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NHL legends talk playoffs, curfew

Luke Fox, Sportsnet.ca , May 4, 2012

Nashville Predators head coach Barry Trotz said that his decision to keep the team’s top playoff point-getter, Alexander Radulov, and the player tied for the team lead in goals, Andrei Kostitsyn, out of Friday’s Game 4 versus the Phoenix Coyotes was “pretty simple.”

The team won Game 3, the game for which the two offensive weapons were suspended, 2-0 in Nashville, bringing the Predators back in the conference semifinal and giving Nashville a chance to knot the series at two games apiece Friday.

As straightforward as Trotz says the call was, many fans and analysts question if keeping two of your greatest talents — one-game suspension served and healthy, no less — is the wisest course of action. But momentum is a funny beast, and one that must be harnessed in the NHL's second season.

“Usually when you win, you don’t change your lineup, so it’s up to them,” says 2011 Hall of Fame inductee Doug Gilmour, who “never, ever, ever” missed curfew come playoff time. “I think everybody’s gone through different times (of being late). The old saying is, it doesn’t matter if you’re two seconds or one minute late, you might as well be three hours late. Curfews are there for a reason, and you gotta follow them.”

Mike Krushelnyski, who won three Stanley Cups with Edmonton in the ’80s and a fourth in 1998 as an assistant coach on the Detroit Red Wings, agrees with Trotz’s if-it-ain’t-broke approach.

“As a coach, I would leave my lineup. I wouldn’t insert them back in. One, you’ve won the [previous] game. Two, you’ve gained momentum, and hopefully they can continue. If [Trotz] loses the next game, then he’s going to bring them in, and he can use it as a tool: We can strengthen our team with these two guys. We’re changing things,” Krushelnyski, 52, explains.

Wayne Gretzky’s frequent linemate points to the recent case of the New York Rangers. Centre Brian Boyle was playing brilliantly in the opening round, and then he suffered a concussion in Game 5 against the Ottawa Senators. Despite his absence, the Rangers won three straight games, closing out the Sens and getting the jump on Round 2’s Washington Capitals. A recovered Boyle was inserted back in Game 2 against Washington, which New York lost.

“So I guessed they learned something,” Krushelnyski says. “I’m a firm believer that if you win, you stick with the same lineup, because the guys have continuity, they know exactly what’s going on. You keep the momentum going.”

Krushelnyski vehemently denies that any of his teammates broke curfew in his 15-year NHL career. After pausing for effect, he breaks into laughter: “Of course, we did!

“Throughout the season guys would break curfew by half an hour, and it was nothing malicious or intended. It was just having a few sociables and talking. Most of the time you get into discussions about the game with your teammates. No, no, no. If we do this, this is how we can score or create a chance. We were usually talking about how to become more successful,” he says.

But once the clock struck playoffs, those 30-minute rule bends tightened.

“We had one incident in one playoff where the player had missed the plane. He had inadvertently slept in, but fortunately he was waiting for us in Philadelphia — dressed, in the locker room, before we even got there. So that situation was nullified right there,” Krushelnyski says.

“You don’t come in at 4 a.m.,” quipped a smiling Curtis Joseph, who tended goal for 14 playoff squads. “You come in at 7 with a paper.”

Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier, 55, has seven Stanley Cup rings to his name. When he says he can’t recall anyone on his ’80s dynasty New York Islanders or his early-’90s Pittsburgh Penguins blowing curfew, it isn’t a setup to a punch line. The Isles’ were as serious about abiding rules as they were winning.

“Not on our team. Curfew was a high priority, something every player respected. Accountability in the locker room was a high priority. From the time I walked into the Islanders to the time I left the Penguins, it was always, ‘Hey, guys, let’s make sure we’re focused on all the things that are necessary,' and that was one of them,” Trottier says.

For coach Al Arbour’s Islanders, a team that reeled off a Stanley Cup four-peat from 1980 through 1983, curfew was 11 p.m. the night before a game and midnight on off nights.

“If you’re out with your family and you run into traffic, big deal, that’s one of those things. It’s common sense. Curfew was never an issue; it was never even brought up,” Trottier says. Occasionally on road trips, he adds, Arbour would mandate an early curfew when he was mad with the team’s performance. “After a game, there’s generally no curfew unless we had another game the next day. So he’d throw and early curfew and do a room-check. I loved that — that was comical. He’d call the room: [mimics Arbour’s stern voice] Are you guys in? ‘I think so. You called and I’m talking on the phone.’ ”

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Radulov, Kostitsyn and the NHL's dwindling Russian influence

James Mirtle, Globe and Mail, May 4, 2012

Their numbers have been thinning out almost every year.

