MEDIA CLIPS Columbus Blue Jackets vs. October 11, 2019

Columbus Blue Jackets Columbus Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella will try to keep his cool with his younger team

By Brian Hedger – The Columbus Dispatch – October 10, 2019

Attempting to describe John Tortorella’s disposition as a coach, the words “patience” and “composure” aren’t the first that come to mind.

In fact, the Blue Jackets coach is commonly depicted in the media as fiery, intense and short-tempered — along with blunt, hot-headed and dismissive. They aren’t baseless descriptors, either, as Tortorella’s YouTube compilations will attest.

What you see is exactly what you get with “Torts,” and he makes no apologies for it. But this season is a little different.

With a team that is the youngest in the NHL by average age and has two inexperienced goaltenders, the Jackets’ bench boss is working on his own poise while asking his players to do the same.

“If the coaching staff doesn’t show composure, how can we ask our players to show composure?” Tortorella said Thursday after practice. “This is something I have to make sure I am working on, too, because I make mistakes that way in letting my emotions get in the way. I need to have the composure, too, to work through some of this stuff as we go through the season.”

It only took a couple games to see it.

The Jackets, who play host to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday and play at the on Saturday, opened the season last weekend with back-to-back losses. The games were marred by penalties that led to power-play goals allowed, and there was a mid-game meltdown in structure during a 7-2 loss in Pittsburgh.

Tortorella could have boiled over. Instead, he went the other direction, explaining in measured tones that his team’s lack of patience was most to blame. Two days later, the Blue Jackets kept their poise against the and got their first victory, 4-3 in overtime.

Tortorella made sure to leave himself some wiggle room. His reactions will not always be so calm because it’s a long season and the may blow his stack a time or two.

It’s part of who he is, but he’s trying to contain it.

“I’m going to tell you right now, it’s not going to be just me with a big smile on my face all year long and just happy to be here,” Tortorella said. “There are going to be certain times in a season, in a game, within a week … who knows, it could be tomorrow ... that we need to step in and get things rectified right away. That is my job, to feel when I need to step in, but I just can’t be mad all the time because we didn’t get the result.”

If that sounds like a plan reached after reflection, it’s because that is exactly how it happened. “That’s been a self-talk of mine all summer long, with me,” Tortorella said. “I think emotion is a positive for me, but I also think it’s a huge negative for me. I’ve known that for my whole career. As you evolve, you try to control it, but I’ve made huge mistakes, and I will this year too. It’s just, ‘How many do I make?’ Just like players, it’s a game of mistakes. It’s a game of mistakes with coaches too.

"So, I have to make sure I am within myself, and … I have talked my brains out to myself about this. I really have.”

Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 10.11.2019

Columbus Blue Jackets newcomer Jakob Lilja is starting to grow on coach John Tortorella

By Henry Palattella – The Columbus Dispatch – October 10, 2019

A year ago, Jakob Lilja was in his native Sweden, helping lead Djurgardens IF to the Swedish Hockey League championship.

This season, Lilja is more than 4,000 miles away from Djurgardens’ home arena in Stockholm, trying to help the Blue Jackets make the playoffs for a fourth straight season.

Despite Lilja averaging only about nine minutes in the Jackets’ first three games, coach John Tortorella says he’s getting more comfortable with giving the 26-year-old rookie more opportunities.

“I like his versatility and all the different spots I can put him,” Tortorella said. “I still haven’t gotten him the ice time I wanted.”

Lilja has four shots on and a minus-1 rating through three games.

“I think I’ve played well defensively and had some (scoring) chances, but I need to do more once I get an opportunity,” Lilja said. “I feel like I should have scored with some of the opportunities I’ve gotten so far.”

Lilja played last season on Djurgardens’ first line, finishing with 12 goals and 25 assists in 52 games. He was a teammate of fellow Jackets rookie Emil Bemstrom, who led Sweden’s top league with 23 goals.

Tortorella, who has said that he knew “nothing” about Lilja before he showed up for training camp, raved about his flexibility on the ice.

“He’s strong on the puck, but I can also trust him away from the puck, which gives me comfort,” Tortorella said. “I think there’s offense there as well. He’s still fairly new and still trying to find his game.”

Lilja believes it’s only a matter of time until he finds his way on offense.

