User Posts

from Emily Kaplan of ESPN,

So Robertson returned to his family home in Michigan, and got to work with a trainer. He made the Stars' opening night roster in 2021, but through his first few games wasn't making much of an impact. Robertson was a healthy scratch for a handful of early-season games. He says now that he may have been "uptight" or afraid to make mistakes.

"We had a discussion this year around that time, and watched some video together," Peverley said. "As much confidence as he had, not playing is hard. But he was willing to work. He loves the game so much, he'll go home and watch all of his shifts because he wants to get better. There's only so many players I've had, in my minimal time in this role, where they're there because they love it so much. They'll go home and they'll work on things, when everyone else is home doing other things. He naturally has the drive to be the best player."

Finally, it all came together. Over the past two-plus months, the offensively gifted winger has arguably been the Stars' best player, and certainly one of their most indispensable ones. Since Feb. 7, Robertson has scored a team-high 15 goals and 40 points as Dallas makes its final push for a playoff spot in the Central Division, following a sluggish start marred by injuries to key veterans. The 21-year-old was especially impressive in April, when he was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month after appearing on the scoresheet in 13 of 17 games, including a nine-game point streak.

more

The Wings are off until Friday when they will play a back to back 2 game series in Columbus to wrap up their season.

So we have some time to talk about the team.

Let's start off with a "what's on your mind" regarding the Wings.

Start the conversation and see where it goes.

from Aaron Portzline of The Athletic,

We asked them about their perception of Columbus as a city, why they think the Blue Jackets keep losing players, what it’s like to play for coach John Tortorella, what it’s like to negotiate with the Blue Jackets, and what they’d change if they were running the club.

We had several stipulations to these interviews:

• the players would be granted full anonymity so that they could speak freely
• the players must have played in Columbus during the Kekalainen/Tortorella era
• the players needed to have played in multiple other cities during established NHL careers
• the players must have left the organization on good terms, with no ax to grind and no agendas

Two players we asked to participate politely declined. Three others agreed to talk, with the promise that their comments would be only lightly edited to avoid revealing their identities....

What are your thoughts on how/why the Blue Jackets keep losing top players, either to free agency or forced trades?

Player 2: Young kids would rather get drafted somewhere else. Maybe this is overgeneralizing, but a lot of the younger guys want to go where they’re rock stars — Toronto, New York, Boston. They want to go hang out with hot chicks in Miami and Arizona and L.A. They want to try to wheel girls in Montreal. That’s what they want to do. So there has to be some other draw that Columbus has, right? There has to be something else. “We have a great team and a great culture and we’ll pay you.” Or, “We really value this (aspect) in you and we want you to stay and we’ll make sure you stay no matter what the cost.”

When we talked contract it was, “Where do you want to be?” And we said “X” amount, they immediately said, “Nope, no chance.” And we were like, “Well, that’s where we’re at and there are like six other teams willing to go there.” They expected me to give up a ton of money to play there, like they were the only team in the league.

more (paid) and a recommended read, the little blurb I posted doesn't due justice...

NEW YORK/TORONTO (May 3, 2021) – For the first time, the National Hockey League (NHL®) and National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) will celebrate Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month as part of their annual Hockey Is For Everyone™ campaign.

from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

Detroit has been outshot 205-95 in five of its past six games and scored only three goals in five games since its 7-3 victory over Dallas on April 22....

“We got to learn (to) spend more time in their zone. That’s why lately the shot differential is big,” Jonathan Bernier, who made 40 saves on Sunday, said. “We got to come out of our zone cleaner. I feel like defensively we’ve improved. We obviously got to find a way to score more goals. That’s the bottom line. It’s going to tough to win every night if you score only one or two. You got to put pucks towards the net, especially against (Tampa Bay’s Christopher) Gibson, (who) didn’t play much this year.”...

The Red Wings leveled the ice in the third period, outshooting the Lightning 7-6, but didn’t capitalize on three power plays in the final 7:44, including a full five-on-three advantage, during which they registered only one shot.

This is there they missed injured forwards Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, Robby Fabbri and Bobby Ryan.

“Certainly, our power play hasn’t been good enough; goaltending has been pretty good,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “I think the last week or so we’ve gotten zoned and given up way more shots. Previously, if you look back at games, they weren’t as one-sided from a shot aspect. From a chances aspect, there were a number of games our chances were greater, especially even-strength.

“So, I don’t know if it’s indicative of the season. Tonight, Bernie was good, and we needed our power play to score, and it didn’t.”

read on

THREE HARD LAPS

* The Bruins and Oilers can punch their tickets to the postseason during Monday’s 14-game slate.

* Semyon Varlamov can become the third goaltender in the NHL’s modern era (since 1943-44) with a shutout in four consecutive appearances and first since Brian Boucher blanked opponents in five straight over 17 years ago.

* The Lightning preserved their perfect record when leading after two periods this season and moved within two points of the League-leading Hurricanes in the Discover Central Division.