Imagine if John Tortorella, coach of the Blue Jackets, didn’t have the immense respect he professes to have for Brandon Dubinsky.
A year ago, as coach of Team USA in the World Cup, Tortorella mysteriously scratched Dubinsky from the Yanks’ match against Canada even though No. 17’s selection for the squad was due in large measure to his ability to match up against Sidney Crosby.
And a few days ago, Tortorella unceremoniously stripped the alternate captain’s “A” off of the uniform that Dubinsky has worn since his arrival in Columbus five years ago in order to award it to Jack Johnson as perhaps the first overt sign in a recruiting process to keep the pending free agent defenseman from defecting next summer.
Nothing to see here so move along, say the Jackets, who explain the public humiliation of Dubinsky was meant only to relieve the 31-year-old of the burden of leadership so he could work on his own game after reporting late to camp in the aftermath of offseason wrist surgery he eschewed all last year.
Of course it was.
Derek Stepan would have been this generation’s Walter Tkachuk to Jean Ratelle if these Rangers had a Jean Ratelle.
Instead, Stepan will be remembered as a cornerstone of the run in which the Blueshirts went to three Eastern Conference finals and one Cup final from 2012-15 and sure enough earned the loud, warm ovation he received upon returning to the Garden with the Coyotes on Thursday night.
All-time Blueshirt No. 21’s: 1. Camille Henry; 2. Sergei Zubov; 3. Stepan; 4. Peter Stemkowski; 5. Ray Ferraro. Honorable mention: Johan Lindbom, once compared in a flight of fancy to Billy Guerin by coach Colin Campbell. Dishonorable mention: Scott Fraser.
Either I cover The Stupid League or the operation with the NHL’s U.S. television rights is The Stupid Network, because Tuesday night when Connor McDavid’s Oilers were facing Crosby’s Penguins, NBCSN was busy showing the Red Wings and Sabres.
I notice there are a couple of Wayne Gretzky-Mario Lemieux mentions on the ballot for the NHL’s Greatest Moment appearing on the league’s website, and I wonder if NBCSN would have televised Pittsburgh-Edmonton back in the day, or maybe the North Stars-Whalers instead?
It only took into Year 3 for three-on-three overtime to lose its chaotic quality and become nearly as predictable in its patterns as five-on-five, much in the same way that coaches quickly pulled back from initial three-forward-one-defense alignments when the NHL introduced the guaranteed-point four-on-four OT in 1999-2000.
How quickly will Golden Knights general manager George McPhee begin dumping assets in order to do whatever he can to ensure a high lottery position for the 2018 entry draft that has been threatened by his club’s opening 8-1 bolt out of the gate?
Rest assured, a run at a playoff spot that might endanger a shot at Frolunda defenseman Rasmus Dahlin was never part of GMGM’s grand plan.
Alexei Bereglazov, the 23-year-old defenseman signed as a free agent over the summer who was sent by the Rangers to AHL Hartford toward the end of camp, is contemplating a return to Russia and the KHL as per an out clause in his contract, we’re told.
Josh Ho-Sang’s demotion to Bridgeport is just another piece of evidence that Alain Vigneault cannot work with young players.
Oops, sorry.
Benoit Pouliot’s presence on the Sabres’ roster: Explain, please.
In recognition of Boo Nieves’ three-assist night in his Garden debut on Thursday, the Rangers’ all-time No. 24’s gleaned from slim pickings: 1. Ryan Callahan 2. Pierre Larouche (wore it in 28-goal, 1986-87 after return from exile and his familiar No. 10 had been given away to Kelly Miller, who not so long after was given away himself with Mike Ridley in exchange for Bobby Carpenter); 3. Jay Wells; 4. Niklas Sundstrom; 5. Sylvain Lefebvre. Honorable mention: Red Berenson (for hitting the post). Dishonorable mention: Sandis Ozolinsh.
So Antti Raanta, the former Rangers netminder who accompanied Stepan to Arizona, was talking about adjusting to life in the desert.
“It takes a little time to get used to the weather and remind yourself that you’re not on vacation,” said Raanta, who was on IR when the Coyotes visited the Garden. “But everything has been good.
“Except maybe for the scorpions my wife saw in our bedroom.”
See where one-time Rangers winger Wojtek Wolski, toiling in the KHL, is among the contenders for a spot on the Canadian Olympic team.
Mention of Wolski never fails to recall the time in October 2011 when the Blueshirts were on a swing through western Canada and No. 86 was rehabbing a groin injury that had sidelined him for a couple of weeks.
Coach Tortorella was impatient with his progress.
“Can’t get him out of the tub,” Tortorella said following a practice in Vancouver when asked about a possible ETA for Wolski.
A couple of hours later while waiting at an Air Canada gate for a flight to Calgary, my cell rang.
“Any way you can keep that out of the paper?” Tortorella wanted to know. “I shouldn’t have said that. I always get myself into trouble.”
“I would if I could,” I said. “But I already wrote and sent it.”
The following day, after a long skate on his own, Wolski claimed he was unaware of his coach’s comment.
“I didn’t hear and I’d rather not know,” Wolski said in response to my question. “But if you wrote it, it must be bad.”