Proteau: Will the real Ovechkin return after Boudreau's firing?

Adam Proteau, The Hockey News, 2011-11-28


Alex Ovechkin made a commercial last year that involved his disconnected head in various locations, including the top of a high school gym locker and the inside of a bowling ball bag. And now that his uninspired play has resulted in the professional decapitation of Bruce Boudreau, he’s squarely under the gun to turn around both his individual season and the state of a Capitals team clearly waiting for him to do so.

Washington GM George McPhee fired Boudreau Monday morning after a tailspin that saw them drop six of their past eight games. The capper was a 5-1 drubbing Saturday at the hands of a Sabres team without nine regulars, but the whispers had been there long before. Indeed, once the Caps were swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round of the 2011 playoffs, rumor mills churned suggesting nothing less than a slump-free regular season and post-season run at least to the Eastern Conference final would prevent Boudreau from being cashiered.

So here Boudreau is, unemployed (although not for long – either another NHL team or TV network will snap him up before the year is out) and replaced by former Capitals star player Dale Hunter. Boudreau went 201-88-40 in the regular season with the Capitals, won four straight division titles and 2008 coach of the year honors. But because he was only 17-20 in the playoffs, he needed everything to go right to avoid McPhee looking for a different voice in the dressing room.

With his indifferent play of late, Ovechkin almost singlehandedly ensured that wasn’t going to be Boudreau’s fate. On Nov. 19 in Toronto, the Capitals’ captain was listless and looked twice as old as the charismatic dynamo that won so many of us over six seasons ago. With eight goals and 17 points in 22 games, he’s on pace to score 30 goals and 63 points – by far the lowest numbers of his career and 22 points below his career worst of 85 last season.

You can chalk some of that up to the improved commitment to defense Boudreau was demanding to see since the start of last season. But there’s no denying there’s an absence of joy and energy in Ovechkin’s game, one that’s grown into ugly single-game performances by him that overshadow whatever good is done by the rest of his teammates.

That, combined with the storybook return of his rival Sidney Crosby, made Ovechkin’s slump all the more pronounced. Since few GMs in their right mind would pony up prospects and/or picks for The Legend Of Alexander Semin (I call him that now because I hear and remember great things, but can’t observe a trace of them anymore) and because McPhee isn’t trading Ovechkin or Backstrom, Boudreau was sacrificed.

In Hunter, Ovechkin & Co. will get a much edgier personality than the good-natured Boudreau. They still have as much pure talent as anyone in the league – The Hockey News didn’t make them the pre-season Stanley Cup pick simply because of Boudreau’s presence. However, it is now on Ovechkin and Semin in particular to embrace Hunter’s game plan and produce positive results, particularly after mid-April.

By the way, Ovechkin made that disembodied head commercial for Reebok-CCM, but has since switched his endorsement of hockey companies to Nike Bauer. Ovechkin also has changed agents (from the powerful Don Meehan and Newport Sports to his parents) and now seen three head coaches (the other being Boudreau’s predecessor Glen Hanlon). Sooner or later, whether he sees it or not, the problem becomes him.

If he continues his play of late, it’ll be much sooner.

Hockey U at University of Calgary?

Eric Francis ,Calgary Sun, November 27, 2011

AROUND THE HORN

One of the items on the NHL Board of Governors’ agenda next week is a proposal to start an executive MBA program at the University of Calgary for hockey administration to groom future hockey executives. Call it Hockey U. Spearheaded by agent Rich Winter, the concept has GM Brian Burke and the Toronto Maple Leafs on board along with the support of Hockey Canada and the Players’ Association. The hope is that all teams and the league will back it as well by using the first-of-it’s-kind program to develop “first-round executives” much like teams do on the ice.

When told of the program Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman said he liked the idea so much he’d be interested in taking the two-year correspondence program, which will be designed for people who already have jobs inside or outside the hockey world. As the league tries hard to expand globally, compete with other major sports league and effectively use new media it will take bright minds for the NHL to continue growing its brand, making Hockey U a brilliant option …

Campbell: NHL should move the Coyotes temporarily to Hamilton
Neither the NHL nor the city of Glendale will continue to pump money into the floundering Phoenix Coyotes.

Ken Campbell, The Hockey News, 2011-11-29


If the group that hopes to build a 20,000-seat arena in suburban Toronto can get its shovels in the ground by this spring, it would provide the NHL a lifeline to get out of Phoenix and into a viable hockey market.

Depending upon who is making the predictions, the Phoenix Coyotes are playing their last season in the desert. That’s because the NHL has no intention of continuing to prop the team up and the City of Glendale has even less interest in continuing to write checks to keep a team few people want to see and one it knows will ultimately leave anyway.

Oh yeah, and there’s the tiny matter of not being able to find anyone in his or her right mind who would be willing to both buy the team and pledge to keep it in Arizona for the long term. Something about rich guys not wanting to have to stroke checks for $30 million of their own money a year to cover their losses.

So this is where Graeme Roustan and his group potentially come into the picture. If they can get the approval of the Town of Markham to start building – which apparently is a formality at this point – that will give the NHL a viable spot to land the Coyotes in two years when the arena will conceivably be ready.

But instead of having to suffer two more years in the desert while the Toronto arena is being built, the NHL could and should put the team in Hamilton for two years with absolutely no illusion to the good people of that city it would be a permanent arrangement. Fair? No, but Hamilton’s chances of ever getting a team are declining with every passing year. You see, putting another team in Toronto is good for business in the NHL. Putting a team in the geographical territory owned by the Buffalo Sabres would be bad for business and it would betray and enrage billionaire Terry Pegula, who is well on his way to saving that franchise from peril.

So what the league could do is put the Coyotes in Hamilton for two years, where they would share Copps Coliseum with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the American League. (Or have it all to themselves if those predicting the Bulldogs are primed to leave Hamilton after this season are correct.) In order to pacify Pegula and the Sabres, the league could make it clear this is a temporary arrangement and the Coyotes would ensure they would never play a home game on the same night as the Sabres and would try to cluster their home dates around Sabres road trips. To mitigate the effect on the Sabres, the Coyotes could be one of the teams to start the season in Europe the next two years, which would subtract two home dates right there. And perhaps they could even play 10 home games at the John Labatt Centre in London. That would leave the Coyotes with 29 regular season games at Copps each of the next two seasons.

This would force the Coyotes to undoubtedly operate at a loss, but if Mr. Roustan and his associates want to be in the club badly enough, the NHL would be in a position to tell them to absorb the cost.

The NHL could wait until the suburban Toronto arena is completed and get the Coyotes millstone out from around its neck. By the time the NHL has to make a decision on Phoenix, at the very least the Markham arena will be under construction, so the league could even award the franchise to Toronto this summer if it chose to do that, then begin playing in the new building for the 2014-15 season.

After all, there is ample precedent for the NHL doing such things. When Peter Karmanos decided to move the Hartford Whalers to North Carolina after the 1996-97 season, the newly minted Hurricanes played 80 miles away in Greensboro for two seasons while they waited for their new arena to be built. The San Jose Sharks played their first two seasons at the Cow Palace in San Francisco and the Ottawa Senators played their first three-and-a-half years at the Civic Center before moving to their massive rink in the suburbs.

And if, for whatever reason, something goes awry with the second Toronto rink or the league deems Roustan and his group to not be suitable owners, it would still provide ample time for the league to find another permanent landing place for the Coyotes. Chances of that happening, though, are slim since the league’s head office knows Roustan well from his previous negotiations to purchase the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning. If this Roustan fellow were not able to pass the league’s smell test, it would have been made clear to him by now.

Almost everyone agrees the Coyotes are ultimately not going to survive. And a lot of people who aren’t affiliated with the Maple Leafs think it’s only a matter of time before there is a second, revenue-generating team in the largest hockey market in the world.

The prospect of taking care of both of those eventualities in one tidy package should appeal to the NHL. At the very least, it should give the board of governors grist for the mill when they assemble for their meetings in Palm Beach next week. This way they could actually do something about realigning the league knowing the fate of the Coyotes.

Iginla denies wanting out
Captain wants to win with Flames

By RANDY SPORTAK, QMI Agency, Nov 30 2011



CALGARY - If Jarome Iginla is indeed thinking about asking for a trade or even open to that option should the Calgary Flames approach him, he’s not saying.

The long-time Calgary Flames captain and face of the franchise insists he believes the Stampede City is the best situation for him.

“I want to win here and believe we can be a good team here. That’s really where my thoughts are,” Iginla said after Tuesday’s morning skate in anticipation of facing the Nashville Predators.

“It’s 60 games left, a lot of season. It’s a lot of time for us to make our way back.”

Until the Flames can put themselves in a solid playoff spot, the chatter regarding Iginla will continue to be hot and heavy.

Both team president Ken King and GM Jay Feaster recently reiterated trading away Iginla isn’t in the plans.

