Hockey Hearsay compiles stories from around the hockey world and runs weekdays, 12 months a year.
SKATING COACH: RESURGENCE COMING FOR CANUCKS’ BOOTH
Intriguing insights via The Vancouver Province from highly-respected local power-skating coach Barb Aidelbaum, who, at the request of David Booth, was brought in to help the struggling Canucks winger.
Aidelbaum: “With the skills comes comfort, and with comfort comes confidence, and it works directly in that order. If the skating is sharp, the mind is sharp and they feel they can conquer the world.
“Because of his injuries, David was in a protective stance. When you’ve had groin issues, you don’t want a wide stance or your knee over your toes, and we focused on that. It wasn’t like we were starting from scratch; he needed to be placed in the right position again.
“He will surpass the top level he had before and it will happen very quickly. He’s very dedicated. There are not a lot of players I know — and I’ve coached hundreds of NHL players over the years — who will stand up to a coach and say: ‘This is what I really need.’ Some will just go with the flow, and it’s a pretty gutsy thing for David to do.
“He and Tortorella had a long talk. David felt his skating was off, and it’s like a high-level tennis player: if the running is off, he can’t hit the ball. For him, he felt the skating was off and he was struggling. Things weren’t firing sequentially anymore.
“And because he’s a good communicator and listener — and with that coach — there’s a solution.”
STAMKOS RETURN DATE REMAINS UNCERTAIN
There was a medical update on Lightning superstar Steven Stamkos from The Tampa Bay Times Wednesday, the takeaway of which was there is no clear timeline for him to play again and he will not take part in the Olympics for Team Canada if he’s not 100 percent.
On reports of a possible early February return: “Again, it’s impossible to tell, really. I mentioned in my press conference I’d love to come back and play a couple games and be able to play in the Olympics. That’s my goal. You have to have a goal and you work towards your goal. But, again, it’s up, really, to the bone. You have no say in that in getting clearance just to skate or to have contact and be cleared to play. If the bone is fully healed, for some people it’s less time, for some people it’s more. That’s why we can’t have the guessing games of when I can be back. If everything goes well and the bone heals the way it’s supposed to I’d love to be back then but we won’t know until that point.”
On playing in the Olympics: “I won’t be playing in the Olympics if I’m not 100 percent. That’s something I’ve said since Day 1. At the end of the day you have to look at the long-term health and look at the team here in Tampa that I want to help win a championship with, and if I’m not 100percent I won’t be playing. I wouldn’t expect them to even take me if I wasn’t 100 percent, especially at a caliber tournament like that.”
NOLAN PREFERS SABRES KEEP MILLER
The Buffalo News reminds readers interim coach Ted Nolan has made no secret of his desire to keep pending unrestricted free agent Ryan Miller and not trade him.
“You look at all championship teams, and it starts from the goaltending out,” Nolan said. “You build around him vs. using him as a pawn to try to get something to make you better. You learn to deal with the now as a coach. You’ve got one of the better goaltenders in the world here. I’d like to build around him.”
More Nolan: “I talked to (president of hockey operations Pat LaFontaine) about this and I said, ‘The one thing we want to do is create an environment where people want to come here and stay here,”’ Nolan said. “So hopefully he likes what we’re doing and you never know.”
JETS’ JOKINEN FONDLY REMEMBERS FLORIDA
Jets centre Olli Jokinen reflects with The Winnipeg Sun on his time with the Florida Panthers.
“I had some good years here, but we didn’t but at the same time, we didn’t go anywhere as a team but I had a chance to play with some great players and to learn what you need to do to be a true professional,” said Jokinen, singling out Gary Roberts and Joe Nieuwendyk for their guidance. “Those couple guys had a huge impact on how I think about the game to this day. There were some other players as well, but those were a couple guys who came here after the ‘04 lockout.”
