Emergency rundown of the Rangers' OA situation.... just in case anything else happens...

The Olympic hockey roster argument that makes my eyes glaze over more than any other is "you need players to play a bottom-six and fourth-line role." No you don't. You literally don't.

"This season, the Juniorkronorna aim, once again, for gold… and they might just have the wherewithal to pull it off." 🇸🇪 Read more about how Team Sweden is shaping up at the #WorldJuniors this year from @nikitagz.bsky.social here: buff.ly/pdPirNK

"The Kitchener Rangers headed off on a ten-day road trip last week, having swung through Guelph and much of the West Division." Catch up the #OHLRangers here in @nikitagz.bsky.social's newest column entry: buff.ly/Gnu7iPe

"Heated Rivalry is not about hockey [...] It’s about two guys meeting, having sex, having more sex, and then eventually falling in love; the setting of which just so happens to be hockey." @nikitagz.bsky.social breaks down the hockey behind the worldwide hit #HeatedRivalry: buff.ly/Wbk9sV4

"As an on-ice collection of small disasters in and of themselves, the Niagara IceDogs are not a bad team." Read @nikitagz.bsky.social's newest #OntarioHockeyLeague column here: buff.ly/E5E2ELt

When you're coaching but you don't know what you're doing

"With more attention comes necessary retooling. With more stakes comes a higher need to understand the bigger picture." As the first half of the college hockey season wraps up, @dancekatrina13.bsky.social writes about Gavin McKenna. Read more here:

"There’s a ghost in the Saginaw Spirit locker room. An outline in the shape of a man, haunting the way they play and leaving holes on the ice." Read @nikitagz.bsky.social's newest OHL Column entry here: buff.ly/k0e1qVr

Goddamn Max Domi sucks!

"Do something once and it’s cool. Do it twice and it’s a pattern. Do it three times and you have to diversify. Do it this much and it’s your trademark skill." @nikitagz.bsky.social is back with another edition of Out of the Hackbox: Coming to a Town Near You

I get people are ok with Domi going after Z but: 1) Z was never taking that fight 2) Leafs had momentum and clawed back to a 1 goal deficit 3) Max didn't even make it count. Zadorov played the next shift 4) forget Z, run Pasta

That was perhaps the most Max Domi thing ever. Take a stupid penalty that directly hurts the team but has his praises sung for fake tough guy bullshit.

Come into the 3rd down 2, without Matthews. Already killed a penalty. Get one back on a bit of a gift. Wonder if I should take a penalty 200 feet from my net and the puck

Well, everybody gets what they want. Leafs haters get to continue believing the Leafs are dead because they sucked absolute ass for 40 minutes. Leafs fans get to celebrate a glorious comeback. William Nylander fans get to post that William Nylander leads the league in 5v5 points

It's not really clear to me what the Amazon Prime people are talking about. What do you mean "they need to reimagine their identity"? Do you think this team is trying to skill its way to winning right now? What are you talking about?

"Twenty-five years ago, a Hall-of-Pretty-Good NHL player retired after nineteen seasons, went back to southern Ontario, and roped his younger brother into buying, with him, a god-awful junior hockey team." Read @nikitagz.bsky.social newest column entry here: buff.ly/pboP4pU

Thank god this team has William Nylander on it

The Chicago Blackhawks are in a playoff spot, which will certainly be true in two months, and Frank Nazar remains unreal. Also, play breakdowns are back. @nikitagz.bsky.social is back with Out of the Hackbox: Fool and Chariot. Check it out here: buff.ly/7G7421b

Good thing we spend a shitload of assets and also cap to have humongous guys on the back end who push the other team into our goalie

Cowan Draw GAR📈📈

Brandon Carlo man what are you doing

i don't think that shohei ohtani is a good baseball player

it is always wyatt kaiser at the scene of the crime

Move over Sharks, there's a new fun young team in town. Frank Nazar is off to a hot start, Connor Bedard is making TikToks and Wyatt Kaiser has been assigned Artyom Levshunov babysitter. Welcome to Out of the Hackbox by @nikitagz.bsky.social. Check it out here: buff.ly/0KWtePD

It's so very frustrating because opponents smothering the Leafs' inability to quickstrike and counter has been a primary issue for pretty much this entire era, and every year the accepted solution to "fix the team" has somehow made them a little worse at that

Nazar's going to be a leader in the "entries leading to scoring chances" column if last night is any indication.

