Road Apples

SUMMARY

2010-03-04T12:45:00.003-05:00

This site now exists as a rather random/scattered collection of some of my hockey writings from 2005-2008.

In general the older entries (see right margin for index) are copies of my articles from SportingNews.com and Sportsblurb.com; many of the later entries are simply blogposts.

This is in no way a complete collection of all articles written - if anyone desires additional older Sporting News entries please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to retrieve and/or post them.

Here is a public link to my full NHL centers analysis for the 2007-2008 Sportsblurb.com NHL preview magazine:

http://tinyurl.com/43pgxo6

Great Links

2008-05-13T14:21:00.005-04:00

Even now I still get some hits after taking nearly a year off - (thanks mom) - I'm enjoying being a bit more passive this year and reading everyone else's opinions. Anyhow, I'm still alive - I figured I'd throw out a few of my current favourite hockey links:

an old favourite:

BfloBlog - focusing mostly on the Sabres (and other Buffalo teams) but with a frequent eye on the big picture. Smart, sarcastic.

A fantastic new one this year that was/is worth a daily visit:

Top Shelf - Fantastic heartfelt look at the Sabres. Heather B kind of likes Henrik Tallinder.

Hockey-Reference.com just came online this spring and is a fantastic statistical source. Still awaiting college/junior/WHA compiled stats but I'm told it is just a matter of time.

first online stop every morning:

James Mirtle - great daily take on everything in the hockey world.

For a daily look at what games are viewable online: HockeyWebcasts

An in-depth look at what each team's salary structure looks like at NHL Numbers.

Finally, a look at an All-Time Hockey draft I'm involved in with some friends online. 17 teams: 3 forward lines, 2 defensive pairings, 2 goalies, 1 coach and 1 home ice. My team is "MaxWebster" and I had the final pick in the first round, taking Terry Sawchuk at #17 overall (with Nik Lidstrom at #18).

My most recent pick was The Aud. Teams won't want to fight me in the corners with Tim Horton and Sprague Cleghorn back there.

quick picks

2007-10-04T11:27:00.001-04:00

I like San Jose to come out of the top-heavy West...and it's hard to argue against Ottawa in the East (and winning it all, finally). I think Buffalo and Pittsburgh are the only other two that at this point wouldn't be upsets to win the East.

Team I wanted to pick for the playoffs: Montreal.

Sidney Crosby for the Ross and Hart (bold, I know. But I did pick him for both last year so I've earned it. Or something....). Jay Bouwmeester for the Norris (but likely to Nik Lidstrom again because Detroit could win 60 and rack up great individual numbers playing in that amateur division). Roberto Luongo for Vezina. Peter Mueller (Phoenix) for Calder. Phoenix has the potential to be legendarily-awful this year, and I think they'll need to put the vastly talented Mueller out there for big minutes each game to give the "fans" something to cheer.

Hiatus.

2007-09-25T08:12:00.000-04:00

Obviously my posting has been sporadic at best of late, when it should be ramping up (season starts in four days....). I've decided that I need a short but officially clean break for a while. To those (~3 people...) that do read, keep in touch via e-mail. I'll still be checking on the links listed in the blogroll below (right column) on a fairly regular basis and hope to be back soon.

...and I do have a shell of a prediction article - I should post that at some point so I can laugh at it in spring.

Enjoy the opening of the season - and I'll hopefully be back posting by the end of the month.

Experts league

2007-09-23T09:09:00.000-04:00

Click here for our league home page.

Click here for draft results.

We're going with the same format as last year, with G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP for offence and W, GAA, SV% for goalies.

I've got drafts the next 2 nights and then I'll be finishing up my season intro article with predictions on standings, since it went so well last year.

Experts draft tonight...

2007-09-20T19:44:00.001-04:00

As described in this post, I'm back in the industry experts league - our draft is tonight at 8:30pm EDT. With 14 teams this year, I have the opportunity to actually do *worse* than last year's cellar finish (12th place).

I'll post draft results tonight or tomorrow.

UPDATE: Roberto Luongo goes first! to Rotoworld. Shocker - Scott Cullen of TSN is thrilled as Sidney Crosby falls to him at the second spot. Goalies are going fast as Miikka Kiprusoff went #3. I got Joe Thornton with the 5th pick. And there are now 15 in the league. 285 players overall. I'd better start brewing some coffee...

...Earliest goalie run ever...6 goalies gone in the first round. I need to take one on the way back to me...(although Jason Spezza is still available).. Nick Backstrom gone. wow.

Spezza went 4 pix before me - dammit. With 10 of the first 22 picks being goalies though, I had no choice but to jump on that train and I managed to grab Ryan Miller at the 26th spot.

No less than 12 goalies are gone, and the 2nd round isn't complete.

Amazingly i got Daniel Alfredsson in the 3rd round. Fantastic.

UPDATE: 3rd round, 17 goalies are gone. With each of the 15 teams needing 2 goalies in the starting lineup, i've got to get another #1 right here. Peter Budaj is available, i'm up in 7 picks. It's either him or Cam Ward.

...I got Budaj. Unlike last year, my goalies are set.

FINAL ROSTER:

SportsGrumblings

View All

Round	Pick	Player	Position
1.	(5)	Joe Thornton	C
2.	(26)	Ryan Miller	G
3.	(35)	Daniel Alfredsson	RW
4.	(56)	Peter Budaj	G
5.	(65)	Maxim Afinogenov	RW
6.	(86)	Zdeno Chara	D
7.	(95)	Nathan Horton	C
8.	(116)	Brendan Shanahan	LW
9.	(125)	Chris Neil	RW
10.	(146)	Martin Straka	C
11.	(155)	Wojtek Wolski	LW
12.	(176)	Francois Beauchemin	D
13.	(185)	Carey Price	G
14.	(206)	Raitis Ivanans	LW
15.	(215)	Mike Van Ryn	D
16.	(236)	Marc-Edouard Vlasic	D
17.	(245)	Kyle Calder	LW
18.	(266)	Guillaume Latendresse	RW
19.	(275)	Mikko Koivu	C

I was pretty thrilled at how the first 10 rounds went. Straka with the 146th pick, even Wolski at 155 when I still hadn't picked up a LW yet (a very thin position after the top ~10). Amazing how the talent thinned out dramatically after that - I took a future flyer on Carey Price as my third goalie (hoping he'll win the job and I can deal either Ryan Miller or Peter Budaj) and then went for some young defencement. Only 4 bench spots which makes it tough to take too many chances.

more down time

2007-09-17T07:15:00.000-04:00

i'll be back up full-time (mostly) starting next week. vacations, renovations, etc. have kept me away a bit but with 3 league drafts in the next 7 days I should be back and ready for the season in a week or so.

Listing of every NHL trade since 1960

2007-09-11T15:33:00.000-04:00

Just came across this site: History Of NHL Trades which attempts to list every single trade in the NHL since 1960.

Edmonton holds rookie camp in Yellowknife

2007-09-11T07:26:00.000-04:00

Yellowknife is the capital city of the Northwest Territories, and is located precisely 632 miles (by air) north of Edmonton (which itself is over 300 miles north of the US-Canadian border):

Last week the Edmonton Oilers held their annual rookie camp in Yellowknife:

"I knew it was going to be somewhat remote. When we flew over I didn't see a piece of infrastructure till we got to the airport, but once we were here, the community embraced us," O'Marra said.
"Right from the time we got off the plane we had a warm reception. It was just a great experience, right from the first night until today," said defenceman Bryan Young.
"It's like a lot of things that you do," MacTavish continued. "You think it's a bit of an inconvenience to come up here then by the time you finish you think it's really worthwhile."

The Oilers' official website posted a slideshow of the city here (nothing hockey-related, just a flavour for the area)

7-0-1 for Canada

2007-09-10T07:10:00.000-04:00

In the so-called "Super Series" - Russia managed a tie in game 7, and that was it.

We're now within a month starting the NHL and CHL seasons.

Fantasy hockey prep - centers

2007-09-07T14:00:00.000-04:00

In preparation for the annual SportsGrumblings.com Fantasy Hockey Sourcebook, I did draft preparation on centers. Not knowing when it will be published, I thought I'd post (in a very crude format - spreadsheet!) my write-ups here:

Click here for my writeups on 143 centers for 2007-08.

I did a ranking of what I considered the top 40 - after that it was way too subjective so I listed the rest by team.

As I stated there, nearly all of these were written in late July so some inaccuracies may be found in terms of team assignments. Feel free to email me (address on right bar) with anything you might find.

Advanced +/- statistics

2007-09-07T13:14:00.000-04:00

To the anonymous commenter who inquired about better +/- stats, I'll paraphrase here what I left in the comments on that remote post:

I believe Gabriel Desjardins at Behind the Net has done exactly what you were looking for - check out these links:

Quality of Teammates - adjusted +/-

On-ice vs Off-ice +/-

Experts League shocker: they invited me back

2007-09-07T13:06:00.000-04:00

Last season Eric Maltais at TalentedMrRoto.com (since purchased by ESPN) started what we believe to be the industry's first ever Hockey Expert League, and I was lucky enough to get an invite as one of 12 teams. Here's how the draft went last fall.

Yeah, and here's how the league ended up...as I declared myself the 12th greatest fantasy hockey expert in the world.

Well Eric - who now writes for DobberHockey.com - has invited me back, and I've declared (to myself) that I will remember that this is NOT a keeper league. Something I obviously knew last season but I failed to adjust my usual drafting strategies. Anyways, our draft is in two weeks and I'll be sure to post the results - surely the first of many frustrating nights for me in the league.

Labor Day Hockey notes

2007-09-04T07:21:00.000-04:00

1. Team Canada has completely dominated Team Russia in the SuperSeries thus far, taking game 4 on Saturday 4-2 and winning each of the four games in Russia. The Canadian half of the series begins tonight at 8pm ET in Winnipeg.

2. It seems that John Tavares is, in fact, looking for a waiver to make him eligible for next year's NHL draft; he was born 5 days too late to be eligible for 2008. Tavares' agent, Bryan Deasley, is making overtures about playing in Europe next season if special consideration is not granted. Tavares would be a shoo-in for the number one pick in the draft - as of now that honour might go to Steve Stamkos.

3. So much for the rumours about Patrick Marleau being dealt - last Friday he signed a lucrative two-year deal to stay in San Jose, giving the Sharks an enviable top stable of forwards for at least the next three seasons (including Joe Thornton, Jonathan Cheechoo, and Milan Michalek)

Perron's goal

2007-08-31T07:09:00.000-04:00

...as referred to from a few posts below:

It looks quite good until you see the final reverse-angle replay, as he no-look-touch-backhands it into the net.

Alexei Cherepanov out for series

2007-08-31T06:55:00.000-04:00

Cherepanov suffered a concussion when he collided with Canadian forward Brandon Sutter in the first period of Game 2. He was not on the ice for Friday's morning skate and according to team officials, remains in hospital.

Story here at tsn.ca.

Game 3 starts in one hour (8am, EDT). http://www.hockeywebcasts.com/

Fog game

2007-08-29T15:35:00.000-04:00

Thanks to the Globe and Mail for this great shot from game 2:

Photo: Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press

Team Canada's Cory Emmerson, right, keeps an eye on a Russian player during the second period.

Canada wins game 2 (3-0), takes 2-0 series lead.

2007-08-29T11:42:00.001-04:00

I was able to watch it through the tsn.ca link with no trouble this morning.

(borrowing/stealing style from Lowtide...)

This is David Perron:

after he scored the 3rd goal of the game, which was insane - I'm hoping to find a link to it soon.

The next two games are Friday and Saturday morning:

• Game 3 – August 31, Omsk, Russia (7 p.m. local, 8 a.m. ET, Rogers Sportsnet)
• Game 4 – September 1, Omsk, Russia (5 p.m. local, 6 a.m. ET, TSN/RDS)

====

Photo: Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press. Thanks to the Globe and Mail.

more Canada v. Russia hype

2007-08-28T07:16:00.000-04:00

here's a link to Donna Spencer's video report at the Globe and Mail on the series:

Canada v. Russia - 35 years of rivalry Canada's juniors feels a connection with the 1972 Series, even though most of them were born at least 16 years after it happened.

Canada takes game 1, 4-2. Karl Alzner is outed as a beaver.

2007-08-28T06:46:00.000-04:00

Karl Alzner wears the game MVP hat. Fantastic.

Canada eventually shed its rust and nerves to grab a 1-0 lead in the series, which celebrates the 35th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union.

tsn.ca report of game 1.

After Steve Mason of the London Knights backstopped Team Canada in game 1, game 2 will be Jonathan Bernier's (Lewiston Maineiacs) turn (the future saviour of the L.A. Kings?).

watching online outside of Canada?

2007-08-28T06:01:00.000-04:00

I make zero promises as to the reliability here, but those unlucky enough to live outside of Canada's restricted broadcast access may be able to watch through here:

http://www.freeproxy.ca/index.php

then plug in the TSN link:

http://www.tsn.ca/canadian_hockey/

Here are the next three games:

• Game 2 – August 29, Ufa, Russia (7 p.m. local, 9 a.m. ET, Rogers Sportsnet)
• Game 3 – August 31, Omsk, Russia (7 p.m. local, 8 a.m. ET, Rogers Sportsnet)
• Game 4 – September 1, Omsk, Russia (5 p.m. local, 6 a.m. ET, TSN/RDS)

=========
edit: here's another link to try:

http://www.hockeywebcasts.com/
=========

Carey Price looking to make the Habs

2007-08-20T07:23:00.001-04:00

[Carey] Price has kept quite busy this off-season with workouts both on and off the ice in preparation for the Canadiens training camp this fall. “Every camp I got to is going to be the mentality of trying to stay, but if it doesn’t happen, they (Montreal) have a plan for me and their going to see that plan through.”

Read the article here.

It would be one hell of a story for Carey Price to actually make the big club this year - less than one year after:

a) backstopping Team Canada to the World Junior gold, winning tournament MVP.
b) setting the WHL's Tri-City Americans record for career wins with 83 and winning CHL Goaltender of the Year award.
c) turning pro with the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs, joining them on their playoff run, and earning playoff MVP as the Bulldogs captured the Calder Cup.

Junior Summit Series - Canada v. Russia

2007-08-20T07:11:00.000-04:00

Another fantastic hockey event that will get somewhere between zero and....zero press in the United States is coming up at the end of this month: a junior-age all star series between Canada and Russia:

This one-time eight-game series featuring the best Under – 20 players in Canada and Russia will take place from August 27th to September 9th.

All the info you need here at hockeycanada.

The schedule:

• Game 1 – August 27, Ufa, Russia (7 p.m. local, 9 a.m. ET, TSN/RDS)
• Game 2 – August 29, Ufa, Russia (7 p.m. local, 9 a.m. ET, Rogers Sportsnet)
• Game 3 – August 31, Omsk, Russia (7 p.m. local, 8 a.m. ET, Rogers Sportsnet)
• Game 4 – September 1, Omsk, Russia (5 p.m. local, 6 a.m. ET, TSN/RDS)
• Game 5 – September 4, Winnipeg, MB (8 p.m. ET, TSN/RDS)
• Game 6 – September 5, Saskatoon, SK (8 p.m. ET, TSN/RDS)
• Game 7 – September 7, Red Deer, AB (10 p.m. ET, Rogers Sportsnet)
• Game 8 – September 9, Vancouver, BC (8 p.m. ET, Rogers Sportsnet)

I wonder if you can:

a) order the Center Ice package that early and
b) if they'd even televise it.

Time to load up your favourite peer-to-peer network. Not that I necessarily condone such a thing (although if I could buy this TV package I would...)

Sabres fans still obsessed

2007-08-16T14:05:00.000-04:00

According to the Buffalo News:

The Buffalo Sabres lost less than 1 percent of their season-ticket holders from last season, and they have a waiting list of about 8,000 names.
The team now expects to sell out all its home games before the start of the regular season...
...The team lost roughly 100 season-ticket holders out of 14,800 in the off-season renewal process.

The Sabres cap season ticket sales at about 4000 seats under the capacity of the HSBC arena and expect such a strong demand when single game tickets go on sale September 15th that most, if not all, games will sell out.

Sam Pollock: 1925-2007

2007-08-16T08:09:00.000-04:00

Former Montreal Canadiens' General Manager Sam Pollock passed away yesterday at the age of 81. More than just the architect of the Habs from 1964-1978 - presiding over no less than nine Stanley Cup champion teams - Pollock was the first to understand the nature of the new NHL draft. The draft first came into existence in 1963 but took its modern form in 1969 (for the first six years of the draft the only players who could be selected were those not already claimed by NHL clubs via the draconian "C form" - almost a reserve clause for players signed at age 18 and essentially bound those players to the NHL clubs) when the amateur draft was opened up for all players under the age of 20. As written on habsworld.com:

The sponsorship system consisted of NHL teams sponsoring amateur teams. This system allowed NHL teams to scout pre-junior age players to a C form. Most of the players who signed C forms were young teenagers. By signing the C form that player was bound to his NHL club.

Before the inception of the draft, aggressive scouts would sign young players to these C forms and place them on their sponsored amateur/junior teams, thereby holding onto them for as long as they wished; Montreal had a corner on the entire French Canadian market. As the draft emerged and evolved (to distribute young talent more equitably, a bold concept in those days and one that should be noted to counter nostalgic arguments that claimed the "old days" of sports were better), NHL franchises would have to rethink how to build their teams, and especially Montreal who would lose exclusivity to the fertile Quebec territory.

While most GMs had little foresight in this new method of stocking their teams, Sam Pollock figured it out earlier than anyone else. He was able to craft ridiculously one-sided deals with unsuspecting (and clueless) teams for top draft picks, ones he turned into players such as Ken Dryden, Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, and Steve Shutt. In other words, the core of one of the most dominant teams in NHL history - the late '70s Canadiens.

The Canadiens won the Stanley Cup the year after Pollock left, and although they remained competitive for much of the next decade - winning the Cup in 1986 (and again in 1993) - their reign of dominance ended when Pollock departed.

Sam Pollock was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1978.

Northeast previews

2007-08-15T15:26:00.001-04:00

quick links to each team's preview:

Ottawa Senators
Buffalo Sabres
Montreal Canadiens
Toronto Maple Leafs
Boston Bruins

Your 2007-2008 Ottawa Senators

2007-08-15T13:00:00.000-04:00

(To be published in the upcoming SportsGrumblings.com free preseason fantasy guide. My assignment was the Northeast division...)
================================

Ottawa Senators

2006-07 record: 48-25-9, 105 points. Second in division/fourth in conference. Lost in Stanley Cup Finals to Anaheim Ducks.

Coach: John Paddock
General Manager: Bryan Murray
Home arena: Scotiabank Place
Capacity: 19153

The often-underachieving Senators finally broke out of their playoff funk last season and became Eastern Conference champions, reaching the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in their modern existence. For a change they played the underdog role all year; three months into the season it looked as if the Senators would be in a dogfight all season to simply make the playoffs. However, a powerful second-half put the rest of the division on notice that the Senators were every bit the powerhouse they had imagined themselves over the better part of the last decade, and hit their stride in the playoffs – steamrolling the Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils, and Buffalo Sabres in five games each before falling to the Anaheim Ducks in the finals. Yet the disappointment of flaming out in the final round shouldn’t be the final epitaph for Ottawa in 2007 – with the vast majority of the team’s talented core returning, the capital region has high hopes that perhaps this season will be the one where they bring home the title.

Last season’s changes (losing Zdeno Chara, Dominik Hasek, and Martin Havlat) looked to be backbreaking but clearly after an adjustment period the team rolled, playing five months of stellar hockey. The Senators didn’t suffer as many big changes during this off-season; forwards Mike Comrie and Peter Schaefer as well as defenceman Tom Preissing being the only standouts who will not return to the conference champions. As it stands, the Senators are poised to defend their crown and take it one step further this season.

Forwards:

Depth Chart:

Dany Heatley	Jason Spezza	Daniel Alfredsson
Chris Kelly	Mike Fisher	Patrick Eaves
Shean Donovan (RW)	Dean McAmmond	Chris Neil
	Antoine Vermette	Brian McGrattan

rookies/callups: C-Josh Hennessy, LW-Jim McKenzie.

Once again this season, Ottawa shouldn’t have to worry about offence. Their output (averaging 3.5 goals per game last year, second in the league) should remain constant, as their core talent remains young and even perhaps improving. No team boasts an elite three combination like Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, and Daniel Alfredsson. While they were split up on occasion last year to try to spread the offence around, it was clear that together they formed a devastating combo, one that perhaps only lacks a quality nickname to earn historical distinction. Each of the three finished comfortably within the top 20 in league scoring, with Heatley being only one of two (Vincent Lecavalier) to notch at least 50 goals.

While the dropoff in talent after the big three is obviously great, the Senators do boast offensive threats after the first line. Mike Fisher has become one of the better two-way centers in the league; known for his speed and tight checking, Fisher’s second straight 22-goal campaign places him as a solid threat in every zone. Youngsters Patrick Eaves and Chris Kelly each made strides last year, contributing 29 goals between them – with the departure of late-season acquisition Mike Comrie (New York Islanders), look for Eaves and Kelly to increase their ice-time and be relied upon for solid depth scoring. Antoine Vermette is another young speedster on the rise – his 14 even-strength goals last season were fourth-best on the team. With more power-play time this year, Vermette could and should crack the 50 point barrier. Chris Neil is known more for his mouth and fists, but the truth is that Neil is a talented player when he controls himself; as the main policeman on the team (perhaps slowly ceding that role to Brian McGrattan) he can be good for roughly 15 goals while opponents look over their shoulders and watch their chins.

Defence:

Depth Chart:

Chris Phillips	Wade Redden
Joe Corvo	Anton Volchenkov
Christoph Schubert	Andrej Meszaros
Lawrence Nycholat

For an elite team, Ottawa’s defencive corps are underrated as a whole. Their top two defenders - Wade Redden and Chris Phillips - are well-known (being drafted 2nd and 1st overall in 1995 and 1996 respectively), but their supporting cast stepped out of the ominous shadow of the departed Zdeno Chara last season and helped the team keep to a tidy 2.6 goals allowed per game, outstanding for such an offensive powerhouse. While no individual was a big scorer (the departed Tom Preissing (Florida Panthers) led the defence with 38 points), the contributions were spread out on the scoresheet, with each of the top six getting at least 25 points. Four defensemen sported a +/- of +30 or more (Preissing +40, Anton Volchenkov +37, Phillips +36, Christoph Shubert +30), which if anything shows more of a team-wide commitment to quality defence. The playoffs were where the group really shined, especially in the conference finals against Buffalo, keeping the Sabres horribly frustrated on the power play throughout the five games.

Goaltending:

Ray Emery
Martin Gerber

One year ago Ray Emery was the easy scapegoat for Ottawa’s shocking flameout in the second round at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres. While he was hardly the only Senator to play poorly, the sight of him on the ice as Jason Pominville scored the series winner was seared into the minds of Senators’ fans all summer. So when Ottawa signed Martin Gerber to challenge Emery for the top position last season, most figured the job was Gerber’s to lose. Which is exactly what he did – after a poor start to the season, injuries shelved him and Ray Emery came in and absolutely took over, leading the Senators the rest of the way and leaving no doubt as to who the new number one goalie was, and is. Emery was just signed to a three-year deal and will remain their netminder for the foreseeable future. Yet for all the progress Emery has made, his flaws are apparent: he relies too much on his athletic ability to make saves, as his positioning is well below-average for an NHL goaltender. He also has a maddening tendency to leave glaring rebounds, and as a result – even though the team is now “set” in goal – and perhaps due to the overall strength of the club - Emery remains the team’s one question mark.

Outlook:

While the on-ice changes have been minimal this off-season, the firing of General Manager John Muckler was seen as a bit of a surprise. Coach Bryan Murray was bumped up to the GM spot and John Paddock takes over the reigns, hoping to lead the club to three more postseason victories. Can they do it? It’s easy to make the case for the Senators being a top team once again – they will feel the pressure from a young(er) Buffalo club, but the relative weakness of the rest of the division and the likely adjustment period for the Sabres should mean Ottawa will once again reign supreme in the Northeast division. This might be their last opportunity with this core of players, as a number of their big names are in line for free agency next summer, most notably Wade Redden and Dany Heatley, who will likely break the bank with whichever team he signs with. Undoubtedly there will be a sense of urgency to win it all this year, and as this year’s team bears a strong similarity to last year’s, look for Ottawa to once again be in the mix for the elusive Stanley Cup.

Your 2007-2008 Buffalo Sabres

2007-08-15T12:00:00.000-04:00

(To be published in the upcoming SportsGrumblings.com free preseason fantasy guide. My assignment was the Northeast division...)
================================

Buffalo Sabres

2006-07 record: 53-22-7, 113 points. First in division/first in conference. Lost in Conference Finals to Ottawa Senators.

Coach: Lindy Ruff
General Manager: Darcy Regier
Home arena: HSBC Arena
Capacity: 18690

Fresh off a heartbreaking and unlucky game 7 loss to Carolina in the Conference Finals, the 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres re-tooled slightly and started the season on a tear – winning their first ten games en route to the best record in the league and their first Presidents Trophy. Leading the league in goals scored and boasting four 30+ goal scorers, plus four more with at least 19, the team was a roaring success both on and off the ice. Buffalo fans bought every seat all year and the entire region was poised for their first major championship since the 1965 Buffalo Bills won the AFL title. Alas, a funny thing happened on the way to the Stanley Cup – teams were ready for them, and gave them a battle in nearly every game until the Sabres ran out of gas. The New York Islanders were no match on paper but fought a valiant five game series that hardly made Sabres’ fans confident. The New York Rangers earned a split after four games and perhaps only a miraculous game five comeback by Buffalo catapulted them into the next round against the red-hot Ottawa Senators. There, they met their doom, much of it on their own hands – with a dreadful power-play that drew calls from the hometown faithful to “decline the penalty” after a few games. The almost-dream season ended in overtime of game five, but after a few stunned days fans had every right to look ahead to the inevitable Cup…

…and then Sabres’ fans worst fears came true: both captains were lost on July 1st to free agency - “Black Sunday” as it came to be known. Daniel Briere signed with the Philadelphia Flyers and Chris Drury with the New York Rangers, arguably two of the most-hated Sabres’ rivals. To top it off, the Edmonton Oilers gave restricted free agent Thomas Vanek (43 goals) a monstrous offer sheet that the Sabres absolutely had to match.

So is the Buffalo Sabres’ time over? Have they squandered a golden opportunity to bring the Stanley Cup home to a hockey-mad area? Or will the organization’s long-term scouting vision pay off once again and simply plug new talent into the available slots?

Forwards:

Depth Chart:

Thomas Vanek	Derek Roy	Maxim Afinogenov
Ales Kotalik	Tim Connolly	Jason Pominville
Jochen Hecht	Paul Gaustad	Drew Stafford
Dan Paille	Adam Mair
Andrew Peters	Mike Ryan

rookies/callups: C – Marek Zagrapan, W - Clarke MacArthur, Patrick Kaleta, Mark Mancari.

So here are the facts: a team loses two of their top three scorers, one a 95 point sniper and the other with 17 powerplay goals and an intangible legend of supposed unparalleled leadership; furthermore, the two players were arguably the two most popular in the community. Combined with the Vanek offer sheet, and everything adds up to an early summer public relations nightmare, and the end of the Sabres’ window to win the Stanley Cup. Or is it?

Of course losing two of your top three scorers will be damaging to any team, at least in the short-term. However, that fact doesn’t mean those points won’t come at all. Those roles will now be filled by younger (and much cheaper) players, and as anyone who has paid attention to the NHL over the past two seasons, the Sabres have had no shortage of replacement parts. Injury callups such as Jason Pominville, Derek Roy, and Drew Stafford have gone from temporary replacements to bonafide NHL regulars.

The Sabres’ feature line this year will no doubt be the “RAV” line of Roy centering Vanek and the ever-exciting Maxim Afinogenov. With the huge long-term contracts just signed by Roy and Vanek, the Sabres have locked each of them up for at least six years and through their prime years, until each is 30. Derek Roy’s 63 points last year with roughly little powerplay time should increase this season as he becomes the team’s de facto number one center. Wildly talented and exciting Tim Connolly hopes to build upon the success he had two years ago before a devastating concussion left him on the sidelines for a year. If he stays healthy, he should provide an outstanding second center for Buffalo, and could look to any number of talents on his wings to find the net. Jason Pominville took over for the departed J.P. Dumont last year and ended up with 34 goals, 30 of which were at even-strength – one behind league leader Vincent Lecavalier. Pominville is a natural scorer and coupling him with Connolly should be a treat to watch. Drew Stafford is the next most-exciting talent on the team; a frequent call-up from the nearby Rochester AHL affiliate, Stafford managed 13 goals in just half a season while earning respect from teammates and fans alike for a strong physical presence and defence of teammates (recall the Drury/Chris Neil incident in February). With more minutes, special teams play, and a regular centerman Stafford should easily reach mid-20s in goals and has 30 goal / 65 point power winger potential for the foreseeable future.

The Sabres’ forward depth is obviously a bit less this season but still well above average - Ales Kotalik is an enigma; a 227 pound winger with a devastating shot with inconsistent results. Buffalo would be very happy to get 20 goals / 50 points and a nightly physical presence, but his $2.5 million salary makes him one of the most likely to be dealt. Jochen Hecht is an underrated and versatile winger who’s value doesn’t necessarily show on the scoresheet – he gives an effort every night and often does the unseen work away from the puck leading to chances for his linemates. Beyond that the Sabres look to put forth a more physical presence this season, with Paul Gaustad to step up and take a stronger role as third center. Dan Paille and Adam Mair will be the most prominent to fill out the remaining spots. Buffalo may not lead the league in goals again this season but they should fall comfortably within the top 10.

Defence:

Depth Chart:

Henrik Tallinder	Toni Lydman
Brian Campbell	Teppo Numminen
Dmitri Kalinin	Jaroslav Spacek
Nathan Paetsch

rookies/callups: Michael Funk, Andrej Sekera, Mke Card.

Buffalo’s defensive corps may not have any of the bigger names in the NHL but due to their vast exposure in the past few seasons are starting to get some serious name recognition. The unquestioned top duo of Henrik Tallinder and Toni Lydman won’t bring much offence (33 points combined in 114 games) but the team suffers greatly without them in the lineup. Their simple defensive style of getting the puck to their forwards is essential to the quick transition game of the Sabres. Taking care of the offensive side is Brian Campbell, starting just his second full season in the NHL. Campbell, with 48 points last season, was an All-Star game starter after a fantastic first half, but struggled in the latter half of the season as he appeared to lose confidence in his greatest skill – moving the puck up the ice. He brings a flair to the Buffalo blueline not seen since the Phil Housley days but like Housley he can be careless about his defensive game. Back for yet another “final” season will be ageless Teppo Numminen; slowing a bit but still an above-average rearguard due to his low panic threshold with the puck. The biggest frustration for the Sabres and their fans may be Dmitri Kalinin, a one-time first round pick who has shown flashes of all-around brilliance but suffers from a glaring and shocking lack of confidence, occasionally forcing the coaching’s staff’s hand in benching him. Also in that vein was last year’s newcomer Jaroslav Spacek – acquired in free agency, the offensive-minded defenseman slowly lost coach Lindy Ruff’s confidence and by the end of the playoffs was only on the ice for a handful of minutes per night. Skilled utility man Nathan Paetsch slots in comfortably as either a replacement defenseman or fourth-line winger. Buffalo signed him to a three-year deal in late July, and clearly sees him as a future contributor.

Buffalo’s all-around defensive game is solid but at times they can maddeningly get pinned in their own end. Much of this problem results in the forwards forgetting their defensive responsibilities, leaving the defenceman along among a fierce forecheck. Ottawa exploited this team weakness in the playoffs last season and Buffalo must either think more conservatively overall (read: not always playing for the odd-man breakout) or upgrade the back end of their defensive corps.

