Monday, December 28th, 2009 Written by:
Eric Sutter
After the Holidays comes a time to take advantage of end of the year sales or return those gifts that your great uncle’s brother’s friend gave you so let’s look at some holiday bargains on the waiver wire and some players you should be trading in for some return.
Waiver Wire Bargains
Mason Raymond, Canucks W
After a natural Hat Trick against the rival Flames we now believe in this speedy winger to be a fantasy contributor. The third-year Raymond now has a career high 17 goals and 29 points this season, but is still only owned in 50 percent of leagues.
The 24-year-old has formed a pretty lethal second line with Mikael Samuelsson and Ryan Kesler proven to fantasy owners that you don’t just need a Sedin to produce for the Canucks. Raymond is also seeing significant time on the power play with eight power play points in his last 15 games making him a must have player from the waiver wire.
Scottie Upshall, Coyotes W
An energy third line player his whole career Scottie Upshall has found a place on the top line in Phoenix, and has produced. Playing with Shane Doan and Matthew Lombardi the 26-year-old is already one goal away from tying his career high for the season (13 goals this year).
The line has been red hot producing 14 points combined last week, with Upshall chipping in seven points in the last seven games. A former sixth overall pick in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft seems to finally found a environment to flourish and as you shop the Waiver Wire makes sure to pick up this speedy winger.
Holiday Returns
Steve Mason, Blue Jackets G
Talk about your sophomore slumps, last year’s Rookie of the Year is having one of the worst second seasons ever, and killing fantasy teams. With the Blue Jackets fading fast, head coach Ken Hitchcock is now trying a goalie rotation which is a killer in the fantasy world.
When drafting this blossoming superstar you did not expect this, a 46th-ranked save percentage (.887) and 45th-ranked GAA (3.40). Put some feelers out there maybe someone struggling with goalies will take a flier on this 21-year-old and you could get a hot goalie (Quick, Huet, Renne) for this terrible frost bitten goalie.
Pavel Datsyuk, Red Wings C
The playoff slump of last year has carried over for Pavel Datsyuk, as the Russian center only has eight goals in his first 36 games. This is a player who has averaged 30 goals in his last three seasons, and is way off the pace this season. Injuries to top players have affected the Red Wings offensively as they are 23rd in the league in goals for per game (2.55).
Datsyuk finally has found some consistency with line mates playing alongside Todd Bertuzzi and Tomas Holmstrom but is causes many fantasy owners who picked him with a top pick to have some buyer’s remorse.
With Datsyuk name recognition and past performances late in the season (a career 109 points in the month of March) he could bring back some major return in a trade, you could get a package of a top defender and hot scorer for Datsyuk and take advantage of getting something for this struggling forward on a struggling offensive team.
Sunday, December 27th, 2009 Written by:
Eric Sutter
Hope everyone’s holidays were filled with food, family, and friends!
Now that both hockey and myself are off the Christmas Break, big events are happening all around. Martin Brodeur broke yet another record with his 104th shutout, surpassing that of Terry Sawchuck, and in Atlanta, negotiations for star winger Iyla Kovalchuck is again feeding the rumor mill.
Well, let’s get down to business—the Holiday Pucking Awesome Hat Trick, or the top three storylines I will be watching this week.
Winter Wonderland
On Friday comes the spectacular that has become a fixture with ringing in the New Year: the Winter Classic. Not that I have to break down the opponents, but it will match up the Philadelphia Flyers with the Boston Bruins and be played at the historic Fenway Park.
I have already made my opinion known that I would prefer to have this television success in a bigger NFL/College Football venue, but I digress.
So, as the 168th regular-season meeting between these franchises is upon us, and Gary Bettman smiles down upon Fenway Park, we have to applaud the NHL for this forward-thinking event so far it has been a television success. Last year’s 2.5 rating was the highest rated NHL regular-season game in 13 years.
All hockey fans grew up playing outside, and it is a pleasure to see these professional athletes act like kids again.
U.S. Olympic Dreams
At the conclusion of the Winter Classic, the 23-man U.S. Olympic Men’s Hockey team will be announced. So as GM Don Waddell and Head Coach Rom Wilson stew over the final decisions, it will be interesting to see what direction they turn.
Most experts are predicting a movement towards youth on this squad, but with the uncertainty of NHL players playing in the 2014 Winter Olympics, don’t be surprised to see some of the veterans collect some valuable spots.
I am not going to sit here and predict the full roster, but I will give my one surprise inclusion and my one surprise exclusion. I predict that defenseman Andy Greene of the New Jersey Devils will make it.
The 27-year old undrafted free agent at the Christmas Break tied at the top of American defenseman in scoring (21 points). What a story to beat out other first round picks for the spot. I see Greene playing the type of puck movement and limited turnovers that Ron Wilson wants from his defensemen.
The one surprising omission that I predict is Rangers forward Chris Drury. The Trumbull, CT native, once a fixture as a leader of the American hockey players, has struggled since given a monster contract to play on Broadway, and has seen younger players leap frog him on the depth chart.
Game of the Week
The easy pick would be the most-watched game this week, but I already wrote enough about the Winter Classic in this Hat Trick, so I move my attention to arguably the best Western Conference team facing off against arguably the best Eastern Conference team: the Washington Capitals vs. the San Jose Sharks.
Last time they faced off in October, the Capitals’ top line was too much for the Sharks, in a 4-1 victory. Alex Ovechkin had two goals and Alexander Semin added another. These two teams are near the top of the league in goals, and San Jose has been hard to beat in regulation at home (9-2-5), so expect some fireworks this game.
This matchup also shows how the league made the right decision to allow more inter-conference games, to give both teams a measuring stick on how they look against the other conferences’ elite teams.
Thursday, December 24th, 2009 Written by:
Eric Sutter
Happy Holidays to all our readers from the staff of Pucking Awesome, make sure to check out the Pucking Awesome Power Rankings and the ever popular Between the Pipes to get you through the weekend.
Coming up in the new year will be resolutions for all 32 NHL team’s and due to popular demand Fantasy Focus will be now expanded to two days a week!
Thank you for spending your time with Pucking Awesome this year and we look forward to covering the Olympics, Playoff Push and Stanley Cup run for our readers in 2010.
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 Written by:
Alex Mueller
Uniforms – I’ll try something a little lighthearted over the holidays. I will complain about certain team’s uniforms/logos. Feel free to complain as well.
Vancouver Canucks 3rd jersey – It took me awhile, yes sad I know, to figure out that was a hockey stick. But honestly what is the point? The other jerseys are fine and this is a just a stick coming out of an oval, it just looks dumb. Some of you may rip me because it’s a pure old school classic hockey. Rip me anyway I don’t like it.
Anaheim Ducks jersey logo – I like the old mighty ducks logo not the name “mighty ducks”, ducks is fine. It’s weird though because without the mighty in the title you just think of a regular duck. I don’t know about you, but the first thing I think of when I think of Anaheim or Southern California is not a duck. Perhaps Donald Duck eventually. At first I thought the logo was lame then I realized the “D” in Ducks was a webbed duck’s foot then I came to the conclusion, it’s still lame.
New York Islanders jersey – I have always hated the logo and the colors, it’s hard to imagine they have had the same logo for 37 years. Change it already.
Quebec Nordiques jersey and logo – One of the worst in the NHL, thankfully we no longer have to look at them. The logo reminds me of Q-bert remember that game?
Pittsburgh Penguins old logo – Now don’t get me wrong I love the Penguins logo. This is when they changed it in 1992 to some kind of “new age/cutting edge” penguin. Thankfully they changed it back. Don’t mess with the penguin, Pittsburgh.
New York Rangers jersey and logo – Not really in love with the logo and the jerseys with the just the name Rangers written on them, it isn’t very imaginative. They could use a new name and a new logo.
Of course nobody tops the ugliness of all of the Pittsburgh Pirates jerseys. Just beyond hideous. The Pirates folded because of financial reasons. I bet they didn’t sell any jerseys either. Of course the hideousness didn’t end there. No folks they moved the team to Philadelphia and renamed them the Quakers. They of course also brought along the same graphic designer to give you the lovely jersey below.
Of course to be fair there were a lot of bad NHL jerseys in the 20’s and 30’s.
Lots of goats this week and that’s not a good thing.
Double goats in this clip, but Thompson is more of the goat than Lundqvist. Thompson misses a wide open net, and I do mean wide open. In his defense he only has 3 goals in 80 career NHL games, note sarcasm. That being said I think he will be a finalist for goat of the year. Lundqvist is a goat for playing that far out of the net. Its one thing to cut down the angle but that is way beyond a comfortable distance from the net, plus he never got the puck and he fell down.
Ivan Vishnevskiy’s play was just as bad as Thompson but he cost his team a chance to tie the game. Ivan had went back to play the puck off the board in his own zone and appeared to have control but he lost it and ended up scoring on his own empty net. I don’t think the Sharks need help to win games.
