The Ditch part deux

Tortorella calls out key players: 'I don't think they're ready'

The Columbus Blue Jackets have been practicing for nearly two weeks now, and head coach John Tortorella doesn't love what he's seen from some of his players.

"My concern is some of the people that we are going to need to make a difference for us to win a series, I don't think they're ready right now," Tortorella said after practice Thursday, according to NHL.com's Craig Merz. "I don't think they're doing the things they need to do right now to get ready for that series. Not a bunch. A few. A couple."

Columbus is gearing up to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs in the best-of-five play-in round. The Blue Jackets finished the season with a 33-22-15 record and enter the qualifying round as the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference.

"For the most part, I've liked what I've seen here," Tortorella continued. "It's just the two or three guys that are pretty important people. It's a concern of mine. ... I'm not so sure we get total concentration out of some key people. That's what we're working to try to get."

The Blue Jackets hit the ice Thursday after a day off. Tortorella stopped practice and yelled at the team after 30 seconds of the opening drill, according to Merz.

Tortorella was recently named a finalist for the Jack Adams Trophy, though he's entering unknown territory with the upcoming playoff format after spending nearly five months away from hockey.

"This isn't getting ready for the regular season and then trying to find your game in 15 games during the regular season. This is a sprint. And I think some guys have been dead-on right from the start," Tortorella said. "Other guys, not so much. I think we're in single digits right now as far as getting ready to play. I don't want us to fall into this trap of wading in. We need to be ready to go."

The first game of the series is on Aug. 2.

The Score
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Tort's is a great motivator and i think thats his intention right now. He wants to make sure a few key players can kick it into overdrive and be ready for the next level. Toronto and Columbus is going to be a dandy.

 

NHL announces zero positives among 4,256 tests

On a day when bad news from Major League Baseball raised questions about how a sports league can operate outside a bubble, a sports league planning to finish its season inside two bubbles announced good news.

The NHL, which is sending teams to bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton to finish their seasons, announced that it has administered more than 4,000 tests over the last week and not had a single positive COVID-19 result.

“The NHL conducted Phase 3 (formal training camp) of its Return to Play on Saturday with no positive test results for COVID-19 among the 4,256 tests administered to more than 800 players during the period from July 18-25,” the league said in a statement. “During the two-week period of Phase 3 there were a total of two positive tests (both occurred during the period from July 13-17) among the 6,874 total tests. All 24 teams entered the secure zone in Edmonton and Toronto yesterday for the beginning of Phase 4 and each of the 52 members of the 24 teams (Players and Club staff) will be tested on a daily basis. The NHL will continue to provide regular updates on the number of tests administered to players and the results of those tests. The league will not be providing information on the identity of the players or clubs.”

The NBA and NHL appear to be better-positioned to finish their seasons successfully because they will be playing in enclosed “bubbles” that prevent contact with the outside world. The NFL, like MLB, will have no such bubble, and the cancelation of two MLB games today over COVID-19 tests has to be raising concerns within the NFL about whether the season can proceed as scheduled.

NBC

 

So great to watch live hockey again. Watched the first period of the Leafs/Habs with my 4 year old.
“Dad which team is the Bruins?”
“Neither team, this is the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs”
“Well, which team is the good guys?”
“Tough question, both are rivals with the Bs but the Habs, wearing red, are really the team I dislike the most”
Then the Leafs score 30 seconds in to the game.
“Dad, my favorite team is the Leafs”
Damn it!!!!!

 

whoa, whoa whoooaaa!

I thought I once bought and paid for his eternal love for the Sabres.

Time to go shopping again.

 

Tell me about it.
I’m thinking he’s in a stage where whenever he sees a goal that team is his favorite. A real short term front runner. If it’s not the Bs in the end this kid is gonna be in trouble in our household

 

Matty, as I see it, the poor kid is doomed to root for the hockey team from Boston. And, wait for it ... and, he'll like it!

I suggest you give him your built in excuse and say, "sorry, son, it's just an accident of birth".

Meanwhile, I'll see what I can do to keep the embers of his first hockey love stoked.

BTW, I am wearing the BC shirt today that I got at the Beanpot. Then I met someone from Toronto. I forgot how bad Leafs fans are at talking smack. Converted another person to Sabres fandom today; she is from S. Africa and it did not take much effort. All in all, a damned good day!

 

Winnipeg and then Buffalo; no SCF in his career during the Great One and Mario era ... I suppose it's not surprising that he's been underappreciated.

Reading some real nice tributes to him on Sabres boards; he was a great player and a tremendous man. RIP

 

Winnipeg and then Buffalo; no SCF in his career during the Great One and Mario era ... I suppose it's not surprising that he's been underappreciated.

