Talking Hockey Sense Episode 26: Caufield, Eklund, Red Wings rebuild and more with Q&A

After a week away, Talking Hockey Sense is back with another Q&A episode. This one covers an awful lot of ground from Maple Leafs depth scoring to the push to expand the women’s NCAA hockey tournament to the status of the Detroit Red Wings’ rebuild, we’re all over the place.

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The podcast does start with some additional commentary on the self-inflicted wounds hockey has suffered in the last few weeks, but also looks at some of the positive examples of people who are doing good things. We can celebrate the positive without distracting from the very necessary reckoning that is going in the sport now as more leaders in hockey are being exposed and disciplined for misconduct.

There’s a lot of on-ice stuff to talk about as well, including the recent reassignments of top prospects Cole Caufield to the AHL and William Eklund to the San Jose Sharks. I offer some of my thoughts on the process of making those decisions and why the patient, measured approach isn’t always the easiest to accomplish in the public eye, but is almost always the right decision.

Here’s a brief summary of some of the questions that get answered on the podcast this week, too…

• Would love your opinion on Cossa and Wallstedt, and how you evaluate them playing in different leagues.

• What areas of Oskar Olausson’s game will benefit most from his season in the OHL with the Barrie Colts?

• How was Nolan Patrick viewed in his draft season and why hasn’t his game translated to the NHL? Is it simply the injuries?

• Do you think with the prospect pool the Red Wings have built the rebuild is now over?

• What’s your women’s hockey top 10? (Ended up spending more time on the need to expand women’s NCAA tournament from eight to 12 teams)

• How concerned should the Maple Leafs be about the lack of scoring from their depth players?

As always, thanks for listening to the podcast. Please consider leaving a rating and kind review on your podcast listening app of choice to help spread the word about the show. Also, you can subscribe to Hockey Sense on Substack if you’d like to further support my work.