Ponds and Pucks

Leafs fans chanting “Let’s Go Raptors” during the Leafs 7-1 loss to Washington? Ouch. What is wrong with the Leafs that they can’t seem to string a series of wins together at home? They keep blaming defensive woes, but registering a single goal a game isn’t going to help matters much either. Whatever doesn’t kill you will make you….. ah nevermind.

Ovechkin got his 7th and 8th if you’re keeping score. Pretty much everyone else on the Capitals got in on the fun as well, with 6 different goal scorers.

And Leafs fans? NBA opens tonight. Maybe the Raptors will fare….. nah.

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On the other end of the goaltending spectrum, the Flames locked up former Vezina trophy winner Miikka Kiprusoff yesterday, paying a paltry $35 million over 6 years. What a brilliant move. Kipper may be starting slow, but by November he usually shakes off the rust and carries the Flames the rest of the season.

Give Flames GM Darryl Sutter a lot of credit: 2 years ago the Flames were looking at having to resign 3 major UFAs in 2008 — Jarome Iginla, Robyn Regher and Kiprusoff, plus one RFA in Dion Phaneuf. The 3 UFAs are now locked into long-term contracts (Iginla and Regher each signed for 5 years), and the Flames can focus entirely on Phaneuf.

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Philly’s Randy Jones has been suspended 2 games for his hit on Patrice Bergeron. Is it just me, or is that a complete waste of time? Clearly the Flyers didn’t care enough about a pair of 20 game (or more) suspension to clean up their act. Granted, this hit was a lot different. Fact is, the Flyers are successful right now, and their rough play (insert 70s Broadstreet Bullies reference here) is part of the reason they’re doing so well. Why on earth would they stop now?

If the NHL is going to hand out a suspension to deter these actions, they should make it, you know, an actual deterrent.

Ovechkin, Miikka Kiprusoff, Darryl Sutter, Jarome Iginla, Robyn Regher, Dion Phaneuf, Randy Jones, Patrice Bergeron, Broadstreet Bullies

Time for my weekly look and the wonderful and wacky world of NHL standings.

Standings fun:

• Ottawa continues to own the east with nine wins. Detroit has the same in the west.
• At the other end of the spectrum, Atlanta has surged to win three games, tying them with follow bottom feeder Phoenix. And it only took Atlanta 11 games to do it!
• Every team in the Northeast Division is .500 or better, with only the Sabres sitting right on the .500 mark.
• Islanders, Lightning, Coyotes and Blues have all played only 9 games, while Anaheim leads the league at 13 games played.
• Washington and Florida are ahead of New Jersey and the NY Rangers. Who says parity is dead? There’s no such phenomenon in the west… everyone is well ahead of Phoenix and Nashville, surprising no one.

Elsewhere in the NHL:

• To most it’s just a Sunday night matchup between two struggling teams, but to the Ducks and the Oilers it’s another chapter in the feud between their respective GMs. Give this round to the Oilers. Of course, the focus was on Dustin Penner. His comments and attitude in the story are actually pretty classy. The bonus was that GM Brian Burke presented Penner with his Stanley Cup ring in the GM’s office after the game. Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall for that little scene?



• Bruins fans are a hardy folk, how else could they get through so many seasons of misery with barely a whimper? The latest in their string of misfortunes, the injury of Patrice Bergeron — one of the few bright lights in the Bruins organization — might be less serious than previously thought as Bergeron was released from the hospital Sunday. Tests showed no injury to Bergeron’s head and neck.

Plus a big congrats to the Boston Red Sox on their World Series win!

Dustin Penner, Brian Burke, Patrice Bergeron

Tonight’s games:

NY Rangers at Pittsburgh Penguins - Rangers are 2-4-1, Pens are 4-3-0. Jordan Staal and Marc Staal will be playing against each other for the first time. Rangers recently lost Straka to injury and are in a 3-game losing skid, while the Pens are hoping to extend their winning streak to 3.

Atlanta Thrashers at Toronto Maple Leafs - Atlanta is 1-7-0, while Toronto is 3-4-2. Both teams have had disappointing starts, Atlanta’s coach was fired last week. The rest is too depressing to mention, between defensive woes and goaltending nightmares, winless streaks and goals against. Click the link if you really want to know. Or skip the whole thing and watch Family Guy instead.

Columbus Blue Jackets at Chicago Blackhawks - Columbus is 3-3-1, Chicago is (5-3-0). These division rivals have languished at the bottom of the league for years, so it’s nice to see some improvement on both sides. Chicago’s highly touted rookies Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane have made all the difference, and are both among team leaders for points. Columbus goalie Pascal Leclaire already has an amazing 3 shutouts this season, and Rick Nash is leading the team with 5 goals.

