MEDIA CLIPS at March 7, 2020

Columbus Blue Jackets Blue Jackets’ Joonas Korpisalo rounding into top form

By Brian Hedger – The Columbus Dispatch – March 6, 2020

CALGARY, Alberta – There is still maintenance required in the form of an ice bag, but otherwise Joonas Korpisalo isn’t thinking much about his surgically repaired right knee.

The Blue Jackets goaltender is just thinking about stopping pucks again, finally, after suffering a torn meniscus in during a shootout loss to Chicago on Dec. 29 and having surgery two days later.

"From the get-go, I didn’t think about it at all," Korpisalo said Wednesday at Scotiabank Saddledome after making 34 saves and showing his pre-injury form in a 3-2 overtime loss to the . "That’s what I try to do: just not think about it, like it never even happened. Just play. As the days go by, it’s just getting better."

One situation in particular offered the strongest proof yet that Korpisalo is almost fully back to his old form. It happened with about a minute left in the second period Wednesday, when he made two dazzling, back-to-back saves to preserve a 2-0 lead.

The first was a sprawling blocker save to stop a wrist by Flames star Johnny Gaudreau aimed at the far side of the net. The second was off the rebound of that save, when he pushed his right knee into the ice and scrambled back to his right to just get a piece of Elias Lindholm’s shot from a few feet away.

"Stuff like that, when it happens, you’re like, ‘Ooh,’" Korpisalo said. "You feel good. You’re just like, ‘Wow, that just happened.’ So, through those kind of moments, you start feeling more confident."

Feeling lucky

Pierre-Luc Dubois has five stitches holding a vertical gash together on his chin, about an inch to the right of his mouth.

It’s the result of being struck in the face with the puck with 3:46 left in the second period of a 5-3 victory against the on Sunday at Nationwide Arena. It happened in front of the Jackets’ bench, when Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler sent a clearing attempt into Dubois’ face rather than up the boards.

Dubois initially thought the worst after seeing a blood stain on his glove and then the blood-stained towel he’d held against his face.

"I thought I was going to look like the Joker," he said. "It just felt like the left side of my face was blown off, but I knew it wasn’t. It hurt."

It was the first time Dubois had been struck in the face with a puck, which caused him think back to his childhood while being stitched up. "When you’re a kid and you see something like that, you’re like, ‘How do they not cry?’" Dubois said. "When you’re a kid and you get punched in the arm you start crying. And that’s what I was thinking about, like, ‘If this was 10 years ago, I’d be bawling right now. I’d probably be passed out.’ "

Late bloomer

The Blue Jackets added to their organizational depth Wednesday by signing 20-year-old defenseman Jake Christansen from the Everett Silvertips of the .

Christiansen is 6 feet 1, 190 pounds, has a left-handed shot and is leading WHL defensemen in goals with 20 in just 35 games. He also has 27 assists.

"From my understanding, he’s what you’d call a vintage late bloomer," Blue Jackets assistant general manager Basil McRae said. "He was a small kid and now he’s grown. He’s bigger and stronger, and he’s always had the skill. We watched a lot of tape on him, and we’re excited to have him."

Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 03.07.2020

Coach John Tortorella won’t let Blue Jackets lose focus amid obstacles

By Brian Hedger – The Columbus Dispatch – March 6, 2020

BANFF, Alberta – The taskmaster is having none of it.

There are 14 games left, coach John Tortorella’s scrappy Blue Jackets are still, somehow, alive and kicking in playoff position despite a 2-5-6 record in their past 13 games, and there is not a single bone in his body that’s saying "acquiesce."

Doesn’t matter that nine players are still out with injuries. Doesn’t matter that four are key components: Seth Jones, Cam Atkinson, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Josh Anderson.

Doesn’t matter that each game they play now, nearly half of the players on the active roster are either rookies or veterans of the .

Doesn’t matter that his team has scored two or fewer goals in six of the 13 past games. Doesn’t matter that his power play is still trying to power up.

And did we mention that mountain of injuries? Oh, yeah, we did. And it still doesn’t matter.

"Don’t even start talking about injuries," Tortorella said Wednesday at Scotiabank Saddledome after the Jackets coughed up a 2-0 lead in the third period and lost 3-2 in overtime to the Calgary Flames. "This has nothing to do with injuries. We’ve been doing this for three (bleep) months, and we have found our way to win games. We need to continue to stay with it."

