Insider Trading: Whitecloud hit sparks mass reaction

Gentlemen, when Zach Whitecloud hit Matthew Knies in Wednesday night's game, it started the wheels in motion on a process by the on-ice officials and the league office to make sure they got the call right. In the end, they got it right. So, how'd they get there, Dregs?

Dreger: Well, look. Leafs Nation is not going to appreciate this - it doesn't matter. They know that Matthew Knies is injured. He's a popular player. He's a key piece of the Toronto Maple Leafs push. So, there's probably not going to be any middle ground here. But I do think it is important to explain the process.

Now, we know that the on-ice officials have the ability to review a five-minute major penalty. So, why wouldn't you take advantage of this? I mean, some believe that they wouldn't have called a major penalty on Zach Whitecloud if not for technology.

So, here's what happens because the assumption is, again, there's a room full of hockey brains in that situation, room with influence and input.

But that's not ultimately what happens in deciding on majors or the double minors. It's the two refs on the ice. There's an ex referee, in this case Shane Heyer in the Situation Room who is simply directing video traffic.

At the end of the day, the majors were rescinded by the two referees on the ice, so no major penalty determined and the Department of Player Safety determined no supplemental discipline and Leafs Nation still is unhappy.

So, we're now less than two weeks away from teams submitting their final rosters for February's 4 Nations Face-off. And, CJ, you're getting word there are some interesting names currently on the bubble for Team Canada?

Johnston: Absolutely. And really, that's where the final decisions are lying now with such a short window here before the roster is finalized, as some of those depth forward spots, between the sixth and seventh defencemen.

The one name that jumped out to me that's still under consideration is Tom Wilson of the Washington Capitals. And that's for two reasons.

If you look at all the many mock drafts, including one I did myself recently, you won't find his name on too many of them out there from the armchair quarterbacks, but it's also an indication of how Team Canada looks at these final spots.

It's not simply just putting the next highest scorer necessarily into that position. They want to make sure that players will fit the roles. And while Tom Wilson is under consideration with other guys like Travis Konecny, Nick Suzuki, Robert Thomas among others.

You know, this is an indication of where they're thinking and the possibility with the strong start he and the Capitals have had that he winds up on the 4 Nations team.

We're coming up to the quarter mark of the NHL season, a time when teams like to take stock of what they have and what they need. And you're hearing about a rental that's drawing some interest, Pierre?

LeBrun: Yeah. Ivan Provorov figures to be the No. 1 rental defenceman traded before March 7th. But the Columbus Blue Jackets are calling the several teams that have reached out or telling them they're not ready to deal with him quite yet.

And there's an understandable sensitivity to the Jackets wanting to give their group as long a leash as possible to remain competitive. But the business of the game will take over at some point here. They're not going to make the playoffs.

They have to manage their assets ahead of March 7th. They will most likely deal Provorov.

The asking price will be a first-round pick, which is obviously pretty rich. Now, last year, Sean Walker and Noah Hanifin did indeed fetch a first-round pick as rental defenceman at the deadline.

Chris Tanev did not, although some of that as Calgary just preferred the package they got from Dallas. So,we'll see if [Blue Jackets general manager] Don Waddell can get that. But [Provorov] will be a name we'll be talking about a lot.

Looking ahead, the league's current CBA expires at the end of next season. Could help for small market teams be among the topics of conversation on the owners side, Dregs?

Dreger: Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, it's too early for any substantive discussions between the National Hockey League, the owners and the NHLPA, but there seems to be at least an appetite at this point internally to discuss the idea of narrowing some of the disparity among clubs across the National Hockey League.

I think that the owners would talk about this. So, you're talking about some of the smaller markets that continue to struggle, perhaps the season ticket sales, etc.

The small markets may benefit from a tweak to the revenue sharing. The large markets probably aren't going to love this idea, but it sounds like if they go that route, it'll come out of the owners' share and not out of the players', but to be determined.

The last time we saw Gabriel Landeskog in the NHL, he was hoisting the Stanley Cup in June 2022. Then he had knee surgery. We haven't seen him since. Any update on the Avs captain, Pierre?

LeBrun: The update is that they just don't know. And you know, he had a surgery in May of 2023 - the kind of knee surgery that no NHL player has ever come back and played from.

He wants to play. He still intends to come back. The initial timeline, when he had that surgery in May of '23 was 12-to-16 months.

Well, last week marked the 18th month. He still hasn't resumed normal hockey activities with the Colorado Avalanche.

Obviously, everyone is concerned and even if he does return, which again is the hope before the end of the season that he does: Can he be the old Gabriel Landeskog, or will he become a third-line player? Or - and no one wants to see this - is he Nicklas Backstrom, who realizes his body just can't play at that level? So, a lot of question marks, no answers. But they miss their captain in Colorado.