A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and satirical, and rolling four lines deep.
1. More interesting than Montreal agitator Brandon Prust giving Tampa Bay’s Ben Bishop a little spear Saturday and getting ripped by one of his supporters, Don Cherry, on Hockey Night in Canada was the manner in which Prust’s teammates stood up for him.
“That’s not hockey. That’s a disgrace,” Cherry said. “I used to like Prust.”
Cherry, of course, is entitled to his opinion, and it’s difficult to defend spearing a man in the general direction of the groin, but good for the young Gallies — Brendan Gallagher and Alex Galchenyuk — for having the guts to stand up to a Canadian icon on Twitter and defend their teammate in response to Cherry’s rant:
heard what Don Cherry said about @BrandonPrust8 Prusty's a warrior that sticks up for his teammates every game Take him on my team any day!
— Brendan Gallagher (@BGALLY17) February 2, 2014
@brandonprust8 1 of the most honest and passionate players Ive ever played with.. @CoachsCornerCBC is wrong about him! #InPrustWeTrust
— Alex galchenyuk (@AGally94) February 2, 2014
@brandonprust8 great teammate, good guy, good looking, & good looking girl friend, full package! Love him he's a beaut! #onmyalltimeroster
— P.K. Subban (@PKSubban1) February 2, 2014
2. Besides the 100 San Jose shot attempts and the 59 Ben Scrivens stopped from going into the net, something else head-shaking happened in Edmonton on Wednesday.
When Scrivens was asked by a reporter what it was like to have old teammates such as the L.A. Kings’ Jarret Stoll reach out and congratulate him, the record-smashing goalie corrected his questioner.
“I’d like to think of him as a friend more than just an old teammate,” he said.
Then it hit. In a span of seven months, this is a guy who has been told by two different NHL teams that they don’t want him. He makes just a hair above the league’s minimum wage and, upon being dealt back home to Alberta, felt the need to defend his wife against a cruel-spirited blog post. He’s now plying his trade away from his wife and the second group of teammates he turned into friends.
“You treat people well throughout your entire career,” Scrivens professed, “and generally people will have your back in good situations.”
Within minutes, talk turned to “Is he a No. 1?” and “Should the Oilers re-sign him?” Let the man have his day. He deserves a damn moment.
3. Media members have a variety of important responsibilities at the morning skate — check for snacks, probe into the deep recesses of the players’ minds before the big game, drink coffee — but chief among them is figuring who the starting goalie will and then tweeting that message out.
What better way to cut out the middle man than to have the coach send out the lineup changes himself?
Scrivens back in. Hemsky and Ference are not ready vs Sharks.
— Dallas Eakins (@dallaseakins) January 29, 2014
For all of our fans back home. Ference, Hemsky, Fraser are all in. Scrivens starts.
— Dallas Eakins (@dallaseakins) February 1, 2014
#oilersfans Bryzgalov gets the start. Joensuu goes back in and Jones gets a rest. Same D expected. SuperBowl proves again that defense wins.
— Dallas Eakins (@dallaseakins) February 3, 2014
Funny thing. When Eakins — one of a tiny group of NHL head coaches with Twitter accounts (fellow AHL grad Tampa’s Jon Cooper is the other) — first became the Oilers head coach, he warned his new followers that he wouldn’t be breaking any news on social media. He’d mostly be discussing ironman training and veggie smoothies.
Now, on the heels of the disappointing Oilers feeling the weight of the media in a small, passionate hockey market, we have Eakins doing their job.
4. Most would assume Patrick Kane’s 2007-08 rookie card was the first cardboard rectangle to feature the Team USA sniper in an NHL arena. Most would be incorrect.
As a youngster, Kane and his dad had some pretty great rinkside seats in Buffalo. The seats were close enough that Kane made his hockey card debut on former Ottawa Senator Sylvain Turgeon’s card from Pinnacle’s 1994-95 set — a great little factoid revealed in USA Today‘s profile on Kaner. How awesome is this?
“He is five or six years old, and what we notice is that he is not eating popcorn, not eating ice cream,” Pat Sr. told the newspaper. “He’s not dillydallying. He is watching the game.”
5. So it appears Team USA goaltenders Jonathan Quick and Ryan Miller have some sort of side bet to out-American each other with their Olympic mask designs:
Eagerly await the Carey Price mask depicting a plaid-flannel-dinner-jacket-wearing beaver shoveling his driveway while apologizing to a Mountie, who’s drinking a double-double before he snowmobiles off to a free health clinic, eh?
Ah, the Olympics: where stereotypes are our friends.
6. Anyone sick of outdoor games yet?
Although the spectacles are beginning to lose their lustre on television — especially a Wednesday night affair involving a team (the Rangers) and a place (Yankee Stadium) we just saw on Saturday — in person, they’re fantastic experiences. If you think the NHL is going to scale back, you’re foolish. The Arizona Coyotes want one in the desert. Stadium Series sponsor Coors is asking the NHL to host one in Denver, and the Dallas Stars have held internal discussions about holding one in the Cowboys’ home.
Scarce are the NHL voices like those of Martin Brodeur and Steve Yzerman who throw anything less than 100% support behind the movement.
7. One result that adds legitimacy to the Rangers playing in so many outdoor games? Henrik Lundqvist earned his third outdoor victory Wednesday, passing Ty Conklin on the list. Any NHL record held by Ty Conklin is tough to take seriously. No offence, Ty Conklin.
8. The Tampa Bay Lightning might just want to send the whole team to Vegas in June. Early Vezina candidate Ben Bishop ranks among the league’s top five in all major goaltending categories. Rookie Tyler Johnson is right on Avalanche phenom Nathan MacKinnon’s heels in the Calder race. Coach Jon Cooper is our early pick for the Jack Adams. And if Martin St. Louis isn’t up for the Mark Messier Leadership Award, we’ll be calling “snub” again.
Heck, if Steven Stamkos was healthy all season, they’d likely have a candidate for the Art Ross, Rocket Richard and Hart trophies as well. Say Stamkos comes back and performs well. You have to believe he’ll be considered for the Bill Masterton in recognition of his perseverance to getting back on the ice after breaking his shin.
9. So many factors at work in the Stamkos dilemma for double GM Steve Yzerman. The Lightning have the potential to upset a lot of teams in the playoffs, so what might be in the best interest of Team Canada might not be in the best interest for Tampa Bay.
To an extent, Stamkos’s absence from the lineup has helped galvanize this team and given the bit players the gifts of confidence and ice time.
“I think before, Stammer and Marty felt like they had to score the goals to get us through the night,” Lightning forward Ryan Malone told me. “When you realize that’s not the case, you start scoring by committee.”
10. Yes, it is remarkable that Edmonton’s Taylor Hall has surpassed his career-best in points in just his 49th game of 2013-14, but remember: This is a guy, due to injuries and the lockout, who has never played more than 65 games in a single season. Hall is in Year 4 and hasn’t experienced even a 78%-full season. A blessing in disguise, perhaps? Could this add to his energy reserves down the road?
11. As the trade deadline nears, no team could be more caught at the exact midpoint between “Let’s go for the Cup!” and “Let’s be honest and start to reset” than the Vancouver Canucks. The big question is, do you want the GM who fumbled the handling of Roberto Luongo, Cory Schneider and Cody Hodgson (now seen leading the Sabres in goals and points) making the big decisions this summer?
12. I’m sure we’d all hate it if someone made a YouTube compilation of our worst mistakes at work, but it might be safe to say that Team Canada won’t be relying on Canucks defenceman Dan Hamhuis to execute a backdoor play in Sochi (via @TheStanchion). Yikes: