Brown: Would he Rather Score a Goal or Make a Big Hit

By Larry Wigge

The question was sort of a contradiction in terms in today's NHL, where teams are always looking for more goals.

Ask Dustin Brown if he would rather score a goal or make a big hit? Yes, indeed the question and answer produced all teeth ... a big smile from Brown.

"I don't know," he laughed. "I made it in this league by making a few big hits. That was my way to create a little time and space for my teammates and motivate my team.

"Now, I guess I'll do whatever it takes to make the Kings better."

Impact player. An in-your-face player. Ready to knock your block off. A power forward with the intensity and determination of the position. He and New Jersey captain Zach Parise are threatening to become the first U.S. born leaders since Dallas' defenseman Derian Hatcher led the Stars to the 1999 Stanley Cup championship.

Hit or be hit.

In his first three seasons, Dustin Brown might have smiled a wry smile and bit on the question. He had one, 14 and 17 goals. But then came the turnaround season -- 33 goals in the 2007-08 season.

Andy Murray his first coach in the NHL, who was coaching in Los Angeles at the time, convinced the Kings to keep Brown right out after the team made him the 13th pick overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, because ...

"He plays like he's from Southern Manitoba rather than upstate New York," Murray said with a laugh, referring to the culture of Western Canada hockey players who are usually come to play the game with a grit and enthusiasm that is contagious. "He'll do whatever it takes to make an impact in a game, whether that means make a big hit or score a big goal ... or anything in between.

"I remember early in the 2005-06 season seeing him play a game against Anaheim in which he hit Chris Pronger once and got a look of annoyance that a young player would challenge him in front of his own net. Then, later in the game, Dustin tried to bowl him over in the corner. The look of anger on Pronger's face was priceless. This kid had gotten under his skin and took him off his game."

Now, Brown has an established persona. The right wing from Ithaca, N.Y., doesn't care who is driving the car that he collides into ... or vice versa. He's more than just a one-dimensional player. He hits. He scores. And then he hits some more.

Dustin credits the hard-charging, big-hitting part of his game to former Kings' center Ian Laperriere, a feisty competitor who will not back down from anyone.

"I think it's important to be hard on the other team's top player and I make an effort of finishing my checks," said Brown. "But those big, impact hits? They just happen."

"He's like a tank with nitro because of how hard he skates and how thick, how dense, how solid he is," Kings forward Dustin Penner said. "It’s an art the way he hits."

Kings GM Dean Lombardi does what the big-name leaders in other sports do.

"He's doing what leaders do -- recognizing critical moments and getting it done," said Lombardi. "That's still the bottom line. You look at Tom Brady and Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier and all those guys, that's still the ultimate leader. And we've seen numerous instances of that with Dustin."

It hasn't come easy. Brown's evolution, and maturation, as a captain on and off the ice has had its peaks and valleys. As a young player, Brown was a shy person and being an NHL captain hasn't been a fit overnight for him.

Call it all a matter of timing. Dustin's name was posed as trade bait in late February after the Kings obtained Jeff Carter from Columbus. Lombardi considers it follow -- he would never deal off his captain. But ...

In his final 23 games of the regular season, Brown amassed 9 goals and 16 assists — compared with 13 goals and 16 assists in the Kings’ first 59 games. He has added seven goals and 10 assists in 19 playoff games.

Brown started in hockey by following older brother Brandon around. Quickly, he was making his own way. And he was doing it despite the breakup of his parents, Bryan and Sharon.

"Both my parents were always there for us, so it wasn't like we had a big obstacle to overcome," Dustin said. "They have been there for every big decision, every big event."

Being in Los Angeles, Dustin Brown figures he had to grow up quickly.

"You grow up fast when at 18 you're in the NHL ... in Hollywood ... you see Shaquille O'Neal at one of your games along with all sorts of movie stars like Cuba Gooding Jr. and Goldie Hawn," he said. "You're wide-eyed. Naive. You're wondering if you're going to be able to do enough to stay in the NHL.

"When you start to feel a little more comfortable, feel like you belong ... then you get married and the terms accountability and responsibility on the ice to your teammates take on a completely different definition. You come home to a wife and son. That's the ultimate in having to grow up in a hurry."

In this role to the Cup finals, Brown has taken only the Sedins and Vancouver in the first round, David Backes and St. Louis in the next round, Shane Doan and Phoenix in the Wester Conference Finals.

"He has played exactly as their team plays, with speed, tenacity, and a real edge," Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock, his team run over by Brown in the second round, said. "He has that look like he is willing to go a little further than you are."

Coach Darryl Sutter said simply, "He's still the physical guy, the hard guy to play against. I think in the earlier rounds ... he was more of an offensive guy.