The lessons: “You’ve got to be ready every day, you’ve got to do a lot of extra work,” said Jokinen. “Every time you come to the rink, you’ve got to be mentally ready, you’ve got to take care of yourself. Just the little things you need to do to get better and to stay in this league.”
CORVO’S POSITIVE EXAMPLE FOR YOUNG SENATORS
The Ottawa Citizen points out how 36-year-old Senators defenceman Joe Corvo has been hitting the weights, doing everything possible to keep his NHL career going as long as possible.
Senators coach Paul MacLean said the message should be heard loud and clear by the team’s younger players.
“Any time you have someone that’s working that hard and you’re not, you should ask yourself a question,” said MacLean. “He takes great pride in keeping himself in shape and that’s what you find with older players in the NHL nowadays that want to keep playing. They understand they have to get faster or maintain what they’ve got for as long as they can. That’s something we’ve tried to ingrain in our culture here.”
FORMER JUNIOR COACH PRAISES CANADIENS’ BOURNIVAL
The Montreal Gazette relays the complimentary words for Canadiens forward Michael Bournival from his former Shawinigan Cataractes junior coach Eric Veilleux.
“He had this old-school mentality — which I think is good — if you want to get more than anybody else on the club or in the league, you need to do more,” Veilleux said.
“Everything he does, he does all out.”
Veilleux also said of Bournival: “For me, he’s an NHL player. He’s proven that he’s able to do it on a consistent basis. And I’m not even worried about him, No. 1 staying grounded, and No. 2, him knowing how he got there and what to do to stay there.”
JAGR PLAYING TOO MUCH FOR DEVILS
Devils coach Pete DeBoer, via The Star-Ledger, on how 41-year-old Jaromir Jagr has been played too much lately and how the team must look at the big picture for the veteran.
“Sure. I’m not even looking at age, because I don’t think he’s a 40-year-old the way he takes care of himself and prepares,” DeBoer said. “I don’t look at him as an age number. I look at the fact that this is an Olympic year. He’s probably a guy that is going to go to the Olympics and we’re in a condensed schedule.
“The minutes have just been a little high. He’s earned them. He’s been key getting some of the wins in some games. For me, the bigger issue I shouldn’t have to play him that much. We have to find other guys to take some of those minutes and right now we’re looking for people to seize some of those opportunities.”
AVS’ ROY, STASTNY NOT BIG ON ADVANCED STATS
Interesting quotes via The Denver Post from Colorado Avalanche coach Patrick Roy and center Paul Stastny on advanced hockey stats like Corsi and Fenwick.
Roy: “To be honest, I’m not into that. I’d rather go with the very basic ratings after games.”
More Roy: “We keep track of how much time we have the puck in the offensive zone. But that can be a deceptive stat sometimes. It’s not a perfect science.”
Stastny’s thoughts: “I think as the Internet gets bigger and social media gets bigger, the stats get more magnified. But in hockey, a lot of stats stuff is out of your control. You can do everything right and might still get scored on. I think too much of hockey is still all about character, and that’s something you can’t see on paper. In baseball, you have four hours to sit there and look at stats. I think that’s why it’s so big.”
HAMILTON PROGRESSING FOR BRUINS
The Boston Herald describes the progress of Dougie Hamilton, selected ninth overall in the 2011 draft, as encouraging.
“I think it’s a little bit of confidence, which comes with experience, of course, but defensively he’s getting a little bit better all the time,” B’s coach Claude Julien said. “Offensively, he’s making some good decisions even under pressure situations, managing the puck and making the right moves. I think his confidence on the offensive side of the puck is really good right now and he’s improving on the defensive side.”
Zdeno Chara: “Everyone knew that he was really skilled offensively, making plays and being able to skate up the ice and making nice contributions on the rushes,” said Chara, who has been impressed with Hamilton’s talent since the first day he saw him. “But what we’ve seen lately as he’s played against top lines is that he’s making that adjustment, playing responsibly and playing well defensively.”
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