A month into the season, with the shine wearing off and a superstar shelved, the Toronto Maple Leafs look human.

Sure, they're 8-4, good for top spot in the Atlantic Division, and they're averaging 3.5 goals per game, seventh in the NHL. Nonetheless, red flags have sprouted over the past five contests. The offense is beginning to sputter, producing goal totals of zero, one, four, three, and one. Monday's loss to the Calgary Flames - Toronto's first of many games without the injured Auston Matthews - might have been their worst performance of the season.

Courtesy of the Flames, St. Louis Blues, and Pittsburgh Penguins, consider this a guide to shutting down the high-octane Leafs at five-on-five, with a few play clips as examples of how each strategy worked.

Force dump-ins, break out with support

In a pregame chat with theScore, Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin described an ideal situation in which Calgary would close neutral-zone gaps, forcing Toronto attackers to dump the puck.

"You don't want to give them the blue line,” he explained. “You don't want them to be able to come over the blue line and make a play. You want to be tight on them, so ... they're chipping pucks in and we can start our breakout."

Mike Smith, the NHL's top puckhandling goalie, is the X-factor for Calgary's breakouts. If he keeps his puck retrievals simple and completes the first pass consistently, the Flames are in business.

And business was good Monday night, as variations of the above sequence played out a handful of times over the course of the Flames' 3-1 victory.

A Leafs player feeling the pressure of a tight gap dumps the puck in; Smith intercepts the curling puck and finds a defenseman idling in a safe spot; the defenseman shuffles the puck to a well-positioned forward; the forward hits a teammate heading north.

Here's another example of a successful zone exit. This time, Calgary opted for an overhead toss that spanned the entire neutral zone - ironically, a move the Leafs pull off regularly when they're humming - and it led to a scoring chance.

Whether it was the top line centered by John Tavares or the rarely used Frederik Gauthier trio, the Leafs were outplayed for about 55 minutes by the Bill Peters-coached squad. They turned the puck over far too often, and when they didn't, they struggled to get a shot through to the net. As Toronto coach Mike Babcock put it, the Flames "sailed out of their zone and beat us up the ice," playing with structure.

"I thought we did a good job keeping the gaps (small)," Flames center Mikael Backlund said. "And when they did get into our zone, I don't think they came with enough bodies. It was usually just one or two guys. It was easy for us to break the puck out."

Protect the house

At last Saturday's morning skate, St. Louis Blues defenseman Colton Parayko talked about the importance of limiting the Leafs' access to the middle of the ice.

"It's going to be a game of making sure we're on top of them, making sure we make it tough on them to generate chances," the towering defenseman told theScore. "If we're over top of them and don't let them generate speed and generate opportunities, it's going to be helpful because they seem to always find ways to make things happen."

The outcome of effectively deploying this strategy? A 4-1 Hockey Night in Canada win for the Blues, who guided the Leafs into low-percentage areas throughout the game. Toronto only recorded seven five-on-five shot attempts from the slot/net-front area, and just three came off the stick of a top-six forward (an attempt each from Matthews, Tavares, and Kasperi Kapanen).

Check out this Jake Gardiner point shot from the closing minutes of the first period:

Because one-timed slap shots are aesthetically pleasing and there's some chaos brewing within the frame, Gardiner’s shot looks like a quality chance. Zero in on the details, however, and it's actually nothing special.

Parayko's work on Zach Hyman is critical; his body positioning and active stick keep the feisty winger on the perimeter and prevent him from getting a firm handle on the puck. Disrupted and pressured, Hyman guesses on a pass to the slot, which misses Tavares and ends up in Gardiner's wheelhouse. However, the shot is relatively harmless - it's about 50 feet from the net, goalie Jake Allen is unscreened, and the Leafs aren't well-positioned to capitalize on a rebound, Tavares having been dumped on his way to the goalmouth.

The Maple Leafs have been excellent overall at occupying prime scoring areas, generating 13.4 high-danger shot attempts per hour through 12 games - the fifth-highest rate in the league entering play Tuesday. Before facing the Flames, Toronto owned the third-closest average shot distance (all situations) at 32.4 feet.

The Blues seemed well aware of this early-season trend and adjusted accordingly.

"You have to protect the middle of the ice and let them make their seam passes and expose guys," St. Louis center Ryan O’Reilly said. "We were just committed to it, we were prepared, and we knew what they can do."

Disrupt and attack in the neutral zone

Of course, having Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby to offset Matthews and Tavares was extremely beneficial for the Penguins, but coach Mike Sullivan challenged his squad to both engage physically and protect their blue line.

"The best game plan for us is to get our offense from defending," Pittsburgh rearguard Jack Johnson said hours before puck drop. "I don't think we want to get into a 10-9 game … It's about being committed to being hard to play against."

The Leafs' willingness to attempt stretch passes has been well-documented. It's kind of their thing. The Penguins tasked themselves with flipping the script by not overcommitting on offense and putting themselves in a favorable position to pressure the Leafs into making quick decisions in transition.

Here, Kapanen is forced off the puck by Riley Sheahan. Matt Cullen eventually scoops up the debris and hits the streaking center. At the Leafs' blue line, Sheahan feeds Jamie Oleksiak, who lobs the puck on net. The rebound is pushed all the way to the top of the left circle, where Cullen fires a quick wrister at Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen.

The Penguins didn’t convert on that particular play. They did, however, reverse the course of a potentially dangerous neutral zone wind-up by puck pursuers Kapanen and Matthews, as well as a trailing Patrick Marleau.

Below, Tavares is poke-checked at the red line. The Penguins gain possession, regroup with poise, and enter the Leafs' zone with the puck. Easy peasy.

Taking away opponents' time and space is a common concept at all levels of hockey. Yet it's not always realistic, especially against a Leafs team that feeds off quick strikes.

"We tried to play as much as we could in the O zone," Penguins winger Bryan Rust reflected following the 3-0 win. "D-men were pinching, keeping pucks alive. I thought we were backchecking all night. I think it all helped."

Calgary, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh all benefited from solid goaltending, timely scoring, and maybe a little bit of luck in their triumphs over the Leafs. But so did the Ottawa Senators, the only other team to defeat Toronto. What sets the first three teams apart is a sense of control.

