NHL.com's weekly Over the Boards mailbag is in full swing this season. Every week, senior writer Dan Rosen sifts through your questions sent to him on X and chooses several to answer.
To participate in future mailbags, send your questions to @drosennhl on X and use #OvertheBoards.
Did anyone expect that Connor Bedard's best weapon is…Tyler Bertuzzi? Six goals in the last three games and Bedard is among the league leaders in points. -- @StacyAlbano
Every skilled player, especially one as good as Bedard is at finding soft spots in the offensive zone to get off his elite shot, benefits from having a linemate who makes his living at the front of the net. That's Bertuzzi. It's his game and he plays it well. He takes a beating, like every good netfront player does (that's why there are so few who are so good in and around that area), but he is always there, in position, his stick ready, waiting for tips, deflections and pucks to simply just hit him and go into the net.
Look at Bedard's power-play goal 59 seconds into the first period in Detroit on Sunday. It's a ridiculously good shot from the right face-off circle, the kind so few in the world can get off, let alone pick a corner with. But look where Bertuzzi is. Bedard is in the right face-off circle. Bertuzzi is at the far post, his stick on the ice. Maybe Red Wings goalie John Gibson knows he's there. Maybe he doesn't. The far side defenseman knows. He has to cover Bertuzzi. It opens just a little more space for Bedard. He can shoot it or make that pass because Bertuzzi is in the right spot. That's a weapon.
Now look at Bertuzzi's power-play goal at 5:09 of the third period in that same game. He's again in front of the net, at the right post, and he gets the puck from Bedard. The Red Wings, as broadcaster Darren Pang noted on the Blackhawks' broadcast, give Bertuzzi too much space with Andrew Copp likely respecting the potential pass back to Bedard for a shot from the right circle. Why wouldn't he respect that option? He knows Bedard's shot is a weapon. But that space allowed Bertuzzi to spin to front Gibson and score with his forehand. Yes, it could have been defended better even in a 4-on-5 situation for Detroit, but it's Bertuzzi's positioning and the threat of Bedard's shot that makes it all work.
Bertuzzi can also skate with Bedard at 5-on-5, as evidenced by their connection for a 2-on-1 goal in Calgary on Friday. Andre Burakovsky chipped the puck up to Bedard, springing him up the right wing on a 2-on-1 with Bertuzzi on the far side. Bedard made the pass to Bertuzzi, who stayed even with Bedard. The circle-to-circle pass is perfect and it sets up Bertuzzi for a terrific high shot. If you watched that in real time you thought for sure Bedard was going to shoot. That's what he does. But Bertuzzi was with him, the better play was the pass, and Bedard made it because he trusts Bertuzzi to finish it, which he did.
Burakovsky deserves credit too for his ability to make plays with Bedard, but this connection between Bedard and Bertuzzi is a big reason for Chicago's early-season success.
Help me understand what's going on with Steven Stamkos, future Hall of Famer whose production immediately fell off a cliff in Nashville. Is he done or is it just a horrendous fit in Nashville? -- @Bignasty87
I watched Stamkos live in person for the first time this season on Monday when the Predators were at Madison Square Garden. He was noticeable on the power play from the left circle, where he has scored many of his 585 goals, but he didn't have much impact at 5-on-5, which has been the case for the majority of his 100 games with the Predators. I don't think this is a 35-year-old player who "fell off a cliff in Nashville." I think this is a player who needs a playmaker to get him the puck so he can do what he does best, which is score goals, and he doesn't have that playmaker in Nashville the way he did in Tampa Bay, whether it was with Nikita Kucherov or Brayden Point or even Anthony Cirelli, who is an underrated playmaker to go along with his annual Selke Trophy candidacy.
Stamkos was hoping Nashville would be a fit for him after it was obvious his time in Tampa Bay was done. It hasn't been. That doesn't mean it can't be, but he hasn't clicked with any linemate and it's not a small sample size anymore. It's 100 games.
We talked about this on the "NHL @TheRink" podcast last week and brought up the idea of the Predators trading Stamkos. It's too soon to say that should happen, especially with the Predators hoping their ongoing trip to Stockholm for the 2025 NHL Global Series Sweden presented by Fastenal will be a positive turning point in their season. They play the Pittsburgh Penguins at Avicii Arena on Friday (2 p.m. ET; FDSNSO, SN-PIT, NHLN, SN) and Sunday (9 a.m. ET; FDSNSO, SN-PIT, NHLN, SN). There's time for the Predators, losers of eight of nine (1-6-2), to turn their season around and for Stamkos to be a big part of it. But if that doesn't happen, it would make sense for both the Predators and Stamkos to part ways. He has two years left on his four-year, $32 million contract after this season.
Is Bo Horvat pushing his way onto Team Canada? -- @jmont226
Horvat, the New York Islanders center, is certainly making a strong case for himself to be high on Hockey Canada's watch list for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. He has 12 goals and 20 points in 16 games. He's playing with speed, getting to the scoring areas and his teammates are finding him. He has five goals in the past four games and four in New York's past three road games. Horvat is the fourth Islanders player since 1990-91 to score at least 12 goals in his first 16 games of a season joining John Tavares (13 games in 2017-18), Mark Parrish (13 in 2001-02) and Pat LaFontaine (14 in 1990-91).
The beauty of Horvat is he can be an impact player either at center or on the wing, and on any line if Canada chooses to take him to the Olympics. He generates a lot of shots on goal too. He has 55 in 16 games this season, an average of 3.43 per game, a 281-shot pace. That would be a career-best for Horvat, who averaged 240 shots per season and 2.98 per game in the past three seasons.
Canada has a lot of options at forward. Horvat is clearly one of them.
Shouldn't the Stars' 2027 Stadium Series opponent be the 2026 Stanley Cup champs? (If Dallas wins the Cup, it'd be the Eastern Conference champs for a Stanley Cup Final rematch.) Participation in special events should be determined by on-ice success, not TV market size. Agree? -- @IronCaniac
Disagree.
Playoff success does not and should not determine which teams play in NHL outdoor games. What does and what should are the venue, a rivalry if possible, the ability for road fans to travel to the event (it's an event more than it's just a game with all of the auxiliary attractions around the actual game), storylines and superstar attractions.
The promotion and lead-up to the game is typically built on the attractions of the game and in the game, from the teams to the players to the venue itself and, in the case of the two outdoor games this season, the uniqueness of playing outdoor hockey in Florida. Yes, the defending Stanley Cup champions are an attraction, but they are in every building they go into. And, unless you have a situation like we do currently with the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers having met in the past two Stanley Cup finals, you rarely get a distinct rivalry matchup between teams from different conferences.
