Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner appeared on former teammate Connor Carrick's podcast recently and made light of the list incident with former coach Mike Babcock that blew up following the dismissal of the veteran bench boss earlier this season.

Carrick asked Marner which moment he uses as a learning opportunity to this point of his career.

"Well, I think one is to never grade your teammates on their work ethic in practice," Marner joked. "That one is definitely the top."

In the week following Babcock's firing, it was reported the coach privately asked the forward to rank his teammates based on their work ethic during his rookie season. Babcock then shared the list with the players Marner categorized as the laziest without telling him.

Marner later confirmed the story amid the media firestorm, and told Carrick that the teammates he unknowingly singled out - Tyler Bozak, James van Riemsdyk, and Nazem Kadri - didn't take it personally.

"I was really young. I was nervous. I didn't know what to do, so I did it. Next thing I knew it got reported to the team," Marner said. "Bozie, JVR, and Naz - those three are some of the best guys I've ever played with. They've been great throughout my career, talking to them and stuff like that. It was hilarious. At first, they were jiving me about it, because I didn’t know it was gonna get shown to them. I think (Babcock's) lesson was trying to show the older guys that I'm a young guy and I'm looking up to these three and that's what was happening."

Marner and the New Jersey Devils defenseman discussed a wide variety of topics, including Marner's highly publicized contract negotiation last offseason. The 23-year-old was in the crosshairs all summer long for a lengthy dispute that resulted in a six-year, $65.358-million pact inked at the start of training camp.

"It was really interesting to be a part of it and see what a lot of people try to do to kinda tear you down," Marner said about the negotiations process. "Try and make you feel like you're not the player you are."

Marner was among the Leafs' top performers before the season was shut down, posting 67 points over 59 games in his fourth year with the club.

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Ottawa Senators skaters and other NHL players from the area can skate again at a private facility in Canada's capital for the first time since the coronavirus shut the league down March 12, according to the Ottawa Sun's Ken Warren.

Physical distancing will be enforced, and no more than five skaters will be allowed on the ice at any time. Players are also being asked to show up to the arena in everything but their skates.

The NHL still prohibits the use of team practice rinks until every franchise receives government clearance to reopen. However, Ontario has begun procedures to restore the use of local facilities, so players in Ottawa can return to the ice under certain provisions.

The league is working toward an expanded 24-team playoff format if it's able to stage a return, but the Senators, who occupied 30th place through 71 games at the time of the pause, won't play again until next preseason.

Five Senators players have tested positive for COVID-19 during the stoppage.

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

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

Brent Sopel, a former NHL defenseman, joins the show to discuss a variety of topics, including:

• Becoming a dyslexia/dysgraphia advocate
• Finding sobriety after retiring from hockey
• Changing style of play late in NHL career
• Memories from Chicago's 2010 Cup win
• Assessment of current Blackhawks team

... and more!

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Find out the latest on COVID-19's impact on the sports world and when sports are returning by subscribing to Breaking News push notifications in the Sports and COVID-19 section.

Oilers Entertainment Group, the city of Edmonton, and the province of Alberta have made a joint bid to become an NHL hub city if the 2019-20 season resumes, Alberta premier Jason Kenney said Tuesday, according to Global News' Scott Johnston.

While making his pitch to a group of reporters, Kenney dubbed Edmonton the "safest place in the continent" to host the NHL playoffs due to the city's low number of COVID-19 cases.

"We're down to (58) active cases in this population in Greater Edmonton of 1.2 million people, and a handful of people in hospital with hundreds of acute care beds that have been set aside for COVID(-19) patients, together with the highest per capita testing in North America, if not the world,” Kenney said.

Additionally, Kenney believes Edmonton would be a top choice based on logistics.

"We've got one of the best facilities, I would say the best facility, with the brand new Rogers Place arena," he said.

Rogers Place, the Oilers' state-of-the-art arena, opened in 2016. It features several dressing rooms, an in-house practice rink, and an attached 364-room luxury JW Marriot Hotel. OEG vice president Tim Shipton said there are enough rooms for 12 teams and their support staff in the immediate downtown area.

Edmonton mayor Don Iveson, who tweeted out his letter to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Tuesday, agrees.

"In addition, the city of Edmonton is working closely with OEG on an agreement to use our high-quality civic recreational facilities, currently closed to Edmontonians during the pandemic, where NHL teams could practice and train safely while in Edmonton," Iveson wrote in his letter.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Monday that the league is evaluating eight or nine potential hub cities that could host about a dozen teams in one location.

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Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Nick Robertson believes he's ready to take his game to the highest level.

"My eyes are on the NHL right now," Robertson said, according to The Athletic's Joshua Kloke. "If I didn’t have (a) tenaciousness in my game, I wouldn't say I'm ready right now.”

