| HITS OF THE DAY OpenIceHitter is on facebook as Open Ice Hitter - Pure Hockey May 18 - Pretty much a done deal out West, where Dwight King continues an astonishing rise to prominence in the NHL playoffs. The LA Kings big winger scored an absolute beauty to sink the Coyotes in game 3. The score so far in the Western Conference Final : Dwight King 4 Phoenix Coyotes 3 …. That’s right, the former Lethbridge Hurricane has outscored the Coyotes … his goal coming off the right wing boards was classic, an absolute lazer of a wrist shot. The big guy gives a good interview too, well spoken, and avoiding cliché … Between King and Jordan Nolan, the Kings were able to add good hockey players with size and toughness by a simple call-up from the minor league team. Those two have been a better addition than anybody made on trade deadline day …. Think of it like this : When the Canucks traded for Zack Kassian, what they were hoping to get is exactly what Dwight King has provided to the LA Kings. A big guy who can play, nobody can push around, a guy who is tough along the boards, won’t back down, and is a legit NHL player .. - Loved their playoff run, but the Coyotes are so done. Tippett has done a great job with that team, but they just don’t have the shooters to come back against the Kings. Maybe the Coyotes can salvage some pride and win a game or two yet, but it would not be a shock to see the sweep completed Sunday . Phoenix put together a solid start to game 3, but the Kings just stayed the course, and eventually overwhelmed the Coyotes … - Goal of the Night : Dwight King scores a classic sniper’s goal, curling off the right wing boards into the slot, moving toward the net, where he leveraged his 230 pounds to rip a bullet past Coyote goalie Mike Smith, a little to the left of the right hand top corner, just under the cross bar … classic, classic shot. Smitty didn’t have much chance to stop that shot at such close range, and for King, it showed a lot of composure and confidence to take that shot. - Okay, now on to the ongoing fiasco in Edmonton. Real smart and successful GM Steve Tambellini decided to make a coaching change. Again. He cans Tom Renney. Uhh, Steve, how many games would you win coaching that team with an AHL calibre blueline, borderline goaltending, and two lines ? Uhh, Steve, who is responsible for roster building ? Isn’t the GM tasked with bringing in decent players ? And that doesn’t mean picking first overall. Half the kids in Saskatoon elementary schools could have selected Hall or the Nuge without much worry. We are talking about bringing in support guys to round out the roster and make the team a winner. In that regard, Tambellini, and his boss and buddy, Kevin Lowe, get a great big F, circled, underlined and highlited in yellow. They have two good moves – picking Eberle late in round one, and bringing in Ryan Jones, who should be captain of that team this year. Other than that, Lowe and Steve deserve zero praise. They are the problem. Lowe has proven himself inept when evaluating talent and deciding who will make his club win, and who he needs to throw millions at. Tambellini has been Lowe’s match. Compare these guys with Ken Holland, who has run several successful reclamation projects and brought along several late round unknowns and put Stanley Cup rings on their fingers. Where is the Oilers Zetterberg ? Where is Kevin Lowe’s Datsyuk ? Where is Steve Tambellini’s Nik Lidstrom ? No, the Oil brass aren’t into astute and well informed hockey moves. They are more into running guys out of town. Bye-bye Sheldon Souray. Go play on a better team than ours in Dallas. Linus Omark ? Scram. Go find work in Detroit or something …. - For the record, initially Tom Renney didn’t look to be the guy for Edmonton. He was trashed on this site. But Renney handled his lot well, giving the kids ice, and letting them emerge. And though he was criticized for not playing Eberle more, use your head when looking at Eberle’s ice time stats. The Oil weren’t making the playoffs. Eberle was playing effectively, but why would you have him on the ice any more than Renney did ? Giving Eberle another 5 minutes a game this year wasn’t going to get the Oil into the playoffs. It probably won’t next year either. The Oil are a poor team with 3 young superstars. A bit of cream, and a bunch of sour curds. It wasn’t Renney’s fault. He handled the kids smartly, using them well for both their own sake, and the sake of the team …. - Upset day at the Worlds. Canada done. USA done. Sverige done. Not Russia, though, as they beat Norge 5-2. The IIHF World Championship is a quirky tourney. Canada should have won the thing, and the US should have medaled. Shoulda, woulda, coulda, doesn’t mean squat now. Canada, who will be the favorite for Gold in Sochi 2014, will enter the Olympics ranked 5th at best. Total malarkey, we all know it, but the IIHF is in a tough spot ranking teams and running tournaments when the NHL juggernaut is in its finest hour, during the playoffs. - Oh yeah. Guess who is the Team Canada GM for this failed venture ? None other than Kevin Lowe, proven winner, hockey savant, genius talent evaluator…. It had to be said … - Left it for later in the post, but also have to bring up the officiating. Both at the Worlds, and in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Awful. Incompetent. Clueless. The whistle equipped donkeys have no idea what is going on around them. Not totally their fault, it is a fast game. But it reflects on them. The NHL and IIHF really need to get with the times and use technology to get calls right. Right now, they put a few bozos on the ice, and pretty soon the bozos are making up calls, missing calls, calling petty and vindictive penalties on some player because the player rightly points out that the ref blew a call. This day and age, with so many camera angles, and hi tech communication equipment, off ice guys should be talking with on ice guys to get the calls right. A few slow minded folks will say it will slow down the game. How ??? You have freaking rewind on your cable or satellite box at home, and know within seconds if a ref blew a call. Get this technology working. Take the heat off of the referees. Help them make the proper call. - Interesting comments from Dave Tippett, Daymond Langkow et al regarding the refs in game 3 … the zebras didn’t sink the Coyotes, but the officiating is so poor that you can’t help but criticize it. Who knows what they are going to call. They make it up as they go along. One time, they call a soft cross check. Next time, they let one player re-order another guys vertebrae without blinking. Much like their leader, Brendan Shanahan, the on ice guys go about their job with zero consistency, no rhyme nor reason, they answer to nobody publicly, and they don’t really seem to care. - Memorial Cup starts tonight. Check it out. Shawinigan Cataractes versus Edmonton Oil Kings. This is going to be an excellent tournament. Can anybody stop the Sea Dogs ? I doubt it, but watch and find out … - Know what ? The New York Mets are cool. Because they know hockey is cool. There manager has a short go with the media, and refers to it as a “ Tortarella “. That is actually funny. The team also have a theme day, sporting hockey sweaters. One guy sports a vintage green Hartford Whalers jersey and talks about Ray Ferraro. That is wicked. One dude had a white Flyer Lindros jersey. Iggy had his red Flame represented. That is how a ball team should travel … May 15 - Better late than never to get to business covering the NHL playoffs … been a wicked start to the conference finals … unless you are a Coyote fan. Figured the Kings would win the series, but they have been all over the Coyotes. Darryl Sutter has that team dialed in. Switched On. Game Two was a pummeling, and not in the way the Coyotes colored outside the lines with their hitting game. The Kings have hit the 40 shot mark in both games. 4 goals in each game. Too much for the Coyotes. The sum of the parts didn’t add up to a lot for the Kings until late in the year, but they are playing very impressively now .. - That weak goal Derek Morris scored on Jonathan Quick? Yup, it was ugly. Everybody has their moments though. Outside of that, Quick has been rock solid. Mike Smith has been good for the Coyotes as well, but the Kings have been overwhelming the Coyote defense. LA have a lot of big bodies, and a few sets of slick hands. Smitty has given up a few goals he would like to have back, but if only Phoenix could generate a more sustained offensive push, Mike Smith maybe wouldn’t have to be relied upon so heavily … - Back to those sketchy hits from the Coyotes … wow, the zebras even kicked key players out. Hanzal and Doan. Out of character moves by both guys. Brutal knee by Derek Morris as well, a very late hit. What will Brendan Shanahan think about all this ? Good question. Here is what he will think – whatever colon Campbell tells him to think. If that is a mean spirited comment directed at Shanahan, well, too bad. He has done a brutal job of his job this calendar year. What will he do with Doan, Hanzal and Morris ? Likely nothing. Bob McKenzie had a good analysis of the Doan hit, pointing out that Lewis was unwise to turn his back to Doan. Hanzal and Morris deserve suspensions for their hits, Hanzal 1 game, and Morris 3 or 4 games. It would be surprising if anything comes of those incidents however. Both were dirty, with former Regina Pat Derek Morris really crossing the line, kneeing Rob Scuderi with a blatant knee about half an hour after Scuderi dished off the puck … hockey is a rough game, these things happen. Don’t know that the Coyotes had the same kind of malicious intent as the Penguins did in their little tantrum earlier, but the incidents were nasty all the same … - Great story in Edmonton, with the Oil Kings headed to the Memorial Cup. Feel bad for Dylan Wruck, though, done for the year, waiting for the knife. The former Beardy Black Hawk captain had a good year for the Oil Kings, and deserved to play in this tourney. Wruck is a smart player who works extremely hard on the ice … Edmonton could have used him to push the heavy favorite Saint John squad … man, that team is loaded. There hasn’t been such a star studded Major Junior squad since the 1990’s Kamloops Blazers, or maybe even back to the early 1980’s Portland WinterHawks … - FYI, defending champ Saint John are in the Coupe Memorial with Edmonton, the London Knights, and the Shawinigan Cataractes … - Speaking of the London Knights, look for Dale Hunter back behind their bench in some capacity. He said so long to his NHL coaching gig in Washington after a somewhat controversial turn ram-rodding the Capitals. Hunter has been a star maker in London, and though he did okay at the NHL level, he has major junior hockey figured out. Lure top talent to his team, and let the stars play. Tie Domi’s kid plays for the Knights … - That game one blanking of the Devils by the Rangers ? Shouldn’t be a big surprise to anyone … game two will be good on Broadway. Do the Rangers pull away from the Devils ? One thing to consider – If both series end quickly, in four or five games, the NHL has an opportunity to close out the Cup Final by the end of May, or the first days of June. The way it should be. Just hope they are smart enough to do it that way, without taking a week or 10 days of between rounds … - Wild game at the IIHF Championships today, between Canada and Belarus … a few game misconducts handed out, to one of the Kostitsyn kids, Luke Schenn, and Marc Methot …. Methot did a version of the Weber, bloodying the face of some poor Belarus kid. Looked gnarly. Canada won, 5-1, and move on to…. That roster has a legit shot at the Gold. SO do the Russian, and the USA … May 10 - Going to a seventh game between the Capitals and the Rangers … back in October, someone might have forecast this. The matchup would not have surprised anyone. But the manner in which the Capitals have reached this point ? With Dale Hunter as coach, and Braden Holtby in net ? Fantastic. The Rangers have their hands full with the Caps and their ultra conservative approach … this is going to be a tension filled game 7 …. - From this point on, pretty much any way the Conference Finals go, the league is going to have some cool matchups and marketing opportunities. Call it a Let-The-Chips-Fall-Where-They-May 101 Marketing lesson for the league, which dearly and desperately wanted Sid Crosby and the Penguins to at least show up in the Stanley Cup Final. Guess what NHL office ? You don’t always need Mr Crawzbee on every poster or in every outdoor game. Love the kid, he is an awesome talent. But there are other players in the league, and other angles to approach the market with. Start with a Los Angeles vs New York Stanley Cup Final. Now that is a dream matchup. Hollywood against Broadway. Beauty. Or Kovalchuk and the Devils against spurned suitor Los Angeles. There is a chance that one of the big name Russians could be playing for the Stanley Cup. Couldn’t come at a better time as far as damage control regarding questions and rumours making their way through hockey fandom about the character of Russian players. The upstart Coyotes, team turmoil, in the finals against the Rangers. Ovechkin finally reaching the Cup Final will be a story in itself. The fact that he might get there as a spot duty player is some interesting … It doesn’t matter who is in the Cup Final from here, as far as promotions go. Easy work for the marketing department if they use their heads … - Even after the Capitals forced a game 7, those goat horns are huge on Joel Ward. And rightly so. For a defensively responsible player to take that penalty in that situation was astonishing. That is exactly the role Ward was brought in for, and paid big bucks for, and he totally blew it. Easily one of the dumbest moves of the year, and way out of character for a fairly low key guy. It would be interesting to hear him explain it off the record …. Lady luck did Ward no favors either, as the Rangers scored twice on the power play, to tie and then win the game …. Make no mistake, Ward’s teammates would not have been happy about that situation. He would have heard from a few guys on the team in a less than cheery manner about taking such a dumb penalty … For his sake, hope he atones for it. Ward is a resilient guy, has to be, as shown by his path to the NHL … - Nice to see Karl Alzner settling into the NHL. Alzner was a high pick by the Capitals from the Calgary Hitmen, 5th overall back in odd 7. This is his second full year in the NHL after his apprenticeship in the Dub and the AHL, and he is looking solid, though not flashy, pretty much the way he was projected … - Going to be interesting to see what becomes of Jaromir Jagr … he impressed many with is performance on the ice and his presence around a young Flyer team. Considered a has-been and washed up after three years in the KHL, Jagr looked good at times as Claude Giroux’s wingman … though he was a total non-factor in the disastrous series against the Devils … - Regarding that series, where exactly did that Devil team and that devil of a performance come from anyway ? After fighting a back and forth 7 game series against the Florida Panthers, Jersey got their act down real tight against Philly. A 5 game elimination ? Nobody even speculated at such a possibility. A full analysis of the series has to include the poor effort and approach from the Flyers, who looked like a totally different team than the one that knocked off the Penguins. But the composure and structure of the Devils in this series needs to be acknowledged. They smothered the Flyers in all aspects of the series after being dismissed by pretty much every prognosticator as a punching bag for the Flyers as they marched to the Cup Final. - Jersey will have time to rest for the Conference Final, and to polish their game plan. Can they move forward with the style they showed in round two, or was it a one-off performance inspired by the fact that everyone thought the Flyers would wipe them out ? Either team will pose a challenge for the Devils, though a matchup against the Capitals would be interesting. Playing against Kovalchuk would have to get Ovechkin motivated. The Devils depth players played the hockey of their lives in round two. Can they do it again ? The Rangers have two stellar defenseman in Staal and Girardi that should be able to handle the Devils a bit better than the Flyer defense did … gonna be a dandy, this East Final … - Rumours going round about some catfighting in the Black Hawk front office that led to the firing of Assistant coach Mike Havilland … that stuff happens. People have different ideas, they have disagreements. Personalities don’t always mesh. These things happen. Be fun to know how wild things got behind the scenes, and in time it will all leak out. For the time being though, sanity prevails, and Joel Quenneville remains the bench boss in Chicago … - Nice to see Bob Gainey back in Dallas. Things didn’t go well for Gainey in Montreal as GM, so returning to the Stars organization will help distance Gainey from that mess. A quiet and humble guy who had a great career. Get that name back in the good books Bob ... - When Elliote Friedman is calling you out in a cbc article, you know you have really stepped in it. Friedman points out the bs spewed by Shanahan while explaining the decision to suspend Claude Giroux. Why would Shanahan lie? Why would he lie to the general public and everyone involved regarding the explanation, when everyone knows Giroux was frustrated at the ref for missing a call on Brodeur playing the puck in the no-go zone ? Shanahan tried to play it that Giroux was choked at being hit by a Devil d-man … Only a year into his term, and Shanahan has sullied his rep. That is one rotten office. The pressure and politics of the situation are intense, no doubt, but between Shanahan and colon Campbell, they have made the league look inept and as though it has a list of favorites and a list of easy targets … Now Shanahan is telling lies in public to people that know different. Wow. How low can you go ?? Keep digging Brendan … - Rumours heating up regarding Ryan Suter. So here you go. Suter is represented by former NHL d-man Neil Sheehy, who doesn’t have a history of unfettered greed or selfishness. So why hasn’t Suter signed on long term in Nashville ? …well, greed is the biggest factor. Suter and Sheehy will be pondering just how much coin they could land on the free agent market. And they will be pondering what teams Suter could end up with. Two big name contenders lead the pack. The Wings and the Flyers. Both teams need a stud rearguard to stabilize the corps. Detroit is in a position to shell out huge dollars, but have never done that. Philly will pay Suter whatever he wants. Both teams are in a position to contend for the Cup next year, and for some time after as well. The Wings can bring Suter in regardless of what Nik Lidstrom does. Does Suter want to take the chance of staying in Nashville, a team that has never been past round two ? Or does he want to go to a team that has a legit shot at a Cup every year ? Suter would get between $7 and $8 mill per year to stay in Nashville, probably between $5 and $7 with Detroit, and in Philly he would be at least an $8 million guy, as they Flyers history of overpaying free agents shows … - Good to see the NHL pushing hard to keep that team in Phoenix. Nothing against Quebec City. Just feel good for the hockey fans in Phoenix and area. They are there. Don’t forget the struggles of Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa in the not too distant past. The number of Canadians in Phoenix and area is huge. Lets see what happens when the US economy gets back on track. Have to remember that right now, the Canadian economy and financial picture is pretty rosy for NHL hockey. An equal dollar. The Leafs and Habs always make money. The Western provinces and doing well. What if that changes again ? Does a team move to Quebec for five or ten years, or two or three years, then move to Kansas City or Seattle ? How do the Jets fare if they don’t make the playoffs for a decade, and the Manitoba economy hits a downturn ? Winnipeg Jets turned Markham Waxers ? Or Cincinnati Jets ? - A few absolutely devastating hits in that game 5 between Jersey and Philly … Volchenkov wipes out Brayden Schenn, only to be destroyed minutes later by Zac Rinaldo … solid, solid shots …of course, everyone was up in arms about the Rinaldo hit …. So here is the breakdown on these. If you want to get nit picky, Volchenkov gets an interference penalty for hitting Schenn. Schenn never did have the puck. Rinaldo stepped up into Volchenkov.He left the ice surface. Give him 2 for charging if you want … May 6 - Sweep !! Hard !! Hurry Hard !!!! Sweep !!! Sweep !!! That is what the Los Angeles Kings did to the 2 seed Blues, and the style in which they did it …. Darryl Sutter coming in was the season saving move, and the season making move …. Kings off to the Conference final for the first time since Gretzky mania was gripping LA … - First two Conn Smythe candidates : Dustin Brown, having a dream playoff, and Jonathan Quick, showcasing his elite goaltending skills for all of Canada and the US to see …. These two guys are getting a ton of exposure, and they deserve it …. Quick just keeps on doing his thing. Brown has stepped up, and looks good with that C on his sweater … - Kings are 9-1 through two rounds, against the top two seeds. Impressive ? Very Much. Blues lost every game in the sweep by two goals … - Difference in goaltending ? Elliott gave up bad goals. Jonathan Quick made big saves when his team needed them … have to feel for Elliott, a goalie who was just plain bad in Ottawa and Colorado, and had a great run in St Louis until getting steamrolled by the Kings … - The statement the other day about the Kings being A list and the Blues being B list ? Want some explanation ? Look at the Olympians in each lineup …. Kings have Brown, Richards, Doughty and Quick. Kopitar is Olympic calibre, but Slovenia does not get to ice a team at that level. By many accounts Jeff Carter should have been on Team Canada ahead of Patrice Bergeron, who put out, but will never be given another spot on a team at that level …. For the Blues ? David Backes, and Jamie Langenbruner …. Langenbruner was a total non-factor in this series for the Blues however, only getting notice for a little tussle with Mike Richards, and it would surprise no one if the former Peterborough Pete was out of the NHL next year ….. - Looked like bad ice in LA during game four, lots of players from both teams losing an edge and blowing a tire … - Fight of the Night : King youngster Jordan Nolan took a licking from Blues forward Chris Stewart … Nolan looked okay early in the fight, but Stewart eventually got the upper hand and punished Ted’s boy, cutting him open with a few heavy shots to the melon before Nolan turned away and looked to the zebras for a tap out … - Could really see the zebras start to let St Louis get away with a ton of infractions as the game went on …. The whistle-equipped donkeys didn’t want to be accused of burying the Blues, but refs are never smart enough to understand the big picture … by calling high sticking on the Kings and giving the Blues a power play, then letting a high stick call against the Blues slide, and letting David Perron very obviously grab and hold onto Anze Kopitar’s stick while the Kings were pushing hard in the Blues zone, the refs were giving the Blues a huge advantage. Note to whistle-equipped donkeys : just call the rules, enforce them for both teams, regardless of the circumstance or the players involved … - A lot of talk regarding the likely destination of Ankleskater Scott Gomez next year, and inevitably some reviews of the Sucker’s Deal that Bob Gainey’s Habs made with Slats and the New York Rangers … Ryan McDonagh was sent to the Rangers while Gomez went to Montreal, supposedly to provide some offense …. Getting to the point of this little blurb, during his years running the Rangers, Slats has wasted a lot of money chasing free agents, but hasn’t made a whole lot of astute hockey moves. He has been heavily criticized for it. This deal is one that Slats clearly won … How did he broach the subject of even sending Gomez to the Habs ? Who would even enter into a conversation like that ?? Apparently the Habs duo of the much respected Gainey, by all accounts a classy and solid man, and much maligned sidekick and successor Pierre Gauthier … - There will be a lot more GM reviewing going on regarding the Flyers decision to ship out Richards and Carter, especially after the two alleged Broad Street bad boys resurfaced together in Los Angeles and have factored heavily in the Kings curb stomping of the top two Western Conference seeds, Vancouver and St Louis …. Flyer GM Paul Holmgren seemed like a deranged lunatic when he dealt two of his cornerstones in the summer, but Wayne Simmonds has been solid for Philly, and after finally settling into the lineup Brayden Schenn has been as advertised, and could have pushed the 20 goal plateau had he played a full season. Jake Voracek has been important for the Flyers, a good puck mover, and Sean Couturier ending up in Philly was a total surprise. The Flyers have, in all honesty, overachieved greatly this year, surely to the comfort of Holmgren, who really stuck his neck out in making those desperate deals …. As much as the Flyers year has saved Holmgren’s bacon, the Kings playoff run fuels Holmgren’s detractors … - Devil fans have to be feeling pretty chipper after the first four games of their series with the Flyers … the Devils have brought a complete team effort to every game, and played hard for the entire game … for the Flyers and their fans, there are a lot of reasons to hang heads … Jersey have soundly outplayed Philly, and when guys like Steve Gionta and Steve Bernier are setting the tone, and Alex Ponikarovsky is making headlines, you know you are in trouble … former Flyer Dainus Zubrus has looked like an All Star … once again, Lou has a team of mostly big bodies playing a tightly structured game, with a high degree of discipline … - MIA for the Flyers : Jaromir Jagr and Matt Read … - Be interesting to see what Brendan Shanahan does with Claude Giroux after he tagged Zubrus with a high hit … the league has a long history of suspending Flyers, but also a long history of giving free passes to star players … mind you, the league didn’t much care that James Neal threw a flying elbow into Giroux’s head … with the Flyers being pretty much done, don’t be surprised if “ Big Man “ Brendan Shanahan sits Giroux down for a few games, don’t even be surprised if Shanahan tries to make himself look stern by sitting Giroux for 5 to 10 games … league discipline suspensions are made according strictly by very long running personal and inter- league political relationships and scenarios, so anything could happen here … Giroux is clearly frustrated with the hack and whack tactics he has faced in the post season, and a has been targeted by Zidlicky for several slew foot moves … - Flyers sit in a 3-1 hole …. Considering their against-the –odds comeback against the Bruins in 2010, the likelihood of the Flyers staging another epic rally is minimal. Looking at the way the series has been played, the Flyers are done. New Jersey have played consistent and full games. The Flyers have put in spotty performances in every game … - The Devils look strong, and Marty Brodeur is a big part of the reason why. Same goes for Kovalchuk-Grossman. Travis Zajac has also been very solid for the Devils … need to quash suggestions of Zajac as a member of the Canadian Olympic team though … Zajac is big, smart, competitive, so on and so forth … but he is a plodding skater. This is apparent at the NHL level. On bigger ice, Zajac would be a huge liability …. Players with sub par skating can look bad when playing on the big ice. Sam Gagner and Jarret Stoll playing in WJC tournaments are examples of this … - The Hockey News Draft Preview is a must read, so pick it up if you aren’t a subscriber. THN preview the well known prospects in good detail, and put forth a solid list of other players likely to be picked …. Whether of not you are a fan of the magazine or all of its writers, the Draft Preview is a must have for any serious hockey fan. The weak spot in this year’s magazine is the chintzy look ahead to up coming drafts …. - Have had a few conversations with a long time die hard Leaf fan, Codfish, since the regular season concluded. No, he isn’t a Newfie. Yes, he desperately wants to have a vested interest in the playoffs. He doesn’t believe Brian Burke will deliver the Leaves to that position …. So what will it take to get the Leaves into the post season ? Do they need Wendel Clarke to come back and play on a line with Doug Gilmour and Bert Olmstead ? Lorne Chabot and Turk Broda in net ? Syl Apps, Ted Kennedy and Tiger Williams would make an interesting unit … King Clancy and Bjore Salming as a defensive pairing, followed by Sprague Cleghorne teamed with Hap Day …. Tim Horton and Red Kelly would provide a third pairing on the back end …. And for a third unit of forwards ? Babe Dye, Max Bentley and Darryl Sittler, cleaned up by the fourth line of Charlie Conacher, Ted Kennedy and Busher Jackson …. Burke should try that. He has had no luck putting together the type of team he wants. He has about as much chance of landing a franchise centerman as he would of bringing in any of the above mentioned players … the Leaves are a polarizing franchise, with legions of diehards, and legions of bashers …. Not being a Leaf fan has had its rewards forever it seems, but one still feels for their supporters, like Codfish. The Leaves were close in the early to mid 90’s for a few years, but aside from that, they have been also rans or no-runs since the 1960’s …. - A suspension for Ovie after he mowed down Dan Girardi ? Yeah right …. Neal didn’t get iced for cheaping Couturier, Ovechkin isn’t getting sat down for the Girardi play ….. Ovie has a believable defense, that he hit Girardi in anticipation of being hit himself …. Girardi never did touch the puck, justifying the penalty call … of all things, the refs made the right call. It happens on occasion … - Will translate a few terms that some folks come up with to try and make themselves sound smart, or professional, or who knows what …. “ Time and Space “ – also known as opportunity, or a chance … “ He had time and space for a shot on goal “ could also be put forth as “ He had the opportunity for a shot on goal “ ….. “ Compete level “ is a jock-fancy term for the word competitive …. “ This player has a high compete level “ translates as “ This player is very competitive “ pierre mcguire loves these terms. Enough said …. May 4 - Predators are so hooped now …. Down 3-1 to the Coyotes … Looks like an all Southwest Final coming up, with the Kings poised to erase St Louis from the bracket board … pretty reserved shot totals in this game, mid twenties for each team … Nashville had opportunities to score, but so did the Coyotes … Again, that is why the teams actually gear up and play the games. On paper, the Preds looked a little more solid than the Coyotes, with the Big Three ( Rinne, Weber and Suter ) ready to take the team to a Stanley Cup, or at least to do battle in the Conference Final …. Mike Smith has been stellar for the Coyotes, no matter how hard teams try to jam him and the puck into the net. Frustration level has to be at an all time high for former Regina Pat Barry Trotz,the only bench boss Nashville has known, compiling another team that develops expectations, only to see them fail … at least they won a round, unlike the big year with Peter Forsberg, and that quick playoff exit … May 3 - Kings 4 Blues 2 …. And a 3-0 series lead for Los Angeles … the Kings have the Blues on the bus, and are taking them to school …. Seems like that team is going to live up to its pre-season billing. Dean Lombardi rolled the dice on some huge in season moves, bringing in Mike Richard’s former wingman Jeff Carter, and changing coaches, with Darryl Sutter taking over as bench boss. Both moves were huge gambles by Lombardi, basically in an effort to save his job. The moves have paid off … the Kings only need one victory in the next week to book a trip to the Western Conference Final, for the first time in two decades …. - Devils take game three in OT, thanks to an unlikely source in Alex Ponikarovsky …. The hulking Devil buried a rebound behind Bryzgalov, who was shaky again for the Flyers …. New Jersey played another solid game, sticking to their game plan and not getting distracted or losing focus. The Flyers put in about 35 or 40 minutes of effort, and spent a lot of the first half of the game watching Jersey cycle the puck and skate circles around the them … - Zach Parise looked good again, bringing a ton of energy and presence. There is no spot on the ice that Parise won’t go to, and he puts a full effort into every shift. Very explosive skater … - Flyers carried the play for much of the third and in overtime, but failed to score on their chances. Claude Giroux doesn’t look right for the Flyers, he looks hesitant. Like the Penguins, the Devils are not missing any chance to hack and whack the smallish Flyer, push him around, or take his feet out … and they don’t underestimate Giroux, always paying him a lot of attention on the ice. The Devils have pretty much neutralized Giroux …. - Love those playoff overtime marathons. Triple overtime, and the Rangers finally get Gaborik on the scoresheet, a classic tap in to crush the Capitals spirit …. Washington had their chances as well, but couldn’t take advantage … - Great look for Dan Girardi, the blood stained white sweater, style. That is vintage hockey, on an emerging player …. Ever see a baseball player sport that look ?? Ha, very funny …. May 2 - Habs hire Marc Bergevin as GM …. Nothing wrong with giving a guy a chance. Bergevin was a journeyman NHL player, and has spent the past several years as a front office guy with the Black Hawks. So he has seen some fortunate draft positions, some late picks pan out well, big free agent signings turn to ka-ka, contracts handled with total carelessness resulting in a Cup champ getting decimated in the off season, and to be fair, he also saw some decent free agent signings help the Hawks win a Cup …. Bergevin has a huge challenge ahead of him in Montreal, so this will be interesting to watch. It was a good choice of the Molson’s to go with a hockey guy as opposed to an administrator at the GM position, and also a refreshing choice by not giving the job to a retread. You know what ? All the best to this guy, he is starting with a clean slate. He doesn't have any public baggage, no history of mistakes of missteps, so lets see what he can do … of course, the first mess he has to clean up is Ankleskater Gomez …. - Which leads us to a great interview on Edmonton’s Team 1260 with Bob McKenzie, the most respected voice in all of hockey media , who insists that the Habs need to bury Gomez in the minors or banish him to Europe. McKenzie points out the folly of a buyout under the current CBA …. All ya can say about that is way to go Gomez, good thing you advertised yourself as a big star …. Gomez has lots of cash now, but no way he can hold his head up in a room of NHL players. No rep left for the Ankleskater …. - Supposedly, Pierre McGuire was runner up for the Habs job …. Really ?? Is he the official runner up for all GM jobs in the NHL ?? Does NBC pay media outlets to say this in order to boost the stature of biggest gomer on network tv ?? Listening to Bob McKenzie speak to this issue, sounds like Pierre had resigned himself to the fact that he wasn’t going to get his dream job as NHL GM ( Why would he ? He is unproven or unsuccessful as a head man at the NHL level, as documented on this site and these pages previously ) but gave it one more try for his ultimate dream job of running Les Habitant … now, if we can only get the doofus off of the television … - If it is true, as reported by Cam Cole of the Post Media, that Radulov and that one Kostitsyn kid were busted boozing it up by media in Phoenix, you have to wonder one of two things : Those clowns need an IQ test if they were out at a mainstream club drinking at 2 or 3 am, or they just don’t care at all …. And honestly, both guys have the option of playing in Russia for big bucks, Radulov for who knows how much, 7 or 10 million maybe ?? Supposedly tax free in Russia. If you don’t have the desire to win at the NHL level, and you have that kind of money to fall back on, poor attitude has a lot of opportunity to creep in …. - Just a thought regarding Nashville, St Louis and there 0-2 deficits and the sound beating the Flyers took last night ….in the case of the Flyers and the Predators, both teams beat their nemesis in round one, overcoming obstacles in the Wings and Penguins that had ended their seasons, in both cases, twice over the past few years. For the Blues, a team that had been thankful just to reach the playoffs over the past decade, a round one win over post season regular San Jose had to be an ecstatic feeling …. So are these teams too giddy to focus on the task now at hand ?? The Predators and Blues are in a real bad spot, and after watching the Devils impose their will on Philly in game two, a game in which the Flyers played with little or no spirit, you really have to wonder …. All three teams were judges as favorites to win their series by many experts. The Preds and Flyers were Open Ice Hitter picks to win their series …. Sometimes being a favorite is hard, especially if a team has taken too much satisfaction in its first round victory … - Looking over a playoff preview from the Hockey News, in which Ryan Kesler was portrayed as a soldier or no, it was a warrior, of the post season …. And could only shake my head and spit out a sarcastic laugh …. Does anyone at THN, aside from Proteau, actually watch hockey ??? Kesler a warrior ?? Uh, no. What Kesler is can best be described by an e-mail I received, a very derogatory e-mail, depicting Kesler as a member of the Vancouver diving team, along with some of his other high paid and infamous divers, actors and embellishers … - Another note from the Flyers – Devils matchup … while the Devils are pretty much sticking to their routine, a reserved and defense first approach, the Flyers have been trying to make pretty plays all the time, and have been missing a lot of passes, trying to force a nice pass play to happen …see if Laviolette gets the team to simplify things in game three. Jagr and Giroux have been taken out of the games for the most part … also time for the play by play wizards to clarify the stats, most notably in regards to the Flyer powerplay. It was lethal against the Penguins, but those gaudy stats are from another series. New Jersey has been able to contain the Flyer powerplay on all but one opportunity … - May 1 - Best description of the Devils game two effort would be rabid. Very energized. They were in the game for 60 minutes. The Flyers played their worst game since Game 4 of round 1, and could be credited with showing up for about 10 minutes …. - Marek Zidlicky : Awful first game, but a solid performance in game 2 by the aged Slovak blueliner …if he played like that all the time, nobody would want to get rid of him … - The Devils classic style has been such a contrast to that of the Penguins first round spazz show …composed, controlled, and focused on taking care of their own end …. It has been a change of pace for the Flyers, and seems like the radical change of style has thrown the Flyer rookies off … - A few years back, nobody would have ever figured that David Clarkson would be a key guy in the New Jersey offense, or that the team would be missing out on any goals he might contribute … but after putting up 30 goals in a growth process similar to that of Rick Tocchet, Jersey need Clarkson to find the scoresheet more. He has one through 9 games …. - Maybe the worst play – by – play tandem in the business calling this series for cbc. Bob Cole should have been put out to pasture years ago, regardless of that smooth voice of his. Cole, like partner Greg Millen, love the Leaves. After that, they are kind to the Habs, another Canadian team. Then they have a few favorite players, like Sid the Kid, another maritimer like Cole. Then neither guy really know the players, nor seem to care about getting names right, let alone following the play. It is pathetic listening to Cole mess up the names of guys every pro media person should know, and aside from Millen and Cole, do know …. Must be nice to be in that old boys club, and be as incompetent and clueless as Cole and Millen and not have to worry about losing one’s job …. - Interesting rumours regarding Zach Parise, saying that Carolina intend to throw all kinds of money at him on July 1 …. Parise is always dangerous, and just keeps one going. Explosive skater, can shoot and make plays, backchecks, goes to all areas of the ice, competes hard. What more can you say …. Really can’t see him back in Jersey next year. The Devils are hard up for cash, and already have Kovalchuk – Grossman on the payroll …. - What a pair of donkeys. Not talking about refs this time. Alex Radulov and whatever Kickin Kostytsin that was that went out drinking with Radulov