"You have to be careful of that because he's a 20-goal scorer who scores big goals. We still need him to do that. We still need him to be a physical guy and a strong guy on the walls. Everybody asks about our captain and those things. But it doesn't change, right? He had an identity. If he plays in that identity, that's what he does for us."

To Dustin Brown some things never change. He can remember with he was 15- 16-year-old playing with Parise.

"I've known Zach since very well since we about 15 16-year-old," Brown said. "We roomed together in a tournament in Germany. We created a fast friendship playing for our country."

And now, Brown and Parise want the same thing -- the Stanley Cup.

Brown said, "We both do a lot of the little things right. He probably has more skill. I probably have a bigger impact on the game from a physical standpoint."

There's still that question that draws a smile. Would he rather score a goal or make a big hit? 

Going into Game 6, Dustin Brown would take whatever it takes to help the Kings win the Stanley Cup.

Parise Always Gives a Second- and Third-Effort

By Larry Wigge

What made Zach Parise move so fast that he beat goaltender Jonathan Quick to the far side of the net? What gave Parise the energy, the drive to score his first goal, first point, in five games?

They call them quick twitch muscles. Faster speed, quicker movements. And the drive ...

"I made a not-so-great pass across the ice," Parise explained. "I wasn't looking. Just saw Quick leave the net. I just went on the normal forecheck route that I've gone on a thousand times this year. He just happened to misplay it and put it on my stick. You got to get lucky sometimes."

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. And right.

What Parise meant to say is he made a marvelously unconscious play to beat Quick to the net and jab it into the net.

"I go into every game expecting Zach to do something big," said coach Peter DeBoer.

The something big was New Jersey's first power-play goal of the series ... it was Parise's awakening in the series ... it was his putting his imprint of hard work first and skill and talent second.

"Zach's game is so much more than the stat line," DeBoer continued. "He's the heartbeat of our team. He's the identity of our team. He forechecks, he back checks, he kills penalties. He plays in all situations.

"He really is our barometer. He's the guy that makes us go, whether he's scoring or not. I don't measure his game on goals and assists. He's creating opportunities. They're eventually going to go in." 

Parise did not take part in the Devils' optional morning skate. Instead, he took a bucket of pucks into the ice early, took some shots and left early. More contemplating the position he had helped put the Devils in or trying to coax more out of him.

"I didn't really feel like skating," he said, refusing to admit what was eating at him.

What was wrong with this self-motivated player so keyed up.

"I just wanted to get on the ice and try out a couple of sticks," he said. "I didn't want to skate and waste some energy."

No, he would save his energy for his dash with Quick at 12:45 of the first period when 

Zach gave the Devils the spark they needed. The quick twitch spark. 

You try not to over-analyze.

"As a young guy I've watched him all year," center Adam Henrique said. "I don't think there is a better guy to learn from. The way he handles himself on and off the ice in different situations. I try to put part of his game into mine and I think over the year it's one of the big reasons why my game has progressed.

"He's been there all year for us. Guys feed off his energy on the ice. It really gets guys going. Guys rally behind him. There is a reason why he is our leader. Guys look to him in these situations."

Parise can blame the 0-3 hole on himself. But he has a way to get out of this. Zach can ask his father how a comeback from an 0-3 playoff deficit is possible.

J.P. Parise did it three times ... in a way.

His New York Islanders rallied from 0-3 down to win a second-round series against Pittsburgh in 1975 -- and then nearly did it again in the next round against Philadelphia, winning three straight before losing Game 7.

The elder Parise also was on the Canadian national team that won the final three games of the famed 1972 Summit Series against Russia.

Zach hear from his father on a daily basis. Tips. Good-natured jab. And real advice.

"He said him and Chico Resch are living proof that it can happen," said Zach Parise. "He said they did it twice in the one season.

"He said with Team Canada, they went into Russia, had to win three games, won three games there. He said it can happen."

Parise also said his father realizes how close the Devils have been to turning around the series.

"He said just from watching the games, the margin for error right now is really, really slim," Zach Parise said. "All three of the games, we felt like we could have won. He just said, 'You've got to start with the one tonight and then see what happens.' "

Now there's some real fatherly advice that Zach and the Devils are following.

To some he just where the captain's 'C' for the New Jersey Devils. To others Zach Parise is built of relentless hard work ... something he says he gained a little insight into that from his dad.

"My dad wasn't flashy as a player, he wasn't a superstar, he just played hard every night and I think I kind of inherited that trait from him," Zach said. "He always told me you have to work harder than the next guy ... and then show how hard you work the next time and the next time."

J.P. Parise was a pretty smart man, who for starred for 14 seasons in the NHL and played a gritty, hard-working style. 

