Columbus Blue Jackets News Clips Jan. 12-13, 2019
Columbus Blue Jackets PAGE 02: Columbus Dispatch: Cam Atkinson reflects on impact Rick Nash had on him and team PAGE 04: Columbus Dispatch: Sergei Bobrovsky back with team; 'let my emotions get to me' PAGE 06: Columbus Dispatch: Former Blue Jackets great Rick Nash retires because of concussion symptoms PAGE 07: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets 4, Predators 3, OT: Five takeaways PAGE 10: The Athletic: Sergei Bobrovsky talks his way back into Blue Jackets’ good graces with morning meeting, practice PAGE 13: The Athletic: Impact and Intensity: Video analysis of Sergei Bobrovsky PAGE 16: Columbus Dispatch: Kevin Stenlund's play in exhibition game caught coach's eye PAGE 18: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets 2, Capitals 1, OT: Joonas Korpisalo, Artemi Panarin deliver win over Capitals PAGE 20: Columbus Dispatch: Michael Arace: Concussion places Rick Nash in 'club' entering retirement PAGE 22: The Athletic: ‘No Brainer:’Joonas Korpisalo validates John Tortorella’s trust in wild week for Blue Jackets PAGE 26: The Athletic: ‘Post-it’ notes: Reflections on the Blue Jackets’ near-miss offense
Cleveland Monsters/Prospects PAGE 28: Cleveland.com: Comeback falls short as Monsters lose to Devils, 5-4
NHL/Websites PAGE 29: AP: NHL tests puck and player tracking in regular-season games PAGE 32: AP: NHL and NHLPA meet to discuss CBA, World Cup of Hockey PAGE 38: The Athletic: Early projections for Team Russia’s World Cup of Hockey roster
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Cam Atkinson reflects on impact Rick Nash had on him and team
By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – January 11, 2019
Eight years into his NHL career, Cam Atkinson is beginning to make headway on some Blue Jackets records set by Rick Nash.
Atkinson has already caught the former Jackets forward in career hat tricks — moving past Nash this season with his fifth and sixth for the Jackets. Atkinson, though, vividly remembers his first partial NHL season in 2011-12, when he was briefly teammates with Nash — whose retirement Friday at age 34 because of concussion-related symptoms made news across the league.
“I think he was the first ‘holy crap’ moment when I got to the NHL, other than, obviously, your exhibition games when you’d play against (Alex Ovechkin) and (Sidney Crosby),” Atkinson, 29, said. “He wasn’t the most vocal guy. He was a quiet guy, but the way he worked ... he was just a game-changer.”
Nash still lives in the Columbus area and Atkinson sees him plenty. In fact, they’re neighbors and occasional golf partners. The current Blue Jackets forward knows just how much Nash meant to the franchise, city and area.
Participation in youth hockey is on the rise in central Ohio, and players such as Atkinson, Seth Jones and others are the local heroes now. When the trend took off, though, it was Nash and his No. 61 jersey.
“I was here when he was probably in the middle of his career, I would say, and, I mean ... he put Columbus on the map, basically,” Atkinson said. “He’s had an unbelievable career and he did a lot for this franchise.”
Nash compiled 547 of his 805 career points and scored 289 of his 437 career goals with the Blue Jackets, who drafted him No. 1 overall in 2002. After nine seasons, he was traded to the New York Rangers in 2012 and played six seasons — including splitting last season between the Rangers and Boston Bruins after a trade on Feb. 25.
That allowed current Blue Jackets center Riley Nash (no relation) to see up close what made the original “Nasher” so good.
“He could beat you with one to two strides out of the corner, which doesn’t happen very often,” said Riley Nash, who signed with the Jackets as a free agent last offseason. “He could beat you with power, he could beat you with speed. He just had a great release. He was a heck of a player, and it’s too bad for the NHL what’s happened, but hopefully he’s happy with his career.”
Another one down
Ryan Murray came down with an illness Friday after playing 20:36 Thursday in a 4-3 overtime win over the Nashville Predators, and he didn’t practice.
He also didn’t travel with the team to Washington. Dean Kukan will draw back into the lineup if Murray doesn’t play.
Coming and going
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Just as the Blue Jackets filtered onto the ice for practice, rookie forward Eric Robinson left the arena in street clothes.
Robinson and goalie J-F Berube were assigned back to minor-league Cleveland, while rookie forward Kevin Stenlund was recalled for his first taste of an NHL regular season.
Robinson averaged 12:41 of ice time in three games and acquitted himself solidly.
“I liked him,” coach John Tortorella said. “There’s obviously some things he needs to work on, but I do think he has a future. We’ll see where it goes.”
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Sergei Bobrovsky back with team; 'let my emotions get to me'
By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – January 11, 2019
Sergei Bobrovsky rejoined the Blue Jackets for practice Friday, but how long will he remain their No. 1 goalie?
That has become a pressing question after a recent undisclosed incident cited by general manager Jarmo Kekalainen led to Bobrovsky’s one-day hiatus from the team Thursday, when the Jackets defeated the Nashville Predators 4-3 in overtime at Nationwide Arena.
“He has a contract with us until the end of the year, and if he’s here until the end of the year, then we expect him to come back and do his best, 100 percent for the organization and the teammates,” Kekalainen said, meeting with reporters in the locker room before Bobrovsky’s media scrum. “It has nothing to do with any of that stuff (trade talks). It was just a separate incident that we have to deal with and resolve.”
Kekalainen and Bobrovsky each said the situation is resolved after a team meeting to “air things out” was held in the locker room before a noon practice. Bobrovsky said he addressed his teammates in the meeting, which included Kekalainen and eventually became a players-only talk.
Afterward, Bobrovsky put on his gear for practice, arriving three minutes late as the last man on the ice — slowed, apparently, by the meeting itself, which he was required to attend before rejoining the team.
“We wouldn’t have had him out of the game (Thursday) unless there was something to be resolved,” Kekalainen said. “We’ve already moved on. We resolve things, we air it out and we move on — just like I think any issue should be dealt with, whether it’s your family or your team. You air out things and move on, learn from it.”
Bobrovsky believes that process erased any issues that might have lingered from the incident, which hasn’t been discussed in detail other than Kekalainen and Bobrovsky each saying it wasn’t the result of a confrontation with coach John Tortorella.
Tortorella, who declined to comment on the situation for the second straight day, pulled Bobrovsky at 8:53 of the third period Tuesday of a 4-0 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning. He told reporters after a morning skate Thursday the decision was made with the rationale of saving Bobrovsky, mentally, from enduring any more goals.
The thinking was to start him Thursday against Nashville, but Bobrovsky was clearly agitated. He didn’t watch the rest of the game on the bench and said Friday that his emotions boiled over.
“I let my emotions get to me and I shouldn’t so we had the meeting with the team,” Bobrovsky said. “I pride myself on being a good teammate all the time, wherever I played, whomever I played (for), and I addressed that to the team ... that it is what it is, what happened, happened. We cleaned the air and we’re ready to move on. It’s unfortunate for the fans, too, that it happened, but it’s going to stay in the room between us.”
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Tortorella didn’t name a starting goalie for a game Saturday at the Washington Capitals, but Bobrovsky will be available — unless he’s traded. That feels more like a possibility now than it did at any point this season, considering Kekalainen’s “if he’s here” comment and Bobrovsky’s initial tone of voice when asked if he wanted to remain with the Jackets the rest of the season.
“Well, I am here and I will play here,” he said. “I will do my best, as I have done for this team, for this organization, for these fans, for this city. So I’ve been working hard and I will continue to do that. I’m just ... I’m ready to move on. I’m looking forward to (moving) on.”
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Former Blue Jackets great Rick Nash retires because of concussion symptoms
By Staff, Columbus Dispatch – January 11, 2019
Continuing issues caused by concussion symptoms have caused former Blue Jackets left wing Rick Nash to retire from hockey, according to a statement released by his agent.
Nash, 34, was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 draft by the Blue Jackets and played nine seasons for Columbus.
He holds franchise records for games (674), goals (289), assists (258) and points (547). He scored a team- record 41 goals in the 2003-04 season.
After a blockbuster trade from the Blue Jackets in 2012, Nash played five plus-seasons for the New York Rangers (145-107-252 in 375 games) and 11 games for the Boston Bruins (3-3-6).
“Due to unresolved issues/symptoms from the concussion sustained last March, Rick Nash will be forced to retire from the game of hockey. Under the advice of his medical team, the risk of further brain injury is far too great if Rick returns to play. Rick would like to thank everyone who has supported him during this difficult time period,” said the statement from Joe Resnick of Top Shelf Sports Management.
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Blue Jackets 4, Predators 3, OT | Five takeaways
By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – January 11, 2019
Nobody circles the wagons like the Columbus Blue Jackets.
That, above all else, is what should be gleaned about this team after 43 games. They get hit with adversity and respond. The seas churn up massive waves and they ask, “Where’s our board?”
It happened again Thursday night at Nationwide Arena, where the Blue Jackets upended the Nashville Predators with a 4-3 overtime victory – keeping their record a perfect 12-0-0 in Thursday games.
This time, the adversity was twofold.
At the same time forwards Brandon Dubinsky and Markus Hannikainen were placed on injured reserve with what could be long-term injuries, the Jackets also lost star goalie Sergei Bobrosvky for at least one game as the result of a disciplinary measure for an undisclosed “incident,” cited by general manager Jarmo Kekalainen.
Columbus has also played without captain Nick Foligno on two separate occasions this season – each related to his daughter, Milana, and her health – and the Blue Jackets also started the season without star defenseman Seth Jones, who missed the first seven games with a sprained knee.
They have bounced back from multiple bad games, gotten through a previous stretch without Dubinsky and haven’t allowed the unresolved contract situations of Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin - who could become unrestricted free agents July 1 – to divide their locker room.
Instead, they just keep on winning and/or collecting points.
