Northern nightmare

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This article was published 05/03/2021 (1648 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Before the NHL season began, Winnipeg Jets bench boss Paul Maurice jokingly predicted as many as five coaches would be fired in the Canadian Division. It was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the pressure that would come with seven northern hockey neighbours playing their entire 56-game schedule against each other.

Turns out he might not end up being far off.

Montreal’s Claude Julien was the first to fall last week, sent walking by Montreal after his team hit the skids. And now Geoff Ward has been sent packing by Calgary following a 11-11-2 start, replaced by Darryl Sutter.

Considering Travis Green is on the hot seat in Vancouver — Vegas has him as the odds-on favourite to be the next NHL coach to get the axe — and D.J. Smith’s Senators are dead-last, even more change could be in the air in the Great White North.

“This is pro sports, so we get it. When you get into Canada, it’s just extreme is what it is. I’m not complaining about that, it’s a big part of why it’s great working in Canada. Everybody loves the game. They have an opinion on it. When you’re winning, you’re not far from winning the Stanley Cup. When you’re losing, everybody has to go. That’s the extremeness of the environment, which means the scrutiny is going to be on the coaches — and it always is,” Maurice said Friday.

“This isn’t going to end. You’re two weeks away, no matter how good you think your team is playing, from being on the other end of that pressure. That’s all part of it. It’s not always fun to live in that environment, but it’s a key driver — I think — in why the job is a lot of fun. It’s that energy, that juice, that tension, it’s part of what we do. It’s on display now in Canada like it’s never been.”

Maurice, who is the second most-tenured coach behind Tampa’s Jon Cooper, expects the fifth-place Flames to get back to a “very direct” game, hard and fast and in-your-face, which has been a staple of Sutter’s previous success which includes winning two Stanley Cups with Los Angeles in 2012 and 2014. As does Jets defenceman Derek Forbort, who played two years under Sutter with the Kings.

“He’s a great coach. He’s won a lot of games. He’s a hard coach, he’s hard on guys and I’m sure he’ll do a really good job of getting the most out of those guys in Calgary,” said Forbort.

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Most people eat cake for their birthday. Forbort feasted on vulcanized rubber.

He celebrated turning 29 in a most unusual and painful way Thursday night, setting a new franchise record by blocking 11 pucks in his team’s 4-3 overtime win over Montreal. The previous high of 10 was held by former Atlanta Thrashers blue-liners Greg De Vries and Andy Sutton in separate 2006 games, while the Jets 2.0 benchmark was held by Josh Morrissey with nine in 2018.

“When you’re playing the game, you’re not really thinking about it. It just kind of happens naturally. Yeah, it sucks sometimes. But you know, if you get them in the shin pads or the pads it’s not too bad,” Forbort said following Friday’s practice at Bell Centre ahead of tonight’s rematch with the Canadiens.

It’s no picnic to step in front of a blistering slapshot coming your way, especially when it’s off the stick of someone like Habs defenceman Shea Weber. But paying the price, even if it leaves you black and blue, is part of the job description for someone like Forbort.

“When I was playing in LA, John Stevens was the D coach and he would bring out these kind of foam pucks and he would fire them at us. So we’d kind of work on technique that way, kind of getting your angle right from the net-front up to the point. It’s definitely a skill you can work on,” said Forbort.

“It’s kind of what you have to do to help the team win. You just have to do it.”

His coaches and teammates appreciate the effort.

“The courage it takes is always valued in a room. You’re jumping up and down when a guy scores a goal, but if you listen to NHL benches, every time somebody blocks a shot everybody is banging their stick on the boards — it’s a big deal. He’s elite at it,” said Maurice.

“Everybody in that room has been hit with one of those pucks, they know the courage that takes. What Derek has brought to our team is a really skilled shot blocker and I think you’re starting to see that kind of wears off on everybody. (Nathan Beaulieu) last year broke three bones shot blocking, it’s not a fun job. Derek is doing it on a nightly basis and it garners the appropriate amount of respect in the room from the players.”

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The Jets have joined the hockey world in mourning Walter Gretzky, who passed away on Thursday night at the age of 82.

Morrissey posted a tribute on his Instagram account and recalled the one time he met the elder Gretzky at a minor hockey tournament in British Columbia.

“I was pretty young — and it was like a celebrity was there. He was a celebrity. It was Wayne Gretzky’s dad. I think he did a lot of great things. The whole arena was full, the lobby was full, with kids and parents and everyone wanting to meet him. You just don’t see that at all for a parent, right?” he said Friday.

“There could have been an NHL player walking through the lobby and the people wouldn’t have notice, but they noticed Walter. Sad news. Condolences to his family and everyone. He was a great part of the hockey community for a long time, and he will definitely be missed. When you think of the game of hockey, it’s the Gretzky family. Obviously, Wayne is the best player of all-time, and his dad and his family is sort of synonymous with that.”

***

With a healthy NHL roster right now, there’s simply no room at the inn for young forwards such as Kristian Vesalainen and David Gustafsson. But a temporary fix has been found, with the pair being re-assigned to the Manitoba Moose this past week to get some valuable game action under their belts.

Both made their AHL season debut Friday night in Belleville. The Moose will then return to Winnipeg to begin 17 straight games at home starting Monday.

“They’ve worked really hard. Both of those guys have made big strides. This is clearly an unusual year, but we’ve got to get them playing and we’ve got to get them into games. It’s fantastic that we’ll be able to be in the same city for a little bit of that long home stand. We’ll be able to move guys, probably, a little easier back and forth. We want to get these young guys games and get them playing, and they can help that team,” said Maurice.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg