Articles

[hockeygod]

Why the Los Angeles Kings Are More Than Just a Hockey Team

Alan Bass, Hockeybuzz.com, May 28, 2012

Nothing against the New Jersey Devils, but we’ve been there before. The organization has won three Stanley Cups and has proven that they are capable of building a perennial contender in a city that is far from a hockey hotbed, according to the team’s attendance numbers in the last two decades. It’s old news. Enough already.

The Kings, though, man are they hot! They’re the next big thing! They’re…wait, weren’t we here before back in 1993? Just 19 years ago, we were talking about Wayne Gretzky, “The Great One,” playing alongside young gun Luc Robitaille, the kid with the 125-point season, and Rob Blake, the 22-year-old defenseman who is sure to have an illustrious and successful NHL career.

But now, instead of talking about the acquired Gretzky and the home grown Robitaille and Blake, we have the acquired Mike Richards and home grown Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty. Instead of the Kings sneaking into the playoffs and defeating a one, two, and three-seed in the 1993 playoffs, we’re talking about them doing the same thing in the 2012 playoffs.

Correlation? Yes. Causation? Perhaps not, but I’d argue it might be just that.

When hockey fans look at the history books, there is always one name there: Wayne Gretzky. And besides the fact that he failed to win a Stanley Cup with the Los Angeles Kings, the effect that he had on the Los Angeles hockey market is well documented, let alone his effect on all of American hockey as well. That trade is the major reason as to why the Kings are so important to the American scene at this moment.

Out of 27 players on the Kings current roster, all but two (Rob Scuderi and Willie Mitchell) were under 10 years old when Gretzky was traded from Edmonton to Los Angeles in 1988. And 19 of the 27 players were still under 10 when the Kings made their 1993 final run. Of those 19, six are Americans that surely felt some piece of the Gretzky trade as children – all still in their impressionable stage.

Before the Gretzky trade, hockey was so unpopular in Los Angeles, you couldn’t even call it a joke – a joke is known by at least a few people. In fact, a comedian once said at the time, “What time is the Kings game?”, “Depends, what time you can get there?” After Gretzky’s arrival, not only did attendance increase, it exploded. The team’s popularity was equal to that of the NBA’s Lakers, USC football, UCLA basketball, and more. The sport not only took hold in Los Angeles, but hockey became a national sport in the United States, something it hadn’t been since the NHL expanded to six American cities in 1967.

So why is this relevant to the Kings and their upcoming Stanley Cup final matchup against the Devils? Between 1988 and 1993, when the Kings became the rock stars of American sports, the younger generation began to take note. More American children began playing a game that most had never heard of just a few years prior. More and more NHL draftees are born and raised in California – a place where your first impression would be Hollywood, not professional hockey.

But just like that, as the children of that era reach the prime of their NHL careers, the Kings are right back where they once were, again as an underdog that shouldn’t be here. And this time, in a time of social media and widespread sports fanatics, their success, perhaps even culminating in a Stanley Cup championship, will have an even greater positive effect on the young American kids just tuning into hockey for the first time.

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

[hockeygod]

Yakupov tries to prove he’s not a stereotypical Russian prospect

James Mirtle, Globe and Mail, June 1, 2012

He seemed to know the questions were coming.

But Nail Yakupov, the consensus No. 1 pick at the 2012 NHL draft next month, didn’t seem to mind that so many people wanted to know how being Russian played into his week at the league’s annual combine.

Teams have concerns, after all, about top players bolting to the KHL after using a high pick to take them, and several enquired in one-on-one interviews what Yakupov’s thoughts were on the subject.

When he met with the media on Friday after completing his physical testing, Yakupov was asked about players like Nikolai Zherdev (fourth overall in 2003) and Nikita Filatov (sixth overall in 2008) who flamed out in Columbus, and he tried to distance himself from those two.

The Blue Jackets own the No. 2 pick this year and are believed to be wary of drafting another Russian with the pick.

“You know, every player has his [own] way,” said Yakupov, an ethnic Tatar from the Tatarstan region in Russia. “I’m Muslim, I’m not Russian. If you [ask] what happens with the Russian factor, it’s [Zherdev’s] life and I have my life.

“I’ve got to work. It doesn’t matter what team is going to [take me] in the draft… My new team is my first favourite team in the NHL. I’m going to play and do everything for this.”

Yakupov burst onto the North American hockey scene in 2010-11 with a 101-point rookie season with the Sarnia Sting in the OHL and followed that up with 69 points in 42 games in an injury shortened campaign this past season.

While there’s a chance Everett Silvertips defenceman Ryan Murray becomes the top pick, it’s widely expected the Edmonton Oilers will select Yakupov with the first overall selection in Pittsburgh at the draft and add to their stable of elite offensive prospects.

“We’re not sure who this pick is now,” Oilers GM Steve Tambellini said. “That’s the way it’s been the last couple years… When we get to the draft, we’ll have our final meeting and we’ll decide a day or so before the draft. And that’ll be our pick.”

What they’d be getting is a player some have compared to Pavel Bure: A lightning quick, agile winger with good hands and an excellent shot who doesn’t shy away from playing in traffic.

What he lacks is size, as Central Scouting has him listed at just 5-foot-10 1/2 and 189 pounds.

Yakupov’s personality, meanwhile, doesn’t fit the stereotype of a typical Russian prospect, as far from standoffish, he comes across as passionate and very much interested mostly in making an impact in the NHL.

“You know what, it is the best moment of my life,” he said in response to a question about how he enjoyed the normally gruelling (and thoroughly unenjoyable) combine process. “It started like from here, from now. The combine, the draft. I’m excited to go to work. My parents, my friends [are too]. We’ll see what happens.”

Yakupov met with 18 teams during the interview process this week in Toronto, which is actually a lower number than many of the top prospects are subject to. He described the process as 20 minutes with everyone and a lot of the “same questions” over and over.

He said the oddest questions he faced were about his family and what he was doing this summer.

All of the questioning, testing and meetings with the media hardly seemed to bother him, however.

“It’s the best league in the world,” Yakupov said. “You’ve got to work harder… we’ll see what happens. It’s life. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. For me, I just want to work and do everything [to make] the NHL because it’s my dream. I want to show something.”

And all that KHL controversy?

“For me, I think about just NHL,” he said.

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

[hockeygod]

Business of hockey: How nimble executives from Los Angeles to Raleigh put their clubs on solid ice

KARL MOORE AND DEVIN BIGONESS, Globe and Mail, Jun 01, 2012

Thinking about traditional hockey-powerhouse cities bring to mind Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, New York, Detroit or Boston – the Original Six.