The Flames, Blues, and Penguins all developed game plans that, in slightly different ways, allowed them each to smother Toronto's skilled forwards and force the Leafs to defend. Not only did these teams reap the benefits, but they also showed the league that a goal-scoring giant can be cut down to size.

John Matisz is theScore's National Hockey Writer. You can find him on Twitter @matiszjohn.

(Statistics courtesy: NaturalStatTrick.com, Hockey-Reference.com, and NHL.com)

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

TORONTO - Things might feel a bit claustrophobic for Maple Leafs fans right now, but rest assured - the sky is not falling.

Auston Matthews, the club's best forward through 11 games and an early candidate for both the Hart and Art Ross trophies, will be out for at least four weeks. Though his injured left shoulder won’t require surgery, Matthews is scheduled to miss a minimum of 14 games, beginning with Monday's tilt versus the Calgary Flames.

On the bright side, the Leafs' carefully constructed roster - one that's brimming with unproven forwards itching for a few more shifts per game - should grant them some breathing room until Matthews recovers. And, perhaps more beneficially, it will give management a real chance to assess the team's depth.

"It's too bad for the kid," head coach Mike Babcock told the media on Monday. "And yet, it's an opportunity for someone on our team to play more. It's an opportunity for us to dig in and continue to get better.”

So, how will the depth chart look on Monday night against Calgary? These were the forward lines assembled for the morning skate:

Only the fourth line remained the same as the start of Saturday night’s win over the Winnipeg Jets, during which Matthews suffered his injury.

Changes include:

• Matthews' right winger, Kasperi Kapanen, joining John Tavares and Zach Hyman

• Matthews' left winger, Patrick Marleau, reuniting with Nazem Kadri and Mitch Marner (the trio played 366 five-on-five minutes together last year)

• Kadri’s left winger, Par Lindholm, centering Andreas Johnsson and Connor Brown

Let's start with Kapanen, the 22-year-old Finn who's erupted for six goals and 10 points in 11 games.

From the onset of training camp, in part due to the opportunity created by the absence of unsigned restricted free agent William Nylander, Kapanen's stock has been rising at a steady pace. He quickly won over Babcock, while Tyler Ennis' inability to jell with Matthews and Marleau in the first few games opened the door for a permanent spot on a top line.

Sans Matthews, Kapanen will be tasked with maintaining his production alongside an unfamiliar center. Tavares is a superstar in his own right, but he operates very differently than the middle-of-the-ice, shot-happy Matthews, spending more time along the boards and distributing the puck.

It's similar to a Penguins winger switching from Evgeni Malkin’s wing to Sidney Crosby's. That's not an easy transition, but Kapanen - who scored an important playoff goal for the Leafs this past spring - has shown he's someone worth betting on.

"You can see his confidence really building and we’re starting to realize his skill set and how he can make a major impact out there," Tavares said of Kapanen. "I really feel like he can be a dominant player."

Also of note: Kapanen will slide into Matthews' spot on the first power-play unit. However, Babcock said the penalty kill will continue to be Kapanen's No. 1 responsibility on special teams, which perhaps hints that PP expectations should be tempered. It might be more of an experiment than anything.

Meanwhile, Lindholm, Kapanen’s PK partner, projects to gain the most ice time of anyone while Matthews is sidelined.

The 27-year-old was signed out of Sweden in May to skate on the fourth line, win faceoffs, and stop the opposition's power plays. Now, after beginning the season in that specific role and then earning a brief (but successful) stint on Kadri’s wing, Lindholm finds himself in the third center spot on a team that arguably has more depth at the position than any other club. Not bad.

When asked about the probable bump in ice time, Lindholm shrugged. He was more interested in talking to theScore about his new linemates, particularly Johnsson, the reigning AHL playoff MVP.

"I’m just waiting for him to catch fire. When he does, he’s going to be unstoppable," Lindholm said of Johnsson, who's goalless through six games this fall following a 24-point postseason performance for the Calder Cup champion Marlies.

Johnsson, the Leafs' seventh-round pick in 2013, arrived at camp with top-nine potential. He's spent the bulk of his time in the press box or on the fourth line, though, averaging just 8:43 a night.

Despite scratching Johnsson for the club's previous two games, Babcock expressed cautious optimism about the fleet-footed, tenacious winger.

"He's got to get his confidence back," Babcock said. "He was a good player in the American Hockey League. The American Hockey League and the NHL are two totally different things. But he's a young guy, he’s getting better. He was a dominant player at the end of the year last year in the American League. He's got to come in and do the same here now."

Rounding out the potential breakout suspects in Matthews' absence is Marleau - a proven vet unlike Kapanen, Lindholm, and Johnsson - who's likely bound for the Hall of Fame when his contract expires.

The 39-year-old hasn't played horribly this season, but he's failed to bag a goal in 171 even-strength minutes, even with 123 of those coming alongside Matthews. Something is amiss, but perhaps reuniting with Kadri and Marner will be enough.

Overall, the quality of competition awaiting the Matthews-less Leafs is fairly high. The Flames game will be followed by dates with the Stars, Penguins, Golden Knights, Devils, Kings, Sharks, Ducks, Hurricanes, Flyers, and the Blue Jackets and Bruins twice each.

In total, that's seven games at home, seven on the road, and about 10 playoff-worthy opponents all within the minimum time frame for Matthews' recovery. It's safe to say Babcock will need quick returns from his reshuffled lineup.

Still, the loaded Leafs have been as advertised throughout the opening month of hockey. They're an absolute nightmare to defend, especially in transition, they’ve scored more goals than anyone else, and they've won eight of 11 games. (And, for what it's worth, the club went 12-8 last year while Matthews was out with multiple injuries.)

The question is, will this absence ultimately lead to positive commentary about Toronto's depth this season, or will it elicit concerns about the forward group?

"I've never met one guy in hockey who says, 'Coach, can I play less?'" Babcock added. "They always want more opportunity and someone always thinks they're getting the short end of the stick. No one's getting the short end of the stick. We've only got 12 forwards. They'll all get their chance. Show me."

