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.

November 18, 2013

The Hockey News - Nov-18-13

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RONNIE SHUKER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0042-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01871/9878862-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02571/9878855-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="660" height="625"><figcaption class="caption-body">FRANS NIELSEN (MIKE STOBE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>DURABLE, DEPENDABLE, UNSPECTACULAR, Frans Nielsen has been as steady as a station wagon since his NHL debut in 2006-07. Now 29, and in his eighth season (all with the Isles), he&rsquo;s starting to flash some sports-car style.Nielsen had five goals, one shy of his 2012-13 total, and 11 points in nine games. He&rsquo;s always had the hands, though he&rsquo;s never had more than 47 points in a season. It&rsquo;s just taken him a while to find his niche. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve always been searching for that No. 2 center behind Johnny (Tavares), but we never really had it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve kept putting me in that situation for the last few years, so it&rsquo;s nice that I&rsquo;ve started producing.&rdquo;Jack Capuano was coaching in Bridgeport of the American League when Nielsen came over from Sweden seven years ago. He recalls a mature, detail-oriented, defense-first Dane, with offensive upside. Now his coach in New York, Capuano sees the same steady defensive specialist, who&rsquo;s finally finding his mark offensively. &ldquo;The one word for me is consistency,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very consistent on how he goes about his business, how he prepares and his attention to detail.&rdquo;Nielsen is the only player left from the 2006-07 Isles. He&rsquo;s known many lows since then, but he&rsquo;s eager to touch the highs now that the franchise is on the uptick, fresh off its first post-season in six years. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s just a different confidence in everyone this year than we&rsquo;ve been used to,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;No matter who we play now, when we go on the ice we know we&rsquo;re just as good as anyone and we can beat anybody.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-03450/9878848-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="753" height="597"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-08177/9878841-1-eng-US/f0042-082.jpg" title="f0042-08" width="327" height="506"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JOHN RUSSELL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>To call Seth Jones&rsquo; first few weeks as an NHL defenseman successful would be an understatement. The 19-year-old prodigy averaged more minutes than Zdeno Chara &ndash; and three minutes more than any other rookie. He was plus-1, scored a game-winner and ranked second on the team in blocked shots to boot.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-04361/9878834-1-eng-US/f0042-042.jpg" title="f0042-04" width="753" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-09143/9878827-1-eng-US/f0042-092.jpg" title="f0042-09" width="328" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Without the new recruits, the Devils would have little offense. While returning D-man Marek Zidlicky led them in points, the top three forwards were recent additions: vets Jaromir Jagr and Michael Ryder, plus Swiss sophomore Damien Brunner, who was the odd man out in Detroit due to salary cap concerns despite a strong rookie year.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-05306/9878820-1-eng-US/f0042-052.jpg" title="f0042-05" width="753" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-10119/9878813-1-eng-US/f0042-102.jpg" title="f0042-10" width="327" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">(GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Peruse the list of the busiest blueliners in the NHL and many familiar names appear &ndash; Ryan Suter and Erik Karlsson among them. But nestled near the top is the understated Andrew MacDonald, who eats mucho minutes for the Isles. His average TOI was 26:34 early on, three full minutes higher than he&rsquo;s ever posted in a season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-06271/9878806-1-eng-US/f0042-062.jpg" title="f0042-06" width="753" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1190/9878799-1-eng-US/f0042-112.jpg" title="f0042-11" width="328" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JOEL AUERBACH/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>With the team already waiving him to the minors this season, backup Martin Biron called it a career in mid-October. A favorite of hockey writers everywhere because of his great quotes and reflections, Biron ends his NHL tenure with a respectable career SP of .910 to go along with a 2.62 GAA. Next stop, broadcasting booth?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-07230/9878792-1-eng-US/f0042-072.jpg" title="f0042-07" width="753" height="597"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1277/9878785-1-eng-US/f0042-122.jpg" title="f0042-12" width="328" height="506"><figcaption class="caption-body">(ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>With Craig Anderson and Robin Lehner, the Senators have their best goaltending in years. Perhaps ever. Which is good because their goalies started the season as human targets. Ottawa was worst in the NHL in shots against at almost 40 per contest. Its goaltending showed no signs of letting up, but fatigue could become a factor.HOW FANS PAY. THE NEW SCOTIAHOCKEYTM NHL&reg; DEBIT CARD<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1364/9878778-1-eng-US/f0042-132.jpg" title="f0042-13" width="193" height="155"></div> &#9632;

f0042-01

DEPARTMENTS

ACE IN THE NO. 2 HOLE

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-031298/9877651-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="474" height="125"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04741/9877644-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg" title="f0008-04" width="477" height="208"></div>YES 18%NO 82%<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-05526/9877637-1-eng-US/f0008-052.jpg" title="f0008-05" width="467" height="458"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BILL WIPPERT/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0008-03

PUCKPOLL

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011489/9878281-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(DON SMITH/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-011353/9878274-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="488" height="424"></div>THE FIRST SAN JOSE SHOT&nbsp;whizzes by Jimmy Howard&rsquo;s head eight seconds into the game. Five minutes later, the hometown Red Wings finally put an attempt on the board. In the second period, the Sharks put the puck on net 18 seconds in and would have done so sooner had Joe Thornton not inadvertently tipped the biscuit up and over Howard&rsquo;s cage. With 12 minutes remaining in the middle frame, Detroit stands at five shots on net.This is puck possession hockey, but at the same time it isn&rsquo;t. The San Jose Sharks have found a new calling and it involves top speed, all four lines and a whole lotta shots on net. While this night in Detroit turns out to be atypical &ndash; the Sharks win 1-0 in a shootout, in what coach Todd McLellan calls a playoff hockey atmosphere with tight-checking efficiency &ndash; the hallmarks of this new philosophy are obvious. The Sharks actually live up to their name in the offensive zone, setting off frenzies and treating any opportunity as a last-minute scramble for that crucial goal. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t go out looking for the perfect play every time,&rdquo; says center Logan Couture. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to shoot the puck. You watch highlights around the league and a lot of goals are scored on second or third chances and that&rsquo;s how we&rsquo;ve been getting them, too.&rdquo;In their first nine games of the season, eight of which are victories, the Sharks averaged nearly 39 shots a game, scoring 4.33 goals and surrendering just 1.67 goals against. They dominated 5-on-5 and were one of the best teams in the faceoff circle.Of course, last season the Sharks also got off to a great start, winning all seven games in January before coming back to earth and finishing sixth in the West, losing a hard-fought series to Los Angeles in the second round. But advanced stats weren&rsquo;t on the Sharks&rsquo; side. The team was just 12th in NHL team Corsi last season, a measure of how many shots directed at the net, including blocked or off-the-mark attempts, a team has versus how many it gives up. This season San Jose is second, while the machine gun-clip offense is putting teams on their heels early and often.No longer are the Sharks a classic possession team, where a player such as Thornton could hold onto the puck and slow the game down. Now it&rsquo;s go, go, go. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not talking about giving up the puck all the time,&rdquo; McLellan says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re talking about putting it in areas where we can go get it. We&rsquo;re talking about playing more of a north-south game, not slowing it down as much, trying to stay ahead of the curve. That&rsquo;s where the game is going. Coming out of the last lockout you could delay, look for people and hold on to the puck a little longer. Teams have figured out how to defend that now. You have to advance.&rdquo;The lockout put a crimp in starting the revolution. Minimum training camp, no pre-season games and an uneven level of conditioning among players were mitigating factors. But this season, McLellan has the horses he needs and the results speak for themselves. &ldquo;It shows up more in the third- and fourth-line situations, the ability to roll four lines and maintain the pace,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;If we were going quick in the past, it kind of fell off as we went down a line or two, so there were hills and valleys. In the game right now, all the lines play a quick game.&rdquo;A combination of maturing prospects and key personnel maneuvers predicated this. Matt Nieto left Boston University after his junior campaign and hasn&rsquo;t played a game in the minors since the end of 2012, when he started his pro career in Worcester. Tyler Kennedy was acquired from Pittsburgh in a draft day trade for a second-rounder, while rookie Tomas Hertl came over from the Czech Republic after two seasons playing against men.Ah yes, Hertl. The boy wonder whose four-goal performance against the Rangers will be nearly impossible to top, particularly since every warmup and morning skate around the league now has players recreating his Marek Malik-style, behind-the-back-leg move that may or may not have sent Marty Biron into retirement. Playing on the top line with Thornton and Brent Burns, Hertl has won over the hearts of the hockey world (with the exception of Washington coach Adam Oates and the odd irrelevant hockey writer). &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a big guy, but you see what he can do on breakaways,&rdquo; says center Joe Pavelski. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got sneaky speed.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011466/9878267-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="2287" height="1342"><figcaption class="caption-body">PUSHING FORWARDSpeed has been a vital part of Patrick Marleau&rsquo;s game for 16 NHL seasons now.(JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES;)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02994/9878260-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="1023" height="967"><figcaption class="caption-body">ON THE HOME FRONTAntti Niemi is the last line of defense, but the Sharks prefer to keep the puck in the other zone. (TOM GANNAM/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>When asked about his new liney&rsquo;s defensive capabilities, Thornton is wry in his reply: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve only been playing in the offensive zone, so I don&rsquo;t know how his defense is,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;With him and &lsquo;Burnzie,&rsquo; they just forecheck so hard, I don&rsquo;t see them playing a lot of defense.&rdquo;For the kid himself, who speaks little English and may end up living with an American billet family this year to ease the transition (much like Valeri Nichushkin in Dallas), the chance to play next to Thornton has been a dream come true. &ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;m very happy,&rdquo; Hertl says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the best player in the NHL at passing. Unbelievable.&rdquo;Burns is another victory for the Sharks. When San Jose was struggling to be more than just a one-line team last season, the bearded wildman was moved up to the wing from his post on the blueline and found immediate success causing havoc in front of the net. &ldquo;I thought he was going to be great,&rdquo; Thornton says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s such a big, strong guy, he skates well, he shoots the puck well, so I thought it was a nobrainer to get our offense going again. He&rsquo;s always had bags and bags of skill. You recognize that he loves to have the puck.&rdquo;And as long as he shoots it, there&rsquo;s no issue. Without buy-in from players such as Burns and captain Thornton, the quickstrike Sharks wouldn&rsquo;t be so quick. &ldquo;Jumbo&rsquo;s part of the fast game now and we&rsquo;re proud of him for doing it,&rdquo; McLellan says. &ldquo;That shows his ability to adapt. He still has the green light to find people and to look late. We&rsquo;re not taking that from him. But often it&rsquo;s not the puck carrier who slows things down, it&rsquo;s everybody else. He has the puck a lot, so people have to keep moving.&rdquo;The new strategy is simple: when the defensemen have the puck, they get it to the forwards as soon as possible and the forwards take off. When passes are tape-to-tape, it&rsquo;s hard to forecheck against the Sharks and once they&rsquo;re in the zone, it&rsquo;s go time. The opposition gets hemmed in and the guys in teal get sustained attack time. If a shot doesn&rsquo;t go in, they chase it down. &ldquo;You use speed to get it back,&rdquo; Couture says. &ldquo;When you&rsquo;re in the &lsquo;D&rsquo; zone, you&rsquo;re watching to see where it&rsquo;s going, but when you shoot it, you usually know where it&rsquo;s going to end up, so you have that step to get there quicker.&rdquo;The key is having those burners on each line. Hertl&rsquo;s got hops and Thornton can rumble when he&rsquo;s got a head of steam. On the second line, Kennedy has been a missile, cancelling out hybrid icings and grabbing pucks for Couture and Patrick Marleau, who get the points and the glory. Nieto skates like the wind on Pavelski&rsquo;s wing on the third line. And how nice must it be to have a potential American Olympian on your third unit?<blockquote class="pullQuote">WE&rsquo;VE ONLY BEEN PLAYING IN THE OFFENSIVE ZONE, SO I DON&rsquo;T KNOW HOW HERTL&rsquo;S DEFENSE IS &ndash; Joe Thornton</blockquote><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03724/9878253-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="1245" height="974"><figcaption class="caption-body">TOMAS HERTL (THEARON W. HENDERSON/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Not only do players such as Nieto and Hertl bring speed and skill to the lineup, but also a youthful exuberance. At 24, Couture is no greybeard, but even he appreciates that infusion of positivity and sees the effect on vets such as Thornton and Marleau. Indeed, the Sharks are having fun these days. After the win in Detroit, Thornton was teasing pivot James Sheppard about his eating schedule, while an Antti Niemi media scrum was punctured by a chorus of whoops from the back, where some sort of dressing room record had clearly just been shattered.Eventually, San Jose will have to get serious. This is a team with 20 years in the NHL and still no appearances in the final. The Sharks have been the poster boys for lacking clutchness in the past. When rival St. Louis rolled over the Sharks in the first round two years ago, it was so easy that the Blues have since theorized it left them unprepared for their next series, which they lost to Los Angeles, the eventual Cup champion. It&rsquo;s an uncomfortable thought to face, but one the Sharks must contemplate. &ldquo;They beat us in five, so obviously we didn&rsquo;t give them much of a test,&rdquo; Couture says. &ldquo;But our team has changed a lot since. When I think of our team now, I think of the trade deadline last year. We&rsquo;ve played a lot better since then.&rdquo;Strangely enough, the Sharks were sellers at the time, with GM Doug Wilson jettisoning big center Michal Handzus to Chicago (where he won the Cup), Ryane Clowe to the Rangers and Douglas Murray to Pittsburgh for draft picks. So the team got smaller, but more nimble. Depth players Raffi Torres and Scott Hannan came back in separate deals. Torres notwithstanding, the Sharks aren&rsquo;t a physical team, so it will be interesting to see how this new edition adapts to playoff hockey, when things slow down and get chippier. And when those tape-to-tape passes go awry, the turnovers are unsettling, though having Niemi in the crease is a good failsafe. Now it&rsquo;s time to win.After the morning skate in Detroit, McLellan holds court with reporters in the hallway of Joe Louis Arena. His placement is perfect. Just a little northwest of his head, you see his name painted onto the wall, along with everyone else who won the Stanley Cup with the Red Wings in 2008. He was an associate coach under Mike Babcock and he&rsquo;s proud of his past. &ldquo;Once you win, they can never take it away from you,&rdquo; McLellan says. &ldquo;No matter how successful you are or how many failures you have, you were a still a winner at one point. That&rsquo;s the pinnacle of the league.&rdquo;Niemi has a ring from his days in Chicago, where he led the Blackhawks to their first title in 49 years. Kennedy has one from Pittsburgh, when the Penguins got revenge and defeated the Wings one year after McLellan won his title in Detroit. &ldquo;Everyone&rsquo;s got a chance once you get in the playoffs,&rdquo; Kennedy says. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter if you&rsquo;ve been to the final five times in a row or you&rsquo;ve never been to the playoffs. You have to push every game like it means something, because it does. You have to be focused and prepared. We hold ourselves accountable. We&rsquo;re expected to be a great team.&rdquo;But the hockey world has expected San Jose to be great for years now. Cup winners have largely come from the puck possession crowd lately, but as McLellan points out, times are changing and teams need to adapt. Have they unlocked the secret in San Jose, where speed kills and you can always beat the other guys to the puck once you&rsquo;ve put it where you want it? That&rsquo;s the experiment playing out this season and if it means a parade in the Bay Area, you&rsquo;ll undoubtedly see followers of the new philosophy in San Jose.If not, it&rsquo;s back to the drawing board and another summer of questions for Los Tiburones and their brain trust. &#9632;

