He's a real card: Collectable Jet's rookie card earns P1 pricing

Transcription

1 Winnipeg Free Press He's a real card: Collectable Jet's rookie card earns P1 pricing By: Bill Redekop The price tag on Winnipeg Jet Patrik Laine's rookie card is soaring faster than the prized goal scorer's laser beam shot. Winnipeg sports card shops are reporting Laine's rookie card has sold for as much as $265 since its release last week. It didn't hurt that Laine scored a hat trick -- three goals in a single game -- the day before the release. You can't beat that kind of self-promotion, said card shop owners. "New people are coming into the store. Former collectors are getting back into the hobby. It's just phenomenal," said Mike Bergmann, of Lower Level Sports Cards on Henderson Highway, which just had its busiest weekend since opening five years ago. Some hobby shops are already sold out of Series II hobby boxes, and distributors have increased prices by 40 per cent for additional stock sold to stores, he said. Bergmann has been staying open past normal closing time to accommodate the customers. "On Friday, I didn't eat my lunch until 5 o'clock," he said. Fans have been jamming into local card shops in hopes they'll land Laine's rookie edition in a pack of Upper Deck Series II hockey cards. Rookie cards typically have the most value in a player's career. "The excitement for Laine is crazy," said Kyle Franklin, of Superstars Sports Collectibles on Portage Avenue. The hockey card market is perhaps hottest in Winnipeg and Toronto, where the hockey teams have been loading up on young potential stars. The Jets have a slew of great-looking rookies available in Upper Deck cards this year, including defenceman Josh Morrissey and forward Kyle Connor in Series I, and Chase De Leo, Brandon Tanev and Laine in Series II. As well, Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers are young stars on the rise. "It's a great year for hockey cards in this city," Franklin said. Great demand is a nice problem to have for sports card shop owners. The hockey card market hasn't been exactly booming in recent years, partly due to the lack of new generational stars, and partly because defensive hockey had taken over the game. The last big surge in hockey card interest was when superstars Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin entered the league together.

2 Then along came superstar Connor McDavid with the Edmonton Oilers last year. His rookie card is going for $250, and climbing. This year it's Laine, and Toronto Maple Leaf rookies Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. "I don't know where the card industry would be if you took out McDavid, Matthews and Laine," said Bergmann. The dilemma for people wanting a Laine rookie card is do they buy packs and hope to land the budding superstar, or do they just lay down the money to buy the Laine card off someone else? There's more fun to buying packs and ripping them open. Statistically, however, a person might have to open almost nine boxes at $100 each to find Laine's card. There are 24 packs, with eight cards each, per box. There are guaranteed to be six Young Guns rookie cards per box, out of 50 rookies in Series II. The price tag on Laine's card is all over the map right now because it's only just been released. Card shop owners expect the price will settle somewhere between $150 - $200. Laine vs. Matthews: whose card is more valuable? How does Laine stack up next to the card of the other vaunted rookie, Auston Matthews, of the Toronto Maple Leafs? Matthews was NHL's first pick in last summer's entry level draft, while Laine was chosen No. 2. The two rookie sensations played against each other in Toronto on Tuesday night. Laine scored two goals while Matthews had three assists. The rookie card for Matthews has been around longer, released in November as part of Upper Deck's Series I. Bergmann said he heard a Matthews card sell for as much as $400 when it first hit the market, but is now down to about $200. Matthews plays in the bigger hockey-mad city and Canadian media centre of Toronto. Winnipeg is the NHL's smallest market. The card for Mitch Marner, another Leaf rookie, is selling in the $150-$200 range. "The guys who can score really drive the card market," Bergmann said. Of course, it also helps that Winnipeg has an NHL team again, and one with a great-looking future. Has it ever been so busy for some sports card shops? "I've been around 27 years," said Mike Gogal, of Sports Card Connection on Ste. Anne's Road. "I can honestly say no. Everyone's been waiting for Laine's card to come out." Budding goaltending prospect getting his feet wet with Moose

3 Phillips happy to serve in any role team needs him By: Mike McIntyre It s not supposed to be this easy. But goalie Jamie Phillips certainly made it look that way as he made the jump from college hockey last fall and immediately rattled off 10 straight wins to begin his professional career. Granted, the 2012 seventh-round draft pick of the Winnipeg Jets was in net for the Tulsa Oilers of the ECHL, a full two levels below the NHL. But it was still an impressive showing that quickly opened some eyes and earned him an invite to be the starting goalie in the league s all-star game last month. "Any time a team can start off really hot, you can t really beat that," Phillips, 23, said this week. "Any time you re an all-star, no matter what level hockey or sport you play, it s a good achievement." Phillips is now hoping to make a similar strong impression after being promoted to the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League. A spot opened up for him in mid-january when the Jets called up Ondrej Pavelec from the Moose and decided to go with a three-goaltender system for the foreseeable future. In the nearly five weeks since he arrived in Winnipeg, Phillips has made just two appearances in the Moose net. He gave up five goals in his only start, a 5-4 loss to the San Jose Barracuda, on Feb. 4. A few games later, Phillips came in for a period of mop-up duty after starter Eric Comrie was pulled. The organization is clearly trying to break Phillips in slowly, especially on a Moose team that has struggled of late and often leaves its netminder hung out to dry. Plus, Comrie has handled the increased workload well, with occasional flashes of brilliance. That s relegated Phillips to backup duty. And while it may be a cliché, Phillips says he s just happy to be here. "Whatever my role is, obviously only one goalie can play every night. If my role is to start, I ll play the best I can. If my role is to support Eric, I ll just go do that, just make sure guys are happy, take extra shots after practice," said Phillips, who was born in Caledonia, Ont. Phillips had a stellar four years playing college hockey with Michigan Tech. He set several records, including most shutouts in school history. He was also nominated for the most outstanding goaltender award in the NCAA following his season. He then had a strong first training camp with the Jets last fall, but was sent to the ECHL with Comrie and Pavelec ahead of him on the organizational depth chart and occupying the Moose net. "My personal expectations were to play as many games as I could and play as well as I could. Simple as that. I didn t really know what to expect, where I was going to be, if it would be the AHL or the East Coast. Obviously, I got sent down right away and so I just tried to do my best,

