A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Sidelined 4-6 weeks with a broken heart.
1. We all imagined this.
No division in the division.
“Can’t beat it on a Saturday night,” Canadien-turned-Leaf Max Domi told reporters Friday.
“It’s going to be a playoff-like game.”
Except the hate dream typically doesn’t posit a couple of mediocre hockey teams scraping for valuable points that may or may not contribute to a wild-card berth.
The Maple Leafs, regular-season kings of the division a few months ago, are a minus-5 in goal differential at the quarter mark and only a few days removed from a five-game losing skid that kicked up some local coaching change rumours.
The hot-start Canadiens suddenly can’t find a save and are mired in a five-game losing skid of their own. Their goal differential is minus-7.
And so, we have a very important hockey match under very bright lights between the team that thinks it’s ready to win a Cup and the team that thinks it’s ready to be more than a wild card.
Toronto and Montreal: evenly matched, with reason to leave it all out there.
And yet? Both arrive to the rink more banged up than Rick Allen’s right drum skin.
Discussing Saturday’s showdown with reporters, after updating the less-than-encouraging status of his six unavailable regulars, Leafs coach Craig Berube used the phrase “big game” four times.
But Leafs-Habs in 2025 is no clash of titans. It’s a battle for relevancy.
A contest for a couple of points that could well be integral to a post-season berth.
“One of my favourite buildings to play in,” William Nylander said, “so it’ll be a lot of fun.”
But it would be more fun if Toronto and Montreal had built on the promise they flexed last spring.
2. The jury is still out on Barry Trotz’s capabilities as a general manager, but the man is a heckuva coach.
Just don’t expect him to slide behind the bench of his struggling hockey team, Lou Lamoriello style.
Trotz told The Tennessean there is a “0.0 per cent chance” of naming himself coach of the Nashville Predators, a veteran group tracking a second straight trip to the draft lottery.
The GM also appeared on 102.5 The Game Thursday to endorse head coach Andrew Brunette and his staff, saying a change is not going to come.
“If I didn’t think the coaches were coaching and trying to make the players better,” Trotz said, “then I would make a change.
“Our record may not show it, but they are coaching their butts off.”
Last in the Central and fumbling around with a league-low four regulation wins, Nashville has been circled as the first franchise to post a for-sale sign.
So many decent teams are starving for talent that a willingness to retain salary on veterans — like Ryan O’Reilly, Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Brady Skjei or Juuse Saros — could have Trotz in the position to reap the benefits of bidding wars.
Publicly at least, Trotz is loath to wave the white flag so early, and he’ll need to stickhandle around trade protection and work with his vets if/when it’s time to cut bait.
But the Preds face too long a climb in the NHL’s toughest division. There’s only one logical way to go here.
“There’s a lot of noise out there, and a lot of it is coming from the media,” Trotz said. “Everything from Andrew Brunette to Filip Forsberg. He’s not going anywhere.”
3. Heading into Friday night’s action, we crunched some Divisional Power Rankings!
Number 1: Metropolitan (63 regulation wins, +44 goal differential) — Had this group slotted third heading into the season, but the Penguins and Islanders have been pleasant surprises and no one in the basement can be written off yet. No team is worse than minus-2.
Number 2: Central (65 regulation wins, +20 goal differential) —The Avalanche are a certified wagon. The Blackhawks are turning heads. The Jets and Stars remain legit. Problem is, the Blues and Predators are so disappointing, they drag down the pack.
Number 3: Atlantic (58 regulation wins, -27 goal differential) — No one is out of the race, but no one wants to win it, either. Only the champs have double digits in regulation wins (10), and only the Lightning have scored more goals than they’ve surrendered (four). Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Midlantic.
Number 4: Pacific (49 regulation wins, -32 goal differential) — Six of eight have a negative goal differential, and the division-leading Ducks feel like they’re enjoying too quick of an ascent to believe in. The softness of the Pacific makes the Oilers’ ghastly four regulation wins in 23 attempts all the more worrisome.
