The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.

December 6, 2010

The Hockey News - Dec-06-10

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04512/9455003-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="423" height="502"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ROBERT SVEHLA</b> <span class="photo-credit">(SVEHLA: DAVE SANDFORD /NHLI/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>CATS&rsquo; CAREER BLUELINE SCORING</b></h2><p><i>R. Svehla</i></p><p><b>290 pts.</b></p><p><i>J. Bouwmeester</i></p><p><b>203 pts.</b></p><p><i>G. Murphy</i></p><p><b>142 pts.</b></p><p><i>M. Van Ryn</i></p><p><b>105 pts.</b></p><p><i>B. McCabe</i></p><p><b>91 pts.</b></p><p><i>E. Jovanovski</i></p><p><b>83 pts.</b></p><p><i>P. Laus</i></p><p><b>72 pts.</b></p><p><i>B. Hedican</i></p><p><b>65 pts.</b></p><p><i>K. Ballard</i></p><p><b>62 pts.</b></p><p><i>B. Allen</i></p><p><b>59 pts.</b></p><p><i>S. Ozolinsh</i></p><p><b>55 pts.</b></p><p><i>R. Salei</i></p><p><b>55 pts.</b></p><h2><b>509</b></h2><p><b>McCabe&rsquo;s career points (139 G, 370 A) through 15 years and 1,080 games</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0032-04

IN THIS ISSUE

CLAW Marks

<div class="byline">BY MICHAEL TRAIKOS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02925/9454958-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRYAN McCABE <span class="photo-credit">(MCCABE: ABELIMAGES/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011378/9454972-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="77" height="89"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03678/9454965-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="194" height="131"></div><p>There are days when Peter DeBoer thinks about his time coaching junior.</p><p>The back-to-back coach of the year awards he won in 1999 and 2000, the Memorial Cup in 2003, the 13 consecutive playoffs. But really, what the Windsor, Ont., native misses the most about those glory days is the coffee. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no Tim Hortons here,&rdquo; the Florida Panthers coach said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s killing me.&rdquo;</p><p>There are other things DeBoer has been without since getting to the NHL in 2008. Like, say, participating in the playoffs. The Panthers finished with 93 points in DeBoer&rsquo;s first year &ndash; the second-best point total in franchise history &ndash; but still failed to qualify for the postseason. Last season, Florida took a step backwards and ended up with the third-worst record overall.</p><p>Now in his third season, DeBoer and the remaining diehard hockey fans in the Sunshine State are getting frustrated with a team that has gone 10 years without a playoff appearance &ndash; and seems to be in a rebuilding mode. &ldquo;Rebuild is not a term I like to use,&rdquo; DeBoer said. &ldquo;This is my third year here and we want to make the playoffs. I&rsquo;ve worked in the OHL for more than 13 years and we never missed the playoffs. But I don&rsquo;t think frustrated is the word I&rsquo;d use.&rdquo;</p><p>How about impatient? Or anxious? Or just plain annoyed? After all, Florida last qualified for the playoffs in 2000 when Pavel Bure led the team with 58 goals and 94 points. After trading Nathan Horton to Boston in the off-season, the Panthers are without an offensive dynamo. But with captain Bryan McCabe leading the way, they might have a defense corps able to pick up the slack.</p><p>&ldquo;I remember when we lost Nathan, wondering where the offense would come from,&rdquo; DeBoer said. &ldquo;We were the third-last in goals-scored last season and we had just lost our top scorer. But our defense has stepped up. A big part of generating offense is getting the defensemen involved.&rdquo;</p><p>That is where McCabe comes in. The veteran had nine points his first 12 games of the season and, unlike previous years when he was often responsible for as many goals-against as goals-scored, he had a plus-6 rating. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the consummate team player,&rdquo; said De-Boer, who cut McCabe&rsquo;s minutes by about three per game. &ldquo;We asked him to take the risk out of his game and to his credit, he&rsquo;s done just that. It&rsquo;s not about him or personal stats. It&rsquo;s about him becoming a more effective defenseman.&rdquo;</p><p>If he continues to do that, Mc-Cabe will be one of the hotter commodities come trade deadline time. In the final year of a five-year, $28.75-million deal, he has the right mix of offense, defense, physicality and veteran savvy for any contending team.</p><p>With McCabe setting the tone, the Panthers have quickly earned a reputation for being one for the more disciplined teams. After 12 games, Florida had been shorthanded a league-low 36 times.</p><p>And while critics have compared DeBoer&rsquo;s conservative coaching style to watching ice melt, the coach is happy with the results.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t consider us a trapping team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been a big believer in forechecking and puck pursuit. But it&rsquo;s no secret that we had to tighten up defensively.&rdquo;</p><p>So far, Florida has done just that. The Panthers, have cut their shots-against by six per game and their penalty kill was ranked amongst the best.</p><p>And even without a nearby Tim Hortons, Florida&rsquo;s lethargic offense had received a caffeinated jolt.</p><p>&ldquo;I like the identity of the team,&rdquo; DeBoer said. &ldquo;It hasn&rsquo;t translated to as many wins as I&rsquo;d like. But we&rsquo;re doing a lot of things right.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0032-02

Life of Bryan Takes a Twist

<h2><b>1. SEAN COUTURIER, C</b></h2><p>Drummondville</p><p><i>Big, dominating pivot with speed a front-runner to go first overall</i></p><h2><b>2. TOMAS JURCO, RW</b></h2><p>Saint John</p><p><i>Wicked hands and the ability to make opponents look silly; deceptive speed</i></p><h2><b>3. JONATHAN HUBERDEAU, C</b></h2><p>Saint John</p><p><i>Tremendous upside, great speed, plays through traffic</i></p><h2><b>4. NATHAN BEAULIEU, D</b></h2><p>Saint John</p><p><i>Big defenseman plays a two-way game</i></p><h2><b>5. ZACK PHILLIPS, C</b></h2><p>Saint John</p><p><i>Great hands and puck skills, skating the only soft spot</i></p><h2><b>6. XAVIER OUELLET, D</b></h2><p>Montreal</p><p><i>Not the biggest, but has very good hockey sense</i></p><h2><b>7. CHRISTOPHER GIBSON, G</b></h2><p>Chicoutimi</p><p><i>Best attribute is calm demeanor; size and technical skills solid too</i></p><h2><b>8. PHILLIP DANAULT, LW</b></h2><p>Victoriaville</p><p><i>Speedy and hard-working, he reads the game well</i></p><h2><b>9. JEAN-FRANCOIS LEBLANC, C</b></h2><p>Val d&rsquo;Or</p><p><i>Big playmaking kid not afraid to battle</i></p><h2><b>10. OLIVIER ARCHAMBAULT, C</b></h2><p>Val d&rsquo;Or</p><p><i>Great hands, sick moves, just a little undersized</i></p><p>Read more of Ryan Kennedy&rsquo;s <b>&lsquo;The Hot List&rsquo;</b> Tuesdays at <a href="http://THN.com">THN.com</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

‘Q’ Rated

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04655/9454574-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(TAMPA: SCOTT AUDETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES; GRAHAME: MICHAEL MARTIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-05460/9454567-1-eng-US/f0012-052.jpg" title="f0012-05" width="1040" height="504"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0012-04

The Journeyman

<div class="byline">PHOTOGRAPH BY RICHARD WOLOWICZ</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-012132/9454156-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>Carey that Weight</b></p><p><b>Montreal&rsquo;s new uncontested No. 1, Carey Price, stretches to steal a goal off the stick of Canuck Jannik Hansen.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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THE BIG PICTURE

<div class="byline">WITH JASON KAY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-012155/9454201-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="906" height="580"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JAMIE HODGSON/THN)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>f you&rsquo;ve ever</b> played the game of &ldquo;Life&rdquo; &ndash; the board version, that is, not the new-age digital variation &ndash; you know two universal truths about it: 1. That spinny-wheel thing comes off its axis at least three times a game; and 2. You choose the college route if you want to win. Sure you can enter the workforce right away and start earning dough much more quickly, but the players who opt for a post-secondary education triumph nearly every time.</p><p>A similar pattern holds true in the NHL &ndash; a franchise&rsquo;s best chance for sustained success is to be bad for an extended period and, just as importantly, be patient and prudent. It&rsquo;s how Pittsburgh, Chicago and Washington, among others, have climbed to the upper echelons of the league.</p><p>Two more teams are following that tack to elitehood this season, the St. Louis Blues and Tampa Bay Lightning, and we&rsquo;re shining a spotlight on both in this issue. On pg. 24, senior writer Ken Campbell chronicles the growth of emerging superstar Steven Stamkos, a product of Tampa&rsquo;s terribleness, in our cover story, while columnist Adam Proteau details the revival of a Blues club that was down-and-out not too many seasons ago in a feature that begins on pg. 20.</p><p>Both teams have leveraged the system and made some shrewd moves to help them climb the ladder. St. Louis&rsquo; bottom-feeding allowed them to secure Erik Johnson and Alex Pietrangelo and build the type of defense that gets you deep in the playoffs. Tampa&rsquo;s futility netted them Stamkos and Victor Hedman, cornerstone players around which you build championships. Both clubs also have highly respected hockey men running the day-to-day, with John Davidson and Doug Armstrong overseeing a slick operation in Missouri, while Steve Yzerman is pressing all the right buttons early in his stewardship of the Lightning. Among the inspired decisions both executive groups have made are the hirings of young, fresh-minded new NHL coaches in Davis Payne and Guy Boucher, as opposed to opting for previously owned models.</p><p>That they stayed the course, despite sagging attendance, poor TV ratings and market apathy was critical. Quick fixes can be highly tempting, especially when you feel your job is on the line, but fixing your gaze on the big picture, and the big prizes that are the Sidney Crosbys, Alex Ovechkins, Patrick Kanes, Erik Johnsons and Steven Samkoses is a life lesson all GMs need to know.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021830/9454194-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="456" height="245"></div><h2><b>NEXT ISSUE DECEMBER 20, 2010</b></h2><p><b>CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TO SUBSCRIBE:</b> <a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a></p><p><b>CONTACT US:</b> <a href="mailto:editorial@thehockeynews.com">editorial@thehockeynews.com</a></p><h2><b>LISTEN UP!</b></h2><p><b>THE HOCKEY NEWS RADIO SHOW</b></p><p><b>FRIDAYS 3-4 EST XM 204</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031472/9454187-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="185" height="72"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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South Wind Blows Fresh

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-012136/9454277-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MODANO: DAVE SANDFORD/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>SOUNDING OFF</b></h2><p><b>Thanks for the <i>Top 100 Players of All-Time by Position</i>. Every article said something new about players we thought we knew everything about.</b></p><p><b>Something stuck out to me when reading about Jean Beliveau and the Canadiens asking him to return for another season to help the new players along, instead of retire as he had planned.</b></p><p><b>I think it&rsquo;s too bad some NHL teams today don&rsquo;t see the value of the veterans like the Canadiens seemed to and instead try to push them out.</b></p><p><b>I&rsquo;m sure some players in Dallas could have benefited from another season with future Hall of Famer Mike Modano in their room.</b></p><p><b><i>John Burris, Saskatoon, Sask.</i></b></p><h2><b>Heads Up!</b></h2><p>The line between blindside hits and blindside head shots is a very gray area.</p><p>If a player delivers an elbow or shoulder to the head of their opponent&rsquo;s blindside, they should be penalized.</p><p>However, there is nothing wrong with a blindside hit if it&rsquo;s clean. If the league starts dishing out suspensions for clean hits, we&rsquo;ll start seeing hot dogs skating with their head down because they know they&rsquo;re safe. Players should be responsible and know what&rsquo;s coming. If not, it might be time to learn a hard lesson.</p><p><i>Andrew Miller, Kingston, Ont.</i></p><h2><b>R-E-S-P-E-C-T</b></h2><p>Everyone says head hits are because the game is faster and the players are bigger. How about a lack of respect for your fellow players?</p><p>Years ago, players would settle things with a fight, one-to-one, not by taking runs at people.</p><p>Players careers are being put on the line because they don&rsquo;t respect each other.</p><p><i>Joe Vilanova, Asbury Park N.J.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04621/9454270-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="500" height="683"></div><h2><b>Bringing Dad Back</b></h2><p>Going back at least 25 years, the Nov. 15 issue is probably my favorite cover.</p><p>My Dad, who passed away, was not a big fan of pro players and the money they made just for playing a game. Still, he really enjoyed the punch line from Rocket Richard&rsquo;s old Grecian hair color ad.</p><p>You have improved the look of the magazine, but it&rsquo;s your inside joke at the top of the cover (&ldquo;Two minutes for looking so good&rdquo;) that made it for me &ndash; it brought my dad back for a few minutes.</p><p>Thanks for the smile.</p><p><i>William Dickson, Houston, Texas</i></p><h2><b>Losers Get Zero</b></h2><p>I don&rsquo;t know why there&rsquo;s so much debate over the point system. Here&rsquo;s an idea: you don&rsquo;t get any points for losing. Weird concept, I know.</p><p>How about two points for a win in regulation, one point for a win in overtime or shootout and no points for not winning the game?</p><p>This might give teams incentive to finish off their opponents rather than hold on for an OT/SO loss and say, &ldquo;oh well.&rdquo; It would also stop teams from making the playoffs even though they&rsquo;ve lost 10 to 20 games in extra time.</p><p><i>Brian Holland, Belle River, Ont.</i></p><h2><b>Categorical Change</b></h2><p>I completely agree women deserve a place in the Hall of Fame, but they shouldn&rsquo;t take the spot of worthy candidates who also deserve to be there.</p><p>The best thing to do would be keep the players and builders categories and make another category for women and people like Fr. Costello.</p><p>The game is changing, why can&rsquo;t the Hall change with it?</p><p><i>Jason Corbiere, St. Catharines, Ont.</i></p><h2><b>Spread the Love</b></h2><p>The NHL should give the rest of North America, in particular Canada, more opportunities to see regular season NHL games.</p><p>Years ago, the NHL played &ldquo;neutral site&rdquo; games, including in Halifax, which were well attended.</p><p>Come on, National Hockey League, share some of the excitement with us.</p><p><i>Ken Duncan, Halifax, N.S</i></p><h2><b>WHA Overlooked</b></h2><p>I just received my copy of your new book, <i>We Are The Champions &ndash; The Greatest Teams of All-Time.</i> I only wish that the Houston Aeros of the mid-70s and the Winnipeg Jets of the late-70s were included.</p><p>The WHA, after all, was a major league and deserved to be mentioned as much or more than other leagues that were.</p><p><i>Charles Hall, Centerville, Ohio</i></p><h2><b>A Real Legend</b></h2><p>I recently took my 17-month-old son to the HHoF legends game in Toronto. Hats off to the organizers who put on such a family-friendly show, but what made the day so special was when Ray Scapinello skated over to us and threw my little guy a puck.</p><p>Thanks, Ray, it will be a day my son and I never forget.</p><p><i>Charles West, Mount Albert, Ont.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021556/9454263-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="523" height="89"></div><h2><b>POLL RESULTS</b></h2><p>Where will St. Louis finish in the Western Conference this season?</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-031012/9454256-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="514" height="775"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(POLL: STEVE BABINEAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>4-6 59%</b></p><p>1-3 23%</p><p>7-9 15%</p><p>10-12 3%</p><p>13-15 1%</p><p><b>Vote on polls from everything top to bottom in the world of hockey at <a href="http://thehockynews.com">thehockynews.com</a></b></p><p><b>Submit your letter at: <a href="http://THN.COM/LETTERS">thn.com/letters</a></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0005-01

