to use his body to push off and go the other way," he said of the cat-and-mouse interaction between forwards and defensemen.

"They're reading off you, essentially, so if you can give them some misinformation, you're going to be able to beat them if they bite on it. If not … "

Clean shots, every single time

Rod Brind'Amour has called Warren Foegele "a perfect Carolina Hurricane." The head coach's compliment stems from the winger's honest game.

Part of what makes Foegele effective is his mobility on the defensive side of the puck. He strives to always get a piece of himself or his equipment into passing and shooting lanes, leaving little or no room for creativity from the puck carrier. His job, in essence, is to disrupt any offensive momentum by the opposing team.

But when Carolina has the puck, escaping the grasp of a harassing defender and firing an unabated shot on goal can be a troublesome undertaking for Foegele - and, truthfully, for every other NHLer who doesn't fall into the "elite offensively" category.

"Someone who's really good at separating the puck from his opponent is Nathan MacKinnon," Foegele said.

"Yes, he's so fast, everybody can see that, but he separates himself when he has the puck with this quick, shifty movement by changing the angle of the puck. He finds a way to get that clean shooting opportunity. His edgework is really good, too, which allows him to do that more frequently and effectively."

In the clip below, MacKinnon is forced to cut to the middle of the ice to find a spot from which to shoot, and he does so with incredible ease:

Bend it like Kucherov

Kevin Shattenkirk entered the league in 2010 as a 21-year-old defenseman for the Avalanche. In the decade since, through stints with the St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals, Rangers, and Tampa Bay Lightning, he's witnessed an evolution of sorts.

"Guys are doing things that I've never done before," he said.

In particular, Shattenkirk often shakes his head at the goal-scoring tricks he sees from Lightning teammate Nikita Kucherov.

"He has this little hitch in his shot that he uses as deception. I know that I've tried to do it in practice, but I certainly don't have it. That would be one (difficult-to-master) skill," Shattenkirk said. "You can see some examples of it, off the power play on the half wall, the way he works it. It's this little kind of fake shot, push, and release it quickly."

Kucherov, who followed an incredible 128-point campaign in 2018-19 with 85 points in 68 regular-season games this year, routinely terrorizes defenders with his deceptive ways.

"He has a defenseman in front of him, he's almost stationary on the half wall or the top of the circle, and he'll drop his shoulder, fake the shot to get the defenseman to freeze up," Shattenkirk said. "And then he pushes it to the inside and shoots around him. It's a very quick and - for him - smooth play.

"In doing it, he gets a screen from the defenseman, and he freezes both the defenseman and the goalie. It's pretty amazing."

Creating from the point

Jakob Chychrun enjoyed the best regular season of his young career in 2019-20. Finally healthy, he asserted himself well, taking advantage of more than 22 minutes of ice time per night to post strong counting stats and underlying numbers for the Arizona Coyotes.

Still missing from the defenseman's arsenal, though, is the ability to consistently get shots off quickly from the point, pouncing on the puck and firing it through a sea of bodies to the net in the manner of Brent Burns of the division rival Sharks.

"I don't know how he does it, and it plays right into their system," Chychrun said of the 2017 Norris Trophy winner. "In the O-zone, all of their forwards rim pucks (around the boards). They'll be in the corner and they'll rim it around, all the way around the wall to the other side of the ice, and Burns is just sitting there."

It seems relatively straightforward when broken down step by step: Pick the puck up off the boards, immediately switch to a shooting posture, and fire a shot on net. But in real time? With nine other skaters and a goalie all occupying the same third of the rink? Good luck.

"That's a hard skill, actually: to get a puck off the wall on your forehand and get it off quick," Chychrun said. "That's something he does so well."

Next-level one-timers

Considering Alex Kerfoot has logged a mere 14 slap shots through 222 career NHL games, it's safe to say he's hesitant to unleash one-timers.

"It's something that I'm horrible at - I am really horrible at - and I'm trying to work on it," said the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Maple Leafs forward.

Kerfoot then praised all-world sniper and teammate Auston Matthews, former 60-goal scorer Steven Stamkos, and Alex Ovechkin - the ultimate marksman whose one-timing expertise is on clear display below - for finding ways to execute even when receiving an imperfect pass.

That ability to fire a one-timer when the puck is "anywhere around them" is what separates the three superstars from their NHL peers, Kerfoot said. Ovechkin, in particular, can seemingly guarantee his one-time howitzer makes its way to the opposing goal no matter how inaccurate the pass.

"It's really hard when the puck's not in your sweet spot or not perfectly in position," Kerfoot said. "Really hard to get good contact on the puck, and then to put it where you want to put it. And those guys can do it better than anyone."

The flashy flip

There is something Noah Dobson would never think about trying in an NHL game, even if the extremely rare opportunity presented itself.

"Just looking around the league and seeing all of the guys doing the plays behind the net, where they're picking up the puck and going high," the young Islanders defenseman said.

The lacrosse-style goal made famous this season by Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov - who tallied twice on behind-the-net trick shots - is extremely difficult to accomplish, even in practice.

"I've tried it a couple of times, and I haven't even been close to it," Dobson said with a smile.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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

Every draft produces selections and storylines that, given time, become generational talking points or fade from view. Our writers are throwing it back a decade to tell some tales about the classes of 2010. The five-part series began with the NHL, detoured to MLB, the NBA, and the NFL, and now is back to the NHL for its finale.

It dawned on Brendan Gallagher at an early age - in Grade 1 or Grade 2, he's not exactly sure - that he might one day make the NHL. His school pals told him so, and he would relay those lofty dreams to his teacher.

At the same time, Gallagher says it didn't fully register that playing in the NHL was attainable until he took his first shift for the Montreal Canadiens in 2012. He'd never aspired to be the best player in his minor hockey loop, junior hockey league, or the AHL. He just put his head down and played.

"I've always had a short-term mentality," Gallagher, now 28 and more than 500 games into his NHL career, said in an interview.

"There was never a moment of comfort, I'll put it that way," he added. "It was always about what I had to do to improve."

This restless approach to playing hockey aligns with how June 26, 2010 - the second day of the NHL draft - unfolded inside the Gallagher household.

There was a solid chance Gallagher would get picked at some point, so he tuned in to the NHL Network broadcast. His mom Della and one of his two sisters were around, but there was no draft party in Tsawwassen, British Columbia. Gallagher's dad and brother were out of town for a hockey tournament, and Gallagher himself had a community event to attend with his teammates later.

Around lunchtime, the TV commentators stopped offering instant analysis as the late-round selections streamed in at a rapid pace. Instead, they began recapping the top 60 picks, which, for a draft hopeful, was poor programming. Luckily, a giant board in the background of the shot listed all the recent picks.

One name on the board looked awfully familiar from afar.

"Brendan! Did you get drafted by Florida!?" Della asked.

"I don't think so, Mom. I feel like I would know by now ..." her son replied.

Benjamin Gallacher had been picked by the Panthers in the fourth round, 93rd overall. Close, but not quite.

Mom and son shared a laugh, and Gallagher went back to scarfing down his lunch. That afternoon commitment - road hockey with excited local fans of the WHL's Vancouver Giants - wouldn't be waiting for the draft to end. Then the phone rang.

"I had a mouthful of Kraft Dinner when my agent called and told me I was about to get drafted to Montreal," Gallagher said. Minutes later, he was accepting congratulations from Canadiens brass after being selected in Round 5, 147th overall.

