Hockey Hearsay

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

The Columbus Dispatch reports that the Blue Jackets fired coach Scott Arniel this morning after the club reached the mid-point of the 2011-12 season with the worst record in the NHL. Assistant coach Todd Richards was elevated to interim coach for the remainder of the season.

Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson said he reached the decision to fire Arniel over the weekend, before he flew to Southern California on Saturday. He informed Arniel of his firing after Sunday's 7-4 loss to Anaheim, and Arniel flew home early this morning before the Blue Jackets flew to Chicago for a game on Tuesday.

Arniel, 45-60-18 in exactly 1 1/2 seasons with Columbus, is the seventh NHL coach to be fired this season. He's not expected to remain with the club in any capacity, Howson said.

Howson said he gave Arniel the benefit of the doubt during a horrid start to the season (2-12-1) because of the club's injuries and the suspension of defenseman James Wisniewski. He felt his patience had been rewarded when the club went through a 7-5-3 stretch from mid-November to mid-December.

But the current plunge -- the Jackets are 2-8-1 since Dec. 15 -- was too much to take.

"Last night's game wasn't a very good performance," Howson said. "But I really made my mind up on the weekend, and I didn't want to do it on a game day.

"Our play seemed to be regressing, so I just thought it was time to move the team in a new direction."

The Blue Jackets have been in last place in the NHL standings for all but 10 days since the start of the season in early October. At 11-25-5, they are already 20 points out of the Stanley Cup playoff picture.

"It's unfortunate," Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash said. "I thought Arnie was a good guy and a good coach.

"Obviously you can look at the players' play, straight up and down the lineup,. from top players to fourth-line guys, the defenseman and the goalies. Everybody didn't get the job done for him, and it's unfortunate that he has to take the blame."

The Edmonton Sun believes that the Oilers were far from their best, but it’s tough to imagine Taylor Hall playing much better.

The Oilers winger was one of the lone bright spots in what could turn out to be the end of a playoff-contending road trip.

Hall had five goals and two assists in the seven consecutive games away from Rexall Place. He also hit three goalposts in the game against the New York Islanders where he failed to collect a point.

“I thought I played well and I tried to contribute as best I could,” said Hall. “I think that obviously I’m still doing something wrong, because we’re not winning. That needs to be the focal point for everybody in this room and that’s what I’m going to get back to, is playing as well defensively as I can to contribute to wins.”

Hall’s goal in a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars Saturday afternoon extended his goal streak to four games. He also scored in losses to the St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres and in a victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. Hall currently has 14 goals and 15 assists in 33 games this season.

“He was excellent, we really missed him last year when we were on a stretch like this,” said Oilers head coach Tom Renney. “I thought he was on a mission, he played really well and showed the passion that you have to have in order to win.”

The first overall pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Hall is no stranger to starting out on a last place team and leading them to a championship.

The Windsor Spitfires were a bottom feeder before Hall arrived to lead them to consecutive Memorial Cup championships.

The Oilers are hoping the Calgary native is able to do the same at the NHL level, and at no other point in his brief professional career has he looked more determined to do so.

“He wanted the puck all the time,” Renney said. “He wanted the responsibilities of his team’s performance, never mind his own. That’s where champions start.”

Joffrey Lupul didn’t mince words about his excellent first half, as relayed by The Toronto Sun.

“Things have gone really well for me personally,” the Maple Leafs winger said. “But if I look at my stats in the first half and have all sorts of points and we are not in a position to make the playoffs, what have you really done?”

In 41 games, Lupul has 19 goals and 28 assists for 47 points, keeping him within shouting distance of the NHL’s leaders, and is tops among Leafs with a plus-8.

Linemate Phil Kessel has 24 goals and 24 assists, and the Leafs are in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with 47 points.

It has helped, of course, that Kessel and Lupul are among just four Leafs (captain Dion Phaneuf and Nikolai Kulemin are the others) to play in all of the team’s games so far.

If the Leafs can duplicate their first-half points production, 94 should be enough to get them in the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

There’s a chance Kessel could hit 50 goals. He also might finish with more assists than goals for the first time since his rookie season of 2006-07, when he had 11 goals and 18 assists in 70 games for the Boston Bruins.

