A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. I don’t need to crash into you to drink your wine.
1. In the NHL, one man’s return to health always spells bad news for one of his teammates.
And so, while the Toronto Maple Leafs get a nice boost with John Tavares jumping into their lineup this weekend, Vinni Lettieri quietly slides to the outside.
The 31-year-old journeyman is literally fighting to stick in the show.
Lettieri is undrafted, he’s five-foot-10, and he’s changed teams five times, never making more than six figures. Last season, he never got called up. Spent the whole winter on the farm.
So, when the Minnesota native got off to a hot start with the Marlies and was promoted to the Leafs in the wake of injuries, he dropped the mitts twice in four days, taking on Connor Murphy in Edmonton and Cale Fleury in Seattle.
“My last NHL fight was Scott Laugton in pre-season when I was with the New York Rangers nine years ago,” Lettieri says. “With those two fights, I've had three in my whole career.”
Find a way to get noticed.
Lettieri scored once in his eight-game look and outlasted Bo Groulx, who was waived down. But with Dakota Joshua and Tavares back in action and Kirill Marchenko on the mend, the bottom-six skater is desperate to find a way onto the scoresheet and into the coach’s good books.
“I just feel like I've been stuck for a long time. Like, just a call-up guy when I know I should be here full-time. I have more to give than what I've shown here in the last eight games and I'm not really happy about my game yet,” he explains. “There’s things that I can chip in that can make me a better player and a harder player to send down, which is ultimately the goal. And so, if I have to fight, I have to fight now.
“I'm not a fighter, but I'll do it if I have to. I'm just trying to survive here.”
Be a dependable teammate. Sharpen the defensive effort. Create a little offence. Make an impact as an undersized guy seeing less than 10 minutes a night. It’s a tall order.
“What I focus on the most is just trying to be a guy that the coach can trust. And at the end of the day, when you're sitting there on the bench — it doesn't matter what team I've been on — it's not always the best guy that's out there at the most critical times. It's usually the guy that the coach trusts. I've been around guys that have been unbelievable in that sense.” Lettieri highlights past teammates Patrice Bergeron, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Fraser Minten(!).
“I love him as a guy, and just how he's controlled himself, he's a very mature player, and he reminds me a lot of those guys. So, that’s what you want to be. Because the offensive part you have in you, and when you get touches and you start to feel more comfortable, then it comes out naturally. You don't think. But the most important part is just trying to be trusted.”
Lettieri was certainly trusted in the AHL. Earlier this week, he and the 2026 Marlies were presented with their shiny Calder Cup rings.
“We’re champions. That's what I like most about it. Says ‘champions’ on it,” says Lettieri, whose wife expected him to wear the thing.
“Absolutely not,” he says, firmly. “I honestly don't think it's really, like, a big deal. At the moment, you're still trying to win the big one. You know, it’d be cool to win a Stanley Cup here, obviously. To be honest, I turned the page when I got back home.
“It's cool to have on your résumé, but this is what you work for every year.”
In Lettieri’s case, what you fight for.
2. Strange that Russia would be ruled eligible for international hockey competition when the country is still invading Ukraine.
Politicians, rival national programs, and best-on-best tournament sponsors are all speaking out and taking a stance.
Finding an NHLer, Russian or otherwise, to do the same isn’t easy.
Of course, the NHL Players’ Association’s Russian contingent wants to participate in 2028’s looming World Cup. Coming out firmly in favour of the country’s inclusion in the tournament could be misconstrued as pro-war; speaking out against Russia’s involvement can cause a rift in the dressing room.
In the NHL, Swedes and Finns, Canadians and Americans, Latvians and Russians all share dressing rooms and laughs and scrums and the common pursuit of a Cup.
Few active NHLers are willing to go on record taking a stance on such a sensitive issue.
“Without saying too much, you want (the world) to be in a good place. The Russians here are good people, and that has nothing to do with what’s going on there. But at the same time, you don’t want the war,” a member of Sweden’s national team said, asking for anonymity.
“That’s where it gets to: What foot am I stepping on?”
3. Brandon Hagel will never quit throwing shade at his nemeses on Team USA, and we’re totally here for it.
Speaking to Tampa reporter Eduardo A. Encina this week about Nikita Kucherov’s trade request, the scrappy Lightning forward brought heat.
“Listen, Kuch is a good friend, a good teammate. He loves the city. He’s done everything he possibly could for the city. It’s not like he committed here for eight years and asked out two years into it. This is a different situation,” the Olympic silver medallist said.
“He’s a friend. We care for him, and I know he’s the type of guy that’s just going to continue to come out and play as hard as [possible] for this team because he does care about us.”
American gold medallists Dylan Larkin, Brady Tkachuk, and Connor Hellebuyck all asked out early last off-season with plenty of term on their deals.
Is Hagel, who fought his way to a 4 Nations title with Team Canada, still salty over losing to the U.S. in Milan? Sounds like it. Which bodes well for some hate at the 2028 World Cup.
