Posts Tagged ‘Washington Capitals’

Between the Pipes – NHL Recap Week 20

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 Written by: Alex Mueller

This will be the last Between the Pipes until the Olympics are over. Russia is expected to dominate, so naturally they won’t win. That’s how it usually works in team sports, the favorite almost never wins.

Goal Controversy – The Washington Capitals franchise record streak came to an end against the Canadiens. They only lost in overtime but apparently the Capitals thought it should never have gone to overtime, as they had a goal that was disallowed. I don’t really care what the initial call was, if you’re going to plow the opposing team’s players into their own goalie, you’re going to score goals all the time. Of course you can’t do that, nor should you be allowed to. I have no idea what Ovechkin was thinking on that play or why anyone on the Capitals actually thought that goal should have counted.

Minor Trades – A few minor trades happened before the Olympic roster freeze. The best trade was the one the Blackhawks made with the Wild. The Blackhawks received Kim Johnsson and Nick Leddy and the Wild received Cam Barker. Advantage goes to the Blackhawks for sure in this deal. Barker has been a disappointment and Blackhawks want to clear space for next season. Johnsson has a higher salary but he is a free agent next year so the Blackhawks will definitely let him walk. They also get a prospect in Leddy, not to shabby. As for the Wild well they better hope Barker’s change of scenery improves his game, especially if Leddy becomes a decent talent.

Goalie Spotlight

Marc-Andre Fleury – Pittsburgh Penguins

Marc-Andre Fleury was selected first overall in the 2003 NHL entry draft. His nickname of flower is a derivative, fleuri, of his last name.  Fleuri means flower in French. He started his career playing for QMJHL for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in 2000. In 2003 he was named to the All-Star second team and he helped lead Canada to a Silver medal in the World Junior Championship. This was enough success for the Penguins to make him the first pick. Cape Breton later retired Fleury’s number. Fluery was the youngest NHL goaltender in the league in 2003 and he was named rookie of the month. Due to financial difficulties Pittsburgh did not want to pay Fluery his bonus. Since they didn’t want him getting the chance to earn it they let him play in the 2004 World Junior Championship. He led Canada to another Silver medal and then he was sent back to Cape Breton where he tore it up. After that he was sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL) where he only played in the playoffs. Since the 04-05 NHL season was canceled, Fluery stayed playing in the AHL.

Fleury got his chance to be the starter in the 05-06 season when Jocelyn Thibault was injured. He ended up beating out Thibault and Sebastien Caron to become the number one goalie. All was not well however, as the Penguins finished last in the conference and allowed a league worst 316 goals. Despite this the Penguins saw his talent and rewarded him with a two year extension. The 06-07 season featured a much improve Penguins team that made the playoffs. Fleury was able to post his first NHL SV% above .900 (.906) and his first GAA below 3.00 (2.83) behind a better team. He became the only other goalie besides Tom Barrasso to win 40 games for the franchise. The Penguins ended up losing to Stanley Cup Finalist Ottawa in the first round in five games.

Fleury sat out most of the 07-08 season with an ankle sprain allowing Ty Conlkin to start much of the year. When he came back from the injury he was 22-4-1 including the playoffs up until the Stanley Cup Final. Fleury’s career moment, up until this time, was probably his 55 save effort in triple overtime that forced a game 6. In game 6 he ended up sitting on the game winning goal and accidentally pushed it in, which was his lowest career point. He signed a seven year deal in the off-season. In the 08-09 season Fleury was able to stay healthy and start a majority of the games. His numbers dipped from the previous season but they were still an improvement over the 06-07 season. He picked up his game in the postseason and was instrumental in most series particularly the opening round series against the Flyers. The Penguins found themselves with a rematch against the Red Wings in the Finals. Fleury made many huge saves including a diving stop in the final seconds of game 7 to help the Penguins win the Stanley Cup.

So far the current season has not been one of Fleury’s strongest, though he did start out the year 8-0. He has yet to record a shutout this season, which would be a first for his NHL career if he doesn’t end up posting one. However, the Penguins are at the top of the standings and fighting the Devils for the division crown. Even if he hasn’t played his best hockey, Penguin fans know Fleury always saves his best for the postseason.

Fights of the Week

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

Colton Orr vs. Cam Janssen

These two fought briefly in the 1st period before being thwarted by the refs. They came back with a vengeance in the 2nd. Some decent shots in between the filler.

Nate Thompson vs. Matt Martin

A decent fight between two guys who don’t fight all that much. Martin gets the slight edge.

Aaron Rome vs. James Sheppard

Rome is a pretty good fighter when he can’t see. I’m surprised the refs didn’t break up the fight immediately because of that.

Goat of the Week

Steve Montador – Buffalo Sabres

Montador, a former Duck, loses an edge playing the puck behind the net and coughs it up in overtime. Brandon Sutter had a pretty pass to Sergei Samsonov who puts it behind a not ready Ryan Miller. You have to be more alert Miller even if it was Montador’s fault.

Things I like

1. Earlier in the year we thought we would get two or three teammates in the top 6 scoring at the end of the year. We still might but instead of it being a couple of Sharks it looks like it will be a couple of Capitals. Ovechkin is in 1st and Backstrom is in 3rd. Fellow teammate Semin isn’t too far behind in 12th place.

2. Jonathan Quick is leading the league in wins. I don’t think anyone could see that coming. He tied the Kings franchise record for wins in a season with 35. He should easily shatter that before the season is done. He also gets a trip to Vancouver. It’s unlikely he will play much being the 3rd goalie but he will pick-up some valuable experience. In four years he will probably be the number 2 guy behind Miller.

3. The Kings and Oilers ten round shootout. I’ve written about the shootout here before and I know many fans have their arguments of why they do and don’t like it. But watching a ten rounder is always fun and suspenseful.

4. The top eight players in +/- consists of five Washington Capitals and three Vancouver Canucks. I think that says a lot about top teams and lines in the league.

Things I don’t

1. The Devils are still slumping and Ilya hasn’t been the goal scoring machine the Devils had hoped, with only one goal in six games. He does have four assists though. The Devils struggles can also be attributed to Martin Brodeur struggling as of late. In the month of February his SV% was .871 which is lower than his career and regular season averages. He even got pulled in the regular finale before the Olympics against Carolina. Both Ilya and Brodeur are heading to Vancouver, so much needed rest is not what they will be receiving.

2. Giguere’s good fortune lasted only two games in Toronto. He lost his next two games, after his two game shutout streak, giving up a combined 7 goals. No more games until after the break so he should be able to get in plenty of practice with his favorite goalie coach.

3. No NHL hockey for two weeks. Sure there is Olympic hockey but it’s not the same.

Stat Line of the Week

02/14/10 Anaheim 7 vs. Edmonton 3

Skater

TOI

G

A

+/-

SOG

PIM

R. Getzlaf

19:28

2

2

+1

6

2

Getzlaf returned from his ankle injury and was the main catalyst for the Ducks big victory of the Oilers. Scoring two powerplay goals he helped reverse the trend of the Ducks struggling with their powerplay on the road. He also sent a strong message to Steve Yzerman of Team Canada to keep him on the Olympic squad.

Did You Know?

In honor of the Canadian women’s Olympic hockey team drubbing Slovakia 18-0, I give you the most lopsided NHL game. In 1944 the Detroit Red Wings beat the NY Rangers 15-0. Syd Howe would record a hat trick in the final six minutes of the game. The Rangers only won six games that season and will go down in history as one of the worst teams ever.

Numbers, Numbers

2.08 – GAA of Tuukka Rask the current league leader and currently a back-up goalie

43 – Alex Ovechkin’s +/- the current league leader

163 – PIM for Cam Janssen, number two in the league currently

0 – Points scored by Cam Janssen so far this season

This Week in Hockey History

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

February 11, 1988 Toronto’s Borje Salming became just the fifth defenseman in NHL history to get 600 career assists. The milestone came in a 4-3 Maple Leafs win over the visiting New York Islanders.

February 12, 1929 Montreal Canadiens’ goalie George Hainsworth recorded his 15th shutout of the season (and the 42nd of his career) in a 2-0 against over the Pirates at Pittsburgh.