Ten years on, Gallagher's arguably the biggest steal of the 2010 draft class.

Among the 210 picks, Gallagher, ranks fifth in goals (173), 10th in points (334), and 10th in games (547). A feisty right winger with gaudy puck-possession numbers and an 'A' on his jersey, Gallagher's a two-time 30-goal scorer who consistently hovers around the 50-point mark. He's become one of the NHL's most reliable and effective players.

In theScore's recent redraft of the 2010 class, Gallagher went ninth overall, right after Ryan Johansen and right before Cam Fowler, who in the actual draft were chosen fourth and 12th, respectively. The Athletic earlier this week pegged Gallagher as the 14th-best pick of the salary-cap era (2005 to 2016, anyway) by using the advanced statistic Game Score Value Added as a performance measure. Vladimir Tarasenko, the 16th pick in 2010, was slotted ninth on The Athletic's list, while John Klingberg and Mark Stone - two other late-round gems at 131st and 178th overall - ranked 15th and 18th.

"Gally: Low maintenance, high return," Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin told reporters in late 2019. "Every night, every shift, you know what you're getting, and it's 150% every night, every shift. There's an expression that we use: He drags his teammates to the fight."

Gallagher doesn't play the game any differently now as a 5-foot-9 NHLer than he did as the 5-foot-3 teen drafted by the Giants in the ninth round of the 2007 WHL bantam draft. One of the shortest players on the ice his entire life, a first taste of success came as a tiny net-crasher who led his peewee squad to a provincial championship.

"I went up to get my gold medal and I got booed by the other team's crowd," Gallagher said, chuckling at the memory of accidentally injuring an opposing goalie en route to a B.C. title. "That was the first time I ever got booed, at 13, I think. It started early."

Gallagher notes he's had that edge, that trademark bite in his game, since the very beginning. You've surely seen it countless times, when he swarms the crease in an effort to will the puck past the goal line. The video footage below, taken at the 2002 Brick Invitational hockey tournament, provides historical evidence:

Scan yearly scouting reports on Gallagher and three things show up in every submission: He's a small guy who plays a big guy's game, he's determined to leave all of himself on the ice all the time, and he's coachable. The common threads aren't happy accidents, either. For as long as he can remember, Gallagher's been focused on accentuating his strengths.

If Gallagher devotes most of his time and energy on improving what he does well, the thinking goes, he'll never be bogged down by his limitations.

"When you talk about skill sets, I'm nowhere near the top of any category," Gallagher said. "I'm not the fastest guy, I don't have the best shot, none of that. But you can look back at my conditioning - how I've worked in the gym and off the ice - and point to the power I've developed. I can go up against anyone in the world, and that comes from work."

"I don't work on the things that Connor McDavid works on, because Connor McDavid is a more talented player than me," he added about his on-ice training. "I work on things that I'm going to be able to use on a nightly basis, whether it's puck protection or little skills in front of the net or quick little movements that create a little bit more time and space."

Producing offense has never been an issue for Gallagher. It was the eye test that failed him as a younger player. He was picked so late in the WHL draft because he was small and didn't skate or shoot particularly well. By 2009-10, his NHL draft year, he wasn't much bigger and was still scoring the bulk of his goals - 41 in 72 games to lead the Giants - through sheer will and determination versus skill.

According to Gallagher, the Canadiens were the lone club to express strong interest in him as the NHL draft neared. There were no guarantees. He was 63 picks away from going undrafted and heading to a development camp as a free agent.

"He's such a driven young man," Don Hay, Gallagher's junior coach, said. "I knew he'd find a way - whether it was in the weight room or on the ice - to work at his game so that he could one day have the opportunity to play in the National Hockey League." Over the course of the past 10 years, including eight in the NHL, Gallagher's won over any and all naysayers.

"Small size can be a disadvantage," Jaroslav (Yogi) Svejkovsky, Gallagher's longtime skills coach, said. "But I do believe, from Brendan's point of view, he's learned how to make it an advantage."

Gallagher's honed a low center of gravity through decades of customized off-ice training with his dad Ian, a renowned strength and conditioning coach who runs Delta Hockey Academy. Similar to Hall of Famer and childhood idol Martin St. Louis, Gallagher's robust lower body more or less eliminates any size discrepancies. For context, only three of the 20 NHL forwards currently listed at 69 inches are heavier than Gallagher. He's a truck at 184 pounds.

Combine that physical stability with a fearlessness that's become second nature, an uncanny grasp of the difference between being a pain in the ass and being a frequent visitor to the penalty box, and drastically improved wrist and snap shots, and you have an irritant who keeps defenders honest.

Hay and Svejkovsky relayed important advice to Gallagher during an end-of-season evaluation midway through his time with the Giants. "If you can add a shot that can be a threat from the outside, people have to start playing you tighter," Svejkovsky recalled saying. "Which is actually really good for you, Brendan, because you can expose them."

Of his student now, Svejkovsky said: "His understanding and awareness in small areas, and his determination, makes him so hard to play against. If you don't really know, as a defender, what to do - should I play him super hard and tight, or should I give him space? - that's valuable."

Gallagher's development is evident on a nightly basis. Montreal was a nightmare to contain when he was on the ice during the 2019-20 regular season. The heat maps below - the left shows the Habs' offense with Gallagher, the right without him - illustrate how comically impactful he was in 5-on-5 situations playing alongside Phillip Danault and Tomas Tatar.

A total of 390 NHL skaters logged 750 or more minutes at even strength in the regular season, according to Natural Stat Trick. Gallagher ranked second overall in both shot attempts for per 60 minutes and shots for per 60, sandwiched between linemates Tatar and Danault in both categories. He ranked second, again, this time behind draft classmate Stone, in scoring chances for per 60. And he sat atop the leaderboard in high-danger shot attempts for per 60.

The numbers show Gallagher and his linemates were relentless in the attacking zone. Despite often lining up against the opposition's most dangerous offensive players, they found a way to throw puck after puck towards the goalie.

"You want to make sure that these top guys are playing defense and playing in the defensive zone," Gallagher said of the trio's game plan. "You don't want them to have confidence and time with the puck. We'll know pretty quickly if we're having a good game by how much we're skating and how much possession time that we have. We try to simplify the game, and when we do that we know we're helping our team and improving our chances to win."

Gallagher, a 56% possession player over his career, finished seventh in the NHL in shots on goal per game (3.83). The six players ahead of him were Nathan MacKinnon, Alex Ovechkin, Max Pacioretty, Auston Matthews, David Pastrnak, and Patrick Kane. Gallagher's shot's come a long way, but it can't compete over a full year with that group of all-world snipers.

So Gallagher contributes to Montreal's success by gaining the inside track on defenders, keeping his stick on the ice, finding the soft spots in hard areas, and taking abuse from whoever's between him and the net.

"When he goes to the net, he stays to the net. He goes to the hard places and he doesn't move," Gerry Johannson, Gallagher's agent and president of The Sports Corporation, said. "A lot of guys go to the net and then drift away from it. But he'll go to the net and he'll stay there, and stay there, and stay there."

Montreal's drawn the Pittsburgh Penguins in the play-in round for the NHL's 24-team tournament aimed at completing the season this fall. Expect the same Gallagher you saw before competition stopped in March: self-aware, fearless, smart, and - above all - a pounding headache for defenders.

