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.

February 23, 2009

The Hockey News - Feb-23-09

<p>CALVIN DE HAAN has even caught the scouts by surprise.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s come from totally off the radar,&rdquo; said one NHL scout of the 5-foot-11, 165-pound Oshawa Generals defenseman.</p><p>De Haan wasn&rsquo;t supposed to be in the Ontario League this season, let alone be considered a potential NHL first-rounder in June. He was headed back for a second Jr. A season with Kemptville, near Ottawa, prepared to weigh some handsome NCAA offers. But during the summer, he elected to report to the Generals.</p><p>&ldquo;I wanted to explore the NCAA route, but in the end Oshawa matched the education package, so it was pretty much a no-brainer to play in this league,&rdquo; de Haan said.</p><p>The 17-year-old was exceptional immediately. A big reason the Generals could trade defenseman Michael Del Zotto to London in the John Tavares deal was because de Haan runs the power play.</p><p>&ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t necessarily push Del Zotto out of a job, he gave Oshawa another option,&rdquo; the scout said.</p><p>A quick skater who&rsquo;s smart with the puck, de Haan has been something of a sensation and is among the OHL&rsquo;s rookie scoring leaders.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just trying to figure out where he&rsquo;s going to go in the draft,&rdquo; said the scout. &ldquo;He could anywhere from the 20s to the 50s.&rdquo;</p><p>De Haan has grown two inches since last season and added some pounds, but he still needs to bulk up and play stronger.</p><p>&ldquo;I have to improve my play in the (defensive) zone by being more physical,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Not by throwing the big, bone-crushing hits, but by rubbing guys out and being better in front of my own net.&rdquo;</p><p>De Haan&rsquo;s game reminds some of Brian Campbell at the same age.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a good one,&rdquo; said the scout. &ldquo;He could possibly be another Brian Campbell, but he&rsquo;ll need a similar development curve. Obviously if they redid the Campbell draft he&rsquo;s a first-rounder now.</p><p>&ldquo;(De Haan is) still not the biggest guy in the world, but because he&rsquo;s so good and so smart offensively, he can play the game and that&rsquo;s what will get Calvin de Haan into the NHL, too.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01707/9227330-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="765" height="1011"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>A smaller defenseman has to be in the right place all the time because he&rsquo;s not going to be able to recover by using his strength.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just trying to keep everything simple and so far it&rsquo;s working,&rdquo; de Haan said.</p><p>&ndash; JIM CRESSMAN</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02477/9227323-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="362" height="199"></div><h2><b>Calvin de Haan</b></h2><p>Oshawa Generals</p><p>Ht. 5-11</p><p>Wt. 165</p><p>Pos. D</p><p>Age 17</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03395/9227316-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="364" height="77"></div><h3><b>Draft Status</b></h3><p>Ranked 37th by ISS for the 2009 NHL draft</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-04296/9227309-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="198" height="100"></div><h2><b>AND COUNTING</b></h2><p>4</p><p>De Haan&rsquo;s position in the Ontario League&rsquo;s rookie scoring race</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-05254/9227302-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="283" height="161"></div><h2><b>Cougars&rsquo; Tyrell biding his time</b></h2><p>Dana Tyrell has more time than he wanted to savor his gold medal from the World Junior Championship. The 19-year-old Prince George Cougars center won&rsquo;t resume skating until June after undergoing knee surgery to repair a torn ACL and a partially torn MCL sustained during a world junior pretournament game. &ldquo;This is definitely weird,&rdquo; Tyrell said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not my usual routine.&rdquo; Instead of captaining the Cougars, Tyrell is rehabbing and spending time in his native Airdrie, Alta. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a different lifestyle,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I should be playing hockey, but I&rsquo;m sitting at home and going to the gym.&rdquo; Doctors envision a full recovery the 2007 Tampa Bay Lightning second-rounder.</p><p>&ndash; ROB VANSTONE</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-06209/9227295-1-eng-US/f0043-062.jpg" title="f0043-06" width="340" height="111"></div><h2><b>Boyish face belies position</b></h2><p>Jason Brooks looks much younger than his 32 years and is only in his first season as coach-GM, but he&rsquo;s putting his stamp on the Guelph Storm. He served as an assistant under Dave Barr, who left last summer to join the NHL&rsquo;s Avalanche. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re coaching against some excellent coaches and you learn quickly if you&rsquo;re cut out for the business,&rdquo; said Brooks, who admitted he&rsquo;s still growing into his GM role. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of little things you don&rsquo;t see when you&rsquo;re not in that position. Just trying to stay on top of things has been the biggest challenge.&rdquo; Brooks played with the London Knights team that went 3-60-3 in 1995-96. &ldquo;It makes you appreciate winning that much more,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>&ndash; JIM CRESSMAN</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-07179/9227288-1-eng-US/f0043-072.jpg" title="f0043-07" width="270" height="159"></div><h2><b>Wildcats going outdoors?</b></h2><p>The Moncton Wildcats are looking to host the first outdoor game in Canadian Hockey League history at the city&rsquo;s new track-and-field stadium, which could hold 15,000 to 18,000 fans for hockey. The tentative plan would see the game played on New Year&rsquo;s Eve, 2009. &ldquo;The stadium would have to be built (by its targeted late-fall completion),&rdquo; said Wildcats GM Bill Schurman, noting there are hurdles. &ldquo;The city would have to be interested. The business plan would have to work. There&rsquo;s obviously significantly more cost (doing) an outdoor game.&rdquo; But Schurman sees many positives: &ldquo;I think it would be great for the Wildcats, great for the city and great for the Quebec League.&rdquo;</p><p>&ndash; NEIL HODGE<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Prospects Unlimited

A surprise in General

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021387/9225985-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="639" height="708"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(VANEK:MIKE STOBE/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-03852/9225992-1-eng-US/f0009-032.jpg" title="f0009-03" width="131" height="145"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>F THEY EVER MAKE</b> a hockey version of the classic baseball flick <i>The Natural</i>, <b>Thomas Vanek</b> would have to play the lead role. The Buffalo sniper has five career hat tricks, the last four of which have been of the natural variety. That ties a league record set by Cy Denneny when he was skating for the original Ottawa Senators in the early 1920s.</p><p><b>WHO</b>&nbsp;<b>KNEW</b> the road to ruin went through the Eastern Conference final? Pittsburgh&rsquo;s swoon this season confirms representing the East in the Stanley Cup final is a death sentence. Tampa hasn&rsquo;t won a playoff round since claiming the &rsquo;04 Cup. Carolina hasn&rsquo;t been back to the post-season since winning it all in &rsquo;06. Ottawa, the &rsquo;07 finalists, will likely miss the playoffs this year after being swept in the first round last season.</p><p><b>THE COVER OF</b> this THN issue features a fantasy look (for now) at Vincent Lecavalier in a Habs uniform. We gave him No. 44 on the basis that his No. 4 is retired for Jean Beliveau and that Roman Hamrlik, who currently wears 44, knows where he&rsquo;d rank on the totem pole if Lecavalier came to town.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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In Every Issue

Snapshots

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IN THIS ISSUE

WESTERN CONFERENCE

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-031176/9225892-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="514" height="509"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(GRAVES:SCOTT LEVY/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>NO. 4 FROM &rsquo;94 Adam Graves</b> becomes the fourth Ranger from New York&rsquo;s 1994 Stanley Cup to have his number retired.</p><p><b>STILL KEANE</b> 41-year-old Mike Keane recently played his 1,500th pro game with the AHL&rsquo;s Manitoba Moose.</p><p><b>TRULY A PLUS</b> Boston&rsquo;s Wideman, Wheeler, Krejci and Savard own the NHL&rsquo;s top four plus/minus marks through early February.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04653/9225885-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg" title="f0008-04" width="518" height="509"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>COACH KILLERS Cory Clouston</b> is the fourth man to step behind the Ottawa bench in less than a calendar year.</p><p><b>DUCKS DROPPING</b> Anaheim has slipped from a team with Stanley Cup visions to just trying to slip into the post-season.</p><p><b>SLAP SHOT, TAKE II</b> Really? They&rsquo;re remaking the classic? This has bad idea written all over it.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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+PLUS MINUS-

<div class="byline">with Jason Kay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-012096/9225595-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="765" height="643"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MARK WILSON)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span> HAD THE EXTREME GOOD FORTUNE of attending Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa Bay, a potential once-in-a-lifetime experience made significantly more sublime by the fact I&rsquo;m a diehard fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers.</p><p>Even if my team hadn&rsquo;t won, it would have been a magical weekend. The spectacle the event has become &ndash; with week-long celebrations, the interactive NFL Experience, over-the-top league-sponsored tailgate parties, stirring national anthem and <i>God Bless America</i> renditions by big-time acts and a grandiose half-time show performed by a legend &ndash; is unparalleled. Heck, I almost forgot the gasp-inducing fly-over by the Blue Angels.</p><p>That the game was spectacular and dramatic was a huge bonus.</p><p>One weekend prior, I attended the NHL all-star festivities in Montreal. It, too, was special, but not for the same reasons. It was memorable because, for the most part, it wasn&rsquo;t trying to be the Super Bowl.</p><p>The NHL works best when it accepts what it is and leverages its strengths. That&rsquo;s what transpired in Quebec.</p><p>Being yourself in Montreal means doing things with dignity and class. It means an erudite Bob Gainey providing a toast, in both English and French, at The Hockey News VIP party. It means five greying Habs heroes &ndash; Guy Lafleur, Henri Richard, Jean Beliveau, Dickie Moore and Yvan Cournoyer &ndash; being made available at a very special, intimate news conference, then later introducing them to an adoring crowd during the game. It means an inspired version of the Canadian anthem, performed by a highly talented, but lesser-known choir.</p><p>While there was some cheese with the fine dining, the event mostly worked because it was genuine.</p><p>Of course, that the Canadiens have begun celebrations for their 100th anniversary and that the locals are more gaga for hockey than ever helped elevate the weekend&rsquo;s coolness factor.</p><p>But isn&rsquo;t that the point? Too frequently over the past couple decades, in the name of trying to &ldquo;grow the game,&rdquo; the NHL has ventured into non-traditional hockey markets trying to win converts with too much hocus pocus. While we&rsquo;re not suggesting the NHL disband its marketing department, the game, if it&rsquo;s good enough, will sell itself. Montreal proved how successful this league can be when it simply celebrates what it already has.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021774/9225588-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="524" height="289"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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Different ways to be super

<div class="byline">BRANDON GENTILE, DETROIT</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021509/9225688-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="881" height="990"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BRUCE BENNETT STUDIOS/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03968/9225681-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="176" height="179"></div><p>What is the NHL up to these days?</p><p>THN&rsquo;s magazine <i>60 Moments That Changed The Game</i> stated: &ldquo;In 1994 the NHL was hipper than the NBA, according to <i>Sports Illustrated</i>.&rdquo;</p><p>So, it&rsquo;s simple. Implement changes that would make the game as successful as it used to be: Remove the instigator penalty, take out the overthe-glass delay-of-game penalty, allow hand passes in all zones, take out the trapezoid, etc.</p><p>Finally, we need to bring back all of the old jerseys for frequent use and not just as one-offs, because they are so unique.</p><p>Let&rsquo;s look back at why the game used to be so successful and improve today&rsquo;s product.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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The good ol’ days

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-012088/9225650-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="247" height="203"></div><h2><b>Free Swag!</b></h2><p>Each issue, we&rsquo;ll give a cool THN hat to the top letter.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>"Any Canadian city deserves the Islanders more than Kansas City</b></blockquote><h2><b>The next generation</b></h2><p>In the issue about fighting (Jan. 26), you had opinions from an enforcer, a GM, a former ref, a hockey researcher and a parent. Now I will tell you what a kid has to say about fighting.</p><p>I&rsquo;m 11 years old and have played hockey since I was four. When I watch a fight on TV or during a Dauphin Kings game (the local junior team), I think fighting should stay. Why? Because it&rsquo;s a tradition and brings in big crowds.</p><p>What I want to eliminate from hockey are those lame fights where the combatants aren&rsquo;t even mad at each other. They should also have rules against taking the visor off. I like the idea of a visor that can just flip up.</p><p>Luke Michaleski, Dauphin, Man.</p><h2><b>Capital losses</b></h2><p>It was the wrong move for the Sens to fire coach Craig Hartsburg.</p><p>Everyone knows the team has been horrible this season because of the players, not the coach. I was rooting for Ottawa to pull out of its slump and then have a successful run in the playoffs.</p><p>But it&rsquo;s too late for that and the season has become all about where they&rsquo;ll end up in the draft lottery.</p><p>If you&rsquo;ve watched the Senators play this season, it&rsquo;s clear they have no jump in their step and they always look so tired.</p><p>Wrong move, Bryan Murray!</p><p>Stephen Hickson, Stittsville, Ont.</p><h2><b>Spinning in circles</b></h2><p>I&rsquo;m a Devils fan, but a possible move of the Islanders to Kansas City concerns me.</p><p>My own favorite team started off in Kansas City, but was so unpopular there that it left two years later. Sure, there&rsquo;s a brand new arena there now, but Winnipeg&rsquo;s MTS Centre opened in 2004 and I guarantee you the fan support would be far better there.</p><p>The last thing the NHL needs is the Islanders to move to Kansas City, only to have another relocation take place a few years later.</p><p>I&rsquo;m not saying the Isles should move, but if they do, Winnipeg or any other Canadian city deserves them more than Kansas City.</p><p>Peter Stern, Marlboro, N.J.</p><h2><b>Hab-solutely great</b></h2><p>I watched the All-Star Game and skills competition with my friends and I have just three things to say.</p><p>First, I would like to thank the Canadiens organization for a great show. Second, I would like to thank the players for a great game and for the time they spent with the fans. Third, the NHL needs more players like the &lsquo;Great Eight.&rsquo; There&rsquo;s not a player out there who enjoys himself more on the ice and around the fans than Alex Ovechkin.</p><p>I also loved to see all the legendary Canadiens at the game. It was an awesome show.</p><p>Ricky Lank, Yarmouth, N.S.</p><h2><b>Olympic memories</b></h2><p>I am 62 years old and can remember when the 1960 U.S. Olympic hockey team beat the Soviets. It was much more significant than the 1980 win.</p><p>No one anticipated it would happen and there was limited media coverage during and after this historic event; video was not widely used back then.</p><p>Even though the Winter Classic is all about the NHL, let hockey fans honor the upcoming 50th anniversary of this feat by playing the outdoor game at the Squaw Valley, Calif., venue.</p><p>James Kazalis, Rutherford, N.J.</p><h2><b>Southern comfort</b></h2><p>I know most hockey fans up north don&rsquo;t believe Nashville and the other &ldquo;NASCAR cities&rdquo; deserve NHL teams, but I am here to tell you there are some real hockey fans down south.</p><p>We are teaching our kids and adults the game of hockey. Youth hockey leagues are growing every year and high school hockey has increased from about eight teams in the area to 25.</p><p>There are a lot of us NASCAR fans who also love hockey and go to every game.</p><p>Go Predators!</p><p>Deric Hines, Nashville, Tenn.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Crowd Shots