The Flames all-time leading goal-scorer (491 goals) and point-producer (1,017) has a no-movement clause on his deal worth US$7 million per season through the 2012-13 campaign.

With the club struggling and their trajectory headed toward a third straight season without making the playoffs, Iginla’s future will remain a hot-button issue.

At age 34, he likely doesn’t have time to go through a rebuilding process in Calgary.

Therefore, the common-sense approach would be for Iginla to be traded to a contender and net a return that could help the Flames in the future.

Thus, all the speculation, rumours and pundits saying Iginla should move on.

“It's all part of it. It’s not new,” Iginla shrugged. “You’re asked the same questions at different times, but the focus is on the fact we have 60 games left. It’s a lot of hockey.

“There’s going to be a lot of changes over the next 60 games in the standings, and we believe we’re going to be moving up.

“Nobody in here has given up. We still believe we can be a good club and make the playoffs. That’s where the focus is.

“It’s just the way it works, the way media is, as far as Internet and how easy it is to just run with a story,” he continued. “It’s not always accurate, that’s for sure, but that’s fine. I’m not blaming anybody, but there are things you read that aren’t accurate and you just move on.

“The best way to stop a story is to win games and climb in the standings.”

It wouldn’t hurt if Iginla started producing, too.

Heading into Tuesday’s clash, he had just seven goals and 11 points in 22 outings and was separated from Alex Tanguay onto a line with Olli Jokinen and Curtis Glencross prior to Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Wild.

“It wasn’t just doing it for Jarome,” said coach Brent Sutter of the lineup shuffle.

“It’s about the team and what’s right for the team. I want to make that very, very clear. I wasn’t just concerned with Jarome. My concern is the group. We’d lost three games in a row, and I felt that line in particular was fighting it offensively and I wanted to change things up and do what was right for the group and the team.

“It wasn’t about one individual at all. That’s not what we’re about.”

Still, Iginla’s status will always be in the forefront, therefore the never-ending speculation with his future with the Flames.

“My focus is totally on believing we can make the playoffs here, climb back and start putting together a streak here. That is how I’m feeling and that’s where I’m at,” Iginla said.

“I do believe it is possible and will happen.”

Grinding out a niche
Philippe Dupuis finished last season with 17 points in 74 games played.

Mike Brophy, The Hockey News, November 29, 2011




Nobody grows up aiming to win the Selke Trophy as the NHL's best defensive forward. Nobody.

The goal-scorers get the big money, the notoriety and the ice time.

Defensive players get splinters.

So you'd think with no goals and no points in 22 games this season, Philippe Dupuis would be beside himself; constantly looking over his shoulder for a replacement who can chip in on offence.

If that's the case, then he's the world's greatest liar. Ask Dupuis about his season and he's all smiles.

"I love it," Dupuis said. "I'm part of a winning team now. We have good chemistry and the boys are having fun. I couldn't be happier."

Among Leafs regulars, there are six players that have not scored a goal this season - and three of those are goalies. Dupuis and defencemen Jake Gardiner and Carl Gunnarsson are the skaters that have no goals.

Funny thing is, when Dupuis was drafted 104th overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2003, he was a fairly productive player with the Hull Olympics of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Two years later he fired 32 goals and 108 points with the QMJHL's Moncton Wildcats.

In his mind, Dupuis' future in the NHL included lots and lots of goals. Not everyone saw it that way, though.

"When I was drafted by Columbus, the team's coaching staff told me that if I want to play in the NHL I'm going to be a third- or fourth-liner," Dupuis said. "I was 18 at the time and it was like, 'I'm not sure about that.' But once you turn pro you realize how good the guys are and how much skill it takes to be on the top two lines. I realized I don't have enough skills to score goals. At the junior level I was fine, but when I turned pro I realized they were right and this was the right way to go."

Dupuis didn't step immediately into the NHL after his five-year junior career ended. Rather, he played the majority of his first four years of pro in the American Hockey League. That, he said, is where the transformation in his game took place.

"I'm used to it now, but when I made the transition two years ago in the minors, playing in Erie with David Quinn as my coach, it was a little hard on my ego," Dupuis said. "He slowly turned me into a two-way guy, a defensive specialist and a penalty-killer. It was tough for me to get my head around at first, but now I am so glad I did it. I'm really happy about my role and I take a lot of pride in it."

The Leafs penalty-killing has been a sore spot for the club the past few years, and currently ranks 27th. However, it has been getting better and Dupuis has been a big reason for the recent success.

"You look at (the improvement in) our penalty-killing over the last dozen or 15 games and he's a big part of that," said coach Ron Wilson. "He's usually the first forward to go out on the penalty kill so we have a lot of confidence in him. He's not out for goals against. I feel comfortable that he can go out and we won't be in danger when he's on the ice. We may not score, but you need players who can shut down the opposition or have a smart shift when we have possession of the puck in the offensive zone."

Added captain Dion Phaneuf: "I think he's done a really good job coming in here and identifying his role. For teams to have success you look at a guy like Dupes and he does a lot of little things well. He doesn't get rewarded on the score sheet every night, but at the end of the night you look at his faceoffs and his blocked shots and you realize he's doing a good job."

As a player who averages an average of 11:21 ice time per game, Dupuis said it is paramount that he keep his head in the game.

"You can't really black out or think about other things," Dupuis said. "You always have to be focused on the game. Things can change quickly. In the Carolina game, I didn't play for seven or eight minutes and then suddenly I had to go out and kill a penalty. You have to be quick on your feet. It's hard sometimes to stay focused, but you have to do it. That's part of being a pro hockey player."

Last year, in his first full season in the NHL, Dupuis managed six goals and 17 points in 74 games. He distinctly remembers his last goal since it came in the final game of the season against the Edmonton Oilers. Now his stats show zeroes across the board and he's not losing sleep over it.

"I don't really look at it," Dupuis said. "If I had three or four points now, what would that change? We're having a good year and for me to have three or four points wouldn't change what I do or what my role with the team is. Obviously, like everyone else I'd like to score my first goal of the season. I'm not going to lie; I'd like to get the first one out of the way. But if, at the end of the year I have eight, 10, 12 points; it doesn't really matter. That's not my job. I'm trying to focus on the right things and that is to make sure I play good defensively."

Muller promotes positivity

Chris Nichols, Sportsnet.ca, November 30, 2011

Hockey Hearsay runs weekdays, 12 months a year; mixing NHL stories, quotes and fantasy takes.



MULLER CHANGES ATMOSPHERE

The Raleigh News & Observer believes that hours before he made his debut as head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, long before the puck dropped on Tuesday night's 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers, Kirk Muller already accomplished something that hadn't been seen in a while in these parts.

He gathered the team around him at the end of the morning skate and laid down his expectations for the night: Play hard, have fun. And he told them something else: There were about 100 million people in the world who had no idea they were playing hockey tonight, so don't take it too seriously.

Something strange happened when he was finished. Players skated away with smiles on their faces - some chuckling, a few even out-and-out laughing.

"It was a good feeling," Hurricanes forward Chad LaRose acknowledged afterward.

Good feelings. Smiles. Laughter. Wins. Those four commodities have been in short supply for the Hurricanes for too long. Muller took care of the first three in less than a half hour. The fourth is going to take some time.

"He has to be patient," said former Montreal Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau, who gave Muller his first NHL coaching job in 2006. "You don't turn teams like that on a dime. It takes a little time. They may go on a tear for five or 10 days, but it may not last. He just has to be patient, be himself."

Tuesday, it was simple stuff. Play hard, have fun and worry about the rest later. Which is exactly what former Hurricanes forward Ray Whitney, a close friend and ex-teammate of Muller's now playing for the Phoenix Coyotes, expected to see from the new coach.

"He's got a pretty good idea of the league, especially the Eastern Conference," Whitney said. "They're going to play a fun game. My feeling, talking to him, is that he's learned over the years that if you have the right goalie, you can build around that. Cam Ward, in my mind, is one of the top three or four in the league. Kirk will build around him. ...

"He thinks it's a privilege to play in the NHL and he wants his guys to work hard, just like he did. He was a good player, put up some points, had an all-around game, but more than that he enjoyed his time in the NHL, and he wants his players to enjoy the game and have fun."

The Hurricanes didn't have much fun Tuesday night, but in a mere 24 hours, Muller's arrival has turned a grim, dour atmosphere into one that suddenly feels bathed in bright light. Smiles are a start. The wins will have to come next.

BOUDREAU: NOTHING WAS WORKING

The Washington Post describes how when Bruce Boudreau was fired by the Capitals on Monday morning, he decided to temporarily decline most interview requests because the former coach didn’t want his comments to overshadow Dale Hunter’s debut on Tuesday night.

Wednesday morning, though, Boudreau opened up about the most difficult day of his professional career and the events that led up to it.