But what would it take to add the likes of Los Angeles, Nashville and Miami to this list? These teams represent areas better known for golf and surfing than hockey, yet there were three warm-weather city champions in consecutive years – Tampa Bay Lightning in 2005, Carolina Hurricanes in 2006, Anaheim Ducks in 2007. Now Los Angeles have an opportunity to make it four in the space of eight years, playing New Jersey in the Stanley Cup finals. Anaheim and Carolina were also finalists in 2003 and 2002.

How have these teams managed to become competitive while playing in non-traditional hockey markets?

While markets like Los Angeles and Miami do not possess the rich hockey tradition of Montreal and Boston, they have other advantages such as associations with global celebrities in entertainment and other sports. For free agents, these factors provide an attractive style of living to gravitate towards. Even the Raleigh market, while not an entertainment or lifestyle capital like Los Angeles or Miami, has proven to be successful. The local fan base has supported the team since it relocated in 1997, and was rewarded with a Stanley Cup championship in 2006.

Several of these teams have succeeded in non-traditional markets in three ways:

1. Show a commitment to winning – It is more fun to root for a winning team. This is the case in any sport, but for a hockey franchise struggling for fans’ attention against plenty of other sports and entertainment offerings, the imperative to win is even greater. The Carolina Hurricanes took only four years after relocating from Hartford to make it to the Stanley Cup finals. and less than 10 years to win Lord Stanley’s Cup. When the Los Angeles Kings were acquired by Bruce McNall in 1987, he wasted little time in being innovative and focused on a game-changing acquisition strategy. In 1988 he acquired Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers. Gretzky quickly turned the team into a Stanley Cup contending team and it went to the finals in 1993. This year, the bold acquisitions of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, from the Philadelphia Flyers and the Columbus Blue Jackets, played a big role in getting the Kings to the Cup finals. Meantime, the Florida Panthers, founded in 1993, have only been to the playoffs four times in their 18-year history including this season. In 2011-12, Florida ranked 21st in the league in total fan attendance. The marketing professionals associated with the Florida franchise know that the more a team wins, the more positive stories are written in the media, the more people are talking about the team and so fan attendance increases dramatically.

2. Try some new things – If franchises are trying to grow market share in a competitive and mature market, they need to be willing to try new tactics in order to grow. They cannot be afraid of failure. The Kings launched a bold, controversial billboard campaign this season. Three years ago, Carolina filmed eight spots in a campaign called “It’s a Caniac Thing,” showing a player executing a signature move with a commentator describing the move dramatically. Tampa Bay gave away tickets through a Twitter campaign and gave registered hockey players between the ages of 9 and 13 a chance to line up with the team during the playing of the national anthem.

3. Make the event an experience – As Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore discuss in their book “The Experience Economy” today’s marketplace is increasingly rewarding those organizations that make their offering an experience for the consumer. The same is true in hockey where stadiums and teams are trying to make each night on the ice more than just a game. Many arenas have music or entertainment acts between periods to extend the action and this is just the start. The new trend is to offer amusement park-type rides or activities, deliver world-class restaurants or dining options, and also increase the availability of technology to broaden the game experience. All of these efforts are to deliver an enhanced experience for the fan to get them to come back for more games.

Karl Moore is an associate professor at the Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University.

Devin Bigoness is a project director with Duke Corporate Education in the New York area.

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

[hockeygod]

BRUINS' THOMAS CONFIRMS HE WILL TAKE NEXT YEAR OFF

TSN, 6/3/2012

Boston, MA (Sports Network) – Boston Bruins star goaltender Tim Thomas confirmed on his Facebook page Sunday that he will be taking a year off from hockey.

Thomas confirmed the hiatus with the following statement.

"From the earliest age I can remember, I've wanted to be a hockey player. I've been blessed in my life to not only be able to live that dream, but to achieve more than I ever thought possible.

"The singleminded focus that is necessary to accomplish a dream of this magnitude entails (by necessity) sacrifice in other areas and relationships in life.

"At the age of 38, I believe it is time to put my time and energies into those areas and relationships that I have neglected. That is why at this time I feel the most important thing I can do in my life is to reconnect with the three F's.

"Friends, Family, and Faith.

"This is what I plan on doing over the course of the next year."

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli confirmed reports on Friday that Thomas was seriously thinking about not playing in 2012-13.

Thomas has one year left on his current deal, which carries a $5 million cap hit for the 2012-13 season. The no-movement clause that is a part of the deal expires July 1.

The 38-year-old went 35-19-1 with a 2.36 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage this past season. In the playoffs, he had a 2.14 GAA and a .923 save percentage. Boston lost in seven games to Washington in the first round.

Thomas won the 2009 and 2011 Vezina Trophy, and has a 196-121-45 record and 2.48 GAA in 378 career games with the Bruins. In 50 postseason games, he holds a 29-21 mark with a 2.07 GAA.

Thomas won the 2011 Conn Smythe Trophy after leading Boston to its first Stanley Cup title since 1972.

Boston's backup goalie Tuukka Rask becomes a restricted free agent on July 1, but the Bruins intend on re-signing him. Rask went 11-8-3 with a 2.05 GAA and .929 save percentage this season.

Thomas' future in the NHL seems to be up in the air.

"What does this portend for the future? We'll see…God's will be done," Thomas said at the end of his statement.

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

[hockeygod]

Glendale opens valve on sewer and water accounts to fund Coyotes

David Shoalts, The Globe and Mail, Jun 03 2012

Like many of us faced with bills we can’t pay, the city officials in Glendale, Ariz., are poking around in all of their bank accounts looking here and there for the money they need to hand over to the NHL.

This account in the Arizona Republic is a sobering look at Glendale’s attempts to find the $25-million (all currency U.S.) it owes the NHL for the operations of the Phoenix Coyotes over the 2011-12 season. In the end, the money was taken from Glendale’s sewer and water account for the second consecutive year, which was not according to plan. That $50-million has to be paid back to that account, which Glendale plans to do over the next 40 years.

Just as sobering is that the Glendale politicians did not seem to have a grasp on just where that money was coming from.

The plan was that the money-losing Coyotes were to be sold before this season’s bill came due. Then the $25-million was supposed to be the responsibility of the new owner.

However, with council having conditionally committed to a payment of $17-million for next season, the latest prospective owner has yet to formally agree to a lease with Glendale for Jobing.com Arena. Greg Jamison’s purchase of the Coyotes from the NHL is conditional on a lease agreement.

There is a draft agreement in place and it is expected to be made public by Friday. Glendale council is supposed to vote on the lease at its regular meeting June 12 when it is also expected to formally approve a budget for the next fiscal year.

But nothing is ever certain when it comes to the Coyotes, as NHL commissioner Gary Bettman reluctantly admitted last week.

“I can’t say anything with one-hundred-per-cent certainty,” he said. “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.”

Jamison, the commissioner said, “continues to put his equity together,” which is another way of saying he is trying to raise the money, if not through investors then through Glendale taxpayers with generous terms in the arena lease.

