Hockey Hearsay

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

Since Rick Nash pulled the Blue Jackets sweater over his head as the No. 1 overall draft pick on June 22, 2002, The Columbus Dispatch points out that he has been the face of a woebegone franchise, the club’s go-to guy on the ice and a bedrock of stability in the dressing room. The thought of him donning another NHL team’s sweater is, for many, hard to fathom.

But with the club desperate to change course after 11 seasons of near-chronic losing, the Blue Jackets, according to NHL sources, are listening to trade offers for Nash, less than two weeks from the Feb. 27 trade deadline.

“We’re open to all options to try to improve the team,” general manager Scott Howson said. He has made similar statements before, but never with the intention of including Nash.

The Blue Jackets contacted Nash and his agent, Toronto-based Joe Resnick, over the weekend, asking if Nash would be willing to waive his no-movement clause to facilitate a trade.

True to his words to The Dispatch last month, Nash said he would not stand in the way of a trade if management thought it would improve the Blue Jackets. He supplied the club with a list of teams — no more than 10, a source said — to which he would approve a trade. Among the clubs believed to be interested are the New York Rangers, Los Angeles, San Jose, Toronto and Montreal.

The Dispatch notes that the Blue Jackets will be looking for a combination of young, proven players, high-end prospects and draft picks in return.

Trades of this magnitude have a sketchy history.

The most recent big names to move midseason — Joe Thornton (Boston to San Jose), Ilya Kovalchuk (Atlanta to New Jersey) and Marian Hossa (Atlanta to Pittsburgh) — were not good deals in hindsight.

“It never works out,” said ESPN analyst Barry Melrose, a former NHL coach with Los Angeles and Tampa Bay. “You remember what Atlanta got for Hossa and Kovalchuk, or what Boston got for Thornton? They got nothing. I’m always a believer in whoever gets the best players wins the deal.

“If they get Jordan Eberle out of Edmonton or Zach Parise out of New Jersey, then yeah. But they won’t get that. And prospects are suspects until they can play.

“I know Columbus wants to do something. They want to send a message to fans. But I just can’t imagine trading Nash is the answer.”

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune responds today to reports Wild blueliner Marek Zidlicky had indeed waived his no-trade to go to New Jersey.

After talking to a very flustered Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher this morning, this is “very premature.”

First of all, Fletcher said, nobody from Zidlicky’s camp has told him he’s willing to waive his no-trade to go to New Jersey.

Why? Because the two sides have had only general conversations since Zidlicky, on Jan. 31, asked to be traded during a meeting moments after pulling me aside to complain about being scratched for the third in what would become four consecutive games.

“I haven’t asked Zid to waive his no-trade for any specific trade,” Fletcher said by phone this morning. “I haven’t called him and said anything’s close.

“I can tell you for sure I’m planning on talking to other teams. We haven’t traded Zid, we haven’t made the decision to trade Zid at this point. I have not formally asked him to do anything because at this point I honestly don’t have anything to take to him, I don’t have anything for him to say yes or no too.”

Fletcher said that’s not to mean he won’t trade Zidlicky today, tomorrow or by the Feb. 27 trade deadline. But he’s not going to get boxed in to one team or necessarily boxed in to trading him by the deadline.

Fletcher said he could hold on to him until the summertime when he’s got a limited no-trade and it’s easier to trade him.

“Maybe he’s here next trade deadline and we’re having the same conversation,” Fletcher said.

Regardless, the article notes, this is not a good situation.

It’s clear Zidlicky wants to go to New Jersey, where he’s buddies with Patrik Elias and Petr Sykora. There is no doubt Fletcher and GM Lou Lamoriello have had a lot of conversations.

At the very least, it’s abundantly clear now just how unhappy Zidlicky is at this point in Minnesota and how much he wants out. This is not a player fighting to stay here. It seems Zidlicky’s camp is trying to force Fletcher’s hand, but he has options, too, and it’s clear he’s not going to allow himself to get boxed in to just New Jersey.