"If you see the way he deflects pucks and picks up garbage goals, these are all things he practices on his own and it really pays off for him," the elder Parise said. "But I did tell him, 'One of the things you can always control is to be one of the hardest-working players on the team.' "

Blood and sweat are keynotes to Zach Parise's game. When he isn't a good night, he works harder. Something his New Jersey Devils teammates pick up on. 

Now, you clearly get the picture of this left winger from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is more than just a run-of-the-mill player. He has topped out at 45 goals and 49 assists for 94 points in 2008-09. In his seven-year NHL career, Parise had also scored 30 goals or more four times, including this year when he had 31 goals and 38 assists.

But in his first extended stay in the playoffs, Zach has had eight goals and seven assists in 23 games.

Parise says patience with the puck and maturity have come along with experience.

"Year by year, I think I'm a little more patient with the puck," he said. "I think I'm making better decisions, and that goes with being more comfortable. Your first couple of years, you don't want to make mistakes, but then you get more comfortable, want to try different things, different moves."

He is a graduate of the famous Shattuck St. Mary's program in Minnesota and two years at North Dakota before he was chosen with the 17th overall selection in the first round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

Don't let the fact that he is just 5-ll, 195 pounds fool you -- he is a true NHL power forward by any sense of the word. Just like his father, he is a gritty heart and soul player.

It was at Shattuck St. Mary's that he agrees his career took it biggest step -- playing there with Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews.

Crosby (with Pittsburgh in 2009) and Toews (with Chicago in 2010) has won Stanley Cup. Parise ... he has none.

"That's an unfair question," Parise shot back. "I'm working on it."

If he can rally the Devils from an 0-3 deficit against Los Angeles, Zach Parise will have etched his name in the memories of all.

And it all started with those quick twitch muscles and the race to the front of the net with Jonathan Quick.

Clarkson: A Big Game, Big Goal Scorer

By Larry Wigge

David Clarkson is a competitor. A battler. He agonizes over each potential goal-scoring chance that he failed to score on. There is no quit in him.

After the first three games of the Stanley Cup Finals ... he was held off the scoresheet, even though had some of the New Jersey Devils best chances. New Jersey Devils coach Peter DeBoer knew Clarkson had a lot left in him. He kept putting him out there.

"I thought in Game 1 he was arguably our best forward," DeBoer said. "I thought he could've had two or three goals. David's a guy that's on the verge of breaking out.

"He's a big game, big goal scorer."

Vindication for Clarkson, the undrafted free agent, who was born in Toronto, is only natural coming from DeBoer.

DeBoer is proud of Clarkson and his accomplishments as an NHLer. Clarkson and DeBoer won together in junior, including a Memorial Cup championship with the 2002-03 Kitchener Rangers.

It's DeBoer's first year as the Devils coach ... and they're winning again.

Clarkson had a quantum leap in goals this season, going from 12 last season to a career-high 30 goals during the regular season. David has converted the game-winning goal in Game 2 and 5 against Philadelphia in the second round and in Game 2 against the New York Rangers in the Conference Finals, giving him three goals and nine assists in 21 playoff games.

In Game 4 of the Cup finals, David Clarkson picked up a turnover at center ice, he quickly turned into transition mode. He skated into the offensive zone and quickly sent a cross-ice pass to Henrique, who corralled the puck and flipped a wrist shot past Jonathan Quick's glove side.

"Clarkie had it at the blue line and I was hoping he saw me," Henrique said. "He made a great pass. It came off my skate pretty good and was right on the tape ..."

Henrique knew how quickly the Los Angeles goaltender moved from side to side, so he made a perfect shot.

"I knew Quick was going to have to come a long way ... to make the save if I was going to get up short-sided."

The goal broke a 1-1 tie with 4:31 left in the third period to stave off elimination for a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings. 

DeBoer knew how much Clarkson wanted to get back on target. He knew him better than his own son.

"Personally, I would've liked to have a couple of chances back in Game 1," Clarkson replied. "This is a time of the season when you don't get too many of those chances. Hopefully they keep coming ... and I'll bear down a little more."

There is more to it. Clarkson, in fact, credits coach Peter DeBoer with talking him out of quitting hockey, when David was ready to hang up his hockey skates at the age of 18.

Clarkson did quit ... in fact.

Devastated by the loss of two grandparents within three months, Clarkson lost his passion for the game and was set to walk away from his junior career with Kitchener. It was his coach at the time, DeBoer, who convinced him to return.

"I lost two of my grandparents in one year. I lost them both within three months. I was a young kid, 17- 18-years-old, and it was tough to swallow," Clarkson recalled. "He convinced me to come back. I ... wasn't sure I wanted to play after that."

Both of his parents worked when he was growing up. Thus, his grandparents were like second parents to him. Neither of them was ill ... it was ...

His grandmother woke up one morning with a cough and died of cancer a month later of complications from the cough. His grandfather had a seizure in a washroom and wasn't found until three days later.

