After 44 games played in Round 1, it is obvious that Calgary and Montreal need to change this offseason. But don't hold your breath on it happening.
Bob McCown and I had Calgary Flames president Ken King on PrimeTime Sports recently and if reading between the lines counts for anything then Darryl Sutter will return as general manager next season.
I won't tell you I agree with that.
Sutter did give the Flames a personality; and he also pulled it out of the non-playoff wilderness (remember all those lost years?). But what he's built is a static team that has gone nowhere since 2004 and there's little reason to believe it's going anywhere in the future.
I have written in this space several times that the Flames are not built for a long playoff run. I think Sutter knew that and he tried to address it at the trade deadline, but all he got was more of the same.
Judging from King's lack of anything enthusiastic to say about coach Mike Keenan, I won't hold out a great deal of hope regarding his return. The Flames didn't lose strictly because of coaching, but Keenan didn't do anything in his time in Calgary to make the team better. Player development was never his forte and lack of even a grasp of what it takes to have a successful power play in the NHL today was clearly in evidence.
Making a change above Keenan is a reasonable response to this latest failure, but that also means a complete makeover, a rebuilding program. There was no indication that King and, by extension, Flames' ownership, is prepared to do that.
Crosby left off the ballot
Lots of people are stunned that Canadian Idol Sidney Crosby didn't make the top three in balloting for the Hart Trophy as league MVP, and I'd put myself in that group given the way I marked my ballot. But give some credit to members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association and the National Hockey League in general. Pavel Datsyuk is worthy of his inclusion in the top three given that he may well be the most complete player in the game. Evgeni Malkin was a given and could win the thing and the same could be said for Alexander Ovechkin. Crosby probably was downgraded a bit because of a poor start that could be traced to the long run to the Stanley Cup final, but one could also say that there are at least three or four other players who, off their performances this season, could also have made it through to the final three, especially if you take the wording of the award literally and nominate "the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team."
I can think of at least three defencemen who deserve consideration under that reading and at least two more goaltenders.
It was a great year for widespread talent in the game and a great many superstars, including Crosby, have to recognize the fact that every game truly does matter and not just regarding qualifying for the postseason.
Plus and minus
I read recently that it was a "joke" that Los Angeles Kings defenceman Drew Doughty didn't make the final three as a rookie of the year candidate. Not if you did your homework. Sure 27 points is a noteworthy total for a rookie D man, but that's the same number Boston's Matt Hunwick produced and Hunwick was a plus-15 while Doughty was a minus-17. Admittedly the Kings aren't at the same level defensively as the Bruins, but Doughty had the worst minus number of any rookie defenceman in the game this season and that includes players who played on teams that were a lot worse in their own end than the Kings.
If there was a miscarriage of justice anywhere in the rookie voting it was that Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne didn't make the final three. Mason got all the publicity for the wins and shutouts, but Rinne had a save percentage that was actually a point better than Mason, had a similar GAA and he had seven shutouts on a team that went for goals a good deal more often than the Blue Jackets did. Not saying Mason shouldn't be in the three and maybe even the winner, but Rinne had a season worthy of some recognition.
Not just a small issue
In the cold light of reality (a reality far removed from the All-Star party, the 100th Anniversary Season, reported gangster associations and that the team might be for sale) the view on the Montreal Canadiens is rather clear. It's a small, soft team with goaltending that's still only in the prospect stage. Yes, there are off-ice distractions in Montreal and yes the fans are demanding and the spotlight is exceptionally bright, but that doesn't change the fact the team wasn't good. A lot of that falls on general manager Bob Gainey who needs to go a fair distance to rebuild his team and his reputation as an astute general manager.
