Wendel Clark knows the Maple Leafs left everything on the ice 27 years ago later this month when Toronto famously fell to the Los Angeles Kings in Game 7 of the 1993 conference finals. One variable, though, was completely uncontrollable.

"We got Gretzky'd that night," Clark said in this week's episode of Puck Pursuit, theScore's hockey podcast, referring to the legend's memorable four-point performance in a 5-4 Kings road victory.

Clark scored twice - he was always clutch in Game 7s - but it wasn't enough.

"We played as hard as we could, as well as we could," Clark said. "We maybe didn't get a bounce here or there the odd time, but that's sports. That's why you play the game. As long as you leave it all on the ice and did what you could, there is no second-guessing anything."

If the Leafs had defeated the Kings to advance to the 1993 Stanley Cup Final, the spotlight would have surely landed on superstar center Doug Gilmour. The man nicknamed "Killer" was in his prime. A tenacious workhorse with plenty of skill, Gilmour would have given the Montreal Canadiens, the eventual Cup champions, a fit every game.

"Really, from 1992 to 1994, I don't know if there was a better player in the NHL than Dougie," Clark said. "For what he did for our team and how he played in every single situation there was - offensively, defensively, penalty kill, and power play. … He could play at the (high) skill level, or he could play in the trenches as a little guy. And with his personality, we just jumped on the bandwagon when he was doing his thing."

Clark, 53, who retired from the NHL in 2000 with 564 points in 793 games, is self-isolating with his family. Regarding COVID-19, the former Leafs captain shared a message for hockey fans.

"The smarter we are now, the better off we'll be down the road," he said. "Let's not cut corners now."

To listen to Clark discuss his storied career, how the current Leafs squad can tap into toughness without acquiring enforcers, and much more, click below to hear the entire Puck Pursuit episode.

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

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The 1969-70 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins were headlined by the transcendent Bobby Orr, ultimate wild card Derek Sanderson, all-time sniper Phil Esposito, and world-class goalie Gerry Cheevers. That foursome's average age was 25. An older guy named "Chief" balanced out the core.

Johnny Bucyk, a physical, goal-scoring 34-year-old forward who fully embraced his role as the unofficial captain, brought responsibility and maturity to a roster brimming with talent. His leadership extended beyond the rink, too.

"If you needed something, (Bucyk) was more than happy to make sure you got it," former teammate Brad Park once said. "If you needed a dishwasher, he'd tell you where to go."

"If you needed an elephant," former Bruins coach and GM Harry Sinden added, "John could get you an elephant somewhere in Boston."

This reputation of being selfless and levelheaded off the ice - plus two Cups, more than 1,500 games played, more than 500 goals scored, and two Lady Byng trophies - helped Bucyk earn his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1981, where he's now enshrined alongside Orr, Esposito, and Cheevers.

One particular goal among Buyck's 556 career tallies stands above the rest because it set the table for the most iconic photo in NHL history. Bucyk's late third-period goal in Game 4 of the 1970 Cup final against the St. Louis Blues extended the game so Orr could fly through the air early in overtime.

"It was the big goal to put it into overtime," Bucyk said in a recent interview. "We were up 3-0 in the series. Then, of course, Bobby scored the biggest goal of all. It was nice to win the Stanley Cup for the first time. That was a big plus for me, being part of the team."

Sunday marks 50 years since Orr's goal. To commemorate the occasion, NHL Network Originals produced a one-hour documentary about the 1969-70 Bruins. "Big, Bad & Bobby" debuts Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on NHL Network (U.S.) and Sportsnet (Canada).

Ahead of the debut, Bucyk, now 84 and living in Boxford, Massachusetts, with his wife Terri, chatted with theScore about a number of Bruins-related topics.

Do you have the picture of Bobby hanging up somewhere in your house?

Oh yeah. We've got all kinds of pictures hanging around. I've got that one of him flying through the air. I mean, it was a big night, a big goal, and a big thing. We finally won the Stanley Cup after 29 years.

What had you heard about Bobby before he arrived in Boston in 1966? That was your 12th year in the NHL and 10th with the Bruins.

I watched him in junior and you saw the talent that he had and the way he played. Then, when he came to us, I happened to be his roommate. They put Bobby with me. We got along so well. Very close friends, as we still are. But you knew things were going to change with him back there. When he was on the ice, it was like playing on a power play. Six on five.

Would you ever catch yourself daydreaming as he skated coast to coast?

(Laughs) I just kept saying to myself, 'Oh, we're going to win the Cup, we're going to win the Cup, we're going to … ' He made the biggest difference.

Where do you stand on the greatest-of-all-time debate? Bobby? Wayne?

Ah, it's too hard to compare. You're talking about two players from two different positions. Both very talented, both exciting to watch. I don't grade them, I don't grade anybody in the league, because everybody is different. They were two of the best, though. Gretzky was such an offensive player. Bobby was both - offensive and defensive. I just couldn't compare them. It's so tough to do. Even now, with so many great players, who are you going to pick? The way the league is now, every team has some good, All-Star players. And a lot of these kids now are going to be great. Nothing you can do.

You don't hear about Bobby's defense very often. Everyone remembers the skating and point totals. Is defense an underrated part of his game?

If Bobby was caught up ice, he'd be back before you knew it. He could always, always get back into the play. He was such a good skater, and went at such fast speeds. He could just accelerate real quick and he had so much talent. And it was too bad. He played hurt a lot of the time, and that's what shortened his career. He should have been playing for many more years. But that was Bobby. Bobby knew he was better than what we had, so he wanted to play, hurt or not. He was out there, no matter what, and doing his best.

Do you feel like those playoff runs in 1967-68 and 1968-69 were necessary experiences, essential building blocks to winning the Cup in 1969-70? (The Bruins had missed the playoffs for eight straight seasons prior to 1967.)

It was a big plus. It gave you a lot of confidence. You're up there, you have a chance to win. You're all the way, deep into the playoffs. And then you lose. But you knew you were close and you knew eventually it was going to change. And it did.

How important was the 1967 trade - where Esposito and a couple of other guys came to Boston - to the trajectory of those Bruins teams?

That trade was probably the biggest trade ever to help us. To get Espo, (Ken) Hodge, and Freddie Stanfield - three great players - was to get (most of) our power play, too. You couldn't believe it when that trade happened, and when Bobby came up and Derek (Sanderson) came up. You knew you were on your way to a Cup.

Many hockey fans today don't know anything about Derek Sanderson - on the ice or off it. He was quite the character, wasn't he?

He was a lot of fun. He kept you alive. He's funny. He was one of the best penalty killers we ever had. Him and Eddie Westfall made a good pair. They scored a lot of goals. What else can you say? He was quite competitive. He was a disturber out there, too. He had all the other teams upset.

The Bruins weren't very good at the beginning of your career. Did you ever think to yourself, "Oh man, I'm not going to win a Cup here?"

No, I loved Boston, I loved playing here, I loved the fans, and we were competitive a lot of the time. We had some great years. We did go a few years without even getting into the playoffs. That was a little tough, but I never thought about asking to be traded or hoped to be traded. I just wanted to play hockey and do it in Boston. Whoever knew my career would still be on? I'm still working for the Bruins. This is my 62nd year with the organization. That's exciting. How many people on any job can say they've been there over 60 years? I'm very thankful. Thankful to (ownership) for keeping me on.

You're in the documentary. What was it like to relive these old memories?

I've had a good career. I had 23 years as a player in the league. That's a lot of times to try to remember. You do remember your 500th goal. I remember the playoffs in St. Louis. In the opening game, I got a hat trick - that's something you don't forget. And then, of course, scoring the goal in the fourth game (of the Cup final) to put it into overtime with just about seven minutes left in the game, where they were leading us 3-2. I scored that one, tied it up, and then we won it in overtime. You try to remember the good times. As you get older, it gets tougher and tougher.

