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Some big questions for some players of color ahead of the 2018-19 NHL season

11 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Calgary Flames, Jordan Greenway, Joshua Ho-Sang, Minnesota Wild, New York Islanders, Oliver Kylington, Philadelphia Flyers, Spencer Foo, Wayne Simmonds

National Hockey League training camps open this week and the season begins October 3 with the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals facing the Boston Bruins.

The 2017-18 NHL season is chock full of interesting story lines involving players of color that are worth paying attention to. Here are a few:

N.Y. Islanders forward Joshua Ho-Sang starts the 2017-18 season with a clean slate with new coach and GM.

THE NEW YORK ISLANDERS AND JOSH HO-SANG. CAN THIS MARRIAGE BE SAVED? It’s safe to say that the Islanders and right wing  Joshua Ho-Sang, the team’s 2014 first-round draft pick, have fit as well as an ice skating rink inside Brooklyn’s basketball-perfect Barclays Center.

Previous Islanders management complained that Ho-Sang was too head strong and defensively insufficient, among other things. Ho-Sang griped that the old Islanders brain trust overlooked similar deficiencies of other players and unjustly banished him to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the Isles’ American Hockey League farm team, while others skated scot free.

Well, there are new sheriffs on Long Island in General Manager Lou Lamoriello and Head Coach Barry Trotz, who guided the Capitals to the Cup last season by getting the best out of superstar forward Alex Ovechkin, and they seem determined to make the Isles/Ho-Sang marriage work.

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Trotz and Lamoriello say Ho-Sang starts off with a clean slate under their regime And Ho-Sang appears to be singing from the same hymnal.

“Josh has to be part of our future,” Trotz told Stan Fischler last month. “He’s a talent who needs to be understood better than he has been. In this case, Lou will be good. My belief is that the kid has been misunderstood because he looks at the game differently.”

Ho-Sang told NHL.com that the new management has “been tremendous in working with me and talking to me. ”

“I really don’t want to get into what they’ve talked to me about, but it’s all been positive,” he told NHL.com. “Every conversation that I’ve had with them since the moment they became part of the organization has just been teaching.”

In addition to featuring a new attitude, Ho-Sang will feature a new number with the Islanders, if he makes the team, because notoriously old school Lamoriello has squashed players wearing high-numbered jerseys for 2018-19.

Ho-Sang wore No. 66 in previous stints with the Isles, which caused many hockey purists to lose their minds because it was Hockey Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux’s number during his glory years with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ho-Sang will wear No. 26.

Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds is in the final year of a six-year deal.

WHAT ABOUT WAYNE?  Philadelphia Flyers right wing Wayne Simmonds enters the season in the last year of his six-year, $23.85 million contract. Talks about an extension with one of the team’s most prolific goal scorers have been slow, raising question about whether the Flyers are interested in jumping off and moving on from the “Wayne Train.”

Adding fuel to the speculation are the Flyers’ free agent signing of former Toronto Maple Leafs left wing James Van Riemsdyk and the late 2017-18 rise of  19-year-old center Nolan Patrick, the Flyers’ 2017 first-round draft pick.

Like Simmonds, Patrick and Van Riemsdyk are net-front players who score bunches of goals by parking themselves in front of opposing goaltenders in hopes of tip-in shots or fat rebounds.

And Simmonds is coming off a down scoring season – sort of.  He had 24 goals and 22 assists in 75 regular season games last season and no goals and 2 assists in six Stanley Cup Playoff contests.

His 24 goals came after he scored 31 in 2016-17 and 32 in 2015-16. Some context here: Simmonds managed the 24 goals despite a laundry list of injuries that included a tear in his pelvic area, a pulled groin, fractured ankle, torn ligament in his thumb and a busted mouth twice. Still, he only missed seven games last season.

Flyers General Manager Ron Hextall insists that the team would like to retain Simmonds and Simmonds has indicated that he wants to finish his playing career in Philadelphia.

“For being injured, I didn’t have a bad season last year, but it’s still not to my best ability” Simmonds told reporters in August. “So we continue to talk, we continue to talk. It is what it is right now.”

