One of my favourite Yogi Berra-isms that doesn’t always receive the play of some others is, “It gets late real early out there.”
Berra was referring to how a fast-sinking sun could wreak havoc on you in left field at Yankee Stadium, but as with the best Yogi pearls, it’s easy to attach a grander meaning. No need to get too dark on a Monday morning, so even if you happen to be turning 40 in, say, about 54 weeks, let’s not think about how Berra’s words can be applied to life in general.
Rather, we’ll keep it in the context of sports and say NHL GMs — perhaps more than ever — sure feel the heat by month No. 2 in a six-month season.
Of course, to some extent, it’s all about the baggage you’re carrying over from previous years.
The Philadelphia Flyers certainly caught some people off guard by firing president and general manager Ron Hextall on Monday morning. And, even before that, I was thinking about how teams are on their toes, ready to strike when it comes to strong moves.
The deal that sent Chicago’s Nick Schmaltz to the Coyotes in exchange for Dylan Strome and Brendan Perlini may not shake the ground like the axe falling on ‘Hex,’ but a few things stand out none the less. It’s the third swap we’ve seen in two weeks that carries some change-of-scenery logic to it, including one that involved Dylan’s brother, Ryan Strome, getting shipped to the Rangers for Ryan Spooner. (The third was Carl Hagelin to L.A., Tanner Pearson to Pittsburgh.)
The stakes would seem to be a little higher in this one, however, given the deal involves three players selected in the first round — including 2015’s third-overall selection in Strome — none of whom has yet had his 23rd birthday.
The Coyotes and Hawks have each arrived at breaking points, albeit from vastly different paths. Chicago is doing whatever it can to see if there’s any way to get the championship parade route back on course. The Hawks are one of four teams to have fired a coach already this year and now they’re trading Schmaltz on the heels of a 21-goal sophomore season that had many thinking they’d found a real gem.
Arizona, meanwhile, simply can’t fade from the playoff picture already. The Coyotes played two home games this past weekend and lost them by a combined score of 11-2 to conclude a 1-3-1 domestic stretch. Arizona was historically awful at the start of last year and has to do something — anything — to change the outlook for a franchise that has some pieces, but hasn’t seen the playoffs since 2012.
[relatedlinks]
So three young men just getting started in the league suddenly understand how quickly your time can be up in a given place, especially if your team’s margin for error has evaporated.
Good luck, everyone: It ain’t over till it’s over.
More Weekend Takeaways
• Doubting the Vegas Golden Knights became easy again when the club had a flat start to the season and was slowed by a number of key absences. However, with top-pair defenceman Nate Schmidt back in the fold for five games following his PED suspension and late-summer acquisition Max Pacioretty netting six goals in his past five outings — including two on Saturday versus San Jose — the Knights are rounding into form. Vegas — winners of three straight and the third-place team in a wide open Pacific Division — is tied (with the Sharks, actually) for the worst PDO mark in the league, so maybe more positivity is on the horizon. Related: The Knights went 11-1-1 last December.
• Just as the defending Western Conference champs are getting their chips together in Vegas, the reigning kings of the East — to say nothing of the entire league — have ripped off five straight wins. The Washington Capitals’ leading scorer during that stretch? How about Tom Wilson, who has three goals and five assists for eight points in those five outings and has been held off the scoresheet just once in the seven games he’s played since winning the appeal on his 20-game suspension.
• As for Pacioretty’s old team, the Canadiens have now lost four straight games following Saturday’s 3–2 setback to the Boston Bruins in a match that reminded people those two teams can still work up a healthy distaste for each other.
The shine is almost off Montreal’s hot start as the Habs’ defence corps — a hodge-podge of players being asked to punch above their weight — isn’t lending nearly enough support to goalie Carey Price.
• A closer look at Patrik Laine’s absurd blast of 11 goals in his past four games, five of which were scored on Saturday versus the St. Louis Blues. Nine of the tallies have come at even-strength, one was a game-winner, two occurred on the power play and one went into an empty net.
Laine’s shooting percentage during this stretch is 52.4 per cent. The run started on Nov. 19 and, when he woke up that day, there were 41 players ahead of him in the NHL’s goal-scoring race. This morning, he’s the leading candidate for the Rocket Richard Trophy with 19 goals, one ahead of Buffalo’s Jeff Skinner.
