Articles

[hockeygod]

Aggressive changes led Devils out of own personal hell

Bruce Arthur, National Post, May 25, 2012

“I’m as shocked as anybody. When you look at what we brought to the lineup on paper, nobody expected it.” — Martin Brodeur, Jan. 8, 2011.

Oh, it was bad. The captain was lost 12 games into the season; the coach was fired two days before Christmas. On Boxing Day there was a blizzard, and a couple thousand brave souls came to watch another loss, until it was announced the buses would stop running, and many of them left. In all, the 2010-11 New Jersey Devils lost 31 of their first 41 games, one way or another.

A year and a half later, Patrik Elias was sitting at his stall in the Devils’ locker room, surrounded by many of the same teammates. New Jersey would play Game 6 against the New York Rangers in about nine hours, with a chance to advance to the Stanley Cup final. Elias was asked how far the team had come.

“You go through some rebuilding processes with this organization, and I’ve been here long enough to see it,” said Elias, who played his first game for New Jersey in the 1995-96 season. “And this is as good of a team as I’ve seen here in my 15 years here. So, good things coming ahead.”

There was a pause. Elias won Stanley Cups in 2000 and 2003, and lost in the final in 2001 after the Devils led the league in scoring and finished with 100 more goals than their opponents. These New Jersey Devils could be that good?

“Trust me, if you ask me, those two years — 2000 and 2001 — it was unbelievable,” Elias said. “We knew that if we just played good we’d beat anybody, and we had so much fun, we had so much firepower, so much skill, and some great hockey players — it was fun to play with each other. Everyone knew their assignments, we had some offensive guys and some defensive guys, and it meshed together.

“And I think we’re getting there now as a team, too.”

It was high praise, given that the series was not yet decided. These Devils finished sixth in the East, but it was a little deceptive. New Jersey did go on an unholy run in the second half of last season under Jacques Lemaire — during one stretch, New Jersey was 23-3-2 — but Lemaire didn’t want to return again. So Lou Lamoriello hired Pete DeBoer, who had spent three years coaching the Florida Panthers, because he thought DeBoer’s teams were hard to play against. And DeBoer wanted to change the way the Devils played.

“I think there was buy-in right from the beginning,” DeBoer said. “I think it took at least half a year for us to start to play seamlessly with it. I didn’t sense any non-believers in what we were trying to do or how we wanted to play. But it took us a full 40 games to move around the ice seamlessly within our system.”

He wanted a forecheck, an aggressive one. He wanted to hound other teams, to control the puck, to push forward rather than always fall back. As Elias put it, “five guys in, five guys back.”

So how did DeBoer convince the veteran core of this team — Martin Brodeur, Elias, Zach Parise, Dainius Zubrus, even Petr Sykora — to shift away from the defensive focus that New Jersey was known for? How did he prove himself?

“I don’t know about prove yourself,” DeBoer said. “I mean, you walk in and it’s like any job. They want to know how you can help them get to where they want to get to. And you don’t have a long time to grab their attention or their trust to do that. So having a pedigree or having … playing in the league for a lot of years gets you in that door. You know, I didn’t have that. But once you’re in the door, it’s how quickly you can sell them that you can get them to where they want to go.

“I guess you get the job because of a belief system. I think that’s what Lou saw. And I think when you believe in how the game should be played and you have the conviction in that, I think it sells itself. I don’t think there was any premeditated salesmanship. I can tell you if I was a used car salesman, I’d starve to death. So it’s not my salesmanship. I just think it’s the fact that you believe how the game should be played. You have a conviction in that, and I think that the players see that and they bought in.”

“I was excited because it got five guys involved in the play, as opposed to no [defencemen] pinching, and playing almost 3-on-5 all game,” Parise said. “We have a lot of the same players, but I think you have to give a lot of it to Pete for making us believe in what he wants us to do.

“Last year, at the start of the year, we didn’t play as a team at all … This year, it took a while for us all to adjust and be in sync. It didn’t happen right away. Sometimes we did it, sometimes we didn’t. You could when we did it right it worked, but when you’ve been playing the same way for so many years — sometimes a [defenceman] is a little hesitant to jump in, because they’ve been told not to for so long.”

And after a 12-12-1 start, the Devils — who would finish 11th in goals scored, eighth in goals allowed, and fourth in their own division — played at a 115-point pace the rest of the way. They barely outlasted Florida in the first round, crushed Philadelphia in the second, and pushed the top-seeded Rangers to the edge. When they eliminated the Flyers in five, Jaromir Jagr said the Devils were strong, that they didn’t lose a battle along the boards, that, in the end, “they were pretty close to each other.” And somewhere, Pete DeBoer must have smiled.

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

[hockeygod]

Kings legend Marcel Dionne dwells on what could have been

George Johnson, Postmedia News, May 28, 2012

The king of Kings, the greatest individual impresario in franchise history to ever don purple-and-gold (or black-and-silver, for that matter; apologies, 99) can’t help but feel a wistful ‘What if?’ as he watches the Los Angeles Kings’ relentless march to a place fate forbade him entry.

“That year we beat Edmonton, the Miracle on Manchester year, I thought ‘This is it,’’’ the man himself is reminiscing from the Niagara Falls offices of Marcel Dionne Inc. “That magic thing that happens to certain teams at certain times happened to us that year.

“I mean, who comes back from 5-0 down to win a playoff game?

“So after we got through that series, I really thought that was gonna be our time. Darryl Evans played the best hockey of his career. Bernie Nicholls. Doug Smith. Mario Lessard was outstanding in net. Larry Murphy was just a kid, 18 years old. Charlie [Simmer]. Dave [Taylor].

“We were big, strong, tough . . . team of destiny, right? We beat the Oilers, walk into Vancouver and I’m saying ‘We’ve got it. We’re on our way.’ We tried hard, the guys played well. But [Richard] Brodeur just killed us.

“Then the next year, they traded everybody.’’

These days, the 60-year-old Hall of Famer is kept on his toes overseeing his 5,000-square foot memorabilia business (where a 20×16-inch collage autographed by all three components of the fabled Triple Crown Line — Dionne, Simmer and Taylor — spilling over the boards in royal purple can be yours for $249.99) and a neighbouring eatery, The BlueLine Cafe.

But he’s certainly caught up in the exploits of his old team, the Kings, piledriving their way to a 12-2 post-season record as they prepare to face the New Jersey Devils in quest of a first Stanley Cup title.

Watching the hype from afar, Marcel Dionne could be forgiven for experiencing the odd sharp, stabbing pang of envy.

For in 11 3/4 seasons using the then-Fabulous Forum as his digs, this man scored an amazing 550 goals, piled up 1,307 points . . . and participated in a grand aggregate of 43 playoff games. Never once pushing as deep as a semi-final.

Dionne says he’s pleased as punch for an old pal, Luc Robitaille, L.A.’s VP of business operations. Others, too, such as longtime Kings announcers Bob Miller and Nick Nickson and a modest but fiercely loyal fan base — the people who will continue to show up in the bleak times, long after the celebrities have packed up the arc lights and had the chauffeur park the limo in the garage.

“The people I’m most happy for are the kids that were five, six years old, and their dad used to take them to the games. And grandpa was there. And they’re still fans today. Maybe still season-ticket holders. The ones that came over from the Forum, where tickets were $12, and they all got kicked out.

