The Sheet Blog: Why a Flames trade deadline fire sale is off the table for now

I wonder how many teams have had to cast out bigger trade nets with the Calgary Flames still in playoff contention this deep into January? There was very much the belief that the Flames would have fallen apart by now and GM Craig Conroy would be setting up his deadline deals, but Calgary is in a Wildcard spot. That’s great for them, but teams hoping to get business done in Alberta are now having to look elsewhere.

For now.

Prices now for top players remain high. It very much sounds like a top prospect plus a first-round pick is the opening price of doing business if you want a high-end player around the deadline.

Little Ball of Hate to blame for killing iconic goal song

Finally, it’s out there.

The answer to who ended Brass Bonanza, one of hockey’s most popular and recognizable songs, in Hartford.

As Brian Burke mentioned on The Sheet last week, it was Anaheim Ducks GM Pat Verbeek who went to him as then captain of the Hartford Whalers in the early 1990s to ask him to kill Brass Bonanza as the team’s goal song. Burkie’s always taken the bullet for that one.

Here’s Burkie’s explanation:

“So, we got to Hartford and I asked the players, ‘What’s one thing you would like to change here? Whether we warm up, anything like that.’ One of our captains, who is a current NHL GM, I won’t name him, but he’s in Anaheim, came to me and said, we’d like to get rid of the Brass Bonanza. The players think it’s a fight song. Sounds like a fight song. Now, it’s a great song. Anyone who knows the Hartford Whalers knows that Brass Bonanza is a wonderful song. But the players felt that it was minor league and we should get rid of it. So, I got rid of it. I took the heat for it. I didn’t tell anyone for about 10 years, but I got fried for that. As soon as I stepped aside in Hartford, they put it back in. I got fried for that, but it was our players that came and asked for it.”

The lowdown on high numbers

Also from Burkie: after I shared an anecdote about Mikhail Grabovski referring to his home as “the house Burkie built” when I went to visit him, I got a story about Grabo and.…high hockey numbers.

“I like Grabo. I made them all take small numbers, lower numbers until I made the deal for Phil Kessel. I told him 35 and below. In our (Ducks) Stanley Cup team, the highest number on that team was 35. And Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, they wanted high numbers. I said, no, you got to take lower numbers. When the Twins (Daniel and Henrik) came to Vancouver, I made them take 22 and 33. Got to Anaheim, and I said, you’re taking lower numbers when I get to Toronto, and then I made the Kessel deal without specifying anything about his number. And Grabo’s agent called me right away and said, ‘You can’t make us take lower numbers if you’re not going to make Kessel take a lower number as well.’ So, I said, okay, I gave in. So, we had five higher numbers within a week. And still, to this day, it burns my ass that we did it that way.”

An ode to Mr. Cincinnati

A nice milestone in the NHL over the weekend as New Jersey Devils center Nico Hischier suited up for game No. 500. Meanwhile, in the ECHL, Cincinnati Cyclones forward Justin Vaive played in game No. 500, which is no small feat. That league is a grind, as Vaive knows all too well having first suited up for the Cyclones in the 2011-12 season. And that’s why many call him ‘Mr Cincinnati.’ Jason Payne coaches Vaive and talks about how, to this day, Vaive prepares the same way he always has, which has allowed him to keep playing at 35. Payne adds, “He approaches every game like a pro. And as captain I’ll bounce ideas off him all the time.” Could he see Vaive coaching one day? “One hundred percent,” says Payne. Congrats Justin.

Fastest man on skates doesn’t play in NHL…yet

If you haven’t already, remember the name Ethen Frank. He’s the speedster with the Washington Capitals who set an AHL record for fastest skater at the 2023 skills competition clocking a lap at 12.915 seconds. No NHL’er has come in under 13.

Frank started ice skating late; he didn’t take to it until he was nine years old. His parents David and Michelle own a roller rink (quick plug – Skate City in Bellevue) and young Ethen was content knocking around playing hockey on wheels. It wasn’t until his childhood friend Josh Boyer (now playing with the ECHL’s Bloomington Bison) convinced him to get on the ice that he got the bug and started to excel.

Former Montreal Canadiens first round pick David Wilkie coached Frank in youth hockey and by the time he got to Western Michigan University he had distinguished himself as an elite athlete and hard worker. Pat Ferschweiler saw it all first-hand from behind the bench.