You guys were celebrities in Boston during this period. What did that look like on a daily basis? Did you have much privacy away from the rink?

It was tough. You didn't wear a helmet, so fans would recognize you real quick. They all wanted to say hello, get a picture, get an autograph. But that's part of it. When you choose this life, you've got to go through that. I had no problem with it. I loved to talk to the people. Sometimes I didn't want to talk to them, though (laughs). Especially when you've just lost and they want to know why. How the heck would I know? No, it was fun. I had a real good run, enjoyed it, and I still enjoy being part of the team. It's just too bad what's happening this year. I thought we had a real good chance to win the Cup.

How plugged into the current Bruins team are you? Who's your favorite player, and why?

I'm at every game at home. I don't travel, but I watch the road games on TV. I gave up traveling a few years ago because I had enough of it. I think I've probably missed three games in my life. I enjoy the game. It's fun. I'd have to say (Patrice) Bergeron and (Zdeno) Chara. They're two of my favorites. Both are very close friends. Just (Bergeron's) competitive nature. He works both ways on the ice. He's such a good, talented player who works hard every game.

Do you like today's game better than the game from your era?

It was different back then. The rules are different now. The equipment is different now. The sticks. The skates. We used to wear the same pair of skates for two or three years. Now, they use two or three pairs a year. There's just so many different things nowadays. They shoot the puck harder, and I'm sure faster. The players are better skaters, probably better than we were. Yeah, the game is still enjoyable to me. If you've got two teams who are going to go out and play hard and physical, bump and grind, and not do anything stupid like get stupid penalties, it's enjoyable. I don't like seeing all the chippiness. I like seeing good heart instead. And in Boston we've had a lot of (guys with good heart).

As things go, you remember some of the things you had. Even the years when I played, the rivalry we had with Montreal, you knew every game was going to be a battle. It was going to be a fight, it was going to be something. But I used to always say, if you had a bad game score-wise, liven it up with a fight. Somebody would get into a fight on the ice and the fans would go home happy.

How do you think you would fare if you were transported to this era and just starting your NHL career in 2020?

(Laughs) I know I'd be richer.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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

The NHL's indefinite hiatus gives us an opportunity to take stock of the league's most fascinating figures. Previously, we explored Auston Matthews' undeniable goal-scoring prowess, and analyzed the precarious final chapter of Henrik Lundqvist's Hall of Fame career. Alex Pietrangelo is next up.

Alex Pietrangelo was in complete control the last time we saw him in action.

On March 11, hours before the NHL paused the 2019-20 season, Pietrangelo led the St. Louis Blues to a 4-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. In 22:37 of ice time, he bagged two goals - the first a one-timed bullet from the point, the second a high flip into a vacant net - and helped the Blues hold a 14-5 advantage in scoring chances.

In other words, Pietrangelo put forth a quintessential Pietrangelo performance in what may ultimately stand as his final game in a St. Louis uniform.

In a perfect world for Blues fans, there is no chance that Pietrangelo leaves the team to test free agency this coming offseason. Drafted fourth overall in 2008 and named captain in 2016, Pietrangelo and his family have become intrinsic to the organization. Last spring, the 30-year-old helped guide the franchise to its first Stanley Cup title. If money and aging curves weren't a factor, the three-zone, all-situations defenseman would likely retire a Blue.

Realistically, though, there's a solid chance Pietrangelo leaves St. Louis. At the moment, the Blues simply don't have the payroll flexibility to accommodate a hefty raise from Pietrangelo's current average annual value of $6.5 million. On the surface, the math for an extension doesn't add up.

With all of that in mind, let's take a look at the Blues' books, what Pietrangelo might command on the open market, and a few potential landing spots for the 12-year pro.

Presuming there's a genuine desire within St. Louis' front office to re-sign Pietrangelo, Doug Armstrong hasn't done himself any favors recently.

Last September, the Blues general manager acquired and immediately inked Justin Faulk to an eight-year, $45.5-million deal. Faulk, a right-handed, top-four defenseman is a rare commodity in today's NHL. In a vacuum, it's a justifiable sequence of events - especially for the GM of the defending Stanley Cup champion, who's determined to leave no stone unturned in the quest to repeat.

However, in the context of the Blues' long-term salary structure, the move made little sense. Also lining up on the right side is Pietrangelo, probably a top-10 defenseman in the entire league, and Colton Parayko, one of the NHL's best shutdown blue-liners. There's only so much money to devote to one position, let alone one half of said position. And what about ice time?

Then, in April, Armstrong signed another pending UFA, Marco Scandella, to a four-year extension worth $3.3 million annually. Between Parayko, Faulk, Scandella, Carl Gunnarsson, and Robert Bortuzzo, St. Louis now has $18.4 million locked in for its 2020-21 blue line. Oh, and Vince Dunn, a 23-year-old lefty who's developed into a nice second-round find for the Blues, is a restricted free agent due for a decent pay bump.

Complicating matters, the 2020-21 salary cap is expected to either stay at $81.5 million or decrease due to the economic impact of the stoppage. That means if Armstrong's original plan was to squeeze Pietrangelo's deal under the new upper limit - projections from the NHL had the pre-pandemic ceiling for next season somewhere between $84 million and $88.2 million - he can't expect to do so anymore.

Now, maybe Armstrong has a trick up his sleeve. Perhaps depth forward Alex Steen ($5.75 million) gets bought out and backup goalie Jake Allen ($4.35 million) gets traded. Then there's a light at the end of the tunnel for keeping Pietrangelo. Mind you, Armstrong must also look ahead to negotiations that will take place a year from now. Jordan Binnington and Jaden Schwartz are set to become UFAs; Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou will be RFAs.

Pietrangelo didn't let his contract status affect his play through 70 games of 2019-20. Before the shutdown, the 6-foot-3, 210-pound veteran of nearly 850 regular-season and playoff contests was on pace for career highs in shots (260), goals (19), and points (60), and his projected assist total (42) was one shy of his previous best. Pietrangelo also continued to post excellent puck-possession numbers while averaging 24 minutes a night, including three minutes on the power play and two on the penalty kill. This year may end up being his third top-five Norris Trophy finish (fourth in 2011-12, fifth in 2013-14).

As for a benchmark, the eight-year, $72.5-million extension Roman Josi signed with the Nashville Predators last October is the strongest comparable from Pietrangelo's perspective. Josi is a year younger and arguably a slightly better player, but a request of eight years at $9 million annually is undeniably fair for Pietrangelo, who will be testing free agency for the first time - and potentially the last.

"I'm going to explore all options. You'd be doing yourself a disservice if you're not sitting back there with your agents and your family laying out everything on the table, thinking about every possibility, that's really what you should be doing," Pietrangelo said in April when The Athletic asked about possibly pursuing a short-term deal given the uncertainly with the cap moving forward.

"When you have a growing family, it's one of those things where if you can put yourself into a position where you're somewhere long term, it’s a little bit easier than having to pick up and move potentially every couple of years."

In that same interview, Pietrangelo said his camp and Armstrong shared a common goal: "To try and get something done here."

"He is a 30-year-old pro, he's the captain of our franchise, he's someone I have the utmost respect for. Our goal is to try to get him signed," Armstrong told reporters in February. "I'll address, if he doesn't sign here, what happened at that point. But our focus is to see if we can get him signed."

If Pietrangelo reaches free agency, he'll have options. Potential landing spots would include the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas Golden Knights, and Winnipeg Jets.

The Leafs, as has been noted ad nauseam, are in dire need of a right-handed defenseman. Pietrangelo, who hails from King City, which is north of Toronto, could return home a la John Tavares. With Tavares, Auston Matthews, and Mitch Marner in the lineup for at least four or five more years, the club has a relatively long runway to contend. The flip side is that Leafs GM Kyle Dubas has already committed half of his budget to a small group of players. Would adding another hefty contract be in his team's best interests? Which role players would the Leafs lose in the process?

