The bench boss of the AHL's Chicago Wolves has interviewed for two NHL head coaching positions this offseason, having chatted with the Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers, according to TSN's Darren Dreger.
The Sabres and Panthers are currently the only two teams with vacancies at head coach.
Berube has coached the Wolves for one season. He previously spent two years as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers before being fired following the conclusion of the 2014-15 season, in which he posted a 33-31-18 record.
The Wolves, who will affiliate with the Vegas Golden Knights next season, were most recently the farm team for St. Louis, leaving open the possibility Berube could join the Blues as an associate coach to Mike Yeo.
The Calgary Flames president of hockey operations brought up the possibility of relocation Wednesday while speaking to the public at the Canadian Club of Calgary, according to CTV's Chris Epp.
Ok. Brian Burke just said the thing that the Flames said they wouldn't say. Told season ticket holder the Flames could leave w/o new rink.
Burke added that he believes the Flames would be able to find a city to move to, should that be necessary, and said he was surprised the city didn't "say thank you" when the Flames proposed the CalgaryNEXT project.
"There would be no threat to move," King said at the time. "We would just move and it would be over. If people smarter than us, in more powerful positions than ours, don't feel that we're a critical piece of the social, economic, and cultural part of our city, than who are we to argue with that?"
Other than the renovated Madison Square Garden, and now that the Detroit Red Wings have bid farewell to Joe Louis Arena, Calgary's Scotiabank Saddledome is the oldest building in the NHL, having been built in 1983.
Ron Hextall has good things to say about Charles Barkley - for the most part.
The Philadelphia Flyers general manager was asked Wednesday about the NBA analyst and former Philadelphia 76er's declaration Monday that Hextall was his favorite player ever.
"I laughed when I heard that," Hextall told reporters, according to CSN Philly's Enrico Campitelli. "We had a bit of a relationship back in the day. He was at a lot of our games obviously. There's a mutual respect there. I certainly liked the way Charles played - a hard game, very emotional, gave it all he had out on the court."
"I started following hockey actually in Birmingham, Alabama," Barkley said. "They had a team called the Bulls back in the day. That was my first recollection of hockey. Then when I got to Philadelphia, my favorite hockey player of all time is Ron Hextall. I got to know him and Eric Lindros going to a bunch of Flyers games. Then Mike Wilbon, one of my mentors, takes me to the Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Blackhawks the last few years."
The Flyers GM said Wednesday he was more than just amused by the shoutout.
"I'm honored to be talked about by Charles, for sure."
Still, Hextall couldn't finish talking about Barkley without taking a shot at his notorious golf game.
"I do remember seeing Charles play (golf) and I thought to myself, 'Jeez, I'm not going to be the worst one out here today.'"
It's not surprising that the two Philadelphia sports heroes would have mutual respect for another considering the tenacity and occasional mean streaks they were both known for on the ice and the court, but Barkley's NHL fandom is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
EA Sports won't unveil its cover star until June 21 at the NHL Awards, but the company released its first teaser trailer for the game Wednesday, and it heavily features Leafs forward Mitch Marner.
Going six games without a goal is normal for some, but for the likes of Phil Kessel - one of the purest snipers in the NHL - it's an eternity.
At least it feels that way, as the magnitude of the Stanley Cup Final drastically ramps up the pressure on the game's biggest players, and the Pittsburgh Penguins need something from their prized goal-getter, who hasn't found the back of the net since a 7-0 rout of the Ottawa Senators in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final.
For what it's worth, Malkin's previous prediction came following Pittsburgh's Game 6 loss to Ottawa, when he stated the Penguins would "go back home and win the last one." We all know how that turned out.
During his dry spell, Kessel's managed 16 shots on goal and two assists, but he can put all that behind him with a big Game 5 on Thursday.
Pekka Rinne has been one of the biggest reasons for the Nashville Predators' success, and he appears to be doing it despite some less than spectacular play during the first two games of several playoff series this spring.
The Predators goaltender has a 1.62 GAA and .943 save percentage in these playoffs if you remove Games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, as pointed out by The Tennessean's Adam Vingan.
In fact, Rinne has bounced back with strong performances after struggling over the first two contests in each of the last three rounds.
Let's take a closer look.
2nd Round
Rinne was merely average in the first two games against the St. Louis Blues, going 1-1 and giving up six goals.
Game
SV
SA
SV%
1
27
30
.900
2
17
20
.850
Combined
44
50
.880
But he played much better after that, winning three of the next four games while allowing only five.
Game
SV
SA
SV%
3
22
23
.957
4
32
33
.970
5
30
32
.938
6
23
24
.958
Combined
107
112
.955
Western Conference Final
Rinne played well in a Game 1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks, but struggled in a Game 2 defeat.
Game
SV
SA
SV%
1
27
29
.931
2
22
26
.846
Combined
49
55
.891
Then he once again raised his game over the rest of a series.
