Potvin regrets low-life remark

Transcription

1 Potvin regrets low-life remark Panthers broadcaster slammed Daniel Sedin 14 Jan 2016 The Vancouver Sun VANCOUVER SUN NEWS SERVICES Hockey Hall of Famer Denis Potvin is sorry for calling Canucks star Daniel Sedin a low-life. My choice of words at the conclusion of the Vancouver game on Monday should have been more appropriate, the Florida Panthers broadcaster said in a statement Wednesday. In the passion of the moment and under the circumstances of how the game ended, they came out wrong. Potvin, who wasn t shy about throwing the odd, marginal hip check in his playing heyday with the New York Islanders, delivered the verbal broadside at the end of Monday s 3-2 Canucks overtime win against the Panthers, when Sedin gestured to the Florida bench after scoring the winning goal. It came in response to goading by an unnamed Panthers player, and a brawl nearly ensued as players from both teams gathered by the Panthers bench at Rogers Arena. Potvin, who won four Stanley Cups as the Islanders captain, also cracked: The Sedins are pointing fingers now normally they only use those fingers to lick the peanut butter off their bread. Sedin didn t identify which player made the comments or what was said. He skated over toward Florida s bench after celebrating with teammates, and when Derek Dorsett started shoving Panthers backup goaltender Al Montoya, tempers flared and almost every player and even coaches got involved. There were no suspensions or fines to come out of the melee. It s always great to see a team stick up for one another, Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said. We forgot about it right away. It s not a big deal. There were things said, we won the game, we moved on. Washington coach Barry Trotz watched the situation between the unfold on TV and figured it was sparked by opponents wanting to get into the Sedin brothers heads. In some ways that s a backhanded compliment, I guess, from other teams that they want those guys off their game, Trotz said. They re terrific players. They think the game at another level. They ve been productive players for a long, long time. It s a compliment that teams try to get them off their game. HIGGINS DEMOTED: Chris Higgins is Utica-bound, the Vancouver Canucks announced Wednesday. The 32-year-old veteran winger cleared waivers and has been reassigned to the American Hockey League s Comets. Higgins has been injured most of this season and his production has suffered. He had just two goals and three points in 25 games with the Canucks this season and was minus-12.

2 Padding resume to workshare Growing net worth: Markstrom gaining coach s confidence to lighten the load for veteran Miller 14 Jan 2016 The Vancouver Sun Iain MacIntyre It s not quite like he left the crease a starter and is returning as a backup, but Ryan Miller knows the landscape changed in the three weeks while he was injured. Jacob Markstrom altered it. Miller is still the Vancouver Canucks No. 1 goalie. He was pledged $18 million US over three years by general manager Jim Benning before last season to fill that role, and both he and Benning plan, at this point, to see it through. But Markstrom elevated his status in the eight games he started after Miller, bizarrely, injured his groin Dec. 20 in Sunrise, Fla., while suffering leg cramps as he tried to stop Brandon Pirri in a shootout. Markstrom, who missed the first month of the season with a hamstring injury, started only six times in six weeks before Miller was hurt. But in the eight games since, Markstrom is with a 2.21 goals-against average and.927 save rate. In his last four starts, Miller posted a GAA of 4.23 and save rate of.881. Markstrom s sample size is far too small to make any sweeping declarations about his future in the National Hockey League after he struggled for five years to parlay minor-league stardom into even semi-regular NHL duty. But those eight games were enough for Canuck coach Willie Desjardins to admit the backup goalie has elevated himself and earned the organization s confidence. Desjardins has hinted a couple of times what a lot of people have thought for a while: to get the best out of the 35-year-old Miller while developing the 25-year-old Markstrom, the starter has to play less and the backup more. I think that s fine, Miller said before the Canucks travelled here to open another marathon survival test, six road games in 9½ days, starting tonight against the league-leading Washington Capitals. I want to have energy and I want to compete. The way the NHL is and the way our schedule has been, it s hard to keep the energy really high. Desjardins said Wednesday that Miller will likely start tonight. With the Canucks also playing Friday in Carolina, expect Markstrom to get the Hurricanes. After that, we ll see. Miller happily backed up Markstrom the last two games, forsaking playing time for the chance to fully practise and work on his timing. It s something Miller values more now after rushing back last season from a sprained knee to be available for the playoffs. Last year, trying to squeeze in that last (regular-season) game against Edmonton, my timing wasn t great, Miller said. Then, the practices after that, I felt good. I m trying to learn from that situation. This is a new one for me. My conversation with the coaches, once I felt a little bit better, was: I want to get my timing back and contribute because we ve got quite a battle going (in the standings) and I want to be ready. Asked if he thinks Markstrom has earned the right to keep starting, Miller said: That s not my call, but he s been playing great hockey. Good for him, because he s had his ups and downs (in the NHL). Last year, he made a great stride forward. I know he was frustrated to be injured at the start of the

