Nichols' Notes
/Love me some Kevin Weekes, especially when he talks about goaltending. He chatted with Sportsnet.ca's Luke Fox about some of the NHL netminding scenarios for 2015-14.
They cover Jonathan Bernier and James Reimer with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ryan Miller and Eddie Lack with the Vancouver Canucks, Martin Brodeur vs. Employment (nice line), the Carolina Hurricanes' situation of Cam Ward and Anton Khudobin, and also the backup slot for the Montreal Canadiens with Dustin Tokarski and Peter Budaj.
This is what Weekes had to say about Ben Scrivens vs. Viktor Fasth for the Edmonton Oilers.
“Scrivvy will win the starting job, but I like Viktor Fasth—he’s come a long way. He’s an older goalie.
“Once of the things that impressed me about Scrivens last year was how he’s worked his way through his progressions. A lot of people don’t know about the work Bill Ranford and Ken Dillabaugh put in with him in L.A. Once they traded [Toronto’s Jonathan Bernier] for him, they told him, ‘Hey, we think you can play and be an NHL guy, but you need to work on a few things.’ And they showed him those things.
“His footwork was better, his glove-hand positioning was better. He was more responsive in the net. His crease movement was better. As a result, he had an amazing season. When Quick, the best goalie in the world, went down, Ben Scrivens stepped in and almost played at a Jonathan Quick level.
“That one 59-save shutout he had against San Jose. Fuck. That was a Jordan-like performance. Any athlete in any sport in any part of the world who watches the highlights would be like, ‘Holy shit. That’s unbelievable.’ Clearly, he can do it.
“What impressed me was that he went to Edmonton, and there was no dropoff in his game. It’s one thing to do that with L.A.; it’s another to do that with the Oil—a team that doesn’t play D, that plays loose and fast, that doesn’t have a stud No. 1 or 2.
“I’ve been on those teams. Not everyone can play on them. A lot of goalies get buried out of the league after playing on those teams. Not him. He embraced it.”
(Incidentally, you can re-live Scrivens' stellar 59-save performance against the Sharks with a video compilation put together here by Sportsnet.)
Calgary Flames captain Mark Giordano joined Sportsnet 960 on Tuesday morning.
On being excited to get going at training camp:
“Yeah, really excited. Once August hits, you sort of get the nerves and training camp’s coming around. The guys we picked up, I think they’re great acquisitions with getting Jonas Hiller, Mason Raymond, Deryk Engelland, Brandon Bollig, all those guys are impact players in this league. I think our team is definitely taking a step in the right direction. Last year we felt good about the way we competed and played hard every night and I think we’re not going to surprise anyone this year in that aspect. I think we’re looking forward to taking the next step and we want to get up there and compete for a playoff spot now. I think we’re a better team today than we were last year at the end of the year, for sure.”
On how the mindset changes going into camp, knowing the Flames won’t be surprising teams this year:
“I think that’s the challenge for our team this year. It has to be the thing in the back of our mind going into camp. We have to push ourselves to that next level and almost try and top that hard work that we had last year. Come in and have a really camp. With our coaches, we know it’s going to be a tough grind through camp. It’s not a cakewalk by any means. So it’s going to be a tough camp. But we have to push ourselves to that next level and like you said, no one is going to be shocked that we’re going to be the hardest working team in the league this year, so we have to raise the bar again.”
How excited are you about the future of this hockey club, of which you’re the captain?
“Yeah, it’s great. Like you said, we have a lot of pieces and I think sometimes we don’t get enough credit. I think our young guys have stepped in and done a great job. Just off the top of my head, Monny is obviously the great example. Came in last year and really surprised a lot of people making our team, but didn’t surprise us. He’s so calm and his demeanour is so great. So I think we have a lot of great pieces. Taking Sam this year, and Johnny hopefully will crack the lineup. We’re going to be a team that has a bright future for sure.”
How can you help the young guys as the captain in that dressing room?
“The young guys nowadays come in so prepared and they’re so well-trained and focused. But I think the one thing you can do is, first of all you’ve got to try to lead by example. I think that’s the No. 1 thing. You can say whatever you want, but if you’re not playing well or showing them on the ice, it doesn’t go a long ways. But just to try to be calm and show them the up and downs, you try to stay even keel. I think Monny is great at that. He’s already head and shoulders above a lot of young kids that I’ve seen play. But just to be even-keeled. The ups and downs. You really can’t get too high in this league, or too low at any point for sure.”
Did you ever think you’d get to this spot where you’re the captain of an NHL team and a legit top-pairing defender at this level?
“The simple answer is no. It all happened really quick for me. When I went to Russia, I was a bubble guy. In and out of the lineup. That’s the reason I made that decision. I was just trying to play more at that point. The past few years have been great. Obviously being named captain of a team in the NHL is a huge, huge honour, but I love it. I love the role I’m in right now. I love our team. I think for me, for my career, I have a lot of room to get better for sure, too.”
Brent Sutter recently mentioned that even before he left, before Jarome Iginla had left, Sutter felt you had already solidified yourself as a leader in the room. How do you balance that with a guy like Jarome, who maybe kept to himself more than a lot of captains would?
“Brent was obviously a great coach and he really took a bunch of us aside, younger guys at the time, and told us ‘You guys have to embrace the leadership role and really try and step up.’ Iggy was the ultimate leader. He led by example. He always did the right things on and off the ice as far as taking care of his body. I learned a lot from him. Much like myself, you need a strong supporting cast. You need guys who step up and lead with you. That’s what I was trying to do at that time. Obviously never envisioned Iggy leaving or me being named captain at that time, but again, it happened all so quick. But I learned a lot. Just the way he treated people was something special to be around, for sure.
Are you born a leader, or do you grow into it?
“No, I think you definitely grow into it. Like I said, playing with a lot of great veteran guys over the years really helps. Your supporting cast. We have guys on our team who buy in and don’t question anything really and work hard. We’re a blue collar team. We’re a hard-working team and it just reflects on me as captain. It makes me look a lot better. But at the end of the day, it’s about the guys for sure.”
Toward the end of the interview, the talk shifted toward the light-hearted side of shooting the television commercials Giordano does - including ones for ATB Financial with Edmonton Oilers star Jordan Eberle. Both players spend a lot of time in Calgary in the summer and Eberle was actually just interviewed the other day, mentioning that he and his immediate family all live fairly close to each other there.
"Ebs is a great guy," Giordano said. "We get along. In the summers we're good buddies, but as soon as that season starts, it changes pretty quick. We've had fun with it. We've done a few good commercials. We did a trick shot one last year where they had to computer-generate all his trick shots and mine I did on my own. (Laughs) Sort of let him know about that. But no, it's a great time. We have fun with it for sure."
The Winnipeg Jets and Michael Frolik reached a one-year, $3.3 million deal on Tuesday, which avoided the arbitration hearing that had been set for Thursday of this week.
"We talked about a lot of different concepts and spent a lot of time together, Chevy and I," Frolik’s agent, Allan Walsh, told Gary Lawless of The Free Press. "We talked about a two-year deal, a three-year deal, a four-year deal and a five-year deal. We spent most of our time talking about a one-year deal and a five-year deal. That’s what the last week of our discussions focused on. All of our discussions were professional and never were there any harsh words or animosity in any way.
"It was a pleasure working with them every day. We worked hard on a five-year deal and at the end of the day, we couldn’t get there. For now. But I want to make it very clear, Michael loves Winnipeg. He loves playing in Winnipeg. Michael told Winnipeg that he would love to sign long term and be part of what is getting built in Winnipeg. Clearly, it’s been mutually expressed that there is a strong desire to get something done. We expect to begin talking again and get something done well before the end of the season. That’s our hope and our intention."
An extension could be signed as early as January.
Brian Elliott will head into training camp with the St. Louis Blues with the No. 1 goaltending job, although Jake Allen is more than capable of getting on a roll and eating into that start total. Regardless, it’s a good feeling for Elliott to finally be the go-to guy and he tells The Post-Dispatch’s Jeremy Rutherford that his summer workouts have had more energy because of it.
“You do get a little bit of the feeling that if I do this extra push-up, this extra pull-up, maybe it’ll be an extra save here or there that can help down the road,” Elliott said. “I think every little bit helps and sometimes when you have that extra goal in mind, it helps you to push through the grind.
“I don’t know if that’s mental, but I’m just excited about the opportunity. I’ve been on the ice earlier than usual and in the weight room, pushing around a little more weights than usual. Every day I go into a workout with a smile on my face and ready to go. When you do have a little more responsibility, you want to take your lunch pail and get ready to work.”
Good quotes in the article about Elliott’s thoughts on how he and Allen will be using each other as a ‘sounding board’ throughout the season, which will be beneficial to each netminder.