“I still have a lot of friends in L.A. Every year I go back with Marty McSorley for a hockey camp. Jimmy Fox has always been a loyal friend. I still play golf with Bruce McNall. By the way, he’s a funny guy. And he knows what’s going on in the league, let me tell you.

“They call me to get down there. I have nothing to do with this. C’mon, I’ve been a done a long time. Wayne [Gretzky] has a lot more at stake, a beautiful statue in the front of the new building; that generation saw him and he played really, really well in those years he was there.

“But yeah, absolutely I’m rooting for them.’’

Even if, like many of us, Dionne isn’t exactly awed by the quality of entertainment on display this spring.

“The style we’re watching? It is boring hockey. Really boring. Out-muscling, out-bumping. The game’s almost all played along the boards. In my day, as soon as I got the puck, I faced the play. Now, you watch [Anze] Kopitar, the way he protects the puck. He puts his back towards the defenceman, the defenceman can’t do anything. He goes to the left. Then he comes back to the right.

“In the meantime, nothing happens.

“Very seldom do you see a forward beat a defenceman one-on-one. Doesn’t happen. And the way Wayne [Gretzky] used to curl and trap guys? Very, very few players do this now. There’s just no room out there. And I think most of the guys are restricted in what they’re allowed to do.

“Sometimes you didn’t watch the game and later that night you see a replay and you say, ‘Oh, what a spectacular play! Must’ve been a great game!’ But that was the only frickin’ play in the whole frickin’ game.’’

Regardless of your take on their aesthetic value, the 2011-2012 Los Angeles Kings have proven to be chillingly efficient this springtime. Oddsmakers have installed them as favourites to slay the Devils.

And if that happens, well . . . no one can snuggle a winner tighter to its cosmetically enhanced bosom than the self-proclaimed City of Angels.

“If L.A. wins,’’ predicts Marcel Dionne, “and the timing is good because the Lakers are out and so are the Clippers, it’s gonna be the biggest show in town. Bigger than Gretzky. You watch.’’

The king of Kings permits himself a small, self-deprecating laugh.

“Hey, it’s kinda nice you win for a change. Losing is no fun. I know. That’s how I felt all those years. Now, everybody’s happy. People who were (bleeps) in the office, now you hug and kiss.

“If the Kings win, I think it’ll be the biggest thing to ever happen in L.A. They have no scandals, no B.S. They’ve had a clean image all through the years. It looks like they have their sanity.

“They’re not the Lakers, they’re not the Clippers, they’re not the Dodgers, they’re not the Angels. But this thing . . . it’s caught everyone off-guard and, believe me, it’s blowing people away.’’

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

[hockeygod]

Brophy on Ovechkin: Dubious path ahead

Mike Brophy, Sportsnet.ca, May 25, 2012

Turns out Ilya Kovalchuk isn't the best current NHL Russian-born player to never make it to the Stanley Cup final.

That dubious honour belongs to Alex Ovechkin.

On a day when Ovie spent a delightful afternoon touring Paris with Russian tennis star Maria Kirilenko; back in America Kovy and his date, the New Jersey Devils, were busy eliminating the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference final to earn a berth in the Stanley Cup final.

I'm on Paris watching Maria practice on central court!!!!! twitter.com/ovi8/status/20…
— Alex Ovechkin (@ovi8) May 25, 2012

For the past few years it seemed like just a matter of time before Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals won the Cup. Everything they did seemed to point in that direction. The Caps fast, skilled, very offensive and their leader — their captain — was neck-in-neck with Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby in a one-on-one competition for the title of best player in the world.

Not now.

Ovechkin and the Capitals barely made the playoffs this season and then lost out in the second round to the Rangers. Rather than taking a leading role in attempting to get his team to the top of the mountain, Ovechkin was relegated to 'just another player' status. NHL coaches, who are always living on life support and henceforth make strange decisions at times, have their reasons for doing things, but there must be a better way of handling offensive geniuses like Ovechkin — and Kovalchuk, for that matter — than we have seen the past couple of years.

Ovechkin has now played eight years in the NHL. He has scored a blistering 339 goals, 340 assists and 679 points. In 51 playoff games in those eight years he has 30 goals and 59 points.

Ovechkin was the NHL's rookie of the year in 2005-06.

He led the league in scoring in 2007-08.

He was the NHL's most valuable player in 2007-08 and 2008-09. He also led the league in goal-scoring in those two seasons.

He was, without question, one of the most exciting players in the history of the league.

Now, when I watch him play, I see a player riddled with conflict. His instincts tell him to go guns-a-blazing the way he has since he first strapped the blades to his feet. His coaches tell him otherwise.

So Ovechkin holds back. That is what he has been commanded to do. Take shorter shifts. Play defence.

On some level, I get it. The Capitals all-out offence approach didn't work. Despite the fact they were Cup favorites the past few years; they cannot even make it to the conference final. So Ovechkin had to buy into the team concept a little bit.

Coach Bruce Boudreau, an offensive player in his day, tried to tighten the belt. It didn't work and he lost his job. Enter Dale Hunter, who tried the same thing, and it didn't work either.

Both coaches elected to cut back on Ovechkin's ice time. Somehow both guys thought that keeping the most offensively talented player on the team off the ice was the key to victory.

That's hockey for you.

The question now is what's next for Ovechkin? Can he get back to being an offensive force in the league? Sure it was cool to see him help Russia win the World Championship, but winning gold at the WC is not why he plays the game. He's playing for the Cup. He plays to score goals.

This season Ovechkin finished 37th in scoring with 38 goals and 65 points in 78 games. That is 20 points fewer than he scored the year before when he played one more game. Those are very pedestrian numbers for a player with such talent.

Boudreau is gone. So is Hunter.

The next Capitals coach's No. 1 priority, whoever he might be, must be to bring Ovechkin back to life. That may mean bucking the trend of defence-first hockey that once again is threatening to suffocate the game. Things go in cycles, so it can be done.

As it stands, Ovechkin is heading in the wrong direction in his career. Many great players have enjoyed personal success without coming close to making it to the Stanley Cup final.

Mike Gartner played 1,432 games and never made it to the final. One of the best pure goal-scorers the game has never seen, Gartner was traded by the Rangers to Toronto in 1994, the year the Rangers snapped a 54-year Cup-less streak. That had to hurt.

Luke Richardson, as solid defenceman in his day, played 1,417 games. No final. For Harry Howell, the Norris Trophy winner in 1966-67, it was 1,411 games. Roman Hmirlik has played 1,379 games and hasn't made it to the fourth round; nor did Teppo Numminen who played 1,372 games.

Ovechkin has a long way to go to catch those guys, but you have to wonder which direction his career will go from here.

Meanwhile, Kovalchuk and the Devils will face the Los Angeles Kings in this year's final. He has played 779 games in the NHL and on Friday scored his seventh goal of the playoffs in the deciding game against the Rangers, then assisted on the overtime winner by linemate Adam Henrique and remains a candidate to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs.

I suspect Ovechkin is watching this very closely. From Paris. And not liking it.

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

[hockeygod]

NHL teams that spend tend to win

James Mirtle, Globe and Mail, May 25, 2012

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/globe-on-hockey/nhl-teams-that-spend-tend-to-win/article2443687/

If you ask me, there are really three different kinds of teams in the NHL under the salary cap and this CBA.

There are those that spend, mainly with an eye on contending for the Stanley Cup.

There are those that don't spend, at least in part in order to get revenue sharing.

And then there are six or seven teams in the middle, usually trying to get to the point where they can join Group No. 1.