<div class="byline">WITH DEVIN SETOGUCHI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012320/9225726-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="575" height="669"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(SETOGUCHI:ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>GARY GREWAL FROM ABBOTS-FORD, B.C., ASKS <b>What&rsquo;s it like playing with Joe Thornton?</b></p><p>It&rsquo;s great. I lucked out right from the start of training camp, playing with one of the best passers in the league. Patty (Marleau) is having such a great year as well, I feel honored to get on the ice every night with those two guys.</p><p>NIKA HEGYES FROM QUALICUM BEACH, B.C., ASKS <b>How exciting is to play on one of the best teams in the league?</b></p><p>I&rsquo;m sure it beats playing on a team that&rsquo;s not doing very well. It&rsquo;s fun to go out every night and play. It&rsquo;s a privilege, especially with me being a young guy in the league.</p><p>AMOL VASANI FROM SASKA-TOON, SASK., ASKS <b>What&rsquo;s your favorite memory of playing for the Saskatoon Blades?</b></p><p>Making the playoffs my second year. Our first year, we didn&rsquo;t have a very good team, we lost a whole bunch of games. I think we won seven out of 72. So making the playoffs my second year with a new coach was pretty memorable.</p><p>JASON STEVENSON FROM BRACEBRIDGE, ONT., ASKS <b>Who is the NHL&rsquo;s best player?</b></p><p>Alex Ovechkin. We don&rsquo;t see him very often, but when you score 50 goals two or three years in a row, you&rsquo;re a pretty good player.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021554/9225719-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="79" height="81"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p>Visit <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a> to ask your questions of NHL stars!<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Fan Shootout

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05443/9225764-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="765" height="551"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(HEMSKY:ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04568/9225771-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="151" height="148"></div><p>Adam,</p><p>I think in a couple of years the NHL&rsquo;s next great team will be the Edmonton Oilers.</p><p>They have an amazing player in Ales Hemsky and a solid cast of up-and-comers (Andrew Cogliano, Sam Gagner, Tom Gilbert, Denis Grebeshkov, etc.), but they desperately need someone to take the weight off Hemsky&rsquo;s shoulders. Do you think giving up players such as Robert Nilsson, Ladislav Smid or Shawn Horcoff to land a top-end talent such as Vincent Lecavalier or Ilya Kovalchuk is worth it, or should the team try to be patient?</p><p><i>Taylor Ronayne, Vernon, B.C.</i></p><p>Taylor,</p><p>I agree that the Oilers have a bright future. I also agree that they need some veteran-type finishers to round into a true contender.</p><p>But unless GM Steve Tambellini throws around some $90-million contract offers this summer, it&rsquo;s a virtual certainty that Edmonton will have to sacrifice some of its young talent to take the next step. Patience is a virtue only for a short period; a team can become a spinster of Stanley Cup contention if it waits too long to make its move.</p><p>SUBMIT YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS AT <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a></p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-06313/9225757-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg" title="f0006-06" width="79" height="81"></div><p>Need more of your questions answered? Read Proteau&rsquo;s &lsquo;Ask Adam&rsquo; column every Friday at <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

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ASK Adam

<p>Which of these rumored-to-be-moved players is the most desirable?</p><p><b>V. Lecavalier, TB 52%</b></p><p>J. Bouwmeester, Fla 25%</p><p>C. Pronger, Ana 8%</p><p>J. Spezza, Ott 6%</p><p>M. Gaborik, Min 3%</p><p>T. Kaberle, Tor 3%</p><p>N. Antropov, Tor 1%</p><p>M. Schneider, Atl 1%</p><p>K. Tkachuk, StL 1%</p><p>D. Weight, NYI 1%</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-07192/9225809-1-eng-US/f0006-072.jpg" title="f0006-07" width="492" height="771"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(LECAVALIER:SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHHY)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>SPIT IT OUT!</b></h2><p>GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST <i>SEND US AN E-MAIL</i></p><p><a href="mailto:letters@thehockeynews.com">letters@thehockeynews.com</a></p><p><i>OR LOG ON</i></p><p><a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a></p><p><i>SEND US SNAIL MAIL</i></p><p>Letters, The Hockey News 25 Sheppard Ave. W., Suite 100 Toronto, ON., M2N 6S7, Canada</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-08114/9225802-1-eng-US/f0006-082.jpg" title="f0006-08" width="79" height="81"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>BONUS!</b></h2><p>All subscribers get exclusive access on <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a> to digital magazine archives!<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0006-07

POLL RESULTS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JAY GREENBERG</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021411/9225847-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(SHANAHAN: RONALD JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-012079/9225854-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="231" height="230"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>O</span>UT ON THE PASTURE where the thoroughbred Brendan Shanahan had been sent, a thoroughly determined 650-goal scorer kept doing what he does best, firing away.</p><p>&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t just me with a bucket of pucks,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I would take anywhere from 500 to 1,000 shots off what I thought were game-simulated movements.</p><p>&ldquo;Good passes, bad passes, slapshot passes, soft passes. It&rsquo;s not the same as playing in an NHL game, but something I have always done, not just in the last eight months, has been to try to simulate a game shot.&rdquo;</p><p>Since joining the Devils lineup on Jan. 19, the 40-year-old <b>Shanahan</b> has been simulating the 30-year-old Shanahan, scoring three goals in his first five games.</p><p>&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t like he was trying to decide if he wanted to play or not,&rdquo; said Devils coach Brent Sutter. &ldquo;He committed himself to the best condition he could be in when (the signing) happened and we&rsquo;re glad it happened here.&rdquo;</p><p>Mats Sundin, off to a slower mid-season return, can eat his heart out, although probably not to the degree of the goal-starved Rangers, who left Shanahan hanging for months before deciding not to bring him back, or the Flyers, who couldn&rsquo;t make salary cap space for him.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have any bitterness towards (Rangers GM) Glen (Sather), I don&rsquo;t think he intentionally deceived me,&rdquo; Shanahan said. &ldquo;He was one of the guys in the organization who still believed I could play. There were others who didn&rsquo;t, it&rsquo;s as simple as that.</p><p>&ldquo;I worked with Paul Holmgren in Hartford and he&rsquo;s a really good man. Things had gone cold at that point (mid-November) with New Jersey so I drove down (from his Manhattan home).</p><p>&ldquo;It was an hour and 15 minutes from the Lincoln Tunnel to the (Flyers&rsquo;) practice rink. My family could have visited me on weekends and we were ready to do that. I thought we had a deal in mid-November (for $550,000), but they had salary cap problems they couldn&rsquo;t get around. My preference was to be in the Northeast, but I didn&rsquo;t necessarily think it would be as seamless as it&rsquo;s been in New Jersey. I got to (the Prudential Center) today in 25 minutes.&rdquo;</p><p>The Devils signed Shanahan for a pro-rated $800,000, their only significant cost being to Jay Pandolfo&rsquo;s playing time. They haven&rsquo;t had Martin Brodeur since Nov. 1, probably don&rsquo;t have a top-pair defenseman, but what they do have, thanks to the resurgence of Patrik Elias, the blossoming of Zach Parise, the arrival of Travis Zajac and the addition of Shanahan, is big-time scoring depth.</p><p>The more the merrier. And Shanahan, whom New Jersey drafted second overall back in 1987, keeps the merriment more in his eyes than his words as he explains, maturely, why reports of his demise were premature.</p><p>&ldquo;I guess I had some questions because everybody else was questioning,&rdquo; Shanahan said. &ldquo;But before I got hurt last year, I was the leading goal-scorer on the team. I didn&rsquo;t understand the urgency to retire.</p><p>&ldquo;I had a knee-on-knee hit against Edmonton (Jan. 5) and kept playing on it because we were in a playoff race and I didn&rsquo;t feel like taking two or three weeks off. Two weeks later it (became) my left hip, then my right groin, then my left knee.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021678/9225840-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="926" height="662"><figcaption class="caption-body">Shanahan returns to his first team, the Devils, after two years in New York. <span class="photo-credit">(CLOUSTON:ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been hurt much in my career and had never hurt my knee, and thought I would play through it.</p><p>&ldquo;You get to a certain age where if your game catches a cold it&rsquo;s (perceived) as terminal pneumonia. That&rsquo;s just part of sports you have to tune out and trust your instincts. And a professional athlete makes a career on his instincts.&rdquo;</p><p>After 22 seasons, those are not lost in eight months.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0007-02

Home again for Shanahan

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-05463/9225923-1-eng-US/f0008-052.jpg" title="f0008-05" width="579" height="705"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(SILLINGER:ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>FIVE</b></h2><p>The first of Sillinger&rsquo;s 10 trades saw him go to Anaheim with <b>Stu Grimson</b> heading to Detroit.</p><h2><b>FOUR</b></h2><p>In a swap between Columbus and Dallas, another savvy vet, <b>Darryl Sydor,</b> ended up in Ohio.</p><h2><b>THREE</b></h2><p><b>Brent Johnson</b> went from St. Louis to Phoenix before the goalie began to shine for the Caps.</p><h2><b>TWO</b></h2><p>Buffalo stalwart <b>Teppo Numminen</b> crossed paths with Sillinger in a deal between Dallas and Phoenix.</p><h2><b>ONE</b></h2><p>Flames star <b>Daymond Langkow</b> went from Tampa to Philly in a package involving&hellip;you got it.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-05

Starting from 5

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN DIXON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011993/9225954-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="813" height="1084"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(GIONTA:BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>S A SMALL PLAYER in the NHL, New Jersey Devils right winger <b>Brian Gionta</b> knows one of the keys to success is keeping your enemies close &ndash; and then getting away from them as fast as possible.</p><p>&ldquo;For me, a lot of it is my speed, my quickness, getting in and out of corners, getting in and out of tight spots as quick as possible,&rdquo; said the 5-foot-7, 175-pound Gionta. &ldquo;If you keep getting hit by the bigger guys, it takes a toll on your body toward the end of the year.</p><p>&ldquo;Stay as close to the bigger guys as possible, too, when you&rsquo;re in the corners. If they&rsquo;re right on top of you, you&rsquo;re less likely to get hit harder. They just have to push on you.&rdquo;</p><p>Usually, being smaller increases your chances of going unnoticed or being underrated. Gionta, however, said having a slight stature can actually make you a target for big guys trying to crack highlight reels by cracking you.</p><p>&ldquo;I would say there are certain times where guys will try to take a run at you, try to get a big hit on the smaller guys,&rdquo; the 30-year-old said. &ldquo;It looks better that way, so you definitely have to make sure you know where everyone is on the ice at all times, so you don&rsquo;t come through (an opening) and all of a sudden a guy&rsquo;s there or you get blind-sided by somebody coming out of the corner.&rdquo;</p><p>Anybody chasing glory by laying out diminutive Chicago Blackhawks sophomore Patrick Kane had better be prepared to absorb some retaliation. The 20-year-old right winger said earlier this year he was prepared to create space for himself by showing an overzealous checker that his stick is multi-purpose.</p><p>So, has it come to that yet?</p><p>&ldquo;Yeah, there&rsquo;s been a couple of occasions like that, where that&rsquo;s happened, but you obviously don&rsquo;t want to do it every game and put your team down for two to four minutes with a high stick,&rdquo; said Kane, who is optimistically listed at 5-foot-10. &ldquo;But in some situations I think if a team keeps running at me and running at me, you&rsquo;re going to have to get your stick up to send a message.&rdquo;</p><p>As a small defenseman, Toronto Maple Leaf Ian White has to make sure he&rsquo;s constantly putting himself in the right spots.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say positioning is very crucial,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t have the extra wingspan to take away space. You&rsquo;ve got to be in a good position all the time.&rdquo;</p><p>Usually, being an undersized blueliner is viewed as even more of a detriment than being an undersized forward. But the 5-foot-10 White believes there are times when his smaller frame actually provides a bit of an advantage.</p><p>&ldquo;I would say you&rsquo;ve got a lower center of gravity, so you can kind of get underneath the bigger guys and kind of move them that way,&rdquo; said White, 24. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re a real big guy and a small guy is coming to hit you, you almost have to get to his level to make it kind of even so that definitely has helped me in the past.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0009-01

