News Clips Jan. 15, 2019

Columbus Blue Jackets PAGE 02: Columbus Dispatch: Details in Bobrovsky incident emerg PAGE 04: Columbus Dispatch: Injuries test Blue Jackets' depth at forward PAGE 06: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets 7, Rangers 5: Five takeaways PAGE 09: Columbus Dispatch: Rick Nash takes curtain call where he made his mark PAGE 11: The Athletic: ‘Incident’ explained: Sergei Bobrovsky was not available to play after getting pulled versus Tampa Bay

Cleveland Monsters/Prospects

NHL/Websites PAGE 13: Seattle Times: Outdoor NHL game in Seattle? As good a chance as the new team being named ‘Kraken’ PAGE 16: The Athletic: DGB weekend power rankings: The teams that should be panicking the hardest

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Details in Bobrovsky incident emerge

By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – January 14, 2019

Details about the undisclosed “incident” last week in Tampa that led to goalie Sergei Bobrovsky missing a game for disciplinary measures are now going public.

Whispers began soon after it happened and The Athletic published the most common version of those events online Monday, confirming an initial report by that Bobrovsky headed to the locker room, showered and stayed there after being pulled with 11:07 remaining in a 4-0 loss to the .

Three sources told The Dispatch slightly different versions of the same story in the past three days — with information from one version stringing back to a member of the team’s front office.

Contacted to confirm or refute details of the report Monday, a team spokesman declined to comment beyond what was released last week to the media — when general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said in a news release that Bobrovsky had “failed” to meet “certain expectations and values” demanded of Blue Jackets players.

After being pulled following a by Brayden Point, which made it 4-0, Bobrovsky went straight to the locker room as Joonas Korpisalo entered the game. usually just change spots and remain on the bench.

The report says Bobrovsky went to the locker room this time, took off his equipment and got into the shower before he could be summoned back to the bench — making himself unavailable.

Kekalainen spoke with reporters last week and said the team was “moving on,” after a team meeting that included Bobrovsky.

Kukan shines in limited ice time

It happened on his second shift Saturday night in Washington, when Dean Kukan pounced on a loose puck at the Capitals’ blue line.

After dragging it between the circles for an open wrist shot, the 25-year-old Blue Jackets defenseman forced an offensive-zone faceoff by sending the puck into goalie Braden Holtby’s glove. It was an aggressive play, a flash of brilliance and possibly a peek into what kind of defenseman Kukan can someday become.

For now, though, he’s the Jackets’ seventh defenseman — an extra body on the blue line. He’s this year’s taller, Swiss version of Scott Harrington, who's now a regular on the third pairing after waiting his turn for a couple of years.

“Sometimes, I’ll think, 'Well, "Harry" had the same situation as me last year and now he’s playing every night,’” said Kukan, who’s played in three of the past five games but has logged only nine total this season. “I just try to keep myself motivated, so that helps me a lot just to compare him last season with me this season — because it wasn’t fun at all to sit out that long.”

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Harrington’s illness created a chance for Kukan to play Jan. 5 in the Jackets’ 4-3 overtime win at the . It was his first NHL game since Nov. 6 against Dallas, ending a span of 25 games missed — which included a five-game conditioning stint with the Cleveland Monsters.

Kukan also played for Harrington last Tuesday at the Tampa Bay Lighting and then suited up against the Capitals when Ryan Murray got sick. Kukan and Harrington formed the third defense pairing, playing their first game together since the preseason, and Kukan finished with four shot attempts in 12:52 of ice time.

“I wasn’t nervous anymore, like I was the first couple shifts in Florida,” he said. “If you don’t have any confidence in yourself, you’re not going to play a good game or you don’t play your game. You just think too much. So, I just thought, ‘Just have fun,’ and I had fun with it. I hope it showed.”

It caught coach John Tortorella’s attention.

“He has some patience to his game, too, where he’s not always looking to put it off the glass and get it off his stick,” Tortorella said. “As he’s played some minutes, you can see in a guy that hasn’t played a lot ... you can see how his game improves.”

One-timers

Tortorella tied Ken Hitchcock with the most games coached in franchise history (284). He is expected to pass Hitchcock on Tuesday against the … The Blue Jackets didn’t practice Monday and will hold a morning skate Tuesday. … Defenseman Gabriel Carlsson and forward Kole Sherwood, who’s from New Albany, were reassigned to Cleveland.

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Injuries test Blue Jackets' depth at forward

By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – January 14, 2019

The Blue Jackets have been lucky with injuries thus far this season, but they’ve hit a bump in the road in recent weeks.

Currently without two-thirds of their fourth line, Brandon Dubinsky (hamstring) and Markus Hannikainen (elbow), the Jackets initially dipped into their organizational depth to get through it. They already have called upon a couple of rookie forward prospects, Eric Robinson and Kevin Stenlund, and might be close to giving New Albany native Kole Sherwood a shot to play.