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

[hockeygod]

Martin Brodeur’s father passes along his legacy

Dave Stubbs, National Post, Jun 4, 2012

Martin Brodeur’s swollen trophy case grew by two items over the weekend, the night before the goaltender’s New Jersey Devils slipped into a King-sized hole in the Stanley Cup final.

Brodeur’s father, Denis, made the trip to New Jersey for Game 2 Saturday of the Devils’ championship series against Los Angeles, and he hit the road with some priceless cargo.

As he usually does, Martin Brodeur shone with typically unconventional style, performing at his mini-putt-windmill best. Brodeur made at least a half-dozen brilliant saves in regulation and overtime, his stops authored by stacked pads, a vacuum glove hand and a body that at times seemed to be the 6-foot width of his net.

But in the end, Brodeur could not stop Jeff Carter’s screened shot 13:42 into overtime. The Kings earned their second consecutive 2-1 overtime win and carry a 2-0 lead back to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Monday.

It was remarkable enough that Denis Brodeur, 81, made the trip for Game 2, driving Friday from his St-Léonard home to New Jersey with his best friend, Pierre Villeneuve, at the wheel.

On Feb. 17, Denis underwent a 10-hour operation for the removal of a brain tumour that was nearly the size of a baseball. Three and a half months later, feeling so good that he says he is surprising even himself, he was at the Prudential Centre on Saturday, a dozen or so rows up behind a net, wearing a Devils T-shirt “because they told me, ‘Everybody’s gotta wear red!’ ”

For some time, especially in recent weeks, Denis had been thinking of his two-part gift for Martin:

There was the maple leaf-emblazoned wool sweater that he had worn playing goal for the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen, Canada’s bronze-medal hockey entry at the 1956 Olympic Winter Games in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy.

And there was the fibreglass mask Denis wore the last few years of his amateur career, manufactured by the man who made the mask with which Canadiens legend Jacques Plante forever changed the face of goaltending.

“I was thinking, ‘This might be Martin’s last Stanley Cup run,’ and I’ve been feeling good so I decided to come down,” Denis said Sunday morning from the road home.

“I told [wife] Mireille that, for a long time, I’d wanted to give Martin my Olympic sweater and my mask. I’ve thought that he deserved to have them.

“I thought more about this after I recovered from my adventure in the hospital,” he added, laughing. “I had to give them to Martin. When I’m gone, I don’t know where they’d go. Now, I know that he has them.”

Denis, Villeneuve and another of Denis’s sons, Denis Jr., who will attend the Stanley Cup final games as long as they go, arrived at Martin’s New Jersey home Friday. There they were welcomed as the goalie’s house guests, and that evening the surprise was sprung.

“Martin was very happy,” Denis said with great understatement.

A photo was taken in Brodeur’s den, in front of a framed image of the 2002 Salt Lake City Canadian Olympic team on which he starred, of father and son with the sweater and mask.

Brodeur told his father he will frame together the 1956 Olympic jersey and his own from Salt Lake City.

Only “in a way,” Denis said, was Friday’s gift a thank-you for one his famous son had bestowed upon him back in February, on a visit Martin made to the family home the day after Denis’s brain cancer had been diagnosed.

Hours after Brodeur had learned Feb. 7 of his father’s condition, he blanked the Rangers 1-0 in New York. Then Martin flew home the following day and presented Denis with the game puck marking the 117th shutout of his regular-season career, 140th including playoffs.

Martin’s memorabilia now contains the puck from every one of his shutouts except this one.

“That was a wonderful gesture,” Denis said of the gift.

The 1956 sweater likely would have raised many thousands of dollars at auction, something Denis never considered doing.

The mask has a marvellous history of its own, with Denis being the first amateur goalie in Canada to regularly wear facial protection in competition.

Plante had worn his mask in Canadiens practices during the autumn of 1959, a hard, crude shell made by Fibreglass Canada marketing rep Bill Burchmore. But only that Nov. 1, when he was struck and badly bloodied by a backhander off the stick of Rangers’ Andy Bathgate in New York, did Plante wear it in a game.

He did so against coach Toe Blake’s wishes, though Blake could not say much when the masked Plante won that night, then won nine and tied one in the Canadiens’ next 10 games.

At the time, Denis Brodeur was a freelance photographer for Montréal-Matin and a senior-league goaltender for the Montréal Olympiques. He was growing weary of the sutures that were being sewn into his puck- and stick-slashed face, so he met Plante when the Canadiens returned to Montreal from New York.

“I asked Jacques for the address of the guy who’d made his mask,” Denis said. “I went to Bill’s office, he took a mould of my face and I had my mask maybe 10 days later.”

It was worth every penny of the $200 he paid for it, even if it offered only marginal protection. Denis’s eyes remained vulnerable and he would still bruise when struck in the face.

“I was braver with it,” he said, “but it was mostly good only if you were hit on the sides.”

Denis was once offered $10,000 for the mask by a collector.

“But the money’s not important,” he said. “I’ve had it for a long time in the basement and I had to give it to Martin.”

Brodeur, 40 but playing a decade younger, likely will place it near the replica of a mask designed for the late Terry Sawchuk, the NHL icon whose regular-season shutout record of 103 he toppled 2 1/2 years ago.

Denis said farewell to Martin on Sunday morning, hitting the road back to Montreal as the goalie headed for his team’s charter to Los Angeles.

He said his son was “angry” about Saturday’s loss, with the Devils in very deep against an opponent backstopped by the sensational Jonathan Quick.

“Martin wanted to win so badly, but that’s the way it is,” Denis said. “All a goalie can do is give his team a chance to win. After that, it’s up to his teammates. We just can’t score. Our best players aren’t producing.”

Denis says he’ll return to New Jersey only if the series goes the seven-game limit. And he is optimistic he will be at the Bell Centre come the fall, taking more photos of his son’s hockey journey that is headed directly to the Hall of Fame.

“I wouldn’t have said Martin would be back next year if you’d asked me last season,” Denis said of the Devils team that missed the playoffs for the first time since 1996.

“But the way I see him playing now? My God.”

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

[hockeygod]

Hextall believes in the will to win

Chris Stevenson ,QMI Agency, June 03 2012

LOS ANGELES – He slips out through the door of the Los Angeles Kings management suite at the Prudential Center between periods of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final and, looking at Ron Hextall, lanky and imposing, the thought occurs:

He could still run down Chris Chelios, no problem, and despite Chelios’ reputation as a fitness fanatic, I don’t know if you would want to give Chelios the edge.

Hextall, now 48, is the Kings vice-president and assistant general manager and looks like he could still play.

It’s a little different watching from up here, huh?

“You feel pretty helpless, that’s for sure,” he said.

