If Finnish prospect Patrik Laine was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs' brass, he would select himself with the first overall pick.
The confident 18-year-old told TSN's Gary Lawless on Thursday that he feels he has played well enough to earn a No. 1 selection.
"My season was the best," Laine said. "It was pretty amazing. Everything went so well all the time. I didn’t have any tough times. It all fell into place. It was amazing to be part of the teams I was on and to have that success together. My opinion is I should be drafted first overall. You never know what’s going to happen. I think it’s going to be a tough race right until the end."
Laine captured gold at the World Juniors and picked up a silver at the World Championship last month, collecting a combined 25 points in 17 games. He feels that his play has been stellar enough that a stint in the American Hockey League will not be necessary for his development, though living with his mother might be.
"My first year, I want to play the entire year in the NHL and not have to go to the AHL to learn the North American game," Laine said. "My mom will come with me for the start. I can’t live on my own. I can’t cook and I don’t want to have to eat out every day. It will be good to have mom around for the cooking and the laundry and everything."
Laine enters the draft ranked second among all international skaters, behind the highly touted Auston Matthews.
John Gruden has found a new, and ideally calmer, spot to ply his trade.
The former NHL defenseman, who was infamously fired twice in one season by Flint Firebirds owner Rolf Nilsen, has been named coach of the OHL's Hamilton Bulldogs.
"It was clear to me that John’s values and goals best aligned with what our organization holds in high regard," said Bulldogs president and general manager Steve Staios. "His background, competitiveness, and character are a tremendous asset for our team."
Gruden endured a rough first season as an OHL head coach, deposed by Nilsen but rehired after the team walked out in protest. He was let go a second time two months later, at which the league then intervened and subsequently suspended Nilsen for five years.
Gudbranson was traded last week from the Florida Panthers, along with a fifth-round pick, in exchange for forward Jared McCann and two draft picks. The defenseman said he learned about the trade while in Africa.
"I got Wi-Fi a day late, turned my phone on and my phone actually blew up," Gudbranson told News 1130 Sports in Vancouver on Friday.
The 24-year-old admits he is thrilled to be joining such a big hockey market.
"Vancouver is one of the most exciting markets on the planet for hockey. The excitement grew, grew, and grew," said Gudbranson. "I'm excited about the scrutiny and the pressure, I thrive off that."
Gudbranson was a far cry from from home when the deal went through and the trade will now seem him move nearly 3,500 miles from Sunrise, Fla. to Vancouver, B.C.
For a 9-year-old boy from Alberta, few things compare to a little face time with your favorite hockey player.
That's exactly what Johnny Gaudreau of the Calgary Flames offered to a boy named Liam - whose family lost their home in the Fort McMurray fire - on his birthday.
"I had a call from Michel (Therrien) to see if I had an interest in coming to Montreal. We had a long conversation and I got excited about it," Muller said Friday.
So excited, in fact, he chose not to pursue a bigger role elsewhere.
Kirk Muller said he didn't pursue open head coaching positions in Calgary and Anaheim because he preferred this role in Montreal.
"I didn't really evaluate what was out there," he said.
"Working with Michel and the staff, working with the (power play), and the forwards fulfills me right now," he added. "I’m excited about it."
After helping the Canadiens win a Stanley Cup in 1993, Muller was named captain but later traded in 1994. He returned to the Canadiens in 2006, and spent five seasons as an assistant coach.
Prior to joining the Blues, Muller spent three years coaching the Carolina Hurricanes to a regular-season record of 80-80-27.
The added experience, he believes, served him well.
"I’m such a better coach right now than when I left Montreal." - Kirk on his learning experience #GoHabsGo
HAMILTON - John Gruden was named head coach of the Ontario Hockey League's Hamilton Bulldogs on Friday.
The former U.S. national team development program assistant coach spent part of last season as head coach of the OHL's Flint Firebirds. Gr...
The 24-year-old is set to become a restricted free agent this July and that's one reason TSN's Bob McKenzie insists there's a good chance the Colorado Avalanche defenseman could be dealt.