“Nothing matters. Nobody cares. We’re all gonna die.” — Calgary Flames goaltender Devin Cooley, revealing his internal mantra during game action to prevent him from getting too excited.
5. A 22-year-old Oliver Ekman-Larsson won Olympic silver with Team Sweden in Sochi, but his dreams of gold have only been deferred, not denied.
Knowing well the game is trying to speed him by, the 34-year-old Maple Leafs defenceman spent more time this summer working on his skating than he used to.
The off-season work has paid off.
For all the warts in Toronto’s end, Ekman-Larsson is seldom out of position. He’s engaged physically and is producing like he did in his prime.
In fact, no Swedish defenceman has more assists (13), points (15) or even-strength points (12). Ekman-Larsson’s contributions are all the more impressive when you realize that he’s mostly been relegated to PP2 duties.
The veteran is motivated by helping the Leafs and making his medal-contending national squad.
“You obviously think about it. We had this get-together this summer (with Swedish management), just talking, going over stuff. But, yeah, that’s one of the goals this year, too,” Ekman-Larsson tells me.
“It would be unbelievable to get a chance to play in the Olympics again. It was a long time ago, and it would be fun to be on that team. At the same time, you’re playing here, chipping in for your team here, it’s about a chance to be on that team. So, it’s like a win-win.
“I’m trying to just stay in a moment here and play good for the Leafs.”
“He’s been having a good year. Great with the puck. Good shot, quick release there. He’s been great,” says countryman Calle Järnkrok.
With Brandon Carlo injured, Morgan Rielly has partnered with OEL.
What does Rielly like about the partnership?
“Everything,” Rielly says. “He’s a great skater, good puck mover, sees the ice very well. It’s been really fun.”
The veteran Ekman-Larsson says he’s been “welcomed with an open heart” since joining the Leafs last season as a Cup winner and is always trying to help his teammates and pitch in with leadership despite the absence of a letter on his chest.
Drafted sixth overall in 2009 by a team that no longer exists, the defenceman reflects on how his training has needed to evolve to fit an accelerating league.
“I felt like you were supposed to be 200 pounds. It was more focused on being strong and big, because obviously the hockey was a little different. Now, (my training) is all into to being quick and being able to move more out on the ice. So, I’ve been working on that, and skating a lot more in the summer than what I did in the beginning of my career. So, I feel like I’ve been finding a good mix of everything.”
Team Sweden should find that, too.
Known for wielding an unusually whippy stick, Bedard changed from a 71 flex to a 77. He also shortened the shaft by two inches.
In his first two seasons, Bedard was getting cooked in the faceoff dot. He won only 38.9 per cent of his draws as a rookie. That fell to 38.3 per cent as a sophomore. Theories over whether the phenom might be better suited to the wing swirled.
This season, Bedard’s stiffer weapon has helped his win rate in the dot jump 10 per cent, to a respectable 48.6.
For the first time in his career, Bedard is crushing a point per game and is thriving on the plus side of the ledger.
“Looks like he's way more confident in his game, hanging on the pucks, using this shot, his deceptiveness, and just playing an all-around solid game,” observed Berube when the Leafs rolled through Bedard’s barn one week ago.
“Guy like that, with all that talent, was going to come around at some point.”
Canadian defenceman Drew Doughty is keeping tabs on the rapid acceleration of young countrymen Bedard and Macklin Celebrini.
“When you're younger, it’s a little different. You don’t think about things the way you do as you get older. When you’re younger, you’re just going out there, happy to be in the NHL, just playing,” Doughty says.
“As you get older, the leadership part comes in, the anxiety about playing well comes in, and things change. So, they’re out there playing freely. Obviously, they feel the pressure wanting to make that team, and they're playing awesome. So, good for them.”
7. Bedard pays close attention to Toronto’s top talent.
First, he mimicked Auston Matthews’s angle-shifting, pull-and-release wrist shot.
