Why It Clicked: NHLers explain their career seasons

By Sean LeahySep 11, 2018, 10:41 AM EDT

Getty Images

September is here and opening night of the 2018-19 NHL season is three weeks away, which means everything resets. What happened last season doesn’t matter and players’ sole focus now is to try and look forward and either build off 2017-18 or completely forget it in some cases.

At the NHL Player Media Tour in Chicago last week, Pro Hockey Talk spoke to four players who enter this season coming off career years offensively. We wanted to know from them why it all came together last season.

Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers: 34 goals, 68 assists, 102 points

A huge reason why Giroux had the year that he did was that he was attached to the hip of Sean Couturier. Moving to the wing, the Flyers captain spent over 80 percent of his time at even strength with Couturier, per Dobber Hockey, which resulted in both forwards posting offensive bests.

“I think it was a little bit of everything,” he said. “Being able to go on the wing and have a new position… at first I was a little uncomfortable, but after a few preseason games and regular season games you get in a rhythm. Being able to play with Coots, he’s a very smart player. We just had that chemistry going.”

It was a competitive year for the Hart Trophy, and while a case could have been made for Giroux winning MVP, he ended up finishing fourth in the voting by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Taylor Hall, New Jersey Devils: 39 goals, 54 assists, 93 points

The Devils returned to the postseason for the first time in six years, thanks heavily in part to Hall carrying the team on his back during the second half. Fully comfortable in his new settings, the 26-year-old forward recorded points on a regular basis, with his play resulting in the franchise being able to tout its first Hart Trophy winner.

[Hall not expecting complacency from Devils]

A newfound partnership with the 2017 No. 1 overall pick helped and there was likely some motivation to continue sticking it to the Edmonton Oilers’ brass, who dealt him away in a surprise trade in 2016 — a decision that Hall said made him feel “slighted.”

“We added a lot more talent to our team and we became a team that really played fast and really played tenacious,” Hall said last week. “I think that my game meshed perfectly with the team and [I] found some really good chemistry with Nico [Hischier] and then from there, I don’t know if a 26-game point streak is ever going to happen again. It was just one of those things that happened. As far as being a successful player, a successful offensive player, I have no doubt that I can do that [this season] for the Devils. I’m excited to see what happens.”

Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche: 39 goals, 58 assists, 97 points

When you’re good friends with Sidney Crosby and spend your summers working out with one of the NHL’s best, you tend to pick up a thing or two. For MacKinnon, it was only a matter of time before he took the next step in his development following back-to-back 50-point seasons. With some better talent around him on a line with Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen, 2018-19 was his year.

It all paid off as MacKinnon finished second in the Hart voting behind Hall as he helped the Avalanche back into the postseason.

“Experience. Just being my fifth year in the league, I got more comfortable with myself and my game,” he said. “It was all mental. I might have gotten a little bit better with my physical tools but nothing too drastic for the jump ahead. It was more mental.”

Vincent Trocheck, Florida Panthers: 31 goals, 44 assists, 75 points

The one constant for Trocheck for most of last season was Jonathan Huberdeau, who would score 27 goals. Spending a lot of time next to Huberdeau, Trocheck would take advantage of a bump in ice time and not pass up many opportunities to shoot en route to personal bests offensively.

The Pittsburgh native would also make good use of power play time, leading the team with 13 PPGs and 27 points with the man advantage.

“There was a lot of opportunity last year. I think a lot of it has to do with that,” Trocheck said. “The way the team was playing the first half of the year, I kind of had to take the onus on myself to take that extra step. And there’s a few of us, [Aleksander] Barkov, Huberdeau, guys like that, who stepped it up as well offensively. It was just a matter of clicking with each other, and I think there was a lot more chemistry.”

MORE: NHL Player Media Tour 2018 Notebook

————

Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.

Blue Jackets acquire D Damon Severson from Devils after he signs 8-year deal

Associated PressJun 9, 2023, 1:53 PM EDT

Kirk Irwin/Getty Images

The Columbus Blue Jackets acquired Damon Severson from the New Jersey Devils on Friday after the veteran defenseman and soon-to-be free agent signed an eight-year $50 million contract.

Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen sent a third-round pick, 80th overall, in this month’s draft to the Devils for Severson, who will be under contract through the 2030-31 NHL season.

Severson had 58 goals and 205 assists in 647 career appearances with the Devils since making his NHL debut in 2014-15. He scored seven game-winning goals and averaged more than 21 minutes of playing time during his nine seasons. The 28-year-old had seven goals and 26 assists this season, including two game-winning goals, in 81 games.

“Damon is a versatile defenseman who has great vision, moves the puck extremely well, has good size and can play heavy minutes at both ends of the ice,” Kekalainen said.

The Canadian was selected in the second round in the 2012 draft. He has collected 30 or more points five times in his career and twice notched 11 or more goals. He played in every game in three straight seasons from 2018-21 and has played 80 or more contests four times in his career.

With the addition of the third-round pick, New Jersey now has six selections in the draft, including its own picks in rounds two, four, five, six and seven.

Matthew Tkachuk returns from big hit in Stanley Cup Final, adds more playoff heroics

Associated PressJun 9, 2023, 9:59 AM EDT

James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

Matthew Tkachuk was down, out briefly and then back with plenty of time to make a difference.

The Florida Panthers star left early in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final after a big hit from Vegas Golden Knights forward Keegan Kolesar, and he missed most of the first period and didn’t return immediately following intermission while being evaluated for a concussion. After looking as if he might be lost for the night, Tkachuk returned in the second and then came through with more of his now trademark playoff heroics.