Things I like
1. Martin Brodeur breaking Terry Sawchuk’s shutout record against the defending champs no less. Brodeur took 1,032 games to get number 104, while Sawchuk had 103 shutouts in 971 games played. Brodeur also broke Patrick Roy’s most games played by a goalie record this week. Brodeur now has played in 1032 games (Roy 1029).
2. The Toronto Maple Leafs have been playing some decent hockey as of late and they might even contend for a final playoff spot before the season is done. In December so far they have gone 7-4-1. The Phil Kessel deal has worked out well too. Now all they need is a goaltender. No one in their three headed rotation has played all that well. They actually have the 2nd worst team GAA ahead of only Carolina.
3. As someone mentioned last week I did forget about the Sedin twins, so I’ll mention them now. Henrik had his 9 game point streak snapped on the Dec. 20th game against St. Louis. Daniel had his 8 game point streak snapped against Washington on Dec. 18th. Since they’re twins and they started the streaks on the same day, it’s a shame the streaks couldn’t be snapped on the same day.
4. Sidney Crosby up until Brodeur’s record breaking shutout game had amassed 18 points in the past 9 games. He also was even or had a positive +/- in all but one of those games. Crosby also just recently got back line mate Chris Kunitz from injury.
Things I don’t
1. Hard to imagine a team playing worse than the Columbus Blue Jackets, okay besides Philadelphia. Their 2-10-5 record in their last 17 games is, I’m sure, not what the city of Columbus wanted for Christmas. Struggles abound everywhere for this team. See stat line of the week below.
2. In 11 games in December Philadelphia’s Mike Richards has only 5 points. Three of those five came in one game against the Islanders. One of the many reasons the Flyers are struggling.
3. After a seemingly good start the Islanders have settled back near the bottom like recent times. It’s a shame really but maybe it’s what they need long term so they can get higher draft picks. At least they have been drafting somewhat better the past few years. Tavares and Okposo, recent high picks, are bright spots.
Stat Line of the Week
12/19/09 Avalanche 5 vs. Blue Jackets 2
Skater
TOI
GAA
SA
SV
SV%
C. Mason
4:15
42.35
7
4
.571
Last year’s Calder Trophy winner Steve Mason was pulled after less than five minutes into the game against the Avalanche. He gave up 3 goals on 7 shots for a whopping 42.35GAA. His replacement Mathieu Garon gave up a powerplay goal 4 minutes later.
Did You Know?
After Brodeur the next active player with the most shutouts is Chris Osgood with 50. Robert Luongo and Evgeni Nabokov are next after Osgood with 49 each. George Hainsworth is 3rd on the career shutout list behind Brodeur and Sawchuk. Hainsworth is however the single season record holder with 22. Times have certainly changed since Hainsworth set that record in 1929.
0 – Shutouts against Nashville, San Jose and Edmonton the only three teams he hasn’t shutout yet
10 – Shutouts against the Islanders, the team he has shutout the most
44 – Career wins against Philadelphia the team he has beaten the most
6-1 – Record against Minnesota his highest winning percentage against one team
.878 – SV% against Vancouver his lowest, one of only two teams he is under a .900 SV%
.932 – SV% against Chicago and Montreal his highest
This Week in Hockey History
Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.
December 17, 1983 In his 352nd career NHL game, Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky scored a goal and added five assists to reach the 500 assist mark and the 800 career point mark in his NHL career. Oilers won 8-1 over the visiting Quebec Nordiques.
December 18, 1954 Montreal’s Maurice Richard became the first player in NHL history to score 400 career goals, when the Canadiens defeated the Black Hawks 4-2 at Chicago.
December 19, 1993 Goaltender Mike Richter set a franchise record by extending his unbeaten streak to 20 games (17-0-3) in the Rangers’ 6-3 win over the Senators in New York. Richter broke the team record of 19 games (14-0-5) set by Dave Kerr in 1939-40.
December 20, 1959 Chicago Black Hawks scored seven goals in the second period and won 7-4 against the Maple Leafs, at Chicago Stadium. Bobby Hull led the scoring with his second career hat trick and an assist.
December 21, 1937 Chicago’s Paul Thompson became the first player in NHL history to score a goal against his brother, when he scored on Bruins’ goalie Cecil “Tiny” Thompson, at 19:51 of the third period, in a 2-1 Black Hawks’ loss at Boston Garden.
December 22, 1979 Philadelphia Flyers set an NHL record by extending their unbeaten streak to 29 games (20-0-9), with a 5-2 win at Boston. Boston previously held the record of 28. Flyers extended their streak to 35 games, longest in sports history.
Rankings
The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.
Top 5
1. New Jersey
2. Los Angeles
3. Pittsburgh
4. Nashville
5. Washington
Bottom 5
30. Columbus
29. Philadelphia
28. NY Islanders
27. Tampa Bay
26. Dallas
The Ducks got a hard fought win against the Vancouver Canucks 3-2. Sexton had some pretty passes setting up Ryan and Koivu for goals. Anaheim completely dominated the 1st period as the Canucks only got two shots on goal. The Canucks converted one into a goal anyway. I didn’t see the Sharks game but the Ducks got crushed 4-1. It’s a shame really because the Ducks had been playing well as of late and this was a good measuring stick game. Turns out they still have a ways to go. Getzlaf scored goals in back to back for the first time this season. That seems kind of sad but Getzlaf is more of a setup man than a goal scorer, though he can score when need be. Against the Coyotes Getzlaf notched another goal bringing his goal scoring streak to three games. Bobby Ryan also extended his points streak to six games. The Ducks to a 3-1 lead into the 3rd period and after Phoenix scored to take the game to 3-2, I started to get that feeling. But the Ducks didn’t give up anymore goals and Bobby Ryan iced in on the powerplay in the final minutes. Even better the Ducks moved out of last place. Congratulations Anaheim.
The last game this week for the Ducks was against the Avalanche on the road. A game I didn’t think they would win but maybe they could give it a good shot. The Ducks were down 2-0 in the 3rd but still I watched. Good thing too, as the Avalanche decided to do what the Ducks usually do and gave up 4 unanswered goals in the 3rd period. The last one was an empty netter though. The first goal for Anaheim was sort of questionable and even though Ryan was in the crease sort of preventing Craig Anderson from making a save, Kyle Quincey of the Avalanche I believe it was, was sprawled out in the crease which also would have prevented Anderson from making a play. The refs ruled it a goal. Sexton was next up for the Ducks tapping in a tough rebound. Getzlaf scored the game winner with about 26 seconds left. A great win for Anaheim and even though they were down 2-0 they actually dominated most of the game outshooting the Avs 42 to 17.
The Ducks are starting to gel and this could be one of those turnaround games for them. Even though they have won 4 of their past 5 they aren’t anywhere near playing to full potential. Hiller and Giguere can both play better and two of their top scores Selanne and Lupul are out. When they get back and if the goalies can raise their level this will be a tough team to beat in the second half of the season.
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 Written by:
Alex Mueller
The Devils Bedevil the Experts – With the third best record in the East, even spending some time in 1st, the Devils are surprising many except for me. New Jersey was picked by most experts to finish 3rd at best and in some cases in 4th place behind even the Rangers, why I have no idea.
The Devils will always be competitive with a healthy Martin Brodeur, that’s a given. Offensively Zach Parise is a budding star. Travis Zajac started to come into his own last year and he is continuing his progression this year. Jamie Langenbrunner, when healthy, provides a nice veteran presence. Former 1st round pick of the 2005 draft Niclas Bergfors has finally been given ample playing time this year and he is starting to deliver. Veteran Patrick Elias is always dangerous as a goal scorer when healthy.
The Devils defense is pretty blue collared these days. Gone are the days of the headline grabbing defenseman like Scott Stevens and Scott Neidermayer. The defense these days are led by guys like Johnny Oduya, Bryce Salvador, Colin White and Andy Greene. The Devils D is so blue collar only one defenseman on the Devils is on the Top 50 highest paid defenseman list. That one guy would be Paul Martin, he checks in at number 38, who is currently injured.
The Devils hope to avenge their surprising 1st round exit last year to Carolina. They should definitely make the playoffs again this year. If they do, it will be their 13th in a row. Only the Detroit Red Wings have a higher current streak at 18 seasons. They should also contend for the division title with Penguins, especially if the Flyers continue to struggle.
Jonathan Quick is an emerging goalie for the emerging Los Angeles Kings. While not in the elite goalie class, in a few seasons Quick’s might be mentioned with the Brodeurs of the hockey world. Quick is also one of the taller goalies in the league measuring 6 foot 1.
The USA born Quick was a standout goalie at his high school prep school in Connecticut. After high school, Quick decided to play at the University of Massachusetts were he lead the team to its first ever NCAA hockey tournament appearance. The Minutemen beat Clarkson but then lost to Maine. Quick was drafted by the Kings in the 2005 draft as the 72nd pick overall.