“Yeah, there’s stuff around our team,” said coach John Tortorella, who became the 19th coach in NHL history – and sixth active coach – to reach 600 career wins Thursday night. “It started right from camp, when Bread (Panarin) and Bob (Bobrovsky) stated they’re not sure if they want to be here. We’ve been very honest in that locker room about the situations that have come our way. And I think that’s the best way to do it, so players aren’t tip-toeing.”
Whenever they circle the wagons, the Blue Jackets do anything but tip-toe. Usually it’s the opposite and they just smash their way to success - which is largely how they got the Predators.
“It’s been one of those years where, I’ve just never really been comfortable that we’re all on all cylinders, but we’ve got 53 points after tonight’s game,” Tortorella said, referring to the Jackets sitting third, a point out of second, in the Metropolitan Division. “So, we’re right in the middle of everything. I like the way they’ve found ways to get things done through a lot of stuff around our room.”
Here are five takeaways from another challenging day for the Blue Jackets:
1) Mr. 600
Tortorella detests talking about himself, especially when it comes to career achievements like his win total as an NHL coach.
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Regardless, this win was about more than just another big regular-season victory for the Blue Jackets. This was his 600th career victory as an NHL coach, making him the 19th coach in league history, and sixth active coach, to record that many wins. He is ranked first all-time in coaching wins among U.S.-born coaches with a 600-477-141 record spread over four teams and 18 seasons.
Tortorella also has the most coaching wins in franchise history for Blue Jackets, with a 154-102-26 record, and in three games will pass Ken Hitchcock (284) for most games coached in the organization’s history.
“We’re proud to be able to do it for him,” said Foligno, who presented Tortorella with a game puck and unsuccessfully implored him to give a speech in the postgame locker room. “As players, there’s always milestones, and that’s a big one for him. As much as he hates that (stuff) ... hates it ... he’s going to look back and appreciate it, and it’s pretty cool to be able to say that we’re the team that did it with him. And hopefully there’s 700 and who knows how many more we can go with. I’d like to add a (Stanley Cup) in there too. That’d be kind of nice.”
Tortorella tried to downplay the accomplishment in his postgame press conference, but ultimately shared what is special about it.
“Six-hundred’s great, it’s a round number,” he said. “I think that’s why people talk about it, because it’s a round number. As I said, I’ve just been fortunate. I’m fortunate to be in the game and I’ve been given many opportunities to stay in the game, in a game I love, being around great people ... that’s the coolest thing about being in this business for so long. Not the number. It’s your acquaintances and the friends you have. That’s where I am so fortunate to have a group of people that, you can bounce around from city to city and see, as you become a veteran coach in this league.”
2) Happy return
Earlier in the day, Foligno talked about his daughter’s recovery from surgery in Boston related to the heart condition she was born with, thanking Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital – where the surgery took place – and also thanking teammates, coaches and the people of Columbus, in general, for an outpouring of support during his four-game absence.
Foligno then played one of his best games of the season, assisting on the second of linemate Boone Jenner’s two goals and finished with eight hits. He also put four shots on goal and was a ball of energy all over the ice.
“Just being back with the guys, you just felt constant energy,” Foligno said. “I’m sure I’ll feel it (Friday), but I was happy to be back with the group and just show them my ... the support they gave me, the only way I can show them how much I appreciate it is just going out there and doing my job, showing them that I’m all-in and I want to repay it with the way I play. No better way than getting back into a game and doing that, so it was a lot of fun tonight.”
3) Return of the hit squad
They were first put together as a line in October, when Tortorella was looking for more “bite” among his forwards and better play low in the offensive zone.
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Foligno, Jenner and Josh Anderson stayed together for quite a while and earned a promotion as the team’s second line – ahead of one featuring Alexander Wennberg at center with speedier, skilled forwards on the wings.
Tortorella eventually broke up his line of power forwards because they’d struggled to score enough goals off their hard work, but he put that combination in his back pocket – knowing exactly what they’d provide if put back together.
Foligno’s return after missing the previous four games provided a reason, so the coach went to the well and it paid off big. Jenner scored two goals, scoring for the first time since Dec. 6, while the line combined for 16 of the Jackets’ 26 credited hits – led by Foligno’s eight and Jenner’s five.
“We’re really good friends off the ice and we really enjoy playing together,” Foligno said. “I think we feed into each other’s strengths and when we play like that, when we want to make plays and play heavy, play physical, we’re a hard line to play against. I thought we got away from it a little bit when we were together earlier and it really came back for us this game. Hopefully it continues.”
4) Bread was butter
A day after posing in front of a Highbank Distillery billboard promising free vodka for life if he stays with the Blue Jackets, Artemi Panarin showed why that would be such a big deal in Columbus.
Not only did he score two goals, but both were power-play goals that helped put an end to a vexing struggle on the man-advantage for the Blue Jackets – who hadn’t scored even one in a game since going 1-for-3 (also a Panarin goal) in a 4-1 victory Dec. 13 against the Los Angeles Kings.
Panarin’s first goal of the game, which broke a 1-1 tie in the third, ended the Jackets’ 0-for-25 skid on the power play that spanned 13 games. The second one, which ended the game 1:22 into overtime, was his sixth winning goal of the season and third in OT.
The Blue Jackets have still only had one game end in a shootout, going 6-2 in the other eight that finished in 3-on-3 OT.
5) What about ‘Bob’?
Bobrovsky’s widely-reported absence gave him a presence, even though he wasn’t at the game.
Joonas Korpisalo played a strong game, making 32 saves for the win, but Bobrovsky was the story of the day – primarily because his non-suspension suspension for a recent “incident” seemed so out of character.
Bobrovsky has a meeting with the Blue Jackets scheduled Friday morning, before practice, and that will ultimately determine whether he gets back on the ice with his teammates at Nationwide Arena – before they fly to Washington for a game Saturday against the Capitals.
Much was written and spoken about the situation by analysts, but only Bobrovsky, agent Paul Theofanous and Blue Jackets management know whether this issue will be a problem going forward.
Stay tuned.
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Sergei Bobrovsky talks his way back into Blue Jackets’ good graces with morning meeting, practice
By Aaron Portzline, The Athletic – January 11, 2019
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Sergei Bobrovsky talked his way back on to the Blue Jackets on Friday, saying the right words — or enough of the right words — in a late-morning meeting that started with management, coaches and players and turned into a players-only meeting.
It went well enough for Bobrovsky to join the Blue Jackets for a noon practice in Nationwide Arena, then fly with the club to Washington, D.C., in advance of Saturday game against the Capitals.
After practice Bobrovsky met with the media for the first time since the Blue Jackets announced Thursday that he’d been told to stay away the club for Thursday’s 4-3 overtime win over Nashville. The banishment stemmed from an “incident” that happened in Tampa Bay on Tuesday.
“Tuesday night against Tampa was a tough loss for everybody, so … it was emotional,” Bobrovsky said in an opening statement. “We might play (the Lightning) in the playoffs. I let my emotions get to me when I shouldn’t have.
“So, yeah. We had the meeting with the team. I’ve always been … I pride myself to be a good teammate all the time, wherever I’ve played and whomever I’ve played (for). I addressed that to the team. It is what it is. What happened has happened. We cleaned (sic) the air and we’re ready to move on.
“It’s unfortunate for the fans, too, that it happened. But it’s going to stay in the room and between us, and that’s it.”
BOB ADDRESSES THE MEDIA AFTER PRACTICE THIS MORNING. #CBJ PIC.TWITTER.COM/XBOPE0TQAA
— COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS (@BLUEJACKETSNHL) JANUARY 11, 2019
The Blue Jackets didn’t just discipline Bobrovsky on Thursday. They sent out a news release so the entire hockey world would know he was being punished, suggesting this “incident” was more than just a confrontation between Bobrovsky and a fellow player or a coach. Those happen in the heat of battle occasionally.
But the Blue Jackets have refused to say what exactly Bobrovsky did. The players have been put under a gag order for any question regarding Bobrovsky.
Sources have told The Athletic that an incident occurred between the time Bobrovsky was pulled from Tuesday’s 4-0 loss to Tampa Bay and the time the Blue Jackets arrived at Tampa International Airport for their charter flight to Columbus.
Bobrovsky did not remain on the bench after Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella replaced him with Joonas Korpisalo, but it’s hard to imagine that that alone is an act worthy of a forced one-game absence and a public shaming.
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“This has nothing to do with his contract (situation) or him and Tortorella,” Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen said. “It was me stepping in and making sure we deal with it right away. We make the decision together, of course, but this has nothing to do with his relationship with Tortorella or his contract. It’s a totally separate incident from that.
“To me it doesn’t matter who it is. 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.”
Bobrovsky, 30, is both the Blue Jackets’ biggest star (two-time Vezina Trophy winner) and the highest- paid player ($7.425 million) in the organization. He’s also an unrestricted free agent July 1.
The chances Bobrovsky will be with the Blue Jackets beyond this season already seemed slim. The events of the last 72 hours might have ruled that out entirely.
But, if the Blue Jackets were planning on trading Bobrovsky before the trade deadline, they’ll need help from their veteran goaltender. Bobrovsky has a full no-move clause, meaning he can’t be traded, sent to the minor leagues or removed from the roster against his wishes.
Kekalainen wouldn’t comment Friday when asked whether the Blue Jackets had approached Bobrovsky about lifting his no-move clause or perhaps selecting a limited number of clubs to which he would approve a trade.
The relationship between the Blue Jackets and Bobrovsky’s agent, Paul Theofanous, has been toxic for years, such that Theofanous might not wish to do the organization any favors by lifting Bobrovsky’s no- move clause.
On Friday, Bobrovsky showed no signs of wanting to leave before the end of the season.
“I am here, and I will play here,” Bobrovsky said. “I will do my best as I have done for this team, for this organization, for these fans, for this city. I’ve been working hard, and I will continue to do that.”
Notebook
• Former Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash announced his retirement today at the age of 34, citing the lingering effects of his most recent concussion, suffered in March. We’ll have much more on Nash in the coming days, certainly, but here’s a delightful appreciation (Item #3) from Hall of Fame writer Eric Duhatschek:
• Defenseman Ryan Murray did not travel with the Blue Jackets to Washington because of an illness. He was seen walking out of Nationwide Arena before practice. Look for D Dean Kukan to draft back into the lineup.
