MINOR HOCKEY: Youth bodychecking myth dispelled

HAYLEY MICK, The Globe and Mail, Jun. 13 2012


Hockey players who learn to bodycheck at a young age have the same risk of serious head and neck injuries as those who start checking later, a new study from the University of Alberta has found.

The study, published this month by the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicinein an early online release, adds to a growing body of research that counters the popular theory that children who learn to bodycheck sooner will learn to be more skilled at it, reducing their risk of injury as they advance through minor hockey.

“There are circles out there who would say that if you introduce bodychecking earlier, such as atom [ages 9 and 10], it's more of a learned skill and bodychecking becomes more instinctive, and therefore there are less injuries as you go on,” lead author Andrew Harris said. “But with our study we didn't find that. There was no significant difference.”

In an analysis of emergency room visits by Edmonton-area hockey players, the researchers showed that the group who started bodychecking as young as 10 were just as likely to suffer fractures, concussions and other serious head and neck injuries as those who started checking one year later.

After receiving the new study, Hockey Edmonton general manager Dean Hengel said the association would not be increasing its bodychecking age-limit from the peewee level, (11 and 12).

“Our programs are running in compliance with the Hockey Canada bylaws, and the rules of hockey as defined and accepted by Hockey Canada. As it sits today, we will have bodychecking in peewee hockey,” he said.

Red flags raised by similar studies have influenced policy changes in minor hockey leagues across North America. Calgary's 24 minor-hockey association presidents will vote on June 23 on a proposal to ban bodychecking at the peewee level. Quebec does not allow bodychecking in peewee games. Ontario has eliminated it from all levels in house league programs and some B.C. regions have banned it from recreational leagues.

Last year, USA Hockey banned bodychecking in peewee games nationwide.

Some critics have called for Hockey Canada to amend its rule, which says peewee is the youngest age that bodychecking is allowed. With age limits varying between regions, they argue a national standard must be set.

That way, it would avoid run-ins between players who are used to bodychecking and those who are not – possibly including peewee players from Calgary and Edmonton, starting in September.

However, Hockey Canada's vice-president of hockey development, Paul Carson, said a change is not in the works – and it's up to individual associations to decide whether to increase the age limit. ”Everybody has to take a look at the information that is available,” he said.

The Alberta study gathered injury emergency room data from Edmonton, Le Duc and St. Albert spanning 13 hockey seasons from 1997 through 2010. They split them into two groups: one before and one after a 2002 policy change which lowered the age requirement for minor hockey levels by one year. In some jurisdictions, this resulted in the introduction of bodychecking for players as young as 9 and 10.

Harris pointed out that other studies have shown that injury rates surge when bodychecking is introduced to the game – regardless of age group. They include a 2010 study by University of Calgary researchers, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, who found bodychecking more than triples the risk of concussion and other serious injuries in peewee hockey.

Donald Voaklander, study co-author and director of the University of Alberta's Centre for Injury Control and Research, said he would like to see bodychecking introduced at the bantam level, partly because there is less variation in the body sizes of 13 and 14 year olds. But, he said he would expect some pushback, particularly as it pertains to elite athletes.

“It's hard with the Double-A and Triple-A, because every parent and every coach think they're going to be the coach that coached that guy who's the next Wayne Gretzky, ” he said. “You don't get a lot of parents and coaches at that level saying you need to reduce injuries.”

JETS RE-SIGN ASSISTANT COACHES AND ADD PEARN TO STAFF

Canadian Press, 6/14/2012


WINNIPEG -- It's a bit of a homecoming for new assistant Winnipeg Jets coach Perry Pearn, who cut his NHL teeth with the old Jets just before they left for Phoenix in 1996.

"I didn't want to leave when I left the last time," Pearn said Thursday at a press conference to announce his hiring. "I really enjoyed the year I coached there."

He was an assistant to head coach Terry Simpson in 1995-96 but left for the Ottawa Senators when the Jets headed south.

He admits that at the time, returning to Winnipeg within the NHL was something he thought would never be in the cards, with the way things were heading in the league for smaller-market teams.

"I always knew the fan base was there and the city loved the team but financially, the way the league had gone . . . smaller centres, even a team like Ottawa when I was there, were going through problems.

"To see where the league has come and to see what happened last year in Winnipeg was absolutely fantastic."

Pearn, 61, lost his assistant coaching job early last season with the struggling Montreal Canadiens, although he remained with them as a scout for the remainder of his contract.

It still rankles a bit, although he says coaches know what to expect.

"Obviously I was really disappointed with how things ended there. I felt like the first two years as a staff we had done a very good job as of maximizing the talent we were working with.

"The biggest disappointment for me was the lack of patience, eight games in the kind of decision that was made just seemed to be a bit premature."

But he was happy at the chance it provided for him to see a lot of teams he hadn't seen much of in the West.

"One of the teams I got a chance to see a number of times was the Winnipeg Jets. . . When you coach in the East as long as I have, you start to lose contact (with the West)."

He already has lots of connections to the Jets and Winnipeg.

His daughter lives in the city and he once coached Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff. He has remained friends with assistant GM Craig Heisinger.

Head coach Claude Noel says he's pleased to add someone with Pearn's extensive experience to his staff, although his exact role hasn't yet been determined.

"To me it was very simple to make the decision this would be a smart addition to our staff," he said.

"At the end of the day this gives a better opportunity to win and his experience is very valuable."

The Jets also announced they had extended the contracts of their other assistant coaches -- Charlie Huddy and Pascal Vincent, as well as goaltending coach Wade Flaherty and video coach Tony Borgford.

They also extended the contract of St. John's IceCaps assistant coach Mark Morrison.

In the NHL, Pearn has been an assistant coach with the Ottawa Senators, New York Rangers and Canadiens. He spent three seasons with the Canadiens alongside Jacques Martin and worked as an assistant to Martin with the Senators from 1996-2004.

He also spent almost two decades at the university level, in the Western Hockey League and with Hockey Canada, as a gold-medal winning assistant coach and head coach with junior teams.

Oilers should consider AHL’s Jon Cooper for coaching job

Jim Matheson, Postmedia News, Jun 14, 2012


Jon Cooper used to stand before the bench as a lawyer, now he stands behind one.

And if he used to defend people, nobody has to defend his record as a hockey coach.

Everywhere he coaches, he wins. Midget AAA in Michigan, junior in two different leagues, in the pros with the Norfolk Admirals in the American Hockey League. He’s a rising star.

Would the Edmonton Oilers ever hire Cooper? Who knows?

He grew up in Prince George, went to school in the U.S. on a lacrosse scholarship, worked on Wall Street, then got his law degree and opened his own practice, before hockey took over his life and he decided to do it full-time about nine years ago.

At the least, the Oilers should be interviewing the young bright coach.

The Oilers are keeping their coach search ultra secret, although one of the leading candidates, Brent Sutter, has not had an interview with Oilers since working the bench for Canada at the world championship in May. Oilers team president Kevin Lowe was Canada’s general manager.

Oilers associate coach Ralph Krueger, who could very well be the front-runner because he knows the team and the players, is still waiting for a decision, too.

As for Cooper, his team just won the AHL championship in Norfolk, Va., — 28 wins in a row in league play from Super Bowl Sunday on, and they finished it off with 10 straight wins in the playoffs, winning 43 of their last 46 games. He hasn’t been told that another team wants to talk to him, but, while he loves working for the Tampa Bar Lightning and is grateful for the opportunity to coach their farm club, surely an NHL feeler will come. If not the Oilers, then the Washington Capitals, also looking for a head coach.

“My name is hot right now because of what we’ve done and how we did it, but I haven’t formally been contacted by anybody,” Cooper said.

Cooper, 44, is one interesting study, though. He went to Notre Dame College in Saskatchewan for three years at 15 in the mid 1980s. Two years of midget hockey, one of juvenile.

“I was a pretty good player when I left my town (Prince George), then got to Wilcox and found out I wasn’t so good,” he said, laughing.

“It was long enough ago that there was no Zamboni. We would scrape the ice … we’d get eight scrapers, making circles around the ice, then the other guys would come and shovel the snow out, then the rink manager would come out with a huge tub of hot water and spray the ice.”

Cooper went back to Prince George and got a lacrosse scholarship to Hofstra University, on Long Island, N.Y., playing NCAA Division 1. After graduating with a business degree, he went to Wall Street, working for Prudential Securities for 2-1/2 years. Then he decided he was going to law school in East Lansing, Mich.

“I actually thought I might want to be an agent,” said Cooper

“That’s where the coaching started. I was coaching for free (while a lawyer),” said Cooper.

One year of high school, one year as a part-time assistant on a Tier 11 junior team, then a head coach in junior B, then a head coach for the Detroit Honeybaked midget AAA team, coaching current Buffalo Sabres forward Nathan Gerbe and Ottawa Senators forward Erik Condra.

“My law practice went from going, going, going, making some money to coaching all the time. I was barely practising law and the passion got shifted.”

He got an opportunity to coach and be a GM in the North American Hockey League (Tier II junior) for a team owned by Kelly Chase and Brett Hull and others that was first in Texarkana, Texas, then moved to St. Louis. He won two titles in his five years there going 223-93-17.

He then got a job with the Green Bay Ramblers, in the United States Hockey League, usually a stepping stone for kids going the U.S. college route. He loved his time there, in the football-mad city, going from rock-bottom 32 points to 82 in his first USHL year. He was 84-27-9 there.

Then, out of the blue, the Lightning phoned late in the summer of 2010.

Steve Yzerman had just come on board as Tampa Bay GM. He’d hired Julien Brisebois as his assistant and Guy Boucher as his coach — both from the Montreal Canadiens organization. The AHL farm job was open, they were scrambling, and somehow Cooper got an interview.

