MEDIA CLIPS Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Detroit Red Wings November 21, 2019
Columbus Blue Jackets Blue Jackets 5, Canadiens 2: 3-2-1 rundown
By Brian Hedger – The Columbus Dispatch – November 20, 2019
It wasn’t their best look, but the Blue Jackets finally put a few pucks in the net in a 5-2 victory against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena.
It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, the Blue Jackets’ best game.
They were outshot (32-26), gave up more scoring chances than they created, failed to get the puck out of their own zone and – if we’re being honest here – were outhustled far too often Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens.
They won, 5-2, at Nationwide Arena, after coughing up a 1-0 lead and roaring back with four unanswered goals to win their second straight game despite those hiccups.That cannot be discounted, especially for a team that improved to 8-8-4 and won consecutive games for just the third time in its first 20 games – first since October.
The Blue Jackets also set a season-high with five goals, scored more than three in a game for the first time in nearly a month and got an outstanding night in net from Joonas Korpisalo (30 saves). They also got some "puck luck," on a strange goal by rookie Emil Bemstrom in the third, which ended a 2-2 tie after a friendly bounce off the glass behind the Canadiens’ net.
That all has to count for something, even though the Jackets’ could’ve played better overall.
"Yeah, and that’s the good news," coach John Tortorella said. "I saw some really good offensive plays. I saw some confidence with the puck. I saw us get out of our end zone under control. There were certainly some hiccups with it, but I thought we played better offensively. So, that’s really good news. That shouldn’t take away from how hard we have to play."
Here is a 3-2-1 rundown of the Jackets’ pick-me-up – three takeaways, two questions and one more thing to know:
Three takeaways
1) Another Bemstrom bounce
After going 15 games into his NHL career without scoring a goal, Bemstrom has scored three in the past five games – not to mention a career-high five-game point streak after his goal and assist against Montreal.
His goals, however, haven’t exactly been works of art – unless, of course, you’re into some sort of new wave abstract surrealism.
The first, scored Nov. 7 in Arizona, followed his wrist shot that goalie Darcy Kuemper deflected to the end boards. Bemstrom chased it down, flipped a shot back toward the right post and the puck squirted through on the short side. The second, scored the following game against the Colorado Avalanche, capped a power play – when Bemstrom redirected the puck into the net off a blocked shot that sent it right to his stick.
The third one topped them all, though. After getting the puck in front of the net from Sonny Milano, Bemstrom sent a backhand over the crossbar. It hit the glass behind the Canadiens’ net, caromed back toward Montreal goalie Carey Price and bounced in off the goalie’s blocker.
"I was trying to go backhand and missed the net," Bemstrom said. "Then, it somehow bounced back on the goalie and went in. I just saw the net going up a little bit and then it was in the net, so I didn’t know if it was a good goal."
The goal did, indeed, count. It was a big one too, giving Columbus a 3-2 lead at 6:54 of the third. Jenner made it 4-2 on a power play four minutes later and Dubois scored his second of the game at 14:33 to cap the scoring.
"It’s not like clear shots, you know?" said Bemstrom, who has a one-timer that helped him become the youngest player to lead the Swedish Hockey League in goals (23) last season. "They’ve been, like, bouncing pucks, behind the net. It’s a good start, I think."
2) Another lull, another escape
It is something that is becoming a trend the Blue Jackets need to shake sooner than later.
Despite playing well for stretches, lapses in effectiveness and dips in effort lead to the puck spending too much time in the Columbus zone. The past two games, against the St. Louis Blues on Friday and Tuesday against Montreal, it has led to 1-0 leads turning into 2-1 holes.
That isn’t a recipe for long-term success and a team trying to dig out of the Metropolitan Division’s basement cannot afford to let it continue much longer.
The Blue Jackets were simply outworked for much of the second period and parts of the third, as proven by the edge the Canadiens had in total attempts. Montreal had a whopping 73.5 percent of the 5-on-5 attempts in the second and third (36-13), but Columbus capitalized on a couple scoring chances to build a multiple-goal lead.
"I think we have to be a harder-working team more consistently in the games," Tortorella said. "Listen, I’m happy they found a way; we made some offensive plays that we weren’t (making) in the prior games, but I think we’ve lost ourselves in terms of the identity, as far as how hard you have to work. That has to be a staple for this hockey club. It has been for quite a while. I think we lost a little bit of that and we’re going to have to find it pretty quickly."
3) Korpisalo saves the day
This time, Canadiens players were the ones shaking their heads in disbelief. It’s been the other way around most of the season, which is a big reason Columbus was tied for last place in the Metropolitan Division going into this game.
The Jackets gave up too many scoring chances, again, even after seizing the lead in the third, but Korpisalo stopped every one of them. He made a number of difficult saves, but especially in the second and third periods. He was able to hold the Canadiens at bay until Columbus mounted a comeback.
"I’m relaxed and I feel like I’m just being me in there, playing with my strengths," Korpisalo said. "I’m not thinking too much Just going in there and enjoying the game, trying to help the team win."
His performance didn’t go unnoticed.
"Korpi gives us a chance," Tortorella said. "He made some terrific saves at key times for us. You know, we’re certainly not used to playing with a three-goal lead with three-or-four minutes left. He made some key saves, in the second period too. We just watched them play in the second period. He made some huge saves at that time."
Two questions
1) Is the power play coming around?
It’s too soon to say the Jackets have a full-fledged weapon on the man-advantage, but they’re showing encouraging signs after a brutal start.
After going 1-for-2 against Montreal, the Blue Jackets have scored at least one power-play goal in four of the past five games and six of the past nine. They are 6-for-29 in those past nine games, clicking at 20.7 percent – or 5.1 percent higher than their overall season percentage (15.6 percent).
They also look more confident with their passing game within the offensive zone, which has helped set up some of the goals.
2) Who comes out for Foligno?
This was the final game of captain Nick Foligno’s three-game suspension for an illegal hit Nov. 9 on Colorado Avalanche center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.
Eric Robinson was recalled prior to the first game of the suspension, last week in Montreal, and has scored in both games against the Canadiens. In fact, Robinson’s speed and skill were eye-opening, especially while teaming with Josh Anderson –another power forward who’s a blur at top speed.
Does Tortorella disrupt that chemistry by removing Robinson on Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings or will somebody else get the hook? Or will Foligno, who has struggled like the rest of the Blue Jackets, have to wait for an opportunity to open?
"Robbie has played two really good games for us," Tortorella said. "Got a decision to make. Nick’s coming back in. I’m not sure what we’re going to do as far as the lineup. I don’t think it’s going to be the same cast we look at to take out. We’ll look at the video and figure out what we’re going to do. Or, are we going to change the lineup? I don’t know."
Other options who could be scratched to make room might include center Riley Nash – who has already been scratched once – and center Alexander Wennberg, even though he picked up the secondary assist on Robinson’s goal and is playing well on the power play.
If Robinson comes out, which could happen, it’s going to be a tough call. He has blinding speed, but also looks comfortable with the puck on his stick. He also showed an impressive one-timer to beat Price for the game’s first goal. "I’ve always liked Robbie because he stands out tremendously with his speed," Tortorella said. "If we can just keep on working with him and learning the game ... I think they did a good job with him in Cleveland."
This was the Jackets’ first victory by multiple goals and their three goals in the third set a season-high for goals in a period. It was also the first time Columbus scored more than three goals in a game since Oct. 26 in Philadelphia, when the Flyers overcame a 4-2 deficit in the third for a 7-4 victory.
Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 11.21.2019
Blue Jackets reportedly considering adding Paul MacLean, but would the addition help struggling power play?
By Aaron Portzline – The Athletic – November 20, 2019
COLUMBUS, Ohio — For a second consecutive season, the Blue Jackets might be headed outside the organization to find help for their chronically struggling power play.
Paul MacLean, who hasn’t coached in the NHL since his contract as an assistant coach in Anaheim was not renewed in 2017, has been whispered in recent days as a possible candidate to join the Blue Jackets’ staff.
On Wednesday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Blue Jackets were “considering” adding MacLean to aid in the power play.
Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, coach John Tortorella and assistant coach Brad Larsen did not immediately respond to text messages from The Athletic. MacLean also did not return a text message seeking comment.
Last season, the Blue Jackets brought in Martin St. Louis in mid-January as a power-play consultant to help their ailing special teams, insisting it wasn’t an affront to Larsen’s coaching because St. Louis was only a part-time assistant, not to mention a Hall of Fame player. St. Louis would have been retained this season but opted not to return because he’s heavily involved in his kids’ hockey teams.
But MacLean’s hiring, should it come to pass, would certainly call into question Larsen’s future standing with the club. His contract is believed to run through the 2020-21 season, concurrently with Tortorella’s.
Oddly enough, reports of this move have surfaced at a time when the Blue Jackets are starting to warm up with the man advantage. Over the past nine games, the Jackets are 6-of-29 (20.7 percent) on the power play, including a clutch goal by Boone Jenner in Tuesday’s 5-2 win over Montreal.
“Yeah, we’ve kind of kicked in here the last little while,” Tortorella said after Wednesday’s practice. “I’m not sure how many games, but I know we’ve had a number of power-play goals here.
“I thought we got momentum off our first power play, and to score on the second one — the fourth goal (4-2) — that’s huge.” Still, the power play, which ranks 24th in the NHL at 15.6 percent this season, has been a sore spot with the Blue Jackets for almost three years. Since Jan. 23, 2017, the Blue Jackets have fired at only 15.4 percent, or last in the NHL. Anaheim (16.1 percent) is ranked 30th.