Lanny McDonald is no longer alone in the club, and The Calgary Sun notes he’s thrilled to welcome Jarome Iginla into the fraternity.

For nearly 23 years, McDonald had the distinction of being the lone player to score his 500th goal while playing for the Calgary Flames.

Iginla joined McDonald with his third-period tally in Saturday’s 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild, not only in the exclusive 500-goal club but also having done it while skating for the Flames.

“It’s fabulous,” McDonald said Sunday morning. “Thank God for two things — he did it at home, and, more importantly, a game-winner in a winning cause.

“It still would have been great but would have taken something off it had it come in a 9-1 loss (in Boston two nights earlier) instead of it being 9-0. It’s fitting to a guy who has meant so much — not only to the hockey club but the city, as well.”

McDonald was on-hand at the Saddledome and witnessed Iginla’s milestone goal, which made him the 42nd player in NHL history to reach that prestigious standard. And McDonald is among the army of well-wishers to send his kudos to the Flames captain.

“I had to leave right after the game and head for another function, so I left a message for Jarome on his cell phone as soon as the game was over and called him again this morning and left another just to congratulate him,” McDonald said. “I couldn’t be happier and proud of him for what he’s accomplished.”

The Sun points out that when Iginla scored his 500th goal, he not only became the first player to join the 500-goal club since Keith Tkachuk did it April 6, 2008, but he also moved into a tie with McDonald for 41st spot on the all-time list.

McDonald became just the 14th player in NHL history to hit 500 when he scored his milestone marker on March 21, 1989, and it was his last regular-season tally. It came shortly after he collected his 1,000th career point and just a couple of months before hoisting the Stanley Cup, a perfect conclusion to his hall-of-fame career.

Since then, the man with the famous moustache has watched Iginla develop into the face of the franchise.

Iginla has done it with the class and dignity McDonald has always shown, too.

“To see how he has handled himself both on the ice and off the ice — always made himself available to (the media) in good times and tough times — I think that’s not only a sign of a great hockey player but a great person,” McDonald said. “You take your credit when it’s due, but you are the first one to stand up when tough times are there and stand in for your teammates — whether it’s answering questions or dropping the gloves to let it be known you are about the team — that’s exactly how he is.”

The Boston Herald says that for Brad Marchand, it was about self-preservation.

That was the instantaneous thought process for the Bruins winger Saturday during the 4-3 loss to Vancouver when he saw 6-foot-3, 212-pound Canucks defenseman Sami Salo charging at him. He ducked.

“You look up and you see a guy 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5 coming in on you, your instincts are to protect yourself,” said Marchand, who was on hand for a charity event at the Garden benefiting the Bruins Foundation and the Genesis Fund.

Marchand drew a five-minute major penalty for clipping, a game misconduct and, pending an NHL hearing, a possible suspension. On the play, Marchand had the puck along the boards, saw Salo coming and ducked down low to avoid the hit. Salo flipped up over Marchand, hit the ice hard and suffered a concussion.

Numerous comparable hits in the past haven’t even drawn minor penalties.

“I’ve seen the replay,” Marchand said. “I did go under him, but I felt that the base contact was about at the hip point. That’s usually a pretty legal hit, from what I’ve seen in the past. I have no idea how the league feels about it, but we’ll see. There were other hits in the game (Saturday) that were similar. It’s a hit in the game. Guys on our team use it, guys on other teams use it. It’s just very unfortunate that someone was hurt on the play. Guys get hurt on different plays all the time. That’s just part of hockey.”

Yes, but Marchand, after watching replays, agreed that the major call was proper.

“It is a five-minute major; that’s the right call,” Marchand said. “He was hurt and I was ejected. They scored two goals on that power play. That’s a pretty big punishment. I felt really bad about it. You want to be a part of a game like that. That’s a big game for us and for our city, a very close game. The five-minute penalty ended up costing us the game. It was tough.”

Claude Giroux moved to Ottawa when he was 14, so The Philadelphia Inquirer points out that he has extra incentive when the Flyers play the Senators.

That's one of the reasons he felt so frustrated about his performance this weekend.

