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Report: Ducks shopping Ryan, Flyers interested
June 18, 2013, 11:03 PM | Twitter @nichols_nhlpool

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REPORT: DUCKS SHOPPING RYAN, FLYERS INTERESTED

The Philadelphia Flyers have long been rumoured to have interest in Cherry Hill’s Bobby Ryan, who himself has always wanted to skate for the Flyers. Trade rumours have been swirling, off and on, around Ryan for years.

CSNPhilly.com reports two NHL sources not associated with the Flyers say the Anaheim Ducks are quietly shopping Ryan a week before the NHL draft in Newark, N.J., and that the Flyers are keenly interested.

“Still a lot to be worked out,” said one source.

A Flyers source, who did not know of the trade discussions, said that the organization has long coveted Ryan going back to the days when Bob Clarke was the general manager.

“If Bobby Ryan is being moved it will happen next week at the draft,” he said.

But hold on.

It should be an interesting run up to the NHL draft, which is scheduled to be hosted by the New Jersey Devils on June 30 at Prudential Center.

LIGHTNING’S LECAVALIER KNOWS BUYOUT POSSIBLE

Vinny Lecavalier tells The Tampa Bay Times he understands it’s possible the Lightning will choose to buy out his contract, which comes with an annual $7.727 million cap hit.

“It’s something that’s really hard to think about, but you see it all the time in sports and business,” Lecavalier said. “Sometimes there are changes. It’s something you have to adapt to with your family and the city.”

Lecavalier’s agent Kent Hughes said this of his client’s deal: “We understand this is a difficult contract. There’s nothing we can do to change that on our end given the restrictions incorporated into the collective bargaining agreement.”

“Ultimately,” Hughes said of a buyout, “it’s a decision the Tampa Bay Lightning will have to assess and make.”

How seriously is Lightning GM Steve Yzerman considering using a compliance buyout? “All I would say is we just finished 28th (in the league),” he said. “We should be looking at every possible way to improve our team. I’m not about to say we’re doing this or we’re not doing that. As an organization, we sit and debate everything.”

That same Times article discusses the possibility of a buyout of winger Ryan Malone.

PENS, DUPUIS CAMP OPEN TALKS

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports discussion opened this week between Penguins general manager Ray Shero and Pascal Dupuis’ agent Allan Walsh, though a deal is not close.

Dupuis, 34, is one of seven Penguins set to become an unrestricted free agent July 5. The others are fellow wingers Matt Cooke and Craig Adams. Also in that mix are in-season additions Jarome Iginla and Brenden Morrow, both wingers, and defensemen Douglas Murray and Mark Eaton.

Figuring out where things stand with Dupuis is the Penguins’ top priority before the NHL Entry Draft on June 30.

Shero also expects to have opened discussions by then with agent Kent Hughes, who represents defenseman Kris Letang. Shero and Hughes had not talked as of Tuesday morning. Discussions were expected to be held Wednesday.

Letang, 26, has one year remaining on a contract that pays him $3.5 million annually.

SCRIVENS TO MARCH IN PRIDE PARADE

The Toronto Star reports Ben Scrivens is going to Toronto’s Pride Parade.

The Maple Leafs backup goalie will pick up where his former boss, GM Brian Burke, left off and march in the June 30 parade honouring the city’s gay community.

“It’s something Ben wanted to do and he’s glad to do it,” said Leafs spokesperson Pat Park. “We think it’s terrific.”

Brian Burke started marching in the parade in 2010 in honour of his late son Brendan, who was gay. Burke marched with a group called Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

PEGULA ADDRESSES SABRES’ RECRUITING PROBLEMS

The Buffalo News relays that Sabres owner Terry Pegula, appearing on “Sabres Hockey Hotline” on WGR-AM 550, noted failed contract talks have taught him what has long been known around Sabreland: Buffalo has a recruiting problem.

“When you go after a free agent, the Buffalo Sabres go after a free agent, I get a kick out of some comments, ‘Why didn’t they get this guy? Why didn’t they get that guy?’’ Pegula said. “Does anyone ever think that maybe that other person has a say in the decision? And maybe he didn’t or doesn’t want to come to Buffalo. You can’t force people to do things.

“I can tell you that every free agent, major, some of the minor ones that have come down the pipe the last couple of years, we’ve been heavily involved with them. … As far as I know we set the standard and won the war, but they made the decision and I think last year’s market was a pretty good example of that. Why don’t we get this guy? Well, guess what, he’s got a brain in his head and he makes a decision based on where he wants to go. Players have a lot to do these days in the way you take your team.”

