Marlies Charge Ahead

ABBOTSFORD, B.C.--Don Cherry has singlehandedly made Nazem Kadri into North America's most famous minor pro hockey player by using his Coach's Corner platform to rail against Maple Leaf GM Brian Burke on almost a weekly basis for refusing to make Kadri a full-time NHLer.

There are pluses and minuses to such notoriety. On Saturday night, it meant that with the home town Abbotsford Heat offering the home fans little to cheer about in a half-empty, half-interested arena, those in attendance may not have been familiar with every enemy skater but they sure knew to boo Kadri every time he touched the puck.

"I don't know what I did to them," smiled Kadri afterwards. "It's not the first time it has happened in an away rink. I think it's a good thing." 

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Even more of a probable motivation for Kadri was to respond to the good-natured ribbing he'd taken from Marlies teammate Colton Orr earlier in the day after choosing not to go on the ice for an optional morning skate after not being on the ice the day before as the club travelled to British Columbia for Game 3 of their AHL best-of-seven series against the Heat.

"You better be good tonight," chided Orr, currently ineligible to play in the AHL playoffs because of roster limits but a strong veteran presence in the dressing room for head coach Dallas Eakins anyway.

Kadri sure was good. More important, he was very good very early, scoring just 58 seconds into the game on a lightning-fast wraparound past Abbotsford goalie Leland Irving, a quick start the Marlies rode to a solid 4-1 triumph and a two games to one lead in the series over the Calgary Flames minor-league affiliate.

"That was huge," said Kadri about his goal. "The last two games they got the first goal and we were kind of on our heels a little bit. We talked today about having a good start and getting that first goal. Once we did, you could see them tighten up a little bit.

"We just took off from there."

The 21-year-old Kadri is the most dynamic offensive player in this series, and alongside Matt Frattin and Jerry D'Amigo, he has centred the most dangerous line in the series. After dropping the opener, the red-hot Marlies have used that unit effectively to help win the past two games and move to 5-1 in the post-season, and in so doing have assured themselves of at least one more home game this spring, either in this round or the next.

Games 4 and 5 are in Abbotsford on Tuesday and Wednesday, with Game 6 back in Toronto, assuming the Heat get at least one home win in this 2-3-2 series format. The winner of the series will play the survivor of the San Antonio-Oklahoma City series in the Western Conference final.

Frattin, Marcel Mueller and Phillipe Dupuis also scored for the Marlies. Nicolas Deschamps, picked up during the season from the Anaheim organization for Luca Caputi, had three assists and was plus-3, while netminder Ben Scrivens stopped 20 shots for the win. The Marlies have scored nine goals in two games against a defensively stout Heat squad that had won 11 straight before losing Game 2 in this series.

"The early goals really helps to draw them out of their defensive system and forces them to play a way they're not comfortable," said Eakins. "Both teams were a bit tired after all the travel on Friday. We made mistakes that were driving us coaches crazy, but so were they."

Kadri had a goal and two assists in that Game 2 triumph and continues to produce in the AHL post-season, another level in his progression to the NHL.

"I want to be one of those players who steps up when the team needs me to step up," said Kadri. "I'm playing with some great players. It's like they can't guard all of us all the time. 

At one point, Kadri was on the ice with D'Amigo and Frattin, while Jake Gardiner and Jesse Blacker were on the back end, a fivesome that just might be on the ice with the Leafs as a group in the near future.

"It's very interesting," smiled Kadri, who has six points in the Marlies six playoff games. "But at the same time, when we're on the ice together, we're not thinking about that kind of stuff. I know the Leafs didn't get the results they wanted this season, but I think the future is definitely bright."

Kadri admits he gets a kick out of Cherry's spirited pokes at Leaf management on his behalf.

"Really, it's nice to have him have my back a little bit," said Kadri, who played for Cherry in the CHL Top Prospects game in his draft year. "There were times I was a little down on myself and I was wondering why I was wasn't getting those minutes in the NHL. Having him think so highly of me made me want to push myself even harder. Just to make what he's saying make sense."

Abbotsford changed goaltenders for the game after Danny Taylor played well in the series opener but was shaky in Game 2. Irving wasn't much better in Game 3 while facing only 26 shots, while the decision to insert winger Akim Aliu in place of enforcer Pierre-Luc Letourneau Leblond didn't pay dividends either.

Abbotsford's top forward, Krys Kolanos, has gone silent since ripping up the first round with four goals and four assista in a three-game sweep over the Milwaukee Admirals. He has only one assist in three games against the Marlies, with Eakins deploying the defensive pairing of Korbinian Holzer and trade deadline acquisition Mark Fraser against Kolanos as often as possible.