Little problem

<div class="byline">Jay Feaster </div><div class="byline">THN Blogger</div><div class="byline">&#x2013; Jay Feaster won a Stanley Cup as Tampa Bay&#x2019;s GM in 2004</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-012187/9226030-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MCKEGNEY: STEVE BABINEAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-07269/9226037-1-eng-US/f0010-072.jpg" title="f0010-07" width="166" height="214"></div><p>MY MENTORS IN THE GAME WERE iconic GMs such as Colorado&rsquo;s Pierre Lacroix and New Jersey&rsquo;s Lou Lamoriello.</p><p>The inner workings of their teams were never discussed in public or played out in the media. I admired the way they operated under the radar; when I became GM in Tampa Bay in 2002, I attempted to run the Lightning in the same manner.</p><p>When hiring personnel, I made it clear that our business was to stay within our own operation. While our scouts were free to collect information from other scouts who were willing to dish about their own franchises, we wouldn&rsquo;t reciprocate. The penalty for sharing internal business with other teams&rsquo; personnel was &ldquo;termination for cause.&rdquo;</p><p>Similarly, if we were talking with another NHL club about a possible trade and I brought our scouts or other personnel into the discussion, it was stated up front the talks were to be kept confidential. My colleagues knew that anything discussed with me would stay within our organization; failure to do so would cost the offending employee his job.</p><p>Unfortunately, this standard was not followed by all teams. I knew that, in most cases, if I called my 29 colleagues or perhaps sent an email advising of a player&rsquo;s availability, the media would know about it chapter-and-verse before long.</p><p>Some of my colleagues used the media as a sounding board, knowing they could float any information like a trial balloon, which allowed management to gauge public and industry reaction. Others immediately went to the media in hopes there would be reciprocity down the road. Still others, I&rsquo;m convinced, shared the info in hopes that public disclosure would become a distraction in our dressing room and derail whatever team success we might be having at the time.</p><p>It happened to me in 2006 when I knew our captain, <b>Dave</b>&nbsp;<b>Andreychuk,</b> had reached the end of his career. I wanted to meet with him and tell him I had contacted each team to gauge interest in his services. I sent out a memo via fax to every NHL team and within hours it was in the hands of the media, who phoned Andreychuk to tell him before I could meet with him in an orderly fashion. To this day I regret the manner in which Andreychuk found out about that memo.</p><p>Similarly, when I began making phone calls prior to the trade deadline last season regarding interest in Brad Richards, I had a fellow GM ask me if I realized that by contacting all 29 other teams in this manner it would guarantee the news would be leaked to the media within hours. I knew that, but I had to make the calls. I made it a point to alert Brad and his agent beforehand.</p><p>Although trade speculation is fun and interesting is for fans and media, I remain firmly convinced that discussing potential deals under the radar is in the best interest of the franchise.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-031004/9226023-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="79" height="81"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>Best from the Net</b></h2><p>What we&rsquo;re saying at <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">TheHockeyNews.com</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-01

Trade talk? Shhhhh!!!

<p>What was your curfew on the road and what was the penalty for breaking it?</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021584/9226082-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="348" height="484"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BOUGHNER: BRIAN BAHR/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Tony McKegney (1978-91)</b></h2><p>It was typically 11:30 p.m. and the fine was $100. If we won that night, we&rsquo;d usually go out. Scotty Bowman used to pay the doorman to have guys sign a stick when they came in late through the back door. In the morning, he&rsquo;d just see who signed the stick.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-05510/9226075-1-eng-US/f0010-052.jpg" title="f0010-05" width="700" height="960"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(TIKHONOV: JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Viktor Tikhonov (present)</b></h2><p>I don&rsquo;t think we have one, but most guys know their bodies and are responsible about it. I try to be in bed by 11 p.m.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-06382/9226068-1-eng-US/f0010-062.jpg" title="f0010-06" width="505" height="585"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ANDREYCHUK: JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Bob Boughner (1995-2006)</b></h2><p>It was 11:30 p.m., but most coaches trusted us. No one really called our rooms to check.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-02

Generation GAP

<div class="byline">with Ken Campbell</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021667/9226134-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012131/9226141-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="206" height="244"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>HE LAST TIME THE RUSSIANS won an Olympic gold medal, they showed up in France in 1992 as something called the Unified Team. They wore &lsquo;EUN&rsquo; on their sweaters, which stood for Equipe Union National, and after their win over Canada in the gold medal game, they watched as the five-ring flag was raised and the Olympic anthem was played.</p><p>Most of the players sang the national anthem of the former Soviet Union anyway, which just goes to show you can take the boy out of the hammer and sickle, but&hellip;</p><p>Five Olympics and 16 years later, there&rsquo;s an excellent chance the Russians will skate away with their first-ever Olympic title as a single-entity country stocked with millionaires, not colonels in the army with free apartments and designations as &lsquo;Masters of Sport.&rsquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>Nobody is going to touch the Russians</b></blockquote><p>The men&rsquo;s hockey tournament in Vancouver starts in one year, give or take a few days, and the emboldened Russian program is primed to take a serious run at the gold medal. And the major reason why THN is picking the Russians to win gold in what might be the last Olympic Games with NHL players is simple &ndash; the Russian team is by far the most talented team in the tournament.</p><p>To be sure, Russia doesn&rsquo;t have the roster depth of countries such as Canada, Sweden and U.S., but they more than make up for it with mind-blowing skill among their top-end players, all of whom have ample NHL experience and veteran savvy. In fact, if both Anton Babchuk and Ilya Bryzgalov end up on the roster, there&rsquo;s a good chance the Russians could lead the tournament with seven players who have Stanley Cup rings, joining Pavel Datsyuk, Slava Kozlov, Sergei Fedorov, Alexei Kovalev and Sergei Zubov.</p><p>And now that <b>Alex Ovechkin</b> and Evgeni Malkin seem to have kissed and made up, figuratively speaking of course, the Russians will not have to deal with any petty jealousies or rivalries once the Games begin. And because of that, the Russian team will be able to throw out a first line that boasts the top-scoring left winger in the NHL and the holder of the Hart and Art Ross Trophies (Ovechkin), the top-scoring center in the NHL (Malkin) and the right winger with by far the best points-per-game ratio in the NHL this season <b>(Alexander Semin).</b></p><p>Opponents trying to shut down the top unit will then be faced with a second line that might consist of Pavel Datsyuk between Ilya Kovalchuk on the left and Nikolai Zherdev on the right. Of course, the Russians might see Alexei Kovalev as a better fit for the right side on that line.</p><p>(Regardless, the Russians will be loaded down the right side, period. We have NHL refugee and Kontinental Hockey League star Alexander Radulov penciled in as their fourth-line right winger.)</p><p>You get the idea. The Russians will have two scoring lines that will be without peer in the Olympics and in a short-term, intense tournament, that might be all they&rsquo;ll need. Slava Kozlov or Sergei Fedorov will likely hold down the No. 3 and 4 center spots, giving Russia as much strength down the middle as any team not named Canada in the tournament.</p><p>On the back end, once again the Russians might not have the depth of other countries, but their top end consists of a terrific combination of veteran talent and two-way play with a nice touch of offense. Andrei Markov will likely be the stud of the group, with (presumably healthy) Sergei Zubov and Sergei Gonchar filling in at Nos. 2 and 3. And we don&rsquo;t know about you, but we really like the look of a shutdown tandem consisting of Anton Volchenkov and Fedor Tyutin.</p><p>Russia will also have strong goal-tending, something they&rsquo;ve often lacked in international play, with patriated Russian Evgeni Nabokov, who just happens to be one of the best goaltenders in the NHL today.</p><p>The way we see it 365 days before the puck drops, Russia will have plenty of company among the other elites in Canada, Sweden and U.S. As usual, Canada has enough talent to stock two teams &ndash; which is as it should be, given Canada&rsquo;s sheer domination in terms of numbers.</p><p>The problem for Canada will be which players to choose. At center for example, it has Sidney Crosby, Joe Thornton, Vincent Lecavalier, Ryan Getzlaf, Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Jonathan Toews, Eric Staal and Marc Savard among whom to select.</p><p>But even though Canada will be strong up front, we wonder about a defense corps whose only veteran presence should come from Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer; that is, if Niedermayer decides whether or not he wants to play hockey at all next season. Canada will also face enormous amounts of pressure playing at home.</p><p>Sweden also possesses a ton of top-end talent, but it&rsquo;s not a group that will be able to keep up with the likes of Canada and Russia offensively. The U.S. is promising, but a little too young and not battle-tested enough to win this time around.</p><p>The Czechs should be strong at the top end at all positions, but their depth drops off precipitously. The same goes for Slovakia and Finland, a team that will rely on speed, grit and the goaltending of Miikka Kiprusoff and/or Niklas Backstrom.</p><p>But the way we see it right here, right now, nobody is going to touch the Russians. They won&rsquo;t be wearing the CCCP &ndash; or the EUN &ndash; on their chests, but that won&rsquo;t stop them from wearing a gold medal around their necks in 2010.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021332/9226127-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="588" height="304"></div><p><b>2010 OLYMPICS</b> With the Winter Games in Vancouver just one year away, here&rsquo;s an early look at the potential rosters of the top seven hockey-playing nations. Sweden beat rival Finland in the gold medal game at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03973/9226120-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="2734" height="2086"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011901/9226113-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="55" height="57"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p>For Ken&rsquo;s web-exclusive <b>Campbell&rsquo;s Cuts</b> column, visit <a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-02

Red dawn

<div class="byline">Aaron Portzline</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021578/9226172-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JEFF GROSS/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-012107/9226179-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="205" height="245"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>IG, LOUD CROWDS HAVE RETURNED to Nationwide Arena. Local TV ratings are soaring. The Arena District&rsquo;s hardcore hockey bar &ndash; the R-Bar &ndash; has a line snaking out the door, even in frigid weather when the Blue Jackets are on the road.</p><p>As winter begins losing its annual fight with spring, Columbus fans &ndash; who cheer for the only NHL club that&rsquo;s never made the Stanley Cup playoffs &ndash; are bracing for their first taste of warm-weather hockey.</p><p>And in his suite-level office high above the ice, the pressure is mounting on Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson.</p><p>Howson is known to keep a low profile, which is easy to do in a city with Ohio State sports, and on a club with a gregarious coach (Ken Hitchcock), outspoken players (Mike Commodore, Michael Peca), a burgeoning superstar (Rick Nash) and a slew of up-and-comers.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>Howson will not cave to public pressure</b></blockquote><p>But on March 4, when the NHL trade deadline arrives, all eyes in Columbus will turn towards the GM. The Jackets have two glaring needs &ndash; a No. 1 center and an offensive defenseman, somebody with skill who can quarterback a power play. (The Blue Jackets have been last in the league on the power play all season.)</p><p>Of the two needs, Howson is said to consider acquiring a No. 1 center as his top priority. Currently, the Jackets are playing Manny Malhotra, R.J. Umberger, Michael Peca and Jason Williams down the middle. Not exactly the 1982-83 New York Islanders. And three of those players &ndash; Umberger is the exception &ndash; can become unrestricted free agents this summer.</p><p>The Jackets, who seem intent on hovering around the No. 8 spot in the West, are steering Howson toward a very difficult decision.</p><p>He must weigh the hopes of a bright future with the market&rsquo;s desperate need &ndash; financially and emotionally &ndash; to make the playoffs. It says here Howson will not trade a first round pick to get into the playoffs. Rather, he would only trade a first-rounder to add a player who could make an already play off worthy club more dangerous; a threat to go deep. (Atlanta&rsquo;s draft-pick-and-prospect purging at the 2007 trade deadline taught us this lesson, didn&rsquo;t it?)</p><p>It&rsquo;s also highly unlikely Howson will part with any of his up-and-coming  studs. Forwards Nikita Filatov, <b>Jake Voracek</b> and Derick Brassard, defenseman Kris Russell and, obviously, goaltender Steve Mason should be considered strictly off-limits. That group has won three of the NHL&rsquo;s four rookie-of-the-month awards this season.</p><p>So, what might Howson do?</p><p>Count the Blue Jackets out of the running for big-name &ldquo;franchise&rdquo; players such as Ottawa&rsquo;s Jason Spezza, Tampa Bay&rsquo;s Vincent Lecavalier or even Scott Gomez and Chris Drury of the New York Rangers. They&rsquo;re making too much money and Howson and team president Mike Priest are horrified at the thought of not being able to re-sign the above-mentioned &ldquo;off-limits&rdquo; players when their contracts come due in the next few seasons.</p><p>Don&rsquo;t expect the Jackets to make a play for Minnesota&rsquo;s Marian &lsquo;The Groin&rsquo; Gaborik or Florida&rsquo;s Jay Bouwmeester, either, as they&rsquo;ll command a high price for players heading toward unrestricted free agency.</p><p>Instead, look for smaller moves, involving veterans with expiring contracts or youngsters with considerable upside. Put St. Louis&rsquo; Keith Tkachuk down in the former category and Toronto&rsquo;s Nik Antropov or Ottawa&rsquo;s Antoine Vermette in the latter. But only if the asking price is reasonable.</p><p>One thing is certain: Howson will not cave to public pressure and make a move he doesn&rsquo;t feel is wise. He will take the heat, if necessary.</p><p>Look at his past two trade deadlines, including 2006-07 as assistant GM of the Edmonton Oilers. Two years ago, the Oilers &ndash; in a highly controversial move &ndash; traded Ryan Smyth to the Islanders when they couldn&rsquo;t come to terms on a contract extension at the trade deadline. The ultimate decision was made by then-Oilers GM Kevin Lowe, but Howson was on board with the decision and still defends it.</p><p>Last year, Howson and the Blue Jackets went into the trade deadline only five points out of the playoffs, but ended up getting kicked in the groin.</p><p>First, they lost out on a bidding war for center Brad Richards (he was traded from Tampa Bay to Dallas instead); lost their captain when Adam Foote forced his way back to Colorado; and, lost their No. 1 center (such as he was) when Sergei Fedorov was sent to Washington.</p><p>Ultimately, the fans&rsquo; disappointment in Howson&rsquo;s first Columbus trade deadline performance abated, as the deals worked out all right for the Blue Jackets. Foote turned into a first round pick that allowed the Jackets to acquire Umberger in a draft-day trade with Philadelphia. (Who wouldn&rsquo;t do a Foote-for-Umberger trade today?)</p><p>But the fans won&rsquo;t be so forgiving or patient this time around. They&rsquo;re starting to believe in this club. They&rsquo;re showing up in the building. They&rsquo;re watching on TV. They&rsquo;re celebrating in local watering holes.</p><p>And they&rsquo;re waiting and watching as March 4 approaches.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-02

