Matthews and Nylander debut together on 3rd line

The Leafs future looked impressive last night as we got to see some future and immediate young talent on display.

Hyman/Matthews/Nylander

Brown

Marner

Gauthier

and Zaitsev on D.

And Morgan Rielly continues to impress.  His confidence with the puck has gone to a new level since his time in the World Cup.

WCOH Trophy gets a reboot

Here it is...

Referenced article:  http://www.tsn.ca/world-cup-of-hockey-trophy-gets-facelift-1.574820

Russia fights to stay alive, while USA show that theybhave work to do

Great article here by ESPN writer Scott Burnside.

http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/17614950

I has a great time this past Thursday as I was there for both games. Watching Russia vs Finland was a treat to watch as I was 5 rows above the Finnish goal to watch Ovie setup for one timers!

That was a great game to watch as Russia showed great effort to not become irrelevant like Team USA in this tournament and on the world stage. In fact, if Russia did lose, it would have been another wasted effort with the talent they have.

And then there was the second game. USA vs Czech Republic. All I can say is with a late power play opportunity, down by one in the third period - Big Buff was on the bench!?

Such a shame since he was the best player for them and showed all night what Torteralla and the management team wanted (or thought they had) from the team. However you had Niskanen, and Jack Johnson at the point. At least put the Big Buff in front of the net.

But the game ended and frustrations came out in an end of game skirmish.

Canada dominates Team Europe

Canada secures top seed in Group A with convincing win over Europe http://www.thescore.com//news/1107609 (via http://thesco.re/theScore_app )

Canada crushes US and eliminates them from the tournament

All I can say is they built a non skilled team that could not come close in any aspect of the game.

Forwards showed no skill or creativity to make plays or possess the puck for any period of time. 

They could have used Tyler Johnson, Phil Kessel, Kyle Okposo, or Paul Stastny. All skilled and can score.  Granted Phil was injured but was rejected prior to that.

And then there is the defence. Ryan McDonagh was the best defenseman first the team. They could have used Shattenkirk, Fowler, or Faulk from Carolina.  So many no shows tonight in terms of effort.

Or, maybe we're just that good though. Go Canada Go.

Gotta See It: ACC explodes after McDavid-to-Matthews goal

Hopefully the ACC and Leafs fans will see a lot more of this from Matthews.

Traditional hockey powers finding themselves in an early hole...

USA, Russia, and Finland find themselves in a lot of pressure after their opening games at the world cup.  

After a disappointing loss to Sweden, Russia will be in tough against the surprising Team NA tonight. If NA beats Russia, they have to be taken as serious contenders to win the tournament.

Up next for USA is team Canada.  This will be an all out war since the management team built the team to beat Canada.  Unfortunately, based on the 3-0 loss to Europe, it seems the forgot about the rest of the competition.  I think Europe has taken up the challenge to show the world of hockey that they are not some glorified shinny team.  I had Canada and USA making it through, but I think Europe might be on a mission to take that #2 spot.

Imagine a Europe vs NA final....that would be amazing to see!  A true shocker.

The jerseys of the WCOH 2016

The modernized designs are sharp and simplistic.

The return of the World Cup of Hockey/Predicitons

I for one have genuinely missed the classic best on best tournament.  My earliest memories as a child is the '87 Canada Cup and the famous series winner scored by the Mario Lemieux on a setup by Wayne Gretzky.

Now it's back with an interesting twist.  Two original teams not ties to any nation - the under 23 North American team and Team Europe.  Both are interesting in their own right.

I think Team Europe has looked slow and out of place, while NA looks super-fast and ready to show the world how talented they are to complete against the veterans.

Here are my predictions for the WCOH:

Group A

1. CAN
2. USA
3. CZECH
4. EUR

Group B

1. SWE
2. RUS
3. NA
4. FIN

Elimination Round

1. CAN vs 2. RUS
1. SWE vs 2. USA

Final

CAN vs USA - CAN in 3

God help Markov if he gets traded to Edmonton

Report: Oilers have tabled offer for Canadiens' Andrei Markov http://beta.thescore.com/news/444653

Kessler trade not likely at deadline. Too costly at this point for most teams.

Report: Price tag set on Ryan Kesler http://beta.thescore.com/news/444669

The future of International Hockey Competitions...Is a Champions League finally here?

With the 2014 Sochi Olympics likely to be the last for the NHL, There is finally some though in re-establishing the World Cup of Hockey and a Champions League to determine the best club team in the world.

Here are my thoughts on the following competitions.

Olympic Hockey:

If the Olympics were to stay on the NHL's radar, I think the pro-leagues should follow soccer and only send  players that are under a certain age i.e. 24 and maybe have only 4 veterans i.e. 28+.  This could help balance the quality of play and may see some very interesting results.

World Cup of Hockey:

I think this tournament is long overdue in making a comeback.  I was never really a fan of the Olympics because professional players take all the limelight from the amateur athletes and other sports.  Ideally, I think the World Cup of hockey should be the NHL's main focus for international competition.  Again, look at what works i.e. FIFA

Champions League of Hockey:

 

Of the 3 main tournaments, this one excites me the most.  It's LONG OVERDUE and will definitely grow the game in Europe for the NHL and the European leagues.  I'm sure the logistics and timing of when this tournament happens is the biggest hurdle.  Not to mention, no league wants there clubs to look inferior.  But talks have begun, and it is the only way to make the NHL grow in European markets.

Lets look at the following scenarios:

Option A.
Based on last year, we can have the following teams in the tournament (I randomly picked the European champs, teams were selected for illustration purposes)

NHL - Chicago Black Hawks
KHL - CSKA MOSCOW
Swedish Elite League - Modo
SM -  Liiga (Finish Elite League) - Jokerit
Czech ExtraLiga - HC Skoda
Swiss National League - HC Davos
DEL (German) - Hamburg
EEL (English Elite League) - Nottingham

• Take champions from the 8 leagues from previous year championships. 
• The tournament starts in preseason (September) and ends on December 31st.
• Each team plays each other once between September and November
• Playoffs is 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, etc... with 1 game knockout format in December
• Final would be best of 3 ending on December 31st.  Or maybe even a 1 game final - "Champions Day"

Option B.
Since no one wants to see their champs lose to "inferior" leagues best, then:

• Each league can run an internal tournament amongst their semi finalists from the previous year and the team with the best record of the 4 is champions league bound.
• i.e.  take from the NHL Chicago, LA, Boston, and Pittsburgh
• The 4 teams play each other 2 times during the regular season and the team with the best record qualifies to the Champions League Tournament and would follow the format as in Option A (in this example with Pittsburgh qualifying). 
• This internal mini tournament could also occur for the other leagues to preserve their stature.