A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Find someone who loves you as much as Commissioner Bettman loves the current playoff format.
1. Erik Johnson only played 39 games for the Philadelphia Flyers, but that was long enough for the 17-year NHL veteran to call Scott Laughton “one of my closest friends I’ve ever made in hockey.”
For some reason, the two clicked instantly. They shared dinner before nearly every road game.
So, when the forward got traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on the morning of March 7, Johnson was sad. Then Johnson got traded too — to Colorado (more on that later). And, looky here, the Leafs and Avalanche were playing each other next.
Laughton and Johnson hopped on the same flight to Denver, giving the friends hours to hash it all out and make sense of the upheaval a mile in the sky.
Colorado knew exactly what it was getting in former Av Johnson.
But what did Toronto just pay a first-round pick and a decent prospect (Nikita Grebenkin) for?
“Just a guy you want in your corner. Team guy. Will do anything for the team to win. Swiss army knife. Can play on the penalty kill. Can play on the power play. Wins faceoffs. Great leadership,” Johnson begins. “Just a tremendous human being. Really going to miss him. But the Leafs got a good one, for sure.”
When the Avalanche rolled into Toronto this week, the two friends went for dinner the night before the game, like old times.
One of them is ecstatic about his trade. Laughton is trying to enjoy his new surroundings, too.
But nothing has gone right for him — yet.
He’s seven games in and still searching for his first point as a Leaf. He has just five shots on goal, and Toronto has been outscored 7-1, outchanced 47-13, and outshot 47-20 when he hits the ice. One puck did enter the net off his skate, but it was the wrong net.
“I know Toronto was his first choice of all the teams that were calling about him — which was a lot. And he is from here, so I know it was a childhood dream to play here. He was super excited to come here. Always grew up cheering for the Leafs,” Johnson speaks for his buddy.
“It’s tough when you come from a franchise you’ve been your whole career, and then you come somewhere new. It’s just a shellshock, and you got to get used to so many different things. So, there’s a huge adjustment period, and it’ll take some time, I’m sure. But I’m not worried about him. He’s just a total gamer and a guy you want on your team.”
Because the Maple Leafs spent two pieces of their limited trade capital on Laughton, and because the supposed third-line centre is now skating wing on the fourth line, Toronto fans are understandably concerned about an overpay.
The Nick Foligno gamble of 2021 still haunts. (Character guy, local ties, first-rounder price, but too hurt to be effective in playoffs.)
“He’s trying to probably play the game without making mistakes, and he’s overthinking things instead of just playing. Go, Laughts. Just play. Be aggressive. Do your thing. That’ll come around, I do believe that. He wants to do well, and he’s just got to loosen up and go play,” says Craig Berube, who also coached Laughton in Philly.
“He’s from here, and (he’s) got a lot going on with people and everything else. You want to please, right? He’s got to forget about pleasing and play and do your thing. You’re a good player. That’s why you’re in the National Hockey League and played for a long time.”
Prior to the trade, Laughton scored 11 goals and 27 points in 60 games — including a four-goal explosion on Dec. 12. When St. Louis’s Brayden Schenn left the market, Leafs GM Brad Treliving thought Laughton could be an affordable source of secondary scoring and centre depth.
Laughton has been hard on himself for not living up to the escalated price Treliving doled out in a seller’s market.
The upside is that, unlike so many of the Leafs’ deadline moves of the past, Laughton is not a rental.
There is time for him to discover his best self.
That falls on the player, sure, but it also falls on Berube to optimize his new weapon.
To give Laughton some run on a third line and try to make this work in the lead-up to playoffs.
“I do believe he’s overthinking it a little bit, and really wants to do well, first and foremost. And sometimes that can hurt you. Instead of just going out and playing freely and using your abilities, what got you in the NHL,” Berube says.
“I know that there’s a lot more in there. He can be more aggressive. Playing on your toes and not playing safe, I think, will get him out of that.”
Right now, Berube is also playing it safe — by limiting Laughton’s usage.
2. The last time Gabriel Landeskog played a hockey game, the commissioner invited him over to hoist the Stanley Cup over his head afterward.
That was nearly three full years ago.