4 play well and work my way back up," Phillips said. "I definitely knew (the ECHL) was a possibility. It s not what I wanted, obviously. But it is what it is. I think that really helped a lot in my development." And so he waits for the next chance to try and prove he can play at this level, with the hopes of eventually working his way into the Jets goaltending discussion. "Obviously, the play (in the AHL) is different, the game s a little different. But it s just about getting opportunities and playing your role as best you can," he said. "Obviously, in Canada, in Winnipeg, they re Jets crazy. It s a good place to play hockey, that s where you want to be." Scoring woes continue to plague Manitoba By: Mike McIntyre When goals are hard to come by as they ve been lately for the Manitoba Moose there s not a lot of margin for error. Such was the case Wednesday night at the MTS Centre, where a fine defensive effort still resulted in a 1-0 shootout loss to the Rockford IceHogs. The Moose managed 35 shots in regulation and overtime, but couldn t find a way to solve Rockford goalie Lars Johansson. He also denied all three shootout attempts from Kyle Connor, Jack Roslovic and Dan DeSalvo. Eric Comrie stood tall in the Manitoba net, stopping 26 shots on the night. But the only puck to get by him on a nifty shootout deke from Spencer Abbott proved to be the difference. "I thought we played a real good game, I thought we were real solid. It s unfortunate we couldn t get the win," Comrie said following the game. Goals have been at a premium lately for the Moose. They ve only scored 22 times in their past 12 games, a stretch in which they ve gone That includes a 1-0 loss in Toronto last weekend. The Moose now have just eight wins in their past 32 games (8-19-5) and sit 29th overall in the 30-team American Hockey League standings. Despite the poor results, Moose head coach Pascal Vincent believes his team is improving. "We started, right from the first minute, hunting the puck," Vincent said of Wednesday s effort. "We ve been struggling to score goals, no doubt. But we ve had good chances. It s just a matter of having that confidence to finish." Manitoba continues its homestand with a pair of games Saturday and Sunday against the Rampage.

5 NOTES: One night after suiting up for the Winnipeg Jets in Toronto, defenceman Julian Melchiori and forward Brandon Tanev were in the lineup for the Moose. Both were sent back to the farm earlier in the day. Melchiori took the spot of Nolan Zajac, the Winnipeg product who scored in his Moose debut on Tuesday night. And Tanev knocked Scott Kosmachuk to the press box. Other Moose scratches were forward Darren Kramer (healthy), defenceman Jan Kostalek (illness) and injured forwards Anthony Peluso and Brandon Denham. Winnipeg Sun Which Jets might be exposed, taken? Some pivotal decisions remain for GM Kevin Cheveldayoff BY KEN WIEBE, WINNIPEG SUN The list is different today than it was in October. That list the one with the players who will be protected for the NHL expansion draft for the Las Vegas Golden Knights and who will be exposed and made available by the Winnipeg Jets will look different after the trade deadline passes. It also could look a bit different between the end of the regular season and when Golden Knights GM George McPhee begins announcing his selections on June 21. Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff must decide if he needs to trade a player he might lose in the expansion draft for an asset or if he wants to roll the dice, so to speak, as the March 1 trade deadline nears. There's been plenty of speculation the upcoming expansion draft could lead to mass activity prior to the trade deadline. That might be the case, but the problem with that theory is so many teams remain in the playoff race heading into the final quarter of the season, so it's tough to imagine a lot of those clubs throwing in the towel and becoming sellers. The other issue is the asking price for many non-rental players is incredibly high, which could ultimately lead to a staring contest or to the price dropping as the clock gets set to strike 2 p.m. on March 1. The Jets have an extremely difficult internal decision and it's become a bit more complicated by the series of lower-body injuries defenceman Tyler Myers has dealt with the past two seasons limiting him to just 11 games so far in Since the Jets must protect blue-liners Dustin Byfuglien and Toby Enstrom (who have nomovement clauses), the big question will revolve around whether the franchise decides to protect one goalie, three defencemen and six forwards.

