‘Yotes Notes: Front Office, Prospects, Braid
The Arizona Coyotes have had a busy offseason, between hiring the youngest GM in NHL history, the first full-time female coach and using their cap-space to build a great young pool of players. Today, they announced that they’d done some more hiring, this time to beef up their scouting staff. The team has brought on Jim Hammett, Rick Beckfeld and Sergei Kuznetsov as amateur scouts, Brett Stewart as a development coach, Brad Rossen as Director of Statistical Science and Al Ambrosia as the Hockey Operations Coordinator.
Other news from the desert:
- ESPN released their annual top 120 prospect rankings (subscription needed), and the Coyotes fared very well coming in with four players in the top 40 and nine players in total. Dylan Strome and Clayton Keller led the list at #4 and #6 respectively, while Jakob Chychrun and Lawson Crouse, both acquired through the use of cap space, came in at #32 and #37. Solid drafting, combined with a shrewd use of every advantage has led the Coyotes to have one of the best young crops in the league, and this list even excludes players like Max Domi and Anthony Duclair.
- After all the fanfare that has surrounded the hiring of Dawn Braid as the first full-time female coach in the NHL, she’s quick to heap praise on other people. In a piece by Alex Prewitt of Sports Illustrated today, Braid admits it’s “a little bit overwhelming”, and quickly lists other skating coaches Barbara Underhill (Toronto) and Tracy Tutton (Colorado) as deserved of the same praise. It was her father who had pushed her into helping hockey teams, and Braid continues to remember why she started: “It’s the opportunity to honor my father again. Every day I teach or I coach or I consult I think about him. It is part of what drives me on the ice to do what I do. He’s always in the back of my head.”
Metro Notes: Tavares, Capuano, Bednar, Rangers
John Tavares is undoubtedly one of the top players in the game today, but even the best athletes work hard every day to improve their game. Arthur Staple of Newsday writes about what Tavares is doing this summer to try to avoid the lengthy slumps in production he experienced during parts of the 2015-16 campaign.
Tavares tied for 10th in the NHL in goals with 33 so it’s not as if his performance should be described as disappointing. But this summer he’s implemented a new workout schedule trying to find ways to stay fresher during the rigors of a long regular season. Tavares offered up this explanation for the change:
“I got sick really early in the season and I felt like I was overcoming some fatigue a little bit still after that. I just tried to manage this summer a little differently, making sure I got some really good recovery, some really good rest. I actually started training pretty early but I didn’t kick it into high gear for a little while. I tried to be on the ice a bit more, but just tried to make sure my quality was really high, that I didn’t try to do too much. So just to change up some things, stay fresh, stay healthy, work on some things you want to improve on in your game.”
Within the same post, Staple relays comments from head coach Jack Capuano, who wants his defensemen to generate more offense this season. Even though the team’s blue liners finished the 2015-16 season with nearly as many points as the previous season, Capuano felt the unit simply wasn’t as “dynamic” as they were the year before.
The Islanders did see a drop off in overall team goal scoring, falling from 252 goals in 2015-16 to 232 this past campaign. If Capuano can find a way to squeeze more production from his blue line corps, they should return to being one of the more prolific offenses in the league.
Elsewhere in the Metro……
- Despite suggestions that the New York Rangers would be among the busiest teams in the league this offseason, the club’s foray into free agency was minimal with Michael Grabner and Jimmy Vesey – who represented a unique case – being the only outside free agents to be given multiyear deals. On the trade front, the team did move top-line pivot center Derrick Brassard but acquired a suitable long-term replacement in Mika Zibanejad in exchange. For a team that has been in “go-for-it” mode for the last several years and consequently moved a ton of futures in deals to acquire veteran players – such as Martin St. Louis, Eric Staal and Keith Yandle – this summer has been strangely devoid of blockbuster acquisitions. But as Matt Larkin of The Hockey News writes, the team’s philosophy this summer was to inject youth and speed into the lineup and it appears general manager Jeff Gorton has been able to do so without making the kind of splashy moves expected.
- The Colorado Avalanche hired Jared Bednar this week to be the team’s new head coach, filling the void created when Patrick Roy abruptly resigned from his post. Bednar was formerly employed by the Blue Jackets organization and had been the head coach of the team’s AHL affiliate the last two seasons. But as Terry Frei of the Denver Post notes, Bednar was not the only candidate with Columbus ties that the Avalanche considered for their coaching vacancy. Frei points out that current Colorado assistant general manager, Chris MacFarland, formerly held the same position for Columbus. Part of his responsibility with the Blue Jackets was overseeing the team’s minor league organizations which would have put him in direct contact with Bednar. Additionally, the Avalanche interviewed Bob Boughner, who spent a single season as an assistant in Columbus while MacFarland was employed with the club. Scott Arniel, who was head coach in Columbus for a year-and-a-half, and current Blue Jackets assistant Brad Larsen were also both considered to some level for the job.
