100,000 Pennies

     

    The great Shel Silverstein (he of Where the Wild Things Are) once wrote a poem called 100,000 Pennies. It goes, in part:

    "I broke into the bank on Sunday,

    You should see the money I got

    I couldn't drag it home 'til Monday,

    'Cause it sure weighed an awful lot.

    

    Then I sat down to count it,

    And much to my surprise,

    A whole lotta little brown, little round coins,

    Rolled out before my eyes.

    

    I've got a hundred thousand dollars worth of pennies,

    Not a solitary dollar or a dime,

    And I don't believe there's many

    Rich men with a problem like mine."

    Silverstein was talking about how a person could have a lot of money, but unless it's in a useable form they can't do much with it.

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    Kent Hughes has definitely robbed the bank of NHL-ready prospects over the last few years. The embarrassment of riches includes rock stars Juraj Slavkovsky, Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov. Jacob Fowler, Owen Beck, Adam Engstrom, Florian Xhekaj and Jared Davidson have all played at least five NHL games with the promise of more to come.

    Knocking on the door are David Reinbacher and Michael Hage. Bryce Pickford is tearing up the WHL as a defenceman and has just signed his entry-level deal. L.J. Mooney is small but skilled and looked good playing for Team USA at the recent World Junior Championships. Alexander Zharovsky is putting up almost a point a game in the KHL and drawing tons of praise for his skill and vision.

    At the NHL level, injuries have allowed solid players like Zach Bolduc, Joe Veleno and Sammy Blais to show their stuff and with the return from injury of Kaiden Ghule, serviceable defenceman Jayden Struble has been relegated to the pressbox.

    The Canadiens have a plethora of star power, backed up by reliable utility players and three reasonable options in goal.

    Now, with injured players about to return, Hughes has got to figure out how to convert some of his 100,000 pennies into dollars.

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    Few NHL general managers were as shrewd and forward-looking as the Canadiens' Sam Pollock. For him, it wasn't just about building champions. It was about building dynasties. Stocking the farm system, then using those prospects and aging veterans to bring back high draft picks (see Lafleur, Guy) kept the glory train running. Between 1964 and 1978, the Canadiens won nine Stanley Cups during Pollock's tenure.

    In describing his trade philosophy, he said "I've always traded for futures, not pasts." And, he noted, "Sometimes the best moves you make are the ones you don't make."

    Hughes is the rare modern GM who not only understands the Pollock philosophy, but has the patience to follow it. The challenge he's facing now is time. When he robbed that prospect bank, the assumption was the players were going to develop gradually and strengthen the Canadiens step by step. Nobody could have predicted that within four years of Hughes' arrival the Habs would have a dynamic second (first ?) line with an average age of 21 years old. Or that they'd have a Calder Trophy winner with two more potential winners coming behind him.

    To date, Hughes has had the luxury of being sure of what he's got before he moves young talent or useful veterans for other necessary pieces. Now, with the young talent developing rapidly, he must make decisions earlier than he might otherwise.

    With a current log jam at the NHL level and tons of talent coming, Hughes will face a new test of his acumen. His heretofore carefully-considered timeline has to speed up, and his ability to make wise personnel decisions will be tested.

    Moves will be coming, and sooner rather than later.

    There are not many rich men in hockey with a problem like Hughes', but if anyone can find gold in 100,000 pennies, it'll be him.

Fore Lines

    

     Hockey players love golf, as a rule. It makes sense. After all, both games involve hitting small objects with long sticks, aiming for a goal. Both provide opportunities to hang out with buddies and both can be competitive.

    In golf, however, there are options. Depending on conditions and ball placement, a golfer can choose a wood or iron, driver or putter, even a wedge. In hockey, players just have the one set of tools to use, which means if the situation changes from game to game, the only adjustments they can make is in their style of approach.

    The Montreal Canadiens are rapidly developing into a very exciting young team. They're fast, skilled and energetic. Most nights, that combination either leads to a win or at least keeps them in the game with a chance. In other games though, a big stifling defence or hermetic forecheck finds them frustrated and stymied. 

