Meet the new boss
We all knew there would be a difference in the coaching styles when John Tortorella took over for Alain Vigneault, and I suspect the same thing can be said in New York.
Vigneault is like a CEO, delegating authority to various assistants and veteran players. Tortorella’s like the old shop steward whose hands are about as clean as his vocabulary, his belief is if the players can match his intensity they have a chance to win.
We saw the difference in Calgary on Sunday night where Tortorella had a team that was losing focus so he gave them something they hadn’t seen too often, a Sedin without a Sedin.
Splitting up Henrik and Daniel was probably as much for shock value as it was for strategy, but it worked. Mind you it’s been a given in recent years that the Flames and Oilers have been the Canucks wack-a-moles.
Santorelli scores
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People often complain when the Canucks miss on local kids. The general feeling is a BC boy will give it that extra playing for the team he grew up loving. Latest exhibit; Mike Santorelli.
Two goals against the Flames, and one of the best players in the pre-season (if that means anything to you). He was a big scorer for the Vernon Vipers back in 2003-2004, was the MVP of the BCHL All-Star game that season. He once had 20 for Florida, so he can score a bit at this level too.
This is the second time the name Santorelli has been talked about in the sourthern part of BC. 5 years ago his brother Mark was the toast of Chilliwack, winning the WHL scoring title. Unlike Mike, Mark has never made it to the “show”. Which brings me to something curious, for whatever reason winning the WHL scoring crown is not an automatic trip to the NHL.
WHL scoring champs
Have you ever said these names during a hockey pool, even one that goes 20 rounds?
Justin Mapletoft, Nathan Barrett, Tyler Redenbach, Zach Hamill, Casey Pierro-Zabotel, all won the Bob Clarke trophy for leading scorer in the WHL. Hamill got a free agent stint at Canucks camp this year and had some NHL time with Boston, the other four only see NHL games on TV. No winner of the WHL scoring title ever won the Art Ross trophy in the NHL. Ok Brendan Leipsic, it’s up to you to break the slump.
Jagr never quits
Jaromir Jagr and the Devils are in town this week. Wasn’t it just Jagr and the Bruins,? Or was that Jagr and the Stars? Or Jagr and the Flyers? The Rangers? The Capitals? The Penguins? It’s been all of those and more if you follow pro leagues in Russia and the Czech Republic.
Hey, he even played a game for an Italian team once, and one game in Germany where he had one goal and 10 assists in a 60 minutes. If all teams had to retire 99, then the rule is all teams should have Jagr for at least one game. If he hadn’t played three full seasons in the KHL he might have finished his career second in scoring behind Wayne Gretzky. As it is right now he is 8th all-time, right behind his old mentor Mario Lemieux.
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