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Between the Pipes – NHL Recap Week 17

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 Written by: Alex Mueller

Extinguished Flames? – The Flames were my pick for Northwest division champion. While they were the leader at one point this season, they have since fallen dramatically. They have 7 of their last 8 games including an ugly 9-1 loss to San Jose. Most of their other losses were by 1 or 2 goals, including one in overtime. Captain Jerome Iginla has not played well in their most recent stretch including having a 6 game pointless streak. Dion Phaneuf has struggled offensively and defensively including a minus 4 in that game against the Sharks. Olli Jokinen has been pretty much a bust this season certainly not what the Flames had hoped when they acquired him last season near the end. While he did play well after being acquired, this season he has only 10 goals and is on pace to have his lowest goal total since the 2001-02 season. It’s not like he hasn’t been shooting, his shooting percentage is currently .068 which would also be his lowest since the 01-02 season. Speaking of busts Jay Bouwmeester was added in hopes of giving the Flames that final needed piece after Jokinen. In the whole month of January he has only one assist. He also hasn’t scored a goal since Nov. 14th. Putrid is the only word I can think of to sum that all up. On paper the Flames have a decent team of course what matters is how you actually play. But they were playing well in November going 10-2-2 at that time and not much has changed. Sometimes it’s just chemistry issues. The Flames biggest problems is lack of goal scoring, I think it’s time for the Flames to start juggling the lines. Iginla is having one of his worst stretches of the year, so take him off the first line so he won’t match up against other team’s top lines. Also how about a line of Iginla, Jokinen and maybe Rene Bourque? It can’t hurt and it’s a lot better then what they have going now. The Ducks started to get hot after they tinkered with their lines. It’s not time to panic yet but the Flames need to get creative to douse their current woes.

Goalie Spotlight

Johan Hedberg – Atlanta Thrashers

After watching him make some awesome saves against the Ducks I figured I would spotlight Hedberg, also know as the “Moose.” The nicknamed was coined when he was quickly called up to play in a game for the Pittsburgh Penguins and he was still wearing his Manitoba Moose (AHL) helmet which also sported a huge moose on the mask.

Hedberg was drafted in the 9th round by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1994 draft, he never played for them and was traded in 1999 to the San Jose Sharks. He never played for the Sharks either; however he did play for their affiliate the Kentucky Thoroughblades. It wasn’t until he was then traded to the Penguins that he actually played in the NHL. Before his NHL debate Hedberg mainly played in Sweden for Leksands IF. He didn’t make his way back to North America until the 1997-98 season when he played for the Detroit Vipers (IHL). After bouncing around the IHL, AHL, ECHL and Sweden for awhile Hedberg debuted for the Penguins in the 2000-01 season. He only played in 6 games, most of the year he played for the Moose, but the following year he was a regular starter. He ended up leading the league in losses, a record I’m sure he didn’t want. He was then traded to Vancouver and then Dallas before finding a home in Atlanta in 2006. The 2008-09 season was one of Hedberg’s worst. He set career lows in GAA and SV%. He has rebounded nicely this season and so far has career bests in GAA and SV% and has a chance to surpass his previous season high in wins. One highlight of his career was recording two assists in a game while playing for Dallas in 2005. This hadn’t been done since Patrick Roy had two assists in a game in 2000.

Hedberg signed a multi-year extension with the Thrashers in 2008. Currently he is hoping to backstop the Thrashers into the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

Fights of the Week

Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.

Jay Rosehill vs. Matt Walker

Decent fight and then at the end, Walker decks Rosehill.

Nick Boynton vs. Brad Staubitz

Short and sweet fight.

Cam Janssen vs. Brian McGrattan

McGrattan has about 4 inches over Janssen and he pretty much dominated this fight, Janssen did pop off his helmet though.

Goat of the Week

Ray Emery – Philadelphia Flyers

Hey what do you know another goalie as a goat. This time Ray Emery goes behind the net and passes it to Sergei Samsonov of the Hurricanes, oops, and Samsonov makes a nice pass to Rob Brind’Amour.

Things I like

1. The Burrows with the Sedin twins line is on fire, and is right up their with the Sharks line. Burrows with an 11 game point streak and both Sedins have a 5 game point streak going. All told this line has amassed 60 points in 11 games so far this January. This has propelled the Canucks all the way up into 4th place in the Western Conference.

2. Anze Kopitar has rebounded big with a nice January after having a cold six point December. He has points in 8 of his last 10 games and he was apart of every goal, 1 goal 2 assists, in the Kings huge comeback win against Detroit 3-2. It was huge because it was on the road but also because the Kings and Red Wings are neck in neck in the standings.

3. Eric Staal being named captain of the Carolina Hurricanes. On the one hand it’s a tough role becoming the captain of a team in last past in the conference. On the other hand there isn’t anywhere else to go but up and since this is now a rebuilding year, it’s time for the youth to start leading.

Things I don’t

1. All the Ilya Kovalchuk trade talk rumors. Nothing worse than having to hear a billion scenarios or possible teams a player could be going to. I’m sure it’s even more annoying to him. Most unbelievable scenario was him going to the Blackhawks. Yes I’m sure that will happen.

2. The Oilers now have fewer points than Toronto and Carolina. After how the season started for those two teams you never would have saw this day coming.

3. I wrote about this a month ago but I’m concerned with the success of the Sharks. The more they win and run away with the top seed in the west, the more pressure they will have come playoff time. The Western Conference is especially stacked this year and it’s very possible they will have another 1st round bounce. I can only imagine how another early round exit will go.

Stat Line of the Week

01/23/10  Montreal 6 vs. New York 0

Skater

TOI

G

A

+/-

SOG

PIM

M. Cammalleri

18:15

2

2

+2

4

0

Cammalleri’s name is not one you hear often but he is having himself a nice little season. Coming off a career year last season, in Calgary, that saw him post career highs in goals and points, Cammalleri leads the Canadiens in goals currently. His four point night help key the 6-0 victory over the Rangers.

Did You Know?

Rob Ray led the NHL in PIM with 261 in the 1998-99 season, while playing for the Sabres. He also had the dubious distinction of not scoring a goal that year.

Numbers, Numbers

127 – Goals for Boston the lowest in the NHL currently.

274 – Goals for Boston last year, when they led the Eastern Conference.

26 – Wins this year so far for Craig Anderson in 43 games for a .604 W%

36 – Wins prior to this year for Anderson in 88 games for a .409 W%

This Week in Hockey History

Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.

January 21, 2000 Valeri Bure scored at 3:06 of overtime to give the Flames a 5-4 win against the visiting Nashville Predators. It was the Flames’ 9th OT win of the season, a new NHL record. The Winnipeg Jets held the old mark with 8 OT wins in 1987-88.

January 22, 1987 A snowstorm in New Jersey delayed the game between the Devils and Flames for two hours. When it finally started, only 334 fans were on hand to see the Devils beat the Flames 7-5. The game ended at 11:44 PM.

January 23, 1972 Chicago’s Bobby Hull extended his team-record point scoring streak to 21 games in the Black Hawks’ 4-0 win over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs. Hull scored 23 goals, 12 assists for a total of 35 points during the 21 game streak.

January 24, 1998 Anaheim’s Teemu Selanne scored his 250th career NHL goal in the Mighty Ducks’ 3-3 tie against the visiting Los Angeles Kings.

January 25, 1996 The Ottawa Senators set an NHL record with their 16th consecutive home game without a win (0-15-1) in a 4-2 loss to Detroit at the Palladium. They broke the old record of 15 shared by the 1928 Black Hawks & 1939 Canadiens.

January 26, 2002 Eric Lindros scored once to give him 20 goals in each of his nine NHL seasons, and Theoren Fleury added his 20th goal of the year for the 12th time in his career as the Rangers won 6-3 against the visiting Washington Capitals.

Rankings

The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.

Top 5

1. Washington
2. San Jose
3. Anaheim
4. Vancouver
5. Philadelphia

Bottom 5

30. Edmonton
29. Calgary
28. Toronto
27. Boston
26. NY Rangers

Yikes the last 3 teams are all Canadian, not happy times in Canada for hockey fans these days.