Snapshots: AHL Coaching Promotions, Price, Canadiens
The Toronto Sun’s Michael Traikos writes that the flow of coaches from the American Hockey League to the NHL continues steady. With the recent hire of Jared Bednar, Traikos reports that 23 coaches in the NHL have been a bench boss in the AHL at some point in their career. The wild success of Mike Sullivan, who was tapped by the Penguins mid-season from their own affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, seems to have once again made the AHL to NHL pipeline hot again. Traikos continues that teams are promoting coaches like they do players, investing heavily on both the ice and the bench. Jon Cooper, head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, is an example of that, as his guidance at both the AHL and NHL has paid dividends for the Bolts. Could Bednar’s success with the Monsters follow the pattern of Sullivan and Cooper?
In other NHL news:
- NBC Sports writes on the Canadiens today and includes a piece on Carey Price and what could happen should injury befall him again. Drawing upon the signing of Al Montoya, NBC’s James O’Brien isn’t so sure Montoya could handle the scrutiny that comes with being a netminder in Montreal. While writing that Montoya is an upgrade over Mike Condon, but adds that the Habs “live and die” by Price. Despite being a high pick in the 2004 (6th overall), Montoya has never risen to the level of being “the guy” and as O’Brien astutely points out, Montoya is a great pickup so long as he’s not relied upon in heavy doses. One another interesting point: will Marc Bergevin get a “Price pass,” should he go down again this season?
- In another Habs article on NBC, Joey Alfieri wonders where the Canadiens will finish this season. Noting the importance of having Price, Alfieri writes that the veteran goaltender has taken great lengths to improve his conditioning and diet. Montreal also added Shea Weber and Andrew Shaw, two critical pieces that should help a team decimated by Price’s injury last season. A healthy squad, with Price backstopping them, should help Montreal back to its winning ways.
Anaheim Ducks Sign Max Jones To ELC
Update (4:00pm): Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register fills in some of the financial details, via Twitter. The deal comes with an NHL salary of $925K and an annual AHL pay rate of $70K.
Cap Friendly adds that the pact contains no performance bonuses in any of the three years. The tweet suggests this is the first ELC in seven years signed by a player chosen 24th overall that did not include performance bonuses.
2:49pm: After drafting Max Jones 24th overall in the latest entry draft, the Anaheim Ducks have signed him to a three-year, entry-level contract. No financial details were released.
Jones, 18, played last season in London alongside fellow first-rounders Olli Juolevi and Matthew Tkachuk and was a finalist for the OHL Rookie of the Year award. His 52 points in 63 games ranked him second among league rookies and sixth on the Memorial Cup winning Knights.
While he is still extremely young, Jones has matured physically and stands at 6’3″ 205 lbs. He uses that long frame and size to remove defenders from the puck, but can get a little overzealous in the physical side of the game. His 106 penalty minutes ranked him second on his team and eighth in the entire league. That would seem to lend itself perfectly to Randy Carlyle and the type of hockey the Ducks play; they led the league in fighting last season and brought in Jared Boll this offseason.
While Jones may not have the offensive flourish of some of his first round contemporaries, he’s almost a lock to make it to the NHL in at least a bottom-six role. If his skating and creativity progress, he could find himself in a scoring power winger slot on an Anaheim team in the next few years.
Glen Miller also contributed to this post
Chayka Speaks About Lawson Crouse, Dawn Braid
Arizona Coyotes GM John Chayka joined Jeff Blair on Sportsnet 590 yesterday to talk about his coaching hires and the big trade from yesterday. The 27-year old hired three coaches including the NHL’s first full-time female coach, and dealt two draft picks for Dave Bolland and Lawson Crouse.
On why he decided to make the deal:
It’s about Lawson Crouse. It’s about a guy who we think is a rare asset. Usually when you acquire a power forward like this you’re giving up something in terms of speed or skill. We think that not only is he speedy and skilled, he’s going to enhance that for our group as well.
Usually these guys (power forwards) when they’re at the caliber Lawson is, they’re hard to find. Usually they don’t become available until they’re in their thirties. At that point you’re paying a premium for a guy who is not on the right side of his career, and we didn’t want to do that.
