NHL
STORY LINES FOR 2006-07
NEW FACES IN NEW PLACES: D Chris
Pronger in Anaheim . . . G Roberto Luongo in
Vancouver . . . D Ed Jovanovski in Phoenix .
. . D Zdeno Chara in Boston . . . C Doug Weight
and RW Bill Guerin in St. Louis . . . C Jason
Arnott in Nashville . . . G Dan Cloutier and
D Rob Blake in Los Angeles . . . G Marc Denis
in Tampa Bay . . . G Ed Belfour in Florida.
REBIRTH OF THE BLUES: With new
ownership of Dave Checketts, new management
in broadcaster-turned-president John Davidson,
there is new optimism in St. Louis after a season
of disappointment.
MINNESOTA GOES WILD: After making
the playoffs just once in their first five NHL
seasons, the Minnesota Wild had a very aggressive
summer. They turned over nearly half of their
2005-06 roster, obtained LW Pavol Demitra to
team up with friend and fellow Slovak, star
RW Marian Gaborik, added firepower with LW Mark
Parrish and a puck-moving defenseman in Kim
Johnsson.
NEW COACHES FOR EIGHT TEAMS:
Dave Lewis (Boston), Ted Nolan (Islanders),
Marc Crawford (Los Angeles), Alain Vigneault
(Vancouver), Claude Julien (New Jersey), Paul
Maurice (Toronto), Guy Carbonneau (Montreal),
Jim Playfair (Calgary).
MORE ON COACH CLASS: Paul Maurice
of the Toronto Maple Leafs is the League’s youngest
coach. Born Jan. 30, 1967, Maurice is 16 months
younger than the next-youngest, Chicago’s Trent
Yawney (born Sept. 29, 1965) . . . Lindy Ruff
of the Buffalo Sabres enters the 2006-07 season
as the head coach with the longest tenure in
his current job. Ruff was hired July 21, 1997,
and his first game was Oct. 1, 1997 . . . Honors
for overall NHL coaching tenure goes to Ottawa’s
Bryan Murray, who has coached the most games
of any current NHL head coach (1,139).
NEW GENERAL MANAGERS FOR SIX
TEAMS: Garth Snow (Islanders), Peter Chiarelli
(Boston), Dean Lombardi (Los Angeles), Ray Shero
(Pittsburgh), Francois Giguere (Colorado), Jacques
Martin (Panthers).
BORN IN THE USA: Aside from
being the grandson of Montreal Canadiens great
Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion and the great-grandson
of Canadiens great Howie Morenz, Blake Geoffrion
has an intriguing claim to fame: He was one
of three players from non-traditional hockey
markets to be drafted or signed by his hometown
NHL team. Blake, a product of Nashville Youth
Hockey, was drafted by the Predators. Free agent
Gabe Gauthier, a native of Buena Park, Calif.,
was signed by the Los Angeles Kings. Goalie
Dave Caruso became the first player from the
Atlanta Youth Program to sign with the Thrashers
(who also signed a Los Angeles native, LW Brett
Sterling).
ROY-ALTY IN THE HALL: Goaltending
legend Patrick Roy and late coaching legend
Herb Brooks lead a distinguished cast of honorees
into the Hall of Fame Nov. 13. Also to be enshrined:
Calgary Flames governor and NHL Board Chairman
Harley Hotchkiss, veteran Toronto Maple Leafs
and Montreal Canadiens forward Dick Duff.
CAN THE CANES REPEAT?: The NHL has not had a
repeat champion since the Detroit Red Wings
won in 1997 and 1998. Will the Carolina Hurricanes
snap that streak?
ENCORE! ENCORE!: Washington’s
Alexander Ovechkin won the Calder Trophy as
the NHL’s top rookie with a highlight-reel season
and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby was no slouch
in his own right. Can these two Super Sophs
top their first-year outputs and lead their
teams into the Stanley Cup playoffs? . . . D
Rob Blake returns to Los Angeles after a side
trip to Colorado with the Avalanche . . . RW
Mark Recchi begins his third stint in Pittsburgh
and G Dominik Hasek begins his third in Detroit.
. . . C Greg Johnson, who was with Detroit from
1993-94 to 1996-97) starts his second tenure
with the Red Wings. . . . C Jeremy Roenick,
an original member of the Phoenix Coyotes (1996-2001),
returns to Arizona. . . C Doug Weight rejoins
the Blues, who traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes
in January.
REUNITED: Boston D Zdeno Chara
and GM Peter Chiarelli worked together in Ottawa
. . . Los Angeles G Dan Cloutier and coach Marc
Crawford worked together in Vancouver . . .