• The Blue Jackets recalled center Kevin Stenlund from AHL Cleveland, his first NHL call-up. It’s unclear whether Stenlund will draw in on Saturday versus the Capitals, but he could draw into a fourth-line role. He has 9-7-16 in 33 games with the Monsters. Blue Jackets center Riley Nash took just one faceoff (0-1) versus Nashville on Thursday.
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• Bobrovsky skated onto the ice three minutes after practice had started. The players’ meeting ran long and it takes longer for goaltenders to get on their gear, so the delay was excused. Bobrovsky entered the rink, skated to the starter’s end, fist-bumped J-F Berube and took over the crease. Berube skated off the ice and headed back to AHL Cleveland.
• The Blue Jackets also sent left winger Eric Robinson back to Cleveland. He played in three games and afforded himself very well, Tortorella said.
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Impact and Intensity: Video analysis of Sergei Bobrovsky
By Paul Campbell, The Athletic – January 11, 2019
The Blue Jackets’ public, uh, disinvitation of Sergei Bobrovsky ahead of their game Thursday against the Nashville Predators for “failing to meet the expectations and values” of the team was jarring for anyone who follows hockey. For the past seven seasons, Bobrovsky has been the very incarnation of expectations, values and hopes in Columbus: He has been the face of the organization, and at times, its heart, legs and arms, as well.
Whether this is a defining Patrick-Roy-leaving-Montreal moment, it’s a good time to reflect on just how good Bobrovsky has been for Columbus in his career and to take a look at how his powerful, explosive style has led to elite results.
Consistently elite results
In the six full seasons since Bobrovsky came to Columbus in 2012, he has had only one season below the league average save percentage, and only two below the 92 percent mark, a common cutoff for the upper tier of goalie performance.
According to Corsica Hockey, since 2012, among the 38 goalies who have played more than 10,000 minutes (about 180 games), Bobrovsky’s 92.1 percentage ranks second in all-situations save percentage. His delta save percentage, measuring the difference between what you’d expect him to stop based on shot quality, versus what he actually did stop, is +0.78, ranking him fourth. Compared with an average goalie, Bobrovsky has saved almost 82 extra goals in that span, good for third. Finally, and most telling of the quality of his style, he has stopped 81.8 percent of the high-danger shots he’s faced, putting him at the head of the class.
Bobrovsky’s closest statistical comparables are Henrik Lundqvist, Corey Crawford and John Gibson. He has been among the very best.
How has he achieved these impressive results? What aspects of his game enable him to make the most difficult saves more often than everyone else? It’s time for the fun part — let’s watch Bobrovsky in action.
A dynamic power game
There’s been a trend toward minimizing overall movement among NHL goaltenders, to the point that “quiet feet” has become a catchphrase even in broadcasting circles. Connor Hellebuyck’s radical shift from a fast-and-loose approach to breakaways to a static, tight, still retreat is a very clear example.
Bobrovsky bucks the trend.
The amount of “flow” (backward momentum) a goaltender uses depends on several factors, one of which is skating ability, especially the ability to balance in motion. Optimally, every goaltender tries to be set (not moving, in the ready stance) and square (everything facing the puck, shoulders square). On rushes and especially breakaways, however, a goaltender not only has to come out some distance to cut
13 down the angle on the initial shot, but also retreat so as not to get caught out of position if the shooter carries wide.
In the clip above, Bobrovsky is out near the hash marks as the shooter crosses the blue line, a relatively standard approach. However, he remains almost still till the shooter is much closer, discouraging the shot, but leaving him more exposed to a lateral move. With 2 1/2 quick C cuts (watch his feet), Bobrovsky has got up to speed and retreated enough that the deke option looks unappealing. When the shot comes, Bobrovsky is perfectly positioned, directing it easily into the corner. His strong, powerful skating enables him to offer and then take away possibilities quickly, making it seem like there isn’t a great shot available at any point in a given sequence.
Bobrovsky is what people should mean when they talk about athletic goaltenders. Even beer league goalies are capable of fulfilling the usual definition of that term: making huge diving lunges to make saves. Bobrovsky, however, uses his athletic gifts to cover unlikely distances with incredible efficiency, enabling him to arrive with more of his body in front of the puck with fewer holes. For instance:
This is one of my favorite clips of all time, not because the save is a perennial highlight, but for precisely the opposite reason. The long, fast high-to-low pass across the slotline (an imaginary line extending straight out from the net, between the hash marks, to the top of the circles) is murder for a goaltender. You have to be out at the top of your crease to face the potential shot, then travel both backward and laterally to cover the new shooter. Many goaltenders would push, reach and lunge back in a split to desperately cover some of the open net. Here, Bobrovsky pushes so hard, he is able to C cut (just before we can see him in frame), get down as he pushes without overextending or opening up big holes, and at the last possible moment, extend his leg and arm.
Look at where Bobrovsky is when the shooter receives the puck. He’s covering no net.
After an admirably quick release (the shooter doesn’t delay), the gap is just starting to close, but notice Bobrovsky still isn’t stretching or extending. In fact, his rear leg is now under him, giving him the chance to extend from this position, using the momentum of his initial push to glide toward the post. If he’d extended earlier, there would be no base to stretch out from.
Because he was so patient, the last stretch closes the gap, and a surprising amount of net is suddenly occupied. Save Bobrovsky.
The power, control and patience that form the basis of Bobrovsky’s game enable him to handle some difficult situations with relative ease. They also allow him to handle some near-impossible predicaments with incredible success.
Goaltenders have nightmares about facing long, long two-on-zero chances. It’s the kind of situation that’s prompted panic, and in some cases, devastatingly shrewd creative problem-solving. Facing one in overtime, as Bobrovsky does in the following clip, is the very worst. But it’s not quite impossible.
Bobrovsky wisely sets up at a more conservative depth than he would for a breakaway. A shot from distance might beat him, but there are so many dangerous lateral options it’s the least of his worries. He makes a short lateral burst to cover the new shooter after the pass is made, but when a one-touch return pass is made back to the original puck carrier, most goalies would be done. A goalie generates so much momentum on the initial push, they are likely to just keep sliding right out of the crease.
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Bobrovsky, however, isn’t giving up. His power and precision enable him not only to stop his slide by planting his outside foot but also to push back against the grain, getting his right foot over just enough to steal the souls of the entire Detroit Red Wings hockey team.
You think I’m exaggerating? See their reaction for yourself.
I could watch this on a loop for hours. Goaltenders. Dream killers, all. Vampires of joy.
Regardless of Bobrovsky’s status, both after “the incident” and, more realistically troubling for Jackets fans, next season when Bobrovsky becomes a free agent, his contribution to hockey in Columbus has already been remarkable. He’s been among the best of the best, and wherever he lands, hockey fans can look forward to watching this impressive athlete for years to come.
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Kevin Stenlund's play in exhibition game caught coach's eye
By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – January 12, 2019
WASHINGTON — Kevin Stenlund didn’t make the Blue Jackets’ roster out of training camp, but he did accomplish one of his goals in the preseason.
He drew the coach’s attention with a big frame, big shot and style that John Tortorella couldn’t forget.
“I like the look of him,” Tortorella said Saturday before Stenlund made his NHL debut against the Washington Capitals. “He’s got his ponytail and all the (stuff) like that. I just like the look of him. I’m anxious to see him play.”
Stenlund, 22, started out at right wing on the second line with Anthony Duclair and center Alexander Wennberg — whom Stenlund played with during an exhibition win against the Buffalo Sabres.
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He scored a goal in that game, which took place in Clinton, New York, but couldn’t spin that performance into an NHL roster spot. He had nine goals and seven assists with the Cleveland Monsters before being recalled Friday.
“When you’re down there, you know it’s just a call away to get up here,” Stenlund said. “You just try to stay positive and work on your game.”
Tortorella, meanwhile, likes more than Stenlund’s man bun.
“It’s a big body, he’s got a big-league shot (and) his feet have gotten better,” Tortorella said. “When I first saw him, it’s a little deceiving just the way he skates. You might think he’s slow, but he gets there.”
Welcome back, Nasher
A day after former Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash made the end of his NHL playing career public at age 34, the team announced he would drop the ceremonial first puck Sunday at Nationwide Arena.
It’s a fitting night with the New York Rangers in town. Nash played six seasons with the Rangers after playing his first nine with the Blue Jackets.
“I loved coaching him,” said Tortorella, who coached Nash for one season (2012-13). “I loved the way he played. That’s a hard one for me, because I still think he has hockey left in him, but I’m excited. We were texting. I’m excited to see him.”
Carlsson returns
Ryan Murray’s illness, which kept him from making the trip to Washington, created a need for the Blue Jackets to recall defenseman Gabriel Carlsson from Cleveland.
It could be another brief NHL visit for the 22-year-old defenseman, but Carlsson will take every minute he can get with the Jackets.
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“This is the dream, this is where you want to be,” said Carlsson, who was driven to Washington from Binghamton, New York, where the Monsters played Friday. “This is where you want to play, so every call-up is nice. It shows that if you’re the first guy up they believe in you.”
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Blue Jackets 2, Capitals 1, OT | Joonas Korpisalo, Artemi Panarin deliver win over Capitals
By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – January 12, 2019
WASHINGTON — John Tortorella did it again Saturday night.
The Blue Jackets coach zigged instead of zagged, going against the grain with his goaltending choice against the Washington Capitals — merely the 2018 Stanley Cup champions and leaders of the Metropolitan Division.
Joonas Korpisalo, the backup, started for the second straight game rather than Sergei Bobrovsky, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner who missed an overtime win Thursday against Nashville because of an undisclosed incident heard ’round the hockey world.
Was Tortorella just reprising his logic from Oct. 4 in Detroit, when he started Korpisalo in the season- opener and saved Bobrovsky for the next night at home?