Slow hand

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011884/9226287-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(GERRY THOMAS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>AT THE TIME, fans were unhappy to see a favorite son leave town &ndash; but a decade later, few are displeased with the deal.</p><p>That&rsquo;s because the principal player the Flames received in exchange for Fleury was a then-18-year-old defenseman named Robyn Regehr.</p><p>Talk about your swap of polar opposite personalities and players.</p><p>The mercurial Fleury wore his heart on his sleeve on and off the ice and could be counted on to provide at least 30 goals for most of his NHL tenure; Regehr hasn&rsquo;t yet scored 30 goals in his entire career and if his heart is on his sleeve, that sleeve is buried beneath a warm, protective layer of unshakable calm that&rsquo;s helped him blossom into one of the league&rsquo;s elite defensive defensemen.</p><p>It&rsquo;s not the most pleasant memory for Regehr to recall the way his professional career &ndash; and his life &ndash; almost ended as it was about to begin, because of an horrific automobile accident he and older brother Dinho were involved in the summer after the Flames acquired him.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011660/9226280-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="1166" height="1068"><figcaption class="caption-body">A GM in the East calls Robyn Regehr a &ldquo;brute&rdquo; &ndash; and, at $4 <span class="photo-credit">(SCOTT LEVY/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t talked about the accident for a long time,&rdquo; said Regehr of the crash, which broke both his legs and killed two young people in the car that collided with his. &ldquo;What really brings back the memories of that time is when I look down at my legs and see the really nasty scars down there.</p><p>&ldquo;I think about how horrible it was at first and how great my family and friends were about the whole thing, and the type of work I had to put in just to get back living normally again. But at no point in that whole time did I ever think I wasn&rsquo;t going to play hockey again.&rdquo;</p><p>Instead, Regehr fast-tracked his rehabilitation and played 57 NHL games for Calgary in 1999-2000. It was an amazing achievement for the guy who grew up in Rosthern, Sask. But it was only the beginning of an ascent that, at least in the opinion of Regehr&rsquo;s peers and pro talent evaluators, has him consistently mentioned in any discussion about the league&rsquo;s most feared lockdown defenders.</p><p>&ldquo;Robyn Regehr is an absolute brute, but he is where he is because he&rsquo;s probably the smartest brute there is in hockey today,&rdquo; said an Eastern Conference GM. &ldquo;You wanna talk about low maintenance? He&rsquo;s no maintenance. To have him on your team &ndash; and at only $4 million a year for the next four years &ndash; doing all the things he does, is a great bargain that&rsquo;s only going to look better as salaries increase.&rdquo;</p><p>He&rsquo;s not kidding. When Canadiens blueliner Mike Komisarek, a player similar to Regehr in age and talent, becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer, his asking price will begin at $5 million per season. Which tells you, among other things, that Drew Doughty and Luke Schenn are very much looking forward to the conclusion of their restricted free agency status.</p><p>Regehr and Komisarek &ndash; along with Shea Weber, Brent Seabrook, Paul Martin and Jay Bouwmeester &ndash; were the young players named most often during a recent straw poll by The Hockey News to identify the NHL&rsquo;s top 10 defensive defensemen. However, if you think the other four names are stay-at-home veteran types with relatively low profiles, think again.</p><p>Fact is, the reason star rearguards such as Nicklas Lidstrom, Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger and Zdeno Chara receive so much acclaim and attention is they&rsquo;re as proficient in their own zone as they are at putting points on the board.</p><p>And that&rsquo;s why, if we did a straight-up 1-to-10 ranking, all four veterans would rate ahead of the six aforementioned defenders.</p><p>&ldquo;To me, the list begins and ends with Lidstrom,&rdquo; said Leafs coach Ron Wilson. &ldquo;Guys like Regehr and Paul Martin are great young players, but it&rsquo;s hard to be better than Lidstrom. How do you improve on someone who doesn&rsquo;t make mistakes?&rdquo;</p><p>The Red Wings captain certainly sets the bar high &ndash; perhaps too high on offense for players in Regehr&rsquo;s role to clear. That said, Regehr&rsquo;s skills both with the puck and in punishing the opposition&rsquo;s forwards are underestimated everywhere except for NHL circles.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-021280/9226273-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="761" height="531"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(NIEDERMAYER:MIKE STOBE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>SCOTT NIEDERMAYER Anaheim</b></h2><p>KEY STATS 54 takeaways (1st); 27:11 average ice time (2nd)</p><p><i>&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;d admit taking off half a season (in &rsquo;07-08) set him back more than he thought it would,&rdquo; said a Western Conference exec. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s still one of the best skaters in the game&rsquo;s history and skating is what matters most for today&rsquo;s defensemen.&rdquo;</i></p><p>Robyn Regehr is one of the NHL&rsquo;s premier defense-minded blueliners, but he has plenty of competition in that regard. Here are nine other defensemen who have been dominant this season when their team doesn&rsquo;t have the puck:</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03923/9226266-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="761" height="531"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(LIDSTROM:DAVE SANDFORD/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>NICKLAS LIDSTROM Detroit</b></h2><p>KEY STATS Plus-17 rating (T-8th in NHL); 25:00 average ice time (15th)</p><p><i>&ldquo;Nicklas Lidstrom is never in any trouble,&rdquo; said Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t beat him and you can&rsquo;t rattle him.&rdquo;</i></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04679/9226259-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="760" height="521"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(CHARA:SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>ZDENO CHARA Boston</b></h2><p>KEY STATS Plus-25 rating (3rd); 26:42 average ice time (6th); 118 hits (11th)</p><p><i>&ldquo;Chara is one of the few veteran guys who I think actually improved from when they first signed a big contract,&rdquo; said a Western Conference director of player personnel. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s emerged as a leader on that team and I think that&rsquo;s led to him being a more confident and better player on the ice.&rdquo;</i></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-05476/9226252-1-eng-US/f0017-052.jpg" title="f0017-05" width="761" height="557"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PRONGER:NORM HALL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>CHRIS PRONGER Anaheim</b></h2><p>KEY STATS 26:47 average ice time (5th); 82 blocked shots (T-41st)</p><p><i>&ldquo;Pronger is still a sour s.o.b. out there and that&rsquo;s as it should be,&rdquo; said an Eastern Conference GM. &ldquo;The day you see a kinder, gentler Chris Pronger on the ice is the day you see a far less effective Chris Pronger on the ice.&rdquo;</i></p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011761/9226245-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="1150" height="890"><figcaption class="caption-body">Zdeno Chara is a huge presence all over the ice for the <span class="photo-credit">(CHARA:SCOTT CUNNINGHAM/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;Guys like Robyn win games for you in the trenches,&rdquo; said a defenseman in the Eastern Conference. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s hard on everybody every night. I don&rsquo;t think you can underestimate his passing ability either. He&rsquo;s probably one of the better passers in the league, his passes are like slapshots.&rdquo;</p><p>Adrian Aucoin, Regehr&rsquo;s teammate and defense partner, added: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got a lot more skill than anybody gives him credit for and he&rsquo;s so much faster than people think he is. That&rsquo;s what makes him so good, his skating ability.</p><p>&ldquo;And he&rsquo;s a really, really smart person, on and off the ice. A lot of players will get through a game and remember a shift here or there&hellip;Robyn remembers every shift, and where (his opponents were) on the ice at the time. If I&rsquo;m finished a shift and miss something, I always go to him first to tell me and he&rsquo;s always right on the ball.&rdquo;</p><p>Regehr is so good at his job, it has led to busier shifts for Aucoin when they&rsquo;re playing together.</p><p>&ldquo;I think it created quite a bit more of a workload for me when we got partnered up,&rdquo; said Aucoin  with a laugh. &ldquo;Someone asked me why that was &ndash; was it because I got more ice time and play against top players? No, it&rsquo;s because everybody comes down my side to stay away from him.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021335/9226238-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="761" height="558"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MARTIN:ANDY MARLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>PAUL MARTIN New Jersey</b></h2><p>KEY STATS 24:39 average ice time (18th); plus-10 rating (25th)</p><p><i>&ldquo;The Devils&rsquo; way of playing helps him the way it helps all players who play for (New Jersey),&rdquo; said a Western Conference scout. &ldquo;Martin has earned a great reputation because of his positional play. The U.S. national team is going to need him at the (2010) Olympics, but the Devils need him more.&rdquo;</i></p><p>Regehr realizes players who play his punishing style rarely set longevity records in hockey, which is why he&rsquo;s focused more than ever on making the most of the Flames&rsquo; winning window.</p><p>&ldquo;This is the prime for the type of player I am,&rdquo; Regehr said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m still fairly young and healthy. I do play a physical style, which can wear you down. Unless you&rsquo;re extremely lucky, you&rsquo;re not going to play into your 40s the way some guys do. But if you listen to your body and work with it, hopefully it responds the way you want it to.&rdquo;</p><p>Hopefully, Regehr&rsquo;s frame responds with the same determination he puts forth when he looks down at his legs.</p><p>&ldquo;I try to remember I was really lucky just to make it through that car crash,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;People talk about being lucky to be in the NHL, but there&rsquo;s also a lot of sacrifices you have to make along the way. I think I&rsquo;ve had a good idea of what sacrifice and hard work means for a while now.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03967/9226231-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="762" height="529"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(SEABROOK:MARK BUCKNER/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>BRENT SEABROOK Chicago</b></h2><p>KEY STATS 127 hits (5th); plus-15 rating (12th); 23:20 average ice time (39th)</p><p><i>&ldquo;I realize (Seabrook&rsquo;s defense partner) Duncan Keith gets a lot of press and a lot of it is deserved,&rdquo; said an Eastern Conference GM. &ldquo;But Seabrook does the majority of heavy lifting between the two when they&rsquo;re in their own end. He&rsquo;s one of the more well-rounded kids I&rsquo;ve seen.&rdquo;</i></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04654/9226224-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="762" height="515"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(WEBER:GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>SHEA WEBER Nashville</b></h2><p>KEY STATS 23:38 average ice time (36th); 115 hits (11th)</p><p><i>&ldquo;Get used to hearing about this kid all the time,&rdquo; said an Eastern Conference GM. &ldquo;You name it, he&rsquo;s great at it. His slapshot is deadly&hellip;(Predators coach) Barry (Trotz) is being rewarded for being unafraid to play Weber in all situations while he learned the game.&rdquo;</i></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05448/9226217-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="761" height="548"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BOUWMEESTER:SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>JAY BOUWMEESTER Florida</b></h2><p>KEY STATS 27:16 average ice time (1st); 81 hits (36th); 77 blocked shots (T-50th)</p><p><i>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a guy who skates so well, he could play the whole game if he wanted to,&rdquo; said Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Mike Van Ryn, a former teammate of Bouwmeester&rsquo;s in Florida. &ldquo;And he&rsquo;s not even close to realizing his full potential. That&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s scary about him.&rdquo;</i></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-06354/9226210-1-eng-US/f0018-062.jpg" title="f0018-06" width="761" height="559"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(KOMISAREK:RICHARD WOLOWICZ/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>MIKE KOMISAREK Montreal</b></h2><p>KEY STATS 122 blocked shots (6th); 124 hits (T-7th); 20:55 average ice time (89th)</p><p><i>&ldquo;Is there a smarter shot-blocking defenseman in the league?&rdquo; asked a Western Conference executive. &ldquo;Not to me&hellip;Komisarek is fearless, but he&rsquo;s not reckless. That&rsquo;s a subtle but important difference and it&rsquo;s part of what sets him apart from mediocre NHL defensemen.&rdquo;</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-01