“His name has come by my desk in discussions with (assistant GM Bill Zito) and (general manager Jarmo Kekalainen) for a number of weeks now, as far as how he has skated,” coach John Tortorella said of Sherwood, who was recalled from the Cleveland Monsters on Sunday and then reassigned Monday.

“We all know how fast he is and how he’s applied himself to his game, so that’s why (he was) here. We’re just a little banged up at forward. But we’ve got some really good reports on him.”

The Blue Jackets had received similar reports on Robinson and Stenlund, each of whom was given a chance to play in the past two weeks.

Robinson made his season debut Jan. 5 at Florida and played three games, primarily filling a spot while captain Nick Foligno was away in Boston for his daughter’s recovery from heart surgery.

Stenlund made his NHL debut Saturday in Washington and has played the past two games on a line with Anthony Duclair and center Alexander Wennberg.

“I liked him in camp,” Tortorella said of the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Stenlund, who also can play center. “He’s a big body, he won a couple faceoffs (against the Capitals). First period (in Washington), I thought he did some really good things on the wall, made a couple of nice little 5-foot plays. (He) wasn’t overwhelmed by any means.”

Most important for Stenlund is that Tortorella wasn’t underwhelmed by his play. The same could be said for Robinson, despite his being sent back to Cleveland. Robinson is also big, listed at 6 feet 2, 200 pounds, and has top-end speed similar to Josh Anderson (6-3, 221).

The Blue Jackets also have a trio of veteran forwards playing well in Cleveland, each of whom has NHL experience.

Zac Dalpe has 28 points (15 goals, 13 assists) and centers the top line; Nathan Gerbe has 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists) and plays on the wing; and center Mark Letestu has 23 points (10 goals, 13 assists). Alex Broadhurst, a forward who made his NHL debut last season, has 24 points (seven goals, 17 assists).

The Blue Jackets have also leaned on defenseman Dean Kukan recently, playing him in three of the past five games when Scott Harrington and Ryan Murray were out with illnesses.

“It’s really encouraging, as far as the couple guys that we’ve brought up here and then Kuks stepping up after missing so much (time as a healthy scratch), giving us some good minutes,” Tortorella said. “I look

4 at Stenlund, I look at (Kukan), I look at (Robinson) coming up here and playing a couple games. It’s encouraging for us to see some guys stepping in here and playing.”

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Blue Jackets 7, Rangers 5 | Five takeaways

By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – January 14, 2019

It was the beginning of the end of a long, strange week for the Blue Jackets.

Players stood along each blue line inside Nationwide Arena. The house lights were down, with a spotlight focused intensely on the blue carpet extending along the red line to center ice.

Rick Nash’s kids had just done the honors of dropping the ceremonial first puck(s) to commemorate their dad’s memorable 15-year NHL career – which included the first nine in a Blue Jackets uniform – and now it was anthem singer Leo Welsh’s turn to do his thing.

Only it’s hard to do your thing as an anthem singer when nobody hears you.

A microphone mishap rendered “Leo!” mute, so he made a decision on the fly that fit perfectly with the rest of the Blue Jackets’ week – which included a tough loss Tuesday in Tampa, a controversy involving goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and then impressive wins against the and .

Welsh, rendered mute essentially, did what the Jackets did. He winged it, improvising by launching into an anthem rendition without amplification because the show must go on.

Soon, he was joined by thousands of hockey fans – singing along as if this were Clark Griswold’s house at Christmas and Santa’s sleigh had just been launched sky high by a chemical explosion.

That’s what kind of week it was in Columbus.

It was a chemical explosion that sent Santa over the moon and the Blue Jackets over the into second place in the – after a wild 7-5 victory Sunday against the .

“I think it’s been a really good week for the team with some of the (stuff) going on around us,” coach John Tortorella said in his pregame press conference. “The past five days, I think, has been a huge step in the right direction for this organization. Everything. The stuff you guys (reporters) want to know about (Bobrovsky), that we’re not going to tell you about, I think that was really important for our organization.”

Time will be the ultimate judge of that, but the early returns were certainly good. Here are five takeaways from another big victory for the Blue Jackets:

1) The Nash Ceremony

Time has a way of diluting memories, so it’s easy to forget the impact Nash made in Columbus, on and off the ice, for nearly a full decade. He remains the franchise’s lone No. 1 overall pick and lived up to the hype, compiling 547 of his 805 career points in a Blue Jackets uniform and setting a great example to follow for youth hockey players who grew up in the Columbus area during his era wearing Union Blue.

