Senators' Paul MacLean knows he'll be a factor against Rangers

Ken Warren, Ottawa Citizen, April 12, 2012


The coaching matchup between the Ottawa Senators' Paul MacLean and the New York Rangers' John Tortorella could be labelled the moustache versus the mouth.

While MacLean has no interest in a war of words with the fiery, f-bomb-slinging Tortorella - "All I'm going to do is work real hard to coach my team, and that's what my energy is going be used on," MacLean said Tuesday - he acknowledges in-game decisions can make or break a team.

"In the playoffs, (coaching) is even more of a factor, recognizing what's going on and being able to make adjustments," he said. "It's a big priority, if you can recognize it soon enough. It's about how you handle momentum. When the momentum is swinging, it's what your team does to maintain it or get the momentum back on your side. Those are decisions the coaches make that are vital."

While MacLean is a rookie NHL head coach, he hasn't missed the playoffs since joining Mike Babcock's Detroit staff as an assistant. "I'm confident in my team and coaching staff. I think we have enough experience to give the input our team needs," said MacLean, who spent six seasons in Detroit.

Travel keeps Mr. Hockey young:
Gordie Howe in Calgary to promote charity tourney, which runs at Canada Olympic Park this weekend

Allen Cameron, Calgary Herald April 13, 2012


Understand, Marty Howe had ambitions of having his 84-year-old dad take it a little easier.

But Gordie Howe, apparently would have none of it.

The effects of age have clearly caught up with Mr. Hockey — he won’t speak to the media, nor will he speak in public. But he will shake countless hands, pose for countless pictures and spread unlimited goodwill.

“I started running his company five or six years ago and I had this brainstorm that I would charge a little more (for his appearances) and we would do a little less so that we could go fishing,” said Marty on Friday at the Gordie Howe and Friends Luncheon at the downtown Westin, the kickoff event to the second annual Scotiabank Calgary Pro-Am for Alzheimer’s. “But he was bored out of his mind. So I changed the whole thing and went right back to charging less and going to more stuff. He probably does close to 60 events a year. I’ve been home 10 days in the last three months with all the travelling he does.

“And everybody thinks it’s really hard on him. But I think it’s actually what keeps him going and keeps him younger. He livens up. He loves these things, he really does. He loves talking to the people. I can’t stop him from doing it, I can tell you that. The only way he’s going to stop is when he can’t do it anymore. And hopefully that’s not for a long time.”

Being out in public is one thing, of course, but the cause is near and dear to the Howes’ heart. Colleen Howe — Gordie’s wife, and the mother to his sons and former World Hockey Association teammates Marty and Mark, died in 2009 after being diagnosed with Pick’s Disease, a neurological disorder similar to Alzheimer’s. The Scotiabank Pro-Am stages fundraising tournaments across the country, with funds going to the Gordie and Colleen Howe Fund for Alzheimer’s, with this year’s Calgary event, which runs today and Sunday at the WinSport Ice Complex, expected to raise around $1.4 million.

‘Well, it adds a purpose,” said Marty. “And it’s great, to have your name associated with something that’s helping people . . . We were happy to put our name on this when they came to us, and when my mom passed away, it was always something that was a perfect fit for us. And coming to these cities in Canada, getting to Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, the turnouts are always great. It’s fun getting out of the States and getting to where they actually know about hockey. . . . Calgary, it feels like home for Gordie, being from Saskatchewan. It makes things familiar for him and I know he enjoys it.”

The tournament has attracted 350 participants, and NHL alums such as Lanny McDonald, Bryan Trottier, Tiger Williams and Gary Roberts were being matched with amateur teams Friday night in time for the opening games today at 9 a.m., with an all-star game set for today at noon. And while Mr. Hockey won’t be on the ice, he’ll be in the building, doing what he still loves to do: be around people.

“Sometimes he recognizes the faces, sometimes he doesn’t, but he loves telling his stories and talking to the people,” said Marty. “And he loves seeing the kids; he’s always tweaking their ears or doing something like that.

“He could literally do an event every day if he was still doing speeches. . . . It’s nice that he’s still known after all these years and he’s still recognizable with that same hairdo —just a little greyer.

“And,” added Marty with a smile, the same sharp elbows.”

Big fish throw women’s hockey minnows a line

BURLINGTON, VT.— RACHEL BRADY, Globe and Mail, Apr. 13, 2012


Shannon Miller wonders how the seasoned hockey men coaching Russia’s women’s Olympic team will feel about taking advice from a 40-something Canadian woman as they prepare their team for the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She’ll find out this weekend when she meets with them at the women’s world hockey championship.

Miller coached Canada’s 1998 women’s Olympic team and has since won five NCAA championships as head coach at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. She has been asked to act as a mentor in the International Ice Hockey Federation’s ambassador program, which pairs experienced medalists from the Olympics and world championships with developing women’s hockey nations in the hopes of improving the level of the women’s game worldwide.

The mentor program aims to bridge the gap between the rest of the world and the two North American powerhouses, Canada and the United States, who will once again play for gold on Saturday.

The mentors –from Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland – help the nations ranked fifth through 14th set up basics such as off-ice training programs and nutritional plans. Many mentors have said there are still some national teams that have players who smoke.

Many of the mentors will share their experiences with each other in a meeting this weekend with the IIHF. How can they help the countries who get little resources from their national federations, and have small pools of players from which to choose their national team? How do they push players from other nations to work harder, put in more hours and believe the effort will be worth it?

“The reality is that no matter how much time you spend mentoring, federations still have to put in the money and the time,” said Miller, who notes the federations accepted the mentoring invitation, not the teams directly. “They need the help, and the players deserve it. Some players worldwide will throw their coaches under the bus for their lack of success, and sometimes that’s rightfully so, sometimes it isn’t. But we’ll find out if Russia is serious about putting on a serious showing at the Sochi Olympics with the decisions they make in the next little while.”

The Russian team has said it aims to win a medal at the Sochi Olympics. Yet Russia did not win a game in Burlington, Vt., this week despite coming into the tournament ranked fourth in the world. The losses prompted Canadian star Hayley Wickenheiser to criticize Russia’s effort publicly. Star Russian player Iya Gavrilova called her team’s performance “a total failure.”

“I will be thankful for the help,” Russian coach Valentin Gureyev said through a translator, visibly agitated after a loss to Sweden. “I’m not happy at all about this tournament, but we are a very young team and of course we still want a medal in Sochi. We are working hard.”

Sweden, which dropped to fifth in the world and won’t play for a medal this week, came all the way to Burlington and never even got to face Canada or the United States.

“It’s not good enough, we need to be better, we want to compete for a medal, to grow women’s hockey in Sweden,” head coach Niclas Hogberg said. “But we have helped mentor teams behind us so of course they are closing the gap on us. To be honest, we feel a little left out of the mentor program. We could use some help too.”

Members of the Finnish team had mused aloud this week about being confident enough to upset Canada and be the first nation other than Canada and the U.S. to appear in a gold-medal final at the worlds. That didn’t happen.

Losing to one of the North American powerhouses is not surprising. But when another nation believes it may be able to pull off an upset, now that is new. Arto Sieppi, director of Finland’s women’s program, thinks his team is close, and he has reason for optimism. They have begun a training program for the best teenaged female players in Finland in Kuortane, four hours north of Helsinki, at a high school that also acts as a training facility for Olympic hopefuls in volleyball, track and field and wrestling. The hockey players are encouraged to go to a U.S. college.

“We won’t see the results of it in Sochi, but after those Olympics, I hope to see 10 to 15 players from Kuortane playing on the national team and growing for the next Olympics,” Sieppi said.

Former president of the WNBA, Val Ackerman, sat in the crowd Friday, hired by the NHL to observe women’s hockey and report back as they strategize how to help grow the women’s game.

“My initial observation is that it’s a niche, the crowd seems very local and the sport is in the shadows, not visible enough yet, but the NHL is paying attention and wants to use its assets to support its growth,” said Ackerman. “Olympic hockey players could be like Olympic gymnasts and figure skaters were to many girls like me growing up. I think we are in a new chapter in the book of women’s sports now, one where little girls may start to idolize athletes in team sports -- soccer and basketball and hockey.”

Goaltending is supposed to be everything in the playoffs, right?

ERIC DUHATSCHEK, Globe and Mail, Apr. 13, 2012


You gotta love that Ted Leonsis, unless you’re Bruce Boudreau, and then maybe you don’t love him quite as much after he fired you mid-season with a career 201-88-40 coaching record with the Washington Capitals. But Leonsis, the Capitals’ heavily engaged fan/owner, tweeted a message earlier this week, playing the underdog card to the hilt. "Why bother playing," asked Leonsis, tweeting a link to a local blog post in which 31 of 33 “experts” picked the Boston Bruins to defeat his Capitals in the opening round. Clearly, Leonsis didn’t like how heavily the sentiment was running against his team and reacted the way any fan might – loyally, but with just a hint of petulance thrown in for good measure.

Spoiler alert: I was in the minority that chose Washington in an upset. But the fact that most predicted a Bruins’ victory was defensible on many levels. The Bruins are the reigning champions; they have a defenceman in Zdeno Chara with the ability to shut down Alex Ovechkin, and on paper, the goaltending match-up looked decidedly one-sided.

For the Bruins, it featured Tim Thomas, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner (as the NHL’s top goalie) and the reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner (as MVP playoff), who earned a shutout in the opener, a narrow 1-0 Boston overtime victory. For Washington, it was a rookie, Braden Holtby, the No. 3 goalie in the organization, pressed into service because the Capitals’ regular netminders, Tomas Vokoun and Michael Neuvirth, are both injured, who acquitted himself very nicely in his debut.

Goaltending is supposed to be everything in the playoffs, right? Right?

Except …

Assessing the Bruins-Capitals series a few days ago, I thought Washington in 2012 shared some similarities with the Philadelphia Flyers of 2010. Remember how that looked in April two years ago, before the playoffs began?

Philadelphia was a seventh seed, had barely scraped into the playoffs and was trying to get by with a goaltending tandem that featured Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher. In the opening round, they were facing a tough No. 2, the New Jersey Devils, who had Martin Brodeur in goal, the goalie with the most victories of all time, someone coming off a strong season. Brent Sutter was the coach and the Devils were the heavy favorite. You could argue that the position players on both teams roughly offset one another, but the Devils held such a significant edge between the pipes that they were the consensus choice most places. Probably 31 out of 33 prognosticators had the Devils over the Flyers in that series too. Experts love to pick favorites; if you roll the dice on an underdog and you miss, you can look both naïve and silly after the fact.

