Hello and welcome to the Saturday edition of Between the Pipes. The 2015-16 NHL season is officially in progress as clubs opened their training camps this week. Let's take a look at a few headlines making the rounds here in the early going.
Islanders prospect Joshua Ho-Sang sent back to OHL - [Scott Lewis – Sportsnet]
Ho-Sang was sent back to his OHL team, the Niagara IceDogs, after showing up late to camp – on the first day! This is just a disappointment as I for one would have liked to see how Ho-Sang competed in New York's training camp. The 2014 first-round pick, 28th overall, has an enormous ceiling, one of the reasons GM Garth Snow traded back into the opening round after having already selected Michael Dal Colle fifth overall. While his demeanor and attitude has been in question before, he had been having a great rookie camp before this snafu. This goes to show you that status and skill (first-round pick – over 200 points in 190 junior games) are not more important than respect for the team and the game. Mistakes happen, and this is one mistake that Ho-Sang will likely not make again – at least if he wants a shot at cracking the Islanders roster. Flyers fans may remember Ho-Sang as the player that Flyers goalie prospect Anthony Stolarz slashed in the head after some extra-curricular activity during a junior game a few seasons back. A rivalry destined to continue!
Max Pacioretty named captain of the Montreal Canadiens – [Arpon Basu – NHL.com]
I like everything about this selection by the Canadiens. After using a system of rotating alternate captains last season, Montreal decided to name a captain for the 2015-16 season and left it to a player vote. While the results of the vote have not been made public, Pacioretty was supposedly the winner by a decent margin. In my opinion, being selected captain by your peers is much more of an honor than being selected by a coach and/or general manager. These are the guys you go to battle for each and every night and to know that they want you to lead them and one of the most storied franchises in league history must be incredibly special for the 26-year-old. The coach and GM showing up at your house in person to let you know isn't too shabby either.
Each team to test 3-on-3 overtime format three times in preseason – [Stephen Whyno – The Globe and Mail]
This is a pretty solid idea by the NHL to test out the new overtime format in the preseason. Regardless of the score after regulation, each team will get to experiment three times. This will give the NHL a chance to see if it appears to accomplish the goal of cutting down on the number of games that are decided by a shootout. Each team will benefit as well by getting a chance to throw different line combinations out in anticipation of what they may do in the regular season. I personally cannot stand the idea of games being decided by a shootout so I'm hopeful this will alleviate that outcome more times than not. Aside from that, it should just create another exciting dynamic to the game and some teams may be downright lethal in a 3v3 setting. For the Flyers, picking three guys out of Claude Giroux, Jake Voracek, Wayne Simmonds and Mark Streit could get the job done on most nights.
Zach Hopkins is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @healedbyhockey.
