I was trying to find the right words yesterday when I saw that the Toronto Maple Leafs had given coach Randy Carlyle a two-year contract extension. Here's a great take from Brad Ziemer:
I'm so surprised that it looks like Sheriff Shanny's plan of attack appears to be staying the course in Toronto. But there's one more guy re-upping with his current team—an unlikely one at that. The trend continues...
But James Reimer *has* worn out his welcome in Toronto, right? They're a Bernier team now, yes? The fact that he lost to France in Team Canada's opening game at the World Championships won't have any bearing on his future, will it?
Yep. Captain Kevin Bieksa is now 0-0-1-0 in international competition after Canada fell 3-2 to France in the shootout. (The World Championships use the 3-2-1-0 formula, so France gets two points for the win and Canada gets one for the shootout loss). The spotlight lands on Reimer because he allowed the only goal of the shootout, but why was the game even close?
France is 12th in the IIHF worldwide ranking, but they did upset Russia by a score of 2-1 last year, and they're working with a very strong ex-NHL goalie in Cristobal Huet. They also exposed Canada's penalty-killing, with Stephane Da Costa scoring both goals in regulation on the power play.
Bieksa and Jason Garrison played top defensive minutes and were on the ice for France's first goal, while Alex Burrows played 12:18, with no shots on goal.
Slow starts are not especially unusual in international competition, as teams find a way to work together, so I won't panic just yet. For the most part, this is a very young Canadian team without a lot of international experience—a far cry from the gold medal crew from February.
Next up: Slovakia on Saturday morning, at the more civilized hour of 10:45 a.m.
Naslund in Town? And Other Rumors
With no concrete information about the Canucks' search for a coach or general manager, lots of rumors are bouncing about.
Jim Benning's name continues to be the one that's circulating most aggressively. Maybe Trevor Linden met with him last week—while Boston was off between series? That could actually make some sense.
Or, did he meet with him on Wednesday? This seems less likely to me: I'd think he has things to do while Boston is playing hockey...
Of course, the Bruins catapulted themselves back into their series in overtime last night, so the wait could continue if he is, indeed, the man.
Botchford picks up on my thoughts from yesterday about whether a prime candidate would actually choose to come to Vancouver, laying out the pros and cons of Vancouver vs. Washington for the general manager's position.
Click here for the blow-by-blow comparison. It's good food for thought.
As I've said before, I'm not super-excited about Benning—mostly because I'm not impressed with the draft record in Boston since he joined the group after the 2006 draft. That being said, the Bruins have certainly made some bold trades during that time: both the Phil Kessel and Tyler Seguin deals look like they're turning out well. Reilly Smith is a future star and last night's goal-scorer Matt Fraser was the other prospect included in the Seguin deal last summer. As the murmur grows around the Canucks' aging core and how there will need to be some player movement, a guy who can pull the trigger could be a good guy to have around.
If you want to go deep behind the scenes in Boston, they produced a reality show this year called "Behind the B," which is available in its entirety on their website,
here. I watched the first episode last fall—where the Boston braintrust was fussing over losing Nathan Horton to free agency. Didn't pay particular attention to Benning but if you're interested in checking it out, you might be able to get a bit more insight into his role and how he thinks.
The two other big rumours circulating yesterday—more noise about Barry Trotz for Canucks' coach, and was Markus Naslund in town last week?
To me, the Trotz thing sounds like he's campaigning for the job. He was on TEAM1040 yesterday and says he's interested, but understands the situation:
As for Naslund...this sounds more like smoke than fire to me.
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