f0030-01

FEATURES

GO-GO SHARKS

<div class="byline">BY AARON VICKERS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01600/9879182-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">HEAT SEEKERLaurent Brossoit hopes to play more with AHL Abbotsford than ECHL Alaska this season. (CLINT TRAHAN/ABBOTSFORD HEAT)</figcaption></div>LAURENT BROSSOIT RECOGNIZES he&rsquo;s the new guy in the crease. The first-year pro, 20, understands that because the Calgary Flames have four older, more experienced goaltenders under contract in the organization, he has to start at the bottom. He just doesn&rsquo;t have to accept it.Initially assigned to the Alaska Aces in the ECHL, Brossoit has little intention of residing north of the 51st parallel. Instead, he has designs on climbing Calgary&rsquo;s depth chart as quickly as he can. His first stop is south to the Abbotsford Heat, Calgary&rsquo;s American League affiliate. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m more of a competitive guy and I&rsquo;m not really satisfied with just splitting time up in Abbotsford and down (in Alaska),&rdquo; said Brossoit, who inked his entry-level deal with the Flames in April. &ldquo;I want to push for as many spots as I can and I want to do it as fast as I can. I&rsquo;m going to have to perform and earn a spot in Abbotsford and then push for a starting spot.&ldquo;And that&rsquo;s the mentality I want to keep. I don&rsquo;t want to lose confidence. I honestly have the confidence I can beat out any goalie I need to. I do feel that I don&rsquo;t deserve to be fifth on the string, but you&rsquo;ve got to start somewhere and I&rsquo;m going to make sure I build up.&rdquo;The 6-foot-3, 200-pound goaltender is getting his first taste of pro hockey after graduating from the Edmonton Oil Kings &ndash; a team he helped to a Memorial Cup appearance in 2012.But as the Flames have three European netminders in the system, Brossoit&rsquo;s first camp as a pro didn&rsquo;t go as planned. While Karri Ramo, Reto Berra and Joni Ortio competed with Joey MacDonald for a starting gig in Calgary, Brossoit was relegated to the bench. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not hard to get (motivated for) any camp at the NHL level,&rdquo; Brossoit said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s still an honor to be there, but at the same time it is frustrating. Going in there and feeling like what I&rsquo;ve done so far in my career, I&rsquo;ve earned a spot to challenge some of the other guys and taking their spot.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s frustrating not getting a game. I just know in my own head and in my own game, I&rsquo;m not going to be the fifth for the next few years. I&rsquo;m going to make sure I climb up the list.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s still plenty of room for advancement for the Surrey, B.C., product on a rebuilding Flames. Though Ramo and MacDonald currently share the workload in Calgary, there has never been a bigger opportunity for a goaltender in the organization after Miikka Kiprusoff retired in early September. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely exciting, especially for a goalie,&rdquo; Brossoit said. &ldquo;For a goalie, everything is timing. There are so many goalies I can name that have spent more time in the minors than they deserved to. Cory Schneider was a good goalie all the way through, but never really had a chance to be a starter in Vancouver.&ldquo;To have an opportunity like this where they&rsquo;re rebuilding at the stage where I&rsquo;m turning pro, it&rsquo;s definitely exciting. I have to make sure I capitalize on my opportunities.&rdquo;Though he didn&rsquo;t get a thorough look in camp, Calgary&rsquo;s sixth-round pick (164th overall) from 2011 knows he&rsquo;ll have the chance to escape Alaska on at least a few occasions to get some AHL action under his belt. It&rsquo;s already happened once and Flames goaltending coach Clint Malarchuk has confirmed callups will be regularly scheduled. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to get games under his belt and we&rsquo;re going to get him into Abbotsford for coaching,&rdquo; Malarchuk said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s our philosophy. We haven&rsquo;t written anything in stone yet, but we do want our goalies playing, especially guys that are in the development stage of their life.&rdquo;Getting time in Abbotsford with Heat goalie coach Jordan Sigalet will help round out Brossoit&rsquo;s game as he adjusts to the pro level.There&rsquo;s already plenty to like, though, according to Malarchuk. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great athlete, he&rsquo;s well-conditioned, he&rsquo;s got unbelievable quickness and athleticism,&rdquo; Malarchuk said. &ldquo;You can teach the fine-tuning and the technique and quieting a game down, but those skills that he has, you just can&rsquo;t teach that.&rdquo;Brossoit is hoping those abilities make it less of a cycle between him and Ortio, the two goalies projected to flip-flop between the ECHL and AHL.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02394/9879175-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg" title="f0047-02" width="251" height="182"></div><h2>LAURENT BROSSOIT</h2>POS GoalieAGE 20HT 6-3WT 200 lbsDRAFTED Calgary, 164th overall in 2011 &#9632;

f0047-01

A FITTINGLY FIERY FLAMES GOALIE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-012259/9877434-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">RIVALRY RENEWEDDetroit&rsquo;s Drew Miller, whose grey coif belies his 29 years, tries &ndash; and fails &ndash; to teach the Avs&rsquo; Cory Sarich a lesson.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

IN THIS ISSUE

OPENING FACEOFF

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012489/9877472-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="526" height="918"><figcaption class="caption-body">(RYAN BROOK/TC MEDIA)</figcaption></div>A&nbsp;LITTLE MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO, a fresh-flashed Teemu Selanne eclipsed Mike Bossy&rsquo;s NHL record of goals by a rookie and celebrated by throwing a glove into the air and pretending to shoot it, like a hunter would a duck, with his stick. A Duck himself for many seasons, Selanne is concluding his Hall of Fame career and we pay tribute to the man and his legacy with a piece that begins on pg. 24.Nearly 600 kilometers up the coast in Northern California, another fledgling European is making headlines for establishing a new first-year standard, and doing with it flair. Tomas Hertl&rsquo;s four-goal game against the New York Rangers in October will be remembered for its incredible skill, his obvious thrill, and some of the chill he endured from a small segment of the hockey world. Hertl&rsquo;s Sharks are the subject of an extensive analysis piece, beginning on pg. 30.Together, Selanne and Hertl represent a type of diversity in the NHL that should be acknowledged. A Finn and Czech, playing in warm climates, setting first-year standards two decades apart. It speaks to the game&rsquo;s international scope and growth on certain levels. (We won&rsquo;t deal with visible minorities, gender and sexual orientation issues right now; those questions of diversity are for another day).That the league&rsquo;s demographics have shifted, at least among its playing population, is undeniable. In the early going this season, according to <a href="http://quanthockey.com">quanthockey.com</a>, players from 17 countries had appeared in at least one contest. The two nations that bear watching most closely are the United States and Canada, the two greatest talent producers. Their market shares, in terms of numbers of NHLers and percentage of drafted players, are trending in opposite directions. As things stand, Americans represent about 25 per cent of the league&rsquo;s population and prospect pool. Canada hovers around 50 in both categories. Those numbers in Selanne&rsquo;s rookie year were 18 and 67.With Canada&rsquo;s challenges in stemming enrolment erosion, and shinny&rsquo;s American cascade into places not called Minnesota or Massachusetts (hey, Isles rookie Matt Donovan is Oklahoma born and raised), those stats will keep inching closer to one another and further threaten Canada&rsquo;s superiority complex. Talk among yourselves whether that&rsquo;s a good or bad thing.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021697/9877465-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="414" height="222"></div>NEXT ISSUE DECEMBER 2, 2013CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TO SUBSCRIBE: <a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a>CONTACT US: <a href="mailto:editorial@thehockeynews.com">editorial@thehockeynews.com</a> &#9632;

f0006-01

LEAGUE OF SHIFTING NATIONS

There isn&rsquo;t a player who takes as much undeserved criticism as P.K. Subban. He may be overzealous at times, but there are few as talented as him. He leads D-men in points, is top five in goals and shots and is top 20 in plusminus and ice time. He&rsquo;s one of the most feared hitters, runs a top-notch power play and has an incredible level of speed and finesse (especially off the rush). Maybe if more teams focused on shutting him down as opposed to shutting him up, he wouldn&rsquo;t be the most dominant offensive defenseman in the game.Zachary Hampton Lethbridge, Alta.<h2>NO FUN IN THE SUN</h2>Tim Thomas&rsquo;s return to the NHL is a &ldquo;Plus&rdquo; (Inside Hockey, Oct. 14)? This is the guy who refused to go with his team to the White House because of his political ideology. I&rsquo;m sure other Stanley Cup winners had players who didn&rsquo;t like whoever was president at the time, but they had enough class not to humiliate their team. Thomas&rsquo; selfishness embarrassed his teammates, the Bruins organization and the city of Boston. The NHL is not, as you say, &ldquo;a lot more fun with him around.&rdquo;Bob Bastian, Hudson, Wisc. &#9632;

THN INBOX

<div class="byline">Brent Goodwin, Port Huron, Mich.</div>I&rsquo;m really starting to get annoyed with all the attempts to de-legitimize P.K. Subban&rsquo;s Norris Trophy. I&rsquo;ve seen way too many articles that mention Erik Karlsson and now here&rsquo;s Adam Proteau&rsquo;s &ldquo;In Defense Of The True Norris&rdquo; (Proteau Type, Oct. 28), which implies Ryan Suter deserved the honor. Brian Leetch, Al MacInnis and, more recently, Duncan Keith all won the Norris and they were clearly offensive defensemen. I don&rsquo;t recall articles questioning their defense.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-012377/9877558-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="541" height="739"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021821/9877551-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="155" height="156"></div>LOVE OR HATE ONE OF OUR FEATURES/STORIES?LET US KNOW BY EMAILING US AT <a href="mailto:letters@thehockeynews.com">LETTERS@THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM</a> &#9632;

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STOP PICKING ON P.K.

QUESTION: What&rsquo;s stopping players like Sidney Crosby, Martin St-Louis and Jonathan Toews, each of whom play a game that doesn&rsquo;t typically include fighting, from expressing concerns shared by some NHL executives and NHL media that fighting should be banned?Max Lutz, EdmontonANSWER: Players, assuming they would like to see a change, typically don&rsquo;t speak out because the NHL can be a political place (like any workplace) and they don&rsquo;t want to be punished for their opinions. That said, as the years go on and scientific information about head injuries continues to pour in, people&rsquo;s mindsets will continue to evolve the way that of Lightning GM Steve Yzerman and others have evolved on the issue.QUESTION:&nbsp;When are the NHL and NHLPA going to realize the current method of deciding supplementary punishment just isn&rsquo;t working? Having a single person make the call, whether it&rsquo;s Brendan Shanahan, Colin Campbell or Bozo the Clown, allows personal bias to play too great a part.Jim Rinkenberger, Pekin, Ill.ANSWER: I agree punishments have to have more teeth to change the culture of the league. However, I have yet to see any evidence of bias from Shanahan and that&rsquo;s a serious charge to make without anything to back it up. The reality is he&rsquo;s working within the bounds of the NHL&rsquo;s collective bargaining agreement and that&rsquo;s the only place from which real change can be affected.READ MORE &lsquo;ASK ADAM&rsquo; EVERY FRIDAY AT <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM</a> &#9632;

ASK Adam?