“Once you get that first goal, everything becomes a little easier,” he said. “You try not to think about it. You just try to create and let things come to you.” Special-teams split

The Blue Jackets have played only three games, so it’s too early to draw any sweeping conclusions, but thus far it’s been a tale of polar opposites for their special teams.

The Blue Jackets are 3 of 9 on the power play, a success rate of 33.3% that ties three other teams for fifth best in the NHL. The kill, meanwhile, is 30th with a success rate of just 61.5% (8 of 13).

Some of the penalty-kill issues can be attributed to the Jackets’ first three opponents — Toronto, Pittsburgh and Buffalo all have dangerous power plays, including the Sabres ranking first in power-play goals and second in percentage at 53.3%.

Anderson out Friday

Tortorella said after practice Thursday that Josh Anderson will miss Friday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks. Anderson, who is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury, missed Monday’s game against Buffalo and didn’t skate at practice during the week.

Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 10.11.2019

Ink at the rink: The stories behind Blue Jackets’ body art

By Alison Lukan – The Athletic – October 10, 2019

In the game of hockey, players are often defined by their play. Their identity is what position they play, how many points they score. But for some, there are different ways to tell the stories of who they are, and for a few Blue Jackets players, that happens in the form of tattoos.

Pierre-Luc Dubois always has time to talk about tattoos. And the first thing he’ll tell you about the ones on his body is that they are “all my family.”

Dubois’ left arm is filled with memories of his grandparents. On his inner forearm is a winged wheel — a replica of a tattoo Dubois’ grandfather on his mother’s side had — with the elder’s initials added to remember him by.

A second tattoo, added at the same time, is a helmeted skull. It’s an image Dubois found that reminded him of how his grandfather used to race dirt bikes when he was young. On the helmet itself is the family surname “McClure” along with the number the senior McClure use to race under.

Above the Images for his grandfather, Dubois inked in his grandmother McClure’s favorite flower, a gardenia. But it’s not just any flower.

“A year after she passed away, my grandfather threw some ashes on the flowers,” Dubois said. “They weren’t ready yet, and one week later, one flower popped up. So it’s a thing in our family.”

Flip Dubois’ arm over and the story continues. Dubois first got a tattoo of a church in Michigan that was built by his great-great-grandparents. He’s never seen the actual building, but there was always a picture of it in Dubois’ grandparents’ home. As a child, he remembers looking at that photo and imagining what it was like there. “I’ve always been fascinated by it,” he said.

This summer, the center added Images of each grandparent walking toward the church, along with the dates of their passings.

Above the church is an image of a large butterfly, another new addition this past offseason. It represents his grandmother on his father’s side in a rather direct way.

“For three years she was telling me not to get a tattoo,” Dubois said. “And then for my birthday this year, she told me that when she was my age, she was going to get a butterfly (tattoo) done but she got scared so she bailed, but she still had the drawing. So I got the same drawing done.”

None of those are Dubois’ first markings, however. The first tattoo the centerman ever got happened because he missed his flight to his first-ever NHL training camp. When he happened upon the extra time, he got the birthday of each member of his family inked on his lower right forearm in Roman numerals.

Above that, one of his most recent markings is that of a palm tree. It commemorates a trip this summer with a best friend. The tree symbolizes not just the trip, but also the fact their friendship proved strong enough to survive three weeks together day in and day out.

“We didn’t kill each other, we took a step,” Dubois said with a smile. “I work out with him in the summer. He pushes me. He’s one of the reasons I’m here today, also.”

And there’s one final tattoo that remains hidden. It’s on Dubois’ right side and it’s another tattoo he shares with his friend. It’s the logo of the gym where they work out — another part of how Dubois has become the athlete he is today. This tattoo brings a laugh as he talks about it.

“There’s a joke in the gym that if we got the logo tattooed, that they’d pay for it,” Dubois said. “So, it was like ‘why not?’ It’s somewhere you can’t really see it, and I love tattoos, so …”

For Alexander Wennberg, it was also family that motivated him to get some ink. His first tattoo was his older sister Kimberly’s birthday in Roman numerals running vertically down the left side of his torso.

“Our family is all over the place right now,” Wennberg said. “I’m over here (in America), she’s back home. We’ve been a really close family, so for me, personally, it felt nice to have something there. She’s always with me right there and I think about her when I see it.”

That tattoo is one that Wennberg keeps private, but his second tattoo is easier to spot.

