Sutter Resigns, Devilish Problems, and Wiz Trade Shows Isles Colors

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Written on 12/29/2010 by Jim Cerny

With much news in hockey land of late, here is a smorgasbord of the most important doings the past few days, and my quick take on each.

Daryl Sutter Resigns as GM of the Flames

This was not a shock, and probably could have/should have happened this past summer. The Flames are a midling team at present---one stuck with 11 no-trade/no-movement contracts---with a weak farm system after one poor draft after another.

That falls on the general manager. And as such, with the Flames sitting in 14th place in the Western Conference, it was no suprise that team president Ken King asked for--and received---Sutter's resignation.

But all that said, I don't understand the level of vitriol that has been sent Sutter's way, in general, by the hockey media, not to mention the glee with which Sutter's resignation has been reported.

Sutter is no bouyant personality, never looking to be quick with a joke or to banter with media folk. I get that. But I also understand that he made a series of bold moves earlier in the decade to turn Calgary back into a relevant franchise again, one that was within a controversial call of winning the Stanley Cup.

Under his stewardship---both as general manager and head coach---the Flames became a profitable organization once again, not to mention a contender on a regular basis. That needs to be recognized as part of Daryl Sutter's record as much as his recent head-scratching moves and lack of on-ice success the past couple of years.

As for the bottom line, the Flames are in good hands with interim GM Jay Feaster, a solid hockey man, in charge for now. But it will take time to clean up this mess, what with untradeable veterans and less-than high-end prospects in the organization.

Devil of  a Time in New Jersey

John Maclean finally got the boot as coach of the Devils, with Lou Lamoriello dropping the axe right before Christmas on one of the organization's most popular and devoted all-time individuals. The move was as justified---the Devils are shockingly last overall in the 30-team National Hockey League---as it was disrespectfully timed.

That Jacques Lemaire was brought back in by Lamoriello to coach this mess of a team, mere months after an exhausted Lemaire retired as bench boss in Jersey following a first-round playoff pasting at the hands of the Flyers, is either a desperate move, a convenient move, or a move of a man who could think of no other move.

Nonetheless Lamoriello now has to figure out how to purge salary from his Cap-stressed roster and begin to look towards how to fix things in time for next season. He is all but begging some other team to claim Brian Rolston on re-entry waivers by noon tomorrow---a move that would save the Devils half of Rolston's $5 million salary this year and next.

That is the only beginning, though. Lamoriello has a helluva' lot more work to do than that. And while purging salary, he needs to find a way to be creative and get Zach Parise---the injured, yet soon-to-be-star-free-agent---signed this summer, and then attempt to rebuild his awful defense corps while getting Parise, Ilya Kovalchuk, Travis Zajac and the like to score like they used to.

I spoke with a Devils staffer today at the Prudential Center and he wore the blank look of someone shellshocked by what has happened this season. As that Devils employee and I said to one another, seasons like this always have seemed to happen to other teams---pretty much every other team in the NHL, actually---just not to the Devils.

Now that it has happened to the Devils, Lamoriello and the organization do not seem to know how to slow down the snowball that has swiftly descended the negative slope.

And thus they are buried in an avalanche of a mess.

Islanders Trade Wisniewski to Canadiens

On the surface the Islanders trade of defenseman James Wisniewski to the Montreal Canadiens for two draft picks, including a second rounder, seems like a win-win for both clubs.

The Islanders are not in playoff contention and they turned the servicable Wisniewski into a pair of draft picks.

The Canadiens are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, battling for their playoff lives with a string of other teams, and could use veteran help on the blueline, especially now that the club has seemed to decide that rookie PK Subban is not quite ready for a regular role among the top six defensemen.

But what irks me about this trade is that I get a nagging feeling that the Islanders just wanted to drop more salary from their payroll. That Charles Wang is in Garth Snow's ear telling him to drop even closer to the Cap floor, though I don't know how much further down they can go before falling through that floor.

I spoke with a respected veteran NHL person "in the know" today and he said exactly what I was thinking, "At some point you have to stop selling this notion of the future, the future, and start showing something in the present. This guy (Wisniewski) is no star, but he was vital to that team. In my opinion this was all about shedding more salary and continuing to sell the idea that stockpiling draft picks and prospects is the way to go."

Couldn't agree more. It's almost like a street-card game of Three Card Monty. Keep shuffling in a fast deceiving way, keep offering hope, but never deliver the goods.

And so it goes on The Island...

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Modano and Gagne Return Home

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Written on 10/15/2010 by Jim Cerny

I found it quite interesting that Philadelphia and its fans gave a warmer reception to ex-Flyer Simon Gagne upon his return to The City of Brotherly Love last night with his new team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, than the Dallas organization gave Mike Modano (photo) upon his return with his new club, the Detroit Red Wings, also last night.

Gagne, who was a salary cap casualty this summer being shipped to Tampa after ten seasons with the Flyers, received a long ovation during his first shift and then a sustained standing ovation at the conclusion of a moving video highlighting his career was shown on the scoreboard during a play stoppage.

Modano, the 40 year-old sure-bet Hall of Famer who spent the first 20 seasons of his career with the Stars---both in Minnesota and then in Dallas---decided to continue his career this season after signing with rival Detroit during the summer. Last night the fans treated him with love, but the Stars organization simply chose to put his picture on the scoreboard with a simple "Thank You Mike" message.