“Somebody put my name up to them because they didn’t know who I was. I got a resume together. Next thing I get a call, I interview for a day and 24 hours later they called back and offered me the job. That’s when I nearly fell over. I was like ‘what?’ ” said Cooper.

“I’ve learned so much as a coach (Norfolk, two years, 94-44-10-8). Pro is a completely different animal. In pro hockey you go in and throw a newspaper on the locker-room floor and the older guys grab the financial section, the younger guys grab the comics and all the other guys grab the sports,” he said jokingly.

The Norfolk team stormed to this spring’s AHL title like a runaway train, virtually unbeatable from February on.

“What was unreal to me was in that 28-game streak, we won 20 straight games in regulation,” he said.

The players bought in, the wins started coming, and it amazingly never stopped. They beat St. John’s IceCaps (Winnipeg Jets farm club) four straight in the Eastern conference final and the Toronto Marlies (Maple Leafs affiliate) four in a row in the AHL final to capture the Calder Cup.

The Lighting have some very good talent coming — Cory Conacher, Mike Barberio, Mike Kostka, Ondrej Palat, Richard Panik, Tyler Johnson and Dustin Tokarski in goal. According to Cooper, they should all play in the NHL.

“It was hard to describe. Yes, we lost on Super Bowl Sunday and we had a closed-door meeting, with video, with the players not getting undressed. It was a reality check to decide what we were. But I’ve had those (coach getting mad) things before and we didn’t go and win 28 straight after that,” he said.

Now Cooper is the hottest thing since Boucher when the Lightning beat out the Columbus Blue Jackets to hire him. His team celebrated with a $10,000 bar tab at the Madison Avenue Pub in Toronto, and the Calder Cup’s been on display in Norfolk since.

“On the beach, by the Atlantic Ocean. Doesn’t get much better than that,” said Cooper.

Cooper has time left on his Tampa Bay contract, either one or two years, and the Lightning would have to let him leave. But, they probably wouldn’t stand in his way. The Oilers have said they’d like to have somebody hired around the June 22-23 draft weekend. But, really, there’s no hurry on any coaching hire.

“Look at Peter DeBoer, he didn’t get hired (New Jersey) until right before the season started. He made the finals,” said Cooper.

Rick Nash's potential suitors, plus 30 Thoughts

Elliotte Friedman, CBC.ca Sports, June 18, 2012


As the hockey world begins its descent on Pittsburgh (with a short stop in Vegas for some), all eyes are on the two teams at the top of the draft.

Edmonton and Columbus exert great control over the weekend activities, with the Oilers holding the number-one selection. Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets own both the second pick and Rick Nash, who will be at the centre of the trade rumour storm.

Scott Howson's always maintained he will be patient and not deal Nash until he gets what he wants. He proved that at the trade deadline. He's going to be tempted here, though. One rival executive (a non-GM) says he's heard Howson's "been flooded" with phone calls over the past two weeks.

But, those two teams can't have all the fun. There are plenty of clubs looking for defencemen and others with an excess. Through an incredibly informal poll of NHL front-office types, here are those to be watched:

SAN JOSE: Doug Wilson loves Canada, but is no fan of July 1. He's called it "inflationary" on several occasions. However, Wilson knows his team needs improvement. The Sharks struggled to make the playoffs, only to be wiped out by St. Louis.

San Jose's got a good fan base, but the organization knows it must be a contender. The average ticket price is just below $50 US (according to Team Marketing Report) and the last time the Sharks missed the playoffs, season subscribers dropped by about 3,000. Reloading is essential for competitive and financial reasons.

They love Nash, but aren't willing to trade Logan Couture to get him.

Wilson is one of those GMs who likes to kick tires. He makes a lot of calls. But his peers think he's seriously interested in some roster surgery.

PHILADELPHIA: Paul Holmgren turned the 2011 draft on its ear with the Mike Richards/Jeff Carter deals. Don't know if they will be in on the Nash derby at the end, but the GM with "the biggest, brassest ones in the NHL" (according to one compatriot) is worth keeping an eye on.

Holmgren told reporters Monday he's "fairly certain" he can re-sign Matt Carle, but Chris Pronger's future remains uncertain.

"Philly is looking for a defenceman," said one exec.

PITTSBURGH: Hometown team+playoff unhappiness=GM ready to move. Sidney Crosby's contract and Jordan Staal's future are sexy topics, but what Ray Shero wants to do on defence may dictate things. Matt Niskanen declined his qualifying offer, so there's one necessary negotiation. Other teams believe the Penguins think Simon Despres and Robert Bortuzzo are ready for duty, which creates the possibility of an extra body or two.

In a league where many teams are looking for defensive help, how will Shero alleviate this logjam?

CAROLINA: Jim Rutherford is stepping up to the plate like Mark McGwire circa 1998. He wants to create buzz around a team he thinks has something brewing under Kirk Muller's core of Cam Ward, Eric Staal and Jeff Skinner. There are other names to include -- Brandon Sutter, Jamie McBain, Justin Faulk among them -- but if improvement happens via trade, Rutherford's going to have to give up something to get something.

Jordan Staal is the obvious name, but there's no guarantee Pittsburgh is dealing him yet. You could certainly see Carolina making a play for Nash. If there's an impact forward available, Rutherford will try to get him.

RANGERS: If Nash ends up in Manhattan for a big price, the Blue Jackets should buy Zach Parise a new Tourbillon every Christmas. Parise's declaration he won't go to the Rangers eliminated Glen Sather's biggest bargaining chip against Columbus. Even if New York decides not to go the Nash route, it will be in the market for a scorer.

This team is close. Nash would be expected to play to his Olympic level for a new team. If he delivered that, are the Rangers good enough to win? You could make a very convincing case.

30 THOUGHTS

1. Three other teams received several votes: Minnesota, Detroit and Chicago. But, the guess is they will wait to see what they get in free agency before making serious cap commitments. Everyone's expecting the Wild and Red Wings to jump in with both feet, but it's interesting that opponents consider the Blackhawks a player, too.

2. One CBA note: The NHLPA's Executive Board (30 player reps and alternates) meets next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Chicago. At that meeting (or shortly thereafter) the Negotiating Committee will be revealed. And that's when negotiations will start -- finally.

3. Holmgren's comments about Matt Carle stand out because there is a lot of talk the player's preference is to move closer to his western-based family, barring the Corleone offer he can't refuse. His twitter account (@mattcarle25) is the best Alaskan tourism ad in existence and brother David works for the University of Denver's hockey program. (Congratulations to David on his graduation, four years after his playing career ended due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.)

4. Ryan Suter's agent, Neil Sheehy, denied similar reports, that his client is not interested in the Eastern Conference. Do think Suter wants to go somewhere relatively quiet and Philly does not qualify. Not everyone is built for daily cross-examination. Some larger markets with good hockey fans and less intense coverage (Detroit, for example) do fit.

5. If you're Nashville, your best hope with Suter is looking at him like he's about to get an offer sheet. Whatever someone gives him on July 1, you want to believe, "We're going to get a chance to match." It's a difficult position to be in, because, sometimes a player gets such a good pitch that he just decides to go.

6. Darren Dreger reported that Jaromir Jagr will test free agency. He had a very good season and exposure to him benefitted the Flyers' young players. The only drawback may be that both Detroit and Pittsburgh found negotiating with him last year to be an excruciating experience.

7. The Toronto Star's Damien Cox reported the Maple Leafs are no longer on Nash's trade list. Can't confirm that, but do believe this: the two teams discussed a trade, but realized there was no match.

8. Think other teams may be asking George McPhee if he's interested in trading the rights to Evgeny Kuznetsov.

9. Asked a couple of GMs if they'd heard Evander Kane is available. Both said no. Is it possible the relationship is strained? Yes sir, but trading a 20-year-old 30-goal scorer is risky business. Both GMs did say they would absolutely be interested if Kane got to the market.

10. While all of the attention in Edmonton is on the number one pick, the organization is very curious to see how Taylor Fedun fares at the team's summer development camp. If he gets back to the level showed before his serious leg injury, he's an important piece of the defensive puzzle. The returning Craig MacTavish gets credit for finding Fedun, but two others should be mentioned: head scout Morey Gare and assistant GM Rick Olczyk. Olcyzk, who played at Brown, was a big believer in Ivy League hockey and tracked Fedun during the latter's freshman season at Princeton. That helped the Oilers as Philadelphia closed hard. How can anyone cheer against a Fedun comeback?

11. Curious to see where MacTavish's role takes him. He'll have significant input in a lot of areas, so this could be a path to being GM. And, if you ask others what his greatest strength is, it's recognizing who can play and who can't. He's got a great eye for that. But, one exec made a very interesting comparison between him and Larry Robinson. Robinson's gone back behind the New Jersey bench a couple of times (now as an assistant) because he's comfortable there. Would MacTavish eventually do the same thing in Edmonton?

12. As this is written (Sunday night), I have no idea who the Oilers will take first. But, the best policy is always this: take who you think is the best player, regardless of position. Before the 1984 NBA Draft, everyone knew Houston was taking Hakeem Olajuwon first. Portland, picking second, felt it had no room for Michael Jordan because Clyde Drexler was already in the lineup. The Blazers needed a centre, and Bob Knight (who coached Jordan at the Olympics) blew up at their GM, Stu Inman, saying they should take His Airness anyway and play him at centre if they had to. They didn't, and it's arguably the most spectacular draft blunder ever. If it's Nail Yakupov, take him. If not, take Ryan Murray or whoever else. Always make sure you get the guy you want.

13. At this point, there seems to be more interest in trading down than up. That may change as things unfold Friday night, but there don't seem to be a ton of guys who can help now. Therefore, teams may try to get multiple picks later in the first or during the second.

14. That's basically what David Poile did in securing two 2012 second-round selections as part of the Anders Lindback trade with Tampa. There was at least one other serious suitor, which allowed Poile to drive up the price and include Kyle Wilson. Wilson had a two-way contract in 2011-12 that morphs into a one-way next season (value: $550,000). The Predators can use that flexibility.

15. Steve Yzerman ended a lengthy pursuit of Cory Schneider in getting Lindback. You never know how a backup is going to handle getting a starter's job, but there is consensus this is a good bet for the Lightning. "He watched another tall goalie [Pekka Rinne] up-close the last couple of years. He worked every day with a great coach in Mitch Korn," said another team's goalie instructor. "The European goalies aren't as technically oriented as the Canadians, but they do have a great mix of technical skill, competitiveness and instinct. He knows how to use his [six-foot-six] body to make a save...He's ready to prove he's a number-one guy."

16. There is no doubt Zach Parise's first choice is to stay. However, when he talked about his future, he was two days removed from the disappointment of a Stanley Cup defeat. In that time, you're understandably emotional. Before making his final decision, he's going to need assurances the Devils' financial situation will not prevent them from being a serious contender. He badly wants to win, and, if New Jersey can't convince him that's possible, how can he remain?

17. The toughest interviews are always with a team/individual that loses a championship final because the longer you play, the harder it is to fall. Kelly Hrudey once said the only thing he remembers about the 1993 playoffs is the defeat by the Canadiens. Think about that: all the terrific things that happened to Los Angeles that year -- including maybe the greatest game of Wayne Gretzky's career -- and all you take from it is the pain of losing. That's very hard.

18. That's why Steve Bernier's willingness to show up as soon as the Devils' dressing-room door opened should never be forgotten. Ejected from the game, he refused to watch. But the crowd's eruptions told him the Kings scored three times on his penalty and he had to sit there a couple of hours before answering for it. Brutal.

19. Jarret Stoll really impressed with his post-season performance. He's a UFA, but one team that likes him assumes he stays in LA and doesn't make it to the market.

20. One of the major reasons Dean Lombardi thought a Carter/Richards reunion would work: they probably thought they'd never get a chance to play together again. "You could see how excited they were about being back together," the Kings' president/GM said. "We felt they'd be determined to prove they belonged on the same team." Good call.

21. Lombardi told a great story about how things have changed in a decade. "When we were in San Jose, we had two rules for our players if they went out: No driving and no fighting. Even if someone challenges you, it's your responsibility to walk away," he said two weeks ago. "You don't want to prevent your guys from going out once in a while and having a good time. But those were our conditions. Now, you have to add, 'No photos.' It's hard on them because cameras are everywhere, but nothing good comes from pictures."

22. The Kings will get questions about Jonathan Bernier's availability. Don't think anything happens with him until Jonathan Quick's extension is done. Lombardi didn't tip his hand, but you do get the sense the Kings believe they have a group that wants to stay together.

23. Darryl Sutter and Ron MacLean know each other very well and the Kings coach spent some time telling the HNIC host how, 33 years apart, life came full-circle for him. The summer/fall of 1978 was tough on Sutter. Disappointed that he'd fallen to the 11th round of the NHL Draft, he went to play in Japan. He told MacLean that, on Christmas Day, he sat down on the beach and decided to return to North America. On Christmas Day 2011, given a fresh start in Los Angeles, he sat on the beach in California, marvelling at everything that happened in between. If Ron was writing this blog, he'd point out how author Henry Beston said, "The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach."

24. Sutter's son Brett was probably as excited about the Kings' victory as his father. He's getting married this summer and the stag was last weekend. Can't imagine it would've been much fun if New Jersey came back and won the series.

25. Some final insight into Martin Brodeur's post-season: can anyone else find a 40-year-old goalie who's won 14 playoff games in one year? (He hit that age on May 6.) Jacques Plante won eight in 1968 and four in 1969. Gump Worsley went 11-0 at age 39 and grabbed five more wins the next year, but Rogie Vachon was the guy in the Final. Pre-expansion success for 40-year-olds is pretty slim, too. Johnny Bower won two games in Toronto's 1967 victory, and probably was older than 37 when the Maple Leafs won in 1964.

26. Couldn't help but watch Rob Scuderi and think of Filip Kuba. Both men are paired with stud defencemen, Drew Doughty and Erik Karlsson. Those guys are great players, but need an egoless partner who recognizes how to be a perfect complement. Scuderi/Kuba are exactly that. UFA Kuba appears ready to leave Ottawa, and it'll be interesting to see who the Senators view as Karlsson's next mate.

27. Can't imagine Mason Raymond is too happy with Vancouver right now, but even though history shows losing to the Kings isn't so bad, you have to look at this as a shot across the bow from management to the players. It was a disappointing end to a hopeful season. Trying to "cut down" Raymond's salary lets everyone know status quo is not going to be tolerated. Raymond probably isn't thrilled to be the example, though.

28. Same goes for Chris Stewart in St. Louis. His actual salary for 2012-13 is down by $250,000 and you have to wonder if the Blues considered the same route. The new deal was announced Friday, hours before the filing deadline for the kind of arbitration Vancouver is using. Undoubtedly, the Blues and Canucks hope this will motivate these two players.

29. Barret Jackman took a lot of abuse during the second-round defeat to LA, but his three-year, $9.5 million extension is a very fair contract. The cap hit is hardly unmanageable. One of the biggest things I've learned is that it's hard to replace players who get 20-plus minutes. Unless you know you're bringing in someone who can fill that time, you're changing roles for several guys. You have to be very careful because not everyone can adapt.

30. Garry Galley once told a story about Ray Bourque's injury during the 1990 Hartford/Boston series. Bourque went down in Game 2, not returning until Game 7. Galley said Bruins coach Mike Milbury called him in and said he would be getting all of Bourque's minutes, because he thought it was better to affect a guy he knew could handle it, as opposed to the entire blue-line. Years later, Galley said it was one of the smarter coaching moves he experienced, even though he needed a defibrillator after the series.

31. Thought a lot about Brian Burke's comments to The Toronto Star after the Luke Schenn note last week. I concede that I should have used the word "reports" instead of "rumblings" in my copy. Sometimes, in trying to avoid overuse of one word, I get too cute. I decided to write about it after seeing the Schenn-to-Edmonton note in The Montreal Gazette and The Toronto Sun. Other than that, I stand by everything written: that Burke loves the big stage; that the Oilers like Schenn and have asked about him; that other teams believe he'd be a better player out of Toronto. Burke said, "Some editorial control at Hockey Night would be nice for a change." I recognize he is sensitive about hearing his players' names mentioned in rumours. But, as a long-time GM, he knows that, by participating in the process, he does have some control over what is said, because I'm obligated to report his responses. But, for months now, he has refused to participate in the process, including to a question posed as recently as two weeks ago. It's like an election: If you don't vote, you've got no right to complain.

Hockey’s good critic retires after 58 years

The Globe and Mail, KEN DRYDEN, Jun. 19 2012


More than 20 years ago when Red Fisher turned 65, many wondered if he’d retire. He had covered the Montreal Canadiens for 38 years during which time the team had won 16 Stanley Cups. But the Canadiens were no longer a great team and hadn’t been for several years, and had just one great player on its roster to write about, goalie Patrick Roy. When Red didn’t retire, and when he didn’t retire in the years that followed, I stopped thinking he might. So recently when I got the news, I was surprised.

There shouldn’t be surprise when someone retires at 85. Yet some things seem always to have been and so always will be. Even for those living in Montreal and old enough to have followed the Canadiens before 1955, I doubt they remember it wasn’t Red Fisher they were reading, either in the Montreal Star when he began or, later, The Gazette. Game after game – through 70-game seasons and 82-game seasons; through two rounds of Stanley Cup playoffs, then three, now four; through seasons that ended in April and now end in June. From six teams to 30 teams; from a time when 100 per cent of the NHL’s players were Canadian and the Canadiens were indisputably the best. From when players were 5 foot 10 and 180 pounds, didn’t wear helmets or masks, and played two minutes, not 35 seconds, each time they hit the ice. From when a ticket cost what meat loaf and mashed potatoes cost at a local diner and players were paid like teachers and bus drivers and might live next door.

Red has lived through all this. (I call him “Red” here because he’s “Red” to anyone who knows him or knows of him; he’s “Red Fisher” to those who don’t; and he’s “Fisher” to no one). More difficult, he found something interesting to say day after day, rarely sounding bored or jaded even through the inevitable dog days of any season, of any career, of any life, and without getting himself stuck in the past where nobody’s like the Rocket, Béliveau and Lafleur and never will be.

Other journalists lived and died by the scoop. Red’s scoop was in being smarter than anyone else.

Red can be prickly. He likes to sound arrogant, though he rarely wrote that way. One time he got his comeuppance. He was reviewing Hockey Night in Moscow, a book about the 1972 Summit Series. He had good things to say about it but was disturbed by its large number of typos. The name of a former Chicago Black Hawks star was written as “Max Benley.” “That’s Bentley, Frank,” Red thundered at the author in his review. Unfortunately the author’s name was “Jack.” I thought this was hysterical – the insufferable Red caught at being insufferable – and I couldn’t wait to see him. No one had pointed out his error. I read it out to him and laughed. He has never forgotten. In his funny, cranky way, he has never forgiven.

He likes to sound cranky because he knew he was good enough and old enough to get away with it; and he likes to be cranky. But nobody can write with the freshness he did for over half a century and be truly cranky. It was his schtick. It backfired on him a bit in recent years. The best way to deal with him – for Red’s sake and for everyone else’s – was to laugh at his crankiness, to get him to laugh at himself, which if you pushed him hard enough he would – crankily. But in these later seasons he travelled with the team less often, the players and other journalists didn’t know him as well, and certainly not well enough to challenge the legend he had become – which made it even harder for them to get beyond, and for him to escape, the role he’d created for himself.

But most importantly, he was the best. It might be only a game he reported, but how he reported it wasn’t only anything. He owed it to his readers and, at the risk of sounding naive, he owed it to hockey to put all that he’d learned in those more than 5,000 games he would come to watch into everything he wrote. And he owed it to himself. He is Red Fisher. During the Canadiens’ championship years of the late 1970s, before we’d head onto the ice for a decisive playoff game, to ease the tension one player or another would say: “We gotta play it. We might as well win it.” Red’s duty, he knew, day after day was the same: “I gotta write it. I might as well do it right.”

Teams win once for sometimes random reasons. Teams win often over many years because there’s a need to win. It comes from players, coaches, managers and owners pushing, supporting, learning from each other; developing an appetite together. It comes from fans. It weakens first in players, coaches, managers and owners. They move on in their lives. It weakens last in fans.

Red spoke to the players, coaches and the rest, but most importantly he spoke to the fans. He made them smarter; they made us better. He was the keeper of the standard. He’d never let us forget the purpose of what we were doing. He’d never let us forget the best that was in us – as a player, as a team; in a game and a sport. Okay, we were lousy, but we won. So I blew that shot. It happens to everyone. That didn’t impress him. He judged you against the present, made you compete against the past and challenged you to redefine the future. He haunted you.

When I was playing poorly, pretending I wasn’t, and hoping no one would notice, Red noticed. Before a time when every game was televised, Red was also the colour commentator on radio. For road games, my wife, Lynda, listening at home always believed that as Red was speaking to the thousands of others, he was speaking directly to her. He was letting her know – the goal Ken let in that you couldn’t see really was bad. Be warned. That’s the mood that will be arriving home tonight. When finally I couldn’t find my own answers to my slump I’d wait for the morning paper and wonder what Red said. I’d argue with what he wrote; I resented what he wrote. I couldn’t escape what he wrote.

Everybody needs a good critic. Broadway theatre is better than Buffalo or Calgary theatre in important measure because of the historical memory, the standards and expectations of the good critic. A good critic won’t stand for less; in time, his or her audience won’t either. A good political critic or sports critic has the same effect. When that challenging level of criticism isn’t there, we all lose.

It’s harder for a good critic to be heard today. There are many more voices – mainstream news and sports, all-sports, all-business, all-politics and opinion channels; bloggers. The volume is louder; the tone nastier. Commentary is often abusive without being clarifying, its purpose to punish not improve. For those who are the subjects of the criticism, it’s harder to listen. For an individual, it hurts too much. For a sports, theatre or political producer, it puts at risk all that they’ve invested. They fight back with promotion and spin, and things get muddier.

“The play’s the thing,” Prince Hamlet said, but today everything that can be made the thing is the thing. Red loved to be noticed. He loved to be the best. He loved to deliver the sharp, cutting phrase. But he knew that the game was the thing. The Canadiens were the thing. He mattered but he was not the thing. He knew it was his purpose to make the next game better.

The local voice matters, the voice we don’t always agree with but that we turn to when we just don’t know. Red will not be writing any more, but what he did for 58 years is stuck in our heads. He was the good critic.

I wonder what Red thinks.

THN at the NHL Awards: Europeans reign supreme

Matt Larkin, The Hockey News, 2012-06-20


Ironic that in Las Vegas, the epicenter of American excess, the big winners at the NHL Awards had a distinctly European flavor.

The Hart and Vezina Trophies, respectively, were a long time coming for Russia’s Evgeni Malkin and Sweden’s Henrik Lundqvist. As thrilled as both players were to win the top honor for a skater and goalie, they saw the night as more of a win for the NHL than Europe.

“We don’t really take any pride in Europe against the U.S. or Canada,” Lundqvist said. “We’re in this together. We just try to promote the sport. Especially this week, it’s all about having fun, meeting the guys, getting the sport out there as much as possible.”

FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE

For Malkin – who took home not just the Hart as league MVP, but the Ted Lindsay Award for MVP as voted by the players and his second Art Ross as scoring champ – winning the night’s big prize was the culmination of his gradually adjusting to North American life in his dominant six-year career.

“Every year I’m a little bit more comfortable, more English, watch TV,” Malkin said. “I have more friends in Pittsburgh and go out with friends and teammates and I’m really comfortable right now. I enjoy to play.”

Though he said he didn’t think about winning the Hart much, he felt his game elevate this season and credited the Penguins’ handling of him for it.

“I had a great line this year beside James Neal and Chris Kunitz,” he said. “And (coach Dan Bylsma) believed in me. Power play and I play 20, 25 minutes, I know that’s a lot for me.”

On a night when international players were front and center, it was only fitting to hear ‘Geno’ was thinking ahead to the Sochi Olympics in his homeland in 2014.

“I want to come to Russia and play the Olympics and I hope NHL says yes and all best players go,” Malkin said.

KING’S LANDING

Lundqvist, the New York Rangers’ backbone, has been the NHL’s most consistent goaltender since the lockout, ranking in the top five in wins, shutouts, goals-against average and save percentage. His first Vezina was almost a pat on the back for so many years of sustained excellence. No wonder he was on Cloud Nine.

“I’m so happy right now,” Lundqvist said. “To be selected to win. To be on that list with a couple of my heroes, Patrick (Roy) and Dominik (Hasek) – Marty (Brodeur) had a great career. It feels good. It’s been a goal for me and a dream for a long time. “

Of course, ‘King Henrik’ stayed true to Swedish modesty by saying he was happy Malkin beat him for the Hart.

KARLSSON COLLECTS TROPHY, TORCH

Is 2012 Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson already on the path to challenging the seven trophies belonging to Nicklas Lidstrom, the freshly retired legend to whom he’ll endlessly be compared for years to come?

“I don’t like to look too far ahead,” Karlsson said. “I’m here right now, it’s a great feeling and something I know I want to be a part of again and I’m going to work very hard to try and do that.

It’s easy to forget Karlsson is still just 21 years old – but seeing how wide-eyed he was on awards night was a good reminder.

“I’m happy to be here, but when I got nominated I don’t really think I understood how it works and how big it was until I came here,” said Karlsson, who described himself as the most nervous he’s ever been in his life. “Once I came here and sat down and saw the first prize was mine, I didn’t really know what to do. I’ll probably have to take a look at the tape a couple of times to figure out what really happened.”

Young and green? Sure. But not immature. Karlsson sang the praises of fellow Norris finalists Zdeno Chara and Shea Weber. “I still watch them on TV like I did a couple years ago and (the award is) something I know is very rare and special and I’m very humbled,” Karlsson said.

KEN HITCHCOCK, RENAISSANCE MAN

The double-take stat of the night: hearing “first,” “Jack Adams Award” and “Ken Hitchcock” in the same sentence. Somehow, a man with a Stanley Cup, seven division titles and a .595 career points percentage had never been named the NHL’s best coach before.

Maybe ‘Hitch’ was simply evolving to this moment - the pinnacle of coaching, not just in terms of his famously tough, taskmaster style, but also his deep understanding of the space between his players’ ears.

“I study people,” Hitchcock said. “I pride myself in staying current. I like their music, I listen to their music. I like the things they think and do. I study them to understand what they’re doing. I’m not sitting and resting on my laurels.

“Five years ago, if you dealt with the players the same way you do know, you would have no success. They’ve changed a lot and you’ve got to adapt. “

Listening to Hitchcock’s goalies, Jennings Trophy winners Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak, made it clear how appreciated his progressive approach is.

“He’s genuine,” Elliott said. “What you see in the media is how he is. He’s making jokes. You’re not afraid to walk by your coach in the locker room because you lost a game. He’s been around long enough to know everything will be all right.”

Don’t count on there being an NHL season next year


ROY MacGREGOR, The Globe and Mail, Jun. 22 2012


Don’t get too excited, Saskatoon.

Or you, Regina. Or you, Barrie, Ont., for that matter.

NHL fans in Regina have circled Sept. 27 as the day the Edmonton Oilers and the New York Islanders meet in a preseason exhibition season. Two days later, the Winnipeg Jets and Boston Bruins are to play in Saskatoon. And next night the Islanders and Ottawa Senators are scheduled to meet in Barrie.

But don’t count on it.

The NHL long ago cancelled any plans for heading off to Europe or Japan for any preseason games leading into 2012-13. Now the minimum-travel North American exhibition schedule can be cancelled with a couple of phone calls – which is now considered likely to happen.

As for the regular season, announced this week to begin Thursday Oct. 11 – Vancouver Canucks at Calgary Flames, Ottawa at Montreal Canadiens – you’d be foolish to bet on that, as well.

For the better part of a year, the hockey world was convinced the Mayans were cockeyed, that the NHL wouldn’t dare repeat in 2012 what it had risked in 2004-05 and gambled halfway back in 1994-95. Owners had survived the lost half-season in the prosperous mid-1990s and had been considered to have thrived following the entirely lost season eight years ago, when they came out of the lockout with “cost certainty,” a salary cap and a reinvented game.

The popular thinking was they wouldn’t dare try that again – risk offending a fan base that might not come back as readily as fans had in 2005. Nor would the players – richer in revenue sharing than they had ever been in individual negotiation – want to bring an end to what was clearly a very good thing for them.

