‘Comfortable’ Maple Leafs focused on making playoffs Upon further review: NBA says it will hire more referees
TERRY KOSHAN
TORONTO SUN
LOS ANGELES — Nazem Kadri doesn’t have to dig too deep into his memory bank to recall the spring of 2013.
The month of May that year, of course, represents the lone Maple Leafs playoff appearance since 2004 and Kadri badly wants to experience that again.
“I just remember the feeling when (the race to the playoffs) was all said and done, being able to get into the playoffs, it was something I won’t forget,” Kadri said on Thursday.
“I think we are starving for that, not only as a team but as a city. We are focused on bringing that back.”
With the National Hockey League trade deadline a thing of the past, the Leafs now know what kind of team they have going into the toughest stretch of the 2016-17 regular season. It looks much like it did when the club travelled to California last weekend to begin a three-game trip, one that ends with a game on Friday night in Anaheim against former Leafs coach Randy Carlyle and the Ducks.
Brian Boyle has been added to take key faceoffs and bring some savvy knowledge into the room, while Eric Fehr’s trip to the Stanley Cup final with the Pittsburgh Penguins a year ago and the resulting ring that came with it, the hope goes, will rub off on the youngsters.
Otherwise, it’s on the shoulders of the same group of players that got the Leafs to the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference (before games on Thursday) to ensure there is no slipping in the standings between now and the end of the regular season on April 9.
And that group is one that believes in itself. That view was unanimous in the dressing room at the Staples Center after the Leafs held their morning skate in preparation for facing the Kings on Thursday night.
“We’re in a good spot mentally and in terms of the standings we have put ourselves in a position where we can make a push and be right in the mix,” defenceman Morgan Rielly said.
“We are very comfortable with who we have and moving forward we have lots of confidence. All the teams (in contention) are trying to find another gear and they are going to try to make a push. We have to be one of those teams who are able to do that on a yearly basis.”
For Rielly, the last-place finish of last season is not a motivating factor.
“You can reflect on (the progress the Leafs have made), but I think you want to save that until after the season,” Rielly said.
“Right now, we’re focused on the group we have in here, the push we have coming up in the next few weeks. We are focused on being a new team, just looking forward and not looking back.”
That the Leafs were buyers at the deadline for the first time in recent memory — modest as the buying was — is an indication of what future deadlines could represent for this team.
It’s not as though the Leafs are playing with house money, as they want to win just as badly as any other club. Still, the days with the most potential have not arrived, a fact coach Mike Babcock acknowledged on Thursday.
“This year it’s a different kind of buying, let’s be honest,” Babcock said.
“You’re being real careful you’re not getting ahead of yourself and yet you are trying to acquire things you think you need to help your group grow so you can be a contender year in and year out. That’s what we are trying to do. Ideally we helped our group.”
Babcock is as confident as he is intense. So yes, he shares the mindset of his players, the one that says this Leafs group can be opening a playoff round some time in the second week of April.
“It’s good,” Babcock said of the belief he has in his players. “But it’s always good. I would tell you in my heart and in my mind when I walk into the rink every day I expect to win, and it has never been any different.” tkoshan@postmedia.com twitter.com/ koshtorontosun
BRIAN MAHONEY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — After further review, the NBA says it’s time to hire more referees.
The league also plans to change the way they are scheduled and evaluated.
The NBA will launch an Officiating Advisory Council, among a number of initiatives announced Thursday following a six-month review of the officiating program conducted by Byron Spruell, the president of league operations.
The current staff of 64 will grow to at least 70 next season and the league plans to increase it by 25 per cent over the next three years. Spruell said the league will consider promotions from the NBA Development League and NCAA referees, former players and referees working internationally.
“Twenty-five per cent of our players now are international or not born in the U.S., so why shouldn’t we try to match some of that in terms of talent coming from international flavour into the ref population as well?” Spruell said.
He said after completing negotiations on the collective bargaining agreement, Commissioner Adam Silver’s next priority was the officiating program. Spruell, while praising the refs’ performance, said the NBA has already expanded the data it reviews and another step is “bringing in more talent to this demanding profession.”
“As I say, they do a good job but how do we continue to improve it? Evaluate it with a very comprehensive data system that allows us to look at accuracy of their calls, errors in a game,” Spruell said. “And while that can be sensitive to some extent for our officials, it’s still just ultimately going to make the current pool of 64 officials better and better as we evaluate their talent day to day, game to game, play to play.”
This event could go a couple of ways for Team Newfoundland. Gushue and his teammates could flounder under the pressure of playing in a hometown Brier or they could flourish with a full house behind them on every draw, takeout, tap or guard they throw.
“It’s tough to say,” McEwen said. “There might be a lot of pressure on those guys, that they’ll put on themselves, but they also might just feed off that crowd and just play unbelievably all week. I’m not sure which way it’s going to go. It’s going to be a great atmosphere, not only for Team Newfoundland to compete in but probably all of us. Those guys are so seasoned that they’ll be able to handle the pressure and the distractions that the hometown event can bring.”
McEwen expects the competition to be fierce, with the likes of Gushue, Koe, Jacobs and Morris all competing.
“Those teams, when they’re playing at their best, there’s not much to choose from each one of them,” McEwen said. “I would never count out guys like (Quebec’s Jean-Michel) Menard or (four-time world champion) Glenn Howard, either. They can certainly beat anybody on any given day. There will be some good teams that don’t make it into the final weekend. I think it’s a bit wide open.”
A larger staff would allow the league to have what Spruell called “game administrators,” who would sit courtside and communicate between the game officials and the Replay Center. And it would have more refs in place if the league ever decides to have more than the current three-person crew calling games. It has experimented with four- and five-man crews in the D -League, which will continue.
Spruell said the league could keep certain crews together, similar to the NFL and Major League Baseball, rather than assign them individually to games. That could trim their travel and improve chemistry.
“It will actually get to some better rest for our referees, so wellness comes into play in this,” Spruell said. “But ultimately, continue to support the best of the best, and I think increasing the pool is one way to do that.”
The advisory council will include Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the former 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; former U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan; former players and current television analysts Doug Collins and Kenny Smith; and former longtime NBA referee Steve Javie. Current players, coaches and referees will be added at a later date. Other initiatives include: • Data review. Spruell said a new tracking system launched Feb. 1 allows the league to video review about triple the plays per game to 250 from the previous 75-80. It’s closer to what teams are tracking.
• Coaches’ evaluations. Coaches provide midseason and end of season evaluations of referees, but now have an app to submit comments after each game. league will use virtual reality among new methods to train refs.
• Rulebook rewrite. Spruell said a long-term goal is rewriting the rulebook to more closely match the way the game is played.