in Phoenix …. Phoenix is a cool place, to be sure, but what an insult to these heel’s Predator teammates. Round two of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and they blow curfew. Nice. How does this affect Radulov’s future with Nashville ? Or does he even care ? Was the plan to force a trade the whole time ? As far as Radulov being an x factor against the Coyotes, how about him trying to be even a fourth line factor to start with … Pretty serious screw up. Lets see how he responds. If he doesn’t atone for that screw up, then Alex, boy, take the first plane back to Moscow. And take that Kostytsin kid with ya … he was a problem in Montreal. Now he is a problem in Nashville. Hasta la vista idiot !!! - Big praise for Halifax Moosehead Nathan McKinnon. He is being touted as the top pick next year for the NHL draft, and has been given such lofty praise such as being called a guy who would possibly be the top pick in this years NHL draft were he eligible …. Somehow the big media missed out on the opportunity to overhype this kid. Refreshing. - WHL Finals : Portland Winter Hawks vs Edmonton Oil Kings. See !!! You don’t have to have a cartoon logo to be successful in junior hockey !!! ….. tough news regarding former Beardy BlackHawk Dylan Wruck, as he is done for the year, going under the knife to repair a gimpy wing … Sven Baertschi is the stud in the Winter Hawk lineup … - OHL Finals : London Knights vs Niagara Ice Dogs …. The Ice Dogs are loaded. They are also a cartoon logo team. Go London Knights !!! The Knights have been a powerhouse for about a decade, thanks to the Hunter boys …. - In the Q / Eastern circuit, the defending Memorial Cup champ and heavy favorite get set to pummel the Rimouski Oceanic …. Marc Antoine Pouliot’s old team … the Saint John Sea Dogs … there logo is also a cartoon, but their lineup is not … the Oceanic are cartoons also … who exactly decided to gear junior hockey specifically to children under the age of 8 ?? They need to play goal for a month with no equipment. That would be suitable punishment for ruining the junior loop, where unique and quirky logos were once all the rage…… - April 30 - So the Blues come out and play a brutal first period. Even worse than the Flyers did in period 1 against Jersey on Sunday. St Louis would not rally from their deficit however, falling behind the Kings by a score of 4 – egg. And that was all she wrote ….. Kings would hold on to win easily, 5-2. The Blues looked a lot like the Pittsburgh Penguins by the end of the game, more worried about trying to land a big hit or punch LA players in the head. Blues fans had better hope the Blues can get some composure and focus on actually playing hockey, or the same fate awaits them as did the Penguins. - Hard to lay too much blame on Brian Elliott for the loss. A couple of scrambly goals, a pinpoint shot by Carter, deke by Kopitar ….. the Blues were just soundly beaten and outplayed by a Kings team that really wanted to win. Mike Richards has a solid playoff resume, and it showed in this game. Nobody on the Blues roster is a playoff performer like Richards … Arnott and Langenbruner had their glory back in the day, but don’t think they are going to carry that team. Their role for the Blues is to occasionally put down their canes and tell the young whippersnappers tales of past glories, not to lead the Blues to victory in battle …. - Down 2-0 heading back to Hollywood. In all likelihood, this series will be 3-1 or done after the next two games …. Want to know why ? Put aside the regular season standings. Then peruse the rosters of the two teams. Look at the goaltenders career accomplishments aside from this season. Look at the depth of the Kings. Look at the history of those players versus what the Blues have. Mike Richards against TJ Oshie. Anze Kopitar to David Backes. Jeff Carter against Andy MacDonald. Drew Doughty to Barret Jackman. Do you see the trend ? An A-list against a B-list. - More doughhead officiating surfaced in that Kings – Blues game … just had to laugh. With the Blues clearly frustrated and venting on the Kings, the zebras somehow find a way to call more infractions on LA than on the Blues, even though the Blues had adopted the “ Punch a King in the Head “ strategy by period three … someday, maybe, the NHL will find a referee with an IQ higher than 50 …. - Well, BJ Crombeen really showed Dwight King, didn’t he ? He showed King how to hold onto another players jersey sleeves for dear life … Big Dwight was ready, willing and able. Crombeen knew he had to put in a token appearance, but wanted nothing to do with actually engaging the Kings monster winger …. Good thing for Crombeen that King didn’t get one of his hammers free, or the Blues grinder would have taken a beating in much the same fashion as his team did from the Kings ….. - For the record, St Louis somehow outshot the Kings in this game, 29 – 21 … wouldn’t have known it from watching the game, though the Blues had a ton of powerplay chances, and went ofer ….. - Thought the TJ Oshie crush on Penner was clean …. Same with Dustin Brown on David Backes …. Brown on Backes didn’t have near the impact, but Backes retaliated instantly with a cross check. You won’t find it on the scoresheet though …. - Regarding that 2-0 series lead the Kings have … remember this : Statistics are a record of what has already happened, not necessarily a guarantee of what will happen …. So don’t write the Blues off just yet. If the series does go to 3-0 or 3-1, stats will look on the Blues with little optimism, but nothing is final until one team wins that fourth game … - Great shot by Ovechkin to roast Hank Lundquist and win game 2. Washington outshot the Rangers in a game that had more pulse than the series opener … Dale Hunter continues to rely on his bench, using grunts and muckers to fluster the Rangers. Everyone is making a big deal out of the ice time break down for the Caps, and it is an interesting approach from Hunter. Whatever it takes though, that is what Dale will say. They don’t ask how, they just ask who. Hunter’s best line of all time maybe is this one : “ If ya ain’t cheatin, ya ain’t tryin “ …. Wonder how exactly he is applying that philosophy to this series ? Is it by messing with the Rangers minds, keeping Ovechkin on the bench for much of the game ? Then letting him ice the Rangers and their undeserving Hart Trophy candidate ?? Heckuva trick, hey ??? …. - Speaking of cheating, Henrik Lundquist wears such huge and massive equipment, it is amazing anyone can score on him …. It takes on team bus to get the Rangers to the rink, and another team bus to bring Lundquist’s equipment …. The knock on Lundquist is that when he has to move to make a save he has trouble …. He has been beaten high glove side routinely throughout his career … - Anybody seen Tomas Vokoun ? Boy, what looked like a total steal in the summer turned out to be another Stephen King type nightmare for the Capitals … they have added every type of player you can think of in trying to get to the Cup final, but nothing has worked out …. For his part, Mr Vokoun has quietly gone about his business throughout his career, and enjoyed a reputation as a solid and reliable goaltender …. His reputation between the pipes might be the only one to take a worse beating this year than Marc Fleury’s … - Starting to hear a bit more talk about salaries and a lock out or strike …. Sooo … time for performance based pay in the NHL. Such an easy solution for the league. It makes way too much sense for the players union or any agent to like it, but performance based pay would put an end to greedy contract disputes. Players would be paid fairly, based on the way they and their team perform. Fans wouldn’t have to shell out cash for a bum like Scott “ Ankleskater “ Gomez to bank millions. Best proposal you will find is on the open ice hitter website … - Congrats to the Red Deer Rebels midget AAA team …. Coming back from a big hole to beat the Phenix du College Esther Blondin in overtime …. Back in the day, Red Deer called their midget team the Optimist Chiefs, but that is from another era, same as the old Tournament of Champions back when AAA midget hockey was relevant in Swift Current April 28 - Great game in the desert to kickstart round two. The Coyotes continue to love overtime, beating the Predators 4-3 with some more Wizardry from Ray Whitney. It wasn’t pretty, but Whitney likely doesn’t care. The fresh faces in round two out West this year is a nice change of pace. No offense to the Wings, who have been stellar for two decades, but some new logos on the playoff draw are okay …. - Badly outshot, but opportunistic, with nothing but trust and faith in their goaltender. And just keep on plugging. That is the Phoenix Coyote approach …. They don’t give up. Hope the league doesn’t give up on Phoenix either. What a great venue for hockey. Said it before, will say it again. When things get busier, economically, in the SouthWest, that team will thrive … - Just a reminder to all media folks – don’t be talking about Conn Smythe candidates until the third round …. - How does the league justify a Hart nomination for Hank Lundquist, but not Jonathan Quick ? Total malarkey, that is how … and this is voted on by the hockey writers, so keep that in mind. Buddy – Buddy and league politics also come into play here. But mostly it is just bad judgement … Yeah, I know, it is regular season based. And how many Eastern writers watched all those late night King games ?? And who noticed Quick’s stellar play in round one while Lundquist and all his huge equipment took seven games to dispatch the 8 seed while Quick shut down the top seed out West ?? Seriously, who would take Lundquist over Quick ?? Not a smart hockey person … If they wanted a goalie, take Quick. A better case can be made for Claude Giroux than for Lundquist and that huge equipment … April 27 - Dust is settling after round one …. And what a round it was … the idea of being the number one seed and getting to beat up on number eight rarely plays out that way … Picking the Canucks to fall on their face against a Darryl Sutter coached LA Kings squad wasn’t real tricky, but watching the Rangers hanging on at the end of game 7 as Milan Michalek treated MSG as a shooting gallery did not seem all that likely two weeks back … - Definitely a change of scenery in the West, but the East winners are no strangers to the second round …. Not the easiest first round to pick, but open ice hitter did okay, picking the winner in 6 series out of 8 …. How did the folks at The Hockey News fare ? They published the picks of a guy from yahoo, Nicholas J. Cotsonika, who went 5 for 8. A guy named Lukas went 4 of 8 from The Hockey Writers, while his pal Jim picked 2 correct series in the East … for what it is worth … Jeff Mackie at Cheap Seats also hit .500, going 4 of 8 …. - Hit of the Night : Tomas Kopecky flattens teammate John Madden in center ice, cutting Madden up pretty bad in the process … total clown act on Kopecky’s part …. The guy has always been a bit of a spazz … it was all smiles on the bench afterwards, but you can bet Madden is choked at the guy …. - All things considered, Florida making the playoffs was a good thing for that franchise …. It was nice to see Stephen Weiss get some media and tv exposure. Seems like the last time he was in the news was back in the day, as a hotshot with the Plymouth Whalers, then he was gone, and forgotten by almost everyone in the media …. He looked solid for the Panthers … - Both the Senators and Panthers will be hard pressed to return to the playoffs next year … Both teams had a lot of things go right for them this year. Dale Tallon threw money at free agents and old buddies, and between golfing and the beach, the Panthers managed to win enough hockey games to get into the playoffs and make a series against the Devils. For the Senators, a bunch of kids played some decent hockey, Jason Spezza had a stellar year, and Craig Anderson played well. Funny thing with Anderson is that he never plays well long enough to stay in the same city for more than a few years … look it up for yourself before throwing a fit Senator fans .. - So, out it comes that Bob Luongo has actually requested a trade … not a bad idea for Luongo. Things went south in a hurry in Vancouver starting with the Cup Final for Luongo last year, and that, like many other battles, is one that Luongo won’t win …. Rumoured destinations are Tampa, Florida, the Leaves and possibly Chicago … Toronto would be a recipe for disaster for a player of Luongo’s mental makeup. Tampa and Florida would work well for Luongo, as the media and fan pressure would be greatly reduced …. As for Chicago, maybe not the best idea. Huge expectations there as well …. - Another goalie to watch will be Tim Thomas …. Boy, he sure messed up for the Bruins with his ill advised grand standing …. It has been pointed out that Tuuka Rask maybe isn’t all he is cracked up to be, but after Thomas stunts in Boston, his name has been all over the rumour mill …. - One team that might look at these goalies ? Detroit …. Tim Thomas would be an easy fit there, and if anyone could handle and coddle Luongo, it would be the Wing front office … that team is the absolute master of reclamation projects … April 25 - Eventful couple of days ….. Sid the Kid and the Penguins fall in round one, in one of the wildest playoff series in years ….. Another top seed, the Vancouver Faker-Divers, go down to the LA Kings in 5 games …. The Desert Dawgs win the first playoff series in franchise history, ousting the BlackHawks …. What a spectacle this first round has been, and we still have some Game 7 action to happen …. Bring it on !! - So, probably a lot of Vancouver fans choked for the way that team gets treated on this site … don’t take it personally. Just trying to truth ya …. When and if the Canucks / Faker-Divers get their act cleaned up, it will be acknowledged. Precedent exists. Sam Gagner is now treated with respect on these pages. That wasn’t always the case. So if the Canucks ever grow up, it will be stated. For the sake of Canuck fans, they better hope Mike Gillis can induce some maturation on that team, and making a few deals might be a good idea. Don’t be moving the Sedins necessarily, but Ryan Kesler is an issue. He has no character. Mix Kesler’s attitude and antics with Max Lapierre, Yanick Hansen and Alex Burrows, and you have a big issue. When push comes to shove, these players turn into snivelling babies, and when it was time for someone to hoist the Cup last year, this collection of poor sports watched Big Zed Chara bask in all the glory. The Canucks need a leader, in the mold of a Mike Richards or David Backes. A guy who loves to compete when the going gets tough. Vancouver has exactly zero skaters that fit that description. Cory Schneider battled hard, but if you are counting on your goalie to be a rock hard physical presence, you are in trouble. The Sedin’s fare well from October to the first week of April, but when faced with battling the same team in a best of seven arrangement, the Hank and Dan show has not been overwhelming …. Gillis needs some abrasive guys that can actually play at a high level. Guys like Lapierre don’t match up against the likes of Milan Lucic or Mike Richards come playoff time. The Canucks need a Lucic of their own. It isn’t likely to be Zach Kassian … - As far as any finger pointing at Luongo, there isn’t much justification for it this time around. Luongo could have done himself a favour and pitched a few shutouts at the Kings, but Luongo didn’t stink up the joint or totally choke as per his usual playoff routine. He was okay in the first two games. The Richards goal he should have had, sure, but everyone whiffs occasionally. Unfortunately for Bob, there is too much history of failure when the pressure is on, too many ill advised comments to the press, and that massive contract. Luongo had his agent portray him as a gamebreaker who could bring home the Stanley Cup. Many members of the press heaped accolades on Luongo before he had a chance to prove himself. This spring, Luongo gives the Canucks two decent outings in the playoffs, at the same time that the Canuck offense decides not to show up …. Tough break for Luongo. He has been whipped and ripped many times over the past few years, and rightfully so, but this spring it Luongo wasn’t the culprit …. - Interesting comment from Mike Gillis as the year end presser, stating that the Canucks got rid of Cody Hodgson because the kid was pain in the butt, high maintenance ….Seriously, Gillis couldn’t find a better offer for Hodgson ? As for Hodgson, he is one of many Sabres who will have to be a lot better next year … - If there has been a more stunning game opening shift in recent memory, let me know, because the way Claude Giroux set the tone for the Flyers in game 6 against Sid Crosby and the Penguins was truly epic. Giroux flattens Crosby with a hard and clean check about 8 seconds into the game. Just over half a minute into the game, he scores with a wrist shot from the high slot, sending 20,000 orange clad fans into a screaming frenzy …. After that, Pittsburgh was nothing more than window dressing, exiting the playoffs with not so much as a whimper, getting spanked 5-1 in what was generally regarded by all as a one sided game … - The post mortem on the Penguins is a real head scratcher …. Everyone and their dog claim that the Pens need either one of Crawz or Malkin to be injured in order for the team to perform at its best. Uhhh … but the Pens had both guys dressed when they won the Cup, so that theory is bunk. Undeniable is the fact that Marc Fleury played poorly in the series. Flower was being heralded as the Team Canada starter for 2014 in Sochi. Not anymore. He is going to have to battle to get on the team in any capacity now. That crater job Fleury put up against Philly had him allowing bad goals in 5 games out of 6, and only looking like a star in game 5. The rest of the time, he was fighting the puck, and fearing any kind of pressure from the Flyers … as for the Pens back end, well, Ray Shero made a mistake by bringing in Paul Martin. Kris Letang is good with the puck, and competent in his end, but he is not an intimidating presence. The Pens don’t have an elite d-man in the mold of a Weber or Chara. Letang is more in the mold of Lidstrom or Suter. Pittsburgh need a serviceable guy back there with size, a 6 foot 5 inch monster who weighs 240 pounds and scares the bejeebuz out of guys …. - Talking with a buddy after game 3 of the Pens – Flyers series. Nail Pounder Curt, a lifelong Penguin fan, summed it up like this: Things really went the Flyers way in those games, except for goaltending. He was right. Things then went the Penguins way in game 4. Pittsburgh couldn’t miss, Bryz and Bob couldn’t stop anything. Game 5 was normal playoff hockey, and game 6 was then all Claude Giroux. Comment from another buddy ? “ What a stud “ … Giroux turned heads all year, and in round one turned his game up another notch … - One guy that looked stellar for the Penguins throughout that whole mess versus the Flyers ? Jordan Staal. The guy is easily the most under rated player in the NHL. He just goes out and plays. Doesn’t make waves. He goes hard both ways, and isn’t given credit for what a sniper he is, playing with talent and instinct challenged linemates … - Quick over view of the Coyotes vs Black Hawks : When the Hawks were able to roll out 5 of their Big 6 at a time, it wasn’t a fair fight. It was like taking candy from a baby. When Chicago had to trot out the rest of their lineup, it was advantage Phoenix. Add in hot goalie Mike Smith, and the end result favored the Coyotes. Black Hawk fans don’t need to stress out too much, though. Stan Bowman is only a few tweaks away from improving that team, and he is smart enough to do it. Do the Hawks need a better goalie ? Yeah, probably. Was the series loss entirely the fault of Corey Crawford ? No, not a chance. Crawford actually played well. Can he do that again ? Maybe, but don’t bank on it. Allis Chalmers on the back end is not a difference maker, Bowman should likely have let him walk to San Jose and kept Big Buff …. - Bob Luongo publicly states that he will waive that no trade clause …. So that settles that. What the Canucks get back for him is anybody’s guess. He is owed too much cash for too long compared to what he brings to the ice, so Mike Gillis will need to be shrewd and astute when swinging this deal. Just to stir the pot, Gillis should try moving Luongo and Kesler as a package … wouldn’t that sell some papers … Don’t doubt for a second the Canucks lack of character and mental toughness. They aren’t winning anything of significance with that roster ….. - Yup, Brendan Shanahan’s suspensions are goofy and don’t really make a lot of sense. Worst part of the decisions is how much favor is shown to star players …. In a rough translation from playoffs to regular season, look at the suspensions of Aaron Asham and Niklas Backstrom this way … Asham’s 4 games translate to a 12 game suspension during the regular season, while Backstrom’s single game vacation would be a 3 game sit down ( playoff maximum is 28 games, just under a third of the regular season, so multiply suspensions by 3 for arguments sake ) … so Asham misses a significant chunk of the regular season for an ugly looking crosscheck to the throat / face of Brayden Schenn …. Nik Backstrom would miss three games. Just enough time for a quick trip to South Beach …. Can’t imagine Backstrom caring too much about a 3 game break during the regular season. 12 games would be a wake up call. How do we send the NHL office a wake up call ?? …. - That little tantrum by Dan Alfredsson ?? Is that what a captain does ?? Don’t think so … never been sold on Alfredsson as a captain …. Who wears that for Ottawa next year ? Spezza ? Chris Philips would fit the mold well … looking a little further down the line, Zack Smith is the guy, as long as Bryan Murray knows enough to keep Smith around …. - Really need to dispel the notion of Philadelphia still being the Broad Street Bullies …. The Flyers haven’t been the Bullies since the late 1970’s. It is laughable to hear hockey fans still attempting to label the Flyers as such. Philly dealt away Hammer Schultz in 1976, to the Kings. They dealt Hound Dog Kelly to the Caps in 1980. Moose Dupont became a Nordique in 1980. Ed Van Impe was dealt to the Penguins in 1976. Orest Kindrachuk joined the Penguins in 1978. That was the group that made up the meat and potatoes of the Bullies. The Flyers have always liked a little rough and tumble action, but the current edition of the roster probably wouldn’t make many top 5 lists as far as toughest or meanest teams to play against …. - Need to give kudos to Eric Francis for his article calling out the zebras on the ice for the Raffi Torres hit on Hossa …. If Brendan Shanahan was able to find a 25 game ban in that hit, what exactly were the on-ice bozos looking at ?? The league has a serious issue with refs nowadays, because of so many camera angles and instant replay, all available to the fans, and shown in the arena almost instantly. Refs can’t sluff off missed or blown calls anymore. When they miss such obvious and blatant violations as Torres on Hossa, Neal on Couturier and the Ryan Clowe playing from the bench incident, it makes the league look bad, and makes the game look bad. If a zebra can’t get these calls right, get rid of him. That would be you Steve Walkom. Maybe you better learn how to make sandwiches and apply at the local sub shop, because you aren’t worth a bag of mothballs on the ice …. - Milan Michalek kicks Dan Girardi ? Video of this can be interpreted in favor of either team, really, but don’t think Michalek would have been suspended either way …. Shanahan and the league have shown no desire to suspend elite players … Nik Backstrom forced their hand, so they slapped his wrist for a vicious cross check, but other than that, star players have been allowed to proceed with as much violence and immunity as necessary … - Regarding the nominees for GM of The Year … well, whatever. David Poile in Nashville certainly deserves the recognition. Doug Armstrong in St Louis and Dale Tallon in Florida ? Lets see what those clubs do next year. Tallon has shown himself to be foolish when it comes to free agents. Armstrong looks to have taken the Avs in a recent trade, and did well in landing Jaro Halak, but time will tell regarding the Blues. A team like the Panthers ? Don’t be surprised if they are battling for a lottery pick again next year … - Sid Crosby opts not to play for Team Canada at the World Championship? Give the Kid a break. He takes enough flak as it is. If he wants to look at the big picture and focus on a strong year in 2012-2013, then that is his prerogative. Would he look good with the Red Leaf on ? Yeah. But Canada should fare well without Crawz. - Stumbled on a great new hockey magazine, Puck Life …. This is a breath of fresh air for hockey fans. Puck Life puts forth strong opinion, in line with the notions of well versed fans who follow the game closely. Published by Red Guerilla in Langley, BC. If you are tired of the mostly politically-correct and very careful treadings of THN, sprinkled with Ken Campbell’s blithering rants, Puck Life will be a welcome variation. pucklife.com - Congrats to the SouthEast Prairie Thunder out of Steinbach, Manitoba on their Allan Cup win over the Rosetown Red Wings … April 20 - Nashville ice the Wings at home … nice to see for the Nashville fans. Interesting series in that all the game scores were close, but the Predators are the first team to move on to round two of the playoffs after taking the Wings out in 5 games … Wing coach Mike Babcock was critical of his squad, and himself, saying that losing a series 4 games to 1 isn’t close, and that the Wings lacked depth. He nailed that on the head – the likes of Drew Miller, Gustav Nyquist, those guys are just filler. Justin Abdelkader has been touted as the Wings next big thing for years. What exactly does he do out there ? Even Jiri Hudler was a ghost for the Wings …. The one area that Nashville badly outplayed the Wings, it wasn’t even close, was between the pipes. The Wings need to get a gamebreaker in goal … Detroit will be able to throw money at free agents this summer, but if they don’t get any impact players, and Nik Lidstrom does retire, we may have seen the official dawn of a new era in Wings hockey. Zetterberg and Datsyuk will be key guys for this team for a while yet, but after them, the Wings are thin on talent. Holmstrom is a geezer too, and could pack it in. Cleary is no spring chicken. Big Bert has been around for a long, long time. The Wings have Brendan Smith and Thomas Tatar in Grand Rapids. Then what ??? …. This is where Ken Holland earns his dough. Lets see what he does …. As for Babcock – best coach in the NHL. Simple. - Aside from a change of the guard in the Norris Division, the entire Western Conference looks likely to have a radically different look. Try this for round two participants : Nashville Predators, Los Angeles Kings, St Louis Blues and Phoenix Coyotes …. One of those teams will play for Lord Stanley’s mug. Kings have been there once, but not since Gretz was the toast of the coast. Blues haven’t been to a Cup Final since the late Sixities when Scott Bowman was just breaking into the league as their bench boss. Nashville has never ventured beyond round two. And the Coyotes have never won a playoff round, ever, never ever …. - Love Dave Tippett, he did well with a faltering Dallas squad before taking over the Coyotes and making them a perennial playoff team …. But …. When is he going to catch on that sitting back against that loaded Chicago squad late in games, and letting the Hawks handle the puck in the Coyotes end of the rink is a doomed tactic ?? Three times the Hawks have scored with an extra attacker with about a minute remaining in the game …. When the Coyotes engage the Hawks and press them, it is an even game. When Phoenix sit back and let the big names play keep away, it is only a matter of time before Chicago score …. - Game 5 in Pittsburgh was the first game that resembled modern era playoff hockey in that series … a 3-2 Penguin win …. No wild run and gun shootout hockey …. No cheap shots from a loaded squad frustrated by a team of kids mixed with playoff vets ….. No refs trying to slant the ice one way or the other …. Pittsburgh controlled the play for much of the game, looking like the Cup threat everyone thought they were …. When the Flyers pushed hard in period three, Marc Fleury returned to form, making some huge saves, and sealing the deal for the Pens … the refs were not an issue in this game, even calling two penalties on Evgeni Malkin, previously off limits to the officials. The zebras allowed some stuff to go for both teams late in the game, some tackle / cross check action in front of the Pens net, and a trip by Brayden Coburn, as well as some minor stuff throughout the game …. Call it a wash …. Philly will want to wrap things up in game 6 , because a game 7 would be too edgy for that young squad. Will see how the Penguins approach game 6, and if Bylsma can keep his squad in line …. - Well, off to the wacky palace to play some NHL league politics …. And to acknowledge that Mr Shanahan has officially entered the bizarre and senseless realm that colon Campbell inhabits …. 25 games to Raffi Torres …. An easy target, so Shanahan took his shot. Ummm …. But that hit wasn’t even as late as James Neal on Sean Couturier ??? And Neal didn’t get so much as a dirty look from any refs or the league office … Torres actually scored 15 goals this year, but Neal scored 40, and Neal plays for Pittsburgh, a team the league would deary love to have in the Cup Final … Wow. All one can say. This is possibly a dumber and less rationale decision than anything colon did. But the politics is thick in the NHL office, and the agenda is fairly obvious. Certain teams and players have been promoted with lots of money, tv, radio and print. If they can get into a Cup Final and generate big ratings on the tv, then mission accomplished for the league … So What if it costs the game some integrity ?? - If the Blues send the Sharks golfing, it will be an interesting summer in San Jose … that roster is not nearly as impressive as it once was once, and the Sharks have likely realized that Niemi ain’t no gamestealer, just a shmoe who was in the right place at the right time … Will the Sharks move forward thinking that Martin Havlat will lead them to a Stanley Cup ? What about Joe Thornton ? Big Joe does his thing, kind of like the Sedin’s, he just doesn’t ever do it good enough to hoist the Stanley Cup…… can see Thornton as a depth player somewhere later in his career winning a Cup, but don’t see him as a leader taking a team to the promised land … April 18 - It doesn’t get much uglier than that for a close out game …. Philly needed a few saves from Bryz, but it was not in the cards. In the Penguin net, Marc Fleury started weak, then made a few decent stops when needed, but basically the orange goalies couldn’t keep a beach ball from going into a gopher hole in this game … - Gotta like that Jordan Staal hat trick. Staal doesn’t get much notice in comparison to Malkin or Crosby, but Staal has never complained or had a negative word circulate regarding his role as the Pens low key weapon … when given the chance, Staal can roast goalies with that shot … - Can’t be surprised by that whipping in the Pens – Flyers game. The Pens pride was beaten badly in the first three games. Consider that explosion blowing off steam by Pittsburgh … - Flyer fans have to be extremely disappointed in the play of Sergei Bobrovsky. The team needed Bob to step in and change the feel of the game. Instead, Philly should have tied a shooter-tutor in the net … Bobrovsky was awful … - The officiating in this game was poor again. The zebras started off by giving the Flyers two quick power plays, then alternated a few pairs of calls, before going on a rampage of calls against the Flyers, in which 10 penalties were assessed to Philadelphia against only one call against the Penguins. The Flyer goaltending was so bad it wouldn’t have made a difference, but a 10-1 ratio in calls signals a problem with the refs … - Did like how the refs handed out misconducts to control the scrums. Before feeling too good about the refs doing this though, remember, that is how the calls were supposed to be made starting with game 1. Having to be told by the league office shows how dysfunctional the officiating in the league is, and how much the league controls and micromanages the blind bats. - Hearing and reading some stupidity regarding Zac Rinaldo roughing up Zed Michalek …. Sorry folks, but if the James Neal cheap shot on Sean Couturier isn’t worth the time of the league office or its refs, then a fairly mundane facewash and shove from Rinaldo isn’t worth anyone’s time … but …. Rinaldo is an easy target, and the league office loves their patsies. So do some scribes that aren’t intelligent enough to think for themselves. That would be the likes of Custance and Burnside at ESPN. That rough up job from Rinaldo is an example of something that happens about, oh , say, 250 times per year in the regular season. Now that Rinaldo does it in the playoffs, these two boneheads from ESPN want to make a big deal ?? Hey Custance and Burnside – go watch some basekickball … Even James Mirtle at the Globe amd Mail is being a worm and falling in line with other mindless sheep on this matter ... Mirtle, go watch bowling or darts. Maybe you can more easily process those sports …. - Another less than stellar goaltending performance in the league Wednesday, as Hank Lundquist whiffed on a couple shots, as the Rangers lose in overtime to the Senators. Hmmmm …. Did we expect too much of the Rangers ? A team that caught a lot of breaks during the regular season ? Is this close series really that surprising from that Ranger lineup ? - Goal of the Night : Kyle Turris ices the Rangers and Hank Lundquist in overtime with a perfectly places wrister to the top corner … textbook shot, very well placed, nothing but hilite reel …. - Cory Schneider leads the Canucks to their first win against the LA Kings, and is named starter for game 5 as well.This is a huge development for Vancouver, and basically an admission that Bob Luongo is not a franchise goalie, not the gamebreaker and gamestealer that everyone once thought he was. To be honest, and in fairness to Luongo, losing the first two games of the series is not a fault he bears alone. Luongo played okay. But he didn’t steal a game of make the huge save when his team needed him. One thing Luongo has been throughout his career is a gamechanger. But not always in a positive way for the team he is supposed to be stopping pucks for. Schneider is getting his big chance. All the best to him, because he has handled himself in nothing less than a professional manner for years, waiting for this opportunity. Making 43 saves on a night when his team could have been swept out of the playoffs is a pretty good start. April 17 - That fleshing out of the first round series’ is well under way now, especially Nashville – Detroit, where the Predators have a 3-1 series lead heading back to Nashville. The Wings outshot Nashville 41 to 17, but in effect, the Predators beat the Wings 4-1. Think goaltending doesn’t matter ? Think again. Lucky for Detroit, some goofball ref was on his whistle real quick, deleting a goal David Legwand had scored cleanly on Jim Howard … oh yeah, that Legwand glove-on-a-puck …. It wasn’t going in, it was between Rinne’s legs, so don’t get all excited about that one Wing fans … the Wings have played okay in this series, not getting blown out, but think of the series this way : The Wings have won Stanley Cups before with sub par goaltending that goes on a flukey hot run ( Chris Osgood ), so now the Wings are paying for that unlikely run .. a 3-1 hole isn’t as final as a 3-0 hole, but it is still hard to overcome that deficit. The Wings would have to win twice in Nashville. - Is Kovalchuk-Grossman bored and tired of hockey for the year ? Is he going to throw in the towel so he can head across the pond and drink some vodkey ?? How else to explain New Jersey blowing a 3-0 lead in game 3, to lose 4-3 ... this could be Zach Parise’s last series as a Devil, so he decided to score. Florida pulled Jose Theodore and New Jersey would pull Martin Brodeur in a bit of a playoff oddity … The Panthers lead this series 2-1, guaranteeing another playoff game in Sunrise. If you are in the Miami area, go do some shopping at the Sawgrass mall, then walk across the street, buy a ticket to the game, and go throw a rat on the ice … - Wild turn of events in Chicago, a pretty sedate game, and then boom, three goals quickly in period three to send the game to overtime. Call this one the spinning wheel of karma, as the Hawks couldn’t pad their lead and close out the game, leading to that Mikael Boedker goal that was somewhat reminiscent of Taxi Kane’s Cup winner …. Both goalies have been solid in this series, and that is a positive turn of events for Cory Crawford in the Black Hawk net. Hossa left this game on a stretcher after getting hit high and late by Torres, so the big six is down one man … Dave Bolland hasn’t been as visible in this series as one thought he might be. Not that Bolland has been bad, but he has seemed entrenched well in the background. Maybe he needs a star player on the other team to target and agitate to get himself going …. - Oh yeah, all those Brendan Shanahan suspensions …. Boy, Shanny is getting dumped on by everyone over his decisions this spring. And rightly so. James Neal gets one game for an elbow / charge on the number 3 scorer in the regular season, and the playoff leading scorer ? And no repercussion for a late and dangerous cheap shot / head shot on Sean Couturier ?? Okay Brendan. We understand. You have been neutered by the league office, or emasculated by Colin Campbell, look at it however you want. And Shanahan has obviously started drinking on the job, because that is the only explanation for his decisions. 