Anthony Rocco @vezina1985:&nbsp;Mouth For War by Pantera. It&rsquo;s raw energy. Strength, determination &ndash; it says it all.Josh Lewis @joshlewis306: Tom Cochrane &ndash; Big LeagueDonna K @DonnaGSKelly: Tragically Hip &ndash; Fireworkssunsentinello @sunsentinello: Green Day&rsquo;s Welcome To ParadiseShut Out Goalie @TheCanucksYank:&nbsp;It&rsquo;s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday by Boyz II Men for saying goodbye to @Burnzie88 facial hair. &#9632;

TWITTER CHIRPS @THEHOCKEYNEWS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MICHAEL TRAIKOS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-012352/9877703-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="248" height="281"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-04769/9877696-1-eng-US/f0010-042.jpg" title="f0010-04" width="1024" height="951"><figcaption class="caption-body">MADE IT!&hellip;FOR NOWSean Monahan is sticking with the big club, but isn&rsquo;t guaranteed to stay there all season. (GERRY THOMAS/NHL VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>HE WAS CALLED THE &ldquo;MICHAEL Jordan of hockey&rdquo; and a &ldquo;sure-fire Hall of Famer.&rdquo; But when No. 1 overall pick Vincent Lecavalier tried to jump from the draft floor to the NHL as a teenager in 1998, hype wasn&rsquo;t part of the equation.If he could play, he could play. If not, it would show and he&rsquo;d be sent back to junior. &ldquo;There was so much hype and expectation at the time when he was drafted, most of it created by the owner,&rdquo; said Jay Feaster, then assistant GM for the Tampa Bay Lightning. &ldquo;From our perspective it was a case of you have to demonstrate why you should be here. You need to show us why we should keep you.&rdquo;Fifteen years later, Feaster is now the GM of the Calgary Flames and applying that same blueprint to 2013 sixth-overall pick Sean Monahan. Through nine games &ndash; the magical number in which a player must be sent down to junior or burn a year of his entry-level contract &ndash; Monahan showed he can more than hack it.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021722/9877689-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="722" height="819"><figcaption class="caption-body">NATHAN MACKINNON (CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-031115/9877682-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="791" height="800"><figcaption class="caption-body">SETH JONES (JOHN RUSSELL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>After Game 9 Oct. 22, the Flames had to either keep Monahan, who just turned 19 in mid-October, or send him back to the Ottawa 67s. But with a team-leading six goals and nine points, he had essentially taken the decision out of management&rsquo;s hands. &ldquo;As you say, he&rsquo;s been noticeable,&rdquo; Feaster said. &ldquo;One thing we do is track scoring chances for and against, in terms of when you&rsquo;re on the ice. High marks on him, he has not made this a simple decision.&rdquo;Monahan isn&rsquo;t alone in that. Nathan MacKinnon, the first-overall pick in 2013, had one goal and seven points for the 8-1-0 Avalanche. Predators defenseman Seth Jones (fourth overall) had two goals and two assists while averaging close to 25 minutes per game. And Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly (fifth overall, 2012) had four points through eight games. All made the cut as the dreaded 10th game approached.Unlike those other teams, the rebuilding Flames are in a situation in which they can afford to live with Monahan&rsquo;s mistakes. At the same time, however, Feaster isn&rsquo;t keeping him around just for the sake of it. If Monahan isn&rsquo;t playing in a top-nine role or averaging around 15 minutes per game, it would have been better to have him back in junior with the 67s. &ldquo;What I like about him is that he&rsquo;s a student of the game,&rdquo; Feaster said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a matter of if we keep him, we think he&rsquo;ll sit back and rest. This is a kid that wants more. He wants more ice time, he wants more responsibility, he wants to be a difference-maker.&rdquo;Whether he can continue to make an impact throughout the season is the great unknown. After all, the nine-game limit is just the first test. Teams have until the 40-game mark, when being present for half the season counts towards a year of unrestricted free agency, to send players back to junior.That happened to Buffalo&rsquo;s Mikhail Grigorenko (25 games) and New Jersey&rsquo;s Stefan Matteau (17 games) last season when their teams changed their minds after failing to see progression. That could happen to Monahan, but Feaster believes if there&rsquo;s any second-guessing, it will come from the fans. &ldquo;It will be nice to get past the nine-game mark and at least put that to rest for a little while,&rdquo; said Feaster, prior to making the decision to keep Monahan. &ldquo;But once we make that decision, I&rsquo;m sure there will be those who feel we made the right call and those who feel we didn&rsquo;t. That will be debated throughout the season.&rdquo; &#9632;

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TEENY STOPPERS MAKE THE GRADE

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011954/9877734-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="473" height="448"><figcaption class="caption-body">RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS (DEREK LEUNG/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>1. WAYNE GRETZKY1979-80 137 pts2. DALE HAWERCHUK1981-82 103 pts3. SIDNEY CROSBY2005-06 102 pts4. STEVE YZERMAN1983-84 87 pts5. JIMMY CARSON1986-87 79 pts6. SYLVAIN TURGEON1983-84 72 pts7. RON FRANCIS1981-82 68 pts8. BOBBY CARPENTER1981-82 67 pts9. PHIL HOUSLEY1982-83 66 pts10. BRIAN BELLOWS1982-83 65 pts11. JEFF SKINNER2010-11 63 pts12. TREVOR LINDEN1988-89 59 pts13. JAROMIR JAGR1990-91 57 pts14. MATT DUCHENE2009-10 55 pts15. KIRK MULLER1984-85 54 pts16. DAN QUINN1983-84 52 pts17. R. NUGENT-HOPKINS2011-12 52 pts18. ILYA KOVALCHUK2001-02 51 pts19. ALEXANDRE DAIGLE1993-94 51 pts20. ED OLCZYK1984-85 50 pts &#9632;

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MOST POINTS IN A SEASON FOR AN 18-YEAR-OLD

<div class="byline">By Charlie Teljeur</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021421/9877765-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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THE INSTIGATOR

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03954/9877796-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="437" height="491"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JOE SARGENT/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>+PLUS</h2><h3>STEELTOWN STAY</h3>Olli Maatta earns a surprise spot on the Penguins after a successful nine-game stint. The OHL&rsquo;s London Knights hoped to get the 19-year-old back.<h2>&ndash;MINUS</h2><h3>NOT SO GREAT SCOTT</h3>Sabres&rsquo; John Scott makes his second headline of the year by sending Bruins&rsquo; Loui Eriksson to a Buffalo hospital after a predatory hit.<h2>+PLUS</h2><h3>B-B GUNS</h3>Despite having no high NHL draft picks, the QMJHL&rsquo;s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada start out 11-1-1 to earn the No. 1 ranking in major junior.<h2>&ndash;MINUS</h2><h3>DOWN THE DRAIN</h3>Vancouver&rsquo;s new AHL team in Utica is the last squad to earn a point, dropping its first four games. The Comets are outscored 17-8 in that span. &#9632;

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PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012292/9877827-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">LEADER OF THE PACKHenrik Zetterberg could add another gold to his resume, this time as Sweden&rsquo;s captain. (DAVE REGINEK//NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021808/9877834-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="232" height="73"></div>WHEN SWEDEN TAKES TO THE ice at the Winter Games in Sochi, the team will be led by a different man. Who that player is hasn&rsquo;t been determined yet, but the last captain of the squad was Detroit Red Wings future Hall of Famer Nicklas Lidstrom and he&rsquo;s now retired.One possibility to take over the &lsquo;C&rsquo; is Lidstrom&rsquo;s former teammate on the Winged Wheel, center Henrik Zetterberg. He&rsquo;s already pulled one team through the transition of life without Lidstrom and Zetterberg is encouraged by the raft of new talent available to the Tre Kronor. &ldquo;On our &lsquo;D&rsquo; side it looks really good,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a lot of young kids coming in. Oliver Ekman-Larsson is already a star in this league, we&rsquo;ve got &lsquo;Kronner&rsquo; (Wings mate Niklas Kronwall), Erik Karlsson, Jonas Brodin in Minnesota is doing a great job.&hellip; So a lot of guys can take that role and we&rsquo;re going to see who does it in Sochi.&rdquo;While Zetterberg&rsquo;s excellence on both sides of the puck will be a key part of Sweden&rsquo;s attack up front, his experience will also help a national team in transition. Mainstays such as Peter Forsberg and Mattias Ohlund won&rsquo;t be around, while Daniel Alfredsson will play in his last Games and be more of a secondary player. On the plus side, young stars Nicklas Backstrom and Loui Eriksson both saw duty in Vancouver. &ldquo;Everyone who has been a part of it before knows what to expect,&rdquo; Zetterberg said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been through the highs and lows of the Olympics, so nothing will be new. We will have a good team and we just have to do our best over the two weeks. If I get the captaincy, it will be a little different, but I&rsquo;m not going to change the way I play.&rdquo;The high, naturally, was a gold medal win in 2006, when the Swedes beat archrival Finland 3-2 in the final. Zetterberg had six points in eight games, learning from national greats such as Alfredsson, Forsberg and Mats Sundin. But even that tournament came with controversy, as the Swedes were accused of tanking a roundrobin game against Slovakia to get a more favorable draw in the medal round. The loss set up a match with Switzerland instead of Canada or the Czechs.But at least that ended in a gold medal. Fast forward to Vancouver in 2010 and the Swedes found themselves off the podium altogether. And it was Slovakia that buried them, with Jaroslav Halak getting the 4-3 win in the quarterfinal.With all the aforementioned talent assembled, the Swedes will be one of the favorites in Sochi and we haven&rsquo;t even mentioned the Sedins yet, or Henrik Lundqvist in net. Nevertheless, they will need someone to guide the ship and Zetterberg&rsquo;s friends know he is capable of the job. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s no different than other years, he shows that he&rsquo;s a top player on the ice,&rdquo; said Red Wings teammate and fellow Swede Mikael Samuelsson. &ldquo;A lot of guys have high expectations for him and he&rsquo;s one of those guys where you always know what you&rsquo;re going to get out of him.&rdquo;As for life without Lidstrom, though he can&rsquo;t be replaced individually, the Red Wings have shown that you can survive without him. Detroit nearly toppled the eventual Stanley Cup winners from Chicago in the second round of the playoffs last season and were near the top of their new division in the Atlantic as October wound down. Their leading scorer? Zetterberg, of course &ndash; the man wearing the &lsquo;C.&rsquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

NEW KING OF TRE KRONOR?

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04704/9877893-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="361" height="254"><figcaption class="caption-body">(IAN TOMLINSON/GETTY IMAGES/NHLI)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-031169/9877900-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="147" height="149"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>BRENDAN SHANAHAN</h2>Charismatic power forward won three Cups, Olympic gold and ranks 13th with 656 goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-05494/9877886-1-eng-US/f0012-052.jpg" title="f0012-05" width="361" height="252"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>SCOTT NIEDERMAYER</h2>Smooth-skating defenseman won four Cups, two Olympic gold, a Norris and Conn Smythe Trophy.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-06398/9877879-1-eng-US/f0012-062.jpg" title="f0012-06" width="361" height="252"></div><h2>CHRIS CHELIOS</h2>Tough D-man won three Cups, Olympic silver, three Norris Trophies and ranks fifth with 1,651 GP.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-07326/9877872-1-eng-US/f0012-072.jpg" title="f0012-07" width="361" height="253"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BRUCE BENNETT STUDIOS/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>FRED SHERO</h2>Philadelphia Flyers coach won two Cups and was mastermind behind Broad Street Bullies.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-08275/9877865-1-eng-US/f0012-082.jpg" title="f0012-08" width="361" height="246"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BRIAN BAHR/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>GERALDINE HEANEY</h2>Crafty rearguard won Olympic gold, silver and is third player inducted in women&rsquo;s category. &#9632;

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CLASS OF 2013

<div class="byline">&#x2013; KYLE LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-012272/9877931-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">IT NEVER GETS OLDJay McKee still craves winning as he chases the 2014 Allan Cup with the Dundas Real McCoys. (RICHARD ZAZULAK)</figcaption></div>WHEN THE 2014 ALLAN CUP rolls into Dundas, Ont., fans will have a lot to anticipate with ex-NHLer Jay McKee as player-coach for the local team. The Dundas Real McCoys will host the tournament next spring, vying for Canada&rsquo;s holy grail of senior amateur men&rsquo;s hockey. And they have a good chance of securing victory with McKee&rsquo;s help on the ice and at the helm.McKee made his return to the ice last year with the Real McCoys, helping them to a third-place finish, but simply playing again wasn&rsquo;t enough. &ldquo;I gave the coaches a few small tips during games last season, things I&rsquo;d notice in the middle of the game regarding our systems versus our opponents,&rdquo; McKee said. &ldquo;After the season, I discussed the idea of being a player-coach for this season given their passion for hosting and wanting to win the Allan Cup in Dundas.&rdquo;McKee, 36, retired from the NHL in 2010 after 14 seasons, highlighted by 10 years in Buffalo and stops in St. Louis and Pittsburgh. In 1998-99, he helped the Sabres to the Stanley Cup final, where they lost to the Dallas Stars.After retiring, McKee had a stint as assistant coach for Niagara University of the NCAA in 2010-11 before moving up to the American League with the Rochester Americans for a season. It was then that McKee realized he wanted to be an &lsquo;X&rsquo; or an &lsquo;O&rsquo; again, instead of just writing them down. &ldquo;I enjoyed playing with Dundas last year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was fun to step into a league again.&rdquo;Prepping for the Allan Cup will be different than the NHL or the AHL, McKee said, but the basics remain. He&rsquo;s developed a good relationship with the players and coaches, which will go a long way toward contending for the championship. &ldquo;My relationship with the players won&rsquo;t change,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There is a lot of respect within the room. I&rsquo;ve got a lot of respect for everyone on board. The most important thing is, without question, we&rsquo;re all in it with the same purpose in mind &ndash; to win.&rdquo;Though McKee will put forth every ounce of effort toward bringing a title to Dundas, that elusive Stanley Cup will always linger. &ldquo;Any kid that laces a pair of skates dreams of winning the Stanley Cup and I&rsquo;m no different,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I still want to lift it. I still want a ring. I can let the game go, but that desire will never go away.&rdquo; &#9632;

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DESIRE TO WIN NEVER DISSIPATES

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ALAN HUDES</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021711/9877962-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="446" height="469"><figcaption class="caption-body">(RYAN: CHL)</figcaption></div>For Steve Ryan, there&rsquo;s room to grow when it comes to a Canadian presence in the Central League. Ryan was named the CHL&rsquo;s new commissioner in October and immediately got to work on building the league&rsquo;s profile. He believes the expansion into Brampton, Ont., could be the start of something special for the league outside of the U.S. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an expansion into where hockey was born,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It gives us a footprint and we would like to expand upon it&hellip; I&rsquo;ve already had at least a couple of conversations concerning opportunities up there. The CHL looks at its business based upon a North American model.&rdquo;The new role is a return for Ryan to his hockey roots, after serving as president and chief operating officer of Pittsburgh Sports Associates, the operating company of the NHL&rsquo;s Penguins, as well as in the same position with the league&rsquo;s global marketing and entertainment company, known as NHL Enterprises.On the heels of its 12th season, the CHL has 10 franchises, including the new Brampton Beast and St. Charles Chill. With six markets affiliated with NHL and American League teams, Ryan hopes to use his connections in the industry to further develop ties with the top North American leagues. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s real value in affiliation&hellip;but there&rsquo;s competition,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;The winner in all of that is we all wind up with a better product.&rdquo; &#9632;

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CANADIAN GROWTH

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011966/9877993-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JONATHAN KOZUB/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Follow The LEADER

<div class="byline">&#x2013; CLIVE BRANSON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021395/9878024-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="331" height="199"></div>By the time the Hartford Whalers moved to their new home in Raleigh, N.C., in 1997, there was little time to organize the customary public contest. So owner Peter Karmanos Jr., took the responsibility of naming the team himself. The club became the Hurricanes in reference to the storm system that regularly seizes North Carolina. To generate a fraternity-like loyalty, the franchise switched its colors of blue and green to the familiar black-and-red scheme, similar to that of the North Carolina State University Wolfpack basketball team that shares the same arena. &#9632;