Two years ago, the Flyers’ goaltending held up just fine in the opening round and was solid right to the finish line, where they came up just short in the Stanley Cup final against the Chicago Blackhawks.

That’s the thing about goaltending in the playoffs. Your career body of work counts for very little. Last year’s performance counts for very little. Hardware on the shelf? Nice to have, but in a best-of-seven series that starts from scratch, it is pretty close to irrelevant.

Any goaltender good enough to play in the NHL is also good enough to get on a roll for two weeks, or four, or even six, and win you a round or two or three. Anybody remember how great Patrick Lalime was for the Ottawa Senators in the 2003 playoffs (a 1.82 GAA in 18 games)? Anybody remember how great Brent Johnson was for the St. Louis Blues in the 2002 playoffs (a 1.83 GAA in 10 games)? Anybody remember how the Pittsburgh Penguins plucked Johan Hedberg out of the AHL’s Manitoba Moose and got a lot of mileage out of him in the 2001 playoffs, 18 games, nine wins, and a 2.30 GAA? Still remember Mario Lemieux extolling the virtues of the “Moose” to Pierre MacGuire after a memorable series win. You had a sense that if you’d ask Lemieux to identify “the Moose” by name, he might have come up with his surname or his Christian name, but maybe not both.

Anybody outside of Montreal remember Steve Penney? Or the early Rogie Vachon? Or Ken Dryden? Vachon was such an unknown that the opposing coach, Punch Imlach, scoffed that he had little fear of a “Jr. B” goalie. Dryden was an unknown quantity, a Cornell University grad, promoted to Montreal from the AHL Voyageurs, and helped the Canadiens knock off a 121-point Bruins team, the heavy favorites after finishing 24 points ahead in the standings. Probably 31 out 33 prognosticators picked the Bruins that year too.

The history of the NHL playoffs since 1994, when the current conference format was introduced shows a lot of No. 2s taking out No. 7. I agree with my old friend Bob McKenzie when it comes to making picks – I hate doing it; if I really knew for sure how it was going to turn out, I’d begin by sharing that knowledge with a friendly sports book or two in Las Vegas. But if I’m obliged to do it, I’m not just going to pencil in eight favorites and settle for the predictable 6-2 record that you can almost certainly get if you do that. I always pick a No. 7 over a No. 2. Philadelphia over New Jersey two years ago worked out just fine (and really enhanced my fantasy team that year). In fact, I was tempted to pick two No. 7s over No. 2s this year, because to me, San Jose-St. Louis is pretty much a pick-em series as well.

Also: I see many similarities between this year’s editions of the Sharks and the Capitals. Both were considered legitimate Stanley Cup contenders back in October, because they had rock-solid line-ups specifically tweaked in the summer to enhance their playoff chances, Washington by adding a veteran goalie, San Jose by adding Brent Burns’ offence from the blue line and swapping out Dany Heatley for Martin Havlat. Both were coming off a string of 100-point seasons and theoretically possessed a hunger inspired by last year’s playoff stumbles. Moreover, neither the Sharks nor the Capitals could do anything in the regular season this year that wouldn’t be erased by another playoff pratfall anyway, so the motivation to play hard wasn’t there, and found themselves stuck between “coast” and “cruise” for much of the season.

The fact that things didn’t go all that well between October and April shouldn’t have come as a complete surprise. Nor does it change the fact that the Sharks and Capitals are still two pretty good teams that had off years. The Caps even had a decent excuse – Nicklas Backstrom’s half-season absence because of a concussion, which really permitted teams to concentrate on stopping Ovechkin.

So Backstrom is back, Ovechkin is playing pretty well, and Mike Green is something of a wild card, which means we circle back to goaltending. Holtby had a decent NHL cameo two years ago; was solid in the final week; seems to have the respect of his teammates; is confident in his own abilities, and by the way, probably knows that he wouldn’t be the first unknown goalie to make a splash out of the gate.

Sure the Caps can win, although I would have liked their chances better this morning if they’d found a way to steal Game 1 on the road. But they have enough elements to suggest they can play a hard competitive series against the Bruins, and if they earn a split in Boston, well, we’ll see what happens.

Why bother playing Ted? Maybe just to see if that tired ‘us against the world’ rallying cry really works, even in the world of professional sport.

THE GOALIE WARS: It’s two days into the playoffs and there isn’t a single goaltending crisis anywhere on the NHL landscape. Something’s gotta give, right? Maybe tonight in Vancouver, where the Canucks lost the opener through no fault of Roberto Luongo’s. Instead, they were just flat-out, outplayed by the Los Angeles Kings, which should provide a wake-up call for tonight’s second game.

Last week, I was chatting with former goaltender Greg Millen about the goaltending fraternity at large, and how not everybody understands how tight it really is inside the dressing rooms, where the goalies – in 99 per cent of the cases - work so well together.

Every team carries 18 position players, so when somebody needs a sounding board, they generally have multiple options. Usually there are only two goalies, and one coach assigned to their care and feeding. So it’s a small exclusive group, that requires a narrow specific expertise and thus its practitioners gravitate towards one another.

The one thing that never changes in the goaltending fraternity is that there’s a rotation. Every night, one starts and the other sits. And, according to Millen, if you happen to be the one sitting at the end of the bench, with the ball-cap on, and the towel draped around your neck, you cannot make that a distraction.

“You’re in a group that’s trying to win games as a team,” explained Millen, “and you have to be a big part of the team, whether you’re playing or not. If you don’t have that team-first attitude, you don’t hang around – because your teammates know it, your coaches know and everybody knows it. So unless you’re a goalie who is an elite, elite guy that people shake their heads at and put up with, because they’re just so good – and there have been a couple of those, not many – then you have to make sure you’re a team player. If you do that, you normally find success goes with it.

“Because that’s the other part of this puzzle that’s extremely important for a goalie - you need your teammates fighting for you. As a goalie, you rely heavily on the guys in front of you. You need their trust and you need them to want to play for you. If you’re a selfish person and not a team player, they’re not going to play for you – and then you’re not going to succeed as a goalie because I don’t care if you’re Jacques Plante, if you don’t have a team playing in front of you, you’re in trouble.”

Millen believes that the pressure on goaltenders may be greater than every these days, in part because scoring, across-the-board, was down again in the NHL this year. Five goalies, including two involved in the Kings-Canucks series (L.A.’s Jonathan Quick and Vancouver’s Cory Schneider) had goals-against average’s under 2.00, numbers associated with the various dead-puck eras of the past. There’s an irony at work here too – as scoring drops off, pressure on goaltenders heightens even further. The line is so fine, and the margins of victory so narrow that you’d think goalies would be celebrated for their collective achievements. Instead, it’s just the opposite, Millen maintained.

“We have put so much emphasis on goaltending in this day and age, and I understand it, because the league is so close now,” said Millen, “but it’s almost as if the goalies aren’t allowed to make mistakes anymore. It’s a bit unfortunate because goalies make mistakes just like forwards and coaches and managers and everybody else in the game.

“But the nice crutch for everybody on the managerial side is, ‘oh, we didn’t get the goaltending.’ That’s often a situation that could be part of the puzzle, but nine times out of 10, it’s not all of it.

Millen played in an era when GAAs in the 4.00 range were not uncommon. Sometimes, they even drifted into the 5.00s. Nowadays, even the statistically worst goalies, are still not giving up many goals.

“I can tell you, as a former goalie, that the goalies now are better than they’ve ever been. No question about it. The guys shoot the puck harder, they’re quicker, the game is faster, and they are better athletes than we ever were.

“The position is just fun to watch right now. It’s amazing. These guys are amazing.”

MILLEN ON VANCOUVER: So does Millen have any thoughts specific to Luongo and Schneider, the Canucks’ goaltending duo? Do you need to be part Sigmund Freud to play goal in Vancouver these days?

“I would suggest that’s the toughest market to play in the NHL right now,” said Millen. “I don’t think that’s unfair. I think it’s even tougher than Toronto or Montreal because the expectations are so high for the team.

“The nice part for Roberto Luongo is he now has somebody with him to help him along the road – and I think they’re going to need both guys to be successful. I assume they will, at some point, in the playoffs. And that’s OK. There’s nothing wrong with that. Everybody seems to want to get into a one-goalie system, and yeah, if you can run with one, obviously, in the playoffs, it’s better, just because you’re winning. You’re not into problems. But if they get into problems, at least they can mix it up a little, which is not a bad thing.”

BOBBY LOU AND SCHNEIDS SPEAK OUT: I put my theories on the goaltending fraternity to Luongo just before the playoffs began, and he explained it this way:

“There’s not many of us, so we almost feel like we’re in the minority and that’s why we stick together,” said Luongo. “It’s a tough position to play and we respect that in each other; and that’s why we’re pretty close.”

Unsolicited, he then added: “And he (Schneider) is a great guy. That’s what makes it easy. He’s an extremely hard worker. He’s got a big heart and he cares for everybody on the team. So how can you not root for a guy like that?”

For his part, Schneider says of Luongo: “I’ve always respected him. I remember watching him in college and high school. I didn’t know him really well before I got here last year, but in the time I’ve spent with him, he’s a bit misunderstood by some people. I think there’s a lot more to him than people realize and he’s done a great job, weathering the expectations, the criticism, his own personal drive – because I think he pushes himself harder than anybody and he’s harder on himself than anyone else ever could be.”

Ultimately, the goal for both is to win the Stanley Cup. If each can make a contribution to the 16 victories that it will take, so be it.

“Once you get to this level, you’re playing for the same team and you’re all pushing for the same goal,”’ said Schneider, “so you want what’s best for your teammates and that includes the other goalie on the team.

“We see other goalies play and you watch and you respect and admire what other guys are able to do and sometimes, you shake your head at how well a guy’s played and the saves they make. You say, ‘wow, I wonder if I could have done that.’ And you feel for them at the same time when they give up a bad goal, or you give up a bad goal, or what people may think is a bad goal but you actually say, ‘hey, it’s a little bit harder than it looks.’

“But at the end of the day, there’s no position quite like goaltending. We all sort of feel for each other and understand what everyone’s going through.”