Pietrangelo has been linked to Toronto for a while now. The other top-of-mind options - Vegas and Winnipeg - are notable strictly because of the fits. Both teams currently ice strong forwards and goaltending but lack a true stud on the back end. The Golden Knights' best defencemen are Shea Theodore and Nate Schmidt - neither are elite - while the Jets' defense corps drops off considerably after Josh Morrissey, who's better suited as the No. 2 or No. 3 guy on a blue line.

The central question for any club interested in signing Pietrangelo centers around age. Are Pietrangelo's best years behind him? If so, is ponying up for past performance worth it? NHL players tend to peak in their mid-20s, and Pietrangelo has a lot of mileage on his body (though to be fair, he's largely avoided injury). A max-term deal - eight years for St. Louis, seven for every other team - will surely look like an overpayment down the road.

Of course, this is not a discussion unique to Pietrangelo. Every UFA signing in the cap era has carried tangible risk, and the global pandemic has thrown a wrench into the NHL's entire financial structure. Like most things in sports, and in life, right now, Pietrangelo's future is uncertain on many levels.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer

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

Following our recent series on the best teams never to win their league's championship, we're flipping the concept. This series will examine a selection of the most unlikely teams to reach the mountaintop. These teams can be ones that got hot at the right time, or those who belong to franchises that have not often tasted the Champagne of champions. Previous entries covered MLB, NFL, NBA, and NCAA football.

Heading into the 2012 NHL playoffs, Eric Tulsky, then a Philadelphia Flyers blogger, used advanced metrics to guide his predictions and went off the grid with a significant upset in the first round.

Tulsky argued the Los Angeles Kings - the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference - were a sleeping giant fully capable of toppling the mighty Vancouver Canucks. On the surface, it was exceptionally bold to take the Kings over the President's Trophy winners. But Tulsky, a hockey analytics pioneer who's now the vice president of hockey management and strategy for the Carolina Hurricanes, presented a logical counterpoint.

"In their last 13 games, the Kings played a tough schedule (eight playoff teams) and outshot all 13 opponents by an aggregate 451-302, with only two regulation losses," Tulsky wrote. "Combine dominant possession with (Jonathan) Quick's great play and the Kings are no typical No. 8 seed; they've been a great team since the (Jeff) Carter-(Jack) Johnson trade."

All four panelists picking alongside Tulsky took the Canucks.

L.A. needed just five games to dispose of Vancouver. It was a bracket-busting series victory that kickstarted an incredible 16-4 playoff run for a team that lost more games than it won during a trying regular season. The Kings made NHL history by sweeping the No. 2 St. Louis Blues, taking down the third-seeded Arizona Coyotes in five games, and defeating the Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Devils in six.

The 2011-12 Kings - who needed a win in Game 82 of the regular season to clinch their playoff spot - are the only eighth seed ever to win the Stanley Cup.

It was an epic turn of events for a franchise that failed to claim a title in its first 43 years of existence, eight of which featured Wayne Gretzky. This development gave validation to the thought processes of Tulsky and his stats-obsessed peers. Conversations and articles about the predictive nature of advanced stats - Corsi and PDO among those most often cited - suddenly had the backing of an unlikely champion.

Now, let's be clear: the Kings didn't come out of nowhere. They weren't a Cinderella story or a traditional underdog. Ownership had no problem spending money, general manager Dean Lombardi assembled a balanced lineup, and the franchise was on an upward trajectory. In fact, expectations were reasonably high following an eventful 2011 offseason.

The club's core, led by 26-year-old goalie Quick, 22-year-old defenseman Drew Doughty, and mid-20s forwards Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown, was upgraded through trades and free agency. Lombardi added a pair of point-producers in center Mike Richards and winger Simon Gagne. Richards, 26, was acquired from the Flyers in a blockbuster swap involving up-and-comers Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn, while the 31-year-old Gagne signed a two-year deal.

But the Kings stumbled out of the gate. Doughty, who just wrapped up a contract dispute, was a little rusty, and the team as a whole couldn't find its footing, losing nine of 16 games to open the campaign. Offensively, the Kings were almost exclusively reliant on Kopitar, Richards, and veteran Justin Williams. During that stretch, L.A. scored three or more goals only five times.

An inability to bury scoring opportunities is what made the team so polarizing throughout the regular season. It was equipped with ample firepower but owned the 29th-ranked offense and 17th-ranked power play, in part because of a league-worst shooting percentage. Championship teams tend to ice a formidable attack, not one well below the league average.

"We're a good team, but we're not playing like one," Brown, the team captain, said on Dec. 10. "We need more intensity, more desperation, and that starts with individuals. (No one can) do it alone, but you've got to get yourself ready, as a player on this team. Right now, we don't have enough guys with that desperation in their game."

Head coach Terry Murray was canned two days later, after which assistant John Stevens assumed the interim role for four games before longtime NHL bench boss Darryl Sutter took over. The leadership change didn't result in instant success and, as the calendar flipped to 2012, the Kings owned an unremarkable 19-14-6 record. Luckily for them, they competed in the woeful Pacific and were somehow leading the division.

Sutter urged the Kings to be more assertive, preaching constant puck pressure and an aggressive forecheck. And why not, really. There was no fluff on the roster; virtually every player - even skilled guys like Kopitar, Richards, and Doughty - had spunk. Plus, the Kings could afford to take extra chances with a stingy defense and all-world netminder Quick providing insurance.

Then came the turning point: the Carter-Johnson trade on Feb. 23. Lombardi acquired Carter, a 27-year-old with a wicked wrist shot and a nose for the net, from the Columbus Blue Jackets for the 25-year-old blue-liner and a first-round pick.

"If we're 15th or 20th in the league, where I kind of projected offensively, I'm still looking for this deal. But I don't like the fact that the projection is off, on where we should be starting this deal from," Lombardi said after the trade, unhappy that the Kings were last in the league in scoring with just 129 goals in 61 games. "Part of that, again, I think is the way our secondary scoring dried up, which would take the heat off our top guys, who need to be better. That's the only troubling thing."

Then, down the stretch, the Kings became a force. They won 13 of 18 games by scoring the NHL's fifth-most goals per game, owning the top-ranked power play, and continuing to crush opponents on the shot counter. At the end of the regular season, those offensive numbers (still cringe-worthy over 82 games) were balanced out by a second-ranked defense, fourth-ranked penalty kill, second-ranked Corsi, third-ranked five-on-five scoring-chance percentage, and sixth-ranked five-on-five expected-goals percentage. Not too shabby.

Still, even optimistic Kings fans and die-hard supporters of the analytics movement surely understood the other side of the argument heading into a best-of-seven series with the Canucks.

Vancouver, armed with the marvelous Sedin brothers, perennial Selke Trophy candidate Ryan Kesler, and All-Star goalie Roberto Luongo, earned 14 more points during the regular season and was just one year removed from losing in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Boston Bruins. The Canucks would not be an easy out.

Also, playoff hockey exposes weaknesses. Would the Kings' 7.5% shooting rate actually dip to a new low with the intensity ratcheted up and time and space taken away? The randomness of hockey can go both ways. It can benefit you one day and harm you the next. You can play the "right way" and still lose four of seven. The 40-27-15 club that couldn't get its act together until the final month of the regular season wasn't an obvious choice, even if the underlying data strongly hinted at a potential breakthrough.

But Tulsky was right, as the Kings' months-long relationship with poor puck luck ended. They didn't let their foot off the gas, controlled the play, and the goals came flooding in. L.A. opened in Vancouver with a pair of 4-2 wins and Quick made 41 saves back stateside in a 1-0 victory in Game 3.

The Kings scored four or more goals in seven of the 15 games they played during the next three rounds, which concluded with a 6-1 win at home against the Devils to capture the Cup.

Quick posted a disgusting .946 save percentage to earn the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Sutter and Co. thumbed their nose at home-ice advantage, winning Games 1 and 2 of all four playoff series in their opponents' buildings.

