Scott Cullen takes a look at the top stories from December 13th through December 19th, including the Edmonton Oilers, gifts for Canadas World Juniors, Winnipegs
ridiculous run of injuries on defence, the winning Maple Leafs and more.
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OILERS The Edmonton Oilers fired head coach Dallas Eakins after a 16-game
stretch during which they won just once. Despite improved underlying numbers --
the Oilers score-adjusted Corsi% had climbed from 43.7% last season to 48.8%
this season -- ultimately the results werent any better and it was decided that
a coaching change was the way to go. Todd Nelson was promoted from Oklahoma City
to take the interim job. This is where is gets tricky. Those underlying numbers
could be indications of improved play that have simply been unrealized in the
standings because of abysmal percentages. They rank 28th in the league in
shooting percentage (7.3%) and 30th in save percentage (88.8%) and its extremely
difficult to overcome those percentage failings. Was Dallas Eakins doing
something to inhibit the Oilers shooting or save percentages? Not likely, but it
still cost him his job.The funny part of it is that odds are the Oilers wont
likely maintain such low percentages all year long, so improvement is
inevitable, but theyre in such a hole now that it isnt likely to matter. There
are a few related tangents here. One is that the Oilers, notably, hired
analytics blogger Tyler Dellow in the summer, making more of an effort to apply
analytics to their decision-making process and improved possession stats might
suggest that there has been progress that makes it worth staying on the path,
but if the Oilers are hurtling towards another high lottery pick, could that
halt their foray into analytics before it has a legitimate chance to take hold?
More interesting was the idea brought up by Darren Dreger that Taylor Hall could
be in play as a trade chip if the Oilers are going to make a franchise-altering
change. Its difficult to sell the notion that the Oilers would be made better by
trading a 23-year-old winger who has 148 points in 147 games since the start of
2012-2013, but if the Oilers are going to secure legitimate high-end help at
centre and defence, they arent going to find those solutions by moving secondary
talents. The next part of that Hall discussion is who is going to make that
decision? Is Craig MacTavish secure enough in the GM role going forward to be
given that responsibility? With all of these interesting side stories, the
Oilers are going to be a compelling team to watch (more off-the-ice than on) as
the trade deadline and draft lottery approach, but its going to be another long
also-ran season. CANADAS WORLD JUNIORS GET GIFTS FROM NHL TEAMS In a somewhat
unusual turn of events, Team Canada was loaned two players on NHL roster for the
World Junior Hockey Championship. The New York Rangers offered up left winger
Anthony Duclair, the 2013 third-round pick who had seven points (1 G, 6 A) and
positive possession (50.8% Corsi) in 18 games with the Blueshirts. Duclair
scored 50 goals and 99 points in 59 games for Quebec in the QMJHL last season.
The Ottawa Senators then made Curtis Lazar available for the tournament. Lazar
had seven points (1 G, 6 A) and 47.9% Corsi in 27 games for the Senators. Lazar
had 76 points (41 G, 35 A) in 58 games and scored the Memorial Cup-winning goal
for Edmonton in the WHL. Both Lazar and Duclair are nice additions that will
improve Canadas chances at the gold medal, and the decisions are justifiable in
both cases, but its unusual for NHL teams to release players that have been
playing regularly in the NHL. MUMPS The plague of the league this season made
its way to the face of the league as Sidney Crosby was sidelined. Crosbys back
in the lineup now, but Rangers centre Derick Brassard, and Penguins defenceman
Olli Maatta are the latest to get diagnosed with mumps and now every time that a
player misses practice with an illness, the suspicion goes straight to mumps.