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One them was Kole Sherwood, who grew up in New Albany with brother, Kiefer, dreaming of one day playing for the Blue Jackets – just like Rick Nash. Kiefer is now a rookie forward with the and Kole was on the ice for pregame warmup in a Blue Jackets jersey after being recalled Sunday from the Cleveland Monsters.

Nash didn’t leave town on the greatest terms, by most accounts, but he still lives in Columbus with his wife and kids – and has never moved. He’s been here in this community and will remain here, continuing to foster the growth of sport in Central Ohio as much as he can.

Nash deserved every second of recognition he got, which included a loud cheer that followed a video montage of his Blue Jackets career and then his kids dropping pucks for Columbus captain Nick Foligno and Rangers alternate captain Marc Staal.

“I was a rookie when he was a captain here and he really put Columbus on the map with hockey,” Blue Jackets forward Cam Atkinson said. “There’s a reason why he’s still the all-time franchise leader in goals, points, games played, all that stuff. He was a hell of a player and it was a good ceremony.”

2) Goal bonanza

After losing to the Flames, 9-6, Dec. 4 at Nationwide Arena, the Blue Jackets had scored five-or- more goals in eight of their first 27 games, going 7-1-0 in them.

Since that game, they’d scored five-plus in just one of the next 17 games before potting seven against the Rangers. The Blue Jackets are now 9-1-0 in 10 games they’ve scored at least five, with that lone defeat against Calgary in arguably the wildest game they’ve played.

Columbus averaged 3.55 goals per game in its first 27 games and went 15-10-2. In their past 18, the Blue Jackets have gone 12-5-1 while averaging just 2.88 goals per game.

What it shows is they can win either way, but have more success in lower-scoring games – when their own defensive play is sharper.

3) Bread and Cam

The Jackets’ top line is heating up again, with Atkinson and Artemi Panarin showing more of the chemistry they’ve built since late January of last season.

Atkinson poked the puck to Panarin off a face-off early in the first period for a game-tying goal and scored one of his own off a great effort to tip a shot by Zach Werenski in the low slot.

Panarin scored a goal for the third straight game, rewarding Atkinson and center Pierre-Luc Dubois with assists, and set up David Savard’s goal for a 6-3 lead in the third with a perfect feed from behind the left post that sailed through the Rangers’ crease first.

Atkinson’s goal was his 26th and his multi-point game was his 12th of the season, pushing him past David Vyborny for sole possession of second all-time in franchise history for scoring with 319 points – 228 behind Nash.

Panarin’s multi-point game was his 15th of the season to extend his team-high point total to 50 on 17 goals and 33 assists. He has four goals, one assist and five points during a three-game goal streak.

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Dubois has recorded a point or more in eight of the past 12 games, adding three goals and 10 assists in that span to his season total of 40 points (16 goals, 24 assists).

4) A fourth-line goal

They only played about eight minutes again, but the Blue Jackets’ fourth line of Lukas Sedlak, Riley Nash and Oliver Bjorkstrand did produce a goal by Sedlak late in the second period that put Columbus up 4-2.

The lead didn’t last long, as New York’s Mats Zuccarello cut it to 4-3 just 1:11 later, but the Jackets’ fourth line should be able to gain some confidence after working the puck deep into the Rangers’ zone and converting it into a nice goal by Sedlak off a feed from Bjorkstrand.

“The whole line contributed on that play,” Tortorella said. “It’s a line that I’m kind of spotting around in certain situations in games. They don’t get a lot of ice time. They score a big goal for us to extend our lead. They had some good shifts tonight, that line.”

5) Bobrovsky lit up again

They weren’t all on his shoulders, but Bobrovsky had another outing where a lot of goals got past him – which has happened more often this season.

This was the eighth time in 32 starts the Jackets’ star netminder has allowed at least four goals. It was the third time he’s allowed four-plus in his past six appearances, and it was hard not to think the undisclosed “incident” that led to his absence for a game wasn’t at least a partial distraction.

Bobrovsky said it was a good first step just to get back in net and win, but this week’s developments give cause to wonder if he will return to top form this season. Bobrovsky doesn’t have a contract extension in place in the final year of his contract but has a full no-move clause, so there’s a chance he’ll wear a Blue Jackets uniform until the end of the season.

It could be a bitter end if he can’t get back on track.

“The bottom just fell out of our power play after two great ones and then they had a two-man advantage ... he made a huge save there,” Tortorella said. “Those are the ones I look at. Struggles in the game? Yeah, but he made a couple huge saves also.”

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Rick Nash takes curtain call where he made his mark

By Michael Arace, Columbus Dispatch – January 14, 2019

Amid the maelstrom of mid-January, the Blue Jackets had a brief-but-glorious pause Sunday night.

