Hockey Hearsay

Hockey Hearsay runs weekdays, 12 months a year; mixing NHL stories, quotes and fantasy takes.

The Calgary Sun believes that Canada is about to fall in love with Devante Smith-Pelly.

Yes, when the puck officially drops on the world junior hockey championship next week, the 19-year-old loaner from the Anaheim Ducks is going to become an instant fan favourite.

Impressive and tough enough to start the season in Anaheim, Ducks GM Bob Murray worried the team’s struggles would hamper his development and opted to loan the second-round pick from 2010 to the Canadian program.

Following an impressive camp, he was handed the associate captain’s A for last night’s exhibition game and promptly led in every way possible.

“The message (from Anaheim’s management) was pretty much come here and have a big role,” said Smith-Pelly, destined to be known throughout this tourney as DSP.

“This season wasn’t going too great up there, and for a first-year guy, they didn’t want me to be around the negativity so they sent me here and said, ‘when you get back we’ll go from there.’ ”

Perhaps his skillset was best summed up midway through the first period when he followed up a great scoring chance by hammering Finnish forward Miikka Salomaki to delight of an otherwise quiet Dome gathering.

The Sun notes that while coach Don Hay mixed his lines most of the night, Smith-Pelly spent most of his time on what should be the top unit, alongside Mark Sheifele. While he’ll be counted on for his offence, he’ll also play a major role in establishing the intimidation factor Canada has used to its advantage throughout this tourney’s history.

After bowling over the third Finn of his shift midway through the second, he stood over his victim to hammer home a point his body just delivered — the Canadians will punish.

“He is extremely poised in his own zone with the puck. He will finish all checks with authority and his hands are very good in tight areas around the net,” Murray said last night while the Ducks lost again .

“A solid Canadian north/south player.”

Smith-Pelly added this: “Ryan Getzlaf told me to go in there and be a leader, but don’t go in there thinking you’re better than anybody else,” he said. “Those were his words of advice and I’m going to listen to them for sure.”

The Toronto Star writes that Raffi Cavoukian’s latest creation may not be suitable for the tiny ears that normally comprise his audience.

The popular Canadian children’s entertainer has temporarily set aside singing about baby belugas, robins and watermelons growing by the bay to take on Don Cherry. And he’s not pulling any punches.

Before Saturday’s Vancouver-Toronto hockey game, he called on his 3,800 Twitter followers to mute their televisions during Coach’s Corner using the hashtag #mutedoncherry. He says dozens of fans took up the challenge.

“For years I’ve been watching him get louder and louder,” said the man known to youngsters around the world simply as Raffi. “He sounds and acts like a bully. That’s not fun and it’s not a good example for the kids who are watching.

“In this day and age of all the hockey violence, we should be putting a stop to this.

“I like the skilled players and there’s absolutely no call for this guy to demean anybody who isn’t into the violence. That’s just really stupid on any level.

“I have nothing against the man personally. I’m just saying his act is uncivil and doesn’t belong on our public broadcaster.”

Cavoukian, who grew up as a Maple Leafs fan but has converted to the Canucks since moving to the West Coast, told The Star he’s not really sure what moved him to start his campaign Saturday.

He was getting ready to watch the game when he was inspired to hit Twitter.

“OK #hockey fans: press MUTE on your remote. MUTE #doncherry & tell us ‘how tweet it is” !!!” he wrote.

“I’d had enough and it’s Christmas, so I figured what better time,” he said with a laugh. “There’s no game Saturday. We’ll give it a break for Christmas, but look out in the New Year.”

While admitting the whole thing is mostly for fun, Cavoukian did say there is a serious side to his comments.

“I’m standing up for kids, so whatever good there is in his analysis of the game is better served with better demeanour,” he said. “Let’s set a good example for the kids.

“Let’s take the violence out of hockey as much as we can. It’s a rough, high-flying sport, but it should be the skill of the game that’s celebrated instead of the nonsense.”

Asked if he might fit Cherry’s favourite name for his critics — tree huggers — Cavoukian readily admitted to it.

“I have hugged trees,” he said with a chuckle. “Who hasn’t? I’d hug Don Cherry if I met him.”

The Boston Herald notes that Tomas Kaberle returned to the Garden last night for the second time this season, with his third team in seven months.

