Puttin' on the Foil

Rory Fitzpatrick and All-Star Crappiness

2007-01-16T09:50:00.000-05:00

With all the hullabuloo about the Rory Fitzpatrick thing, and now that it's over with him not quite getting in, I would like to point out that, if he made it, he would still not have been the crappiest defenseman to play in the All-Star game - and the crappier one was selected by the coaches.

NHL Totals
Petr Buzek: GMS 157 Pts 31
Rory Fitzpatrick: GMS 239 Pts 28

And Buzek was supposed to be an offensive player. The year he went to the All-Star game he was -22. Rory is currently +3.

I hope Gary, the media, the coaches, and everyone else realize that it's the league that has made the All-Star game a joke, not the fans.

The fans can vote for whoever they want, and that's the way it should be. I voted for Rory about a half-a-dozen times. I'll be going to Vancouver for a week's vacation but I'm still going to go out of my way to watch the game. If I want to see Rory then that's my business, or my fault, take your pick. But if they give me Justin Williams, Yanic Perrault, and Bill Guerin, that's their fault.

The fans voted, and we wanted Rory, not Williams. But if we can't get Rory, why couldn't we have a Kovalchuk or Savard instead?

The Underused Crosby

2006-12-14T14:01:00.000-05:00

Tuning in with the hopes of seeing some slapping-around by Crosby, I was fortunate enough to watch last night's Pittsburgh-Philly game. Nice playmaking performance from Sid. Crosby looked dynamic but not particularly dangerous, nifty but unthreatening, yet the passes from his stick always seemed to find an open guy for a scoring chance. It's kind of Gretzky-like; you don't particularly notice him, yet at the end of the game, he's got six points.

In other observations, Crosby needs to shoot a lot more. Last night, he only had 1 shot - the blind backhand that bounced off Hatcher and went in. That was it. He's averaging less than 3 shots a game. Shooting more would make him even more effective, as it would force opponents to not just play the pass all the time. Gretzky was never afraid to shoot. Gretzky made his teammates afraid to shoot because they always wanted him to shoot.

And somebody needs to teach Crosby how to take a good slapshot and get pucks through from the point. Pittsburgh's powerplay rotates around the offensive zone a lot, occassionally leaving Crosby to man the point. He just didn't do a very good job at it last night. He had a few weak slapshots from the point during the powerplay but those were blocked.

One point brought up by the TSN panel was how Crosby seems to be underused, and I agree. He plays only about 19 minutes a night, and that could easily be 23 minutes. Same with Malkin; he plays about 15 and that could easily be 19. If I were the coach, I'd give them both more time, with most of this bonus time together. It's really hard to defend both of them - remember how dangerous Malkin was when he was playing with Crosby a lot earlier in the season?

If Crosby plays more, especially with Malkin, and shoots one or two more shots a night, he could score six points almost every game.

Ziggy helps in Coyotes romp

2006-12-01T12:29:00.000-05:00

I'm going to stop updating whenever Mike Zigomanis scores. It's finally becoming no big deal, as Ziggy had an assist and iced the game with 2 goals in the 3rd period as Phoenix romped over LA 7-4 last night. He's finally driving to the net and good things are starting to happen. Just no more cross-checking goalie in the head; that's a little too much drive to the net.

Dreger Doesn't Know About Ice Time

2006-11-30T09:32:00.000-05:00

Last night on TSN, Darren Dreger was gushing over how good Sidney Crosby was. No problem there; Crosby is awesome. But specifically, he was talking about Crosby's intensity and effort level, how he plays hard for "sixty minutes every game," to quote Dreger as closely as I can remember. Crosby doesn't play that much, Darren.

Anaheim has a Wall for a goalie...

2006-11-27T16:51:00.000-05:00

...and it's not Giguere or Bryzgalov, as good as they've been. It's a real honest to goodness Wall.

Michael Wall, in fact.

He's the new rookie backup goalie for Anaheim. Now that Bryzgalov has been hurt and Giguere also hurt himself mildly, it was decided that Wall would get the start against Calgary. So in he went. Now, Wall isn't supposed to be a great prospect, a career backup perhaps, but he lived up to his name, backstopping the Flames to a 5-3 victory. To be fair, the Flames were playing Noodles in net, so this was far from the epic goaltender duel you would expect from these two teams. Against the Ducks' stellar defense, they could only manage 22 shots, but what do you expect? Without Kipper, it's just not the same team.

Stupid Wall, I had Giguere in a hockey pool. Lousy rookie cost me a bunch of points.

I'm just wondering when we'll start to get a bunch of jokes from sportwriters eager to make funny with his name.

If it was Phoenix playing against Anaheim, we could say that Ziggy hit the wall, so to speak.

