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Game #3 – Leafs vs. Hawks Douchebag Du Jour: Kyle Dubas Is Basically Canadian Lindsey Graham

By Sam Fels 3343 0

It didn’t take much this summer for the hockey media to become completely agog that new GM Kyle Dubas was able to do, stick with me here, MATH to find a way to fit John Tavares into the Maple Leafs’ salary cap. That he was able to use the considerable wealth of the Leafs–y’know, the one in the biggest hockey market there is–to push a good portion into signing bonus and drop the cap hit to a more manageable $11 million per year, when Tavares could have taken up more space. It hasn’t helped them sign Michael Nylander yet, but clearly he’s just a greedy European who hates Canada and hockey and really society altogether, if the Toronto media is to be believed.

Normally, and we’ve said this before, we would want someone like Dubas to succeed. The NHL needs more minds from a different place than “played the game.” It needs more and better ideas than “hard to play against.” It needs to catch up in how the game is analyzed and how teams are built, and if you need more of a clue as to why, then check out Dubas’s predecessor immediately taking the trash off Dubas’s hands with Lou Lamiorello acquiring Matt Martin and Leo Komarov for the Islanders.

Though Dubas has been with the Leafs for a few seasons now, this is the first time he’s had any influence over their decisions. Make no mistake, he was kept in a dark room with a tennis ball to entertain himself while Lou made the calls. Which is how you end up with Martin and Komarov in the first place. And Roman Polak continually being a pothole on the defense.

But we’ll never get past Dubas’s history with the Soo Greyhounds, and his simply abhorrent and disgusting handling of rape charges against three of his players (one of which was Nick Cousins). Moreover, he’s never been asked about this by the very grunt-y Toronto media, who assuredly would rather stick their head in the sand than have to talk about anything other than why this is the year that Freddy Andersen finally gets it, only to toss him in front of several buses when he pukes it up again.

A refresher: when three of Dubas’s players were charged with rape, they were put kept away from training camp for “… attending a “confidential behavioural wellness program” because they need help dealing “with the stress associated with the charges,” according to Greyhounds GM Kyle Dubas. Despite the severity of the charges, the team has not suspended them.

Another choice quote: “We just wanted to handle things the best we could. We supported the players as best we could with what they needed off the ice.”

Want another?

“The people running the (confidential) program are going to give us the nod of approval when they feel all three young men are ready to be reintegrated back into the team,” said Dubas on Sept. 4. “They’ll give us the approval on it when they believe the boys are ready… Hockey is not the priority for them right now.”

Let’s cap it off: “The scars remain for all of the people involved. But unfortunately there’s nothing we can do about that.”

No, there is something Dubas could do, and that’s at some point, any point, to admit he got this one wrong. Let’s even back up from that. Someone, ANYONE, could ask him about it what with the changes we’ve seen in our culture in just the past year.

Would he put the players’ “stress” at the top of his priorities again? Would he make their “pain” out to be just as bad as the alleged victim’s?

Don’t worry, no one’s ever going to ask. And until someone does, and until he answers, Dubas is part of hockey’s ongoing and simply unacceptable problem with sexual assault.

Game #3 Preview Suite

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Game #2 – Hawks vs. Blues Spotlight: Yours Truly, Some Bozak

By Sam Fels 1711 0

There is some metaphor or symbolism or word we use a lot that we don’t really know the meaning of in the signing of Tyler Bozak by the Blues from the Maple Leafs being immediately overshadowed by the acquisition of Ryan O’Reilly. Because Bozak has always been his best when concealed by others.

Bozak took a lot of shit in Toronto before the arrival of Auston Matthews (known as 1 A.A. in Ontario). He was Phil Kessel‘s running buddy, and seeing as how Kessel was reviled by Leafs fans for scoring a lot of goals, being American, and calling the press out on their bullshit, Bozak suffered some of the blowback from that.

Bozak was never a #1 center. It wasn’t his fault that the Leafs failed to produce another in his time there until Matthews. But there is a lot of media in T.O., and just about all of it wanted to score points by pointing out the obvious, that Bozak wasn’t a #1 center. And the more people say it, the more people believe that he was supposed to be. And then it looks like something was wrong with him, instead of the organization that didn’t equip itself properly to get him slotted correctly.

There was nothing about Bozak’s pedigree that suggested he should be even a #2 center in the league. He wasn’t drafted. He was in the Canadian college system, which is a bad place to be, hockey-wise. He had two middling years at Denver University. But because they have to talk about something in Toronto 24/7, calling him out filled the dead air.