Anaheim Ducks at St. Louis Blues - Ducks are 4-5-1, Blues are 4-2-0. Blues are another Central division team that has taken off early in the season thanks to free agent signing Paul Kariya and to solid netminding from Manny Legace. The Ducks are struggling and currently mired in their longest season-opening road losing streak ever.

NY Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Jordan Staal, Marc Staal, Straka, Atlanta Thrashers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Columbus Blue Jackets, Chicago Blackhawks, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Pascal Leclaire, Rick Nash, Anaheim Ducks, St. Louis Blues, Paul Kariya, Manny Legace

San Jose 4 - Calgary 1 — so much for the battle of the goalies. Nabokov nearly posted his second shutout in as many games, and Kiprusoff experienced his first yanking at the hands of Mike Keenan this season. Kipper was far from the problem, however. The rest of the Flames didn’t seem ready for the game, with [tag]Eric Goddard/[tag] having the best night of them all. Goddard got into two fights and had a goal called back. Battle of Alberta has more.

Vancouver 1 - Carolina 3 — Vancouver saw their road unbeaten string end and Carolina just keeps rolling. The win brings Carolina to 5-1-3, enough to be one of the better teams in the league without bringing attention to how good they are. Well, Vancouver knows now. More Canucks analysis at Canucks Hockey Blog.

Boston 1 - Montreal 6 — Ouch. I really thought the Bruins were going to do it this time. It looked like all the stars were aligning for them. But instead Montreal had 6 different goal scorers and broke the Bruins four-game winning streak, and kept the strange curse the Habs hold over the Bruins intact. A Theory Of Ice.

So it looks like all the games last night that were supposed to be interesting matchups turned out to be one-sided blow outs. I actually was relieved to turn the TV over to CSI: Miami, where the episode suspiciously featured the death of a Florida athlete named “Doug McClain.” I know the Tampa Bay Lightning’s new owner is Doug MacLean and is best known for his (lack of) coaching abilities, but….

San Jose, Calgary, Nabokov, Kiprusoff, Mike Keenan, Vancouver, Carolina, Boston, Montreal, Bruins

FanNation has posted a “shortlist” for the next Atlanta Thrashers head coach.

It looks like pretty much every other list floating around the hockey rumor-sphere — it begins with and highlights Pat Quinn and the works its way to the oft-discussed choice of Brad McCrimmon. But there’s a couple of other names in there too.

My money’s on Quinn, not because he’s the best choice, but because he’s a name, and one players respect. I’d still love to see McCrimmon get it though.

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While the rest of the city of Boston is celebrating the Red Sox and their trip to the World Series, some die-hard hockey fans are still rubbing their hands in glee at the Bruins/Habs game tonight.

The Bruins are going into the legendary match-up with the upper hand for the first time in….. well, a really long time. To Bruins fans a chance to beat their Montreal nemesis is the ultimate bonus to Boston’s strongest start in years.

Finally acquiring a number one goaltender in Manny Fernandez has likely been a huge reason for such a great start. Oh wait, Tim Thomas has been the one manning the pipes? Go figure…

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Games tonight:

Vancouver at Carolina - Vancouver is 4-4-0, Carolina is 4-1-3. Ryan Kesler broke out against the Blue Jackets with 2 goals the other night, while Justin Williams is leading the ‘Canes with 11 points.

Boston at Montreal - Boston is on a 4 game winning streak, Montreal broke a 3 game losing streak on Saturday when they beat Buffalo. Boston’s D has been particularly strong, allowing only an average of 2.14 goals a game. Montreal’s defense got a boost from free agent signing Roman Hamrlik as he potted a goal and two assists on Saturday.

San Jose at Calgary - San Jose is 4-3-1 (4-1-1 when Roenick plays, 0-2-0 when he doesn’t), Calgary is 4-2-2. Nabokov is coming off a shutout Saturday and has two career shutouts against the Flames. Flames beat their provincial rivals the Oilers on Saturday and are riding Jarome Iginla’s 5 game point streak.

Atlanta Thrashers, Pat Quinn, Brad McCrimmon, Red Sox, World Series, Manny Fernandez, Tim Thomas, Ryan Kesler, Justin Williams, Roman Hamrlik, Nabokov, Jarome Iginla

Just this morning I made a joke about first coach of the season being fired and pools and Bob Hartley. I shouldn’t have joked. Bob Hartley was fired by the Atlanta Thrashers today.

The Thrashers started the season 0-6-0, but one could argue this stems from last year’s playoffs when the Thrashers traded away valuable picks to boost up for their first ever playoff run, then went out in 4 games against the New York Rangers.