February 13, 2002 Dominik Hasek recorded his 60th career shutout, and Scotty Bowman became just the 2nd coach to win 400 games with Detroit, in the Red Wings 2-0 win over the Wild at Minnesota.

February 14, 1994 Wayne Gretzky picked up two assists to record a 100-point season for the 14th time in his career (extending his NHL record) as the Kings lost 3-2 to the Bruins at the Forum.

February 15, 1989 Chicago’s Jeremy Roenick tied a club record for rookies, with four points (a goal and three assists) as the Blackhawks won 7-4 over the visiting Washington Capitals.

February 16, 1980 Boston’s Jean Ratelle picked an assist to give him 1,220 career points, passing Jean Beliveau and moving up to No. 7 on the NHL’s all-time scoring list. Bruins won 5-3 over the Rockies, at Colorado.

Rankings

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

Top 5

1. Los Angeles
2. Washington
3. Ottawa
4. Carolina
5. Phoenix

Bottom 5

30. Toronto
29. NY Islanders
28. Edmonton
27. Florida
26. Detroit

Anaheim Ducks Watch

The Ducks got the win at home against the Oilers in a much closer than it should have been game 3-2. This was the 11th straight win for the Ducks at home, a franchise record. Bobby Ryan had two goals and Marchant had the game winner.

If a goal is scored and no one notices does it still count? The answer is yes, as Toronto noticed that Tory Bodie tipped in Scott Niedermayer’s shot. The refs counted the goal and rewound the clock. Of course it didn’t really matter as the Flames basically dominated the rest of the game and scored three goals, led by Jerome Iginila, after that. Real nice of the Ducks to show up to a hugely important playoff type game.

The Ducks then played the Oilers again, this time at Edmonton. The Ducks erupted for seven goals in the 7-3 win. The powerplay was clicking scoring four goals. Ryan Getzlaf made his return to the lineup with authority, scoring two goals and two assists. The Ducks made a statement in this game and it’s a good thing, since they won’t be playing again for awhile. I’d like to think the Ducks have a good chance to make the playoffs. The problem is there are seven teams within seven points of each other, all vying for the last two playoff spots. Or five teams within four points. Even if the Ducks get hot, there is no guarantee two other teams won’t.

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Between the Pipes – NHL Recap Week 19

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 Written by: Alex Mueller

IIya found a home… for now – Well the IIya Kovalchuk watch can officially end, until this season is over. Of course this is old news by now, but it happened and I’m recapping the week so deal with it! A great pick-up by New Jersey they really didn’t give up much except for that number 1 pick. If they can re-sign Ilya they made out like gangbusters. If they can’t well even though they didn’t give up much, giving up something for nothing is never a good thing. Even if they win the cup this year and he leaves, I still think it’s a waste. They probably have a good chance of re-assigning him but they will have to pay. As of now the move hasn’t really paid off. The Devils are 1-2 since acquiring him and it could very well have been 0-3 if it wasn’t for their three goal 3rd period rally against Toronto. It will probably take awhile for Kovalchuk to adjust to his new linemates.

As for the Thrashers, well what can you say; this team bleeds talent like no other. I still can’t wait for them to leave Atlanta. I think that will solve most of their problems. But that’s a topic for another discussion. It’s great they will have two 1st round picks in this year’s draft. Let’s hope they get some quality talent they can actually keep in Atlanta, for once.

Goalie Spotlight

Tomas Vokoun – Florida Panthers

So who are the league leaders in shutouts? That would be Martin Brodeur and Tomas Vokoun each with seven so far. Vokoun is one of those unheralded guys in the league. He doesn’t get much fanfare but goes out and puts up some decent numbers.

The Czech born Vokoun was drafted in 1994 by the Montreal Canadiens, he played only one game for them and gave up four goals in one period. Between 1994 and 1994 he played in Czechoslovakia, for the ECHL and AHL. He was then chosen by the Predators in the 1998 expansion draft. He split time between the Predators and the IHL his first two seasons, though he mostly played for the Predators. It wasn’t until the 2002-03 season, after Mike Dunham was traded, that Vokoun became the starter.

After he became the starter he posted solid numbers on a regular basis and set many franchise records. Of course at this point the franchise was only about five years old. He holds the franchise record for wins in a season (36), all-time wins (134), all-time losses (147) and goaltender games played (340). During the lockout year he went to play for the Finnish league SM-liiga. He led HIFK Helsinki to an 11-4-4 record with a .940SV%. However in the playoffs he folded big time with an .846SV%, worst in the league.

From 2006 on Vokoun suffered health issues ranging from blood-clotting to thumb surgery. During this time back-up Chris Mason emerged as the starter. Subsequently Vokoun was traded to the Florida Panthers, for draft picks, right before the 2007 draft. He made the All-Star team his first year with the Panthers and 2nd time overall he was selected. Vokoun made headlines this season when he was hit in the head with his own teammates, Keith Ballard, stick. Vokoun is posting decent numbers again this season and he is hoping to backstop the Panthers into the playoffs this year, a feat he almost accomplished last season.

Fights of the Week

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

Rick Rypien vs. Chris Neil

I good high intensity battle one of the few fights Rypien hasn’t dominated that he was in.

Tanner Glass vs. Matt Carkner

Carkner makes Glass his punching bag.

Dominic Moore vs. Zach Bogosian

Bogosian gets in a sneaky upper cut and that was the end of that.

Jody Shelley vs. Colton Orr

Shelley knocks out Orr with his 2nd punch.

Goat of the Week

Patrick Lalime – Buffalo Sabres

Lalime doesn’t play much backing up Ryan Miller and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon after this play. The puck did take a funny bounce off the boards but you have to be prepared, Lalime wasn’t and it bounced off his skate into the net.

Things I like

1. Great game between the Penguins and Capitals before the Super Bowl. Alex Ovechkin had a hat trick and assisted on the game winner in overtime and Sidney Crosby had two goals. Despite NBC’s constant drooling over Crosby and Ovechkin, they managed to mention former Hart trophy winner Evgeni Malkin. Hey NBC doesn’t winning the Hart Trophy mean your some kind of skilled hockey player?

2. Speaking of Ovechkin he notched his 500th point this week in 373 games the fastest to 500 since Eric Lindros did it in 352 games. You remember Lindros right?

3. There are only two teams that have 7 players above 35 or more points each. One of them is the Washington Capitals which I’m sure most of you would guess but I bet you can’t guess the other one. I’ll give you the answer later in the column.

4. The Maple Leafs are getting Jiggy with it. After debuting in Toronto with a shutout, Jean-Sebastien Giguere decided to follow that up with another shutout. He made 30 saves again. His shutout streak came to an end against San Jose though, as he gave up three goals in a losing effort. If he had shutout the Sharks, I’m sure they would be celebrating in Toronto like they just won the super bowl, jk.

Things I don’t

1. NHL scheduling quirks, the Maple Leafs and Devils played each other in three of the last four games. Is that really necessary? How about a little more space in between games NHL?

2. NBC explaining why you fight in a hockey game during the Penguins vs. Capitals. Please stop NBC. Next NBC will explain why you try and score goals, ugh.

3. I’d like to give my condolences to Brian Burke who lost his son Brendan Burke. He died in a car accident driving on a snowy road. As a former Mid-Atlantic resident, I know how difficult it can be to drive on snow and ice. A person should never have to outlive their children.

Trivia: The answer to the other team besides the Capitals would be the Los Angeles Kings.

Stat Line of the Week

02/06/10 Toronto 5 vs. Ottawa 0

Skater

TOI

G

A

+/-

SOG

PIM

L. Schenn

21:40

2

1

+4

4

2

Well there were many fine performances this week but I chose to highlight Schenn’s performance. A 5th overall selection, by the Maple Leafs, in his second season he is starting to develop into what the Maple Leafs had hoped when they drafted him. He was on the ice for four of the Maple Leaf’s five goals and he scored two of them himself.

Did You Know?