When Matthews arrived, suddenly Bozak had the shelter he needed. It also helped that Nazem Kadri turned into one of the more effective and obstreperous checking centers in the game. Before all that, Bozak routinely started over half his shifts in the defensive zone. The past two seasons in Toronto that number dropped to 47% and then 42%. More importantly, his quality of competition dropped as well. Bozak saw less time on the ice, but he scored more, or at more of a rate, that is. Two years ago, his 55 points were a career-high. He backed that up with 43 points last year.

Bozak’s relative-Corsi to the rest of the Leafs was the highest of his career last year at +4.5%. But Bozak has always been a good to very good possession player, being positive in relative terms five of the past six seasons.

So now he’s in St. Louis, and it looks another sweetheart situation for him. Brayden Schenn does the top-line anchoring. Ryan O’Reilly is around to do the mine-sweeping of the hardest competition, or so you would think. Bozak gets to clean up the rest, and he gets to do it with a lot less noise in the way as was the case in Hockey Capital.

And once again, the Blues signed him to a pretty reasonable deal. $5 million is a decent chunk of change, but hardly revolutionary, and it’s only for three years which will take Bozak to his 35th birthday. Makes you wonder why the Hawks were on the sidelines, and/or so clingy about Artem Anisimov.

The Blues went from having Kyle Brodziak drooling on the second line at times last year to perhaps the best center-depth in the division behind the Jets. It’s clearly a go-for-it-now shift in Missouri, as it probably should be. They’ve been hanging around for just about 10 years now, and really have only taken one glimpse at a conference final.

Funny what a sense of urgency can do, huh?

 

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Game #2 – Hawks vs. Blues Q&A: Some Ex-Roadie On The Side Of The Highway

By Sam Fels 1647 0

Chris Gift usually dances for nickels on the side of I-55, after a successful career as cod piece cleaner for various hair-metal bands in the 80’s. He also contributes to St. Louis Gametime. Or he used to We’re not sure and we’re definitely sure we don’t care. He’s at Twitter @ChrisGift.

Signing Tyler Bozak and trading for Ryan O’Reilly. What got up Doug Armstrong’s ass?

We’ve learned to have disdain for ownership groups, regardless of sport. Look at your group of owners in Chicago without the last name of Ricketts. Reinsdorf, Wirtz (ok, Rocky is much better than Bill was), McCaskey, and whoever owns the Fire probably aren’t the most popular folks in town, and with the ton of cash that each team makes, the amount of frugality that owners have is shocking at times.

Blues Chairman Tom Stillman isn’t like that. Since he took over for Dave Checketts in 2012, Stillman has been in on, or attempted to be as active as possible in making the team Cup contenders. His first acquisition was rolling the dice on pending UFA Jay Bouwmeester from Calgary and getting him to sign a deal before he hit the open market. Tthen there was acquiring Ryan Miller from Buffalo, and also getting Paul Stastny from Enos Kroenke’s Denver  Avlanches  – speaking of disdain for ownership groups.  The key sticking point of the O’Reilly deal was the $7.5 million roster bonus ROR was due on July 1st. To paraphrase Armstrong, he called Stillman, said he needed $7.5 million and before Armstrong could even get to the first word of the next sentence explaining it was for ROR, Stillman told him “no problem.” Stillman has deep pockets, and his minority  owners have deeper pockets.

Last year’s pfffft of a season, and the undefeated Father Time approaching on some of the core may have been the kick in the ass that did it for Armstrong and ownership. What really got us was the decision to finally cut bait with Patrik Berglund. More accurately, I think the surprise is that Army found a way for a team to take two God awful contracts (Vlad Sobotka’s contract blew as well as Berglund’s) and get more in return than the bag of pucks that we all anticipated.

Slowly but surely the team’s core has both aged and turned over. Berglund, TJ Oshie, David  Backes, Jerry Halak and Brian Elliott are all gone. Bouwmeester is 35. Alexander Steen is 34. Even some of the “younger” player are starting to get a tad longer in the tooth. Alex Pietrangelo is 28 already. Jaden Schwartz and Vlad Tarasenko are 26. There’s a window for winning with this team, not gaping because of the strength of Winnipeg and Nashville, but there’s definitely a window.