Anaheim Ducks Watch

The Ducks started their long six game road trip in the Shark Tank. Anaheim has lost all four meeting against the Sharks this year coming into the game. You can make it five after the loss on Thursday. Both teams had chances and the Ducks actually out shot the Sharks. Beleskey had the only goal for the Ducks and it was a pretty one at that. In the end the Sharks were the better team, full avenging their playoff exit from last season.

Next up were the Blues an important game standing wise and the Ducks sure made it interesting. Down 3-0 in the 3rd all seemed lost. But then Niedermayer scored to put the Ducks on the board. Then the Bobby Ryan show took over as Ryan scored his 23rd and 24th goal of the year. The 34th came with just 30 seconds left in the game. Ryan did however miss the 3rd shootout shot, the first duck to miss, which would have given them the win. Instead it took 7 rounds for the Ducks to get the win.

Next for the Ducks were the Thrashers in a game they really needed to have because they play back to back games and their next opponent is the Capitals. Unfortunately the Ducks didn’t play all that well and lost 2-1, though at times they did have their chances. A couple of really dumb penalties at the end really sealed Anaheim’s fate. Sexton’s hooking call was a bad call by the refs but Whitney’s boarding call was just a bad move on Whitney’s part. Atlanta also had a questionable non call penalty towards the end, can’t remember who was involved.

Not sure what the future of this section holds, seeing as how I’m leaving Southern California, I won’t be able to watch the local broadcasts anymore and watching online isn’t always reliable. But maybe I’ll still do it. Either way I hope the Ducks make the playoffs this year.

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Between the Pipes – NHL Recap Week 14

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 Written by: Alex Mueller

Back from my one week vacation, did anyone miss me? This is a really long column this week.

Winter Classic? – The NHL had their annual winter classic on New Years Day. Certainly the most marketable game, besides the Finals, and it also draws the most ratings for a regular season by a huge margin. I remember the first winter classic between the Sabres and Penguins. I thought the snow flurries added a nice touch. It look cool watching it on TV but it wasn’t snowing hard enough to ruin the performance of the game. I also thought the game was rigged. It seemed too fishy to have the game to go into a shootout and have it be won by Sidney Crosby. I mean that NHL gets to showcase one of the more exciting aspects of the game, the 1 on 1 shootout, and they get to have their most marketable star, Crosby, win the game. But I guess that’s just what happened.

I didn’t get to watch last years’ game because I thought the game was on at 1pm. Which it was but I live on the west coast so when I turned it on about five minutes before 1pm it had about five minutes left in the game. I can’t remember being more annoyed. This year’s game between the Bruins and Flyers featured almost 40 minutes worth of pre game activities. Some of them added a nice touch I thought like talking to Bobby Orr and Bobby Clarke and showing classic footage of each. But overall I thought it dragged and I just wanted the game to start already.

The game was kind of flat. I didn’t find most of it to be all that exciting, except for the end. Philadelphia truly dominated all but the last 5 minutes of the game and overtime. Even though Boston had one more shot on goal in certainly didn’t feel that way. Philadelphia had the better scoring chances and it always seemed to have an odd man rush in their favor every five minutes. Whether it was a breakaway or a 2 on 1, Tim Thomas kept the Bruins in the game. He played like a monster in front of the monster (I couldn’t resist) with well timed saves and occasionally losing his gear during them. I was stunned to see the Bruins tie it up with about three minutes to go in the game. I wasn’t surprised they won it in overtime though; you could tell the momentum had shifted after that. Michael Leighton played really well for the Flyers which I wasn’t expecting, since he didn’t exactly tear it up for Carolina. But he has played well since coming to Philadelphia. Leighton has played on four different teams in his career and is in his second stint with the Flyers. Hopefully he has found a home this time. If he continues to play well I suspect he has and he may even push Emery out the door when he gets back. I was hoping for rain or snow during the game but that didn’t happen. I look forward to next year’s game, wherever that may be.

Goalie Spotlight

Roberto Luongo – Vancouver Canucks

Named to the Canadian team this past week I figured I do a write-up on him. Loyal readers know that I already did spotlights on all of the goalies on team USA.

Robert Luongo is the first goalie to be named captain of his team since Bill Durnan in the 1947-48 season. Luongo is a native of Montreal, Quebec like so many other great goalies that come from Quebec. He has a rink named after him where he used to play the 2nd goalie with that honor, the first being Martin Brodeur. He started skating at age 8 and wanted to play goalie then, but his parents wanted him to focusing on his skating. At age 11, after playing forward for a few years, his team’s regular goalie didn’t show. After begging his mom he was allowed to play goal. She said on that day, “It made me sad because he loved hockey and couldn’t skate.”[1] As fate would have it Luongo posted a shutout on that day and it was clear he was meant to be a goalie. At age 15 Luongo joined Montreal-Bourassa a midget team that Martin Brodeur and Felix Potvin (who Luongo is linked to in many ways) played for before they were stars. Luongo then moved on Val-d’Or Foreurs (a junior ice hockey team) where he received rave reviews. Luongo was drafted with the 4th pick by the New York Islanders in 1997. He was the highest drafted goalie ever until the Islanders, again, picked Rick DiPietro 1st overall three years later.

In the 1999-2000 season, a few months after signing his contract, Luongo split time with the AHL (Lowell Lock Monsters) and the Islanders. Luongo played so well that he surpassed Felix Potvin as the starting goalie so Potvin was traded to Vancouver. Despite being considered their future goalie the Islanders traded Luongo and Olli Jokinen to the Panthers for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha. This paved the way for the Islanders to take DiPietro.

Luongo started his career with the Panthers splitting time with Trevor Kidd but he soon emerged as the clear cut number one. It was hard to record wins playing for the struggling Panthers but he continually posted great GAA and SV%. An ankle injury sidelined him for a third of the 01-02 season. He received his first Vezina Trophy nomination in 03-04, setting the NHL record for most shots faced and saved in a single season and he led the league with a .931 SV%. The previous record holder was Felix Potvin. Luongo was second in the Vezina balloting losing only to Martin Brodeur. After the lockout season Luongo signed a one year deal with the Panthers. He posted what was then a career high of eight shutouts that year. Before the start of the 06-07 season he was wrangling for a new contract with the Panthers. He had a list of demands he wanted met in the contract but GM Mike Keenan and Luongo didn’t have the best relationship. In a surprise move Keenan elected to trade Luongo to the Canucks for Todd Bertuzzi, Alex Auld and Bryan Allen. Luongo brought instant stability to the Cancuks net that had been searching for a goalie for some time since Kirk Mclean left.

In his first season with the Canucks he was an All-Star, set the franchise record for most wins in a season with 47 and set a career high for wins and GAA. 2007 was the first year Luongo ever made the playoffs. In his first game he came within one save of tying Kelly Hrudey’s mark for most saves (73) in a playoff game. The Canucks lost to the Ducks in the 2nd round. Luongo was nominated for three awards (Vezina, Pearson, Hart) that year and finished second in all of them losing to Brodeur again for the Vezina trophy. The next season he was named an All-Star again but he stumbled down the stretch and the Canucks missed the playoffs. Luongo led the Canucks to their second division crown in three seasons and into the 2nd round of the playoffs again. They lost to the Blackhawks in six games where Luongo gave up seven goals. He was heavily criticized for his play and he acknowledged he let his team down. Before the season started he signed a hefty 12 year contract extension.

After struggling mightily this year with a horrible October, Luongo has rebounded nicely posting some stellar numbers in the month of December. He also holds five Panthers’ franchise records and six Canucks’ franchise records. The Canucks hope to repeat as division champs but have stiff competition this year in the Calgary Flames and the Colorado Avalanche. This three team race should go down to the wire, just like last year’s two team race between the Canucks and the Flames.

[1] http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=480116

Fights of the Week

Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.

Rick Rypien vs. Cam Janssen

If you like fast punches you’ll like this fight. The refs break it up to early though.

Cam Barker vs. Mike Weaver

The fight wasn’t anything, it was Weaver’s hit on Sharp that was awesome which led to this fight.

Cody McLeod vs. Jared Boll

If you like wild punches then this is the bout for you.

Jonathan Toews vs. David Backes

Here’s a fight between two guys who normally don’t fight, mildly entertaining.

Goat of the Week

Johan Hedberg – Atlanta Thrashers

Funny how about 75% of the goats of the week usually involve a Goalie leaving the crease. That’s why I say goalies should always stay between the pipes. Hedberg thought the puck was going to take a different bounce then it did and Derek Roy was the benefactor of that mistake, as he scored the game winner into a wide open net.

Things I like

1. Rene Bourque where has this guy come from? Never having more than 40 points in a season, he is practically already there after 36 games with 34 points. He also scored his 2nd career hat trick on Dec. 28th.

2. The Sharks top line is all bound for the Canadian Olympic team. If Canada was smart, they would just play that line as it is. They already have a half a seasons worth of chemistry.

3. Jamie Langenbrunner has been on a roll lately. He has a five game point streak going and had a three game goal streak during it, including a hat trick against the Wild. Earlier this month, he had a point streak of seven games.

4. The Sedin twins are getting even hotter. Henrik is now leading the NHL in points and Daniel is creeping up the leader board despite playing in only 25 games so far. Conversely the Canucks have also been creeping up the standings now residing in 6th place.

Things I don’t

1. Consistent is something the Washington Capitals are not. After having strange losses earlier in December to Buffalo and Toronto the Capitals end the month by not showing up against the worst team in the league, Carolina, and then one of the best teams, San Jose. They fell behind 0-3 to the Hurricanes, last Monday, in a game you thought they would have won but they lost 2-5. Maybe they thought it would be a cakewalk and they didn’t really come to play. But the next night against the Sharks they did the same thing and fell behind 0-3 before losing 2-5. You think they would have been motivated to play the Sharks. The Caps snapped their three game losing streak with a win against Montreal.

2. The Pittsburgh Penguins have lost five in a row now. They seem to be getting worse though as each loss mounts. Evgeni Malkin has particularly struggled, producing no points in his past four games and a costly turnover against the Panthers. Things are so bad Mario Lemieux watched almost all of their practice. They were finally able to beat Atlanta 5-2 and Malkin had an assist which is a start.

3. Anze Kopitar was the leading scorer in the middle of November now he is tied for 15th. Has anyone fallen this much this fast before? The Kings have also fallen from a brief, and I do mean brief, stint in 1st place to all the way down to the 7th slot. Of course I write that on Monday and then on Monday night the Kings crush the Sharks at the Shark Tank 6-2. Kopitar had a goal and an assist in the game.

4. Injuries to the Anaheim Ducks. When your injuries can produce a line of Ryan Getzlaf, Teemu Selanne, and Joffery Lupul you know you will have problems scoring. That’s just what has happened to the Ducks. A shame because the Ducks were able to string together a bunch of wins overcoming the Selanne and Lupul injuries. But losing Getzlaf is just too much in addition to them and now they are back on a losing streak.

Stat Line of the Week

01/03/10  Senators 7 vs. Flyers 4

Skater

TOI

G

A

+/-

SOG

PIM

A. Kovalev

18:47

4

1

+5

6

0

Alexei Kovalev feels like he’s been around forever because he has. Now in his 17th season, Kovalev had four goals on six shots not to shabby to go with his +5. The four goals was a career high.

Did You Know?

While Kovalev’s five point night was good the record for most points in one game is twice that mark. The record of 10 points is not held by Wayne Gretzky but rather Darryl Sittler. His six goals and four assists in 1976 as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, in a game against the Boston Bruins, still stands today. You have to like the chances of that record falling in the next few seasons though.

Numbers, Numbers

4 – Canadian teams that would make the playoffs if they started today out of 6.

-12 – +/- for Scott Niedermayer which looks to be receiving his third minus season in a row, after having only 1 in his previous 15 seasons before.

53 – Wins last year for the President Trophy winning Sharks, they are on pace for that again this year.

14 – Road wins for Colorado last year; they have 13 at the halfway point this year.

This Week in Hockey History

Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.

December 31, 1910 Montreal Canadiens goalie Georges Vezina played the first of 367 consecutive regular season and playoff games, when Montreal lost their NHA season opener, 5-3 to the visiting Ottawa Senators. Vezina played every game for Montreal for 15 seasons.

January 01, 1999 Teemu Selanne scored his 15th career hat trick and added two assists, Steve Rucchin had two goals and two assists and Fredrik Olausson tied his career high with four assists in the Mighty Ducks’ 7-2 win at Buffalo.

January 02, 1990 Mario Lemieux tied team record he had set four years earlier, when a goal and an assist increased his point scoring streak to 28 straight games, 4th longest in NHL history, as the Penguins lost 5-2 to Boston.

January 03, 2002 Buffalo’s Rob Ray became the 7th player in NHL history to get 3,000 career penalty minutes (and the first ever to get 3,000 PIM with one team) when his minor, major, and two misconducts pushed him to 3,019 career PIM, in a 3-1 loss at Calgary.

January 04, 1997 Rangers’ Wayne Gretzky tied a club record with four assists in the second period as New York won 6-4 over the visiting Ottawa Senators. It was Mike Richter’s 11th straight win, and the Rangers’ 2,000th franchise victory.

January 05, 1957 CBS television became the first U.S. network to televise an NHL game as the host New York Rangers beat Chicago 4-1 in an afternoon game, at Madison Square Garden.

Rankings

The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.

Top 5

1. San Jose
2. New Jersey
3. Chicago
4. Colorado
5. Buffalo

Bottom 5

30. Edmonton
29. Columbus
28. Atlanta
27. Toronto
26. St. Louis

Anaheim Ducks Watch

Before I start this I’d like to say it’s incredibly annoying to listen to Brian Hayward announce Ducks games sometimes with his dumb “he’s living right” quote. He says it all the freakin time he must have said it like 10 times during the Blackhawks game, I think it was. Such a dumb quote who is living wrong by the way Hayward?

The Ducks lost Ryan Getzlaf to an injury against the Sharks so an already depleted team further depletes. That’s two years in a row a Duck has been injured by their own skate, first Selanne and now Getzlaf, strange. Bobby Ryan, of team USA, led the way against the Wild scoring two goals and providing an assist. While Anaheim didn’t give up the game in the 3rd period, they only produced 2 measly shots in it. Still they picked up the win and that’s the important part.

They followed up that win with an awful performance against the Stars. I don’t know what it is but the Stars really have the Ducks number the last few years. This doesn’t sit well with me since I’m not a Stars fan to begin with. Though Hiller faced a lot of shots, he didn’t play well. You can tell it’s going to be a tough night when the first goal you give up in the game is a shorthanded one.

The Predators game was hard to stomach as the Ducks led 1-0 after the 1st period then… well you know how it ends. Though the final score was 3-1 the buzzer beating empty net goal doesn’t count in my book. Hiller played better but there are just too many injuries to overcome and the lines are all out of whack. A really tough game to lose because the Ducks needed those 2 points and needed the Predators to not to get them.

Next up was the red hot Blackhawks and Anaheim got crushed 5-2. Now I know what you’re saying but it’s the Blackhawks true, however at the end of November the Ducks shutout the Blackhawks 3-0. Of course the Ducks were healthier then with Getzlaf and Selanne and Chicago didn’t have Hossa yet. My how things have changed, I turned it off at 4-0 so I could go watch the equally thrilling Jets vs. Bengals which was just as competitive, gag. I missed Petteri Nokelainen’s two garbage goals but good for him for scoring them.

Against Detroit Ryan Getzlaf came back and he was greatly needed. The Ducks halted their three game losing streak beating the Red Wings 4-1, with one goal being an empty netter. Getzlaf picked up an assist in his return and Hiller played well for a change making some great saves stopping 38 of 39 shots. Saku Koivu had a pretty shorthanded goal and Matt Beleskey had his first NHL goal. All in all one of the more well-rounded games the Ducks have played in some time.

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Between the Pipes – NHL Recap Week 9

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.

Goalie Spotlight

Evgeni Nabokov – San Jose Sharks

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.

Craig Rivet vs. Daniel Carcillo

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.

Cam Janssen vs. Krys Barch

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.

Numbers, Numbers

19 – Corey Perry’s current point streak, an Anaheim Ducks franchise record.

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

Anaheim Ducks Watch

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.

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FANTASY FOCUS: Lines That Produce

Monday, November 30th, 2009 Written by: Matt Sitkoff

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.