    The pure, pretty game they typically play requires open space and clean passing. When those defence-oriented teams take up that space and block the passes, the Canadiens don't have an answer.        Yet.

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    Just as a golfer has a variety of clubs to choose from, a hockey team needs a variety of games. Right now, the Canadiens can play offence with anyone. What they need as they develop is to learn how to change up their approach in order to respond to a different kind of opposition.

    In the recent game against Detroit, for example, the Wings were on top of the Canadiens' puck carriers as soon as they received a pass, giving them few options to make a play. The Detroit defence was in every shooting lane and their backcheckers successfully kept the Habs shooters to the outside, frustrating their attempts to make the pretty, exciting plays for which they're becoming known. Hemmed in and forced to play a more grinding game, they ended up taking a bunch of penalties, which kept guys like Cole Caufield who don't work the PK off the ice for significant stretches.

    The game, in short, was boring as a three-hour sermon.

    It's not the style the young, talented Habs want to play, or practice playing.

    That's not fair to them or to the fans who love exciting hockey, but in a parity league some teams without the talent to compete will grind instead.

    The Canadiens, unfortunately, have to learn to be responsible and boring when the occasion requires it.                  

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    Of course, learning to deal with different styles of opponent is more than possible. Take Juraj Slavkovsky as a brilliant example. Remember when he first started in Montreal? He obviously had skill or he wouldn't have been drafted first overall. Yet, he spent at least a third of his time either being knocked on his butt or getting up from being knocked on his butt. He had impressive size and strength, but he lost a lot of his board battles because he didn't have the balance or technique to win them.

    Slavkovsky, like many of his teammates was always the star of his youth teams. He didn't need to employ his physical gifts outside of using them to score goals. He had to adapt at the NHL level, and boy, has he done that!

    Today, the kid is a machine. He uses his size to muscle opponents off the puck. He punishes them in the corners and along the boards. And he drives the net with a power that's tough to stop. His evolution has been impressive and inspiring. It's a path his talented teammates must follow as well.

    Not every guy has the same physical abilities as Slavkovsky, but the mindset he's adopted is what's important. There will be nights when teams like the Wings or the Blues a couple of weeks before, will shut down the lanes and generally disrupt the finesse game. Those are the nights when passes have to get shorter, possession must be fiercely contested on the boards and defencemen (with the possible exception of Lane Hutson, whose game seems to transcend whatever the opposition does) play a tighter, more conservative game.

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    Sure, we won't see as many breakout stretch passes or dramatic odd-man rushes in games like that. However, come playoff time, learning how to play a tighter, more boring game will serve them well. The mark of a true contender is a team's ability to shift styles from game to game, or even within a game, to give the opponent the understanding there's nothing they can do to beat this team.

    As the great Ken Dryden wrote in "The Game" when describing the powerhouse teams of the '70s, 

    "Fred Shero's Flyers, a good, but limited team, needed a system. To be effective, they had to play just one way and to play that way so well they could overcome any team. Bowman's team is different. Immensely talented, immensely varied, it is a team literally able to play, and win, any style of game. For it, a system would be too confining, robbing the team of its unique feature: its flexibility. Further, Bowman understands, as Shero did, that the flip side of winning with a system is losing by that system."

    With the right coach and the right players, Dryden's Canadiens evolved into that immensely varied team, and Martin St.Louis' Canadiens must do the same thing if they're to be competitive for a long time.

    Once they get it, the rest of the league will have no choice but to let them play through. 

    Fore!

Turning the Hage

     

    Michael Hage is a very fine young hockey player. At the just-concluded World Junior Championships, he led all players in scoring with 15 points in seven games. He was named to the media-selected WJC All-Star team. In his second year at Michigan State in the NCAA, he's sixth overall, with 28 points in 20 games. 

    Even better than his stats, however, is the impression he's making on his teammates, his coaches, the jealous fans of other teams and the management of the Montreal Canadiens, which made him their first-round pick in 2024, at number 21 overall.