Goaltending:

Ryan Miller
Jocelyn Thibault

Very simply, despite all of Buffalo’s offensive exploits, no player means more to Buffalo’s success than goaltender Ryan Miller. In many ways he’s a goalie that cannot be measured by his statistics (see also Grant Fuhr, 1984-1988) because on this aggressive offensively-minded team he will likely see more quality rubber flying his way than in a conservative system. Miller differs from many of the great goaltenders of the past and present in that he doesn’t need to make the spectacular save very often; his positioning is exceptional and he reads the oncoming rush as well as anyone in the league. As a result of Miller’s skills, the Sabres are able to press more and take chances they otherwise would not with a lesser goalie between the pipes. Having said that, and in light of the high profile free agent losses this year, it would behoove management to lock Miller up to a long-term deal very soon (he has two seasons left before he becomes an unrestricted free agent). Veteran Jocelyn Thibault was signed to a one year deal and should see roughly 15-20 games of action this season, but should not be counted on to carry the team in the event of any long-term absence of Ryan Miller.

Outlook:

Now that a little time has passed since Briere and Drury’s departure, people can analyze what the Buffalo Sabres actually are, rather than what they could have been. And what they are is still an elite team; perhaps in the overall picture they took a step back but their core is now even younger, and in the long run they should experience sustained success. They should be able to give Ottawa a run for the division, even though it may take some time for new line combinations to jell, and be one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference once again.

Your 2007-2008 Montreal Canadiens

2007-08-15T11:58:00.000-04:00

(Again, these will all be found in the upcoming SportsGrumblings.com free preseason fantasy guide. My assignment was the Northeast division...)
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Montreal Canadiens

2006-07 record: 42-34-6, 90 points. Fourth in division/tenth in conference.

Coach: Guy Carbonneau
General Manager: Bob Gainey
Home arena: Bell Centre
Capacity: 21273

Despite winning 42 games for the second consecutive season, the Montreal Canadiens missed out on a playoff birth by the slimmest of margins, losing a must-win game on the final day of the season to finish in 10th place, two points out of the eighth spot. The most successful franchise in NHL history has now gone 14 seasons since their 23rd and most recent Stanley Cup victory, easily the longest stretch in their storied history, and have only won three playoff series’ in that time. To say that there is an uproar in southern Quebec would be an exaggeration, but there is certainly unease amongst the faithful fans who long for the days when the Flying Frenchmen would dominate all foes. As they stand right now, the franchise is a mix of youth and experience, one that can compete most nights but overall has been an average club since the lockout.

Yet last year some signs occurred that gave hope to the Canadiens’ fans in the form of an influx of rookie talent that brought a shot of excitement to the Bell Centre and left the team just short in the end. A big question will be whether or not these up-and-coming players will fully develop their game before the older guard on the team is either past their peak or has moved on to other teams. Can the Habs fuse their youth and veterans to propel themselves back into their rightful place in the NHL playoffs?

Depth Chart:

Guillaume Latendresse	Saku Koivu	Alexei Kovalev
Chris Higgins	Bryan Smolinski	Michael Ryder
Steve Begin	Maxim Lapierre	Andrei Kostitsyn
Tomas Plekanec	Garth Murray	Tom Kostopolous

rookies/callups: C – Kyle Chipchura, LW - Mikhail Grabovski

Any discussion of the Montreal Canadiens’ offense must begin with captain Saku Koivu, now entering his 12th season with the Canadiens and eighth as team captain, the longest such tenure in Montreal since Bob Gainey. Koivu has never been a big scorer – somewhat due to his size but a series of bizarre injuries and illnesses have limited him to just three seasons of at least 80 games – yet few players give their all on the ice like Koivu does and is the undisputed leader of the club. Montreal’s other “big name” forward is the enigmatic Alexei Kovalev, in many ways the opposite of Koivu. Where Koivu seems to overachieve, Kovalev – for all the success he has had in the NHL (333 goals) – he has always left those who watch him wanting more. Kovalev flashes world class skills yet has only exceeded 77 points once in 14 seasons. Michael Ryder is their next biggest offensive threat, with 30 goals in each of the last two seasons. This may be Ryder’s swan song in Montreal, however, having reached an agreement for a one year deal that will bring him to unrestricted free agency after this season. If the Canadiens are out of the playoff picture come February, Ryder will be one of the most sought-after players by the trading deadline.

The reason Ryder could be expendable is because of the offensive talents Montreal has in the organization that are ready to assume regular NHL duties, none more heralded and popular than Quebec native Guillaume Latendresse. Fresh off a three year stint with the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the Quebec Major Junior League (where he scored 43 goals in 51 games his final season), the 19-year old Latendresse made a quick impression with the big club last year and was able to keep up with the big guns when he spent time on the first line. Although he only ended up with 16 goals and 29 points, look for Latandresse to have the opportunity to play left wing alongside Koivu and if he sticks, he has the skills to put up 25 goals and 50 points while maintaining a physical presence. Winger Andrei Kostitsyn repeatedly bounced back and forth between Montreal and their AHL affiliate in Hamilton last season but managed 11 points in 22 games while scoring 21 in 50 at Hamilton. 22-year old Maxim Lapierre plays a different style, bringing a high energy two-way game well-suited for checking line duties. These rookies joined a number of other young talents on the roster which include 24-year olds Tomas Plekanec (20 goals) and Chris Higgins (45 goals through his first two seasons), and ready at the minor league level are young offensive prospects Mikhail Grabovski and Kyle Chipchura, providing hope that the Canadiens aren’t spinning their wheels – they’re building for the near future.

Veteran center Bryan Smolinski was signed to a one-year deal; he’ll provide solid defensive play and should chip in 15 goals in any variety of roles. Steve Begin, Garth Murray, and Tom Kostopolous will fill out the third and fourth lines in mostly checking assignments.

Defence

Roman Hamrlik	Andrei Markov
Francis Bouillon	Mathieu Dandenault
Patrice Brisebois	Mike Komisarek
Mark Streit	Josh Gorges

On paper Sheldon Souray had one of the better offensive seasons by a defenseman in recent history, setting an NHL record for power play goals with 19. His timing also couldn’t have been better, having achieved these totals in his walk year for Montreal, one in which he cashed in for $27 million over the next five years with the Edmonton Oilers. The fact is that Montreal is, or will be, better off not having signed Souray to such a lengthy deal. While his booming shot and constant threat on the power play are definite assets, his defence and playmaking are suspect and for that money the Canadiens would be wise to invest it in future talent. So now the offensive responsibilities will be a bit more spread out, and most likely Andrei Markov will be the primary puck carrier and point man on the power play. Markov set career highs last season with 43 assists and 49 points and was rewarded with a four-year contract. Montreal dipped into the free agent market and signed former number one pick (1992) Roman Hamrlik to a four-year deal as well. Hamrlik has never quite lived up to his lofty billing, but is still an excellent player – a consistent offensive threat from the blueline who doesn’t shy away from contact.

Mike Komisarek will never compete for offensive numbers with Markov and Hamrlik, but will instead provide much-needed defensive responsibilities behind the blueline. Mark Streit would be the third option for Montreal on the power play – in just his second NHL season (after five years in the Swiss league) Streit notched 36 points. Francis Bouillon and Mathieu Dandenault are the kind of faceless veterans that are well-respected by their teammates for doing the dirty work necessary, despite being not nearly as skilled as their fellow defensemen. Veteran and former local whipping-boy Patrice Brisebois is back in town on a one year deal; perhaps without the pressure of being a top-four defenceman he can ease into a supporting role at age 36. Josh Gorges came over from San Jose last year in the deal for veteran Craig Rivet and provides depth but little offence.

Goaltending:

Cristobal Huet
Jaroslav Halak

rookies/callups: G – Carey Price

In June of 2004, Cristobal Huet was thrown into a deal between the Los Angeles Kings and Montreal Canadiens that centered around Radek Bonk coming to Montreal. Huet wasn’t on many Canadiens’ fans radar when the NHL awoke from their slumber in the fall of 2005, but he soon made them take notice – the rapid and surprising demise of former MVP Jose Theodore was countered by the absolutely stellar play of Huet as he grabbed the starter’s job, saved pucks at a .929 clip and nearly single-handedly carried Montreal into the playoffs. The 31 year old veteran of the French and Swiss leagues couldn’t be expected to keep up the same level of play last season, but did still play well enough to appear in the all star game. Unfortunately for Huet, his days in Montreal are likely numbered as the Canadiens have two young goaltenders that could carry the team into the next decade. 22-year old Jaroslav Halak was impressive in 16 games after his late-season call-up but the true future star is 19-year old Carey Price. Price was already enjoying a highly successful junior career with Tri-City of the Western Hockey League before he experienced unprecedented success in 2007: he backstopped Canada to the World Junior Championships in January, winning tournament MVP in the process; he then was signed by Montreal and assigned to Hamilton (AHL) where he proceeded to play 22 playoff games where he ended up with a .936 save percentage and playoff MVP. Price will get a chance to win the starting job in Montreal this year but if he fails he will be returned to Hamilton to play the season in the AHL.

Outlook:

The future looks bright for the Montreal Canadiens. With so many young players in the lineup, there is a very real possibility that the team could actually take a temporary step backwards this year but they are on the right track to being a serious contender within three or four years. As for 2007-2008, a lot has to go right for them to move up, and most importantly they need to improve upon their defensive game (256 goals against). A true wildcard, they could either finish a distant 10th or if the youth brigade all take a step forward they could challenge for a middle playoff spot.

Your 2007-2008 Toronto Maple Leafs

2007-08-15T10:59:00.000-04:00

Toronto Maple Leafs

2006-07 record: 40-31-11, 91 points. Third in division/ninth in conference.

Coach: Paul Maurice
General Manager: John Ferguson, Jr.
Home arena: Air Canada Centre
Capacity: 18819

Overview:

It’s hard to summarize the recent history of the Toronto Maple Leafs. On the one hand, over the past eight seasons the team has won 40 or more games seven times, while reaching the conference finals twice. On the other hand, their legions of critics (who love to slam the franchise for reasons mostly stemming from their ubiquitous appearances on CBC and their eastern Canadian market dominance) can simply point out that they haven’t even been to a Stanley Cup final since 1967, let alone win one, and have not made the playoffs in either post-lockout season.

The Leafs have been stuck in a bit of a holding pattern for much of the past decade; they’ve never been shy about showing a lot of veteran love – signing aging stars such as Gary Roberts, Joe Nieuwendyk, Owen Nolan, and Alex Mogilny – all of whom were still decent contributors upon joining the Leafs yet on the downside of their impressive careers. The wisdom of such signings was and is certainly up for debate, as one could certainly point to the relative success from 1999-2004 when the team averaged 98 points per year – but at what cost? As these players reached the end of their tenures with the Leafs (or sometimes their careers) the team wouldn’t have adequate replacements for them, which may be a solid reason that over the past few seasons the team has been floundering for an identity.

The Maple Leafs are hoping to make small strides to build a bit more with youth (or at least younger than their standard 35+ year old acquisitions) while retaining their veterans in a push to make the playoffs for the first time since their 103 point 2004 season.

Forwards:

Alexei Ponikarovsky	Mats Sundin	Jason Blake
Chad Kilger	Kyle Wellwood	Darcy Tucker
Mark Bell	Matt Stajan	Boyd Devereaux
Alex Steen	Nik Antropov
Bates Battaglia	John Pohl

rookies/callups: C – Kris Newbury

As referenced above, change may slowly be in the works for Toronto, but for now the Leafs’ top line will likely be anchored by two high-scoring veterans. Leafs captain and future Hall-of-Famer Mats Sundin will return for his 13th season with Toronto, and despite a growing legion of nagging injuries is always good for a point-per-game pace. In their biggest offseason move, the Leafs dipped into the free agent market this summer and signed 40 goal scorer Jason Blake away from the New York Islanders. The Leafs do, however, have a number of young forwards who should be seeing serious playing time with the big club. Alexei Ponikarovsky stands the best chance of playing with the top two – 21 goals is the high for the 27 year old winger, but the big man could see career highs playing the physical role and seeing power play time. Kyle Wellwood is an intriguing young center who dominated the junior ranks and just last season seemed to be on the verge of establishing himself as a big scorer in the NHL (42 points in 48 games) before a hernia sidelined him for nearly half the season. Wellwood can play soft at times but has world-class skills with the puck and should be a vital part of Toronto’s offense.

With (a hopefully healthy) Sundin and Wellwood as their top two pivots, the Leafs’ wingers will see many scoring chances all year long, but can they convert? Darcy Tucker will be good for 25 goals, many on the power play, as well as countless dives, fisticuffs, and items thrown at televisions anywhere outside of southern Ontario. Perhaps the most intriguing and boom/bust worthy man on the roster this season is Mark Bell. After two strong seasons in Chicago, Bell should have been on the verge of breaking out last season with a trade to the powerful San Jose Sharks and playing alongside Joe Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo. Instead he experienced a nightmare year that started with an awful pre-season incident and ended up with his eventual benching due to listless play - it became obvious that Bell needed a change of scenery. Toronto is hoping that he can clear his head in Toronto and get his career back on track, although being in the world’s largest hockey media market can crush the most fragile of personalities. We should know by mid-season whether or not the Bell experiment is a success. Alex Steen, son of former Winnipeg Jets standout Thomas Steen, is a highly skilled playmaker who can slot in at either center or wing, and will only benefit from more minutes. Matt Stajan is a very underrated two-way center who may never be great at one aspect of the game but excel enough for a good long career. Forward depth is still a bit of a question – the enigmatic Nik Antropov will never be the physically dominant forward that fans want him to be. Bates Battaglia, Chad Kilger, Boyd Devereaux and John Pohl round out the likely possibilities for the third and fourth lines.

Defence:

Bryan McCabe	Tomas Kaberle
Pavel Kubina	Carlo Colaiacovo
Ian White	Hal Gill
Wade Belak

rookies/callups: Andrew Wozniewski, Staffan Kronwall

Defence is an area for the Leafs in which they have a number of name players with skill, but the whole is not quite the sum of its parts. Overall the team gave up 262 goals, and the defence must take much of the blame. While Bryan McCabe and Tomas Kaberle can move the puck and generate a high quality offence from the blueline, their defensive play is inconsistent at best and downright poor at the worst of times, a fact often lost in careful analysis of the Leafs' shortcomings. Pavel Kubina isn’t going to make as many highlight reels but is a more reliable overall defender. Their best young option is 24 year old Carlo Colaiacovo, an offensively-minded player who simply needs to get more responsibilities to show off his skills. Signed for the next three seasons, Colaiacovo should be an important part of the Toronto blueline for years. Ian White is a creative but small player who would be best utilized on special teams play, but won’t crack the top unit as long as Kaberle and McCabe are around. The towering Hal Gill is often criticized for high-profile mistakes but is still a solid top-six defenceman when he uses his .

Goaltending:

Andrew Raycroft
Vesa Toskala
Scott Clemmensen

So what is Andrew Raycroft to think? After being rewarded by the front office with a three-year deal, Raycroft suffered through an up-and-down season dealing with short-tempered fans and a crushing media presence. Then the Leafs make a deal with San Jose for Vesa Toskala, throwing the label of Toronto’s undisputed number one goalie completely up in the air and providing no piece of mind to Raycroft. Toskala is the older of the two (30 vs. 27) but has had great success in San Jose. Raycroft may start the season as the soft number one, but one would have to assume Toskala will certainly get the opportunity to win the job outright. Scott Clemmensen arrives from New Jersey to once again never get a chance to win a starting job in the NHL.

Outlook:

Standard anti-Leaf cynicism aside, there are some things to be excited about in Toronto. They have two lines that should consistently generate quality offence, providing a nice mix of veteran and youthful talent. And if not for a shootout win on the last day of the season by the Islanders over New Jersey, the Leafs would have made the playoffs and could very well have given their arch-rival Buffalo Sabres a solid run in the first round of the playoffs. However if the Leafs have improved just a bit, it is very likely teams just below and above them have also improved, so whether they can make that surge into the playoffs is still very much in doubt. They still appear to be significant steps below their division rivals in Buffalo and Ottawa, and the lack of quality depth may once again keep Toronto on the cusp of the Eastern playoff picture right down to the final week of the season.