Fletcher said there are options for other teams, and good teams he believes Zidlicky would want to waive his no-trade clause to go to IF it gets to the point where Fletcher formally goes to him to sign a piece of paper.

An 18-year-old franchise player with shoulder problems can be a frightening thought, but The Edmonton Sun indicates that Steve Tambellini isn't thinking about it.

Nor is he frightened.

He believes it's just bad luck that two of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins's last three games ended in shoulder injuries.

"I don't want Ryan to get hurt, but if you get hurt you get hurt," said the Oilers GM. "I'd rather him not having to deal with those big bodies like that, but he'll be fine. It's nothing that's going to deter him from being the player that he is."

Nugent-Hopkins was down for a month after sliding into the boards Jan. 2 in Chicago and, just two games after returning, he was out of the lineup again after bumping the same shoulder in a minor collision with Toronto's Mike Brown.

With two injuries in the same shoulder and the team in 29th place, there are some who believe he should shut it down for the season. The Oilers aren't there yet, but the qualities of patience and caution aren't lost on them.

"He felt great coming back, was cleared and strong and ran into a big body in Mike Brown," said Tambellini, who doesn't thnk they're dealing with a chronic issue. "We'll make sure he's rehabbing properly and has his total strength back before we make a decision on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins."

The Calgary Herald notes after last night's homecoming with the Toronto Maple Leafs in town that if first impressions count for anything, Dion Phaneuf is actually a whole lot warmer than he was in the Calgary days. He looks his inquisitors in the eye. Smiles. Sticks to the “key messages” he wants to get out, but strays from the string of cliches that were once his trademark.

A few years back, behind-the-scenes staff with the Flames told tales of a totally different Phaneuf than the stilted figure before the cameras. They spoke of a man with a sense of humour, of a deeply caring individual when it came to visiting sick kids in the hospital or brightening someone’s day with an autograph.

In Toronto, the other side of Phaneuf has stepped into the public eye.

“I’ve got a lot of really good memories of playing in this building,” Phaneuf said as the Leafs prepared to open a western road swing in Calgary. “So, it definitely still is a special place when you come back. But with saying that, it’s all business now. I’m extremely happy where I’m at. It’s been a great move for me personally.”

The city of Toronto looks up to Phaneuf, literally, with the captain’s mug plastered on billboards advertising this, that and the other thing.

“Oh, I love it,” Phaneuf said, of his new home. “I love the city. Great restaurants. It’s a big city. It’s a lot different than out here. It’s downtown living. I can’t really explain it. I just really enjoy it.”

As for the scrutiny of hockey’s biggest media market, Phaneuf doesn’t mind that part of the job, either.

“Everyone says the media must be crazy,’’ said Phaneuf, who has eight goals and 33 points in 56 games. “But it’s really just more cameras — more volume. And that’s because there’s more people out there. To be completely honest with you, the media is not overwhelming.”

This is one westerner immune to homesickness in the so-called centre of the universe.

“I didn’t change as a person,” said Phaneuf, 26. “I think I’ve definitely learned a lot. I’ve matured a lot. When I was named captain, it was a huge honour for me. And with that comes a little more responsibility.”

The Chicago Sun-Times believes that Patrick Sharp is one of the best left wings in the league. But he also has been a better-than-serviceable center for the Blackhawks.

The Hawks won the Stanley Cup with Sharp as their second-line center, and it’s his ability to play multiple positions that makes him so valuable. But coach Joel Quenneville hasn’t used Sharp at center at all this season, even while testing a multitude of line combinations during the Hawks’ losing streak.

Is there any particular reason?

‘‘That’s a good question,’’ Quenneville said before the Hawks’ skid reached nine games with a 3-2 loss Tuesday to the Nashville Predators. ‘‘I think [Marcus Kruger] has done a decent job there [at second-line center]. It’s still an option.’’