“When nothing happened Sunday, I thought, ‘Okay, we’re playing St. Louis and Pittsburgh and maybe that’s going to be the telltale,’’ Boudreau said in the living room of his Potomac home. “But I was driving to work at 6:10 on Monday and I got a text. It was George. He said, call me when you wake up. I said, ‘Uh oh, that’s not good.’ He told me to come to his house.”

Here are some highlights from The Post's 20-minute talk:

*On his reaction to the firing: “I told George this on Monday: I tried every trick that I knew in 18 years and nothing was working.” Boudreau said. “I told him, ‘You’re doing what you have to do.’ I thought I was going to be here forever, but this was something I thought that had to be done. Am I disappointed? Absolutely.”

*On the moment he knew his message had been tuned out and that his time was coming to an end: “There was the game in Winnipeg,” he said. “With this team, I always would say something profound in between periods. We may not win, but we would give it the old college try. But we had five shots on net in the third period and we were down 4-1.”

“Then,” Boudreau added, “in the Buffalo game, we didn’t have a scoring chance in the third period.”

*On team captain Alex Ovechkin’s struggles and how much a role that played in his dismissal: “He called me Monday and I didn’t feel like talking,” Boudreau said. “I answered the phone [Tuesday] and he was really gracious. He said he really enjoyed working with me and I said, ‘I loved every minute of it.”

Asked why it appeared over the past season that he was trying to get Ovechkin to play one way, and the team captain didn’t change his ways, Boudreau said: “He might have been doing his own thing, but the good was outweighing the bad by a long shot. Now there’s more scrutiny now because he’s not scoring at the rate he was and people are more willing to criticize. …We play different than we did three years ago.

“I don’t think it was him rebelling against me,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “I’ll never want to believe that.”

*On whether the team quit on him in the final days: “I’m so naive, I never thought that could happen until people started bringing it up to me in the last day or two,” he said. “I have to go back and look at the games because I can’t imagine that. When I played, I would always play for the guy next to me, not the coach.”

Boudreau also said he hasn’t decided what he’s going to do just yet.

He’s weighing some offers to do television. But, ultimately, he wants to get back behind an NHL bench. (He has the remainder of this season and next remaining on his contract and will continue to be paid unless he accepts another NHL job.)

YZERMAN DEFENDS IGINLA

The Calgary Sun suggests that Steve Yzerman is well aware of the obvious parallels drawn between his career and that of Jarome Iginla’s.

Both longtime captains and snipers played for just one organization and are local icons who will reside close to one another in the Hockey Hall of Fame soon after Iginla retires.

The Detroit Red Wings legend also knows they are further linked by the fact Iginla was on the ice in Motown the day Yzerman’s career was ended by a puck to the face, as well as by the assist Iginla had on the Golden Goal that gave Yzerman’s Canadian team Olympic glory in 2010.

What he can’t understand is how the two are being lumped together with regards to Yzerman’s shift in focus from offence to defence.

“Jarome Iginla has always been a good two-way player. Why, all of a sudden, is there any question of him not being able to play both ends of the rink?” asked the Tampa Bay Lightning GM when contacted by the Calgary Sun.

“He’s a smart, all-around player. I think he can play any style.”

Yzerman certainly saw that capability in Vancouver, where Iginla was more than happy to play any role the Olympic team GM asked him to assume.

However, Flames coach Brent Sutter doesn’t feel he’s seen a similar buy-in, and said as much last week when he reiterated that if his club is to have any success this year, it will come only if every player follows the team-first concept.

Without naming his captain, it was evident Sutter feels Iginla needs to play a greater role defensively.

The article notes it immediately brought to mind the role change Yzermen underwent in the mid-90s, when Scotty Bowman asked No. 19 to focus more on his two-way play, despite six straight 100-point seasons.

Citing the fact that after years of losing in Detroit, his only focus was on winning a Stanley Cup, Yzerman bought in. His motivation was strengthened by trade rumours at the time — a move he didn’t want.

What followed were Cup wins in 1997, 1998 and 2002 and a Selke Trophy for top defensive forward in 2000.

Calling the new role re-energizing for his career, he still scored with regularity, while his repertoire expanded to include shot-blocking, chipping the puck out and staying high to prevent odd-man rushes.

From afar, Yzerman doesn’t think Iginla needs to make major concessions to his game defensively.

Iginla seems to agree, which is just one more thing the two have in common.

RYAN KNOWS HE COULD BE DEALT

The Orange County Register reports that Bobby Ryan is fully aware that he is front and center in the trade rumor mill as the Ducks try to keep their season from going down the drain.

As speculation intensifies that he could be included in a possible blockbuster deal, the perennial 30-goal scorer said that he would not be shocked if the Ducks were to move him.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Ryan told the Register on Tuesday. "That's all I'll say about that."

The Ducks are 6-13-4 and have lost 16 of their past 18 games to fall to 14th place in the Western Conference. A trade of Ryan, who has 112 goals in three-plus seasons, would present a major shake-up for a disappointing, stagnant team.

Canada-based Sportsnet reported that the Ducks are shopping Ryan while the New York Post reported the New York Rangers are among many teams that have either shown interest or are actively making offers.

Asked if Ryan is on the trade market, Ducks general manager Bob Murray would only say "at any time if we get offered a deal on any player that makes this team better, we would have to take a long, hard look at that."

Ryan told The Register he has talked a few times with Murray but hasn't received any indication from him that he has been shopped.

When asked if he would welcome a trade, Ryan said "in a perfect world, you get drafted and you stay with a team for your career and you win (Stanley) Cups," and added that he's not looking to be moved and wants to remain with the team.

"At the same time, it's the business side of things that all comes back to. If they feel like it's got to be the right move for the team, then I'd certainly welcome it.

"If they feel like the Ducks are going to get better and I'm going to get chance to play somewhere else, I guess I would. But I'm certainly not thinking about it day in and day out."

Ryan has just seven goals and four assists in 23 games.

QUOTABLE

"I have the utmost respect for players in this age that stay with the same organization because so many today are following the money or looking for better opportunities somewhere else,'' Lightning head coach Guy Boucher told The Tampa Tribune for a story drawing parallels Steve Yzerman's storied career with the Detroit Red Wings and both Vincent Lecavalier (13th season) and Martin St. Louis (11th season) being with Tampa Bay for so long. "I just think people who dedicate themselves to one organization have a lot of integrity, and that's not to say others don't, but Steve Yzerman is an incredible example of that. Marty St. Louis and Vinny are guys that dedicated themselves to the Lightning.

"It's a consistency that you can rely on and it's an example for all the youngsters that pass through here to see how consistent they are, even being around the same place for so long. I wish my kids could see those guys every day and see how much they put into it. It would be easy to get bored, slow down or relax, but they want more all the time and I'm real impressed by that.''

ELIAS HAPPY IN THE MIDDLE

What started out as a move of necessity is now a no-brainer for the Devils, according to Fire & Ice.

Even when Travis Zajac returns from a torn left Achilles tendon, which will likely be some time before Christmas, Patrik Elias will remain at center. Right now, he’s their No. 1 center and, as head coach Pete DeBoer said today, their “most reliable player.”

“The way he’s playing now, I don’t want to mess with that,” Devils coach Pete DeBoer said after the team’s practice today at Pepsi Center. “It’s a long year, but I don’t anticipate that change.”

The 35-year-old Elias hopes to stay put. Other than the 2007-08 season, when Brent Sutter first tried him at center, Elias had played left wing for most of his 14-year NHL career.

The last two seasons, however, he’s been mostly a center and he really enjoys playing in the middle now.

“I think I’m doing a pretty good job,” said Elias, who leads the team in goals (eight), assists (12) and points (20). “I think we’ll have more of a balance when Travis comes back. We’ll have Travis in the middle, me and Adam (Henrique) and then we’ll worry about it when Jake (Jacob Josefson) comes back because that’s another centerman. But I think it’s a little early still to think about that. I like playing the position. I think I’m doing a good job at it and they know it. But, on the other hand, they also know I can play any position and that’s a good thing.”

Elias and linemates Petr Sykora and Dainius Zubrus have become an asset for DeBoer for more than their offensive production. He’s been using them head to head against the opposition’s top line as well.

“They’re all responsible guys in their own end and at the same time you don’t want to overwhelm an Adam Henrique or a (Tim) Sestito or a (Ryan) Carter or the other guys we’ve got in the middle right now,” DeBoer said. “He’s our most experienced, most reliable player, Patrik, and it’s a natural match-up until you get a Zajac back.”

Elias, Sykora and Zubrus seem to relish the challenge, too.

“I think for the most part, we’ve been doing a pretty good job. We feel like it, at least,” Elias said. “For the majority of the games, it’s not easy to get scoring chances because we do play against the top lines. I think all three of us like it. We’re confident enough that we can play against anybody, but at the same time you’ve got to be responsible. You’ve got to be cautious always.”