Game
SV
SA
SV%
3
19
20
.950
4
34
37
.919
5
32
33
.970
6
38
41
.927
Combined
123
131
.939
Stanley Cup Final
Rinne had his worst two-game stretch of these playoffs in the first couple of contests against the Pittsburgh Penguins, conceding eight goals and being pulled early in the third period of Game 2.
Game
SV
SA
SV%
1
7
11
.636
2
21
25
.840
Combined
28
36
.778
Things turned around for Rinne in Games 3 and 4, as the Predators won both affairs, thanks in part to his strong play.
Game
SV
SA
SV%
3
27
28
.964
4
23
24
.958
Combined
50
52
.962
This trend wasn't evident in the opening round, as Rinne was dominant in the first two games against the Chicago Blackhawks, posting back-to-back shutouts to kick-start the Predators' eventual four-game sweep.
And while he clearly played worse in the first two games of each subsequent series than he did in the later contests, it's worth remembering the wild-card Predators have opened all four matchups on the road by virtue of being the lowest seed.
Rinne has simply been lights out in Nashville, but not so much when playing away from Bridgestone Arena.
Rinne (2016-17 Playoffs)
Record
GAA
SV%
Home
9-1
1.44
.949
Away
5-5
2.36
.913
His mid-series improvement is noteworthy, though, and it shows he's been able to shake off subpar performances in hostile territory as playoff matchups have progressed.
The Philadelphia Flyers have hired Kris Knoblauch as an assistant coach, general manager Ron Hextall announced Wednesday.
Knoblauch had been head coach of the OHL's Erie Otters since November 2012 and posted 50-win campaigns in each of his four full seasons behind the bench. Erie won the OHL championship this past season, but lost to the host Windsor Spitfires in the Memorial Cup final.
"Kris has had great success at the junior level with the Erie Otters and Kootenay Ice," Hextall said. "He's coached a lot of good young offensive gifted players. We feel he is a real good fit with our group and we're excited to have him in our organization."
He also worked with top young talent as an assistant for Canada at the 2017 World Junior Championship, where the team won silver.
Knoblauch was a seventh-round pick of the New York Islanders in the 1997 draft, but never played an NHL game. He did play professionally in the Central Hockey League and in France.
The former NHL defenseman served as head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes' AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, this past season, guiding them to a 39-29-7-1 record and a first-round appearance in the Calder Cup playoffs.
He was an assistant coach with the New York Rangers from 2013-16 and associate coach of the then-Phoenix Coyotes from 2006-11.
Kitchen was fired after the Blackhawks were swept out of the first round by the Nashville Predators in April. The move was reportedly made to send a message to Quenneville and didn't sit well with the head coach, who spent seven years with his former assistant in Chicago and several more in St. Louis.
Samuelsson played five seasons with Quenneville as members of the Hartford Whalers from 1985-86 to 1989-90.
"Jan has been on our radar for a number of years and he has shown great progress on the ice during that time," general manager Stan Bowman said. "His addition to the organization makes our defense more dynamic and he has shown he can contribute offensively as well."
Rutta was reportedly fielding multiple NHL offers after suiting up for his native Czech Republic at the World Championship in May.
The 26-year-old is listed at 6-foot-2, 211 pounds, and is a right-handed shot. He's spent the last four seasons with Chomutov Pirati of the Czech league, netting a career-high 32 points in 46 games in 2016-17.
Rutta's deal with Chicago is the latest instance this offseason of an NHL club dipping into the European market for blue line help. The Toronto Maple Leafs gave entry-level contracts to Swedish defenseman Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman last month, while the Vancouver Canucks lured 25-year-old Philip Holm on a one-year agreement in May.
Through four games of the Stanley Cup Final, the Nashville Predators and Pittsburgh Penguins are square, but a few underlying numbers suggest the series might not be as close as it seems.
The Predators were able to even the series at two games with victories in Games 3 and 4, and while the Penguins took the first two contests, they haven't necessarily been the better team.
The numbers above suggest the Predators are controlling play against the Penguins, which is also apparent in the shooting numbers, which favor Nashville 123-91.
Meanwhile, the Predators' 96.4 PDO (shooting percentage plus team save percentage) suggests they're slightly underperforming, while the Penguins are actually playing above the norm. An average team's PDO should be at 100, and suggests how lucky or unlucky a team has been.
Here, the Predators should have more to give, whether it be a better shooting percentage or even better play from Pekka Rinne. Judging by how the last two games have gone in Nashville, one would expect that improvements in these two categories will drastically shift the series in the Predators' favor.
What might be more surprising is that in Games 1 and 2, the Predators had the advantage in Corsi (63.64 to the Penguins' 36.36), despite dropping both games by a combined 9-4 margin.
Sure, the series is tied 2-2, but unless the Penguins start making some adjustments, they're in danger of falling behind, and that's not a good thing with Game 6 looming back in Smashville.
