Articles

[hockeygod]

NHL Coaches remain ‘hired to be fired’

Roy MacGregor, Globe and Mail, Dec. 02, 2011

Hey, come on now, at least these days they’re either telling them to their face or giving them the courtesy of a telephone call.

Billy Reay got canned after more than a dozen seasons as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks when his wife found a note from owner Bill Wirtz slipped under their apartment door. She thought it must be a Christmas card, the holiday being only days away, only to discover her husband was no longer coach.

Even so, three fired NHL coaches in one week is surprising even for the trigger-happy NHL. Paul Maurice is out in Carolina, Kirk Muller is in. Bruce Boudreau is out in Washington, Dale Hunter is in. Randy Carlyle is out in Anaheim, while in comes Bruce Boudreau.

This week’s multiple firings bring to more than two dozen the number of canned NHL coaches since the lockout ended in 2005, four already this year if you include the St. Louis Blues’ replacing Davis Payne with Ken Hitchcock less than a month into the season.

There is some evidence that it works – the Pittsburgh Penguins went on to win the 2009 Stanley Cup after replacing Michel Therrien with Dan Bylsma – though it has not paid off immediately for either Washington or Carolina, as both teams lost twice in the days following the firings. No wonder coaches accept the defeatist notion that they are “hired to be fired.” As Tommy McVie, once coach of the Capitals, the Winnipeg Jets and the New Jersey Devils so nicely put it: “I can be out of town in 20 minutes, 30 if I have stuff at the cleaners.”

Harry Neale has been on both sides, being fired and replaced in the years he coached in the old World Hockey Association and with the Vancouver Canucks and Detroit Red Wings of the NHL. He also fired a coach, Roger Neilson, when Neale was general manager of the Canucks. Neale is also legendary in coaching circles for a line he delivered to the media in the early 1980s: “Last season we couldn’t win at home. This season we can’t win on the road. My failure as a coach is I can’t think of any place else to play.”

Today, Neale works as a colour analyst on the Buffalo Sabres’ broadcasts but still feels a twinge when another hockey coach takes the fall. “Let’s be honest,” he says, “when teams don’t live up to expectations – even when those expectations are sometimes unfair – everyone from the owner to the general manager is asking, ‘What can we do to help?’

“I’d say 90 per cent of coaches who get fired have worked harder in the month before the firing than ever before. Not to save his job, but to find a solution. I don’t think the possibility of getting fired enters their mind as much as it does others.”

When that team doesn’t get going, the coach is usually the first one to pay the price. Not the GM, who provided the players who aren’t delivering, but the coach, for failing to prove the GM correct in his talent assessments.

It is one of the realities, however unfair, of NHL hockey. The GM not only has the power to fire, but he usually has the ear of the owner, often the only one with access to that all-important ear. Coaches get blamed first and quickly, GMs only down the line and rarely.

Firing the coach, Neale says, is increasingly the only possible solution available. Trades, especially big impact ones, have become difficult in the age of the salary cap and long-term multimillion-dollar contracts. Sending non-performing stars to the minors, where they continue to be paid at the NHL level, is a luxury only the richest clubs, such as the New York Rangers, will attempt.

The days of powerful coaches like Punch Imlach, Fred Shero and Scotty Bowman – “guys who ruled the roost” – are likely long gone, Neale says. “I don’t even know if those guys could coach the way things are today.”

Firing the coach, he says, actually makes strange sense in the current NHL. “Today’s coaches don’t make even what the average player makes in salary,” Neale says, “so it’s not a major financial decision.”

As for today’s coaches, they increasingly have fewer levers available with which to manipulate and motivate their players. “The coach hasn’t much of a hammer,” Neale says. “The only penalties you’ve got is to withhold shifts, change the lines or sit out a player. And all of them only work temporarily.”

A fresh coach, however, brings certain advantages. “It’s the one chance that coach has to look the players in the eye and say, ‘I don’t know who will play with whom, who will play the power play, so you’re going to have to show me.’

“It’s also a beautiful opportunity for a guy who’s not been playing as well as he should be to show something. So there are positive reasons for changing coaches.”

There are also positives, he says, for no longer living with such uncertainty as today’s coaches are under.

“I haven’t lost a game in 24 years.”

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

The NHL Coaching Carousel Spins Off Its Axis

From the Caps to the Ducks, Bruce Boudreau found himself out of work for a matter of hours — plus the rest of the week in hockey

Katie Baker, GRANTLAND.com, DECEMBER 1, 2011

It all happened so fast. After kicking off this sluggish week after Thanksgiving by losing his job with the struggling Washington Capitals, it didn't take long for the team's former head coach, Bruce Boudreau, to become the unlikely protagonist of some modified Craig David jam. Fired on a Monday … looking for a drink on Tuesday … he was taking jobs by Wednesday …

The rebound gig was as far from his old one as possible: cross-country far, which meant that when he granted aw-shucks interviews to the Washington Post early Wednesday from "the living room of his Potomac home," or to CSN Washington later that morning from his driveway outside, Boudreau wasn't just being some sort of folksy, come-on-in chucklehead — he was probably smack dab in the middle of packing his bags for the late-afternoon flight to L.A.

About a half hour after the Anaheim Ducks finally won one on Wednesday night, beating Montreal 4-1 to earn just their second victory in 10 games, then-Ducks coach Randy Carlyle spoke with the media at the Honda Center, explaining that "my mandate is, now what do we do for the next one? Because the next one is coming in a hurry, and that's the most important one to me." He was referring to the team's Friday game against the Philadelphia Flyers. A few minutes later, he walked to his office and found out he'd been fired by the Ducks' GM, Bob Murray, the man who just a few months ago had signed him to a three-year contract extension.

"Randy has been invaluable to this club over the last six years," Murray said then of Carlyle, who had coached the Ducks since 2005 and led the team to a Stanley Cup in 2007. "He has been a true leader through thick and thin, and we are very pleased to be able to reward him with this well-deserved contract."

It was because of this contract that the conventional wisdom held that Carlyle's job, while in jeopardy, was a bit more secure than some of the NHL's other coaches, two of whom — Boudreau and Carolina Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice — had already been canned in rapid succession Monday morning.1 Adding to the idea that Carlyle would remain behind the Anaheim bench was the scuttlebutt that the frustrated Ducks had been "shopping Bobby Ryan," a phrase I was unable to read without assuming there was some new CBS comedy and/or viral Clueless/chess YouTube mashup I needed to check out.

The Ryan rumors seemed almost too good to be true: A top 24-year-old winger who has averaged 64 points a season over the past three years was somehow on the market? The guy who did this in the playoffs? Yes please.

Twitter lit up with giddy trade suggestions from fans of the NHL's other 29 teams, and Ryan himself seemed to all but confirm that a move would be imminent: "I wouldn't be surprised," he told the Orange County Register Tuesday. "That's all I'll say about that." And when Ryan met with Carlyle on Wednesday to discuss the media frenzy, his coach advised him "to find that inner peace in himself to deal with it."

All this time, as it turned out, Boudreau was basically waiting in the wings. When the Ducks announced that Carlyle had been let go and Boudreau had been hired,2 they also let slip that the new coach would be there to lead practice on Thursday: In fact, he was already in Anaheim, having arrived before the Montreal game even ended. The win had been a nice, if unwitting, good-bye for Carlyle, nothing more.

The hockey coaching carousel has always been logic-free. One person wrote in to my mailbag this week, suggesting that there be a televised coach-trading deadline to just make things that much more efficient. This week, though, it's like the ride operator got drunk and smashed a few extra buttons on the console, making everything flashier, faster, and more loopy than usual. Boudreau's unemployment is the shortest in the NHL's history.3 His old team faces its rivals, the Penguins, tonight, which is always a circus even in the calmest of circumstances;4 his new team plays the Flyers on Friday, meaning that HBO's camera crews will be happily in tow.

Boudreau was fired from a Washington team that, if the season had ended on Monday morning, would have been in the playoffs. It may seem bizarre to let a coach go when the team isn't ostensibly doing that badly. But the playoffs were no longer the goal for the Caps — the Stanley Cup was. And when the team, which got off to a 7-0 start, began flailing and fuming beneath him, it became increasingly clear that his shots at instilling a stricter regime were clanking. You can't go from being the fun homeroom teacher everyone loves to suddenly slapping students with rulers and sending them to detention for showing up late.

What you can do, though, is get a job at a new school and reinvent yourself however you want. That's what he'll get to do in Anaheim, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't extremely excited. At worst, we've got the colorful Boudreau right back in the league with an offensively minded and defensively questionable squad, and at best, he'll find appropriate middle ground between being pal and police officer. Either way, there's a good chance he'll find kindred spirits in playful players like Ryan — who is ostensibly off the trading block for the time being — and captain Ryan Getzlaf, who has struggled mightily this year but who may benefit from the shakeup. (He already broke his 15-game scoring slump with a goal against Montreal.)

If I may just ask for one small thing, it would be this: If the two Ryans ever complete the important Gold-Silver trilogy, I want Boudreau in a cameo role. He'd be way better than Corey Perry.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

OHL: Knights invite unwanted scrutiny putting Rob Ramage on bench

By Neate Sager, Yahoo! Sports, Dec 2 2011

OHL: Knights invite unwanted scrutiny putting Rob Ramage on benchOn some level, the London Knights had to know putting Rob Ramage behind the bench would bring both the former NHLer and the organization's past to light.