Those were both devastating ... especially to a young kid. He wanted to quit living.

Said DeBoer, "I'm sure he'll tell you he's been good for me and saved my career and I'll probably tell you I saved his."

But DeBoer must see a different player other than the 28-year-old Clarkson from his junior days?

"He's more mature," the Devils coach said. "He's found his identity and role as a player. In Kitchener, he did a lot more fighting, a lot like he did early in his NHL career.

"He's established to everybody in the league what he is now and he's a valuable guy on the ice. There's only a handful of guys in the league -- Milan Lucic, James Neal, Scott Hartnell, David Backes, Ryan Malone, Clarkson, those type of players that can score the type of goals they score and are willing to do the dirty work, too."

Clarkson listens and learns from DeBoer, whether it's life traits or just hockey. He's always been there for me.

At the start of this season, the coach let him know he expected more from him. He wanted me to be more of an all-round player, not just a tough guy. The goals came in bunches for Clarkson.

"He put me in the sort of role I play now and that helped me find the way I needed to play," Clarkson recalled. "He's still hard on me when he I need it. To have a coach like that, who believes in you, is something you don't mind a bit.

"I've asked him to play whistle to whistle and kind of get away from the agitation role that is typically part of his game, because we don't really need it right now."

Clarkson's previous best goal-scoring season had been 17 in 2008-09. He found out he could be a reliable hockey player, one the team could count on. Not just a thug.

"We want to play five-on-five," said DeBoer. "We've been one of the best five-on-five teams, I think, in the league the last 6-8 weeks. That's our game."

The success David Clarkson is having this season is more a playing whistle to whistle, something a lot of NHL players have had success with -- most notably Vancouver's Ryan Kesler.

A player listening and learning from his coach. That in itself is a given. But for DeBoer and Clarkson it's always been a gift.

A Classic Goal-Scorer's Move by Jeff Carter

By Larry Wigge

It's a classic goal-scorer's move, you wind around the net and consider your options. But ...

What options did former 46-goal scorer Jeff Carter have while he was circling the opponent's net? Was he really going to pass or shoot in overtime for the Los Angeles Kings in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals?

Option No. 1 came when he was behind the net -- he could pass on either side. Option No. 2 came in the corner near the goal line, where he could have gambled on shooting the puck from a from weird angle and hope for a deflection or a rebound. Option No. 3 came as he was coming out in the faceoff circle, he could have fired across at an angle and maybe a screen would prevail.

Time was not a concern. The game was on the line. Drama and trepidation was  with Carter on each stride. That leads us to the third option, putting the game in Carter's hands .. a position most goal-scorers would like.

"I was just looking for anything, really," Carter explained. "Playoff hockey, you're just looking to put it on the net anytime you can. It's usually a cheesy goal. But Dustin Penner did a great job getting in front of Marty Brodeur out there and, to be honest with you, I don't know if he saw the shot."

Carter took a rising wrist shot across his body from the high slot, which made the goal difficult for Brodeur to handle -- and it didn't hurt to have teammate Dustin Penner creating a screen in front of the goalie.

Said Carter, "I think it is, by far, the biggest goal I've scored."

Scoring goals has not been easy for the London, Ontario, native, who once scored 46 in the 2008-09 season and followed that with 33 and 36 goals.

It was a strange 12 months for one of the NHL's top goal-scorers.

After being traded by Philadelphia to Columbus in a draft day trade for Jakub Voracek and a first- and third-round picks. He found the net for only 15 goals in 39 games with the Blue Jackets. It was even worse when he was sent to the Los Angeles Kings for defenseman Jack Johnson and a first-round pick ... and Carter found the twine for only six goals in 16 games.

And he has only scored five goals in helping the Kings roll to 14-2 playoff run.

"It's good to see him score," said Kings head coach Darryl Sutter. "He's a goal-scorer. You're counting on him to score a big goal."

But a day later Carter was showing another side to him. He showed the inner feelings that might have been going through his head and he did his skate-around Brodeur's net.

Carter and Mike Richards were with the Flyers two years ago, when they watched as Chicago's Patrick Kane scored the overtime winning goal in the Stanley Cup finals. The goal was scored in Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center ... in Flyers country.

Nothing hurt Carter more than coming so close and still losing and to watch Kane and Blackhawks on Philadelphia's home ice in Game 6 of the 2010 Cup finals.

"You work so hard to get there and then you come up short, it's tough to swallow," Carter said, still wincing over the Blackhawks victory. "It definitely is motivation for anyone. That's something that sticks out in the back of your mind. It's not something you want to deal with ..."

Still clearing his head over his last comments, Carter continued, "It's probably one of the worst nights I've felt in hockey. If you can't get motivated by that.