The Kings looked like the best version of themselves - the one lurking beneath the surface for a large chunk of the year - and the most memorable eighth seed of all time put together an immaculate 16 wins in 20 games.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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

If you were to play a word association game using prominent Columbus Blue Jackets players as subjects, it would probably go down something like this:

Zach Werenski: rover. Nick Foligno: leadership. Josh Anderson: fierce. Cam Atkinson: goals. Seth Jones: elite. Pierre-Luc Dubois: bull. Ryan Murray: injuries.

Being hurt is baked so deeply into the arc of Murray's NHL career that when you call up the 6-foot-1 defenseman's HockeyDB profile, your eyes are immediately yanked to the games-played column, where the number 82 in 2015-16 jumps off the screen. Over seven years, Murray has appeared in just 358 of a possible 589 regular-season and playoff games due to various ailments.

This run of misfortune - which includes Murray's return from a back injury on March 1, only for the NHL to indefinitely suspend operations three games and 11 days later because of the coronavirus - grants him a free pass to be a tad pessimistic ... right?

Well, Murray doesn't take a pessimistic view, maintaining that the pain and frustration from knee, ankle, leg, foot, hand, groin, and back injuries helped him grow as a human being.

"You can't really ask anything of the game of hockey. You have to take whatever it gives you," Murray said last week while doing some yard work in Saskatchewan. "Sometimes it gives you negative experiences, sometimes they're great. I've had a bit of both. I think that you take it and learn from it."

Indeed, Murray's had his moments since being selected second overall by the Blue Jackets in the 2012 NHL Draft. An effortless skater with tremendous vision, he's established himself as a smart, two-way blue-liner. Coach John Tortorella has consistently slotted him in Columbus' top four, and Murray has flirted with or surpassed 20 minutes of ice time in four of his seven seasons.

In 2018-19, he looked like a legitimate All-Star, recording a career-high 29 points in only 56 games. He's also represented Canada with distinction in five international tournaments, most notably winning a gold medal at the 2016 world championships.

Despite these gains, the injury narrative has followed Murray around like a pair of forechecking forwards. It's always been present in some form and, on numerous occasions, has led to social media backlash and trade rumors.

"People will say whatever they want. There's critics of all types of athletes and at all different levels. You see the (New England) Patriots, they have critics every single year. You take criticism pretty lightly when it comes from outside sources," Murray said.

"It's about who you are as a person and a human being first. If you're a good person, and you treat people well and they treat you well, and you've got plenty of friends, you're going to have a good life, regardless of if you're playing in the NHL.

"I know that sounds kind of cheesy," the 26-year-old conceded, "but I guess when you want this long, successful career and you've hit all of these speed bumps, you can't really sit there saying, 'Oh, I'm behind, I'm behind, I'm behind.' You've just got to live your life one day at a time and live in the present as much as you can. I think I've learned how to do that pretty well."

Murray is currently self-isolating in his offseason house in Regina Beach, a resort town about 40 minutes northwest of his hometown of Regina. He's spending time with his Australian shepherd, Jake; reading "11 Rings" by NBA coach Phil Jackson; watching Netflix; and doing whatever he can to stay in shape without access to weights, such as stair runs, pushups, and core workouts.

He's in a pretty good place mentally, all things considered. Parts of his past, though, haven't been so kind. There have been pronounced low points behind the scenes, including shedding tears with Blue Jackets head athletic trainer Mike Vogt and confiding in mental coaches. "I've definitely had my fair share of negative emotions," Murray said.

With his latest back injury, Murray credits renowned back specialist Dr. Stuart McGill for helping him tackle a list of physical and mental challenges. He's learned how to approach everyday movement - such as getting out of bed - with proper technique, while also being mindful of the pros and cons of every predicament. If Murray hadn't been shelved for two months earlier this season, for instance, he probably wouldn't have adopted Jake, who kept him company.

Murray, who's perhaps more philosophical than the average NHLer, brings up a soundbite from billionaire Elon Musk - "Happiness equals reality minus expectations" - as a mantra he follows on and off the ice.

"If you can manage your expectations, you can feel a little happier about things," Murray said. "The mind stuff and the brain stuff is going to be a major study of this era of hockey, and life in general. … Our generation and the past generation have gotten our bodies into peak physical condition. And moving forward, tuning the mind to be just as ready to go and as sharp as it can be (will be) a pretty important tool, too."

When 28-year-old NFL linebacker Luke Kuechly hung up his cleats in January, adding to the growing number of high-profile athletes who've retired before 30, Murray wondered if he might be next. Would it be in his best long-term interests to keep competing? Halfway through a two-year, $9.2-million deal, he'll be an unrestricted free agent for the first time next summer.

"From all of the information that we've gathered, there's been no reason so far to call it," Murray said. "We've definitely had those conversations with the doctors, those tough conversations that you have to have."

He added, "Guys get beat up, and you make your choices, and once you make them, you have to live with them. I'm only 26 years old, so I'm sitting here thinking you've got to do what you've got to do but you also have to take care of yourself. Right now, I'm still looking at a positive future."

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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

On Easter Sunday, Shannon Skanes stood in front of a dry-erase board in the basement of his Vancouver-area home and talked into a camera for 19 minutes. The Hockey Guy, as he's called, had filmed this way countless times. However, this particular video - titled "Lessons Learned Over the Last Month" - was not part of the regularly scheduled programming.

Skanes, who makes a living covering hockey thanks to the support of 137,000 YouTube subscribers, had printed five pandemic-related topics on the board:

1. The channel survives
2. Missed hockey after a week
3. I like routine
4. Sports have a large economic role
5. This can bring out the best in people

Regular routine, Skanes lamented five minutes into the video, has been thrown out the window in the days and weeks since the NHL's hiatus took effect.

"This isn't like an offseason, because we don't know when anything's going to happen," Skanes told his viewers, shrugging his shoulders in a Vegas Golden Knights jersey and ballcap. "So this is complete improv. Every day I get up and I go, 'OK, I guess I'm going to talk about this today …'"

Saturday's uploads included an offseason preview of the Arizona Coyotes, a rundown of the lowest points in Anaheim Ducks history, analysis of the latest return-to-play scenarios, a livestream of Skanes playing the NHL 20 video game, a recap of the 2003 Wild-Canucks playoff series, and a ranking of Skanes' favorite and least favorite NHL clubs. In total, Skanes posted more than three hours of content to his channel in just one day.

Subscriber numbers for The Hockey Guy are up since the NHL shutdown, which is a promising sign while circumstances force Skanes to make other adjustments.

"Before this went down, we were thinking about taking trips to various locations around North America this year and next year, meeting up with subscribers who have talked about meeting with us for years," he said in a recent interview, referring to himself and his wife Yvonne. "That's all put on hold. It's taken out well over half of what we were making."

Skanes is not alone in this strange new world. He's one of several independent content creators who, although grateful for good health during the COVID-19 crisis, are grappling with life without live hockey. What differentiates them from others in the media industry is a lack of corporate backing. Independent creators are on their own.

Ian Oland, who runs Washington Capitals blog Russian Machine Never Breaks (also known as RMNB), became a full-time writer last summer after years of freelancing while working in the vacation rental industry. "That was a really big moment," the 35-year-old Oland said of the career change.

Over the past month and a half, RMNB has lost roughly 40% of its daily readership, according to Oland - though it's still seeing about 20,000 unique visitors per day. The blog's business model follows a similar template to The Hockey Guy, with Oland and staff relying on a steady stream of Patreon donations, merchandise sales, affiliate marketing deals, and advertising kickback.

"The support we're getting from our hardcores is unbelievable," said Oland, who's both discouraged and encouraged by traffic numbers through the initial stages of economic turmoil. "I feel like it could be so much worse for us."