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THE HAT TRICK WEEK 9

Sunday, November 29th, 2009 Written by: Matt Sitkoff

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.


Will The Real Steve Mason Show Up?

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.

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Between the Pipes – NHL Recap Week 8

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 Written by: Alex Mueller

4CYB77H3PU88

O San Jose – As we just pass the quarter mark in the NHL and we look at the standings, who has the best record in the NHL? None other than the San Jose Sharks. Of course the Sharks finished with the top overall record last year and ended up being bounced in the 1st round. Now we still have a good chunk of the season left but if I was this team I don’t think I would want to finish with the best record in the league or even the 2nd or 3rd best. This team has had really high expectations the last few years and this past year was their biggest. They have not gotten past the 2nd round since the 03-04 season and I think the lower they fly on the radar, going into the playoffs, the better. Would I really suggest tanking games in the Shark Tank? Yes I would. Current honors held by the Sharks this season including no losses at home and tied for the most goals scored with Washington (though Washington has played one less game). They also have three players in the top 7 for points (see things I like below). The Heatley acquisition has worked out well for them this year. Question is come playoff time will they advance further? Last year the West was pretty tough but this year it has gotten even tougher. Depending on how the rest of the season goes they could even possibly play Detroit in the 1st round, which you know will not be an easy round. Time will tell how well the Sharks play in the postseason as it’s never easy to predict postseason success, especially when it comes to this team.

Goalie Spotlight

No goalie spotlight due to the holidays this week, it’ll be back next week.

Fights of the Week

Jared Boll vs. Aaron Voros

Decent back and forth fight. Watch them nearly trip over the goalpost and Lundqvist bolt out of the way.

Eric Godard vs. Chris Neil

There were some good slugs by both men, fairly entertaining.

Nate Thompson vs. Nathan Smith

Okay fight if you can get past the fugly uniforms, a lot of spinning in this one too.

Trickshot of the Week

David Perron for his neato stickhandle between the legs goal against the Islanders.

Things I like

1. Well up to Monday night’s games three of the top 5 point scorers were on the Sharks. That’s impressive anyway you slice it. The last time we had three teammates in the top 5? The 00-01 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins had Jaromir Jagr 1st with 121 pts. and Alexei Kovalev and Martin Straka tied for 4th with 95 pts.

2. Don’t look now but Nashville has won 6 in a row. What you didn’t notice? Well neither did I, until I looked it up. Despite the winning streak they are only tied for 7th place in the conference. It’s a mighty tough year out west this season.

3. Don’t look now again but the Panthers have strung together a nice winning streak. You probably didn’t notice since they were so far down in the bottom. Alas they are still pretty much down at the bottom despite going 5-0-2.

4. Corey Perry’s 15 game point streak, keep it coming since he is on my fantasy team.

Things I don’t

1. Well I hate to say I told you so but the Rangers have now fallen out of the top 8 spots in the conference, after spending a good portion on top. Of course it’s still really early. But all things considered, I don’t think they have skilled enough players to make the playoffs.

2. Georges Laraque’s hit on Niklas Kronwall, play the puck George not the knee.

This Week in Hockey History

Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.

November 19, 1929    Pittsburgh’s Johnny McKinnon and Toronto’s Hap Day each set a new NHL record for goals in a game by a defenseman. They had four each as Pittsburgh beat Toronto 10-5. The current record of 5 goals is held by Ian Turnbull. Day also had an assist.

November 20, 1999    Washington Capitals set an NHL record by going 12 consecutive games without allowing a power-play goal, in a 3-0 win at Boston. Craig Billington recorded his 100th career victory (and 8th career shutout).

November 20, 1999    Steve Yzerman picked up an assist to become the 7th NHL player to reach 1,500 career points. The milestone came in the Red Wings 2-1 loss at Edmonton. Yzerman joined Gordie Howe as the only NHL players to score 1,500 points with one team.

November 22, 1972    Penguins set an NHL record with five goals in a span of 2:07 during a 10-4 win over the Blues, in Pittsburgh. Scoring were Bryan Hextall, Jean Pronovost, Al McDonough, Ken Schinkel & Ron Schock, on goalie Wayne Stephenson.

November 22, 1967    34-year-old Scotty Bowman was named as the new head coach of the St. Louis Blues, replacing Lynn Patrick, who resigned. It was Bowman’s first head coaching job in the NHL. He lost in his debut behind the bench that same night, 3-1 to Montreal.

November 22, 1986    Wayne Gretzky scored his 39th career hat trick and added two assists, to give him 500 career NHL goals. The milestone came in a 5-2 Oilers’ win over the Canucks in Edmonton. Gretzky’s 500 goals came in just 575 games.

November 22, 1985    Gil Perreault scored three goals (in a span of 4:01 in the third period) as the Sabres beat the Quebec Nordiques 7-5. It was the 18th (and final) hat trick of Perreault’s NHL career.

November 23, 1991    Boston’s Ray Bourque became the fourth defenseman in NHL history to record 700 career assists. #700 came in a 7-4 Bruins win over Buffalo.

November 24, 1926    Detroit Cougars (before being re-named the Red Wings) recorded their first win in franchise history 1-0 over the Black Hawks at Chicago. Frank Frederickson scored the game-winner, while Hap Holmes recorded the first shutout of his rookie season.

November 24, 1989    Mario Lemieux improved his career penalty-shot record to a perfect 5-for-5 when he scored against Bob Mason (and added two assists) in a 7-4 Penguins’ win at Washington.

Rankings

The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.

Top 5

1. San Jose
2. New Jersey
3. Chicago
4. Nashville
5. Florida

Bottom 5

30. Edmonton
29. NY Rangers
28. Carolina
27. Anaheim
26. Colorado

Anaheim Ducks Watch

The Ducks got a much needed win against Tampa Bay on Thursday, of course they never make anything easy. After leading 3-0 the Ducks let the Lightning back into the game as they scored three unanswered goals and forced overtime. The Ducks were able to salvage the win when Scott Neidermayer scored on the power play about a minute into the OT. The Ducks are having a hard time putting together a solid 60 minutes of consistent hockey.

They followed up with a loss to the Sharks 3-2. A tough loss in a very tight game they needed to have. Towards the end of the game they were unable to secure the puck in the Sharks end in order to pull Hiller. They finally got Hiller out of the crease with about 15 seconds left. The power play, which had been struggling, is now clicking. The bad thing is they haven’t played defense that well and they are now struggling to score even strength goals.

The Ducks won the game against the Flames on Monday night, of course they win in true Ducks fashion but giving up a goal in the final 20 seconds of the game to the Flames to force overtime. The Ducks ended up winning in the shootout, when Teemu Selanne had the only shootout goal. It’s nice they got the win but the problem is the Flames also received points. Even if the Ducks keep winning the overtime games, if they play western conference teams that also receive points this will affect their playoff chances and positioning.

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THE HAT TRICK WEEK 8

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 Written by: Matt Sitkoff

The NHL should be giving thanks for all the young stars in the league.  Having marketing figures like Crosby and Ovechkin has made fans forget about the loss season.  Every team in the league has a young star to be excited about, number one overall picks are producing and 18-20 year olds are proving they belong with the big boys.

The NHL is getting stuffed these days so let’s crack open the cranberry’s and this week’s Pucking Awesome Hat Trick.

The Return of Hossa:

The most anticipated Blackhawk debut is schedule to happen this week as Marian Hossa will return from offseason shoulder surgery.  The winger signed a controversial 12-year, $62.8 million contract from the divisional rival Red Wings has been skating with the team all week.

Head coach Joel Quenneville have been skating him in practice with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.  I would not be surprised if that is the line Hossa works with to start, it is important for the winger to come out strong and make a good impression on the fans and more important his teammates.  All of the NHL will be watching his return and more critical is how the Blackhawks finagle the cap.


Detroit Rock Infirmary:

When will enough be enough as the Red Wings have loss another big name player to an injury.  Niklas Kronwall is out 4-8 weeks due to a knee injury, on a dirty hit by Canadiens menace Georges Laraque.  The Red Wings have always been heralded as a team that just fits parts into the whole no matter who is there or not there.  This season the injuries are catching up to the team shown in their subpar start.