6 The other option for the Jets would be whether they go the other route and protect one goalie and eight skaters (which in this case would be four blue-liners and four forwards). Jacob Trouba is a lock to be protected given how well he's played this season and how he's taken his game to another level. Which brings us back to Myers, who is on a team-friendly contract and is a top-four defenceman with plenty of value, provided he's in the lineup. That's the biggest decision Cheveldayoff and company will have when it comes to preparing for June and something to keep an eye on since the answer isn't abundantly clear right now and may ultimately come down to how the recovery goes. There's also an expansion draft rule which allows NHL teams to trade a draft pick to the Golden Knights in exchange for a guarantee they won't select a certain exposed player. So that's another thing to consider. Maybe that means a team like the Jets holds onto a player for the stretch run and ships a draft pick (or prospect) to Las Vegas to prevent him from being chosen. As a draft-and-develop team, maybe it's unlikely the Jets would want to give up a precious pick but since it's not considered as deep a draft, it could be something they consider, given the circumstances. McPhee will be using his best poker face in the coming weeks and months as he works to acquire as many picks and assets as possible. There's also some debate as to what type of player the Golden Knights would be looking for from the Jets (and other teams). Will the Golden Knights be going young and seeking potential or would a combination or young players and veterans be a better fit for a franchise that wants to be competitive right off the getgo. For the time being, let's look at who is exempt, who is a lock to be protected, who is on the fence and who will be exposed. THE EXEMPT (All players in the first two seasons of professional experience are exempt from the process) RW Patrik Laine, LW Nikolaj Ehlers, C Nic Petan, D Josh Morrissey, C Jack Roslovic, LW Kyle Connor, LW Brandon Tanev, LW Brendan Lemieux, C/LW Chase De Leo, C Jimmy Lodge, G Eric Comrie, G Jamie Phillips, D Nelson Nogier, D Jan Kostalek THE LOCKS G Connor Hellebuyck, D Dustin Byfuglien, D Toby Enstrom, D Jacob Trouba, C Mark Scheifele, C Bryan Little, RW Blake Wheeler The skinny: This is the easy part of the list. Connor Hellebuyck has endured some ups-anddowns this season as a first-year NHL starter but many of those were expected. He's started seven consecutive games and is up to 43 games (and 40 starts) with 19 left on the docket. He

7 was always going to be the goalie protected. On the back end, the first three choices are easy. Byfuglien will be entering the second year of his five-year deal, Enstrom is going into the final year of his contract before becoming an unrestricted free agent and both men have nomovement clauses and won't likely be asked to waive them. Jacob Trouba has been tremendous since his contract stalemate ended and he's shown strong signs of becoming a bona fide No. 1 defenceman. Scheifele has already established a career-high with 62 points and went into Wednesday's action fourth in the NHL in scoring. Little has 17 goals and 31 points in 40 games and remains a dependable two-way pivot, while Wheeler is having another strong season in his first as team captain. IN THE CONVERSATION D Tyler Myers, LW Mathieu Perreault, C Adam Lowry, RW Joel Armia, C/LW Andrew Copp The debate will really heat up if the Jets decide to protect Myers and go the four defencemen and four forwards route. Depth on defence is already an issue for the Jets, so leaving Myers unprotected is risky, but his health has to be more than just a minor concern. Otherwise, there wouldn't be much debate and the Jets would protect him, since Top-4 defencemen don't exactly grow on trees. Perhaps it was just an unlucky stretch of injuries and Myers will come back and not miss a beat. Perreault had a slow start offensively and dealt with some injuries but has found his stride skating alongside Scheifele and Laine. Lowry brings size down the middle and is a double-digit goal scorer on the third line. Armia is intriguing, as some nights he looks like a 20-goal scorer and others he can leave you wanting more. Copp's shown his versatility and is knocking on the door of 10 goals, which is impressive when you consider he missed 13 games after being demoted to the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League. Had Copp not suited up in the final game of the season, he wouldn't need to be protected. Perhaps the best solution for the Jets would be to protect one goalie, three defencemen and seven forwards and then send the Golden Knights a draft pick to ensure Myers isn't taken. Otherwise, the Jets will almost certainly lose either a solid young forward or a veteran in Perreault, who is playing a top-six role and signed a four-year, $16.5 million extension that kicks in next season. Perreault was drafted by McPhee in the Washington Capitals system, but he also traded him to the Anaheim Ducks. I'm expecting Perreault to be protected, but if the Jets feel differently, there's a chance he could be traded before March 1. ALMOST CERTAINLY AVAILABLE G Michael Hutchinson, D Ben Chiarot, D Mark Stuart, D Julian Melchiori, LW Shawn Matthias, LW Marko Dano, LW Ivan Telegin, LW Quinton Howden, RW JC Lipon, RW Scott Kosmachuk, C Ryan Olsen, D Brenden Kichton Hutchinson got a two-year contract in the off-season so he would be eligible to be exposed and the fear was that he wouldn't clear waivers, but it's been a tough campaign, as he's gone with one shutout, a 3.23 goals-against average and an.894 save percentage in 20 games. There are going to be better backup goalie options available to the Golden Knights. Matthias is having a steady season on the checking line with Lowry and Armia, while Dano has shown flashes (three goals, 10 points in 28 games) before suffering a knee injury. The most intriguing name on the list might be Telegin, who is under contract in the Kontinental Hockey League but has the skating ability and talent to be an NHL player, should he find a way to get out of his contract. PENDING UFA'S G Ondrej Pavelec, D Paul Postma, D Brian Strait, RW Drew Stafford, RW Chris Thorburn, RW Anthony Peluso