Inked on the center’s right arm, again in Roman numerals, is the year 2014. It’s the year the Swede broke into the NHL and it’s also the year he played for his country in his first national team game. After a year of contemplation — a tattoo is permanent, after all — Wennberg decided to mark the moment.

“(2014) was a good year for me,” Wennberg said. “It felt like when you achieve something big … I wanted to put it down (on my body). It means something.”

Wennberg plans to get more tattoos, though he’s not yet sure where or when, only that there are “going to be more to come.” But the title of “most tattoos” undoubtedly belongs to rookie goaltender Elvis Merzlikins. And the first ones you probably notice are those that make up the sleeve on his right arm.

The inner side holds the face of woman, crowned by an owl headdress. It was the very beginnings of Merzlikins’ sleeve and memorializes a person the goaltender refers to as a step, or second, mother.

“When I moved to Switzerland, I was 15,” Merzlikins said. “I was living (with a) family and the lady I was living with was really, really, really close to me. She really loved me, I really loved her, she (gave) me a lot. … If not (for her), I would probably quit hockey. Five or six years ago, I lost her. She had cancer, so here is her name with a tear.”

Next to her name “Aurora” sits a small flower. It’s one Merzlikins tattooed on himself because he wanted to do something special in honor of someone who had helped him so much. “It’s not really perfect, but it’s special,” he said.

On the other side of his lower arm is a boat that symbolizes Merzlikins driving his career and his life. Above the boat sits an eagle with a watchful eye. The bird represents the goaltender’s mother (her last name translated is “eagle”) as she is “protecting my life and looking after me.”

The backside of Merzlikins’ forearm shows a statue like many in Latvia of a woman holding up three stars. Behind her flies a tattered Latvian flag, just as it did in war, when it flew as a white flag of sacrifice smeared with the red of blood.

The upper half of the sleeve is the result of both study and faith. Merzlikins found himself learning about Native American culture online. That led to a large Native American head on his arm to symbolize the strength of country and of team.

“(The Native Americans) were a small population,” Merzlikins said. “But when they were (working) together, they were really strong and powerful, so this was my idea about the Latvians. I felt in my heart to do it that we are Latvia … we are never going to win 10-0 against Canada, but how we played the last few world championships is because we were all together close and it was good team effort. Even in Lugano when you have that family together, even if you are maybe less powerful than the other team, you can still win.”

Tucked on the inner side of his arm is Merzlikins’ third tattoo. It’s a pair of praying hands, holding a rosary. The cross on the necklace mimics one his father wore.

And topping it all, across Merzlikins’ shoulder it says in Latin, “don’t let the fuckers get you down.”

Each of Merzlikins’ wrists bears the name of one of his parents.

“I lost (my father) when I was 3 so I put the tear,” Merzlikins said. “And you see the ‘V’ — it’s a little bit off of the name because he is dead, and Mom’s (first letter) is connected because she is still alive. This was a little detail I did.”

His other arm holds three rounds of text that contain the words of a special prayer he says before every period of a game. It’s a private mantra — written in a code that only he and his mother understand.

And there are still more tattoos to discover. “Be true to yourself” is written on the outside of his left hand, and his first-ever tattoo, which remains hidden because “it’s terrible you, don’t want to see it,” is on Merzlikins’ left shoulder blade. Two large Images blanket each of Merzlikins’ thighs and they tell the story of his life thus far.

The graphic on the goaltender’s right leg represents his two hometowns so far, Lugano and Switzerland. There’s a sunset for color, the beauty of both cities in the background, and driving through the center of it all is a train — complete with a goalie mask on the engine.

“The train was more for how you say ‘carpe diem,’” Merzlikins said. “When you take your train in your life. I don’t know if in English (there is such a saying) but in Latvia, there is this saying that you have to take your chance, so you have to take your train. The train passes just once in your life and you have to get it.”

The last car of the train remains empty intentionally. It’s one Merzlikins hopes someday to fill with a .

The left leg tells the story of Merzlikins’ life. It’s his favorite tattoo. The small boy is him — looking over the events that have happened to him and those he loves. The clock tower is that of downtown Riga, “our special clock,” the goalie says — where both his mother met his father and his brother met his now-wife. Looking over it all? An eagle — again in honor of his mother — holding on to the Latvian flag.

There are also tattoos to commemorate his friends. The mark on Merzlikins’ ankle is one he shares with his three best friends, Sacha, Elia and Matis. “The four musketeers,” he says with affection.