The O’Reilly rumors flew around all season last year, but not just in St. Louis. When the draft came and went, and there was no movement on the ROR front, we thought it was on life support at best. When Bozak and David Perron signed on July 1, and the sun set that night, we thought that was it. Then the “holy shit,” moment happened to see ROR coming to St. Louis. It went from a  plain “holy shit” comment to being capitalized, underscored, boldfaced and whatever the fuck else you do to show exhilaration and joy and when the news of Buffalo’s return on the trade included taking Berglund and Sobotka. It had to be a total Andy Dufresne celebrating freedom in raw sewage and a thunderstorm by escaping Shawshank for Armstrong. Tage Thompson is an above average prospect that needs to mature mentally and physically and eat a TON of wings from the Anchor Bar. The Blues were touting Thompson, Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas, and Klim Kostin as the organization’s four best prospects. To acquire talent, two shitty contracts and two draft picks wasn’t going to do it. One of the four had to go. Thompson was the only one with NHL experience. With first round pick Dominik Bokk, and Erick Foley (acquired for Stastny) being added to the prospect reservoir, it was adios Tage.

 

Why is Jake Allen still here and still starting?

Wait, you don’t call him Jay Gallon anymore?

If this was the olden days, and twitter was limited to 140 characters, the answer would be something like “Carter Hutton was too expensive. Ville Husso isn’t ready yet. Jordan Binnington isn’t good enough to play in the NHL, and warts and all, Jake isn’t awful.”

Allen has his flashes of total consciousness, but there are also times when he looks absolutely lost. Ken Hitchcock damn near ruined him with his mental games a few years ago and Marty Brodeur worked with him to get his shit straight.  Both of those guys are gone now, so Hitch can’t fuck him up any more and Brodeur can’t pull the insta-fix anymore (something tells me that in the goaltending brotherhood, that an off the record text message or tip from MB30 is never going to happen).

Counting OTLs as losses, he was 27-28 with a 2.75 GAA last year. Mike Yeo  had to go to the bullpen far too often. Granted the relief was damn good in Hutton,  and Chad Johnson is nowhere the backup that Hutton was. There will be nights this year when it is 10 minutes in and the team is down 3-0, and it’ll be Jake’s game, like it or not.

The Blues look a little short on the wings as far as scoring. Tell us why we’re wrong. Only about this and not life, please.

Writing this prior to the season opener against Winnipeg, all is wonderful. Tarasenko is going to score 40 by Christmas. Pat Maroon will put up video game numbers and be the toughest power forward  player this town has seen since Brendan Shanahan.

To use coach speak, the sum is probably greater than the whole of the parts. Bozak, Perron and ROR will make the power play better (it finished 29th a year ago).Having ROR, Brayden Schenn and Bozak in the middle on the top three lines is a scoring luxury. Plus, the fourth line isn’t going to be the typical  knuckle dragging Neanderthal,  an AHL player playing over his head,  and a Kyle Brodziak type grinder. Think youth and speed on the fourth line this year. The fourth line is scheduled to be  Ivan Barbashev, Thomas, and  Sammy Blais, to start the year. Two players coming off pretty serious injuries  hope to crack the top 12 at some point this season if healthy. Acquired from Washington for Kevin Shattenkirk,  shoulder surgery kept Zach Sanford  out of everything but the first shift of the first day of training camp in the fall of 2017. And don’t forget  Robby Fabbri who managed have two ACL surgeries since just after the Winter Classic in 2017. Fabbri’s knees seem to be fine this camp, but he’s having a hard time with nagging injuries like hips and backs from getting back into hockey shape. Arrmstrong has mentioned November for Fabbri.  Both Sanford and Fabbri can play, and play really well if healthy. If healthy. If healthy .

There’s scuttlebutt that at some point this season, Steen may move to the fourth line if one of the aforementioned youngins’ makes strides to capture top-nine minutes. Steen on the PP, PK and fourth line may be just about right for this point of his career.

This is clearly a go-for-it year for the Blues. Can they really overcome the Preds or Jets?

Funny way of asking for a prediction. The offseason has been very optimistic around these parts, but the reality is that there was a ton of work to do before being able to be on par with the Preds or Jets. Have they done it? I’m not sure, but I’d like to think so. Seeing ROR for a season instead of twice a year will be nice, but he was a good player on a shitty team. Can he be a great player on a good team? Can Allen give a solid season without drama or injury or having will Yeo have to try  to make the best out of a few weeks of Chad Johnson?

The defense is awfully thin. Pietrangelo, Colton Parayko, Joel Edmundson and Robert Bortuzzo are all solid. How much does Bouwmeester have left? Can Vince Dunn have as good of a sophomore season as his freshman year? Is Carl Gunnarson going to be healthy enough to not be a liability out there, or can Jordan Schmaltz mature into a top-six D this year. Chris Butler looked overmatched out there last season, and the team is damn near capped out, so making a big acquisition to help the defense will take some salary cap magic to work.