The taskmaster is having none of it, not with the schedule dwindling and his team within reach of a playoff spot that might be one of the most unlikely in the history of the NHL should they claim it. There will be no wallowing. There will be no excuse-making. There will be only continued hard work for those healthy enough to carry onward.

Before trudging off to a daunting matchup Saturday in Edmonton against the Connor McDavid-fueled Oilers, a team that has given the Blue Jackets fits, there will be only coaching, practicing, video review and some team bonding done in a quaint resort town nestled within the Canadian Rockies of Banff National Park.

There will be more talk of using sticks to make life difficult for puck-carriers, which the Jackets did well against Calgary, and there will also be a focus on creating more offense by playing more in the other team's end of the rink (i.e. forechecking).

There just won’t be a pity party, and in the mind of the taskmaster, why should there be?

The Jackets held their own in Calgary. They took a quick 2-0 lead in the first period, getting goals from Devin Shore and Gustav Nyquist, but they couldn't add another one or two. Fixing that remains the Jackets' biggest focus, knowing how close they are to the postseason promised land.

"We’re a team that needs to reply upon being above the puck and create turnovers in the neutral zone and attack that way," Tortorella said. "We’re not going to get a whole bunch of offense coming out of our end and making all these fancy plays and trying to skill it into the net. We have to work on ‘away from the puck’ first and get our forechecking and our offense off of that."

Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 03.07.2020

Edmonton Oilers Edmonton Oilers grinding their way into playoff mode

By Robert Tychkowski – Edmonton Sun – March 6, 2020

It’s great that the Edmonton Oilers are digging down and finding ways to win games that they shouldn’t, grinding points out of nights when they aren’t at their best.

That’s a very good sign.

But an even better sign would be playing their best, winning games because they deserve to from start to finish.

Other than the 8-3 romp over Nashville, that really hasn’t been the case over the last six games. They say you should never critique a win, but you can wonder about trends, and the last six games have given us plenty to wonder about.

Feb. 25: Lost to Anaheim.

Feb. 26: Lost to Vegas.

Feb. 29: Outshot 41-22 in win over Winnipeg. Mar. 2: Trounced Nashville.

Mar. 3: Outshot 43-24 in win in Dallas.

Mar. 5: Lost to Chicago.

That’s 3-3 over six games, with a couple of wins in there where the other team could justifiably argue it deserved a better fate. Is this a concern, or just the usual turbulence that comes from playing nine of 12 games on the road in a stretch drive with so many teams still fighting for position?

“The last game of the road trip always leaves the biggest mark, and we lost that one in a way we didn’t want to,” defenceman Adam Larsson said of their 4-3 setback in Chicago. “If you look at the first two periods, Chicago was the better team. In the third, we made an honest push and we were close, but we have to start on time at this time of year.”

That they didn’t look great in Dallas, either, or were badly outshot by Winnipeg, isn’t something the Oilers are stressing about. Those games, and the points that came with them, are in the bank. And that’s what’s most important.

“At this time of year, it’s not really how you win it, it’s whether you win it or not,” said Larsson. “We take every win we can, any way we can, but obviously we would like our game to get better, and I’m confident it will.

“We battled really hard the whole year. To let it slip now is not something we want. We want to go for that No. 1 spot.”

The Oilers have fought hard to get where they are right now — through key injuries, a gruelling schedule and 13 years of ghosts — and they are the first to admit they haven’t been painting a lot of pictures the last few weeks. But with the framework in place, everyone buying into the system and with a well- documented ability to grind out wins in less than ideal circumstances, they believe they’re in great shape heading into the final 14 games of the stretch drive.

“That Dallas game might have looked like they dominated us, but after looking at the video, the chances were very similar,” said Zack Kassian, adding it wasn’t a night to be looking for style points.

“Yes, there are things we can improve on, but that’s a very good team, a good measuring stick for us, and it was a big, heavy game, kind of like a playoff game. In our situation, we have to take points wherever we can.”

There were two points sitting there in Chicago, a game in which the Oilers should have been able to impose their will, but for the second game in a row they spent most of the night on the their heels. That is a little troubling, even though they almost came back from a three- deficit in the third period.

“There are no easy games anymore, but the concerning part was that Chicago took it to us for 40 minutes,” said Kassian. “We know we’re a good team, but we can’t have lapses like that. We obviously need to fix that issue. But when we play the right way, it’s crazy how good our team can be.”

Assistant coach Jim Playfair says the coaching staff believes all of the challenges and speed bumps this team are facing are happening for a reason — to harden and prepare them for what happens in the second week of April. “The big picture is going through enough options and scenarios where we’re in playoff mode,” said Playfair. “We’re going to go through situations where it’s a 1-0 game, like it was in Dallas, and we have to find our way through. We’re going to be down in games like we were in Chicago and have to make a push to come back. We did that.

“We’re going to play shorthanded. We’ve done that. We’re going to play both goaltenders. We’ve done that. Everything has been structured to prepare us for the push for the playoffs.

“From the outside, maybe it looks like we failed in a particular part of the game, or individuals have failed, but that’s the adversity that we have to manage now to be a really good playoff team.”

Edmonton Sun: LOADED: 03.07.2020

Edmonton Oilers' mission control still in control, despite moving parts

By Terry Jones – Edmonton Sun – March 6, 2020

Hello, Houston. We appear to have a problem here with re-entry.

After their run of recent injuries, the Edmonton Oilers are finally getting their team back together. But having players ‘back’ and having their team ‘together’ are proving to be two different things.

There appears to be a malfunction at that junction.

Re-entry has been causing some turbulence.

It’s expected that No. 1 defenceman Oscar Klefbom will bring his 25:35 per game average ice time back to the line-up for Saturday’s game against Columbus after missing nine games. But how long will it take for him to get his game together to reduce the minutes Darnell Nurse has been required to munch and take some pressure off the kids Ethan Bear and ?

James Neal, after missing all of February, in his second game back, returned to the Connor McDavid line Thursday in Chicago and played a pathetic game. He was demoted down the lineup halfway through the end of the game.

Zack Kassian had failed to find his form in four games since returning to the lineup to the extent he had yet to convince coaches he’s ready to return to McDavid’s line.

Newcomers Andreas Athanasiou and were given a Welcome Wagon gift by head coach Dave Tippett upon arrival at the deadline and placed on McDavid’s wings, but didn’t stay there.

Athanasiou looked totally out of place with McDavid and was quickly dispatched to the bottom six. Ennis lasted longer but didn’t last the road trip. Athanasiou ended up back with McDavid for the third period and had a couple of moments but still no real sense of chemistry.

The result was McDavid centred a ‘helicopter line’ (no wings) in Chicago despite producing 14 points in his first six games after returning from his own six-game absence and, essentially, wasn’t able to get anything accomplished as the Oilers lost 4-3 to the Blackhawks. Friday, the Oilers returned for a highly optional practice. Coach Dave Tippett was absent for family related reasons. And McDavid, like most of the high-profile players elected to be elsewhere, perhaps deciding to get a haircut.

You’d figure that if the Oilers could set themselves up to be where they are with 14 games to go and 10 of them at home, they should be able to maintain their current position and maybe even open the playoffs at home. But you’d also figure the Oilers have to get the re-entry situation rectified and the McDavid line problem solved if they’re going to do anything in the playoffs.

Relax, suggested Jim Playfair, replacing Tippett as coaching staff spokesman for the team’s return to town.

Playfair said he didn’t see any great concern with Neal or Kassian and their performance returning from injury.

“The pace of play when players are out continues to get better week to week and I think catching up to the pace of play is an important part of it. But I don’t see it as a real big issue.”

When it comes to Athanasiou, Playfair was much more willing to analyze the transition of the speedster’s return from playing with the Detroit Dead Things, where he had the worst plus-minus number in the entire league, to joining a team in the midst of a palpitating playoff race.

“He’s an interesting player. We’ve watched a lot of videotape on him and in the last game was probably the first time we’ve seen that explosive skill, that quickness and that tenacity on the puck,” said the assistant coach.

“When you leave a situation like the one he was in for a long time and come into what we’re trying to accomplish, I think there’s probably an adjustment period to try to figure out where he fits in with Connor’s line or somewhere just a little bit below that.

