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717362 Winnipeg Jets

Ex-journeyman now bench boss

Oilers coach Eakins often cut by Jets 1.0

By: Gary Lawless

Posted: 09/18/2013 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Heisinger's job was to tell players to report to the GM, but when he became one himself, he brought Eakins back to Winnipeg and made him captain of the Manitoba Moose.

Along the way, Heisinger noticed a few things about the man who is now head coach of the Edmonton Oilers that foreshadowed the day when he would have his own NHL bench.

'It's the only way I know how to do it. You have to believe your message. You have to live your message every day'

-- Oilers coach Dallas Eakins

"Dallas was a student of the game. He always knew what was going on and he has the right personality and demeanour," said Heisinger. "Dallas was very close to Roger Neilson and that's an important and good connection. It's hard to put your finger on it but it doesn't surprise me that Dallas is a coach."

While there were many nervous moments in Eakins' playing career, which saw him constantly shuttled between the NHL, AHL and IHL while playing over 1,000 pro games, there is little of that now.

Eakins is, and this might be a bit of an understatement, sure of himself.

Some might find Eakins' confidence a little premature as he's yet to have coached a single regular-season game in the NHL but it's that inner belief that kept him employed as a fringe player for all those years. It's also what makes him a good coach.

"It's the only way I know how to do it. You have to believe your message. You have to live your message every day," said Eakins. "The message for me, right now, isn't so much system. It's habits, how we're going to work, our expectations as individuals. Those will never change and we're pounding that home right now. Being a new coach, you have to flex your muscles. They have to know you mean business and, at the same time, that you have their best interests at heart."

The Oilers are one of the five youngest teams in the NHL and likely still have some learning to do before a young core that includes Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov are ready to dominate. Eakins doesn't want to hear it.

"I've made this very clear. This is not a young team anymore. This is a team of players where the expectation is to win every night," said Eakins. "I don't know how you coach a team where that isn't the expectation. Even if the experts think a team is going to finish in the basement, how do you go into a team and say, 'All right boys, let's play this year and it's OK if you finish 12th.' Well, it's not. I think organizations that use the young label, it says a quiet message to those players that it's OK to lose. It's not OK with me."

Eakins played his last games as a pro with the Moose and then joined the Toronto Maple Leafs organization as a coach, spending the last four seasons running the Marlies.

This summer, his name got hot and he was mentioned for a number of jobs including the Vancouver Canucks when the Oilers came out of the blue and hired him. Eakins, along with his actress-wife, Ingrid Kavelaars, and their two daughters packed up and moved to Edmonton.

One of Eakins' key coaching principles is based on fitness. He's a fanatic about it personally and he demands an elite level from his players. It's not a sometimes thing. It's an absolute.

"I don't understand this. Lots of people like to throw the Wayne Gretzky one at me. I don't know how they know this but they say he wasn't a very fit player but he was the best player in the game. Well, when Wayne Gretzky shows up again, he'll be allowed to not be fit. These guys are professional athletes. I just told my players the other day, 'You are (Rafael) Nadal, you are Usain Bolt, you are Simon Whitfield. You are all these great athletes," said Eakins. "You're a professional athlete and part of that is being fit. Every night these games in the NHL and the American league are so close, and they're usually decided by a mistake. And that mistake is almost always a tired mistake. So why wouldn't you want to be fit? Why would you push back on that?"

Not surprisingly, Eakins is clear and powerful as a shot of vodka on the subject of his goals.

"I shared this with the players. This organization has opened its arms to me. I feel like I've known Craig MacTavish and Kevin Lowe all my life. But I know I'm not one of them yet. And the reason is they have Cup rings and I don't," he said. "I asked the players, 'How many of you have a Cup ring?' Two put their hands up. So 99 per cent of the players and myself have something in common. We don't have something that our friends above us have.

"So that's it. I want to be part of a team that wins a Stanley Cup."

Winnipeg Free Press LOADED 09.19.2013

717363 Winnipeg Jets

Afterburner: Jets-Oilers

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 09/18/2013 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

★★★ Carl Klingberg is an underdog in training camp, but the IceCaps forward was a beast all over the ice, and his hustle was rewarded with a second-period goal.

