Red Light newsletter 🏒 | This is The Athletic’s hockey newsletter. Sign up here to receive Red Light directly in your inbox
Good morning to everyone except anyone who ever said “sportsball,” and happy schedule-release day to those who celebrate. We got a sneak peek at opening night yesterday, and it’s honestly pretty great. Plus, the season starts in September, creating a bit more room to fit in the new 84-game schedule. Nice work by everyone involved
Walking the Yzer-plank
We had a bit of a bomb dropped on us yesterday, in what’s normally the slow-news dead zone of mid-July: Steve Yzerman is out in Detroit
Well, not “out,” at least not all the way. Instead, Yzerman has been kicked upstairs, where he’ll be an advisor to owner Chris Ilitch. That’s not quite the same as being sent to the unemployment line, but make no mistake — this is the Red Wings firing Yzerman as GM, in spirit if not in so many words
Max Bultman goes deeper on what it all means, but in the immediate aftermath, three questions loom:
What now for the Red Wings?
It’s unusual for a team to make a GM change this late in the offseason, and it was notable that there was no immediate replacement named, which ends any thought that this was some kind of planned succession scenario. Instead, the Wings will start the hunt for a new GM — weeks and, in some cases, months after other teams making changes have already hired theirs
In theory, this should be a reasonably attractive job, one in a strong market and with some good young pieces already in place. But the pressure will be high, as patience is running exceedingly thin in Detroit these days. If Steve Freaking Yzerman ran out of time, how much runway can a new GM expect to get?
What does this mean for Dylan Larkin?
Yzerman vs. Larkin had been shaping up to be the story of the summer, and now it’s over. Did … Larkin just win? Did the Wings’ current captain just beat their old one in a power struggle? And if so, does that mean there’s a way for him to come back after his trade demand, or that a new GM will be told to move him to one of his preferred destinations?
Is this it for Yzerman’s front office career?
In theory, it could be. Yzerman is 61 years old, and he might decide that it’s time to ride off into the sunset, cashing some (presumably large) paychecks for doing occasional consulting work while retaining most of his hero status in Detroit
But I can’t help but think back a decade or so to when the Devils kicked GM Lou Lamoriello upstairs. Like Yzerman in Detroit, Lou felt like a lifer in New Jersey. But after being “promoted” out of the job he’d held for 28 years, he lasted just a few weeks in his new role before quitting to become GM in Toronto. Will Yzerman be looking for a similar opportunity at some point in the next year or two? We’ll find out
Hey, speaking of being kicked to the curb …
World Cup lessons for the NHL
Have you been watching this World Cup thing? It’s a big international soccer tournament, and I’m pretty sure they based the idea off of the 4 Nations Face-Off. (Note to self: Verify that fact before hitting send.)The final is on Sunday, with Spain taking on Argentina, and The Athletichas been all over the coverage
I’ve never been a soccer diehard, but I’m enjoying this year’s tournament. And it’s got me thinking about what the hockey world should learn — and not learn — from the competition. Here are five that I’ve come up with:
DO learn: … how to start games on time. I made a classic hockey fan mistake last week. There was a game scheduled for 3 p.m. ET, and so I finished up some stuff I was working on and turned the TV on in time to catch the kickoff I figured would come at 3:15 or so. Oops, I missed the first 15 minutes of the game because when soccer tells you a start time, they actually mean it. It’s a wild concept, but maybe we could try it?
DO NOT learn: … how to flop. I mean, hockey players already do it. All the time, if we’re being honest. But nobody flops like a soccer player, and while it’s almost a cliched complaint at this point, it’s also a completely accurate one. After a month of watching guys roll around on the grass with their faces in their hands, I’m begging for a Michael McCarron arm shake
DO learn: … how to get those automatic computer-generated offside images. I realize virtually nobody truly likes soccer’s VAR replay system, with the possible exception of those “just get it right” weirdos who think the reason we watch sports is to nitpick over freeze frames in an effort to make sure nothing cool ever counts. But if we have to have replay, let’s at least embrace technology that goes beyond linesmen staring at a tiny iPad
DO NOT learn: … that overtime isn’t sudden death. Yes, I understand that soccer has tried its version of sudden death — the “golden goal” — and it didn’t work because teams played too conservatively. That’s fine for soccer. Let them do full overtime periods followed by ridiculous shootouts. Just not ever in hockey, where sudden death is just about the best thing the sport has to offer
DO learn: … how to work the word “cheeky” into your coverage. I love this word and am already using it way too often in my daily life. But we need it in hockey. When was the last time you saw a hockey goal you’d call cheeky? OK, fine, but other than that one
And mone more I’m not sure about …
MAYBE learn: … to let goalies wear a different jersey? I get that there’s a reason for it in soccer, while nobody’s confused over who’s who in a hockey game where one guy on each team is a sumo wrestler wearing your couch cushions as pads. But should we steal the idea anyway, if only to give teams a new design to sell to fans? Put it this way: If we’re going to try to squeeze even more money out of uniforms — and we are — I think I’d rather this approach over cramming more ads on there. What do we think, gang?