Since the so-called Russian invasion began in the late 1980s, fewer and fewer players are coming over from the former Soviet republics to play in the NHL every year.

The creation of the KHL, and the oil money that's been pumped into salaries there, certainly has played a role, but the reputation of Russian players is also under fire.

Not that that's entirely new.

The notion of "do they really care?" has been around almost from the beginning (and especially in the playoffs), as has the idea of Russian players as "enigmatic" and unknowable entities.

This latest curfew incident with Alex Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn, a Russian and a Belarusian, has merely brought out the criticisms and cynicism that have only grown in the NHL over the past 10 years.

"There is a reason NHL teams are scared of drafting and depending on Russians, and what happened last Saturday night in Phoenix is Exhibit A," Hockey Night in Canada's Elliotte Friedman wrote on Wednesday.

"It’s not only Russians," added Sportsnet's Mark Spector. "You’ve got to admit though, the stigma that has grown on players from that country now far outweighs anyone else’s baggage."

Those types of articles drove several Russian members of the media nuts, including Yahoo!'s Dmitry Chesnokov, who voiced his displeasure on Twitter over the articles lumping players from his homeland into one big group.

It's true. Russian players are not all the same. Here in Toronto, the two we in the media see every day are Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski (another Belarusian) and they work harder than anyone on the team.

Their Canadian and American teammates and coaches are the first to admit it.

First on the ice for practice, the last off and always hanging around the rink long after they have to.

What's undeniable, though, is that Russians (and by extension Ukranians, Belarusians, Latvians and the rest) have a perception problem in this league.

And it wouldn't surprise me in the least if that has played a role in their dwindling numbers in the NHL.

Look at the 16 teams that made the playoffs this year. Leaving out the two Philadelphia Flyers goaltenders, there were only 12 Russian skaters to play in at least one postseason game. (Last year there were six.)

Even when you add in the handful of players from the other post-Soviet states, we're still talking about only roughly 5 per cent of the league.

So when four of those players are making headlines for either missing curfew or having their ice time dropped dramatically (as with Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin in Washington) people in the hockey world are going to come to conclusions.

Russian players in the NHL playoffs

The number of Russian skaters in the postseason hit a high of 30 in 2000 but has averaged just 13 a season since the lockout

SOURCE: NHL.com

As I said above, that's not exactly new. There were similar things said and written about the first influx of Russian players.

The only difference seemed to be there were far more of them 20 years ago, before they were outnumbered by Americans, Finns and Swedes and become such a minority on every team.

Teams were willing to take a chance on Russian players and Russian players seemed more willing to take a chance on getting a fair shake in North America.

It does make one wonder where this trend will stop. This, after all, is a league with almost no Russian influence among decision makers and a natural bias toward Canadian junior and American college players given that's the route most GMs took to the top.

It's easy to blame these falling numbers on only the presence of the KHL, but there's more at work here.

Are we looking at an NHL that is down to only a dozen Russian players a few years from now?

And how much of that comes back to that perception of a group of players as being too much like Radulov and not enough like Kulemin?

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Why mess with winning group? Predators coach Trotz sits Radulov, Kostitsyn again vs Coyotes

The Canadian Press, 2012-05-04

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Predators coach Barry Trotz is sitting forwards Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn for Game 4 against Phoenix on Friday night because he doesn't want to change a winning formula.

The Predators suspended Radulov and Kostitsyn for Wednesday night's 2-0 victory, which pulled Nashville within 2-1 in the Western Conference semifinal. Whether they returned to the lineup was left to Trotz, and the coach announced his decision Friday after a morning skate.

"The decision for me was pretty simple," Trotz said. "The group that went in there was very committed and got the job done plain and simple. Alex and Andrei are good players. They're top players. At the same time, I felt that the group responded really well, and I expect the group to respond again."

Trotz said Radulov and Kostitsyn clearly want to play and will be ready. Injuries or other circumstances Friday night could result in a lineup change.