"If you can show up every night and do your job," Gallagher said, "it's 15 to 20 minutes of work. It's hard work, but if you're able to do that on a consistent, nightly basis, having the trust of your teammates goes a long way in feeling important to the team."

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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

Hockey is back - sort of.

In late May, the NHL unveiled a four-phase return-to-play plan with the hope of resuming and completing the 2019-20 season, which has been paused for three months because of COVID-19. This week, teams opened facilities across North America as the league officially moved into Phase 2, which is centered around on-ice workouts for groups of six players or less. Full-team training camps are set to open July 10, though dates for the start of games have yet to be determined.

There's been significant progress, but there are plenty of milestones to reach. We don't know which two of the 10 potential hub cities vying for hosting privileges will be chosen. We don't know what kinds of health and safety measures will be enforced by the NHL in Phases 3 and 4. We don't know how the coronavirus will continue to affect North America over the coming weeks, and how those trends might affect the NHL's plans. And so on.

To explore these issues and more, theScore solicited the perspectives of five experts from the fields of epidemiology, infectious disease, and virology:

• Zachary Binney, epidemiologist and assistant professor at Oxford College of Emory University
• Gretchen Snoeyenbos Newman, infectious disease doctor at the University of Washington
• Earl Brown, professor emeritus of virology at the University of Ottawa
• Jill Weatherhead, assistant professor in infectious disease at Baylor College of Medicine
• Michael N. Teng, associate professor in the department of internal medicine at the University of South Florida

Their thoughts, which they shared in separate conversations over the past week, have been condensed and edited for clarity.

theScore: How would you go about choosing a hub city if you were the NHL? What kinds of factors and variables would you prioritize?

Binney: From a health perspective and a COVID-19 perspective, it's a really difficult choice because I think you have two forces that are almost exactly opposed. One is a city that's going to let you actually pull this off - bring 12 teams to their city and play professional sports games - and then you also want an area that is going to keep the virus relatively contained and not let an outbreak get to the explosive point where, for example, their healthcare centers are being overwhelmed and they would have to shut a whole lot of things down, including the NHL. Those two forces are at odds, I think, particularly in the U.S., where the response to COVID-19 has unfortunately taken on a strong political element - the places most likely to say, "Yeah, sure! Come on down!" are also the places likely to have the loosest regulations.

Snoeyenbos Newman: There's three domains against which you want the city to be ready. The first: You want to pick a city that has low prevalence and that has been low prevalence for a while. (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has guidance about that. It's less than 10 infections per 100,000 people. You want that to be a stable number (for at least two-to-three weeks). The second thing is testing capacity. You need a city that has a lot of excess capacity because the NHL plan involves a lot of testing, which I think is appropriate. The third thing is hospital capacity. That is important for the (chosen city), not just because you want it for your players and (staff) but also you don't want any - hopefully small - outbreaks within the NHL to really pull capacity away from what's needed.

Brown: I think you run into the problem where the cities with the greatest facilities and support are often hubs that bring in a lot of people. So that becomes a wild card. Las Vegas? Everybody goes to Las Vegas. I'm just not sure that's the way you want to think, even though it's got all the amenities and can handle people. So you run into this conflict where the best people-handling places are often the highest-risk places because this is an infectious disease and the question is, who's got it, and who brings it in? And then it spreads. Everybody's trying to get a grip on it, but that's your conflict, I think. Ideally, you'd like to have a place in the desert or the Arctic where nobody goes to so you can show up (alone). But then there's no amenities, right?

theScore: Are the NHL's health guidelines - namely what we read in the the extensive Phase 2 protocol memo - rigorous enough to keep players and staff safe?

Snoeyenbos Newman: I was impressed by the Phase 2 plan. They have both the specificity - in terms of what they're asking for, with testing and quarantining - as well as a very detailed plan, that is sport-specific, (that lays out) how they're going to do voluntary training. I think that the thing I really appreciate about it is not only the specificity and the fact that they've really thought through what it will look like, but also the language they've included about flexibility.

The most important thing that we can say about the coronavirus is that we have to be able and willing to rapidly respond to changing epidemiology in the location where you are. I think planning is great, I think moving forward is great, as long as it's appropriate in the very local public health context that you're in. The most important thing any organization can do, and what I think is inherent in this NHL plan, is being really ready to respond to change. Because this is a virus that can move very, very quickly, and so things can look very different a week after today.

Brown: I was impressed that they said every team has to have a liaison person who is in charge of their biosafety or public health protocol. They're going to have someone who's responsible for every team, so every team has to sign off all the time, saying, "Yeah, we're doing it right. We're not getting problems, we are actually distancing, and not having contact outside. Everybody has stable temperatures and no symptoms."

Weatherhead: The NHL proposal for Phase 2 opening is comprehensive and addresses issues related to social distancing in a sport that requires significant contact, cleaning and disinfecting within shared spacing, and testing strategies. However, as outlined in the proposal, access to testing may be limited and risk factors for players may be impacted by local transmission dynamics. It will be critical to have active surveillance programs, increased access to testing without impacting local supply, rapid contact tracing, and medical care without impacting local resources and strict adherence to the proposal across all locations.

theScore: What types of red flags in Phases 2 and 3 of the NHL's return-to-play plan would have to arise for you to be concerned about the viability of holding a 24-team tournament?

Binney: You're going to have to watch out for two things. One is clusters of cases on the same team. If you start seeing three or four guys who are sick at the same time, even with daily testing, that would really worry me. You would probably want to shut that team down for two weeks. What does that do in terms of their practice schedule and their ability to get started again and stay on schedule with the rest of the NHL teams? I don't know. But that's something I'd be worried about.

Another thing I'll be on the lookout for is any explosive outbreak or signs of overwhelming a healthcare system in the hub cities that are chosen. That would obviously disrupt everything massively. Unless you have a backup hub, I'm not sure how the NHL would be able to recover from that. I would also be worried about an explosive outbreak within any team and any city having training camp. That could be shut down - and even if it isn't shut down, you could argue that they really should be keeping players and staff at home as much as possible, both to contribute to public health and to reduce the chance that they get sick if you have a lot of cases floating around. That's going to have to be a decision that each team makes and is prepared for.

Brown: You want to start clean and stay clean of the virus. You want to know that nobody is coming in (from outside the team bubble). If you've got cases during training camps, you would be very concerned. That would be cause for pause.

Weatherhead: Once they get to that Phase 3 stage, where there's a lot more contact between individuals - both physical contact and the sheer number of people who are coming together - (the whole return-to-play plan will be challenged). We know the more people in a closed, contained setting, the higher the likelihood of transmission of this infection because it's a respiratory disease transmitted through respiratory droplets. You have to be in close contact with another person in order to get this infection, so the more you're spread out during this Phase 2, with fewer people, it's less likely there is going to be transmission. If you're seeing that transmission and you're seeing players pop up positive, that's got to be a red flag. Once you introduce more players coming from multiple different areas, that could be very dangerous in terms of facilitating the spread of the infection.

theScore: What additional precautions can be taken by NHL players and staff who have underlying health issues? For example, Max Domi and Kaapo Kakko both have diabetes.

Weatherhead: This is the exact problem, because we know that most (NHL-related) individuals are not going to have a major problem with this infection. Most young adults will have mild to moderate symptoms from the coronavirus. It's the other people who have underlying conditions that are going to be at risk. It's not that they're more likely to get the infection, but they're more likely to have more severe outcomes because of the infection.