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Behind THE NAME

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03970/9878055-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="422" height="521"><figcaption class="caption-body">(DENIS BRODEUR/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>THE HOCKEY NEWSNOV. 19, 1971VOLUME 25, NO. 7, PAGE 8<h2>KEN DRYDEN ON ATTENTION GIVEN TO NHL STARS:</h2>&ldquo;We all have egos and we all enjoy the spotlight, I think. Most players try to be the best and they expect and want recognition for it. I&rsquo;m far from the best, but I&rsquo;m pleased with the recognition I&rsquo;ve gotten,&rdquo; Dryden said. &ldquo;There are some bad aspects to it, of course. You get misquoted sometimes, which puts you in a bad light. Some writers seem to expect the usual answers and when you say something a little out of the ordinary they find it difficult to get it straight. And when fans keep telling you you&rsquo;re the greatest when you know damn well they know you&rsquo;re not, even if they mean well, it gets to be a bit much sometimes.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0015-03

Same as it EVER WAS

<div class="byline">BY ALAN HUDES, ADAM KOZAK AND KYLE LARKIN</div><h2>MIKE&nbsp;SMITH&rsquo;S</h2>goal in mid-October brought the number of goalie tallies to 14. Eight have been scored by goaltenders shooting the puck down the ice into empty nets. The other six were credited to netminders after own goals by opposing teams<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-012037/9878142-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="839" height="1632"><figcaption class="caption-body">(NORM HALL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021554/9878135-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="458" height="449"></div>PERCENTAGE&nbsp;of NHLers by nationality in 2013-14:<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-031129/9878128-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="476" height="458"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04834/9878121-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="214" height="294"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05594/9878114-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="234" height="292"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06486/9878107-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="212" height="278"><figcaption class="caption-body">(KESSEL+LUPUL+PHANEUF: GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Through 10 games, the Toronto Maple Leafs had three players in the top five in giveaways (Carl Gunnarsson, PHIL KESSEL, Morgan Rielly), six in the top 10 (Cody Franson, JOFFREY LUPUL, Paul Ranger) and eight in the top 16 (Nazem Kadri, DION PHANEUF)Ex-NHLer ALEXANDER RADULOV started the season as the KHL&rsquo;s all-time points leader. Into late October, however, Sergei Mozyakin had overtaken him with nearly 350 career points<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07423/9878100-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="246" height="229"></div>Tampa Bay&rsquo;s VALTTERI FILPPULA scored his first four goals of the season on just nine shots<h2>GOALIE</h2>1. BILLY SMITH, NYINOV. 28, 1979 AT COLORADO OWN GOAL2. RON HEXTALL, PHIDEC. 8, 1987 VS. BOSTON3. RON HEXTALL, PHIAPRIL 11, 1989 AT WASHINGTON4. CHRIS OSGOOD, DETMARCH 6, 1996 AT HARTFORD5. MARTIN BRODEUR, NJAPRIL 17, 1997 VS. MONTREAL6. DAMIAN RHODES, OTTJAN. 2, 1999 VS. NEW JERSEY OWN GOAL7. MARTIN BRODEUR, NJFEB. 15, 2000 VS. PHILADELPHIA OWN GOAL8. JOSE THEODORE, MTLJAN. 2, 2001 AT NY ISLANDERS9. EVGENI NABOKOV, SJMARCH 10, 2002 AT VANCOUVER10. MIKA NORONEN, BUFFEB. 14, 2004 AT TORONTO OWN GOAL11. CHRIS MASON, NSHAPRIL 15, 2006 VS. PHOENIX OWN GOAL12. CAM WARD, CARDEC. 26, 2011 VS. NEW JERSEY13. MARTIN BRODEUR, NJMARCH 21, 2013 AT CAROLINA OWN GOAL14. MIKE SMITH, PHXOCT. 19, 2013 VS. DETROIT<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09318/9878093-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="313" height="313"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08365/9878086-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg" title="f0016-08" width="778" height="1081"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BILL WIPPERT/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>RYAN SUTER was once again logging the most ice-time in the NHL, average nearly 30 minutes a game into late October. His league-high average last season, his first with the Minnesota Wild, was 27:16 &#9632;

f0016-01

Ice CHIPS

<div class="byline">BY&nbsp;KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011493/9878222-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011504/9878215-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="261" height="147"></div>THE SENSE OF IRONY&nbsp;was inescapable. It was a Tuesday in late October and Teemu Selanne was standing at his stall preparing to answer questions after a morning skate for &ndash; give or take a few &ndash; the 1,513th time in his NHL career, including playoffs. Just as the first question was asked, the Anaheim Ducks dressing room sound system kicked in and began playing a familiar song. You know it. You all know it. In fact, there&rsquo;s a good chance it&rsquo;s been played immediately after the daddy-daughter dance at every small-town wedding you&rsquo;ve ever attended. Tom Cruise danced to it in his underwear.(Play piano in brain)Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da&hellip;Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da&hellip;Just take those old records off the shelf.I&rsquo;ll sit and listen to &rsquo;em by myself&hellip;When Selanne played his first NHL game Oct. 6, 1992, the night he got the first two of his 132 points as a rookie, people were still occasionally taking old records off their shelves. His Ducks teammate, Hampus Lindholm, was 15 months from being born. Randy Carlyle, the coach on the other side of the building this night, was on his own farewell tour in the NHL then and he&rsquo;s 57 now. Now, more than 21 years later, Selanne is saying his own goodbye to the NHL. And this time, apparently, he really, really, really means it. This isn&rsquo;t like all the other times when fingers and toes were crossed. There will be no cliffhangers, no summers of wondering whether he will or won&rsquo;t, no more funny ESPN commercials. This is not like the World Championship in 2008 when, after winning the bronze medal for Finland, he started his post-game conversation by declaring that, under no uncertain terms, he had played his last game. Ever. Five minutes later, he was saying he would never, ever, ever, again wear the Suomi sweater in international competition. By the time he was finished talking, all bets were off.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-021083/9878208-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="1573" height="2008"><figcaption class="caption-body">RETIREMENT PLANSPlaying the best 100 golf courses in North America is on Teemu Selanne&rsquo;s bucket list. (ABELIMAGES/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Talk to longtime teammates like Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry about the prospect of Selanne retiring and they roll their eyes. All they know is Selanne keeps showing up for training camp. &ldquo;Teemu was supposed to retire six years ago,&rdquo; Perry says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll believe it when I see it.&rdquo;But Selanne is adamant this time. For starters, he had never, ever gone into a season with a definitive plan for it to be his last the way he has this season. He has never before agreed to sit out one of back-to-back games, of which Anaheim has 12 this season. He has never before told the Ducks and their management team he doesn&rsquo;t want the Mariano Rivera treatment. A video display and an ovation is nice in visiting arenas, but if he was going to receive 29 rocking chairs, he would have waited until late in the season to announce his retirement. For their part, the Ducks are convinced Selanne will quit next spring regardless of how the season ends up and next year they will raise his No. 8 to the roof of the Honda Center. Anaheim already decided a long time ago that his number would be the first retired by the organization. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no textbook about how to retire,&rdquo; Selanne says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard because you played this game before you are four or five years old. When is it time to stop? That is the biggest question you have to answer to yourself.&rdquo;It all has a feel of finality to it to be sure. After all, Selanne is 43 and has done just about everything possible in the game. When he steps on the ice in Sochi, it will be his sixth Olympics and, if the plucky Finns can finish in the top three, his fifth medal. He&rsquo;s already got his Stanley Cup and has led the league in goals three times, resurrected his career after major knee problems and secured his place in the Hall of Fame. All he hasn&rsquo;t done is score 700 goals. He needs 25 this season to join the club that counts only Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Brett Hull, Marcel Dionne, Phil Esposito and Mike Gartner among its members, but insists he&rsquo;ll retire after 2013-14 even if he&rsquo;s stuck on 699.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-011385/9878201-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="1573" height="1031"><figcaption class="caption-body">FOOD FOR THOUGHTSelanne already has his side projects. His new restaurant opens Nov. 8 in Laguna Beach. (DEBORA ROBINSON/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s mentioned to Selanne that most guys who retire spend their first year complaining they still don&rsquo;t have enough time to do anything. They wonder aloud, to anyone who will listen and a lot who won&rsquo;t, how they even found time to work for so many years. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to be that guy!&rdquo; Selanne declares. &ldquo;I want to play the top 100 golf courses in North America, I want to travel, I want to go to the Grand Slam and I want to see a bunch of Formula 1 races.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s quite a bucket list, but one Selanne can afford after career earnings of more than $73 million. And there are still 25 cars to drive, including the first he ever purchased, a &rsquo;61 Lincoln convertible he bought with his first signing bonus with Jokerit in the Finnish League. Luckily, two of his sons, Eemil and Eetu, are old enough to drive because, you know, vintage cars start leaking oil and breaking down if you don&rsquo;t take them out for a spin once in a while.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;TEEMU WAS SUPPOSED TO RETIRE SIX YEARS AGO. I&rsquo;LL BELIEVE IT WHEN I SEE IT &ndash; Corey Perry</blockquote><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02972/9878194-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="847" height="1156"><figcaption class="caption-body">GO OUT ON TOPSelanne won his only Cup in &rsquo;07 and would love to retire after 2013-14 with another. (DAVE SANDFORD/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Don&rsquo;t try to take me to a disco.&nbsp;You&rsquo;ll never even get me out on the floor&hellip;Then there&rsquo;s the Selanne Steak Tavern in Laguna Beach, near his gated community of Coto de Caza, that will offer fine dining on one level and another where surfer dudes can ride the waves by day and drink beer and eat pub food by night. Selanne and some of his business partners have kicked around the idea of a restaurant for the past 10 years, but wanted to find the perfect location. That came up when a local restaurant that was housed in a French family home built in the 1930s closed its doors. Selanne has had major input on everything from the menu to the decor, but was clear about one thing: he did not want to make it into a sports bar. In fact, the only distinguishing hockey elements to the place, other than the name on the front sign, are a replica Stanley Cup and Selanne&rsquo;s four Olympic medals. Think of it as Selanne&rsquo;s effort to brand himself post-retirement on something aside from hockey. Hey, it worked for Tim Horton. The guy is in the Hall of Fame and won four Cups, but is better known for doughnuts and coffee than goals and hits. &ldquo;There is no better man in the world than Teemu Selanne, I&rsquo;ll tell you that right now,&rdquo; says Jim Shumate, one of Selanne&rsquo;s business partners and the general manager of the restaurant, which is scheduled to open Nov. 8. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t ask for a better partner. As good a hockey player as he is, he&rsquo;s 10 times a better person. And he&rsquo;s sharp as a tack. He knows business and how the numbers work, but he&rsquo;s not a micromanager.&rdquo;The Selanne legacy is a shining one on and off the ice. Teammates harrumph and mutter to themselves because he holds the team bus up signing autographs. He makes the minor league call-up feel as important as the leading scorer. His record is impeccable. Hey, everyone has skeletons in their closets, but when was the last time anyone in the hockey world ever heard anyone say a negative word about Selanne? When was he ever embroiled in controversy, either on or off the ice? After 21 years in the league, that&rsquo;s an almost impossible feat. If you&rsquo;re looking for dirt, about the only place you&rsquo;re going to find it is in the tires of the mountain bike he rides in the summer to keep in shape. With a wonky left knee, Selanne can no longer run to keep in shape, so he maintains his conditioning by, among other things, mountain biking and swimming. In fact, one day he was on his mountain bike and met with a bunch of young kids who purported to be professional mountain bikers. They warned him that it was difficult, but he assured them he would probably be able to handle it. He waited for them at the top of the first hill for eight minutes.The guy is a freak. He was born to play hockey and that has something to do with it, but few people realize that with that passion for the game also comes a maniacal regimen in the off-season that keeps Selanne from losing a step to players 20 years younger. With the retirement of Joe Sakic there isn&rsquo;t (perhaps save for Martin Brodeur) a player in the NHL who garners more respect than Selanne. &ldquo;We love Teemu &ndash; everyone loves having him around here,&rdquo; Getzlaf says. &ldquo;I could talk about Teemu every day and not say a bad thing about him. This year, we&rsquo;re trying to make it special for him so he can leave on the right note.&rdquo;Won&rsquo;t go to hear &rsquo;em play a tango.I&rsquo;d rather hear some blues or funky old soul&hellip;Selanne hasn&rsquo;t had a speeding ticket since 1999 and that one was in Finland. It cost him 55,000 Euros because in Finland speeding fines are calculated according to salary. If Selanne ever gets another one back home, he can at least be thankful he has taken a hometown discount almost every season he has played with the Ducks. Over his career, he has made about $25 million less than Jaromir Jagr, who left for three years to play in the Kontinental League. He will have earned about $9 million less than former running mate Paul Kariya, who played in the league for only half the years Selanne has.It&rsquo;s a testament to Selanne&rsquo;s character and love for the game that he has never really made money a big issue. It was a terrible trade (Selanne, Marc Chouinard and a fourth-rounder for Chad Kilger, Oleg Tverdovsky and a thirdrounder) that sent him from Winnipeg to Anaheim early in his career, just months before the Jets moved to Phoenix. After the 2004-05 lockout, during which he had his left knee rebuilt, Selanne signed with the Ducks for just $1 million, then scored 90 points. He came back the next season for $3.8 million and hasn&rsquo;t signed for more than $4.5 million a season since.It has always been about the game and the players around him. Of the hundreds Selanne has played with throughout his career, here are the five he&rsquo;d want to line up with if there were one game he had to win:<blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;THIS YEAR, WE&rsquo;RE TRYING TO MAKE IT SPECIAL FOR TEEMU SO HE CAN LEAVE ON THE RIGHT NOTE &ndash; Ryan Getzlaf</blockquote><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-021039/9878187-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="721" height="709"><figcaption class="caption-body">(ABELIMAGES/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011481/9878180-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="1737" height="2342"><figcaption class="caption-body">ULTIMATE HONORThe Ducks will make Selanne&rsquo;s No. 8 the first number retired by the franchise. (LANCE THOMSON/NH LI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Goal: Jean-Sebastien Giguere. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen a guy like that before. He was so competitive, he would try to stop every shot in practice and if you scored on him, he&rsquo;d be really mad.Defense: Chris Pronger. &ldquo;Defensively, he&rsquo;s one of the best ever. On the power play, I never saw anyone who could get the puck to the net the way he did. And he was a pretty hard guy to play against.Defense: Scott Niedermayer. &ldquo;The most effortless, smooth skater I&rsquo;ve ever seen. He had no weaknesses.&rdquo;Left wing: Paul Kariya. &ldquo;We had a chemistry that you don&rsquo;t find very often and the best thing was we were both in our primes. We thought about the game the same way. We wanted to do everything fast and take advantage of turnovers.&rdquo;Center: Andy McDonald. &ldquo;He was a lot like Paul. Really fast. He was a great guy who could play with speed and I had three great years playing with him. But I also played with some other unbelievable centers. Alexei Zhamnov in Winnipeg was unbelievable and I got to play with Patty Marleau in San Jose. I was really fortunate to have some really good centers.&rdquo;Call me a relic, call me what&rsquo;cha will.Say I&rsquo;m old-fashioned, say I&rsquo;m over the hill&hellip;The most difficult thing for players like Selanne is to know exactly when to call it quits. Selanne is a proud man, something indigenous to his home country. If he plays in 70 games this season, he could conceivably get 60 points, which would be a boffo season for about three quarters of the league. But Selanne, perhaps more than anyone else, is mindful of how he faded down the stretch last season. He scored just four goals in the final 16 games and only one more in the Ducks seven-game ouster in the first round to the Red Wings.The end is coming and Selanne, more than anything, wants out before he is remembered as a shell of the player he once was. It&rsquo;s not easy, particularly for a player who loves the game as much as he does. Those guys, generally speaking, are the last ones who come to the realization that they can no longer compete in the best league in the world. They&rsquo;ve built up so much goodwill that their employers hold off on telling them until it&rsquo;s crystal clear their careers are over.It has happened to some of the game&rsquo;s greatest players. Watching Jari Kurri in his last season with Colorado was sad. Guy Lafleur, with Montreal and the Quebec Nordiques after he came out of retirement, wasn&rsquo;t pretty. Even the greatest scorer of all-time had just nine goals in his final season. That used to be a decent week for Gretzky. Chris Chelios was a frequent and rather sour healthy scratch his final season in Detroit. Selanne doesn&rsquo;t want to be one of those players. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s three things you don&rsquo;t want to happen,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;One is you have to retire because of an injury. Another is you can&rsquo;t play. And another is somebody tells you that you can&rsquo;t play. It&rsquo;s important for me to go out with a good taste.&rdquo;So Selanne will spend the rest of this season, and the playoffs, extracting every bit of enjoyment he can out of what remains of his career. He will leave with absolutely no regrets and will have enough to keep him busy. He wants to stay in hockey, not in a Steve Yzerman way, but more in a Scott Niedermayer kind of way. Niedermayer is now an assistant coach with the Ducks who doesn&rsquo;t travel and gives as much to the game as he wants. There is a real appeal for Selanne in that kind of lifestyle.He will never be far from the game, however. Perhaps one day he&rsquo;ll head up Finland&rsquo;s Olympic team the way Kurri has done. And then there&rsquo;s the burgeoning career of his 16-year-old son, Eetu, who was invited to the Calgary Hitmen rookie camp last summer and is playing this season for the L.A. Junior Kings minor midget AAA team. Eetu would have been at the Hitmen rookie camp last summer as well, but his invitation to the camp got put into a pile with his father&rsquo;s fan mail and it wasn&rsquo;t answered in time.It&rsquo;s a good time to be Teemu Selanne. He can still play the game &ndash; three goals and six points through nine games &ndash; and he&rsquo;s playing for a team loaded with talent and is a legitimate Cup contender. He will play in his final international tournament in Sochi and try to win his second Cup before leaving the game for good. It will be something of a bittersweet goodbye for him, but it will be done on his terms. With that in mind, you might just want to circle Dec. 20 on your calendar, which is the night the Ducks visit New Jersey. That could be the last time we see the Hall of Fame class for 2017 &ndash; Selanne, Brodeur and Jagr &ndash; on the ice together. Neither Jagr nor Brodeur has made his plans public, but Brodeur conceded the Devils No. 1 job to Cory Schneider in October and Jagr&rsquo;s scoring touch, dating back to last season, looks as though it has dried up. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a big relief for me,&rdquo; Selanne says. &ldquo;Every day, I see the guys a little differently, the whole game a little differently. I&rsquo;m trying to enjoy every day.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-011304/9878173-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="519" height="2639"></div> &#9632;