Rick Nash, the franchise’s all-time leader in just about everything, dropped the ceremonial first puck prior to the Jackets-Rangers game at Nationwide Arena. Actually, his son McLaren and his daughter, Ellie, each dropped a puck as Nash coached them. His wife, Jessica, stood by, infant son Finn in her arms. A near-sellout crowd roared its appreciation.

The ceremony was preceded by a highlight reel on the Jumbotron — and if you’ve never seen the goal Nash scored against the then-Phoenix Coyotes in 2008, do it with John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” playing in the background music. Classic.

Nash, 34, citing “unresolved issues/symptoms from a concussion,” on Friday announced his retirement. His only brush with media Sunday was a brief interview with Jackets color analyst Jody Shelley. Nash’s walkaway: “Now I can raise my kids in this city and live here for the rest of my life.”

Nash also played for the Rangers and, briefly, for the . But he is and will always be a Blue Jacket. He was the franchise, all of it, for nine seasons — when the Jackets averaged 32 victories and 75 points. Longtime Jackets fans know where they were on April 8, 2009, when Nash scored a late goal in Chicago to clinch the Jackets’ first playoff appearance.

“Rick did it the whole year,” said Ken Hitchcock, who coached that Jackets team. “He committed to a 200-foot game, played both ends on special teams, a 25-minute player every night. He didn’t say much, but actions dragged everyone else along. He is a perfect example of a guy who played the game the right way.”

Nash was, and will always be, a first-class human being. Good parents. When he spoke with Shelley about his Columbus memories, he inevitably brought up the reading program he started for area schoolchildren. Typical Nash and 100 percent genuine.

“I had Nasher in New York,” Jackets coach John Tortorella said. “He was just a great pro for me there. Didn’t say boo. He did everything there (on the ice). ... It’s too bad we’re going to lose a player, the way he plays. I think he still has some years left but, obviously, he thinks it’s time to step away. I have nothing but true respect for him.”

The Nash ceremony was a quick intake of oxygen near the end of a crazy stretch for the Jackets. The game against the Rangers was their fourth in six days. It came after a blowout loss in Tampa, a one- game suspension to Sergei Bobrovsky and a pair of impressive victories, over Nashville and at Washington.

Tortorella thinks a little pot-stirring can break up the monotony in the middle of a long season.

“Absolutely,” Tortorella said. “These last five days I think have been very important for this organization. Sometimes you need to redefine things, as far as how we go about our business, and that everybody needs to be involved in it. I just think it has been really healthy for our team, and for our organization.

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“The communication — we brought management, coaches and players together into having discussions. Sometimes in a long year you kinda ... coaches have their blinders on, managers have their blinders on, players are just playing. I think it has been really healthy.”

Tortorella wanted “points in the bank” against the Rangers before the players took a day off Monday. He said it was “an important game” — a rare descriptor for him in the dog days of January. He wanted the Jackets to finish off a boisterous, six-day stretch with another strong performance.

In a tip of the hat to Nash, that is what they did. Sort of. They beat the Rangers 7-5. The game was unhinged at times, but the points are in the bank. The Jackets passed the Pittsburgh Penguins to move into second place in the Metropolitan Division.

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‘Incident’ explained: Sergei Bobrovsky was not available to play after getting pulled versus Tampa Bay

By Aaron Portzline , The Athletic – January 14, 2019

COLUMBUS, Ohio — When Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled from a game last Tuesday at Tampa Bay, he walked straight to the dressing room and started peeling off his gear. There were 11 minutes, 7 seconds remaining in the game.

Typically, the goaltender — if not removed because of an injury — will remain on the bench with his teammates while his replacement finishes the game.

But by the time Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella sent a member of the training staff to find Bobrovsky, the two-time winner had already showered, or was in the shower, and was unable to return to the bench.

This scenario, first reported by Sportsnet in , was confirmed to The Athletic by multiple NHL sources in recent days.

Bobrovsky’s actions incensed Tortorella but also infuriated and disappointed his teammates, sources said, prompting a meeting with the Blue Jackets’ leadership group before they boarded a flight from Tampa to Columbus.

Seth Jones, Boone Jenner and Cam Atkinson were among the players who pulled Bobrovsky aside on the tarmac of a private runway at Tampa International Airport before allowing him to board the charter with the rest of the club. Captain Nick Foligno was not on the trip because of his daughter’s recovery from surgery.

Earlier this season, also in Tampa, Bobrovsky was allowed to stay in net to absorb eight goals-against in an 8-2 loss to the Lightning. This time, he was pulled after allowing a soft goal at 8:53 of the third period to make it 4-0.

Bobrovsky’s decision to head to the dressing room didn’t ultimately cost the Blue Jackets. His replacement, Joonas Korpisalo, finished the game by stopping all three shots he faced.

But imagine the scenario had Korpisalo been injured and the Jackets had nobody available to play in net. Also, think of the message it sends to Bobrovsky’s teammates.