THN INBOX

<p><i>What&rsquo;s keeping you up at night, hockey fans?</i></p><p><i>If you&rsquo;ve got a question about the game, send it to columnist Adam Proteau at <a href="http://THN.COM/ASKADAM">THN.com/AskAdam</a></i></p><p><b>Hey Adam. It seems fighting in the game is a hot topic, so I&rsquo;d like to propose an idea: After your first three fights of the season, you receive a one-game suspension; after the fifth, you get suspended for three games; and after the 10th, you&rsquo;re done for the year. No one will get close to 10 fights, thereby eliminating pointless scraps and allowing the NHL to justify claims that in a fast-paced game, it&rsquo;s bound to happen. What do you think?</b></p><p><i>Nate Root, Welland, Ont.</i></p><p>Hey Nate. I like your suggestion more than the NHL&rsquo;s current slant on fighting, which tacitly rewards the dancing bear enforcers of the league. Any system is an improvement on the current one and I would endorse it if it were to be proposed by the decision-makers.</p><p><b>Adam: what&rsquo;s the deal with Dale Hunter? He&rsquo;s pumped out dozens of bona fide NHLers in recent years. Players come out of the London Knights system saying he runs it like an NHL team to get them prepared. Why isn&rsquo;t he coaching in the NHL?</b></p><p><i>Elias Abboud, London, Ont.</i></p><p>Elias: Hunter and his brother Mark have a great situation in London; they own a highly profitable and successful franchise in a fairly new arena, so it will take an ideal opportunity for Dale to pick up and leave. That said, many think he&rsquo;ll be coaching in the NHL sooner than later.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012382/9454308-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="658" height="758"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ALEXANDER SEMIN</b> <span class="photo-credit">(ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>Adam, what do you think of the chances of Washington trading Alexander Semin to Toronto for Tomas Kaberle (if he waives his no-trade clause)? Semin may not be the center the Leafs need, but he could add some sorely needed offense and the Caps would benefit immensely from Kaberle&rsquo;s puck-moving skills.</b></p><p><i>Mike Milosevich, Ferndale, Mich.</i></p><p>Mike: Sorry, but it won&rsquo;t happen, primarily because Semin does not fit the mold Leafs GM Brian Burke envisions for the highest-paid player on the team. And after Semin&rsquo;s underwhelming playoff performances last spring &ndash; two assists and no goals in seven games &ndash; I don&rsquo;t know why Burke would want him.</p><p>Read more <b>&lsquo;Ask Adam&rsquo;</b> every Friday at <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0006-01

ASK ADAM

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN DIXON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-05481/9454367-1-eng-US/f0008-052.jpg" title="f0008-05" width="359" height="100"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>here might not</b> seem to be an immediate connection between grapes and goalies, but, like a fine wine, some puckstoppers are getting better with age.</p><p>That&rsquo;s part of the reason the goalie hierarchy has witnessed some upheaval in the NHL this year, with guys destined for thumb-twiddlin&rsquo; time on the bench suddenly thrust onto the front lines. Some of them are newcomers to the scene, such as Philadelphia rookie Sergei Bobrovsky and Nashville freshman Anders Lindback, others are more seasoned stoppers such as the Penguins&rsquo; Brent Johnson and Blue Jackets guardian Mathieu Garon.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-031218/9454360-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="122" height="139"></div><p>In between those crowds you&rsquo;ll find Brian Elliott, who was parked at least slightly behind Pascal Leclaire in Ottawa for the No. 1 job. That dynamic changed when Leclaire tweaked his groin and missed seven games. Elliott seized control by showing some of the form that made him Ottawa&rsquo;s go-to guy at times the past two seasons. In fact, Elliott, picked second-last overall in 2003 at No. 291, set new Sens benchmarks for consecutive wins in back-to-back seasons, first stringing eight together in his rookie year of 2008-09 before breaking that mark with a run of nine last season. But with Leclaire often hurt and on the books for a hefty $3.8-million cap hit, and Elliott unable to keep up the magic in the playoffs last spring, the issue of who&rsquo;s truly No. 1 remained clouded. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s too early to say whether he&rsquo;s a good backup goaltender or a starting goaltender,&rdquo; said former NHL goalie and current TV analyst Darren Pang. &ldquo;Last year, I thought Brian really exceeded expectations. The magnifying glass was on him in the playoffs, but that&rsquo;s the toughest part for a young goaltender is to be accomplished in a seven-game playoff series. That was probably a good learning curve for him.</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021731/9454353-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="780" height="803"><figcaption class="caption-body">MATHIEU GARON <span class="photo-credit">(GARON: ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04680/9454346-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg" title="f0008-04" width="1198" height="1020"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>TWO FOR ONE?</b></p><p><b>Brian Elliott is one goalie who made an early push to become his team&rsquo;s starter.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(ELLIOT: ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;The one thing about Brian Elliott is he&rsquo;s very fundamentally sound. If he has a bad game or makes a mistake during the game, because his foundation is so good he&rsquo;s able to correct it.&rdquo;</p><p>In the case of the 32-year-old Garon and 33-year-old Johnson, who was doing a wonderful job for the Penguins while Marc-Andre Fleury tried desperately to work out the wrinkles in his game, both guys are making good on promise shown years ago. Pang points out some goalies continue to learn throughout their careers and that enables them to improve well past what most would call their prime.</p><p>&ldquo;I feel way better now,&rdquo; Garon, eligible to become a UFA in the summer, said. &ldquo;I remember at 24, 25, I felt good, but I didn&rsquo;t know as much as I know right now.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t worry about too much stuff now. I just go out there, play hockey and work hard during practice. When you&rsquo;re young sometimes you worry too much about a bad game, bad goal or think, &lsquo;am I going to play the next game?&rsquo; I think I&rsquo;m more mature that way, I take a different perspective.&rdquo;</p><p>Pang believes Garon&rsquo;s play is no fluke, pointing to his work habits and on-ice intensity. He also believes those attributes will lead to interest from other teams. &ldquo;I think Mathieu Garon is one of the few goaltenders who will get recognition&hellip;in the off-season or when it comes to trade talk,&rdquo; Pang said. &ldquo;Some team might give him another chance to be a No. 1 or at least a goalie who platoons with a No. 1 guy and supports a No. 1 guy.&rdquo;</p><p>Garon maintains he&rsquo;s happy alongside Steve Mason, whom he refers to as Columbus&rsquo; No. 1 and the team&rsquo;s future (<i>see pg. 37 for more on Mason.</i>)</p><p>&ldquo;Obviously, if the Jackets offer me another contract I hope I&rsquo;m going to sign here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If that&rsquo;s not the case, we&rsquo;ll see what&rsquo;s going to happen. But I don&rsquo;t want to worry about it too much.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-012273/9454339-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="338" height="337"></div><h2><b>$ 310,700</b></h2><p>Amount Mark Wells&rsquo; 1980 &lsquo;Miracle on Ice&rsquo; gold medal was auctioned for Nov. 5<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-05

Safety Netting

<div class="byline">By Charlie Teljeur</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-012244/9454398-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0010-01

The Instigator

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ANDREW GOYENS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-031045/9454429-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="885" height="886"><figcaption class="caption-body">PIERRICK MARTEL <span class="photo-credit">(MARTEL: SERGE LEVESQUE PIXOPHOTO)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>The Baie-Comeau Drakkar</b> are sinking fast.</p><p>The Quebec League squad managed one win and seven points in 23 games, sported the worst record in major junior (1-17-5), were on a 21-game winless streak (0-16-5) and allowed more than twice as many goals as they&rsquo;d scored.</p><p>To top it off, the Drakkar also tossed their top scorer, Pierrick Martel, overboard. The center was gone as of Nov. 4, just hours before a game against the Drummondville Voltigeurs. Drakkar coach Mario Pouliot told Quebec City daily <i>Le Soleil</i> that Martel, 19, admitted during a team meeting &ldquo;his heart wasn&rsquo;t into turning the team around,&rdquo; after which the other players told him he was no longer welcome. He&rsquo;d posted 14 points in 14 games.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-03

Scuttling Top Scorer

<p>Goals tallied by Oklahoma City Barons winger <b>Linus Omark</b> in AHL action versus the Toronto Marlies Nov. 7.</p><p>Omark, 23, an Edmonton Oilers prospect, scored five times in regulation and once more during the shootout.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021637/9454460-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="615" height="831"><figcaption class="caption-body">6 <span class="photo-credit">(OMARK: DALE MACMILLAN/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0010-02

NUMBER Crunch

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-04724/9454491-1-eng-US/f0010-042.jpg" title="f0010-04" width="570" height="690"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(HUDLER: CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>+PLUS</b></h2><h3><b>STILL THE KING</b></h3><p class="dropcap"><i><span>A</span>fter a summer of talk about how Jonathan Bernier was ready to take the starter&rsquo;s job in L.A., Jonathan Quick comes storming out of the gate to maintain top status.</i></p><h2><b>&ndash;MINUS</b></h2><h3><b>FLEURY OF TROUBLE</b></h3><p><i>Marc-Andre Fleury has looked like anything but a Cup-winning goalie early on in Pittsburgh.</i></p><h2><b>+PLUS</b></h2><h3><b>PAVELEC PERSEVERES</b></h3><p><i>After a scary collapse in the season-opener, Ondrej Pavelec gets an impressive win in his return to the Atlanta crease.</i></p><h2><b>&ndash;MINUS</b></h2><h3><b>HUDLER HORROR SHOW</b></h3><p><b>Jiri Hudler&rsquo;s</b>&nbsp;<i>return to Detroit from the KHL has been a rough one; he didn&rsquo;t have a goal through 11 games and was scratched twice.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-04

PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JOHN GRIGG</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012191/9454536-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021718/9454529-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="611" height="452"></div><h2><b>COACH SAYS:</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he umbrella is established when defenseman No. 1 (D-1) takes the puck to the middle of the ice. F-1 moves to the top of the circle and D-2 slides across to the top of the opposite circle, creating three points of attack high in the zone. That will draw penalty killers high to defend against hard shots towards to the net.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-031102/9454522-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="314" height="189"></div><p>The power play must read the pressure from the penalty killers; too high, move the puck to F-2 who can take it to the net, make a net-front pass to F-3 or to D-2 for a back-door play. If there&rsquo;s no play at the net, the puck can be passed around the top of the umbrella to get the penalty killers moving.</p><p>The ultimate goal with this scheme is a quality shot on net with traffic in front.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-01

CHALK TALK

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-06374/9454605-1-eng-US/f0012-062.jpg" title="f0012-06" width="336" height="174"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he NHL couldn&rsquo;t inject life into its annual All-Star Game with a Zdeno Charasized syringe, but that hasn&rsquo;t stopped the league from trying.</p><p>The latest format change to the &ldquo;showcase&rdquo; will see team captains select sides from a pool of players created by fan voting and the league&rsquo;s choosing. We&rsquo;ll see how that one plays out Jan. 30 in Carolina. Here at THN, we&rsquo;re all for all-star tweaks and even came up with a few suggestions of our own. One that&rsquo;s been floated before that we&rsquo;d love to see put in place is a generational showdown pitting the 30-and-over guys against the 29-and-under crowd. Nothing stirs the competitive juices like trying to show the kids you&rsquo;ve still got it, while the junior players would relish a chance to push the old boys aside. If that doesn&rsquo;t work, how about the Staals and Sutters against the rest of hockey? Blondes versus brunettes? The &lsquo;Gordie Howe Classic&rsquo; where every player uses a stick that&rsquo;s not his natural hand? Nobody said making this game interesting would be easy.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-06

They’re game For Anything

<div class="byline">&#x2013; KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021625/9454643-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>LONE SOLDIER</b></p><p><b>Clay Wilson has had time in the sun with Florida, but is one of few veteran Rochester regulars.</b></p></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>hree years into</b> their tenure as owners of the Rochester Americans, Curt Styres&rsquo; management group is convinced the current affiliation model doesn&rsquo;t work, at least not in their market.</p><p>The Amerks believe a prospect-heavy roster that lacks familiar and popular veterans makes it nearly impossible to sell the product. Thus, they informed the NHL&rsquo;s Florida Panthers they will not extend their working agreement &ndash; at least not under current terms &ndash; when it expires after the season.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-012163/9454650-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="129" height="128"></div><p>&ldquo;Who has won the Calder Cup over the past 10 years?&rdquo; said Amerks president Lewis Staats, rattling off the names of the Hershey Bears (2010, 2009, 2006), Chicago Wolves (2008, 2002), Hamilton Bulldogs (2007, when they helped sign AHL-specific veterans) and Houston Aeros (2003). &ldquo;It seems to be teams that are not under a full affiliation agreement.</p><p>&ldquo;The agreement we have we feel needs to be changed. It is not the model that allows us to achieve our goals, which are to 1) win a championship and 2) make money, or at the very least break even.&rdquo;</p><p>Panthers management declined to comment.</p><p>Three other AHL-NHL affiliation contracts expire after the season: The Colorado Avalanche with the Lake Erie (Cleveland) Monsters, the Columbus Blue Jackets with the Springfield Falcons and the Phoenix Coyotes with the San Antonio Rampage.</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p>In a perfect world, Columbus would put their prospects in Cleveland to create statewide brand recognition in Ohio, so Rochester doesn&rsquo;t have many available options.</p><p>The logical partnership with the Buffalo Sabres ended in 2007-08 after 29 seasons &ndash; Buffalo has a deal with the Portland Pirates that will last at least three more seasons.</p><p>Under AHL bylaws, the Amerks would be allowed to operate as an independent and sign 23 to 25 of their own players, but it would be cost prohibitive, not to mention frowned upon by the rest of the league and the NHL. Dave Andrews, the AHL&rsquo;s president, worked for a decade to see his 30/30 vision &ndash; one AHL franchise for each NHL team &ndash; come to fruition.</p><p>&ldquo;The 30/30 really stabilizes our league and adds to our asset value,&rdquo; Andrews said.</p><p>Staats didn&rsquo;t rule out negotiating an extension with the Panthers, but said the Amerks believe they must have the autonomy to sign their own free-agent veterans. Rochester worked with the Panthers former management team to bring in forwards Jeff Taffe, Graham Mink, Jamie Johnson and Mike York, plus defenseman Clay Wilson, in the summer of 2009. They went 44-33-2-1. (This season they started 7-6-1.)</p><p>But when Dale Tallon took over as Panthers GM in May, the NHL team took back total control of the AHL roster, as stipulated by the affiliation contract. The Panthers assembled a roster that included draft picks from previous regimes as well as veteran free agents that they believed could provide NHL depth (Triston Grant, Mark Cullen, Joe Callahan). Only Wilson remains from the 2009-10 signing class of veterans.</p><p>&ldquo;In this league, three or four key players make a difference in you being able to win and compete,&rdquo; Staats said. &ldquo;We proved it last year.&rdquo;</p><p>Andrews recently met with the Amerks management group of Styres, Staats, vice-president of hockey operations Ted Nolan and director of player personnel Jody Gage. Over the years, he has played mediator in many affiliation disputes. &ldquo;Sometimes we rebuild relationships and find a model that works for everybody,&rdquo; Andrews said, &ldquo;and sometimes we find new homes.</p><p>&ldquo;I think what&rsquo;s important is to find a solution that&rsquo;s good for the Rochester Americans ownership and their fans &ndash; and one that&rsquo;s good for the Florida Panthers.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>HE SAID what!?</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-031103/9454636-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="307" height="274"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(RONALD MARTINEZ/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b><i>It&rsquo;s never a good feeling when you come out and you are all pumped up and there&rsquo;s not that many people in the stands. After playing here for three years, you kind of get used to it.</i></b><br><b>&ndash; BLUELINER ZACH BOGOSIAN ON THE WOEFUL ATTENDANCE IN ATLANTA. THE THRASHERS WERE AVERAGING 11,368 FANS PER GAME, 29TH IN THE NHL</b>&nbsp;<i>(JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION)</i></blockquote><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0014-02

Amerks Go Berserk

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011932/9454681-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p>4 <b>UPPER BODY</b></p><p>5 <b>WRIST</b></p><p>45* <b>HEAD</b></p><p>8 <b>GROIN</b></p><p>6 <b>LOWER BODY</b></p><p>116 <b>TOTAL GAMES MISSED</b></p><p>46 <b>KNEE</b></p><p>2 <b>ANKLE</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>*</b> Carlo Colaiacovo sustained a reported concussion Oct. 28; he had missed five games <i>(not counted).</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-01

