NHL Line Combo Central

Hockey Hearsay compiles stories from around the hockey world and runs weekdays, 12 months a year.

HODGSON SETS RECORD STRAIGHT ON TIME WITH CANUCKS

Two particularly noteworthy quotes from Sabres centre Cody Hodgson, via The Vancouver Province, about his time with the Canucks. He was traded to Buffalo in February of 2012 in a deal featuring Zack Kassian coming back the other way.

Hodgson, on his father: “I’ve been hearing all this stuff about my dad being involved with the team and making calls to the team and I wanted to tell everyone that my dad had nothing to do with it. This isn’t Pee Wee hockey where the dad can call up the coach and interfere with what’s going on. This is professional hockey and that sort of thing doesn’t happen. He never called the team. You just can’t do that. That’s been bothering me for a long time and I want to clear that up. I’m not sure where all of that got started, but my agent (Ritch Winter) handled the stuff with the team.”

Hodgson, on his ice time with the Canucks: “And another thing: I never once asked for more ice time when I was in Vancouver, even though the media asked me every day if I thought I should be playing more. I was just happy to be playing in the NHL when I was there at that stage of my career. When you guys in the media would ask me, I told them then that I hadn’t asked for more ice time. There’s no way I was saying one thing to them and then going in behind closed doors and doing something else. I wouldn’t ever do that. That just isn’t me. Someday I’ll talk about my time in Vancouver, but not right now.”

DEVILS’ BRODEUR ADJUSTING TO LIFE WITH SCHNEIDER

Fire & Ice has extended quotes from Devils goaltenders Martin Brodeur and Cory Schneider on their starting split of the team’s first six games.

Brodeur is 41 now and concedes playing fewer games can help him over the long season. Still, he has always played better when he has played more often because it’s allowed him to get in a rhythm.

“There’s rhyme or reason about my game,” Brodeur admitted. “I don’t think I can play enough. That’s the way I feel about it. It’s always easier mentally when you don’t have to think about your performance. You just play. That’s what I like about the game. Because it’s a game, it’s fun to play. But when you don’t play a lot, for me, it makes it a little harder. But I understand sometimes physically it’s tough for me, tougher than it was when I was younger and I didn’t understand. But I’m still a goalie that likes to not think about it and not be nervous when I get a shot on the ice.

“The schedule early on has been rough for that just to get any kind of momentum.”

SENATORS’ TURRIS TAKES HIGH ROAD ON ISSUES WITH COYOTES

Ahead of Tuesday night’s contest between his Ottawa Senators and his former team, the Phoenix Coyotes, The Citizen caught up with Kyle Turris. The drawn-out, often ugly public feud between his agent and Coyotes general manager Don Maloney is recounted, which spawned his trade to the Senators in 2011.

Turris chose not to elaborate Tuesday on his issues with coach Dave Tippett and Maloney, saying only that he was “over the moon happy” with the Senators and suggested he was better suited as a player for the Senators’ style.

Ottawa head coach Paul MacLean acknowledged that the Coyotes played a different system than the Senators, but he also expressed a belief that Turris would have eventually been successful if he had stayed in Phoenix.

“When you’re a good player, you can play in any system,” MacLean said. “If Kyle had stayed here, matured here, three years later, he would probably still be a very good player on their team. If you’re a good player in one place, you’re usually a good player everywhere else, too.”

BLACKHAWKS SEE INCREASE IN FEMALE FANS

ChicagoBusiness.com reveals how women now make up 38 percent of the Hawks faithful locally, up from 28 percent in 2008, according to New York-based Scarborough Research.

“The strategy remains to mainstream the Blackhawks brand,” said Blackhawks Executive Vice President Jay Blunk. “Our hope is for the continued development of a deeper connection to the Blackhawks brand if fans identify with the personalities of our players.”

Owner Rocky Wirtz has pushed team management to dig deeper into the makeup of its rapidly expanding following to better serve the increasing group without a Y chromosome. Part of that effort has come from more focus on social media engagement, specifically on Pinterest, whose user base is 80 percent female. Sponsors and advertisers have come on board because of the female fan appeal, too.

ROY IMPLEMENTS NEW AVALANCHE DEFENSIVE SCHEME

The Denver Post outlines how rookie NHL coach Patrick Roy can be credited for installing a Detroit-tested system in Denver with the Avalanche. The hall of famer has kicked any evidence of zone defense at even strength out the door. Roy demands that his defenders continually move their feet and pressure the puck carrier.

“It’s man-to-man/support,” Roy said of the defensive coverage he brought with him from his eight-year stint with major junior’s Quebec Remparts. “More and more teams will have their defense men involved in the attack, and if you play (zone), you cannot follow them.

“All the teams that I’ve watched have success — St. Louis, Detroit and the other top teams — are doing it. And in order for us to have some success, there are things you have to copy, and this is one of the big things.”

KONOPKA RISES TO OCCASION FOR WILD

The Pioneer Press asserts Wild forward Zenon Konopka has been one of the team’s most pleasant surprises. His faceoff success was well known heading into the season, but he’s skating better and earning shifts on the penalty kill and in even-strength situations with the fourth line.

“We’ve been trusting him a lot in the defensive zone,” coach Mike Yeo said ahead of Tuesday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. “We’ve been giving him a bigger chunk of the penalty kill and obviously sticking up for his teammates — he’s going to be there for that, too.”

Yeo added: “He’s done very well, for sure. There was competition for him, too, in training camp, and he responded well. Good for him for recognizing that it was an important year for himself and also coming into camp understanding that there was going to be competition. He took that challenge head on, and good for him.”

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