Simmer’s 9 – Kraken and Canucks and beyond
1) It’s a holiday weekend in Canada, with Victoria Day on Monday, the unofficial start of summer.
It’s known to most as the May long weekend, or the May 2-4 weekend, and falls on the last weekend prior to May 24th, Queen Victoria’s birthday. There’s also a pun involved, as I think it has more to do with a 24-pack/case of beer. People flock to the cabins, cottages, and lakes to get the party started.
Next weekend is Memorial Day in the USA. Similar festivities.
2) The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) is expanding to three cities for next season, including Detroit, Las Vegas, and Hamilton, Ontario. The “Hammer” sits about 45 minutes to an hour-and-a-half southwest of Toronto, depending on traffic.
The soon to be named Vegas team will play at T-Mobile Arena and the Hamiltonians will play at TD Arena. With three new teams added, the PWHL, unless they add another club in the coming weeks, will feature 11 teams, and obviously an unbalanced schedule of some sort.
3) On Friday, the PWHL announced that famous goalie Manon Rhéaume will serve as Detroit’s general manager. She’s worked with the elite Little Caesar’s hockey program in the Detroit area for eleven seasons and spent four more working in development with the Los Angeles Kings.
One little misleading note in her bio’ on the press release:
Rhéaume made history as the first woman to sign a professional hockey contract and to play in an NHL game that redefined opportunities for generations of players to follow. Internationally, she represented Canada at the highest level, winning two gold medals at the IIHF Women’s World Championship and a silver medal at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.
To clarify, that NHL game was a 1992 preseason match for the Tampa Bay Lightning against the St. Louis Blues. She gave up two goals on nine shots in the first period.
Regardless, it’s an important and impactful first addition to the Detroit franchise.
4) The Canadian Hockey League (CHL), the umbrella organization of major junior hockey in Canada and parts of the US (see OHL, WHL, QMJHL), recently celebrated its 50th anniversary by announcing the top 50 players over the last 50 years.
They completed their announcement of the top-10 on Thursday. Here’s the list:
1) Mario Lemieux – Laval Voisins
2) Sidney Crosby – Rimouski Oceanic
3) Wayne Gretzky – Peterborough Petes/Sault Ste. Marie (“Soo”) Greyhounds
4) Connor McDavid – Erie Otters
5) Mike Bossy – Laval National
6) Joe Sakic – Lethbridge Broncos/Swift Current Broncos
7) Eric Lindros – Oshawa Generals
8) Steve Yzerman – Peterborough Petes
9) Ray Bourque – Trois-Rivières Draveurs, Sorel/Verdun Blackhawks
10) Dale Hawerchuk – Cornwall (Ontario) Royals, that actually played in the QMJHL
5) Detroit area native, former Hobey Baker Award winner at the University of Michigan and a Stanley Cup winner (2016) with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Kevin Porter, was announced as the new head coach of Team USA’s National Team Development Program.
“Porter is a former captain of the NTDP who played 12 seasons of professional hockey, including 249 games in the NHL. He just finished his second season as an assistant coach at the NTDP,” USA Hockey announced.
The power house program began operations in 1996.
6) Trivia Time! One for the Canucks, one for the Kraken, both simple dimple.
— Where did Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko play his college hockey?
— Where did Kraken netminder Joey Daccord play his college hockey?
Answers at the bottom of the page.
7) If you were asleep and missed it, the Canucks announced their new co-presidents of hockey operations, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, and their new general manager, Ryan Johnson, on Thursday.
Most of you are familiar with the twins. Drafted into the NHL by Brian Burke in 1999, the Swedish pair went on to play 17 seasons for the Canucks, finishing one-two in all-time franchise career points (Henrik 1st), and helping lead the club to the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.
They’ve most recently been working with the team in the player development department.
They’re first class humans; maybe they can drag the franchise up into that distinction as well. There’s a ways to go.
Johnson will help. Less familiar to the national/international audience, “R.J.” played 701 NHL games as a forward for five different franchises. He played two years with the Canucks between 2008 and 2010. He gets promoted from his assistant GM position, one that included being the general manager of the AHL Abbotsford Canucks, winners of last seasons Calder Cup championship. He’s worked in the organization for 14 years.
8) The Kraken organization is apparently continuing its “franchise-wide audit” with the help of the Sportsology Group. It’s a consultancy business that has worked across the spectrum of professional sports.
Wouldn’t the right president of hockey operations be a better answer? We’ll find out. Right now, Kraken general manager Jason Botterill is handling the whole shooting match. “Details at 11”, when the Kraken audit wraps.
9) If you’re in Canada, head to your local bookstore this week. “Stories From Ice Level”, featuring Hockey Hall of Fame referee Bill McCreary is available. It’s an entertaining summer read about the only ref who’s been inducted this century. “Mac” reffed more Stanley Cup Final games than anyone in history and also called three different men’s Olympic Gold Medal games, including Vancouver 2010.
The book will be released in US markets the first week of October.
Earlier Canucks:
— Canucks PR BS; Don’t Blame Ullrich
Earlier Kraken:
— Kraken 1st Round Mock Draft Predictions
Trivia Answers: Thatcher Demko of the Canucks played his college hockey at Boston College. Joey Daccord of the Kraken played his university pucks at Arizona State.
Yep, that last one’s not a typo. ASU’s Division 1 program has been around since 2015.