Forward Nick Suzuki, a former Vegas Golden Knights 2017 first-round draft, was traded to Montreal.

WILL THE MONTREAL CANADIENS RIDE SUZUKI BACK TO THE PLAYOFFS? The Canadiens finally ended the Max Paciorietty saga Monday by trading the high-scoring left wing and team captain to the Vegas Golden Knights for center Nick Suzuki, who was a Knights’ 2017 first-round draft pick, forward Tomas Tatar, and a 2019 second-round draft pick.

The trade caused howls among many Canadiens fans who still suffer bad flashbacks from the the team swapping defenseman P.K. Subban to the Nashville Predators for blue-liner Shea Weber in June 2016 and shipping all-world goaltender Patrick Roy to the Colorado Avalanche in December 1995.

The Paciorietty trade may look lopsided sided now – he has 226 goals and 222 assists in 626 NHL regular season games – But the 19-year-old Suzuki is no slouch. He impressed the Golden Knights in the team inaugural training camp, though he didn’t make the team last season.

Instead, Suzuki lit it up with the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League in 2017-18. He tallied 42 goals and 58 assists in 64 OHL regular season games. He had 45 goals and 51 assists in 65 games in 2016-17.

“Suzuki was the key piece because we like a young prospect that was picked 13th overall, which I believe at the time we had at 11 on our list,” Montreal General Manager Marc Bergevin told reporters after the trade.

The question is when will Suzuki arrive in Montreal? The OHL is one thing, the NHL is another. Some prospects need time and patience – things that are often in short supply in in hockey-crazed Montreal.

WILL THE KIDS STICK? A number of highly-touted prospects who’ve already had a small tastes of the NHL are heading to training camps looking to stay in the big leagues.

Minnesota Wild rookie left wing Jordan Greenway had a dream season in 2017-18: Becoming the first African-American to play on a U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team, skate for Hockey East champion Boston University, and play for the Wild in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

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Now the 21-year-old, Wild 2015  second-round draft pick has got to grind it out in training camp to land a permanent job in Minnesota.

“We’re just looking at his smarts, how he adjusts,” Wild first-year General Manager Paul Fenton told The Athletic at the NHL Prospect Tournament in Traverse City, Michigan. “Being able to play in the Olympics gave him a different dimension to where he was playing in college hockey. To turn pro and play in the playoffs, from afar I was watching and he looked like he adjusted to the pro game right away. That’s what we’re looking to see – how he was able to take the summer and take his maturity an go forward.”

Calgary Flames rookie forward Spencer Foo scored 2 goals in four NHL games last season.

The Calgary Flames are doing the same thing with right wing Spencer Foo and defenseman Oliver Kylington.

Foo, a high-scoring, highly-coveted free agent from NCAA Division I Union College, signed with Calgary in June 2017, appeared in four games with the Flames late in 2017-18 and scored 2 goals.

“It’s going to be a blast,” Foo told Canada’s Global News of the upcoming season. “First game of the season is always exciting whether it’s exhibition or not. I think everyone’s pretty pumped.”

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Foo spent most of the 2017-18 season with the Stockton Heat, the Flames’ AHL farm team, where he was third in scoring with 20 goals and 19 assists in 62 regular season games.

He was there with Kylington, a 21-year-old  blue-liner from Stockholm, Sweden. Kylington was the team’s seventh-leading scorer with 7 goals and 28 assists in 62 regular season contests.

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“There’s a spot available” on the Calgary roster, Kylington told The Montreal Gazette. “And it’s a lot of work to get that spot. I feel ready, I’ve been training hard this summer and putting a lot of grind in the gym and mentally preparing myself for this year and this camp.”

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Here’s a look at NHL diversity, the next generation

20 Thursday Oct 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Joshua Ho-Sang, Justin Bailey, Madison Bowey, Malcolm Subban, Washington Capitals

We’ve taken a look at diversity in the National Hockey League at the start of the 2016-17 season. Now let’s take a peek at the future.

A growing number of players color have been drafted by NHL teams in recent years. Several of them are currently playing for the minor league affiliates of the NHL teams that drafted them or skating for the major junior teams they were chosen from.