The NHL brags about its record revenues of $3.3-billion (all currency U.S.), but floods of money didn’t stop the NFL or the NBA from holding things up last year until rich owners could strike a better deal.

It’s well known that NHL owners are keen to rejig the split – currently 57/43 in favour of players – to something closer to 50/50, as the other leagues have managed.

They’d also like to do something about long-term contracts – entirely a situation of their own making, by the way – and come up with some mechanism for breaking free of the many that go sour. And, of course, they’d always like more leverage regarding entry-level contracts and unrestricted free agents.

But there is one area of potential conflict that gets little talked about. It has to do with the salary cap the owners fought so hard for last time around and the players eventually capitulated on in what was widely considered a triumphant romp for the owners.

Surprisingly, the owners’ concern isn’t at the top end, where the cap is expected to exceed $70-million a team in 2012-13 – shockingly up from the $39-million it was in the first year of the salary cap, 2005-06.

It lies, instead, at the lower end, the bare minimum teams must spend. This is expected to rise to $54-million this year, $15-million more than the top of the salary cap was when the current collective agreement began.

The reason this is of such concern to a number of owners is that, surprisingly, many of the more established owners are actually keener on bringing their stumbling partners in line than they are the players.

It is common knowledge that the league has had to bail out the Phoenix Coyotes and New Jersey Devils, but there are several other teams either in, or close to, serious red ink. The successful owners are tired of hearing about the struggles of the weak and sick of bailouts.

It’s time to get the stray ducks in line, they say.

To that point, there is a movement to go after the minimum. Some clubs would like it abolished outright. Weaker clubs say they don’t care how much the New York Rangers or Philadelphia Flyers spend so long as they aren’t trapped by a minimum that, they believe, forces them to spend on players they’d rather not take on and can be a severe cramp on rebuilding.

They want the latitude baseball teams have. Sell off the big assets for what you can get and start over with a more sensible economic model for the franchise.

A lowered minimum – let alone no minimum at all – is sure to fire up the players, now being led by a hard-nosed negotiator who came over from baseball, Donald Fehr.

There is, says one, “a fear of Fehr” among owners who are determined to address the minimum salary-cap issue.

And that, of course, can only ignite a far greater fear among those fans who haven’t the slightest interest in how high or how low a salary cap might to.

The fear of no season at all, once again.

Flames go off the board to select lanky Quebec high schooler: Calgary trades down for a player Weisbrod calls 'the next Nieuwendyk'

Scott Cruickshank, Calgary Herald, June 23, 2012


Mark Jankowski was going to the Calgary Flames. No matter what.

The namebar was already on the jersey.

The Flames had spoken to the 17-year-old centre hours before the National Hockey League draft — just to make sure he was the one.

He was.

The team, in fact, had been prepared to snag the kid with the 14th pick Friday at the Consol Energy Center.

And when it became apparent that Jankowski would be available later in the first round, the Flames shuffled their pick to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for the 21st and 42nd overall picks.

Then — to the shock of Flames fans, to the glee of Flames staffers — general manager Jay Feaster made it official, calling out the name of a player who’s the product of Quebec high school hockey, who’s bound for Dubuque of the U.S. Hockey League next season, who’s joining Providence College the season after that.

Off the charts? Yes.

But colour the team sold.

Particularly John Weisbrod, the assistant general manager.

“Weis thinks this guy, if he’s not the most talented guy coming out of this draft, he’s going to be one of them,” said Feaster.

“High expectations. This is a player that we had targeted.”

Added Jankowski: “I really want to prove them right. That’s what I’m here to do. I think in 10 years I can be the best player in this draft.”

This past season, Flames’ director of scouting Tod Button saw Jankowski first. Liked him a lot.

Next up was Weisbrod.

In December, he happened to be in Quebec to see another prospect — who, because of injury, ended up not playing. That left Weisbrod with a gap in his schedule. Button told him to fill it with a trip up the highway to see Jankowski.

So Weisbrod pointed his rental car into a blizzard — and away he went.

Beyond the kid’s name, he knew little.

“I can tell you I was in a bad mood — I was driving two and a half hours through snow,” said Weisbrod. “But by the middle of the second period, I was laughing out loud by myself in my seat.

“He’s a long way away, he’s raw, he’s young, he’s still got to cross the crocodile-infested waters and develop properly — like, it’s a long way from draft day to play in the NHL — but the physical attributes this guy has. The athleticism. The skating. The hands. The fact that he’ll likely be playing at six-four, 215. I’ve said it to our scouts all week long — he’s Joe Nieuwendyk.”

Jankowski has bloodlines, too.

Grandfather Lou Jankowski played for Detroit and Chicago. Uncle Ryan scouts for the Montreal Canadiens.

And Jankowski’s great-uncle? Would you believe the legendary Red Kelly?

But the kid himself did the convincing.

Not only did he ace three interviews with the Flames, he did wonders on the ice.

Jankowski, who doesn’t turn 18 till September, tore it up for Stanstead College, piling up 94 points, including 53 goals, in only 57 dates.

Central Scouting took notice, boosting the Hamilton native’s ranking from 74th to 43rd.

But what about the competition level — high school hockey in Quebec?

“It’s not the same as playing in the OHL — but in his OHL draft year, he was five-nine,” said Feaster. “But I give our guys credit — they look past what the level of competition is and say, ‘What’s the skill level?’ Our guys are pretty confident that that skill is going to translate into the next level and ultimately make him an NHLer.

“He’s a guy that’s still developing. This isn’t the pick last year at No. 13 where Sven Baertschi plays five games for us this year — and we expect him to make our team out of training camp next season. (Jankowski) is a guy, there’s going to be development time.”

Having a potential plum squirrelled away in a wee boarding school, just north of Vermont, is not necessarily a bad thing, either.

“We knew he was playing in a league where a lot of people would undervalue him,” said Weisbrod. “He was playing against weaker competition. He was playing in obscure places. We knew that would help downgrade him in some team’s minds.

“If you want to let a guy lay in the weeds, that was a good place to do it.”

But when selection No. 21 arrived, it was now or never.

“I don’t want to share anyone’s business,” said Weisbrod, “but I know he wouldn’t have made it through (the first round).

“I know at least two teams that would have taken him.

“We knew we had to take him (Friday) — it was just a matter of where.”

-----

I knew Lou Jankowski and his son, Ryan. I enjoyed chatting with Lou at many of the local Tier 1 and Tier 2 / Midget AAA games in town. Ryan started as the shipper / receiver for Hockey Canada back in the 1990's around the same time I left. He moved up into the video department, scouted for the Spokane Chiefs for many years, then became the NYI scout in Prague, CZ for a few years, before getting promoted to AGM of the NYI. He was released after a few years and got hired by the Habs as an amateur scout. He still lives in Calgary with his wife, whom I first met and worked with almost 20 years ago - she is a teacher but was an athletic therapist at the time. These memories make me feel pretty old! I remember Ryan playing minor hockey and watched him play Junior B!

Enshrine Shero already!

Larry Brooks, New York Post, June 24, 2012


PITTSBURGH — When the Hall of Fame selection committee meets Tuesday in Toronto, it will be time — well past time, actually — for the 18-member board to select Fred Shero for induction.

If not, it will be time — well past time, actually — for one of these members to come forward, break the shackles of secrecy under which the committee operates, and explain the arguments to the rest of the hockey world that would have been used to deny entry to the Hall to one of the most successful and influential coaches in NHL history.

We have been through this before, and more than once, in this space — year after year in fact, while the fact is simply this:

The exclusion of Shero — who coached consecutive Stanley Cup winners in Philadelphia in 1974-75 in the franchise’s seventh and eighth seasons in the NHL; who was the first NHL coach to hire a full-time assistant; who was the first NHL coach to visit the Soviet Union and incorporate systems he learned watching the Red Army practice; who would scribble the types of inspirational sayings on the blackboard that are now inscribed on the walls of NHL teams’ locker rooms; whose Flyers beat the Red Army on Jan. 11, 1976, when victory seemed so important to the Western Hemisphere; and who finished his coaching career with a .612 winning percentage and four trips to the finals in nine full seasons behind the bench — is inexcusable.

There must be agendas at play here in order to deny Freddie the Fog his rightful place — petty ones, at that. Without sunlight on the process, without accountability of the voters, there only is this evident truth: Blocking Shero’s entry into the Hall of Fame is a reflection on the committee and on the process, not on the coach or his career.

There’s a segment of hockey society that might believe Shero unworthy because of his role in inventing the Broad Street Bullies — who pillaged, plundered and took no prisoners in cutting a swath through the NHL in the mid-70s (and who, by the way, are glorified by the league’s marketing department at every opportunity).

There’s a terrific book by Todd Denault, “The Greatest Game: The Montreal Canadiens, the Red Army, and The Night that Saved Hockey,” that tells the story of not only the 1975 Christmas Eve 3-3 tie between the Canadiens and the Red Army, but posits that the Canadiens saved the NHL from the Flyers and their thuggish ways with the sweep of Philadelphia (minus the injured Bernie Parent) in the 1976 Finals.

ButIf it is Shero’s association with the Broad Street Bullies is that is deemed so offensive by a high enough percentage of the 18-person committee to keep the coach out of the Hall of Fame, then why was Philadelphia owner Ed Snider enshrined in 1988, when the memory of such wanton behavior was fresh in everyone’s mind?

Why was Keith Allen, the general manager of those teams, enshrined in 1992? (By the way, Allen’s official bio on the Hall of Fame’s website includes this priceless line: “... helped build the violent, controversial, but ultimately successful Broad Street Bullies and to this day remains in the organization as a vice-president.)

Out damn spot!

