Kukla's Korner

All Rich Clune

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

07/24/14 at 09:39 AM ET | Comments (0)

from John Matisz of Canoe,

In today’s NHL, where each player is media trained almost exclusively in cliches, it’s rare to come across an unplugged interview.

Nashville Predator Rich Clune’s recent Q&A with nofilterblog.com, however, is certainly an exception.

Among the highlights in this doozy is Clune’s insight into the “hottest wife in the NHL” (hint: she’s a country music singer) and an intriguing anecdote about Clune and James Neal butt-dialing a veteran player whom they insulted via voicemail by accident.

Below are a few candid answers from Clune, a 27-year-old enforcer who had seven points and 166 penalty minutes in 58 games for Nashville last season.

(To read the entire transcript, click here.)

[WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE]

Who is your favorite person to fight in the league?

continued

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An Important Trip To Moscow For Mike Johnston

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

07/24/14 at 08:29 AM ET | Comments (4)

from Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

Evgeni Malkin finally is ready to listen, so new Penguins coach Mike Johnston better say all the right words. The season could be at stake.

Johnston leaves this weekend for Moscow, where he will spend four days with his most important player.

Win over Malkin, and Johnston would take the biggest step toward turning the Penguins back into Stanley Cup contenders. Leaving Moscow without Malkin's support would prove disastrous.

The Penguins are captain Sidney Crosby's franchise, but they must become Malkin's team.

This is no knock on Crosby, the face of hockey in North America. He just can't do what Malkin can for the Penguins' dressing room dynamic. Crosby's calling is bigger, no matter what management might think. His responsibility is to help the Penguins win and the game grow.

Malkin never has done anything but play, and playtime is over because the Penguins need more from their other future Hall of Fame center.

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On Jim Paek’s decision to chase an Olympic dream

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

07/24/14 at 01:57 AM ET | Comments (3)

I didn't really comment on it on Wednesday morning, but Jim Paek leaving the Grand Rapids Griffins to coach the South Korean national hockey team--as the team attempts to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea--dashed my hope that the long-standing Griffins assistant coach would finally be chosen to flank one of Mike Babcock's shoulders.

Paek has been with the Grand Rapids Griffins for nine years, and he was part of the Wings' summer development camps since 2007. I've interacted with him every summer since 2008 and over the course of two prospect tournaments/training camps, and off the ice, he was a kind and patient and sincere a human being as you could ever hope to meet, never mind ever hope to serve as the steady hand helping develop the Red Wings' top prospects.

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Dion Phaneuf’s Puck Possession

Blog: The Puck Stops Here By PuckStopsHere

07/23/14 at 10:43 PM ET | Comments (0)

Dion Phaneuf was a star as soon as he entered the NHL.  He was a Calder Trophy nominee in the strong class of 2005/06 where he beat out Henrik Lundqvist to earn a nomination alongside Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin.  The next season he made the First All Star Team and was nominated for the Norris Trophy as best defenceman in the NHL.  His career was then on a Hall of Fame track but he never arrived as a Hall of Famer.  He failed to progress.  Perhaps he had come too far too fast but he developed a bad habit of abandoning his defensive responsibilities to take offensive risks that rarely panned out.  As Phaneuf became less defensively responsible, he was forced into a more significant defensive responsibility.  Phaneuf played a tougher role and he played it less responsibly. 

This is shown when we look at the worst players by team adjusted Corsi.  Phaneuf has the third worst rating of -295.2.  It doesn't help that his usual linemate of Carl Gunnarsson is worst in the league at -332.2.  The fact that Toronto's top defensive pairing were among the worst puck possession players in the NHL last season helps to explain why the Leafs missed the playoffs.

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Calm before the storm in Habsland

Blog: The Upper Canadien By The Upper Canadien

07/23/14 at 09:31 PM ET | Comments (0)

It's been a quiet few weeks for Habs fans, but that is about to end, with the arbitration sessions for Lars Eller and PK Subban fast approaching.

Rumours today had the Habs offering Eller $1.65 million per year, and Eller's camp countering around the $3.5 million mark. Logic would dictate that they will settle around $2.5 million before the hearing, and that seems reasonable given Eller's last season and comparables across the NHL. I'd be a happy fan with Eller on a deal in that neighbourhood.

Now, Mr. Subban, however, could be a different story. Where will he end up on the salary chart? Sure, the Habs may go into arbitration at $6 or $7 million, but would Subban's camp really be out of line asking for $8.5 or $9 million? I would hope that both sides sit down in advance and hammer out a long term extension. Despite that, I'm nervous. I can't imagine Montreal without PK. This is Bergevin's biggest test thus far: can he get it done?