8 It's a small list and it might be even smaller after March 1 if Cheveldayoff decides to move anyone of them out for an asset. If these players remain with the Jets during the stretch run, most (if not all) are expected to be playing elsewhere next season. If any of these guys are of interest to the Golden Knights, they'll be signed after July 1 and not taken in the expansion draft. Sun hockey writer Ken Wiebe takes a shot at predicting what the Winnipeg Jets protected list will look like for the June NHL expansion draft for the Las Vegas Golden Knights: G Connor Hellebuyck D Dustin Byfuglien* D Toby Enstrom* D Jacob Trouba D Tyler Myers C Mark Scheifele C Bryan Little C Adam Lowry RW Blake Wheeler *players with no movement clauses Should the Jets go with one goalie, three defencemen and seven forwards, here's the alternate list: G Connor Hellebuyck D Dustin Byfuglien* D Toby Enstrom* D Jacob Trouba C Mark Scheifele C Bryan Little C Adam Lowry RW Blake Wheeler LW Mathieu Perreault RW Joel Armia

9 C/LW Andrew Copp *players with no movement clauses We know it s an uphill road Winnipeg Jets will face tough task when they return from 5-day break TED WYMAN, WINNIPEG SUN TORONTO They were on a roll heading into the five-day break, earning points in five straight games and keeping their playoff hopes alive. To a man, the Jets were feeling the momentum and there had to be some mixed feelings about taking five days off at this point in the season. On one hand, they can use the rest, as they ve had a gruelling schedule to this point. On the other, teams coming off the bye week have been terrible in their first games back so far, amassing a combined record. Jets management hopes the players will keep that in mind as they go their separate ways for five days. We talked about it yesterday that the record of teams coming off the break is so dismal that we re in a position where we can t take five days off, Jets coach Paul Maurice said. So they ve got to get in the gym and if they can, they should get on the ice. Not 100% sure that s going to happen. I think they will. It s a pretty good bunch of guys, pretty fit, and they know the record of those teams coming off the bye. We ve got to come out right. We don t have a week to work ourselves back into the season. Jets centre Bryan Little knows the Jets will have to stay on a similar roll once they get back from the break or they ll have almost no chance of making the playoffs. They are two points out of the wild card now, but the teams they are chasing have played far less games. The Calgary Flames, who hold down the second wild-card spot, have three games in hand, and those will be made up over the next week. How far back the Jets will be when they return to the ice is anyone s guess. We know it s going to be an uphill road, Little said. When we come back we ve got to keep going, we ve got to get on a little bit of a roll. The games are counting down and there s not much left so I think we all know that it s going to be a lot of hard work and we re going to be ready for it. If they play the next 19 games the way they played the last five fast, physical, hard on the forecheck, in other words a pain in the ass to play against they just might have a chance.

10 Scheifele, Laine a special combo for Winnipeg Jets BY TED WYMAN, WINNIPEG SUN TORONTO No matter what happens the rest of the season for a team on a thin playoff bubble, the Winnipeg Jets can at least take some satisfaction in the fact they now have two of the very best players in the NHL. As the Jets headed into their five-day league-mandated break Wednesday, centre Mark Scheifele was fourth in the NHL in scoring, with 62 points in 60 games, just five points behind league-leader Connor McDavid. His linemate, 18-year-old rookie winger Patrik Laine, was 13th in league scoring with 54 points, second in goals with 30, and leading all first year players in both categories. They ve been the key players in helping the Jets amass a record through 63 games, and even though it is going to be difficult for them to get above the playoff line with only 19 games to play, they are at least in the conversation. Where would they be without Scheifele and Laine? Few people would even want to imagine that. Regardless, they are both special players, who complement one another and have made this a memorable season for the organization and its fans, even if the Jets don t make the playoffs. What a special, special talent, Jets coach Paul Maurice said of Laine after he scored two goals in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday. We don t talk to Patty any more, we just talk to everybody else and tell them to give him the puck. And he s got lots of room to get bigger and stronger. He s strong now but this guy s got another pounds that he s going to put on in his legs and his back and when that happens, he will get all of the shots that he wants off. The 6-foot-5 Finn hit several milestones with his 30th goal on Tuesday. He broke the Atlanta/Winnipeg franchise record for goals by a rookie, set by Ilya Kovalchuk in and tied the Jets 2.0 mark for goals in a season set by Evander Kane in He also became just the ninth 18-year-old player in NHL history to score 30 goals and is the seventh youngest in terms of years and days (18 years, 306 days) to have hit the mark. All that scoring prowess has been allowed to shine through, at least partly because of Scheifele, who has blossomed into one of the top two-way centres in the NHL. The thing about the Laine kid is he s playing with Scheifele, Leafs coach Mike Babcock said.

11 Scheifele, in my opinion, is one of the best centres in the league. He s a real hockey player. You get the added bonus. Laine didn t disagree that 23-year-old Scheifele has influenced his success. I think so, said Laine, whose team is when he scores at least one goal. He s an amazing player. He s a little bit older than me but he s still young in this league. He can produce so many good things on the ice and on every shift. Maurice marvels at how far Scheifele has come since being drafted 7th overall in 2011 and getting sent back to junior for the next two seasons. I so clearly remember when I was one of you working in the media (at TSN) the discussion on the desk was Is Mark Scheifele a bust because we sent him back to junior? Maurice said. His progression really has been in a straight line. He came in and played well as a first-year pro and just built each year. Scheifele had 34 points as a rookie in , 49 in , 61 last year and has already set another career high with 62 points, after getting two more assists Tuesday in Toronto. Last year when Bryan Little was injured, he got more of a prominent role and from that point on, statistically, he s gone through the roof, Maurice said. I ve seen him do the work and try to become an all-around centreman, a real two-way guy, it s just been great to watch. He s a hardworking student. Few players are as in tune with what is going on around the league as Scheifele. He s somewhat of a hockey historian and his mind is a steel trap for facts and figures. Two years ago we were trying to figure out a way to get our team ready for the game, so we had Mark give a scouting report on the other team, because he knew everybody, probably better than the coaches did, Maurice said. He comes back from the World Cup (this fall) and he s got a book on every guy that he played with, he s that kind of guy. He s going to make too much money to coach, but he certainly could scout and I m sure he d be a GM when he s done. The other player in this dynamic duo certainly deserves some of the credit for Scheifele s success as well. Laine s goal scoring ability would make any centre who can make a pass look good. Laine knows where to go to get in the right position, gets his stick ready to shoot and can fire off a one-timer with the best of him. Exhibit A was his goal in the first period against the Leafs on Tuesday. Scheifele to Laine and boom, it s in the net. Get used to that, hockey fans.

12 I watch him shoot the puck every time he s going down the ice because I m pretty darn excited to see what he does with it this time, Maurice said. He s spectacular. Laine s maturity shows on the ice, in the way he handles himself with the media and in his dry sense of humour. This exchange from Tuesday s post-game interview in the Jets dressing room told that story. A reporter asked Laine if his goal this season was to score 30 this season, to which the Finn replied: My goal was to get one. Then he was asked if he was going anywhere during the team s five-day break and he offered this gem: I m going to the warm and sunny Winnipeg. The Twitterverse loved that one. The Jets love everything about their second overall pick from last year s draft. He is everything they hoped he would be supremely talented, smart, personable and a good teammate. They probably didn t know they had a player with all the same qualities when they took a chance on Scheifele six years ago. Getting the chance to draft Laine by moving up in the draft lottery was a stroke of pure luck. Drafting Scheifele was a stroke of genius. Sportsnet.ca 30 Thoughts: Red Wings telling teams they re open for business By Elliotte Friedman 8. Florida GM Dale Tallon said this week he d like to add power play help for the Panthers. Word earlier in the season was the team had interest in Winnipeg s Mathieu Perreault, who had 11 power play goals and 27 extra-man points the past two seasons. However, Perreault s fouryear contract extension (signed July 7) likely makes that impossible. 14. Scouts/executives crammed KeyBank Center for Colorado/Buffalo last week, including three from Toronto, two from Calgary, Columbus, Los Angeles, Montreal and Winnipeg. (Dean Lombardi was one of the Kings representatives.) Quote of the Week: Biggest spread I have ever seen, one said. All the dessert might get eaten. Couldn t stop laughing at that. Usually, execs complain media eats the sweets. 16. One of the nicer moments of the season was Jets captain Blake Wheeler consoling Patrik Laine after the Calder Trophy finalist accidentally scored an own-goal against Winnipeg. Skaters

13 used to treat goalies as if they were radioactive, but Wheeler was asked if he s tried to pull Connor Hellebuyck along as he did Laine. You have to let these guys know, they're so young, there's going to be more moments like that, but the good moments are going to outweigh them tenfold, he said. When things go bad, especially for a young player, they might start to feel isolated from the team and they re screwing it up for everyone. So you want to make them feel like they re a big part of the team and a big part of our future... I think he's been real good since [Ondrej Pavelec] got hurt... The hardest part is, How am I still effective when maybe I don t have my best night or I'm not feeling good? How do I battle through those starts when it's not going my way? You're starting to see more of that consistency in practice, working on some things. 17. Winnipeg players (and undoubtedly the organization) were upset Jacob Trouba was suspended two games for his hit on Mark Stone after Pittsburgh s Evgeni Malkin got nothing for his hit on Wheeler. The Jets are an interesting group in the sense they are tough a throwback team. Opponents know they're going to get bruised when they play Winnipeg. After listening to the Jets comments Tuesday morning in Toronto, I spent a chunk of the afternoon re-watching the Pittsburgh game. Two Pittsburgh defenders (Olli Maatta and Justin Schultz) went down that night. I wonder if the Penguins just got frustrated, leading to a bit of oldschool frontier justice Malkin has a real edge to him. It s probably a bigger column/conversation, but one of the problems all sports face now is that we like tough, intense competition but can t handle the consequences. That was a great game and the intensity boiled over. Not everyone can handle Winnipeg s nastiness. 18. With Tyler Myers out of the lineup, Trouba is coming on. A number of players who missed training camp/the early season have really struggled, but, as Trouba himself pointed out, The World Cup made a big difference. Much better than training camp. He s been a real difference maker, and one of the reasons is he s incredibly motivated to prove what he s said all along, that he s an impact player on the right side. Myers s salary drops to $6.5M cash over the next two years, too. If Winnipeg wanted to sign Trouba long-term (which will take a big number), there would definitely be interest in Myers. TSN.ca Streit, Quincey among defencemen in demand By Pierre LeBrun TSN Hockey Insider Defencemen are always in demand at this time of year, just like pitchers are before baseball's trade deadline. I'm reminded of the Vancouver Canucks going through 10 or 11 defencemen during one of their playoff runs a half-decade ago. The stretch run and playoffs can become a war of attrition, so carrying as much depth on defense as the rules allow is mighty important. It's why even a small move, like the Washington Capitals picking up Tom Gilbert as a depth guy last week, could prove handy down the road. You just never know. The Calgary Flames made a bigger one on Monday by getting Michael Stone from the Arizona Coyotes He's going to get a chance to play on Calgary's second pairing.