“I think the figuring out of the line combinations have been something everyone has been a little hesitant about a little bit. But Thursday night, I personally thought he had some good pace and quickness.”

As for McDavid’s ‘helicopter line’ Playfair laughed.

“I don’t see it that way. The transition from the start of the season and what we wanted to accomplish by this time of year by potentially having Leon and Connor drive their own lines,” he said. “I think we’ve been successful with that. I think our star players have impacted every shift they are on the ice.

“When you stand back and look at it, we haven’t identified the lines 100 per cent right now. But we’ve made some really good progress as an organization.

“Here we are in early March and we’re talking about how we’re going to get four lines consistently up and playing, so I think we’ve done a really good job.”

The basic message from Playfair is sit back and watch it come together.

“In looking at these situations right now, maybe it looks from the outside like we failed in a particular part of our game or that individuals have failed. But the adversity it’s going to take to manage what we face right now is going to help to be a good playoff team. So that’s kind of how we look at each situation,” he said.

Hello, Houston. Can we put you on hold?

Edmonton Sun: LOADED: 03.07.2020

Oilers' Archibald rewarded with two-year extension off his all-around work

By Jim Matheson – Edmonton Sun – March 6, 2020

Teams make mistakes on players all the time, but when the decided last June to let Josh Archibald walk even though the feisty role player had a career high 12 goals, had 160 hits and was part of the NHL’s No. 1 -killing unit, lots of people scratched their heads.

He was making NHL chump change, only $735,000. And even if he had gone to salary arbitration and got a favourable ruling that raised it to $1 million, that seemed a small price to pay for a blood-and-guts guy. Coyotes slip-up, Edmonton Oilers gain.

They signed him for $1 million as a free-agent in mid-July, and Friday gave the right-winger a two-year extension at $1.5 million a season. Just reward after 11 goals in his last 30 games, along with working alongside Riley Sheahan on the NHL’s No. 2 penalty kill.

Of all the free-agents Oilers general manager Ken Holland signed last summer—Sheahan, Joakim Nygard, Gaetan Haas, Markus Granlund, Tomas Jurco — Archibald has by far had the biggest impact. Two short-handed goals, three game-winners, including one in overtime. All 12 of his goals were either even-strength or while killing penalties, 17 of his 20 points came five-on-five, with three short-handed. Nothing on the power play, although he has shown enough chops to play games with Connor McDavid.

“One of the big things the Oilers were bringing me in for was the penalty-killing and Riley and I have developed chemistry at it and we’ve done a good job at it. Plus I’ve been able to chip in offensively,” said Archibald, who didn’t get his first goal until Dec. 1, but has been terrific the last two and a half months. His 20 points have come in the last 40 games.

Archibald got hurt blocking a shot early in the year, which didn’t help, obviously. His first goal came Dec. 1, in his 20th game. It was his first point, too.

“The start was tough, breaking my foot and I was also sick,” said Archibald, who was trying to find where he fit, apart from the penalty-kill.

“First one over the boards when we have a penalty-kill, he’s a guy every team needs,” said Zack Kassian. “Brings his work boots and hard-hat every night.”

The 175-pound winger routinely knocks down guys 25 pounds heavier.

“My dad taught me at a young age how to make a hit and take a hit and he would say, ‘Don’t back down, stick up for yourself.’ Been doing it my whole life so I’ve gotten used to it. Having a low centre of gravity helps too,” said Archibald, whose dad, John, was a rambunctious teammate of current Oilers head coach Dave Tippett at the University of North Dakota, and played a few games with the .

SHOULDERING THE LOAD

Oilers No. 1 defenceman Oscar Klefbom, who has missed the last three weeks after minor surgery on his shoulder to clean up some debris that was bothering him for a long while, might be back for the Blue Jackets game Saturday. He was getting several “maintenance days” off from practising, which raised some red flags, but he kept saying there was nothing wrong with him, until there was.

He played 30:57 against Carolina Feb. 16 and suddenly was out. He’s sat out nine games.

“It was good enough to play (before the medical procedure), that’s what you learn in this league, to play through a lot of stuff. Sometimes it gets to a point, though, where you have to be smart,” Klefbom said of his shoulder. “I’m happy where it’s at now.”

