By Allan Muir

There’s going out on a high note.

And then there’s this.

Seems young Austin Krause, a senior goalie at Farmington (Minn) High School, was less than pleased at his loss of ice time of late. So with his team holding a 2-1 late-third period lead over Chaska HS last Thursday, he decided to voice his concerns in memorable fashion.

Krause picked up a Chaska dump-in and tucked it neatly into his own net to tie the game. Then he dropped his gloves, flipped off his coaches and departed the ice. Would be nice to say that his teammates rallied after being hung out to dry by this punk kid, but Chaska scored again, this time without the help of Krause, to seal the win in the third.

(s/t to Hairy Greg for pointing this one out.)

Bufflao Sabres coach Lindy Ruff: Just trying to keep the peace. (Photo by Andy Mead/YCJ/Icon SMI)

By Allan Muir

Lindy Ruff’s decision to call a timeout with 14 seconds left and a 7-4 lead on Thursday night didn’t go over well with the Boston Bruins.

“Yeah, [Ruff] wants to be a big shot, and that’s not the best play to do,” a fired-up Brad Marchand told NESN. “That’s pretty disrespectful. If he wants to be like that, that’s fine.”

In most cases, Marchand would have every right to be redlining. Calling a late timeout, especially in a blowout, especially in the other team’s barn, is a serious breach of the code.

At least, it would be if Boston coach Claude Julien hadn’t forced Ruff’s hand.

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It would probably take a miracle to revive coach Joe Sacco’s depleted Colorado Avalanche. (Jack Dempsey/AP)

By Allan Muir

Less than two weeks into this exceptional season and already the wolves are circling.

In Pittsburgh, Dan Bylsma is being pilloried for his in-game management. In Colorado, Joe Sacco’s toughness is questioned. In Dallas, fans are grumbling about Glen Gulutzan’s lack of bench presence. In Florida…in Carolina…

Anywhere teams are losing, panic buttons are being mashed by fans who are only too aware of the playoff implications of a slow start. Car pools are being organized to help ex-coaching staffs get to the airport. Wish lists of possible bench bosses are being drawn up on cocktail napkins.

Change needs to happen, and it needs to happen now, before it’s too late. Right? Right?

If it was up to the fans, half a dozen bench bosses would be looking over their severance packages right now.

But general managers, the men who actually have to make these decisions, tend to be a little more judicious, a little more big-picture oriented. They want results, but they grasp that these are unique circumstances. Which makes me wonder: Could this actually be the safest year in NHL history to be a coach? A season in which not one single coach gets fired?

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When last seen, Georges Laraque was fronting a junior players union (not for these kids). (Shawn Baldwin/AP)

By Allan Muir

It hasn’t been a good year for Georges Laraque.

The now-retired 13-year NHL vet was sued by a Florida company that makes synthetic ice. He was the subject of ridicule when he became the public face of a mysterious group that claimed to represent the players of Canada’s junior hockey leagues.

Then there were those beatings laid on him by Ross Rhea and Doug Glatt.

Now, this.

CTV News has reported that police raided Laraque’s suburban Montreal home “as part of an ongoing fraud investigation.”

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Phil Housley (far right), who led Team USA to the gold medal at the 2013 World Junior Championships, coached a team at the 2012 All-American Prospects Game in Buffalo last September. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

The 2013 NHL Entry Draft is still five months away, but the stage already is being set for a bumper crop of American talent in 2014.

USA Hockey announced today that the All-American Prospects Game would be held at Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center on Sept. 26.

The game will showcase 40 of the top American-born players who are eligible for the 2014 NHL Draft, drawn from the U.S. National Team Development Program, the CHL, USHL, NCAA and U.S. high schools.

The inaugural edition of the event was held last September in Buffalo and featured players such as Seth Jones and Ryan Hartman, both members of the 2013 World Junior Champions and certain first-round picks this June.

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The Avalanche would like to rebuild around center Ryan O’Reilly, but can afford to wait him out on a new contract. (Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

You have to wonder if today is the day that Ryan O’Reilly can finally read the writing on the wall.

If not, he might want to have someone read it to him.

In the wake of Monday night’s P.K. Subban deal, the 21-year-old restricted free agent and erstwhile KHL star is now the last remaining big-name player without a contract for this season.