3 season when we were just starting out. For him, this is a big positive. For me, I just want to get back in the mix and start contributing. After Markstrom hurt his hamstring taking shots at the end of the Canucks final pre-season practice, Miller started Vancouver s first 10 games and played 14 of the first 15. The consequence of that overuse seems apparent in Miller s monthly splits: In October, his save rate was.923 and GAA 2.16; in November, his numbers collapsed to.898 and In December he got hurt. And this was before the Canucks felt the full weight of their torturous schedule. Vancouver had a seven-game roadie in November, a sixgamer in December, and now a six-game January trip that also takes them to play the Rangers and Islanders in New York, the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins. Toss in another four-gamer at the end of November, and the Canucks went through a stretch where they played 17 out of 23 on the road. The organization needs to seriously reassess its willingness to front-load its schedule with travel and extend trips in the eastern time zone, reasoning that the hardest part is just getting there. The hardest part is, I just expected more homestands, and we haven t had anything this year, Miller said. You look around the league and our road trips have been pretty tough and pretty long. Maybe you can source (injuries) back to those situations. I try to prepare myself the best I can in those situations, but you re not feeling good, and maybe your body s not perfectly aligned because you ve been travelling and sleeping in different beds. I cramped up (in Florida) and I got myself in a situation where something had to give. Miller emphasized that this injury wasn t nearly as serious as the torn knee ligaments that caused him to miss six weeks and 22 games late last season. But for the second time in nine months, he s trying to regain timing, confidence and his place in the net. Things happen, he said. It s the same way you approach a game. If you get scored on, you keep competing. It s the same situation with an injury. Every injury is an opportunity to learn about yourself. And for somebody else to play, and have others learn about that guy. HEAD-TO-HEAD The Canucks blew a third-period lead and lost 3-2 to the Capitals on Oct. 22 in Vancouver, where Ovechkin who else? scored the winner with 4:55 remaining. Vancouver got goals from Henrik Sedin and Radim Vrbata, but was outshot and outplayed. The Canucks swept the season series last year, winning 4-3 in Washington 15 months ago. As a Canuck, Vrbata has six points in three games against the Capitals. THE MATCHUP The Canucks rallied to beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 Monday on an overtime goal from Daniel Sedin to finish their homestand before launching their final marathon trip of the season a six-gamer in the U.S. Northeast. Washington hasn t played since hammering the Ottawa Senators 7-1 on Sunday and is soaring atop the NHL. The Capitals are , with 10 straight home wins, since Nov. 19. They lead the league in goals-against, are second in scoring and 23-1 when they score first. INJURIES D Luca Sbisa (hand) and RW Jannik Hansen (upper body) are day-to-day for Vancouver, and C Brandon Sutter (hernia) and D Dan Hamhuis (face) are out. Washington has been without key blueliners Brooks Orpik (lower body) and John Carlson (lower body), as well as RW Jay Beagle (hand). LW Marcus Johansson returns from a two-game ban for his headshot on Islander Thomas Hickey. WHO S HOT, NOT?