SUMMARY

First Period

Penalties -- O'Dell Wpg (tripping) 1:47, Setoguchi Wpg (interference) 11:31, Davidson Edm (holding) 15:18.

Second Period

1. Winnipeg, Frolik 1 (Tangradi, Trouba) 8:45 (pp).

2. Winnipeg, Klingberg 1 (Tangradi, O'Dell) 13:00.

Penalties -- Omark Edm (hooking) 7:32.

Third Period

3. Winnipeg, Peluso 1 (Slater, Telegin) 15:35.

4. Edmonton, Moroz 1 (Larsen, Martindale) 16:31.

5. Edmonton, Larsen 1 (unassisted) 16:54.

Penalties -- Melchiori Wpg (delay of game) 5:54, Joensuu Edm (interference) 6:41, Slater Wpg (tripping) 10:44, Omark Edm (unsportsmanlike conduct) 10:44.

Goal -- Edmonton: Bachman (L, 1-1-0); Winnipeg: Pavelec (W, 1-0-0).

Power plays (goal-chances) -- Edmonton: 0-3; Winnipeg: 1-3.

Referees -- Brad Meier, Mark Lemelin; Linesmen -- Michel Cormier, Don Henderson.

Attendance -- 15,004.

ROUGH BUFF:

Seems like Dustin Byfuglien is making a bone-crushing hit into a pre-season tradition. The big Jets defender had the crowd roaring in the first, when he threw a thundering check on Oilers winger Ryan Hamilton. In fact, Buff crushed Hamilton into the corner so hard that the gate to the ice actually pushed open, and the Oilers winger staggered off the ice. That's super dangerous -- those gates are supposed to be locked -- but Hamilton was all right.

WELCOME BACK:

Count on Winnipeggers to welcome any familiar face back home. During the first TV timeout (or whatever you call a timeout for a non-televised game), the crowd gave a warm ovation to new Oilers coach Dallas Eakins, who played a pair of games for the original Winnipeg Jets early in his career, was captain of the Manitoba Moose in his final professional season in 2003-04.

UP NEXT:

-- Melissa Martin

Winnipeg Free Press LOADED 09.19.2013

717364 Winnipeg Jets

Kane not shy about wanting ice

But mum on method of letting coach Noel know of hunger for shifts

By: Gary Lawless and Paul Wiecek

Posted: 09/18/2013 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Evander Kane makes no bones about it. He likes to play and he likes to play a lot.

Kane has spent the last two seasons skating on what the fans refer to as the Jets' second line with a variety of players. Winnipeg's big line of Bryan Little centring Andrew Ladd and Blake Wheeler is referred to as the Jets' big line.

Kane says his team needs more of the same from the rest of the units.

"We need three lines that can score. In terms of the order, I don't look at myself as a second-line player," said Kane, who played briefly in the third period before leaving the game with stomach cramps. He's expected to be OK.

"I play a lot of minutes. I enjoy playing a lot of minutes and the coach knows it. I feel like sometimes I can go every other shift. And I let him know that. I want us to have two dominant lines this year."

When told of Kane's response, Noel smirked.

"Evander's not the only player that likes to play a lot. I would say they all want to play a lot," he said.

Kane was asked how he communicates to Noel during a game when he wants more ice.

"I'm not going to say what I do," he laughed. "But (Noel) knows when I want more. He knows."

IN THE CIRCLE: Jets centre Jim Slater says the pre-season is mostly about his work in the faceoff circle.

"You can't really work on your draws during the summer. It's not something you can do alone and it's hard to find a guy to drop the puck and another to go against," said Slater. "I find myself thinking about an invention that would let a guy work on his faceoffs alone. It's so important to my game. Now when we're all here and have time and the coaches to drop the puck, it's something I focus on during camp. Any time we can get the puck off the draw, it gives us an edge. Hey, most of my assists come from when I win a faceoff."

IN THE BUFF: Winnipeg Jets defenceman Dustin Byfuglien came into his 2013 pre-season debut Tuesday night against the Edmonton Oilers off a pair of seasons in Winnipeg that put him in some very elite company.

While Byfuglien has never led the NHL in single-season scoring among defenceman, his combined 81 points over the last two seasons were second among defencemen only to the 92 combined points registered by Erik Karlsson, Ottawa's Norris Trophy winner.