Avalanche Choose Bednar As New Head Coach
Colorado has named veteran minor league head coach Jared Bednar to replace Patrick Roy in the same capacity with the Avalanche. The timing of Roy’s resignation put the Avalanche in a bind as most organizations had already filled their coaching staffs – both at the NHL and minor league levels – and would understandably have been hesitant to potentially lose a quality coach to Colorado this late in the summer. Still, the Avalanche had several good candidates to choose from and clearly decided Bednar would be the best fit.
Bednar spent the last two seasons as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets AHL affiliates, winning the Calder Cup this year with the Lake Erie Monsters. He also served two years as head coach of the AHL’s Peoria Rivermen from 2010 – 2012. Overall, Bednar has 14 years of professional coaching experience.
This will be Bednar’s first NHL head coaching gig but he had already been identified as one of the top young up-and-comers in the industry. Columbus had rewarded Bednar for his work by giving the 44-year-old coach a two-year extension earlier this summer. Now they’ll have to replace the coach who so recently led their AHL team to a Calder Cup championship.
Other candidates linked to the opening and considered potential finalists along with Bednar were Washington assistant Lane Lambert and Blackhawks assistant Kevin Dineen.
Avalanche executive vice president and general manager, Joe Sakic, had this to say about the hiring of Bednar:
“After profiling the type of coach I wanted for our team and going through an interview process with several good candidates, I believe that Jared Bednar is the best person to lead this team behind the bench. Jared’s track record of success as a head coach in the American Hockey League speaks for itself and he is considered to be one of the top up-and-coming coaches in our business.”
Roy would spend three years as head coach of the Avalanche and won the league’s Jack Adams award for top coach following his first season with the club after leading the team to a 52 – 22 – 8 record. Colorado would make the playoffs that year, losing in the first round, but it would be the only postseason appearance with Roy at the helm. The Avalanche would post a 78 – 70 – 16 record over the last two seasons. Roy, who also served as a VP of hockey operations, evidently left the team due to philosophical differences with the front office.
Mike Chambers of the Denver Post reports that Bednar received a three year contract. Financial terms have not been disclosed.
Coyotes Add Three To Coaching Staff
Arizona Coyotes GM John Chayka, via a release on the team’s website, today announced the team has hired Mike Van Ryn, Steve Potvin and Dawn Braid to the club’s coaching staff.
Van Ryn, a former NHL defenseman who skated with Florida, St. Louis and Toronto during an eight-year career, will become the team’s player development coach. According to the team’s post, he will assist Steve Sullivan, the club’s director of player development, “in amateur player development as well as in working with coaches and players in Tucson (AHL) during the season.” Van Ryn was most recently the head coach of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers.
Potvin joins the team as the skills coach. His responsibilities, again via the team’s website, will include, “player assessment and individual skill improvement.” Potvin enjoyed a lengthy playing career which included 10 seasons appearing in top European professional leagues and 158 AHL games.
Ordinarily a team fleshing out its coaching ranks wouldn’t be of particular note but the addition of Braid makes her the league’s only full-time female assistant coach. Braid is set to become the Coyotes skating coach after filling the same role on a part-time basis in 2015. Prior to that she has served as a skating consultant with the Toronto, Anaheim, Calgary and Buffalo organizations.
Portzline’s Latest: Columbus Coaches, Dubois, PTOs
Among one of the best at hiding interesting nuggets of information in his columns, Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch has released his latest Truths & Tidbits piece. In it, he goes through a bunch of smaller stories on the Columbus Blue Jackets as the season creeps closer. It’s worth a closer read, but here are the highlights:
- With the Colorado coaching vacancy still unfilled, the Avalanche seem to be targeting current and former Jackets coaches. Kevin Dineen, Bob Boughner, Jared Bednar have all been linked to the opening and have ties to the Columbus organization. Portzline posits that Av’s AGM Chris McFarland might have something to do with it, as he formerly held the same position with Columbus.
- The bulk of the post is dedicated to looking back at former drafts, and seeing if the Blue Jackets’ decision to draft Pierre-Luc Dubois third overall instead of Jesse Puljujarvi, the expected pick, was justified. The most interesting tidbit out of this is that back in 2005 Columbus actually had Anze Kopitar ranked as their #3 prospect, ahead of their eventual selection Gilbert Brule (who they had ranked in the 6-8 range). The Jackets would go with Brule at #6 instead of Kopitar (who dropped to the Kings at #11) because of the view that the Slovenian was a less conventional pick. “I’m not drafting a kid who pushes rocks up a mountain and jumps over milk crates and calls it training” is a quote from Doug MacLean, then-GM of the Jackets on why he passed on Kopitar. Brule had just 95 points in his NHL career before heading to the KHL, while Kopitar has collected 684 across his 764 career games, while widely being thought of as one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL.