Earlier this season, Tortorella offered an angry defense of Larsen, who has been the source of much scorn among some Blue Jackets fans for more than a year now.
The 61-year-old MacLean spent nearly two decades (1993-2011) as a minor-league coach and NHL assistant coach, working in the now-defunct International Hockey League and the United Hockey League. He also was an assistant coach with Phoenix, Detroit and Anaheim, the last two stops under coach Mike Babcock.
In 2011, after he’d interviewed with numerous NHL clubs for vacant head coaching jobs, MacLean finally was hired by Ottawa. He was a Jack Adams (coach of the year) finalist in his first season (2011-12), and the Jack Adams winner in his second season (2012-13) before getting fired early in the 2014-15 season.
MacLean spent 2015-16 and 2016-17 as an assistant coach with Anaheim but has been out of the game since the Ducks decided not to renew his contract in June 2017.
Ironically, one of the many NHL clubs with which he interviewed for coaching vacancies earlier in his career was Columbus.
In 2010, after the Blue Jackets had fired Ken Hitchcock in February of the 2009-10 season, MacLean was among the candidates to replace interim coach Claude Noel. He was never considered a leading candidate, however, and the job fell to Scott Arniel after Guy Boucher turned down the Blue Jackets’ offer and former Jackets player Kevin Dineen withdrew his name from consideration.
The Athletic LOADED: 11.21.2019
Detroit Red Wings Pluses, minuses from Detroit Red Wings' loss to Ottawa Senators
By Helene St. James – Detroit Free Press – November 20, 2019
The Wings were annoyed with themselves after losing, 4-3, to Ottawa. Filmed Nov. 19, 2019 in Detroit. Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press
Anthony Mantha showed off his shot. Dennis Cholowski showed he needs to be more assertive.
As the Detroit Red Wings work their way through another rebuilding season, waiting for reinforcements from the next wave of prospects, one of the key areas of focus is the growth of the young players who are headlining the effort in Detroit.
Mantha is one those, and it’s encouraging to see how he’s establishing himself as a scoring threat. He netted his 12th goal of the season in Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to Ottawa at Little Caesars Arena, and registered seven shots on net. Mantha is on pace for 40 goals.
“He has a great shot,” Dylan Larkin said. “He always has. He’s putting himself in good spots and he’s a guy that, on our line, we’re looking to get him the puck and when we get it to him, we know he’s shooting it. Right now he’s getting a lot of shots and it’s going in and the way it’s going in, you don’t see it stopping anytime soon, hopefully.”
Last season, Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou became the first Wings to reach the 30-goal mark in a decade. Mantha may not sustain his first-quarter pace, but it’s hard to see him falling short of 30, barring injury.
“Every time he’s shooting, you think it’s going in,” newcomer Robby Fabbri said. “I saw one when I was right in front of the net — it comes quick.”
Fabbri contributed a goal, too, his seventh point in six games since joining the Wings. What annoyed coach Jeff Blashill was that no one scored when the Wings started the second period with 1:26 left on a power play and leading 2-1.
“We get out there on a power play and it’s the second time in the two games we’ve played them,” he said. “We’re on the power play with a chance to make it 3-1. Last time in their building they come down and score a short-handed goal. This time we lose momentum and then we end up getting scored on.
“Come out on the power play and score the goal, make it 3-1, now you’ve turned momentum in your way.”
Mantha leads the Wings with four power-play goals. He looks confident going to his one-timer, even as teams try to take it away.
“He’s had a good shot mentality,” Blashill said. “I think he’s learned the balance of when to make plays, when to shoot. That’s where I’ve noticed the confidence with him this year. He hasn’t passed when he should have shot and he hasn’t shot when he should have passed for the most part. He’s done a real good job with that.
"But I also think there’s tons of responsibility on those guys. He was on the ice on that power play. We have to be better than that and some of that responsibility falls on him.”
Ottawa Senators center Filip Chlapik and Detroit Red Wings center Darren Helm compete for the puck during the first period Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2019, in Detroit.
The Wings wouldn’t have had to rally had it not been for a sloppy second period, one that was especially rough on Cholowski. The 21-year-old defenseman lost a footrace on one goal, and failed to assert himself in front of Detroit’s net on another. That has been the consistent message from the Wings to Cholowski — he has heard it from the coaching staff and from general manager Steve Yzerman.
“Dennis in the first period was excellent,” Blashill said. “In the first period he was assertive with the puck, he was moving the puck. He had a tough second period. He has to come out next game and play great. "Mental toughness is a huge part of whether guys have good NHL careers or not. You’re going to have periods like that and you have to come out and it has to be water off your back and you have to move on to the next one.”
Detroit Free Press LOADED: 11.21.2019
Niyo: Red Wings want Cholowski to be more ‘assertive’ to reach potential
By John Niyo – The Detroit News – November 20, 2019
Red Wings defenseman Dennis Cholowski has just six points and is a minus-11 in 20 games this season.
The shorter the career, the longer the memory. And the harder it can be, for a young player like Dennis Cholowski, to forget a poor shift or a bad period or a loss like the one the Red Wings suffered Tuesday night to the Ottawa Senators.
A miserable second period saw a 2-1 lead turn into a 4-2 deficit for the home team at Little Caesars Arena, and Cholowski, the Wings’ 21-year-old defenseman, was on the ice for the last two of those goals.
After the game, he was on his coach’s mind, too, as Jeff Blashill made a point of praising Cholowski’s strong first-period effort Tuesday while addressing the way things unraveled after that.
“He had a tough second period, and what do we do with that?” said Blashill, who was clearly perturbed by the way his team performed coming off an encouraging three-game West Coast road trip.
“He’s got to come out next game and play great. That’s the reality of it. Mental toughness is a huge part of whether guys have good NHL careers.
“You’re gonna have nights and days and periods like that.
“You got to come out and it’s got to be water off your back and you’ve got to move on to the next one.”
And before Blashill even got to his postgame media session, he’d delivered that same message to Cholowski personally.
“I went to him right after the game and made sure he understood,” Blashill said.
A day later, the coach and the player both seemed to be on the same page, at least, as the Wings held a brief practice and then headed to Columbus, where they’ll continue a hectic week of hockey with four games in six days.
Cholowski, a 2016 first-round pick whose development on the blue line remains a focal point for the organization in this current rebuild, knows he needs to be more “assertive” on the ice.
That’s the word Blashill keeps using. And the way he’d played off the opening drop against Ottawa was “the way we want him to play and the way he needs to play to be successful,” Blashill said Wednesday, “and I don’t want him to forget about that.” Cholowski, who was a healthy scratch for a couple games three weeks ago, says he’s well aware of that. One thing he has learned early in his professional hockey career is that the reminders come quickly. So does the criticism.
“But you take it as constructive, take it for what it is, and you keep playing,” said Cholowski, who played 22:03 against the Senators, second only to Filip Hronek among Wings defensemen. “I know they want me to be assertive and that’s the way I want to play. I want to be offensive and make plays.
“So especially for a young guy like me — still kind of learning the ropes a little bit and figuring everything out — you just have to put it behind you and stay positive.”
Dead last in the NHL
That’s not easy on a team that’s currently dead last in the NHL with 17 points and 23 games and a league-worst minus-32 goal differential. It’s even harder when you consider all the injuries that’ve jumbled defense pairings on an almost-nightly basis for Blashill through the first quarter of the regular season.
Still, for Cholowski, who has just six points and is a minus-11 in 20 games this season, it’s imperative that he finds a way. The Wings may have found a top-pairing young blueliner in Hronek, their 2016 second- round choice, and the early view of 2019 first-rounder Moritz Seider is also promising.
But Cholowski’s offensive upside remains intriguing and the hope remains that he can eventually settle in as a second-pair defender and power-play quarterback in Detroit.
Cholowski made a good first impression as a rookie last fall after injuries to other veteran defensemen accelerated his move to Detroit. But eventually the mistakes piled up and the self-confidence waned and Cholowski ended up playing 52 NHL games before a mid-February demotion to Grand Rapids.
After a long talk with new general manager Steve Yzerman over the summer, Cholowski earned another shot this season with an impressive training camp. But at the end of the Wings’ eight-game losing streak last month, he found himself benched once again — a healthy scratch for back-to-back games against Edmonton and Florida — as Blashill fired another motivational slapshot his way.
He seems to have responded the right way, and his play on the recent road trip, which began with Cholowski scoring the overtime winner in Anahiem, confirmed as much.
“I think he’s been much more assertive than he was before,” Blashill said. “Sometimes, when you’re in the league and you’re young and you’ve made some mistakes and you’ve had a tough go, you’re just trying to survive. And you can’t survive and thrive at the same time — it’s impossible. So we want him to understand, we want him to thrive. And the only way to do that is be assertive.”
More specifically, Blashill wants to see Cholowski minding the gaps better as a defender, “creating stalls” for opposing forwards in the neutral zone and “learning to really close space and end plays earlier” before getting into trouble in his own zone.
Offensively, though, is where the 6-foot-2, 198-pound Cholowski really can do more.
“Move your feet, put yourself in position,” Blashill said. “He can be an excellent passer, at times. Use it. Don’t just punt. Don’t just throw the puck away. Don’t just shovel it away if you don’t know where it’s going. Sometimes you might have to eat it, but move your feet and make plays, both coming out of our end and in the neutral zone. And then on the offensive blue line, he’s got a real good wrist shot, a real good ability to get it in. Be a weapon there.”
