Happy 4th of July all of our Pucking Awesome readers, and now that we are all full of hot dogs, hamburgers and fireworks we will look back at the fireworks that occurred in the first three days of free agency in this weeks Pucking Awesome Hat Trick.
The riches contract was given out before July 1st as Tomas Plekanec got a 6-year, $30 million deal to stay in Montreal. Patrick Marleau, also came off the market before July 1st signing the riches per year contract as he will be paid $6.9 million per year to continue to know the way to San Jose.
As for the riches deal given out on the 1st was to the twice traded Dan Hamhuis, as he went home to the tune of $27 million for six years. Sergei Gonchar left the friendly confines of Crosby land to sign the riches per year deal on July 1st, a $5.5 million per year to play in Ottawa.
The division that has had four teams make the playoff’s three out of the last four years just got tougher to play against, literally. With the Flyers trading for talented defenseman Andrej Meszaros, a year after trading for future hall-of-famer Chris Pronger, re-signing young stud Bryadon Coburn and adding veteran Sean O’Donnell. That signaled the race was on in the Atlantic to put up the best defensive unit in the division.
The Penguins, who lost top defender Sergei Gonchar, responded by signing the block shot machine Zbynek Michalek to a 5-year, $20 million deal. Later in the day the purged the division rival Devils, by signing the smooth skating Paul Martin to a 5-year, $25 million deal.
Lou Lamoriello responded to the loss of Martin by signing the hard hitting, tough nose Anton Volcehnkov to a 6-year, $25.5 million deal. He also added the sturdy Henrik Tallinder to a 4-year, $13.5 million deal.
We also can’t forget that the last place Islanders upgraded their defense by signing former Penguins Mark Eaton to a 2-year, $5 million deal and the hard hitting Milan Jurcina to a 1-year, $1 miilion deal.
To be fair the Rangers are more focused right now on signing their own young talent as both Marc Staal and Dan Girardi are restricted free agents and they are in talks to sign talent prospect Ryan McDonough away from the NCAA champions Wisconsin.
With all that in mind, the Atlantic division now holds some of the best defensive corps in the NHL and the matchups between all these teams got more interesting with players jumping ship for greener pastures.
Back to the Past
The biggest head scratcher of the free agent frenzy that ensued on July 1st was the return of Olli Jokinen to the Calgary Flames. Jokinen was exiled from the team just five months before and didn’t set off any fires while in New York, scoring only four goals and adding 15 points in 24 games with the Rangers.
Why would Darryl Sutter bring back the fu man chu? Well one answer is he got him back for a cheaper price as he signed a two-year, $6 million deal. Another would be the crop of free agents at center were so thin that he felt maybe the former 30-goal scorer would relish his second chance to center Jarome Iginla. But both players employ a shoot first mentality so Sutter’s other, under-the-radar move was to bring back the slick passing winger Alex Tanguay.
The 30-year-old Tanguay had two successful years playing on a top line with Iginla, with 40 goals and 99 assists, before being shipped out for a first round pick to Montreal. Sutter took a lot of heat in the media for bringing back both of these former Flames, but the joke might be on everyone, if they build instant chemistry and give the Flames a dominant top line to go with their already stellar defense and Miikka Kiprusoff, they just better hope that their playoff lives do not come down to a shootout.
The Best of the Rest
The second waves of signing are often the most overlooked signings in the offseason. The names that still roam free are some heavy hitters that could round up most teams looking to win the Stanley Cup. The question now turns to the players, if they are willing to take a short term contract to prove that they are who we thought they were.
Mike Modano has not announced his plans of if he will return for a 21st NHL season, if he does and signs with a contender he could be a great third line player, who kills penalties as he did score 14 goals last season and showed no signs that he has lost his legs.
Lee Stempniak is only 27-years old and scored 28 goals last season for the Maple Leafs and Coyotes. Sure sounds like an attractive free agent to round out your second line? The problem is he had 14 of those goals in his 18 games with the Coyotes and with only 96 career goals in 374 games it is hard to judge what Stempniak’s worth is on the open market.
Willie Mitchell is one of the most underrated defenseman in the league. The 33-year-old will hit anything and is solid in his own end. His absence from the Canucks blue line this season was very noticeable as they failed to get past the second round. Concussion issues are scaring off potential new teams, as Mitchell has had two in his last three seasons, including being out of the lineup for most of last year. He could be a cheap fine for a contending team, if he can prove the concussion symptoms are behind him.
Some other players to keep an eye on are; goalies Evgeni Nabokov, Marty Turco and Jose Theodore, wingers Paul Kariya, Bill Guerin, Alex Frolov and Eric Belanger, and defenseman Andy Sutton, Joe Corvo and Kim Johnsson.
Thursday, June 17th, 2010 Written by:
Alex Mueller
As you sit there in your favorite team jersey waiting for it to be October, let’s recap and vote on our favorite moments on the season that was. The 2009-10 NHL season was one of the most thrilling ever, featuring a Stanley Cup playoff race that was wide open. The 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs smashed many ratings records on the way to crowning the Chicago Blackhawks as Stanley Cup champions. Most, if not all, of the twitter tending topics that night were NHL related. Hockey is definitely on an upswing. Some of the points below I didn’t go into as much detail as I would like to have. However, I already wrote about most of it in previous columns, so sometimes it’s hard to re-write. There’s a lot to read and videos to watch, so I hope you enjoy it! (Trust me when I say it’s really long)
To break this article down, in the first part I recap the season of the Stanley Cup Champions, then I go into the biggest surprises, disappointments and awards of the season and other miscellaneous stuff. I end it with voting for the goat and the fight of the season, compiled from the best of those during the regular season from my weekly Between the Pipes column. Which I hope you all come back to read next season.
What an unusual season it was for the Chicago Blackhawks. Their offseason certainly wasn’t boring. First you have Marian Hossa signing a huge contract worth 62.8 million dollars over 12 years. That alone brings up many questions like won’t he be 42 by the end of it? How do you even know how he will perform towards the end of the contract? Then the good/bad of the signing, Hossa wanted to play for a contending team and he viewed the Blackhawks as the team with the best chance to do so. Well that’s great but then you wonder, didn’t he think that with the Penguins and the Red Wings as well? How did that turn out? Next up you have Patrick Kane and his cousin assaulting a cab driver for 20 cents. Wait he what? There’s nothing like having one of your top players being involved in a ridiculous incident like that. Still the Blackhawks pressed on and opened the season a talented loaded team with one huge albatross around their neck, what about your goaltending?
Cristobal Huet was the number one goaltender by default, despite not being the number one last season, because the Blackhawks didn’t have enough money to sign Nikolai Khabibulin. As the starting goalie, Huet certainly didn’t make the regular season boring. First you had his 25.29 GAA average against the Flames in October, where he gave up three goals on five shots in seven minutes. Though to speak to the resiliency of the Blackhawks this season, Niemi actually came in and gave up two more goals in the 1st period to put the Blackhawks in a 0-5 hole at intermission. But the Blackhawks ended up scoring six unanswered goals to win the game in overtime. Then there was the game against the Stars in which Huet gave up four goals on ten shots. Finally he gave up 14 goals over a span of three games, when the Blackhawks finally said the hell with this and made Antti Niemi the starting goalie. He did have some high points, putting together a seven game win streak and posting four shutouts. But he will mostly be remembered for plays like this:
Despite their goaltending issues, Chicago came within one point of the best record in the West. They boasted a balanced scoring attack with six players each having 20+ goal seasons. They also boasted one of the top defensive pairs in the league in Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. Antti Niemi started to develop into a number one netminder, hopefully vanquishing the albatross in the process.
The Blackhawks opened the 1st round of the playoffs against the perennial stepping stone Nashville Predators. The Blackhawks lost the 1st game at home and then the 3rd game on the road to find themselves in a 1-2 hole. They seemed disinterested in the series and they weren’t getting the basics right. They managed to win Game 4 but then Game 5 happened. Game 5 was the kind of game that everything just went right, even when things looked bleak. It was the turning point of the series and the Blackhawks season. It was the game in which the Blackhawks got their swagger back. Let’s set the stage. Down in the important Game 5, 4-3, in the final minutes the Blackhawks try a final push only to have Marian Hossa get called for boarding. It appeared that Hossa was already working his curse magic. Instead it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the inexperienced Predators played aggressive on the power play, looking for the kill goal. The Blackhawks were able to get a lucky bounce on the rebound and storm the other way and then pull their goalie to make it five on five. Then in some eerie foreshadowing, Patrick Kane scored the game tying goal off of a rebound in what would be his second most important goal of the playoffs.
After opening the overtime period shorthanded the Blackhawks ended up in the Predators zone and Hossa jumps out of the box and sets up right where Patrick Kane scored the previous goal. The puck once again took a fortuitous bounce and Hossa capped off the impromptu comeback.
In the decisive Game 6 you could tell it would be the Blackhawks year after Brent Seabrook gets an unexpected goal against Pekka Rinne.
From there it was the highly anticipated rematch with the Vancouver Canucks. Personally I found the series to be disappointing, as most of the games were pretty one sided. It had some comical moments though, like when the Canucks self destructed in Game 5 and committed four penalties in the span of four minutes and 40 seconds. There was also Roberto Luongo being himself hot, a 1.00 GAA in the two Canucks wins and cold, 5.25 GAA in the four losses. The soon to be Conn Smythe winner, Jonathan Toews was simply sensational against the Canucks. He was also in the midst of a 13 game point streak in which he amassed 25 of his 29 points.