Kaberle, who won a Stanley Cup with the Bruins in June, signed a surprisingly lucrative deal with the Carolina Hurricanes in the offseason, worth $4.25 million annually for three years. On Dec. 9, Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford decided he’d made an egregious mistake and, with the Canadiens desperate for help on the blue line, was able to dump the contract on the Habs for Jaroslav Spacek.

However, Kaberle has five assists in as many games since joining Montreal, and he finally may have found a place where he’ll flourish.

Coach Claude Julien thought he was going to get a big-minute puck mover when Kaberle was traded to the B’s from Toronto in February, only to realize he couldn’t give the defenseman any more than third-pair ice time. But Julien said he was happy Kaberle may have found his niche again.

“Kabby was a great individual, and for whatever people may think of him, he helped us win a Stanley Cup,” Julien said. “Maybe people didn’t see him as having as much of an impact as they all thought he would, or even ourselves, but he still brought a positive element to our hockey club, and he certainly helped us control the puck from the back end on the power play.

“What he’s done right now in Montreal is exactly what he’s known for, being a good power-play guy, a good puck-moving defenseman, and I hope he succeeds because he deserves it.”

The Herald says Gregory Campbell was asked if he was happy for Kaberle to have found a new home after having a rough time in Carolina.

“Kabby is a great guy and really good person. He signed a really good deal, so I don’t feel too sorry for him,” Campbell said with a laugh.

Interim coach Randy Cunneyworth, who was in charge for his second game after Jacques Martin’s firing, appreciates Kaberle’s talents, especially with Montreal’s power play stuck at 28th in the league (12.5 percent) entering last night.

“He’s come in and settled our power play down and done a great job of showing a lot of poise back there and finding the openings that are available to him,” Cunneyworth said. “He sees the ice so well. We’re pleased to have him on board. It’s good timing with him coming aboard because we were kind of floundering on the power play, and we’re moving in a better direction.”

The Tampa Tribune reports that the Tampa Bay Lightning will kick off a celebration of their 20th year in the National Hockey League by unveiling a bronze sculpture honoring franchise founder Phil Esposito.

On Dec. 31, an hour before the 5 p.m. start of the Lightning's home game against Carolina, the club is inviting fans to witness the unveiling of a sculpture in Esposito's likeness that will be situated on the plaza outside The Forum.

"I'm very excited,'' Esposito said Monday. "I've seen the sculpture and the guy did a real good job. My only regret is we should have put a pair of hockey skates off to the side.''

The life-sized sculpture, created by local artist Steven Dickey, portrays Esposito in a jacket and Lightning tie, grasping a hockey stick. Esposito brandishes a Lightning Stanley Cup ring on the finger of one hand and a ring from Boston's 1969-1970 Stanley Cup champions on the other hand.

Esposito has invited his original Lightning partners, Mel Lowell and Henry Paul, to participate in the Dec. 31 ceremonies, which will include an in-game presentation to honor the group that landed an NHL franchise for Tampa Bay, beginning in 1992.

Esposito, a record-setting Hall of Fame center who played for the Bruins and Rangers, works as a radio analyst for Lightning home games.

"I'll be working the game Dec. 31, too,'' said Esposito, who ran the Lightning's hockey operations for the first six seasons, along with his younger brother, Hall of Fame goaltender Tony Esposito.

"Those 20 years have gone by so quickly and I know one thing – I couldn't have done it without Mel and Henry's support,'' Esposito said. "I'd have to say this sculpture is the fourth greatest thing in my hockey life – behind winning my first Stanley Cup as a player in 1970, having my No. 7 retired in Boston Garden and the awarding of the Lightning franchise. I feel very honored and appreciative.''

Lowell and Paul will watch the Dec. 31 game from Esposito's suite as the Lightning pay tribute to their past.

"Every time it seemed like things weren't going our way, Phil wouldn't let us give up the chase,'' said Lowell. "He's always been there for the Tampa Bay community. Looking back 20 years, even though the process was difficult at times, there's a Stanley Cup trophy in the Bay area. Twenty years ago, who would have ever thought that could happen?''

The Winnipeg Free Press indicates that 31-year-old Finnish winger Antti Miettinen won't get into details about what happened while playing for the Ak- Bars Kazan Snow Leopards of Russia's Kontinental Hockey League and, in fact, insisted repeatedly Monday he had nothing against the organization, the city, or the league.

As the team's own website declared (translated to English) upon news of his release, they 'cancelled contract with Antti Miettinen by a mutual assent.'

