Liam Maguire's Ultimate Hockey (Division of 8065497 Canada Inc.)

Diamonds in the Rough the Fourth Round Draft Picks. New York Rangers Ryan Callahan and Ottawa Senators Daniel Alfredsson

Diamonds New York Rangers Captain Ryan Callahan is the 26th team captain on the historic original six team. Ottawa Senators fans might appreciate the diamond in the rough story that Callahan brings to New York. This young New York Rangers captain was drafted 127th overall much like Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson was drafted 133rd …

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Darren Langdon and Marty McSorley with yours truly. 530 hockey fights between these two vibrant and engaging men who were both outstanding contributors to this great event.

Talking hockey with 99…and 19…33…27…39…15

That’s too many numbers for a scoring play but indeed it was a major score for Keyano College in Fort McMurray, Alberta this past weekend (May 10-11) with a fund-raising effort the likes of which you don’t see every day. I was honoured to be invited by Shawn Chaulk, chair of the organizing committee and …

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The Time is Now For Lundqvist, the “King” Of Broadway

When it comes to the National Hockey League. there have been a lot of great netminders. From Terry Sawchuk, Johnny Bower, Jacques Plante to Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur, and Dominik Hasek. These goaltenders won a lot of hockey games, made a lot of big saves at the right time and played their absolute best when …

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Money for Nothing and your Goalie for Free. Braden Holtby and Henrik Lundqvist the Money Puck.

When I headed over to CapGeek.com in order to see the amount of money the Washington Capitals are paying for outstanding postseason goal tending my jaw dropped. A $637,777 Cap hit for 2011-2012 to put 22-year-old Braden Holtby between the pipes for Washington. I mean this kid will be a future millionaire no doubt when the time …

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Marc Bergevin on the thin red (white and blue) line

Appropriately Marc Bergevin played defense in his 20 year NHL career. He’ll certainly have to call on his defensive capabilities several times during his tenure as Montreal’s GM what with public comments already vilifying the hire of the Habs 17th GM in their history since 1909. Most of the call-to-arms have been made in the …

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Diamonds in the Rough the Fourth Round Draft Picks. New York Rangers Ryan Callahan and Ottawa Senators Daniel Alfredsson Talking hockey with 99…and 19…33…27…39…15 The Time is Now For Lundqvist, the “King” Of Broadway Money for Nothing and your Goalie for Free. Braden Holtby and Henrik Lundqvist the Money Puck.Marc Bergevin on the thin red (white and blue) line

Apr 21

Back to the 80′s?

Categories:

National Hockey League, Stanley Cup, Wayne Gretzky

by Patrick Hoffman

It appears this is the direction the NHL has taken with what has gone on in the 2012 postseason.

We have seen high-scoring games, brawls, and a ton of wide open hockey. While this may not be the case in every single series, there is one series that fits this description perfectly and that is the Pittsburgh Penguins (4) and Philadelphia Flyers (5) series.

For starters, this series has been all about scoring. Think 1980′s Edmonton Oilers scoring.

Like the Oilers had Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, and Paul Coffey, the Penguins have the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal, Jordan Staal and Kris Letang. These players are cashing in on their opportunities just like the Oilers’ stars did all those years ago.

You cannot forget about the Flyers scoring as well. With players like Claude Giroux, Daniel Briere, Jaromir Jagr, Wayne Simmonds, Maxime Talbot and others, the puck is finding the back of the net more often than not.

Of course, when talking about 80′s hockey, you cannot go without mentioning fights. The 80′s featured great playoff battles between the New York Rangers and New York Islanders, the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames, the Edmonton Oilers and Boston Bruins, and so on and so forth.

These games brought out the fierce rivalry between the two clubs and showed in every way. This postseason, the fiercist rivalry is between the Penguins and Flyers.

When it comes to the Penguins and Flyers, there is no doubt that these two teams hate each other. If last Sunday afternoon’s Game 3 proved anything, it was that. There was Crosby vs. Giroux, Aaron Asham, James Neal, Brayden Schenn, and a lot more players that were involved in the game physically and also involved with their fists.

While the “new” NHL is all about playing tight defense and winning the low-scoring battles, the Penguins and Flyers have turned back the clock and while it has caused mayhem for the officials, it has certainly made it fun for the fans.

Patrick Hoffman

Patrick Hoffman is a veteran hockey writer/blogger based in Fairfield. Patrick covers the NHL for the Red Light District Hockey Blog, Kukla’s Korner and also contributes to Sportsnet.ca. Prior to writing for the above-mentioned outlets, Hoffman’s musings have been published on TheHockeyNews.com, The Fourth Period, Spector’s Hockey, Hokeja Vestnesis, Blueshirt Bulletin, SNYRangersBlog.com, here on NHL Home Ice from 2008 to 2009, as well as a slew of others.

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Apr 18

Torres on Hossa- and the beat goes on

Categories:

minor hockey, National Hockey League, Stanley Cup

by Liam Maguire

This does not show initial contact to the head but it sure as heck shows his skates up pretty high.