f0024-01

ON TEEEMU’S TERMS

<div class="byline">BY ADAM PROTEAU</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011487/9878319-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(YOON S. BYUN/THE BOST ON GLOBE VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>PATRICK BURKE WAS JUST ANOTHER&nbsp;smart, funny kid with a bright future long before he made his name with the You Can Play Project as a champion of gay rights and acceptance in the NHL and sport in general. It was spring 2005 and he was 22, on the verge of finishing a degree from the University of Notre Dame with grad school lined up. But something was wrong &ndash; deeply, agonizingly wrong &ndash; inside his head. And Patrick couldn&rsquo;t lie to himself about it any longer.He couldn&rsquo;t do anything any longer.Mere weeks from graduation, his mental framework collapsed in March of that year and the rest of him followed. He couldn&rsquo;t attend class. He couldn&rsquo;t leave his Indiana apartment. He barely left his couch. He was having what he&rsquo;d eight years later call &ldquo;a full-on nervous breakdown.&rdquo; Patrick&rsquo;s mother, Kerry, had to fly out from their family&rsquo;s Boston home to tend to him. He couldn&rsquo;t pick her up at the airport and she drove Burke&rsquo;s car back to Boston because he couldn&rsquo;t operate it. &ldquo;It was an awful drive,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;There was nothing there. He couldn&rsquo;t carry on a conversation. He just sat in the seat and was pretty blank.&rdquo;It was devastating to Patrick, who&rsquo;d been a confident, quick-witted teenager, having his life swallowed up by too many &ldquo;couldn&rsquo;ts.&rdquo; Even at his low point, with Kerry in his apartment doing what any mother would for a child in his situation, his view was all trees, no forest. &ldquo;I remember getting to Patrick at his place and rubbing his back, and I remember promising him,&rdquo; Kerry says.&ldquo;I said, &lsquo;I promise you, there are going to be really good days,&rsquo; and I knew there would be for him. But you could tell he just didn&rsquo;t think there was going to be any fun.&rdquo;Patrick was wrong and Kerry was right. The road to really good days, however, wasn&rsquo;t a movie montage, three minutes long with an inspiring soundtrack and guaranteed happy ending. This would be the hardest thing he&rsquo;d ever done. And eight years after he began his rise from ruin, he&rsquo;s ready to talk about it publicly for the first time.Before he did, people asked Patrick if he was worried about blowback over his admission. He isn&rsquo;t. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel stigmatized about this in the least,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I feel incredibly proud of this. I got through something. I survived something.&ldquo;My own brain was trying to hurt me.&rdquo;There are three things you ought to know about depression and the first is its stealth. Mental health disease doesn&rsquo;t confront you at high noon in the middle of a dusty town square. It&rsquo;s a hidden IV drip delivering an acidic doubt that corrodes your brain and bloodstream. It&rsquo;s a vest of boa constrictors that every day has another snake added to strengthen the slow squeeze. It&rsquo;s stronger and sneakier than you could ever imagine.The second thing about depression is what it steals from you. It blunts your highs and amplifies your lows. Whatever gave you joy in the past now seems a flower with every petal withered and dead. You lose inspiration and then, simple function. You withdraw from everyone you know, including yourself.The third thing you need to understand is mental health afflictions don&rsquo;t discriminate based on a human being&rsquo;s profession or proficiency, status or ethnicity, or any other label. They cheer your silence and flourish when left unattended.Patrick knows those things now. But when depression had him by the throat, he could barely summon the wind in his lungs to power his brain into considering what was happening to it. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to describe depression to someone who hasn&rsquo;t experienced it,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like trying to describe color to the blind. It&rsquo;s this constant grey. It&rsquo;s the sense you&rsquo;re stuck.&rdquo;When his life began unravelling, he spoke to his father, longtime NHL GM Brian Burke. But he wasn&rsquo;t ready to be honest with him about the depths of his misery. He lied and told Brian he was fine. But that wasn&rsquo;t true. It took Patrick weeks and months after he left Notre Dame and was home in Boston to begin to get a handle on his life again, but when you talk to him these days, he&rsquo;s open about what needed to change. He had to admit something was wrong. He needed medication. He needed family and a psychiatrist to speak with. He needed to become healthier. And he wouldn&rsquo;t have returned from the brink without all three of those things.When he dropped out of Notre Dame, Patrick essentially barricaded his life inside that Boston house. His family and friends offered to do anything to make him feel better, but Patrick didn&rsquo;t know what to tell them. How could he? He had no clue how to feel good any longer. Nobody could reach him. His spirit was paralyzed. While he was home, Patrick was prescribed antidepressants. First he tried Zoloft, but it didn&rsquo;t help. He then took Paxil and found it did. He partnered with a counsellor from high school and committed to a rigorous fitness/nutrition schedule. He spoke to a therapist almost every day. Even with those changes, the results didn&rsquo;t come quick and they sure as hell didn&rsquo;t come easy. &ldquo;Gradually, you could see him getting better,&rdquo; Kerry says. &ldquo;Thinking back, I want to say you could see him getting better, faster. But I know, truthfully, that wasn&rsquo;t the case. It took a while.&rdquo;In his new role as the NHL&rsquo;s director of player safety, Patrick fully intends to make mental health awareness and treatment as stigma-free in the players community as the successful You Can Play initiative he founded in honor of his late brother, Brendan. A pioneering gay rights advocate who passed away in a tragic, February 2010 car accident, Brendan was one of those Burke family members who rushed to Patrick&rsquo;s side when he left Notre Dame. Brendan was one of many who told him they&rsquo;d always be there for him. In the year Patrick spent out of school (he&rsquo;d go back to graduate in 2006) and was at his low point, Brendan also happened to be home for a week because he&rsquo;d come down with shingles. According to their mother, that&rsquo;s when the real change in Patrick took root. &ldquo;Brendan said, &lsquo;Patrick, I don&rsquo;t know what to do for you, but if you tell me what to do, I&rsquo;ll help you,&rsquo; Kerry says. &ldquo;At a certain point, Patrick realized he really meant it. Then he wanted to do the same for Brendan.&hellip; When Brendan died, he took over what he thought was Brendan&rsquo;s plan: to help people. I think that deepens his connection with Brendan. I know it deepens his connection with Brendan.&rdquo;Before Brendan&rsquo;s death, he and Patrick discussed visiting high schools and educating youngsters about the issues that had affected their lives: Brendan would talk about the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender world, and Patrick would discuss depression. Fate robbed them of the opportunity, but Patrick has fought valiantly for Brendan&rsquo;s cause through You Can Play and now he is bringing another spotlight on a different cause: mental health, not only among NHL players, but in society at large. He&rsquo;s approaching the task with the same philosophy in mind: empathy and assistance for those who are affected by the issue, education and forgiveness for those who don&rsquo;t understand it. And he says all NHLers should know mental health assistance is available if they need it and needing it doesn&rsquo;t make them any less a teammate or a man. &ldquo;The NHL and NHLPA have done a tremendous job of making resources available,&rdquo; Patrick says. &ldquo;We have to do a better job as a society making sure players don&rsquo;t feel in any way hesitant about utilizing them. Not only is it OK to do this, but it&rsquo;s important to do this.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-011377/9878312-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="1398" height="1463"><figcaption class="caption-body">PERSONAL REASONSPatrick Burke is raising awareness and acceptance of mental illness after his own battle with depression. (ANDREW H. WALKER/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;I SURVIVED SOMETHING. MY OWN BRAIN WAS TRYING TO HURT ME &ndash; Patrick Burke</blockquote>The best part of this story is Patrick Burke today: back in control of his life, back in good humor, back as a contributing member of society and a loving family member.Burke is himself again because he realized mental health issues can be faced head-on and beaten. That&rsquo;s his message for hockey players and anyone who&rsquo;ll listen. &ldquo;If someone&rsquo;s definition of toughness or masculinity entails ignoring a potentially life-threatening, but treatable medical disease, I want no part of that,&rdquo; Patrick says. &ldquo;The number of people who suffer through this silently &ndash; for no reason other than misunderstanding, other than shame, other than fear, when it&rsquo;s something that can be beat &ndash; it&rsquo;s unacceptable. Though it&rsquo;s not easy, it&rsquo;s not fun and it&rsquo;s incredibly difficult to confront the fact your own body is trying to hurt you, you can fight it and get better.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0034-01