Update 15Aug 3:15pm - Mark Bell will be serving jail time for last year's felony hit-and-run conviction. Word right now is that he'll serve after this season ends. Which means mid-April. How this will play out for Bell this year is obviously anyone's call (and I'm keeping this discussion strictly hockey-related) but Bell's career is in serious danger of being derailed permanently just as 12 months ago it seemed on the verge of taking off.

Your 2007-2008 Boston Bruins

2007-08-15T09:59:00.000-04:00

(ok, I'll post in reverse-order of predicted finish. And I'm too impatient to figure out how to hide the bulk of the post, so here it is...)

Boston Bruins

2006-07 record: 35-41-6, 76 points. Fifth in division/thirteenth in conference.

Coach: Claude Julien
General Manager: Peter Chiarelli
Home arena: TD Banknorth Garden
Capacity: 17565

Overview:

The Boston Bruins have had a rough going over the past two years, both on and off the ice. It seems ages ago that they finished in first place in the Northeast division with 104 points, losing just 19 games. Yet that was only three seasons ago, the last season before the NHL lockout, and so much has changed with the Bruins that it hardly seems like the same organization. Since then many names have departed, including Brian Rolston, Andrew Raycroft, Mike Knuble, and of course Joe Thornton who, almost immediately upon leaving Boston, turned his career around from talented underachiever to league MVP. The Bruins’ front office has also been in shambles – longtime General Manager Harry Sinden stepped aside, and made room for Mike O’Connell who ended up making moves that alienated a team and their once-loyal fanbase in New England. In this decade alone they have seen no less than seven head coaches attempt to lead the Bruins franchise to their first Stanley Cup since 1972.

The 2007 Bruins should hold no illusions about a Cup run this season, but at the very least hope to establish consistency and a competitiveness not seen in the last few seasons. New General Manager Peter Chiarelli has been applying his stamp to the franchise over the past year, most recently hiring (another) new head coach Claude Julien, fresh off a late-season firing in New Jersey where he had led the Devils to another division title. There is no lack of talent on the Bruins roster, but will it be enough to climb the ever-tightening Eastern Conference and threaten for playoff position?

Forwards:

Marco Sturm	Marc Savard	Glen Murray
Peter Schaefer	Patrice Bergeron	Brandon Bochenski
P.J. Axelsson	Phil Kessel	Chuck Kobasew
Stanislav Chistov	Mark Mowers	Jeff Hoggan
Shawn Thornton	Jeremy Reich

This is a team that should score more goals than last season’s lame total of 219 goals; there simply is too much talent among the top six or seven forwards for that lack of production. For some reason center Marc Savard hasn’t received the respect he deserves in the NHL. His junior career with the Oshawa Generals was nothing short of stellar, twice leading the league in scoring while averaging over two points per game. He had trouble getting a fair shake in the NHL, in part because of his size (listed at 5’ 10”) and in part because of a less-than-perfect reputation for work-ethic. Yet in Calgary and more prominently in Atlanta he became one of the premier setup men in the league. When Boston signed him as a free agent last year it wasn’t deemed one of the bigger signings as many thought his association with the big Atlanta guns was the primary reason for his 97 point season, yet he proved doubters wrong yet again by notching 96 points for an otherwise offensively-challenged club. Glen Murray, who has seemingly been around forever but is only 34, is still a top sniper and a perfect fit alongside the crafty Savard. Marco Sturm is an underrated scoring winger who may be a better fit on Boston’s second line, now that two-way winger Peter Schaefer was acquired from Ottawa. Schaefer would provide defensive support for Savard and Murray to concentrate more on their offensive duties.

Patrice Bergeron is only 22 and signed for the next four years – he has nearly unlimited offensive potential and with the right linemates could easily surpass the 90 point barrier. Phil Kessel is a big wild card for Boston – two years ago he seemed to be the de facto eventual first overall pick for the 2006 draft, but his stock fell enough during his freshman year at Minnesota that he fell to the fifth slot where the Bruins were eager to nab him. Kessel does not belong in a third/checking line situation – he is a one-way player, but a potentially exceptional one. The Bruins would be well-served to bump either him or Bergeron to wing and insure that Kessel gets as much offensive opportunity as possible. Brandon Bochenski has had a brief yet unique career already; there’s never been a question of his scoring ability as in the 2005 pre-season pundits were predicting a big rookie season for the former North Dakota Sioux winger when, on a line in Ottawa with Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza, he led the NHL in pre-season goals. Yet he only stuck with Ottawa for 20 games and was dealt to Chicago, and then a year later was flipped to the Bruins where he buried 11 goals in just 31 games.

As with most teams, depth becomes a considerable issue after the top two lines, and the makeup of the third and fourth lines will likely be in flux for some time. P.J. Axelsson is a very valuable defensive forward who will be a regular fixture against opponents’ top lines and while the Bruins are short-handed. Chuck Kobasew is a stereotypical “great scorer if he can get the puck” player who will need to work every shift to earn his ice-time. Stan Chistov, Mark Mowers, Jeff Hoggan, and Jeremy Reich will be among those rotating in and out as depth forwards.

Defence:

Zdeno Chara	Aaron Ward
Dennis Wideman	Andrew Alberts
Andrew Ference	Mark Stuart
Bobby Allen

rookies/callups: Matt Lashoff

The Bruins defensive play last year was nothing short of awful, giving up 285 goals (only Philadelphia allowed more) and often leaving their goaltenders with very little support. Big-ticket free agent acquisition Zdeno Chara (5 years at $7.5 million per) did not provide the leadership and intimidating presence as advertised, and seemed to have trouble adjusting to being an undisputed number one defenseman. Chara improved late in the season and while he may never fully live up to the enormous sum of money thrown at him, the Bruins should expect him to become more of an overall presence this season.

Beyond Chara the Bruins defence is a mixed bag, one that has yet to play even half a season together as a single unit. Aaron Ward and Andrew Ference are the experienced veterans, Ward having won two Stanley Cups (Detroit and Carolina) while Ference has gone deep into the playoffs with Pittsburgh and Calgary. Both are relatively safe if unspectacular players. Mark Stuart and Dennis Wideman are where the upside can come from, even if they are very different types of players. Stuart is a strong stay-at-home type, the primary type of defenceman the Bruins need to keep the game simple and smartly play the body. Wideman is nearly the complete opposite - an outstanding offensive player who was a dominant force in his junior days with the London Knights, one who must be allowed to play his high-risk style for him to be effective. Look for Wideman to get ample opportunity as the top point man on the Boston powerplay. Andrew Alberts followed Bobby Allen at Boston College, and the two of them will round out the defense, Alberts the younger and more physical of the two.

Goaltending:

Manny Fernandez
Tim Thomas

It seems like ages ago that the Bruins were solid in the netminding department – the late 80s/early 90s saw the excellent tandem of Andy Moog and Reggie Lemelin tending goal for some powerful teams, but since then there have been a number of one-year wonders and castoffs (Blaine Lacher, Jim Carey, Andrew Raycroft) – nobody outside of Byron Dafoe has held down the top job for multiple seasons.

Last season’s goaltending duties were in the hands of Hannu Toivonen and Tim Thomas, Thomas initially being an afterthought but eventually became the clear number one in winning the job from Toivonen, who was eventually let go after the season in a deal with St. Louis. However this summer the Bruins dealt with the Minnesota Wild for Manny Fernandez. Fernandez is a mostly unknown commodity amongst NHL fans but is an outstanding goaltender who brings excellent puck-handling skills to the Boston crease.

Whether they now have a short-term plan or not may be debatable but for sure the Boston Bruins are counting on 20 year old Finnish goalie Tuukka Rask as being the future between the pipes for Boston. Rask came over from Toronto last year in a deal for Raycroft, leaving Fernandez and Thomas to battle for top status over the next two seasons until Rask is deemed NHL-ready.

Outlook:

A side result of Boston’s poor play defensively last year was an inability to get the puck to the forwards and keep pressure on the opposition; more than lack of quality forwards, this was the primary reason the Bruins were outscored by such a wide margin last season (289-219). Last season was one of constant change for Boston, so it is imperative that the Bruins’ defensive unit remains intact and develops – this is the biggest key to their season. The team has the offensive capability to make an impact in the East this year, and the tandem of Fernandez and Thomas in net should be good enough to keep them in most games. Look for the Bruins to be better this season, but it’s a tall order to expect them to reverse their goal differential enough to force them into the top eight this season – if everything goes right the Bruins could break .500 and threaten the 90 point barrier this year but they’ll need a complete devotion to team-wide defensive play to avoid missing the post-season for the third straight season.

NE division team previews

2007-08-14T07:57:00.000-04:00

After finally finishing up some pre-season work for SportsGrumblings.com, I'll reproduce my Northeast division previews here. Please check out the work at SportsGrumblings over the next few weeks as every division will be previewed, and untold players will be dissected as to their worthiness for fantasy hockey (I myself worked on centers, some 140+ all told. From a high of 128 words on Jason Spezza to just 3 for Jeremy Roenick).

I'll be posting in order of my predicted finish:

Ottawa Senators
Buffalo Sabres
Montreal Canadiens
Toronto Maple Leafs
Boston Bruins

(I can't figure out how to create post summaries - hazards of doing this at work. Waiting to post later, since each team's summary is pretty long)

19 years ago today

2007-08-09T07:49:00.001-04:00

The biggest trade and one of the more important events overall in sports history - Wayne Gretzky goes to the Kings for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, draft picks, and a lot of cash.

Read Joe Pelletier's take over at his great Legends of Hockey blog.

Jersey Sales for July 2007

2007-08-08T16:56:00.000-04:00

I wish they'd release how many actual sales were made. And...Peter Forsberg? Really?

TOP 10 SELLING JERSEYS ON SHOP.NHL.COM (July 1-31, 2007)
1. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
2. Daniel Briere, Buffalo Sabres / Philadelphia Flyers
3. Chris Drury, Buffalo Sabres / New York Rangers
4. Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres
5. Thomas Vanek, Buffalo Sabres
6. Peter Forsberg, Nashville Predators
7. Maxim Afinogenov, Buffalo Sabres
8. Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
9. Jaromir Jagr, New York Rangers
10. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers

Early look at 2008 draft - Steve Stamkos

2007-08-05T19:41:00.000-04:00

Jumping ahead of the upcoming season for a post, this weekend there was an article on CBC's hockey section about Sarnia Sting (Ontario Hockey League) center Steve Stamkos, who at this point clearly projects to be the number one pick in next June's NHL draft.

I got to see Stamkos play last January in Toronto (against the St. Michael's Majors) on my annual SOHO "scouting" trip and was highly impressed. If not for the four goal (plus shootout) performance by John Tavares the following evening, Stamkos would have taken home the highly prestigious SOHO MVP award.

Stamkos' first year in the OHL was a huge success, finishing 12th in league scoring with 42 goals and 92 points in 63 games. Previous to being the #1 pick in the 2006 OHL draft, his final year of minor midget hockey was spent with the Markham Waxers - here was his stat line:

66 games
105 goals
92 assists
197 points

Finally, the CBC article refers to an incredible move made at the OHL skills competition last year - here it is:

We'll be seeing Stamkos play head-to-head against Tavares this January when the Sting visit Oshawa, a likely battle between the #1 picks in 2008 and 2009.

2007-08 NE Depth Charts: Boston Bruins

2007-08-02T14:56:00.000-04:00

(again, trying to cut/paste a table into Blogger is a fool's errand. Yet I continue to try. Sorry for the awful formatting...)

There are actually some things to like here, but the defence was so awful last year that they couldn't get the puck to their forwards. 219 goals last year...no excuse. I like the top two lines, but they've got to find a way to get Phil Kessel into the top six.

Forwards:

Marco Sturm	Marc Savard	Glen Murray
Peter Schaefer	Patrice Bergeron	Brandon Bochenski
P.J. Axelsson	Phil Kessel	Chuck Kobasew
Stanislav Chistov	Mark Mowers	Jeff Hoggan
Shawn Thornton	Jeremy Reich
Defence:
Zdeno Chara	Aaron Ward
Dennis Wideman	Andrew Alberts
Andrew Ference	Mark Stuart
Bobby Allen
rookies: Matt Lashoff
Goaltending:
Tim Thomas	Manny Fernandez

...with Tuukka Rask soon to arrive.

2007-08 NE Division depth charts: Toronto Maple Leafs

2007-08-02T14:55:00.000-04:00

To me the most intriguing acquisition of the offseason for the entire division is Mark Bell:

Forwards:

Alexei Ponikarovsky	Mats Sundin	Jason Blake
Chad Kilger	Kyle Wellwood	Darcy Tucker
Mark Bell	Matt Stajan	Boyd Devereaux
Alex Steen	Nik Antropov
Bates Battaglia	John Pohl

rookies/callups: C – Kris Newbury

Defence:

Bryan McCabe	Tomas Kaberle
Pavel Kubina	Carlo Colaiacovo
Ian White	Hal Gill
Wade Belak

rookies/callups: Andrew Wozniewski, Staffan Kronwall

Goaltending:

Andrew Raycroft	Vesa Toskala	Scott Clemmensen

2007-08 NE Depth Charts: Montreal Canadiens

2007-08-02T14:48:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure how good they'll be but I like where the Canadiens are heading. A bunch of young faces emerging over the past few years, with offensive talents like Mikhail Grabovski and Kyle Chipchura coming soon, and Carey Price soon to man the nets, starting in a year or two the Habs could be a presence in the East for the foreseeable future. It's just that defence that I'm not sure about...

Depth Chart:

Guillaume Latendresse	Saku Koivu	Alexei Kovalev
Chris Higgins	Bryan Smolinski	Michael Ryder
Steve Begin	Maxim Lapierre	Andrei Kostitsyn
Tomas Plekanec	Garth Murray	Tom Kostopolous

rookies/callups: C – Kyle Chipchura, LW Mikhail Grabovski

Defence

Roman Hamrlik	Andrei Markov
Francis Bouillon	Mathieu Dandenault
Josh Gorges	Mike Komisarek
Mark Streit

Goaltending:

Cristobal Huet Jaroslav Halak

rookies/callups: G – Carey Price

edit: i hate Blogger's editing "tools."

2007-08 NE Depth Charts: Buffalo Sabres

2007-08-02T14:28:00.000-04:00

Now that a month has passed since "Black Sunday" (Captains Daniel Briere and Chris Drury left for much greener pastures) a little objectivity can set in...Buffalo is still very well-off. And although they signed Thomas Vanek (7 years, $50 million) and Derek Roy (6 years, $24 million) to more money than they would have liked, at the end of the day the Sabres have these two offensive talents locked up until they're both 30 years old.

Depth chart:

Thomas Vanek	Derek Roy	Maxim Afinogenov
Ales Kotalik	Tim Connolly	Jason Pominville
Jochen Hecht	Paul Gaustad	Drew Stafford
Dan Paille	Adam Mair
Andrew Peters	Mike Ryan

possible rookies: C – Marek Zagrapan, W - Clarke MacArthur, Patrick Kaleta, Mark Mancari.

Defence:

Henrik Tallinder	Toni Lydman
Brian Campbell	Teppo Numminen
Dmitri Kalinin	Jaroslav Spacek
Nathan Paetsch

Possible rookies: Michael Funk, Andrej Sekera, Mike Card

Goaltending:

Ryan Miller	Jocelyn Thibault

The next major front office order of business must be to lock up Ryan Miller for as long as possible. For all the press about Buffalo's new-NHL powerhouse offence, they go nowhere without Miller.

With the entire roster now signed, the Sabres' cap hit stands at just over US$45million, leaving about $5.1 million of space under the cap, giving them room to afford any sort of "rental" if they go that route this season.

2007-08 NE Depth Charts: Ottawa Senators

2007-08-02T06:50:00.000-04:00

Preparing some Northeast division previews - I'll be posting my best stab at the depth charts as they exist today (late July).