Ziggy Scores for Real Real

2006-11-20T16:44:00.000-05:00

My old highschool classmate Mike Zigomanis finally scored a goal that meant something. His goal, assisted by none other than Georges Laraque, drew Phoenix into a 2-2 tie with Chicago, a game which they eventually won in a shootout. Prior to that, he had an assist against Minnisota, and yesterday, against Anaheim, he scored again while logging 5 shots and tying the game at 4-4, only to have the Ducks pull away to win 6-4. That's 3 points in four games. Though he has a long way to go to justify being drafted in the 2nd round ahead of Cammalleri and Pominville, he might make a career out of this hockey thing yet.

Darren Dreger is a 'Tard

2006-11-14T12:40:00.000-05:00

TSN's new "Hockey Insider" (What the hell does that even mean?), Darren Dreger, is a complete moron. Last game, the panel was discussing Ottawa and how bad they've been. Naturally, the talk turned to Muckler and his free agent signing of the goalie whom my wife likes to call "Gerber Baby," and the tremendous flop this has turned out to be.

So why is Dredger a retard? He maintains that Muckler "did his homework" on the signing and that "every GM out there will tell you that Gerber" is a real good goalie, and that it should have been a great signing. As someone who is a nerd and did extremely well at school, I can tell you there is a difference between simply doing your homework and doing it well. Muckler obviously did a rushed job on his homework so he could finish it quickly and go play XBox with his friends.

If he had done his homework, he would have seen this:
- 1 year as an NHL starter
- Career record of 125 games-55 wins-37 losses-13 ties with a GAA of about 2.5 and a SV% of about 0.91
- Discarded from Anaheim for a 3rd round pick and Tomas Malec
- Even though he has a Cup, no guarantee of playoff ability since he was backup to Cam Ward and not physically well during the playoffs
- 32 years old

Yup, those are definitely the kinds of credentials for which you give someone $3.7 million a year for 3 years.

Now, you can excuse Muckler a bit because, although Gerber should never have been considered a saviour goalie, he should have been at least a little better than Emery at this point. His struggles this season are completely unexpected. But in any event, it's a bad deal. It handcuffs the team financially and it's wasted money. Further, Emery, if not quite ready this year, will be ready to be the starter next year, so even if Gerber turned out to be good, you still have the issue of paying a backup goalie way too much for another 2 years.

I've already signed the Fire Muckler petition (firemuckler.ca). Where do I go to sign the Fire Dreger petition?

Leafs

2006-11-07T08:45:00.000-05:00

I saw on TSN.ca this morning the blurb for the game summary of Leafs-Flyers. It was talking about how great Raycroft was, then I read something too fast and I thought it said that Raycroft scored his first goal of the season. I was like "holy crap!" Then I read the thing a second time because I realized that I probably read it wrong. It really said that Antropov scored his first goal of the season. And then I was even more surprised.

Capped Team of Free Agents

2006-11-01T16:30:00.000-05:00

We all know the best way to build a team is through the draft: scout well, nurture and cultivate good young players, and watch your team succeed in the long run. But is that still the only way to go in the new salary cap era of the NHL? Can you build a team through free agency rather than the draft?

Let's see what the best team money can buy is. To be eligible, players must have signed a new deal as a UFA with a new team, not their old team. The team will be limited to the new cap of $44 million, which includes a spare centre, winger, and defenseman. Actual signing figures were used as a way of keeping the all-UFA team fair, but bear in mind that players who signed for less because of hometown discounts will skew the results a bit. Of course, players who went to a crappy team for inflated salaries will skew results the other way. Also, I chose to omit formerly elite but suspect health players like Lindros, Nolan, and Hasek. Otherwise, I might have gambled on Lindros.

All this means some of the better players are left off, and players like Jay McKee, who was grossly overpaid to lure him to a crappy team, likely won't make it under the cap. Of course, a team needs a few key players to be successful.

One further thing: bear in mind that in real life it's not this easy. In real life, you can be scooped by another team, players won't come for a hometeam discount, players will want more if your team sucks, or you can jump on Anson Carter at $2.5, be happy about it, then JP Dumont comes onto the scene for $2.25 and you kick yourself because you wasted $250000.

So here is my choice for a free agent team:

....................Years....Total ($)....Yearly ($)
Centres
1. Arnott.............5.......22.5.........4.500
2. Cullen............4........11.2.........2.800
3. Peca..............1........2.5..........2.500
4. Robitaille........1........0.6...........0.600
5. Green..............1.......0.5..........0.500

Wingers
1. Shanahan........1........4............4.000
2. Samsonov.......2........7.05........3.525
3. Sykora............1........2.9.........2.900
4. Dumont...........2........4.5.........2.250
5. Rucinsky.........1.......1.75........1.750
6. Simon.............1........1............1.000
7. McAmmond....1........0.725.......0.725
8. Radivojevic......2........1.28........0.640
9. Barnaby.........1........0.625.......0.625

Defensemen
1. Spacek..........3..........10..........3.333
2. Witt...............3.........7.5..........2.500
3. Pothier...........4..........10..........2.500
4. Carney...........2.........4.2..........2.100
5. Tjarnqvist.......1.........1.625.......1.625
6. Hill................1..........0.6..........0.600
7. Delmore.........1........0.45.........0.450

Goalies
1. Legace..........1........1.4...........1.400
2. Caron.............1.........0.65........0.650

................................Remaining.......Used
Salary Cap ($)....44....0.5266.............43.4733

I had to make due with the best centres available. Arnott is a real top line centre, though not an elite one. Cullen is decent. Peca is not very useful in the regular season, but will be essential in the playoffs, plus he gives the team an intimidating checking factor.