“No, I just think Korpi deserves another game,” Tortorella said before Korpisalo made 32 saves in a 2-1 overtime win over the Capitals, their second victory by that score at Capital One Arena and second OT win in a row. “I thought he played really well (against Nashville).”
On paper, it didn’t really add up logically.
Defenseman Ryan Murray was home sick. Forward Kevin Stenlund, a rookie called up Friday from Cleveland, played his first NHL game. Two-thirds of the usual fourth line, Brandon Dubinsky and Markus Hannikainen, were out because of injury.
Most assumed Bobrovsky would get the nod, but it couldn’t have worked out much better that he didn’t. The Blue Jackets got a great performance from Korpisalo, a strong defensive effort in front of him and Artemi Panarin’s second power-play OT winner in a row.
“He’s earned it,” Tortorella said of Korpisalo afterward. “I don’t profess to understand all goaltending stuff, but when I see Korpi just play under control, that’s when he’s strong. He’s been really solid, just as far as his positioning.”
He needed to be against the Capitals, who who outshot the Jackets 33-22.
Cam Atkinson gave Columbus a 1-0 lead 1:00 into the game on his 25th goal of the season, capping a breakaway with a beautiful move, but Washington generated more scoring chances.
The Capitals just couldn’t solve Korpisalo until Evgeny Kuznetsov slapped one past him with 1:06 left in the third — celebrating with his patented flying bird gesture right in front of the Jackets bench.
That was the only goal celebration the Capitals got to do, though, thanks mostly to Korpisalo. This was his first career start against the Capitals but second appearance this season, after making 14 saves on 15 shots in relief of Bobrovsky on Dec. 8 at Nationwide Arena — a 4-0 victory for Washington.
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Tortorella said he had forgotten about that game during his pregame comments. But it was arguably the Jackets’ worst game of the season — prompting Tortorella to “hit the reset button” by emphasizing defensive structure in the team’s next practice.
The Blue Jackets quickly responded by winning six of seven games (6-0-1) and stayed right in the thick of things in the division race. So, why not go back with Korpisalo over Bobrovsky?
It made all the sense in the world when cast in that light — and made even more sense after watching Panarin blast another one-timer into the net to win a game — setting off the Jackets’ own flying bird celebration.
It wouldn’t have been possible were it not for Korpisalo, who made numerous big stops with his pads and snagged the puck with his glove a number of times to let the Jackets get their sea legs.
“He played good,” Tortorella said. “He played good against Nashville. To me, it was a no-brainer.”
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Michael Arace | Concussion places Rick Nash in 'club' entering retirement
By Michael Arace, Columbus Dispatch – January 12, 2019
Rick Nash on Friday announced his retirement via a statement from his agent, Joe Resnick, who said Nash was forced from the game “due to unresolved issues/symptoms from the concussion sustained last March.”
Any number of former NHL players nodded quietly when they heard the news. Among them was Keith Primeau, whose career was similarly truncated in 2005.
“I got hit because I gave it out myself,” Primeau said. “He (Nash) got hit because he had the puck.”
On Sunday evening, Nash will drop the ceremonial first puck before the Blue Jackets-New York Rangers game at Nationwide Arena. The greatest player in Jackets history will be rousingly and publicly embraced, as well he should. Great player. Better person.
Our Brian Hedger reported, via Twitter, that Nash might submit to radio and/or television interviews, but he “isn’t ready for the full-on press conference setting.”
Primeau, reached by telephone Saturday, can relate. When he announced his retirement in 2006, he did not want to face the bright television lights and the loud reporters in a mass-media session.
“The anxiety ... ” Primeau said, and let that hang there.
Nash, 34, had an extraordinary career: 437 goals, 368 assists and 805 points in 1,060 games over 15 years. He played his first nine seasons with the Jackets from 2002 to ’12 and remains the Jackets’ all- time leader in every meaningful offensive category. He was a 6-foot-4, 211-pound left wing whose game was a mix of classic power and soft-handed art.
Primeau, 47, had an extraordinary career: 266 goals and 619 points in 909 games played. He, too, had a 15-year hitch (with four teams). He was a hulking, 6-foot-5, 220-pound center, a Pierre-Luc Dubois type, who played a 200-foot game with an easy menace. He also played when the gloves dropped fairly regularly.
They are in the same club now.
“It’s not a club per se, but people would be surprised to learn how many are in this club,” Primeau said. “There are guys whose games slow down and they deny they have post-concussion symptoms — and then they retire and come to understand. There are guys who retire because of the symptoms. Every so often, someone reaches out or we cross paths and we talk about it. It helps so much.
“It would be a nice initiative for the league to establish something, some sort of association, to make it easier for these players to come together. I remember (former Flyers all-time great Bobby) Clarke telling me, ‘Call (Nick) Kypreos, call (Jeff) Beukeboom — call guys who’ve gone through this.’ And I didn’t see what good that would do.
“I finally found some solace in talking to guys like that. Guys who’ve gone through post-concussion symptoms, who understand.”
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Primeau’s first seven post-retirement years were “a blur.” There were days when he was compelled to lay prone in a darkened bedroom, in utter quiet. Post-concussion symptoms have a wide range — from sensitivity to noise and light, headaches and dizziness to insomnia, loss of memory and depression — and the symptoms themselves can have a wide range of severity.
The last five or six years, Primeau has gotten closer to “normalcy.” Primeau has four kids (including Cayden, the starting goaltender for the U.S. national team at the recently completed world junior championships). Primeau also has a grandchild. He enjoys.
“All in all, I’m doing great,” he said. “I’m living my life.”
On Nov. 12, the same day that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman entered the Hall of Fame in Toronto, the league settled a concussion lawsuit in a Minnesota court. The latter was a rousing victory for the league’s owners.
Former players who accused the league of failing to protect them were denied class-action status in the suit. This gave the league all the legal leverage, and it settled for a paltry $18.9 million. Compare: The NFL is expected to pay out $1 billion to settle its concussion case.
The NHL settlement also includes provisions for more neurological testing and assessment of players, money for treatment of players who test positive for two or more concussions, and a provision for a “Common Good Fund,” aimed at providing for retired players in need.
Legally, the league’s backside is covered (for now, at least). Bettman should do the right thing now. He must compel owners to do more to protect players. The game has never been faster. He can make it safer.
Nash’s last concussion came from a blow to the head delivered by a nominal player named Cedric Paquette. Paquette was not penalized. Nash joined the club.
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‘No Brainer:’Joonas Korpisalo validates John Tortorella’s trust in wild week for Blue Jackets
By Tom Reed, The Athletic – January 12, 2019
WASHINGTON — Joonas Korpisalo started by default Thursday in Nationwide Arena and on merit Saturday in Capital One Arena.
The results were the same. The Blue Jackets beat a pair of division leaders in overtime thanks in large part to the goalie who was in the nets, not the headlines.
By season’s end, many probably will have forgotten these two performances from Korpisalo, ones which helped quiet the noise surrounding embattled Sergei Bobrovsky. By night’s end, social media seemed more fixated on the Blue Jackets’ post-game celebration of a 2-1 win over the Capitals. Several players mocked the “bird” dance of Evgeny Kuznetsov, who forced overtime with a laser from the right circle in the final minutes of regulation.
Oh, the GIFs were flying. So were the sound bites from the locker room of the defending Stanley Cup champions, who were asked about the celebration and made sure to reference their opening-round playoff victory against the Blue Jackets last season.
“That’s fine,” Kuznetsov told reporters. “It’s nice to get some people that think about me. Same as in April last year, you know.”
“I didn’t see it, but I’m assuming that’s a little bit bitter,” Capitals forward Tom Wilson added. “I’ll leave it at that. I think they can remember what happened, we can remember what happened, and it’s a rivalry now. A team knocks you out, you’re not going to be happy about it. So we’re going to keep going, and I’m sure there will be a few more down the road where you’ll see a little animosity.”
Comments from the Capitals will be more fun to discuss and debate for the Blue Jackets than additional questions regarding Bobrovsky’s one-game, franchise-imposed suspension that he served Thursday for an undisclosed “incident” after the loss in Tampa.
And for shifting the focus back to hockey and team, the Blue Jackets are indebted to Korpisalo.
He made 32 saves in a 4-3 win over the Predators on Thursday and another 32 stops against the Capitals. Both games ended on power-play goals from Artemi Panarin.
It was a fine way to conclude a three-game stretch against elite teams. What could have been a disastrous week following the 4-0 loss to the Lightning and the controversy involving Bobrovsky was rescued by sound team play and the effort of its backup goalie.
“I don’t profess to understand all goaltending stuff, but when I see (Korpisalo) just play under control, that’s when he’s strong,” coach John Tortorella said. “He has the mindset. Things don’t bother him, good or bad. He just keeps it even keel.”
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Some expected Tortorella to return Bobrovsky to the nets Saturday and save Korpisalo for the reeling Rangers at home Sunday. But 90 minutes before faceoff against the Capitals, the coach explained why his backup earned another start.
He was in even stronger with his remarks after Korpisalo validated Tortorella’s decision.
“To me, it was a no-brainer, and he stands in there really well tonight,” the coach said.
How the Bobrovsky drama unfurls is anyone’s guess.
Two weeks ago, it seemed the two-time Vezina Trophy winner and unrestricted free agent was a lock to at least finish the season in Columbus. But the episode in Tampa, where he was pulled for the second time in three games, creates some uncertainty as to where Bobrovsky will call home after the Feb. 25 trade deadline.
The goaltender would have to agree to waive his no-move clause. Sources told The Athletic his agent, Paul Theofanous, paid a visit to the team hotel in Washington on Saturday. General manager Jarmo Kekelainen declined to say whether he met with Theofanous.
The Blue Jackets are trying to keep the distraction out of the locker room even as they welcomed Bobrovsky back to practice Friday and the bench Saturday.
“I don’t thing we are worried about all that shit — pardon my language,” captain Nick Foligno said. “It’s not a focus of ours. I’m just happy (Korpisalo) has had a chance to play two games in a row and I hope he’s feeling good about his game because he’s a helluva a goalie.”
