I don’t know who does Ryan Malone’s publicity, but they’re very good. The Tampa Tribune reports Malone is working his way out of a recent slump: He started with one goal and seven assists in the first 14 games, continuing a scoring drought from the second half of last season, when the five-time 20-goal scorer [...]

Mike Heika makes the interesting case that the NHL has pretty much attained parity. Maybe not true parity, but less and less difference in the talent level of teams. To the extent that Heika says coaching and team effort is what wins games for a lot of NHL teams. James Gordon has a similar thought, [...]

As the start to the NHL season grows near, you have to be curious about the Tampa Lightning. It was just two years ago that the season started with Barry Melrose as coach. Melrose would last just 16 games before being replaced by Rick Tocchet. During that same time, the Lighting would be sold, Steve [...]

I kind of don’t care about the NHL trying to clamp down on long-term contracts. I think it’s a stupid loophole that teams are exploiting, but I also think it’s one that needs to be closed during contract negotiations, not after. But I can totally get that the NHL wants to make sure everyone works [...]

It’s pretty perfect that Ilya Kovalchuk was signed to a massive contract by the Devils on the same day the Lightning traded for Simon Gagne. It shows the two styles of managing in the NHL. On the one hand, you have the Devils going for the expensive, long-term contract. In Kovalchuk’s case, it’s 17 years, [...]

A lot of NHL teams are making the most of the Stanley Cup intermission. The Blue Jackets hired Scott Arniel after getting turned down by Guy Boucher. Arniel is an AHL coach who was in the mix for the Oilers coaching job before it went to Pat Quinn. Boucher reportedly turned down the Columbus job [...]

In graduate school I took a management course where we had to read canonical leadership books (most of which seemed to come from the 1960s and 70s). I read THE PETER PRINCIPLE, which maintains that every employee within an organization rises to their level of incompetence. It sounds cynical, but the logic is that someone [...]

[picappgallerysingle id="8119718"] New Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik is off to a dramatic start, firing coach Rick Tocchet and GM Brian Lawton. Vinik said he wanted a clean slate to work with. Not helping things was the fact that Lawton and Tocchet spent much of the second half of the season at each other’s [...]

I have to say, and say completely without sarcasm, that I think Tampa does a nice job with their young players. Victor Hedman was starting to look a little overwhelmed and outmatched on the ice. Coach Rick Tocchet could have yelled at him or coddled him or told him to figure it out. But instead, [...]

When a GM supports a coach, that’s usually the surest sign the coach is about to be fired. Down in Tampa, GM Brian Lawton is supporting coach Rick Tocchet, even as the team struggles to find consistency. One thing that’s forgotten about Tocchet is that he’s a new coach with an inexperienced coching staff. Rookie [...]