Klefbom was playing with Adam Larsson but since he’s been out Caleb Jones has been on the left-side with Larsson. If Klefbom, who has averaged (25.35) a night, fifth most in the NHL, goes back with Larsson, the rookie Jones might be odd-man out if they want to keep the third pairing of Matt Benning and Kris Russell together.

“Quite honestly, it was bothering Klef for quite a while but he figured out to get prepared with the medical staff and treatment, and we’re hoping for a long playoff run and with Klef being out, it’s a good investment to make,” said associate coach Jim Playfair, who handles the defence. “Klef coming back will stabilize things and put everybody back in the positions they feel more comfortable in or are better suited for. But it’s going to take eight or nine (defencemen) to get where we want to go.”

Playfair also has Mike Green (MCL knee sprain) out for several weeks and young Swede William Lagesson in the mix.

“We’ve got a really good combination where we can move players around.”

This ’n’ that: The Oilers are likely talking about an extension for Sheahan as well, either one or two years … Oilers winger Joakim Nygard (broken hand), who will find his way onto the third or fourth-line as a speedy fore-checker when he returns, still isn’t skating with the team after being out five weeks.

Edmonton Sun: LOADED: 03.07.2020

How ‘little firecracker’ Josh Archibald went from unknown to vital with Oilers

By Daniel Nugent-Bowman – The Athletic – March 6, 2020

Josh Archibald was largely an unknown commodity when he joined the Oilers as a free agent midway through July.

He was three months from turning 27 and had just 121 NHL games on his resume — 68 of which came last season with the Coyotes. His one-year, $1 million deal wasn’t exactly groundbreaking news. But when Archibald arrived in Edmonton for training camp in September, he was quickly paired up with Riley Sheahan — a centre signed just after Labour Day. The two were teammates with Pittsburgh for a few games during the 2017-18 season, so Sheahan knew exactly what to expect from Archibald.

“He’s a little firecracker,” Sheahan said. “Out on the ice, he’s always buzzing around. He likes confrontation and physical play. Off the ice, it’s the same old story with hockey guys — super nice, caring guy. He’s fun to be around.”

The Oilers are going to have their “little firecracker” around for a while longer after Archibald agreed to a two-year contract extension Friday. The deal, which has been in the works since before the trade deadline, is worth an average annual value of $1.5 million, The Athletic has confirmed.

Archibald was billed as a depth player capable of killing penalties and hitting double digits in goals. He’s lived up to that description with the Oilers — and then some.

Let’s start with his play while shorthanded.

When healthy, Archibald and Sheahan have been a fixture together on the NHL’s second-best penalty- killing team (entering Friday) at 84.5 percent. Sheahan, who has 151 minutes in 63 games, and Archibald, at 137 minutes in 59 games, rank second and fourth, respectively, in Oilers ice time while shorthanded.

“The friendship and chemistry grew a little (since Pittsburgh),” Sheahan said. “When you’re just comfortable with someone like that, you can communicate well.

“We do a good job talking, especially on the penalty kill. We can read off each other now.”

They’re far and away the Oilers’ top two forwards. There are plenty of games when it’s not close.

When the Oilers beat the Hurricanes 4-3 in overtime on Feb. 16, with Archibald scoring the winner in the extra period, no less, both were on the ice for 4:36 of a possible six shorthanded minutes.

“Not everyone likes to do it. But when you take pride in it and really go after it, it’s a lot of fun — especially with Riley,” Archibald said.

Archibald equalled his 12-goal career high from last season when he scored in Thursday’s 4-3 loss in Chicago, accomplishing the feat in nine fewer games.

Seven of Archibald’s goals have been at five-on-five, a total that’s been augmented by playing 140 minutes alongside Connor McDavid. Archibald got his first crack with the on Dec. 1, filling in on the right wing for an injured Zack Kassian, and netted his first goal of the season.

Oilers coach Dave Tippett also turned to Archibald to play with McDavid when Kassian was suspended in January and again this week as he has been searching for the right linemates for his star centre.

Tippett values Archibald’s speed, grit and relentless forechecking. The Oilers have outscored the opposition 8-5 when Archibald shares the ice with McDavid.

Archibald’s under-the-hood metrics with Sheahan, his primary pivot, at five-on-five are far less impressive — a 45.2 Corsi-for percentage and a 34.4 goals-for percentage in 369 minutes. However, they’re largely tasked with defensive responsibilities, such as being out for 148 draws in the Edmonton zone compared to 72 in the offensive zone.