Tortorella started Korpisalo in the season opener at Detroit and used him five times in October. The coach told anyone who would listen the organization had to see what the Finn could offer them given Bobrovsky’s uncertain future.
And then Tortorella, a lover of horses, went into his stable and put the saddle back on Bob. Korpisalo’s appearances grew infrequent. Until Saturday, he hadn’t started consecutive games since Oct. 27-30.
“It’s been fun to play hockey,” said Korpisalo, whose record improved to 8-2-2 with a 3.08 goals against average. “These are fun games. Like today, (the Capitals) got some dangerous guys there, and you can see every guy (on our team) put (out) 100 percent and it’s fun to play behind that kind of team.”
Korpisalo said he was told Friday he would play against the Capitals. His teammates couldn’t have afforded him a better start.
Cam Atkinson scored his 25th goal just a minute into the game, taking a Markus Nutivaara stretch pass and beating Braden Holtby with a backhander on a breakaway.
There would not be another goal until 1:06 remained in third period. The Blue Jackets failed to pad their lead in part because they squandered some glorious chances. They missed the net 16 times in the first two periods and 20 times overall.
Meanwhile, the Capitals peppered Korpisalo with 21 shots over the final two periods. The goalie repeatedly foiled Kuznetsov, who had eight points in six playoff games against the Blue Jackets last April.
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Korpisalo’s best save of the night came early in the third period as Kuznetsov broke in alone and tried to slip the puck between the pads of the goalie. It was one of Kuznetsov’s six shots on target.
The goaltender received plenty of help from his teammates, particularly his defensemen. Zach Werenski prevented a third-period Alex Ovechkin tap-in by getting his stick on the puck at the last second, knocking it to the half-wall.
“I felt pretty good today,” Korpisalo said. “The guys did a really good job helping me out today, as well — huge blocks, clearing in front of the net. It’s fun to play behind that kind of team.”
Logic points to Bobrovsky getting the start Sunday, but who knows with the events of the week. What’s certain is Korpisalo delivered two confident and composed performances against top-flight opponents and that his teammates made them stand up in wins.
Sure, the Blue Jackets watched Kuznetsov flap his wings after a late goal — his first in 17 games. But minutes later, Seth Jones and Pierre-Luc Dubois were among the players mimicking the “bird” as they crowded around Panarin to celebrate the winner.
Panarin became the first Blue Jacket in franchise history to score four overtime goals in a season as the club improved to 7-2 in extra time. The diminutive Russian had a little dance number of his own after ripping a one-timer past Pheonix Copley, who replaced an injured Holtby in the first period.
Maybe the animus between the clubs rises following the way the game ended and how the Capitals responded to the Blue Jackets’ celebration. They meet again Feb. 12 in Nationwide Arena.
Korpisalo’s heroics could be a distant memory by then. They shouldn’t be. He helped change the conversation during an important week in the season.
Analytically speaking
The Athletic’s hockey data dynamo Alison Lukan provided these insights into the Blue Jackets’ overtime win:
• The Jackets earned their overtime win against the Capitals. Corsica.hockey had Columbus getting the win by an expected goal total of 3.55 to 2.24. But the win came in an untraditional way for this team. While the Jackets lost the shot attempt battle (45.83%), the likelihood of their win rode mainly on the ability to own play in the high-danger areas — getting 61.11-percent of all attempts there. They also won two of the three periods in scoring chance generation (the first and the third), ending the night at 46.51-percent overall.
• The other big key factor in the Jackets’ win? Korpisalo. In his second straight start, the Finn saw 63 shot attempts, 33 of which were on target. He saved 1.1 goals above average and his 97.0 save percentage was 3.3-percent higher than expected based on the shots he faced. That’s his best performance in terms of save percentage differential this season when he’s played a full game.
• Key performers tonight: the top line of Panarin, Dubois and Atkinson generated both goals and held the top three spots among Jackets forwards in terms of controlling shot share, scoring chance share and high danger chance share. They also won their primary matchup against Washington’s top line (Kuznetsov, Ovechkin, Wilson). Defensively, Jones played the most minutes of any Jacket (28:17) and was plus-6 in shot share, and plus-4 in both scoring chances and high-danger attempts. In just under 13
24 minutes of time, Dean Kukan was also strong, (shot attempts: plus-6; scoring chances: plus-5; high- danger attempts: plus-4).
• Some comments came post-game from John Tortorella that the team was missing the net more than they hit it. Against Washington, in all situations, of 42 unblocked attempts, the Jackets missed 20, meaning just 40-percent of all attempts were on target. Compare that to season totals for the Jackets who, through 44 games, have put 72.1-percent of all unblocked shot attempts (all situations) on net placing them 19th in the league.
— GIF from 1st Ohio Battery
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‘Post-it’ notes: Reflections on the Blue Jackets’ near-miss offense
By Alison Lukan, The Athletic – January 12, 2019
Perhaps only Chicago Bears kickers have hit the posts more than the Columbus Blue Jackets this season. Through 43 games this year, the Jackets have had shots ring off the goal posts a league-leading 34 times.
In Thursday’s overtime win against the Nashville Predators, in addition to an Artemi Panarin shot that flew off the crossbar, three of the Jackets’ 56 attempts hit a post instead of finding the back of the net.
One of those pucks that drew iron came with 1:27 to go in the second period. The Jackets were protecting a 1-0 lead, and Zach Werenski’s attempt from the left circle hit the left post before falling into the crease.
“Somebody told me we were in the top of the league (in hitting The Post),” Werenski offered.
Do you know how many you have?
“I don’t know, nine, probably?”
Werenski wasn’t far off. It was the eighth time the defenseman has hit the post this year. That total is the highest among all Blue Jackets and it ties Werenski with Calgary’s Johnny Gaudreau and Chicago’s Patrick Kane for most in the league this season.
“I think the best part (of hitting The Post) is that it shows we’re creating offense,” Werenski said. “The goals are going to come eventually. You can’t hit the post 82 games a year.
“But, at the same time, it sucks because it’s not like I’m hitting posts and (the puck) is going to the corner; it’s going post and through the crease. So, it’s so close to going in and obviously I’m shooting in the right spots, it’s just centimeters off from scoring.”
When a puck flies off into the ether after angling off iron, fans groan and raise their hands in disbelief. Players’ eyes might search the rafters of Nationwide Arena for an explanation. Cam Atkinson shares that frustration.
The two-time All-Star has hit the post twice this year and isn’t as optimistic when it comes to what drawing iron means, which is, of course, what you expect from a player who has six seasons with 20-plus goals under his belt. He wants pucks in the net before they’re anywhere else.
When asked whether he knows the Jackets lead the league in shots bouncing off a goal post, Atkinson responded wryly, “a goalie’s best friend, right?” before turning serious.
“It’s not good enough to hit a post,” Atkinson said. “(It means you have to) focus more on shooting in the middle of the net.”
What Atkinson would rather see is a player take a shot that, if it’s not going to go in the net, is going to create a rebound. There is always talk about goaltenders controlling where pucks go off their pads, but skaters can do it, too.
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“It depends on the situation,” Atkinson said. “But, if I’m coming down on a three-on-two, I can see where the goalie is and I’m looking to shoot off the pad, I can place it where I want it in order to put it out in an area where my teammates are.”
Boone Jenner, who has drawn iron three times this season, laughed when he was asked Friday whether he knew the Jackets led the league in shots off the post.
Does it feel like that?
“It sure felt like it last night!”
After scoring the first goal of Thursday’s game, Jenner drew iron after he fired from the right circle off a beautiful cross-slot pass from linemate Nick Foligno. The puck caromed upward after the shot and got out of the Jackets’ control.
“It’s a game of inches, right?” Jenner mused. “(A puck off The Post) is an inch from missing the net, and it’s an inch from going in. A post is definitely a great shot by somebody who’s either picking a corner or it’s a good spot to put it if you can sneak one in right inside the post. But at the same time, you want it to hit the net.”
But lest Jackets fans’ ire toward the hockey gods grow too great, Columbus does not lead the league in hitting all parts of a net’s frame. And, even if they did, the measure of goal posts hit doesn’t seem to have a negative connection to how a team performs overall and it doesn’t mean a team is not scoring goals.
The league counts shots that hit the crossbar separately. The Jackets have done that just four times this season, the ninth-lowest total in the league. When you add together all shots that have hit crossbars and goal posts this season by team and rank them, Columbus comes in sixth behind Vancouver, Vegas, Chicago, Minnesota and Winnipeg. All but one of the six (Minnesota) sit in the top half of the league when it comes to total goals scored.
And hitting a post — or a crossbar — certainly doesn’t seem to be jinxing the Jackets. They’ve won 15 of the 23 games when they’ve hit the post and all three of the games when they’ve hit the crossbar. Thursday’s game was among them and had the highest total of attempts hitting iron by the Jackets this season.
That includes Panarin’s ding off the crossbar 1:48 into the third period.
Although that shot didn’t go in, Panarin might support Werenski’s way of thinking when it comes to posts signaling the goals are coming. 1:22 into overtime, Panarin scored his second power-play goal of the night to win the game. Jenner ended the night with two goals, as well.
And rest assured, the Jackets are definitely not trying to hit any more goal posts — or crossbars — than they have to.
“You love hearing the post, that sound,” Atkinson laughed. “But if you score more goals, maybe it would make the games a little less interesting that way. In this case, I’m all for boring. No posts. All goals.”
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Comeback falls short as Monsters lose to Devils, 5-4
By Staff, Cleveland.com
BINGHAMTON, New York – The Cleveland Monsters narrowed the margin with three unanswered goals in the third period, but their comeback fell short in a 5-4 loss to the Binghamton Devils Saturday night at the Maines Veterans Memorial Arena.
Center Dan DeSalvo netted two goals for Cleveland, in the closing minutes of the first period and opening minutes of the third. But the markers bracketed a middle frame in which Binghamton scored four times, breaking a 1-1 tie and taking a 5-1 lead.
After DeSalvo’s second goal cut the lead to 5-2, Vitaly Abramov followed with an even-strength marker less than two minutes later that made it 5-3. Justin Scott trimmed the margin to one with a 6-on-5 goal at 17:53.
