ST. LOUIS — When Calgary GM Brad Treliving hung on to three goalies to start the season, it was for several reasons.
1 – They’ve invested too much in 24-year-old Joni Ortio to lose him on waivers.
2 – As much as Karri Ramo won the job from Jonas Hiller in the playoffs last year, Ramo’s resume and goaltending style don’t inspire the confidence to hang a season on him.
3 — So, the Flames hope Hiller isn’t the best goalie they have, but he just might be.
Now, just one game into the season, Robyn Lehner walked out of the First Niagara Center in Buffalo in a walking boot Thursday, and the opportunity to move one of his goalies fell into Treliving’s lap sooner than he could have hoped.
The problem: Which one to pitch to Buffalo GM Tim Murray? Ramo gave up five goals on Opening Night, and head coach Bob Hartley will start Hiller Saturday night in Vancouver.
“We can’t fault Rams for the defeat,” he said, “but I think he was the same as the rest of the team.”
Which is, not good enough.
Treliving has actively shopped Hiller going back to the last trading deadline, and as much as they like Ortio, the belief inside the Flames organization is that their true goalie of the future is Jon Gillies, who begins his pro career in Stockton this season. Literally anything is possible when it comes to the Flames goalies — other than carrying three goalies through the season.
That won’t happen.
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Rookie Blue
The St. Louis Blues opened with three rookies in their lineup Thursday, a testament to the need to keep trying new angles until they find a recipe for postseason success. Robby Fabbri (who scored the winner), Joel Edmundson and a real nice story in six-foot-five defenceman Colton Parayko all played in the Blues 3-1 win over Edmonton.
Parayko is a fascinating find on the back end. He played for Gord Thibodeau’s Fort McMurray Oil Barons in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, and then went to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks for three seasons. No one expected him to make the Blues this soon, at the age of 22.
“I don’t want to say I’m surprised. I just tried to do what I can do,” he said. “The St. Louis Blues picked me (86th overall in 2012) in the NHL draft. I just went up there to Alaska and worked hard. My coaches, Dallas Ferguson in Alaska and Gord Thibodeau really pushed me. I learned a lot from them.”
Said Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock: “He came the route where most kids in Western Canada quit hockey, which is the thing that makes me the most proud. He didn’t play Triple-A; he didn’t get drafted in the Dub. He came in the back door and look — he’s playing in the National Hockey League as a first-year pro. He’s a perfect example of a guy who stayed with it, and wasn’t discouraged ‘cause there wasn’t success as that 14-year-old, where there is so much pressure on those kids in the West.”
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Take a Number, Milan
Milan Lucic got cranked by San Jose’s Logan Couture in their season opener, then chased Couture across the ice to the Sharks bench and returned the favour. It got him kicked out of his first game as a Los Angeles King.
“It’s just because of who I am,” Lucic said the next day. “If I would have made that hit and someone came after me the same way, he wouldn’t have gotten a match (penalty). It just comes with who you are.”
Lucic has a reputation, sure, but he has to learn to take a number. It’s a long season, and he’ll see Couture again.
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Wonder Re: World Cup
A thought on the World Cup, and the effect that the Team North America — the U-24 group — could have on rosters of both Team Canada and Team USA.
I have a hard time thinking of a single U-24 player who would be picked to play on Team Canada. Maybe an Aaron Ekblad, or possibly Connor McDavid if he really dazzles? Either way, it’s a toss-up. But there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that Winnipeg’s 21-year-old defenceman Jacob Trouba, Nashville blue-liner Seth Jones (21), and even winger Johnny Gaudreau (22) would all have excellent chances of making Team USA.
That could serve to separate Team Canada even further from the International pack come next September. Teams will start naming coaches within the next month, while Team North America is expected to announce a couple of names to help co-GMs Stan Bowman and Peter Chiarelli scout this season. It will likely be a couple of head professional scouts who are watching NHL games every night for their respective NHL teams.
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The Hall Calls
Clare Drake, the legendary former coach of Canada’s premier university hockey program, the Alberta Golden Bears, celebrates his 87th birthday on Friday.
The list of today’s NHL head coaches who were influenced by Drake’s teachings over the years is long, including Willie Desjardins in Vancouver, Mike Babcock (Toronto), Barry Trotz (Washington), Todd McLellan (Edmonton), Mike Johnston (Pittsburgh) and Hitchcock, among many others.
Asked if Drake should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame (he’s not been accepted despite several nominations), Hitchcock merely shrugged.
“John Wooden is there,” Hitchcock said of the legendary UCLA basketball coach. “This guy is John Wooden, so, figure it out.”
Hitchcock was sharpening skates at United Cycle in Edmonton, hanging around the university rink and watching Drake run practices back in the ‘70s.
“He basically brought teaching into … hockey. All we did was yell at guys to work harder, and if they didn’t work hard enough we yelled more,” Hitchcock said. “But what he changed for everyone in North American hockey, was penalty killing. He revolutionized penalty killing.”
Drake took the “passive box” and taught coaches that there could be pressure applied by the four penalty killers. Intelligent pressure.
“He put it into a presentation in 1982, and it scared the hell out of everybody because none of us thought this was possible. Now, everybody does it. Everybody follows his pressure points; everybody follows his angling. How to stop entries, how to put the power plays into position where you can squeeze hard with numbers.
“The passive box has gone bye-bye, and it’s because of him.”
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Bou Knows
Speaking of the Golden Bears, kudos to Blues defenceman Jay Bouwmeester who has donated a handsome sum to provide for an annual scholarship for both the men’s and women’s programs at the U of A, to be named after his parents, Dan and Gena. Dan was a former Golden Bears player, and Jay grew up playing hockey with Bears alumni.
“My dream wasn’t to play in the NHL growing up,” he said. “It was to play for the Golden Bears.”
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Markstrom Down
You’ve got to feel for Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom, who tweaked something in his final practice before the start of the regular season. They’re calling it lower body, but he could be out as long as three weeks.
Markstrom never lived up to billing in Florida, and this is a genuine second chance for the big Swede, with the Canucks having let Eddie Lack go to Carolina. If he could prove himself a genuine NHL No. 1, Markstrom could be the heir apparent to Ryan Miller’s starting job. It’s hard to do that from the I.R.
