October 16, 2008 West coast bias TFP Columnist Dennis Bernstein touches on the
three U.S. West coast clubs and their chances this season.
[Los Angeles, CA] -- With the NHL
season a week old (those European games really don't count), the three
U.S. West coast teams have broken out of the gate with various speed.
We've seen all three play and have the following thoughts:
KINGS - My home standing team isn't a playoff contender and
after going down to the Sharks twice, their statement game came
Tuesday night against the Ducks. After going down 2-0 off of a couple
of soft goals let in by number goaltender Jason LaBarbera, they were
on the cusp of a season opening three game losing streak that looked
to parallel last season’s 71 point disaster.
They rallied to square the game at 2
and then their newly appointed captain Dustin Brown delivered a game
changing play. He hammered Anaheim defensive specialist Sammy Pahlsson
against the boards in the Kings’ offensive zone. The blow riled up the
Ducks and they uncharacteristically took a double minor. Though the
Kings didn’t score on the 5 on 3, Los Angeles got more aggressive,
drew more penalties and won going away 6-3 to post their first home
victory of the season.
Although this year’s model of the
Kings would consider it an accomplishment to get to 82 points (.500),
there is a very different feeling in the locker room this season. The
attitude change starts at the top with head coach Terry Murray. Though
away from the head coaching ranks for seven NHL seasons, his calm
demeanor is much more suited for this year team than his predecessor,
the bombastic Marc Crawford.
This team is very young, they have
second overall pick Drew Doughty is among their top six defenseman and
their forward lines are sprinkled with 19 to 21 year olds, so you
wonder about how this team will stand up over the emotional and
physical rigors of an 82 game season. One player that is above
reproach is the aforementioned Brown. Entering his fifth NHL season,
Brown campaigned heavily for his recent appointment to the captaincy
of the team. Over the summer, he was a fixture at the Kings’ training
facility in El Segundo and he bears no resemblance to the rookie that
rarely spoke more than one sentence at a time. Though he’s not potted
a goal this season, his intrinsic value in the leadership category is
something that has been lacking in the Los Angeles locker room.
In signing a long term extension last
season, both he and third year pivot Anze Kopitar have made the
commitment to make the Kings a contender. Kings’ fans haven’t seen a
playoff game in five seasons and although they don’t want to hear the
term “rebuilding”, you can see the young talent entering the
organization. The forward line group is more developed at the NHL
level than the defense but potentially the backliners the Kings
possess could be among the finest in the NHL in a few seasons.
The Kings’ fatal flaw last season was
poor defense (last in the league in penalty kill) and goaltending. So
far, the Kings have been perfect on the PK and the hope is that they
fill finally get the answer to the question about LaBarbera being a
number one NHL goaltender. We thought that this season might be a
longer one than last season but this team looks to be a far more
exciting watch, win or lose.
SHARKS – Put it in the book, another 100 point season in the
South Bay for the Teal Machine. They’re out to their best start ever
and their opening season pair against the Kings showed that they’ll be
one of the best defensive teams in the NHL. Though for games, they
already have a ten goal differential and three of the four contests
frankly were no contest.
We don’t think they have top five
talent as a roster but they play so smart on the ice, their decision
making is stellar and this team is a threat to go all the way. The
free agent loss of D Brian Campbell has been filled with the arrival
of Dan Boyle from Tampa Bay and Rob Blake from Los Angeles. Boyle can
match the puck moving ability of Campbell but his early propensity to
pick up penalties (six minors in four games) needs to be curbed. Blake
has never been a favorite of ours but he is fully healed from hip
surgery two seasons ago and is averaging almost 23 minutes of ice
time.
Jonathan Cheechoo appears on the
verge of returning to the level of his massive 56 goal effort of three
seasons ago with three goals in his first four games. Groin and neck
injuries limited the right winger to 69 games and 23 goals last season
and there were whispers that he might never return to the goal scoring
form that occurred when Joe Thornton first came over from Boston.
Assuming that Thornton will deliver numbers that will have him in
consideration for the Hart Trophy, Cheechoo may be the pivotal player
in the fate of this year’s model of the Sharks.
For those that might want to discount
their chances because of the presence of a rookie head coach, Todd
McLellan seems to be the right guy behind the bench but then I think
Attila the Hun would be an improvement over the not-so dearly departed
Ron Wilson. McLellan’s three year stint as an assistant coach served
as a primer for the Sharks role. He young (only 40 years old),
personable (but anyone would have more likable than Wilson) and most
importantly, smart. He’s been groomed for a head coaching role and may
be the right man to get this team out of the Western Conference.
DUCKS – Ah, the former champs. During my initial appearance on
The Fourth Period Radio Show last week, host Dan Kingerski queried me
on the Ducks’ chances as the season opened. My thoughts were that I
wasn’t sure which team would step to the ice, the one that was one of
the best in the second half of last season or the one that got busted
out by the Dallas Stars in the first round of the playoffs.
The truth is that the Ducks, although
possessing much of the same talent that raised the Cup two summers
ago, barely resembles the team that won at present. Instability has
infiltrated this once model franchise at all levels. From the legal
issues of owner Henry Samueli to GM Brian Burke’s refusal to sign a
contract extension to the salary cap problems that will hound Anaheim
all season long. The cap situation has caused the Ducks depth to
suffer; the trades of defensemen Mathieu Schneider and Sean O’Donnell
may prove to lead to the Ducks’ downfall. Coach Randy Carlyle plugged
in Steve Montador and Kent Huskins and the early returns are not good.
Not helping their 0-3 start is the fact that the number one tandem of
Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf has one assist between them, if scoring
is going to be an issue for those young veterans, that’s huge trouble.
Burke has yet to solve the puzzle of second line scoring that’s been
created since his ill-fated deal that sent Andy McDonald away. Doug
Weight wasn’t the answer and Brendan Morrison’s return from knee
surgery has resulted in nothing. The cap issue keep former first round
pick Bobby Ryan in the AHL and while he may not be the elixir for the
scoring ills, the organization needs to see if he’s the real deal this
season.
Performance issues aside, a more
surprising development has come to the fore after the Ducks’ third
consecutive loss in Los Angeles Tuesday night.
Assessing his team’s performance,
Carlyle conveyed: "I don't think that we're working anywhere near hard
enough to accomplish some of the things we’ve set out to do and we’re
straight-legged in a lot of situations. We’re swinging away and not
getting involved on the work ethic side of the game. They’re not
working in the tough areas to get enough done. I think other teams
have amped it up and we haven’t. Exhibition series is one thing and
regular season is another and that’s one thing that we’re got to take
responsibility for our actions and our inability to match other teams’
work ethic is what’s costing us."
Ouch, damning words from Mr. Carlyle
and his captain, Scott Niedermayer concurred.
"We just have to be ready to commit
to our game plan and basically outwork the other team; right now we’re
not doing that," Niedermayer said.
After watching this group of players
over the past three seasons, while they’ve not won every game, they’ve
rarely been outworked. The reason O’Donnell was dealt to Los Angeles
was that he wasn’t competing hard enough in pre-season and management
wanted to dictate the pace that was full bore all the time.
Apparently, the message still needs to be processed but they better do
it fast because the divisional presence of the Sharks and the Dallas
Stars may push the Ducks down to the lower regions of playoff
qualifiers
INCONTINENT HOCKEY
With Version 2.0 of NHL European Vacation in the books, talk has
re-ignited about the possibility of the league expanding across the
Atlantic. The chatter varies from direct competition against other
leagues to the establishment of a European division. The season
opening games in Stockholm and Prague only answered the questions
about the popularity in Scandinavia and Central Europe, while the
televised exhibition games the New York Rangers participated in
answered any questions about the viability of NHL Europe. Our thought
is if the National Football League couldn’t pull it off with their
abundant resources, there’s no way the NHL could succeed. While hockey
is far more popular than American football throughout the continent,
there are some basic conceptual reasons why a league wouldn’t work.
Watching the SC Bern squad from the Swiss league skate against the
Blueshirts, it was obvious this team was better suited to play the
Rangers’ AHL affiliate in Hartford than the varsity. The Rangers
sleepwalked through two periods, appearing to make the game a contest.
Our guess is that the New Yorkers had a third cup of coffee to shrug
off the jet lag and then scored six goals to take any drama out of the
game. While it’s not fair to gauge the Swiss League against the best
league in the world, additional intelligence came out of the tilt to
see where European hockey stands.