It's really the responsibility of everybody involved, not just those individuals with underlying health issues, (to care). That means everybody's wearing a mask, that means everybody's following the cleaning and disinfecting rules, that you're staying apart as much as you can, and if you're sick, that you're staying home and reporting your symptoms.

Teng: The major way people are getting infected is through droplet transmission when people are talking or singing or shouting at each other. So what you really need to do is get these small particle masks - these N95s - and some sort of protection for your face. Not necessarily a face shield, but at least some sort of eye protection like goggles or glasses or something like that, to stop droplets from getting into your eyes. Touching surfaces, you have to wear gloves as well.

Binney: Beyond daily testing and the steps that everybody should be taking - like wearing masks when you're not on the ice and washing your hands and not gathering in locker rooms or showers or anything like that - I don't know if there's a lot of extra steps that I would recommend if you're really worried about getting sick other than staying home.

If you're not comfortable with the steps that everybody else is taking, then there's not a whole lot that you can do to protect yourself. I think that clubs need to continue to pay anybody with a good fear and a good reason why they are at a higher risk of a bad outcome if they get COVID. I think that those people need to make individual risk decisions, and I don't think it should have financial consequences for them.

theScore: Given the current state of the coronavirus and the availability of testing, and future projections for both, are you optimistic the NHL can bring back games in an ethical fashion this fall?

Snoeyenbos Newman: I don't know. Part of the real challenge in answering that is that you're asking me to answer a national and - when we include Canada - international question about a process that's being managed at a local level. I think we're really asking: Can every single city and training site before the hubs do that ethically? And then at the hubs: How have they been chosen? Do they have the capacity? Are they able to do the things that are necessary? Those are very - unfortunately, I think - hyper-local, hyper-specific questions.

And we also don't know what will happen with reopening. I think that, so far, fingers crossed, in many places that are in Phase 1 (of community reopening) or modified Phase 1 and trending towards Phase 2 reopening, we have not seen large spikes. But that doesn't mean it's not going to happen. I would say I am very cautiously optimistic about where we'll be by the end of the summer, but if you told me we had another huge resurgence, I wouldn't be surprised.

Teng: On some level, you can wait until we're immune and not play hockey for five years, or however long it's going to take. Or you can try to do it carefully and see if it works. The other thing you have to be unafraid of saying is, "This is not working and we have to stop." That, I think, is going to be the bigger problem for our favorite commissioner because there's going to be significant pressure once you start to finish. You have to be able to say, "Look, we have two teams now that have significant infections, we have to stop this playoff thing, or modify it so we can eliminate a lot of the contact."

Brown: Public sentiment won't be against it as long as s--- doesn't hit the fan, as long as it doesn't go south. Because then there will be lots of people afterwards saying, "Oh, I told you shouldn't have done that." You want to make sure you're not in that situation.

theScore: Lastly, would it be wise for the NHL - or any other sports league, for that matter - to welcome fans back into arenas before a vaccine is readily available?

Teng: As a sports fan myself, I'd love to go back to watching live-action games instead of reruns of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but as a public health person, you just can't. There's no way to socially distance in an arena. If you have to go to the bathroom, you can't stand 6 feet away from the guy in front of you. It just doesn't happen that way. It's going to be a big problem.

Until we get a vaccine, until people start getting vaccinated and we get a certain amount of herd immunity, I think it's going to be a problem. These are the places it's going to spread. We have all of these protests right now in all of our major cities in the United States. These have got to be spreading the coronavirus. Some people are wearing masks, some people are not. You're standing there and you're shouting and you're yelling and you're talking to people. I think we're going to see a spike in coronavirus cases after this is over.

Snoeyenbos Newman: It's entirely possible that the vaccine development will take 10 years. We don't know how long it will take for this vaccine to develop. We really don't. I think that we have ambitious goals for it, but it could take years. If we're talking about years, we're looking at a different way of analyzing and evaluating and responding to risk. So that's something where we're just going to have to see how it goes and see how it looks. There is some promising early vaccine data, but it's very early data.

Our risk tolerance for vaccines - because vaccines are something we give to healthy people - is appropriately incredibly low. … (Vaccines) take a long time to develop because they take a long time to test. We would hate to give out a vaccine that didn't do what we expected it to do. There are few examples of vaccine development that have caused harm, but it's not zero. So we want to be incredibly cautious.

Binney: Absolutely not. No, no, no, no, no. I can't say no enough times. Every decision we make about going out and doing things comes with a risk and a benefit. So when I go to the grocery store, I am taking on a risk. But the benefit of that is substantial. I get to pick up food. There, the benefit outweighs the risk, which is why we never shut down grocery stores at all.

When you talk about bringing professional sports back, I tend to be of the mind that there is a real social and psychological benefit to getting sports back on TV. It helps people see the light at the end of the tunnel. It can help some people with mental health and help them feel psychologically better. There are some modest economic benefits as well. If you do it with some combination of centralization and daily testing, I think it can be done without posing a large risk to public health. At least that's my hope.

So the benefits are there, and the risks are acceptable, so that's something with the right plan that we can talk about. When you add fans to the equation, you lose me because the only benefit is financial for teams and leagues. The risk is enormous in getting thousands of people together, especially indoors for hockey and basketball. That is insanity. The risk-benefit analysis is completely out of whack.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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

Like many of his peers, Jaccob Slavin has been reflecting on systemic racism in North America over the past 10 days.

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor," he tweeted Monday, quoting Desmond Tutu, the South African anti-apartheid leader and human rights activist.

Slavin has a different vantage point than the typical white NHL player. A year ago, the Carolina Hurricanes star defenseman and his wife Kylie adopted a daughter, Emersyn, who is black.

"Right now she's a very adorable little black baby. But one day she's going to grow up and people aren't going to see her as a cute baby anymore," Slavin said from the family's home in Raleigh, North Carolina.

"We want to make sure that when she does grow up, that our country is in a much better spot, where they respect her just as much as anybody else walking down the street or sitting in their own home."

Slavin then brought up Breonna Taylor, an unarmed black woman shot in her home by Louisville police during a fruitless drug raid in March. The thought of an older Emersyn finding herself in a similar situation because of the color of her skin troubles the Slavins.

"For myself and my wife, we hate that it took having a black daughter to open our eyes to everything that's going on. That was kind of our starting point," said Slavin, 26, who grew up north of Denver. "We're learning, we don't know everything, but we definitely want - as white people, as people with a platform - to make sure we're standing together with people of color to end the injustices and the racism that's going on."

He added: "We want to make sure if we see racism going on, to be bold in those moments and to call them out. It's easy to do over social media. It's easy to make a post and then stay behind your phone, but to actually call it out in person is a lot more difficult. So, moving forward, we want to make sure that's what we're doing."

Slavin says his family has encountered racism since the adoption. For instance, someone might offhandedly state something like: "Oh my goodness, she is so lucky to have you guys as parents."

"It's not necessarily racism towards Emersyn herself but it's the comments people make," Slavin said. "And they may think they're making them with no intention to be racist, or if you asked them they probably wouldn't say they're racist, but you can see their heart behind some of the things they do ask."

Jaccob and Kylie Slavin, married since 2015, are devout Christians. They've considered changing churches eventually because the one they attend now is predominantly white and they'd like Emersyn to be exposed to black culture and black role models.

