Conspiracy Theories Pt. 2

7-16-9. That is the record of the Tampa Bay Lightning as of right now. The Bolts have been anything but discreet about their problems both in the front office and on the bench. They have been run so poorly this and last season in fact, that it is hard to believe they are a professional sports franchise and not some fantasy video game team run by a 12 year old in Guatemala. This stat says it all: The Lightning have lost 17 of their last 19 and are the only team in the league without double digits in the win column. The Sharks, Red Wings and Blackhawks all have less losses in regulation than the Lightning have wins. Quite frankly, that is an embarrassment to the league, let alone the owners and GM. 

Look at the talent they have. Vinny Lecavalier, Martin

 St. Louis and Steven Stamkos should be some of the best players in the league. I'll concede the point that Stamkos is still obviously young and probably not quite strong enough for the bigs but his speed, hands and vision are all NHL-calibre. They also signed Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts away from the Penguins last summer and, though Roberts has been hurt all season and will likely retire, Malo

ne has been underachieving relative to his massive contract. That is enough quality forwards for two solid lines with scoring help also coming from guys like Jussi Jokinen and Mark Recchi. That scoring could also be augmented by the services of Radim Vrbata has he not bolted for the Czech leagues after a frustrating start to his season scoring 3 goals plus 3 assists in 18 games coming off of a season that saw him score 27 goals plus 29 helpers. Admittedly, their blueline could use some work but everyone knew that going into the season.

Then there is the whole Barry Melrose mess. I considered the move a publicity stunt from the start. Melrose is the second most recognizable person in hockey behind Don Cherry and it was a great plan to put people in the seats. That plan barely succeeded on that front, forget the whole "coaching and managing players" aspect of the job. I found that when Melrose was on ESPN I rarely agreed with what he said. He was no more in touch with the current NHL in his short time behind the bench either. He was also pretty lousy at that player management thing too, ask Lecavalier.

Could all this show really be a front to hide the fact that they are intentionally tanking the season in order to pick up either John Tavares or Victor Hedman? To be frank, the Bolts don't really need any more forwards but Tavares is a hard guy to pass up and doing so has the potential to be looked back on as one of the biggest draft misses in the history of the game if all the hype is to be believed. Not to mention the possibility of two top lines featuring Lecavalier, St. Louis, Stamkos and Tavares. Hedman, however, would be a welcome addition to a defensive corps that gives up the third most shots per game in the league that also lacks both speed and size.

If things play out the way they look right now, the Lightning will have a legitimate shot at drafting either one of these guys depending on the lottery results. It might actually work out better for them to have the second pick so that the choice is made for them.  Regardless I dont envy the choices Len Barry and Oren Koules have ahead of them.

I Was Going to Take a Break but...

Its getting close to finals week and I needed a healthy form of procrastination. Not to mention, there has been some really awesome stuff happening lately. Im abandoning my usual format for a bit in favor of quickness.

1. Nate Gerbe got called up and was a +2 in 15 mins of ice time. He is a little small if you have yet to notice.
2. Jaime Sifers will play in his first NHL game tonight for the Leafs after Luke Schenn goes down with an injury for at least two weeks. Sifers played for UVM until the year before I graduated and was a captain for three of his four years here. I am irrationally excited about this mainly because I work for his sister.
3. Radim Vrbata, one of the Lightning's many free-agent forward acquisitions over the summer has requested to be put on waivers so he may return home to find his game. Ouch, Mr. Koules... ouch.
4. Down Goes Brown has discovered a book that should be read by every child in every nation ever.
5. Who has more class, Sean Avery or Rangers fans who chant "sloppy seconds" after a Phaneuf assist is announced in Madison Square Garden? God, I really do hate New Yorkers.
6. Apparently people like Sidney Crosby because he has somehow managed to invade the starting lineup for the all-star game after Canadiens fans wrote scripts that auto voted for their players resulting in Alex Tanguay almost ending up as a starter. What an age we live in.
7. This fight may be my favorite all time hockey fight due in large part to the outstanding third, fourth and fifth man in that occurs around the 20 second mark. See Puck Daddy for more on the penalties and such.
8. Iceman Bloggeth brings up a good point about the Thrashers trading Kovalchuk. What about Don Waddell's past gives Thrashers fans any hope for the Thrashers getting something worthwhile for the sniper? My guess: He goes to the Lightning for Meszaros. They have D-men to spare and are light on forwards, right?
9. Question: How big of an embarrassment is Scott Hartnell? Answer: So much so that his own farm team has designed a promotion around his latest indiscretion. Per the Phantoms Website: "Phantoms will stage the Scott Hartnell Glove And Mitten Toss. Hartnell will be on hand as he and the Phantoms collect new gloves and mittens for those in need this holiday season. All fans are asked to bring a new pair of gloves or mittens, with the tags still attached, to the game on December 14." Awesome. If you missed the act being referred to, here it is:
10. Puck Daddy continues to be my favorite blog due in large part to headlines like this "Martin Brodeur on Sean Avery's suspension: "The NHL should punish him with a suspension because he doesn't act professionally." Thanks, Fatso."
11. The Boston Bruins are really good. So are the San Jose Sharks.
12. The KHL's All-Star game will be outdoors. Sounds like a plan to me. In Mother Russia, Internet votes for you.
13. Some dude fell 25 feet from the upper deck at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa while carrying two beers. Party foul.
14. The NHL marketing gurus almost made a commercial for the Winter Classic 2 that would have went something like this: "One of the concepts we had initially was to film the Blackhawks against the Red Wings on Oct. 25 [in Chicago] and through special effects we'd have this ability to take the roof off the United Center; all of a sudden, people would start to disappear in the stands and they'd be replaced by lines of evergreens and snow banks." Is that two solid ideas in one season? No way. If you have yet to see the masterpiece that is the commercial they ended up choosing check it out:

Finally, for some fun, heres another picture of the lovely Carrie Milbank. Think I could take Henrik Lundqvist?