Patrick Roy is the only net minder to give up an opponent’s 500th career goal more than once. The players who have scored their 500th on Roy are: Steve Yzerman in 1996, Joe Mullen in 1997 and Brendan Shanahan in 2002.

Numbers, Numbers – the streak edition

14 – The Washington Capital’s current winning streak.

11 – The winning streak by the Ottawa Senators which came to an end against Toronto.

10 – The losing streak by the Boston Bruins which came to an end against Montreal.

16 – Would be the games points streak by Alex Ovechkin if he scored against the Islanders on 1/26 but he didn’t so it’s now six games.

10 – The current winning streak for home wins for the Anaheim Ducks

This Week in Hockey History

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

February 04, 1987 Wayne Gretzky scored his 50th goal of the season, to lead the Oilers to a 6-5 win over the North Stars at Minnesota. It was Gretzky’s eighth straight 50 goal season.

February 05, 1996 Colorado’s Patrick Roy became the 4th goaltender in NHL history to win 10 or more games with two teams in one season, when the Avalanche had a 4-2 win over the visiting Canadiens. Roy had won 12 games with Montreal before being traded.

February 06, 1993 Mike Gartner scored four goals and an assist (including a first period hat trick) to lead the Wales Conference to a 16-6 win over the Campbells, at the All Star Game in Montreal. Pierre Turgeon had three goals & two assists in the game

February 07, 1987 Cam Neely scored his first career NHL hat trick as the Bruins won 8-5 over the Maple Leafs in Boston.

February 08, 2004 Joe Sakic scored a hat trick to lead the Western Conference to a 6-4 win over the East, in the NHL All Star game played in Minnesota. Daniel Alfredsson led the East with two goals and an assist.

February 09, 1971 Vancouver Canucks ended their team-record 11 game home winless streak (0-10-1) with a 6-3 win over the visiting Buffalo Sabres. Rosaire Paiement led the Canucks with a team-record four goals (his first career hat trick).

Rankings

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

Top 5

1. Washington
2. Ottawa
3. Los Angeles
4. San Jose
5. Vancouver

Bottom 5

30. Edmonton
29. Boston
28. NY Islanders
27. Buffalo
26. NY Rangers

Anaheim Ducks Watch

The Ducks seem to have the Red Wings number at home lately and Wednesday was no different. They Jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back, prevailing 3-1. Hiller was sensational stopping 46 of 47 shots. The Ducks were firing on all cylinders with Bobby Ryan and Ryan Getzlaf leading the charge.

Next though they had to play the Kings in back to back games. They haven’t won the 2nd game in any of the back to backs this year and this time was no different. They quickly feel behind 4-1 only to crawl back and tie the game 4-4. Dustin Brown scored the game winner on a wide open net, a goal that was poorly defended by Anaheim. They gave up another goal after that and ended up losing 6-4. Memo to NHL book teams playing back to back games as little as possible. I’m pretty sure it can be done.

Next up was the Kings, wait didn’t I just type that, o wait that’s right the NHL doesn’t know how to schedule; either that or this is baseball. It was a great fast paced game with lots of chances. After the 1st which was tied 1-1 and saw Teemu Selanne net number 597, the Ducks dominated the 2nd period. Saku Koivu netted the game winner when he scored the puck and then himself. Surprisingly there was no scoring in the 3rd and the Ducks prevailed 4-2 and got those much needed two points. Unfortunately Ryan Getzlaf sprained his ankle and it didn’t look pretty. X-rays at this point are negative and I hope they stay that way.

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Between the Pipes – NHL Recap Week 18

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 Written by: Alex Mueller

Greetings from Seattle, colder and wetter than Southern California, and home to no hockey teams, thank you Gary Bettman.

Wheelings and Dealings – Brian Burke has been a busy man and so has Darryl Sutter. Jean-Sebastian Giguere to Toronto had been rumored all season and finally happened. So it isn’t really surprising. It’s sad to seem him leave Anaheim but in the “what have you done for me lately” world of sports, the answer for Giguere would be nothing. Best of luck in Toronto Jiggy, where you will be re-united with your former goalie coach. Toronto also picked up Dion Phaneuf to help solidify their defense. Most of the time it’s good for a veteran, whose played a while in the same place and is struggling, to go to another team to rejuvenize his career. Toronto sure hopes that is the case this time. Burke had some questionable calls toward the end of his tenure in Anaheim that I didn’t care for. This includes the handling of Bobby Ryan, Andy McDonald, Teemu Selanne, Scott Neidermayer and Dustin Penner. But I like that he is shaking up the Maple Leafs and he is acquiring key pieces without really giving anything up. As good as the Giguere and Phaneuf pickups are, what may really be the best acquisition is how good the 6 foot 6 Keith Aulie ends up being. If he ends up being a star this deal was defiantly more than worth it and then some.

On the other hand…. It’s very interesting to me that I wrote about the Flames last week and how a shake-up was needed, you know get creative. I don’t think this was quite what I had in mind. Darryl Sutter obviously had other thoughts. I’m not sure trading two struggling stars; I used that term loosely, for a bunch of third rate NHL’ers is the way to go. If they would have traded Jay Bouwmeester instead of Phaneuf, and in effect it’s almost the same thing, that would have sent the message, “Hi I’m Darryl Sutter the two moves I made last season to strengthen our team didn’t work, so I am starting over. I also have no idea what this team needs to win the Cup.” Giving up after a year and starting over shows you don’t really know what chemistry your team needs and you have no faith in your players. This certainly doesn’t make a winning combination. I had high hopes for the Flames this year but I don’t think they will be making the playoffs this year. The cup runner up team of 2004 seems so long ago. Neither of the players they received from the Rangers for Olli Jokinen have much of an upside. Plus as I mentioned above if Aulie becomes a star Sutter is really going to be roasted, more so than he is now. Though he probably won’t be in Calgary by the time we know the verdict on Aulie. I’m having a hard time figuring out what the Flames gained in any of these trades. Unless they are just unloading everyone since Niklas Hagman and Ales Kotalik are the only one still under contract after this season. I do wonder if Brandon Prust will make his way back to Calgary as he did when he was traded for Jokinen. It makes you wonder how Prust feels to be traded with the same player he was traded to get just a year ago.

Goalie Spotlight

None this week, will be back next week

Fights of the Week

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

This week had the least amount of fights to pick from this season.

Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond vs. Jay Rosehill

Pretty decent, but messy fight, that features the best French name ever!

Colin White vs Dion Phaneuf

This fight is selected because there are no other decent fights this week and it is the first fight for Phaneuf as a Maple Leaf.

Goat(s) of the Week

Johan Hedberg – Atlanta Thrashers

He didn’t really do anything goatish but he got his jersey stuck over his head and couldn’t see, which is just funny. I’m glad he didn’t get hurt though.

Ryan Miller – Buffalo Sabres

Ryan Miller questionably attempts to clear the puck from behind the net passing it behind his back which bounces off of Tyler Myers into Crosby’s stick and he scores a goal which Miller had a chance to stop but failed again. Not the best sequence for Miller.

Things I like

1. Sidney Crosby almost had a natural hat trick against the Sabres on Monday night. He has really carried the penguins this year, since Malkin has struggled at times this season. Call him Cindy, call him a cheap shot artist, or a whiner but whatever you call him you can’t deny he’s a damn fine hockey player.

2. Hiller shutting out the Panthers after signing his new contract. Ironically he would have gotten the new contract earlier, and Giguere shipped out earlier, if he had played better at the beginning of the season.

3. Speaking of Jean-Sebastien Giguere, he recorded his own shutout in his Toronto debut against the Devils making 30 saves. I expect Giguere will play well for the Maple Leafs and lead them back to respectability.

4. Edmonton won! They beat the mighty Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 in a game I’m sure fans were turned away at the door. All kidding aside this was a much needed victory for the Oilers. Losing 13 games in a row you probably start to question if you can ever win again.

5. Quiet teams like Los Angeles, Phoenix and Ottawa winning and winning a lot lately. I can’t believe Ottawa is 9-1 in their last 10 games. But I guess with the Capitals winning 11 in a row stuff like that happens.

