from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- ... Babcock is supposed to be as good as it gets when it comes to coaching. It’s his time now to work some magic and demonstrate again why the Leafs invested in him so heavily.

- What did missing training camp and signing late do for Johnny Gaudreau in 2016-17? Johnny Hockey scored just two goals in his first 14 games with the Flames that year. He went on to have his only sub-par scoring season in the NHL. He followed it up with an 84-point season last year and on pace for 120 points this year. To paraphrase Harry Neale, the only player he’s ever seen who missed training camp and didn’t miss a beat: Guy named Mario Lemieux.

- Just what the NHL needs: More computers on the bench. The league has struck a deal to supply coaches with new gadget and 60 real time stats during the game. If you think the offside challenge is bad, just wait.

- Henrik Lundqvist has tied Terry Sawchuk on the all-time wins list the other night, which is true but not contextually accurate. Sawchuk played in an era with tie games. He had 171 ties in his career. If every one of those games had a win/loss result, his win total would be significantly higher than what Lundqvist has accomplished here.

- What if the St. Louis Blues had hired Barry Trotz in the summer instead of the Islanders? How different would this season be? Biggest thing Trotz has done in Long Island: Goals against average has dropped from 3.60 a game to a league-best of 2.53.

more on Babcock plus other hockey notes...