On the Fly: 4 memorable 2016 moments
This week on "On the Fly," theScore's NHL roundtable series, we're reflecting on the year that was. Here are four memorable moments from 2016 that have stayed with us.
June 29
Sean O'Leary: Where were you when P.K. Subban was swapped for Shea Weber? Or when Taylor Hall was unthinkably dealt one-for-one for Adam Larsson? Do you remember what you were doing when Steven Stamkos announced he was staying in Tampa Bay?
Well, chances are you were staring at your Twitter feed with your jaw on the floor. Either that, or you missed everything, because over the span of an hour, the hockey world was flipped upside down.
The entire landscape of the NHL's offseason was shifted June 29, all in a rapid fire of breaking news.
Is Edmonton getting anything else for Hall? Nope. Montreal actually traded Subban? You betcha. Oh, and after a full year of speculation, the biggest name in unrestricted free-agent history isn't going anywhere? Perfect.
All the shock, the reactions, and the hot takes made for unprecedented chaos in the hockey world. It was awesome.
Marchand wins hearts and minds
Ian McLaren: Brad Marchand was put in a prime spot to excel at the World Cup of Hockey, and he stepped up when Canada needed him most.
Named to the roster on the heels of a career season and a strong showing at the World Championship in June, Marchand was handed a dream line assignment alongside Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron to begin the best-on-best tournament.
Marchand responded with five goals and three assists in six games, including a shorthanded game-winning goal against Europe with 43 seconds remaining in Game 2 of the best-of-three final to seal the title for Canada.
Marchand proved he belongs on the big stage, and earned the love of an entire nation - including those who root against him at the NHL level - in the process.
Maple Leafs hit the jackpot
Craig Hagerman: Mission accomplished.
After lots of talk of tearing the whole thing down, the Toronto Maple Leafs did exactly that last season. Players were shipped out and questionable replacements were brought in to help aid the team as it tanked, and it worked. Toronto finished last in the league, giving it the best chance at the first overall pick in the NHL draft lottery.
The culmination of all that planning - and all that pain Mike Babcock talked about when he was hired - paid off in April when NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly announced that Toronto had indeed won the first overall selection in the 2016 draft - in other words, the right to draft Auston Matthews - on live television.
It was official: For the first time since drafting Wendel Clark No. 1 in 1985, the Maple Leafs would hit the podium first.
Toronto indeed drafted Matthews, and after only three months it appears there is light rather than more heartache at the end of the tunnel. The Maple Leafs look to finally be turning a corner.
OT in September
Justin Cuthbert: It was exhilarating and deflating, colossal, and trivial, and absolutely everything, though it would amount to nothing.
It was Nathan MacKinnon's electrifying and endorphin-pumping overtime winner at the World Cup of Hockey. And it was the last we would see of the team that no one ever wanted to see disband. Beginning with themselves.
This was the paradox that faced a tournament that struggled with legitimacy. What we'll remember most - that wide, audacious toe drag around Henrik Lundqvist's attempted poke check, the cool backhand flip, and the ecstasy when it hit mesh - carries with it no significance.
They had two wins to one loss, but Team North America was eliminated the next day when Russia defeated Finland. For that reason, we're left forever wondering what would have happened if the game's future had their shot at challenging the present.
But we'll always have that moment, and we'll always treasure just how much those kids treasured being teammates.