Reading some real nice tributes to him on Sabres boards; he was a great player and a tremendous man. RIP


Agree that Dan.........and he was way too young.........RIP

 

Kasperi Kapanen has been traded back to the Penguins, the team that drafted him in 2014.

The Maple Leafs dealt Kapanen, Pontus Aberg and Jesperi Lindgren to Pittsburgh for a 2020 first-round pick, Evan Rodrigues, Filip Hallander, and David Warsofsky.

“Kasperi is a good, young player that brings speed to our lineup and plays the way we want to play,” said Penguins GM Jim Rutherford. “Having previously drafted him, we know him as a player and feel he can improve our top-6. Aberg and Lindgren are both young players that will further add to our organizational depth.”

Kapanen was a 2014 first-round pick by the Penguins but spent only one season in the organization before he was part of the Phil Kessel trade the following summer. He never played for Pittsburgh, but has suited up for 202 games with the Maple Leafs, scoring 41 goals and recording 90 points.

Reports stated that the Penguins were looking to cut their budget next season and this deal helps them do that. While Kapanen’s salary cap hit is $3.2 million through the end of the 2021-22 season, the actual dollars owed to him drops from $4.4M this past season to $2.86M in 2020-21, and then to $2.34M in the final season of his contract.

NBC

 

Matt Murray or Tristan Jarry likely will be traded by the Pittsburgh Penguins prior to next season, general manager Jim Rutherford said Monday.

Rutherford said he has received interest from teams in the two goalies, who each can become a restricted free agent after this season.

"I haven't gotten to the point yet where I'm having serious talks or seeing exactly how much I can get," Rutherford told The Athletic. "But I will say, I'm getting close to that point, to understanding just what people are willing to give. So, we'll see. I don't know exactly how it's going to go, but I can already see that there is going to be a lot of interest.

"There is already interest. And it looks like we're going to have to move one of them."

Murray, who won the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017, played the final season of a three-year, $11.25 million contract ($3.75 million average annual value) he signed Oct. 20, 2016. Jarry played the final season of a two-year, $1.35 million contract ($675,000 average annual value) he signed July 26, 2018.

"We'll see how things unfold," Rutherford said. "But I plan on being pretty busy, and there's a good chance goaltending will be involved in what we'll be doing."

The Penguins, the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference after finishing the regular season with a .623 points percentage, lost to the Montreal Canadiens, the No. 12 seed (.500), in four games in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers. Murray started three of those games and was 1-2 with a 2.50 goals-against average and .914 save percentage. Jarry started Game 4, his NHL postseason debut, and allowed one goal on 21 shots in the 2-0 loss.

Murray and Jarry shared the No. 1 role during the regular season. Murray was 20-11-5 with a 2.87 GAA and an NHL career-worst .899 save percentage. Jarry, who played in the 2020 Honda NHL All-Star Game in St. Louis on Jan. 25, was 20-12-1 with a 2.43 GAA, .921 save percentage and three shutouts.

Having two capable starting goalies is a luxury the Penguins may not be able to afford with each eligible for a raise and the NHL salary cap remaining $81.5 million next season.

The NHL has not announced a starting date for next season.

"We know that there's a very, very good chance that we're going to have to move one of them," Rutherford said.

Murray is third in Penguins history with 117 wins in the regular season, behind Marc-Andre Fleury (375) and Tom Barrasso (226). In the postseason, he has the lowest GAA of any Penguins goalie to play more than 12 games (2.18) and is third with 29 wins, behind Fleury (62) and Barrasso (56).

Jarry is 34-20-4 with a 2.61 GAA and .914 save percentage in 62 games (57 starts) with the Penguins.

NHL.com

 

when i heard about a Leafs/Pens trade earlier i was thinking it would be a Murray for Freddie swap.

 

This was an understandable trade by Toronto. They had to make some moves to iron out the irregularities to their roster and to get back into the first round (another flaw caused by an imbalanced roster).

It was a very good trade for Pittsburgh. Kap can fly and will fit into the Pens’ system nicely.

Evan Rodrigues should be a good bottom six player. He has a great deal of versatility being able to play wing or pivot, and he’s played with stars and with no-names. He can sulk a bit when things aren’t going his way, and that’s a risk.

In the end, the Leafs better hit with the first*, or this trade will be extremely lopsided in the Pens favor.

(* I think it’s the #15 overall going to Toronto. I’ve studied the draft and found an interesting anomaly. The productivity by draft spot follows a very predictable trend down from the first to the last player drafted. Except for #15 o/a; this draft position produces at the equivalent level of #29 o/a; it then bounces back up for #16 and then continues its descent. Not wishing ill will on the Leafs - just saying.)