3 games to Andrew Shaw for bumping Mike Smith and rattling the Phoenix goalies brains. Smitty hammed it up a bit, Shanahan should have been able to tell that, but Shaw should never have made contact. Aaron Asham gets 4 games for crosschecking Brayden Schenn high. Fair enough. Craig Adams, who shouldn’t even be in the NHL, gets a game for pulling hair or sucker punching Scott Hartnell. Matt Carkerner gets a game for sucker punching Brian Boyle, Carl Hagelin gets three games for elbowing Daniel Alfredsson. Nik Backstrom pulls a carbon copy of Aaron Asham, yet gets only one game. No suspensions at all for players in the Detroit series, though Shea Weber, Darren Helm and Johan Franzen all should have been sat down for a game. - All these high and late hits have to be compared to the three head shots that caused the stir in the first place. Steve Downie drilling Dean McCammond. Mike Richards putting David Booth to sleep. And Matt Cooke finishing Marc Savard’s career. So bring up all those videos on the internet, and compare to the Darren Helm charge on Alex Radulov. James Neal on Sean Couturier and Raffi Torres on Marian Hossa. And then ponder why Steve Downie was given a 20 game ban. Or why none of the above even received a penalty in this spring’s playoffs ….. The James Neal cheap shot on Couturier is the cheapest and most cowardly hit of all. Very late. Very high. Helm, Torres and Neal all launched themselves and hit at the head. Rule 48 was designed for this very play. Yet no penalties. No suspensions ( Torres might get a suspension – he is an easy target for the league as a third / fourth line grinder. The league loves to suspend these guys. The NHL doesn’t generally suspend star players, and if it does, the suspensions are short ). Shanahan and the league have really screwed up on this issue, and Shanahan is now looked on in a similar light to Colin Campbell. That is not a good thing. It is a deep insult. Too bad Brendan, we had high hopes for ya. Now you have been neutered, there is no turning back … - Tune in tonight, make sure, because two favorites could well be sent packing …both the Kings and Flyers can wrap up their series on home ice. Who knows what is going to happen in Philly, especially if Philly gets the game in hand with any amount of time left on the clock. The Penguin mental collapse in game three has everyone questioning their maturity. Hard to sayhow that game goes. In Los Angeles, the Canucks will also be watched closely. Remember late in game seven last year against the Bruins, the Canucks started running at Bruins and trying to injure them, most notable amongst Canuck cheap shot artists being Yanikc Hansen … April 16 - Aside from the two series that sit at 3-0 margins, the other six series are starting to get to the meat … Florida and Ottawa have shown that they are going to try and stick around, and won’t be swept. Washington and Boston have played three games, with a one goal differential. The Blues look like they have the upper hand on the Sharks, though not by much. Nashville vs Detroit would not surprise anyone if it ended up in game 7 overtime. The same could be said for Phoenix and Chicago, though the Hawks might want to stop relying on a tying goal in the last 20 seconds of a game. Game four is always a pivotal swing game, and that is where most series are at. Chicago / Phoenix and Jersey / Florida will be fleshed out to three games after tonight, and the Wings / Predators will really have a better complexion after tonight’s fourth game … - This current Capitals roster has to be one of the most unlucky and haphazard playoff teams to ever hit the playoffs …. So much talent, so little accomplished in the playoffs … management has done all the right things, adding grit, adding depth, bringing in big and rugged defenseman, trying different goalies. One would think a brute like Alex Ovechkin would be the perfect NHL playoff player … So what gives ? …. This team is missing that one crucial piece, not the kind you find on the shelf at the grocery store. They need that Butch Goring. That one guy who can play, and finally make everything fall into place. Who is it for the Washington Capitals ? Hard to say. George McPhee may never find him. And to be clear, it isn’t panic time in Washington. The core players are all young enough, it is fair to say the Capitals have another decade, maybe, to get it together. Everyone will have lost patience by then, but Washington has a lot of elite young talent. It will be good watching …. - Need to clarify one thing : A lot of Penguin fans are choked at the article calling Crosby and the Pens shameful and embarrassing. Look – call a spade as a spade, even if it is your team, and it is hard to do. Pittsburgh was the Open Ice Hitter favorite to win the Stanley Cup this year. Pretty hard to deny that Crosby and the boys have stumbled badly so far. And after game three, it is pretty hard to say they have played with dignity and class, and respect for their opponent. The critical part of that essay was in addressing the massive egos ( this is meant in a good way – a lot of those guys have accomplished a lot at an early age ) on that team, their expectations of themselves, and the humiliation thus far in the playoffs. They are not exactly dealing with their predicament with much poise. This is an un-arguable point, even for the most diehard, black and gold Penguins fans. The team has not looked very good. There are no two ways about it. Everybody has their moments. Crosby and the Penguins are having one in this series. Pittsburgh fans need to hope that this isn’t a defining moment. - As for the rash of violence, sucker punches, crosschecks, cheap hits etc. … plaguing round one of the playoffs …. Some of it is wildly entertaining, to be sure. And if someone is to get hurt on a cheap play, then it is on Brendan Shanahan and Colin Campbell. The over-arching point that needs to be made is that the refs could easily eliminate all the cheap stuff in a heartbeat. Call the rules the same for all teams. And all players. If Sid Crosby slashes Braydon Coburn, call it a penalty. If Zac RInaldo slashes Evgeni Malkin, call it a penalty. If Hank Zetterberg elbows Shea Weber, call it a penalty. If Mule Franzen of Erik Karlsson slew foot another player, call it a penalty. If Dwight King or Raffi Torres crosscheck someone in the teeth, call it a penalty. The problem is that the refs don’t do that. Guys like Torres and Rinaldo walk a fine line, and the refs don’t hesitate to call a penalty on them. But players like Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Crosby ? You don’t just casually throw them in the sin bin, even when they do something blatantly obvious. This is called league politics. Who is going to get mad at me if I give a Sedin a penalty ? What will the fallout be for my career as a ref if I give Taxi Kane 5 and a game for spearing in the playoffs ? It was refreshing to see Nik Backstrom given that penalty by the officials. If the refs would call the game correctly and as per the rules all the time, with the rules applied the same to all players, we wouldn’t have so many cheap shots. The reason we do is because certain teams and players are allowed to get away with it much of the time. It is that simple. - Need to go back a few days for the clean hit of the playoffs : Dustin Brown hammered Hank Sedin, a clean hit while Sedin was handling the puck. That is how ya do it. Clean and mean. Sedin will be looking for Brown from now on, and not for retribution. Out of fear. That is how to use body contact …. Awesome. - For people who don’t know him, George Malik is a huge Detroit Red Wing fan, as well as a blogger who follows the team closely. His blurb is called the Malik Report, and if you are a Wing fan, you need to get going with George’s stuff …. Google him, and you will find him …. George is bang on as far as Wing stuff, a straight shooter who calls it like it is …. He also has a sense of humour, and has been running with the Todd Bertuzzi – Ping Pong story this morning … this is good …. Bertuzzi took away a ping pong table in the Joe, the one that the Nashville Predators were using … hilarious. That is gamesmanship. And that is home ice advantage … supposedly, Bertuzzi told the Preds to get their own, went up and folded the table, and rolled it into the Wings room …. - More talk of Alain Vigneault’s future in Vancouver … he isn’t the problem on that team. The problem is the perfect storm as far as assembly a group of guys, and not having good enough leadership. The Sedin’s are fairly poised and composed guys, but they don’t exactly inspire acts of greatness from others on the ice. They play the same type of puck possession hockey from September to playoff elimination. And their pulses likely never change. Ryan Kesler ? Leader ? Never, ever will Kesler be accused of leading anyone anywhere but down a path of foolishness and poor judgement. Kevin Bieksa ? Hard to say. He plays hard. Probably should be the captain, but how come he can’t sway any others on that team ? It isn’t Vigneault’s fault the team doesn’t have a Mike Richards or a Dustin Brown on the roster … and how choked can a person really get at Mike Gillis ? I am no real fan of Gillis’, but he has tried to make necessary moves. He has brought in gritty and edgy players. He maybe should have had the insight not to bring in a clown like Max Lapierre, but at the time, Chris Higgins looked like a good addition. - Love the Brent Sutter –to – Edmonton rumours … Calgary Sun’s Eric Francis is running with this hard, and where there is smoke, there is fire …. But again, blaming Tom Renney is not right in Edmonton. That mess is all Kevin Lowe and Steve Tambellini …. But with Sutter being available, hmmmm … April 13 - A wild playoff game right out of the 1980’s … that was Pittsburgh vs the Flyers …. After another brutal start by the Flyers, spotting the Penguins to a 2-0 lead, including a Crosby goal 15 seconds in, it looked again like the Penguins were en route to a route …. Even when the Flyers started scoring a few goals, the Pens would answer and hold the lead …. But Pittsburgh seem lost or unfocused so far in this series. The Penguins came into the playoffs playing very well, with marquee names healthy. The Pens don’t mind physical play at all. They initiate it, and dominated many teams physically during the regular season. They have a goalie with as impressive a pedigree as you will find anywhere on the planet …. So what exactly is going on ? The Flyers are a young team, they put in a solid effort, and they have one marquee name and an aged legend, but this isn’t a team that is nearly as impressive on paper as the past two Flyer lineups the Penguins defeated in the playoffs …. A series loss here for Pittsburgh would be a massive disappointment, and coupled with last years loss to the Lightning and the previous spring exit at the hands of the Habs, there will be unkind words for many Penguins and staffers …. - From a Flyer perspective, the slow start is troubling, but when the smoke cleared, Giroux had a hat trick and six points, and Sean Couturier had a hat trick ….in an 8-5 run and gun shootout against a team boasting Malkin and Crosby ….. going back to Philly with a 2-0 series lead is a huge boon, and to win one of the next two games really puts them in good spot to win the series. Thinking they can sweep the Pens would be overly optimistic …. - The Kings also continue to frustrate Vancouver, scoring two shorthanded goals in a 4-2 victory over the Faker-Divers …. The big deal in this series is how two losses to start the playoffs at home has really set the arrogant and cocky Canucks back on their heels. This is not the fault of ole Floppy Roberto Luongo either. Sure, Luongo could have stolen Vancouver a game, he is paid to do that, but to say Luongo has been awful would be wrong. He has played like an average NHL goalie, not like the porous and mentally fragile sieve that usually shows up in the playoffs. The 2 game hole can’t rest solely on Luongo’s shoulders. The biggest culprit : Ryan Kesler. The Canucks need leadership from him. What he has provided instead is the usual faking, diving, acting, etc, as well as engaging in senseless personal battles that he might temporarily win, but his team won’t. Getting in a whizzing contest with Mike Richards ? Not smart. Don’t agree ? Lets look at their past accomplishments, and who has proven to be a winner, and who has proven to be a loser – Mike Richards resume : Memorial Cup, WJC Gold, AHL Calder Cup, Olympic Gold Medal, WJC captain, NHL captain, played in two conference finals and one Stanley Cup final….. Ryan Kesler : WJC Gold, then a bunch of losing ….losing at the Olympics, losing in the Cup Finals, losing a lot of series early in the NHL playoffs …. A loser …. Worst thing with Kesler’s antics is that they get the opponent focusing on not only making it harder for Kesler on the ice, but making it harder for the likes of the Sedin’s and David Booth, players that don’t exactly thrive when paid a lot of physical attention. Kesler has the tools to be a dominating player, but his attitude and antics are garbage. We will check back on this joker after round one …. - Mike Babcock’s Wings answered the bell in game 2, evening their series with the Predators by winning in Nashville, 3-2, in a game that saw them outplayed, properly treated and penalized by the referees, yet emerging with a win. That is what the Wings can do. They have some great players, they have a great coach, and Nik Lidstrom is always steady. - It was interesting to see Big Bert drop the mitts with an obliging Shea Weber, though it wasn’t a vicious scrap by any stretch. Just lettin’ ya know, that is what Bertuzzi was saying to Weber. If you are going to lean on our soft guys, I will back them. And that is how the “ Code “ is supposed to work …. Too bad the cheap shot artist and Shanahan’s buddy Nik Kronwall, or worms like Franzen and Holmstrom wouldn’t back up their play. They could possibly silence a few critics. Instead they go hide behind a linesman …. Whatever. Shea Weber is worthy of a root beer any time. Kronwall, Franzen and Holmstrom can sweep the floor and wash my car before I would even consider having a root beer with them … - Brent Sutter beats it out of Calgary right for the World Championship …. This should be fun. Sutter will likely spend some time at the family ranch in Viking, feed some cows and check on the calves before heading to the Worlds ….. then off to clean up his tattered reputation. Remember back in the day, Sutter won back to back Gold medals at the WJC, and the tournaments weren’t even close. Obviously he is hoping for more success on the world stage, and he should have the roster to pull it off … - Eric Franics of the Calgary Sun has a great article on Sutter today, speculating on the possibility of Sutter becoming the new Oilers coach … a very interesting possibility … - Lots of talk regarding the Oilers, and coach ?? Tom Renney, as well as GM Steve Tambellini … seems as though Tambellini is going to be back, but no word on Tom Renney …. To be clear : Renney should get to come back and stick with this group. Tambellini is the guy who needs to be shown the door. What smart moves have been made by Tambellini ?? Zip ….. nada ….. ditch the guy. Or will Kevin Lowe stick with him for a decade like he did with Craig MacTavish …. - Jacques Lemaire to coach the Habs ?? Hmmm …. Lemaire always had the Devils competitive in Jersey, but would his ultra defensive style fly in Montreal ? …. If you like the Habs, Lemaire is intriguing …. If you are a Hab basher, Lemaire as coach is a troubling notion. He might just turn the team around … - The Allan Cup, Senior AAA hockey tournament of champions of Canadian hockey gets under way in Lloydminster on the 16th of April, hosted by the Border Kings …other teams include the Rosetown Red Wings, who eliminated the Border Kings in the Saskatchewan playoffs, the Stony Plain Eagles out of the Alberta AAA league, the Kenora Thistles , yup, same town and name as the 1907 Stanley Cup champions… Steinbach, Manitoba’s Southeast Prairie Thunder and the Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts ….. this is always a great tournament, with all kinds of characters and stories … former NHL players to play in the tournament in recent years include Theo Fleury, Rick Vaive, Kimbi Daniels and Pat Falloon - April 12 - Barn burner of a game in Phoenix, and what an atmosphere before hand …. The plaza outside of the rink was packed with people, all the restaurants and bars were packed with patrons, and backed up with hour long wait lists to get in … lots of Coyotes die hards, and lots of Canadians and traveling US citizens taking in the game as well …. Had to be at least 1,000 Black Hawk fans in attendance, and they were treated to the return of Jonathan Toews …. - Chicago’s big six ( Toews, Taxi Kane, Patrick Sharp, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Marian Hossa ) are too much for the Coyotes to handle …. But the rest of the roster is a significant step down in calibre from those guys, and that is where the Coyotes hopes lie …. - Pretty good goaltending from Mike Smith of the Coyotes, and Corey Crawford of the Black Hawks …. Crawford actually made some big saves for Chicago, while Smith was steady in net for the Dawgs … - Officiating was the typical NHL stuff … a few blatant missed calls both ways, and then a couple poor calls late in the game to give the Black Hawks an opportunity to tie the game …. Things didn’t work out that way for the refs, but Brent Seabrook scored with 14 seconds left to tie the game anyway ….. The Coyotes tried to sit back and watch Chicago handle the puck. Huge mistake when it is Toews, Kane, Seabrook, Hossa, etc … take your pick … you could see that tying goal coming from a mile away …. - The crowd blew the roof off the barn in Glendale when the Coyotes won …. Good to see that in the desert. A deserving win for the fans, that pre game atmosphere was awesome, and the Coyotes staffers really put a lot of effort into hosting a solid event …. Martin Hanzal, the former Red Deer Rebel, tipped in the winning goal half way through the first overtime period ….. - Two other games went into extra time, including the Bruins opening with a 1-0 shutout of the Capitals … this game included a huge collision between Ovie and Dennis Seidenberg that sent both players flying when the German defenseman took a run at the big Russian …. You can se the spectacle on you tube …. They refer to it as 450 lbs colliding …. Wicked …. Chris Kelly scored on former Saskatoon Blade goalie Braden Holtby to win the game for the Bruins …. Washington managed only 17 shots on goal, not good enough from that roster …. - The Sharks dropped the Blues as well, in overtime, with Martin Havlat scoring twice, including the OT winner on a knuckleball past Jaro Halak …. Honestly, both of these teams are question marks … - Getting a good kick out of all the whining from Wings fans now …. Yup, referring to the Shea Weber head wham on Hank Zetterberg …. Look, the Wings get the benefit of the doubt on all calls and happenings from the refs and the league office …. That injury that Darren Helm suffered? Maybe if he hadn’t charged Alexander Radulov and gone airborne trying to decapitate the Russian, maybe had Helm kept his feet on the ice, he wouldn’t have lost his balance, and maybe he wouldn’t have been badly cut … call that one karma …. How about the slew foot Mule Franzen tried to pull on Ryan Suter ??? No call there Wing fans …. And of course, the little elbow-that-couldn’t, that no one is mentioning. Zetterberg trying to send a message to big Weber … didn’t work out so good, but the intent was there. Watch the replay. So do I feel that justice was perverted in this instance ? Sure, but for the first time in recent memory, it didn’t go how the Red Wings wanted it to … no sympathy for the Wings, and none for Zetterberg. Weber held up big time, but Zetterberg still did his best Ryan Kesler imitation, acting like he had been gravely wounded …. Just in the pride, Hanky, just in the pride … - Brent Sutter out as coach in Calgary … not a real surprise … Sutter wasn’t exactly given a bunch of rough cut gems to shape and polish …. He was given a roster of mostly journeyman, plus an aging and respected star, and one gamebreaker in net, and he was instructed to try and slip into the playoffs in the 7 or 8 spot …. What really doomed Sutter was the decision of his brother, Daryl, to sign Matt Stajan to a big dollar contract and expect Stajan to be an above average player. And the decision to bring Olli Jokinen back ….. Jay Feaster thought Mike Cammaleri would look good back in Calgary, too …. Redux, redux, and more golf time …. Don’t think Feaster is the right guy for this job, and don’t see any way out for the Flames, either … Any GM giving Calgary more than a first rounder and third line roster player for Iginla is making a foolish move. Iggy is well past his prime, and doesn’t have a lot of years left. If the Flames want a fast turnaround, they need to find next Pavel Datsyuk. They need to uncover some late round gems, or make a deal for the next Patrick Sharp, steal a developing player from some other team …. - Great matchup in the WHL East Final, after the Edmonton Oil Kings swept the Brandon Wheat Kings, and the Moose Jaw Warriors swept the Medicine Hat Tigers …. Out West, Portland is one win from advancing, while Tri City lead Spokane 2 games to 1 … - In OHL action, the Niagara Falls Flyers, sorry, the Niagara Falls Thunder, no, worng again, the Niagara Ice Dogs are likely to play the cursed Barrie Colts, who lead Ottawa 3-1 in their series … the other two series are dogfights, tied at 2 games, with London playing the Saginaw Spirit and Kitchener tied up with the Plymouth Whalers … - Out to the Q / Maritime league … to check in on the heavy favorites, the loaded for bear St John Sea Dogs with uber prospect Jonathan Huberdeau … the Sea Dogs have swept both series so far, and things haven’t even been close … they are winning one sided games with scored like 13-4, 8-1, 9-2, 10-3 …. All told, they outscored Cape Breton 34-8 in the 4 game sweep, then destroyed Baie Comeau in 4 straight, total goals being 29-10 for the Sea Dogs …. They have outscored opponents 63-18 through two rounds …impressive, yes … hopefully not too easy though …. Remember back in ’89, everyone thought the Niagara Falls Thunder, led by Bryan Fogarty, would cruise to a Memorial Cup berth and a battle of the Titans against the Swift Current Broncos ? Didn’t happen. They forgot about the Peterborough Petes … Anyway, the rest of the Q/ Maritimes is still a battleground, looks like the Quebec Rempart, Patrick Roy’s team, will eliminate the Halifax Mooseheads, while Blaineville are tied at 2 games with Rimouski, ditto for Shawinigan and Chicoutimi …. - Speaking of junior hockey, why do all these teams feel it necessary to cater to 4 year olds, and use silly cartoons as logo’s ? You know what ? The kids are going to like the team regardless of whether or not the logo looks like a stuffed toy you can buy at the local mall. Get some dignity back into the major junior loop, give the teams real logos. Thank You to the likes of the SPokan Chiefs and Kamloops Blazers, the Edmonton Oil Kings, the Kitchener Rangers, teams that have not gone pre-school with their uniform designs … 2012 PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS : ROUND ONE No point beating around the bush. Regular season is over. The ultimate sports tournament begins now, today, with four rounds of best-of-seven series … to determine a true champion, unarguably the best hockey team on the planet, the club that will hoist the most iconic trophy in all of sports, the Silver Grail, Lord Stanley’s mug, the Stanley Cup .. Eastern Conference New York Rangers (1) vs Ottawa Senators (8) The Sens won’t admit it, but they are just glad to be here. A collection of pieces from that long ago Cup run remain, mixed in with some kids and a journeyman goaltender who heats up on occasion. They are playing another team that enjoyed the same kind of fortune this year – everything went right for them. The Rangers had a dream year, Gaborik stayed healthy and Brad Richards, pursued as a superstar awesome unbeatable totally the best free agent instead brought what Brad Richards has always brought, a steady and smart game featuring intelligent puck decisions …. The Rangers will go hard here, or their coach will scream in their faces in front of their wives and children. That will make the difference. Not Henrik Lundquist’s huge oversized equipment. Rangers in 4 Boston Bruins (2) vs Washington Capitals (7) Ever since Tim Thomas’ well thought out and carefully considered decision to one-up the President of the United States, the Bruins have not been the same team that steamrolled teams last year en route to a Stanely Cup title, partied in all those great Irish Boston bars through October then again steamrolled all comers until the unfortunate and fateful White House Incident …. The Bruins can still bring it if they want, but that has really been a question over the past few months ….. the Caps are a total enigma … last year they looked good, talent mixed with grit, but no experienced goalie ….Tom Vokoun was supposed to correct that. He looked to be a steal, almost cheating, to sign in Washington for a bargain price and what looked to be a deal clincher for the Caps. Instead, Vokoun might not even be in the league next year after a disastrous relocation to the US Capitol. The Caps have the talent to beat the Bruins, and Dale Hunter will pull out all the stops, in the end Tim Thomas will wear the biggest set of goat horns the NHL has seen in years Capitals in 7 Florida Panthers (3) vs New Jersey Devils (6) Lets get this straightened out – New Jersey is not the underdog. They are the favorite. And they are going to win. The Devils have not won a playoff round in 5 years. Lou made some acquaintance at a deserted crossroad late one night this summer, with the teams cloven-hoofed namesake, to get the team into the playoffs and win a round. So there you have it. Dale Tallon’s little sunshiney Florida charade comes to an end right quick in round one . Devils in 5 Pittsburgh Penguins (4) vs Philadelphia Flyers (5) Easily the toughest series to peg in the East. At first glance, the Penguins are healthy and firing on all cylinders. They have two of the top 5 players in the game on their team. They have a marquee goalie who has already won them a Stanley Cup. They have an elite defenseman … and the Flyers are crippled by injuries, as usual, and sport another wild card in net …. Philly took the regular season series from the Pens, and with a less physical roster, still managed to whiz in the Penguins collective corn flakes …. Pittsburgh has won the past two playoff series against the Flyers, with Evgeni Malkin, Sid Crosby and Marc Fleury being huge factors in turning the tide during their last matchup, albeit against a vastly different Flyer roster … If the Flyers want to tip the Pens, they need to be prim and proper because the officials will not hesitate to protect Sid the Kid and penalize a team that is typecast as ruffians. Bryz will have to be awesome. For the Penguins to dispatch the upstart Flyers, they need to maintain focus and discipline, and be as professional as possible. Odds are that Dan Bylsma makes that happen. Penguins in 6 Western Conference Vancouver Canucks (1) vs Los Angeles Kings (8) Last year was an aberration in the NHL playoffs first round – no big upsets in either conference. Won’t happen two years in a row. Mike Richards is licking his chops to play against the Sedins. The feeling is not mutual. Ole Floppy, Luongo, is under even more pressure and scrutiny in Vancouver, after cratering on the most public stage in last years Stanley Cup Final. Want to know what makes Luongo play like crap ? Pressure and scrutiny. Though the Kings don’t score much, Luongo could really help them out with that. Vancouver fans should not forget the extremely close scrape with the Black Hawks in round one, or the referee assisted series two win over Nashville …. The Faker-Divers are not the powerhouse many Canadian media outlets like to portray them as … Look for an epic failure from the Canucks here, with Darryl Sutter using one of his Viking, Alberta cattle prods to get the Kings moving against a team of softies and whiners from the BC coast … Kings in 6 St Louis Blues (2) vs San Jose Sharks (7) The Blues have been on their heels, and face a San Jose club that is very experienced in mid April hockey. The Sharks have squandered talent in a fashion reminiscent of Pierre Lacroix and his days running the Colorado Avalanche, gradually peddling for lower calibre talent trade-by-trade … it will eventually catch up to the Sharks, and it starts now … Anti Niemi was brought in as a Stanley Cup winning goalie. Unfortunately for the Sharks and their fans, they have learned a hard lesson. Anti Niemi is the same kind of Cup winning goalie as Trent Dilfer is a Super Bowl winning quarterback. Somebody had to do the job, even if it wasn’t done well. Martin Havlat ? Yeah, he goes hard and has a big heart …. As for the Blues, Ken Hitchcock will face a test as far as getting them on track again in the playoffs. Jaro Halak has one great playoff run on his resume. Lets see if he can do it again. Blues in 5 Phoenix Coyotes (3) vs Chicago Black Hawks (6) No Jonathan Toews. And less than elite goaltending. The Black Hawks also can’t be considered underdogs in this series, as they had more points than the Coyotes, and are far more accomplished over the past few years …. That being said, the Coyotes are long overdue to win a playoff series. Can they do it before the team possibly becomes extinct ? Boy, they are in tough against a tougher and well rounded Black Hawk team …. Even though the Chicago blue line has been exposed as a bit over rated, and Cory Crawford can officially be anointed a sieve, the Hawks still have a lot of depth up front … and Ray Emery will likely get the call in net. Mike Smith gets a lot of credit for the Coyotes success this year, but he is in for a brand new experience come playoff time. Dave Bolland will spray Smith with ice every chance he gets. Maybe the Desert dogs win one for Doan, but don’t hold your breath on it. Black Hawks in 6 Nashville Predators (4) vs Detroit Red Wings (5) Never a good idea to go against the Wings. They have been so successful over the past 20 plus years …. But they are trending down a bit of late. And the Predators are due for some success. They finally won a playoff round last year, and this season they are loaded. The Wings have gotten by on second rate goaltending for years. That will catch up to a team. Sure, Detroit have Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Lidstrom, three proven winners. And the Wings will have the benefit of the Zebras, reinforcing the stereotype of a largely European roster being clean playing gentleman. The challenge here is for Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, Pekka Rinne and Alexander Radulov to prove their true worth. They are all grown up. They are ready for prime time. Prove it. Take down the flagship franchise in the NHL. Predators in 6 Ringing the Boards – So the Oil will pick first overall again …. followed by the Jackets, the Habs, the Islanders and the Leaves … this NHL Entry Draft is looking like a crapshoot. That doesn’t mean it won’t have its gamebreakers. Watch to see if Steve Tambellini doesn anything intelligent with that pick, or if he rolls the dice on another forward, Russian Nail Yakupov, who has spent two years turning heads witht he Sarnia Sting, Steven Stamkos’ old team ….. Latest Hab’s rumour has them looking at Luc Robitaille as GM. Robataille would have to be crazy to take that post. Lucky Luc has beaten huge odds in the past though, so maybe he can turn the Habs around. Robitaille was a late round pick back in the 80?s and worked himself into being an elite scorer …. Pat Brisson is out as a possbile Hab GM. Want to know why ? As Hab GM, Brisson would make chump change, likely around $2 million per year …. running his bigshot agency as an ” agent ” / parasite, Brisson makes close to half that just by tending to Sid Crosby. Add in his others clients, and it makes no sense to run the Habs …. Round One results last year had Open Ice Hitter picking 7 of 8 series winners … in contrast, Scott Cullen at CTV – TSN checked in with 5 correct picks in the opening round … April 9 - Be prepared for some media outlets hyping the NHL Draft lottery … but remember hype is shallow. Just look at the NBA for proof of too much hype, too little substance …. The drama is always the actual draft itself …. Any way you cut it, Columbus will be faced with drafting a Russian player with one of the top two picks, and the Oilers will be faced with a tough decision on which defenseman to draft …. - After watching those painful and schlocky shootout moves from Taxi Kane and Pavel Datsyuk, one realizes it is time to introduce a “ chaser “ as part of the sham shootout …. The “ chaser “ would start at the blueline behind the shooter, with the idea of pressuring the shooter, and preventing such gimmicky crap as Datsyuk and Kane served up on closing day in the NHL … they can’t waste everyone’s time with those mite calibre moves with the likes of Michalek, Grabner or a youthful Colin Greening hot on their tail … - Time for a little reflection on the pre-season picks to make the playoffs …. To be kind, in the East, Open Ice Hitter did not fare well, picking 4 of 8 playoff teams in Boston, Pittsburgh, Washington and Philly …. Teams that were picked to make the playoffs and missed : Tampa, Buffalo, Winnipeg and Carolina …. The teams that got in ? New York Rangers, Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils and Ottawa Senators …. Out West, our picks went a lot better, as Open Ice Hitter pegged 7 of the 8 playoff teams. The order was somewhat off, but Vancouver was picked to win the Western Conference since their team is designed fro regular season success … Phoenix is the team that got in despite not getting the nod from OIH, with the Flames falling out of the picture …. And for Leaf fans, we were pretty darn close on pegging your team, we had them finishing 14th, but Toronto over achieved and managed a 13th place finish in the East !! … All told, 11 of 16 playoff teams were correctly picked. Not exactly stellar numbers … 69% … that number needs to be improved upon next year …. 75% is kind of the threshold of respectability … - In contrast to the big budget and staff at the Hockey News, lets compare : Hockey News staffers picked 5 of the 8 playoff teams in the East, and 7 of 8 in the West …. Not bad, I suppose … they hit the 75% mark …. Surprising struggle for Adam Proteau, who is easily their best writer, as he managed to peg only 11 of the 16 teams headed for the playoffs, with his most notable gaffe being a pick of Columbus as the 8 seed out West … - In all fairness, it was a bizarre regular season in many ways. The collapse of the Washington Capitals, the rise of the Florida Panthers, Ottawa putting together a solid regular season, the further demise of the once proud Montreal Canadiens, the outright incompetence of the Columbus Blue Jackets and their failed bid to trade Rick Nash, and the failed attempt to pair him with Jeff Carter, and maybe the biggest story, the incredible surge of the St Louis Blues after making a coaching change, in what should be a first Jack Adams Award for Ken Hitchcock … - Serge Savard as the big boss of hockey operations in Montreal …. We shall see how this goes. The game has changed a lot since Savard played, and has changed a lot since he last ran a team. The Habs need a major overhaul, and are in real danger of being a doormat over the course of the next several seasons … they aren’t going to restock or retool through the draft any time soon, they aren’t going to attract either of the big free agents available ( Parise and Suter ) and they aren’t likely to land Rick Nash through trade …. What the Canadiens need is a new idea, and patience to rebuild over a 5 or 6 year timeframe with solid drafting … - Easy does it with all the Jason Spezza Hart Trophy nomination talk …. That is all foolishness. Spezza is a very good player, but he is no MVP. This kind of folly happens when sportwriters congregate with too much time on their hands, with too much Pale Ale at their disposal …. Spezza is a second tier star, not a Hart Trophy kind of guy. The NHL doesn’t need another Jose Theodore style embarrassment associated with its marquee trophy … - Still choked at the NHL and its doofus refs for failing to comment on the Ryan Clowe Incident … in summary, Four well paid and supposedly “ professional “ officials on the ice late in a game that will have a huge impact on the playoff picture. And nobody is watching the puck carrier ?? Nice …. And incredibly bush league … that it was Stephen Walkom on the ice, the former chosen one of the NHL, makes the whole thing look even worse … - Keep an eye on Buffalo over the next month or two …. Darcy Regier has had a long run there, and he had some success, too … but his time running the Sabres could be up. And you have to wonder if Lindy Ruff might be an upgrade as GM. Regier made several mistakes in letting upcoming free agents walk for nothing …. Now with a deep pocket owner, his situation has changed, and so far he is 0 – fer …. April 8 - Great closing day in the NHL, with some interesting twists in the standings … the Coyotes do indeed win the Pacific Division, and the Ottawa Senators fall to the 8 spot in the East …. Also think the Vancouver Canucks are pleased with the developments between San Jose and Los Angeles, which will see the Canucks play an underachieving Kings team that has trouble scoring … - Thanks to a losing skid in St Louis to close out the year, and inconsistency on Broadway with the Rangers squad, the Canucks claim their second straight President’s Trophy … only two teams in the past decade have won both the President’s Trophy and the Stanley Cup in the same year … Detroit would hold that distinction on both occasions .. - Here are the round one playoff matchups : In the East - New York Rangers vs Ottawa Senators Boston Bruins vs Washington Capitals Florida Panthers vs New Jersey Devils Pittsburgh Penguins vs Philadelphia Flyers Out West - Vancouver Canucks vs Los Angeles Kings St Louis Blues vs San Jose Sharks Phoenix Coyotes vs Chicago Black Hawks Nashville Predators vs Detroit Red Wings - Top four teams in the old Patrick Division are also the top four teams in the Eastern Conference ( Jersey and the Bruins are tied for points at 102 ) … don’t think this has happened since the NHL went to Conference wide slotting for teams …. The Rangers have 109 points, Penguins 108, Flyers 103, Devils and Bruins at 102 …. - Those Florida Panthers really look like a patsy and a free pass for the New Jersey Devils, but we shall see once they start playing the games … nice to see the Panthers in the Playoffs for the first time in a decade, making only the fourth appearance in the franchise’s nearly 20 year history … - Gleaned from the Hotstove, Craig MacTavish rumoured to be a good candidate to coach in the NHL again. You heard it here before, MacTavish is not a good NHL coach. With Kevin Lowe in Edmonton, MacTavish had years to prove himself … and he didn’t, aside from one flukey playoff run …. - A lot of media guys, good ones, are missing the point on the criticism directed towards Sid Crosby …. Who cares if Crosby complains to the refs ? It is the preferential treatment and free pass of the rulebook that is a concern when it comes to number 87 … if he is allowed to hack and whack other players without getting a penalty, why can’t players do the same to him ? Crosby has had this huge advantage thanks to the refs and the league since his second return from injury this season …. It ain’t right, I tell ya …. Crosby doesn’t need any advantage aside from his own skill and instinct of the game, which already puts him far in front of all challengers … - What do the Ottawa Senators think about falling into the number 8 spot and facing the New York Rangers, instead of being the number 7 seed and playing the Boston Bruins ? …. Says here they are pretty pleased with that development …. - The other teams involved in that switcheroo, Washington and Boston …. Well, this sets up a unique and interesting playoff series … and a chance for some playoff redemption for Alex Ovechkin, who is going to get closely acquainted with a man named Milan Lucic … - Will say it again, regarding voting for the Hart Trophy … don’t disqualify players because their team did not make the playoffs …. And don’t vote for Hank Lundquist’s massive equipment … Open Ice Hitter award winners will be published before the playoffs start … - Great preview of Team Canada’s potential World Championship roster from Jim Matheson at the Edmonton Journal … Matheson, as always, is stellar with his articles … check out his roster for Canada, and look forward to a Gold Medal push with that list of forwards … - Seems like everybody is catching on to the trouble the Flames are in as far as the future goes … unless Jay Feaster can pull of some major overhauls this summer, bringing in young and promising players, the next few years in Calgary look grim, real grim … same goes for the Leaves in Toronto and the Habs in Montreal …. None of these teams have anything close to an up and coming superstar …. The Habs have PK Subban, a dynamic player, and Carey Price has finally developed into a legit and respectable NHL goalie … other than that, the well is pretty much dry for all three teams … the x-factor could be big Joe Colborne in Toronto, if he can develop as an NHL player …. - Serious gaffe on the part of the Hockey Hall of Fame in bringing the blustery Brian Burke on board instead of Ken Holland …. Burke is a loud individual, a real attention grabber, and he is based in what Torontonians think is the center of the universe, Toronto …. But he couldn’t hold Ken Holland’s jock strap as far as doing his job …. Holland is THE man when it comes to NHL hockey, and running a team …. Burke is all talk. Holland is all performance … Holland should have been included on that induction committee, not Burke … - A lot is being made of Mike Smith’s solid play in the Arizona desert this year, after being let go by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa pinned its hopes on Dwayne Roloson, but Rolie the Goalie came up old this year, playing terribly at times, and thought life isn’t fair, the lost year in Tampa rests largely on Roloson’s shoulders …. The scrappy goalie can handle it, but don’t count on him being tending goal in Tampa next year … as for Smith, he will certainly be the man tending goal for the Coyotes in 2012-13 … - Really hope that team can find a buyer in the desert … Greg Jamison’s name continues to be mentioned in rumours …. When the dollars start flow again in the US southwest, that team will thrive. The number of Canadians in the Phoenix area has skyrocketed over the past 3 years as well … and they all want to watch some hockey … - That final GAA of Brian Elliott is amazing …. 