BEATING DOWN HIS DEMONS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02951/9878350-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">NOT DRIVING OFFENSETyler Bozak doesn&rsquo;t rank highly by Corsi analytics, which claim he doesn&rsquo;t push the offense enough. (CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-011388/9878357-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="185" height="220"></div>ADVANCED STATISTICAL ANALYSIS IN&nbsp;sports isn&rsquo;t for everyone, but that&rsquo;s not to say it has no value. In the past two decades, Major League Baseball has drastically expanded the types of stats fans, players, management and media use in their vernacular. The National Basketball Association&rsquo;s Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors have adopted advanced analytics into their management structures and the National Football League has a burgeoning group of people devoted to advancing complex mathematical formulas as a way to gain insight into building a championship team.It&rsquo;s no different in the NHL, where the so-called &ldquo;fancy stats&rdquo; community has grown rapidly in recent years. New(ish) forms of analysis such as the Corsi rating (which measures the differences in team shot attempts, not just shots on net, but shots that miss the net, as well as blocked shots when any particular player is on the ice) and Fenwick rating (similar to Corsi, only it doesn&rsquo;t include blocked shots in the mix) are widely accepted among a segment of fans and a stat such as plus/minus has been largely discredited as an accurate reflector of a player&rsquo;s value. Not surprisingly, there&rsquo;s been a staggering amount of rancor between advanced stats proponents and those who prefer a simpler view of the sport.And the nastiness isn&rsquo;t only emanating from one side of the debate: sure, you&rsquo;d expect the old guard of the hockey establishment to snort in derision. That&rsquo;s its reaction to just about any suggestion for change.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;NHL TYPES ARE SUBJECTED TO RIDICULE WHEN THEY DON&rsquo;T FOLLOW FANCY STATS</blockquote>But the shocking thing is the amount of vitriol coming from certain elements within the fancy stats spectrum. If you enter into the world of social media, you&rsquo;ll quickly notice the ridicule relatively successful NHL types are subjected to when they don&rsquo;t fully follow the path of advanced analytics. The Maple Leafs&rsquo; decision to retain the services of center Tyler Bozak and jettison center Mikhail Grabovski via buyout is a perfect example: the former is loathed by Corsi disciples, while the latter is beloved. So Leafs GM Dave Nonis was rhetorically roasted over a spit for the move.Don&rsquo;t get me wrong, there absolutely is a place for advanced stats in hockey from a fan and team perspective. But if you&rsquo;re an ambassador for a fledgling movement, don&rsquo;t you want to entice more people into it? Informing and educating people with patience and grace goes a long way toward achieving that. Character assassination doesn&rsquo;t.Besides, if you spend all your time bemoaning hockey dinosaurs who aren&rsquo;t willing to look at the game in a different way, you&rsquo;d never notice many NHL teams are doing exactly that. Included on the list are the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks. &ldquo;You always have to be progressive and open-minded about things like (advanced) analytics,&rdquo; says Hawks GM Stan Bowman. &ldquo;I just don&rsquo;t think you can completely put everything in that basket.&rdquo;Bowman believes in weighing statistical analysis against variables that can&rsquo;t be measured on a spreadsheet. His Hawks have been utilizing fancy stats for a few years in terms of identifying players who&rsquo;ll succeed in their system, but they&rsquo;re far from the NHL&rsquo;s moneyball franchise. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s the other side of it &ndash; the nuances of the game, the instinctual feel,&rdquo; Bowman says. &ldquo;Stats don&rsquo;t lie, but you can twist them to look how you want them to look. I see the value and the importance of analytics, but within the proper framework.&rdquo;Advanced analytics aren&rsquo;t the bogeyman under hockey&rsquo;s bed, but they&rsquo;re also not a guarantor of success. And fans or NHL team architects who approach the game on their own terms shouldn&rsquo;t be vilified or lampooned because of it.WANT MORE PROTEAU? READ HIS EXCLUSIVE WEB COLUMN THURSDAYS AT <a href="http://THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM/PROTEAU">THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM/PROTEAU</a> &#9632;

f0036-02

STAY THE CORSI

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-011346/9878395-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="293" height="321"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03762/9878402-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="75" height="84"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02942/9878388-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="1390" height="948"><figcaption class="caption-body">SKATE LIKE THE WINDJeff Skinner is a speedier Hurricane now thanks to efforts to become more fluid and smooth on his blades. (GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>IF GARY ROBERTS WEREN&rsquo;T SUCH A ZEALOT&nbsp;for nutrition, his gym would probably be filled with juice boxes and Snackables. That&rsquo;s how many young players looking for off-ice direction are coming to the former NHLer these days.Jeff Skinner was once one of those players and seeking out Roberts&rsquo; tutelage paid off for him in a big way. You&rsquo;ll recall that three years ago, Skinner stunned the hockey world by not only sticking with Carolina as an 18-year-old, but by scoring 31 goals and winning the Calder Trophy. But then what followed were two years of middling results coupled with injury problems.Credit Skinner for realizing early in his career he needed to change things up. If you can believe it, he felt at 21 his career had hit a plateau. So instead of working with Roberts, Skinner signed on for his off-season training with Andy O&rsquo;Brien, who is best known as the off-ice conditioning guru for Sidney Crosby.And early on, Skinner is seeing Crosbylike results. He&rsquo;s dangerous around the net again and was on a point-per-game pace. Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller notices Skinner is going to the scoring areas again. It&rsquo;s not unheard of for a player such as Skinner to experience a few setbacks in Years 2 and 3 of his career, then rebound to become an elite player again. It looks as though that is happening with Skinner and he credits a slightly leaner, but more efficient body for some of that success.Skinner said the change was as much about needing a fresh start as anything else. He also found the more heavy lifting off the ice he did, the bulkier he got and the less heavy lifting he could do when it came to being counted upon for offense. He&rsquo;s only about five pounds lighter, at 195, but he said he feels much more comfortable. &ldquo;It was a little more back to basics and the movement patterns, sort of breaking down how I move and getting efficiency in movements,&rdquo; Skinner says of his work with O&rsquo;Brien. &ldquo;It helped me become more fluid and smooth in my movements. There wasn&rsquo;t as much heavy lifting and stuff like that. A lot of it was geared toward how you&rsquo;re doing things as opposed to what you&rsquo;re doing.&rdquo;To hear O&rsquo;Brien tell it, Skinner&rsquo;s work with Roberts provided a good base for his early success and much of what was required had to do with fine-tuning. O&rsquo;Brien says Skinner couldn&rsquo;t put a finger on the reason for his career stalling, but he suspected it had to do with mobility issues and that he could be a little lighter. O&rsquo;Brien went through tape of Skinner&rsquo;s games and found he was an explosive skater, but was losing speed in transition. O&rsquo;Brien discovered part of the reason for that was Skinner was often in a &ldquo;static position&rdquo; that wasn&rsquo;t conducive to acceleration and speed. Skinner, a former champion figure skater as a child, bought into the concept. &ldquo;I felt like he was very strong already and a lot of the work he had done in the past was good work from a strength perspective,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Brien says. &ldquo;So we focused a lot on movement and speed and agility and we had a very athletic component to a lot of the work he was doing.&rdquo;That wasn&rsquo;t all, though. The Hurricanes flew under the radar over the summer when they signed veteran Radek Dvorak and Skinner has been the main beneficiary. For whatever reason, playing with Jordan Staal didn&rsquo;t work for him, but playing him with Dvorak and Riley Nash has given Carolina a third line that can create loads of offense. It also helps that the Staal brothers face stiffer competition when it comes to playing head-to-head, leaving Skinner to feast upon more bottom-six players.It&rsquo;s all conspiring to make for a bounce-back season. &ldquo;Jordan and Jeff just didn&rsquo;t connect and that&rsquo;s OK, there&rsquo;s lots of good players who don&rsquo;t connect with each other,&rdquo; Muller says. &ldquo;Now he&rsquo;s back playing his game with Nash and Radek, two really reliable guys. And Jeff is the kind of guy he doesn&rsquo;t need that systematic kind of line. He&rsquo;s more of a 1-on-1 type. And now he has more confidence he can do that in the offensive zone and he&rsquo;s got two guys who sit back and let him go.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0038-01

SUCCESS SECRET: SKINNIER SKINNER

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MIKE LOFTUS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-011233/9878517-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02834/9878510-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="599" height="572"><figcaption class="caption-body">LOUI ERIKSSON</figcaption></div>LOUI ERIKSSON KNEW THINGS WOULD BE&nbsp;different and he&rsquo;s embracing the change. Received from Dallas in the seven-player mega-swap that sent Tyler Seguin to the Stars, Eriksson has found that his new city feels a lot like home. A native of Gothenburg, Sweden, Eriksson and his wife, Micaela, along with their young daughters, Elle and Blanca, have settled smoothly into Boston. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of similar to where I&rsquo;m from,&rdquo; Eriksson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a real nice city to live in.&rdquo;Eriksson was a seven-year Star, who averaged just short of 30 goals over his final four full seasons in Dallas, but has played in some of the NHL&rsquo;s biggest, most-recognized hockey markets less than a handful of times. He&rsquo;s excited about that changing. &ldquo;The teams on this side are a little more recognized &ndash; more (history), more fans,&rdquo; Eriksson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be fun going to Toronto, Montreal, New York.&rdquo;Some of those trips may be delayed after Eriksson was sidelined indefintely with a concussion following a dirty hit from Buffalo&rsquo;s John Scott Oct. 23. When he&rsquo;s healthy Eriksson will help Boston in its effort to reach the playoffs for the seventh straight year. He hasn&rsquo;t seen the post-season since 2007-08, when the Bruins started their post-season run.Eriksson was given Seguin&rsquo;s former assignment &ndash; right wing, on a line centered by Patrice Bergeron &ndash; and the early returns were positive, even if Eriksson was off his typical scoring pace. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s just a great all-around player, such a smart player,&rdquo; Eriksson said. &ldquo;It feels like a good fit.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03660/9878503-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="684" height="543"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-08294/9878496-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="301" height="462"><figcaption class="caption-body">(DEBORA ROBINSON/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Cam Fowler passed the 200 mark in career games and is taking on more responsibilities on the Anaheim blueline. A seasoned 21, Fowler leads the Ducks in ice time and is tops among D-men in PP minutes. The added duties come because of Sheldon Souray&rsquo;s injury and Francois Beauchemin&rsquo;s off-season surgery.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04557/9878489-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="684" height="546"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-09239/9878482-1-eng-US/f0039-092.jpg" title="f0039-09" width="305" height="467"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BRIAN BABINEAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Perhaps more than any other team, the Boston Bruins hope revenues hit the roof this season, as the salary cap would climb substantially from $64 million. The Bruins already have $61.8 million committed in salaries next season. The good news? Jarome Iginla, Shawn Thornton and Chad Johnson are the only UFAs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05474/9878475-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="685" height="544"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-10208/9878468-1-eng-US/f0039-102.jpg" title="f0039-10" width="305" height="467"><figcaption class="caption-body">(DAVE SANDFORD/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>As long as the Sabres keep sputtering, there will be calls to fire GM Darcy Regier and coach Ron Rolston. Reports Regier, the longest-serving current GM, was in trouble were refuted by team president Ted Black. Buffalo must decide if Regier is up to the rebuild, since he&rsquo;ll decide whether to trade Thomas Vanek and Ryan Miller.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06397/9878461-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="685" height="546"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-11182/9878454-1-eng-US/f0039-112.jpg" title="f0039-11" width="301" height="467"><figcaption class="caption-body">(GERRY THOMAS/NHL VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>The departure of Jarome Iginla lofted Lee Stempniak up the depth chart and though they play a different style, the latter is picking up an attribute of the former. Stempniak is making a concerted effort to shoot the puck, taking 26 shots in his first six games. That&rsquo;s about twice his eight-year career shooting average of 2.2 per game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-07345/9878447-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="685" height="547"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-12166/9878440-1-eng-US/f0039-122.jpg" title="f0039-12" width="297" height="459"><figcaption class="caption-body">(MIKE STOBE/NHLI VIA GETTY)</figcaption></div>Despite the fact veterans like Mike Komisarek were available, the Canes found success with Justin Faulk and Andrej Sekera leading the charge on &lsquo;D&rsquo; early on. The newly formed pair often faced the top lines of opponents and were playing major minutes. The young Faulk was averaging nearly 25 a game, while Sekera was close to 24.HOW FANS PAY.&nbsp;SCOTIAHOCKEYTM NHL&reg; DEBIT AND VISA* CARDS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-13141/9878433-1-eng-US/f0039-132.jpg" title="f0039-13" width="422" height="156"></div> &#9632;

f0039-01

SMOOTH TRANSITION

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MIKE HEIKA</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0040-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01943/9878632-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02615/9878625-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="599" height="567"><figcaption class="caption-body">ALEX CHIASSON (ANTHONY VENCE/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>STARS COACH LINDY RUFF WAS FLING ing pucks at the net during tip drills in training camp and came away amazed by one of his players.Rookie Alex Chiasson, 22, redirected just about every puck in, so Ruff decided to start shooting wider and wider, &ldquo;When I was shooting some wide, it was incredible how he was able to redirect the wide ones back into the net,&rdquo; Ruff said. &ldquo;The key thing is, there&rsquo;s no fear when the shot is coming. There are special guys around the front of the net and he could be one of them.&rsquo;&rsquo;Chiasson is an interesting study in opportunity. He was brought up as a solid two-way player and was used more on the penalty kill than the power play. He had 17 goals in 56 games with Des Moines of the United States League in 2008-09. He topped out at 15 goals in 38 games his last season at Boston University. He had 13 goals in 57 games with the Texas Stars in the American League. So how did he tally 13 points (nine goals) in his first 13 NHL games dating back to last season? &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t expecting it, but I really felt comfortable out there,&rsquo;&rsquo; Chiasson said. &ldquo;A lot of times, it&rsquo;s opportunity and confidence, and I have both of those things going for me.&rsquo;&rsquo;Chiasson, a native of Montreal who grew up in New York, said he&rsquo;s just concentrating on playing an intelligent style. &ldquo;(Offense) is a big part of the game, and you have to work at it, but that can&rsquo;t be your focus,&rsquo;&rsquo; he said. &ldquo;I came up playing two-way hockey and that&rsquo;s what I still try to do. If you play defense, the goals will come.&rsquo;&rsquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03479/9878618-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="753" height="597"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-08216/9878611-1-eng-US/f0040-082.jpg" title="f0040-08" width="327" height="506"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BILL SMITH/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Bryan Bickell showed symptoms of Fernando Pisani Syndrome early. Pisani got a four-year, $10-million deal after a 14-goal playoff run with Edmonton in &rsquo;06 and never bested 14 goals in a regular season after that. Bickell got $16 million from Chicago for four years after a ninegoal 2013 playoffs and scored once in his first eight games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-04382/9878604-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="753" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-09163/9878597-1-eng-US/f0040-092.jpg" title="f0040-09" width="327" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">(GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Colorado&rsquo;s blueline was supposed to be its Achilles heel this season, but a strong collective effort silenced the critics. Leading the way was Jan Hejda. He led the team in ice time and ranked among the top 10 NHL defensemen in shorthanded minutes per game, helping the Avalanche to the league&rsquo;s No. 2 penalty kill unit.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-05326/9878590-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="753" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-10149/9878583-1-eng-US/f0040-102.jpg" title="f0040-10" width="327" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JAMIE SABAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>There are more important things in life than hockey and Nick Foligno confirmed that when his newborn baby daughter, Milano, was diagnosed with a heart condition one day after her birth. Foligno missed three games and spent the better part of a week at the hospital. Doctors have given her a positive prognosis for the future.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-06288/9878576-1-eng-US/f0040-062.jpg" title="f0040-06" width="752" height="597"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-11130/9878569-1-eng-US/f0040-112.jpg" title="f0040-11" width="327" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">(GLENN JAMES/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Last season with Boston, Tyler Seguin scored his fourth goal in game No. 18. In a Dallas uniform, Seguin needed just seven games to do it. He tallied 10 points in his first seven games as a Star. The move from right wing to center wasn&rsquo;t all roses, however, as Seguin won just 33.3 percent of his draws in his first eight games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-07249/9878562-1-eng-US/f0040-072.jpg" title="f0040-07" width="753" height="597"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-12119/9878555-1-eng-US/f0040-122.jpg" title="f0040-12" width="327" height="506"><figcaption class="caption-body">(DAVE REGINEK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Wings coach Mike Babcock will experience big games in Sochi in February, but this past summer he searched for big game in the former republic of Kyrgyzstan. In a show called Nosler&rsquo;s Magnum TV on the Outdoor Network, Babcock heads east to find the Marco Polo sheep and the mid-Asian ibex. The first installment aired Oct. 27.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-13103/9878548-1-eng-US/f0040-132.jpg" title="f0040-13" width="193" height="155"></div>HOW FANS PAY. THE NEW SCOTIAHOCKEYTM NHL&reg; DEBIT CARD &#9632;

f0040-01

STRONG ‘O’ FROM BIG ‘D’