The new landscape has allowed RMNB to double down on its mission statement, which is to "make hockey as fun to read about as it is to watch." The blog is devoting more digital ink to lighthearted content, partly out of necessity but also so fans struggling with the woes of the pandemic - including the lack of live sports - can enjoy a laugh or a smile.

For instance, last week, the daughter of Capitals forward TJ Oshie was featured on RMNB for creating an "incredible" marble run; Caps blue-liner Nick Jensen garnered a write-up for changing his son's diaper with a mask; and Captain, the Caps' team dog, earned blog love for his "immense" neck rolls.

"In situations like this, I know I need to entertain people," said Oland, who's based in Frederick, Maryland. "I've never felt more of a higher calling than right now to work my butt off 14 hours a day - write as much as possible, entertain people, provide them with things that might entertain them - during a time that's really scary."

To that end, RMNB recently created a "What Caps player are you?" Instagram filter. It was a hit. They also partnered with fan gear company FOCO earlier on in the hiatus to help sell two bobbleheads - Alex Ovechkin on top of a goal counter and Tom Wilson with his rescue dog. A portion of the proceeds from the Wilson figurine went to a D.C. animal rescue organization.

Out in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Micah Blake McCurdy continues to operate HockeyViz.com, the hockey analytics website that marries data with visualizations and is best known for its aesthetically pleasing scatter plots and heat maps.

HockeyViz's user base consists primarily of journalists, stats-literate fans, and NHL team employees. User loyalty over the years convinced McCurdy, who has a PhD in math and is an occasional lecturer at Saint Mary's University, to dedicate the majority of his working week to the site in 2015. Since hockey stopped, the monthly payout from Patreon - McCurdy's core source of HockeyViz revenue - has dipped approximately 5%, or $300 a month.

A common message in McCurdy's inbox over the last while: "I'm so sorry. I wish I could afford to pay you. I'll be back soon." These sentiments have kept McCurdy's spirits high, along with the attention attracted by the late-March release of his latest predictive model, which brought in a flood of new users.

In the absence of day-to-day action, the 36-year-old father of two is tackling some things ahead of schedule.

"You'll have to ask me again in July and August what I'm doing because I'm doing all the work that I was going to do then, now," McCurdy said.

The common thread connecting Skanes and Oland and McCurdy is an ability to create a community strong enough to support them in good times and bad. In Skanes' case, going full time with The Hockey Guy was a dream come true. He'd been miserable in past jobs at a meat processing plant and call center.

"Even now, while things are scary, it's still better than what I had before," he said, adding that interactions with subscribers have tripled during the pandemic. Many of them see him as a friend.

Skanes, 47, is popular because he's accessible, levelheaded, and knowledgeable. He tries to give every NHL team equal attention. And he gives the people what they want.

His Twitter bio says it all: "I make YouTube videos during the apocalypse."

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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

The NHL's indefinite hiatus gives us an opportunity to take stock of the league's most fascinating figures. Last week, we explored Auston Matthews' goal-scoring prowess. This week, we tip our cap to Henrik Lundqvist's illustrious career while trying to make sense of its messy ending.

Around this point last year, Henrik Lundqvist was back in his native Sweden, digesting a weird season.

The 2018-19 campaign featured an encouraging first half but a disappointing second one, during which the future Hall of Famer endured one of the toughest stretches of his career. The New York Rangers, the team that drafted him in 2000, were in a state of flux. And so was he.

By September, Lundqvist was refreshed and upbeat during the annual preseason player media tour in Chicago. When asked if he expected to be around for the anticipated "good times" at the end of the Rangers' overhaul (a promising rebuild which began with a famous open letter to fans in February 2018), Lundqvist responded positively.

"I just couldn't picture myself anywhere else, so when they told me what was going to happen, it was like, 'OK, let's battle through it,'" Lundqvist said of his discussions with Rangers management, adding that he was focused solely on the season ahead and not beyond.

Fast forward to today and Lundqvist's future in New York can be described as murky at best. He carries an $8.5-million cap hit, yet he sits behind 24-year-olds Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev on the depth chart. Lundqvist, a franchise legend with one year remaining on a seven-year deal, has become redundant.

Lundqvist will undoubtedly be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when he retires. He's arguably the second-best European-born goalie to ever play in the NHL, behind Dominik Hasek. Along with Marc-Andre Fleury, Carey Price, and Roberto Luongo, Lundqvist is firmly in the conversation for the best goalie of the salary-cap era, which goes back to 2005-06. Unconvinced? Here are the cold, hard facts:

• Since 2005-06, his rookie year, Lundqvist ranks first in games played (887), second in wins (459), first in saves (23,509), tied for sixth in save percentage (.918, minimum 250 games), and first in shutouts (64).
• Lundqvist ranks eighth all time in games played, sixth in wins, sixth in saves, tied for 12th in save percentage, and 16th in shutouts.
• He earned his lone Vezina Trophy (while finishing third in Hart Trophy voting) in 2011-12. He's accumulated a total of seven top-five finishes in Vezina voting, including a runner-up honor in 2012-13.

Lundqvist has not only been a durable and tireless netminder but also a remarkably consistent puck-stopper. Goalies can be hot one season and cold the next, but not Lundqvist - for the most part, anyway. He's strung together 12 good-to-great seasons, finishing below the league-wide average in save percentage in just three of his 15 campaigns.

The seventh-round pick (205th overall) by New York enjoyed a long peak. From 2009 to 2013 (the entirety of John Tortorella's solid but unspectacular tenure behind the Rangers' bench), Lundqvist posted a cumulative .924 save percentage and a .611 quality start percentage while racking up 25 shutouts. He was nearly unbeatable at even strength, posting year-over-year save percentages of .929, .930, .933, and .937.

How much heavy lifting was Lundqvist doing for those teams? Let's look at goals-saved above average, or GSAA, for guidance. GSAA is an advanced metric that calculates the number of goals a goalie prevents, using his save percentage and shots faced against the league average save percentage and shots faced. Lundqvist's prime years stack up quite well:

Shortly after Lundqvist's peak, the Blueshirts experienced a run of success. New York lost the 2014 Stanley Cup Final in five games to the Los Angeles Kings and then bowed out in the 2015 Eastern Conference Final in seven against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Overall, the Rangers have made the postseason in 11 of the 14 years that Lundqvist completed.

Lundqvist's individual and team success - despite the missing Cup ring, he owns an Olympic gold medal and world championship gold medal - makes him a true hockey icon. But what takes his status to the next level, in terms of worldwide appeal, is an affable off-ice persona. Lundqvist reached the pinnacle of his profession, and he's also kind and handsome. Multitalented. Fashionable. Charitable.

"His nickname is King," Chris Jones of ESPN wrote ahead of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. "He has a picture-perfect family and a seven-year, $59.5-million contract. He has fabulous taste in clothes and a body like a mannequin. For a hobby, he decided to learn to play guitar. Now he's good at playing the guitar, because of course he is. I go through the first six stages of grief just thinking about Lundqvist and his gifts. I never reach the mythical seventh stage, acceptance. I just go back to disbelief and start the vicious cycle again."

The problem is, Lundqvist's off-ice mystique doesn't erase the fact that his last two seasons between the pipes - at ages 37 and 38 - have been trying. His ability to stop pucks hasn't disappeared altogether (his .905 save percentage this year isn't that bad), but there's no question it's diminished. All players have an expiry date, and there's always someone waiting to take your place. In this case, it's Shesterkin and Georgiev.

Shesterkin, a fourth-round pick in the 2014 draft, appears to be the heir to Lundqvist's throne. His transition from the KHL, in which he dominated for three-plus seasons, has been seamless. The Russian first posted a .934 save percentage in 25 games for AHL Hartford and then stopped 395 of 424 shots for a .932 save percentage in 12 NHL contests. The only hiccup was a car accident that sidelined him for six games.

