Around hockey: Canucks giving Canadiens a boost, more teams allow fans
Here at Pucks In Depth, we're just wondering how tough the Atlantic Division would be, given Toronto and Montreal are first and second in the North, Boston is leading the East and Florida is keeping pace with Tampa Bay in the Central. It would be very tough to be Buffalo, Detroit and Ottawa. But it always is, I guess.
But maybe that's saying too much for Montreal. At this point we know the Canadiens are better than the Vancouver Canucks. After that? They've got four wins against Vancouver, and four combined against the rest of the division.
> Black Lives Matter: This being Black History Month, a few local organizations put themselves out there as vehicles to promote diversity in hockey. Scotiabank, which is hockey's biggest banking sponsor, aligned itself with the player-founded Hockey Diversity Alliance. Scotiabank said it would use its influence to “change the face and culture of the game at all levels.”
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment has been promoting inclusivity and diversity through
its MLSE Foundation, hoping to raise $30 million over four years. The money mostly goes toward the redevelopment of recreational facilities for youth, like rinks, gyms and fields. MLSE says its focus will be on Black and Indigenous youth.
> Bennett talk: Calgary's Sam Bennett would look terrific in a Leafs uniform, and it's easy to see the pieces that would have to go back and forth. But the issue is Bennett's contract. If it's Travis Dermott, the Flames would have to eat some of Bennett's $2.55-million (U.S.) contract. Maybe it's Alex Kerfoot ($3.5 million). The common denominator: Any or all
could end up as Seattle Kraken expansion fodder.
> In case you missed it: Justin Holl is starting to look like a brown-haired Thor. Loved his answer earlier this week about his 'do. “It was a quarantine thing. I was growing it out last year. It takes so long to grow out, I put a year of work into it. Then you can't cut it after that. So I decided to keep it going. At this point, it's kind of out of control. I have no idea what I'm doing with it. It's a work in progress.”
William Nylander says he just cut his hair, but might let it grow to match Holl. “There are a couple of Swedes out there with long hair. We'll see.”
> COVID count: With Jesse Puljujarvi added Thursday, the NHL has 52 players across 10 teams on the current COVID protocol list. It does not mean they've all tested positive. Puljujarvi is the third Oiler since Jan. 13 to go on the list. The Jets (three) and Canucks (two) are the other Canadian teams that have had players on the list.
> Welcome back: If it's allowed, it's allowed. But it's hard to feel good that more NHL teams — Columbus, the New York Rangers and Islanders — are starting to allow fans in the game, even if limited to 10 per cent of their arena's capacity. I want to feel good about this. I want to feel that it's a sign that we're nearing the end of the coronavirus pandemic.
But the NHL itself feels pretty hard hit by the virus. More than 100 players have been put on protocols. More than 40 games have been postponed. And now the virus is affecting the teams that are involved in what should be the league's signature regular-season event, the outdoor weekend at Lake Tahoe.
There won't be any fans but the Colorado Avalanche are supposed to play the Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 20 while the Boston Bruins are supposed to play the Philadelphia Flyers on Feb. 21.
The rink is set up on the 18th fairway at the Edgewood Tahoe Resort, near the CaliforniaNevada border.
“This is truly an outdoor game,” said Derek King, the NHL's senior manager of facilities operations. “All the games we've done in the past were inside a facility, whether it was a football stadium or a baseball stadium. Here, we're in the outdoors, on the 18th fairway of a golf course. There's really nothing here. There's no infrastructure. It's been a unique build for us.” á Stats and facts: The Coyotes are set to begin an 11-game homestand, which would become the longest in franchise history and just the third of at least that length in NHL history … Jonathan Huberdeau is the first player in Panthers history with 300 assists … The Senators on Tuesday became the first team in three years to hold both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl off the scoresheet and still lose.