CROSBY TELLS STAAL NOT TO RUSH

The New York Post writes that if there’s anyone who knows what Rangers defenseman Marc Staal is going through right now, it’s Penguins star Sidney Crosby.

“There are days when you feel really good, and there are days you don’t," Crosby said Tuesday. "So you look at those good days and those little victories. But I wouldn’t come back until he gets better. That’s my advice. However long it takes, it’s worth the wait.”

Staal, who has not played all year while feeling the effects a concussion he suffered in February, was with the Rangers in training camp, but headaches caused the team to place him on injured reserve on Oct. 5 prior to the first game of the season.

Staal had not stepped on the ice since Oct. 1 until he began skating Monday.

“I think [Marc] has to be patient. That is the most important thing. It’s a hard time,” Crosby said after the morning skate yesterday.

Staal was hit by his brother Eric when the Rangers played the Hurricanes last February. Unlike Crosby, Staal played in most of the Rangers’ games after the hit, missing three with a knee injury and two for undisclosed reasons (which later was revealed was due to post-concussion syndrome).

When the season ended, Marc Staal began feeling fatigued and suffered headaches, which caused him to be sidelined.

Younger brother Jordan Staal, a center for the Penguins, has been caught in the middle of the family drama.

“There’s no bad blood or anything like that. It’s not a great thing that it happened that way,” Jordan Staal said. “You never want to see your brother out for a long period like that, and you don’t really want your own brother to hurt him, but it definitely hasn’t changed anything.”

According to Jordan Staal, his brother is starting to feel better, an encouraging sign for the Rangers.

"I saw him yesterday. He looked like he was feeling better," Staal said. "For the most part I think the headaches are a little better. I’m sure he’ll be a strong guy and persevere his way through it.”

LINE CHANGES COMING FOR SHARKS?

The San Jose Mercury News points out that Ryane Clowe hasn't found the back of the net for 10 games. Logan Couture has one goal in eight. Marty Havlat has only one goal all season, but he had been averaging an assist per game through the first month. In the past nine games, Havlat has one assist.

The three found early success this season on the same line, but when things cooled off, coach Todd McLellan split them up. Now he may put them back together for Thursday night's matchup with the Montreal Canadiens at HP Pavilion.

"There is a temptation to reunite them," said McLellan, who did just that in the final period of Monday night's 2-0 loss in Los Angeles. "We'll skate tomorrow, and we'll have a good idea in the morning who's healthy and who's fresh."

While it might seem an obvious move, the Sharks have been better defensively since the threesome split up, which allowed McLellan to use Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton on separate lines. So there are trade-offs if Marleau moves back to Thornton's left wing.

NHL players know that coaches are quick to try new forward combinations when things stall. And most are like Couture, saying it doesn't matter whom they skate alongside.

"Whoever I get to play with, they're good players," Couture said. "I've got to find a way to score and produce points."

But Clowe did say that he is more comfortable playing with Couture as his center.

"I know it's only his second year, but we've had a lot of success playing together," Clowe said. "With Cooch, you like to play with someone you feel you've got chemistry with, and there's some chemistry there."

Each of the three players put the burden on himself for getting back on track.

"It's just personally not going the way I want it to right now," said Havlat, who has spent time on the third line with Michal Handzus. "Just have to battle through that and find ways to get on the board and help the team a little more."

Said Clowe: "I guess you could always say 'I feel good and the puck's not going in' or 'the goalie's making good saves,' but it's all about production. That's what matters, finding a way. You've got to bear down. Execution's not just passing and taking care of the puck and all that. It's about finishing."

Clowe also talked about the need to keep frustration off the ice.

"For me right now, I feel frustrated in that I'm not scoring and I like to produce more," he said. "But during a game you can't let that get to you if you miss a chance or have the goalie stop you. That moment can ruin a game if you let it affect you like that."

READER SUBMISSION

John in Chitown: "Hi Chris. Help, please, with a tough decision for a standard one-year Yahoo league: E.Kane or JVR? I figure Kane should be a more reliable source of SOG and especially PIM, but any Flyer should best any Jet in plus-minus, and Kane has no chance of riding shotgun with anyone like Giroux. Thanks."

Chris: I'd agree John, although strangely Kane has found a way to have a decent +/- that's actually slightly ahead of JVR at the moment. Byfuglien is really the only regular fantasy contributor for the Jets who has a bad +/-, although you're right that on average it should be the Flyers who are ahead there. Pronger's absence won't help things though, but still...

Kane's been hot lately and I like him a lot. Over the course of the season, I can't disagree with your assessment of JVR though. If you absolutely can't have them both, try JVR.

READER SUBMISSION

A fellow Chris in Halifax: "Hi Chris, I'm in a points-only keeper league, am a formerly happy Mike Green owner but he's been driving me nuts all last year and this year.

Do you know when he's expected back in the lineup? Should I be patient, or cut my losses and try to trade him for a solid young d-man (Keith if I can get him, if not maybe Shattenkirk plus a decent pick)? I remember his 70 point days very fondly and if he is going to get back there obviously keeping him is a good idea, but with Washington's implosion should I sell him now before he loses more value as a big name?

What's your take? Thanks!"

Chris: I'd keep him Chris. He said this morning there is still no timetable for his return and I realize the injuries have been frustrating. That's one thing we really can't predict going forward.

But he was producing again this season before being hurt and I fully expect him to drive this team's offence when he comes back, obviously allowing for some time to get back up to speed.

He's an elite talent. The Caps, even with a new coach, are fully aware of Green's abilities and he'll be a central part of this team again. IMO, he's too good to deal away in a keeper league.

Email: chris.nichols@sportsnet.rogers.com

Submit your brief fantasy hockey question for a Hockey Hearsay blog via email. One per person, please and include your first name and hometown to represent!

Tyler Seguin on the verge of stardom after becoming a standout for Bruins

The Canadian Press, 2011-11-30


TORONTO - The door opens for the dressing room of the NHL's hottest team and all of the cameras immediately gravitate to one player: Tyler Seguin.

It's just another morning availability in a road arena for the Boston Bruins forward, who appears to be on the verge of becoming the league's next big thing. Not only is Seguin piling up the points—he needed just 20 games to surpass his rookie total of a year ago—but he's started to draw a big crowd wherever he goes.

In fact, teammate Chris Kelly dropped the word "superstar" when answering a question about Seguin on Wednesday morning at Air Canada Centre. Wait ... superstar?

"Yeah, I think so," said Kelly. "He's 19 years old. Most 19-year-old guys are playing junior hockey getting $50 a week. They're not being a consistent point producer in the NHL on a good hockey team (who) won a Stanley Cup.

"The sky's the limit for him. I think it's in his hands how far he wants to go."

For his part, Seguin makes no secret of where he expects to end up. He carries the confidence of a big-time scorer—he had 106 points for Plymouth in his last of junior—and has been among the NHL leaders all season. He plans to remain there for years to come.

"I look at it as somewhere I want to be for sure," said Seguin.

Adding to the teenager's star appeal is a flair for the dramatic that all special players seem to enjoy. Recall Seguin's two-goal, four-point performance in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final against Tampa Bay last spring after he'd been a healthy scratch through the first two rounds. Or even that he registered his first career NHL hat trick on "Hockey Night in Canada" during Boston's visit to Toronto on Nov. 5.

Seguin is also bound to be followed closely because of the manner in which he entered the NHL. A debate raged for months about whether he or Taylor Hall should be selected No. 1 in the 2010 draft—and the fact he ended up going second overall with a pick Boston acquired from the Maple Leafs for Phil Kessel only added to the interest.

On Wednesday morning, he expressed relief after getting through a media scrum in Toronto without being asked about Kessel.

"That is definitely a record," said Seguin. "I cannot believe it. That's why I want to get out right now."

Just as important as the 23 points he carried into play Wednesday was the league-leading plus-19 rating he'd earned through 22 games. Kelly says the Bruins have seen a more consistent effort from Seguin at both ends of the ice this season.

Another change has started to come from opponents.

"I think right now being the leading scorer on our team, there's no doubt other teams are going to pay more attention to him," said coach Claude Julien. "Now he's got to overcome that challenge of teams playing harder than they did maybe at the beginning of the season when they probably didn't respect him as much as they do now. That's another area he's going to have to grow in.

"I have confidence in his personality and his demeanour and all that stuff that he can overcome that."

If he does, the amount of attention he receives will only grow. Some teammates are already growing weary of questions about Seguin, but they better get used to it.

"Everywhere you go you're hearing about Tyler," said Bruins forward Brad Marchand. "He's obviously a hot topic right now."