But even with all that ink, like his teammates, there’s probably even more to come. Merzlikins is saving his right ankle for a tattoo he will share with his brother. Dubois is waiting for his grandfather to decide what he wants to represent him on his grandson’s body, and beyond that, there will always be new stories that await commemoration in ink.

The Athletic LOADED: 10.11.2019

Anaheim Ducks Ducks’ winning streak comes to an end against Sidney Crosby, Penguins

By Elliott Teaford – Orange County Register – October 10, 2019

PITTSBURGH — Maybe if Sidney Crosby wasn’t such a wizard with the puck on his stick blade, or maybe if the Ducks had stayed out of the penalty box in the second period, or maybe if they had done more with their own power play, then maybe – just maybe – they would still be undefeated.

The Ducks found themselves locked in another nerve-jangling game to start the season on Thursday, with scoring at a premium and a razor-thin margin for error. They pulled out three victories in similar circumstances, but a fourth eluded them as they fell to the 2-1. Crosby scored one goal and assisted on another, shouldering a heavy burden for the injury-depleted Penguins, who were without Evgeni Malkin and four other regulars. Ondrej Kase scored the lone Ducks’ goal, which pulled them into a 1-1 tie early in the second period.

Crosby then set up Jake Guentzel for the tiebreaking goal 7:24 into the third.

Ducks goaltender John Gibson made 26 saves in his Pittsburgh homecoming, but he had zero chance to stop Crosby’s deft deflection of a perimeter shot with the Penguins on a power play or Guentzel’s laser from point-blank range after Crosby’s pass into the slot.

“Every one of our games has been tight so far,” Ducks coach said. “I don’t expect that to change. We’re going to have to learn, or keep learning, how to get out on top in these games. Tonight, the recipe was you can’t play 12 minutes short(handed) and get enough goals to score.”

The Ducks killed off five of six short-handed situations, including a 5-on-3 for 1:01. Crosby’s power-play strike was the first they had given up this season. The Penguins further won the game within the game by blanking the Ducks’ power play on three tries, dropping them to 0 for 9 overall.

As in victories over the Coyotes, Sharks and Red Wings, the Ducks didn’t lack for chances.

“We’ve had a lot of good looks and a lot of opportunities to score,” Ducks center said of the power play. “When your power play is getting frustrated, that’s when it’s time to worry. Right now, we’re working hard. We’re moving the puck around. We’ve just got to put it in the net.”

With only nine goals in four games, the Ducks are averaging less than two per game. Nine different players have scored, with Kase becoming the ninth Thursday with a game-tying snipe past Pittsburgh goalie Matt Murray, only 30 seconds after Crosby’s goal.

The Ducks did themselves no favors by marching the penalty box four times in the second period. They killed off three of four, but while they were locked in a 1-1 tie with the Penguins, every trip to the box blunted any momentum they had generated leading up to the penalty.

Murray made 31 saves by game’s end, some routine and some of the unusual variety, including one remarkable denial of Ducks left wing Rickard Rakell in the third that sailed over the goalie’s right shoulder and then directly down the back of his jersey.

“Obviously, we haven’t scored that many goals,” Ducks right wing Jakob Silfverberg said. “Maybe it’s one of those things that if you get one maybe you get that snowball effect going. At the same time, I think we have had chances, but we just haven’t found the back of the net. I don’t why.

“I think we did some good things tonight. … Hopefully, we get the snowball going here.”

Earlier in the day, the Ducks signed Benoit-Olivier Groulx to a three-season, $2.775-million entry-level contract. Groulx, a 19-year-old center who was their second-round draft pick in 2018, returned to his junior-level team, the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL, to start the season.

Orange County Register: LOADED: 10.11.2019

Darryl Sutter opens up about joining the Ducks and mentoring coach Dallas Eakins

By Elliott Teaford – Orange County Register – October 10, 2019

PITTSBURGH — The Ducks made an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Of course, he could have said, “Thanks, but no thanks,” and remained on his family’s farm near the tiny Canadian hamlet of Viking, Alberta, a contented man after winning two Stanley Cup championships in a remarkable three-season span with the Kings.

But something about Dallas Eakins’ coaching style and Bob Murray’s friendship and a chance to forge ahead in a new direction, in a new role, appealed to Sutter. He couldn’t stay away, even if it meant swapping allegiances in a fierce Southern California hockey rivalry.

