Kukla's Korner

Detroit Is Finding New Ways to Win

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

05/21/13 at 12:06 PM ET | Comments (9)

from Lynn Zinser of Slap Shot at the NY Times,

Notice has officially arrived in Chicago that the N.H.L. playoffs have started. Perhaps part of the Blackhawks’ problem is that they are actually playing games in Detroit at the moment. Maybe the hockey gods should start delivering such things by text message. Thus, the Blackhawks would have been warned that Detroit no longer looks much like that identity crisis team that barely sneaked into the playoffs and whom Chicago had little trouble with in the regular season.

Somehow, the Detroit team that has dug its fingernails deep into this second-round series with Chicago not only found an identity, but made it a not-so-charming one. The franchise that used to pride itself on skating rings around opponents and scoring goals out of the how-to-create-a-highlight-reel textbook is now knocking Chicago around for a stunning 2-1 lead in their series.

continued

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Dater Updates Roy’s Coaching Status With Avs

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

05/21/13 at 10:18 AM ET | Comments (17)

via Adrian Dater of All Things Avs,

Time will tell if Patrick Roy’s brother jumped the gun a little — or a lot, like all the way over — on his proclamation to me on the phone and on his own Facebook page that Patrick will be the next coach of the Avalanche.

The Avs this morning are saying there is no deal in place. That’s about all they’re saying so far. So, we wait and see what happens. As my story last night said, the Avs would not confirm Stephane Roy’s assertion and that remains the case.

My belief: the Avs and Roy are in negotiations on a possible deal. But until a deal is done, it’s not. This still may not happen at all. We just have to wait. Roy wanted a lot of money in 2009 to be the coach – my reporting said he wanted a four-year deal at $3 million per, while the Avs offered four years at $1.75 million per.

I can’t imagine Roy asking for any less than that now. And for an NHL coach, that’s a LOT of money. So, it’s possible money – as it often does – could derail this thing. We shall see.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Colorado Avalanche, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: patrick+roy

Morning Line

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

05/21/13 at 08:39 AM ET | Comments (0)

“I think the defining moment in my career was when I went through waivers three times. It kind of changed my outlook on things. The next year I went back to the minors. You can’t get any lower than that. Teams tell you they don’t want you and then another team picks you up and they say, ‘Oh, no, we want you – to play on our minor team.’ And then you get traded.

“It’s tough, it’s a bumpy road. But it’s not what happens to you, it’s how you react. I was able to mature quite a bit and figure out that I had to change my ways a little bit to get back to the league and find a way to be successful.”

-Craig Anderson, goaltender for the Ottawa Senators.  Much more on Anderson from Roy MacGregor of the Globe and Mail.

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  Tags: craig+anderson

Players Missing In Action

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

05/21/13 at 08:33 AM ET | Comments (0)

from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

It has been a tough playoff season for some of the NHL’s rich and famous, the players who are supposed to be difference makers at this time of year. For the teams already on the sidelines, Corey Perry of the eliminated Ducks finished 10th on his team in scoring with two assists in seven games, tied with David Steckel and Ben Lovejoy. Alex Ovechkin was ninth on the Caps in scoring, with two assists in seven games. Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise never got it going for Minnesota Wild.

Then there are the ongoing struggles of players such as the Bruins’ Tyler Seguin with just a single assist in nine games. The Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews has three assists in eight games, and trails Shaw and Bryan Bickell on Chicago’s scoring list. The Kings’ top line of Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Justin Williams has just a single goal in three games vs. San Jose, and it came on a 5-on-3 power play attempt. And most disturbingly, Rick Nash and Brad Richards have been dismal for the New York Rangers, Nash with four points in nine games, Richards limited to a single point thus far.

Makes you wonder what kind of paydays a very average free-agent crop is going to get this summer. Will we finally see the end of those dog-and-pony shows that some agencies like to orchestrate? You gotta hope so.

read on for some Wings, Kings and Patrick Roy talk...

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Hockey Talk On A Tuesday Morning

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

05/21/13 at 08:21 AM ET | Comments (5)

from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal,

- The Minnesota Wild may want to rid themselves of a chunk — possibly two-thirds — of Dany Heatley’s $7.5-million salary with the amnesty buyout. But they can’t buy out an injured player, and Heatley recently had knee surgery.  He’s essentially a secondary player making first-line money.

- The Montreal Canadiens, meanwhile, will take about two seconds to use the buyout on defenceman Tomas Kaberle, who will make $4.25 million next season.

- Former NHL GM Craig Button wonders if teams will try to sign free agents to one-year contracts so they can see where the salary cap goes in 2014-15. It’s coming down about $6 million from the 2012-13 season, but maybe it will go back up to $70-million-plus in 2014-15.

more notes...

