#tocchet: i’m joking

[atwhughesversion]

“you guys are obsessed with petey, yeah? it’s ‘petey, petey, petey,’ every game…i love you guys, but it gets old — every time, ‘petey, petey,’” 😭😭😭 get ‘em again for me tocchet

[rinkrats]

anyway i’m not over this article so here are some things that made me :’)

1. ...this lanky Russian star from a small, industrial town sat with his left shoulder pressed against the right shoulder of the face of hockey, this sturdy son of a Canadian harbor town. They came from wildly different backgrounds but, at this very moment, were a singular force. In many ways, this is how it should’ve been after a decade together. Two generational players, gifted to the Penguins one year apart, primed to leave an indelible mark on hockey’s biggest stage.

2. “Sometimes stars aren’t close,” says Rick Tocchet, their former assistant coach. “But those two, you know, it made things easier because of how close they are. You don’t see that every day.”

3. While Malkin’s English was limited, his mutual understanding of Crosby — on and off the ice — was pure instinct from their first days together.

“We’ve been together for a really long time now,” Crosby said. “Now that I think about it, it’s hard to believe how long it’s been. And to be honest, we became friends at the very beginning and it’s just always been that way. His English wasn’t so great at first, but we just always understood each other from the beginning.”

“I like to think I can relate to the pressure that he deals with and the expectations that come with all of that pressure. We were both high draft picks and expected to do a lot of big things when we entered the league. You are happy and excited to be drafted that high, for sure. But at the same time, there is a different kind of pressure there. Geno and I have talked about it before and I think we just always have kind of had a sense for one another, when we’re up, when we’re down, what we’re dealing with.”

4. Having failed to bring the Penguins back to a Stanley Cup Final after playing in two during their first three seasons together, Crosby and Malkin each sensed their partnership could be the next casualty for continued postseason failures.“I of course worry because GM, coach and Nealer are gone,” Malkin said three years later. “Is not mad, but worry that maybe they say Sid and I can’t play together too. We have to win again, of course. To stay together, we have to win again.

“I tell Sid we have to win again because I always want to play with you.”

5. During his rookie season, Malkin often caught himself transfixed on a framed photograph that hung above an entranceway separating the home dressing room and player’s lounge at the old Civic Arena. The framed photograph showed Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr each gripping a side of the Cup that the Penguins won in 1991 and in 1992. On the day before Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final in Detroit, Malkin was one of the last players to leave Civic Arena. Before he departed for the airport, he took one last look at that framed photo and told a reporter, “I want one of me and Sid.”

In the euphoric chaos of the on-ice celebration in Detroit the next night, Malkin and Crosby never managed to get that picture. No big deal. They were young. They were in charge. They would have many other chances. Or so they thought. 

When the Penguins won their long-awaited second title of the Crosby/Malkin era in San Jose in 2016, they simply forgot again. Strike 2.There would be no Strike 3.

Malkin had instructed a team employee on the morning of Game 6 in Nashville to “get me and Sid with Cup if we win, no matter what.”

Lounging on a sofa with his injured toe resting on a table, dressed casually as if he had just warmed up for a tennis match against his actual brother, Malkin stroked his chin while looking at a digital picture of him and Crosby posing for the picture that had eluded them twice before.

“The best picture of my life,” Malkin says. “My two friends, and me.”

6. “I hope we win more,” Crosby said. “That’s always the goal. But no matter what, he’s my friend for life.”

7. At his apartment in Moscow, his offseason condominium on Florida’s Fisher Island and at his home in Pittsburgh, Malkin displays various memorabilia of Crosby. These include Russian nesting dolls painted in Crosby’s likeness, framed photographs, pucks and sticks from various games, anything and everything the most serious Crosby fan would want for his or her collection. Malkin jokes that Nikita, his son, will probably pick Crosby as his favorite player because of all the stuff.

“Is good,” Malkin said. “Of course, I will be his real favorite. But Sid is the best player, the best teammate. A great friend. I hope Nikita thinks of him as family. I do.”

Clearly, Crosby considers Malkin family.

“Having him around has always made my life better, on and off the ice,” Crosby said. “He has a way of knowing when to make you laugh, knowing when to lighten the room. But at the same time, he knows when to be serious, too. It’s just a great friendship. I just always liked him from the start. Always have. Always will.”