14 Which teams are still looking to potentially add a defenseman? The Pittsburgh Penguins, Winnipeg Jets, Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers jump out - but really, few playoff-bound teams couldn't use at least another depth guy. We've spent enough time telling you about pending unrestricted free agent stud Kevin Shattenkirk. He's at the top of the blue-liner heap. But here are other pending UFA defencemen who could move as rentals between now and the trade deadline at 3 p.m. ET on March 1. So, just for fun, I played matchmaker and paired up a few deserving D-men with teams in need: Dmitry Kulikov, Buffalo Sabres The Sabres are in a tricky spot. They've been playing their best hockey of the season the past few weeks and have emerged just on the fringes of the playoff race. So does GM Tim Murray hang on to Kulikov? I think the decision on the 26-year-old pending UFA will go right down to the wire next Wednesday and will depend on how the Sabres fare coming out of their break - as well as the quality of offers they get on Kulikov, who has a $4.33 million cap hit. If the Jets remain in the race, I would love for Winnipeg to take a look at him. The Jets and Sabres have gotten together before on a deal. The Hockey News CONFUSING JETS HISTORY MEANS LAINE HAS ROOKIE GOAL RECORD, NOT SELANNE By: Jared Clinton When Patrik Laine blasted home his second goal in Tuesday night s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, his 30th tally of the season, he set the Winnipeg Jets rookie goal scoring record. It takes a split second to realize how, though, because the rookie goal scoring record not just for the team, but for the league belongs to Teemu Selanne, who scored 76 goals during his high-flying Winnipeg Jets days. And while it may lead to some confusion down the road, the 18- year-old winger was able to set the franchise mark because Selanne s Jets aren t Laine s Jets. Most know that to be true, yes, but it s worth repeating when something monumental, like Laine breaking the franchise rookie goal record, happens. The Finnish Flash set his record and scored his points as a member of what is now the Arizona Coyotes franchise, even if that history isn t celebrated the same around those parts as it is 3,000 kilometres north. As for Laine, he set his franchise s mark by blasting his way past the previous high of 29 set by Ilya Kovalchuk in It s a record that s almost a decade younger and not even close to as hard to surpass, but the record nevertheless. Even knowing full well that s the case, it s still a somewhat jarring fact. Hearing Laine take the franchise rookie record by snapping the mark set by Kovalchuk sounds bizarre. It takes a moment to realize these are the Jets related to Kovalchuk, Marian Hossa, Kari Lehtonen and, to a much lesser extent, Patrik Stefan. This isn t the same franchise that was led by Selanne, Dale Hawerchuk, Teppo Numminen and Nikolai Khabibulin. It s not the one that came over from the WHA during the Avco Cup-winning era, and it s not the same franchise that signed Bobby Hull.

15 Separating the old Jets from the new Jets isn t something that happens much, especially not in Winnipeg where the franchise s outdoor game features an alumni team filled with what are technically former Coyotes. There s nothing wrong with that, of course, as the former players who were part of Winnipeg s original NHL run mean more to the city and its fans than the former Thrashers players. Bringing them back is to celebrate the city s hockey history, not necessarily that of the current franchise that calls Manitoba s capital home. The fact of the matter, though, is the original Jets alumni has very little to do with what are franchise records for the present-day Jets, and that s something we have to get used to. However, as the years go by, it stands to reason that the new Jets, or Jets 2.0, will take over the current franchise record book and erase many of the marks held by former Thrashers. Already, that process has started. Ondrej Pavelec, for instance, is the franchise s all-time wins leader. Though he started his career in Atlanta, all but 41 of his 152 wins came in Winnipeg. Chris Thorburn also holds the franchise s games played record, but more than half of his 691 games have come as a Jet, not a Thrasher. Those two are only a couple on a long list of franchise records held by former Thrashers that have been or stand to be surpassed by present-day Jets. Here are five major marks still held by former Thrashers players and players most will recognize as Thrashers that stand to be overtaken by current Jets: Points by a rookie: Dany Heatley, 67 points, While Kovalchuk was sniping his way to the now-former franchise mark of 29 goals by a rookie, Heatley was doing his best to keep pace he finished with 26 goals and managed to set the team s rookie scoring mark along the way. Appearing in all 82 games that season, he added 41 assists to his goal total for a combined 67 points and he s held onto the rookie mark since then. There s a good chance Kovalchuk could have matched or tied Heatley s mark had the Russian winger been able to play the full season, but he missed 17 games and finished with 51 points. And that Kovalchuk finished with 51 points means that Laine is already three points ahead for second-place in franchise history. Next up will be breaking Heatley s record, and Laine s current points pace suggests that shouldn t be a problem. After Tuesday night s performance, Laine is on pace for 40 goals and 72 points. And if he doesn t miss another game, he ll have only played 74 this season. The split history version, wherein the old Jets franchise mark is adopted by the new Jets, is 132 points. Selanne really wasn t taking any prisoners during his rookie season. Points in a season: Marian Hossa, 100 points, At his current age, most think of Hossa as that incredibly talented two-way winger who keeps chugging along for the Chicago Blackhawks. Before he turned into the savvy veteran he is now, though, Hossa was one of the best scorers in the entire league. No season was that quite as apparent as the campaign when Hossa blasted home 43 goals and 100 points while playing alongside Kovalchuk during the height of his powers with the Thrashers. Hossa s record is one of those that is going to stick around for a while, too. Here s the full list of players to score 100-plus points in a season over the past three full campaigns: Patrick Kane and Sidney Crosby. That s it. The current Jets have some players with the potential to set the new mark, however. Mark Scheifele is proving with each passing game that he s a top scorer in the league, Blake Wheeler neared the 80-point mark in and Nikolaj Ehlers has all the