On one level, perhaps the most important one, this is a redemption story for the former NHLer, trying to rebuild his life. Ramage served a prison term for for impaired and dangerous driving in the death of his friend Keith Magnuson. He accepted responsibility and no one can ever fully understand what is like to live with that. He deserves a chance. At the same time, the Ontario Hockey League likes to play up the fact that it is ostensibly about mentoring young men. So some people in London, Ont., are having trouble squaring Ramage moving behind the bench for the Knights with some unflattering moments in the franchise's recent past. Presented without comment, here's one take from Nathan Smith.

Ramage remains on probation until 2014, but more importantly — the London Knights are also on probation, at least in the eyes of the public.

Ramage is not the first member of the organization to face a serious charge of impaired driving.

He's just the latest.

Knights forward Logan Hunter was charged with impaired driving in 2004. Two years later, his uncle — and the team's head coach — Dale Hunter was also charged with drunk driving. Neither Hunter was convicted. Still, two years later, in 2008, the team's assistant coach Dave Gagner was charged with impaired driving. He rear ended a vehicle just outside the John Labatt Centre.

In all three cases, the team chose not to suspend or discipline those involved. (AM 980 London)

Is that fair or foul?

Norman James of CTV London and AM 980 noted the Knights are "pretty pissed" about Smith's piece. That's understandable. No one likes having their dirty laundry aired in public or seeing someone cast aspersions on their organization's culture.

It comes with the territory, though. There's not much grey area in the public conscience when it comes to impaired driving. Every level of government in North America, over the past few decades, has been very effective on disseminating information about the risks of drinking and driving. Yet we continue to read about sportspeople being arrested for impaired driving. The media pays more attention to an athlete or coach getting arrested than some average Jane or Joe, but every time it happens people raise questions about the culture of the sport or team. It comes with the territory.

Were it not for the incidents involving the Knights, would have anyone have an issue with Ramage taking a more publicly visible role with the Knights? Perhaps not. He paid his debt to society, accepted responsibility and as the London newspaper noted, he was already working for the Knights.

He was granted day parole this past May and joined his former junior team in a role the Hunters [GM-coach Mark and then-coach Dale] described as 'defensive consultant.'

He helped the Knights' defencemen during practice and, before Friday's announcement, served as an 'eye-in-the-sky' during games. (London Free Press)

There's been no evidence that Ramage ever jeopardized a player's welfare in the past, to reference another contentious coaching hire recently in the OHL (Bill Stewart becoming a bench coach with the Guelph Storm). It's a sucker play to debate the moral equivalency there, but it is worth citing. Point being, the Knights will have to suffer some slings and arrows, but it might be worth it as part of giving Ramage a second chance.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Ramage steps out of the shadows
Ex-NHLer begins anew as coach

MORRIS DALLA COSTA, QMI Agency, Dec 2 2011

LONDON, ONT. – To some, the appearance of Rob Ramage behind the OHL London Knights' bench was a failure of the justice system to exact a proper measure of payment for a crime committed.

To others, the appearance of Ramage behind the bench was a step in the right direction, a new beginning for a human being who made a mistake, paid for it and continues to pay for it.

There is a time for moving on and that time arrived Friday night a little after 7:30 when Ramage walked along the boards with Knights' head coach Mark Hunter as one of his assistant coaches along with Dylan Hunter and Misha Donskov.

Ramage's Knights hammered the Saginaw Spirit 6-0 at the John Labatt Centre and he was behind the bench a very public part of it.

For the rest of his life Ramage will have to deal with what he did on the day he got into a car after drinking with the trip ending in the death of his friend Keith Magnuson. There is no time for moving on for Ramage when it comes to that. He will remember it forever.

He served prison time. He continues to be free on parole and part of his life will never be the same.

But a trip back from nowhere has to begin somewhere. The first steps began when Ramage helped them in the summer. It became more evident as he helped them in practice.

Friday was a giant leap, a public acknowledgement by the Knights that Ramage was now an official part of the team.

It was going to happen eventually as it should.

It was a statement that it was time for Ramage, and everyone else, to move on.

But in order for that to happen, Ramage needed to come out of the shadows.

That happened Friday night.

Ramage doesn't do interviews, yet.

According to Knights' coach, general manager Mark Hunter, Ramage preferred to remain silent before Friday night's game.

"There are reasons for that," Hunter said.

So in a week when the Knights made international hockey news with their coach Dale Hunter going to Washington Capitals as their head coach, they figured there was no better time for Ramage to make the jump.

If there is a soft underbelly to the Knights, it might be now with so much happening, so many adjustments being made and so much stuff away from the rink they have to deal with.

From a hockey perspective, Hunter needed some experience with him on the bench and a guy who played 16 years in the NHL is invaluable.

"As much as I would like to take credit for the defence, I didn't have anything to do with it," Hunter said. "It was Rob and Misha. It was a good time to transition."

Hunter said he doesn't know what restrictions Ramage has in terms of his parole. He also said he didn't know whether Ramage eventually would have been behind the bench if brother Dale was still in London.

Was Ramage ready to get behind the bench?

"Yeah, he was ready," Hunter said. "He likes to work with young men and they like him."

Was he nervous about appearing on the bench?

"He was excited," Hunter said before the game.

"He was really happy," Hunter said after the game.

Could the Ramage move have waited a year if Dale hadn't left?

"I can't answer that. Whenever is the perfect point?" Hunter said. "We talked about it, talked about it, talked about it, talked about it. It was time."

It was — for the Knights and Ramage.

"The organization needed all hands on deck and right now, all hands on deck means I want four guys on the bench right now," Hunter said. "Rob is an important part of the organization.

"For me, it's all about the hockey club. What's best for the hockey club is this."

Good for Hunter. Good for the Knights — and in the end, good for Ramage.

Welcome back.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Before I Made It: Adam McQuaid

Adam McQuaid was drafted in the second round (55th overall) by Columbus in 2005, but traded to Boston in 2007.

With Kevin Kennedy, The Hockey News, 2011-12-03

I grew up in Cornwall, P.E.I., and I played hockey with the North River Minor Hockey Association. They’ve built a new rink since then, so the building is still there, but it’s used as kind of a warehouse now. It was an older rink and that’s where I had my first game and played most of my minor hockey.

Oddly enough, I can remember my first game. My parents hadn’t had the chance to get me a pair of hockey pants so I went out without them and obviously I was still learning how to skate and we were doing circles and stuff. I can remember falling a lot and with not having pants on, I got pretty bruised up.

I can’t remember the first time we went ‘off island,’ but I can remember how exciting it was to be in a hotel and have all your buddies there and play mini-hockey in the halls and run around from room to room. That was probably the most exciting thing about going to out-of-town tournaments. It wasn’t so much the hockey itself, but hanging out and going to the pool – that kind of stuff.

I got into hockey because my parents wanted to get me into something so that I could be more social. I was a bit of a shy kid so they just wanted me to play a team sport and socialize with other kids my age. My parents were awesome. They were always encouraging and never gave me any advice really – probably mainly because they were just fans of the game, but never really played too much themselves. So it wasn’t like they were ever critiquing me, they were more just there for support.

As a kid, hockey for me was just a winter sport, not a year-round thing. I maybe went to one hockey camp over the summer, but just for a couple days, not even a weeklong thing. I played soccer in the summer and a lot of badminton and basketball in school. I was always on the go and school was very important in our household.

Growing up, I originally thought if hockey didn’t work out I would try to become a gym teacher. I love all kinds of sports and loved gym class and thought I’d be a good role model for kids as a teacher, but as I got a little older I started to move more toward the business world. My father runs a real estate type of business, which was something I had some interest in and maybe something I’ll look into once my career is done. When I was a teenager I had a part-time job working at a golf course one summer and when I was younger I did a paper route, cut grass, that type of stuff.

I watched a lot of hockey as a kid and when I was really young my favorite player was Patrick Roy. Around the time he got traded to Colorado I kind of jumped ship and became a fan of Felix Potvin and Doug Gilmour. I’m not sure why, but I kind of gravitated toward goalies.

On my Ontario League draft day I was at home following on the Internet and I remember we kept hitting the refresh button. Finally, my name appeared – I was selected by the Sudbury Wolves. Being from P.E.I., I wasn’t really familiar with Ontario and didn’t know where Sudbury was. I got a call soon after from management in Sudbury and I was just really excited to get to camp and it was also a bit of a scary time, moving away from my family and friends when I was 16.

I was originally drafted into the NHL by Columbus, but was later traded to the Bruins. My last year in major junior we made the OHL final, so the season ended in late-May. A couple days later is when I found out I’d been traded to Boston and they were going to sign me right away. I got the contract faxed right to Sudbury and signed it there.

I was in the American League for two-and-a-half years and I really think the trade to Boston helped me. They really worked with me and there were a lot of areas I had to improve on, including my skating and puck skills, and they were willing to give me an opportunity. That’s all you can really ask for.

When I got the call to go up to the Bruins, it was a Tuesday night and I was just lying on the couch watching TV. I saw on my phone that it was the assistant GM Don Sweeney calling me in Providence. You always get a little nervous when you get that call. You hope it’s a positive thing, but you never know. He just asked me if I was ready and I said I was and right away I called my family.

