Everybody freeze!

The Olympics are rolling around again, and for the second Games in a row, Russia is non grata, and will not be competing in Milan for the hockey medals. Check back in 4 years, and Canada and Scandinavia might be the only teams still allowed in!

One group that might be particularly excited about the Olympics? TSN gets to have another special ahead of a trade deadline. It isn't a formal deadline, of course, but there is a roster freeze ahead of the Olympic break, and many teams will be interested in altering their roster ever so slightly to gear up for the final postseason push. There will be a sprint after the Games before the real deadline is on March 6th.

While there is an emphasis on the roster freeze, I'm not sure why. A player won't be with the team, practicing with the team for the full stretch of the Games. Why not wait until after the Games to make a more considered move? The only real concern is another team getting your guy before you are ready to move, but how is that different from the rest of the lead up to the real deadline?

I do know that one team is not looking forward to the freeze, and particularly the break afterwards. The Colorado Avalanche are one of the best teams in NHL history, having dropped only 5 games all season, which is crazy. One has to think there will be some disruption when all of their players are playing for another team, and apart for the better part of February when they are in the midst of the campaign. They gotta wish the season kept going.

Oh, and the Avs are the best team in the league, but they are being chased the next two best teams out West, the Wild and the Stars. The Wild would have enough points to lead two of the other three divisions in the League, and is only a point behind the Hurricanes for 2nd in the NHL. 

Yeah, the Avs might not be interested in the roster freeze for making a trade, and might wish the break wasn't happening, not just because of the broken rhythm for their organization. The Wild, for one, has already traded for Quinn Hughes in one of the biggest in season trades the League has seen. The Stars aren't shy about making moves in season either. The Avs might not make moves, but the Wild and Stars are going to take every advantage of the roster shuffling that is incoming.

And now St. Louis is cursed

 

The St. Louis Blues have long been one of the most under achieving franchises in the NHL. Their playoff ineptitude was the stuff of legend for many years, until in 2019, they had a breakthrough. They beat the Boston Bruins for a cathartic championship for a city that has been loyal for so long, even in the face of relentless heartbreak.

But now, the Blues are back to where they had always been. A franchise where shit like this happens. 

Total Eclipse of the Splash

 

We see athletes chomping on mouth guards all the time. They are kind of uncomfortable, so flipping them off your teeth and gnawing on them, but I am concerned that Mark Scheifele hasn't gotten out enough in Winnipeg. Despite being precariously close to North Dakota, the city has both a thriving indigenous AND immigrant community, suggesting that there are options for really good food around town (I've never been). If he were a little bit further south, though, I would say yes, absolutely, your mouthguard is probably more flavorful than anything you might eat in town. 

Total Eclipse of the Splash

 

Oooh, commemorative ticket! The next best thing to actual tickets! 

Zdeno Chara gets his Hall of Fame jacket

 

Total Eclipse of the Splash

 

It was a big deal when the Predators picked up Stamkos, but when did Sidney Crosby go to Nashville?

A Mammoth overreaction

 The season is still under a month old, and we are seeing some interesting things in he standings. If you are ESPN or TSN only, you might know that the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins are off to hot starts. This is a bit unexpected, certainly, but even when bad, the Canadiens and Penguins aren't going to fall out of the limelight. Their return to relevance, at least to start the year, is known by all.

We start to get a little funky out west. It is strange to see the Kraken in the top three of the Pacific, but not altogether bothersome. After all, they sit below Golden Knights, who are the benchmark of teams that forned and were shot out of a cannon. It's still stranger, I would say, than seeing the Canadiens on top out east. 

The big winner for strangely strong starts in the traditional sense belongs to the Utah Mammoth. Yes, this is the first year of the Mammoth, but I just noted that it isn't strange any longer for new teams to ascend to the top of the heap right out of the gate. But this isn't just any new team. This is the rebrand of the Arizona Coyotes. 

The Mammoth aren't exactly full of ne players to the organization, either. The leading scorer of that last team in Arizona, Clayton Keller, is no the captain for the Mammoth. Karel Vejmelka, the goalie, was the back up at Mullet Arena. Now, he is between the pipes most nights in Salt Lake City. 

The team has reaped what was sowed in Arizona. They are young, and years of high draft picks are finally paying off for fans in a new market. This is the lesson in patience that has paid off for the Florida Panthers, who were terrible for so long , learned and embraced. Maybe the Utah Mammoth have always been on the long term plan.

Or maybe playing in the Phoenix suburbs is just that depressing, that even a move to play in Salt Lake City is an inspiration. If that's the case, it's a strategy that will be pretty hard to replicate.