Seguin is far from the only young NHL player turning heads this season. Here's a look at three more players on the verge of stardom:

Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers: One of the NHL's leading scorers is also one of its most complete players. Giroux does it all for the Flyers: In addition to scoring 13 goals and 29 points in 23 games, he's also logged significant minutes on the penalty kill. Giroux first broke out during Philadelphia's run to the 2010 Stanley Cup final and appears to have hit a new gear this season while playing alongside Jaromir Jagr. Adding to the 23-year-old's appeal is his small-town charm and fluency in both English and French.

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Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators: Downright dynamic with the puck, the third-year NHLer led all defencemen in scoring heading into Wednesday's games. While occasionally a risk defensively, the smooth-skating Swede is a treat to watch. As a budding star in a Canadian market, he'll get more exposure than most as the season progresses, particularly with the all-star game scheduled to be played at Ottawa's Scotiabank Place at the end of January.

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Jeff Skinner, Carolina Hurricanes: Already a rock star in Raleigh, the reigning rookie of the year is poised to start getting even more attention around the league. He's demonstrated no signs of a sophomore slump and remains on pace for another 30-goal season. Skinner is also as polite and humble as they come, making him an ideal spokesman for the league.

THN.com Top 10: Worst NHL clichés

Adam Proteau, The Hockey News, 2011-11-30


Hockey players normally don’t have the most exuberant personalities in the sports world, a fact reflected in their boring nicknames and tired expressions. What are the worst clichés used by NHLers? That’s the focus of this week’s THN.com Top 10.

10. A two-goal lead is the hardest to protect

Somehow, and I know this might sound hard to believe to the untrained ear, a one-goal lead – which can be erased with, you guessed it, one goal – is easier to protect than a two-goal advantage. All this time the NHL had goals that count as double-and-triple-scores and nobody told me.

9. We didn’t play a full 60 minutes

Are there teams out there leaving the game en masse midway through the third period, or taking a brief sabbatical 15 minutes into the first? Of course not. Fellas, you all play at least a full 60 minutes every night. You just don’t play those minutes well sometimes. Be more specific.

8. That’s a goal-scorer’s goal

Fact: any goal scored is, by definition, a goal-scorer’s goal. Before I die, I would love to see an assist-notcher’s goal, a defensive defenseman’s goal or a coach’s goal, but I suspect that isn’t going to happen.

7. 110 percent

Approximately 140 percent of all mathematicians hate this jibba-jabba with white-hot passion. And more than 8,000 percent of all people think people who say this should have to apologize each time they do.

6. Dirty areas

Meant to describe the most competitive, physical zones on the ice, this phrase has a different, adult-only meaning to me. First time I heard the phrase used, I thought somebody was talking about the neighborhoods where Lindsay Lohan and Gene Simmons reside.

5. We have to take it one game at a time

Believe you me, when it’s the middle of February and teams are so defense-minded they allow 5-10 shots a game, nobody wishes games could be played two at a time more than I do. Alas, that’s not the case, so quit pretending someone is asking you to do so, guys.

4. Obviously/Like I said

If I had a quarter for each time a player used “obviously” and/or “like I said” in an interview, I’d be the frontrunner to buy the Phoenix Coyotes. Players will drop one of those lines constantly – a fact that becomes especially frustrating when they’re saying something they haven’t previously said, or when their point isn’t obvious. Obviously, I wish they were less willing to use this crutch.

3. Moving/going forward

The trans-fat of the sports cliché world, moving/going forward can be removed from any sentence and the sentence will be better for it. Next time anyone you know says this, you have my permission to berate them into a bloody mess. Going forward, that is. If you’re going/moving backward in time, feel free to use going forward whenever you want.

2. At the end of the day

If I’m sure of one thing, it’s this: at the end of the day, it’s the beginning of another day. Don’t get me wrong – I liked the movie The Remains Of The Day and usually inquire about the soup of the day, but at the end of the day, this nonsense is superfluous in the extreme.

1. It is what it is

The Queen Mother of banal, empty, curiosity-killing, conversation-ending clichés. If the Flat Earth Society told that to Galileo and he accepted them at their word, where would civilization be today? When someone discovers something that isn’t what it is, I’m happy to hear about it.:roll:

Proteau: Bruce Boudreau hiring no surprise
The approximately 67 hours it took Bruce Boudreau to get another NHL head coaching job was the quickest transition ever.

Adam Proteau, The Hockey News, 2011-12-01


In approximately 67 hours, Bruce Boudreau went from being a dead duck in Washington to the head Duck in Anaheim. Boudreau’s transition from team-to-team is the quickest in NHL history and proves that if you do solid work behind a bench in the league and haven’t been riding the coaching carousel for decades, some team will be in sufficiently dire straights to snap you up quickly enough.

You need only take a cursory glance at the standings to know how regularly failing and firings are interwoven with fame and fortune in the hockey-coaching community.

Out of the Eastern Conference’s top five teams – the Penguins, Bruins, Panthers, Leafs and Rangers – only Pittsburgh’s Dan Bylsma and Florida’s rookie coach Kevin Dineen are on their first NHL head coaching assignment. Blueshirts bench boss John Tortorella is working for his second team, Boston’s Claude Julien is coaching his third and Toronto’s Ron Wilson is on his fourth. It’s no different with the West’s top five teams: Minnesota has a rookie head coach in Mike Yeo, but Detroit’s Mike Babcock and Phoenix’s Dave Tippett are on their second job, Chicago’s Joel Quenneville is on his third and St. Louis’ Ken Hitchcock is coaching his fourth team.

The fact is, if you’re an NHL coach who’s had success for a decent amount of time either in terms of a Stanley Cup victory that Bylsma, Tortorella, Julien, Babcock, Quenneville and Hitchcock have on their resumes or you’re a Jack Adams award-winner like Tippett and Boudreau, a GM interested in making a coaching change is likely to feel more comfortable bringing you in and selling you to his players, media and fans. That has to be a bit of a comfort to Carlyle, who won the Ducks’ only Cup in 2007 and also has the cushion of a three-year contract signed in the summer to sit on for the foreseeable future.

Just like Boudreau, he’ll probably be back on the scene soon enough. A struggling team with a soft touch of a coach will want the stern, structurally sound philosophy Carlyle offers – in other words, the reverse of what happened in Anaheim, when Ducks GM Bob Murray saw Boudreau’s more player-friendly approach as the balm to soothe what ailed his team. And as we see in Columbus, Long Island, Calgary and Colorado, there is no shortage of struggling teams who might snap up Carlyle before the all-star break, if not the start of next season.

But back to Boudreau for a second. He’ll get the benefit of a clean slate, as well as the return of key defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky, due back in a couple of weeks from a broken finger that’s had him out since mid-November. Boudreau will also be far from the churning soap opera in Washington and safe in the knowledge that efforts to motivate Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf (and, if he isn’t traded, Bobby Ryan) won’t be under the microscope to nearly the same degree as his trials and tribulations with Alex Ovechkin were.

However, there are only so many kicks at the can he, and most coaches, will get regardless of their trophy-winning history. Hitchcock and former Oilers coach Craig MacTavish were considered, but passed over for numerous jobs last summer and legendary coaches Mike Keenan and Pat Quinn no longer are the first, second or third choices of teams as they once were.

But that’s the normal order of things in the coaching world. Including Carlyle’s firing, there now have been 167 NHL coaching changes since the Buffalo Sabres hired Lindy Ruff, the league’s longest-tenured bench boss, in 1997. Ruff and Nashville’s Barry Trotz stand out because they are the exceptions to the rule, the rocks in a never-ending sea of shifting sands. For virtually every other coach, it doesn’t matter how many wins they’ve amassed, they have and always will be more expendable and acquirable than talent. They’re the first to fall when things go awry, but nearly as often, the first call made to replace a colleague who has fallen on hard times.

For guys like Boudreau and Carlyle, that’s a curse and blessing they’ve been aware of from the moment they began coaching. It’s the nature of the fickle, insatiable beast.

Flames' Smith took long road to NHL

Vicki Hall, Calgary Herald, November 30, 2011


Derek Smith fully admits the negative notion infiltrated his mind a time or two on those brain-numbing bus trips that come with the job in the American Hockey League.

“You start to think maybe you’re time is up,” the Calgary Flames defenceman said Wednesday. “Maybe you won’t be able to make it full-time in the NHL.”

With every passing year, a new crop of promising draft picks arrive in the AHL with great fanfare. With every passing year, the reputation of a minor-league lifer becomes tougher to shed.

At age 27, Smith accomplished just that in earning his first full-time NHL job with the Calgary Flames.

“A long journey,” he said. “A much longer road than some of the other guys.”

The road took him to the side of the Nashville net Tuesday in the first period at the Scotiabank Saddledome. His defensive partner T.J. Brodie wisely took a look and unleashed a slap pass that landed right on Smith’s tape.

Just like that, a scenario imagined for some 20 years turned into reality.

“Every kid dreams about playing in the NHL,” he said. “And they dream about scoring their first goal.”