That was the Blue Jackets’ chief concern, and it’s why general manager Jarmo Kekalainen forced Bobrovsky to stay home from the rink Thursday when the Jackets played Nashville. Korpisalo had 32 saves in a 4-3 win over the Central Division leader.

“To me, it doesn’t matter who it is,” Kekalainen told The Athletic on Friday. “We have the values that we believe in. If you’re not going to live up to them, you face consequences, no matter who it is.

“If it’s the biggest star on the team, the highest-paid player on the team … the rules are the same. The values are the same for everybody. We expect everyone to live up to them.”

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The Blue Jackets have refused to discuss Bobrovsky’s “incident,” issuing a strict gag order to players.

Kekalainen met with Bobrovsky’s agent, Paul Theofanous, on Saturday in Washington, D.C., sources said, before the Blue Jackets played the Capitals. Korpisalo started that game, too, playing perhaps his best game of the season, making 32 saves in a 2-1 overtime win.

Bobrovsky, who will make $7.425 million this season in the final year of a contract, is an unrestricted free agent July 1. He has a full no-move clause in his contract, meaning the Blue Jackets would need his permission to trade him.

The NHL trade deadline is Feb. 25.

Bobrovsky returned to action Sunday, making 22 saves in a 7-5 win over the New York Rangers in Nationwide Arena. It’s unclear who will start Tuesday, when the Jackets host New Jersey.

Since that 4-0 loss to Tampa Bay, the Blue Jackets have won three games in a row, and Tortorella praised them repeatedly Sunday for how they responded to the turmoil with great passion and clearer lines of communication.

“When shit happens, you end up communicating,” Tortorella said after Sunday’s win. “Some stuff happened that went the wrong way, went off the tracks. I really like the way the organization handled it. Obviously, it concerned Bob, and I thought Bob handled it well.

“When you’re trying to handle the problem, face it head on, as we all did, and then move on. That’s healthy.”

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Outdoor NHL game in Seattle? As good a chance as the new team being named ‘Kraken’

By Geoff Baker, Seattle Times – January 14, 2019

Oh well, as Meat Loaf might have sung back in the day — two out of three ain’t bad for this city when it comes to major NHL events.

Then again, Meat Loaf was more into baseball metaphors for his songs than hockey. So, perhaps a couple of indoor NHL events coming this way won’t totally make up for an apparent Seattle rain snub when it comes to the league’s most prestigious outdoor showcase.

On a swing through town last week, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman promised our city will play host to an All-Star Game within seven years of a team launching. Bettman also proclaimed we’ll likely get some type of draft held here before that.

But other than the dubious face he made when somebody suggested “Metropolitans” and “Kraken” as the new team’s name, the one idea Bettman seemed downright allergic to was Seattle staging what actually has become the league’s biggest one-off attraction: the annual Winter Classic.

That’s where you take two NHL teams, dress them up in retro uniforms and have them play an outdoor game in a football or baseball stadium. Sounds a little hokey, but it has become a hugely popular, driving force behind a nostalgia-based NHL marketing effort dating back more than a decade.

The outdoor games aren’t all called Winter Classic, though it has become the colloquial term of choice for NHL contests not taking place in an actual hockey arena. For purposes, the Winter Classic occurs around New Year’s Day in a general region that already has an NHL team. This year’s was at in Indiana, where the “hometown” played the Boston Bruins.

Then, you also have the NHL Heritage Classic, held infrequently and only among Canadian teams. Also, there’s the NHL Stadium Series from late January through early March in a U.S. football or baseball stadium.

A little confusing, maybe, but don’t worry: We aren’t getting any of them. At least, that’s what Bettman seemed to suggest when asked.

“There are two things that are a problem for us with outdoor games … sun glare – well, that’s not a problem here – and rain,’’ said Bettman, motioning out some nearby windows to a steady downpour that had greeted most of his Seattle visit. “We can play in snow, but rain’s a problem. So, we’re going to have to study whether or not it’s feasible.’’

When an astute media member pointed out the newly named T-Mobile Park has a retractable roof, Bettman quickly shot back: “But then it’s not an outdoor game.’’

This isn’t the first time our city risks being passed over because of its wetter elements.

We were supposed to get a Super Bowl played at CenturyLink Field at some point, but that has never materialized. Five years ago, while in New York City before the Seahawks beating the Denver Broncos in

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Super Bowl XLVIII in suburban New Jersey, I heard commissioner Roger Goodell say the league would consider future games in cold-weather cities.

“I was up in Seattle for the NFC Championship Game, and if you want to feel energy, you go up to Seattle,” Goodell told the nation’s media at his pregame address.