    "He's a special player," lauded Team Canada teammate Cole Reschny. "He has played college for a year and a half now and I think he has learned to play hard against older guys, and now when he comes to play against his own age group he showed up. He's a dialed (in) guy."

    "He's Canada's best player in the tournament," praised the IIHF's Tim Austen.

    Teammate Zayne Parekh said "I just think he wants to be the guy. He loves the spotlight. He embraces it."

    And Team Canada coach Dale Hunter noted "It's in his nature to begin with. Whenever he's playing, he's driven."

    "He's been the best player in the tournament that I've seen," said TSN's Jeff O'Neill. "I have no idea how he wasn't named one of the top forwards for Team Canada. He's been the best player in the tournament, he's unreal."

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    O'Neill's question is one many people in the hockey world, especially among the Habs' faithful are asking. Why wasn't Hage named by his own coaching staff as one of the top three forwards?

    Despite the points and the praise, Hage missed out in favour of teammates Tij Iginla, Parekh and Sam O'Reilly. The decision seemed odd, considering Iginla and O'Reilly had only eight points each, while Parekh had 13 as a defenceman, while playing with Hage on the powerplay. 

    One of the most obvious differences between the three players chosen and Hage is that they all play major junior hockey in Canada, while Hage opted to play university hockey in the NCAA instead.

    The coaching staff who chose the top three players are also all junior coaches or alumni. Hunter is the London Knights' head coach, Misha Donskov is now an NHL assistant coach, but was an associate to Hunter in London for three years. Brad Lauer is the head coach of the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL and an alumnus of the Kootenay Ice in the same league. Gardiner MacDougall is head coach of the Moncton Wildcats of the QMJHL.

    There's a long-held belief in Canada that major junior hockey is the best route to the NHL. Proponents, including NHL star Nathan MacKinnon, cite a tougher game schedule...believed to be better for skills development...and more frequent exposure to pro scouts as reasons for junior's superiority. Those who've been through the junior system and made it to the pros believe they took the better path. The same people also believe the 34-game college season, the requirement for full face protection and the significant punishment for fighting in the NCAA produces "softer," less aggressive players. So it's no surprise that a group of junior hockey coaches would pass over a college player, no matter how many points he puts up.

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    College hockey, while it definitely does provide fewer game opportunities, also offers a quality education, more time for off-ice training and a longer runway age-wise (up to age 25) to develop pro skills, which is great for late-bloomers. 

    Junior, by comparison, ends at age 20 and provides a year of post-secondary tuition for every year spent playing. The problem with that is the playing years are also high school years. Players travel and play on school days and weekends, leaving little time to keep their grades up high enough to be admitted to a college or university. Too many times, a play hits age 20 and doesn't have the marks for higher schooling so he's basically out of luck as far as a career goes.

    The other, more devastating effect of playing junior is the exposure of teen boys to a culture that often features fighting, drinking and sexual abuse. Junior players are usually away from home for the first time as 16-year-olds and their first formative life experiences are within the world of bro-style hockey. They're worshipped in small towns as heroes and learn a sense of entitlement that doesn't serve them well in real life. Hockey Canada, as we know, is famous for covering up the scandalous behaviour of junior hockey players and has shown little interest in seriously moving to improve the current toxic culture.

    Of course, some of those things happen in college as well. But the players there are legal adults. Their schedule leaves time for study, and grades matter to their status on the team. They live in dorms where their behaviour and that of those around them is out in the open.

    In junior, players are paid an honorarium while owners keep the bulk of the money generated by their work. Junior players can be traded, which uproots teenagers from a secure environment and shunts them off to a group of strangers, sometimes mid-season. Juniors often live in billet homes, and not all the billet families have their best interests at heart.

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    That brings us back to the WJC and Michael Hage.

    The coaches of Team Canada are chosen by Hockey Canada. This year's head coach, Dale Hunter, had an undeniably successful NHL career, although he amassed the second-most penalties in NHL history, and as a junior coach. Many of his charges made it to the big league, including Rick Nash, Patrick Kane and John Tavares. However, Hunter was also infamous for his dirty play in the NHL (remember the terrible hit on Pierre Turgeon that got him a 21-game suspension). As a coach, he's been suspended for bullying officials (twice) and for sending players out to fight. He touts toughness and grit as vital hockey qualities. In a preliminary game of this year's WJC, Canada under his leadership got in trouble for refusing to shake hands with their opponents. 