 

Hi Dan..........

I think the Leafs are desperate for a D-Man.

 

With the likely departure of Barrie and probably Ceci, “desperate” may be a gross understatement. Muzzin seems very happy in T.O. They have some nice prospects that are spoken of with various levels of praise/expectation. I think they’re chancing it mightily to rely on these youth for at least another year.

This could be a make-it or break-it offseason for Dubas. The Pens trade clearly reflects that they wish to TRY. But, it’s all for nought if they don’t make another trade - or three.

 

Interesting look at the Penguins use of 1st rounders

 

The NHL has gone another week without a single positive COVID-19 test during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Monday’s announcement marks the fifth consecutive week the league has reported zero positive test results from the Toronto and Edmonton hub cities.

According to the NHL, 2,814 tests were administered between August 23-29, with zero tests coming back positive.

The league has been in its two bubbles since late July. They began with 24 teams taking part in the postseason, each with a 52 member traveling party that was tested on a daily basis.

NBC

 

Allen traded to Canadiens by Blues for draft picks
Goalie, who started four games in postseason, won Stanley Cup in 2019 as backup to Binnington



Jake Allen was traded to the Montreal Canadiens by the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday for a third-round pick and seventh-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.

The 30-year-old goalie was 12-6-3 with a 2.15 goals-against average, .927 save percentage and two shutouts in the regular season. He went 2-1-1 with a 1.89 GAA and .935 save percentage in five games this postseason for the Blues, including three starts in place of Jordan Binnington in the Western Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a six-game loss to the Vancouver Canucks.

Allen had a 3.72 GAA and .855 save percentage in three starts over a five-week period in the regular-season but finished with NHL career-bests in GAA and save percentage and should provide a veteran backup for Carey Price, who started 58 of the Canadiens' 71 regular-season games. Charlie Lindgren (six starts), Keith Kinkaid (five) and Cayden Primeau (two) were a combined 4-6-3 behind Price, who went 27-25-6 with a 2.79 GAA, .909 save percentage and four shutouts. Price had a 1.78 GAA, .936 save percentage and two shutouts in 10 postseason games before Montreal's six-game loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference First Round.

The Blues also received a seventh-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. The third- and seventh-round picks in 2020 were acquired in trades with the Washington Capitals and Chicago Blackhawks, respectively.

St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong cited a desire to create NHL salary-cap space for next season while incorporating younger players. Allen is entering the final season of a four-year contract with an annual-average value of $4.35 million and can be an unrestricted free agent after next season. Ville Husso, 25, has played the past four seasons in the American Hockey League and likely will back up Binnington after signing a one-year, one-way contract Jan. 30.

"Husso is a player we've had high hopes for and believe has earned his right to compete for an NHL job and to do that, you have to create opportunity," Armstrong said.

Allen relieved Binnington and played 27:08 after Binnington was pulled from Game 6, a 6-2 loss to the Canucks which eliminated the Blues. He started Games 3, 4 and 5 of the series after Binnington allowed nine goals on 47 shots (.809 save percentage) in Games 1 and 2. Binnington finished the postseason 0-5-0 with an NHL-worst 4.72 GAA and .851 save percentage (minimum five games).

"It gave Jordan Binnington some comfort knowing that his partner had a lot of experience, and he had a good regular season and not the playoffs that he wanted," Armstrong said. "I think this does show that our faith is that we're going to take Jordan Binnington's NHL career going back to January of '19 through today and say there was a lot more positives than negatives and we believe he could be the man."

Allen was the Blues' starter before Binnington made 25 saves in a 3-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 7, 2019 to become the 35th goalie to earn a shutout in his first NHL start. Binnington started all 26 games of the 2019 postseason to help the Blues win the Stanley Cup for the first time in their history. Allen made one playoff appearance in relief.

"Last year, Binnington came in and he was the ultimate pro, supported Jordan and gave us the games that we needed and going into this year, being Binnington's first year as the perceived starter, Jake was there when we needed him to play and play very well," Armstrong said. "He's just a quality teammate that people talk about as a reflection of the quality of person that he is."

Selected by St. Louis in the second round (No. 34) in the 2008 NHL Draft, Allen is 148-94-26 with a 2.50 GAA, .913 save percentage and 21 shutouts in 289 regular-season games (271 starts), and 11-11-1 with a 2.06 GAA and .924 save percentage in 29 playoff games (23 starts).

NHL.com

 

I think its smart to buy time for Cayden Primeau but having close to $15m tied up in 2 goalies is too much.