Plauderecke » ing year, Roy credits Canadiens fans for wel

Scott Cullen takes a look at the top stories from December 13th through December 19th, including the Edmonton Oilers, gifts for Canadas World Juniors, Winnipegs ridiculous run of injuries on defence, the winning Maple Leafs and more. HERE COME THE OILERS The Edmonton Oilers fired head coach Dallas Eakins after a 16-game stretch during which they won just once. Despite improved underlying numbers -- the Oilers score-adjusted Corsi% had climbed from 43.7% last season to 48.8% this season -- ultimately the results werent any better and it was decided that a coaching change was the way to go. Todd Nelson was promoted from Oklahoma City to take the interim job. This is where is gets tricky. Those underlying numbers could be indications of improved play that have simply been unrealized in the standings because of abysmal percentages. They rank 28th in the league in shooting percentage (7.3%) and 30th in save percentage (88.8%) and its extremely difficult to overcome those percentage failings. Was Dallas Eakins doing something to inhibit the Oilers shooting or save percentages? Not likely, but it still cost him his job.The funny part of it is that odds are the Oilers wont likely maintain such low percentages all year long, so improvement is inevitable, but theyre in such a hole now that it isnt likely to matter. There are a few related tangents here. One is that the Oilers, notably, hired analytics blogger Tyler Dellow in the summer, making more of an effort to apply analytics to their decision-making process and improved possession stats might suggest that there has been progress that makes it worth staying on the path, but if the Oilers are hurtling towards another high lottery pick, could that halt their foray into analytics before it has a legitimate chance to take hold? More interesting was the idea brought up by Darren Dreger that Taylor Hall could be in play as a trade chip if the Oilers are going to make a franchise-altering change. Its difficult to sell the notion that the Oilers would be made better by trading a 23-year-old winger who has 148 points in 147 games since the start of 2012-2013, but if the Oilers are going to secure legitimate high-end help at centre and defence, they arent going to find those solutions by moving secondary talents. The next part of that Hall discussion is who is going to make that decision? Is Craig MacTavish secure enough in the GM role going forward to be given that responsibility? With all of these interesting side stories, the Oilers are going to be a compelling team to watch (more off-the-ice than on) as the trade deadline and draft lottery approach, but its going to be another long also-ran season. CANADAS WORLD JUNIORS GET GIFTS FROM NHL TEAMS In a somewhat unusual turn of events, Team Canada was loaned two players on NHL roster for the World Junior Hockey Championship. The New York Rangers offered up left winger Anthony Duclair, the 2013 third-round pick who had seven points (1 G, 6 A) and positive possession (50.8% Corsi) in 18 games with the Blueshirts. Duclair scored 50 goals and 99 points in 59 games for Quebec in the QMJHL last season. The Ottawa Senators then made Curtis Lazar available for the tournament. Lazar had seven points (1 G, 6 A) and 47.9% Corsi in 27 games for the Senators. Lazar had 76 points (41 G, 35 A) in 58 games and scored the Memorial Cup-winning goal for Edmonton in the WHL. Both Lazar and Duclair are nice additions that will improve Canadas chances at the gold medal, and the decisions are justifiable in both cases, but its unusual for NHL teams to release players that have been playing regularly in the NHL. MUMPS The plague of the league this season made its way to the face of the league as Sidney Crosby was sidelined. Crosbys back in the lineup now, but Rangers centre Derick Brassard, and Penguins defenceman Olli Maatta are the latest to get diagnosed with mumps and now every time that a player misses practice with an illness, the suspicion goes straight to mumps. What a time we live in. WINNING LEAFS Since the debacle of losing 9-2 on home ice against Nashville, the Toronto Maple Leafs have ripped off a 10-2-1 record, winning six straight before Thursday nights loss at Carolina. While theres lots to be gained by banking those points, the Maple Leafs have travelled this road before; the road being one in which the team wins a bunch of games in a short span while getting outshot. Since November 18th, Torontos scored-adjusted Corsi is 44.5%, which ranks 28th in the