"But a lot of guys don't get a second chance. A few guys in the room are getting that second chance and we're going to do everything in our power to come out on top this time."

Carter still had other feelings lingering on his mind about his performance in Columbus and L.A.

"A lot people are doubting me out there," he said. "I know that. I look at this as winning the Stanley Cup ... and proving them all wrong." 

GM Dean Lombardi made one, two or three calls to Columbus GM Scott Howson with interest in Carter.

"He's a rare breed, one of those natural goal scorers," said Howson. "But when we could get Jack Johnson and a first round pick back, we thought that was a good deal for us."

Even though Carter didn't start scoring goal, captain Dustin Brown saw how all the piece on the Kings went into place.

"We were a one-line team and easy to check before the trade," said Brown, said of the Kings inability to score goals. "The addition of Carter was great for Richards and it gave us two lines the other team had to worry about. It changed the way we played."

Leaving Philadelphia wasn't one of Carter's favorite things.

"Well, it was obviously a tough situation for us leaving Philly," he said. "We  loved it there. We loved our time. We signed long deals to potentially finish our careers there.

"It was a tough situation. We had a lot of thinking to do. Took a little while to get over that. It's funny how things work out. We're both in L.A. now, two wins away from the Stanley Cup. Couldn't be happier."

Then, going to Columbus, where the team was struggling. Losing always sucks.

"It wasn't an easy situation obviously," Carter said. "Being in Philly for six years, all you do there is win, right? That's really all you know. They teach you the right way there.

"Going to Columbus, it was a team that was struggling. Obviously there were some expectations going into the season. Things didn't work out the way everybody had hoped."  

Mike Richards pays the cleaning lady and walks Arnold, an ice cream-eating black lab. Jeff Carter’s job is to supply dinner most nights at the beautiful Manhattan Beach house they’ve shared ever since their hockey careers improbably reconnected in late February, just a few months after the Philadelphia Flyers split them apart.

Jeff Carter, still thinking about scoring goals like the one he scored in Game 2, said, "It's funny how things work out."

Devils Need Some More Risk/Reward from Zidlicky

By Larry Wigge

It may go down as the trade that gets the New Jersey Devils a Stanley Cup ...

Defenseman Marek Zidlicky came to the Devils on February 24 for defenseman Kurtis Foster, forwards Nick Palmieri and Stephane Veilleux, a second-round pick this year and a conditional third-round draft choice next year.

Under normal circumstance New Jersey GM Lou Lamoriello would have balked at the trade proposal because Zidlicky was in a heated dispute of style of play with the veteran defenseman. But Lamoriello checked into the matter and he liked Zidlicky’s hockey sense, in addition to the fact he is signed for next season at $4 million.

Plus ...

"Zidlicky's not afraid to make a big play, to take a chance or a calculated risk," Lamoriello explained. "Sometimes it may not turn out, but he's not afraid to try it again. No question he's become an integral part of our defense."

Risk and reward is the way you put it ... or not afraid to take an offensive chance at the expense of making a mistake.

The risk includes two goals and six assists in 22 games in the regular season and one goal and eight assists in 20 playoff games for the Devils.

Not a bad gamble for New Jersey to make down the stretch.

The only thing left is to have Zidlicky's contribute offensively like he did when his shot was tipped in by Ryan Carter to send Game 2 into overtime.

Zidlicky has been on Lamoriello's radar before. On July 1, 2008, when Marek was traded to the Wild from the Nashville Predators. This time Lou got him.

The only risk the Most, Czechoslovakia, native, was making was that he had asked for a trade over his unhappiness with Wild assistant coach Mike Yeo. Zidlicky could be called unhappy or disgruntled, but the 35-year-old defenseman was seeking a way out of Minnesota. He even sought to waive his no-trade clause of his contract. It should be pointed out that Kris Letang and Sergie Gonchar thrived in Yeo's system in Pittsburgh.

In the 22 regular-season games Zidlicky played for the Devils and 18 playoff games, New Jersey is 25-13-2 since the trade going into the Cup finals.

"It's tough to really identify how important it is adding a No. 1, No. 2 defenseman to your lineup at a critical time of the year," coach Peter DeBoer said. "He's been invaluable. I think it was a great trade that Lou made identifying him -- and paying the price to go get him. It looked like a heavy price to pay, but he's been worth it every bit and more."

From the Wild standpoint, they had scratched Zidlicky three straight games and six of the Wild’s past 13 games. They were 12-3 in the past 15 games without Zidlicky. In the past 16 games with him, it was 2-10-4.

Wow! So a deal clearly had to be made for each team.

In the NHL, defensemen continue to be the hottest commodity in the trade market. Zidlicky is the fifth name defenseman to be moved recently, joining Nicklas Grossman (Dallas to Philadelphia), Hal Gill (Montreal to Nashville), Pavel Kubina (Tampa Bay to Philadelphia) and Kyle Quincey (Colorado to Tampa Bay to Detroit).