Big Thanks

I just wanted to credit my father with creating the excellent new banner that now adorns my site. He is also responsible for the new image of yours truly in the "About Me" section. The man does great work. Thanks again dad. 

On a side note, did anyone see Pronger's huge hit on Caps defenseman Mike Green? Its a huge, surprisingly legal hit from a guy with a crappy reputation. If you missed it here is the best view of it I can find.

Crashing The Net 11/18

My Thoughts:

1. Well its been a very interesting week around the NHL. I will start off with Sabres news: We are back to being very average again. The boys went 1-2 last week dropping 2 straight and not playing very well at all, barely getting the win against St. Louis thanks to a waived off goal. This will be a big week for the Sabres with games against Boston, Philadelphia and the Islanders. Oh yeah, Tim Connolly is hurt, who woulda thought it?
2. The Tampa Bay Lightning fired head coach Barry Melrose 16 games into the season. Melrose was more of a PR stunt than anything else and proved he is not very in touch with today's NHL player. His first mistake was cutting Lecavalier's playing time followed by allowing Stamkos only 9 minutes a game. How can you bench your best player and your first overall draft pick and not expect mutiny?  Melrose is replaced by Vegas odds-master Rick Tocchet on the bench. The saga continues...
3. Blues center Andy McDonald  will miss at least 8 weeks with a broken leg. Terrible news for Blues fans who lose their losing scorer and already last place in the West. John Tavares anyone?
4. The Anaheim Ducks will be without the services of Francois Beauchemin for at least 6 months as he tore his ACL against Nashville last week. This stings for a red-hot Ducks team.
5. The Penguins shopped veteran defenseman Darryl Sydor to the Dallas Stars for veteran defenseman Brian Boucher. Pretty even deal. Hopefully Sydor can give some much-needed help to Marty Turco.
6. Duck GM Brian Burke has stepped down from his position after expressing his desire to work for another team next season (cough Toronto cough).
7. The KHL released a statement that cleared itself of fault in the Alexei Cherapanov case. What a joke.
8. That offer sheet Kevin Lowe sent to Anaheim's Dustin Penner is coming back to bite him in the ass. Head Coach Craig MacTavish benched Penner calling him, among other things, a waste of money and out of shape. Ouch. Penner has been quiet this season but so has a large portion of the Oil offense. I dont think this is the way to go about getting them to play harder. MacTavish is known for this kind of thing.
9. Puck Daddy wonders whether or not it would be a good idea to allow players to participate in the shootout sans helmet. I, personally, am all for it. Some of the players' personalities would be allowed to shine (as would their mullets) and facial recognition is something the league could use more of. Good luck getting the NHLPA to sign off on it though, the first time someone rings a shot off the iron and it deflects into their face, the whole thing will blow up.
10. Anaheim Ducks AHL affiliate the Iowa Chops debuted their "Thirsty Thursday" promotion with $1 beer sales to great success. Who knew there was such a large underage drinking population in Iowa.
11. Alex Ovechkin has finally found his stride, scoring 5 goals and 10 points last week (4 games). Welcome back Ovie.
12. The Pens and Wings replayed their Finals series to the tune of a 7-6 overtime win for the Penguins.  What a game it was. Highlights in the video section.
13. TSN reports that 70% of players want to grandfather in a mandatory visor rule. If 66% is enough to change the Constitution, 70% should be enough for the NHL.
14. Boston Blueline has a great post in NHL discipline. Read it, seriously. Its a great idea and I think it would work. They have been added to the blogroll.
15. The Avalanche have locked up Paul Stastt\ny to a 5 year extension worth $6.6 million per. Stastny is every bit as much of a stud on the ice as his father was and this is a fair deal for both parties. Congrats to the Avs.
16. Mirtle is his usual brilliant self providing us with two posts. First, on the severity of the Islanders situation and, second, a touching story about a terminally ill goalie given a chance to play.

Pictures of the Week:

Hank Tallinder really knows how to celebrate, which is good considering this is following his first goal of the year, the eventual game-winner.

So does Ovie...

My father took this picture at the military academy in West Point, NY. Thats a seriously bad miss.

Tom Poti is sporting an awesome hockey face these days

This is just a cool picture overall

Here is your weekly picture of my future wife, Carrie Milbank

Videos of the Week (There are lots):

The Coach:

Ron MacLean's interview with Barry Melrose. Barry is clearly a little out of touch with what happened to his job. Are things so bad for him that he lost his house? Why is this being filmed in a parking lot?

Milan Lucic goes all beast mode on Michael Komisarek.

Scott Hartnell is a whiny little girl. In other news, the desert is hot.

This is one of the many reasons hockey is so awesome.

On first view this is a cool deke. In slow-mo, its the move of the year.

As promised, the game of the year: Pens/Wings.

No one ever said goalies were normal.

Have a good week and happy thanksgiving.