Otherwise, not much going on in Montreal, unless you count nice weather and great festivals (which you should - a great city to be in come summer!). The Habs signed their first round pick in Nikita Scherbak, and some believe he may make the team out of training camp. Would he fill the final top-six forward spot that seems up for grabs? Other prospects have been suggested as possible candidates, but some media believe that Bergevin may be quietly evaluating trade options. Will anyone else move prior to training camp?

Let's see what the arbitrator comes up with. Until then, back to the patio and my lemonade.

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Red Wings early overnight report: on advanced stats and standards of performance

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

07/23/14 at 08:53 PM ET | Comments (20)

Updated 2x at 12:33 AM--I wrote this a little early and the later articles kind of screw with the narrative, but you're a smart bunch, and I'm crossing my fingers that you'll be OK with the way that the later stories influence the earlier "take":

I took a roundabout way to doing what I do for a living, and my trip involved a failed attempt to pursue an engineering degree because I couldn't keep up with Calc III and two attempts to complete a far-too-advanced "statistics and probability" class that ended in failure.

I tend to cringe involuntarily when people start talking about "advanced stats." Strangely enough, however, I've also tended to keep track of shot attempts on a period-by-period basis, noticing on my own that the stat's a superb indicator of who's controlling puck possession...And ExtraSkater's summary of the terms "Corsi" and "Fenwick" both explain that shot attempts are the basis of said numbers, and, unlike those who get into wars insisting that you can't predict a game's results without "seeing it" versus those who suggest that a close look at the scoresheet makes "gut feeling" observations irrelevant:

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A note regarding defenseman Cory Sarich’s condition

Blog: KK Hockey By George Malik

07/23/14 at 07:38 PM ET | Comments (0)

There's been a significant amount of confusion regarding some Tweets made by former Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cory Sarich today, so the Avalanche issued a summary of Sarich's condition:

Sarich Recovering Following Cycling Accident

15-season NHL veteran planning to return

Veteran NHL defenceman Cory Sarich was injured in a cycling accident while training in Invermere, BC, on the morning of Monday, July 21, 2014. Sarich was struck by a motor vehicle and was airlifted to a hospital in Calgary, AB. He is in stable condition and his injuries are not considered life-threatening. The full extent of his injuries and the timeline for his recovery and return to the NHL is unclear.

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  Tags: colorado+avalanche, cory+sarich

Playing Moneyball In Toronto?

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

07/23/14 at 03:04 PM ET | Comments (5)

from Kavitha A. Davidson at Bloomberg View,

After missing the playoffs for the eighth time in nine seasons, the Toronto Maple Leafs think it's time for a different approach. And the success of the Oakland A's this season should give them hope.

The Leafs have fired assistant general managers Dave Poulin and Claude Loiselle, replacing both with "boy wonder" Kyle Dubas. The 28-year-old stats guru -- dubbed the "Billy Beane of hockey," after the A's general manager -- is jumping to the big leagues after serving in the Ontario Hockey League. In just three seasons, Kubas turned around the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds from worst to first in the Western division, building a team around advanced statistics.

In addition to Beane, Kubas draws comparisons to Chicago Cubs general manager Theo Epstein, who embodied the youth movement in baseball's front offices. 

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Filed in: NHL Teams, Toronto Maple Leafs, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: kyle+dubas

Steven Stamkos On Playing For The Leafs One Day

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

07/23/14 at 02:44 PM ET | Comments (0)

from the CP at TSN,

 LeBron James going home to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers led to speculation about whether a star NHL player might do the same in the near future.

Naturally, Steven Stamkos was at the centre of that speculation. The Tampa Bay Lightning captain and Markham, Ont., native could be an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2016, and the allure of playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs could be there.

"We'll see what happens. It's a couple years away," Stamkos said Wednesday. "Right now I'm focused on what I have to do to win in Tampa, and I think we've really established ourselves as a team that can compete in upcoming years.

"For me, that's the important thing is getting a chance to win. It looks like we're going to have that chance for a couple years."

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  Tags: steven+stamkos

Grand Rapids Griffins sign Alden Hirschfeld as a depth forward

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

07/23/14 at 01:57 PM ET | Comments (1)

The Griffins still haven't made the signing of Mark Zengerle official, but the team announced (via RedWingsFeed) that they've signed yet another "veteran" forward:

The Grand Rapids Griffins on Wednesday signed forward Alden Hirschfeld to a one-year contract.

Hirschfeld, 26, spent the majority of the 2013-14 season with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye and picked up 29 points (9-20—29) in 49 games. The 6-foot, 203-pound forward ranked second on the Walleye in assists and sixth overall in scoring. He also made 13 appearances with the Griffins last season, notching a goal, an assist and a plus-three rating. A native of Sylvania, Ohio, Hirschfeld has accumulated 10 points (5-5—10) in 51 career AHL games between the Griffins, Providence Bruins and Portland Pirates.

Prior to turning pro, Hirschfeld spent four seasons at Miami University (2008-12), where he tallied 70 points (35-35—70) in 134 games.

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