Like many of you I too have watched the replay of the Torres hit on Hossa over and over. Much like Brendan Shanahan will be doing today I’m sure. The hit was late and Torres skates come several inches off the ice, in other words he really launched himself into Hossa. It was an opportunity no question. Hossa was turning and had released the puck. You’re always fair game for an instant after releasing the puck but this was a deliberate cheap shot in my opinion and definitely worthy of a suspension.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2mX7LqBGo4

I have softened my original thoughts a bit after many views. Reason being there should be some onus on Hossa to be aware at all times and the one item regarding skates coming off the ice, it’s almost impossible especially for a shorter player to not have some sort of elevation if you are in a position to make a big hit in hockey. Regular body momentum will see that happen almost every occasion to a degree. But not this much, this could have actually been at least a charging call. I believe he came far enough to make the hit to warrant that. But here’s the bigger issue, if you as a fan of the sport and I include the main stream media who have lead the charge on decrying this hit, if you want or expect this to change it has to be one of two ways; allow the players to police themselves again or once you’ve decided a hit is bad enough to warrant a major suspension then give said player a number of games to match the transgression.

If we look down the list of suspensions in the past ten years there are two that stand out, both to the same player in the same calendar year, 2007. Chris Simon received 25 and 30 games respectively for two very tough plays, running one player very hard into the boards from behind and then stepping on another player with his skate something which Chris Pronger was deemed guilty of less than a year later and received one third of the same suspension. But we’ve been made well aware of the stars being handled differently for years by the NHL discipline committee.

Is Torres the first player to conduct himself like this in an ongoing fashion? No, sadly he’s not. These ‘rat’ players as so eloquently described by Brian Burke in one of his earlier pressers this year have proliferated in the NHL for the past twenty years. Most of this can be attributed to the introduction of the instigator rule. However there is a much more odious reason and I witness this first hand coaching minor hockey every year. We now have had a full generation, 20+ years of kids playing minor hockey and coming through the ranks with little or no instruction or innate ability to not only give hits but receive them in hockey.

When I played minor hockey and likely when many of you did, we hit as soon as we put on skates and equipment and played league games regardless of what age you were or what level you played. League hockey meant hitting and contact and you probably took a good wallop or two if you had your head down and pretty quickly you said, ‘wow, that sucked, I think I’ll keep my head up next time.’ What a concept. In addition you picked up how to angle properly, how never, ever to turn your back away from the boards, how to lead properly with your shoulder, how never to stick your knee out, how to transfer your weight properly, what the proper positioning of your arms should be, all of it, you simply picked up as you played the game whether it was at 7, 8, 9 years of age.

Would you get mad sometimes if you were given a cheap shot and the normal course of a hit or contact was breached, of course! Maybe you responded with a punch to the head, maybe you got his number and got him back next game with a clean hit or you ran your antagonist and you took the penalty instead of him. That’s hockey. It happens. But at the very least, you knew what the hell you were doing on the ice and how to give and take a hit.

What’s happened is this. Some large forehead types approximately twenty-five years ago decided to take hitting out of hockey until our children were eleven. In Quebec I believe it’s thirteen and that’s the age that is now being discussed for all of minor hockey in Canada to institute body contact. What a natural disaster. With IP (Initiation Programs) coast to coast children can start playing hockey at five. Two years of IP, two years of novice, two years of atom and finally….you can hit. After as many as six years of hockey, countless games and undoubtedly a fair number of tournaments all of a sudden, these eleven year old children are suppose to start hitting. Yes, I know there’s instruction. Please, I’ve seen it, been through it, with my son and others that I’ve coached. There is no substitute in a 50 minute practice or a portion of your practices going forward that is going to be able to fully prepare this young men or women to not only give a hit but how to take one. Why are so many kids turning their backs today? Why do so many kids today run other kids targeting the head? Why does a player like Raffi Torres exist in the NHL today? I’ll tell you exactly why.

Torres and the Cooke’s, Ott’s, Lapierre’s, et al, of the NHL were the players at 11 or 12 years of age who were identified by their coaches as great skaters, players who could get in on the fore check, lay a big hit, target that defenseman, target that player and hit and run. Don’t worry about the puck, we don’t care if you ever touch the puck, just hit and run. Oh and don’t worry son, by the time you make the NHL, you’ll have nothing to worry about, the instigator rule will protect you and even if you really go overboard, the suspension will be minimal. It will hardly affect your millions you are making for being a weasel and a rat. Enjoy the game.

This type of player is now part of the pro hockey landscape and every year every one of you involved in minor hockey, in your minds you are all same the same thing; oh ya, I know a guy like that. He plays on so and so’s team and he runs guys all the time. Guess what? He’ll continue in junior or NCAA and sure enough it will be his game in pro. Want to know how it was handled years ago? Here’s the best story, you may disagree…or agree but this is how it was handled.

