Unwanted and wanted, all in the space of two weeks for Sheldon Keefe.
Keefe was only out of work for 14 days after the Toronto Maple Leafs fired him in May and the New Jersey Devils hired him rather than opt to keep their interim coach Travis Green, who has since resurfaced behind Ottawa’s bench in the game of musical chairs.
They always say it’s a difficult adjustment for players signed as summer free agents or traded at the deadline to move to a new team. What about coaches who had been in one place for a long time (five seasons) as Keefe had, with so many of the same players?
There wasn’t one Devils player he had coached in Toronto.
“Yeah, this is different for me. Even when I was hired in Toronto by the Leafs I was coming up from the (farm team) Marlies so I knew basically everybody in their organization and had worked with a lot of Leafs’ players at the AHL level,” said Keefe, before the Monday game against the Edmonton Oilers.
“Probably the closest thing to this (Devils hire) was when I was hired in Sault St. Marie in junior and didn’t know one player,” said Keefe, who wound up coaching Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse in the Soo.
Keefe had scores of games against the Devils as Leafs’ coach so certainly knew their talent level, last year’s major hiccup aside when they simply had no reliable play in net. But, NHL coaches always get a new appreciation for players, up close and personal, when they go behind another team’s bench.
“You do lots of work in the summer (video of games) and you gain respect for players coaching against them but Nico Hischier (10 goals, 15 points) has been better than I expected on both sides of the puck and his leadership as captain has been tremendous,” said Keefe, who also singled out unheralded defenceman Jonas Siegenthaler for praise.
“He’s been so consistent for us, playing big minutes (21:23), taking on tough matchups. Those two guys really stand out for me.”
Monday is Jersey’s 15th game, the most of any NHL team, and it’s been more pogo stick than hockey stick, coming into the Oilers game at 7-5-2.
“We’ve been a little inconsistent,” said Keefe. “We had some adversity right off the get-go not having (Brett) Pesce and (Luke) Hughes on defence but everybody deals with injuries. You also have the trip to Prague (opening the season with two games against Buffalo Sabres) which cut into the pre-season (games) and a lot less practice time. Then you come back, and we had 11 games in 20 days, so it’s been a challenge.
“We’ve practised more on this road trip (Western Canada) actually than we did from the time we returned from Prague until the end of October.”
Small town boy
Oiler coach Kris Knoblauch was asked Monday by Jersey radio voice Matt Loughlin what it was like growing up on a grain farm in Imperial, Sask. (pop. 372), halfway between Regina and Saskatoon.
“Small, wonderful town, proud to call it home,” said Knoblauch.
How many traffic lights?
“None. There’s maybe two four-way stops. But no lights,” he said.
What did he learn as he rolled up his sleeves to shovel heavy grain into bins in the summer heat and picked up rocks after the combines had worked the field?
“Work ethic, obviously, working sunrise to sunset, often beyond that, often doing jobs that aren’t glamourous but have to be done. I didn’t appreciate those lessons at the time, but now I do,” he said.
Yes, there’s a sign now that says Home of Kris Knoblauch.
“It’s right next to Connor Ingram (Utah goalie). The two of us have signs. He got his before I did,” said Knoblauch.
A fight gone bad
Jersey has lost former Oil Kings’ forward Curtis Lazar after left knee surgery in the wake of a Radko Gudas hit and also has fellow fourth-liner Nathan Bastian out with a possible broken jaw after he got the worst of it in a scrap with Calgary’s Ryan Lomberg last Friday.
The linesmen maybe could have stepped in quicker when Bastian, who had come to the aid of Paul Cotter originally but possibly didn’t get into the Lomberg fight with enough anger or planning, was clearly getting beat up along the boards. Some Devils’ players also stood a few feet away watching their vulnerable teammate get fed a flurry of left hands by Lomberg with nobody jumping in. That wasn’t a good look.
This ‘n that
- Monday’s Oilers-Devils game is on the streaming service Prime Video, not Sportsnet. The Oilers will also be on Prime Nov. 18 in Montreal against the Habs, Dec. 16 in a Stanley Cup rematch with the Panthers at Rogers Place, and April 14 at home against the Los Angeles Kings…
- (Matt) Loughlin works Devils radio with sidekick Chico Resch, the long-time NHL goalie who won a Cup with the Islanders and later played for Don Cherry’s lamentable Colorado Rockies–one 1981 night stopping 50 Oiler shots, in a 3-1 Edmonton win. Local product Ken Daneyko, who has his number 3 retired in New Jersey (second to have that honour after Scott Stevens’ No. 4), works Devils’ TV with Bill Spaulding…
- Not having Connor McDavid roaring up the ice after a drop pass from Evan Bouchard on the Oiler power play, changes things clearly. He’s a one-man zone entry. “Anytime you have the puck in Connor’s hands entering the (offensive) line on the power play, it dramatically improves things,” said Knoblauch. “But we have players capable of carrying into the zone, Leon, obviously, can do it. (Jeff) Skinner’s done it a lot, (Viktor) Arvidsson has done it in the past. But when you’re looking at the best in the league (McDavid) and don’t have that, yeah, it (PP) looks different.”…
- While the left-shot Brett Kulak hasn’t done a lot of regular-season work on his off-side (right) at even-strength but is getting some time now with Darnell Nurse, Kulak did so in the post-season last spring and did a good job. “Kulak did get a lot on right on the penalty kill in the playoffs. There’s difficulties for left-shot guys playing right with where your stick position is but he’s a smart mobile guy who can figure things out,” said Knoblauch…
- Fourth-line forward Derek Ryan, after being a healthy scratch for the last two games, was back in the Oiler lineup against the Devils as was Troy Stecher on defence…
- The Devils once again sat their young, 2022 second-overall draft pick Simon Nemec, 20, who played 60 games and was one of their top 4 defencemen during the team’s struggles and missed playoffs last season. Johnathan Kovacevic, the former Montreal Canadiens’ blueliner, has beaten him out and Nemec may wind up going down to the AHL rather than being a spectator…
- The Devils’ offensive-minded Dougie Hamilton, their $9 million D-man, went into the Oiler game with only one goal in 14 games. Hard to believe with his big blueline shot…
- Oil Kings junior centre Gracyn Sawchyn, 19, who has 20 points in 12 games, was just signed to a three-year entry-level deal by Stanley Cup champion Florida. “Strong stick-handling skills, high compete level. Excited to see how he develops within our system,” said Panthers’ GM Bill Zito…
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