Also from Matheson,

- Will the Rangers use an amnesty buyout, which would be two-thirds of what’s left on (Brad) Richard’s salary, or about $25 million? That would be a substantial fall from grace for Richards, the former playoff MVP in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 2004 Stanley Cup win. What is it with players who sign long-term deals with the Rangers? Scott Gomez, Bobby Holik. Do they go to New York to kill their careers?

- Red Wings forward Valterri Filppula teases you with high-end plays like his backhand goal in Game 2 on Saturday in a 4-1 Detroit win against the Chicago Blackhawks, but he’s done little to increase his value on the open market when free agency starts July 5. He has been outplayed by rookie Gustav Nyquist during the playoffs, giving Detroit lukewarm secondary scoring behind Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg.

Filppula makes $3 million. Is he really worth any more than that to another team off 17 points in 41 regular-season games and five in the playoffs?

much more

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Video- Detroit’s 3:00 Minute Mark Warm-Up Tradition Explained By Kris Draper

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

05/21/13 at 07:42 AM ET | Comments (3)

Cassie Campbell of HNIC caught up with Draper to talk about the origination of this tradition.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: kris+draper

Red Wings overnight report: on defensive learning curves, Brunner, Abdelkader and the coach

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

05/21/13 at 04:18 AM ET | Comments (18)

Updated 3x at 5:23 AM: I am annoyed. I happen to love mammoth, twenty-printed-page blog entries that eat bandwidth and crash browsers...But ever since we've moved to our now not-so-new software platform, I've got a character limit, so during the playoffs, when the press push is absolutely masive I've had to separate multimedia from the game wrap-ups, and now I'm positing an overnight report as well. Damn you, reader-friendly common-sense character limits!

This morning's  dominant sidebar stories involve Jonathan Ericsson, Damien Brunner, Brendan Smith and Jakub Kindl (and Justin Abdelkader and Mike Babcock. Okay, the list is long, thus the separate entry). Starting at the beginning...

DetroitRedWings.com's Bill Roose wisely points out that Ericsson's the team's #2 defenseman, and he's doing just fine and dandy in that role. Nobody's afraid when "Errorson" hops over the boards anymore, and his partner, who happens to be the Red Wings' #1 defenseman, isn't surprised to see Ericsson thrive in his "new" role:

“Just the responsibilities that have come with that role, I think he’s been great,” Kronwall said. “Everybody in this organization knew that he could do it, and had been knowing it for a few years, ever since he came in and played that great series, I think it was against Columbus, his first playoff. I think he’s really come into his own.”

Combined, the Ericsson/Kronwall duo has accounted for 39 hits in the playoffs against the Ducks and Blackhawks. Ericsson had nine hits in the first two games of the Chicago series, second only to Abdelkader (13). He’s also the only Detroit player to appear in every postseason game without receiving a penalty, which speaks to his discipline.

Continue Reading »

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Red Wings-Blackhawks Game 3 wrap-up: out-Winged, out-Hawked, outworked

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

05/21/13 at 03:29 AM ET | Comments (7)

The Detroit Red Wings' 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 3 of their second round series was somewhere between a Gustav Nyquist-style master stroke and a Muhammad Ali "rope-a-dope," including its share of controversy and enough post-game chatter to merit its own multimedia post. In terms of the wrap-up thereof, I cannot help but start at what many believe was the crux of the game in Andrew Shaw's presence in Jimmy Howard's crease negating what would have been a game-tying 2-2 goal.

The Chicago Tribune's Chris Kuc took note of that sticky wicket from the Hawks' perspectives...

Continue Reading »

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Red Wings-Blackhawks Game 3 multimedia post

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

05/21/13 at 01:27 AM ET | Comments (3)

As an adjunct to the quick take, and because this stuff comes together before all the stories are available to concoct an actual wrap-up--and hopefully to make said wrap-up a little easier to read--here are the multimedia offerings from the Red Wings' 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 3 of their second-round series, starting with NBC-narrated higlights:

Continue Reading »

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Dater: Colorado Avalanche will name Patrick Roy their next coach

Blog: KK Hockey By George Malik

05/21/13 at 12:18 AM ET | Comments (10)

Mon dieu! Per the Denver Post's Adrian Dater:

Patrick Roy will be the next coach of the Avalanche, according to Roy's brother, Stephane.

"They're discussing the final details of an arrangement. Colorado is going to be very happy. Patrick is looking for a new challenge," said Stephane Roy, the younger brother of his famous sibling.

The Avalanche would not confirm a deal is in place. Patrick Roy could not be reached for comment, and neither could Avalanche vice president of hockey operations Joe Sakic.

Stephane Roy, who played briefly in the NHL, posted on his Facebook page Monday night, "For all my friends I'd like you to know before the official news spreads that my older brother will be the new coach of the Colorado Avalanch(sic)."

Continued

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