As a kid, Smith pretended to score that goal every day in road hockey games on the crescent in front of his home in Belleville, Ont.

“We would scream ‘car’ run to the side of the road to make sure we didn’t get hit,” he said. “There were tennis balls all over the place.”

His father Rick and mother Sandy watched many of those pickup games. Smith hopes they stayed up long enough Tuesday to witness his first NHL strike on television.

Rick toils as a plant manager for a plastics company. Sandy works at the local school board. Both have to be at the office early in the morning.

“They work long hours,” said Smith, who logged a season-high 22:33 after Mark Giordano went down in the 1-0 win over the Predators. “My dad is on the road a lot. They haven’t been out yet to see me this year.

“Hopefully, they get some time off.”

No rush, according to head coach Brent Sutter. Their son is here for the long term.

“He’s so steady and poised,” Sutter said. “I didn’t know much about Derek at all when he came into camp — outside of the fact he put up some decent numbers in the American League.”

Indeed. Besides a nine-game audition last year in Ottawa, Smith collected 10 goals and 54 points for the Calder Cup champion Binghamton Senators.

Smith signed this summer as a free agent in Calgary.

“It’s never too late,” Sutter said. “If you get an opportunity, you take advantage of it. You look at him. It’s obviously been a great fit for us.

“Just so poised. He makes those plays stick to stick. He’s an intelligent guy.”

An intelligent guy who bulled his way into the NHL the hard way as an undrafted free agent out of Lake Superior State University. Mobile and defensively responsible, Smith is a bit of a hybrid.

No one will ever mistake the six-foot-one, 197-pounder for the next coming of Robyn Regehr on the physical side of things. Senators phenom Erik Karlsson need not worry about the newcomer in the defensive scoring race.

“He knows what his game is,” Sutter said of Smith. “And he pays it to the best of his abilities.”

Which is a good thing. Even though his NHL prospects looked dark at times, Smith never seriously considered another career outside of hockey.

“I would like to say I would be in a band,” he stammered when asked about his other options. “But I’m not very good at that.”

Apparently, Smith doesn’t sing or play any instruments, so his chances of joining a band — something like Alice in Chains or Tool — are remote, to say the least.

Guitar Hero doesn’t count.

“I guess I would have to learn,” he said. “There’s no Plan B as of right now.”

In his case, Plan A has finally come true.

Realignment on the way?

John Shannon, Sportsnet.ca, December 2, 2011


In a season that seems to be chock full of big stories, the NHL has set the stage for another big story on Monday and Tuesday in Pebble Beach. Many league officials believe that out of the annual Board of Governors' meeting will come the new realignment plan. Earlier this week, the league circulated the two-day agenda. On the agenda were two realignment plans. One simple, one a little more progressive.

I'm told, the two plans will be presented without a recommendation from the commissioner's office, and they are plans that "reflect the greatest level of club interest." The simple one is just a swap of Detroit for Winnipeg. That fulfils the promise of Gary Bettman to Mike Illitch to put the Red Wings in the east.

The second proposal is very close to the one we have been discussing for a few months that would see the removal of the two conferences (and six divisions) for four divisions and would include a more balanced schedule. It would appease the Wings' demand that, if in fact they can't be in the East, every team in the league would play a minimum of one home-and-home series. That proposal would also call for two rounds of divisional playoffs, which would help maintain the regional rivalries, if they don't play as many games against each other in the regular season.

Remember that it takes a two-thirds vote by the group to approve a new system, so nothing can be taken for granted. In fact, on his weekly show on Sirius/XM radio, Bettman has backed off earlier assertions that it would be done for sure by Tuesday.

"If we don't get it done now, we're going to be in really tough shape if we don't get it done by the All-Star Game," he said. "I don't even think we can wait that long. But I haven't figured out what we'll do if it doesn't happen (next week)."

I'm suspect that message was not for the fans but rather for the 30 owners who have their own realignment agendas.

Having worked for the man, I know Bettman goes to every meeting with a plan of getting four or five key issues accomplished. He does a great job of reading the temperatures of the owners. This appears to be one agenda item that has the commissioner in a state of flux. I'm not sure I've seen that before.

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The other agenda items are typical of any NHL meeting. Both Colin Campbell and Brendan Shanahan will do updates on the state of the game. Owners will be told that concussions are down and that the competitive state of the game has never been better (so why change the divisions?). Bill Daly will do the CBA update and try to tell the owners what Donald Fehr is talking about with his players' meetings. One would suspect those discussions will lead to thoughts on how the new NBA labour deal will influence next year's talk with the NHLPA.

They will also be told of the new-found success of the game in Europe. This has been an important stress point for many of the owners, when you consider that 30 per cent of the players come from Europe, but it has been an underachieving revenue stream.

Under John Collins, the former NFL executive who now heads all business ventures for the NHL (as COO), this has been a big focus. For the past few years, the NHL has probably netted no more than $5 million from distributing TV and broadband signals in Europe. With new contracts in place (including one just announced in Russia), the NHL will probably be at or close to $30 million. Now, every game of the regular season is available in key hockey hotbeds like Finland, Sweden and the other Nordic countries.

Much of Collins' vision has come from a man named Phil Lines. Lines is a London-based broadcast expert who grew the English Premier League's broadcast business before joining CAA as its media distribution expert.

After a frustrating start to the season, when the league's vision appeared to be blacked-out in Europe, Lines and his people have helped the explosion of the content throughout Europe, into the Middle East and Africa.

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For the record, I was not one who supported the NHL signing a 10-year television contract in the United States. The reasons are many, including the ever-changing technology and my gut feel that creating a broader base of distribution over two networks would help hockey. However, the new NBC Sports Group has impressed me with its plan of attack. It has made a concerted effort to cross-promote and use other NBC/Comcast platforms to tell Americans about the game. NBC's nightly coverage with guys like Jeremy Roenick and Mike Milbury is an improvement over previous attempts.

So I can only imagine the frustration in the office in Stamford, Conn., as they watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Right there in the parade was a float with Hall of Famers Cam Neely and Larry Murphy, to help promote the new NBC/NHL event on Black Friday. It was a great idea, and a fantastic demonstration of the new partnership and ability to promote a game outside of the hockey world.

And then Matt Lauer spoke. All he did was read that card put in front of him by a production assistant.

All he said was, "And tomorrow's game features the Detroit Red Wings and the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Boston Brewers."

Yup, the Boston Brewers. I don't blame Lauer, or even the guys at NBC Sports. But it always seems to happen to hockey. Every time there's a breakthrough, there's a gaff. One step forward, two steps back.

Rumor Focus: Washington Capitals

Lyle Richardson, The Hockey News, 2011-12-01


The Washington Capitals’ 5-9-1 decline after a 7-0 start brought an end to Bruce Boudreau's tenure as coach. He was replaced earlier this week by former Capitals center and London Knights bench boss Dale Hunter.

For the time being, this move has halted speculation GM George McPhee would shake up his roster with a trade.

It remains to be seen how the Capitals perform under Hunter, though their first game with their new coach, a 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues, wasn't a promising start.

Should the Capitals reverse their recently declining fortunes and return to their accustomed status as a Stanley Cup contender, any trade talk involving them this season will be about which “rental players” McPhee might acquire at the trade deadline to bolster his roster for the playoffs.

On the other hand, if they haven't improved by New Year's Day, especially if their playoff hopes are in jeopardy, expect the Capitals trade rumors to roar back to life.

The automatic target, of course, will be right winger Alex Semin, grossly overpaid at $6.7 million and currently on pace for 36-points, his lowest total since the 22 points of his 2003-04 rookie campaign.

Semin, 27, has been frequently brought up as a trade candidate for the past couple seasons, especially among rumor bloggers, who of late have linked him to the Islanders, Red Wings and Kings.

These speculators, however, continually overlook the difficulty in trading an overpaid underachiever, especially in today's salary-cap world. Semin's $6.7 million would be tough to move if he were at least playing decently. Given his current performance, it's almost impossible.

His eligibility for unrestricted free agency next summer could also have an adverse impact on his trade value, making him a rental player for another club. If he continues his current level of production, the Capitals would either have to accept another player on a bad contract or a lesser return, which wouldn't be much help much down the road.

Looking at these factors, it's difficult to imagine any GM at this point believing Semin is worth the gamble, even as a short-term pick-up.

Defenseman Mike Green's name first appeared in trade rumors last season and intensified after the Capitals were swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning in their Eastern Conference semifinal.

The oft-injured Green is once again sidelined, this time indefinitely by a groin injury, putting to rest speculation he could be on the block at some point this season.

Green is slated for restricted free agency this summer. If McPhee were to consider him too expensive to re-sign, he could put him on the block by the trade deadline, but that's unlikely if they're still in the playoff chase by then.

Despite Green's brittleness, his offensive skills from the blueline make him too valuable to part with during the season. It wouldn't be surprising if McPhee re-signed him, albeit for a shorter term around the same cap hit ($5.25 million) as this season’s.