Butch Bouchard a cherished captain in Montreal Canadiens history: Played from 1941-1956

Ken Campbell, The Hockey News, 2012-04-14


Butch Bouchard didn’t have a pair of skates to call his own until he was 16 years old, but five years later, having a pair of wheels was just as important to making the Canadiens as having a pair of blades.

The year was 1940 and Bouchard was just 19 years old. He had played only a few years of high-level competitive hockey in Verdun before catching the eye of the talent-depleted Canadiens, who invited him to training camp. Bouchard wanted so badly to make the team that each morning he would get on his bicycle at his home on Longueuil and pedal 35 miles to the team’s training facility in Ste-Hyacinthe.

As it turned out, Bouchard was just getting warmed up. He was 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, regarded as a freak of nature at the time, and had built up his muscle mass by lifting railway ties with steel plates added for more weight. Once he got to practice, his youthful enthusiasm took over and the young Bouchard was making an impression on his future employers and a more lasting and tangible one on his future teammates.

And he certainly didn’t pick his spots. His penchant for hitting veterans as hard and as often as young players didn’t exactly impress some of the Canadiens’ older players.

In fact, Murph Chamberlain, a tough and durable forward who did his best work along the boards, told coach Dick Irvin one day after practice: “If I were you, I would order this young elephant to calm down and show less aggressiveness because if he keeps on going the way he is going, a few more days and you will find yourself without a player to open the season.”

The Canadiens, though, were delighted. At the time they were two years removed from what still stands as the worst season in franchise history and were in the process of remaking the Canadiens with players who had both NHL talent and a desire to win. In previous years, the Canadiens had not only languished near or at the bottom of the league standings, the players they had learned to accept losing. In 1939-40 the Canadiens were a dismal lot, going just 10-33-5. They would regularly get pounded in front of no more than 3,000 fans and coach Pit Lepine would come into the dressing room, put on his coat and say, “See you tomorrow, boys.”

They found exactly what they were looking for in the young Bouchard. He became an integral part of the new generation of Canadiens who, without hyperbole, not only saved the franchise from oblivion, but set the foundation for the dynasty teams that would follow. He was a classic defensive defenseman, scoring more than 10 goals just once in a 15-year career. And despite the fact that he might have been the most imposing physical player in the league at the time, the highest penalty minute total he ever registered was 88.

Bouchard spent much of his career as the steady, defensive influence on the blueline and after starting his career with Leo Lamoureux, was partnered with Doug Harvey, who was among the best ever in moving the puck up the ice and using his skill to create offense from the back end. Much of Harvey’s ability to freelance was due to the fact that he knew Bouchard was always behind him.

And Bouchard was hockey’s indisputable strong man. Although he wasn’t terribly mobile and skating was not his forte, he managed to get around the rink well enough not to be a liability. He used his size and strength to his advantage, but didn’t fight much and refused to use his physical advantage to be anything more than a peacekeeper.

The fact he rarely fought is attributable to the fact that opponents probably realized it was a good idea not to provoke him. Bouchard often used his enormous hands to pull combatants apart.

“It was like he was chiseled out of stone,” former teammate Dickie Moore once said. “He had the biggest shoulders and the smallest waist I had ever seen.”

Bouchard was also years ahead of his time when it came to being an entrepreneur. In the 1930s and early '40s, most hockey players were regarded as small-town bumpkins or lunkheads who had few abilities outside the confines of the rink. But early in his career, Bouchard ran an apiary that produced enough money to buy a home for his family and finance the start-up of a tavern in Montreal that was not far away from The Forum.

After a short stint in the minors, Bouchard landed in the NHL for good in 1941-42 and became a regular on the blueline in 1942-43 as the Canadiens tried to find a replacement for Ken Reardon, who left to join the effort in World War II.

And it wasn’t long before Stanley Cups followed. The Canadiens ended a 13-year drought with a Stanley Cup in 1944 and won the Cup again two years later. Goalie Bill Durnan took over the captaincy of the team for a short time after Toe Blake retired, but then the ‘C’ was handed to Bouchard in 1948-49 and he held it for eight full seasons. Only Jean Beliveau and Saku Koivu have enjoyed a longer tenure than Bouchard as captain of the Canadiens. (Bob Gainey was also captain for eight seasons.)

Bouchard was a member of two more Cup winners as captain, including his final season, which was the first in the Canadiens’ five-Cup dynasty of the late 1950s. After playing only half the season in 1955-56, Bouchard missed the entire playoffs with a knee injury, but coach Toe Blake dressed Bouchard for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final against the Detroit Red Wings. He sat on the bench for most of the game, but with the Canadiens leading 3-1 in the series and 3-1 late in Game 5, Blake sent Bouchard out for the last shift of his career and was on the blueline when the buzzer sounded in the deciding game.

Bouchard’s legacy with the Canadiens continued when his son, Pierre, joined the team in 1970-71. Pierre, who had his father’s exact height and weight, went on to win five Cups with the Canadiens, making the Bouchard’s the most Stanley Cup-decorated father-son combination in NHL history. Brett and Bobby Hull are the only other father-son duo to have their names on the Cup as players.

Costello targets 2018 for a competitive Olympic tournament

BURLINGTON, VT.— Rachel Brady, Globe and Mail, Apr. 14, 2012


The chairman of the Women’s World Hockey Championships is glad International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge warned women’s hockey to get more competitive or lose its Olympic spot. He thinks Mr. Rogge will be pleased with the ongoing efforts to develop it.

At the end-of-tournament news conference on Saturday ahead of the medal games, chair Murray Costello expressed not only pride in the progress of the game worldwide, he also had stern words for “old boys networks” and nations who aren’t providing female hockey players with proper opportunities, saying the skill is there and the game is not going away. And Switzerland’s team followed up his words with its surprising bronze medal later in the day.

“It’s good he gave us that warning, because it got people really thinking about it and there is a real effort going on,” said Costello. “It would be nice to see a real difference in 2014. We may not see it by then, but I think by 2018 we will, competitive to where there are perhaps six or eight nations really contending.”

Switzerland pulled a major upset in the bronze medal game Saturday afternoon with a 6-2 win over Finland. It was the first-ever World Championship medal for the Swiss women. Switzerland is currently ranked sixth in the world, and Finland is third, the bronze medal winner at the 2010 Olympics. It points to a closing of the gap within the second-tier nations behind the two North American powerhouses. Where Finland and Sweden used to always compete for bronze, now there are more challengers. Germany, the Swiss players noted actually beat Switzerland earlier in the tournament.

“We won bronze -- I still can’t believe it,” said Swiss goaltender Florence Schelling, after a lengthy Swiss on-ice celebration. “It’s huge. The smaller nations can keep up with the bigger nations. This is a huge win for women’s hockey.”

Costello called out Russia, who was seeded No.4 coming into the tournament and placed in the top pool, yet did not win a single game. As host of the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the Russians have repeatedly said they intend to challenge for a medal at the Games.

“We often hear about an old boys network even in North America. Well you can quadruple that in Russia,” said Costello. “The men who run the game there really control it. An awful lot of them still believe this isn’t a game for women. But as they see more happening, they begin to realize the skill is there and the desire to play is there.”

“They are under the gun now, and will respond unless they want to be totally embarrassed,” he continued. “They’re scouring the nation now for raw talent and trying to direct it toward our game as opposed to other sports. If Russia puts their governmental effort behind it, a lot can happen there very quickly. I’m not saying they’ll be up there with North America, but they will be a lot better than they are not. They are just getting started. They are about one year into their dedicated efforts.”

Costello said he has not been asked to provide formal reports on the scores of the tournament to Rogge, who said at the 2010 Olympics that women’s hockey must become more competitive and balanced or lose its spot in Olympic competition. But he’s sure the IIHF and IOC are keeping watch.

“They are noticing the effort in the emerging nations. We are trying to get the ones who can play to play better,” said Costello. “Rogge will certainly notice.”

A new tournament format was used at in Burlington, the same one that is to be used at the 2014 Olympics. It had the top four-seeded nations in the world in Pool A, and the next four in pool B. Then only the top two from Pool B made it into the playoff round. Switzerland came out of Pool B on its journey to bronze. The relegation was determined by a three-game series rather than a single game.

Promoting lower scores was key in the new format since goal differential wasn’t so essential to advancing. Nine of the 19 games played before the medal round were decided by one goal or less. Costello called the scores “very gratifying”.

“Some nations in Europe still don’t think this is a game for women and aren’t willing to give up the ice time to women. We’re still trying to convince them to accept that,” said Costello. “We [in North America] are about 20 years ahead of where they are. They are beginning to realize the women’s game is not going away, so they better show some equality and opportunity developing it.”

Jaromir Jagr’s evolution comes full circle:
From a mulleted teenager with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the early 1990s, to a leader and mentor with the Philadelphia Flyers today.

Bruce Arthur, National Post, Apr 13, 2012


PITTSBURGH, Pa. — In Jaromir Jagr’s locker, next to his shin pads and below his visored helmet, there is a small keepsake, a Madonna and child, bronze and nearly Flyers orange. He is Russian Orthodox, he says; he doesn’t think much of the difference between religions, but “I liked it because for 2,000 years, they are the same.”

Jagr is 40 years old now, hockey old, but he has changed. He has lived in tumultuous times: his mulleted glory days in Pittsburgh; his desultory time in Washington, where he was called a coach killer, with moods as unpredictable as his play; his gambling and tax problems, with debts to offshore casinos and to the IRS; his turn on Broadway with the Rangers; and his departure to Russia for three years, where he watched teammate Alexei Cherepanov collapse and die on the bench in 2008.

And upon his return this season, Jagr angered Pittsburgh one last time by swerving at the last minute to sign his one-year deal on the other end of the state, for reasons that still mystify many. But he seems to have found serenity in Philadelphia.

“I don’t think I was on a team [with] no argument, no fighting over the year,” Jagr says. “That’s the first time happened to me.”

He was a part of it. His night workout sessions were called Jaromir Jagr Hockey School by the young players who participated — Wayne Simmonds, for one, says he learned about body position and about how to keep the puck. Off the ice, he flashed his sense of humour — after Penguins fans taunted Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov about his stated fear of bears, Jagr wrote on Twitter, “Bryz is scared of bears. There were like 70 bears at the game! I wonder what would happen if he said he is scared of beautiful naked girls?!”

