How do you get more out of players who are giving you less? A few ideas: Duhatschek notebook

The drama in Alberta never abates, it seems.

This week, it was a toss-up about which was more concerning, long-term: The fact that the Edmonton Oilers waived Jack Campbell and then sent him to the minors, in the hopes that he can regain his lost confidence and form, or the fact that the Jonathan Huberdeau spiral continues in Calgary.

On Tuesday, as the Flames were mounting a comeback against the Nashville Predators after digging an early 2-0 hole, Huberdeau was stapled to the bench for the third period as younger, more energetic forwards, such as Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil, were getting the opportunity to play.

The quality that Campbell and Huberdeau share is their contracts, which are anchors on their respective teams. Campbell is getting $5 million this year, and three more. Huberdeau is $10.5 million for this year and seven more. So obviously, no one will take him, even with a 50 percent retention, and that means Huberdeau needs to work his way back to a level at which first-year coach Ryan Huska trusts him to play at important moments. Which is the primary reason you pay someone $10.5 million per season in the first place.

In the hypothetical universe that social media has created, a popular topic of discussion this week was: Could you swap Huberdeau to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for fellow underachiever Johnny Gaudreau?

The short answer is no, for a lot of common-sense reasons we’ll get into in a moment, including that both have full no-move clauses in their contracts. But the attraction of such a deal — giving two players who seemingly need a change, a chance to make that change — is undeniably appealing.

For better or worse, Gaudreau and Huberdeau will always be linked on some sort of metaphysical level anyway. In the 2021-22 NHL season, or not so long ago, they finished tied for second in overall scoring, with 115 points apiece, behind only Connor McDavid. They both play the left side. Both moved on that summer – Gaudreau to the Blue Jackets as a free agent, Huberdeau to Calgary as the biggest piece in the Matthew Tkachuk trade. Both signed massive contracts with their new teams. Gaudreau’s began last year; Huberdeau’s extension kicked in a month ago.

For his $9.75 million per season, Gaudreau has six points in 13 games. For his $10.5 million per season, Huberdeau has six points in 12 games. Both are massively underachieving, just shadows of their formal selves.

So, two questions.

How did it happen? And what, if anything, can be done about it? Because as long as the NHL has a salary-cap system, players who fail to live up to the promise of the contracts they signed put a massive drag on everything else that happens in an organization.

Back in the day, when things went south, a team could call up three players from the minors, put them in the lineup and send a jolt through the team that way. That’s only doable these days if you have a small amount of cap wiggle room — though Calgary is doing its best to promote their top AHLers, since too many of their NHLers are not getting the job done. But that is — and always has been — a short-term solution.

Neither Gaudreau nor Huberdeau were ever known for digging in when the going got tough. The fact that they are so far out on the periphery now suggests that they may never get even close to their former levels. Last weekend, Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent did what Huska did a few nights ago, and took the unexpected step of benching Gaudreau for the third period of a game in which he was producing an uninspired effort. That is always a crucial distinction. If a player is working hard and nothing’s happening for him, well, it could come around soon. But if a player is going through the motions, and it’s obvious to everyone, then it needs to be addressed.

I asked two coaches to see what sort of frank solutions they might offer now that we’re a month into the season and too many expensive players just continue to spin their wheels and accomplish little.

Speaking specifically about Huberdeau, one coach said: “Some players have a short fuse. Huberdeau appears to have a long fuse. Is the fuse maybe too long? Is he dissatisfied with being in Calgary and just wants out? Or the third thing, is it just a lack of confidence? Some guys can lose that little bit of confidence that makes them the player they are — because this guy, for sure, is turning the puck over way too much.

“Usually, it’s one of those three options if a guy is struggling and your job is to figure it out what it is before you try to give him some assistance. It’s hard to answer the question if you don’t know what the root cause of the problem is, but he looks like a guy who’s lost his confidence.”

Contracts can be an issue. Sometimes, a player tries too hard to live up to the value of his contract. Other times, he can get complacent — or find cruise control.

“That’s why it always comes down to the same thing, either when you’re drafting or trading for players,” said our coach. “You need to find character. Because usually character guys come with pride and that affects their performance. Even when they’re not playing well, they’re playing hard. It really hurts you when you see a guy not playing well and, in your opinion, is also not playing hard. And then with the amount of money they’re making, that makes them a target for everybody — coaching staff, fans, media. It isn’t easy. Sometimes the money — those big contracts — can be a curse.”

In the modern game, NHL coaches need to be both teachers and problem-solvers. Eventually, the head coach and the struggling player need to have a meeting of the minds. What would be the message?

“You tell them, ‘We need more from you’ – but you also have to be very specific,” the coach said. “You can say, ‘We need more leadership,’ but you also have to explain what you mean by that. So, for example, you might tell him, ‘You can’t be the first guy off the ice and the first guy leaving the rink after practice because you’re being watched and you have to set an example. This is why we got you. This is why we’re paying you. It’s not just good for our young guys. It’s bad optics. Can you help us with that?’