Georgiev, meanwhile, has seen the most action out of New York's three goalies, appearing in 34 games, including 10 of the Rangers' final 20 before the season was paused. He has a .910 save percentage overall and a team-high 17 wins. In other words, excellent, cost-controlled insurance for Shesterkin, who's on track for superstardom.

Lundqvist, who's appeared in 30 games this season, played only five times in nearly six weeks after Feb. 1.

It's always a little awkward when a star athlete's greatness starts to wane. It's infinitely more awkward when that athlete is sidelined in full view of his adoring fans.

The abrupt halt to the season has put the awkwardness on hold, but it also postponed a resolution. So how does this end?

Lundqvist is most likely on his way out of the organization despite having one year remaining on his deal, according to Larry Brooks of the New York Post.

"Unless something unforeseeable develops over the next few months, I cannot conceive of Lundqvist returning to the Rangers next season," Brooks wrote on Tuesday.

Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton and head coach David Quinn have leverage, with a potential amnesty buyout possibility and the authority to sit Lundqvist whenever they please. It doesn't benefit anyone to continue using a team icon as the third-string goalie, so something has to give this offseason. Maybe that comes from Lundqvist, who holds the power of a no-move clause - he could loosen his grip on that or even retire after being bought out.

Still, there are Lundqvist's words from six months ago: Can't picture him anywhere else.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer

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

With the 2019-20 season paused indefinitely, theScore recently surveyed a group of NHL players via phone at their homes about a variety of topics.

The six-player panel includes: the Sharks' Evander Kane, the Maple Leafs' Alexander Kerfoot, the Lightning's Kevin Shattenkirk, the Coyotes' Jakob Chychrun, the Kings' Austin Wagner, and the Hurricanes' Warren Foegele.

Interviews were held individually and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

What's one specific part about being at the rink that you miss the most? It could be a person, a smell, a superstition - anything.

Shattenkirk: For me, the highlight of my day coming to the rink is going into the training room. Usually, that's where a lot of guys are congregating in the morning. Some guys go in there to get their vitamins, some guys are going in there to get treatment for injuries before practice or the morning skate, whatever it may be. I usually have a crossword puzzle going. Guys come in and we all take our turns at it. It seems to be our water-cooler talk.

Chychrun: It's really just the conversations with the guys. We'll sit at the rink for two hours after practice and talk about absolute nonsense and give each other a hard time. It's those little stupid arguments and conversations where we're busting each other's chops over little stupid things. … I feel like my face hurts when I'm leaving the rink because I'm smiling the whole time.

Foegele: Once practice is done, you get to fool around. It's kind of like you're a kid in a sense, like you're out there on the pond and playing because you just love the sport. That's probably what I miss the most: Enjoying the game and working on getting better. … Whether that is doing shootouts after practice, or shooting at targets, or doing one-on-one battles. It's the competitiveness that I miss, for sure. Competing to win and going up against your buddies out there.

Wagner: For me, it's the schedule that I miss the most. Waking up and having that daily routine. It's different for every day. A game day, for instance, is different than a practice day. That's probably the biggest thing. Even people going to the office, like my mom; she misses the daily routine, too. It's definitely hard on a lot of people.

Who's the most underrated player in the NHL, and why? You can't pick a teammate.

Kerfoot: Miro Heiskanen is the most underrated player. I know (Jason) Spezza on our team - he obviously played in Dallas with him - talks about him a lot. And the more you watch him the more you realize how good he is. He gets a lot of recognition, but maybe not the amount that he deserves. I think that he's an elite skater, probably one of the best in the league. He's got good hands, good feet. He's able to kind of do everything out there: Good defensively and also can carry the play in transition, can make plays offensively. He's really good and is going to be really good for a long time.

Chychrun: It's probably easy to say after the year he had this year, but I think it's Leon Draisaitl. This was the first year everyone realized he could be a top-two player in the league. Him and (Connor) McDavid could be one, two - honestly. I remember when he signed his contract, everyone was freaking out, saying he's overpaid. That's probably the best deal in the league now. … And we play them a lot, so I see a ton of Draisaitl. He's just so dominant. He averaged like 24 minutes a game, a ridiculous number for a forward. It feels like he's out there the entire game and plays in every single situation. That's so valuable.

Kane: You might not think he's underrated but … Draisaitl. Even though me and him don't get along on the ice - I don't know him personally - I would probably go with him. He gets a lot of attention, but I think this year specifically he was able to show he could do it on his own. A lot of people thought he wouldn't be as productive if he wasn't teammates with Connor. … And it's not necessarily his production. It's him being able to carry his own line. He showed that, that was more evident this year. He's underrated in terms of his finish. I know he had 50 goals a season before, but when you think of Leon Draisaitl, I don't know if people think "sniper." He's got good hands, makes plays, can obviously score. But I think he has really, really good finish.

Wagner: I think (Brendan) Gallagher might be a little underrated. He does have an impact on the game every night, and I think people don't realize that, if he's not on the scoresheet. You can obviously look at (Sebastian) Aho in Carolina, too. Carolina doesn't get a ton of media attention. He's an unbelievable player. … There's so many things (about Aho). Just the way he skates and controls the pace of the game. He doesn't just score. He can make plays and do just about everything. He'll turn out to be one of the better players in the league eventually, and he's already showing glimpses of that.

Let's pretend you're NHL commissioner for a day and can make a change to the game. What do you do?

Kane: Honestly, I would make a completely relaxed dress code. That would be my No. 1 thing. That's what I would do. … Being restricted to being able to wear only one style of clothing (takes away) marketability. Players aren't able to show off their own personalities, their own sense of style. It also limits bringing other industries and other entities into our sport, such as the fashion industry. It's pretty hard to be diverse when you are only allowed and able to wear one style of clothing. It doesn't make a lot of sense. You look at how the NBA integrates fashion into their sport, and that's one of the many reasons why they generate so much revenue. They market their players and part of marketing their players is allowing their players to be themselves and allowing them to market themselves.

(Editor's note: Kane's interest in league fashion is bolstered by the late-summer launch of his "EK9" clothing line.)

Shattenkirk: One thing for me that I think could be changed is taking the trapezoid out. I'd like to see goalies handle the puck a little bit more. When it was out previously, the two-line pass was still in play, and that had teams slowed down as they came into the zone. I think taking it out now could present these situations where the goalie isn't sure if he should come all the way out because of the speed of the forechecker, which is now unbelievable, especially since you can't hold guys up. I think it would spice the game up a little bit.

Wagner: That's a really tough one. I think a lot of people have underestimated what Gary (Bettman) has done. I think Gary's done a lot of good things for the league. … I don't really know if I'd change anything. As a young guy, too, it's hard because you haven't been in the league for so long and haven't seen the changes over the years.

What was your "Welcome to the NHL" moment?

Kerfoot: My first game, to be honest. We (the Avalanche) played in New York at MSG. You're on the road to start off your career and that was a really special moment. You're playing in a historical building like Madison Square Garden, it's your first game in the NHL, you've got your family in town. It doesn't really get much better than that. And I just remember how nervous I was that whole day. I don't think I slept much the night before the game, and then everything leading up to the game is kind of a blur. ... You dream about that your whole life, and then all of a sudden you're there and you're playing with some of the best players in the world and against some of the best players in the world, people you grew up watching. You're playing next to TV reporters who you've been watching the year before, or who commentated the playoffs. Stuff like that. Every little detail of it is pretty special.

Foegele: I remember I scored my first NHL goal and I lined up beside Bobby Ryan and he said, "Congrats, kid. Welcome to the National." And I was like, "What the heck!? Bobby Ryan's talking to me?" I'll always remember that.

Wagner: I was lucky enough to play in the home opener, make the roster on opening day (for the 2018-19 season). For me, it was probably that first game, when you hear all the noise in the tunnel and they call your name. That gives you something to feel good about. 100%, that was it.

What have you learned about yourself (or others) in quarantine?