The Sharks Tank
San Jose GM Doug Wilson reportedly ripped into his players in no uncertain terms after the first-round ousting at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks, and deservedly so. The Sharks are bigger than the Canadiens, but just as soft and they lack leadership and tenacity and its goaltending wasn't all that good. The Shark Tank takes on a whole new meaning with this team. There won't be a coaching change and it would be foolish to dismiss Wilson, but there shouldn't be a wholesale change in the player ranks either. Your best players can't always play their best game if the team doesn't have a good sporting cast and despite the failings of Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau in their series with the Ducks, there are a great many other players on the Sharks roster who are every bit a part of the overall failure that the stars helped create. As coach Todd McLellan said after witnessing the courage collapse first hand and for the first time: you can't just go to Costco and pick up grit.
You can't pick up good goaltending, good leadership or heart there either, but that's exactly what the Sharks need.
Goals galore
Defence may win championships, but you wouldn't know it from looking at the first round. It's a good thing too, because it means the NHL's efforts to manufacture goals has taken some hold. The Rangers blew a 3-1 lead in games not just because its coach, John Tortorella and one of its key players, Sean Avery, self-destructed. The team lost because it couldn't manufacture a goal to save its collective lives and they couldn't do it against a team that is not famous for shutdown hockey and who had a rookie netminder in goal.
Boston swept Montreal in part because it averaged four goals per game in that series and Pittsburgh did nearly the same against Philadelphia. New Jersey was every bit as unproductive on offence as the Rangers which might be a tribute to Carolina's defence, but the 'Canes scored four goals in three of the four wins vs. the Devils and that was the bigger factor. Out West Detroit scored four goals in each of the first three wins vs. Columbus and six to clinch the final game, 6-5. It was tighter in the Anaheim-San Jose series, but the Ducks scored four in the pivotal Game 4 and four again in clinching the win in Game 6. The only defensive classic was the Vancouver-St. Louis series but still, except for Game One it took three goals in each of the next three starts for the Canucks to get wins.
So even in a tight series there were enough goals to keep fans happy even when the teams hunkered down to play defence and a tough physical brand of hockey. It is difficult to ask for more than that.
Flyers will tinker, not change
Don't expect much in the way of changes in the managerial and coaching ranks in Philadelphia. The team went out in the first round, but it appears to be on the right track. An upgrade in goal might have made a difference against Pittsburgh, but the Flyers have this habit of not playing hard until it's a little too late and that was costly in the regular season and the playoffs. With a little more maturity and some improved overall defense, the Flyers may still be a team moving forward in the next year or so even without new goaltending.
What happened to Marty?
Martin Brodeur will have some work to do to repair the reputation he created in the final minute of play in the New Jersey Devils series with Carolina. There were a number of breakdowns in the New Jersey end of the ice in that final Game 7, but if you're supposed to be the best goaltender (not to mention the most experienced), you make those saves. Brodeur looked awkward and out of position on both goals. His style is different than most in that he doesn't always fall to the butterfly to take away the bottom of the net, but it would have been in his best interest to use that style (and to square himself to the shooter) in the goals he gave up late in that game.
That kind of performance gives a coaching and managerial staff reason to pause when penciling in a starter for the Canadian Olympic effort. Brodeur is the winningest goalie in the game but he is going to have to convince people that late-game collapse was out of the norm at the start of next season if he expects to get the No. 1 nod for Canada at the 2010 games.
One and done
From what I've seen of the Columbus Blue Jackets, they are not a lock to be back in the post-season next year. The Jackets rode the hot goaltending hand to the playoffs, but they produced nothing on the offensive side of the game once they got there and that was with a healthy Rick Nash in the lineup. Nash wasn't the problem, but he's going to need a lot more support from the supporting cast if the Jackets are going to get back to the postseason. Nashville didn't miss by much and they will contend again.
Blues not in that category
Things look much brighter for the St. Louis Blues, who got to the post-season perhaps a little ahead of schedule. They were swept by a far better Vancouver Canucks team, but they got a taste of what it takes to win when they had to in a lengthy stretch drive to the playoffs and unlike the Los Angeles Kings, they seemed to have embraced the driving and demanding Andy Murray as their coach.
The Blues might not bother to offer Paul Kariya a new deal as they are clearly going with youth, but getting some help on defence (and its coming) will be a boost and their front-line kids should continue to grow. They were swept, but they were competitive and they show a lot of promise.
