Coyotes - Joes Manchester Blog Corner

Saturday 29 September 2018

{coyotes} NHL goalie equipment continues to shrink, premium on scoring

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Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck recently stopped a puck near his collarbone. It was a shot that, in years past, he might not have thought about twice.

This time, it hurt.

''Didn't feel very good,'' Hellebuyck said.

He and his fellow NHL goalies will be wearing a smaller chest protector this season as the league continues to reduce the size of equipment, following recent reductions for pads and pants. The overall aim is to boost scoring while at the same time rewarding athletic ability in the crease by eliminating unnecessary padding that wasn't protecting goalies, but instead simply helping them block pucks.

A 190-pound goalie and a 240-pound goalie will no longer cut the same figure on the ice.

''Three or four years ago, talking to some of the best goalies in hockey ... they wanted us to try to find a way to make goalies look closer to the size they were,'' Kay Whitmore, NHL vice president of hockey operations, told The Canadian Press. ''The biggest complaint was, 'If I weigh 50 pounds more than another guy, why do we look the same?'''

The league, working in conjunction with the NHL Players' Association, has focused on reducing the size of the shoulders on chest protectors by roughly an inch to make them less boxy and more form-fitting. The same goes for the padding on a goalie's arms.

Getting the new equipment has taken longer because of delays with manufacturers, but Whitmore said the league is close to what will become the ''new normal.''

''We wanted to get it right once and for all,'' he said. ''It was a more complicated piece of equipment than when we introduced the new pants or pads. We can ask companies to make changes, but things didn't move very fast until we created a standard, gave them specifics and asked them to build to it.''

Whitmore, who played the position for 155 games with four NHL teams in his 15-year pro career, said safety remains a top priority.

''There's no expectation that a goalie should have to do his job getting bruised daily,'' he said. ''I don't want to see guys go on the ice fearful of getting hit with pucks, because that's what they do for a living.''

Mathieu Schneider, special assistant to NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr, said the personal nature of chest protectors has been a challenge. Some goalies had worn their old ones for a decade or more.

''The irony is each time we've made equipment smaller, it's gotten lighter and goalies have gotten better,'' said Schneider, a former NHL defenseman. ''It's not like this snuck up on us.''

Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen said he is fine with the changes, adding that an inch of missing shoulder coverage shouldn't make a difference in terms of results if he's on his game.

''It's about being square,'' Andersen said. ''If I'm relying on that extra inch, I'm in trouble already.''

Fellow Maple Leafs goalie Garret Sparks said he thinks the change could eventually help raise the skill level at the position.

''It just pushes me to be better,'' he said. ''I'm open to the challenge as long as everybody's covered.''

NHL shooters scored more times in 2017-18 than in any season since 2005-06, averaging nearly six goals per game.

With that in mind, Hellebuyck said he doesn't see a need to change - for any reason.

''I'm not happy about it because it's my job,'' he said. ''And really what they want is me to be worse.''

With the process underway since 2016, Whitmore said, recent history gives him confidence the new gear will provide the game an overall benefit.

''It makes the job a little more difficult,'' he said. ''We changed other things to make goaltenders more mobile. At first they didn't agree with it, but once they started playing they felt faster, quicker and actually got better. I don't expect anything different from this once they adapt.''

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Friday 28 September 2018

{coyotes} NHLPA’s Don Fehr: ‘Players made enormous concessions’ in past negotiations

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TORONTO — Sitting in a boardroom at the NHL Players' Association's sleek 12th-floor downtown office, a relaxed Donald Fehr doesn't seem like a man getting ready for a fight.

But the union's executive director also makes it clear his membership isn't prepared to be pushed around a third consecutive time with labour clouds and the possibility of another lockout already starting to form on the horizon.

"It's no secret the players made enormous concessions to the owners in the last two negotiations," Fehr said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press. "There's a general sense that it would be appropriate for the scales to move back in the other direction a bit. We will see."

While another potential work stoppage is at least two years away, the clock is ticking, with fans shuddering at the memory of the 2004-05 and 2012-13 lockouts.