In two games against the Senators, the high-scoring Giroux failed to produce a point. He was minus-3 in Sunday's 6-4 loss, a game in which the Flyers coughed up a late, 4-2 lead. It was just the second time this season Giroux has gone pointless in consecutive games.

Someone asked Giroux about the defensive job the Senators did on him and linemates Scott Hartnell and Jaromir Jagr.

"It's not the way they were playing. I think it was the way I was playing," said Giroux, who won just five of 17 faceoffs (29 percent). "Obviously, I'm frustrated with the game I had. I have to move my feet better and work harder. One of the reasons we've been successful this year is because we outwork the other team, and tonight [that] wasn't the case."

Added Giroux: "Our line has to be better. Our line had a chance to play against their best line and we didn't play the way we should have."

As for the third-period meltdown, "we kind of sat back and watched them play," Giroux said.

ESPN Dallas indicates that sometimes when you get a reputation it is hard to shake. Stars forward Loui Eriksson seems to have one these days. He’s underrated.

It’s hard to imagine a guy who tied for 15th in scoring last season, was 12th in goal scoring in 2008-09, has played in the NHL All-Star game and has starred for Sweden at the Olympics could be underrated. But then again, watch him in a game like Saturday’s 4-1 win over Edmonton and you can see why he flies under the radar at times.

He quietly went about his business and then when you looked at the stats sheet at the end of the game he had three assists, a plus-three rating, two takeaways and a blocked shot that helped lead to a Mike Ribeiro goal that gave the Stars a 3-1 lead in the game.

“He’s sneaky,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “That’s why he’s on that underrated list.”

In a poll of 179 players by Sports Illustrated, Eriksson was named the most underrated player in the NHL. He received 16 percent of the vote.

“I don’t know. I had it last year, too. I’m just flying under the radar. I guess it’s because I’m quiet,” Eriksson said. “It’s nice to have that recognition. I just play my game and try to be good and it’s working for me.”

Eriksson has some Dallas company on this year’s list. Coming second in SI poll with six percent of the vote was Stars forward Jamie Benn, one of the game’s young emerging stars.

“I don’t have much to say about that. We just go out there and play our game,” said Benn. “I know Loui’s been underrated for many years now. He’s a great player and he shows it. For me, I don’t really think much of it.”

Gulutzan said Eriksson is on the list because of his subtle, smart style of play. Benn is there because he is still in the early stages of his career.

“You can see Loui, for sure, but Benny is a young guy who is on that list because he is just turning 22 and he's just emerging,” Gulutzan said. “Loui's got that sneaky, smart way to fly under the radar because he is so cerebral and does everything real well. But I don't think Benny will be on that list for too much longer, because Benny is a little more flamboyant, he can hit and he's a power forward. I don’t think Benny will stay on that list.”

LA Kings Insider points out that Darryl Sutter made his most significant line changes as Kings coach Sunday, when he flipped some players on the first and second lines.

Justin Williams moves from second-line right wing to first-line right wing. Dustin Brown stays on the first line but moves from right wing to left wing. Mike Richards moves from first-line left wing to second-line center. Jarret Stoll stay on the second line but moves from center to right wing.

It’s nothing that hasn’t happened before — Brown and Stoll have played their respective “new’’ positions in the past — but it’s a product of Sutter trying to squeeze some offense out of this group, which is coming dangerously close to averaging fewer than two goals per game (2.02).

SUTTER: “Keep mixing and matching those guys. The kids, the one line, has been pretty good for us, so we’ll keep working with it. We’ll try the other way, with Mike back to his natural position. Stolly has played wing. Willy has been playing really good. Hopefully he can give Kopi a little boost there.’’

And, in Sutter’s opinion, is Kopitar, who leads the Kings in points (36) but has only 11 goals — including one in his last 21 games — in need of such a boost?

SUTTER: “Well, the media always does everything based off numbers, right? From a numbers standpoint, he’s probably fine, but I think there’s other parts of his game that he can be better at, that can help us.’’

Email: chris.nichols@sportsnet.rogers.com

Submit your brief fantasy hockey question for a Hockey Hearsay blog via email. One per person, please and include your first name and hometown to represent!

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