The Dawning of a New Rat

The days are numbered in its season now as the National Hockey League pushes into the latter stages of Round 2.

Here’s a sampling of what has caught this corner’s eye, so far, and what might lie ahead.

Benson isn’t just a TV series, you know?

From the late 1970s through to the mid-1980s, American sitcom lovers and likers got to enjoy a charming little ABC TV series named Benson.

Some 40-plus years later, hockey fans in northwest New York state are enjoying their own version of a not-so charming Benson; that’d be perma-pest and emerging rat Zach Benson whose coming-out party hit full gear Tuesday night against the hated rival Montreal Canadiens.

Have to admit I didn’t know much (if anything) about this rambunctious 21-year-old who plays much larger than his 5-foot-10 frame and ‘billed’ 170 pounds.

Much, much larger.

The irony isn’t lost here – as well – that the 13th overall pick from the 2023 draft must remind the Montreal faithful of one of their own treasured (but now aging) troublemakers, Brendan Gallagher. Frankly, it must be like looking at his doppelgänger.

And man, it must sting.

Benson has become a force in this Eastern Conference semifinal. He clearly loves digging around the opposition goal like my hound loves digging up the field at the Hampton dog park.

Dogged determination? You bet.

After Tuesday’s hard-fought win in Montreal, which included Benson scoring the game winner in the final frame, the B.C. native is now tied for the lead in goals on the Sabres with four (Alex Tuch, Tage Thompson and Bowen Byram also have bagged a four-pack). What really sticks out though is how Benson gives the Sabres something they rarely, if ever, carried during the past decade, and that’s personality.

As the hockey adage goes – you’d love him as a teammate but despise him as the pain in the ass on the other team.

The stat that really sticks its head out is this: In his 10 post-season appearances, Benson has a whopping 42 minutes in penalties. That’s tops in the league.

This kid drives the guys across the rink plain batty. Not just with the face washing and chirping, but with the high quality of his play as well.

The Atlantic Division is bound to get a quick hate on for this guy in a hurry, and that’s welcome news for a franchise that has been barely treading water – personality-wise – for a dozen years or more.

Winds of change finally blowing through Toronto

After a decade of near-futility, the Toronto Maple Leafs are embarking on what promises to be a rather interesting new path.

The well-documented fact – with Auston Matthews, the departed Mitchell Marner, John Tavares and Willy Nylander driving the bus for that decade the club has/had won a grand total of two playoff series. (BTW, don’t get too Schadenfreude-ish Ottawa, you guys have/had won a total of two playoff games during that same stretch).

But what a past week it’s been.

And what a summer this has the potential to look like.

Earlier today, the organization announced to no one’s surprise that head coach Craig Berube has been fired. His team made it through to the second round in 2025 but failed to make the post-season in 2026 . . . for the first time since 2016.

We chatted about the draft lottery win a week ago. Add that into the mix with a new (and puzzling choice) GM and whatever-Mats-Sundin’s-gonna-be, as well as the talk surrounding Matthews’ future, and the Berube axing, and the fish are jumping.

The draft poses a couple of questions. One, if they keep the pick do they take offensive phenom Gavin McKenna who reminds many of Patrick Kane, or do they opt for Swedish sweetie Ivar Stenberg?

The possibility to trade down is there as well. Toronto hasn’t drafted a top-notch defenceman since Morgan Rielly 14 years ago. Maybe it’s the right package deal (including that first overall selection) for a couple of early picks which could include Soo d-man Chase Reid and North Dakota big man Keaton Verhoeff?

Logic and history though suggest that trading a first overall pick just does not happen.

Then there’s Auston.

As Ottawa’s Steve Staios sits down to discuss the state of his club with American captain Brady Tkachuk this off-season, the same holds true for John Chayka and Matthews.

Matthews has two years left on his deal before unrestricted free agency. Does he want to stay in the Big Smoke if there’s a rebuild about to start? Or would he prefer – considering he has a full no-movement clause – a move to fresher climes?

Could the right deal be in place, say in San Jose (as Ottawa worked with Erik Karlsson) or with the upstart Anaheim Ducks, to name just a pair of enticing landing spots?

My two cents?

Rebuild, rebuild and rebuild. And that means a parting of the ways (maybe with Rielly also).

As the superb analyst, TSN Overdrive’s Jeff O’Neill, has repeated consistently since the season wrapped for Toronto, if you think by the Leafs adding a few bodies here and there this off-season, they are morphing into a Stanley Cup contender, you’re out to lunch.

Given they’re antique defence and pitiful run support up front, the Buds are as close to being a Cup contender as the Rochester Americans.

It’s always fun to watch the goings on in hockey’s epicentre, and this summer’s not going to be any different.

thegrossgame@yahoo.com

Photo: Courtesy Associated Press