league, ahead of Columbus (44.1%) and Buffalo (37.4%). To his credit, Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle has recognized these warning signs -- even in the midst of a winning streak -- but once the challenges are recognized, there remains the issue of fixing what ails this club if they are going to have long-term success because, as the Maple Leafs have found out in recent seasons, percentage-fueled runs can come crashing down in a hurry. JETS DEFENCE CRUSHED BY INJURIES When the Winnipeg Jets announced a few weeks ago that they would need to shift Dustin Byfuglien back from forward to defence in the wake of injuries to Tobias Enstrom and Zach Bogosian, that seemed like a reasonable solution to the significant problem of having two top defenceman out with injuries. Then second-year rising star blueliner Jacob Trouba was deemed to be out until February. That left the Jets missing their top three defencemen and, with barely a moment to figure out roster solutions to this dilemma, they lost Mark Stuart to a long-term injury as well. Byfuglien, who has played most of the year at forward, is the only one of the Jets top five defencemen (by time on ice) that is healthy enough to play right now. The Jets sent a sixth-round pick to Carolina to get veteran Jay Harrison, so that adds a proven NHLer to the mix, but some credit should be given to Grant Clitsome, Adam Pardy, Paul Postma and call-up Ben Chiarot, who have managed to hold the fort during the initial siege. WILL IT EVER END? The Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers set a new NHL record going 20 rounds in Tuesdays 2-1 win before Nick Bjugstad, in his second attempts, ended the proceedings. What made it more compelling is that it wasnt unabashed scoring futility, as each team scored five times before Bjugstads turn, it just so happened that the goals all occurred in the same rounds. For all the justified efforts to reduce the impact of the shootout on the NHL standings, every so often it can produce a memorable moment. FLAMES SIGN HARTLEY On December 4, the Calgary Flames were 17-8-3, the toast of the NHL as the leagues biggest surprise team through the first couple months. In a related story, the Flames had a 102.0 PDO (shooting percentage plus save percentage at 5-on-5), the third-highest mark in the league. Then, they lost their next six games, with a PDO of 94.6 -- the regression that was reasonably expected -- and the Flames still signed head coach Bob Hartley to a two-year contract extension. Bob Hartley may very well be a good coach. He doesnt have a ton of talent on that Flames roster and all indications are that the Flames are a hard-working bunch, but if Hartley wasnt benefitting from those favourable percentages early, the Flames could be a lot closer to the Oilers and, well, we know how that played out. A FINE DEAL Nashville right winger James Neal was fined $2,000 for diving, the first player docked for embellishment. The fine doesnt mean much -- $2,000 is pocket change to a player making $5-million this season -- but the public shaming is noteworthy. It should be enough to curb behaviour, but it will be interesting to see whether referees respond to players that end up being on notice for diving publicly. Will Neal draw noticeably fewer penalties going forward? To this point in the season, hes drawn 11 in 30 games (0.37 per game). KHL CRASHING? As the Russian ruble is losing value at an alarming rate, it appears that there are major changes on the horizon for the KHL. The league was already a questionable financial proposition, not drawing enough fans to pay multi-million dollar salaries but relying on significant influx of money from energy companies, a situation that isnt quite so tenable given the current fiscal climate. Reporter Slava Malamud has plenty of information on the likely changes, which will include reducing the number of teams in both the KHL and the Russian junior league. While Malamud said on TSN Radio that he expects Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Radulov to still get their money as high-profile faces of the league, this will reduce any kind of leverage that players have been able to use with the NHL when negotiating deals. As for teams looking for immediate help, any players that have played in the KHL this season will have to clear waivers in order to join an NHL club, so while its not impossible, it would likely be very difficult. VOYNOV TESTIMONY The Slava Voynov saga took an uglier turn this week when testimony was finally given at a preliminary hearing and the