4 Canucks C Bo Horvat is on a four-game scoring streak (4-26 pts.) and linemate LW Sven Baertschi has pts. In his last eight games. LW Alex Burrows has one assist in 21 games. For the Capitals, LW Ovechkin has goals in his last three games, but Nicklas Backstrom leads the team in scoring and is on a six-game points streak (3-6-9 pts.). C Brooks Laich has gone 30 games without a goal. Dehydration cramped Miller s style 14 Jan 2016 The Province BEN KUZMA ARLINGTON, Va. Ryan Miller is diving into the deep end of the competition pool and Derek Dorsett may be diving into a rare first-line role. Miller returns Thursday after missing eight games with a Dec. 20 groin strain and with the return of Jannik Hansen in doubt he practised Wednesday but didn t partake in line rushes or contact drills it s Dorsett who will start on the first line for the Vancouver Canucks when they face the leagueleading Washington Capitals. For Miller, the mystery of his injury matches the mystique of the Capitals. They lead the NHL in fewest goals allowed, rank second in goals scored and the power play and are fourth on the penalty kill. Miller wishes he had as many answers to what went awry with his health. He started to tighten up during a hectic overtime in Florida with his head on a swivel as the Panthers fired eight shots. After looking stoic and not reacting to Brandon Pirri s successful shootout attempt, he had to be helped off the ice. I had little nagging things here and there, but this was just a weird one, Miller said Wednesday. I expected it to be a lot shorter and it lingered a little longer. I pride myself on being prepared and not having to face a lot of these things over my career because I feel I can get ahead of it. But it was a unique situation. I got cramped up and it wasn t as preventable. It was Florida, it was warm and it s more that I didn t feel good in Detroit (Dec. 18) and got dehydrated, and that was a shootout game. It (injury) was also at the end of a road trip and we had been travelling a lot and it kind of builds up. I ll know next time to be extra cautious about the hydration. It s how you feel, and I didn t feel it in my calves and that s usually the first telltale sign that you re getting that sensation in your body. Meanwhile, after standing up physically and vocally for Daniel and Henrik Sedin Monday during the post-game melee with Florida, Dorsett was promoted to the first line in practice Wednesday. It could last a few shifts or a few periods because Alex Burrows, who practised on a line with Linden Vey and Emerson Etem, could swap positions with Dorsett. I may have played a game on the first line when guys were injured, Dorsett said, trying to recall his last NHL first-line call. The Sedins play hard minutes and in tough situations, and I m just going to stick to my game and get in on the forecheck and retrieve pucks. It s no secret with those two. You go to the net with your stick on the ice and, hopefully, good things happen. Daniel Sedin can only hope some good will come from Denis Potvin s apology after calling the winger a low-life for skating by the Panthers bench Monday after scoring the overtime winner. Said Potvin: My choice of words should have been more appropriate. In the passion of the moment and under the circumstances of how the game ended, they came out wrong. I extend my sincere apologies.

5 As for Daniel, he s trying to put all this behind him, but he faced the same questions Wednesday. For us, it was over after that game, said the winger, who was also taunted by Shawn Thornton before the overtime. We don t worry too much and it was a heat-of-the-moment thing. It s an emotional game and stuff happens and we reacted to one player because it was uncalled for. We respect that team a lot. Said Capitals coach Barry Trotz: Every team wants to get top players off their games and in a way, that s a backhanded compliment that they want them (Sedins) off their games. I know them a little bit and they re terrific players and think the game at another level. They ve been productive players for a long time and great for the game. OF NOTE: Chris Higgins cleared waivers and has been assigned to Utica. Luca Sbisa (hand) also practised for the first time Wednesday, but isn t close to playing. Ex-Canucks Kassian, Hodgson and Connauton make NHL news 14 Jan 2016 The Province The Associated Press Wednesday will be a day to remember for two former Canucks who share even closer ties for very different reasons. Zack Kassian, who was placed in the NHL s substance abuse program in the fall while a Montreal Canadien, then traded to Edmonton, was called up by the Oilers from their farm team in Bakersfield, Calif. Kassian last played an NHL game 10 months ago as a Canuck, four months before Vancouver traded him to Montreal for Brandon Prust. He may make his Oilers debut Thursday night in San Jose. Meanwhile, Cody Hodgson, who the Canucks selected 10th overall in the 2008 draft, was placed on waivers by the Nashville Predators Wednesday. Hodgson was traded to Buffalo for Kassian in The Sabres bought out the final four years of Hodgson s contract last spring. The Predators signed him in free agency and Hodgson responded with just three goals and five assists in 39 games. Final bit of Vancouver-related NHL news: The Arizona Coyotes claimed former star Vancouver Giants defenceman Kevin Connauton off waivers. Interestingly, he had scored points in four straight games for the Columbus Blue Jackets but, after acquiring Seth Jones from the Predators, the Blue Jackets needed to shed a defenceman. Canucks assign Higgins to AHL's Comets TSN June. 13 Canadian Press

