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HARTLEY, FLAMES FACE CHALLENGE
The Calgary Herald notices Bob Hartley doesn’t bother denying the disturbances. There’s no point, really.
Because these aren’t far-flung rumours floating around his hockey team. These aren’t idle bits of gossip.
This is an ongoing teardown, with real trades, with real ramifications.
“We just have to cope with this,” the Calgary Flames’ coach said after Tuesday’s noon-hour practice. “On our side, we’re trying to be as supportive as possible to help those guys through.”
The National Hockey League’s trade deadline arrives 1 p.m. on Wednesday and Hartley will be thrilled to see the fuss die down.
“(Then) we’ll be able to focus on turning the page and finishing the year on a good note,” said Hartley. “But, at the same time, it’s not something that’s come to us by surprise. Obviously, it’s a distraction, but it’s a distraction for 30 teams. With Jarome and Bouw and a couple of other guys, the spotlight has been on us. That’s part of our game.
“Whether we play with half a team or we play with a full team, whether there’s trades or no trades, we have to go out there and challenge ourselves. That was my message to the players — we are facing a challenge (and) we have to show pride. Pride doesn’t come out of the player. Pride comes out of the human being.
“Whatever happens in the next 24 hours, it’s out of my control, it’s out of the players’ control.”
STANLEY CUP ELUDED YASHIN
The Ottawa Citizen details how Alexei Yashin is in town as the general manager of Russia’s team in the women’s world hockey championship.
Yashin, now 39, says he has no regrets when he looks back on his playing career. But if you listen closely, you catch the suggestion that he’d like to have a little more to show for it all.
His NHL teams never got close to winning the Stanley Cup, obviously, and his only golds for Russia came in the early days of his career: In the 1992 world juniors and the 1993 world championships.
He came close to Olympic gold in a 1998, which would have given his legacy a big boost, but the Russians lost to the Czech Republic in Nagano.
“Of course you want to win a Stanley Cup, but it didn’t happen for me,” he said. “You basically can’t choose that. It is what it is.
“It’s great if you can sign a small contract in your last year with, say, the Detroit Red Wings, sit on the bench and carry the sticks and win the Stanley Cup, but it’s never been my goal.
“I just wanted to make my team better.
“The story with me is I started with an expansion team, which got to a certain level, and after I was traded, the New York Islanders was basically a team that was very close to being an expansion team.
“It was my destiny, that’s all.”
PRICE COUNTING CALORIES
The Montreal Gazette details how, for the past five games, Canadiens goaltender Carey Price has worn a multi-function heart monitor, the wristwatch receiver clipped into the back of his pants.
The “2336” readout on the watch following Monday’s game was his estimated calorie expenditure of the previous 5½ hours.
“I wear it in practice and I’ve been curious. I never knew what (calories) I burned during a game,” Price said. “It will give me a good idea what I should be eating and how many calories I should be consuming.”
Strapping the monitor on his chest when he arrives at the arena, Price figures by the data recorded that he burns about 300 calories over two hours, then another 2,000 during the warmup and game.
The receiver has proven to be shockproof thus far, no matter that he often crushes it during goalmouth pileups.
“But I don’t get Twitter on the watch,” Price said, grinning. “I wish.”
YAKUPOV’S DEFENSIVE GAME DEVELOPING
The Edmonton Sun observes that while Oilers rookie Nail Yakupov has shown flashes of brilliance offensively, it’s his defensive game that has the coaching staff showing more confidence in him.
“I think the key thing is my teammates, they help me a lot, off the ice and on the ice,” said Yakupov. “I’m playing with the captain (Shawn Horcoff) and he talks to me all the time and I’m learning and working hard every day.
Yakupov’s work-ethic has also not gone unnoticed. The 19-year-old is constantly striving to get better, whether it would be on the ice or in the gym.
“He’s a guy that I think when he first came here, it took him a while to get comfortable, especially when it came to the communication, but he’s a highly intelligent player,” Horcoff said. “It took him a while to realize that he has to play both ends of the ice if he wants to play more. He’s starting to realized that now and so, with that realization has come some willingness to learn. Plus we’re really trying to hold each other accountable when it comes to turnovers and dangerous plays. With that we’re going to get results. For Yak it’s a process. He’s such a young player, he’s going to take some time, but he’s on the right track.”
NEELY LIKES JAGR ADDITION FOR BRUINS
CSNNE.com writes the addition of Jaromir Jagr “certainly upgraded our hockey club,” says Bruins president Cam Neely, who hopes the addition of the 41-year-old left wing will give the team the offensive boost it needs.
“Offensively, he’s put up numbers year after year; he’s still doing it,” Neely told Michael Felger and Tony Massarotti today on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s ‘Felger & Mazz’ show. “He’s a big body, he protects the puck extremely well . . . he’ll help us on the power play.
“So all those things combined made it fairly easy for us to try and acquire him.”
Where might Jagr play in the lineup?
“He’ll be inserted in various lines just to see where the best fit may be,” said Neely. “Right now, [Nathan] Horton’s got it going and [David] Krejci’s played fairly well, pretty consistent, throughout the year, so I would assume that he may start on a different line than that. But you never know where things will shake out. We’ll have 13 games after tonight and we’ll see what makes the best fit and gives us the best chance to get production from all three lines . . .
“He’s certainly going to help us offensively.”
KOVALCHUK STILL REHABBING SHOULDER
Fire & Ice notes Devils coach Pete DeBoer said right wing Ilya Kovalchuk, who is out two to four weeks with a right shoulder injury, is “in rehabbing on a daily basis.” The Devils are not planning on having him back for this weekend, though, and it sounds like it’s going to be closer to the four-week estimate than two.
Kovalchuk watched part of Monday’s game from the team’s suite and had his right arm in a sling.
“He’s going to be back,” DeBoer said. “That’s on the horizon, but it’s not in the near future and that’s something that we can’t control. The 20 guys that we’re going to put on the ice Thursday night and again on the weekend are the guys that have to get the job done.”
FLEISCHMANN’S HEALTH ISSUES IN CHECK
The Sun-Sentinel points out that after blood-related disorders affected his previous two seasons, Tomas Fleischmann was hardly a candidate for an iron-man role. Yet, since pulling on the Panthers jersey, he is the only Panther besides Brian Campbell to play in every game, including playoffs.
Since two blood clots in his lungs curtailed a promising season with Colorado in 2011 and jeopardized his career, a regimen of blood thinners and carefully regulated diet has kept the condition under control and Fleischmann on the ice.
“We tried the medication before and it worked, so I was pretty confident it was going to work again,” Fleischmann said. “It could be difficult, but I got used to those things. It helps me to play hockey.”
LEDDY CONTINUES TO IMPRESS
CSNChicago.com asserts Nick Leddy has become one of the Blackhawks’ best defensemen.
Leddy just turned 22 barely a week ago but he’s been playing like a veteran this season. Playing with either Michal Rozsival or Sheldon Brookbank, Leddy has taken his stellar speed and paired it with an improved game.
“He’s probably the guy I’m most impressed with this season,” said fellow defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson. “I knew he was a great skater and great offensively. But I’m most impressed this year with how he plays in the defensive zone and around the net. He has a great stick. The way he plays defensively this year is a step up.”
As far as that skating, well, it’s mentioned for a reason. Teammates are impressed with it.
“It’s crazy how good that guy can skate. It looks effortless. He just flies out there,” goaltender Corey Crawford said. “He’s a sick skater and a good player. He’s only getting better as he goes. It’s scary how good he could get.”