Sadowski: Ward loses grip as full-time starter

Friday, December 1, 2006

From Conn Smythe Trophy winner to backup goalie? Temporarily, at least, that has been the case for Cam Ward, who led the Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup championship as a 22-year-old but lately has been sitting behind former Overland High School athlete John Grahame.

Not only has Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said Ward didn't have a lock on the No. 1 position before the season started, he insists there is no such position.

"I told them that they have to fight for the crease," Laviolette told reporters. "When you get the opportunity to make the most of it, you'll be rewarded when you perform."

It's why Grahame started three consecutive games before Ward started Thursday against Montreal.

The Hurricanes lost two of those games, but Grahame kept his team in contention by stopping 101 of 109 shots (a .927 saves percentage). In a 4-2 loss to the New York Islanders, the Hurricanes were outshot 48-15; Grahame made 44 saves before the Islanders put the game away with an empty-net goal.

The coincidence is Ward sat behind Martin Gerber the majority of the time last season before he got hot in the playoffs. Gerber posted 38 of the Hurricanes' 52 regular-season wins, but he faltered in the postseason and left as a free agent to sign with the Ottawa Senators.

This season, Ward has hardly resembled the goalie who sparkled in the playoffs; before his start Thursday, he had a 11-7-2 record with a 3.03 goals-against average and .894 save percentage. He made 25 saves in a 4-2 win against Montreal.

Grahame, 31, has a 2-3-1 record with a 3.17 average and .896 saves percentage. He signed with the Hurricanes as a free agent in July after winning a career-high 29 games with Tampa Bay last season; he also played one game for the U.S. Olympic team.

Laviolette said he doesn't consider Grahame to be a backup, and Ward has expressed support for his teammate while adding he hasn't been happy about sitting on the bench.

Grahame, who was born in Denver, comes from a hockey-oriented family. His dad, Ron, was an NHL goalie with Boston, Los Angeles and Quebec and is senior associate athletics director at the University of Denver. His mom, Charlotte, is an executive with the Avalanche.

Economics doomed Tanguay

Alex Tanguay feels he was unfairly blamed for the Avalanche's last two playoff exits when he played while injured, but it's hard to knock general manager Francois Giguere's reasoning for trading him.

Giguere was caught in a financial bind when the NHL ruled the $4.6 million in bonus money owed Joe Sakic and Rob Blake from 2001 contracts would count against the Avalanche's salary cap this season. Now that's unfair.

Combined with the possibility the Avalanche could have lost three defensemen to unrestricted free agency - Blake signed with Los Angeles, and Brett Clark and Karlis Skrastins could have gone elsewhere - it was reasonable for Giguere to believe he needed to deal for a defenseman (Jordan Leopold) as insurance.

Giguere also assumed it would take about $5 million a year to re- sign Tanguay, money that was eaten up by the bonuses. As it turned out, Tanguay is earning $5 million this season as part of the three-year, $15.75 million contract he signed with Calgary.

Tanguay doesn't think economics played a role in his trade, saying the Avalanche simply didn't want him anymore. But Giguere said that wasn't the case.

As upset as Tanguay was at the time he was traded, the Avalanche couldn't possibly have pointed a finger at him when you take into account his accomplishments in six seasons and how poorly the whole team performed in the four-game sweep to Anaheim in the Western Conference semifinals.

Fired coaches fire back

Trent Yawney and Gerard Gallant, the latest NHL coaches to lose their jobs, took some verbal swipes at their former teams.

Yawney, replaced by Denis Savard in Chicago, said he should have been given more than 21 games by Blackhawks general manager Dale Tallon.

"They didn't show the kind of patience needed to build a winning organization," Yawney said.

The Blackhawks, who have missed the playoffs seven of the past eight seasons, got off to a strong start but fizzled after three of their best offensive players - Martin Havlat, Michal Handzus and Rene Bourque - went down with injuries.

Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Doug MacLean fired Gallant and replaced him with Ken Hitchcock, who earlier had lost his job in Philadelphia.

Gallant is especially upset at some of his former players. Anson Carter told Vancouver reporters the Blue Jackets were playing "like an AHL team" under Gallant.

"I get (upset) when I read the papers about guys saying how different it is now, how much better everything is," Gallant told the Columbus Dispatch. "I get (upset) when I read that, or when I see it or hear it on TV.

"All I know is the system we played this season is the same system we played at the end of last season, when we went 23-16-1, and it seemed to work pretty good then. I was a good coach then."

Vernon left a mark

Avalanche fans probably remember Mike Vernon more for his bout with Patrick Roy in the infamous March 26, 1997, brawl-marred game with the Detroit Red Wings, but the former goalie ranks 10th on the all-time list with 385 wins and will have his No. 30 jersey retired in February by the Flames.

Lanny McDonald, who wore No. 9 and also played for the old Colorado Rockies, is the only other Flames player to be so honored.

Vernon, a Calgary native, had a love-hate relationship with Flames fans even though he helped the team win its lone Stanley Cup in 1989.

Vernon won 259 games with the Flames, went to Detroit in 1994 and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1997 when the Red Wings won the first of back-to-back Stanley Cup titles.

"I think that people can kind of look back and say, 'Wow, maybe he was a good NHL goaltender,' " said Vernon, who retired in 2002.

Slap shots

• The Dallas Stars went 15 games without a loss against Chicago until Wednesday's 2-1 defeat. It was the fourth-longest streak in franchise history against one team. The longest is 22 games against Los Angeles.

• The Vancouver Canucks expected a lot more from Matt Cooke than they are getting. The eighth-year pro has one goal in 26 games despite getting some time on a line with Markus Naslund as a replacement for Todd Bertuzzi.

• When Los Angeles goalie Mathieu Garon suffered a groin injury in practice, the Kings summoned Barry Brust from the minors as a backup to Dan Cloutier instead of the more experienced Jason LaBarbera, who would have had to clear waivers. Brust, 23, played in his first NHL game Thursday, making 24 saves against the Coyotes.

East beats West for Devils

Travel in the Atlantic Division couldn't be easier for the New Jersey Devils, who can drive to road games for three of their four division opponents and arrive home shortly after. Goalie Martin Brodeur acknowledged as much after the Devils went 1-3-1 on a recent Western trip that included their first visit to California since 2003. "Definitely, it's something we're not used to," Brodeur said. The Devils don't play outside the Eastern time zone for the rest of the season.

sadowskir@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2587