Ottawa hasn't lost much, especially compared to last year's offseason (Zdeno Chara, Martin Havlat, Dominik Hasek). Peter Schaefer is a quality forward who will be missed; Mike Comrie was only added late in the year. Tom Preissing shouldn't be missed much as this team has quality defensive depth. Especially with another year in the books for youngsters like Patrick Eaves, Chris Kelly, and Antoine Vermette, the Sens should be right back near the top of the East again this year:

Depth Chart:

Dany Heatley	Jason Spezza	Daniel Alfredsson
Dean McAmmond	Mike Fisher	Patrick Eaves
Oleg Saprykin -UFA	Chris Kelly	Chris Neil
Shean Donovan (RW)	Antoine Vermette	Brian McGrattan

possible rookies: Josh Hennessy – C, Jim McKenzie – LW

Defence:

Chris Phillips	Wade Redden
Joe Corvo	Anton Volchenkov
Christoph Schubert	Andrej Meszaros
Lawrence Nycholat

Goaltending:

Ray Emery	Martin Gerber

Despite his quality season last year, the weak(est) link on this team remains in goal with Ray Emery. He could still emerge as a top-flight goaltender, but he needs serious progress on rebounds and positioning.

Schoney's rock and roll fights

2007-07-28T16:01:00.000-04:00

Classic clip from a December 1972 battle btwn Buffalo and Boston, with the famed "through the Zamboni doors" incident between Jim Schoenfield and Wayne Cashman:

More women playing fantasy sports

2007-07-28T15:41:00.000-04:00

Hat tip to HP for this one - today's New York Times has an article on how women are becoming an increasing presence in fantasy leagues. Although from personal experience it isn't new to me - one hockey league that I've been in for nearly 15 years had a woman as a charter member (and we weren't shy about ragging on her for drafting Ulf Samuelsson late one draft). My wife also joined me for one year in an NL-only league and finished ahead of me. Naturally, I disbanded the league.

(aside: the infamous knee-on-knee hit delivered to Cam Neely by Ulfie was deemed so dirty back when it happened, but how many times have we seen that same kind of hit in the past 10-15 years, and most of the time much worse?)

Absence

2007-07-24T06:57:00.000-04:00

OK, summer hockey writing is better left to folks like Eric McErlain at Off Wing, James Mirtle, or NHL Numbers to keep up with the salary cap. I'll be back fulltime once pre-season begins. Too many vacations, reunions (family, friends, high school) this summer to do the job that the aforementioned (and others) are already doing.

However, starting by the end of this week I'll have some previews of the Northeast division here - my "assignment" for the SportsGrumblings.com NHL preview Sourcebook.

Steve Sullivan heckles injured fan

2007-07-18T15:47:00.001-04:00

Big hat tip to Parlayer.com for this one: Steve Sullivan gets heckled by a front-row fan after taking a stick to the grill. Sullivan has the unreal luck of being able to "repay the favour" later in the game.

Brilliant work Steve (no, really).

Kind of reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when Jerry goes to Elaine's office to heckle Kramer's girlfriend (and chases her into the street where her pinky toe gets run over...)

Home, Home Again

2007-07-13T06:48:00.000-04:00

I had the (dis)pleasure of being in the general Western New York region during "Black Sunday" when the Sabres lost both Daniel Briere and Chris Drury to free agency. The text messages I received were frustrating and hilarious all at once... (the displeasure came from subjecting myself to 10 minutes of the local sports-talk radio)

Anyways, I obviously missed the free agent frenzy which was covered to extremes by virtually any/every blog in the blogroll to the right.

Possibly the most interesting hockey site over the summer is the increasingly-important NHL Numbers which dutifully has kept track of every team's salary cap commitments. For the big splashes they made this month, the Rangers have some work to do in getting that payroll down at least USD$1.4million by September (this not even considering that Sean Avery and Marcel Hossa are unsigned...)

As for the rest of this month, I'm beginning work on the online SportsGrumblings.com 2007-2008 NHL Sourcebook, something we did over at the now-extinct SportsBlurb.com last season. We'll have the usual: detailed team/division previews, rookie previews, and a bunch of fantasy content - from fantasy 101 articles, breakout/bust players, and a detailed forecast on hundreds of NHL players. We were a little late on it last year but after working out the kinks we should have it ready by late August - keep checking back here for previews and ultimately a link to the final product. 100% free, btw.

NOTE: SportsGrumblings.com requires (free) registration - gives you an account/password. Yes, it stinks and I'm not generally a fan of the concept. But - and this is my Smooth Jimmy Apollo Lock of the Week - you'll never get any spam from them and your e-mail address isn't given to anyone. Which begs the question 'why bother' but that's not my call to make. Anyways, just some info to hopefully encourage people to check it out.

UPDATE: some conflicting reports about the Rangers' salary commitments - the NHLSCAP.com site lists New York as having USD$2.8 million wiggle room.

A Million Vacations

2007-06-26T19:02:00.000-04:00

is what I've got in mind.

I'm away until roughly July 9th, at which point the entire NHL landscape will have changed. A few notes, both major and minor:

Apparently - FINALLY - the salary cap figure will be agreed upon today or tomorrow at the NHLPA executive board meeting - it could go as high as USD$50 million. Last year's cap was at USD$44 million. Prepare for the annual round of logic-defying head-shaking contracts. I expect to get a number of mind-blowing text messages on Sunday when free-agent season begins.

In another exclusive-rights deal, the Atlanta Thrashers traded the rights to free agent center Keith Tkachuk back to St. Louis for the conditional first round pick they gave up when originally acquiring his useless carcass at the deadline. I can never understand why rebuilding teams would re-sign retreads like this.

The Hall of Fame committee meets tomorrow and will vote in one of the greatest classes ever, led by Mark Messier. Other possibilities include Ron Francis, Scott Stevens, Al MacInnis, Adam Oates, Igor Larionov and Claude Lemieux. A maximum of four can be inducted each year.

On the (very) light side, Wayne Gretzky is getting into the wine business in Southern Ontario despite admitting that he doesn't "know a whole lot about wine." Rumours that he plans on hiring Jeremy Roenick, Owen Nolan, and Marty McSorley to pick grapes are unfounded.

Please follow the critical hockey links in the right-hand column below to keep tabs on all goings-on over the next few weeks.

Road Apples NHL mock draft - 2007

2007-06-22T06:23:00.000-04:00

Dispensing with the commentary, and ripe for abuse by probably 8:30 EDT tonight, I've thrown my hat in the ring - here is my 1st round mock NHL draft for 2007 in simple list form (top 5 selections / justifications can be found in the 5 previous posts here):

1. Chicago	Kyle Turris
2. Philadelphia	Jakub Voracek
3. Phoenix	Patrick Kane
4. Los Angeles	Karl Alzner
5. Washington	Alexei Chereponov
6. Edmonton	Sam Gagner
7. Columbus	James Van Riemsdyk
8. Boston	Angelo Esposito
9. St. Louis	Lars Eller
10. Florida	Keaton Ellerby
11. Carolina	Zach Hamill
12. Montreal	Mikael Backlund
13. Toronto	Logan Couture
14. Colorado	Ryan McDonagh
15. Edmonton (from NYI)	Tommy Cross
16. Anaheim (from TB)	Stefen Legein
17. NY Rangers	David Perron
18. Calgary	Brandon Sutter
19. Minnesota	Dana Tyrell
20. Pittsburgh	Brett MacLean
21. Phoenix (from DAL)	Luca Cunti
22. Montreal (from SJ)	Joakim Andersson
23. Philadelphia (from NAS)	Nicholas Petrecki
24. St. Louis (from ATL)	Max Pacioretty
25. Vancouver	Maxim Mayorov
26. St. Louis (from NJ via SJ)	Oscar Moller
27. Detroit	Kevin Shattenkirk
28. Washington (from BUF)	Colton Gillies
29. Ottawa	Jonathon Blum
30. Edmonton (from ANA)	Akim Aliu

In the mock draft pool I'm in, we have different values for the top 5: exact slot gets you 2 points, +/- 1 gets you 1 point. From pick 6 through 30, exact slot gets you 3 points, +/- 1 = 2, +/- 2 = 1. We'll see if any of us can crack 10.

NHL draft talk - #5 pick: Washington Capitals

2007-06-20T14:10:00.001-04:00

Full text/summary of my mock top 5 can be found on SportsGrumblings.com (signin required but they mercifully don't put you on any mailing lists)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

After yet another down year, the Capitals as they present are constructed - unlike a franchise like, say, Los Angeles - don't exactly have an impending crop of young players at the NHL level ready to help make the team take that next step towards respectability. Last year's fourth overall pick - center Nicklas Backstrom - returned to Europe in 2006 rather than immediately sign with Washington (although he was just signed by the Capitals to a three-year entry-level deal). Talented forward prospects like Eric Fehr and Francois Bouchard (QMJHL scoring leader with 125 points) should still be expected to be at least a year or two away from not only earning a full-time spot with the big club but having any sort of positive impact.

In terms of goaltending, the team drafted two in the top 34 picks last year in prospects Michal Neuvirth (2nd round, 2006) and Semen Varlamov (1st round, 2006) and both are developing nicely: Neuvirth led his Plymouth Whalers to their first OHL title and Memorial Cup last month, sporting a .932 save percentage over 18 playoff games; Varlamov excelled at this year's World Junior Championships (WJC) and is generally considered the top Russian goaltending prospect, putting up a 2.12 GAA in the Russian Super League. There should be good competition in coming years once longtime incumbent Olaf Kolzig finally retires.

In other words, barring a rash of trades and free agent signings this summer, the Capitals will still be building for a few years down the road (and have Alexander Ovechkin's restricted free agency status to look forward to after this coming season). Assuming that Washington's brass feels the same way, trying to figure out the direction of their first round selection is intriguing. Finding that one specific position in the Capitals' organization that they need to upgrade is difficult, and at the number five selection they could reasonably be expected to take whom they deem is the most-talented player available. If I'm going by my biased assumptions of the first four selections, James VanRiemsdyk and Jakub Voracek won't be available (if they are, Washington would be well off selecting either one)

The Capitals could continue their European invasion by drafting Alexei Cherepanov, the top-ranked European in the draft. Cherepanov will help eventually give the Capitals an outstanding top 4 with Alexander Ovechkin, Niklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin - perhaps as early as next season. Cherepanov was the top forward at the WJC this past winter and scouts rave about his offensive presence and creativity. The knock is that he can be maddeningly inconsistent and disappears at times. By drafting the Russian and putting fellow countryman Ovechkin at his side, the Capitals may be able to take this high-risk / high- reward player and help transform their club into an offensive dynamo over the next few seasons.

NHL draft - #4 pick: Los Angeles

2007-06-19T14:43:00.001-04:00

At pick #4 we have the Los Angeles Kings. Despite bottoming out last year - winning only 27 games (better than only Philadelphia) and missing the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season - the Kings have a burgeoning stable of young talent and are not far off from making a run at a playoff spot. With young offensive talents such as Mike Cammalleri, Alexander Frolov, Dustin Brown, a future superstar in Anze Kopitar, and then Patrick O'Sullivan and Trevor Lewis on the horizon, within a few years the Kings could be one of the better offensive teams in the league. As was written here on this site and elsewhere by Kings fans, goaltending was the main reason the Kings went into the tank so early last season, with Dan Cloutier suffering the wrath of fans and feeling the heat of red lights on the back of his jersey until his season mercifully ended with hip surgery. Goaltending will have to be a temporary transitional phase for Los Angeles until top-flight prospect Jonathan Bernier of the QMJHL champion Lewiston Maineiacs is ready to turn pro. Make no mistake: Bernier is the Kings' goalie of the not-so-distant future, so the Kings will be looking for a skater at the four slot on Friday.

Where the Kings could and should continue to build is on the blueline. Veterans Rob Blake and Lubomir Visnovsky provide a decent-enough one-two, but with one year left on both of their deals and Blake pulling in USD$6 million, the Kings will likely either try to deal Blake this season or simply not re-sign him when he reaches the end of his contract. Highly regarded youngster Jack Johnson - acquired from Carolina in a pre-season fleecing last September - will start the year with a full-time job in L.A. but will likely undergo growing pains for a few seasons. The Kings' greatest need for depth is at defence and at the number four position it is highly likely that either of Karl Alzner or Keaton Ellerby will be available.

The thinking here is that Alzner of the Calgary Hitmen would be the best fit for the Kings. Even though scouts agree that he could take more risks offensively, what Los Angeles needs is to take care of play in their own zone and develop a quality three-zone system to be a contender when their young talent begins to peak a few years from now. NHL Central Scouting writes that Alzner "...is calm under pressure and composed with the puck. Has good positioning and reads the play well." Exactly the kind of player who GM Dean Lombardi could see playing 24-27 minutes every night in front of Jonathan Bernier three or four years from now.

NHL draft - #3 pick: Phoenix

2007-06-17T21:55:00.000-04:00

As a reminder, I'm not intending these to be predictions on who will be selected - simply evaluating who I would take if I were in each club's position, and basing subsequent picks on my previous phantom picks. In other words, it's complete bullshit. :-D

Ahh, Phoenix. So much to pick on, so little time...but in this article we'll keep a focused criticism of the franchise on their drafting legacy. Of the 12 first-round picks they've made in their short and terrible 11-year history (has it been that long already?), the only one to become a star is Daniel Briere, who quite obviously has not been plying his trade for the Coyotes of late. Defensive forward Fredrik Sjostrom (#11, 2001 draft) has held a steady job for the 'Yotes over the past three seasons, but there has been no homegrown star power in the desert. To be fair, we can't fairly analyze recent draft history, which may eventually help boost their drafting reputation. They just signed their high-scoring 2005 first rounder Martin Hanzel to an entry level deal. Their highest pick - Blake Wheeler, 5th overall in 2004 - is currently excelling at the University of Minnesota. Wheeler's high school teammate Peter Mueller (#8, 2006 draft) scored 78 points for Everett (WHL) last year and has represented the USA at the past two World Junior Championships.

Yet there's no denying that this franchise's cycle of mediocrity has their roots in poor drafting. A team must expect the occasional first-round bust but Phoenix has taken that to extremes by almost literally never having success in a decade of drafts. Awful drafting has doomed the Phoenix organization to repeated mediocre finishes, only once finishing as high as second in their division. Here's an indictment of the entire organization: outside of Daniel Briere, never (since 1996) has the franchise drafted a single player who has scored 20 goals in an NHL season (the only one close being Trevor Letowski in 2000). Phoenix needs a lot, but what could help them take a big step forward both on the ice and at the gate would be an offensive dynamo.

The best fit for the Coyotes would be London Knights first-year sensation Patrick Kane. Although the chances of him still being available at the #3 slot are fairly slim, it wouldn't be unprecedented for a highly-acclaimed and odds-on favourite to go #1 to slip to the third spot - in 2002 Jay Bouwmeester was expected by many all season to be the top pick but on draft day he slipped to third, much to his surprise.

Although Phoenix is still far off from being a serious competitor, Kane's offensive wizardry is exactly what the Coyotes need to start them on the road back to respectability. Phoenix must make the hard decision to avoid ridiculous and backward-thinking signings of veterans and focus on a 3-5 year plan on making this team ready to challenge for the cup by the end of the decade. Kane could immediately be the best forward on the team by mid-season, with only Shane Doan able to challenge for that post. In the likely event that Kane is not available at the third spot, the Coyotes will likely take whomever is left of Kyle Turris and James vanRiemsdyk.

NHL draft - #2 pick: Philadelphia

2007-06-14T10:06:00.001-04:00

As a reminder, I'm not intending these to be predictions on who will be selected - simply evaluating who I would take if I were in each club's position, and basing subsequent picks on my previous phantom picks. In other words, it's complete bullshit. :-D

Coming off a shockingly disastrous season - only one year removed from finishing with 100 points - the Philadelphia Flyers may not be as bad-off as other teams in the top (actually, bottom) 5. Anything good that developed in the first post-lockout season completely unraveled last season, as promising second-year players like Jeff Carter and Mike Richards suffered through the sophomore jinx, both missing extensive time with injuries. Goaltending was a disaster for the Flyers as neither Antero Niittymaki nor Robert Esche provided support behind what was frankly a terribly immobile defence. The late-season trade with Buffalo that gained them veteran Martin Biron (whom they subsequently signed to a 2-year deal) shored up the goaltending, although Biron isn't the kind of keeper who can carry a bad team.

