Dom Luszczyszyn

Arkansas

NHL Writer at The Athletic

macrodata refiner for @TheAthleticNHL

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Articles

As NHL free agency nears, how will players age on their new contracts?

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Dom Luszczyszyn

Arguably, one of the most important aspects of signing a player to a new contract is estimating how he will age. It's also the hardest thing to get right. That's mostly a product of how volatile a player's potential path can be. This is a sport where figuring out what happens next year is challenging enough, let alone three, five or seven years out. Still, it's work worth doing because the goal is to be less wrong, not perfectly accurate.
John Tavares' next contract and the art of aging gracefully

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Dom Luszczyszyn

There's two things Sidney Crosby, Joe Pavelski, Henrik Zetterberg, Patrice Bergeron and Marian Hossa have in common. The first is that they all aged gracefully after turning 35. The second is a likely reason why: Their hockey IQ. John Tavares looks cut from a similar cloth. His smarts could make him a safer free-agent bet than a typical 35-year-old normally would be. Those names weren't just drawn out of a hat; they were five of Tavares' 24 above-average comparables.
Can the Florida Panthers become hockey's 'ideal' team? The quest for perfection

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Dom Luszczyszyn

The true hallmark of sports greatness lies in the wake of destruction, the aftermath from the other side. It's the feeling of smallness next to a giant - in this case, the Florida Panthers, a team nearing perfection with a potential dynasty on the horizon. The Tampa Bay Lightning? They weren't actually elite. The Toronto Maple Leafs? They weren't actually different. The Carolina Hurricanes? They didn't actually belong.
Can the Maple Leafs respond after yet another playoff stinker? Here's what data tells us

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Dom Luszczyszyn

Bad games happen in the playoffs to every team. Horrible games happen, too. The Toronto Maple Leafs' Game 5 performance - the team's stinkiest stinker to ever stink - was not that special in the grand scheme of things. But it was a helluva symptom. Bad and horrible games may happen to every team. They just don't happen as often as they happen to the Leafs.
Why Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard's next contract could be terrifying

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Dom Luszczyszyn

Evan Bouchard is a terrifying player who creates terrifying situations - in more ways than one. For opposing teams, he's one of the league's scariest players from the back end, a dynamic puck-mover with no fear of jumping into the play with reckless abandon to facilitate offense. He creates odd-numbered situations for the Oilers that overwhelm defenses, adding substantially to Edmonton's offensive superpower. The threat of his booming shot, the Bouch Bomb, is a true terror.
NHL Power Rankings: Everything is changing

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Sean Gentille |Dom Luszczyszyn

As we inch toward the halfway point of the playoffs, the time has come for the Rankings Boys to bid adieu. This is it: the final batch of the 2024-25 season. As we rank the last eight teams standing one last time, we leave you with one piece of optimism for six of them and one piece of pessimism for the defending champs. For the team at the bottom ... well, we tried. 1.
Why the Carolina Hurricanes are the current Stanley Cup favorites

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Dom Luszczyszyn

When The Athletic's staff came together to pick who's going to win the Stanley Cup at the start of the playoffs, not a single person chose the Carolina Hurricanes. When the field narrowed to eight teams at the conclusion of the first round, not a single person chose the Hurricanes. And yet, there the Hurricanes were: one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup by our internal model at the start of the playoffs (tied for fifth) and the favorite at the start of the second round.
Mikko Rantanen and the importance of star power, Lane Hutson's playoff debut, more

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Dom Luszczyszyn

When Mikko Rantanen was traded from Colorado, there were two key considerations in mind: the Avalanche did not appear deep enough to contend and the constructs of the salary cap made it difficult to address that with Rantanen earning a raise. Technically, those were fair points. The salary cap was a problem and so was Colorado's depth. Rantanen was asking for a lot of money and it was fair to wonder just how much he was worth. That didn't make the deal any less of a massive risk, though.
Fearsome Panthers No. 1, plus players who must step up

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Sean Gentille |Dom Luszczyszyn

Almost two weeks into the playoffs and 10 teams are left standing in what has been another incredible opening round. No surprises there, the first round is usually electric and the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs have fully delivered on that front. Some players, though, haven't. Last week, we talked about the early heroes for each team. This week, we flip the script with the early ... players who could be doing better (or could've, in the case of those already eliminated).
NHL Power Rankings: The playoff teams 1-16, plus

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Sean Gentille |Dom Luszczyszyn

There's nothing like playoff hockey. After one week, that point remains as obvious as ever. The first round is always a guarantee to deliver, with the best of the best still healthy enough to put it all on display. The start of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs has not disappointed on that front. What often makes the playoffs so electric is seeing the league's best soar to new heights on hockey's biggest stage, elevating their games when it matters most.