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What does the future hold for Scott Darling?

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Scott Darling with the Carolina Hurricanes. Credit: NHL.com How the f*** did this happen? The question Scott Darling repeatedly asked himself throughout his long, winding journey to the NHL. It’s all detailed in his Players’ Tribune feature simply entitled, “Goodbye, Chicago” published on June 13 th , 2017 (which is worth a read if you have the time. https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/scott-darling-goodbye-chicago) Less than a month earlier, on May 5 th , 2017, Darling had signed a 4 year, 16.6-million-dollar contract with the Carolina Hurricanes, after having been traded there from the Blackhawks in April. It seemed like the perfect Cinderella fairy tale, a 6 th round pick in 2007 who worked his way up from the Louisiana IceGators of the SPHL to the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL. It had never been seen in the league before. Darling with the now defunct Mississippi River Kings of the SPHL. Credit: Mississippi River Kings How the f*** did
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The State of the Buffalo Sabres

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Credit: Bill Wippert/NHL via Getty Images Its been a long and tumultuous past 9 years for the Buffalo Sabres. For a time, it seemed as the team had once again figured out its winning form, having back to back 50-win seasons in 2005-06 and 2006-07, but as we would soon find out, things would quickly unravel to the point of absurdity. This past July, I wrote an article on at the time new acquisition Jimmy Vesey, a Hobey Baker Award winner who famously refused to sign with the team who had his rights, who just happened to be, the Buffalo Sabres. I mentioned how Buffalo is a team with nothing to lose and should use him accordingly on a first line or at least top six role. Well, things didn’t quite work out that way. Instead, we got treated to the same Buffalo team we have been for the past few years, a team that starts off hot, before completely falling off and missing the playoffs. And with the way things have been going this year, it looks like were headed for the s
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Taylor Hall to Arizona: Low risk, high reward

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Taylor Hall with the New Jersey Devils. Credit: Greg Thompson/IGetty Images Well, the wait, is finally over, Taylor Hall has been traded. With a rumor mill that quickly became one of the most discussed topics in the NHL, numerous teams were rumored to be in the running for the former New Jersey Devils forward and former 1 st overall pick. After an underwhelming 53-point performance in his first year with the team after having been traded there for Adam Larsson, Hall recorded 93 points over 76 games, almost singlehandedly led the Devils into the playoffs, and won the Hart trophy as NHL MVP. This instantly made many believe that the Devils were finally turning into a contender once more after a 28-40 record the previous season. Instead, injuries limited Hall to just 33 games as the Devils sank to the bottom of the standings once more, and things have only gotten worse this year. Despite acquiring many high-profile players like PK Subban, Wayne Simmonds, and KHL star
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Cory Schneider and Keith Kinkaid: the AHL struggle

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Cory Schneider and Keith Kinkaid with the New Jersey Devils. Credit: AP Photo/Julio Cortez It’s been a rough start to the year for Keith Kinkaid and Cory Schneider. Once considered the backbone of the New Jersey Devils after their improbable 44-29-9 season in 2017-18, both have now fallen to the waist side quite considerably. After going 28-40 the year before, a Hart trophy performance by Taylor Hall and a solid if unremarkable defensive structure turned the Devils into a contender once more, even if their playoff run was short lived, losing in 5 games to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Coupled with Hall’s 93-point season (41 points more than the 2 nd leading scorer on the team, Nico Hischier) was Kinkaid’s 26-10 record after having been unremarkable as a backup in years prior. With Schneider dealing with injury problems, it seemed as though Kinkaid would give him the relief he needed and form a pretty solid 2 goalie tandem in the process. Then, everything fell to the waist
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Canadiens Thompson trying to adapt to changing NHL

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Nate Thompson with the Montreal Canadiens. Credit: Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images For Canadiens centre Nate Thompson, change is a thing he’s had to get used to. Since being drafted in the 6 th round of the 2003 NHL entry draft by the Boston Bruins, he’s seen himself play for 7 different clubs, across nearly 700 NHL games, settling into a role as a tough, hard working, bottom six centre, lacking in speed, but making up for it with grit and tenacity. “This is my 17th or 18th training camp, so it’s getting up there.” Thompson said in an interview with the Montreal Gazette. “I think I was 18, I was with Boston. There were guys like Sandy McCarthy, P.J. Stock. Joe Thornton was in Boston at the time. I actually played on a line with Sandy McCarthy and P.J. Stock, so safe to say I was pretty safe.” As with many veteran bottoms six players, Thompson has seen witness to the changes the NHL has gone through in the on-ice product, specifically with players like him.
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Minor league greats: Trevor Jobe

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Trevor Jobe prepares to take a faceoff while playing for the Johnstown Chiefs. Credit: The Tribune Democrat For many hockey fans, the 1992-93 season is seen as the best in NHL history. A look through the scoring leaders from that year show almost inconceivable numbers in the modern game. For comparison, Nikita Kucherov’s 128-point season last year, which put him 11 points ahead of the runner up in the scoring race, Connor McDavid, would’ve placed him 7 th amongst scoring leaders in 1993. With 160 points on the year, Mario Lemieux captured the art ross trophy, and five players finished the season with 60 goals over more. Wayne Gretzky had 40 points in 24 games in the playoffs, and the Montreal Canadiens reeled off 11 straight OT wins en route to winning the Stanley Cup. However, while all that is very impressive, a lot of people forget what happened in the minor leagues that year. As weird as it might seem, they were also a lot of record-breaking performances in the AHL
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What does the future hold for Hunter Shinkaruk?

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Hunter Shinkaruk with the Vancouver Canucks. Credit: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images As little known as it was to many fans at the time, the Hunter Shinkaruk trade has, for me, quietly gone down as one of the worst trades the Montreal Canadiens made last season. While it didn’t amount to much in the end, it’s immediate effect could be seen by those who paid attention to it. On February 25 th , 2018, the Habs traded long time center and fan favorite Tomas Plekanec to the Toronto Maple Leafs, along with Kyle Baun, in exchange for Rinat Valiev, Kerby Rychel and a 2 nd round pick. At the time, the trade was basically a depth acquisition for the Leafs, wanting Plekanec’s experience and penalty killing acumen as they headed into the playoffs, only to lose in the first round in 7 games. For the Habs, Valiev and Rychel both brought decent depth to the roster and produced well for the Laval Rocket. Come next season, Rychel, on August 20 th , 2018, just before the start of tra
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50s flashback: Andre Corriveau

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Andre Corriveau with the Montreal Canadiens. Credit: Hockey Hall of Fame Dick Irvin called him the best breakaway player in all of hockey, but most of us know this smallish forward as nothing more than a footnote in Canadiens history. Born on May 15 th , 1928 in the tiny town of Grand Mere Quebec, Corriveau was essentially the Martin St. Louis of the 1950’s, an incredibly small forward with speed to burn and passing skills comparable to Adam Oates, Corriveau was known as one of the fastest players in minor league hockey from the late 40s to the mid 1950s.  Coming in at a tiny 5’8 and 135 pounds, Corriveau knew much like Martin St. Louis that he had to work extra hard if he was going to make it in professional hockey. However, while St. Louis made it big, as for Corriveau, things didn't quite work out that way.  Playing his junior hockey for the Montreal Nationale of the QJHL, or Quebec Junior Hockey League, Corriveau showed incredible promise. Recording over a p
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