They own the 2nd-overall pick next week, and will be able to claim a top talent no matter what...although defence is where they need the most help, and this draft is definitely weighted towards offensive talent, at least at the top end. Gaining Braydon Coburn at the trading deadline for Alexei Zhitnik was an absolute steal, but there is still a need for a more veteran presence (Darien Hatcher doesn't count) on the blueline. Regardless, I'd be a little surprised if the Flyers took Karl Alzner or Keaton Ellerby (who, although is only listed at 187 lbs. stands at a towering 6'4") when there are still elite-level forwards available - even though I could see the physical Ellerby being a fan favourite.

I'm going to assume that Philadelphia will be aggressive and successful in signing one of the better unrestricted free agent centers on the market within the next few weeks - they have just over USD$30 million committed to the cap next season with only a few potentially integral free agents to deal with. Therefore drafting someone who may be just a bit more of a long-term solution would be more palatable with a veteran like Daniel Briere or Scott Gomez centering their top line for the next four years.

UPDATE - 18JUNE: After the trade-and-sign with Nashville to obtain Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen, the Flyers appear to stand at just over USD$42 million for next season, which certainly stands to limit much more off-season spending.

Patrick Kane has rightfully earned a lot of praise for his fantastic first season in the OHL for London, but his 5'9" frame doesn't exactly fit into how the Flyers have historically built their roster. With other sizeable forwards like Mike Knuble, Jeff Carter, Scottie Upshall, and RJ Umberger, I see Philadelphia steering more towards James VanRiemsdyk but I personally like the idea of them taking Halifax's Jakub Voracek. Voracek is ranked as the #7 prospect by Central Scouting but his showing after one year in the QMJHL (having arrived from the Czech Republic speaking no English) was nothing short of dominant in every way, with 86 points in 59 games and adding 24 in just 12 playoff games. Voracek is ready to make the next step and join a Philadelphia organization that hopes to rebound from the worst season in their history.

NHL draft talk - #1 pick: Chicago Blackhawks

2007-06-14T08:08:00.000-04:00

Tonight marks the symbolic end to the 2006-07 NHL season with the annual awards show, likely to be marked with terrible puns, bad suits, and shifting empty seats. But starting tomorrow morning the 2007-08 season begins, with a leadup to next Friday's first round of the NHL Entry Draft. As of now, the first five picks will go to:

1. Chicago
2. Philadelphia
3. Phoenix
4. Los Angeles
5. Washington

Predicting who will go where is perhaps a fool's game, but a little semi-mindless speculation and analysis is always enjoyable. I'm not intending these to be predictions, because so much goes on behind the scenes so to speak on which teams will draft which players, so I'll informally spend a little time on the top 5 clubs and slowly go down the list and evaluate who I would take if I were in each club's position.

Starting off with number one: The Chicago Blackhawks.

The Chicago Blackhawks hold the first selection in the draft for the first time in their history (likely shocking to those only familiar with their latest decade of failure, having made the playoffs only once since 1997) and GM Dale Tallon has implied that the choice is between forwards Patrick Kane, Kyle Turris, and James van Riemsdyk (barring any sort of trade, of course).

It sounds like Tallon may prefer the two-way physical play of Turris and Van Riemsdyk, as their size (6'0" and 6'3" respectively) gives them the advantage over the 5'9" Kane, but Kane is the most-likely to turn pro next season, which could be beneficial to getting fans excited about the Hawks again. But the Hawks have to be patient and continue their slow but emerging re-building process - if Jonathan Toews and Jack Skille progress as expected they should help provide Chicago with a fearsome combination not seen since the days of Jeremy Roenick and Steve Larmer. If Tallon believes Kyle Turris - who is slated to play at the University of Wisconsin this fall - will be their #1 center for a decade starting three years from now that's the pick he needs to make: Kyle Turris at number one.

CSS final rankings

2007-06-14T07:00:00.000-04:00

Top North American Skaters

Top International Skaters

Top North American Goalies

Top International Goalies

(note: all are links to .pdf files - Adobe Reader required)

Iron Mike is back

2007-06-14T06:45:00.000-04:00

Mike Keenan is back to unite a new team in hatred against him - reports out of Calgary are that he will be the new coach of the Flames next season. Enough has been written about the swath of personal destruction that Keenan has left in his wake, but he has had considerable success amidst the turmoil. And truth be told, Calgary could use something to wake them from their stupor - they have the talent to win the Cup but an inexplicable home/road split during the season and playoffs spelled strangely predictable doom.

The relationship between Keenan and Jarome Iginla will be especially interesting. Much more to come, I'm sure.

Bloggers beware

2007-06-12T17:29:00.000-04:00

Neate Sager runs an excellent blog in Canada called Out of Left Field (see right-hand sidebar); he covers all aspects of virtually every sport in Canada (I'm particularly partial to his junior hockey leanings in the winter).

Sager is being sued for CAD$2 million by Steelback Brewery owner Frank D'Angelo for comments Sager made on his blog that supposedly "damaged his reputation." D'Angelo at one point last year was bidding to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Whether you care or not, Sager not only runs this blog but does a lot of work in the "traditional" media fields as well so he could hardly be represented as some lone hack working out of his mother's basement (not...that there's anything wrong with that). Much to Sager's credit, he has taken and continues to take the high road in this affair. Best of luck to Neate in his efforts to get the case dropped.

Anaheim Ducks - your Stanley Cup Champions

2007-06-07T06:59:00.000-04:00

Really has a ring to it, eh?

various observations/notes:

The Ducks should've worn this abomination last night:

Gary Bettman - as always - couldn't resist a snarky opportunity to stick a little needle to his critics when on the red carpet (I realize I'm old-fashioned when I pine for the days where there were no on-ice wireless mics and announcements, but I always prefer to have an event or moment sell itself. Welcome to the 21st century, I suppose...) he rhetorically, arrogantly, and self-servingly stated to the crowd "well, I guess hockey is doing pretty well in California!" knowing that his ever-growing legion of critics has been on him harder than ever regarding ill-advised markets, etc. Bettman loves to be able to point out the last three Cup champions: Tampa Bay, Carolina, Anaheim.

Hard not to love the play of Scott Niedermayer, a Hall-of-Fame mortal lock. But I thought the Conn Smythe could - and should - have gone to Andy MacDonald, who I'm guessing a lot of fans had very little idea about before this series. He's a game-breaker and was a constant threat during the entire series.

Steve Smith now has historical company in one Chris Phillips:

Overall, Ottawa played a rather pitiful series. Sure they had their moments where they looked like the team that steamrolled through the second half of the season and through the first three rounds of the playoffs - much of last night's second period for instance. But there were many who simply failed to compete - none more in my book than Jason Spezza. Spezza never showed any creativity with the puck and repeatedly failed on the defensive end of his game. Aside from countless turnovers his listless and frankly contact-avoidance style of play left his teammates (mostly Daniel Alfredsson, one of the few Sens forwards who brought game) in the lurch. Spezza registered just one shot over the final three games and overall in the five-game series registered just two points - both second assists.

Although he was not the reason they lost, Ray Emery looked shaky throughout. Despite a few highlight-reel saves, his positioning is just awful and he has no idea how to control a rebound. From my observing him, he also seems to lose sight of the puck much more often than other goalies. I became a believer in Emery this year after his playoff flame-out last season. However, after this performance, Emery will have to improve if the Sens hope to repeat next season as Eastern Conference champions.

At any rate, congratulations to the Ducks. In no way were they a fluke champion, they either held the West lead or were within a few points of it all season, and crushed the high-scoring Senators team in five. With the young core of talent in Anaheim, they have a great chance at either repeating or getting back to the finals within the next few years.

And if Teemu Selanne decides to go out Lanny McDonald style and retire, what a great ride it has been. From his never-to-be-duplicated 76-goal rookie season in Winnipeg to his post-lockout resurgence in Anaheim (88 goals in the past two seasons) over the past 14 years fans have been treated to one of the all-time greats. Congratulations to one of the nicest and classiest athletes to ever play in North America.

The NHL draft begins two weeks from tomorrow night.

OHL franchise move official

2007-06-06T15:19:00.001-04:00

Long rumoured and expected, it is now official: beginning this coming season the Toronto St. Michael's Majors will move to Mississauga while the Ice Dogs formally relocate to the Niagara region, temporarily (at least) to be housed in St. Catherines:

Majors on the Move

Tuesday Jun 5, 2007

Toronto, Ont. (Tuesday, June 5, 2007) — It is now official; the St. Michael’s Majors are relocating to Mississauga for the upcoming season. This situation comes as a result of the transfer of the Mississauga IceDogs to the city of St. Catharines, which has been approved by the Ontario Hockey League’s Board of Governors.

The Majors will now be known as the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors and will continue to possess a strong connection to St. Michael’s College School.

The Majors web site address (www.stmichaelsmajors.com) will not change. Stay tuned to that site as the team will be releasing their 2007-08 schedule in the near future, as well as ticket packages, community programs and the many exciting initiatives planned for the upcoming season.

We'll miss visiting the 1000-capacity St. Mike's Arena, as old-school an arena as you'll find anywhere.

one more week off

2007-06-05T13:09:00.000-04:00

Since I'm enjoying just watching the finals without critiquing, taking notes, or studying shift charts and extended stats, I'll stay on my hiatus through the end of the season, which could be as early as Wednesday night or at the latest next Monday.

I'll have some sort of a wrap-up next week and will pick up the posts as the month goes on - "summer season" starts this month with the draft in Columbus (starting on a Friday night this year) on June 22nd, and the free-agent frenzy to begin less than two weeks after that.

Starting at the end of this month, this will be the most important information to have handy as teams begin to restructure for next season.

still on hiatus

2007-05-29T14:53:00.000-04:00

(...so much for my finals preview...)

Still on self-imposed writing hiatus from here and SportsGrumblings - the last two months have been crazy and I need to cut back for a short while - I also have a need to simply be a fan and not analyze everything, and just enjoy the Finals. Find analysis here or here. I'll chime back in more often at the end of the season, just when the draft and free-agent frenzy are picking up.

Hoping for at least six games from this series, last night was a decent-enough start.

news/notes

2007-05-24T09:51:00.000-04:00

Taking a much-needed break this week - I'll be on board for the finals starting on Monday night, and I'll have a quick preview up by that afternoon.

I'm glad I stuck with game 6 the other night, as the last 10 minutes were riveting to see whether Detroit could pull out that last tying goal.

Potentially the biggest news today though is that Research In Motion's Jim Balsillie has reached an agreement to purchase the Nashville Predators:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie might get his NHL team after all.
The co-CEO of Waterloo, Ont.-based Blackberry makers Research in Motion Ltd., has reached a tentative agreement to buy the Nashville Predators, a source close the negotiations confirmed to the Canadian Press on Wednesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The deal would have to be investigated and approved by the NHL's board of governors before it became official.

Despite the inevitable protests from the offices of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres, the Niagara Frontier is very likely to have a new team within a year or two and that should be an absolutely fantastic thing for hockey and the NHL. I only hope the league finds a way to put the team into the Northeast Division, making the Leafs/Sabres/? (St. Pats? Fincups? Blackberries? - no I'm kidding, please no.) develop a fantastic 3-team regional rivalry.

Edits:

with thanks to James Mirtle, RIM recently (and quietly) made a land purchase in Cambridge, about an hour west of Toronto via the 401.

here's some excellent perspective from Stephen Brunt at the Globe and Mail.

congrats to Ottawa

2007-05-21T07:13:00.000-04:00

I didn't have time (ok, or the will) to post this weekend. A tight series of weird games marked by peaks of end-to-end action separated by long stretches of inconsistent hockey. By both teams.

For a cheap and easy review...Ottawa's best outplayed Buffalo's best, and Ray Emery was rarely tested. Depending on your point-of-view, that could either be offensive ineptitude on Buffalo's part or a fantastic defensive scheme on Ottawa's part. I'm tending to steer more towards Ottawa's play with a side-dash of Buffalo playing tight.

It is easy to point out that Ottawa's best players were better than Buffalo's best players. The Sens' Pizza Line ("they deliver") of Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, and Dany Heatley were markedly more effective than Daniel Briere, Chris Drury, and Thomas Vanek, not to mention Jason Pominville (despite meager offensive contributions, he did perform solid work in his own zone defensively) and Maxim Afinogenov.

As for flaws in Buffalo's game, the power-play is the obvious first answer as well as the correct one. Enough has been written about just how putrid it was, and not much effort would need to be made to argue that even an average man advantage unit in this series could have reversed the outcome. Although this was primarily Buffalo's problem, as their power-play was sub-par all season long, credit must be given to Ottawa who refused to deviate from their game plan. The Senators were content to let the Sabres (attempt to) set up at the blueline - Buffalo repeatedly tried to make the perfect play yet didn't ever move the puck often or creatively enough to get anything in the way of quality chances.

I'm finding myself a bit spent in terms of hockey and especially analysis. I think I'll be taking this week to relax and actually watch what's left of the Western finals before sitting down to further analyze the Eastern Finals. I'll have a post or two before my inevitable Cup Finals preview here (and at SportsGrumblings.com).

Slug heartbeat located

2007-05-17T07:14:00.000-04:00

Just when Buffalo Sabres fans think they're out....they get pulled right back in again.

After a 3-2 victory in a game that most pundits would have expected the Sabres to fully roll over and die after their pitiful game 3 performance, it was Derek Roy getting the stunning first goal of the night nine seconds after the opening drop. The Sabres never trailed, although things certainly changed after they took a 3-0 lead midway through the second period and it looked like they were ready to romp.

Buffalo suddenly and inexplicably fell into their early-series defensive funk by carelessly turning the puck over in their own zone, leading to two quick Ottawa goals which brought the home crowd to life and seemed to suck the tenuous confidence out of the Sabres.

Hilights:

I'll dispense with the game recap, but this was another game that went far beyond the final score. Buffalo started to show some legs in the first half of the game - they weren't perfect, but they were orders of magnitude better than they'd been over the previous ~six periods. What would concern me from a Buffalo point of view, however, is their quick lapse back into the giveaway game followed by uncharacteristically conservative play (at least in terms of their regular season game). Turnovers are an accepted part of Buffalo's game, and have been for two seasons now, but when every game is now magnified (with everything at stake) and they are playing an opponent who is on top of their game, it becomes far more dangerous.

click for full-sized view:

Lindy Ruff clearly recognized how he was going to deal with any tenuous play early on when he decided to shoot his entire "4 rolling lines" game plan to hell - above is the official shift chart for game 4 and the late-game gaps are telling. Dmitri Kalinin had five shifts in the first period and saw the ice once again - with nine minutes were gone in the third. I think many Sabres' fans will be okay with that decision (4:23 total ice time) but how will that play out in game 5 (or beyond)? Is this a one-time thing or has Ruff's faith [in Kalinin] been completely shattered? If so, he'd be better off not dressing Kalinin and calling up Nathan Paetsch. Skating five (or less...see Spacek below...) defencemen in a playoff game isn't advisable for the team's long-term health - especially if they cannot lose another game.

Some other decisions by Ruff were also questionable:

1) Lack of faith in Jaroslav Spacek. I know a lot of fans are on him for his zero points this postseason, but a major reason for that is his limited ice-time. Spacek only got 8:22 last night with 22 seconds combined on special-teams. He played three shafts total after Ottawa's second goal of the night, essentially giving the Sabres four defencemen for the second half of the game - a likely reason for them being pinned in their own zone much of the third. Long term - I would look for this to be an offseason where Buffalo quietly tries to deal Spacek - Ruff's pattern of usage of him over the past few games is telling - this isn't the first time Spacek has seen pine in critical situations.

