Toronto’s objective, never forget, is picks, not playoffs.
So while it would be tempting to look at the Leaf goaltending situation today as being somewhat in crisis because of Sunday night’s performance by Jonathan Bernier, the hockey club and its braintrust are more likely to look at the bigger picture and see that James Reimer is now a much more valuable asset than he was last month.
Reimer’s a free agent at the end of the season, and it seems unlikely the Leafs will re-invest, having gone down that path once before and been disappointed. Bernier, with one win in his last 18 starts, has one year left on his contract, and it seems doubtful they’ll be re-signing him, either.
No, the Leafs are about the future, no matter how many hockey rabbits Mike Babcock can pull out of a helmet this season. The win-loss success of the past week is nice, and the Leafs are no longer offensive to their fans, but are delivering a competent, industrious effort most every night.
Otherwise known as the bare minimum.
But despite his fumbles against the Rangers, it can’t be about “getting rid” of Bernier, as so often is the cry about a Leaf who stumbles. It’s about finding a way to get him back on his feet so if a buyer can be found for Reimer before the trade deadline, there’s an experienced option.
Draft picks and more draft picks. That’s the objective, along with cleaning up the payroll. So the other helpful development in recent days has been the seeming rebirth of winger Joffrey Lupul as a goalscorer. He’s got two years left at a $5.25 million cap hit, but the second is only $3.75 million in cash.
With seven goals, Lupul has become very useful, usually on a line with Nick Spaling and Daniel Winnik. If he can stay healthy and score at this pace, he’ll be a valued commodity to somebody at the trade deadline.
That’s how you have to look at Leaf events this season. It’s about developing players for picks, not to get to the playoffs.
BRODEUR WON’T PUSH FOR STREAMLINED EQUIPMENT
Martin Brodeur always wore gear smaller than his colleagues, and was never really inclined to change. He just preferred to be able to move, rather than become just a puck blocker.
Now, however, you won’t find Brodeur pushing for all goalie equipment to be streamlined to enhance goal scoring, and for two reasons. First, he says the velocity at which modern sticks allow players to shoot the puck means safety is a very real issue.
Take out the cheater on the catching mitt, he warns, and you remove a shock absorber and might end up with an epidemic of broken thumbs.
Beyond that, Brodeur says, the technology of goalie gear is so far advanced that you can’t close the barn door now. Just during the past year there has been a major advancement in goalie skates, he notes, and moving to 11-inch pads, rather than giving shooters more room, has produced even better goaltending.
In other words, you’ll never change the equipment enough to impact the game significantly. So, he reasons, bigger nets are likely on the way somewhere in the future.
“I think that’s where we’re headed,” he says.
MORE THAN DUCHENE COULD BE AVAILABLE IN COLORADO
The Colorado situation is fluid and fascinating, and as Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman pointed out on Saturday night, the players who may seem to be the focus of trade speculation may not actually be the ones to watch.
So while Matt Duchene had all the trade talk about him last week, the Avs may actually be trying to figure out how to deal with Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Barrie, who are both restricted free agents next summer and due considerable pay increases.
Colorado is a budget team, not a cap team, that’s about $7 million below the maximum and probably wants to stay there. So to accomodate MacKinnon and Barrie, there will have to be savings somewhere else. That’s the challenge for Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy.
MARCHAND AND CONCUSSION PROTOCOL
Watching Brad Marchand holding his head after being illegally checked by Gabriel Landeskog, and then woozily waving off officials and teammates who wondered if he shouldn’t be going to a quiet room somewhere, left many wondering; aren’t there supposed to be concussion spotters at every NHL game now to take care of this sort of thing?
Well yes. And no.
Each team can appoint its own “spotter,” or it can use one put in place by the league. As the league’s concussion committee heard on Friday, the issue is whether the system is delivering suitable results, or whether there is a wide variety of responses to a possibly concussed player depending on the city and whether it’s the team official doing the spotting.
The committee is looking at reams of data, with many wondering if all of this wouldn’t be best handled by the Department of Player Safety. It doesn’t seem a contentious matter between the league and players union, represented by St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong and former player Rob Zamuner, respectively, but one for which both sides are looking for the best solution.
In the background, of course, is the ongoing concussion civil action from former players. How the league responds to these issues these days is a delicate business.