1.56 … to go with 9 shutouts and a .940 save percentage …. This guy had better get a Vezina nomination … I would take him over Hank Lundquist or Floppy Luongo in a heartbeat ….. - Really interesting to see how the Black Hawks fare without captain Jonathan Toews in the playoffs …. Toews has developed into a top player, world class, for the Black Hawks, with his steady game …. Sure, he was named captain before his time, he wasn’t close to ready, but Dale Tallon wanted some headlines for his club … since then Toews has learned to fill the role on the ice …. - The two most anticipated series of round one will be the 4-5 matchups … Detroit as the 5 seed against Nashville in the West, and Pittsburgh with Sid Crosby and soon-to-be Hart Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin against the Flyers …. These will be dandy series’ to watch, with the Flyer –Penguin matchup a potential powder keg …. If the Pens are able to continue targeting Claude Giroux for cheap shots, and the Flyers are targeted by over eager ref whistles and penalty calls, this series could get ugly …. Then the idea of the refs protecting Sid Crosby could backfire …. Watch the refs closely in the Nashville – Detroit series as well, and see what kind of stickwork the Wings are allowed to get away with …. Power Plays can be huge difference maker in the playoffs .. April 6 - Talking with a Phoenix Coyote office staffer before they played the Blues last night, and was informed that Phoenix would win the Pacific …. The Coyotes then went out on the ice and handed a lesson to the Blues, 4-1, and took the Pacific Division lead …. Phoenix close out the year against Minnesota, while LA and San Jose play each other …. If Phoenix beat the Wild they win the Pacific … if Phoenix lose, the winner of LA vs San Jose win the Pacific …. - Ranger bench boss John Tortorella is fined 20 grand for comments regarding the Penguins two super stars and some of their questionable antics and tactics of late …. Kind of like what Peter Laviolette hinted at only days before …. With Tortorella, you could say sour grapes, because Pittsburgh beat the Rangers handily …. How does one dismiss the Laviolette comments then, considering the Flyers beating Pittsburgh while icing a depleted lineup ? How about this : Where there is smoke, there is some fire … in this case, the refs are babysitting Pens superstar Sid Crosby, and by association Evgeni Malkin, as well as letting the two Pittsburgh studs play fast and loose with the rule book ….. this whole issue looks bad for the league, and as has been said before, Crosby and Malkin are big boys who don’t need babysitting or an extra advantage …. All the league needs to do to clean up the sport is call the rules the same for all teams and players … of course, all situations have their politics, and in the NHL, the Penguins and Red Wings have managed to manipulate their situations ( Detroit’s high Euro content and Pittsburgh’s marquee name, Crosby ) into favor and exception from the zebras and Brendan Shanahan …. - Bizarre move from San Jose Shark Ryan Clowe during the late stages of the Sharks battle with the LA Kings a few days back … while sitting on the bench, Clowe reached over the boards and knocked the puck off of the stick of King’s forward Jarrett Stoll …. No word of a lie, that happened in an NHL game …. Even more bizarre than Clowe’s decision to so obviously break the rules and etiquette of the game was the fact that ALL FOUR ON ICE OFFICIALS FAILED TO SEE the move … seriously. So instead of Clowe receiving an interference penalty and the Kings getting a 5 on 3 powerplay late in the game, nothing comes of it …. With no comment from the league office …. Can you say Mickey Mouse ??? That all four brilliant, sharp minded and observant on ice officials missed such an obvious event is inexcusable. What were these four gomers looking at ?? For the good of the game, Clowe should be sat out by the league for a game. If not, the precedent has been set …. - Just had to shake one’s head after ole’ Floppy Luongo was toched by the Anaheim Ducks …. As always, classy and composed, Luongo spoke of team breakdowns when dealing with reporters … Luongo does not understand that with his $6 million plus salary comes responsibility, and criticism. When he starts whining and blaming his team, he looks like a pathetic loser … - Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun is correct in naming Lauren Hart as the best anthem singer in the league … she is great, and doesn’t mess up … the only way to top her is when the Kings get Slash to break out the Gibson Les Paul to start off a game .. - A few statistical milestones to keep an eye on during the final day of the regular season : Evgeni Malkin is three points shy of the 110 point mark heading into his game against the Flyers …. Steven Stamkos is one goal shy of 60 for the year, and could join Alex Ovechkin as the only player to hit that milestone in the past 15 years … Ottawa d-man Erik Karlsson has 78 points in 80 games, as he attempts to be the first defenseman to average a point per game since fellow countryman and future Hall of Famer Nik Lidstrom did it in 2005-06, with 80 points in 80 games - Interesting article in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix regarding players who pursue the NHL dream and don’t make it … The article paints a bit of a dark picture, but what writer Jason Warick fails to point out is that the players chose to pursue the dream of being a hockey player. He makes passing mention of all the perks and benefits of playing major junior and minor pro hockey, and manages to acknowledge that hockey playing skills can be parlayed into a college degree if a person is smart and ambitious …. Jason, boy, playing hockey isn’t all bad, and though not everyone’s dreams all come true, hockey isn’t that bad. Heck, some people even play the sport for fun …. Warick also made a serious blunder in dropping the name of notorious radical and female chauvinist / misandrist / manhater Laura Robinson. If you haven’t read any of Robinson’s crap, keep it that way. She is a slanted and jilted person out to slag the sport of hockey any way she can, and she doesn’t care about justifying anything she says … - Couple of signings …. Philadelphia sign Niklas Grossman to a contract extension, preventing the big blueliner from leaving as a free agent. This is a sign of one of two things : Either Chris Pronger is done, as many suspect, or Matt Carle isn’t coming back as a Flyer next year … Chicago reward Ray Emery with a one year extension. Emery has been the Hawks best goalie this year, and will likely be in net for the BlackHawks come playoff time … - Rumours out of Edmonton over the past few months have the team cutting loose Linus Omark … sure he is small, but he is also creative good with the puck. Are the Oilers that deep in offensive talent that they can let a potential scorer walk away ? Don’t think so …. But Steve Tambellini hasn’t exactly proven himself to be Mr Genius hockey talent evaluator … There is no point in even criticizing the moves engineered by Tambellini’s boss, Kevin Lowe …. April 4 - No 60 for Stamkos yet, as the lowly Habs best the Lightning 5-2 ….. Stamkos can try again when the Leaves host the Lightning Thorsday night …. Stamkos is the big name and presence in Tampa these days, but what about Victor Hedman ? What thoughts does Steve Yzerman have on the big rearguard ? Is Hedman still projected as a franchise d-man ? …. - Carey Price done for the year …. This is more a blow to Team Canada for the World Championship than it is to the Habs …. Price has earned some of the praise that has been heaped on him over the past two years, so it is also a bad break for the BC cowboy …. - Speaking of BC, the other one, Chris Kreider has been declared / clarified as eligible to play for the Rangers after his Boston College Eagles finish the year at the NCAA Championship tournament … Krieder is a big body with world class speed … Slats and the Rangers will insert him into the lineup and see what he can do against the big boys, if Krieder chooses. Krieder does have the option of becoming a free agent next fall if he wants to pursue more money or play for another team … - That is what Detroit always does …. Come back from a 2-0 deficit to beat St Louis in a shootout …. The Wings hang around, play their restrained and opportunistic game, and have enough talent on the team to eventually capitalize on a few chances …. More bad optics for the Wings however, with The Mule punching a Blue in the face with a gloved hand a couple times …. The Wings will always be criticized for this type of antic when it isn’t backed up by dropping the gloves and going mano-a-mano, and the criticism is correct … many of the Wings play like worms, most notably Franzen, Kronwall and Holmstrom …. The issue here is this : These are guys that will and can hurt other players with cheap shots, and get away with it, while some players and other teams, that play rough but honest hockey, are held to strict account by Brendan Shanahan and the NHL head office … For the record, Franzen was not penalized on the play, even though a linesman was holding the St Louis player when Franzen twice sucker punched him … to clarify that this isn’t an anti – Swedish thing, the Detroit boys that made this type of cheap worm antic routine are former Wings Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby …. - 80 games into the season, across the board, for all 30 teams …. Some of the teams that sat atop their respective conferences at some point in the year, but will now miss the playoffs : Toronto Maple Leaves, Edmonton Oilers and Minnesota Wild …. - Thank You Evgeni Malkin for giving us a 100 point scorer, and thank you Steven Stamkos for giving us a 50 goal scorer …. Those are two sacred benchmarks in hockey as far as personal statistics … Malkin has a realistic shot at the 50 goal plateau, having bagged 48 tallies in 73 games this year … - A wild final weekend is in store for the Western Conference …Dallas are in a pinch, and have to win out with help … The Kings and Coyotes each need only one point to secure a spot in the greatest tournament in sport. San Jose need two points to ruin the year for Dallas … - In the East, Florida need one point to secure both a playoff spot and the SEC title ….. that is going to leave the Sabres and Capitals scrapping for the 8 seed …. Who would have guessed that ? Washington barely getting into the dance, in the 8 spot ? Bizarre … - Watch these coaches once the regular season finishes. The axe has a good chance of falling on them …. Brent Sutter in Calgary, Tom Renney in Edmonton, Randy Cunneyworth in Montreal, Todd McLellan in San Jose, Todd Richards in Columbus and Jack Capuano on Long Island … April 3 - Playoff picture is almost cleared up, with only Buffalo and Dallas hoping to get in … anyone below those two teams is already finished …. For the Kings, who need a single point to clinch, they will salvage the season after all. Bringing in Darryl Sutter may or may not have been the pivotal move, but the Kings look playoff bound …. Same for the Florida Panthers. In Florida’s case though, they get the same disclaimer as the Senators – lets see it happen again next year … - Oh wow, Brendan Shanahan really came down hard on Detroit Red Wing Kyle Quincey … one game for the flying elbow to the head of Tomas Kopecky …. Shanahan has fallen off since the start of the year as far as suspensions go, and that has pretty been the way the NHL discipline department has always been run. They are tough for a while, take some criticism from NHL GM’s, then back off on suspensions and length of suspensions …. No wonder we see the same kind of stuff happen time and again …. Depending on what time of year it is, and who you play for, you might be able to really goon someone and get away with it …. All that being said, Shanahan has been far better than Colin Campbell, and his video explanations are a step in the right direction, being accountable to the fan base … Shanahan’s weak spot has been his former team, and the league weakness continues to be the preferential treatment Sid Crosby gets from the refs …. - Montreal to interview Pat Brisson for the GM spot ? In so many ways that is just dumb. But what the Habs are doing by interviewing Brisson however is making a fairly open overture to Sid Crosby …. If the Habs hire Brisson, it will be the start of the process of attempting to lure Crosby to Montreal when he becomes a UFA, to play for the team he cheered for as a kid, the team that drafted his father …. The issue here is whether or not Brisson could actually run the team from a hockey perspective … hiring Brisson as basically a figure head could also work, while bringing in another “ assistant GM “ to actually run the team …. Don’t be surprised if the Habs manage to mess this up though. They are pretty much relying on Serge Savard to pick the new GM, and Savard is an old boy, from another era. This has potential disaster written all over it … - Hit of the Night : Marcus Foligno crushes Carl Gunnarson with a devastating hit behind the Leaves net. Clean and hard. Textbook hit. Foligno made sure to keep the elbow down, and hammered Gunnarson shoulder to chest. Gunnarson was in a bad spot, basically having to play the puck or look like a scaredy cat …. Foligno took what was served up to him on a silver platter … - Pittsburgh 5 Boston 3 … possible Eastern Conference Final Preview ? The Pens are a heavy favorite in the East, having been impressive over the past month ….. Pens only Achilles heel looks to be the Flyers, who have beaten the Pens 4 times this year. That doesn’t mean a thing once playoffs start however …. Big, bad Boston will be hard come playoff time, banging people around …. - Rangers score 4 times on their first 12 shots, then hang on to beat the Flyers 5-3 and clinch an Eastern Conference Regular season title ….. again, goaltending is a weakness for the Flyers, again it is Bryzgalov, who has a couple weak games in has past handful of outings …. How many people picked the Rangers to win the Conference at the start of the year ? For New York, they have had a year in which everything has gone their way, even though Brad Richards didn’t league in goals, assists and points the way Richards “ agent “ advertised that he would when securing that huge contract …. Whatever, good for the Rangers. After spending like a drunken sailor in a bawdy house for the past 15 years, Glen Sather finally has a taste of success on Broadway …. Come playoff time, though, we will all be watching ya Slats … - With Steven Stamkos sitting at 58 goals, it needs to be said again that he actually emerged as an elite NHL prospect after John Tavares, although Stamkos is a year older than the New York Islander star …. Back when Tavares was a 16 year old superstar in the OHL, scoring 72 goals for the Oshawa Generals, Stamkos was barely getting any press …. At that time, who would have guessed at the success Stamkos would have so early in the NHL ? For Tavares, a player having an excellent year, likely to be in the top 10 in league scoring, expectations have been very high since he was 14 years old. To his credit, he continues to excel, and like Sid Crosby, he improves all areas of his game every year, making himself a dangerous play with the puck in many different ways … - No way does Hank Lundquist get any credit towards the Vezina Trophy from this site. The guy wears huge equipment. That is his strategy and his game. Be big. That isn’t goaltending. It is cheating. In this day and age of Kevlar and lightweight / high strength material, goaltender equipment should be shrinking in size, not growing. Goalies should look like they did in the 1920’s and 1930’s, instead of looking like O-lineman for the New York Giants or Michelin men … Watch Lundquist play. If he gets in a situation where he has to move a lot, he gets in trouble … Want to know who is good for the Vezina ? Marc Fleury … of Jonathan Quick. These guys actually make saves, as opposed to letting the puck hit their massvie gear …. April 2 - Credit to James Neal, who looked like an inconsequential addition to the Penguins last year …. He has had a dream season in his first full year with the Penguins, hitting the 80 point plateau, sitting in the top 10 in league scoring, and likely to be a 40 goal man …. The player he was flipped for, Alex Goligoski, to the Dallas Stars, went to a different situation, to be sure, but Neal has paid off big time for Pittsburgh … those Pens look formidable heading into the post season, with three players averaging a point per game, Kris Letang on the blueline, and Marc Fleury between the pipes …. - Of course, the Pens cratered big time, at home, against cross state rival Philly, blowing a 2-0 early first period lead and eventually losing 6-4 in an interesting game …. Pittsburgh scored early on Sergei Bobrovsky before the Russian settled down …. The Flyers showed a lot of grit and heart, but if / when these teams meet in the playoffs, Pittsburgh has to be a heavy favorite. Flyers have to many key players injured to match up with the Pens superstars in a 7 game series … the x-factor here, not a good thing for the Flyers, or any team that is going to face Pittsburgh in the playoffs, was the outright babysitting and blind eye of the refs towards Sid Crosby, and to some extent Geno Malkin, as both players targeted Claude Giroux for abuse outside of the rulebook …. The dolt refs looked on as though they were zombies as Crosby slashed away at the third leading scorer in the league …. Another zoned out ref looked on as Malkin rammed Giroux’s head into the ice after both players went down in a puck battle …. And talking to folks in the NHL “ war room “ ? Well, they claim to be working hard, and they claim they aren’t playing favorites or babysitting anybody …. Wonder what they would think if they took off the rose colored, or Crosby colored, glasses ? ….. Look, the kid doesn’t need special protection. Just call the rules the same for all the teams and players, and Crosby will be fine … giving the best player in the world an extra and unfair advantage by letting him slash away at other players does nothing to help the game …. - Most intriguing discussion surrounding the vacant Montreal Canadien GM spot was on CBC’s Hotstove, where Elliotte Friedman brought up the name of Scotty Bowman … Bowman is the best coach the NHL has ever witnessed, but Bowman only had one stint as a GM, in Buffalo, after the Habs made a baffling decision to go with Irving Grundman as the replacement for Sam Pollock …. If the Habs were somehow able to lure Bowman back to Montreal 30 years after a most erroneous blunder, Montreal might have some hope ….Bowman is a brilliant hockey man, with a thorough understanding of the sport, and the fistfuls of Stanley Cup rings to prove it, many of those rings bearing the Hab logo …. This would be the smartest move the Habs could make …. - Really enjoyed Dean Brown calling a game for CBC…. Had never heard of the guy prior to the game, I think it was the Ottawa / Philly tilt Saturday. Brown was professional, accurate, knowledgeable and called the play well …. Can’t say the same for his sidekick, Greg Millen, but CBC has a penchant for hiring the biggest gomer’s they can find from the ranks of retired big leaguers … honestly, how many real good play-by-play guys are in the business ? Doc Emrick, Gord Miller, Jim Hughson ….. after that things get sketchy ….. Bob Cole has been past his prime for a decade, often getting mixed up and confused about who is playing and what is going, though he has that great voice … Chris Cuthbert is sharp, but his voice often breaks, and he gets overly excited and almost crosses the Pierre McGuire goofball line …. Hope Dean Brown is given more opportunities, and makes the most of them - Another of those “ just have to laugh “ moments from the now golf course bound Toronto Maple Leafs …. Another “ big signing “ out of the US college ranks, as they ink Maine Black Bear Spencer Abbott … oh boy Leaf fans … now Abbott can join Tyler Bozak as one of Brian Burke’s gems plucked from the ranks of undrafted college stars … other US college players on the Leaf roster : Joey Crabb, Joe Colborne, Matt Frattin, David Steckel, Phil “ The Thrill “ Kessell, Mike Komisarek, John Michael-Liles, Mike Brown ….. Brian Burke is not making much of a case for the superiority of NCAA hockey versus major junior or Europe with the play of his Leaves … Burke, of course, played NCAA hockey at Providence …. Burke has to do his best to get the top talent into Toronto, and he has been trying, but it isn’t working out for him …. His one “ jewel “ from the major junior ranks, Nazem Kadri, hasn’t exactly been gangbusters either … - Read the best description of Taylor Hall’s style from Damien Cox, where Cox compares Hall’s style to that of Wendel Clarke, noting that Hall plays like a kamikaze, thus leading to the injuries … Hall is all in, every shift, every game, and played like that in junior as well … it is great to watch, and hopefully Hall’s body can hold out better than Clarke’s did ….. not that the iconic battler from Kelvington, Saskatchewan ever gave less than his all, but Clarke went hard and took on all comers, not something that is conducive to a long career … - Might finally see a suspension of an actual big league Detroit Red Wing, after Kyle Quincey mixed the legendary and trademark elbow of Gordie Howe with the modern worminess of Nik Kronwall, in a flying elbow to the head of Tomas Kopecky …. Will be interesting to see what Shanahan does here …. The shot was vicious, targeted Kopecky’s melon, and broke several rules, take your pick : charging, target the head, elbow, so on and so forth …. As Quincey is a Red Wing, look for a suspension of two to three games … - Ottawa in the playoffs …. Nobody guessed that before the season started, and though it is a great story this year, lets see if they can get back into the playoffs next year …. That will be a big test for Bryan Murray. Everything went right for the Senators this year, and that doesn’t often happen in the NHL …. They will have youngster Mika Zibenajad in the lineup, though how much he has developed this year is a story in itself, with the Sens reportedly unhappy that Zibenajad has been used sparingly in Sweden …. Bryan Murray needs his head examined in regards to that decision – Zibenajad should have been playing major junior in the OHL or WHL this year …. April 1 - Was that a tune up game for the Bruins or what ? A 6-3 romp over the Islanders … the six goals the Bruins scored had them looking big, powerful and smart, like the team that won the Stanley Cup last year …. The Bruins have 6 20 goal scorers, as well as Nathan Horton, who has 17 goals in 46 games, limited by injury…. Zdeno Chara has 12 goals from the point, a respectable number in this era of NHL hockey …. The Bruins will sit in the number 2 spot come playoff time, likely matching up against Ottawa …. Boston will like that matchup … - Tough way to close out the year for the Jets, now that the playoffs are out of reach … that was a great return season for NHL hockey in Winnipeg … a few tweaks on the blueline, and the Jets should again challenge for a post season berth next year … - Flames are out, too … Calgary is team that has basically spun its wheels in neutral since making a Stanley Cup appearance before that nice little blip the union engineered … after the union tantrum / lockout, Calgary made four straight playoff appearances, all of them round one exits. Now the Flames are looking at three straight years out of the playoffs …. Their two best players are aging, with Iginla past his prime, and Kipprusof unable to win games all by himself because his team can’t score … just saying Flame fans, your team is poised for some hard and bad years … they have one good young prospect in Bartschi, Giordano is a decent defenseman, and after that, the team is a collection of journeyman and hacks ….. - So the Molson crew finally fire lame duck / clueless Pierre Gauthier ….no kidding. As stated in earlier posts, Gauthier has made the Habs bigger, but they still suck … Gauthier fired a few coaches earlier in the year, but just didn’t understand that sweeping changes needed to be made …. Speculators are going wild trying to guess who will take over the Habs hockey operations, with the names in the rumor mill being quite varied …..most hilarious name being mentioned is that of Pierre “ Dolt “ McGuire … seriously. Who would let that dodo run a hockey team ? Check his record in supervisory roles … he sucks. Plus he is a flat out gomer …. Of course, if he did get that job, it would keep him off of the hockey telecasts, which would be great. And for those that despise the bleu, blanc et rouge, if McGuire took the reins of that team, it would doom them to futility for years …. - Another hilarious name associated with the Habs GM vacancy : Kevin Lowe. Yup. The brilliant and savvy architect of the current Oilers powerhouse …. The same guy who gave Shawn Horcoff over $7 million bucks a year, and other such insightful hockey moves … just have to laugh … of course, hockey is a small and tight knit community, hard to break into, and it is very, very much and old boys network. New people and new ideas openly eschewed and ridiculed …. - Really have to wonder how some of these guys get their jobs … Scott Burnside, who writes for ESPN, talking about goaltending tandems heading into the playoffs …. He calls the Blues tandem tops, Halak and Elliott … fair enough …. Then he reveals that he doesn’t actually pay attention to the world in which he lives … he calls the Canuck duo of Cory Schneider and Flop Luongo the next best pairing …. Has Burnside not watched Luongo play post season hockey ??? Under pressure, ole’ Floppy becomes the highest paid sieve in the world, and that horrid playoff record dates back to Luongo’s days in the QMJHL playoffs … please, Mr Bigshot hockey writer at ESPN, have Pierre LeBrun screen your thoughts before you post such foolish nonsense for the world to read … - Bust alert : Oiler Magnus Paajarvi struggled mightily this season, spending time in the AHL with Oklahoma City …. Remember when the Kings picked Thomas Hickey 4th overall out of Seattle ? Hickey still isn’t in the NHL … Another high pick, Scott Glennie of Dallas has many wondering if he will even play a game in the league … Nikita Filatov has to be classified as a bust at this point, and draftmate Kyle Beach is quickly falling into the same category …. - Both 4-5 series look to be matchups we have seen before, and would rather not see again … In the West, though, Nashville might be able to tip the Wings …. As for the East, looks likely for a Flyer vs Penguin matchup, without much hope for the Flyers, considering they are without so many key players … Pittsburgh has knocked Philly out of the playoffs twice since the lockout, ditto for the Wings against the Predators … March 28 - March 30 Travel Days March 27 - Wings are in, 21 years in a row, after pummelling the Columbus patsies, 7-2 ….love ‘em or loathe ‘em, those Detroiters sure win a lot, a hard thing to do consistently in the modern NHL, where it is so easy for players to switch teams on a whim ….nobody wants to leave the Red Wing organization, though. Players all want to go there. That is a credit to Ken Holland, who oversees the hockey operation aspect, and a credit to owner Mike Illitch, who has presided over a culture of winning in the Motor City … - Ugly goal of the Night : Matt Carle coughs up the puck to some Tampa 4th liner who pops it into an open net, as Carle hung Ilya Bryzgalov out to dry on this one …. Game Result ? Tampa 5 Flyers 3 …. Shots on Goal ? Flyers 38 Tampa 15 ….. Bryzgalov allowed 4 goals on 14 shots, Tampa potted an empty netter ….. This is the second time in the past couple weeks that the Flyers badly outshoot a Florida based team in Philly, and lose ….. Dwayne Roloson was superb for the Lightning, but for the Flyers, this is why you have to think they are in trouble come playoff time … outshooting an opponent so badly and losing … especially at home …. - Well, it’s pretty much curtains for the Winnipeg Jets. They needed that win, at home, against Ottawa, and they kind of tried …. Their goalie and coach summed it up though, acknowledging the plethora of turnovers that led to Ottawa goals …. The Jets and their new city did a far better job than expected …. Year Two will be interesting. The Jets will want to get into the playoffs, and establish themselves as a competitive team that gets into the post season on a regular basis … that has been a very hard thing for Canadian based teams to accomplish … - Steven Stamkos bags tally number 53 in the Lightning win over Philly … this guy is a vintage sniper. Just Shoot the Puck !! He does …… - Evgeni Malkin has been piling up points, and is creeping closer to the 50 goal mark … he will hit the 100 point mark for sure, would be good to see him hit the 50 goal plateau - Bad home loss for the Flames … to Dallas at that …. Calgary have 5 games remaining, and sit with 85 points …. They are in a bind similar to the Jets …. They need to win out, and have a bunch of other teams lose out …. Not likely to happen … - A few rumblings about the Coyotes, but the league isn’t saying anything officially … It would be best to keep the team in Phoenix, where it will be okay whenever that horrible recession in the Southwest US lets up …. As far as getting teams in Seattle, Quebec and Toronto, it is a fun idea, and the league likely want some big bucks for expansion from the Canadian sites … but the league really doesn’t need more than 30 teams …. March26 - Five teams have booked icetime in the Stanley Cup playoffs so far … in the East, the top three teams from the Atlantic Division have qualified for the greatest tournament in sport …. The NY Rangers and Pennsylvania’s teams, Pittsburgh and Philly, are in. Out West, the upstart St Louis Blues, bound and determined to get a Jack Adams Award for Ken Hitchcock, have booked into the post season, as have the Vancouver Canucks …. Still not much talk about that tough Atlantic Division, though they already have more teams qualified for the post season than the rest of the league combined, and will soon have the Jersey Devils registered for the Superior Sixteen as well … - Scathing article from Larry Brooks regarding the 5 game sit down handed to Duncan Keith by way of Brendan Shanahan ….Brooks is onto something, and Shanahan should take the article as a wake up call …. Brooks basically says Shanahan is turning into Colin Campbell. That is a bad thing. Colin Campbell was a joke as NHL discipline guru, and unfortunately still has a hand in the process, undoubtedly passing on his infinite “ wisdom “ as he likely thinks, or foolishness as many of the rest of us think, to Brendan Shanahan … here is the deal: Keith planted a nasty elbow bad right in the mush of a Sedin. If that was Steve Downie, we are talking a year long ban. If that was Zac Rinaldo, we are talking life in prison …. But since it was a high profile former Norris Trophy winner, not a big deal. This has been Shanahan’s weakness – certain players get a free pass. Look at what Nik Kronwall is allowed to get away with in Detroit. Constantly targeting the head of opponents …. Don’t overlook the dirty shot handed to Keith by Sedin that got this issue started. With a moron of a referee watching the whole play. Bottom line on this issue is this: Call the rules the same for all teams and players. If that had been done, Sedin would have gotten 5 minutes and a game and the issue would have never developed …. But the foolish referees have their bias and prejudice, one of them unfortunately being that players like the Sedin’s don’t break the rules ….. Wake up boys. It is clown joke refs like we have in the NHL that fuel ideas like those put forth by Don Cherry when he is having a grumpy day …. - Still like watching that awesome slapper that Evgeni Malkin blasted past Pekka Rinne, top corner from a bad angle … Rinne was not on his game that night last week, as Pittsburgh destroyed the Predators. If Nashville want to do something in the playoffs, they have to use that beating as an educational tool …. - Philly book into the post season with a 4-1 manhandling of the Habs, and another superb outing from Bryz …. Watching the Habs was interesting. This is a team that needs a major shakeup in the front office, and will likely get it … that being said, Pierre Gauthier has made some important changes, namely making the team bigger. Erik Cole has been very good for the Habs, bringing a big body, a physical presence ( though Cole doesn’t scare people ) and 30 goals …. Max Pacoreitty brings much of the same. PK Subban brings size, skill and edge, and David Desharnais has filled the role Scott Gomez couldn’t …. Rene Bourque and Alexei Yemelin are big dudes ….. but …. The team is still awful, even with two 30 goal men …. Hard to say harsh things about Bob Gainey, but his vision for the Habs was flawed badly. He wanted speed and skill. He thought that Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez would make the Habs Cup winners. He failed to see how Gionta and Gomez were utilized in New Jersey. And after getting demolished by the Flyers and Bruins in two straight playoff years, Gainey failed to notice that his team had been forced to play on the perimeter …. Enter Pierre Gauthier, and man who has made changes, clumsily and foolishly, to little effect …. Yes, he has made the Habs bigger, and tougher. And then he hamstrings them with Tomas Kaberle … - Speaking of the Habs ….. not too much being said about Kirk Muller, and the fact that he wanted to coach in Montreal, where he won a Cup as a player. Muller has been running the bench in Carolina for the better part of the year …. Big new rumour has Patrick Roy sitting in the big chair, with one of his former Cup winning coaches, Bob Hartley, taking over as head coach of Les Canadiens next year …. Might as well give it a try. They can’t do worse than what the Habs have now, no fault of Randy Cunneyworth … hopefully Cunneyworth gets another shot somewhere, and to be sure, he deserves better treatment than what he received from some of the linguistic bigots who cheer for the Habs … - With the Minnesota Wild officially eliminated from playoff contention, a lot of focus needs to be on the two “ big names “ brought in from San Jose, Devin Setoguchi and Dany Heatley … for Setoguchi, a former first round pick who toiled for the Saskatoon Blades in the WHL before a contentious trade to the Prince George Cougars, he will again hit the 20 goal mark. His most memorable moment this year however will be the embarrassing shootout gaffe, leaving hockey fans bewildered at the idea of an NHL player being so inept in such a simple exercise …. Heatley deserves far more damning critiques … this is a player who was at one time the up-and-coming face of the league, on an up-and-coming team in Atlanta. It wasn’t the tragic car crash Heatley was at the wheel for that derailed Heatley’s career. It has been his stunningly selfish and immature behavior. Demanding the trade to Ottawa. Demanding a trade out of Ottawa, and nixing a deal to the Oilers. Failing to meet expectations in San Jose would be a very kind assessment of his time there. And now in Minnesota, Heatley is a 20 goal scorer …. And becomes another poster boy for performance based pay. Putting up back to back 50 goal / 100 point seasons, and getting a salary commensurate with those numbers, then turning into a lazy and selfish player on the ice …. Sickening … Now what do the Wild do ? Hope that Mikael Granlund can be a 100 point player, and what else ? …. - Have to love the Jason Garrison story in Florida, but be warned, it will get stupid in the off season …. Garrison has an “ agent “, and that “ agent “ will want to cash in on this one season Garrison has put up …. If you don’t know what I am getting at, look up the career of Jeff Finger … players need to be consistent and play at a high level for more than one or two years before getting a sleazy “ agent “ to try and break the bank for them .. - Hit of the Week : Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado Avalanche prize rookie, destroys Calgary Flame journeyman Blake Comeau with an open ice shot as Comeau circled with the puck in his own end …. The solid Avs rookie put Comeau down and hurt him, but the best part was seeing Comeau as he flailed about in midair, breathless after getting crunched … - Interesting segment on the Hotstove during HNIC on Saturday, regarding the drafting of Russian prospects like Nail Yakupov or Mikael Grigorenko … these Russian kids need to state publicly that they are in North America to play NHL hockey, or they could see their draft status hurt big time … already, the GM’s that are going to be in line to take these guys are publicly talking about trading the picks …. And with the history of the Blue Jackets and drafting Russian players, to take Yakupov would be a nauseous affair …. - Terrible goaltending performance by Steve Mason as the Jackets lost to the Oilers …. The kid who was so good as a rookie has pretty much become Jim Carey ... not the actor, but the goalie who flamed out quickly after winning the Vezina with the Capitals in his first full season in the NHL …. Carey played 40 games for the Caps the next year, then ended up in Boston, and St Louis for a cup of coffee, before leaving the NHL for good … - - Of note : Highly touted defenseman, and Anaheim Duck draft pick Justin Schultz has not signed with the Ducks yet. He can opt to go the Blake Wheeler rout and become a UFA this summer. Buyer beware, however. We are talking about a US college player who doesn’t play as many games as major junior players, and he is slight of frame …. Who were the last ballyhooed US college free agents to get lots of press ? Try Stephane De Costa and Matt Gilroy …. Not exactly gamebreakers … - It is official, Columbus will finish with the worst record in the NHL this year. It was finalized after the Oilers punished the Jackets 6-3 at Northlands Coliseum Sunday … - If the Oilers put Taylor Hall back in the lineup this year, Steve Tambellini can officially be put at the same level of hockey foolishness as his predecessor and boss, Kevin Lowe. No good can come from Hall playing another handful of games this year … March 19 - Things started bad and finished worse for the Leaves. Boston annihilated Toronto 8-0. And this was a Leaf team desperately clinging to faint hopes of a playoff spot. Forget it. The Leaves have been absolutely horrid since the All Star Game. Talking to a few Leaf fans during and after this game, and the acceptance of another year with no chance of a Stanley Cup is already taking root. Had to feel bad for Randy Carlyle, having his team get whipped so badly. Carlyle has had a bit of time to figure things out in T.O. but doesn’t have his stamp on this team yet …. With the win, Boston broke the Atlantic Division stranglehold on the top 4 spots in the East, sitting just ahead of Jersey, both teams having 87 points, but the Bruins with an extra win … - Fight of the Night : On an evening with a lot of pugilism, have to go with another vicious beat down that Milan Lucic put on Mike Komisarek …. Some of the shots Lucic landed where just plain mean. He punished Komisarek in a brutal and dominant manner. When these two drop the mitts, Komisarek might as well have a target on his face, and have his hands taped to his sides, because that is basically how the fight plays out …. - Sharks lose, to Anaheim, 5-3 ….. Haven’t listened to Remenda’s radio show for a while, but he must be at his wits end to explain the Sharks below average play this year …. One issue for San Jose: Martin Havlat has been scoring since coming back into the lineup. What happens when Havlat either starts playing like his normal enigmatic self, or gets hurt again. Havlat is basically another version of Ales Hemsky, though at times a bit of an upgrade …. Havlat was supposed to be a gamechanger / dominator first in Chicago, then in Minnesota, now in San Jose. Hockey people have been waiting for him to fulfill his potential for over a decade … probably not gonna happen. He has one year in which he hit the 30 goal mark and averaged a point per game. Two other years he approached those numbers. All in all, a very good hockey player. But more was expected of him, and he has had an agent handle his contracts in a manner that requires more performance for the money he was paid … - Buffalo is getting serious about a playoff spot as well, showing so with a decisive win over Tampa … the Sabres could salvage the year by getting into the playoffs. And who knows, if Whine Miller can keep his fool mouth shut and focus on stopping pucks, Buffalo might even win a few post season games …. It has been a rough ride for all those big dollar Sabre imports, most notably Ville Leino, who is watching former running mate Scott Hartnell enjoy a career year in Philly …. - Not gonna get to wound up over the Wings losing skid …. They have flamed out a few times before, most notably have bad stretches in the playoffs , back at the beginning of the millennium. Losing to the old Mighty Ducks, the Flames then the Oilers …. They are missing future Hall of Famers Lidstrom and Datsyuk …. This team hasn’t missed the post season since the spring of 1990, and they won’t miss this year either …. But for those who have been watching for signs of weakness, and what will happen when Lidstrom puts his feet up on a retirement desk …. Ah, whatever, Ken Holland will have Shea Weber or Ryan Suter by then,or both, and maybe even an above average goalie ….. - Elliotte Friedman ponders the status of Russian players entering the draft, and whether they will return to the KHLfor more money instead of playing in the NHL … he spends a lot of time explaining the situation, and discussing leverage, which these young Russian kids have … any young player willing to go to the KHL can have that leverage ….in the end, Friedman mentions the idea of giving young players a better bonus package … and that is where he is onto something. Performance based pay. That it how to solve the entire salary and pay conundrum in the NHL, and pro sports …. - Right out of Slap Shot : As the puck drops, three scraps break out between the Rangers and Devils …. Truth be told, pretty exciting stuff, with the Ryan Carter – Stu Bickell tilt being the best of the bunch …. Rangers won the game, though, and clinched a playoff berth … - Two players the LA Kings would like to have back: Ted Purcell and Brian Boyle. Purcell is a smart player who can score, Boyle is a monster of a man who can play the game …. March 18 - Goal of the Night : Vintage Ovechkin, as he schools Duncan Keith with a move to the outside of the over rated Chicago Blackhawk defenseman, stepping behind Keith and then going through the simple formality of scoring on Corey Crawford, one of the weaker goalies in the NHL … Ovie looked like the force of old on this tally, and those classic Capitals uniforms ? Awesome, just like it was 1983 or something … - Talk about a wild swing in momentum …. Pittsburgh was taking the Flyers to school, HARD , for two periods in the city of brotherly love ….. but after some seriously eyebrow raising officiating in the initial two frames , the blind bat refs had to call a few infractions on the Pens, and Philly seized the opportunity, waking up and getting involved in the game …. End result was a crushing blow for the Pens, as Scott Hartnell won the game with under a second left in OT … anybody who watched this game would have witnessed a clinic in elite goaltending … Marc FLeury was on his game, making several huge stops, and without Bryz, who is suddenly top shelf, the Flyers would have been humiliated after two periods … - Anyone who wants to make a case for firing Tom Renney in Edmonton will have to go hard on the fact that superstar and leading scorer Jordan Eberle doesn’t log a lot of ice time for a guy playing on a very bad team …Ryan Smyth and Shawn Horcoff both get 3-4 more shifts per game than Eberle, if you take the extra two minutes per game they play as 30 second shifts … Renney says he doesn’t want to burn out the kids, which is foolish thinking when you are playing a guy in his late 30’s more than a 20 year old kid .. Who has more energy ? Renney isn’t the Oilers big problem – that would be Lowe andTambellini …. - Which Larsson would you take ? Oliver Ekman of Phoenix or Adam in New Jersey ? After watching him in the NHL this year, and seeing his Larry Murphy style skating against opponents who are vastly superior skaters to what Murphy generally faced in the 80’s and 90’s, Adam Larsson is a huge question mark in Jersey … as far as his handling of the physical game, well, he isn’t ready for what gets dished out, that much is certain … - Book Review : Hockey’s Greatest Tragedies by Timothy Feige – This is an interesting read, covering stories related to NHL players and venues, dating back as far as the Chicoutimi Cucumber, Georges Vezina …. Feige is quite accurate with his work, and pulls no punches. Ugly is called ugly in this book, when it comes to issues such as sexual abuse and alcoholism / drug abuse … some fascinating tales, and some heartbreakers in this tome … Put on The Hip’s “ 50 Mission Cap “ and read the summary of Bill Barilko’s time with the Leaves, or put on some early 70’s rock and read of Derek “ Turk “ Sanderson the highest paid pro athlete on the planet for a time while taking a brief foray into the WHA with the Philadelphia Blazers …Feige keeps his accounts short, but packed with relevant information …. This book is worth the time, and has some vintage photos … - In a spirited move, the fans in Winnipeg really gave it to Alexander Ovechkin, highlited by a chant of “ Crosby’s Better “ …. Hilarious …. Ovie handled this with a smile, and basically said “ Whatever, fans can do as they please “ …. And he is right. Fans bankroll the whole friggin sport, so they can say what they want. Ovechkin should reiterate that point to Jet hack Tanner Glass, who seemed a little sad about the Jet fanatics riding Ovechkin …. Whatever is right, and the Jets won. That is what you call a home ice advantage, and that kind of involvement and enthusiasm is why the Jets have been a success thus far in their return to Winnipeg, as the city continue to show all of us naysayers that they are serious about supporting an NHL team … - All kinds of fuss in the OHL, a league run by the iron fisted David Branch, who often gets whacked out in his totalitarian rulings …Owen Sound Attack’s Mike Halmo crushes Sarnia Sting star player Nail Yakupov with a bone jarring open ice bodycheck as Yakupov cut across the ice into the slot in front of the Owen Sound net … watch the video for yourself, and you will see that Halmo did launch himself, but the biggest issue with this hit ? Yakupov served himself up on a platter for Halmo. He was stretched out reaching for the puck, head down, not aware of the defending player. At that level of hockey, you have to be smarter than that. In the slot in front of the opponent’s net ? Of course someone on the other team will want to crush you … For Dave Branch, he likes making examples of guys. Halmo is a well rounded player, who can score, but also doesn’t mind a seat in the sin bin … judge for yourself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXkI9lwjiOg&feature=player_embedded - Keep hearing how Ron Wilson, ex coach of the Leaves in Toronto, wanted his defenseman to play with two hands on their sticks at all times …. A classic case of wanting too much control, and micro-coaching …. Not to mention how much this limits the range of a player’s stick .. when you watch NHL defenseman, major junior d-men, or any high level amateur defenders, they always have their stick in the way of the oncoming forward …. A player who is 6 feet plus, moving his stick around, can really affect what the puck carrier does … it was this kind of over coaching, in the wrong areas, that resulted in the Leaves missing the playoffs again …. - The NHL and its officials are getting ready for the playoffs, and starting to put their whistles away …. Obstruction and stickwork is starting to get back to 1990’s levels … and the consistency of rule enforcement remains a total and utter crapshoot …. Watching the Penguins play since Crosby returned, it is obvious the league is keeping an eye on him, in a protective manner, and the Pens know it. They have the refs on their side, and have taken to using their sticks as though they were axes, swinging wild and free at opponents …. Note to league – Crosby and the Penguins don’t need an advantage. They are good enough on their own merits and accord … It was hilarious hearing Vancouver GM Mike Gillis bleating and crying about the officials and how they don’t protect the Canucks … here is the thing – refs can’t possibly do a good job, even if one could remove their own personal bias and favoritisms … the game is way too fast. The league need to clue in and start using off ice officials, watching all camera angles, and communicating with the refs on the ice, to make sure they get the calls correct, and try to call the games fairly for all teams involved … - Neat matchup in the WHL post season : The Edmonton Oil Kings, top seed in the East, take on the former Edmonton Ice, now playing out of Cranbrook, BC as the Kootenay Ice … last year, Kootenay knocked off a loaded and stacked Saskatoon Blade team that was tops in the East during the regular season … former Beardy’s Blackhawk and Sask AAA midget scoring champ Dylan Wruck is akey cog for the Oil Kings …you want to see a player who works hard both ways and leaves everything on the ice, it is Wruck. The kid also has a great understanding of the game, awesome offensive instincts … - Brendan Shinniman of the Tri City Americans won the WHL scoring title, with 134 points …. Medicine Hat Tiger Emerson Etem, the California native, topped the league with 61 goals … The OHL scoring leader was Sudbury Wolve Mike Sgarbossa, at 102 points, with Tyler Toffoli being the only player to hit the 50 goal mark, topping the league with 52 tallies … The Quebec league, a circuit that saw ridiculous numbers posted in the 1980’s, has tightened up markedly over the years, and only had two 100 point scorers, same as the OHL … Yanni Gourde of the Victoriaville Tigre led the league with 124 points, while Acadie-Bathhurst Titan Zach O’Brien topped the league with 50 goals …. Put an asterisk beside the name of Jonathan Huberdeau, the only player in the league to average more points than Gourde … Huberdeau appeared in 37 games for Saint John, due to injury and the WJC …Huberdeau averaged 1.94 points per game, Gourde averaged 1.82 points per game … - Looking for a Memorial Cup favorite ? Has to be the defending champ Saint John Sea Dogs, who are in a situation similar to that of the Windsor Spitfires a few years back. A roster loaded with superb 17 year olds powered the Sea Dogs to the 2011 Memorial Cup title, and now all of those players are back as 18 year olds, led by captain Jonathan Huberdeau …. March 16 - Another Oiler game, another clinic on offensive hockey, vision, timing and stick skills from Jordan Eberle …. The master of the toe drag has been executing his set up move into the center of the slot for two years now, and still looks unstoppable when he is given the opportunity to handle the puck in the slot area …. Eberle also set up two Oiler goals,to move up to tenth in league scoring …. Eberle is one of nine players to be averaging better than a point per game, amongst players who have played more than 50 contests …. The Nuge also racked up 2 points, and sits 1 point back of Gabriel Landeskog and Adam Henrique for the rookie lead, though the Nuge has played significantly fewer games than those two guys …. More to the point, the Oil messed with the Flames playoff chances …. - After watching footage of Cory Sarich taking a run at Taylor Hall, a couple of thoughts surface … first, technically, that hit is far cleaner than the Nik Kronwall style, where Kronwall always launches himself at players heads … Sarich came straight on, and only went airborne as Hall fell … but …. It was still a charge …. Ask yourself, what would Gordie Howe do in that situation, the situation that Hall was in ??? He would have planted an elbow right in Sarich’s kisser. And a two minute penalty would be a small price to pay for sending a message and giving the likes of Sarich, or the NHL’s protected Golden Boy of cheap shots, Nik Kronwall, something to think about next time they took a run at an opponent …. But no … the NHL talk big about protecting players and eliminating hits that target the head, yet Brendan Shanahan continually makes excuses for Nik Kronwall, the cheapest headhunter in the league …. Why is Kronwall such a worm ? If you have a problem with his hits, that blatantly and regularly target the head, Kronwall goes and hides behind a linesman ….to the credit of former Saskatoon Contact Sarich, if you have a problem with anything he does, he is more than willing to drop the gloves and work things out mano-a-mano … - The programming director at TSN needs a hard kick in the arse …. On a Friday night in Canada, home of hockey, home of the queens and kings of hockey, land of hockey, late in the season with tight playoff races, both TSN channels show basekickball games, or whatever game that is with people bouncing a ball around until 1 second remains on the clock, then somebody who is 8 feet tall drops the ball into a net and gets happy because they won a game that was likely set and fixed by the mob …. Shame on TSN , aka Totally Stupid Network ….. this isn’t the Bronx. This isn’t Southern Cal. This isn’t Florida. This is Canada. Hockey is top dog here. Want to show basekickball stuff ? Show it at 4:30 in the morning, when hockey fans are done with the telly … - Another home game for the Winnipeg Jets, another win, in a huge game against Washington … the Jets are an awesome story, and if only they can get into the playoffs, they will likely be the team of the year in Canadian sport for 2012 …. Two years ago, the idea of Winnipeg getting a team was treated as a joke, and all the folks in Winnipeg who even dreamed aloud of getting an NHL team back were treated as silly individuals … but look at them now. Packing that rink, going nuts, making a lot of noise, giving the Jets a huge advantage, and possibly pushing the franchise into its second ever playoff appearance - Interesting piece out from Jim Matheson at the Edmonton Journal, with Matheson pondering the fate of Tom Renney, whose contract expires after this season …. Matheson isn’t sure that Renney will be asked back … of note, GM Steve Tambellini will also see his contract run out this summer. And right there is the guy who needs to be canned. Him and Kevin Lowe. They make the personnel decisions, not Tom Renney. And between the two of them, Lowe and Tambellini, they haven’t made decisions to move the Oilers up the standings. Any kid on the block who follows hockey would have picked The Nuge first overall last summer, and any kid on the block would have also selected either Hall or Seguin, both good choices. Beyond that, the Oil brass are still running a last place team …. Show them the door, and give Tom Renney a few more years – he has been the smartest guy in that Oiler office, recognizing early in the 2010-11 season who his best players were ( Hall and Eberle ) ….. before that, Kevin Lowe and Steve Tambellini thought that Sam Gagner, Tom Gilbert, Andrew Cogliano, Shawn Horcoff, Ethan Moreau and Fernando Pisani were going to make the Oilers into a Western Conference power …seriously, that is how they built that team …. - Have a good St Padraig’s Day on March 17th ….. March 15 - Top four teams in the East are all Atlantic Division clubs, with the Pens, Flyers and Devils all playing red hot hockey ….. so let’s run with this a bit …. The Atlantic Division is the toughest division in hockey ….. With the Rangers holding top spot in the East, Crosby back in Pittsburgh, and Bryz finding his game in Philly, the division has three legit Cup contenders …. - As mentioned, Crosby made another triumphant return to the Penguin lineup …. Picking up an assist as Pittsburgh topped the East leading Rangers 5-2 ….. best comments returning the ridiculous and foolish degree of hype leading up to Sid the Kid hitting the ice came from Ranger coach / hothead John Tortorella, who basically declined comment, saying he talks about his team the Rangers, not the other teams. Good on ya Torts. The hype and blabber is no fault of Crosby, remember that. A good place to start with the ridicule is at the NHL Network and TSN, two stations that continually put Crosby’s presence above the status of the entire sport….. when the big media want to know why they get ridiculed and treated with derision, it is because of actions like that …. - Also returning to the Pens lineup was Kris Letang, who was plus 5 in the game … Letang is a quiet and understated guy, but he has developed into an opportunistic and effective player on the Pittsburgh blueline … Marc Fleury, as always, remains under rated and under appreciated in the Pens net …. Chris Kunitz and Matt Cooke both fly under the radar these days, but are big contributors to the Pittsburgh attack …. Penguin weakness ? Beyond Letang on the blueline, they are suspect … - Goal oftheNight : Scott Hartnell scores a textbook goal against Evgeni Nabokov with a long wrist to the top corner, over Nabokov’s trapper …. After seeing this goal, the thought was “ Who takes a wrist shot that far out on a breakaway “ …. But worked, and stood as the game winner … - Bruins need to do something to wake up … a 6-2 pummelling at the hands of the Panthers ? There is time to get that team back on track, but it best happen before the regular season ends. Sit a few guys out, give some AHL kids a few games, staple a couple guys to the bench. It would be a serious disgrace for this team, that is so dominant and powerful when they are on their game, to be a first round powder puff because the goalie started blabbing about politics and messed up the dressing room …. - If that dogfight in the West results in the Sharks missing the playoffs, what is the fallout ? Is Todd MacLellan in trouble, or Doug Wilson ? For Shark fans counting on Martin Havlat being their late season savior, don’t hold your breath. If anything, the frail Czech will get hurt again … - The Kings are surely looking at a major front office shakeup if they miss the playoffs …. Flyers West have failed to live up to expectations two years running. Instead of fighting for a post season berth, this team should have a 15 point lead on the second place team in the conference … - Sven Baertschi has been a great story for the Flames in his late season stint … he nearly stuck with the team to start the season, before being returned to Portland in the WHL …. Now, 3 games, 3 goals …. - Reading an ESPN blog by Scott Burnside, where he states that Steven Stamkos’ Hart Trophy chances will be hurt because Tampa will not make the playoffs …. Okay … for the folks that vote on this thing ( many of them should not have a vote, as evidenced by Hart wins going to the likes of Jose Theodore and a Sedin ) …. The award can go two ways, regardless of the wording that describes the award …. The best player in the league, or the most valuable to his team, then judged against others most valuable to their teams ….. Tampa missing the playoffs should not hurt Stamkos’ shot. The guy is a total stud of a player … the voting should be neck and neck between Stamkos and Malkin …. A distant third would be Giroux in Philly, followed by the likes of Fleury in Pittsburgh and Karlsson in Ottawa …. All these players are dominant impact players who can change the outcome of a game by themselves … that statement right there excludes the Sedin twins. Don’t ever put them in a Hart Trophy discussion. Zero physical presence, and a disappearing act when things get rough make the Sedins into second tier stars …. - Back to Steven Stamkos, he should hang on for a Rocket Richard Trophy win, as no other player is likely to hit the 50 goal mark …. If Stamkos stays hot, he could flirt with 60 tallies, which is always a cool mark, especially in this era of structured and tight checking hockey …. As far as 40 goal men, Malkin should hit the mark, as well as Gaborik and Kessel, with Flyer winger Scott Hartnell having a shot at the milestone as well …. - As for the 100 point plateau, Malkin might get there, and Stamkos will be close, but it looks out of reach for Claude Giroux … all three will surpass 90 points barring injury or a terrible slump … Nobody else is going to break that 90 point mark …. Want to look at the reasons for maybe having one 100 point player, and only three surpassing 90 points ? Three big reasons. First, goaltender equipment is massive, way, way oversize. Goaltender equipment exists now to stop pucks. The original reason for goalies wearing special gear was for protection, but those days are long gone. Secondly, the blind bat refs and the league have backed off big time on rule enforcement. Lots of stickwork going on ….. The third reason is the level of structure and coaching in the game. Nobody plays run and gun any more, like the 1980’s Oilers. Every team has a system, a pattern of play on the ice. Everybody is expected to fill a role in the defensive zone. Jaromir Jagr backchecks hard. Film is watched, opponents are studied. Various coaches break down various aspects of each game. NHL hockey is ultra professional in this regard. No such thing as “ Go out there and play hard, see what happens “ …. Aside from huge goalie gear and incompetent officiating, the game is amazing to watch, and everybody goes hard ….. March 11 - A story was recently run by the Vancouver Province, in which Faker-Diver GM Mike Gillis was whining about the officiating in the NHL …. The only appropriate response was to shake one’s head in disbelief, and lose respect for Mike Gillis. It is the fault of his own team, and of Gillis himself, for allowing all the faking, diving, embellishing, acting, whining, whimpering, fake limping, etc, etc, to go on ….. that team, the Faker – Divers ( Canucks ) put on one of the most pathetic displays of sportsmanship in the history of sport during the 2011 playoffs. And the dumbass refs bought it for a while …. Then they started coming down on the Canucks when they realized they had been played, and made fools of on the most public of stage …. So to Mike Gillis : Any bleating and crying from you and your team regarding the refs will be taken as whining. And it is your own fault. - Whoever ends up in that 6 spot in the East will be licking their chops at the thought of pummelling a patsy, likely the Florida Panthers, in round one of the playoffs …. If the Capitals end up winning the Southeast Division, things look a little different, but do the Caps have any real fight in them this year ? Doesn’t look like it … the way things work out for New Jersey, they could well get an easy round 1 matchup with Florida, while the 2 and 3 teams from the Atlantic, Pittsburgh and Philly, will have to beat on each other in another edition of the Battle of Pennsylvania …. - Josh Ho-Sang and Connor McDavid …. Remember those names heading into next years OHL season ….. Ho-Sang will be a highly touted 16 year old rookie. McDavid will be a 15 year old rookie, unless the “ exceptional status “ process somehow goes south …. Interestingly, McDavid will be the second straight player to enter the league as a 15 year old, joining Aaron Ekblad, a towering defenseman with the Barrie Colts … the Dub and the Q do not have an option for 15 year olds to play a full season …. Back in the day ( we are talking the early 1980’s ) the Western League allowed 14 year olds to play …. Check out Glen Goodall, he played 6 years with Seattle, the first season with the old Seattle Breakers, and the last 5 with the Thunderbird name on his chest … - A busy Sunday in the NHL, and those Calgary Flames keep thinking they want a playoff berth … this time they win at the expense of the Minnesota Wild, who can pretty much kiss their playoff hopes goodbye …. Meanwhile, the Leafs had to travel to Washington to face the Caps on a quick turnaround following a cruel loss to the Flyers … and the Caps beat down the Leaves as well … Leafs / Playoffs looks highly unlikely. Big issue for the Leaves – jettison Brian Burke, get some new blood in to that office, with some new ideas … - Hit of the Night : James Neal lays out Zdeno Chara … it was a bit cheap, Neal got an interference call on the play, but not many players set Chara to sprawling on the ice … Neal would do well to keep his head up after that little stunt
March 10 - Okay, Mike Green gets 3 games for a poor decision to line up Brett Connolly of the Lightning when Connolly was already being checked by another Washington defender …. When the list of no-no’s was referenced, Green had violated a couple of the guidelines ….. sooooo …. Use the same guidelines for the type of hits Nik Kronwall likes to dish out ….. targeting the head while not having primary contact with any other part of the body, hitting a vulnerable opponent, launching himself, or going airborne, which should make every Kronwall hit a 5 minute major for charging …. Kronwall clearly has the favor of the league office behind him, and has the protection of the referees … shameful - Interesting to see how the Marty Turco thing goes in Boston … Turco couldn’t get a job in the league to start the season after flopping in Chicago last year. Look at his time in Boston this way – as an audition for one more shot in the NHL next year … good luck to him with it, but don’t count on seeing him in the NHL next fall … - Ben Bishop, Ottawa’s new goalie, looked weak in the shootout against Boston. He looked awkward, didn’t really have any form when he was made to move quickly ….. during the game, however, that huge frame with all that massive equipment on it was effective … - Word is out that Don Fehr, mega worm for the nhlpa, wants to wait until summer to get a work agreement in place …. Fehr would be smart to get cracking on doing a deal for the players, as his union will get bombarded with negative reaction from fans of there is a “ work stoppage “ or whatever you might call it when millionaire players go golfing instead of playing hockey between October and June …. Seriously, what is this goofball Fehr thinking ? Has he not researched the history of strikes, lockouts, call them what you will in the NHL ? At the end of the day, everybody involved is still rich, but the players union looks sleazier and more slime covered every time … - Hope this gets to Ron MacLean : Regarding a shove to an official by Jordin Tootoo, Mr MacLean, just because you are an old official doesn’t make this an outrage …. Good for Tootoo to let the zebra know to be careful. The idea of refs and linesman being sacred needs to be changed. On ice officials are always screwing up, messing up, and generally have the impact of poorly informed and visually impaired stool pigeons …. And though the league will never admit it, refs are just like everyone else – they are biased and have their favorites and their targets … it is poor performance from officials, and unchecked favoritism and bias that leads to incidents like Terry O’Reilly slugging a linesman …. - Something that needs to be pointed out – injuries will always be a part of hockey. The league can make up a rule for everything, wrap the players in plastic, foam and Kevlar, and you know what ? Somebody will still find a way to get hurt. We need more statements from players like Brooks Laich, matter of factly stating that they understand the risks of the sport, and they like the physical aspect of the sport …. How exactly is it that a media contingent made up primarily of fans and some old players manage to portray the game as flawed due to injuries that result from it, when, as Mr Laich points out, every player stepping onto the ice understands that contact is part of the game ? Instead of all these repetitive and mundane articles trying to figure out how to eliminate every single broken finger nail, try instead telling the Nanny Nation to bugger off … - Regarding Erik Karlsson and his date with Fort Know this summer …. The kid has an agent, right ? Yes. Yes he does. A lawyer by the name of Craig Oster will look to pad his own personal bank account by way of Mr Karlsson, and after Karlsson is done putting the finishing touches on a dream season, in which he just keeps getting better every game, don’t be surprised if Oster asks for $8.5 million per year, or more …. Look, here is what these sleazy agents do – they use a situation like Drew Doughty, and they leverage it. Regardless of the fact that Doughty has not lived up to his deal this year, and has been a disappointment in every aspect, the sleazy agent will say “ Doughty rakes in north of $7 mill, and Karlsson is better than Doughty, so we need eight and half to get the conversation started … “ - The other half of the bargaining equation for Erik Karlsson consists of Bryan Murray. Murray does not have a brilliant history when it comes to negotiations. Think Sergei Gonchar. Think Alex Kovalev. Dany Heatley’s agent basically told Bryan Murray what to do during the Heatley fiasco, from what tie to wear right down to how to set the dinner table …. Murray has managed to avoid getting fired in Ottawa, and this suprising season for Ottawa will have Murray doing anything to try and avoid rocking the boat. Bryan Murray will give Erik Karlsson and his agent whatever they want … - President Trophy winning St Louis Blues ? Wow. And it could happen …. Watching that team in the playoffs will be some serious drama …. Every year, a couple of high seeds get sent to the golf course after round 1. A Cinderella team like the Blues would have to be a serious candidate for that fate, regardless of their stellar home record … - Philly absolutely stole that stinker of a game in Toronto, thanks in large part to Ilya Bryzgalov and his goal posts. Suddenly Bryz has found his game … and that could make the Flyers dangerous …. For the poor Leafs, another loss, at home, and further down the standings they fall … the Leaves were the better team in that slopfest against the Flyers …. Have to give credit to Giroux for scorching Gustavsson with his sham shootout move …. Though Kessel is a dynamic player, he is not even close to Giroux as far as impact, and the variety of ways in which he can hurt a team - The playoff picture in the East is basically like this : Two spots available, the three seed and the 8 seed …. And scrapping for those spots are the Panthers, Caps, Jets and Sabres … with the Lightning and Leaves holding a very long shot at a playoff berth …. Would prefer to see the Caps and Jets get in, if only for the sake of not having to listen to folks applaud Dale Tallon for throwing money at second rate players and earning a playoff spot … - In the West, looks like the 7 and 8 spots will be fought over by the Coyotes, Flames, Avalanche, Kings and Sharks …. The Coyotes could also supplant the Stars for the 3rd spot by winning the division …. As per usual, it will come down to the final few days to decide who is in … - Does Brian Elliott get a Vezina nomination this year ? He has the stats ….. Wouldn’t that be a reversal of fortune for a guy who couldn’t stop a beach ball in his time with the Senators and Avalanche … Letting Elliot wear a tux to the NHL awards night is not as bad an idea as folks suggesting something foolish, like putting former Blues goalie Chris Osgood in the Hockey Hall of Fame … yes, Osgood played for the Blues, and the Islanders, though Wings fans and those that think Osgood should be in the HHOF like to memory-repress those two failed stops for the former Tron helmeted goaltender … March 8 - Rough night between the pipes for Dustin Tokarski, former Spokane Chief ….. the Saskatchewan boy, and former Gold medal winning goalie at the WJC, dropped a decision to the Capitals, looking slow on the goals he allowed …. Maybe not ready for the big show, which puts the Lightning in a bad spot, since Dwayne Roloson has been unreliable all year … be interesting to see who tends goal for Tampa in 2012-13 …. - Jets fans have to be miffed today, after Winnipeg blew a 2-1 lead against the Faker-Divers in Vancouver last night …. A big part of the game had to do with some horrid reffing as well … vicious, vicious slash from Max Lapierre on Dustin Byfuglien, right in front of a dummy ref, and no call …. Then, another dummy ref deflects a Jet pass right onto the stick of Ryan Kesler, with Kesler scoring on the play …. Brutal work by the officials, but the Canucks have benefitted many times in recent years from the refs …. This game was no different …. Just a bit hard for any Jets fans to swallow … - With the solid goaltending provided the Jets by Ondrej Pavelec, how come the guy doesn’t get more recognition in the press ? He has been around for a few years …. The old excuse that a guy doesn’t get the kudos because he isn’t in a “ hockey market “ doesn’t apply any more …. - Kovalchuk-Grossman is finally living up to his potential in New Jersey, but he still needs to be cat-called by adding Grossman as part of his name ….. Did he give back the $15 million bucks he was paid before he started performing to spec in Jersey ? I doubt it. Did Grossman pay back his commission when Kovalchuk didn’t initially deliver as the parasite agent promised ? Not a chance …. So it remains, Kovalchuk-Grossman, though Ilya boy is finally playing as an impact player …. And Jersey look headed back to the playoffs … - Still cringe at the Devon Setoguchi shootout gaffe …. That was just horrible ….. How does he actually convince people that he gets paid money to do that ?? - All these years later, Rick Jeannerette still calls Sabre games …. He does a decent job, but man, that over the top act he goes into when something exciting happens for the Sabres, really ….. if you were sitting beside him, would you not want to pull off a filthy sock, and stuff it in his mouth … - The development of Steven Stamkos into such a dominant player …. Wow …. He is going to win another Rocket Trophy, and could win an Art Ross … watching him on the ice, the guy is huge, he moves well, and he is always ready to pull the trigger …. Back in the day, that was the hope for Vincent LeCavalier, but Big Vin only ever scratched at the surface of his potential, which still resulted in a Stanley Cup, a World Cup, and a few other notable accolades …. Stamkos looks positioned to be a long time star, and if he can maintain his level of play for even another 10 years, he will be HHOF bound. That is something LeCavalier is going to be hard pressed to get, a HHOF plaque, though he has been an above average NHL player …. March 7 - Ugly loss for the Leaves … really ugly …. That game winner that Dolt Mcguire’s little boy let in was a terrible goal …. To use a phrase from Kurt Vonnegut to describe the happenings in Maple Leaf world …. “ So it goes “ …. The Leafs have been the definition of mundane since the last lock out or strike, whatever you want to call it … they flounder around below the 8 slot, occasionally teasing the fanbase with some sort of excitement, ultimately pulling out the golf clubs after game 82 … - Great statue of Mario Lemieux unveiled in Pittsburgh … very cool, depicting hi torching the old Minnesota North Stars defense corp, on his way to an amazing goal, and a Stanley Cup …. Lemieux in his prime was an utterly dominant player, both because of his size, and his superior instinct … the only player aside from Gretz to flirt with the 200 point mark. Mario had one season where he topped out at 199 ….. amazing to think that players used to put up those numbers …. Later in his career, when he had been slowed by the weight of various opponents hanging from his neck, and chopping at him as though he were a fine specimen of oak, Lemieux relied on that amazing understanding and control of the game to school opponents …. Hey Mario, thanks man. Not a bad show from the old number 66 of the Laval Voisin …. - Definitely not a Buffalo Sabre fan, but a respect and acknowledgement for the talents of Tomas Vanek is warranted … the big Austrian has great hands, great instincts, and the ability to score in so many ways …. Loved his goal last night against Carolina, parking himself directly in front of the net, fishing the puck out of the goalies massive gear, and scoring a goal that Tim Kerr would be proud of ….. the Sabres are playing some decent hockey …. And Whine Miller has kept his foolish yap closed …. Coincidence ?? - Note to TSN – teach Jamie McLennan how to speak. And tell him to slow down. McLennan seems to think he is supposed to say as much as possible, as fast as possible. At times, it makes him sound like a third grader who got hold of the microphone at a family reunion ….. blah, blah, blah, faster blah, faster blah …… McLennan would do well to listen to Bob McCown, who, like him or not, is very polished on the air … - A slow night on the ice, so again, every Tom, Dick and Harry in the media are blabbering on about the possible return of Crosby. Cut the kid a break. Wait until he steps on the ice …. Crosby is a total professional, nothing but gracious when dealing with the endless line of goofballs asking him about his health …. Let him alone, and follow the freakin games and players …. When Crosby again hits the ice, then lets all talk about it. Until then, enough hype and manufactured headlines …. - Interesting how the struggles of the San Jose Sharks are finally shining the spotlight on Anti Niemi … and some clown music is starting to play, with a dunce hat being held out towards San Jose number 31 …. It makes one cringe when folks defend Niemi by saying that he has won a Stanley Cup …. In that series, Chicago won in spite of Niemi. There was likely a contingent of Hawks players that would have preferred a shooter tutor to start in goal, as opposed to the bumbling and clumsy looking Niemi …. For those who defend Niemi based on that Cup win, who was the quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens when they won a Super Bowl ? …. Niemi is the same thing – right guy, in the right place, at the right time, with the stars aligned perfectly, and his lucky charms all shining at the same time ….. In other words, he is no gamebreaking goaltender …. All apologies to Shark fans, but that is just the harsh reality .. - How do these guys get their jobs ? Some guy named Sean Gordon, who works at the Globe and Mail, comes up with an incredibly idiotic story, along the lines of “ What if Andrei Markov actually plays for the Habs, and they rocket up the conference standings, result in a drop in draft order ? “ …… Pregunta : Does this guy watch hockey ? Or does he just bleat on through his keyboard in the most non-sensical manner possible …. Hey buddy, Markov doesn’t really play for the Canadiens …. He just rubs $100 dollar bills with Ankelskater Scott Gomez in the press box … for Hab fans – Not to worry, a high draft is headed to Montreal. What is to be concerned about is who will be making the selection for the Habs … en Ice Hitter - Pure Hockey March 6 - Remember early in the season, when Minnesota and Edmonton were atop the Western Conference standings, while in the East the Leaves sat in top spot, and the Bruins were in the basement ? That is why it is not a good idea to brag too much until April ….. - St Louis now lead the West. Ken Hitchcock should be a Jack Adams finalist …. The stats on changing coaches in season show that it is always a risky proposition, in this case it has worked … - This is what Ilya Bryzgalov is paid to do – the Flyers are badly outshot, but prevail over the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2 … Bryzgalov has now strung together a few decent games, and Philly will need that from him if they want to win even a single playoff round this year … - Interesting poopy pants act from Brian Burke on a recent radio show in the Big Smoke …. The radio guy was quizzing Burke on the possibility of Burke getting canned as Leaf GM. Burke promptly threw a hissy fit, then hung up … so lets put this to Burke – he has been running the Leafs for a few years now, recently fired his buddy from the coaching position, and has not had his team in the playoffs, likely destined for the same fate this year …. Should he be retained and allowed to continue running / ruining the Leafs ? ….. The Toronto and Canadian media have slowly fed Burke the rope, and now he appears to be ready to hang himself. He has a running feud with Don Cherry, and Cherry is currently pummelling Burke on points. Burke has no defense to Cherry’s latest tirade, in which Grapes lambasts Burke for not having any Ontario born players on the roster, instead populating the team with US college guys … Burke bumbled away in an attempted response, but Cherry has him on this point …. More to the big picture, the Leafs are nowhere close to being a contender. The shine is off James Reimer, and Johan Gustavsson has never had the impact that braggarts like Pierre McGuire claimed he would have …. The day Brian Burke was hired as GM in Toronto, this site made clear it’s stance, that Brian Burke is an over rated GM, and he wouldn’t be able to make the Leaves into winners …. If the powers that be in the Leaf offices want to do something smart, try this : Get rid of Burke, and bring in a fresh face, someone with new ideas, and give them a couple of years to turn things around. It would be hard to do worse than what Brian Burke has done … - Sid Crosby is a great player, for sure. But he isn’t bigger than the game. The fact that him skating and taking contact in practice is the lead story for every Tom, Dick and Harry in the media business is shameful …. Put the games played first. Then focus on players. Even the NHL channel made this mistake …. The danger in pumping up a few players ahead of the entire sport is that the league could end up like the NBA – as a joke, a farce, an overhyped shlokfest …. - Awesome goals by Winnipeg large bodies Blake Wheeler and Chris Thorburn the other night, as the Jets continue to win games, this time beating the Buffalo Sabres …. Thorburn looked like a legit NHL player, schooling a Buffalo pylon with a move to the outside before deking out Whine Miller in the Sabre net ….. if those Jets can just squeak into the playoffs …. - Kind of makes one wonder how the old Atlanta Thrashers would have fared had they canned Don Waddell years ago, instead of letting the lame duck run their hockey operations into the ground for years ….. Waddell was to Atlanta’s front office what Kevin Lowe is to Edmonton’s … a poor decision maker, and a loser, allowed to stay on and ruin a team for many years past his “ Fire this clown now “ date …. - Ahhh, yes, Nik Kronwall, the Detroit Red Wings, and the free pass from the league … Kronwall at it again, going airborne, launching himself from the ice, and targeting an opponent’s head …. The funny thing about this is the media silence. Teemu Selanne called the worm Kronwall out on this 2 years ago, but hey, Kronwall plays for Detroit, so he can’t be a dirty player, right ?? …. Lets put it this way : If that is Zac Rinaldo laying out Pavel Datsyuk by jumping a foot into the air in order to hit Datsyuk in the head, Rinaldo is likely looking at a 20 or 30 game suspension ….. this is Brendan Shanahan’s weakness, his one glaring and ongoing mistake ….allowing Detroit players to wiled their sticks as weapons, and allowing Kronwall to target heads …. If he doesn’t deal with the Wings, and their carte blanche from league officials and refs, someone is going to get hurt. And if it is Kronwall, you can bet there will be a huge contingent of fans and players cheering at the expense of the notorious headhunter who is always trying to injure other players, and never willing to drop the gloves and defens his cowardly intentions … - Good for Paul Coffey, speaking out