A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Whatever you do, do not read this on an iPad.
1. Michael Bunting never volunteered for the gig, but as soon as he joined the Toronto Maple Leafs, he was anointed the club’s game-day DJ.
“I think it’s where I sat at Scotiabank. So, the first game Muzzy [Jake Muzzin] yelled at me to put something on — and it’s been my job ever since,” Bunting explains.
As if he wasn’t already contributing enough for his bargain $950,000 salary.
“I’m OK with it. I actually like it.”
It helps that Bunting is a big music fan.
As per superstitious hockey tradition, when the boys are riding a win streak, he keeps streaming the same series of mixes. Upbeat hip-hop mashed with high-BPM dance beats.
The Big Bootie Mixes by Two Friends, which now run 22 volumes deep, are a Leafs favourite.
“I pick whatever I’m feeling. I find mixes on Spotify or just pick songs. I try to change it up, so it’s not repetitive,” Bunting says.
"Mostly rap. But I’ll bring in a little pop, some Justin Bieber, or some rock. Gio [Mark Giordano] likes rock, so I’ll do that for him. Classic rock. AC/DC.”
Bunting lists Drake, Lil Baby, Meek Mill, and Eminem as personal favourites. Among his more memorable concerts was catching fellow Torontonian Abel Tesfaye in Glendale, Ariz. last August with teammates Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews.
“The Weeknd was great live,” he says.
And DJ Big Mike isn’t afraid of some Big Shiny Tunes. He attended a Nickelback show with his buddies, right before the pandemic hit.
Yep. Nickelback.
“You say you don’t like Nickelback, but you know all the words to the songs,” Bunting defends. “It was pretty funny and a good time.”
The one Maple Leafs anthem Bunting did not choose, however, is their 2022-23 win song.
For that, Marner selected Redfoo’s goofy, retro 2015 party-rock jam “Juicy Wiggle.”
Enjoy:
2. Enjoyed this nugget of insight from the Maple Leafs’ newest member, Bobby McMann, about what changes for a player once he hits the NHL level.
“Everything matters,” the 26-year-old rookie says. “Every decision you make has an impact on the game.”
No pressure.
3. Covering the Winnipeg Jets’ thrilling 2018 playoff run gave me fresh appreciation for the nasty, hilarious enigma that is Dustin Byfuglien. The assignment also opened my eyes to the burgeoning sophomore talent that was Josh Morrissey.
So much so, in subsequent seasons, I’d regularly draft the defenceman to my fantasy squad, swearing this was the winter he’d break out offensively.
Well, that year is this year.
Morrissey — an easy all-star with a silly 50 points through 48 games – is thriving in Season 7 under new coach Rick Bowness. (And, sadly, no, he’s not on my roster.)
What exactly does Morrissey mean to the Jets?
“Everything,” says Bowness, who made a point to change his No. 1 defenceman’s mindset over the summer.
“I remember coming in with Dallas and being very impressed with him, his elite skating, his hockey IQ, and his skills. So, when we had that conversation, I said, ‘Look. We're gonna get you back to that player that I remember coaching against and pre-scouting against.’ And he's got the green light offensively to go lead the rush. Jump in on the forecheck. He's such an elite skater, he can forecheck and still be the first guy back.”
Teammate Neal Pionk says the Winnipeg bench is made up of Morrissey stans.
“You can kind of tell when he gets going and he gets that confidence and he gets that look in his eye, like, Alright. I'm gonna control the game. I can control the puck. I can look guys off. I can make this pass, make that play. He's been riding a huge confidence wave. It's awesome to see.”
Can Pionk see him lifting the Norris?
“Absolutely. Josh Norrissey. Isn’t that what you guys call him?”
4. The NHL’s most handsomely paid winger is Artemi Panarin at an $11.64 million average annual salary.
The New York Ranger is 31 years old. He has 12 goals and 47 points this season.
David Pastrnak of the Bruins is 26 years old. He has 35 goals and 63 points, 20 more goals and 20 more points than Boston’s next most productive skater (Brad Marchand). Plus, the cap ceiling is on the rise.
Sure, the Bruins have done well in convincing core members to take less than market value, and Pastrnak is making progress on an extension. But anything less than Panarin’s price would be downright foolish.
For the sake of those who follow, and knowing the flat cap will soon spike, Pastrnak must become hockey's highest-paid winger.
“He helps us be who we are,” says coach Jim Montgomery.
“Probably if you look at Bruins swagger, you look at David Pastrnak.”
5. Pastrnak, you may have heard, is wrapping up one of the greatest bargain deals in the business.
At age 21, the first-rounder signed for six years at a $6.67-million AAV, 8.89 per cent of Boston’s cap.
Well, at age 21, first-rounder Matt Boldy just inked for seven years at a $7-million AAV, 8.48 per cent of Minnesota’s cap space.
Through NHL career game No. 89, Boldy outscored Pastrnak 27-22.
Bill Guerin’s long-term bet is not unlike the one Buffalo made with Tage Thompson or Arizona made with Clayton Keller.
