Off the top:

No record was needed, he was the GLOAT, and is the GLOAT.

There's no Leafs game for two days, and this is the last time until the Olympic break that is true. I, personally, think this schedule is absurdly punishing.

Today at the WJC, Canada plays Czechia at 8:30 pm, and Sweden plays Finland at 4:30 pm. The gold medal game is tomorrow at 8:30 pm.

In news yesterday, Hockey Canada has hired Brendan Shanahan for a special project to review junior hockey (men's only) in Ontario.

Shanahan will report to a six-person governance committee and produce two public documents: an interim paper that includes a framework for consulting with stakeholders in the coming weeks, and a final report with his recommendations later in 2026.
The committee consists of Craig Halpenny, president of Hockey Eastern Ontario; Dean Filane, president of Hockey Northwestern Ontario; Jeffrey Turner, chair of the Ontario Hockey Federation Board of Directors; Jonathan Goldbloom, chair of the Hockey Canada Board of Directors; John Kastner, Hockey Canada board member; and Katherine Henderson, president and chief executive officer of Hockey Canada.

This project involves the three member organizations of Hockey Canada that exist in Ontario: Hockey Eastern Ontario, Hockey Northwestern Ontario, and the Ontario Hockey Federation.

That last group oversees the bulk of Ontario amateur hockey, including the OHL and feeder leagues.

To conduct his work, Shanahan will take four guiding principles into account:
Prioritize the needs, development and wellbeing of players at all levels of junior hockey in Ontario, with policies and frameworks that are rooted in healthy player experiences.
Foster collaboration across Hockey Canada, its Ontario Members and junior hockey stakeholders in the province to establish recommendations around a cohesive governance model with consistent, aligned development pathways, clear roles and responsibilities, and a unified approach to junior hockey excellence.
Maintain transparency and openness throughout the process, ensuring stakeholders are consulted and informed in decision-making to build trust and confidence in renewed governance and the broader hockey system.
Embed Hockey Canada’s core values into his recommendations around governance structures and actions to be taken.

It's easy to by cynical about these sorts of things, but a couple of things here stood out to me, first that they are recognizing member organizations already have done some of this work and they will include that work. But the most important thing is Shanahan's track record with Player Safety. He took that job very seriously, and wasn't looking for a sinecure that let him shoot the breeze with some other hockey guys all day.

This situation, as outlined by CJTDevil has every xG model showing actual goals below expected for all teams, most players. This is definitely affecting how you view Auston Matthews' level of "oh so broken" if you've been using xG as your guide.

The situation appears to be the way the NHL is integrating EDGE puck and player tracking into it's reporting of shots. I looked at Matthews yesterday morning via the shooting talent adjusted stats on Moneypuck and now his xG by that measure is three goals lower. And that does not include last night's game.

This should be a hard reminder that these numbers are not carved marble representatives of reality. They are shadings of the truth only, and that's before you even consider errors or changes. It's never been a question of are these stats good/bad, it's always been about how you the user has to use your own brain to make some judgements with these numbers.

About last night...

Jake McCabe left the game late in the third and did not return. We won't get word on him right away, Monday likely.

The Leafs had a whopping 60% Corsi and 57% xG in the first period, but...

I tried to make this look better for someone by having it be all-situations, but it didn't help. They need to find the net a little more.

In the second period, the Islanders opened the scoring, and then a thing happened, you may have heard about it.

Words are inadequate to describe how happy I am that this happened in the Islanders' rink. You know, when he's UFA age, I want Schaefer too.

Both teams were a little better, Leafs with the advantage still:

The goal was still to win the game.

He can defend too, he is a very, very special player.

But sometimes, you need linemates, years of struggle, perseverance and the ability to grow.

Not the greatest moment for Jeo Woll ever, nor for the Leafs defence, and the game was far from over:

Overtime, and it wasn't the storybook ending for our side, but for theirs.

Find someone to blame if you like, but the truth is, that's how it goes in this game. Humans are imperfect. This is why you can't take too long to dive deep into Malaise in life, because emergencies come along and you have to show up. You can't let it all go figuring you'll figure it out someday, because someday comes, and Matthew Schaefer is rolling at you. You need to have some amount of your shit together all the time because there is no deserve in hockey.

And all of that is easy to say, but when it all goes wrong, climbing up out of it isn't as easy to do as it is to expect from people who don't ever seem real sometimes. It's even harder when the people really are actual humans.

Two days off, and then once more to try to climb the mountain.

421 GLOAT.

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