Next was the highly anticipated match-up between the number one seeded Sharks. The win total of the two teams far surpassed any of the other match-ups in the 2010 playoffs. Oddly enough, it was also the only sweep of the playoffs. I’ll write more about it below in the disappointing section.
Then it was onward to the Blackhawks first Stanley Cup appearance in 49 years to face the Philadelphia Flyers and their 35 year drought. The series was very good and each game had a point in the 3rd period, except for Game 5, where there was only a one goal differential. I don’t know about you but that’s hockey I want to see. Nobody on the Blackhawks had a truly remarkable series. They won as a team as it should be in hockey, the ultimate team sport. Some players did have remarkable games though, as Dustin Byfuglien did in Game 5 and Patrick Kane did in Game 6. The thing I love most about hockey is watching each player on the team hoist the Stanley Cup and skate around with it. You don’t see anything else like that in any other sport, period. Just the player, the Stanley Cup and the moment. It’s something every player in the NHL hopes to achieve but very few get too. An experience so awesome that it brings tears to those that didn’t get to achieve it, like Jeremy Roenick the great Blackhawk for eight seasons and 20 NHL seasons overall.
You shouldn’t be surprised that the Blackhawks won the series, as we still haven’t had a team with a regular season goal differential of less than a +25 win the cup in the past 20 years, maybe longer (This is my favorite hockey stat). The Flyers had no chance with their +11. It also wasn’t all bad for Huet. As many of you know, Niemi was the first Finnish goalie to win the Cup. Despite not really playing, Huet was also the first Frenchman to win the Cup. Here are some of the Blackhawks celebrating with Jay Leno, gag.
Finally for shits and giggles here are some of the best user comments on Yahoo by fans after the Blackhawks were down 1-2 to the Predators after their Game 3 loss.
A Yahoo! User Thu Apr 22, 2010 03:02 pm PDT
“I can’t wait next year for the Hawks 50 year anniversary since the last cup we won! We’re not gonna win it this year cause we won’t get out of the 1st round but when they bring those guys from the 1961 cup team come out on their rascals i will stand up and salute them. I hope they make snow tires for rascals. Maybe the Caps will let us borrow the cup next year for the ceremony. We probably won’t make the playoffs next year with a new coach and we play in a division with the Red Wings, Preds, (who are embarassing us) and the Blues and Jackets will be better next year so we might be last in the central. I also can’t wait to hang that central division banner next year. The Caps can have the cup we have the central division! That’s most important.” (This guy feels really stupid right now)
tom c Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:40 am PDT
“I don’t care who wins the cup if Detroit doesnt all I do know is it won’t be CHICAGO….1961…hahaha. Get used to it and the Wings will win another cup or two before you do if ever again…Love hossa now don’t ya…”
Biggest Surprises/Best of the Year
Teams
Phoenix Coyotes – How many of you had the Coyotes getting home ice in the 1st round and then coming within a game of knocking off the perennial contending Red Wings? Nope nobody did and if you said you did, you’re lying. Apparently Wayne Gretzky was holding them back. Kidding aside this plucky group gave it their all. They even did it with the possibility of being sold at any moment during the season and having to possibly relocate at the end of the season. Ilya Bryzgalov, who had a few previous outstanding seasons, finally became a somewhat household name. He was 2nd in the league with eight shutouts and he was nominated for the Vezina Trophy. The rest of the squad collectively overachieved. Shane Doan was the leading scorer with a whopping 55 points and only one other player had over 50 points (Matthew Lombardi). Radim Vrbata was the only Coyote to have over 20 goals during the season with 24. Despite losing in the 1st round, the season was definitely something to build on. More importantly it may have finally sold hockey in the Phoenix desert.
Montreal Canadiens – The Canadiens magic season can be summed up with two words, Jaroslav Halak. If it wasn’t for his emergence the Canadiens would have had just another 1st round exit. But he did emerge out of the shadow of Carey Price. I’ll admit Carey Price doesn’t cast a very large shadow but Halak had mostly been his backup until this year when they evenly split time in the regular season. Come the playoffs Halak was named the starter but he really didn’t flourish until after he was benched for Game 4 and then he came back with a vengeance. He even faced 134 shots over a three game span against the Capitals, not an easy task. It wasn’t all Halak though, Michael Cammalleri, Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez and Tomas Plekanec led the Canadiens offensively in the regular season and postseason. Though Gionta and Cammalleri combined for almost half of the 46 postseason goal total with 22 goals. There was also the emergence of P.K Subban who stepped in for the injured Andrei Markov and perhaps even surpassed his level of play. Subban was loved in Montreal for his hustle, determination and skill and hated everywhere else for his big mouth. The 2009-10 Canadiens returned the storied franchise to the Conference Finals for the first time since 1993. Even a 1st round series win is celebrated like they just won the Stanley Cup in Montreal. I’ll leave with two videos, one the crazy but tame celebration and one not so tame.
I can’t think of a game that had me at the edge of the seat like this one, in quite some time. Despite the Canadiens winning the previous two games, I didn’t really give them much of a chance. First you had the Canadiens taking the early 1-0 lead on the power play, just 30 seconds into the game. But it was still early and the Capitals had plenty of time to come back. Only after the second intermission it was still 1-0 and then you start to wonder, maybe the Canadiens can pull it off. When Montreal scored with about four minutes left in the game to take a 2-0 lead, you realized you were watching history in the making. About a minute and a half later the Capitals finally score to cut it to 2-1 and then you think maybe they can come back. All you know is the final two minutes would be the most intense you’ve ever seen in your life. Then Montreal gets called for a penalty to make 5 on 4. The Capitals pull their goalie to make it a 6 on 4 and you think surely the number 1 offensive team can score a goal with a two man advantage to save their season. But no Halak comes up huge the time runs out and see Alex Ovechkin slumped over to end another season. Relive the final two minutes here.
Best Series
This one was really hard for me to pick so I decided I’ll name four and you can vote. I didn’t include the Stanley Cup Finals because well it’s the Stanley Cup Finals so it would be memorable even if it sucked, which in this case it did not.
This was an awesome series that we were sadly deprived of a Game 7. It featured lots of open ice action, some high scoring and sometimes some great saves. Watching Doughty shut down the Sedin twins was also great to watch.
This series was also great. The enthusiasm in the Jobing.com Arena (dumb name) was awesome and Detroit matched it. There was a ton of open ice as well in this series and high scoring. Game 7 took a little bit of the luster off of the series. Favorite moment is the Shane Doan face after his Game 2 goal, who could ever forget that.
Game 1 was truly spectacular and featured a lot of pretty goals and an overtime win. Game 4 featured the same 5-4 score as Game 1 and another overtime. This series will mostly be remembered for the Flyers and their great series comeback and never give up attitude.
Hard to pick this series over the Canadiens vs. Capitals series but I did because you didn’t really know what you were witnessing at that point, plus I missed a lot of the games because there were so many other series going on. Other than Game 7 (more on that below) I thought this series was pretty evenly matched with great intensity and an always great Montreal crowd. Just love that atmosphere in the Bell Centre.
Anaheim Ducks – After coming within a game of the Western Conference Finals last season, Anaheim made the off season trade of sending Chris Pronger to the Flyers for Joffrey Lupul and Luca Sbisa. They had hoped to bolster their offense while securing another blueliner of the future for Pronger. They felt the addition of Lupul coupled with the signing of Saku Koivu would give them the offense they needed in order to make another run at the cup. Unfortunately while that looked great on paper, absolutely nothing worked out for the Ducks. Sbisa, while he will probably be on the Ducks blueline for the next decade, at only 19 was not ready for the big leagues especially with the crowded Ducks defenseman corp; he wouldn’t have cracked the top two pairs. Coach Carlyle felt it was important Sbisa received playing time, so down to the minors to dominate he went. Lupul was reunited with the team that drafted him but a happy reunion it was not meant to be. He ended up playing in only 23 games and was out the rest of the year with back spasms and a subsequent herniated disk surgery. While in the long run the trade might look kindly on the Ducks, they essentially traded Pronger and received nothing in return.
Koivu and Teemu Selanne, Team Finland linemates, never really developed the chemistry the team was hoping for when they acquired Koivu. Selanne also suffered two of his worst injuries in his career almost in succession, further dampening the Ducks hopes of a potent second line. Towards the last few weeks of the season, the duo finally blossomed and showed their potential but it was to late. But give credit where it’s due, Koivu was the Ducks MVP for the last two weeks racking up 11 points in the final five games. On the back-end the defensive core seemed to be okay with the trade of Pronger because the Ducks had acquired James Wisniewski and Ryan Whitney last season. Wisniewski played adequately but found himself suspended a few times, causing the group to not be at full strength. Ryan Whitney did not fit in well, especially at the power play point where the Ducks had hoped he would fill Pronger’s skates. He did not and the Oilers and Ducks swapped Olympians with the Ducks receiving Lubomir Visnovsky (further giving me another beyond complicated name to type when I recap the past weeks Anaheim Ducks games). Lack of chemistry and injuries really were the downfall of the Ducks. Next year looks promising though if they can bring back all of the key players next season.