16 tools to do it. None of this is to mention Laine, who could be a real threat for a 50-goal season soon. As for the Jets-Coyotes record, Selanne s 132-point season was the best mark ever put forth by a member of the former Jets. Expect to have the same conversation about this record as we re having today about Laine snapping Kovalchuk s mark. All-time points: Ilya Kovalchuk, 615 points, This is worth tackling in a couple of parts. Let s start with the goals, of which Kovalchuk had 328 during his time as a Thrasher. The only current Jet close to that mark is Bryan Little, who has played the majority of his career in Winnipeg after being drafted while the franchise was in Atlanta. Little s contract is up following next season, however, so there s a chance he s not around to set the record. Realistically, Wheeler or Scheifele currently stand the best chance of reaching the 328 mark first, with Laine as the obvious favorite at this point to eventually hold the mark. Kovalchuk also holds the record for assists, though, with 287. However, Toby Enstrom, who s played the bulk of his games as a Jet, has a chance to take the mark. He s 38 back with 249 assists for his career, and a good close to the season plus a productive could have him surpassing Kovalchuk s mark. The toughest one overall, though, will be the total points. The closest current Jet is Little, and he s 199 points behind Kovalchuk. Wheeler is 236 back, Dustin Byfuglien is 288 away from the mark and Scheifele is a whopping 408. Who gets there first? Well, three 70-point campaigns gets Wheeler there, and as the Jets captain, he could very well be set to stick around for longer than the two years he has left on his deal once this season closes. Dale Hawerchuk holds the original Jets records for goals (379) and points (929), but it s Thomas Steen who possesses the all-time assists mark with 553. Shane Doan, who started his career as a Jet, holds the franchise s all-time record in every major scoring category with 401 goals, 564 assists and 965 points. Single seasons wins by a goaltender: Kari Lehtonen, 34, The way things have gone between the pipes for the Jets this season has some feeling like Lehtonen s record might take forever to fall, but rest-assured that at some point he s going to have his 34-win total surpassed by someone suiting up for Winnipeg. It s actually been close to happening in the years since the team moved to Manitoba, too. During the season, Pavelec turned in 29 wins, and Pavelec holds three of the five winningest seasons by a goaltender in franchise history. The thing is, though, that Lehtonen wasn t all that good during his record-setting season, and Pavelec wasn t either in his pursuit of the record. Lehtonen had a.912 save percentage and 2.79 goals-against average, which was better than Pavelec s.906 and 2.91 marks. Even through his tough season, Connor Hellebuyck remains the hope for the future in goal, and if he can right the ship come next season with a more experienced Jets team that is, once again, looking to take a step into the post-season, putting up a 30-plus win season shouldn t be too tall of a task. And if he really hits his stride, don t look past the possibility he turns in a stellar 35-win season.