Kronwall Is added to the list that includes Johan Franzen (torn ACL out till March), Valtteri Filppula (broken wrist out till late December), Jason Williams (fractured fibula out till mid-January, Andreas Lilja (concussion out indefinitely).  I will be watching out the walking wounded Wings will do with a busy four games in six days.


Game Of The Week:

I know the obvious pick would be the big Sharks and Blackhawks, top two teams in the West, Blackhawks debut for Hossa, but I also will be watching a game between two of the hottest teams in the NHL.  The Predators have won five-straight games host the Florida Panthers, who have points in their last six games (5-0-1).

The Predators first line of Jason Arnott, Steve Sullivan and J.P. Dumont has been on fire of lately, as well as the power play as the Predators have 12 power play goals in last 13 games.  The Panthers have a tough stretch this week with home games against the Penguins and Rangers before facing the Predators on Saturday.

The cats from down south have been amazingly on this run without arguable their best player, as David Booth is still out with concussion symptoms.  They have been led by Nathan Horton with two goals and four assists is riding a five-game point streak.  Of course watch the big Hossa debut but don’t forget to tune in two teams on the rise.

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Between the Pipes – NHL Recap Week 6

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 Written by: Alex Mueller

Ovechkin and Malkin Injuries – Well whether or not Alex Ovechkin was kidding and he ends up missing a month or a week, the Capitals are better for this injury. Obviously they are a better team with Ovechkin, but I think this really helps them to grow as a team and gets the other guys to step up more. It seems to be working to, as they haven’t had any problems scoring goals. Of course they did play the Panthers two games in a row. The Capitals have scored the most goals in the league and San Jose is in 2nd place. These two teams should be neck and neck the rest of the year.

On the other hand the Penguins are reeling from the loss of Evgeni Malkin. While the Penguins are a great team, having been to the finals 2 years in a row, they really are a team of Crosby, Malkin and a bunch of role players. The role players play their role very well but when Crosby and Malkin are not playing well the team will suffer. Malkin is out and Crosby is in a points drought. Subsequently they have lost 4 of 6 since Malkin was injured and they have been shutout twice. Here’s hoping Malkin comes back soon for the Penguins sake.

NHL teams losing money – First Phoenix and now Columbus. The Coyotes troubles are well documented and despite the NHL’s best efforts the Coyotes really should really leave Phoenix. However don’t tell that to Commissioner Gary Bettman he doesn’t want to hear it. Now it is being reported that the Columbus Blue Jackets are losing on average 12 million a year.

Phoenix is dead last in attendance this year and has lost about 30 million in some seasons. Of course with team ownership up in the air many fans don’t want to invest money into a team that may not be there. The Coyotes were also near the bottom in attendance last year.

Columbus is 22nd in attendance capacity this year and was 2nd to last two seasons ago. Columbus is the 32nd largest US metro area not the largest by any means and not that smallest either, but only three teams play in front of smaller markets. The Blue Jackets also have to pay 5 million a year to use the arena. So that really doesn’t help their financial situation.

I think the NHL and Bettman really need to think harder before they place teams and try to keep teams in markets. A successful team depends on two things a large market and a large hockey or sports fan market. Phoenix and Atlanta (another money loser) are two top 12 markets, however neither care about hockey. Atlanta in general isn’t much of a sports market. None of their professional team are in the top 50% of attendance and the Atlanta Hawks are usually at the bottom like the Thrashers. Columbus and Carolina are also small markets with skeptical hockey fan bases, though Carolina fares a little better then Columbus, and then there’s Nashville and Florida(Miami).

For the life of me I don’t know why Bettman thought it was a good choice to put teams in some of these locations. I don’t have a problem, unlike most fans, of Bettman moving the teams out of Winnipeg and Hartford. I just question where he decided to move them to and when he decides to keep them there, even when it is a no win situation. For the life of me I can’t comprehend why Seattle and/or Portland, OR does not have a hockey team. Seattle is the 15th largest market and Portland is the 23rd largest. They both have built-in hockey fan bases and Seattle could really create a nice rivalry with Vancouver. They both do fairly well with WHL attendance. I imagine the NHL would do even better.

Goalie Spotlight

Antero Niittymaki – Tampa Bay Lightning

So who is Antero Niittymaki? He isn’t a name I have heard much before yet he has currently taken over the number 1 goaltending duties from Mike Smith on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Currently he is near the top of the league leaders in GAA and is in the top spot for SV%. Despite being a relative unknown he is actually quite an accomplished goaltender.

From 1995 to 2002 Antero played in SM-liiga, the top professional league in Finland and one of the top leagues in Europe. He started playing in the non-junior SM-liiga in 1999. In 2000 he won the Jarmo Wasama memorial trophy for rookie of the year and led the team to their 2nd straight title. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1998 but he didn’t actually play for them or their affiliate until 2002. In 2004 while playing for the Philadelphia Phantoms, the Flyers AHL affiliate, he scored an overtime empty net goal. He is the first goalie in North American history to score an overtime goal. While he was there he set eight Phantoms’ franchise records, including most wins and shutouts.

In the 2006 Winter Olympics, while playing for Finland, he was named league MVP whole guiding Finland to a silver medal. Ironically he was only the starter after Kari Lehtonen and Miikka Kiprusoff pulled out due to injury. Unfortunately his Flyers career, 2005 – 2009, was not as stellar as his Phantoms or international career. He tied the Flyers record for most losses in a season in 2007, and he was often battering injuries. After a brief stint as starting goalie he finished his career as a Flyer as a backup. He left as an unrestricted free agent and signed with the Lightning to backup Mike Smith. After Mike Smiths’ struggles Antero was tapped to start. Off to a fast start he should remain the number one goalie for the foreseeable future. On a team with Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, and rising star Steven Stamkos the Lightning hope to make the playoffs for the first time in three years.

Fights of the Week

Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.

Cam Janssen vs. Arron Asham

The 5th time these two have squared off. Asham gets knocked down and the refs go in to break it up but Asham gets back up and they continue. They both go down and they both want to get back up and fight some more but the refs stop it this time.

Tanner Glass vs. Cam Janssen

Long pretty decent fight won by Janssen. He lets you know it too, by raising his arm when the fight is done.

Tim Jackman vs. David Clarkson

Interesting fight had about 5 punches in a row thrown at the exact same time.  Jackman got a bloody nose for his troubles.

Things I like

1. Well Toronto picked up their first home win of the season beating lowly Carolina who, coincidently, doesn’t have a road win, yet.

2. San Jose has only lost 1 game in regulation out of their past 10. They also have an 8 game point streak going, which has helped them take the top spot in the conference.

3. Attendance is doing well in a tough economic year. 16 teams are at 97% capacity or higher. Right in line with the 2006-07 and 2008-09 seasons and better than 2007-08.

Things I don’t

1. The St. Louis Blues have really come back to earth lately. After starting out the season with 2 “road” wins against the Red Wings, the Blues now have lost 5 games in a row. On the plus side, the last 3 games were all overtime losses so they were able to pick up points anyway. Though they did bounce back mauling Vancouver 6-1 last night.

2. Carolina now has the distinction of being the worst team in the league. With Cam Ward possibly being injured for a month, it will be a real long season in Raleigh. They truly are this year’s biggest disappointment.

3. The Pittsburgh Penguins have never faired well with west coast road trips, this year appears to be no different. After narrowly escaping the Ducks, the Penguins lost to the Kings and the Sharks ruining their undefeated road record. They also worsened their record in the Shark Tank to 0-7. The win against Anaheim was only the 2nd road win for the Penguins against a California team in the past decade. All of a sudden Pittsburgh’s undefeated road streak has suffered 3 losses in a row.

This Week in Hockey History

Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.

November 05, 1959 Gordie Howe had a goal and an assist to top the 1,000 point mark (including the playoffs) in his 947th career game. It came in an 8-3 loss to the visiting Boston Bruins.

November 05, 1999 Ron Francis picked up an assist to beome the sixth NHL player to score 1,500 NHL points in his NHL career. The milestone came in a 3-2 Hurricanes’ loss at Detroit.

November 05, 1955 Jean Beliveau scored four goals, including 3 during one power play in a span of :44 in the second period. Canadiens won the game, 4-2 over Boston. After the season, the NHL changed the rules to end a minor power play after a goal was scored.