[vioncentral-blog]

Q&A: Panthers Coach Bob Boughner on Rugby, Aaron Ekblad and Being an Original Predator

https://www.vionafrica.cf/qa-panthers-coach-bob-boughner-on-rugby-aaron-ekblad-and-being-an-original-predator/

Q&A: Panthers Coach Bob Boughner on Rugby, Aaron Ekblad and Being an Original Predator

A few days after the Panthers hired him as their head coach last June, Bob Boughner wandered into a bookstore near his offseason Ontario home—“I’m old school,” the 46-year-old explains, “my kids make fun of me”—and purchased a paperback copy of Legacy, a 224-page tome chronicling the history of the All Blacks, New Zealand’s decorated national rugby team. Armed with a highlighter and pen, Boughner devoured the text, jotting notes in the margins and dog-earing passages to remember, which wound up being most of them anyway. He had already been brainstorming messages to send his new players in Florida, elements of the revamped culture he hoped to establish. “When I read the book, it hit me like a pile of bricks,” Boughner says. “It was right in my face. No need to look anywhere else.”

In a fashion befitting a former pugilist with 630 career NHL games and 1,382 penalty minutes, inspiration quickly turned into action. He arranged a conference call with graphic designers in the front office, gushing about the lessons he had learned. When Boughner first arrived in mid-August, he oversaw renovations of the Panthers’ locker rooms at their practice facility and home rink, where words and phrases employed by the All Blacks were painted onto the walls:

PERFORMANCE

AUTHENTICITY

HONESTY

INTEGRITY

RESILIENCE

LEAVE THE JERSEY IN A BETTER PLACE

SWEEP THE SHED

For the first week of training camp, Boughner never mentioned the decorations, too busy implementing X’s and O’s instead, until he called a team meeting to explain. In a 30-minute slideshow presentation, Boughner played video clips featuring the All Blacks—the squad boasts a 77 percent all-time win rate and two Rugby World Cup titles this decade—and outlined how those principles would be integrated into Florida’s upcoming season. “Sweep the shed,” for instance, describes a ritual wherein veteran All Blacks grab actual brooms and clean the locker room after games. “No, we’re not actually sweeping,” Boughner clarifies. “It was more words to live by.”

Performance? Well, that's been a mixed bag. Two years ago, inspired by the disembodied head of a star-dusted Kevin Spacey, the Panthers strung together the best regular season in franchise history, earning 103 points and an Atlantic Division title. Then came turmoil. Twenty-one games into 2016-17, Gerard Gallant was fired and replaced by Tom Rowe, who descended from the press box to double as head coach and general manager. When Florida eventually bottomed out with an 81-point, sixth-place divisional finish, Rowe got canned from both roles and Dale Tallon returned to oversee hockey operations as GM—the role he once occupied before a reshuffling in spring 2016 knocked him upstairs.

This was the environment that Boughner was tasked with changing upon his arrival. “We know what happened last year, the struggles they went through,” he says. “I knew that in my interview going in, right? They were looking for a change and it was going to be different and the structure was different. I wanted to give these guys something to grasp onto, something we could build our whole year around.”

It has worked so far. Eight games into Boughner’s debut NHL head coaching season—he previously served as an assistant for two years in San Jose under Pete DeBoer—Florida was 3-5-0 following Tuesday night’s 5-1 loss against the Canadiens. Each player received a copy of Legacy following that preseason meeting; Boughner regularly spots several of them digging into the pages during road trips. In the grand tradition of their Spacey In Space sweatshirt from ‘15-16—and a barbershop cape last season—the Panthers even began passing around an All Blacks jersey and rugby ball to the player of the game in their post-victory celebrations.

“There are times you come to the room and we have a meeting and we talk about having a bad period, we refer back to some of the things from our culture meeting,” Boughner says. “It’s been a useful tool for us. We talk a lot about authenticity. That’s one of the most important words for me, doing what you say. [The All Blacks] talk about how they’re so relentless, they never change their mantra, how they approach the game. They don’t get too high as a team. They take care of all the little things. They don’t rely on anybody else. They rely on the guys in the room, hold each other accountable, make sure their culture and identity is forced every day.”

After the Panthers’ morning skate in Montreal, Boughner called SI.com and spoke about his double life owning a Canadian junior team, reaching the Stanley Cup Final with the Sharks, striking fear with his fists, and more:

SI: I feel like you would’ve been a pretty good rugby player.

BB: I’ve probably got the legs for it, but I’d fall apart at my age. I watch every once in a while on TV. It’s not like I’m a rugby fanatic at all.

SI: What would you have been doing if not for hockey? This has been your whole life.

BB: I’ve never really known anything other than that. In business I learned a lot from my NHLPA days and owning the [Ontario Hockey League’s] Windsor Spitfires. I love business.

SI: How do you manage owning a team and also coaching another one? What’s your day-to-day like?

BB: It’s not bad. We have a great bunch of guys, from our general manager to the scouting staff to the accountants. I stay in touch by email, conference calls usually once a week, and if anything comes up then a couple phone calls. I don’t really spend much time on it during the hockey season. During the summer, when I go home, I go to the office about 3-4 days a week, put in a few hours to stay on top of everything. But during the season I’m all-in with the Panthers, got so much on my plate as is.

