It's time for our weekly installment highlighting what's right and what's wrong with the NHL during every week throughout the season. For all the things there are to love about the NHL and its product, there's also plenty to hate and plenty to criticize.
With that in mind, let's hash it out together ... right here ... every single Wednesday.
Loving and/or hating something about the NHL at any given point throughout this season? Feel free to drop your praise/complaints in my email inbox.
What's right: Rick Nash
I just want to kick off this week's column with some appreciation for Rick Nash, who announced his retirement from hockey last week. It was more of a forced retirement, as Nash hasn't been able to fully recover from a concussion he suffered last season with the Bruins.
It sucks that Nash, 34, wasn't able to go out on his own terms, but hopefully his future is as good as his past and he's got plenty of happy and healthy post-playing days ahead. He retires with 437 goals, which ranked him third among active players, behind just Alex Ovechkin and Patrick Marleau.
It feels somewhat easy to overlook or under-appreciate what Nash was able to accomplish during his 15-year NHL career, probably because he spent so many years fronting irrelevant Blue Jackets teams that couldn't properly build around him. After going first overall to Columbus in 2002, he spent nine seasons with the Jackets. In seven of those seasons he hit the 30-goal mark, twice hitting 40 -- including 41-goal season that won him the Rocket Richard as a 19-year-old.
The Blue Jackets only made the playoffs once during Nash's tenure, getting swept in the first round by the eventual Eastern Conference champion Detroit Red Wings in 2009. It's a shame that they weren't able to put more talent around Nash, who almost singlehandedly helped put Columbus on the map as an NHL market in their early years as a franchise. (His No. 61 can't be retired fast enough.)
He had several more cracks at the postseason with the Rangers and, briefly, the Bruins, but he didn't have a ton of playoff success and never got the chance to raise the Cup. Unfortunately, that's something that many people will hold against him, even though hockey is constantly touted as the ultimate team sport.
But it's without question that Nash was one of the best goal-scorers of this generation (and a damn good two-way player as well), so let's not forget that. If you need help remembering, here's a flashback to one of the most impressive goals the NHL has seen in the last few decades.
Rick Nash is retiring today. What a player. pic.twitter.com/4JTjDRYbwj
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) January 11, 2019
Every time I see that highlight it makes me laugh just out of sheer absurdity. A decade later, I still imagine Keith Ballard waking up to a cold sweat in the middle of the night as he's forced to watch Nash reduce him to a twisting, flailing puddle on an endless loop. It's undoubtedly the highlight I'll forever associate with Nash, and what a highlight it was. Definitely on the shortlist of favorite goals of my lifetime.
What's wrong: Peter Chiarelli
Everybody strap yourselves in tight ... Peter Chiarelli is behind the wheel and looking to make a trade once again. What could possibly go wrong?!
Oilers organization is on a full court press to find help at forward. Scouts and staff deployed en masse.
— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) January 14, 2019
Cap situation could make it tough, but first round pick, a goaltender, maybe a young developing forward likely all in play.
But seriously, what are the Oilers even doing here? I understand that they're on the playoff bubble and want to get some help for Connor McDavid, who is doing his damn best to drag them back to postseason where they absolutely do not belong. What I don't understand, however, is continuing to give Peter Chiarelli the keys to make these kinds of trades -- especially when you're putting significant futures like a first-rounder and/or developing prospects in play.
This is the same Peter Chiarelli who traded forward Taylor Hall -- last year's MVP -- for a second-pairing defenseman straight up. The same Peter Chiarelli who turned forward Jordan Eberle into Ryan Spooner. The same Peter Chiarelli who has committed a handful of other absolutely stunning front office blunders in Edmonton -- from the Milan Lucic contract to the Griffin Reinhart trade -- that have helped turn the Oilers back into a pumpkin despite having the best damn player in the world lead them up front.
How many times would you let your friend borrow your car if he continually kept getting into fender benders? Probably less than the Oilers have.