BAND Aid

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MURRAY PAM</div><p>Atlanta got Chris-crossed up by the Senators for a game-winner Nov. 9.</p><p>Scored by Chris Neil, the assists went to Chris Phillips and Chris Kelly. The goalie who allowed it? Chris Mason. Not on the ice, but still in the game were Senator Chris Campoli and Thrasher Chris Thorburn.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021485/9454740-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="594" height="463"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-031089/9454733-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="145" height="199"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 145px"><b>G</b></figcaption></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04817/9454726-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="146" height="199"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 146px"><b>A</b></figcaption></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05586/9454719-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="143" height="198"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 143px"><b>A</b></figcaption></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06480/9454712-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="145" height="199"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 145px"><b>GA</b> <span class="photo-credit">(PHILLIP MACCALLUM/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></div>

f0016-02

CHRIS-MAS comes early

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RISTO PAKARINEN</div><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>hen Travis Scott re-signed with the Hannover Scorpions after helping them to the 2010 German championship, the Kanata, Ont., goalie was looking forward to a farewell tour in front of his family, which had moved to Germany.</p><p>Three games into the season, Hannover&rsquo;s GM informed the players they&rsquo;d have to take a 15 percent pay cut and forfeit their bonuses or the owner, Gunter Papenburg, would shut down the team. &ldquo;We had numerous meetings with the GM and spoke with a lawyer,&rdquo; said Scott, who&rsquo;s now back in Canada contemplating his next move &ndash; if there is one. &ldquo;We were told that there would be a chance for a buyout. I said I was interested in that, but they didn&rsquo;t want to do it. They still haven&rsquo;t released me.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07417/9454771-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="321" height="171"></div><p>The German League is in trouble. This summer, two teams, the Kassel Huskies and the Frankfurt Lions, were denied a league license due to financial problems. The league promoted Munich from the second division, but the move still meant a contraction from 15 teams to 14 this season. Among those, the Krefeld Penguins and the Straubing Tigers reportedly have money woes; the Cologne Sharks had to quickly find 500,000 Euros to avoid bankruptcy.</p><p>&ldquo;There are too many teams, too many games, not enough fans, too little TV coverage and a poor public image,&rdquo; said Dusseldorf GM Lance Nethery, an ex-NHLer. Nethery had to cut his budget by 1.5 million Euros this season. A DEL team&rsquo;s average budget is 5.2 million Euros.</p><p>&ldquo;I think 14 is a good number of teams for our market,&rdquo; said DEL managing director Gernot Tripcke. &ldquo;Our experiences with expansion have caused diverse troubles, with scheduling, the number of games and the player salaries.&rdquo;</p><p>The situation is so dire, team owners held a meeting in October, which Tripcke said was to ensure all were committed to finishing the year. &ldquo;Also, they want to improve the clubs&rsquo; financial reporting in the future,&rdquo; he said in an email.</p><p>According to Tripcke, the fundamental reason for the DEL clubs&rsquo; financial troubles is the age old one: &ldquo;Simply, clubs want to win games, not make profit for the owners. All business plans are very tight and in some cases the owners have to make up for what is missing. Also, Kassel&rsquo;s and Frankfurt&rsquo;s troubles were mainly non-hockey related and arose from the clubs&rsquo; connection to real estate projects.&rdquo;</p><p>Some GMs would like to re-introduce relegation and promotion to the league and merge the DEL with the German federation. Scott would like to add one layer of organization to Germany&rsquo;s top hockey circuit: A players&rsquo; association. But he won&rsquo;t be the one to drive that issue further. He&rsquo;d be happy if he just got his release from Hannover &ndash; and if the club paid the 17,000 Euros he says it owes to his children&rsquo;s school.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-07

DEL-eted entry?

<div class="byline">WITH ADAM PROTEAU</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021362/9454802-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>WEAKEST LINK</b></p><p><b>Henrik Tallinder and his &lsquo;D&rsquo; mates are a far cry from the team&rsquo;s once bountiful crew.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011812/9454809-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="206" height="245"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>he irony is not lost</b> on NHL observers: the New Jersey Devils &ndash; the highly successful franchise that has promoted defense-minded strategy as boxing impresario Don King has promoted boxing impresario Don King &ndash; is now one of the NHL&rsquo;s worst when it comes to playing in their own zone.</p><p>After 16 games, the Devils had the fifth-worst goals-against average in the league. Their 5-on-5 goals for/against ratio (one of the hallmarks of a defensively sound squad) was ranked 29th. Legendary goalie Marty Brodeur&rsquo;s GAA was at a bloated 2.70 &ndash; and that&rsquo;s with two shutouts factored in to the future Hall of Famer&rsquo;s 3-8-1 record.</p><p>Right now, you can call them the &ldquo;Evils&rdquo; &ndash; the &lsquo;D&rsquo; is silent.</p><p>That&rsquo;s not to say the evil has been concentrated strictly in New Jersey&rsquo;s back end. Its power play was pitiful (8.3 percent); star left winger Zach Parise was sidelined three months with a knee injury; veterans Jason Arnott and Patrik Elias had combined for just 18 points and a minus-16; and, of course, there was the much-publicized and ongoing efforts to assimilate Ilya Kovalchuk&rsquo;s restless mind into the organization&rsquo;s groupthink.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>&ldquo;That defense is not close to what it used to be</b></blockquote><p>But make no mistake &ndash; GM Lou Lamoriello&rsquo;s biggest gaffe, after so many years of genius and consistent ingenuity, has been to let a once fearsome defensive attack crumble into one of the game&rsquo;s most charitable. And therein is the main reason why Jersey sat dead-last in the league standings with a 4-10-2 record (including a 0-5-2 home mark).</p><p>&ldquo;When you think of the Devils in their heyday, who do you think of?&rdquo; one of Lamoriello&rsquo;s counterparts said at the recent GM meetings. &ldquo;No disrespect to Claude Lemieux or Arnott or Joe Nieuwendyk or Scotty Gomez or Patrik Elias, but I think of Scotty Niedermayer and Marty (Brodeur) and Scott Stevens and Brian Rafalski and, hell, even Ken Daneyko. It&rsquo;s always been about the defense.</p><p>&ldquo;Now who&rsquo;ve they got back there? (Henrik) Tallinder? (Andy) Greene? (Anton) Volchenkov, if he&rsquo;s healthy? I have all the respect in the world for what Lou has done, but I&rsquo;m sorry, that defense is not even close to what it used to be.&rdquo; Not helping their ability to bolster their defensive presence was Kovalchuk&rsquo;s massive (15 years, $100 million) contract, which many believe was a bigger priority for team owner Jeff Vanderbeek than for Lamoriello. As well, the Devils are second in the NHL in the number of players (nine) who have no-trade or no-movement clauses in their contracts. (The similarly struggling Calgary Flames are first with 11.)</p><p>That has left Lamoriello shoehorned tightly inside the outer limits of the salary cap. But hold on, you say, Lamoriello is one of the few GMs willing to bury a contract in the American League. Veterans such as Brian Rolston and Bryce Salvador have every reason to fear they&rsquo;ll be playing against Wade Redden real soon and once that happens, the Devils will have more cap room with which to play.</p><p>And I agree. Unfortunately, that&rsquo;s not the Devils&rsquo; biggest problem. Their main problem is that Lamoriello&rsquo;s legendarily productive player development system hasn&rsquo;t cranked out sufficient blueline replacements through the draft.</p><p>In fact, you&rsquo;d have to go back to the 2000 draft to find the last defenseman of consequence drafted by New Jersey (Paul Martin, now earning $5 million a season in Pittsburgh). In other words, there is no Niedermayer, Rafalski or Stevens to be called up and slotted in as a cornerstone of the next generation of Devils D-men.</p><p>Lamoriello&rsquo;s payroll structure clearly shows where his values lie: he has dedicated more than $38 million this year to nine forwards and less than $15 million to five blueliners. And he&rsquo;s still leaning on the now-38-year-old Brodeur as heavily as Justin Bieber leans on the time-tested tradition of bubblegum white kids putting a commercial face on black kids&rsquo; music.</p><p>These are not your father&rsquo;s Devils. They&rsquo;re not even your uncle&rsquo;s, second cousin&rsquo;s, or redheaded stepchild&rsquo;s Devils.</p><p>The D in Devils is gone.</p><p>And the Evils we&rsquo;re seeing are far worse than the Devils we knew.</p><p>WANT MORE PROTEAU?</p><p>READ ADAM&rsquo;S BLOG ONLY ON <b><a href="http://thehockeynews.com">THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM</a></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-02

‘D’-less Devils an Evil Mixture

<div class="byline">BY ADAM PROTEAU</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011566/9454868-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JAMIE SABAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>e all know what a montage</b> is, right? The visual storytelling technique in which brief scenes are edited together to convey the passage of time, and information? Good. So let&rsquo;s take a quick, montage-like look at the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; fortunes since the 2004-05 lockout:</p><p>Start with a shot of the franchise for sale and the cost-cutting player dumps that drove star defenseman Chris Pronger out of town. Cut to widespread cynicism and thousands of empty seats at the then-Savvis (and now Scottrade) Center. Cut to three straight &ndash; and, for that matter, four out of five &ndash; seasons out of the playoffs in a town that had seen the Blues qualify for post-season play every year from 1980 to 2004. Cut to a franchise-wide start from scratch, from the owner to the players to the president to the GM and coaches. Now cut to this season. And cut to the patience and hospitality for which Missourians are famous finally starting to pay dividends.</p><p>After 14 games, the Blues were (a) tied with Detroit atop the ultra-competitive Central Division with a 9-2-3 record; (b) one point behind Los Angeles for first place in the Western Conference; (c) unbeaten in regulation in six games at home; (d) along with the Kings, sporting the NHL&rsquo;s lowest team goals-against average (1.93); and (e) the employers of Jaroslav Halak, the league&rsquo;s newest dominant netminder.</p><p>In truth, we probably could continue on and go from (f) through (z) listing all the things the Blues have going for them lately (the newly broken ankle of T.J. Oshie notwithstanding). But the reality is it&rsquo;s taken a wide array of great performances from emerging and established organizational talent to get St. Louis where it is.</p><p>That group includes Larry Pleau, who recently stepped down after 13 years of yeoman&rsquo;s work as Blues GM (including steering them through the aforementioned fire sale days) as well as team president John Davidson, who took the financial stability provided by new owner Dave Checketts and used it to usher in a new era for the franchise.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve played pretty well around him, but when we&rsquo;ve given up scoring chances, he&rsquo;s been there to bail us out. <b>HE&rsquo;S BEEN OUR STUD, FOR SURE.</b><br><i>&ndash; Brad Boyes</i></blockquote><p>By the time Doug Armstrong got there in 2008 as director of player personnel and eventual successor to Pleau, the writing was on the wall &ndash; and the writing said: This team is going to be really good, really soon. &ldquo;When I was looking at where I wanted to go work, one of the things you look at is who has the pond stocked,&rdquo; said Armstrong, who served as GM of the Dallas Stars from 2002 to 2007. &ldquo;And (former assistant GM/director of amateur scouting) Jarmo Kekalainen and the amateur staff, and Larry Pleau and John Davidson had done the painful work of finishing in a place where you get those good picks, and doing good work at the trade deadline, accumulating more and more picks.</p><p>&ldquo;So I&rsquo;m just sitting at the right place at the right time right now. But the credit goes to all the players. It&rsquo;s a real deep talent pool we have here &ndash; and I&rsquo;m the beneficiary of it so far.&rdquo;</p><p>Is he ever. To cast your eyes on the Blues roster is to look at a very tough road for the Red Wings, Blackhawks, Blue Jackets and Predators in the foreseeable future. The Blues&rsquo; divisional rivals, as well as the rest of the league, are going to have to deal with a group of forwards that includes Oshie, David Perron, David Backes and Patrik Berglund. At the other end of the rink, the forwards who face St. Louis now must contend with a defense corps fronted by a pair of big, young, offensively-skilled horses named Erik Johnson and Alex Pietrangelo.</p><p>Then there is Halak, the Slovak goalie who has followed up otherworldly play for the Montreal Canadiens in last spring&rsquo;s playoffs by proving that was no fluke now that he was on a new team (and armed with a four-year, $15-million contract extension).</p><p>And perhaps the best sign of all: through 12 games, the Blues were out to their best start in team history despite playing without various members of a roster that doesn&rsquo;t depend on special teams to get the job done. Three veteran defensemen (Carlo Colaiacovo, Barret Jackman and Roman Polak) were simultaneously sidelined in late October and early November &ndash; and, during the same stretch, Perron was knocked from the lineup with a concussion sustained at the hands of Joe Thornton &ndash; but still they were rolling along, racking up the wins. Of course, Oshie was then lost to that broken ankle &ndash; a huge blow &ndash; and there&rsquo;s no guarantee he&rsquo;ll be back at all this season.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-011266/9454861-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="1428" height="1558"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>NO ONE-YEAR WONDER</b></p><p><b>Jaroslav Halak was proving early that his play last postseason was no fluke.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(STEVE BABINEAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>It remained to be seen whether St. Louis would be able to maintain its furious pace. But there was reason for optimism, because the Blues appear to be a team that doesn&rsquo;t need a superstar to thrive; instead, they are a collection of good-to-very-good players in front of a very-good-to-outrageously-good goalie.</p><p>&ldquo;I think they have a real team commitment going,&rdquo; said Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson. &ldquo;And you can see that because, in addition to their goals-against being down, their shots are down as well. I know Halak has improved their goaltending, but it&rsquo;s not all about goaltending. They&rsquo;ve had three defensemen out and still nobody&rsquo;s scoring on them. So that says to me they&rsquo;re really committed on and away from the puck.&rdquo;</p><p>Under Davis Payne &ndash; now in his first full year as coach after taking over from Andy Murray in January &ndash; the Blues have blossomed into a still-young, bullet-quick, aggressive group whose confidence on offense is powered by a well-founded belief in its back end. And now that veteran marquee names such as Paul Kariya and Keith Tkachuk have moved on, they&rsquo;re carving out an identity as one of the league&rsquo;s truest team-first squads.</p><p>&ldquo;When I look at our team right now, there&rsquo;s really no alpha male, nobody with Hall of Fame credentials,&rdquo; Armstrong said when asked about the opportunities created by the departure of Tkachuk and Kariya. &ldquo;And the players don&rsquo;t have to defer to those people &ndash; not that they <i>have</i> to defer, but the hockey culture tells us you do defer to those people.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>&ldquo;When I look at our team right now, there&rsquo;s really no alpha male</b></blockquote><p>&ldquo;Right now, there&rsquo;s ice time available every night &ndash; every period &ndash; for our coach to give out. And our players know if they play well, they&rsquo;ll be rewarded with ice, in all different situations. It&rsquo;s just a real good environment right now.&rdquo;</p><p>Added defenseman Johnson: &ldquo;Guys knew what the core was when (Kariya and Tkachuk) were here &ndash; and they were good for our team. But with them leaving, it gave our younger players a chance to step up and have a bigger role on the team, not only on the ice but off of it. That&rsquo;s a big part of growing as a player and a person &ndash; the more responsibility you get, the bigger role you have, the more guys rise up and play better. With those guys leaving and those minutes becoming available, I think other guys have stepped up and taken advantage.&rdquo;</p><p>The environment for the Blues&rsquo; success has been cultivated by Pleau, Armstrong, Kekalainen &ndash; who has since moved on to become GM of Jokerit in the Finnish League &ndash; and Payne, a 40-year-old career minor-pro forward with 22 NHL games played to his name.</p><p>Payne isn&rsquo;t likely to be recognized anywhere outside St. Louis anytime soon. But he has quickly earned the respect of his superiors and subordinates. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a no-nonsense guy, a very detailed coach who expects a lot out of us, as he should,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;But he can also loosen up and be a fun guy to be around as well. So there&rsquo;s a good balance with him and I think it&rsquo;s important to have that balance on a younger team. He knows what he has with our team and we know what we have with him. Guys believe in what he has to offer.&rdquo;</p><p>Armstrong worked with a young Dave Tippett in Dallas and he sees a lot of the same characteristics in Payne, calling the Blues coach, &ldquo;someone who is compassionate about the people he works with. He cares about the players, but he&rsquo;s not afraid to push them to be at their best.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011453/9454854-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="752" height="754"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>WAITING TO EXHALE</b></p><p><b>Coach Davis Payne and the Blues are holding their breath in the wake of T.J. Oshie&rsquo;s injury</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-021070/9454847-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="749" height="1050"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JOHN GRIESHOP/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03801/9454840-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="759" height="848"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Brad Boyes, below, will have to pick up some slack.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(MARK BUCKNER/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>One player Payne won&rsquo;t have to push is Halak. Acquired from Montreal in June for prospects Lars Eller and Ian Schultz, the 271st overall draft pick in 2003 already had three shutouts to go along with his 8-2-2 record and .932 save percentage &ndash; and at 25, Halak&rsquo;s best years are yet to come.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been our best player, without a doubt,&rdquo; said Brad Boyes, now in his fourth full season in St. Louis. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve played pretty well around him, but when we&rsquo;ve given up scoring chances, he&rsquo;s been there to bail us out. He&rsquo;s been our stud, for sure.&rdquo;</p><p>Payne said it&rsquo;s only natural that people wondered whether Halak could consistently replicate his 2010 playoff standard. But so far, so very, very good. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s always a concern when a guy was as good as he was in the playoffs last year,&rdquo; Payne said. &ldquo;Lots of goalies have come through a real good run and then had trouble meeting that same level. But if you go back and look at what Jaro has done since he came to North America, what he&rsquo;s done in junior, what he&rsquo;s done as a young pro &ndash; he&rsquo;s worked hard to establish himself wherever he&rsquo;s been.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s done it at a high level, he&rsquo;s done it on a big stage and he&rsquo;s done it his entire career. When you look at that track record, there&rsquo;s a lot of comfort in knowing this isn&rsquo;t just a flash.&rdquo;</p><p>Much of the reason for that success is Halak&rsquo;s ice-in-the-veins, dispassionate approach to his craft. And after riding the emotional roller-coaster that is life in the fishbowl existence of Montreal, Halak is a great fit in low-key St. Louis. &ldquo;I think (St. Louis) suits his demeanor better,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a guy who loves the limelight. He likes to blend in as one of the guys and he&rsquo;s done that so far.</p><p>&ldquo;The first couple weeks, he was looking around and kind of asking, &lsquo;Is this all the media you guys have here?&rsquo; So I think he enjoys the fact there&rsquo;s a little less of a hassle dealing with stuff like that and he can just focus on his game.&rdquo;</p><p>Thanks to that focus &ndash; from Halak, Johnson, Armstrong, Payne and all Blues on- and off-ice employees &ndash; the next St. Louis-themed montage might just end with a closing shot of the franchise&rsquo;s first Stanley Cup.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-01

Patient Plan Paying Off

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011400/9454927-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PUCK: JAMIE HODGSON/THN)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>B</span>ACK IN 2008,</b> when Barry Melrose was mishandling Steven Stamkos and the owners of the Tampa Bay Lightning were just beginning to drive the franchise into the ground, there was a stretch where Stamkos was either spending most of the game with his pants nailed to the bench or was sitting in the press box. The Lightning were losing prodigiously, of course, and Melrose was questioning whether the fresh-faced 18-year-old boy belonged in a league of men.</p><p>During those rather dark days, Stamkos would often call Jari Byrski, a Ukrainian-born skills coach from Toronto who had worked with Stamkos from the time he was nine years old. Among Byrski&rsquo;s many star pupils was Jason Spezza, another young phenom whose coach called him out as an 18-year-old for not having enough chest hair to play in the best league in the world.</p><p>During one of those conversations, Byrski asked Stamkos which player he thought was better: Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin?</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; Stamkos replied. &ldquo;I really like both of them.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Wrong,&rdquo; Byrski said. &ldquo;The answer is <b>STAMKOS!</b>&rdquo; <i>(We put that in bold capitals and added the exclamation mark because Byrski yelled it when he was recalling the story.)</i></p><p>At the time, the notion was absolutely ludicrous. Crosby and Ovechkin were well on their way to 100-point seasons &ndash; meanwhile, you could count Stamkos&rsquo; goals on one hand and still have one finger to scratch your nose. But just two years later, there is no doubt that &ndash; if Stamkos isn&rsquo;t the best player in the NHL right now &ndash; he certainly belongs in the conversation that includes Crosby and Ovechkin, and anyone else you&rsquo;d like to mention. Without a doubt, Stamkos is the best offensive player in the NHL right now.</p><p>Sharing the Rocket Richard Trophy with Crosby and finishing one goal ahead of Ovechkin last season was impressive enough, but what makes this season&rsquo;s exploits even more eye-popping is how Stamkos has evolved.</p><p>Last season, he feasted on opponents with 24 power play goals, most of which came off his Brett Hull-like one-timer from the top of the left circle to convert soft feeds from Martin St-Louis. Of his first 14 goals this season, just three of them had come off the one-timer, largely because opponents are filling that lane. But Stamkos has adapted in a big way, going hard to the net for rebounds and tip-ins &ndash; and his work with the puck in tight has been something to behold.</p><p>&ldquo;People always talk about Steven&rsquo;s speed and his shot,&rdquo; Byrski said, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t think he gets enough credit for how quick and how soft his hands are. I&rsquo;ve worked with some really good stickhandlers &ndash; Jason Spezza, Mike Cammalleri and Rick Nash &ndash; and Steven&rsquo;s hands are just as good as theirs. Ask Jason or Wojtek (Wolski) and they&rsquo;ll tell you he has great hands because they work with him in the summer.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011415/9454920-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="1304" height="1554"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(STAMKOS: GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>All righty, then. So we&rsquo;ve established the kid has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to skill. But to go from that to mentioning him in the same breath as the best two players in the world for the past five years? Really? We mean &ndash; <i>really?</i></p><p>Yes, really &ndash; and don&rsquo;t just take it from us. When the Lightning met the Pittsburgh Penguins in late October, Penguins coach Dan Bylsma had this to say about Stamkos: &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t seen enough to say he&rsquo;s as good as Alexander Ovechkin or Sidney Crosby, but I can safely say he&rsquo;s probably there.&rdquo;</p><p>Gary Roberts has seen enough &ndash; and Roberts is the kind of leave-no-stone-unturned guy who notices these kinds of things. He played parts of two seasons with Crosby and spent 30 games with the Lightning during Stamkos&rsquo; miserable rookie season before retiring. The recently named player development consultant for the Dallas Stars now trains Stamkos every summer and is getting a fair share of kudos for the young man&rsquo;s more robust frame. Roberts has watched both Crosby and the 20-year-old Stamkos intently and he sees a lot of similarities in their approach to their craft.</p><p>&ldquo;One time I watched Crosby stickhandle through an obstacle course in the back concourse on a cement floor in Pittsburgh for 45 minutes because he had a sprained ankle and couldn&rsquo;t skate, but he wanted to keep up his stickhandling,&rdquo; Roberts said. &ldquo;Then you see a guy like Stamkos out there stickhandling through pucks and shooting pucks every day. Through the summer, as we&rsquo;re getting stronger in the gym, he just likes to just go out and stickhandle every Wednesday to keep his skill up.&rdquo;</p><p>Lightning coach Guy Boucher likes to refer to players like Stamkos as &ldquo;the new generation of machine&rdquo; &ndash; players so well prepared to play in the NHL as teenagers that they&rsquo;ve established themselves as the top players in the league before many of them can legally buy a beer in the U.S.</p><p>The talent is abundant, of course, but what sets these players apart is their singular dedication to getting stronger and better and doing whatever it takes off the ice to succeed. But people such as Byrski and Roberts can only do so much. What distinguishes people such as Stamkos is their drive to be better, even when they&rsquo;re already the best player in every age group in which they&rsquo;ve played.</p><p>To suggest that it&rsquo;s simply a matter of God-given talent is an insult to the player. In his best-selling book, <i>Outliers: The Story</i>&nbsp;<i>of Success,</i> Malcolm Gladwell suggests that in order to master a skill, a person has to work at it for at least 10,000 hours, which amounts to almost three hours a day every day for 10 years. Quoting neurologist Daniel Levitin and using The Beatles and Bill Gates as examples, Gladwell points out that scientific studies have determined that much time must be spent on a skill to accomplish the level of mastery it requires to be a world-class expert.</p><p>And Stamkos has put in the work. In previous times, most players had no idea what it took to play in the NHL until they were well into their 20s. Many of them didn&rsquo;t take preparation and conditioning seriously until they either had a serious injury or their performance declined. But Stamkos is one of those young players who pushes himself to be the best in the world. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve worked really hard in my career to get to this stage,&rdquo; Stamkos said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t do it by yourself and without the help and support of a lot of people, I wouldn&rsquo;t be here. But there is the sense you&rsquo;ve accomplished things because you&rsquo;ve worked hard and you&rsquo;ve done the work. It goes both ways. Guys can yell and scream and tell you all they want, but you still have to do it &ndash; and that&rsquo;s what pushes you to be a better player.&rdquo;</p><p>Stamkos has potted 81 goals since Feb. 17, 2009 &ndash; more than any other NHL player. That was right around the time then-Lightning coach Rick Tocchet united Stamkos with Martin St-Louis. Last season, the Lightning coaches convinced St-Louis to move to the left wing from the right and installed Steve Downie as the third man on that line. It has worked to perfection. The rambunctious Downie digs pucks out of the corners and creates space with his physical play; St-Louis &ndash; one of the few players on the roster who can keep up with Stamkos &ndash; sets them up; and Stamkos knocks them in.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-011322/9454913-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="860" height="575"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>ROCKET MAN</b></p><p><b>Steven Stamkos tied for the NHL lead in goals last year and is filling the net once again.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(HARRY HOW/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Stamkos and St-Louis have never had a skating race, but it would be interesting to see who would win it. Boucher doesn&rsquo;t know which player he&rsquo;d bet on, but reckons that St-Louis&rsquo; first-stride explosiveness would make him faster from the faceoff dot to the net &ndash; but if both players did a lap of the ice, Stamkos would come out on top.</p><p>For his part, the only time Stamkos has been clocked was in the skills competition of the 2007 Ontario League All-Star Game, when he blew a tire and fell into the boards. But the embarrassment of that moment prompted him to try &ndash; and score with &ndash; a ridiculous behind-the-back-forehand roof daddy during the shootout competition. Go to YouTube and type in &ldquo;Steven Stamkos, sick goal&rdquo; and you&rsquo;ll see it. Stamkos will likely attempt the move again in this year&rsquo;s all-star festivities &ndash; but you have to remember that goal was scored on Andrew Perugini, who is currently plying his trade with HC Asiago in Italy.</p><p>But the chemistry between Stamkos and St-Louis has been astounding. Boucher&rsquo;s coaching philosophy of moving the puck quickly and forcing the issue offensively is tailor-made for the two players.</p><p>&ldquo;As soon as we get the puck, it&rsquo;s a go-go-go mentality,&rdquo; Stamkos said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not waiting around slowing the play down. We want to push the pace and move it. It&rsquo;s really easy playing with him because we play the same style and he&rsquo;s one of the best, if not the best, playmaker in the league in my mind.&rdquo;</p><p>It&rsquo;s an interesting dynamic, though. St-Louis is the oldest player on the Lightning and the only player younger than Stamkos on the team is 19-year-old defenseman Victor Hedman. For public consumption, St-Louis suffers from an extreme case of seriousness, while Stamkos has a smile that would light up a room. St-Louis is constantly giving advice and Stamkos is taking it, but St-Louis said Stamkos is beginning to be more vocal about what he thinks will work between the two. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be honest with you. I&rsquo;m 35 and I&rsquo;m learning things from Stammer, the way he plays the game,&rdquo; St-Louis said. &ldquo;He makes me feel young, but I don&rsquo;t know what it&rsquo;s like to feel old because I don&rsquo;t feel that way.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m 35 and I&rsquo;m learning things from Stammer, the way he plays the game, he makes me feel young</b><br><b><i>&ndash; Martin St-Louis</i></b></blockquote><p>About the only stratosphere in which Stamkos doesn&rsquo;t find himself when it comes to Crosby and Ovechkin is his tax bracket, but that will all change before long. Stamkos&rsquo; entry level deal with the Lightning will expire after this season and you can expect to see him sign a long-term deal with a yearly stipend that starts with a seven or an eight. Tampa Bay GM Steve Yzerman and assistant Julien BriseBois met with Stamkos&rsquo; agent after the GM meetings in Toronto in November. Both sides felt good about the meeting, but it won&rsquo;t be an easy one to get done.</p><p>Stamkos realizes he can&rsquo;t get too greedy, because the more the Lightning pays him, the less they will have to provide him with an adequate supporting cast. (See: Penguins, Pittsburgh.) But he&rsquo;s as dominant as Crosby was when he signed his five-year deal worth $8.7 million per year prior to the 2008-09 season. And the Lightning simply have to sign Stamkos and make it fit into a situation where Vincent Lecavalier takes up $7.7 million in cap space &ndash; and $10 million in real dollars &ndash; for the next six seasons. The cap room might not be a huge obstacle, but the Bolts lose buckets of money and the salary figure itself might be a hurdle. Although he&rsquo;ll almost certainly stay in Tampa, it wouldn&rsquo;t be far-fetched to suggest a team would step up and pay him 20 percent of its salary cap &ndash; roughly $12 million a year &ndash; and give up the four first round draft picks it would take to sign him to an offer sheet.</p><p>One area where Stamkos is making gains is in endorsements. Crosby, with his $10-million deal with Reebok over the next seven years &ndash; to go with deals with Bell, Tim Horton&rsquo;s and Gatorade &ndash; is still the king. But Stamkos isn&rsquo;t far off. He has had deals with Swatch and Nike since his junior days and has added Bauer and, most recently, with RBC Royal Bank.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011395/9454906-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="1302" height="1808"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(SCOTT AUDETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>When Newport Sports Management &ndash; the company that represents Stamkos &ndash; was pitching its vast clientele of players to Swatch, the corporation insisted on Stamkos, believing he had vast potential, and it was right. And if you have an extra $595 sitting around, you can purchase a limited edition Stamkos signature Tissot watch this fall. Only 510 of them will be made worldwide.</p><p>&ldquo;For us, first and foremost, you&rsquo;re always looking at it from a talent-first standpoint,&rdquo; said Chris Rigney, head of sports marketing for Nike Canada. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a world-class athlete and that&rsquo;s the first filter. But we signed him a month before he was drafted and we really did our research. We talked to people in the hockey community and coaches and we came to the realization that he is not just another kid.&rdquo;</p><p>Stamkos is clearly not just another kid, on or off the ice. For a 20-year-old with the world at his feet, he seems remarkably grounded. His endless pursuit to get better and his attention detail come from his middle-class upbringing in suburban Toronto. So does his sense of humility. He and Byrski still speak on the phone a couple of times a week and Stamkos still attends his hockey school in the summer. When his wife died of cancer three years ago at the age of 37, Byrski went into a major emotional funk and isolated himself for months. It was only when he watched Stamkos play in the 2008 World Junior Championship over Christmas that Byrski recaptured his passion for life and returned to his business of coaching elite young players. A painter in his spare time, Byrski painted a picture of Stamkos playing for Canada and presented it to him with a poem of gratitude.</p><p>&ldquo;I remembered that big, beautiful, wide smile of his and how he would never swear or bitch about the drills, ever,&rdquo; Byrski said. &ldquo;This boy brought me back to life at my darkest time.&rdquo;</p><p>Now it&rsquo;s up to Stamkos to help lead the Lightning out of the dark and into the light of the post-season &ndash; and that could happen as early as this season. As far as his overall game goes, it&rsquo;s a work in progress. Stamkos has the willingness to be a top two-way player in the game and it shows, but Boucher said his eagerness to do it sometimes puts him out of position defensively.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s good, but at the same time, his positioning is more important than his drive,&rdquo; Boucher said. &ldquo;Nobody has that perfect maturity at that age, but he has as much as you can have at that age.&rdquo;</p><p>But there have been setbacks. In a recent loss to the Sharks, Stamkos gifted the puck right up the middle to give Patrick Marleau a shorthanded goal and was soft on his defensive coverage on two other Sharks tallies. His coach is always sure to tell Stamkos what he&rsquo;s doing right and what he&rsquo;s doing wrong, and it certainly seems to be soaking in. For a player who handles the puck so much, Stamkos actually doesn&rsquo;t have many giveaways and after two seasons of being a minus player, was among the league leaders in plus-minus and he was hovering at about 50 percent on faceoffs.</p><p>&ldquo;One of the big things we&rsquo;re working on with Steven is puck protection,&rdquo; Boucher said. &ldquo;Marty St-Louis and Vinny Lecavalier are really good at it. They&rsquo;re guys who can manage the puck in tough moments in the game, in tough areas on the ice. Any young guy, whether it&rsquo;s Steven or not, one thing they&rsquo;ve got to learn is how to manage that puck. And it&rsquo;s not just because you want to score goals, but sometimes it&rsquo;s to manage it because there is no play and the alternative is to basically lose it and create a turnover.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-011231/9454899-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="869" height="591"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>HARD DRIVE</b></p><p><b>Stamkos has evolved into a sniper who also works to get greasy goals in tough areas.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(RICHARD WOLOWICZ/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Opponents are probably a lot more worried about what Stamkos can do in their end, where his repertoire for scoring goals is growing. He&rsquo;ll always get his one-timers, but for the most part, he&rsquo;s incorporating a little more Phil Esposito into his game. It may mean fewer highlight-reel goals and appearances on You-Tube, but it has made him the most dangerous offensive weapon in the game.</p><p>Stamkos uses the term &ldquo;at the end of the day&rdquo; quite a lot and, at the end of the day, he says he&rsquo;s just trying to help his team win games. He can clearly do that by scoring, as evidenced by the fact the Lightning were 7-2-1 in games in which Stamkos tallied and 1-3-1 in those in which he had failed to find the net.</p><p>&ldquo;Here in Tampa, we haven&rsquo;t had a lot of success the past couple of years,&rdquo; Stamkos said, &ldquo;and that&rsquo;s something I want to help change for the future.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>1</b></h2><p><b>Stamkos&rsquo; NHL rank in goals, points, power play markers and game-winners</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-01