Washington Capitals – There’s an old adage that goes “defense wins championships”. Apparently the Capitals have never heard of it. Coasting through the regular season playing in the weakest division and racking up goals like nobody’s business, these Capitals seemed destined for great things. They were the Goliath of the NHL. But unfortunately for the Capitals, there was also a David lurking named the Montreal Canadiens and their mighty stone Jaroslav Halak. Now don’t get me wrong the Capitals had a 3-1 series lead at one point, so it’s not like they played horribly throughout. It’s just when you play four series in three seasons and they all go to even games and you only win one of them, people start to wonder many things. I don’t blame the Capitals for only getting three goals by Halak in games five, six and seven, because lets face it, the line of Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Brett Hull in their primes probably wouldn’t have scored any more goals either. I more concerned with their lack of heart and their willingness to do whatever it takes to win. I’m also concerned with their defense. Mike Green is probably the premier offensive defenseman in the league but he’s nowhere near the top of defensive defenseman in the league. That’s really where the Capitals need him to be. He just completed his fourth season though, so barring something drastic on his part I really don’t think he will improve. The NHL really needs to do him a favor and stop nominating him for Norris Trophies he doesn’t deserve. The Capitals need to acquire better defensive talent and they need to become a more dynamic offensive team. I will give props to Semyon Varlamov who had a pretty good postseason. Unfortunately not many noticed it. Who knows though, the Sharks had a 1st round exit last year and made it to the Conference Finals this year. The same could happen to the Capitals.
This Game 7 was somewhat reminiscent of last years 2nd round game between the Penguins and Capitals in which the Penguins destroyed the Capitals 6-2 in the 2nd round in a hugely disappointing game as well. This time the Penguins were on the losing end. I’m still not really sure how the defending Champions would show up so flat footed at home, but they did. They lost the game 5-2 and were even down in the 2nd at one point 0-4, yikes. As awesome as this series was, and it was one of the best of the playoffs, this game couldn’t have been anymore anticlimactic. It also showcased none of the things that made the series great, other than Halak playing well again. Marc-Andre Fleury was awful, the Penguins defense was awful, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin had no points and the game wasn’t close.
I alluded to it in the Blackhawks season recap but this certainly was the most disappointing series in some time. Normally you don’t get the 1 vs. 2 match-up very often and considering what we got in the East, I expected so much more from this series. The Sharks had just come off a dismantling of the Detroit Red Wings and the Blackhawks looked strong coming off their Canucks series win. Now none of the final scores had more than a two goal win but you just got the vibe the whole series that the Sharks didn’t have much of a chance, especially after they dropped the first two games at home. The score in those games were a lot closer than the game actually was. Nobody on the Sharks came to play except Patrick Marleau and they never scored more than two goals in a game. You can’t expect to win the series when you average 1.75 goals a game in the series. The Sharks also took a bunch of dumb penalties in Game 4 when it was tied 2-2, basically handing the game to the Blackhawks on a silver platter. Evgeni Nabokov didn’t play well and now I hear the Sharks want to resign him, yikes. He’s a regular season goalie, not a playoffs goalie.
Miscellaneous
Can only happen in hockey
Duncan Keith loses seven teeth – Duncan Keith, or how he’s referred to on the internet Duncan Teeth, showed the world just how tough hockey players are. While trying to keep the puck in the offensive zone on the power play, Keith took a puck to his face from a clearing attempt by Patrick Marleau. Marleau ended up scoring a breakaway goal because Keith was taken out of the play. But showing the true hockey player that he is, Keith returned to the game minutes later. Here’s a nice video on the play and what happened afterwards.
You’ve got to be kidding me
The Philadelphia Flyers come back from an 0-3 series deficit – This feet was made all the more impressive by the fact that they only got into the playoffs on a shootout win in the final game of the season against the New York Rangers. But the Flyers became only the third team in NHL history to comeback, joining the 1975 New York Islanders and the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs. Not only did they come back down from 0-3 in the series, they also came back down 0-3 in Game 7. Not to mention they had to switch stating goalies in the middle of the series due to injury and they lost their 2nd leading scorer, Jeff Carter, for a month due to injury. I can’t think of a team that had to battle so much to get so far. Many thought this might be a team of destiny but their destiny ran out in the Stanley Cup Finals. Special acknowledgment goes to Danny Briere for leading the whole NHL in postseason scoring and for having some pretty goals along the way.
Iron Man Award
Craig Anderson – Now here’s a guy that had never been a starter in the league before or played in more than 31 games. He played in 71 games this season for the Colorado Avalanche, almost the same amount of games he played combined in his first five years in the league. He didn’t stop there, as he faced the most shots of any goalie during the regular season with 2233. He was one of the primary reasons the Avalanche rebounded so quickly. In the playoffs he faced the highest shot total of any goalie to play six games and sometimes he faced more than those with a few more games played than him. He finished the playoffs with the highest SV% at .933. Here’s hoping he can keep up the pace next year.
Team on the Rise
Los Angeles Kings – Something is brewing in Los Angeles and it isn’t the latest motion picture. It’s the first legit team the Kings have put together since Wayne Gretzky left town. They’re a young and deep talented team. Anze Kopitar at only 22 has seemingly blossomed into an elite player leading the league in scoring for a good chunk of the time. He did severely cool off towards the end of the season. However, I think this season was just a little preview of what’s to come. The Kings have a great pair of young defenseman in Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson. Doughty is something truly special and his skilled were acknowledged with the Norris Trophy nomination. While I don’t think he will win it this year, my vote is on Duncan Keith, I think Doughty might dominate the award in the future like Bobby Orr, Raymond Bourque and Nicklas Lidstrom have in the past. Doughty was simply sensational in the Canucks series. How quickly the Kings can ascend, falls mostly on the shoulders of Jonathan Quick. Quick was a workhorse this season and will probably need to be again next season. He will need to continue to hone his skill in his 3rd full season if the Kings hope to advance further in the playoffs.
The comeback that never was
Ray Emery – Nobody wanted to take a chance on Ray Emery because of his previous bad behavior but the Flyers desperate for goalie help decided it would be worth the risk. Emery started all of 29 games before suffering a torn muscle. He was later diagnosed with avascular necrosis and was out for the rest of the year. In his absence Brian Boucher and Michael Leighton led the Flyers all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. With the Flyers recently signing Johan Backlund and already having Brian Boucher under contract, its unlikely free agent Emery will return. I don’t think any other NHL team will give him a chance either and I’m not even sure if he is fully recovered to play.
Breakout of the year
Steven Stamkos – I gave it to Stamkos because he had struggled so much the previous year. It’s not easy to come into the league as the 1st overall pick in the draft. Expectations are high and you are expected to perform. Stamkos rose to the challenge in his second year. Playing along side Martin St. Louis certainly helps but Stamkos is a special talent in his own right. Leading the league in goals in your second season is also an impressive feat. Stamkos will only continue to get better. John Tavares was another number 1 pick this year that put up almost identical numbers to what Stamkos did in his first season. I suspect his second season will end up being his breakout year as well. Craig Anderson would have gotten this nod for the regular season but I gave him another award. Jaroslav Halak would defiantly have gotten this award for the postseason but I already wrote about him.
Rookie of the Year (Calder Trohpy)
Tyler Myers – Besides goalie I think defenseman is the hardest position to learn. It’s not easy to try and stop the speed and skill of the top wingers in the NHL on a nightly basis. Myers was also the only defenseman on the Sabres in the top 80 in defenseman scoring. It’s very rare that there aren’t at least two defenseman from each team in the top 60. Leading all players on your team in ice time is always an honor for any rookie. Myers should compliment Ryan Miller for years to come.
Goalie of the Year (Vezina Trophy)
Ryan Miller – Goaltending has only gotten better over the years and there were a lot of strong contenders. Tuukka Rask came in a strong second but he played in 24 fewer games so I’d like to see what he can do with a full season under his belt. Miller had the 2nd best GAA at 2.22 and the 2nd best SV% at .931. Both were behind Rask. He faced the 4th most shots and had the 4th most wins. So while he wasn’t first in any major statistical category, he was 1st in taking over a game. He isn’t perfect though as he did make a few of my Goat of the Week awards this season. But as the entire World witnessed in the Olympics, he can put on quite a good show. This past January I saw Miller play live against the Ducks. He didn’t start the game, Patrick Lalime did. But the Ducks chased Lalime after the first 10 minutes after he gave up four goals. Though the Ducks did manage to score one goal on Miller, the whole entire feel of the game seemed different when he came into it. It was if he told the Ducks this isn’t going to be easy anymore. It wasn’t. I hope that Miller doesn’t suffer the same fate Dominik Hasek did in Buffalo. That is to go cupless.
Player of the Year (Hart Trophy)
Sidney Crosby – Now before we start this, I am not a diehard Sidney Crosby fan. I think he is a great player but I do not worship the ground he walks on. Furthermore, I honestly don’t think he is the most talented player on his team. I think Evgeni Malkin is. Two years ago Malkin would have easily won my player of the year award (I know my award isn’t that prestigious). So why does Crosby get it when Alex Ovechkin and Henrik Sedin had just as good or even better seasons? Well first off, Malkin didn’t have the same year he had in the previous two seasons and a lot of that was due to injuries. So basically Crosby had to carry the Penguins on his back. The other important thing to remember is Crosby doesn’t really have anyone else on his line. Sure Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin are good players but they aren’t great. Sedin has his brother Daniel Sedin on the same line and Ovechkin has Nicklas Backstrom and sometimes Alexander Semin. Crosby is the line all by himself. He also scored 51 goals which was not only tied for 1st in the league but his own personal best. He had never even reached 40 goals in any of his previous seasons. He was also red hot in the 1st round of the playoffs before coming back down to earth against Halak. I don’t think he has reached his full potential yet but I felt he was the best player on the ice this season.
Vote for the best of the season
Some were hard cuts particularly in the Goat category, so many goats this season. But I narrowed it down to three fights and five goats. There is no playoff goats so no Dan Boyle own goal or Halak stupidly playing the puck way beyond his net.