The basics behind how the league's CBA works is that teams that spend under what's called the cap midpoint (and that aren't in really big markets) are eligible for revenue sharing. The midpoint is set at $8-million under the cap, meaning this season it's $56.3-million.

Another $8-million below that is the salary floor.

Most of the teams that are successful in the NHL these days are like the ones left in these playoffs: the New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils and Los Angeles Kings.

They're in larger markets, they spend big and don't really concern themselves with the floor or the midpoint. (There are obviously exceptions, which I'll get into later.)

But every team that has won the Stanley Cup since the salary cap came in has been a cap team, going back to when the ceiling was just $39-million and even the Carolina Hurricanes didn't mind spending that high (they were about $3.5-million under).

The past three years, with the cap skyrocketing, it's really only been bigger market teams that have been able to spend.

Breaking teams into those three groups I mentioned above, here's where they fit based on the last three seasons (in order of cap dollars spent):

Big spenders ($171-million or more): Philadelphia, Vancouver, Calgary, Pittsburgh, Washington, New Jersey, Montreal, Boston, San Jose, Detroit, NY Rangers, Buffalo, Toronto and Chicago

Midlevel spenders ($156-million or more): Minnesota, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Ottawa, Edmonton, Columbus and Tampa Bay

Below midpoint (less than $156-million): Florida, Carolina, Dallas, Phoenix, Nashville, St. Louis, Colorado, Winnipeg/Atlanta and NY Islanders

For the most part, the teams in the top group do very well, year after year. The last three seasons, they've averaged 98.2 points a season and a total of 13.5 playoff wins.

Compare that with those in the midlevel or low level group, who have averaged 86.5 points a season and a total of just 4.25 playoff wins.

Do the highest spending teams win?

Over the past three seasons, the top 10 spending teams averaged 100.1 points each regular season and 15.2 total playoff wins

There are exceptions in there, of course.

The Leafs are a big one, as they have averaged less than 80 points a season while spending $173-million on salaries (13th highest). Montreal and Calgary also have been worse than the league average of 92 points while spending at or near the cap every year.

And Edmonton and Columbus have posted two of the worst records in the league despite spending money in the midrange the last three years.

Meanwhile, on the low end, there are two success stories. Both the Predators and Coyotes have averaged 101 points a season while spending less than $150-million (ranking them 25th and 26th in spending).

On balance, however, it's those teams at the top winning, especially in the playoffs.

That's not always simply because they spend more either. Many of the teams on the low end have been poorly managed, have ownership issues and low attendance and will have a tough time moving up the spending chart (depending on how the new CBA functions).

But it's worth pointing out how big of a difference that $16-million gap between the floor and the ceiling seems to make.

(From a purely statistical point of view, there's a pretty strong relationship between what teams have spent and how often they've won. Over the past three seasons, the correlation between cap hit and regular season points has been .486. The correlation between cap hit and playoff wins, meanwhile, has been .536.)

Below is a chart of all 30 teams based on their average point totals and total spending over the past three years. (See URL at top).

To pick out a few outliers: On the far left are the Islanders, who spend little, and at the very bottom are the Oilers, who rarely win. And the very top right are the Canucks, who are making Canadian NHL teams respectable all on their own.

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

[hockeygod]

Superstitious Sutter a slave to routine

NEWARK— ERIC DUHATSCHEK, Globe and Mail, May 29 2012

Soon after Darryl Sutter took over the Los Angeles Kings, he moved into former coach Terry Murray’s Manhattan Beach house and began the process of learning L.A.’s complex freeway system.

More than once, he got lost along the way and, sometimes, he shared rides with members of the coaching staff to make the travel easier. Then, during one particularly bad patch of the NHL season, Sutter drove to the Staples Center alone – and the Kings won.

You can guess the rest of the story.

Is Sutter superstitious? Is Viking, Alta., the centre of the hockey universe?

“Yeah, I am,” the head coach answered sheepishly, “but in real dumb ways. Like when I first came here and I didn’t know where the heck I was going. I’d travel with the coaching staff to games and it didn’t work very good. So I figured, I was better off getting lost but going by myself. Now, when guys ask me for rides, I say, ‘No, sorry.’ When you think how stupid that is, when you sit there and see that [fast-moving carpool] lane …”

Bernie Nicholls, a long-time associate of Sutter, who played for him with the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks, laughs uproariously as he retells the story about Commuter Darryl.

“It’s funny,” Nicholls said, “but you get that way – and I don’t know who wouldn’t. People, when they do something and it’s successful, you keep doing it.”

In fairness, superstitions are rarely rooted in cold, hard logic and maybe a better description is Sutter is a slave to routine and repetition. It is a linchpin of his coaching philosophy, which is why he gets so animated when talking about travel and game times and days off and recovery: all factors beyond the standards Xs and Os he believes are vital to success.

“When Darryl got here, one of the first things he said was, ‘I’m not a video guy,’ “ Nicholls said as the Kings prepared to open the Stanley Cup final series Wednesday against the New Jersey Devils. “Geez, these guys do more video than when Roger Neilson was coaching. But it’s all teaching.

“You know we had that NHL 36 [TV show]. Darryl wouldn’t let them in the dressing because he hates cameras, but I really wish he would have let them in to see him go, because he’s amazing. I don’t think people realize how smart he really is. … He’s taught these guys so much, and he’s so prepared. He doesn’t let one thing get by him.

“Right now, [the players] feel like they can’t lose – and that’s how you want to be.”

Sutter joined the Kings last December, after the Kings had fallen to 12th place in the Western Conference and general manager Dean Lombardi reluctantly showed Murray the door.

So far in these playoffs, just about everything has fallen into place for the Kings. They are 12-2 and dispatched the West’s three divisional champions –Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues and Phoenix Coyotes – to qualify for only the second Stanley Cup final appearance in franchise history.

According to Kings centre Jarret Stoll, the reality of Darryl Sutter doesn’t accurately match the reputation.

Yes, Sutter can be a hard-and-demanding coach. No, he is not a screamer. The biggest issue for Kings players the first month was understanding Sutter’s instructions because the timbre of his voice is often so low.

“I would just say he’s very honest,” Stoll said. “That’s all. He’s just very honest. But he doesn’t miss anything. So you can’t go out there and think you’re working hard, or think you’re doing the right thing, because if you’re not, or you’re out of position, or you make a bad read, he’ll tell you. But you respect a guy like that because he’s just telling it the way it is.”

One of the things that keeps Sutter connected to the modern generation of players is he has children roughly the same age. His son, Brett, plays in the Carolina Hurricanes organization and got into 15 NHL games this season. Another son, Christopher, graduates from high school in Calgary this spring.

“He almost treats us as his own kids,” Stoll said. “He’ll tap you on the arm and he’ll say, ‘How are you doing today? Everything okay? How’s your family?’ “He cares. He really cares.”

Two of Sutter’s younger brothers, Brent and Duane, have their names on the Stanley Cup with the New York Islanders in the early 1980s. No one in the family has had a chance to do it since.

Sutter doesn’t talk like to talk about winning the Stanley Cup – just another one of those crazy hockey superstitions – but you know that it would mean the world to him to get his name on there as well.

“Trust me, every one of the guys in the room understands that,” Stoll said. “It’s one of my reasons – one of them – to see a guy like that win. It would be pretty special.”

