With the recent announcement that the construction of a professional hockey-worthy arena will proceed just north of Toronto, hockey fans and analysts are salivating over the idea of a franchise following suit. What would have to happen for a Markham NHL team to arise and is it even a possibility worth getting excited for?

Is the role of NHL goon less and less significant with each passing year? Was it every truly instrumental to the game in the first place? Tim Kolupanowich suggests as much while taking a good look at the difference between Toronto’s Colton Orr and Los Angeles’ Steve Bernier, between Maple Leaf Mike Brown and iconic Red Wing Kris Draper.

The NHL is back, finally. However, as refreshing as it is to see actual games being played and hockey highlights daily in lieu of witnessing Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr bickering at each other in public in a sad, vain attempt to win a public relations battle, the hockey fan in me is rarely satisfied. […]

It’s no secret that the New York Rangers are a legitimate NHL contender. Last season, however, the team’s gruelling, physically exacting, John Tortorella-style campaign fell apart when it mattered most. This year, with a shortened season and having had more time to recover over the offseason, look out. Can the lockout be attributed for the New York Rangers being this year’s favorite to win the Stanley Cup?

The London Knights went on a 25-game winning streak which was snapped to ring in the new year in an overtime loss. The point-scoring streak ended this past weekend after 28 games. The domination suggested by the streak doesn’t exactly hold up when look at the in-game numbers, though. Are the Knights really this good, or are they just extreme beneficiaries of gratuitous amounts of luck?

There’s no denying that the annual IIHF World Junior Championship produces some of the most fascinating hockey fans of the sport will see in a given year. Lucas di Giovanni weighs in on all the subtleties within the Federation’s unique rulebook that its more famous counterpart – the NHL – could stand to benefit from.

As it usually does at the World Junior Hockey Championship, controversy once again reared its ugly head. There was no shortage of controversial moments, from suspect officiating (see Ty Rattie’s bizarre goal) to questionable suspensions, but no incident sparked more debate than Anthony Camara’s devastating hit on Slovakia’s Patrik Luza. IIHF officiating rarely draws rave […]

The idea of an expanded NHL playoffs has been floated out there this week, and while the NHL and NHLPA haven’t formally discussed adding four teams to the postseason, the speculation for the format and duration of the extra series has taken over the hockey world. Does the idea have any merit, or is it just more pie in the sky thinking for fatigued hockey fans?

While the likes of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jonathan Huberdeau are performing as expected, it’s Jonathan Drouin who is unexpectedly helping to carry his Canadian teammates through this year’s World Juniors. Drouin is making the most of his tournament, raising his stock – and likely draft position – with every game he plays as he hopes to help Canada reclaim gold after a multi-year drought.

It’s no secret that Canadians are a little crazy over hockey, but are they crazy enough to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to watch the World Juniors from Russia? Matt Horner takes a decidedly Canadian approach to the tournament and asks some tough questions. After all, if Canada doesn’t win gold, they may as well have finished last.