It was only an hour drive to Boston so I drove up that night to make practice the next morning and then we actually flew out to Chicago. We had a couple days in Chicago and it worked out well because I could get some practices in and get comfortable with the team.

My parents flew in for the game in Chicago, but unfortunately I didn’t dress. I did get to take warmup, though, which was pretty neat at the time. We actually flew to Toronto a few nights later and I got in the game and I think again it worked out even better because my billet family from Sudbury and my brother, who was going to school in Ontario, all got to come see the game. I followed the Leafs a lot as a kid so it was a pretty special night.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Burke plotted to fight Lowe
Duo had fallout over Penner deal

TERRY JONES, QMI Agency, Dec 2 2011

EDMONTON – Kevin Lowe swears he had no idea Brian Burke was planning the Lake Placid Barn Burner.

“I never did get the invitation,” said Lowe.

The Edmonton Oilers president of hockey operations insists the revelation from the Toronto Maple Leafs president and general manager Friday of planning to rent a barn for a fist fight between the two over Lowe signing Dustin Penner was a revelation.

“It’s news to me,” Lowe told your correspondent Friday.

Unlike the actual punch-up between Joe Kapp and Angelo Mosca that took place on stage at an alumni function at the Grey Cup in Vancouver one week ago, this one never made it to the barn door.

But it would have been an even more bizarre bit of business.

It had hockey fans debating who would win the fight, whether or not Burke would be a bleeder, if Lowe’s famed pain threshold would be a factor and what might be a good undercard?

Some of the suggestions: Semenko-Ali II, Kapp-Mosca II, Craig MacTavish vs Harvey The Hound …

And how would you promote it?

Sun boxing writer Murray Greig, who gained national notoriety for coming up with The Vanilla Thrilla for the 1986 Canadian heavyweight title bout between Willie deWit and Ken Lakusta (I can still hear him explaining it in a TV interview: “Two white guys — get it?”), offered a couple of monikers for Burke vs. Lowe: Bustin’ for Dustin and All-out GMicide.

It’s a fun story now, but obviously not back then.

Apparently it took wife Jennifer, late son Brendan and even NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to talk Burke out of renting the barn for the bout.

It all came out Friday in an interview with The Score’s Sophia Jurksztowicz, in which Burke confessed his plan to trade punches with Lowe.

“It got a point where Kevin challenged me to a fight on a radio interview,” Burke told Jurksztowicz of an interview with Bob Stauffer on the Team 1260.

“I’m, like, ‘That’s not really how you challenge a guy to a fight.’ If you want to challenge a guy to a fight, you pick a place and a time and you show up.

“So I called Glen Sather and I said, ‘Look, this guy went on the radio and challenged me to a fight.’ I said, ‘I’m going to be at Lake Placid at the U.S. junior camp.’ I gave him three dates. I told him I’d rent a barn and I’d pick the address and the time and I’d fight Kevin Lowe,” Burke added of talking to Lowe’s former coach and mentor from the Oilers dynasty.

Asked if he was serious, Burke said hell, yes.

“Dead serious. It got to the point where Gary Bettman called me and said, ‘I hear you guys are thinking about having a fight and if you do I’m going to suspend you both indefinitely.’

“That’s how crazy it got between me and Kevin.

“He’s as stubborn as I am. And there’s no doubt in my mind if we had bumped into each other right about then, we would have fought. No question. He’s not afraid of me. We would have fought for sure.

“Anyway, my wife overhears this, I think I’m in the privacy of my backyard in California and my wife says, ‘You idiot. You’re going to fight this guy? Are you crazy? You’re a general manager.’ So it never came to anything, never came close to it.”

Burke told The Score that his son overheard him on the phone referring to Lowe as a “no good bastard.” Afterward, Brendan asked his dad, “How can you carry a grudge like that?”

“It’s easy. I’m Irish. We can carry (one) for centuries,” Burke responded.

“You guys used to be friends and I think you should mend the fence,” was Brendan’s response.

After his son died in a car accident, Burke recalled what his son had told him about Lowe.

“After the accident, one of the first people to call was Steve Tambellini and I said, ‘Steve, I’ve got to mend the fence with Kevin.’ “

Lowe remembers back to taking a lot of verbal abuse from Burke when he finally popped his top.

“I’d had enough. The league finally had enough and talked to us after that.”

But Lowe swears Bettman never mentioned the proposed bout in a Lake Placid barn at any point since.

“I’d never heard about setting up any scrap.

“That’s probably the way it should have been settled in the first place,” laughed Lowe.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

East-West battle at NHL meetings

Bruce Garrioch, QMI Agency, Dec 3 2011

This will be no Pebble Beach holiday for Gary Bettman.

The NHL commissioner has a fight on his hands as the board of governors meetings begin Monday with the touchy subject of realignment as the No. 1 item on the agenda, with several teams trying to get their way.

As QMI Agency first reported in June, league sources say Bettman is trying to push through a proposal to scrap the current format and realign with four divisions: Pacific, Midwest, East and South.

The top four teams in each division would make the playoffs. The first round would be divisonal play, the teams would then re-seed for conference play. Bettman’s idea would not affect a East-West Stanley Cup final matchup.

“I do think he’s going to get his four divisions, but I believe only two teams are going to move: Detroit will come East and Winnipeg will go West,” predicted a league executive.

This has turned into a bigger battle than Bettman could have imagined when he first presented the scenario to the board in June. Three months ago any chance of it happening was considered remote. Now, it’s alive but there are as many as nine proposals on the table.

That’s because several teams want to move. The Red Wings have wanted to get back to the East for 10 years, while Columbus, Minnesota and Dallas have all petitioned to play in the East. Dallas has been the most aggressive, but that may fall on deaf ears.

“The league owes it to the Wings to move them East,” said the executive.

OFF THE GLASS: Don’t be surprised if the Wings add a veteran forward before the February deadline. They’ve got the cap space to make a deal and GM Ken Holland has always made shrewd moves. They’d just like more depth up front and don’t be surprised if they make a pitch for Carolina’s Tuomo Ruutu … Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff could be facing an interesting question: Do the Jets fire coach Claude Noel to make room for former Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle? The belief is the Jets are “high on Noel” and “don’t operate that way,” but if they’ve got a shot at a coach who has won a Stanley Cup, don’t they have to consider it? The biggest concern about the Jets is their lack of discipline — they are the NHL’s most penalized team it. Somebody is going to grab Carlyle. The Jets might want to bring him home … The Stars have contacted the Flames about RW Jarome Iginla, but have been told he’s not availabe.

AROUND THE BOARDS: Russian RW Nail Yakupov, playing with the OHL’s Sarnia Sting, is regarded as the top prospect in the 2012 NHL draft. “He sees the ice and anticipates the play the way few can,” said one NHL chief scout. “He is dangerous everytime he’s on the ice with a release as quick as (Tampa’s Steve) Stamkos. (Yakupov) scores when the team really needs him.” The scout said Swede RW Filip Forsberg and RW Mikhail Grigorenko (Quebec) are close, but “Yakupov has been consistently good since coming to the OHL.” … The Canucks haven’t given up hope on Phoenix C Kyle Turris. After signing a two-year deal, the 21-year-old made his debut on the fourth line Thursday in Winnipeg. Many believe Turris won’t finish the season in Phoenix. Vancouver is a good fit.

THIS ’N’ THAT: The Flames are going to have to go looking for a blueliner after losing Mark Giordano for an extended period. Expect Calgary GM Jay Feaster to at least make a call to the Senators about D Filip Kuba, who’s out with an upper-body injury at the moment. Once Matt Carkner returns, the Senators will have eight healthy defencemen … Habs GM Pierre Gauthier will wait until his team has completed its Western swing and then will decide about changes. Hard to imagine anyone being thrilled with Gauthier’s performance and he’s on the hotseat. The decision to fire Perry Pearn has put the focus on the GM.

RUMOURS DU JOUR: Didn’t take long for the Bobby Ryan sweepstakes to end in Anaheim after Carlyle was fired. The Rangers, Hurricanes, Leafs and Flyers investigated the possibility of dealing for the power forward. The asking price was a high-end young player already in the NHL, a top prospect and a No. 1 pick. “Did they really want to trade Bobby Ryan?” asked one league executive. “I don’t really think so.” The Hurricanes wanted Ryan to play alongside a struggling Eric Staal … Controversy is brewing with G Roberto Luongo with backup Cory Schneider playing lately in Vancouver. The talk among league executives is the Canucks have dangled Luongo in trade circles, but haven’t been able to find anybody interested in his $5.3-million cap hit and contract that runs through the 2021-22 season. Schneider will be shipped out at some point … Columbus C Derick Brassard ruffled feathers when his agent Allan Walsh sent out a statement Thursday calling out coach Scott Arniel and demanding a trade. There are several teams looking at Brassard, including: Los Angeles, Ottawa, Montreal, Phoenix, Florida, Tampa and the Rangers. Bolts coach Guy Boucher and Brassard were together in junior. Two years left at $3.2 million is a stumbling block.

Have a nice Sunday.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
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A Band-Aid or surgery?
NHL realignment a hot topic

By CHRIS STEVENSON, QMI Agency, Dec 3 2011

MONTEREY, Calif. – A Band-Aid or major surgery.