Years ago a player named Dennis Hextall threw a vicious cheap shot on a defenseman named Gary Doak. Doak was with the Boston Bruins at the time. There was immediate retribution but in addition to that, the next game, the game after that, the game after that and for a long, long period of time every time Boston played Dennis Hextall somebody on Boston went after him. It was not pleasant for Mr. Hextall who was a legit solid pro player but who played somewhat on the edge. That was in the 70’s. In the 80’s Boston again faced a scenario where Claude Lemieux of Montreal had incurred the wrath of the Bruins after a series of cheap shots. The next year, exhibition game, with Terry O’Reilly now coaching the Bruins, he instructed the Bruins to absolutely pound Lemieux every single time he was on the ice regardless of the score. Montreal won the game 7-1. Lemieux did not finish the game. Post game speech from O’Reilly? Great job boys, practice tomorrow at 10.

You protagonists for a non-fighting NHL, careful what you wish for, there is a major moment in the NHL that is going to happen from a stick or a hit, illegally, that will cause extreme damage, maybe God forbid even death. But if these players can run around with full impunity you reap what you sew. Enjoy the games.

Dale Hunter-back in the day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vyhbdz14U8

Liam Maguire

By the time Liam Maguire was ten, he had accumulated and stored a vast supply of hockey data. At the age of sixteen, the passion turned into an obsession of studying, memorizing, reading and researching even the smallest hockey trivia detail.

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Tags: Brendan Shanahan, Brian Burke, Claude Lemieux, Dennis Hextall, Gary Doak, Marian Hossa, Max Lapierre, Raffi Torres, Steve Ott, Terry O'Reilly

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Apr 16

Hockey shows its violent side- main stream media and twitter world trips over lower lip-news at 11

Categories:

hockey history, National Hockey League, Stanley Cup

by Liam Maguire

It’s been an eventful past 72 hours as the challenge to win Lord Stanley has ratcheted up the compete level in every series. As of this writing the sixteen teams in the post season have combined to produce 21 fighting majors, a couple of line brawls, expulsions, suspensions and an array of cheap shots. Barring an almost immediate cessation to the fighting this year’s playoffs will eclipse eight of the past nine post season totals and maybe even take a run at the 2009 playoff that witnessed forty-one majors and a variety of other garden store violent acts. It has been wild, it has been crazy but it’s nothing new to the sport. If anything this generation continues to benefit from how much the game has been cleaned up from my youth. For example, I selected a random year in the 1970’s, 1976 for a comparison. There were seventy-two fighting majors that post season, numerous game misconducts, two bench clearing brawls, one which led to a calling for arrests in Toronto and eight additional majors for a variety of elbows, high sticks and one sided matches ala Matt Carkner on Brian Boyle. I point this out to try and assuage the many on twitter, those that are purporting to be some sort of media liaison, scribe, pundit-blogger type plus the usual array of our main stream media Johnny do-gooders from the print and electronic world who write with such eloquent prose and with such disdain of the fighting, one even going so far as to suggest yesterday he may ‘give up on the NHL’. Please…exit stage door left, don’t let Matt Carkner hit you on the way out. I digress.

Here is what happened, here is why it happened, here is why it will always continue to happen; Shea Weber, Henrik Zetterberg. Zetterberg’s cheap shot slash on Weber’s knee at the conclusion of game one in the Detroit-Nashville series sparked an immediate response from Weber. It was for the record maybe the worst area you can slash a player, side of the shin pad, up high enough where’s there’s little or no padding. It is amazing how incensed you can become when you are hit there, the pain is so severe so fast you go blank for a few seconds. Weber’s first retaliatory swing was not properly measured, he basically missed. To ensure he did not the second time he pulled what’s now being referred to as the ‘turnbuckle move’. He slammed Zetterberg’s head into the glass, one of Detroit’s key people slumped to the ice and a minor penalty was called as the game ended. Supplementary discipline was meted out, it was a 2500$ fine, which to the entire hockey world myself included was a joke. Weber deserved at least a game, even by the playoffs-are-worth-more scenario; he deserved at least a game. As much as it was a gutless cheap shot by Zetterberg the only recourse is to try and hit him back fairly, cheap shot him back next game or fight him. Weber chose door number four, deal with it now.

Enter Todd Bertuzzi, hands up who sees the irony here. Bertuzzi fights Weber next game. It’s a fair, pretty even tussle early in the game, the Red Wings win the contest and by all accounts that’s the end of it as these teams return to the fantastic series it is. But the fuse was lit. If people don’t think the other teams were not watching this and listening to one of the most respected people in hockey today, Mike Babcock, explain the Bertuzzi-Weber fight as Detroit taking care of their own business because the league would not, they are sadly mistaken. It’s my opinion that the Weber-Zetterberg incident, the non suspension, the Bertuzzi-Weber fight and finally Babcock’s explanation led to what transpired over the next 72 hours.

Paul Maclean spent seven years as a coach in Detroit including several with Mike Babcock. It’s my belief from the moment Brian Boyle finished hitting Erik Karlsson in the head Maclean was already measuring his response, it would come in the way of a line up change. He did a beautiful job masking this, regardless, it’s my guess with the non suspension of Weber both the Ottawa coaching staff and several of their noted pugilists made a note that the ‘Detroit way’ would work just fine here and we’ll let the circumstances dictate what happens in terms of a suspension. I truly believe the outcome of the game was secondary. Regardless of when you played hockey, back in the day or now, a cheap shot to one of your best players will always be answered and so it should be.