In the 2007-08 season Quick played in the ECHL, AHL and NHL. He was most successful playing in the AHL for the Kings affiliate Manchester Monarchs. He only played 3 games in the NHL that year posting a 3.58 GAA and a .855 SV%, not sterling numbers by any means. In the following season Quick started out the year playing at Manchester, but was called up to play for the Kings in December and remained up for the rest of the year posting 21 wins to 18 losses, a 2.48 GAA and a .914 SV%. In certain stretches he played spectacularly prompting the Kings to name him the starting netminder for the 09-10 season.
So far Quick’s numbers this year are a little worse than last years (2.60 GAA and .904 SV%) and he has yet to post a shutout. The Kings other options for goalies include Jonathan Bernier and Erik Ersberg. However, both goalies have been somewhat disappointing, Ersberg more so. Quick should be the number one goalie for the foreseeable future. Considering this is only his 2nd season and he is only 23, he has tremendous upside. The Kings hope to make the playoffs with Quick for the first time since the 2001-02 season.
Fights of the Week
Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.
Three fights in the battle of Pennsylvania including 1 fight that literally lasted a minute with no punches. I liked this one for the intensity but Carcillo dominated.
Ryan was able to maintain his handle on the puck and shoot it in after he had his leg hooked by Kris Russell.
Things I like
1. Newly called up Dan Sexton has a 3 game goal streak going and has the given the Ducks new scoring life. He’s is quite fast too. With him on one side and Bobby Ryan on the other, they make for one of the speediest wing tandems in the league.
2. Los Angeles has quietly crept up to tie for the top spot in the west. They are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and even beat the Sharks in that stretch. They did all of this despite their top scorer Anze Kopitar not doing much.
3. Tuukka Rask doesn’t play much for Boston, but when he fills in for Tim Thomas he really delivers, with his 1.97GAA and .932 SV%.
Things I don’t
1. The Southeast Division’s bottom feeding teams. The Lightning, Hurricanes and Panthers have a combined 6 wins in their last 30 games yikes. If it wasn’t for the Thrashers we could probably already crown the Capitals.
2. Jonas Hiller has been pretty disappointing this year after his phenomenal campaign last year. If he continues to play as he is, it will create problems for the Ducks who will then more than likely let him walk and keep Jean-Sebastien Giguere and his heavy salary.
3. The Flyers losing Ray Emery for about 6 weeks. Not much has gone right for the Flyers this season and this doesn’t help. Emery started out playing well but in 4 of his last 5 starts his save percentage was below .840, not good.
4. Speaking of the Flyers, I discussed their struggles last week, they seem to be struggling even more. They made a lot of changes to specifically compete with the Penguins and in their latest measuring stick game against the Penguins they lost 6-1. That now makes two losses against the Pens this year, though the first loss was more competitive. They get another shot at the Penguins this Thursday at home.
Stat Line of the Week
12/11/09 Oilers 5 vs. Blues 3
Skater
TOI
G
A
+/-
SOG
PIM
D. Penner
19:54
1
3
+4
2
0
Dustin Penner was on the ice for 4 of the Oilers 5 goals and he had a hand in all 4 of those goals. He racked up a goal (unassisted) and 3 assists for the night.
Did You Know?
The first NHL entry draft was in 1963. The first 20 years 1963 to 1982, a Canadian was taken with the top pick. Brian Lawton from the USA was the first non-Canadian picked. Of the 47 drafts only five number 1 picks weren’t from North America. Russia has two of those five. The USA has had six players taken and Canada has had 36.
Numbers, Numbers
0 – Number of overtime losses for Vancouver, still.
6-10-2 – St. Louis’s home record
8-2-3 – St. Louis’s road record
29 – Goal differential of the Capitals, 1st in the East
4 – Goal differential of the Kings, tied for 1st in the West
This Week in Hockey History
Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.
December 10, 1992 Quebec’s Mats Sundin extended his team-record point scoring streak to 30 games in the Nordiques’ 5-4 win at Los Angeles. Sundin scored 21 goals, 25 assists for a total of 46 points during the 30 game streak.
December 11, 1977 Tom Bladon set an NHL record for most points in a game by a defenseman. His 8 points (4 goals & 4 assists) led Philadelphia to an 11-1 win over the Cleveland Barons. Bladon also set a record by going +10.
December 11, 2000 Pittsburgh Penguins owner Mario Lemieux officially announced that he was coming out of retirement to return to playing for the Penguins.
December 12, 1971 Chicago’s Bobby Hull became the fifth player in NHL history to score 1,000 career points. His milestone point was an assist in his 909th game, a 5-3 Black Hawks’ win over the Minnesota North Stars.
December 13, 1987 Calgary’s Joe Nieuwendyk became the first NHL rookie since Cully Wilson (Toronto 1919-20) to score four goals twice in his first season, in a 7-1 Flames in at Buffalo.
December 14, 2000 Rob Blake scored his first career hat trick and added two assists for his first five-point game in the Kings 5-5 tie against the visiting New York Rangers.
December 15, 1988 Mario Lemieux had a goal and four assists in Pittsburgh’s 8-2 win over the Islanders to become the Penguins’ all-time leader in career assists, breaking the old mark of 349 set by Syl Apps. It came in Lemieux’s 321st NHL game.
Rankings
The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.
Top 5
1. Los Angeles
2. New Jersey
3. Pittsburgh
4. Washington
5. Buffalo
Bottom 5
30. Carolina
29. Philadelphia
28. Columbus
27. Tampa Bay
26. Florida
The Ducks have points in the last 5 games now. Unfortunately 3 of those were overtime losses in games they could have and should have won. So because they are only gaining 1 point, and since the teams they lose to are in the same conference, they really don’t gain much.
So tell me if you heard this before, the Ducks take a 2 goal lead into the 3rd period and manage to lose anyway. Of course you have and the Ducks manage to do it again to the Red Wings. It’s a shame because they really owned the first 2 periods of play. Of course when you take 10 penalties it’s hard to win games. Some of the calls were typical lame calls by the ref, like the Parros interference and some of the holding calls, but that’s life. Sexton scored again and with his emergence the Ducks now have three players (Perry, Ryan, Sexton) that look like they just graduated from high school. They are all shy and quiet in post game interviews too. The Red Wings won it in overtime.
The Ducks jumped out to a 2 goal lead against the Blue Jackets and this time changed it up a bit and instead of giving up a goal in the 3rd, they give it up in the last minute of the 2nd period. However, the Ducks actually gave up none in the 3rd and scored one themselves. Sexton scored again to up his goal streak to 3 games in a row. The Selanne injury seems like a blessing in disguise now. If he never would have went down, Sexton would never have been called up. Lupul is still injured too. I think when Selanne gets back he should go on the top line with Perry and Getzlaf. Ryan and Sexton should stay together with Koivu.
Monday, December 14th, 2009 Written by:
Eric Sutter
Hockey is a team game, and while the object of the game is to score goals, as fantasy owners we can’t forget about the category of assists. With this being the season of giving, a time to be unselfish and pass good cheers to all. So in this week Fantasy Focus let’s look at some players on the waiver wire that can help out with the category of assists.
The Montreal center has six assist in his last four games, and now 26 on the season, and leads the team with 32 points. He has now relegated Scott Gomez to second line center and been playing with goal scorers Mike Cammalleri and Adrei Kostitsyn. The best part for fantasy owners about this 27-year-old Czech is he is playing tons of time on both the power play and shorthanded. While he is yet to contribute to those categories (only one power play point), he is now given the opportunity to and with Andrei Markov returning soon, look for the Canadiens power play to producer.
Even with the point per game production Plekanec is only owned in about 70 percent of leagues, and even with all the assist talk don’t forget this is a player who has averaged 23 goals the last three seasons.
Jack Johnson, Kings Defenseman:
While Drew Doughty gets all the headlines in Los Angeles, and for good reason, the former third overall pick is quietly starting to produce enough to be discussed as being owned on a fantasy team. The 6-0 defensive defenseman has chipped in with six helpers in his last seven games, while seeing an increase in playing time both five-on-five and on the man advantage.
While his controversial entrance into the league and injury plagued first two seasons have owners skeptical of his current streak, I look for it to continue. The 22-year-old Johnson will be one of the cornerstone defenseman for the Americans in this year’s Olympics and feels like he has to prove his worth on the squad. Also with his increase time he has a chance to lower his awful minus-11 rating which scares off many fantasy owners.
Injuries have caused fantasy owners to forget about this talented Bruins center, but once again he should be team’s maps. The 6’2″ center has five assists in his last five games, and 16 on the season with four of them coming on the man advantage. He currently leads the Bruins with 24 points playing in all 31 games. Bergeron, although injured, finished with 31 assists last season and 13 power play assists, yet is still only owned in about 50 percent of leagues.
With Marc Savard being injured earlier in the season the 24-year-old has flourished with the increased playing time, so much that it will be hard for Claude Julien not to continue to give this talented forward more minutes including on the power play. I would look for this continue for Bergeron but be mindful that injuries have shorten his last two seasons, but if healthy this guy should be owned in 100 percent of leagues.
Pickup of the Week: Chris Stewart, Avalanche Winger:
The move to the top line has done wonders for the former first round pick, he alongside left wing Wojtek Wolski, center Paul Stastny have totaled 11 goals and 20 assists in the past eight games. The 6’2″ winger himself has 15 points in last 16 games, with five power play points and 26 penalty minutes.