STAMMER TIME

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN DIXON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-011227/9455111-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02841/9455104-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="655" height="793"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>KRIS LETANG</b></figcaption></div><p>The progression of Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski is to the point now that they&rsquo;re even better at sitting on the bench.</p><p>Letang, 23, and Goligoski, 25, have grown into much bigger roles on a re-vamped Penguins blueline that added Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek, but lost long-time puck-mover Sergei Gonchar this summer. Letang&rsquo;s 15 points in 16 games had him tied for the league lead in scoring among defensemen and his plus-6 rating paced the Pens. Goligoski, meanwhile, had a plus-4 mark, 10 points and was playing more minutes per game than any Penguin except Martin. Assistant coach Todd Reirden runs the Pittsburgh defense and noted both young D-men are rounding into the kind of players the organization needs them to be.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re counting on both of them to pick up more minutes,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s not just situations where we&rsquo;re counting on them offensively, I think they&rsquo;re both becoming solid two-way defensemen.&rdquo;</p><p>Reirden noted the entire Pens &lsquo;D&rsquo; corps was designed to play at both ends; the group&rsquo;s collective 41 points topped every blueline in the NHL.</p><p>He added Letang and Goligoski have become more prominent voices in the organization. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something we challenged them with this summer and I think both of them have stepped up in terms of their leadership, saying things on the bench and knowing how we want to play,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s been the biggest difference for me.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>FOR THE RECORD</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03662/9455097-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="752" height="602"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-08268/9455090-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="327" height="551"></div><p>The Devils should get used to sporadic absences from <b>Anton Volchenkov</b>. The tough-as-nails defenseman, who missed the first 12 games this season with a broken nose, was on the shelf an average of 16 contests per campaign during his final three years in Ottawa. Volchenkov, 28, has never played a complete 82-game schedule.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04537/9455083-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="752" height="602"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-09215/9455076-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="327" height="551"></div><p>Islanders right winger <b>P-A Parenteau</b>, who has spent the majority of the past seven seasons riding buses in the AHL, set new career NHL highs in assists (six) and points (nine) in just 14 games. In 22 games with the Rangers last year, the 27-year-old Parenteau, a native of Hull, Que., had five assists and eight points.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05453/9455069-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="752" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-10182/9455062-1-eng-US/f0033-102.jpg" title="f0033-10" width="327" height="539"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PARENTEAU+BOOGAARD: PHILLIP MACCALLUM/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>When enforcer <b>Derek Boogaard</b> scored a goal &ndash; and at that, an unassisted goal &ndash; against Washington Nov. 9, it marked the first goal for the Rangers left winger since Jan. 7, 2006. In the nearly five years between goals, the 28-year-old Boogaard had nine assists, 63 regular season shots and been involved in 49 fights.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06395/9455055-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="752" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-11160/9455048-1-eng-US/f0033-112.jpg" title="f0033-11" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(VOLCHENKOV+O&rsquo;DONNELL: BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>Sean O&rsquo;Donnell</b>, 39, is giving the Flyers precisely what they&rsquo;d hoped for when they signed him to a one-year, $1.3-million deal in the summer &ndash; a gritty, reliable, third-pairing defenseman who can help ease the pressure on the top four. O&rsquo;Donnell is averaging about 16 minutes per game and led the club in plus-minus.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07333/9455041-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="752" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-12142/9455034-1-eng-US/f0033-122.jpg" title="f0033-12" width="325" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(LETANG+MALKIN: ABELIMAGES/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Whatever is ailing <b>Evgeni Malkin</b>, it has nothing to do with opportunity. Through mid-November, he led the Pens in shots and power play time per game, yet still was on pace for the worst offensive season of his career. While Malkin may not have all-world wingers, neither does Sidney Crosby, who nonetheless is producing.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0033-01

Pens Pair Make Strides

<div class="byline">&#x2013; BRUCE GARRIOCH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011394/9455219-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02963/9455212-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="658" height="840"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ERIK KARLSSON</b></figcaption></div><p>Erik Karlsson started out the season looking like he was suffering from a sophomore jinx.</p><p>But, like the Senators, Karlsson, 20, was able to turn things around. He is back to the form that made him one of the club&rsquo;s best blueliners in the playoffs last spring, contributing at both ends of the ice. &ldquo;As long as we win, that&rsquo;s all that is important,&rdquo; said Karlsson, the club&rsquo;s top pick in the 2008 draft (15th overall). &ldquo;If the team plays better, then I&rsquo;ll play better. It&rsquo;s easy to look good when the team is winning.&rdquo;</p><p>Karlsson&rsquo;s coach has noticed a resurgence. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing with a little more urgency,&rdquo; Cory Clouston said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s getting back quicker for pucks, he&rsquo;s making smarter reads and I think he&rsquo;s battling hard. He&rsquo;s just in a much better position defensively.</p><p>&ldquo;The desperation word was thrown around too many times. When you&rsquo;re desperate you don&rsquo;t play with poise. When you play with urgency, you play with a sense of intelligence, poise and with a focus that maybe you don&rsquo;t have when you&rsquo;re desperate.&rdquo;</p><p>The feeling is Karlsson may have thought the second year wouldn&rsquo;t be as difficult, a problem often at the root of sophomore struggles.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to say it&rsquo;s complacency,&rdquo; Clouston said. &ldquo;You forget about how hard you had to work to have success. You see that a lot with young guys when they come back.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s similar to our team: He got off to a slow start, but he has come a long way.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>FOR THE RECORD</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03766/9455205-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="752" height="602"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08341/9455198-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(KARLSSON+BERGERON: ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Centers sustaining concussions has become a yearly headache for the Bruins. <b>Patrice Bergeron</b> missed 72 games in 2007-08, Marc Savard wasn&rsquo;t ready to start this season thanks to the lingering effects of a concussion from last year and David Krejci was concussed after a hit from the Blues&rsquo; T.J. Oshie Nov. 6.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04617/9455191-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="752" height="602"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09283/9455184-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="327" height="551"></div><p>Forget that <b>Steve Montador&rsquo;s</b> plus-11rating after 15 games ranked third in the league. More impressive is the next-best mark on the Sabres was Tyler Ennis&rsquo; plus-3. That means Montador was eight ahead of his nearest teammate, far and away the largest gap between any team leader and the second-place guy on any club.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05508/9455177-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="752" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10254/9455170-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="327" height="551"></div><p>Montreal&rsquo;s effective third line of Jeff Halpern between <b>Benoit Pouliot</b> and Mathieu Darche quickly got tagged the &lsquo;PhD&rsquo; line. Halpern played four years at Princeton, Darche spent the same amount of time at McGill University and Pouliot is still trying to prove acquiring him from Minnesota for Guillaume Latendresse was a smart move.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06457/9455163-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="752" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-11228/9455156-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(POULIOT+ELLIOT: FRANCOIS LACASSE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>Brian Elliott</b> owns the Buffalo Sabres. In nine career games against the Sens&rsquo; division rival, Elliott has posted an unblemished 9-0-0 record. And it&rsquo;s not like he&rsquo;s just along for the ride; Elliott has made 30-plus saves on six occasions during those victories. He could push it to a perfect 10 when Ottawa hosts Buffalo Dec. 4.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07395/9455149-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="752" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-12211/9455142-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MONTADOR+KOMISAREK: GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Blueliner <b>Mike Komisarek</b> has taken some heat in his first year and a half in Toronto, but the bruiser was on pace for a 31-point campaign through 13 games. That might not remind anybody of Paul Coffey or Bobby Orr, but it&rsquo;s pretty good for a guy who&rsquo;s never had a 20-point season and plays on an offense-challenged team.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0034-01

Rounding Into Form

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ROB TYCHKOWSKI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-011298/9455327-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02917/9455320-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="655" height="735"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BRANDON SUTTER</b> <span class="photo-credit">(SUTTER: ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Brandon Sutter&rsquo;s value to the Hurricanes isn&rsquo;t measured just by goals or assists, or something as trivial as plus-minus.</p><p>Coach Paul Maurice carries a much larger measuring stick when evaluating his 21-year-old center. &ldquo;I judge him by whether the team wins or loses because he&rsquo;s that kind of player,&rdquo; Maurice said. &ldquo;With him it&rsquo;s going to be the final stats for the team.&rdquo;</p><p>Sutter is being called on to do a little bit of everything for the Canes &ndash; stop the other team&rsquo;s best players from scoring, kill penalties, stay out of the box himself (two PIM through 15 games) and chip in the odd goal.</p><p>&ldquo;We want to score some goals, but our responsibility as a line is taking care of our own end first,&rdquo; said the son of Calgary coach Brent, adding three goals and eight points isn&rsquo;t necessarily where he wants to be, especially after 21 goals in Carolina last winter. &ldquo;I still want to be an offensive guy, but I have other ways of being successful. Everyone who makes it to the NHL was a goal-scorer in junior, but you have to find your way, find a way to adjust, become a new player.&rdquo;</p><p>That&rsquo;s how the coach sees it, too. &ldquo;When he plays the best is when he has the more defined role to stop that (offensive opponent),&rdquo; said Maurice, blaming some of Sutter&rsquo;s offensive sag to an early-season nagging injury. &ldquo;He usually finds a way to win that battle, get a helper or score a goal. Whether he&rsquo;s doing that all the time now is not as important because we know he will in two or three years time.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>FOR THE RECORD</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03759/9455313-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="752" height="602"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08352/9455306-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="325" height="551"></div><p>Through 15 games, Atlanta was giving up 37.2 shots per game, worst in the league. <b>Chris Mason</b> tied a franchise mark by facing a career-high 55 shots &ndash; 23 in the second period &ndash; Nov. 3 against Florida and set a personal mark with 52 saves. Atlanta won 4-3; Mason was 4-3-1 when 30-plus pucks were sent his way.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04621/9455299-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="752" height="602"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09304/9455292-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(COLE: PHILLIP MACCALLUM/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Maybe <b>Erik Cole</b> doesn&rsquo;t like playing at home. Off to a great start through 15 games after missing 42 last season, Cole had four goals and nine points and was a team-leading plus-8. But three of those goals and seven of his nine points came away from the RBC Center and he was plus-10 on the road and minus-2 at home.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05528/9455285-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="752" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10261/9455278-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DVORAK: GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Right winger <b>Radek Dvorak</b> was set to become the team&rsquo;s all-time games played leader Nov. 12 when he suited up for the 574th time as a Panther. Dvorak&rsquo;s Cats career began in 1995. He was traded to the Rangers in &rsquo;99 and played for the Oilers and Blues before returning to Florida in 2007. He is eighth all-time in team scoring.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06476/9455271-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="751" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-11220/9455264-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MASON+ST. LOUIS: HARRY HOW/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Dynamic duo Steven Stamkos and <b>Martin St-Louis</b> ranked first in the league among teammate points-scoring with 39 combined after 14 games. Stamkos led the NHL in power play markers with six while St-Louis&rsquo; six extra-man assists were tied for fourth; Tampa&rsquo;s power play was sixth at 23.7 percent.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07409/9455257-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="752" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-12189/9455250-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(GREEN: GERRY THOMAS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>The Caps won 10 of their first 14 contests, three games faster than the &rsquo;09-10 Presidents&rsquo; Trophy team. Only the &rsquo;91-92 team (10-3-0) started faster. <b>Mike Green</b>, second in power play and shorthanded ice time, led the surge for a team that ranked in the top 10 in both power play (10th) and penalty killing (seventh).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0035-01

Offense Via Defense

<div class="byline">BY JONATHAN DAVIS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-011294/9455358-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRAYDEN SCHENN <span class="photo-credit">(SCHENN: HARRY HOW/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02866/9455365-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="194" height="130"></div><p>Coming off their most successful season in nearly a decade, the Los Angeles Kings have picked up right where they left off.</p><p>Los Angeles earned 22 of 28 points through 14 games &ndash; including a 7-0-0 record at home &ndash; and sat behind no one in the Western Conference, the NHL&rsquo;s tougher loop. Not bad for the youngest team (26.2 years) in the NHL and one that started the campaign with six rookies on its roster.</p><p>With the return to health in early November of Scott Parse and Drew Doughty, the Kings&rsquo; rookie crop was trimmed to four with Andrei Loktionov and Jake Muzzin sent to the American League&rsquo;s Manchester Monarchs. Muzzin&rsquo;s stay in the minors was brief, though, as he was recalled Nov. 9 with Willie Mitchell out with a fractured wrist. Goaltender Jonathan Bernier along with forwards Brayden Schenn, Trevor Lewis and Kyle Clifford also remained, making up the Kings cast of rookies that coach Terry Murray has rotated in and out of the lineup, while using them in various roles and situations.</p><p>Much of the focus coming into the season was on Bernier and Schenn. Could Bernier supplant Jonathan Quick as the team&rsquo;s top netminder? Was Schenn ready to be a top-six forward?</p><p>While Bernier is the first to admit he is not 100 percent comfortable yet in his role as the backup, he had a more than respectable 2.26 GAA and a .922 save percentage, despite a record of 2-2-0 after four starts. &ldquo;It is tough mentally sometimes to sit and watch,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;For me, I have to treat practices as my games.&rdquo;</p><p>In eight games, Schenn had averaged 11:14 of ice time, but Murray had given him time on the first power play unit. &ldquo;Schenn plays a mature game,&rdquo; said Kings broadcaster Jim Fox. &ldquo;I think his game could continue to improve just by practising with the NHL guys.&rdquo;</p><p>But with Anze Kopitar solid as the No. 1 center, Jarret Stoll off to a blazing start (13 points) andveteran Michal Handzus anchoring the third line, Schenn was being squeezed into fourth-line duty and press box observing. His future on the roster was still being debated; a return to major junior before he hit the 10-game plateau in the NHL was a real possibility.</p><p>Muzzin provides the Kings with another offensive defenseman. He was last year&rsquo;s defenseman of the year in the Ontario League and in a coaches poll he ranked first in the hardest shot and best defensive defenseman categories, while tying for tops in best bodychecker. &ldquo;The guy has a huge shot, he&rsquo;s another guy that can play the power play for us,&rdquo; said Drew Doughty.</p><p>Lewis and Clifford, meanwhile, were averaging less than eight minutes of ice. Lewis, a 2006 first-rounder (17th overall), was a healthy scratch in all but four games, while Clifford, an &rsquo;09 second rounder (35th overall) had a press box seat four times.</p><p>&ldquo;Young players don&rsquo;t have to play every game,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;The Drew Doughtys of the world are few and far between. It&rsquo;s tough for an 18-year-old kid to handle the rigors of a full season. The biggest thing for most of these guys is learning the defensive part of the game, playing without the puck.&rdquo;</p><p>With a dressing room full of veteran leadership, Clifford is quiet and unassuming off the ice. But on the ice is where he does his talking. He plays a physical game and isn&rsquo;t afraid to stand up for teammates. The Kings have high hopes for Lewis as well. He&rsquo;d have to clear waivers in order to be sent down, so he&rsquo;ll stick around. &ldquo;This is a kid,&rdquo; Murray said, &ldquo;who can be a top-six forward in the league.&rdquo;</p><p>He&rsquo;s one of many kids giving Hollywood hockey a starry future.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0036-01