Jagr became a human Rosetta Stone in the Flyers locker room; as defenceman and fellow Czech Pavel Kubina puts it, “sometimes he’s talking to our goalies in Russian, speaking Czech with me and [Jakub Voracek], and the rest of the team he’s speaking English.”

His hockey remains fluent, too. At 40, after three seasons on the KHL’s big ice, he produced 19 goals and 54 points in 73 NHL games, and now has 665 goals and 1,653 points over his career.

“Jags? He’s one of the — what’s the word I’m looking for? — I don’t know if it’s professionalism, but he knows his job, he knows how to do it,” says Scott Hartnell, who played on a line with Jagr and Claude Giroux, and scored a career-high 37 goals. “He knows what works, he knows how to take care of himself. He knows what he has to do to be great. A pro. At 40 years old you’d think he’d lose that passion to play hockey, but there’s no sign of that.

“Sometimes you can really tell when he doesn’t have the jump, or whatever, and he lets us know — he says, ‘I don’t feel good. You’ll have to do a lot of the work tonight.’ … [But] just being a sponge, it’s been a really, really positive year for me. On the ice, off the ice, seeing the work he puts in, I’ve tried to, not emulate what he’s done, it doesn’t work — but it’s just really cool what he does.”

“I’m not going to say I wasn’t ready, but no matter how ready you are, you still have to go through this,” Jagr says. “Because you practise differently, you play in a different game for the last three years. You cannot play the same kind of game. You would look stupid on big ice … because it’s a small rink here, and because you’ve got to do everything quicker, because you’ve got no room. That kind of stuff, you’ve got to learn back.”

That is one reason he wants to play next year; he thinks he can be better, even with grey whispering into his hair. He isn’t afraid to see what he has left. As Hartnell puts it, Jagr knows what it takes to be great, even if only relative to his age.

“I think I got to the point where hard work make me happy,” Jagr says. “And I think that’s the best thing that happened to me in my life. If I go to the gym, and if I do some things, I’m happy after that. Some people are happy when they have a day off — I’m the opposite way. And I don’t know why it’s that, but that’s just me. And I’m just doing that to be happy. Strange stuff, but that’s how I would describe it.”

Jagr is still part of the mural here, next to Mario Lemieux’s fancy 66 club in the arena, featuring Penguins greats. He is still the author of a big and occasionally messy life, capable of charm and moods and faith in many things. And he still loves hockey, and is unwilling to cheat it anymore.

“He’s a big icon back home, and a lot of kids they want to be Jaromir Jagr when they start playing hockey,” Kubina says. “It’s not only about the hockey, but the way he represent himself. He’s still a pretty much down-to-earth guy. If you see him in the locker room you wouldn’t think he’s Jaromir Jagr, you’d think it’s one of the guys fighting for a job.

“He’s not one of those guys trying to be big star, even though he knows he is.”

Here in Pittsburgh, of course, he has been disowned, and they boo. Not that it matters, really, to a man at peace.

“Yeah, well, first of all, I don’t pay any attention to that,” Jagr says. “Even the boos, you don’t hear them. I kind of get used to it, I guess. Like early in the game, and you’ve got the puck, the fan think you’re going to hear it, you don’t hear it. It’s tough to describe, but it’s like your wife is talking to you, and you’re concentrating on something else, and you don’t hear her. That’s it. She’s complaining, ‘Why you don’t want to listen to me,’ but that’s what it is. Your mind is somewhere else.

“But you know, I never forget. I came here when I was 18, and everything was new to me, and I didn’t speak the language. I didn’t speak any English, actually. The city was so good to me, it tried to help me any way I went. I appreciate it.”

Canucks made their choice, and it’s not Roberto Luongo

Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun, Apr 19, 2012


LOS ANGELES — With everything at stake, the Vancouver Canucks chose Wednesday to play the goalie who had the best chance of saving their NHL season.

Maybe you heard. It wasn’t the guy who has been the starter for six years, but the backup who should be the starter for the next six.

Cory Schneider had a spectacular first night to the rest of his National Hockey League career, making 43 saves and making the difference in the Canucks’ 3-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings.

But Schneider wasn’t chosen to start only Game 4 of the first-round playoff series. He was chosen to start, period. It’s his team now.

The toothpaste doesn’t go back in the tube on this one. The Canucks will try to trade Roberto Luongo and his 12-year, US$64-million contract this summer. There is no other reasonable conclusion to draw from coach Alain Vigneault’s decision to go with his gut and leave Luongo on the bench against the Kings.

It really isn’t a tough call between Luongo and Schneider

It was Vigneault’s call, but the Canucks’ hockey operations department works by consensus and it seems everyone was in agreement to play Schneider. And since general manager Mike Gillis is no fool, the decision was made with full awareness of its implications and an acceptance of the ramifications.

From a strategic, competitive standpoint, it really isn’t a tough call between Luongo and Schneider for next season and beyond.

After matching Luongo’s performance numbers last season as a rookie, Schneider outplayed the starter this year. Schneider’s goals-against average of 1.96 was nearly a half-puck better than Luongo’s, and the tandem’s save percentages (.937 vs. .919) meant that for about every 50 shots, Schneider allowed one fewer goal.

Schneider just turned 26 and can be expected to get better. Luongo just turned 33 and there is at least a chance that his slight decline this season is the first faint glimpse of the twilight of his career.

So, remove emotions and Luongo’s huge contract from the equation, and it’s no wonder Schneider would be chosen if the Canucks could have only one of their goalies.

And that’s the thing: they have to choose.

Schneider is a restricted free agent this summer and ready to be a No. 1 goalkeeper. He was a first-round draft pick and has proved at every level that he is an elite player. He is already better, technically, than Luongo — wider in his butterfly and more upright when he moves laterally.

If the Canucks don’t make Schneider their starter, someone else will. And another team could do it with a predatory free-agent offer.

Gillis will try to re-sign Schneider before his contract expires on July 1. If he can’t, the Canucks almost certainly will arbitrate against Schneider — exercising the seldom-used contractual option that would remove the goalie from the free-agent market a few days after it opens.

The Nashville Predators did it last season with Shea Weber, but handled it clumsily by lowballing their star defenceman after quashing his free-agency options. Having seen how badly that went, the Canucks would work with Schneider to establish a salary above what he ordinarily might expect based on his NHL experience so far.

Of course, the risk is that Schneider, like innumerable goalies before him, fails to become a great starter immediately after being a great backup.

And say what you want about Luongo’s playoff failings, he has been one of the best at his position for a decade, earning three Vezina Trophy nominations and averaging 37 wins a season for the Canucks.

Despite arguments from Kirk McLean supporters, Luongo is the best goalie the franchise has had. But Schneider has the potential to be even better.

Luongo’s resume, and a salary-cap hit of US$5.33-million that is not an onerous as it seems, make him tradable despite having 10 years remaining on his deal. He is due $6.714 million each of the next six seasons before his salary plummets in anticipation of early retirement.

The fine print in this is that Luongo has a no-trade clause.

He could make things miserable for the Canucks if he flatly rejects the idea of a trade. But proud and driven to win, Luongo would be miserable, too, at even a 50/50 split of goaltending duties in Vancouver, let alone a full demotion to a backup role.

Luongo can name his teams, and chances are the Canucks will find one of them with which to trade. Vancouver may get little in return. Simply clearing the crease for Schneider while off-loading Luongo’s contract might have to be the payoff for the Canucks. Gillis may even have to take on someone else’s bad contract in return.

But a Luongo trade can happen and probably will.

Far more time was spent on Wednesday’s goaltending decision than the two days between Games 3 and 4. A year ago, when Luongo disintegrated in Boston in the Stanley Cup final, the organization still felt an obligation to their starter. Vigneault said as much.

Schneider should have started Game 4 in Boston but didn’t. He could have started Game 6 or even Game 7, but didn’t. Luongo was Vigneault’s guy.

Not anymore.

Excluding the season he tore his groin, Luongo’s 55 games this year were his fewest since his sophomore NHL season in 2000-01. In the last quarter of the regular season, Vigneault played Schneider as often as he did Luongo. Then he went to his backup in the third game of the playoffs, even though Luongo was solid the first two games and not responsible for the deficit to the Kings.

The Canucks have been thinking ahead, working toward something. And now we know what.

Hard Times

Ellen Etchingham, Editorial, thescore.com, Apr 18, 2012


Being against this is easy. Figuring out how to prevent it is hard.

Now is a hard time to be a hockey fan. Granted, there have always been moral tensions surrounding the game. The sport has been full of brutal violence and crass exploitation for nearly a hundred years, and neither of those things have ever been easy to stomach. But this season, a creeping understanding of the long-term dangers of brain injuries that had been brewing beneath the surface of hockey for half a decade finally exploded into the mass consciousness. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that a lot of hockey people, at every level of the game, have suffered a crisis of conscience this season about what it means to love this sport. And the playoffs? Oh, honey, if you’re feeling traumatized by this postseason, get in line.

Understandably, there has been a lot of outrage. This is a good thing. It’s a necessary first step. The building outrage over the NHL’s inadequate concussion-prevention policies and concussion-treatment protocols has brought the issue to the forefront of hockey discourse. It’s forced a conversation that a lot of people in the League offices would prefer not to have. It’s shown that fan sentiment and media muckraking can indeed have an impact on the direction of the game.

But we have been outraged for a year now, many of us longer. Half the articles that are being written today about this brutal postseason have the same essential content as the articles written after the spate of possibly CTE-related deaths last summer, names and quotations changed. The argument is the same: something must be done, more must be done, this is intolerable, this is immoral, it is not enough, the NHL has blood on it’s hands, somebody is going to die, something must be done. The case-study varies but the reaction doesn’t. This year has been one long string of terrible incidents and one long howl of moral outrage.

The NHL needs to change, this is beyond questioning. But the response needs to change too. Because- and I am sorry to say this- outrage is cheap. Outrage is cheap and easy and, on some fundamental level, a little bit selfish. Outrage is a way of assuaging one’s own moral crisis at being a fan of something that is perhaps not ethically worthy of fanaticism. It’s a balm for the soul. It makes one feel better, to stand up on one’s soap box or milk crate or even just in the middle of the living room and delcare that I AM AGAINST HEAD HITS. It feels like taking a stand, doing the right thing. But in and of itself, being outraged is doing nothing.