Some optimistic types back then pushing for a Super Bowl here by 2020 (it’s now booked solid through 2023) were even quoting weather averages, showing Seattle can be warmer than the New York area in early February. Alas, when I put the question to former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka, then an NFL Network analyst, he looked at me quizzically.

“Has it ever been dry up there?” he quipped, drawing laughs from those around us. “I’ve never been up there when it’s dry. Every time I’m there, it’s raining. It’s crazy. It’s a good city with good people, but it has a tendency to rain a lot.”

Ditka was partially kidding. But he nailed it when it comes to our city’s biggest weather drawback, especially for a hockey game outdoors.

It doesn’t matter that Boston might get more annual rainfall than we do. In hockey, even the slow drizzle or misty mornings that permeate our outdoors in non-summer months can wreak serious havoc on ice surfaces and pose a safety hazard to players.

So, that rules out CenturyLink Field or Husky Stadium for a hockey game. Sure, there’s previously been talk of staging an outdoor junior-hockey game at T-Mobile Park, but Bettman does have a point about a roof taking away some of the mystique.

These games, after all, are all about the nostalgia of outdoor hockey played a century ago on frozen Canadian ponds. The early “shinny” games in Ontario, Quebec and on the Prairies featured some snow and plenty of bone-chilling cold that players managed to suffer through and that the NHL apparently has no qualms about making its fans endure, either.

The first NHL outdoor contest was the at in , where the Oilers and Canadiens played in minus-2 degree weather in front of 57,237 fans. A snowstorm greeted the 2008 Winter Classic in Buffalo between the Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins in front of 71,217 fans at Ralph Wilson Stadium, in the first U.S. outdoor NHL game.

Having attended a late-January nighttime 2014 Stadium Series matchup at between the New York Rangers and Islanders, where temperatures dropped to 1 degree with the wind chill, I can guarantee the league had fans suffering. I spoke to several of them in the outfield bleachers, huddled under communal blankets, teeth chattering – and claiming they loved every minute of it.

Putting them under a roof – even one with open-air sightlines – with temps in the 40s or 50s, isn’t quite the experience these events purport. So, that’s one hockey problem this city might have a tough time overcoming.

Sure, there’s time to convince the league of a different direction. After all, they played a 2014 Stadium Series game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles between the Kings and Anaheim Ducks in high-70s temperatures that weren’t exactly reminiscent of early Canadian shinny.

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Then again, outdoor hockey in L.A. was a novelty in itself, owed largely to advanced refrigeration technology. Perhaps they’ll have developed a way to rainproof ice surfaces by the time our city gets around to seriously bidding on an outdoor game.

If not, we’ll likely have an NHL expansion draft to look forward to here by June 2021. And the only blankets you’ll need to bring will be for picnicking on the lawn outside KeyArena ahead of time.

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The Athletic / DGB weekend power rankings: The teams that should be panicking the hardest

By Sean McIndoe, The Athletic – January 14, 2019

We spent a lot of the season’s first half saying things like “Sure, this team may be struggling right now, but it’s still early and there’s a ton of hockey left so nobody should panic.” Everyone does. It’s pretty much a standard disclaimer that you have to put on all first-half hockey writing.

Well, it’s not early anymore, and there’s no longer a ton of hockey left. It’s OK to panic now. In some cases, it may be mandatory. A few teams should have been here weeks ago.

But who? Since we’re all about arbitrary rankings around these parts, here’s a top ten list of teams that should be panicking right about now.

10. – They lost to the Rangers and Hurricanes, which wasn’t great, but then they smoked the Lightning last night to regain the top wildcard spot. Honestly, they’re only here because doing a top nine would be weird.

9. – The good news is they’re playing reasonably well and aren’t ceding much ground in the wildcard race. The bad news is that even one week ago, we figured they only had to beat out one of the Sabres or Islanders to make it. Now, the Hurricanes are roaring back into the race, which ups the pressure on Montreal.

8. – Two games against a pair of teams going nowhere resulted in zero points and the offense has dried up apart from the top line. And now we’re back to the organization saying stuff like this:

7. Florida Panthers – The only reason the Panthers don’t rank any higher is that, at this point, it’s basically over. They’re eleven points back and have four teams to catch, so barring a month-long hot streak, they’re done. They should have already moved past “panic” and onto “acceptance.” Now the question in Florida is who’s going to pay for it.

6. Columbus Blue Jackets – Unlike the other teams on this list, the Blue Jackets are playing reasonably well and in strong shape for a playoff spot. But they have other things to worry about these days, which we’ll get to down below.

5. – The entire Western wildcard race is in a freefall, meaning it’s right there for the taking. And yet the Oilers can’t take advantage, losing at home to Arizona in a game that opened the door for the Coyotes to climb into the race. The big question here isn’t whether Oiler fans are panicking, but how much their beleaguered GM might be.

