Hockey Hearsay compiles stories from around the hockey world and runs weekdays, 12 months a year.
HABS’ SUBBAN AVOIDS BULLETIN-BOARD MATERIAL
Ahead of Montreal’s loss to the Ottawa Senators Thursday, The New York Times considers what Canadiens forward Colby Armstrong called P.K. Subban’s “good confidence and swagger” is often viewed by opponents as cockiness. Subban does not shy away from the verbal game on the ice, and that is something that his childhood friend Nazem Kadri of the Toronto Maple Leafs said separated Subban from others.
“That’s what drives people crazy: he’s a good player, and he runs his mouth a little,” said Kadri, a fellow Ontario native, who played against Subban in minor hockey and then in the Ontario Hockey League.
“When good players are chirping and running their mouth,” Kadri added, “it just makes the other team want to kill him that much more. Then next thing you know, he’s putting one in the back of your net, which makes you even more angry.”
Subban does not deny his verbal skills, but he knows that he needs to be more careful in the playoffs.
“We know with the playoffs, everybody’s going to be watching your every word you say, every little quote, but I don’t care,” he said. “You’re not going to get any bulletin-board material from me.”
PENGUINS KEEP FOCUS ON “4”
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review observes the Penguins’ official team T-shirt is black with the numeral “4” on its back.
That number began taking on significance in January when, after the NHL lockout ended, general manager Ray Shero said he wanted the Penguins to stop talking about winning the Stanley Cup and instead focus on taking four games in a best-of-seven playoff series.
Shero reiterated that thought after his March trades for veterans. On Monday, during his first playoff news conference, coach Dan Bylsma said seven times that his players are focused on getting four wins. The Penguins have lost three straight playoff series to lower-seeded opponents.
PENGUINS POUNDING ISLES’ TAVARES
Newsday points out Islanders star John Tavares was held without a shot by the Penguins in their 5-0 Game 1 win here Wednesday night. He was bumped and harassed and defended with every step, which you would expect. “It’s part of the playoffs,” the center said after practice Thursday.
Getting hit is just a day at the office for someone who has been a high-profile big scorer since he was a child. The pounding just reached a higher level in his first Stanley Cup playoff game.
The way to combat that, Tavares said, is to hit them as hard as they hit you. “I have to be physical myself, use my body, win my battles and create time and space,” he said. “That’s part of the game. Sometimes that gets the blood going a little bit.”
WILSON’S SHARKS RUN EFFICIENTLY
The Vancouver Province states San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson and his staff have been able to bring in a bushel of young players led by Logan Couture, who appear poised to be able to give this team the ability to compete at a high level over the next few years at least. And they’ve done so from the poor draft position that comes with winning by drafting and developing players well.
“We’re not a high revenue team and we look at money spent (on hockey operations) and we’re about 15th in the league,” says Wilson. “We never scrimp or cut corners and we pay our players well but we don’t sign the real long-term contracts or front-end loaded deals. We don’t do buyouts or pay two or three coaches at the same time. We believe in running the organization efficiently and thanks to our coaches and scouts we’ve been able to give our present team the ability to compete every year by doing it that way. Our coaches have been terrific and you can’t say enough good things about (director of scouting) Tim Burke. “
After running through a list of his young players at key positions, Wilson noted, “and after next year we have just $27 million committed so we feel we’ll be able to sign our players and pursue others that might be available at that point.”
WILD’S BRODIN SHOWING INCREDIBLE POISE
The St. Paul Pioneer Press observes how in the Minnesota Wild dressing room, Jonas Brodin is a quiet, skinny kid who looks out of place surrounded by playoff beards and abrasive personalities. Just 19 years old, he is the biggest surprise of the Wild season. Some say he is among the front-runners to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie. Brodin joins Ryan Suter on the top defense pairing, plays in all situations and averages more than 23 minutes per game.
The Wild obviously knew he’d be a good player. But not so soon. Nineteen-year-olds simply do not contribute in this league.
“You have to be extremely impressed how a kid like that goes into Chicago in their first NHL playoff game and performs like that,” coach Mike Yeo said Thursday. “It just shows you his poise and mental makeup.”
BRUINS’ REDDEN MAKING HIS MARK
The Boston Herald supposes that while Bruins defenseman Wade Redden may have been slow to get in the lineup, it doesn’t look like he’ll be leaving it anytime soon after his outstanding performance in Game 1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“I think the coaches and the team here knew what I could do and who I am,” said Redden, who played a total of 16:57, 4:41 of that on the power-play. “I just came in and worked hard to just get the chance. That’s really what you look for.
“Things have gone pretty decent. They believe that I can get the job done for them, so that’s a big part of it. The role I’ve got, I’ve just got to make the most of it there and be a part of the team — help them get the wins as much as I can. I guess that’s really what I’m here to do.”
Said coach Claude Julien: “I was really happy for him. I think he’s a player that has gone through some rough times. What we’ve tried to do when he came here is make him feel welcome, make him feel appreciated, and give him some confidence that way. So far, it’s paid dividends.”
CANES WILL INCREASE SALARY BUDGET
The Raleigh News & Observer writes that while twentieth out of 30 NHL teams in payroll this season, the Hurricanes are moving into a new division full of free-spending major-market teams and general manager Jim Rutherford said his team will try to keep pace with their new peers as the cap drops from $70.2 million to $64.3 million.
“We have been a budget team for a long time,” Rutherford acknowledged. “But we are now at the point where we’re going to be a lot closer to the cap than not. We’ll probably be at about $60, $61 million next year. Now we’re getting into that area. We know we had to do that with the change of divisions.”
GIRGENSONS’ DEVELOPMENT ‘OFF THE CHARTS’
The Buffalo News asserts Sabres prospect Zemgus Girgensons really had a coming-out party during the AHL playoffs. The native of Latvia, picked 14th overall by the Sabres in last year’s draft, lived up to his reputation of being a hard hitter and aggressive penalty killer while adding timely offense.
“He’s really come a long way this year,” Amerks coach Chadd Cassidy said. “More than anything from what I’ve seen is just his confidence with the puck has been through the roof. He always plays hard, always plays through people. He’s tough to play against, but you can see that confidence when he has the puck.
“He knows that he can make that extra move and he can make a play with it as opposed to early in the season I think the game was going so fast in his mind all the time because of the level and the pace of play. His development, to me, has just been off the charts with what he’s been able to do this year.”