It was a little bit surprising when the St. Louis Blues fired coach Davis Payne earlier this month. The Blues were 6-7. Not great, but certainly not horrible. It was even more surprisingly when GM Doug Armstrong hired Ken Hitchcock as the new coach, since the rumors had Hitchcock taking over in Columbus. Armstrong obviously [...]
Here in the United States, we seem to be in a period where we’re enthralled by the idea of a reboot, with reboot defined as the reconceptualization of a previously developed idea. The Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies were popular but to breathe new life into the character, the franchise is getting rebooted, giving a slightly [...]
Apparently Blues defenseman Erik Johnson started this season wanting to be a top-two defenseman. Defensemen Roman Polak and Barret Jackman both went down and suddenly Johnson’s wish came true. Which is why it’s usually safer to wish for money. Or in Johnson’s case, safer golf carts. Johnson has been solid, with occasional bouts of overwhelmedness. [...]
You’ve got to appreciate the Kings’ willingness to get back on that Ilya Kovalchuk horse. The Kings are saying that if Kovalchuk’s Devils’ contract doesn’t work out, they might be interested in taking another shot at him. Minutes after Kovalchuk signed his Devils deal, the rhetoric coming out of his camp was that he always [...]
Whatever happens tonight in Boston, you have to be really blown away by the performance of Peter Laviolette. Laviolette came to the Flyers mid-season, taking over a team in utter free fall. He inherited a seemingly toxic locker room that he’s managed to coach around. Not only did he guide the Flyers into the playoffs, [...]
Ryan Miller seems to be the beneficiary of Sidney Crosby’s media shyness. Crosby’s agent has now said Crosby didn’t do Letterman after the Olympics because his schedule was too tight. I’m not sure if Team Crosby turned down any other high-profile gigs, but it’s hard not to notice Miller is now everywhere and Crosby isn’t. [...]
The Blues firing coach Andy Murray was interesting in that many people are saying Murray’s big issue was being too old to relate to his players. Murray is 58. He was replaced by Davis Payne, 39. Jeff Gordon said a bigger issue was Murray’s reluctance to develop the team’s young core, perhaps a side-effect of [...]
David Pollak had an interesting take on the Sharks’ recent troubles, via coach Todd McLellan: The team simply wasn’t playing frequently enough to establish a rhythm. The Sharks have won their last two, with a victory over Anaheim Thursday and a win over Dallas last night. Since there were quite a few days between the [...]
Last night was kind of interesting. There were 10 games played, with four shutouts. Goalies Steve Mason (CBJ), Ryan Miller (BUF), Ty Conklin (backup; STL), and Nik Backstrom (MIN) each kept the red light off behind them. So is this a sign defense is back in the NHL? Is the NHL reverting to its pre-lockout [...]
It’s hard to know what to say about the Blues and their 20 points in 21 games. On the one hand, you could say they’re a team that’s struggling. On the other hand, they also struggled last season and then made a miracle push into the playoffs. So maybe this is just a team that [...]