So, after having a cadaver’s cartilage injected into a knee that is resisting healing well enough for full contact, it was encouraging to see the Colorado Avalanche captain practising Wednesday morning in Toronto.
He is on the road and on the ice with the boys again. No NHLer has played after the surgery Landeskog has undergone. He doesn’t want to leave the game he loves with a what-if haunting him, though.
There is, dare we say, hope after a series of setbacks and countless nights of frustration and confusion.
“His mental toughness and his will and want and drive to get back to play hockey again and help our team, I think, has been exceptional,” coach Jared Bednar says.
“Sometimes it’s tough to watch. And then other times you just sit back and you’re proud of what he’s been doing.”
John Tavares doesn’t know Landeskog well, but the two all-stars found themselves on the same flight to Tyson Barrie’s wedding a couple summers ago. Tavares listened intently as Landeskog detailed his extensive surgeries and rehabilitation.
“A lot of credit — he’s continuing to stick with it and doing everything he can to find a way, understanding it’s a lot of ups and downs,” Tavares says. “But he’s extremely motivated from talking to him, and a strong belief from him to make it back and to play again.
“I can’t imagine how difficult it’s been. To go on three years, it’s pretty crazy. But he’s obviously doing everything he can, and obviously a great leader, a great player, and you always hope to see guys make it through difficult times and challenges like that.”
The club has sketched a return-to-play plan. Landeskog will skate hard some days, take others off. He’ll begin to take light contact, then more. They’ll reassess and reevaluate at every step to not put his already-tenuous health at risk.
“I’m just happy he’s feeling well and happy and feels like he’s going in the right direction,” beams teammate and friend Erik Johnson.
“There’s no playbook for his injury, so you can’t really follow any guidelines. They’re kind of making up the rehab as we go. I’m excited for him. He’s put in a lot of work. A lot of people don’t know all he’s done behind the scenes and the resources and money he’s put into trying to get this thing right.”
It’s one thing to play a round of golf after cartilage-replacement surgery; it’s another to get checked by a 220-pound defenceman in the corner, repeatedly.
“There’s no real progress checkpoints, because it’s never been done before,” Johnson continues.
“To have that endless tunnel where you don’t know where the light is, it’s difficult. But he’s got a great support system and people in his corner that have really supported him, and we’ve tried to support him the best we can.
“Just happy he’s on the road and feeling good enough to give this thing a try. Even having him around for a little bit would be amazing. I mean, even if he’s playing eight nine, 10 minutes, whatever it is — just having him around will be so huge.”
At the outset of 2024-25, I was tasked with a preview article: The 25 People Who Will Define the NHL Season. I included Landeskog despite an editor’s suggestion that it might be a wasted slot, that his chances of dressing again were too slim.
Man, if Landeskog does play, his spot on that list should be in bold font.
Heck, even if he doesn’t, there should be no regrets.
“It’s big for our team. Just the energy, that’s a little bit contagious throughout our group. When we see him on the ice, the guys are excited for him. All the guys that have known him for a long time and know what he’s been through for the last… pushing three years now, and how hard he’s worked to try and get back to a return,” Bednar says.
“The guys are optimistic and really hoping that he’s going to be able to do it.”
3. The Washington Capitals are yawning their way to the Metropolitan title.
The Winnipeg Jets have made themselves so at home in the Central Division penthouse, they’re hanging pictures of their loved ones and leaving dirty socks on the floor.
And with the Vegas Golden Knights owing a three-point lead plus a game in hand over the Edmonton Oilers, who now have two injured super-duper-stars, in the Pacific, that leaves one divisional crown of real intrigue.
The Leafs have topped the Atlantic — a division they’ve never won — for most of the season, but now the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning are neck-and-neck-and-neck.
The winner delays facing one of the others until Round 2, and that’s critical.
Tiebreakers could come into play here, it’s so tight. But the remaining head-to-head matches take on even more weight.
The Leafs still face the Panthers twice down the stretch, the Lightning once. While April 15’s Battle of Florida looms large on the docket.
How much do the Leafs care about getting the No. 1 seed?