Tkachuk scored the tying goal with 2:13 left in regulation, forcing overtime and giving the Panthers new life. He then provided the screen on Carter Verhaeghe‘s OT goal for a 3-2 victory that cut Florida’s series deficit to 2-1.

The 25-year-old said he knew he was coming back when he left the game, pulled by concussion spotters. That absence felt like a long time ago in the aftermath of another big win he was largely responsible for.

“I felt great – I feel great,” Tkachuk said. “I’m ready to go. Everybody’s excited that we’re in this position right now.”

Florida is in this position rather than facing elimination in Game 4 on Saturday thanks in large part to Tkachuk, who also set up Brandon Montour‘s goal that opened the scoring less than five minutes in.

Not long after, Tkachuk stumbled getting up after the hit from Kolesar and skated to the bench. He took a shift on Florida’s power play before going down the tunnel at the demand of concussion spotters mandated by NHL protocol.

At that point, there was zero clarity, even on the Florida bench.

“You’re not informed at all: It’s a complete shutdown,” coach Paul Maurice said. “You are completely in the dark on those. You don’t know when the player’s coming back. There’s not an update.”

Players insist they were not worried. Montour called it a no-brainer.

“He’s going to come back no matter what,” captain Aleksander Barkov said. “He’s really tough guy, and he’s going to battle through everything.”

Tkachuk rejoined his teammates on the bench a few minutes into the second. When he stepped back onto the ice for his first shift since leaving, fans cheered and chanted, “Chucky! Chucky!”

The crowd was even louder and threw rats when Tkachuk scored his biggest goal of many during this run to tie it. He didn’t get an assist on Verhaeghe’s goal but made it happen with a tape-to-tape pass in the neutral zone and was in front of Adin Hill when it happened.

Asked if he was happy Tkachuk returned, Maurice joked that it was after midnight.

“It was fine,” he quipped.

Panthers rally, top Golden Knights 3-2 in OT of Game 3 of Stanley Cup final

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 11:48 PM EDT

Sam Navarro/USA TODAY Sports

SUNRISE, Fla. — Carter Verhaeghe scored 4:27 into overtime and the Florida Panthers pulled off some more postseason dramatics to beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Thursday night.

Matthew Tkachuk tied it with 2:13 left in the third period for the Panthers, who got the franchise’s first title-series game win in seven tries. Florida had to fend off a power play to start overtime, and Verhaeghe got the winner from the slot to get the Panthers within 2-1 in the series.

Game 4 is Saturday night.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 shots for Florida. Adin Hill made 20 saves for Vegas, but got beat on the only shot that came his way in overtime.

Brandon Montour also scored for Florida, which pulled Bobrovsky down 2-1 late in the third for the extra attacker and Tkachuk — who left for parts of the first and second periods after taking a big hit — made that move pay off when he tied the game.

His goal breathed life into a very nervous building. But the Panthers were furious — and replays showed they had a case — when Gustav Forsling was sent to the box with 11.2 seconds remaining for tripping. Florida survived that scare, and a few minutes later, had life in the series again.

The odds are still long, but the Panthers at least have a bit more statistical hope now. Of the previous 55 teams to trail 2-1 at this point of the Stanley Cup Final, 11 have actually rallied to hoist the trophy.

It’s improbable, sure. So are the Panthers, who were the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, were down 3-1 to Boston in Round 1, were 133 seconds away from trailing this series 3-0 — and now have tons of reasons for optimism.

Jonathan Marchessault and Mark Stone each had power-play goals for Vegas.

Marchessault’s goal was his 13th in his last 13 playoff games, his fourth of this series and his third with the man advantage.

As if all that wasn’t enough, there was a little history in there as well. Vegas joined the 1980 New York Islanders as the only team with at least two power-play goals in three consecutive games in the Cup final. And Marchessault became the third player in the last 35 years to score in each of the first three games of a title series — joining Steve Yzerman in 1997 with Detroit and Jake Guentzel with Pittsburgh in 2017.

But it wasn’t enough to give Vegas a 3-0 lead in the series.

AROUND THE RINK

Before Thursday, Florida’s last home game in the title series was June 10, 1996, when Uwe Krupp scored in the third overtime for a 1-0 win as Colorado finished off a four-game sweep of the Panthers for the Cup. … Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was in the crowd, as was NBA great Charles Barkley, and former Dolphins star Dan Marino was the celebrity drummer to welcome the Panthers onto the ice.

Blackhawks, Athanasiou agree to 2-year, $8.5 million contract

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 9:28 PM EDT

Sergei Belski/USA TODAY Sports

CHICAGO — The rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks locked in one of their top scorers, agreeing to a two-year, $8.5 million contract with forward Andreas Athanasiou on Thursday.

The 28-year-old Athanasiou tied for the team lead with 20 goals and ranked third with 40 points in his first season with Chicago. He matched career highs with four game-winning goals and three power-play goals.

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Athanasiou has 125 goals and 111 assists in 459 games with the Detroit Red Wings (2015-20), Edmonton Oilers (2020), Los Angeles Kings (2020-22) and Blackhawks.

Chicago went 26-49-7 and finished last in the Central Division. The Blackhawks dealt Patrick Kane to the New York Rangers prior to the trade deadline and announced in April they would not re-sign Jonathan Toews, parting with two players who led them to Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013 and 2015.