Some players drafted between 2012 and 2016, like defensemen Seth Jones and Darnell Nurse, have made to the NHL.

A few – like goaltender Malcolm Subban, forwards  Jujhar Khaira and Justin Bailey, and defenseman Oliver Kylington – have logged a few NHL games.

And others, like forward Joshua Ho-Sang, have the potential to be called up to the parent club this season. So here’s a look at NHL diversity, the next generation.

 

Oliver Kylington, D, Calgary Flames 2015 2nd-round pick.

Oliver Kylington, D, Calgary Flames 2015 2nd-round pick.

Jujhar Khaira, F, Edmonton Oilers, 3rd-round, 2012.

Jujhar Khaira, F, Edmonton Oilers, 3rd-round, 2012.

Gemel Smith, F, Dallas Stars, 4th-round, 2012.

Gemel Smith, F, Dallas Stars, 4th-round, 2012.

Malcolm Subban, G, Boston Bruins, 1st-round, 2012.

Malcolm Subban, G, Boston Bruins, 1st-round, 2012.

Tyrell Goulbourne, F, Philadelphia Flyers, 3rd-round, 2013.

Tyrell Goulbourne, F, Philadelphia Flyers, 3rd-round, 2013.

Jonathan Ang, F, Florida Panthers, 4th-round, 2016.

Jonathan Ang, F, Florida Panthers, 4th-round, 2016.

Givani Smith, F, Detroit Red Wings, 2nd-round, 2016.

Givani Smith, F, Detroit Red Wings, 2nd-round, 2016.

Evan Rodrigues, F, Buffalo Sabres, free agent signee 2015-16.

Evan Rodrigues, F, Buffalo Sabres, free agent signee 2015-16.

Cliff Pu, F, Buffalo Sabres, 3rd-round, 2016.

Cliff Pu, F, Buffalo Sabres, 3rd-round, 2016.

Nicholas Baptiste, F, Buffalo Sabres, 3rd-round, 2013.

Nicholas Baptiste, F, Buffalo Sabres, 3rd-round, 2013.

Justin Bailey, F, Buffalo Sabres, 2nd-roound, 2013.

Justin Bailey, F, Buffalo Sabres, 2nd-roound, 2013.

Jonathan-Ismael Diaby, D, Nashville Predators, 3rd-round, 2013.

Jonathan-Ismael Diaby, D, Nashville Predators, 3rd-round, 2013.

Jordan Subban, D, Vancouver Canucks, 4th-round, 2013.

Jordan Subban, D, Vancouver Canucks, 4th-round, 2013.

Madison Bowey, D, Washington Capitals, 2md-round, 2013.

Madison Bowey, D, Washington Capitals, 2md-round, 2013.

Joshua Ho-Sang, F, New York Islanders, 1st-round, 2014.

Joshua Ho-Sang, F, New York Islanders, 1st-round, 2014.

Brandon Montour, D, Anaheim Ducks, 2nd-round, 2014.

Brandon Montour, D, Anaheim Ducks, 2nd-round, 2014.

Bokondji Imama, F, Tampa Bay Lightning 6th-round, 2015.

Bokondji Imama, F, Tampa Bay Lightning 6th-round, 2015.

Ethan Bear, D, Edmonton Oilers 5th-round, 2015.

Ethan Bear, D, Edmonton Oilers 5th-round, 2015.

Devante Stephens, D, Buffalo Sabres 5th-round, 2015.

Devante Stephens, D, Buffalo Sabres 5th-round, 2015.

Caleb Jones, D, Edmonton Oilers 4th-round pick, 2015.

Caleb Jones, D, Edmonton Oilers 4th-round pick, 2015.

Mathieu Joseph, F, Tampa Bay Lightning 4th-round pick, 2015.

Mathieu Joseph, F, Tampa Bay Lightning 4th-round pick, 2015.

Keegan Kolesar, F, Columbus Blue Jackets 3rd-round pick, 2015.

Keegan Kolesar, F, Columbus Blue Jackets 3rd-round pick, 2015.

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J.R. loves P.K., and thinks Brooklyn would’ve, too

16 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Jeremy Roenick, Joshua Ho-Sang, Kyle Okposo, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, P.K. Subban

When former National Hockey League star Jeremy Roenick watches Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban play, he sees himself.