Sutter at a glance

Born: Aug. 19, 1958

Played: 406 career NHL games, recording 161 goals, 118 assists and 288 penalty minutes. Sutter scored 20 goals or more five times in eight NHL seasons, including a career-high 40 in 1980-81. In 51 playoff games, he had 43 points (24 goals). He was the Chicago Blackhawks captain twice in his career, from 1982-85 and 1986-87.

Playoff coaching record: 59-56 (12-2 this season)

TIMELINE

June 7, 2004 – Head coach of the Calgary Flames for a 2-1 loss at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the decisive seventh game of the Stanley Cup final.

July 12, 2006 – Sutter steps down from the dual role as Calgary’s general manager/coach, turning the coaching portfolio over to Jim Playfair. Sutter had a regular-season record of 107-73-30 in roughly 2½ years behind the Calgary bench.

June 23, 2009 – Two weeks after Brent Sutter resigned as coach of the New Jersey Devils (after leading them to a franchise-record 51-win season), Sutter hires his younger brother to coach the Flames, replacing Mike Keenan, who’d previously replaced Playfair.

Dec. 28, 2010 – Sutter resigns as Flames GM and is replaced by Jay Feaster, who was GM in Tampa when the Lightning knocked off Calgary in 2004.

Dec. 20, 2011 – After firing Terry Murray and conducting a brief search, the Kings announced Sutter would become the 24th head coach in the team’s history.

Apr. 12, 2012 – Under Sutter, the Kings go 25-13-11 in 49 regular-season games, finishing third in the Pacific Division and eighth in the Western Conference.

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

[hockeygod]

Penalty kill the crucial difference for Stanley Cup champions

DAVID SHOALTS, Globe and Mail, May 29 2012

Special teams, we are always told, are the difference between champions and also-rans in the NHL playoffs.

Well, based on recent evidence, that is half-right, which might spell trouble for the New Jersey Devils when they open the Stanley Cup final Wednesday at home against the Los Angeles Kings. For it is penalty killing that is the crucial difference for Cup champions, not the power play, which gives the edge on paper to the Kings.

In the last four years, only one team, the 2010 Chicago Blackhawks, that won the Stanley Cup cracked the top five in the postseason power-play statistics. However, all four champions except the Boston Bruins last year were in the top five in penalty killing. But the Bruins' 84.4-per-cent success rate in 2011, which was sixth, was better than the Blackhawks in 2010 (83.3) and the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009 (83.3). In 2008, the Detroit Red Wings were fourth in the NHL playoffs with a success rate of 85.7 per cent.

So far in this year's playoffs, the Kings' power play is almost the same as the feeble unit iced by the 2011 Bruins, which was 14th among the 16 teams in the playoffs with an 11.4-per-cent success rate. The Kings are an embarrassing 8.1-per-cent on the power play, which puts them 15th in the post-season ranking.

The Devils' power play is a distant fourth to the Philadelphia Flyers, Florida Panthers and the Penguins, who are all above 30 per cent, but its 18.2 per cent is still more than twice as good as the Kings'. The trouble is, the Kings are vastly superior on the penalty kill, as they sit second with a 91.2-per-cent success rate with the Devils 13th at 74.2-per-cent.

What is even more impressive about the Kings is that their penalty killers are an important part of their offence. They scored five shorthanded goals so far this spring, which is two more goals than they scored playing with a one-man advantage. They scored their other three power-play goals in five-on-three situations.

The Kings may have a mere six power-play goals in the playoffs, but it leaves them at plus-one when you subtract the measly five power-play goals they surrendered. Throw in their five shorthanded goals and it's plus-six on special teams. The Devils, on the other hand, have 12 power-play goals but have given up 16 to opposition power plays, which leaves them at minus-four. They do have one shorthanded goal, so make it minus-three for the Devils on special teams. Still not encouraging.

However, there are some things to note about the Devils. In the last three games against the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference final, they killed off all six Ranger power plays and produced a power-play goal in two of the last three games. The Devils were also No. 1 in the NHL in penalty killing during the regular season with an 89.6-per-cent success rate while the Kings were fourth at 87.

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

[hockeygod]

Kings, Devils rewarded for creativity

Chris Stevenson, QMI Agency, May 29 2012

NEWARK, N.J. – The NHL's general managers will be meeting in Manhattan Wednesday and one of the topics will be the state of the game.

The good news on the style front is the two highest-scoring teams left in the playoffs have advanced to the final, which gets underway Wednesday night at the Prudential Center. In a league that often tries to play follow the leader, seeing the New Jersey Devils and the Los Angeles Kings, teams that have played some entertaining up-tempo hockey, being rewarded for their creativity is good for the fans and for the entertainment value of the game.

Maybe other teams will take notice.

The Kings are third in playoff scoring at 2.93 goals a game and the Devils are fourth overall with 2.83 goals a game (after that crazy opening-round series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers, those two are ranked 1-2 in playoff scoring).

Scoring goals is good.

Who knew?

That the Devils are one of the teams is pretty remarkable, given their reputation. But these aren't your father's Devils under coach Peter DeBoer.

They're, well, kind of exciting to watch.

Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said he didn't set out to make a change from the old trapping Devils of just a few years ago. It's been an evolution that was a function of the club's player personnel and the vision DeBoer brought with him when he was hired last summer.

"But the fundamental foundation of defence will never change," said Lamoriello during Media Day at the final Tuesday.

"I think if you look at the defence of this team, it's played as well as other teams have. It's that we had the talent and we also had the coach who had the sort of thought process of what he thought he could do with our forwards and yet not sacrifice defence and pushing it and getting them to do certain things. Our centre ice hasn't changed. What we've basically done is extended our game to the offensive end of it, but not with any sacrifice."

He said the presence of players like Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise and Travis Zajac dictated the Devils employ a style that played to their strengths.

"I think their styles sort of really told us, without saying anything, that we should. I think I felt it," said Lamoriello.

He even fired off a bit of a pun when it came to the Devils and their reputation.

"I always take offence to the (Devils) teams that the people thought were defensive, those years they were second and third in scoring," Lamoriello said. "I always look at the differential of goals that win championships. A lot of high-scoring teams can win games. I never worried about that. But we would still have that style if the players here, that's what we needed to win. We're going to do whatever we need to do to win and we're not going to apologize for it."

Kings coach Darryl Sutter emphasised more of an attacking style when he took over the club partway through the season.

"It's something we tried to put in place here, more of an aggressive — not where you're giving up anything — but more of a forceful game," said Sutter. "You try and emulate teams that try and do that."

There's no question the players enjoy playing with the puck more than chasing it.

Kings forward Jarret Stoll has watched what's gone on in some other series — teams playing the "1-4," as he called it — and said constantly defending takes a lot out of a team.

"You've got to pressure. You give teams time and space — maybe you're taking away lanes — but you give teams time and space all the time and they're going to pick you apart," he said. "You play D-zone coverage, it's tough to play the game like that. It's tough hockey to play. It's heavy hockey to play. You want to be playing in the offensive zone. That's the fun part of the game and being creative and trying to get shots and trying to get goals.

"You play D-zone hockey all night and you're going to be tired at the end of the night, at the end of that shift. It's going to wear you out."

The players like to play with the puck, but at this point, at this time of the year, there's no extra points for style.

"If we win four games 1-0," said Devils forward Petr Sykora, "we'll be the happiest people."

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

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Gretzky's great regret

Terry Jones ,Edmonton Sun, May 29 2012

EDMONTON – It’s Wayne Gretzky’s Great Regret.