A nip-and-tuck or a major facelift.

Those seem to be the choices NHL owners face when it comes to tackling the always-contentious issue of alignment, which will likely make for the liveliest debate as the league's board of governors meet for two days here starting Monday.

By lively debate we mean blood on the floor.

The alignment talk has been given new life with the relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg this season. The move was made too late for changes this season so the Jets remain in the Southeast Division which, even for a league that has had the geographical absurdity of Detroit in its Western Conference for more than 20 years, is a bit much.

So, how to fix it?

That will be the big question between rounds of golf at Pebble Beach for the league's major domos.

"From the board perspective of making whatever decision they want to make, people are all over the place," said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on his weekly radio show on NHL Home Ice. "If you ask each of the 30 clubs what their preference is, my guess is you'd get 30 different preferences and, as a result, what we really have to do is find the biggest layer of common ground. You're not going to get everybody's first choice.

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

The simple solution is to swap Winnipeg and the Detroit Red Wings, with the Jets taking the Wings' place in the Central Division and the Wings moving to the Southeast. It still sounds dumb to have Detroit in the Southeast, but much less dumb that having them in the West.

The Wings deserve to be accommodated with a move to the east.

They have been the good soldiers of the current model. What they have accomplished as the only Eastern time zone team in the Western Conference for much of the last 20 years is pretty remarkable, given the added burden of travel they have had to bear, particularly in the playoffs.

Then there is the challenge they face with their fan base, given they will play only 11 road games with a start time of 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. this season Another 11 games start at 9 p.m. or later, which means they won't finish until about 11:30 p.m., which is late for those folks in Detroit still fortunate enough to have a job to get up to the next morning.

Even those games that start at 8 or 8:30 p.m. ­– the majority of the Wings' games in Chicago, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, Winnipeg — make it tough for the next generation of Wings' fans, the kids, to stay up and watch.

You can make all the same arguments for the Columbus Blue Jackets and probably multiply them by X. The Blue Jackets have none of the history or entrenched passion for their franchise which exists in Detroit.

Coupled with their on-ice struggles, a bad television schedule is another strike against a franchise building a fan base and making a go of it in Columbus.

The Dallas Stars face a similar situation. They are the only team in their division in their time zone, meaning most of their road games start late in Big D, too. All of their road divisional games are at least two times zones away.

"Dallas, who's in the Pacific, plays a lot of its road games very late at night and so younger people in particular have a tough time staying up to watch the games on a regular basis, like when they're in Anaheim or Los Angeles or San Jose. So that's an issue," said Bettman.

"Minnesota is in a place where they're playing a lot of their games in the Northwest. And then you say, well, OK, if we put Winnipeg in the Northwest and we move Minnesota to the Central, isn't that great, and then Colorado says, wait a minute, then I'm the only U.S. club (in a division) with four Canadian ones. Crossing the border these days is rather time-consuming, and that puts us at a disadvantage. And you have the old arguments about the teams like Detroit and Columbus that are in the Eastern time zone, and they're saying, we're playing all of our teams or too many of our games west, from a TV standpoint."

As unjust as the current system is for teams like Detroit, Dallas and Columbus, the problem is it requires a two-thirds majority (20 of 30 teams) to approve any changes to the current alignment. The prevailing feeling is the teams in the East are more than happy with the status quo. All it would take to scuttle any sweeping changes is 11 of the 15 Eastern Conference teams to vote as a block to prevent any drastic or sensible evolution of NHL alignment.

Under one of the rumoured proposals, as reported by Elliotte Friedman of the CBC Saturday night, the two seven-team divisions would be in the East which would increase the odds of making the playoffs in the East. Maybe that would be enough to curry more favour in the East for a four-division setup.

Taking a sampling of which way the wind is blowing, I could see the owners going with the Band-Aid solution, particularly since the fate of the Phoenix Coyotes is still up in the air. It has been quiet in the desert, which is not a bad sign, but what if the NHL can't find a buyer willing to keep the franchise in Glendale for next season and beyond?

What then? Another move?

Quebec City is the choice destination of the Coyotes for most fans (and players and hockey writers), but it is not the turnkey opportunity Winnipeg presented. There is no NHL-calibre rink at this point.

Do owners wait and see what happens with the Phoenix franchise before pulling the trigger on a major overhaul? Or do they build in a potential Phoenix-to-Quebec porthole in a sweeping alignment change?

That proposal would likely see two divisions of eight teams and two of seven (with both the seven-team divisions in the East, a move of the Coyotes east, if necessary, would be easily accommodated) with a more balanced schedule. Every team would play a home-and-home with every other team in the league for a total of 58 games, with the remaining 24 to be played against their remaining six or seven conference rivals.

Everybody gets to see everybody in their building at least once a year. Teams like Detroit and Columbus would play a home-and-home with the 22 teams outside their division and the rest against their divisional rivals. It would cut their travel to the West Coast in half.

It would also keep divisional rivalries going, though I think what we've learned is that rivalries are built in the playoffs, not the regular season, no matter how many times teams play, because that's when the stakes are highest and emotions run the deepest.

The Vancouver Canucks' biggest rival right now is the Chicago Blackhawks. That's not based on geography or how many times they've played in the regular season. It's based on the ferocious playoff series they've had the last three years.

In a four-division system, the first two rounds of the playoffs would be played within the division, which would foster the development of those playoff rivalries. You're cutting the mix in half from the old conference-based system, meaning the chances of meeting the same team a few years in a row is increased.

From the first two rounds, a division champion would be crowned. They would meet to decide the conference champ. The East-West Stanley Cup final format would be preserved.

What I would like to see is the four remaining teams after the first two rounds reseeded according to their regular-season point totals and have them go at it. I know some will complain there is an inequity because of the schedule, but right now the team with the most points gets home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup final with an unbalanced schedule.

I'm certainly not married to the idea of there having to be an "East versus West" Stanley Cup final. Maybe you need it for the Grey Cup because of the long-standing tradition in the CFL (admit it: the game isn't the same when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are representing the East), but it has no real tradition in the NHL.

East versus West in the NHL has been a misnomer given Detroit has represented the West six times in the current format.

For those who would argue reseeding the four teams for the last two rounds could open up the possibility of more travel, I'd argue the chances would be just as good two Eastern-based or Western-based teams could meet in the final which would mitigate whatever additional travel might be incurred in the third round.

Plus, the crossover format increases the odds of the two best of the four remaining teams meeting in the final, which isn't always the case in the current system.

Just a thought.

When the debate over the next two days goes beyond the simple Detroit-for-Winnipeg swap, you can bet it will get testy.

"It's not easy to balance the fact that, yes, we play to 94% of capacity in the regular season, and 101% of capacity in the playoffs, and that's great on a macro basis," said Bettman, "but there are some clubs that say, this has been a little harder on us than on everybody else. That's why this is not an easy issue."

"Maybe there's a little burden for everybody to do something that really benefits the game," San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson told the San Jose Mercury News.

That's a great thought.

The big question is how many NHL owners share it.

CHARTABLE

Possible NHL realignment scenario (four divisions in two conferences).

Teams will play all other teams home-and-away in regular season with rest of games divided among division rivals.

Playoffs would see the first two rounds played within the division (1 vs. 4; 2 vs. 3) with the two winners playing to decide division champ. The divisional champions would play to determine conference champion.

Eastern Conference

The "Winter Vacation" Division

Boston Bruins

Montreal Canadiens

Ottawa Senators

Toronto Maple Leafs

Buffalo Sabres

Florida Panthers

Tampa Bay Lightning

"The Commuter" Division

Philadelphia Flyers

Pittsburgh Penguins

Washington Capitals

Carolina Hurricanes

New York Rangers

New York Islanders

New Jersey Devils

Western Conference

"The Not Perfect, But We'll Take It" Division

Detroit Red Wings

St. Louis Blues

Chicago Blackhawks

Dallas Stars

Minnesota Wild

Winnipeg Jets

Nashville Predators

Columbus Blue Jackets

The "Best Sushi" Division

Calgary Flames

Edmonton Oilers

Vancouver Canucks

San Jose Sharks

Los Angeles Kings

Anaheim Ducks

Phoenix Coyotes

Colorado Avalanche

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Zize Matters: The pressure's on

By Mike Zeisberger, QMI Agency, Dec 3 2011

Sometimes we forget just how much pressure is heaped on those kids who tug on that red-and-white Team Canada jersey for the world junior hockey championship every December.

Sometimes we forget that these hockey heroes who carry the hopes of an entire nation during each and every holiday season are just teenagers, some not even old enough to legally go out for a golden frosty beverage after one of their games.

Brayden Schenn hasn’t forgotten.

Two years ago, Schenn, representing Canada at the tournament for the first time, was on the losing end of a gut-wrenching 6-5 overtime defeat to the rival Americans in the title game.

One year later, Schenn, despite winning tournament MVP honours, was crushed after his Canadians blew a 3-0 third- period lead en route to a frustrating 5-3 setback to the Russians in the gold medal tilt.

As the candidates for this year’s edition of the Team Canada juniors gather later this week in Calgary for a training camp that runs Dec. 10-14, history will show that Canada’s two-year gold-medal drought is a disappointment. Some critics would go as far as to say the past two squads have been failures.