    Other than that, this year's Canadian team was fine. They won the bronze medal in a tournament that used to be nearly a guaranteed gold. They played well, if not brilliantly. That's because the rest of the world is not only catching up, but producing players from youth programs that are much, much healthier for teenagers than Canadian junior.

    In Sweden, which won this year's tournament, the focus is on community and fun. A player signs up for hockey at five or six and usually stays with that group until he's ready to go pro.

    "Until I was 14, there were no "tryouts," says NHL defenceman Victor Hedman. "If you're born in O-Vik, you play for MoDo or one of the other local teams. In fact, the Sedin twins and Markus Naslund played for a team called Jarved, on an outdoor rink. There are different levels, but you are never cut. When people talk about Swedish hockey, they often mention the 'chemistry' of the players. But really, it's a total philosophy of community that starts when you're young."

    Czechia, this year's silver medalists, have a similar, community and club-based system with an emphasis on inclusion, skill development and fun. Other European hockey nations do the same. The years of Don Cherry calling Euro players "soft" are over as they're showing as much, often more, hockey skill and sense as well as competitiveness than Canadians.

    In the North American comparison, the US players join high school or prep school teams. The elite players are then accepted into high-level development programs where they're scouted by pro and NCAA talent hunters. This system produced Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson, among many other NHL stars. 

    Canada still supplies the highest number of players to the NHL, but last year 42% of all players went through the NCAA to get there. Currently, 30% of NCAA players are Canadian. Families are choosing the focus on skill, structure and safety, as well as the opportunities available to monetize the player's name and image and the high level of education provided. College is offering them a whole lot more than junior.

    So, if Hockey Canada wants to compete in the future, it's going to have to get with the times. Dale Hunter is no longer the model most parents want their kids to follow, and his dinosaur concepts of what makes a "complete" player are reflected in his snub of Hage as a top Canadian on this year's team.

    The Canadiens will be only too glad to take the kid off Hockey Canada's hands.

    

The Rebuild, Episode Nine: What About Us?

Dear Mr.Molson. Geoff. (Can I call you Geoff?)

    I recently travelled to Montreal to watch your team play hockey. It was a Tuesday night and the opponent was the Seattle Kraken, so I really wasn't expecting much in the way of thrills. Still, I dusted off my trusty #33 sweater, paid way too much money to a ticket reseller for a seat at press box level and convinced my trusty group of fellow fans to come along. I even brought my non-hockey-watching teenage daughter for her first NHL game, just for the experience of being there at the Bell Centre.

    The experience, as it turned out, was not good.

    We had barely taken our overpriced seats when the Kraken scored their first goal. There were three more goals against before the first period was half over. Things did not get better, barring a rare tally by Josh Anderson and a brief ray of sunshine from Cole Caufield. By the time the third wound down, two thirds of the spectators had abandoned the game in favour of beating traffic home.

    So, there we were, the stragglers of what had been 21-thousand strong, disappointed, discouraged and considerably poorer, wanting something to take away from this night.

    However, instead of acknowledging the fact that we had spent our time and money to witness a truly terrible hockey game, the players slunk away to the dressing room when it ended. It's lovely to see them skate to centre ice and salute the crowd after a win, but it would have been even more impressive to see them do it after stinking up the joint. Even if the gesture puts them at risk of getting booed and jeered, they should show a little appreciation for those of us who travelled long distances to even be there, on top of paying the ridiculous ticket prices.

    So, here's the problem, Geoff.

    You spent a lot of time and money on the eight-part series The Rebuild, which was supposed to give us a behind-the-scenes glimpse of your executive team and its plans, with the purpose of keeping us patient and understanding as the players and coaches muddle their way toward future (hopefully) success. We've been sticking with the program for the last three years because we love this team, but at this point, we need a little more from you.