Future’s Bright in Los Angeles

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03714/9455396-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="395" height="439"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DRYDEN: DENIS BRODEUR/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>CALDER TROPHY GOALIES SINCE &rsquo;67</b></h2><p><b>S. Mason</b></p><p><b>2008-09</b></p><p><i>Columbus</i></p><p><b>A. Raycroft</b></p><p><b>2003-04</b></p><p><i>Boston</i></p><p><b>E. Nabokov</b></p><p><b>2000-01</b></p><p><i>San Jose</i></p><p><b>M. Brodeur</b></p><p><b>1993-94</b></p><p><i>New Jersey</i></p><p><b>E. Belfour</b></p><p><b>1990-91</b></p><p><i>Chicago</i></p><p><b>T. Barrasso</b></p><p><b>1983-84</b></p><p><i>Buffalo</i></p><p><b>K. Dryden</b></p><p><b>1971-72</b></p><p><i>Montreal</i></p><p><b>T. Esposito</b></p><p><b>1969-70</b></p><p><i>Chicago</i></p><h2><b>.933</b></h2><p><b>Jonathan Bernier&rsquo;s save percentage, to go with a 1.96 GAA, in 19 AHL playoff games</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0036-03

PADDED Stats

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RORY BOYLEN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-011154/9455504-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02803/9455497-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="650" height="802"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>STEVE MASON</b> <span class="photo-credit">(MASON: ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>ny notion Steve Mason got off to a bad start this season is overblown, according to coach Scott Arniel. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s played some good hockey for us,&rdquo; Arniel said. &ldquo;I think he was a victim of three games we&rsquo;ve played so far where we stunk the joint out as a group and he happened to be the guy in net.&rdquo;</p><p>The 2009 Calder winner struggled mightily last season and while his GAA crept above 3.00 and his SP dipped below .900 in October, forcing the team to run with Mathieu Garon&rsquo;s hot hand, Arniel said he&rsquo;s comfortable with his young goalie because of Mason&rsquo;s desire to recover from a rough year. &ldquo;The big thing to me is he recognized that over the summer and got himself in great shape and came to camp determined to put it behind him,&rdquo; Arniel said.</p><p>The philosophy on goalies has changed in the post-lockout NHL as household names drop out of the post-season early, while fringe tenders take their teams deep. Only four goalies who played 65 games or more made it out of the first round the past two years, none of whom made it to the Cup final.</p><p>The fact Columbus has a reliable backup will only help Mason and the team, plus it&rsquo;s a bonus the two get along so well. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what the split&rsquo;s going to be, but hopefully they stay healthy so we can use both of them to get to the top eight of the West,&rdquo; Arniel said. &ldquo;They both recognize it&rsquo;s going to take both goaltenders to have success.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>FOR THE RECORD</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03643/9455490-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="752" height="602"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-08290/9455483-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="327" height="551"></div><p>If anyone knows the whereabouts of the Hawks&rsquo; killer instinct, please inform <b>Joel Quenneville</b>. The coach saw his team lose three of eight games they led entering the third period and three of four when they were tied. Not surprisingly, the champs had surrendered the most third-period goals of any team.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04549/9455476-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="752" height="602"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-09234/9455469-1-eng-US/f0037-092.jpg" title="f0037-09" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(KLESLA: PHILLIP MACCALLUM/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>There&rsquo;s split opinion among Jackets observers about defenseman <b>Rostislav Klesla&rsquo;s</b> contributions. He&rsquo;s fingered by some for being error-prone, but at the same time he&rsquo;s excelling on the penalty kill and is a willing and able shot-blocker. To boot, Klesla topped the NHL at plus-12 through the first month and a half of the season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05495/9455462-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="752" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-10196/9455455-1-eng-US/f0037-102.jpg" title="f0037-10" width="327" height="548"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(QUENNEVILLE+HUDLER: DAVE SANDFORD/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>Jiri Hudler&rsquo;s</b> return to the NHL following a season in Russia is off to a rocky start. Hudler and his $2.9-million salary went from being a healthy scratch for a couple games to the fourth line. The skilled winger, who was goalless and playing about 12 minutes per game, has been challenged by coach Mike Babcock to step it up.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06437/9455448-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="752" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-11160/9455441-1-eng-US/f0037-112.jpg" title="f0037-11" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(FRANSON: ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>The Predators are getting decent bang for their buck from 6-foot-5 defenseman <b>Cody Franson</b>. The second-year NHLer, among the lowest-paid players on the team at $800,000, earned increased power play time as stalwart Ryan Suter recovered from a lower-body injury and led the club&rsquo;s blueliners in points.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07375/9455434-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="752" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-12137/9455427-1-eng-US/f0037-122.jpg" title="f0037-12" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BOYES: RICHARD WOLOWICZ/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>If you&rsquo;re <b>Brad Boyes</b>, you&rsquo;ve got to hope the NHL doesn&rsquo;t curb shootouts. The 28-year-old, who for the second straight season is firing blanks during games, led the league in shootout goals, going a perfect 3-for-3. Dating back to 2008-09, Boyes is tied with Jonathan Toews for most shootout goals in the NHL (16).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0037-01

Truth Not in Numbers

<div class="byline">&#x2013; KEVIN WOODLEY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-011254/9455612-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02858/9455605-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="658" height="761"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RAFFI TORRES</b> <span class="photo-credit">(TORRES: RICH LAM/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Raffi Torres is very aware of his reputation as a streaky scorer.</p><p>After nine NHL seasons, he doesn&rsquo;t dispute it.</p><p>But he does think he understands it. &ldquo;You start thinking &lsquo;Oh, I just have to keep showing up at the rink and it&rsquo;s going to happen,&rsquo; &rdquo; Torres said after scoring seven goals in his first 13 games with the Canucks, &ldquo;But it didn&rsquo;t serve me well in the past.&rdquo;</p><p>What is different, besides learning from that past? What changed, other than a decline in interest in his services this summer, after last year&rsquo;s early goal binge in Columbus &ndash; nine the first 18 games, 19 in 60 before being traded &ndash; was followed by a goose egg in 18 games and a post-season benching in Buffalo?</p><p>For starters, after settling on a one-year, $1-million free agent deal, Torres had done almost all his scoring on an effective third line with Manny Malhotra and Jannik Hansen. And other than some second-unit power play time or top-six injuries, that is where he&rsquo;ll stay. Unlike goal gluts in previous NHL stops, there will be no ascension up the Vancouver lines, making it that much harder for Torres to indulge the delusions of dangle that plagued his past.</p><p>&ldquo;My game starts to go south when I start trying doing too much,&rdquo; the 29-year-old said. &ldquo;Now I know when I go over the boards, nine out of 10 times I&rsquo;m going to dump the puck and rim it over to (Hansen) and I know when he gets it he&rsquo;s going to come back to me and I know Manny is going to the net.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>FOR THE RECORD</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03690/9455598-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="752" height="602"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-08265/9455591-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BOUWMEESTER: GERRY THOMAS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Calgary is taking the shackles off <b>Jay Bouwmeester</b>. The league&rsquo;s third-highest cap hit on the blueline has started pinching with regularity, even cruising the front of opposition net &ndash; clearly a mandate from the coaches. In his previous three seasons in Florida, J-Bo scored 42 goals. In 96 games with Calgary, he has just four.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04560/9455584-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="752" height="602"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-09227/9455577-1-eng-US/f0038-092.jpg" title="f0038-09" width="327" height="551"></div><p>Injuries on the Avs blueline at least allowed a depth test. Norwegian <b>Jonas Holos</b> had been there all season, but second-year pros Kevin Shattenkirk and Colby Cohen, and journeyman David Liffiton looked sharp during a stretch of three wins in five games. J-M Liles and Scott Hannan were the only healthy regulars in early November.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05453/9455570-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="752" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-10191/9455563-1-eng-US/f0038-102.jpg" title="f0038-10" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(GAGNER: ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Continuing a recent trend, Edmonton ranked 29th in faceoffs at just 44.8 percent. Shawn Horcoff and <b>Sam Gagner</b> take the most draws and were at 48.4 and 40.6 percent. Colin Fraser and Andrew Cogliano were each at 38.8 percent. Gilbert Brule was at 62.5 percent, but only averaged a little more than five draws per game.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06386/9455556-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="752" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-11167/9455549-1-eng-US/f0038-112.jpg" title="f0038-11" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(HOLOS+HAVLAT: JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>Martin Havlat</b> had just one goal through 13 games. Last season Havlat, 29, had one goal his first 14 games and just two through 24. But in three seasons with Chicago, he had 12 goals in 14 games in &rsquo;06-07, five in eight in &rsquo;07-08 and five goals in 13 games in &rsquo;08-09. And in Ottawa in &rsquo;05-06, eight goals his first nine games.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-07327/9455542-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="752" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-12154/9455535-1-eng-US/f0038-122.jpg" title="f0038-12" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(HODGSON: DALE MACMILLAN/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>THN Future Watch &rsquo;09 cover boy, <b>Cody Hodgson</b> flopped the past two NHL camps, mainly due to nagging injuries. He played just 13 major junior games last season and was flat in the early going with AHL Manitoba this year. But after zero points in five games, Hodgson had nine in eight, making a case for promotion.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0038-01

Call of Duty

<div class="byline">&#x2013; BOB DUFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-011151/9455720-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02754/9455713-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="656" height="807"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ED JOVANOVSKI</b> <span class="photo-credit">(JOVANOVSKI: FRANCOIS LACASSE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>lready this season, Phoenix&rsquo;s Ed Jovanovski has recorded the first hat trick of his NHL career. His nine points were pacing the Coyotes through 14 games.</p><p>But Jovanovski is unimpressed.</p><p>&ldquo;At this point in my career, it&rsquo;s not about the numbers, it&rsquo;s about winning games,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You want to have personal success. When that happens, you&rsquo;re giving your team the best chance to win. But you play to win championships.&rdquo;</p><p>You could say Jovanovski does it all for the Coyotes. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of those guys who takes big minutes, plays against other team&rsquo;s top players and can be a physical force,&rdquo; said Phoenix coach Dave Tippett. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a guy we depend upon to be a strong defender and he&rsquo;s also our leading scorer, we&rsquo;re getting lots out of him.&rdquo;</p><p>The one thing Jovanovski seeks from his remaining NHL days is a Stanley Cup. &ldquo;I came close my first year,&rdquo; Jovanovski said, lamenting his 1996 loss with Florida to Colorado. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a good team here, we&rsquo;ve just got to find a way to get going and be as consistent as possible.&rdquo;</p><p>Jovanovski&rsquo;s scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent at season&rsquo;s end, but his focus is on present.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be 35 heading into my next contract,&rdquo; Jovanovski said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not worried about how long I&rsquo;m going to play or where I&rsquo;m going to play. I&rsquo;m here and I hope things work out. If not, we&rsquo;ll explore other options.</p><p>&ldquo;You want to give yourself the best chance to win, but right now, it&rsquo;s about Phoenix.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>FOR THE RECORD</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03592/9455706-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="752" height="602"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-08251/9455699-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="327" height="551"></div><p>After a tough start, left winger <b>Bobby Ryan</b> was back on track in November, putting up points and cutting down on penalties. Maybe his smart work is coming from playing Settlers of Catan, the popular board game Ryan has been on lately with other Ducks. The star mind of the group? Defenseman Danny Syvret.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04494/9455692-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="752" height="602"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-09200/9455685-1-eng-US/f0039-092.jpg" title="f0039-09" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ERIKSSON: GERRY THOMAS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Clearly, <b>Loui Eriksson</b> knows when to shoot the puck. In two of his three multi-goal games early this season, the rising Swedish sniper had a shooting percentage of 100 percent. And in his other perfect shooting performance, his only shot on net provided the Stars with the game-winner against the Detroit Red Wings.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05414/9455678-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="751" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-10169/9455671-1-eng-US/f0039-102.jpg" title="f0039-10" width="323" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(RYAN+SMYTH: HARRY HOW/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>It would be tough to play a more rugged 1,000 NHL games than <b>Ryan Smyth</b>, but the popular veteran hit the mark Nov. 6 in a win over Nashville. To celebrate the left winger&rsquo;s milestone, Kings teammates donned mullet wigs during the morning skate and the early part of the pre-game warmup in an ode to his famous hair.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06341/9455664-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="752" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-11146/9455657-1-eng-US/f0039-112.jpg" title="f0039-11" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BRYZGALOV: DAVE SANDFORD/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>The Coyotes have a clutch goaltender in <b>Ilya Bryzgalov</b>, but the Russian&rsquo;s powers are only so great. Through five overtime contests, Phoenix and &lsquo;Cool Bryz&rsquo; came up empty every time, making the Coyotes the NHL&rsquo;s leaders in overtime/shootout losses. Last year, Bryzgalov had just six extra-time losses all season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-07299/9455650-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="751" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-12130/9455643-1-eng-US/f0039-122.jpg" title="f0039-12" width="327" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MARLEAU: ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>By their standards, the Sharks struggled in the first month this season and perhaps it&rsquo;s because their vaunted depth had dried up. Through the first week of November, the big line of <b>Patrick Marleau</b>, Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley made up 46 percent of the Sharks&rsquo; total offense, up substantially from last season.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0039-01