All of those things require something else, though. And while Cholowski knows what it is, he also is realizing how hard it can be to find, at times.
“Confidence is everything,” he said. “When I’m playing with confidence, I want to have the puck and skate with it and make a play. If I don’t have as much confidence, maybe that doesn’t happen. So if you make a mistake or a bad play, you just put it behind you and you have to keep your confidence, or else things are just gonna spiral.”
And if there was a positive sign for the young defenseman in Tuesday’s loss, maybe that was it. After a second period to forget for the Wings, Cholowski appeared to do just that.
“I thought he rebounded and had a decent third,” Blashill said.
Now he just needs to remember to do it again — and again.
Detroit News LOADED: 11.21.2019
Christoffer Ehn looks to make most of quick return to Red Wings
By Ted Kulfan – The Detroit News – November 20, 2019
Detroit — Christoffer Ehn received some ribbing at Wednesday’s practice after being recalled by the Red Wings.
Detroit, after all, sent him down to Grand Rapids about three days ago.
Ehn was the subject of some stick taps on the ice, friendly welcome backs in the locker room, and the occasional quizzical “haven’t you left yet?” look.
“It’s all fun,” Ehn said.
For Ehn’s part, he was more than happy to return to the NHL.
With the Wings likely without forward Darren Helm — “questionable,” according to coach Jeff Blashill — and Luke Glendening taking a maintenance day Wednesday, the Wings needed a healthy forward.
“He’s played good games for us,” Blashill said of Ehn. “Getting sent down was more about him getting a chance to play more than anything.”
But what made Ehn expendable was the fact he was getting away from his strengths as a hockey player.
“When he’s playing good, he’s skating and forechecking, and he got away from the skating and forechecking,” Blashill said. “He’s a good defensive player almost all the time and a good penalty killer almost all the time. But he has to skate and be physical and be a good forechecker.” In 14 games with the Red Wings, playing entirely on the third or fourth lines, he’s yet to score a point and is minus-5.
But it’s his defensive work that makes Ehn an important part of the roster.
“That’s my role on the team: Be a good, solid penalty killer and make the right play, play hard and be hard to play against,” Ehn said. “I can be a little more physical than I’ve been so far. But just keep putting pucks behind (the other team), and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Ehn had been in and out of the lineup before being sent to Grand Rapids. Being a healthy scratch was a good trigger for Ehn to get back to being the player he can be.
“You don’t really need a wake-up call, you want to be out there playing every game,” Ehn said. “I’ve been scratched, and you kind of put it on you. You want to get better and just keep working on it.”
Injury update
Along with Helm, defenseman Mike Green is “doubtful” for Thursday’s game in Columbus, Blashill said.
Green hurt himself in the third period of Tuesday’s loss against Ottawa. Alex Biega would take Green’s spot in the lineup.
Blashill said defenseman Patrik Nemeth (leg infection) is progressing well, and could be ready to play this weekend. Nemeth has missed the last four games.
Resurgent Filppula
Valtteri Filppula has seen an uptick while playing with young wingers Andreas Athanasiou and Robby Fabbri.
Filppula had a goal and assist against Ottawa, and has four points in the last four games, as the line has settled in and gotten comfortable.
Filppula’s savvy and passing has melded well with the speed and playmaking of Athanasiou and Fabbri.
“It’s fun to play with those guys,” Filppula said. “Both are good with the puck and can make plays and skate well. It’s nice to have those kind of wingers.”
Filppula went through a scoring drought the month of October, but has gradually seen his overall game improve as the season has progressed.
“You get more comfortable the more you play, get to know the players again, and who you’re playing with, it all helps,” Filppula said. “We’ve had the same line for a while now, too, and those things always help you out.”
Red Wings at Blue Jackets
► Faceoff: 7 p.m. Thursday, Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
► TV/radio: Fox Sports Detroit/97.1 FM
► Outlook: The Blue Jackets (8-8-4) have won two consecutive games and have survived the loss of five key free agents over the summer. …Former Red Wing C Gustav Nyquist (12 points) and Grosse Pointe native, D Zach Werenski (11 points), have been offensive leaders. ... This is the start of another three- games-in-four-days stretch for the Wings.
Detroit News LOADED: 11.21.2019
Moritz Seider doesn’t miss golden opportunity for first goal with Griffins
By Peter J. Wallner – By Michigan Live – November 20, 2019
GRAND RAPIDS - Mortiz Seider doesn’t often find himself on the front of a rush, so he wasn’t going to miss the rare opportunity Wednesday - no matter how it unfolded.
The touted defenseman, as he stepped back on the ice following a minor penalty, jumped into a three- on one, welcomed a cross-ice pass from Dominik Shine and delivered a one-timer past San Antonio Rampage goalie Villie Husson.
Not a bad story for his first professional goal.
“Sometimes you have to be lucky,” he said. “I got the pass and I just wanted to get it in. It was nice. A great feeling.”
Seider added an assist as part of the Griffins' 4-3 win against the Rampage that began a three-game week.
The Griffins host Milwaukee on Friday and then turn around and play at Milwaukee on Saturday.
Seider, the sixth overall pick in the draft this year and tied for the second-youngest player in the AHL at 18, isn’t expected to score much, but his progress has been steady.
“I like the way he competes," said Griffins coach Ben Simon. "He’s playing with an edge and he’s contributing on both sides of the puck. So if he can do that consistently, and get a little bit better every day, I think he’s going to be a good player.”
Asked about Seider’s timing on the goal and Simon laughed.
“Yeah, well, he took the penalty before,” he said.
Seider, who came into the game with eight assists and a minus-3 plus/minus rating, has developed despite steady change on the blueline this season. The revolving door includes Joe Hicketts, who was recalled to Detroit for the third time earlier Wednesday, along with the Jonathan Ericsson and Dylan McIlrath, both former partners also currently with the Red Wings.
So, Seider was paired with Gustav Lindstrom, a second-round pick in 2017 who’s also in his first season.
“You look at our options,” said Simon, who noted there were three first-year on one second-year player among the defensemen. “They’re limited to a certain extent, but it’s a good opportunity for guys to be put in these situations and an opportunity maybe to be put in different situations."
Seider had similar thoughts. “For sure it takes a couple days to get used to a new D partner, but everybody can play with each other and it shouldn’t be a problem," he said.
The downside for Seider’s night was he was later whistled for a second minor in the third period. That after just three minors his first 17 games.
“You’re always not happy about penalties, but that’s part of the business and you can’t change it,” he said. “... It was a little stupid penalty but it’s done now.”
The Griffins (8-7-1-1) also got goals from Turner Elson, Gregor MacLeod and Ryan Kuffner (power play).
Goalie Calvin Pickard stopped 27 shots to pick up his 100th career win.
Michigan Live LOADED: 11.21.2019
How to watch, listen and stream Detroit Red Wings at Columbus Blue Jackets
By Lauren Williams – Michigan Live – November 20, 2019
The Detroit Red Wings take on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night. This is the first time the two teams face each other this season and Detroit leads the series 55-36-1 in regular-season play.
The Red Wings are coming off a 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators while Columbus beat Montreal 5-2 on Tuesday.
The Red Wings (7-13-3) and Blue Jackets (8-8-4) face off at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 21 at Nationwide Arena.
WATCH
Broadcast: Fox Sports Detroit
Live Stream: Hulu | YouTube TV | fubo (free trial)
LISTEN
Red Wings Affiliates: Detroit (WXYT-97.1 FM/ 1270 AM); Ann Arbor (WTKA-1050 AM); Grand Rapids (WTKG-1230 AM); Kalamazoo (WQLR-1660 AM); Saginaw (WSGW-790 AM)
Live Stream: TuneIn Radio
Stream Red Wings games live: fuboTV and Hulu + Live
Michigan Live LOADED: 11.21.2019
Red Wings’ defense experiences ‘tough night’
By Ansar Khan – Michigan Live – November 20, 2019
DETROIT – Defense is the Detroit Red Wings’ weakest area, has been for some time. The issue has been compounded with injuries, but the unit held together well during a stretch where they gained eight of 10 points.
But poor defensive coverage was the main problem in a 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena.
“I thought our back end had a tough night,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “That said, you know what, those guys want to play, so if you want to play, here’s your opportunity. Play better than you did.”
The Senators scored three goals in a span of 5:22 in the third period to take a 4-2 lead. It was a particularly rough night for defenseman Dennis Cholowski, who was on the ice for all three of those goals and finished minus-3.
“Dennis in the first period was excellent,” Blashill said. “He was assertive with the puck; he was moving the puck.
“He had a tough second period. What do we do with that? He’s got to come out next game and play great. Mental toughness is a huge part of whether guys have good NHL careers or not and you’re going to have nights and periods like that, and it’s got to be water off your back, and you got to move onto the next one. He’s got to grow from the stuff he did really good in the first, which is be assertive with the puck, move the puck up the ice.
“I thought as the game went along, we got super-slow with the puck; instead of moving north we tried to play a regroup style.”
The Red Wings are missing two top-four defensemen with injuries in Danny DeKeyser and Patrik Nemeth and lost another one in the third period Tuesday when Mike Green left with an upper-body injury.
Detroit (7-13-3) had their five-game points streak snapped (3-0-2). They are tied with Los Angeles for the fewest points in the NHL (17).
“We didn’t manage the puck well in the second,” Dylan Larkin said. “The work ethic was there all night. We battled hard and didn’t come up with enough in the second.