O’Reilly led the Avalanche in scoring last season — albeit with just 55 points – -and brings a package of heart and skill that the franchise wants to rebuild around. After making $900,000 on the last year of his entry-level deal, according to capgeek.com, all agree that he is due a hefty raise.

And he’ll get one.

But if he held out any hope of swinging $5 million a year from the Avs, well, that grandiose dream died Monday night under the pitiless boot heel of Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin.

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Defenseman P.K. Subban has tallied 21 goals and 55 assists in his three-year career in Montreal. [G Fiume/Getty Images]

By Allan Muir

Ultimately, every negotiation comes down to leverage.

In the contract battle between P.K. Subban and the Montreal Canadiens, the Habs had all the cards. No surprise then that GM Marc Bergevin got almost exactly the deal he wanted when he signed the RFA defender Monday night for two years at $5.75 million.

Not $5.75 million per year. $5.75 million, total.

That’s a steal.

And that’s why Bergevin is walking around like a boss.

“I think at this point it was the right decision for me to make,” a subdued Subban said on a conference call Monday night.

At some point today, he came to the realization it was the only decision he could make. He wasn’t going to sit out the season and no team was going to swoop in and goose the pot with an offer sheet. It was settle or stay home.

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Alex Ovechkin (left) wasn’t exactly enthused by coach Adam Oates’ experiment. (Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

You have to hand it to Adam Oates. He’s clearly a man of his convictions.

It’ll be interesting to see how much longer Washington’s freshman coach will be allowed to hold onto them.

During his preseason preparation for his new gig, Oates came to a conclusion about the sagging fortunes of superstar Alex Ovechkin: the two-time MVP had become too predictable on the attack. If he had the puck, Ovechkin would carry it into the zone, curl in from the left wing and try to snap a shot off his forehand from the circle. If he didn’t have it, he would mill around until he could dart into the circle to await a pass that would set up a vicious one-timer.

Of course, Oates wasn’t the first to recognize this. Bruce Boudreau tried to address it and the ensuing power struggle cost him his job. So did Dale Hunter, whose weariness at dealing with Ovechkin was thought to be the prime reason for his return to junior hockey at the end of the playoffs.

So Oates took up the cause, bringing with him a reputation as an astute offensive mind. If anyone could get OV back on track, it would be the guy who spent his Hall of Fame career setting up Brett Hull and Cam Neely to succeed.

So what does Oates do? He takes the natural left winger and moves him to the right side.

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Trying to plug holes by trading high draft picks has backfired on the Maple Leafs, so it may be wiser to deal Phil Kessel. (Nick Turchiaro/Icon SMI)

By Allan Muir

A guide to this morning’s must-read stories around the NHL.

• Trading Phil Kessel, rather than offer sheeting P.K. Subban, is the road forward for the Maple Leafs.

• How is this Lambeau Leap by Vancouver’s Aaron Volpatti any different than the one that earned Brayden Schenn a suspension last week? If Brendan Shanahan is committed to consistency, this one cries out for supplemental discipline.

• Lots to like about Jarome Iginla’s game despite his “slow start.” Still, with the Flames struggling to light the lamp, especially five-on-five, they need Iggy to start finishing.

• Kyle Clifford started the season on Los Angeles’ fourth line, but his hot hand has earned the team’s leading scorer a promotion to the Mike Richards/Jeff Carter unit.

• The Oilers have been brutal five-on-five , scoring just four times through four games. Might help if they slowed the parade to the penalty box and bought themselves a little more time at even strength.

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By Allan Muir

Spend a night in a minor league or junior hockey rink and you’re likely to hear an organist play Three Blind Mice as a cheeky retort after a questionable call by the officials.

But you could spend your whole life in small-town barns and never see a protest quite like this.

This footage comes from a contest Saturday night the between the Wenatchee Wild and the Kenai River Brown Bears of the North American Hockey League, a Tier 2 Junior A circuit.

Taking issue with a series of seven straight calls against the Wild in the third period, associate coach Chris Clark took ref baiting to a whole new level. He donned a pair of dark sunglasses, used a stick as a cane and began walking around the ice in an fashion that, well, you need to see it for yourself.

No surprise that Clark was immediately ejected from the game and could face supplementary discipline from the league. After a third period that featured 93 minutes in penalties, the Brown Bears had the final laugh, winning the game 2-1.