Now or Never Time?

Earlier in the week, the Chicago Blackhawks and Arizona Coyotes swapped former first round picks in the hope that either or both teams will get their anemic offenses going. The trade also symbolizes a need for all the participants in the trade to justify their status as first round picks.

The Coyotes will get Nick Schmaltz, who was the 20th overall pick in 2014. He had a pretty good first season in the league, scoring 21 times last year. However, he has only scored twice with nine helpers. The Blackhawks get Brendan Perlini and Dylan Strome. Perlini, the 11th overall pick in 2014, scored 17 goals last year, but has been held to just two goals and four helpers this season. Strome was the third overall pick in 2015 behind Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, and has had trouble sticking in the NHL, as he has been back and forth between the NHL and AHL since turning pro last season. He scored three goals and three helpers prior to the trade this season.

Both teams have struggled with offense, as the Coyotes haven't gotten the bang for their buck from players such as Alex Galchenyuk and Clayton Keller while having injury issues with Anttii Raanta. The Blackhawks are having the same issues, but with more depth issues. Adding both Strome and Perlini should at least mean more chances to score, but whether or not it means anything in the grand scheme of things this year remains to be seen. Meanwhile, Schmaltz is another in the long line of changes for the Coyotes, who jettisoned Max Domi for Galchneyuk, only for Domi to already match his goal total from last year, and it's not December yet. For nothing else, the trade is a wake up call for all involved and may very well change the fortunes of the teams if any of them pan out.

Cutting Room

The past month has seen some changes in the NHL, as four teams as of this writing have changed head coaches in the middle of the season...and it's not December, yet. Let's run them down, and look at who may be next to go.

• The Chicago Blackhawks parted ways with Joel Quennville and replaced him with Jeremy Colliton, who was the head coach of the team's AHL affiliate in Rockford. The Quennville firing comes as a shock, but the reality was there was a major butting of heads lately between Quennville and General Manager Stan Bowman. Someone had to go, and soon, the other half may be gone by the end of the season, so this change is definitely a referendum on Bowman, who has put the Blackhawks on the verge of salary cap hell and hasn't adequately addressed the team's depth problem lately.
• The Los Angeles Kings were also in the mood to fire their head coach, as John Stevens was given his walking papers. Willie Desjardins was named interim coach. Stevens had a decent regular season last year, but his inability to get any offense out of the team come playoff time was exposed, and it has been further exposed this season despite adding Ilya Kovalchuk in the off-season. While Desjardins is an interim coach, was it really the best decision? Marco Sturm is the likely head coach in waiting, and skipping the middle man would have made more sense, although the Kings haven't been able to field a healthy goaltending unit lately, since Cal Petersen, he of a handful of games thus far, is now on the NHL roster until the likes of Peter Budaj and Jonathan Quick can get healthy again.
• Speaking of the Kings, they were the last team that Mike Yeo would be facing as the head coach of the St. Louis Blues. The Blues were shut out last night by that team, and an offensive dry spell that topped a team struggling to meet expectations meant the Mike Yeo experiment it over. Before I get to who is replacing him, it should be noted that the Blues hand-picked Yeo to replace Ken Hitchcock after the 2016-17 season, only to speed up that process by a few months, as Hitchcock was fired for Yeo. Just over two years later, Yeo is now looking for a new job. His replacement is...Craig Berube? This may be an interim move, but given that Berube was terrible as head coach in Philadelphia, it almost seems like the Blues WANT to fail.
• Spekaing of Hitchcock, he was lured out of retirement...again, as the Edmonton Oilers fired Todd MacClellan this morning. Hitchcock will be behind the bench for at least the rest of the season. One has to wonder if General Manager Peter Chiarrelli should be answering the phone because his job is now on the line. A team that has underachieved despite Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and is also on the verge of salary cap hell, the Oilers may need to do more than just fire the head coach.

So, who could be the next coach to go? Randy Carlyle in Anaheim seems like a safe bet, as does Jeff Blashill in Detroit and Guy Boucher in Ottawa. 

Rough Trails for Broncos

This season has been a rough one for the Swift Current Broncos. From hoisting the Ed Chynoweth Cup as the WHL Champions in May to having just one win to their record this far into the season, it hasn't been an easy one for a Broncos team in transition. It had been known since the end of last season that the Broncos would be losing a bunch of players to the pros such as Matteo Gennaro, Glenn Gawdin, Giorgio Estephan, Aleksi Heponiemi, and Tyler Steenbergen. They also lost trade deadline acquisition Stuart Skinner, who also graduated to the pros. The news didn't get better, as Manny Viveiros was lured away by the Edmonton Oilers to be an assistant coach, meaning the Broncos were also going to be needing a new head coach. To say Dean Brockman had his work cut out for him entering the season would be an understatement, but a 1-14-0-0 record? It won't get better on the ice this season, but at least they're continuing to remember their past, and together with the Humboldt Broncos of the SJHL, they will share something else besides a tragic reminder.