Worst case scenario, I can’t  see the Blues finishing in anything lower than third in the division. Even if they play great and finish second, they’ll still have to go through both the Jets and  Nashville to make it to the Conference Final. That’ll require a hell of a lot of good play and good fortune to beat both  of those teams in the playoffs.

My guess is they have a hell of a first round series that they might win. That series will probably tax them to the point that there’s nothing left against the other divisional heavyweight and they bow out in the second round.

Now with all that piss and vinegar of a prediction,  this edition of the Blues  has the most talent since the ’16 team that beat Chicago and Dallas before losing to San Jose in five games.. As unpredictable as hockey in general, and this league in particular can be, I don’t think  a Conference Final run or a Western Conference title is out of the question.

 

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Game #2 – Hawks vs. Blues Douchebag Du Jour: They’ll Never Learn

By Sam Fels 1799 0

You would think that if you brought David Perron back once, you would learn your lesson. But this is the Blues, this is St. Louis, and “learn” is a word akin to “fornicate” down there. So it’s a third time ’round the Imo’s for our intrepid “Belette de Quebec.”

Oh, we get it. On the surface, Perron looks like a good dash of support scoring. 46 points in his first return season on the wrong side of the river in ’16-’17, and then 66 points last year while partaking in the communal ass-inserted-horseshoe in Vegas. For $4 million a year, it almost seems a steal.

But everyone should know better by now. One, Perron isn’t going to do anything when it matters. He had 1 goal in 15 playoff games last year. Which is a touch better than his no goals in 11 playoff games with the Blues the year before. Or his three goals in 31 previous career playoff games before that. Because as everyone has learned, when the lights are brightest, the cockroaches scatter for the shadows.

And that’s what Perron is. He’s still a dirty shit, who’s going to take penalties that will leave fans and coaches alike with mouth agape and all sense of logic sounding alarms within. He never met a selfish, retaliatory penalty he wouldn’t take with glee, usually with two linesmen holding him and between him and whoever he’s punching in the back of the head. The last time he had less than 50 penalty minutes in a season was 2012, and that’s only because he was still recovering from a concussion suffered when running into Joe Thornton‘s beard.

And it’s not like he comes out ahead in the “pest” department. The most positive he’s been when weighing the penalties he takes over the ones he draws is four in a season. That’s four power plays for his team for 82, and that’s once. That’s the best he’s done. Why is that worth it? Why are these pests so valued if they hamstring you just as much as they give you an advantage? If you want an idea what a good number looks like, Connor McDavid led the league last year with a +21. Matthew Tkachuk, also something of a jackass like Perron, was at +17.

Perron only is making $4 million for the next four years, so it’s not a calamity of a deal. At least not yet. And on the third line with Tyler Bozak, he might even score a bit. If he does, the Blues are going to have three dangerous lines. If he’s intent on being a shithead, which is what happens in St. Louis, they’ll be the same Blues as always.

 

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Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight – October 5th

By Sam Fels 1159 0

First Screen Viewing

Jets vs. Blues – 7pm

It’s the big curtain-raiser tonight, as most teams get on the ice for the first time. That includes the Central’s aristocracy and the team that’s been banging on the windows wondering why the buzzer won’t work. That’s the Blues, who have anted up with Ryan O’Reilly and Tyler Bozak to try and haul in the Jets and Predators. The Jets roll the same crew back that got to the conference final, and are the favorite to do so again out of the Central. Don’t worry, it’s not like Blues fans to overreact to what happens in the first game.

Second Screen Viewing

Flyers vs. Knights – 9pm

No, they’re not bringing Gritty to Vegas. Yes, they should. The Knights will be showing off their new toys in Paul Stastny and Max Pacioretty. The Flyers will have JVR in tow again. Neither team will have a blue line. Should be good stuff.

Other Games

Bruins vs. Sabres – 6pm

Capitals vs. Penguins – 6pm

Islanders vs. Hurricanes – 6pm

Predators vs. Rangers – 6:30

Blue Jackets vs. Red Wings – 6:30

Coyotes vs. Stars – 7:30

Wild vs. Avalanche – 8pm

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Game #1 – Hawks vs. Senators Preview: Unto The Breach

By Sam Fels 1924 0

 vs.   