“I mean, it still stings. I think it sucks we couldn’t do it for them,” Hagel told me weeks after the Olympics’ closing ceremony. “But at the end of the day, it’s gonna sting. I made a ton of friends. I’ve made a ton of memories, and it’ll stick with me forever.”
Love how invested this guy is.
4. So much for the necessity of training camp.
New Jersey’s Hellebuyck is a perfect 4-0 since getting his wish away from Winnipeg granted.
The goalie’s record could improve to 5-0 before Tuesday’s hotly anticipated return to the 'Peg. Jets fans are known for their creative chants. They’ve watched buildings in Ottawa and Vancouver up the ante (read: viciousness) this season, as spurned Canadian fan bases showed well in unwelcoming their American heroes “home.”
Hellebuyck tried to get ahead of next week’s grudge match with a little social media P.R. post about liking the Manitoba outdoors.
The goalie’s pointing to his family for wanting out years before fulfilling his contract to the Jets doesn’t cut it. It only begs more questions.
At least Tkachuk and Quinn Hughes were more upfront about why they wanted out.
We’re sure Hellebuyck did enjoy large chunks of his time in Winnipeg. But if I’m a Jets fan, the goalie’s letter alone doesn’t cut it.
The star player ran out. And, until proven otherwise, rookie GM Sunny Mehta appears to have run their show.
5. Quote of the Week.
“If I don’t score a goal and we win a Stanley Cup, I’d be okay with that.” — Darren Raddysh, who leads all goal-less NHLers in shots (41)
(For those not scoring at home: The next most prolific shooter still trying to hit the back of the net is Canadiens defenceman Noah Dobson, who has fired 34 stopped pucks.)
6. Kucherov to Utah makes some sense, be it via trade or free agency.
The MVP is tight with Mikhail Sergachev. The Mammoth have assets and cap space and believe their contention window has arrived.
Owner Ryan Smith spares no expense and is eager to build on his hockey club’s post-season debut. Current bench boss Andre Tourigny coached Kucherov with the 2012-13 Rouyn-Noranda Huskies during both men’s final year in the QMJHL. (Not to mention that Smith’s friendship with Jon Cooper has sparked a conspiracy theory that Kucherov’s current coach might one day find his way to Salt Lake City.)
“It’s a tough situation for teammates. It’s a tough situation for the organization. Tough situation for the fans,” Tourigny said of superstars begging out. “It’s not a situation anybody wants to be in, including the player, I’m sure. But it is what it is.”
Tourigny, who used to coach Canada’s juniors, smiled, reminiscing over his winter with Kucherov.
“Just a story: When we both went to the world junior, and I pick him up at the airport after to bring him back to his billet, he was talking about the (Russia-Canada) game we played against each other, shift by shift, matchup against matchup, rolling puck that, rolling puck this,” Tourigny recalled.
“That’s unreal. His memory, attention to detail of everything [that] happened [in] the game. And at the time he was 19. So, he didn’t stop studying the game since. You hear those stories. You hear how he prepares during the summer and so on and so forth. So, he was the same, and he was making points the same.”
7. New York’s major summertime swing, Pavel Dorofeyev is tied for 20th league-wide in cap hit ($11 million). The winger is also tied for 85th in goals (five) and 136th in points (10).
The artist formerly known as “Score-o-feyev” is a minus-15, which ties Chicago’s aging Hall of Famer Patrick Kane for the green jacket.
Something ain’t adding up.
Rangers coach Mike Sullivan has spoken with close friend John Tortorella multiple times about getting the best out of Broadway’s overpriced attraction.
“He’s tried to offer me some insight on some of the things that he did when he was coaching him that he felt helped Pav move in the right direction. I’m trying to utilize some of those insights, and it’s a work in progress. My experience has been [that] when a player changes teams like that, signs a fairly decent contract, sometimes there’s a little bit of an adjustment process,” Sullivan told reporters.
“Pav is going through that process with us right now, trying to figure out we’re a different team than what he was on. He’s playing with different players.”
OK, but he’s also gotten top-line looks with Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere as well as plenty of power-play time.
For the player and the team’s sake, hopefully Thursday’s clutch strike sparks a turnaround.
8. MacKenzie Weegar sidled up next to his new teammate Anders Lee for a little relief right before Utah’s pre-season game in Los Angeles.
“We had our jerseys on. We were taking a pee together, and I go, ‘How weird do you feel right now?’ He's like, ‘I feel really weird,’” Weegar recalls. “It’s a new team. It’s all new. There's new trainers, and there's a lot of stuff going on. You just try to slow it down for them. Let them enjoy the moment. Get comfortable as fast as you can.”
Lee says he empathizes with Kucherov. After 14 years on Long Island, New York’s former captain thought he’d be re-signing with the Isles when he hit free agency on July 1.
“It sucked. Of course it did. You know, meant a lot to be on the island as long as I did, and wasn't fully prepared for it to go that way, for sure,” says Lee, who thought Mathieu Darche might step up with an offer to his liking.
“Just it didn't feel like it was going that way until it did,” he says. “I mean, I was an Islander for a very long time, and extremely grateful to be one, and took a lot of pride in playing for that team and playing for the island. And the last few years being a captain, I took a lot of pride in that, and that meant a lot to me. And so, seeing how it kind of played out… I mean, you have to look at these things as much as you can without emotion. But that’s impossible.”
While Lee mentions thrice that moving to Salt Lake City has been “a big change” for him, wife Gracie and their three children under age 7, the transition has gone smoothly and the fam is enjoying Utah.
“We really are. It’s been a fun little adventure that we’ve taken on. Kids are doing well, and that's a big thing. The hockey stuff, I knew would have been fine. But, yeah, a lot of change happened in a quick few months.
“(Salt Lake City) is beautiful. It's easy to get around. There's plenty of stuff to do for your kids and families. And I can run a lot more errands in a day than I could on the island. I can get a lot more done without being fatigued. Yeah, it's good stuff.”
Lee, 36, picked the Mammoth because of fit and because he saw a contention window that should stay open as long as he’s skating. Tourigny was anticipating more of an adjustment period just because Lee had only played for one franchise.
“Right from the get-go, it felt like he’s always been with us,” Tourigny says. “Everybody was saying he’s a good leader and everything. But when you're with him every day, I'm not surprised. He's a hell of a pro. Takes a lot of pride in what he's doing. Pay attention to detail.
“He knows exactly what he is, what he has to do, what he has to bring, and how he has to do it.”
9. Macklin Celebrini, 20, barely made it a month into his captaincy before calling a players-only meeting.
“We’re frustrated. We’re not happy with the way we’re playing,” Celebrini announced after San Jose got trounced 7-2 Wednesday by a middling L.A. Kings squad, part of a slide that has seen the Sharks lose five of their past six in regulation.
For all the (justified) consternation of a Chicago Blackhawks project stuck in mud, the rebuilding team in teal isn’t faring much better.
GM Mike Grier extended coach Ryan Warsofsky, wrote Celebrini a blank cheque (he’s not the issue), and allotted nice chunks of cap space to gritty veterans Darnell Nurse, Jacob Trouba, Mason Marchment, and Kiefer Sherwood, anticipating another step in the standings.
“For a lot of us, playoffs is a non-negotiable,” Sherwood told us in October.
Well, more than a month into this thing, the only team with fewer regulation wins than San Jose (two) is laughingstock Vancouver (one) — and the Canucks are off to the worst defensive start of any team in 30 years.
San Jose has only beaten the Canucks and the Senators before the 60-minute buzzer. The Sharks’ special teams are fine enough, but they’re allowing 3.6 goals a night and only scoring 2.4.
Most concerning: San Jose ranks second-to-last in high-danger chances generated (39.9 per cent). They’re playing with fire and getting burned.
Much too early for trade calls, but if this downward trend persists, we’re eyeing pending UFAs and Cup champs Dmitry Orlov and Barclay Goodrow as smart rental candidates.
10. Brilliant idea, St. Louis.
Midwest comedian Nikki Glaser mic’d up along the glass watching Bruins-Blues is gold: “Did you see Heated Rivalry?... You would be enjoying this game more if you saw it.”
11. Easton Cowan says he loves his brand-new Calder Cup championship ring, but he’ll probably never wear it. Even if it did fit his ring finger.
“I have a little room where I keep all my stuff, so I’ll probably just put it there and just show people it. But I’ll never really wear it. I actually got the wrong size,” Cowan told me after the 2025-26 Marlies reunited to get showered in bling. “That’s my fault, but I don't mind it. It fits my index finger pretty good.”
Cowan says he isn’t a huge jewellery guy — “a bit of bracelets and necklaces, nothing crazy” — but the sense is that he’s holding out for a bigger bauble.
Kinda like how players don’t boast about winning the Prince of Wales Trophy.
Still, the detail and presentation of Toronto’s commemorative rings impressed. Each player was given their ring inside a little box. Open the box, and a highlight video of their AHL playoff popped up, set to the team’s song.
“It’s just special to see how much effort people put into making those. Forever grateful to win that, and obviously having that ring is just super cool and exciting to look back at for sure,” says Cowan, thinking back to his days on the farm last spring.
“Right away when I first got sent down, super welcoming to me,” he says. “How much they cared and how much they loved the game was great. They were a team that just made the playoffs.
“Like, we were playing a play-in round, and we went to Game 3, like a do-or-die game. So to see how far we went, elimination game there, elimination game against Laval, elimination game versus Cleveland, Game 6 versus Wilkes, in their barn. So, pretty cool and special looking back at the adversity we battled. And, yeah, we learned a lot — I learned a lot definitely during that run.”
12. What a shot.
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