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COACHING NOT IN THE CARDS FOR BRODEUR
Fire & Ice notes New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur expressed admiration for the job Patrick Roy has done in coaching the Avalanche this season.
Brodeur said he has no interest in coaching after he retires though.
“I’m sure I could do it, but the thing is I don’t know if I want to,” he said. “He coached years in junior hockey. I don’t know if I’m ready for these long bus rides. It’s a passion being a coach. It’s something that’s not in everybody. I think he owned that team long before he retired, so I’m sure had a lot of things invested in it. Me, I’ve got no association with anybody, so coaching wouldn’t be something that really attracts me.”
On why goalies have great viewpoints: “Goalies, it’s a different perspective because you see the game a lot better than anybody. Probably better than the TV. Probably better than the coaches that are watching it. If you pay attention, I’m in every single meeting. For 20 years, I’ve been listening to coaches different systems. I see things in front of me defensively, the adjustments, because I’m in the middle of everything. Offensively, when we do get chances, where there’s an opening, the player that’s got the puck probably doesn’t see it, but because I’m right behind him, I can see everything.
“So, I think the knowledge about the game is pretty good for goalie. That’s why you see a lot of them are commentators, more than coaches. They’re able to explain the plays maybe a little better than the defensive defenseman that never crossed the red line or had the shock collar when he played under Jacques (Lemaire). He couldn’t go closer than the red line.”
ROY DOESN’T REGRET RETIRING AT 37
The Denver Post wonders, while comparing Patrick Roy (who retired at 37) with Martin Brodeur (still playing at 41), if Roy ever regrets having retired when he did.
“No, it was different,” Roy said. “My personality is a lot different than his. I’m not saying he is not taking the game seriously. He has probably a better approach than I had. After losses, I took it tough. I took it almost personal. Marty takes it more like, ‘Hey, let’s go back tomorrow.’ I think that helps to have a longer career, without a doubt.”
But as a coach, Roy has emphasized a game-at-a-time, turn-the-page approach. In that sense, isn’t he different as a coach from he was as a player?
“Maybe I am,” said Roy. “But inside, I always want to win. Winning is not everything, it’s the only thing. That matters to me. But at the same time, I understand our players are coming in and working hard, and that’s the thing that we control. I’m pleased with what I have seen so far.”
One last Roy-Brodeur link. NJ.com relays a story Roy told Thursday about asking Ray Bourque for advice after the 2003 playoffs.
“When do we know it’s over?” Roy asked.
“Don’t worry, you’ll know,” Bourque answered.
EMPHASIS ON PLAYMAKING EARLY FOR SENS’ TURRIS
The Ottawa Sun points out Senators centre Kyle Turris has set new career highs in goals and assists already.
Does he have a preference toward scoring or playmaking?
“I’d like to say I’m more of a passer than a shooter,” Turris said before entering Thursday’s game. “Maybe it goes back to my dad, when I was in minor hockey growing up. He was my coach. We’d always play games, like I couldn’t score goals until I got this one kid an assist. Or I wasn’t allowed to score until I got two assists in the game. We’d always play games going into the actual game.
“If I had a breakaway and I hadn’t had the two assists yet, I’d swing behind the net and wait for my teammate to come in. Stuff like that. It was fun playing games within the game. You really learn the skill and develop it.”
SEGUIN DRIVEN FOR SUCCESS WITH STARS
ESPN.com takes another look at Tyler Seguin’s trade from the Boston Bruins to the Dallas Stars.
Stars GM Jim Nill recalls when he first met with Seguin after the trade, the forward wanted tape on Jamie Benn. He wanted to study the technical side to Benn’s game, how he played, who he worked with and why.
“Here is a young man that cares,” Nill told ESPN.com. “He didn’t like the perceptions he was being pegged with. Like every young man, he’s made mistakes, but right from Day 1 he’s been professional.”
Stars coach Lindy Ruff: “What I’ve seen from him, I really liked. I thought maybe there would’ve been some tougher struggles putting him back in the middle, but he handled the defensive stuff pretty well. And then on the offensive side he’s been dynamic. He’s been a difference-maker most nights, one of the best shots I’ve seen – quickest, hardest — and he’s an elite skater.”
HIGH PRAISE FOR SABRES’ GIRGENSONS
The Buffalo News passes along that when Sabres coach Ted Nolan is asked to pick a player from his past who comes to mind watching star rookie Zemgus Girgensons, one in particular stands out.
A teammate of Nolan on a junior team in Sault Ste. Marie back in the ’70s. Oh, this guy was gifted, but it was his inexhaustible love for hockey, and for competition, that stood out even more.
“You know, they had to do the same thing with Wayne Gretzky when he was that age,” Nolan said. “He had that same work ethic. The coaches had to kick him off the ice. All the good ones, the coaches have to do that.”
OATES NOT INTO AMATEUR PSYCHOLOGY
CSNWashington.com indicates that to Capitals head coach Adam Oates, his criteria has been – and he says always will be – how his team played that particular night — not the final score.
“If you want to trade chances, you’ll have games where you score seven and then you’ll lose five in a row and you won’t be able to fix it,” Oates said.
“Shootouts are tough [to evaluate]. It’s not that you don’t care, but you don’t care. Not that you don’t want your points. But one of my criteria [for judging the game] is in the morning when I wake up.
“If I played in that game last night, how would I feel? You’re upset after the game because you lost. You shower, you eat, you get on a plane, you travel, you sleep, you wake up, you come to the rink the next day, and say to the guys, ‘Good game last night, eh? We could have won that game.’
“I can never get away from that, because if I go in there and say something else, they’re going to tune me out.
“They’re going to say, ‘He’s pulling amateur psychology trying to jack us up for tonight. It’s like looking for the Knute Rockne [speech] as opposed to saying, ‘Hey, boys, we played a good game. That page is over. Let’s do it again tonight.’ I’m way more a believer in that. If you look for highs and lows you’re going to have highs and lows.”