PUCK DROP: 6:30pm Central

TV: WGN

S-E-N SPELLS SEN: Silver Seven Sens

Whether you like it or not, the Hawks will kick off their season tonight. For better or worse…and it’s worse. It’s already worse, as #3 goalie Anton Forsberg–who would have backed up Cam Ward tonight and probably had a decent shot of usurping him to get some starts before Crawford returns–went TWANG! at the morning skate and now Collin Delia is currently on his way to Ottawa. That’s how you kick this pig!

There’s really no way to mask this anymore: The Hawks lineup sucks. The top-six you could make a case for, and I’ll admit to being awfully interested in seeing what Alex DeBrincat can do with Jonathan Toews, and what this Brandon Saad – Nick Schmaltz – Patrick Kane line can do. That could be fun! Maybe Dominik Kahun is more than just a German Tony Salmaleinen? We’ll find out. Toes has needed a playmaker for a while now and we know Top Cat can do that. If Kahun is anything, and that’s a pothole-filling “if,” that line could surprise. Saad and Kane have torn a hole in the Earth together before, but that was a long time ago now. But hey, I love things that are old. Except myself.

But after that? You would read the names of these two lines to a misbehaving kid to punish him. “If you don’t start paying attention in physics I’m going to list out the Hawks’ bottom six repeatedly!”

“NO! NO! I promise I will! I love Newton’s third law! I’m totally gonna opposite reaction in this bitch!”

Artem Anisimov and Chris Kunitz on the third line is aching to be scorched. But then again anytime Arty is on a line that doesn’t include Patrick Kane it’s the same story. For some reason Marcus Kruger has moved to a wing to accommodate Luke Johnson. Q is moving a favorite toy so make way for SuckBag Johnson. Let’s all think about that for a minute and then die. David Kampf and John Hayden are here because the rules state someone has to. This is the second straight season that Hayden has “looked great in camp,” so his seven goals on the year will be even more special this time around.

As for the blue line…I mean do you want us to? Fine. Duncan Keith and Henri Jokiharju are the top-pairing. It really could be anything. The fading star and the possibly-overmatched-but-exciting kid. Keith has never been apt to be the more conservative partner in a pairing, and I’m not sure he has to be here. Maybe let both of them do their thing and just see what the hell happens. What do you have to lose? We’ll see how Keith takes to it but it would be a first if he were to rein his game in to let someone else be the aggressor. But hey, stranger things have happened…is what I’m contractually obligated to say here.

Beyond that…well, Erik Gustafsson and Brent Seabrook are the second-pairing. If this was Seabrook five years ago, you’d be about that. But now he can’t cover for Cowboy Goose and Seabs himself has some cowboy leanings that his sloth-like foot-speed hasn’t dissuaded him from. Goose showed something toward the end of last season, and of course he has the lucky charm of the “Fels Motherfuck” (TM) which should carry him to a Norris, obvi. Still, the Hawks haven’t given up on him even though he’s 26 now and we’ve seen them discard a host of prospects before reaching that age so they must think there can be a middle-pairing puck-mover in there somewhere.

As for the third pairing…

Luckily, the Senators are not a team that’s going to make anyone pay for their various roster misdeeds. Anyone who’s worth anything is either a neophyte (Brady Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot), or a veteran who is simply waiting for his cell to ring to tell him he’s been released from this hockey malebolge (Matt Duchene, Mark Stone). Put it this way: Zack Smith was on waivers two weeks ago and is now the #2 center. That’s a life lesson right there, mister man.

Clearly, it’s going to be a long damn season in Ottawa, which just about no one is going to notice in retaliation against the owner/avoiding the trip to Purgatory-In-Reality Kanata. And the hockey will be even more boring as Guy Boucher is only going to be more convinced to trap even more given the talent discrepancy he’ll face on most nights. Most Senators games are going to look like what Steelers-Ravens games will look like in three years. You’ve had booster shots you enjoyed more.

The Senators will hope to get a promising season out of Thomas Chabot, a step from Ryan Dzingel (LOCAL GUY), and basically hope a couple other veterans can spasm a few goals to be trade bait at the deadline. But hey, they’re one of the few teams to figure out that you have to bottom out on purpose to get back up the mountain.

So I suppose it’s the perfect starting point for the Hawks. They can rack up a win and at least feel like maybe they could start to build some momentum before some very tough games this weekend. If the Hawks were to start 0-3, and you never know, then they’ll already be feeling like they’re fucked without any of the usual fun and Joel Quenneville will be facing questions about his job before he’s even through a week. Let’s try and put that off as long as we can, even though we know it’s coming.

 

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