Getting Defensive The NHL’s 10 Best

<div class="byline">Elliotte Friedman </div><div class="byline">- Elliotte Friedman is a reporter with CBC&#x2019;s</div><div class="byline"> Hockey Night In Canada</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-021199/9226318-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="612" height="962"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011586/9226325-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="206" height="245"></div><p class="dropcap"><i><b><span>A</span>S CBC&rsquo;S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA</b></i> prepares for the 2009 version of <i>Hockey Day In Canada</i>, it&rsquo;s time for a confession: I used to think this event was overly hokey. Everyone knows this is our sport, everyone knows we care about it more than any other country in the world.</p><p>Is there really a need to descend upon Campbellton, N.B., and romanticize things any more?</p><p>Yes. And, for me, <b>Michael Ryder</b> is the reason.</p><p>He might not be a favorite of Canadiens fans, but he is the pride of Bonavista, a town on the eastern coast of Newfoundland. I was assigned to do a feature on him before a broadcast in January of 2004. The story was the typical small-town-boy-makes-good stereotype.</p><p>What you don&rsquo;t realize, until you experience it yourself, is the passion.</p><p>Bonavista was suffering. Fishing quotas created enormous economic concerns and people were really struggling. But everyone from the mayor to the fisherman who pulled our car out of a ditch after a terribly miscalculated three-point turn (another story altogether), completely forgot about their personal problems the moment we told them why we were there.</p><p>The smiles were huge. The pride was obvious. When Ryder played &ndash; and many of Montreal&rsquo;s games started at 9 p.m. local time &ndash; there was hope; something to believe in. You didn&rsquo;t have to be from his immediate family, or a close friend. All you needed was to share the same birthplace.</p><p>Writing about it doesn&rsquo;t do it justice. You had to be there to truly understand.</p><p>And there are so many similar stories across Canada.</p><p>Why did it take so long for me to learn this? Well, let&rsquo;s do what so many other Canadians love to do: Blame Toronto, where I&rsquo;ve spent almost all my life.</p><p>Don&rsquo;t get me wrong, I think it&rsquo;s the best city in the best country in the world, but when it comes to hockey, things are different.</p><p>It&rsquo;s a Maple Leafs town.</p><p>This isn&rsquo;t intended to bash the sushi-eaters who make sure there are rows of empty seats at the beginning of every period at the Air Canada Centre. It&rsquo;s simply recognition that the sport&rsquo;s pull in this city doesn&rsquo;t revolve around minor hockey or the community rink, unless your own son or daughter is involved.</p><p>Fourteen Hall of Famers spent their formative years here, from Hooley Smith to Paul Coffey. But unless they play for the blue-and-white, they are secondary. It&rsquo;s why junior hockey survival is always a struggle and I can tell someone that Brad Park was born in Toronto and hear them say, &ldquo;Really?&rdquo;</p><p>People laugh at it, but it&rsquo;s about to be 42 years since a Stanley Cup and the passion hasn&rsquo;t wavered. That means something. But it&rsquo;s special to experience what hockey means just about everywhere else.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-02

Hockey Day once again

f0022-01

HIM? FOR WHO? WHERE? REALLY?

<h3><b>2008</b></h3><h2><b>Detroit</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-05307/9226576-1-eng-US/f0025-052.jpg" title="f0025-05" width="257" height="122"></div><p><i>Wings acquire Brad Stuart, D, from Los Angeles for a 2008 second round draft pick and 2009 fourth-rounder</i></p><h3><b>2007</b></h3><h2><b>Anaheim</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-06248/9226569-1-eng-US/f0025-062.jpg" title="f0025-06" width="257" height="122"></div><p><i>Ducks acquire Brad May, LW, from Colorado for Michael Wall, G</i></p><h3><b>2006</b></h3><h2><b>Carolina</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-07207/9226562-1-eng-US/f0025-072.jpg" title="f0025-07" width="265" height="130"></div><p><i>Hurricanes acquire Mark Recchi, RW, from Pittsburgh for Niklas Nordgren, LW, Krys Kolanos, C, and a 2007 second-rounder</i></p><p><i>A month before the deadline, Canes acquire Doug Weight, C, (and Erkki Rajamaki) from St. Louis for Jesse Boulerice, Michael Zigomanis, Magnus Kahnberg and a 2006 first-rounder</i></p><h3><b>2004</b></h3><h2><b>Tampa Bay</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-08173/9226555-1-eng-US/f0025-082.jpg" title="f0025-08" width="265" height="129"></div><p><i>A month before the deadline, Lightning acquires Darryl Sydor, D, and a 2004 fourth-rounder from Columbus for Alexander Svitov, C, and a 2004 third-rounder</i></p><h3><b>2003</b></h3><h2><b>New Jersey</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-09143/9226548-1-eng-US/f0025-092.jpg" title="f0025-09" width="265" height="130"></div><p><i>Devils acquire Grant Marshall, RW, from Columbus for a 2004 conditional draft pick</i></p><p><i>Devils acquire Richard Smehlik, D, and a conditional draft pick from Atlanta for a 2004 fourth-rounder</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0025-05

Championship Moves

<div class="byline">with Adam Proteau</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03718/9226614-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DALE MACMILLAN/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02952/9226621-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="207" height="245"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>N HIS DAYS AS A PREMIER DEFENSEMAN, <b>Ulf</b>&nbsp;<b>Samuelsson</b> often was called &ldquo;one of a kind&rdquo; &ndash; only not nearly so nicely and with a couple more obscenities mixed in.</p><p>The Swedish native ended his 16-year NHL career after the 1999-2000 season, but he&rsquo;s still in the league today. And he&rsquo;s still one of a kind: The only European-born coach, assistant or otherwise, in the entire league.</p><p>Think about that for a second. If 35 percent of the NHL was comprised of black players and only a single member of that minority was employed behind the league&rsquo;s benches, the media rightfully and righteously would pepper owners and GMs with charges of inadequate representation.</p><p>But in the NHL, where the most famous first period intermission analyst brags openly about mispronouncing European surnames, 35 percent of the players can be European, but only one coach &ndash; Samuelsson, an assistant to Wayne Gretzky in Phoenix &ndash; can share the same back ground, and nobody bats a lash.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>&lsquo;The North American game is still tilted to grit&rsquo;</b></blockquote><p>To a degree, the current reality is a reflection of the natural migration pattern of the typical European NHLer: Leave home and play major junior or in the American League for a few seasons, get promoted to the big show, stay five or 10 years and pad your bank account, then it&rsquo;s back across the pond to go home after your final NHL shift.</p><p>&ldquo;The bulk of European players have gone back home after their careers and gotten involved with the game in their homeland,&rdquo; said Don Maloney, the Coyotes GM and Samuelsson&rsquo;s boss. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really that simple, I think.&rdquo;</p><p>Still, Maloney admitted to being surprised Samuelsson was the solitary European member of the 2008-09 NHL coaching fraternity.</p><p>&ldquo;I had just assumed there would have been a few more,&rdquo; Maloney said. &ldquo;I know when I was in New York (as assistant GM), we discussed whether we needed (a coach) with a Czech background, because we had a number of Czech players on the Rangers at that time. But I think it&rsquo;s ultimately the qualifications of a coach that count.&rdquo;</p><p>Samuelsson, who played 17 years in the league with the Whalers, Penguins, Rangers, Red Wings and Flyers &ndash; and won two Stanley Cups &ndash; believes in time there will be more Europeans coaching in the NHL, but otherwise he shares Maloney&rsquo;s sentiments.</p><p>&ldquo;In reality, I think it doesn&rsquo;t matter what your background or nationality is,&rdquo; said Samuelsson, who served as an assistant in Hartford of the AHL in 2005-06 before joining Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s coaching staff in Phoenix the following season. &ldquo;It comes down to building up a relationship with the players and gaining their trust. If they&rsquo;re looking at you as a good coach who&rsquo;s prepared and knows what he&rsquo;s talking about, you&rsquo;ll get that trust.&rdquo;</p><p>Samuelsson isn&rsquo;t the first pioneer for European coaches in the NHL. Alpo Suhonen and the late Ivan Hlinka are the sole European head coaches in NHL history, while Ulf Dahlen served as an assistant to Dave Tippett in Dallas a couple seasons ago before leaving at the end of last year to become the bench boss for Frolunda in the Swedish Elite League.</p><p>If Samuelsson joins Suhonen and Hlinka in that oh-so-exclusive club, he&rsquo;d do so with an asterisk &ndash; at least, if Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock worked as the doorman.</p><p>&ldquo;Ulfie might have a European name,&rdquo; said Hitchcock, his voice betraying his wry sense of humor, &ldquo;but everything he&rsquo;s done looks awful North American to me.&rdquo;</p><p>Hitchcock feels the scarcity of European coaches in the NHL can be explained by the cultural differences between the two continents.</p><p>&ldquo;Having coached against some of those guys, I know they&rsquo;re good,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;But when you coach in our league, it&rsquo;s not just the sport. It&rsquo;s the business and entertainment side that is really important also. They get that at the world championships or at the Olympics, we get it every day. I find that part is a big adjustment for European coaches and players.</p><p>&ldquo;Another part of it is the North American game is still tilted to grit and determination. And it&rsquo;s a different game that gets played in Europe. The game in Europe is a game of strategy, of positioning, of patience.</p><p>&ldquo;A lot of the guys I&rsquo;ve coached against from Europe see themselves as lifetime teachers of the game. They look at it as a 9-to-5 job where the competition is just part of it, whereas we look at the competition being everything.&rdquo;</p><p>In that regard, Samuelsson again appears more North American in his approach. And although Maloney expects Samuelsson to get the chance to helm his own NHL team in the future, the Swede is happy to try and get the Coyotes into the post-season for the first time since 2002.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m extremely fortunate to be in a unique partnership with Wayne Gretzky here,&rdquo; Samuelsson said. &ldquo;I get to do a lot of things and I really want to see this team make the playoffs and have a great run. If something presents itself down the road as far as head coaching, I would obviously be interested. But I&rsquo;m very happy with my position right now.&rdquo;</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011348/9226607-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="54" height="56"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p>For Adam&rsquo;s web-exclusive <b>Screen Shots</b> column, visit <a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0028-03

Oceans apart

f0030-02

NHL Team Reports

f0037-01

EASTERN CONFERENCE

<div class="byline">BY RYAN DIXON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-011196/9227018-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MIKE LAVOIE)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>U</span>nderstanding Jordan Smith&rsquo;s plight is nearly impossible. But for those who want some perspective on what this young man has been through, his coach has some advice.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you really know what he&rsquo;s going through until you put a patch over your eye and go out and practice one night as a player,&rdquo; said Lakehead (Ont.) University Thunder-wolves bench boss Don McKee. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll see how much peripheral vision you lose and you&rsquo;ll see how extremely important peripheral vision is to a hockey player.&rdquo;</p><p>The reason that Smith, a burly 23-year-old defenseman, only has vision in his right eye is because in February of 2006, while paying for the American League&rsquo;s Portland Pirates, a deflected shot struck him squarely in the left eye.</p><p>If not for that event, there&rsquo;s a very good chance Smith, a second round pick of the Anaheim Ducks in 2004, would be skating in the NHL right now. It&rsquo;s also entirely possible AHL players would still have the option of playing without visors, something that changed when the league mandated all players wear eye protection in the wake of Smith&rsquo;s injury.</p><p>Almost three years later, Smith, who did not wear a visor at the time, reflected on the incident&rsquo;s immediate impact.</p><p>&ldquo;I sensed (it was severe) pretty much right away,&rdquo; said the native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. &ldquo;Obviously I knew what had happened and I knew it was pretty serious.&rdquo;</p><p>So was the nature of what followed. Smith, who had played four years with his hometown Soo Greyhounds in the Ontario League and appeared destined to reach his big-league dream, had to reconcile with the cold reality that players with a prosthetic eye don&rsquo;t play in the NHL.</p><p>&ldquo;Having to let that sink in, to understand that, you know, it&rsquo;s over (was tough),&rdquo; Smith said.</p><p>People on the precipice of making the NHL don&rsquo;t get that far without a combative spirit, especially hard-nosed Northern Ontario boys like Smith. Understanding this was a battle he couldn&rsquo;t win was not an easy thing to accept.</p><p>&ldquo;I wanted to play, but the reality of it was, obviously I couldn&rsquo;t play in the NHL anymore,&rdquo; Smith said.</p><p>Having confronted that hard truth, Smith began to weigh his options. He knew getting a university degree was a worthy pursuit, but was hesitant to get back into the books after having been out of school for a couple years. Former Lakehead coach Pete Belliveau approached him about playing Canadian university hockey and, roughly 10 months after his injury, Smith was back on the ice.</p><p>&ldquo;Jordan has demonstrated that the sooner you get back on your feet when you&rsquo;re knocked down, the better the opportunity you&rsquo;ll climb the ladder again,&rdquo; McKee said.</p><p>There have been a number of adjustments for Smith, who continues to make an impact with his bruising physical play despite his disability.</p><p>&ldquo;I think the biggest thing would be knowing where my opponents are on the ice, especially in the defensive zone,&rdquo; said Smith, adding that the Canadian Interuniversity Sport level of play was a bit higher than he originally anticipated. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m constantly counting opposing players, making sure there&rsquo;s five in front of me, making sure I find my guy.&rdquo;</p><p>Smith plays with a full cage even though CIS regulations allow the use of half-visors. His coaches and his own good sense make sure Smith will never wear anything less than the maximum amount of protection.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s totally my decision,&rdquo; said Smith of wearing the full cage. &ldquo;Outside of hockey, in life in general, my life drastically changed. Seeing through one eye, I often think if anything ever happened to my good eye, it would obviously be terrible.&rdquo;</p><p>Added McKee: &ldquo;We would not let him do anything without the cage. When we go out to the schools and play floor hockey with kids, he wears it.&rdquo;</p><p>While Smith hasn&rsquo;t entirely given up the notion of being a professional hockey player on some level, he also has thoughts of following in the footsteps of his father &ndash; a high school football coach in Sault Ste. Marie &ndash; and perhaps stepping behind the bench to guide a hockey team one day. His most immediate priority is helping Thunder Bay, Ont.-based Lakehead win a national championship as the team plays host to the 2009 and 2010 University Cups.</p><p>Smith is pursuing a geography degree with aspirations of one day becoming a teacher. He obviously has a very personal perspective concerning the ongoing debate over the NHL mandating visors.</p><p>&ldquo;A lot of people, when it first happened, asked, &lsquo;Why wouldn&rsquo;t you wear a visor?&rsquo; &rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy for somebody who&rsquo;s never played the game or never been in that situation to say that. It was never an ego thing for me, that&rsquo;s just what you do.</p><p>&ldquo;If you played that (tough) role, and that&rsquo;s the role I played, it was a given.&rdquo;</p><p>He does, however, see room to adjust the rules moving forward.</p><p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not gong to tell Chris Chelios to put a visor on,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way it was and that&rsquo;s the way they grew up in the game&hellip;in a sense, that&rsquo;s the way I grew up.</p><p>&ldquo;But I think if it was grandfathered in, it could be successful and I think that would be a good idea.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0038-01