“It’s important. I mean, we’re right there, and we’ve been right there all year. Home ice in the playoffs. And you always want to come in first, no matter what you do. So, this is no different,” argues Jake McCabe.
Let the scoreboard-watching intensify.
“We control our own destiny,” Cat-turned-Leaf Anthony Stolarz says. “You want home-ice advantage. You want that last change. You want that extra home game if it goes to Game 7 — and you want that home crowd behind you.”
“If you’re a goalie, tend the goal.” —Ottawa’s Linus Ullmark, owning his goofy gaffe that resulted in a gift for Auston Matthews
5. Certainly, there is a Ron Burgundy-esque “I immediately regret this decision” vibe to the decentralized draft, which will take place in Los Angeles… and 31 other NHL cities.
The general managers voted 26-6 for this impersonal option and an end to a unique NHL tradition that gathered prospects, execs, fans, and media in one place for a celebration of the game, real-life handshakes, and a flurry of face-to-face trade discussions.
We’re not sure how much money the new format will save; teams must still fly in their scattered scouts and put them up in hotels in their home cities for war-room debates.
And commissioner Gary Bettman — striking a you-get-what-you-asked-for tone — hardly sounds like a fan of going virtual.
We’ll see how the June event plays out and hold hope that it makes for compelling TV, but our gut says this will be a one-off and the NHL Draft as we once knew it — an event that swallows its chosen city — will return in 2026.
6. Johnson, who spent his 13 prime seasons in Colorado, has returned home after most of one season in Buffalo and parts of two others in Philadelphia.
“It kind of felt like I was in a dream or a coma for a year and a half, woke up, and I was still in Colorado,” Johnson tells me of the deadline deal he couldn’t be more grateful for.
Johnson was teammates in Denver with Flyers GM Danny Briere in 2013-14, and the two men have maintained a relationship since. So, when another rebuilding campaign in Philadelphia began, Briere was upfront with his friend/employee, who was on an expiring contract sans trade protection.
Any trade offers, Briere would run them by Johnson before pulling the trigger.
Johnson said that unless Colorado came calling, he’d rather stay in Philly — standings be damned.
“There’s nowhere else I would be willing to go. I really enjoyed my time in Philly, and love the guys, love the city, love my role there. And I said, if something would work with Colorado, that would be the only way I would be willing to leave,” Johnson explains.
“It worked out that Colorado wanted to bring you back for some defensive depth. At about 2:30 p.m. [on March 7], Danny said, ‘We have a deal in place if you’d like to go. Totally your call.’ And I wanted to go back.
“He didn’t have to do that. But he gave me the option, and I decided to go after another Cup. They didn’t have to move me here, and they did me a favour to help me try and win another Cup. Just grateful to them for that, and grateful for the whole organization, for bringing me back.”
The NHL, they say, is a business, and that’s true.
But sometimes, you can mix a dash of heart and honour into the paperwork.
7. NHLers don’t come more affable or accessible than Charlie Coyle, whose head is admittedly still spinning after spending six years with his hometown Boston Bruins.
Coyle was dealt to the scary-good contender Avalanche as part of The Great Don Sweeney Purge of 2025 and has slid in nicely as a (properly slotted) third-line centre.
It’s the off-ice adjustments that get tricky.
“I’m just trying to get my bearing here, honestly. I’m trying to learn everyone’s name, nicknames, trainers’ names, this and that. Like, just trying to be comfortable that way,” Coyle explains with a chuckle. “That’s what takes a little bit of getting used to it. Boston, I was at home. I kind of knew the area. Denver? I don’t know Denver. So, I gotta explore.”
In Boston, all the boys called Coyle “CC” or “Cees” — you know, simple initials-based nicknames.
Things are different in Denver.
“I don’t think they’ve figured out what to call me yet,” he smiles. “Blackie [Mackenzie Blackwood] has been on ‘Coysie’ or ‘Koi Pond.’ We’ll see if that one sticks. That’s a first.”
The hockey part, though, is easy.
Coyle raves about how dialled everyone in the Avs organization is — management, coaches, equipment staff, teammates, you name it.
“I think that’s why they’re at the calibre they play every year — and why management goes all in with this,” Koi Pond says. “There’d no guessing where we stand and where we can get to.”