JovoCop on his Beat

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0048-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-02252/9455758-1-eng-US/f0048-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>SMART MOVE</b></p><p><b>Freshman Patrick Koudys had a checklist of reasons why RPI was the place for him.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(RPI/SARA MELIKIAN)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-01399/9455765-1-eng-US/f0048-012.jpg" title="f0048-01" width="77" height="89"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>t may seem obvious, but freshman defenseman Patrick Koudys loves being an Engineer. He also wouldn&rsquo;t mind <i>becoming</i> an engineer, which is why RPI was the perfect spot for the 6-foot-4, 210-pound blueliner. Perhaps some further explanation is needed.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-03174/9455751-1-eng-US/f0048-032.jpg" title="f0048-03" width="136" height="135"></div><p>Koudys, a native of Smithville, Ont., made himself a checklist when picking his college of choice. &ldquo;I broke it up into what I wanted from a school,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When I came here, I loved it. It was a no-brainer.&rdquo; That list included coaching staff, proximity to home (about a five-hour drive), a chance to contribute right away and a top-notch engineering program. Considering RPI grads designed the Brooklyn Bridge and invented the Ferris Wheel, Koudys was probably right on with the last one. He&rsquo;s majoring in civil engineering, which includes courses in scientific disciplines such as chemistry and physics.</p><p>&ldquo;For me, I like the structural side,&rdquo; Koudys said. &ldquo;Buildings, houses, architecture.&rdquo; And while Koudys learns about building solid foundations, he&rsquo;s developing one himself on the ice.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s obviously a big defenseman,&rdquo; said coach Seth Appert. &ldquo;But for a 6-foot-4 guy, he&rsquo;s got a lot of talent and a great mind. He&rsquo;s not the kind of player who just chips the puck off the glass. As Patty develops his game, he has a lot more elements than that because of his intelligence and his stick skills.&rdquo;</p><p>Ranked 28th overall by International Scouting Services in its initial ranking this fall, Koudys just turned 18 in mid-November, making him one of the youngest players in NCAA hockey this season. Knowing the transition from Jr. A to the college game would be a challenge, Koudys made sure he was prepared. &ldquo;I trained hard in the summer,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;because I&rsquo;m younger and they&rsquo;re full-grown men I&rsquo;m playing against here.&rdquo;</p><p>He also headed to Troy, N.Y., a month before school started in order to get himself acclimated. &ldquo;I think that helped, too,&rdquo; Koudys said. &ldquo;Getting accustomed to the living conditions in college and getting to know the guys.&rdquo;</p><p>Two players he couldn&rsquo;t hang out with were Jerry D&rsquo;Amigo and Brandon Pirri, who left the program over the summer to turn pro. D&rsquo;Amigo, now with the American League&rsquo;s Toronto Marlies, and Pirri, with the AHL&rsquo;s Rockford IceHogs, were two of the Engineers&rsquo; most effective weapons last season, but there&rsquo;s certainly no animosity on the Rensselaer campus towards them.</p><p>&ldquo;I think the guys were happy for them,&rdquo; Koudys said. &ldquo;They got their shot and the guys were happy they&rsquo;re doing what they want to do.&rdquo;</p><p>From a coach&rsquo;s perspective, losing two stars just meant an opportunity for more team leadership. &ldquo;Our guys were close with Brandon and Jerry and they still talk to them,&rdquo; Appert said. &ldquo;But you win with your seniors and that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve tried to do with our staff, is empower our seniors.&rdquo;</p><p>In a few years, Koudys could be one of those seniors, especially if he continues to be as serious as he is now about engineering and schooling. That will give him a lot of time to develop into that great two-way defenseman he already has the mind and body to be.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gotten used to the speed of the college game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But there&rsquo;s still things to work on; gaps, pivoting.&rdquo;</p><p>Sounds like something Koudys &ndash; and, Appert hopes, RPI &ndash; can build on.</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>28</b></h2><p><b>Koudys&rsquo; International Scouting Services ranking for the 2011 NHL draft</b></p><p><b>For more on the future, check out: <a href="http://thn.com/prospects">thn.com/prospects</a></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0048-02

Engineering Excellence

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0049-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-02269/9455796-1-eng-US/f0049-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>DIG DOUGIE</b></p><p><b>Niagara has a big threat on the back end in draft-eligible blueliner Dougie Hamilton.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(CHL IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Niagara IceDogs defenseman Dougie Hamilton took a very calculated risk and, fortunately, it paid off.</p><p>The IceDogs had drafted Hamilton&rsquo;s older brother, Freddie, in 2008 and the family wondered whether to follow him to the Niagara region from Toronto. &ldquo;We had to make a decision on what we wanted to do,&rdquo; Dougie Hamilton said. &ldquo;So I chose to play for a minor-midget team in St. Catharines (where the Ice-Dogs are based). My goal was to get drafted by Niagara.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-01365/9455803-1-eng-US/f0049-012.jpg" title="f0049-01" width="238" height="81"></div><p>And that&rsquo;s exactly what happened. The IceDogs nabbed the younger Hamilton in the second round of the 2009 draft and have been reaping the benefits since. At 6-foot-4, 193 pounds, Hamilton is an imposing figure on the blueline, but is more of an offensive threat than a brute force. &ldquo;I like Jay Bouwmeester and Brent Burns,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Two-way defensemen, tall, lanky; both are my role models.&rdquo;</p><p>New Niagara assistant coach Mike Van Ryn, whose eight NHL seasons made him ideal to tutor the IceDogs&rsquo; defense corps, has been impressed with the second-year blueliner. &ldquo;I think he has all the skills, all the fundamentals to be a successful pro and a high round pick,&rdquo; Van Ryn said. &ldquo;He thinks the game well, he&rsquo;s a real good skater&hellip; In my mind, he&rsquo;s a real solid two-way guy.&rdquo;</p><p>And while Hamilton may not be surly, he&rsquo;s no pushover, either. &ldquo;He knows how to use his size,&rdquo; Van Ryn said. &ldquo;He gives some real punishing checks and he doesn&rsquo;t shy down from anything.&rdquo;</p><p>With 12 points through 17 games, Hamilton was on pace to shatter his rookie totals. His size and skill make him a legitimate threat to crack the top 10 at the 2011 NHL draft, which he could lord over Freddie, who was chosen in the fifth round by San Jose last summer. However, both Dougie and Van Ryn acknowledge the defensive side of his game needs to be honed. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to harness his skills,&rdquo; Van Ryn said. &ldquo;Guys want the offense in their draft year, but we&rsquo;re focused on the defensive side.&rdquo;</p><p>One advantage Hamilton may have in his development is he plays his home games at the Gatorade Garden City Complex, which, despite its modern name, was built in 1938 and houses a smaller ice pad than most major junior rinks. That means there&rsquo;s nowhere to hide for a D-man who prides himself on making a good first pass. &ldquo;You feel a difference,&rdquo; Hamilton said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not a lot of time out there. You have to make shorter passes and move the puck quickly. It&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ve gotten use to and I like it.&rdquo; As for why he goes by &lsquo;Dougie,&rsquo; his dad is also named Doug, so the son wanted to distinguish himself. Based on his play, that won&rsquo;t be a problem.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0049-02

Niagara ‘Falls’ for kid brother

<div class="byline">BY RYAN DIXON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0050-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-02249/9455834-1-eng-US/f0050-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>UP AND ADAM</b></p><p><b>Luke Adam plays an aggressive game, but the Sabres will not rush his development.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(ADAM: ABELIMAGES/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>uke Adam stood out from many Buffalo Sabres prospects and players even before he started lighting up the American League. That&rsquo;s because, in most cases, he stands over them.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-01348/9455841-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg" title="f0050-01" width="128" height="128"></div><p>Adam brings a 6-foot-2, 215-pound frame and a banger&rsquo;s mentality to a Buffalo herd that hasn&rsquo;t exactly run roughshod over the league in recent years. The Sabres feature some skill, no doubt, but it&rsquo;s mostly carried by forwards of modest dimensions such as Derek Roy and Jason Pominville, not to mention pint-sized youngsters Tyler Ennis and Nathan Gerbe.</p><p>Drafted 44th overall in 2008, Adam certainly has goal-scoring ability, but he can cause damage in other ways, too. &ldquo;If there&rsquo;s a loose puck (in front of the net), he can jump on it,&rdquo; a scout said. &ldquo;He has a great shot and he can hit you; he can hurt you.&rdquo;</p><p>Adam has been demonstrating all of his strengths with the Portland Pirates in his rookie year as a pro. Through 14 games, he was tied for the AHL lead with 11 goals and his 19 points led all freshman on the circuit.</p><p>The 20-year-old credited teammates and coaches for his success, which he said hasn&rsquo;t completely caught him off-guard. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if &lsquo;surprised&rsquo; is the right word,&rdquo; he said when asked about his hot start. &ldquo;I worked pretty hard this off-season to make that jump to the next level, but I&rsquo;m definitely pleased and very happy with how the season started. I don&rsquo;t think I envisioned being off to the start I&rsquo;m off to, but you don&rsquo;t complain about that kind of thing. It&rsquo;s pretty neat.&rdquo;</p><p>Good as Adam is, he&rsquo;s been slightly overshadowed by the one guy in the Sabres organization &ndash; defenseman Tyler Myers &ndash; who does tower over him and, to a lesser degree, the silky Ennis. Both were drafted ahead of him in 2008.</p><p>&ldquo;He has a good skill set and he has a good-sized body and I think he&rsquo;s someone who probably has come a little bit from the back of that (&rsquo;08 draft) class,&rdquo; said Buffalo GM Darcy Regier. &ldquo;So he&rsquo;s been somewhat overshadowed, but I think last year&rsquo;s world junior was a big deal for him because he was on there as the 13th forward &ndash; and I talked to (Canadian coach) Willie Desjardins about it &ndash; and by the end of that tournament I think (Adam) recognized, and others recognized, that he not only belonged there, but was one of the better forwards.&rdquo;</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p>He most certainly was, potting four goals and eight points in six games. For the progress to continue, according to the scout, Adam will have to keep plugging away at improving his skating.</p><p>Adam did get a two-game glimpse of the NHL this year, but has no problem with earning his stripes in the minors, a philosophy that aligns nicely with the organization&rsquo;s approach to developing young players. &ldquo;For me, more than anything else, you have but one opportunity to allow them to earn the right to play in the NHL and then build once they have that,&rdquo; Regier said. &ldquo;And I think to keep them for any length of time and then send them back, it&rsquo;s seldom recognized as them having earned something or you giving them something. Instead, you&rsquo;ve taken something away. And it&rsquo;s a bad place to be.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all about their mindset. Their mindset is not that they&rsquo;ve earned something and earned the right. It&rsquo;s something was taken away from them. And the reality is they hadn&rsquo;t earned it yet, but they don&rsquo;t see it that way.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0050-02

Buffalo’s Sabre Rattler

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-03141/9455872-1-eng-US/f0050-032.jpg" title="f0050-03" width="523" height="587"><figcaption class="caption-body">GREGG SUTCH <span class="photo-credit">(SUTCH: AARON BELL/OHL IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Zack Kassian, 19, RW</b></h2><p><i>Windsor, 6-3, 226 pounds</i></p><p>The high-scoring power forward was on the Ontario League trading block since the Spitfires are looking to rebuild. With a summer bar brawl arrest behind him, Kassian signed his entry level contract with the Sabres.</p><h2><b>Brayden McNabb, 19, D</b></h2><p><i>Kootenay, 6-5, 216 pounds</i></p><p>Lingering shoulder injury hasn&rsquo;t stopped the big Western Leaguer from dishing out huge hits or putting up numbers; he&rsquo;s a point-per-gamer from the blueline.</p><h2><b>Gregg Sutch, 18, RW</b></h2><p><i>Mississauga, 6-2, 198 pounds</i></p><p>Feisty energy player (and <a href="http://THN.com">THN.com</a> blogger) loves to bang and crash for the OHL&rsquo;s Majors, but can also put up points. Missed a big chunk of &rsquo;09-10 with injuries and ailments.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0050-03

Frame of Mind

<div class="byline">BY NEIL HODGE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0051-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-01296/9455910-1-eng-US/f0051-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>ON THE RADAR</b></p><p><b>Xavier Ouelett has been a part of the Canadian world junior selection process.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(DAVID CONNELL)</span></figcaption></div><p>Xavier Ouellet didn&rsquo;t need to look far to find a role model. His father, Robert, was a center who played pro in Europe.</p><p>&ldquo;It made a big impression on me,&rdquo; Ouellet said of watching his dad play. &ldquo;I remember there was big crowds, it was noisy. My father has taught me a lot about hockey.&rsquo;&rsquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-02213/9455903-1-eng-US/f0051-022.jpg" title="f0051-02" width="154" height="142"></div><p>The 17-year-old Montreal Juniors sophomore is the Quebec League&rsquo;s No. 2-rated defender for the 2011 draft.</p><p>Ouellet was born in France and lived in Europe until moving to Quebec at age 10. He helped Canada win gold at last summer&rsquo;s under-18 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka Tournament and played for Team QMJHL in the 2010 Canada-Russia Super Series, which is part of Team Canada&rsquo;s selection process for the world junior championship. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s certainly on our radar,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Hockey Canada head scout Kevin Prendergast. &ldquo;If it&rsquo;s not the 2011 world juniors, he&rsquo;ll be there next year for sure.</p><p>&ldquo;He won&rsquo;t bring you out of your seat by going end to end, but he&rsquo;s smart and moves the puck so well. He&rsquo;s got poise with the puck. His head is on a swivel. He always knows where everybody is on the ice and he makes the right play. He reminds me a lot of Tomas Kaberle.&rsquo;&rsquo;</p><p>Prendergast, former head scout and assistant GM for the Edmonton Oilers, is convinced Ouellet will be a 2011 first-rounder. &ldquo;Montreal is a great team, so he&rsquo;ll be very visible in the next six months,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Strength is a factor at times, but he uses his stick very well and he gets in good position.&rsquo;&rsquo;</p><p>The QMJHL has had 15 defensemen claimed in the top two rounds in the past six NHL drafts. It&rsquo;s a list headlined by Brandon Gormley, Dmitry Kulikov, Simon Despres, Ivan Vishnevskiy and Luc Bourdon.</p><p>Ouellet, 6-foot-1 and 177 pounds, is continuing the QMJHL&rsquo;s wave of marquee blueliners. &ldquo;He really understands the game well,&rsquo;&rsquo; said an NHL scout. &ldquo;He has great vision, makes good decisions and uses his stick well, whether it&rsquo;s a pokecheck or taking away a pass. He&rsquo;s a solid two-way defenseman.</p><p>&ldquo;He knows when it&rsquo;s time to rush and if you watch him on the power play he&rsquo;s not afraid to sneak down the back side. He&rsquo;s got good offensive instincts.&rsquo;&rsquo;</p><p>Ouellet is studying kinesiology with plans to be an athletic therapist. First, though, there&rsquo;s his NHL dream. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m working hard on my defensive game,&rsquo;&rsquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s exciting with this being my NHL draft year, but we have a good team, so I&rsquo;m thinking more about winning a championship. NHL teams want players who are winners.&rsquo;&rsquo;</p><p>Montreal coach Pascal Vincent describes Ouellet as equally good offensively and defensively and knows what his young charge must work on. &ldquo;He needs to get stronger, faster and improve his shot, but he&rsquo;s above average in everything right now.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got a great future.&rsquo;&rsquo;</p><h2>19</h2><p><b>Points through 20 games this season for Ouellet, tied for second among &ldquo;Q&rdquo; blueliners</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0051-01

Bright Future for Ouellet

<div class="byline">BY NICOLAS CHABOT</div><p>CAN&rsquo;T GET ENOUGH NUMBERS? VISIT OUR ONLINE <b>&lsquo;STATS&rsquo;</b> SECTION EVERY DAY AT <b><a href="http://thehockeynews.com">THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM</a></b></p><h2><b>LEFT BEHIND ON LEFT COAST</b></h2><p><b>EASTERN-BASED TEAMS</b> began making more trips to the left coast when San Jose joined the league in 1991-92 and the flights west increased when Anaheim came on the scene and the Stars moved to Dallas from Minnesota shortly thereafter.</p><p>The theory has long been Eastern teams struggle in the West due to travel-related fatigue, but it really has a lot more to do with those once-fledgling clubs emerging as league powers. Clubs from the Eastern time zone have a combined winning record in the Mountain and Pacific times zones just twice in the past 10 years, as Colorado and Anaheim claimed Stanley Cups and the Sharks &ndash; for regular season purposes, anyway &ndash; became a perennial power.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0052-01291/9456007-1-eng-US/f0052-012.jpg" title="f0052-01" width="655" height="989"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JOE THORNTON</b> <span class="photo-credit">(ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0052-02178/9456000-1-eng-US/f0052-022.jpg" title="f0052-02" width="169" height="228"></div><h2><b>.409</b></h2><h3><b>Road record of Eastern time zone teams&hellip;</b></h3><p>&hellip;when playing in Mountain (MT) or Pacific time zones (PT) and road record when playing in the Eastern (ET) or Central (CT) zones.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0052-03118/9455993-1-eng-US/f0052-032.jpg" title="f0052-03" width="889" height="677"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0052-0496/9455986-1-eng-US/f0052-042.jpg" title="f0052-04" width="170" height="229"></div><h2><b>1,798</b></h2><h3><b>Top-scoring draft picks</b></h3><p>Best first pick overall, second pick&hellip;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0052-0572/9455979-1-eng-US/f0052-052.jpg" title="f0052-05" width="1753" height="893"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0052-0661/9455972-1-eng-US/f0052-062.jpg" title="f0052-06" width="179" height="161"></div><h2><b>.579</b></h2><h3><b>Time zone domination</b></h3><p>Combined record of all Eastern time zone teams compared to Pacific and Mountain time zone teams</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0052-0745/9455965-1-eng-US/f0052-072.jpg" title="f0052-07" width="543" height="819"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0052-01