Crashing The Net 11/10

My Thoughts

1. Devin Setoguchi got snubbed in the All-Star ballot department. So did Tim Thomas.
2. Last tuesday Ryan Clowe scored a Gordie Howe hat trick. It was pretty awesome.
3. Last week I forgot to mention that Thrashers first round draft pick, 18 year old Zach Bogosian broke his leg and will miss a significant amount of time. Its really a heartbreaker for a kid to work his whole life at a dream only to have his leg broken 10 games into the season. 
4. I also forgot to mention that the Senators signed Daniel Alfredsson to a 4 year deal worth $22 million. Alfie (I hate that nickname, why did I use it?) got the short stick here. His numbers suggest a deal worth much more but good for the Sens for locking him up at a decent price.
5. Bruins rookie Blake Wheeler switched his number (from 42 to 26) minutes before a game. Oh yeah... then he scored a hat trick.
6. Chris Drury scored a 'trick as well with a dirty shorthanded goal and 2 power play goals. Check the videos.
7. Marty Turco kinda sucks right now.
8. Tampa dealt shifty defenseman Matt Carle to Philadelphia for idiot Steve Downie and defenseman Steve Eminger. Uhh, who cares? Honestly, no one got anything of value here. Philly gets a liability on defense and Tampa gets a mediocre defenseman and a liability in general.
9. The NHL suspended Habs player Tom Kostopolous 3 games for his hit from behind on Mike Van Ryn. The game was otherwise an exhibition in great hockey with the Leafs winning 6-3 in a quick-paced game.
10. Mirtle at From The Rink has a great statistical breakdown of how this year is comparing to last year. A great read for stat junkies like myself. Here it is.
11. The Sabres dropped a pair of games to Atlanta (in OT) and Boston last week. It seems like Ryan Miller either lets in 5 goals or zero in any given game.

Pictures of the Week

Dave "Tiger" Williams shows that the old guys know how to have some fun.

Kung-Fu Huet

This is just generally awesome

Carrie Milbank, host of The Hockey Show on NHL.com may be the love of my life. I would marry her just for all the awesome hockey-related T-shirts I could steal from her.

Mark Messier apparently diddnt get the message that Cascade makes lacrosse helmets. Ok, they make hockey helmets but honestly? If you're over the age of 8, you shouldnt wear this bucket, its just plain gross.

Videos of the Week

As usual Don Cherry manages to get me all teared up talking about the troops on Remembrance Day

Proof that Marty Turco is struggling. This is a tough way to lose a close game.

Heres the Kostopoulos hit... brutal.

Chris Drury's absolutely filthy short-handed goal against the Lightning.

Thats it for this week. Until next time, keep your head up

Crashing The Net 11/4

My Thoughts:

• • Teemu Selanne had an awesome week with 7 goals and 3 assists for 10 points in 5 games including a hat trick against Anaheim. Selanne combined with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry for 28 points in 4 games.
• • Marian Hossa also had a great week with 9 points including 5 goals in 6 games.
• • Martin Brodeur will have surgery on his injured elbow and miss 3-4 months. Kevin Weekes just crapped his pants.
• • Rick DiPietro is also on the shelf for the next 6-8 weeks after knee surgery. I wouldn't expect to see him suit up for quite a while. If the Isles are smart (thats a big if) they will just call the season a wash and not rush their franchise goaltender back earlier than absolutley necessary.
• • Steven Stamkos scored his first (and second) NHL goals last week. Unfortunately they had to come against the Sabres. Call the Calder committee.
• • The Leafs have learned how to skate and pass and score. Luckily there are three other teams in the Northeast Division that are better than them.
• • The Sabres started the week out kind of rough with two consecutive losses to Tampa Bay and Ottawa but got things back on track with two straight shutouts including a 5-0 beat down of the Capitals and a big win against the Devils. Last season all four games went to a shootout with the Devils taking three of the decisions. Rivet's return was also a huge plus for the guys in blue and gold as was the returns of Gaustad and Connolly.
• • Going Five Hole has a funny bit on what NHL players should dress up as for halloween.
• • Adam Proteau at The Hockey News is calling for Gary Bettman to be axed. The piece itself is interesting and well-written but the argument is tired. We get it, Gary Bettman has not done the best job running the league. You can read the piece here.

Photos of the Week:

Heres the seating chart for this years Winter Classic played at Wrigley Field. Uhh, is there is single good seat in the house?

Adam Mair is a terrifying human being. The man has a titanium plate screwed into his face from using it to block a shot and still plays with no visor and, as seen above, is a scrapper. Only hockey players...

More fuel for my no more teams in Toronto argument.

Whats so special about this picture? It was taken at Nassau Coliseum. Check out the fans in the background. Wow.

Happy election day.

No one ever said people from Buffalo have good taste. This is pretty bad.

I just like this picture. The Sharks are my unofficial favorite Western Conference team.

Videos of the Week:

The only reason my house is ever quiet on a saturday night

TSN's Top 10 Plays of the Week

Further proof of how terrifying Adam Mair really is

Great scrap between Eric Godard and Jody Shelley

This goal was on the Top 10 list but its worth another look

Eric Boulton and Colton Orr throw hands for a really, really long time. 

Finally, a little fun. This looks like something out of Gary Bettman's fantasies. You want scoring to go up? Replace goalies with MLB catchers who don't know how to skate.

Sorry for the delay in posting, 3 exams this week has really put a dent in my free time. Until next time, keep two hands on that stick.

Live Every Shift

Remember last year's NHL ad campaign featuring the slogan "Live Every Shift"? Heres a great dub of that commercial.

Switching Things Up

As I'm sure you have noticed by now, I decided to switch up the format and color scheme of my site. The light text on dark background was getting a little tough on the eyes. It's a work in progress so bear with me. I will also be getting a new, better fitting banner shortly. Thanks for your patience and Go Sabres!

