In the “old” NHL, the expansion Nashville Predators – albeit more so in their early years – were one of the “problems” and exemplified some of the dilemmas facing coaches.
In attempting to mitigate a talent gap, the Predators often played the neutral-zone trap, slowing down the game and ratcheting down the entertainment value.
Barry Trotz, the only coach the franchise has had since its 1998 inception, was doing a terrific job. After adding some speed and talent in 2003-04, the Predators opened it up slightly, and they not only made the playoffs for the first time, they gave the Red Wings a tough time before losing in the first round.
Still, as the alleged new NHL dawned, the questions loomed about whether the Predators in general – and Trotz in particular – could continue their evolution and be effective under the rules changes and purported obstruction crackdown.
So far, the answer is yes. And the so far is a crucial distinction, because some of the attempts to reach conclusions after barely a week of games have been ridiculously overstated.
The Predators, heading into their Saturday game against the St. Louis Blues as the Western Conference’s only undefeated team, have been adaptive, taking advantage of their speed, including Paul Kariya and Steve Sullivan, and even wiped out a 3-0 deficit in coming from behind to beat the Avalanche last week.
“I think what we’ve been good at doing in the past is realizing what our assets are and realizing how we’re built,” Trotz said in Denver. “We were creating a system or adjusting our system to the talent that we have. When we didn’t have a lot of goal scoring, we were really a tight-to-the-vest team because that gave us the best chance to win. As the talent level started to increase, we added a lot more offensive stuff to our team and our culture.
“I think we’ve grown and adjusted to what we have.”
Said Nashville captain Greg Johnson: “There’s no doubt we had to try to slow down the other team’s top players. We had to. But I guess what I’m trying to say is we tried to do it through having systems, playing well defensively. There’s no doubt we tried to slow down the other team’s top players, but we were never a huge physical team that clutched, hugged and grabbed, but it was always trying to be more sound positionally, making smart and simple plays. We did close the gap in certain ways, but I don’t want to take away the credit from everything we did, because I think that’s unfair.”
“Deader” retires
Trotz’s associate coach, Brent Peterson, a former NHL winger, was the longtime coach of major junior’s Portland Winter Hawks before joining the Predators at their inception. At Portland, he coached former Avalanche winger Adam Deadmarsh and current Avalanche winger Steve Konowalchuk, plus Dallas’ Brenden Morrow, Atlanta’s Marian Hossa, Calgary’s Andrew Ference, Boston’s Brad Isbister and Dave Scatcherd, and Montreal’s Richard Zednik. He doesn’t name his favorites, but it’s obvious Deadmarsh – who recently retired from the Los Angeles Kings at age 30 because he couldn’t shake his post-concussion symptoms – is at or near the top of Peterson’s list.
“He made himself a player,” Peterson said. “When he was 16 in Portland, he just worked and had such self-motivation. The credit for what he became was all his. He came every night, to every practice, and he would want to win one-on-ones in practice.
“He was a heart-and-soul guy. He isn’t anything special, size-wise, but he has a huge heart. If the puck’s there, he’ll go get it and find a way to get to the net, and he’ll find a way to go at a guy if he’s bigger and stronger. That might have been his downfall, he maybe bit off a little more than he could handle, like with (Ed) Jovanovski. That’s the way he played, and the only way he knew how to play.”
Moore decision
There’s a chance, albeit small, Steve Moore’s lawsuit against Todd Bertuzzi and several other defendants could be restored to a Colorado court, even if the case conditionally is filed in Canada. Moore’s attorneys plan to appeal Denver District Court Judge Shelly I. Gilman’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit.
As a Colorado case, it was important to establish the conspiracy began in Denver at an earlier game Feb. 16, and that’s why Avalanche winger Brad May’s bounty comment caused him to be included as a defendant. It’s entirely possible that if the case is filed in Canada, he would not be a defendant. That might lessen some of the potential embarrassment for the Avalanche if the case goes to trial in Canada, but it’s also possible the case would be settled, because potential awards in Canada are limited by guidelines that also can act as a basis for negotiation for pretrial settlements.
Though the NHL wasn’t one of the defendants in the Colorado case, and almost certainly wouldn’t be in Canada, it would push for a settlement to keep some of the locker-room dirty laundry out of a courtroom. And this case would be huge in Canada – so huge they might need to call in Nancy Grace and Greta Van Susteren.
Bertuzzi’s back
The Avalanche face the Canucks for the first time this season, next Saturday at Vancouver, and then have back-to-back games in Denver the following week. In fact, the teams will meet six times in Colorado’s first 26 games. Frankly, when the schedule came out, it seemed a logical guess to think that when the schedule was roughed out, the NHL plan was to extend the Bertuzzi suspension through the first part of the season, so the league wanted to get a bunch of games between the two teams out of the way early.
But Bertuzzi is back and playing. Will emotions boil over between the teams? Maybe, but that would only be because of the tensions heightened by so many meetings between division rivals in such a short time, not because of some reaction to the Bertuzzi-Moore incident. Coaches Joel Quenneville and Marc Crawford are friends, and the Avalanche players have given Moore little public support. So the funny thing is the reason it could get ugly is the league might have been trying to avoid allowing it to get ugly.
Bertuzzi, by the way, is struggling in the season’s early stages. He had one goal, an empty-netter, and one assist in the Canucks’ first five games.
“I’m not going to sit here and beat on myself,” he told reporters. “Obviously, there’s a lot of work I have to do still. When I’m not going, I have to try to contribute in different ways. I know if I stick with it, it eventually will come together.”
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