The former Vezina and Conn Smythe Trophy winner has now helped the Kings get to within two wins of winning the Stanley Cup, something he didn’t do as a player despite his wonderful efforts with the Philadelphia Flyers in a 1987 season when he was the best goaltender in the game and led them to the final against the Edmonton Oilers.

His imprint, in so many different ways, is on this Stanley Cup final, which the Kings lead 2-0 going into Game 3 Monday night at Staples Center. You look at the way New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur handles the puck (and Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick, who is underrated in that department) and you have to remember Hextall revolutionized the position when it came to puckhandling.

In December 1987, he became the first goaltender in NHL history to score a goal by actually shooting the puck in the net. Two years later, he became the first to score a goal in the playoffs.

Brodeur and Quick aren’t doing what they’re doing without Hextall becoming the first goaltender to really become a third defenceman with the puck.

He was a fiery competitor, once charging out of the net to attack Chelios after the then-Montreal Canadiens defenceman had hammered the head of Flyers star Brian Propp into the glass at the Montreal Forum during the playoffs in 1989.

Hextall is having a different, but quite significant impact now. He is in his sixth season with the Kings, one of a half-dozen former members of the Flyers organization (general manager Dean Lombardi, assistant coach John Stevens, former head coach Terry Murray and players Mike Richards and Jeff Carter) who have helped the Kings get this far.

As Lombardi’s right-hand man, Hextall has had a huge influence on building this Kings team. He cut his teeth as a manager running the Kings’ American Hockey League franchise in Manchester, so he has had a direct hand in cultivating the prospects that are now helping the Kings enjoy their success.

Despite his star status as a player, Hextall was willing to start at the bottom and work his way up in the Flyers organization learning the management ropes.

As a former star player who has been here, he has been an important resource for the Kings players in this playoff run.

“It’s one of the reasons you hire a guy like him,” said Lombardi. “It’s not only his work ethic and his background. I mean, this is a former player that wasn’t afraid to go down on the scouting trails, drive five hours to learn the craft. He takes over the minor-league team and learns some management skills. You combine that with being a former player who was recognized as a winner, not just a player. When you have that type of presence, you’d be foolish not to expose it to your players as much as possible.”

“It’s always a different thing. You put almost 30 years into it, you’ve been through a lot things,” said Hextall. “There are a lot of things you can impart on the players.”

He’s had a key hand in the big moves the Kings made over the course of this season which transformed them from a struggling club to being on the cusp of winning the first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

Despite his intimate knowledge of the Kings, Hextall said he couldn’t pick one move or moment – the off-season trade for Richards, the firing of Murray and hiring of Darryl Sutter as coach, the trade for Carter in February – that turned this team around.

“There were a number of things that happened. I think the coaching change really woke everybody up to some degree. They understood that it wasn’t necessarily the coach’s fault. It’s everybody’s fault here,” he said.

“We brought up (Dwight) King and (Jordan) Nolan. We brought in Jeff Carter. I think it really helped us to bring another gun into our lineup. It didn’t have an immediate impact, but it definitely had an impact. We went from a good-sized team to a very big team. When we play our game, we’re very hard to play against.

“But I think down the stretch at some point – I couldn’t define exactly when – we won a lot of games. Everybody knew we were a good team on paper, including our players, but until it comes together and you start playing like it … late in the year, our team started to realize we are a pretty good team here. There was no real, in my mind, defining moment.”

The development of defenceman Slava Voynov in Manchester under Hextall’s watch gave the Kings the flexibility to deal defenceman Jack Johnson to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Carter. Another concussion suffered by forward Simon Gagne, an injury to Scott Parse and the struggles suffered by Dustin Penner had the Kings stuck in 30th place in a 30-team league in offence.

“We knew we needed a scorer. When Gagne got hurt, Scott Parse got hurt and Dustin Penner wasn’t scoring like he’s capable of, it was kind of like, ‘we need to do something here.’ Knowing full well we had Voynov waiting in the wings in Manchester – but an NHL player and a pretty darn good one – that was the one piece that we felt we could move and not hurt ourselves and bring in a guy like Carter which we clearly needed. We knew we needed a scorer. It’s not why we played poorly for 60 games, but it was part of it.”

Around the same time, the Kings called up King and Nolan. They were miscast to start with on the second line because of the injuries and Penner’s lack of production, but the Kings didn’t have much choice.

“They seemed to give us a short-term injection of life. It helped us. We knew we were not talking second-line players here,” said Hextall. “We knew we needed to make a move. They fit in good. They added to our size. We formed the identity of a big team and a hard team to play against.”

Now Hextall should be right near the top of any team’s search list for their next general manager.

He was a winner as a player.

He’s helped build a Stanley Cup contender.

While his focus right now is helping the Kings get two more wins, it’s also clear Hextall is ready to have a chance to have his own team.

“I’d love to, yeah, absolutely,” he said.

“I’ve got my beliefs. Everybody has got their own beliefs, I’ve got my own set of beliefs. You learn from a lot of people as you come up. In Philadelphia, Bob Clarke and Paul Holmgren and now with Dean, you take a little bit of everybody and you form your own identity.

“I’m a big will-to-win guy. I believe in the end, as long as your teams are close, the team with the more will to win is going to win. That would be my identity. I think it was my identity as a player and it’s still what I believe in.”

Looks like a lot of that belief has rubbed off on the Kings.

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

[hockeygod]

Memorable captains from Stanley Cup lore

Sean McIndoe, National Post, Jun 5 2012

We still don’t know which team will win the Stanley Cup this year. But we can be sure of one thing: for only the second time in history, an American will be the captain of the winning team. And that means that either Dustin Brown of the Kings or Zach Parise of the Devils will get to take part in one of the best moments in all of sports.

Unlike other leagues, where the championship trophy is handed over to team owners and various corporate sponsors, the Stanley Cup is handed directly to the winning team’s captain. And whether that captain takes the Cup for a victory lap or immediately hands it off to a deserving teammate, the moment always seems to end up being a memorable one.

Here is a look back at some of the other NHL captains who have had a chance to accept the Stanley Cup.

• 1999 Dallas Stars captain Derian Hatcher accepts the Cup while standing in the wrong spot, but for some reason everyone involved just ignores that and pretends everything is fine.

• 2010 The moment Gary Bettman hands him the Stanley Cup is the happiest one of Jonathan Toews’ entire life, apparently, since his one eyebrow looks like it kind of twitched there for a second.

• 1992 As Mario Lemieux triumphantly lifts the Cup, the various NHL defencemen who have been clinging desperately to each of his limbs since the season opener sheepishly begin to realize that they can probably just let go now.

• 2008 The historic moment of the first European captain receiving the Cup is ruined when a confused Nicklas Lidstrom asks if the big silver thing is some sort of fancy ashtray for his unfiltered cigarettes, Don Cherry imagines.