details were as bad as one might expect. A Redondo Beach police officer testified that Voynov threw his wife to the ground, kicked her, choked her, and then pushed her into a flat-screen television, opening a cut that required stitches to close. It painted a graphic portrait of what is alleged to have occurred and doesnt offer much reason to expect Voynov to play for the Los Angeles Kings any time soon. The potential fallout from this incident could be considerable, a more complicated scenario because Voynov isnt a U.S. citizen and could be deported if he is convicted of these charges. Adrian Dantley Jersey . "It was awesome," he said. Coming off an ugly three-game sweep at the hands of the Yankees, Toronto found itself in a deep hole early after the Reds put an eight spot up on starter Liam Hendriks (six runs in 1 2/3 innings pitched) and Todd Redmond in the second. Jonas Jerebko Jersey . I wondered how NHL coaches would feel about a playoff schedule that allowed them to open a best-of-seven series on the road, which many claim to favour, yet still gave them the precious home-ice edge for a seventh game. http://www.cheapjazzjerseys.info/Authent...on-Jazz-Jersey/. Nick Holden scored two goals and had an assist and the Avalanche held off the Nashville Predators 5-4 Saturday night for their fourth straight victory. Grayson Allen Jersey . Felix Pie had an RBI double earlier in the inning, as Baltimore rallied for three runs to overcome a 3-2 deficit. J.J. Hardy had two hits and Matt Wieters chipped in with an RBI double for the Orioles, who pushed their winning streak to three games. Jeff Hornacek Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla.With his Colorado Avalanche set to take on the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night, it slipped coach Patrick Roys mind that his number hangs from the rafters at the Bell Centre. "I forgot," said Roy. "See how focused I am for the game?" Of course, the legendary Habs netminder was kidding. "I made sure it was there with no dust on it," Roy joked about his banner that was raised in 2008. Roy, with his Avalanche firmly in possession of a playoff spot, returns to Montreal as a coach for the first time with plenty of Jack Adams buzz surrounding him. The first-year coach has his Avalanche sitting in second place in the Central Division, six points behind the St. Louis Blues, with a shot at the Presidents Trophy. It was in Quebec with the QMJHLs Remparts that Roy got his coaching start and credits his time there with getting him ready for the rigours of an NHL job and how to relate to his players. "The days with the Remparts prepared me really well and helped me a lot," said Roy. "I think that this is a group that needs positivity and its easy for me to be positive because they work so hard." Known for never blowing up at his team during intermissions, Roy doesnt see the need for post-period tirades. "Theres nothing you can do about the first or second, its what you can do in the third," he said. The first year for a coach in the NHL is always a major learning experience and rookie bench bosses tend to fail a lot more than they succeed.dddddddddddd Roy credits an understanding with his players as to why he is thriving. "We based our relationships in trust and respect and a partnership," explained. The 48-year-old Sainte-Foy, Quebec says hes made sure that his return to Montreal will be focused on getting two points for his Avalanche and that Tuesdays game isnt about him. "I was trying to not think too much about it," said Roy. "I tried to have a simple approach to this game. I dont try to put myself ahead of the team. Its not about me, its about them. They deserve the credit for our success and theyre reason for why we are where we are." Any enmity that lingered after Roys acrimonious exit from the Canadiens in 1995 is long gone, says the four-time Stanley Cup-winner. "It didnt really last very long for me," said Roy. "Its been behind me for a long time, but it takes two to dance sometimes." With his number retired in 2008 and his participation in the teams centennial ceremony the following year, Roy credits Canadiens fans for welcoming him back with open arms, citing calls for him to coach the team in 2012 prior to the re-hiring of Michel Therrien. "It was nice to see that the past was behind us and we could move on," said Roy. "For the ego, it feels good." The Habs host the Avalanche on Tuesday at 7:30pm et. Catch all of the action live on TSN Canadiens or listen on TSN Radio 690. 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