A special uniform was unveiled for the Swift Current Broncos to be worn in their November 2 game. After that game, they will be auctioned off with proceeds going to STARS Air Ambulance. As for Humboldt, this design will also be their third jerseys for the remainder of the season. The overall design is neat, as the shoulders have both the Four Broncos shoulder patch Swift Current has on all their jerseys and the green ribbon with HUMBOLDT across it. As for the main logo,

The jersey is designed in Humboldt’s team colours of green and gold, formerly the main colours of the Swift Current Broncos.

It features a map of Saskatchewan as the main shield, with stars representing Humboldt and Swift Current on the map and a capital “B” which the team says is a “unifying symbol that implies ‘Together we are Broncos.'”

The shield is framed by two Broncos on their hind legs on either side, while the phrase “Celer Et Audax” — Latin for “swift and bold” — wraps in a scroll at the top. Another scroll at the bottom features the city names with “Broncos” in the centre, topped by a Canadian maple leaf to represent the country’s support.

Change in the Okanagan Region

Photo credit: Ed Andrieski/Associated Press

It has been an interesting month in Kelowna, British Columbia, as the city was announced as the Memorial Cup host for 2020 earlier this month. This week, there was a change in coaches, as the Kelowna Rockets decided that two plus seasons of Jason Smith was enough, as they canned him. While Smith was actually good in his first two seasons with the team, as he went 88-44-10-2 in that stretch, the Rockets were off to a sluggish start, as they were 4-10-0-0 at the time of Smith's dismissal.

It didn't take the Rockets long to find a new head coach, however, as Adam Foote was named the new head coach. He has no head coaching experience, but the Foote name is familiar with Kelowna, as his older son Cal had played for the Rockets until this past season. He is currently playing for Syracuse of the AHL and is knocking on the door to the NHL, as he was a first round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2017. Currently, Adam Foote will be coaching his other son Nolan, who is an assistant captain with the Rockets. The Rockets began Foote's tenure as head coach with a win against Swift Current last night. It will be interesting to see how Foote does as a head coach, particularly since he will be more involved in Nolan's development, but the expectation is that he will guide the team through a transition year in order to be ready for 2020 and the Memorial Cup run.

I Watched This Game: Cathartic Roasting

The new season of I Watched This Game is here, and though it's a little late, it is a nice way for me to continue to talk hockey. Today's edition: the Vancouver Canucks finish up a road trip in Winnipeg. The Canucks are still smarting from losing Elias Pettersson to injury on Saturday despite a win against Pittsburgh a few days later while Winnipeg is getting Dustin Byfuglien back from injury after blowing a 4-1 lead against Edmonton last game. What will happen? Will Vancouver actually show backbone after not responding to Pettersson's body slamming at the hands of Mike Matheson? Does Byfuglien prevent another blown lead for Winnipeg? Why is there talk of handegg in this segment? All these things will be answered in time. For now, I Watched This Game.

• Before puck drop, the Armed Forces of Canada are honored, as it is their night at the Bell MTS Place. 
• For the first half of the first period, the Canucks come out on all cylinders, leading in shots taken. However, their lack of toughness, as in they continue to fail at going to the net to score the dirty goals, means the game is still 0-0.
• Included in this barrage of nothing is Jake Virtanen, of all people, turning Joe Morrow into a pylon. Folks, this is what happens when you are out of position, and Morrow was out of position on that attempted shot by Virtanen. 
• A rather questionable hooking call goes against Blake Wheeler towards the end of the period. On the ensuing power play for the Canucks, the Jets have a breakaway, and after the shot was taken, Alex Edler trips up the Jets player and it is 4-on-4 for about a minute. 
• Despite having just a minute of their own power play, the Jets are able to capitalize, as a pass finds Patrik Laine in his office, otherwise known as the left faceoff circle, and he puts one past Anders Nilsson to make it 1-0 after one period.
• Have I mentioned that Vancouver is so soft that they could be mistaken for homemade biscuits? No? There it is, again.
• Not even that softness could stop a beautiful Derrick Pouliot stretch pass to Bo Horvat, who gets it in stride. He splits two defenders on his way to tying up the game at one. Plays like this are why hockey is a beautiful game.
• Edler finds himself in the box again, as he shoves Matthieu Perreault into the boards. Tyler Myers doesn't take too kindly to that, and he too, sits for two minutes. Perreault was able to skate off under his own power, and the Jets responded the way the Canucks should have against Florida last Saturday.
• Shortly after the coincidental minors end, Myers finds himself between a rock and a hard place, as he brushes Nilsson as he passes by. Two minutes for goalie interference, which carries over into the third period with the score tied at 1.
• The Canucks can't convert, and once again, Edler heads to the box, this time, for another tripping penalty.
• Bryan Little makes the Canucks pay, as he puts a backhander past Nilsson for another power play goal.
• Why does Vancouver continue to float around the zone and not go towards the net? No wonder they blew the Stanley Cup opportunity in 2011.
• Nilsson is actually doing a good job in net. We've seen this story before with him, and we're just waiting for the inevitable implosion.
• Just as I typed that, a scrum ensues in front of the net, and Andrew Copp puts a loose puck in the back of the net to make it 3-1 Jets.
• There's also the visual roofie known as Thursday Night Football on, as well. Can we delete the Arizona Cardinals franchise? At the very least, can they forcibly trade Larry Fitzgerald to a real team? Maybe give him to the Packers so Aaron Rodgers can stop carrying the team by himself.
• Back on topic, the Winnipeg Jets put the exclamation point on the game, as Dustin Byfuglien scores to make it a 4-1 final for the Jets.