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    You know how La Cage aux Sports offers free wings if the team scores five or more goals? Well, how about Molson offers a free beer or snack if the team gives up five or more? That way, when the game stinks, people would at least leave with some kind of concrete reward for showing up.

    And what about those ticket prices? For many people, the exorbitant cost of attending a game means they can only go once a year. So, if they put all their hopes on that one game and it ends up being a blowout, they should be entitled to at least a partial refund. A "sorry we ruined your night" refundable fee. If the team wins, you can keep it. If it sucks, we get our money back.

    You could even offer a small prize with ticket purchases. A signed player photo or a little bit of team swag like a pin or something would be enough. These days, with virtual tickets, we don't even have a paper stub to save as a keepsake, so a concrete gesture of your appreciation would go some way in convincing fans you value us. 

    I know these proposals are silly when you're in the business of making money, but the point is, in the end fans want to feel like part of the process. We want to know our support means something more than just bankrolling the corporation. We love this team, and we're willing to wait (a little) longer for it to be competitive, but we want to know you don't take us for granted and you love us back.

    Even if that love takes the form of a player salute after a blowout, we deserve some acknowledgement that we're part of the rebuild too.

Sincerely,

A (still) Supporter of the Rebuild

Preseason Blues

    

     Once upon a time, when NHL training camps started, players would show up relaxed and tanned, fresh off a summer of beer-league softball and rounds of golf. Many of them worked summer jobs too, driving trucks or taking shifts in local factories. One thing they weren't doing was spending hours in the gym every day. 

    There's a particularly striking contrast in the CBC TV docuseries about the '72 Canada-Russia tournament. It shows video of the Russian players preparing for the games by running fields carrying teammates on their backs and performing intense group calisthenics. In contrast, the video of the Canadian players' prep mostly consists of a sequence of Tony and Phil Esposito playing croquet in their backyard while smoking big stogies. 

    Now players consider two weeks off from training after the season ends a luxury. They work out with trainers, physiotherapists and nutritionists all summer. When they arrive at camp, they compete to see who can jump the highest, lift the most and break the exercise bike. These guys are in shape.

    So one of the main reasons...easing players back into game form...for preseason games isn't really applicable anymore. (Phil Kessel notwithstanding.) The other reasons, like trying out new line combinations, integrating new players and working on systems can certainly be done in-house and in scrimmages.

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    In short, there's really not a good reason for teams to risk injuries in preseason that can cripple them when the real season starts. We have only to see David Reinbacher and Patrik Laine out for months when it matters, because they had to play meaningless preseason games.

    While there's not a good reason for those matches, there are lots of reasons why they're problematic. Aside from opening players up to unnecessary injuries, the hockey in those games is often unwatchable. Teams fill their lineups with scrub prospects that likely won't make the big time, but they take their five minutes of fame to throw stupid hits instead of playing the actual sport. And, faced with an 82-game season plus playoffs, the real players don't need the extra demands on their bodies.

    Prior to NHL expansion in 1967, the league hosted the occasional charity or tribute match, but a whole preseason wasn't a thing. Now that these pointless games are normalized, owners are making money and they don't want to give that up. 

    There's some talk at the NHL Board of Governors meetings this week about cutting down the number of preseason games and adding an extra two to the regular season schedule instead. The problem with that is the regular season is already too long. The only reason to extend from 82 games to 84 is to keep that cash flowing.

    And at some point, the league is going to have to acknowledge that the only people who really benefit from those pointless games are the ones who cash the cheques. They're certainly not in the best interests of the players or the fans. 

    It's time to send the preseason back to 1966, where it belongs.

    

New Kid in Town

     

    Growing up in St.John's, Newfoundland, most of Alex Newhook's hockey buddies cheered for either Montreal or Toronto. So, when the news came that their old pal had been traded from Colorado to Montreal, half his friends celebrated.

    "It's pretty split down the middle," he laughs. "I think probably hopefully a few more Habs fans than Leafs now. But yeah, it's fun. It's all part of the game. You know, those rivalries are kind of what makes hockey so great and I think it'll make the rivalry maybe a little more intense now. And I'm all for it. I'm happy that I'm trying to convert some of my buddies over to our side, but it's going to be fun."