NOTHING NEW ON PENGUINS SALE
Six months after it was announced the Pittsburgh Penguins were on the market, there’s been lots of rumours, but no real action on a sale by owners Ron Burkle and Mario Lemieux.
There’s an arena and chunk of land here, of course, but in terms of the hockey club, the assets otherwise known as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are about at their peak, or perhaps just beyond that. Investors don’t buy hockey clubs for the players, of course, but attractive superstars make sales go smoother.
If Burkle and Lemieux continue to move forward on a sale, you have to wonder if the performance of those stars and the team might impact the price the Pens will fetch.
FIGHTING DOWN IN EAST, STILL ALIVE IN WEST
Tampa Bay, Toronto and Carolina have yet to register a single fighting major this season. Detroit, Pittsburgh and Montreal have one each. Six teams, meanwhile, have seven or more, and five of those are from the Western Conference.
The art of the scrap, it seems, has taken on an east-west complexion. Still a valued strategy in the “heavier” west, all but gone from the east.
COULD BLUES TURN TO ZUBRUS?
When Martin Havlat bolted the Blues just days after signing with them following a PTO, the immediate question was whether St. Louis might bring in Dainius Zubrus again, given that Zubrus and Havlat had tried out for the team together earlier this month.
“No,” said Armstrong on Saturday when asked. “We’ll go with what we’ve got for now.”
That may have been because Zubrus was no longer an option. He was on his way to join the San Jose Sharks in Boston for a tryout.
RED WINGS STRUGGLING WITHOUT BABCOCK?
Detroit, now 8-8-1 on the season, hoped to see a quick improvement when Pavel Datsyuk returned for his first game of the season on Friday. Instead, the Wings lost that night and on Saturday to drop new coach Jeff Blashill below .500, with possession, once a Detroit strength, continuing to be an issue.
The minor league Grand Rapids Griffins, meanwhile, have been a point of pride for Ken Holland and Co. for several years, but early in the season that club is 2-8-0-1 under new coach Todd Nelson. Highly touted draft pick Anthony Mantha has two goals in 11 games.
The Leafs are finding Babcock is having an impact not just on the NHL club, but on the AHL Marlies and throughout the organization. You wonder if the Wings are having trouble replacing that.
3-ON-3 LATEST ATTEMPT TO MAKE ALL-STAR INTERESTING
The notion of playing 3-on-3 at the All-Star Game in Nashville seems to be gaining some traction, although it really just seems another desperate attempt to make this thing work. The NHL values the event for many business reasons, but can’t seem to figure out a way to put on a competition that doesn’t turn the league into a laughingstock for a day.
Three-on-three doesn’t seem likely to fix that, even in a tournament format. Nothing does, not as long as the players association can’t motivate its members to play something approximating a real game. The easy thing is to say it’s time to get rid of the event, but the NHL doesn’t want to. So another gimmick will be tried.
LIGHTNING HAVE ANOTHER INTRIGUING PROSPECT
Tampa seems to have another very good little man on the way in Brayden Point of the Moose Jaw Warriors, who was a dominant force last week in the Canada-Russia junior series and will likely lead Canada at the world juniors this winter.
He was a third round pick by the Bolts in the ’14 draft. Moose Jaw, however, seems likely to move Point this season, probably to Memorial Cup host Red Deer or one of the other clubs that think they can win the WHL.
The Warriors are a solid team again, but they didn’t trade Morgan Rielly for futures when they could have, probably thinking there was no way he’d stick in the NHL as a 19-year-old. Knowing Point is unlikely to be back next season, they have to look at moving him this season.
CATCHING UP WITH BRODEUR’S SONS
Brodeur’s two goaltending sons are weaving their own hockey stories.
Jeremy Brodeur is getting most of the starts with the defending MemCup champion Oshawa Generals, while Anthony Brodeur, who the Devils didn’t sign after drafting him, headed west to the BCJHL after an unsuccessful stint in the QMJHL.
With Penticton, Brodeur is now a perfect 13-0 for a Vees team that has won 22 straight. It’s a perfect place to be for a player hoping for a professional contract, as scouts will be visiting the Okanagan in droves this winter for viewings of centre Tyson Jost and defenceman Dante Fabbro, both expected to be high first round picks.
Jost and Fabbro are both committed to U.S. colleges after turning down overtures from the WHL clubs that own their rights. That’s not an option for Brodeur after giving up his eligibility by playing in the “Q,” but a good showing in Penticton could get his career back on track.