20/20 vision

<div class="byline">BY PHIL JANACK</div><p>Jared Ross began 2008 in bed, recovering from an emergency appendectomy that proved to be only a temporary setback in a breakout season.</p><p>Away from his team for three weeks, the surgery also prevented Ross from representing the Philadelphia Phantoms in last year&rsquo;s AHL All-Star Classic in Binghamton, N.Y.</p><p>Despite being on pace to surpass last year&rsquo;s career-high offensive totals, the Phantoms captain was looking at another January of watching the AHL all-star game on TV.</p><p>Then the parent Philadephia Flyers summoned rookie forward Claude Giroux &ndash; the Phantoms&rsquo; lone all-star representative &ndash; and the league needed a replacement. They didn&rsquo;t have to look far, or long.</p><p>Ross was told of his addition two days before the event, held this year at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass., the 15th modern-day edition of the event since its revival in 1995.</p><p>&ldquo;I found out after our pre-game skate,&rdquo; Ross said. &ldquo;Last year I wasn&rsquo;t able to participate, but I was real excited to be able to do it this year.&rdquo;</p><p>Ross didn&rsquo;t waste any time showing his ciation, or his worthiness. In the skills competition, the Phantom took a lap around the rink in 14.187 seconds to win the fastest skater title. It turned out to be a preview of things to come. appre-</p><p>Skating for PlanetUSA, a team of non-Canadian AHL stars, Ross was named MVP after setting all-star game records with six assists and seven points in a 14-11 victory.</p><p>The 25 goals scored were another single-game record, as was the four-goal performance of Houston&rsquo;s Corey Locke in a losing effort. Teddy Purcell, last year&rsquo;s game MVP, had five assists.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just happy to be here,&rdquo; Ross said. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t even thinking anything about the outcome of the game. I was just glad to be able to be around these guys and just be able to play with them.&rdquo;</p><p>Ross began the season with the Flyers, ing the first Alabama native to skate in the NHL. He went scoreless in five games before returning to the Phantoms, where he had 19 goals and 41 points and was a plus-14 through 36 games. becom-</p><p>Last season, Ross led the Phantoms in scoring with 62 points in 67 games and led the organization back to the Calder Cup playoffs after a two-year hiatus.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s about getting some good chances and breaks up in the NHL,&rdquo; Ross said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s one of those things where if you get put in a good situation, you&rsquo;re able to show your skills. I think I&rsquo;m capable of doing that when I get a good chance.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-011102/9227049-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="996" height="1753"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jared Ross <span class="photo-credit">(JUST SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0039-01

Records fall at DCU Center

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01794/9227108-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="967" height="1193"></div><p>JONAS JUNLAND FOUND the best way to satisfy his craving for a good Swedish meal is to play chef in his own kitchen.</p><p>A bout with homesickness was cured recently when his mother, father, sister and girlfriend&rsquo;s parents traveled from Sweden to Peoria, Ill., to watch him play for the Rivermen.</p><p>But there&rsquo;s no such thing as a quick fix to the process of acclimating to the North American game, as the 21-year-old has learned.</p><p>Junland has a lot of potential and the St. Louis Blues expect him to be a part of their defense corps in the not-too-distant future. The 64th selection in 2006, Junland has loads of skill, he&rsquo;s smart and has good hockey instincts.</p><p>Yet even with mobility and size, the 6-foot-2, 198-pounder is still adjusting to the smaller ice surface and rambunctious demeanor of fore-checkers in North America.</p><p>&ldquo;The forecheck comes on a more consistent basis,&rdquo; said Peoria coach Davis Payne, &ldquo;and guys here are coming to finish their checks.&rdquo;</p><p>After 40 games with the Rivermen and one in the NHL on emergency call-up to the Blues, Junland is well aware of his deficiencies.</p><p>&ldquo;I have to be stronger in my own end, more consistent,&rdquo; said the native of Linkoping, Sweden.</p><p>There&rsquo;s little doubt he&rsquo;ll make the necessary adjustments, though. Payne is already matching Junland against the opponent&rsquo;s top line.</p><p>&ldquo;He does a good job of reading the play,&rdquo; Payne said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s good at breaking up the play and making the quick transition happen immediately out of that. That&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s good to have him out against that top line. They have to play a little defense, too, because of our transition off the breakup.&rdquo;</p><p>Junland is quite willing to join the rush as well. A forward as a youngster, he moved to the blueline when he was 13 or 14, but still has keen offensive instincts.</p><p>&ldquo;I think offense chose me more than I chose it,&rdquo; Junland said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty capable with the puck and I like to make plays.&rdquo;</p><p>Junland had nine goals and 24 points through 40 games. He was fourth among defensemen in goals and tied for fourth in team scoring.</p><p>And while he&rsquo;s adjusting to life on the ice, Junland has found off-ice adjustments to be the most difficult.</p><p>&ldquo;The biggest thing is your friends and family are 18 hours away,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Every time I want to talk to them, they&rsquo;re asleep.&rdquo;</p><p>With the NHL very much in his future, that figures to be a problem for quite a few years.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02481/9227101-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="214" height="214"></div><h2><b>Jonas Junland</b></h2><p>Peoria Rivermen</p><p>Ht. 6-2</p><p>Wt. 198</p><p>Pos. D</p><p>Age 21</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03371/9227094-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="193" height="104"></div><h2><b>AND COUNTING</b></h2><p>22</p><p>Junland&rsquo;s position amongst all rookie scorers this season.</p><h3><b>NOTES FROM THE WEST</b></h3><h2><b>Short penalties, more shootouts</b></h2><p>When the NHL analyzes data from the AHL this season, it will find the one-minute minor penalty in overtime had two predictable outcomes: The number of power play goals scored decreased and the number of games requiring a shootout increased.</p><p>At the NHL&rsquo;s request, the AHL agreed to cut overtime minor penalties by half. The long-held belief is a 4-on-3 power play is more productive than a 5-on-4 advantage. Hence a minor penalty in 4-on-4 overtime is more devastating a regulation call.</p><p>But through 17 weeks of the regular season, the number of games decided in overtime has dropped five percent compared to the past two seasons and the number of overtime power play goals has declined by one-third.</p><p>&ldquo;Less time on the power play means less goals on the power play, that&rsquo;s what it boils down to,&rdquo; said AHL vice-president Jim Mill.</p><p>Some believed referees would also be more likely to call overtime penalties, which hasn&rsquo;t bared out either.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the biggest surprise, that the number didn&rsquo;t stay the same or increase,&rdquo; Mill said. &ldquo;That may just mean the referees are calling what they&rsquo;re supposed to.&rdquo;</p><p>&ndash; KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-04302/9227087-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="183" height="272"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Tyler Eckford</b> <span class="photo-credit">(DENNIS SIEVERS/PEORIA RIVERMEN)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>ON</b>&nbsp;<b>TOP</b></h2><h3><b>SHOOTOUT SCORERS</b></h3><p>Lowell Devils</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-05259/9227080-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="198" height="102"></div><p>3 <b>SHOOTOUT GOALS</b></p><p>Yanick</p><p><b>Brendan Bell, Bing 3</b></p><p> Nikolay Lemtyugov, Peo 3</p><p>Brett Skinner, Chi 2</p><p>Mike Glumac, Ham 2</p><p>Chad Wiseman, Low 2</p><p>Yehoux, Ham 2<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0040-01

Acclimating to America

<div class="byline">BY PHIL JANACK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01683/9227181-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="774" height="1084"></div><p>IN A SEASON OF SURPRISES for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, goaltender Nathan Lawson has been one of the biggest.</p><p>Amid injuries and recalls to the parent New York Islanders, Bridgeport remained one of the elite teams in the East with 59 points through 47 games, second only to AHL-leading Hershey.</p><p>A sophomore pro out of the University of Alaska-Anchorage, Lawson, 25, is a big reason for that success. He won each of his first seven starts after being recalled from ECHL Utah and was 11-5-0 in the AHL.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing with a lot of confidence,&rdquo; said Sound Tigers coach Jack Capuano. &ldquo;He steps in there and nothing seems to faze him. He&rsquo;s not afraid to handle the puck. He&rsquo;s vocal back there, talking to our defensemen.&rdquo;</p><p>Lawson didn&rsquo;t lose a regulation game until mid-January, had one shutout and allowed 29 goals in 936 minutes for a 1.86 goals-against average and .933 save percentage.</p><p>&ldquo;I got called up and wanted to show the coaches and basically the team what I could do,&rdquo; Lawson said. &ldquo;I knew I could play here, it was just a matter of getting that opportunity. The guys here have really made my job a lot easier.&rdquo;</p><p>Lawson made his debut Nov. 8 against Lowell after starter Peter Mannino allowed four goals on 14 shots. Lawsom came in, stopped all six shots he faced and came out a winner on captain Mark Wotton&rsquo;s overtime goal.</p><p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have time to get nervous before the game and really sweat it,&rdquo; Lawson said. &ldquo;I think that was big. I had no time to panic or anything. From there, it just kept building. My confidence is building and the team is feeling comfortable with me in net; that&rsquo;s the main thing.&rdquo;</p><p>Undrafted, the 6-foot-2, 191-pound Lawson left Alaska-Anchorage after his junior season to turn pro, a decision made easier by what he felt was a lack of support.</p><p>&ldquo;I felt I was ready,&rdquo; the Calgary native said. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t think I was ready to do anything. I love my teammates up there and it was hard to leave them, but the coaches made it easy to leave. It was just time to move on.&rdquo;</p><p>Lawson spent his rookie season between Phoenix and Utah in the ECHL, going 17-9-1, 2.91 and .906 in 29 games. He was invited to the Islanders training camp last fall.</p><p>&ldquo;The one thing I noticed was his personality,&rdquo; Capuano said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s an outgoing kid and a character guy and he gets along with his teammates; that&rsquo;s the most important thing. He seems to fit right in.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02425/9227174-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="214" height="214"></div><h2><b>Nathan Lawson</b></h2><p>Bridgeport Sound Tigers</p><p>Ht. 6-2</p><p>Wt. 191</p><p>Pos. G</p><p>Age 25</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-03344/9227167-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="194" height="103"></div><h2><b>AND COUNTING</b></h2><p>1.86</p><p>Lawson&rsquo;s goals-against average through 17 games</p><h3><b>NOTES FROM THE EAST</b></h3><h2><b>Schedule revamp on hold for now</b></h2><p>A move to reduce the regularseason schedule from 80 to 72 games has hit a snag.</p><p>Several meetings and conference calls involving the board of governors have been unable to generate the required three-quarters vote from its 29 member teams.</p><p>As a result, league president Dave Andrews has shelved the proposal for now.</p><p>&ldquo;We have been unable to find a solution for everyone,&rdquo; Andrews said. &ldquo;A number of NHL clubs are hard-liners on how to get to 72; a number of independent owners are hard-liners in opposition.</p><p>&ldquo;I think we have reached a point where we need a breathing period. Particularly with the economy we&rsquo;re facing&hellip; this isn&rsquo;t probably the right time to do it.&rdquo;</p><p>Those in favor of shortening the schedule are seeking more practice time for prospects, less travel and less scheduling of three games in three nights and four in five. Opponents don&rsquo;t want to lose the revenue generated by four fewer home games.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s typically one or two votes shy of the majority,&rdquo; said Albany River Rats president-CEO Garen Szablewski. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard for some to support it because they do well every game of the season.&rdquo;</p><p>&ndash; PHIL JANACK</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-04297/9227160-1-eng-US/f0041-042.jpg" title="f0041-04" width="175" height="175"></div><h3><b>Hey Teddy Purcell,</b>&nbsp;<b>EXPECT THE CALL</b></h3><p>The undrafted gem came out of nowhere to win AHL rookie of the year in 2008. Blessed with size, speed, hands and vision, the Manchester right winger just needs more consistency to make L.A. his permanent home.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-06235/9227153-1-eng-US/f0041-062.jpg" title="f0041-06" width="200" height="102"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-05268/9227146-1-eng-US/f0041-052.jpg" title="f0041-05" width="186" height="273"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(RICH STIEGLITZ)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-07205/9227139-1-eng-US/f0041-072.jpg" title="f0041-07" width="317" height="95"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0041-01