What a time we live in. WINNING LEAFS Since the debacle of losing 9-2 on home
ice against Nashville, the Toronto Maple Leafs have ripped off a 10-2-1 record,
winning six straight before Thursday nights loss at Carolina. While theres lots
to be gained by banking those points, the Maple Leafs have travelled this road
before; the road being one in which the team wins a bunch of games in a short
span while getting outshot. Since November 18th, Torontos scored-adjusted Corsi
is 44.5%, which ranks 28th in the league, ahead of Columbus (44.1%) and Buffalo
(37.4%). To his credit, Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle has recognized these
warning signs -- even in the midst of a winning streak -- but once the
challenges are recognized, there remains the issue of fixing what ails this club
if they are going to have long-term success because, as the Maple Leafs have
found out in recent seasons, percentage-fueled runs can come crashing down in a
hurry. JETS DEFENCE CRUSHED BY INJURIES When the Winnipeg Jets announced a few
weeks ago that they would need to shift Dustin Byfuglien back from forward to
defence in the wake of injuries to Tobias Enstrom and Zach Bogosian, that seemed
like a reasonable solution to the significant problem of having two top
defenceman out with injuries. Then second-year rising star blueliner Jacob
Trouba was deemed to be out until February. That left the Jets missing their top
three defencemen and, with barely a moment to figure out roster solutions to
this dilemma, they lost Mark Stuart to a long-term injury as well. Byfuglien,
who has played most of the year at forward, is the only one of the Jets top five
defencemen (by time on ice) that is healthy enough to play right now. The Jets
sent a sixth-round pick to Carolina to get veteran Jay Harrison, so that adds a
proven NHLer to the mix, but some credit should be given to Grant Clitsome, Adam
Pardy, Paul Postma and call-up Ben Chiarot, who have managed to hold the fort
during the initial siege. WILL IT EVER END? The Washington Capitals and Florida
Panthers set a new NHL record going 20 rounds in Tuesdays 2-1 win before Nick
Bjugstad, in his second attempts, ended the proceedings. What made it more
compelling is that it wasnt unabashed scoring futility, as each team scored five
times before Bjugstads turn, it just so happened that the goals all occurred in
the same rounds. For all the justified efforts to reduce the impact of the
shootout on the NHL standings, every so often it can produce a memorable moment.
FLAMES SIGN HARTLEY On December 4, the Calgary Flames were 17-8-3, the toast of
the NHL as the leagues biggest surprise team through the first couple months. In
a related story, the Flames had a 102.0 PDO (shooting percentage plus save
percentage at 5-on-5), the third-highest mark in the league. Then, they lost
their next six games, with a PDO of 94.6 -- the regression that was reasonably
expected -- and the Flames still signed head coach Bob Hartley to a two-year
contract extension. Bob Hartley may very well be a good coach. He doesnt have a
ton of talent on that Flames roster and all indications are that the Flames are
a hard-working bunch, but if Hartley wasnt benefitting from those favourable
percentages early, the Flames could be a lot closer to the Oilers and, well, we
know how that played out. A FINE DEAL Nashville right winger James Neal was
fined $2,000 for diving, the first player docked for embellishment. The fine
doesnt mean much -- $2,000 is pocket change to a player making $5-million this
season -- but the public shaming is noteworthy. It should be enough to curb
behaviour, but it will be interesting to see whether referees respond to players
that end up being on notice for diving publicly. Will Neal draw noticeably fewer
penalties going forward? To this point in the season, hes drawn 11 in 30 games
(0.37 per game). KHL CRASHING? As the Russian ruble is losing value at an
alarming rate, it appears that there are major changes on the horizon for the
KHL. The league was already a questionable financial proposition, not drawing
enough fans to pay multi-million dollar salaries but relying on significant
influx of money from energy companies, a situation that isnt quite so tenable
given the current fiscal climate. Reporter Slava Malamud has plenty of
information on the likely changes, which will include reducing the number of
teams in both the KHL and the Russian junior league. While Malamud said on TSN
Radio that he expects Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Radulov to still get their
money as high-profile faces of the league, this will reduce any kind of leverage
that players have been able to use with the NHL when negotiating deals. As for
teams looking for immediate help, any players that have played in the KHL this
season will have to clear waivers in order to join an NHL club, so while its not
impossible, it would likely be very difficult. VOYNOV TESTIMONY The Slava Voynov
saga took an uglier turn this week when testimony was finally given at a
preliminary hearing and the details were as bad as one might expect. A Redondo
Beach police officer testified that Voynov threw his wife to the ground, kicked
her, choked her, and then pushed her into a flat-screen television, opening a
cut that required stitches to close. It painted a graphic portrait of what is
alleged to have occurred and doesnt offer much reason to expect Voynov to play
for the Los Angeles Kings any time soon. The potential fallout from this
incident could be considerable, a more complicated scenario because Voynov isnt
a U.S. citizen and could be deported if he is convicted of these charges.