Much was expected from the 22-year-old this season, after last year shuffling between Colorado and Lake Erie he chipped in 11 goals in 53 games as a rookie. This year did not start off kindly to the 22-year-old forward being named a healthy scratch for the first four games and demoted to the minors. Now he is given his chance to shine and has proven his worth as the 18th overall selection in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.
Stewart is still only owned in under 20 percent of leagues and that should change by the time next week as his stock continues to rise playing on the top line of a surging Avalanche team.
Monday, December 14th, 2009 Written by:
Eric Sutter
As the weather turns colder and we enter the holiday season; Chanukah candles are being lit, Christmas trees are being put up, and hockey pucks are getting roasted on an open fire. This being an Olympic year, the next couple of weeks will be the busiest time for teams trying to stuff as many games in before the winter break.
December will make or break which way teams are headed in the parity filled NHL, so let’s look at three specific teams in this week’s Hat Trick.
The surprising leaders of the Northeast Division have been riding one of the hottest goalies this season. In December they have 15 games, and the good news is only two of them are on back-to-back nights. They recently finished up a five-game home stand with a 3-2 record and had impressive back-to-back wins against the Blackhawks and Rangers.
Coming down the stretch of this month are two contest at home against the Penguins, one on the road with the Capitals and four games against division rivals Ottawa and Toronto. With Olympic selections for USA coming up, it will be interesting to see how Ryan Miller does with the heavy workload this month and how this team that depends on often-injured stars hold up with the treacherous schedule.
St. Louis Blues
A team that got hot at the end of last season to make the playoffs have once again started slowly. This month full of 15 games, including two tough back-to-back nights (home Flames, road Blackhawks and road Canucks, road Oilers) will make or break the season for the up and coming Blues.
Good news for them is that eight of the games will be played away from the Scottrade Center, since they have a 8-2-3 road record this season. Being one of the younger teams in the league (27.4 average age), they should be able to handle the long December stretch. If they falter, however, they do have two veterans on their last year of contracts (Kariya and Tkachuk) that could get some interest.
This one, an obvious pick for the preseason Stanley Cup favorite, is a Hurricane winning streak away from being the worst team in the East and their own winning streak away from being back in the playoff picture. They also have 15 games in December, the problem is they have already started 1-5 in the month.
The schedule does not look favorable either with a home and home series with the Penguins, and two games against division rival Rangers, but they do get a week of the Southeast Division (Panthers, Lightning and Hurricanes Oh MY!) They have already fired their coach and lost their starting goalie to injury for the entire month, but should be getting reinforcements soon with the returns of Simon Gagne, Darrol Powe, and Blair Betts from injuries. Needless to say if they continue the month they way they started you could see a major shakeup of players in Philadelphia.
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 Written by:
Alex Mueller
‘Tis the season to underachieve? – So who are this years biggest underachievers? Some might say Vancouver or Detroit. Detroit is due for a bad year after all their years of success and Vancouver, while a decent team, is a team I think is overrated. Some “experts” picked them to go to the finals this year. Really? At any rate both teams are only a few points out of playoff spots. The biggest disappointments would be, by far, Carolina, Philadelphia and Anaheim. All of them made the playoffs last year and they were all pretty much expected to build upon their success last year. Philadelphia has really tumbled lately, all they down to 13th place, and just recently fired their head coach. Carolina and Anaheim are bottom feeders. So what has happened?
Well I generally document Anaheim’s problems on a weekly basis. I will sum it up with injuries, not being able to win key face-offs, dumb penalties, inconsistent goalie play, poor penalty killing and not clearing the zone when they have the opportunity. Selanne, Giguere, Koivu, Wisniewski, and Lupul have all been injured. Various other minor players have also been bitten by the injury bug. Lately they have been blowing 3rd period leads which happened in a stretch of three games in a row. They are 2nd in the league in giving up the most goals in the 3rd period. They need to have that killer instinct and shut teams out in the 3rd period when they have a lead. One bright spot for the Ducks is their power play. After struggling in the beginning of the year, they now have the 3rd best power play in the league. The Ducks need to start doing the little things better and get everyone back healthy and playing consistently.
Philadelphia had high expectations after being bounced in the playoffs two years in a row by the Penguins. Chris Pronger in the eyes of the Flyers was that missing piece to get in the way of Crosby and Malkin and they gave up a lot to get him. Pronger has played well though. His +/- is near the top of the league and his scoring pace is higher than his previous two seasons. So we can’t blame Pronger. Mike Richards and Jeff Carter are on the same pace for points this year as they were last year. They did lose Joffrey Lupul and his 25 goals a year but Danny Briere is healthy this year and picking up that slack. So what’s the problem? Well I haven’t watched all that many Flyers games, so I can’t say with certainty. Having Simon Gagne, and his 30+ goals, injured for much of the year hasn’t helped the Flyers. Ray Emery’s numbers are worse than the man he replaced, Martin Biron. In the most recent game against the Canadiens Brian Boucher, subbing for Emery, gave up 3 goals on 13 shots, yikes. So goaltending which has generally been the Flyers Achilles’ heel is still a problem. The penalty killing could be improved as well.
Carolina has the honor of having the worst record in the league. They also went 14 games without a win in one stretch, ouch. Starting goalie Cam Ward has been out for a month so far. Neither of his backups are performing well. In fact the Hurricanes have the worst SV% and the 2nd worst GAA. Eric Staal has really struggled this year and is just recently starting to play better. Veteran Rob Brind’Amour is also struggling. Carolina’s powerplay is 2nd to last, which is never a good sign. The Hurricanes are also tied for 2nd with the Ducks in giving up the most goals in the 3rd period. Hmm… let’s see, bad powerplay, check, struggling 1st line, check, starting goalie injured, check, giving up tons of 3rd period goals, check. It’s hard to win games when those things are happening. On the bright side the Canes have won 2 in a row, although they have done that two other times this year only to go on losing streaks again. They should be getting back Cam Ward this week, which should help the Hurricanes immensely. Of course Ward will need to work off his rust.
All these teams have the talent to make a run for the playoffs. The season is only a third of the way done, so there is still plenty of time to turn it around. However if things don’t start to improve expect changes to be made. Whether it’s dealing some players, or following the Flyers lead and making a coaching change, shakeups will occur. Expectations for these teams are too high this year to sit around and be content with being in last place.
Kiprusoff is a Finland native and was selected in the 5th round by the San Jose Sharks in the 1995 entry draft. Before joining the Sharks in 2000, Kiprusoff was already an established international star. Kiprusoff led TPS in the Finnish league SM-liiga to gold in 1995 and 1999. He won the Urpo Ylönen trophy, for best goalie, in 1999 a year after fellow NHLer Tim Thomas (Goalie Spotlight Week 7) won it. His numbers in the postseason that year were a 9-1 record, 3 shutouts, and a 1.55 GAA. He also led Finland to silver placing finishes in the 1999 and 2001 World Championships and in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.
Kiprusoff moved to North America in 1999 and played for the Kentucky Thoroughblades in the AHL, and made the All-star team his first year. He played briefly for the Sharks during the 00 to 03 seasons. In the 2001 playoff series against the Blues, Kiprusoff became the 1st Finnish goaltender to win a playoff game. Having lost the starting goalie spot to Evgeni Nabokov, the Sharks traded him to the Flames in 2003 for a 2nd round pick.
Rejuvenated by the trade to the Flames, Kiprusoff was named defensive player of the month for December of 03. Despite battling injuries he led the Flames to the postseason for the first time in eight years. He also led the league in GAA with a 1.69 mark, setting the tone for a stellar career with the Flames. This was the lowest GAA in the modern era and 24th best all time. He went on to lead the Flames to the Stanley Cup Finals, including beating his former team along the way, against the Tampa Bay Lightning where they lost a close series in 7 games. The year after the lockout, Kiprusoff won the Vezina (best goalie) and Jennings (lowest team GAA) trophy. He set the record for most wins for a Flames goalie with 42 and then broke it himself 3 years later with 45 wins. Other Flame franchise records he holds include: Most shutouts in one season (10), most shutouts all time (30) and most games played in a season (76).
Despite losing in the 1st round the past 4 years, the Flames look poised to go deep in the playoffs this year. With Kiprusoff, captain Jarome Iginla, and new additions from last year Olli Jokinen (fellow Finlander) and this year Jay Bouwmeester the Flames have a great core. Off to a great start this year the Flames hope it can land the Stanley Cup in Canada for the first time since the Canadiens brought it home in the 1992-93 season.
Fights of the Week
Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.
Didn’t like that many fights this week and I’m strapped for time.
Technically not a fight as Bradley didn’t get any penalty minutes. Carcillo punches Bradley right as he drops his gloves. Carcillo racked up 29 minutes in penalties with the check and fight.
Brian Elliott for giving up this fluke goal off the glass to Ryan Getzlaf, you might want to position yourself better Brian. No harm done as the Senators won in the shootout.
Things I like
1. Happy Birthday to the Montreal Canadiens who had their 100th anniversary on Dec. 4th. I’m sure their fans would like their most recent teams to rival their past success but you can’t have everything.
2. People say that the Sharks have the best line, but they would be wrong. The Devils actually have the best line. Zach Parise, Travis Zajac, and Jamie Langenbrunner (when he’s on the line) have a combined +/- of +43, tops in the league for a forward line.
3. Alex Ovechkin says he won’t change his style of play. Good for him I say, he only knows how to play one way and he isn’t going to change that. He plays with passion and I really don’t find his style that reckless.
4. The Carolina Hurricanes got their first road win of the season against the defending Stanley Cup champs of all teams, extracting some revenge from last years playoff sweep.
Things I don’t
1. Teemu Selanne is injured for about 4-6 weeks in what could very well be his last season. This is a huge blow to an already injured and struggling Ducks team. It will also affect how high Selanne can climb on numerous scoring records. Here’s hoping he doesn’t call it quits after this year.
2. Keith Ballard, a.k.a goalie annihilator, has taken his next victim in Craig Anderson. Ballard knocked Anderson out of the game when he slid towards the net and sent Anderson’s head to the goal post, at least he didn’t send him to the hospital though he is still day to day. Maybe Ballard was tormented by goalies as a kid. If you’re keeping track at home that’s two starting goalies down and 28 to go for Ballard.
3. Hard to imagine but the Pittsburgh Penguins’ power play is 28th overall, yikes. With all the talented scorers on that team you figured they could find the net more.
Stat Line of the Week
12/03/09 Capitals 6 vs. Panthers 2
Skater
TOI
G
A
+/-
SOG
PIM
M. Duco
5:57
0
0
-1
1
27
Mr. Duco racked up 27 minutes of penalty minutes on four penalties on one play against Alexandre Giroux and was ejected from the game. He was getting Giroux back for the elbow he laid on Dmitry Kulikov. Personally I didn’t find Giroux’s hit all that bad. Lesson to be learned don’t mess with the Duco. You can see both hits below.
12/05/09 Capitals 8 vs. Flyers 2
Skater
TOI
G
A
+/-
SOG
PIM
N. Backstrom
19:50
1
4
+1
2
0
The Capitals Swede racked up 5 points, 3 assists on the powerplay, against the Flyers. Ovechkin who?
Box Score of the Week
This won’t be a regular feature, I just thought it was too interesting to pass up. In the Flyers vs. Islanders game, if you look below, 4 players each scored 2 goals back to back without anyone else scoring in between. If they had scored 3 goals each that would have been 4 natural hat tricks in a row. I have no way to look it up but I’m pretty sure the below has never happened before.
1st Period
Philadelphia 9:47, Mike Richards 12 (power play) (Kimmo Timonen, Scott Hartnell)
Philadelphia 15:14, Mike Richards 13 (shorthanded) (unassisted)
Philadelphia 2:35, Claude Giroux 5 (Scott Hartnell)
Did You Know?
Speaking of penalty minutes Randy Holt holds the record for most penalty minutes in one game with 67 set in 1979. He also has the record for most penalty minutes in a period since he got all 67 of those in the 1st period in a game against the Flyers. 45 minutes came on a bench clearing brawl at the end of the period instigated by Holt. He doesn’t hold the record for most penalty minutes for a season though. That record goes to Dave Schultz with 472 penalty minutes set in the 1974-75 season.
Numbers, Numbers
0 – Number of overtime losses for Vancouver.
14 – Number of goals scored by the Capitals in the 2 games Ovechkin was suspended.
103 – Career shutouts for Martin Brodeur tying Terry Sawchuck’s NHL record.
15 – Career shutouts by Ryan Miller who was in the other goal when Brodeur tied the record.
Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.
December 03, 1999 Ottawa’s Kevin Dineen picked up a misconduct penalty to become the fifth player in league history to get 300 goals and 2,000 penalty minutes in his NHL career. The milestone came during a 7-4 Senators loss at New Jersey.
December 04, 2001 Peter Bondra scored his 400th and 401st NHL goals to become the 5th active player to score 400 goals with one team in the Capitals 5-2 win against the visiting New York Rangers.
December 05, 1988 Detroit’s Steve Yzerman set a new team record with a goal in his ninth straight game, a 7-2 Red Wings’ loss at Montreal. Yzerman broke the team record of goals in eight straight games set by Gordie Howe in 1952.
December 06, 1995 Colorado Avalanche obtained goaltender Patrick Roy and Mike Keane from the Montreal Canadiens, in exchange for Andrei Kovalenko, Martin Rucinsky and goalie Jocelyn Thibault.
December 07, 1977 New England Whalers’ Gordie Howe scored his 1,000th professional goal (counting the NHL and WHA) in a WHA Whalers’ game against Birmingham.
December 08, 1999 Pavel Bure scored his 12th career hat trick in the third period to lead the Panthers to a 6-1 win at Phoenix. Panthers set a team record with five goals in the final period, as Mikhail Shtalenkov won in his first start with Florida.
December 08, 1967 Two months into their first NHL season, the “California” Seals officially changed their name to the “Oakland” Seals.
Rankings
The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.
Top 5
1. Washington
2. Chicago
3. Phoenix
4. Boston
5. Minnesota
Bottom 5
30. Philadelphia
29. Columbus
28. Tampa Bay
27. Florida
26. NY Rangers
The Ducks suck, there I’m done. Anyway the Ducks were leading 1-0 against the Stars when they let the Stars score 3 unanswered goals in the 3rd including an empty netter. It was a tough loss for the Ducks who played a good game. To make matters worse Selanne broke his hand in a game he almost sat out because of the flu. Corey Perry’s point streak also came to an end; I think I may have jinxed him. Then there next game against Minnesota taking a 2-1 lead into the 3rd the Ducks were able to make it 4-2. Then they gave up two goals in the final 5 minutes to force overtime, which they of course lost in the shootout. Against Ottawa the Ducks decided to lose differently. They never led in the game and every time the Senators would score, they would tie it within a minute. They then lost in the shootout again.
Next up was the Dallas Stars, again, and the Ducks started off the game in typical Ducks fashion slow. The Stars were up 3-0 before you knew it and it seemed like another loss. But then Joffrey Lupul, who has been on fire since coming back from his injury, scored when Turco made the save on the breakaway but couldn’t put on the breaks as he slid behind the goaline. In the 3rd period instead of sucking as usual, the Ducks dominated the Stars outshooting them 14 to 2 and recently called up rookie Dan Sexton scored 2 goals to force overtime. In the overtime the Ducks continued to dominate and Saku Koivu scored on a 3 on 1 breakaway. All in all a very entertaining game and the Ducks scored 4 unanswered goals, which hopefully gives them something to build upon.
Monday, December 7th, 2009 Written by:
Eric Sutter
The second season in an NHL player’s career can be a make or break one. One could have a tremendous rookie and follow that up with a sophomore slump and never regain the magic touch, or just get their feet wet getting use to the speed and break out as a fantasy star.
This week on the Fantasy Focus we are going to breakdown some of the game’s best sophomore’s and what their fantasy value is today and going forward.
The 2009 Calder Trophy winner is currently in one of the worst sophomore slumps out there today. His ranks in both save percentage (42nd) and goals against (42nd) are second worst, thank god for Vesa Toskala, who is ranked 43rd in both categories. So the question arises for a fantasy owner of what to do with this slumping high draft pick of a goalie?
The good news is with parity in the NHL, the Blue Jackets still have a shot at returning to the playoffs and realize that the 21-year-old Mason presents them with the best shot. Also looking on the bright side in last year’s Calder winning year he put up his best splits in the month of December. Last season, in 12 December games, Mason was 7-5-0, with a 1.41 GAA, .950 save percentage with three shutouts.
This month could be a make or break fantasy month for Mason with 13 remaining games and with only 3 on back-to-back nights. Hold onto Mason for the month and see if he can break out of his early season slump.
The University of Minnesota star made headlines even before his NHL debut skipping out on his college team halfway through the year to join the AHL he would only play nine NHL games that season but contributed five points in those games. His rookie campaign was average playing in only 65 games due to injuries the 6-1 winger accumulated 18 goals and 39 points, hardly a fantasy stud.
This season for Okposo started with a bang as he was knocked out by Dion Phaneuf in a preseason game. After shaking off the effects of a concussion Okposo combined with John Tavares and Matt Moulson have combined for a fantasy dream line.
In his first 28 games, this speedy winger has 5 goals and 16 points, including a blistering 9 power play points. He also continues to show he can contribute to those leagues that count shots (89 already this season).
The Islanders have been a pleasant surprise offensive fantasy so far this season but remember that injuries have been a concern for Okposo.
Simmonds falls into the category of just getting his feet wet in his freshman campaign as he has busted out onto fantasy owners radars with eight points in his last six games. Already matching his goal total of last year with nine, with 19 points the 6-2 winger is four points away from tying his point total of 23 in 82 games.