“When you have confidence and you’re making plays and scoring goals, you’re helping the team,” Archibald said. “But we get a lot of our confidence from playing defensively and killing penalties.”

Said Tippett: “They’re just good pros and understand their role … and understand their contribution to help us win. They show up every day with the work boots on. They’re real good guys to have on your team.”

And then there are the intangibles.

Despite being listed at 5-foot-10 and 176 pounds, Archibald is one of the Oilers’ most feared body- checkers.

“He’s pretty small, but he’s powerful,” Sheahan said. “The way he’s built, he’s kind of stocky. He’s got that muscle to him. He does a good job of generating his weight and connecting. I know when I played against him, I felt a few of his hits. He’s solid. You definitely have to keep an eye out.”

There are a few things to note.

When it comes to dishing out hits, timing and leverage are of the utmost importance.

“When I first started (in the league), a lot of guys never expected a 5-foot-10, 170-pound player to hit ’em like I do,” Archibald said. “You catch a lot of people off guard. They’re coming to try to hit you and you reverse-shoulder them. The low centre of gravity, being able to get low and using my explosiveness, you get up into them helps a lot.”

Then there’s the most crucial tool of the trade — the shoulder pads.

One might expect a player of Archibald’s stature to be armed with bulky gear. That couldn’t be further from the case. He’s worn the same pads for as long as he can remember. They look as though they’re held together by spit and tape.

“They fit me. You don’t have to break them in. They’re molded to my body,” he reasoned. “I don’t like breaking in new equipment. I have had them forever. When you look at them, every piece has been stitched back on two or three times. I love them. I can’t ever switch.”

And, finally, there are the family genes.

His mom, Anne, was an All-American swimmer at the University of North Dakota. There, she met (and later married) Jim Archibald, an undersized but not underwhelmed winger who played in 16 games for the Minnesota North Stars.

They were settled in Jim’s native Saskatchewan when Josh was born. He grew up in Lumsden, a town 30 kilometres northwest in the Qu’Appelle Valley, where he played his minor hockey.

Archibald reached midget AA with the Balgonie Prairie Storm and even suited up in a couple of games for AAA Moose Jaw before the family moved to Minnesota, where Anne is from. Archibald continued his hockey career with Brainerd High School and then the University of Nebraska-Omaha. By then, with his dad’s tutelage from a young age, Archibald displayed much of the feistiness he’s known for now.

“I remember wrestling, playing mini-sticks at 2 or 3 years old. He was hitting me and throwing me around, trying to toughen me up,” Archibald said of his dad. “It was a lot of fun. Those are great memories that I have. Those things helped me. You don’t think they do, but they really do.”

Jim played with Tippett in college. They were teammates when Jim was in the thick of an infamous brawl against Wisconsin that spilled into the stands.

Tippett sees a bit of the old man in his checking winger.

“I know there’s a little mean streak in (Archibald) because I played with his dad, and there was a big mean streak in that one,” Tippett said. “It’s not far from the apple tree.”

Josh Archibald laughed when asked about the brawl. “I’ve seen it many times,” he said.

“I definitely get that side from him. But that’s how I was raised, too. I’m not the biggest guy in the world, so you have to stick up for yourself. It doesn’t matter how big or how small, you just never gotta back down from anybody.”

That much was evident in the recent Carolina game when Archibald slugged Nino Niederreiter. The punch caused Erik Haula to rush to his teammate’s defence, grapple down Archibald and touch off a melee.

“I wasn’t expecting to get wrapped up from behind,” Archibald said. “I would have liked to have been able to do something about it.”

For all the fiery play, it’s his work with Sheahan that got Archibald a new deal — and could soon earn Sheahan a new one, too.

Their relationship, dating to the Pittsburgh days, is strong at the rink and away from it.

On the road, it’s not uncommon to see them sitting together in a hotel lobby on the morning of a game or forgoing an optional practice to play two-touch. They often eat together as well, with the more health-conscious Sheahan usually picking the restaurant.

Getting comfortable in Edmonton didn’t happen immediately for either player, both of whom were later additions after free agency began.