And he’s going to be there cheering for the Los Angeles Kings to finally get done what he didn’t get done in 1993.

Gretzky says he’ll be going to Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final in Los Angeles. And one suspects he’ll play a significant role in ceremonies for the first Stanley Cup final in L.A. since the only one ever held there before, the one he led the Kings to in 1993.

“Probably the two greatest regrets I have in playing hockey were being swept by the New York Islanders in our first Stanley Cup final in Edmonton and losing that Stanley Cup final in 1993 with the L.A. Kings,” Gretzky said in a telephone interview with your correspondent Tuesday.

Considering the Islanders were a dynasty and that was the Oilers first year in the Stanley Cup final, he suggest that makes 1993 the biggest regret that way.

“Losing that Stanley Cup final in 1993 was devastating. I think about it all the time.

“I see a lot of parallels with Los Angeles in it again this year and when we made it back in 1993.

“One thing I remember is that all our series started on the road. One thing that is definitely different though is that all our games on the road were in Canada. We played Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. We were the only team to go to the Stanley Cup final and play all four of our series against Canadian teams.

“What made the 1993 team special is that we weren’t the best team. It’s very similar to this year’s team. They started every game on the road, too.

“If you asked any hockey expert back in 1993, we weren’t high on anybody’s list to get to the final. And the Kings were eighth this year, although there’s a lot more parity today and if they’d won a couple more games they could have been third by finishing first in their division.

“There’s no question, though, since the playoffs started the L.A. Kings have been the best team to come out of the West. The games have been close but the series haven’t been close. They’re definitely peaking at the right time.”

Gretzky has amazing recall of all the games back in 1993.

“I remember Game 5 in Vancouver Gary Shuchuk of Edmonton scored the winner, he picked one out of the air.”

He didn’t mention Game 6 against Toronto when he scored the winner or Game 7 where he scored three goals and an assist in a 5-4 win.

“We went straight from Toronto to the Montreal for the final and we won Game 1,” remembered Gretzky.

Game 2, of course, is where it happened. Marty McSorley was caught with an illegal stick on a measurement and a Kings lead turned into an overtime loss.

“We knew they’d call somebody’s stick,” said Gretzky.

“And, yes, it turned around the series, no question.

“But do I feel it was Marty’s fault? No. Marty probably played his best hockey in those playoffs that year. But I really believe if we’d taken a 2-0 lead in the series it would have been tough for Montreal to win four of the next five. We lost three of four in overtime, Games 2-3-4.”

You’d figure that the Miracle On Manchester series the Oilers lost to the L.A. Kings would rank right up there on Gretzky’s on-ice regrets lists, but the monumental collapse of the Oilers leading Game 3 5-0 and losing the best of five series — an event which hit its 30th anniversary year this season — doesn’t register that way, he insists.

“Maybe it’s because I ended up on both sides of it,” said the greatest player in the history of hockey who Peter Pocklington sold to Bruce McNall in L.A.

“It’s the most recognized moment in the history of the Kings. But on the other side of it, it’s the series I believe that made the Edmonton Oilers,” he said of the third-year NHL team which amassed 111-points in the standings.

“It was a huge lesson for us. We lost Game 1 10-8, Game 3 6-5 and Game 5 7-4. The games we won were 3-2 and 3-2. There was a lot of lesson in there.”

I told Gretzky about the old Northlands Coliseum seat the Oilers presented me at a luncheon for my Hockey Hall of Fame honour in the fall and how the last line on the wooden seat-back inscription featured the words from my column back then: “Weak-kneed wimps.”

He roared with laughter.

“That was the reality,” he said.

Gretzky says he was part of giving the Kings that one. And he’ll be there cheering for them to win this even bigger one.

“This is the most excitement there’s been for hockey in L.A. since 1993 and it’s time. Obviously I’m pulling for L.A,” he said.

Dean
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Game Intelligence Training
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Argos coach takes long road in pursuit of knowledge

TORONTO— RACHEL BRADY, Globe and Mail, May 29, 2012

Toronto Argonauts head coach Scott Milanovich tells a story from 1996, like it happened yesterday.

It was during his rookie season as a backup quarterback with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There were murmurs in the locker room after the NFL team sunk to 0-5. Surely, change was coming.

But coach Tony Dungy confidently walked in and told his team he believed in his offensive and defensive schemes, and if everyone bought in, the team would improve.

“We bought in and went .500 down the stretch, and the next year, we made the playoffs,” Milanovich said. “He stuck with what he believed in and rode out the tough times, and I learned from that. He turned around a really struggling program.”

Milanovich will open his first training camp as a head coach this week, and he’s armed with experiences gleaned from coaches such as Dungy, Monte Kiffin, Marc Trestman, Jim Barker and all-star quarterback Anthony Calvillo.

He mined knowledge from stops in the NFL Europe, CFL, XFL and NFL. Now, he gets to steer the ship with his own staff (including the defensive co-ordinator who used to give him fits, Chris Jones).

Growing up in Butler, Pa., Milanovich wasn’t big on school work but loved sports. The son of a high-school football coach, he played quarterback. He loved the Pittsburgh Steelers and idolized Jim Kelly, who was from Pittsburgh and led the University of Miami’s pass-happy offence before his Hall of Fame NFL career with the Buffalo Bills.

“I never thought about pursuing anything else but football,” the 39-year-old Milanovich said during a lengthy interview. “It used to make my mom nervous that I had no other career plans.”

Milanovich played at the University of Maryland, and was an NFL backup for four years. The Bucs defensive co-ordinator, Kiffin, would bark at Milanovich to precisely mimic each week’s opposing quarterback, teaching him a diverse array of looks on both sides of the ball. He bunked on the road with Trent Dilfer (who later won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens) and learned from the starter he still calls highly intelligent. Milanovich watched Dungy’s habits and those of assistants who would later become head coaches, too (Lovie Smith, Herm Edwards and Rod Marinelli).

He then backed up Tommy Maddox for the XFL’s Los Angeles Xtreme, where current Argonauts general manager Barker was offensive co-ordinator.

“Jim knew I really wanted to coach and jump-started that for me. He had me draw up plays,” Milanovich said. “Tommy wanted to have the play and execute it, but I was interested in scheming and designing plays. That’s when Jim and I started to develop a bond.”

After dabbling a little in the CFL, Milanovich headed for NFL Europe, coaching quarterbacks and co-ordinating offences with the Rhein Fire and Cologne Centurions.

“The NFL wanted player development out of that – they weren’t concerned really about who won and lost, so it was a great place for young coaches to learn without being too heavily scrutinized,” he said.

Back in Canada with the Montreal Alouettes, he coached Calvillo, who, Milanovich says, taught him so much about the three-down game.

Early on, Milanovich suggested making a major change to the way Calvillo dropped back with the ball. The quarterback agreed, and the two worked on it. A speed-bump came as he tried it out in a preseason game and threw three picks in a loss.

“He could have said ‘I’ve been doing it my way a long time and I’ve been pretty damn successful,’ but he didn’t,” Milanovich said. “A.C. said ‘I’m going to get this’ and he stuck with it. We both continued to learn, no matter how much we already knew.”

Milanovich roomed with Jones briefly during that time on Nuns’ Island near Montreal, and the two coaches would spend many late hours drawing up and scrutinizing one another’s plays. They thought about one of them some day earning a head coaching job and working together again.

Now, here they are in Toronto.

