Mavericks Report

I've been long overdue to start talking about the hockey team that plays in my backyard known as the Kansas City area, and the timing of this first of what hopefully will be a weekly segment couldn't have gone worse.

Entering the week on a 14-game winning streak, the Mavericks were looking to make it 15 on Sunday at Tulsa. However, things wouldn't go the Mavericks' way, as the Oilers would halt the streak with a 4-3 win.  Andrew Courtney, Sebastien Sylvestre, and Tanner Fritz scored for the Mavericks, who will look to start a new winning streak this coming weekend, as they will be at home to host Cincinnati on Friday and Saturday and Quad City on Sunday.

Back to the Drawing Board

The Mike Johnston-era in Pittsburgh is over after just a season and a half.  With a record of 58-37-15 and seeing a formerly powerful Penguins team go from Stanley Cup contenders to fighting for their playoff lives, someone had to fall on the sword for a team that features Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Phil Kessel.  Taking over is Mike Sullivan, who was in his first season as head coach of the AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre.  Sullivan also coached in Boston for a couple of seasons, and will be tasked with turning around the fortunes of a team that couldn't get their power play going under Johnston.

So, what went wrong with Johnston?  To figure it out, his system while in Portland was based on defensemen getting into the action, as players such as Derrick Pouliot (who still couldn't crack the Penguins' NHL roster even with his former junior coach there) and Seth Jones thrived.  With the right defensemen, the forwards would fly around and cause problems, as players such as Nic Petan and Ty Rattie proved in Portland.  The general hope was that the system would carry over with the Penguins, which was obviously not the case.  Of the Penguins this season, only Malkin has produced anything resembling average (for him) numbers.  Meanwhile, the blueliners haven't done a heck of a lot this season, as Kris Letang has just one goal to go with 13 helpers while only Olli Maatta has played to expectations among the rest of the group.  Marc-Andre Fleury needs help, and it will be up to Sullivan to help push the offensive needle in the right direction with a system that will benefit the Penguins.

Streaking: Missouri Style

The image above has been commonplace lately for Missouri Mavericks fans, as the team is riding a 14-game winning streak in its second year as a member of the ECHL and its first as an affiliate of the New York Islanders.  In 22 games, which is a third of the ECHL season, the Mavericks are 19-2-0-1, having established a fairly comfortable lead over the next best team in the Western Conference in Quad City.  The Mavericks will have a chance to make it 15 in a row on Sunday at Tulsa and should they do so, will have three games at home the following weekend with Cincinnati and Quad City. The task will be a little tougher, as current leading scorer Jesse Root was recently called up to Bridgeport of the AHL.  However, the two-headed goaltending system of Parker Milner and Josh Robinson have proven to be more than up to the task, as they have a combined 1.58 GAA.

Dupuis Retires

Pascal Dupuis was forced to retire from the NHL yesterday due to a medical condition related to blood clots, something that began in January 2014 when the blood clots were first diagnosed.  In 2014-15, he only played 16 games before shutting it down in November due to a blood clot in the lungs.  After 18 games and a health scare on December 1 against San Jose, Dupuis decided to call it a career, citing family reasons.

Dupuis was a player that very few had a bad word for, as he was one of the most respected players in the league, especially by those for whom he played with in his career.  Undrafted, he parlayed a 50-goal season with Shawinigan of the QMJHL into a free-agent deal with Minnesota, where in his best season there, netted 20 goals and 28 assists in the 2002-03 season that saw Minnesota go to the Conference Finals that season.  He would later spend a brief time with the New York Rangers and Atlanta Thrashers before heading to Pittsburgh in 2008 in a trade that involved Marian Hossa.  In the 2011-12 season, he notched career highs in goals and points, and also played a key role in the 2009 Stanley Cup run with Pittsburgh.

Many times, it's the superstars that get the credit, but it's the players like Dupuis and Rich Peverley who turn in an honest effort night in and night out that truly make a team better.

A Tale of Two Teams

Two seasons ago, the Erie Otters and the Guelph Storm were squaring off in the OHL Western Conference Final in which Guelph would ultimately win in five and go on to win the J.Ross Robertson Trophy before falling a win short of the Memorial Cup that season.  Here we are now, and Erie is at the top of the league while Guelph still hasn't cracked 10 points for the season.  What happened?