\Cleveland goaltender JF Berube (11-11-3) stopped 17 of 22 shots in the loss. Evan Cormier (4-1-0) saved 32 of 36 for the Devils. The Monsters were 1-for-4 on power plays and killed both of Binghamton’s two chances.
The loss dropped the Monsters to 18-15-4-1 with 41 points, tied for fifth place with the Devils in the North Division of the AHL Eastern Conference.
The Monsters next travel to Quebec to play the Laval Rocket at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
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NHL tests puck and player tracking in regular-season games
By Stephen Whyno, Associated Press – January 11, 2019
LAS VEGAS (AP) — On one screen live video was showing how many feet per second Erik Karlsson was skating. On another was a video-game-like visualization of the game on the ice below between Vegas and San Jose. Nearby screens flashed prop bets — where the next goal would be scored from? would Max Pacioretty skate 3 miles tonight? — as odds were updated by the second.
In a hallway high up in T-Mobile Arena, virtual reality headsets provided a view of the game from the perspective of anyone from Marc-Andre Fleury to Joe Thornton to a fan in section 214.
The NHL this week tested puck and player tracking for the first time in regular-season games, an exciting step with plans to have it place across the league next season. The NHL will join and perhaps surpass the NFL with real-time tracking technology it hopes will have broad ramifications for teams, players and fans from Florida to Vancouver.
An overwhelming amount of data will soon be available for analytics, broadcasters and, yes, gamblers as expanded sports betting takes hold following last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision clearing the way.
“It’s going to change the game in a big way,” said Dave Lehanski, NHL senior vice president of business development. “We’re going to go from tracking or capturing maybe about 350 events per game now — shot, pass, hit, save — to 10,000. That alone at the end of the day, you’re going to have a massive amount of new data that no one has ever seen before.”
Microchips were added to player shoulder pads and fitted inside specially designed pucks for two Vegas Golden Knights home games this week, against the New York Rangers and the San Jose Sharks. Fourteen antennas in the rafters and four more at the suite level tracked movement through radio frequencies and relayed the data to suite 46, where league and Players’ Association executives and representatives from 20 teams and various technology firms, betting companies and TV rights holders were watching along with a handful of reporters.
Tracking was tested at previous All-Star games and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. The latest tests refined the logistics of using the technology in meaningful games, and also showed how the real-time statistics can be used on broadcasts, in betting applications and in creating virtual reality and augmented reality simulations.
“Technology gives us a chance to bring our fans closer to the game, gives them a chance to look at the game from different perspectives,” Commissioner Gary Bettman said as the Golden Knights battled the Sharks. “And the opportunity is unlimited in an era where technology is developing at a record pace.”
Fans will get their first real taste of the tracking system at All-Star Weekend on Jan. 25-26 in San Jose when NBC in the U.S. and Rogers in Canada will have access to the data to use on their broadcasts. If all goes according to plan, the full range of puck and player tracking will be in place to begin next season.
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The NHL and NHLPA have been discussing puck and player tracking for several years, and millions of dollars have been invested in the project. Player concerns over tracking data being used against them have been quelled enough that they agreed to wear the microchips.
“I do think the potential positives far outweigh any negatives,” said Mathieu Schneider, a retired defenseman and special assistant to the NHLPA executive director. “It’s incumbent upon us to make sure we’re doing not only for the current guys what we can but for future guys. … I think the timing’s right.”
The NHL owns the data but must share it with the union. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said the sides are on the same page and will talk about it more for the next collective bargaining agreement. One of the conditions is that teams are not allowed to use player tracking data in salary arbitration.
“Who knows what’s going to happen with it?” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. “I think people like to see different stats, and the NHL’s probably trying to give fans a little bit of something like that. Maybe it affects some guys, maybe it doesn’t. Hopefully it only enhances players and their skills and how they play the game.”
The NHL will join the NFL as the only major North American sports leagues with players wearing tracking technology. The NBA and Major League Baseball use sophisticated systems that can include radar and cameras.
Jogmo World Corp. and the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany developed this particular system in conjunction with the NHL over the past three years. It has taken that long just to get it right; the rubber used to make pucks originally didn’t work with the sensors. The system tracks a puck 2,000 times per second and players 200 times per second.
“Overall, hockey’s the most challenging sport that you can think of because the highest mechanics, the highest speed, the highest impact,” Jogmo founder and CEO Martin Bachmayer said. “We had to change the puck recipe, the puck mixture to make that work. That was super difficult.”
The NHL won’t say how much, but the new pucks are considerably more expensive than the frozen rubber varieties used over the past 100-plus years of hockey and any fans who went home with a puck from one of the games unknowingly got a piece of history and a valuable souvenir. How referees handle them and how equipment managers deal with the microchips on the shoulder pads were major elements of the testing this week, and adjustments will be made based on feedback from players and officials before next season.
Starting next season, broadcasters will be able to flash up-to-the-second data during games, and at some point fans will be able to customize puck and player tracking stats as they watch online. The goal is to try to attract new viewers and give hardcore fans more to sink their teeth into.
“The casuals will use it as a way to understand just how fast (hockey is),” NHL chief administrative officer Steve McArdle said. “All the things that they have heard about hockey will come to life through data right in real time. The avids, if they want to go super deep on the analytics that are going to be derived out of this thing, it’s a rabbit hole that you could go as deep as you want to go.”
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It could also change the way the game itself is played. Teams already have their own proprietary data, and the influx of standardized numbers and information with pinpoint accuracy down to the inch will make analytics even more advanced.
“They want to have more information, so that really provides us with an opportunity to really make the clubs better and smarter,” NHL chief revenue officer Keith Wachtel said.
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NHL and NHLPA meet to discuss CBA, World Cup of Hockey
By Stephen Whyno, Associated Press – January 11, 2019
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The NHL and NHL Players’ Association held a lengthy meeting to discuss keeping the current collective bargaining agreement past 2020 and agreed to meet again next week to continue the talks.
The sides met for more than two hours Thursday to talk about a CBA extension that could pave the way for a World Cup of Hockey in 2020.
“I think we had a constructive dialogue,” Commissioner Gary Bettman told The Associated Press on Thursday night. “But beyond that, we have nothing to announce and I have nothing to add.”
The current CBA runs until 2022, but the league and players each have the option this September to terminate it effective Sept. 15, 2020. Because a World Cup would happen in the fall of 2020, the league has linked labor peace to the ability to put on another version of the tournament, which returned in 2016.
Seahawks end-of-season awards: Who is our MVP? Breakout player? Biggest disappointment?
Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly have said previously a CBA agreement would need to be in place by around the end of January to begin planning a World Cup. It’s not clear if enough progress has been made to make that a realistic objective, though NHLPA special assistant to the executive director Mathieu Schneider voiced some positives about the situation.
“We went longer than we thought (we would),” Schneider said. “We’re having another meeting. So I think that speaks for itself.”
Daly said the discussions were “substantive” enough to keep talking next week in Toronto.
Among the issues players have expressed concerns with in the current CBA are escrow payments to confirm to a 50/50 split of revenue that decrease their paychecks and no agreement to participate in the Olympics.
The World Cup of Hockey, where revenues were split evenly in 2016 between owners and players, would seem to be a subject of agreement. But because of escrow, the Olympics and other issues, there’s no simple path to a solution.
“It’s too early to really predict success or failure,” Daly said. “But I think there’s a commitment by both sides to try to meet again and see if we can move forward on something that might work for a CBA extension.”
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The Athletic / Duhatschek Notebook: Tempering trade deadline expectations, California struggles and a Rick Nash appreciation
By Eric Duhatschek, The Athletic – January 11, 2019
The NHL trading deadline is approaching and the greatest fear of every contending team’s general manager should be overplaying their respective hands. A good Latin to English dictionary helps here – caveat emptor: let the buyer beware. The Washington Capitals are a recent and convenient example of what actually works.
In the years when the Capitals were in their so-called championship window, they frequently made aggressive moves at the deadline, thinking they could land that one extra piece that would be a difference maker. In 2015, for example, they surrendered both a second- and a third-round pick to the Calgary Flames for Curtis Glencross, who played 18 regular-season games for them, and 10 more in the playoffs and produced exactly one goal in those 10 games. Not good. Two years later, they went all in on Kevin Shattenkirk as a rental, giving up a first-rounder to the St. Louis Blues for a player they hoped would add a spark to a power play that already included Alex Ovechkin.
It didn’t work either. If anything, it lessened John Carlson’s role on the team and threw everything into a state of confusion. Then, of course, last year happened. Even though the Caps won their division, they were hardly the talk of the league come playoff time – and maybe one reason was they made only a couple of judicious tweaks at the trade deadline, designed to bring in depth on defence.
People only really remember the one that worked – Michal Kempny coming in to steady a defence that had lost a number of players to free agency (or in the case of Nate Schmidt, to Vegas in the expansion draft). The cost was reasonable too – just a third-rounder. They’d also brought in Jakub Jerabek from Montreal, who wasn’t nearly as good a fit and didn’t contribute nearly as much, but they spent just a fifth-rounder to get him.
In the end, the Capitals won the Stanley Cup because of the contributions they received from Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, Carlson, Braden Holtby and others – and that part of the equation never changes.
You only ever win if the core of the team that got your hopes up in the first place, performs at an elite level in the playoffs – and then gets the help from the supporting cast when needed. It’s a formula that really doesn’t change, new NHL or old.
But it’s also why, in the next six weeks or so, as the hysteria builds towards the Feb. 25 trading deadline, it’s necessary for the GMs making the actual trades – and the fans bases cheering them on – to separately take deep breaths and not get caught up in the notion that one blockbuster move will be the difference between celebrating a championship and finishing among the runners-ups.
It rarely happens.
When he was an NHL GM, Brian Burke used to repeatedly say GMs made more mistakes on deadline day than on any other day of the year. I’d add the opening day of free agency to that observation, but I also think he’s on to something.