Things I don’t

1. All these slumping teams Edmonton, Calgary, Detroit, Boston, Toronto, New Jersey, NY Rangers. They all have 3 wins or less in their last 10 games. It’s probably been a long time since that has happened.

2. Dan Sexton being reassigned to the Manitoba Moose, that’s a cool team name though. I’ll write some more about this in the Ducks watch below.

3. Mike Green, Capitals, taking out Michael Frolik, Panthers, with an elbow to the head, just a sick defenseless shot. Green received a three game suspension for the hit. Then the next period Mike Green and Dmitry Kulikov hit knee to knee, perhaps karma’s payback. Never good to hit knee to knee and both men leapt off the ice. You can see both hits below.


Stat Line of the Week

01/30/10  Calgary 6 vs. Edmonton 1

Skater

TOI

G

A

+/-

SOG

PIM

J. Iginla

15:11

2

2

+4

2

5

Captain Iginla brought his A game as he tried to turn around the sinking ship knows as the Flames. He did an awesome job as he netted 2 goals, 2 assists and gave up no goals while he was on the ice. Unfortunately, this came against the Oilers who are more hapless than the Flames right now. Also the Flames were unable to maintain their momentum losing to the Flyers 3-0 the next game.

Did You Know?

That in the 1993 Stanley Cup Playoffs the eventual champion Canadiens swept the Sabres 4-0 in the 2nd round but won every game by a score of 4-3. The last three games all went to overtime.

Numbers, Numbers

11 – The current winning streak by the Capitals, the longest in franchise history.

8 – Consecutive losses by the Bruins.

.9325% – Ryan Miller’s save percentage just a hair behind Hasek’s all-time single season record of .9366%.

0 – The number of wins by the Oilers in the month of January.

6,896 – Fans in attendance for the Hurricanes vs. Blackhawks due to snow in the Carolinas.

This Week in Hockey History

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

January 28, 1992 Brett Hull became just the second player in NHL history to record back to back seasons of 50 goals in 50 games (Wayne Gretzky had done so in 1983 & 1984). He scored #50 in a 3-3 Blues’ tie at Los Angeles.

January 29, 1977 The Blizzard of ‘77 left many of the Sabres trapped in Buffalo. Only 14 players made it up to Montreal, but they managed to tie the Canadiens, 3-3.

January 30, 2003 Owen Nolan tied a San Jose team record with a goal in his sixth consecutive game, a 4-3 loss to the visiting Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Nolan scored 8 goals in the six games.

January 31, 1982 Grant Fuhr became the first goaltender in Edmonton Oilers history to win 20 games in one season. The milestone 20th victory of the year was a 7-4 win against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers.

February 01, 1977 Montreal’s Guy Lafleur began an NHL-record 28 game point scoring streak, with a goal and three assists, in the Canadiens’ 7-3 win over the Barons, at Cleveland. Wayne Gretzky later upped the record to 51 games.

February 02, 1928 Senators’ Alex Connell recorded the second of his NHL-record six consecutive shutouts, with a 1-0 win over the Montreal Maroons, in Ottawa. It was Connell’s 43rd career shutout.

Rankings

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

Top 5

1. Washington
2. Ottawa
3. Los Angeles
4. San Jose
5. Phoenix

Bottom 5

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

Anaheim Ducks Watch

Well it looks like I’ll keep this section for now.

In order to make room for newly acquired Jason Blake and the returning Teemu Selanne they moved down Dan Sexton and Matt Beleskey. I don’t particularly care for those moves, particularly the Sexton move. I don’t think Blake and his high salary will add much to the Ducks team. Sexton, while not as hot as he was, is a fast and skilled player. Ryan Carter or Troy Bodie would have been better choices to demote.

The Ducks played the Capitals a day after losing to the Thrashers and as predicted they got crushed 5-1. Playing back to back games especially games that far away is ridiculous. I don’t see how any team would have a chance. In Giguere’s send off game, he gave up 5 goals on 49 shots. Not to shabby considering how under siege he was. The lone goal was scored by the newly demoted Dan Sexton. The Ducks have a funny way of thanking people sometimes.

My last game on Fox Sports Prime Ticket was against the Lightning and it was a good one. The Ducks prevailed 2-1 in a tight contest that showcased the James Wisniewski show. Wisniewski scored the only goal for the Ducks in regulation and then he followed it up with his second consecutive shootout winning goal. The Wisniewski pick-up last year was a really great find for the Ducks and Bob Murray. Hiller had some nice saves as did Niittymaki.

Then in a game no one saw because it wasn’t televised anywhere, the Ducks beat the Panthers 3-0. Truly pathetic that no one broadcasted the game. Selanne made his triumphant return and scored, what else, a powerplay goal. He is just 4 goals shy of joining the 600 goal club. If he can find a way to not get injured again, he will get that this season. The Ducks have the always fun Red Wings up next.

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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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THE HAT TRICK: WEEK 11

Monday, December 14th, 2009 Written by: Matt Sitkoff

As the weather turns colder and we enter the holiday season; Chanukah candles are being lit, Christmas trees are being put up, and hockey pucks are getting roasted on an open fire.  This being an Olympic year, the next couple of weeks will be the busiest time for teams trying to stuff as many games in before the winter break. 

December will make or break which way teams are headed in the parity filled NHL, so let’s look at three specific teams in this week’s Hat Trick.

Buffalo Sabres  

The surprising leaders of the Northeast Division have been riding one of the hottest goalies this season.  In December they have 15 games, and the good news is only two of them are on back-to-back nights.  They recently finished up a five-game home stand with a 3-2 record and had impressive back-to-back wins against the Blackhawks and Rangers. 

Coming down the stretch of this month are two contest at home against the Penguins, one on the road with the Capitals and four games against division rivals Ottawa and Toronto.  With Olympic selections for USA coming up, it will be interesting to see how Ryan Miller does with the heavy workload this month and how this team that depends on often-injured stars hold up with the treacherous schedule.

St. Louis Blues  

A team that got hot at the end of last season to make the playoffs have once again started slowly.  This month full of 15 games, including two tough back-to-back nights (home Flames, road Blackhawks and road Canucks, road Oilers) will make or break the season for the up and coming Blues. 

Good news for them is that eight of the games will be played away from the Scottrade Center, since they have a 8-2-3 road record this season.  Being one of the younger teams in the league (27.4 average age), they should be able to handle the long December stretch. If they falter, however, they do have two veterans on their last year of contracts (Kariya and Tkachuk) that could get some interest.

Philadelphia Flyers  

This one, an obvious pick for the preseason Stanley Cup favorite, is a Hurricane winning streak away from being the worst team in the East and their own winning streak away from being back in the playoff picture.  They also have 15 games in December, the problem is they have already started 1-5 in the month. 

The schedule does not look favorable either with a home and home series with the Penguins, and two games against division rival Rangers, but they do get a week of the Southeast Division (Panthers, Lightning and Hurricanes Oh MY!)  They have already fired their coach and lost their starting goalie to injury for the entire month, but should be getting reinforcements soon with the returns of Simon Gagne, Darrol Powe, and Blair Betts from injuries.  Needless to say if they continue the month they way they started you could see a major shakeup of players in Philadelphia.

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THE HAT TRICK WEEK 10

Sunday, December 6th, 2009 Written by: Matt Sitkoff

The season has officially started we had our first NHL coach firing; I will have more about that later, and the league also made Alex Ovechkin angry this week by handing out a two-game suspension for his knee-to-knee hit.  I was glad to see the NHL suspend the Russian for the hit, for all his talents Ovechkin plays with a sort of edge and good to see the league not give him the superstar treatment. 

His edge is what makes Ovechkin a special player and I also don’t see this suspension taking it away, should be fun to watch this week, now onto the Pucking Awesome Hat Trick and the top three story lines I am watching this week.

Flyers Fallout:  

A sexy preseason pick for the Cup have not looked anything like it and the recent slide caused John Stevens his job, as Peter Laviolette takes over the fading Flyers.  The once powerful power play has been nonexistent in the recent four game slide going an abysmal 0 for their last 17 man advantages.