Taking Tigers by the tail

<div class="byline">- DENIS GIBBONS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0042-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01717/9227219-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kevin Dallman has broken a long-standing record set by legend Slava Fetisov. <span class="photo-credit">(DALLMAN:NORMUNDS BRICS/JANSONS MEDIA)</span></figcaption></div><p>A 25-YEAR-OLD RECORD set by a Russian hockey legend has been broken by the most unlikely of players.</p><p>Slava Fetisov, now the country&rsquo;s minister of sport, set a scoring record for defensemen by totalling 49 points in 44 games with the Central Army team during the 1983-84 Soviet Elite League season. But Kevin Dallman of the Barys Astana (Kazakhstan) Snow Leopards has set a new mark this year.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-03346/9227212-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="251" height="274"></div><p>In 45 games, the Niagara Falls, Ont., native tallied 24 goals and 50 points, becoming a Kazakh national hero, something he hasn&rsquo;t failed to notice.</p><p>&ldquo;The biggest impression on me has been the fans,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Our rink seats only 5,000, but they sound louder than in any NHL rink I&rsquo;ve played in. Most of them wait outside the rink for us after the game and they&rsquo;ve actually picked me up and tossed me up in the air to celebrate a win.&rdquo;</p><p>Dallman, 27, scored more than 20 goals twice in junior with the Ontario League&rsquo;s Guelph Storm, but was passed over in the NHL draft. He eventually signed as a free agent and played 154 games with Boston, St. Louis and Los Angeles.</p><p>When his contract with the Kings expired at the end of the 2007-08 season, Dallman rejected minor league offers from NHL teams to sign a one-year, $900,000 contract with Astana.</p><p>He is now entertaining a three-year, $6-million offer and officials have said they would try to get him a Kazakh passport if the country qualifies for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.</p><p>Goalie Marc Lamothe along with forwards Trevor Letowski and Dan LaCouture are Astana&rsquo;s other Canadian players. The team also boasts former NHLers Jozef Stumpel, Branislav Mezei and Tomas Kloucek.</p><p>&ldquo;When we&rsquo;re playing our best, I think we could compete with NHL clubs,&rdquo; Dallman said. &ldquo;But when we&rsquo;re at our worst, we couldn&rsquo;t match the lowest club in the American League.&rdquo;</p><p>Astana is clinging to the secondlast playoff spot with a month to go in the season. But the Snow Leopards are third in the league in power play success and Dallman ranks second in shooting accuracy &ndash; he also finished second to Alexei Morozov in the accuracy competition at the All-Star Game.</p><p>Dallman, his wife Stacey and their two young children live in a luxury three-bedroom apartment that the defenseman said would likely rent for $5,000 a month in the U.S. Ava attends the private American Embassy school.</p><p>Dallman says Astana is quite Americanized. Life in the city is nothing like the backward Kazakhstan portrayed in the movie <i>Borat</i>. The team even has its own government-provided private jet.</p><p>However, Dallman thinks the local police need to lighten up a little.</p><p>&ldquo;They pull you over for no reason over here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They said my car wasn&rsquo;t clean and motioned with their hands to make sure I get it washed.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0042-01

Best in Snow

<div class="byline">- RISTO PAKARINEN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-04276/9227257-1-eng-US/f0042-042.jpg" title="f0042-04" width="650" height="755"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(SIMPSON:STUART FRANKLIN/BONGARTS/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>S</span>witzerland&rsquo;s ZSC Lions scored one of the biggest upsets in European hockey history by beating Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5-0 in Game 2 of the Champions League final to take the title.</p><p>The first game ended 2-2 when Magnitogorsk&rsquo;s Tomas Rolinek sent a slapshot past goaltender Ari Sulander with 43 seconds to play. But Sulander rebounded with a superb effort in the second game.</p><p>&ldquo;When you believe in yourself, you make miracles happen and this was something of a miracle,&rdquo; said Lions coach Sean Simpson, also Canada&rsquo;s 2007 and 2008 Spengler Cup coach. &ldquo;At the beginning of the season, no one thought a team from Switzerland would win the first CHL title.&rdquo;</p><p>The Lions lost just one Champions League game, to Slavia Prague in a shootout. In four playoff games they recorded a 17-6 goal differential.</p><p>Despited the final game being moved from their home arena, Hallenstadion, to Rapperswil, 30 kilometers away, Lions&rsquo; fan support didn&rsquo;t wane.</p><p>&ldquo;This wasn&rsquo;t easy for them, the fans were a true sixth skater for us,&rdquo; said Ryan Gardner, a Canadian with Swiss citizenship who is expected to suit up for Switzerland at the World Championship in April. &ldquo;I played in the Super Cup 11 years ago and I didn&rsquo;t think something like that would ever happen again. The guys will remember this for the rest of their lives.&rdquo;</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02444/9227250-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="79" height="81"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p>For a web-exclusive Eye on Europe, visit <a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0042-04

Lions top Metallurg

<p>BOSTON UNIVERSITY sophomore defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk learned last season that being a first round draft pick can be a burden.</p><p>&ldquo;I put too much pressure on myself,&rdquo; said Shattenkirk, selected 14th overall by the Colorado Avalanche in 2007. &ldquo;I expected to come in here and be a game-changer right away.&rdquo;</p><p>Terriers coach Jack Parker took note and had assistant David Quinn &ndash; a 1984 first-rounder &ndash; address the situation. Parker said Shattenkirk had been impressive offensively, but was struggling with the defensive aspect of his game.</p><p>The result was positive as Shattenkirk became more comfortable.</p><p>&ldquo;We also simplified our defensive zone coverage in the second half, which made it much easier for him,&rdquo; Parker noted. &ldquo;Once he got comfortable with the system, he was much more effective defensively.&rdquo;</p><p>The 5-foot-11, 200-pound blueliner finished 2007-08 with four goals and 21 points in 40 games, earning a Hockey East all-rookie team berth.</p><p>Through 23 games with the Terriers this season, Shattenkirk had five goals and 15 points. He was also Team USA&rsquo;s top-scoring blueliner with a goal and nine points in six games at the world juniors.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing much better this year, by far,&rdquo; Shattenkirk said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been taking care of my responsibility in the defensive zone, which has led to quicker breakouts and more offensive chances on the rush.&rdquo;</p><p>Parker agreed: &ldquo;He has been terrific.&rdquo;</p><p>Shattenkirk, 20, never considered turning pro after last season, knowing he had to mature physically before making the jump.</p><p>&ldquo;My strength was a big issue for me last year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So I stayed at BU over the summer and followed the (strength and conditioning) program. I&rsquo;m definitely stronger. I&rsquo;m able to take guys off the puck in the defensive zone.&rdquo;</p><p>Shattenkirk has the ingredients necessary to play in the NHL according to one opposing coach, Providence&rsquo;s Tim Army, a former NHL assistant.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01609/9227410-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="765" height="1015"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;He has a great foundation of skill,&rdquo; Army said. &ldquo;He patrols the blueline very well with the puck. His passes are hard and his shot is hard. The biggest challenges for him will be (adding) strength and his play off the puck.&rdquo;</p><p>Added Parker: &ldquo;He has all the tools. He will get stronger.&rdquo;</p><p>&ndash; LARRY MAHONEY</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02373/9227403-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="282" height="282"></div><h2><b>Kevin Shattenkirk</b></h2><p>BU Terriers</p><p>Ht. 5-11</p><p>Wt. 200</p><p>Pos. D</p><p>Age 20</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-03276/9227396-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="364" height="77"></div><h3><b>Draft Status</b></h3><p>Selected 14th overall by Colorado in 2007</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-04220/9227389-1-eng-US/f0044-042.jpg" title="f0044-04" width="198" height="103"></div><h2><b>AND COUNTING</b></h2><p>0.56</p><p>Shattenkirk&rsquo;s career points-per-game average at BU</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-05189/9227382-1-eng-US/f0044-052.jpg" title="f0044-05" width="296" height="115"></div><h2><b>Two Spartans suspended</b></h2><p>Michigan State suspended freshman Andrew Conboy and sophomore Corey Tropp from the Spartans for the balance of the season after an on-ice incident in a loss at Michigan. Conboy, who punched the Wolverines&rsquo; Steve Kampfer after a clean hit, left school altogether. Tropp, who slashed Kampfer while he was down, joined a Sioux City of the USHL briefly, but returned over eligibility concerns. &ldquo;Their reaction, while inappropriate, was a split-second response I know they wish they could have back,&rdquo; said Spartans coach Rick Comley.</p><p>&ndash; PHILIP COLVIN</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-06165/9227375-1-eng-US/f0044-062.jpg" title="f0044-06" width="326" height="151"></div><h2><b>Casey at the rink turning heads</b></h2><p>His father, Brad, was a major league infielder, but Casey Wellman has found his niche on the ice. The undrafted Massachusetts-Amherst center was among the top five freshman scorers in the country with 24 points through 26 games. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m waiting for someone to pinch me and wake me up,&rdquo; said Wellman, a native of Brentwood, Calif., who credited his coaches and linemates for his success. &ldquo;Casey&rsquo;s a good player,&rdquo; said UMass coach Don Cahoon. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s quick, has a quick stick and he shoots the puck well. He&rsquo;s a hard-nosed kid.&rdquo;</p><p>&ndash; LARRY MAHONEY</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-07148/9227368-1-eng-US/f0044-072.jpg" title="f0044-07" width="332" height="101"></div><h2><b>And Danny makes three</b></h2><p>Harvard coach Ted Donato locked up the third Biega brother when defenseman Danny Biega turned down a scholarship offer from Boston College to join his brothers at Harvard next season. Danny will have one season with brother Alex &ndash; an offensively-inclined junior blueliner picked 147th overall by Buffalo in 2006 &ndash; and two with undrafted Michael &ndash; a sophomore forward. The Pointe Claire, Que., natives all went to Salisbury Prep in Connecticut before matriculating to Harvard. Danny is stay-at-home defender eligible for the 2010 NHL draft.</p><p>&ndash; TOM BOGGIE</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-08110/9227361-1-eng-US/f0044-082.jpg" title="f0044-08" width="397" height="93"></div><h2><b>Denver coach disciplined</b></h2><p>Denver officials doled out a one-game suspension to coach George Gwozdecky, who led the Pioneers to national championships in 2004 and &lsquo;05, for breaking an NCAA rule. Upset with the officiating during a 2-2 overtime tie at North Dakota, Gwozdecky was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and ejected from the game. After a brief conversation with a linesman, Gwozdecky headed for the dressing room. The rules violation that led to the suspension occurred when he went to the press box to communicate with his bench via headset.</p><p>&ndash; ANDY BAGGOT<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0044-01