6 VANCOUVER - Vancouver Canucks forward Chris Higgins cleared waivers Wednesday and was assigned to the Utica Comets of the American Hockey League. The Canucks placed Higgins on waivers Tuesday, two days after the team released a statement stating it was actively trying to trade him to make room for its younger forwards. It is rare for an NHL team to publicly declare its intention to trade one of its players. Higgins has struggled this season after breaking his foot in training camp, putting up just two goals and an assist in 25 games. He still has another year left on his four-year deal that has an annual cap hit is US$2.5 million. Panthers broadcaster Potvin issues apology to Canucks TSN.ca Staff TSN.ca Jan. 13 Florida Panthers broadcaster and Hockey Hall of Famer Denis Potvin issued an apology on Wednesday for his comments at the conclusion of Monday night's broadcast of the Panthers' 3-2 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks. After Daniel Sedin's winner, the Canucks forward skated towards and appeared to stare down the Panthers' bench before a lengthy scrum broke out between the two teams. Potvin called Sedin a "low life" and, after Sedin and his brother, Henrik, began to point fingers towards Panthers players, said, "Normally they only use those fingers to lick the peanut butter off of their bread. "My choice of words at the conclusion of the Vancouver game on Monday should have been more appropriate," the three-time Norris Trophy winner said in the statement. "In the passion of the moment and under the circumstances of how the game ended, they came out wrong. For that I'm going to extend my sincere apologies to Daniel Sedin, Trevor Linden and the Canucks organization." The loss put an end to the Panthers' franchise-best 12-game winning streak. Potvin won the Stanley Cup four times as a member of the New York Islanders. This is Potvin's first year back on Panthers' broadcasts after four seasons with the Ottawa Senators' broadcast team. He had been the colour analyst for the Panthers from their inception in 1993 until The Sedins just keep answering the bell Bob Mackenzie TSN.net Jan. 13 I had the best seat in the house for what may have been the ground zero of Sedin bashing. It was at the 1999 World Junior Championship in Winnipeg, a tourney I'll always remember for a) the loudest fans I've ever heard; b) Roberto Luongo's coming-out party as an elite goaltender; and c) the Sedin twins being threatened with death and dismemberment.