The Leafs selected Robertson with the 53rd overall pick in the 2019 draft after he tallied 27 goals and a team-high 55 points through 54 games in his sophomore season with the OHL's Peterborough Petes.

This season, Robertson took his game to new heights. The dynamic winger exploded for a league-high 55 goals - which included a 14-game goal streak - and 86 points in 46 contests, and he attributed his strong performance to being able to focus solely on his play.

"My second year, I had the pressure of the draft and the combine and interviews," Robertson said. "Whereas in my third season, I know where I am. And I know that I’m already drafted and signed. So I’m not saying I’ve got nothing to lose, but I can go out there and do my thing and be confident."

Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas said in March that Robertson will get every chance to make the big club's opening-night roster next season. Meanwhile, the 18-year-old knows the Leafs have plenty of offensive depth and insists he could make an impact in a bottom-six role if need be.

“I don’t have to be a top-six player to be effective," Robertson said. "It's not just my scoring or my playmaking. It's my tenacity. It's the way I work."

The Michigan native also represented Team USA at the 2020 world juniors, contributing two goals and five points over five outings.

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NHL resource Puckpedia.com polled 25 agents on a variety of topics and recently published most of the results.

Agents answered questions about CBA jargon, draft eligibility, and some juicier subjects, including player contracts and which general managers are the best or worst to deal with.

Here's a look at some of the results.

Worst contract from team perspective

Lucic signed a seven-year deal with the Oilers in 2016, and his production dropped drastically after a solid first season. The soon-to-be 32-year-old was traded to Calgary to clear salary last offseason.

Seabrook was rewarded by the Blackhawks after being a core member of the club's three Stanley Cup titles last decade. His play and his body have both deteriorated since his extension, and there are still four seasons to go on the deal.

Karlsson cashed in with the Sharks after his lengthy run as the game's top defenseman, but persisting injuries have many wondering if the eight-year term was worth it.

Lastly, Skinner parlayed a 40-goal debut season in Buffalo into an eight-year, $72-million contract. In the first year of his lucrative extension, he's mustered 23 points in 59 games.

Most team-friendly contract

MacKinnon and Pastrnak are no-brainers, as both are MVP candidates who make pennies on the dollar compared to players with similar levels of production.

Jarnkrok is a bit of a surprise inclusion, as he potted 34 points in 64 contests this season. Labanc, meanwhile, made headlines for accepting a $1-million contract last season with the goal of being paid more when the team had more cap flexibility.

Other notables receiving votes in this category were Aleksander Barkov, Mark Scheifele, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Blake Coleman.

Best GM to get client a good deal from

Toronto's boss was the only GM to receive multiple votes, likely due to the big-ticket contracts he doled out to core forwards Auston Matthews ($11.634 million), John Tavares ($11 million), Mitch Marner (10.96 million), and William Nylander ($6.9 million).

Interestingly enough, the GM voted toughest to deal with was Lou Lamoriello, who joined the New York Islanders when Dubas took over the job in Toronto.

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The NHL was not happy that a handful of teams signed players to entry-level contracts with "to be determined" start dates, sources told The Athletic's Michael Russo.

In a normal season, a team could sign a player to its "reserve list" on an ELC and later have that player join the club for the remainder of its campaign - much like the Colorado Avalanche did last season with Cale Makar, who made his NHL debut in the playoffs after his NCAA campaign wrapped up.

But with the season suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, the NHL made a rule that any contract signed at this time cannot include a 2019-20 start date. That rule would prohibit a team like the Minnesota Wild - who sat one point out of a playoff spot when the season was postponed - from bringing in KHL star Kirill Kaprizov for the stretch run. In a normal season, Kaprizov wouldn't be able to join the Wild this season because the KHL campaign would still be running.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly made it clear to the Wild that the rule won't be changed, sources told Russo.

However, a handful of teams and players - including the Montreal Canadiens with Alexander Romanov, the Florida Panthers with Grigori Denisenko, the Chicago Blackhawks with Ian Mitchell, and the St. Louis Blues with Scott Perunovich - later found a potential loophole, agreeing to terms with TBD start dates, which irked the league office.

The NHL has not allowed any of those contracts to be submitted to its Central Registry with that terminology, Russo added.

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Everett Silvertips netminder and Calgary Flames prospect Dustin Wolf has been named the Western Hockey League's goaltender of the year, the league announced Tuesday.

Wolf posted a 34-10-2 record along with a .935 save percentage, 1.88 goals-against average, and nine shutouts before the WHL canceled the remainder of its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 19-year-old native of California has won 86 games across three seasons with Everett.

Current Philadelphia Flyers goalie and Silvertips alumnus Carter Hart was the WHL's goalie of the year in 2016 and 2018.

The Flames selected Wolf in the seventh round of the 2019 NHL Draft.

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