The Kings have vaulted Simmonds into their top-six forward rotation with the recent injuries and he has taken advantage of the extended ice time, although he won’t contribute to your team’s power play points, he does kill penalties for the Kings.
I would say ride the hot streak Simmonds is currently on but keep on the Ryan Smyth injury news for that might affect his playing time going forward.
As I mention in yesterday’s Hat Trick Philadelphia Flyers starting goalie Ray Emery is 0-4-0 in his last five starts and has 5.36 goals-against average and .814 save percentage, because of the recent slump backup goalie Brian Boucher has been seeing more ice time.
In league full of inconsistent goalie’s and rotations keep an eye on this situation as with a new coach comes new life for certain players. Boucher’s numbers in the last six games have been decent, with three starts with a GAA of 2.28 and a save percentage of .913.
The 32-year-old net minder has been known to go on ridiculous long stretches of amazing play, breaking the modern-day NHL record for the longest shutout streak by a goalie with Phoenix in 2003.
Sunday, December 6th, 2009 Written by:
Eric Sutter
The season has officially started we had our first NHL coach firing; I will have more about that later, and the league also made Alex Ovechkin angry this week by handing out a two-game suspension for his knee-to-knee hit. I was glad to see the NHL suspend the Russian for the hit, for all his talents Ovechkin plays with a sort of edge and good to see the league not give him the superstar treatment.
His edge is what makes Ovechkin a special player and I also don’t see this suspension taking it away, should be fun to watch this week, now onto the Pucking Awesome Hat Trick and the top three story lines I am watching this week.
Flyers Fallout:
A sexy preseason pick for the Cup have not looked anything like it and the recent slide caused John Stevens his job, as Peter Laviolette takes over the fading Flyers. The once powerful power play has been nonexistent in the recent four game slide going an abysmal 0 for their last 17 man advantages.
The undisciplined play has also been catching up to them giving up six power play goals along this current losing streak. The Ray Emery experiment has taken a turn for the worse as Emery has a 5.36 goals-against average and .814 save percentage in his last five starts.
The Flyers now turn to the theory that changing a coach can change the culture of the team, but unlike the Stanley Cup Champions a year ago this team seems to be lacking the maturity of a team destined for greatness. I will be watching the fallout this week as Laviolette tries to turn this talented team around and ask them to grow up or the next thing to change will be the core roster.
DiPietro Recovery:
I don’t know if it is a recovery from injury or the Islanders trying to recover some return on the tremendous investment on the often injured goalie. When healthy there is no denying the pure talent of Rick DiPietro but with only five starts in the last two years the brass on Long Island were expecting more from the goalie they signed to a monster 15-year contract back in September 2006.
Although he shares the birthday with a Pucking Awesome writer it seems that this contract has been a bust up to this point, though he has 12 years on the back end to make it up to the organization. Now comes the good news for Islanders fans after practicing with the team for about a week and a half the former number one overall pick suited up for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Saturday.
In all reports he looked like he had been off for the last 11 months giving up three goals on 13 shots. In his post game interview DiPietro stated “It’s been a long time since I played in a meaningful game. Nerves, excitement. These guys have been great. It was good to get back in there and shake the rust off. There’s still a lot of work to be done.” I will be keeping my eye on the valiant return of Rick DiPietro not only for the sake of the Islanders organization but for the goalie trade wheels that will be circling this club that will have three NHL starting goalies.
Game Of The Week:Wild at Coyotes
The week gets started off right this week as the two hottest teams facing off Monday night, oh yes the Phoenix Coyotes and Minnesota Wild face off at Jobing.com Arena. The Coyotes are one of the best stories of the early season. In their current four-game winning streak 10 different Coyotes have scored a goal and Ilya Bryzgalov has been outstanding with a 1.75 GAA and has been outstanding at home with a 10-3-0 record.
The Wild have turned their season around with a five-game winning streak and been riding a white hot top line of Center Mikko Koivu and linemates Andrew Brunette and Antti Miettinen. They have combined for 23 points during their current winning streak and that is with Miettinen missing three games due to the swine flu.
The week gets kicked off in style as one of the hottest lines in hockey faces one of the hottest goalies in a surprise scary good match up, I will be watching how about you?
Thursday was one of the greatest days in Chicago Blackhawks history—well, it was certainly the best day since April 16, 1961 when the Hawks defeated the Detroit Red Wings to win their last Stanley Cup.
Since math will be a theme here, that’s exactly 17,765 days ago.
So yes, while the “Windy City” can get windy the big gust of wind that could be felt across Lake Michigan was actually millions of loyal Hawks fans exhaling a giant sigh of relief.
With the announcement of long-term contract extensions for the core of the team—Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith—the organization assured fans that they’re not only trying to win the Cup right now, but they’re serious about attempting to turn it into a dynasty.
You’ve heard of Chicago’s “Magnificent Mile,” this is the “Magnificent Millions.” Money well spent.
Yet it was fitting that the Thursday’s press conference to officially announce the signings began with a video tribute set to the Smashing Pumpkins song “Today.” The lyrics of the chorus, sung so eloquently by Blackhawks fan Billy Corgan are as follows:
Today is the greatest
Day I’ve ever known
Can’t live for tomorrow,
Tomorrow’s much too long….
By extending Toews and Kane for 5 years at an annual salary of $5.3 million and Keith for 13 years at an average of $5.38 million, the Hawks made a big splash today while acknowledging the potential for major problems in the future.
Get ready for that aforementioned math and bust out those calculators.
In addition to the Toews/Kane/Keith contracts the Hawks’ spending spree of the last two years leaves them with the hefty contracts of Marian Hossa ($5.275 million), Brian Campbell ($7.14 million) and Cristobal Huet ($5.625 million).
That’s roughly $34 million wrapped up in just six players, with the NHL’s salary cap expected to be around $50-52 million.
Now add in the $3-4 million annual contracts of Patrick Sharp, Kris Versteeg, Dave Bolland, Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Seabrook and Cam Barker and…. Well… UH-OH!
With a few other contracts added to the mix, the Hawks currently have 15 players under contract for the 2010-11 season and find themselves nearly $4 million over the current cap, which is expected to fall. Of those 15, none can play backup goalie—you get the point.
It’s one thing to go on a spending spree. A kid in a candy shop might pack a few too many sour patch kids into their bag or a movie enthusiast might pull a few too many DVD’s off the shelf, but they can put it back. There’s no refund coming to general manager Stan Bowman on the current contracts.
Forget the fact that somewhere a former Blackhawks payroll specialist is currently looking for a new line of work—though I keep wondering if they followed Family Guy’s math philosophy (CLICK FOR FAMILY GUY JOKE).
Now it’s a matter of manipulating the cap not only to get under its final number but also leaving room to add players to the current roster either from the system or through small free agent signings.
As I see it, making a trade is the only way to make this happen but there’s no ideal solution. If I were GM for a day, here’s what I am trying to do:
First and foremost, draft a league wide memo to every general manager informing them that Campbell is available for a draft pick or another bad contract totaling less than $6 million per season in return. If the Hawks can move Campbell and gain any kind of salary cap relief it’s a good deal.
The problem is nobody wants such an expensive defenseman who plays very little defense. Sure, Campbell is great for the power play and in transition but not for his current price tag. To acquire Campbell would be to let the Hawks off the hook for their reckless spending and I don’t see many teams willing to help others in a time of need.
Another trade scenario would involve shipping out a second tier forward such as Sharp or Versteeg for a draft pick. Sharp specifically has been the subject of many rumors involving nearly every team in the league over the last couple of weeks.
Yet, parting with Sharp or Versteeg puts a major dent in the fantastic scoring capabilities of the top lines. Both Sharp and Versteeg could easily pair with a combination of Toews, Kane or Hossa on the first line while the others comprise the second line. Any combination is extremely lethal and is the main reason why the Hawks are legitimate Stanley Cup contenders.
The forward that could be shown the door is Byfuglien or “Big Buff.” Despite being second on the team with 8 goals, Buff primarily works the front of the net and stuffs in rebounds. While that’s a critical element for a winning team, Hawks top prospect Kyle Beach does essentially the same thing and comes $2 million cheaper.
An ideal solution might be absurd but makes the most sense. The Hawks need to simply buyout Campbell’s contract. Pay him the remaining money ($7.1 million annually for the next 6 years=$42.6 million).
Yes, I’m suggesting the Hawks simply write Campbell a massive check to go away and sign elsewhere.
No, I have not smoked anything to impair my thinking.
Money is an issue here but not in the way it was for over a decade with the Blackhawks. The cap is the problem, not the price tag. The Wirtz family has plenty of money—and, unlike his greedy father Bill—current chairman Rocky Wirtz has no problem spending it.
Simply admitting the contract is bad and putting an end to it brings the Hawks back under the cap and gives them the flexibility needed to make the minor adjustments necessary for an extended run of greatness.