The undisciplined play has also been catching up to them giving up six power play goals along this current losing streak. The Ray Emery experiment has taken a turn for the worse as Emery has a 5.36 goals-against average and .814 save percentage in his last five starts.

The Flyers now turn to the theory that changing a coach can change the culture of the team, but unlike the Stanley Cup Champions a year ago this team seems to be lacking the maturity of a team destined for greatness. I will be watching the fallout this week as Laviolette tries to turn this talented team around and ask them to grow up or the next thing to change will be the core roster.


DiPietro Recovery:  

I don’t know if it is a recovery from injury or the Islanders trying to recover some return on the tremendous investment on the often injured goalie.  When healthy there is no denying the pure talent of Rick DiPietro but with only five starts in the last two years the brass on Long Island were expecting more from the goalie they signed to a monster 15-year contract back in September 2006. 

Although he shares the birthday with a Pucking Awesome writer it seems that this contract has been a bust up to this point, though he has 12 years on the back end to make it up to the organization.  Now comes the good news for Islanders fans after practicing with the team for about a week and a half the former number one overall pick suited up for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Saturday. 

In all reports he looked like he had been off for the last 11 months giving up three goals on 13 shots.  In his post game interview DiPietro stated “It’s been a long time since I played in a meaningful game. Nerves, excitement.  These guys have been great. It was good to get back in there and shake the rust off. There’s still a lot of work to be done.”  I will be keeping my eye on the valiant return of Rick DiPietro not only for the sake of the Islanders organization but for the goalie trade wheels that will be circling this club that will have three NHL starting goalies.


Game Of The Week:   Wild at Coyotes

The week gets started off right this week as the two hottest teams facing off Monday night, oh yes the Phoenix Coyotes and Minnesota Wild face off at Jobing.com Arena. The Coyotes are one of the best stories of the early season. In their current four-game winning streak 10 different Coyotes have scored a goal and Ilya Bryzgalov has been outstanding with a 1.75 GAA and has been outstanding at home with a 10-3-0 record.

The Wild have turned their season around with a five-game winning streak and been riding a white hot top line of Center Mikko Koivu and linemates Andrew Brunette and Antti Miettinen. They have combined for 23 points during their current winning streak and that is with Miettinen missing three games due to the swine flu. 

The week gets kicked off in style as one of the hottest lines in hockey faces one of the hottest goalies in a surprise scary good match up, I will be watching how about you?

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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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Between the Pipes

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 Written by: Alex Mueller

Some key things to look for during the season:

Trap Games – The Penguins know what this is all to well. After beating the Rangers and Islanders in tough division match-ups the Penguins were probably looking forward to their next division match-up against one of the Eastern Conference favorites this year the Flyers, who are also their bitter rival. Unfortunately Phoenix was in between those games, and the Penguins probably didn’t think much of the lowly Coyotes, who played their hearts out. The Penguins overall played a sloppy game and gave the Coyotes nine power plays, which they converted on two of, which was the difference in the game. Overlooking teams will be a problem this year for a few teams especially the defending champs.

Young Teams – There are a lot of young teams on the rise this year including the Islanders, Coyotes, Avalanche and Kings. The Los Angeles Kings I figured were a year away from making the playoffs but the young guns have really blossomed (see one of the things I like below) and they seem to be a lock for the playoffs this year. Their defense and goaltending are still question marks though.

Last Minute Scoring – There has been an abundance of game tying or game winning goals in the last minute of regulation. I, for one, am not complaining. The game tying goals lead to the always exciting overtime and penalty shootout.


Goalie Spotlight

Last week I did a feature on Colorado Avalanche net minder Craig Anderson. This week Jean-Sebastien Giguere heads into the spotlight.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere – Anaheim Ducks

Normally I won’t be spotlighting a “backup“goalie but Giguere is not your typical backup. He has led the Ducks to a Stanley Cup championship in 2007 and was one of only five players to win the Conn Smythe trophy, for playoff MVP, on the losing team in 2003 when the Ducks lost to the New Jersey Devils in the finals. He is currently splitting time backstopping the Ducks with Jonas Hiller.

You may wonder how did a goalie with an impressive resume end up splitting time? Statistically the 08-09 campaign was one of his worst. You would have to go back 10 years to when he was a backup for the Calgary Flames and just breaking into the league to find a worse year. Despite this, he was named the Western Conference starting goalie for the All-Star game, further proof that fan voting doesn’t generally reward those that truly deserve to start. In December of 2008 Giguere’s dad, Claude, passed away which further added to his difficult year, a tough thing for anyone to have to go through. This enabled Hiller to get more playing time which he fully took advantage of, becoming one of the hottest goalies last year.

This is an important year for Ducks management to decide what goalie they want to go with in the future. Giguere has one year left on his contract after this season and it’s a huge cap hit of 7 million. Hiller will become an unrestricted free agent after this year, and will command a big raise. While I’m sure management would want to keep both financially it is not feasible. Both goalies have a lot to prove this year, and will be sure to make every game they start count.


Fights of the Week

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

Derek Dorsett vs Frazer McLaren

Dorsett spent half the fight on McLaren’s back, never really seen that before. After McLaren finally got him off he landed some pretty good punches.

Zack Stortini vs Triston Grant

A pretty well balanced fight, but the edge goes to Stortini, and very loooong, as far as hockey fight length standards go.

Colton Orr vs. Donald Brashear

What weekly fight recap would be complete without a Brashear fight? Brashear won overall but Orr had a nice punch that knocked off Brashear’s helmet.

Trick Goal of the Week

Corey Perry – Perry on a shorthanded breakaway tried to score but was stopped by Tim Thomas. The rebound off Perry’s head however was not, which caught Perry and Thomas both by surprise. Dennis Wideman’s look of disbelief pretty much summed up the 6-1 loss for the Bruins, it was just that kind of night.

Goat of the Week

Braydon Coburn – Coburn, I guess, attempted to clear the puck, which bounced off unsuspecting Ray Emery and into the net. The goal was credited to defenseman Alex Goligoski. “It certainly was the easiest goal of my career considering that I didn’t even touch it,” Goligoski said. It ended up being a costly goal for the Flyers in a tight game.


Things I like

1. Anze Kopitar is really developing into an elite player in his 4th season in the NHL for the Los Angeles Kings. Generally a just below a point a game scorer, look for him to improve that ratio and be in the mix for the scoring title all season long.

2. Ilya Kovalchuk is one of the few bright spots on the Atlanta Thrashers. IIya led the Thrashers in points the past two seasons and will undoubtedly do it again.

3. Teemu Selanne had 4 goals in back to back games, including the only goal in a shootout vs. the Flyers. At age 39 the “Finnish Flash”, who had 76 goals 17 years ago as a rookie, has not lost his knack for scoring.

Things I don’t

1. The Edmonton Oilers luck or lack thereof. Those who read this column last week know that Nikolai Khabibulin was named Goat of the Week for his misplaying of the puck in the final minute of a game against Calgary, which cost them that game. Thursday in the final 2 seconds of a rematch against Calgary the Flames were able to redirect a puck in for the tying goal. The Flames then won in the shootout.  At least the Oilers got a point in this game, but losing two games at home to your division rivals, in that fashion, cannot be easy to stomach.

2. Washington Capitals were considered to be an elite team this year and in many ways they are. However after winning the first two games they have now lost four in a row all by 1 goal, though two of those losses were in the shootout or overtime. Elite teams find a way to win some of those games. So far the Capitals have shown that they are not in that class yet.

3. Toronto is the only winless team left besides the Islanders. However the Islanders have 2 more overtime loses so they have 2 more points. Lowly Toronto has just 1 point and did I mention this is Toronto, Canada home of the Hockey Hall of Fame? Just, disgraceful.

4. Calgary for giving up a 5 goal lead to the Chicago Blackhawks. They at least salvaged a point losing in overtime, but that’s a huge flop. At least the Blackhawks started to chip away in the 1st and didn’t score all their goals in the 3rd.


