USA Hockey names John Vanbiesbrouck assistant executive director

From USA Hockey:

John Vanbiesbrouck Tabbed Assistant Executive Director of Hockey Operations for USA Hockey

Will take over for the late Jim Johannson; To begin duties June 4

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – John Vanbiesbrouck (Detroit, Mich.), a Hall of Fame goaltender who has spent the last five years as general manager and director of hockey operations for the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks, has been named assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey it was announced today.

“We are beyond thrilled to have John join our staff,” said Pat Kelleher, executive director of USA Hockey. “Through his exceptional playing career, what he has done since retiring and his history with USA Hockey, John is well positioned to lead a very important part of our organization and I know he is excited to get started.”

Vanbiesbrouck’s responsibilities will include oversight of all of USA Hockey’s international efforts, including its men’s, women’s and sled programs as well as the National Junior Development Program.

“It is really exciting to get someone with John’s background,” said Jim Smith, president of USA Hockey. “He brings a unique perspective, including being a key volunteer for our organization for the last year eight years.”

Vanbiesbrouck, who will also play a significant role in maintaining and enhancing USA Hockey’s relationships with key constituent groups, including the U.S. Olympic Committee and NHL, began his volunteer work in 2008 as an athlete director on USA Hockey’s board of directors and was elected vice president and chair of the Junior Council in 2012.

“John brings knowledge, passion and commitment and will be a terrific leader in helping us continue to advance as a hockey nation,” said Gavin Regan, vice president of USA Hockey and chair of the organization’s International Council. “His credentials speak for themselves and we’re excited to welcome him to this new role.”

During Vanbiesbrouck’s tenure as GM in Muskegon, the Lumberjacks recorded a regular-season record of 162-115-6; won the Eastern Conference title in 2015; and made three trips to the Clark Cup Playoffs, including an appearance in the Clark Cup Final (2015).

“I’m really humbled and honored to have this opportunity,” said Vanbiesbrouck. “I look forward to building on the foundation that has been put in place by Art Berglund and Jim Johannson, among others, and while I know I have much to learn, it’s a challenge that I’m really excited about.”

Vanbiesbrouck had a remarkable NHL playing career that spanned parts of 20 seasons and included stops with the New York Rangers, Florida Panthers, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils. The five-time NHL All-Star won 374 games, the most by any American netminder in NHL history. He earned the Vezina Trophy as the top goaltender in the NHL in 1986 as a member of the New York Rangers and 10 years later helped the Florida Panthers advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007 and Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 2015, Vanbiesbrouck has represented the United States on the international stage as a player on nine occasions, including the Olympic Winter Games in 1998; two Canada Cups (1987, 1991), four men’s world championships (1985, 1987, 1989, 1991) and two world junior championships (1982, 1983).

Vanbiesbrouck and his wife Rosalinde have four sons, Ian, Ben, Nick and Daniel.

He will officially begin his duties on June 4th and be based at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Mich.

The pride of Herning, Frans Nielsen, talks about the home-town World Championship

NHLPA.com’s Tim Wharnsby spoke with Red Wings center Frans Nielsen regarding the recent World Championship, which was held in Copenhagen and Herning, Denmark. The latter locale is Nielsen’s hometown:

“The worlds were great for Denmark,” the Detroit Red Wings veteran centre said. “I think we have gotten a lot of new fans that never watched hockey before. It got so popular they had to put our games on a [television] channel everyone in the country has.”

Hockey always had more appeal for Nielsen over Denmark’s two most popular sports, soccer and team handball.

You see, his father Fritz, coached the local pro team in his hometown of Herning and made it easy for Frans to fall in love with hockey. Herning played host to all of Denmark’s games in the worlds.

“My dad played and coached the pro team in Herning my whole childhood,” Nielsen said. “So basically I grew up in a hockey rink.

“It’s a small town of about 80,000 people. But it’s one of the only towns I would actually call a hockey town in Denmark. There always has been lots of hockey tradition here.”