4. – In the big picture, maybe they’re right where they expected to be. But after the highs of the season’s first few months, losing eight of eleven and falling out of a playoff spot can’t be fun. The rest of the Eastern contenders are playing well enough that the Sabres are basically losing ground on everyone. (Their meme game is still solid, though.)

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3. – Things have been rough for a while. But Saturday’s loss to the Red Wings feels like a tipping point, with the coach calling it the worst game they’ve played since he’s been there and the goaltender saying stuff like this:

Is that bad? It seems bad.

2. – It was only a few weeks ago that they looked like they had a shot at winning the Central. Now they’ve lost nine of ten, can’t keep the puck out of their net and are in danger of missing the playoffs entirely. What went wrong? Nobody seems to be entirely sure and that’s the scary part. If there was one player or position you could point to, maybe you can fix that at the deadline. When it’s a team-wide slump, you wonder how you’re going to pull out of the spiral in time.

1. Anaheim Ducks – Not really a hard call here. With eleven straight losses that have dropped them out of a wildcard spot, you don’t even have to assume the panic level in Anaheim is high – their coach is making it crystal clear by having meltdowns on the media.

Last night we found out that Bob Murray says he definitely won’t fire Carlyle, at least “at this time.” With that option apparently out, what do the Ducks do now? Here’s hoping they have an answer beyond “keep losing.”

On to the power rankings, starting with five teams who probably aren’t panicking much these days (but might still be panicking a little) …

Road to the Cup

The five teams that look like they’re headed towards a summer of keg stands and fountain pool parties.

Good news for everyone in this section, or hanging around the fringe of it: As we head towards deadline season, the market is apparently shaping up as a good one for buyers. That means there could be plenty of impact players available for you to devour rumors about right up until your favorite team’s GM mumbles something about trading being too hard and swaps a mid-round pick for a fourth-line rental instead.

5. (28-14-2, +36 true goals differential*) – They’ve lost four of six, we’re still not quite sure what’s up with Frederik Andersen, and they seem headed towards yet another first-round matchup with a Bruins team that gives them all sorts of trouble. They’re still in the top five, but barely.

4. (30-13-4, +42) – The Flames return to the top five on the strength of a five-game win streak. Frustratingly, they haven’t been able to gain any ground in the Pacific race because the Sharks and Knights are just as hot. Still, they’ve already basically locked down a playoff spot, and this week brings a chance to keep banking points against the struggling Red Wings and Sabres before they head to Edmonton for another chapter in the Battle of .

3. Jets (29-14-2, +28) – Their season-long pattern of never being too hot or too cold continues. They haven’t won three straight since mid-December, or three straight in regulation since early November. But they haven’t lost three straight all season and have only lost consecutive games twice. That’s pretty amazing, and it adds up to a team that’s holding down top spot in the Central even as they don’t always generate the sort of headlines that streakier teams get.

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2. (27-13-7, +29) – The Sharks shoot back up our list on the strength of six straight wins. The offense is humming, Erik Karlsson has been unstoppable and Martin Jones is 5-0-0 with a .930 save percentage in January after barely looking like a replacement-level goalie over the season’s first half.

Things are going so well that some might argue this isn’t high enough for San Jose:

I wouldn’t go that far. There’s still a big gap between the Lightning and the rest of the contenders, and I have spots two through six or seven as a traffic jam without much separating anyone. But the Sharks are flexing these days, so they get the top spot in the group this week.

1. Tampa Bay Lightning (35-9-2, +53) – Oh good, it turns out that the Lightning are uniquely well- positioned to trade away young players and other assets, including moving prospects or draft picks for short-term help at the deadline. Better luck next year, everyone.

*Goals differential without counting shootout decisions like the NHL does for some reason.

Not ranked: Columbus Blue Jackets – The Blue Jackets continue to float around in the forgotten purgatory of these rankings; they’re not quite good enough to make the top five, and nowhere near bad enough to be considered for the bottom five. They haven’t shown up on either list all season long, one of only seven teams that’s true for.

But even if they’re not worth a formal ranking spot, we have to talk about them. Because they just went through an, uh, eventful week.

The drama started on Tuesday, with Sergei Bobrovsky getting pulled in a loss to the Lightning. At some point either during the game or in the immediate aftermath, there was an “incident.” We don’t know what happened, and the team is being tight-lipped on details, but they put out a statement that said that Bobrobsky had “failed to meet expectations and values.” He was told to stay away from the team on Thursday’s win over Nashville, then was allowed to rejoin them after a team meeting the following morning. He was on the bench on Saturday, and was in goal for last night’s wild win over the Rangers. It certainly wasn’t his best game, but he did enough.