"There’s no question in my mind, I think Tyson Barrie is going to be traded," McKenzie told TSN 1260 Radio on Friday, according to Chris Nichols of Today's Slapshot.
McKenzie added, "Colorado is looking for a defenseman. But I don’t think they like the economic leverage that Tyson Barrie has right now. Tyson Barrie has got a very strong arbitration case. I think he’s going to be looking for a sum of money that Colorado doesn’t feel comfortable in giving him. Therefore I think they’re looking for somebody who - looking for a different type of defenseman maybe, or one that’s not going to cost them as much money."
Barrie is coming off his fourth full season with the Avalanche - including the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign - and is expected to receive a raise from his previous $2.6-million cap hit.
Barrie's name has been and continues to be in trade talks, according to McKenzie, and he could be the perfect trade chip as the team looks to fill holes at all positions.
"I think they are in the market for a defenseman. I think they are in the market for forwards as well, being a non-playoff team and all," said McKenzie. "But I definitely think Tyson Barrie has been in play, and continues to be in play, and there's a real strong chance that he could be traded at some point here."
Barrie led all Avalanche defensemen in scoring for the second straight year with 13 goals and 49 points in 78 games.
On the Fly, theScore's NHL roundtable series, continues. In the latest edition, we're discussing whether the San Jose Sharks can erase a 2-0 deficit in the Stanley Cup Final.
There's hope for these Sharks
Ian McLaren: The Sharks have paved an incredibly difficult road to making the jump from Western Conference to Stanley Cup champions, but they're by no means done after dropping the first two games of the final.
For one, and as the Pittsburgh Penguins have already done, the Sharks are now presented with the opportunity to hold court on home ice, and common wisdom suggests not to begin ruling a team out until they've failed to do so.
On top of that, the first two games of the series were decided by one goal, and although the Sharks were outshot in both, San Jose did hit several posts in Game 2 - glorious opportunities that went officially unregistered. In other words, bad luck helped keep them from earning a road split.
If the club's top offensive players can get rolling while Martin Jones continues to play at a high level (he has a .930 save percentage through two Cup Final games), this could easily become a best-of-three affair.
Josh Gold-Smith: The Sharks aren't finished after two games. They haven't even played at home yet.
The team has work to do, but they nearly stole Game 2 - and home-ice advantage - from the Penguins before Conor Sheary's overtime winner.
The Sharks have been outshot by an average of 35-24 in the first two games, and they took too long to overcome their Cup Final jitters in Game 1, but two one-goal losses on the road don't exactly spell doom for the club that eliminated the Los Angeles Kings, Nashville Predators, and St. Louis Blues in the previous rounds.
San Jose needs to get more production from its forwards, and can't rely on defensemen to generate such a large proportion of the team's scoring chances. If Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau, Joel Ward, and the rest of the group up front can get going, the Sharks will be right back in the series.
It's over
Sean O'Leary: Beaming with optimism after earning their first-ever trip to the Stanley Cup Final, the Sharks were considered by many to be the favorites heading into their matchup with the Penguins.
Two games in, however, it's a much different story.
Pittsburgh has stymied the San Jose offense that steamrolled the Kings, Predators, and Blues, all while exploiting the Sharks' defense with a ridiculously potent four lines.
Sidney Crosby is hungry (and not cheating), Evgeni Malkin is on the verge of erupting, and the "HBK" line is still rolling. Matt Murray has done his job and Kris Letang has anchored the blue line, which was supposed to be the Pens' Achilles' heel.
There's plenty of reason to believe the Sharks can extend the series, as their stars can't remain quiet forever, but the possibility of winning four of five against a Penguins team rolling like this simply isn't in the cards.
Navin Vaswani: Sorry, San Jose. We're done here.
Now, it pains me to write that, because while I don't have a horse in this race, I want to see Thornton win a Stanley Cup. He deserves it. He's earned it. But dreams often don't come true.