If McPhee were to hit the trade market to bolster his lineup, his rivals would be more interested in promising, affordable young players like defensemen Karl Alzner and John Carlson, who he's unwilling to part with.

Backup goaltender Michal Neuvirth might have some value for clubs seeking depth between the pipes.

While Neuvirth's stats this season aren't particularly notable, he displayed considerable promise last season as a starter with 27 victories, a 2.45 goals-against average, .914 save percentage and four shutouts. He also comes with an affordable $1.2 million per season salary.

With promising Braden Holtby in their system, Neuvirth might be McPhee's best trade chip if the need should arise later in the season to bolster the roster.

Boudreau preaches optimism, belief in first day

Jon Rosen, Fox Sports West, December 1, 2011



Statistically, there have been worse months for the Anaheim Ducks than their 2-8-3 November, though none of them stung quite like this.

Four and a half years removed from raising the Stanley Cup on the Honda Center ice, the Ducks on Wednesday fired Randy Carlyle, the franchise's winningest coach and the third-longest tenured coach in the NHL.

Friday night, his replacement, Bruce Boudreau, will stand behind the bench for the first time with the Ducks as they host the Philadelphia Flyers — becoming the eighth head coach in club history.

On a professional level, the move was necessary, according to general manager Bob Murray — though on a personal level, it was hard to accept.

"As you guys all know, this is a real rough three days for me just because of what I think about Randy," Murray said.

"It was tough, but after the weekend and watching, we've been through funks before with this group. We're in one, and after watching the way we played Friday and Sunday, I decided that it was time for a new voice.

"It doesn't mean that the guy is a bad coach or a bad person, it's just it was time for this group to have a new voice in the locker room and it was time to move forward. We're all accountable — everybody in hockey ops is accountable for this."

That new voice belongs to Boudreau, the former Washington coach who was fired by the Caps only Monday.

Boudreau is the fastest coach to win 200 games in the modern era, and someone who once again will have an assortment of elite talent – and perhaps a few questions defensively.

"I sat there on Tuesday, and if I didn't believe that this was a team that had the possibilities of making something special, I think I would have sat down and waited," Boudreau said among his first remarks at Thursday's news conference.

The events fell together quickly. Upset with the Ducks' performance in demoralizing weekend losses to Chicago and Toronto, Murray immediately called Capitals GM George McPhee after it was announced Boudreau had been fired. He was granted permission to speak with the coach, quickly noting his desire to get back to work quickly.

"When I talked to Bruce, I wanted to sense in his voice if he was ready to go right back at it or not,'' Murray said. "That was important to me."

Carlyle then coached the Ducks to a 4-1 victory over Montreal Wednesday night, shaking off an underwhelming start before watching the team become more comfortable as the three periods progressed.

After the game, he met with the team and the coaches, spoke with reporters and returned to his office to find Murray waiting to hold the discussion that three NHL coaches have now heard in the last week.

"It's been an awful three or four days," Murray said of the news that he had to break to a close friend and colleague.

The news appeared to shed doubt on the likelihood of a trade involving Bobby Ryan, despite reports less than 24 hours earlier that such a trade was "imminent".

For Ryan, after several days of practicing, playing in games and speaking to reporters regarding the pressures and distractions of his future with the club, there at least was some reassurance taken in being able to put away that discussion and look for a spark under a new voice.

"You try and put things in the back of your mind as much as you can and you try and focus on the good and not the bad and all the things that are coming with the slump that we've had lately, but it's tough,'' Ryan said.

"It creeps into everything, and every outlet is there. For me, it's nice to step away from it a little bit and just get ready to play hockey under a new coach and a new regime, and hopefully turn some of the season around, because there's still time."

After Ryan saw time on the third line Wednesday in an effort to spread the offense around, Boudreau was willing to consider aligning him with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry again, saying he'll send them out together for their first shift.

"Beyond that, we'll have to see how they do," Boudreau said.

Taking the ice as the Ducks' coach for the first time Thursday morning, Boudreau led the team through an up-tempo work-out that had some good battles. There wasn't any prolonged meeting on structure or systems prior to taking the ice, only a discussion of what he expects out of every player on the team, with confidence and belief in one's self recurring themes.

"I want them to be very positive and I want to be aggressive," Boudreau said. "I want them to play the way they're capable of playing, and with energy and thinking that they're going to be successful the way they should be successful.

"This was a team that, before the season started, if you read a lot of the clippings, that they said would really contend for the Western Division Crown or the Pacific Division crown, and I think they're very capable of doing it. I want them to believe in themselves. That's the message for today: believe in themselves."

There still is plenty of time for a new voice to reach through to a capable Anaheim team. Eventually, Lubomir Visnovsky and very likely Jason Blake will return. George Parros comes back Tuesday and adds character to a group looking for veteran direction. Ten points out of a playoff spot with 58 games to play, April still seems quite a ways away.

Getzlaf spoke of his optimism and the belief necessary to turn the Ducks around.

"It was weird coming to the rink today," he said.

"It was different for me. It was exciting. I think it's going to be an exciting time for us. And like I said before, it shows that Murph believes in our group and brought somebody in here that feels that can take this group and run with it."

NOTES: Murray confirmed that trade talks including Ryan as well as several other Ducks did take place. "When you're struggling, and in a funk like we were, you get lots of phone calls," Murray said. "You always get phone calls. Sometimes you listen and sometimes you don't. And I'm not going to lie – I was listening.

"But don't think for one second the calls were just on Bobby. That was a popular one, but don't think it was just him. I'm hoping everything settles down right now. I think it will. But again, I've said this — if you're ever offered something that makes your organization better, I don't care who the player is, it makes your team better, you better damn well look at it." ...

With his goal Wednesday night, Getzlaf snapped a 14-game goal-less streak. He now is in a seven-game point/assist streak (1-9-10). ... Corey Perry has a four-game goal streak (4-3-7), his longest since a five-game streak since March 19-26, 2011.

It’s the time of the season for NHL coaching upheaval

Stu Hackel, SI.com, Dec 2 2011


Despite his recent three-year extension, coach Randy Carlyle was given the old heave-ho at the season's quarter pole before the struggling Ducks fell too far out of the playoff race. (Joe Scarnici/ZUMAPRESS.com)

As this week dawned, Bruce Boudreau was coaching the Capitals, Paul Maurice was bench-bossing the Hurricanes and Randy Carlyle was directing the Ducks. It’s only Thursday and, today, Bruce Boudreau is directing the Ducks, Kirk Muller is bench-bossing the Hurricanes and Dale Hunter is coaching the Caps. What will tomorrow bring?

Firing coaches has gone viral in the NHL. Why? “It’s about the time,” says Scotty Bowman, the legendary Hall of Famer who won nine Stanley Cups as a coach. “The first quarter of the season is gone. You’re coming up to the one-third mark now. The end of this month you’re halfway. These teams, if they don’t make a move now, it’s going to be a long season and they’re not going to catch up.”

When Bowman looks at the standings, he sees that the league’s recent parity bunches teams together and if one falls too far behind the main group, it will be in danger. “If you’re not in the pack, it shows up real bad now,” he says, looking at teams like the Ducks who, even with their win over Montreal on Wednesday night in Carlyle’s final game, are still 10 points out of a playoff spot with six teams to climb over. “If you’re in the mix, maybe there’s some teams who aren’t doing as well as they thought they would, but they’re in the mix. If you get behind six teams, it’s hard to catch up. The teams ahead of you all play each other. Those three-point games, especially, can kill you.”

With all the changes during the last few days, it seemed like a good time to check in with the greatest coach in NHL history, maybe the greatest coach ever in pro sports, and get his views on the rapidly spinning carousel of his former profession.

Still thinking like a coach, the 78-year-old Bowman knows that sometimes team performances have less to do with the guy behind the bench and more to do with the guy who assembles the roster. Some firings, he believes, are about GMs saving their own necks. “The managers have access to the owners,” he says. “See, there’s no path for the coaches; most owners don’t even know their coaches. If your team is doing lousy, it’s easy for me as a manager to make excuses and say it’s the coach. That’s why some coaches get fired.”

Bowman admits not knowing if that was the scenario in any of the four coach firings so far this season (this week’s trio, plus Davis Payne being replaced in St. Louis), but he does know that they all had their problems.

“I don’t know how good that team is,” he says of the Capitals, wondering if they might have been long overrated. “They’re always in a weak division. They’re always with teams that have no money or don’t spend to the salary cap. They get in the playoffs and their competition is tougher.

“I think what happened with Boudreau, he replaced Glen Hanlon, and they weren’t playing for him,” he continues. ”They bought in Boudreau, some guy from the minors, and they started to win by playing all-out offense. They didn’t play any defense. Then they started to lose in the playoffs and he tried to change,” alluding to Boudreau trying to get his players to become more defensively responsible after having some regular season success playing another way. “I don’t think you can change. It’s too bad for Boudreau, but he bounced back right away.”