The outbursts of fighting and brawling in the other series also owe their origin somewhat to what transpired before them, not entirely but somewhat, no question. History has shown that these incidents in the NHL are disappearing from the arenas. Will they ever be eradicated totally? No, they never, ever will be. You cannot ban fighting in hockey. All you can do is change the rules to help further curtail it but it still continues in leagues the world over that administer the strictest of punishment for doing so, game banishment, further suspensions and there still is fighting in hockey. How many of the stars in our great game are out of action today due to a fight? If Daniel Alfredsson is unable to play tonight (April 16) is that due to a fight? No, just another in the endless cavalcade of cheap shots that have proliferated in the game faster than bloggers who can tell us what’s wrong with hockey.

Hockey is controlled violence on ice. Once you introduce contact and checking, keep score and put a ton on the line, the history of the Stanley Cup, millions of dollars to the respective businesses-teams, guess what, occasionally bad things are going to happen. I will reiterate time and time again, the final exclamation needed to clean up the game of hockey and leave us, the fans, with a product as close to perfection that being with the respect level as high as possible, the speed, skill and grace of these phenomenal athletes on display nightly and with the near obliteration of the side shows that so many of you decry do the following;

1) Remove the instigator penalty

2) Reduce the roster by one

3) Throw the book at the cheap shot artists

Any one of these items implemented improves the game. Done collectively we would have a swift and massive change to the entire complexion of the sport.

Predictions are for gypsies. I’m going to follow the lead of my friend Bob Mckenzie from TSN who no longer makes predictions. How incredulous are the results between Philadelphia-Pittsburgh and Los Angeles-Vancouver? Incredible just doesn’t cut it. I know people picked the teams currently leading those series to win but surely not in four straight as is looming. I know I definitely did not. For the record in this first round I had, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Boston and the Rangers winning the East, Vancouver, Nashville, Chicago and St. Louis in the West. We’ll see how it plays out. It has been as my good friend Steve Lloyd from the TEAM1200 put on twitter earlier last week, the best reality TV you will ever see.

Liam Maguire

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Tags: Bob McKenzie, Brian Boyle, Daniel Alfredsson, Henrik Zetterberg, Matt Carkner, Paul Maclean, Shea Weber, Steve Lloyd, Todd Bertuzzi

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Apr 16

The Tame Washington and Boston Series is Great Wholesome Family Entertainment.

Categories:

Uncategorized

by Mike Smith

Welcome to Disneyland

Compared to the “Slapshot” way the rest of the NHL is conducting itself this Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins series has been totally family entertainment. I could probably say the same about the New Jersey Devils and Florida Panthers but sitting down and watching that series might be comparable for me to watching grass grow in my backyard.

The “big” controversy in the Washington and Boston series came when in a scrum Alex Ovechkin decided to help Dennis Seidenberg with his dental plan by giving him some stick to the mouth area. Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien went on the offensive after their loss on Saturday;

“This is the second cross check in two games,” Julien pointed out. “Krejci got cut below the nose by the cross check in Game 1, and now that one, and there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it except that there’s no call on it. Whether they missed it or not, it could be. Then the league has a second opportunity to review it, and you’ve got to let them do their jobs. “

As you can see Coach Julien skirted around that one without getting too critical of the NHL shield. What is interesting is the response that Seidenberg gave regarding the play of Ovechkin. In this series it seems Seidenberg has been given the task to implement some frustration on the Washington super-star.

“Stuff like that happens so it’s for the refs to call and I don’t really care,” Seidenberg said. “It’s a tight game and I think worse things have to happen for them to call it.”

Even the players know the game is not being called by the referees in the same manner as a regular season game. Interesting comment from Seidenberg considering the scrutiny the NHL is under for their refereeing in this postseason.

Game Three

Tonight the Boston Bruins will enter Chinatown in Washington and hear the roaring crowd at the Verizon Center. Will this home ice crowd help elevate a higher scoring game and possibly rattle the Braden Holtby enough to let in a few goals? All the talk of cross checks, line brawls and Sydney Crosby fighting over the weekend and the goaltending dual in this series has been lost.

Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins and Braden Holtby who have let in a combined four goals are not helping any Playoff Pool junkie that loaded up on the likes of Brad Marchand, Ovechkin and David Krejci. I expect more of the same tight checking and low scoring affair again tonight for game three. There isn’t much in the way of motivation for either of these teams to completely open up defensively. Both teams are afraid to unlock the neutral zone play and let fly with some big defensive rushes.

The Disneyland series could stay family entertainment tonight and move towards “Parental Guidance” if one of these two teams decides to take a wild two or three goal lead. But really, Tim Thomas and Braden Holtby would have to have a meltdown in-goal tonight for that to happen.

Prediction

2-1 Washington Capitals with a late third period goal from Ovechkin.

Mike Smith

Watching Hockey and Blogging Hockey. Add in the odd pint, few curse words revolving around my favorite team and you could call me the average fan.

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Apr 13

Ultimate Sports tournament set to begin-Stanley Cup Playoffs

Categories:

National Hockey League, Stanley Cup, Uncategorized

by Liam Maguire

Is this scene going to be repeated this year? Eight weeks. Four series. Countless battles. Hardest trophy to win.