This Video is Just Plain Awesome

Montreal is going all out for their centennial anniversary this year with a series of jerseys, their logo on the loonie (Canadian dollar coin for my less informed readers), a Monopoly game, an all-time team in the NHL 09 video game and this awesome commercial. This proves once again that the Canadiens are one of the classiest organizations in pro sports.

Crashing The Net 10/27

Thats my interim title for my weekly update unless either one of you or myself comes up with another one that I like better.

My Thoughts

• No wonder no one likes the Kings. I've been watching one of their broadcasts for the last 20 minutes or so and they show the game in exclusively ice-level views. Everything is either behind the net, in the corners or at the red line and its making me nauseous. It takes all of the analysis out of the game and makes it hard to describe things like icing and offsides to people who don't know what they are watching. I understand new angles and they are great for replays but live action should be in the usual semi-birds-eye view with a few new angles where it doesn't detract from the gameplay. Its a shame because the commentators are doing an excellent job describing what's going on to those less informed than us puckheads.
• Isles goalie DiPietro is hurt again, in another way. When a goalie goes down it always seems like it takes them a long time to return and they are oft reinjured. That is truly unfortunate news for the Islanders who threw a huge contract at him a couple years ago.
• Buffalo was awarded the 2011 World Junior Championships to be played at the HSBC Arena and Niagara University. Great news for the city and the Sabres organization. I hope the city really puts on a show for these kids and builds a reputation as a great place to play, a reputation that needs a bit of a makeover. Ask Craig Rivet.
• According to TSN the Red Wings' Johan Franzen will miss some time with a sprained knee. Nothing too major here, Marian Hossa has found his stride and the Wings are deep enough that this wont bother them too much.
• The Ducks won their fourth in a row tonight taking them from the coldest team to one of the hottest teams.
• Pucksandbooks over at On Frozen Blog has a post that should be required reading for all referees.
• The Sabres lost their first game in regulation tonight against the Senators. God I hate that team.
• I treat hockey like a religion but this article from the National Post sounds awesome. Needless to say my tansfer papers to the Université de Montréal  are in the mail.

Pictures of the Week

Manny Legace hurt his hip sliding out on this carpet in place for the ceremonial opening faceoff. The guest of honor? Sarah Palin. Vote Obama.

Some Philadelphia fan thought it would be cool to let off a smoke/stink bomb against the Devils. It wasn't. Thats why people hate Philly.

Brian Engblom needs a haircut. True story.

Videos of the Week

Your weekly fill of Grapes

Milan Lucic smokes Mike Van Ryn into the glass. Glass reacts as expected. People make a big deal about it.

Zach Harrison of Minnesota State University scores a shorthanded, natural hat trick. What?!

This is simply because the Sabres lost to the Senators tonight and for no other purpose except to admire the sheer beauty of the thing.

Finally, we have the hot topic of the week around the NHL; Doug Weight's hit on Brandon "Son of Brent" Sutter. For now I will say that, though it is unfortunate, people get hurt, its part of the game. The hit was clean, even in slo-mo  and I have no problem with it except to see the concussed body of a 19 year old kid with a promising future in hockey laying on the ice. More to come soon on this topic. 

Until next time, cover the points.

Lunacy!

That was my initial reaction to reading this story. Are you kidding me? Another team in Toronto? At least they didn't suggest Montreal, that would have been true sacrilege. Okay, lets calm down a bit and  think about this rationally. How could this possibly work? The article suggests an expansion team but that seems a little outlandish considering the NHL cant even support the 30 teams it has currently. Another possibility briefly mentioned in the article is the idea of moving a current team. This clearly makes more sense but would still require quite a bit of restructuring in terms of divisions. Listen, having more teams in Canada is the best thing the league could possibly do but this is not the way to go about it. If anything the league needs to contract. Six teams need to go, one from each division to bring the league to a manageable 24 teams. There will be more sell outs and, to be honest, its time to abandon the southern hockey experiment, its just not working. With all that being said, heres my breakdown of having a team in Toronto:

Positives:

• Another Canadian team
• It would make for some great rivalries
• With the current wait list for Leafs season tickets being longer than the planet will last with global warming, it would give hockey fans in the area a chance to see a game for a change
• It could possibly get a team out of the hockey graveyard known as the south
• The Toronto media might back off of the Leafs a little with another team to pick on in the area
• If a Southeast team (*cough Panthers *cough) moved to Toronto it could pave the way for Phoenix to move back to Winnipeg
• Toronto is hockey crazy
• This would stop all the crazy talk about having teams in Kansas City and Las Vegas
• If the league restructures we could go back to the old conference and division names

Negatives:

• There will be two crappy teams in Toronto for the foreseeable future
• It could mean expansion
• The NHL would be messing with some serious history
• Hamilton deserves a team way before Toronto deserves another
• So does Quebec
• It would decrease the market for other teams such as the Sabres, Habs and, obviously, the Leafs
• The league would have to completely restructure
• The talent pool would be even more diluted
• They could never live up to the expectations and would always be overshadowed by the Leafs
• Have you ever seen an Islanders game? No one goes! It would be similar in Toronto except the fans might know something about hockey. If you missed the connection, New York has two teams, one of which is an Original 6
• What happens if the new team wins a Cup before the Leafs? Toronto would burn, thats what
• The Leafs sucking is no reason to panic
• The league will go through another lockout before this ever happens anyways

All jokes (hopefully) aside there is no way this should happen. As intriguing as it sounds there is no reason to expand. If the league just moves a team it would make more sense and almost seems like a good idea but there is still fundamentally wrong with an NHL franchise in Toronto that isn't the Leafs. Until next time, keep your head up.

