NEUGSIE’S AROUND THE RINKS

By: Jamie Neugebauer
Voice of the ND Hounds/DUBNetwork MJ Warriors Beat Writer

1. Mailloux perspective: I could spend a lot of ink talking about various picks at the NHL Draft this past weekend, but nobody made more noise (or a bigger stink) than the Montreal Canadiens when they took the controversial big right-shot defenceman Logan Mailloux 31st overall in the first round. I loved Rod’s perspective on the pick, and could not have said what I think about it any better myself. He said “What he did was terrible. There’s no doubt, I’m not defending the kid. What I’m saying is: it’s a first offence, he’s a teen, and I’m an advocate of second chances.” I don’t believe the Habs were right in taking him, or anyone in this draft for that matter, but now that they did, let’s give a young man a chance to show some growth. The courts in Sweden dealt out the punishment they deemed appropriate, and I truly hope the young woman can work to get help to deal with this as well, but I know I’ve done all sorts of awful, horrible things, and I’ve received so many chances. My first thought was also: people throwing stones, but Semyon Varlamov is still in the NHL, and what he did was a lot worse, and nobody talks about that anymore. 
2. Power: Owen Power went first overall. Duh. Anybody that said anybody else was going first overall before the draft was clearly under a rock and did not see a second of the World Hockey Championship. He was awesome. Saw a funny tweet from Paul Bissonnette about how the University of Michigan is going to be way over the cap next year, but it would be pretty crazy if all their first-rounders from this past draft – Power, Matt Beniers, Kent Johnson, and Matt Samoskevich – were in their line-up for the Big10 season. Veteran teams still tend to win the National Championship though, so anyone who says that squad is waltzing into the final is fooling themselves. Still, hard to bet against them!
3. Ryker: Thrilled to see Notre Dame Hound and Regina Pats defenceman Ryker Evans get picked 35th overall by Seattle! Guy has had a lot of doubters since he was part of ND’s Telus Cup championship in 2018, but we all said that if he put some wow-factor with the puck to go with his clear wow-factor skating, he would really be something special. He had a great Hub season and I know Ryker is on a great path off the ice too! He’ll also have plenty of eyeballs on him while people pay attention to whatever Connor Bedard pulls out of his hat for the Pats for the 2021-22 campaign.
4. The winner of the draft was: Dallas. Period. 31 teams were nuts to pass on Logan Stankoven almost twice, but taking a complete package like that – notwithstanding his size – 47th overall is just awesome. Windsor Spitfires forward Wyatt Johnston was also a no-brainer when they picked 23rd, and Ayrton Martino in the third round, and Jack Bar in the fifth were great value picks. I still can’t believe Stankoven got out of the first round.
5. Four Warriors: Four 2021-2022 Moose Jaw Warriors were taken in the draft, as Ryder Korczak, Cole Jordan, Martin Rysavy, and Max Wanner all went, and you throw in draft-snub Eric Alarie, youngsters Brayden Yager, Jagger Firkus, and Denton Mateychuk all into that max, and you start to see a very nice core forming in the Friendly City. I like Alarie, and I think he will be a pro, but I can see how teams passed in this era given how he still has work to do on his footspeed. He simply knows how to score goals with his big body, and his rocket of a shot, and I don’t expect him to be missed next draft. He’s going to fill the net this year coming up, just you wait!
6. Retire or report?: From young guys to older and the big news Tuesday was that the Las Vegas Golden Knights have traded the reigning Vezina Trophy winner Marc-Andre Fleury to Chicago for pretty much nothing. I guess it frees Vegas from the cap hit, and I’m sure you’ve all read a million forms of analysis about it by now, but the point that had me thinking was around the question of what teams actually owe their players in terms of advance notice for things like this. Fleury’s super-agent Allan Walsh made a big stink on Twitter about how Fleury found out on social media before anywhere else, but I guess the callous response from the Knights is probably that notice like that isn’t owed Fleury in his contract, or probably anyone else’s unless they have a no-trade clause, so much ado about nothing if you ask me. Maybe his feelings are hurt, but the bottom line is clearly that Fleury doesn’t really want to play on a rebuilder in Chicago. So, it’s like a lot of questions around Junior A trades: does he report? Pretty wild that he might retire instead of taking $7 million to live in an incredible city like Chicago. Who knows?
7. Kudos to Robby (x2): I have two kudos to send to guys named Robby! Shout out to former Estevan Bruins’ broadcaster and overall good guy Rob Mahon for being hired to be the voice of the Prince Albert Raiders! He’s going to be great. Always a great chat, always helpful, Robby will be missed in SJHL circles for sure! Also have to shout out Kyle Robinson, the one-time ND Hounds Junior A defenceman and Newfoundlander who finished up his junior career this past year in Yarmouth in the Maritime League, and will be playing for the Brock University Badgers in St. Catherine’s, Ontario moving forward! Great program, and Robby is a great kid! Quick story: we went for sushi for dinner one day, and the next day he was gone from the team, and he didn’t give me any hint about what was going on! Ha! Oh well, I gotta be careful when I go with people to sushi, I guess!
8. Hyman: I have nothing bad to say about Zach Hyman moving on from the Leafs after six years with his hometown club. In the five years he was on Toronto playoff teams, he scored exactly one goal each post-season! How’s that for a stat (yes, I know, only one series each time). Hope the man, who like me was once in the Ontario Junior Hockey League, does well in Edmonton! Maybe he can replicate all that success he had going deep in the playoffs beside McDavid as he did with Matthews….what’s that? That never happened? Okay, let’s move on.
9. Don’t worry Avs fans: Gabe Landeskog isn’t going anywhere, stop whining. Everyone will kiss and makeup, they won’t let a guy like that go. I still remember him tearing up the Ontario Hockey League with the Kitchener Rangers while I was at nearby Wilfrid Laurier University! If he doesn’t retire an Avalanche I’ll be stunned.
10. Olympic hate: Yes, the Olympics are corrupt, but so is the fast-food industry and people are still buying Big Macs by the boatload. Is there any better romance and drama than the stories that come out of the Olympics whenever it’s on? These young people, who aren’t that famous, instantly become the centre of my world for the 15 minutes I’m paying attention to their 100m backstroke or whatever, and I love it. Yes, it hasn’t been the same without crowds, but if you were looking for permission to just relax and enjoy whatever event you want to watch without any guilt, I give it to you now. You’re welcome. 

(Follow Jamie on Twitter at @Neugsie)