Some elite wingers were necessary, and mission accomplished with Shanahan and Sykora. Chose to take Samsonov even though he's overpaid for his level of production just because you need as many intimidating players as possible. This team will need to rely on depth for secondary scoring, since there's really only 1.5 lines of top line wingers, but all four lines are trustworthy and reasonably fast. Reunite Arnott and Sykora, and add in Samsonov to make a scary top line. The second line has Shanahan, Cullen, and Dumont, who should also be able to score. The checking line of Peca, McAmmond, and Rucinsky is excellent.

Much care was made to ensure defensive depth, and had to sacrifice the option of having some elite defensemen to achieve this. Spacek, Pothier, and Tjanqvist are all serviceable in both ends of the ice. Witt and Carney add additional intimidating checking ability and toughness.

As far as special teams are concerned, we get a frightening first PP unit (Shanahan, Arnott, Dumont, Spacek, Sykora), but weak 2nd unit. Penalty kill is solid (Peca, Robitaille, Rucinsky).

Goaltending is serviceable but not elite in any way. Relies on team defense to overcome poor goaltending. Gerber and his bloated contract was the only #1 goalie to move this offseason, so I chose Legace to save cash.

Bench players were cheapest available, each with a role if necessary, but not reliable enough to play significantly.

Looking at the team, ample thoughness was provided (Witt, Shanahan, Arnott, Peca, Barnaby, Carney, and nuclear deterrent Simon). It also has good leadership (former captains or assistants Shanahan, Witt, Peca, and Carney) and Cup winners (Arnott, Sykora, Shanahan, Legace, Hill, Cullen). And the team is not horribly old.

Of course this isn't the only decent team that could be made; good players I considered but who were left off due to cap concerns include McKee, MacAuley, Kubina, Parrish, Recchi, Carter, Blake, Corvo, Chara, Jovanovski, Grier, Kuba, Ward, Johnsson, Bulis, and Markov. Nor is it a superlative team. It is merely a good-looking team on paper that has a decent chance at making the playoffs. It certainly won't convince teams to abandon the draft and form their teams out of the pool of available free agents, but maybe it shows that the landscape is changing, and that free agents will be much more crucial than ever before.

Free agent signings - ESPN
Free agent signings - Canoe.

Nashville on Fire

2006-11-01T08:41:00.000-05:00

I just checked the schedule. Nashville has really been good recently. Other than losing their first 3 games, they've been outstanding. Only one OT loss since. Few blowouts, but a lot of solid wins against decent teams, and lots of tight one goal wins too. This looks like a team built for the stress of the playoffs. I guess that's what Arnott (2 GWG-11 PTS) gets you. Hint, Muckler.

Baby Penguins

2006-10-26T11:34:00.000-04:00

Seeing Crosby, Malkin, Staal, and Fleury all together on the same team and being as spectacular as they are makes me wish I founded a multi-billion dollar wireless communication technology company just so I could blow all my money to buy them and move them to Canada. Yikes, did you see Malkin's goal the other night? And Staal already with 3 shorthanded goals? The kid is 18 years old. Most 18 year old kids don't get a sniff of penalty kill time even in junior. Most 18 year olds are far too undisciplined. Staal is leading the NHL in SHGs. It's really unfair that just by sucking for many years, you can get players like that. So very unfair. Unless they end up in Kitchener and have cheaper, easier to get tickets than the Leafs. I'd pay to see that.

Ziggy Scores for Real

2006-10-18T13:17:00.000-04:00

My old highschool classmate, Mike Zigomanis (who, I shall point out, I have only spoken to once or twice ever, so it's really not that big a deal), scored his first goal of the regular season against St. Louis last night. I know a last minute insurance goal against the Blues isn't that much to boast about, but it's a start, considering he only had 3 NHL goals before then, and 2 of those came in 2003-04.

Hockey Night in Toronto

2006-10-18T13:10:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, my wife and I were in Toronto looking for furniture. Afterward, we were supposed to go visit some friends for dinner then spend the night in the apartment of my wife's sisters. The friends ended up getting sick and cancelling, so we needed to find alternative plans. Of course, I wanted to watch the game, and lo and behold, my wife's sisters just moved in to their apartment a couple of weeks ago and have yet to get a TV. We walked down Eglinton in search of a bar, and ended up in the Fox & Firkin just in time for dinner and the start of the Leafs-Flames game. Yay, greasy pub food.