7 Quite literally. Canada was playing Sweden in the old Winnipeg Arena. It was rocking. The game ended up being no contest, a frenzied 6-1 home-team walkover. The beating wasn't limited to the scoreboard. A Swedish player if I remember correctly it was a linemate of Daniel and Henrik was crushed into the boards (Brad Ference's name rings a bell as the perpetrator) and had to be taken from the ice on a stretcher. I was stationed at ice level, right between the two benches, no better vantage point to see and hear everything happening. Oh, my goodness. I still have nightmares. As the motionless Swedish player was being wheeled off, the Canadian players targeted the twins for a cacophony of verbal abuse like you wouldn't believe but can only imagine. Death threats. Decapitation. Dismemberment. It was all liberally spiced with the saltiest language and slurs of all varieties. Nothing was off limits. The general theme of it was, "You're next." I do recall looking at the then wide-eyed 18-year-old brothers, who were in their NHL draft year, and wondering what they must have been thinking at that moment. Were they scared? Intimidated? Or were they simply dumbfounded at their discovery of a whole new species of animal? All these years later, 17 of them to be exact, has much changed? Well, yes and no. The Sedins are still getting verbally abused and challenged, though we need not wonder any more about what they're thinking, or how they will respond or what they're made of. They just keep answering the bell. Daniel's game-winning goal in overtime against the Florida Panthers on Monday, and his subsequent celebratory fly-by of the Panther bench and stare-down of Shawn Thornton (who had apparently prefaced overtime by making some "inappropriate" comments to the twins that infuriated them) was a great mic drop moment, Swedish style. You talk a good game; I play one. Boom. Game over. Of course, it didn't end there. It rarely does where the twins are involved. Hall of Fame defenceman Denis Potvin, on the home-team Panthers' broadcast, called Daniel a "low life" and made some disparaging remarks about pointing fingers and peanut butter. Okay then. A near brawl erupted. And afterwards, Daniel said what is said on the ice stays on the ice but what the unnamed player (Thornton) said to two Canuck players (Daniel and Henrik) was clearly unacceptable. I think I have a pretty good idea of what Thornton said to the Sedins, but since I don't know with absolute certainty I'll take a page out of Daniel's book of restraint and just leave it at that. Potvin's comments were just silly. The real point, I guess, is that, after all these years, Daniel and Henrik Sedin are still getting the business. "I don't get it," Vancouver general manager Jim Benning said. "I really don't get it. "Daniel and Henrik play big minutes, hard minutes, against the biggest and best competition in the NHL. They go to the hard areas to make plays and score goals. They aren't finesse players off the rush; they mostly play the cycle game down low in heavy traffic and go to the front of the net. They win battles. They're strong on pucks.

8 "They don't get injured a lot and when they do, they play hurt. They've played at a really high level consistently through their careers and they're still playing at a high level. They're leaders, on and off the ice. They're excellent players on the ice; they're even better people off the ice, in the community. "I was in Boston, part of the Bruins, and I know Boston loves its tough hockey players. Well, these guys are tough as anyone physically, mentally, emotionally. They play the game like warriors. They still always seem to be getting challenged and questioned. I don't get that." For what it's worth, neither do I. CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR I always get a little queasy when I advocate for anything that might be viewed as "sanitizing" the game, because heaven knows this game is at its best when it's bordering on its worst. At its core, hockey can be a really savage game. Truth to be told, as "excellent" as the game is now we have excellent goalies, excellent coaches, excellent athletes, a proliferation of excellence all over the damn place there are too many nights in the NHL when all that excellence becomes pretty perfunctory. Sunday night and Monday night, thanks to the Florida Panthers' barnstorming tour of western Canada, that definitely wasn't the case. When Panther defenceman Erik Gudbranson clocked Edmonton forward Taylor Hall with a clean openice bodycheck on Sunday night, it set off a most welcome chain of events. The Oilers got really mad. They responded with a lot of hits of their own. The Panthers then responded to that. Suddenly, our very excellent brand of up-and-down the ice hockey became a lot more savage, a lot more emotional. That's generally a good thing. But then Oiler Matt Hendricks crushed Panther Aaron Ekblad into the boards with a vicious (unpenalized-but-message-sending) hit that left the star Florida defenceman dazed and confused. We can admire the sentiment Hendricks is a wonderful old school hockey standard bearer but we can't very well applaud the outcome, given what we know about head injuries and all. It was definitely worthy of the three-game suspension levied by the NHL the next day. Therein lies the problem. We want that emotion; we want some of that savagery that makes pro hockey pro hockey don't you kids try this at home but when it crosses a line, as it occasionally does when the engines get revving really high, we fall all over ourselves tut-tutting the behaviour of this guy or that guy or debating the law of the jungle. It was the same thing with the end of the Florida-Vancouver game and the Thornton-Sedin stuff. On one hand, we want there to be some limits on player decorum, what they can or can't say to each other while trash talking, but the pure entertainment value of the end of that game Daniel's goal, his fly by, the wild melee, Potvin's comments and the Sedin's post-game remarks all made for a game that was talked about far and wide that night and the next day, too. Those two games were a welcome departure from so many of the technically excellent games I've seen this season. Many of us who feel that way can't wait for the next time those teams play each other again, which tells you something right there. But I'm fully prepared to admit I'm something of a hypocrite, because for as much as I savoured those two games, I still have a tough time reconciling a young star getting hit in the head on what amounts to payback or seeing one of the NHL's greatest ambassadors explain just how far offside some trash talking went. No one ever said loving hockey would always be easy.