"They're really good about being good pros, which got them in trouble in the first place. They understand," Trotz said. "They're ready to do whatever it takes to get back in. If it means having to sit this game or the next game or whatever, as long as we're winning we're OK. They're fine. We have to win. If someone doesn't play well or they're injured, they're ready to go."

Radulov is Nashville's top scorer in the post-season with six points despite missing the last game. Kostitsyn has three goals, tied for the team lead.

"As long as we're winning, it's fine," Radulov said. "It's long playoffs."

—–

MCKENZIE: TROTZ, POILE WILL FEEL PRESSURE FOR THEIR DECISION

Bob McKenzie, TSN.ca, May 4 2012

Some quick thoughts from the NHL on TSN panel on Friday night.

I think the Phoenix Coyotes played a great road game in Game 4, especially once they got the lead on the very fortuitous bounce. So often they took a little bit of time or space that just made the Nashville Predators adjust their shooting angle, made them hurry to get a shot off or the shot was outright blocked.

For the Predators, they got shut out and they're going to get killed for making the decision to sit forwards Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn because the team didn't score a goal. But what we don't know is maybe they would have lost the game 2-0 if Radulov and Kostitsyn where playing. They're turnover machines quit often.

While there will be a lot of pressure on head coach Barry Trotz and general manager David Poile for the decisions that they made, the guy behind the bench knows his team better than anybody else so I'll generally air on giving him the benefit of the doubt. But the Predators are in a deep hole and if they are in deep, I think it goes back to those two players that put them in the hole and put them in the position of doing that.

You can criticize the coach or general manager all you want, but this one falls back on the players. I do, however, believe both Radulov and Kostitsyn will be back in the lineup for Game 5.

—–

In defence of the Russians

ERIC DUHATSCHEK, Globe and Mail, May. 04, 2012

In the summer of 1997, eight years after he and Slava Fetisov helped usher in the NHL’s Russian evolution, Igor Larionov took the Stanley Cup home to Moscow’s Red Square for a postseason celebration unlike any other. It was a seminal moment on many levels; Larionov had won the Stanley Cup the previous spring under Scotty Bowman as part of the Detroit Red Wings’ five-man Russian unit. By bringing the celebrated trophy home, Larionov was demonstrating, on the one hand, a respect for his Russian roots, and on the other, how a player who grew up in the Soviet system could pine to win the Stanley Cup with the same fervour as any North American player.

The 51-year-old Larionov has been a pioneer his entire hockey-playing life, and this week he was disturbed by what seemed to be a backlash against the NHL’s shrinking Russian population. In one week, the headlines featured two stories, neither of them flattering. One centred on the limited ice time that the Washington Capitals were allotting to two-time MVP Alex Ovechkin in a playoff game against the New York Rangers; the other on the curfew violation that caused the Nashville Predators to suspend Alexander Radulov for a playoff game against the Phoenix Coyotes.

Lost in the shuffle: The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin was one of three finalists for the Ted Lindsay Award, which the National Hockey League Players’ Association hands out to its MVP, as selected by the players; and the Red Wings’ Pavel Datsyuk was a finalist for the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive player.

In the 1980s, Larionov worked aggressively to open the door to the NHL for himself and for a generation of players to follow. Now, in a year when he represents the top Russian prospect for the 2012 NHL entry draft, there is talk that some teams are leery about drafting Nail Yakupov of the Sarnia Sting, the top-rated player, in part because of his Russian heritage.

“Obviously, I’m concerned about that,” Larionov said. “To me, sometimes, before you judge a person, you have to do your homework, see the guy and talk to the kid and talk to the parents and follow him for quite a while to form an impression and make a decision. To me, it’s a lack of communication, and stereotyping. It’s like a bad stereotype of the Russians – doesn’t care about the Stanley Cup, doesn’t respect the fans, doesn’t respect the teammates, doesn’t respect the club. You can’t judge one or two Russian players and talk about everybody. Canadians, Americans, Swedes, Czechs, you can always find a bad apple in the bunch.”

One of the primary reasons for the NHL’s alienation of affection with Russian players was the emergence of the KHL in the fall of 2006. The KHL essentially replaced Russia’s Superleague and began to compete for homegrown players under the watch of Alexander Medvedev, a powerful oligarch who facilitated Radulov’s departure from the NHL in July of 2008 and also coaxed Czech star Jaromir Jagr to play in Russia for three seasons before he returned to join the Philadelphia Flyers this season.