Sutter got to know Eakins during Eakins’ four-year tenure as coach of the Ducks’ AHL team, the . Sutter’s son, Brett, played for the rival Ontario Reign, the Kings’ AHL team. Sutter and Murray, the Ducks’ general manager, were teammates with the in the 1980s.

Sutter, 61, had time on his hands after the Kings fired him after the 2016-17 season.

“It was more casual talk and knowing each other,” Sutter said Thursday. “Dallas was in San Diego and so I’d be around Ontario with Brett and I go back with ‘Murph.’ We’d talk casually about the team and things like that but never … so there was not one thing you could put your finger on.

“I really liked Dallas from watching his teams in San Diego. I liked how he played and what he was trying to do with his group. I’m really partial to guys who played and guys who are helping young guys, right? Or maybe not young guys, but guys who don’t have the experience at the NHL level.

“So that was probably the biggest thing for me.”

Sutter’s official title is advisor to the head coach and his role, while unique for the Ducks in their 26-year history, isn’t all that unusual around the NHL. Several prominent former coaches have been hired to serve as an extra set of eyes for head coaches.

For example, Jacques Martin was hired to be an assistant to Mike Sullivan, coach of the Ducks’ opponent Thursday, the Pittsburgh Penguins. joined the St. Louis Blues to assist coach after Berube was hired to replace last November.

“When I was a young head coach, I always had older former head coaches as someone I could talk to,” Sutter said. “When I was in Chicago, I had Bob Pulford, who was my general manager but he was also my coach and he had also been a head coach. So, I could always go to him and say, ‘What did you see?’ In San Jose, I had Bob Berry. I had him as an assistant coach.

“You need those guys. There’s always something to bounce off them, right?” Eakins’ first NHL coaching job ended in failure after 113 games with the in 2013-14 and 2014-15, the result of several factors that were beyond his control that exposed a deeper weakness within the perpetually rebuilding franchise. Above all, there was no support system.

There is one with the Ducks, one strengthened by the presence of Sutter, who said he has no plans to coach again in the NHL.

“One hundred percent you need a total support system,” Sutter said. “When things are smooth, it’s easy, when everything’s going good. But when there’s a little volatility or some adversity with your club, it’s always better to have somebody who can maybe just say, ‘Hey, try this or bounce that.’

“It’s always better to be able to go for a walk and talk to somebody than just to be locked in. It’s no different than any other workplace. You’ve got to be able to trust. You’ve got to be able to communicate. Ultimately, the head coach has to make a lot of tough decisions.

“But if something goes off, one little thing can make a difference.”

Sutter doesn’t stand alongside Eakins on the Ducks’ bench. That’s a job for assistant coaches Mark Morrison and Marty Wilford. Sutter is stationed in the press box, high above the ice, offering him a different vantage point. He’s on the Ducks’ current trip, but won’t be at all of their games this season.

He’s always available with a word or two or three of advice, though.

“Coming to Pittsburgh, maybe I’m going to know something about Pittsburgh that nobody else does,” Sutter said, getting to the heart of his new job. “Just from the past. Maybe something about the rink. Maybe something about a player. It might be something about the referee.

“Little things – and the league is so close now – maybe that can be a difference maker.”

Orange County Register: LOADED: 10.11.2019

How much of a difference is Darryl Sutter making in his new Ducks role?

By Eric Stephens – The Athletic – October 10, 2019

PITTSBURGH — The family farm is home and will always be that for Darryl Sutter. The pull to be there has always been strong, even within a life spent in hockey.

But there is the ice. And the team. The pull to be with both is irresistible.

Maybe the day will come when the 61-year-old Sutter will retire to the ranch up in Viking, Alberta, where his involvement in the will resort to being memories, both wonderful and unforgettable as quite a number are. Where he’ll just have the stories that cut across four decades in his head to recall or tell when the moment’s right.

But there is that ice. It still attracts him. “We grew up on it,” Sutter said. “Remember, we were a team growing up. Seven boys. You don’t have sisters and you’re on the farm. Sports was a big thing for our family. Still is.”

Being part of a team still attracts him. It is why he was receptive to Bob Murray, a longtime friend with an association that dates back to the 1980s as teammates with the Chicago Blackhawks. The Ducks’ general manager chatted with Sutter in June at the NHL draft in Vancouver about his interest in helping out new head coach Dallas Eakins and getting involved with the organization.