PANTHERS’ HUBERDEAU CONTINUES HIP REHAB

The Sun Sentinel describes how lanky, 6-foot-1, 177-pound Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau, fresh off a Calder win as the league’s top rookie, hopes to gain strength before his second season and work on visualization techniques.

“I want to get stronger on the lower-body too, my legs, I want more explosion in my skating,” he said. “I want to improve so many things.”

But for now, Huberdeau is focusing on rehabilitating his hip, which he said didn’t hamper him while playing all 48 games this season while notching 31 points. He expects to begin skating in August.

DATSYUK EARNS HIGH PRAISE FROM WINGS’ HOLLAND

You’ve no doubt seen all the details surrounding Pavel Datsyuk’s three-year extension with the Detroit Red Wings.

What you may not have caught were some of the incredible compliments – all true richly deserved – that GM Ken Holland lavished on the star forward, courtesy Michigan Live.

“His hockey I.Q. is off the charts,” Holland said. “He has incredible will and determination. He’s maybe the best one-on-one player in the world. He’s a player who probably doesn’t fulfill his offensive potential because he’s so committed defensively. He’s a world-class player. He’s irreplaceable.”

“He’s gets goals, he gets assists, but he does so much more,” Holland said. “He’s a great shutdown centerman, and as his career plays out he’s like a Chelios or a Larionov, you just don’t gauge his impact strictly on goals and assists. He’s a great defensive centerman. He plays hard. He plays physical. He’s on the penalty kill. He blocks shots. He steals the puck and next thing you know we’re heading up ice.

“It would have been a gigantic loss.”

FLETCHER NOT WORRIED ABOUT WILD’S CAP SITUATION

The Minneapolis Star Tribune takes a look at the potential cap space issues facing the Wild, including how Dany Heatley’s torn labrum rehab takes him out of the initial compliance buyout period coming up soon.

“We have a few different ways we can get to the cap,” General Manager Chuck Fletcher said Monday. “We have options, but some things are easier done than others.”

Cal Clutterbuck, Tom Gilbert, Zenon Konopka, Devin Setoguchi and Kyle Brodziak are all listed in the article as potential trade bait to aid in the cap situation.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with teams and we’re taking as many calls as we’re making,” said Fletcher, adding that league-wide talks should ramp up more during Wednesday’s general managers meeting in Boston.

It will be fascinating to watch how Fletcher makes the snug math work.

“The question is how do we get to the cap and still make the right hockey decisions,” Fletcher said. “That’s the challenge, but honestly, I’m not worried and there are a lot of teams that are in worse shape than we are.”

WHAT THEY’RE TWEETING ABOUT

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Grange: Donohue’s influence still being felt
| Twitter @michaelgrange

Somewhere Jack Donohue is smiling.

And not because he’s being honoured as the first Canadian basketball player or coach to earn recognition in FIBA’s Hall of Fame, a tribute that comes 10 years after the most revered coach in our country’s basketball history died from cancer.

Donohue was already in a half-dozen Halls of Fame by the time he passed away at age 70 in 2003, a show of respect for the 17 years he spent building and leading the national team in the country the New York native came to call home.

No, he’s likely smiling because the foundation of Canadian basketball he began building in virtual obscurity 40 years ago remains in place. The traditions and values he tried to impart as a Catholic primary school teacher-turned-basketball-coach-turned-Canadian-sporting icon remain recognizable if you look hard enough, and not just because Jay Triano, one of his favourite players, is once again the national team’s head coach.

The question, as Canada begins to find its way back from the international basketball wilderness, is how many will recognize the person who put Canadian basketball on the map in the first place?

“He would be really proud of where the program is headed,” says Steve Konchalski, the head coach at Saint Francis Xavier University and Donohue’s longtime national team assistant. “The shame of it is most young players today don’t have any idea who Jack Donohue is.”

It’s not their fault, really. What Canada did with Donohue in charge has never been properly appreciated in part because it happened a long time ago and in part because a sixth-place finish at the world championships in basketball doesn’t resonate the way another gold medal in hockey might. It’s not a story with a simple headline.

But Donohue’s story is a worthy one, if only because talking about it means another chance to make reference to his coaching philosophy: “You can only be a good basketball player for a certain amount of time,” he used to say. “You can be a good person the rest of your life.”