Lately, Bedard has been studying William Nylander’s edgework — the Swede’s unique ability to make plays under duress comes because his footwork allows balance with a defender on his hip or coming out of a sharp pivot.
“He’s one of the funnest players to watch in the league,” Bedard says. “You can learn a lot from just watching him.”
8. Doughty, 35, is signed through 2026-27 and is still pouring all his energy into a playing career that shows no signs of slowing.
But when the entertaining and outspoken defenceman was asked recently if he’d consider a second career in podcasting or analysis, he shook his head.
Doughty envisions himself closer to the game he loves. He’d rather get a job in coaching or management with a team.
9. Listen to Matthew and Brady Tkachuk’s podcast, Wingmen, yet?
Well, if you’re a fan of the Panthers or Senators, it’s hard to resist.
The injured brothers provide great — if unpolished — insight into what it’s like leading from the sidelines, and Brady goes so far as to reveal his target return date. He’s coming in hot off American Thanksgiving.
Brady says he can’t wait to be F1, like, the first four dump-ins. If you live in Ottawa, his enthusiasm is bound to fire you up.
Fellow players are paying attention. Like Team USA mate Zach Werenski.
“It’s great for the game. They obviously have the personalities for it. And being two brothers, I feel like they just feed off each other. And I think it just grows the game, gives the fans a different perspective,” Werenski says.
Podcasts by active star players exist in the NBA and NFL, but this is a first from NHLers on the level of the Tkachuks.
Werenski notes that the endeavour could be more difficult to schedule regularly once they start travelling and playing again.
“But I’m sure they've worked that out, and I think it’s great that players step into that world. Podcasting and streaming and all that stuff is so big right now, I feel like those two guys are going to be great at it,” Werenski says.
“You definitely don’t want to tell everything that goes on in the locker room. Obviously, some of that stuff is just for the guys. And you also don’t want to talk about other teams and what they're going through.
“If they have to cut something, they will.”
10. Werenski knows his stuff.
We asked the Norris finalist which of his Blue Jackets’ teammates is deserving of more shine.
He immediately shouted out the entire third line of Charlie Coyle, Cole Sillinger and Mathieu Olivier.
“They’ve been unbelievable for us,” Werenski said. “Olivier gets talked about for the fighting and all that stuff, but Silly and Coyle, they might not get talked about enough. They’ve been incredible, the way they shut down other teams’ top lines. They’ve been scoring goals for us. They’ve been dictating play when they're on the ice.
“It’s a tough job going against top lines every night and still trying to create offence.”
Columbus’s Sillinger–Coyle–Olivier unit is outscoring opponents 13-6 this season.
11. Not sure they had much choice, but good on the L.A. Kings for extending top scorer Adrian Kempe and the Winnipeg Jets for re-upping captain Adam Lowry at reasonable rates, as the 2026 UFA class continues to dwindle.
The major question in Manitoba now centres around goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who surely chose to time his minor surgery around Olympic participation. We won’t blame the guy for that.
But the Jets (our pre-season Cup pick) have some alarming underlying metrics that the Hart Trophy workhorse has been masking.
At the time of Hellebuyck’s announcement, Winnipeg rates a surprising 32nd in expected goal share.
The goalie is tied for sixth in wins (eight) and ranks third in goals saved above expected (12.5).
Subtract Hellebuyck until January, and where are the Jets when he returns?
12. Troy Stecher has impressed instantly in Toronto, the seventh stop on the right-shot defenceman’s NHL tour.
The team appears blown away by his comfortability and nonchalance walking into a franchise where he hardly knew anyone.
Stecher isn’t overthinking life. He’s just trying hard.
“Sometimes less is more, you know?” he says. “Just go out there and play. Trust your strengths.”
We’ve spoken with (usually younger) players who stress over foreign systems and pleasing new coaches.
Not Stecher. He acts like he’s been there, done that.
“Do you play a 1-2-2 or 1-3-1 or 2-3? Either pinch or you don’t,” he shrugs. “So, it’s pretty simple, honestly, when you get into the game action.”