• 2004 The Tampa Bay Lightning win their first ever championship, causing every fan of the early ’90s Maple Leafs to simultaneously wonder why the Cup is being presented to Dave Andreychuk’s great-grandfather.

• 2000 Devils captain Scott Stevens watches on as his teammates take turns handing the Cup to each other, then spends the rest of the celebration concussing anyone who admires their pass.

• 1993 Guy Carbonneau lifts what will turn out to be the last Stanley Cup ever won at the Montreal Forum in an emotional moment, although everyone will later agree that the way he immediately starts measuring the bowl’s curve while laughing hysterically and pointing at Marty McSorley was probably unnecessary.

• 2009 While he realizes that all Cup-winning captains are asked to pose for a photograph with Bettman before accepting the trophy, Sidney Crosby still finds it kind of weird that Bettman takes the photo of them himself using his mobile phone and then immediately uploads it to a Facebook album called “Super-BFFs 4ever”.

• 1994 Mark Messier famously breaks into a fit of giddy laughter as Bettman hands him the Cup, probably because he just realized how much the Canucks would now be willing to offer him in free agency in a few years.

• 2007 Scott Niedermayer accepts the Cup from Bettman, raises it triumphantly into the air, and then skates around the rink while using it to calmly deflect the various slapshots Daniel Alfredsson is still “accidentally” firing at him from center ice.

• 2001 Joe Sakic takes the Cup and hands it directly to Ray Bourque, after realizing that going door-to-door and kicking every Boston Bruins fan in the groin individually would take too long.

• 1997 After the Red Wings win their first title in over 40 years, Steve Yzerman hands the Cup to owner Mike Illitch instead of to a fellow veteran player like Brendan Shanahan, according to the weird prologue in the video explaining why Steven Stamkos was just suspended for the entire 2012-13 season for a tripping minor.

• 2005 Gary Bettman doesn’t hand any cups to anyone, unless you want to count a steaming hot cup of “give us your money and shut up,” in which case every hockey fan in North America personally receives one.

• 2011 Zdeno Chara accepts the Stanley Cup from Bettman in yet another example of foreigners having things handed to them by hard-working Americans, Tim Thomas secretly thinks.

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

[hockeygod]

Montreal Canadiens announce Michel Therrien as new head coach

Postmedia News, Jun 5 2012

MONTREAL — For Habs fans, it’s a case of back to the future.

The Montreal Canadiens confirmed on their website Tuesday morning that the club has rehired Michel Therrien as its head coach.

Therrien coached the Habs almost a decade ago, and was let go after a tenure that spanned less than three seasons.

The team has scheduled a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

The 48-year-old coached the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2005 to 2009.

He was fired in February 2009, and his replacement, Dan Bylsma, led the Penguins to the Stanley Cup that spring.

Therrien’s Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playing career began in the 1980-81 season with the Quebec Remparts. His ice time as a player ended 1986-87, with the Baltimore Skipjacks of the American Hockey League.

He never played in the National Hockey League.

Therrien had reportedly been in the running in a race to coach the Canadiens that had been narrowed to two candidates.

The other was apparently Marc Crawford, with former goaltending great Patrick Roy having slipped off the radar of new general manager Marc Bergevin during the past few days.

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

[hockeygod]

Tim Thomas can't be faulted for decision

Ryan Kennedy, The Hockey News, 2012-06-04

There are two reasons to become a professional athlete and they are not mutually exclusive: love and money. Tim Thomas has both covered, so if he has played his final NHL game, he can leave without regret.

Though posting on Facebook that he would be taking a year off is not the most media-friendly method of announcing something so major, Thomas doesn’t owe anybody anything. OK, yes, he has one year remaining on his contract with the Boston Bruins, but any number of things can be done to remedy the loss of such a talent and with a similarly elite netminder in Tuukka Rask available, it’s not like the Flames losing Miikka Kiprusoff.

What we have is a goaltender who was approaching the end of his career and becoming a lightning rod of controversy for his political views in a town that doesn’t mind talking about sports figures 24 hours a day.

But I’m not here to come down on Thomas. Like I said, if he’s done, he’s had a great run.

When it comes to the love side of the equation, there’s no question he put in his dues. Thomas suited up for teams in Finland, Sweden, the ECHL, the International League and the American League before he saw starters’ minutes with Boston at the age of 31. Since that 2005-06 campaign, he crammed in two Vezina Trophies, one Stanley Cup, one Conn Smythe Trophy, a Jennings Trophy and two first team all-star nods. For a guy who enjoys hunting, he certainly spent enough time in the metaphorical wilderness before bagging his rewards.

As for the money, he has already earned more than $20 million since the lockout, more than enough to keep his family on stable ground for the rest of their lives (and their kids and their kids, if they’re smart about it). I’m sure a lot of people will think Thomas is crazy for leaving potential future earnings on the table, but at some point a lot of money is simply that – a lot of money. The exact figure doesn’t matter in the long run.

And I am going off the assumption Thomas is finished. Maybe he’ll come back in a year and play a couple more seasons, but I doubt it. For a goaltender of his age (38) to take such a break and return at the same level is incredibly difficult – there’s Dominik Hasek and pretty much no one else in that category.

The love part of the game is not as important now to Thomas as his family is and there’s nothing wrong with that. Ken Dryden walked away after just eight seasons because he had won six Stanley Cups and really couldn’t accomplish anything else. If you wanted to be a jerk about it, you could say Dryden wasn’t a true competitor because he should have had the drive for even more titles, but it’s hard to forsake him for his choice.

Sean Avery’s retirement also brings to mind the decisions hockey players make. Sure, he could have stayed in the game, maybe even gone over to Europe if his act was too toxic for the NHL, but Avery has long had other interests in the world (fashion being the biggest) and with more than $12 million in salary earned as a pro, he can indulge his fancies for the rest of his life.

If Thomas is indeed finished, if this turns out to be a lifetime sabbatical, then it’s been a terrific ride. The Flint, Mich., native became an American hockey folk hero in just a few short years and with his politics, we haven’t heard the last from him. On the ice? I’m not so sure. But it was fun while it lasted.

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

[hockeygod]

Marsh's emotional ride

Don Brennan, QMI Agency, June 5 2012

OTTAWA – Halfway or so through his coast-to-coast bike ride across Canada, Brad Marsh says he feels strong and he’s getting stronger.

Fact is, the former Senators defenceman almost looks like he should consider a comeback.

“Just for one, two-week paycheque,” the 54-year-old Marsh joked Monday.

After starting his 90 Day Challenge in support of the Boys and Girls Clubs in a Vancouver rain that turned to snow on April 25, Marsh arrived at Scotiabank Place for a pitstop and warm welcome home from friends and supporters. He was presented two $5,000 cheques for his cause from the Senators Foundation and the Bell Capital Cup, while Mayor Jim Watson sent word that he was declaring it Brad Marsh Day in Ottawa. Never mind that the day was almost over. The thought was there.