Toe Blake once said predictions are for gypsy’s. Well we can argue with Mr. Blake, he was a Lady Byng Trophy winner after all. I see that one of my trusty counterparts here at Ultimate Hockey, Mike Smith, has weighed in on Washington-Boston. Please give his comments a read. Here are my thoughts on the three series beginning tonight.

Pittsburgh over Philadelphia in five games. This is the sixth playoff meeting between these two teams. The Flyers won the first three series, the Penguins the last two despite what it says on the Flyers historical page on line, it’s just a typo but they have the Flyers winning the series in 2009. Did Craig Berube have something to do with this? lol…it’s funny because I think in ‘09 the Pens won the Cup..but they have the Flyers winning.
So will this be shades of Montreal-Quebec, the Battle of Alberta, the Islanders-Rangers, all series that owe their history to a time period where mayhem ruled, the early to mid 1980’s. Will this series be a flashback to those days? At some point you’d have to think all hell is going to break loose. Give me a fully healthy Flyer squad and the outcome could go a totally different way. As much as it’s about the big three of Crosby, Malkin and Staal, the Penguins possess a forty goal man in James Neal and the player with the longest point scoring streak this season and third longest in Penguin history at 17 games, Pascal Dupuis. Now, I know what you’re saying; the last time the Penguins rolled into the postseason with the number 17 and the word consecutive hanging around their necks was in 1993 as they set and still hold the NHL record for a team with the most consecutive regular season wins in history. They won their last 17 games of the year, rolling into the playoffs as two-time defending Cup champs and the hottest team in NHL history. How did that work out for them? Not good, thank you David Volek of the NYI. I digress. Of course this has no correlation at all but the number 17 resonated with me.
The Penguin specialty teams will be the difference. Despite both teams coming in at 19.7 on the pp, the Pen’s PK is superior, at least statistically and all of their numbers are skewed with out Crosby who is now in the lineup and who has recorded 37 points in 22 games. With a healthy Crosby and Letang and with the Flyers without Pronger, over a best-of-seven series that is a huge advantage for the Penguins. As for the potential theatrics as much as it won’t bother me to see any of it, I just think it will be downplayed somewhat by both teams. We’re not going to see the coaches on the bench and I doubt we’ll see a line brawl but it should be ultra rough extremely dirty and possess the required amount of controlled violence those of us love in a heated rivalry such as this one. Despite the Flyers success head-to-head this season I think the Penguins will roll in the series.
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS IN FIVE

Nashville over Detroit in six games. The third postseason meeting of these two teams has seen Detroit win the previous two, my call is not this time. Pekka Rinne may be one of the most underrated top goalies in NHL history. I love the additions at the trade deadline, Hall Gill, who is banged up a bit but should play tonight in game one, Paul Gaustad and Andrei Kostitsyn who has joined his brother and probably felt like he escaped from the nut house getting out of Montreal this year. The Predators have become an annual playoff competitor and appear poised to take a run to the next level. Last thing they want is the nickname the San Jose wanna be’s hung around their neck while the Detroit’s and Vancouver’s play checkers winning the Western Conference. New Jersey is a perfect dark horse in the East, Nashville holds that distinction in the West with all due respect to St. Louis. The most important stats in this series are that the Preds have the league’s best power play, 21.6% and the league’s second best record when scoring first, 35-3-4. That speaks to a very well oiled team that can defend and play a system to a tee which they did over 82 games. They have the required amount of veteran leadership, well coached and run by the same group since their inception and last but certainly not least, their defense pairing of Francois Bouillion and Kevin Klein are sporting mohawk haircuts, shades of bantam or midget hockey, how loose to you have to be to do that? I know, no real correlation to the series but it does speak a bit to their mind set. I like it. I think Detroit has gone to the well too often with this group who collectively on any given night dress a handful of potential Hall of Fame players, I just don’t think they are going to have enough to beat Nashville this time.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS IN SIX

Vancouver over Los Angeles in seven. This series is the one that has most pundits predicting an upset. Jonathan Quick has had a year in net that broke long time records in LA held by Rogie Vachon and saw him rise to the top of most statistics in the NHL including ten shutouts. And just to digress for a moment, this is a goalie who was drafted 73rd overall, who five years ago was a full time player in the ECHL. I wish some fans would not get as gung ho about a first overall pick or a junior player who is being called a can’t miss. Draft history is full of dozens of players drafted in the first round who did not pan out. Dozens more taken later, like Quick who develop into top notch players. Although not quite a drought like the Panthers, the Kings are more than a decade removed from any playoff success, a 2001 first round victory over the Detroit Red Wings. In fact the Kings lost to the eventual Cup champion Colorado Avalanche that year. And despite Quick’s ten shutouts the Kings were also shutout ten times this season. Daniel Sedin may not play but the Kings Jeff Carter is also banged up although as of this writing is listed as playing. How he plays and contributes will be a huge component of this series. The Canucks struck early in their playoff rounds last year, taking 2-0 leads in three of their four series and no question if ½ of their offensive dynamo is missing in Daniel Sedin due to the lingering concussion it will hurt, pun intended, but they did run off an 8-1-1 in the last ten games of the regular season without him despite going 2/32 on the PP until game number 82 when they banged home a couple with the man advantage.
The other stats of interest here include the Canucks as one of the top teams in the first period all season, outscoring their opposition 81-46 and the Kings being one of the worst teams, in fact the second worst only to Columbus when going down 1-0 in a game. Watch for the Canucks to put tremendous pressure early trying to get that 1-0 lead.
Basically I see this Canuck group who also added some toughness like the Predators, as being too battle tough, despite the ongoing goaltending controversy and potential loss of D.Sedin, I still see them winning this low scoring long series.
VANCOUVER CANUCKS IN SEVEN GAMES

