Around hockey: Spezza learns to live with less rink time, North Division a hit
This feels like more COVID in Depth than Pucks in Depth, but Maple Leafs veteran Jason Spezza was able to add some levity this week.
The noted rink rat, who would live in Scotiabank Arena if he could, scored his first hat trick in five years under the new NHL protocol that further limits the amount of time players can spend at the rink and with each other.
“Yeah, I get here pretty early. So the guys are giving me a hard time, saying I’ve been doing it wrong all these years,” Spezza said after Thursday night’s game against the Vancouver Canucks.
“You roll with the punches. We talked about it at the start of the year, though, how there’s going to be changes, there’s going to be adapting. When they change protocols, it definitely keeps you guessing a little bit, but we adapted.” á View North: The North Division is a smash hit. Sportsnet tells me hockey viewership is up year-over-year through the first three weeks of the season. This includes “Hockey Night in Canada,” which is up two per cent for the Eastern time slot and 22 per cent for the West game. (It will certainly help the West time slot to get a steady dose of Montreal Canadiens and Maple Leafs all year.) Sportsnet also says Wednesday night viewership is up 39 per cent so far. I asked TSN for their ratings. I guess they had other things to do this week. Hey Bell, let’s talk about the people you laid off. Could be pretty grim around TSN for a while. á Worth asking: The Leafs have beaten every team in the North at least once through 11 games. How long will it take the Ottawa Senators to beat all the other teams at least once? á Worth repeating: “You’ll do your deep dives and your analytics and, boy, do they do a horse---- job of telling you what five guys do.” — Jets coach Paul Maurice á Worth wondering: If there’s any year in which coaches have job security, it’s one where owners have less revenue to support paying two guys to do one job. That is, this year. Still, someone is going to get the axe, and you’ve got to start wondering if the first one will be Jeff
Blashill in Detroit. The Red Wings are 2-6-2 and on their way to their fifth straight season out of the playoffs. They really haven’t made much by way of progress. That, of course, is largely on the GM, but Steve Yzerman isn’t going to take any blame. So if Blashill goes, who’d replace him. Maybe the guy he replaced? What a return that could be for Mike Babcock. á Worth answering the door: A fan in Vegas won an autographed Marc-André Fleury jersey at a COVID relief fundraiser. Fleury decided to drop the jersey off himself and rang the doorbell. No one answered. He left the package and walked away. The fan, Megan Campbell, later posted security video of Fleury waiting on the driveway for about 30 seconds. “I looked to see who it was on my doorbell (camera) but didn’t recognize Fleury,” she told NHL.com. “The jersey was in a bag, so I couldn’t see what he was holding. I genuinely thought it was a salesman.” á In brief: It was a true shame that the National Women’s Hockey League season did not finish on time. They may still finish. The Toronto Six were looking good …There’s talk the OHL Priority Selection draft will be pushed back to August … The world under-18 hockey championship remains scheduled for April 15 to 25 in Plymouth and Ann Arbor, Mich. Those dates could end up being in the heart of the OHL and WHL seasons … Hockey Canada cancelled most of its spring national club championships, including the Allan Cup (men’s senior hockey), Esso Cup (women’s under-18), Telus Cup (men’s under-18) and Centennial Cup (junior A) because of the pandemic ... The Philadelphia Flyers say they spent $11 million (U.S.) upgrading the HVAC system at the Wells Fargo Center. The team says it will now completely filter the entire arena bowl air every 30 minutes. á Feeling safe: I guess I feel lucky that the media covering the Maple Leafs are now subject to rapid testing prior to entering Scotiabank Arena. We have all worn masks and kept our distance from each other, of course. But now, as part of this pilot project that MLSE and other Toronto companies are part of, anyone entering the rink is tested. If you fail — results are known in 15 minutes — you’ll get the more accurate PCR test that takes a day or so to process. No one failed Thursday. I felt quite relieved that I was in a building where we had all passed a COVID test.