“They got a couple of guys that can skate, and we made it too easy for those guys to feel like they could skate all night and make them look like players that they regularly aren’t, like world-beaters. That’s the frustrating part.”
Anthony Duclair scored his second goal of the game at 5:00 of the second to tie it at 2-2. Jean-Gabriel Pageau gave Ottawa the lead for good by scoring on a breakaway against Jonathan Bernier at 5:57. Brady Tkachuk notched what proved to be the winning goal at 10:22, set up by Duclair. “We turned a lot of pucks over in the neutral zone and spent a lot of time in our zone,” Valtteri Filppula said. “It’s a tough way to play and maybe it looks like you’re tired, but we should have gotten more pucks in and spent more time in their zone.”
Robby Fabbri picked up his third goal in six games with the Red Wings and Filppula scored shorthanded in the first period.
The Red Wings outshot Ottawa 16-3 in the third period and cut their deficit to one when Anthony Mantha scored his 12th goal with 2:46 to play. But they could not wipe out the damage from the second period.
“We took our foot off the gas,” Fabbri said. “It’s kind of been like that in a few games. We’ve been lucky enough to battle back. We just got to keep our foot on the gas from the start of the game to the finish.”
Green, Helm out: Blashill had no injury updates on Green or Darren Helm, who suffered a lower-body injury in the second period. “I don’t know anything further than that, but it usually isn’t good if they don’t finish the game.”
Michigan Live LOADED: 11.21.2019
Does Mike Babcock’s availability mean anything for the Red Wings?
By Max Bultman – The Athletic – November 20, 2019
With news as big as Mike Babcock’s firing from the Maple Leafs on Wednesday, there are bound to be ripples (or at least the potential for ripples) around the league.
Babcock, in a conversation with The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, left LeBrun with the impression he would take his time before deciding on whether he wanted to coach again. And that’s certainly fair.
But in the city in which Babcock won his only Stanley Cup — with a franchise that has been rebuilding since he left — the questions of a possible reunion (posed with varying degrees of seriousness) still perked up almost immediately.
That was unavoidable, ultimately. Babcock is now a free agent. The Red Wings have a coach whose contract is believed to run through this season with an option for next, according to previous reporting by LeBrun. Their new arena is rarely near capacity due to so much losing, and the team’s new general manager, Steve Yzerman, just happens to have a history with Babcock, winning a pair of gold medals together with Team Canada in 2010 and 2014.
So does Babcock’s sudden availability mean anything for his former franchise?
Well, the first, most salient point is that Yzerman has publicly backed his current coach as recently as this week. He told NHL.com’s Nick Cotsonika that he thinks Blashill and the rest of the Detroit staff “are doing a really good job of preparing the players, of practicing.” “I like to think we’re improving from training camp to the start of the regular season,” Yzerman added. “As we speak here today, I think you’re seeing good progress in our team.”
The general manager doesn’t do much media, so that’s the first he’s weighed in publicly since the team’s October skid in which it lost 12 of 13 games. He also addressed that stretch with Cotsonika, telling him he didn’t believe the results were due to lack of competitiveness.
That’s an important distinction here because the Red Wings are a rebuilder through and through right now. They’re expected to lose and lose often. But losing lopsidedly, or non-competitively, is a different matter. The No. 1 job of a coach in those circumstances is making progress, and so Yzerman’s comments here have to be taken with real gravity on that subject.
That’s the biggest reason to think Babcock’s firing doesn’t mean much for his former franchise.
It’s also true, however, that just as Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas didn’t hire Babcock, Yzerman didn’t hire Blashill. That’s been a subject of curiosity dating back to when Blashill first signed his contract extension last spring, even before the idea of Yzerman returning became reality.
Factor in the history between Babcock and Yzerman with Hockey Canada, and you can see where the curiosity stems from in this new moment.
The thing is, though: even if you were to ignore Yzerman’s public praise of his coach this week, it’s still hard to see a reason this latest development would meaningfully change anything in Detroit at the moment.
First, the roster the Red Wings are trotting out and the ones Babcock and Yzerman won Olympic gold with together (or the one with which Babcock won the Cup in Detroit) couldn’t be more different.
Babcock did take over a rebuilding team when he left for Toronto in 2015, taking a team that finished with 69 points in his first season and guiding it to consecutive 100-point campaigns the past two years. So he has shown he can guide a bottom-dweller on its path back to being a playoff team. He deserves credit there. But the Maple leafs also failed to win a playoff series during his tenure, even with a roster that by last season had grown to be among the league’s most talented. The idea that consistently difficult first-round matchups (especially against Boston) were a mitigating factor is both fair and factual. But in the same way Babcock’s Stanley Cup can’t be ignored on his resume, those three straight first- round exits with the Leafs, including two straight at the hands of the same team, are there for better or worse too.
And then there’s what’s transpired this season in Toronto, with a similarly loaded roster that, as of Wednesday, found itself outside the playoff picture entirely. The reasons for that have been discussed at length in the recent days and weeks, and it would be narrow-minded to say the coach was the sole reason for those kinds of struggles. Especially after Babcock helped turn around the franchise’s trajectory. Losing is seldom about just one person.
But ultimately, Toronto firing Babcock means the team felt he bore enough responsibility for the final product that it had to make a change.
That doesn’t mean Babcock can’t have success somewhere else, of course. Sometimes a fit just doesn’t work between players, coaches and managers, and it needs to change. But if you’re Detroit, especially after already having Babcock as coach previously, would you really want to re-run a similar experiment to the one Babcock just ran in Toronto? The executives are different in Yzerman and Dubas, and that’s not insignificant from a cohesiveness standpoint. There are also differences in roster make-up, and the fact Toronto hit the Auston Matthews jackpot after Babcock’s first season. But nonetheless: for all the regular-season success the Leafs have had recently, you don’t rebuild just to get to the playoffs.
Similarly, it’s also worth questioning, from Babcock’s perspective, how much he’d really want to start that same process over again from the very bottom. Right now, because he was under contract for three more seasons, he’ll be very well paid to do nothing at all. There are only 31 head coaching jobs in the National Hockey League (soon to be 32), so no one who wants one can afford to be too picky … but Babcock might be something of an exception to that rule because of his reputation among the league’s top coaches.
And again, he’s already had one long go-round in Detroit. Paul Maurice in Carolina and Randy Carlyle in Anaheim are examples of coaches who have eventually returned to coach a former team a second time, so it’s not unheard of, but it’s also worth mentioning that both ultimately had short-lived second terms in those situations.
In any case, the question here can’t really be explored in a vacuum.
Yzerman, from every public indication, sounds happy with the job his current coaching staff is doing. That matters. It doesn’t sound like Babcock’s going to rush anything right now. That matters too.
Should that change, or should the Red Wings opt to go in another direction later on, perhaps the question would be worth a bit more exploration.
For now, though, it’s hard to think this move will have much bearing on Detroit at all.
The Athletic LOADED: 11.21.2019
Hasek on today’s goalies: ‘They are better than Martin Brodeur or Patrick Roy or Dominik Hasek’
By Craig Custance – The Athletic – November 20, 2019
DETROIT – Dominik Hasek stepped into a stairwell at Little Caesars Arena to find somewhere quiet to chat. Before starting the conversation, he leaned over the railing to look outside, straining forward to get closer to the window.
Something outside caught his attention. It was intermission of Tuesday night’s game between the Senators and Red Wings – two of the three NHL teams in which he starred during his Hall of Fame career.
He seemed a bit in awe of the new development in Detroit that replaced Joe Louis Arena, where he won two Stanley Cups with the Red Wings. “I’m just looking at the big screen TV,” he said, staring at a large screen in a courtyard outside the arena.
This rink is nothing like the one he left, but he’s still the same guy. Fit. Witty. Happy to talk goaltending. And still beloved by the fans. Walking through the concourses in Detroit, he couldn’t make it a few steps without fans stopping for a photo or giving him a shout.
“Dominator!”
“Love you, Dom!”
And if there was any mistaking who he was, the doubt was erased by the blazer he wore personalized with the 100 patch, recognizing him as one of the 100 greatest players ever to play the game, an honor he earned during All-Star festivities in 2017 in Los Angeles. Because, why wouldn’t you wear that any chance you could?
I love that you’re wearing the 100 jacket. Do you break that out often?
When I’m in hockey, I do hockey interview or I’ll go somewhere, is it about hockey? Actually, I have two (jackets). I have 100 years and Hockey Hall of Fame. So I’m sort of switching it. This one fits me a little bit better, the Hockey Hall of Fame makes me a little bit wider, so I like this one more. (laughs)
What are your impressions of this rink? A little different than where you played.
Fantastic. It’s probably the best, I don’t know if it’s the best, I can’t say that because I don’t know all the rinks. But fantastic. It’s hard to describe it. The show in the beginning (of the game). I love that everything is made in the red and white colors. So powerful. So fascinating.
This game is featuring two teams in which you played. I’m curious, what’s going through your mind now when watching the Senators and the Red Wings play?
It’s definitely two organizations that were the biggest part of my life, and of course, the Buffalo Sabres. The Red Wings, I won two Cups and played with so many great players and this is something I will remember. Ottawa was just a short stop. Sabres … I follow them, how they do.
I’m always curious. Your style was so unique as an NHL goalie. When you watch goalies now, I don’t want to say they’re robotic, but more structured. What do you think when you watch them?