2) Too much faith in Brian Campbell. Campbell is an exciting player who, when carrying the puck, can make one think of the better offensive defencemen of the past 20 years. Unfortunately when he doesn't commit to a two-way game he can be a defensive liability. Campbell accounted for four of Buffalo's 10 official turnovers last night yet led all Sabres in ice-time by far with just under 30 minutes. I'm not sure what Ruff is trying to emphasize here - if he wants reliability, Campbell might not be your best bet. Is he that much more defensively responsible than Spacek? No chance. There must be an equalization of ice-time or every third period will be completely slanted towards Ryan Miller for the duration of this postseason.

Speaking of Miller - again he was fantastic tonight. I wish I had seen where it was written that Ray Emery was "outplaying" Miller, because that's a joke. Emery - on the rare occasions he's been tested - has been quite shaky (although he deserves credit for a handful of spectacular saves - it's the easy ones he often struggles with). Chris Drury's goal was a poor effort on Emery's part.

Other shift notes: Dainus Zubrus played four minutes and never returned after the three minute mark of the second. He may be hurt. Ales Kotalik was used sparingly as was Max Afinogenov, although Max put in another solid effort. The most sad/frustrating part from a Sabres' fan point-of-view is the continued dog-like play of Thomas Vanek. He is looking like he did last postseason and at this point the team would lose nothing by having him take a view from the Ted Darling Memorial Press Box Saturday afternoon.

So this game shows again how fragile momentum in hockey is, or a lead within a game or series. Pick any critical moment in the previous three games - e.g. game 2: Toni Lydman's crossbar shot goes in...and this series is tied going back to Buffalo. This is something the Sabres have to hold onto - they're still alive and have a chance. Something simple to remember in all the talk that will come of possibly coming back from an 0-3 deficit...it's not 0-3 anymore. "One game at a time" will continue to be the Sabres' mantra, and although the HSBC arena will be deafening on Saturday, the pressure will still be squarely on the Buffalo Sabres. That will most definitely change in the event of a Buffalo win...

A bit of relevant history: In the 1980 semifinals the Wales Trophy champion Buffalo Sabres faced the New York Islanders. The Sabres were favoured as conference champions and having finished 19 points ahead of the Isles. After a long nine-day layoff the Sabres began their series with New York and quickly found themselves down 0-3 but won the next two. They took a lead in game 6 before eventually collapsing and losing 5-2.

So it's back to Buffalo for a Saturday afternoon matinee. Two days off for the teams to regroup, perhaps heal up, and also consider possible lineup changes.

If nothing else....we may now have a series.

Power outage

2007-05-15T07:27:00.000-04:00

as published at SportsGrumblings.com

Hockey is defined as a sport - an athletic competition with participants in direct opposition to each other. This definition is incomplete, as incomplete as deriving the whys and hows of a game from the what of the simple final score. In hockey, the player is not only battling the opposition, they are battling themselves. No other sport turns as dramatically and drastically on a whim, a seemingly innocuous play, a bounce or whistle. And if "the tide" seems to be sweeping against you, in creeps a tendency to freeze - to overthink. And if you let your mind beat you, you will lose.

This Buffalo-Ottawa series has been a strange one, and one that is not fully told by looking at the final scores. Last week in a series preview I wrote:

…With a skilled and aggressive Ottawa defence, the Buffalo coaching staff simply must redefine their [team’s] approach on the power play or they will lose this series…

Little could I know how right that would be, as an 0-16 powerplay through three games is the single-biggest reason for Buffalo being on the verge of yet another heartbreaking end to a season. Nobody on either side of the fence could have predicted either team being up 3-0 at this point in the series, yet here sits Ottawa – one game away from their first trip to the Stanley Cup finals in the modern era, and with four tries to get it right. Taking it game-by-game:

Game 1: 5-2 Ottawa. Seemingly Senators domination, yes? Not so. The game's first two goals were scored by Ottawa on special teams before Buffalo stormed back to tie it, somewhat dominating the game at even-strength. The tie-breaking goal occurred midway through the third period, with two very late goals added on to pad the score. An early breakthrough on the powerplay for Buffalo could have easily changed the outcome, both by preventing the early Mike Fisher shorthanded goal and contributing just one of their own.

Game 2: 4-3 Ottawa, 2OT. By definition, this was the slimmest of victories and that with more than 40 minutes of extra time to decide it. A controversial disallowed goal for Thomas Vanek in the first angered Sabres' fans, as did a non-call on captain Daniel Alfredsson yet a last-second goal by Buffalo (assisted by a similar non-call on Brian Campbell) perhaps made the game appear closer than play indicated. After a dominant first period by Buffalo, the Senators took over the game for the second and third periods before the semi-miraculous Daniel Briere goal.

Game 3: 1-0 Ottawa. Again, a squeaker...on paper. Yet this time, the score lies again - to this viewer it was one of the most lopsided one-goal games in memory. And as faulty as memory can be, I also never recall seeing a power-play as anemic and pathetic as Buffalo's was in this game. It was not just the six powerplays without a tally (weak as that is) - it was the stunning path to such a number.

I defy someone to find a game where a team - at any level of hockey - had so little ability to even approach setting up a simple power play. The Sabres tried dumping the puck in…tried carrying it in…there was no success with either method. Normally reliable players such as Chris Drury played with obvious distress (zero shots on the night). Tim Connolly – whose late-season return many thought would revive a dull Buffalo powerplay- didn't exhibit his usual confidence with the puck, and turnovers were once again the meme for the talented Sabres. And although credit must be given to the Senators, the fault lies with Buffalo. For such an explosive team they had a poor powerplay all season, and it became worse in the postseason. Yet nothing could indicate the impending level of ineptitude shown over the past three games, culminating in Monday night's travesty.

In the end it really must come down to the mental game. The talent is there, in abundance. Even the lowest-of-the-low of the hockey world can set up a power play more than once or twice in nearly 12 minutes of 5-on-4 play. Call it the heavy weight of national expectations, or the burden of a title-starved region who once again will be teased with the promise of ultimate glory - bring out every phantom excuse - some or all may apply.

But unlike last season, this year the Buffalo Sabres don't have an on-ice excuse. They're fully healthy. They're loaded. They had home-ice advantage after ending with the best record in the regular season. What they don't appear to have is confidence, and in the truly dynamic sport of hockey if you lose your confidence - especially to a team every bit as talented as yours - you will have lost everything.

One of these things is not like the others...

2007-05-15T07:18:00.000-04:00

a) Dave Lewis
b) Turk Broda
c) Curt Leskanic
d) Chris Drury

Which of these historical sports figures will very soon not belong with the other three?

calling out The Captain...

2007-05-14T08:13:00.000-04:00

(note: apologies for the ranting-aspect of this post. I tried to spend all day yesterday flushing all hockey knowledge from my brain and so catching up on ranting emails and websites about the Sabres/Sens series this morning has me back in a bad mood. Oh yeah - Happy Mothers Day!)

=====================================

Co-captain Daniel Briere has been called out at length this post-season; he's taken some cheap-shots in the media in my opinion. But nobody ever calls out the other captain, "Mr. Clutch" Chris Drury. He has been a non-factor in the first two games against the Senators, but all the Versus broadcast team can bring themselves to do late in the game is declare that this is "his time" or some such nonsense.

Drury is an outstanding and highly valuable player - as a Sabres fan I love having him on the team. Yet he is somehow blessed with getting the Derek Jeter treatment by the media and fans - potentially overstating positive contributions while ignoring failures. When this player has a bad game, and especially in the postseason, instead of focusing on that very fact and perhaps pointing out some specifics instead in late-game situations tired bromides are spewed forth about how every team should be lucky enough to have a player like Drury to lean on in tough times.

Is it so hard to actually critique a good player? How about something simple and obvious - things like...lack of strong forecheck / poor puck pursuit. missed defensive assignments in his own zone. Even an admittedly deceiving stat like shots taken - he only took 3 in four+ periods during game 2 - can at least begin to paint a picture here.

I'm not trying to be anti-Drury. It just galls me to see Briere take a whole host of shit that Drury doesn't get.

game 3 tonight in Ottawa, 7pm EDT. Sabres look to find some semblance of quality special teams play at either end of the rink, or the dream is dead.

Game 1 thoughts - BUF/OTT

2007-05-11T06:33:00.000-04:00

Kind of a strange game last night. The Versus crew kept saying "what a game we have" and yes, it was tight for the first ~57 minutes. But it was not a smooth game, not very well played. From the Buffalo Sabres' point of view, I've never quite seen a frustrating pattern like that - they began to generate offence early with an excellent forecheck, good cycling... their 5-on-5 play was quite dominant at times. Outside of the Heatley-Spezza-Alfie line, Ottawa couldn't generate much of anything.

The Sabres quality work led to them drawing penalties....which cost them the game. Each Buffalo power play sucked all the life out of the team. The Sabres' powerplay actually generated far more chances for Ottawa, leading with the shorthanded goal by Mike Fisher. There could have been more.

Each PP was truly a momentum-killer for Buffalo - how can that be? 5-on-5 for the first ~30-40 minutes the Sabres were in control.

Neither team really brought their best - Ottawa was still relatively weak after their first line (who were fantastic, btw. Dany Heatley owns the Sabres).

Two players who stood out with their poor play for Buffalo:

Thomas Vanek. Merely invisible for the first 2 periods, switched over to awful by the third with some brutal giveaways.

Dmitri Kalinin. Kalinin has been a focal point for Buffalo fans' ire over the past few years - he's a player who when he is on can sometimes justify the faith that Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier have put in him over the years. Last night was bit of the old "low-confidence" Dmitri. A bad pinch led to Fisher's goal...lazy coverage let Oleg Saprykin get free in the third for the game-winner on a deflection. Other times he just failed to make the right play on a breakout. He was flat-out terrible last night.

Chris Drury had a rough night, and I only bring him up because there has actually been some talk about him being a Conn Smythe candidate which I think is overstating his contributions to date. Obviously as a Buffalo fan I love Drury but he's the type of player that when he scores (and obviously his Friday night goal will become legendary in Western New York) he's the most clutch player in history. When he doesn't score he's "doing all the little things" (which means "we can't quite tell what he's doing out there but he never smiles so he must be working hard"). Last night he didn't really do either - Daniel Briere rightly gets called out when he's not producing (and he should be again for last night's rather dispirited performance), and Drury needs to be held to the same standard.

Overall there were a shocking number of lazy or stupid giveaways last night, and from everyone. The official scoresheet has Buffalo with 19 giveaways - it certainly seemed like more.

In the end - it was one game, and one in which both teams could find many faults. Had the Sabres played better (and had an average power play) they would have won. Had the Senators been able to bring more offence and play well 5-on-5, the game would have been over after two.

Game 2: Saturday night at 8pm EDT.

2008 Memorial Cup to be hosted in... (plus: Ice Dogs movement....finally?)

2007-05-10T07:09:00.000-04:00

The Kitchener Rangers have been awarded as host team for the 2008 Memorial Cup. I'm a little surprised Oshawa didn't get it, with a chance to fully showcase the incomparable John Tavares to the rest of the hockey world - who really knows how that bidding process goes.... Congrats to Kitchener - the Kitchener/Waterloo area is growing and a fun place to hang out - best of luck to the Rangers next season.

In the seemingly never-ending saga of the future home of the Mississauga Ice Dogs franchise, it finally looks as though they'll be moving down the QEW to St. Catharines for next season (although the arena is apparently not up-to-snuff).

Lewiston Maineiacs - your QMJHL champions for 2007

2007-05-09T21:44:00.000-04:00

For the first time in the 38 years of the QMJHL (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) the league champion is from the United States. The Lewiston Maineiacs just finished steamrolling their way through the Q playoffs finishing off the Val d'Or Foreurs in a four-game sweep en route to the Presidents Cup. They lost 1 game in four rounds (16-1).

Defenceman Chad Denny (Atlanta prospect - I'm shocked they didn't deal him at the deadline for John LeClair...) and goaltender Jonathan Bernier (in a few years Kings fans should be treated to an awesome team, and Bernier in the crease will hopefully make them forget about the Dan Cloutier disaster) were fantastic in the 3rd period tonight; Denny looks like a smart, solid defender with a low panic threshold. Bernier looks like a star.

Eastern Conference finals preview: Buffalo Sabres (1) vs. Ottawa Senators (4)

2007-05-09T11:00:00.000-04:00

2007 EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL

#1 Buffalo vs. #4 Ottawa
Thursday, May 10, 7:00 p.m. at Buffalo
Saturday, May 12, 8:00 p.m. at Buffalo
Monday, May 14, 7:00 p.m. at Ottawa
Wednesday, May 16, 7:00 p.m. at Ottawa
* Saturday, May 19, 2:00 p.m. at Buffalo
* Monday, May 21, 7:00 p.m. at Ottawa
* Wednesday, May 23, 7:00 p.m. at Buffalo

Series overview:

If the NHL powers-that-be wanted to cherry-pick two teams to feature the skill and excitement of the post-lockout era, they couldn't have done better than this – the 113 point Buffalo Sabres against the 105 point Ottawa Senators is the marquee match-up that neutral hockey fans have wanted to see all year; featuring the two best teams in the Eastern Conference facing off for the right to play for the Stanley Cup. There's a lot of intrigue and anticipation in advance of this meeting - will the two highest scoring teams in the league deliver an offensive explosion? Will the bad-blood from this season spill over into the playoffs and result in more free-for-alls like we saw from these two back in February? Can Ottawa exercise their playoff demons and finally become conference champions after years of unfulfilled expectations? Will Buffalo be able to turn up their game to the high standards they set for themselves in the regular season? Can either team legitimately be determined a favourite in this series?

Why Buffalo should win the series:

Going by nearly every number possible, Buffalo - until proven otherwise - is still the best team in hockey. There's no need to review all the stats again - simply, this team can score in bunches and from every line, an attack Ottawa has yet to come close to facing with the very top-heavy offenses featured by the Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils. And while the Sabres didn't exactly fill the net during their first two rounds, the last two games against the New York Rangers were possibly the best they played thus far, leading to the impression that they're finding their "playoff legs" so to speak. The primary reason Buffalo found their game was due to their return to aggressive puck pursuit - they have to be willing to take risks and force the opposing defence to take hits in their own zone to clear the puck. By dictating the style of play to their advantage they not only create numerous quality scoring chances, they in turn prevent any play in their own zone, keeping their defence fresh.

Perhaps most encouraging to the team, and their fans, is that they have no injuries to speak of (in stark contrast to last season). What injuries they may eventually face they now can counter with unprecedented and unmatched depth, most notably standout rookie Drew Stafford who, with the return of spirited forward Paul Gaustad, finds himself in the press box strictly due to the numbers game. If Buffalo needs to turn to Stafford in this series, it can hardly be deemed a drop-off.

With all the talk about how explosive Buffalo's offence is, they actually do have one aspect of the team that is underrated. After last Friday's miracle finish in Buffalo (where Chris Drury scored with seven seconds left to tie the game at one, and Maxim Afinogenov won it in overtime) Ryan Miller was legitimately upset in the postgame interviews, saying he "let the team down" by letting in the late goal by Martin Straka. Just to review, it was the only goal he let in all game and it was a wicked wrist shot screened by his defenceman Brian Campbell.

Miller has arrived as a fearsome playoff goaltender who cannot be judged on statistics alone - his penchant for foiling breakaways may be unparalleled in the NHL and despite the eventual emergence of the Buffalo offence he was the primary reason the Sabres advanced past the New York Rangers in round two.

Why Buffalo should be afraid:

There is some sense that the Buffalo Sabres have peaked and are cracking a bit under either the intense physical play of the postseason or some phantom weight of being the favourites. I'm not sure how much stock to put in rather ethereal characteristics but there are a number of concrete concerns for the Sabres. If there has been any knock on Buffalo this year, and Ottawa themselves made reference to it earlier in the season, it is that they can be intimidated and forced off the puck. Ottawa is not afraid to play on the edge and should be expected to do so in this series, even at the risk of playing shorthanded (which against Buffalo might not be much of a risk - read on). If Buffalo is forced into playing more conservatively - shying away from contact rather than initiating it - they have a tendency to not play their fast transition game and also become pinned in their own zone, where their offensive attack usually starts. As good as the Sabres defence is in terms of moving the puck through three zones to their forwards and defending on the rush, they have shown weaknesses when faced with a strong forecheck and cycling system, often to the point of either bad giveaways or falling into penalty trouble.