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer. You can find him on Twitter @matiszjohn.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Welcome to Puck Pursuit, a weekly NHL podcast hosted by John Matisz, theScore's National Hockey Writer.

Subscribe to the show on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play.

Trevor Georgie, the 29-year-old president and GM of the Saint John Sea Dogs, joins John to talk about his career path, how to lead, and where hockey is headed. Other topics include:

• Becoming the country's youngest junior hockey exec
• What a typical day looks like for Trevor Georgie
• Trading captain and Red Wings pick Joe Veleno
• How analytics fits into the Sea Dogs' program
• The ongoing debate over the popular video game Fortnite

... and more

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

When Kyle Dubas was spotted inside Madison Square Garden this past weekend, some fans went down a rabbit hole of speculation.

Why would the Maple Leafs’ general manager attend a random game? Is he dealing restricted free agent William Nylander to the Rangers? What about the visiting Flames?

According to reports, Dubas had actually travelled to New York to chat with Nylander’s Manhattan-based agent about a contract extension, and he stayed for the game. In other words, don’t hold your breath waiting for a blockbuster.

Some time ago - say five-to-10 years - the GM of the Leafs might have thrown gasoline on the fire, revelling in any and all speculation, especially if none of it was true.

“I can tell you right now,” Brian Burke said Monday during a phone conversation, “there were many times where I went to a game in another arena for just that reason - let’s stir the pot.”

“Even when I was going to scout, I would say, ‘Watch the bees come out of the hive now,’” he added with a chuckle. “A couple of times I’d say to (former colleague) Dave Nonis, ‘We’ve got to stir this up. You go to Philly tonight and we’ll start that rumour.’”

Burke is one of a kind. Currently a TV analyst for Sportsnet, the 63-year-old untied tie enthusiast has lived a number of hockey lives: college and pro player, junior hockey franchise owner, pro scout, president of hockey operations, GM for multiple NHL teams, disciplinarian at the league office, and player agent.

Speaking ahead of the PrimeTime sports management conference - a star-studded event he co-chairs every November in downtown Toronto - Burke discussed a variety of topics with theScore.

The long view of the Nylander saga

By Burke’s calculation, the Nylander saga is not just about dollars and term. When the ink has dried, Dubas will be graded in other categories.

“People are saying, ‘Why don’t they just sign him?’ Well, Kyle needs to have this fight for two reasons,” said Burke, who occupied the GM’s chair for four clubs - the Leafs, Ducks, Canucks, and Whalers - over a 20-year span.

“One, this (deal) has to be somewhat cap friendly. It has to be something that will allow him to keep this group together, if he can. I don’t see a number that’ll work, that’ll keep this group together, but he has to try. In the hard-cap system, you have to fight for every dollar.

“No. 2, he’s a rookie GM. The gloves are off for the first time, everyone is watching. He has to get a victory here, so the other agents know he’s not a guy who you can push around.”

Burke is quick to praise Dubas for refusing to cave during a marathon game of chicken with Lewis Gross, Nylander's agent. That Switzerland visit to get in quality face time in a neutral setting? Invaluable, as it could help filter out the noise associated with such a public story.

Barring a serious souring between the two sides, the Nylander situation seems destined for a happy ending. Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet reported on Tuesday that strong dialogue continues, and a six-year term is being discussed.

Not every drawn-out negotiation is rainbows and lollipops, though.

“I had it with Peter Schaefer in Vancouver,” Burke said of the nine-season NHL left-winger. “He was a good young player for us, went to Finland, refused to sign. He came back (after a season) and I had a trade worked out with Ottawa for Sami Salo - one of my best trades - and I said to Peter, ‘I’ll trade you once you sign the deal that I have sitting on the table. A three-year deal at my money, because this isn’t about you, it’s about every other player.’”

The downside of running the Leafs

Behind the fat paycheck, the exclusive experiences, and the power of running the Leafs, there's something else. Loneliness.

Nobody is going to feel sorry for the general manager of a professional sports team, because anyone with that job is living out a dream. But there's a human element that perhaps the outside world tends to forget, or refuses to acknowledge (just ask longtime Habs GM Marc Bergevin).

“In our business, there’s far more public criticism when you’re not successful than there is in most businesses. If you’re running IBM and have a bad quarter, you might get thumped for a couple of days when the quarterly results come out. But, if you’re GM of the Leafs and you’re struggling, you’re getting thumped every day,” said Burke, who’s had his fair share of spats with media members over the years.

“You’re getting thumped every minute on sports radio and TV. It’s not just the loneliness of leadership in any company - which is across the board - it’s also the fact that loneliness of leadership (is being paired) with constant criticism while you do it.”

Burke hasn’t been an NHL GM since 2012, when his tenure with the Leafs came to an abrupt end. However, his interactions with high-ranking execs didn't stop during his recent five-year run as president of hockey operations for the Calgary Flames.

Which begs the question: Is there an active GM whose mere presence strikes fear into his counterparts?

“Everyone is tense dealing with Lou,” Burke said. “Lou Lamoriello is a class guy. But he’s a thief, he’s a pirate. I made my first big deal with him and it worked out well for both teams - and I love Lou and I respect him and I owe him a lot - but he’s a pirate. (Ducks GM) Bob Murray is a pirate. Both of those guys will gladly make a deal with you that’ll get you canned. And I say that with much praise.”

The commissioner’s forgotten trait

Based on the periodical boos and the constant jeers, NHL fans don’t seem particularly fond of longtime commissioner Gary Bettman.

Burke, on this topic and many others, is happy to play contrarian. Asked what fans might have wrong about Bettman - a man he worked under during a stint at the league office in the early-to-mid 1990s - the 2007 Stanley Cup champion doubled down.

“Everything. In Canada, everything,” Burke said.

“No one likes Gary Bettman in Canada. It used to make me mad, now it makes me sad. I used to get mad at people - you don’t even know this guy … It’s become fashionable for fans to boo the commissioner at the draft and when he’s presenting the Cup. I think it’s unprofessional and disgusting, but I’m tired of ranting about it.”