 

Only Zidlicky is still standing.

"He's a good, creative hockey player," Martin Brodeur said. "He’s like a forward playing defense a little bit in the way he's skilled and can make passes and jumping in the play. He trusts a lot of his skills out there and it shows in the confidence we have in him."

Better yet, Zidlicky is making the rest of the young defense play more like him.

Adam Larsson and Mark Fayne watch Marek Zidlicky and use him as a teaching point. In their young careers, at 19 and 24 years old, Larsson and Fayne are still learning when to pinch or to get involved in the offensive zone.

"He's one of those guys that, in practice, the plays he can make and the chances he creates by himself, it's amazing," Fayne said. "He definitely shows me, Larsson, the young guys what we could do if we tried to be more offensive."

Zidlicky called his old friend Patrik Elias to get his advice and poll his opinion about how he would fit on the Devils 

"With Pete and the coaching staff that we have, I thought he was going to fit perfectly in the style that we play," Elias said. "Playing with the right players, the right situation, the right style of hockey can go a long way."

DeBoer said, "We wouldn't be here without him."

The coach went on expand of Zidlicky's importance to the Devils.

"The thing about Zidlicky is he's multi-dimensional," DeBoer continued. "He's not just offensive or a power-play guy. This guy can do a little bit of everything. He plays in your top two. He can play 25 minutes a game. He can play against top players in the league and defend and compete in the zone end and he can also run your power play. There are only a handful of those guys in the league."

"Foster did a really good job for us, but I think Zid was more of an upgrade," captain Zach Parise said. "He's not as much of a shooter as Foster, but he's a really good passer. No disrespect to Foster at all, because he did really well for us, but I think Zid, again, has that skating ability and he adds a little more 5-on-5 than Foster did."

Coach DeBoer said: "That's a big shopping list to throw at Lou going into the trade deadline: get me one of these guys that can do basically everything. He fit the bill across the board. Lou paid a heavy price to go and get him. For me, he's been worth every cent."

For his part, Zidlicky couldn't be happier to be a Devil.

"I like to play offensively. I like what we're doing with the puck," he said. "We don't just throw the puck somewhere -- we try to play with the puck, each guy and make plays to open up other guys. That's good."

Marek Zidlicky clearly does it all -- or most things the Devils needed from their defense. And New Jersey has given Zidlicky a chance at the Finals.

"I've never been a finalist," Zidlicky said. "Every kid dreams about it."

Doughty's Always Working at Being the Best

By Larry Wigge

He skated past the first forechecker, then went around another New Jersey player just outside the blue line. There were still two Devils players back ... but they couldn't stop multi-talented defenseman Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals.

Doughty beat four of the New Jersey defenders, clearly a great individual effort. In the Cup finals, when the pressure is always on. To some young players, the pressure's always on ... and they like it that way to perform their best. On this occasion, he beat Marty Brodeur with a screened shot in the first period.

But ...

If anyone thinks his holdout for an eight-year, $56 million contract is too much for the 22-year-old Doughty, the time is right to doubt the doubters. That's ancient history.

Doughty himself was ticked off at himself for letting his holdout in training camp get to him.

"Missing camp obviously wasn't a good thing," the London, Ontario, native,

explained. "I wasn't happy I had to do that and I definitely wasn't myself. Throughout the year, I had to live up to expectations. I signed the biggest contract on the team. If you're doing that, you have to be the best player on the team.

“I think I definitely felt the pressure a little bit. The pressure got to me and I wasn't myself."

If there was a turnaround this season, it came not long after Darryl Sutter replaced Terry Murray. Sutter opted for subtle changes with a taste for some old-fashioned father-son advice. Recognizing Doughty's world-class talent, he helped the young superstar reinforce his defensive game while stressing that there was enough talent around him that there wouldn't be a need to win games on his own.

Thus ...

"The game began to slow down for me," Doughty continued. "I can see those seams open up, I can see plays developing before they happen.

"I just figured it out that I need to forget about it and just play the way I used to play, just kind of carefree, having found out there. Once I started to have fun out there, that's when I hit my stride."

Sutter has constantly revisited Doughty's goals.

"I think the expectations that are put on him, they're not real," said Sutter. "It's not like he's 30 year old and been in the league for 10 years. Because he's an offensive player and a high-paid player, there's a lot of pressure that comes with that. You take a little bit of that off by just minimizing what they have to do on the ice. 

"To get them to use their skill set, make sure he  was a better-prepared player on a game-to-game basis, practice to practice."

That said, Doughty, who was the second pick overall to Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, has already been on the gold-medal winning Canadian Olympic Team for 2010 and is now only two wins away from winning the Stanley Cup.