How do you say disappointing? – So the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs were shaping up to be some of the best playoff action in quite some time. The 1st round was just awesome. No sweeps and all games tied at 1-1. The 2nd round was for the most part pretty decent. Then we get to the Conference Finals where the awesome playoff momentum should surely carry over. I mean if the the previous rounds were close surely the next round would be the closest and most evenly matched right?
Wrong you are good sir. In the West San Jose looked nothing like the team that dismantled Detroit, not even close. Chicago looks like it was bored half the time in the 1st two games. San Jose now has the dubious distinction of four straight 100 point seasons and no Stanley Cup hardware to show for it. The only other team that did that would be the New York Islanders. Of course after their four years of ineptitude, they rattled off four straight championships. Something tells me that won’t be happening to the Sharks though, because there are simply way to many teams now.
In the East we got a match-up we weren’t expecting at all. But I was still excited because you had one team, the Flyers, coming off an improbable 0-3 comeback and another, the Canadiens, coming off of two straight thrilling Game 7 upsets. So naturally this would make for a great series right? Wrong again. The first two games weren’t even fun to watch unless you were a Flyers fan. Game 3 wasn’t much fun to watch either, unless you were a Canadiens fan. Game 4? Well that one was fun to watch except for the fact that the Canadiens signature this postseason, their defense, ended up costing them the game with two mistakes. One was a skate malfunction and really that’s just crappy luck, not much you can do with that. The other was a bad pass that Philly also converted.
Before we get into it congratulations go out to the Edmonton Oilers for getting Taylor Hall, he will be awesome for years to come. Yes they didn’t pick him yet but if they don’t, they have lost their minds.
I wish I could write more on this series but for some reason I can’t recall much of it.
What we learned: You really can’t predict the East, so stop trying.
Things I like: I like the way the Flyers rebounded in Game 4. It was a really crucial game on the road that they weren’t really expected to win after getting shalaked in Game 3. The 2nd period was key for them as they out shot the Canadiens 13 to 1.
I find it ironic that the Flyers biggest problem the last few years (Martin Biron, Robert Esche, Ron Hextall) was finding a quality goaltender to lead them to the Finals. Yet this year they can plug in any washed up goalie and watch him play phenomenally, weird.
Things I don’t: Why does Halak have such problems playing in Game 1′s? He didn’t play in Game 1 against Washington but he was pulled in both Game 1′s in the 2nd and 3rd round. He gave up six goals each time too. I’d like to think he hasn’t played the team yet so he has to feel them out. The problem is he isn’t a rookie and he has played these teams before.
Montreal actually out shot the Flyers in every game but game 4, which is weird because they only out shot the Penguins in two of the seven games and only once in the seven games against the Capitals, but they aren’t scoring much. The main issue is they don’t have any bodies in front of Michael Leighton. As Dustin Byfuglien has shown for the Blackhawks, having a net presence is important and helps you score goals.
Montreal is a mind boggling 1 for 16 on the power play in this series, that’s just awful. You won’t win many games if you can’t convert on the man advantage. They even had a 5 on 3 which they didn’t convert. Of course a lot of this goes back to my point of establishing a net presence, the Canadiens haven’t so the power play is suffering.
Likely Winner: Flyers, of course I didn’t think Montreal would come back down 3-1 to the Capitals. I also didn’t think the Flyers would come back down 3-0 to the Bruins. So maybe I should pick the Canadiens.
Normally I break down the series and give my prediction but it’s over so… let’s recap it. Congratulations to the Blackhawks for making their first Stanley Cup Final since 1992.
This series reminded me of the Stanley Cup final in 2008 when the Penguins just looked lost the 1st two games and then came out and played well in the rest of the series. The same can be said for the Sharks, who were lost in the 1st two games and found in the 2nd two games. The problem is they didn’t win either of the 2nd two games, so series over.
The Sharks never scored more than two goals in any game against the Blackhawks. Now a lot of that is because of the sterling performance put in by Antti Niemi. But regardless, you still won’t win many games if you average 1.75 goals a game. The Sharks total lack of composure in the 3rd period of Game 4 really hurt them. It was tied 2-2 but they took 3 fairly dumb penalties in the period while the Blackhawks took none. Wouldn’t you know it the game winner was scored on the power play by the Blackhawks.
I think it’s time for the Sharks to do a complete overhaul on Defense. Evgeni Nabokov while he didn’t play horribly is not the goalie who will lead you to the Stanley Cup. He is also not getting any younger. Speaking of which the Defense is not getting any younger either. Only two of the top six defenseman are under 30. Come playoff time, you really need some fresh legs back there. The secondary scoring was non existent. Joe Pavelski who was so great against the Avalanche and in the first half against the Red Wings, failed to really show up against the Blackhawks. Other than Patrick Marleau nobody really showed up against the Blackhawks offensively.
Let’s not take anything away from the Chicago Blackhawks though. This was a team rebuilt from nothing in the draft. Also let’s face it when one of your key pieces, Dustin Byfuglien, was drafted in the 8th round you have an eye for talent. The Blackhawks have a great defensive core and are three lines deep in scoring talent. The checking line can also score at times. The only thing they were missing was solid goaltending, but they have found that in Antti Niemi. Let’s not forget to mention Duncan Keith losing most of his teeth and coming back out on the ice. Now that’s a hockey player.
Numbers Numbers
-11 – Joe Thornton’s plus minus rating for the Stanley Cup playoffs
9 – Number of goals for Joe Pavelski in the first 8 games
0 – Number of goals for Joe Pavelski in the second 7 games
1 to 1 – The ratio of points to penalty minutes for Chris Pronger, the first time it isn’t in favor of PIM in his postseason career
3 – The number of shutouts for Michael Leighton in four games against the Canadiens.
This Week in Hockey History
Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.
May 17, 1979 Ken Dryden became the first goalie in NHL history to score a point in the Stanley Cup Finals. He drew an assist on Jacques Lemaire’s goal at 17:10 of the third period, to give the Canadiens a 4-1 win over the Rangers in Game 3 of the Finals.
May 18, 1997 Wayne Gretzky extended his NHL record with his 10th playoff hat trick, and the Rangers scored three times on their first 4 shots for a 5-4 win at Philadelphia, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.
May 19, 2000 Patrick Roy tied an NHL record with his 15th career playoff shutout (set by Clint Benedict in the 1920′s) and rookie Martin Skoula had 2 assists as the Avalanche won 2-0 over the visiting Dallas Stars, in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.
May 20, 2000 Craig Berube scored the game-winning playoff goal (his third goal in 86 playoff games) at 12:58 of the third period as Philadelphia won 3-1 at New Jersey, in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
May 21, 1979 Montreal beat NY Rangers 4-1 in Game Five of the Finals, to become the 1979 Stanley Cup Champions. The win gave Montreal its 4th straight Cup, one short of their record five (1956-60).
If the Flyers win tonight then I’ll be back relatively soon with a Stanley Cup Finals preview.
Okay so it really pisses me off to have the Sharks vs. Red Wings and the Canadiens vs. Penguins games starting only 30 minutes apart. Having said that I guess I should be grateful the NHL doesn’t schedule them at the same time. I love how ratings are up like 50 to 75% in all areas but considering that they weren’t that high to begin with it isn’t all that impressive. Still baby steps are encouraging and I think the NHL will continue to reach new fans over the next few years. If the series continue as they are I will have predicted three of four 2nd round series correctly, which sure beats my 1st round predictions… Now let’s get to the series recaps.
Things I Like: Other than a really bad game 1, probably due to exhaustion, Halak has been back to his three game wonder days against the Capitals. Only difference is that the Penguins are a little more versatile than the Capitals.
I love the atmosphere of the Bell Centre, just awesome. From the consistent chants to the chorus of boos it the kind of atmosphere I wish every NHL arena had.
Marc-Andre Fleury hasn’t always been on the top of his game in the regular season or the postseason. But he did just pitch his first shutout of the postseason in game 3. Also every postseason he starts to get hot and help carry the penguins, that shutout must just be the catalyst to his hot streak. He truly earned his shutout as a lot of the saves early in the game were pretty awesome.
Things I Don’t: Besides Michael Cammalleri, who continues to be red hot, the Canadiens are having some offensive woes. Top guys aren’t really delivering when they need to. After having an awesome start in the Capitals series, Tomas Plekanec has cooled considerably and has only one assist in the past four games including the game 7 against the Capitals. Scott Gomez has only one goal in the postseason and that was in game 1 against the Capitals. These guys need to step it up for the Canadiens to have a chance. The one bright spot for the Habs is that P.K Subban has stepped in nicely for the injured Andrei Markov.
What we learned: Philadelphia can really only beat New Jersey and the Bruins had everyone fooled.
Things I like: The Bruins regular season scoring problems was apparently a clever ruse to make people think they couldn’t score. Averaging a healthy 4 goals a game the Bruins are also getting real balanced scoring. In all three games no player has scored more than one goal.
I love the high flying open ice of the series. Asham, Satan, Briere, Krejci have all had nifty move goals or breakaway goals. I may have missed some others. In some cases this series reminds me of the Canucks vs. Kings series.
Things I don’t: The Flyers aren’t getting manhandled by the Bruins but at the same time they aren’t winning. We already know they can’t beat the Penguins in the post season but now they aren’t showing much fight against the Bruins. It’s been a season of ups and downs for the Flyers and most of the ups came against the Devils. They really need to pull out one win to have more confidence for next year.