Why then was Bobby Clarke, not only the Flyers’ captain but the guy who broke Valery Kharlamov’s ankle with a, uh, let’s call it, a “violent, controversial, but ultimately successful” slash in Game 6 of the 1972 Summit Series against the USSR, enshrined in 1987?

So let’s recap:

The owner of the Broad Street Bullies: Hall of Fame.

The general manager of the Broad Street Bullies: Hall of Fame.

The captain of the Broad Street Bullies: Hall of Fame.

The coach of the Broad Street Bullies: Not.

Why not? Please: why not?

Shero was never part of the good old boys club, never was a politician. Had few cronies. Marched to the beat of his own drummer. Had a relatively short NHL career due largely to a disease he could not beat.

But he was one of the great coaches in the history of the league, one of the most successful and one of the most innovative.

He had a Hall of Fame career behind the bench. Shame on the Hall of Fame selection committee if Freddie is not properly recognized in the voting on Tuesday.

* Brendan Shanahan, whose 1996 acquisition remade the Red Wings from underachieving lightweights into all-time multiple Cup champions, and the transcendent Joe Sakic are locks for first ballot election into the Hall.

Mats Sundin is a possibility in his first year of eligibility. It’s probably too much to expect election of Anders Hedberg, Pavel Bure or Alexander Mogilny, all of whom are deserving of the honor.

* So the charge of East Coast bias against the media: How about Jonathan Quick receiving just 21 top-three votes from NHL general managers in the balloting for the Vezina while Henrik Lundqvist went 30-for-30?

Hockey Night in Canada refuses to believe Stephane Auger has retired until the show hears it from Alexandre Burrows.

Sunday Night Hockey in Canada, anyone?

BRUCE DOWBIGGIN, The Globe and Mail, Jun. 24 2012


The possibility of a second network night in the next Canadian TV broadcast contract due in 2014 might be the NHL’s solution to extending its brand in Canada while keeping as many Canadian TV partners in the game. The idea emerged after a discussion this weekend at the NHL Draft in Pittsburgh with NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins.

Relaxing on a sofa beneath the stands of the Consol Center just prior to the start of Round One of the draft, Collins was asked what new possibilities exist for media initiatives. “I like the fact that Sunday Night Football has become the No. 1 show on television in the U.S.,” Collins said. “Not just the No. 1 football program in America, but the No. 1 television program overall. That gives us lots of hope for our upcoming Canadian TV rights discussions.”

Collins, a product of the NFL, didn’t elaborate, but Hockey Night In Canada already owns Saturdays. But the thought naturally occurs, why not a second night in an age when sports remains TV’s go-to property? The NHL grows ever more popular in Canada, experiencing saturation coverage on TSN and Sportsnet, with CBC and other networks not far behind in trying to exploit the stickiness of hockey as a Canadian broadcast property. Could the NHL emulate the NFL’s push to expand its brand in football-crazy America?

Monday Night Football was the dominant football program (and overall program) for decades. When the NFL decided to create a special Sunday night platform for a national game, many scoffed. Monday’s the night with the history, status and viewership. After seven or eight hours of football already on Sundays, who was going to stick around for more?

Apparently, everyone. NBC is now king of the networks on Sunday, no small thing in the era where networks are seeing their traditional advertiser-driven schedules abandoned for PVR, AppleTV and a host of new media alternatives. So could we see a second featured night of network hockey in Canada? If it means the NHL keeping Bell, Rogers and CBC all writing big cheques for its rights, look for the NHL to provide platforms to satisfy their needs.

Quick cuts

Collins hit on a number of other TV subjects in an exclusive chat.

On the importance of the Los Angeles Kings making L.A. a hockey market: “We were in the market last year doing focus groups in major cities to understand how high is the bar for casual fans. In Los Angeles, no one could identify a Kings player. [Anze] Kopitar was maybe the one guy they were trying to mention. This was last summer. Game 6 of this year’s final, they did a 25 share in L.A. It was really important. And once you come off a Stanley Cup run your ratings are better from then on.” (Plus, former Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson says he watched the NHL, not NBA, playoffs this spring.)

On Canadian antipathy toward the final rounds with no Canadian teams: “It was a tough road for CBC, coming off the highest-rated final in decades with Boston/Vancouver (in 2011). That was as good as it gets. So nothing else could be as good as that.”

On programming differences between Canada and the United States: “We had a lot of things to work out in terms of schedule, with games overlapping. In the U.S. that didn’t seem a problem. They were looking at ratings cumulatively, like [NCAA basketball] March Madness. But in Canada, our broadcasters didn’t want overlap. We learned a lot, and we’ll spend time in the summer trying to figure it out.”

On the positives from the 2012 playoffs: “The first two rounds were great quality, with great buzz . We had almost a New York City final with the Rangers and New Jersey in the Eastern final. We lost a little bit when the Devils won, because even though they have the championship legacy of Stanley Cups, they’ve still not got the tradition like the Rangers. By most measurements it was a pretty successful final, coming off the greatest rated final in a long time.”

On the NHL awards, which (aside from Will Arnett’s killer Brendan Shanahan impersonation) tanked again: “It’s tough. Players like it. I’d love to figure it out, I’d love to have more fun, I’d love for the players to be more comfortable. I’d like to get more fans in. It is what it is. We’ll keep working on it.”

Finally, on Rangers coach John Tortorella’s feelings about the HBO cameras invading his dressing room for the cable channel’s 24/7 series. “The last filmed session, just before the team was going on ice, he turned to the HBO camera and said, ‘I want to talk to you guys.’ ... He went on to say how much he respected HBO, that they had respected him and his players, and he said he spoke on behalf of everyone. ‘You guys have been welcomed into the hockey family, you have built the relationships. I just want to thank you. Now, after the game, don’t let the door hit you in ass on the way out.’”

Gretzky champions physical side of hockey

TORONTO — Robert MacLeod, The Globe and Mail, Jun. 25 2012


When it comes to the raging debate on whether tougher restrictions are necessary on when bodychecking is first introduced to minor hockey league players, the game’s greatest offensive force does some adept verbal stick-handling on the subject.

Wayne Gretzky was in Toronto on Monday where he was among the first individuals appointed to the Order of Hockey in Canada, a new initiative through which Hockey Canada recognizes those who have made outstanding contributions or service to the growth of the sport in Canada.

The NHL’s career scoring leader with over 2,800 points, Gretzky was never known as a punishing physical player and one who, later on in his career, spoke out against escalating violence in the game.

“Most people probably think that I think there shouldn’t be hitting in hockey,” Gretzky said when asked what he felt the proper age to introduce bodychecking to players at the minor hockey level. “But I think that in the game of hockey, the physical side of the game is very important.”

To Gretzky, who retired following the 1998-99 season after a 20-year NHL career, said players at a young age not only need to be taught how to check but also how to take one.

“It’s just as important for players like myself to learn how to take bodychecks,” Gretzky said.

However, Gretzky admitted he was uncertain at what age in a player’s minor hockey development that bodychecking should first be introduced.

“Obviously at the age of 11 or 12 years old. … If you’re going to continue on that path and become a junior player or college player, that you have to learn how to take bodychecks,” he said. “Not only give bodychecks but take bodychecks.

“So maybe we redefine leagues. Maybe there’s kids that don’t want to pursue it as a career but like playing it for the enjoyment of the sport and for the recreation of the game. Maybe down the road there’s two different categories.”

The debate on bodychecking in minor hockey continues to be a hot-button topic across Canada as parents look to better protect their children in a sport where the documented cases of concussions has risen to an alarming rate.

Over the weekend in Alberta, Hockey Calgary voted against a motion that would have banned bodychecking at the peewee level.

“It’s a real physically demanding sport and it’s never going to change,” Gretzky said. “The players are better athletes today, they’re bigger and stronger. And I understand why parents and some people have apprehension about when hitting should become part of the game.

“So I guess through all that I really don’t have a real answer for you.”

Gretzky was one of five people appointed to the Order of Hockey in Canada, along with former NHL greats Jean Béliveau and Gordie Howe, although neither was present.

Former women’s national team member Cassie Campbell-Pascall, who captained Canada to two Olympic gold medals in Salt Lake City in 2002 and Turin, Italy, in 2006, was also honoured along with Gordon Renwick, a long-time Canadian amateur hockey executive.

Bob Nicholson, the president and chief executive officer of Hockey Canada, said the issue of when to start introducing bodychecking to younger players is a complex issue.

He said the most important thing is that younger players, no matter what the age, receive the proper coaching on bodychecking techniques.

“There’s no magical age,” Nicholson said. “Kids start playing hockey at different ages, their skill levels are different. We just have to emphasize with coaches how to teach the skill of checking.”

Wayne Gretzky honoured with inaugural Order of Hockey in Canada

Tyler Harper, The Canadian Press Jun 25, 2012


TORONTO — As he received yet another award honouring his career, Wayne Gretzky said he had no regrets about leaving hockey.

No, he isn’t returning to the sport he conquered — not now, anyway. Instead, Gretzky was content to say he did all he could for the sport during his career.

He recounted his last game as a 10-year-old when his team was beat 8-1 that capped a season he scored 400 goals.

“On the car ride home my dad asked me if I was OK and I said, ’Yeah, I’m fine.’ And he said, ’Well, you ruined your whole year … people are going to come and watch you play. You have to play hard every night,”’ said Gretzky.

After that, Gretzky said he tried to play hard whether he was in an exhibition game or in the Stanley Cup final.

“I had a lot of bad games like every other player, because you can’t play well every single night. But I know I tried hard every game.”

The Great One was one of five people to receive the inaugural Order of Hockey In Canada on Monday for being an individual who made a significant impact on the sport in the country.

Gretzky was joined by Cassie Campbell-Pascall, who captained Canada’s women’s team to a pair of Olympic golf medals.