“And it would have been a great image to have me go against P.K. Subban,” Roenick told Greg Wyshynski, editor of Yahoo’s excellent Puck Daddy blog, in a great interview earlier this week. “He resembles me. Reminds me of myself as a young player.”

Make no mistake, Roenick, now an NBC Sports hockey analyst, LOVES Subban –  his game, his attitude, and the entertainment value he brings to the NHL. Several hockey purists complain that Subban is too flashy, too front-and-center both on and off the ice. Roenick, one of hockey’s true characters and showmen, strongly disagrees.

NBC's Jeremy Roenick thinks the NHL needs more entertaining players like Montreal's P.K. Subban and Washington's Alex Ovechkin  (Photo/Chuck Myers).

NBC’s Jeremy Roenick thinks the NHL needs more entertaining players like Montreal’s P.K. Subban and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (Photo/Chuck Myers).

“The NHL does a lot of different things. You’re almost like connected to strings. They want you to act a certain way, they want you to play a certain way, they want you to say certain things,” Roenick told Wyshynski. “Which is good, because I think the NHL has one of the best reputations of any of the other sports.”

He added: “But you need characters. You need (Washington Capitals forward Alexander) Ovechkin, guys like P.K. They bring that out. We just need more of it. And you can be outlandish and still be respectful. The NHL doesn’t like when someone rises above the head count. And guys are really respectful, too. You just have idiots like myself, because we knew it’s an entertainment sport.”

Roenick chided the Canadiens for taking Subban to the brink of arbitration over the summer before signing him to an eight-year, $72 million contract.

“If I was (New York Islanders General Manager) Garth Snow, who had nothing to lose, I would have offered him $10 million and made Montreal match it,” Roenick told Wyshynski. “You’re going into a new building (Brooklyn’s Barclays Center next season). You’re bringing in an ethnic kid that has so much pizzazz. It would have been the greatest thing.”

“P.K. in a Brooklyn jersey!” Roenick added. “It would have sold tickets.”

Can you imagine Subban, Kyle Okposo, and Joshua Ho-Sang, the Islanders’ slick-handed 2014 first-round draft pick, skating on the same shift? Great interview, Greg.

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Islanders first round pick Joshua Ho-Sang traded by OHL Windsor to Niagara

15 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Joshua Ho-Sang, New York Islanders, Windsor Spitfires

Islanders 2014 first-round draft pick Joshua Ho-Sang.

Islanders 2014 first-round draft pick Joshua Ho-Sang.

In a surprise move, Joshua Ho-Sang, a New York Islanders 2014 first-round draft pick, was traded Friday by the Windsor Spitfires to the Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League.

A day after Windsor General Manager Warren Rychel batted down rumors that he would move Ho-Sang, he shipped the electrifying high-scoring forward to Niagara for forward Hayden McCool, 17, and OHL draft picks in 2016, 2018 and 2019.

Ho-Sang, 18, was the Spitfires top scorer with three goals and 19 points in 11 games. He amassed 49 goals and 148 points in 141 regular season games for Windsor.

“It’s more sad than anything, but that’s life,” Ho-Sang told The Windsor Star of the trade. “I’m excited to get a start with a new team and hopefully spark a few points.”

He played for Niagara Friday night against the Erie Otters and registered an assist in an IceDogs  2-1 victory. The game was coincidentally televised in Canada on Sportsnet and in the United States on NHL Network.

Spitfires Head Coach and former National Hockey League tough guy Bob Boughner acknowledged that his team gave up a lot of skill when it dispatched Ho-Sang. But he told The Star that “We really like our core group of young guys and we want to build around that core.”

“It’s a little bit of short-term pain for long-term gain, I think,” Boughner told The Star. “We want our team to go in a certain direction and we want to create that strong culture like we had in the past, and this deal allows us to do that.”

Friday’s trade appears to be more about Niagara needing Ho-Sang than Windsor shedding him. The IceDogs were 5-13 heading into Friday’s game. Canoe.ca Sports pointed out that the team will need 48 points in 50 games to remain in the playoff hunt. Their star forward, Brendan Perlini, an Arizona Coyotes first-round pick, has been out with a hand injury.

