Bylsma, the coach of Team USA, on Friday didn't specify whether he was leaning toward Ryan Miller or Jonathan Quick. He kept Jimmy Howard in the mix, too.
"That's not a question I'm ready to answer to for right now," Bylsma said — and for the record, he chuckled as he said it.
"Whether I know it or not, you're not going to find out today." He added that he wasn't philosophically opposed to playing different goalies during the tournament, which starts on Feb. 12. Opening ceremonies are Feb. 7, and the NHL break begins on on Feb. 9.
Miller was the star of the 2010 team, and has been outstanding for a terrible Sabres team after three uneven seasons. Quick was the presumed starter this summer. He wasn't great in October, missed nearly two months with a groin injury and has come back to play, as Bylsma called it, "his best hockey" of the season.
Coincidentally, Pittsburgh's last two games have been against the Sabres and Kings. Miller (.926 save percentage in 2013-14) stopped 31 of 33 shots. Quick was pulled after allowing three first-period goals, but he's still carrying a .925 save percentage since his return.
"When I spoke to (Quick) after the game, he was hoping I didn't remember the game too closely," Bylsma said.
Howard on Jan. 21 reinjured the same knee that forced him to sit for three weeks earlier this season. He was expected to miss a week, and Bylsma said he'd return for the Detroit Red Wings "in the last little bit before we go over."
PARISE NAMED USA CAPTAIN
Zach Parise is Captain America.
Parise, an alternate captain for the Minnesota Wild and USA Hockey stalwart, will captain the American hockey team at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Ryan Suter, Parise's teammate in Minnesota, and LA Kings captain Dustin Brown will serve as the alternates.
Other candidates, based on the five-man leadership committee, were David Backes of the St. Louis Blues and Ryan Callahan of the New York Rangers. Parise, though, wound up with the 'C.' It was him, remember, that scored to send the gold-medal game in Vancouver to overtime.
"You're looking for players and people who embody who you are and how you want to play on and off the ice," coach Dan Bylsma said. Bylsma's Pittsburgh Penguins were in the running to sign Parise when he was an unrestricted free agent in 2012. Before that, they were in a division with Parise's New Jersey Devils.
"Every time we played against Zach Parise, there has been a work ethic that never quits," Bylsma said. "A determination, an abrasiveness about (being) a hard-to-play-against player, and it's every time."
Parise said he was "thrilled" to hear the news.
"I'm lucky enough to join a pretty elite list of players who have been captains of the United States," Parise said. Jamie Langenbrunner filled that role in 2010, when the U.S. won silver. He and Parise were teammates with the Devils, and Parise said he learned a great deal from him.
"Jamie is a type of guy, that he's not an overly vocal guy in the locker room, but you know that he's going to play hard and play the right way every game," Parise said. "What was unique about Jamie was that he was able to, as a captain, lead the same way when the team was winning as (when) the team was losing, and that's always a hard thing."
Parise added that he trusted Russian and international security efforts at Sochi; safety concerns have taken the forefront as the Feb. 7 opening ceremonies approach.
"I don't think they would allow us to go if they thought there was immediate danger to us," he said.
STAMKOS STATUS QUO
And now, your daily Steven Stamkos progress update: The Tampa Bay Lightning/Team Canada star practiced on a line with Ryan Malone and B.J. Crombeen on Friday, and coach Jon Cooper told reporters that may have been the most contact he's faced since breaking his leg on Nov. 11.
It wasn't 100 percent good news, though. Here's the news, transcribed from twitter:
Steven Stamkos talked for 10 minutes about being status quo: he felt good skating, took some bumps, still too soon to say when he'll be back — Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) January 31, 2014
Stamkos said the bone itself is not the problem, it's the tissue around it. Said he is still feeling discomfort on certain movements. — Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) January 31, 2014
Stamkos, of course, is trying to return to action in time for the Olympics. The NHL break begins on Feb. 9, and Stamkos has said that he'd like to play for the Lightning before that, but that it may not be absolutely necessary.
In other Lightning news, backup goalie Anders Lindback is out until after the Olympics with an ankle injury. Starter Ben Bishop, who's been as good as any goalie in the league, may return to the lineup Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens.
LEAFS DEAL FRASER
Hey, the Toronto Maple Leafs made a widely accepted personnel move. Toronto on Friday traded defenseman Mark Fraser, who'd played once since Dec. 17, to the Edmonton Oilers for KHL forward Teemu Hartikainen and ECHL puncher Cam Abney.
It's a win for the Maple Leafs for one large reason: It takes $1.275 million in cap space off their payroll, which was desperately needed. The players they got in return may never play in the NHL, though Hartikainen at one point had some promise and played in 52 games with Edmonton over three seasons.
Fraser, 27, is big (6-4, 220 pounds), tough, physical and by all accounts, a great guy, but his skating makes him a liability — and he certainly shouldn't have played over anyone in Toronto, barring an injury. He'll likely slide in on Edmonton's third pairing. Odds are he doesn't help them in the "allowing 59 shots" department, though.
CALLAHAN RUMORS HEAT UP
The Ryan Callahan trade rumors are real — and escalating.
The New York Rangers have amped up their efforts to move their captain, according to TSN's Darren Dreger, who said on Twitter that the Rangers have granted permission to at least one team that has already had discussions with Callahan's agent.
What the team(s) and agents talk about remains to be seen, but Callahan, 28, is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and is looking for about $6 million a year for seven years, according to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.com. New York, wisely, is hesitant to pay him that much money.
"Right now, we only have one team we can negotiate with and we're trying to do that in good faith," Callahan's agent Steve Bartlett told LeBrun on Friday. "I always retain hope that something can get done. But if it doesn't, that's the business. I never tell a GM if he's right or wrong, I just present what I believe is right for my client."
Allowing Bartlett to gauge other teams' willingness to make that decision is wise; if, say, an extension is agreed upon while Callahan is still Ranger property, his trade value will be maximized.
And really, it should be noted that $42 million (or whatever) for Callahan over seven years is too much money, and too much term. He turns 29 in March, which puts him on the statistical downswing of his career, and plays a physical game that doesn't tend to hold up well with age.
Example: Two seasons ago, he scored 29 goals, stayed healthy and played difficult minutes . This season, he's been hurt three separate times and has nine goals in 38 games while starting a larger portion of his shifts in the offensive zone than ever before. He's also spending less time on the penalty kill, which was a major part of his skill set.
Does that make him a bad player? Of course not. Mix in intangibles, and he remains an eminently easy player to like. Plus, the salary cap figures to keep rising, which has to be something of a consideration. But seven years is a long time, especially for a player who could be past his prime — and $6 million for a 34-year-old Callahan, no matter how high the cap is, could well wind up a sunk cost. It's tough to blame the Rangers for trying to avoid that, especially if they're focused more on the future than this season.
It's also easy to see a Cup contender looking at Callahan as a missing piece — if he's healthy, he's still a very good player. Given his asking price, though, it might be better to rent than own.
Contributor: Sean Gentille
