They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity, but we're not so sure that Trevor Connelly shares that sentiment.

The discourse that has followed the American winger this season has focused primarily on his character and behaviour away from the rink rather than his sublime on-ice skills – which seems fair enough. This has muddied the waters for the 32 NHL organizations, which must decide whether the on-ice talent is worth the off-ice risk.

Those character concerns result mostly from an incident in March 2022 while Connelly and a teammate were at their local library. Connelly’s teammate created a swastika with children’s building blocks. Connelly took a photo and posted it to his Snapchat. The post was quickly deleted, but the damage had already been done. 

Many litres of virtual ink have bee