He already has three goals and nine assists in 16 playoff games.

"I've never seen him play poorly, I think that's part of the problem," Sutter said. "So many high-end, top players, they're sort of thrown into the spotlight instead of actually learning how to handle it."

Paul and Connie Doughty were proud parents. He was introduced to hockey when he was given a mini stick for his first birthday, was skating by the age of two and was playing before he was four.

Sensing GM Dean Lombardi's skepticism, Connie took Lombardi, and the rest of the Kings' management team who had traveled to their home, upstairs to Doughty's room and opened the doors to a scene straight out of a 1990s Kings catalogue.

Lombardi knew he had a keeper in Drew Doughty before he drafted him. There was a Kings pillowcase, a Kings phone, old jerseys of Wayne Gretzky and Kelly Hrudey pinned to a wall and a couple of Gretzky posters taped to another wall. These weren't items he had just purchased to impress the Kings' brass, these were dusty collectables Doughty had accumulated over the years.

"My mom hasn't changed my room since I was a little kid," Doughty said. "I haven't lived there since I was 15, so my mom never changed it, but I was a big Kings fan growing up because of Wayne Gretzky. He's my favorite player, and when I was really young he played for the Kings and that became my team."

Doughty made his own commitment prior to the draft. There were concerns about his weight. So Doughty shed 25 pounds and by the time the draft. He quickly lost his nickname of "Doughnuts." 

So as Lombardi sat with Doughty at the scouting combine three weeks before the draft in Ottawa, Lombardi played a game of fill-in-the-blank with Doughty:

"Wayne Gretzky was a ...?" he asked.

Doughty shot out one noun after another but none of them was the one Lombardi wanted to hear.

"Champion," Doughty said. "Playmaker. ... Role model. ..."

Finally, Doughty blurted it out: "Winner!"

That's all Lombardi wanted to hear. Doughty had passed the impromptu test.

Strange, but true, Doughty always wanted to play forward. He switched from forward to defense when I was 12, because the coach, Brad Ostrom, was a little short on d-men. They wanted me to play D in camp because they were a little short on defensem. The coach told him he could be a complete player: scorer, playmaker and defender, and eventually Doughty started to embrace the role.

"I think one of my best attributes is my vision," said Doughty, who was named after Drew Pearson, the former Dallas Cowboys receiver who was his mom's favorite player. "As a goalie in soccer you have to read situations and see where other players are and I think playing soccer for all those years did help me be a better defenseman. I've always been blessed with great vision. I don't know what it is, but it's probably the best thing about my game."

First Hockey Memory: "I remember I was really, really young. I loved the game of hockey, but I wasn't very good. I remember looking up at the clock -- I wasn't a good skater -- and looking up at the clock, kinda wanting to get off the ice. Just because I couldn't keep up with the other guys."

How old was he? "Probably three."

That anecdote, plus the one following, is true about all young players with aspirations to be great. They do whatever it takes to work and improve at their game.

"As a young kid, I just picked up a stick and was playing in the basement all the time," Doughty recalled. "And no one in my family had previously played. This was more than just watching hockey on TV."

Lombardi talks a lot about what Doughty's has that makes him so special. He follows the talk with different tests of his.

"What he's got, you can't teach," Lombardi says. "His poise level and the subtleties, I mean, you ask me what it feels like to have him on our team, No. 1, it's comforting, and No. 2, we feel pretty lucky to watch him every night. These guys don't grow on trees."

Furthermore, Lombardi remembers talking to him at the draft. 

"You want to be a King, well, they haven't won in 40 years. We'll take you with this pick, but some day, you'll be responsible for winning," Lombardi told the 18-year-old. "The great ones all take that challenge in all sports. The great players are truly, truly judged by wins and losses. There truly aren't that many great athletes that play the game with only that in mind, and I think he's that type of kid. You see it during times in a game when he recognizes that he has to take matters in his own hands."

If you think it takes more than just talking and comparing these youngsters to Ray Bourque, Larry Robinson, Denis Potvin, Bobby Orr and Nicklas Lidstrom it does.

If you think, working with Darryl Sutter can be taxing and hard to get approval from, try assistant coach John Stevens. 

"When he first came in, we'd kind of butt heads all the time," Doughty says. "We kind of didn't agree on plays."

"I was just trying to get him really focused in on the details, the preparation and the practice habits and all that stuff that I knew could make him an even better player," Stevens recalled. "On top of that, Drew might be one of the most gifted, talented players ever, and I was probably one of the least gifted, talented players ever, so we have two different personalities.

"I was really trying to get a marriage of his really great, God-given talent and his commitment to focus on details and fundamentals. To his credit, he has done that."