November 05, 1983 Rangers and Nordiques set an NHL record for the fastest two goals at the start of a period by two teams (14 seconds). Andre Savard scored for Quebec at :08 of the 3rd and Pierre Larouche replied for the Rangers at :14. NY tied 4-4 in Quebec City.

November 06, 1995 Rangers Mark Messier scored his 17th career hat trick in the final period to reach the 500 goal mark and added an assist as New York won 4-2 over the Flames, in New York. Messier became the 21st player in the NHL to collect 500 goals.

November 07, 1925 NHL Board of Governors (meeting in Mtl) announced that the league would have a salary limit of $35,000 per team for the 1925-26 season. Expansion teams in Pittsburgh & NY (Rangers) were given exemptions: for 2 years they could spend $45,000 each.

November 09, 2000 Roman Cechmanek became the first goaltender since 1938 to get each of his first two victories as shutouts, in the Flyers 2-0 win against the visiting Edmonton Oilers. He had picked up his first victory (and shutout) five nights earlier.

November 09, 1957 Chicago’s Ted Lindsay scored his 324th career NHL, to tie Nels Stewart as the third highest goal scorer in NHL history, as the Black Hawks won 5-0 over the visiting New York Rangers. Glenn Hall got his 21st career shutout.

November 10, 1963 Detroit’s Gordie Howe became the NHL’s all time leading goal scorer, when he scored #545 to move past Maurice “Rocket” Richard as the Red Wings beat Montreal, 3-0.

November 10, 1934 Canadiens’ Armand Mondou became the first player in NHL history to take a penalty shot. He missed in his attempt against George Hainsworth of Toronto. Three days later Ralph Bowman of St. Louis scored the first penalty shot goal in NHL history.

Rankings

The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.

Top 5

1. San Jose
2. Washington
3. Pittsburgh
4. New Jersey
5. Colorado

Bottom 5

30. Carolina
29. Toronto
28. St. Louis
27. Florida
26. Edmonton

Ducks Watch

The Ducks have now won 2 games in a row coming off their tough loss to the defending champs. They also have collected points in 4 of their last 5 games since their humiliating loss to Toronto. Jonas Hiller recorded his first shutout of the year against Nashville and the offense continued to roll behind two Selanne goals. Hiller followed up that shutout with two more shutout periods entering the 3rd period against Phoenix it looked like he might record two shutouts in a row. The Coyotes had other ideas, however, reeling off 3 unanswered goals. The Ducks were able to hold on for the win. A win is a win no matter how you get it, though I’m sure the Ducks would have liked to have had a better 3rd period.

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THE HAT TRICK

Monday, November 2nd, 2009 Written by: Matt Sitkoff

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween, while in hockey there were some treats this week as the Sharks have run off 5 straight victories to regain their rightful place near the top of the NHL standings.  There also were some tricks as the Carolina Hurricanes, a team that made the Eastern Conference Finals last season, has now lost an astonishing 9 straight games.  As the calendar falls back lets fall back into the Pucking Awesome Hat Trick, or the top three things I am watching for this week.


1.)     Watch Out For The Avalanche:   I am starting to believe that this team could actually compete for a playoff spot this season. Craig Anderson has broken out of the South Florida sunshine and proven so far that he can be a number one goalie coming into Monday, he leads the league in wins (10) and save percentage (.936).  Also the key to being a good team is special teams and both the penalty kill (second in the league) and power play  (13th in the league) units are playing extremely well.  Yes I know they are coming off two tough losses to two teams (Sharks and Canucks) that were supposed to be ahead of them at this juncture of the season but as long as their scorers (Hejduk, Stastny, Wolski) stay relatively healthy this team will be a surprise playoff team when all is said and done. 


2.)    First Firing? By this time last year there was already the first coach firing (October 16, 2008 of Denis Savard by the Blackhawks), and in total there were seven in season changes behind the bench.  Which makes me feel like the first clipboard to fall is coming soon.  I feel the hottest seat is that of John Stevens of Philadelphia, since the team is still struggling with discipline issues that plagued them last season.  Could the Hurricanes give up on the Paul Maurice reunion so soon?  Could the Predators can the only coach they have ever had in Barry Trotz? Has the glimmer of the 2007 Stanley Cup victory worn off of Randy Carlyle in Anaheim?  I am interested to see which of those seats will start to burn as we get farther into the season.


3.)    Game of The Week: Penguins vs The West Coast—The defending champions run through the west coast this week but I am very interested in not only their game on Saturday vs the Sharks but also the game Thursday vs the Kings.  The game against the Kings will showcase the talented scorer Anze Kopitar, who outside of hockey enthusiast does not realize how good this kid is.  This game matches up two teams that have scored 44 goals in their first 14 games, so should be an exciting back and forth game.  Saturday will match up two teams that are favored to play for the Stanley Cup this season, and the Sharks are playing their best hockey and getting scoring from a lot of different sources.  These games and the Tuesday game vs the Ducks are all going to be worth staying up late this week.  

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The Hat Trick

Sunday, October 25th, 2009 Written by: Matt Sitkoff

Head shots have been in the hockey news as much as that hoax of a flying balloon, but unlike Falcon’s attempt to trick America, the NHL is not getting tricked on what is and is not a suspension. 

Let me start of my rant by saying that I do not condone intentionally hurting a person, but this sport is a violent one built on aggression and playing physical.  Scott Stevens made a living by hitting players coming across the middle with their head down, and this is why I agree that the NHL got it right this week.

With their decision to suspend Toumo Ruutu for his late, from-behind hit on Darcy Tucker and for not suspending Mike Richards for his open ice hit on David Booth.   It is always a scary moment in sports to see the stretcher be brought onto the ice and have a player down and motionless, but folks this is their profession. 

With that I move to the Pucking Awesome Hat Trick, or the top three things I am watching for this week.


Kings Ransom:  

Can anyone name the leading scorer in the league?  Nope not that crazy Russian in our nation’s Capital, but the slick moving Slovenian playing in sunny Los Angeles, Anze Kopitar.  This former first-round pick has been lighting up the scoreboard for the upstart Kings. 

The first ever Slovenian to play in the NHL made an immediate impact scoring two goals in his first NHL game and now is showing critics he is worth the big time seven-year, $47.6-million contract extension he signed before last season. 

With two games this week against the Sharks and Canucks I will be watching this talented player face two of the league’s premier goalies.

Maple Leafs vs. The League:  

The good news is after a week with one game, the Toronto Maple Leafs are back in action with four chances to win their first game of the season.  Maybe even better news is that all these games are away from the rabid fans who are clamoring for that sweet taste of victory. 

So I am alerting all the Ducks, Starts, Sabres and Canadiens fans, because I will be watching for the Leafs to finally win one of these games.   

Game of The Week:  

Red Wings vs. Canucks—Two power house teams struggling to find an identity early square off Tuesday.  I still think both of these teams will be near the top of the standings when all is said and done, but injuries are starting to take a toll on both of these talented squads. 

They are both still shooting at a blistering pace with the Canucks ranked second with 34.4 shots per game and the Red Wings sixth with 32.3 shots per game, but both teams are giving up a good amount of goals five on five. 

In this game both teams will be looking to make a statement to the league that they are not panicking and everything will be fine for this pre-season favorite.  The loser of this game will still be searching for answers on how to solve the problem of playing without important players.

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Between the Pipes

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 Written by: Alex Mueller

Wacky Standings – If you look at the Western Conference standings you might think, with a few exceptions, you are looking at them upside-down. With Colorado and Phoenix in top spots and Detroit, Anaheim, Vancouver 11 – 13 respectively it is definitely a topsy-turvy year. San Jose was in 8th place but with a win they catapulted all the way up to 3rd and knocked Phoenix out of the division lead. Of course when one win can leapfrog you 5 spots you know it’s early. We are only about eight games into the season and it is an 82 game season. But are you surprised? You probably are. Should you be though? The answer to that is no. Every year we have these surprises. The question is which of these current trends has staying power? As I said before I think Colorado has the talent, barring injury, to stay contending for the top. Ottawa from the East and Phoenix I’m not so sure about. I think they will fall back down. If Ilya Bryzgalov, more on him below, keeps up his current play though, the Coyotes will definitely contend. Vancouver and Anaheim, more so, I think will pick up their play. Detroit I’m not so sure about maybe they have finally hit that wall. They have made the playoffs the last 18 seasons, minus the lockout year, and the past two Stanley Cups. All streaks have to come to an end at some point, is this the year for the Red Wings? I would love to hear your thoughts below in the comment section.

