New Canuck Vey needed Vancouver as much as Vancouver needs him

source : faceoff.com

It’s silly to think now but Linden Vey’s second career NHL game in early November was then the Canucks’ lowest point of the season.

As Los Angeles was putting baby in the corner yet again on Nov. 9, dominating the Canucks in a 5-1 win, Vey, playing for the Kings then, orchestrated one of the more humiliating goals endured by the Canucks and their fans this past season.

As Dan Hamhuis crumpled over a puck like lit kindling, Vey accelerated by him and the Canucks defence as though they were rocking themselves to sleep in a nursing home. He feathered a pass — to himself — between Brad Richardson’s skates, and set up Jordan Nolan for a tap-in.

It was this flash of speed, youth, creativity and skill, none of which was seen often in a Canucks uniform last season.

“It was my second (NHL) game and a lot of my family was down (in L.A.) to watch,” Vey said. “My brother, my girlfriend were there. You always remember your first point and that was mine.

“It was a pretty special moment for me.”

Vey turns 23 Thursday, three weeks after the Canucks traded for him — and he needed Vancouver as much as Vancouver needs him.

It took Vey four long years to play for the Kings in a game after they drafted him in 2009. It says more about L.A.’s ridiculous depth down the middle then it does about Vey.

He did his part. He lit the CHL ablaze, finishing first in points with 116 in 2010-11. He then centred the best line in the AHL, playing between Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli. He put up 158 points in 191 AHL games. Heck, he was second on Manchester (New Hampshire) in points last year and he only played 56 per cent of its games.

What he hasn’t done yet is anything in the NHL, other than orchestrating a pair of pretty great goals in two games against the Canucks.

The Canucks are betting, rather heavily, that is about to change.

Forget the two-way, $735,000 qualifying offer Vey signed, because you can’t put a dollar sign on the opportunity the Canucks are about to hand him.

And that’s something Vey thinks about daily back on his family grain farm in Wakaw, Sask., his hometown of about 1,000 people.

“There are times when you wake up and you’re tired and sore,” Vey said. “It makes it a lot easier knowing you’re going to get a good opportunity. It’s up to me to make the most of it.”

You can’t measure the pressure coming his way.

Aside from Zack Kassian, the youngest player to score at least 10 goals for the Canucks last year was Jannik Hansen and he’s 27 years old. When you search for Canucks in their early 20s it’s like a lost generation. Vancouver needs Vey to change that.

Can he?

Well, Canucks GM Jim Benning scouted him, and believes he’s ready to be a third-line centre. And the new general manager should probably still be getting the benefit of the doubt in that talent-
evaluation area.

But it’s coach Willie Desjardins who knows Vey best.

He coached him for three years in Medicine Hat and Vey became critical to his uptempo attack. That just may happen again here for the Canucks, because if they don’t have a third line that can score, this is going to be another a long, long season.

The coach left for the NHL the off-season before Vey blew up for his 116 points. But even though Desjardins was moving on to be an associate coach for the Dallas Stars, he didn’t forget Vey.

“The funny thing is, even though he wasn’t my coach any more he was still very impactful that year,” Vey said.

“I spent a lot of time with him that summer. He sat me down and told me that was the year I had to really focus on training.

“It was probably the first year that I actually dedicated to working out.”
Watching Vey in Manchester, Benning believed he was the one driving the play when he was on a line with Toffoli and Pearson.

This is probably the most compelling evidence that Vey is ready to succeed in the NHL. Both Pearson and Toffoli had massive post-seasons and were integral to the Kings’ Stanley Cup run.

“It was exciting to watch them and see them get that opportunity,” Vey said. “I played with them for two years and it shows me that I could probably contribute the same way.”

The Canucks sure hope so.

Hockey humour (VINE) - Andrei Markov happy for the contract

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Hockey humour (VINE) Brad Richard buyout !!!

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Maple Leafs giving Carlyle another chance despite late-season collapse

source : faceoff.com

Despite a stunning late-season collapse that cost the Toronto Maple Leafs a playoff spot, general manager Dave Nonis believes Randy Carlyle is still the right man to lead the club.

The Maple Leafs handed their embattled head coach a two-year contract extension on Thursday, while at the same time announcing that assistants Dave Farrish, Greg Cronin and Scott Gordon will not be back.

"It was important for us to make it clear that Randy has the support needed to move forward," Nonis said on a conference call. "He has done a lot of good things for us and we expect him to continue that with some new assistants."

There had been rampant speculation that Carlyle would pay with his job after a disastrous end to the most recent campaign saw Toronto tumble out of post-season contention thanks to an embarrassing 2-12-0 finish.

Instead, Nonis and new Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan gassed Carlyle's staff in hopes that some new voices can help the 58-year-old get the most out of Toronto's underachieving roster.

"If you've seen it being done before with most of the same players, or a lot of the same players, and with that coach leading that group, I know it can happen," said Nonis. "I know it has happened with this group before. I know that (Carlyle) has reached them before, reached them at times this year.