• Nine straight Ws for Skinner’s Sabres, by the way, after extra-time wins over Montreal on Friday and Detroit on Saturday. I don’t know why anyone would be mean to poor ol’ Buffalo, but if you want to be that way you could point out six of the Sabres’ nine victories have come in overtime or the shootout. Clutch or charmed? We’ll find out more soon.
• That St. Louis team Laine lit up surrendered 10 total goals in two weekend games while scoring the exact same amount themselves. There’s something for new coach Craig Berube to work with, but the blue line isn’t what it used to be, and neither Jake Allen nor Chad Johnson has a save percentage over .900.
• Really tough 2–1 OTL for Edmonton on Friday in Anaheim, giving up the tying goal with 17 seconds left in the third and the game-winner 14 ticks into the extra frame. After a less-close 5-2 defeat to the Kings on Sunday, the Oilers leave California 1-1-1 under new coach Ken Hitchcock.
[snippet id=4269767]
Red and White Power Rankings
1. Toronto Maple Leafs (16-8-0): The second of Andreas Johnsson’s three first-period goals against the Flyers is a prime example of why shot-blockers, when possible, should try to stay on their feet rather than sprawl on the ice like a seal.
2. Winnipeg Jets (13-7-2): Laine is outscoring the rest of the Jets 11–8 since the start of his run.
3. Calgary Flames (14-9-1): Noah Hanifin has to feel great after netting his first two goals as a Flame in the 6–1 pounding of Arizona on Sunday.
4. Montreal Canadiens (11-8-5): The Habs are 0-5 in games that end in overtime this year (including a demoralizing loss to the Sabres on Friday) and 2-0 in contests settled by a shootout. Time to draw up a three-on-three trap?
5. Edmonton Oilers (10-11-2): I’ll be really interested to see what Hitchcock can get out of Jesse Puljujarvi. If the answer is “the same as Todd McLellan did,” the young Finn could very well be a piece in the next change-of-scenery trade.
6. Vancouver Canucks (11-13-2): It took playing the last-place Kings, but Vancouver halted an eight-game losing skid with a 4–2 win on Saturday. Better yet, their next game is against the Kings, too!
7. Ottawa Senators (9-11-3): Nobody does high-event hockey like the Sens, who rank third in the league (and first in Canada) with 3.61 goals-per-game and way last with 4.35 against per outing (25 teams give up at least a full goal less per game than Ottawa).
In Your Ear
The latest edition of the Tape to Tape podcast saw myself, co-host Rory Boylen and special in-studio guest Luke Fox of Sportsnet.ca firing off all kinds of quarter-mark opinions.
Do me a favour, though? Maybe skip the part where I say the Senators clearly did the right thing by using their 2018 first-rounder on Brady Tkachuk, thereby giving Colorado their 2019 top selection as part of the Matt Duchene trade.
My logic went something like this: Tkachuk looks great (he does!) and things haven’t been a complete disaster in Ottawa. But with three straight L’s and a compete inability to keep the puck out of their own net, I fear my take on the Sens vis a vis super prospect Jack Hughes and the 2019 NHL Entry Draft could age worse than milk poured into an old shoe.
[snippet ID=3322139]
The Week Ahead
• The wick on the William Nylander saga continues to spit and sizzle toward oblivion. The Leafs winger must sign by Saturday if he wants to play in the NHL this year. While cautious optimism colours the situation, Nylander could be someone else’s winger in the next couple days.
• Barry Trotz faces his old team, the Capitals, on Monday when they visit the still-surprising New York Islanders.
• Canadiens coach Claude Julien has indicated defenceman Shea Weber could return from knee surgery ahead of schedule and play his first game as Canadiens captain on Tuesday. Montreal’s 28th-ranked power play could certainly use the jolt.
• Laine’s next chance to drive up the numbers on that new contract he’ll need come July 1 occurs on Tuesday, when the Jets host Sidney Crosby and the Penguins. Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzel, by the way, was one of five players to record a weekend hat trick along with Laine, Johnsson, Dustin Brown of the Kings and Carolina’s Jordan Martinook.
• Basically one year after Ottawa owner Eugene Melnyk celebrated the outdoor game on Parliament Hill by slamming Sens fans and talking about the possibility of re-location, Erik Karlsson will visit Canada’s capital on Saturday as a member of the San Jose Sharks. If you’re hazy on everything that’s happened in Ottawa during the past 12 months, fire up Netflix — there’s got to be a documentary on it by now.
