If Barry Trotz is hired as the next head coach of the Washington Capitals, he will have gone full circle. His first NHL job was as a pro scout for the Caps in the late 1980s and he coached their farm club for five years before joining the Nashville Predators. Getting a coach on board before a general manager is doing it backwards, but they did get Ron Wilson before George McPhee was brought in as GM in 1997. I can’t imagine Trotz wouldn’t want to know who the GM will be though. He’s worked with Ray Shero and Paul Fenton in Nashville.
One highly connected scout says the Florida Panthers are as interested in Nikolaj Ehlers, the flashy Danish left-winger who plays with the Halifax Mooseheads in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, as they are in Swedish right-winger William Nylander. The Panthers figure they could get Ehlers or Nylander in the No. 5-6 range, so would move back in a trade from No. 1, but we’ll see if the New York Islanders are up for dealing the fifth pick. The Isles need a bigger forward like Michael Dal Colle. “I think Dale (Tallon, Florida’s GM) sees Ehlers as Patrick Kane,” said the scout. Ehlers, who played junior hockey in Switzerland, is 162 pounds, but at five-foot-11, probably could put on 10-12 pounds. The Chicago Blackhawks’ Kane weighs 181, but was about 170 when he drafted was Tallon in 2007.
Players are severely reprimanded now for abuse of officials. Daniel Carcillo’s 10-game suspension for clipping linesman Scott Driscoll with an elbow as he was being led to the penalty box is tame stuff compared to the 1980s mayhem. How about Boston Bruins winger Terry O’Reilly getting the same 10 games for throwing a wild right cross (with his glove on) at referee Andy Vanhellemond at the end of a NHL playoff game with the Quebec Nordiques in 1982. Now that was total disrespect for an official. By the way, the Hall of Fame ref just ducked out of the way.
Lots of teams missed out on Curtis Lazar in the 2013 draft, with the Edmonton Oil Kings centre/winger going 17th overall to the Ottawa Senators. The San Jose Sharks had a sweater with his name bar at the draft floor, but the Senators grabbed him one spot ahead of them. “He’ll be a second-line winger or a great third-line centre because he’s such a good two-way player and that’s unusual for juniors,” said one western-based amateur scout. It was a great draft crop, but it’s hard to believe there were nine forwards better than Lazar.
If Trotz gets the Caps’ job, Los Angeles Kings assistant coach John Stevens goes to the head of the list in Vancouver for the Canucks’ coaching job, with Boston’s Doug Houda and Texas Stars coach Willie Desjardins longer shots. Stevens was head coach with the Philadelphia Flyers before joining the Kings.
The Flyers hope former coach Peter Laviolette likes Vincent Lecavalier enough to convince Predators GM David Poile to trade for him, although Philadelphia might have to eat part of the $16.5 million left over four years on his contract. Lecavalier never fit with Laviolette’s successor, Craig Berube. Philly has to clear money to sign a left-winger to play with Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek. Thomas Vanek, Mike Cammalleri and Milan Michalek are the best unrestricted free-agent options.
Calgary Hitmen winger Jake Virtanen, who could have been a top-10 pick in June, might drop now that he’s out four to six months to repair a labrum tear in his shoulder. Virtanen was hurt in a senseless fight late in the regular season. “The player yanked on Virtanen’s shoulder,” said TSN director of scouting Craig Button, who thinks NHL teams will need medical evidence as to how much damage is in the shoulder before taking Virtanen. Virtanen follows Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2012 first-rounder Derrick Pouliot, who’s also had surgery for wear and tear. “There’s 72 (league) games, the world junior, playoffs. Over 100 games. He’s playing 25 minutes a night,” Button said of the Portland Winterhawks defenceman.
Button wonders if the Penguins will have to go to the well to keep defenceman Matt Niskanen, with Olli Maatta (shoulder operation), one of the NHL’s best rookies last season, and Pouliot, their best prospect, both out until possibly November. Maatta’s injury, as Button said, is a case of a kid playing against “mature men” with all the twisting and turning and shoving and pushing D-men go through.