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

<div class="byline">BY NEIL ACHARYA</div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>J</span>im Dorey was largely</b> unknown when he made his NHL debut with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 16, 1968 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 21-year-old rookie defenseman left more than just an impression on his new club and the sold out Maple Leaf Gardens crowd, however &ndash; by the end of the second period he would be known across the hockey world for setting the NHL single-game record with 48 penalty minutes.</p><p>What started out as a realization of the Canadian dream &ndash; &ldquo;it was a Wednesday, the first day of the season and my dad was in Toronto to see me play,&rdquo; recalled Dorey, now 63 &ndash; turned into a gong show. Dorey took two minor penalties in the first period. In the second, he had barely finished serving another before he got in altercations with nearly every Penguins player on the ice late in the frame.</p><p>&ldquo;The next thing you know, I&rsquo;m in four fights,&rdquo; he said.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>&ldquo;Everyone wanted a piece of me after that</b></blockquote><p>Dorey&rsquo;s official rap sheet for the night included two fighting majors, two misconducts and a game misconduct; all part of nine total penalties that set the new mark. The standards have since been eclipsed by other NHL heavyweights, but remain Maple Leafs records.</p><p>&ldquo;I remember being in the dressing room and thinking I would be through with the Leafs, probably be sent down to Rochester in the AHL,&rdquo; Dorey recalled.</p><p>When coach King Clancy and GM Punch Imlach entered the dressing room, he was certain the writing was on the wall.</p><p>What happened next took him by surprise. Clancy was jumping up and down as Imlach, known as somewhat of a penny-pincher, rewarded Dorey for his aggressive play.</p><p>&ldquo;Punch said, &lsquo;That&rsquo;s the kind of hockey I want,&rsquo; &rdquo; Dorey said. &ldquo;He opened his wallet and gave me $100 and told me to get lost for the weekend.&rdquo;</p><p>Imlach must have foreseen what would happen next. The incident was played over and over on TV and extra reporters were assigned to cover the Leafs when they hit the road.</p><p>&ldquo;Everyone wanted a piece of me after that,&rdquo; Dorey said.</p><p>Dorey was drafted in the fourth round by the Leafs in 1964. He patrolled the Toronto blueline for four seasons and has nothing but great memories.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-01280/9456038-1-eng-US/f0054-012.jpg" title="f0054-01" width="909" height="1317"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>BULL MARKET</b></p><p><b>Jim Dorey spent time with the WHA&rsquo;s Toros and the NHL&rsquo;s Maple Leafs during his career.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(THN ARCHIVES)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;The Leafs were a contending team; it was an honor to play for them,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I knew other players wanted to. I realize that today more than ever.&rdquo;</p><p>Dorey was traded to the New York Rangers late in 1971-72, which allowed him to play in the Stanley Cup final for the first time in his career. He lasted only one game against the Boston Bruins after an injury sidelined him for the rest of the series. The Bruins won the Cup in six games. &ldquo;In my mind, I thought I would have been the difference in that series,&rdquo; said Dorey, who scored his first NHL goal with the Leafs against the Rangers.</p><p>The next season, Dorey jumped to the new World Hockey Association. &ldquo;When I jumped, it was big news in New York,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I made some Rangers millionaires. I got a real good deal. My time in the WHA is special to me because I was a pioneer.&rdquo;</p><p>Dorey won the inaugural Avco Cup with the New England Whalers in 1973 and another with the Quebec Nordiques in 1977. Dorey also played for the Toronto Toros and the AHL&rsquo;s Philadelphia Firebirds and New Haven Nighthawks.</p><p>Dorey retired as a player in 1981. He settled in his hometown of Kingston, Ont., and twice filled in as the coach of the Ontario League&rsquo;s Canadians in the 1980s. He now works at Dorey and Tolgyesi Insurance Brokers, is a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs Alumni Association and is active in the local chapters of the Boys and Girls Rotary Clubs.</p><p>He feels fortunate to have had the career he did.</p><p>&ldquo;I lived a dream,&rdquo; Dorey said.</p><p>FOR MORE TALES OF PAST HOCKEY GREATS: <b><a href="http://THN.COM/BACKCHECKING">THN.COM/BACKCHECKING</a></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0054-01

Bloody night Dorey’s lore

<div class="byline">BY ADAM STEISS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-01219/9456090-1-eng-US/f0056-012.jpg" title="f0056-01" width="702" height="840"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-02144/9456083-1-eng-US/f0056-022.jpg" title="f0056-02" width="705" height="840"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-0386/9456076-1-eng-US/f0056-032.jpg" title="f0056-03" width="702" height="840"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>here&rsquo;s often a strong connection between artists and their work, built on a desire to capture their own passions to display to the world. For Tony Harris, this connection grew out of a love for sports.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s something about trying to capture the essence of an athlete in that moment of either about to throw a pass or about to take a shot,&rdquo; Harris said. &ldquo;The anticipation of sport is what I love, either in the middle of the action or just before.&rdquo;</p><p>Sports and art were dual passions in his life. A high school hockey and football standout in his hometown of Lakefield, Ont., in the early 1980s, Harris had a stint with the Ontario League&rsquo;s Kingston Canadians before enrolling in Bishop&rsquo;s University, where he became a two-time All-Canadian quarterback.</p><p>Through it all, Harris stayed glued to the canvas.</p><p>&ldquo;Essentially, I always painted hockey and then when I went to Bishop&rsquo;s, I started painting all the guys I played football with, doing head and shoulder portraits and selling them to their families,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>After finishing at Bishop&rsquo;s and teaching art for a few years, Harris was able to develop a niche within the sports art world, drawing signature holes for golf courses. Although Harris had always drawn hockey players, beginning with an Grade 3 sketch of Tony Esposito, it was another legend who inspired him to go into portraits. &ldquo;Stephen Brunt came out with a book called <i>Searching for Bobby Orr,</i>&rdquo; Harris said. &ldquo;The cover of the book featured Orr in his rookie season, the background is completely dark and he is lit up almost like he&rsquo;s in a spotlight.&rdquo;</p><p>Harris did a painting of the photograph and sent it to Devin Smith, the NHLPA&rsquo;s director, marketing and community relations. &ldquo;We saw the one he did of Bobby and it was fantastic,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;It was just so lifelike and captured just what Bobby was all about and that&rsquo;s how we got into discussions with him for doing work for the NHLPA, because we felt it was a great fit.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-0469/9456069-1-eng-US/f0056-042.jpg" title="f0056-04" width="1032" height="619"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>ICONIC ART</b></p><p><b>Tony Harris has painted some of the best, from Orr to Lindsay to Ovechkin and Brodeur.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(COURTESY OF TONY HARRIS)</span></figcaption></div><p>Harris, 46, is now established as one of hockey&rsquo;s best artists. He has an annual contract to paint the winner of the Ted Lindsay Award and is often called upon to do private commissions for players through the NHLPA&rsquo;s partnership program.</p><p>&ldquo;These paintings, they&rsquo;re first-class paintings, obviously we wouldn&rsquo;t include them if they weren&rsquo;t as good as they are,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;They seem to capture the character of the player. My personal favorite was the one he did of Marty Brodeur as a child.&rdquo;</p><p>The Brodeur commission was put forward in cooperation with Brodeur&rsquo;s father Denis, a famous hockey photographer who gave Harris an image to work off. &ldquo;He took the picture of Martin when he was eight or nine,&rdquo; Harris said. &ldquo;So I visited the old house in St-Leonard where the picture was taken to take pictures of the neighborhood to give it a realistic background.&rdquo;</p><p>Brodeur received the painting in commemoration of his record-breaking 552nd win and for Harris, the painting and the reaction to it was a source of real gratification and pride: &ldquo;His dad teared up and as an artist if you can make a painting that makes someone cry then you&rsquo;ve done your job.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0056-01

Capturing the Greats

<div class="byline">By Larry Humber</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0057-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-01205/9456121-1-eng-US/f0057-012.jpg"></div><h2><b>ACROSS</b></h2><p>1 He coaches the Caps (with 8 Across)</p><p>8 See 1 Across</p><p>9 Veteran winger Ryan ___, pictured</p><p>10 Home of the Quebec League&rsquo;s Maineiacs</p><p>11 Aggressive</p><p>14 Plastic protector at the base of the net</p><p>15 Another Quebec League team is in ___ John</p><p>20 Barry ___ was drafted first overall in 1966</p><p>21 Nickname of Milwaukee&rsquo;s minor pro team</p><p>22 Former enforcer ___ Chase</p><p>23 ___ State is an NCAA power</p><p>24 George Imlach&rsquo;s nickname</p><h2><b>DOWN</b></h2><p>2 Where &lsquo;Sid the Kid&rsquo; played his junior</p><p>3 Goalies&rsquo; gloves</p><p>4 Ref who seems to favor the host team</p><p>5 Legendary blueliner ___ Shore</p><p>6 This Primeau was captain in Philly</p><p>7 Ex-international hockey head ___ Ahearne</p><p>12 Where the Olympiques play</p><p>13 ___ steroids</p><p>16 One of Dave Semenko&rsquo;s nicknames</p><p>17 Hit hard</p><p>18 First name of &lsquo;MacT&rsquo;</p><p>19 The ___ Cup is for senior amateurs</p><p><b>ANSWERS AVAILABLE IN THE NEXT ISSUE AND AT <a href="http://THN.com/XWORD">THN.com/xword</a></b></p><p><b>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S CROSSWORD SOLUTION ACROSS</b> 1. HOSSA, 8. JONATHAN, 9. DELAY, 10. RAY SHERO, 11. SCORE, 14. KEHOE, 15. PETER, 20. BOLTS, 21. PANTHERS, 22. LIONS, 23. ESPOSITO, 24. BLANK <b>DOWN</b> 2. O-PEE-CHEE, 3. SEABROOK, 4. JOHAN, 5. PATSY, 6. CHIEF, 7. ANNOY, 12. MEMORIAL, 13. LEHTONEN, 16. UPPER, 17. SNAPS, 18. CHEST, 19. BRETT<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0057-01

CROSSWORD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-02144/9456152-1-eng-US/f0057-022.jpg" title="f0057-02" width="989" height="1206"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BLAST: TUROFSKY/HHOF IMAGES)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-03106/9456159-1-eng-US/f0057-032.jpg" title="f0057-03" width="150" height="148"></div><p><b>The Leafs Gerry James is flipped by Hawk Pierre Pilote as Glenn Hall covers the puck. Circa 1958.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0057-02

Blast from the Past

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-0487/9456190-1-eng-US/f0057-042.jpg" title="f0057-04" width="676" height="689"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JERSEY: LSSU PUBLIC RELATIONS)</span></figcaption></div><p>The Lake Superior State Lakers are honoring one of their pioneers this season by wearing these slick throwbacks at home.</p><p>Bud Cooper, the program&rsquo;s longtime athletic director, passed away last year, but his legacy lives on with the school. The Lakers are sporting &lsquo;Bud&rsquo; on the left shoulder, while the team&rsquo;s primary anchor logo moves to the right shoulder.</p><p>Not only is the color scheme nice here, but the old-style font puts a unique twist on the diagonal-letter design that is so common in hockey these days, particularly on third jerseys.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0057-04

Jersey Hound

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-01218/9456228-1-eng-US/f0058-012.jpg" title="f0058-01" width="282" height="498"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>hree years ago</b>, just after Brian Burke won the Stanley Cup in Anaheim, THN anointed Burke the best GM in the NHL. But as Wile E. Coyote proved every time one of his ACME contraptions went awry and he ended up crushed under a boulder, genius can indeed be fleeting.</p><p>After all, Lou Lamoriello was a genius once. So was Glen Sather, for all of you in the under-30 crowd. There&rsquo;s something about genius that makes it fade once your teams start piling up losing seasons. Even geniuses are judged on results.</p><p>Which brings us to Burke, whose IQ didn&rsquo;t drop 30 points the moment he landed in Toronto. He still has a Cup, something 23 of his 29 counterparts cannot say. More impressively, Burke walked out with the two best players from the horrible &rsquo;99 draft. He also built the Canucks into a contender and money-maker on a shoestring budget.</p><p>But what made Burke such a good GM elsewhere has caused his struggles with the Leafs. Decisiveness and passion have always ruled Burke, but those two traits have caused him to make some very questionable moves.</p><p>Above all, Burke has gone wrong in the way he has grossly misjudged the hockey market in Toronto. He bought into all the age-old and misguided notions about this organization and its fan base, and in doing so, used that observation to make a flurry of ill-advised moves.</p><p>Shortly after Burke was hired in 2008, he opined that, &ldquo;The guy that turns this team around and wins a championship here, they&rsquo;re going to name schools after him.&rdquo; A search of the hundreds of schools in the Toronto area failed to come up with a Conn Smythe Elementary or Punch Imlach Secondary and the way the Leafs are headed, it&rsquo;s probably fair to say the Toronto District Board of Education won&rsquo;t be breaking ground on the Brian Burke Middle School anytime soon.</p><p>And that&rsquo;s because for all his smarts and his ability to change cultures, Burke believed the same myths that have been perpetuated by this organization for far too long. He was brought in to make the organization a winner and was seduced into believing the rebuild had to be done quickly. And nothing could have been further from the truth. What Leaf fans want more than a quick fix is a long-term plan that will make their team a legitimate contender. They&rsquo;ve waited more than 40 years for a Cup, a couple of more seasons of painful rebuilding would not have been a problem. And if anyone had that mandate, it was Burke.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-02145/9456221-1-eng-US/f0058-022.jpg" title="f0058-02" width="713" height="926"><figcaption class="caption-body">PHIL KESSEL <span class="photo-credit">(GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>It was that notion, plus the fact Burke envisioned his roster as being better than it actually is, that caused him to make his moves. None of them is more questionable than the acquisition of Phil Kessel for so many reasons. First, please point out to us when there has ever been a successful rebuild in the NHL that has been accomplished by trading away draft picks. Teams that build themselves into contenders horde their picks, they don&rsquo;t deal them away. Ever.</p><p>And the biggest problem with Kessel is that his talent and ability to put up points seduce people. He is the kind of player who will score a hat trick in an 8-2 win, but goes alarmingly AWOL when his team really needs him to step up. He was that way long before he ever came to Toronto and he probably won&rsquo;t ever change.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>&ldquo;Those kinds of moves have set any rebuild back by years</b></blockquote><p>Those kinds of moves have set any meaningful rebuild back by years. And it was largely done because Burke came in thinking the fans were impatient, the media was comprised of a bunch of blood-suckers and the pressure on anyone to play in this atmosphere is suffocating.</p><p>All of it is totally false, just like the notion there exists a Blue and White disease that makes players who are unconditionally loved far too comfortable. Well, you can&rsquo;t have it both ways, can you? You can&rsquo;t complain about the unbearable pressure of performing in Toronto, then accuse your players of being fat cats because they can do no wrong. There is no more pressure or unconditional love showered upon the Leafs than there are on the New York Yankees, Manchester United or the L.A. Lakers.</p><p>But in Toronto, it&rsquo;s apparently a &ldquo;disgrace&rdquo; that fans boo an underachieving, mistake-prone captain or that the future of a coach who hasn&rsquo;t coaxed any results out of his roster is questioned. Anyone who knows Burke quickly realizes he&rsquo;s taking the heat off his team by putting it on himself, but it is borne of a notion that Leaf fans are ready to pounce and eat their own.</p><p>Nothing could be further from the truth and nobody, not Burke or anyone else, is going to fix this thing until they realize that.</p><p>CAN&rsquo;T GET ENOUGH CAMPBELL? CLICK ON <b><a href="http://THN.com">THN.COM</a></b> FOR KEN&rsquo;S EXCLUSIVE BLOG<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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December 6, 2010

CLAW Marks

Life of Bryan Takes a Twist

‘Q’ Rated

The Journeyman