Last week’s hottest topic in the NHL was definitely the Toronto star by William Nylander an eight-year extension contract with the club. The new contract guarantees Nylander an annual income of 11.5 million dollars and is the most expensive in Leafs club history. It could even be considered deserved, in such a wonderful way Nylander has risen to the elite of his playing field.
– Did Toronto have any other option when you look at how Nylander runs their offensive game, ‘s hockey expert Ismo Lehkonen start.
– If you think that someone had to be let out of that tough quartet of four top players, it wasn’t Nylander. He can do one-on-one or two-on-one things and misses opponents near the wings. Nylander can do absolutely extraordinary things with the puck, Lehkonen praises.
Another discussion in the case of Toronto is related to the construction of the whole. With Nylander’s new contract, the Maple Leafs have put four top forwards by Auston Matthews, by John Tavares, Mitch Marner’s and more than 47 million bucks for Nylander’s contracts next season. When the salary cap rises to around 87 million, that’s quite a slice.
Next season, the team will be missing five forwards, five defenders and both goalkeepers. How do you find a championship-level balance behind the hard tip with the remaining dollars?
– Not at all. Now we come to the art form of GM work, where can you find defenders in their thirties who can play through series of matches. Or let’s start with the fact that they don’t even have a goalkeeper. For this season, they wanted sandpaper in the background and now they don’t dare play with those guys for even ten minutes, Lehkonen laughs.
Lehkonen is inclined to make tough decisions if Toronto is going to truly fight for the championship.
– Here and now it should be fine. This is not the kind of project that a year or two ago. When you look at the competition, what kind of an ensemble Florida or Vegas have. For example, what could you get for Mitch Marner on the market? That would be quite a catch, but it should be scooped up now and not wait another two years.
Who surprised?
Canadians. Now NHL stocks are worth north of the border. Since the beginning of December, Winnipeg has the best winning percentage in the NHL, Edmonton second, Vancouver third and Toronto eighth. Of course, Edmonton and Toronto were expected to be at the top, but Winnipeg and Vancouver are the big surprises of the first half of the season.
Noste is really interesting because of its history, because the Holy Grail, named after Lord Stanley, last visited the country of the sport in the summer of 1993.
– Winnipeg is a great story. Their four chain rotation works great and the team defends really well. There is good coaching and leadership in the players, and at the same time suitably young legs. The Jets are playing great hockey. Players are not let off easy in Vancouver. There, the new coach has raised the standard to a new level, says Lehkonen.
Edmonton’s sky is probably the most interesting. After a miserable start that even led to the firing of the coach, the team has played under the new coach with a winning record of 16–7–0. Below is currently on an eight game winning streak. Are the Oilers really challenging for the Stanley Cup?
– Coach To Paul Coffey Hats off, because that team now defends in a completely different way. The playing is also more even and from there the support from the background now comes to the tip. The team has lost to the champion in two spring seasons and has experienced a lot anyway, maybe it has grown.
Can the Canadians be taken seriously even in the spring?
– If I had to choose one of these for the spring, I would choose Edmonton. There is now a good four chain rotation and the defenders are also playing well now. Goalkeepers look good when the boys have closed the hatches, Lehkonen decides about the Canadian teams.
Who flopped?
Los Angeles and Vegas, the top teams in the West, have become the flops of recent times. The reigning champion Vegas, who lost 0–3 in Colorado on Thursday morning, is the NHL’s third weakest team after mid-December with a 3–8–0 record. The Kings have won four of their previous eleven games.
– Vegas does not surprise in any way. They are now at a stage where they want to ski a bit. In that series, taking your foot off the gas always leads to a more difficult episode. Los Angeles is more interesting. I don’t know what happened there. All the freshness of playing is missing there now, Lehkonen is amazed.
Lehkonen throws out an interesting theory about Los Angeles.
– There are still players who play well, but could it be that the pecking order is now being sought in the hard middle lane.
It’s not a completely out of the blue idea, because it was acquired with great fanfare from, for example, Winnipeg Pierre-Luc Dubois is drifting into a really difficult situation. The ice times have decreased significantly and the player’s body language or enthusiasm does not promise anything better.
Goal of the week
We pick the Tampa Bay Lightning as the goal of the week by Brandon Hagel a handsome and game-important solo in the match against Los Angeles.
– Interesting, good player. I call him the centipede. You never know what will happen when he goes and presses. It always hurts and happens. Hagel has been a very positive player for Tampa, Lehkonen praises.
What next?
The interesting ones to watch in the coming days and weeks definitely include the one who returned to the rinks on the AHL side Jesse Puljujärvi. After major hip surgery and long rehabilitation, the native of Tornio, who has returned to real action with Pittsburgh’s AHL team, is doing everything he can to turn a try-out contract at the farm into an NHL deal.
Lehkonen hopes that both the player and the audience set their expectations in moderation.
– People must remember how big an operation he has been through. Now you have to put on the brakes a little and let the boy enjoy his health and playing. Personally, I would say that this is the work of a year and a half to return to what he was at his best. My eyes are purely on him only in the next season, Lehkonen points out.
Lehkonen gives his blessing to a moderate start on the AHL side.
– Smart move and in that sense Pittsburgh was a good club for him. They know how to handle these things smartly. It’s good that Jesse gets to jump certain things at the bottom, so that he can possibly go up after getting to do the things required by coaching again.
A new episode of the Ikan änäri podcast is published every Thursday. You can find all the episodes at this link.