In the junior leagues, every team will see their share of highs and lows, some more on the high side than others. Erie was supposed to fall off a little this season with Connor McDavid moving on to the NHL.  They were still supposed to be good with Dylan Strome being the man now, but somewhere along the way, something better happened.  Alex DeBrincat has emerged as a true goal scoring threat, something that was still in question after last season even though he was the only 50-scorer in the league last season. It is clear that DeBrincat is out to not only prove that his play isn't just a result of playing with McDavid, but also that being 5'7" isn't going to be a hindrance, and given that there is a precedence for players his size succeeding in the NHL, he may do it.  On the other end, Guelph is dead last with just five points to show for the season, and it's now past the first third.  Seeing the likes of Jason Dickinson, Robby Fabbri, and Tyler Bertuzzi leave to turn pro, it wasn't supposed to be this terrible.  However, this is where they are, and now, not only can they not score, they can't stop the puck from going in, either.  Justin Nichols accounts for both of the team's victories, and he sports a decent save percentage at .914.  However, the same cannot be said for Bradley Van Schubert, who is winless in nine starts, and sports a ghastly 5.89 GAA and a .845 save percentage, which was why they brought in Michael Giugovaz, who has been well-traveled in the OHL.  Of course, he hasn't done great in two starts with the Storm, but then again, the Storm are the worst offensive team with just 42 goals, which is 20 behind the next worst team in Owen Sound, who sit in the sixth spot for the playoffs as of this writing.  Given that the Storm share a division with Owen Sound, Kitchener, London, and Erie, with the last three leading the Conference in the standings, things look bleak for the Storm this season, which means they will have the first overall pick in the OHL Priority Draft to look forward to, whoever that ends up being.

Going All In for Hamonic?

With the news that the New York Islanders' Travis Hamonic has asked for a trade for family reasons, that means the Islanders are now at the very least exploring their options as far as trade partners.  Given that Hamonic has cited a desire to be closer to family, that means the market would be rather limited, since the Manitoba-born Hamonic would be likely looking to four or five teams.  So, let's look at the teams that would be on Hamonic's list and what they can offer to the Islanders.

WINNIPEG JETS: Given that the Jets are both closest to Hamonic's home and have a plethora of players they can trade to the Islanders, it would seem that they would be the favorites to land Hamonic.  Depth on the blue line is no concern, but the Jets would be more than happy to land one of the better stay-at-home defenders, with Tobias Enstrom being the most likely to be moved plus prospects, which could be any of Josh Morrissey, Joel Armia, and either Connor Helleybuck or Eric Comrie, with other names being possibilities.

EDMONTON OILERS: The Oilers still need blue line help, and at the very least, they can offer one of their forwards (think Jordan Eberle).  Because their blue line is rather thin, as they traded for Griffin Reinhart from the same Islanders this off-season, it could be a hang-up, particularly since the Islanders would love to fill the hole left by Hamonic if he is indeed traded.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS: Another team that needs defensemen, the Canucks are in even worse shape than the Oilers.  The best shot the Canucks have would be to offer Alex Edler, as his play has fallen off recently and a change in scenery would do him some good.  However, the lack of defensive prospects could kill their chances of landing Hamonic.

CALGARY FLAMES: On the surface, the Flames would love to figure out their chemistry on the blue line, as they've only played with their planned six for a month thanks to TJ Brodie being out to start the season.  However, the temptation to add a solid two-way player may be too great, and the Flames can offer someone like Dennis Wideman or Brodie, though the latter may be off-limits due to his chemistry with Mark Giordano.  Prospects such as Patrick Sieloff or Tyler Wotherspoon could help sweeten the deal for Calgary.

MINNESOTA WILD: It has been mentioned that Hamonic would love to end up in Western Canada, but Minnesota is fairly close to Hamonic's hometown.  The Wild would be an outside shot, particularly since salary cap issues would be their biggest hurdle, and the Wild don't have much to offer, either in terms of prospects or NHL-ready players.

Moving Closer to Home

It's been a rough start to the WHL season for Nick McBride, as he was squeezed out of the Prince Albert Raiders roster thanks to strong play by both Rylan Parenteau and Ian Scott (both of whom, are still playing well).  That forced McBride to ask for a trade prior to the season, and now, at the start of November, McBride is finally going to get a chance to resume his junior league career, as the Raiders traded him to Prince George for a second round pick in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft.

McBride was in the CHL/NHL Top Prospects game last season, but went undrafted in the 2015 NHL Draft.  McBride had a promising start to his time in Prince Albert in 2014, taking over the starting job late in the season from Cole Cheveldae en route to pushing the Raiders to a playoff berth in a tie-breaker game with Red Deer.  However, like many of the Raiders last season, McBride had his fair share of struggles, and in some cases, was outplayed by Parenteau.  The Cougars currently have a goal differential of +2, and now have three goalies who have starting experience in Ty Edmonds, Mack Shields, and McBride, though it remains to be seen if the Cougars carry three goalies for an extended period of time.