If you identify a core piece, blow him away with an offer he can’t refuse. Then hope like heck, as the cap rises and the athlete improves, he makes you look like a genius. And he’s not the type of person who needs to be motivated by a financial carrot.
Yes, the player might end up making less than he’s worth, the way Pastrnak has been doing for years. But imagine you’re in Boldy’s skates: You haven’t played 90 games in the show and someone presents you with a cheque for $49 million, guaranteed.
Do you dare rip it up and risk injury or a performance falloff?
“This is what we do now,” Guerin said on The Jeff Marek Show. “We invest in our young players. And he’s going to be worth every penny.”
6. Not that anyone in Vancouver wants to hear this from a Toronto-based hockey follower, but, whoa, boy, have the Canucks ever pickled themselves.
Captains get traded.
Rebuilds become a necessity.
Surgeries don’t always go as planned.
But how this front office — leakier than a thirdhand garden hose — has treated Bruce “Our Coach for Now” Boudreau is disgraceful.
You have the president of hockey ops routinely and publicly giving Boudreau votes of nonconfidence.
You have Boudreau’s presumed successor, Rick Tocchet, on national television hinting at the inevitable.
And you have a hockey lifer trying to do his job, to squeeze out wins, with a sharpened guillotine over his head.
A brutal situation. And a reminder that indecisiveness seldom benefits anyone involved.
“I’d be a fool to say I don’t know what’s going on,” Boudreau, stuck in another uncomfortable scrum, told reporters Friday.
“You love it. You want to go do it. That’s how you shut it out.”
Oh, there is some foolishness here. But Boudreau isn’t the one responsible for it.
7. The Florida Panthers already look like the new Puss in Boots — down to their last life. (The Last Wish is a fun animated flick, by the way. Take the kids. Tell your friends. Buy a T-shirt.)
In speaking with top centre Aleksander Barkov and top D-man Aaron Ekblad, however, belief within is growing.
To hoist the Presidents’ Trophy one spring and not reach Game 83 the next would be an embarrassment.
“It’s hard right now to compare last year to this year,” Barkov says. “We're fully concentrated on building something new here — a lot of new guys and new systems and everything. We've been finding our identity a little bit.”
The identity coach Paul Maurice is attempting to instill, as Barkov puts it, is “a super-strict defensive type of game.”
Of course, $10.9 million worth of goalies needs to buy stops, and Florida’s 21st-best save percentage (.894) must continue to rise if it is to make the dance.
Matthew Tkachuk says Maurice has been harder on him than any other coach. This from a man who’s skated for teddy bears Darryl Sutter, Bob Hartley, and Bill Peters.
“Everyone loves the system. We just got to execute, and I think the previous five, six games, we've been kind of finding our way,” Barkov says.
“It’s a long season, and you gotta get hot at some point. It’s going to come.”
The travel-weary Cats have scratched out points in seven of their past nine.
Their wild-card chances have leapt 54 per cent, according to MoneyPuck.com, ahead of fellow bubble teams like the Penguins (40.7 per cent), Islanders (27.9 per cent), and Sabres (13.5 per cent).
“Coaches are giving us the tools to win,” Ekblad says. “And we’re executing at a higher consistency that we did early in the season.”
8. Saturday’s post-game Pavel Zacha extension in Boston took all of us reporters by surprise.
Zacha only signed for one year following his trade from New Jersey, yet both sides had seen enough to commit long-term after half a season.
The key to this deal turning into a Bruins win is the versatile Zacha’s ability to grow into a dependable centre.
“In the situation that Pav was in, had an opportunity to take a one-year and turn it into four extra,” GM Don Sweeney says.
“He plays in all situations in a hockey game and has been a big part of our group. Fit in very well, comfortable with several of his countrymen. But overall, a very well-liked young man that we’re happy to have going forward — and it addresses a positional need in the future.”
The No. 1 hole by Patrice Bergeron’s eventual retirement will take a bigger name (Bo Horvat, anyone?). But the hope-slash-bet here is that Zacha replaces countryman David Krejci as a reliable two-way force up middle ice.
Third-line wingers are rarely rushed to re-sign midseason.
9. If the Jack Adams was awarded to the best conversation-stirring coach, John Tortorella would win annually.
Torts’ anti-iPad stance inspired us to talk to the tech-savvy Maple Leafs about their reliance on those handy bench tablets.
Coach Sheldon Keefe views instant feedback as a benefit. Used wisely, the accessibility of video lends a competitive edge.
“That's just the age that we live in. Employers, whether it’s hockey or life in general, like having everything at your fingertips,” Keefe says. “This generation of player, that’s an important thing to them. Whether that’s coming from coaches, or in a lot of cases, they want to seek the answers themselves and see it.
“That's very positive. There’s a lot that can come out of that. It can create a lot of dialogue on the bench. Sometimes things that you see or feel on the ice aren’t necessarily real. And they see it through a different perspective, and it's able to help you.”
The negative side of the coin is the struggling player who drills down on his own mistakes in-game. He overanalyzes. His mistakes bury into his own head.