But Donohue liked to win as much as the next guy, perhaps more. He once had a 28-day training camp in Ottawa where his team practised three times a day, six days a week. On Sundays they would only practise twice so that he could go to church in the morning. That’s 80 practices in 28 days, if you’re counting.

“As much as I love basketball, it was like being in prison,” says Konchalski, laughing. “He had a soft side, but he could be a very tough guy.”

This is the first summer of the ‘new’ Canada Basketball. It’s been just over a year since Steve Nash was introduced as the general manager of senior men’s program and — just as important — his old teammate Rowan Barrett was appointed as the assistant general manger and executive vice-president.

The stated goal was to elevate Canada alongside the leading basketball countries in the world, to gun for medals at the world championships and the Olympics. But really the goal is to return Canada to where Donohue had them under his watch. The challenge is to get back to a place they already were.

Based on the age of what could be called the ‘Wiggins generation’ — the crowd of emerging talent in their late teens and early 20s — the greatest moments for basketball in our country could be another Olympic or world championship cycle from now.

That’s when players like Wiggins, the uber-talented 18-year-old set to enroll at the University of Kansas, or Tristan Thompson, the emerging NBA star with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and perhaps a dozen other NBA players with Canadian passports will be in their primes.

That’s when the real tests will come.

But in the meantime Canada’s performance on some early pop quizzes this summer is encouraging.

The junior men’s development team — a roster made up of current college players, including senior men’s team candidates Kevin Pangos of Gonzaga University, Dwight Powell of Stanford and Kyle Wiltjer of Kentucky — went a perfect 9-0 under Triano on a tour of China over the past few weeks, including three straight wins over United States and China.

The under-16 boys team won a bronze medal at the FIBA Americas championship last week, missing out on the chance to play for a silver medal after falling in overtime to Argentina in the semifinal. They will play in the world championships next summer.

Next week the under-19 team, featuring NBA prospects such as Trey Lyles and Tyler Ennis, will be competing in the world championships in Prague and later this summer one of the most competitive senior men’s camps in recent memory will open in Toronto, with as many as 10 current or recent NBA players among a pool of 20 or more serious candidates aiming to earn a spot in the world championships in Barcelona in 2014.

That team will likely form the core of the roster that will try qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. If they pull it off it will be the first time a Canadian men’s team will have made it to the Olympics since Steve Nash and Barrett were in the backcourt for Canada at Sydney 2000.

Lifting Canada out the basketball doldrums has been the focus for Nash and Barrett and Triano.

What is remarkable and the reason for Donohue’s induction to the FIBA Hall of Fame is what came before.

Before coming to Canada Donohue was best known as Kareem-Abdul Jabbar’s high school coach at New York City’s Power Memorial High School in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and later as twice being the NCAA coach of the year while at Holy Cross in the mid-to-late 1960s.

Canada was hosting the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976 and Donohue was hired to build a world class team. He was starting at the bottom. Canada hadn’t qualified for the Munich Games in 1972 but had a chance to earn a spot among 12 other nations in a last-chance play-in tournament.

They finished 12th.

“Even among the also-rans, we were last,” said Konchalski who joined Donohue on the bench as an assistant coach in 1973 and stayed there for 16 years.

That next summer they travelled to Cuba to play the defending Olympic bronze medalists and lost by 40, Konchalski was recalling from his office in Antigonish, N.S.

But two summers later in 1975 Canada beat defending gold medalists Soviet Union in an exhibition game at the old Maple Leaf Gardens, a bigger upset than any effort by a Canadian hockey team during that era.

In 1976 in Montreal Canada beat Cuba in the preliminary round and finished fourth in the tournament, a result that — arguably — remains the high point of Canada’s international basketball history on the men’s side. It will be a ball signed by the members of the 1976 Olympic team that will be displayed at the FIBA Hall of Fame.

But that level of success wasn’t an isolated event. Under Donohue Canada qualified for every Olympic tournament from 1976 through 1988, finishing fourth twice and sixth in 1988. At the world championships Canada was also a factor, finishing sixth twice and eighth once.

What happened after Donohue retired in 1988?

Canada has been back to the Olympics only once. Their average finish at the world championships has been 11th and trending down — they failed to qualify for the worlds in 2006 and finished 22nd in 2010.

