Hockey Hearsay compiles stories from around the hockey world and runs weekdays, 12 months a year.
RANGERS’ NASH EMBRACES PLAYOFF CHALLENGE
ESPNNewYork.com takes the position that even though Rangers winger Rick Nash has an impressive list of individual accomplishments — an Olympic gold medal, numerous All-Star nods and an incredible run of nine straight 20-goal seasons — Nash is missing one critical element that could define his legacy as a top player in the league: playoff success.
Consider him ready to rise to the challenge.
“We’ll find out,” Nash said of embracing the pressure of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs. “It’s something all the great athletes have done. It’s time to step up now.”
Nash isn’t a stranger to the big stage, though. A member of the gold-medal-winning Canadian team in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Nash has donned the Maple Leaf on his sweater enough in international competition to understand the type of pressure that comes with it.
“Any time you suit up for Hockey Canada, it’s on a huge stage, which is the same kind of feeling here,” he said. “There’s a lot of pressure here to win; it’s a good feeling. It’s fun. This is when hockey counts, and it’s the same thing as when you play at the Olympics and stuff like that.”
Nervous?
“Excitement’s a better word for it,” he said. “Just looking forward to getting started and being a part of this.”
MALHOTRA MAY RESUME NHL CAREER
The Vancouver Province writes that Manny Malhotra is still mulling his future, but it sounds like the sidelined Canucks centre is leaning toward resuming his NHL career next season.
Malhotra, who suffered a serious eye injury on March 16, 2011, was shut down by Canucks general manager Mike Gillis in mid-February after having played just nine games. Gillis cited concerns that Malhotra was putting himself at risk due to the continuing effects of the injury on his vision.
“The playing feeling is not going away,” Malhotra told The Province earlier this week. “I still feel healthy and strong, I’m still working out. We’ll see what the opportunities are this summer.”
OWNERLESS COYOTES IN TOUGH SPOT
The Arizona Republic believes the novelty of being the beloved underdog has faded.
What once was the Coyotes’ source of admiration has now pushed them to the sidelines this postseason, and the difficulty of life without an owner — minimized before by unexpected success — is painfully obvious.
“I’ve never used that as an excuse for our performance, and I just don’t feel just because we came up short we should use that as an excuse,” General Manager Don Maloney said. “It is what it is. It’s the reality we deal with. It’s not ideal. Going forward we hope it is resolved and yet when I look at our payroll, it is what it is. We still had enough to be a playoff team and that’s the way I’m going to continue to look at it. But certainly it makes it more challenging to be a playoff team.”
Maloney said he and the league have discussed an operating plan for the next few months and expects to receive more direction, even as soon as this week.
“We all want to win,” Maloney said. “We’re all competitive in this business. At some point, you have to be in a position that you know you have a chance to win a championship. Until we have our ownership in a better place, our chances are not great.”
JETS’ CHEVY ON KANE, BYFUGLIEN AND MORE
The Winnipeg Free Press has several items of note from Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff’s end-of-season address Wednesday:
Evander Kane finished the season with a bad wrist and foot. He will see a specialist about the wrist before a determination is made on whether he would need surgery.
On Dustin Byfuglien’s play: “When it comes to Buff, I don’t think we can be totally satisfied with anybody’s play this year because we didn’t make the playoffs, we didn’t get to the next step. Everyone’s got to be pushed, him included.”
On Claude Noel’s status, as the head coach has one more year remaining on his contract: “Claude Noel is the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets. He’s under contract. I know you’re going to ask me about an extension. There’s processes that have to go through, there’s different things you discuss, you talk about, you meet as a group, as a staff.”
The Jets’ nine restricted free agents – Zach Bogosian, Bryan Little, Blake Wheeler, Alex Burmistrov, Eric Tangradi, Anthony Peluso, Zach Redmond, Paul Postma and Arturs Kulda – remain “very much priorities” although no formal contract discussions have startet as of yet.
HARDING POSITIVE FOR MS CAUSE
The St. Paul Pioneer Press indicates that although Josh Harding didn’t want to talk about his inspirational performance in Game 1 against the Chicago Blackhawks, Maureen Reeder of Minneapolis, executive vice president of the Midwest Region of the National MS Society, was thrilled about it the following day.
“It’s amazing. It’s positive for our cause, and it’s positive for him, too,” Reeder said Wednesday. “We’re delighted that he’s doing so well in living with MS.”
Holly Anderson, president of the Upper Midwest Chapter of the MS Society, says people with MS were defined by the disease 15 or 20 years ago, but that’s no longer true. When someone with a high profile such as Harding reveals his situation, as he did before the season, it helps.
“A lot of people with MS are worried about disclosing it,” Anderson said. “You can live well with this disease; you can live a great life despite the disease.”
SELANNE’S POWER PLAY “OFFICE”
The Los Angeles Times supposes that if Wayne Gretzky once had his “office,” then so does the Ducks’ Teemu Selanne.