Brayden Schenn doesn’t see things that way.

Maybe those teams failed in their goal to win a championship. But that doesn’t make the individual players “failures.” Not when you poured so much blood and sweat trying to reach the dream, gold or no gold.

To that end, Schenn, now a member of the Philadelphia Flyers, regularly stays in touch with Mark Visentin, the Niagara IceDogs goalie who returns to Team Canada’s selection roster after being beaten for all five of those Russian goals in the championship game last January in Buffalo.

“I actually just talked to him,” Schenn said during a phone interview from California, where the Flyers are in the midst of a west-coast trip. “I really hope they do well.”

Schenn acknowledges he will be following as many Team Canada games as possible, Of course, he understands that, as he watches the broadcasts, there will be constant reminders of how the past two Canadian sides were forced to settle for silver.

“Obviously, for myself and a few others who were on those teams, it’s tough to see those highlights, especially with the streak of (five gold medals) Canada won before that,” Scehnn said. “Obviously Canada wants redemption.

“As for me, I’ve moved on. You have to.”

To put into perspective what these kids go through each and every year, keep in mind that your NHL heroes do not have an annual all-star tournament like the world juniors in which entire nations follow the action shift by shift.

The Olympics? Those only take place every four years.

The world hockey championship? While that tournament means a lot to the countries on the other side of the Atlantic, it does not feature the so-called “best-of-the-best” because the NHL playoffs are on at the same time.

The world junior, on the other hand, is an all-star showcase of under-20 talent that kicks off every December and runs into January. The only stars of this age group who aren’t featured are the draft picks whose NHL teams have opted to keep them up at the pro level.

In Canada, the tournament has become a holiday tradition, much like U.S. college football bowl games used to be on New Year’s Day before the BCS scattered the schedule.

“There always are huge expectations,” Schenn said. “Millions of people are watching you wearing those jerseys. Little kids at home are dreaming of one day being in your shoes.

“It’s probably one of the most fun things I ever watched growing up.”

Schenn admits that, for every player who wears the maple leaf on his chest, it’s gold or bust. He has no problem with that. Everyone knows the lofty expectations that are omnipresent once the first puck is dropped.

Eleven months ago in Buffalo, Schenn set a record by registering 18 points, the most ever recorded by a Canadian player in the tournament. But that was no consolation for the heartbreak he and his teammates felt at watching those coveted gold medals dangling around the necks of the champion Russians.

In the end, it’s your prerogative to consider the outcome produced by this edition of Team Canada a “failure” if it does not bring home the gold medal from the upcoming tournament in Edmonton.

Just don’t call the individual kids like Visentin “failures” if that happens. From the moment they are selected to pull on that jersey, they are anything but.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Nashville Predators give minor-league coach his chance

Josh Cooper, The Tennessean, Dec. 3, 2011

It’s much easier now for Ian Herbers than it was three years ago.

As head coach of the East Coast Hockey League’s Johnstown Chiefs, he had to do everything. And by everything, he means all functions surrounding the team.

“From travel to housing to video to practices and games,” Herbers said. “That has helped prepare me for this situation.”

Now the new coach of the Milwaukee Admirals in the American Hockey League has help, from interim assistant Martin Gelinas to General Manager and Predators assistant GM Paul Fenton, to the parent organization in Nashville.

Herbers has paid his dues long enough to have people to fall back on.

“It’s nice having the support,” Herbers said.

He didn’t expect to become coach of the Admirals so soon. On Monday, Coach Kirk Muller bolted Nashville’s AHL affiliate to become head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes. Muller had taken over the Admirals after the Predators promoted Lane Lambert to Nashville last summer.

Fortunately for the Predators, a prolonged search for Muller’s replacement was not needed. They already had someone on site in Herbers. No interim tag was placed in front of his new title.

“Had it not been for Kirk Muller’s availability, Ian would have been coach when we promoted Lane,” Predators GM David Poile said. “There’s no hesitation now in hiring him as the head coach, from myself to Barry Trotz and Paul Fenton, Marty Gelinas, all the people who work with Ian on a regular basis. We are very happy to have him as head coach in Milwaukee.”

Last summer, when the Predators moved Lambert from Milwaukee to Nashville, Herbers was considered the favorite to replace him. After two years as Lambert’s top assistant, Herbers had paid his dues.

But Muller, who was considered a hot coaching candidate for NHL jobs over the summer, expressed interest. The Predators went with Muller, and Herbers continued in his role as an assistant.

He was disappointed, but knew he needed to continue to bring a positive attitude to the job, and help Muller, who had never spent time in the AHL as a player or a coach.

“I took it in stride and helped him out with the league and shared my experiences with him,” Herbers said. “It was beneficial for him to come in. Even though it was a short period of time, he was able to help me out as a coach as well.”

Said Lambert: “He was disappointed, but he also understood that there’s a process and his time would come. It came maybe quicker than anybody anticipated.”

It was just 17 games into the season, to be exact.

Herbers is considered a good teacher with a keen eye for detail. Under Lambert, he worked with the Admirals’ defense and developed a bond with several of Nashville’s defensive prospects.

“He was great for me, I learned a lot from him. He always took me for extra videos and helped me to get better in my game, and I think he will be a good head coach,” said Predators defenseman Roman Josi, who played for Herbers last season and parts of this season. “He corrects you if you do something wrong. He shows you a lot of video, and helps you see your mistakes.”

Muller was not the first Admirals coach to go to the NHL. Peter Horachek is now a Predators associate coach, and Claude Noel is head coach of the Winnipeg Jets. Todd Richards, who was an assistant for Milwaukee, is a former Minnesota Wild head coach and currently is an assistant with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

It’s unclear whether Herbers will follow in the steps of his predecessors, but he appears to be the right fit for right now in Milwaukee.

“He’s very detailed with systems and structure,” Lambert said. “Those are the things that will carry him through.”

—–

IAN HERBERS

Born: July 18, 1967.

NHL playing career: Selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the 10th round of the 1987 NHL draft. The defenseman played 65 total NHL games with the Oilers, Lightning and Islanders, and registered five assists.

Previous coaching stops: Associate coach with the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit (2004-07). Head coach with the East Coast Hockey League’s Johnstown Chiefs (2007-09). Assistant coach with the American Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals (2009-11)

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

FRASER: WHY THE KINGS COULD PICK THE RICHARDS' PENALTY

Kerry Fraser, TSN.ca, Dec 4 2011

Happy Holidays Kerry! I enjoy reading your column. It gives great insight for us fanatics that want to know why.

My question: I am an avid Los Angeles Kings fan and I was watching the Kings vs. Panthers game Thursday night. In the second period the Kings' Mike Richards took a slashing penalty after a hit by Florida's Bergenheim. A scrum ensued, Richards and Jarret Stoll took roughing penalties and Bergenheim also took a roughing penalty. So that left Florida with a two-minute penality and the Kings had four minutes to Richards and two minutes to Stoll. The Kings had a choice of a two man disadvantage or a 4 minute double minor disadvantage. Why did the Kings get a choice? Is seems like Florida should have gotten to choose. How is it in the rules? Thanks!

Dan Hauptman
Palmdale, CA

—–

At 16:52 of the second period on Thursday – Florida Panthers and LA Kings.

Kings forward Mike Richards took exception to a hit from Panthers forward Sean Bergenheim.

Richards gave Bergenheim a slash and followed him up ice to rough him up some more.

On the play, Bergenheim ended up with a roughing minor. Richards got a slashing minor and roughing minor. The roughing penalties occur seconds apart, not 'coincidental.'

According to the in-game announcers, the Kings were given the choice of:

1) A two-minute 5-on-3
2) A four-minute 5-on-4

Didn't realize this happens, what is the background on why teams are given a choice – and when does it apply?

Thanks Kerry,
Phil Ross

Dan and Phil:

I'll take you through some of the history of the coincidental minor penalty rule but first let me quickly clarify Phil's question regarding the "real time" difference between infractions/incidents that are treated as "coincidental."

Even though Mike Richards' delayed slashing minor occurred during play and the minor penalties to Jarret Stoll, Sean Bergenheim and additional minor to Richards resulted from the ensuing scrum after play was stopped, the time on the clock is the determining factor with regard to application of rule 19—coincidental penalties. The penalties were all assessed at 16:52 and therefore treated as "coincidental."

The coincident minor penalty application changed back and forth during my 30 year NHL career. When the Edmonton Oilers were dominating during the early 1980's, their power-play could often be a game breaker with the likes of Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Anderson, Coffey and so on.

Being the intelligent coach that he was and hockey man that he is, Glen Sather recognized that near the end of regulation time in close or tied games his best weapon (beyond a power-play) would be to open up the ice for his young guns by creating a four-on-four situation.

At times like this an Oiler player would engage an opponent (usually in a scrum after the whistle) and a face-wash would result in a push or punch back and forth that escalated to minor penalties being assessed to a player from each team. While "Slats" never said thank you for making this call his lack of protest and usual grin was a signal that the rules were working to his team's advantage.

You might suggest that the other team just needed to be disciplined and not get drawn into the battle but that didn't usually happen. An "Oiler Rule" was created where these penalties were treated as coincidental and not served for a few years just like major penalties causing the teams to play five-on-five.