Instead, Burke wants to talk about the “brilliant” side of Bettman, this generation’s most powerful off-ice figure. Burke and Nonis even have a running joke about the soon-to-be Hall of Fame inductee.

“This guy is smart and the other guy is Bettman smart,” the pair sometimes say to each other when discussing hockey people.

“There’s a lot of smart people who can’t see five miles ahead. Gary can see 100 miles ahead,” Burke continued. “He’s not just looking over the next hill, he’s looking over the next 20 hills to the point where we had to tell him sometimes in (league) meetings, ‘hey boss, slow down.’ … I went to Harvard law school, I’m a pretty smart guy, and I couldn’t keep up with Bettman at some of these things.”

The sport’s slow, steady acceptance

After hanging up the phone for this interview, Burke was off to Winnipeg to work Wednesday’s Jets-Leafs game. On Tuesday, he had plans to hunt geese in Manitoba.

In a nutshell, that’s Burke. He's a man of many passions.

On the subject of women making waves in the NHL, and specifically, if he sees a woman like Hayley Wickenheiser becoming a GM someday soon, he has a strong opinion.

“I think it’s still really far off. These are institutional biases that have emerged. We have been in business for over a century. These are not doors you kick in. These are walls that erode over time. Long before there’s a woman head coach in the NHL, someone will have to become a head coach in the CHL. Coach boys, coach men. Someone will have to be an NCAA Division I men’s coach. They’re going to have to establish themselves - just like we all had to - at a lower level. As much as I love women’s hockey, I’m not handing the keys to the coach's office to a woman unless she’s been successful at a level below mine.”

On the topic of homophobia in sports, he has both a vested interest as a co-founder of the You Can Play project, and a strong stance.

“Would I like the day to come when we don’t talk about women in hockey? Yes. And I would like the day to come when I don’t have to march in the pride parade. As much as I love marching in pride parades, hopefully the day will come when we won’t need to celebrate a different community. They’ll be so absorbed into the rest of society that we won’t need pride parades. We might still have them because we want them, but right now they are a really important tool for our community to advertise itself and reach out to the world to say, ‘Hey, we’re important, we count.’”

But, when Burke’s gig at Sportsnet is mentioned alongside the idea of possibly reentering the hockey operations world, the hedging stops.

“This is not some parking lot job where I’m waiting for the phone to ring. The phone has already rung. Two teams called and asked me about potentially joining their staff. And I said, ‘no, I’m out.’ I promised my daughters here in Toronto that I’m not commuting again. I’m out, I’m not going back and working for a team.”

John Matisz is theScore's National Hockey Writer. You can find him on Twitter @matiszjohn.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The group representing ex-NHL players is "all-in" on endorsing cannabis as a pain relief option for its members.

That is, if future research can prove the drug’s supposed healing capabilities.

"I think science has to prove it first. If science proves it, then I’ll endorse it. But it’s gotta be science first," Glenn Healy, executive director of the NHL Alumni Association, said Monday, less than a week after Canada legalized cannabis.

"It can’t be me first. When I went to Pickering High School, I didn’t get a PhD. I certainly didn’t."

Healy, a former NHL goalie and broadcaster, has been learning about the substance also named marijuana throughout 2018. He's deeply interested and the association, which he notes is partnering with a couple of neurologists, is "diving into this in a huge way.”

"We’re all-in," Healy said repeatedly. (He declined to specify what "all-in" entails.)

It’s no secret some ex-NHLers - most famously homeless Stanley Cup champion Joe Murphy and Matt Johnson - struggle with neurological problems in their retirement years. Hailing from a different, more violent era, players are prone to a number of mental health issues, including anxiety and depression.

Painkillers prescribed to treat nagging injuries have been part of the problem, so finding a widely accepted treatment alternative, something that is less destructive and addictive - cannabis or otherwise - would be a boon for athletes worldwide.

"It’s our players, it’s our life, it’s our families, it’s kids, it’s wives," Healy said. "I don’t get the calls from the players, I get the calls from the wives, I get the calls from the (children). We’re looking into all of it."

One-time Philadelphia Flyers enforcer Riley Cote has quickly become an unofficial pot spokesperson for NHL retirees, insisting sleeping pills and other medication should be replaced by natural substances. He's the creator of Hemp Heals Foundation, an organization promoting the benefits of cannabidiol (CBD), the therapeutic part of a cannabis plant, and has spoken to Healy directly about the matter.

Like Healy, though, Cote admits further digging is needed.

"There's probably billions of anecdotal stories, but those don't mean anything unless it's backed by science, unless it follows the order of the way it's supposed to be," he told The Associated Press recently.

The NHL and NHLPA test active players for cannabis. However, a positive test for pot does not warrant any kind of punishment. And now, those slipping on a jersey for a Canadian team have no red tape to cut through.

Cannabis and its oils can help with the normal aches and pains associated with playing sports for a living. Count Connor McDavid among the intrigued.

"I say this more talking about the CBD side of it, obviously: You'd be stupid not to at least look into it," the Edmonton Oilers superstar told the AP. "When your body's sore like it is sometimes, you don't want to be taking pain stuff and taking Advil all the time. There's obviously better ways to do it."

"You're seeing a lot of smart guys look into it," added McDavid, arguably the sport's best player. "You're seeing a lot of really smart doctors look into it. If all the boxes are checked there and it's safe and everything like that, then I think you would maybe hear them out."

John Matisz is theScore's National Hockey Writer. You can find him on Twitter @matiszjohn.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Welcome to Puck Pursuit, a weekly NHL podcast hosted by John Matisz, theScore's National Hockey Writer.

Subscribe to the show on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play.

John is joined by Jonathan Willis of The Athletic to answer five burning questions from across the league. Topics of discussion include:

• Is 90 points a reasonable expectation for the McDavid-led Oilers?
• Are the 'Canes legit or is their early-season success a mirage?
• Which top PP unit would you take: Leafs, Capitals, or Sharks?
• Did we overrate the Sabres, or will they finally right the ship?
• What would you do if you were Gary Bettman for a day?

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Warren Foegele's NHL career is not even 10 games old and already the animal comparisons are piling up.