The Swiss league allows four non-indigenous players on each roster and
for those players, it’s a sweet deal. Top players can up $ 400,000 not
much above the NHL minimum but there’s an additional inducement of the
green being tax free as well as receiving a house and a car. But given
the fact that the two top imports on SC Bern are Christian Dube and
Simon Gamache, the reality is that this league is for players just a
cut below NHL standards.
The more intriguing scenario occurred when the first annual Victoria
Cup was contested between New York and Metallurg Magnitogorsk, the
2008 European Champions Cup winners. We’re still a little confused of
the nature of the Victoria Cup, which named after the Victoria Skating
Rink in Montreal, where the first organized hockey game was played on
March 3, 1875. No one ever answered the question as to why the game
was held in Bern, Switzerland instead of Montreal but I guess that
goes to the insanity that is the International Ice Hockey Federation.
While the IIHF holds itself out as the regulating body in hockey, they
have been unable to successfully mediate a transfer agreement between
the NHL and the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia. The central character
in the current chapter is Alexander Radulov, the (maybe) current
member of the Nashville Predators. Seems as if Mr. Radulov thought it
was OK to sign a deal with the Salavat Yulayev Ufa team in the
Continental Hockey League while still contracted to Nashville. The
IIHF brought in a group of international lawyers to state the obvious;
you can’t do two deals at once, Alex. As the press release went on,
the IIHF said that it was powerless in this or any similar scenario.
“The IIHF does not support the breach of valid and binding agreements.
However, the current IIHF statutes and bylaws – as well the absence of
an agreement regarding respect of valid contracts between the IIHF and
NHL – does not give the IIHF legal base to sanction the player from
professional domestic hockey,” and I say why even bother to research
the contractual situation if you can’t impose sanctions? The IIHF says
they’re on the road to an agreement by virtue of a joint meeting
between IIHF head Rene Fasel, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly and
NHLPA Executive Director Paul Kelly. While a deal couldn’t hurt to
more clearly define how and when players move between leagues, the
cherry on the top of this messy sundae was the final sentence of the
release, “a future Player Transfer Agreement would most probably not
include the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia or the KHL (Continental
League).” Whoops. Last time I checked, the only federation that was
giving the NHL problems WAS the Russian Federation. When the IIHF
executives are done with hockey, sounds like they’d fit in perfectly
in Washington, D.C.
Although an exhibition for both sides, the game between the Rangers
and Metallurg Magnitogorsk took on a life of its own for major off ice
reasons that we’ve presented. The new 24 team Continental League is
flush with Russian oil money and with the American economy struggling,
some think that this group will become an increasing viable option for
NHL caliber players. You need look no further than future first ballot
Hall of Famer Jaromir Jagr as an affirmation. After his pricey long
term deal expired with the Rangers and with no robust multi year deals
available due to the salary cap, Jagr opted for Russian rubles. Alexei
Yashin was in the same boat as his Czech counterpart; past his prime,
no long term deal available and with a new league thirsting for
legitimacy and notoriety. Other NHLers have ventured to the league but
Darcy Verot, Niko Kapanen, Jussi Markkanen and Wade Dubieliewicz won’t
be missed on the All Star Ballots any time soon. While some may fret
that the Continental League may be the hockey’s version of the old
American Football League, the reality may be just the opposite. Recent
NHL Russian draftees like Nikita Filatov, Vyacheslav Voinov and Viktor
Tikhonov went to the NHL as soon as they could, a decision not made by
either Alex Ovechkin or Evgeni Malkin; those two superstars toiled for
a while in their mother country before coming to North America. To
reinforce the green that is available to Continental League
combatants, a story surfaced that the management of the Russian side
would pay each Metallurg Magnitogorsk player $ 100,000 if they were
able to beat the Rangers. Magnitogorsk is a town in Eastern Siberia
located just north of Kazakhstan and we hear that Borat Sagdiyev is a
season ticket holder. The community revolves around an iron and steel
works that’s thrived around the expanding Russian economy. We’re
talking an exhibition game folks but the Russian League felt a victory
on this night would stamp the organization with world legitimacy by
beating an Original Six NHL team.