The aspect of the rule eventually returned to what we currently operate under which states, "When one minor penalty is assessed to one player of each team at the same stoppage of play, these penalties will be served without substitution provided there are no other penalties in effect and visible on the penalty clocks. Both teams will therefore play four skaters against four skaters for the duration of the minor penalties."

If a team was to perfect the art of drawing an opponent into mutual roughing minors like the "Oilers of old" it could be a huge benefit to certain teams. Just think of the teams with personnel that thrive when a four-on-four results in OT.

The coincidental penalty rule was expanded to include not just major penalties and majors where minor penalties were attached but to include multiple minor penalties as well. Rule 19.1 in the current rule book states, "When multiple penalties are assessed to both teams, equal numbers of minor and major penalties shall be eliminated using the coincident penalty rule and any differential in time penalties shall be served in the normal manner and displayed on the penalty time clock accordingly."

Rule 19.5 attempted to make it less complicated by stating:

(i) Cancel as many major and/or match penalties as possible.
(ii) Cancel as many minor, bench minor and or double-minor penalties as possible.

We received this new rule at training camp the year it was instituted. As was often the case, the guys that were most familiar with rule application and consequences one rule might have on another (the officials) started posing various "what if" scenarios. We came up with a whole bunch where a team could end up being forced to defend a five-on-three situation. Some concern was expressed that a minor penalty might be overlooked to avoid putting a team in this spot (even though deserved). The referees did not want to be perceived as "accountants" balancing the books as so often was the case. (Did I just hear someone say "even-up"?)

It was then our recommendation and sent up the chain of command for approval that a team should have the choice as to which minor penalty they wanted cancelled against that could result in an option of a five- on-three for two minutes or five-on-four for four minutes. That "choice" was a no brainer even though I had one coach tell me he needed a minute to think about it and the present application was approved.

Please don't get wigged out by the math but here are just some of the scenarios from Table 17 in the rule book that provide for a Captain's Choice and the refs have to know and apply:

Team A Penalties Team B Penalties
A3 2+5 B10 2
A5 2 B12 5

Team A will play one player short-handed for 2 minutes. Team A Captain's Choice to determine which penalty would go on the clock. Should A3 be chosen, then an additional team A player must be placed on the penalty bench to serve the minor penalty for A3.

A3 2+2 B10 2
A5 2

Team A Captain's Choice to play one player short-handed for four minutes or two players short-handed for two minutes. Should he choose the latter, an additional team A player must be placed on the penalty bench to serve the minor penalty for A3 (*Mike Richards situation)

A3 2+5 B5 2+5
A4 2+2+5 B7 5+5

Team A will be short-handed either one player for four minutes, or two players for two minutes (Captain's Choice). Team B will be short-handed for five minutes (Captains Choice which major serves.)

A3 2+5 B5 2+2+5
A4 5 B7 5+5

Team B will be short-handed either one player for seven minutes or two players, one for two minutes and one for five minutes (Captain's Choice)

A3 2+5 B5 5
A4 5

Team A will be short-handed, either one player for seven minutes, or two players, one for two minutes and one for five minutes (Captain's Choice)

While these are only a small sampling from the Coincidental Penalties Table that the referees must know, it is my hope that you will take this as a weekend homework assignment and memorize each one of these situations.

Try and appreciate how you would need to recall each of them in an instant while under pressure in a game with 20,000 people in the Staples Arena in Los Angeles looking on.

TGIF! Have a wonderful weekend everyone and Happy Holidays to all.

Post Weekend Update on Ryan Getzlaf double minor in OT:

It appears as though everyone is either busy completing the homework assignment by studying Table 17, could care less about the captain's choice or is suffering from mathematical hangover. Whatever the case, I hope you now recognize that rules can sometimes be complicated and the referee's task not all that easy.

In response to the questions back at Supermanpaulsson and perma-dissapointed-Torontonian with regard to Ryan Getzlaf's untimely and undisciplined outburst in OT, I provide you with the following answer.

Rule 39-Abuse of Officials is intended to provide for the assessment of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to any player that challenges or disputes the ruling of an official. "A player, goalkeeper, coach or non-playing person shall not display unsportsmanlike conduct including, but not limited to, obscene, profane or abusive language or gestures, comments of a personal nature intended to degrade an official, or persist in disputing a ruling after being told to stop or after being penalized for such behavior."

The officials apply a graduating scale from unsportsmanlike conduct to a misconduct followed by a game misconduct if the player persists in abusive conduct.

So in the first instance, a minor penalty is assessed Getzlaf as spelled out in rule 39.2 and includes a player who bangs the boards with their stick: "A minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct shall be assessed under this rule for the following infractions: (iii) Any player or players who bang the boards with their sticks or other objects at any time, or who, in any manner show disrespect for an official's decision."

This penalty is elevated to an additional misconduct if the player persists in his dispute of the referee's ruling under rule 39.3—Misconduct Penalty: (iii) Any player or players who bang the boards with their sticks or other objects at any time, showing disrespect for an official's decision, for which they have already been assessed a minor or bench minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Ryan Getzlaf received the appropriate penalty (an unsportsmanlike conduct minor) for his dispute of the initial penalty call. Had Getzlaf persisted in his abusive actions, the next step would have included the assessment of a misconduct penalty.

I trust a valuable and costly lesson was learned by Ryan Getzlaf.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Getting To Know: Dave Shand
Dave Shand scored 19 goals and 103 points in 421 NHL games.

Mark Malinowski, The Hockey News, 2011-12-04

Status: NHL defenseman from 1976-1985 with Atlanta Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs and Washington Capitals.

DOB: Aug. 11, 1956 In: Cold Lake, Alta.

Early Hockey Memory: "5:00 a.m. hockey practices."

Hockey Inspiration: "Bobby Orr. I was a center ‘til I saw him play and then moved to defense."

Nickname: "Sugar."

Last Book Read: "A Drop of the Hard Stuff by Lawrence Block."

Favorite Movies: "Bull Durham, Anatomy of a Murder."

Greatest Sports Moment: "Bronze medal with Team Canada, 1978 World Championship. It was the first medal for Canada in 22 years."

Most Painful Moment: "Losing to the Islanders in…1984 after being up 3-1 in the series."

Most Memorable Goal: "First, against the Colorado Rockies."

Favorite Uniforms: "The Maple Leafs jersey."

Favorite Arena: "Madison Square Garden."

Closest Hockey Friends: "Willi Plett, Larry Murphy."

Funniest Players Encountered: "No funny guys stand out, maybe Craig Laughlin with the Caps. All hockey players are pretty funny."

Toughest Competitors Encountered: "Mike Bossy, Bobby Clarke, Darryl Sittler."

Funny Hockey Memory: "Funny memory? I scored in my own goal against the Montreal Canadiens on Hockey Night in Canada. My whole family was watching across the country."

Strangest Game: "Leafs against St. Louis, 1981. We outshot St. Louis 25-1 in the first period and we were behind 1-0. They had Mike Liut, we had Jiri Crha."

Personality Qualities Most Admired: "Honesty."

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

What Coffey misses most

Luke Fox, TSN.ca, December 4, 2011

Paul Coffey is decked out in a crisp suit and dress shoes, and he’s sliding around in a boardroom swivel chair demonstrating how to beat the trap by quick passes and speed down the wings.

The Hall of Fame defenceman is 50 years old, and — as is the case with a lot of baby boomers — his knees, hips and lower back ache from time to time. But his joints don’t seem to be bothering him today.

Which is kind of the point: Coffey is now a businessman, and he’s hitting up media outlets to plug the 12-hour relief he gets from Aleve and the importance of rest, proper diet and exercise in helping Canadians deal with arthritis and joint pain.

Ironically, Coffey is moving about the Sportsnet conference room like a well-oiled machine. He makes it clear that he doesn’t have arthritis himself and that the soreness in his body doesn’t prevent him from doing anything (“I just pop an Aleve and go,” he dismisses, which may or may not be the medicine’s slogan, but it should be.)

The second-highest point-scoring defenceman of all time (to Ray Bourque) stays busy these days running a couple of car dealerships in Bolton, Ont., where he lives with his wife and three children. He plays golf in the summer and enjoys getting on the ice to coach both of his boys’ minor teams, head-coaching his 13-year-old’s team and assisting with his young guy’s squad. He brings his daughter along for today’s interview circuit.

All of that is beside the point, though. Coffey is keen to talk hockey, and his eyebrows raise when asked about his legendary speed.

"Wow, you must be an Oilers fan," he says. "I’d be lying if I told you I worked harder than everybody else."

Not that Coffey didn’t practice with intent, but his natural stride was God-given. He can’t remember a moment when he was faster than the rest of the kids. He just… was. Call up Coffey highlights on YouTube, and his steps on the ice appear smooth and effortless. Coffey says he always had a powerful running stride, too.

In order to get that strong push-off, when Coffey entered the NHL, he famously jammed his feet into a pair of skates two sizes too small, like the Grinch’s heart but with better results. With his foot slipping inside his size 8, Coffey’s socks got thinner and his boots shrunk until he was getting the control he needed. A fun anecdote, but Coffey doesn’t recommend it, figuring the size 6s contributed to some of his aches today.