Boudreau bounced to Anaheim, certainly a big surprise, considering that he was let go just two days earlier by Washington. Bowman wonders if the coach he replaces didn’t run into problems after changing his approach as well.

“Carlyle, I don’t understand. He was a big line matcher. He always had a defensive line. The year they won the Cup (2007), it was Sami Pahlsson, Travis Moen and Robbie Niedermayer. He changed on the fly (to get them out against their opponent’s best forwards) and they played a very disciplined game.” But those three players are all gone now, the Ducks defense corps is not what it was, and Carlyle seemed to have taken a different approach by playing his best forwards in situations where he previously used checkers.

“I’ve been watching them the last month and a half,” Bowman said. “The goalie wasn’t what he was, but their defense corps is horrible. And Perry, Getzlaf, and Ryan, they weren’t good in their own end. I know he didn’t have a checking line anymore because all those guys are gone. You know when you get star players, you can’t ever get them thinking that you want them to fail. You got to make them believe you’re always in their corner, you’re always trying to insulate them. I don’t know what he was doing.”

As far as Carolina goes, the Hurricanes are in that Southeast Division of lower payroll teams and it’s reflected by their roster as far as Bowman is concerned. “They’ve got Eric Staal and Jeff Skinner. Tuomo Ruutu’s OK. But they don’t have any other forwards. Their defense corps, he keeps getting recycled guys. How can you keep winning with recycled players? You click for a while, eh? They have a goalie (Cam Ward) who’s very good. He’s going to need some relief, though. They get a lot of shots against them.”

Will that doom Muller, Maurice’s replacement? “I don’t know much about him,” Bowman says, ”A lot of people swear by him. They say he’s going to be offensive-minded. Kirk Muller worked with Jacques Martin (in Montreal), and he’s a defensive guy. It’ll be interesting to see what he can do.”

What about the Blues, who have certainly had success after replacing Payne with Ken Hitchcock? “I just find they’re working,” Bowman says. ”They’re on top of the other team. They’re always chasing the puckcarrier. He’s got a guy whose always chasing the puck. They’re playing an uptempo game.” He likens it to the way the Red Wings have played successfully under Mike Babcock, who always has a forechecker going full tilt at the puckcarrier.

One of the great pleasures of a hockey conversation with Scotty Bowman is his ability to take the long view. He frequently refers to historic episodes and figures from the NHL’s past. It could be his mentor, Toe Blake, his days coaching the Blues, his Canadiens teams of the ’70s or anything that followed. He can trace the history of the rules and trends in the game’s sophistication and pinpoint how the current game evolved from the past.

So today, he notes, new coaching hires have an easier time fixing problems that used to confound his contemporaries of years ago.

“If a team was too offensive-minded and they brought in a guy who could tighten up the game, that was not an easy chore,” he says. “The most difficult thing to do was to stop pucks from going in your own net. You’d take over a team and you look at the goals-against and you’d say, ‘My God, we’ve got to cut out 30 or 40 goals here, about half-a-goal a game.’

“But I think now the way the game is, a coach can come in and play a real different type of style. He can play the trap, or have some other changes, don’t play guys against certain lines. I think a guy can come in now and it seems easier to stop teams from scoring.”

And that leads to a discussion on defensive tactics. Even though Bowman was a pioneer in helping develop major defensive systems like the neutral zone trap and the left-wing lock, he’s not a fan of an important strategy in the contemporary game: the way teams group in front of the goal to block shooting lanes. That, Bowman says, inhibits many teams, especially ones that lack high-speed forwards, from launching counter-attacks and fostering entertaining end-to-end hockey. He believes this is a consequence of the 2005 rule changes that included shrinking the neutral zone and cracking down on obstruction while forcing teams into “defending their house.”

“It’s hard to score now. It’s about five goals a game in the West, about five-and-a-half in the East. That’s not very many goals, eh? All the artificial ways they’ve made to score goals — face-offs coming in the defensive zone after a penalty is called, all the penalties they call. But it hasn’t affected the scoring.

“And the big thing is the goalies. They’re really good. Kids come into junior and college and they’ve had some really good coaching. When they get to the NHL now, they’re not learning on their own. They’ve got a certain format they’ve got to follow. Look at the save percentages now — 93 percent.”

Bowman is puzzled by the length of the deals that coaches get these days. “They give them three-year contracts. It’s expensive. I’m surprised, for the last four or five years, coaches automatically started to get three years. That’s been a big change. When I was around, even 10 years ago, you got one-year deals, maybe two years. You didn’t get longer than that. The owner said, ‘No, we’re not going to pay a coach not to coach.’”

Carlyle’s deal had been extended during the offseason and the Ducks are on the hook for his salary for the rest of this season and another two afterward. That didn’t stop his being replaced, however. Coaches come and go, sometimes at speeds that rival the game itself. Fortunately Scotty Bowman is paying attention and helping to provide some valuable perspective on this time of the season.

Coaching carousel keeps going because it works

DAVID SHOALTS, Globe and Mail, Dec. 01, 2011


Reading Anaheim Ducks general manager Bob Murray’s rationale for firing head coach Randy Carlyle was just like listening to Washington Capitals GM George McPhee do the same when he fired Bruce Boudreau on Tuesday:

“This was an extremely difficult decision,” Murray said in a statement released in the wee hours Thursday. “Randy is a terrific head coach, and did a tremendous job for us for six-plus seasons.

“At this time, we simply felt a new voice was needed. Bruce is a proven winner with a great track record, and we are optimistic we can turn this season around under his leadership.”

McPhee had this to say on Tuesday: “This was simply a case of the players were no longer responding to Bruce. When you see that, as much as you don't want to make a change, you have to make a change. Bruce came in here and emptied the tank. He gave it everything he could and did a really good job, but the tank was empty. When that happens, you get a new coach, where the tank is full and see if it makes a difference.”

So Boudreau took his empty tank across the country where it was filled up by the Ducks. He is their new coach because Murray, after wrestling with the decision for the past few weeks, finally decided Carlyle may have directed the Ducks to their only Stanley Cup in 2007 but the reason the team was sitting near the bottom of the NHL’s Western Conference with a 7-13-4 record was that the coach’s players tuned him out.

So not even a 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on his final night on the job was enough to save Carlyle. He was fired along with assistant coaches Dave Farrish and Mike Foligno. Even the video co-ordinator got the chop.

One side note: Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke, who hired Carlyle when he was running the Ducks and holds him in high regard, was quick to head off the inevitable speculation Carlyle might replace Leafs coach Ron Wilson, who is awaiting a contract extension. Burke said on his Twitter account he is “sad to hear about Randy Carlyle. But our coach isn't going anywhere!”

This week’s firings of Boudreau, Paul Maurice of the Carolina Hurricanes and Carlyle and the quick hiring of Boudreau were all about two things: changing the message to the players and taking away their excuses.

The Capitals slid into ennui partly because Boudreau is not a taskmaster and because their resident superstar, Alexander Ovechkin, took advantage of that and his status as the local saviour of hockey. Boudreau tried to take on the disciplinarian role but that never works when you were a friend to the players for years.

On the left coast, Murray had the opposite problem. Carlyle is a demanding coach in the mould of a Ken Hitchcock or Mike Babcock. Many of the their players do not like them but they perform for them, or else.

So just as McPhee realized his team needed someone like Dale Hunter to come in and lay on the whip, Murray came to the conclusion his players needed to hear a more friendly voice. And there just happened to be a player’s coach with a great track record (if you overlook the playoffs) available, so hello Boudreau.

It is a tried-and-true formula in the NHL because it usually works. Boudreau got his first job in the NHL because the Capitals were not moving under the defensive, conservative approach of Glen Hanlon and he made it to 200 wins faster than any other NHL coach. Larry Robinson replaced the dour Robbie Ftorek late in the 1999-2000 season and took the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup. Then he was dumped in mid-season on two occasions in later years.

Now the Anaheim players no longer have the excuse that it’s difficult to play for such a demanding coach. Same thing in Washington, where the players admitted they stopped responding to Boudreau, who said as much himself.

This has been a crazy week for coaching changes but there may be more ahead. If these teams all realize immediate dividends then other GMs with under-performing teams may follow suit.

All eyes will be on the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Islanders in this regard. But a team really in need of a change from taskmaster to worker’s friend is the Calgary Flames. Head coach Brent Sutter is the leading proponent of the family creed that there is no fun in hockey.

Finally, Carlyle’s firing may keep winger Bobby Ryan with the Ducks. Murray reluctantly decided he would trade Ryan but only if he could get a stunning package of players in return. About 20 teams called but if Boudreau gets immediate results Murray may decide he doesn’t need to trade a talented young scorer.