The best NHL cities for neutral fans, top goalie prospects and the mess in Philly: Mailbag

I said we’d only do one offseason mailbag. I lied. Your questions for the last one were simply too good.

This, however, is the last one. For real. September gets very busy, very quickly. In the meantime, we’re still talking about hockey stuff, even if it’s kind of stupid. Stupid can be good.

Note: Submitted questions have been edited for clarity and style.

How the hell does Chuck Fletcher still have a job? — Michael G.

For one, his boss trusts him, or at least bought a) the excuses/explanations for last season and b) the plan-type-thing to right the ship for this season. It all makes a little more sense if you assume that both Fletcher and Comcast Spectacor CEO Dave Scott agree that an actual rebuild isn’t an option. Should it be? Of course. Alas, they’ve chosen Door No. 2: using a whole bunch of assets to fill the top of the roster with flawed players. It’s probably not going to work.

Charlie O’Connor has the whole situation nailed down, and he said earlier this month that Fletcher could be on the hot seat unless the Flyers improve — which is at least on the table, if only because of how putrid they were last season. Maybe Carter Hart wallpapers over a bunch of their issues. Maybe Tony DeAngelo gives them something. Maybe John Tortorella squeezes a few extra points out of them — which, love him or hate him, he’s done in the past. Maybe they’ll be healthy-ish. It’s also easy to score “progress” when you’re using a nebulous definition of the term.

The problem, though, is that if all that happens, they’ll max out at not-terrible, with no real cap flexibility, not enough high-end, future-focused assets and a rightfully livid fan base. If Scott’s goal is to get better in a hurry and stay that way — if that’s been Fletcher’s task — the rubber is going to meet the road at some point, even if it’s past due.

What is the most difficult rule for you to explain to someone who has never watched hockey before? — Michael J.

A lot of people would say “goalie interference” here. Not me; the rule is easy enough to explain. The application? Less so … but that wasn’t your question. Explaining the basics of the offside rule is simple enough, but the nuances are brutal. Imagine watching the Avs-Oilers playoff series with a new fan. You’re tackling questions as they come up, everything is going well, and then Cale Makar scores. Uh, yes, I know why this goal counts. Happens all the time, in fact. I am an expert.

The most difficult rule, though? Cap recapture penalties. I understood them at some point, I promise.

Which franchise has the best roster using only players that played for one franchise their entire career? — Jordan C.

It’s a boring answer, and probably unfair, given the rules they were operating under until the 1960s, but it’s the Canadiens; Maurice Richard, Henri Richard and Jean Beliveau would be tough enough on their own, but the Habs’ goalie situation is really what’d put them over the top. Even if we don’t count Carey Price, they’d get Ken Dryden. Huge leg up there. 

Take the Red Wings, for example; yeah, they’d start out with Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom, Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, but … who’s the goalie? They don’t get Dominik Hasek. They don’t get Terry Sawchuk. They don’t get Chris Osgood. Personally, I’d be uncomfortable with Jimmy Howard going up against Rocket Richard. Now, if we’re going UFA-era? I’m all in on those guys. Throw in Niklas Kronwall while you’re at it. Also, don’t tell McIndoe about this one. He hasn’t built out complete “one franchise guy” rosters yet, and I might be short on ideas in February.

What’s the best market to visit for a visiting/neutral fan for a couple of days, and where should you eat while you’re there? — Sean M.

1. Nashville2. Chicago3. New York4. Montreal5. Seattle

Montreal, depending on where you live, can be a huge travel hassle. New York is too easy. Nashville is going to be on everyone’s list — the arena is in a perfect location, the game atmosphere is a blast and good food (that will kill you) is around every corner. Also, two days on Broadway is more than enough. It just feels like a vacation. Also, I like Bolton’s hot chicken more than Hattie B’s, if that’s your thing. Nobody should need an excuse to go to Chicago, but United Center is meh, the team is an abomination and the winters are hellish, so … maybe save that trip for the summer. God, I love all the stupid Chicago food so much. Might get Pequod’s off Goldbelly this weekend.

Why is the Toronto Maple Leafs brass/ownership so paranoid about a second team in the GTA?

Since it is virtually impossible to get tickets to a Toronto Maple Leafs home game, why don’t their fans demand a second team, so you can take your kid to a game, without having to take out a second mortgage on your home?

How can anyone argue rationally that the TML’s deserve support after being so pathetic for most of the past 55 years, and even recently being more lucky than astute? — Bruce A.

In order —

1) Because it’d cut into their profits. Every ticket sold, jersey bought or second spent talking about GTA Team 2 would be redirected from the Maple Leafs. Nope. Those territorial laws are in place for a reason.

2) Because team fandom goes deeper than being able to attend games — maybe it shouldn’t, but it does. Even if it didn’t, and we witnessed some sort of Southern Ontario fan uprising, the Leafs would still have to pay attention to it. Also, those pesky territorial rights are popping up again.

3) Nobody can. If you hate them so much, Buffalo is a short drive.

Could the Habs get around the cap by giving Carey Price a job that pays him $10.5 million per year? This seems better than the charade that old players on LTIR (Chris Pronger, Shea Weber, etc.) are not retired. I’m sure the NHL would not allow it, but that’s a different question than whether they should. Thoughts? — Daniel H.