Let’s keep the soccer theme going with a round of Who Am I?
I had a 15-season NHL career in the 1980s and 1990s, playing for seven different teams. But I was also drafted in the old North American Soccer League, where I played in several exhibition games. I also played in the National Soccer League and the Canadian Soccer League, making me one of the NHL’s few genuine two-sport athletes
If you’re old enough to have seen me play, you may know about my soccer exploits because announcers would often bring it up. Or maybe you just figured it out based on my signature move: Winning a crucial faceoff by tying up my opponent and playing the puck with my feet
I started my career with the Flyers and also had long stints in Toronto and St. Louis, plus four other stops. Oh, and I’m one of only two players in NHL history with my specific set of initials— the other one plays for the Bruins. Who am I? Answer below
Coast to Coast
📈One of my favorite summer columns just dropped: Dom’sranking of every team’s offseason
🥅Prospect expert Scott Wheeler has been busy, with hisTop 100 drafted skater prospectsto go with hisTop 20 goalies
🔄Did you know that offer sheets used to mean forced trades? Webrought that system backto figure out what deals for guys like Shea Weber, Sergei Fedorov and Sebastian Aho would have looked like
😧Shayna breaks outthe latest edition of the concern-o-meter
⚔️Matt and Murat sit down and see if they canget this Connor Hellebuyck-to-Buffalo deal done
😈Nice littlebargain signing by the Devilshere
🦣Finally, Peter lands a behind-the-scenes on how the Vincent Trochek deal came together
🎙️The Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series broke down Scott’s prospects ranking plus a great debate about Rangers forward Gabe Perreault’s ceiling with a comparison to reigning league MVP Nikita Kucherov.Listen here
No Dumb Questions
We believe that in hockey, as in life, there are no dumb questions.So if you have something you’ve always wondered about the sport, ask away by emailing us atredlight@theathletic.com
Oh, I remembered something else I like about soccer: When a team is trailing late and their goalie runs up and joins the offense. Speaking of which …
I’m old enough to remember when Patrick Roy tried to skate past the center ice line and join the rush. But goalies can’t participate in play past the center ice red line? Why not?
I’ll be honest, I’m mainly including Chris’s question because I know some of our readers will have never seen this clip, and we need to fix that right away
This is from a Nov. 16, 1997 game between the Avalanche and Rangers. It was actually a reasonably hyped matchup, featuring Joe Sakic’s first game in New York since signing an offer sheet with the Rangers that the Avs matched. That story is also weird. Harrison Ford gets involved. But that’s a tale for another time
On this night, the Rangers are up 4-1 with three minutes left when Roy decided to do this:
I’d strongly encourage you to watch the whole thing, preferably you can enjoy an A+ reaction from announcer John Davidson
You may ask: What was Patrick Roy thinking? To which I reply: What was Patrick Roy ever thinking? We were just happy he was skating out to center ice to do something other than fight a Red Wings goalie
Oh, and to make it even better: Did you notice that guy Roy deked out the start of the play? That was some kid named Wayne Gretzky. It’s a good thing he never won a Selke, because getting put on a poster by a goalie is the kind of thing that gets them retroactively taken away
Ah, good times
Oh right, Chris’ question. Why is this a penalty? The specific rule here is 27.7, Participating in the Play Over the Center Red Line, and it simply reads that, “If a goalkeeper participates in the play in any manner (intentionally plays the puck or checks an opponent) when he is beyond the center red line, a minor penalty shall be imposed upon him.”
You’ll note that they don’t actually say what the penalty should be, presumably because they figured they’d never have to call it. According to the official box score, Roy ended up getting two for leaving the crease, which wasn’t really the problem here but was apparently close enough
(Also note that the goalie can cross center as long as he doesn’t participate in the play, which is why you can still pull your goalie on a delayed penalty in the second period even with the long change.)
As for why we have this rule in the first place, I’d always assumed that it had been in the books from the beginning, although that seems to be in dispute, with some
Either way, I think we can all agree that life would be better if the NHL scrapped the rule entirely. Until then, watch that red line, guys — and maybe take a lesson from how Glenn Hall did it
Your tri
Our two-sport star isPeter Zezel, the gritty two-way center who probably shut down your favorite team’s star player when it mattered most. Zezel was even recognized by the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame,winning the inaugural Brian Budd Awardfor accomplished players who also excelled in other fields
(And if you were wondering, the only other P.Z. in NHL history is Boston’s Pavel Zacha.)
📫 Love Red Light? Check out The Athletic’s other newsletters