against NHL players who cash in after one good season, sign a huge contract, then never perform to the levels them and their agent’s said they would …. Coffey referred to it as hitting the jackpot and then taking the foot off the gas ….. just more reason to get rid of the current system, get rid of guaranteed contracts, and bring in performance based pay .. Coffey made his comments to Jim Matheson at the Edmonton Journal, if you want to read more on this subject. Matheson always puts together a good hockey column in the Journal … - What is Kevin Lowe doing on the Team Canada 2014 Olympic exec ?? Lowe has one flukey playoff run to his credit, sandwiched by years of not just losing, but being a joke and a doormat …. Get this guy off of that staff. You can e-mail Bob Nicholson from the Hockey Canada website, and Bob does read all of his e-mails … The only rationale for including Lowe is that him and Nicholson must be buddies, because Lowe’s performance running the Oilers has been horrendous …. The guy should not even have a job in Edmonton …. Who knows, maybe he is a really nice man, and people feel sorry for him, so they give him these jobs. He sure hasn’t justified his position … - The rest of the Team Canada staff have earned their positions, and it was a good move by Hockey Canada to name NHL people as the brass, total PR to motivate the league as far as getting players to Sochi for the 2014 Olympics ….. - Two first round playoff matchups I don’t want to see : Detroit vs Nashville or Pittsburgh vs Philly ….. who knows, maybe this time the Preds can clip the Wings if they meet in round one …. As for the Flyers, it is old news for them, meeting the Pens in the playoffs, and then going golfing 10 days later … - The Hockey News future watch edition has Evgeni Kuznetsov listed as the best prospect not in the NHL ….. yet the interview reads as though Kuznetsov is not overly eager to come to North America …. Kuznetsov even comes across as arrogant and intolerant to his interviewer, a fellow Russian ….. Sure, he can be like Alexander Radulov, a spoiled prima donna making huge tax free cash in Russia, a big fish in a small pond as far as his profession …. And at the end of the day, scared to test himself in the greatest sports league in the world …. The Russian hockey players worked for many years to have labels and stigmas removed, but the new generation seem intent on portraying themselves poorly, driven mainly by money, and doing whatever is easiest to get it … Feb 27 - In response to Elliotte Friedman’s observation that a lot of abuse has been directed at the Oilers and Hurricanes for overpaying in deals to Ales Hemsky and Tuomo Ruutu : The abuse is well deserved. Kevin Lowe in Edmonton has made some of the worst, yes, actually dumbest, moves in NHL hockey over the past decade. Jim Rutherford in Carolina has some serious blunders on his record of late as well. Tomas Kaberle ? ….. - The Flames should retire Al MacInnis number and hang his jersey in the rafters at the Saddledome. The guy has a song named after him, and a Stanley Cup ring, as well as the most famous slapshot of his era, come on Ken King. Step up and do this right….. - Serious gaffe by the Jets last night, dropping a game to the Oil … the Jets have played more games than division counterparts Florida and Washington … if Winnipeg want that playoff berth, they have to beat teams like Edmonton … of note, Jordan Eberle scored a classic breakaway goal in this game, a patent Eberle moved to the backhand, then top shelf with the puck … - St Louis currently the number 2 seed in the West … who seen that coming ? Ken Hitchcock will be a nominee for the Jack Adams if the Blues keep it up … - Remember a few years back, when the Habs finished first in the East ? What happened that year to allow Montreal to finish so high ? And how did the Canadiens manage to discard that success and status so quickly ? After slipping by the 8 seed Bruins, the Habs were completely dominated by the Flyers in a 5 game whipping … since then, Montreal has suffered for the most part, aside from a lucky playoff run two years back, which was again ended by getting crushed against the Flyers …. The Habs are now in total disarray, dealing players away, looking to the future. And they have gotten bigger, and tougher …. But they have no decent prospects coming in. Things could get even worse for Hab fans …. Feb 26 - Hit of the Month : Chris Neil destroys Bruin defenseman Johnny Boychuk with a devastating hit in the Bruins end, as Boychuk attempted to move the puck out of the Bruins zone …. It was a crushing impact in open ice, and left Boychuk in a heap. No small feat, as Boychuk likes the rough & tumble …. Boychuk didn’t see Neil until it was too late, and by that time the wheels were in motion, with Neil flattening #55 using his shoulder, right into Boychuk’s chest …. Game over !! - What do the Flyers do with Ilya Bryzgalov ? He allows the first two shots by the Flames to go in the net, looks like a flailing sloth on the Tangauy penalty shot, and basically messed up the game for the Flyers, until the sham shootout …. At the other end of the ice, Flames goalie Mikka Kiprusoff was busy stifling the Flyers, and earning the Flames a point … Philly outshot the Flames 45-21, but only earned a victory in the sham shootout …. Two things were very obvious in this game : The Flyers goaltending is awful, and the Flames can’t compete with high end teams. This game was pretty much played with the Flames on their heels, in their own end, except for a few brief moments where they were able to move the puck into the Flyers end, and score against Bryzgalov, who has zero confidence in himself …. - Why Evgeni Malkin will win the Hart Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Trophy ….. He scores a hat trick as the Penguins clobber Tampa … Malkin has stepped up in the absence of Sid Crosby, again, and is setting the tone for the Penguins, a very solid and well coached team. Malkin has given Pittsburgh the superstar presence and dangerous offensive option that makes them a contender …. Doesn’t hurt that Marc Fleury is a total ace between the pipes. Hope he gets a Vezina nomination, he deserves one, a proven big game goalie who can steal games, make huge and timely saves, and help his team - Scott Howson has to be brilliant from this point on as Columbus GM. He can’t make any more mistakes. No errors of any kind. In regards to Rick Nash, he can’t deal the big forward unless he gets solid young players, star players. He has to show some spine, and tell Nash’s agent to shut up. Howson has to make a deal for the sake of the Blue Jackets. He can’t just deal Nash because Nash’s agent is yapping in the press. Howson is likely close to getting fired, and if he wants to keep his job, he has to make smart moves from this point on. The Jeff Carter trade – to LA – looks like a decent move. He needs to do even better in moving Nash. If he is going to swap with the Rangers, he needs to insist on getting Marian Gaborik, or else emptying the cupboard of young Rangers. We are talking Stepan, Kreider, McIlrath …. Even at that, a handful of young players rarely equals the performance of one star …. - Crazy speculation out of LA after the Carter acquisition …. Supposedly the Kings could move captain Dustin Brown …. This would be an interesting move, since the Kings have shown a lot of faith in Brown. But … after bringing in Mike Richards, former Flyer captain, and a very accomplished and decorated player, one had to wonder if something like this might happen … - No trade / no movement clauses need to be addressed in the next CBA ….. it isn’t hard to understand that a player would like to know what their address will be, and have some control over where they live …. But …. Being a pro athlete is not a regular job. For the riches and status, some inconveniences have to be tolerated. The league owners have given way too much power to the union, and it is messing with the game from the fans perspective … not to mention how difficult it has made the business of building a team … - Goal of the Night : Ray Whitney scored a beaut, dancing through Oilers like they were pylons from the red line in, before sliding the puck between Devan Dubnyk’s legs … - Alex Ovechkin has his name making its way through the trade rumour circuit ….. two years ago, the idea or mention of trading Ovechkin would have been quickly dismissed … now though, after two sub par seasons, in comparison to what he did in his first 5 seasons, Ovechkin has everyone wondering what happened to his formerly dominant game … The Capitals at one point, three years ago say, looked poised to dominate the league and win a Stanley Cup …. Now they seem destined for a major re-tooling … - Worst thing about Ales Hemsky re-signing with the Oilers, at $5 million bucks per year, is it will drive up salaries for everyone else …. The Oil are basically paying him that much in gratitude for him remaining with the team ….. other player agents won’t see it that, though. Overpaid players, and NHL teams with no option out of the bs that is a guaranteed contract, are a huge problem. And in the end, it is the fan that foots the bill for players getting paid millions they don’t deserve … This little rant isn’t all about Hemsky, who is by all accounts a legit NHL player …. He is, however, an example of a guy earning more than he should be. In his case, injury history plays a role, as well as the fact that he has never quite developed into the dominant game breaker on a regular basis that everyone thought he could be …. When he gets $5 mill, the next guy with a couple of decent years will want the same. Pretty soon, everyone in the league is making big bucks, in the millions … but there is no recourse for guys that don’t live up to their contracts, and that is a long, long list, headlined by the likes of Scott Gomez, Shawn Horcoff, Brad Boyes, Ville Leino, Jeff Finger, Mike Komisarek, and on and on and on …. The nhlpa, and all the drivel and babel that comes out of that office, always want what is fair for their clients …. What happens when their clients don’t fulfill their end of a deal ? The answer : Scrap the guaranteed contract … - It can’t be said enough : Mikhail Grabhovski is not a $5 million dollar player. Give him $2 mill per year, for a hit and miss offensive player with zero physical presence, a second liner, that is what Grabhovski is - Supposedly Steve Ott is a hot commodity …. So lets put this into perspective …. If Ott was earning the league minimum, he might be an acceptable addition for the third line … but at nearly $3 million dollars per year, is this guy worth bringing in ? He has pretty much topped out as a 20 goal guy, which is respectable in the current NHL. But he doesn’t have much judgement as far as when to be a knob, and when to play it straight …. - Very curious to see what Ken Holland does …. He is always the man to watch as far as moves, or anything to do with hockey …. Holland has been loyal to a fault over the years ( sticking with the likes of Chris Osgood and Kris Draper well past their prime ), so can he admit to himself that he needs a goalie ? Aside from a tender, Holland could add anything from depth players to the likes of Rick Nash…. - Not sold on Tuuka Rask yet, not to be a solid number one goalie …. Rask plays a more structured style than Tim Thomas, but doesn’t have the effect, or accomplishments of Thomas … any team trading for Tuuka Rask as a bona fide number one goalie is taking a risk ….Rask has blown a few games for the Bruins this year … - Jeff Carter is re-united with Mike Richards as a Los Angeles King …. And the Kings continue a trend as Flyers West … this is a move made by Lombardi in hopes of sparking the Kings to meet the expectations of pretty much the entire hockey community. It is also a move made by Lombardi to save his job. Carter and Richards were moved out of Philly in a shocking move last summer by Paul Holmgren, and depending who you talk to, the reasons are all over the map. When you look at the allegations of too much drinking and partying, versus any one saying they were “ hockey deals “, well, seems like the boys liked the booze a bit too much. They aren’t the first athletes to meet that description, and it sure seemed rash of Holmgren at the time. Since then, the Flyers have pretty much spun their wheels, just with a younger group and a more expensive goalie. Carter and Richards are having career worst years …. The Kings are fighting to get into the playoffs. If they don’t, good bye Dean Lombardi … Looking back from the Flyers perspective, they have made out alright with the young kids. Who knew Sean Couturier would fall to the 8 spot in the draft ? Wayne Simmonds was born to wear orange, and Brayden Schenn has been playing well since getting healthy and getting ice time …. But Ilya Bryzgalov, for those dollars, and that many years ? Not looking good … mind you, Tomas Vokoun as a Capital, a move that looked like a total steal, hasn’t worked so far in Washington either … - Wojtek Wolski to the Florida Panthers in exchange for a minor league bus driver, some sock tape, and a skate sharpener …. Wolski’s rep has plummeted since arriving in the NHL, a former first round pick who looked like he was going to spend a while in the league. Now, amidst speculation of a poor attitude, he joins his fourth team, basically given away by the New York Rangers … - Those New York Islander third jerseys get uglier every time they are worn in public …. Black has nothing to do with the Isles color scheme. Get rid of it. And numbers do not belong on the front of hockey jerseys or sweaters, call them what you will … - Jimmy Howard didn’t like Alex Burrows show-off antics after he beat the over-rated Red Wing goaltender to end the Wings home winning record ? Who Cares ? Howard is just whining because Andy MacDonald had a good run, and then Howard returned to the crease and blew it for Detroit …. An overview of the Wings 23 home wins : A stellar achievement, but it does not deserve the same reverence as a win streak with no overtime or shootouts … - Had to laugh at the Barry Melrose comments, where he downplayed the original home win streaks of the Flyers and Bruins …. Melrose spoke of easy wins in the 1970’s, of bad teams like the early edition Washington Capitals, and how there were no patsies in todays NHL, certainly none that played the Wings …. What about the Columbus Blue Jackets Barry ? Far and away the worst team in the NHL, with pee wee calibre goaltending !! Guess the slickster forgot about that team …. - Always like Damien Cox’ columns …. And one of his latest is not rosy on the Leaves chances of getting into the playoffs ….. Cox doesn’t come right out and say that Brian Burke has failed. He does figure on Ron Wilson getting the axe in the summer …. Of course, the Leaves could still secure a playoff spot, which would buy both men time to actually build and polish the Leaves as a contender …. What Cox nails is this : Toronto will not win a Stanley Cup without major changes. James Reimer has lost his effect. The defense is second rate, and after Kessel and Lupul, the Leaves have nothing …. Can Lupul put up big numbers again next year ? Will Kessel be back in the top 10 in league scoring ? Iffy at best …. - Jack Johnson will really help the Blue Jackets, solidifying a blueline that has potential with James Wisniewski and Fedor Tyutin ….watch him for the remainder of the season, but his potential impact will be next year … - The latest brilliant move by the Edmonton Oilers is to give Ales Hemsky a 2 year extension at $5 mill per year … ??? Yup. This move is officially on the shoulders of Steve Tambellini, but it would have been given the nod by Kevin Lowe, the same wizard who gave big dollar deals to Shawn Horcoff, Fernando Pisani and Ethan Moreau … 2 of those guys aren’t even in the league anymore, and the other one is the butt of many, many jokes regarding his contract …. For his career, Hemsky has twice hit the 20 goal mark, and twice hit the 70 point plateau …. He also has one 19 goal season, and a 66 point season …. And a ton of injuries. He is wildly talented, but has never been a superstar …. This is a gamble by the Oilers, to be sure. If healthy, Hemsky could help the team .. if he continues to be injured on a regular basis, he will be using up dollars that the Oilers will need in an attempt to become a relevant franchise again, something they have not been in 20 years … - Good to see Jordan Eberle getting some headlines and marquee press for the Oilers … if the Oilers brass want to pat themselves on the back for something, selecting Eberle late in the first round of the 2008 draft would be their one smart move …. The Nuge and Taylor Hall generally have gotten top billing from the media due to their pedigree as First Overall picks … Eberle has been spectacular pretty much since stepping on the ice as an Oiler, and promptly burning Ian White and Mikka Kiprusoff for his first NHL goal in hilite reel fashion. Since then, he has been the Oilers best player, though Hall and The Nuge are right up alongside Eberle … - Too bad for Nashville that they can’t score goals …. Because they are solid at the back end. Pekka RInne is massive, athletic, and effective. Weber and Suter, along with the giant Hal Gill, and blueliners that hardly ever get mentioned, like Kevin Klein and Jonathan Blum, plus a cast of youngsters, drive Nashville’s success. Their forwards are hard working, but just don’t bring enough offense to make the Predator’s a serious contender …. Remember when David Legwand was amongst the NHL scoring leaders early in the year ? You just knew it wouldn’t last …. - Kris Versteeg was up in the scoring race for a while, too …. But reality has set in for him, and the Florida Panthers …. Versteeg now sits in the 42 spot in league scoring. The Panthers are in an all out fight for a playoff spot … Feb 21 - Apologies for the inexcusable absence …. Sometimes the job gets in the way of the passion for hockey…. - Of all things, fired Florida Panthers coach Peter DeBoer has the New Jersey Devils in fourth spot in the East …. The Devils continue to be a plug and play type organization, aside from the initial funk the team was in for a year and a half after bringing in Kovalchuk-Grossman … - With 57 points, Erik Karlsson is the only d-man in the top 20 in NHL scoring, 17 points ahead of the rest of the pack of scoring blueliners … next amongst defenseman is Brian Campbell, at 77th spot in the league scoring race …. It will be interesting to see how Karlsson does come award time, in regards to the Norris Trophy. Karlsson doesn’t have much of a physical presence, and will likely be overlooked in favor of the complete games the likes of which Lidstrom, Weber and Chara boast … - The whole Rick Nash thing …. Or how about the whole Columbus thing ? What a gong show … a couple of notes : If Paul Holmgren drops a bunch of young talent into Columbus for Nash, the man can officially be diagnosed as nuts and extremely foolish … If Brian Burke turns down a deal for Nash, in a fashion similar to the deal he turned down for Mike Richards in the summer, then Burke is also nuts … look at it this way : Bring in Rick Nash, offload the likes of Nazem Kadri, Grabovski, a first rounder, and even if you throw in Jake Gardiner, who has excited Leaf fans and brass, that is a good deal … remember, Gardiner was a throw in from Anaheim, and doesn’t have a long history to be evaluated on … maybe he is a flash in the pan, maybe not … If the Leafs can bring in Rick Nash, they have a true superstar, something that team and its fans desperately need … - Rumours starting to circulate about the fate of Dean Lombardi, should the Kings miss the playoffs … as in Lombardi getting fired …. - Here is a good deal : Alex Ovechkin for Rick Nash …. Get that circulating on the rumour mill … Nash has a few years on Ovechkin, so the Jackets throw in Derek Dorsett, an agitator that could help Washington …. For the stodgy and over-serious who get all twitterpated at this suggestion, lighten up, be a fan for a minute … and never, ever dismiss a trade suggestion, because crazy things happen. Just ask Paul Holmgren … for those that claim to be rumour experts on the internet, how come you have missed all the big deals in recent years ? Bob McKenzie is the name for rumour analysis, after him, we are all just guessing …. - For the sake of Flyer fans, hope that Paul Homgren plans on retaining his two new blueliners, after throwing away high draft picks for both of them …. If Philly are able to sign Grossman and Kubina, it gives them size and defensive awareness, and though some figure Matt Carle as a decent contributor, he is no gamebreaker, and has not even been a difference maker this year … - Does Dustin Penner get another shot in the NHL after his contract expires ? … Looking at his career stats, and watching him play, it sure looks like an attitude / desire issue …. Maybe some time in Russia is what he needs … - As far as the rest of the Kings team, what to say … if Darryl Sutter cracking the whip doesn’t get results, what is the next move ? What would a new GM do with that team ?... aside from ditching Penner, and a public call out of Drew Doughty ( hey, you want to cause a scene about getting the big bucks, then you bring it on yourself as far as pressure and criticism from fans and management, so be a big boy Drew, and thank your agent for everything ) … Dustin Brown is a decent player, but he is not a gamebreaker …. Do you deal him ? Anyway you cut it, the Kings have been a huge disappointment … - Tim Thomas is learning a hard lesson regarding celebrity …. Sure, you have a huge audience on which to relay your thoughts and opinions …. But it isn’t a one way street … Maybe he won’t say it, but he must regret his decision to make political statements and refuse a visit to the White House …. The team has not been the same since, fan support has not exactly been overwhelming in Thomas’ favor, and the media, even the hometown Boston scribes, are ripping him …. Thomas has been the dominant goalie in the NHL over the past few years. Hope his actions off the ice don’t derail his career … - About the only destination where Ales Hemsky would have an impact would be Detroit, where the Wings organization routinely spin straw into gold … Hemsky as the offensive savior of the Kings just isn’t likely to work, same goes for Hemsky as a Washington Capital … - Not sure what to make of the Derek Dorsett – John Scott fight a few days back …. Sure, it was gutsy and fearless on the part of Dorsett, even a little bit crazy. The eventual outcome, which featured the monstrous Scott, all 6 foot 8 inch, 260 or so pounds, “ jackhammering “ on Dorsett, was not surprising …. Dorsett landed an initial shot flush to the jaw of the Chicago Monster, to zero effect … maybe Scott should look to Hollywood, and play the tough brute in the next Sherlock Holmes movie … - Dominic Moore traded again ? What is with this guy ? He is a decent player, actually defines the term journeyman in many ways, but would a team not want to hang on to him at some point ? Is there more to the story with this gun ? ( Ignore the pun ) - Paul Gaustad would be a great pickup for a playoff bound team. Big body, good at the faceoff dot, a decent journeyman NHL’er ….. for the Sabres sake, though, it would be best to keep him in Buffalo, where he has served the team well. He isn’t a Milan Lucic, but he never claimed to be. He is a bona fide NHL player, and it isn’t solely his fault that the Sabres imploded this year … you want a single guy to point the finger at in Buffalo, start with Ryan “ Whine “ Miller … - If the Panthers make the playoffs, it will be good for hockey in the Miami region …. But … it will also inflate the ego of Dale Tallon, and some folks might even give Tallon credit for getting the team into the playoffs …. The reality is that the Panthers are the beneficiaries of the collapse in Washington, and the demise of their state rivals in Tampa …. Winnipeg will have a say in this before it is over, too … Tallon is no genius, just a run of the mill hockey guy who got lucky with some high draft picks in Chicago, then messed it up, got fired, came to South Florida, and had to spend millions on players to get to the cap floor …. Time will be the judge on this issue, as Tallon’s team is not built for the long haul … - Good report out of Phoenix, regarding sale of the Coyotes … Mike Sunnucks of the Phoenix Business Journal claims that the team could be sold to former San Jose brass tack Greg Jamison, with a deal possibly being finalized in the near future … this might be looked at negatively from hockey fans in some of the traditional markets, but the big picture is like this : If the NHL, and its fans, want to be big league, they need to have teams all over the USA …. An NHL with 15 Canadian teams and 15 US teams would not have the same lustre or appeal as an NHL as it is currently laid out .. look, Canada only has about 35 million citizens … the US has more than 10 times that number of people … people criticizing the Coyotes and Phoenix need to remember the struggles of teams in Edmonton and Calgary in the mid to late 90’s, and rinks with lots of empty seats … give Phoenix time, let the US economy recover, and also remember the rapidly increasing number of Canadians in the Phoenix area …. - Whatever happened to Tomas Kaberle, savior of the Montreal Canadiens ? Is he still in the league ? … oh yeah, he is stil with the 13th place Habs, and he has 2 goals, just like Scott “ Ankleskater “ Gomez …. Combined salary for these two frauds ? $12 million bucks, 20% of the Habs payroll ….. - Sam Gagner and the Oilers have slowed down a bit …. But don’t get on the kid now, you would be three years too late, and he has turned his game around in so many positive ways … remember, it was an aberration, the kid lived the dream for a game or two …. For the Oil, they have the rookie of the year, and a top 20 scorer ( The Nuge and Jordan Eberle ) …. A team that could utilize Gagner well ? Detroit, of course …. - Feb 12 - Habs crush the Leaves, 5 – egg ….wow …… of note in this game were Montreal goal scorers Max Pacoreitty ( yup, the guy with the busted neck ) and Erik Cole, two of the bigger forwards in the Habs lineup …. Both have hit the 20 goal mark, the only two Habs to have scored that many. Third on the team in goalscoring is Rene Bourque, at 16, though a good portion of those came as a Calgary Flame. The point is that the Habs are adding some big bodies with skill …. If they can find a way to ditch Scott “ Ankleskater “ Gomez, he of the 7 or 8 million dollar contract, and one goal, and continue to add size and skill, the Habs might someday be able to compete in the East … - Blackhawks lose … again … 5-3 to San Jose … not that the Blackhawks seem to care lately. They are happy losing to anyone, doesn’t matter to them. Pick a team. Chicago will lose to them. Really bad goaltending and a crisis of confidence …. The Blackhawks should get over this, though ? The Hawks muscled up in preparation for this season, and until this brutal losing skid, they looked like a good bet to meet Boston in the Cup final …. If Stan Bowman can swing it, ditching lacrosse goalie Corey Crawford would be a good move - Rumours and discussions about the Phoenix Coyotes are really ramping up … Seattle is getting mentioned a lot …. Way back in the day, when the old NHL had 21 teams, and expansion was being discussed in the late 1980’s, Seattle was at the forefront of speculation as to what cities the NHL would put a team in …. Instead, the NHL kicked off a new wave of growth in San Jose, California, and the whole Seattle thing kind of faded away, leaving the WHL Thunderbirds as the only hockey entity in the Washington city …. It will be a bad day for the NHL if the Phoenix team has to relocate, but Seattle as an NHL market could do well … - Ryan Kesler is playing some better hockey now, though it will be tough for him to hit the 30 goal mark … definitely not having the impact of last year, but not many Canucks are …. Kesler is a large frame that skates well on the ice … big question with him : Was the 41 goal season a one-off, or can he put up that many goals again next year, if fully healthy … Feb 7 - It has taken a year and a half, but Kovalchuk-Grossman has the New Jersey Devils looking like a playoff team … the Devils are on a 7-3 streak, sitting in 5th spot in the East …. That was a cool game against the Rangers, a 1-0 shoutout win for Martin Bordeur and the Devils, much to the dismay of John Tortorella, who certainly knows how to play the role of the angry lunatic on the verge of snapping …. This game looked a little bit like a refined Slap Shot when the two staged fights happened, with gloves flying everywhere immediately following puck drop …. Entertaining, a definite spectacle, but really not having anything to do with the game … now, if it was Brandon Prust scrapping with Kovalchuk-Grossman, or Anton Volchenkov beating the tar out of Marian Gaborik, then the intimidation factor is at work …. - Classic Flyers loss … outshoot an opponent badly, and lose …. Though in all fairness, this one can’t be hung entirely on Bryzgalov …. A 1-0 blanking at the hands of the Islanders ?? And in the sham shootout … re-visiting the blame Bryzgalov idea, he didn’t stop either of the shots he faced in the sham shootout, while Evgeni Nabokov stopped both that he faced … - Think for a minute how bizarre the above blurb would have sounded back in about 1983 …. Talking about 2 well known and successful ( at the time, 1983 )teams, with Russian goaltenders, deciding a game in a sham shootout … the game has changed so much, with the NHL truly having the best players in the world … - One player that maybe deserves to keep on keeping on in the KHL is Alexander Radulov … nice move, smoking a coach with your stick while sitting on the bench …. - Those Ottawa Senator retro jerseys are awesome …. Beauty, they should wear them all the time, instead of the regular bland pattern they use and share with the Penguins … - That spin-a-rama move that Malkin used to score on Carey Price in the sham shootout ? It was ruled as a fair and legal move by the league, but it doesn’t sit right …. The player is no longer moving forward, and in Malkin’s case, he was basically standing still …. The sham shootout itself needs to be scrapped ….. - Another name the Flyers could look at for help on the blueline might be big Pavel Kubina in Tampa …. - Steven Stamkos hit the 35 goal mark …. Hopefully he stays hot and can hit 50 …. Stamkos currently looks like the best of the hotshots that came out of the OHL from a group that consisted of himself, Drew Doughty and John Tavares … Tavares doesn’t have the supporting cast Stamkos has, that needs to be mentioned. As for Doughty, his status has taken a huge hit thanks to his ill-advised holdout …. Both Doughty and the Kings have been a major disappointment this year … - Blackhawks are 3-7 in the last 10 games …. It isn’t just bad goaltending, but Chicago need an upgrade between the pipes … Feb 6 - There you go Leaves fans …. Another win, this time over the Oilers young stars …. 6-3 … Leaves sit in 7th spot in the East. James Reimer is playing well again for the Big Smoke, and Phil Kessel, too …. Bad news for the Oil, as the Nuge appeared to hurt his shoulder in a routine collision with Mike Brown … Jordan Eberle continues to be red hot, scoring another two goals …. - Stupid call of the Night : Some idiot referee decides to call Luca Sbisa for a head butt when Sbisa tried for an open ice hit on Rick Jackman, a play in which Sbisa did bang his melon on Jackman’s … incidentally, while trying to play the body … find the video and watch it, as this is easily one of the worst calls you will ever see …. Time to use video review and off ice monitoring to reduce the number off missed and blown calls by the refs, who are only human, to be fair …. But it was still a stupid call… - Like the Ales Hemsky to Detroit rumours … think what Mike Babcock could get out of Hemsky, a talented and fast player …. Remember how Dan Cleary floated around the league for a while, then landed in Detroit and was given some direction …. Hemsky could blossom as a player in a situation like that … hard to say what Ken Holland would deal for Hemsky though … - Ken Campbell is at it again, stirring the pot …. Campbell is with THN, The Hockey News, the storied hockey publication that is delivered to the door of many true diehard fans, this one included …. Campbell isn’t afraid to type first and think second, and sometimes it gets him in hot water … In this instance, Campbell pointed out the phantom assist Sam Gagner received in his 8 point outing … and Campbell is right, good for him for saying it, too. He knew it would be an unpopular observation, but it is the truth …. What also needs to be pointed out, however, is that Gagner isn’t the only hockey player to benefit from the phantom assist. The Wayner often heard the same thing, as has basically anyone who has ever played the game …. Check out the local beer league stat sheet after a game, and you will find the same thing being said …. Campbell is pointing out that it is important to maintain integrity as far as stat keeping, and he is right … through all of this, remember that Gagner didn’t give himself a phantom assist, so don’t blame “ Twerp “ for the missed call – it is another example of the shoddy job done by the refs …. And in this case, the off ice officials, who do review scoring stats … the goofiest response to Campbell’s article comes from David Staples of the Edmonton Journal, who believes every player on the ice should get an assist, for putting in such a good effort that the team was able to score …. Have to say, that is the first time I have heard Marxist theory applied to hockey … - A good idea for Don Fehr as he prepares to mess with fans of the game and possibly cause a strike / lockout, whatever you want to call it …. Don Fehr should put up $200 or $300 million, and buy the Coyotes … then he can pay the players whatever they ask for, he can let the players tell him where and when they feel like playing, and he can let the players tell him how to run his team …. - Hot rumour going around has it that Rick Nash may be thinking it is time to move on from Columbus …. Nash has been a good soldier in Columbus his entire career, a credit to him. That being said, it has obviously occurred to him that the team has been poorly run, as far as on ice activities…. Columbus can’t afford moving Nash in a deal for an unproven player however …. Something for the Jackets to look at : moving Nash to Boston for Tyler Seguin, who looks to be a young superstar in the making, or possibly moving Nash to New Jersey for Zach Parise …. Columbus need a proven, ready-now player …. They look like they will get a shot at Nail Yakupov, the Russian who has been starring in the OHL for the past two years …. But … the Jackets record with Russian players is terrible. Bust after bust. If they move Nash, they have to bring in another star, and Howson should be able to do it, or a better way to put it might be like this – he has no excuse for not being able to land a young elite player in exchange for Nash … Howson rolled the dice last summer by bringing in Jeff Carter and James Wisniewski, and the team remains awful …. - Lot of games on the board for Feb 7, notables being the Leaves and Jets fighting for a playoff spot, the Devils and the Rangers in a battle of two teams playing some good shinny, as well as a big Western Conference game between the Predators and the Faker-Divers ( Canucks ) …. Feb 6 - There you go Leaves fans …. Another win, this time over the Oilers young stars …. 