8. As Alex Ovechkin scores goal No. 888 and The Gr8 ChaseTM demands daily monitoring, Capitals coach Spencer Carbery is on record considering load management.
Washington is essentially home and cooled as the East’s top seed and is the Presidents’ Trophy favourite. Rest is a weapon. The Caps have three games jammed into four days in early April and want to give some of their core players a breather for what they hope is a deep playoff run.
But don’t expect their oldest and most prolific shooter to get the benefit of healthy rest.
“Could you imagine that, if I did that?” Carbery said. “We only have one extra forward that we’re carrying. So if O is still chasing a record, I highly doubt he’ll be sitting in section 304.”
9. The Maple Leafs’ signing of late-blooming defenceman John Prokop, 23, was telegraphed by Treliving ahead of the trade deadline when the general manager explained the franchise’s workaround for emptying the cupboards of picks and prospects.
Because the Leafs don’t have a first-rounder in any of the next three drafts (and no second in ’26 and no fourth in ’25 or ’26), they must find other means of restocking the shelves.
They’re scouting the NCAA and overseas leagues to uncover hidden gems that slipped through the cracks or developed late. It’s a low-risk, hit-and-miss strategy that can yield a Nick Abruzzese or a Bobby McMann.
Only three players this season have scored at least 25 goals and thrown at least 150 hits: Tom Wilson, Brady Tkachuk, and sophomore Matthew Knies.
Knies, 22, is easily the youngest and least penalized of this trio of power forwards. He’s also the only one in a contract year.
With projections on the intriguing RFA’s next contract coming out, some have wondered about the possibility of the Leafs facing an offer sheet.
In the immortal words of Tony Soprano, fuggedaboutit.
Firstly, Treliving loves the player, the cap is opening up, and any attempts to poach Knies would be matched.
Secondly — and probably more importantly — Knies loves being a Leaf and has struck up good friendships in Toronto, which also houses fellow Arizonans Auston Matthews and Shane Doan.
Yes, Treliving hired Shane Doan, in part, to help with the Matthews extension of 2023, but the Doan-Knies connection runs deep. Doan’s son, Utah HC forward Josh, and Knies have been close buddies since minor hockey. And Shane has served as a mentor to the emerging Leafs star, whose game is cut from a similar cloth.
Remember: The player must be willing to leave to sign and offer sheet. It’s a choice.
Imagine Knies telling the Leafs brass that he’d rather skate elsewhere. We can’t see it.
“(Shane) has been my coach growing up ever since I was, gosh, five or six years old,” Knies once said. “Behind the bench, he’s always been there. He’s a big figure to me and someone I always looked up to. Having him as a big hockey influence behind me was really helpful in my young career.”
Doan should help smooth this negotiation, no?
“I’ve known him and his family, his mom and dad, and his brother Phillip for a long, long time, and we’re close,” said Doan, upon his hiring in Toronto.
“He’s got a long ways to go, and he’s got a lot to learn. But he’s headed in the right direction for sure.”
Maybe that direction has spiked quicker than imagined, but we believe player and team will both happily ride its trajectory.
11. Surely the chants would have rung louder had more fans not cleared out of Madison Square Garden early.
Still, one could make out a discernible “Fire Lavi!” plea from the upper bowl Thursday in New York City as the Rangers’ out-of-sync power play fumbled a chance to rally against Toronto and the reigning Presidents’ Trophy champs lost their fifth consecutive home game.
The hallowed arena — which was a-rockin’ during the 2024 Eastern Conference Final — has lost its juice, and the coach appears to have lost the room.
Judging by the names on the sweaters, and the soon-to-be highest-paid goalie in the league, New York should be a wild-card team at the very least.
Yet as the pressure rises, disconnected play persists and defensive lapses increase.
Short of a rally into the post-season and beyond the first round, Laviolette will be in tough to be the one running training camp in September.
12. In the wake of Brendan Gallagher’s mom, Della, losing her battle with cancer, this warms the heart:
April 16 marks the final game of the Montreal Canadiens’ (regular) season. We couldn’t dream up a more fitting finish.
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