Murray and Sutter would share the state of their teams whenever they came across one another (the Ducks and the Kings, of course, given their recent and notable history with each). But in this casual chat, the presence of Eakins was something that drew Sutter’s interest. Eakins was someone he kept his eye on when he was around the Ontario Reign, where his son, Brett, is the captain of the Kings’ AHL affiliate.

“Watching his teams in San Diego, I liked how he played and what he was trying to do with his group,” Sutter said. “And I’m really partial to guys who played and helping young guys. Not necessarily young guys, but guys that maybe don’t have the experience at the NHL level. That’s probably the biggest thing for me.”

On a glorious fall day in the Steel City, Sutter was very much at home. The ice was nearby as he stood outside Anaheim’s dressing room at PPG Paints Arena. In July, the Ducks hired the two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach of their great Southern California rival and gave him the title of advisor to the head coach. And that’s what he has been and will be for as long as everyone wants this arrangement.

Is Sutter going to be someone worth tapping into for his vast knowledge of the NHL? Yes. Is he going to be someone that will offer advice or his expertise? Sure. Is he going to be a sounding board for Eakins and the other members of the coaching staff? You bet.

In an interview with The Athletic before the Ducks’ season opener, Eakins expressed wonderment at the questions he received as to why the team would bring in Sutter and his extensive resume with the 2012 and 2014 Cups. But he has already seen how Sutter interacts with the staff and his players. How he has given him tips on managing travel throughout the meat grinder that is the NHL schedule.

At his introduction as Anaheim’s 10th head coach, Eakins alluded to having the kind of support system that he didn’t feel was there for him in Edmonton. The Ducks have talked about having a more collaborative approach to coaching their players. Eakins has said that himself and when that was mentioned to Sutter, he responded, “One hundred percent.”

“You need a total support system,” said Sutter, who coached Chicago, San Jose and Calgary to 10 playoff berths before winning two titles with the Kings. “When it’s smooth, it’s easy, right? When everything’s going good. But when there’s a little bit of volatility or adversity with your club, it’s always better to have maybe somebody that can just say, ‘Hey, try this?’ Or bounce that. It’s always better to be able to just go for a walk and talk to somebody than always being locked in.

“It’s no different than any other workplace. You got to be able to trust and you got to be able to communicate. Ultimately, the head coach has to make a lot of tough decisions. But if something goes off, one little thing can make a difference. And the way the league is, you think about it, with coming to Pittsburgh. Well, maybe, I’m going to know something about Pittsburgh that nobody else does. Just from the past, right? Maybe something about the rink, maybe something about a player. Maybe something about the referee tonight. Little things. And the league is so close now, that can be a difference maker.”

The arrangement might have raised some eyebrows within the hockey world, but it is more common than you would believe. Larry Robinson served in a similar role with St. Louis, assisting coach Craig Berube whenever he needed him as Berube guided the Blues to their first championship. Sutter pointed to Pittsburgh’s Mike Sullivan having veteran coach Jacques Martin on his staff and joked that “we were assistant coaches together freakin’ 40 years ago.”

Most of all, Sutter sees an NHL with more and more younger players and younger head coaches. It is where an experienced hand who’s been through countless situations can be around and be an asset. He himself had Bob Pulford in Chicago and Bob Berry in San Jose. And he cited people like Pat Burns and that Lou Lamoriello would keep around as special assignment coaches after they stepped away from being the lead guy.

“They were at the point where they didn’t want to be head coaches anymore, but they could still be very helpful,” Sutter said. “That’s sort of how I see it.”

It is common to see Sutter have a conversation before or after practice with some of the Ducks’ younger players, of which there are several. The youthful makeup also appealed to him.

Whether it had a positive impact or a negative one, Sutter has always been known for his straightforward approach. Ryan Getzlaf has known him for years. He thought that his first interaction with him came while playing in the in Calgary when he played for the hometown Hitmen and Sutter’s brother, Brent, coached the rival .

“I like Darryl,” Getzlaf said. “I’ve always had a relationship with Darryl and the Sutter family in general. They’re very dry sense of humor. Very forward with the way they talk and that resonates really well with me.”

Sutter expressed that he doesn’t want the reins again — and that was part of the attraction to Anaheim.

“I really don’t have a great desire to do that,” he said. “And that was one of the reasons that I was willing to do this. I didn’t want to be not sure. Because it’s not fair to them. You’re all in, in what you’re doing. That’s the way I see it.”

