Screen Shots: Hyman Buys OHL Team, Capitals Goalies, Plus Marner And Matthews' Line

Welcome back to Screen Shots, a regular THN.com feature in which we tackle a few hockey topics and break them down in a few paragraphs apiece. Let’s get right to it:

Edmonton Oilers star winger Zach Hyman and his family are expanding their business endeavors with the news they are buying the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs. The Bulldogs’ current owner, Michael Andlauer, has bigger things on his mind now that he’s the owner of the Ottawa Senators, and the Hymans are stepping into the ownership picture of the Bulldogs.

Many news outlets have reported that Brantford – which is in its second season in the Ontario city – is exploring a new arena that would cost approximately $140 million. And now that the Hymans are taking over, there’s a key link between the family and the OHL, as the Hymans were raised in Toronto, and their father, Stuart Hyman, has purchased numerous junior hockey franchises over the years.

Clearly, Zach Hyman and the rest of his family are following in their father’s entrepreneurial footsteps, and the Brantford Bulldogs are going to be in good hands. And with the prospect of the new arena, they’re putting down strong roots in the community to ensure the team stays in Brantford.

The Washington Capitals are thriving this season in no small part because of their goaltending duo of Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren. But both netminders are pending UFAs, and a new report from Pierre LeBrun claims the Caps are talking to each goalie’s camp about a contract extension. Thompson currently has a 2.32 goals-against average and .919 save percentage in 21 appearances this season, while Lindgren has a 2.70 GAA and .900 SP in 20 appearances. Those are pretty stellar numbers, and they’re what make the two so attractive to other teams.

Thompson is earning $766,667 this season, while Lindgren is making $1.1 million. That’s terrific value for a netminding tandem, and you’d best believe there will be significant interest in each goalie if they make it to market this coming summer. But, what’s the long-term solution here – paying big bucks to retain one of the two goalies, and letting the other depart via free agency? Or trying to get both Thompson and Lindgren brought back together on contracts that don’t break the bank for the salary-cap-conscious Capitals?

The recent report suggests nothing is imminent on the contract front for the two netminders, but every day that passes increases the possibility that Lindgren and Thompson simply ride out the rest of the season and see what their value is in the off-season. And you have to know opposing GMs are going to be monitoring Washington’s goaltending situation very closely.

Related: The NHL’s Jack Adams Contenders Halfway Through the 2024-25 Season

Finally, Toronto Maple Leafs superstar forwards Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews each were a whopping minus-six in Thursday’s 6-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. Matthews played only 15:32 in the game, while Marner played 19:29. Some are asking whether Matthews and Marner should stay on the same line, or whether Leafs coach Craig Berube should split them up on two different lines.

Here’s what we’d say in that regard: over the course of their years with the Leafs, Marner and Matthews have done it all in terms of line combinations. At some points, Toronto’s coaches – either Berube or former coach Sheldon Keefe – have experimented sometimes with putting the two stars together and at other times putting them on separate lines. Sometimes it’s worked to keep them on the same line, and other times they’ve had success with Matthews playing with William Nylander and Marner playing with center John Tavares. And if there were a perfect world for the Buds’ line combinations, the Leafs would be sticking strongly to them.

This conversation isn’t a negative comment on Matthews or Marner. This type of discussion happens on every NHL team with every line, and the streaky nature of NHL players means that change is always likely to be coming in one form or another.

For that reason, you can expect Berube to switch things up from shift to shift and game to game with his two top forwards. Change is the nature of the beast at the NHL level, and that will continue to be the case when it comes to Matthews, Marner and every other NHLer.

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