Measure Twice, Cut Once xkcd.com/3149/

"The Rangers, as a consequence of their contention, now have to run a game against one of the league’s two-ish other contenders with three forward lines, no top-pair defenders, and their backup goalie in net." Read @nikitagz.bsky.social's newest OHL column entry here: buff.ly/ZWemobo

In the final article of our three part series, we're highlighting key players to watch this season in the QMJHL. Read more from Read more from @pearbea.bsky.social, @nikitagz.bsky.social and @lillescore.bsky.social here : buff.ly/7RZlBeJ

In the second article of our three part series, we're highlighting key players to watch this season in the WHL. Read more from @pearbea.bsky.social, @nikitagz.bsky.social and @lillescore.bsky.social here: buff.ly/EDpwsxu

In a mini-series of three separate articles, we will spotlight one player on each CHL team this season. In part one, we’re focusing on teams in the OHL. Read more from @pearbea.bsky.social, @nikitagz.bsky.social and @lillescore.bsky.social here: buff.ly/IornD1N

every time a new cap situation presents itself, the "is this going to be a period of chaos" question arises. answer so far seems to universally be "no"

Annual Atlantic Division Power Ranking: 8. Sabres: hopeleast 7. Red Wings: hopeless 6. Canadiens: More like the Can'tadiens 5. Senators: These guys lost to the Leafs lol 4. Bruins: Bouncing back to bubble team 3. Lightning: Rested but old 2. Panthers: Bad people 1. Maple Leafs: Righteous and good

Strongest of all though is for powerplay skaters, you play with your unit and that's that, basically.

well its gladwell, so it's not like he's thoroughly misunderstood a slim selection of research that reinforces his personally held stereotypes about a minority in order to make up some intellectual gymnastics for people who like to feel smart

let's get ohl with it

“I didn't see myself in the sport itself, and so I interjected myself into the sport.”  🏒 @matthewauch.bsky.social spoke with @tealcitycrew.bsky.social about their mission, collaboration with the #SJSharks, and the work to champion all marginalized communities in hockey: buff.ly/1N30osZ

Every time a union strikes there are so many people who insist that it's actually a tactical error because inconveniencing the public makes them unsympathetic, as if the best course of action is simply to do what the bosses want and gain some supposed wellspring of support

Linguistics of the Canadian dialect of English. Cheeseball but 🇨🇦🔥

A Borges story about a guy who gets AI to summarize all the world’s information for him, and then summarize the summary, until the AI has the whole world summarized into a single word. He sits alone at his desk, staring at the word, repeating it endlessly, certain he is experiencing everything

Davis Schneider vs Aaron Civale Home Run (4) 💣 Exit velo: 103.0 mph Launch angle: 30 deg Projected distance: 384 ft No doubt about that one 🔒 That's a dinger in all 30 MLB ballparks TOR @ CWS 🔺 3rd

New post: Mitch Marner is officially an ex-Maple Leaf. Does he deserve to be cast as the villain on his way out? A debate with myself: www.nytimes.com/athletic/646...

People correctly noting that Marchand is going to be 44 years old when his contract ends and that last offseason the league used Seravalli as a mouthpiece to preemptively threaten the Leafs about going too long on a Tanev contract. A key thing to remember: the Panthers’ AGM is Colin Campbell’s son

I think the Leafs should still accuse Vegas of tampering

That's future captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Matthew Schaefer.

My latest for the New York Times:

We got another defenceman to highlight for the upcoming 2025 #NHLDraft! Read about Henry Brzustewicz from @nikitagz.bsky.social‬: buff.ly/y0qgh2C

A labour of love (and sadness at the playoff result - I am a Leafs fan) to visually represent the Toronto Maple Leafs 2024-25 season. Blue = regulation win // Black = regulation loss // Yellow = OT/SO win // Lt Grey = OT/SO loss

The Leafs add Lalonde as Assistant Coach. Wow. I’ve never said a bad thing about him or how he thinks about hockey. I definitely thought the last two years he spent doing analysis on Hockey Night in Canada showcased his intellect and knowledge of the game