Foegele: (Laughs) I've learned to cook better. During the season, you do cook but you also eat out a lot with your teammates. So I've taken the opportunity to get better at cooking. I wouldn't say I'm the greatest, but I've improved my BBQ skills and read some recipes. Trying new things, getting out of my comfort zone since I have all of this time.

Kerfoot: I think when you're in quarantine for so long, everybody's qualities come to the forefront. You spend a little bit more time with everyone for so long, and maybe some of those negative qualities (appear). I would say that I've noticed that about myself a little bit. Some of the things around the house have been a little bit selfish. I haven't been doing the dishes, haven't been helping out and making meals as much as I maybe thought I was. I think that's been something that has been a little bit eye-opening for me, and something I haven't appreciated my mom doing for me for a long time or my girlfriend in the last little while. I've tried to do a little bit better job of that during this quarantine period.

Chychrun: It's really nice having quality time with (my mom and dad). I'm sure, once we get through this, we'll look back on this time and realize that there might not be another opportunity to have this much quality time with loved ones or whoever you're staying with. I've just been trying to enjoy it with them the best we can, which makes time go by easier. I can't complain because they've been doing all my chores, cooking me every meal. I wake up to a breakfast every morning, a nice dinner, so it's been great. It's been nice to have them here. I couldn't imagine doing this alone. It would be pretty crazy.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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

About six months ago, toward the end of a live TV broadcast in Columbus, TSN color commentator Ray Ferraro suddenly lost his ability to speak.

Auston Matthews had just scored in a way few others can and all Ferraro could muster in real time was nearly inaudible: "Oh!" Flabbergasted, it took Ferraro longer than usual to process Matthews' assassin-like snipe on Blue Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo.

Ferraro composed himself quick enough to gush over a replay of the goal. Then, as the game started up again, he summed up what was on the minds of everybody watching. "His release," Ferraro said, "is just unbelievable."

That was goal No. 3 for Matthews in his finest season to date. The 22-year-old Maple Leafs superstar had 47 goals in 70 games, putting him on pace for a franchise-best 55, when the NHL suspended play March 12. He trailed only Alex Ovechkin and David Pastrnak - who each had 48 - in what was shaping up to be a thrilling sprint for the Rocket Richard Trophy.

"It's pretty cool and humbling to be in the same conversation as a guy like him," Matthews said last week of Ovechkin. "Being in a scoring race with a guy like him, he's been a generational player, and he's made a big impact beyond the game, and led the way for lots of players and lots of guys.

"It's humbling, and hopefully, we can get back to playing hockey and can compete again, that's what everyone wants to do."

The NHL's indefinite hiatus gives us an opportunity to take stock of career trajectories, and we're starting with Matthews' body of work through 282 career games in an effort to better understand how special a goal-scorer he really is. Spoiler: Matthews should certainly be in the same conversation as Ovechkin.

A quick rundown of Matthews' standing among the league's elite marksmen:

• He's one of only four players to score 150 goals since the start of the 2016-17 season, his rookie year. Ovechkin has 181, Matthews 158, Pastrnak 155, and Nikita Kucherov 153. Matthews is the youngest of the four and also the lone center.

• Ovechkin, who has an opportunity to break Wayne Gretzky's all-time record for career goals if he can remain healthy through his late 30s, reigns supreme on a per-game basis, too, at 0.58 goals per game. Matthews is a close second at 0.56, while Pastrnak (0.53) and Kucherov (0.50) aren't too far behind.

• Matthews sets himself apart from the group at a more granular level. His rate of goals per 60 minutes played is 1.79, with Ovechkin coming in at 1.74, Pastrnak 1.73, and Kucherov 1.54, according to the advanced stats website Evolving-Hockey.com. At even strength, Matthews is first in goals (121), goals per game (0.43), and goals per 60 (1.54). Ovechkin ranks second in all three categories (116, 0.37, 1.27).

Based on those statistical measures, it's fair to suggest Ovechkin and Matthews are in a tier of their own, with Pastrnak and Kucherov just below. (Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, Patrick Kane, Patrik Laine, John Tavares, and Brad Marchand round out the top 10 for goals scored since 2016-17. For what it's worth, Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby sit 11th and 12th.)

What's fascinating is that when you close your eyes and picture a classic Ovechkin goal and then do the same for a classic Matthews goal, the images are completely different. With Ovechkin, the left circle of the offensive zone is affectionately known as the Ovi Spot because he's buried so many one-timers from there throughout his 15-year career. Matthews, on the other hand, boasts a patented wrist shot that he often launches through traffic with dizzying speed, pinpoint accuracy, and funky body positioning.

The goal below, scored on the Colorado Avalanche in November, shows Matthews corralling a pass like a lacrosse player before rifling the puck between a defender's legs and under the goalie's armpit. Most impressively, Matthews is gliding backwards as he releases 30 feet away from the net. As in Columbus, this strike has a super high degree of difficulty.

Tavares, in an interview back in February, applauded Matthews' knack for attacking in a variety of ways. The incomplete list includes: Off the rush or on the forecheck; in tight on the goalie for a tip, deflection, or wraparound or far away from the crease for a seeing-eye shot; on his strong side or on his weak side; top corner or along the ice; blocker side, glove side, or five-hole; straight angle off his stick, or weird angle off his stick; one-timer or catch-and-release wrister.

"I think everyone's probably got the ability to do it," Tavares said of Matthews' catch-and-release method. "It's his ability to get it off as quickly as he does, and the amount of velocity he gets on it. I would love a little more of it, for sure."

Matthews hides his intentions so well, too, sometimes releasing the puck from an unconventional shooting stance - hips opened up, gloves tight against his torso, skates pointed in different directions - that forces goalies to guess.

"It looks very easy. I mean, I wish it was that easy for me," Leafs rookie defenseman Rasmus Sandin said. "I feel like it looks like he's going to shoot high and he ends up shooting low, and the other way around. He's just very tricky with his stick and how he's opening up his blade."

Matthews' shot profile reveals a few interesting trends. He established a new career high in shots on goal per game in 2019-20. He totaled 290 shots in 70 games, or 4.1 a game, which is a notable jump from 3.4 per game and 3.0 per game in his rookie and sophomore seasons, and up from 3.7 per game last season. It didn't hurt that his nightly ice time rose to 20:58 from 18:33 in 2018-19, thanks in large part to a coaching change. Rookie head coach Sheldon Keefe showed great trust in Matthews and Toronto's other stars through the first 47 games of his tenure.

The type of shots Matthews commonly calls upon - wrist, snap, slap, backhand, tip, deflection, wraparound - has also evolved over time. While he's always relied on his wrister, which has accounted for 40%, 46.5%, 57.7%, and 57.6% of his total shots year over year, he took more slap shots than ever this season:

Matthews was winding up so often - and adding to his goal-scoring toolbox - thanks to his new role on the Toronto power play. He's become a premier shooting option with the man advantage, parking himself inside the right circle in anticipation for a one-time pass.

"As you're young coming into the league, you've been doing a couple of things that have made you successful for so long, and then you realize how difficult it is (to dominate in the NHL) year in and year out," Tavares said. "But, at the same time, great players just have great minds for the game. So they start to visualize and feel different things and understand how to be better and how to come back and be more productive and improve their game."

Matthews, who bypassed major junior or college to play pro for a year in Switzerland before being drafted first overall by Toronto in 2016, was hardwired at an early age to think outside the box. He played small-area games and worked one-on-one with longtime instructor Boris Dorozhenko. More recently, he became a success story for renowned skills coach Darryl Belfry, who's now employed by the Leafs as a player development consultant.

Over the years, Matthews has improved his skating, too. In 2020, he's deceptively fast for such a large man (6-foot-3, 223 pounds). The list of big centers (6-foot-2 or taller, 200 pounds or heavier) who've scored 40 goals in one season since Matthews broke into the league is extremely short. It's Matthews, Draisaitl, Mika Zibanejad, and Eric Staal. (Evgeni Malkin, who looks massive and scored 42 in 2017-18, is listed at 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds.)