Do not think this is something I am blaming others for. I’ve done it too. I’ve written those articles, I’ve screamed from my little milk crate about how something must be done. But then I had a dream, and in this dream Brendan Shanahan came to me and said, okay, yes, you are right, Ellen, you have the right of it. I will do what you want. What, tell me, exactly, should we do?

And I realized that I was not entirely sure. More, yes, but how much more? Exactly? And how? And why?

So long as we talk about nothing but how angry we are and how wrong the League is and what a joke/travesty/abomination all the decisions are, we can preserve an illusion of consensus and certainty, and we can pat each other on the back for having the right opinion. We create the illusion of a unified movement. But scratch the surface just a little, start asking questions about specifics, and the consensus evaporates instantly. People often blame the NHL’s character (too traditional) or greed (violence sells) for impairing the reformation of League justice, but if the League, today, agreed to completely and totally give ‘us’ change-minded people everything ‘we’ want, what exactly would that be? Take ten people who all think the League’s handling of supplementary discipline in these playoffs has been totally wrong, sit them down in a room and have them write out what they would do instead. No more vague calls for ‘more’ and ‘different’ and ‘change’. Specifics, written out in games and dollars, with a rationalizing logic for each.

You would get ten different plans, some of them so radically different they would provoke just as much anger as the NHL’s decisions. Perhaps even more.

We, the fans and media, have changed. Our tolerance for violence has shifted, our concern for player safety has grown, we are no longer comfortable with the NHL’s handling of the game’s violence. Good for us. Gold stars all around.

But all we had to do to change was to stop saying one thing and start saying another. It is very easy for a person to change their opinion. But the NHL is not a person. It is a vast institution comprised of a dozen different constituencies, each with many different concerns. The NHL is not just Shanahan, it’s not just Bettman. It’s players, managers, trainers, and doctors. It’s on-ice officials, off-ice officials, and administrators. It’s owners, sponsors, advertisers, and television networks. It’s developmental leagues and farm systems. It’s fans and media. And what this absolutely massive amalgamation of tens of thousands of people needs to change is nothing so simple as an opinion, but policy. To change the NHL is not simply a matter of will. It’s a matter of detailed, complex negotiation.

More suspensions? Okay, fine, great. How many more? For exactly what kind of contact? How many games per? Why? How many dollars in fines? To the players or the teams? Why? How much of punishment should be determined by intent? How much by injury? How much by repeat-offender status? Who should judge? How should they be appointed? Should mandatory suspension lengths be written into the rules? Does the victim have some responsibility for his own safety? How much? Why? Should consequences for the franchise be taken into consideration? Should there be separate policies for the postseason? How much of the power to deter should lie with the officials on the ice? How much with the Department of Player Safety? Should fighting be prohibited? With what kind of punishments?

Do not say consistency. Calls for consistency are a red herring, another thing that creates the illusion of consensus where none exists. There is not a single outraged person anywhere on the internet who would be happy with ‘consistent’ discipline if it was consistent according to the wrong standard. Before one insists on consistency one has to define what is right, otherwise the best one can hope for is consistently wrong.

Do not say whatever it takes. There is not one hockey fan who is willing to do whatever it takes in the name of player safety. If player safety is the most important thing and no other value matters, than call for the prohibition of all contact and ban anyone from the sport who violates that prohibition. Players would become dramatically safer immediately. But, of course, the game would be essentially different. Nobody actually wants whatever it takes, it just sounds virtuous to say it.

And please, please, do not say nothing will ever change. Cynicism is even cheaper than outrage. Yes, the NHL is a large and unwieldy and conservative institution, but there was never any institution in the history of the world so great and solid that it could not be moved. The NHL has changed dramatically through its history, and there were many forms of violence- stick violence, notably- that it once merrily tolerated that have now been almost wholly eradicated. The forces in the NHL that support concussive violence can be shifted. They can evolve, they can be persuaded, coerced or co-opted. You know how I know this? Because fans and play-by-play announcers and television commentators used to be one of those pro-head-hit constituencies. We used to be the people cheering the high elbows and the jumping charges and chuckling at the guy stumbling to get up after. We’ve changed, in huge numbers, and every day more and more of us are coming around. And if we can change, than advertisers and sponsors can change, and if they can change, than owners can change, and if owners can change, the League can change. Throwing up your hands and crying impossible is just absolving yourself of having to contemplate the difficult work of negotiation, persuasion, and slow, piece-by-piece transformation that real change requires.

The process has already begun. It is all around us. Shanahan has set out to create a more transparent, more consistent, more articulate process of supplementary discipline than ever before. No, it is not completely transparent or consistent or articulate, because- again- he has to work within a system that still has powerful interests that do not yet support him. He has not, by himself, been able to change the entire disciplinary structure of the League in one season. No one and nothing that actually exists could possibly have done so. But he has pushed in a direction no NHL disciplinarian has ever pushed before, and next year he will be able to push further.

Teams are beginning to take concussions seriously. They’re holding players with head injuries on the IR for longer stretches, opening up to the notion of ‘however long it takes’ for a guy to be ready. Their behavior reflects a far more accurate and compassionate understanding of brain trauma than hockey has ever had before. It’s not perfect- there are still teams who rush guys back, still coaches who talk about concussion symptoms like they’re psychosomatic excuses- but fewer than before, and now, rather than being blithely accepted, such decisions and assertions are widely challenged.

And players are beginning to understand the danger. More and more players are talking about hits to the head as something unnecessary and unacceptable, more and more are admitting to being scared and upset by the tales of CTE and the effects it can have on a man’s later life. Of course, some of them are still hiding concussions and playing when they should not be. Some of them are still defending obvious headhunting as good hockey plays. But now, playing through symptoms and shrugging off a shoulder to the skull are both controversial, not just in the papers but within dressing rooms.

Is it enough yet? No, of course not, absolutely not, but nothing at the beginning was ever the entirety of what it will be at the end, and this is no small transformation that we’re dealing with. Adapting hockey to reduce concussions and CTE is not some small, simple thing. It’s not just a matter of tossing out a few extra suspensions and be done with it. It will transform the game in a hundred interconnected ways that we cannot even yet begin to predict. It requires shifts not just in rules and punishments but in culture- the culture of on-ice officiating, the culture of playing, the culture of watching, the culture of coaching. It requires redefining fundamental values and archetypes- a new understanding of a clean hit, a new sensibility about the acceptable level of risk and danger, a new vision of the balance between on-ice punishments and off-ice ones. It will affect our understanding of what a hockey career is and how long it should last. It will affect the CBA. It will affect equipment. It will effect the outcomes of games and seasons and lifetimes.

Once, years ago, when I was young as a fan and the game was new, I sent up a prayer for a rule like a scalpel, that could “cut out all the ugly and terrifying moments but still leave all the rest of it, including the violence and the drama and the thrill, intact.” I am not the only hockey fan to send up that prayer. But despite all our wishing, that rule doesn’t exist- at least, not as one thing. If it can exist at all, it will be a series of changes, some very big and some very small, that only together, in the aggregate, will be able to create the new balance of safety and danger that we can live with. The process of finding these changes is going to be long, and it is going to be slow, and it is going to be frustrating, full of heated debates, mistakes, inconsistencies, and false starts. There are going to be bad decisions enthusiastically embraced and good decisions met with resistance. There’s going to be trouble, and sacrifice, and everyone who participates on any level is going to end up looking like an idiot or an asshole more than once.

So why do it at all? Because that’s how change happens, in the real world, in big institutions with lots of contending constituencies.

Keep your outrage, if it helps you commit to the process. Outrage that drives policy proposals, debate, concern, and interest in the mechanisms of transformation is a very good thing. Outrage that makes people follow the research and development camps, the CBA negotiations, that inspires active engagement with the League, is great and necessary and beautiful. But outrage that begins with self-righteousness and ends with despair? That’s useless. It doesn’t make players safer and it doesn’t make hockey better.

The game is trying to shift, lurching, from one consensus point to another, but the change can’t be completed until the new consensus is defined. And that can’t happen until the constituency that is pushing hardest for change- the fans and the media- stop using their outrage to feel good about themselves and start using it to push useful policy proposals. Getting angry is the easy part. But, like so many of Shanahan’s suspensions, it’s just not enough.

Ice hockey-Soviet great Vasilyev dies age 62

Reuters, Apr 19, 2012


Valery Vasilyev, one of the top defencemen of his generation, won two Olympic and eight world titles as a member of the great Soviet Union team in the 1970s and 80s, and also took part in the 1972 series against Canada, has died at the age of 62, the Russian ice hockey federation (FHR) said on Thursday.

He was an eight-time all-star during a 13-year career in the Soviet league, playing mainly for Moscow Dynamo.

"Our hockey has suffered an irreplaceable loss," the FHR said on its website (www.fhr.ru) in a tribute to one of the most feared defenseman of his generation who spent most of his club career with Dynamo Moscow.

Vasilyev's widow Tatyana said he had died from heart and kidney failure.

Vasilyev won Olympic gold in 1972 and 1976 and was part of the Soviet team that won the 1981 Canada Cup.

He also played in the 1972 Summit Series, which pitted the Soviets against the best "professionals" from the National Hockey League (NHL) for the first time.

Vasilyev, voted the best defenseman at world championships three times, was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998.

Vasilyev was the father-in-law of former NHLer Aleksey Zhamnov.

Ovechkin understands why he was benched

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 20 2012


ARLINGTON, Va. -- Flashing that gap-toothed grin of his, Alex Ovechkin said all the right things Friday about being benched by Capitals coach Dale Hunter for all but 15 seconds over the final 14 minutes of Washington's 2-1 victory against Boston in Game 4 of their first-round series.

A day after watching his teammates help playoff rookie goalie Braden Holtby protect a one-goal lead Thursday night, the two-time NHL MVP said: "It doesn't matter how many minutes I play. Of course I want to be there, but it's his decision."

Both Ovechkin and Hunter said the team's leading scorer and captain is healthy. But the coach said his game plan called for sitting Ovechkin when certain Bruins lines were out on the ice. What's more, the Russian who makes nearly $10 million a season isn't the player the Capitals want putting his body in harm's way at the defensive end.

"At the end of the game there, you've got your shot-blockers out there, and you want your best players blocking shots, but your offensive guys, but you don't want them breaking a foot, either," Hunter said.

