Briefly this morning, news came out of practice yesterday that Lindy Ruff was pleased with the more even distribution of ice time among defensemen in the New Jersey game:
Ruff placed veteran Alex Goligoski with rookie John Klingberg and veteran Trevor Daley with rookie Jyrki Jokipakka. He then had Jason Demers and Jordie Benn on the third pair. Daley played 22:03, Klingberg 21:52, Goligoski 20:35, Jokipakka 19:55, Demers 17:30 and Benn 14:10.
“It really was,” Ruff said when asked if the playing time was balanced.
“I thought Jokipakka and Daley had a good night. Goligoski and Klingberg, I thought were pretty good, too,” Ruff added. “I particularly liked Jokipakka and Daley. They did some really good things, they skated well, they both were tight-gapped. Hopefully, those two can build off that performance.”
[DMN]
Mike Heika goes on to detail how Goligoski’s nagging injury might have spurred the minutes distribution, but there’s hope that we may continue to see similar equity going forward.
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Quick hits today because I spent yesterday writing fake letters to Santa. Seriously.
After 28 years and counting, we are writing to inform you of the impending termination of your contract due to breach of service.
We at Robert LLC (hereafter written as “R”) sincerely regret this measure, but we deem it necessary in order to communicate the severity of the negligence perpetrated upon R by SCI’s persistent failure to fulfill contractual terms.
It has come to our attention that despite repeated and regular warnings, SCI has delivered both incorrect items and insufficient qtys of said items despite SCI’s clear and stated purpose of bringing joy to R’s household. Such instances include but are not limited to the following:
Okay, real links time:
Josh Bogorad’s On the Radar piece goes over things like how the Stars aren’t as bad at holding 2nd intermission leads as you might think, Ales Hemsky’s homecoming on Sunday, and the three best players for the Stars being three of the best players there are. [Stars]
Tyler Seguin is a diamond in a rough season, says Kailey Gamble. She does not make a Ruff/rough pun, so you know it’s a good read. [Fourth Period]
I would love for the Stars to start winning games just so people will stop texting me screenshots similar to the “Stars” entry on these power rankings. [The Score]
Kari has been disappointing this season, but I’m not sure I would say he’s been the biggest disappointment of the season. His shortcomings obviously affect the team more than others’ do, though. [Rant Sports]
Devils fans have acknowledged that the 4-3 score was flattering in a game where Dallas mostly controlled things. You know how 2013-2013 Stars were bad, but at least they had old Jagr? Well, the Devils are bad, and they have really old Jagr. I guess we win that one. [In Lou We Trust]
Edmonton fired Dallas Eakins yesterday, a hiring that Derek Neumeier says never should have happened in the first place. [The Hockey Writers]
Southern California is desperately advocating the theory that the Ducks were not the OG Mumpsters. There may be some credence to that view, it turns out, but that doesn’t mean people will be okay with the swaths of unvaccinated children the Golden State is releasing upon the rest of the nation. I am making a sweeping generalization here. [LA Times]
Lastly, the police report regarding the Slava Voynov domestic violence incident reveals some pretty sordid details. Voynov could face deportation if these criminals charges stand. Good on the Kings for sneaking him into practices, though…wait, no. No, no, no. Bad Kings. BAD. [Puck Daddy]