As the new deal for Archibald shows, any signs of insecurity and insignificance are long in the past.

“Coming into a new team together, finding your niche, where you fit in, maybe took a little bit longer than we would have hoped,” Archibald said. “Now that we’re rolling and playing together, the confidence is coming.

“It’s been a lot of fun to finally get someone that you can have some chemistry with and really start working with.”

The Athletic LOADED: 03.07.2020 NHL/Websites Remembering Henri Richard, the NHL's 'biggest champion'

By Eric Engels – Sportsnet.ca – March 6, 2020

MONTREAL — I met Henri Richard once. He was kind and approachable, but slightly reserved. He was a legend and carried himself that way, but without a hint of arrogance. He wore a well-tailored suit and the kind of smile that presented a youthfulness only his white hair betrayed. And this was long before Alzheimer’s disease took a firm hold of his life, but not so long ago that I’d have been too young for it to have made any tangible impact on my life. Because growing up in Montreal, I heard a lot about the "Pocket Rocket" — about his remarkable career, about him being the winningest Montreal Canadien of all time, and about him being one of the most tenacious and competitive people anyone had ever met — and the significance of all of that wasn’t lost on me when I had this brief opportunity to shake his hand and make it clear it meant something to me.

My father, Stephen, was (and still is) one of Henri’s biggest fans. He told me about when he was 13 years old and the cherished memory he gained the night the great ’s brother made his own history with a Cup-clinching goal in the 1966 Final against the . He described in detail the time Henri flew into the offensive zone, skipped his way over Keith Magnuson’s stick and uncorked his wicked wrist shot to beat Tony Esposito and put the Canadiens up 3-2 over the in the third period of Game 7 of the 1971 Cup — and how he once got to discuss this with the man on a flight from Toronto to Montreal after some Canadiens and Maple Leafs old-timers competed against each other in an annual golf event.

And then there’s the story my father loved most, the one I’ve heard countless times since I was a kid — about a couple of games of tennis he once played with Richard and Canadiens legend Yvan Cournoyer.

"It was the early 80s, I was 29 or 30, and I had a business associate who invited me to Tennis 13 in Laval," my father recounted on Friday morning shortly after hearing of Richard’s passing. "I showed up, and as we got on the court Richard and Cournoyer were warming up. What I remember most is that these two guys were basically the same size, they were smaller guys, but they also had the same sized- legs and they were the biggest legs I had ever seen.

"We played a couple of games, and then they wanted to play singles. I didn’t care. I was so honoured they let us play with them. They were so gracious."

And competitive. Richard was always described as being uber-competitive.

Think about what he fought through to carve out his own timeless legacy. He was 15 years younger and three inches shorter than his older brother Maurice, who had become the most iconic player in the game not named Gordie Howe — a player who had already won three Stanley Cups, scored an NHL- record eight points in a single game and been the league’s first 50-goal scorer — before Henri had joined up with the Canadiens in 1955. There are long shadows, and then there are black holes.

But Henri immediately found his way to the light. And then 20 years went by and he retired having played the most games (1,256) and having recorded the third-most assists (688) and points (1,046) in Canadiens history. He had his No. 16 retired by the franchise just months after he hung up his skates, and he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979.

Oh yeah, and there were the Cups. Henri won his first one as a rookie, and then sipped Champagne and beer from hockey’s holy chalice 10 more times — or more than any other player in NHL history.

"He won (expletive) 11 Stanley Cups," former Canadiens captain and recently-inducted Hall of Famer Guy Carbonneau said emphatically in a phone conversation Friday morning. "He had 11 Stanley Cups in 20 years, and the year he retired was because he wasn’t playing a lot and he decided to quit, and they won four straight Cups after that. I mean, he could have won 15 Cups if he kept going.

"He was the biggest champion. Nobody’s going to ever come close to winning 11 championships, in any sport."

Richard’s only company in the category is Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell, who won 11 NBA titles.

There will never be another.

And my dad says that Henri Richard was one of a kind, too.

"He was absolutely tenacious, with moves and with strength and the ability to pass the puck when he really needed to thread the needle," he said. "He was a great playmaker, and he was a great two-way player as well."

I once shook the man’s hand, and it’ll always mean something to me that I had a chance to do that.

Rest in Peace, Henri Richard.

Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 03.07.2020