- Portzline also mentions that the Blue Jackets are not expected to extend any PTOs to camp this fall. “We’re pretty full already” says GM Jarmo Kekalainen. Keep up with who has been given tryouts around the league here, with our PTO tracker.
Latest On Avalanche Coaching Search
After the unexpected departure of Patrick Roy earlier this month, the Avalanche have been scrambling to try and find a head coach prior to the beginning of training camp. While Joe Sakic has previously said that the current assistants are not options, many have speculated on other names around the league. As Terry Frei of the Denver Post reports, the Avalanche are considering two more well known names in Bob Boughner and Kevin Dineen.
Boughner finished his 10-year NHL career in Colorado, playing 41 games for the club in 2005-2006. Immediately afterwards he was given the head coaching job with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, and quickly turned around a struggling franchise. The team won two championships under his leadership, in just his third and fourth years coaching. Boughner spent last season on the bench with the San Jose Sharks, and has always been considered a strong leader. During the 2004-05 lockout, Boughner was selected to serve as NHLPA vice-president by his peers and is seen as a natural fit on the bench.
A little more experience comes in the form of Dineen, who previously held the head coaching job with the Florida Panthers and Portland Pirates of the AHL. Dineen is currently an assistant for the Chicago Blackhawks, and is a “major candidate” according to Frei.
The other name that Frei mentions, is that of Jared Bednar. We already heard the name of the Cleveland Monsters’ head coach in relation to the opening. Bednar led the Monsters to the Calder Cup last season, and has yet to crack an NHL coaching staff.
Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch also chimes in on the search, telling us that Scott Arniel, a former Blue Jackets head coach and current assistant with the New York Rangers has not been granted an interview and thus is not a candidate for the opening. It’s going to be a tough process for the Avalanche, as most of the experienced candidates have already found positions with other clubs.
Atlantic Division Snapshots: Radulov, Holland, Larkin, Kempfer
One of the summer’s more interesting free agent signings, winger Alexander Radulov, met for the first time with the Montreal media and Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette transcribed the event. It’s worth a read in full but here are some of the highlights.
- Radulov talked about how “things change,” as you grow older, implying he feels is a more mature player than the one who left Nashville. Of course Radulov, along with then teammate Andrei Kostitsyn, is notoriously remembered for missing curfew the night before a playoff game in Nashville’s second round series against the Coyotes in 2012. After the Predators were eliminated, Radulov left the NHL to return to the KHL.
- He addressed where he might fit into the Canadiens lineup and gave an answer typical of a player by deferring to his coaches.
- Even though Radulov had other options, Florida and Detroit were both rumored to be interested in the skilled winger, his experience as a junior player in Quebec led to him choosing to sign with Montreal.
“We played and we won the Memorial Cup. It was a lot of fun and I saw those fans when they were the happiest people in the world. What can be better than when you make people, fans happy, and that’s the best time.”
Radulov has the skill to be one of the elite offensive wingers in the game and ordinarily securing a player of his ability to a one-year deal worth $5MM would be considered an absolute steal. But given his baggage, no team wanted to go beyond a one year commitment in case it doesn’t work out. Montreal made a similar addition in the summer of 2015 when they signed Alexander Semin to a cheap contract, one which didn’t work out. It’s possible the Radulov signing won’t work out either but it’s a good gamble to take for Montreal given their need for more offensive firepower.
More from the Atlantic Division…..
- Ansar Khan of MLive opened up his mailbag and answered an array of reader questions. Of particular note was the sense of frustration fans are feeling about longtime GM Ken Holland. Not only is Detroit not considered serious Stanley Cup contenders at this point, there is also the impression that some of Holland’s recent re-signings for veteran Red Wing players will serve to hamstring the club’s salary cap situation in future seasons. Again, there’s plenty of insight in the post so feel free to give it a read in its entirety.
- Writing for the Sun Sentinel, Harvey Fialkov discusses the upcoming battle veteran defenseman Steve Kampfer faces to make the Florida roster despite coming off a career-best season with the Panthers. Kampfer appeared in 47 games in 2015-16 and told Fialkov that if not for a late-season injury he would have been in the lineup during the playoffs. Florida made several notable additions to their blue line this summer, bringing in Keith Yandle, Jason Demers and Mark Pysyk to add skill and puck-handling ability to the defense corps. Joining the new trio is young superstar Aaron Ekblad. Jakub Kindl and Alex Petrovic round out the top six on the team’s depth chart. Kampfer is going to face an uphill battle to earn playing time but it’s a battle the veteran depth defender is fairly accustomed to.