Burnside Burns: NHL ripe with intriguing storylines as calendar turns to December

Scott Burnside
Scott Burnside
Burnside Burns: NHL ripe with intriguing storylines as calendar turns to December

And just like that we’re into December.

Time moves quickly except in Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa, where time is measured not in wins and losses, but in chaotic events or conversely in the anticipation of chaotic events.

So, what did we see in the past month that had us up in arms? What are we looking forward to in the final month of 2021?

Guess you’ll have to read on to figure it out.

Let’s start with this. There are no absolutes in hockey.

With troubled winger Evander Kane having passed through waivers following his 21-game suspension for falsifying his vaccination status – who does that by the way? – it’s become fashionable to suggest no NHL team will want anything to do with Kane.

And while we get that Kane has myriad problems that would make him distasteful to many fans, players, coaches and GMs, that sweeping statement would simply not be true. Teams are interested.

We are told that the Sharks have made it clear that they will retain salary if a team comes calling about Kane who has, through his new agent Dan Milstein, publicly confirmed he will report to the Sharks’ AHL affiliate.

We are also told that teams have already come kicking tires on the talented winger, who has lurched from one significant problem to the next over the past three or four seasons, including trying to deal with a serious gambling problem and an ugly public split with his former wife prior to his vaccine-related suspension.

Can Kane stay on the straight and narrow in the AHL long enough for a deal to get done?

Fair question.

But let’s say he shows up on time and follows the team dress code – things that he struggled with as an NHLer – here’s how a possible deal could happen.

And it would likely take a third team, like Detroit for instance, willing to take on some salary for the Sharks to find a willing trade partner because even if the Sharks eat half of the $7 million per year Kane is owed through 2024-25, the belief is no team will be interested in Kane at more than say $1.75 million to $2 million against the cap.

Retaining salary and sending some assets out to move Kane off the books is a far more palatable option for San Jose than buying him out at the end of the season, so the Sharks would likely be agreeable to this sort of arrangement.

Now, for those who believe Kane will jump at any opportunity to get back in the NHL that’s not necessarily the case. He has a no-trade clause that allows him to identify three teams to which he will be traded. He is likely to make use of that leverage in dictating where he might end up, which means he’ll be angling to go to a Cup contender.

Why would Kane do that? Because if he spends the balance of the season in the AHL without going off the rails and gets bought out, he makes most of his current salary and then will likely be pursued by a number of teams looking for a low-risk, high reward situation not unlike what we have seen thus far in Carolina with defenseman Tony DeAngelo.

In short, there’s really no up-side to Kane agreeing to a trade to a team like Arizona or Ottawa, for instance, that may be looking to shed salary at the deadline and may need a means of getting to the cap floor.

It’s not apples to apples necessarily but no doubt other NHL GMs were watching to see how the situation with Tony DeAngelo unfolded in Carolina. The Canes took a small risk monetarily in signing Tony DeAngelo to a one-year, $1-million deal after he was banished from the New York Rangers for bad behavior. DeAngelo has been a model citizen on one of the NHL’s best teams (for whom I periodically provide content by the way) and is tied for the league lead in even-strength points among defensemen and is fifth in total points. To be clear, Kane is in a different world in terms of his personal baggage, his misdeeds and his cost, so it’s harder to see him finding a new home but that doesn’t mean teams, especially those with Cup aspirations, will at least be weighing the pros and cons.

So, who would be interested? Well, speaking of the Hurricanes, we know that GM Don Waddell, who drafted Kane, and owner Tom Dundon are all in to win a championship in Raleigh.

And we know that getting a talent like Kane in a distressed sale situation fits the model there.

If the New York Islanders had Evander Kane in their lineup in either of the last two seasons, do they beat Tampa Bay? Would Kane be the kind of catalyst to getting the COVID-plagued Islanders out of their considerable funk? Both fair questions.