Goalie Spotlight

Cristobal Huet – Chicago Blackhawks

Huet is from France which is quite rare for an NHL player. He is currently the only Frenchman playing in the league. Huet is currently the starting goalie for the Blackhawks, though I do emphasize the word current. Drafted by the Los Angeles Kings, Huet never fit into their long term plans. Huet made his way to the Montreal Canadiens were he was selected to the All-Star game in 2007. Despite having some success with the Canadiens, Huet was traded away next year in mid season when it was clear the Canadiens viewed newly drafted Carey Price as their goaltender of the future.

He ended up on the Washington Capitals where he supplanted Olaf Kolzig as the starting goaltender. He didn’t stay with the Capitals long as he signed with the Chicago Blackhawks when the season was over. Expected to be the number 1 goalie, Huet was unable to beat Nikolai Khabibulin for the top spot. Khabibulin was named starting goalie in the playoffs last year and led the Blackhawks to the conference finals. Huet saw his first action of the postseason in those conference finals vs. the Red Wings when Khabibulin went down with an injury. Despite playing admirably the Blackhawks lost to the Wings.

When Khabibulin left for the Oilers this off-season it brought great pressure on Huet. Even though he could not win the number 1 spot outright, he was handed it by default anyway. The Blackhawks have great expectations this year with a young and deep team. Huet is expected to help lead them, despite never getting out of the 1st round of playoffs when he has been the number 1 goalie with the Canadiens and Capitals. So far he has not been able to live up to those expectations posting his worst numbers of his career. It is still early in the season but he does risk losing his number 1 spot to Antti Niemi if he keeps it up. Niemi will be a free agent at the end of this year. If Niemi does well they Blackhawks will be tempted to keep him, which they were unable to do last year with Khabibulin because of Khabibulin’s and Huet’s high salaries.

Fights of the Week

Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.

Tanner Glass vs. Brandon Prust and Darcy Hordichuk vs. Brian McGrattan

That’s right two fights at the same time! I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen that. I liked Darcy Hordichuk vs Brian McGrattan better. McGrattan’s last punch was really good.

Cody McLeod vs. Brad May

Some really good punches by both guys especially towards the end, May gets cut.

Rick Rypien vs. Brandon Prust

Rypien was in a good fight with Stortini this week as well, but I chose this fight because it was a little longer and more competitive. Rypien is a really quick fighter.

Goat/Trick Shot of the Week

Cristobal Huet and Stephane Robidas

Well it’s not many times that the trick shot of the week and goat of the week will be the same play, but in this case it was. Huet, who I spotlighted earlier, really miss played a dump in shot by Robidas, who probably never thought he would get a goal. I realize it was a tricky bounce but Huet had his glove right there, not sure how he missed it.

Things I like

1. The Pittsburgh Penguins, with only one loss, are rolling this year. Good to see that this team did not have a letdown after winning the Stanley Cup last year and after playing the most games the past two seasons. We will see how hungry they are come playoff time.

2. San Jose’s top line has been sensational. Thornton (14 pts.), Heatley (6 G), Setoguchi (7 G) are really delivering and Marleau is also chipping in from the 2nd line with 7 goals.

3. Ilya Bryzgalov and his insane 1.14 GAA. In case you’re wondering, and let’s face it you are, that GAA currently stacks 4th all time behind 3 goalies who played in the 20’s. In fact if you take away this season, the top 20 GAA are all from goalies that played in the 20’s and 30’s. Obviously it was a much different game back then. Miikka Kiprusoff would be the first goalie listed from the modern area checking in at 24 for his 1.69 GAA in the 03-04 campaign. Both IIyas (Bryzgalov and Kovalchuk on the Atlanta Thrashers) are having great seasons so far.

Things I don’t

1. The Minnesota Wild would have no points had the Ducks not blown a 3 goal lead in the 10/6 game. Of course the Ducks did, but if they hadn’t the wild would be 0-7-0. A team with some decent talent in Havlat, Koivu, and ageless wonder Nolan as well as a decent goaltender in Backstrom, should not be having this problem.

2. The Ducks so called top line and supposedly one of the best lines in NHL. Getzlaf, Perry, and Ryan have been less than stellar. Perry has played well but Getzlaf and Ryan have 1 goal between the two of them. That isn’t going to cut it. The Ducks will need them to step up if they have hopes to progress further this year.

3. Toronto is still winless. At least the NHL gave them a week off to dream about their first win. Anyone care to comment when that might be?

Rankings

Top 5

1. Pittsburgh
2. New York Rangers
3. Colorado
4. San Jose
5. Chicago

Bottom 5

30. Toronto
29. New York Islanders
28. Minnesota
27. Florida
26. Montreal

Ducks Watch (My team)

The Ducks must have had Deju Vu Wednesday night as they almost blew their 2nd 3 goal led against Minnesota in a week. Luckily they pulled this one out for the win. They followed the big home win up with a drubbing by the St. Louis Blues 0-5. Not the way you want to lose in front of the home fans. The Ducks only had 2 games in the span of 9 days due to their odd scheduling. The Ducks will look to rebound against the Dallas Stars today. They should also have James Wisniewski back in the lineup from his shoulder injury.

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FANTASY MONDAY

Monday, October 19th, 2009 Written by: Matt Sitkoff

Roster spots are important on a fantasy team, this week we will look at some fringe players that are struggling early and should they continue to take an importunate place on our teams or enter the waiver wire.

Ryane Clowe, LW Sharks:  The big forward broke out last season with 22 goals and 52 points and helped many fantasy teams with an amazing 24 power play points and 51 PIM.  This season he lost his line mates (Milan Michalek in Dany Heatley trade and Joe Pavelski to early injury) but was suppose to bring secondary scoring.   So far he has been a fantasy disappointment scoring just one assist in the first eight games; he still has been getting some PIM with 27.  I think the 27-year-old, 6-2 forward is worth the roster spot, he still plays big time minutes including on the second power play unit (2:49 PP TOI/G) and is just felling the pressure to live up to his new 4-year contract but will break out of this slump.

Jason Blake, LW Maple Leafs:  This guy is owned in 65% of leagues and still living off his 40-goal season in 2006-07 with the Islanders.  Yes he did bounce back and score 25 goals in his second in Toronto including 5 power play goals.  This season Blake as the whole Maple Leafs’ team are struggling defensively as he is a -7, and he is not scoring at the same pace to make that worth a roster spot.  The Maple Leafs’ are rebuilding and will start to give his important minutes to younger players and is not worth a roster spot in fantasy.

T.J. Oshie, C Blues:  A former first round pick out of North Dakota, Oshie had an up and down rookie year but was primed to be a fantasy stud in his sophomore season.  So far he is a fantasy dud scoring only one goal and assisting on two others, even worse he is getting minimal power play time.  This is a tough call to make as the Blues have both Andy McDonald and Paul Kariya healthy this season and both seeing significant minutes.  If you are in a 12-team league he might be worth to stash for safe keeping but in a 10-team league I would say drop him and keep him on your watch list.

Waiver Wire Pickup of the Week:  Matt Moulson or Kyle Okposo, Islanders F:  If one or both of these talented young forwards are available jump on the claim.  Moulson is available in more leagues than Okposo (owned only 20% vs. 70%) but both have been scoring at a fast pace (Moulson with 7 points and Okposo with 6 points in the first six games).  The Islanders will struggle on the ice but that should not discount them from being fantasy options.  Okposo and Moulson were both big time college scorers and are playing on a line together with John Tavares in both five on five and power play (Moulson with 4 PP and Okposo with 3 PP).


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FANTASY MONDAY

Monday, October 12th, 2009 Written by: Matt Sitkoff

Trades are a big part of a fantasy team.  You could be trading strengths for weaknesses, trading for a player whose stock is down, or trading a player who stock is up.  This week I will give you some names to target in trades while their stock is down, and also give you my waiver wire pickup of the week.