Continued

 

Chris Osgood speaks with Cotsonika regarding Marc-Andre Fleury

NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika penned an article in which Chris Osgood compared resumes with Marc-Andre Fleury, who’s reclaimed his reputation as a tremendous clutch goalie with the Vegas Golden Knights:

“As your career goes along and you’re in one place, sometimes change is good,” Osgood said. “Murray was there [in Pittsburgh]. He’d won a Cup. Murray’s a great teammate, but at the same time, I think the change of scenery was great for [Fleury].

“Not that you’d ever think this was going to happen on an expansion team. No way. But he’s the centerpiece of that. You’ve got a goalie that’s won the Cup. Put him on that team, that’s the difference-maker. He’s proven that all year. … Not only that, he’s a great guy. He does everything the right way, and now he’s getting rewarded for it.”

Osgood said he thought if Fleury hadn’t sustained a concussion and missed two months of the regular season, he probably would have won the Vezina. Among goaltenders who played at least 45 games, Fleury tied with Antti Raanta of the Arizona Coyotes for first in goals-against average (2.24) and tied with Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators for second in save percentage (.927) behind Raanta (.930).

“It’s not easy, and I’ve done it,” Osgood said. “You lose your job. You’re not playing. You have to bring up these young guys, because you’re a good teammate. I see the difference in [Vegas backup Malcolm] Subban when he’s in there too, the way he plays. The trickle-down effect for having a goalie like that is so great on so many different levels, that people don’t even notice. It’s unbelievable to me, from Subban to the players to when times get tough and you know he’s going to play a great game.”

Continued

HSJ: Wings won’t sign Jordan Sambrook

Per the Free Press’s Helene St. James:

Sambrook will re-enter the draft, and there’s probably a team that will take a chance on him.

Tweets of note: Wings, Griffins have season tix plans available; Centre Ice Arena renovations underway

If you are interested, both the Detroit Red Wings and Grand Rapids Griffins have season ticket plans available as of today:

Also of Red Wings-related note:

 

Roughly translated: former Wings prospect Machovsky laments his time with the Wings’ organization

According to TN.cz, former Wings prospect Matej Machovsky has issued something of a warning to new Wings signing Patrick Rybar. Machovsky said the following while holding a press conference regarding his signing with HC Sparta Prague (roughly translated):

“I’ll take it as a lost year,” said Machovsky, sadly. “Perhaps I would have stayed for another year, but in another organization. I really didn’t want to be in Detroit when you know that you can play the way you want, but you still won’t get a chance…Every goalie needs to feel confident, and if you don’t, it’s hard to work on it,” he said during Tuesday’s press conference with his new employer, HC Sparta Prague.

“It seemed to me that the door to Detroit had closed even before I got there, but I didn’t know and signed the contract. But before the season I found out that the only person who wanted me there was the farm team’s goaltending coach. It was difficult to get through it,” added Machovsky.

Machovsky played almost exclusively for the Toledo Walleye last season, but he probably would have played for the Grand Rapids Griffins this upcoming year. Machovsky’s patience wore thin, and the Czech Extraliga veteran chose to go home.

 

Prospect playoff round-up: Fulcher’s Bulldogs earn 2-and-1 record in Memorial Cup round robin play

At the Mastercard Memorial Cup, Kaden Fulcher stopped 33 of 35 shots as his Hamilton Bulldogs won a 3-2 decision over the Laval Titan.

According to the Memorial Cup website’s recap, Hamilton and Laval are both own 2-and-1 records during the tournament’s round robin play, which means that the teams’ fates–heading right to the tournament championship game or playing in Friday’s tiebreaker–depend on the outcome of Wednesday’s game:

A Swift Current win on Wednesday would push the Bulldogs into the Championship Final. If Regina comes out on top, Acadie-Bathurst will gain entry.

…

“We’ll have to see what happens tomorrow night,” said Hamilton goaltender Kaden Fulcher who made 33 saves in the win. “Getting a couple days off is going to be massive for the boys to regroup and re-energize and in that sense it was a big win for us.”

