How Do Line Changes Work in Hockey?
A line change is hockey's strangest routine: you swap players while the puck is live, but only inside a five-foot pocket beside your own ben...
By Mike Johnson · 10 min read
Mike Johnson
Senior NHL Insider & Trade Analyst
Mike Johnson is a Senior NHL Insider with over 15 years covering the league, focusing on salary cap analysis, trade rumors, and offer-sheet markets. He has broken stories on the 2025 Hughes-to-Wild trade narrative, the Kaprizov $17M extension cycle, and the 2026 RFA market reset. Mike fact-checks every article against PuckPedia, CapWages, NHL.com, and named insiders such as Elliotte Friedman, Frank Seravalli, Pierre LeBrun, and Daily Faceoff Rundown. Originally from Toronto, Mike played junior hockey before transitioning to NHL coverage. Follow him on X at @NHLTradeRumors. Editorial inquiries: editorial@nhltraderumorstalk.com.
Articles by Mike Johnson
What Is the Long Change in Hockey?
The long change is not jargon, it is bench geography. Teams switch ends each period but keep the same bench, so in the second period a tired...
By Mike Johnson · 9 min read
What Is a Delayed Penalty in Hockey?
A delayed penalty is not a penalty yet. It is the referee holding the whistle after a foul until the penalized team touches the puck, which...
By Mike Johnson · 9 min read
What Is a One-Timer in Hockey?
A one-timer reaches the net just 42% of the time, the worst of any shot, yet it is the most dangerous weapon in hockey and the shot Ovechkin...
By Mike Johnson · 11 min read
What Is the Five-Hole in Hockey?
The five-hole is the gap between a goalie's legs, the only one of the goalie's five holes hockey ever agreed on a name for. Here is what it...
By Mike Johnson · 8 min read
Why Do Teams Pull the Goalie?
Pulling the goalie ties the game only about 15% of the time, yet the math says do it, and do it far earlier than coaches dare. Here is how t...
By Mike Johnson · 10 min read
How Do Faceoffs Work in Hockey?
A faceoff looks like a coin flip, but it is a governed 50/50 battle: nine exact spots, a center on the dot, and a rule that ejects him when...
By Mike Johnson · 9 min read
What Is a Zamboni? How It Works
A Zamboni shaves, sweeps, washes, and floods a rink with hot water in one slow 9.7 mph pass. Here is how the ice resurfacer actually works,...
By Mike Johnson · 10 min read
What Is Save Percentage in Hockey?
Save percentage is hockey's go-to goalie stat, but it counts a point-blank chance and a 55-foot floater as the same shot. Here's the SV% for...
By Mike Johnson · 9 min read
What Is GAA in Hockey?
What is GAA in hockey? Goals against average is goals per 60 minutes, the oldest goalie stat and the most misleading. How it is calculated,...
By Mike Johnson · 7 min read
Hockey Positions Explained
Hockey positions explained: six players per side, five skaters and a goalie. What the center, wingers, defensemen, and goalie each do, how l...
By Mike Johnson · 6 min read
What Is a Penalty Kill in Hockey?
What is a penalty kill in hockey? The short-handed team's stand against the power play, four against five. The rules that help the underdog...
By Mike Johnson · 7 min read
What Is a Pest in Hockey?
What is a pest in hockey? An agitator who chirps and goads stars into dumb penalties, usually without fighting. How a pest differs from an e...
By Mike Johnson · 8 min read
What Is a Healthy Scratch in Hockey?
What is a healthy scratch in hockey? A fully fit player the coach leaves out of the lineup, watching from the press box in a suit, not injur...
By Mike Johnson · 8 min read
What Is the Trapezoid in Hockey?
What is the trapezoid in hockey? The restricted area behind the net where the goalie may play the puck, and the only line on the rink drawn...
By Mike Johnson · 7 min read
What Is a Hat Trick in Hockey?
What is a hat trick in hockey? Three goals by one player in a single game. But the name came from 1858 cricket, the tradition from a 1946 To...
By Mike Johnson · 8 min read
Tallest, Biggest and Heaviest NHL Players
The tallest, biggest, heaviest and smallest NHL players, verified all-time and for 2026: Chara's unbeaten 6-foot-9 ceiling, the contested 26...
By Mike Johnson · 10 min read
Gavin McKenna vs Connor Bedard
Gavin McKenna vs Connor Bedard: Bedard set the bar with 143 junior points and a Calder, but they are different players entirely. The honest...
By Mike Johnson · 7 min read
How Much Will Gavin McKenna Make?
How much will Gavin McKenna make? The No. 1 pick already earns a reported ~$700K in college NIL, but the NHL entry-level system caps his bas...
By Mike Johnson · 8 min read
NHL Waivers Explained: The 24-Hour Window
NHL waivers explained: the 24-hour noon-to-noon ET claim window, why the worst team in the league claims first, the age-and-games exemption...
By Mike Johnson · 8 min read