Epic Commercials

Last night I was watching Monday Night Football in between plays of the Penguins shootout win over the Bruins and I happened to catch this commercial. I like it a lot, so much so that I was ready to declare it one of the best sports related commercials I've ever seen.

But then I saw this one, and it clearly takes the cake.

This one deserves an honorable mention however.

Thats it. My pick for tonight's game is Sabres 4 Boston 2 with goals from Vanek, Paille, Spacek and MacArthur.

Weekly Catch-Up 10/20

Wow. Quite frankly I'm surprised Blogger has not deleted my account considering its been so long in between posts. Sorry about that, I've had a ton of school work to do, my obligatory 30 hours a week at the rink with the ladies and my sister visited last week. Enough excuses. I cant even contemplate the amount of interesting stuff I missed in my absence but I'm going to try to catch everyone up with what happened last week and in the first few games of NHL regular season action.

1. The NHL season officially opened in Europe somewhere. No one noticed. The only bonus to this is that it gives my conspiracy theory more credibility.
2. The Sabres are awesome.
3. Thomas Vanek is a beast.
4. Tampa Bay stinks. No Joke. Even having 23 NHL-calibre forwards cant save this team from losing a ton of one goal games.
5. Rangers 19 year old prospect Alexei Cherapanov died on the ice in a KHL game and was unable to be revived due in large part to terrible medical response including not having an ambulance at the game and a defibrillator with dead batteries. It was a terrible day for hockey fans of any nation and does not bode well for public opinion of the KHL. Good luck trying to find players who want to play where they wont receive adequate medical care.
6. The Blackhawks fired head coach Denis Savard after a 1-2-1 start. That was mighty quick and relatively surprising. so surprising in fact that Pat Kane was teary-eyed at the press conference. His replacement is Joel Quenneville formerly with the Avalanche and Blues.
7. Red Wings great Steve Yzerman was appointed the Executive Director of Team Canada for the 2010 olympics in Vancouver. No surprise here.
8. Fabian Brunnstrom, a Dallas Stars rookie scored a hat trick in his NHL debut becoming just the third player in NHL history to accomplish the feat.
   
9. Fighting is Back! I'm told that fighting was the focus of a good Sports Illustrated piece that I have yet to read but plan on doing so at a cost to my wardrobe. No explanation needed, Indy. There have been 58 fights through 77 games according to HockeyFights.com and you are starting to see some bigger names like Jarome Iginla throwing hands. In my opinion this is great for the league. It garners exposure on TV outlets and will ultimately attract more fans.
10. Andrei Kostitsyn will miss a bit of time after taking a nasty hit against the Coyotes. The video will be in the video section.
11. The Flyers sent classless goon Steve Downie to their AHL farm-team. All of the NHL including league disciplinarian Colin Campbell breather a collective sigh of relief. I believe I have expressed my thoughts on Downie before.
12. Sidney Crosby scored his 100th NHL goal and recorded his 200th NHL assist on Hockey Night in Canada against the Leafs in a 4 point effort. I swear, the Kid loves to show off on CBC because he knows all of Canada is watching.
13. J.S. Giguere has been terrible for the Ducks so far, as has Peter Budaj for the Avs.
14. The Flyers stink right now and I couldn't be more happy about it.
15. Marian Gaborik will not be with the Wild by the end of the season, I guarantee it. If Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher pulls his head out of the toilet he might realize that Gaborik is just the kind of player his franchise needs... a good one.
16. Marian Hossa recorded his 300th Career NHL goal and first with the Red Wings against the Rangers.
17. Steven Stamkos has seen his ice time reduced to around 9 minutes a game and has been with different linemates almost every game. In unrelated news Barry Melrose is a fool.
18. Marty Turco has not been very good thus far this season. All you suckers who picked him first in your fantasy teams are screwed.

Pictures of the Week

Wikipedia vandalism will never get old.

In a word: Sacrilege. I will never listen to Def Leppard again. Oh wait, I never did in the first place and you shouldn't either... seriously. 

Barack Obama is fighting Sarah Palin on all fronts. First she claims to be a hockey mom, Obama responds by putting up ads in NHL09. I love it.

If I don't end up owning this shirt, both my mother and my father will disown me.

Videos of the Week

Your obligatory Coaches Corner of the Week.

Heres the Kostitsyn Hit.

Great scrap between Georges Laraque and Shawn Thornton.

Good old fashioned line brawl between the Sabres and Islanders.

Matt bradley gets all scrambled eggs courtesy of Paul Bissonnette.

A sad reminder that things in other countries are not always as rosy as they are here in the U.S. and Canada. This is the kind of medical care a top athlete receives and ultimately led to his death. RIP Alexei Cherapanov. This video may be disturbing to some viewers.

Marty Havlat scores a sick goal against the Coyotes. Poor phoenix always seems to have the most amazing goals cored against them. Dont believe me? Ask Alex Ovechkin.

Finally, rookie T.J. Oshie scores a dirty shootout goal against the Blackhawks in his NHL debut.

Thats it for this week. I'm thinking I will be doing this kind of weekly catch-up thing with pictures and videos every week on Mondays but I refuse to do it without a catchy title and a cool picture to accompany it. Any ideas? I might even consider buying the person with the best title suggestion a Mighty Taco... maybe. Until next time, don't stand in front of the net with no pads while people are ripping slapshots from the point without looking.

