So it’s Christmas, and Canadian hockey fans find four playoff teams under their tree. That’s pretty decent, compared to the lump of coal the seven Canadian teams produced last spring, when not a single one advanced.
Here are my Christmas thoughts on the Canadian teams and where they stand as we all take a break.
Merry Christmas, y’all.
Montreal Canadiens — The best of the bunch and a true Stanley Cup contender. No surprise on either front. The Habs are the class of Canada.
Winnipeg Jets — Disappointing for me. I really like the Jets roster, but the goaltending has failed and somehow the Jets are scuffling along, three points below the playoff line again. This team should be better. If they’re not soon, I’m making changes.
Calgary Flames — A brutal start, an injured Johnny Gaudreau and their A goalie (Brian Elliott) hasn’t given them anything close to what they expected. For Calgary to be inside the cut-off line is a major, major success.
Ottawa Senators — A new coach, goaltending issues and still the Senators are seventh in the East. C’mon — did any of you pick them to do better than this?
Edmonton Oilers — Playing for first place in the Pacific on the last night before Christmas, after the way this Oilers team has played over the past decade? Are you kidding? The Oilers are fifth in the West and relevant, a nice change.
Toronto Maple Leafs — Wildly entertaining most nights, with a crop of kids that you can believe in. At this early stage, who isn’t satisfied with the product in Toronto?
Vancouver Canucks — The Canucks aren’t surprising anyone. Twelfth in the West, 28th overall. The best Christmas wish for this team right now is a high draft pick in June.
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Riga Bob
Bob Hartley’s eyes are still focused on an NHL head coaching job, but for the rest of this season he’ll be running Team Latvia. Hartley will meet with Latvian officials at the World Juniors in Toronto, but for now he knows he’s taking long-time assistant Jacques Cloutier with him, and he’ll integrate former NHL defenceman Sandis Ozolinsh — hockey’s original "offenceman" — as well.
"I’ve coached two Latvians in my career: Sandis Ozolinsh and Ronalds Kenins in Zurich," Hartley said this week from Florida, where he’s spending Christmas with family. "Ozo was one of the most renowned Latvians to play in hockey — and so loyal. I remember in Colorado one day I went into the equipment room, and he was there with the equipment guys with 15 boxes full of equipment to ship to Latvia. I said ‘What are you doing?’ He said, ‘I bought a bunch of equipment. I want to promote the game in Latvia.’
"Pretty solid guy. His role is not clear yet. We’ll establish that in Toronto."
Hartley will travel to the Latvian capital of Riga in February, then again in March prior to the World Championships. He’ll take the team through the Worlds, run a Latvian coaching symposium and then have the summer to hunt for another NHL job. It’s only a one-year deal with Latvia — if he hasn’t found an NHL gig come September, he might sign up for Year 2 with the Lats.
"My priority is to be back in the NHL, but I love to teach and work with the young players," said Hartley, 56, who turned down offers to coach in Switzerland and the KHL. "I’ve done a lot of things — won (championships) in junior hockey, the American League, Europe, a Stanley Cup… But I’ve never competed in a World Championship. It will be a pretty neat experience. They gave me an escape clause, should an NHL team need me."
Hartley said he intentionally did not speak with Ted Nolan, the former Sabres head coach who coached Latvia, because he wanted to get his own first impression, but he will now that he’s taken the job. There is currently one Latvian in the NHL — Buffalo’s Zemgus Girgensons.
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The Great One — And Gretz
Stumbled across this last week, upon the anniversary of Wayne Gretzky scoring his 1,000th point. It took him only 424 games — just over five seasons — to hit four figures. Some perspective: Henrik Sedin is eight points away (229-763-992), and the Canucks 4-1 loss in Calgary Friday was game No. 1,201 for the Canucks captain.
It was Dec. 19, 1984. Obviously, Gretzky was and is the fastest player to reach 1,000 points in NHL history, but how about this original Edmonton Journal copy by Hall of Fame writer Jim Matheson?
Oilers 7 Kings 3
Wayne Gretzky got the record he wanted for Christmas. But it wasn’t an LP.
Scoring 1,000 points in just 424 games is the National Hockey League’s short-play record, a 45-rpm classic. It’s almost four years (296 games) quicker than Guy Lafleur, who beat Winnipeg goalie Michel Dionne for his 1,000th March 4, 1981.
Gretzky earned an assist on Mike Krushelnyski’s goalmouth tap in Wednesday after the 23-year-old centre hit the post on a breakaway. No gift point there, nor were the five that followed as Gretzky finished with two goals (one shorthanded) and four assists in a 7-3 Oiler verdict."
Classic 1984 sports prose, Matty.
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The 1000-point Canuck
Speaking of Henrik, he is poised to become the first-ever 1,000-point player in Canucks history — just ahead of his brother Daniel. Hank’s at 992 heading into the Christmas break, or a mighty solid 0.83 point per game over his career. (Daniel is at 964 points in 1178 games, 0.82 Pts/G).
At 36, Henrik’s production has fallen this season to 0.65 points per game, still pretty good. The issue is, with 22 points apiece Henrik and Daniel are one-two in Canucks scoring. They should be second-line support players by now, but no one has passed them by in the same way the twins usurped first-line duties from Markus Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi and Brendan Morrison.
Blame that on too many bad draft years in Vancouver. Futility at the draft table has clearly caught up with the Canucks.
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The Hall-Larsson Template
If the Toronto Maple Leafs do eventually deal James van Riemsdyk for help on defence, as has been the talk out of Toronto, it will be interesting to see how Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello does compared to Peter Chiarelli in Edmonton. He dealt Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson last summer in a deal that taught us all something about the value of a scoring winger versus a dependable 20-minute defenceman.
Compare Hall and JVR: Hall is 30 months younger and had four years left on a deal that paid him $6 million per when he was traded. JVR is set to be an unrestricted free agent after the 2017-18 season, so there is cost uncertainty that will work against the Leafs.
Hall’s points per game (0.86) and goals per game (0.35) are superior to van Riemsdyk’s 0.63 and 0.30, and in a league that just keeps getting faster, Hall has superior foot speed. Van Riemsdyk does his best work in the low slot and driving the net — he has been basically a 30-goal winger each season since joining the Leafs, if you do the math on games played.
By my analysis, JVR should reap a lesser player than Larsson in any deal, mostly due to contract status and age. Keep that in mind, Leafs fans, as trade talks ramp up.