Low risk, high reward, is the key here and finding a team with a strong dressing room and a strong coaching staff that could absorb a polarizing figure like Kane seems a prerequisite.

The Islanders, Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida all fit that bill. What about Boston, where it appears that the time is drawing to a close for Jake DeBrusk with Boston?

In short, never say never even when it comes to a player like Evander Kane.

And now, a study in tire fires in two parts-the Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens, seeing their season sinking beneath the surface, dismissed lame duck GM Marc Bergevin, assistant GM and draft guru Trevor Timmins and senior VP of public affairs and communications Paul Wilson. Jeff Gorton, who was the victim of a mercurial New York Rangers owner at the end of last season, takes over as executive vice-president of hockey ops as the Canadiens start to pick up the pieces.

Let’s be honest, Bergevin should have been fired the moment he shocked the hockey world by drafting Logan Mailloux in the first round of the draft after Mailloux, who criminally distributed a pornographic picture in Sweden without the victim’s permission while playing there during the pandemic, had expressly asked not to be drafted. Ownership tripped over itself trying to recover from that gaffe and literally kept tripping until the moment Bergevin was fired on the weekend.

 Again the team should have moved swiftly when it became clear the two sides weren’t going to agree on a contract extension but finally, with Bergevin half-in, half-out, the Habs made the logical decision that the embattled GM should not be anywhere near the controls come deadline time. So it took longer than it needed to but in the end the team got it right. Bergevin had to go.

Why would a team behave any differently? And yet NHL teams often do. It’s not uncommon for NHL teams who may be planning to move on from a GM to leave their current GM in place making decisions that are going to impact the team down the road. Like Peter Chiarelli making contract decisions literally up to the time he was fired in Edmonton. Makes no sense. 

For what it’s worth, talked to one NHL executive who believes that Mathieu Darche, director of hockey ops in Tampa Bay, is a good bet to slide into the vacant GM chair in Montreal.

And for the record we have zero issue with the Habs insisting that their new GM whoever he or she might be is bilingual. It’s Montreal, it’s Quebec, it is the reality of that marketplace. But as our Frank Seravalli so accurately pointed out, the Habs may be getting the best of both worlds. It’s clear Gorton will be the man at the top of the process of trying to revive this team but he doesn’t need to be the forward-facing figure for the Habs a role that has always been a critical one in the hockey-mad province.

That role will fall to whomever takes over as GM. That person will need to work in lockstep with Gorton, that’s a given, and he or she will need to be at peace with the new hierarchy. But it all makes sense. And while we’re at it here’s hoping owner Geoff Molson wasn’t just paying lip service to opening up the new management structure to different perspectives. Women? People of color? Members of the LGBTQ community? Hard to know what Molson is talking about but if the Habs use Seattle as a template that’s not a bad thing either and if you’re a glass half full person maybe this carnage marks the start of something meaningful in Montreal.

Finally, never mind Patrick Roy as Habs GM. Can’t see that structure working out. But why not have Roy behind the bench? As obvious as it was that Bergevin needed to go, it seems equally obvious that Dominique Ducharme is overmatched behind the bench. Yes, injuries, Carey Price’s absence, lack of defensive depth, but the failure to adequately employ the assets he does have at his disposal – and there are quality pieces in the Montreal lineup – suggests this experiment is likewise at its end.

And so we turn to Vancouver as the Canucks come off a 2-1 win in the Putrid Bowl in Montreal where it appears as though Canucks ownership is engaged in an active search for a new head coach while the current coach, Travis Green, goes about his job. Screwed up? Just a little. First, we’ve got a ton of time for Travis Green. And two years ago it would have been entirely appropriate to ask if there was a place for him on the Olympic coaching staff for Team Canada in Beijing. Now? Not so much. But how is it that Jim Benning, the architect of the Calamity Canucks, appears to be the person who will settle on Green’s replacement in Vancouver? Is Benning really going to continue on in his post beyond this season? What evidence is there that he possesses the skill to not just be an NHL GM but the kind of GM who can correct the egregious organizational errors he has brought to this team? Again. Makes no sense.