NHL Q&A: New Coyotes Coach Rick Tocchet on a Young Franchise and Lessons From Pittsburgh

SI: Your mind never wanders to what’s going on back home?

BB: I follow the box scores, I get the updates on how they’re doing. [Coach] Trevor Letowski will call once a while to talk hockey. Other than that, it’s fully controlled there. Which is nice. It gives me a peace of mind that we have the right people to run it. It takes the stress away from me.

SI: What’s your earliest memory of [fellow Windsor, Ontario native and Panthers defenseman] Aaron Ekblad?

BB: Oh god. Probably watching him play when he was about 12, 13 years old. He was playing Triple A for the Sun County Panthers back in Windsor. He towered over all the kids. He was huge for his age, controlled the whole game, had the puck the entire time. Just the poise he had at that age, you could tell there was something special there. Then I got to know him better as he got into 13s, 14s. My son and him became friends, started hanging out. I’ve seen Aaron quite a bit hanging around the house as a kid.

SI: How is he as a sleepover guest?

BB: Just like all the rest of my kids. A mess. Sloppy. [laughs]

SI: He’s referred to you as an uncle figure. What kind of dynamic does that create? Is it weird now?

BB: He’s like any other kid, regardless of how much money he makes, how much fanfare there’s been around him being a first overall pick. He’s like anyone else. Look at Brent Burns in San Jose. They need a shoulder to lean on sometimes, they need confidence and structure. It’s no different with me and Aaron. He knows it’s business around the rink and it’s been like that since day one. I told him I’d be completely honest and transparent with him, and treat him no different than anyone else on the team. Obviously he respects that as well.

SI: Since you mentioned Brent, do you have any good Burns or Joe Thornton stories?

BB: Too many. Burnsie was great. He made every day going to the rink a lot of fun. He’s high on life. That’s him. High on life. Completely the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. Pavelski, Thornton, they’re like a bunch of kids still. They love the game. They love hanging out at the rink. That’s why they’re so good. That’s what makes that group so special. They love hanging out with each other, love coming to the rink. It’s not really a job for them, to be honest. It was a pleasure being around a group like that.

SI: That was your first time reaching the Stanley Cup Final, with San Jose two seasons ago. What did you learn from a run like that?

BB: A lot of things have to go right. Health is number one. Two is travel. We were talking about that the other day. Our series with L.A. was a heavy series. Then we’re flying across the country to St. Louis, flying to Nashville across the country, then our last series against Pittsburgh. I think we got a little worn down. Not to take anything away from Pittsburgh. They were the better team. They deserved to win. But we were worn down.

From a coaching standpoint, you learn to try to conserve some energy during the season for that long run, try not to overplay guys and give them the proper rest, because if you’re fortunate enough to be in that situation, May and June are so draining. You’ve got to have some gas in the tank.

SI: Do you remember your first NHL fight?

BB: It was in Boston. It was Dean Chynoweth. I was the third man in and got tossed in my first NHL game. I thought Brian Holzinger was going to have to fight, so I stepped in. First fight, first game.

SI: How did the nickname Boogeyman strike you? Did you like it?

BB: It was more of a fun thing. I think it was two games later I got into a fight with Reid Simpson and it was a long fight. Rick Jeanneret, when he was still in Buffalo doing play-by-play, said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, put your kids to bed, the Boogeyman is out.’ In a joking way, but it stuck. I thought it was fun. It was cool. I’ve been called Boogeyman my whole life.

SI: What do you remember about the inaugural season in Nashville in ‘98-99? What are the players in Las Vegas experiencing now? What will stick with them from year one?

BB: It’s one of my most fun times in hockey. To be an original Predator, that’s something that’s still true to my heart. We got to be the pioneers down there when it wasn’t a hockey market. I remember doing a ton of things away from the rink to promote the game in the South, and those are some of the best times I’ve had. Meeting the country stars, bringing it all together, educating the fans, those are the things I remember. I remember the milestones—the first win, the first of everything. When I go back there, I still get a pretty good feeling that we were the guys who brought hockey to town and started it.

Same thing in Vegas. I think a lot of these guys, 20 years from now, when that’s a thriving hockey market, they’re going to look back and feel pretty cool that they were the original guys who got the business of hockey started. That’s what I took away from my experience anyway.

NHL Q&A: Predators’ Coach Peter Laviolette on the Olympics, Pregame Speeches and His Dog Stanley

SI: Lately I feel like I’m hearing the phrase “future Selke winner Aleksander Barkov” more and more often. What say you?

BB: In my mind, from what I’ve seen so far, he’s one of the better 200-foot player I’ve ever seen play. He’s gifted offensively, but he cares so much about his own end. He cares about winning face-offs, a lot of the little things.

SI: Last one. Have you checked out Roberto Luongo’s Twitter feed?