"For us," Jaccob said, "the church is probably going to be the best place (for the family to integrate) because we'll be able to build Christian relationships with people of color, and Emersyn will know who she is in Christ and who she is as a black woman."

Slavin echoed a few of the common messages from a week of discourse about how people who don't experience racism can combat it: Be active. Staying silent isn't good enough. Call out racism when it happens. He talked about petitioning for justice for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Rodney Reed, and supporting social justice groups like Black Lives Matter, AND Campaign, and Color of Change.

"The first step is to educate yourself and learn from black people what they've been experiencing and have been experiencing their whole lives," Slavin said.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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

Welcome to Puck Pursuit, an interview-style podcast hosted by John Matisz, theScore's national hockey writer.

Subscribe to the show on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Spotify.

Michael Traikos, national hockey writer for Postmedia, joins the show to discuss a variety of topics, including:

• Takeaways from Gary Bettman's press conference
• Upcoming hurdles in the NHL's return-to-play plan
• Are expanded playoff formats a long-term fit?
• Early thoughts on qualification-round matchups
• Jack Eichel's end-of-season media availability

... and more!

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

There's plenty wrong with the NHL's seven non-playoff teams - that's why they're at the bottom of the standings. None of them are a fix away from winning the Stanley Cup. The climb to the top will be a marathon, not a sprint.

That said, aside from winning the wackiest draft lottery in history - an exercise out of their hands, anyway - what are the most important pieces of business for these squads as a lengthy offseason begins?

Anaheim Ducks

It may not seem like it at first glance, but the Ducks are slowly approaching a crossroads when captain Ryan Getzlaf's contract expires next summer. Getzlaf, now 35 and past his prime, is the last remaining player from the 2007 Stanley Cup-winning squad.

This means general manager Bob Murray has some organizational soul-searching to do. What would an extension with Getzlaf look like (the two sides can start negotiating this offseason), assuming there's a desire to keep him in the fold in the first place? There's no doubt teams would be lining up prior to the 2021 trade deadline for a chance at acquiring him as a potential final piece for a Cup run.

It'll be fascinating to see how Anaheim, which boasts a well-respected scouting staff, handles the upcoming draft. GMs around the league will be relying on area scouts more than usual since the cancellation of marquee scouting events like the Under-18 World Championships and Memorial Cup cut off an important portion of the schedule. Murray and staff have seven picks - two in the first and one in each of the next five rounds.

Buffalo Sabres

Jack Eichel and his teammates are sick of losing. Sabres fans, most notably Duane Steinel of viral fame, are sick of losing. You can bet ownership, management, and the coaching staff are, too.

Unlike many of the teams discussed in this piece, Buffalo's been desperately trying to reach the next level since Eichel arrived in 2015. Here's what can it do this offseason to re-enter the playoff hunt in 2020-21 and stay relevant for the foreseeable future:

• Win the Sam Reinhart and Linus Ullmark contract negotiations.

Jeff Skinner, Kyle Okposo, and Rasmus Ristolainen are all overpaid and locked up until 2026, 2023, and 2022, respectively, so GM Jason Botterill needs reasonable deals for secondary scorer Reinhart and promising goalie Ullmark.

• Hit a home run with that lottery pick.

If you exclude Dylan Cozens (who's had only one year to develop as a 2019 first-rounder), two of the Sabres' three top-10 picks in the Eichel era haven't panned out. Rasmus Dahlin, first overall in 2018, has been superb, but Alexander Nylander (eighth in 2016) was traded to Chicago and Casey Mittelstadt (eighth in 2017) is still an NHL-AHL tweener.

Detroit Red Wings

As evidenced by their 17-49-5 record, the Red Wings' rebuild is not exactly moving at warp speed. GM Steve Yzerman needs significant help; Detroit lacks high-end talent and depth top to bottom and at every position.

For what it's worth, Yzerman, hired last April, put to rest two major offseason storylines earlier this week. The Hall of Famer stated head coach Jeff Blashill's job is safe, and he noted that the team plans to name a captain before the start of the 2020-21 season. Star center Dylan Larkin, 24 years old in July and signed through 2023, is the overwhelming front-runner among pundits and fans.

Signing or trading for a decent goalie should be high on Yzerman's to-do list. It may seem like an odd move for a franchise so deep in the rebuild hole, but the tandem of Jimmy Howard and Jonathan Bernier was atrocious this season. (To be fair, team defense stunk too.) Howard, 36, is playing on a one-year contract which will surely be his last in Detroit. Bernier, 31, signed through 2021, could probably hold down the fort in a shared role alongside a sturdier partner. For Detroit's youngsters to have a fighting chance at moving up the standings, they need competent NHL goaltending. The current setup isn't working.

Los Angeles Kings

It's fitting the Kings finished the truncated season on a seven-game winning streak and 8-2 in their final 10. After all, the club's retool - based around squeezing as much as possible out of the last effective years of Anze Kopitar, 32, and Drew Doughty, 30 - has gone swimmingly.

GM Rob Blake's prospect pipeline is bursting with high-end talents like Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Turcotte, Rasmus Kupari, and Jaret Anderson-Dolan. Los Angeles, led by a strong coach in Todd McLellan, also appears to have found its next starting goalie, Cal Petersen. There is a path to prosperity.

There's also the option of expediting the process a little bit. The Kings have plenty of future assets - 21 picks in the next two drafts, including five second-rounders - to play with this offseason. Would it make sense to flip 35-year-old Jeff Carter and a pick or two to a contender at the draft? Could that net a young but established NHLer? McLellan will eventually need some kind of buffer between the group of teenagers and the 30-something holdovers.

New Jersey Devils

The Devils' decisions are at the top since both their GM and coach carry interim tags.

Tom Fitzgerald, whose transaction history since taking over as GM for Ray Shero in January is laudable, deserves strong consideration for the permanent gig. Former Canucks GM Mike Gillis has reportedly also been interviewed, and there doesn't seem to be a big rush from ownership to finalize anything. Perhaps something can be worked out where Gillis, the macro guy, assumes the role of president of hockey operations while Fitzgerald, the nuts-and-bolts guy, continues as GM.

On the bench, Alain Nasreddine moved from assistant coach to interim head coach after John Hynes' firing in December. By all accounts, Nasreddine did a splendid job in 43 games, earning a 19-16-8 record. Of course, it would be smart to also look outside the organization during the interview process.

Ottawa Senators

GM Pierre Dorion will be one of the busiest men in hockey this offseason.

The Senators have 13 expiring contracts (seven restricted free agents, six unrestricted) and 13 draft picks (seven in the first two rounds). Chief among the group of pending free agents are 39-year-old starting goalie Craig Anderson, and sniping winger Anthony Duclair, who turns 25 in August and has accrued arbitration rights as an older RFA.

Bringing back Anderson on a one-year deal would be a low-risk move - assuming he's not retiring - even if the longtime Senator becomes a mentor and second-stringer in 2020-21. Meanwhile, Duclair seemed to gel with first-year coach D.J. Smith right away and produced a fabulous first half. His production tailed off down the stretch en route to 40 points in 66 games, and there's a difficult projection to be made in regards to Duclair's ceiling, as well as his place on a squad going through a lengthy rebuild.