The NHL shut down for an entire season the first time around before the players capitulated to the owners by agreeing on a new collective bargaining agreement accented by a hard salary cap and a 24 per cent rollback on salaries.

The two sides were at odds again seven years later, with the players eventually surrendering more ground from a 57 per cent share of hockey-related revenue to an even 50/50 split on a decade-long CBA in January 2013 to end a lockout that cut the schedule to 48 games.

Both sides retained the right to end the most recent agreement after eight seasons with the option of giving notice in September 2019, meaning the next potential labour disruption could come ahead of the 2020-21 campaign.

Then again, the owners and players could decide to let the current CBA run its course, with a potential work stoppage delayed until 2022-23.

"It's business cordial at the moment. It can get difficult if you get contested issues," Fehr said of the current relationship between the owners and the NHLPA. "You may detest your landlord, and he may detest you.

"But if the rental agreement works for both sides, nobody's going to seek to get out of it."

Fehr has a general sense of what the players are feeling, and will spend the next year talking to them about the union's next moves.

"Throwing out ideas, seeing what's on their mind, trying to forge an internal consensus," said Fehr, who ran baseball's players' association from 1985 to 2009 before taking up the same position with the NHLPA the following year. "To the extent we can have any ongoing discussions with the league to set the stages for bargaining, obviously we'll do that."

Important issues for the players include the despised escrow payment — a percentage of salaries is held in trust to ensure that even revenue split with owners — and participation at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. The NHL declined to send its stars to the most recent Winter Games in South Korea in February after taking part in the previous five showcase events.

It seems unlikely, however, that the NHLPA will allow international hockey, which impacts a small percentage of members, to be used as a carrot in negotiations. The league floated a proposal to extend the current CBA through 2025 two years ago in exchange for green-lighting its participation at 2018 Olympics, but the union declined.

"Are there players that are concerned about the Olympics and would like to do something about it?" Fehr said. "Sure, (they would) like to develop international play and a World Cup.

"Are some concerned about escrow? Of course. There's a long list of things which would follow from that. What that translates into in terms of bargaining proposals is something altogether different."

Salaries have jumped at the high end as the cap has risen, but the consequence has been less money for the middle and lower classes of players. The NHL's possible expansion to Seattle and the creation of 23 more jobs as early as 2020-21 — coincidentally the first option for a potential work stoppage — is also no doubt on players' minds, although they wouldn't see any of the US$650-million price tag for the league's 32nd franchise.

Owners have made it fairly clear they're happy with the current agreement, with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman stating last December, "The league has never been healthier."

If that's the case, it's safe to assume the players will want a bigger piece of pie.

Fehr said that while there's lots of time to negotiate, a looming deadline is often what brings parties to the bargaining table.

"There always are exceptions where both sides see an advantage to do something without getting to the 11th hour," he said. "Whether that will be true this time remains to be seen."

Fehr disputes the notion that the union showed cracks in the negotiations to end the last two lockouts despite the "enormous concessions" he referenced, and doesn't expect there to be any problems with whatever comes next.

"They'll be fine," he said of NHLPA members. "They were unified long enough to stay out a year the first time around. The last time players didn't crack, even though we eventually made a deal.

"I'm not worried about player unity provided that I and the rest of the people here do our jobs."

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{coyotes} NHLPA’s Don Fehr: ‘Players made enormous concessions’ in past negotiations

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TORONTO — Sitting in a boardroom at the NHL Players' Association's sleek 12th-floor downtown office, a relaxed Donald Fehr doesn't seem like a man getting ready for a fight.

While another potential work stoppage is at least two years away, the clock is ticking, with fans shuddering at the memory of the 2004-05 and 2012-13 lockouts.

Then again, the owners and players could decide to let the current CBA run its course, with a potential work stoppage delayed until 2022-23.

"But if the rental agreement works for both sides, nobody's going to seek to get out of it."

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Wednesday 26 September 2018

{coyotes} NHL, plaintiffs agree concussion lawsuits should kick off with four trials

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The National Hockey League and lawyers for former players suing the league over its approach to concussions have proposed to a U.S. federal court that the lawsuits of four yet-to-be-determined former players head to trial in the spring or summer of 2019.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Nelson ruled in July that the former players' head trauma-related lawsuits would not move forward as a class action, meaning that players will be required to pursue claims against the NHL individually.

