The fascinating project that is Sven Baertschi told me this days before the Vancouver Canucks season opener: “The last few years, it’s been a roller coaster ride. Ups and downs.”
Well, a week into the Canucks season, Baertschi can’t get off that ride. He went from playing on Vancouver’s second line with Bo Horvat and Radmim Vrbata to being a healthy scratch Friday night against St. Louis.
What went wrong? As head coach Willie Desjardins so famously said of Baertschi’s play, “It’s not the try league. It’s the get-it-done league.”
Baertschi, traded to Vancouver for a second-round pick in the 2015 draft by the Calgary Flames, came into the season as a changed man. Speaking after a four-point night in the Canucks second-to-last preseason game, he claimed he was not the same guy that Calgary had traded away.
“No, no. That’s all I will say. No,” he said. “I look back and I laugh (at) how I developed as a player. It might not have shown on the ice, but as a person, how much stronger I got mentally. Now, the key for me is to translate into the game. Be a consistent player.”
Recognizing one’s shortcoming is a big part of working through them, sure. But the early season returns say that Baertschi still has to do something about the inconsistent play that led to being dumped by the Flames.
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Kids Night Out
Edmonton Oilers coach Todd McLellan was named head coach of Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey on Friday. That team is basically a U-24 team, made up of Canadian- and U.S.-born players whose birth certificates still read 23 years of age on Sept. 1, 2016.
With Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli a co-GM alongside Chicago GM Stan Bowman, the management team also added New York Rangers special assistant Adam Graves as special assistant to the GMs, named Nashville assistant GM Paul Fenton and Tampa Bay assistant GM Pat Verbeek as directors of player personnel, and took on Hockey Canada head scout Ryan Jankowski as Team North America’s director of pperations.
So there is now a scouting group in place, with assistant coaches to be named later on.
“It’s an exciting opportunity,” said McLellan, who coached Team Canada to an 11-0 run and a gold medal at the World Championships last spring. “I had such a great experience in the Czech Republic with the national team, it left such a good taste in my mouth to be around those types of players and have a chance at success that I’m looking forward to this opportunity.”
Some people have pooh-poohed the idea of a U-24 team at the World Cup, but I quite like it. The toughest nut for Chiarelli and Bowman to crack will be in goal, where all of their top candidates — Boston’s Malcolm Subban, Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck, Anaheim’s John Gibson, and even Calgary’s Jon Gillies — all began the season in the American Hockey League.
But it’s better than the alternative of inviting Slovakia or Denmark. These kids will fly, and give some of the older European players fits.
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Don’t bring me down, Bruce!
It’s easy to say that Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau is on the hot seat in Anaheim, because the Ducks are 0-2-1 and like the Kings and Penguins, have yet to score their first powerplay goal. The known tension between GM Bob Murray and Boudreau adds fuel to the fire, but to me it looks more like the Ducks roster is coasting early on.
“The work ethic, that’s been the eye opener,” Boudreau said. “We’ve been out-worked. The other teams are quick that we’ve played, but they’re quick because they’re working hard to be quick. And we’re waiting for things to happen. We’re coasting back in the zones. That’ll change. But right now, that’s where it’s at.”
Through five games of last spring’s Western Conference Final between Anaheim and Chicago, the Ducks were clearly the better team. Then Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa elevated their games in Games 6 and 7, and Anaheim players like Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler could not match them.
That had nothing to do with the coach in Anaheim, and everything to do with the players. Same with this fall, IMO.
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Max’ing Out in Glendale
All the talk out West is about Connor McDavid, but the reports coming in on Max Domi are high in praise.
This from one Eastern Conference scout who made a Southwestern swing this week: “He was unbelievable. I saw him in Anaheim and he was the best player on the ice,” the scout said. “His first three steps? Explosive. He is gone. He separates himself so fast, shoots the puck real well…
“He’s like (Johnny) Gaudreau in Calgary, but bigger and faster,” raved the scout. “I haven’t seen McDavid and Eichel play yet, but Domi could lead the rookies in scoring this season.”
Domi had 2-2-4 in his first three games. After Thursday’s games only teammate Anthony Duclair and Chicago’s Artemi Panarin had more points (five). McDavid had just one goal and Eichel had two.
The one thing Domi has is tree-trunk thighs. Like Sidney Crosby — it’s a real powerful engine down there. The kid’s an awesome story, the son of former Maple Leafs slugger Tie Domi.
“He’s my Dad, so I talk to him about everything,” Max told us this fall. “He’s giving me feedback, and his honest opinion is usually pretty honest. Whether I’m playing good or bad, he’ll let me know.
“My Dad wasn’t handed anything in his life — he’s worked for everything he’s got. He deserves it all, so I try to take his work ethic and put it into my game. He played 17 years in the NHL … and he was a great teammate too. Little things like that. Attention to detail is huge.”
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Mo McDavid
Speaking of McDavid, Ken Hitchcock has seen a few things in his day. So when the Blues head coach was asked who McDavid reminds him of, he was quick to respond.
“I’d say Mike Modano would be a really good comparison for Connor,” said Hitchcock, who coached the Hall of Fame centre in Dallas when they won a Stanley Cup in 1999. “Mike knew when to turn and burn.
“He knew that if the opposition was standing on the point and shooting the puck, he knew where it was going to get blocked and where it was going to go. Both Mike and (Joe) Nieuwendyk…that was their strength, their anticipation. That’s the same with Connor. You think you are going to score, and next thing is you’re looking at a 2-on-1 or a breakaway against,” he said. “The thing I notice about Connor is his anticipation, along with his speed and skill. He’s able to read the game much quicker than young players.”
Nice words by Hitchcock, but his heavy Blues team didn’t allow McDavid to enjoy the puck on his stick for more than a few seconds on Thursday in Edmonton.
St. Louis won both early season meetings over the Oilers. The Blues are just too big, strong and experienced for this Oilers team.