It's been relatively quiet out of Ottawa lately - and that's a good thing. Following years of controversy, there is calm, and fans can begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Everyday NHLers Brady Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot, and Colin White are clearly part of the organization's long-term plan. Prospects Josh Norris, Erik Brannstrom, Drake Batherson, Alex Formenton, Logan Brown, and Jacob Bernard-Docker lead a formidable prospect pool. And, aside from Bobby Ryan's contract, the books look pretty clean.

San Jose Sharks

About the draft lottery … The blockbuster trade featuring Erik Karlsson has GM Doug Wilson charting a different offseason path than his contemporaries.

Few would have predicted San Jose would finish last in the Western Conference one year after losing in the conference finals. The Sharks can't even reap the rewards of a disastrous 2019-20 season in which longtime coach Peter DeBoer was canned in December, nobody could stay healthy, and the losing continued until hockey stopped. Ottawa has San Jose's first-round pick because of the Karlsson deal.

Earlier this week, Wilson applauded the work of Bob Boughner, DeBoer's successor behind the bench. The GM hasn't guaranteed Boughner's job for 2020-21, however, so there's at least a chance San Jose could be searching for another head coach. That's clearly priority No. 1.

As for the roster, it might take some creativity, but Wilson must bring in a new goalie through either free agency or trade. Martin Jones has proven he's no longer an NHL starter, although the Sharks are stuck with him at $5.75 million a year for the next four seasons. Jones will have to be a very expensive backup, which means the goalie Wilson acquires will have to be a bargain.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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

After "The Last Dance" reminded fans of the greatness of Scottie Pippen existing in the shadow of Michael Jordan, theScore's feature writers decided to examine some of the most compelling second bananas in other sports. Previous entries in the series came from college football and MLB.

It was Game 1 of the 1992 Stanley Cup Final and the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins were trailing 4-3 with five minutes left in regulation. They were in trouble, until one Pittsburgh forward - No. 68, the guy with the brown mullet spilling out of his helmet - intercepted a clearing attempt and began a dizzying path of destruction in the offensive zone.

First, Jaromir Jagr maneuvered around a Chicago Blackhawks defender, slowing down to quickly survey the zone from the half boards. When a second defender unleashed a poke check, Jagr deftly dangled the puck through his legs before sidestepping a third body. On his way through the slot he avoided a fourth opponent, then shuffled a backhand through Ed Belfour's five-hole.

It was a magnificent goal for any NHLer, let alone a 20-year-old sophomore.

"That was probably the greatest goal I've ever seen," Penguins captain Mario Lemieux gushed to reporters after his team's 5-4 win. "I've scored a lot of big goals, but (down one), he picked up the puck and beat three or four guys. He's got such great balance, can beat a guy one-on-one at will, and he's very strong with his upper body. That was a great goal."

Lemieux - regarded as one of hockey's all-time greatest players, if not the greatest by some - was at the peak of his powers when he made those remarks. Only three years removed from an obscene 199-point campaign, Super Mario had just earned another scoring title after accumulating 131 points in the 1991-92 regular season and was three games away from claiming his second straight Conn Smythe Trophy.

Powered by Lemieux, the Penguins won back-to-back Cups to start the 1990s. A formidable supporting cast was headlined by a young Jagr and Hall of Fame-bound veterans Bryan Trottier, Paul Coffey, Joe Mullen, Ron Francis, Larry Murphy, and Mark Recchi. Jagr lived in Lemieux's shadow for those two runs, his first experiences in the NHL, laying the foundation for his Gordie Howe-esque pro hockey journey, which amazingly entered its fifth decade in January.

"As Jags' career went on, he became a superstar, the franchise, the man in the spotlight," Jim Paek, a defenseman on those Cup teams, said in an interview.

Early-career Jagr might be hockey's closest comparable to Scottie Pippen, with Lemieux representing Michael Jordan. Jagr was an overqualified sidekick and protege.

But Lemieux was the perfect advisor for Jagr at the start of his career. Lemieux was seven years older and also tall and preternaturally skilled, commanding respect on and off the ice. Dominating the game seemed to come easily for Lemieux.

"Jagr was loaded with talent, size, and strength, but he was still coming into his own," Alex Hicks, who played left wing for the 1996-97 and 1997-98 Penguins, said earlier this week. "In terms of a pecking order, Mario was firmly at the top. He was the best and everybody knew it. Jags was having fun, riding shotgun, and getting better everyday."

Among his various claims to fame, Jagr was the first Czech hockey player to get drafted into the NHL without having to defect from the former communist nation. And if not for some trickery on Jagr's part, he could have easily ended up in a different city, according to then-Pittsburgh general manager Craig Patrick's recollection of the 1990 draft.

Jagr assured the Penguins' brass he would move to North America shortly after the draft while at the same time telling numerous other teams that he wouldn't necessarily be leaving Europe right away. So, thanks to a bit of luck, he landed in Pittsburgh's lap at fifth overall.

The rationale behind Jagr's tactics: He apparently desperately wanted to share the ice with Lemieux, the man he idolized as a teenager in Kladno, an outer suburb of Prague.

"Everything I know I learned from him," Jagr told reporters in 2008.

"That's why you never should forget where you learned everything. I came there at 18 years old. I didn't know much. But I kept my eyes open and watched the best player in the league for so many years. How he did it. That was probably the best thing that happened to me - to be on the same team as him. I could learn a lot."

Jagr earned the nickname Mario Jr. early in his 11-year tenure in Pittsburgh, a convenient anagram of "Jaromir." Jagr, while learning the game and about life in North America, also provided a counterpoint to Lemieux, as well. Lemieux was the squad's quiet leader, a big-brother figure to many teammates during an injury-ravaged career. His leadership was not only evident in his willingness to battle through constant back pain and Hodgkin's lymphoma but to maintain excellence.

"There was this aura about Mario," Hicks said. "Jagr was the complete opposite. Happy go lucky, hanging around with Petr Nedved. Laughing, giggling. He was the one guy who could joke around with Mario in a comfortable way. He loosened everybody up."

Jiri Hrdina, another Czech forward, is credited with helping ease Jagr's transition to the U.S., though the charismatic Jagr we came to know and love over his career was more or less present from Day 1. Jagr coupled natural ability with an insatiable drive - solitary late-night and early-morning workouts, 1,000 squats a day - and knew when to use his playful sense of humor. He drove fast cars, celebrated goals with a cheeky salute, and embraced his heritage.

"Really confident young man," ex-NHL defenseman Jeff Chychrun, who joined the Pens in February 1992, recalled. "I remember Jags really sticking up for his European heritage: 'European hockey player, we better than North American.'"

On the ice, Jagr's intelligence, stickhandling, and passing created a distinct mix with his solid 6-foot-3 frame. He had a low center of gravity for a bigger dude, and it wasn't long before his rear end became a renowned puck-shielding tool in an era of clutching and grabbing.

"It was like he was playing keep away with a kid," Hicks said.

"In hockey terms, he had such a big ass," Paek said. "You couldn't knock him down or get the puck from him. And his knack around the net to score goals - his hockey sense, which you can't teach - was just incredible."

Jagr finished sixth in Calder Trophy voting after recording 57 points in 80 games in 1990-91. Excluding the lockout-shortened 1994-95 campaign, Jagr racked up 90 points or more every single season from 1992-93 to 2000-01, his last in Pittsburgh, hitting triple digits in four of eight years: 149 in 1995-96, 102 in 1997-98, 127 in 1998-99, and 121 in 2000-01. Oh, and he won the Art Ross Trophy in that abbreviated 1994-95 season, with 70 points in 48 games.