“When you roll into a Boys and Girls Club, it’s just fun,” Marsh, who will visit about 30 of them over the course of his marathon, said through a voice that cracked slightly. “But when you come into an environment like this, it is emotional, when you see people come out to support you, people come out and get behind what you’re doing.”

Marsh has been accompanied by his 26-year-old son Erik for the whole journey. So far, Erik has biked about 2,000 km with his dad, as well as penned nightly Facebook updates (BradMarsh90DayChallenge). Brad’s wife Patty, his other son Patrick and his daughters Madeline and Victoria have been with him through various parts of the journey.

At every opportunity, he and Erik have played floor hockey at a Boys and Girls Club.

“Some of these kids don’t get to play organized sports simply because they can’t afford it, or unfortunately their parents just don’t give a darn about them,” said Marsh. “It’s great to see them play floor hockey.

“When you see a little kid score a goal for the first time, the celebration is just like you’d see on an NHL player. In some cases it’s the first time they’ve ever celebrated something, if you will. And that’s what keeps us going. The kids.”

Marsh has taken a day off here and there to visit with family, including his mother in London, Ont., but otherwise he has spent most of his time on the pedals. The longest he has travelled in one day was nine hours and 15 minutes, “but the wind was right in our face and we only covered 209 kilometres,” he said.

“The most I’ve ridden in a day was 264 km, but the wind was at my back so that was fun,” added Marsh. “(Riding through) the mountains was neat, it was fun. You knew it was going to be hard. I put a lot of training miles in, and so you just get comfortable on your bike and you know you’re climbing a hill for 70 km. It was neat to accomplish that, climbing Rogers Pass and Coquihalla Pass (in B.C.), but Northern Ontario was unbelievably beautiful and unbelievably challenging for a bike rider. That was just a fabulous bike ride going around Lake Superior.”

While his stopover in Ottawa wasn’t long, he has to jet back from Fredericton June 11 for Victoria’s graduation.

“We forgot about it when we put the trip together,” chuckled Marsh, who was forced out of the bar/restaurant business in 2011. “It’s no secret that the last couple of years have not been favourable or kind to the Marsh family. But we’ve stayed close, we’ve stayed tight and we’re doing this together. And it’s been a riot.”

Marsh isn’t aware of the exact money raised to date, nor does he think it’s the most important fact of his mission.

“Yes I wish I could raise a gazillion dollars, but the bottom line is, the focus is awareness, because the Boys and Girls Club flies under the radar,” he said. “We’re fortunate here in Ottawa that we have an unbelievable team that supports the Boys and Girls Club, but across Canada that’s not the norm.

“The word is getting out. People, in the future, may choose to donate to the Boys and Girls Club, or more importantly they may choose to get involved in the leadership or mentorship role.”

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

[hockeygod]

Krueger in the mix?

Terry Jones, QMI Agency, June 5 2012

EDMONTON – It would be easier to follow if it were an election.

At least there would be lawn signs.

To this point, the Edmonton Oilers haven’t offered a list of those who are being considered official candidates for the vacant head coaching job.

So far there has been the confirmation of two.

At the Memorial Cup, Kevin Lowe officially confirmed the obvious, that Brent Sutter is one.

“I don’t see why he wouldn’t want to coach the Edmonton Oilers. He’s a very worthwhile candidate. No question. Brent is obviously a good coach, he’s an Albertan, he’s more than familiar with the Battle of Alberta and I would think Brent would want to coach the Oilers.”

The other candidate hasn’t received the same attention as Sutter. But he’s getting it now.

He was Tom Renney’s associate coach Ralph Krueger.

“He is a candidate,” confirmed Lowe.

But to what extent?

An e-mail exchange between well-known long-time Swiss hockey writer Klaus Zaugg and Krueger, the former Swiss national team coach, indicated Krueger considers his candidacy to be serious.

Zaugg contacted Krueger, who spends his summers in Switzerland, about his interest in the Zurich Lions job vacated by Bob Hartley to go to the Calgary Flames.

The response was interesting.

“You know me. One job at a time. My contract with the Oilers runs until the end of June. I cannot say whether I have been contacted but my present focus is on the possible head coaching job in Edmonton.

“I feel well prepared for this challenge. The Oilers are my third organization in 22 years and I would prefer not to change. (I would only stay as the head coach). I am patient and will have no problem with however the cards may fall.”

Barely had that exchange been made when a quote from the winningest coach in all of hockey history, Scotty Bowman, appeared to endorse Krueger for the Oilers’ job.

Sunday, I reached Krueger at his home in Switzerland.

“A few years back Scotty started showing up at world championships and he was always open to a conversation,” said Krueger, the Winnipeg-native, from his home in Davos where his family has lived for two decades.

Krueger, who worked as a European consultant to Team Canada GM Kevin Lowe at the world championships this year, said he thinks all is positioned well with where he’s at in the process of the Oilers finding a new coach.

“The whole thing has developed at kind of a comfortable pace,” he said.

“I’m very comfortable in having had time away and I find the opportunity to be the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers to be very exciting.”

Krueger said he believes he’s a serious candidate but says there’s nothing there beyond that.

“Nothing has been offered. I haven’t had official contact. And I can’t speak of what kind of contact I’ve had.”

But now that he’s had time away from Edmonton, he knows where he wants to be and that’s not back in Europe, it’s in the National Hockey League and there’s no job he’d rather have than the one in Edmonton.

“I feel really ready. And 100% at the head coaching position,” said Krueger, who came to the Oilers after coaching Switzerland to a shootout loss against Canada at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

When Renney moved up from being Pat Quinn’s associate coach to the head job, Renney’s timing in asking him to take over as associate coach was perfect, said Krueger.

“After 20 years coaching in Europe, I was really looking for growth and something that would take me out of my comfort zone,” he said. “It was the perfect call to get from Tom at the right time.”

Krueger had put his toe into the NHL pond taking a consultant position with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 in time to win a Stanley Cup ring sitting in the stands with his son for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final against the Oilers.

“The Carolina experience, which I continued with until I joined the Oilers, allowed me inside the walls of an NHL team and at their table at the draft. But I knew I needed to get away from Europe and get out of my box.

“I experienced more than I expected in Edmonton.”

Krueger was heavily rumoured in Europe to return to taking a national team job leading to the Sochi Olympics or a league team job in the right situation.

“I hadn’t made any statements. The only statement I made was that I was planning on going forward as a head coach. I wasn’t thinking of being a candidate for an NHL job until Tom’s press conference,” he said of watching Renney’s exit on the internet.

“I was pulling for Tom to be coming back. But watching that I started thinking of the potential reality.

“It was good to be so far from everything emotionally.”

In recent weeks, Krueger admits he’s had “multiple offers” in Europe.