We had a good view of the big projector screen and an even better view of the much clearer but smaller flat panel screen on the wall. Sitting a table in front of us were a group of boisterous fans, one of whom wore a Tucker jersey. My wife likes the Leafs but hates Tucker, so she wasn't feeling too positive about this guy, especially since he was the loudest one and even had a similar haircut to Tucker. Interest in the game was high in the pub, and they even had to send people away because it was too full.

Early on in the broadcast, I noticed that new 'sideline' reporter (what do you really these people in hockey, since there are no sidelines?) Cassie Campbell was talking a lot more than usual, and offering analysis instead of just asking questions and reporting on injury, scratch, and other bench developments. Then I realized that she was doing the colour commentary. And you know what? She wasn't bad. I know there has been a lot of talk about her being the first female booth analyst in NHL history. Most of the talk has been positive, but even they recognize that there has been a bit of grumbling from some of the old-guard males in the sporting world about it.

Personally, I found Campbell's performance Saturday night to be balanced, to the point, and insightful. She was a little bit hesitant, but she is new and was thrust into an unfamiliar situation. She kind of reminded me of Kelly Hrudey when he first started doing his shtick on CBC (though as an analyst, rather than colour), only less funny. Of course, Kelly has a leg up on the humour department because, while Cassie was classy as a player, Kelly wore a baby-blue handkerchief around his head.

As for the grumbling, I know she doesn't have the familiar voice of Harry Neale, but not many do. She was certainly a great deal more insightful and in touch with the game than Neale, whose best before date is similar to the milk in my fridge (note: that's not a good thing for Neale or my milk). I don't know what the grumbling is about. It's not as if she were some local weathergirl, a piece of eye-candy, a mediocre journalist who hasn't paid her dues. She's been the captain of the Canadian womens hockey team for a very long time, won world championships and Olympic Golds; she knows her stuff. That's more than enough credibility, even without being a player in the NHL.

Now, of course she wasn't expected to slide into the colour job so soon. For that we have to thank the Buffalo weather for snowing-in Harry Neale. Word is that Campbell was first choice as Neale's fill-in. I'm glad it didn't snow like that in Toronto that day.

As for the game itself, let's just say it was awesome. The Leafs came out looking very strong in the first period, running all over the Flames. I thought it could end up as a blowout with how nicely the Leafs scored on the powerplay early on. Of course, the Flames never let games go easily, and managed to tighten up a bit while scoring a few of their own. But it was a day when Mats Sundin would not be denied. As for scoring your 500th career goal, it doesn't come any better than scoring it as the 3rd goal in a hat trick shorthanded OT winner. The pub was jumping. Faux-Tucker especially.

Discussion with brother about best teams right now

2006-10-13T14:05:00.000-04:00

I had this discussion with my brother about the top teams in the league right now, on paper, with respect to overall power and depth. Then it sort of degenerates. This was sparked by Edmonton beating San Jose last night, and discussing what San Jose has. I'll start it off:

-Oh well, at least Cheechoo is on the way to another Richard trophy. I still think the Sharks look really good this year. Michalek and Bernier are another year better. They do have a complete lack of 4th line though, and a crappy last d pair. If they can trade Nabokov for another good defenseman, I don't see how even Anaheim could beat them.

-What if Anaheim trades Giguere for another good defenseman too?

-Anaheim's offense isn't anywhere near up to par with San Jose's. Thornton-Marleau vs MacDonald-Getzlaf. Not even close. Not even Pronger and Niedermayer can even this one out. As long as San Jose has all their holes plugged back there, they're golden.

-Well, Giguere for a forward then. That would make things pretty even between the two I think. Either way I'm convinced it will be one of those two teams in the west. And Buffalo in the east. Just think about Buffalo though. They lost Dumont and McKee, but all their kids are older and better, and they got Spacek to replace McKee, and if they ever get around to trading Biron for something they'll be the deepest team in the history of hockey.

-Uhuh. And if Connelly gets healthy again. But remember, they do not have a single franchise player on their roster. San Jose and Anaheim have about 3 each. Holy crap, I just looked on tsn.ca's depth chart for Buffalo, and Kalinin is rated 6th. He's a #2 or 3 defenseman. Then again, all 6 of Buffalo's d men are between 2-4 rated. Not a weak link in the entire team. Their only weakness is that they don't have an overwhelming strength. They even have prospects on the way up. All this after losing Dumont. If I were them, I might even consider hanging on to Biron in case of injury.

-True that. Connelly has so many concussion problems he may actually be playing for Philedelphia and no one told us. The don't have many first line forwards either, the only one who's proven himself so far is Briere, and he's at the low end of first liners. But their entire team is second line forwards and second pair defensemen. And two number one goalies. You'll never get a shift off against them and eventually someone is going to break. Except maybe Anaheim's defense, since they can keep throwing franchise defensemen at them.

-HAHAHAHA. Suck on that, Bob Clarke. That is serious depth though. I personally think Pronger will have a hard time with Buffalo's forwards. They are just too small, and he has to bend down to hit them. Eventually his back will give out.