6-3 … Leaves sit in 7th spot in the East. James Reimer is playing well again for the Big Smoke, and Phil Kessel, too …. Bad news for the Oil, as the Nuge appeared to hurt his shoulder in a routine collision with Mike Brown … Jordan Eberle continues to be red hot, scoring another two goals …. - Stupid call of the Night : Some idiot referee decides to call Luca Sbisa for a head butt when Sbisa tried for an open ice hit on Rick Jackman, a play in which Sbisa did bang his melon on Jackman’s … incidentally, while trying to play the body … find the video and watch it, as this is easily one of the worst calls you will ever see …. Time to use video review and off ice monitoring to reduce the number off missed and blown calls by the refs, who are only human, to be fair …. But it was still a stupid call… - Like the Ales Hemsky to Detroit rumours … think what Mike Babcock could get out of Hemsky, a talented and fast player …. Remember how Dan Cleary floated around the league for a while, then landed in Detroit and was given some direction …. Hemsky could blossom as a player in a situation like that … hard to say what Ken Holland would deal for Hemsky though … - Ken Campbell is at it again, stirring the pot …. Campbell is with THN, The Hockey News, the storied hockey publication that is delivered to the door of many true diehard fans, this one included …. Campbell isn’t afraid to type first and think second, and sometimes it gets him in hot water … In this instance, Campbell pointed out the phantom assist Sam Gagner received in his 8 point outing … and Campbell is right, good for him for saying it, too. He knew it would be an unpopular observation, but it is the truth …. What also needs to be pointed out, however, is that Gagner isn’t the only hockey player to benefit from the phantom assist. The Wayner often heard the same thing, as has basically anyone who has ever played the game …. Check out the local beer league stat sheet after a game, and you will find the same thing being said …. Campbell is pointing out that it is important to maintain integrity as far as stat keeping, and he is right … through all of this, remember that Gagner didn’t give himself a phantom assist, so don’t blame “ Twerp “ for the missed call – it is another example of the shoddy job done by the refs …. And in this case, the off ice officials, who do review scoring stats … the stupidest response to Campbell’s article comes from David Staples of the Edmonton Journal, who believes every player on the ice should get an assist, for putting in such a good effort that the team was able to score …. Have to say, that is the first time I have heard Marxist theory applied to hockey … - A good idea for Don Fehr as he prepares to mess with fans of the game and possibly cause a strike / lockout, whatever you want to call it …. Don Fehr should put up $200 or $300 million, and buy the Coyotes … then he can pay the players whatever they ask for, he can let the players tell him where and when they feel like playing, and he can let the players tell him how to run his team …. - Hot rumour going around has it that Rick Nash may be thinking it is time to move on from Columbus …. Nash has been a good soldier in Columbus his entire career, a credit to him. That being said, it has obviously occurred to him that the team has been poorly run, as far as on ice activities…. Columbus can’t afford moving Nash in a deal for an unproven player however …. Something for the Jackets to look at : moving Nash to Boston for Tyler Seguin, who looks to be a young superstar in the making, or possibly moving Nash to New Jersey for Zach Parise …. Columbus need a proven, ready-now player …. They look like they will get a shot at Nail Yakupov, the Russian who has been starring in the OHL for the past two years …. But … the Jackets record with Russian players is terrible. Bust after bust. If they move Nash, they have to bring in another star, and Howson should be able to do it, or a better way to put it might be like this – he has no excuse for not being able to land a young elite player in exchange for Nash … Howson rolled the dice last summer by bringing in Jeff Carter and James Wisniewski, and the team remains awful …. - Lot of games on the board for Feb 7, notables being the Leaves and Jets fighting for a playoff spot, the Devils and the Rangers in a battle of two teams playing some good shinny, as well as a big Western Conference game between the Predators and the Faker-Divers ( Canucks ) …. Feb 5 - The Rangers dream season continues, as they get a late goal from marquee sniper Marion Gaborik in period two, then a quick response to Wayne Simmonds goal early in period three on route to stomping the Flyers 5-2 ….. Again, Philly couldn’t count on Ilya Bryzgalov for big money goaltending ….. Of note for the Rangers : Brad Richards sits in 83rd spot in the NHL scoring race, with 34 points …. He is on pace for a 55 point campaign…. Though that might not reflect so well on a big money off-season free agent acquisition, the Rangers are winning, and Richards brings a lot of different attributes to a team …. Marion Gaborik staying healthy is key to the Rangers success …. - Good to see Brayden Schenn back in the lineup for the Flyers …. Schenn was the key piece in the Mike Richards deal, but has been injured a lot this year …. He put up his fifth goal of the year …. Had to wonder about that wicked right he took from Kovalchuk-Grossman, considering that Schenn had brain trauma issues recently …. - There is a bit of fan and blog chatter circulating regarding the Oilers less-than-dynamic duo at the management level …. Kevin Lowe and Steve Tambellini …. And what the Oilers should do with these guys …. There is also talk of Oilers owner Darryl Katz possibly giving Tambellini a contract extension ….. take a look at the big picture. The Oilers have been awful for a decade. In that time, they have managed one improbable playoff run to the Stanley Cup final, a series in which they played well, but lost to Carolina …. Aside from that exciting spring stint of success, the Oil have taken their licks, taken their licks, etc, etc, same old song ….. the one constant being Kevin Lowe. Why exactly does he still have a job in Oiler’s management ? He has overseen years of failure. Steve Tambellini was brought in for a fresh perspective, but as written prior, he hasn’t made an impact in any manner that has improved the team ….. he picked up Ryan Whitney, which could be good if Whitney were able to stay healthy, bringing in Ryan Jones has been a plus, but that’s about it for good moves, and they still leave the Oil near the bottom of the NHL standings ….. If the Oil brass try to act like brilliant hockey minds for selecting Taylor Hall and the Nuge, well, just roll your eyes …. Between Hall, Seguin, the Nuge and Landeskog, the Oil were going to get a good player. The Oilers most astute selection has been Jordan Eberle, who has been successful beyond the Oilers wildest dreams …. Any way you look at it, Lowe and Tambellini have not made the team any better ….. Lowe has had many years on the job to make the Oilers a good team. It hasn’t happened. Tambellini has had 4 seasons at the controls …. His biggest move was banishing Sheldon Souray to the AHL in a public spat …. Souray is now back in the NHL in Dallas, hammering pucks at goalies, on a team looking down at the Oilers in the standings ….. It would be a good time for some fresh faces in Edmonton. Who might that be ? There are lots of smart hockey people in this world. Nobody can do worse than Lowe has, or Tambellini for that matter. Of course, the world of pro hockey is an exclusive club, and the preference is often to recycle old hands instead of giving a new mind with new ideas a chance … but think of this : Often fresh faces with a new approach have success. Think of Scott Bowman, Mike Keenan, Roger Neilsen … the Oilers have a chance here to get off the beaten path and the next great GM …. Butit might mean taking a chance on an unknown …. Kind of like they did back in 1979 with a young fella by the name of Glen Sather ….. - A bit of a rip here for folks that run sites or blogs …. Put your contact information on your site, as in have your e-mail address on the site. Not some pain in the ass link where it takes five minutes to enter information before the reader can type an e-mail … and don’t force the reader to “ join “ your site in order to send an e-mail …. That is a cowardly way to run a blog or site. Are you afraid of negative feedback ? Make it easy for readers to send in their thoughts …. Feb 4 - Oddball game of the Day : New Jersey take a 6-0 lead over the Flyers, have that as a cushion going into the third period ….. and manage to withstand a Flyer third period push to take a 6-4 win out of Philly ….. Sergei Bobrovsky was awful in net for the Flyers …. Kovalchuk-Grossman put up 3 points for the Devils, and beat the tar out of young Flyer Brayden Schenn …. Has Paul Holmgren accepted the fact that he needs a big stud defenseman with some snarl on that back end ? Yup, that means Shea Weber …. Weber can’t walk away from Nashville this summer, he would have to be dealt. So who do the Flyers give up ? Nashville will want a forward, so Holmgren is likely looking at moving VanRiemsdyk or Couturier … possibly Matt Read … take Brayden Schenn out of the picture because of his injury issues this year … one of those kids, maybe Matt Carle, not sure how much interest Nashville would have in the pending UFA, possibly one of the Flyers young depth defenders, Like Marc Bourdon …. Watch this closely, and watch for Ken Holland and the Wings to be in the picture, too ….. Holland has shown far more discretion than Holmgren, but at some point, the Wings will need to land a gamebreaking defenseman … - Steve Yzerman suggesting that drafted junior age players ( 18 and 19 year olds – 20 year olds are already AHL eligible ) be eligible to play / be sent to the AHL …. This is obviously in regards to Brett Connolly …. Can’t see this going over with the CHL and its franchise owners … Sure, all the mega stars are gone as soon as they are drafted, but many a player has returned to great success after being drafted. Remember the great scoring race between Joe Sakic and Theoren Fleury all those years back ? Never would have happened had they been AHL ( or at the time, also IHL ) eligible ….. the other side of the argument would be the likes of Jordan Eberle, by all accounts the Oilers best training camp player a few years back, but returned to the Regina Pats because the Oil were awful, and he alone would not have changed it …. Or Joe Thornton, an OHL scoring champ going into his draft year, but not NHL ready …. Thornton’s debut in the NHL was no dream season …. - Zac Rinaldo goes a little of the rails against the Devils, with a late hit, and a slew foot …. Brendan Shanahan does the right thing, coming down quickly and decisively on Rinaldo, with two fines for a total of $5K ….. meanwhile, Nik Kronwall takes a shot at Ales Hemsky’s head, going airborne, though not as blatantly as he usually does …. Sorry Wing fans, be honest about it, Hemsky was vulnerable, and Kronwall’s action fit the definition of a charge or the headshot rule, however you want to approach it …. Shanahan’s weak spot continues to be his old team, the Wings, and though Shanahan has been excellent and fair regarding pretty much every other matter, he has to start dealing with the Wings just like every other team … - Hit of the Day : Brooks Orpik sends Dan Paille flying with a beauty open ice hit, this looked so wild, Paille flying backwards, out of control, after Orpik crushed him … Feb 3 - Senator fans – when interpreting the standings, don’t fail to notice your team has played more games than the other teams. This does not bode well for Ottawa, who have been cooled off recently … - Need to explain something …. Overtime losses and sham shootout losses are viewed here as losses, no matter how nice and rosy and politically correct the NHL wants to be …. So the standings are looked at as simply wins and losses …. If a team has played 50 games, and won 30 of them, then they will be referred to as 30-20 …. Not some lame 30-13-7 or 30-10-10 …. Time for the league to can the loser point, and stop rewarding losers and losing ….. it is a rough world out there …. We need to make sure these players are ready to handle it when their careers end … it doesn’t help them by awarding them loser points …. Think some guy at a Vegas poker table will take mercy on the next Darren McCarty, and say, “ Hey, no problem, you lost, but keep a million, you come from the NHL, where losing only costs half as much as the other games “ …. Anyway, more to the point, the loser point fudges the standings …. - Will have to straighten out John MacKinnon at the Edmington Journal …. He referred to Sam Gagner as an appreciating asset ….. oh boy …. Gagner has a dream game, and good for him, but MacKinnon needs to give his head a shake …. Gagner had 22 points going into the game, as the number 200 scorer in the NHL …. After his stunning performance, Gagner had moved up to slot 110 … with 30 points …. Gagner has been a hot and cold player throughout his career, putting up points late in his rookie and sophomore campaigns well after the Oil were out of playoff contention …. Over the course of the last two years, Gagner has really improved his game and effort, and will be a fine number 2 or three center …. But an appreciating asset ? Uh, no. He had a brilliant game. One. One brilliant game. It was awesome. But it has only happened once. And it won’t happen again. If the Oil brass was smart, which it isn’t, they would have dealt Gagner last season, or over the past summer. Gagner has 5 years in the league, and most GM’s have notices that Gagner isn’t a good skater, and though he has good offensive instincts, playing on the same team as prodigies like Hall, Eberle and the Nuge, it is obvious Gagner is a second tier player …. The x factor here is that GM’s are human, and can be fooled, or foolish … so who knows, maybe Glen Sather forks over a couple of first round picks, or Carl Hagelin and a first for Gagner …. When all is said and done, Gagner would serve the Oilers purposes as the wheelman on line 2 or 3 …. - Scott Gomez stats : 7 points ….. Sam Gagner vs Chicago BlackHawks : 8 points …. Feb 2 - Huge night for the player who was referred to here as “ Twerp” for a couple of winters ….Sam Gagner has the biggest offensive showing of any player in more than two decades, putting up an 8 point evening playing with up and coming superstars Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall …. The last player to have an 8 point evening? Hall of Famer and mega – legend Mario Lemieux …. Gagner lived the dream as the Oil once again pounded Chicago. Playing in front of the Oilers faithful at Northlands Coliseum, Gagner scored 4 times, and was in on 4 other goals. How could one not be happy for Gagner, a player who has re-invented himself over the past two seasons ? He was working hard, playing both ways, doing everything he possibly could to help his team win, and everything went right for him. This was great to see …. Gagner himself seemed a bit shell shocked, but he kept going out on the ice, working hard, and going to the net, shooting or making nice plays with his star linemates …. The way this trio moved the puck around was great to see. Hall and Eberle each had 4 point nights, but seemed very enthused for Gagner, who had become the focus of the fans in the arena after his hat trick, and the focus of the tv broadcasters after he picked up his fourth point. By the time the game ended, Gagner was on cloud 9, Northlands was going nuts, and he was named as the only star of the game, in a fitting move. The Edmonton fans had been chanting “ We want 10 ! “ hoping to push Gagner to the greatest single game achievement in hockey history, a 10 point night, something only Darryl Sittler has done ( with the late 1970’s Leaves, nonetheless ) …. Gagner said he felt like it was some kind of joke that he was living, but it was real, a dream come true, and as improbable as it is for anyone to rack up 8 points in a game in this era of tightly controlled hockey, Gagner did it, he had the night of his life …. By the way, coming into the game, Gagner had 22 points …. He now sits at 30 points. Jordan Eberle leads all Oilers with 50 points in 47 games …. - The Sam Gagner trade rumours were discussed after the game, and the next day …. Immediately following the game, emotions were high, and even Darren Dreger, usually a fairly reserved gent, was caught up in the sentiment, saying something along the lines of the Oilers not trading Gagner after a night like that … reality is though, if the Oilers were looking to shop Gagner, his value might spike a bit after that night, and as Rob Brown said, for the right offer, anyone can be traded. It happened to Gretzky on more than one occasion …. One of the braodcasters from TSN was all choked up with the emotion of the night, and had Gagner suddenly headed for superstardom, but in all honesty, the best assessment of Gagner and his big night came on 630 CHED radio, where it was acknowledged that he had done something amazing, but was still a guy who is at best a second line center, or a third line guy on a great team. Gagner has learned to play a complete game, he likes a bit of rough stuff, he is willing to drop the gloves and have a go with even the likes of Francois Beauchemin, and though his name is in the rumour mill, he has found a spot with the Oil as a solid support player. He isn’t a great skater, and he isn’t very big, but he is a smart enough player, and he has learned what kind of effort is required to play in the NHL … - Oiler fans have to be loving the two beatings their team has laid on the Black Hawks in Edmonton this season … 9-2 and 8-4 …. Like lopsided peewee hockey scores …. Chicago looked good early, but then Corey Crawford became a factor. Not a good factor. Crawford was awful. Stan Bowman hasn’t made many mistakes running the Black Hawks, but in giving Crawford a big deal, he messed up. Crawford relies on huge equipment as opposed to skill and instinct. The BlackHawks weakness is between the pipes, just like last year, when another rare Bowman mistake, Marty Turco, proved to the league how washed up he was …. - Interesting how the sports news crews and broadcasters refer vaguely to Patrick Sharp’s wrist injury …. Avoiding the mention of Jiri Hudler’s name, or the fact the Detroit Red Wing worm smashed Sharp’s wrist with a vicious slash …. Where is this going ? Yup. TO Brendan Shanahan … ex Detroit Red Wing …. Hudler should have been set down for about 5 games for that slash. It says right in the NHL rules that you can’t be swinging your stick at people. Or in the rules for most teams, anyway. I am beginning to suspect that the Detroit Red Wings, and the refs, have a separate book for calling Detroit penalties …. You watch a Wings game, and how much stick work they are allowed to get away with, it looks pretty bad …. Is it because they don’t dress a goon, because they have such a heavy European flavor, with big name European superstars ? Sure looks that way …. This isn’t to detract from the fact that the Wings are a premier team. Mike Babcock is as good a coach as you will find, but he is maybe overlooked for his contribution because he stepped in and kept the Wings amongst the top teams in the league. It is what is expected in Detroit. Nik Lidstrom is a quiet and classy player, squeaky clean, Hall of Fame bound. But ….. you watch that team play. Watch close, and even Wing fans, be honest about what you see. A lot of worms and a lot of stickwork. Zetterberg is given a lot of leeway with his stick. Hudler was allowed to bust a guy’s wrist with a blatant slash viewed by two zebras. When he was still playing, Kris Draper had an episode of spearing and stick swinging in Phoenix that would have gotten the likes of Dan Carcillo or Andy Sutton banned for life ….. As for Nik Kronwall, he goes airborne a lot, targeting players heads, and is never held accountable by the league …. Whereas a guy like Zac Rinaldo, an edgy player fast with his fists, he lays guys out with clean hits, but gets called for charging, roughing, etc ….. Hey, when even Bob McKenzie does a blurb on TSN defending Rinaldo and calling out the blind bat refs, you know you are getting railroaded … the point is, the Wings do have an advantage from the refs, and are getting a free pass from Brendan Shanahan …. And don’t bother with any “ What about Brendan Smith “ bs …. The kid has playedwhat,two games in the big league ? To straighten this out, Shanahan has to sit down the likes of Hudler and Kronwall when they bust someone’s wrist or go airborne in an attempt to crush a guy and ring his bell … and as for the dolts in stripes that call the game on the ice, they need to get their heads out of their, ahem … you know … and call the Wings they same as they call the Bruins … - By the way, in beating Vancouver, the Wings hit the 35 win mark before any other team … and hang another failure mark on Bob Luongo …. Luongo struggles when he plays elite teams or plays in important “ test “ style games …. No wonder why the Faker-Divers like to go with Schneider when playing a formidable adversary ….. regarding the zebras in this game, well, would be challenge discerning all of the Canucks whining and high diving from the Wing stick work, wouldn’t it ? - Hit of the Night 1 : Pernell Karl Subban destroys Devil rookie Adam Larsson with a thundering check just inside the Hab blueline, as Larsson foolish tried to evade Subban with the puck on his stick. Subban simply stepped up and hammered the slow footed Swedish rookie, leaving Larsson laying face down on the ice, writhing in pain …. One of the beauties of hockey is the physical challenge, and the strength and skill required to play the game, as well as the danger and risk … Subban reinforced those ideas on Larsson. If you aren’t bigger and stronger and faster, you need to be smarter. In this case, Larsson was not using his head. Everyone knows Subban is a wing nut out there, and a headhunter. It is what makes him a good player. Did Larsson think Subban would not try to play the body ??? - Hit of Night 2 : The aforementioned Zac Rinaldo stretches out Jordin Tootoo behind the Flyer net, a wicked and clean hit, in a situation where Tootoo had his head down …. Textbook play on the body, removing an opponent from the equation …. - Why did Nashville play Anders Lindback against the Flyers ? When you are battling for position, and holding onto a playoff spot, you don’t play your backup against a top 4 team from the other conference …… Feb 1 - Classic game between the Rangers and Sabres, a 1-0 victory for the blueshirts ….if you don’t appreciate a 1-0 victory or low scoring game, you need to learn how …there were some good saves in this games, even athletic ones by two goalies known for wearing massive equipment … Whine Miller didn’t do anything stupid in this game, either, and didn’t whine about anything afterward, so that is refreshing …. Only drawback was the decision by sham shootout – though it must be acknowledged that Gaborik’s sham shootout goal was a pure snipe …. - Absolutely love the long range stinker goals over the past two days …. First, Dennis Seidenberg of the Bruins floats a 90 footer past Senator goalie Craig Anderson … this was classic …. Just as he hit the center ice redline, Seidenberg whistled a shot in at the Ottawa goalie …. Not sure what Anderson was thinking, or what he was looking at, but the shot made him look bad, should have been a routine stop, but instead the puck went in the net just inside the post, halfway up on the blocker side …. Then in the Florida – Washington game, Mikael Samuelson scores on a wrist shot from outside the blueline, a total softie that Caps goalie Michael Neuvirth someone managed to allow into the net. Guarantee some of his teammates were choked about that one. Bantam aged players would not be impressed with their goalie allowing a goal like that …. - Milan Lucic scored a beauty of a goal in the Bruins win over Ottawa, that shot from the slot to the top corner, past Craig Anderson’s trapper …. That is about as textbook as it gets when scoring goals … pick up the puck, identify your target area, a get the shot away with as much velocity as possible ….. Lucic is going to be a monster for Team Canada in the next Olympics at Sochi, Russia …. Huge, physical and intimidating, plays hard both ways, and he can score …. - Also liked the Ville Leino goal against Montreal the other night, where Leino picked up a pass going toward the slot, executed a perfect toe drag, then beat Carey Price like a rented mule with a shot to the top corner over Price’s trapper …. To bad for Leino it was only tally number four on the year … think he is missing playing with Briere and Hartnell ? - Max Pacoreitty scored in that game for the Habs, in a losing effort, but for Pacoreitty, it was goal number 18 … a year ago, the Habs and their fans and media would have had us all believe that Pacoreitty was totally mangled. Lo and behold, Pacoreitty comes back as exactly what the Habs need, a big bodies, fleet footed player who can score …. - More on the Habs – Sabres tilt the other night, and some trash talk that supposedly took place …. Here is the deal for Pacoreitty – if he is going to trash talk with any type of edge, or say anything even remotely ignorant to an opponent, then he has to be a big boy and understand that he will get it back …. So when him and Gaustad reportedly exchange verbal blasts about Bruin tormentors Chara and Lucic, it is all fair game. No whining allowed if someone queries Pacoreitty regarding the state of his relations with Big Chara ….. - So the Canucks are playing Corey Schneider against their two biggest rivals, the Black Hawks and Bruins ….. what does this say about Bob Luongo ? Nothing good, that is for sure … basically that he has a psyche as tough as eggshells ….. so how can they trade Schneider when Luongo has proven to be incapable of holding it together when the serious pressure sets in ? …. Mike Gillis would be crazy to trade Schneider …. Of course, that doesn’t mean it wont happen … - Hasn’t been much said about the Lightning going after a goalie …. Who would they go after, anyway ? …. All the big goalie moves during the summer have been failures …. Bryzgalov has been medicore in Philly, Vokoun has been bad in Washington, and Semyon Varlamov in Colorado has not been all that good … Could Tampa find a decent goalie to pick up ? More likely they would have to take a risk on guy, and that description would apply to Corey Schneider, too, though Schneider has played well, everyone is overlooking the fact that he has never been an NHL starter …. Jonathan Bernier could be worth a try …. Anterro Nittymaki of the Sharks could return to Tampa, but would have to be viewed as a short attempt at goaltending stability, since he is always wounded …. Tampa are still close enough to a playoff spot to squeak in, but they can’t afford to lose any games due to bad tending….. - If, as Damien Cox suggests, Mikhail Grabovski wants $5 mill per annum, the Leaves would be smart to walk away. Grabovski has been okay for the Leaves, but he is no star player, and has never faced the pressure of the post season …. Could be wrong, but he seems like the type that would wilt at the thought of facing the same team, and its bangers and muckers, in a 7 game series, kind of like a Vancouver Canuck does against the Bruins …. When you hear of guys like this looking for a big payday on a guaranteed contract, it really indicates that the time is right for performance based pay in the NHL … - Couple of good games on the Feb 2 schedule …. First off, Detroit playing the Faker-Divers. The Wings have again perched themselves atop the West, and the Canucks ( aka Faker-Divers ) have shaped up nicely in the regular season as well. This will be a good game …. Edmonton and the Black Hawks …. Early in the year, the Oil pummelled the Hawks. It was a great day for Oiler fans. Times have changed, the Oil are bad again, and the Hawks look ready for a long playoff run … but the Nuge could return for the Oil. The Nuge, Eberle and Hall are worth the watch …. Jan 30 - Blue Team 12 White Team 9 Lots of goal scoring in the All Star game, and nobody got hurt, so call it a success …. The All Star game is basically aimed at kids, and the fans of whatever team / city host it. It isn’t good hockey, because nobody can afford to get hurt …. Take it for what it is, a laid back weekend, a break from the intensity of the regular season … - How would the Pittsburgh Penguins look with Jonathan Toews in the lineup, as opposed to Jordan Staal ? Could very well have happened, but the Penguins chose Staal over Toews in the entry draft back in the day …. Toews has developed into one of the elite players on the planet, and while Jordan Staal is no slouch, he has been injured several times, missing a lot of time … - Stewart Valley farmer / Montreal Canadien forward Travis Moen’s name is bouncing around the rumour mill …. A big and gritty grinder, Moen is exactly what the Canucks need, or any playoff team for that matter …. He would be a great fit in Detroit or Boston as well, two teams that are frontrunners for a Cup run …. - Interesting that the whole Jeff Carter in Columbus thing is back in the news again, in terms of Carter not wanting to be there …. What a disaster of a year for Scott Howson and the entire Blue Jacket organization …. How can they not clean house in the off season ? What do they do with goalie Steve Mason ? One rumour mill had the Jackets dumping Mason via waivers ….. - Things get good from here …… the next month will see rosters finalized, and March will clean out a few more teams from playoff contention ….. setting up early April for a frantic finish, at which point the Leaves may even end up in the post season, but don’t hold your breath on that thought … - More to come on this subject soon …. The reason why the players and their union, the nhlpa, will never have much support from fans in any labor battle, strike, lockout, or whatever you want to call it …. Fans identify with the players, many players come from average backgrounds. They could very easily have been the kid next door …. To think that they are squawking for more money and easier money when they are pulling in pro hockey player dough is insulting to the average hockey fan …. Mix in a few posturing lawyers, and fans feel contempt and disgust … Jan 29 - 108.8mph Zdeno Chara slapshot in the skills competition ….. the big man can shoot …. - That little breakaway thing early in the “ skills “ competition …. Lame, even stupid, and totally pointless …. Sure, it might have amused some younger kids, because it was at that level …. It looked like 9 and 10 year olds goofing around at the far end of the rink … to call it a skill for professional players, who get paid millions, well ….. not a good demonstration. A total joke, with diehard fans not laughing …. A gimmick is always a gimmick …. - The news regarding Sidney Crosby and the discovery of problems with some vertebrae could be a good thing for Crosby and hockey fans …. Hope this clears things up for Crosby, and allows him to get back to peak condition ….. he would change the playoff outlook in a big way if he is able to return for the Penguins this year … - Interesting note by Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal, noting that the Tri City Americans acquired the Western League rights to Brett Connolly …. Connolly is playing regularly for the Lightning in Tampa, but the season looks lost … he would be a huge boost for the Americans if he were returned to the WHL to finish the season … - More wild rumors, from the Boston Globe, saying that the Bruins could move Tim Thomas to Chicago ….. or that the Bruins could cut loose Thomas this summer …. Who knows what the real story is inside the dressing room or front office after Thomas little stunt …. “ This isn’t about politics “ or whatever Thomas said, regarding him not wanting to be seen with a certain politician ….. whatever, he can do what he wants, but he should have thought about his statement a bit more …… though he is up in years for a pro athlete, he is still the premier goalie in the NHL ….. the Bruins would be foolish to offload him in favor of Tuuka Rask at this point … - Ever notice the quirky mechanics to Daniel Alfredsson’s slap shot technique ? He kind of twists his blade back when he cocks the twig for the shot …. Looks a little bit odd, but a few other players use the same technique …. Can’t beat the straight up hammering of the likes of Chara or Weber, though …. Jan 28 - Ryan Suter proclaims to the world he will not re-sign with Nashville before the trade deadline … so he is likely going to leave the team …. This guy will be a huge addition to teams like Detroit or the Flyers … If the Bruins could find a way to land this guy, they would be loaded on the back end … David Poile has to get something significant in return for Suter, so he can’t let him play out the year and then try to deal him ….. If the Predators lose both Suter and Weber, it is a huge blow to the franchise …. - Apparently Dallas Star captain Brenden Morrow is on the trade market … stunning, and possibly a mistake on the part of the Dallas Stars … Morrow is a career Dallas Star, and go-hard grit player who can score … Morrow looked good in the 2010 Olympics … a superb piece to any team for the playoffs … Morrow would be a perfect fit in Detroit …. - Hot rumor of the day out of Montreal, so take it with a grain of salt …. Published in the Vancouver Province, started by Enrice Ciccone, former NHL thug …. He claims the Canucks / Faker-Divers are trying to land Corey Perry in exchange for Corey Schneider, Mason Raymond, Keith Ballard and a 3rd rounder ….. ??? …. This would be a stunner of a deal …. Perry would really change the Canucks dynamic, and keep in mind, though Schneider gets lots of praise at this stage, he has never actually been in the role of starting NHL goaltender … - Interesting that Chicago opted to trade for Brendan Morrison of the Flames …. Not sure what they gave up for him, but he is not near the player that Derek Roy is, and the Sabres are supposedly ready to deal the former Kitchener Ranger and longtime Sabre …. - Cam Ward’s name is in the rumor mill as well ….. Ward has been a decent NHL starting goalie, but not a superstar …. He was superb in the Hurricanes run to the Stanley Cup back in the day, but has not carried the team consistently since then ….. Ward would be worth possibly a second round pick or a second to third line forward, or number 5 or 6 d-man …anything more than that is too much … Jan 26 - Regarding the All Star “draft” …. Enough already ….. Who gets picked first ? Who gets picked last ? Who Really Cares ? …. Return some dignity to the event , and eliminate this foolishness … though some folks undoubtedly get some enjoyment out of the whole shenanigan, keep in mnd that people also like “ reality tv “, and there is little “ entertainment “ less dignified or less intelligent than that stuff …. Seriously, these are the league All Stars, minus some of the fan favorites that get voted in because the game is in their hometown on any given year …. Do not subject the players to any type of degradation, like a public selection process ….. - If it is true that Jim Rutherford is asking for two first round picks for the likes of Tim Gleason, Tuomo Ruutu or Jaro Spacek, then Rutherford deserves a barrage of calls from rival GM’s, who do nothing but laugh into the phone with a cruel and taunting laugh ….. but …. You never know, especially when you have the likes of a Paul Holmgren out there …. Remember what Holmgren traded for Kris Versteeg last year ? A first and third round pick, for a guy who was a total dud …. There have been times when GM’s throw away draft picks like it is going out of style, the value of first rounders always fluctuates, but it is a huge gamble …. Brian Burke looks to have been lucky with Phil Kessel , to a degree, but Kessel had shown talent in the NHL …. Of course, Tyler Seguin now looks like a better player ….. Interesting to see where Rutherford’s players go, and if he finds any suckers to give him what he wants … - With things quiet in the NHL, a few notes from the CHL …. In the Western League, nobody is on pace to put up any wild point totals, though a couple players could finish with some nice goal totals if they maintain their pace …. Emerson Etem of the Medicine Hat Tigers has 41 goals in 42 games, and Ty Rattie in Portland has 42 goals in 46 games … the Edmonton Oil Kings are putting together a good year, as are the Moose Jaw Warriors, the Tri City Americans, Portland WInterHawks, and the Kamloops Blazers, a dynasty in the 1990’s, are having a solid year ….. Jan 25 - All Star break …… if we had to pick Stanley Cup finalists right now, it would be the big, bad Bruins taking on the Detroit Red Wings …. And to pick a winner from that pair, the Bruins would have to be the favorites … - Best Player so far this year : A couple of guys have been in and out of this slot, so lets split this one between Phil the Thrill, Claude Giroux and Evgeni Malkin … - Best Goalie : Tim Thomas. Done Deal. Only thing that will change this is if Hank Lundquist and his huge equipment win a Stanley Cup, then, and only then, do Lundquist’ pads, blocker, trapper and miscellaneous other inflated gear get any credit … - Best Coach : Mike Babcock gets overlooked because he coaches the Winged Wheel, but he needs to be acknowledged year in and year out ….. along with him, Paul MacLean in Ottawa and Ken Hitchcock in St Louis have made undeniable differences in their team’s performance … - Of course, anyone watching the Habs whip the Wings last night would have trouble believing the above scenario ….. not often that the Wings mail in a lazy effort like that …. Habs fans have something to cheer about for a while …. Montreal 7 Detroit 2 …… like Steve Kouleas’ take on the performance of David Desharnais, the Habs small guy who is doing big things for the Habs, in which Kouleas states that Desharnais is doing what Ankleskater Gomez had his agent say that he would do …. Question for Donald Fehr and the nhlpa : Is Anklesater Gomez giving back all that money he has defrauded the Rangers and Canadiens of by having his agent represent him as something he isn’t ? Gomez has not lived up to his end of that contract. He should not get paid the full sum ….. maybe a quarter of the deals value, at best, and even that is a stretch …. - Interesting column from Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun, in which he rips NHL officials …. Two ways to look at this : First, as sour grapes, or else as calling a spade as a spade ….. Brennan looks at the problem from an Ottawa Senator perspective, so many will say his is a case of sour grapes …. From a larger perspective, though, the quality of officiating needs to be addressed. The zebras mess up constantly, everyone knows it, the blown calls are shown almost immediately on the arena big screens and in people’s homes, and you have a ref skating around like he never makes a mistake, yet they often cost teams dearly, changing the outcome of games with erroneous calls …. Time to fix this problem, and it is an easy fix …. Get two officials off the ice. With four guys out there, they are constantly in the way. Use off ice video and off ice officials to monitor the game, have them communicate with the on ice crew by headset, and get the calls right, at least on a far more consistent basis …. - Most interesting trade rumors right now are easily the Jeff Carter stories ….looks like he will be dealt from Columbus, and where to ? Tell ya right now, the LA Kings will be looking, as will Brian Burke and the Leaves …. Probably everyone except the Flyers, the bankrupt Devils and Coyotes …. Who wouldn’t be interested in the guy should have played in the last Olympics over Patrice Bergeron, and who is a proven sniper and big body presence ? The x factor with Carter is his injury history, which isn’t all that bad when you look at his games played over his career, except that he gets hurt when his team really needs him … for Columbus, that has been all year … - Just have to laugh at the idea of the Canadiens trading PK Subban …. But that is what you get from the Montreal media ….. Subban is the closest thing the Habs have to an impact player, and some guy at Le Presse figures they should deal him ? …. That being said, don’t put it past lame duck Pierre Gauthier …. - If Steve Tambellini isn’t smart enough to deal Ales Hemsky now, the Oilers might as well can Tambellini, and Kevin Lowe with him ….. the team has been a doormat every year since their flukey, yes, flukey, call it what it was, run to the Stanley Cup Final all those years back against Carolina …. ( one blip against years of losing is a fluke ) …. After this season, the Oilers will have two playoff appearances in the last decade, including 6 straight years of not getting into the ultimate tournament …. The mainstay has been Kevin Lowe. Look at his personnel moves. He doesn’t have a clue what he is doing, who to keep, or who to move. Tambellini has made a few moves, but hasn’t been able to do anything astute or major to improve the team. Sorry, but picking kids like Hall and the Nuge first overall don’t count as brilliant decisions. A 6 year old hockey fan could make the same move. Credit Tambellinin with bringing in Ryan Jones, who might be a good captain after they manage to rid themselves of Shawn Horcoff …. Ryan Whitney was a gamble that hasn’t paid off. Whitney is good when healthy, but that is hit and miss. Tambellini had to understand that risk …. Bottom line is this : The Oilers have been a losing team for years, and Tambellini has not asserted himself in any significant manner to change that. Same with Kevin Lowe. Good times are ahead, but not from the moves of these two guys … - Best fight in a long time was Chris Stewart pull-starting Brad Stuart …. A great scrap between two actual full time players. What makes this scrap so good ? Sometimes a decisive victory is a good thing, and in this tilt, the tough and talented Chris Stewart tuned up the Wings versatile defender ….. - Best format of the cbc Satelite Hotstove is with no Mad Mike Milbury ….. after that, best format is the way it was done last Saturday, with everybody in their own city, with the split screen talking heads ….. to reiterate, MacLean hosting with Eric Francis and Elliotte Friedman is a good start, and to place Al Strachan or Pierre LeBrun , maybe Stephen Brunt on the panel would really set up a good discussion …. - Best hockey discussion / program that is most missed was the old “ 10 Minute Misconduct “ on the Score …. That channel really dropped the ball on hockey coverage …. - So Brian Burke hands Ron Wilson a contractextension, and the Leafs quickly fall out of the top 8 in the Eastern Conference ….. now Burke gives journeyman defenseman John Michael Liles and 4 year extension approaching $4 mill per annum ….. ???? …. It is acknowledged that Burke is trying, but his history of moves is not kind to him ….. Burke remains the most over rated GM in the league, and it is because of decisions and moves like the above that he is doubted …. Every move in the league has to be measured against the moves made by Ken Holland, and Hollnad hasn’t been throwing money at mediocre defenseman during the middle of the year, so lets call this a mistake on Burke’s part ….. Open Ice Hitter – Pure Hockey Jan 20-21 - Goal of the Night : Nashville d-man Kevin Klein flips the puck in toward the Chicago net from the centre ice red line ….. and would you believe he scores ?? Yup. Corey Crawford, and all that huge equipment could not stop a little dump in …. Embarrassing for Crawford, who dresses in such massive gear that he looks like a lacrosse goalie … - Marquee Matchup : Rangers top the Bruins in Boston … the Rangers dream season continues, but let’s see what happens come playoff time … - Toronto’s Leaves sit in 9th spot …. It is going to be dicey for the Leaves to get into the playoffs. The momentum from that awesome start is long gone … losing to the Habs doesn’t help their cause. Letting the Ankleskater Gomez collect a point against them ? Brutal … - How can anyone cheer for the Islanders when they wear those awful, hideous, ugly black jerseys ? Those are the worst uniforms in the league …. John Tavares deserves to wear something better than that. Stick with the classic Isles jerseys that harken back to the glory days in Nassau Coliseum, back in the late 70’s and early 80’s … Isles took a win from Carolina in a battle of basement dwellars, Tavares scored twice … - Another sketchy play by a Detroit Red Wing, as Hank Zetterberg pushed Columbus d-man Nikita Nikitin into the boards, with Nikitin looking like Al McInnis when big Al broke his hips … brutal and dangerous play by Zetterberg, but hey, when you play for the Wings, you can do as you please. Nobody ever gets sat down when they wear the winged wheel …. Target guys heads, break their wrists with a vicious slash, no big deal … This is emerging as Brendan Shanahan’s weakness. Shanahan has proven to be far more competent than old Colin Campbell … a little media pressure will probably get Shanahan straightened out. Question is, anyone in the big media or tv spots have the cojones to say anything ? - In Philly, the Flyers continue to be brutalized by injuries …. The latest being Daniel Briere, after he was crushed by Devils defenseman Anton Volchenkov …. Going back to they eye injury that put an early end to the career of Bernie Parent, the Flyers have been ravaged by injuries to key players. Tim Kerr, Eric Lindros, Keith Primeau, Simon Gane, Eric Desjardins, even Pelle Lindbergh had injury issues …. Is it the curse of the Broad Street Bullies ? Anyway, the Flyers are having a decent year after such a wild summer …. Let’s see what kind of crazy move Paul Holmgren makes in his play to land Ryan Suter or Shea Weber … - You just know that Ken Holland is planning his moves for the trade deadline and the summer free agency period. Ryan Suter and Zach Parise. Those are two players that could very well end up in Detroit. The Wings are set to lose Tomas Holmstrom, and eventually Nik Lidstrom, to retirement. They need some elite players to keep the Winged Wheel rolling. Holland has been the best GM in the game for a while now. Let’s see how handles things over the next 6 months … - Good times in Edmonton a few months back, when the Oil were winning and sitting atop the Western Conference … reality has set in, and injuries have not helped …. A loss to the Flames is salt in the wound, but things are different in Edmonton now. They have real talent in the fold. Hall, Eberle, the Nuge. These players will make a huge difference moving forward. What Steve Tambellini does with the rest of the team will make the difference. Move Ales Hemsky – he will bring a decent return, as far as a legit current