Tomorrow we’ll preview the remaining five series. Later this week I will have some extremely pointed comments to the newly minted committee which just selected the first five recepients of the Candian Hockey Order of Canada. Not real happy about what transpired there. More to follow.

Liam Maguire

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Tags: Andrei Kostitsyn, Daniel Sedin, David Volek, Evgeni Malkin, Francois Bouillon, Hal Gill, James Neal, Jeff Carter, Jonathan Quick, Jordan Staal, Kevin Klein, Pascal Dupuis, Paul Gaustad, Rogie Vachon, Sydney Crosby, Toe Blake

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Apr 10

Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals series preview

Categories:

Washington Capitals

by Mike Smith

David vs. Goliath

The Washington Capitals will have a huge hill to climb against the defending Stanley Cup Champions Boston Bruins. This Capitals team that seemed to be on a road to absolute atrocity this season found a way to squeak into the bottom of the Eastern Conference and grab hold of the seventh spot. Almost a complete surprise this team ended up winning 42 games and making the post season after just 16 wins on the road.

I am convinced this is one of those series that will end up going into game six or even seven. The Washington Capitals do have some forwards on their roster with size and grit that can cause panic along the boards offensively. Look no further than Mike Knuble, Matt Hendriks and of course Alex Ovechkin that can all crash the boards when they so desire. Mike Knuble will show his worth during this series for sure, his grit and accumulated 17 career goals against the Boston Bruins might allow him to shine if this series gets real physical.

Alex Ovechkin will garner all the attention from Zdeno Chara that he can handle. Watch for Chara to be on the ice for a better part of 23 minutes a game chasing Ovechkin around. This is the match-up that will be entertaining to watch, also interesting will be if the Bruins stick with putting Chara out against the Capitals Ovechkin. With the return of Nicklas Backstrom there could be enough line juggling and some double shifting of Ovechkin in order to create a tiny bit of chaos in the match-up department for the Bruins.

The Goalies

Thursday night will mark the playoff debut of Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby, who is standing in now because two of his teammates are lost to injury. Both Tomas Vokoun and Michal Neuvirth are unable to start in nets for this postseason. This will give the Boston Bruins a huge advantage on the goalie front, Tim Thomas has his Stanley Cup ring to prove his capability of handling the pressures of the post season.

The Pressure

This is the first year in many that there is absolutely nothing expected of this Washington Capitals team. There is more than likely a sense of “Us vs Them” or “Back against the wall” mentality that will take up the dressing room. These are the scariest teams to play in the post season. This is a Capitals team about to start the post season with a 22-year-old who has never seen a playoff game and only 21 starts in the NHL. Braden Holtby might just be the Cinderella story that Alexander Semin and Alex Ovechkin decide to rally around. One team has nothing to lose while the other has a Stanley Cup to start defending.

My Pick

Washington in Seven Games. I like the underdog in this series only because for the first time it seems there is no pressure on a Capitals team that seemed to be under the microscope.

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Picture courtesy of Clyde Caplan http://www.clydeorama.com/

Mike Smith

Watching Hockey and Blogging Hockey. Add in the odd pint, few curse words revolving around my favorite team and you could call me the average fan.

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Tags: Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals

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Apr 09

Why Erik Karlsson will not win the Norris Trophy this year

Categories:

National Hockey League, NHL Awards, Stanley Cup

by Liam Maguire

One of the more deceptive parts of Erik Karlsson's game, his shot. He's had a breakthrough season and will be counted on heavily in the playoffs for Ottawa.

I’ve heard from some peripheral hockey fans saying why all the fuss about whom eventually wins a certain trophy? If you are a fan of a team that has a player in the running you should be aware or concerned with the voting. Reason being bonuses that are paid out for trophy wins or runner-up positions count towards the salary cap so in the case of say Duncan Keith winning the Norris in 2010 on an already cap problem team in Chicago, it may not have been the dollar amount that put the Hawks over but it certainly did not help them as they pared salary to get under for 2010-11. Having said that it’s highly unlikely anybody had any misgivings about voting him for the Norris Trophy that year, he won by a comfortable margin over Mike Green. The difference this year will be a much smaller one would think albeit with no less of a strong consideration given to either of the top finalists especially the top two if the volumes written about the potential outcome this year are any indication.