-Yeah, that's true. I really wish that Chara had gotten into a fight with Martin St. Louis in the playoffs last year. I would have wanted a video of that.

And I went to bed all depressed...

2006-10-13T12:46:00.000-04:00

It's really too bad that the Oilers-Sharks game last night wasn't being carried by TSN. What a game. As someone said somewhere online (and I paraphrase, because I can't remember the exact line, nor can I remember where I saw this and in what context it was in), "You score 6 goals on our shoddy D. Big deal; we'll score 7." And that's more or less what seems to be happening.

In actuality, it is a good thing TSN wasn't carrying the game. When I went to bed, I checked the score on NHL.com and at the time it was 4-1 San Jose. I was very depressed, and swore at stupid Cheechoo. I got to work this morning and checked TSN.ca and the headline was "Smyth's natural hat trick lifts Oilers." Yowzah, I said, and almost peed myself. If it had been on TV, I would have been very upset with missing the 3rd period and probably punched myself in the head this morning.

Long live Smytty; may your goals be garbage and your mullet unsurpassed.

Vancouver-Minnesota 1-1

2006-10-11T13:01:00.000-04:00

I watched (or at least passingly listened to) much of the Vancouver-Minnesota game last night. Given that I really wasn't paying that much attention, I don't really have much to say about it. Vancouver though looked really good early on (at least in the 2nd period) - they were attacking with lots of speed and generating lots of chances, resulting in the 2nd period goal by Pyatt: his first as a Canuck. All well and good this. They outshot the Wild 18-12 in an exciting 2nd period.

Then they stopped trying. As in, stopped trying entirely. They just stood there and let Minnesota attack them, to the tune of being outshot 12-5 by Minnesota in the 3rd. Believe you me, without Luongo, the 3rd period could have gotten ugly for the Canucks. Demitra and Gaborik looked dangerous as all hell (thankfully, I have them in my pool, though they didn't score last night).

But as the TSN announcer guy said (I forget who it was, as my wife says, they're all big dorks on TSN) Luongo hasn't been scored on on a direct shot so far, and last night was no different. Rolston's goal was a stinker - it was a pass into the middle that hit Krajicek's skate and bounced in between Luongo's legs. Yikes. I yelled at my tv after that one.

Vancouver eventually lost in the shootout. How come the best goalies have such bad shootout records. Specifically, I'm talking about Luongo and Kipper; both have sucked so far. I must admit, the Minnesota shooters did an outstanding job, with lots of nice moves and attacking with speed. I hate it when shooters come in so slow the goalie can walk over and pick the puck up with his hand. You can't score when you're coming in that slow. Anyway, Demitra swung in really wide on his shot, and I mean really wide, as in almost touching the boards wide. But he still managed to score because he came in with speed.

Naked Iggy

2006-10-10T15:49:00.000-04:00

During HNIC's After Hours show this weekend (following a 2-1 Flames win over the Oilers), Scott Oake's guest was Jarome Iginla. My first thought, the instant I saw him: Hmm, Iggy's got good leg muscles. My second thought: why can I see so much of Iggy's legs? And my third thought: put some pants on, damnit!

Seriously, though, according to hockeygirl at Double Dion, Scott Oake has some manlovin issues. I must admit that I did not see that, though I did feel bad for Iggy when the fly landed on his head.

As for the game, I noticed the new guy Thoresen for Edmonton a couple of times during the game. He still doesn't have a point yet this season, but he looked pretty poised at times, with good skills and speed, so I hope he gets more play in the future. About damn time Norway had some representation, I say.

But overall, the Oilers didn't get much going the whole game. Some more net crashing seems to be required. With the Oilers lack of defense (the nonexistant puck movement from the back end was evident on Saturday; I miss the Whipped One already) and lack of elite forwards, they can't afford to get lazy in the offensive zone.
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Edit Oct 11: Fixed typo for Jerome => Jarome

Sens got Smoked...

2006-10-06T14:04:00.000-04:00

I really don't have much to say about this, but losing 6-0 to the Leafs is about as bad as it gets. I didn't think the Leafs would beat the Sens all season, let along trounce them 6-0 in the second game of the year.

Unfortnately, I don't have any comments on the game, since I missed most of it. From what I saw, Sundin looked good with the fleet and skilled Wellwood on the wing instead of the statuesque (in that he's tall and just stands there) Antropov. I hear Gerber sucked. I hope it's just a glitch and not indicitive of things to come, though if it did turn out to be his normal quality of play, I wouldn't be too surprised. Afterall, Gerber has had only 1 year of experience as an NHL starter, so he's no sure thing.

I have much else to say about Gerber in general and Ottawa signing him in particular, but this is not the time (mainly because I'm too lazy to write it down now). Suffice it to say, he's not that much better than Emery, the money would have been better spent on a real #2 centre, and the term of the deal is a year too long since Emery will improve and Jeff Glass may be on the way.