NHL player who can help now. Hemsky has been an enigma during his entire career. Might as well move him. Some GM’s will still see him as a gamebreaker, which he isn’t. Tambellini missed the opportunity to trade Sam Gagner when some hockey folks still thought Gagner was an up and coming elite player. He might be abe to move Gagner now, but in all honesty, Gagner is viewed as a lower tier second line center at best, and he is currently filling that role fairly well for the Oilers ….. Edmonton need to upgrade the blueline, as they can’t count on Ryan Whitney being healthy … - Interesting analysis of the Buffalo Sabres by Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe …. Dupont cites Jeremy Roenick’s call to either tradegoalie Whine Miller, fire coach Lindy Ruff or GM Darcy Regier …. Dupont points to the failures of the Sabres to do anything in the playoffs over the past 4 years, plus the disappointing season they are having …. With an owner stepping in and spending money, this team was expected to be a contender. Now they are in a fight to get into the playoffs … maybe it is time for a change. Trading Whine Miller would be the biggest gamble – he could be a difference maker if he can get his attitude straightened out … - Goal of the Night 2 : Have to go with the Lee Stempniak wrister, one of his three goals, as the Flames beat Edmonton, 6-2. Stempniak took aim at the Oiler net from the left wing area, firing a laser behind Nik Khabibulin, a textbook snipe …. - Hit of the Day : Bruin d-man Steven Kampfer basically skates into the shoulder of Flyer rookie Brayden Schenn … seriously, Schenn was skating toward Kampfer on the forecheck, and the Bruin basically impaled himself on Schenn’s shoulder. The collision left Kampfer wiped out, and Schenn had to drop the mitts with Chris Kelly …. The Bruins managed to salvage a win in the sham shootout …. As for the Flyers, they are playing mediocre hockey, and dropping games to the Bruins and Rangers on a regular basis …. - One of the most under rated players in the NHL : Brian Boyle of the Rangers. Los Angeles gave up on the hulking forward, but Boyle has been solid in his time with the Rangers …. A huge presence, solid both ways, and can score …. - Alex Ovechkin has moved up to 38th spot in the NHL scoring race, with an average of .83 pts per game …. Anyway you look at Ovie’s play this year, it is disappointing. The guy is a beast of a man, a physical specimen, and looked so driven and opportunistic up until the last two years. Is it that he is too simplistic of a player, not understanding the game ? Hope the Great 8 can regain his past form, but it isn’t looking likely at this point … - The league standings are starting to get straightened out, but one team not stalling or freefalling is Ottawa … this is great for coach Paul MacLean, who came to fame as a mustachioed scoring winger for the old Winnipeg Jets …. It might be bad news for Senator fans though, as Bryan Murray will keep his job, which is bad long term for the Senators …. A rebound year from Jason Spezza, a breakout year by Milan Michalek, and better than expected play from youngsters like Zach Smith have keyed the Sens victories ….. Murray deserves little credit for the stellar year … - If the Flyers do end up dealing any of their young prospects or young studs – that would include Schenn, Couturier, Van Riemsdyk or Matt Read – for a top d-man, Paul Holmgren needs to be canned. Ever notice how Ken Holland gets the stud players he wants without moving key players or prospects ? The Flyers are desperate for a Cup win, and every other GM in the league knows it. Holmgren has been making terrible deals of late, and to be honest, the Flyers success this year has been surprising …. If you are a Flyer fan, beware of some kind of nightmare deal, like Couturier for Tim Gleason, or as rumored, a stunningly foolish deal like JVR for Luke Schenn … - With the New Jersey Devils financial collapse, or that of the team owner, the deal for Ilya Kovalchuk looks even worse … they brought him in for name recognition, and to be a gamebreaker. Kovalchuk-Grossman has been okay, but he has not been a superstar … his presence could very likely mean the departure of team captain, and a far better player, Zach Parise … - Not impressed with the NHL for giving in to the nhlpa regarding the money handed to the league to run the Phoenix Coyotes … the tail is really wagging the dog now, and the league need to crack down hard on the nhlpa …. I don’t mind spending money on my favorite sport and the best sports league in the world, but if the nhlpa start calling too many shots, the greed factor will get ridiculous, and us fans will eventually put a limit on how much cash we funnel into the NHL and its players …. - Maybe the wildest rumor regarding the upcoming trade deadline is one printed by Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun …. Garrioch suggests that the Columbus Blue Jackets will deal prized summer acquisition Jeff Carter at or before the deadline … Garrioch is a long time scribe, no doubt with connections, so this rumor cant be idly dismissed …. Guess we shall see where that rumor goes …. Jan 18 - With the Washington Capitals reclaiming first place in the Southeast Division, the NHL standings look a lot more in line with pre-season expectations of the Caps. Washington blanked the Habs 3-0 in their classic Capitals home whites, moving back into top spot in the Southeast, and dropping Dale Tallon’s upstart Florida Panthers to 8th spot in the East … Ovechkin has showed flashes of his past brilliance and dominance over the past few weeks …. - Goal of the Night : Marcus Johanssen fires a long wrister into the top corner against Carey Price after a slick little move, feigning a move to the outside against the Hab defenseman before using him as a screen for his shot …. Price never saw the puck. An All Star calibre goalie should have been expecting something like that … though Price has emerged as a legit NHL starting goalie, he continues to be over rated … - The BlackHawks clobbered the Sabres 6-2 in what is shaping up to be a disappointing season for the Sabres. Hard times for Sabre hockey fans, huh ? They get an owner with deep pockets, he opens the check book, GM Darcy Regier brings in some high price players, and the team flounders …. Ville Leino has been a bust, Christian Erhoff is still as soft as he was in Vancouver, and though Robyn Regher is doing his thing, playing a consistent and physical game, the team has not been very good. The biggest problem ? Star goalie Ryan Miller has lost focus, and is playing weak hockey. He has spouted off to the media several times on different topics, but has not been able to do the job he is paid millions to do. There is the scapregoat Sabre fans are looking for …. - If the Colorado Avalanche manage to sneak into the playoffs, the year is a success. It was nice to see Peter Mueller have a big game, 2 goals and an assist, after the injury problems he has dealt with ( concussion issues ) …. The former Everett Silvertip star was a highly touted prospect coming out of the Western Hockey League, but was dealt out of Phoenix …. - On that note, the Coyotes can’t really afford to be dealing away many more top prospects … Kyle Turris gone, Peter Mueller gone, Blake Wheeler gone …. Hard to build a winner when decent picks are moved or lost …. The Coyotes do not have a gamebreaker first round pick of their own in the lineup … - Awesome quote from Darryl Sutter regarding the gnarly cut Taylor Hall suffered to his noggin in warmups the other night … In a media scrum, Sutter was asked about players wearing helmets for warmups, if it needs to ne mandated …. The gruff Alberta farmer responded by saying the players can wear wigs and sunglasses, he doesn’t care, as long as they are ready to go when the game starts. Sutter also pointed out that it is an isolated incident . Thank You. The mainstream media contains those people that love to whip any incident into a big deal …. Sometimes a bit of perspective, as provided by Mr Sutter, is needed …. - Stanley Cup contenders, realistically, as of late Janvier ….definitely the defending champions, the Boston Bruins. Have to be the frontrunners. Also, the Chicago BlackHawks. Chicago added some muscle and grit, good news for them, bad news for the Vancouver Faker – Divers. Lets go with those two teams as frontrunners. Next, have to acknowledge the strong season from the New York Rangers, and the ever present Detroit Red Wings. New York is having a dream season, but when you get looking at the team, you wonder about depth, and the success they are enjoying seems a bit beyond what their roster seems capable of. Teams like that often crash in the playoffs. See the last few editions of the Phoenix Coyotes for case studies. The Wings only question mark is in goal. They are proven everywhere else. Detroit is a legit contender. After those teams, the San Jose Sharks and Philadelphia Flyers are slotted well up the standings board, and are perennially in the conversation. Both teams made radical changes in the summer, but are still winning. Come playoff time, both will be wild cards. They could be first round busts, or go to the Final. The Vancouver Faker-Divers are winning again, but still have that wormy feel and culture to the team, plus Luongo in net. The Canucks deserve to be mentioned and acknowledged for their regular season success, but does anyone outside of the diehard Canuck fanbase really think the team can win Lord Stanley’s grail ? Any kind of karma or mojo the Canucks had was used up last year. Can’t see them getting another shot with the current lineup. Too many actors, babies, whiners, etc …. Any team not mentioned is a darkhorse at this point, including pre season faves from Washington and Los Angeles … Jan 14 - Crazy rumor coming out of Toronto or Philly, depending on which source you listen to …. Paul Holmgren, the mad man, talking to Brian Burke, regarding James Van Riemsdyk becoming a Toronto Maple Leaf, with Luke Schenn going back to Philly … supposedly, the Leaves would have to throw in another player….. Anyway you look at it, if Holmgren deals Van Riemsdyk, the amount of talent dealt out of Philly recently becomes staggering. Accomplished and or high end first rounders leaving the team ….. It has to be acknowledged that Van Riemsdyk has not met expectations this year, but the kid is still young, and is very likely to be a high impact and dominant player in the near future. Of course Brian Burke wants him. Luke Schenn is a decent young d-man, but not likely to be an elite blueliner. He is a solid player, and could become a shutdown defender, but is not ever going to be a gamebreaker from the back end. Picking up a player like Grabovski in the deal would not justify trading Van Riemsdyk …. Holmgren has been a mad scientist over the past year, with his team staying at the same level …. Van Riemsdyk suffering a concussion should scuttle this rumor for the near future … - Former Saskatoon Blade Colton Gillies has been picked up by the Columbus Bue Jackets …. A new team should benefit Gillies, a kid who works hard, a gifted skater. If he is given the opportunity, he would be a solid third line player. Hope it works out for him with the Blue Jackets … - Need to clarify an issue …. Some teams really catch it on the site, like the Vancouver Faker-Divers. What a classless bunch of worms. But when a team turns it around, or start to turn it around, and deserve some credit, they get it here as well. That would be the Edmonton Oilers. They were awful for a few years, and had some goofy hype around them, like when they were the up and coming Oilers, thanks to Sam Gagner ( called Twerp at the time ), Andrew Cogliano, and Tom Gilbert …. That obviously did not pan out. It was ridiculous to think it would. However, now that the Oil have legitimate prospects and young star players, and have put Gagner into an appropriate role, a 2nd or 3rd line center, the team has a lot of promise, and that has been noted. If your team gets slagged by Open Ice Hitter, well, hard times, for certain. But when that team gets its act together, acknowledgement will follow …. For the Vancouver Faker-Divers, that will come when they get some character, and quit making like summer Olympians on the high dive platform, or like an actor in an action show, with the head snaps and dramatic falls …. - When Angelo Esposito was 16 years old, he was a running mate of Alexander Radulov with the Quebec Remparts, and won a Memorial Cup…. From that point on, things have been a struggle. He fell dramatically in his draft year after being considered a possible top pick. Injuries slowed him down. He was able to play for Canada at the WJC, and win a Gold medal, but after that, had more injury issues …. Since leaving the junior ranks, he has been traded several times. Initially a Penguin draft pick, he was dealt to the Atlanta Thrashers, then Florida, and now to Dallas …. - Rick Dipietro to undergo surgery, done for the year ….. If it wasn’t for bad luck, he would have any luck at all, so the saying goes ….. unreal. Wonder what his career would have been like had he ever stayed healthy …. Other injuries of note : Dan Carcillo, done for the year in Chicago, and Nik Backstrom, concussion, sidelined in Washington ….. brutal year for injuries … Jan 12 - Habs deal Chicken Turd Cammaleri to the Flames for Rene Bourque …. Sooo … what are the Habs up to ? They bring in Tomas Kaberle because they need production from the back end … Kaberle looked great for his first couple games as a Hab, but has been normal and crappy Kaberle of late …. Now they deal Cammaleri to Calgary for Rene Bourque …. Are they freeing up cap space ? If so, why did they acquire Kaberle ? Does Pierre Gauthier have a clue about anything ? Okay, to stir things up in regards to who won this trade, most “ experts “ are saying Cammaleri is the best player, so the Flames win the deal …. Hold On a minute …. Cammaleri has the one big year at 39 goals, he also has a 34 goal season …. Other than that, he has seasons of 26, 19, 26 and 19 goals …. Bourque has two 27 goal seasons, a year in which he scored 21 goals in 58 games, which would translate to a 30 plus goal year, this year he is on pace for around 25 goals … Cammaleri is on pace for just under 20 … Bourque has a far greater physical impact … who is the better player ? Hmmm … lets see how this plays out … Does Cammaleri ever get anywhere close to 34 goals again, let alone the 39 he bagged in his previous Calgary stint …. Can’t see it happening …. As for Bourque, who hails from one of the truly diverse regions of Canada, in the Lac La Biche, Alberta area, all the best to him in Montreal ….. - Better address the Chicken Turd Cammaleri comments regarding how the Habs are a bunch of losers – of course that is why he was dealt the next day. Wouldn’t be surprised to hear that a few fist fights occurred in the Hab dressing room involving Cammaleri after those comments. His comments would have angered at least a few teammates, and you better believe teammates scrap in the dressing room from time to time. We are talking about proud athletes here, guys with very healthy self images and egos. That is why they are successful athletes. Being called losers would ruffle some feathers in the room , and definitely in the front office. Diehard fans would be appalled. - If not for divisional placement as the three seed, the Florida Panthers would sit in sixth place …. Bad mouth the Southeast division all you want, but that is going to be a tight race come April … Winnipeg ( yup, Southeast Division next year too, thank you nhlpa wizards ) and Washington will factor into this, and Tampa might get their act together at some point - Have to credit Bob Luongo with a solid game in a Western Conference showdown between the Faker-Divers and the resurgent Blues …. Luongo made some key saves, helping the Canucks pick up another W …. The zebras also helped out a lot, too, especially with that overtime penalty against the Blues …. Combine that with a bizarre decision by TJ Oshie to go to the bench for a stick, and you have a Vancouver win … - Important note on the Vancouver Faker-Divers … they have played 45 games. 5 more than Boston and San Jose, and 4 more than the Rangers …. Just like last year, when they had played more games than the other elite teams ….. use winning percentage as opposed to total points when determining who is the best team at this point of the season ….. Jan 8 - Another shaky game from Ilya Bryzgalov, Philly blow a 4-2 lead in the third, and the Sens take a game from the Flyers, 6-4 ….. the Senators really woke up in the third frame, but how does a team that wants to call itself a contender blow a 2 goal lead in the third period ? Against a team of kids and overacheivers at that ? Seems like nothing changes in Philly as far as goaltending goes …. Bryzgalov has been anything but consistent … what does Philly have to do to get reliable goaltending ? - Dumb comment from Alain Vigneault regarding the cut down delivered to Sami Salo by rat Brad Marchand …. Yes, Marchand is a rat, even though he is an effective player who knows how to find the net … for the coach of a team that has so many fakers, so many divers, and a few well known cheap artists, Vigneault should not be making any comments about somebody wanting to hurt Marchand at some point …. No surprise that Sami Salo is hurt, supposedly concussed, after Marchand wiped him out. Salo is one of the most fragile players the league has ever seen … - Perfect example of how poor the quality of officiating is in the NHL - the goal by Dan Cleary, assisted by Valteri Filppula of the Red Wings … at the side of the Chicago net, Filppula crosschecks a BlackHawk defenseman in the lower back, wiping out the defender, directly in front of a referee. Vicious shot, blatant, should have been a Red Wing penalty …. But no, the idiot ref stands there with his thumb up his butt, Detroit score and tie the game ….. this game also featured another Nik Kronwall blindside hit on a player, with Kronwall going airborne to hit the player ….. Detroit continue to enjoy the advantage of the referees on most nights …. - Jeff Carter out with a separated shoulder …. Coming out of the OHL following a stellar career in the Soo, Carter was a can’t miss prospect, expected to have a big impact for the Flyers …and in all fairness, Carter was an elite player. When healthy. Not that he missed a staggering amount of games, but it hasn’t been unusual for him to be hurt, or play hurt …. Injuriues have really limited his effectiveness in Columbus … Jan 7 - Jarome Iginla . 500 Goals. Iggy has been the face of the Calgary Flames since Theo FLeury left town … always with a big smile, a total class act, and a solid presence on the ice …. Scoring 500 goals in the NHL is a huge accomplishment. Hats off to a world class athlete, and hope he scores a few more … - Game of the Night : The Vancouver Faker-Divers paid a visit to Boston, first time since getting taken apart in Beantown three times last spring, if you know what I mean ….. the Bruins destroyed the Faker-Divers in the three Stanley Cup games played in the “Gaadun”, in particular, humiliating the super sensitive and egotistical Roberto Luongo …. Anyways, Luongo was stapled to the bench for this game, replaced by Corey Schneider, and it turned out well for Vancouver, winning 4-3 … a spirited game, to be sure, with the Bruins pushing some buttons, and the refs protecting the Vancouver squad … didn’t like the Lucic ejection … where were the dough head officials as 5 Faker-Divers jumped on Scott Thornton ? As usual, awful job by the refs, and can’t blame Lucic for going to the aid of a teammate in a scrum against a team known for dangerous and wormy antics …. - Have to give credit to Cody Hodgson, who is really beginning to emerge in Vancouver … he scored a wicked goal in the Canuck win, a howitzer of a slapshot. Hodgson had issues with injuries to start his NHL career, but has persevered and earned his time in the NHL. If he can avoid being poisoned by the Faker-Divers on the team, and the lack of character, he could become a true leader, something Vancouver lack, and desperately need if they are ever going to win a Stanley Cup … - Good to hear the NCAA is considering giving players the option of wearing a half shield visor. One of the problems in sport today is the feeling of invincibility the players have. Make this happen, treat the players like adults … and next up, carve down the size of the goalie equipment … - The league badly needs to change the format for All Star voting by fans ….. one vote per IP address would make some sense … Of this year’s starters, Milan Michalek, Tim Thomas and Erik Karlsson can be justified as being atop the All Star heap ….. Alfreddson, Phaneuf and Spezza, I don’t think so. The idea is nice, let the fans vote, but to let them rig the vote ruins the concept …. One vote per person / IP address makes the idea a bit more legit … - Hey, brilliant idea for the solid and classy folks at the smelly and rotten nhlpa …. Every game can be a home game !! Yeah, every team plays every game at home !!! Wait a minute, that won’t work ….. but hey, we are the nhlpa, and we don’t care about anything except me, me, me,me and my wallet …. - On a more serious note : the nhlpa are losers and worms. A prime example of what is wrong in labor relations in the Western world. Sports agents and unions are sickening. Nauseating. All they represent is greed and selfishness. - If the owners don’t let the players go to Sochi for the 2016 Olympics, they will receive the same type of criticism over the issue as the nhlpa usually receive on their stupid and selfish stance on most issues … having the best hockey players in the Olympics is in everyone’s best interests. Allowing Europeans to watch the very best players is the best advertising the NHL could ask for. Hopefully the league and the team owners are intelligent enough to see this … - If Brian Burke really is a smart hockey man, and Ryan Getzlaf really is available, then Burke needs to make this happen : Package up basically whatever Bob Murray wants – offload Kadri, Tyler Bozak, Jeff Finger, Komisarek, basically whoever Murray wants. Murray won’t ask for Lupul, and to be realistic, a few guys can’t be dealt right now. They would be Phaneuf, Kessel, Joe Colbourne, and ….. that’s it. Hang on to Keith Aulie if you can, but every other player on the Leaf roster should be considered fair game for a package to land Ryan Getzlaf … - - Jan 6 - Congrats to Sverige for their Gold medal win at the 2012 WJC in Calgary ….. Ottawa Senator first round pick Mike Zibenajad claimed Gold for the Swedes with his overtime tally, giving the Swedes their first Gold at the tournament in 3 decades ….. extremely interesting how badly the Swedes outshot their opponents in almost every game, yet had trouble bulging the twine …. Outshoot the Russkies 22-1 in period two, and not score ?? Bizarre …. Anyway, when the smoke cleared, Sverige had the biggest prize, Russia settled for Silver, and Canada claimed Bronze with a 4-0 shutout of the Finns ….. - Canada have now gone three tournaments without a Gold. You better believe the heat will be on to win next year. Four years without Gold is not acceptable, not when you have as many hockey players and resources dedicated to the game as Canada does. The Maple Leaf now need to go on another 4 or 5 year run of nothing but Gold, or Canadian hockey fans will start to voice their displeasure …. - Soooo ….. Don Fehr wants to play games, huh ? What a worm. And what an insult to the common folk that drive and fund the game of hockey. Travel schedule of an NHL player is too hard on them ? Flying everywhere executive class and staying in 5 star hotels is too hard on the players ? …. Hmmmm ….. any notion that the union cares about the playoff structure is laughable. The union management care only about how many zeroes are tacked on behind the first digits of their paycheque. If you don’t think so, then have a few discussions with them … look, we all know what Fehr is doing. Anything he can use to disrupt the NHL, he is going to use. Regardless of how unethical, immoral, unreasonable or wrong it is. He will do it. That is what labour lawyers do. They screw people around. They are greedy, and manipulative. Yup, just like many owners / businessmen.No sense being naïve here. The big issue with the union / labour lawyer is that they misrepresent themselves, claiming to be “ fighting for the worker “ … whatever. They don’t care about anything except their own wealth. Which is funny, since that is what they criticize the business owner for. The team owners here are not pretending to be something they are not – they all want to make millions. Fair enough. And they happen to make all the players rich in the process. Fine. But what the nhlpa are doing, that isn’t fine. The tail wants to wag the dog. They want to keep making more money, more millions for the likes of Scott Gomez, Jeff Finger, Jason Blake, and other slackers …. At the cost of the fan. Now the nhlpa want to tell the NHL how to run their business. They want to run the league, too, huh ? Tell the league owners how to organize the conferences or divisions. How to schedule the games. Here is a word to the NHL owners – crush this union. Crush it hard. Destroy it. As a fan, it disgusts me what the nhlpa does, and what it stands for. Selfishness. Greed. Entitlement. Zero accountability. NHL players make so much money now, and have such an easy life of privilege and wealth, that they can’t even be bothered to put on the Canada Cup, or World Cup, call it what you want, the tournament formerly held to raise money for the players pension fund, and followed fanatically by the fanatical fans, like me. Open Ice Hitter has been calling for this tournament for years, but the players and their agents are too busy counting their money …… things are way out of whack in sports unions. Lets get things straightened out. Put the players union in its place. Time for performance based pay, and destruction of the nhlpa. When the lawyers and agents who run the nhlpa have brainwashed veteran players so badly into going along with the idea that first class travel and 5 star hotels create too hard of a life, then it is time for a reality check. - Scathing article by Joe Haggerty regarding Luongo’s place on the bench as the Canucks head into Boston for the first time since the 2011 Stanley Cup final, in which the Bruins humiliated Luongo. Remember ? Luongo sprawled out on his stomach, surrendering goal after goal, as the Bruins and their fans cheered another tally ? Luongo whining about not getting any compliments from Tim Thomas ….. that kind of stuff … Haggerty nails it when he questions Luongo’s character ….. http://www.csnne.com/blog/bruins-talk/post/Haggerty-More-weak-sauce-from-Luongo?blockID=626624&feedID=3944 - Goal of the Night : In a rare Anaheim win, Bobby Ryan swoops in on goal, gracefully weaving through Islander defencemen, before reaching around Evgeni Nabokov, who was down and committed in the butterfly, and slides the puck into the net for a goal that looked so easy to score ….. looks are often deceiveing … - Brian Burke is an interesting guy, well educated, likes the spotlight, outspoken, etc, etc ….. but he is all over the map with his latest tirade. Burke is given too much credit as smart hockey guy … he has done well during his career in management, but that is likely due more to the fact that he manages personal politics well, as opposed to him being a genius when it comes to running a team. His little rant about “ rats “ and having to send Colton Orr to the minors was a total eyebrow raiser. Want the bottom line on fighting and safety in the NHL ? Call the rules as they are laid out in the rulebook. As it is, refs pick and choose what rules to enforce, and what players to penalize. There is zero uniformity in how the rules are applied. Just call the rules the way they are written, apply them the same to all players. That will make a huge difference. Call every charge, crosscheck and hook you see. After a few months of ridiculously high penalty numbers, the players will figure out to play within the rules. And take the suggestion of Mike Brophy, limiting ice time and availability of one dimensional fighters, like Colton Orr. Nothing against Orr as a person, but he is not a legit NHL hockey player. He is a legit bareknuckle hockey fighter. Two very different things. Leave the fighting to the actual players. That is how the game can actually police itself. You are always going to have players pushing the limits, and those guys can spend some quality time in the sin bin, and occasionally dropping the mitts. Guys like Orr, though, they aren’t legit NHL hockey players. When Orr fights Jody Shelley, it is not a part of the game. It is a sideshow. Yes, I get up and watch with fascination when two huge guys slug it out in the most primal of contests known to humanknd. An awesome display of strength and technique is what heavyweight fights in the NHL are. But they are still a sideshow. Now, Milan Lucic beating the tar out of Mike Komisarek, or Derek Dorsett dropping the mitts with Taylor Hall, those are actual unscripted, real, and spontaneous disagreements between hockey players. Bad judgement on Hall’s part, yes, but both scenario’s had real full time NHL players scrapping, and the intimidation factor was settled, with Lucic imposing his will on Komisarek, and Hall learning that he is not a fighter. Burke has found himself going in a few different directions on this issue. It isn’t that complicated. Put together a team of hockey players, put them on the ice, and actually enforce the rules the same way for every team. Want to cut down on concussions? The penalty is called charging. Use it. Open Ice Hitter loves the huge open ice demolitions, but they do hurt people. Sometimes they are legal checks. Sometimes one player takes 15 strides and charges across the ice intending to hurt another player. That is a Patrick Kaleta specialty. It is called charging, and intent to injure. Call it that way. Jan 4 - Russia needed the big names to perform against Team Canada, and did they ever come through … Evgeni Kuznetsov buried the Canadians with a monster showing, the second year in a row that the smooth Russian forward stepped up to ruin Team Canada’s chances at Gold …. Nail Yakupov seized the moment as well, playing the role of setup man … Canada outplayed the Russians badly to open the game, but after 20 minutes the Russians led 2-0. The difference was the Russians being able to score when they had the opportunity, while Canada could not capitalize on their opportunities. Russia got spectacular goaltending from Andrei Vasilevski for most of the game, while Scott Wedgewood failed to deliver the huge performance Canada has been wanting from a goalie in the WJC since Steve Mason led the team to a Gold medal …. As for any suggestion that officiating cost Canada this game, that idea can be dismissed by acknowledging that the referee’s where in fact horrible, but their delusional calls did not give one team a favor over the other. The blind bats were terrible for both teams, as is often the case. The game is too fast, and has passed the on-ice referee, leaving them to look like fools, especially when the video replay shows what really happened seconds later …. Things looked ugly in the third period, when Canada trailed 6-1, with the team looking like it was ready to come completely unravelled. Credit to the team for rallying to close the gap to 6-5, and hitting another goalpost, something Team Canada specialized in during the game …. This is not one of those years in which Team Canada management need to be criticized for poor player selection. They have a good mix of skill and size, and the only player who could be looked on as the coach’s boy, Brendan Gallagher, played alright, and is an accomplished scorer in the WHL. This isn’t the same thing as old Stan Butler taking his Brampton hacks, or having Casey Cizikas on the team last year while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins watched from Red Deer. The personnel on this edition of the team was okay, they just hit a Russian team that was ready for a huge challenge … - The Sweden – Finland game was another matter …horrid reffing helped sink the Finns, giving the Swedes some timely power plays …. And failing to give the Finns any calls, even though the Finns should have had an overtime powerplay ….. that coupled with Finnish goalie Aittokallio making a bad decision in trying to clear a puck, and Mikael Granlund mis-handling the biscuit during the shootout, and you have a bitterly disappointed Finland squad, a team that led the Swedes 2-0 heading into the third period …. - So, Tre Kronor versus the Bear in the Gold medal game ….Sweden has not won this game in 30 years …. Odds are that they should buck the trend, but who knows? The Swedish goalie has not been an All Star by any stretch of the imagination, and for all the Swedes shots, they aren’t bulging the twine much …. The Russians have been very opportunistic over the past two tournaments, and Vasilevski made some awesome saves against Canada …. Just watch the game … - The NHL is full on again, and the standings are starting to see some corrections …. For example, the Kings now lead the Pacific Division, and sit as the third seed in the West. Thank You Darryl Sutter. It needs to be said that the Kings would sit in the eight seed if not for leading their division, but it looks like the spot most thought the Kings would occupy …. Minnesota have fallen down the standings, as have the Leaves … Detroit lead the league in wins, and Vancouver have moved into second spot in the West, though that also needs an asterisk, as they have played 5 more games than San Jose …. The fact that the number of games played by teams can vary so much at times during the year really throws a kink into the standings, one that is rarely mentioned by sportscasters … - Tough year for the Columbus Blue Jackets to be a frontrunner to pick first overall …of course, the Ducks are taking a run at that honor as well … anyway, the Jackets have not had any luck with high first round picks and Russian players. Think Nikita Filatov and Nikolai Zherdev …. So this year, the consensus top pick is thought to be Russian Nail Yakupov …. A few things on Yakupov, namely that he came to Canada to play in the OHL with the Sarnia Sting, and his agent is Igor Larionov … Are those signs of commitment to success and professionalism … Larionov was the consummate pro during his time in the NHL, and deserves respect as an agent for a number of reasons - he played on several teams without causing a fuss, and he came from a vastly different background than players and most agents come from, namely communist / big brother-style Soviet society … maybe Yakupov starts a new trend for Russian players in how they prepare for a shot at the NHL … maybe the Blue Jackets finally get the smooth Russian ace they have been looking for … - Just when it looked like Tampa were ready to make a charge up the standings, and the Leafs were in free-fall mode, Toronto lay a dirty lickin’ on the Lightning, 7-3, in Toronto, before the screaming Leaf supporters … Joffrey Lupul put up another handful of points to stay amongst the elite of the scoring race … the Leaves had 42 shots on goal !! .. what a downer of a year for Tampa …. - Another WJC note …. Does the IIHF not realize that by putting the English spelling on the Finnish jerseys, they are robbing the game of some of its mystique and the exotic nature of an international event ? Hey, if you have been following hockey for any period of time, you know what Suomi means …. If you don’t know, you will figure it out …. They don’t need to put Finland on the jerseys …. I have never seen Canada or USA spelled on the jerseys in Czech or Russian …. Basically, don’t worry about sucking up to the North American audience too much. We aren’t complete zombies …. Love the Russian jersey, with the Gold Eagle and Russian spelling, classic … - Jan 2 - Winter Classic … Rangers 3 Philly 2 …. The thought remaining at the end of the day concerning the Flyers is this : They continue to fail on the big stage, when the spotlight is squarely on them. They succeeded early as a franchise, the first expansion team to win a Stanley Cup, winning back to back titles as the Broad Street Bullies in 1974 and 1975. Since then, though, they are 0 for six in Stanley Cup Final appearances, and have lost both Winter Classic games they have played in …. Yesterday, Hank Lundquist and his huge equipment stymied the Flyers, while in the Philly net, Sergei Bobrovsky was mediocre. On the bench sat their big dollar goalie, who they have not been able to rely on for wins ….. Now Mike Rupp, there is a guy who has good timing for big games, 2 goals on the big stage, much like his Stanley Cup play for the New Jersey Devils back in the day … - It has to be acknowledged that Brad Richards has had a positive impact on the Rangers …. The team is playing pretty decent hockey as a whole, so it isn’t that Richards turned the team around on his own. He is doing his thing, and that included scoring the winning goal in the Winter Classic …. - John Tortorella definitely suffers from a persecution complex …. He is right, the reffing is horrible in the NHL. It isn’t always against him though, in fact not very often do the Rangers get the shaft ….. - Interesting that Kyle Turris is admitting the demand for a huge contract was a ploy …. And good for him to admit a mistake, something the NHLPA would not approve of ….If Turris really wants fresh start, canning his poor excuse of an agent would be a good start. Follow that with serious effort and a squeaky clean image for a few years, and he might be forgiven by hardcore fans that don’t care for the sense of entitlement many modern athletes brandish … - Stunning win by Russia over the Czech Republic in WJC action …. A barnburner of a game, ended in overtime …. The Russian`s are going through a similar issue to what ruined the American team : big names not producing …. Nail Yakupov and Evgeni Kuznetsov have not had an impact, aside from Kuznetsov`s 9 point outing against Latvia …. At least the Russian`s can be happy about moving on … look at it this way – if these two don`t get going, they will wear goat horns. If they do get going, Team Canada will have their hands full …. - Some interesting officiating in the Slovakia – Finalnd game, with a very questionable ejection basically handcuffing the Slovaks in the late stages of the game …. Finland won this game ugly, 8-5, to set up a classic Scandinavian battle with the Swedes. Mikael Granlund finally had an impact in the tournament … The Slovaks never quit, and losing Matus Chovan late in the game to a poor penalty hurt their efforts to rally ….. Anyway, the stage is set for the Finns to play the big, determined and skilled Swedish team …. Look for the Swedes to win this contest easily …. - If Elliotte Friedman says the Wings will host the Winter Classic next year, and play the Maple Leafs, then it is likely the plan …. Listened to some debate on the issue on a Sportsnet channel as well, pondering the venue …. It would be awesome to see 115,000 fans take in a game in Michigan. Hopefully the powers that be see it that way … - Interesting what has played out with goaltenders this year … Brian Elliott looks All World, Ilya Bryzgalov has been hot and very cold in Philly, Dwayne Roloson is getting slammed by everyone, and can`t stop a beachball in Tampa, Ray Emery is Chicago`s best goalie, Marty Brodeur has been hit and miss for the Devils while Johan Hedberg has been fairly good, and what looked to be a huge coup for Washington, signing Tomas Vokoun, has not worked out …. Watching James Reimer struggle lately for Toronto is not exactly surprising, but one had kind of hoped he would have some long term success, for his sake, and the sake of the Leaves …. The demise of Ryan Miller has been in almost exact correlation with how far he opens his mouth, and how much he whines and cries … Mike Smith has been a legit starter in Phoenix …. - Of note are the teams Steve Yzerman mentions as the top teams in the Eastern Conference … he has Boston at the top of the heap, followed by the Rangers and Flyers. After that, he lumps everyone together …. - One player that was much ballyhooed coming into the year was Brayden Schenn, uber-prospect for the Flyers, late of the Los Angeles Kings, via the Mike Richards trade …. Schenn finally notched his first NHL goal, in the Winter Classic …. The versatile forward has been held back by injuries and the salary cap. Lets see what he can do on the big stage for the rest of the year. He was a prolific scorer last year in junior hockey. The challenge will be to see if he can bring that level of offense to the NHL, or if he becomes as solid second or third line guy …. - Cody Hodgson suffered through a similar year for Vancouver last year, looked at as a bit of a disappointment, and a bit of a question mark. This year, Hodgson is emerging as a very solid NHL player …. Very similar path as Schenn leaving junior and heading into the NHL …. Very high expectations, Super Star performance as the World Junior Championship, then injuries and lacklustre play to start his NHL career …. Perseverance would be the lesson here … |