Brian Boucher who was phenomenal against the Devils has cooled considerably against the Bruins. In game 1 he faced a ton of shots and had some nice saves, so he was still admirable in defeat. But the last two games he has been about average and he really needs to get it going for the Flyers to get a win. Boucher’s SV% is .874 against the Bruins and was .939 against the Devils.
Likely Winner: Bruins
2.34 – Goals a game average for the Bruins in the regular season
2.89 – Goals a game average for the Bruins in the postseason
4 – PIM so far this postseason for Chris Pronger an all time low that’s for sure
Thing I like: Last year the Sharks got bounced in six games to the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks were by no means your typical 8th seed and even though it was embarrassing for the Sharks, I don’t think it was that bad. Losing for them was a good thing it made them learn they weren’t where they need to be yet, that were a little over confident and it made them work harder. It has so far paid off this year. The same thing will probably happen to the Washington Capitals next year.
Joe Pavelski is on fire, so much so that at this point it doesn’t matter that Thornton and Marleau aren’t. They both were awesome on the overtime breakaway winner in game 3 though, so that more than makes up for their other shortcomings.
Things I don’t: Detroit got probably hotter than anybody down the stretch to make the playoffs. Having said that, they probably overworked themselves to much to get into the playoffs. Then to go up against a team with something to prove after a seven game series against the Coyotes, also didn’t help much. They’ll be back next year thought they might pick a few games in the meantime.
Jimmy Howard isn’t quite ready to led his team in the playoffs but he is getting there. This is all valuable experience for him. He should be a solid bet between the pipes for the Wings for the next decade.
Likely Winner: Sharks
4 to 3 – The last three scores of the Wings vs. Sharks series, talk about tight
9 – Goals by Joe Pavelski, the league leader in the playoffs so far
What we learned: These teams just aren’t peaking at the same time.
Things I like:Dustin Byfuglien needed to be the sparkplug in this series and so far he has. In game 3 he was truly was playing his best in his element. He screened Luongo, he goaded Canucks and he gasped scored a hat trick. If he keeps it up the Canucks don’t have much of a chance. He is the ultimate X-Factor.
After a bad game 1 Antti Niemi has bounced back with stong efforts in games 2 and 3. The Blackhawks Stanley Cup hopes lies mainly on his shoulders and I like how he has performed so far. Everyone has bad games it’s how you bounce back from them that matters. Niemi’s strong saves in a hectic 1st period in game 3 really help set the tone for the Hawks in the game.
I liked Marian Hossa’s enthusiasm after he scored his goal in game 3 with his “yeah baby” yell. He has been mostly quiet thus far and I’d like to see if that goal helps energize him and get him more involved.
Roberto Luongo is a quote machine. From his first round gem of “I only play when it matters” to this round’s “Momentum is overrated” I’d love to know what he’d say in the Stanley Cup round if given the chance to play for it.
Things I don’t: The referring this Stanley Cup playoffs has been spotty at best. In game 3 of the series a couple of Blackhawks basically pushed Luongo into the net and it was called a good goal. They reviewed it and it was still a good goal. Byfuglien and the other Blackhawk weren’t pushed in by any Canucks and it’s ludicrous to count the goal when Luongo had no chance to make a play. Not to mention in another series, I can’t remember which, a similar goal was disallowed. Consistency is something refs should strive for as is not allowing goals that clearly are not legal.
The Sedin twins have been neutralized by the Blackhawks top defensive pair since game 1. Since the top line provides most of the offense for the Canucks that poses a huge problem. Coach Vigneault needs to get more creative on his line changes and perhaps even split up the twins.
What I mostly hate is how the Canucks brought their A game in game 1 and the Blackhawks didn’t show up. The Blackhawks brought their A game in game 3 the Canucks didn’t really show up. In game 2 the 1st period was all Canucks and the 3rd period was all Blackhawks. I’d like to see both teams just bring their A game for the whole game just once. That’s what everyone wants to see.
Likely Winner: Blackhawks
.932 – Antti Niemi’s SV% in games 2 and 3 combined
0.5 – Combined PPG average of the Sedins against the Blackhawks
1.5 – Combined PPG average of the Sedins against the Kings
Kris Versteeg gets credited for the goal but Bieksa was the one that actually knocked it in. Bieksa was at a bad angle but he could have done a better job in knocking the puck in a different direction. Having said that he was rushed by Versteeg which made him panic and forced him to react quicker.
Warning: The video is highlights of the whole game but the goal is the first clips in the reel. This was the only video I could find that had the overhead replay of the goal.
This Week in Hockey History
Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.
April 29, 1986 Rookie Claude Lemieux scored the winning goal at 5:55 of overtime as the Canadiens won 2-1 over the Hartford Whalers, at the Forum in Game 7 of the Adams Division Finals. Montreal advanced to the Conference Finals vs NY Rangers.
April 30, 2003 Anaheim’s Mike Leclerc scored a power play goal with 1:47 remaining in regulation, and Jean-Sebastien Giguere recorded his first career playoff shutout, in a 1-0 victory over the visiting Dallas Stars, in Game 4 of the Western Conf. Semi-Finals
May 01, 1992 Buffalo’s Pat LaFontaine became the first player in NHL history to score a goal in each of his team’s first 7 playoff games in one year. The milestone came in a 3-2 Sabres loss at Boston, in Game 7 of the Adams Division Semi-Finals.
May 02, 1971 Bobby Hull scored a goal and added two assists to lead the Black Hawks to a 4-2 playoff win over the New York Rangers, in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Semi-Finals at Chicago Stadium. Black Hawks advanced to the Finals vs Montreal.
May 03, 1994 Don Sweeney scored the winning goal at 9:08 of overtime as the Bruins won 6-5 over the Devils at New Jersey, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. The win gave Boston a 2-0 lead in the series.
May 04, 1972 Bobby Orr scored a goal to break the career record for defensemen playoff goals. #17 came in only his 47th playoff game. He broke the mark set by Detroit’s Red Kelly (16) in 94 playoff games. Boston lost to the Rangers, 5-2 at New York.
May 05, 1977 Montreal’s Bob Gainey scored twice to lead the Canadiens to a 2-1 win over the Islanders at New York, in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Semi-Finals. With the win Montreal advanced to the Finals against Boston.
Thursday, April 29th, 2010 Written by:
Alex Mueller
The second round begins with a few surprises and I’m not sure if you noticed but each of the eight seeds are represented. 4,6,7,8 in the East and 1,2,3,5 in the West. I’m mostly annoyed that I was robbed of many fine game sevens and I had to settle for just two. I was really looking forward to Vancouver vs. Los Angeles for one more go. That emerged as my favorite series with probably Pittsburgh vs. Ottawa creeping in at number 2. San Jose vs. Colorado fell down in my book because the Avalanche just didn’t get many shots off or make the final games very competitive. Boston vs. Buffalo came on strong in the end to make two of the last three games quite entertaining. Looking back on the 1st round only one series ended in less than six games and every series in the West was tied 2-2 at some point, proving how competitive the West was this year.
As for the two game sevens we did get, I didn’t care for the Coyotes vs. Red Wings. I guess the Coyotes, despite being at home, never really had a chance especially without Shane Doan. They just couldn’t get any offense going despite Bryzgalov’s best efforts. In the end an amazing journey for the Phoenix Coyotes and their season has come to an end. As for the other game…
I have to say I’m a little stunned at the outcome of the Capitals vs. Canadiens series. Now the Capitals have underachieved before and have had problems closing out opponents in other series but this was a little different. They played really well all season except for down the stretch when they had nothing to play for. It may have hurt them because they probably got a little too used to playing for nothing. The Canadiens were just lucky to be in the playoffs. Varlamov played well and probably played a lot better than most people thought he would. Unfortunately he didn’t get much offensive or defensive help at certain times. The real story was Jaroslav Halak pulling his best Patrick Roy circa 1986 impression. Halak faced 134 shots in the final three games and he only allowed three goals. This equates to a mind numbing .977 SV%. Ovechkin’s disappointing year continues. No league leading goals or points trophy, no gold medal or any medal and now no Stanley Cup. The great number eight will defiantly have better seasons ahead. Regardless of the outcome the last five minutes of the game were phenomenal. A truly remarkable first round and one of the best first rounds I can remember. Of course this could also be attributed to the fact that I saw basically all the games since I watched them all online. I didn’t have to just watch whatever limited games were broadcasted on TV. One thing that bothered me was on the Fox Sports Red Wings and Predators broadcasts, both of them mentioned Pittsburgh as the 5th seed. No, they are the 4th seed how hard is it to look that up? Also the announcing team on the Predators broadcasts sure don’t look like hockey announcers, not that you have a certain look per say but you can defiantly tell they are from the south.
The young teams in the West with little to no playoff experience (Los Angeles Kings, Colorado Avalanche and Phoenix Coyotes) all made great strides this year. Prolonging a series to six or seven games against more playoff savvy teams is a great accomplishment. All should be a force to reckon in next year’s playoff. I particularly like the Kings upside assuming Jonathon Quick continues to develop into the top goalie he is projected to become.
Playoff History: 1-0 Canadiens. The only time they met was in 1998 in the 1st round. Sidney Crosby was ten then.
Star to Watch:Sidney Crosby to see if he can continue his epic scoring pace against the hottest goalie around in Jaroslav Halak.
X-Factor:Michael Cammalleri came on strong against the Capitals and he leads the team with 10 points. He single handedly beat the Caps in game six. The Canadiens will need him to continue to produce if they are to pull off another shocker.
Goalie Problem: Well Halak is not a problem so that leaves Fleury in the hot seat. Fleury’s current SV% is .890 but he usually comes up big when necessary. He will need to come up a big a little more often if Halak is able to stymie Pittsburgh’s big guns.