Imagine being a defenseman who recorded 96 points including 29 goals, 21 more points than your nearest competitor, you were a +52, it was the completion of your third year in the NHL and you did not win the Norris. Somebody must have had one heck of a year to beat you out. The winner this year in question recorded 3 goals and 32 points with a +/- of 0 but when the votes were tabulated he had taken home the hardware.

Some of you may have surmised that I’m referring to 1983. Paul Coffey of the Edmonton Oilers put up the huge numbers yet the voters that year gave the nod to Rod Langway of the Washington Capitals who in the offseason had dealt for Langway from Montreal where he was coming off a season with Montreal in 1982 that would dwarf this award winning year by comparison however, in 1983 and 1984 Langway was voted the James Norris Trophy winner.

I’m not trying to suggest at all that voters in the PHWA (Professional Hockey Writers Association) have a decision from twenty-nine years ago on their mind as they get set this week to cast their ballots for the various awards they vote on. I do suggest however that there is a precedent for this and other trophies to have included some anomalies.

Shea Weber scored the same number of goals as Erik Karlsson. He averaged one minute more of ice time per game, he took 30 fewer shots this season, playing three less games, he outscored Karlsson on the power play and shorthanded, he had a better +/-, Karlsson scored more game winning goals. Karlsson’s assists and subsequently his point total cannot be ignored however neither can the fact that Lidstrom was a runner-up three straight years before his first win, Paul Coffey had to put up even better numbers to finally dethrone a defensive king a generation ago and Shea Weber was a runner-up to Zdeno Chara last year. In fact one reporter in Pittsburgh has gone public with his votes for the trophies and he gave his first place vote to Chara, Karlsson second.

If I were voting, I would cast my ballot for Erik Karlsson. I believe he has been the best all around defenseman this season in the NHL but it’s my experience from watching the voting on awards going back some 30+ years that what seems so glaringly obvious is ignored by the masses to push through their might is right agenda, the power being their numbers and internal communication that will conspire to ignore Mr. Karlsson this time around. We’ll see…Maybe I’m wrong, I hope I am as I do believe Karlsson was the best defenseman in the league this year, we’ll find out in June.

I will make my Eastern conference predictions tomorrow and my predictions on the Western Conference on Wednesday. Best time of the year folks, enjoy the playoffs.

Russian born players on Cup winning teams the last ten years in the NHL.

2010-11- Boston. 0

2009-10-Chicago. 0

2008-09-Pittsburgh. 3

2007-88-Detroit. 1

2006-07-Anaheim. 1 ( Ilya Bryzagalov, back up goalie)

2005-06-Carolina. 2

2003-04-Tampa Bay. 3

2002-03-New Jersey. 2

Liam Maguire

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Tags: Duncan Keith, Erik Karlsson, Mike Green, Paul Coffey, Rod Langway, Shea Webber, Zdeno Chara

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Apr 07

Why the New York Rangers Can Win the Cup This Year

Categories:

National Hockey League, Stanley Cup

by Patrick Hoffman

To win the Stanley Cup, hockey teams must win a lot of games, pull together and play the right way, sacrifice their bodies and be willing to do anything to make things happen.

This season, no team in the NHL embodied the above mentioned things more than the New York Rangers. The Blueshirts have won the most games in regulation this season and they did it in pretty amazing fashion.

This season, the Blueshirts adopted a team-first philosophy and utilized it to a ‘T’. The team has gone out on a nightly basis and have worked their tails off in forechecking, blocking shots, killing penalties, getting timely goal scoring from their top players while also getting great goaltending from starter Henrik Lundqvist all the way to the top of the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference.

Leading the way for the Blueshirts is their team captain Ryan Callahan. Callahan plays the game the right way on a nightly basis and epitomizes the Rangers’ style like no other player.

Callahan goes out and hits, forechecks, blocks shots, kills penalties, plays on the power play and contributes offensively (29g-25a). He also scores big goals, as he has 9 game-winners this season.

Offensively, the Rangers have also benefited from the timely scoring and point-producing of both Marian Gaborik and nine-year man Brad Richards. After struggling with injuries and inconsistency last season, Gaborik is back to be the goal-scoring machine he first was with the Rangers two seasons ago and leads the club with 41 goals and 76 points.

Gaborik also added a defensive element to his game this season. Frequently, Gaborik could be found backchecking, breaking up plays in the defensive zone and working hard in the corners to win puck battles.

His current linemate, Brad Richards, has had a solid first season on Broadway. While he may not be putting up the high numbers that fans expected from him, Richards has still managed to score over 20 goals this season and put up over 60 points.

Richards is also a player that has come through when the team has needed him the most. Richards is tied for the team lead with 9 game-winning goals and it his ability to come through in big spots that could end up paying dividends for the Blueshirts in the playoffs.

Other forwards that have worked extremely hard this season include the likes of Brian Boyle, Brad Prust, Derek Stepan, Carl Hagelin, and Artem Anisimov. These forwards play well on both sides of the puck while guys like Stepan, Hagelin and Anisimov have also contributed their fair share of offense this season.

When it comes to hard work on the blue line, one needs to look no further than Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh. With Marc Staal missing much of the first half of the season, Girardi became the team’s go-to guy on defense as he plays big minutes (second in the league in minutes played), blocks a ton of shots, breaks-up a ton of passes and contributes offense when he can (5g-24a).

