Hockey Hearsay compiles stories from around the hockey world and runs weekdays, 12 months a year.
BALLARD NEVER SOUGHT TRADE
The Vancouver Province advances that if Keith Ballard leaves the Canucks, it will be because he’s pushed. He will not be the one doing the pushing. He has not asked for a trade, and said he won’t.
After a contemplative, frustrating, couple of days in which he was a healthy scratch for two games, Ballard emerged Tuesday ahead of his team’s match-up against the San Jose Sharks recommitted to trying to fit in. And, really, that’s all he’s been trying to do since he got here. His mileage has varied.
“I like it here,” Ballard said. “It’s been hard. It’s been difficult. It’s been up and down. There have been a lot of adjustments. But the more I think about it, and I’ve thought about it a lot the past couple of days, I enjoy it here.
“This is the longest I’ve been anywhere in the NHL, three years. It does [feel like home]. There’s a lot more to it than just going out on the ice and playing. It’s being in this city. It’s being around these guys. You have to take all of that into consideration.”
What Ballard hasn’t done is complain. Yes, his agent called the Canucks brass after the healthy scratches. But he’s not the first agent to call a team to figure out what was going on. It wasn’t a call to demand more ice time, or a trade. That’s because Ballard doesn’t want one. He has come to terms with his position on the team. He’s seen the other side and he’s willing to reach his potential during his prime years to live in a place he said has become home.“Sometimes people get it in their head, I have to go somewhere else, I’m being held back,” he said. “How do you know how the next place will be?”
Ballard was knocked out of Tuesday’s game with a lower-body injury.
WILD’S GM PONDERS TRADE MARKET
The Minneapolis Star Tribune details that with the April 3 trade deadline four weeks away, Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher is monitoring other teams while also working internally to determine whether he will try to sign any of his potential unrestricted or restricted free agents to extensions.
If unsigned, Matt Cullen, Niklas Backstrom and Pierre-Marc Bouchard can become completely free July 1 and are the type of players who playoff contenders typically pursue as “rentals” at the deadline. Cal Clutterbuck, Jared Spurgeon and Justin Falk can become restricted free agents.
Fletcher says he hasn’t talked to any of their agents about new deals.
“That’s not to say we won’t do something in the next few weeks, but right now we’re trying to get a sense of where everybody fits,” Fletcher said. “I’m curious to see how we play the next month.”
If the Wild is still in the playoff race, the team would be less likely to trade a veteran such as Cullen or its No. 1 goalie, Backstrom.
With the standings so tight, Fletcher said: “How many buyers and sellers are there really going to be? It’s hard to find trade partners because everybody’s going to be in it for the most part. If you think about it, the trade deadline is going to be the 35- or 36-game mark. In a normal season, how many teams are out of it at the 35- or 36-game mark? I’ve been calling around just trying to get a handle on what teams are looking to do. I’ve received a lot of calls. All the conversations I’ve had have been in the context of hockey trades rather the [rentals].”
PROTECTIVE SOCK SALES SOAR
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review conveys that sales and use of so-called cut-resistant hockey socks made of Kevlar and other protective materials have increased at all levels of the sport since Matt Cooke’s skate almost completely severed Erik Karlsson’s left Achilles tendon. The 2012 Norris Trophy winner underwent surgery and will miss the rest of the season.
“Word is really getting out there,” said David Nerman, president of Montreal-based Tuff-N-Lite Hockey, one of several companies that makes protective socks. “It’s made people go, ‘Oh my God, this could really happen.’ ”
Nerman said sales have risen about 70 percent since Karlsson’s injury, with orders coming in from as far away as Norway and Australia.
Perani’s Hockey World in Mt. Lebanon said it quickly sold out its supply of socks, which cost about $40 a pair.
“They hadn’t been a popular item until (Karlsson’s injury). It definitely changed things,” store manager Carla Jeke said.
Beth Crowell, category manager of performance apparel for Bauer, based in New Hampshire, said retailers told her the socks were quickly moving after the injury.
“There’s been a heightened awareness about the types of safety products that are out there,” she said.
WHITEOUT FOR GOALIE PADS
The Toronto Star illustrates how white pads have become de rigueur among NHL netminders, but one manufacturer is wishing they’d add a little more colour.
Reebok, which also owns hockey equipment maker CCM, is frustrated by the nearly league-wide white-out. NHL goaltenders are skating advertisements for them, showing off their gear to thousands who play the position.
“Stores have been purchasing all white,” said Sonya Dibiase, Reebok’s goalie product manager. “As a company where you want to have an identifiable brand and they white it all out, it’s starting to make all companies look the same.”
Dibiase told the Star late last week that rule changes regarding white goalie pads have been on the radar of Kay Whitmore, the NHL’s goaltending supervisor, although the league denies such a move is on the table.
“It’s such a relevant point that the NHL is looking at it to make changes in the rule books,” Dibiase said. “I have to believe if Kay Whitmore is talking about it, it must be something.”
Whitmore, a former goaltender himself, said in an interview that rules addressing the colour of goalie pads is “not something we’re looking at.”
VISNOVSKY RETURNS HOME FOR TRAGEDY
Newsday reports Lubomir Visnovsky returned to his native Slovakia Tuesday because of the death of a close friend’s son. The Islanders defenseman missed Tuesday night’s game, will miss Thursday night’s visit from the Rangers and might not be back before Saturday’s game with the Caps.
According to reports out of Bratislava, Visnovsky’s close friend lost his 13-year-old son in a helicopter crash over the weekend. The two families are extremely tight-knit.
Visnovsky had been one of the best Isles defensemen of late, with a goal, five assists and a plus-1 rating in 12 games. But it was those first 10 games he missed that were also noteworthy, given his departure this week.
He was suspended for refusing to report to the Islanders once the lockout ended.
PREDS CLAIM BOYCHUK
The Nashville Tennessean indicates the Predators have made their second waiver claim in as many days, adding forward Zach Boychuk — a former first-round pick — on waivers from Pittsburgh.
The move comes one day the Predators picked up forward Bobby Butler on waivers from New Jersey. Butler has 39 points in 108 NHL games.
“The bottom line is that it’s just not working with our current group and we have to make some changes,” Predators general manager David Poile said. “Butler can score. He has proven he can score at the NHL level. He can score like dynamite in the minors.
“Boychuk has scored really good in the minors. Can it translate to the NHL? We’ve had good success with (acquiring) younger players and developing them. We’ll find out.”
KNUBLE KNOWS HIS ROLE
CSNPhilly.com points out that Mike Knuble has been around the National Hockey League 16 seasons. He knows about sitting down a few games. He understands it is often very different when that happens to a rookie, as opposed to a veteran such as himself.
“As a young player, you’re searching [to find] who you are and how you’re going to fit into this league,” said the 40-year-old winger.
“Now, I’m a more veteran guy and I am what I am, and if you can use me that way, then use me that way.
“I think that’s sort of the attitude that you have to have. You don’t doubt yourself. You don’t say what can I do better? At this point you are what you are. Whether you can help out … you just try to fill a spot when you can. You love to stay there.”
He added this: “I thought I’ve played very well, to be honest. To be asked to come in and adjust to a lot of things very quickly and be thrown right into the fire, I thought I did a great job.
“I think I was very responsible defensively. I chipped in offensively and I don’t think I held players back. That’s my take on it.”