Gretzky, in his day, often set up shop behind the net to create offense. Selanne’s power-play “office” frequently has been the left-wing circle. Again, he delivered from there for the game-winning goal early in the third period in the Ducks’ 3-1 win over the Red Wings in Game 1.
How many goals has he scored from that area?
“A couple hundred, probably,” he said. “I don’t know. That has been my favorite spot. Lately, I have been more in the middle in the power play. It doesn’t really matter. We know that the power play and the penalty killing is going to be a huge part of our success at any level.”
YZERMAN STANDS FIRM IN PLAN FOR LIGHTNING
The Tampa Bay Times details how Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman understands their is impatience with the team’s lack of success. But that does not mean abandoning his long-term plan.
Yzerman hit on several topics in his postseason news conference. Here are excerpts of what he had to say:
On this summer: It’s difficult to predict or sit here and say they’re going to be big changes. The reality is it’s difficult to make changes. We all have these ideas and sit around and talk about we should do this or do that. It’s hard to make changes. It’s hard to do things. You have to find a partner to match and do certain things. But the reality is our group will change, how dramatically I’m not prepared to say yet, but we will explore options as far as improvement in the areas we need to be addressed. We’ll have players coming up from Syracuse next year that will have an opportunity to make this team. (Coach) Jon Cooper and his staff will have an opportunity to spend a summer preparing for a training camp, getting organized and getting the team ready to go in the regular season, so there will be some changes.
On a timeline for success: I’m not going to be held to timelines. These things take time and we’re going to be patient and we’re going to try to draft well and we’re going to try to use free agency wisely, and if we can expedite the process through free agency or through a trade that’s something we’ll do.
REESE’S POSITIVE IMPACT ON MASON
The Courier-Post points out Steve Mason was sensational since arriving to the Flyers in a trade from Columbus.
Goaltending coach Jeff Reese’s first few weeks working with Mason certainly played a role in an instantaneous transformation that could lead to front-office aftershocks this summer.
“You’ve got to remember he’s only 24 years old,” Reese said the other night. “I think he was beat down a little bit in Columbus, and I just think he needed a change. He’s always had the talent. It’s just a matter of building him back up and getting the confidence.”
What sort of changes were made?
“Nothing major,” Reese said. “Maybe a little bit of positional change. That’s pretty much it. Again, it’s a confidence thing and he’s feeling good about himself right now. And he’s excited to be here. He’s excited to play hockey again, and that’s a key.”
ABDOMINAL SURGERY AWAITS GABORIK
The Columbus Dispatch reports Blue Jackets winger Marian Gaborik will have abdominal surgery that will require a three- to four-week recovery, forcing him to miss playing for Slovakia in the IIHF World Championships.
According to one of Gaborik’s agents, the surgery is to repair an area of his abdomen where a hernia surgery was performed in 2001, when Gaborik played for the Minnesota Wild.
“It began bothering him in the final week or so of the season,” the agent said, adding that Gaborik is expected to be 100 percent for the start of Blue Jackets training camp.
LEHTONEN STEPPING INTO LEADERSHIP ROLE
The Dallas Morning News asserts part of the Stars’ need to get better involves Kari Lehtonen improving.
“We had some ups and downs and definitely didn’t get the results we wanted,” he said. “On a personal level, I don’t think I played as well as I wanted to. That will make me hungrier to work hard this summer and get ready for the next year. It’s going to be nice to be able to use these guys here to prepare for the season. It was a little iffy there at times with the lockout, trying to figure what is a good thing to do, where to skate. It’s going to be nice to go out there and skate with the goalie coach for the whole summer.”
Lehtonen will start his five-year, $29.5 million contract next season and now is one of the key pieces of this team. He said he understands he has to be a part of the leadership group.
“Goalies are a little different, but still this year I felt that,” he said. “Especially when guys started going out the door, you realize that you are one of those players that younger guys look up to. That was a little bit of a new situation for me. I’ve just been hanging in the background and doing my job, but that is something that is part of this and I am excited to take bigger steps in being a leader off the ice, too. That’s something I want to do and I think I need to do.”
FRANCIS GOING INTO NORTH CAROLINA SPORTS HOF
The Raleigh News & Observer relays that Thursday, Ron Francis will give the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame its first hockey representative as a member of the class of 2013.
Francis’ selection was fitting. He was the Carolina Hurricanes’ first big free-agent signing after the team moved to North Carolina in 1997, turning some heads in the NHL and giving the franchise added credibility in a new market. As team captain, he helped the Canes reach the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in 2002.
After his playing career ended, Francis joined the Canes’ management team, making Raleigh home for his wife Mary Lou and their three children. He continued to help the sport grow and find its niche. He’s an investor in the team.
“One reason I signed here in 1998 that was intriguing to me was the chance to sell our sport in a new area,” Francis said. “I said at the time I signed I firmly believe in our sport, I firmly believe it’s something people will like. To have me go into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame as the first member of hockey and the first member of the Carolina Hurricanes with such a prestigious group, it’s a great feeling to know that our sport has come a long way.”