Milanovich speaks frankly of turning down the Toronto job two years ago to remain Montreal’s offensive co-ordinator and knows he made the right call. He says Barker’s work as Toronto head coach/GM the past two seasons makes it a better fit now.

“I got the sense it wasn’t stable back then, but I had a pit in my stomach for weeks about turning down a head coaching job, because you never know if you’ll get another chance,” Milanovich said. “They cultivated my career in Montreal and made me a champion twice [2009, 2010]. I will forever be thankful to them and miss them.

“But there was no hesitation this time. This is the opportunity I have been waiting for.”

Dean
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"Great education depends on great teaching."

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After the Cup now, but a year ago, Devils coach DeBoer was unemployed

The Canadian Press, 2012-05-30

NEWARK, N.J. – A year ago, Peter DeBoer was unemployed and wondering about his future.

Now he is coach of the New Jersey Devils and facing the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup.

"Like most unemployed guys, you're sitting at home wondering where you're going to work next," DeBoer recalled with a laugh in his pre-game news conference before Game 1 Wednesday. "Thinking about your future, talking about selling your house. It seems humorous now, but when you go through something like that it's not.

"I have a rock-solid wife who really I thought kept me in a good place through that time. It wasn't that long ago."

Fired by the Florida Panthers in April 2011, he was hired by the Devils last July.

Veteran backup goalie Johan Hedberg says he was impressed by DeBoer from the get-go.

"I think from Day 1 you could tell he's an intelligent man and I think he learned from whatever happened in Florida that didn't go right and probably took his coaching to the next level just as players have to do," said Hedberg.

"Our whole coaching staff's been phenomenal. I'm very impressed with how they prepare themselves and how they prepare us and how they stay composed at all times. I can't see it being any better than how they are already doing it. They have certainly been a big part of this team having success this year."

It's hard to miss the Devils' heritage.

In their dressing room, there is a ring of honour celebrating award winners and other Devils of note. The door that leads to the training room and the players' inner sanctum opens to a hallway with photos of past Devils teams.

"That's something that I think everybody feels when they come to this organization, because you're surrounded by it, that it's extremely professional," said the 39-year-old Hedberg, who previously played for Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Dallas and Atlanta.

"There is nothing around here that could be any better. There are no excuses for us not to succeed. Everything we need is provided from the great coaches to great facilities to equipment managers to trainers. Everything is there. … I felt that from Day 1 and it hasn't changed a bit."

The Devils planned no changes to their lineup for Game 1.

Kings coach Darryl Sutter said forward Simon Gagne has recovered from his concussion but offered nothing else. The 32-year-old Gagne, a seven-time 20-goal scorer, has not played since Dec. 26.

"It's what we said two weeks ago. There was zero chance and now there's a chance, right?" Sutter said.

"I'm not answering that question again about Simon. Cleared for contact, cleared for practice, travelling with the team. So there won't be any further update on that one because, quite honestly, the answer is the same and I don't know how to answer it, right?

"You tell the truth or don't say nothing."

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

[hockeygod]

Bettman and Fehr both cautious toward upcoming labour talks

NEWARK, N.J.— ERIC DUHATSCHEK, Globe and Mail, May 30 2012

They were separated by roughly 40 feet Wednesday for most of Gary Bettman’s state of the union address, the NHL commissioner at the podium, addressing a room full of reporters, NHL players association director Donald Fehr at the back of the room, listening carefully.

It remains to be seen if the divide between the two men grows greater in the weeks and months ahead.

Bettman confirmed that at long last, the NHL and the players association have exchanged dates to begin the process of negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement. Fehr said not to read too much into that development, however, because it was simply “due course” stuff.

Officially, the CBA expires on Sept. 15 and both Bettman and Fehr circled carefully around the issue of how the process might unfold.

Some believe that the two sides are inevitably on a collision course, seven years after they lost a full season (2004-05) to a lockout.

But Bettman brushed aside that suggestion, on the grounds that the two sides have not had “a substantive discussion” on what they may be looking for in collective bargaining, so to suggest that they are at loggerheads already would be premature.

Fehr, too, adopted a cautious posture.

“I have learned that making predictions in this business is a bit of a foolish enterprise,” said Fehr. “Too many things can happen that can cause you to change course. Sometimes, significant things appear significant right away, and other times, they don’t. In this particular circumstance, I feel even less comfortable than doing it, much less than in baseball, because I don’t have the experience with the people or the direct issues.”

Last month, the NHL gave the obligatory 120-day notice that it would terminate the current CBA. Bettman indicated that seven years was as long as he imagined the accord lasting, even as he announced record revenues of $3.3 billion. Revenues are not to be confused with profit and loss, however, a subject that Bettman was unwilling to broach.

“We love labor peace,” said Bettman. “Labor peace is preferable to the alternative.”

Both the National Football League and the National Basketball Associations endured labor issues this past season, but both were ultimately able to negotiate new contracts without losing a full year.

“All I can say is, with all the talk about other sports, the one that is far and away the most stable is baseball,” said Fehr, who joined the NHLPA, after years in charge of the major league baseball’s player union.

Fehr said he has spent most of the past two years, getting up to speed on the issues that separate the industries of hockey and baseball.

“I find myself always wondering if I actually understand it right, so I want to make sure. That’s why I have a good staff. I’m talking to players all the time. That’s why I’m not the slightest bit bashful about asking questions and seeking assistance from anybody who may be able to assist the players in this regard.

“But if the question is, am I worried about our ability to negotiate the agreement, I’m not.”

Bettman had one other piece of interesting information to disseminate. A year after unveiling the league’s new player safety department on the day of Game 1 in Vancouver, Bettman said that the 2011-12 season saw a “modest decline in concussions.

“It’s the first time in three years that this figure has declined; and this despite even more aggressive diagnoses and even more conservative treatment,” said Bettman, who believes “that player behaviour is beginning to change. We have seen countless examples this season, where players have altered their path to a hit or to a play. The fact is, with over 50,000 hits in a season, we’re in the low double digits of the ones that we need to continue to work to get out of the game.”

Dean
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[hockeygod]

Is Dallas Eakins the next AHL-to-NHL coaching success story?

Toronto— James Mirtle, Globe and Mail, May 30, 2012

As the coach of the only Toronto-based pro hockey team in the playoffs in the last three years, it's understandable that Dallas Eakins is getting some attention.

Even more so now that a championship will be on the line for the Toronto Marlies.

And there are still four openings for NHL jobs at the moment, with three of them Canadian based teams: Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Washington.

The Canadiens job is out of the question because of the language issue, and the Flames one appears earmarked for either Bob Hartley or Troy Ward.

Eakins, however, may land an interview (and possibly a job) with the Oilers or Capitals (who drafted him in 1985) once the AHL playoffs are over.

He could also wind up back with the Leafs affiliate again, something those in the organization say he'd be fine with for another year or two.

The Marlies bid for the Calder Cup, meanwhile, kicks off on Friday in a series that will put a significant spotlight on Eakins's abilities. His team is the underdog against the Norfolk Admirals as the result of plenty of injuries, creating quite a challenge for a coaching staff that has done an excellent job through three rounds.

Eakins's players all raved this week about how much of their success is due to those behind the bench.

"He’s a players’ coach, there’s no doubt about it," said Philippe Dupuis, who credits Eakins with turning his season around after a difficult start with the Leafs. "I’ve rarely been on a team where every guy actually likes the coach and wants to win for him. Every team, there’s always like five or six guys that don’t. On this team, everyone likes Dally. Everyone likes the coaching staff."