1.)    Jonathan Toews Blackhawks C:  Only 1 point in the first 4 games has fantasy owners pulling their hair out.  Let their impatience be your gain.  Even though Toews has 124 career points, this third year center is a notorious slow starter with only 17 career points in 24 games played in October.   Package a 2nd tier center that you took in the 5th – 6th round who is good and gets power play time, and a player off to a hot start that you picked off the waiver wire, and reap the benefits.

2.)    Pavel Datsyuk Red Wings C:  Coming off a very disappointing playoff (9 pts in 16 GP), Datsyuk has seemed to continue this slump into the first couple of games this season.  Only now he has lost his linemate, Johan Frazen, to injury.  This will cost some fantasy owners to panic and put the 3-time 30 goal scorer open to the market.  Jump on this proposition.   With the injury to the Muler, Datsyuk will see more time with Henrik Zetterberg which, while not good for the Red Wings, is good for fantasy.  Package your top center with a 2nd or 3rd defenseman and it will be worth the risk.

3.)    Evgeni Nabokov Sharks G:  No, he is not the dominant goalie he has been in the past, basically because he has played an astounding 234 games since the lockout.  Since the Russian net minder has given up a league high 15 goals in the first 5 games, owners will look for a quick upgrade.   Jump on this offer.  A warming thought is he will not bring the same stellar numbers in GAA or Save percentage, but he will be effective in wins and the elusive shutouts (20 in last 3 years). 

Waiver Wire Pickup of Week:  Ondrej Pavelec Thrashers G:  In a 10-12 team, league goaltending is at a premium, so take a flier on the Thrashers rookie goalie.  The Czech mate is owned in less than 10% of leagues and, with the injury to Kari Lehtonen, he has ascended to the top spot in the Thrashers net.  The 6’2’’ former 41st overall pick will not light up the wins column, but already has a .913 save percentage and 3.00 GAA in 3 games.  Pavelec has also proven he can win in pressure situations leading the Chicago Wolves to a Calder Cup Championship in 2007-08.  Now, it is his turn to make an impact for the young Thrashers and for your fantasy team.  Why take a chance on a backup who doesn’t play every day?  Instead take a chance on a starting goalie with a good pedigree playing for a bad team.  

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THE HAT TRICK

Monday, October 12th, 2009 Written by: Matt Sitkoff

In 1492 Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue and in 2009 nine games were played in the NHL. So a big start to a big week in the NHL let’s look at the Hat Trick or top three things I am looking for this Holiday week.

1.) Will the real Roberto Luongo please stand up? Bobby Lou has looked more like former Canuck goalie Dan Cloutier than the normal dominating goalie he has been in the past. Now with the injury news of a broken foot to Daniel Sedin, the pressure heats up for the captain to improve on his mediocre early numbers. With three straight division games this week, it will be important for the defending northwest champions, and yes my preseason pick to win the West, that they have right to ship and it all starts with the last line of defense.

2.) Which suprising team at the top of the Northeast Standing will come back to earth? The Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres were both thought to be fighting for lottery spots but currently are fighting for the top of the Northeast Division. Yes I know it is very early, but both of these teams could realistically fight for a playoff spot. The Senators are following the Denver Broncos model of success, ship out our franchise player and win despite him with a great team effort. While Heatley is scoring a ton in San Jose the Senators are riding a more balanced effort this season with 8 players already chipping in a goal. The Sabres could have been a playoff team last season if Ryan Miller had stayed healthy, well he is healthy now and posting a miniscule 0.98 GAA in Buffalo’s 2-0-1 start. This week they have a test facing the Red Wings but end their weekend schedule with back-to-back games facing the Islanders and Thrashers, a 2-1 or dare I say 3-0 record could put the division on notice that the Sabres are here to stay.

3.) Game of the Week: Thursday this week the Sharks kick off their east coast swing with a heavy weight matchup against the Capitals. Goals will be on display, for coming into the week these two teams are tied atop the league with 20 goals in 5 games apiece. Ovechkin and Heatly, each with 5 goals, not surprisingly are setting the pace for these offensive clubs. It will be interesting to see how the coaches match up their lines, considering these two top lines are what I consider the best in the league. Boy I hope they go strength verses strength, that would get viewers as excited as when they found out Llyod Lee was finally an Asian, I mean agent.

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Power Rankings

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 Written by: Matt Sitkoff

NHL power rankings

2009-10 NHL PUCKING AWESOME! POWER RANKINGS WEEK 20

  Current Prev. Team Comment
washington capitals 1 1 Capitals Player to Watch post Olympic break: Semyon Varlamov – The goalie looked shaky in his return to the ice will be crucial in playoff run
san jose sharks 2 2 Sharks Patrick Marleau – Entered break with five straight games without a goal, need his scoring touch to return.
chicago 3 3 Blackhawks Antti Niemi – Started, and won, the last four games before break, who will be #1 goalie will be biggest question
new jersey 4 4 Devils Ilya Kovalchuk – scored first goal with Devils, will be used a lot to help struggling power play
los angeles 5 6 Kings Ryan Smyth – This is the time he was acquired for, does have 38 pts in 46 GP
phoenix 6 5 Coyotes Robert Lang – Will play top line minutes needs to score for goal deficient team
vancouver canucks 7 7 Canucks Christian Ehrhoff - Has to continue ascension to top defensmen on team filled with defensive injuries
colorado 8 8 Avalanche Craig Anderson – Has played in 53 of 61 games this season, already a career-high, must keep up pace for surprise Avs to contend
ottawa 9 10 Senators Daniel Alfredsson - Leads team in points despite missing 11-games due to injury.  Must stay healthy for Sens to keep up pace
pittsburgh penguins 10 9 Penguins Sidney Crosby – Penguins live and die by this talented player, who already has a career-high in goals (42)
buffalo 11 11 Sabres Ryan Miller – Just look at last year, playoff team with him in the lineup and golfing with him injured
nashville 12 12 Predators Jason Arnott  – Preds need top line center to stay healthy
philadelphia flyers 13

13

 Flyers Chris Pronger - With uncertain goalie situation the former Stanley Cup winner will be relied on heavily
detroit red wings 14 13 Red wings Johan Franzen – Returns after missing four months with a torn knee ligament
calagry flames 15 15 Flames Jay Bouwmeester – Has to show organization why it was ok to trade Phaneuf
dallas 16 16 Stars Kari Lehtonen - If Turco gets traded will be up to former top pick to be the goalie of the present and future for Dallas
boston bruins 17 19 Bruins Patrice Bergeron – Teams leading scorer hit the break with no goals in his last 11 games, not going to cut it for a playoff team
anaheim ducks 18 18 Ducks Jonas Hiller – The main man now in Anaheim with trade of Gigure and new contract, now has to prove worthy of it all
minnesota 19 17 Wild Cam Barker – Will get a chance to prove he is a top line defensemen on team searching for one
st louis 20 24 Blues Brad Boyes – Not going to get his 30-goals like the past two seasons but needs to contribute more esp on PP where he had 27 goals the past two seasons
tampa bay 21 17 Lightning Steven Stamkos – tied a franchise record, picking up a point in his 13th consecutive game needs to keep up consistency for Ning to contend
montreal 22 20 Canadiens Andrei Markov – Top flight defender has only played in 26 games need to stay healthy for Canadiens to make playoffs
new york R 23 23 Rangers Marian Gaborik – Has paced team with 35 goals next best is 15, yeah he is important to the teams offense.
atlanta 24 22 Thrashers Ondrej Pavelec – Now the goalie of the present and future with the trade of Lehtonen, needs to prove himself worthy of it
columbus 25 25 Blue Jackets Steve Mason – 3 wins in last 4 starts and 2 shutouts, very important to shake off Sophomore slump
florida 26 26 Panthers David Booth – Important for him to finish strong and prove concussion problems are behind him
new york I 27 27 Islanders Rick DiPietro – Well they only have 11 more years to pay him off might as well get some playing time from him
 carolina 28 29 Hurricanes Joe Corvo – Back after missing 28 games, has to prove healthy as UFA at seasons end
toronto 29 28 Maple Leafs Dion Phaneuf – Has to improve on career low in points and be the franchise player that Maple Leafs traded for
edmonton 30 30 Oilers Andrew Cogliano – Two-time 18 goal scorer only has 5 this season and a restricted free agent at the end of the year

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