BB: Once in awhile. I don’t have social media, but some people have told me and showed me some things. I think it’s hilarious. He’s definitely one of the most unique guys when it comes to that. It’s great that he has fun with it. He’s got a great personality.

[yahoo-puck-daddy-blog]

Shane Doan retires, so hopefully Coyotes healing begins

This October marks the 22nd anniversary of Shane Doan’s first game in the NHL: Oct. 7, 1995, with the Winnipeg Jets. He was just 18 years old.

He turns 41 on Oct. 10, 2017, and between playing a total of 1,540 regular-season games for that organization, as the Jets became the Phoenix Coyotes, who became the Arizona Coyotes, who came to be owned by Andrew Barroway, which is why Shane Doan was without a contract for next season.

In a ham-fisted and dishonorable manner, Doan was informed his playing days with the Coyotes were over. “It was the owner’s decision,” said Doan back in June. “He chose that he wanted to go with the younger group, and me being around might have delayed things. Sometimes you gotta rip the band-aid off.”

Doan’s attention turned to free agency, for the first time in his career. His agent, Terry Bross, said he wanted to “see where it goes” and that it was “time for him to get a shot at the Stanley Cup,” having only made the conference finals once in his career.

There were no takers, apparently. So Shane Doan, Coyotes legend, hung up his skates on Wednesday with a letter to the fans who supported him.

From the Arizona Republic:

Even though April 8 wasn’t announced as my last game, I knew it probably was. I felt an indescribable wave of emotion to have the support that I’ve had over the years from the fans throughout all of the uncertainty. You have always defended me and supported me. Playing in front of you has honestly been one of the greatest experiences of my life. 

Every time I walked down the tunnel toward the ice in that game at home against the Minnesota Wild, it was tough but I also felt the same excitement that I did during my first game. I high-fived the fans and joked with whoever was walking next to me.

When the game ended, I remember thinking, “This is the last NHL game I’ll be on the ice looking up instead of looking down.” And even though my perspective will be different, my love for the NHL won’t change and I’ll continue to share that passion with the hockey fans in Arizona.

Thank you for loving the game with me. Thank you for the unwavering support. Thank you for fighting to keep the team here. Thank you for allowing this to be my home. And thank you for coming to spend a night with me playing hockey. It’s been incredible.

He added, in his typical humble nature: “There are a lot of players with more skill than me and a lot more ability than me that didn’t ever get the type of appreciation that I got and the type of respect that the fans gave me, and I’m so grateful for that. I can’t express how much I appreciate it.”

Which is a really great line.

It’s been a bit of a chaotic summer for those fans thanks to Barroway. The Coyotes cut ties with Doan. They traded Mike Smith, their goalie since 2011. They cut ties with Dave Tippett, their coach since 2010 and without much argument the best one they’ve had in franchise history. (Sorry, Wayne.)

But then they landed Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson for defenseman Connor Murphy and center Laurent Dauphin, a move to give Oliver Ekman-Larsson a defense partner; and center Derek Stepan and goalie Antti Raanta from the New York Rangers in exchange for defenseman Anthony DeAngelo and the seventh-overall pick in June’s draft. Then they hired Rick Tocchet in a coaching coup.

That helped ease the pain for Coyotes fans who saw their captain done wrong, but only momentarily.

Look, it’s not about bringing Doan back. He’s 41, coming off his worst season in the league. He’s an old man dragging his ass up the ice in a league, and on a team, where speed is paramount. That he couldn’t find another opportunity – or find one geographically palatable to him – isn’t a surprise either. As he sensed, it was time to go.

But after 1,540 games, he deserved to go out on his terms, and the team owed him the chance for a proper goodbye if there was an inkling that he wouldn’t be asked back.

Again: This dude has been a Coyote from the relocation through the Roenick years through the Gretzky debacle through the even larger bankruptcy debacle through roughly a decade of relocation strife. He’s been a good solider, a moral compass and one of the hardest working players to ever wear that sweater. He lent this franchise more dedication than it deserved at times. He deserved better than a random letter to the Arizona Republic in August as a goodbye.

All of this stuff to the fans should have been said on a mic inside the arena in Glendale. Instead, his final game was one where he and the fans treated it as “well, if this is it, it’s been swell” rather than the final sendoff it needed to be.

Maybe it still can happen. The Coyotes have to mend some fences and get Doan involved in the organization, and fix this.

It’s not going to be easy – Doan doesn’t exactly put the franchise over in his letter, other than their existence allowing his family to live in the Valley for 21 years. But like Daniel Alfredsson and the Ottawa Senators or Martin Brodeur with the New Jersey Devils, one hopes this is a fleeting bitterness during a professional divorce, rather than a cement wall having been built between a franchise and its stalwart. Doan, and his fans, deserve better.

—

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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