Why Hockey is Better Than Baseball

Major League Baseball playoffs are about to start and, thus, a conflict of interest for yours truly. I love baseball but, to be honest, its tough to be a total fan over the course of a 162 game season. Baseball, like every other sport, gets a lot more interesting during the playoffs and viewership picks up but the problem lies in the fact that the MLB postseason starts right when the NHL regular season starts. I always struggle with what to watch on any given night but recently the question was answered for me in the form of a picture. What do the Stanley Cup Champions do when they win? Thats correct people, drink from the Cup. I don't think this is what Lord Stanley had in mind...

The worst part is that the Tampa Bay Rays didn't even win the World Series. This is just for winning the pennant. Mark my words, this disgrace will cost them.

Need a Break From the Work I Ignored All Weekend

So I figured I would talk hockey for a bit. As we speak we are less than a week away from the official, albeit hokey, start of the NHL season in Prague. The Sabres played another preseason game tonight against the Wild and lost 2-1 in a shootout. Last night the boys beat the Leafs 3-2 in OT. I neither watched nor listened to either of these games so unfortunately I cannot comment on them other than its a bummer we lost tonight on a bad bounce with 3 minutes left. Here are the headlines:

• The Ducks traded 19 season veteran defenseman Mathieu Schneider to Atlanta in exchange for 3 no namers in a move to clear cap space. Schneider had already passed through waivers but Anaheim was having a hard time moving him because of his large salary. Atlanta gets the better deal here but, believe me, this guy is not going to make the Thrashers magically start winning games.
  
• A day after trading Schneider the Ducks signed veteran winger Teemu Selanne. Selanne was very patient in waiting for the Ducks and displayed his loyalty to the franchise. The terms of the deal are two years at $2.625 million per. Thats dirt cheap for a player of his calibre in today's NHL.
• On a sad note, Paul Newman, the main character in the greatest sports movie of all time died of cancer over the weekend. Newman will be forever immortalized by puckheads for his role as Reg Dunlop in Slapshot.
• Note in the picture above that the Sabres logo at center ice is the vintage logo. Sick!

You Know Its Hockey Season When...

I get very little accomplished between the hours of 7:00 and 10:00. I resisted the temptation to stop working and go watch the Sabres/Habs game all the way through the first period but eventually broke down and made my way to my fraternity house to watch the game on the NHL Network. The Sabres lost 3-2 but here are my thoughts based on the two periods of play I watched, in no particular order. Please take these all with a grain of salt because it is still the preseason and lineups are changing everyday:

• The Power Play needs some work. Its given up 3 short-handed goals in 2 games and has one lucky goal for. It may just be a matter of finding the right guys to man the points but its a point of some concern for me.
• Derek Roy looks good. He is playing confidently and the puck seems to follow him. He looked solid on the half-wall and is in control when leading the rush. I saw very few errant passes from him and his shot selection was good. He scored one of the goals on a rush by just out-muscling the goalie after faking the pass. Roy just might live up to his contract this year.
• Nathan Paetsch looked pretty bad. I was a big Paetsch supporter last year but he did not impress me tonight. He's a guy whose on the bubble for the 7th D-man and right now he is being outplayed by his counterparts from Portland. Nathan pinched at bad times and was just generally out of position more often than I would have liked to have seen (that is, never, especially from a guy with a significant amount of NHL experience).
• Tim Connolly was wearing the "C" tonight for white and looked comfortable with it. He did his best with the power play and will be a huge asset once again this year on the PK. Tim looks to be in good shape and moving well, lets just hope he can stay healthy.
• Jason Pominville looked average to me tonight. Nothing dazzling, nothing special. He was manning the point for one of the short handed goals but the play was not on his side and Paetsch pinched inadvisably. Pominville did not have a single shortie scored on him last season when he was working the point on the PP so I'm not too worried about him. He was also lacking his favorite center, Jochen Hecht.
• Gragnani is not ready for the NHL yet.
• Lalime looked ok. He was the victim of a bad bounce in the first and was hung out to dry for the other two short handed goals he gave up. Positionally he looked pretty good with the exception of a few plays. He will be a much more reliable backup than Thibault was last season.
• Maxim Afinogenov looks like the 2006-07 Maxim Afinogenov. He has ditched that extra move that always seemed to cause him to give up the puck. He was quick as ever and looked decent on the backcheck as well as distributing the puck well and realizing when it was time to pass. Funny how things fall into place in a contract year, huh?
• Mike Weber looked very solid on the blue line. Very few mistakes out of the kid, don't be surprised to see him playing in Buffalo in October.
• Kennedy looked good as well, he might be a mid-season call up.
• Lydman and Tallinder looked their usual selves
• Stafford looked decent as did Clarke MacArthur.
• Finally, on to Nate Gerbe. Gerbe already possesses NHL speed, which was on display tonight. He also looked stronger than I expected and his timing looked good too. He plays a bigger game in the corners than most people would guess as well. He scored the other goal for the Sabres on a slapper from the circle tops that went top cheddar on the far side, a beautiful goal. For equipment junkies like me, it looks like Gerbe is planning on making the bigs with his custom colored Sabres sticks. To be honest, I would love to see him jump straight to the pros but I don't see it happening. That doesn't mean we wont see him later in the year though.

Thats it except for the fact that Stamkos scored another dirty goal, this one in regulation against the Rangers. It was a wrist shot from the low left circle that caught the far upper corner. I have no doubt that he will play on one of the top two lines for the Lightning this season.