“He has lightning bolts for legs,” Ferschweiler told me about his speed. “He has two world class talents – his speed and his shot, but what he lacked was repeatability.”

Ferschweiler praises Hersey Bears head coach Todd Nelson for turning Frank into a consistent or repeatable player, which he maintains is one of the best compliments you can pay a player. Nelson also helped round out Frank’s game defensively. He’ll always be a solid flank shooter, and now he has a better understanding of how to play in his own zone.

But his calling card will always be his burning feet. As his dad has always repeated to Ethan: “Speed kills, speed kills.”

In defense of defense

I couldn’t agree more with San Jose Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s comments last week saying it’s “outrageous” the NHL doesn’t have a defensive defenseman award. A Selke Trophy for blueliners? I like it and have lobbied for it for years. If we looked now at the top five defensive defensemen using ‘Defensive Rating,’ a stat that Dom Luszczyszyn introduced that can be found on HockeyStatCards.com, the top five should start with Jonas Siegenthaler of the New Jersey Devils, followed by Mikey Anderson (LA), Vladislav Gavrikov (LA), Johnathan Kovacevic (NJ) and Ryan McDonagh (TB). The top 10 would extend to Moritz Seider (DET), Brayden McNabb (VGK), Chris Tanev (TOR), Josh Morrissey (WPG) and Gustav Forsling (FLA).

Kovacevic’s presence on this list is a serious nod to the great offseason Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald had, and the defenseman’s success is probably the main reason why Simon Nemec isn’t on the Devils roster, which has the second overall pick musing about asking for a trade.

‘The Dead GMs Society’

Best line of the week goes to former Columbus Blue Jackets GM Doug MacLean, who joined me on The Sheet. After MacLean told me he was going to have coffee with Ron Hextall, Dale Talon and Jeff Rimmer referring to the group as ‘The Dead GMs Society,’ I asked him what the conversation would sound like and he fired back, “There would be a lot of whining about why we aren’t working. Because we were no damn good, that’s why we’re not working.”

I love Doug.

Bush league? Beer league.

A line from a manager was I speaking with last week about J.T. Miller’s play on the first Alex Turcotte goal last Thursday night when the Vancouver Canucks battled the Los Angeles Kings: “You see that at 11 o’clock at night when there’s beer in the room, not in the NHL.”

John Klingberg’s fit in Oil Country

Interesting signing by the Edmonton Oilers picking up defenseman John Klingberg last Friday. The Toronto Maple Leafs were interested and some other teams that had milder feelings but were still in the mix. As pointed out to me, outside of when Evan Bouchard is on the ice, the Oilers generally work as a three-man unit in the offensive zone, so this move gives them another option along with providing some Bouchard insurance in case of injury.

Texas homecoming for Seth Jones?

As I mentioned on The Sheet last week, I wonder if Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones is on Dallas’ radar. Jones is from Texas, could probably use a change of scenery, and the Stars did have some interest when Columbus was shopping him in the Summer of 2021 before he ended up with the Blackhawks. Dallas could use help on the right side.

Having said that, there are many who believe Lian Bischel is ready now and by the end of the season will be in a top-four role with the team. Bischel made the AHL All Star team, plays in all situations for the Texas Stars and logs 22 minutes a night.

The return of Tony D?

Defenseman Tony DeAngelo is back from the KHL and it sounds like he’s looking around to see what could be available in the NHL. He was a point-per-game player in Russia. I mentioned on Sekeres & Price that the DeAngelo and the Canucks had discussions two summers ago and got down the road before he ultimately ended up going back to the Carolina Hurricanes. I wonder if he’d be amenable to a PTO to show teams where he’s at? And like Klingberg – free player.

Lords of the rings

Following the story of Evgeni Malkin’s Stanley Cup rings, which were suspected stolen only to turn up in a different location in his house, I was reminded of another Pittsburgh Penguin who did have his Stanley Cup ring swiped – Cameron Gaunce, who won the Cup with the Pens in 2017. Burglars broke into his mother-in-law’s house and stole a safe where Gaunce’s Cup ring was housed, and it never turned up. It’s still out there somewhere. However, in a classy and unexpected, move the Penguins called the jeweller and gave permission to create a new ring for Gaunce, who is currently playing hockey in Austria. Gaunce credited the team effusively when I reached out to him for comment this weekend.

“Throughout the ordeal, the Penguins organization were a huge help. At every step, they made sure we got what we needed and helped us replace the rings (the team also had rings made for the wives).”

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