The only discouraged Marlie might have been forward Greg Scott, a native of Victoria, B.C. who had his mother and grandmother in attendance but was miffed at himself after missing a second period breakaway while the Marlies were shorthanded.

"How many of those have I missed?" said the good-natured Scott in mock exasperation as he hustled off to visit with his relatives.

 

 

 

 

New Man in Montreal

The Montreal Canadiens didn't go for a proven hockey executive or an experienced individual with a history of NHL success when they hired their new GM.

Instead, it appears they were primarily looking for a polar opposite personality to the departed Pierre Gauthier.

While Gauthier was often referred to as "The Ghost" for his aloof ways, and struggled to make useful and friendly connections in the Montreal media, well-connected new Habs GM Marc Bergevin is regarded in the hockey world as one of the funniest men in the sport and one of the most liked.

An example? When a group of locked-out NHLers was touring Europe in 2004, Bergevin was a co-coach with Marty McSorley. McSorley was the bad cop, trying to get the players organized to compete against serious opposition, while Bergevin was the good cop, keeping the players loose. He once gave a pre-game speech wearing a toga. Another time, he popped out of a stick bag nearly naked.

Bergevin, 46 and a bilingual native of Montreal, played 1,191 games with eight different teams as an NHL defencemen of middling ability. He most recently worked in the front office of the Chicago Blackhawks and has also worked for the Hawks as a coach and scout. He is considered very tight with powerful NHL influences like Pat Brisson and Luc Robitaille.

The story of Bergevin's hiring was broken by Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune earlier today.

What will be interesting now is how the stylish Bergevin, who has never been a GM at any level, fills out the rest of his front office to address his own lack of senior executive experience. For example, might Serge Savard stick around as a consultant/advisor? That said, any number of successful NHL GMs - Ray Shero, Stan Bowman, Peter Chiarelli, etc. - did well in their first crack at the top hockey job with various organizations.

The Habs are facing some tough decisions - Scott Gomez may be bought out, according to some reports, while Carey Price needs a new contract - after finishing dead last in the Eastern Conference this season.

As well, the Habs own the third pick overall in this summer's entry draft.

 

Defining The Right Thing

The Nashville Predators have suspended Alexander Radulov (above) and Andrei Kostitsyn for Game 3 on Wednesday night against the Phoenix Coyotes for violating team rules.
MARK HUMPHREY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Suspending Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn for Game 3 was a painful decision for Nashville GM David Poile and head coach Barry Trotz.

But the next one will be even harder.

Let's say the Preds get their act together at home on Wednesday and get their first victory in this series over the Phoenix Coyotes.

Then what? Put the talented truants back in for Game 4? Leave them out and risk being pushed right to the brink without them?

And what if Phoenix wins Game 3? Would Borat I and II then return to try and jumpstart an improbable come-from-behind effort?

Tricky questions indeed that lie ahead. This is not to say that suspending the two dummies for the third game was an error. It was certainly the morally correct move, and its easy to sense that while breaking curfew was the violation, it underscored a larger concern that Radulov and Kostitsyn weren't exactly laying their hearts and souls on the line in this playoff series.

Radulov, of course, is a slippery fellow who walked out on a signed contract with Nashville before. You simply cannot count on him beyond today, and Poile and the Nashville franchise had to hold their noses to bring him back this season, particularly while knowing he has only returned to finish the final portion of his entry level contract and possibly strike it rich this summer.

Kostitsyn, brought it at the trade deadline, was dogged for years in Montreal by suggestions he was, well, a dog. Lots of tools, no toolbox.

Did bringing them in infect the Predators dressing room? Sure didn't seem that way at all in the first round while Nashville was handling Detroit. 

But even in today's NHL when players routinely play the tail wagging the dog, it seems unthinkable what they pulled the other night.

So they sit. But then what? And what, beyond this story, does this contribute to the future of Russian players and players from former Soviet republics (Kostitsyn is from Belarus) in the NHL at a time when their North American value has already dropped drastically in recent years?