In total, Jagr picked up eight major trophies in a Penguins uniform - five Art Rosses as league scoring champion, two Lester B. Pearsons as the players' choice MVP, and one Hart Trophy. The team made the playoffs all 11 years of his tenure but failed to return to the Cup final until 2008, when he was long gone and Sidney Crosby had taken up the superstar mantle.

Jagr got to be top dog in Pittsburgh for three-and-a-half seasons - Lemieux sat out 1994-95 for health reasons and retired after the 1996-97 season. When Lemieux returned partway through the 2000-01 season, it just wasn't the same. Pittsburgh lost in Round 3 and Jagr left on a sour note.

He was traded to the Washington Capitals in a salary dump, with the Penguins receiving only spare parts in exchange for a legitimate superstar. Jagr, then 29, finally had the spotlight to himself. He quickly signed a monster deal paying him $77 million over seven years.

And that's where Jagr's HockeyDB profile turns into a 1,000-piece puzzle. Since inking that deal with Washington, Jagr later dressed for seven more NHL teams: the New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, Florida Panthers, and Calgary Flames. He's taken his talents overseas three times over the years, too, most recently out of necessity as his dwindling foot speed ended his NHL career in 2018, just short of his 46th birthday.

Last we heard, Jagr was doing quite literally everything for the Kladno Knights, a Czech team he owns, operates, manages, and plays for. In his post-Pittsburgh NHL life, there were strong individual showings in New York (a third Pearson award), New Jersey, and Florida. His reputation grew at every stop (remember the Traveling Jagrs?) and through appearances at five Olympic tournaments. NHL team success didn't follow him, yet Jagr's longevity is legendary.

"To continue to do what he's done, he seems immortal," Paek said.

Even now, with a seemingly endless resume, nothing compares to Jagr's first NHL home. Pittsburgh is where he won; where he paved the way to eventually climb the league's all-time points list all the way to No. 2, behind only Wayne Gretzky; where he learned how to be a captain; and where he rocked an iconic mullet. It's where he became a superstar, thanks to a deep skill set and a big ass. Really, when you think about it, Jagr spun a Lemieux sidekick gig into a successful and impossibly long career.

"When Mario was there, I knew it don't matter how good I'm gonna be, I'm still never gonna be better than him," Jagr told Sportsnet in 2015. "That guy was the most talented player. (Young) people don't even know."

One of a kind, and larger than life. Likely the best European-born NHLer ever. Arguably one of the top 10 NHLers of all time. The ultimate second banana.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer

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

Dave Andrews had it all mapped out five years ago.

After two decades presiding over the American Hockey League, he would smoothly transition into retirement, moving with his wife of 40 years, Marleen, from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia, where he grew up. Andrews even managed to sell the couple's beloved Springfield-area home to an acquaintance, allowing them to avoid real estate agent fees.

"It was a great plan," he said, "except it didn't work."

It was obvious Andrews - whose career has been defined by executed plans - was smiling over the phone as he recounted the events of early 2015. The gigantic headache that was the creation of the AHL's Pacific Division wasn't moving along fast enough, which meant Andrews didn't feel comfortable stepping down from his highly influential post.

So, the couple recalibrated and found a house to rent. Andrews has renewed one-year contracts with the league ever since, contemplating each spring if he's ready to retire, finally.

That time has arrived. June 30 will be his last official day on the job as the AHL's longtime president and CEO.

Mind you, neither transitioning into retirement nor attempting again to move to Digby, Nova Scotia, will be easy during a global pandemic.

Over the past two months, Andrews, 71, has been staring down the stiffest test of his working life. On Monday, the AHL canceled the remainder of the 2019-20 season because of COVID-19. The Calder Cup won't be handed out for the first time in the league's 84-year history.

"I've been involved in some pretty difficult challenges over the years," Andrews said. "But I would say this is the most troubling because you just don't know where it's going.

"Strategic thinking is really about being very proactive and very well prepared for what we anticipate as future challenges. I think that has been one of my strengths. That is also why today's situation is so difficult - so many uncertainties."

The decision to cancel the season wasn't Andrews' call. He deferred to government and public health officials, developing a strong feeling in mid-March that the AHL would not finish the season. Andrews and his successor as league president, former Columbus Blue Jackets general manager and outgoing Edmonton Oilers executive Scott Howson, have turned their attention to blue-skying the 2020-21 campaign.

"We have to be very flexible and understand there may be teams who can play before the rest," Andrews said of what may be varying crowd-restriction policies in the AHL's 31 markets. "We need to be flexible enough to allow that to happen in some format. Once everybody can play - or most of everybody can play - we get into our regular season."

Andrews, the architect of a sustainable, profitable AHL, will stay on as chairman of the board for three years and continue to advise Howson through this unprecedented period. Pandemic or not, it didn't make sense for the board to let Andrews go, no strings attached. He was the perfect man for the job and the job was perfect for him.

In fact, the AHL's rise is thanks to Andrews' leadership.

Nobody who knows Andrews personally would describe him as a heavy-handed leader. He's too calculated, too rational, too prudent, too bookish.

But Andrews does possess a unique brand of toughness, the type befitting a mild-mannered professional sports executive with little patience for nonsense.

"He doesn't suffer fools gladly," is how longtime associate Mark Chipman puts it.

Back in 2001, Chipman and five other owners joined the AHL after disbanding from the International Hockey League. It didn't take long for one of the new guys - "He shall remain nameless," Chipman says, the disgust fresh to this day - to find out the hard way who was in charge during the group's first board meeting.

"He said something like, 'Well, this isn't how we did it in the IHL.' Dave, quickly and abruptly, said, 'Well, this isn't the IHL,'" recalled Chipman, executive chairman of True North Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Winnipeg Jets and Manitoba Moose.

"Dave could have been even more forceful, but it was definitely message received," Chipman continued. "So, on Day 1, we knew who was running the league, and I was thankful, frankly, that this guy got tuned because he conducted himself that way all the time. The other five of us kind of smiled at each other. It was good to feel like we were part of something strong."

Andrews' matter-of-fact response was emblematic of the AHL's mindset in the early 2000s. His ambitions as AHL president started to come into focus. The long-term plan - first imagined in 1994 when he took over for Hall of Famer Jack Butterfield - aimed to vault the AHL into its own tier amid North America's bloated minor-league hockey landscape.

First, Andrews limited the number of veteran players eligible to dress for a given game in an effort to reposition the AHL as a development league. Then, with an eye on eventually having a one-to-one affiliation relationship with the NHL, he increased the franchise count through rounds of expansion, including the watershed IHL merger.

All of this upheaval occurred at a time when animosity between the AHL and IHL was boiling over. Some AHL executives would rather have watched the IHL disappear into thin air than welcome its strongest owners into the fold. However, Andrews and Chipman saw an opportunity and slyly concocted an enticing merger agreement.

"When we got it done, the deal we put together was really attractive to our owners," Andrews said. "It was an expansion, so the teams that came in were paying a ($1-million) expansion fee, which provided relief for teams that were going to have to jump into all of this air travel to get to places like Salt Lake City and Winnipeg. We were essentially a bus league, right? This was something that would have been troubling for our teams to deal with. It took some work, but the final deal was really a win-win."