The cold, hard truth here is simple: as the father of two young children -- his son turns three this month and his wife just gave birth to a daughter two months ago -- being separated from his family just didn't feel right. And so, after he was able to secure his release from the Snow Leopards, and after the Jets claimed him on waivers after he had signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Miettinen loaded up his clan and moved them across the ocean to the Canadian Prairie.

"We tried to leave before the NHL season started, but (Kazan) didn't agree to that," said Miettinen, who signed in the KHL this summer. "I talked about it with my wife, we said we would give it a try and see how it goes and all... get adjusted there. But we never really got into it.

"As a professional athlete, of course I'm not happy about the ways thing turned out, because when I signed there I really wanted to be there and be a part of the team and succeed over there. But as a husband and a father I thought it would be best for all of us to try and get out of there."

Miettinen also mentioned to The Free Press that "I have nothing bad to say about the (Ak-Bars Kazan) organization or the city or anything like that," he said. "The routines they have there are different and it makes it a little bit difficult if you have small children, for me to be in the hotel and they're at home.

"It reflects a lot on your life, if the other side of it, your family, is not good. You are stressed out about it and worrying about everything. Even though you go the rink and try to focus, at least in my case it was in the back of my head... I was worrying if they were managing themselves. I don't have to worry about that stuff here now.

"I felt really good when I stepped on the ice here. It felt more like home. We're all happy. We have nothing bad to say, it's just the situation my family was in. I think it's better for me to be here to be the best player I can."

He finished off with: "I'm just happy to be back playing," said Miettinen, grinning "I'm enjoying every day."

The Buffalo News says that Ryan Miller needs a quick turnaround in his game if the Sabres have any chance to stay afloat during an incredible spate of injuries. His numbers have plummeted to 37th in the NHL in goals-against average (3.12) and 32nd in save percentage (.902) this season, numbers well below his career norms.

The Vancouver Olympics that made him a national name are 22 months ago now and Miller's play is nowhere near that level anymore at age 31.

"You want to put it away and you come the next day to do as much as you can to work through it," Miller said of Saturday's game, an ugly 8-3 loss in Pittsburgh. "My cousin Kevin taught me that when I was a kid. He played a long time and when he had a bad game, the only thing you can control is how hard you come out and work. I'm trying to put the work in and get caught up to where I need to be."

Miller said he didn't know both he and backup Jhonas Enroth, who gave up a weak backhand goal to Evgeni Malkin and is just 1-6-1 in his last eight outings, had been dissed after the game by owner Terry Pegula.

"We saw some great goaltending tonight, didn't we?" Pegula said sarcastically. "If they think they played well, we've got more problems."

"He owns the team. I guess he wants to see a little bit better play. I don't know," Miller said after Pegula's comments were relayed to him by The News. "It's for us to come to the rink and work to get better. Everybody has been making comments like that a lot lately, but that's all you can really say because that's the job: Come to the rink and try to improve every day regardless if you're winning or losing.

"I'm trying to get better and put my best game out there and I obviously didn't have a very good game. That's pretty apparent. I got pulled twice. I mean, come on. That's pretty bad. ... I'm sure Terry wanted to see us play better in Pittsburgh [Pegula is a central Pennsylvania native]. I guess we owe him one."

The News points out that Miller, of course, is working his way back from the concussion he suffered on the Milan Lucic hit Nov. 12 in Boston. And that's the second one he's endured since March.

So given that, is Ruff convinced Miller is 100 percent healthy?

"That's a good question," the coach said. "I think he is, but I've seen in the past where a Pominville came back from his [concussion in Oct. 2010] and it took a long time to get in the groove. ... I believe he's healthy but I've definitely seen in the past guys come off head injuries and in some cases it's weeks, some cases it's even longer before they play well."

Miller wanted to quickly put any health questions to rest.

"I feel good. I don't have any symptoms," he said. "I know I can play better and that's just what I'm trying to work towards. I think I've seen some moments in games where I felt really good and confident and I've seen some plays I've really handled poorly. I'm just trying to work through some bad habits."

Ed Jovanovski has been part of a surprising success story before, according to The Miami Herald. And not just as a rookie with the 1996 Panthers.

In 2009, the Phoenix Coyotes went into the season considered to be one of, if not the, worst team in hockey. Before the season started, the team filed for bankruptcy and the league stepped in and took control of the team. Few knew what to expect from the Coyotes, but instead of foundering, Phoenix took off and had its best regular season in franchise history — setting records for wins and points to advance to the playoffs for the first time since 2002.