The Memorial Cup’s website also posted a highlight clip, a post-game clip in which Fulcher appears, coach John Gruden’s post-game comments, Sportsnet’s RJ Broadhead and Sam Cosentino’s takes on the game and Sportsnet’s panel’s commentary as well.

Wings assistant GM Ryan Martin discusses David Pope’s progress

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji examines prospect forward David Pope’s 2017-18 campaign this morning, and Red Wings assistant GM Ryan Martin’s comments about Pope are telling:

Quotable: “Dramatic improvement. This was the best year he had by a long shot in his college career. Probably a testament to the time that he put in in the offseason more so than in years past. Also the coaching change at Nebraska-Omaha, I think benefited him and his development. But he made a commitment on his own dime and decided to live down here for the better part of the summer last year and trained with a group of pros and trained differently. I think the dividends paid off on the ice. He worked on his foot speed, his skating got better and I think the combination of his strength training and the work on his skating showed up on the ice and he had obviously a very, very successful senior year of college. He’ll come to the development camp and certainly play for us in the prospects tournament, then from there work right into main camp. Our expectation would be that he would be competing for a job in Detroit in main camp and then if he didn’t make Detroit, he’d be in Grand Rapids next year.” — Ryan Martin, Detroit Red Wings assistant general manager

Wakiji continues…

Custance: Griffins coach Todd Nelson considering NHL assistant coaching jobs

According to The Athletic’s Craig Custance, Grand Rapids Griffins coach Todd Nelson is “listening” to potential offers regarding assistant coaching jobs in the NHL:

The Grand Rapids coach won a Calder Cup last year with the Griffins. His team made the playoffs again this season and now, according to NHL sources, multiple NHL teams have reached out to him about the possibility of taking an assistant coaching job with their clubs. It’s believed the Dallas Stars and at least one other Western Conference team have expressed interest. Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill has also talked to Nelson about the assistant coach opening in Detroit, following the departure of John Torchetti.

“Right now, I’m in a good spot,” Nelson told The Athletic when reached on Tuesday. “I’m just looking for a move that might help me in the future. That’s why I’m entertaining some possible opportunities. Nothing is concrete at all. Right now, it’s one of those things where there are conversations and I’ve got to see if something comes out of it.”

Nelson, who became Griffins head coach in June 2015, has term left on his contract but confirmed the Red Wings gave him the green light to talk to other teams. Nelson has NHL bench experience with the Atlanta Thrashers and Edmonton Oilers and is weighing whether another assistant job is the best option for him moving forward.

“By no means am I unhappy in Grand Rapids,” Nelson said. “I just want to see what the next step might present.”

Custance continues, speaking with Joe Hicketts regarding Nelson’s innovative coaching methods…

Abdelkader, DeKeyser, Helm talk about their off-seasons, hopes for 18-19 during bike giveaway

The Red Wings gave away nearly 500 bikes to Detroit Public Schools kids today, and Justin Abdelkader, Danny DeKeyser and Darren Helm were on hand to help with the massive giveaway with co-sponsor Chevrolet.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a 6-minute clip of the trio speaking about both the giveaway, their offseasons thus far, and their hopes for the next season…

St. James filed an article regarding the players’ hockey-related comments…

On the subject of exercise, all three said they’ve begun their off-season training. They’ve been doing so earlier this year and last, as the Wings have missed the playoffs two springs in a row. Can they get back in the mix as soon as next season? Of course all three said yes, as they should, but they explained why they see it as a possibility even though there’s unlikely to be much turnover personnel wise.

“I think in today’s NHL the league is so close that anybody can get into the playoffs,” DeKeyser said. “It’s just about us going out there and doing it. If we flip-flop some of those one-goal games, we could be right in there.”

The Wings did play better to start the 2017-18 season than the year before, but it did not result in victories. That can get demoralizing.

“Confidence is a big part of the game,” Helm said. “If we win some games early, get some confidence, get on a roll, that could be big for our team.”

St. James continues, and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan picks it up from there:

Continue reading Abdelkader, DeKeyser, Helm talk about their off-seasons, hopes for 18-19 during bike giveaway