The goal of everyone involved in Canada Basketball is to make those results a relic of the past — a blip in time when the basketball world surged ahead and Canada stood still, falling behind by doing nothing.

If it changes — and the betting here is it will and in a big way — Donohue will have had a hand in every win, every international success and every medal to come.

He took a team from last among also-rans to fourth in the world, proving it could be done. There remains an unbroken line from him to Triano to Nash to Wiggins.

Whatever peaks Canada manages to climb in the next decade as a golden generation of talent comes into their own they’ll reach on a trail blazed by Donohue — a Canadian original, courtesy of the Bronx, recognized on Wednesday in Geneva.

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Spector: Blackhawks enter desperation mode
| Twitter @sportsnetspec

BOSTON – Dave Bolland looked us right in the eye and said it.

“We’ll do it,” he promised. “We’ll do it.”

It’s as close to a guarantee as you get anymore, after a question that started with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and how they had felt the Boston Death grip closing around them not long ago. Crosby and Co. had thought they had the answer to it, but inevitably, they did not.

So why will Chicago be able to get the handcuffs off, then the straight jacket, and unlock the steamer trunk from the inside, then swim to the surface before they drown in Boston Harbour the same way that Pittsburgh did?

“We’ll do it,” was all Bolland would say. “We’ll do it.”

We’ve never been a professional athlete, of course. But we’ve spent enough time around professional athletes to have learned that, sometimes, absolute denial is required.

At a time like this, when everybody outside the Chicago dressing room sees the arms of the giant Boston squid closing around Chicago in Game 3, you have to be able to utter quotes like this one, from Brent Seabrook on the off-day before Game 4:

“I thought we played well last game. I thought we came out and worked hard. I thought we had some desperation, we couldn’t score.”

It’s like the Rudyard Kipling poem, “If you can keep your head when all about you/ Are losing theirs and blaming it on you./ If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you…”

So this is where Chicago stands, after watching the Bruins walk away decidedly with the last six periods of this Stanley Cup final. They have not scored a goal in 122 minutes and 26 seconds; Chicago has gone 0-for-11 on the power play in this series; Boston is killing them at the dot, winning 56.8 per cent of the draws (71 per cent in Game 3), and while Chicago’s best players have been ineffective, Boston’s are all finding their groove.

They are inside the belly of the beast now, these Blackhawks. A loss in Game 4 and they … are … done.

“I think we’re in a tough spot,” head coach Joel Quenneville admitted. “Like, we have to win tomorrow night. Come up with a good result, (and) we’re right where we want to be.”

You can sense in the Blackhawks just a hint of what we on the outside are feeling, creeping into their answers. It’s not all about making little adjustments, or raising the game just a tad, when the Chicago leaders are talking.

“Tomorrow, we’re going to need urgency,” Brent Seabrook said. “We’re going to need desperation, we’re going to have to play a solid 60 minutes. Every shift, every second of tomorrow’s game is going to be important for us to be at our best. We’ve got to come out and answer the bell.”

Talk, of course, is cheap. Belief, however, is not. It is earned, always the hard way, in battles past.

So the Blackhawks should not care that, two years ago, the Vancouver Canucks were unable to figure out how not to get dominated inside this hostile arena. Or that the mighty Penguins just tried and failed at the exact job the Blackhawks are now tasked with.

They should care only that they had enough of the magical potion to win that 2010 Cup, and a fresh batch of the secret sauce to overcome a 3-1 series deficit to Detroit in Round 2.

“We can believe in each other,” the thoughtful Patrick Sharp said. “I can’t speak for Pittsburgh. I’m not in that locker room. But I know we’ve been in a situation like this before, playing against the Red Wings this year. That was one of the tougher series I’ve been a part of as a pro. There weren’t a whole lot of scoring chances out there, it seemed like things were going the wrong way, and we were down 3-1. We managed to battle back.

“I know it looks ugly from the outside,” he added. “People can look from the outside and say the series is lopsided or whatever. We win Game 4, we’re in great shape.”

Call it whistling past the graveyard. Call it swagger. Call it whatever you want. Every great athlete we’ve ever spoken to has the ability to control his belief system and never let the doubt creep in.

“You have to. Whether you believe it or not,” Sharp said. “You have to go into a game thinking you’re the best player on the ice. You have to think you’re the best team on the ice. There’s no shortage of that in our room.

“Sometimes when you have to dig deep and find that great effort, you have to rely on the character of the team. I know my teammates in here have that.”

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