The Carolina Hurricanes left winger has been labeled a moose by linemate Jordan Staal; a horse by eclectic broadcaster Tripp Tracy; and a dog by, well, just about everybody who has watched him closely over the years.

"He’s like a dog on a bone," said Jeff McKercher, a former scout for the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs.

"He’s a guy who dogs the puck," added David Manning, hockey coach at St. Andrew’s College. "The engine that never stops."

Moose, horse, dog - yes, these are compliments in hockey’s vernacular, words reserved for the havoc-creating skaters, the space-gulping forecheckers, and the stress-inducing penalty killers. And they all suit Foegele perfectly.

The cerebral power forward has followed up a productive cup of coffee (two goals, one assist in two games late last year) with a steady start to the 2018-19 campaign, racking up three goals, one assist, and 19 shots on goal through the first six contests. However, it is the nuances of Foegele’s game that have the Hurricanes and die-hard NHL observers enthralled heading into Tuesday night's tilt against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Foegele basically perspired doggedness during a penalty-killing sequence in Carolina’s win over the New York Rangers last week. The 22-year-old hemmed three-fifths of New York’s power-play unit in their own zone, closing gaps with his acceleration, swiping his stick at loose pucks and passing lanes, and spinning his body to maximize routes times. Reluctantly, Kevin Shattenkirk, Mika Zibanejad, and Pavel Buchnevich played keep-away before finally exiting the zone.

It was classic Foegele wrapped up in 30 seconds of clap-worthy hustle:

‘Canes head coach Rod Brind'Amour remarked earlier this month that Foegele often "wins his shifts" on the strength of working his tail off. Fellow rookies Andrei Svechnikov and Martin Necas will likely steal the spotlight as the year progresses - Svechnikov could easily contend for the Calder Trophy - but for now, Foegele, a lesser known commodity, is serving as an example to the entire organization.

"He’s a perfect Carolina Hurricane," Brind’Amour told theScore.

"He came in ready. He did what we asked him to do in the off-season. He worked hard, got in shape. He earned his spot on the team. He doesn’t cheat his shifts, keeps his mouth shut. He wants to learn, does what you ask of him."

'His work ethic was second to none'

In the early stages of the 2013-14 season, as his peers competed in front of thousands of fans and multiple NHL scouts every night, Foegele was hiding in plain sight.

Deemed unworthy of a selection in consecutive OHL drafts in large part due to his small stature - 140 pounds and somewhere between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-9, depending on who you ask - he packed on more than 30 pounds and sprouted above 6-feet over the course a year or so. Motivated like never before, Foegele had rededicated himself to his craft and was beginning to turn heads. He was the best player on a St. Andrew’s Saints varsity team running roughshod over the competition in the CISAA, one of North America’s top private school leagues.

Word spread within the scouting community: The 1996-born center with a commitment to the University of New Hampshire might be worth the traffic-ridden drive to Aurora, Ontario. A mid-January story on TSN, penned by the incomparable Bob McKenzie, stoked the fire at both the OHL and NHL levels.

"Some teams were skeptical about Warren because he was playing prep school hockey," Top Shelf Sports Management’s Joe Resnick, who would later become Foegele’s agent, said recently. "The question was whether he could take that offensive dominance and translate it to the next level."

Manning added: "At first, it was one or two NHL teams. Then it would turn into seven or eight. Then you’d have 16. Then we’d host our annual tournament and all 30 teams are in the building."

That April, Foegele - in his final semester at St. Andrew’s, his home away from home since Grade 6 - was scooped up by the Frontenacs in his third year of OHL draft eligibility. McKercher, Kingston’s head scout, pushed for the pick, taking a seventh-round flier on a highly motivated 18-year-old bound for the NCAA.

"He was just one of those guys you’d be glued to when you went to the rink. His work ethic was second to none," said McKercher, now a scout for the St. Louis Blues. "You know what you see right now in Carolina? That’s the way he’s been his whole career. He just doesn’t stop working."

Hurricanes assistant general manager Mike Vellucci credits Bob Luccini, the club’s Boston-area amateur scout, with first identifying Foegele ahead of the NHL draft. The Saints had visited the east coast to play schools outside the CISAA. The trip exposed Foegele to a fresh set of eyes in the stands.

In June, then-GM Ron Francis pulled the trigger, selecting Foegele - who had been ranked 66th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting - in the third round, 67th overall, making it two drafts in 12 weeks for the Markham, Ontario teen after years of going largely unnoticed.

"When I was younger, it was myself, Robby Fabbri, Dylan Sadowy, and Darren Raddysh. We were some of the top players in the loop in minor atom, atom, and maybe minor peewee," said Foegele, rattling off the sixth, 37th, and 84th picks in the 2012 OHL draft. "Then I fell off the tracks for a couple of years. I was a late bloomer. In minor midget, I was a lot smaller than everyone and was right off the radar. It wasn’t until I hit my growth spurt that I started to really develop as a player (start to dominate again)."

Despite the Frontenacs’ interest, Foegele honored his commitment to the University of New Hampshire for the 2014-15 season - though that engagement would last a mere 39 games. He left the veteran group at UNH, which featured future ‘Canes teammate Brett Pesce, to skate for Kingston a couple of weeks into the 2015-16 college schedule.

"You never like to see a player leave your program. We knew he had a ton of potential," UNH associate head coach Glenn Stewart said. "But he was young then, raw, and he hadn’t reached it yet."

Almost immediately, Foegele established himself in the OHL, recording nearly a point per game in his debut campaign. And then, about 15 months after the NCAA transfer, the Frontenacs shipped him to the Erie Otters at the 2016-17 trade deadline.

From there, in his third city, province/state, and team in two seasons, Foegele’s career trajectory would begin to rise at a rapid pace.

'Lives, breathes, and thinks about hockey'

Wes Wolfe is like most hockey coaches - always searching for answers.

Last year, for instance, the Otters assistant coach felt the need to scratch a philosophical itch. He wanted to match cliches with actionable things in order to back up his message to Erie players.

"You always hear coaches talk about 'compete.' It’s kinda gray in terms of what it means," Wolfe noted. Naturally, he turned to Foegele for a little assistance.