Buck-Toothed Loser is Captain No More

2006-09-29T14:00:00.000-04:00

A report from TSN today says that Brendan Morrow has been named Dallas's captain this season, replacing Modano. Now, they're saying that it's a reward for all Morrow's tenaciousness and hard-work, combined with his vocal leadership and on-ice play.

I hate Modano (being that I'm an Oilers fan, so my hatred is far worse than he deserves), and I have another (probably biased) theory:

Management woke up and realized that Modano is an over-rated chump.

They did win one Cup with him as captain, but it was Joe Nieuwendyk and Eddie Belfour who dragged the team to victory, not Modano. Since then, it's been lots of flops in the post-season.

Now I'm not saying that Modano is a bad player; far from it, he's a very good player, kind of like a Cory Stillman, with skill and two-way ability, and a valuable top line guy who can help you win championships. But to hear some people tell it, he's a superstar a la Sakic or Yzerman (cough-Hrudey-cough). That, he is not.

Still, I'm surprised they would do this considering that Modano is still the team's top centre. Yes, his play is slipping (and he sucked big time in '04), but on a team he's lead to moderate success since 2003, he's still deserving of the captaincy for another year or two.

Now, if I were to be starting a team from scratch and had to choose between Morrow and Modano...

No Magic to Johnson Deal

2006-09-29T13:20:00.000-04:00

Wow, um, Hmmm....

That could have been better for Carolina. According to TSN, Carolina traded procrastinating bluechip defenseman prospect Jack Johnson, along with often disappointing offensive d-man Oleg Tverdovsky, to LA for Tim Gleason and Eric Belanger.

Gleason has the makings of a solid defender, and is ready to play now, after already playing a season and a half. But Gleason is not a number 1 or number 2 defenseman like Johnson will be. Top pairing defensemen are rare, while top 4 defensemen are plentiful. Belanger is solid, but he's only a 3rd liner. Perhaps the greatest benefit to Carolina is by subtraction; Tverdovsky makes $5 million over the next two years.

For Carolina, they dump salary and receive a stable defender to bolster a lineup that lost Aaron Ward and (at least for a while) Frank Kaberle, and they get a solid 3rd line centre to fill a gap there, so this trade will help them in the short term substantially. But, it is often said that the team receiving the best player can be deemed to have won the deal; in that case LA won big time. Good for them, if they can ever sign him.

One has to wonder why couldn't Carolina get more for this elite prospect (they didn't get a lesser elite prospect in return). The only thing that comes to mind is that other GMs have decided that they've had enough with whiney primadonna types who are going to complain and try to force management to do stuff (cough-Pronger-cough).

Ziggy Scores!

2006-09-21T16:00:00.000-04:00

I see my old highschool classmate Mike Zigomanis, who was signed as a UFA by Phoenix this summer, scored the winning goal in a preseason game against Dallas.

He has yet to be able to click in the NHL. He's got the hands, but so far he's been unwilling to fight for his own pucks in the corners. In junior and in the AHL, he could get by on his talent, but in the NHL, always letting your linemates battle for the puck on your behalf just doesn't cut it. He's also by no means a fast skater, and, like a similar player, Jason Allison, he could find himself on the way out because of it.

He's always dominated the AHL, and against a lot of junior/minor league players who play in the NHL preseason, he dominates. Last year in the preseason, he wreaked havok and created quite a bit of buzz for himself, but when the real season came, he fizzled and ended up back in the minors.

I hope he sticks this time, because his time to break into the league is running out.

Zherdev: Take 2

2006-09-21T11:32:00.000-04:00

Now, I know I said a while ago that Zherdev should take the very fair $1.9 million Columbus was offering. Recently, Columbus upped the offer to about $2.3 million, but Zherdev and Co. counteroffered $2.8. He's certainly not worth that yet. Now, if I were a GM with significant cap space remaining, I'm thinking of poaching Zherdev at $3 million for 3 years. I know that's overpaying by about a million a season, but if I have cap space, who cares? It'll only cost a 1st and 3rd round pick, which is not bad for a very talented 4th overall draft pick. At that price, Columbus might not match.

Then again, he is selfish chump. Even at his skill level, he might not be worth it.

Apparently Hamhuis is still a ways away in Nashville. I wonder if any GM is thinking about poaching him. From what I've seen, for all his skills and effort, he's not that reliable overall yet, so I probably wouldn't bother.

Dear Mr. Wang...

2006-09-12T15:45:00.000-04:00

Dear Mr. Wang,

Thank you very much for today's unexpected announcement.

Knowing full well that April Fool's Day is a full 6.5 months away, I was able rest assured that the contract to which you signed Rick DiPietro was not a gag on the hockey establishment or the fans and media, but a real, serious deal on your part. Consequently, I was able to engage in much merriment at the antics of your organization. That is to say, I laughed for a solid minute when I visited TSN.ca this morning.

That is not without some consternation on my part; I had to expend great effort to not laugh too loudly so as to attract attention to myself and avoid getting fired, and my lungs and throat hurt after the duration of the laughter.