17 In doing so, Hellebuyck or whoever surpasses Lehtonen s record also stands to set the all-time mark for Winnipeg s NHL clubs. Bob Essensa s 33 wins in was the franchise record when the Jets moved to Phoenix. Overall, it s Ilya Bryzgalov who holds the original Jets franchise record with 130 wins. All-time coaching wins: Bob Hartley, 136, Hartley was less than three seasons removed from a Stanley Cup championship with the Colorado Avalanche when he landed with the Thrashers. The situation wasn t all that dissimilar to what happened with Claude Julien, actually. Let go by the Avalanche in December 2002, Hartley was hired by the Thrashers a month later and led the team to a record to end the season and ended his tenure with a record. It was his start to the season that resulted in his firing. Hartley s record isn t set to stand for much longer, however. Paul Maurice is currently 12 wins back of surpassing Hartley for the franchise mark. With the rest of this season and what is currently slated to be the entirety of the campaign remaining, Maurice should easily be able to take the record barring an unforeseen firing. No other coach in franchise history has surpassed the 80-win mark. The best output from any coach for the former Winnipeg franchise was 106 wins, accomplished by John Paddock. In overall Jets-Coyotes franchise history, Dave Tippett stands atop the list with 273 wins in nearly 600 games behind the bench. Sports Illustrated Wanted or not, budding Matthews-Laine rivalry matters for the NHL By Joshua Kloke Before the two front-runners in one of the more exciting Calder Trophy races in history faced off tonight in Toronto, they wanted nothing to do with each other. Not, of course, in a literal sense, but both deflected any and all talk of how this matchup stoked any rivalry between the two. Obviously you guys like to make a big deal out of it but all in all it s a pretty important two points for each team, said Auston Matthews, the first to deflect the notion that a game between the two leading rookie scorers should be a reason to draw any sort of interest. I think we re playing against Toronto, I m not sure. I don t care. I think the media is just trying to make a bigger deal out of that, offered the typically dry Patrik Laine of the matchup against Matthews. As much as these two superstars want to avoid talking about it, Tuesday night offered a glimpse at what this rivalry could become: a back-and-forth, exciting-as-hell 5 4 Maple Leafs overtime win was exactly the kind of hockey you want to see at this stage of the season. Laine notched

18 two goals to tally 30 on the season. With those two goals he becomes just the fourth player in the last 20 seasons to score 30 goals in his first season after being drafted. And Matthews, not to be outdone, registered three assists on the night to set a Maple Leafs record for most points in a season by a teenager. And as teams, writers and fans take a more analytically-inclined look at the game, (which, for the record, this writer believes is largely a good thing) watching a game of hockey can sometimes be more of a science than an art form. That s fine and probably unavoidable. But it s better to not distil the differing personalities, approaches and what these players represent into a statistic, and the meeting of Patrik Laine and Auston Matthews showed that on Tuesday. This rivalry, which is apparently what we re calling it, is linked only in draft year: Matthews went first overall last year and Laine went second. Both have adapted to the NHL incredibly quickly, as Laine has 30 goals and 52 points through his first 55 games while Matthews has 28 goals and 52 points through 59. And that s where the similarities end. This rivalry is more about the differences than the similarities. The NHL seems hell-bent on selling teams and constructing rivalries that way instead of selling players, even if the rivalries are equally as manufactured. The game of hockey, at least at the NHL level, is void of personalities compared to other leagues. Teams control the message more than ever and players have the personality beaten out of them long before they re even drafted. Yet as these two players raise their game, and the more the hockey world pushes a Laine-Matthews rivalry, the more we could end up seeing from these stars. Laine and Matthews may fight it, but in just two meetings this season they ve given hope to those who want to see Wayne-Mario or Sid-Alex type rivalries re-emerge. There s a difference, first and foremost, in playing style: Matthews plays a normally composed game, controlling the center of the ice and scoring just as many ugly goals from near the net as he does electric goals, as he did on Sunday against Carolina. Some nights Matthews won t dominate the highlight reel but will change the game nonetheless, as he did on Tuesday with three assists. Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said his trust level in Matthews between the beginning of the season and now is night and day. Jets head coach Paul Maurice lauded the play of Laine post-game, calling him a special player. And he is just that. His goal to tie the game in the first period was classic Laine: an unstoppable one-timer from close to the face-off circle.

19 An Ovechkin-esque winger with an improbably good shot or a Toews-type calm and cool leader? Pick your fancy. Either way, everybody that loves exciting hockey wins. There s the difference in the city they call home: Toronto, the flash-first self-proclaimed center of the hockey universe that often draws the ire of the rest of the country. And Winnipeg, a toughas-nails city that is as close as Canada gets to having a typical Midwestern town. That comparison will only increase if these two young teams follow through on their hopes to become consistent winning teams in the future. Obviously for the people in Canada, they re hoping there s real good teams in Canada so they get to watch hockey in the spring, said Babcock. It s important. So, the better players you have, the better chance you have to have that. Perhaps the biggest difference between Matthews and Laine, however, is the personalities they present to the hungry media. And both were on display before the game as each player scrummed with the media for much longer than normal, even if they didn t buy into the idea of a rivalry between them. They re a different team now. And we ve come a long way, said the normally reserved and focused Matthews. He was being asked about the only other meeting between the Leafs and the Jets this season, which also finished with a thrilling 5 4 OT result, that time for the Jets. It s just two games against Toronto this season. I think it s already a good thing. I think the media will probably make a big deal out of this, the comparisons and all kinds of stuff. I don t have to think about that. I m just thinking about my game and how I can improve my game, offered Laine, whose confidence could be considered brash to anyone that s only ever watched hockey. These constructed rivalries matter because the NHL regular season is long. Too long, probably. Bringing together players like Laine and Matthews and discussing them at length, even though they themselves might not buy into the talk, gives weight to out-of-conference games. The Jets and the Leafs will only face each other twice a season. With Laine and Matthews in the fold, you have to wish it was more than just that. TSN 1290 (AUDIO LINKS) Dreger: Up to Trouba to make Winnipeg his long-term home TSN Hockey insider Darren Dreger joins Hustler & Lawless to look ahead at Jacob Trouba s next contract given the Winnipeg Jets holding the young defenceman s contractual protection. Dreger also discusses some alternate picks for Calder Trophy.