<div class="byline">&#x2013; PAT HICKEY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0041-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01821/9878747-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02543/9878740-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="669" height="647"><figcaption class="caption-body">LARS ELLER</figcaption></div>LARS ELLER ISN&rsquo;T FOND OF NICKNAMES.&nbsp;He winces when teammates call him &lsquo;Larry&rsquo; and he wasn&rsquo;t pleased when fans and media dubbed him, Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher as the &lsquo;EGG line.&rsquo; &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like it,&rdquo; Eller said.He has less of a problem of his trio being dubbed the &lsquo;Kid Line,&rsquo; though. Galchenyuk is just 19, Gallagher only 21, and Eller is the elder statesman into his fourth full NHL season at 24.Coach Michel Therrien&rsquo;s strategy has been to bring the youngsters along slowly, but they&rsquo;ve been the most productive line since the start of the season. Eller was one of the NHL&rsquo;s three stars in the first week and his line has joined Andrei Markov and P.K. Subban as the team&rsquo;s No. 1 power play unit. Therrien was so impressed with Eller&rsquo;s play that he briefly moved him between Max Pacioretty and Daniel Briere in an attempt to jump-start the two veterans.The Canadiens thought they had the makings of a shutdown third-liner when they acquired Eller, a 2007 firstround pick, in the 2010 trade which sent popular goaltender Jaroslav Halak to St. Louis. Eller&rsquo;s proving to be a solid two-way player with a nose for the net.He added some weight to his 6-foot-2, 215-pound frame in the off-season, but the biggest improvement has been in his explosiveness. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s more important to get a step on a player than to outmuscle him,&rdquo; Eller said.Eller has more confidence since he started working with sports psychologist Sylvain Guimond and that confidence is evident on the ice.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-03443/9878733-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="753" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-08204/9878726-1-eng-US/f0041-082.jpg" title="f0041-08" width="328" height="506"></div>Mark Arcobello was running out of time. The undrafted Yale grad, 25, was entering his last season of Calder eligibility. More practically, Arcobello was starting his fourth pro season and a change in hierarchy presented him a perfect opportunity to make an impact. He&rsquo;s great on faceoffs and led the team in scoring early on.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-04385/9878719-1-eng-US/f0041-042.jpg" title="f0041-04" width="753" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-09154/9878712-1-eng-US/f0041-092.jpg" title="f0041-09" width="327" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JOHN RUSSELL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Brad Boyes has had an up-and-down past couple of years, but if you&rsquo;re looking for a shootout specialist, he&rsquo;s your man. Boyes scored on his first try for the Panthers in mid-October, giving him 32 career goals in the 1-on-1 skills contest. That tied him for second among active players with Zach Parise, one behind Pavel Datsyuk.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-05347/9878705-1-eng-US/f0041-052.jpg" title="f0041-05" width="753" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-10126/9878698-1-eng-US/f0041-102.jpg" title="f0041-10" width="328" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">(SCOTT AUDETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Anze Kopitar has two 30-goal seasons and has averaged 27 for every 82 games in his eightyear career. That&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s hard to fathom a regular season goal-less drought that reached 26 games in late October. The dry spell spans two seasons during which he has taken 66 shots. Kopitar did chip in 20 assists in those 26 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-06302/9878691-1-eng-US/f0041-062.jpg" title="f0041-06" width="753" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-11103/9878684-1-eng-US/f0041-112.jpg" title="f0041-11" width="327" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">(GRAIG ABEL/NHLI)</figcaption></div>Matt Cooke was Minnesota&rsquo;s best forward to start the season, tallying six points in nine games and scoring two game-winners. He was also the team&rsquo;s top citizen. Cooke, a reformed agitator, introduced himself to the suspended Patrick Kaleta when the Wild played Buffalo and offered to help Kaleta change his ways.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-07259/9878677-1-eng-US/f0041-072.jpg" title="f0041-07" width="753" height="597"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1288/9878670-1-eng-US/f0041-122.jpg" title="f0041-12" width="327" height="506"><figcaption class="caption-body">(DEREK LEUNG/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>The priority for GM Marc Bergevin is signing P.K. Subban long-term, but the price climbs with every game. And there are other difficult choices on &lsquo;D.&rsquo; Raphael Diaz will be a UFA and the Habs have to determine Andrei Markov&rsquo;s future. The only defensemen signed beyond this season: Josh Gorges, Jarred Tinordi and Davis Drewiske.AND THE SCOTIAHOCKEYTM NHL&reg; VISA* CARD. AVAILABLE IN ALL 30 TEAMS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1371/9878663-1-eng-US/f0041-132.jpg" title="f0041-13" width="193" height="156"></div> &#9632;

f0041-01

WHAT’S MY NAME?

<div class="byline">&#x2013; SARAH MCLELLAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01848/9878977-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02594/9878970-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="660" height="633"><figcaption class="caption-body">SHANE DOAN</figcaption></div>EARLY THIS SEASON, COYOTES CAPTAIN Shane Doan couldn&rsquo;t shed the &ldquo;slow starter&rdquo; label that seems perennially attached to him.Through his first nine games, Doan had a goal and two assists for a Coyotes team that actually ranked eighth in the league in offense at better than three goals per game, up from 21st last season. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really contributing the way I want to offensively,&rdquo; he said.But one of those assists moved him into sole possession of second place on the franchise&rsquo;s all-time points list. After assisting on a Rostislav &lsquo;Rusty&rsquo; Klesla goal Oct. 18 against the Anaheim Ducks, Doan recorded his 818th career point to surpass Thomas Steen. He trails only Dale Hawerchuk, who has 929. &ldquo;A long way to go,&rdquo; Doan said. &ldquo;It just means I&rsquo;ve just been around a long time more than anything. You&rsquo;re grateful for the opportunity to be with the organization for as long as I&rsquo;ve been. You recognize you&rsquo;ve got to be appreciative and honored by that and continue to do your job as best you can.&rdquo;When Doan reached the 1,000 game milestone Dec. 17, 2009, his teammates gave him a saddle that included his jersey number, 19, and the logos of the Coyotes and original Winnipeg Jets. Doan uses the saddle riding at his ranch in Arizona typically at least once a week. &ldquo;I do use it quite often and enjoy it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s pretty cool. Anybody that comes out to the farm and sees it, it&rsquo;s one of those things everyone wants to ask questions about. It&rsquo;s pretty exciting.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03493/9878963-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="752" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-08181/9878956-1-eng-US/f0043-082.jpg" title="f0043-08" width="327" height="506"><figcaption class="caption-body">(FRANCOIS LACASSE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Counting up the Flyers&rsquo; offensive ineptitude through eight games is amusing for outsiders and painful for Philly fans. Not only did forwards Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, Jakub Voracek and Matt Read have as many goals as netminders Ray Emery and Steve Mason (none), but that was one fewer than Phoenix goalie Mike Smith.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-04377/9878949-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="752" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-09138/9878942-1-eng-US/f0043-092.jpg" title="f0043-09" width="328" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Rob Klinkhammer&rsquo;s path to the NHL included four teams in each the WHL and AHL before he made it with his third NHL team. A sturdy power forward on an energy line, Klinkhammer is scoring at a 20-goal pace since joining the Coyotes last year. He has played for both Portlands, scoring 42 points in Oregon (WHL) and 44 in Maine (AHL).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-05329/9878935-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="752" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-10124/9878928-1-eng-US/f0043-102.jpg" title="f0043-10" width="327" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JOE SARGENT/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s tough to find fault in Sidney Crosby&rsquo;s game, especially since he was leading the NHL in scoring with 17 points through nine games. But Sid has been slipping in the faceoff circle by his standards, winning 52 percent of his draws. Luckily, Evgeni Malkin and Brandon Sutter were winning 57 percent of their faceoffs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-06273/9878921-1-eng-US/f0043-062.jpg" title="f0043-06" width="752" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-11106/9878914-1-eng-US/f0043-112.jpg" title="f0043-11" width="328" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">(TOM GANNAM/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>The Blues, THN&rsquo;s Stanley Cup pick, flew out of the gate and the line of Alex Steen, David Backes and T.J. Oshie was a big reason. Captain Backes&rsquo; six goals in seven games equalled his 48-game output from last season. He didn&rsquo;t sacrifice the rest of his game for offense, as he led the team in hits and won 53.1 percent of his draws.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-07232/9878907-1-eng-US/f0043-072.jpg" title="f0043-07" width="752" height="597"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1294/9878900-1-eng-US/f0043-122.jpg" title="f0043-12" width="328" height="506"><figcaption class="caption-body">(DON SMITH/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>The absence of Dan Boyle let the Sharks see more of Matt Irwin among the top four D-men and on the power play. The strong, puck-moving blueliner has a cannon of a shot, led the defense corps in shots through the early going and was as high as third in the league. Irwin has drawn comparisons to Vancouver&rsquo;s Jason Garrison.AND THE SCOTIAHOCKEYTM NHL&reg; VISA* CARD. AVAILABLE IN ALL 30 TEAMS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1379/9878893-1-eng-US/f0043-132.jpg" title="f0043-13" width="194" height="156"></div> &#9632;

f0043-01

A LONG RIDE REWARDED

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MATT LARKIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0044-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01750/9879092-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02488/9879085-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="660" height="627"><figcaption class="caption-body">JAY MCCLEMENT (GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>ONLY IN TORONTO IS A GUY LIKE JAY McClement a household name.That&rsquo;s no insult to McClement. He&rsquo;s a grinder. And in St. Louis and Colorado, where he played six seasons combined, a checking center can catch a movie or buy groceries without being recognized. It&rsquo;s not like the Toronto experience, which began last season when he signed as a free agent. &ldquo;Everyone and everything is talked about more in a big market,&rdquo; said McClement, 30. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t know what to expect until you actually go through it. I really enjoy playing in a city that&rsquo;s passionate about hockey. Every game feels like a big game. It doesn&rsquo;t matter what night it is. Wherever we are, even on the road, there&rsquo;s always a big Leafs contingency.&rdquo;&ldquo;I have a lot of fun playing here and also having family and friends in town, it was a nice change for me and my wife.&rdquo;And McClement, a Kingston, Ont., native, didn&rsquo;t earn notoriety by default. He made a huge contribution to the Leafs&rsquo; 2012-13 playoff push. He led NHL forwards in shorthanded ice time per game and helped Toronto finish second in penalty killing after six straight seasons at 27th or worse. He was sixth in Selke Trophy voting, earning four first place votes.True to the grinder way, however, Mc-Clement would rather talk up his team than himself. He was excited when the Leafs added DavidClarkson and David Bolland up front and Jonathan Bernier in goal this off-season. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve added some good voices, some good veteran guys and hopefully that&rsquo;ll improve and make our team better.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-03370/9879078-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="753" height="597"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-08139/9879071-1-eng-US/f0044-082.jpg" title="f0044-08" width="327" height="506"><figcaption class="caption-body">(SCOTT AUDETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Seeing Martin St-Louis ushered around in a golf cart at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, then in the lineup the next night in mid-October was nothing new for the Lightning. St-Louis, who injured his foot blocking a shot and missed no games, has been remarkably durable for Tampa. In the past 10 seasons, he has missed just seven games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-04293/9879064-1-eng-US/f0044-042.jpg" title="f0044-04" width="753" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-09103/9879057-1-eng-US/f0044-092.jpg" title="f0044-09" width="328" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">(CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Leafs GM David Nonis said neither young D-man Jake Gardiner nor goalie James Reimer is on the trade market, but Toronto still faces big decisions. Both players are scheduled to become RFAs next summer. The Leafs must decide whether to sign them to longer-term deals or trade them at the deadline to bolster their roster.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-05244/9879050-1-eng-US/f0044-052.jpg" title="f0044-05" width="753" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1091/9879043-1-eng-US/f0044-102.jpg" title="f0044-10" width="327" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">(RICH LAM/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>With David Booth feeling good after scoring in the third game of the season and hoping to forget his one-goal, injury-riddled 2012-13, he fell out of favor with coach John Tortorella and dropped to less than 14 minutes a game. Approaching 82 games with the Canucks over three seasons, Booth was stuck at 18 goals with $4.3-million price tag.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-06215/9879036-1-eng-US/f0044-062.jpg" title="f0044-06" width="753" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1177/9879029-1-eng-US/f0044-112.jpg" title="f0044-11" width="328" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">(PATRICK MCDERMOTT/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Advanced stats enthusiasts crowed when the Maple Leafs dumped Mikhail Grabovski and they had particularly good ammunition when the talented center ripped off four points in his Caps debut. But &lsquo;Grabbo&rsquo; went cold, collecting just three points in his next eight outings. No advanced stat in the world is going to make that look good.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-07184/9879022-1-eng-US/f0044-072.jpg" title="f0044-07" width="753" height="596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1268/9879015-1-eng-US/f0044-122.jpg" title="f0044-12" width="328" height="506"><figcaption class="caption-body">(LANCE THOMSON/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>As Jets fans grows restless, will fingers point at Ondrej Pavelec? The goaltender&rsquo;s $3.9-million cap hit is the 17thhighest among NHL goalies, ahead of Antti Niemi&rsquo;s and Craig Anderson&rsquo;s, while Pavelec&rsquo;s .904 SP through mid-October ranked 33rd in the league. Pavelec&rsquo;s career SP is .907, 24th among active goaltenders.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1359/9879008-1-eng-US/f0044-132.jpg" title="f0044-13" width="422" height="156"></div>HOW FANS PAY.&nbsp;SCOTIAHOCKEYTM NHL&reg; DEBIT AND VISA* CARDS &#9632;