“We’ve had guys trying to do too much,” Niagara Head Coach and General Manager Marty Williamson told Canoe.ca. “I thought (Toronto Maple Leafs forward prospect) Carter Verhaeghe was a great example. He was just doing way too much.”

Enter Joshua Ho-Sang. He was the Spitfires first-round draft choice – the fifth overall pick –  in the 2012 OHL draft. Hockey scouts drooled over his offensive skills: swift skating, slick stickhandling ability, and an array of lethal shots.

But some hockey people became wary of Ho-Sang. Some considered him too individualistic and more concerned about being a human highlight reel than a winning hockey player. They wondered whether he could conform to a team.

He sat out the Spitfires’ first six games under a suspension for a push on London Knights defenseman Zach Bell in last year’s playoffs that resulted in Bell suffering a broken leg.

Ho-Sang hasn’t been shy about speaking him mind. He talked freely about race in an interview with The Toronto Sun ahead of the 2014 NHL Draft, telling the publication that “I think color definitely plays a factor in perception.”

And he’s questioned why Hockey Canada hasn’t given him a serious look for a spot on the team that will play in the 2015 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Montreal and Toronto in December and January.

All of that frightened some NHL general managers to the point that they reportedly had Ho-Sang on their “Do Not Draft” list.

Ho-Sang sweated out the first round of June’s draft in Philadelphia until the Islanders and General Manager Garth Snow took him with the 28th overall pick in the draft. The team traded two second-round picks to the Tampa Bay Lightning to get the 28th selection.

Afterwards, Snow told TSN that he wasn’t worried about taking Ho-Sang because “They (critics) sh*t on me, too.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Skillz Hockey’s Cyril Bollers joins NHL legend Paul Coffey in coaching junior team

06 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

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Carig Berube, Cyril Bollers, Darnell Nurse, Edmontron Oilers, Joshua Ho-Sang, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Paul Coffey, Philadelphia Flyers, Skillz Black Aces

When a Hockey Hall of Famer, four-time Stanley Cup winner, three-time Norris Trophy recipient, and second-leading scorer among National Hockey League defenseman all time calls and asks you to ride shotgun with him in coaching a Canadian Junior “A” hockey team, what do you do?

“This opportunity came and I jumped at it,” Cyril Bollers, president and coach of Skillz Hockey told me. “That was something I never thought possible.”

Last weekend, Bollers signed on as an assistant coach of the Pickering Panthers of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, working under Paul Coffey, who was named the Panthers’ new head of hockey operations by new General Manager Matt Muir.

Cyril Bollers works the bench as assistant coach of the OJHL Pickering Panthers (Photo/Dan Hickling/Hickling Images)

Cyril Bollers works the bench as assistant coach of the OJHL Pickering Panthers (Photo/Dan Hickling/Hickling Images)

The vacancies occurred when owner Steve Tuchner fired GM/Head Coach Matt Galati late last month. The Panthers are in the 22-team OJHL, a league that serves as a pipeline to NCAA and Canadian college hockey programs. It’s the Canadian equivalent to the United States Hockey League.

The Panthers are currently in second place with a 9-7-1 record in the OJHL’s North Division.

Coffey – who racked up 396 goals and 1,135 assists with nine NHL teams over a 21-season career – reached out to Bollers who once coached Coffey’s son, Blake, on an Under-15 hockey team. Blake Coffey is on the Panthers roster. Familiarity with the younger Coffey and with the OJHL were all pluses for Bollers.

“I coached in the OJ before with Brampton as a head coach, but I think for me what is most impressive is receiving a call from Mr. Coffey and being asked to come and join the team,” Bollers told me.

Bollers is one of the few coaches of color in high-level organized hockey. Philadelphia Flyers’ Craig Berube and Buffalo Sabres’ Ted Nolan, both of First Nations heritage, are currently the only minority head coaches in the National Hockey League.

Paul Jerrard, who is black, is an assistant head coach for the Utica Comets, the Vancouver Canucks’ American Hockey League farm team. Darren Lowe, who’s also black, is head coach of the University of Toronto’s men’s hockey team.