"I think the No. 1 thing was my practice habits. I'd go into practice just going through the motions, just kind of doing what I had to do to perform well in practice, I guess you could say," Doughty says. "He kind of made me realize that you're not going to get anywhere, you're not going to get any better, just going through the motions. You have to work on your shot. You have to work on making sure every pass is tape-to-tape and you've almost got to focus in practice like you do in a game, and I'm a lot better at that.

"I'm feeling great on the ice. I'm jumping in the play more than I ever have in my career and I'm able to do that pretty easily. I'm not getting tired. I can play those big minutes and be able to do that every shift. A lot of that has to do with really pushing myself in practice."

Hockey has always been fun to Drew Doughty. Just as during the holdout, there is always a lesson to be learned in the business. Simply put, you have to work at getting better. 

Talk about the evolution of a great young hockey player ... and it always takes hard work.

Nice Guy Salvador Getting a Rare Cup Treat

By Larry Wigge

Last year at this time, Bryce Salvador head was beginning to clear. The long road to recovery was a difficult one ... one that included several twists and turns.

Salvador, you see, missed all of the 2010-11 season with cochlear concussion he sustained in the third pre-season game. Fast forward to 2012, where the Brandon, Manitoba, product, was back and had the New Jersey Devils merely four wins away from capturing his first Stanley Cup.

"There was a process of seeing a whole bunch of different doctors, some are saying this and some are saying that," Salvador exclaimed. "We were trying to find the best course of action, but ... "

The 36-year-old defenseman was caught in mid-sentence. He knew what he wanted to say, but there was so much frustration and anxiety it caused him tears.

"I wouldn't classify it as a typical concussion," Salvador continued. "The frustrating thing was trying to figure out what was going on with me. It started to make sense when we realized it was an inner ear concussion. 

"Once we were able to dial in what the issue was, it was pretty easy from that point on. I was just joking with Zach Parise about it, at this time last year I was just starting my adventure back."

Retirement was never an issue, it was just finding out what was wrong. Salvador said a major component of his recovery was working on a regimen, recalibrating his fine motor skills and getting his balance back in line. He said he saw doctors who worked with him on his eyes, hearing and balance.

And it was like any other offseason ... only better for Bryce Salvador.

Salvador, who stands 6-3, 215 pounds, is the quiet story of the 2012 Stanley Cup. He was plus-18 during the regular season despite having no goals and just nine assists. Now, his shot keeps weaving its way through traffic and finding the net. The good-first-pass, stay-at-home blueliner has three playoff goals, including his first career shorthanded goal. Salvador also has eight assists.

All of first-year coach Peter DeBoer have the green light to advance the puck -- and Salvador is cashing in. 

"Not that you take the game for granted or ever get complacent playing," Salvador said. "But when you go through situations where you might not play again and you do get the chance to play again ... you re-appreciate the game. It's like you're looking at everything through green eyes. It was like starting in the NHL all over again."

Not bad for someone who had 23 career goals in 692 regular-season games across a decade-long NHL career. In 16 playoff games this spring he has three goals. In 50 playoff games before this season has had two. 

But that is only a small part of the Bryce Salvador journey to the NHL.

Salvador was raised by a single mom, Collyne. While hockey was Bryce's obsession, the cost of the sport was a hardship -- where food and clothing took importance of sticks and skates.

        

Bryce's household included his brother, Bryan, and sister, Kristyn ... and then some. Following a lifestyle started by their grandmother, the family's home became a haven for mentally challenged individuals and juvenile delinquents.

        

"I learned pretty quick that life can be a crapshoot, especially when you saw the juvenile delinquents -- all the different backgrounds," Salvador said. "These kids could be anywhere from 12 to 17, and the issues that they come from, the problems they had ... there was a lot going on. You learned to appreciate things ... and learned to fight for your food."

        

When Salvador was 6 years old, his mother met Eugene Johnson, who would later become Bryce's stepdad and another influence in his life.

        

"We raised them to understand other people's needs," said Johnson, a native of

Nigeria. "Most of these juvenile delinquents, their problems were not their fault. It was the environment they came from. I think Bryce learned to appreciate people that way."

As the biological sons of black men and white women, Salvador would learn more life lessons playing a sport predominantly played by Caucasians.

        

"At that age, you're kind of naive from it all, but you would see how people look at you," Salvador said. "Where I grew up, my brother, sister and I were really the only black kids in the whole city in Brandon, where there was 35,000 people. You always felt like you had to prove yourself, but it kind of creates the character of who you are. It was uncomfortable, but it is what it is."

April Salvador, Bryce's wife, said: "He doesn't look at his hardships. He always says to me, 'Today is today and whatever happened yesterday, forget about it.' That's probably the attitude that's got him through it."

Through twists and turns in life, Bryce Salvador has made life in hockey pretty simple. You treat people like you hope they will treat me.