If you had to pick the greatest single development of the Senators season it is probably this one: Moving Tim Stützle to centre ice and watching him grow into a future superstar.
In fact, “Timmy Superstar” and “Timmy (bleeping) Superstar” are already showing up as handles on Twitter and Instagram.
Still just 20-years-old, Stützle scored his 21st and 22nd goals of the season Tuesday night in Ottawa’s wild 5-4 overtime victory over the New Jersey Devils. As usual, the Sens are getting hot, late. This is their first four-game winning streak of the season.
Stützle scored on a power play rebound and then in a finer showcase of his talents, entertained the masses with a shorthanded beauty, skating through the Devils before deking Mackenzie Blackwood and tucking home the backhand.
“Unreal,” said winger Drake Batherson, describing that goal. “Everyone thought he was going five-hole, and he brings it to the backhand. His speed – I’m going to ask him where he did his skating lessons.”
That’s the rub, of course. You can’t teach that Stützle speed or the Timmy Stu dangling.
Just last Saturday, defenceman Thomas Chabot described Stützle as “probably the best player on our team,” when he was asked a question about protecting the young centre.
I found Chabot’s comment fascinating because over the past couple of seasons, Chabot has been described by coaches and players as the Senators best player. So has big captain Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa’s top current point producer with 65.
Until his injury just before the All-Star break, Batherson WAS the Sens best player and All-Star nominee. Centre Josh Norris is the top goal scorer, with 34, including 16 on the power play. Stützle, with 57 points in 77 games is second in scoring.
What we are seeing here is the cream of the Senators youth rising to the top, all together. There is work to do, of course. Head coach D.J. Smith lamented the giveaways and lax checking in this late-season game, including a couple of gaffes by Stützle.
But that five-man power play unit of Chabot, Tkachuk, Stützle, Batherson and Norris has all of the elements — Tkachuk’s net-front presence, the Norris shot, the puck skills around them — to be one of the best in the NHL. On Tuesday, that group scored twice with the extra man.
If Batherson, who is finally recovering from a nasty flu bug and a high ankle sprain, was the early season revelation (he scored two last night, including a gem in OT), the second half developments mostly centre on Anton Forsberg‘s goaltending and the blossoming of Stützle, the third overall pick of 2020.
Getting some time on the penalty kill, and thriving there, is just the latest new thrill for Timmy.
“I love it,” Stützle said. “It gets you in the game. If you don’t play the PK, you just sit there.”
Asked why he feels he’s well suited to killing penalties as well as working the power play, Stützle put on his scouting cap for a second.
“My skating, and ability to read plays,” he said. “It helps to play the power play because then you can read their power play, help get pucks out.”
Smith likes the idea of having his best players get at least some time on the kill, even if Stützle may never be the “first one over the boards” when the Sens take a penalty.
“With his hockey sense, it’s hard to pass pucks through him,” Smith said. “We want to use him on the PK, you don’t want your best players frozen on the bench if we get into penalty trouble.”
Apparently, the coach has the ability to step back for a moment and see what we all see in Stützle – a rare player able to take our breath away with his wheeling up ice, his sharp pivots and phenomenal hands. And did we mention he finished the night 2+2 for four points and had four shots on goal?
“He turned a few (pucks) over, but he’s so dynamic offensively, and so good on the power play – he had chances all over the place,” Smith says.
“If you’re the other team watching him, you’re saying – ‘wow, that’s going to be a heck of a hockey player.’ We’re happy to have him.”
Stützle will protect himself
The hot topic when the Montreal Canadiens visited on Saturday was the level of abuse Stützle is taking, on and off the ice.
Brendan Gallagher famously called out Stützle as a diver (hello pot, this is the kettle). The two mixed it up repeatedly in Ottawa’s victory over the Habs. Stützle was the recipient of a nasty knee on knee hit from Nick Suzuki on April 5 in Montreal and just last week in Vancouver was sent flying on a low bridge hit by the Canucks’ Travis Dermott.
This is why Chabot was asked whether or not the Senators need to do more to protect their young asset.
“You want to help him, he’s probably the best player on our team,” Chabot said. “Just to see him play lately, he holds the puck for a full minute on his shift just on his own, he breaks the puck out.
“You want to protect him. He’s young, and we’ve all been through that.”
And then Chabot added something crucial. About how Stützle can “back it up every time.”
The best players in this league get targeted, Chabot said, especially when they’re young.
Gordie Howe used to greet rookies with an elbow to the nose, in a kind of welcome-to-the-NHL moment. The tradition lives. Young players are going to be tested physically to see how they respond.
Stützle has shown he can give it right back. Not that you want him fighting, but you don’t want him cowering, either.
When he gets a little stronger he is going to be a force in every way, and in every situation – even strength, the power play and shorthanded.
And we’ll be able to say we saw it all coming in the 2021-22 season.
TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