Until next time, keep those sticks on the ice.

Third Best Day of the Year...

Yes folks thats correct, its not the start of the playoffs or the regular season but the first time the Sabres take the ice for the year. I was having a pretty crappy day but when I got home it all got better because the boys in blue and gold had already taken the ice. We are currently down 3-1. I would love to be watching the game online for free through Leafs TV but since I have a Vermont IP address I cannot access it. Lame. Add that one to the long list of reasons I hate Toronto. In fact, its only saving grace is the fact that my sister lives there. Better make that a 4-1 deficit halfway through the second with the only Sabres goal coming from Marek Zagrapan 45 seconds into the game on a PP. Peters has already been tossed for unsportsmanlike conduct and both him and Kaleta have been involved in scuffles. What was I saying about crappy day? Hockey has that ability. Even the fact that Sarah Palin likes hockey can't sway me away from my beloved sport.

Steven Stamkos played in his first game at the NHL level winning his first draw (against Sidney Crosby) and scoring a filthy shootout goal for the win. Heres a video of highlights from the game.

For those of you who don't know, I'm a huge fan of San Jose's gritty third line center Torrey Mitchell. Not only did he go to UVM but he plays the game the way it was meant to be played ("with a lot of heart and a big back of knuckles" according to Mike Myers' character Donnie Shulzhoffer in Mystery, Alaska). Unfortunately, yesterday at practice his leg collided with the post while going to the net breaking his tibia and fibula. He is expected to be out 8 weeks (that means 12). Not only is this a huge blow to the Sharks who now will likely have to move Marleau to center but also to Mitchell's career. He played in all 82 games last season recording 10 goals and 20 points as well as a goal and 2 assists in the playoffs. Hopefully he can return with no side-effects. Luckily for Mitchell, it was not a tendon pull/tear, those can nag you for the rest of your career.

Finally, the Sabres extended GM Darcy Regier two more years. Regier has come under fire for letting Briere, Drury, McKee, Campbell and Grier leave in recent years but I still think he has done a decen job running the team, especially in some tough times. Then again, I look at that list of players, players I loved to watch and who were quality teammates, and wonder why it took him so long to realize how to sign players under the new CBA.

With that said, Go Sabres (and take the Bills with you). I stole that line from my father and I'm not ashamed to admit it because I am slowly turning into him.

Population of Pominville Jumps to 26.5 Million

Thats correct folks, my boy Jason Pominville is now locked up through 2013-14. This great news. Now I can continue to wear my sweater with pride. Hopefully with a long-term deal signed the Sabres will not hesitate to name him full time captain. The terms of the deal are 5 years at $5.3 million per. As excited as I am for this extension I cant help but think back two summers when a similar deal was offered to Chris Drury and somehow the Sabres brass managed to screw it up. I love Jason Pominville and he is my favorite player in the NHL today but I would take Chris Drury over him any day for that money. Now I feel bad for ending an exciting post on a somewhat depressing note so heres a picture to make up for it...

Minor Stuff

Well, I was looking at my calendar today and I noticed that Training Camp starts in 2 days! Awesome. My job with the Women's team here at UVM has started to heat up as well so I'm pretty thrilled to once again be immersed in hockey. Heres a few tidbits of news to tide you over until all the exciting stories start coming out of training camp:

• The Red Wings locked up Darren McCarty for another year. Great, as if the Red Wings didn't already have almost the exact same players as the Cup winning team, they keep some grit around as well.
• The Ducks placed Mathieu Schneider on waivers in an attempt to make cap space for the return of Teemu Selanne. Unfortunately for them Schneider cleared waivers and now must be sent down to the AHL and back up whereupon anyone can pick him up at half his salary (around $2.5 million). That certainly wouldn't be a terrible deal for a high scoring defenseman with a great plus/minus (+22 last season with 12 goals and 27 assists in 65 games).
• The Flyers named Mike Richards their captain for the upcoming season. No surprise here, he's been tabbed as the next captain since he was drafted and this was a good time to make it official. The Flyers now have a solid team as well as a clear cut leader/face of the team.
• Hurricanes forward Justin Williams underwent surgery today to repair his achilles tendon (injured in an off-ice workout). He will miss 4-6 months. This is a huge blow to the 'Canes. Williams is a point per game guy and was missed dearly by Carolina when he went down last season with a torn ACL. If he could stay healthy, he would be a great contributor to the 'Canes' roster.
• Puck Daddy has found some video evidence of the Slovakian beatdown of Bulgaria I posted on. Its a disgrace to even call this a hockey game.
• Mats Sundin is still a jerk
• Jason Pominville is still unsigned. Its going to suck playing against him when the Sabres fail to sign him and he bolts for Montreal.

Staal Signs Long-term Deal with Canes

Carolina Hurricanes forward Eric Staal just signed a 7 year deal reportedly worth $57.75 million at an average per season hit of $8.25 million. Call me crazy but that seems a bit excessive for a guy who has never scored more than 100 points in a season. His cap hit is higher than both Crosby and Malkin not to mention big-name centers like Chris Drury, Scott Gomez and Daniel Briere. If good (not great) players keep getting contracts that large, the NHL has another lockout in its sights.

Quick Note: The Montreal Canadiens have annonced that they are retireing Patrick Roy's number. Sweet. Roy is still a jerk though.

My Life is in Order!

