Combining his own perspective with what he’s heard from people in and around the sport, Senior NHL Writer John Matisz breaks down the hot topics sweeping across the hockey landscape.
The Leafs are headed for big changes
The Maple Leafs are in full spiral.
This is a familiar state for the Original Six franchise in the Auston Matthews era. However, the annual spiral tends to occur in April or May, not mid-December.
Toronto has the longest active playoff streak in the NHL, but the nine-year streak is on life support thanks to a 15-13-5 record. There are few, if any, positives to this sideways season, as the Leafs sit 14th in the Eastern Conference after 33 games. They are bottom five in almost every offensive and defensive category; the levels of passion and urgency have at times been laughable; the power play is a disaster; and, unlike 2024-25, elite goaltenders aren’t saving the day.
It’s abundantly clear that the Leafs are a poorly built team, filled with players who don’t suit Craig Berube’s preferred style of play. Bérubé recently called out his best players (and the team as a whole), suggesting he’s either lost the locker room or is losing his mind trying to fix the product on the ice. (Or both.)
The most troubling development from a long-term perspective: Matthews, the player the franchise revolves around, is on pace to score 63 points in 77 games. The captain hasn’t been a consistent dominant force since 2023-24.
The Leafs, losers of four of their last six games, will be in Nashville on Saturday night, in Dallas on Sunday, then host the Penguins on Tuesday to conclude the pre-holiday schedule. It’s December and the Preds have the worst points percentage in the NHL, but Saturday’s result seems important. The stakes are high.
General manager Brad Treliving gave Berube a public vote of confidence in November. If the spiral continues, even for just one or two more games, the general manager might feel like he has no choice but to fire the coach. Bérubé is not the only one responsible for the Leafs’ terrible year. But he is the easiest to leave.
First impressions of Minny Hughes
The superb Wild-Canucks blockbuster is one week old.
Here are three notes following Quinn Hughes’ Wild’s first three games:
1. Looking both strange and lively in a green No. 43 jersey, Hughes used his usual tricks, manipulating defenses and dictating the flow of the game. He recorded a goal, an assist and six shots on goal. Minnesota outscored the opposition 5-4 in its five-on-five minutes. Still, it’s obvious that the star player is adjusting to a new team and the team is adjusting to a new star.
2. Hughes’ usage has been insane so far: 26:55 in a 6-2 home win over Boston, 29:33 in a 5-0 home win over Washington and 32:02 in a road win over Columbus. Keep in mind that none of these totals include overtime.
3. Hughes immediately assumed the role of quarterback on the power play and was paired almost exclusively with Brock Faber at even strength. (The U.S. duo could share the ice at the Olympics.) Wild coach John Hynes will surely experiment with different pairings once Jonas Brodin and Jake Middleton return from injuries. Add in Jared Spurgeon and David Jiricek, and Minny has the most talented and deepest one-through-six blue line in the entire NHL.
Bruins reorganization slowly taking shape
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney wasn’t the most popular man in Boston to start 2025, having dispatched a handful of fan favorites — most notably franchise icon Brad Marchand — to launch a reorganization before the March trade deadline.
Sweeney’s approval rating is in much better shape to close out 2025.
Former Bruins Brandon Carlo and Trent Frederic have not performed well in Toronto and Edmonton, while Charlie Coyle and Justin Brazeau no longer play for the teams Sweeney traded them to. Marchand is the only reverse player to have had success (a Stanley Cup and a big extension in Florida).
Among the various return packages, Boston appears to have unearthed three long-term pieces in centers Casey Mittelstadt and Fraser Minten and winger Marat Khusnutdinov. A few prospects and draft picks are still to come.
The hiring of Marco Sturm is another win for 2025. I’m told the organization is very pleased with this first-time head coach’s ability to serve as an on-ice tactician and off-ice communicator. Players feed off Sturm’s energy and intensity.
Top of 2026 draft class is ‘messy’
NHL teams typically hold mid-season amateur scouting meetings around this time, shortly before or after the holidays and the World Junior Tournament.