Fun Fact: Since the 1994 playoff format switch, only nine 8th seeds have beaten the 1st seed out of 32 possible tries, the Canadiens being the ninth.
Prediction: Well I said the Capitals would sweep the Candiens, oops though I should have written five or six games I never would have thought Candiens in seven. I’m going to have to go with Penguins in six just because there isn’t much difference with this Penguins team and the two that made the Finals.
Playoff History: 2-2 split. Not since 1978 have these two met in the post season. Starting in 1974 they met in four of the five following post seasons.
Star to Watch: Mike Richards because with Jeff Carter out this is Richards’ team. Richards has played well so far, as he is 8th in scoring and leads the Flyers in scoring this post season. He will have to kick it up a notch to best Rask and advance the Flyers to the next round.
X-Factor: Can Satan continue to dominate? Miroslav Satan delivered game winners in Game 4 and Game 6 and his patented Satan Shuffle. In fact those were the only two goals he scored. The magic of Satan, the Bruins hope he has a little left in him.
Goalie Problem: The Bruins never had a problem in net and considering they usurped the best goalie this season in Ryan Miller I say they’re doing good. Boucher has become the top goalie with Halak this postseason, so none for the Flyers either.
Fun Fact: In the two post seasons the Bruins beat the Flyers in the 2nd round and then they lost in the conference finals to the Canadiens. That could happen again this year and wouldn’t it be something if it did?
Prediction: Well this is a really tough one to call. I could never have envisioned this pairing and I’m sure the Bruins never envisioned a scenario that they would get home ice in. While the Bruins have found a little scoring depth and Rask is playing well, I think the Flyers are the more complete team. They are built for the playoffs. Unless of course Boucher returns to normal, then advantage Bruins if not Flyers in six.
Playoff History: 2-1 Red Wings. The last two times the teams met in the 2nd round and the Wings won both. The most recent meeting was in 2007.
Star to Watch: Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton. I wrote about Marleau in last round’s preview about how he always disappears in the playoffs, well he hasn’t been found yet. Thornton has also joined him and he has no goals in six games, yikes. Both of them will need to bring their A game to have a chance at beating the Red Wings.
X-Factor: The Sharks made it out of the 1st round, hooray. However their real problem is getting out of the 2nd round as before their ouster in the 1st round last year, they couldn’t get past the 2nd round in the three post seasons following their Conference Finals lost in 2004. Now is when the true test for the Sharks begins.
Goalie Problem: Evgeni Nabokov played alright in the 1st round but he also wasn’t tested. He faced the least amount of shots of the twelve goalies who played six games. Howard is a rookie so he is just gaining experience. The game seven Coyotes win was huge for him. Still his game is not complete and the Sharks should be able to pepper him with enough shots and exploit his game. Let’s face it Jimmy Howard is not Craig Anderson circa this year or Jonas Hiller circa last year and the Sharks will be much relieved of this.
Fun Fact: The Red Wings don’t lose in the 2nd round very often. In the past 18 post seasons they have only done so four times. The Sharks on the other hand have lost in the 2nd round 7 of 12 times.
Prediction: Well I’m hoping for San Jose but also I think they are the better team. Detroit struggled to make the playoffs until the last month and they struggled at times to beat the Coyotes. I think the Sharks have finally put it all together, let’s face it they have had plenty of time to, Sharks in seven.
Playoff History: 2-1 Blackhawks. The last two times they met in the conference semifinals and the Blackhawks won both of them. The most recent meeting was of course last year when Luongo gave up seven goals in the decisive game six.
Star to Watch: The Twinkie twins I mean the Sedin twins, thanks Panger. Neither has averaged over a point a game in any post season. They both currently are and they will need to continue to in order to beat the upper crust Western Conference teams.
X-Factor:Dustin Byfuglien hasn’t done much of anything yet. He has no points so far and even more surprising he has only two penalty minutes. Last year he was tied for 3rd in PIM in the playoffs. Granted he has been playing out of position as a defenseman but he is moving back to forward in this series. He will need to get involved in the game more if he is to provide that pesky spark that he did so well in providing last year.
Goalie Problem: Roberto Luongo and Antti Niemi are very similar in that sometimes they have great games and other times you’re left scratching your head. Luongo has more of an upside but Niemi had way better numbers in the 1st round, though numbers aren’t everything. If Luongo plays like he did in game six against the Kings advantage Canucks.
Fun Fact: These two teams were the 2nd (Vancouver) and 3rd (Chicago) highest scoring teams in the regular season. Chicago had the most shots on goal and the 10th highest shooting percentage. Vancouver had the 10th most shots on goal and the 2nd highest shooting percentage.
Prediction: Both teams looked beatable in the 1st round but I don’t think Chicago has peaked yet, while I think Vancouver has. I also don’t think Luongo can play consistently well the whole series. Chicago in seven.
Poor Pekka he played his heart out and almost helped the Predators upset the Blackhawks. Alas it was not to be and his gaffe in the sixth game sealed that fate. Many Blackhawks say he played the puck correctly, as a former goalie I say no he did not. He reacted way too early to a puck that was far away. Even if the puck did what he thought it was going to do, he would have had plenty of time to play it.
It wasn’t the greatest pass from Lee Stempniak but Schneider’s poor handling of the pass coupled with Brad Stuart leaving the penalty box at around the same time, led to the goal that essentially broke the Coyotes back.
Numbers, Numbers
1 – of 33 on the power play for the Washington Capitals the top scoring team for a PP% of 3
0 – of 19 on the power play for the Buffalo Sabres
10 – of 26 on the power play for the Los Angeles Kings for a PP% of 38.5 tops in the post season
.940 – Brian Boucher’s SV% in six playoff games started
.939 – Jaroslav Halak’s SV% in six playoff games started
Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.
April 22, 1993 Yuri Khmylev scored twice, including a power play goal at 1:05 of overtime, and added an assist to lead the Sabres to a 4-3 playoff win over the Bruins at the Aud. Buffalo took a 3-0 lead in the Adams Division Semi-Final series.
April 23, 1991 Pittsburgh’s Kevin Stevens became just the third player in NHL history to get three straight game winning goals in one playoff series, in a 3-1 win at Washington, in Game 4 of the Patrick Division Finals. Mark Recchi added a goal and two assists.
April 24, 1994 Gary Suter scored a hat trick and Jeremy Roenick scored the winning goal at 1:23 of overtime and added three assists to lead the Blackhawks to a 4-3 win over Toronto in Chicago, in Game 4 of the Western Conference Quarter-Finals.
April 25, 1994 Claude Lemieux scored twice and added two assists to lead the Devils to a 5-3 win over the Sabres in New Jersey, in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals. New Jersey took a 3-2 lead in the series.
April 26, 1997 Rod Brind’Amour scored two shorthanded goals within a span of :54 (to tie an NHL record for most SHG in one game) and added an assist in the Flyers 6-3 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, in Game 5 of the Eastern Conf. Quarter-Finals.
April 27, 1992 Rookie goalie Tom Draper recorded his only career playoff shutout, and Petr Svoboda picked up two assists as the Sabres won 2-0, at Boston in Game 5 of their Adams Division Semi-Finals series.
April 28, 1984 Minnesota and Edmonton combined to set a Stanley Cup playoff record for most power play goals in one game, with seven. North Stars had four and Oilers had three as Edmonton won 8-5, in Game 3 of the Campbell Conference Finals.
Rankings
Based on the likelihood of winning the Stanley Cup
Well start growing your hockey beards it’s that time of year. Let’s take a look at the match-ups and try and break it down. BTW I love Wikipedia, it makes life so much easier. Also in case your wondering if going to the Olympic scoring system (Teams get three standings points for winning in regulation, two points for winning in overtime or in a shootout and one point for a team that loses in overtime or a shootout) would have had any impact on this season the answer is basically no. Exhibit A is here, the only difference is Nashville finishes ahead of Los Angeles and the New York Rangers gets in over Montreal. So basically only Rangers fans are upset right now. If you’re wondering I did not take that photo. I’ve discussed the current point system before here. I’m just annoyed the final spot came down to a shootout. I really think the overtime needs to be made at least ten minutes.
Playoff History: They have never played each other, well there’s a first time for everything.
Star to Watch: Alexander Semin because he needs to step his game up to the next level in the playoffs for the Capitals to have a chance at the Stanley Cup.
X-Factor: With Saku Koivu and Alexei Kovalev gone Tomas Plekanec is the man in Montreal. He produced a goose egg in three games in last years playoff. He will need to play well for Montreal to have any chance.
Goalie Problem: Both teams have problems and they both might go with a two headed monster in net. But I think in Montreal’s case they stick with Jaroslav Halak. He’s certainly played better down the stretch and earned it. As for the Capitals they said the plan on rotating between Jose Theodore and Semyon Varlamov. I say go for it because if there is any round which you can afford to experiment it would be this one. Have them play every other game and go with the hotter one.
Fun Fact: Washington has scored 101 more goals this year than Montreal.
Prediction: The Washington Capitals should sweep the Canadiens unless Varlamov/Theodore truly suck it up.
Playoff History: 2-1 in favor of the Devils, last meeting was in 2004 which the Flyers won in the 1st round.
Star to Watch:Ilya Kovalchuk because the spotlight is on him. He was acquired for the playoffs and now it’s his time to shine. He has only played in four games in the postseason before but he’s surrounded by a group that’s been there before. I expect the Devils to continue to jumble their top two lines to find a good fit for everyone including Ilya.