“Obviously, the KHL has a big impact now,” Larionov said. “If you read the press in Russia, they want everybody to stay home. They say, ‘if you go to the NHL, it’s a hard way to make money. It’s hard to make the team. You have to learn the language.’

“In Russia, everything is given to you the first day, and I disagree with that. The way it has been in North America, I think it’s the right way. It’s easy to spoil the players and kill the desire to get to the next level. It is hard to be one of 700 players to play in the National Hockey League and to compete every night and compete in every game.

“To me, it’s a dilemma for the Russian guys. Are they willing to make a sacrifice and go to North America? And so, for the NHL, they kind of worry, should we take this Russian kid?”

Last month, Scott Howson, general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets, described the 2012 draft as “difficult at the top.” Without getting into specifics, Columbus, which has the No. 2 pick after the Edmonton Oilers, is one of the teams that may think twice about drafting a Russian after spending a fourth overall pick on Nikolai Zherdev in 2003 and a sixth overall pick on Nikita Filatov in 2008 and having little to show for both choices.

Under the collective agreement, salaries are capped for players in their first contract, meaning a player such as Washington’s first-rounder in 2010, Evgeny Kuznetsov, passed up a chance to go to the NHL next season in part because he can make a lot more money playing at home. Reports indicated that a contributing factor to Kuznetsov’s decision was his belief that his chances of playing in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, would be enhanced if he stayed home.

Larionov disputes this theory: “If the league is so good, the KHL, why do they wait for Malkin and Datsyuk, why do they leave some space for [Ilya] Kovalchuk and Ovechkin and [Alexander] Semin and some other guys playing now in the second round of the playoffs? So to me, that’s not the right explanation, that the chances will be better for you if you play hockey in Russia.

“With all respect to the KHL,” Larionov added, “the players in the NHL have got more of an everyday reality check. The competition is so high, so you have to compete every night. You are always in the public eye with the way you play. Like [Wednesday], they were showing Ovechkin all night long. They show everything – how you compete, how you’re doing – and that’s what makes the players realize, there is no easy way to make money. You have to compete every single day and when a new day starts, you have to prove again that you deserve to be here.

“That’s the highest level of competition. That’s why these [NHL] players are better. That’s why they’re maturing very quickly, because of that level of competition. That’s why Malkin and Datsyuk play here, and why they play key roles, and why they’re top players in the league.”

SUSPENDED PREDATORS

Dozens of Russian players have won the Stanley Cup since Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Zubov, Alexander Karpotsev and Sergei Nemchinov first did it with the New York Rangers in 1994. Of the 16 Stanley Cups awarded since then, 12 have included at least one Russian-born player (the exceptions: Boston Bruins, 2011; Chicago Blackhawks, 2010; Anaheim Ducks, 2007; and the Colorado Avalanche, 2001.) In 2009, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin became the first Russian player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs.

“It’s a global league now and I like that,” said Larionov, the Hall Of Famer and a member of three Detroit Red Wings championship teams. “I like what Dave Poulin [the Toronto Maple Leafs’ vice-president of hockey operation] says: ‘We’re not looking at the passport, we’re looking at the player. We are willing to work with any player who is the best.’ To me, that’s a really good statement. We cannot divide players into Swedes and Canadians and Americans. As long as the guy is putting his best effort and talent to work, that’s phenomenal. That’s why people come to watch the games and pay big money to do it. It’s all about making the game better.

“To me, it’s not pleasant to read the stuff about the Russians in Nashville. But at the same time, I would be 100 per cent with Barry Trotz and David Poile to do that kind of stuff. I spent some time with David Poile the last couple of years. He’s been asking me the last couple of years about how to get [Alexander] Radulov back, and now it seems like it’s happening, so it [the curfew violation] is not very nice.

“To me, it’s unacceptable the way they behaved and I hope it’s not going to happen again. The new generation of players, the foolish things they do, is going to be a lesson for everybody. But at the same time, the public, the fans in North America, should realize it can happen to anybody.”

RUSSIANS IN THE DRAFT:
LAST SEVEN YEARS PREVIOUS SEVEN YEARS

2011 6 2004 24
2010 4 2003 32
2009 6 2002 33
2008 9 2001 36
2007 7 2000 33
2006 16 1999 29
2005 11 1998 22
Total 59 Total 209

—–

Radulov, Kostitsyn have to play Game 5

TERRY KOSHAN, QMI Agency, May 5 2012

Perhaps Alexander Radulov or Andrei Kostitsyn — positively or negatively — would have made an impact for the Nashville Predators Friday night.