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team said they will announce a corresponding roster move prior to their series
opener on Tuesday night in Kansas City.COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ryan Johansen returned
to the Columbus Blue Jackets just before the start of the season.Cam Atkinson
and Nick Foligno couldnt be happier.Atkinson scored twice and Johansens other
linemate, Foligno, added a goal and an assist to power the Columbus Blue Jackets
to a 5-2 win over the New York Rangers on Saturday night.I think we complement
each other really well, Atkinson said of the Johansen-centered line. Obviously,
Joey in the middle with that big frame and those skills is a big part of it.
Nick and I just try to find space out there.Marko Dano added his first NHL goal
and also had an assist for the Blue Jackets, who are 2-0 for the first time in
five years. The game was played before a loud, sellout crowd of 18,922.That was
awesome, starting with the red-carpet entrance and (there being) so many people
out there, said the 19-year-old Slovakian, the 27th overall pick in the 2013
draft. That was a special moment for me, my dad watching the game from the
stands. Im really happy he could see the moment when I scored my first
goal.Artem Anisimov, like Atkinson, scored for the second game in a row. Fedor
Tyutin, a former Ranger, had a +5 plus/minus rating to set a franchise
record.Johansen, who ended his lengthy contract holdout and didnt practice until
the day before the season began on Thursday, had two assists to give him three
total. Scott Hartnell also had two helpers.Former Columbus captain Rick Nash
picked up his third goal and Lee Stempniak also scored for the Rangers, who
opened the season by splitting two road games.Anthony Duclair had two assists,
also his first career NHL points, for the Rangers.With Columbus up 3-1 through
two periods, Dano jammed in a rebound of Dalton Prouts shot from the point with
just over 6 minutes remaining.Almost immediately, Nash scored his third goal in
two games while the crowd booed loudly.Atkinson then closed the scoring with an
empty-netter.At the start of the game, the energy was great, Columbus coach Todd
Richards said of the raucous turnout.
Wholesale Jerseys USA. We did things
in the game that will allow us to have success.The capacity crowd had a lot to
cheer. Anisimov arrived late to the play but stepped into a one-timer from just
outside the left dot to beat backup goalie Cam Talbot 6:24 in. Hartnells blind
pass from the left corner set up the shot and Dano collected his first NHL
point. He pointed and smiled to his father during the goal celebration.Folignos
second effort made it 2-0.He wheeled from the right circle into the slot and put
a shot on goal that Talbot blocked. But the rebound bounced back to Foligno, who
was on all fours as he shoved it into the net.There were a lot of 50-50 pucks
that they got to, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. Was that because they were
quicker than we were? Or that they wanted it more?Stempniak cut the lead in half
at 5:43 of the second with a hard wrister from the right circle.But the Blue
Jackets boosted the lead back to two goals through the second when Johansen, who
signed a three-year, $12-million deal on Monday, whipped a shot on net off a
loose puck. Foligno got a stick on it to send it to Atkinson at the doorstep,
who tapped it in midway through the period.We were chasing, said New York
defenceman Mark Staal. We couldnt get the puck back and when we did we just gave
it back to them.Sergei Bobrovsky had 24 saves for the Blue Jackets while Talbot
made 19 stops in relief of Henrik Lundqvist for the Rangers.Notes: Nash had
tussled with fan favourite Bobrovsky and Matt Calvert in New Yorks 3-1 win the
last time the teams met in Nationwide Arena last March. ... During the customary
pregame introductions at a home opener, for an instant the Blue Jackets bench
was almost as full as the ice with the injured (D Ryan Murray, C Boone Jenner,
RW Nathan Horton, C Brian Gibbons and C Brandon Dubinsky) joined by healthy
scratches (RW Corey Tropp, D Cody Goloubef and RW Adam Cracknell).___Follow
Rusty Miller on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RustyMillerAP
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