Last night, the Edmonton Oilers faced off against the Calgary Flames. After the game, Flames forward, Matthew Tkachuk had a few choice words for Oilers forward, Zach Kassian.

During the game, Matthew Tkachuk hit Zach Kassian in the head with a hard bodycheck. Kassian retaliated hard as he grabbed Tkachuk and repeatedly pummeled him down to the ice, after he was eventually dragged off of him by the referee. Kassian was assessed a double minor roughing penalty and a ten minute misconduct on the play.

After the two battled it out on the ice, they both shared their feelings towards each other to the media. Tkachuk said “If Kassian didn’t want to get hit, then he should stay off the tracks. I caught him three times there, you’d think he’d learn after the first one. If he wants to react that way then we’ll take the power play, we’ll take the game winner and we’ll move on to first place.”

Zach Kassian said “If you’re going to hit like that, you have to answer the bell every once in a while. He’s clearly trying to target me, which I like. I’m standing here and I love that stuff.

He’s just a young punk who just has to figure out that aspect. It’s sad because he’s a pretty good player. But he’s a [redacted], to be honest. Straight up. That’s the definition of it. He wouldn’t fight me two years ago. Said I was a fourth liner. Now I have 13 goals. What’s the excuse now?”

One of Tkachuk’s teammates, Rasmus Andersson, said in a post-game interview “They’ve got a lot of pretenders out there, It’s really nice to beat those guys. That’s one of the biggest coward moves I’ve ever seen from Kassian. We make guys like that pay. That was a cowardly move… that’s the kind of player he is.”

The NHL has announced that Zach Kassian will be having a hearing for his retaliation on the play. There has been no information provided if Matthew Tkachuk will be having a hearing regarding the same play. 

One of the biggest storylines as we find ourselves halfway through the 2020 NHL season has got to be, what’s wrong with the New Jersey Devils? After having arguably the best offseason out of any team in the league, they still find themselves at the bottom of their division, and tied for 2nd last in the conference, with a record of (16-21-7) According to MoneyPuck.com, the Devils have a 0.9% chance to make the playoffs this year, which is the 2nd last in the league. 

In the 2019 NHL offseason, Ray Shero, the Devils GM had been on an absolute tear. In the span of two months, the Devils had drafted potential superstar Jack Hughes, traded for former Norris winner P.K Subban (while giving up next to nothing in the process), acquiring Nikita Gusev from the Vegas Golden Knights and signing Wayne Simmonds to a 1-year contract. 

The Devils had made these acquisitions in hope to return to the playoffs just like they had one year prior with their MVP, Taylor Hall. Last year, playoff hopes were squandered as Taylor Hall had been injured most of the year, which is a valid reason for falling all the way down to the bottom of the standings and winning the draft lottery. 

With high hopes coming into the season, all in the span of a few months, the Devils have waived Cory Schneider, traded away Taylor Hall and fired their head coach. Only to find themselves still at the bottom of the metropolitan division. 

While the rest of the team is still very shaky, by far the weakest link of the entire team has got to be their goaltending. Today, the Devils have called up goaltender Cory Schneider from the AHL, in a seemingly desperate attempt for a win. The Devils goalies this season have definitely been below average as their starting goaltender, MacKenzie Blackwood posts a 2.97 GAA along with a .905 SV%. Their backup goalie posts even worse numbers with a 3.44GAA and a horrific .888SV%. 

While it may be easy to point fingers at the goalies, the truth is that the reason for the Devils lack of success is the entire team top to bottom. P.K Subban has standards have plummeted since starting the season, as he has just 10 points in 44 games played. It doesn’t help that the Devils are without their former MVP and best player, Taylor Hall after trading him to Arizona either. 

In the next coming months, maybe we’ll see if the Devils will win their 3rd draft lottery in 4 year!

The Leafs have been on an absolute tear over the past few months! According to MoneyPuck.com, the Leafs currently have the highest chance to win the Stanley Cup at the moment. While that might seem like we’re jumping the gun here, let’s take a little bit of a rewind to see how the Leafs have climbed all the way up the ladder.

On November 20th 2019, the Toronto Maple Leafs fired their head coach, Mike Babcock. This didn’t come as a shock to many people as he had led them to a severely disappointing,  (9-10-4) record up until then. Babcock was replaced by ex. Toronto Marlies (the Leaf’s AHL affiliate team) head coach, Sheldon Keefe. Up until today, Keefe has surpassed all expectations with the club and has restored many Leafs fan’s hope for the season. 

November was a rough month for the Leafs as for the 1st time in 3 years, the Leafs were looking to fall outside of a playoff spot. Fast forward to now (January 12th, 2019), the Leafs have climbed all the way back up to 3rd in their division and are finally looking to be in a playoff spot once again. 

The Leafs have improved all across the board as nearly every single part of their game has been improving ever since Sheldon Keefe has taken over as head coach. As of now, the Leafs currently have the best power play percentage, goals for, and goal differential since November 20th. 

This has lead to Sheldon Keefe breaking the Leafs franchise record for the best record with his new team. In the first 20 games Sheldon Keefe has coached, he’s lead the Leafs to a 15-4-1 record. 

Up until recently, the Leafs held a 10 game point streak, which is the longest streak they’ve had since 2011. While this streak was recently broken, the Leafs are back in action tonight against the Panthers!