"For me it's not that we're guessing whether or not he can have success or he can get through to them. We've seen it. I know that it's there and we feel he is the guy that can get through to this group."

Carlyle — who led the Maple Leafs to their first playoff appearance since 2004 in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season — had Toronto sitting second in the Atlantic Division this year before the wheels fell off in mid-March.

"We feel that this group can continue to grow into a higher level of a hockey club," said Carlyle. "We just have to find and continue to push for a little bit more from the individuals and we are going to do everything we possibly can to change some of the things that are happening with our group."

Despite calls from fans and media alike in Toronto for Carlyle's dismissal, Nonis said he wasn't swayed by how the decision might play in the hockey-mad city.

"If you're worried about optics in this market, it's going to be a disaster," said Nonis. "I think you have to make a decision based on what you think is the best decision for the organization, and this in our minds was clearly the best option.

"He was a guy we believe can get the job done for us. Whether optics are that it's the wrong thing to do or not doesn't really matter to us. If you're looking at trying to please people, you're probably going to make some poor decisions."

The Maple Leafs started the 2013-14 season on a 10-4-0 run, but Carlyle worried at the time that his team was getting away with sloppy play in the defensive zone.

Going into and coming out of the Olympic break, the Leafs were rolling despite being badly outshot on most nights. When they beat the Kings in Los Angeles on March 13, they were in second place in the division.

But starting goaltender Jonathan Bernier aggravated a groin injury that night, and though it was not considered serious at the time it proved to be devastating.

James Reimer lost five straight and was pulled March 23 against the New Jersey Devils before Bernier returned and lost three more. The final night of that losing streak, March 29 against the Detroit Red Wings, was effectively the death knell for Toronto's playoff hopes.

"This hockey club has proven at times to be able to compete to a higher level," said Carlyle. "The consistency of our compete in our defensive zone coverage was the area of concern right from the opening month of the season. We harped on it, harped on it, harped on it, yet we were winning with it."

Nonis made it clear that it was management's decision to clean out the assistant coaches. Carlyle had worked with Farrish since their days with the Anaheim Ducks, winning a Stanley Cup together in 2007.

"It's a tough day and those are tough ones," said Carlyle, who also played junior hockey with Farrish.

"The game of hockey is a great game, but the business side of hockey is an awful one. This is an awful day in our life, for our relationship between Dave Farrish and myself."

Nonis said that Carlyle would be consulted on the new assistant coaches, but added the decisions will be a collaborative effort.

Carlyle led Toronto to the playoffs last spring, but that run ended in disaster when the Leafs lost to the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference quarter-finals after blowing a three-goal, third-period lead in Game 7.

"I think that we showed for periods as a group last year and the year before that what the team is capable of it — that we have the ability to compete with top teams," said Nonis. "Why we got away from that at times, I think that's something we're going to focus on over the course of the summer to put some answers there."

Carlyle replaced the fired Ron Wilson in March of 2012, months after the Leafs' previous coach signed a new contract extension. He went 6-9-3 to finish out that season and then 26-17-5 in 2013 season. In parts of three seasons with Toronto, the Sudbury, Ont., native has a combined record of 70-62-16.

Nonis said it's easy to blame a coaching staff and management when things go south, but added that the players also have to take a lot of the responsibility for a season that went off the rails so dramatically.

"Our players have to be committed to do the things we did the year before that made us successful. The blame has to be spread around all of us," he said. "I think that we're going to come back in the fall and the players are going to know that this coaching staff is committed to doing the things that we need done to be successful and they are going to have to perform."

Report: Canadiens to part ways with Michael Ryder

Source : theglobleandmail.com

It appears Michael Ryder will be allowed to walk away from the Montreal Canadiens this summer.
According to a report in Le Journal de Montreal, Ryder's agent says the 33-year-old forward does not factor into general manager Marc Bergevin's offseason plans.

Ryder, who was in the final year of a two-year, $7-million contract he signed in 2011, is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 5.

Ryder had 10 goals and 21 points in 27 games with the Canadiens after being acquired in a trade with the Dallas Stars for Erik Cole. In the playoffs, he tallied one goal and one assist in the opening round loss to the Ottawa Senators.

Originally drafted by the Canadiens in 1998, Ryder spent his first four NHL seasons with the squad before joining the Boston Bruins as a free agent in 2008. Two years later, he was on the Bruins Stanley Cup winning team.

The Canadiens, meanwhile, signed forward prospect Tim Bozon to a three-year contract.
Bozon had 36 goals and 91 points and was plus-37 in 69 games for the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League this season.

The 19-year-old was drafted 64th overall by Montreal in 2012.

Bozon was born in St. Louis, where his father Philippe Bozon played for the Blues. The six-foot-one 185-pound forward played for France at the recently completed IIHF world championship, where he had one assist in five games.

In two seasons with Kamloops, he had 162 points in 140 games and was plus-64.