They are more structured. The sliding, the style, it’s a little bit for every goalie is a little bit similar. I have to say, they are great. They improve what we’ve done. Hockey is faster. The goalies are, I would say, I think they cover better. Especially the lower part of the net, they cover it unbelievable. Everything is improving. They are better than Martin Brodeur or Patrick Roy or Dominik Hasek.
You really think so?
I think you cannot compare. We were better at our time, in 90s and 2000. We were better than the goalies in the 80s. Now they are better. Every generation the goalies do different styles. It doesn’t look to me like they’re as acrobatic, but the way they play, they cover the net so well. I’m sure they have coaches and lots of video, and they know what they’re doing.
You had a goalie coach in Mitch Korn in Buffalo who has gone on to have an influential career in Nashville, Washington and now with the Islanders. Where did he make the biggest impact for you? Oh, Mitch Korn was a very important person in my hockey life. I never had a goalie coach in the Czech Republic. I didn’t have a goalie coach in Chicago. I came to Buffalo and he start to work with me on an everyday basis. What was the best for me was he was very smart. He didn’t try to change me. But, we worked together, we talked how I can use my flexibility and all my advantages and make it even better. We were working on the angles, on the skating. I improved and became an NHL star. Without him I would probably be good goalie, even without him, but not NHL star. Because really special first two, three years, he really helped me.
Which goalies do you like watching most in today’s game?
I’ll be honest. I’m not following on an everyday basis, hockey. I’ve seen some goalies but I cannot say, I don’t like to say who is best because I don’t follow on everyday basis. With six hours difference, I’m not awake at night when the NHL is playing. In the morning when I wake up, I watch on my phone, the highlights from the NHL. At 7 o’clock (in the) morning, when I wake up, I like to watch the highlights. Even in the bed still.
There’s a pretty good argument to be made that you are the best goalie to ever play. What do you think when you hear people make that case?
It makes me proud. I don’t want to argue. There were some great goalies from my generation. Most of the games I played against there were three of them – Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy and Eddie Belfour, they were unbelievable goalies. To compete against them, it made me better. I tried to be better than Martin or Eddie or whatever. This competition made me an even better goalie.
The Athletic LOADED: 11.21.2019
Websites NHL quarter season report: What’s changed since the start of the season?
By Dom Luszczyszyn – The Athletic – November 20, 2019
If there’s one thing to be said about the first quarter of the NHL season it’s this: it’s been weird. And that’s by the already wacky NHL standards where you should always expect the unexpected.
Teams that were expected to be elite have struggled, teams that were laughingstocks are surging and the league has been more competitive overall than ever. Any team can win on any given night and this year that’s meant that the favourites have only won 53.7 percent of games so far this year, according to our game probabilities. Usually that number is around 58-60 percent. (Oddsmakers are also around 54 percent, for the record).
It’s been strange and exciting, leading to some wacky early standings. Based on each team’s current point percentage, seven of the 16 teams my model pegged to be above the playoff bubble before the season started are currently outside playoff spots. That’s … not a good batting average. At this time last year, though, that number was six and dropped to four by season’s end – I’d expect the same thing to happen this season. It’s not too late for teams to turn things around after a lacklustre start (or fall off after a hot start).
Early season results are tricky as it’s difficult to separate signal from noise, especially when certain teams deviate far from expectations. It’s generally good practice to be stubborn with your priors, but it’s also crucial to constantly update those when new information comes in. In that vein it’s worth taking a look to see what’s changed and whether it can be counted on to stay that way.
At the 20-game mark is when teams start showing what they are, but that doesn’t mean completely forgetting what they’ve been. It’s a balance, a matter of knowing how to weight the new with the old, something many have questions about regarding our daily season projections. Even though it factors in three prior seasons, this season does have the highest weight meaning there have been adjustments since our season preview series. After 20-or-so games, here’s a division-by-division look at what’s changed.
Atlantic Division
At the start of the season nearly everyone expected Tampa Bay, Toronto and Boston to lead this division. So far only one team, Boston, has lived up to their end of the bargain with a 13-3-5 record and a league-leading plus-25 goal differential (excluding shootouts). They’ve had one of the biggest rises in their expected win percentage, going from .584 to .609. That’s mostly on the back of incredible performances from Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, who were already projected to be top 10 players, and have only entrenched themselves further with this start.
Tampa Bay has played fewer games than any other team and four more games on the road, so their start is tough to judge. The team’s expected goals share remains strong, but the elite results aren’t there like last season as the team isn’t converting its chances as often and goaltending has been iffy (which explains some of the team’s penalty kill issues). My model still believes they’re the league’s best team – especially with the resurgence of Kevin Shattenkirk as a top four option – but that gap is shrinking. The team needs more from its big three. Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos have had large drops in value – roughly 1.6 combined wins lost.
As for Toronto … well, it’s obviously been a very trying year. Injuries have played a big role in their wretched start, as has a system that has for some reason stifled a once dominant offence. The Leafs have the talent to be better, but there isn’t much reason to currently be excited about a team that ranks 26th in expected goals at 47 percent. That’s led Toronto to the fourth largest drop in expected win percentage so far, going from .592 to .560, a number that suggests there’s still reason to believe they can turn things around. It will only plummet further the longer their dreadful play continues, though. The Auston Matthews line is the only one for Leafs to have a bump in value over the first quarter with the biggest drop-offs occurring for Tyson Barrie (minus-0.79 projected wins) and John Tavares (minus- 0.57 projected wins). Both are among the team’s worst by expected goals and have looked the part.
Toronto’s drop has left room for Montreal to step into the playoff picture and a strong start has increased their standing. Their expected goals rate is once again in the top 10 and they’re in good shape if Carey Price can keep up his strong play. The underrated Philipp Danault has had one of the biggest league-wide improvements in value and now grades out as a legitimate No. 1 center thanks to his 62- point pace and 59 percent expected goals rate. On the other side, no player has had a bigger fall from grace this season than Jesperi Kotkaniemi who looked like he could blossom into a legitimate top six centre after his rookie campaign but has struggled in his sophomore season. He has just three points in 13 games and a team-worst 37 percent expected goals percentage.
Florida is up there too, especially after last night’s big win. And while they’re getting points, they need much more from their $10 million goalie, who so far has an abhorrent .886 save percentage, better than only three other starters. Sergei Bobrovsky was supposed to be the answer in Florida but has instead had the largest drop in value among goalies. The Panthers have dropped slightly in my rankings as a result, though still grade out around average.
Surprisingly, two of the teams with the highest increase happen to be Detroit and Ottawa. Though neither team is doing all that well, their underlying numbers at 5-on-5 aren’t as awful as expected and they’ve been able to hang in more games than expected (aside from Detroit’s one ugly stretch). For Detroit, the top line’s reputation continues to grow as all three of Tyler Bertuzzi, Anthony Mantha and Dylan Larkin had substantial jumps. The addition of Patrik Nemeth looks to be a great one to stabilize the blueline, too. All four are above 55 percent in expected goals which is huge on a team like Detroit. In Ottawa, Connor Brown is flourishing as the team’s most used forward with 14 points in 21 games and a 50 percent expected goals rate while other players like Vladislav Namestnikov, Anthony Duclair, Tyler Ennis and Jean-Gabriel Pageau are stepping up in bigger roles too.
That just leaves Buffalo. After starting the season a red hot 9-2-1 there was a lot of contention with the team’s standing, but that’s been lessened of late with the team looking closer to expected having gone 1-6-2 since. There was hope that things would be different under new coach Ralph Krueger, but that doesn’t appear to be the case as the team is once again getting outchanced on a nightly basis. A lot of the team’s lesser players lower down the lineup are outscoring most of those issues and my model doesn’t expect that to last. Things can still change, but despite playing at a 90-point pace, my model actually likes Buffalo even less than it did before, dropping their expected win rate from an already low .432 to .404. That’s why the team’s playoff chances remain extremely low despite a decent start.
The issue is that many of the team’s statistically weaker players like Rasmus Ristolainen and Vladimir Sobotka (before getting injured) are getting much more ice time than expected. That’s partly because many of the team’s depth players haven’t stepped up. Perhaps the biggest issue though is the play of Rasmus Dahlin, a player I thought could entrench himself as an elite defender in his sophomore season, but is deservedly playing five fewer minutes than expected. That, and his team-worst 39 percent expected goals rate, has dragged his value way down.
Metropolitan Division
These days the Metropolitan Division is looking like the league’s scariest as the incumbent powerhouses won’t seem to quit, while newcomers are trying their hardest to nudge past them.
At the top once again is the Washington Capitals, looking as strong as they did in their Presidents’ Trophy-winning seasons. It’s hard to bet against this team that’s thriving on both special teams units, but also controlling the puck more than usual with a 51 percent expected goals rate. They’ve done that against the third best competition in the league, too. With the way this team finishes and defends, the Capitals become that much scarier going forward and see a modest bump, one that might be higher as Braden Holtby fine-tunes his game. Norris threat John Carlson has unsurprisingly had a big surge in projected value.
Not far behind them, as usual, are the Pittsburgh Penguins, whose underrated forward depth looks even stronger than expected. That’s allowed the team to land second in the league in expected goals percentage to start the season despite dealing with a glut of injuries to its trio of superstars. Jared McCann has been a revelation, leading the team at 60 percent while also chipping in 13 points in 19 games. While the team is surging at 5-on-5 (and on the penalty kill), they’re in unfamiliar territory on the power play with only a 16.9 percent efficiency rate. Phil Kessel is missed dearly there.