Bollers is sharing his coaching Skillz with Pickering.

Bollers is sharing his coaching Skillz with Pickering.

And Bollers aspires to join their ranks. His Skillz Black Aces and Black Mafia teams began as Toronto-based youth hockey teams comprised of elite, National Hockey League draft-eligible players born between 1995 and 1996 – and almost all of them black. As the program became successful, kids of all colors began filling out the rosters.

Skillz alums include Windsor Spitfires forward Joshua Ho-Sang, the New York Islanders first-round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, Barrie Colts forward Brendan Lemieux, a Buffalo Sabres second-round pick this summer, Portland Winterhawks forward Keegan Iverson, a New York Rangers 2014 third-round pic, and Jaden Lindo, the Pittsburgh Penguins’  2014 sixth-round pick, all played for Bollers.

Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds defenseman Darnell Nurse, the Edmonton Oilers’ 2013 first-round pick, Kitchener Rangers forward Justin Bailey, a Sabres 2013 second-round choice, and Bellville Bulls defenseman Jordan Subban, a Vancouver Canucks 2013 fourth-round selection and the brother of Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban, also played under Bollers.

The Pickering post is the latest coaching assignment for Bollers. In March, he was tapped to be an assistant coach for an Under-16 hockey team that will represent Ontario in the 2015 Canada Winter Games.

In August, he helped the Jamaica Olympic Ice Hockey Federation conduct its first player tryouts  in Etobicoke, Ontario.

For Coffey, the Pickering job is his latest foray into to hockey team management. He was head coach of the Toronto Marlboros midget “AAA” team last season when he was suspended for three games by the Greater Toronto Hockey League for allegedly making “discriminatory slurs” in the closing minutes of a game against the Senators, The Hockey News reported in February.

Details of the incident were never fully disclosed. But The Hockey News reported that the Senators lobbied the GTHL for leniency for Coffey, saying the incident had been blown out of proportion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Josh Ho-Sang hangs with Skillz Black Aces

13 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

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Boston Bruins, Joshua Ho-Sang, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, P.K. Subban, Skillz Black Aces

New York Islanders 2014 first round draft pick Joshua Ho-Sang returned to his roots this week to provide some on-ice inspiration and motivation to the Skillz Black Aces, a youth hockey team that he played for over four summers.

Ho-Sang, a high-scoring forward for the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League, has called playing for Coach Cyril Bollers’ predominantly-minority squad “probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life.”

N.Y. Islanders draft pick Joshua Ho-Sang (second to the left, second row) with Skillz Black Aces members. The finely-locked gentleman on the second row far right is dad Wayne Ho-Sang. Coach C.J. Bollers stands second row, far left.

N.Y. Islanders draft pick Joshua Ho-Sang (second to the left, second row) with Skillz Black Aces members. The finely-locked gentleman on the second row far right is dad Wayne Ho-Sang. Coach C.J. Bollers stands second row, far left.

Skillz is increasingly becoming a stepping stone to the National Hockey League Draft. Ho-Sang, the 28th overall pick, Barrie Colts forward Brendan Lemieux, a 2014 second-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres, Portland Winterhawks forward Keegan Iverson, the New York Rangers third-round selection, and Owen Sound Attack forward Jaden Lindo, a sixth-round choice of the Pittsburgh Penguins, are all alums of Skillz summer hockey teams.

So are Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds defenseman Darnell Nurse, the Edmonton Oilers’ 2013  first-round pick; Kitchener Rangers forward Justin Bailey, a Buffalo Sabres second-round pick; forward Stephen Harper of the Erie Otters; and Bellville Bulls defenseman Jordan Subban, the Vancouver Canucks’ fourth-round pick and the younger brother of Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban and Boston Bruins goaltending prospect Malcolm Subban.

 

 

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Players of color help NHL teams replenish, reload, through draft and free agency

04 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

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Anthony Duclair, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Jaden Lindo, Jarome Iginla, Joshua Ho-Sang, Keegan Iverson, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs, USHL, Windsor Spitfires

Between the 2014 National Hockey League Draft and the start of the NHL’s free agent signing period, some old faces changed places and the league infused itself with new young blood via the draft.