Campbell-Pascall said the award showed “a tremendous amount of legitimacy and respect for our sport of female hockey.”

Gord Renwick, who helped establish what is now known as Hockey Canada and spent two decades as a board member with the International Ice Hockey Federation, was also honoured.

Hockey legends Jean Beliveau and Gordie Howe were also given the award, although neither were present.

Gretzky, Campbell-Pascall and Renwick were surrounded on stage by members of Canada’s under-18 women’s team and the senior women’s team. Both teams were awarded rings for each capturing gold at the world championships.

Future classes will include just three people honoured annually for the award, which is voted on by a 12-member selection committee.

“For us to be the first ones, it’s a great honour,” said Gretzky. “Everyone’s tickled to be here and be part of this. This is a wonderful night for all of us.”

Gretzky retired from the NHL in 1999 after a long career that included four Stanley Cups and later an Olympic gold medal as manager of Canada’s men’s team at the 2002 Winter Games.

But he was still thrilled to share his latest award with Beliveau and Howe, two of his childhood heroes.

Gretzky said he was home Sunday visiting his father when he found one of the few pictures he has of meeting Beliveau.

“So I brought it up to show my son and I think my dad thought somebody was stealing it. He immediately took it back downstairs and put it back,” said Gretzky.

As for Howe, the player who Gretzky said is still his idol made an early impression when he was 17 and the Edmonton Oilers were playing the New England Whalers.

Gretzky remembered Whalers coach Harry Neale being asked by a trainer about what to do about a pair of skates.

“[Neale] said, ’Those are Gordie’s skates. If I don’t hide them, he won’t take a day off.’ And I remember thinking at 17 years old, wow, he’s 48 years old and he’s still the same player and the same person he was.”

Gretzky’s playing days are over, and, following his tenure as head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes, he said a return to hockey “isn’t in the cards.”

But that doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future.

“Everything I have in my life is because of hockey and everything I have in my life is because of the National Hockey League,” he said. “Simple as that. It’s the greatest game in the world.”

Time to free up NHL free agency + 30 Thoughts

Elliotte Friedman, CBC Sports, June 26, 2012


Highly coveted 21-year-old Justin Schultz is now a free agent, having declined to sign a contract with the Anaheim Ducks. He can't officially join a new team until July 1, but is free to listen to offers and enjoy tea with potential suitors, which he will do this week.

Here's the question: Why can't every free agent do this?

What if the NHL had a similar system to the NBA, where everyone without a contract can talk to any interested party for, say, a week before new deals are allowed to be signed? Basketball free agency begins Sunday -- just like hockey -- but no one can officially commit until July 1.

The No. 1 reason for this suggestion is cutting down on mistakes for both the teams and the players. Free agency is where the most errors are made and it usually comes down to fit.

For NHL brass, there's a rush to make contact, toss out your best offer, get something done before you lose your target and overpay another guy you really don't like. For players, it can overwhelming. You're either flattened by multiple offers or panicked that you aren't getting enough.

And even if you do find something that makes you happy, do you really know what you're getting into? How much knowledge is there about the organization or the city? And if you're married, heaven help you if your wife is unhappy (I'm speaking from personal experience).

One former player disliked the idea because he thinks the current set-up favours his active brethren.

"The system forces teams to overpay," he said.

That's true. But after thinking about it, I'm not sure things would be any different. Let's say, for argument's sake, the "courting period" began a day or two after the draft. That could keep July 1 as the signing date and prevent things from dragging further into summer.

During that time, free agents could visit as many cities or talk to as many teams as they wished, chat face-to-face, look around, see where they're going to live, etc. Just because you can't sign for a few days doesn't mean the pressure eases on the teams.

Imagine the reports: "Zach Parise to visit Pittsburgh today, Detroit tomorrow and Minnesota Thursday" or "Ryan Suter leaves Detroit, heads to Chicago."

That's not going to cool down fan or media expectations.

It could also benefit organizations like the Carolina Hurricanes, a team without a huge free-agent history but with a core of players that love living in the area. Bring someone down, show them why everyone stays there and maybe you get lucky.

Of course, this isn't foolproof. Last year, the Philadelphia Flyers acquired Ilya Bryzgalov on June 7 and that didn't go exactly as planned. Yet despite that spectacular implosion, more mistakes occur because life-altering decisions are made with so little time to think.

Maybe it's better for everyone if things are done differently.

30 THOUGHTS

1. Wrote a little bit yesterday about the New York Islanders' offer to trade all of their selections in last weekend's draft to the Columbus Blue Jackets for the No. 2 overall pick.

After posting it, a few people pointed out that this was likely Islanders owner Charles Wang's idea more than general manager Garth Snow's. That's probably true. Wang wields great influence in hockey decisions, even though ownership interference in such matters is rarely a good idea (see Rick DiPietro or Alexei Yashin contracts).

Asked a few draft gurus what they thought of the idea. Two said they could see a situation where it could make sense.

"[It's] only a seven-round draft now," said one. "If you've traded a few of your picks and don't have many, maybe you try it for a top player."

New York did have seven choices, though.

Meanwhile, another exec said his organization joked about offering all of its selections for a certain prospect, but discarded the idea when internal discussions turned serious.

A few teams wouldn't consider making such an offer because, even though you may not find more than two or three players per draft, what are you going to do?

Get up and leave without trying?

"Talk about a way to piss off your scouts," said an exec.

The math in Monday's article showed there is some logic to the Islanders' offer -- and the Blue Jackets' refusal -- because of the success rate of the picks in question. Later picks are especially unlikely to succeed. Of the 57 men chosen either 125th, 155th or 185th from 1990-2008, just seven even played an NHL game (Three reached 100, the other four played a combined 22).

A few readers pointed out on Twitter that all those extra picks would give the Blue Jackets greater flexibility to make other moves and more chances to hit the jackpot.

There's great disagreement with that thinking. The trades at this year's draft were hockey deals, not about flipping picks. The Buffalo Sabres and Calgary Flames made their first-round swap, while the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks did a small one involving the 109th and 191st choices. Other than that, it was so quiet that just one timeout was called. Everything was done by approximately 3 p.m. ET Saturday.

This wasn't the draft to be stocking selections, never mind the fact that so many picks could cause headaches with a team's 50-contract limit. When it was all over, Columbus got two players it wanted -- Ryan Murray (second) and Oscar Dansk (31st) -- and the Islanders can't be too upset with Griffin Reinhart as so many teams raved about him in the last few weeks.

2. Schultz's suitors are wondering if Anaheim still plans to file tampering charges the moment someone actually signs him. It's a tough process. You're obligated to hand over whatever correspondence the NHL desires.

3. Reports indicate Roberto Luongo only wants to waive his no-trade for Florida, but that's a tough one for the Panthers to pull off. You could see how they would want him, hoping to grow momentum from a Southeast Division title. Florida's goaltending wasn't great in the playoffs and he could serve as a bridge while Jacob Markstrom gets ready.

4. Here's the problem, though. The Panthers believe Markstrom will be a difference-maker. What makes more sense, then, for a non-cap team: Re-acquiring Luongo or (eventually) handing the job to the younger man? Even if you get the Vancouver Canucks to take expensive bodies in return for Luongo, it's still easier to build around Markstrom because he will have a lower salary. For a budget-conscious team, that's critical.

5. Luongo might not prefer Toronto, but he knows it makes a lot of sense for everyone involved -- even him. Several reports indicated Luke Schenn was offered for the goalie, but think Canucks GM Mike Gillis countered by asking for Toronto's fifth-overall draft pick. The Maple Leafs and Canucks are playing a macho game right now, but things will eventually get serious. Hopefully soon.

6. Will the seriousness begin with a Cory Schneider offer sheet? There's a lot of debate about this, but remember one thing: While Leafs GM Brian Burke has railed against this process in the past, he has stated his anger stemmed from the fact that the Edmonton Oilers didn't warn him in advance of the Dustin

Penner move. He did threaten to do it to the Boston Bruins, when chasing Phil Kessel. He doesn't like long-term deals, either. But he just added a guy (James van Riemsdyk) under contract until 2018. You assume, it if does happen, it would be modelled on the Niklas Hjalmarsson-Antti Niemi affair.

7. Generally, offer sheet talk is a waste of time. But I'm curious to see if two other players get any action. One is is Sam Gagner. He'll be 23 in August and the fit hasn't always been good in Edmonton. You're not going to throw $5 million at him, but is he worth a first- and third-round pick? (That's between $3,364,391 and $5,046,585.) There are a lot of teams looking for centres.

8. The other is Shea Weber and that probably depends on where Parise and Suter end up. The Pittsburgh Penguins have the rest of the league, especially the Eastern Conference, a little spooked. If they get one or both of them, other contenders are going to be desperate to do something. Desperate enough to make all-world defender Weber an offer?

9. Have always believed Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson's best opportunity to deal Rick Nash will be after Parise's decision. Think some other teams hoped their first-round picks would really appeal to Columbus, but that wasn't the case. My guess is that Nash and Bobby Ryan, if Anaheim wants to do it, get dealt after Parise signs. If Pittsburgh doesn't get Parise, Nash makes sense -- assuming it has what the Blue Jackets want.

10. One GM (no one quoted here) says there are about "8-10' good players available via trade. Of course, he was not willing to name them.

11. If Ducks GM Bob Murray wants to repair the organization's relationship with Ryan, all he has to do is look 31 miles northwest to Staples Center. The Kings had an awkward exchange with Dustin Brown at the deadline. He still captained them to a Stanley Cup championship. It's not ideal, but things can be fixed.