    Fun is the name of the game in Montreal these days. With a young core growing up together, the focus is on learning, not necessarily winning right now. It's one of the things Newhook likes about the move to Montreal. Another is the fact that management is committed to its young stars and has laid a stable base on which to build a winner.

    "It's a team that has a lot of very good young pieces," he says. "You look at the young guys they have locked up right now, it's a pretty exciting time. And knowing that guys are going to be there for awhile, it's going to be fun to try and build their way up in the league over the next few years and and I think the sky's the limit for a team like like us right now."

    Notice the transition from "their" to "us" in a single breath. It's not been easy for Newhook to leave Colorado, where he was drafted and won a Stanley Cup.

    "I think you always know in the back of your head you might be getting traded and and you know there's always that potential in the business of hockey," he says."Definitely there's some some sadness leaving Colorado, leaving Denver, leaving a team that I've been with for you know my whole career to this point."

    When the call came, even though it was in the back of his mind, Newhook was still taken by surprise that it actually happened.

    "I was just kind of hanging around my house. I was actually chatting with my dad minutes before I got a call and we were just kind of talking about what my thoughts were if I was to get traded and what that situation would kind of look like," he recalls. "And you know, as I'm talking to him I got a call from the GM of Colorado and found out I was being moved to Montreal. Obviously a lot of emotions but it was cool to hear the news and be there with my dad."

    Of course, the first question any traded player asks is "where am I going?" Even though players say they're just pleased somebody wants them, and they're lucky to play in the NHL, no matter where, they still secretly have places they'd rather not go. Luckily, Newhook says his destination was not a disappointment.

    "You know some places over others," he explains. "Maybe just based on personnel they have in the team or the team location. So many factors that go into that kind of thing. But you know I think there couldn't really be a better spot for me right now than Montreal. Obviously a great organization, great staff there."

    Right after the call from Joe Sakic informing him of the trade, Newhook's phone rang again. This time, Kent Hughes and Martin St.Louis were on the other end, welcoming him to Montreal.

    "I think that they're expecting me to have to have a big role in the team as am I," he says, recalling that phone converation. "I want to be able to fill a big role in that team and and be able to help them win. And I think that's kind of the mutual expectation there, although obviously there's not anything set in stone."

    Newhook isn't coming to Montreal a complete stranger. He's good friends with Justin Barron and has played with Kaiden Guhle in the past. He also knows former draft-mates Kirby Dach and Cole Caufield. He laughs at the suggestion that perhaps the Canadiens are trying to collect the whole 2019 first round...although his presence makes three.

    While looking forward to catching up with old friends and teammates, Newhook is especially excited about playing for St.Louis.

    "Yeah, he's got a very very high reputation around the league and I think guys that have played with him, guys that have played for him, everyone speaks very highly of him, regardless of, the relationship that they've had with him," he says. "I've talked to guys who played with him and are coached by him. They all speak very highly of him. They think that he's got a great mind for the game. He's obviously had the players perspective too. His reputation is high and and I think it's for good reason."

    St.Louis is one of the big draws for players considering Montreal as a destination, as is the management and development team. The chatter around the league is Montreal is rebuilding with a solid foundation and are on the right path.

    "And I think that kind of thing obviously attracts players and young players as well," he says. "And obviously it's one of the best hockey markets in the world. So you know, just to be in that, I think it's going to be a fun environment. You want to be able to win for for those fans and you want to be able to you know show up for them and and have some fun while we're doing it. So I'm looking forward to it."

    So are his Habs-fan buddies back in St.John's. The requests for next season's tickets are already rolling in.

Wanna Bet?

     

    Las Vegas...Sin City...is recognized as the gambling capital of the world. That's kind of fitting when you see the city's hockey team about to win the Stanley Cup at a time when a total bombardment of betting ads during games is annoying the heck out of real NHL fans.

    A few weeks ago, Karl Subban, school principal, author and father of three pro hockey players, publicly called for a ban on betting ads shown during NHL games. He's become a voice for the national advocacy group, "Ban Ads for Gambling."