f0044-01

LOVING LIFE IN THE FISHBOWL

<div class="byline">BY JOHN MATISZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01665/9879137-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="299" height="328"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-04249/9879144-1-eng-US/f0046-042.jpg" title="f0046-04" width="75" height="84"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-02440/9879130-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg" title="f0046-02" width="895" height="1152"><figcaption class="caption-body">SLOW AND STEADYAs a large defenseman, Jacob Middleton is developing slowly, but he&rsquo;s banking on a breakout. (AARON BELL/OHL IMAGES)</figcaption></div>JACOB MIDDLETON&rsquo;S SELF-IM posed motto is about as rock-solid as it gets for an aspiring shutdown defenseman. When talking about his role in the Ontario League, the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s blueliner commonly refers to this phrase: &ldquo;No Offense In My Zone.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s what scouts like to hear from a 2014 NHL draft prospect with first-round potential and a tough and nasty on-ice demeanor to back it up. &ldquo;I like to try and keep tabs on anything from the goal line to the top of circle,&rdquo; Middleton said. &ldquo;I want to prevent any opportunity or chance that might come from there. That&rsquo;s the way I see my role.&rdquo;Slated to play top-four minutes this season on a rather young and rebuilding 67&rsquo;s club, Middleton will have plenty of time to show his worth to scouts and the like. &ldquo;We think he&rsquo;s poised to break out this year,&rdquo; said NHL Central Scouting Service director Dan Marr. &ldquo;Sometimes, the bigger guys take a little longer to reach their prime.&rdquo;Middleton is already 6-foot-2 and 208 pounds at 17. He registered five points and 25 penalty minutes in 29 games as an OHL rookie in 2012-13. Marr equates him to to a pre-season &ldquo;bubble guy&rdquo; among prospects. On its draft eligible rankings, Central Scouting has Middleton listed as a &ldquo;B&rdquo; skater to start the year, which means they believe he is a secondor third-round talent.However, Marr said the lefthanded rearguard can easily storm his way onto teams&rsquo; opening-round draft lists. &ldquo;He plays with a presence,&rdquo; Marr said. &ldquo;He plays the game with authority. He&rsquo;s good at making that good first pass out of the zone and he defends with authority, too.&rdquo;International Scouting Services already projects Middleton as a first-rounder, having slotted him 21st overall in its October rankings, fifth among all blueliners.First things first, though, the Stratford, Ont., native hopes to simply experience a typical OHL season in 2013-14. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m crossing my fingers it&rsquo;s my first full season,&rdquo; said Middleton, speaking to the fact he was not only injured twice last year but also traded, somewhat surprisingly, in a deadline blockbuster.The deal saw the Owen Sound Attack swap Middleton and Colorado Avalanche prospect Joseph Blandisi for Ottawa Senators blue-chipper Cody Ceci, OHL veteran Steven Janes and a draft pick.It was quite a change for Middleton, being shipped to the worst team in the league in the midst of a playoff push with the club that drafted him eighth overall the summer prior. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t depressed, but it was kind of a shocker,&rdquo; he said.He quickly noted, however, he has enjoyed his time in Canada&rsquo;s capital and is ultimately glad the trade transpired. The 67&rsquo;s aren&rsquo;t regretting the acquisition, either. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very good teammate,&rdquo; said 67&rsquo;s associate coach Misha Donskov. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s great in the room. He&rsquo;s a real character kid.&rdquo;One of Middleton&rsquo;s closest friends, fellow 17-year-old Ottawa defenseman Jonathan Duchesne, shares a billet home with Middleton and sees a big difference in Middleton&rsquo;s persona on and off the ice. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very serious guy when it gets to game time,&rdquo; Duchesne said. &ldquo;He likes to joke around when he&rsquo;s hanging out with the guys from the team, other buddies, but when it comes to game time, he gets up for the game very well.&rdquo;Middleton was a late cut at Canada&rsquo;s national under-18 selection camp this summer. He played well enough to leave a lasting impression on Marr, though.The head scout believes Middleton&rsquo;s bread and butter will always be protecting his own end. A solid skater with decent puck skills, Middleton must strike a balance between finding an offensive game and continuing to develop elsewhere, Marr said.If that&rsquo;s the case, maybe his mantra should be revised: &ldquo;No Offense In My Zone&hellip;because I&rsquo;ll take it back the other way.&rdquo;<h2>JACOB MIDDLETON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-03301/9879123-1-eng-US/f0046-032.jpg" title="f0046-03" width="250" height="156"></div>POSITION&nbsp;DefensemanAGE 17HEIGHT 6-2WEIGHT 208 lbsdrafted&nbsp;2014 eligible21&nbsp;Jacob Middleton&rsquo;s ranking for the 2014 NHL draft, according to International Scouting Services&rsquo; October report. He is fifth among defensemen after Aaron Ekblad (2), Roland McKeown (8), Haydn Fleury (17) and Brycen Martin (18). &#9632;

f0046-01

NO MIDDLING NHL PROSPECT

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-01455/9879213-1-eng-US/f0049-012.jpg" title="f0049-01" width="483" height="592"><figcaption class="caption-body">(DENIS BRODEUR/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I was the second U.S. goalie to win 300 career games after Tom Barrasso.&rdquo;&ldquo;I won the Vezina in 1986 with the Rangers and later formed a tandem with Mike Richter.&rdquo;&ldquo;I was the Florida Panthers&rsquo; first starting stopper and took them to the Cup final in 1996.&rdquo;WHO AM I: JOHN VANBIESBROUCK &#9632;

f0049-01

Guess WHO!

<div class="byline">Submitted by: James Elder</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-02352/9879251-1-eng-US/f0049-022.jpg" title="f0049-02" width="231" height="398"><figcaption class="caption-body">(DOUG PENSINGER/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>JAKE MUZZIN</h2>Defenseman flashed offensive ability in debut season. Underrated part of Kings&rsquo; back end.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-03278/9879244-1-eng-US/f0049-032.jpg" title="f0049-03" width="231" height="404"><figcaption class="caption-body">(GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>BEAVIS</h2>Character flashed offensive humor in debut season. Underbite and a flatulent back end.Email your suggestions to <a href="mailto:sab@thehockeynews.com">sab@thehockeynews.com</a> &#9632;

f0049-02

Separated At BIRTH

<div class="byline">By Larry Humber</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-04258/9879282-1-eng-US/f0049-042.jpg" title="f0049-04" width="914" height="914"></div>ANSWERS AVAILABLE IN THE NEXT ISSUE AND AT <a href="http://THN.com/XWORD">THN.COM/XWORD</a>ACROSS1 THN&rsquo;s managing editor (or, a well-coiffed former ref)4 He was NHL MVP three times in the 1970s9 Where Sheldon Souray plays10 To ___ ___ the score is unsportsmanlike11 Goalies wear ___ protectors12 Holes into which skate laces are inserted13 Jason Pominville&rsquo;s team15 Netminder Tuukka ___18 Smythe Trophy winner in 200021 Jiri ___ was a Canuck for five seasons23 Sending the puck the length of the rink24 Toronto&rsquo;s AHL team25 Leaf legend &lsquo;___&rsquo; Kennedy26 ___ Oduya, pictured, is with ChicagoDOWN1 Cristobal Huet&rsquo;s homeland2 There was once a &lsquo;Goal-___-___&rsquo; (or &lsquo;GAG&rsquo;) line3 Tossed out5 &lsquo;Gump&rsquo; Worsley&rsquo;s real first name6 Alain Vigneault now coaches this team7 Leave available in the draft8 Ed Van ___ was a teammate of 4 Across14 What players crave (no one likes to sit)15 Veteran keeper ___ Luongo16 Help in the scoring of a goal17 Craig ___ was Atlanta&rsquo;s last coach19 &lsquo;Eddie the ___&rsquo; Belfour20 ___-pro players get paid, but not much22 Feisty exec ___ BurkeLAST WEEK&rsquo;S CROSSWORD SOLUTION ACROSS 1. TUSSLED, 4. KINGS, 7. UNIT, 8. RIMOUSKI, 10. BACKCHECKS, 12. GREAT, 13. DRAWS, 14. MATS SUNDIN, 18. OUTLASTS, 19. OVER, 20. DEREK, 21. REFEREE DOWN 1. THUMB, 2. STITCHES, 3. DRIVE, 4. KNOCKED OUT, 5. NASH, 6. SNIPERS, 9. SCOTIABANK, 11. LANDOVER, 12. GOOD OLD, 15. SUTER, 16. NURSE, 17. STAR &#9632;

f0049-04

CROSSWORD

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MATT LARKIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-05205/9879313-1-eng-US/f0049-052.jpg" title="f0049-05" width="850" height="750"><figcaption class="caption-body">(DAVEART.COM)</figcaption></div>Only a goalie would be creative enough to turn a patriotic symbol into a demented mask. Thanks to Dave Gunnarsson&rsquo;s art, Holtby sports a quarantined bald eagle, drooling behind bars. Hands out of the cage. As the sign says, &ldquo;do not feed the animal.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Behind THE MASK

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-06127/9879344-1-eng-US/f0049-062.jpg" title="f0049-06" width="614" height="606"><figcaption class="caption-body">JACK BERGER (PRINCETON ATHLETICS)</figcaption></div>The auction of a Dartmouth sweater from 100 years ago (THN Sept. 9 Jersey Hound) brought back the past and now fellow ECAC squad Princeton has gone throwback for a similar era.The Tigers&rsquo; new vintage jersey harkens to the days Hobey Baker played for the team, which was also about a century ago. And while the American hockey hero never had a Nike swoosh on the front of his sweater, these simple yet powerful jerseys look pretty sweet. The classic logo and tiger stripes to match make it a winner. &#9632;

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JerseyHOUND

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-02334/9879375-1-eng-US/f0050-022.jpg" title="f0050-02" width="998" height="887"><figcaption class="caption-body">MICHAEL GRABNER (BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-01442/9879382-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg" title="f0050-01" width="194" height="219"></div>IF YOU&rsquo;RE EVER LOOKING FOR SOMETHING to do on a rainy (or snowy) Sunday afternoon, watch the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union. That&rsquo;s because it provides the perfect example of how the good old days weren&rsquo;t all that good. The hockey is sloppy, the goaltending is surprisingly poor, but more than anything the pace is really, really slow.Then fast-forward, and I mean fast-forward, to a game today. Hockey, circa 2013, is faster than it has ever been and getting faster all the time. And that&rsquo;s generally a good thing. The faster the pace of the game, the more chaotic things are on the ice. And the more chaotic things are, the less impact coaches and their cabal of assistants can have on the game.But there&rsquo;s a downside to all of this, too. Just ask Michael Grabner of the New York Islanders and more importantly, Nathan Gerbe of the Carolina Hurricanes. In a game in mid-October, Grabner hit Gerbe in open ice, a hit that earned him a two-game suspension &ndash; and a precedent for repeat offenses &ndash; under Rule 48. It was a great call by the league, but it was also largely the product of Grabner skating 100 miles an hour and not having any time to react to Gerbe cutting through the slot.It could be used as Exhibit A in the argument that the game has become too fast. Pretty much everything the league has done since the lockout has been done with the objective of pushing the pace of the game. The first, of course, was removing the red line for purposes of the two-line pass. The result has been that when teams break out of their own zone now, their fleet-of-foot forwards can break for open ice and look for the stretch pass in transition. The never-ending and sporadic crackdown on obstruction has prevented opposing defensemen from holding up forecheckers (most of the time) and the emphasis on go-go hockey has resulted in 10 skaters in a confined area moving at dangerously fast speeds.And that is resulting in more collisions and concussions than ever before. As pro football grapples with how to deal with its head problems while maintaining the hard-hitting spectacle that has made it the most popular of the big four, hockey is approaching a similar crossroads. And you can talk all you want about a lack of respect among players, and it&rsquo;s certainly a valid point, but a lot of it has to do with the speed of the game.When looking for solutions, the low-hanging fruit seems to be making rinks bigger, but there&rsquo;s a downside to doing that. The beauty of the game at the NHL level is that the space is confined. A player gets the puck at the faceoff circle and all it takes is for him to drop his shoulder and make a hard cut and he&rsquo;s in a prime scoring position. The same venue on the international surface almost puts him in another area code. What it also does is allows slow-footed plodders to use angles and smarts to defend. The truth is, there are international games that make the dead-puck era look like a roller coaster ride. And nobody wants to go back to that.There has been some talk among hockey brokers about actually bringing the red line back in, but isn&rsquo;t that a little like turning back the clock on evolution? Despite the dearth of goals, there&rsquo;s actually not much to complain about from an entertainment standpoint. To be sure, there are far more games now that are competitive, spirited and exciting than there are true clunkers. The teams that are successful in today&rsquo;s NHL are ones that constantly push the pace and those whose brains are as fast as their feet. The element of surprise is creating more turnovers, mistakes and chances than it has in years and the common refrain you hear from teams that lose games is they stopped moving their feet.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;HOCKEY IS A CONTACT SPORT. BECAUSE THERE IS NOWHERE TO GO, COLLISIONS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN</blockquote>And nobody wants to see that removed from the game. So what do we do? Do we continue to live with the seemingly inevitable incidents like the Grabner hit on Gerbe? Yes, because those are not the ones that are causing the real problems in the game. Hockey is, and will always be a contact sport, and because there is nowhere to go, collisions are going to happen. It&rsquo;s not the kind of thing anyone wants to see happen, but it is an occupational hazard that hockey players have come to accept. What they haven&rsquo;t signed up for is having their head drilled into the boards from behind or having some talentless goon take a run at them from the neutral zone.Those are the kinds of hits the NHL should be trying to eliminate from the game. The other collisions are part of the equation. They make the game exciting, but they also make it dangerous. As long as you have the best-conditioned and best-trained athletes in the world gliding on a quarter of an inch of steel, you&rsquo;re going to have speed and you&rsquo;re going to have two unstoppable forces meeting each other.CAN&rsquo;T GET ENOUGH CAMPBELL? CLICK ON <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM</a>FOR KEN&rsquo;S EXCLUSIVE COLUMN &#9632;

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November 18, 2013

ACE IN THE NO. 2 HOLE

PUCKPOLL

GO-GO SHARKS

A FITTINGLY FIERY FLAMES GOALIE