On the ice, the Hawks would be losing an offensive weapon along the blue line. But Keith’s offensive game has hit a new level this season, Barker has always been a good point presence on the power play and 2008 3rd round pick–19-year-old Shawn Lalonde–may be the next great scoring d-man. Lalonde currently has 7 goals and 15 assists (22 points) in 21 games for the OHL’s Belleville Bulls.
In other words, Campbell won’t be missed for very long.
Look, it’s important to secure the core of the franchise but up until now it’s been done irresponsibly. And just as important as locking up the core is finding the role players around them (hello, Maxime Talbot) to aid in the success.
The Blackhawks 2009-10 ad campaign is called “One Goal.” Basically meaning to finally win the Stanley Cup.
Now, the front office has one goal: to make the bold, brash and prudent moves in order to ensure a full roster can fit under next year’s salary cap.
Unfortunately, this isn’t baseball or the Hawks could just be the New York Yankees.
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 Written by:
Eric Sutter
On the field, on the ice, in the cage or behind the wheel, professional athletes have to be tough. But what does it take to do the behind-the-scenes jobs in sports? All-Pro linebacker Junior Seau is about to find out. In VERSUS’ new original series, Sports Jobs with Junior Seau, the NFL legend trades in his helmet and pads and tries out the sometimes thankless, but extremely important, jobs across the entire sports world. The 10-episode weekly half-hour series will air on Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. ET, beginning December 2, with two back-to-back episodes.
“This is the first show that gives fans a look at the people who make the games possible. These guys don’t get the fame and recognition but they are just as talented and compelling as the players and they have just as much pride in their work,” said Andy Meyer, Vice President of Original Programming for VERSUS. “We’re very excited to have Junior Seau, one of the greatest players the NFL has ever seen, on VERSUS’ team doing the every day jobs that make sports work.”
In the premiere episode at 10 p.m. ET on December 2, Seau will be working as part of the construction crew helping to build the new stadium for the New York Giants. In the second episode of the night, Seau will wear Dodger blue and serve as the batboy/equipment manager during a Dodgers home stand against the Milwaukee Brewers. Some of the other episodes will feature Seau working as the equipment manager for the Washington Capitals, as an IndyCar pit crew member, a college football writer for Sports Illustrated, a member of an arena conversion crew and as bullfighter at a Professional Bull Riders (PBR) event.
“Throughout my 19-year professional football career, I’ve had the great fortune to work with so many phenomenal people; from equipment managers to trainers to the field crew, it is because of these unsung heroes that I am able to be the best player I can be on the field,” said show host Junior Seau. “I’m very excited to be part of show that allows me to do the jobs that are essential to a sport and make an impact on the overall effectiveness of an athlete or team.”
A San Diego native, Seau began making a name for himself in football during his collegiate days at USC where he was an All-American player. In 1990, following his junior year college football season, he was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the first round of the draft as the fifth pick overall. A Charger until 2002, Seau went on to play for the Miami Dolphins from 2003 until 2005 and was signed by the New England Patriots in 2006. Seau took a short break from football prior to the start of the 2009 NFL season for production of Sports Jobs, but after seeing how difficult some of the jobs actually were—including getting tackled by a bull during his bullfighter job with the PBR—Junior decided he’d rather take his chances on the field and returned to the Patriots team roster in time to play in the sixth game of the 2009 season.
in addition to the opening night episodes, The rest of the on-air schedule follows (subject to change):
NHL EQUIPMENT MANAGER (December 9, 11:30 p.m. ET)
The Washington Capitals travel with thousands of pounds of skates, pads, jerseys, sticks and pucks and being their equipment manager for the 2009/10 NHL season-opening road game at Boston is no small task.
ARENA CONVERSION TEAM (December 16)
In this episode Junior joins up with Boston’s legendary “Bullgang” crew to convert the Boston Bruins ice into the Boston Celtics hardwood, and back again, in just 36 hours.
INDYCAR PIT CREW MEMBER (December 23)
The pressure is on as Junior learns how to jack up the car, fill it with gas, and change the tires – and do it all to have Scott Dixon’s car back on the track in seven seconds.
LPGA CADDY (December 30)
Junior learns to read greens and minds, as he works a loop with LPGA and reality TV superstar Natalie Gulbis.
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED REPORTER (January 6)
From trying to land an exclusive interview to racing between the press box and the locker room, Junior tries to cover a game and make his deadline.
UFC CORNERMAN (January 13)
Junior joins UFC star Forrest Griffin’s camp as he trains to take on Anderson Silva at UFC 101: Declaration in Philadelphia.
HORSE TRAINER (January 20)
He’ll feed, groom, shoe, clean and care for racehorses, and then do the dirtiest job he’s done yet – castrate a live horse.
PBR BULL FIGHTGER (January 27)
Junior finds out first hand that keeping the riders from getting trampled and gored by a massive bull is one of the most dangerous jobs in all of sports.
VERSUS celebrates real competition across all platforms (VERSUS.com, VERSUS on Demand and VERSUS HD) and is the national cable home of the National Hockey League (NHL), the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the IndyCar® Series as well as best-in-class events such as The Tour de France, the Professional Bull Riders (PBR), World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) and Professional Boxing. The network also offers collegiate sports featuring nationally-ranked teams from top conferences such as the Pac-10, Big 12, Mountain West and Ivy League. VERSUS features the best field sports programming on television and is a destination for sports fans, athletes and sportsmen to find exclusive, competitive events and original programs, such as Sports Soup and Sports Jobs with Junior Seau that audiences can’t find elsewhere. VERSUS, a wholly owned company of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK), is distributed via cable systems and satellite operators throughout the United States.
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 Written by:
Alex Mueller
I’d just like to say at the top of this column, Keith Ballard you’re an idiot. There’s no reason to do that in any game, especially in the 1st period of a game. I wouldn’t have let him play anymore. In case you missed it you can see it here.
NHL Point Standings System – It sucks. In all seriousness I think it’s a joke you get a point for losing. Why reward failure? You lost? Here have a point. I like the old way where if you lose in overtime you get nothing, if you win you get two points and if you tie you each get a point. Somewhere along the line the NHL decided it didn’t want ties. That kind of makes sense because no one comes to any sporting event to watch a tie game. However football has ties, though it mostly never happens. Of course football doesn’t have 5 minute overtimes they go the full 15 minutes of a quarter. Not sure why the NHL shortened its overtime to 5 minutes. I mean you would get a lot less ties if you let the game go another period worth of time. It would be more exciting too. The shootouts are an exciting way to break the tie. It’s just a bit unorthodox to end a team game in a 1 on 1 situation. I mean what if after one overtime, the NBA went to a 1 on 1 between their best players? I’m just glad the playoffs don’t have shootouts as the multiple overtimes provide some of the most thrilling games. I’ll never forget the 4 overtime classic between the San Jose Sharks and the Dallas Stars in 2008. If they want to keep it as it is, then award no points for overtime or shutout losses. You could also award no points for an overtime loss but a shootout loss could be worth one point since that is a different format.
But the way I see it the NHL has 9 possible options for games that are tied after regulation:
A) Keep it the way it is (5 min. OT with shootout same point system)
B) Keep it the way it is but no points for any loss
C) Keep it the way it is but only one point for shootout loss
D) Go back to the old way (tie after overtime, no points for loss, no shootout)
E) Change the OT to 20 min., ties, no shootout, no points if you lose in OT
F) Change the OT to 20 min., ties, no shootout, one point if you lose in OT
G) Change the OT to 20 min., shootout if still tied no points for loss
H) Change the OT to 20 min., shootout if still tied, one point for either loss
I) Change the OT to 20 min., shootout if still tied only point for shootout loss
Now these are all the possibilities, I may have missed one; I’m not really in favor of most of them, since we are trying to eliminate points for losing. I understand the NHL wants to award 1 point for something just to make it more interesting. My personal choice is the last one, I. It would give the game a chance to end more likely in a non shootout. But it would still have the shootout if necessary since it’s exciting. You don’t reward failure in the overtime but you do in the shootout. However at the point the losing team has played a strong hockey game and I don’t really believe the shootout is part of a game, it’s more like a supplement to a game.
Evgeni Nabokov was born in Russia but where he was born has since become Kazakhstan, the place made famous by the Borat movie. As such he has played internationally for both nations, something that normally doesn’t happen. He has also been the main cog in goal for the Sharks during their prosperous and at the same time under achieving decade.
Nabokov was taken in the 9th round in 1994 by the Sharks. He was mostly drafted because of the highly successful and long career his father, Viktor Nabokov, had in Russia. In 1997 he made his way stateside to play for the Kentucky Thoroughblades and the Cleveland Lumberjacks in the AHL and IHL. After successful seasons there, he was called up in 2000 to play with the Sharks. In the first start of his career he dueled with Patrick Roy to a 0-0 tie. Not bad for your first start, something I’m sure he will never forget.
In the 00-01 season when starting goalie Steve Shields went down with an injury, most thought Miikka Kiprusoff would get the starting nod. The Sharks highly regarded Kiprusoff but decided he needed more seasoning in the AHL so they gave the nod to Nabokov, and they never looked back. Nabokov posted impressive numbers and won the Calder Trophy, for rookie of the year, and made the All-Star game in 2001. Ironically Nabokov and Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames, are now foes in the western conference and the playoffs. They have each won a playoff series against each other (Nabokov in 08, Kiprusoff in 04).