With the Coyotes coming to town Tuesday, Jovanovski — who left Phoenix over the summer to come back to the Panthers — sees some similarities in the two stories. After all, the Panthers were picked to finish next-to-last in the Eastern Conference by the Hockey News (among others) before the season started, yet came into Monday just a point out of being tied for first.

Florida, which holds an eight-point cushion atop the Southeast Division, is trying to make the postseason for the first time since 2000. Detroit beat Phoenix in seven games to end the Coyotes’ 2009-10 season in the opening round.

“With all the turmoil surrounding that team, management did a great job keeping things together,’’ said Jovanovski, who spent five seasons with the Coyotes. “I’m excited to be here. It’s been great so far. But it’s going to get harder. We’re not going to surprise anyone anymore. It’s similar to Phoenix. Everyone said we were lucky, waited for us to fall off. And we finished with 107 points. If you have structure and maintain consistency, you’ll have success.’’

The Herald goes on to note that Jovanovski is in the first year of a four-year deal worth $16.5 million with the Panthers, a contract widely panned around the league when Florida offered it on July 1. At 35, Jovanovski’s best years are likely behind him, although the Panthers see Jovanovski as not only a fan favorite from his early days but also a mentor to Florida’s talented young defensemen.

Since the beginning of the season, Jovanovski has been paired with either 19-year-old rookie Erik Gudbranson or Keaton Ellerby, now in his second full season with the Panthers. When Jovanovski was a rookie with the Panthers back in the 1995-96 season, Gord Murphy mentored him. Now, Jovanovski is returning the favor.

“They are both great kids who both work extremely hard,’’ said Jovanovski, who had a pair of assists in Sunday’s overtime win. “You’re seeing Gudbranson get a lot more comfortable out there. He’s figuring the game out. Ellerby has loads of talent, skates the puck out of trouble. They are big pieces of the future of this team.’’

PhillyNews.com relays that defenseman Matt Carle can become an unrestricted free agent in July and knows it could be a great opportunity for him.

But all things considered, he'd rather stay in Philadelphia. Neither the Flyers nor Carle's agent will talk about negotiations.

That said, the Flyers have nothing but praise for Carle, whose value has increased because of Chris Pronger's uncertain future.

"He's just a very steady, quiet, effective player for us," coach Peter Laviolette said before Monday's game in Colorado.

"Recently, he's been one of our top minutes guys. He defends other teams' top players. He adds offensively, he plays all-situations and he's a great kid in the locker room.

"Quietly, he's one of our leaders on the back end."

Carle, who is earning $3.8 million ($3.4 million cap hit) this season, said he hopes something is worked out before the end of the season, "but at the same time, as a hockey player . . . it's very rare you have a say to where you want to play. From the time you're 18 and drafted, the owners and GMs kind of dictate where you're going to play and where you'll be, so it's a very rare opportunity to have that.

"But like I said, if I had a choice, I hope something works out between myself and the Flyers before the draft."

The San Jose Mercury News notes that getting hockey players to talk about injuries is not an easy task. But after Dan Boyle’s disclosure in a post-game radio interview that he had been playing with a broken foot, the defenseman did open up a little.

The injury, he said, occurred in the Nov. 10 game against Minnesota. And his mentioning it to Jamie Baker was more inadvertent than anything else.

“I wasn’t thinking the other night when Jamie asked me. It was definitely a problem for awhile but it’s behind me now, hopefully,” Boyle said.

Was he tempted to sit out a game or two?

“No, no, no. It was just one of those things. You can kind of play your way through it,” he said. “It definitely hurt my game a little bit.

“My game is skating and I was definitely a step behind for many of those games and a little slower out there. I didn’t have the energy to get into every play,” he said. “It’s a factor. I don’t want to sit here and make excuses.”

Boyle had a goal against Los Angeles on Nov. 7, then went without one for 15 games. He has a goal and three assists in his last four games.

Coach Todd McLellan said he relied on his training staff in making the decision to keep Boyle in the lineup. And Boyle balked a little when asked if he worried that he might be hurting the team by not playing at 100 percent.

“I’m hurting the team? Everybody plays with injuries. I’m not just the only one. You have to find a way,” he said. “If we all sat out because we had some sort of an injury, there wouldn’t be too many guys getting dressed.