There's a subtle element of physicality in Matthews' game as well. He doesn't hunt for big hits like Ovechkin did early in his career, but lately Matthews has more frequently deployed his frame and strength to break up the opposition's attack and drive play the other way. He's smart about it, using his stick to collect 78 takeaways in 2019-20, two more than his previous high during an 82-game rookie season. On the whole, Matthews has rounded out the defensive side of his game to the point where he should be considered an above-average two-way player, at the very least.

Here's a prime example of No. 34 using his improved skating and stickwork to create something out of nothing in a November game against the Coyotes, his childhood team. Matthews' pressure on Oliver Ekman-Larsson - using his reach in tight and his unique ability to lift his stick over and around the defenseman in one seemingly fluid motion to create pressure on both sides - eventually leads to a goal:

All of this combined makes Matthews a true force. He consistently puts himself in high-percentage scoring areas, and he almost always beats goalies cleanly. He's an efficient, artsy sniper who rarely scores by fluke. Of his 158 tallies, only three are empty-netters. The vast majority - 121 at even strength - have been earned.

It's too bad we probably won't see the conclusion of the regular season and Matthews' first real crack at the elite goal-scorer's milestone of 50 goals. He's young, though, and will surely continue to flabbergast both broadcasters and goalies again soon, challenging Ovechkin along the way.

"He's such a smart, intelligent player," teammate and close friend Tyson Barrie said of Matthews in February.

"It seems like every night he's scored. I'm not sure anybody's figured it out yet."

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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

Sports history is littered with great teams that dominated their regular seasons only to fall short of ultimate glory in the playoffs. Our writers are paying tribute to those teams who were Almost Famous. After tackling MLB in Part 1, the NHL's up next.

Dynasties have long been one of my favorite things about sports. They're relatable to all fans and offer the fair-weather supporter either a bandwagon to hop on or something to complain about.

When an NHL franchise has an opportunity to capture its third title in four years, fourth in six, or whatever number we feel constitutes a dynasty in that era, I'm all in. Why? Because sports are where we go to witness great feats, and a dynasty, at its core, is about a group of people accomplishing several great feats over a period longer than most can achieve. Dynasties are success to the extreme. They give us benchmarks, records, and history.

Enter the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings, who, had they won the Stanley Cup, would have sparked a heated debate. Detroit won in 1997 and 1998 and then again in 2002, so a 1996 Cup would have made it three championships in a row, and four titles over seven years, all accomplished with a handful of the same characters along for the ride.

What separates this particular squad from a long list of excellent regular season teams that failed to win the Cup in the post-1967 expansion era - including recent entries like the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning, 2010-11 Vancouver Canucks, 2009-10 Washington Capitals, and 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres - is, well, another long list. The 1995-96 Wings check off all the chef's kiss-worthy boxes associated with truly special teams.

Led by captain Steve Yzerman and all-timer Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit finished the regular season with a 62-13-7 record and 131 points. This set a new mark for most wins in a single season (Tampa won 62 in 2018-19) and stands as the second-highest points total in a single season. The Wings had a whopping 27-point lead in the overall standings over the second-place Colorado Avalanche. Among the league's 26 teams, Detroit owned the league's best defense, third-best offense, top-ranked penalty kill, and second-ranked power play. This utter domination produced a plus-144 goal differential.

Seven players from the 1995-96 roster are in the Hockey Hall of Fame: forwards Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Dino Ciccarelli, Igor Larionov, and defensemen Slava Fetisov, Paul Coffey, and Lidstrom. General manager Jim Devellano and head coach Scotty Bowman are also Hall inductees. Bowman, widely considered without equal in NHL coaching circles, took home his second and final Jack Adams Award in 1996 for molding and motivating such a feared, meticulous team.

"They're like bloodhounds. They smell blood and they go for the kill," is how CBC commentator Brian Hayward described Bowman's Wings during a playoff game. They were one of those rare teams capable of breaking through the defining characteristics of its era. In the clutch-and-grab NHL, they married high speed with puck control to dominate action at both ends. This wasn't a case of a group riding the coattails of a few superstars, either. Bowman, hired by the Wings in 1993, had plenty of intriguing options.

The famous Russian Five of Larionov, Fedorov, Slava Kozlov, Fetisov, and Vladimir Konstantinov personified Detroit's brand of hockey. Borrowing from their collective experience with the Red Army team in the former Soviet Union, the five-man unit toyed with opponents, zooming the puck around with ease for long stretches of even-strength play. Their assigned positions were mere formalities in the free-flowing, puck-possession system Bowman allowed them to play.

Fedorov led the 1995-96 Wings in scoring with 107 points in 78 games and also earned the second of three Selke trophies as best defensive forward. Yzerman, Coffey, Kozlov, and Larionov also recorded 70 or more points, while Keith Primeau, a towering power forward with soft hands, scored 27 goals, trailing Fedorov's 39, Yzerman's 36, and Kozlov's 36. A 35-year-old Ciccarelli, still a net-front monster, chipped in 22 goals in 64 games.

A loveable troupe of role players and an understated goaltending tandem filled out Bowman's lineup card. All three members of the legendary Grind Line - Kris Draper between Kirk Maltby and Darren McCarty - were beginning to establish themselves as invaluable contributors. (Maltby was acquired via trade in March 1996.) Martin Lapointe and Stu Grimson provided grit and muscle on the wing. In goal, a young Chris Osgood appeared in 50 games, with 1989 Cup winner Mike Vernon serving as an overqualified backup in his second season in Detroit. The duo allowed only 181 goals in 82 games to claim the William Jennings Trophy.

With a nearly identical roster, the 1994-95 Wings went on a deep playoff run, ultimately dropping four straight in the Cup final to the New Jersey Devils. That Red Wings team won the Presidents' Trophy in a lockout-shortened season and went 12-2 through the first three rounds, but couldn't finish the job against Martin Brodeur, Scott Stevens, and company. This dynamic led to a series of questions ahead of the 1996 postseason, especially: Would Yzerman, then 30 years old and in his 10th year as captain, finally win a Cup ring?

In the first two rounds of the 1996 playoffs, it looked plausible. Detroit defeated the Winnipeg Jets in six games. Then they outlasted Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, and the St. Louis Blues in a hard-fought seven-game series. Detroit won the opening two games, lost the middle three, then won the final two. Yzerman scored the double-OT winner in Game 7, sending the Wings to Round 3 with a 1-0 win.

The Western Conference final was a juicy matchup: Colorado versus Detroit, the two top regular-season teams. Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg versus Yzerman and Fedorov. The team that scored nine goals on Patrick Roy in the netminder's infamous last game in a Montreal Canadiens uniform versus the team that acquired Roy via trade from Montreal. Former Devils forward Claude Lemieux, the reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner, versus the Wings - again.

That last matchup - Lemieux against a familiar foe - proved critical in a number of ways. In the first period of Game 6, Lemieux nailed Draper from behind, driving his face into the boards, earning a five-minute major in the process. But the Red Wings scored only once on the power play, and the Avalanche finished off Detroit hours later. Lemieux was eventually handed a two-game suspension, while Bowman's club was again left searching for answers, running out of gas against a dialed-in Avs club that would go on to win the Cup in four straight against the overmatched Florida Panthers. That it could happen after Yzerman's heroics in Game 7 against St. Louis, after the Yzerman moment the franchise had been waiting years for, made it all the more crushing.

The Avs won their first Cup, but Lemieux's cheap shot on Draper is the lasting memory from the 1996 playoffs. It's the exact moment when a bubbling rivalry became a full-on fierce rivalry. Detroit-Colorado became must-see TV for the foreseeable future. Goalie fights and back-and-forth games; the two teams won four of the six next Cups, Detroit getting its revenge in every way in 1997. Tantalizing theater.

Which begs the question: What's better - a dynasty or a rivalry? Hmm.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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