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O'Reilly a Lady Byng finalist; Wilson will replace injured Barrie |
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Rick Sadowski
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How's this for irony? The day after the NHL offered Minnesota's Matt Cooke an in-house hearing for his knee-on-knee hit that injured Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie, the league on Tuesday announced the three finalists for the Lady Byng Trophy.
Avalanche forward Ryan O'Reilly is a finalist for the trophy, which is awarded to the player "adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability," in balloting by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
San Jose's Patrick Marleau and the New York Rangers' Martin St. Louis are the other finalists. The winner will be announced June 24 during the NHL awards show at the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas.
O'Reilly had career highs for goals (28) and points (64) in 80 games. He had one minor penalty -- for playing the puck after breaking his stick on a faceoff March 29 against San Jose -- and led the league with 83 takeaways. He and Los Angeles' Butch Goring are the only players ever to receive two or fewer penalty minutes while playing in at least 80 games. Goring had 37 goals, 36 assists and two penalty minutes in 80 games in 1977-78.
Marleau had 33 goals, 37 assists and 18 penalty minutes in 82 games. St. Louis, who has won the award three times in the past four years, had 30 goals, 39 assists and 10 penalty minutes in 81 games. He's a finalist for the eighth time in the past 10 seasons.
The league will announce the finalists for the Calder Trophy, which goes to the rookie of the year, on Wednesday. Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon is considered the frontrunner for the award.
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Avalanche coach Patrick Roy told reporters Tuesday that he'll use Ryan Wilson as a replacement for Barrie, who will miss between four and six weeks with a MCL injury to his left knee.
The Avalanche also called up forward Joey Hishon from the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL. Hishon, 22, was Colorado's first-round pick (17th overall) in the 2010 NHL draft. He sustained a concussion in the first game of the 2011 Memorial Cup while playing for the Owen Sound Attack when he was elbowed in the head by Kootenay Ice defenseman Brayden McNabb, who was suspended for one game.
A skilled but small center at 5-feet-10 and 175 pounds, Hishon missed 22 months to recover from his head injury. He sat out the entire 2011-12 season and all but nine games in 2012-13 when he played for Lake Erie. Hishon had 10 goals and 14 assists in 50 games with the Monsters this season.
Roy said he'll decide after watching Hishon practice Wednesday whether to put him in the lineup for Game 4 Thursday.
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Here's Wild coach Mike Yeo at his news conference Tuesday on the Cooke hit:
"Obviously (it's something) you don't want to have happen. We all want to play physical, intense hockey. At the same time, I know they want to do the same to us and neither side wants to see anybody get hurt. On our part, we don't want to see one of our players get suspended. I'm not going to sit here and say we're in a great mood about any of it.
"This is a tough loss to us. I know it's a tough loss for them. I'm sure they're not going to feel sorry for themselves."
Yeo said Cooke was to conduct a telephone hearing with NHL Department of Player Safety disciplinarian Stephane Quintal on Tuesday, and that an in-person hearing was scheduled for Wednesday.
Cooke was offered the opportunity for an in-person hearing "as required by provisions of the collective bargaining agreement for any suspension that can exceed five games," the league said in a statement.
The statement continued: "Cooke extended his knee as Barrie had just passed the puck leaving his own zone. Cooke received a minor penalty for kneeing."
Cooke has been suspended six times in his NHL career for a total of 25 games, most recently in March 2011 when he was playing for Pittsburgh and elbowed the Rangers' Ryan McDonagh in the head. He was suspended for the final 10 regular-season games and the first round of the playoffs, which lasted seven games.
However, he is not considered a repeat offender by the league because his last suspension took place more than 18 months ago. Cooke said he would change his ways after that and has since been involved in some controversial hits that did not result in an suspensions.
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