Rankings

Top 5

1. Pittsburgh
2. New York Rangers
3. Los Angeles
4. Philadelphia
5. Calagry

Bottom 5

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


Ducks Watch (My team)

After two embarrassing games the Ducks demolished the Bruins on the road, which is a good start to a tough East Coast road trip for them. The Ducks received a good balanced contribution from everyone including Corey Perry and Teemu Selanne. After committing nine penalties and giving up two power play goals to the Flyers things looked bleak for the Ducks. However Selanne who was already hot  from last game became red hot and scored two goals in the end of the third period sending the game into overtime where he eventually won it in the shootout. The Ducks then dropped a tough game to the Rangers where you could tell they were fatigued most of the game, from playing back to back games. The loss was even more disappointing considering that Henrik Lundqvist was not playing for the Rangers.

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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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FANTASY MONDAY

Monday, October 5th, 2009 Written by: Matt Sitkoff

Here, at Pucking Awesome, we know fantasy hockey is important to a hockey nut’s day to day activity.  So this season we will be offering our fantasy advice to help you win bragging rights from your friends.  Every Monday we will break down the most wonderful place in the world, the waiver wire.  This week we will look at the surprising stars of the first weekend and see if they were worth a pick up.

Brooks Laich, Capitals C: Earning 20 goals in the last two seasons, this scorer quickly made a name for himself in the first week of fantasy with 5 points in 2 games.  The 6′2″ center is also making an impact while playing on the top power play unit.  Laich will surely add to his 22 career PPG while playing with Ovechkin, Green and Backstrom.  This guy was the most added player in the first week and big things are expected from the second line center for the high scoring Capitals

Alex Goligoski , Penguins D:  Fresh off his new three-year contract, Gogligoski is finally getting a chance to be in the top 4 rotation with the talented Penguins.  The former 2nd-round pick is making the most of his increase in ice time with 2 assists in the first two games, both coming on the man advantage.  The 6 foot speedy defenseman is on the top power play (3:12 PP TOI/G) and shorthanded pairing  (2.27 SH TOI/G) with Sergei Gocnhar, giving him a prime opportunity for a breakout fantasy season.  If you were lucky enough to snag him off the waiver wire sit back, relax, and watch the points come in.

Wojtek Wolski, Avalanche LW:  I think everyone in the fantasy world discounted the Avalanche for any impact this season and then, this weekend, Wolski showed he is more than a shootout specialist.  The former first-round pick exploded with 3 goals in 2 games and against two of the top teams in the West (Sharks and Canucks).  He moved to the top line wing spot, alongside Paul Stastny and Milan Hejduk, which will help the 6′3″ forward’s fantasy status.  One thing to keep in mind is Wolski was an awful -13 last season and, though Craig Anderson is a better goalie, this team will struggle defensively.  He was the second most added player behind Laich and will help your team as a 3rd to 4th winger. 

Brandon Dubinsky, Rangers C:  Now onto a guy who is only owned in about 30% of leagues and should have a big fantasy impact this season.  Missing most of training camp over a contract dispute, and playing for the offensively inept Rangers, has caused this player to be overlooked, but the big center had 4 points in the Rangers’ first two games.  Dubinsky, a great two-way player is paired with the high scoring Marion Gaborik on both even strength and more importantly the shorthanded.  Look for Dubinsky to contribute in three important fantasy categories; SHP, +/-. PIM as the season moves on.

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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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Southeast Division Preview

Monday, September 14th, 2009 Written by: A.J.

Welcome to the Southeast, home of more Chick-Fil-A’s per square mile than hockey fans. All joking aside, while hockey may still be catching in warm weather markets, this division does have some of the best kept secrets in the NHL. Two of the previous five Stanley Cup champions reside here (Tampa Bay in 2004, Carolina in 2006). Though the most recognizable player is Alex Ovechkin, other great hockey players also make their careers south of the Mason-Dixon line. Just a taste – Ilya Kovalchuk, Mike Green, Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Nicklas Backstrom, Eric Staal, and Cam Ward. Perhaps the best kept secret of this division is while it usually comes down to Washington or Carolina to finish first, any team has a realistic shot to take the crown this year. The Southeast is just as competitive as any other division in the NHL. Here is my take on how the division will shake out this season.

1.) Carolina Hurricanes

Rearview Mirror: Three years removed from their 2006 Stanley Cup Championship, the Hurricanes returned to familiar territory by playing in the Eastern Conference finals. Flash backwards to December 3, 2008. Carolina was destined to be missing the postseason for the 3rd straight season with a 12-11-2 record under Peter Laviolette. GM Jim Rutherford decides to shake things up by returning former bench boss Paul Maurice to Raleigh. Re-acquiring Erik Cole (80GP, 18G-24A-42PTS, 73PIM) from Edmonton at the trade deadline seemed to boost Carolina’s offensive numbers. With all those changes, the team went on a 33-19-5 run to lock up the 6th seed. After knocking off the New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins in dramatic 7 game series, they lost in four straight to eventual champion Pittsburgh. Nonetheless, Carolina re-asserted their place as being one of the elite teams in the East.
Off-Season Ins: F Tom Kostopolous (MTL: 78GP, 8G-14A-22PTS, 106PIM), D Andrew Alberts (PHI: 79GP, 13PTS, 157 hits), D Aaron Ward (BOS: 65GP-3G-7A-10PTS, +16)
Off-Season Outs: F Patrick Eaves (to DET), F Frantisek Kaberle (contract buyout)
What Makes Them Tick: The Hurricanes have no “bona-fide” superstar, but they do have a cohesive unit of 23 players led by Captain Rod Brind’Amour (80GP, 16G-35A-51PTS, -23). Eric Staal (82GP, 40G-35A-75PTS, 14PPG) still put up solid offensive numbers, but 37 year old Ray Whitney (82GP, 24G-53A-77PTS, 62 takeaways) has continued to see some of the highest scouring outputs of his 19 year career. Also up front, Tuomo Ruutu (79GP, 26G-28A-54PTS, 228 hits) established himself as a legitimate two-way presence on the ice. Tim Gleason (70GP, 171 hits, 133 blocks) and Denis Seidenberg (70GP, 146 hits, 160 blocks) shore up Carolina’s no-name defense corps. Between the pipes, Cam Ward (68GP, 39-23-5, 2.44GAA, .916 SV %, 6SO) had the best season of his career in re-asserting himself as one of the premiere goalies in the game today. The addition of Kostopolous, Alberts, and Aaron Ward this past offseason gives the team not much in the scoring department, but gives the Hurricanes more physicality to their game.
What Could Make Them Go Boom: The only major way this team goes boom would have to be if they stop listening to Paul Maurice very early on into the season. Just because he has a new contract in his second go around with the franchise, it doesn’t necessarily mean job security. He did provide the Hurricanes with that much needed boost when things were looking grim back in December. Let’s flash backwards a bit. After Maurice led the Hurricanes to the Cup finals in 2002, he was given a new contract extension but was relieved 20 games into the 2003 season. The reason – the team stopped listening to him. Peter Laviolette was his replacement at the time. After he led the Hurricanes to the Cup itself in 2006, he was rewarded with a contract extension. The result – two (almost three) straight postseason-less appearances before getting the boot for Maurice for his second tour of duty.
Player to Watch: After posting career highs in games played (81), goals (19), and points (31), center Chad LaRose is quickly becoming an unsung hero for the Hurricanes. Signed in 2003 as an undrafted free agent from the OHL’s Plymouth Whalers, the 5’9” LaRose has proven many scouts wrong that he didn’t belong in the NHL. However, he had great numbers back in junior hockey (201PTS in 152 career games) to support his cause. Now, with ever increasing offensive numbers and a new two-year contract to keep him in the Research Triangle, LaRose is destined to take the next step in becoming a prominent small, offensive-minded forward. Look for him to be among the team’s scoring leaders this season, a 20G-30A output doesn’t seem all that far-fetched.
Prediction: Carolina is one of the more balanced teams in the league. From a mixture of young guns and veterans, the Hurricanes have depth at scoring, solid defensive play, and outstanding goaltending. Despite not having the strongest special teams in the game, they find ways to steal wins on a regular basis. With the team virtually unchanged from their spectacular run a season ago, Carolina is poised to sneak up on Washington and take the division crown away from two-time defending champion, and perhaps more.