Does that mean everything is back to normal? Well, not exactly, because there’s no “normal” when your star goaltender gets sent home a few months before he’s going to hit unrestricted free agency. Combine that with Artemi Panarin still needing an extension and there’s no shortage of drama in Columbus these days.

(Also, this tweet from colleague Justin Bourne is 100 percent bang on. John Tortorella’s doing a great job, but between him and Carlyle it’s been a bad week for coaches pretending to be offended by obvious questions.)

But even putting contract concerns aside, the Blue Jackets have other problems. The powerplay is a mess and has been just about all year. The goaltending has been surprisingly mediocre and occasionally worse. And while the forwards have been fine, none are having the kind of monster years that can make up for other weak spots on the roster.

All that said, the Blue Jackets are sitting in second spot in the Metro, having passed the Penguins last night. Plenty of teams would love to be dealing with that sort of crisis right now.

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In the offseason, I called the Blue Jackets the hardest team in the league to figure out, with everything from a championship to total disaster feeling like it was reasonably in play. They still are, but the needle is trending towards the better half of that spectrum. We just need them to make it to the finish line without any self-inflicted implosions.

The bottom five

The five teams that look like they’re headed towards hoping the ping-pong balls deliver Jack Hughes.

We got my kids a new video game system for Christmas, and they were told that they could play it on weekends on one condition: they had to share, without getting into arguments over whose turn it was. Sure enough, on the first weekend, they get into a big fight and we had to shut it down. The second weekend, they got into an even bigger fight and we had to shut it down again. The third weekend they promised us that they’d learned their lesson and then got into yet another fight just like the first two times. Now we’re coming up on the fourth weekend, and they’re already making sad little eyes and promising us that this time will be different and we can totally trust them. And you know what? I believe them. I mean, I think they’ve earned the benefit of the doubt, right?

Anyways, in unrelated news, everyone is apparently really impressed that Gary Bettman says he doesn’t want a work stoppage.

5. New York Rangers (18-20-7, -34) – I didn’t include the Rangers in last week’s rankings and their fans were furious. They basically came at me with some variation of “How many goals does a team have to give up to get recognized for how terrible they’re playing?” Well, now we know the answer: seven. Giving up seven goals to the Blue Jackets will get you in. (As opposed to giving up seven goals to the Penguins, which they did a week ago and which did not get them in. Look, the formula is complicated, OK?)

4. (18-25-3, -32) – This is the first time the Kings have fallen outside of the bottom three since the third week of the season. Why? Well, they’ve been competitive enough to avoid any major losing streaks and they earned one of their most impressive wins of the season on Saturday by beating the red-hot Penguins.

But mainly, I’m giving them some extra credit because they gave us this:

3. (17-23-7, -24) – Do you take it personally when you win a game and your opponent’s social media pushes out quotes by the head coach saying it was the worst effort he’d ever seen? I feel like you’d have to.

2. (16-23-6, -39) – They got back to their losing ways on Saturday in New Jersey, and are holding down last place overall based on points and points percentage. Also, they haven’t won a game by more than one goal in over five weeks. Other than, it’s going great.

1. (17-24-5, -35) – Here’s a scary thought: even as the Senators struggle to stay out of last place overall, there’s at least some evidence to suggest that they’re actually playing worse than their record indicates. Meanwhile, there’s still no contract news on either Matt Duchene or Mark Stone, and the marketing department has launched a depressing “we’re terrible but we’re learning from it” campaign.

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On the other hand, this was great:

Not ranked: – The bottom-five section has had a special relationship with the Coyotes over the years. For more than two seasons they were our rock, the one consistent thing we could count on in this crazy world. When they finally got good enough to no longer be one of the league’s five worst teams, we said a tearful goodbye. But deep down, we knew it wouldn’t be forever. And as they underachieved their way through the first half, we could comfort ourselves with the knowledge that someday soon, they’d be back.

Gentle reader, I fear the Coyotes are not coming back.

They should be, since half the roster is injured, including their starting goaltender. They don’t score much. As recently as last weekend, they’d lost 11 of 15. Hell, the got stomped 7-1 just last night. Surely the Western playoff contenders would pull away and the Coyotes would sink back into the familiar arms of despair.

But no. As we covered up above, everyone on or around the Western bubble apparently decided to just stop winning two weeks ago. The Coyotes weren’t on that mailing list, winning three straight to close to within four points of the wildcard. And they did it while scoring the weekend’s most badass goal.

They might actually do this.

Or maybe not – those three straight wins came against the Rangers, Canucks and Oilers, and this week brings some good teams in the Sharks, Penguins and Maple Leafs. They played a good team last night too, and it didn’t go well. Maybe a week from now they’ve dropped back to six or seven points back and we can all write them off again.

But the fact that they’re even here now is pretty impressive, given how the seasons started. And it all but slams the door on them returning to their rightful home down the stretch.

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