Judge Nelson gave the league and plaintiffs a deadline of Sept. 26 to propose a path forward for the 140 concussion lawsuits that have been filed to date. Cases must have been originally filed in Minnesota to be considered as a bellwether case. Bellwether trials are held in the hopes they can serve as an indication of how other trials with similar claims might unfold.

Former NHL players whose cases could be considered for trial in the new year include Joe Murphy, Reed Larson, Mike Peluso, Daniel Carcillo and Nick Boynton. It's unlikely that the case filed by the family of the late Steve Montador, who died in February 2015 and was posthumously diagnosed with CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a degenerative brain disease that's been linked to repeated brain trauma, will be considered for trial soon because it was filed in Illinois.

In a Sept. 26 letter to Judge Nelson, NHL lawyer Daniel Connolly proposed the league and plaintiffs each nominate eight player cases to establish an initial trial pool of 16 by Oct. 19. After collecting the medical records of the former players involved in those cases, the NHL proposed each side would select three finalist candidates for trial.

Both the NHL and the plaintiffs would be allowed to strike one of the other side's final three cases, leaving four cases that would head to trial. The judge should draw names from a hat to determine the order of trial of those remaining four cases, Connolly wrote.

Jeffrey Klobucar, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, wrote in a separate letter to Judge Nelson that lawyers for the former players want to begin with an initial trial pool of 12 former players, instead of the 16 proposed by the NHL.

Klobucar wrote that the initial trial pool should be decided by Oct. 19 and that after the final four cases are decided for trial, discovery would take place over a period of 150 days.

Discovery would mean the NHL would be required to turn over documents and emails related to specific players whose cases are moving forward. It's possible discovery would also include more depositions of NHL team owners, coaches and other executives, players, doctors and trainers.

In a five-part series called NHL Under Oath, TSN reported in June on a series of NHL deposition transcripts and videos. The series documented how a top NHL lawyer watered down a warning to players about the long-term dangers of repeated head trauma on a poster displayed in every NHL team dressing room, and how years into the concussion litigation, Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs, chair of the league's board of governors, was among several NHL owners who denied knowing about CTE.

In a declaration unsealed last week, Dr. Robert Cantu, a founder of the Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center at Boston University, condemned the NHL for denying a link between the head hits suffered by NHL players and neurodegenerative diseases.

"It is clear, and has been for many decades, that NHL hockey players face an increased risk of long-term neurodegenerative diseases such as CTE because of the head trauma they experience in the NHL," Dr. Cantu wrote in the Feb. 6, 2018, declaration.

Dr. Cantu compared the NHL's stance on concussions and brain disease to the "smoking saga."

Dr. Cantu agreed to testify on behalf of more than 150 NHL players who are suing the league, alleging its officials should have done more to warn them about the dangers of repeated head trauma and returning to play too soon after suffering a brain injury.

The NHL has argued that there is no definitive proof that repeated head trauma leads to brain disease. One of its medical experts has claimed CTE doesn't exist as a disease. More medical research is needed before drawing any conclusions, the league says.

The NHL refuses to fund any research into head trauma, USA Today reported in 2017.

Even so, Dr. Cantu wrote in his affidavit that if the NHL and NHL Players' Association funded and immediately began a study of retired players to determine whether head trauma they suffered in their careers increases risks of neurological diseases, the study would not be completed before 2030, at the earliest.

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Tuesday 25 September 2018

{coyotes} Coyotes looking to build off strong finish in 2017-18

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GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- The young talent of the Arizona Coyotes had an adjustment period under new coach Rick Tocchet last season. By the time they made it around the learning curve, any thought of the playoffs had long passed.

Backed by the confidence of a strong finish to 2017-18, key additions and a year in Tocchet's system under their skates, the Coyotes are hoping to take a straight line to playoff contention this season.

''This is a franchise that's about to turn a corner,'' Coyotes President and CEO Ahron Cohen said. ''We really see this as a sleeping giant.''

