Many pundits think Tampa Bay's John Tortorella will be the first coach fired this season. Jim Kelley disagrees.
Some final musings about the start of the 2007-08 season before it officially faces off tomorrow:
Says Who:
Look, I love The Hockey News and not just because I tend to agree with their thinking and they tend to agree (within reason) with my preseason picks.
But if there's one area we tend to differ regarding the upcoming season, it's who will be the first coach fired.
The consensus in the latest edition of "The Bible," is that the first coach whacked will be Tampa Bay's John Tortorella. The magazine came to that conclusion by polling their 30 correspondents, six "colleagues" from the Globe and Mail and some senior staff members.
Tortorella drew eight of 40 first-place votes, not a particularly high number, but I still can't help but wonder if voters aren't showing a little bias toward an American coach not many in the media particularly like.
This guy won the Stanley Cup for general manager Jay Feaster in 2004 and in ensuing years has managed to keep the team in the playoffs every season since despite the fact the Lightning haven't had a legitimate No. 1 goalie since Nikoli Khabibulin left after that 2004 Cup triumph.
You can make an argument that Tortorella doesn't treat his goalies any better than, say, Mike Keenan, but still Tortorella's players have played well enough not only to qualify for the postseason.
In what has become an increasingly competitive division, last season the Lightning had more wins then division champion Atlanta, finished within four points of the Thrashers for the division crown and won more postseason games than the Thrashers.
That was also the case the previous season when Carolina won the division and conference titles and won the Stanley Cup. Tampa that season out pointed the Thrashers, made the playoffs (Atlanta did not) and acquitted itself reasonably well.
Look, not everyone likes Tortorella. I know him well and I can state unequivocally that he is an acquired taste. That said, he's a winner. He gets the best out of his teams and he has both the loyalty and appreciation from Feaster that not only keeps him in his job but backs him in all of the tough decisions the two have had to make, including releasing popular associate coach Craig Ramsay and challenging Vinny Lecavalier to be the best player he can be in a system that puts winning ahead of catering to talent.
The thing that is constantly overlooked is that this guy can coach. Even Lecavalier has bought into Tortorella's program. I won't say he likes his coach, but he respects him enough to play for him and to lead others to do the same.
Add it all up and I'd argue that Tortorella has a better shot at keeping his job longer than Atlanta's Bob Hartley, Washington's Glen Hanlon, Montreal's Guy Carbonneau, Edmonton's Craig MacTavish, Dallas' Dave Tippett or even Phoenix's Wayne Gretzky.
I'd put Florida's Jacques Martin on that list if he wasn't also the general manager. I might even consider Keenan in Calgary and John Stevens in Philadelphia before Tortorella.
How's That Again:
The consensus is that the NHL "got it right" in its 20 game suspension of Steve Downie for his attempted decapitation of Ottawa Senators forward Dean McCammond.
Don't see how.
The issue isn't the number of games. It's whether or not the league has different rules for different players. Chris Pronger went head hunting in the playoffs, twice in two series, and got just one game for two rather wicked hits to the head. Ottawa's Chris Neil got nothing for taking out Chris Drury with a head shot last season, while Cam Janssen got just three for taking out Toronto's Tomas Kaberle for a hit very similar to the one that cost Downie 20.
I understand it's a different season and that the NHL has drafted yet another interpretation as to what constitutes a severe blow to the head. I also understand that Downie is the first new offender under the "new" guidelines, but the basic problem remains: The offence is open to interpretation and so is the amount of supplemental discipline (if any) to be handed out by NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell.
So what's new? Isn't that the way it's always been?
Campbell is on record saying that suspensions are not hard and fast and there are "legal hits to the head."
Getting it right isn't about interpretation, it's about getting dedicated head shots out of the game and the NHL, once again, has failed to address that.
Truth is, they can't even come to a consensus that they want this out of the game, hence another round of convoluted decision making and situational justice designed more to get a pat on the back from media critics then to effect any real change or provide any real protection for the players; or at least the players taking the hits.
It's actions like this that allow Todd Bertuzzi to still be playing while the player he attacked, Steve Moore, is finished. It's why so many great players leave the game before their time while the goons that hit them seem to survive almost forever.
Where Have You Gone Denis Potvin?
Now that Anaheim Ducks defenceman Scott Neidermayer has officially dragged his feet regarding playing though past the start of the regular season, the consensus is that Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom is the favourite to win the Norris Trophy again as the league's best defenceman. He's expected to get a challenge from Pronger and perhaps Calgary's Dion Phaneuf, maybe Zdeno Chara of Boston and-don't laugh when you read this-Kaberle of Toronto or maybe Sergei Gonchar of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
OK, I can live with Lidstrom if he has a good season. He's a darn fine all-around player at his position, but after that I've got a problem.
Where the heck are all the really good defencemen? You know, the ones who used to have the word "punishing" attached to their name? Denis Potvin was that kind of defenceman. So were Tim Horton, Scott Stevens and Doug Harvey. Even if he didn't beat you up, Larry Robinson was tough to beat, so was Rod Langway and Eddie Shore.
I understand the urge to vote in the swift skater and/or the big point getter, but that trend hasn't taken hold just because we're all looking for the second coming of Bobby Orr (who by the way was tougher to beat in his own zone than Pronger or virtually any other so-called defensive-minded defenceman in today's game).
That trend has taken hold because there are almost no defencemen playing that kind of game any longer. I think Phaneuf has a chance to grow into that role, but it's only a chance. The way I see it they stopped making them because kids (and their agents) figured out a long time ago that big money goes to the offensive stars and now it's starting to go to the goaltenders. Great defensive defencemen are still in demand, but they are harder and harder to find because most of the time the job is too hard to learn and takes too long to get to the big money level, especially if you aren't racking up the points.
Hard to figure when you come to understand that preventing a goal is as important as scoring one when the Stanley Cup is on the line.
Nobody Asked Me But:
If they did, I'd tell them I like the San Jose Sharks to win the Stanley Cup, the Nashville Predators are still in play for anyone, including Jim Balsillie of Research in Motion, and that Alex Ovechkin will score more goals than Sidney Crosby this season. The outdoor game in Buffalo will be a roaring success no matter what the weather.