Perhaps the Stars organization, including GM Joe Nieuwendyk---a former teammate and good friend of Modano's---felt that proper tributes took place in Modano's final home game in Dallas last April and that both sides have moved on. If so, that was a mistake because the fans turned out to salute Modano last night, and the organization should have done so, as well.

Modano said afterwards that he is relieved to get on with the rest of the season now. With one goal and a -2 plus/minus so far, Modano still is looking to find his footing with the Red Wings.

Same goes for Gagne, the reluctant Bolt, who is pointless and a -4 in three games for Tampa Bay.

Here are two excellent takes on Modano's return to Dallas and Gagne's return to Philly.

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A few other NHL observations:

The Islanders are fun to watch: No Mark Streit...no Kyle Okposo...no John Tavares...no James Wisniewski...No Problem! This hungry and gritty team does not quit and they play an entertaining in-your-face style, plus these kids are growing up and learning to score. There may be a lot of 5-4 games in their future, but who says that's a bad thing? Rally from two down to force overtime against Dallas. Rally from 4-3 down late in third to beat the Rangers 6-4. Lead Washington for a long stretch of the game only to lose 2-1 on the road without four of their best players. It's early, but these guys really may be a pain in the ass to play against this year.

Minnesota Turns Up The Power: The Wild picked up their first win of the season last night, using four man-up goals to power past Edmonton 4-2. I tuned in on Center Ice mainly to get a look at Edmonton's talented kids---Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, Magnus Paajarvi---and instead had my eyes fixed on Minnesota's captain Mikko Koivu all night. His play was inspirational, leading his club back from a 2-1 hole to the 4-2 victory, not just scoring the tying and winning goals, but there was a look in his eyes that all great leaders have. The Wild needed someone to be a difference maker, and Koivu made sure that it would be him.

Hey! What Is This, the NFL or NBA?: A bit of a rough week publicity-wise for the NHL. Isles d-man James Wisniewski graphically shows Sean Avery what he can do with his, um, stick in full view of fans and TV cameras to become a YouTube sensation. Stars forward Mike Ribiero and his wife are arrested for an incident outside a Dallas bar. Thank goodness news broke that Brett Favre took pictures of his crotch and sent them to a Jets employee a couple of years ago, and that Sports Illustrated's cover story is about an agent decsribing how he illegally paid off college football players, or else people might start confusing the NHL with the NFL or NBA!

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Avery Not The Bad Guy This Time

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Written on 10/12/2010 by Jim Cerny

Listen, probably too much breath and too many words have been wasted already on the incident yesterday involving Islanders defenseman James Wisniewski and Rangers forward Sean Avery.


Bottom line is two guys, playing hard in an intense game, jawed at each other---with much smack, I'm sure, spewed back and forth---and then Wisniewski unfortunately decided to make an obscene gesture/act, repeatedly I might add.

If the referees had done the right thing---the officials clearly had to see what Wisniewski was doing, as you can tell from the video clip I posted---and penalized the Isles d-man for unsportsmanlike conduct then this would be a minor story---vulgar, but minor.

The issue is that the referees chose to ignore Wisniewski, and his act went unpenalized, leading to the inevitable anger from Avery after the game, from which this story really grew legs to become one of the top stories from around the league today.

I was there when a calm, but clearly irritated, Avery said after the game, "It was pretty obvious what happened...it's interesting that you'd get a warning (from the refs) for something like that...can you imagine if I did that (said with sarcastic laugh)...they sent me to rehab the last time I did something like that...it's crazy."

I am not an Avery apologist, and it's not like I have any kind of personal relationship with Sean, just a professional one. His past transgressions, as well as his rap sheet, is well documented.

But he is right. What the heck would have happened if Sean had made the same obscene gesture to Wisniewski? Would the officials have looked the other way as they did on Monday? Not a chance.

I'm not insinuating that the refs are out to get Avery, though I will say that when he returned from his suspension and counseling two years ago, clearly plays involving Sean were ruled on a different standard. But I don't think that was the case last year, and I don't foresee it to be that way this year.

The refs just blew it with Wisniewski yesterday. And as such it has become a bigger story than it likely would have been had there been a penalty called.

Today Hockey Night in Canada analyst, and former NHL player, coach, and GM, Mike Milbury made himself part of the story by shifting the focus away from Wisniewski's ill-advised actions and instead focusing on why he believes Avery is a discredit to the league.

Here's a snippet of Milbury's comments: "Here we are we're talking about Avery again, not because he made a great backhanded pass to set up the game-winning goal, but because he's part of another unsavory incident. It's like watching a car wreck. You know it's not going to be pretty but you can't seem to turn away from it until you've had a look."

News Flash to Mr. Milbury: Avery did not make the obscene gesture. It's Wisniewski who disgraced himself.

Is Sean a saint? Hell no. Is he an agitator to the max? Absolutely. But agitating is part of the game, always has been, always will be. C'mon, Milbury was a pretty good agitator with his play and his mouth while manning the Bruins blueline back in the day. And Milbury the GM/Coach would have LOVED having Sean Avery on his side.

So why all the hatred now?

Funny that Milbury mentioned about Sean not making a great pass for a game-winning goal. Great timing, Mike. Avery had two assists on opening night in Buffalo, including a perfect feed from behind the net on Derek Stepan's third goal of the game. Guess he missed that, huh? And maybe Mike missed that Avery has been one of the two or three best players throughout camp, pre-season, and the first two games for the Rangers.

Don't know which is worse, Milbury's misdirected tirade or the referees' blown call.

Follow Me on Twitter at: @jimcerny and @thenyrangers

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