X-Factor: Can Chris Pronger stay out of the penalty box? He sure had a problem doing so in Anaheim at key moments. However, last year was the first year he averaged under one PIM a game in his postseason career.
Goalie Problem: The Flyers employed a three headed monster in goal this season and lost two of its heads to injury and were left with just Boucher. This is his second stop in Philly and he was last in the playoffs with them in 2002 where he only played in two games. He played well in the must win against the Rangers.
Fun Fact: Philadelphia had the 2nd highest PIM this season while New Jersey had the 3rd lowest. I smell fights though.
Prediction: Well despite the advantage of the Flyers in the regular season, the Flyers have played poorly down the stretch and are lucky to have made the playoffs. The Devils are still mad about being bounced in the 1st round the past two seasons. I think they and Brodeur have something to prove, Devils in six or seven.
Playoff History: 5-2 Boston, though Buffalo has won the last two meetings the last one being in 1999 in the 2nd round.
Star to Watch: Well slim pickings in the star category but I’d have to say Michael Ryder. Marc Savard is injured, Phil Kessel is gone and it’s up to Ryder to lead them in playoff scoring like he did last year.
X-Factor: How will Calder candidate Tyler Myers hold up? Myers was phenomenal playing for the Kelowna Rockets in the playoffs last year and he will need to deliver again.
Goalie Problem: Neither of these teams have one, unless you consider choosing between Tuukka Rask and Tim Thomas a problem. Personally I call that a luxury.
Fun Fact: If Tuukka Rask plays most/all of the round, this match-up will feature the top two goalies in GAA and SV% this season.
Prediction: Buffalo in five games because the Bruins just don’t score enough and goals will not be plentiful on Ryan Miller.
Playoff History: Bad blood between these two. They didn’t meet last year as Ottawa didn’t make the playoffs but they met the previous two years in the 1st round and here they are again. The first time the Senators beat the baby faced Penguins who vowed revenged next year. They got their revenge with a sweep and supposedly tanked on purpose to draw the Senators in the first round.
Star to Watch:Evgeni Malkin because he hasn’t been healthy lately but when he has been in the lineup he’s still been effective. The key to the series (but mostly other series) might be how often he can play.
X-Factor: Can Kris Letang (3) and Brooks Orpik (2) both score more goals in the postseason than they did in the regular season? Probably.
Goalie Problem:Mac-Andre Fleury hasn’t played all that well the last month except for three games. But playoff off time is generally when Fleury shines so he should rebound nicely. If not we might see some of Brent Johnson. Brian Elliot gets some much needed experience for Ottawa.
Fun Fact: The winner in each of the two previous playoff meetings went on to lose in the Stanley Cup Finals first to the Ducks and then to the Red Wings, will that happen again?
Prediction: Pittsburgh should win this probably in five games but possibly a sweep. The Senators are probably one of the weakest five seeded teams in some time.
Playoff History: They have met three times in the playoffs before, the Avalanche hold the series lead 2-1. They haven’t met since the 2004 playoffs when San Jose bounced them in the 2nd round.
Star to Watch:Patrick Marleau, people rag on Joe Thornton a lot, but where the hell does Marleau disappear to in the playoffs? He has 11 points in 19 games and a -2 the past two seasons. With the addition of Danny Heatley he does have a little less pressure but now he has no more excuses.
X-Factor: With all that Colorado youth I’m sure they’ll have no pressure and continue to play as normal. That might be a probably if San Jose ratchets up the intensity but Adam Foote, Milan Hejduk and Stephane Yelle have sure been here before.
Goalie Problem: Craig Anderson has been overworked this year and it’s by far the most amount of games he as ever played in the NHL in one season. Subsequently he started to wear out at the end. He was stupidly not rested in a meaningless game against the Kings. Way to go management. Evgeni Nabokov will need to put last year’s playoff debacle against the Ducks behind him and play better.
Fun Fact: San Jose has only been past the 2nd round once. Colorado has been past the 2nd round six times. San Jose has been around four more years as a franchise.
Prediction: Honestly this is probably the hardest series to predict. I can actually see the Avalanche beating the Sharks. Whatever happens, it’s going seven games but I’ll just say Colorado for the hell of it. Prove me wrong San Jose.
Playoff History: None, then again the Predators haven’t been around that much.
Star to Watch:Jonathan Toews because he really needs to have a breakout campaign in the playoffs for Chicago to reach where they want to go. Anchoring Hossa, Kane and/or Sharp should help him reach his potential.
X-Factor: The Predators have never been out of the 1st round and they sure would like too. I’m sure the fans in Nashville really don’t care.
Goalie Problem: Antti Niemi has played really well down the stretch with a .927 SV%, except for the game against St. Louis. If he keeps it up we won’t see Huet. Nashville is a good first round opponent for Niemi as they aren’t exactly an offensive powerhouse. He only faced Nashville once this year and wasn’t stellar with an 800 SV% and a 4.00 GAA.
Fun Fact: Chicago has been to the playoffs 54 times and Nashville four times, not including this year.
Prediction: Chicago in five. I expect big things from Chicago this year; then again they made it all the way to the conference finals last year. Chicago just has way more talent than Nashville. I’m amazed Nashville finished as high as they did.
Playoff History: 2-1 Los Angeles and not since the 2nd round in 1993 when the Kings made it to the Stanley Cup finals.
Star to Watch: Way too many to mention here. I’ll have to say Anze Kopitar vs. Henrik Sedin in the head to head center match-up, fun times indeed. Henrik obviously has the experience advantage and his new Art Ross hardware.
X-Factor: We have the inexperienced defense of the Kings, minus Scuderi and O’Donnell of course, vs. the banged up Canucks defense. I think we will be seeing some high scoring games.
Goalie Problem: What has happened to Roberto Luongo? If Luongo can regain his form the Canucks may go for, if not they could get bounced in the 1st round.
Fun Fact: The only win this year that Los Angeles had over Vancouver, the Kings scored eight goals on Luongo.
Prediction: Well this will probably be the most fun of all the first round series and another hard one to predict. It should go seven but I guess I’ll take the Canucks.
Playoff History: Only met one other time in 1998, Detroit won in the 1st round.
Star to Watch:Shane Doan returns to the playoffs with the Coyotes for the first time since 2002. He’s the only one left from that team as well. Doan will need to step it up for the Coyotes to have any chance at all.
X-Factor: How much do the Red Wings care? I mean they’ve been there done that a few times before. Phoenix on the other hand has not accomplished anywhere near as much. Between their ownership problems, their surprising season and not making the playoffs in eight years it should make for an interesting dynamic. At least fans finally came out to support the Coyotes. I’m looking forward to the WhiteOut.
Goalie Problem: Jimmy Howard doesn’t have a lot of playoff experience and neither does Ilya Bryzgalov. While Howard has none, Bryzgalov did play a few games for the Mighty Ducks including three consecutive shutouts.
Fun Fact: Detroit has been to the playoffs 55 times (not including their days as Cougers or Flacons) and Phoenix five times, not including this year.
Prediction: Try as I might, I can’t see any scenario that the Coyotes beat the Wings. Then again I couldn’t have seen any scenario in which the Coyotes would obtain over 100 points. Lightning can strike twice but in this case I think the Wings experience wins out, so Detroit in six.
As for Stanley Cup Final prediction I say the Washington/Pittsburgh winner against Chicago. I’m not sure who I would pick and I know it’s a cop out not to pick a winner and to also not pick between Pittsburgh and Washington but it really depends on how the goaltending for Washington and Chicago fair in order to pick. Part of me wants Chicago to lose in the finals so that Marion Hossa can be on the losing side three years in a row. The hilarity that would ensue for everyone but him, I know Schadenfreude, I’m a bad person.
Fights of the Week
Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.
Marc Staal’s bad pass attempt to another Ranger, I can’t identify, who wasn’t even looking for the pass sets up Mike Richards breakaway goal.
Things I like
1. Ten years of over 100 points for the Red Wings. That is consistency and it’s really tough to do in this day in age of the game.
2. The Boston Bruins scored three shorthanded goals all during the same penalty. To think that Boston had problems scoring all year, they just needed to be shorthanded. Although they were the 29th shorthanded scoring team so maybe it was just an anomaly.
3. Seven teams in the Western Conference had 100 points or more. Wow. Yet many people wonder why I and many others think the West is the superior conference. Of course you get a point now for an overtime loss but you used to get a point for a tie which a lot of these games could have ended if there wasn’t a shootout.
4. Standing Ovations for Mike Modano (maybe retiring), Keith Tkachuk (retiring) and Teemu Selanne (maybe retiring) during their final home games. Of course two of those three players made up a phenomenal line on the Winnipeg Jets. Tkachuk and Selanne teamed with Alexi Zhamnov in the early to mid 90’s. I didn’t see them play because who televised Winnipeg Jets games (and I was like 12 haha) but I did have their hockey cards. Scott Niedermayer also might have played his last game but he’s a defenseman so no one cares. I’m just kidding but my gut tells me Selanne and Niedermayer will both be back.
Things I don’t
1. NBC did one of those patented NBC moves. Only one game had a game that meant something to both teams, the New York Rangers vs. the Philadelphia Flyers. You can argue that Detroit and Chicago meant something but only whether they would move up a spot or not, which is not a big a deal as winner gets into the playoffs. So NBC shows the Capitals vs. the Bruins, ugh. And people wonder why the NHL can’t get a bigger following in the states, bonehead moves like that is why. Now I know that the Caps game was at 12ET and the Rangers vs. Flyers game was at 3ET but I’m pretty sure they could have moved the game up if they wanted to show it.
