Hot Sauce: Winnipeg sold the goalie, and Detroit won the breakup

Happy Halloween, and the scariest thing I saw this week was a Leafs tie with 90 seconds left, and I grew up watching Jeremy Jacobs sign checks.

1. Seth Jones is the best defenseman in Florida, and it's not close

Eighteen points in 14 games and 24.9 minutes a night, per NHL data, with three more points Friday while the top of the lineup heals. Twenty-five minutes in Sunrise humidity counts as a triathlon.

Chicago paid him to be this guy and got a tribute act, and Florida got the real one. Marcus has the cap sheet; I have eyes, and the eyes say somebody in Chicago is lying down in a dark room. Grade: A.

2. Boston changed governors, and the Bruins changed nothing

Thursday in St. Louis the Bruins outshot the Blues 31-18 and lost 4-1, because Joel Hofer stopped 30 of 31 and St. Louis went 2-for-3 on the power play. That's the Bruins tax in its purest form: do all the work, still owe money.

Hampus Lindholm is playing 20.9 minutes a night and hasn't had a point in eight games, by our count.

Charlie Jacobs took the governor's chair after 51 years of his father, and his first week in the family business was a team that outworks you and loses by three. Welcome aboard, kid, the coffee's free and the wins aren't. Grade: C-minus.

3. Detroit won the first night of its own breakup

Dylan Larkin told the Wings he won't play for them again, and the team suspended him without pay. Then Detroit went out and beat Chicago 4-1 on a Viktor Arvidsson hat trick, and nothing stings like the ex posting vacation photos the night you move out.

Larkin's list is up to 10 teams now, Florida included. LeBrun says Minnesota has made the most offers, and since the Wild's idea of a splash is usually a kiddie pool, that's new. The only guy the standoff has hurt so far is the one not getting paid. Grade: A for the Wings, D for the standoff.

4. Winnipeg sold the only guy keeping the lights on, and now the lights are off

The Jets are 0-4-1 in their last five with a minus-11 goal differential and 1-7-2 in their last ten, by our count, while Connor Hellebuyck is 2-0 with a .923 in New Jersey, per NHL data. Stuart Skinner got pulled after five goals on 21 shots in Tampa, and Florida put 38 shots on Winnipeg the next night.

Kyle Connor scored on the power play Friday and still finished minus-3. That's bringing dessert to a house fire. Buddy, I'm begging you, somebody in Winnipeg check if the goalie trade came with a receipt. Grade: F.

5. Matthew Schaefer is a top-five defenseman in the league right now. I don't want to hear it

Thirty minutes Thursday in St. Paul, two goals and the overtime winner 33 seconds in, with a point in six straight and 14 in 13 games on 27 minutes a night, by our count. Quinn Hughes skated 4.9 miles the same night, an NHL EDGE season best, and lost to a kid who still gets carded.

Two weeks ago I put Brady Tkachuk in the top five. Now I'm doing it for a teenager. My ballot has a lot of ink on it and none of it is on a Bruin, which is how you know I'm being honest. Grade: A-plus. The walk-back is scheduled for Thanksgiving. Fine, top ten.

Fight of the week

Bokondji Imama and Tyrel Bauer, 2:04 of the first period, Friday in Sunrise. Bauer played 2:59 all night and sat for five, so he spent more time in the box than on the ice, which is showing up to the wedding for the open bar.

Imama took the invitation two minutes in, and the Panthers played the next 57 minutes like the bench agreed with him. Verdict: Imama, and that's mine.

Kept off the sheet

Jack Eichel, Vegas: 16:21, zero shots and a minus-1 on Friday, on the ice the way a lamp is in the room.

William Nylander, Toronto: 22:13, three shots, no points on Wednesday, paid like a first-liner and played like a guy waiting for a table.

Tom Willander, Vancouver: 12 straight games without a point at 20.5 minutes, by our count, and the scoresheet has filed a missing-person report.

Mario Ferraro, Winnipeg: 13 games without a point at 19.7 minutes, so he's been pointless longer than the trade.

Not a real award

The Maple Leafs Memorial Trophy for Blowing a Lead You Had No Business Blowing had two finalists. Los Angeles led Ottawa 5-1 after two periods and won in overtime, and Buffalo led Anaheim 7-3 early in the third and won 7-6. Both were disqualified for winning.

So it goes to Toronto, which tied Seattle at 18:30 of the third on an Auston Matthews goal and lost on a Brandon Montour goal at 19:27, with 33 seconds left. The Leafs didn't blow a lead. They blew a tie, which the committee ruled is harder.

Toronto plays a 3-11-1 Vancouver team tonight. If they lose that one, I'm naming the trophy after them twice. I said what I said.