“And then you transfer that to play on the ice. ‘We’re not expecting you to run guys through the boards, because that’s not your game. but when you’re on the power play, you’ve got to deliver.’”

Shifting gears to Gaudreau, our other coach noted: “What I remember most about Johnny Gaudreau in Calgary is, he made people around him better. You’ve got to appeal to that again. That’s a gift he had. I’d try to make him feel good about himself — and see where it goes.

“But we’re coaching in a player-empowered era. They run the show. Those guys in Calgary and Columbus (Huska and Vincent) are really good coaches. But they are first-time NHL coaches. I know when Ken Hitchcock came into Edmonton, it didn’t work out in the long run, but he went in and hit those guys right between the eyes. He got their attention. They knew who he was. He didn’t pull any punches. But he could do that. And I’m not sure if those young guys can do that. The conversations Ryan Huska would have with a player as an assistant under Darryl Sutter are a lot different than the conversations he would have with the players when you’re now the head coach. That’s tough. The relationship changes because the job has changed.”

Johnny Gaudreau is in an early-season funk. (Marc DesRosiers / USA Today)

Wild about Bill Guerin

There’s something very old-school about the way Wild general manager Bill Guerin operates — and I mean that in the best possible way. Guerin made two trades Wednesday, tied to each other. First, he basically gave away Calen Addison to the San Jose Sharks for a fifth-rounder in 2026. That’s as close to nothing as you can get in return for a 23-year-old with a little bit of an offensive touch who still hasn’t learned to play proper defense — a liability if you happen to be a defenseman.

Addison will have a chance to run the power play in San Jose, on a team whose main goal is to stay just barely above water this year, without damaging their hopes of grabbing the No. 1 overall pick in 2024.

Fair enough. Even if Addison doesn’t dramatically figure out the defensive side of the game, he can improve incrementally and still have a nice career. There is a whole generation of players, in the Erik Gustafsson mode, who move from team to team, never make a lot of money, but are handy to have whenever your true power play quarterback goes down, as Adam Fox did with the Rangers.

But the Wild aren’t interested in on-the-job training.

Even with that nasty $14.74 million dead-cap charge they’re carrying for the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts, they’re trying to win.

And in a division with a lot of so-so teams, that’s as it should be.

And so, Guerin brought in Zach Bogosian, who is now 33, and part of that same 2008 draft class that produced Drew Doughty, Alex Pietrangelo and Luke Schenn. All are in the veteran graybeard class of defenseman now, with miles on the chassis, but who are still able to think the game. Bogosian helps them in the here and now. He’s tough, physical, and experienced.

It wasn’t that long ago that Schenn looked near the end. In 2018-19, he played more games in the AHL (29, divided between San Diego and Utica) than he did in the NHL (26, with Anaheim and Vancouver). But he resurrected his career in Vancouver, helped Toronto in the stretch drive last year and had his choice of free-agent offers this past summer (ultimately opting to go to Nashville).

Bogosian’s contract will be up after this season. His salary — and Addison’s — were essentially a salary-cap wash. The Wild gave up a 23-year-old to add a 33-year-old, which is not the script that most GMs want to follow. But Guerin gets it. With Jared Spurgeon, another 33-year-old, poised to return and Brock Faber looking more and more comfortable every day, the right side of Minnesota’s defense looks solid. Colorado and Dallas should eventually pull away in the Central. But third place is up for grabs. May as well take a run at it, right?

And finally…

Here’s a fun bit of trivia, courtesy of #NHLstats. Ageless Joe Pavelski came out of Thursday’s win over the Blue Jackets leading the Dallas Stars in points, with 12, which included five goals. Among players drafted in the seventh round or later, that left Pavelski only one goal behind Theo Fleury for third all-time in that category. The top two: Luc Robitaille, with 668 goals, and Peter Bondra, with 503.

For points among players drafted in the seventh round or later, Doug Gilmour led the way with 1,414, followed by Robitaille, Fleury, Dave Taylor and Pavelski to round out the top five. And just because this is Hall of Fame weekend in Toronto, we’ll note that Nos. 6 to 9 on the list are Henrik Zetterberg, Bondra, Cliff Ronning and Gary Suter.

If Pavelski ultimately gets elected to the Hall of Fame, you wonder when (or if) Fleury, Bondra, Taylor, Zetterberg or Suter might eventually get their turns as well. Gilmour, by the way, went to St. Louis in the seventh round, No. 134, in the 1982 draft. The player chosen just ahead of him was Jay Ness. The player drafted just behind him was Brad Ramsden. Yes, it really can be that inexact a science.

(Top photo of Jonathan Huberdeau: Gerry Thomas / NHLI via Getty Images)