There also was no concern over the perception that Eakins would be looking over his shoulder at someone with the kind of track record Sutter has. Sutter got to know Eakins through the coaching circles, and the two were on opposing benches when Eakins led the Oilers. He’s a big believer in him.

“Dallas is a really good coach,” Sutter said. “He’s going to be a star in this league. Nice if I can help him a little bit.”

What is it about Eakins — who has the Ducks off to a 3-0-0 start — and what he sees where he can succeed?

“The way he coaches,” Sutter said. “He’s been very successful as a playoff coach. That’s because how he coaches. It’s very much of a team concept. Being organized on the ice. A committee-type of atmosphere. That’s something that they’re reestablishing or trying to establish here because it’s not a star-studded team, right? So, you’re going to have to win by committee and you’re going to have to want to play together. That’s something where his teams have always done that. And I like that.

“In the end, that’s how you win. You can say what you want. Experience has definitely taught me that.”

From the beginning, the Ducks have said Sutter won’t always be around the team. But he’ll be a presence. Not on the bench as his position during the games will be up in the press box. However, they’ve got a schedule set up through the end of 2019 and he already figured that he’ll accompany the Ducks on two or three of their longer road trips as well as being in Anaheim on occasion.

And that also means his son, Chris, will turn up at . He could also appear on the arena’s giant video-board. During the Kings’ salad days and after, Chris was a highly popular figure with fans at Staples Center as his dance moves in front of the camera routinely energized the home crowd.

“Chris is that,” Sutter said. “He’s a fixture there. Still a big fan. But a player fan more-so. He’s got his players. He still has contacts, his connections. He’s looking forward to come. … I come back around Halloween. He’s going to come for that whole time there. Ride shotgun.

But as his father has switched allegiances, the son may be following suit. Get ready, Anaheim.

“I’m going to tell him his job is to get 18,000 people to stand up and cheer,” Sutter said. “He will. Yeah, he’s a popular guy.”

The Athletic LOADED: 10.11.2019

NHL/Websites By the numbers: The significance of the season’s first five games in forecasting an NHL’s teams future performance

By Dom Luszczyszyn – The Athletic – October 10, 2019

The 2019-20 NHL season is just a week old and naturally it’s far too early to make many conclusions about what’s transpired on the ice so far. That makes my job as an analyst pretty tough. Early results will be wonky based on puck luck and even a team’s underlying numbers are prone to variation. So when does it stop being too early?

The general rule of thumb is that it takes 20-25 games before team and player trends begin to emerge. It means that not much has changed since my season previews were posted. After a few games, that’s the way it should be as there should be a bit more faith placed on what players and teams have done over the last few years than what they’ve done over the past few days.

However, just because early season info comes with a lot of noise doesn’t mean there isn’t a signal that can be gleaned from it, especially at the extreme ends of the spectrum for a team’s underlying process. Obviously win-loss records won’t mean much yet, but chance creation and suppression can have some merit to projecting a team’s upside (or downside). Last season, the Sharks and Hurricanes were the league’s two strongest teams by expected goals percentage through their first five games – earning a 67 and 60 percent expected goals rate, respectively – and they parlayed that into full season success. They finished top two by that metric.

At the other end were the Ducks (37 percent) and Canucks (40 percent), two deeply flawed teams that struggled to make noise and finished ranked 30th and 28th on the season, respectively. Those early extremes may have been far off from each team’s final expected goals share but they signified what was likely to come.

No team has played five games yet, but that time is coming shortly and when it does it’ll be worthwhile to put those numbers into proper context. For now, the Capitals are controlling games better than ever before, the Hurricanes and Golden Knights are near the top as expected and the Sabres have been surprisingly impressive too. At the opposite end, the Blues, Panthers, Devils and Sharks – four teams expected to be in the playoff mix – are all under 45 percent so far.

Five games of data is just a tiny snapshot of a full season, but just because it’s a small sample doesn’t mean it’s totally meaningless (as long as the first five are not treated with any more reverence than any other five). Things change quickly in this league, but those first few data points into the season can still be illuminating in edge cases. Those five games don’t define a team but they can suggest that there is reason to believe that a team will be much stronger (or weaker) than average.