Since Nabokov has been the Sharks starter he has amassed many of the Sharks franchise goalie records and a few more all-star appearances. Though he did have a down year in the 05-06 season and was regulated to a backup role for a bit. He was also the first goaltender to score a power play goal in 2002. In 2008 he won gold with Russia in the IIHF World Championships and was named the best goalkeeper of the tournament.
Nabokov and the Sharks would like to add a Stanley Cup to their resumes, which has proven to be quite hard the past few years. Nabokov numbers in the playoffs have been fairly consistent with his regular season numbers. If anything it has been the Sharks offense that has sputtered come playoff time. Particularly heartbreaking for the Sharks was losing 3 of 4 overtime games to the Stars in the second round of the 2008 playoffs. Including the 4OT thriller I mentioned above. Nabokov is off to another fine start this year, as are the Sharks. Hopefully it will translate into a better postseason success this time around in an extremely tough western conference.
Fights of the Week
Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.
This fight is nominated because these two fought about 8 minutes earlier and they wanted to fight some more even before the face-off and the refs moved them away from each other. After the puck was dropped they went straight for each other. Bonus points for the enthusiastic announcing.
This fight is made better by the soundtrack. Seriously who picked the PA music for the fight?
Goat of the Week
Keith Ballard, see up top. He can win Goat of the Year.
Things I like
1. Teemu Selanne on the power play is gold. Teemu had 2 more goals on the power play against the Blackhawks. He now needs just 2 more to tie Joe Nieuwendyk for 10th place on the all-time list.
2. Zach Parise continues to provide solid results, yet stay relatively under the radar. The 5th leading scorer last year Parise continues to lead the Devils in points and goals this year. He also has a +19 for the year, tops in the league. He could work on his shooting percentage though.
3. Cristobal Huet (Goalie Spotlight in Week 3) had won 7 straight games for the Blackhawks until his streak was snapped by the Ducks. It’s a nice turnaround for the always under pressure Huet who lost his starting job last year and didn’t play all that well at the beginning of the year. He and Antti Niemi have formed a nice tandem for the rising Blackhawks.
4. Marian Hossa, or Maid Marian as he likes to be called, scored two goals (one shorthanded) in his debut against the Sharks. Not a bad way to work off the ring rust. I’m betting the Blackhawks hope he doesn’t bring his Stanley Cup curse with him.
Things I don’t
1. Is it me or is it cold in here? No wait that’s just Anze Kopitar. The former NHL leading scorer has only 3 assists in the past 9 games. “Kope” also has an appalling -6 in that span. Losing Ryan Smyth obviously didn’t help but superstars find a way to raise their game. In a related note your off my fantasy team “Kope”.
2. Craig Anderson has really begun to cool, after his hot start helped propel the Colorado Avalanche. Anderson has only won 2 out of his last 9 starts. His GAA is 3.75 and his SV% is about .879 during that span. As he goes so do the Avalanche as Peter Budaj is not considered much of an option. The Avalanche might want to give him a breather though as he has played the most games of any goalie in the league. Even Martin Brodeur has had more nights off. Of course Anderson shut me up with his shutout against the Lightning on Monday night.
3. Ales Hemsky is gone for the year, a really tough break for an already slumping Edmonton Oilers team.
4. Phoenix is still dead last in attendance by a mile. I realize the future of the team is hazy but, regardless if they go elsewhere at the end of the year, management can’t take away the enjoyment you had when you went to the game.
Did You Know?
I’ll try something new this week and see how long it lasts. Hopefully this will last longer than tweet of the week did.
Bobby Orr has the single season record for +/- at +124. He is however second on the all time +/- career list to Larry Robinson who had +730 to his +597. Nicklas Lidstrom is the only active player in the top 70. His mark sits at +414 as of this writing.
Double did you know if you read this week in hockey history. You will find out Mario Lemieux has a brother, I sure didn’t know that.
Stat Line of the Week
Another new one
11/28/09 Penguins 8 vs. Rangers 3
Skater
TOI
G
A
+/-
SOG
PIM
S. Crosby
19:59
3
2
+4
5
0
Nice line for Sidney Crosby who recorded his 4th career hat trick. Not sure why the Rangers left Stephen Valiquette in for all 8 goals. I know they wanted to give Henrik Lundqvist the night off, but it seems a bit much.
28 – The number of chances the Carolina Hurricanes have left to get their first road win.
2 – Number of game Alex Ovechkin was suspended for his knee hit
5 – Number of game Georges Laraque was suspended for his knee hit
0 – Number of games Keith Ballard was suspended for whacking his own goalie and sending him to the hospital
This Week in Hockey History
Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.
November 26, 1983 Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky began an NHL-record 17 consecutive game assist streak, at St. Louis. It came in the midst of his NHL record 51-game point scoring streak (during which he scored 153 points). Oilers lost 8-6 to Blues.
November 26, 1999 Jaromir Jagr scored a natural hat trick (the 5th of his career) in a 7:01 span of the first period and added an assist for his 900th career point, and Tom Barrasso recorded his 35th career shutout in the Penguins 5-0 win against visiting Ottawa.
November 27, 1943 Montreal beat the visiting NY Rangers 6-3 to extend the Rangers losing streak to 11 games since the start of the 1943-44 season, the worst start to an NHL season by any team in league history. Rangers ended the streak with a tie the next night.
November 27, 1997 Michel Petit became the first player in NHL history to play for 10 different teams, when he made his first appearance with the Phoenix Coyotes in a 4-1 loss to Dallas.
November 27, 1984 Alain Lemieux (Mario’s brother) scored his first career hat trick to lead the Blues to a 6-1 win at Vancouver. Lemieux played 119 NHL games with the Blues, Quebec Nordiques & Penguins, and scored 28 goals and 44 assists.
November 27, 1969 Detroit’s Gordie Howe became the first player in NHL history to score 1,700 career points, when he picked up two assists in a 5-1 win against Los Angeles. Howe reached 1,700 points in 1,567 NHL games.
November 28, 1982 Ron Sutter made NHL history when he played in his first game, with the Flyers. It was the first time in league history that five brothers from the same family all played in the NHL. The Flyers tied the Canucks, 5-5 at Vancouver.
November 29, 2003 Chris Chelios became the 11th NHL defenseman to score 900 career points, when he picked up an assist as the Red Wings beat the Blues, 2-1 in St. Louis.
November 30, 1977 Phil Esposito scored a hat trick and Wayne Thomas had his 7th career shutout, as the Rangers won 4-0 at St. Louis. The three goals gave Esposito 605 in his career, one more than Bobby Hull, and second most in NHL history (behind Gordie Howe).
December 01, 1997 Montreal Canadiens became the first team in history to play 5,000 NHL games, when they took on the Pittsburgh Penguins, in a 1-0 loss, in Montreal. The loss gave the Canadiens a record of 2,625 wins, 1,603 losses and 772 ties since 1917.
Rankings
The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.
Top 5
1. Chicago
2. Nashville
3. Atlanta
4. New Jersey
5. Pittsburgh
Bottom 5
30. Carolina
29. NY Rangers
28. Toronto
27. Edmonton
26. Colorado
The Ducks played the Hurricanes on 11/25.They were able to beat them in regulation, though they sure found a way to make it suspenseful. After Teemu Selanne scored with about 90 seconds left to make it a 3-1 game you figured it was basically over. But then Carolina scores with 60 seconds left. You could hear the crowd deflate in Anaheim after that. But the Ducks hung on to win. Next was a tough game against the Chicago Blackhawks who just soundly gave the Sharks a thumping. But much to everyone’s surprise, the Ducks shut out the Blackhawks and their loaded top lines with a 3-0 win. Giguere was great in getting his first shutout of the season.
Next up was Phoenix who the Ducks seem to have problems with. Regulation was not enough to decide a winner and neither was OT so the game went into a shootout. The Ducks lost the shootout and have now lost 3 shootouts in a row to Phoenix. Including the shootout last year where if they would have won, they would have been the 6th seed instead they dropped to the 8th seed.
Next up was round 1 of the freeway series against the cross town rival Los Angeles Kings. I have to say that Evgeny Artyukhin takes some of the dumbest penalties around. In this game he took three offensive zone penalties. This is also not his first game taking bad penalties. I have no idea why Teemu Selanne requested him on his line. The Ducks lost the game 4-3 when the Kings scored the game winner in the final 2 minutes. A really tough game to lose for the Ducks, as they played really well for the most part. I also have to say this was one of the most exciting games so far, the scoring chances on both sides were quite exciting. Corey Perry kept his streak alive with a goal and an assist.
organization assured fans that they’re not only trying to win the Cup right now, but they’re serious about attempting to turn it into a dynasty.
Despite being second on the team with 8 goals, Buff primarily works the front of the net and stuffs in rebounds. While that’s a critical element for a winning team, Hawks top prospect 
