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Meltzer's Musings: VandeVelde, Wheat Kings, Zezel and More

May 26, 2016, 12:29 PM ET [379 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
MELTZER'S MUSINGS: MAY 26, 2016

1) One of the most common gripes that fans make -- regardless of team loyalties -- is to wonder aloud why certain players, usually low-scoring defensive players with negative puck possession stats, stay in the lineup over certain other players.
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In the case of Flyers left winger Chris VandeVelde, it's because he has decent size while also being a pretty good skater, does the small things well without the puck and makes safe plays when he does have the puck. The team also likes how he works in conjunction with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Ryan White on the forecheck as well as being part of the penalty killing units.

Additionally, his Flyers teammates would tell you that VandeVelde is a good communicator on the ice, which is important for everyone but vital for checkers. He was selected to wear a mic for NHL LiveWire during Game Five of the Flyers' series with the Capitals.



Every NHL coach has certain favored role players. There's been a tendency over the last year to regard University of North Dakota alum VandeVelde as sort of a latter day Jody Hull to former UND head coach Dave Hakstol's Roger Neilson. While it does seem clear that Hakstol is very comfortable and trusting of the player in his assigned role, it should also be pointed out that predecessor Craig Berube also came to like VandeVelde and dressed him in 72 games during the 2014-15 season.

Flyers GM Ron Hextall is the one who brought VandeVelde to the organization in the first place. Three years ago, incoming assistant general manager brought former Edmonton Oilers forward Chris VandeVelde to the Flyers organization on an AHL contract. A late cut from Craig Berube's training camp in 2013, VandeVelde eventually had his AHL deal replaced by a two-way NHL contract and he dressed in 18 games with the Flyers along with 41 for the Phantoms during the 2013-14 season before he became an NHL regular the following season.

VandeVelde's critics have said that he's an offensive black hole in the lineup. While it should be pointed out that VandeVelde is not in the lineup to score goals and, therefore, should not be the main way in which his performance is measured, it would be nice if he'd chip in a time or two each month.

At the NHL level, VandeVelde is a typical case of someone who had been a decent but not overwhelming offensive contributor at the game's lower levels (collegiate and AHL hockey in his case) who had to find another niche to stick at the top level. Even so, he is capable of producing at least modestly more than he did this year. Even Kent Manderville of 122-game goal drought infamy (and whose career was affected by a hand injury that permanently affected his shooting ability) used to get about five goals a season for much of his NHL career.

Two seasons ago under Berube, VandeVelde surprisingly racked up seven goals pretty quickly -- including a three-game goal streak at one point -- but finished with nine as he scored twice over his final 30 games of the season. This past season, on 77 shots on goal, he scored just twice (a 2.6% shooting percentage that does not account for shots that missed the net, hit the post or got blocked). VandeVelde did not tally at all after his shorthanded goal in St. Louis on Dec. 22, although he did score an empty net goal to seal Game 5 of the Washington series.

VandeVelde has one season to run on his contract (with a $712,500 cap hit). While no such as absolute job security exists for a player in his role -- every season there is competition for those spots -- he is a known quantity to Hakstol and his job seems relatively safe for another year.

2) A stellar season that saw the Brandon Wheat Kings win the Western Hockey League championship came to a disappointing conclusion on Wednesday night as the team was ousted from the Memorial Cup with a 2-1 overtime loss to the tournament host Red Deer Rebels (a fellow WHL team). The Wheat Kings finished round-robin play winless after an opening loss to the QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (featuring Flyers defense prospect Philippe Myers) and a 9-1 humiliation at the hands of the undefeated OHL champion and Memorial Cup pre-tournament favorite London Knights.

Flyers 2015 first-round pick Ivan Provorov was even in plus-minus with four shots on goal in the Red Deer game. He finished the Memorial Cup with two assists and a minus-four (plus-two, minus-six) in three games.

3) Today marks the seven-year anniversary of the passing of Peter Zezel to a rare blood disorder called Hemolytic Anemia.

Zezel was one of the most popular Philadelphia athletes of the mid-to-late 1980s. There was a lot more to Zezel than just being a skilled hockey player who was a fan favorite wherever he played and a teenage heartthrob around the Delaware Valley. Zezel was also a gem of a human being; charitable, caring, fun-loving, humorous, loyal to family and friends and always putting the needs of others above himself.

Have you ever read stories that pop up from time to time about athletes who surprise young fans by showing at their schools or accepting personal invites? Zezel quite often did those sorts of things, simply because he had a heart of gold especially where kids were concerned.

Bob Clarke tells a story, which will be recounted in Jay Greenberg's 50th Anniversary History of the Philadelphia Flyers, how his own daughter Jody refused to speak to him for days after the general manager traded Zezel to the St. Louis Blues. Such was Zezel's popularity in those days.

When an anti-drunk driving public service announcement was filmed with prominent athletes from the four major Philadelphia pro sports teams, Zezel was the Flyers' representative along with Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt, 76ers forward Julius "Dr. J" Erving and Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Mike Quick. The other three were iconic players of their era; perennial All-Stars and Hall of Fame stratosphere players. Zezel wasn't that level of a hockey player but was simply a beloved player of the time.



In the top section of today's blog, I talked about how coaches tend to have certain favorite players. It would have shocked Zezel back in the mid-1980s to know just how much Mike Keenan came to like and trust him on the ice. That's because Keenan was absolutely brutal to Zezel in his treatment of the player. Zezel, in fact, was one of Iron Mike's primary whipping boys.

However, the Zezel-Keenan relationship was a complicated and dynamic one.

When Pelle Lindbergh died on Nov. 10, 1985, Zezel went straight to the coach at the hospital and it was quite literally Keenan's shoulder that a weeping Zezel cried on that horrible day. Years later, when Keenan made stops in St. Louis and Vancouver, he brought Zezel along to play on his team. It should also be said that Zezel's best years (61 points in 65 games as a rookie in 1984-85, 33 goals and 72 points in 71 games in 1986-87) were played under Keenan.

One of the saddest memories of my life was reading some of the online comments made after Zezel made an appearance during a Flyers-Maple Leaf game in Toronto about a year before his death. Seemingly unaware of his many health problems by that point and the effects of the medication he took, there were numerous snide comments about Zezel's bloated appearance and weight gain. He deserved better than that, but thankfully the expressions of support far outnumbered the cruel ones.



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