Helene Elliott

NHL teams haven't seen big turnarounds with coaching changes

Last updated Thursday, December 29, 2011 - 10:05pm

LOS ANGELES -- Bruce Boudreau was hired to coach the Anaheim Ducks on Nov. 30, two days after he had been fired by the Washington Capitals. He wasn't last on the seniority list for long.

"I think I'm about the fourth-newest coach," he said. "That's scary."

Six coaches have been fired this season and one other -- Scott Arniel of 30th-ranked Columbus -- might not last much past the holidays. The first casualty was St. Louis' Davis Payne on Nov. 6; he was followed by Boudreau and Carolina's Paul Maurice on Nov. 28, Anaheim's Randy Carlyle on Nov. 30, Montreal's Jacques Martin on Dec. 17 and Los Angeles' Terry Murray on Dec. 20.

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Quick gives Kings an usual strength: great goaltending

Helene Elliott Los Angeles Times

Last updated Wednesday, October 26, 2011 - 4:04pm

LOS ANGELES -- For perspective on the significance of Jonathan Quick's club-record shutout streak of 188 minutes and 10 seconds and historic three straight shutouts, consider this:

It was only four years ago that the Kings used seven goalies and couldn't find one reliable enough to prevent them from finishing 29th in a 30-team league. The previous season they threw an out-of-his-league Yutaka Fukufuji in net four times, apparently traumatizing him so badly that he never played another NHL game.

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Kings finalize Smyth trade

Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times McClatchy Newspapers

Last updated Monday, June 27, 2011 - 9:05pm

NEW YORK -- After contentious negotiations, the Kings on Sunday traded Ryan Smyth to Edmonton for center Colin Fraser and a seventh-round pick in the 2012 entry draft, making the deal only after the Oilers removed oft-injured forward Gilbert Brule from consideration.

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In the end, only statistic that matters is victories

Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times

Last updated Monday, June 13, 2011 - 3:21pm

BOSTON -- Hockey isn't defined as well by numbers as other sports are. Goals-against average and save percentage do not indicate which goalies make the big saves. Plus/minus rates players' defensive abilities but does not reflect if they play at key moments.

By most statistical measures the Vancouver Canucks trail the Boston Bruins during the Stanley Cup finals, but it is the Canucks who will be in position Monday to earn their first Cup title with a win in Game 6 at TD Garden.

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Despite Stanley Cup drought, Canada isn't fully embracing the Canucks

Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times

Last updated Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - 3:31pm

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Canada prides itself on having invented hockey, and it sometimes seems this vast country is united only by its passion for a game that mixes finesse with fisticuffs and celebrates players who carry on through the pain of separated shoulders and bashed-in noses.

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Rhode takes aim at an Olympic milestone

Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times

Last updated Tuesday, May 24, 2011 - 4:44pm

LOS ANGELES -- Kim Rhode isn't easily rattled.

She competed against adults at 13 to win her first world title in the shooting sport of American skeet. She won an Olympic gold medal in double trap at the 1996 Atlanta Games five days after her 17th birthday, the youngest female Olympic shooting champion in the Games' history, and returned to win bronze in 2000 and gold again in 2004.

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Predators' Blum perseveres, realizes dream of playing in NHL

Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times

Last updated Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 4:38pm

LOS ANGELES -- On in-line skates or on ice, Jonathon Blum absorbed every lesson hockey had to offer.

Whether playing with friends near his home in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., or for the California Wave youth team, Blum smoothly handled every challenge. His creativity and hockey sense were powerful rebuttals to rivals who dismissed him as a harmless surfer boy because he didn't grow up skating on a frozen backyard rink.

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Second half of NHL season should bring plenty of excitement

Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times

Last updated Tuesday, February 1, 2011 - 5:12pm

Now comes the fun part.

The NHL season resumes Tuesday following a five-day All-Star break, careening toward the Feb. 28 trade deadline and the playoffs.

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For Wayne Gretzky, the Big 5-0 snuck up on him

Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times

Last updated Tuesday, January 25, 2011 - 3:52pm

Wayne Gretzky will turn 50 on Wednesday, a sobering thought for fans who remember when a skinny blond teenager came out of the renegade World Hockey Association to rewrite the NHL record books and lead the high-scoring Edmonton Oilers' dynasty during the 1980s.

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Ducks are flying in tight formation

Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times

Last updated Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - 4:03pm

LOS ANGELES -- There was no light bulb moment when the Anaheim Ducks realized they could escape the muck they had created with their poor defensive play, no game or goal that turned their season around.

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Bettman has disconnect from fans

Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times

Last updated Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - 4:18pm

LOS ANGELES -- NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is not evil, though many Canadian fans might dispute that.

He has done a remarkable job building the league's business operations to the point where in a shaky economy the NHL's revenues are projected to rise four to five percent compared with last season's record of just over $2.7 billion.

But he's disconnected from those who love the game at a visceral level, a point reinforced when he chatted with reporters Sunday in Anaheim.

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Labor in the NHL: Cracks in ice might appear

Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times

Last updated Tuesday, January 4, 2011 - 4:25pm

LOS ANGELES -- NHL owners hired Gary Bettman away from the NBA to get them a salary cap, but he failed on his first try despite locking out players and reducing the 1994-95 season from 82 games to 48. The second time around he succeeded -- and made history. The NHL in 2004 became the first major North American professional sports league to cancel an entire season, a drastic measure Bettman contended was necessary to control costs and reduce the percentage of revenues funneled toward players' salaries.

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Blackhawks are learning the difficulties of repeating

Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times

Last updated Tuesday, January 4, 2011 - 5:18pm

LOS ANGELES -- The Chicago Blackhawks' Stanley Cup celebrations were still going when salary-cap considerations forced them to part with key players who had given them great depth and character.

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HBO series brings NHL teams to light

Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times

Last updated Thursday, December 23, 2010 - 3:50pm

Our little league has grown up.

The NHL, which seems to get mainstream media attention only when one player clubs another over the head, is running with the big boys.

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Red Wings are somehow getting older AND better

Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times

Last updated Tuesday, December 7, 2010 - 5:20pm

LOS ANGELES -- They're too old. Too slow. They don't have the goaltending.

Every season, the Detroit Red Wings ignore all the reasons why they shouldn't remain among the NHL's elite. They're leading the Western Conference, the league's most senior citizens at an average age of 31.1, playing at a remarkable pace and skill level.

"Nick Lidstrom is 40 and some of our other guys are 37, 38, so the assumption right away is that they're over the hill," General Manager Ken Holland said. "But the players we've had that have been in their mid-to-upper 30s in a lot of cases have been superstars in their primes, so even if their game has slipped a little bit they're still much better in relation to a lot of players."

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