9 seconds into OT

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

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

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

Stefan Fournier with the Hamilton Bulldogs. Credit: Flickr.com If you were a more dedicated fan of the Montreal Canadiens back in 2013, the name Stefan Fournier might actually ring a bell or two. A native of nearby Dorval, Quebec, Fournier was minding his business as an above average middle six scorer in the QMJHL for the majority of his junior career, not attracting much attention until his final, over age season, where he found himself as Jonathan Drouin’s linemate with the Halifax Mooseheads during their Memorial Cup Run. Playing alongside the former 3 rd overall pick, Fournier put up 16 goals in 17 playoff games, to go along with 72 points in the regular season. Despite this, his status as an over ager and relatively unimpressive numbers before caused him to go undrafted, signing with the Montreal Canadiens as a free agent in July of 2013. While the team hoped he could replicate his scoring success, it’s been his fists that have kept him around, as he never put u

The Sutter Brothers. Credit: Sportsnet.ca If we look back through the annals of NHL history, we can find many famous brother duos. I first learned about how deep family can run through the book “Hockey dynasties: Blue Lines and Bloodlines” By: Jack Batten, which details some of the more famous NHL families. That was my first time learning about the Sutter’s, the Howe’s, etc. For my generation, the Staal’s are the most famous NHL brothers, With Marc, Jordan, and Eric continuing to play to this day, while 4 th brother Jared last played in Scotland. However, those 3 are all common knowledge to any passing hockey fan, and there’s many articles detailing their career’s much better than I ever could. What I find more interesting is the lesser known siblings, brothers who despite having long careers, almost nobody has ever heard of. While the Sutter sons are a good example of this, as only 1 of them (Brandon) has managed to make the NHL full time, I’m going even deeper. He

Jimmy Vesey with the New York Rangers. Credit: NHL.com I think a lot of people will agree when I say that the Hobey Baker award is one of the most hit and miss accolades in sports. With similar collegiate trophies like the Heisman for football, recipients mostly go on to have hall of fame careers, with a few exceptions (Ty Detmer, Doug Flutie, etc.) With the Hobey Baker, this isn’t the case. Collegiate hockey isn’t held in as high a calibre as the CHL in Canada, meaning recipients of the awards are basically a crapshoot as to whether they’ll succeed or not. Johnny Gaudreau won the award in 2014 while playing for Boston College, and despite being a 4 th round pick, has become one of the most exciting players in hockey. On the flipside, Robb Stauber won the award in 1988, yet went on to play only 62 NHL games, mostly as a backup with the LA Kings. Then, we get to guys like Jimmy Vesey. Players whose careers haven’t been or were never terrible, but never amazing ei

Nikita Gusev celebrates a goal against Germany during the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. Credit: Andrew Nelles For many hockey fans, Nikita Gusev, until recently, was a relatively unknown name. A former 7 th round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2012, Gusev never signed with the team, detailing in an interview with Russian website Sport Express that they’re were conflicting ideas in regard to his role. “They have a good team in Tampa.” Gusev said. “At some point they traded me away, because I was only an AHL player according to them and they didn’t want to see me there. And that I only deserve an AHL contract.” Prior to the Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft, on June 21 st , 2017, the Lightning traded Gusev to the team in exchange for them selecting Jason Garrison. Immediately, the name came back into the public eye, as GM George McPhee made it clear he had every intent to sign the Moscow native. After winning the KHL scoring title this past year w

Phil Varone with the Philadelphia Phantoms. Credit: JustSports Photography For a lot of AHL players, their value typically tends to fly under the radar. Most of them are signed just to have enough players to fill out an AHL roster, and that’s it. It’s only in rare instances that they actually get any coverage, case in point Daniel Carr. Carr’s potential has become common knowledge at this point to many hockey fans, so seeing him sign with the Predators got at least a little bit of attention. With 71 points in 52 games last season with the Chicago Wolves, Carr won AHL MVP, gaining himself such much needed notoriety on the free agent market. In many ways, Phil Varone should have a similar notoriety. A native of Vaughan, Ontario, his career has bounced all over the place since being taken 147 th overall in the 2009 NHL entry draft by the San Jose Sharks. Despite attending their training camp, he was never offered a contract by the team, so signed with the Buffal

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

As we begin day 2 of the NHL’s free agency period, with most of the big name players off the board, teams will start to get into the more lesser known side of things, signing players to either add depth to the NHL roster or help out their AHL team. While most people don’t look twice at these offers, there are a couple that are of some note, whether it be due to the player’s history or performance last season. Here’s a few of those. Gabriel Dumont to the Minnesota Wild Dumont was captain of the St. John's IceCaps one year. Credit: St. John's IceCaps During the Tampa Bay Lightning’s rebuilding phase, where the team went through injuries troubles as players like Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point came into their own, one of the things that surprised most people was the performance of their AHL call ups. Despite not producing a ton offensively, their defensive acumen was what kept the Bolts in a lot of games down the stretch. Gabriel Dumont was one of tho

Keith Kinkaid with the New Jersey Devils. Credit: Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire The Montreal Canadiens have signed goaltender Keith Kinkaid to a 1 year, 1.75 million dollar contract. At 6'03 and 195 pounds, Kinkaid spent last season split between the New Jersey Devils and Columbus Blue Jackets. In 41 games with the Devils, he posted a 15-18 record with a 3.36 GAA and 3 shutouts. With Antti Niemi struggling to stay consistent last season, Kinkaid give the Habs a solid, reliable back, something they haven't had since the days of Peter Budaj.