The NHL invented and enforced a rule to punish teams, after the fact, for signing legal contracts. I am also sure that they wouldn’t allow “$11 million equipment assistant” Carey Price. Still, I’m all for deep-pocketed teams getting creative. We’ve seen it more and more over the last several years; why, for example, shouldn’t the Maple Leafs have the largest analytics department in the league? All that MLSE money has to go somewhere.

I mean, look at Florida’s football staff. Spend your money where you can.

What one Buffalo Sabre do you expect to have the best chance for a Tage Thompson-like surge? And do you expect Thompson to be as good, take a step forward or take a step back this season, and why? — Brian F.

I’d never expect anybody to make a Tage Thompson-like surge. He took his points/60 from 1.6 to 2.9 in a single season. Nobody should ever bet on something like that. Still, I liked a lot of what I saw from Dylan Cozens last season, even though the stats weren’t great. He’s only 20, so he’s not teetering on the brink of bust territory like Thompson, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him level up.

As for Thompson specifically, it’d be unfair to expect all that much more from him, right? The dude just scored 38 goals. Still, he had good underlyings that should help him out even when that 15.0 shooting percentage drops a bit. He’s a good player. Maybe the point totals dip a bit, but so what?

Given the excitement around Trevor Zegras and Sarah Nurse being on the new “NHL 23” cover, do you have any information on when or if that franchise (or another) might add or bring college hockey to video games? — Josh S.

I don’t, but when I was reporting out another video-game story last winter, I heard from a couple of folks who said that EA was, indeed, spending a (relative) lot of money and a lot of development time on meaningfully incorporating women players into the game. We’ve seen that come to pass. The thing about the “NHL” series is that EA (or Amazon eventually, I suppose) doesn’t devote “Madden”-caliber resources to it. So they pick and choose. For “NHL 24,” maybe they turn their attention somewhere else — and buddy, they are not starved for choice. Any college game is going to be way down the lane, based on NCAA licensing issues alone. There’s a new “NCAA Football” game on track for 2023. That’ll have been in development for two-plus years, and I can guarantee you it’s a higher priority than a hypothetical “College Hockey” release.

In the meantime, you can create the 2022-23 Michigan Wolverines (or whoever) and play as them on “NHL 04.”

Give me your picks right now for Stanley Cup winner and loser, rookie of the year and MVP (regular season). I know it’s ridiculously early, that’s what makes it fun. — Nick P.

– Avs over Hurricanes. It’s boring, but I love the Hurricanes’ offseason, even though Max Pacioretty is out with torn Achilles tendon. Toronto is out because of the Matt Murray-Ilya Samsonov combo platter. I’m not quite comfortable in predicting another S-tier season from Igor Shesterkin. So, yeah, this is the year Carolina breaks through. I’m just not going to pick against the Avs until they lose again, though. Sorry.

– Mason McTavish just had a lights-out WJC and is set to get a ton of playing time in Anaheim; he’s got nothing to prove in juniors, and he’s too young for the AHL. I can imagine him stacking up enough points to get it done. If Kent Johnson gets a sustained run with Johnny Gaudreau in Columbus, though, watch out for him.

– Connor McDavid rebounds from a putrid season to win another Hart. Voters aren’t going to be able to resist him two years in a row.

How many players will hit 50 goals next year and who will they be? We saw four last year for the first time since Jonathan Cheechoo and four others hit the mark in 2005-06. I like to be optimistic and say scoring will keep trending up, giving us five 50-goal men in Auston Matthews, Alex Ovechkin, Leon Draisatl, McDavid and Kirill Kaprizov. — Joshua B.

Eh, Ovechkin looked pretty gassed at the end of last season. I’m not comfortable saying he’s going to hit 50 again, dumb as that may sound. For me, Matthews is the only sure bet, with Kaprizov and Draisaitl right behind. And I love the optimism — but scoring 50 is hard. Only 17 players made it to 40 last season. It’s rare for a reason.

Is Jesper Wallstedt the top goalie prospect? If not who are they at this point? His play in the recent world juniors tournament was damn impressive. — David D.

First things first — I didn’t include this to show off my prospect expertise. I have … not none, but close to none. I’m none-adjacent. I know the top layer of NHL-ready guys, but not much beyond that. Having Corey Pronman and Scott Wheeler around affords me the privilege. If I have a question, I can just bug them. Easy-peasy. Now, in Wallstedt’s case, he’s good enough for even dummies like me to be aware of it; he was the top goalie in the 2021 draft, then followed it up with a .918-save percentage season as a teenager in the Swedish Hockey League. Going into WJCs, Wheeler had him as the top-ranked goalie in an NHL system.

Then, Wallstedt threw up a .940 save percentage for Sweden on the way to a bronze medal. We’ve since published Pronman’s NHL pipeline rankings, which projected Wallstedt as a quality starter. So no, nothing has changed; I texted Wheeler — who’s on vacation — about Wallstedt, and he said he’s “firmly” in the top spot. No knock on the rest of the field (Nashville’s Yaroslav Askarov, Detroit’s Sebastian Cossa, Buffalo’s Devon Levi, Calgary’s Dustin Wolf), but Wallstedt indeed seems like the real deal. He’s young, big, basically warts-free and already has a great track record. If nothing else, it makes sense for him to be playing somewhere in North America this season.

What are your thoughts about official team dogs? Yay or nay? Why or why not? — Venessa P.

Only if they’re being properly compensated for their labor.

(Top photo: Carlee Calfee / NHLI via Getty Images)