Foegele - at the time with the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL - told him via text message that, from his perspective, competing meant winning one-on-one battles, exerting maximum effort, beating opponents to loose pucks, driving to the net, absorbing contact, etc.

Today, Wolfe is finding himself shaking his head watching Foegele do all of those menial yet critical tasks on the sport’s biggest stage. The kid who grew up idolizing 2004 Conn Smythe winner Brad Richards is now averaging 15:27 of ice time alongside 30-year-old Staal and 37-year-old Justin Williams, who own a combined four Stanley Cup rings.

"Compete" is written all over the Hurricanes' No. 13 and his underlying numbers, including a 69 percent Corsi rating and a plus-4 penalty differential.

"His determination to succeed is pretty high," Otters GM Dave Brown said. "Some guys see a 50/50 puck and go, 'You know what, I’m not going to pursue it, it’s not worth it.' He won’t do that. He works so damn hard that he ends up on the right side of the puck all the time."

"Foegs is a self-proclaimed grinder," Wolfe added. "It’s a term that sometimes has a negative connotation, and I think the way he uses it to talk about himself makes sense. It’s more about relentlessness ... Every day at practice, it didn’t matter if he was going up against First Line Guy or Fourth Line Guy, you knew you were going to get his best."

A drive to grow a little bit every single day is part of Foegele’s DNA. From a young age, he has deployed meticulous pre-practice and pregame routines, focusing on the present moment, starting with high kicks in the hallways with his headphones on and the music cranked. He hails from the renowned Gary Roberts school of nutrition and fitness; this summer, he worked with former figure skater Ashlea Jones to improve his edgework and lateral movement.

"There’s countless people who are doing analytics (work) online, creating graphics, and tweeting it out," Wolfe said. "He’ll send something to me at 10 p.m. and be like, 'What does this mean?' He wants to know. He definitely lives, breathes, and thinks about hockey. In all the intricacies of becoming a better player, he’s always, always thinking about it.”

This supreme attention to detail is supplemented by an NHL-caliber skill set: excellent skating, especially for his size; a hard, accurate shot; strong puck protection; soft hands; above-average hockey sense. It’s not crazy to suggest Foegele is cut from the same cloth as Josh Morrissey of the Winnipeg Jets. Smart, skilled, relentless - they are the modern-day power forward and the new-age shutdown defenseman.

"He doesn’t give you an inch out there," Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli said. "He’s always on the right side of the puck, whether it’s the O-zone or D-zone. He plays the game the right way."

"His skill is starting to be appreciated more and more," Manning said. "You see that one-time goal he scored (against the Canucks)? That’s not an easy play to make at the NHL level."

Foegele and Cirelli - another veteran deadline acquisition - were instrumental in the Otters’ quest for a national championship in the spring of 2017, contributing 33 and 39 points, respectively, in 27 postseason games. Erie captured the OHL title, with Foegele winning playoff MVP, but fell short at the Memorial Cup, losing 4-3 in the final to the host Windsor Spitfires.

Brown will never forget Foegele’s contributions, namely his Game 7 goal in the second round. After taking a cross-checking penalty early in the third period and watching the London Knights score moments later, he reset and, 10 minutes into overtime, played hero.

"It re-established to the guys that, 'Hey, I made a mistake, I shouldn’t have done that. I was overzealous in my pursuit of the forecheck, we were up 4-3.' For him to come back and score that goal, I mean, to me that’s resilience in a nutshell," Brown said.

If Foegele wasn’t already on the greater hockey world’s radar, his name entered the mainstream during that final stretch of junior hockey. "I’m positive that if we don’t get Foegs," Wolfe said, "we don’t win the OHL championship."

'You've got to earn those kind of names'

Talk to enough people around Foegele and his AHL goal total will soon be etched in your brain: 28 goals in 73 games as a rookie. None of them on the power play. Nine of them game-winners.

It’s a source of pride for good reason. Foegele finished first in the entire league in game-winners and second in even-strength goals, with 24, right behind 29-year-old Eric Tangradi, who had 25 in 74 games.

Moving forward, expect a similar distribution of Foegele’s production at the NHL level. His two-way prowess has landed him a top-six role at five-on-five, a second-unit penalty-kill spot, and the kind of trust from his coach that breeds ice time during high-pressure situations.

Under a new owner, new GM, new coach, and new captain, Carolina is trying to end a nine-year playoff drought. To leave no doubt as to where the organization’s headspace is, Brind’Amour split his 2018-19 training camp roster into two groups, Team Grit and Team Grind. The bench boss is all-in on tenacity, has encouraged a unique post-win celebration, is accepting of all personalities and, broadly speaking, appears to be breathing fresh air into a stale dressing room.

So far, the 4-1-1 Hurricanes have played an engaging brand of hockey, generating and allowing scoring opportunities like it’s going out of style. And, although nobody is confusing Foegele with the club’s flashier youngsters - offensive wizards like Sebastian Aho, Svechnikov, Necas, and Teuvo Teravainen - he certainly serves a purpose.

"You need to have a good mix," Vellucci said. "You can hold onto the puck all you want, but if it’s from the outside, and there’s no traffic, NHL goalies are too good (and will stop those shots)."

As for Foegele’s permanent nickname, Brind’Amour is bypassing any animal comparisons.

"Right now I don’t call him anything because it’s still early," he said. "You’ve got to earn those kind of names that stick long term. He’s on his way to being either one of those, for sure."

John Matisz is theScore's National Hockey Writer. You can find him on Twitter @matiszjohn.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Welcome to Puck Pursuit, a weekly NHL podcast hosted by national hockey writer John Matisz.

Subscribe to the show on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and Google Play.

John is joined by Gus Katsaros of McKeen's Hockey to craft an early-season viewing guide centered around unique traits. Topics of discussion include:

• Why is Elias Pettersson so effective?
• A rebuttal to the Auston Matthews hype
• How teams can limit Nathan MacKinnon
• A full scouting report on John Klingberg
• What's Evgeny Kuznetsov's ceiling?

... and more.

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Oh, to get inside the head of an Arizona Coyotes player right now.

