Sudden thoughts and second thoughts.
Those words are not mine. They are borrowed from one of my favourite sports columnists, the award-winning Bill Lyon, who wrote for the Philadelphia Inquirer for 33 years. The beauty of a column about random thoughts is the number of topics that can be included, and the feeling that conversation has been spurred.
My hockey head is very crowded these days — NHL trade deadline looming, playoff pictures forming — and I can’t focus on just one thing. There are too many topics.
- Did refereeing get bad all of a sudden? Like just this past week? Controversial late-game calls, or non-calls, in Edmonton, Toronto, and a heated exchange between the team captain and the men in stripes in Colorado had everyone’s radar up. This isn’t new; it’s age-old. But the calls went against the home team. And the officiating didn’t get worse, the referees had a couple of tough calls. We’re reminded that they’re human too. It happens.
- Michael Bunting has been the perfect fit on the top line in Toronto, complementing the league’s leading goal scorer, Auston Matthews, and the electric Mitch Marner perfectly. It all works because he’s the exact opposite of what they are. The 26-year-old long shot, who had played 26 NHL games before this season, become a constant pain to the opposition, both with his play and his presence.
- Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe and his staff have tough goaltending decisions to address, and they won’t be made easier with an outdoor game in Hamilton on Sunday. Beleaguered Petr Mrázek will get the start after being pulled four shaky goals and 32 minutes into his last start against Arizona. The issue becomes whether a fair assessment is even possible in an unusual outdoor venue.
- Does anyone in the NHL, outside of maybe a half-dozen teams led by Tampa Bay, love their goaltending situation? Goaltending is always a critical playoff component, and there have never been so many questions about the position. The looming trade deadline doesn’t help, as fans know after that point they’re stuck with what they have.
- On the goaltending (or lack of it) front, last week saw a flashback to the high-scoring 1980s — with 10-7, 8-5, 8-4 and 9-2 scores leading the charge. Coaches panic, fans are entertained. We laud the ’80s as a great era in hockey history, yet somehow want to be better and play low-scoring games. Is defence really better than offence?
- I asked our good friends at Sportlogiq if the compression of games thrust on the players has had a fatigue effect on defensive play, and they’re digging. Just watching a team play five games in seven days is tiring, and if a tired player has his choice between scoring or defending I think we know what most would choose.
- Florida’s surge to an elite level has seen GM Bill Zito get a lot of well-deserved credit for adding a number of critical pieces, but one can’t overlook the work of interim coach Andrew Brunette. Seamlessly taking over from Joel Quenneville under challenging circumstances, the first-time NHL head coach has excelled. He also looks like he’s having fun doing it.
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- Vegas’s first visit to Buffalo with superstar Jack Eichel produced an entertaining post-game clip when the former Sabre drew attention to the vociferous reception — not all positive — that he received. What was missed was another Vegas loss, leaving the Golden Knights on the lower edge of the playoff picture, far from their expected seat at the top of the West. A first playoff miss would rattle a franchise that has been stellar since day one.
- Ottawa’s core group continues to develop, as a healthy Josh Norris has loudly stepped into the lineup with six points in his first four games back. One of the pieces acquired in the Erik Karlsson trade, Norris looks like a legitimate No. 1 centre and joins Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stützle (a pick also acquired in the Karlsson deal), Thomas Chabot and Drake Batherson to give Senators fans a lot of hope. With Shane Pinto and Jake Sanderson on the horizon, and key veterans such as Connor Brown mentoring professionalism, Ottawa will be a pain to play against down the stretch.
- With the trade deadline a little over a week away, it’s been eerily quiet. That will change. It’s a market and it will find its level. Teams will seek the next Blake Coleman or Barclay Goodrow. Tampa Bay found them, paid the price and went on to win two Stanley Cups. The temptation to find the perfect missing piece is too great. There is a balance of teams clearly in and teams clearly out, with the middle group of maybes leading the way.
It’s a daunting task to write a style column patterned after a legend. Sudden thoughts and second thoughts. I hope Bill Lyon is smiling.
Dave Poulin is a former NHL player, executive and TSN hockey analyst based in Toronto. He is a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @djpoulin20
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This article was originally published by Thestar.com. Read the original article here.