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And all of that is a roundabout way of highlighting what Burke’s former team, the Flames, should do. Not only are they unexpectedly sitting atop the Western Conference standings, they even have a chance to go on a playoff run.
Even with more than a third of the season to go, it looks as if the top five teams – Calgary, Vegas, San Jose, Nashville and Winnipeg – have created enough separation to think they are reasonably certain of qualifying for the playoffs and thus can plan for a scenario in which they want their optimum rosters in place for April’s start of the postseason dance.
The Flames have an obvious question in goal because of Mike Smith’s erratic play, but they have also received strong work from David Rittich, who has more or less won the top job with his play this season. It’s an interesting year for the goalie market at the trade deadline because any one of Jonathan Quick (LA), Sergei Bobrovsky (Columbus) or even Jimmy Howard (Detroit) could be in play.
But the acquisition price is likely too high – and it sends the wrong message to your team if you’re bringing in a new starting goalie at the trade deadline. St. Louis tried it once in 2014 with Ryan Miller and it flat-out didn’t work. L.A. tried renting Ben Bishop as an insurance policy in 2017 and that just created confusion in the Kings’ crease. Unless one or the other is seriously injured, the Flames are expected to sink or swim with the Rittich-Smith tandem and then reevaluate once the year is over.
Calgary is deep enough at forward and thus, the one move they seem genuinely interested in making is to add a third-pair, left-shot defenceman, preferably on an expiring contract, to play with rookie Rasmus Andersson.
Currently, fellow rookie Oliver Kylington is playing there, and this has been good for the long-term development of the team’s blueline depth – to see how two kids, playing together, can handle an every- day NHL workload. Fellow rookie Juuso Valimaki was showing great promise there, but a high-ankle sprain pushed him out of the lineup – and when he’s ready to return, probably sometime later this month, he will likely start out with their AHL affiliate in Stockton.
In short, the goal is to get a serviceable rental at a reasonable acquisition cost. As I scour the available players, the two that make the most sense are both currently with the St. Louis Blues, Jay Bouwmeester and Carl Gunnarsson. Both are on expiring contracts, Bouwmeester earning $5.4 million, Gunnarsson $2.9 million, so by the deadline, they will be manageable deals. Bouwmeester is 35, the same age as the Flames’ Mark Giordano, and he played three-plus years for the Flames before being moved out in the 2013 player purge that also saw Jarome Iginla exit. He is averaging 19:33 per night, and playing mostly on the second pair with Colton Parayko. Gunnarsson is 32, and has had an injury-filled year which has limited him to 12 games. But when healthy, he often lines up with Alex Pietrangelo on the top pair.
Bouwmeester played a prominent defensive role on Canada’s 2014 men’s gold-medal winning team and in 2016, he made the World Cup team. His public perception in Calgary wasn’t great, but it was only because while he was a genuine offensive threat in his previous incarnation with Florida (consecutive years of 12, 15 and 15 goals), he was mostly a shutdown guy for the Flames during his three-plus years in Calgary. Last summer, the Flames made a pitch for a similar sort of player, but Dan Hamhuis ended up signing with Nashville, one of his former teams. Bouwmeester is nearing the end, but he is not quite at the end – sifting through to score a nice goal versus the Montreal Canadiens Thursday night reminded you of what a silky smooth skater he was. The only mistake Calgary made with Bouwmeester was paying
34 him too much money for what he was – an efficient defender who wasn’t chipping in on the offensive side of the game. But here, now, he wouldn’t have to – and this would just be for the short term anyway. As a fellow Swede, Gunnarsson could also be a nice temporary fit with Andersson.
The Flames have Giordano and Hanifin penciled in as their top two for at least a couple more years, which is why they want a player on an expiring contract between now and the trade deadline. The goal is no to block, in any way, the path for Valimaki and Kylington going forward in their respective NHL careers.
California struggles
The last time the NHL’s two southern California based franchises, the Kings and Ducks, missed the playoffs in the same season was back in 2003-04, the year before the lockout shut the league down for a full season. Since then, the teams have combined for three Stanley Cups – one by Anaheim, two by Los Angeles. The Ducks have only missed the playoffs twice since the lockout; the Kings just twice in the last nine years.
But on the heels of a nine-game losing streak, the Ducks are in danger of missing the playoffs and the Kings have seemed out of it for a while. The Ducks are leading the league in man-games lost to injury and just this past week, they got two important pieces back – Cam Fowler, their nominal No. 1, who averaged a team-high 24:51 in ice time last year, and Rickard Rakell, who led the team in goals (34) and points (69) a year ago. In their absence, the Ducks have struggled to score and their power play is ranked in the bottom five of the NHL (Fowler and Rakell would be two-fifths of the top unit when healthy).
In short, they have a lot riding on Fowler and Rakell getting their sea legs back in a hurry because, after Friday’s home date against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Ducks embark on the toughest part of their schedule – they have 14 of the next 18 away from home. The Ducks have lost eight overtime games in their first 24 home starts, including three on this last losing streak, which was punctuated by a discouraging 2-1 loss to Ottawa on Wednesday night, in which the Senators were missing No. 1 goalie Craig Anderson, their No. 1 defenceman Thomas Chabot and their No. 2 forward, Matt Duchene.
This really is a critical time for Anaheim, because all season long, they’ve been wondering how good they could be if they ever got all-hands-on deck. That isn’t going to happen anytime soon, not as long as both Corey Perry and Patrick Eaves remain out long term, but this now is essentially as good as it gets for them. They’ve got Daniel Sprong in from Pittsburgh and Pontus Aberg off the waiver wire – though he was a healthy scratch versus the Sens. They need to prove that this collection of the team can get it going. Otherwise, change is coming and it could start with the valuable two-way forward, Jakob Silfverberg, available at the deadline because he is on an expiring contract and the Ducks are deep on the right side.
The Kings, meanwhile, are at the point now where making the playoffs is the longest of long shots and so, the goal will be to maximize their return on players they could trade. The No. 1 target will almost certainly be defenceman Jake Muzzin, though Alec Martinez (a left shot who plays the right side) could be in play as well. Earlier this week, during the process in which he assisted me in selecting a Canadian World Cup roster, former NHL and Olympic coach Dave King was extremely bullish on Muzzin as a player, believing him to be criminally underrated.
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Of Muzzin, King said: “I know he’s not a pretty player, but he’s a better skater and more mobile than you think – and really strong with the puck. In a season where it’s really going awful in L.A., he’s personally having a pretty good season. Once they got him back in the lineup, right away, their transition game was better. Muzzin can tailor his game to play with anybody. On the power play, he’s a smart player with the puck off the point. He sees guys off to the side. He doesn’t always just blast it through. And PK-wise, is there a guy who blocks lanes and shots as well as he does in close to his goal? He’s really effective down low. Once in a while, the odd foot race, in short spaces, gives him issues, but he’s so positionally smart. In a lot of ways, he’s like Giordano. I just love the way Muzzin plays. He’s a really good player.”
A Rick Nash appreciation
Rick Nash’s decision to retire Friday because of ongoing concussion symptoms got me reminiscing, which can be a dangerous occupation because it sends you down a rabbit hole – of remembering all the plays and all the contact over the years. Nash became one of my favorite people in the game because of the way he carried himself – quiet and thoughtful. It took a little time to realize that if he didn’t blurt out an answer to a question right away, it was only because he was thinking it through. What a rare treat that is.
Many will focus on his career, which was distinguished – 15 years, 1,060 NHL games, 437 goals, 805 points. Nash won two Olympic gold medals on behalf of Canada and went to the All-Star Game six times. I got to know him right at the start of his career, 2004-05, when he and Joe Thornton went to play for HC Davos in the Swiss league during the lockout that eventually cancelled the NHL season.
Davos was my second stop on a 14-day tour of NHLers playing in Switzerland and Sweden and I’d alerted Thornton, through his agent, JP Barry, to approximately when I’d be arriving. That first day, I went to watch them practice at the Eisstadion, in the hopes of speaking to both of them afterward. Thornton had a better idea. The snow had fallen overnight and he and Nash wanted to ride the gondola up the mountain, have lunch and soak up the sun. How about dinner instead? They’d be by the Sheraton Arabella at 7 p.m. to pick me up. Thornton was learning to drive a stick shift for the first time, so that was a memorable ride. But we made it to the Restaurant La Correta unscathed and there, Joe being Joe, he immediately tried to talk me into ordering the house special, which was ground horse meat, to see my reaction. I passed.
Most of the next two hours were spent, the two of us, going back and forth. Nash was a quiet presence at the table and I really needed to ask specific questions to draw him out. He’d been coming off a 41- goal NHL season in Columbus, which was good enough to share the Rocket Richard trophy with Jarome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk. Two years into his NHL career, he was anxious to get back to work, but acknowledged that if the lockout dragged on, there were worse alternatives than playing in Switzerland – a compact 44-game schedule, a beautiful village in the mountains, a gorgeous arena, and acres and acres of ice to play on, which took some time to get used to. But for Nash, the hardest adjustment was to the slower pace of life. In Switzerland, he said, everyone expected them to linger three hours over the evening meal, whereas in North America, it was 40 minutes, in and out, and on to the next thing.
But it didn’t take long to adjust and Nash enjoyed the experience so much that in 2012-13, during the next lockout, he went back to Davos. The timing of this one wasn’t great either.
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He’d been traded from Columbus to the New York Rangers the previous July and the Rangers looked like a legitimate Stanley Cup contender that year. Nash’s debut season in New York went well – 21 goals, 21 assists in 44 games – but the playoffs were a struggle, with just a single goal in 12 games, and after their second-round exit, the Rangers replaced John Tortorella with Alain Vigneault behind the bench.
In Vigneault’s first season, as a result of renovations to Madison Square Garden, the Rangers opened training camp in Banff. I drove up to visit Nash there and we remarked about the weird coincidence – that every time we sat down for an extended interview, it seemed to be in a world-class mountain resort. We talked about his expectations for the season, but what I remember the most were his impressions of New York. While the rest of the world might see it as a Woody Allen movie set, or a setting for a Lou Reed song, he found it to be a charming collection of small neighborhoods, where everybody knows your name.