“That's the challenge for us,” says Keefe. The Leafs monitor screen time like a helicopter parent. “With our team, I find it's used intelligently, in the sense that it's (during) TV timeouts and stoppages in play ... I don't see much distraction from the game itself as it’s happening.”
Bunting is a proponent.
He uses the iPad as a starting point for strategic conversations with linemates Matthews and William Nylander.
“Really quick. But I try not to focus on it too much. If I have a missed opportunity, I look just to see, and then I put it away and look forward to my next shift,” Bunting says. “Then I'll learn from it too.”
My brief iPad conversation with Alexander Kerfoot takes an unexpected turn…
Me: How often do you look at the tablet?
Kerfoot: “More than I should, probably.”
Why?
“It’s just there. You’re sitting on the bench. Not a lot to do. Sometimes I like to look at the plays. Usually, it’s about disappointment with a play that I made.”
So, you don’t replay the good things?
“Like if I score a goal, it’s not like I’m looking at it on the iPad. I think sometimes I should probably just flush it out and move on to the next shift. They’re just there. I think the iPads for the worst for the referees. We get to see the calls that are made, whereas referees don’t. We’re always 100 per cent sure on our opinion, because we've just watched the replay. They don't have the luxury of that. It makes our negotiations a little bit tougher for them.”
So, you’re having a chat with the ref, and you bring up the replay?
“Oh, yeah. Like, ‘That was offside.’ They’ll be like: ‘No, I don’t think it was.’ And we’ll be like, ‘Well, I just looked at it. It was offside.’ ”
And what’s their response?
“They say, ‘Sorry, I'm not perfect, you're not perfect. We make mistakes.’ And that's fair enough.”
Is there any benefit?
“For sure. In between periods, we watch power play and penalty kill. You can always make adjustments in-game.”
You know how Tortorella banned them…
“Oh, really? I didn’t know that.”
He wants players paying attention to the game undistracted. Can you see that side of the argument?
“If you see it becoming an issue with guys, then every team can make their own decisions. I can see that standpoint. I think that there's also benefit seeing to what the opposition is doing, seeing what you're doing, being able to use past plays to help what you're gonna do in the future. There are probably arguments on both sides.”
Does any Leaf avoid the tablet?
“There are definitely guys on our team who don’t watch the iPad.”
Who looks at it the most? You’re up there.
“Yep. Mitchy’s up there. Bunts is up there.”
10. So… this is the type of play today’s fourth-liner can make.
11. Edmonton’s Tyson Barrie is one of the more candid and charismatic active players. He gave an insightful interview to Spittin’ Chiclets this week.
During the conversation, we learn how Barrie felt about Joe Sakic trying to low-ball him with a bad comparable during Barrie’s arbitration with the Avalanche; how Barrie “almost got dealt to Vancouver at the (2019) draft; and how Connor McDavid’s hot tub is the VIP invite NHLers want.
The offensive defenceman also explained why his relationship with then-Leafs coach Mike Babcock got off to a rocky start on the day he was traded for Nazem Kadri.
“First phone call. It’s July 1. I’m still trying to pick up the pieces. I’m still figuring out what’s going on. And he’s like, ‘Happy to have ya, but we’ve got a lot to work on with ya,’ ” Barrie recalled.
“Like, it’s July 1st. Let me know when I miss my boxout or whatever.”
Barrie takes responsibility for not playing well in Toronto and attributes it to a lack of a defined role.
“Laid an absolute egg my first 20 games. Apologize to Leafs faithful for that. But I definitely picked up once Keefer came in,” Barrie said.
“It’s a weird thing getting traded for the first time…. I know [Babcock] really liked Naz as a player, and I don’t know if I was the guy he would’ve brought in.
“We got into it a few times, but maybe for another episode.”
(P.S. Barrie reveals that the Oilers call Klim Kostin “Klimdros” and McDavid “Alfonso McDavie.” Love the nicknames.)
12. Following a tough loss Tuesday and a hard practice Wednesday, the Jets held a very lightly attended optional morning skate Thursday.
Yet there was Bowness lacing up the wheels and joining a handful of players.
That’s highly unusual for a head coach amid the 82-game meatgrinder.
Why did Bowness go for a twirl?
Because he likes to keep tabs on his injured players. Communication has long been the foundation of his coaching philosophy.
“Gives me a chance to talk to them,” he says.
“I always said, when I retired as a player and got into coaching, I was going to coach the way I wanted to be coached — and communication was a big part of that. Back when I played, the communication between a coach and especially a borderline player like me wasn't very good,” Bowness explains.
“I was determined. When I got into coaching, I would make sure that never happened. You're having tough conversations with players sometimes; they don't want to hear some of the things you’re saying. But it's better to be said and be clear with your message than to keep it inside and have a grey area with a player.
“So, this is what I do. I just communicate. I talk to the players as much as I can. When I see something I don't like, I immediately address it, so it doesn't become a bigger issue. And we certainly give them all kinds of positive feedback as well.”
What a wonderful approach… Dad.
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