Other Capitals players shrugged off the move, with some saying they didn't even notice Ovechkin was only on the ice for a total of 1 minute, 58 seconds in the third period of a playoff game.

"Just because he's not on the ice, doesn't mean he's not a big part of the team. He's paid to score goals. He's here to score goals, and make sure we're in games and giving ourselves a chance to win games," forward Troy Brouwer said. "If we were down a goal, he'd be the guy that would probably log the most amount of ice time. But being a game where you have a one-goal lead, they have a pretty good push, you want your defensive guys out, the guys who are usually on the penalty kill, the shutdown line -- and he understands that."

The Capitals had a 26-16 edge in blocked shots, and they didn't allow Boston to get an official shot on goal over the final 7 minutes Thursday.

Hunter pointed to one block in particular: When forward Jay Beagle dropped down to get in the way of a shot by Boston defenceman Johnny Boychuck in the final 10 seconds.

"'Beags' has got the knack. You see at the end of the game, he slid at the right time? It takes timing," Hunter said.

"Ovie, he's a team guy. He's rooting for the guys on the bench," Hunter said. "When 'Beags' goes down there, he's the first one to jump up and yell. You appreciate what guys like that do, and that's why he's a real team guy."

The series is 2-2 heading into Game 5 at Boston on Saturday.

Ovechkin, for his part, said it doesn't matter how many minutes he plays, as long as Washington wins.

"Well, of course, I understand it. I accept it. ... It doesn't matter if I'm going to play 10 seconds or 5 seconds. Most important thing is team result," Ovechkin said.

Asked how he thought he played Thursday, Ovechkin replied: "Well, like, we win."

Then he laughed a bit and added the punch line: "So I played good."

'Good ol' hockey game' on steroids

Steve Simmons, QMI Agency, April 21 2012



TORONTO - In the midst of the unending debate about the mayhem in the National Hockey League, I happened to turn on my television to Leafs TV and came across a 1963 Stanley Cup Final game between the Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings.

Those were, we have always been told, the good old days, when hockey was hockey and men were men and daily discussion didn’t centre around who would be suspended for how many games.

But what struck me — watching the heroes of my youth, watching a Leafs team which could actually win a Stanley Cup, seeing the game I grew up on — was how completely different the sport was back then from the game we try and mould daily to fit our own needs and theories.

Normally, I would contend there is something Canadian about the constant harping about the NHL. It’s what we do tend to do as a people. We want to fix things. We want to make them right.

We can’t accept the CFL or the NHL or anything close to us for what it is, so we tinker and we demand change and we create rules that are supposed to make things better.

But what’s going on in the NHL right now, this back and forth, isn’t Canadian. Hockey is getting the front page of USA Today, not because Americans care about Sidney Crosby and Claude Giroux. It’s getting big play on Pardon The Interruption on ESPN and in The New York Times and in places where noise is made when people die or are carried off the ice in stretchers, because of the sense the sport is out of control.

The first round of the playoffs, a contradictory cross-section of brilliant, intense hockey and singular acts of foolishness, has not gone unnoticed — and there’s never been a first round that got this kind of attention, both sides of the border, almost all of it for the wrong reasons. But for every bit of Raffi Torres or Shea Weber or Arron Asham, there has been another overtime game for Phoenix and Chicago, another save by Jonathan Quick, another hero emerging in Braden Holtby or more appreciation of just how far Alex Pietrangelo has come. Some terrible and some wonderful all mixed together — which only adds to the confusion.

But no matter what you might think of today’s hockey, when I sat in front of my television, when I stop the play, back it up, start it again, freeze it, the only similarity between the 1963 Stanley Cup Final and today’s first round of the playoffs is that the game is played on the ice. The technology has changed, making it easier to watch almost 50 years later. But the game we so enjoy today, with speed, with physical play, with finesse, with crazy intensity, wasn’t the game a lot of us grew up on.

For all you want to hear about Gordie Howe’s elbows, the calmness of the Cup game on my television was apparent. Some of the physical play in the game was almost accidental. There was little, if any, dumping the puck in, not a lot of forechecking, no smashing into boards, no neutral zone defensive play, limited stick work — there was some physical play along the wall, but nothing appearing close to violent.

Hockey looked more like a dance back then, a little fast, a little slow, with longer shifts and on the ice were men without helmets, seemingly more respectful. If anyone was trying to take anyone’s head off, it certainly wasn’t evident or apparent on my television screen.

On the ice was Dave Keon, all of 163 pounds; Dick Duff, who weighed the same; and Billy Harris, who was six pounds less than that. The big bruiser on the Leafs’ defence was Tim Horton: He was 5-foot-10, 180, in his playing days — 11 inches shorter than Zdeno Chara and 80 pounds lighter. The big Leaf, Frank (The Big M) Mahovlich, was 6-foot-1, 205 pounds. There weren’t a lot of Jaromir Jagrs in those days — 6-foot-3, 240 pounds, with Keon-like hands and Mahovlich’s touch.

The game has grown, the equipment has grown, the speed has elevated, with players bigger, faster, meaner, better-conditioned, more coached, playing in the same-sized cage. There are 28 inches more in height and about 480 more pounds of weight playing in every NHL shift. Over time, something had to give.

Spend a minute turning the clock back and what you’ll see is a stoppage in time. In its day, the game mattered and it wasn’t drawn and quartered on a regular basis the way hockey is now dissected daily.

The game of hockey is fabulous today.

The National Hockey League is not.

There is so much to appreciate and applaud in this Stanley Cup season and yet there has never been more concern. The league can’t go back to 1963, yet it can’t seem to go forward. And with all the noise around, it’s hard to focus and concentrate on what needs to be done first.

Southeast Prairie Thunder roll to Allan Cup title

LLYODMINSTER, Sask. — LARRY FISHER, The Canadian Press, Apr. 22, 2012


Terry Yake never won a Stanley Cup in his decade of NHL experience.

On Saturday night, he won an Allan Cup in his first attempt, helping the Southeast Prairie Thunder from Steinbach, Man., capture the senior AAA national championship.

“I had two minor-league championships and a nice championship over in Switzerland, but they never get old, no matter what level you're at,” Yake said after the Thunder scored three unanswered goals in the third period of Saturday's final to prevail 4-1 over the Rosetown, Sask., Redwings. “Considering this is as good a hockey as you can play for senior in Canada, it still feels great.”

Now 43 years old, Yake was asked whether this Allan Cup would be his swan song.

“I think I went out on top a long time ago, but this has just been a lot of fun,” he said with a laugh, having scored what stood up as the winner in Friday's 7-2 semifinal victory over the Grand Falls-Windsor, N.L., Cataracts for his only goal and point of the tournament.

“It was just an honour to be here, and we did exactly what we came for and that's to hoist that trophy. . . . If I can do it at 44, you never say never. We'll see, if they call next year, I might have to help defend the title.”

Brad Purdie scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and the Thunder held on for the franchise's first Allan Cup championship.

Purdie took a drop pass on a 3-on-2 rush from linemate Devon Leblanc and snapped a shot through Rosetown goaltender Jeff Harvey at 8:48. Southeast's stifling defence made that lead stand up to complete an undefeated tournament that also included a 2-1 round-robin win over Rosetown on Monday.

In Saturday's rematch, Anders Strome added an insurance marker with just over three minutes left in regulation. Leblanc, the tournament MVP, sealed Southeast's win with an empty-net goal to spoil Rosetown's Allan Cup debut.

Tim Plett had opened the scoring for Southeast in the first period, and goaltender Justin Harris was solid throughout, finishing with 32 saves.

“We just kept reassuring the guys, get back to our game plan,” said Thunder coach Jamie Leach. “In the end, they put it together and we had a solid third period. We knew Rosetown was going to get tired (playing its fourth game in as many days) and that our guys still had some juice left in them, and we took advantage of it.”

This was Leach's third Allan Cup championship, but his first as a coach. He previously won two titles as a player — in 2003 with the Ile-des-Chenes, Man., North Stars, and in 2006 with the Powell River, B.C., Regals.

Leach was also a former teammate of Yake's with the Hartford Whalers in 1992-93, and helped recruit the veteran for this championship run.

For some Thunder players, though, the fourth time was a charm. Southeast was making its fourth straight Allan Cup appearance, and erased painful memories of losing the 2009 final as tournament hosts, falling 4-3 in double overtime to the Bentley, Alta., Generals.

J.J. Hunter replied for Rosetown, scoring the only goal of the second period, while Harvey stopped 25 of 28 shots in defeat. The Redwings, making the jump to AAA provincials this season from their tier-II league, advanced to the final by beating the host Lloydminster Border Kings 5-1 in Friday's other semifinal.

“There's a lot that you can take from an experience like this,” Hunter said. “You dream of coming to play for a national championship and that's pretty special.

“We battled hard all tournament long, but we came up against a great team. They play a stingy defensive game and don't give you a whole lot, and, at the end of the day, it's a mistake on one side or the other that ends up costing or winning you a championship. Unfortunately, tonight we were on the wrong end of that.”

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Watched some of this game today in between all the other NHL playoff games. Funny to see it side-by-each... the Allan Cup game was so slow and scrambly in comparison (but not surprisingly!)

I coached Jamie with Team Canada back in the mid-1990's. I think he is Reggie "The Rifle" Leach's son (former Philly Flyer). This kid could sure shoot the puck!

Hockey World April 22: Luongo puts Canucks in a bind

Jim Matheson, edmontonjournal.com, April 21, 2012


Here’s what we know about Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo:

He is proud he’s won 339 career games, 19th most in history, and could win 460 which would put him in the top four all-time if he can stay healthy, and there are 47-million reasons over the next 10 years why he’s not going to be easy to trade.

But, I don’t see him digging in his heels, even with that no-trade clause, and telling the Canucks to stuff it now that they’ve pretty much decided that Corey Schneider is their guy for now and next year.

Luongo’s a cheerleader today — gimme a C, gimme an O, gimme an R — but he’s a player more so and if that means it’s in Tampa Bay, Toronto, Columbus, Chicago or even back in south Florida next year, so be it.

Trading the 33-year-old is an awkward situation, but it’s doable. The questions, of course, are two-fold: who wants that big-gulp contract which doesn’t run out until 2022 and how much do you give up for a goalie who’s won an Olympic gold, but not a Stanley Cup?

Luongo’s cap hit is a middle range $5.333 million, but here’s the salary left on that 12-year deal.