2. When NBC was going over the standings and possible playoff matches they had the Flyers vs. the Capitals and then they said of course the Rangers could win and get in instead. Of course they failed to mention that if the Flyers won they wouldn’t play the Capitals because they would leapfrog the Montreal Canadiens and the Canadiens would then play the Capitals. I guess that would have required too much research on their part. Between NBC’s sheer stupidity and no one carrying versus I can’t think of a time the NHL had worse broadcasting partners. Unless of course you count that FOX glow puck debacle.
3. Four teams in the West that didn’t make the playoffs finished at or above the 88 points the 7th and 8th seed Flyers and Candiens had in the East. Hmm… doesn’t seem fair. Of course Detroit shouldn’t even be in the West seeing how they’re even more East than Atlanta is.
4. Ranges in the shootout, I mean Gaborik wasn’t even one of the first three shooters and Lundqvist picked a bad time to suck in the shootout after playing an awesome game.
Stat Line of the Week
04/11/10 Pittsburgh 6 vs. NY Islanders 5
Skater
TOI
G
A
+/-
SOG
PIM
S. Crosby
22:38
2
3
+3
6
2
Crosby made a run for the records he could get and while he came up short on the points record, he did end up tying Ovechkin for 2nd. He also ended up tying Stamkos for the goal lead at 51.
Did You Know?
The playoff beard tradition was started by the New York Islanders in the early 1980’s. It seemed to work as they won four cups in a row in the 80’s.
This Week in Hockey History
Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.
April 08, 1937 Referee Clarence Campbell officiated his first Stanley Cup match in Game Two of Finals, a 4-2 win for Detroit over the Rangers. Campbell, who became third league president in NHL history in 1946, gave out three penalties.
April 09, 1980 Bob Sauve recorded first shutout in Sabres playoff history, 6-0 over Vancouver in Game Two of the Stanley Cup Preliminary Round. Gil Perreault scored a goal and added two assists.
April 10, 1982 L.A. Kings staged their famous “Miracle on Manchester”, scoring 5 goals in the third period to tie the Oilers, then winning 6-5 on an overtime goal by Daryl Evans. The win gave the Kings a 2-1 lead in the best of 5 series vs Edmonton.
April 11, 1994 Tom Barrasso stopped 32 shots for his 21st career shutout as Pittsburgh clinched the Northeast Division title with a 4-0 win at Ottawa. Jaromir Jagr led the scoring with three assists.
April 12, 1960 Montreal’s Maurice “Rocket” Richard scored his 82nd (and final) NHL playoff goal in Game 3 of the Finals against Toronto. Canadiens beat the Leafs 5-2, and won again two nights later for the 1960 Stanley Cup Chamionship.
April 13, 1997 Mario Lemieux picked up two assists in his final career regular season game (until his comeback in 2000-01) as the Penguins lost 7-3 at Boston. The two assists gave Lemieux 122 points, and his 6th NHL scoring championship, in his 12th season.
Rankings
Based on the likelihood of winning the Stanley Cup
Top 5
1. Washington 2. Chicago 3. Pittsburgh 4. New Jersey 5. Detroit
Bottom 5
16. Montreal 15. Nashville 14. Ottawa 13. Philadelphia 12. Phoenix
Friday, February 26th, 2010 Written by:
Eric Sutter
You should never be comfortable with your fantasy team, always be looking for ways to improve your squad as you gear up for a long playoff run. As the NHL hits their Olympic Break it is a perfect time to sit back and examine what we come in the final six weeks of action.
The center pivots the entire offense and is a deep pool with many teams only having spot for three or four centers on a fantasy team. Having a center that creates for others is ideal but one that contributes on special teams both power play and shorthanded is one that should take precedent over just plan scorers.
As we saw in the NHL Fantasy Rankings for goalies and defensemen there were some surprises, which will make a huge fantasy impact down the stretch. That is the same feeling among the best centers in the league as time winds down on the NHL and Fantasy seasons
Here are the Olympic Break rankings for Centers:
1. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh: 42-36-78-12 Power Play Goals
2. Nicklas Backstrom, Washington: 26-50-76-+32- 29 Power Play Points
3. Henrik Sedin, Vancouver: 25-55-80-+27-20 Power Play Points
4. Patrick Marleau, San Jose: 38-26-64-19 Power Play Points-3 SHP
5. Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay: 35-35-70-30 Power Play Points
6. Joe Thornton, San Jose: 16-59-75-25 Power Play Points
Monday, November 30th, 2009 Written by:
Eric Sutter
The line that a player is on significantly affects their fantasy value. A talented player could be buried on a third line and relegated to a check role, while a checking player could get a spot next to the Sedin’s and become a fantasy hero. Let’s break down some of the best fantasy lines in hockey today and hopefully these players are on your team and if not go out and try to acquire them.
San Jose Sharks Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton, and Patrick Marleau: The Sharks made fantasy owners feel like they’re in heaven by putting all their top guns on the same line.
This line has lived up to the hype as they have contributed 20 points in the month of November. Heatley, in his first season in San Jose, has fit in nicely with team high 18 goals, Joe Thornton leads the NHL in assists with 30 and Patrick Marelau is playing for a contract with 17 goals and 31 points in first 28 games.
Anaheim Ducks Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Bobby Ryan: Another west coast team putting all of their eggs in one basket. Even though the team has been struggling for wins, this line has not been struggling to contribute to fantasy teams.
Corey Perry is in the midst of a franchise best 18-game point streak. Bobby Ryan had 7 goals in the month of November and Getzlaf has been an assist machine with 23 assists in 25 games. This line was the hottest line in November contributing 35 points in the month.
Washington Capitals Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin: I know Semin is hurt right now and that is not helping fantasy owners right now, but put these dynamic players together and fantasy nirvana happens. I also know that any line that has the league’s top goal scorer will make the other line mates instant scorers, just ask the fill-in guy Chris Clark. Bruce Bourdreau has bought into the philosophy of having his superstars all play together and they have contributed 20 points together this season.
Pickup of the Week:Tomas Plekanec Canadiens C:
The Canadiens have been hit with the injury bug, one player taken advantage of the increase playing time is center Tomas Plekanec. The 27-yer-old center has filled in for Scott Gomez on the top line and has 14 points (3G, 11A) in his last 13 games including chipping in 3 power play points.
The Czech forward has been a steady producer with three straight 20 goals he has even been a career plus player (+28). Although Scott Gomez has returned to practice and seems ready to play and will hurt Plekanec power play time, I don’t think it will hurt his production for he was producing with second line minutes before the injury.
Sunday, November 29th, 2009 Written by:
Eric Sutter
As the shoppers’ dust settles on another Black Friday, the dust is settling for injuries around the league.
We have already seen big names missing time, and it seems every day we check the headlines as another NHL player is out for an extended period of time.
In this, an Olympic year, you start to wonder if people are starting to just coast to make it to their respective countries’ rosters and wait until after the Olympic break to really start playing.
Now on to the Pucking Awesome Hat Trick or the top three stories I am watching this week.
Talk about your sophomore slumps, as last year’s Calder Trophy winner Steve Mason has fallen off the map. The 21-year-old Blue Jackets net minder is now ranked 44th in save percentage (.890) and 45th in goals against (3.46).
The NHL goalie is a crazy character; very few stay relevant for an extended period; that is a reason to marvel at Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo right now.
Mason’s coach, Ken Hitchcock, had the best quote about the second-year player this week, “Just because a guy’s a second-year player, it doesn’t mean he’s a better player yet.”
The Blue Jackets are still in the thick of things and a good team but will not make an impact without the services of their franchise goalie.
We all have to remember that this kid is only 21 years young and made the rare move right from juniors to the NHL before we put him in the Jim Carey category.
With four games this week, I will be watching to see which Steve Mason will show up.
Kovalchuk Conundrum:
The Thrashers keep winning, and Ilya Kovalchuk keeps scoring. The trade deadline is far away right now, and first comes his Olympic run for the Russian squad, but I have to keep my eye on this situation.
Similar to the Marian Hossa problem of not signing a contract extension, the Thrashers were forced to trade their franchise player in February 2008. The Penguins were the benefactor of that move and went on to the Stanley Cup Finals.
The problem this year is the Thrashers are a winning team and it’s evident they depend heavily on Kovalchuk’s offensive prowess.
Atlanta this season is 10-4-3 with the winger in the lineup; his stats are a staggering 14 goals and 24 points in those 17 games.
I will be keeping my eye on this situation all of December, as in those 15 games ahead could be a deciding factor on not only the Thrashers’ playoff hopes but the Stanley Cup run of another team.
Games Of The Week:
With two big returns this week, I had to highlight both of them in the Games of the Week. The first day of December matches up Dany Heatley against the Senators.
Although the game is in San Jose so he won’t feel the same wrath of Ottawa, it will be interesting to see how the team he refused to play for will treat the talented scoring winger.
The move has seemed to work for both teams so far, as Heatley (18 goals) has teamed up with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau for a dominant line.
Milan Michalek, the main piece coming back to the Senators, leads the team with 13 goals, while Jonathan Cheechoo has chipped in filling the checking line.
The other return is Marian Hossa back to Pittsburgh on Saturday. You don’t think the Penguins organization will have Hossa walk down a hallway of them hoisting the cup, maybe even a picture of him sitting watching it.
Before Hossa became the $62.8 million man, he jumped the Crosby ship and spurned the Penguins for a “greater” chance to win a cup with the team that beat them in the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals.
You heard the reaction he got throughout last year’s finals; expect the same on Saturday.