This was a game the Winnipeg Jets needed after blowing a lead last game. Of course, having Byfuglien back was beneficial, as he had a goal and two assists in the game. Connor Hellebuyck didn't exactly have to do much after the first period, but he was solid here. Vancouver clearly missed Pettersson out there, but they will need both Jay Beagle and Antoine Roussel back, too, as Beagle could have helped their penalty kill this game, and Roussel could have at least, antagonized the Jets a little. Beyond that, the Canucks just simply didn't show much of a fight in this game. 

Winning Avtomobilists

You might be asking yourself (or not) why I haven't done much in the way of other hockey leagues. Today is your lucky day, as there is an amazing run happening in the Kontinental Hockey League, as the franchise from Yekaterinburg known as Avtomobilist is currently the only undefeated team in the league. It is the middle of October, and the league began play at the beginning of September, which means that it has been six weeks into the season, and the team has yet to taste defeat in any form. So, what's the details behind this run? Let's take a look.

Prior to the season, Avtomobilist was picked by pundits to be the class of the Eastern Conference, having picked up Nigel Dawes in the off-season. Dawes had a brief run in the NHL, but could not stick due to his lack of size despite being a scorer for much of his career. He came over to Avtomobilist from Barys in the off-season, having become the accomplished scorer people saw in both the WHL and the AHL. He has been a major difference maker, but he has hardly been the only one, as other former NHLers to dot the roster include Nikita Tryamkin, Stephane Da Costa, and Ivan Vishnevsky. Now, what about the streak itself? Of the 18 games played thus far, Avtomobilist has won by two or more goals 13 times and has been taken to overtime in just two of the 18 games. Even with the points system now resembling the NHL's, that is an amazing streak. Their next two opponents in their chance to extend their streak are Barys tomorrow morning and Severstal on Friday.

A Forgotten Franchise

With the NHL season now just a week old and with the ECHL season beginning tonight, I figured that it would be a good time to look at a forgotten ECHL franchise that lasted all of a year and a half. You read that correctly, a year and a half. You see, the San Francisco Bulls were that team, and their history, although brief, was not without any drama.

Beginning with the 2012-13 season, the Bulls joined the ECHL with the idea that they would serve as their double-A affiliate to their fellow Bay Area occupants in the San Jose Sharks. The franchise initially benefited from the lockout that wiped out half of the NHL season. However, they suffered from the same problems that the Sharks faced in their initial years of existence, as in they played in a horribly outdated Cow Palace that needed a specially made scoreboard plus a support system that would hold that weight. That first year team actually didn't do badly, as they made the playoffs that year. Unfortunately, they ran into a buzzsaw known as the Alaska Aces, who were the top team in their conference. Because of the lockout, the Bulls were able to get the services of Torrey Mitchell for at least a game, as he signed with them in December of that season. The following year, however, the Bulls were in serious financial trouble, and those problems came to a head in January 2014, with rumors of the team either relocating or folding as of January 20. The following week, the team folded after they were unable to find new owners.

So, what is the team's legacy? Though there isn't much to gain from the team's short tenure, besides Mitchell, the Bulls did have another player make the NHL, as Yanni Gourde had played 8 games for the team and is now an integral part of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The ECHL venture for the Bay Area failed, but it would pave the way for the San Jose Sharks to eventually land an AHL team in their backyard, as realignment helped push the team's affiliate into an arena timeshare, as the San Jose Barracuda are now the Sharks' minor league affiliate and even share the same arena.