Growing in body and mind

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-02332/9227483-1-eng-US/f0045-022.jpg" title="f0045-02" width="290" height="141"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01521/9227490-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg" title="f0045-01" width="226" height="163"></div><h3><b>ECHL</b></h3><h2><b>Unscheduled mayhem</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>osing teams in Augusta and Fresno in December forced the league to go to an unbalanced schedule and address the resulting post-season implications. Winning percentage, not points, will determine the four playoff spots in the South Division as four teams will play 71 games, one less than Gwinnett. In the National Conference, if the fifth-place team in the West Division has a better winning percentage than the fourth-place team in the Pacific Division, the West team will take the Pacific&rsquo;s No. 4 playoff seed. Head-to-head points, then victories, then goal differential, then, as a last resort, a coin toss, will break ties.</p><p>&ndash; MIKE MASTOVICH</p><h3><b>ATLANTIC JUNIOR LEAGUE</b></h3><h2><b>Luke&rsquo;s force up for grabs</b></h2><p>Luke Curadi, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound left-shooting defenseman with the Hartford Jr. Wolf Pack, doesn&rsquo;t know where he&rsquo;s going. He was supposed to go to UMass, but backed off a verbal commitment. &ldquo;I need to be open to other schools before I make a final decision,&rdquo; he said. The 17-year-old was ranked 91st amongst North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting for the 2009 draft. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m working to improve on my decision-making and cutting some weight so I can be lighter and move better on the ice,&rdquo; Curadi said. The physical Curadi had seven goals, 18 points and 110 penalty minutes in 33 games.</p><p>&ndash; PAUL SHAHEEN</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-03278/9227476-1-eng-US/f0045-032.jpg" title="f0045-03" width="304" height="156"></div><h3><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h3><h2><b>Colorful ice a Wings staple</b></h2><p>The Kalamazoo Wings are running out of colors to paint the ice at Wings Stadium. It&rsquo;s been green for St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day, orange for Halloween, pink for Valentine&rsquo;s Day and now yellow as part of a promotion with McDonald&rsquo;s, one of the club&rsquo;s biggest sponsors. The players also wore uniforms with yellow bodies, red numbers and red and white stripes. &ldquo;A lot of guys weren&rsquo;t too crazy about (the uniforms), but I thought they were fantastic,&rdquo; defenseman John Glavota told the Kalamazoo <i>Gazette</i>. And the yellow ice? &ldquo;I think yellow ice is probably the coolest color I&rsquo;ve seen here,&rdquo; said captain Glenn Detulleo.</p><p>&ndash; BRENDAN SAVAGE</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-04246/9227469-1-eng-US/f0045-042.jpg" title="f0045-04" width="273" height="163"></div><h3><b>CENTRAL LEAGUE</b></h3><h2><b>Calling out for charity</b></h2><p>In an attempt to get into the <i>Guinness Book of World Records</i>, 3,551 Mississippi RiverKings fans &ndash; some clad in camouflage hunting gear &ndash; blew their duck calls for three straight minutes during the first period intermission of a January game. The attempt for the largest mass duck call was part of a promotion for Ducks Unlimited, a non-profit group that conserves waterfowl habitat. &ldquo;Where else could you put together a hockey event that raises funds for a great cause and get in the <i>Guinness Book of World Records</i> for doing it?&rdquo; Wes Shive, who helped start the local DU chapter in Mississippi, told the Desoto (Miss.) <i>Times</i>.</p><p>&ndash; DAVID HENRY</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-05219/9227462-1-eng-US/f0045-052.jpg" title="f0045-05" width="263" height="163"></div><h3><b>SOUTHERN PRO LEAGUE</b></h3><h2><b>Expansion on the horizon</b></h2><p>A pair of former ECHL cities are expansion candidates for next season. Groups representing Augusta, Ga., and Pensacola, Fla., are the closest to getting things done according to commissioner Jim Combs. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve both had hockey, they both have established booster clubs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They have a lot of enthusiastic fans and groups who want to put teams there.&rdquo; The league&rsquo;s $5,600-per-week salary cap is attractive to smaller markets during tough economic times. &ldquo;They are viable at our level, especially with the amount of money they were able to generate during their ECHL days,&rdquo; Combs said.</p><p>&ndash; NICK GATES</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-06189/9227455-1-eng-US/f0045-062.jpg" title="f0045-06" width="248" height="163"></div><h3><b>CANADIAN JR. A</b></h3><h2><b>Silverback at the WJC</b></h2><p>Conor Morrison is breathing rarefied air. The 19-year-old Salmon Arm Silverbacks (Alberta Junior League) forward became one of the few players from Canada&rsquo;s Jr. A ranks to suit up in the World Junior Championship when he played for Germany. Morrison was born to Canadian parents, but grew up in Germany, where his father, Dave, played professionally. The family relocated to Port Franks, Ont., nine years ago, but IIHF rules allowed Morrison, who had three WJC points, to accept Germany&rsquo;s invite. &ldquo;Hopefully I&rsquo;ll get a chance to represent them at the world championships or even the Olympics,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>&ndash; TIM SWITZER</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-07169/9227448-1-eng-US/f0045-072.jpg" title="f0045-07" width="260" height="163"></div><h3><b>CANADIAN UNIVERSITY</b></h3><h2><b>Canada West hits the far east</b></h2><p>Since 1997, the three CIS conferences have rotated representing Canada in men&rsquo;s hockey at the Winter Universiade &ndash; or World University Winter Games. It&rsquo;s Canada West&rsquo;s turn in 2009 and the Games begin in Harbin, China, Feb. 18. Led by head coach Milan Dragicevic of the UBC Thunderbirds, the team boasts a veritable who&rsquo;s who of Canada West&rsquo;s top-15 scorers, including Saskatchewan&rsquo;s Steven DaSilva, the league&rsquo;s runaway scoring leader. Calgary standout Travis Friedley is the big gun on the blueline, while Alberta&rsquo;s Aaron Sorochan and Regina&rsquo;s Brant Hilton will share duties between the pipes.</p><p>&ndash; JEFF RENAUD</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-08104/9227441-1-eng-US/f0045-082.jpg" title="f0045-08" width="260" height="162"></div><h3><b>THE WOMEN&rsquo;S GAME</b></h3><h2><b>Olympic hero to lead Team USA</b></h2><p>&lsquo;Miracle on Ice&rsquo; hero and current Wisconsin bench boss Mark Johnson has been named coach of the U.S. women&rsquo;s team for the 2010 Olympics. Johnson led Team USA with 11 points at the 1980 Olympics before heading to the NHL for 11 years. He will take a season-long hiatus from Wisconsin, where he led the squad to NCAA championships in 2006 and 2007. His work at Wisconsin and the women&rsquo;s national program earned Johnson the job. &ldquo;Mark has shown a great ability to connect with the players and lead teams to victory,&rdquo; said Michele Amidon, women&rsquo;s hockey director for USA Hockey.</p><p>&ndash; CASSIE CAMPBELL-PASCALL<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0045-02

BEST OF THE REST

<div class="byline">by Nicolas Chabot</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0046-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01512/9227528-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DIPIETRO:MIKE STOBE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01483/9227521-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg" title="f0047-01" width="2736" height="1229"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0046-01

Inside the Numbers

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0049-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-02222/9227580-1-eng-US/f0049-022.jpg"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-01311/9227587-1-eng-US/f0049-012.jpg" title="f0049-01" width="107" height="108"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>CROSSWORD</b></h2><p>By Larry Humber</p><p>ANSWERS AVAILABLE IN THE NEXT ISSUE AND AT <a href="http://THN.com/XWORD">THN.com/xword</a></p><h3><b>ACROSS</b></h3><p>1 Chicago&rsquo;s ___ Field was the site of the latest outdoor game</p><p>4 Dekes</p><p>7 First-year player, briefly</p><p>8 Do the play-by-play of a game</p><p>10 Defeated very badly</p><p>12 Injured Colorado captain, pictured</p><p>13 Falls to the ice to make a save</p><p>14 Georges Vezina was &lsquo;The ___ Cucumber&rsquo; (it&rsquo;s a Quebec League city, too)</p><p>18 Eject: 2 words</p><p>19 United States Hockey League: abbr.</p><p>20 Tom ___ is owner in Dallas</p><p>21 Where to find the ACC</p><h3><b>DOWN</b></h3><p>1 The W in WHA</p><p>2 Veteran coach Keenan&rsquo;s nickname</p><p>3 Pulls (one&rsquo;s goalie, say)</p><p>4 Tournament that determines the NCAA champion</p><p>5 Calder Trophy winner ___ Douglas</p><p>6 Kevin ___ helped the Penguins to two Cups</p><p>9 The losing team in the game referred to in 1 Across</p><p>11 Larry ___ coached the Devils to the Cup in 2000</p><p>12 Remove from the lineup</p><p>15 Score</p><p>16 Pittsburgh&rsquo;s arena is known as &lsquo;The ___&rsquo;</p><p>17 1995 Hart Trophy winner ___ Lindros</p><p>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S CROSSWORD SOLUTION</p><p>ACROSS 1. BRAWLS, 4. MANTHA, 9. CHARLIE, 10. TOROS, 11. ELDON, 12. RANGERS, 13. ACHE, 15. SONS, 18. ONE TIME, 21. ROGIE, 23. TRICK, 24. HIGGINS, 25. ONSIDE, 26. DEMERS DOWN 1. BUCKET, 2. AWARD, 3. LALONDE, 5. ACTON, 6. TURGEON, 7. ASSIST, 8. BEER, 14. CHELIOS, 15. SPRAGUE, 16. TOOTOO, 17. VERSUS, 19. INKED, 20. ECHA, 22. GUIDE</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-03164/9227573-1-eng-US/f0049-032.jpg" title="f0049-03" width="1731" height="848"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-04147/9227566-1-eng-US/f0049-042.jpg" title="f0049-04" width="107" height="108"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>JERSEY Hound</b></h2><p>The Penguins have gotten a lot of mileage out of their new retro, baby-blue third jerseys lately and rightly so; it&rsquo;s a fine design. But once again, it&rsquo;s fun to harken back to the 1980s to remember a time when team colors were bold and unflinching. When Mario Lemieux entered the league, he did so representing black and gold with <i>a lot</i> of gold; gold <i>on</i> gold in fact, when you count the triangle behind the penguin. The Penguins even wore gold helmets at one point. Again, love the boldness.</p><p>&ndash; Ryan Kennedy</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-05108/9227559-1-eng-US/f0049-052.jpg" title="f0049-05" width="814" height="742"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</b></p><p>1984-85</p></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0049-02

Last Minute of Play

<div class="byline">with Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="C0004-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-02208/9227618-1-eng-US/c0004-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-01321/9227625-1-eng-US/c0004-012.jpg" title="C0004-01" width="207" height="245"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>HEN ASKED ABOUT the relationship between himself and his coach, Lindy Ruff, Buffalo Sabres GM Darcy Regier begins by telling a story about himself. In the 1970s, Regier and Ruff both played junior for the WHL&rsquo;S Lethbridge Broncos; when Regier left, Ruff inherited his sweater &ndash; No. 20.</p><p>Some years later, while visiting Ruff&rsquo;s home, Regier saw that Broncos sweater framed on the recreation room wall. &ldquo;Hey, you&rsquo;ve got my sweater up there,&rdquo; Regier said.</p><p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; answered Ruff, in that deadpan manner of his, &ldquo;if it was your sweater, it wouldn&rsquo;t have any marks on it.&rdquo;</p><p>Regier was spinning that tale just a few days before the NHL&rsquo;s most recent coaching casualty. Craig Hartsburg was cut by Ottawa after only 48 games, his work deemed unacceptable in the win-at-all-costs NHL.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>Buffalo and Nashville have been competitive year after year</b></blockquote><p>Cory Clouston, Hartsburg&rsquo;s replacement, is the Sens&rsquo; fourth coach in 11 months, this on a team that advanced to the Stanley Cup final in 2007. Earlier this season, the coaching carousel spun in Chicago (third change in four years) and Carolina, where the Canes went back to Paul Maurice after winning a Cup in 2006 with Peter Laviolette.</p><p>Then you have Buffalo and Nashville, where Ruff and Barry Trotz are the two longest-serving coaches in the NHL, Ruff at 870 games and counting, Trotz having been behind the bench for every single game in Predators history.</p><p>The franchises have other things in common, too. Buffalo, as recently as 2003, was in bankruptcy, saved only when Tom Golisano purchased the team as a civic duty. Nashville was on the death watch for a while, too, before a local ownership group cobbled together a consortium to buy the team from Craig Leipold and keep it there, albeit with strict budgetary restrictions.</p><p>In Buffalo, there has been a steady stream of free agents exiting a team that, in 2007, won the Presidents&rsquo; Trophy for the best regular season record. Nashville has made the playoffs year after year, despite an exodus that &ndash; two summers ago &ndash; saw their starting goalie, Tomas Vokoun, leave, along with Paul Kariya, Peter Forsberg, Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen. Last year, Russia beckoned Alexander Radulov, an emerging scoring star, who was supposed to pick up some of the offensive slack.</p><p>That the two clubs stay competitive year after year is a tribute to organizational stability (although this year, the steady stream of player defections may be catching up to the Preds). But the Sabres seem to be hanging in there, even though Regier knows that it&rsquo;s harder to keep players in his market than in some others. He just doesn&rsquo;t have the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; winning history or the New York Rangers&rsquo; cache or the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; cash or the Tampa Bay Lightning&rsquo;s sunshine. Buffalo needs to develop within, then promote prospects to the big leagues and provide on-the-job training. To Regier, that strategy &ndash; of inserting young players and challenging them to keep up &ndash; can only work if he and his coach are on the same philosophical page.</p><p>Ruff, according to Regier, keeps his job for one simple reason: He&rsquo;s good at what he does.</p><p>&ldquo;I was fortunate to grow up in the professional hockey world with Bill Torrey and Al Arbour,&rdquo; said Regier, who played only 26 NHL games and 563 more in the minors, mainly in the Isles&rsquo; system. &ldquo;I was fortunate enough to watch them interact for 10 years. I&rsquo;m just a believer that you can do more working together and collaborating than you can in a boss-subordinate position. So far, we&rsquo;ve done a reasonable job of making it work and we both want to win a Stanley Cup doing it. It&rsquo;s been a good relationship and we work hard at it.&rdquo;</p><p>Soon after they lost Daniel Briere and Chris Drury as free agents, the Sabres signed <b>Jason Pominville</b> and Derek Roy to multi-year deals up front and Ryan Miller got five years to stay on in goal. The Sabres were up in arms when, in the summer of 2007, the Oilers tried to poach Thomas Vanek by signing him to an offer sheet. In retrospect, the Oilers may have done them a favor &ndash; six years at an average of $7.13 million, which also buys out a couple of years of unrestricted free agency, seems like good value for a player flirting with the overall NHL goal-scoring lead and someone who Regier believes will only get better.</p><p>The Sabres may not be Presidents&rsquo; Trophy contenders, but they survived the loss of good players to free agency and injuries to others (like Tim Connolly) without crashing and burning.</p><p>Patrick Lalime, one of the rare free agents to join Buffalo, saw a lot of the Sabres organization during his days as an Ottawa Senator and believes that, as a team, they do a lot of things the right way.</p><p>&ldquo;We have some good young players,&rdquo; said the backup goalie. &ldquo;A few injuries on the back end gave them a chance to showcase what they can do. It&rsquo;s just a matter of doing it consistently, every night.&rdquo;</p><p>In short, the pieces are falling into place in Buffalo again. It&rsquo;s just a matter of seeing development and making it all fit &ndash; still Ruff&rsquo;s specialty, after all these years.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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February 23, 2009

A surprise in General

Snapshots

WESTERN CONFERENCE

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