12. Two months after their opening-round loss to Philadelphia, it's still a painful memory for Pittsburgh. But the lessons are being learned by Penguins GM Ray Shero. "The Kings won the Stanley Cup allowing 30 goals the entire playoffs," he said Monday. "We scored 30 in the first round and lost (Actually, they scored 26, but you get the idea). "We played so well when [Sidney] Crosby came back that we lost our identity a little bit ... We became a more run-and-gun, off-the-rush team. Look at the penalty kill. We were first [in 2010-11] and third this year. In the playoffs, the Flyers scored at will." Pittsburgh's penalty kill was 47.8 per cent against Philadelphia, by far the worst of any playoff team.

13. What does all of this mean? Shero is targeting players like Brandon Sutter because "he is comfortable defending anywhere on the ice. You have to be able to defend to win. And not just your defencemen, but your forwards as well." Hockey analyst Darren Pang made a great point about Sutter on Twitter. Sutter's a right-handed shot -- a balance for lefty centremen Evgeni Malkin and Crosby.

14. Shero might not have been happy Jordan Staal turned down a 10-year offer, but he did two important things for his franchise. He showed the fans the Penguins did everything possible to keep him. And he didn't punish Staal by sending him somewhere the forward didn't want to go. Players notice when teams do right. Sending Zbynek Michalek back to the Phoenix Coyotes didn't hurt Pittsburgh's image, either.

15. Heard a lot of praise for Brian Dumoulin, the Boston College defenceman Pittsburgh got in the deal.

16. Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford handled this very smartly. He called Shero once after Pittsburgh was kayoed, promising not to be a bother, but admitting his interest. He called a second time six days before the draft. Then, when the Penguin GM was ready last Friday, Rutherford didn't fool around and made a serious deal. The head Hurricane had great incentive to get it done. Jordan's a terrific player. Also, why screw around, risk him getting sent elsewhere, thereby annoying your franchise player and captain?

17. It's well-known by now that the New York Rangers and Toronto talked to Pittsburgh. All Shero would say is there were two other legit suitors. Wondering if one was Minnesota because a couple of teams said they believed the Wild chased hard.

18. Last point on Staal. I think there was one team which considered going after him, but pulled back because of a potential lockout. Here's why. If you're not Carolina, it's not set up well for you to keep him if he's not showing up in your city until December. You lose the ability to really build a bond in the one year you have to convince him. Never thought of that until it was explained to me.

19. Finally, have to think there's no way Shero does this deal now without believing Crosby is healthy and locked-up long-term. All Shero would say is he hopes to get something done with his captain over the next couple of weeks.

20. Do believe the report that the Ottawa Senators is not on Rick Nash's list, but this would be a really good fit. He'd look great with Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson creating opportunities. The Senators will need a top winger to replace Daniel Alfredsson (how could Alfredsson retire if Nash actually did show up?). This is a team with the assets to close a Columbus deal. Don't know how flexible Nash is willing to be, but it wouldn't hurt to consider this.

21. Another attraction to Ottawa would be that the team is on the rise. Senators GM Bryan Murray didn't want to discuss Nash, but did slightly temper things: "We've got a lot of good young players, but we have to see which ones take the next step and which ones 'flatten out.'"

22. One of the keys for Ottawa will be finding a new partner for Karlsson. Filip Kuba, as it stands now, is unlikely to return. Jared Cowen would be a good fit, but Murray doesn't see any reason to split up the successful Cowen-Sergei Gonchar pairing.

23. A lot of questions about Karlsson's new seven-year, $45.5-million contract. It was a bit of a surprise because there was a minimal bonuses and no lockout protection. Karlsson did the Senators a favour by taking less cash with Gonchar's and Spezza's current contracts still on the books, providing flexibility. Murray and Senators owner Eugene Melnyk repaid him with a longer term than they initially wanted. Plus, if the age of unrestricted free agency rises in a new collective bargaining agreement, they'll be forced to qualify Karlsson at $7.5 million -- the final-year salary of this deal. Fair deal for both sides.

24. The biggest test for the Flames now belongs to their player development staff. Whatever anyone thinks of 21st-overall selection Mark Jankowski no longer matters. They've made the pick and must make sure their investment is properly cultivated. You've heard all the adjectives: "raw," "project," etc. Now you've got to make sure he gets from point A to point Z. One scout compared him to Blake Wheeler, a surprise pick at fifth overall in 2004, which isn't too shabby.

25. A few Flames fans asked about Jay Bouwmeester. There are teams who do like him. He plays 26 minutes a night and is incredibly durable -- having played 588 straight games. He can skate the puck of out trouble. "People have to realize he may never be the second coming of Bobby Orr or Paul Coffey, but he's still very useful," one exec said. 'So why don't you go get him?" I asked. There was a pause. "That cap hit." At $6.68 million, it's tough.

26. Wrote a couple of weeks ago that Brent Sutter would have received "official" permission to talk to Edmonton if he wanted (his contract with Calgary ends this week). Think I was wrong about that one. Sounds like the Flames weren't happy with the public dalliance between their former head coach and the Oilers. It's tough because we all understand the rivalry. But Calgary did fire Sutter and you can't blame a guy for looking at new work.

27. A lot of debate about Ondrej Pavelec's new deal in Winnipeg. Even though it turned out he wasn't serious about the KHL, he had leverage because the Jets are organizationally thin in goal. If he did leave or the team decided to trade him, the alternatives were not guaranteed to be better. By the time that Carey Price, Devin Dubnyk and Schneider are signed, this deal will look fine.

28. Besides being traded for each other, Schenn and van Riemsdyk have something in common: both needed a change of scenery. As I've written before, many teams believe Schenn will be better off outside Toronto and now we find out if that's right. The Flyers just seemed unhappy with van Riemsdyk as he was constantly included in trade discussions. He's more than capable of being a difference-maker, but must stay healthy.

29. Sharks GM Doug Wilson hates July 1, but does he make an exception for Ryan Suter? Maybe try to sell him on the fact uncle Gary Suter loved finishing his career there?

30. The Blackhawks were thrilled to get Teuvo Teravainen 18th in the draft. A few teams tried to move in from No. 12 on to get him, but couldn't get it done. The clubs in those positions would say, "If our guy isn't available, we'll make the deal," but always seemed to get their man. Chicago's gain.

Edmonton Oilers set to name Ralph Krueger new head coach

John MacKinnon, Postmedia News, Jun 27, 2012


Sometimes those internal promotions can be the trickiest things, apparently.

When the Edmonton Oilers make it official Wednesday morning at Millennium Place in Sherwood Park that the 10th head coach in franchise history will be Ralph Krueger, it will mark the end of a seemingly torturous, 80-day process from season’s end to official announcement.

All to promote from within a 52-year-old, professional coach with a two-year body of NHL work, a living resume, if you will, right at the club’s fingertips.

Due diligence is crucial, of course, but the line between prudence and downright dithering can be hard to discern with the Oilers.

The club’s sixth straight non-playoff season ended on April 7; on May 17, general manager Steve Tambellini announced that Tom Renney, the head coach the past two years, would not be returning; and 40 days after that, Krueger, Renney’s hand-picked associate coach the last two seasons, was officially installed as the head man.

In roughly the same time span, newly installed Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin has hired Michel Therrien as his head coach, Sylvain Lefebvre as his farm club’s head man, not to mention hockey operations staff that includes Rick Dudley, Patrice Brisebois, Martin Lapointe, Gerard Gallant, Scott Mellanby and Ethan Moreau.

All of whom, it should be noted, were working for other organizations; not an internal promotion in sight.

If the Oilers were thinking boldly outside the box, hiring a brilliant but unknown coach from Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, say, or from deep in the minors, or the U.S. college ranks, well, the hesitancy would be understandable.

Which is not to say the well-respected Krueger is an uninspired choice. He’s a rock-solid choice; it remains to be seen whether his tenure as head coach will be inspired. The proof will be in the performance of the talented young team he takes over.

The work history of the Winnipeg-born career coach sure is impressive. Krueger probably came to the attention of Canadian students of international hockey back in 1998, when he coached Switzerland to fourth place at the world hockey championship in Zurich, Switzerland.

Krueger coached the Swiss national team from 1977 to 2010, making him the longest-serving national team head coach in the modern era of international hockey.

During that span he guided Switzerland to 12 world championship tournaments and three Olympic Games, including a sixth-place finish in 2006 at Turin, Italy.

He’s a cerebral coach who is also the founder and owner of the motivational speaking company, Teamlife (From Failure to Success), which is also the title of a book he wrote.

“If I had to characterize his style, I would say he’s ‘in charge,’ ” said former NHL and Canadian national team coach Andy Murray, a fellow Manitoban who coached against Krueger at a number of world championships. “He’s in charge of all facets, he’s a take-charge person who played the game at a high level and has certainly coached at a high level.

“This is what he was hoping for when he came over from Europe, was a chance to coach an NHL team, so I’m happy for him.”

Krueger is as approachable as he is thoughtful. Observant hockey fans may well have seen him after Oilers practices, a backpack strapped on, walking from Rexall Place through the river valley to his downtown condo, all the while talking to his wife or kids on his mobile phone.

Whatever phase of development the rebuilding Oilers are in, it comes with rising fans’ expectations, especially given all the excitement over the selection of Russian sniper Nail Yakupov first overall in the NHL entry draft, not to mention the league-wide romancing of free-agent defenceman Justin Schultz.

Krueger will be expected to help narrow the gap between the fans’ soaring expectations and the club’s recent bottom-feeding reality.

It’s fitting that a man who wrote a book about the journey from failure to success in life is taking charge of the once-dominant Oilers. If anyone can find some answers to lift the club in the direction of respectability, you have to think he can.

I will toss in some of my favorite articles.
Bob