The story of the Metropolitan has to be the Islanders, though, as they continue on their path from last season and establish themselves as legitimate contenders with a stunning 15 wins in their first 19 games (though having the highest ratio of home games to start the season helps a little bit). While it’s not as fast as some fans would like it, they’ve had the third largest growth per my model so far going from a below average .485 to an above average .511. It’s been an extremely impressive start, one that makes it feel that their expected strength hasn’t moved up fast enough. Semyon Varlamov has indeed looked stronger in the team’s system and newcomer Derick Brassard has seemingly returned to his previous form after a woeful past couple seasons. It’s still early enough in this season that there’s reason to reserve some skepticism about the team once again relying on strong goaltending performances, but with last year still in memory it’s getting much harder to deny that it’s just the norm for Barry Trotz and company.
Carolina is the other team right in the contender mix here, buoyed by Norris calibre play from Dougie Hamilton. My model was already high on him and that’s only grown with this breakout season, especially as he’s taken over on the team’s top unit power play which is in the league’s top 10. Claims that he’s an elite defenceman look a lot more legitimate now. The Hurricanes are again leading the league in expected goals at around 56 percent and are about where my model expected. It projected more from Nino Niederreiter, though, who’s struggling to convert in his second season in Carolina.
The Flyers are up there too and they have had some strong growth under Alain Vigneault, going from an average .499 to an above average .512 in expected win percentage. They’ll be in the mix as expected, but perhaps put up a bigger fight than once thought. The team’s goaltending still needs work as Carter Hart hasn’t blossomed as expected, but what’s become really noticeable is that the team no longer needs to lean on Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier to play 21 or 22 minutes a night. The Flyers have depth and balance up front thanks to the huge emergence of Travis Konecny and Oskar Lindblom, both of whom now look like legitimate first line talents. Konecny’s near point-per-game pace and strong scoring chance share has him as the second most improved player so far, jumping up 0.97 wins. The team’s defensive bets have seemed to pay off too as Matt Niskanen looks like Matt Niskanen again posting positive scoring chance shares in tough minutes with Ivan Provorov (who looks like a legit top pairing defender this season, with the eye test starting to match his numbers better).
The Devils were supposed to be in the mix, but a rough start has done them in early and they’re a long shot now with the largest drop-off in expectations, going from .500 to .457 in expected win percentage. The big problem on the ice in terms of play relative to expectations might just be the team’s best player, Taylor Hall. Normally he’s a premier scorer and play-driver, but that hasn’t been the case this year with just two goals (and 15 assists) in 20 games and a below average expected goals rate, on top of getting outscored badly at 5-on-5. My model is also much less high on 2017 first overall pick Nico Hischier, who hasn’t broken out as expected. Newcomer Nikita Gusev’s defensive struggles haven’t helped, though he is first on the team (and 28th in the league) in 5-on-5 points per 60 at 2.81.
As for the Blue Jackets and Rangers, neither team’s expected strength has changed much. As expected, Columbus’ system has allowed them to play well at 5-on-5 with a 51 percent expected goals rate, but they lack finishing talent and have big goaltending issues. Joonas Korpisalo and his .901 have not been the answer while rookie Elvis Merzlikins has been just as poor. In New York, the team’s lack of depth has them as the league’s second worst expected goals team at 44 percent, though the talent on the team has allowed them to outplay those results (and the number has been on the rise since the team called up Filip Chytil, he of a 58 percent expected goals rate). One pleasant surprise is the play of Ryan Strome so far this season, especially in the wake of an injury to Mika Zibanejad. His two-way numbers aren’t strong, but he has 18 points in 18 games which has led to a big personal jump in value. On the other hand, Jacob Trouba is getting run over on a nightly basis and has had a large drop in his GSVA.
Central Division
Before the season started, my model expected the Blues to be the team to beat in the Central, but that’s looking more precarious by the day. Despite starting the season 13-4-5 and leading the division, only two teams have had a more dramatic drop-off than the Blues, going from an expected .557 to .520 – and that’s not just because of a likely season-long injury to Vladimir Tarasenko. The vibes are off with the Blues and it’s for the exact reason many forecasted they were a sleeping giant Cup contender last season: their expected goals percentage. At their best, the Blues were routinely controlling chances at around 55 percent or higher. This year they’re at 48 percent, which ranks 25th in the league. With only a plus-four goal differential, it’s not like they’re blowing the doors off opponents right now either. Only four Blues (Robert Thomas, Tyler Bozak, Jay Bouwmeester and Jaden Schwartz) have an expected goals percentage above 50 percent. The Blues are a strong team with the ability to overcome these poor underlying numbers, but the start does leave some cause for concern that the rest of the season may not be as rosy as the first quarter.
My model was initially skeptical, but the other big contender in many people’s eyes were the Colorado Avalanche and despite injuries to two of their star forwards, the Avalanche are proving many people right so far. If not for those injuries, Colorado’s underlying strength would have had one of the biggest jumps so far this season, going from .521 to .546. It’s how the depth as injuries have sidelined Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog that’s most impressive so far, especially two of the team’s big offseason grabs, Joonas Donskoi and Andre Burakovsky. They look like legitimately strong top six forwards. Cale Makar has made a big difference too and after the first quarter looks to be running away with the Calder Trophy.
The other two would-be contenders, Nashville and Dallas, have flipped-flopped their respective trends to start the season, going from hot to cold on a dime.
Nashville started hot going 8-3-2 in October but have spiralled since going 1-5-1. The Predators are a top 10 expected goals team but are struggling on the penalty kill and in between the pipes where their supposedly elite tandem are both under .900 on the year. That’s the main reason the team’s expected win percentage has dropped from .565 to .552. That and Mikael Granlund, whose immense struggles to produce with his new team have carried over to start the year with just six points in 20 games. The Stars have been the complete opposite, starting disastrously at 1-7-1 before turning things around rapidly with a sizzling 11-1-1 stretch where they’ve controlled 57 percent of the expected goals share. They now land in the league’s top three for expected goals, though the team’s star players have had a drop in total value due to their lower production to start the season. Miro Heiskanen is looking elite of late and has had the fourth largest improvement to start the season, going from 1.6 projected wins to 2.5 projected wins. He’s the team’s best possession-driving defender.
In Winnipeg, the Jets are winning, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that continuing. The team has a plethora of raw talent capable of outscoring its problems and has had a huge return to form for Connor Hellebuyck, but the underlying process needs a dramatic change. Winnipeg ranks dead last in the league in expected goals at 44 percent, likely due to their lacklustre blueline. Not a single player on the team is above 49 percent. Even the team’s best players – Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Josh Morrissey – are struggling at 5-on-5, leading all three to large drops in value. At an expected win percentage of .474, my model grades them out as the league’s 22nd strongest team.
Chicago is on a hot streak of late, but with the league’s 28th best expected goals rate I’m still very skeptical. The Blackhawks have risen a bit on the strength of very strong goaltending, but still grade out as below average.
The Wild, my model’s pet team at the start of the season, have dropped – but still grade out as an average club despite their 29th ranked points percentage. There may be more than meets the eye here. The team has played a league worst seven more games on the road than at home and still remain a strong expected goals team at 54 percent which ranks fifth in the league. The team is again being undone by goaltending and while they may not have the talent to be a good team, they should still probably be better than this – a 70-point pace.
Pacific Division
No divisional race appears more exciting right now than the Pacific where it truly seems like anything can happen from first to seventh (sorry Los Angeles, the Kings are as bad as we all thought). That’s because those that were expected to be strong (Vegas, Calgary, San Jose) have floundered, while those that were expected to struggle (Edmonton, Vancouver, Arizona) have had early success.
The Oilers are at the top right now and the team staying at the top feels contingent on their two best players continuing to score at a 150-plus point pace, and their goaltending duo to keep up the ninth best save percentage in the league. I’m not too sure about that, but to their credit Edmonton has been an average expected goals team too at 51 percent and has had the sixth highest rise in their projected strength. Much of that has gone to Leon Draisaitl who has moved up from “elite player” to “top five player” with his play this season (Connor McDavid remains No. 1, unsurprisingly) and Zack Kassian who sees a big boost having been along for the ride riding shotgun next to the twin superstars. Both players’ value has risen by 0.8 wins which is top 10. This is still a team very low on depth all over the roster, but with points banked and their superstars flying high, the playoffs look like a very real possibility.
The same goes for the Canucks, fourth in the Pacific after a hot start themselves, though they have struggled in November. While my model still doesn’t view the team as above average, they’re teetering close to that line going from an expected win percentage of .453 all the way to .480 – the second largest jump in the season. The addition of J.T. Miller has been the single most transformative piece for the team, even after already lofty standards of my model expecting a borderline first-liner. After a first quarter where he posted an average Game Score of 1.31 (15th in the league) off the strength of 20 points in 22 games and a stunning expected goals percentage of 64 percent, his value has gone up one full win to borderline elite player. It’s the largest jump in the league. I can’t imagine he keeps up that 64 percent chance share, but his play has elevated an already strong top line with Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser into that of a powerhouse trio, vaulting the team to the sixth best expected goals rate. These are exciting times in Vancouver (even after a tough loss last night), and though they’ve had a soft schedule to date and the top line’s expected goals share should regress, there’s plenty of reason to be excited about the team this season where a lot of players are playing the best hockey of their career. Well, except for Micheal Ferland, one of the team’s other offseason adds whose value has dropped almost as much as Miller’s has increased.