2.) Washington Capitals

Rearview Mirror: After capturing their 2nd straight Southeast Divison crown and the 2nd overall seed in the East, Washington was on the shortlist to contend for the Stanley Cup. After rallying from a 3-1 deficit to beat the NY Rangers in 7 games, reigning two-time Hart Trophy winner Alexander Ovechkin (70GP, 56G-54A-110PTS, league high 528 SOG) led the Caps into battle against his arch-nemesis – Sidney Crosby and the Pegunins. While Alexander the Great (14pts in 7 games) and Sid the Kid (13pts in 7 games) held offensive clinics in the 7 game series, Pittsburgh humiliated Washington in the confines of the Verizon Center when it mattered.
Off-Season Ins: F Mike Knuble (PHI: 82GP, 27G-20A-47PTS, 62PIM), F Brendan Morrison (ANA/DAL: 505PTS in 755 career games)
Off-Season Outs: G Brent Johnson (to PIT), F Donald Brashear (to NYR), F Sergei Federov and F Viktor Kozlov (both signed with KHL-Russia)
What Makes Them Tick: Washington is one of the highest scoring teams in the league, and they have Ovechkin to thank for it. Last season, he accounted for 19.25% and 20.9% of the Capitals’ total shots and goals respectively. While the opposition will tend to focus on Ovie, they shouldn’t forget the other offensive weapons the club has. For starters, Nicklas Backstrom (82GP, 22G-66A-88PTS, 46PIM) and Alexander Semin (62GP, 34G-45A-79PTS, +25) are more than capable to hold their own with Ovechkin. On the blueline, Norris trophy nominee Mike Green (68GP, 31G-42A-73PTS, 18PPG, 110 blocked shots) is quickly establishing himself as one of the top offensive defensemen of his generation. While Green provides the offense from the point, Milan Jurcina (79GP, 157 hits, 131 blocked shots) and Shaone Morrison (72GP, 111 hits, 98 blocked shots) provide much of the defensive muscle that allowed a respectable 245 goals last year. The additions of Knuble and Morrison should give the Caps a bit more offensive punch and lot more size to go along with Ovechkin’s style of play.
What Could Make Them Go Boom: Has goaltender Jose Theodore regained the form that won him the Hart Trophy in 2002 with the Canadiens? After posting some of his best numbers in almost six seasons (57GP, 32-17-5, 2.87 GAA), he was unceremoniously yanked after one game in the 2009 postseason. Boudreau has anointed Theodore as his number one starter in training camp, but will have to fend off some still competition from Semyon Varlamov (w/Hershey-AHL: 27GP, 19-7-1, 2.40 GAA, .920 SV%) in order to keep it. If Theodore holds down that spot, it will be interesting to see if he can still be productive as he was in Montreal. However…
Player to Watch: If Theodore performs like he did during his Colorado days, all eyes will be watching on the aforementioned Varlamov. He only had 6 regular season appearances, but his playoff numbers were spectacular (7-6, 2.53 GAA, .918 SV%, 2 SO). The 23rd overall draft pick in 2006 guided his Russian Super League club to the finals in 2008 before making the transition over to the NHL last fall. He showed the fans in Hershey and Washington what he is capable of, and is poised to become one of the top Russian goalies on the planet today. Depending on his playing time, look for him to carry a sub 2.60 GAA and .920 save percentage this year.
Prediction: The Capitals can win the division for the third straight year. While I believe they can, that’s not the reason why I didn’t pick them to. While the offense and defense is there, I just have too many doubts about the goaltending. Theodore is a hot and cold netminder, while Varlamov is still green to the North American style of the game. I’ve been proven wrong many times before, and I wouldn’t be shocked if I was proven wrong again with my pick. Yet, one or both of these masked men need to step up in order to do so. They are still a very sexy pick to go deep in the post-season, but they gotta get through 82 games first.

3. Tampa Bay Lightning

Rearview Mirror: If a single word could describe last season for Tampa Bay, the appropriate one would be “dysfunctional”. Let’s play a game of Beyond the Numbers just to highlight how things were last year in the Bay Area. First is 200 million, as in the dollar amount that “Saw” producer Oren Koules and Len Barrie ponied-up to purchase the Bolts and lease the St. Pete Times Forum. Second is 16, the number of games of Barry Melrose’ 2nd tenure behind the bench before getting replaced by Rick Tocchet in November. Third is 50, for how many players suited up for Tampa last season (22 defensemen alone). Fourth is 351, for the amount of man games lost to injury last season (and subsequent explanation for why the 3rd number is so large). Fifth is 46, as in how many points 1st overall pick Steve Stamkos netted in his first season (23G-23A in 79GP). The final numbers are 24-40-18, the Bolts’ record for a disastrous 2008-09 season. Bring on the changes by GM Bryan Lawton.
Off-Season Ins: D Victor Hedman (2009 2nd overall draft pick), D Mattias Ohlund (325PTS, 756PIM in 11 seasons with VAN), F Stephane Veilleux (MIN: 81GP, 23PTS, 98 hits), F Todd Fedoruk (PHX: 72GP, 13PTS, 125 hits), G Antero Niittymaki (PHI: 32GP, 13-8-6, 2.76GAA, .912 SV%)
Off-Season Outs: F David Koci (to COL), D Noah Welch (to ATL)
What Makes Them Tick: The Bolts have a very solid forward unit, led by the dynamic duo of captain Vincent Lecavalier (career with TB: 787GP, 302G-367A-669PTS, 561PIM) and Martin St. Louis (career wit TB: 621GP, 234G-331A-565PTS, 226PIM). Lecavalier missed the final five games last season to undergo wrist surgery that hampered his offensive output from last season (77GP, 29G-38A-67PTS, -9). He shoul be good to go for this upcoming season. To help supplement the goal production, head coach Rick Tocchet will continue to look upon Ryan Malone (70GP, 26G-19A-45PTS, 173 hits), and the aforementioned Steve Stamkos. Acquiring Stephane Veilleux and Todd Fedoruk during the off-season will also provide some much needed grit and contribute to an anemic offense that scored only 210 goals last season, tied for 2nd worst in the conference.
What Could Make Them Go Boom: Things took a major hit last season between the pipes and along the blueline last season. Out of the 50 players that dressed for Tampa last season, 22 of them were defensemen and four were goaltenders. The Bolts allowed a massive 3.28 goals last season, 27th in the league. A major retooling in the off-season led to Mattias Ohlund leaving the Pacific Northwest after 11 successful years and the drafting of Swedish phenom Victor Hedman (more on him in a minute) to strengthen the defensive corps. Antero Niiittymaki comes in as a proven backup for starter Mike Smith (41GP, 14-18-9, 2.82GAA, .916 SV%) just in case the youngster goes down again with a concussion. The major question that remains is can the new additions jell together in time to become a cohesive unit in time for the regular season?
Player to Watch: Victor Hedman, thought he hasn’t played a single shift in the NHL, will automatically have his name in the mix for Calder trophy consideration. According to NHL Director of Central Scouting E.J. McGuire, “Victor Hedman brings…unsurpassed combinations of size (6’6”, 220lbs), explosiveness in his skating, quickness and offensive ability (2009 Rookie of the Year winner with 21pts in 43 games with SEL’s MoDo). He is indeed the whole package.” He most certainly has the proper defensive mentor in fellow Swede Mattias Ohlund to help the young lad from Ornskoldsvik get acclimated to the NHL and life in North America. Hockey Bay could be seeing the torch passing from one of the present elite Swedish defensemen to the future.
Prediction: A wise man told me “I think Tampa will surprise some people with Stamkos and now Hedman/Ouhland as their defense leaders.” I did believe that Tampa would be good, but not good enough to earn a playoff berth. After researching their off-season moves in comparison with the rest of the conference, I will offer a bold prediction to everybody – not only will the Tampa Bay Lightning make the playoffs, they will advance to the conference semi-finals.