After losing 105 of 164 games over the last two seasons, the club has failed to score a goal through two contests this year despite peppering the opposition with 133 shot attempts.

"We've got to chill out here," head coach Rick Tocchet told reporters over the weekend following a 1-0 loss to the Anaheim Ducks. "We played two pretty good games and we can't score right now. It is what it is."

Tocchet, who is days into his second year behind Arizona's bench, has a point. There are 80 games remaining in the 2018-19 season. Truthfully, as he notes, it is what it is. Early October is a no-panic zone (especially when you're rocking the NHL's finest alternates).

That being said, we're all human, and there's little chance this Coyotes squad isn't at least a bit scarred from what transpired last season. They lost their first 11 games and didn't earn a regulation win until Nov. 16. Ravaged by injury, inexperienced, and skating for an unfamiliar coach, their playoff hopes dissipated within the opening two months.

And now, with the team not only failing to execute but also dealing with injuries to key players and potentially feeling the crush of deja vu, a deep breath is needed. What is really going on in the desert? Are the Coyotes capable of ending their six-year postseason drought? Is this team perpetually doomed or is it actually set up for long-term success?

"I think we're on the right path," president of hockey operations and general manager John Chayka said in a recent interview with theScore. "I like our current team, I like our future team. I like our staff in terms of our scouts, our development team, our medical team, our coaching staff at the AHL and NHL level. Our management group's done a nice job. We have a really robust organization in place and I think we've got a lot of people who bring a lot of innovative, new ideas to the team."

That's the thing about the "growing pains" (Chayka's phrase) the Coyotes have endured of late - the team is taking its lumps amid a substantial rebuild, a time when expectations are tempered and its business-minded boss' top-to-bottom construction job is ongoing.

"We must continue to evolve, continue to go through this process, and day to day get better," said Chayka, who turned 29 in June. "The playoffs is the end result that everyone's after, and that's certainly the goal, but we've got to continue to focus on being better every day. If we can, we're excited about where this group is headed."

The franchise has been gutted and reassembled since Chayka was hired as assistant GM prior to the 2015-16 season. On top of bringing in fresh front-office faces, such as assistant GM and director of scouting Lindsay Hofford and director of hockey ops Jake Goldberg, Chayka has gained a reputation as the NHL's most active GM.

This past offseason alone, he acquired 14 players - including Alex Galchenyuk, Michael Grabner, and Vinnie Hinostroza - while saying goodbye to 12 members of the 2017-18 roster. Chayka, who is peerless in terms of making minor transactions and is also unafraid of the big move, says he's satisfied with the Coyotes' organizational depth.

If you count Chayka's season under ex-GM Don Maloney, the NHL roster looks completely different. As pointed out by Richard Morin of the Arizona Republic, captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson is the lone leftover from the previous regime.

"We're just trying to maximize asset value," Chayka said of his trading habits. "And look, there's a lot of instances where, for whatever reason, it's not working out (for a player) in a certain situation and maybe we have an asset that's not working out in our situation. That's the crux of making a trade."

Chayka, who has an honors degree in business administration from Western University and is the co-founder of Stathletes, a hockey analytics firm, can often sound more like a CEO than a hockey manager. He is a card-carrying member of a new wave of NHL execs driven by curiosity, collaboration, data, and a detail-rich decision-making process.

A prime example of his growth mindset: To widen his knowledge base, Chayka will regularly interact with other heavy hitters from the Phoenix pro sports scene, periodically sitting down with executives from the NBA's Suns, the NFL's Cardinals, and MLB's Diamondbacks.

"A lot of the things we talk about are (based around) logic. If you can understand how it applies to a certain sport, then you can apply that logic to other sports," Chayka explained. "It's nice because we're in different leagues, we're not too worried about (overlapping) competitive advantages."

"You've got to be able to work with those guys and talk with them and bounce ideas off them," he added. "There's different situations - whether it's free agency or dealing with trades or building relationships with players - and we talk a lot about a lot of different things. You try to take those best practices and apply them to your organization."

Sports science is an area in which Chayka, a health nut himself, seems particularly invested. Just last week, the Coyotes announced Mayo Clinic, the powerhouse health care company, has become the team's "official orthopedic provider."

Rest, aging, injury prevention - these are the types of things Mayo has been hired to monitor on a daily basis. Much like his incremental gains approach to swapping player after player, Chayka is searching for any way to maximize player output.

"No matter what we do, every decision is in the mind frame of, 'How do we find a competitive advantage and how do we best utilize our resources to get there?'" Chayka said. "Mayo is a world-class name, best in class in terms of what they do. To be able to partner with them and leverage their resources and the type of people that they have - again, we're trying to find those advantages as best we can. We think they add up to wins."

The timing of the announcement is ironic, with Galchenyuk, the former 30-goal scorer penciled into a top-six center spot; promising blueliner Jakob Chychrun; and Christian Dvorak, who signed a six-year deal in August, all starting the season on injured reserve.

Galchenyuk, Chychrun, and Dvorak - 24, 20, and 22 years old, respectively - join 2018 fifth overall pick Barrett Hayton; low-floor, high-ceiling center Dylan Strome; and super sophomore Clayton Keller to help form the team's impressive young core that is supported by a burgeoning farm system. The 25-and-older group includes defensemen Ekman-Larsson, Nik Hjalmarsson, and Jason Demers, as well as No. 1 goalie Antti Raanta.

On paper, Arizona's mix-and-match roster is hitting the right notes and, if all goes according to plan over the next 80 games, this collection of talent has an outside chance at contending for a playoff spot. Then again, for all the promise, one can't forget last year's Coyotes finished 30th in goals, 21st in goals against, and had the 26th-ranked power play and 19th-ranked penalty kill despite a strong late-season push. And anything can happen in the wildly unpredictable Pacific Division.

In the short term, the next six games will be a test. Opponents range from decent (Blackhawks, Sabres), to good (Ducks, Wild), to very good (Blue Jackets), to great (Jets). And five of those games are on the road.

That stretch of the schedule won't put anybody's mind at ease, especially given the scoreless start. However, Chayka's optimism and emphasis on the process - on the long-term health of the organization - just might.