Expectations wilted quickly last season when the Coyotes lost their first 10 games and went 9-26 through late December.

A late-season push - 17-9-3- boosted their confidence heading into this season. Those young, talented guys have another year of NHL experience and know Tocchet's system. A string of offseason moves added scoring and depth. A new captain, locked up in a long-term deal, provides stability.

A bid to make the playoffs - or at least be in contention - is not the longshot it's been the past six postseason-less years.

''Obviously you've got a lot more veteran guys, established guys,'' Coyotes GM John Chayka said. ''Our youth has grown up, they've had a year or two years in the league, so you expect that they take that next step.''

A few things to look for from the Arizona Coyotes in 2018-19:

CAPTAIN OEL: The Coyotes took a big step toward securing their long-term future by signing defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson to an eight-year deal that averages $8.25 million per season. The four-time All-Star had already taken more of a leadership role in the wake of Shane Doan's retirement before last season and will be counted on even more after being named captain in preseason camp.

''There's a responsibility that he wants to lead this team into the next level,'' Tocchet said. ''He's also a quality person. Everyone looks at him as a hockey player, but he's a quality person.''

THE NEW GUYS: A year after making major roster changes, the Coyotes again were busy during the offseason.

Arizona traded feisty and skilled forward Max Domi to Montreal for Alex Galchenyuk and added wingers Michael Grabner and Vinnie Hinostroza. The moves should give the Coyotes scoring depth, with numerous players capable of putting up 20-goal seasons.

''If you go down the list, you go, Oh jeez, this guy can score 18 or this guy can score 24,'' Tocchet said. ''If you look up and down the lineup, there are guys with the potential to score these amount of goals. And when you add it all up, is there enough goals to win? Yeah, I think so.''

A big key: Keeping them healthy. Galchenyuk, Dylan Strome and Christian Dvorak all battled injuries during preseason camp. Galchenyuk will miss the start of the season and he is week to week with a lower-body injury.

RAANTA'S RETURN: The Coyotes traded for goalie Antti Raanta last season, hoping he would thrive in a No. 1 role. He did - when he was healthy.

Raanta was limited to 47 games last season, but had a winning record, finishing 21-17-6. He had a 2.24 goals-against average and .930 save percentage for a team that gave up plenty of shots, and got better as the season went along.

A healthy Raanta this season could go a long way to keeping Arizona in the playoff picture.

KELLER'S RISE: Forward Clayton Keller got his rookie season off to a fast start, cooled off and finished with a flourish. He was a Calder Trophy finalist and finished the season with 23 goals and 42 assists. The key for his sophomore season: Becoming more consistent.

''Any NHL player - the guy is turning 20 years old - consistency is key,'' Tocchet said. ''I'm not saying he's inconsistent, but the great ones have a bad night and usually the next night they bounce back. That's one of the things he's probably going to learn.''

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{coyotes} Arizona Coyotes aiming for playoff bid

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ARIZONA COYOTES

LAST SEASON: 29-41-12, 70 points. Last in Pacific Division.

COACH: Rick Tocchet (second season, fourth NHL season).

ADDED: C Alex Galchenyuk, F Michael Grabner, F Vinnie Hinostroza, D Jordan Oesterle, D Ilya Lyubushkin.

LOST: F Max Domi, F Jordan Martinook, D Luke Schenn, C Zac Rinaldo.

PLAYER TO WATCH: F Clayton Keller. The skilled forward had a super rookie season, finishing with 23 goals and 42 assists while becoming a finalist for the Calder Trophy, awarded to the NHL's best rookie. Keller had a midseason lull after a superb start to his rookie season and the Coyotes are hoping for even more production his second season as he gains more consistency.

OUTLOOK: The thought of a playoff push had been considered a longshot at best the past few seasons. It could be a reality this season with a still young but talented roster, a year under Tocchet's system and added scoring depth. A big key will be keeping goalie Antti Raanta healthy after he was limited to 47 games a year ago. Do that and get the scoring boost they're expecting and don't be surprised to see the Coyotes in the playoff hunt late in the season.

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