Columbus got burned by Nikolai Zherdev and Nikita Filatov, or at least the Blue Jackets investment in those players did not yield substantial dividends. We all remember the Alexei Yashin soap opera in Ottawa and massive buy-out in Long Island. The KHL pilfered Radulov and is pushing hard to get other young Russians to stay home, using the NHL's entry level contract structure against it. Washington's 19-year-old blue-chip prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov, reports say, has decided to stay with Chelyabinsk for two more years. There's been chatter Winnipeg's Alexander Burmistrov might be on the KHL's radar. Alexander Ovechkin has gone from Washington superstar to headache, a player who declined to participate in the all-star game, and on Monday night played the lowest minutes he's ever played for the Caps without being injured or kicked out of a game. New Jersey went out on a limb to sign Ilya Kovalchuk, and while he was a better player this season, he hasn't come close to giving value for the dollars he has received. Oddly, the Devils were dominant Tuesday night without Kovalchuk in winning Game 2 against Philly.

At the other end of the spectrum, Evgeny Malkin might win the Hart Trophy and Nail Yakupov (an ethnic Tatar) and Mikhail Grigorenko (born in Khabarovsk, near the Chinese border) are highly touted youngsters for the June draft. It would seem completely unfair to tarnish their reputations because of what Radulov and Kostitsyn did. That would be like suggesting Canadian players are all head shot artists because Raffi Torres was suspended for 25 games.

So should NHL teams generalize about Russians, or Belarussians and Kazakhs and Tatars, or is that both short-sighted and bigoted? Can teams "risk" taking Russians in the draft because of the KHL threat, knowing they may not see them until age 21 or even later? 

These are complex issues that probably defy a one-size-fits-all resolution, and the market pressures here are unique to Russian players. That said, it would be foolish to suggest there are no subtleties at play here, no cultural misunderstandings that sometimes get in the way of the business of hockey.

From the day more than two decades ago the Soviets started allowing their stars to go to the NHL, it has always been thus. Its not likely to change. All that's in question here is how much and how often NHL will want to invest.

Less GR8 May Be Better

So partway into the second round of the NHL post-season, we have three significant surprises on our hands.

First would be the Phoenix Coyotes. Ownerless, perhaps soon to be city-less, the 'Yotes are taking it to the Nashville Predators and Vezina-nominated goalie Pekka Rinne in a big way.

Second, well, the L.A. Kings might have been a team to watch in the eyes of many for these playoffs, but nobody foresaw a magnificent 5-0 road record against good teams like Vancouver and St. Louis and a team that seems to coming together in the spring just as the Boston Bruins did a year ago.

Then, there's Alexander Ovechkin. Or should we say the incredibly shrinking Alex Ovechkin.

By getting smaller, at least in prominence measured by ice time, Ovechkin is getting greater results. The latest indication of that came Monday night when Ovechkin played 13 minutes and 36 seconds for the Washington Capitals in Game 2 against the New York Rangers. He scored what proved to be the winning goal in the third period, then sat the rest of the way as the likes of Jay Beagle, Troy Brouwer, Keith Aucoin, Jason Chimera and Matt Hendricks defended the one-goal margin the rest of the way.

This, if you know anything about the Caps, Ovechkin and the star-crossed playoff efforts of recent years, is a remarkable change of narrative.

By being less about Ovechkin, Washington is becoming more about team. It's not just Ovechkin playing a lesser role. Alex Semin (12:27) and Mike Green (18:14), too, at least when the game is one the line. Head coach Dale Hunter was a mucker, albeit a talented one, and he's turning this team over to the muckers and grinders at decisive moments. So Beagle and Hendricks now get more ice than Ovechkin and Semin. Green used to be the kingpin of the blueline corps, but now John Carlson and Karl Alzner are.

This strategy/philosophy worked against Boston in the first round, and it worked to help the Caps steal home ice advantage in Manhattan on Monday night.

Ovechkin is barely holding back his unhappiness for the way he's being used, and it's sad, in a way, to see this once freewheeling, exciting Washington team turned into a passive, trapping team.

But you have to respect Hunter for doing it his way. The cardinal rule for most coaches in pro sports these days is never to fight with the star player, but Hunter appears as though he couldn't care less what GM George McPhee or owner Ted Leonsis think of how he's using Ovechkin, let alone what the Russian star himself might think.

Maybe it's because Hunter knows the OHL London Knights are in the trusted hands of his brother, Mark, and he can return to that league and that team whenever he wants. Or maybe it's because he only wants to make this NHL gig last until the end of the season. Or maybe it's because its the only way he knows.

Doesn't really matter what his motivations are, of course. It only matters what strings he's pulling and the results.

De-emphasizing Ovechkin seems to be working, even though you can't exactly accuse Ovechkin of playing badly. Hunter just seems to want him deployed in well-rested bursts.

There was a sense late in the season that Hunter was looking at Ovechkin in a different way, but most assumed that when the playoffs came the Caps would again become Ovechkin's team. But they haven't. And it's working. That's a big surprise.