"We've got to keep moving down this path," Chayka said. "We've got the ship straightened out and we've got to hit the gas. Hopefully this year we can do it."

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer. You can find him on Twitter @matiszjohn.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Seattle and the NHL seem destined to figure this out. At this point, it would take a major misstep to derail the push for a 32nd team and for that team to not reside in the Washington hub.

Arena renovations are set to begin, local interest has been proven, and the NHL is talking about Seattle like it's going to happen. So, the expansion franchise appears to be on track.

Tuesday is a gigantic day for the prospective ownership group. Let's review that and answer other NHL-to-Seattle FAQs below:

When might Seattle get its team?

Seattle could have an NHL team as early as the 2020-21 season.

That's the hope, although the 2021-22 campaign might be the likelier scenario given a potential lockout.

On Tuesday, Seattle Hockey Partners (SHP) - the group trying to make the Pacific Northwest home to the NHL’s 32nd franchise - and the city’s mayor will be making an official presentation to the league's executive committee in New York City.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly recently said that if the executive committee approves SHP's pitch, an official expansion vote could occur at December’s board of governors meeting in Florida.

With apologies to Quebec City, Houston, and Kansas City, etc., Seattle is the lone city in the running for expansion, per Gary Bettman’s wishes. The commissioner seems set on finally touching down in the Emerald State.

Who is behind the expansion push?

The main names to know are private equity CEO David Bonderman, Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer, sports executive Tod Leiweke, and ex-NHL coach Dave Tippett.

Bonderman and Bruckheimer represent the ownership group, which also includes vice-chairman David Wright, whose family owns the famous Space Needle in Seattle. Meanwhile, CEO Leiweke and senior advisor Tippett, most recently the Arizona Coyotes' head coach from 2009-17, do most of the talking.

"I pledge to you a club that serves and makes our community better while pursuing the ultimate goal of bringing a Stanley Cup back to Seattle,” Leiweke said in a letter to fans in April.

SHP is an extension of Los Angeles-based Oak View Group, an entertainment and sports facilities company founded by Tim Leiweke (Tod’s brother) and music executive Irving Azoff. Tim Leiweke has extensive experience running NHL clubs, as he previously presided over the Anschutz Entertainment Group (L.A. Kings) and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (Toronto Maple Leafs).

At the moment, Tippett is the lone hockey-operations employee. He recently said the group plans to begin its search for a general manager in the spring.

What's the deal with the decrepit arena?

Just wait.

Significant renovations to KeyArena, the former home of the NBA’s Seattle Supersonics, are scheduled for a two-year period starting this month and finishing in October 2020.

Originally pegged at roughly $600 million, construction is now expected to cost around $700 million. The renos are being privately financed .

KeyArena’s iconic roof is being preserved, but that's about it. The building, which is located in the 74-acre downtown Seattle Center, will be redesigned for a hockey seating capacity of 17,400.

SHP launched a ticket drive in March, setting a goal of 10,000 deposits. It was met within 12 minutes and the drive swelled to more than 30,000 deposits by day’s end.

After the NHL team is up and running, ownership aspires to bring the NBA back, lure a WNBA franchise to town, and join the A-list concert circuit.

Why believe in the Pacific Northwest market?

The market is practically screaming for a pro hockey team.

Statewide hockey registrations grew by 6.9 percent from 2016-17 to 2017-18, according to USA Hockey, which tied North Carolina for the fourth-highest increase in the country. In terms of raw numbers, the state ranked 17th out of 51 (DC included) with almost 9,900 players.

Interestingly, while the state of Washington doesn't have an NCAA Division I hockey program, it boasts four of the Western Hockey League's 22 teams.

The Seattle Thunderbirds play in Kent, which is about 20 miles south of the city center. The Everett Silvertips are 30 miles north, the Spokane Chiefs are 280 miles east, and the Tri-City Americans (of Kennewick) are 225 miles southeast. Meanwhile, the Portland Winterhawks in neighboring Oregon are the league’s only other American franchise.

Local groups in Seattle have tried to land an NHL franchise on a number of occasions, ultimately failing in 1974, 1990, 2007, 2011, and 2013.

Fun fact: The Seattle Metropolitans won the 1917 Stanley Cup as a member of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. They folded seven seasons later.

How will expansion affect my favorite team?

For one, it’ll make your owner richer. The NHL has stated that Seattle, if approved, will be sent a $650-million invoice. The Vegas Golden Knights paid $150 million less.

On a more relatable level, expansion will take a player from your team's roster and from the rosters of the 29 other clubs (Vegas will be excluded from the process). The same draft rules and parameters that were applied to the Golden Knights will likely be applied to Seattle.

On that note, Bettman and Daly relayed in May that they were pleased to see Vegas field a competitive lineup in Year 1.

Finally, let your imagination run wild about realignment possibilities, because adding Seattle to the mix would solve the current conference imbalance of 15 in the West and 16 in the East.

"It does provide alignment for the league," Daly told The Associated Press. "We’ve been misaligned for a couple years in the sense of more teams in the East and less in the West, so that would be a benefit if were to expand."

A popular post-realignment proposal is eight divisions with four teams apeice, a la the NFL.

Where is the nickname debate taking us?

Somewhere between the sea and green stuff ... maybe?

As detailed by DetroitHockey.net back in January, SHP lawyer Christina Song registered domains that represent "Sea Lions" and 12 other potential names, including Seals and Evergreens.

Here's the full list, in alphabetical order: Cougars, Eagles, Emeralds, Evergreens, Firebirds, Kraken, Rainiers, Renegades, Sea Lions, Seals, Sockeyes, Totems, and Whales.

SHP intends to engage fans with regards to the nickname when/if the franchise is granted. However, the governor of Washington called the team the Seattle Totems - the moniker of the former local minor-league hockey team - during a press conference in March. The blunder sent locals into a tizzy.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Times is wrapping up an "official(ly unofficial)" naming contest of its own. After a bracket-style process, only the Sockeyes and Totems remain.

Go Totems?

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer. You can find him on Twitter @matiszjohn.

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