A lot has transpired from the time NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was robustly booed when he first strode onto the stage at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center on June 27 to begin the draft to the last breathless breath of NHL Network, TSN, and NBC Sports Network analysts summing up the hurly-burly of the week’s free agent signing frenzy. Let’s recap:

Hoping for a Rocky Mountain high from a Stanley Cup win, Jarome Iginla signs with Avalanche.

Hoping for a Rocky Mountain high from a Stanley Cup win, Jarome Iginla signs with Avalanche.

Perhaps the biggest free agent catch was landed by the Colorado Avalanche when it inked Jarome Iginla to a three-year, $16 million deal. The former Calgary Flames icon hopes his third NHL team in three seasons – he played for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2012-13 and Boston Bruins last season – will be a charm and deliver the Stanley Cup championship he longs for before he takes residence among the greats in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Iginla’s relocation from Beantown to the Rockies wasn’t an issue of the Bruins not wanting to keep him or the player tiring of the team. It was a matter of dollars and cents, or the Bruins’ lack of it. Boston simply didn’t have the salary cap space to fit Iginla into its budget.

Boston’s misfortune becomes Colorado’s fortune, even though it’s costing the team one. In Iginla, the Avalanche get an aging-but-still-productive player who can provide hard-nose leadership to a rising young team that seeks to leapfrog the loaded Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference to get a shot at the Cup. Now 37, Iginla scored 30 goals and 31 assists for the Bruins in 78 games.

“In the NHL it’s hard to pick which team is going to win, but you want to be on a contender and I think at this

Manny Malhotra takes his face-off skills to Montreal.

Manny Malhotra takes his face-off skills to Montreal.

stage of my career that is very important,” Iginla told Sportnet. “I know Boston, they have a great shot, they’re a great team and they work very hard and they’re committed. Unfortunately, it didn’t end the way we wanted it to this year in Boston, but they’ll be right back there and have a great shot again and I realize that. But it wasn’t really a full option and Colorado, to me, is a young, dynamic team and they’re just getting better.”

The Montreal Canadiens made a lesser but no less important free agent signing that the team is banking will help them get beyond the Conference Final next season. The Habs inked 34-year-old center Manny Malhotra to a one-year, $850,000 contract.

The Indo-Canadian Malhothra  is a role player, but a very good one. He’s one of the NHL’s best face-off men and provides locker room leadership to a team that saw its captain, Brian Gionta, move on to the Buffalo Sabres. Malhotra is also one of the league’s best feel-good stories. He suffered a horrific left eye injury when he played for the Vancouver Canucks in 2011 that many thought would be career-ending.

With reduced vision, he made the American Hockey League’s Charlotte Checkers on a tryout and was later promoted to the parent club, the NHL’s Carolinia Hurricanes. He had seven goals and six assists for the ‘Canes in the 2013-14 season.

Brandon Montour, left, jumped from 18th-round USHL pick to 2nd-round NHL pick (Photo/Britta Lewis)

Brandon Montour, left, jumped from 18th-round USHL pick to 2nd-round NHL pick (Photo/Britta Lewis)

Feel-good stories were also abundant at the draft. Brandon Montour was all smiles when the Anaheim Ducks selected the defenseman from the United States Hockey League’s Waterloo Black Hawks in the second round with the 55th overall pick.

Montour, who’s Canadian First Nation, was beaming because little more than a year ago he selected by Waterloo in the 18th round of the USHL draft, the league’s 276th overall pick. What happened between the USHL and NHL drafts?  Montour was awarded both the USHL Player of the Year and Defenseman of the Year in 2014.

He tallied 14 goals and 48 assists in 60 games for the Black Hawks, tops among USHL defensemen and ninth overall in the league in scoring. He was sixth among USHL players with a plus-35 rating.

Montour attended the Ducks’ prospects camp last week, but it will be a while before fans see

Mark Friedman hopes to join Montour in NHL after college (Photo/Britta Lewis)

Mark Friedman hopes to join Montour in NHL after college (Photo/Britta Lewis)

him performing in Anaheim. He’s committed to play college hockey at the University of Massachusetts. The USHL is the nation’s top junior league and a prime hockey feeder to American colleges and universities.