A staffer at an Eastern Conference club used the word “messy” this week to describe the best in the 2026 draft class. Presumed No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna — a dazzling winger from Penn State who will take on a prominent role on Team Canada starting next Friday — isn’t tearing up the NCAA as expected. Meanwhile, North Dakota defenseman Keaton Verhoeff, Frolunda winger Ivar Stenberg and Muskegon center Tynan Lawrence have all improved their draft stock enough to warrant consideration for the No. 1 overall selection in June.
As of now, the team doesn’t see any franchise-altering talent in the class – no one on the level of Matthew Schaefer (2025), Macklin Celebrini (2024) or Connor Bedard (2023). However, the first round is “quite deep” in the eyes of the staff. There are 15-20 players worth getting “damn excited.”
The flyers lack dynamism at the young center
Reader Nathan M. recently sent in a general question about the Flyers.
As a Flyers fan, I would like to know your thoughts on the direction and current state of the team. Are they in the Montreal/Ottawa category?
The Flyers have the seventh-best points percentage in the NHL. The Rick Tocchet-led coaching staff and key players, especially offseason acquisitions Trevor Zegras and Dan Vladar, deserve major endorsements for a 17-10-6 record.
However, if we’re talking about long-term prospects, I don’t see Philadelphia as a direct counterpart to Montreal and Ottawa. Philadelphia is in strange territory. His NHL roster and prospect pipeline is full of good players, but arguably none of the greats.
The 25-and-over group, led by Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier, Owen Tippett and Travis Sanheim, is nothing special in the grand scheme of a 32-team league. The under-25 group – primarily Matvei Michkov, Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale and prospects Porter Martone and Jack Nesbitt – doesn’t project to be the core of a future Stanley Cup contender like Montreal’s core. In Ottawa, Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle and Jake Sanderson form a Big Three.
That said, general manager Daniel Brière has the option to potentially trade for a skater who moves needles. I would feel better about the Flyers management if Michkov and Martone were accompanied by a current or future first-line center.
Depth issues sinking Jets season
Winnipeg is a torturous team right now.
After a 9-3-0 start to the season, the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winner has slumped to a mediocre 15-17-2 record and is tied for sixth in a top-heavy Central Division. The middle of the slide coincided with Connor Hellebuyck’s knee injury. (The goaltender missed 12 games from November 15 to December 13.)
Most discouraging for Jets fans is the lack of secondary scoring.
Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Gabriel Vilardi and Josh Morrissey – Winnipeg’s three front-line forwards and number one defenseman – combined for 53 goals, or 53% of the club’s total offensive production. The rest of the team, from crafty playmaker Cole Perfetti to two-way captain Adam Lowry to offseason pickup Jonathan Toews to mobile defender Neal Pionk and lesser-known pieces, have scored just 47 goals on 40 percent of the season.
For context, Colorado’s explosive four-pack of Nathan MacKinnon, Marty Necas, Artturi Lehkonen and Cale Makar accounts for 49 percent of its goal total.
What would the 3-2-1-0 ranking look like?
In response to an item in the latest edition from NHL Inbox, reader Trav S. wonders how much the standings would change if the NHL adopted the 3-2-1-0 point system. (That’s three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime/shootout win, one for an OT/SO loss, and zero for a regulation loss.)
Drum roll, please…actually, too bad.
The playoff picture would be surprisingly similar.
Thirteen of the 16 teams in the playoffs as of Saturday morning would also make the playoffs in the 3-2-1-0 system popularized by the PWHL.
The Western Conference division seeds would remain completely unchanged, while the wild cards would move from Los Angeles/San Jose to Utah/LA.
In the East, metropolitan seeds would also remain unchanged. But in the Atlantic, Tampa Bay would replace Montreal, and Florida and Detroit would swap places. The Islanders would move from the first wild card position to second, and Boston would replace Philadelphia to complete the picture.
What do you want to know, hockey fans?
There are three ways to submit a question for future editions of the NHL Inbox.