He loved it. “Before I went there, I thought I was going to live in Times Square – and walk out the door and there are millions of people there,” Nash said. “It’s totally the opposite. It’s a lot more chill. You’re in the different areas that feel like neighborhoods, but still you get the amazing restaurants, the shows, whatever it might be. It has to be, easily, the greatest city in the world. There’s always something to do, always something going on, so much life, so much energy. I really do love it there.”
That year, 2013-14, Nash missed 17 games early in the season, as a result of a concussion, but in the 65 he played, managed 26 goals. But the playoffs proved problematic again, with just three goals in 25 games, and the Rangers ended up losing the final to the Los Angeles Kings. Nash had a scoring renaissance the next year – 42 goals in 79 games, which represented a career high, but the Rangers fell in the seventh game of the Eastern Conference final to Tampa and that was the closest he ever came to another trip to the final.
Last year, he waived his no-trade clause to join the Bruins as a rental, but Boston lost in the second round.
Nash, an unrestricted free agent, was hoping that his concussion symptoms would eventually subside and he could continue his career at some point in 2018-19.
Ultimately, according to the statement released Friday by his agents, doctors advised Nash the risk was too great. It means, at 34, his career is over, far too soon. As a player, with that large wingspan, Nash was usually good for a handful of highlight reel goals every season. As a person, he was engaging, introspective, thoughtful. For most of Friday morning, Twitter was full of thank yous and get-well-soon messages from his former teams and from the people whose paths he crossed through his career. All of them echo my thoughts too: He was a real pro and a genuinely good person, who will hopefully get his health back soon, so he can move on with the rest of his life.
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The Athletic / Early projections for Team Russia’s World Cup of Hockey roster
By Eric Duhatschek, The Athletic – January 11, 2019
Igor Larionov played in four World Cups on behalf of Russia, though the first three came back when the tournament was called the Canada Cup and the nation he represented was known as the Soviet Union.
But it wasn’t just a difference in semantics or labelling back then. Long before Russia’s top players became fixtures in the NHL, there was an aura of mystery surrounding them, a language barrier as well as the clash of different playing styles. They did things well, but differently.
Larionov’s three appearances in the Canada Cup – 1981, 1984 and 1987 – produced some of the most memorable hockey of the era. The Soviets’ win in the ’81 final was led by the KLM line – Larionov between Sergei Makarov and Vladimir Krutov. They knocked heads with the top Canadians of the time – the Oilers of Gretzky, Messier, Coffey and Anderson and the Islanders of Trottier, Bossy and Potvin – and most of the time, gave them all they could handle.
These were tenaciously fought matches, with political overtones, beyond all the fabulous hockey being played. Postgame, after the Soviets in 1981, I happened to be in the corridors of the Montreal Forum watching two silver-haired men, Alan Eagleson and Valentin Sych, wrestle over an equipment bag that contained the Canada Cup trophy, the Soviets operating on the assumption that since they won the event, it was theirs to keep. A surreal moment, but it also illustrated how high tensions ran, and how much was at stake.
According to Larionov, today’s World Cup isn’t played at nearly the same intensity levels as it once was, just because of how hockey at the highest levels has become a giant melting pot, and all the residual suspicion and mistrust of the Cold War era is gone.
“My perspective on the World Cup from two years ago compared to 20 years ago is, it’s different,” Larionov said. “To me, a World Cup is like an upgraded NHL All-Star Game. There’s not much physicality and not much rivalry. The older players, in the month of August and September, are trying not to hurt anybody. They are trying to play a minimal-contact, high-speed game. To me, when you go back to the ’87 Canada Cup, you can taste blood. I don’t mean it had to be brutal, but it was physical and a real competition and a real sense of urgency. Plus, you want to have the pride of playing for your country.
“In August or September, let’s say (Alex Ovechkin) goes against Tom Wilson. Wilson is not going to hit Ovi and Ovi isn’t going to hit Wilson. Or (Jets’ teammates) Blake Wheeler isn’t going to hit Patrik Laine and Laine isn’t going to hit Wheeler. It’s nice to have a high-end, high-skill game, but at the same time, it doesn’t have the same spice or fire as it once did. To me, that’s what was lacking from the last tournament, when Canada played Team Europe in the final.”
Larionov, incidentally, thinks the 2020 World Cup should be staged in China as a test event for the 2022 Olympics – more on that later.
The purpose of the call to Larionov was to enlist his aid in picking a prospective Russian roster for the 2020 World Cup.
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Russia, with its current player pool, would pose a formidable challenge, largely because of its depth up front and in goal. In part, because NHL players did not participate in the last Olympics, Russia was able to squeak out a victory, defeating Germany in the gold-medal game, a victory that was achieved largely thanks to players from the KHL.
But chances are, there might only be one or two KHL players on Russia’s 2020 World Cup team and it might depend upon when Minnesota Wild prospect Kirill Kaprizov decides to come to the NHL. But that would be quite a coup for Russia – to win the Canada Cup/World Cup for the first time since 1981, as the reigning Olympic champions.
So, without further preamble, a look at what Russia’s 2020 World Cup roster may look like:
So, what do we have here?
Up front, Russia has three lines with eye-popping scoring potential – and real mix-and-match potential. Ovechkin and Capitals teammate Evgeni Kuznetsov would form two-thirds of one excellent line, with lots of options on the right side. Many of Russia’s NHL wingers play the off wing, so Ovechkin and Kuznetsov could be flanked by any of Nikita Kucherov, Vladimir Tarasenko, Evgenii Dadonov or Alex Radulov. In fact, someone that normally plays the right side in the NHL would almost certainly have to shift to the left wing in order to balance four scoring lines, which is often the way Russian coaches, even in the modern era, sometimes coach. Artemi Panarin and Artem Anisimov had good chemistry in their days with the Blackhawks and though we have Dadonov filling out that line, that could also be a place where improving Hurricanes’ winger Andrei Svechnikov fits in a very short time. And Kucherov and Vladislav Namestnikov have a history from playing together with the Lightning. It is a collection of forwards with an impressive pedigree.
Ovechkin is Ovechkin. Kucherov is, once again, in contention for the Art Ross trophy. Evgeni Malkin and Ovechkin have both won NHL scoring titles and MVP awards. Panarin was the 2016 Calder Trophy winner.
His Blue Jackets’ teammate, goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, is a two-time winner of the Vezina Trophy. Tampa’s Andrei Vasilevskiy was a Vezina finalist last year.
A trio of Russians – Ovechkin, Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov – joined Malkin in the NHL winner’s circle last year, winning their first ever Stanley Cups.
In short, there’s a lot to like about the Russians up front and in goal. The only real shortcoming, according to Larionov, is depth on the blueline, where they don’t have nearly the same high-octane firepower as the other top hockey-playing nations.
When asked how Russia might fare in the next World Cup against teams similarly stacked with NHL stars, Larionov gave an honest unflinching appraisal.
“I agree with you up front, but who is playing defence? That’s a question mark,” Larionov said.
Russia has two excellent young defencemen in the Flyers’ Ivan Provorov and the Lightning’s Mikhail Sergachev, but it falls off after that.
“There are two guys, but after that, it’s hard,” said Larionov. “With Sweden, it’s like you’re talking about (Victor) Hedman and (Erik) Karlsson or in Finland, they have (Miro) Heiskanen – guys like that. You could
39 have 10 good D-men playing for Sweden, but in Russia, you have just a couple of young guys. The older guys who play in the KHL, it’s a different level. When you have guys up front like Panarin, Kuznetsov, Ovechkin, and Malkin, you’ve got to have some high-end D-men who can play the game at the same level, and who can read the game well and pass the puck and keep up. (Andrei) Markov was the best one, but Markov is 40 years old and I don’t think he can skate at this level. So basically, it’s (Nikita) Nesterov and (Alexey) Marchenko (who are the top D-men in the KHL). They’re good, but it’s not the same level.”
With Kucherov in the midst of what could be an MVP season, I asked Larionov if he had any inkling of why the Lightning forward had raised his game to a new level over the last few years. Larionov replied that he hadn’t seen him play enough live to offer an honest assessment. That’s what I’ve always liked about my interactions with Larionov for going on 30 years now. If he has an opinion on a topic, he is not afraid to express it. If he doesn’t, he won’t fill your notebook with meaningless platitudes.
Eventually, our conversation steered away from the Russian team and back to the World Cup format, and where the event might be staged next time around. After centralizing the 2016 tournament in Toronto, the tentative new plan for 2020 is to use multiple host cities in North America, which is what they did in the original Canada Cup days.
But Larionov would be even more ambitious – he would put the event in China for two weeks.
“It would generate huge interest – because the big names would all be there,” Larionov said. “That would be a big test for the Chinese market. If you had all the top players – (Patrick) Kane and Crosby and Malkin and Ovechkin and Laine and (Elias) Pettersson – having all those guys in one place, that would be huge.
“That’s what this should be. That’s what you want to do – go to that market with the best possible players for two weeks. It could have a huge impact right away. People in Canada and the U.S., the ones who care, are going to watch the games, even if they’re played in China. But people in Asia, getting to watch the games (live), that’s going to huge on the Asian market.
“You can see the fading superstars of soccer go there and there are 60,000 fans watching. You’re going to have household names in the world of hockey coming to China. Then you’re going to ask the IOC for the money to get those players to compete in the bigger scale of the Olympic Games in 2022. To me, that should be the idea.”
According to Larionov, the primary difference between the two events is that the World Cup would appeal to hard-core hockey fans, but the Olympics attracts sports fans – a much broader potential audience and thus a far more important stage if the goal is to grow the game worldwide. Like a lot of people, Larionov believes the NHL needs to find its way back to Olympic participation.
“The World Cup – it’s only of interest to the six or seven countries who play in it. The concept of that – it’s very interesting to make money and to have the best-against-the-best, but it’s basically like a big formula of the All-Star Game.”
Now, a couple other Team Russia projections from The Athletic colleagues:
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