“I’ve told everybody I will wait out the process. In the past few weeks I have come to realize my passion is to stay in the NHL. My heart is beating to be a head coach in the NHL.”

Krueger knows that he’s been labeled as a defensive-defensive coach and that there’s the idea he wouldn’t provide a dramatically different style than Renney.

“I’m not a defensive coach,” he said. “I’m a coach who looks at the skills of my players and coaches them accordingly.

“Switzerland is a country that has trouble scoring but has players who play good defence and play as a team. I coached the Swiss to be able to beat the teams we were supposed to beat and to compete with the top counties in the world.

“I had a team in Austria with Bengt-Ake Gustafsson where we won the European championship where we were offence, offence, offence with a good defensive base,” he said.

Gustafsson would later become Swedish national coach.

Krueger says any testimonial to his coaching a team with offence is there to see in what he did taking over the Oilers power play last year.

The Oilers ended up third at 20.6% after being 27th at 14.5% the year before.

“It was the first season I ran it by myself,” he said.

As for the concept of having a similar style to Renney, he said that’s likely a product of his role as an associate coach to Renney.

“There’s only one leader on the team,” he said. “But every leader is unique and has his own style. My cornerstones are respect and creating an honest environment with accountability being really high. I’m a big fan of discipline with simple priorities — hard work and accountability.

“I’m not interested in my own popularity. I don’t need anybody to like me. It’s about liking the results.

“I know how much potential I feel there is in Edmonton. I don’t think there’s any question there’s a big upside. It’s there. But it’s going to take a lot of hard work in the next while to get there.”

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

[hockeygod]

Goldwater Institute raises concerns over latest attempt to sell Coyotes

ALLAN MAKI, The Globe and Mail, Jun 07 2012

The latest in the on-going sale of the Phoenix Coyotes has drawn another stern look from the Goldwater Institute.

With city of Glendale officials prepared to vote on a tax payer funded, arena management deal that would help Greg Jamison purchase the NHL Coyotes, the Goldwater Institute issued a statement raising multiple concerns over the use of public money.

Glendale city council is looking to approve a 20-year deal that would pay out a total $300-million for someone to manage the city-owned Jobing.com arena. The Goldwater Institute, which scuttled a previous deal involving the Coyotes and Matthew Hulsizer, published its letter to Glendale mayor Elaine Scruggs and council members with an opening paragraph that noted the city was considering a deal that “will add substantially to its existing financial obligations, at a time when it is overloaded with debt and has had to cut city services and lay off city workers …”

The letter raises questions over actual cost minus capital expense, parking rights and the city’s decision to adopt the deal “as an emergency measure, which would deprive Glendale citizens of their right to refer the matter to a vote.”

Glendale council was slated to meet Thursday and Friday to examine the deal and will allow public input. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly will be in Glendale to talk to council members on Friday, when the matter is put to a vote.

In its letter, the Goldwater Institute does not threaten any legal action. Instead, there are directions as to what council should do.

“We hope that these inquiries will assist the Council in its deliberations over the proposed deal. We further urge you to not to rush to a vote,” states the letter. “The terms of the 100-page proposal were released to the public for the first time on Monday, and not all the exhibits and associated documents have been released yet. There should be an adequate public comment period …”

The Arizona Republic has reported that no other professional sports team in the area – the Arizona Cardinals, Arizona Diamondbacks or Phoenix Suns – receives tax-funded subsidies to operate its facility.

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

[hockeygod]

State of hockey: Here’s hoping general managers can rescue hockey

ROY MACGREGOR, The Globe and Mail, Jun 06 2012

It’s not often you hear someone choke on air.

On the ice, sure, but simply talking hockey rather than playing it?

Yet that’s what happened late last week in Ottawa when the hosts of Team 1200’s Healthy Scratches asked Jim Nill, assistant general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, how his team was going to replace Nicklas Lidstrom.

That would be defenceman Nick Lidstrom, 42, seven-time winner of the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best blueliner, four Stanley Cups, the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs, first European captain to raise the Cup – not to mention 20 consecutive playoff appearances for the Detroit franchise.

When the classy Lidstrom retired last week, he said he was aware that many in the organization felt he still had it, could still help the Wings win, but he said it was “painfully obvious” to him that he was slipping. As he so forcefully put it: “I can’t cheat myself.”

Nill, it turns out, was at the NHL combine in Toronto in search of the Wings’ next Nicklas Lidstrom among the gifted juniors gathered there for testing and interviews. Don’t laugh. Detroit has an uncanny knack for finding the jewels everyone else misses. The Wings took Pavel Datsyuk, the player players say is the best, 171st. They found Henrik Zetterberg at 210. Lidstrom? He was a “painfully obvious” selection at No. 53.

The Red Wings and the 29 other teams will gather June 22-23 in Pittsburgh for the entry draft. Detroit has no first-round selection, but the way the Wings have drafted in the past, that is relatively insignificant. What matters far more this time is not where they pick, but what they pick.

“Our heads are spinning,” Nill conceded.

The Detroit Red Wings are hardly alone, given the jaw-dropping gap between the way hockey was played in March and the way it was played in May.

Last weekend, Wings general manager Ken Holland, Nill and the Detroit scouts gathered to discuss what Nill called “The No. 1 topic:” What sort of game will the NHL be playing when the league starts again for the next season?

Puck-possession teams – you know, the ones everyone picked to be in the Stanley Cup final – seem distant history today. The Vancouver Canucks and the Pittsburgh Penguins, the two eye-candy teams for those fans who prefer speed and skill – fell in the first round. San Jose fell. Detroit fell.

What kind of team do we want to build on? Nill asked. And not only in the draft, but over the summer as Detroit, a team with enviable cap space, looks over the available players in free agency. Bigger? Stronger? And what style of play should we play? Skill? Shot-blocking?

No wonder heads are spinning.

The hockey gods were kind this spring when even they, with their well-known love of mischief, decided it was time to put the New York Rangers out of our misery. But even so, shot-blocking, collapsing around the goaltender, chip-out, dump-in hockey is all the rage in the NHL – and causing rage among fans who naively believe that if NHL hockey is to have a financial value, it should also have an entertainment value.

As well, recent playoffs have argued eloquently that there is one rulebook for the regular season, one for the playoffs, and even one that gets thinner as the playoffs grow longer.

The NHL might argue that penalties were actually up slightly in these playoffs, but that point holds little or no ground against empirical evidence that transgressions, both called and not called, go way up. Officials, to a baffling extent, pop their whistles in and out of pockets, as if they themselves are as confused as the rest of us.

It’s not just penalties, but even the definition of something as simple as icing has been lost. And as for what rights goaltenders and players have around and in the crease area, don’t even start.