Sharp is a natural winger, and he has had a standout season from the left side. But using him at center would give the Hawks some depth up the middle.

‘‘I don’t really think about it, to be honest with you,’’ said Sharp, who played on a line with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane against the Predators. ‘‘We have a lot of different options there. I think [Kane] has done a good job, and different guys that have been used in that position have worked out well. Joel puts me where he thinks I’m most effective. I’m sure I’ll play in the middle sooner or later. That’s the coach’s call. I just play where I’m told.’’

Sharp, who said his fractured left wrist ‘‘has been good,’’ thinks he plays a ‘‘grittier style of game’’ at wing. The deciding factor for Quenneville in keeping Sharp at wing is that he leads the Hawks in shots.

‘‘We want pucks at the net,’’ Quenneville said. ‘‘He’s a shooter. That’s what his bread-and-butter is. The fact that he’s getting it through to the net, we know we need more traffic as a group, but he’s putting the puck in the right areas.’’

The Denver Post details how when Ryan O'Reilly is performing his job as a hockey player, three tasks are foremost in his mind.

The first: Breathe, master the breath. Second: Think, master the thought. Third: Use the first two to master the "creative situation."

If that sounds a little too touchy-feely, O'Reilly couldn't care less. He is having too much success in this, his third NHL season, to doubt the mind-body methods his father, Brian — a "high performance" life coach — helped reinforce in him last summer.

O'Reilly, 21, is the Avalanche's leading scorer (15 goals, 26 assists) and has been their best player this season. His performance has taken a quantum leap from his first two seasons, during which he had plenty of good moments but never found that consistent high level. Many in the game believe he will receive consideration for the Frank J. Selke Award honoring the best defensive forward.

O'Reilly credits his growth to last summer when he went to his father and asked, "What do I have to do to get a lot better?"

"I didn't want to be known as just a defensive player, a third-line checking guy," O'Reilly said. "I started to learn how to be more creative, to have that confidence in myself and to enjoy being creative with the puck and having the puck."

To Brian O'Reilly, who works with people from all walks of life at his company, Human Potential Plus in Ontario, getting into the "creative zone" is contingent not just on the individual self. To really succeed, in any aspect of life and be truly happy, he said, a person must relate well to others.

"The No. 1 thing I believe in is relationships," he said in a phone interview. "What I do is I create a group in the summer, and I show people how their relationships will determine their creative system. When you're in the doghouse with your wife, your life becomes full of misery.

"What happens is, you are at the effect of being away from the person you love the most. What I do is, I go in and I teach them that self-evaluation is one of the only tools we have that creates a level of effectiveness to be able to get into our creative system. What so many people who are miserable do is, they go and evaluate other people and make it worse."

In other words, The Post notes, they pass the buck for failure.

The key, he said, is working harder with teammates, or your boss, or your spouse, to understand what you can do to make things better. In pro sports, Brian O'Reilly is frustrated by what he sees as too much of a finger-pointing culture in which players operate out of fear and coaches and general managers fail to create a culture of accountability so that growth can occur.

"It takes a very serious coach or GM to realize the environment is everything," said Brian O'Reilly, 47. "It's not what we do, it's how we do what we do. When they see you have their best interests in mind, they will give what you want. You can't buy their creativity and their passion. Coaches are shooting themselves in the foot all the time because there is less accountability in an adversarial relationship, because everyone is passing the buck."

When player's or other person's needs are met — through caring teammates, friends, family — only then can he get into his true "creative zone" and prosper, he said.

Brian O'Reilly never wanted to be a pushy father, but when his son came asking for help last summer, his first command was: "Don't give me what you're good at. Find your weakness, and let's exploit it. Then let's make the mental and physical connections and be accountable for our weaknesses."

Ryan said he learned how to calm down in the moment, especially when carrying the puck in traffic.

"Your breath becomes shallower. You're more calm," he said. "You learn that there's a real knack for remaining calm. I think when I got the puck before, I would panic with it and make stupid mistakes."

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