“Brandon is truly a special player,” Waterloo Head Coach P.K. O’Handley said on the team’s website. “Even more than his tremendous natural abilities and instincts, our coaching staff, Brandon’s teammates, and certainly Black Hawks fans appreciate the tremendous effort that was evident anytime he was on the ice.”

Montour had company from Waterloo at the draft. Teammate Mark Friedman, a defenseman, was chosen by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 3rd round with the 86th overall pick. He scored 10 goals and 30 assists in 51 games last season for the Black Hawks. Friedman has signed a letter of intent to play hockey for Bowling Green State University, the school that produced former Pittsburgh Penguins Head Coach Dan Bylsma.

Should Friedman reach the NHL after college he’ll be part of a small but growing contingent of Jewish players in the league. Calgary Flames forward Mike Cammalleri, Phoenix Coyotes forward Jeff Halpern, Nashville Predators forward Eric Nystrom, and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Trevor Smith were among the NHL’s Jewish players last season.

Armada's Daniel Walcott hopes to make leap from college club hockey to NHL.

Armada’s Daniel Walcott hopes to make leap from college club hockey to NHL.

The New York Rangers feel they got a diamond in the rough in defenseman Daniel Walcott, a defenseman selected in the fifth round with the 140th overall pick. Like Montour, Walcott, who played last season for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, was an under-the-radar player who took an unusual route to the draft.

Prior to joining Armada, Walcott,  a 19-year-old Ile Perrot, Quebec, native, was playing U.S. college hockey – but not NCAA Division I, II or III. He was playing for Lindenwood University near St. Louis, Mo., a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association – club hockey.

Founded in 1991, the ACHA has 431 men’s and women’s teams spanning five competition divisions in 49 states. Teams like Navy, Arizona State University, New York University,  Florida Gulf Coast University, and San Jose State University are ACHA members.

Walcott, played organized travel team hockey in Canada when he was younger but stopped to play football and hockey at school. When his parents divorced, Walcott moved to Chicago where he attended high school for a year before accepting a scholarship at Lindenwood.

“They offered me a spot. I decided to take it because it’s university (hockey) and I always wanted to play there. Unfortunately, it’s not high quality. It’s not NCAA hockey, it was just club hockey,” Walcott told Yahoo Sports’ “Buzzing the Net.” “My assistant coach and (Armada coaches) were in contact, and my name came up. They invited to camp. I decided to come here because I live at home, basically. It was one of the major keys to the decision. Also, I wanted to get seen by scouts and here is a much bigger opportunity for that.”

Indeed. The Rangers looked at Walcott’s single season body of work in the QMJHL and decided he was worth drafting. In 67 games, Walcott scored 10 goals and 29 assists.

“I’m a two-way defenseman,” Walcott told “Buzzing the Net.” “I bring a lot of offense and I can play defense, too, and shutdown top lines. I can be in-your-face and physical. I give my heart out every game – a lot of character.”

Rick Zombo, Lindenwood’s hockey head coach and a former St. Louis Blues defenseman, said all Walcott needed was an opportunity to showcase his ability.

“He put all the work in and he got his opportunity, he was prepared and made the most of it,” Zombo said on the university’s website. “I’m very proud of Daniel and I fully expect him to make the most of his new opportunities.”

Walcott attended the Rangers prospects camp this week with fellow 2014 draftee Keegan Iverson, a forward for the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks who was chosen in the 3rd round with the 85th pick by the Blueshirts. Also at camp was Anthony Duclair, a high-scoring forward with the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts. The Rangers chose Duclair in the 3rd round of the 2013 draft with the overall 80th pick. The speedy forward registered 50 goals and 49 assists in 59 games for Quebec in 2013-14.

Rounding out the 2014 draftees are Joshua Ho-Sang, a forward for the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires, who was taken in the first round with the 28th pick by the New York Islanders, and Jaden Lindo, forward for the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack who was taken in the fourth round with the 173rd overall pick by the Penguins.

 

 

 

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