The Penguins lost four out of five twice this season. The first time: Dec. 14-21. Head coach Mike Sullivan was hired Dec. 12, and the Washington Capitals spoiled his debut two days later. The club lost Sullivan's first four games by a combined 15-4, but that was clearly Mike Johnston's fault.
The second time: Jan. 5-15, with three of the losses coming in overtime. Sullivan was still learning his club, the Penguins still learning his system.
Can a formidable team like the Sharks pull it off and win four of five? Of course. It's definitely premature to write them off before they play a game in San Jose. But the Pens simply look the part of a Stanley Cup winner - you have to admit that. And the Sharks don't.
The Penguins closed out the regular season with a 16-5 record dating back to March 1. One of those losses was on the last day of the regular season, when Pittsburgh rested Crosby and Letang, and played without an injured Geno. They're 14-6 in the playoffs, including 2-0 in elimination games. They've peaked. The Penguins will win their fourth Stanley Cup.
Ben Whyte: While the Sharks could certainly make the Stanley Cup Final more interesting with a Game 3 win, their fate in the series already looks to be sealed after they fell into an 0-2 hole.
The Sharks' top power-play unit may have dominated its way through the Western Conference, but the Penguins have taken away their opponent's greatest weapon with excellent discipline, allowing a man advantage only three times across two victories.
Also, since Sullivan began his tenure as coach with four straight losses in December, the Penguins have been near unbeatable, and are yet to lose back-to-back games in regulation in 2016.
No team has bounced back after losses better than Pittsburgh, and if the Pens continue to stay out of the box, it seems impossible for the Sharks to win four of the next five.
Brad Richards appears to be headed to his fourth NHL team in as many years.
The 36-year-old unrestricted free agent is coming off a pair of one-year contracts after being bought out by the New York Rangers in 2014, and while he was able to win a Stanley Cup in Chicago, his latest stop in Detroit wasn't quite as successful.
"It didn’t seem like we ever got firing on all cylinders, just probably wasn't a great fit for me," Richards told The Guardian's Jason Malloy of his time with the Red Wings.
Richards missed games early in the season due to a back injury, and finished 2015-16 with 10 goals and 18 assists in 68 regular-season games, with only one goal in five playoff appearances.
The two-time Cup winner and 2004 playoff MVP seems content with what he's achieved in the NHL, but isn't quite ready to call it a career.
"I want to look at free agency and see who calls and what opportunities are there, but I haven’t made my mind up with what I want to do yet," he said. "I’ve been fortunate to do a lot of great things in hockey, and hockey has been great to me. If it was time, I wouldn’t feel cheated, but I’m not there yet.
"It’s a young, fast game now. (But) with rest and proper training I still have a good year left in me."
While Nick Bonino is helping the Pittsburgh Penguins challenge for a Stanley Cup, the Vancouver Canucks are left wondering what could have been if the player he was traded for had played a full season.
In an interview on TSN 1040 in Vancouver on Thursday, Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins was asked about the deal that saw Bonino sent to Pittsburgh in exchange for Brandon Sutter, and he lamented an injury to the latter that limited him to only 20 games in 2015-16.
"The tough thing for us and for Brandon is he didn’t get to show what he could do last year," said Desjardins. "Everybody felt in our dressing room that if he's there then we're in the playoffs this year."
Desjardins added it's easy to question trades in hindsight, explaining the deal was made with a view to injecting speed into the lineup.
"I like Nick Bonino. I’ve always liked him. He’s a great guy, he moves the puck really well," Desjardins said. "(But) we had to find more speed in our lineup. We just had to.
"Nick’s one fault is he’s not quick. But when you put him with (Carl) Hagelin and (Phil) Kessel, then he's quick. They make up for his speed. It becomes a quick line. We didn’t have that luxury, so we went with a guy that’s a little quicker and we went with Brandon Sutter."
In the 20 games in which he appeared for the Canucks, Sutter recorded five goals, four assists, and 45 shots.
The Canucks finished the season with 75 points, good for 28th in the overall standings and 12 points behind the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
