Hockey Hearsay compiles stories from around the hockey world and runs weekdays, 12 months a year.
SENATORS’ SPEZZA ROUNDING OUT OVERALL GAME
The Ottawa Sun lays out how centre Jason Spezza and Senators coach Paul MacLean are determined to turn the captain into a better all-around hockey player.
“I find a way to get points,” said Spezza. “I’ve got to be good on the power play. I’ve always found a way to get points. It’s one thing to talk about, as your career goes on, points not being as important. It’s the reality now for me.
“I’m trying to work on other parts of my game. I may never win a scoring race, but I’m trying to build towards winning a Cup, so these are things you have to go through as a player. He has talked to me about that.
“Yeah, they could put me with offensive guys and we can score goals, but does that make me a better player? I’m not sure. I’m trying to work at it. I’m just trying to round my game out and get better at the things I’m bad at.”
FLYERS’ SIMMONDS: RUMOURS ARE RUMOURS
The Courier Post outlines how with both Philadelphia and Edmonton struggling this season, the trade buzz lately has seen gritty Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds linked to the Oilers. Unlike some players, who go to great lengths to avoid media reports involving themselves, Simmonds reads everything. But…
“Rumors are rumors,” Simmonds said. “It’s a business. You never know what’s going to go on.”
More Simmonds: “We’ve got a good squad in here,” the 25-year-old winger said. “We’ve got a really good team in here. We all know that. The onus is on us to play. We’ve already had a coaching change. It’s time that the players start owning up to what’s going on here. We’ve got to be responsible.”
AVALANCHE’S MACKINNON LOVES BASKETBALL
The Denver Post points out that on Thursday, Colorado Avalanche players Jean-Sebastien Giguere and rookie Nathan MacKinnon (who lives with Giguere and his family) attended the Nuggets-Atlanta game together, and they were shown and introduced on the scoreboard screens.
“I’m a huge basketball fan, and they played well,” MacKinnon said. “It was fun to be there, and it’s always good to come and support the local teams, and hopefully they can come support us.”
MacKinnon confirmed it was his first NBA game, then added dryly: “I’m from Halifax. The closest (NBA team) is Toronto, and I’ve never been (to a game) there. But I love basketball. I grew up watching basketball, and I played basketball. Last year in Halifax, I wanted to play for the high school team, but I couldn’t. I don’t really have a position; it depends on who I’m playing against. I like to shoot, but because I’m a hockey player, I like to rebound, too.”
RIBEIRO: OVECHKIN’S JUST A NORMAL GUY
Phoenix Coyotes forward Mike Ribeiro reflects on his time in Washington playing for the Capitals with The Arizona Republic.
On Alex Ovechkin: “It was fun,” Ribeiro said. “I didn’t know what kind of guy he was, but he was actually a pretty down-to-Earth person, and I think that was his best quality. He’s a normal guy like everyone else.”
On not missing the chilly climate: “It was a nice experience to go and see DC and live there for a year,” Ribeiro said. “But I’d rather be with the sun and come here and get up with the sun every morning.”
SHANAHAN REFLECTS ON FATHER’S ALZHEIMER’S
Of the many stories leading into Monday’s Hall of Fame ceremonies, The Star-Ledger reflects on one which is particularly touching.
Brendan Shanahan cannot be sure, but he believes that on June 13, 1987 — the day the Devils made him the second overall pick in the entry draft — his father was able to understand that his 18-year-old son might someday play in the NHL. But he doesn’t know how much his father truly grasped, because that was the year Donal Shanahan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, which would take his life less than three years later.
“I like to think that he had enough of a sense in my last year of junior and even at the NHL Draft that something good was happening to his son,” Shanahan reflected. “At the draft, he was in a suit and appeared okay, but if you looked at him, you’d realize there was something wrong. His decline was pretty rapid.
“He never got to enjoy a single game I played in the NHL. He never came to a game, and if the TV was on at my mother’s house and he saw me getting interviewed, he would be very surprised and point at the TV really confused. He didn’t remember my name, but he knew he knew me.”
PRAISE CONTINUES TO FLOW FOR PREDATORS’ JONES
The New York Times examines the mature game of Nashville Predators rookie defenseman Seth Jones.
“He understands the traditions of the game, and he has respect for the people who’ve been in the game,” coach Barry Trotz said. “He’s poised and polished both on and off the ice. You don’t have to tell him how to do something too many times — he knows.”
Poile compares Jones with another teenage phenom defenseman he drafted back in 1982 with Washington: Scott Stevens. “Not so much in the type of player he is,” Poile said — Stevens was a thunderous body checker, while Jones tries to emulate the low-impact artistry of Nicklas Lidstrom — “but in terms of his immediate impact.”
PENNER SHAPES UP FOR DUCKS
The Los Angeles Times describes how Anaheim Ducks winger Dustin Penner joked that he’s been able to recapture the success he had six years ago, when the Ducks won the Stanley Cup, partly because of the new lightweight equipment he’s found.
“Funny guy,” Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Less of a belly is the lightweight equipment.”
After “some strong suggestions from management … he’s in good shape,” Boudreau said before his Ducks were set to take on the Vancouver Canucks Sunday night. “That’s the biggest thing from the beginning of the season to now. He’s healthy, in shape and he’s confident. All of those things add up. And the line itself is moving the puck around quite well.”
Penner has been playing with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, although Getzlaf did not play Sunday evening.
JETS’ SETOGUCHI FEELS MORE MATURE
CSNBayArea.com illustrates this is now Jets winger Devin Setoguchi’s third season with another club, after the San Jose Sharks dealt him to Minnesota in the summer of 2011. The Wild flipped him to Winnipeg on July 5, 2013, for a second round draft pick in 2014.
He was asked before the Sharks and Jets clashed Sunday night how he’s evolved since that trade from San Jose.
“I definitely think I’ve grown up a lot since I’ve been – it’s been six years, this is my seventh [in the NHL]. It’s been a long time,” said Setoguchi, who was a healthy scratch on Oct. 18 after some early season struggles. “A little bit more mature in the way I handle things and conduct myself, and my play on the ice.”
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