Suspended by the club for Game 3 of the club's Western Conference semifinal against the Phoenix Coyotes, the curfew-breaking pair didn’t play in Game 4 either, thanks to a Nashville victory on Wednesday.

So the Predators wind up without two of their top offensive players for a pivotal game Friday and don’t score a goal in a 1-0 loss. The Coyotes lead the best-of-seven series 3-1 and can wrap it up next Monday at home.

Nashville coach Barry Trotz and general manager David Poile can’t be blamed for benching the pair for Game 3. Nor can Trotz be blamed for sticking with the same lineup for Game 4, leaving Jordin Tootoo and Matt Halischuk in uniform for another night.

If Radulov and Kostitsyn weren’t overly popular with their teammates before, they certainly won't be now.

Trotz has no choice but to re-insert the pair for Game 5. Radulov leads the Predators in playoff scoring with six points. Kostitsyn is tied for the team lead with three goals.

We should find out what kind of heart the two have provided they play Game 5. If either of them takes so much as one shift off, Trotz and the rest of the Predators organization will have their answer.

POINT SHOTS

Try as they did, the Predators couldn’t score in the third period despite crashing the crease of Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith on just about every shift. With just over seven minutes remaining, Nashville thought it had tied the game, but referee Dan O’Halloran lost sight of the puck and blew his whistle. Predators forwards Mike Fisher, Patric Hornqvist and Martin Erat all jammed away at the puck until the play was blown dead … Shane Doan doesn’t need to do anything at this point in his career to prove he is a good captain, but there he was knocking over the 6-foot-7 Hal Gill to take control of the puck and score the Coyotes’ goal. Gill managed to get back in the play, but not in time to stop Doan from releasing a backhand that eluded Predators netminder Pekka Rinne … Nashville defenceman Ryan Suter, who will be an unrestricted free agent in July, had his bacon saved by Rinne when the game was 0-0. Bothered by Phoenix's Antoine Vermette, Suter lost control of the puck and it squirted out to Phoenix's Mikkel Boedker. Rinne coolly stood his ground and made a point-blank save … Coyotes defenceman Rostislav Klesla had a brain cramp 6 1/2 minutes into the game when he drilled Halischuk into the boards from behind. Klesla was tagged with a boarding minor and was lucky that Halischuk was not hurt. NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan might want to give it a longer look, given that Klesla used his left hand to help guide Halischuk into the boards … Nashville’s Paul Gaustad and Phoenix’s Kyle Chipchura seemed like odd fighting foes when they dropped the gloves in the first period, there is a history between the two. When Gaustad was with the Buffalo Sabres and Chipchura with the Anaheim Ducks, the two scrapped with each other in December 2010 … Smith didn’t help himself with some shaky handling of the puck, but he was on point for a 25-save performance. Toward the end of the second, Smith had to be on his toes to stop a high backhand by Brandon Yip … Tootoo put the Predators in a hole early when he was penalized for interference on Keith Yandle. The puck was gone, but Tootoo figured it was a good idea to shove Yandle from behind. A dumb penalty, but Nashville killed off the Phoenix power play.

FROM THE HASH MARKS

Hornqvist will have plenty to think about this summer if his club is eliminated by the Coyotes. It seemed that every time Nashville had a scoring chance in Game 4, Hornqvist was in the middle of it. Except he did not have an actual shot on goal until the third period, instead missing the net five times and having three other attempts blocked in the first 40 minutes. If it’s about bearing down in the playoffs, Hornqvist, who finished with three shots on goal, four shots blocked and five misses, failed miserably … Nashville, it’s fair to say, will need more from stud defenceman Shea Weber in Game 5. Weber must have a bigger presence with his team’s season on the line next Monday … Why is there always an argument for four-on-four hockey in overtime whenever there is a game not decided until double- or triple-overtime? The reason why people can remember Keith Primeau or Pat LaFontaine scoring in overtime after most of the continent was in bed is because it does not happen often. Let teams keep playing five-on-five until there is a goal. It’s bad enough that a skills competition decides games tied after overtime in the regular season. Don’t mess with sudden-death overtime in the playoffs as it stands now.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
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