The reason for that is simple logic: good teams are more likely to post good five-game stretches, while bad teams are more likely to post poor five-game stretches. If a team starts very strong, it stands to reason that their true talent level may be on the higher end of the spectrum. That’s obvious, but small sample sizes are often discounted for their value.

That’s not always the case, though, and it’s worth digging into the data to measure the likelihood of events. It may just be five games, but it’s the first data we have so it’s better to check how much stock should be put into it rather than writing it off completely. Though the sample is tiny, it can still be used as an indicator of future performance based on the simplistic logic outlined here.

Sure enough, there is some meaning in the tiny samples.

Over the last decade there have been 24 teams to post an expected goals percentage at or above 55 percent and 21 teams at or below 45 percent. The distribution of their performances five games at a time is stark, as expected.

That’s all five-game stretches, not just the first five, an important distinction as all five-game sets should be treated equally as mentioned above. What that shows is that if a team is at 60 percent over any five- game sample, there’s a reasonable chance that they’ll be on the right side of the ledger over the entire season.

At these two opposite poles the difference is quite clear. The strong teams are above break-even 89 percent of the time while the weak teams are below 85 percent of the time. What makes great teams so good is how rare it is for them that to have an off night; they’re almost always on the right side of the puck. The weak teams are the opposite, where it’s very rare that they dominate the chance share for even just a five-game stretch. What’s important to note is that neither side is above or below the line for 100 percent of the season in five-game increments on average and that applies on a per case basis too. Even the best teams are sometimes outmatched over a five-game run while some of the worst can come out ahead in rare cases. No team in the last decade has gone a full season without a five-game stretch under or over 50 percent. It happens to the best and worst of them which means five games isn’t usually enough to cause panic or celebration. That applies all the same no matter when that stretch happens, especially at the start of the season when everything is magnified.

It’s still a tiny signal, though, one that can point you in the right direction and one that grows stronger the further away a team’s performance is from the centre. What you’ll notice from the chart above is that there’s a limit to how poor a strong team looks and how strong a weak team looks. That’s where five games can turn from a good sign to a legitimate case for a team’s underlying prowess.

Over the last decade there have been 1,055 distinct five-game stretches where a team posted a 60 percent expected goals rate or higher. Just seven percent of those came from a below average expected goals team while 75 percent came from teams that finished the season at 53 percent or higher. That’s usually a playoff team, a great sign for the Sabres, who have posted a sterling 59 percent through four games. On the other side, there have been 1,114 cases where a team posted a 40 percent expected goals rate or lower and just 15 percent came from above average teams with 68 percent coming from teams at 47 percent or lower.

Essentially, anything above the 53 percent range is nothing to scoff at as three-quarters of those stretches come from above average expected goals teams and that relationship only grows the more dominant a team looks. That persists on the opposite end of the spectrum, although there’s a bit more leeway for good teams who perform poorly over a five-game stretch.

Flipping the distribution the other way unsurprisingly shows the exact same effect, showing the range of outcomes a team experiences over five games throughout the season. Essentially, the better a team plays in five games, the more certainty there is that their full season run will be near the league’s upper echelon.

Of course, it’s important to remember that not all five-game samples are created equally – far from it – as there will be wild differences in venue, rest and opponent quality, but even with that caveat in mind, extreme results are still very uncommon for teams at opposite ends of the spectrum. There’s a range of results for each group, one that dictates the likelihood that a good or bad team can post good or bad underlying numbers over any five-game stretch during the course of the season. A below average team isn’t going to hit a 55 percent expected goals rate very often.

None of this is earth-shattering by any means, but in a field where the correct approach is often wait- and-see and small sample sizes need to be taken with a grain of salt, it’s helpful to know that in some cases, all it takes is five games to know whether a team might be for real or not. The data may be noisy, but when the variation of expected goals results is contextualized, it’s not nearly as insignificant as it may initially seem.

So when it comes to the Capitals, Hurricanes, Golden Knights and Sabres and their strong starts and the Blues, Panthers, Devils and Sharks who have faltered, there may be reason to believe those results can be pre-cursors of what’s to come in 2019-20 rather than just a simple hot or cold start. Some stretches have obviously been tougher than others (looking at you, San Jose) and some have been easier, but they can still be used as a sign regarding what direction a team is heading.

Five games doesn’t say it all, or all that much for that matter, but those first few games do say something and shouldn’t be ignored. The teams already succeeding or struggling are defining themselves this early in the season – for better or worse.

The Athletic LOADED: 10.11.2019