It’s still hard to discern what to make of the Coyotes, but my model has been slow to pick it up only giving the team a modest bump from .463 to .472. It’s an increase that looks largely hinged on goaltending which it was already very high on – just not league-best .929 high. It’ll still take some time still to believe in the skaters in front when their expected goals rate remains middling. Christian Dvorak and Conor Garland have had bumps to their value, but that’s overruled by drops for Phil Kessel and Clayton Keller, the team’s two premier offensive weapons who are both under a 50 point pace.
On the flip side, Vegas should be fine. The Golden Knights still grade out as one of the league’s best teams despite their record due to a dominant expected goals share and elite power play. Max Pacioretty reemerging as a legitimate top line threat has been a nice story to start the season for them as he’s carried over last year’s playoff excellence to this season. He’s had the sixth largest value increase to start the season.
Things in Calgary are a bit less rosy, especially after the team’s playoff chances have officially fallen to under 50 percent. My model expected the team to take a step back this year, but not like this. A league- worst shooting percentage at 5-on-5 is the root cause of the team’s struggles and that largely stems from the top line’s inability to score at the moment. Given their history, the team’s stars should be able to turn things around, but these early season issues showcase how thin the Flames are beyond that top line.
The Sharks are looking a little like Toronto West these days: top heavy, middling record and a brutal scoring chance rate thanks to an inexplicably anemic offence. The Sharks’ expected win percentage has dropped much more though, going from .520 to .478, the second biggest drop behind New Jersey. The Sharks’ 44 percent expected goals percentage is the third worst mark in the league, which is highly unlike them and it’s an issue that’s plaguing everyone on the team. San Jose’s 5-on-5 issues are exacerbated further by a league worst .871 save percentage. The team’s trump card was supposed to be its twin elite offensive defenders, but neither Erik Karlsson or Brent Burns is controlling play like they’ve used to. Both have had dramatic drops in value, though the largest (and third largest in the league) goes to Timo Meier who hasn’t built on last year’s strong breakout as expected, partially due to limited power play time. That’s gone instead to Evander Kane who has been on fire to start the season and had a big rise in value.
That leaves just the Ducks. They don’t look to be a playoff hopeful anymore after a decent start but don’t look to be on the Kings’ level of play either. Their scoring chance rate has improved slightly, but it’s still weak at 48 percent and John Gibson and his .912 save percentage isn’t propping them up as much as before. The Ducks have had the fifth largest drop-off in expected win percentage and while part of that is Gibson’s slow start, the other is that it’s getting more difficult to remember the Ducks of the past as this season and last takes more precedent.
The Athletic LOADED: 11.21.2019
31 Thoughts: Flames not interested in selling low on Gaudreau
By Elliotte Friedman – Sportsnet.ca – November 20, 2019
Charlie Coyle’s skill created another debate about the offside rule, with managers given four months to prepare for a debate on tweaking the language in March. mc
Will it be as easy as saying that you don’t necessarily need the puck to touch your stick to have control? Will there be more support for the idea of the blue line as “a plane,” where simply having your skate above it is good enough to be onside? That idea’s failed to gain traction in the past, but NHL Senior Vice President Colin Campbell said three GMs pushed that vision during Tuesday’s meeting.
But there’s another facet to this, a mindset that’s worth investigating.
According to a few sources, one GM submitted the thought that linesmen — if they thought a play at the blue line was very close — should err on the side of letting the play continue because, “if it is offside, the team allowing a goal will challenge.”
To me, it’s an intriguing idea. (The GM who I believe came up with the idea did not respond to a request for comment, so I’m not naming him.)
First, let’s recognize the concerns. Getting a challenge wrong comes with a significant punishment, especially if it’s not the first time it happens in a game. Some teams won’t want even more replay responsibility, since you need conclusive evidence to overturn. Second, I’m not sure that’s a mentality you want from your officials: “Ah, it’s close, let it go.” They should make the calls as they see them.
I do, however, see where this GM is coming from. The replay era is teaching us all about unintended consequences, and one of them is that we are slicing the onion way too thinly when it comes to offside. A league looking for more goals is, instead, finding ways to remove them, sometimes by the size of a paramecium.
It’s not good for the game.
It’s not something you can change in the middle of the season. That’s a recipe for disaster. But, in the summer, the NHL has an officiating camp where it delivers instructions on how to proceed for the upcoming year. For example, two of last summer’s points of emphasis were on teams trying to delay after icing the puck and making sure officials knew that if a coach wanted to challenge something, they had to say yes. At that camp, could the league discuss this, and maybe put it in place for exhibition games that have replay? Could we get enough of a sample size for the NHL, its teams and its players to see if this could work? I’d like to see what would happen.
Maybe, instead of changing the rule, you can try changing the mindset.
1. The Jets suspended Dustin Byfuglien on Sept. 21. Normally, grievances must be filed within 60 days. That would put us at today: Wed., Nov. 20. However, one source indicated that the clock might not have started ticking on that specific date (weekend? Not officially paid yet? I’m not sure). Whatever the case, a decision on whether or not to contest Byfuglien’s suspension is coming soon.
2. I’d be astonished if Calgary traded Johnny Gaudreau at this time. For one thing, the Flames are aware that this historically 12.5 per cent shooter is at 7.8 in 2019–20. There is concern about how he’s playing, as Gaudreau’s confidence and puck wizardry in the offensive zone are missing. A huge part of their offence was Gaudreau getting in close, where Sean Monahan could bury it. That’s missing. But there’s no desire to make a rash move.
3. I do think, however, that GM Brad Treliving will try to breathe new life into the group. I’m not sure how easy that’s going to be as the Flames are tight to the cap. And he’d be selling low on some useful players. Let’s take Mark Jankowski, for example. He’s really struggling, with zero points in 21 games. He scored 31 goals the last two seasons, seven of them shorthanded. I do think he’s available, but they see his value over the last three seasons while other GMs will say, “Well, we see this year.”
They’ve had Michael Frolik available for awhile, and it will be interesting to see how close to their core they are willing to get if their struggles continue. (My guess is not that close until the off-season, with the possible exception of Travis Hamonic, if he does not get extended.) Monahan may not be scoring, which hurts, but they asked for improvements in other areas of his game — such as faceoffs, where’s he’s got a career-high percentage. One interesting possibility: Oliver Kylington, who would like more opportunity. But, again, other teams have indicated the Flames are being careful not to undervalue their own players during tough times.
4. I don’t get the sense Bill Peters is in jeopardy. Calgary made a coaching change when this group petered out on Glen Gulutzan. The organization doesn’t want that to happen again.
5. I loved Mike Babcock’s quote about “betting on Mike Babcock” because it was a moment of “eff you” at a time the team needs some attitude. The 4-2 loss in Vegas was their sixth in a row, and desperate times might force the organization’s hand. The plan always was to give Babcock the season, wait for Travis Dermott and Zach Hyman to get healthy, then see how the team did. But, as Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone’s got a plan until you get punched in the face.”
Injuries haven’t allowed them a lengthy look and, suddenly, they’re 10th in the East, with more games played than everyone but Detroit and Washington. Maybe the front office thinks they’re the 2009/2016 Penguins or 2019 Blues, a coaching change away from a championship. There’s been a lot of good analysis the last few days about their dependency on point shots, for example. Sportlogiq data indicated that, during the Pittsburgh game last Saturday, they gave up their 18th goal of the season on the cycle, at the time a league high. That said, keeping Babcock behind the bench allows you to see who’s really in the foxhole, who wants to be part of the solution. It was tough to watch Kasimir Kaskisuo get pummelled in his NHL debut, with the team failing to rally around him in such an important personal moment. Toronto allowed nine odd-man rushes. The Penguins are excellent at creating scoring chances on zone entries (30 per cent of the time, best in the NHL according to Sportlogiq), and did it on 12 of their first 25 chances against the Leafs.
I’ve said this many times, but Babcock is good at taking the heat. No one will escape unscathed if they don’t get this turned around.
6. At the end of the Vegas game on Tuesday night, the Leafs tried Tyson Barrie with Morgan Rielly. It was a bit of desperation, and they outshot the Golden Knights 7-0 when those two were together.
Barrie honestly answered questions about his performance on Monday, admitting, “There’s definitely times when you feel kind of invincible and everything’s going the right way. There’s been stretches in my career where it feels the complete opposite — where it feels kind of hopeless, a little bit…. I definitely feel like I’m in one of those right now.”
He also agreed the pressure of playing for a new contract has gotten to him. Let’s see if that duo gets some run Thursday in Arizona. There’s definitely an understanding from all parties that this isn’t working so far. There’s interest in him.
7. Some other rumblings: This isn’t news, but the Sabres face a roster crunch. They are sitting NHL- calibre defenders every night (Colin Miller, Marco Scandella). It’s tough to make a good deal when everyone else sees the situation, and GM Jason Botterill wisely is trying to use every second he can. Zach Bogosian is close to a return, which adds cap chaos to the equation. Almost everyone else is capped out, too. It’s a delicate dance. They want a top-six forward that can help them.
8. Minnesota GM Bill Guerin is doing a lot of legwork on the value of his players.
9. Several reporters who cover the Kings more than I do indicated the team wasn’t crazy about losing Mario Kempe at AHL Ontario. But, one benefit for the organization is that it is at 49 contracts — one below the limit. This will create some flexibility for them.
10. Vegas moved Paul Stastny down to a third-line centre role. Some veterans would chafe at this. But one of his closest friends, Alexander Steen, showed leadership by accepting a fourth-line placement in St. Louis. That line played a major role in the Blues’ Stanley Cup run. Stastny, a very bright guy, undoubtedly sees the same opportunity in Sin City.
Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman talk to a lot of people around the hockey world, and then they tell listeners all about what they’ve heard and what they think about it.
11. Ottawa’s made it very clear it “does not want a circus” with its negotiations. Things with Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel and Mark Stone were very public last winter. The Senators will work hard to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself with Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
12. Newly eligible for the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2020 will be Marian Hossa and Jarome Iginla, both excellent contenders. Deserving holdovers include Daniel Alfredsson, Cassie Campbell-Pascall, Curtis Joseph, Kevin Lowe, Alexander Mogilny, Jeremy Roenick and Doug Wilson. I thought Guy Carbonneau was a great add, and should open the door for another elite shutdown performer — Rod Brind’Amour, one of only two to win the Selke Trophy at age 36 (Rick Meagher, 1990). In his two Selke seasons, Brind’Amour became one of only two forwards to play more 1,800 minutes at 35 or older (Adam Oates). Not only did he captain a Stanley Cup champion in the first of those years; he’s one of only 41 with 1,100 career points and a Cup.
The only other eligible player with those numbers not already in the Hall is Vincent Damphousse. If that doesn’t convince you, try this: Who else has 750 points and a Selke? Patrice Bergeron, Bob Clarke, Pavel Datsyuk, Sergei Fedorov, Ron Francis, Doug Gilmour, Anze Kopitar, Jonathan Toews and Steve Yzerman. That’s five guys in the Hall, and four who will get there. Please tell me why Brind’Amour shouldn’t get in.
13. Tuesday was an unusual night, with just one of 13 games going to overtime — making it 88 of 330 for the season. That’s 26.7 per cent, on-pace for the highest total ever. Previous mark was 25.6, in 2003– 04. That was right before the season-long lockout, where the game was changed.
14. The NHL has asked teams to submit more possible dates for early-season home games. The Rangers, for example, played one game in 11 days barely a week into the schedule. That’s far from ideal, and it adds to fatigue later in the season.
15. There’s a simple solution for what happened with Matt Calvert last Saturday and Zach Werenski in the 2017 playoffs: model it after the new “losing your helmet” rule.
As of this season, if you lose your helmet during play, you have to either pick it up and properly put in back on, or go to the bench. A minor penalty is the punishment for anything else. There is a slight loophole: If the offending player is directly involved in the play, they can continue to participate in the moment. So, in the Calvert/Werenski situations, allow an immediate scoring chance. But, if the puck starts getting thrown around (as it was by both the Canucks and Penguins before they scored), blow it dead.
16. It’s safe to say the NHL didn’t like the Penguins being given 2:34 to decide if they were going to challenge Dominik Kahun’s initially disallowed 4–0 goal Saturday night against Toronto:
While the Penguins did win their argument, the choice is supposed to be made within the 35 seconds allotted for television to show replays. There’s the potential for some leeway, but two minutes is ridiculous.
17. There was some discussion about what officials can say to coaches who want to challenge things that really aren’t supposed to be challenge-able. But, as Colin Campbell re-iterated following the meeting: “They have a rulebook.” The NHL’s position remains that it is the responsibility of the coaches to know the rules.
18. Remember that Dec. 1 is the deadline for restricted free agents to sign and be eligible to play in the NHL this season. Sounds like Jesse Puljujarvi will spend the year in Finland. As for Julius Honka, it seems quiet. Let’s see if anyone bites.
19. When Connor McDavid had six points through two periods in last Thursday’s 6-2 win over Colorado, I thought he was going to challenge Darryl Sittler’s one-game record of 10. It was one of those nights where a great player was at his best, and everything was ending up in the net. Instead, McDavid — who has a heavy workload — played just 4:14 of the third and didn’t add to his total. Leon Draisaitl, who had five points, saw just 4:05. No one complained. A small thing, but a big thing. Big picture. 20. Seattle GM Ron Francis attended the Prime Time Sports Conference the day after close friend Jim Rutherford’s Hockey Hall of Fame induction. He also taped an interview for the 31 Thoughts podcast and was asked what he’s looking for in his first coach.
“The most critical thing for me is the experience,” he said. “You’re going to be picking players from all different teams, you’re going to try and bring them into your locker room and get them together as your team and get them on the same page. You’re trying to figure out what you have, and how they fit…. I think it’s critical for me to able to say, ‘I know it’s not the coach.’ A guy with some experience in the role to start for sure.”
Francis re-iterated that the plan is to wait until 2021 to hire someone, although he reserves the right to go earlier if the opportunity presents itself.
21. The Krakens (I’m calling them the Krakens until that’s officially not the name) will do their first mock expansion draft in January.
“Everyone agrees (that) what we’re looking at today and what we’re looking at in June of 2021 is going to be different,” Francis said.
But it’s never too early to begin your preparation.
22. A couple of opponents noticed a change in Shea Weber; that he’s more aggressive in the offensive zone this season. Sportlogiq data backs that up. Last year, the Canadiens’ captain took 89 per cent of his shot attempts from above the top of the circles. That’s down to 69 per cent in 2019–20. His slot attempts have doubled. There is a suspicion that’s not a tactical thing, but more of a health thing. Weber’s teammates indicated last season he was hurt much worse than anyone knew. The Predators always claimed Weber was shafted in Norris voting because they were in Nashville. If he keeps this up, and the Canadiens stay in the race — he’s going to test that theory.
23. Back when Marc Bergevin first took over as GM of the Canadiens, he talked about going for singles in the trade market when you weren’t in contention and trying to hit home runs when you were. Is he choking up on his bat or swinging from the heels?
24. Jamie McGinn was released from his PTO with St. Louis on Wednesday. I had thought either he or Troy Brouwer would get a shot with the Blues. We’ll know more soon.
25. Just wanted to wish good luck to Cory Schneider, headed to AHL Binghamton to re-discover his game. One of the NHL’s good guys was knocked down by injuries and a lack of confidence. You could see where this was going when MacKenzie Blackwood twice started both ends of back-to-backs this month. That never happens anymore. Blackwood, by the way, went 3-0-1 in those games, winning the second one both times.
26. Schneider’s demotion is a huge opportunity for Louis Domingue. Domingue won 21 games in Tampa last season, but cleared waivers and hasn’t yet appeared in the NHL this year. The Devils got him for very little, only having to give up a seventh-rounder if he plays in seven regular-season or one playoff game this year, or if he’s traded before the 2020 draft. HIs $1.15-million salary scared off some teams. 27. I was looking at save percentages across the league and saw the average so far in 2019–20 is .908. That continues a downward trend for the fourth straight season, and would put the NHL under .910 for the first time since 2008–09.
28. Boston lost four in a row en route to Toronto last Friday. I asked Charlie McAvoy if that group ever really worries.
“We know there’s things we have to fix,” he said. Then he smiled. “But we don’t panic much here.”
The Bruins then grabbed five of six points.
29. Bob Gainey politely declined an interview request to discuss his relationship with Guy Carbonneau, but it clearly meant a ton to the new Hall of Famer that Gainey presented the plaque to him. The close friends went through a difficult time when Gainey fired Carbonneau as coach of the Canadiens, and there were some fans who didn’t know they had reconciled. It was nice for them to see that. Gainey wrote a terrific testimonial to his former teammate for NHL.com.
30. Matt Hughson, asked if his father ever used his “announcer voice” at home: “Only when I was in trouble.” Great to see you honoured, Jim. You deserve it.
31. A couple of weeks ago, I attended a fundraiser for the Western University men’s hockey team. It was a fun event, featuring several of their current players, the three men who’ve coached them over the past 55 years (Ron Watson, Barry Martinelli, current boss Clarke Singer), and some of their alumni: Ryan McKie, Adam Nemeth, Sal Peralta, Jeff Petrie. But a story I wanted to tell was Chris Abbey’s. They called him “Abzilla,” and I can see it. He’s a big man, a goalie who appeared in 10 games for OHL Sudbury in 2005-06. (He began playing goal after he saw Olaf Kolzig in person.)
Abbey described his lowest hockey moment: As a member of the Junior B St. Thomas Stars, a series- winning goal allowed the rival St. Mary’s Lincolns into the 2008 playoffs.
“It was the only time I cried in hockey,” he said. “They came on a two-on-one…. I tried the best I could. I was face down on the ice bawling my eyes out. I thought I was done playing.”
But an assistant coach at UWO — Pat Powers — recommended Abbey to Singer as the third goalie. He was out of shape, and they had him run extra laps to get back into it. Abbey spent three seasons as a Mustang, playing just twice — the back half of an exhibition game and an overtime win against NCAA Ohio State. Despite that, “he never missed a practice of a workout,” said current assistant Patrick Ouellet. “He stayed on the ice until everyone was done shooting. Guys would be working one-timers, and pucks would be hitting him up and around the head. They’d apologize, and (Chris) would just say, ‘No worries — it’s my job. That’s what I’m here for.’”
A few months ago, the school organized a reunion for its 2009 Queen’s Cup champions. (That trophy goes to the winners of the Ontario University league.) Abbey attended, and was surprised to see his nameplate at the back of his old stall. Singer does that with all graduating players, but Abbey didn’t think he’d played enough to warrant it. During the event, he took Singer to the stall, pointed at his nameplate and then his heart, thanking him for putting him on the team and treating him the same way he treated his first-line centre. In return, whenever the program needs anything, Abbey always returns their calls. I know this story is apropos of nothing, but it’s the way things should be. Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 11.21.2019