NHL Week in Review (June 16-22)

Posted by thesportsjunky on June 23, 2013 · 1 Comment 

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The NHL season is a little stranger than usual with such a compressed time frame to get everything done. This is being seen this year as the Stanley Cup Finals are still going on and every other team is in offseason mode. Along with talk about a great series between Chicago and Boston the news continues to flow in from the other teams are the league. There are new jersey announcements in Carolina and new logos revealed in Dallas and new contracts signed. Players like Evgeni Malkin, Colton Orr, Pavel Datsyuk, and Raffi Torres have all signed extensions to stay with their team before the free agent period begins. The usual patterns of an NHL offseason are all moving along as usual except this time they are all happening in the midst of the Stanley Cup Finals. This includes the coaching carousel that was in full swing this week as teams began filling their spots before the official offseason begins on July 5^th. Every year there are plenty of teams looking for a new direction and so they fire their management or head coach. The coach takes a lot of the blame for bad performances and many times it is simply that the team needs a change to try to get out of the rut that they are in. It would happen once again this year as the New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks, Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, and Edmonton Oilers would all look for new coaches this year. Many of these coaches would be dropped into the pool of potential candidates for other jobs as many were good enough to get a second shot. The Colorado Avalanche would be the first team to fill their vacant spot with former goaltender Patrick Roy taking the vacant spot for his first job in the NHL after coaching the Quebec Remparts in the QMJHL for the past five years. The Edmonton Oilers would find their man only a few weeks ago when they would name former Toronto Marlies Coach Dallas Eakins a chance to coach an NHL team after spending years developing talent for the Toronto Maple Leafs. This week the hirings would pick up as a number of teams would announce their new head coaches who they all hope will be what they need to reach the Stanley Cup. For the Dallas Stars it would be Lindy Ruff who was fired midseason by the Buffalo Sabres and spent part of his time off coaching Team Canada in the World Championships. For the Stars the coach fits as they are an older team that needs a coach as experienced and respected as Ruff to help lead them back to the playoffs. In New York the Rangers were also looking to move on from the John Tortorella era as he had reportedly lost the locker room. They would go to a recently fired Alain Vigneault to try to bring a new attitude to the team. Vigneault has experience with a veteran team and the Rangers are not far off from being a Stanley Cup team if they can put things together. Vigneault took the Canucks to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011 and he is looking to do the same with a lighter attitude than his predecessor. There is one more open spot that has yet to be filled but may be gone sooner rather than later. The Vancouver Canucks have yet to announce who will be filling their vacant head coaching job but rumours are swirling that it will be John Tortorella. It could be a good hire as Tortorella has a reputation of being a very good head coach for a short period of time. For the Canucks there is only a few years left for them to be one of the top teams and hiring Tortorella could be a hired gun for the remaining years hoping he can push them to a Stanley Cup before it’s too late. The coaching carousel picked up this week but is about finished with only one team left without a head coach officially. As teams get everything they need ready the draft is approaching fast and free agency will follow shortly after as only two months stand between the end of the Stanley Cup Finals and the beginning of Rookie Camp in September making this upcoming offseaosns one of the tightest in recent memory.

 

Overtime:
(Thoughts on the past week in the NHL)

The Drama in the Desert
The Phoenix Coyotes will never be out of the headlines as recent reports have them moving to Seattle and others have them staying in Phoenix with the ownership still trying to work out a deal with the city before any decision is made

Saddledome under water
Massive flooding in Alberta has put Calgary in serious danger with massive evacuations and damage throughout the city including the Scotiabank Saddledome that had water up into the tenth row

Hot Goalie on the Market
With the offseason in full swing already many teams are looking for a goalie and Jonathan Bernier has been the popular choice with the Los Angeles Kings fielding multiple offers to trade the backup goalie

Philly Rebuild
The Philadelphia Flyers would trade for the rights to sign Mark Streit but to be able to sign him the Flyers need to drop a lot of salary and it seems like they made their decision with the management looking to buyout Daniel Briere and Ilya Bryzgalov

 

Stanley Cup Final:

Chicago Blackhawks 3 – 2 Boston Bruins
Game 1: Chi 4 – 3 Bos (3OT)
Game 2: Bos 2 – 1 Chi (OT)
Game 3: Bos 2 – 0 Chi
Game 4: Chi 6 – 5 Bos (OT)
Game 5: Chi 3 – 1 Bos
Game 6: Chi @ Bos (Monday June 24^th; 8:00 pm ET)
Game 7: Bos @ Chi (Wednesday June 26^th; 8:00 pm ET)

Filed under Hockey · Tagged with Alain Vigneault, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Eakins, Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers, Hockey, John Tortorella, Lindy Ruff, New York Rangers, NHL, NHL Coaching, NHL coaching positions, NHL Offseason, Patrick Roy, Vancouver Canucks