ROAD TRIP PRIMER

Ken Hitchcock

@ Columbus: The Buckeye State hockey fans are said to be after Hitch’s hide. Maybe they should tap the friggin brakes and focus on the underachieving talent on the ice – starting in goal where reigning Rookie of the Year, Steve Mason has been “Stevie the Sophmore Sieve”. Firing the coach is too easy an answer these days, but it’s probably the only way to alter a team’s makeup because a blockbuster trade is no longer an option under this CBA - there’s more fluidity in the commercial loan markets. So rather than fire coaches (and I’ll gag if any of you start stating that “you can’t fire 20 players” crap) how about just dropping back and punting to buy a little time and territorial position with the attitude that the next drive (next year) will be much more fruitful than the last. Because its been proven, patience pays off, panicking in your front office does not – in any sport. If you are building something then you better be prepared to live with the headaches that will arise, and do so without starting from scratch every time a pipe bursts. Just FE (for example) the Dallas Cowboys sucked on a 1-15 season before Jimmy was “Jimmy” in Big D and Troy, Emmitt, and Michael were “The Triplets”.

*Guy I’d want from their team: Antoine Vermette

@ Philadelphia: This is a perplexing team. They added Chris Pronger to a developing d-corp and a lot of pieces seem to be in place up front, but they are going to have to go to the whip in the second half under new head coach Pete Laviolette in order to make the playoffs. Goaltending is again a massive issue. They brought the misguided Ray Emery back from Siberia to fill the void, and he got hurt. Brian Boucher is full of holes, and Micheal Leighton is of fill-in caliber. Philly hasn’t fixed the position since Ron Hextall left, although they’ve tried. A healthy Simon Gagne should bolster the attack going forward and Mike Richards can’t play worse than he did in the first half.

*Guy I’d want from their team: Pronger

@ Montreal: Bob Gainey has too many young goalies and not enough big time forwards. Plekanec and Cammalleri are their only consistent threats and the third member of the top line, Andrei Kostitstyn is out with a knee injury. Getting the heroic rearguard Andrei Markov back from injury sure helps (He’d fix problems for the Stars in Dallas too). They are really small up front, I mean really small – elfin. Gionta, Cammalleri and Gomez can look like a Santa’s workshop focus group. The big intrigue is in the pipes. Will Gainey move either Halak or Price, or not? As they are they look like a bubble team in the pedestrian East. All I know is that the atmosphere and game presentation at the Bell Center is second to none and should be the template for many other teams, including – and especially - the Stars.

*Guy I’d want from their team: Markov