Adam Proteau discusses the reports of a four-team international hockey tournament, the Canadiens, Blue Jackets, Sharks and Blackhawks, as well as the Kings, Stars, Bruins and Rangers.

This is Screen Shots, a regular feature here on THN.com in which we take a few hockey topics and break them down into shorter paragraphs. Let’s get to it:

News came this week on the NHL and NHL Players Association’s plans for a 2025 international hockey tournament, and the news hasn’t pleased everyone. 

That’s because the league and PA are envisioning a four-team tournament that excludes everyone other than Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland. This setup would mean star players, including Germany’s Leon Draisaitl, Tim Stutzle and Moritz Seider, Switzerland’s Roman Josi and, of course, all the Slovakian, Czechian and Russian elite players – the latter group’s exclusion a necessity due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Would such a tournament truly be the best against the best? No, it wouldn’t. But would it result in thrilling hockey? Yes. Is a four-team tournament better than no tournament at all? Yes, yes it is. The NHL can’t make geopolitics line up to keep Russia included in all best-on-best showdowns, but it can do the best with the real-world optics it’s got at this point. And if there’s not enough time in the schedule to have a play-in component to a World Cup, then it makes sense the league and players’ union would do whatever they can to salvage the process – and put millions of additional dollars in its coffers.

We know any tilt between Canada and the USA will be must-see TV, at least on the Western side of the Atlantic Ocean, and you know hockey-loving fans in Europe will tune in to Sweden and Finland when they go head to head. Having players including Elias Pettersson, Roope Hintz, Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid (to name a few) facing off against each other would lead to great ratings. A four-team international tournament isn’t about reinventing the wheel; rather, it’s about taking whatever’s given to you and finding a way to make it work.

As American Thanksgiving arrives, a quick look at the NHL’s standings – and more specifically, at the bottom of the league’s divisional rankings – shows us there aren’t many surprises, considering where many pundits had projected certain teams would be by the end of the regular season.

In the Atlantic Division, the Montreal Canadiens have dropped four straight games, and they’re 2-7-1 in their past 10. In the Metropolitan, the Columbus Blue Jackets are winless in nine, and they’re 1-7-2 in their past 10. In the Central, the Chicago Blackhawks have suffered four straight defeats, and they’re 3-7-0 in their past 10. And in the Pacific, the San Jose Sharks are 3-7-0 in their past 10.

Why, it’s almost as if the majority of media members, who do their homework and consult people around the NHL, have a decent inkling of what teams are capable of!

Now, we’re not saying we’re perfect, and we see everything that’s to come. The Habs have been a little better than expected, at least in short bursts. The Blue Jackets have gotten desperate earlier than anticipated, with benchings and healthy scratches already employed by coach Pascal Vincent. The Hawks have had some life to their game, thanks in no small part to rookie phenom Connor Bedard. And the Sharks are somehow worse than anyone believed they’d be – but the bar for each team is set before the season at a place that reflects both past performance and potential improvement. And when teams live up to or down to expectations, it makes sense that there were predictions such a thing would take place.

Finally, show us a team at or near the top of their division, and we’ll show you a team that’s solid on the road. 

To wit: the Los Angeles Kings have the Pacific Division’s second-best points percentage mark, and they’re a perfect 8-0-0 away from home. The Central-leading Dallas Stars are virtually as good, with a 7-1-1 road mark. In the Metro, the first-place New York Rangers are 7-2-1 on the road, and in the Atlantic, the first-place Boston Bruins are 6-1-2 away from home.

Winning at home in the NHL is relatively easy, but when you're consistently focused and prepared for road games, that's a compliment to the players and coaching staff of your team. It’s also a good harbinger of what's to come in the long haul. A little something to keep an eye on as we head toward the second quarter of the year.