The Devan Dubnyk story has been a lively read this season. He’ll likely get my vote for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy (if nominated), as one of hockey’s very good guys went from rock bottom in the minor leagues last spring to carrying the Minnesota Wild into playoff contention not a year later.
What stinks for the team that drafted him, however, is that the Edmonton Oilers patiently groomed Dubnyk up from junior, and are now watching him shut them out, like he did Friday for the Wild. His record versus Edmonton this season: 5-0-0, a 0.79 GAA, .970 SV% and one shutout. That shutout was his sixth of the season and the fifth in his last 16 games, making him the fastest goalie to five shutouts with a club among netminders who debuted in the expansion era, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
He’s quick to admit, it was his time in Edmonton’s organization that turned him into an NHL goalie.
“Freddie never gets enough credit,” Dubnyk, who has started every game since joining the Wild, said of since-fired Oilers goalie coach Frederic Chabot. “The majority of my technical game was created in the five years I was [in Edmonton] with Freddie. I have a whole ton of Freddie still in [my game].”
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Edmonton has been criticized (in this space) of rushing too many young players, but the irony is, they patiently nurtured Dubnyk since drafting him 14th overall in 2004, and simply were not rewarded for it. Dubnyk went back to Kamloops for two years of junior after he was drafted, then played one year in the East Coast League, three seasons in the American League, and had parts of four NHL seasons under his belt when the Oilers handed him the ball at the beginning of last season.
Their reward? He dropped it, fatally.
Sure, the Oilers defence is substandard, but Dubnyk flat out lost his confidence — a malady that had him in the minors and in his third organization in the same season last spring.
“It’s scary. You could never expect that it could be taken away from you that quick. I got a little reality check last year,” said Dubnyk, who said he hit rock bottom after “a few weeks in Hamilton. You kind of hold out hope at first when you go down there that you might be going back up. …
“I was staying in a hotel by the rink — an extended-stay place. You feel stuck. There’s nowhere to go. You just want the season to end, the nightmare to be over.”
His wife had given birth to their first son last season, not long before Edmonton traded Dubnyk to Nashville, which quickly offloaded him to Montreal. “That was definitely the toughest stretch in my life. Now, it’s something I draw back on for anything to do in my life,” he said. “If I can be there, not see my family in 10 weeks, not see my son. … There’s not really much you can’t do if you don’t stick with it and believe.”
Couldn’t happen to a better guy.
UNCOMFORTABLE TIMES IN BOSTON
As the Boston Bruins stumble through their Western Conference road swing, with losses in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and St. Louis so far, how uncomfortable was it in their executive box after these quotes emerged from Bruins president Cam Neely?
The Bruins have “needed to do something for a number of months,” Neely told the Boston Globe, the day before he and GM Peter Chiarelli watched a game from his seat in a cramped press box lodge next to each other. “You go through this whole range of feelings when things aren’t going well. I’ve been frustrated. I’ve had some anger tossed in there. And now, for the first time, I’ve landed on disappointed,” he said.
The Bruins, as we wrote last week, are a declining powerhouse, and GMs or coaches of those teams tend not to keep their jobs. Not that firing people will turn around a trend that has as much to do with the cap system as it does with Boston management.
“Given the expectation of the team, the expectation of what we have of individual players … we aren’t where we should be. The fans here deserved more than what they’ve received,” Neely said.
It’s hard to see Neely hanging in with his coach and GM if things continue south in Boston.
PLAYOFFS OR BUST FOR MCLELLAN?
If that last items suggests Bruins head coach Claude Julien could be on the hot seat, then who else could be joining ex-Penguins coach Dan Bylsma in the interview processes this coming summer for teams who gas their bench bosses?
Well, word out of San Jose is that Todd McLellan won’t survive a playoff miss, and may well be done there even if San Jose sneaks in for the first round.
Mike Babcock still hasn’t re-upped in Detroit, and you have to think if it hasn’t happened by now, it’s 50-50 at best to happen at all. Randy Carlyle is still out there, watching games in Anaheim out of his California home. John Tortorella is an option, we suppose.
So, what does GM Craig MacTavish do in Edmonton about well-liked interim head coach Todd Nelson? Nelson has changed the culture immensely, and is getting more from players like Nail Yakupov, Oscar Klefbom, Jeff Petry, Anton Lander and Justin Schultz than Dallas Eakins did.
MacTavish already fired a coach who didn’t need firing when he moved out Ralph Krueger for Eakins. If Nelson’s fine work continues, I see him getting an extension this summer.
One caveat: Nelson and McLellan go way back together. Could a couple of Saskatchewan boys somehow work together behind the Edmonton bench?
WHERE WILL GLENCROSS END UP?
Speaking of coaches, the pre-season word in Calgary was that Bob Hartley would last a few months then be replaced by someone chosen by Brian Burke and Brad Treliving. Word was that he couldn’t get along with the majority of his players.
Well, wasn’t that a load? Today Hartley has an extension in hand, and it turns out only veteran Curtis Glencross didn’t mesh with the coach — perhaps the last guy we thought would be on his way out at the trade deadline.
I like Glencross as a utility guy in Pittsburgh, but the Penguins would have to come up with a decent prospect for the Flames. Better than Kenny D’Agostino and Ben Hanowski — the two players Pittsburgh shipped to the Flames (along with a first-rounder) in the Jarome Iginla deal.
What about Glencross in Anaheim? That’s a team that could use some grit on the wing.
HAULA’S DISAPPEARING ACT
Whatever happened to Minnesota winger Erik Haula?
Remember his tremendous playoff run last spring, when he had 4-3-7 in 13 games, and was a huge factor in willing the Wild past the Colorado Avalanche in the first roun? This season he has the same amount of assists in 51 games, and only five goals.
Haula broke his jaw at the World Championships last year, didn’t arrive at camp in top shape, and has been playing catch-up all season.