That left the Thrashers with their best talent gone, few high-round picks, and a disappointing playoff run. However that’s not entirely a coaching problem, that’s an organizational problem.

Hartley may have simply been there too long. Hartley was head coach since the 2002-2003 season. Only a handful of current coaches have lasted as long as or longer:

• Lindy Ruff (Buffalo’s head coach since the 1997-1998 season)
• Barry Trotz (Nashville’s head coach since the 1998-1999 season)
• Craig MacTavish (Edmonton’s head coach since the 2000-2001 season)
• Jacques Lemaire (Minnesota’s head coach since the 2000-2001 season)
• John Tortorella (Tampa’s coach since the 2000-2001 season)
• Ron Wilson (San Jose’s coach since the 2002-2003 season)
• Dave Tippett (Dallas’ head coach since the 2002-2003 season)

Yeah, my betting money would have been on Barry Trotz. I just don’t think anyone expected Atlanta to get off to such a brutal start, despite the fact that on paper they certainly didn’t look like a team building on their success.

So now the replacement debate begins. Assistant coach Brad McCrimmon ran the practice, is it time to give him his first NHL shot? The fact the coaching staff wasn’t completely cleaned out makes one think the Thrashers might be leaning that way.

And, just for more debate, does this just prove the Hartley haters right, that his success in Colorado was due to the talent on the team, and not the coaching?

Bob Hartley, Atlanta Thrashers, New York Rangers, Lindy Ruff, Barry Trotz, Craig MacTavish, Jacques Lemaire, John Tortorella, Ron Wilson, Dave Tippett, Brad McCrimmon

You know it’s a slow news day in the hockey world when many hockey news web sites are leading with tonight’s Toronto/Buffalo matchup (and some are more interested in talking about baseball). Or maybe it’s just me, already tired of Toronto and their goaltending troubles.

In any case, the Flyers’ decision to put Jesse Boulerice on waivers might spice things up. I have the feeling there will be few, if any, takers.

Since so many are looking at the Atlanta Thrashers and wondering when they might actually, you know, win a game or two (as the Flames breathe a sigh of relief and wipe their foreheads. Their wins against Dallas and Detroit took them from winless to .500 hockey), I took a surf over to some blogs for my favorite Eastern Conference division to see what the bloggers there had to say.

Southeast Shootout has a great look at which Thrashers players are actually shooting the puck, and while the players who are getting the shots may not surprise, the total lack of shots against the opposition is a little depressing.

Thrashers die-hard TheFalconcer waxes frustration in a discussion of Atlanta’s woes and breaks apart their most recent game against the New Jersey Devils. I love the “Naming Names” section. And TheFalconer nails the fact Ilya Kovalchuk is painfully underated thanks to the team’s lack of success. Not that it matters, but Vincent Lecavalier suffered the same fate in Tampa for many years.

It’s way too early in the season to panic, and there have been some (not many) playoff teams to slump in October before pulling their collective hockey shorts up for the rest of the season, but it’s tough. When you’re in the Southeast division, not playing well is certainly going to make life very difficult. You’ve got the surging Hurricanes, the always steady Lightning, the Capitals finding their feet, and….Florida. (sorry, couldn’t resist). Falling more than a few games behind now could prove very painful indeed.

Jesse Boulerice, Atlanta Thrashers, Ilya Kovalchuk, Vincent Lecavalier

Atlanta Thrashers

Notable moves and changes:Signed F Scott White.
Starting goalie: Kari Lehtonen
Summary of last year: The Thrashers made the playoffs for the first time, and it appeared as though they spent so much energy making the post-season they had nothing left when they got there. Atlanta was swept in four games by the Rangers, and that’s putting it kindly.
Prediction for this year:Atlanta spent a lot of money acquiring the short-term talent to get to the playoffs only to see their playoff run aborted and their rent-a-players leave as soon as they could. The nucleus of the team is still there in Marian Hossa, Ilya Kovalchuk and Vyacheslav Kozlov, but there’s a sharp drop off in production after those three names. They’ve added some players to round out the roster, but nothing that’s going to make a large difference one way or the other. Atlanta spent a lot to get their playoff players last season — it’s not likely they have it in them to risk that much again.