For all the above reasons, it is heartening to know that it is not only executives like Nill and Holland who are concerned, but GMs as a whole. It took a year-long owners lockout in 2004-05 before the NHL decided it might be a good idea to tighten the nuts and bolts of this potentially magnificent game. This time, whether there is a lockout or a strike or labour harmony come fall, they will gather to tweak matters in August.

A magnificent game to play and behold came out of the last such gathering.

Let us all hope that that game can once again be found.

It’s there, buried by over-coaching and passive defence tactics, but it’s still there, desperately in need of help.

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

[hockeygod]

Kings are built to last

DAVID SHOALTS, The Globe and Mail, Jun 07 2012

The New Jersey Devils postponed the inevitable but when the Los Angeles Kings win the Stanley Cup Saturday night or a few nights later, their fans can at least look forward to another good run next year.

All but four of the players making a meaningful contribution to the Kings' Cup run are signed for next season. While all four – Dustin Penner, Colin Fraser, Dwight King and Jarret Stoll – are solid players, none of them are stars whose absence would hold back the team.

What might hold back this team, which is why I said a good run next season not another Stanley Cup, is the difficulty of winning a second consecutive NHL championship. Parity, thanks to the salary cap, and the rigours of an 82-game schedule followed by an even worse grind of four playoff rounds play havoc with a team's prospects.

In the 1980s and 1990s, it was almost routine for a team to appear in consecutive Stanley Cup finals thanks to dynasties like the Edmonton Oilers and Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins, Devils and Dallas Stars all appeared in at least two consecutive finals from 1991 through 2001.

Since then, however, only the Penguins and Red Wings managed the feat, with the Penguins losing to the Red Wings in 2008 before beating them for the Stanley Cup the following year.

A lot of this has to do with the salary cap, which was introduced in 2005. If you patiently assemble a deep, talented team, good luck keeping it together under the cap. See Blackhawks, Chicago, circa 2010.

Then there is still the grind of the schedule. Winning the Cup is as much about winning the war of attrition as it is about playing the best hockey. Champions need luck with injuries or they'll always fall short.

On the salary side, though, Kings GM Dean Lombardi is sitting about as pretty as you can these days, especially with the end of the collective agreement coming in September.

NHL general managers get few restful nights off but Lombardi can put his feet up, if only figuratively, for a while because the majority of his team will be around next season to take another run at the Cup. With $54.2-million committed to salaries so far for next season and only four players to sign, Lombardi even has his payroll in shape to weather the uncertainty of next season's salary cap. It is low enough to likely fit under whatever cap comes out of the next agreement (the current temporary 2012-13 cap of $70.3-million is unlikely to last).

The owners are looking for the players to reduce their share of the NHL's hockey-related revenue from 57 per cent to 50 or less. But with commissioner Gary Bettman boasting of record revenue and the available evidence backing him up, there is a good chance even a seven-per-cent cut in the players` share could mean the cap stays at this season`s $64.3-million or maybe even a bit higher.

In the meantime, while Devils GM Lou Lamoriello has to grapple with finding a way to keep pending free agent Zach Parise while Ilya Kovalchuk`s salary jumps from $6.7-million to $11-million and his owner is facing bankruptcy, the Kings` biggest concern is getting their payroll in shape for 2013-14, when 11 players on the current roster have their contracts expire.

For now, Lombardi can savour the idea of paying goaltender Jonathan Quick the bargain rate of $1.8-million next season (the last year of his deal) and just where he`ll trade highly-regarded backup Jonathan Bernier for assets to keep the vault brimming with talent.

—–

Kings GM Dean Lombardi's blueprint for success

Ryan Kennedy, The Hockey News, 2012-06-06

With the Los Angeles Kings on the precipice of glory, it seems as good a time as ever to evaluate how the team was built. Or, more precisely, rebuilt.

GM Dean Lombardi – who according to insiders would likely have been fired had the Kings missed the playoffs or even lost in the first round – crafted his masterpiece by the end of the season and he did so by breaking a few eggs to get that proverbial omelet.

A few years ago, I spoke with Lombardi for a cover story on then-emerging Kings star Anze Kopitar. The affable GM was philosophical when it came to rebuilding Los Angeles, a team that had missed the playoffs three straight seasons before he was hired and wouldn’t get back in until his fourth campaign at the helm. He noted that fans needed to realize a rebuild – like the one the Chicago Blackhawks were about to top off with a Stanley Cup – does not happen in three or four years; the roots go back seven or eight.

The most obvious part of a rebuild is stockpiling those spiffy high-end draft picks. For the Kings, that included building blocks such as Kopitar, Drew Doughty and Brayden Schenn. Jack Johnson was pried out of Carolina when the No. 3 pick behind Sidney Crosby and Bobby Ryan in 2005 didn’t jibe with the Canes’ short-term plans.

Doughty and Kopitar eventually became two of the pillars in Los Angeles’ stampede through the Western Conference this season, but the draft alone did not bring Lombardi to this point. Thomas Hickey (fourth overall in 2007) never panned out, while Jonathan Bernier (11th in ’06) has been a good backup, but nothing more for Conn Smythe frontrunner Jonathan Quick. Lombardi’s assemblage proves that old adage that you should never fall in love with your own players. Johnson was shipped to Columbus in exchange for an unhappy Jeff Carter, who helped bring the Kings’ offense back from the grave at the trade deadline.

Schenn, the future franchise stalwart and former THN Future Watch cover boy, was packaged to Philadelphia last summer for Mike Richards, who brought a second elite pivot to the depth chart and excellent penalty-killing skills. Even Colten Teubert, taken 11 spots behind Doughty in 2008, helped reap the Kings Dustin Penner, the big man who is finally paying dividends for the silver and black.

In sending off Johnson and Schenn in particular, Lombardi made a huge statement: There were no assets off-limits if he was going to pull together a Stanley Cup contender.

Which transitions nicely to the Edmonton Oilers, a franchise at the opposite end of the spectrum right now. With a third straight No. 1 overall draft pick coming up, the Oilers will bring in another tantalizing young talent, but who will it be? Nail Yakupov is the consensus top prize, but he’s a high-scoring forward, just like Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Edmonton needs defense for its rebuild.

So there are two ways to go if you’re Oilers GM Steve Tambellini.

First, you can take Yakupov and be top-heavy again in 2012-13, then move a big young chip (Sam Gagner and Magnus Paajarvi are also there, though neither would net as much as the other four) for a legitimate top-pairing blueliner. This is the route one NHL GM suggested to me.

“Take the best player available,” he said. “You can always rearrange the furniture later.”

The second option is to trade down or simply take a defenseman with the No. 1 pick, Ryan Murray being the most likely candidate. There may be some howls from fans and pundits in this scenario, but hey – when you’re trying to make an omelet, you also can’t worry if people think there’s egg on your face. It’s the final product that counts and Lombardi is about to have the proof.

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

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