2012-13 to 2017-18, $6.714 million

2018-19—$3.382 million.

2019-20—$1.618 million.

2020-2022—$1 million.

So six years at $6.714 million which runs him to 39 years old.

That’s a mouthful for an owner, but most GM’s aren’t looking that far down the road. They might not be working for their teams in 10 years anyway. All they see is a guy who, if he can get to 460 wins in the next five years, or more, will only be behind Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy and Eddie Belfour. That’s pretty good company.

The Canucks aren’t going to hold up anybody to move Luongo’s contract, although they might be forced to eat a high contract along with a serviceable or young player or draft picks to move him.

The contenders:

1. Tampa Bay Lightning. They would rather have Schneider because he’s seven years younger and the length of Luongo’s contract scares them, but GM Steve Yzerman was the man running the Olympic team in Vancouver and Luongo was the goalie in the gold-medal game. If they can’t get Schneider they would be looking at the Los Angeles Kings’ Jonathan Bernier or Nashville Predators’ Anders Lindback, most likely. They have two first-rounders and the possibility of four second-rounders to dangle for a young goalie. They also need another top-six forward, so there are other holes to fill.

2. Toronto Maple Leafs. Brian Burke missed the playoffs because James Reimer and Jonas (I’m Not Such a Monster) Gustafsson weren’t nearly good enough in net. If he wanted Schneider, the Canucks would want Jake Gardiner on defence, which could be a stumbling block. Luongo could get them into the playoffs for the first time since 2004, and Burke, in the fifth year of his contract, needs some ­positive energy in the centre of the universe.

3. Columbus Blue Jackets. The Jackets will be parting with Calder Trophy winner Steve Mason and probably will be dealing captain Rick Nash for forward help. They were going to use Nash to get a goalie, but their fan base is eroding badly and they need a No. 1 goalie. Ian Clark, the Jackets goalie coach, used to be Luongo’s goalie coach in Vancouver and they’re friends, but it’s a long shot they would take him with the time left on his contract. They will be trying for Bernier, too, and maybe Lindback.

4. Florida Panthers. This is where Luongo had a huge fan following before he was dealt to the Canucks for Todd Bertuzzi and Bryan Allen six years ago. Luongo married a woman from Florida and he lives there in the summer months. This would be his first choice and the Panthers aren’t sold on Jose Theodore, although they do have a really good farm team prospect in Jakub Markstrom. The Canucks would like two of their kids, Nick Bjugstad and Quinton Howden, for sure.

5. Chicago Blackhawks. OK, the Hawks lit up Luongo in the playoffs, but do you really think they’re comfortable with Corey Crawford and Ray Emery? They would have to divest themselves of a contract, though. Say Niklas Hjalmarsson on defence, who is overpriced at $3.75 million because he gives them no offence.

The Canucks could buy out Luongo at two-thirds of that $47.2 million left which is $31.5 million spread over 20 years (or double what’s left on his contract), but that’s unlikely.

Would Luongo, who has about the same goals-against average (2.50) in regular-season as playoffs, want to play in Toronto, where there’s huge pressure, as much as in Vancouver, only different microscope?

Who’s Hot: Rostislav Klesla has four points in the first four playoff games on the Phoenix blue-line after just 13 in 65 league games.

Who’s Not: Patrick Marleau. The Sharks all-time playoff points leader, didn’t have a single point in the first four games against St. Louis.

Marquee Matchups:

Sunday: Kings are in Vancouver to see if they can put away the Canucks after a stumble in Game 4 in Los Angeles.

Sunday: Can the Capitals knock off the defending Stanley Cup Bruins to win this series in six?

Larionov guides young Russians

Hall of Famer Igor Larionov has always taken players under his wing — Pavel Bure in Vancouver, Sergei Fedorov in Detroit. Now that he’s the agent for Nail Yakupov, who could be playing here, and Alex Galchenyuk, another Russian-born forward who could go in the top eight in this June’s draft, it’s more of the same. If they’ve got questions, he’s got answers.

“So is Yakupov really like Bure?” Larionov, the player agent, is asked?

“Well, that’s what he says,” Larionov said.

Larionov played with the mercurial Bure twice, actually — in Larionov’s final season in Vancouver, and when he had a brief stay in Florida. In Igor’s mind, there’s only one Bure, who should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame (HHOF) too, but so far hasn’t got a key to the door. Nobody was faster running on his skates than Bure, few players more hungry to score goals.

“So does Yakupov get as many breakaways,” Larionov is asked.

“No,” Larionov said with a laugh. “They do play similar styles. I would say Nail has his own identity, though.”

Larionov has always been an interesting fellow from the time he refused to bend under the tyrannical weight of Viktor Tikhonov’s Soviet regime. He came to the NHL at 29, squeezed in 921 games, won three Stanley Cup rings, became a wine merchant, was elected to the HHOF in 2008 and is now a hockey agent living outside Detroit. His daughter, Alyonka, has worked for TSN. His son, Igor II, is 13 and while the Hall of Famer was one of the game’s greatest playmaking centres, his son has been playing left wing for the hugely successful Detroit Honeybaked rep team that former NHLers Kevin Hatcher and Pat Peake coach.

“I wanted to get him used to playing along the boards,” Larionov said of the powerhouse Honeybaked club.

“Best team in the U.S. Paul Coffey’s team in Toronto is the best in Canada.”

Larionov steadfastly says we shouldn’t be concerned that Yakupov, who played junior in Sarnia, would decide he’d rather play in the Kontinental League, even if the money’s better.

“It’s a good question, but I don’t think it’ll happen. He’s been in the locker-room in Detroit (seeing the Red Wings), seeing the (NHL) atmosphere. He’s learning the (English) language. At this point, I can tell you all his thoughts are to play in the NHL,” said Larionov.

“I just had a call from (Oilers GM) Steve Tambellini (scouting the world under-18 championship) and we will sit down at the NHL Combine.”

Tambellini worked for the Canucks when Larionov was there, so there is a connection.

Larionov had the estimable Don Baizley as his NHL agent and has been working with Ian Pulver, Sam Gagner’s agent. Most people thought he’d be joining an NHL club in upper management or some team’s coaching staff, but that hasn’t happened for the 51-year-old.

Lidstrom nears finish

I don’t know if this is it for Detroit Red Wings veteran defenceman Nick Lidstrom, but the great ones want to go out with a bang, not a whimper if they’ve still got some game left. He’s not going to win an eighth Norris Trophy this year (it’ll be Erik Karlsson or Zdeno Chara, most likely), but he’ll likely still finish in the top five in voting with his 42nd birthday on April 28.

It was eye-opening to see the Red Wings captain with no points in the five-game ouster to the Nashville Predators, though. When has that ever happened?

Of course, he was having his ankle shot up with painkiller just so he could jam his foot into a skate and play those 20-plus minutes after suffering a bad bone bruise late in the season.

Lidstrom’s mantra has been the same for years now — he’ll think about it and give GM Ken Holland a call before the draft — but there are disquieting signs that this might be it.

His best buddy, Tomas Holmstrom, the guy he’s driven to Joe Louis Arena with for years and years, is probably retiring because he has little left in his tank. He can also see some definite erosion with the Wings who have now been bounced in the first or second round the last three years. There’s some old legs on this team, and not just Lidstrom’s.

If he quits, he’ll leave as one of the two nicest guys in hockey — Lidstrom and Teemu Selanne. No media guy has ever got the cold shoulder from Lidstrom. If he quits, he’s also going down as the best defenceman since Bobby Orr.

“Why would he quit when he’s still good?” said coach Mike Babcock, joking that his wife wouldn’t want him hanging around the house.

We’ve all seen some great ones hang on too long, so we’re watching them struggle. I don’t see that with Lidstrom, who will leave before any of us say “how could that guy go around Nick?”

Torres’s future now in question

Brendan Shanahan didn’t just throw the book at Raffi Torres, he threw the entire library at him with that 25-game suspension.

At first I wondered what would happen if Torres only had a one-year contract with the Coyotes—like who would sign him again knowing he’d have to sit for a long stretch? But he has another year with the Desert Dogs at $1.75 million. The question though, as Larry Brooks so aptly tweeted, was (Joel) Quenneville’s ($10,000) fine rescinded? Coach Q said it was a disgrace that the zebras all missed Torres’ hit on Marian Hossa. He was right, but freedom of speech doesn’t count when you have an opinion about the officials. Never understood why.

This ’n’ That:

• Jordin Tootoo hasn’t taken his inactivity in the playoffs (four games sitting) very well, even though there’s a surplus of forwards in Nashville. He wants his team to win, and they did knock off the Wings, but wants to be part of it. In his one game, he played just six minutes. “I’ve been here in every playoff game in the past. Then at the beginning of this series, you’re told you’re not playing and it’s what the (expletive),” said the frustrated Tootoo, whose spot has been taken by waiver pickup Brandon Yip. Colin Wilson, their top pick in 2008, hasn’t played a single game. He’s prime trade bait this summer.

• One of the reasons Teemu Selanne keeps coming back to play: he’s got three sons 15, 14 and 11, who go to the games and want to talk hockey. It keeps him young. Selanne’s 66 points would have led a third of the teams in scoring. Selanne doesn’t know if he will be at Ducks camp in the fall. Betting is he’ll be there because the Ducks aren’t in a rebuild.

• Lost in Nashville’s strong opening-round series with Detroit: no Hal Gill on their defence. They got him as a shutdown guy, but he’s either got a bad bone bruise or a small break because he hasn’t played yet in the playoffs.

• Every time I watch little Andy McDonald competing and putting up points (seven going into Saturday’s play), battling back from a series of concussions, I think of Ducks assistant GM David McNab, the ace college bird-dog. It was McNab who convinced his employers to sign the five-foot-11, 185-pound centre out of Colgate in 2000. The school in central New York state touts alumni like Andy Rooney.

• So do we put Phoenix goalie Mike Smith in the Canadian Olympic team mix for 2014 now? Or do we need a larger sample than this season when he got the Coyotes to the playoffs under the tutelage of Sean Burke? Maybe we need to see him do it again next year, but the Kingston, Ont.-born Smith, who just turned 30, is a battler.

• Player to definitely keep an eye on: the Ducks have a little Finnish defenceman Sami Vatanen (five-foot-10, 163 pounds) that some observers say is the best offensive blueliner since Rexi Ruotsalainen. He had 42 points in 49 games last year in the Finnish top league, playing for JyP Ht Jyvaskyla.

