THN's Adam Proteau the news and issues around the NHL and the world of hockey

Adam Proteau's Column

Exciting hockey makes for best first round in years

Exciting hockey makes for best first round in years

by Adam Proteau - May 9, 2013 2:44 PM EDT

The lockout could have driven fans away from the game, but the tempo and quality of these playoff games is hard to stay away from.
It’s tough to forgive sometimes, particularly when you’ve been hurt and lied to and taken for granted by the same people on more than one occasion.


Maple Leafs dealing with playoff growing pains

Maple Leafs dealing with playoff growing pains

by Adam Proteau - May 2, 2013 1:17 PM EDT

Game 1 against Boston wasn't an indictment on Toronto's standing, but a sign of the experience they still lack.
There is a scene in the 1980s cult classic movie “Porky’s” where a group of teenage boys excitedly make their way into a strip club for the first time in their lives, only to be exploited by the owner, robbed of their money and unceremoniously deposited into a lake via a trap door.


Why the Hart Trophy should go to most outstanding player

Why the Hart Trophy should go to most outstanding player

by Adam Proteau - April 25, 2013 11:07 AM EDT

The nebulous concept of MVP needs to be spelled out more clearly to make the Hart Trophy voting process more consistent.
Over the course of the next few days, the women and men of the Professional Hockey Writers Association will cast ballots that determine the winners of five categories of this season’s NHL Awards.


Year of parity proving salary cap works

Year of parity proving salary cap works

by Adam Proteau - April 18, 2013 2:10 PM EDT

With surprising teams in the playoffs and mainstays falling out, it's a season of change thanks to the cap.
Each time you stare at the NHL standings in this most unpredictable of seasons, you can’t help but do a double-take. Is that really the Nashville Predators – who have missed the playoffs just once since 2003 – in 14th place in the West and challenging Florida, Colorado and Carolina for best odds of drafting first overall this summer? Are the Detroit Red Wings (a.


NHL, NHLPA partnership with You Can Play a monumental step forward

NHL, NHLPA partnership with You Can Play a monumental step forward

by Adam Proteau - April 11, 2013 3:00 PM EDT

The league, its players and the gay rights group came together to promote tolerance and acceptance and is the first major pro sports league to do so.
In only 13 months, the You Can Play project has gone from fledgling concept to unstoppable cultural force. Its raison d’etre – the eradication of homophobia in all athletic endeavors – and the passion behind it has been embraced so swiftly and by so many people, YCP has become the go-to organization for anyone who wants to be educated about gay and lesbian issues in sport.


Five people on the hot seat

Five people on the hot seat

by Adam Proteau - April 6, 2013 10:20 AM EDT

With all the major roster moves behind us, name the executives, players and coach who will feel the most pressure down the stretch.
To say the stakes are higher in this lockout-truncated NHL season is to erroneously downgrade the stakes of previous years. In a league where playoff revenue can be the difference between turning a profit and crying poor, there is no such thing as low stakes.


Mandatory visors long overdue

Mandatory visors long overdue

by Adam Proteau - March 22, 2013 12:25 PM EDT

It finally looks as though the visor issue is gaining some traction on the players' side, though it should have happened long ago.
The debate about mandatory visors at the NHL level may finally, thankfully, be nearing an end. But it should have been over and done with long ago.


Time in AHL will pay off for Jake Gardiner, Maple Leafs

Time in AHL will pay off for Jake Gardiner, Maple Leafs

by Adam Proteau - March 14, 2013 11:40 AM EDT

Following a tweet from Jake Gardiner's agent, a discussion has erupted about his place on the NHL team. But more development time is always better.
When former Maple Leafs center and current San Jose Sharks broadcaster Jamie Baker recently remembered his time as an NHLer in the Toronto fishbowl, he recalled some words of wisdom from a franchise legend.


Stompin' Tom Connors forever lives on in hockey

Stompin' Tom Connors forever lives on in hockey

by Adam Proteau - March 7, 2013 10:20 AM EST

Stompin' Tom Connors, creator of The Hockey Song, passed away Wednesday night, but hockey will never forget him.
Canada and the hockey world lost a leviathan Wednesday when the musician and songwriter Stompin’ Tom Connors died at age 77. Despite living a hard and often unforgiving life, the man who wrote The Hockey Song gave a sport and a nation a wondrous collection of music that will live on long after all of us join him in the great beyond.


NHL can do more to prevent concussions

NHL can do more to prevent concussions

by Adam Proteau - February 28, 2013 12:45 PM EST

The number of big-name players out with concussions shows the league must take more steps to stop head injuries.
The names pile on top of one another like a giant mound of hockey sticks in the world’s biggest pickup game. Evgeni Malkin. Rick Nash.


Lindy Ruff firing gives Sabres chance for change

Lindy Ruff firing gives Sabres chance for change

by Adam Proteau - February 20, 2013 7:35 PM EST

Lindy Ruff was coach of the Sabres since 1997 and his dismissal could be the start of an overhaul to the franchise.
You can’t say Lindy Ruff never had enough chances to succeed in Buffalo. Indeed, the Sabres’ longest-serving coach and the man who had more tenure with his team than any other current NHL coach spent 5,693 days on the job before the franchise fired him Wednesday afternoon.


Erik Karlsson injury could benefit Senators long-term

Erik Karlsson injury could benefit Senators long-term

by Adam Proteau - February 14, 2013 1:20 PM EST

While the Senators suffered a major setback this season, any shortcomings will pay off in high draft picks and blue-chip prospects.
As Erik Karlsson fell to the ice in agony Wednesday night, you could almost hear millions of Senators fan voices crying out in terror before being suddenly silenced.


Who should the Vancouver Canucks hire as their new head coach?








"Last year we came in as maybe an underdog, quietly. Got off to the right start just because teams weren't really ready for us. But this time around that's not the case. They realize we are a good team and they're ready to go against us, right off the get-go."

- Los Angeles' Colin Fraser. The Kings have lost two in a row and are now tied 2-2 in their series against the San Jose Sharks.

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