"I think his biggest thing is he’s honest with the players," assistant coach Derek King added. "He doesn’t BS anything. He tells you how it is. I think his honesty is a big part of him having success. Guys buy into it; guys like playing for him."

Eakins's back story is hard not to like. A career minor-leaguer who only played 120 NHL games (but won AHL and IHL championships), he earned a reputation as a hard worker wherever he went, often impressing his big league teammates when he was called up.

Even when he would be sitting as a healthy scratch for long periods, Eakins was doing bag skates and working harder than anyone, something King said he saw often when they were roommates together briefly with the Leafs.

"And look what he’s done with it," King said. "Hats off to him. I think he’ll have success anywhere he goes."

King, who played 800-plus NHL games and had three 70-point seasons with the New York Islanders, was retired and out of hockey completely when Eakins was hired for the Marlies job and came calling for an assistant.

He jumped at the chance to work with his old friend, who he describes as "a student of the game" going back to his days as a junior player in Peterborough when Eakins had a close relationship with Roger Nielson.

“When the opportunity came, I couldn’t say no," King said. "Especially to Dallas.”

Eakins's strengths as a coach have been evident throughout the Marlies playoff run in their own end, as Toronto has allowed just 23 goals in 13 games. They've also continued to be one of the better shorthanded teams after posting the top penalty kill rate (89%) in the AHL all season.

Like many in the hockey world, King doesn't see the NHL as being all that far away for Eakins.

He joked that he only hopes he gets to go with him.

"I think this is just helping his cause," King said of the Marlies playoff success. "Obviously teams like winning coaches. But win or lose, he’s always done the same job. He hasn’t changed anything. And if he wins a Calder Cup, he’ll be the same guy he was when we were out of the playoffs.

"He’s just a real steady, inspirational guy. I can’t think of really anything bad to say about the guy. There’s no flaws really."

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
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[hockeygod]

Flames hire Bob Hartley as new head coach

CALGARY— Eric Duhatschek, Globe and Mail, May 31, 2012

Ultimately, the Calgary Flames’ choice when it came to making a new coaching hire was between the tried-and-true candidate, Bob Hartley, and the rising star, Troy Ward. Both were familiar to Flames’ general manager Jay Feaster, who worked closely with Ward this season, where he did a commendable job guiding the team’s primary minor-league affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat.

But Hartley was an intriguing choice too, someone who’d coached extensively in the NHL for both the Colorado Avalanche, where he won a Stanley Cup, and with the Atlanta Thrashers, where he had a team that was often overmatched in games.

It was never completely clear which way Feaster would lean. Officially, he tried to deflect his interest in Hartley by noting that he was one year into a two-year contract to coach Zurich of the Swiss league. But when Hartley took the job in Switzerland, he negotiated an out-clause for three possible destinations, Calgary and the Montreal Canadiens, along with a third city, Quebec that is hoping to land an NHL team one of these days.

Hartley is known as a hard task master. Left winger Alex Tanguay knows him better than any player on the team, after breaking in with Colorado as a rookie when Hartley was coaching there. Tanguay’s relationship with Hartley reportedly had some up-and-down moments, but there is little doubt that whatever Hartley’s methods may be, they work. Zurich won a championship; Hartley also won in the minors with Hershey in 1997 and then in the NHL with the Avs. Moreover, the notion of hiring a coach with an old-school attitude is de rigueur again in the NHL, in the wake of Darryl Sutter’s success in Los Angeles, and Dale Hunter’s with the Washington Capitals.

In a statement, Feaster called Hartley, "a winner. Bob has won at every level he has coached, from the QMJHL to the AHL to the NHL to Switzerland, and we are confident he is going to continue his winning ways in Calgary,” said Flames General Manager Jay Feaster. “He is a tireless worker, an outstanding motivator, a great bench boss and game strategist; and a teacher at heart. Moreover, he is a great person as well. We look forward to Bob and his wife Micheline joining the Flames family, and to Bob taking our hockey club to the next level.”

What I remember most about Hartley is a time when I was travelling with the Avalanche, soon after they’d acquired Theo Fleury from the Calgary Flames. The trip took the team to Florida, for a game against Pavel Bure, and after falling far behind, they rallied on an exceptional third-period performance from Peter Forsberg. Post-game, Hartley had a lot of nice things to say about Forsberg, and in every reference, he pointedly referred to him as Mr. Forsberg. Mr. Forsberg this. Mr. Forsberg that. It was a means of showing respect; and of distinguishing this virtuoso performance from a lot of other very good ones.

Hartley knows how to handle skilled teams. He knows how to handle high-end players. He should be a good coach for Jarome Iginla.

Hartley thanked the ZSC Lions for agreeing to let him leave the organization after a championship season to pursue the opportunity in Calgary, a city he knows reasonably well after his years in Denver with the Avs.

“It’s great to return to the League in a city, a community and an organization that has such an outstanding reputation and passion for hockey and success. I look forward to assuming my position and starting the preparation process for the 2012-13 season.”

During his five seasons in Colorado, the Avalanche won four division titles and made four appearances in the conference finals. Hartley's third season was ultimately his most successful one as Colorado steam-rolled through the league with a 52–16–10–4 record, a division title along with the President's Trophy and the Stanley Cup. Hartley’s tenure with the Avalanche franchise ended in December of 2002 with a 193–109–48 regular season record and a 49–31 playoff record. His 193 wins are a franchise record. He became the only coach in team history to record 40 or more wins during his first four seasons as head coach.

Hartley was running Atlanta during the 2006-07 season in which they won their first Southeast Division title, setting new franchise records for wins and points with a 43–28–11 record, good enough for 97 points and third seed in the Eastern Conference. The team also clinched its first playoff berth in franchise history. A slow start for the Thrashers in 2007-08 season resulted in Hartley and the club parting ways.

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

[hockeygod]

Nick Lidstrom walks away from Red Wings on his own terms

Cam Cole, National Post, May 31, 2012

NEWARK, N.J. — The only better defenceman I saw play the game, Bobby Orr, never got the chance to go out on top. His knees didn’t last long enough, and he limped into retirement after a very unfortunate idea led him to finish his career as a borderline cripple in Chicago.

That’s why Nick Lidstrom’s decision, in his words, to “walk away from the game with pride, rather than having the game walk away from me” wasn’t a sad occasion at all, though there are those in Detroit — general manager Ken Holland and coach Mike Babcock no doubt topping that list — who were plenty crushed to see him make it official Thursday.

Not to mention the Red Wings’ legion of fans who would have wept when the magnificent 42-year-old Swede briefly lost his own famous composure while talking about family and trainers and ushers and “Al, who looks after the ice” at Joe Louis Arena.

Holland has kidded often that the day Lidstrom retired, he’d be going, too, because the GM’s job would immediately get to be about twice as difficult.

He was only half-joking.

Holland will stay, Babcock will stay, but Hockeytown has just taken a punch to the solar plexus — one it knew was inevitable, but hoped wouldn’t arrive for a few more years — and it’s going to take a while to recover its breath, if it ever does, completely.

It may even be the end of what passes for a dynasty in these salary-capped days: 20 seasons with Lidstrom, 20 straight playoff appearances, four Stanley Cups. Without him, do we suddenly find out that the Red Wings are just another pretty good team?

As terrific as scorers Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are, as promising as Holland’s chances may be of signing Nashville free agent Ryan Suter as a new cornerstone of the defence, the old blueprint will have to go now, because the man who drew all the threads together and led the Wings with impeccable grace and effortless class is gone.

And considering that the last player to be so universally lauded for possessing the same qualities, Jean Beliveau, retired 41 years ago — the year after Lidstrom was born — it might be a long time before we see his kind again.

“Nick is going to go down, in my opinion, as the most valuable player of his era, as one of the greatest Red Wings of all time, as one of the greatest defencemen of all time,” said Holland, who had the same sort of look on his face as Rangers coach John Muckler wore in New York, the day Wayne Gretzky officially pulled the plug.

“Yeah, I had a long conversation with Wayne,” Muckler said that day in 1999. “I don’t think there’s a career waiting for me in sales.”

“Our team and our game are losing a tremendous ambassador today,” Holland said, of the defenceman and captain he described as “no-maintenance.”

He had tried to talk Lidstrom into keeping on keeping on. He was still a 24-minutes-per-game stud at age 41 this past season. But Lidstrom couldn’t stand the knowledge that he was not quite the same player he had been.

“I’m aware that some people feel my skills have only diminished some … and that I can still help the Wings win games. I truly appreciate their support,” he said.

“At some point, time catches up to everyone and diminishes their ability to perform. This year, it’s painfully obvious to me that my strength and energy level are not rebounding enough for me to continue. My drive and motivation are not where they need to be for me to play at this level.

“It’s not that the tank is completely empty. It just doesn’t have enough to carry me through every day. I don’t want to lose that … I don’t want to say status, but that level of play that I’ve reached. I can’t cheat myself.”

Many of those reading the tributes to Lidstrom today will wonder what all the fuss is about. That’s because his skills and decision-making abilities were so subtle, so understated, so inadequately showcased by the bare glimpses TV provided, he rarely seemed to be playing under stress.

His career plus/minus of plus-450 — playing almost every minute against the other teams’ top lines — is so monumental, it needs to be put into perspective. The next highest-ranked active defenceman, Chris Pronger, is plus-183. After that it’s Zdeno Chara at 143 and Sami Salo at 114.

Lidstrom’s face, as he conducted his farewell Thursday, was unmarked, still boyish, not at all that of an old warhorse, perhaps because in many ways, his hockey intelligence allowed him to play above the game, seeing things develop in slow motion, anticipating flawlessly, almost never misreading a play or putting himself in a vulnerable position.

Yet he was a defenceman who played a significant amount of his career retrieving pucks, facing the glass with forecheckers coming at him from behind.

Like Gretzky in his prime, though, he saw the game so well, he was rarely hit. Which doesn’t mean he wasn’t tough. One remembers the 2009 playoff season in which he suffered a bruised testicle so painfully swollen that Holland’s gruesome description of it one evening at Team Canada’s fall 2009 Olympic team camp was enough to make a handful of reporters cringe.

Lidstrom was, however, unfailingly polite and available throughout the ordeal. He even thanked the media Thursday for “being real professional to me. Sometimes you can’t tell everything that’s going on but I’m sure you understand … but I tried to treat you with respect and I felt I got that back from you guys, so I appreciate that.”

That was Lidstrom.

“We call him the Perfect Human,” his fellow Wings defenceman and Swede, Niklas Kronwall, once said.

Edmonton Oilers defenceman Ryan Whitney wrote on Twitter that the game was never meant to be as easy as Lidstrom made it look.

At the GMs’ meeting Wednesday, San Jose’s Doug Wilson called Lidstrom “the standard of how we want people to play the game. Ultimate professional. When we’re teaching young defencemen how to play the game, I don’t think there’s anybody that’s ever been as technically strong as him.

“You don’t replace players like that. You don’t,” Wilson said.

New Jersey Devils’ Henrik Tallinder, at the Prudential Center the day after Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, understood the significance of the day.

“He’s been an icon in Sweden for so long. I mean, two decades is a long time playing in the best league in the world,” he said. “In my eyes, he’s the best Swedish player we’ve had over here. No offence to Forsberg and Sundin. Just with four Stanley Cups, seven Norris Trophies, that says it all, I think.”

His seven Norris Trophies tie him with Doug Harvey, trailing only Orr’s eight.

“Just watching him play,” Tallinder said, in a very Swedish way, “you would describe it once … it’s like a symphony.”

An unfinished symphony, the Red Wings might argue.

But it’s Nick Lidstrom’s music, and he gets to write the ending.

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

[hockeygod]

NHL planning mini-summit on state of game

CHRIS STEVENSON, QMI Agency, June 1 2012

NEWARK, N.J. – The NHL will shelve its Research and Development Camp this summer in favour of a mini-summit involving players, managers, coaches and officials.

The topic will be officiating and the state of the game.

"Instead of an R and D camp, that's what we have scheduled," said NHL senior vice-president of hockey operations Colin Campbell after the league's general managers concluded a day of meetings at a Manhattan hotel.

Campbell said the main complaint from the managers was the level of obstruction that has crept into the game, particularly on the forecheck.

A hybrid icing rule, which would see the play blown down if the defenceman won a race back to the hashmarks, was shot down by the managers. They would like to see how it works in the American Hockey League before contemplating putting it in the NHL game.

"The group decided not to implement hybrid icing. From my perspective, it's something that I think makes sense, but I think the group is a lot smarter than I am," said Toronto Maple Leafs president and GM Brian Burke. "We'll see if the American league can try it and see how it looks there.

"I think the sense was the players have been educated and they're very careful now on icings. Touch wood, we haven't had a serious problem with it in a long time. The race is exciting, the fans like it and I think it was more a sense it's not the urgent issue that people think it is."

There was also some talk about carrying penalties over from the end of one game to the beginning of the next, but it had no traction.

"I think that was viewed as kind of radical and it would require a lot more thought," said Burke. "I think it would pretty bizarre to just start the next playoff game shorthanded. I think that needs some study. I do think within a playoff round there are actions that it probably makes sense to have a penalty that carries forward if it happens late in a game, but that requires a great deal more thought, I think."

OTHER ITEMS

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said talks on a new collective bargaining agreement will begin soon and said he doesn't understand some of the dire predictions he's heard.

"I don't understand both the speculation and the degree of negativity that it connotes considering we, meaning the league and the Players' Association, have yet to have a substantive discussion on what we may each be looking for in collective bargaining," he said. "If somebody is suggesting it, it's either because there's something in the water, people still have the NBA and NFL on the brain, or they're just looking for news on a slow day. It is nothing more than speculation at this point. There can't be any substance to it because there haven't been any substantive conversations."

Bettman said things remain on track for the sale of the Phoenix Coyotes by the league to former San Jose Sharks executive Greg Jamison.

"He continues to do the two things he needs to do to secure the future of the Coyotes where they are, in Arizona: one, working to conclude a set of documents with the City of Glendale on the building management situation. And he continues to put his equity together. The City of Glendale, I believe next week, is supposed to vote on the management agreement. Once that's in place, I think Greg will be able to conclude, hopefully, the finalization of his equity raise," he said.

Bettman said he's not yet in a position to guarantee the Coyotes will be in Phoenix next season, but at this point there is no Plan B.

"I can't say anything with 100% certainty. I think the likelihood is, based on everything we know today, the process should conclude successfully, but it's not something I'm in a position to guarantee," he said.

The number of concussions is down this past season for the first time in three years, said Bettman.

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

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