4.) Florida Panthers

Rearview Mirror: Florida and Montreal tied for the 8th and final playoff spot at the end of the season, but the Canadiens made the dance thanks to winning the season series. The “almost made it” for the 2nd straight year wasn’t good enough to convince Jay Bouwmeester to stick around. Demanding for a trade since the end of the 2007-08 season, J-Bo finally got his wish near the NHL Entry Draft by getting shipped to Calgary in exchange for Jordan Leopold. Two points wasn’t enough for GM Jacques Martin either. Itching to get behind the bench again, he’s now in charge of bringing the Habs back to their former glory. The main reason why Florida was able to stay in the thick of the playoff hunt last season was of G Tomas Voukoun’s spectacular play (59GP, 26-23-6, 2.49GAA, .926 SV%, 6SO). But in the end, it just wasn’t good enough yet again.
Off-Season Ins: G Scott Clemmensen (NJ: 40GP, 25-13-1, 2.39GAA, .917 SV%), D Jordan Leopold (CGY: 83GP, 7G-17A-24PTS, 66 hits), C Steve Reinprecht (334PTS in 552 career games), D Ville Koistinen (NSH: 28PTS in 86 career games)
Off-Season Outs: GM Jacuqes Martin (head coach – MTL), D Jay Bouwmeester (to FLA), D Karlis Skrastins (to DAL), C Anthony Stewart (to ATL), LW Ville Peltonen and RW Richard Zednik (both signed with KHL-Russia)
What Makes Them Tick: The Panthers are a very young club up front, let by David Booth (72GP, 31G-29A-60PTS, 11PPG), Stephen Weiss (78GP, 14G-47A-61PTS, 50.9 FO%), Nathan Horton (67GP, 22G-23A-45PTS, 95 hits), and Michael Frolik (79GP, 21G-24A-45PTS, 22PIM). Add veteran Steve Reinprecht into the mix, and you have some veteran leadership to the stable that is sorely lacking after Olli Jokinen was dealt to Phoenix in 2008. The aforementioned quartet were all drafted and developed by the Panthers organization, so with each passing season sees these guys improve more and more as a cohesive unit on the ice for years to come.
What Could Make Them Go Boom: How do you replace the skills of Jay Bouwmeester along the blueline? The truth is you can’t. While Bouwmeester (203PTS in 401 career games w/FLA) possessed brilliant offensive numbers during his career, he also had the size (6’4”, 212lbs) and defensive skills that any team could build a blueline corps around. The man Florida received in return, Leopold, isn’t much of a physical defenseman (6’1”, 200lbs). Look for Keith Ballard to take on the role as top tier defenseman. Despite his 5’11” frame, he is a 208lb physical powerhouse that plays like he’s 6’5” (172 hits, 136 blocked shots). He also did amass 34 points last season. Koistinen also joins a completely rebuilt defense corps for this upcoming season that will be led by veteran Bryan McCabe (457PTS, 1,615PIM in 986 career games).
Player to Watch: Steve Reinprecht (73GP, 14G-27A-41PTS, 20PIM) finally has the chance to increase his offensive output this season. One of the more underrated players in the game today, the 11 year journeyman veteran was squeezed out of Phoenix do to their young stable of talent (or lack of funding). Florida gave the man the opportunity to take a more active role as a top six forward and veteran leader that is really needed for such a young franchise. He has the talent surrounding him to finally crack the 20-goal and 60 point plateau for the first time in his career, and perhaps return to the playoffs since his days with the Avalanche (won Stanley Cup with them in 2001).
Prediction: Losing Olli Jokinen and Jay Bouwmeester the past two season in Sunrise really hurt the Panthers’ chances of making the playoffs, but they still managed to be in the thick of things each year. While they are still a very competitive club on paper, head coach Peter DeBoer is expecting the goaltending tandem of Vokoun and Clemmensen to carry the team on its back to a playoff berth. It could happen, but it’s unlikely. The defensive corps will be severely tested as Florida’s playoff drought will continue for yet another season.

5.) Atlanta Thrashers

Rearview Mirror: The Thrashers celebrated a milestone last season. The club participated in their ninth full season in the NHL in the city of Atlanta. It probably doesn’t sound important, but any hardcore hockey fan would know that this isn’t the city’s first NHL team. The old Atlanta Flames only lasted eight seasons down south before moving to Calgary in 1980. That was the only celebration for Les Thrash, as they finished with 76 points for the 2nd consecutive season, good for 13th in the East. Per usual, leading the way was team captain Ilya Kovalchuk (79GP, 43G-48A-91PTS, 50PIM). Along with Kovalchuk, veteran Slava Kozlov (82GP, 26G-50A-76PTS, 15.8% shooting), and career years by Todd White (82GP, 22G-51A-73PTS, 18:03 TOI/G) & Bryan Little (79GP, 31G-20A-51PTS, 24PIM) contributed towards 257 goals for last season, 41 more scored than 2007-08.
Off-Season Ins: F Nik Antropov (TOR/NYR: 81GP, 28G-31A-59PTS, 12.5% shooting), D Pavel Kubina (TOR: 82GP, 14G-26A-40PTS, 94PIM), D Noah Welch (4th club since lockout), F Anthony Stewart (23rd overall pick in 2003)
Off-Season Outs: D Garent Exelby (to TOR), F Colin Stewart (to TOR), D Clay Wilson (to FLA), D Brett Skinner (to COL)
What Makes Them Tick: Kovalchuk has been the cornerstone of the franchise since being drafted first overall by GM Don Waddell in 2001. His numbers suggest he hasn’t disappointed (297G-260A-557PTS in 545 career games). However, the teams that surrounded him have been failures. To entice the free agent to be that the club is determined to be successful now, Waddell went out and surrounded Ilya with the tools he needs to lead the club back to the postseason. “Swiss-army” forward Nik Antropov (304PTS in 527 career games) was brought in for his ability to play all three positions up front. The addition of Pavel Kubina (746 career games with TOR/TB) on the blueline gives the Thrashers a legit top 4 defense corps. He joins the likes of Ron Hainsey (81GP, 39PTS, 22:22 TOI/G), Tobias Enstrom (82GP, 32PTS, 23:31 TOI/G), and the fourth person I’ll go in depth on a bit later – Zach Bogosian.
What Could Make Them Go Boom: Goaltending woes have doomed this franchise since their inception in 1999. Names such as Rhodes, Nurminen, Hnilicka, Dunham, and Dafoe have guarded the pipes in Blueland and watched their GAA’s skyrocket in the process. Last season, Atlanta surrendered 280 goals – only Toronto allowed more (293). Incumbent starter Kari Lehtonen may be the club’s all time leader in games played (204), wins (94) and shutouts (14), but two groin surgeries in the past four seasons raise several questions about his physical health. Backup netminder Johan “Moose” Hedberg (33GP, 13-12-3, 3.49 GAA, .886 SV%) still gives the Thrashers a proven veteran in case Lehtonen decides to go down with another injury. However, he has only started 41 games or more in a season twice in his career – last in 2002-03 with Pittsburgh.
Player to Watch: While all eyes will be on current “face of the franchise” in Kovalchuk and his impending UFA status, I’d be keeping tabs on the next one – D Zach Bogosian. Selected third overall in 2008 from the Peterborough Petes, Bogosian was having an excellent rookie season before suffering a broken leg. He did finish up strong after returning from injury by netting 11 points (including six goals) in his final 16 games. Not only does Bogosian have good offensive skills (47GP, 9G-10A-19PTS, 47PIM), he also has great size. Listed as 6’2”, 200 lbs., the kid has grown into his body during his time in the OHL. He has the right combination of assets to become a franchise defenseman, something Atlanta has never had in franchise history.
Prediction: The clock is ticking for Don Waddell. His previous 9 seasons of assembling a team has resulted in only one postseason appearance – a 4 game sweep at the hand of the NY Rangers in 2007. With each passing season, the amount of empty seats within the interior of Philips Arena has increased. Atlanta was the only team to average below 80% capacity last season. Even with all the random flurry of offseason acquisitions and smart drafting the past few seasons, it won’t be enough to get the Thrashers back into postseason competition. But will it be enough to keep Kovalchuk in midnight blue after 2010? Will it be enough for Waddell’s job security? The clock is ticking.

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