Coaching Carousel

 Two big name head coaches were relieved of their duties today.  The Washington Capitals fired four-year bench boss Bruce Boudreau, and the Carolina Hurricanes let go of their coach for the past three seasons, Paul Maurice.  Both teams have been underachieving throughout November, and both clubs' administrations respectively felt it was time for a change.

Forget Crosby, forget Ovechkin, Boudreau was the
 true break-out star of HBO's 24/7 series!!!

 The Capitals, after getting off to a league leading 10-2-0 start through the first 12 games of the 2011-12 season, have stumbled tremendously during the course of the past month.  Washington has gone 3-7-1 in the 11 games since their start, and have also had to deal with a struggling captain in Alexander Ovechkin, an overpaid misfit growing more distant from "team" mentality in Alexander Semin, a goalie who seems to believe nonchalantly shuffling from post-to-post is an effective goaltending strategy in Tomas Vokoun, as well as an entire roster of players that just have been plagued by fundamental errors recently.  Last year, the Capitals went through a long stretch of futility chronicled by HBO's 24/7 series, but Boudreau and his team were able to collect the pieces of their season and put it back together to earn the best record in the Eastern Conference.  Caps' GM George McPhee clearly did not think Boudreau could do so again this year, so he's out, and Capitals legend and fan-favorite Dale Hunter is in.
 McPhee sent Boudreau a text message, that he received at 6:30 am, informing him that he had lost his job as "as result of the performance over the past 10 games."  Regarding rumors that the move was prompted by the poor play of the team's superstar, Alex Ovechkin, or a growing rift between him and his coach, McPhee was quoted as saying, "I don't think this has anything to do with Ovechkin. I think it's got everything to do with this team not playing well."  He also noted that Ovi will remain the team's captain.
 After practice today, Ovechkin was predictably interviewed and was asked for his thoughts on the subject, to which he responded, "Everybody was in shock."  Mike Knuble was also asked several questions, and had glowing things to say of his now former coach, but is also ready to move on with Dale Hunter at the helm.


This is actually the 2nd time Maurice has
been fired by Carolina.  He served as
head coach for the franchise from
1996-2004 and, most recently, 2008-11.

  Coming into this season, the Hurricanes, with offseason additions of Tomas Kaberle, Anthony Stewart, Alexei Ponikarovsky, and Tim Brent, were expected to not only make the playoffs, but possibly make a deep push towards the Stanley Cup.  These expectations would prove to be Paul Maurice's downfall.  An inconsistent club, and underperforming captain and superstar in Eric Staal, and pitiful 3rd period performances during the year have made Caniacs feeling like an 8th seed in the playoffs would be a blessing at this point.  The 'Canes sit last in the Southeast Division and searching for answers as to why they cannot string together more wins than they already have.  Whether it is the correct answer or not is yet to be seen, but the first answer we've been presented with is the firing of Maurice, and hiring of the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals' coach, Kirk Muller.
 Muller, who was only in his first year of AHL coaching, had gone 10-6-0-1 with Milwaukee before being scooped up
                                                           by Carolina's staff.

 With these two moves being made today, many are wondering how long it is going to take now for similar actions to be taken in other cities, the most notable being Anaheim.  The Ducks, who have a roster loaded with talent that includes the league's reigning MVP, Corey Perry, have been terrible so far this season.  They're dead last in the Pacific Division, have a 6-13-4 record, goalie Jonas Hiller has not been able to regain his All-Star form since his episodes with vertigo that ended his season last year, Jason Blake had his forearm lacerated in a game back in October and hasn't played since, basically nothing is going right for Anaheim, and head coach Randy Carlyle doesn't have much longer to turn things around.  It is unsure whether or not Anaheim will choose to make a trade or fire their skipper to shake things up in an attempt to move their season in a more positive direction, but Carlyle should approach every day in the near future like his Ducks career is in jeopardy, not one of his player's.  I give Carlyle no later than December 14th to turn things around in Anaheim before he is no longer behind the bench.

"The Finnisher" Strikes Again!

 Is there anyone in the NHL more clutch for $3 million a year than the Carolina Hurricanes' Jussi Jokinen?

  His heroics in the 2008-09 Stanley Cup Playoffs and ever-present shootout abilities have earned him the nickname "The Finnisher", a testament to his explosion of scoring late in games as well as a reference to his homecountry of Finland.  It was Game 4 of the first round of the playoffs, and the New Jersey Devils had battled back from a 3-goal deficit in the 3rd period to tie the game.  The game was certainly headed into overtime, until Jussi Jokinen tipped a shot from Dennis Seidenberg behind Devils' legendary goaltender Martin Brodeur with only 0.2 seconds left in the game.  After a legthy review, the latest game-winning goal in regulation of a playoff game was upheld, and Jokinen had his first career playoff goal.  That's quite a way to tie a series and restore some hope in your home barn, but Jokinen was far from done.

 Days later, Carolina was down by one goal to the Devils in Game 7 of that same series, when Jokinen scored on an off-angle one-timer with 1:20 left to tie the game at 3 a piece.  Captain Eric Staal then scored only 48 seconds later to suddenly take the lead, and eventually win the game for Carolina to advance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  The Hurricanes turned a seemingly inevitable defeat into victory in a matter of seconds, and Jussi Jokinen led the charge.

 One round later, Carolina was at home in Game 3 with the Boston Bruins, when, that's right, you guessed it, JUSSI JOKINEN scored early in overtime to win the game and take a 2-1 lead in the series.  The Cardiac 'Canes cinderella run was abrubly conculded after being swept by the Pittsburgh Penguins and a beast-mode Evgeni Malkin, but Mr. Jokinen had certainly made a name for himself.
 Well, last night, The Finnisher was at it again!  Carolina was down by a goal to the Washington Capitals, when the Hurricanes attempted the age-old last gas effort of pulling their goalie for an extra attacker.  No surprise, Jussi Jokinen stepped onto the ice, and, no surprise, Jussi Jokinen scored with 1:19 left quite a nifty goal to tie the game.  The Hurricanes would eventually lose the game in overtime, but seeing The Finnisher kick a stray pass up to his feet and bury the game-tying goal made me reminisce about all of his previous heroics that just seem to be uncanny for him now.

 Jokinen has 28 shootout goals in his career, which is the most of all-time in the NHL.  He also punches in with a 46.7% conversion rate, and when you consider he's taken 60 shootout attempts (2nd most all-time,) that's really, really good.  Unfortunately, I could not find any statistics online regarding overtime-forcing goals, which seem to be his specialty.  But from memory I can recall another instance in Pittsburgh during the 2010-11 season, where he scored the 3rd goal of a 3-goal comeback with the goalie pulled to force OT in the CONSOL Energy Center.  Of course, when this happened, my mind flashed back to his heroics during the 'Canes 2008-09 playoff campaign, just as they did yesterday night.

 You always expect the Crosbys, Ovechkins, Datsyuks, Lidstroms, Webers, Charas, etc., to come up big for you when you need them to.  They should!  They're among the highest paid and talked-about players the NHL has.  On the other hand, is there anyone you'd want on your team late in games that you'd only have to shell out low-millions to have on your roster than Jussi Jokinen?  The Finnisher's resume speaks for itself as his legend grows season by season.