Pittsburgh's Kris Letang was third among NHL defencemen over that same period with 80 points, followed by Nashville's Shea Weber with 77 and Ryan Suter, who put up 76 points with Nashville and Minnesota the last two years.

PLAYOFF PLAYERS: The off-season additions of forwards Devin Setoguchi and Michael Frolik to the Jets lineup will add some much-needed playoff experience to the young Jets roster should the team get that far this season.

With 53 playoff games under his belt, Setoguchi ties Jets captain Andrew Ladd as the most playoff-seasoned players on the roster.

Those two are followed by Byfuglien, who has 39 playoff career playoff games, and then Frolik with 34 games -- 23 of those coming in his Stanley Cup run with the Chicago Blackhawks last season.

It's a steep drop-off after that to Mark Stuart's 22 career playoff games and Blake Wheeler's 21 playoff games.

Winnipeg Free Press LOADED 09.19.2013

717365 Winnipeg Jets

Winnipeg Jets defenceman Toby Enstrom moving on after attack in Sweden

By Paul Friesen ,Winnipeg Sun

First posted: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 08:29 PM CDT | Updated: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 09:50 PM CDT

Delivering checks for the Jets this season will be a walk in the park for Toby Enstrom compared to the experience he had trying to pick one up in the summer.

The defenceman acknowledges the robbery and knife-point assault he experienced outside a restaurant in his native Sweden in late June traumatized him.

So much so, he didn’t want to relive it.

“I don’t really want to talk about it,” Enstrom said, Wednesday. “I had it a little bit in my head this summer, and I finally put it behind me. So I just want to leave it like that.”

Reports said Enstrom was going to pick up the tab at a restaurant after having dinner with family and friends in the town of Ornskoldsvik, when three men with knives confronted him at an ATM machine.

He was assaulted, left unconscious and received a cut above his eye.

But the case fell apart in court last month when Enstrom could not identify his attacker and couldn’t prove he’d lost any money.

One defendant was sentenced to a month in jail for giving a false name to police, who acknowledged they weren’t very thorough in checking his identity.

Enstrom says he didn’t lose any sleep over the outcome.

“I moved on, and left everything behind me. I’m just excited to be back with the guys here and the season coming up.”

Winnipeg Sun LOADED 09.19.2013

717366 Winnipeg Jets

Winnipeg Jets D-men drawing blue-line in the sand, aim to get tougher in own zone

By Paul Friesen ,Winnipeg Sun

First posted: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 08:08 PM CDT | Updated: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 08:12 PM CDT

So some major American media outlet that occasionally covers hockey says the Winnipeg Jets have three defencemen in the NHL’s top-50.

One of them, Zach Bogosian, hears the latest ESPN rankings and shrugs.

“I don’t really pay attention to that stuff,” Bogosian said. “I’m not really one for individual stuff. It’s very nice to be mentioned like that, but if I’m doing the right thing for the team, that’s what I worry about.”

The right thing for the Jets would be to cut down on the goals against.

That’s head coach Claude Noel’s mantra this season, after his team ranked 24th in that department a year ago, 26th the year before that.

It might not all fall on the defence. But the Jets do need a thicker blue line that’s tougher for opponents to cross.

“This blue line can be a lot better,” Toby Enstrom said. “As a team we can do a lot better, too.”

The Jets are known for getting offence from its defenders, led by Dustin Byfuglien. Defence has come more slowly.

“It’s a group effort,” Bogosian said. “From the goalie on, out. Pav bailed us out quite a bit. It probably could have been a lot worse of a stat, if you’re looking at those. We’ve got to be more consistent.”

If quantity solved the problem, the Jets would be well on their way, with 10 defencemen vying for roster spots, seven of them on one-way contracts.

“I’m not sure what the specific top-six is right now,” Bogosian said. “But there are a lot of guys here who are capable of being good players in this league. It’s good to see a friendly competition going on.”

The Jets need it to lead to an unfriendlier environment in their own zone.

“We can make strides in that direction as far as being more physical,” Bogosian said. “Also, not getting out of position to make that big hit, that’s an important thing to remember.”

ARE WE THERE YET?

Thursday’s game against Minnesota marks the midway point of the pre-season schedule, and some players are getting antsy.

“I’m not a huge fan of pre-season,” Bogosian said. “I just want to get things going. But it’s nice to work out the kinks. It was a long summer.”

Forward Blake Wheeler welcomes the chance to knock some rust off, even though the pre-season can be “a bit of a cluster sometimes.”

“Last year we were kind of thrown into the fire a bit,” Wheeler said. “It’s nice to get some games under your belt. You can’t really mimmick what a game situation’s like until you play games.”

Wheeler says while the games heat up later in the pre-season, but only so much.

“There’s a certain respect level guys have for each other. There’s not really any headhunting or some of the finishing of checks there is in the regular season. There’s a fine line.”

That all changes, Oct. 1st.

“The line’s gone,” is how Wheeler put it.

Winnipeg Sun LOADED 09.19.2013

717367 Winnipeg Jets

Winnipeg Jets players give thumbs up to GM Kevin Cheveldayoff's contract extension

By Paul Friesen ,Winnipeg Sun

First posted: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 08:03 PM CDT | Updated: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 08:07 PM CDT

First it was the star players getting lucrative and long-term contract extensions before they even helped the Jets reach the playoffs.

Now the GM gets one of his own.

It would appear Kevin Cheveldayoff and the core Jets are tied together in more ways than one.

“That’s great — he deserves it,” Jets defenceman Zach Bogosian said of his GM’s new deal. “He’s done a lot of work in a short period of time. Good for him.

“We’re all in it together. He’s rewarded a lot of us with some nice contracts. Now it’s just our job to get some W’s.”

Bogosian signed a seven-year, $36-million deal this summer, joining Blake Wheeler, Bryan Little, Evander Kane, Ondrej Pavelec, Andrew Ladd and Toby Enstrom as Jets who’ve signed long-term extensions worth at least $3 million per season.

“They’ve shown belief in the core group of players and the core group, management-wise, too,” Wheeler said. “There’s something to be said for stability. You’re changing things up all the time, sometimes it’s good. Most of the time it doesn’t really work.”

In Cheveldayoff, who has a Stanley Cup and numerous minor-league titles under his executive belt, Wheeler says the Jets have someone determined to win.

Like the players he re-signed, there’s a bit of a leap of faith that he can do it.

“It’s true we haven’t made the playoffs and that’s the ultimate goal,” Wheeler said. “But they’ve identified guys that they believe are going to get us to that next level.

“It shows faith, but at a certain point you can only show so much faith without getting results.”

Winnipeg Sun LOADED 09.19.2013

717368 Winnipeg Jets

Cheveldayoff has Jets on right track: Chipman

By Paul Friesen ,Winnipeg Sun

First posted: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 09:51 AM CDT | Updated: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 08:53 PM CDT

Yes, the timing is a tad curious, coming with Kevin Cheveldayoff not even halfway through his original contract with the Winnipeg Jets.

And the headline, GM Gets Contract Extension After Missing Playoffs Two Years is a bit of a head-scratcher.

On the surface, all Cheveldayoff has accomplished to date has been to hand out tens of millions of dollars to players who haven’t been able to get the Jets into the post-season.

But this isn’t about surface moves.

It’s about the relationship between Cheveldayoff and Jets co-owner Mark Chipman, one we knew was tight but learned Wednesday might be better described as that of hockey soul-mates.

“I feel like we’ve been working together for far more than the last couple of years,” is how Chipman described it. “It feels like he’s been a part of what we’ve been doing here forever.”

Because of that comfort level, Chipman didn’t need to see if the Jets make the playoffs this season.

He didn’t need to see if Cheveldayoff’s first two big swings at the draft table, Mark Scheifele and Jacob Trouba, are home runs or not.

And he didn’t need to see the fruits of his GM’s foray into the summer trade market, which brought Michael Frolik and Devin Setoguchi.

With three years still on Cheveldayoff’s contract, Chipman felt compelled to add two more — the long-term vote of confidence head coach Claude Noel never got.

Chipman says he doesn’t even need to be in the playoffs next spring to know he’s got this one right.