• This was probably Brad Stuart’s last game as a Red Wing. Bet on him signing as a free-agent in San Jose, where his family has been living for a few years while he played in Detroit. The Wings have lots of kids coming—Brendan Smith on defence and Gustav Nyqvist, Jan Mursak, Calle Jarnkrok, Riley Sheahan and Teemu Pulkkinen up front—but they might move Jiri Hudler, never one of Mike Babcock’s favourites. The Wings missed Darren Helm (skate slash on forearm) the most because they had no third line presence without him. This is GM Ken Holland’s challenge now: rebuild, on the fly, and either trade or sign some role players with more bite. They could use a Cal Clutterbuck on their team and he might be available.

• So if goalie Braden Holtby is the real deal, what do the Caps do in the off-season? Do they let veteran Tomas Vokoun walk after signing him to that one-year $1.5 million contract or do they see if a team wants Michal Neuvirth as Colorado did with Semyon Varlamov last summer and they got a first-rounder out of the Avs? I suspect, they’ll let Vokoun, 36 in July, leave even if he won more games (25) and played more (48) than any goalie this season, with a 2.51 avg. Wonder if the Kings would like Vokoun as a strong backup to Jon Quick next year if they deal Jonathan Bernier? ... Who knew that Holtby would be outplaying Timmy Thomas in the Bruins’ series. Thomas is a joy for media guys looking to fill a notebook but he doesn’t look good on Troy Brouwer’s winner after the game before saying his forwards have to get more traffic in front of Holtby—not exactly throwing them under the bus, but showing them the door to the bus.

• Every time the Danny Briere Flyers’ line with Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds steps on the ice the last two games, they’re getting scored on by the Penguins. They’re minus 16 as group. Simmonds, in particular, hasn’t been nearly as good in the playoffs as he was in regular season.

• Marty Brodeur has 11 career playoff points, which is one more than Marek Malik had in 65 games, if you remember the defensive D-man.

One disturbing thing for the Flyers. They haven’t scored an even-strength goal in almost 140 minutes in the Penguins’ series, only power plays and how long can they go to that well?

• Who knew we’d be talking more about Gabriel Bourque than Rene Bourque in the playoffs? Maybe the scouts didn’t blow Gabriel’s horn because his skating was suspect in their eyes but he had three goals for the Predators against Detroit. He’s no relation to Ray, by the way. The Preds scouts were just as lukewarm as everybody else, though. He was their ninth pick in 2009. I don’t imagine they brought a sweater and namebar BOURQUE to the draft at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Matty’s Short Shifts:

• The Wings lack of offensive pop against Nashville hammered home their need to sign Zach Parise this summer as an unrestricted free agent. He’s their No. 1 target, with Preds’ defenceman Ryan Suter No. 2 on their list, especially if Lidstrom decides to quit. One disquieting thing for the Wings: they just resigned Todd Bertuzzi for two more years but people were only talking about him when he fought Shea Weber in Game 2 to avenge Weber’s rude handling of Henrik Zetterberg and when Bert reportedly told security people some Preds’ players couldn’t play on Detroit’s ping-pong table before one game.

• Derek Laxdal loves working with the Oil Kings and has done a fantastic job with the kids but with every win in the playoffs you wonder whether pro people outside of Edmonton are noticing. The Dallas Stars are looking for an AHL farm coach in Austin and the New York Islanders just let two assistants go, including former Swift Current Broncos coach-GM Dean Chynoweth. Laxdal used to coach the Stars’ ECHL club in Idaho. He was drafted by the Leafs the same year (1984) as Isles’ head coach Jack Capuano and they played together in Newmarket (Ont.) and Springfield.

• Is Quebec Remparts centre Mikhail Grigorenko, who was badly outplayed by 16-year-old Halifax centre Nathan MacKinnon in the Mooseheads playoff rally, this June’s Sean Couturier, dropping in the eyes of the scouts, and still there at No. 8? Grigorenko was the acknowledged No. 2 behind Yakupov for months, but his stock has dropped with scouts wondering about his compete level.

• Tom Gilbert went from being a top 4 D-men here to No. 1 dog in Minnesota, playing 27 minutes on average in his 20 games there after the trade deadline deal for Nick Schultz. “Gilbert’s the reason they didn’t get a draft lottery pick,” said a source close to the Wild. “He was incredibly good. They won some games down the stretch because of him.” The Wild will pick seventh in June.

• Hawks’ president John McDonough is a hands-on guy, also likes results, and with the Hawks struggling badly will he have anything to say about coach Joel Quenneville? The Hawks win the Cup in 2010, but go out in round one in 2011 and struggle against the Coyotes this year. Somebody’s going to pay for this, even if they’re making bundles of money (22,000 and change for Game 4 vs. the Coyotes). It shouldn’t be Coach Q, but he might take the fall even though the problem with the Hawks pretty much all year has been very ordinary goaltending.

• Is it possible that Tim Thomas could be available next summer too if the Bruins go out in round one and they don’t want to pay his $5 million. They do have Tuukka Rask waiting in the wings. Who would you rather have? Thomas at $5 mil for one year or Luongo at $5.33 mil cap hit for 10 more years?

• Would you rather Should be interesting to see if defenceman Seth Jones, son of the former NBAer Popeye Jones, goes to Everett next year. Jones, who could go in the top three in the 2013 draft, has had a sparkling world under 18 tournament in the Czech Republic.

• Paul Kariya is 36 and while doctors have given him a clean bill of health after his concussion issues, they’ve also told him “why put yourself through the possibility of another one?” He’s retired, has a new house in southern California and is trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. If he wants to get into NHL management, there will be a lineup for his services. He’s a very sharp guy.

• Unless you’re a major junior junkie (or the ace guys Dean Millard and Guy Flaming on The Pipeline Show, the best information you’ll find on junior and college), nobody pays a ton of attention to the WHL bantam draft. But with Derrick Pouliot (Portland), Morgan Rielly (Moose Jaw), Griffin Reinhart (Oil Kings) and Matthew Dumba (Red Deer) going 1 through 4 in 2009, and all four D-men possibly going in the top 12 in this June’s NHL draft, maybe we should give the bantam draft a closer gander. This year, Matthew Barzal and Frank Musil’s boy Adam, who both play at Burnaby Winter Club where RNH got his start, could go 1-2. Both forwards. Barzal sounds like the second coming of RNH; Adam a winger unlike his brother David and dad who like defence, sounds like a Gabriel Landeskog type. “I know Barzal a bit. My brother’s a trainer for his bantam team. Not the biggest player (159 pounds) but he’s very shifty,” said RNH.

• Josh Harding’s stock as a free-agent July 1 is only middling because he’s hurt so often and with Niklas Backstrom’s 35-year-old body starting to break down, they will be looking for a veteran backup this summer. They’re not likely to bring up Matt Hackett from the farm yet. In fact, they may like former Red Deer Rebels’ goalie Darcy Kuemper, who’s had shoulder surgery, as much as Hackett. Wouldn’t it be interesting if they brought back Dwayne Roloson? He’d love it, and his play in the last month in Tampa shows he’s still got some game left, even turning 43 in October.

By the numbers:

11: Jordan Staal has been deadly, connecting six times on 11 shots.

11: The Predators outscored the Wings 11-4 even-strength in their playoff series win.

He Said It:

“Was my dad keeping track of the stats?”

Zach Parise on hearing he led the Devils with five hits against Florida in Game 4.

BABCOCK HOPES TEAM MAKES SPLASH IN FREE AGENCY

ASSOCIATED PRESS, 4/22/2012


DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings have slipped from being regarded as an elite NHL team, getting knocked out of the playoffs in the first round after consecutive second-round exits.

Just three years ago, the team was a win away from repeating as Stanley Cup champions and seemed set up to sustain the success it and its fans have gotten used to for a couple decades.

Detroit coach Mike Babcock believes a splash-making summer could restore the franchise's glory.

"We have tons of money and if we can use our cap space to get high-end free agents, we have a shot to get right back on top," Babcock said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, two days after Nashville eliminated Detroit. "If we're fortunate in free agency, we won't have to look at going in another direction.

"The standard here has always been to chase the Stanley Cup, so as a coach, I'm hoping the free-agent market helps us continue to have those goals."

The Red Wings led the NHL in points a couple months ago, but injuries to several players led to them slipping enough to be the fifth-seeded team in the Western Conference playoffs with a tough matchup against the fourth-seeded Predators.

"We never recovered," Babcock said. "We never really got Darren Helm back and that hurt the balance we had on our third and fourth lines. Teams could check Z (Henrik Zetterberg) and Pav (Pavel Datsyuk) like crazy and get away with it."

Detroit didn't have enough depth up front and had too many miscues on the back end against the Predators.

"When you make defensive mistakes and you don't score your problems are magnified," Babcock said.

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It's neat to see people progress in the coaching careers. I went through the first NCCP / Hockey Canada 'new' Level 4 & 5 certification as a member of ten coaches. It started back in 1992 or 1994 (my memory gets challenged the older I get!) We were dubbed, "The 10-4 Group." Mike was part of this cohort. I roomed with him in Kamloops and helped deliver a couple of the Level 4 tasks on exercise physiology and planning back in the mid 1990's (when Kamloops hosted the M Cup.)

Fast forward to the early 2000's. Mike came to present to a new group of HP 2 coaches (replacing the Level 4 / 5 program) in Calgary. He told everyone a story about how he hated it when cell phones went off during team meetings; so much so that he fined (NHL) guys $500 if it happened. Coaches in the room look around, and turn off their phones. So he starts into his presentation and a cell phone starts ringing. Mike gets pissed off, stops talking and looks out at the group. Everybody dives for their phones to make sure it isn't theirs... it becomes obvious that it is coming from the front of the room... from Mike's jacket!!!! OOPS! Mike sheepishly apologized and said, "Drinks are on me tonight boys. My fault I didn't turn off my phone."

So we were having a beer with Mike and a few other coaches at a local pub that night (taking advantage of his offer to cover the tab!) - It was while he was coaching Anaheim - and free agency had just opened. He received a phone call, jumped up and said"Gotta go!" and he paid the tab on his way out. We found out a day later it was his GM calling to let him know about a a big signing. Can't remember who it was now but it was a significant move at the time.

Funny stuff!