The subject turns to the 2011 NHL, specifically the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 1-3-1 trap scheme and their game against the Philadelphia Flyers in which Philly’s defencemen refused to play rush the puck up the ice and the Lightning refused to forecheck. Our conversation with Coffey occurs the day after the Toronto Maple Leafs flew into Florida and walloped the Lightning 7-1.

“I don’t know the coach in Tampa,” Coffey says of Guy Boucher, “but there’s no way Toronto should beat that team 7-1. Not with the horses they have. Are you kidding me? The attitude should be, if they score seven, let’s go score eight.”

Coffey says today’s NHL is over-coached, that not enough trust is given to the players to use their own instincts, to let their talent loose.

“Everyone is trying to reinvent the wheel. It’s a simple game. The rink has always been this big.” Coffey outlines a rectangle with his fingers. The imaginary rink is not to scale, but his point is clear. If his argument were an end-to-end rush, Coffey is just rounding his own net, puck on the tape, building a head of steam.

“The modern game has too many statistics. They shouldn’t have started keeping track of all this stuff. There’s only a couple stats that matter. No one cares how many blocked shots a guy has, how many hits,” he says. “Your job is to entertain that guy in the stands who paid $100 to be entertained.”

Make no mistake, Coffey still watches the NHL. He just wishes the game were more entertaining. As a resident of the Greater Toronto Area, he roots for the home team (“C’mon, were all Leafs, though, aren’t we?” he says, as if those in Ontario have no choice), still follows Detroit, Pittsburgh and Edmonton. Those were the cities in which Coffey enjoyed his greatest success, before a series of forgettable wind-down stints in Hartford, Philadelphia, Chicago, Carolina, and Boston, the longest of which lasted 113 games.

More than teams, though, Coffey says he follows players. He mentions Nashville’s Shea Webber, L.A.’s Drew Doughty as examples of defencemen he likes to watch. Both are defenders with booming shots, both can create offensive opportunities.

It makes sense in retrospect, considering his nose-for-the-net forward speed and corner-picking shot: Coffey wasn’t always a defenceman. He vividly recalls the day his junior coach told him he was getting shifted back to the blue line. Crestfallen, young Coffey complained to his father on the ride home from the arena. He didn’t want to play the game from the back.

“How many forwards are on the ice?” his dad asked him.

“Three,” Coffey answered.

“And how many defencemen,” his dad asked.

“Two.”

“Right. There’s less of them. That means more ice time for you.”

Coffey grew to love the position. “Everything’s in front of you. You see it all. You see everything develop, you see where to go,” he says. And once Coffey was drafted sixth overall by the Oilers in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft, he joined Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Jari Kurri on one of the most thrilling young sports teams ever. The give-and-go, Coffey’s bread and butter, was a revelation to him—especially with the NHL’s all-time leading giver setting him up.

Coffey says not once did a coach encourage him to play more stay-at-home. “If anything, it was the opposite,” he says. They wanted him up blasting into the opposition’s zone. “Gretzky would come in across the blue line and do his curl. He would get mad if I wasn’t coming in with speed, looking for the pass.”

Wielding heavy wooden sticks and leather skates, the Oilers of the ’80s caused offensive records to fall and Stanley Cups to rise.

On March 14, 1986, the score-at-will Oilers were playing the Detroit Red Wings. Coffey, having already notched his four point of the game with plenty of time remaining on the clock took at seat on the bench next to Gretzky.

“Wayne turned to me and asked, ‘Do you know the record for points in a game by a defenceman?’ I didn’t know, but Wayne knew all the stats, all the records. ‘No,’ I told him,” Coffey remembers. “ ‘It’s eight,’ Wayne said. ‘Let’s go.’ And I went out and got four more. Didn’t beat the record (held by Tom Bladon), but I tied it.”

In 1984-85, Coffey snapped Bobby Orr’s record for most goals by a defenceman with 48. (To put things in perspective, last season, only one forward, Bobby Ryan, scored that often.) Was it frustrating coming up only two goals shy of a nice, round 50?

“No,” Coffey blurts. “Because it tough enough to get the 48. You have to remember. That year I only had nine goals at Christmas, so getting to 48 was hard.” He pauses. “I guess I could have scored more before Christmas, though.”

Coffey seems confident today in his suit, content, happy to talk about his kids, proud of his car business, that he’s found something different after 21 years in the league. But how does a man adjust from being the fastest guy on the ice to being another dad coaching minor hockey, from drinking out of Stanley Cups and lifting Canada Cups and breaking more than 10 individual points records to selling Toyotas?

“Some guys say stuff like, ‘I miss the guys…’ Nah, I still have friends. What I miss is the emotion. That feeling in the dressing room after you win—nothing comes close to that. You can’t get that in any other career.” Coffey thinks for a second. “Maybe in the stock market back in the ’80s when people were making tons of money, maybe they felt something similar. Maybe. But look at the market now. Nothing gives you that emotion like sports. Nothing. Am I wrong?”

Coffey scans the boardroom, looking at the faces of the journalist and p.r. folks, none of whom will taste Stanley’s champagne or party with Mario Lemieux in victory or win three Norris trophies or one-time a buttery pass from 99 and stretch the twine.

No, Paul Coffey is not wrong.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Who's the toughest?

Jeff Marek, TSN.ca Blog, Blog, December 4, 2011

Had a lot of fun on the ‘Marek vs Wyshynski’ podcast Friday afternoon with the Brian Burke story of challenging Kevin Lowe to a barn fight (and isn’t there just something delicious about the term ‘barn fight’?) which got me to thinking a couple of things:

1 – Who do you think the toughest GM in the NHL is?

Hmmm, good one.

I think it comes down to two: Philadelphia’s Paul Homlgren and Washington’s George McPhee. McPhee is also, pound for pound, one of the toughest players to ever suit up in my estimation. Garry Howatt would top that list, but I digress.

2 – Has something like this ever happened before where two rival GMs roll up the sleeves and brush up on their Marquees of Queensbury rules?

Well, we’ve seen coaches go at it before or at least try to go at it. Jacques Demers and the late Herb Brooks tried to mix it up during a spirited Detroit-Minnesota game. Also, Pat Burns infamously tried to get at Kings bench boss Barry Melrose during the Los Angeles/Toronto 1993 semi-finals.

Washington Capitals GM George McPhee however, was involved in one such altercation. After a preseason game against the Chicago Blackhawks, he stormed into the Hawks room and belted Chicago coach Lorne Molleken in the face. McPhee, ironically was incensed over Molleken’s use of "goon tactics" against the Caps in the game. Molleken dressed seven tough guys for the game forcing the Caps to scratch Peter Bondra and Adam Oates from the contest for fear they would get hurt. Dave Manson cross-checked Steve Konowalchuk in the head and received a one game suspension in a game that featured several fights. Washington forward Trevor Halverson suffered a career-ending concussion after fighting three times in the game. McPhee was suspended for 30 days and fined $20,000.

Another such scuffle occurred in 1957, when Maple Leafs General Manager Howie Meeker punched owner Stafford Smyth "between the eyes" after a heated exchange between the two men.

A little known story involves an owner and a skater, as former Detroit Red Wings owner Bruce Norris confronted Parker MacDonald at a team function. Apparently, Norris tried to strangle the winger before players separated the two. It is believed that Norris may have been over-poured that evening.

Brian Burke, by the way, has seen a couple of GMs almost come to blows over a player. As documented in John Farris’ excellent book "Behind the Moves: NHL general managers tell how winners are built", Burke tells the story of a Montreal and Minnesota GM came close to slugging it out.

"In my first year with the league, I think it was 1993, we had a GMs meeting at The Ritz on Dana Point in California. I thought Bob Gainey and Serge Savard were going to have a fight. Montreal had signed a contract that Gainey, who was the Minnesota GM at the time, didn’t like. Gainey started giving it to Serge and the next thing you know they were face to face…yelling in French and English. I remember Gary Bettman saying, ‘What are we going to do? It looks like they’re going to fight.’ I said ‘we’re going to watch’. I was actually looking forward to it. (Laughs). People were pushing tables out of the way because it looked like they were going to go. Then, Bob Gainey called a (GM) meeting and kicked everyone (who wasn’t a GM) out of the room except me and Bettman. In that meeting, Gainey went right back at Savard. He felt Savard had overpaid one of his own players and (screwed) up the salary structure. To this day I’m amazed they didn’t fight."

On a side note, this GMs book by Farris is one of the most fascinating hockey reads I’ve had in a long time. We’ve all read plenty of books about players, coaches, referees but there is very little if anything written about the craft of assembling and running an NHL team from a GM’s point of view. "Behind the Moves" is an enormous undertaking that transcribes just about every aspect of putting a hockey team together, told by the men who’ve done it. We’ll have Farris on the podcast very soon.

—–

And speaking of assembling teams…..

Hockey Canada has only been denied three players for the World Junior tournament. To nobody’s surprise they are: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Tyler Seguin and Jeff Skinner. None of which have had any previous tournament experience. That still leaves the door still open for players such as Erik Gudbranson, Brett Connolly, Devante Smith-Pelly and Ryan Johansen. When the Blue Jackets were in Calgary last week, officials from Hockey Canada met with Columbus GM Scott Howsen to see if he had made a decision whether Johansen would be allowed to suit up for the tournament. While he didn’t commit, he also didn’t say no, which is encouraging.

