This time of year, rookies aren't just showing up on teams without a prayer of postseason play. Some young players are making a difference on teams who are in the playoff hunt. The two players I'm going to key in on have very different development stories. Rangers forward Ryan Callahan, who scored his first two NHL goals in New York's 7-0 rout of Boston on Saturday, was a 4th-round pick of the Blueshirts and spent three years on the ride to the show, including a World Junior Championships appearance and four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League. (Usually a death knell for any prospect). He finally got his chance with the Rangers AHL affiliate in Hartford, setting a team record with goals in eight consecutive games. After getting a cup of coffee in two December stints, he was called up on Friday, played that night, and scored twice on Saturday.
Devils freshman David Clarkson, on the other hand, was completely undrafted. In a story that mirrors the road current New Jersey centerman John Madden took the big leagues, Clarkson, an Ontario native who spent most of the past year and a half in Albany and Lowell (New Jersey changed minor league affiliates during the past off-season), was the seventh player the Devils had called up from their AHL affiliate this season (just to show you how far he was down the depth chart). He also spent four years in the AHL, and was headed nowhere until Lou Lamoriello signed him to a minor-league deal. He got the call-up Thursday, and played well in a road tilt in Carolina. During the Devils 7-2 loss to the 'Canes on Saturday, however, Clarkson was easily the best forward on the ice for New Jersey. Drawing big cheers from the crowd every time he touched the puck, he scored his first goal that day, and set up a beautiful goal by another Devil rookie, Travis Zajac, in the third. It just shows you that teams are always finding new players in the places you'd least expect.
An extremely awkward moment on VERSUS last Tuesday night. Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley were calling the Buffalo-Pittsburgh game, the very same night the Penguins had reached their new arena deal. Gary Bettman was at the game, and the two men had him up in the booth for an interview. Both of them are lucky they weren't robbed and beaten coming out of the rink that night, the way Bettman punishes what he calls "Conduct detrimental to the league". In the early stages of the interview, Edwards said to Gary: "I know that you often deflect blame."
Gasp! You could almost hear Brickley say "Awkwaaaaard."
Anyway, Bettman and Edwards joked about it. What he meant to say was "credit." Sure. We'll leave it at that. When the interview reached its end, Brickley made a joke about Bettman's height. The big question is: Will we see Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley on VERSUS again? It's only really half-joking. The way this league does deflect blame and hand out punishment for criticism, I wouldn't be surprised if either of them got banned from national television work.
TPS began their second year of having the players use pink sticks for three days, and then auction them off to raise money for breast cancer. Perhaps no sport's athletes are bigger momma's boys than hockey players. Campbell's should hire them and their mothers to do those chunky soup commercial. Can you imagine Alexander Ovechkin's mom in the dressing room feeding Donald Brashear a bowl of Campbell's Chunky? Eh, bad visual. Nevermind.
Ted Nolan's claims that Steve Begin is to blame for Rick DiPietro's injury don't have a stick to swing at, er, a leg to stand on. "[Begin] could have jumped. He's a seasoned veteran. He's a fourth-line guy," said Nolan. "He knew exactly what he was doing: 'By hitting this goaltender, maybe I can knock him out, and we can get a chance to play in the playoffs.' It's one of those things." Watching the play over and over again, it's clear that the fault is at DiPi's hands. He had no reason to be that far out. He was well out of position. You don't prepare for a goalie to be in deep slot when you come charging in. If he had jumped, he'd have had a clear path to the goal, further proving Begin's innocence. Is Teddy Nolan going to cry about being blackballed again? Where's Bryant Gumbel when you need him?
Finally, the Nashville Predators are the first NHL club to 100 points, and it's difficult to see them not coming out of the West this year and going to the Stanley Cup Finals. You just have to hope that this team can survive. Clearly, they have made a connection with the fans in Nashville. No team sells more individual tickets per game. Obviously the casual fan is hooked. But no team can live on 12,000 casual fans. They need more hardcore supporters, and more importantly, more corporate support. It's shameful that Nashville's companies are willing to put their money behind a team with "Pacman" Jones on it, but can't support what is very likely the NHL's best team.
We'll see if a Stanley Cup can bring some bandwagon corporations to the most unconventional of unconventional hockey markets.
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