    "They catch the attention of young people," Subban said. "It's a powerful way of marketing to them, which we know can have a harmful effect on young people realizing their potential and really reaching their dreams. So we need to have conversations about some of the things that are getting in the way. Either act today or pay dearly tomorrow."

    The problem is, many sports fans...many of them young...are already paying dearly.

    "The heavy promotion (of ads) means that a lot of more people are betting on sports now," says Nigel Turner, a researcher at the Canadian Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. "It used to be a fairly small percentage of the total clinical mix of problem gambling. In the past year, online gambling has gone from being a pretty minor percentage of the people who call in the helpline to being the number one reason that people are calling the helpline prior to like 2-3 years ago."

    "We are creating a generation of people who are thinking of gambling as a safe activity and there are people who are looking up to the celebrities promoting gambling as a as a way of making money. But it's not a way of making money, it's a way of entertaining yourself losing money," Turner says.

                       Nigel Turner: Canadian Centre of Addiction and Mental Health

    Turner and his colleagues see a direct correlation between the number of people who need help escaping from online gambling and the proliferation of sports betting commercials.

    "It's too soon to tell whether this is going to exceed prior problem levels of gambling. I am monitoring the situation," he says. "There's usually a lag between when when gambling becomes available and when people show up in treatment, partly because most people don't actually seek treatment and they try to solve their problem on their own. They go bankrupt on their own. So there's there's usually a lag. But we have seen a spike in calls related to online gambling sooner than we expected."

    As Turner points out, by the time people look for help it's often too late and they're already in a serious financial hole. His team is particularly concerned about the celebrity endorsers...Wayne Gretzky, Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid among them...who are actually influencing the brain development of young fans.

    "Well, young people are considered to be particularly vulnerable to gambling and and addictions in general because part of being an adolescent is being more impulsive and, particularly focusing on males, they are more impulsive by nature, and gambling appeals to the impulsive nature of youth," Turner explains. 

    "And when you establish a gambling problem your brain gets kind of hooked into a sequence of expectations. So if somebody who's young starts gambling too much, they are changing the way their brain functions and their brain activity is telling them to keep gambling. And that's a concern to us that we're creating a generation of people who are going to be gambling more."

    Turner and Subban aren't alone in expressing their concern for the health of young people who may be most vulnerable to gambling ads. This week, the chief of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation, Kelly LaRocca, published an open letter to Gretzky, McDavid and Matthews, asking them to stop promoting gambling. She says she sees a direct link to the ads and the interest of kids in betting.

    "I hope that they stand down from advertising iGaming," LaRocca said. "Our youth look up to them. They're being told that it's okay to just pick up and gamble whenever you feel like it."

    The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, which regulates gambling in the province, is now contemplating a ban on "the use of athletes as well as celebrities that can reasonably be expected to appeal to children and youth from internet gambling, advertising and marketing." It may be "contemplating" a ban, but there isn't one so far. And nobody's talking about stopping the ads...just stopping the celebrity promotion.

     For adult fans, the betting ads are annoying. For people with addictions, they're tempting. And for adolescents, they're dangerous, according to the experts.

    However in a league devoted to finding new sources of revenue, those gambling ads are worth a lot of money. They're inserted into the games themselves, feature in intermission analysis segments and are plastered all over the boards and the ice. The risk to vulnerable youth doesn't seem to trump the league's desire to squeeze out every dollar possible, regardless of the source.

    It's fitting, then, that the team from the Gambling Capital of the World, which was handed a sweetheart expansion draft that made it able to compete immediately, is poised to take home the hardware. If the league wants to make money, its expansion teams need to win right away in order to keep the new fans' cash flowing. Commissioner Gary Bettman has created the perfect circumstances for that to happen.

    In the meantime, the Vegas Golden Knights have become the poster child for the new, high-stakes NHL. They'll probably be Stanley Cup Champions five years into their existence. Young hockey fans will watch...ads and all...and soak up the message that NHL hockey is more than just sport. It's a get-rich-quick scheme. You can bet on it.