9 Denis Potvin extends his sincere apologies to Daniel Sedin Jason Brough Jan 13 NBCSports.com Denis Potvin is sorry he called Daniel Sedin a lowlife. My choice of words at the conclusion of the Vancouver game on Monday should have been more appropriate, Potvin said in a statement that was published today on the Florida Panthers website. In the passion of the moment and under the circumstances of how the game ended, they came out wrong. For that I m going to extend my sincere apologies to Daniel Sedin, Trevor Linden and the Canucks organization. Potvin s remarks during the Panthers broadcast were widely criticized by fans and media alike. And not just by the local Vancouver media; by prominent national reporters like Bob McKenzie and Pierre LeBrun as well. The Canucks were plenty angry themselves, with GM Jim Benning telling TSN.ca that he doesn t understand why the Sedin twins continue to be disparaged in the manner they were Monday. I was in Boston, part of the Bruins, and I know Boston loves its tough hockey players, Benning said. Well, these guys are tough as anyone physically, mentally, emotionally. They play the game like warriors. They still always seem to be getting challenged and questioned. I don t get that. Sedins ready to move on from near brawl with Panthers Andrew Walker shares what Shawn Thornton said to Daniel Sedin, according to a source steps away from the Panthers and Canucks postgame scrum on Monday. Sportsnet.ca Jan. 13 Associated Press ARLINGTON, Va. Daniel and Henrik Sedin are more lovers than fighters, though that doesn t stop them from being the subject of plenty of jabs from opposing players and even broadcasters. The Vancouver Canucks twin forwards were at the centre of a near brawl at the end of their game Monday night against the Florida Panthers. The Canucks and Panthers exchanged words, some punches and plenty of pushing and shoving, but now the Sedins are ready to leave it in the past. It s always great to see a team stick up for one another, said Henrik Sedin, Vancouver s captain after practice Wednesday. We forgot about it right away. It s not a big deal. There were things said, we won the game, we moved on. Daniel Sedin, who scored the game-winner in overtime to snap the Panthers winning streak at 12, didn t identify who made the comments or what was said. He skated over toward Florida s bench after celebrating with teammates, and when Derek Dorsett started shoving Panthers backup goaltender Al Montoya, tempers flared and almost every player and even coaches got involved.

10 There were no suspensions or fines to come out of the melee. It's a heat of the moment thing, an emotional game and stuff happens,'' Sedin said. We reacted to one player. We respect that team a lot and what they've done, so it was towards one player and that was it.'' But it escalated off the ice partially because Panthers broadcaster and Hall of Fame defenceman Denis Potvin's comments, which included calling Daniel Sedin a lowlife.'' Potvin issued an apology through the Panthers. My choice of words at the conclusion of the Vancouver game on Monday should have been more appropriate,'' Potvin said in a statement. In the passion of the moment and under the circumstances of how the game ended, they came out wrong.'' Sedin said he has largely ignored the attention the situation is getting. He had a chance to do that as the Canucks flew from Vancouver to Washington to start a six-game road trip that begins Thursday against the NHL-leading Capitals. Washington coach Barry Trotz watched the situation between the Canucks and Panthers unfold and figured it was sparked by opponents wanting to get into the Sedin brothers' heads. In some ways that's a backhanded compliment, I guess, from other teams that they want those guys off their game,'' Trotz said. They're terrific players. They think the game at another level. They've been productive players for a long, long time. It's a compliment that teams try to get them off their game.''

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