Andrews doesn't play chess, though he arguably knows his way around pro hockey's chessboard better than anyone. The master mediator has been a step or two ahead of his constituents for the bulk of two decades. He says he tries his best to ensure every party involved in an AHL business deal leaves the negotiation table satisfied.

The creation of the Pacific Division might be Andrews' finest work. It took more than two years of negotiations and lost sleep to relocate five clubs and change the ownership of another. The end product isn't perfect, with the Pacific's seven squads - five in California, plus one each in Colorado and Arizona - playing eight fewer regular-season games a year than the rest of the AHL. Yet, most NHL teams have never been so close to their prospects, a real boon in a salary-cap era of endless call-ups and demotions.

"That could have been a real trainwreck, if those teams had decided to form their own west coast league," said Rick Pych, the former governor of the San Antonio Rampage.

But Andrews was persistent and uninterested in cutting side deals, Pych said.

"At the end of the day, he's always been driven by what's best for the league collectively," he added.

Andrews has encountered a revolving door of obstacles over a 26-year run, including managing more than 230 changes in ownership, affiliation, and location. The modern AHL has at least one franchise in 15 states - 16 as of next season, when the Vegas Golden Knights relocate the Rampage to nearby Henderson, Nevada - and three provinces. Its footprint stretches across the continent, from Laval, Quebec, to San Diego.

"He's had this ability to anticipate, to see above the tree line," Chipman said.

"When those (affiliation) relationships sour - and when they do, they can sour in a hurry - then you've got to be able to move quickly and find a fix," Chipman continued. "He's always been able to do that without the hockey world going, 'Oh my god, what happened here? Why did this relationship end? Why is this team moving here?' He always seems to be ahead of it. You go to a board meeting and the problem would be solved before you even got there."

Compared to the buttoned-up major leagues, minor pro sports affords its commissioners and presidents greater access to players, and vice versa. It's closer to a grassroots organization, and the wall between the players' union and the league is usually thinner. A commissioner or president can choose to ignore or take advantage of this dynamic.

Based on Mike McKenna's experiences, Andrews took advantage. Despite a 34-year age gap, the two would meet for lunch occasionally during McKenna's career as a journeyman goalie and engaged in some friendly competition at a corporate league event.

"He's a mean tennis player," reports McKenna, who for a decade was a member of the executive committee of the Professional Hockey Players' Association (PHPA).

Andrews attended the PHPA's annual meeting each June in Orlando, where he would sit in a room filled with player reps from across the league and field complaints and concerns. He would then take the most reasonable grumbles directly to the AHL's board of governors. This pragmatic approach garnered Andrews respect inside locker rooms.

"Players who had never been to the annual meeting, who had never met Dave, would have a certain opinion of the league," said McKenna, who dressed for AHL teams in 13 different locations. "The moment they showed up to the meeting and heard everything from him firsthand, they suddenly had a very different perception of how the league was run."

Andrews was a minor-league goalie himself, albeit under different circumstances. In the early 1970s - sandwiched between three years of netminding and schooling at Dalhousie University and one year at the University of British Columbia - the 5-foot-7 Andrews took his talents to the Netherlands.

"I had a friend who was playing in Europe," Andrews said. "He said, 'You know, you're not going to play in the NHL,' and I said, 'Yeah, I know that.' 'Well, go to Europe. You'll have a great time and you'll make a little bit of money.' So I went for one year, one year became two, two became three, and three became four."

Upon his return to Canada, Andrews padded his resume with an assortment of roles, including the hockey development coordinator for the province of British Columbia, the head coach for the WHL's Victoria Cougars, and a consultant for Sport Canada. His big break arrived in the late 1980s. Glen Sather, then the general manager of the Edmonton Oilers, wanted Andrews to run the club's AHL team.

"I had a government job, I had three kids, I had tenure. It was easy to just keep doing it, but (Marleen) said, 'You know what, life's an adventure. You should do it.' Back then, the Oilers were the Oilers, right? They were in the middle of the five Cups," Andrews said.

That gig as the Cape Breton Oilers' GM led him to the AHL's top job seven years later.

The AHL has doubled in size under Andrews' watch. Palm Springs, California, will play host to the league's 32nd franchise, with the team also serving as the 20th AHL affiliate owned by its parent club when it begins play in 2021 as the affiliate for the NHL's expansion team in Seattle. Meanwhile, annual league revenues have jumped from around $25 million in the early 1990s to around $160 million in the late 2010s. Franchises valued at roughly $1 million 10 years ago are worth closer to $10 million.

The AHL promotes collaboration to keep its franchises pulling on the same end of the rope. For example, the league developed an internal analytics program that allows for a business executive from, say, the Grand Rapids Griffins to share best practices on how to retain sponsors with a colleague in another front office, like the Stockton Heat's. This program has been so successful the AHL licenses it out to the Canadian Hockey League.

"The American Hockey League, from where it was when he took over to where it is today, as a business, has progressed enormously," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, Andrews' main point of contact, said. "His legacy will be as an innovator."

On the ice, the AHL has been a natural testing ground. Not every rule and safety change has made its way to NHL games, but there's a long list of graduations, such as the trapezoid, hybrid icing, mandatory visors, the puck-over-glass penalty, both four-on-four and three-on-three overtime, and awarding a point for an overtime or shootout loss.

"Our relationship with them has been so important to us," Andrews said of the NHL. "As long as it didn't jeopardize the competitive integrity of our league, why not?"

Nearly 90% of NHLers pass through the AHL. Managers, coaches, officials, and business-side employees from the minor league reach the NHL at high rates, too. Andrews is particularly proud of the league's all-around professionalism.

"He took the American Hockey League to a place where, honestly, I would have never thought," PHPA executive director Larry Landon, Andrews' bargaining adversary for 26 years, said. "He strategized, he was forward-thinking. He set out to make the AHL the best-run league outside the NHL, and did it."

Andrews has spent a total of 33 years in a high-profile AHL role, or close to half of his life.

"There's no question," he said, "a lot of my identity is tied to this."

There is no doubt Andrews will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

His immense impact on the sport can be best viewed through the three aforementioned landscape-changing milestones: transforming the AHL into the top NHL development league, absorbing the IHL clubs, and creating the Pacific Division. He's a well-respected leader who's always had a plan in motion.

McKenna lauds Andrews' ability to find common ground between owners and players, leading to a decent living for those below the NHL, a luxury some other sports can't claim. Landon salutes his lack of ego and adaptability. Chipman believes Winnipeg wouldn't have Jets 2.0 if not for Andrews' open mind 20 years ago. Pych - who in his career dealt with leaders from a variety of sports leagues, like the G League and WNBA - counts Andrews as the best of the bunch.

The post-pandemic calendar for Andrews and his wife sounds idyllic: Nova Scotia for half of the year, Arizona or Florida for the rest; sailing, racquetball, quality time with the couple's eight grandkids. That's all while keeping one foot in the hockey world as AHL chairman, as well as serving as the chair of both the Hockey Canada Foundation and the Order of Hockey Canada.

Andrews learned five years ago that retiring from a dream job isn't an easy task. So, in a strange way, he's been prepared for an unusual end to his tenure. There will be no last handshakes at AHL headquarters, no send-off party, no farewell tour during the Calder Cup playoffs, no final walk to the exit door.

"I'll be turning a switch off rather than tapering into the exit," Andrews said, smiling over the phone once again. "It's going to be odd."

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer

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