You are an astute businessman, and your devotion to a business model that employs repeated use of extremely long-term deals with large contracts on inconsistent players is undoubtedly shrewd. My hat is off to you, sir.

Yours sincerely, and wishing the best of luck on your future endeavours,

The Puck Engineer.

Calder Predictions - Hockey's Future weighs in

2006-09-05T16:15:00.000-04:00

Hockey's Future, an online hockey prospects magazine, has weighed in with a poll of its employees as to who they think will win the Calder this year. The runaway favourite is, of course, Evgeni Malkin. Malkin possesses a complete dominating package, and is widely considered the best non-NHLer around. I have to agree with that, though I will point out that playing behind Sidney Crosby is going to cut into his top-line opportunities. Pittsburgh does not have much in the way of skilled wingers for the talented centre, and that may hurt him.

Anyway, Hockey's Future ranks the candidates as follows:

1. Evgeni Malkin (PIT)
2. Wojtek Wolski (COL)
3. Patrick O’Sullivan (LA)
4. Hannu Toivonen (BOS)
5. Matt Carle (SJ)
6. Gilbert Brule (CBJ)
7. Alexander Radulov (NAS)
8. Dustin Penner (ANA)
9. Jiri Hudler (DET)
10. Robbie Schremp (EDM)

Wolski looks to be in great shape as he takes the spot of Alex Tanguay as a top line winger for the Avs. Look for a lot of points here, so he's my bet to win the Calder if it's not Malkin.

O'Sullivan will not win it, and I doubt he will be a contender in the end. He's a fine player, but he will only get 2nd line billing in LA, and possibly not enough support from his linemates, as LA is still a little thin. Mediocre points will result.

I would like to jump in and mention Schremp here. I like his talent level more than O'Sullivan's, but I fear a similar fate awaits him. Good talent and ability, but only 3rd line minutes in this case. Edmonton may be too deep for him. He might even end up in the minors for one more year.

Toivonen is intriguing. I've heard a lot about him and the organization is really keen. Still, a single goalie can't win the Calder when the team in front of him is a mess. He might get consideration though.

Carle won't. He's not high-profile enough. He's small. He will put up good points from the backend, but don't expect a top-pair defenseman, at least not right away.

Brule might be a contender, but I don't think he's strong enough, or that the team can support him enough. I predict a good season but more injuries, limiting his overall production.

Radulov: They made a big deal about Radulov on Hockey's Future, saying that he has the most to live up to from the previous season. Indeed, Radulov scored a stupifying number of goals. I personally think he will succeed; everything that I've seen of him in the world juniors or CHL has been phenomenal. This kid can score, and he will. He's my pick for 2nd runner-up.

Penner proved to be a force in the playoffs. I worry that exposure might effect the voting either way: it could help or it could hurt. Regardless, he is a physical force, but he's older, and I don't see much increase in his offensive prowess.

Hudler. A shrimpy guy. Buried in the Red Wings system for years. Skilled - yes, but he's not going to light up the NHL, at least until he gets a lot stronger. A lot. I don't think he's going to make much of an impact this year. That said, this is the Wings, and he will be more than competent, just not Calder-worthy.

Summary:

1. Evgeni Malkin (PIT)
2. Wojtek Wolski (COL)
3. Alexander Radulov (NAS)
4. Hannu Toivonen (BOS)
5. Gilbert Brule (CBJ)
6. Patrick O’Sullivan (LA)
7. Dustin Penner (ANA)
8. Robbie Schremp (EDM)
9. Matt Carle (SJ)
10. Jiri Hudler (DET)

Yikes, it's all European players at the top this year. And I may be eating my hat by the end of the season.

Zherdev: Stereotypical Self-Centred Russian

2006-09-01T15:23:00.000-04:00

Nikolai Zherdev is being your stereotypical selfish Russian chump of a hockey player, only concerned with money. He's setting back the image of Russian players that had started to recover due to the selflessness of Alexander Ovechkin.

BLue Jacket's GM Doug MacLean still hasn't been able to reach an agreement with the stubborn Zherdev, who has recently declined a very fair offer of a two year, $3.8 million deal ($1.9 million/year). That's very fair for a young player who only has 1.5 NHL seasons completed, with a best season of 73 games played with 54 points. Very fair indeed.

Zherdev will likely be a top line player in the NHL; he is almost one now, but not yet. Does he think he's worth the ~$4 million that elite young players make? $2.5 like more established, non-first line players? Give me a break.

Short term is probably best for Zherdev right now, so his salary can increase reflecting his value (as it likely will). It will not help his value to escape to Russia; even if his Russian club is offering more now, he will never make marquee money there like he will in the NHL.

He needs to stop being a crybaby and sign the offer on the table.