Why not take a page from the Habs’ handbook? First call we’d be making is to Hall of Famer Jim Rutherford to see if he might be interested in bringing some stability to the process. But take your time ownership. All you have to lose is the rest of your dwindling goodwill with your fan base.

Sorry, just don’t get how Josh Morrissey goes lumberjack with a two-handed chop to Alexandre Texier after an empty-net goal against Winnipeg and gets a $5,000 fine the maximum allowed under the CBA. The long-standing practice of fining players pocket change for transgressions that don’t meet the standard (or perceived standard) for suspension is a long-standing stain on the league. Yes, it’s part of the CBA. But why? Why would players want to minimize fines for transgressions against their own membership? Oy. Never mind the fine, though, how was Morrissey’s slash not a suspendable act?

 Morrissey is obviously frustrated and he takes these frustrations out in a reckless and dangerous manner. The fact he didn’t break Texier’s ankle is a mitigating factor I suppose but come on, the only message this fine sends is, move along, nothing to see here. 

A couple of days later Artemi Panarin throws a glove at Brad Marchand (who probably deserves to have something heavier thrown at him in general). A glove. And he gets the same $5,000 punishment. Farcical.

Teams that continue to impress as we hit December. Columbus, Anaheim, Minnesota and Nashville. Would it have been a surprise at the start of the season if you said that none of these teams makes the playoffs? Nope. As of Dec. 1 Minnesota leads the competitive Central Division, Anaheim is in third in the surprisingly-tough Pacific and Nashville is hanging tough in the hunt for a wild card. Sustainable? We’ll say yes.

Teams that have been unimpressive (outside the obvious bottom feeders)? Philadelphia and Winnipeg. The Jets, whose offense is in the tank, have too much for this to be anything more than a blip on the radar. Don’t they? The Flyers? Not so much.

 I get that missing Kevin Hayes and Ryan Ellis sucks. But the goaltending has been better than average and the rest of the team has faded like so much chaff in a heavy wind. The Flyers are 2-6-2 in their last 10 and fallen to 7th in the Metropolitan Division and things have to be getting uncomfortable for GM Chuck Fletcher who seemed to have plugged some of the many holes in his lineup in the offseason. Instead of contemplating adding for a playoff run Fletcher, who took questions from reporters on Tuesday on the state of the team, must now confront what to do with captain Claude Giroux who is in the final year of his deal. In spite of Giroux’s impressive stats – since 2009-10 his 848 points are fourth among all NHLers and his 919 games over that period are also fourth – and his exemplary leadership there has never been commensurate Flyer playoff success.

Since the Flyers’ run to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, they have failed to advance beyond the second round. Giroux, who leads the team with 17 points in 20 games, has a full no-move clause, but if this is another lost season how does he fit the Flyers moving forward? And more to the point how do the Flyers fit Giroux? Wouldn’t he like a shot at a ring elsewhere? Because right now it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen in Philadelphia anytime soon.

God bless Brady Tkachuk and in fact the entire Tkachuk family for Brady and Matthew’s collective response to being chomped on by Brendan Lemieux son of long-time agitator (and biter) Claude Lemieux.

Lemieux’s putting his dentures to work on Tkachuk on Saturday for which he received a five-game suspension reminds us of a long ago conversation with Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman following a preseason game between Toronto and Detroit in Detroit.

 I had dropped into the Red Wing locker room to say hello to Barry Smith the longtime Detroit associate coach when Bowman stopped me and asked me if I was there about the bike. The bike? Apparently Bowman thought I was a stationary bike repairman. No, no. That wasn’t it. Bowman wanted to know if I was there about the bite. Ah. Apparently Dave Manson had taken a nibble out of Martin Lapointe during the game and Bowman wanted to make sure the national media got the story out.

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