Maybe Chiarelli saved all his trading magic for the 11th hour and can magically broker a brilliant deal that helps push the Oilers back on the right track. But the Oilers are in this desperate position right now because he's done an absolutely magnificent job of mangling their roster and paying a lot of money to do it.
There's not a lot of reason to believe that he's going to do anything other than set this team back even further in a desperate Hail Mary attempt to save his job -- a job that he should have lost months ago ... and even that might be generous.
What's right: Snoop Dogg doing play-by-play
This one doesn't even need a write-up. Just listen to the man work.
The LA Kings had Snoop Dogg in the booth doing play-by-play tonight and it was amazing pic.twitter.com/SbyFc8U4LF
— Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) January 13, 2019
LOL Snoop Dogg is the best#PITvsLAK #GoKingsGo #LAKings pic.twitter.com/u6wQTSsflG
— Eric (@Kingsgifs) January 13, 2019
What's wrong: Sergei Bobrovsky
The Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender and two-time Vezina winner found himself in headlines last week when the team held him out of action last Thursday as a disciplinary measure. The unofficial suspension came one day after the goaltender was pulled during a game against the Lightning, and it was initially speculated that the discipline may have been because of an ongoing rift between Bobrovsky and CBJ head coach John Tortorella.
But more details have emerged about the incident that caused the Blue Jackets to tell Bobrovsky to stay home, and it would seem that the blame should be fully shouldered by the goaltender in this case.
From The Athletic's Aaron Portzline:
When Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled from a game last Tuesday at Tampa Bay, he walked straight to the dressing room and started peeling off his gear. There were 11 minutes, 7 seconds remaining in the game.
Typically, the goaltender — if not removed because of an injury — will remain on the bench with his teammates while his replacement finishes the game.
But by the time Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella sent a member of the training staff to find Bobrovsky, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner had already showered, or was in the shower, and was unable to return to the bench.
Yeah, that's not great. This isn't baseball where a pitcher's night is officially done and in the books when he's pulled from the game. Had anything happened to the Jackets' backup after replacing Bobrovsky, he would've had to go back in and he clearly wasn't willing or able to do that. Not OK.
Several key members of Columbus's roster reportedly pulled Bobrovsky aside to lay into him before their flight to Nashville later that night, as they should have.
The two sides have seemingly moved on and put this behind them, as the goaltender was back with the team after his one-game absence. He met with his general manager and teammates on Friday and cleared the air, but now the obvious question becomes whether or not the Blue Jackets want to finish the season with Bobrovsky on the roster.
The 30-year-old is in the final year of his contract and always seemed destined to depart Columbus in free agency this summer. The team seemed intent to hang onto him for the sake of another playoff run this year, even if it meant losing him for nothing when he hit the open market. But that seems like it could change now.
Bobrovsky is reportedly willing to waive his no-move clause for certain teams and there are several potential landing spots (see some of them here) so it's possible that the Blue Jackets may choose to part ways earlier than expected, whether it be for the purpose of the locker room and/or asset management.
When asked whether he wanted to finish the season in Columbus, Bobrovsky responded "I am here and I will play here." That's not exactly pleading to stay.
Columbus is tied for the Metro division lead right now, which might make it a little tougher to part ways with a Vezina-caliber netminder midway through the season, but Bobrovsky is also having a down year and backup Joonas Korpisalo has put up pretty similar numbers to this point in the season.
If the team doesn't see a significant gap between the two goalies and Bobrovsky is causing issues in the locker room, it becomes much harder to justify not trying to secure some futures in exchange for what's left of his contract.
What's right: Through-the-legs goals
It's a blessing anytime we're gifted a nifty through-the-legs goal to appreciate. This week, we got two.
Oh Forsberg, that's Fil-thy. pic.twitter.com/8AWy5cYEy7
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) January 13, 2019
NOLAN. PATRICK. WHAT A GOAL. 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/PKnPIU478R
— Brandon Murphy (@2Murphy8) January 15, 2019