Oilers Sign Sykora

2006-08-11T14:30:00.000-04:00

Edmonton just signed Sykora. That should offset the loss of Samsonov, even though I'd argue that Sykora hasn't been a 1st line winger since 2003. It may even be an improvement since Sykora is more of a scorer while Samsonov is a playmaker; Edmonton already has enough playmakers. He's still young enough, and he doesn't even need to be the 1st line winger, since they have Lupul and Hemsky. Problem is, all three of them prefer RW, so Sykora may have to switch to 2nd line LW, which he might not be too pleased about. Or he could play 3rd line with Torres. It really doesn't matter, since this team should be rolling lines equally anyway.

My lines?

Smyth-Horcoff-Hemsky
Pisani-Stoll-Lupul
Torres-Schremp-Sykora
Moreau-Reasoner-Winchester

That's a deep offense. Not so heavy on top-end skill, but that's three strong offensive lines, and the 4th line is tough as nails.

Random Errata - How come Pouliot, who hasn't even played a game yet, makes more money than Torres? And what's happening with Dvorak? He's a UFA, but hasn't budged. Pisani was grossly overpaid. At that price, Edmonton could have tried resigning Peca (I know, he wanted to go back east). Pisani is worth $1.5, tops, not $2.5. On top of the forwards listed above, there are still youngsters like Pouliot, Mikhnov, Cogliano (who I like a lot), and Jacques waiting in the wings.

Anyway, this team is not as good as last year, but it's not bad. Defense still needs help though, with no good free agents left.

Smith-Tjarnqvist
Staios-Bergeron
Greene-Smid?

"Eh... What's up, doc?" Answer: A lot of shots on net. Have fun, Roli!

Peca to Toronto, Lindros to Dallas

2006-07-17T23:29:00.000-04:00

Well, looks like some of the remaining few free agents are signed. I've always liked Peca and what he brings to a team; he is worth much more than his statistics show, and is a bargain for the price the Leafs paid ($2.5 million). Toronto is a perfect fit for Peca; he's from there and he lives in Buffalo in the off-season.

The question is, is Peca right for Toronto? Maybe, maybe not.

He's not a real #2 centre, though he is really good, and if Toronto's younger players, Wellwood perhaps, develops further, he could help insulate the younger players and bring leadership to the team. On the other hand, in all honesty, we have no idea if Toronto is going to be any good next season, and it may be wiser to treat this year as a rebuilding year. Of course, in Toronto, you can't appear to be rebuilding even if your team sucks (that is a major reason why the Leafs haven't won squat since 1967).

As for Lindros, Dallas is a good fit for him. If he stays healthy, he'll be effective in a #2 role. If not, that's life.

I remember writing that exact same thing about Lindros going to Toronto last year.

Least Deserving Cup Winner Ever?

2006-07-13T17:23:00.000-04:00

Is Carolina the least deserving Stanley Cup winning team ever? Well, probably not. There are probably some really old teams at the turn of the last century who won basically by default/sickness/freak weather accidents/etc. But in the modern, post-expansion era, the case could be made, and here's why:

Firstly, the Stanley Cup playoffs are the most brutal, emotionally-intense, and, ultimately, greatest method of determining a champion in all of sport. It virtually guarantees that the eventual champion is, if not the most deserving team, certainly a very deserving team. So Carolina really does deserve the Cup most.

So why am I making this argument that the Carolina Hurricanes are the Least Deserving Most Deserving Stanley Cup Winning Team in History?

Simply because of the tremendous luck they had. Let's look at it by round:

1. Vs. Montreal

Down 2-0, Carolina was well on the way to losing this series. Then Justin Williams carelessly high-sticked Montreal's inspirational captain and on-ice offensive leader in the eye while Koivu had a scoring chance, taking him out of the series. Williams did not get penalized. Montreal had a notoriously thin team on offense and never recovered, leading to Carolina winning the next 4 games. Even after taking out Koivu, the Hurricanes did not look very impressive.

2. Vs. New Jersey

Carolina won this series against a well-regarded opponent in convincing fashion, 4-0, proving that they were at least somewhat worthy of the Cup. No complaints here.

3. Vs. Buffalo

Buffalo was without 4 of their starting 6 defensemen, plus lost #3 centre (with #2 skills) Tim Connolly, severely taxing the depth of even a team like Buffalo. Still Buffalo almost managed to beat Carolina, taking it to 7. If the method of determining playoff seeds was more fair, home ice advantage would have been in Buffalo's favour.

4. Vs. Edmonton

This was a series that Edmonton could have won, if not for the demoralizing effect of losing their starting goalie to a freak accident in game 1. This not only cost them game 1, but game 2 as well. Edmonton recovered after that, but couldn't pull off the comeback. This was a case of Carolina being handed a 2 game advantage and only needing to hang on.

So, in conclusion, Carolina deserved it... sort of. In a world where hockey gods exist, Buffalo would probably have won. Maybe the hockey gods just feel sorry for Rod Brind'Amour.

Oh, and Carolina didn't deserve to win because their anthem singer sucked. When the fans in Raleigh sang along, it vastly improved the quality of the music.