“It was just one of those things. I had to fight my way through it. I’m not the only one playing with an injury. It was what it was and now it’s in the past.”

The Mercury News notes Boyle struggled for several games and had to listen to criticism that his game had gone downhill. Was he tempted to disclose the injury then?

“You don’t mention it. People can say what they want,” he said. “It’s hard. Sometimes,when your ego is talking, you want to say ‘I’m hurt here.’ There’s an inside voice that wants to say that. But I think hockey players are kind of conditioned to turn the cheek, take your lumps and keep it within.”

Is that because you would be targeted or because you don’t want to sound like you’re making excuses?

“I think it’s both. We don’t disclose injuries in this sport. Upper body and lower body can be 20 different things,” Boyle said. “I just think there’s a code there where guys keep it in the locker room, you don’t need to tell anybody and don’t need to put a target on yourself.

And is he 100 percent now?

“We’re never going to be 100 percent,” Boyle said, “but it’s significantly better than it was.”

The Washington Post details how tonight, when right wing Mike Knuble plays in his 1,000th NHL regular season game as the Washington Capitals host the Nashville Predators at Verizon Center, he will do so having established himself as one of the most consistent power forwards in the past decade.

Knuble, now 39 and a father of three, has recorded eight consecutive 20-goal seasons heading into this year’s campaign. He has scored 271 goals, with 221 coming after his 30th birthday.

“It’s like night and day,” Knuble said. “I’ve lived two different careers through all this.”

Chosen by Detroit in the fourth round of the 1991 entry draft, the Michigan native would break into the league at the height of the Red Wings’ supremacy in the latter part of the decade. Knuble’s name is etched into the Stanley Cup and painted on the wall at Joe Louis Arena for his part in 53 games in the 1997-98 season, but given the veteran-laden Detroit roster at the time, it wasn’t the ideal situation for a young kid looking to carve out a niche.

A trade to New York the following year would give Knuble his first taste of a regular role. He recorded just 15 goals and 35 points in 82 games that year, but it was with the Rangers that he was introduced to veterans such as John MacLean and Adam Graves, who taught him to go to the net and be willing to shoot the puck from anywhere — habits that would suit him well in the future.

The Rangers added prominent free agents that offseason and Knuble found himself knocked back down the depth chart in New York during the 1999-2000 season. After the trade to Boston later that year, Knuble had to prove himself all over again as a fourth-liner, worrying whether he would reach the 400-game plateau for the league’s pension plan before the lockout arrived.

“You spend five or six years trying to find your way,” Knuble said, “trying to lock a spot in the league, try to prove to everybody you can play, that you’re worthy of them giving you another contract and them investing time and energy into you.”

The Post recalls that it would be in 2002-03, at age 30, that Knuble finally began to carve out his place in the NHL. When winger Sergei Samsonov was sidelined by a wrist injury, his absence left a vacancy on the Bruins’ top line alongside Joe Thornton and Glen Murray that Knuble eventually got a chance to fill. He finished that season with 30 goals and 59 points.

“They changed my career,” Knuble said of Thornton and Murray. “After you do it once, they want to see if you’re a flash in the pan, but suddenly you find yourself in better positions to succeed, better linemates, power play. . . . I think coaches for the most part have done that, put me in a situation, with good linemates, good power-play groups and a chance to succeed, and I’ve been able to come through for them.”

In the seven seasons since, Knuble has recorded no fewer than 40 points in any single year as he’s made stops in Philadelphia and now Washington, where on Tuesday he will become the 269th player in NHL history to reach the 1,000-game mark.

“It’s an honor to get 1,000 in this league; not a lot of guys do,” said Coach Dale Hunter, who reached the mark as a player. “It’s a credit to him. He kept being persistent and he figured out how to play in the National Hockey League.”

Knuble, an alternate captain, consistently attributes his success to being a willing and able complement to star players by taking care of the dirty jobs on the ice — whether fishing the puck out of a corner or taking cross checks to the back as he searches for rebounds and deflections in front of opposing nets. It’s a punishing way to forge a career in the NHL — and he has started to show some signs of slowing this year, with just three goals and six assists in 31 games — but it has been Knuble’s identity since those days in Boston.

“He’s played 1,000 tough games,” defenseman Karl Alzner said. “It hasn’t been an easy road for him, no one gave him anything, but I can’t think of a guy who’s worked harder to get to this point.”

­Chris Nichols is Sportsnet.ca's fantasy hockey writer.