“I’m very confident we’re on the right track,” he said. “This is going to be a difficult year. We’re all very aware of that. We’re going to be playing in a difficult division. We all think our team is better. It will prove itself out over many years.

“In some respects I feel like we’re just getting started. I don’t mean to suggest those first two years weren’t important. But we had to absorb a lot. Now we can kind of see above the tree line and we’ve built a plan around this new (CBA) and what it means for us.”

But why not wait until a little more evidence is in?

Chipman says the people who support the team deserve to know what the long-term plan is. And when you’re sure, why wait?

He likes the way Cheveldayoff has conducted the drafts, how he’s pedaled extra picks into players and how he’s not the type to over-react to a mistake.

“You know you’re going to make mistakes from time to time. Kevin needed to know that’s OK.... it’s how you respond,” Chipman said. “I’m not suggesting at all there’s any mistakes that have been made. I haven’t seen one, to be honest with you.”

That might be laying it on a little thick. Alexei Ponikarovsky, Antti Miettinen and Olli Jokinen (to date, at least) come to mind.

Perhaps Chipman anticipates the team taking a step back in its new division. Better to extend your GM after just two non-playoff seasons than after three.

“Obviously (playoffs) is our expectation,” Chipman said “It was last year, and it absolutely, 100 percent is our expectation. And nobody feels more strongly about that than myself and Kevin. But we’re in this for the long haul. We will have success, I’m convinced of that. I wish I could give you a date and a definition of what that is exactly, but we’re moving in the right direction.”

It’ll be easy enough to track.

The man with the new contract knows that as well as anyone.

“Wins and losses are the tangible evidence on each and every night,” Cheveldayoff said. “As to what is deemed success and failure.”

Winnipeg Sun LOADED 09.19.2013

717369 Vancouver Canucks

Booth review: he’s back at practice and gearing up for season-opener

September 18, 2013. 4:11 pm

Posted by:

elliottpap

After busting up his left ankle last March, Canuck winger David Booth has just one thing in mind this fall: be ready when he and his mates open the NHL’s regular season Oct. 3 in San Jose.

“I guess that’s the biggest goal for me,” Booth said Wednesday after participating in his first practice of training camp, six days behind the rest of the group. “I’m starting now and that gives me plenty of time to get myself where I need to be for Oct. 3. It was quite the feeling being back out there today, moving the puck and being on the team again. I’ve been waiting for that for a long time. It’s been a while.”

Booth went down March 16 in the first period against the Detroit Red Wings. He collided with Wings blueliner Brendan Smith deep in the Detroit zone and couldn’t get up. He broke the ankle, tore ligaments and required surgery. It was his third serious injury since he joined the Canucks in a trade from Florida on Oct. 22, 2011. He’s also suffered through major knee and groin problems. Last season, he appeared in just 12 of 52 games (including playoffs).

Canuck coach John Tortorella saw plenty of Booth when he was in Tampa and Booth was still with the Panthers. He liked what he saw, too.

“He killed us in Florida,” said Tortorella. “The biggest thing for me is can he stay healthy because I’ve seen him play. I watched him in Florida and I’ve watched him since then. He can be an asset on how we want to play. I mean, he could be a really good player.

“The question is health and that’s out of my control. I know the trainers and everyone are really working with him to try to help him stay healthy. If we can get a good player like that healthy and staying in the lineup, it’s going to help us.”

By his own admission, Booth hasn’t provided much of an impact since joining the Canucks. He felt he was playing his best hockey when felled by a knee-on-knee hit Dec. 6, 2011 by then Colorado Avalanche forward Kevin Porter. It’s been mostly frustration and non-production ever since.

Booth, 28, is a three-time 20-goal scorer and has hit the 30-goal mark once. He has two years remaining on his contract at $4.25 million per season. He said the last nine months have been especially difficult.

“It’s probably been the toughest time in my career,” conceded Booth, who also suffered a severe concussion during the 2009-10 campaign (Mike Richards hit) when playing for the Panthers.

“I just want to get back to being the player that I know I can be. No one puts as much pressure on me than I do. I just want to help this team be the best it can be and that’s my goal. If I am given the opportunity, I think I can really be a force in this league. I’m looking forward to the year and really showing my teammates, myself and the city what I can do.”