Calgary LW Jeff Friesen and GM Darryl Sutter
worked together in San Jose . . . Tampa Bay
G Marc Denis and GM Jay Feaster worked together
at Hershey of the AHL in 1997-98 . . . Vancouver
goalies Roberto Luongo and Wade Flaherty are
together for the third time; they played together
on the Islanders in 1999-2000 and on the Florida
Panthers in 2001-02. . . New Jersey D Colin
White was coached by current coach Claude Julien
at Hull of the QMJHL . . . D David Tanabe returns
to the Carolina Hurricanes, who drafted him
16th overall in 1999 . . . Blues President John
Davidson and goalie coach Rick Wamsley once
were Blues teammates . . . Ottawa G Martin Gerber
was signed to his first pro contract by Senators
coach Bryan Murray, who was GM of Anaheim at
the time (2002).
WHAT A FRESHMAN CLASS!: Eye-catching
Calder-eligibles: LW Dustin Penner (Anaheim)
. . . C Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh) . . . RW
Alexander Radulov (Nashville) . . . C Gilbert
Brule (Columbus) . . . C Patrick O’Sullivan
(Los Angeles) . . . C Phil Kessel (Boston) .
. . LW Wojtek Wolski (Avalanche) . . . C Jiri
Hudler (Detroit) . . . D Matt Carle (San Jose).
REFRESHER COURSE FROM 2005-06:
Since 1996-97, only Pavel Bure – with 58 goals
in 1999-2000 and 59 in 2000-2001 – scored more
goals than the 56 by San Jose’s Jonathan Cheechoo
last season . . . The 96 assists by San Jose’s
Joe Thornton was the largest such total of the
past 10 seasons . . . Washington’s Alexander
Ovechkin set a rookie record with 425 shots
on goal, while the Rangers’ Jaromir Jagr had
368 shots, Florida’s Olli Jokinen had 351 and
Atlanta’s Marian Hossa had 341. The last time
the NHL had as many as four players with more
than 340 shots? In 1995-96, when Jagr, then
with Pittsburgh, led the League with 403, followed
by Boston’s Ray Bourque (390), Calgary’s Theo
Fleury (353) and Paul Kariya, then with Anaheim,
at 349.
DEVIL OF A GOALIE: New Jersey
standout Martin Brodeur has recorded at least
10 straight seasons of 35 or more victories,
extending his own record, and has played at
least 67 games in each of the past 10 seasons
. . . A member of the NHL Competition Committee,
Brodeur also is just one victory away from matching
Terry Sawchuk’s 447 for the third-highest victory
total in League history (behind the 457 of Ed
Belfour and the record 551 of Patrick Roy).
TENURED VETERANS: With the retirement of Steve
Yzerman, here are the five players who have
spent their entire careers with one franchise:
Joe Sakic (17 seasons, Quebec/Colorado) . .
. Mike Modano (16 seasons, Minnesota/Dallas)
. . . Olaf Kolzig (14 seasons, Washington) .
. . Nicklas Lidstrom (14 seasons, Detroit) .
. . Martin Brodeur (13 seasons, New Jersey).
TO THE RAFTERS: Two jersey retirements
are scheduled for January. The Red Wings raise
Steve Yzerman’s #19 to the ceiling of Joe Louis
Arena on Jan. 2, 2007, and the Los Angeles Kings
hoist Luc Robitaille’s #20 at STAPLES Center
Jan. 20 . . . Although the numbers are not being
retired, banners honoring the contributions
of Maple Leafs greats ‘Red’ Kelly (#4), ‘Hap’
Day (#4) and Borje Salming (#21) will be raised
to the girders at Air Canada Centre on Oct.
4.
TOO, TOO FUNNY: With the departure
of Greg Johnson, Nashville’s Jordin Tootoo switched
from #55 to #22 (two-two).
WHY WAIT?: Fans of these long-standing
rivalries won’t have to wait long for a resumption
of drama. Some prime examples: The Calgary Flames
open the season with two games against their
“Battle of Alberta” rivals, the Edmonton Oilers
. . . The Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings
face off in the respective clubs’ season openers
. . . The Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple
Leafs open the season with a home-and-home love-in
. . . The Philadelphia Flyers open against their
cross-state rivals from Pittsburgh . . . The
defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes
open their season with games against the Buffalo
Sabres and New Jersey Devils, two of their 2006
playoff victims.
SPREAD THE WORD: The standard
of enforcement implemented by the NHL last season
was met with such acclaim that it was adapted
for full-time use by the International Ice Hockey
Federation, USA Hockey, Hockey Canada. Canada’s
Western Hockey League is implementing the standard
for 2006-07, joining the Ontario Hockey League
and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, which
implemented for 2005-06.
THE EYES OF HOCKEY ARE ON TEXAS:
The League’s first All-Star Game in three years
returns to the mid-week format in one of the
true hockey hotbeds. There are more pro teams,
more rinks being built and more amateur teams
being registered in Texas than almost anywhere
in North America.
A UNIFORM LOOK AT THE FUTURE:
The long-awaited, re-designed NHL uniforms will
be showcased when the Eastern Conference plays
the West in the 55th All-Star game.
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