McDonagh has also been rock-solid on defense for the Blueshirts this season. He is arguably the Rangers’ second-best defenseman and is one that can play in all situations and at just 22 years of age, is only in the beginning of what appears to be a very promising NHL career.

In between the pipes, the Blueshirts might just have the hardest working goaltender in the NHL when it comes to stopping pucks. Lundqvist uses his strength and athletic ability to not only stop the first shot, but the second and third ones as well, which has allowed him to have stats like these: 39-17-5, 1.93 GAA, .931 save percentage, and 8 shutouts.

There is no doubt that in the regular season, the Blueshirts outworked many of their opponents. If the team can continue to play within themselves and within their team-first philosophy in the postseason, winning the Cup could become a reality for the New York Rangers this spring.

Patrick Hoffman is a veteran hockey writer/blogger based in Fairfield, Connecticut.On top of his work for Kukla’s Korner, Patrick covers the NHL for the Red Light District Hockey Blog and also contributes to Sportsnet.ca.

Prior to writing for the above-mentioned outlets, Hoffman’s musings have been published on TheHockeyNews.com, The Fourth Period, Spector’s Hockey, Hokeja Vestnesis, Blueshirt Bulletin, SNYRangersBlog.com, here on NHL Home Ice from 2008 to 2009, as well as a slew of others.

For comments and hip checks, feel free to contact Patrick at patrickhoffman3530@gmail.com or on Twitter at @pathoffman35.

Patrick Hoffman

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Apr 02

The Philadelphia Flyers are Built for The Post Season

Categories:

Uncategorized

by Mike Smith

Truculence

I read a quote this week in regards to Brian Burke and his now often quoted “Truculence” introduction press conference to the Toronto Maple Leafs and it came from Paul Maclean. Head Coach of the Ottawa Senators had this to say when talking about “Preparing for so-called Truculence” when the Toronto Maple Leafs rolled into Scotia Bank Place.

“The games haven’t been as truculent as they might have been in the past,” MacLean said. “The games seem to be more skill games now.”

Paul MacLean has a point, the NHL level of hockey has turned into one of speed and fore-check combined with what some call “the Cycle”. I call it a game of keep-away, and if you ever needed an example of offensive zone ‘Cycle’, look no further than the Sedin brothers in Vancouver. They can cycle the puck down low and in the offensive zone with ease. Yet this is the same Vancouver team that could not match the over powering physical blend of hockey that Boston played against them last year in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The regular season and the playoffs have become two separate entities over the years, a team needs to get through the regular season and prepare for the post season grind. The formula for success in the NHL postseason; perseverance and preservation. Keep your healthy players out of the infirmary and hope that your players competing with a bruise or three can maintain a level of skill in the post season that will result in success. Be the team that lays the punishment more often than being on the receiving end of the physical play and you shall rise from the ashes.

Sunday Afternoon

In what will be a pre-cursor to a post season battle, the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins put together a game that was worthy of a pre-fight weigh in. All the tension of preparing to meet another team in a post season series came out in the final minutes of the game.

In the final 20 minutes of hockey that the Flyers dominated by putting three goals past Penguins goalie Marc-André Fleury the game quickly became 5-4 for Philadelphia. Philadelphia then added the empty net goal and then the truculence began.

Pittsburgh Coach Dan Bylsma sent out his fourth line with under 90 seconds left in the game. In hockey code, from Junior C to the NHL that means only one thing. A message is about to be sent. Hockey in the post season is about instilling your will and might upon the opposition. This is how the Boston Bruins man handled the Vancouver Canucks last year in the Stanley Cup Finals. What Bylsma is saying with his choice of a fourth line in this circumstance isn’t about skill and speed, it is about putting a physical edge in favor of the Penguins leading to the post season matchup.

Penguins forward Joe Vitale decided to level Daniel Briere in clean check shortly after the empty net goal face-off. This started the melee that included a total of 10 players and Philadelphia Flyers Coach Peter Laviolette smashing a stick over the glass and taking to a screaming match with his counterpart between the benches.

Enforcing your will on a team and the effect it has on the opposing bench can be tremendous. Brayden Schenn took the liberty of putting both hands on his stick and cross checking Penguin forward Sydney Crosby while cruising to the bench.

“It’s clearly a cheap shot,” Bylsma said. “It’s clearly a guy targeting a player that was well after the whistle.”

Crosby, who has missed all but 19 games this season due to concussion-like symptoms, agreed.

“It’s pretty cheap,” Crosby said. “He skates 10 feet in between the whistle. I don’t know. If that’s a sign of what’s to come it’s going to be a pretty tough playoff series.”

Schenn took the focus off the goal just scored by Pittsburgh that brought them within 2 goals at the time. It is that cross check that put Dan Bylsma on the prowl seeking some sort of physical revenge. The bench had a new focus. Not the speed and skill, but the necessity to support their star player and now take to the alley where the Flyers wanted the game to go.

As you can see by the attached video this upcoming series will have a few side stories and some scores to settle.