So yeah, I have not posted in a long time due in large part to the fact that classes started last week and, until today at around noon, I was a junior with no major, no money and no purpose in life. Well I'm pleased to say that at least now I have a major (Community Development and Applied Economics for those of you who care) even if the other two are still lacking. Considering I just joined 5 brand new classes I dont have any homework so I figured I would catch up here while my roommate actually does something with his life. Enough about me, heres the hockey news and views:

• Detroit continues to be a model of how to run a franchise signing geezer Chris Chelios to a one year deal. Chelios is now officially older than time itself and was a mere 4 years old when hockey was invented. When Chelios dies in the year 3000, so will hockey.
• The blogosphere has been abuzz with news from the Womens pre-Olympic qualifier. Slovakia disgraced Bulgaria in the final game of the tournament, blanking the Bulgarian women 82-0. Ouch. Heres some stats that I've managed to scrounge up from my more esteemed colleagues. There were 12 players with hat tricks (thats all four lines folks) including one 10-goal scorer, two 9-goal scorers and four others with 8 goals. Every Slovak was plus-22 or better. There were two Bulgarians that were minus-39. Bulgaria was out scored 192-1 throughout the four game tournament with their only goal coming on their only shot against Croatia. As Puck Daddy points out, Bulgaria allowed more goals in 4 games than the Detroit Red Wings did in all 82 games last season (184). They had seven total shots in the tournament. As much fun and amazing it is to look at these stats, to be honest I dont think I have ever seen a poorer showing of sportsmanship. Isn't 40-0 enough?
  
• Pat Quinn will step in as the new head coach of team Canada for the World Junior Championships. No surprise there. Quinn will likely be looking to make a return to NHL level coaching if this gig goes well.
• Some joker over at the Globe and Mail reported that the Tampa Bay Lightning are now interested in the services of Mats Sundin. As ridiculous as this is, I wonder if anyone has told the Bolts' brass that they're not going to be able to win every game 11-10 and are going to have to learn how to play some defense once in a while. What a gongshow that boardroom must be.
• The KHL season started almost a week ago. There seems to be quite a bit of fighting going on and they even have their own Sidney Crosby wanna be.  
• On a similar note I would like to extend a very special thank you to the newly formed league for getting rid of garbage like Chris Simon for us: 

          There was also this gem of a brawl. So much for being a threat to the NHL.

• Brendan Shanahan should chop Mats Sundin down with his stick if they ever end up on the same ice surface again. Shanahan has said since the beginning of the summer that he wants to continue playing for the Rangers and his position has not changed. The Rangers, however, are waiting on a response from Sundin which may not come until after the season starts. If they commit the money to Shanahan they might as well kiss Sundin goodbye. Its a pretty terrible thing to do on both the Rangers' and Sundin's part. If it was up to me, I would sign Shanahan. The Rangers already have Drury and Gomez at center. It might not sit well with any of them to be the third-line center, especially getting paid the money that they are.
• The Florida Panthers signed Keith Ballard to a six year, $25.2 million deal. Ballard was part of the draft-day deal that saw Olli Jokinen go to Phoenix. Ballard has 19 goals and 87 points as well as 243 PIM in 233 career games. That seems like a lot of money to be throwing at a guy with those kind of numbers but I guess the Cats need all the help they can get.
• Finally, a leaked photo of the Sabres' new third jerseys has made its way onto the interweb. To put it simply, it looks great! Hello Christmas 2008. I'll have to get a Gil Perreault jersey to appease my parents into buying me one. Seriously though, why did it take so long to get it right?

Sunny Days for Meszaros, McCabe

So a few days ago the Ottawa Senators traded defenseman Andrej Meszaros to the Tampa Bay Lightning for defensemen Filip Kuba and Alexandre Picard as well as a first round pick in 2009. A day later the Lightning signed him to a six year deal reportedly worth around $5 million a season. The lightning definitely got the short end of the stick in this trade but the team has nearly no NHL calibre defensemen and were in desperate need of a responsible D-man. Meszaros becomes the only member of the Bolts defensive corps that was a plus last season. The Lightning have made huge improvements this season but are still lacking in the most important aspect: a Playoff Goaltender. I'm sorry but Olaf Kolzig is not a Cup-worthy goalie. He was just over .500 last season and is, to put it politely, a veteran. I cant see this team making it into the playoffs without a better tender. Once that happens though, look out.

Unfortunately, another talented player is headed for the no-mans-land we call the Southeast Division. Bryan McCabe, formerly of the Toronto Maple Leafs, was traded, along with a fourth round pick in 2010 to the Florida Panthers for defenseman Mike Van Ryn. This one goes in favor of the Leafs in my opinion. McCabe was audibly unhappy in Toronto and only stuck around this long to get the $2 million he was owed as of September 1. Van Ryn is nothing special but at least they got something for McCabe.

On a less sunny note, the Vancouver Canucks are set to honor the late Luc Bourdon at their home opener. Bourdon died in a tragic motorcycle crash over the summer. According to TSN:

The Canucks are asking fans to join the team prior to the 7:30pm puck drop for a pre-game ceremony that will include a video tribute to the late Bourdon and a moment of silence. As fans arrive, they will be presented with a commemorative pin in honour of Bourdon.

The organization will continue to remember Bourdon throughout the season with an element added to each player's helmet. Hosts at General Motors Place will also continue to wear the commemorative pin for all 41 regular season home games in 2008-09.

Classy move. Hockey is one of the best sports when it comes to things like this. Well, that and its the best sport ever played. More to come sometime soon. Classes are starting so things are getting a little crazy but I'll do my best to post more often, especially now that the season is getting closer.