It seems almost inexplicable that a team as powerful as Buffalo's could be so bad on the powerplay. Yet they've gone well past the point of "small sample size" to the realization that they have a flawed approach on the man-advantage. Rather than using their speed and skill, they have become predictable in their approach to set up the point men for shots which has resulted in cashing in on just over 15% of their opportunities in the postseason. With a skilled and aggressive Ottawa defence, the Buffalo coaching staff simply must redefine their approach on the power play or they will lose this series.

Why Ottawa should win the series:

Although Anaheim has made relatively short work of their opponents thus-far this playoff season, Ottawa can make a strong case for being the premier team through the first two rounds. They dispatched the Penguins and Devils with ease, growing stronger as the games went on. They're leading all teams with 3.3 goals per game in the postseason. Most encouraging to Ottawa fans, their best players are finally playing like it: Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, and Dany Heatley (who has become somewhat of a Sabre-killer, echoes of Michel Goulet from a past generation) have gelled and are playing as well as they have all season, terrorizing opposing defences. Heatley in particular scored eight goals in as many games against the Sabres this season and the Sabres must find a way to prevent him from getting comfortable in the Buffalo zone.

After losing Zdeno Chara to Boston in the off-season, it was expected by many that the Ottawa defence would take a hit, but after initial growing pains their defensive unit has become – if not well-known – one of the best in the NHL. In particular they’ve been doing an excellent job clogging offensive lanes and blocking opposing shots. Anton Volchenkov led the league in blocked shots during the regular season and is at it again in the playoffs with 39 thus far, with teammate Chris Phillips not far behind with 34. With the Senators' defence stepping up while on the penalty kill, don't be surprised to see a number of quality shorthanded chances for Ottawa.

Ottawa's power play has been deadly at a 22.7% rate in the playoffs thus far. Combine that with the Sabres' difficulties in shutting down the Rangers' talented power play unit and that could spell doom for Buffalo, who is at less than 80% on the penalty kill through two rounds.

Why Ottawa should be afraid:

For all the talk about how well the top line is playing, they still have demonstrated a lack of consistent scoring threats from their other lines. Unless their secondary scorers like Antoine Vermette, Mike Comrie, and Mike Fisher can at the very least put sustained pressure on the Buffalo defence, let alone score, the Senators could find themselves behind in this series quickly. They will also need to better the Sabres at even-strength play, a difficult task.

Goaltender Ray Emery has proven many doubters wrong this season, taking the number one job and establishing himself as a quality netminder. However, he has yet to face consistent pressure all year as he is about to against Buffalo - he must come to grips with the fact that he let in some less-than-stellar goals in last year's loss to Buffalo. He's a far better - and more confident - goalie now but how will he react to giving up a bad goal this season? (…and on everyone’s minds: will Ryan Miller be a willing fight partner should the teams choose to go that route?)

While distant playoff history is not a quality guide to determine the outcome of this or any series, it must nevertheless be said that the Ottawa franchise will feel pressure at least until they make it to the finals. It becomes imperative for Ottawa to take at least one of the first two games in Buffalo lest they start questioning themselves en route to another failed postseason.

Random useless but fun playoff facts:

The Sabres have won each of the three playoff meetings between the two clubs, each being a memorable series in its own right. In 1997 the teams went to overtime of game seven before Derek Plante ripped a slapshot off of Ron Tugnutt's glove to win the series. 1999 saw the first-place Senators get swept and the shine first began to fade from Alexei Yashin (zero points after finishing the season tied for second in goals with 44). Last season's tight five-game series featured four one-goal games and ended on Jason Pominville's shorthanded tally in overtime. Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff has established himself as one of the better playoff coaches in recent memory, taking the Sabres to four trips to the conference finals in his nine years at the helm – add one Stanley Cup victory to that resume and he will rightfully take his place among the better coaches of all-time.

My pick:

One understated key for Buffalo might be how well top defenseman Henrik Tallinder handles Ottawa's top line. Especially at home, Buffalo can match Tallinder (with partner Toni Lydman) with the deadly Ottawa line, and add pressure with playoff revelation Dainius Zubrus who overall has easily been Buffalo's best forward in the postseason, not shying away from quality dirty work along the boards in all zones.

Buffalo needs to avoid the penalty box (perhaps on both ends, due to their weak power play) as their five-on-five play in the playoffs is as impressive as it was in the regular season, outscoring their opponents at nearly a two-to-one margin through 11 games.

As for who will eventually win this best-of-seven – nobody can predict. The epitome of a toss-up series, the end result may very well turn on a random bounce of the puck or unforeseen circumstance that forces otherwise inexperienced players into action. As touched upon above, Ottawa will win this series if they can establish a constant pressure in the Buffalo zone, leaving Buffalo scrambling to create offense and ending up in the penalty box, where the Senators will pick apart Buffalo. Buffalo will win this series if they quickly and effectively neutralize the Senators' top line and can keep them frustrated - Ottawa won't quite have the quality depth to keep up with all four Buffalo lines if the Sabres can consistently roll them (read: quickly move the puck out of the Buffalo zone and stay out of penalty trouble).

I’ve gone back and forth between thinking each team was going to win this series - no result (other than it only going four or five games) could be seen as unexpected; I would think that if Ottawa can take three of the first five, they will clinch it at home in game six. However in the end, I can’t go with anything other than this series going seven games and if that happens, I give it to the home team. Buffalo in seven.

Road to the Memorial Cup - QMJHL

2007-05-08T14:03:00.000-04:00

A quick look at the Q finals, with the winner going to the Memorial Cup tournament which starts May 18 - hosted this year by the Vancouver Giants:

QMJHL - watch the finals online for free here.

Lewiston Maineiacs vs. Val d'Or Foreurs (Lewiston leads 2-0)

POS	RKI	Player	TM	GP	G	A	Pts	PiM	+/-	PPG	SHG

C		Marchand, Brad	VdO	18	16	21	37	36	10	7	1
D		Letang, Kristopher	VdO	17	11	18	29	42	8	3	2
LW		Faubert, Pierre-Luc	Lew	15	11	15	26	4	11	6	0
C	*	Perron, David	Lew	15	10	15	25	18	7	6	0
C		Brassard, Derick	Dru	12	9	15	24	12	4	4	0
RW	*	Voracek, Jakub	Hal	12	7	17	24	6	5	3	0
LW		Roy, Mathieu	VdO	18	9	14	23	18	5	3	0
RW		Samson, Jérôme	VdO	18	12	10	22	10	6	7	2
C		MacMillan, Logan	Hal	12	9	11	20	6	8	1	1
C		Sheppard, James	Cap	16	8	12	20	14	9	2	1
LW		Ouellet, Dean	Cap	16	9	10	19	18	3	5	0
C		Cliche, Marc-André	Lew	14	5	14	19	10	8	2	0
D		Sawyer, Jean-Claude	Cap	16	3	16	19	6	6	1	1
D		Denny, Chad	Lew	15	9	9	18	30	9	6	0

Joe Thornton and San Jose bow out meekly

2007-05-08T08:01:00.000-04:00

After three games the San Jose Sharks led the Detroit Red Wings 2 games to 1...only to lose the final three. I expected a lot more out of the Sharks overall, and especially last night.

A shutout at home? In a do-or-die game?

For the series the most glaring individual failure came from captain Patrick Marleau: 0 points, -3. Yet for me Joe Thornton (1 goal, 4 assists - 12 shots in 6 games) failed to lead this team as he could have. I was going to write "should" have but I think it's finally time to reevaluate that, and him. Here's something I wrote on a board last night while watching the game:

Joe Thornton just lacks...something. Maturity? Constant killer instinct?

One must be wary of creating impressions based on short experiences. Nevertheless, when I saw him play one game ~11 years ago for the Soo Greyhounds, he scored a goal on his first shift and almost quite literally spent the rest of the game circling in the offensive zone, waiting. Never creating. Watching.

This against the worst team in the league, a team that a year before had set an OHL record for futility (3 wins). And that afternoon the lesser team, the feeble London Knights, beat the first place Soo. And ever since then I've always wondered about Thornton's mettle. Not saying it isn't there. But it is buried. To me he would benefit from playing second-fiddle to a seasoned-warrior. Behind a total pro uber-respected vet like Joe Sakic. Or Brendan Shanahan. Or Chris Drury.

Just wondering.

Again last night - zero shots and on the ice for both goals-against? ZERO shots? ZERO hits? Where is the passion?

As an aside, I think Boston Bruins fans love the fact that they traded Thornton - it gives them (yet another) reason to blame management; another phantom scapegoat incident. Fact is - and I live in the Boston area, I was here for the trade - fans had little love for JT the day before the deal was made. He was in the last year of his contract, he was playing dispirited hockey, he was in many ways an on-ice symbol for the failings of the Boston Bruins organization. Fast-forward to the trade - yes, the net deal was awful for Boston, but not in terms of what they gave up - if they had made more of an effort with their returned assets (sign Brad Stuart and Marco Sturm long-term, use extra money saved on Thornton's deal to shore up other areas, e.g. defence) it could have eventually worked out for them. But I digress.... suddenly Thornton was this massive superstar who was "given" away.

My point is this - Boston fans knew. They were frustrated with his inconsistent play and increasing MIA status in many games. Frustrated because they'd seen him play a dominant game, they'd seen the force he could become.

It's time to re-evaluate Joe Thornton. I think Jaromir Jagr was jobbed out of the MVP last year (even though awards are meaningless, I tell myself - e.g. Theodore over Iginla?) - the voters completely discounted the first 25% of the season Joe played (a listless game) in Boston. And I think Joe Thornton is a player who - in some ways like Pierre Turgeon before him - will go down in history as one who put up great numbers but left everyone who saw him play wanting more, so much more.

NHL Conference Finals

2007-05-08T07:34:00.000-04:00

With Detroit's win last night, the final four are set and here are the schedules:

2007 EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL

#1 Buffalo vs. #4 Ottawa
Thursday, May 10, 7:00 p.m. at Buffalo
Saturday, May 12, 8:00 p.m. at Buffalo
Monday, May 14, 7:00 p.m. at Ottawa
Wednesday, May 16, 7:00 p.m. at Ottawa
* Saturday, May 19, 2:00 p.m. at Buffalo
* Monday, May 21, 7:00 p.m. at Ottawa
* Wednesday, May 23, 7:00 p.m. at Buffalo

2007 WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL

#1 Detroit vs. #2 Anaheim
Friday, May 11, 7:30 p.m. at Detroit
Sunday, May 13, 7:30 p.m. at Detroit
Tuesday, May 15, 9:00 p.m. at Anaheim
Thursday, May 17, 9:00 p.m. at Anaheim
* Sunday, May 20, 3:00 p.m. at Detroit
* Tuesday, May 22, 9:00 p.m. at Anaheim
* Thursday, May 24, 7:30 p.m. at Detroit
======================================
i went 3 for 4 in the second round:

my picks --- actual result

Buffalo in 6 --- Buffalo in 6
Ottawa in 5 --- Ottawa in 5
San Jose in 6 --- Detroit in 7
Anaheim in 4 --- Anaheim in 5

SportsBlurb.com is no more...now SportsGrumblings.com

2007-05-08T06:45:00.000-04:00

Brief news: one of the sites I write for - SportsBlurb.com - has been swallowed up by SportsGrumblings.com. You have to sign up for SportsGrumblings but it is free and they send you no mail. At least I haven't received any yet....

Anyone who has/had my old rob____@sportsblurb.com address should change it over to the same @sportsgrumblings.com. They abruptly cut off the old sportsblurb.com domain so I'm not getting any emails sent to that address.

Intermission: Sabres retro clips

2007-05-07T09:50:00.000-04:00

Some fun old clips to tide us over until the semis begin. First from the 1975 semifinals, game 1 between Buffalo and Montreal in the Aud. Danny Gare wins it in OT - NBC feed with Tim Ryan and Ted Lindsey announcing. Some of the players here are amazing to see: Henri Richard, Yvon "The Roadrunner" Cornoyer, Ken Dryden....The French Connection, Gare, Craig Ramsey, Jim Schoenfeld... that Sabres team was the first team I truly remember. Weird - it still stings in some way that they never won the Cup. On the few occasions where I was able to catch a game at the Aud I also always remember trying to find Punch Imlach in the crowd - never sitting in a press box, he was always in the golds - you could spot his famous hat from anywhere in the Aud. Look for him at the 1:58 mark.

This second clip is from the famous 1976 game at the Aud vs. the Soviet Wings, at the time the biggest blow-out in Soviet hockey history. I briefly chronicled this game here a few weeks ago in SportingNews and Sportsblurb. As for personal memories, I particularly enjoy hearing the voice of Memorial Auditorium Milt Ellis - announcing the goal at around the 1:20 mark.

Eastern Conference finals: Buffalo vs. Ottawa

2007-05-07T07:59:00.001-04:00

The East's two best teams will meet, starting probably this Thursday or Friday. This one promises to be mean and exciting.

I'll have a writeup/preview in the next day or so. In the meantime, here's an early Senators preview from Sportsnet (with hilights from last year's series between the two):

Monday notes

2007-05-07T07:27:00.000-04:00

On a personal note, I'm a bit too drained to give any detailed commentary on the Sabres/Rangers series. Saturday was spent in a bit of disbelief as to what I actually saw on Friday night (Game 5, see below). Yesterday's first period - from a Buffalo point of view - was looking much like said game 5, with the Sabres pressing hard with a good forecheck, getting quality opportunities that seemed to just miss...and then the Rangers taking a 1-0 lead. The break probably came at a perfect time for Buffalo as they came out and took control on the ice and scoreboard in the second period.

The goal of the game was in the third period, the second from much-maligned Jochen Hecht - having played a soft and ineffective series thus far, he finally notched one in the second on a beauty of a wrister but his late third-period goal proved to be both the game-winner and an amazing display of hand-eye coordination. This clip from nhl.com doesn't do it justice - seeing the slow motion replay shows how far outside the net the original shot from Daniel Briere was going. No idea how Hecht was able to bring that back.

Kudos to the New York Rangers who played the Sabres as tight as anyone could have expected. I know Sabres fans think they could have easily taken the first four games of the series but the Rangers could also make a case for having a chance to take games 2 through 5. The better team ended up winning but the Rangers are a lot closer to the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference than anyone would have dared predict even a month ago.

In other news:

Out west the Anaheim Ducks await the winner between Detroit and San Jose, with the Wings being up 3 games to 2. For being a number one seed, Detroit has certainly proven a lot of people wrong thus far (mea culpa) and are on the verge of their first appearance in the conference finals since 2002 when they went on to win the Cup. Unfortunately for them they'll be without veteran defenceman Mathieu Schneider the rest of the way - he broke his wrist early in game 5. Schneider is one of the Wings most important players and while this may not necessarily prevent them from advancing tonight (or Wednesday), he will be missed. Brett Lebda (ankle) is already out, leaving the Wings with another replacement on defence. Who do they think they are, the Buffalo Sabres?

Alexander Ovechkin suspended for one game at the World Championships - read it in the Pravda! (aside - this paper is a riot...the pioneers of spin - it's probably good for us to realize that we didn't invent the concept...)

Cardiac Kids

2007-05-04T22:00:00.000-04:00

update: a fan's perfect-angle home video of the tying goal:

ties it with ~8 seconds left...

...and Max wins it in OT. WOW.

Max raises a glass of The MacAllan in celebration:

Gamut of emotions tonight. And now...speechless. Time after time for two years now this Buffalo Sabres team has shown that they never give up. In the words of Rick Jeanneret: "Now do you believe?"

update: someone uploaded the RJ calls/video here.

Lindy Ruff press conference

Ryan Miller post-game interview