For two periods it looked as the cash motivation did the trick;
Metallurg took advantage of a rusty G Henrik Lundqvist and a
sleepwalking Rangers squad to forge a 3-0 lead late in the second
period. But in his indomitable style, Chris Drury potted a five on
three power play goal went directly to the bench and screamed at his
teammates to wake up and get in the game. The Rangers responded with
three more goals to win the match and took the glowing Victoria Cup
back home with them. The importance of the game wasn’t lost on the
Rangers as they let their two Russian players, Nikolai Zherdev and
Dmitri Kalinin who played with the opponents during the lockout, take
a victory lap and showcase the trophy. While the game was close, the
Metallurg team looked similar to the SC Bern squad; skilled and small
(only four players over 200 pounds) and unable to survive the rigors
of a seven month, 82 game NHL schedule.
Derek Armstrong of the Los Angeles Kings reaped the benefits of
competing in Europe and spoke with us about the lifestyle, the
opportunity to play international hockey and how the Continental
League is looked at by most players. Armstrong first entered the NHL
during the 1993-’94 season as a sixth round pick of the New York
Islanders but was on a constant yo-yo between the AHL and the bigs. He
bounced to Ottawa in 1998 and the Rangers the following season before
making a career decision that took him and his family more than 3000
miles away from his native Ottawa to play for SC Bern.
“I was a struggling minor leaguer and
I needed to go somewhere to prove that I could be a scorer at a high
level. Playing it the Swiss League was great for me, you only play 44
games but the practices are longer and harder than what you have in
the NHL. The travel is easier; the longest trip was 5 hours, so you
bus to most games. The fans are great, they’re very loyal. At times,
the entire Bern arena was chanting my name but if you lose 8-2 they’re
cool with it. It’s a nice life but as an import, you have the pressure
to produce all the time. It’s a beautiful place to live and my kids
learned how to speak Swedish and German before they did English,”
Armstrong relayed.
With no guaranteed contracts, it’s not unusual for a foreign player to
be brought in and then cut just after a few games if they don’t
produce, so there is high risk attached for those willing to travel
across. Armstrong’s tenure in Switzerland was an elixir; he averaged
over a point a game during the 2001-’02 season and got the attention
of the Kings. He’s spent the last five NHL seasons in Los Angeles as a
smart, defensive minded pivot and when the league went dark for the
2004-’05 season, he returned to his European home to play a dozen
games. Derek signed a two year extension in February 2007 and hopes to
play two more seasons in the NHL. At the end of this tenure Armstrong
will be 37 and the option to back to Europe is on the front burner.
“I’d like two more years in the NHL
and I’ve already spoken with my wife about returning to Switzerland,
it’s such a great life, it would be nice to finish my career there,”
he admitted.
As for the increasing chatter about
the NHL expanding to Europe, Armstrong discounts it for obvious
reasons, “maybe they could form a division that might play against
North American East Coast teams but for teams to travel from the West,
you’re talking an eight or nine hour flight,” with the suggestion of a
Super Series between the NHL and a European division at season’s end a
more viable option.
While the pull to return to the land of chocolate, cheese and clocks
is strong, Armstrong’s thoughts about the rich Russian league echoes
those of most NHL veterans.
“From what I hear, there is a lot of
money over there but the facilities are not up to NHL standards.”
When asked if he’d take a couple of
million to play in Eastern Siberia with a team like Metallurg, he
chuckled, “No, that’s not for me. I don’t think it’s an option for
most NHL players, either. Once you get here, you get accustomed to the
quality of facilities, arenas and how you travel. No Canadian kids
growing up playing hockey dreaming of playing in Russia, so I don’t
see North Americans going over there but certainly it would be an
option for guys originally from Russia.”
With the tragic death of Alexei
Cherepanov due to alleged negligence, it’s even less likely than North
Americans would venture over. For all the money thrown at talent, it’s
mystifying why there wouldn’t be an ambulance on standby and no
defibrillator at the ready in case there was an incidence. Would any
professional be willing to step on the ice if he was at risk regarding
of his paycheck?
THE EMAIL OF THE WEEK
Dear Mr. Avery,
Guess you're not the impact player you claim to be.
Signed,
The Rangers.
Dennis
Bernstein, the man behind SCORE! Media and an NHL
Analyst with ESPN Radio, is the Los Angeles
Correspondent for The Fourth Period Magazine and a Columnist
for TheFourthPeriod.com.