One thing that will remain consistent with Hockey Canada: players will have to attend the Dec 10-14 camp if they’re going to play on the team. From a team building point of view, Hockey Canada learned long ago that parachuting NHLers into the tourney isn’t the best idea.

As always, when the 41-player list of camp invitees came out there were plenty of "well why not this guy?" comments and questions. Topping that list were defencemen like Stuart Percy, Dylan McIlrath and Duncan Siemens. Discipline was probably the reason the last two weren’t brought to camp and I’d imagine Hockey Canada agonized over the Percy decision. Having said that, if there’s an injury to a blue-liner between now and when camp opens on Dec. 10, I’d fully expect Percy to get the first call. Hockey Canada loves the fact that he has big tournament experience after going to the finals in the Memorial Cup last year.

And what about the crop of three extraordinarily talented 16-year olds playing major junior hockey? Why weren’t Sean Monohan, Hunter Shinkaruk or Nathan MacKinnon (who had 5 goals against the Quebec Remparts on Saturday) invited? Hockey Canada is sensitive about bringing young kids to camp, who will probably be cut in favour of older and more experienced players. This is considered a 19-year olds tournament after all. As a matter of fact Hockey Canada has only ever brought along five 16-year olds to the championship tournament in it’s history: Wayne Gretzky, Eric Lindros, Jason Spezza, Jay Bouwmeester and Sidney Crosby.

—–

A final thought about Hockey Canada. As much as president and CEO Bob Nicholson has praise heaped on him, (and for good reason, he's done a masterful job with the program and is one of the most progressive voices in all of hockey) the young up and comer in the organization is Brad Pascall, who's work assembling teams at every level is not going unnoticed in the NHL. The 41-year-old Pascall has been with Hockey Canada since 1995 and while many believe he's the perfect fit to replace Bob Nicholson as head of the organization, I wouldn't be surprised if someone in the NHL scooped him up before Hockey Canada gets the chance to can promote him.

The Sheet is a daily look at the headlines and happenings from the wide world of hockey edited by veteran scribe Jeff Marek.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

The Edmonton Oilers: Young, fast and on the mark

JOSH WINGROVE, Globe and Mail (includes correction), Dec. 02, 2011

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins took part in Movember, but you’d have hardly noticed. He sheepishly called it his “muzzy,” a collection of wisps numbering little more than his 18 years, netting $1,021 in donations.

Not bad for a bashful teen whose mom just ordered his grad photos, who sleeps away much of the day and who loves video games. But Nugent-Hopkins’s time as an average teen ended at the NHL draft last June when he was selected first overall by the Edmonton Oilers.

The slick centre, who repeated as rookie of the month in November, is among the league’s hottest stars, and typically has two others on his line: right winger Jordan Eberle, a 21-year-old sniper and former world juniors MVP, and Taylor Hall, 20, a bull-in-a-china-shop left winger drafted first overall in 2010. They’re averaging nearly a point a game each in a hockey-mad city where they’re noticed in malls, on the street or at bars. Hall’s mother worries he can’t go grocery shopping, while he assures her he can.

Such pressure has overwhelmed veteran players, much less those a year removed from the Western Hockey League. Nugent-Hopkins entered Friday tied for fifth in league scoring with 11 goals and 16 assists, and there are only four cities he can legally buy booze in. He’s not even a year older than Justin Bieber, and was in diapers when teammate Ryan Smyth played his first NHL game.

“I always joke, but it’s probably true, he’s still growing,” says Oilers forward Ryan Jones, 28, who is billeting the young star at the suggestion of team management. “He’s a really good roommate. He just sleeps.”

As he grows, “Nuge” (his old nickname, Hoppy, was deemed too Disney-esque for the pros) carries the weight of a city. Crowds scream “Nooooge” whenever he gets a goal or assist, and they’ve been yelling it a lot lately.

Last Monday, for example, Nugent-Hopkins spun quickly away from a defender – the crowd gasped and the defender fell – before passing to Eberle, who took the puck around the net and scored. It was the Oilers’ only goal that night. On Wednesday, Nugent-Hopkins was the first skater on the ice for an optional practice. That night, he and Eberle had a goal and an assist each, again, the only two goals the Oilers scored, with Eberle, a sophomore tied for seventh in league scoring with nine goals and 17 assists, adding another in the shootout. “I don’t know if they’re carrying our team,” coach Tom Renney says. “But they’re vital to our success.”

Only Toronto’s Phil Kessel has scored more points on home ice this season than Nugent-Hopkins, who is on pace for the best rookie season since Sidney Crosby. Nuge’s name echoes through Edmonton these days, with even teammates in awe. “Sometimes you kind of look back and say: ‘How could it be that easy?’ It’s pretty impressive,” Oilers forward Sam Gagner, 22, says.

At practice, though, you wouldn’t know he’s a star. He looks like any other rookie, something of a polite loner, weaving in and out of older, slower players, cracking smiles with each deke and shot. He’s giddy.

“The big thing most guys have told me is to just take it all in, learn as much as you can,” Nugent-Hopkins says. “You only go through your rookie season once.”

RYAN’S ROAD TO THE NHL

Two years ago, Nugent-Hopkins departed his hometown of Burnaby, B.C., for the WHL in Red Deer, a city of 80,000 halfway between Edmonton and Calgary. He excelled, scoring 106 points in 69 games in his final season. As the NHL draft rolled around, pundits questioned whether his small frame – a wiry six feet, listed generously at 175 pounds – could endure life in the NHL. The Oilers weren’t deterred.

“He’s not overpowering against anyone, but he never gets overpowered,” says Kevin Lowe, the Oilers’ president of hockey operations. “It’s just a really crafty game.”

Two months later, the teen made the team in training camp.

“New equipment guy for the year,” Hall, now a sophomore, wrote on Twitter. Nugent-Hopkins became an instant star. “All of a sudden there’s this huge group of people around us,” says his mother, Deb Nugent, overwhelmed by her youngest son’s stardom. “I’m still not used to that.”

Nugent-Hopkins, however, is in an ideal situation for a rookie. He joined a locker room stocked with young talent, including Anton Lander, Magnus Paajarvi and defenceman Corey Potter, another of the season’s big surprises. Hall and Eberle are best friends who live together (and crave a certain measure of anonymity; for Halloween they dressed as the Green Men, the Vancouver Canucks’ fans clad scalp to heel in green spandex).

A former sixth overall pick himself, Gagner joined a much more veteran Oilers team after being drafted. “These guys are going through something completely different,” Gagner says. “They’ve handled it very well.”

Eberle, Hall and Nugent-Hopkins all shrug off the pressure, saying it’s an honour to be inundated with attention.

“Who wouldn’t want to play here?” Eberle says. “As a Canadian and a hockey fan, you get to play in a Canadian city where fans love their game, they love the sport and they love their team.”

They’re taught to tell people exactly that; the league, coaches, veteran players and the National Hockey League Players’ Association all train top prospects to be ambassadors. They can’t train for everything. Hall once had his Twitter account hacked, had someone pose as him on Facebook and, when he tweeted about voting in his first federal election, he was grilled for voting Conservative.

“I do [worry], to be honest with you,” Hall’s mother, Kim Strba, says. “It’s not really normal to be at a red light and look over and have someone take your picture.”

That happens in Edmonton, where the young guns simply can’t be normal kids.

“No, not here,” Gagner says. “They’re going to get recognized. Sometimes you want your privacy, too. It weighs on people, but like I said, we’ve got a good group of guys here. It kinds of keeps everyone level-headed and on the same page.”

It’s through young players that Edmonton sees a chance to rebuild. This is a franchise with an onerous travel schedule, bone-chilling climate and a small population. It has tried and failed to attract top-tier free agents, overpaying for those it could lure or convince to stay (captain Shawn Horcoff’s salary of $6.5-million is higher than that of either Sedin twin).

Young players, however, more easily embrace Edmonton.

“As a kid, you don’t dream of playing down south where, you know, you get 10,000 a game and fans are kind of into it,” says defenceman Theo Peckham, 23, another young Oilers standout. “You dream of coming into the rink, it’s sold out, everybody’s screaming, the energy’s amazing.”

The public pressure may not be as big an issue for the rookie. It’s Eberle and Hall who are extroverts seen often in Edmonton bars; Nugent-Hopkins is a Call of Duty fan.

“We try and hang out with Nuge as much as possible, but for the most part he kind of likes to be off on his own,” Hall says with a shrug, a pack of ice wrapped around an aching left shoulder that will sideline him for at least another week. “He’s that kind of kid. I think Nuge has a good head on his shoulders. He doesn’t get too wound up about anything. And I think that benefits him, especially in a market like this, where you can just kind of relax and think about hockey. That’s pretty much what he does.”

Amid the tweets, video games and practices, Nuge, Ebs and Hallsy are coping with the pressure. They could form a line for years to come and emerge as superstars, but they hope their day has already come.

“We don’t want to be a team that has a lot of potential, that can be good in the future,” Hall says. “We want to be a team that makes something happen and does the best with what we all have. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Editor's note: Oilers captain Shawn Horcoff’s salary, not his cap hit, is $6.5-million. Incorrect information appeared in a previous version of this article.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

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