Atlanta Thrashers, Scott White, Kari Lehtonen, Marian Hossa, Ilya Kovalchuk, Vyacheslav Kozlov

Tampa Bay Lightning

Notable moves and changes: Acquired F Chris Gratton from the Panthers for picks. Signed D Brad Lukowich (was with the Islanders and New Jersey).
Starting goalie: Johan Holmqvist stole the starting role from Marc Denis last season and is slated to be this year’s starter, but there’s still a chance the Denis of a few seasons ago could show up and re-instate himself as #1.
Summary of last year: The Lightning fared marginally better than the previous season, but still look far from the Stanley Cup winners they were in 2004. While Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier had stellar seasons, Brad Richards was disappointing and the Lightning have not been the same in net since the departure of Nikolai Khabibulin.
Prediction for this year: Ah, drama — there’s never any shortage of it as long as head coach John Tortorella is around. When he isn’t publicly sparring with his own players, he’s cussing out the media on live TV. With the locally unpopular new ownership firmly installed (be honest, would you want Doug MacLean running your team?), Tortorella may find himself reined in. All this distracts from the fact the Lightning still do not have a reliable goaltender, and have done little to improve their defensive line, which was 28th in the league on the PK last season, despite the amazing play of Dan Boyle. Another lackluster season, and there may be wholesale changes in Tampa. The positives? The return of Chris Gratton and Brad Lukowich, and the always stunning play of Lecavlier and St. Louis. Keep these guys firing and the rest might not matter.

Tampa Bay Lightning, Chris Gratton, Brad Lukowich, Johan Holmqvist, Marc Denis, Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Nikolai Khabibulin, John Tortorella, Doug MacLean, Dan Boyle, Chris Gratton, Brad Lukowich

Carolina Hurricanes

Notable moves and changes:Acquired C Matt Cullen from the Rangers for D Andrew Hutchinson and F Joe Barnes.
Starting goalie: Cam Ward
Summary of last year: The Hurricanes get to carry the unfavorable mark of a team that wins the Stanley Cup one year and doesn’t even make the playoffs the next. It’s tough not to feel bad for GM Jim Rutherford — how do you tinker with a team like that? Most of the standouts from the Hurricanes’ Cup win are still with the team, they’re just MIA. They need to be found fast for the Canes to have any chance at rebounding. Cam Ward, this means you.
Prediction for this year: Bringing Cullen back to the fold seems to be a acknowledgment of something lacking from this year’s group, but Rutherford must be banking on last year being an anomaly. Beyond Cullen, the biggest news out of Carolina in the off-season was the Staal brothers having a little too much to drink at a campground. Oh, those bad boys of the NHL.

Carolina Hurricanes, Matt Cullen, Andrew Hutchinson, Joe Barnes, Cam Ward, Jim Rutherford, Cam Ward

Florida Panthers

Notable moves and changes:Acquired G Thomas Vokoun from Nashville for picks. Signed F Richard Zednik (was with Washington and New York Islanders), and F Brett McLean (was with Colorado). Signed F Radek Dvorak (was with St. Louis).
Starting goalie: Thomas Vokoun
Summary of last year: No one expected much from Florida after the Roberto Luongo trade and Mike Keenan fallout, but they surprised with a steady, if not spectacular season, notching one more point in the standings than the year before.
Prediction for this year: Things appear to be falling into place for the Panthers — hopefully all will go as planned. Vokoun has to be the same goalie in Florida as he was in Nashville. He’s got a decent defence corps in front of him, lead by Jay Bouwmeester, Bryan Allen, Mike Van Ryn and as long as these guys keep getting better, goals against shouldn’t be a problem. Up front, their free agent signings join Olli Jokinen, Nathan Horton, and Stephen Weiss — all consistently great players. If these guys don’t show some sort of improvement, something is seriously wrong.

Florida Panthers, Thomas Vokoun, Richard Zednik, Brett McLean, Radek Dvorak, Thomas Vokoun, Roberto Luongo, Mike Keenan, Jay Bouwmeester, Bryan Allen, Mike Van Ryn, Olli Jokinen, Nathan Horton, Stephen Weiss

Washington Capitals

Notable moves and changes: Signed F Viktor Kozlov (was with the New York Islanders), C Michael Nylander (was with the New York Rangers), and D Tom Poti (was also with the Islanders).
Starting goalie: Olaf Kolzig — this last time Kolzig played less than 50 games for the Caps was the 1996-1997 season when he shared duties with Jim Carey.
Summary of last year: Alexander Ovechkin. Does anything else need to be said? He makes Chris Clark look like a first liner. Wait, what?
Prediction for this year: In a division that suddenly has a lot of up and coming talent, will these moves be enough? The Caps’ 286 goals against was 28th in the league and other than the addition of Poti, nothing concrete was done to address defense. Kozlov and Nylander are nice additions — depending on which versions of those players actually show up.

Washington Capitals, Viktor Kozlov, New York Islanders, Michael Nylander, New York Rangers, Tom Poti, Olaf Kolzig, Alexander Ovechkin, Chris Clark

• Cost to buy the Tampa Bay Lightning: $206 million. Listening to John Tortorella slam the team’s previous owner? Priceless. (Fan590 audio link is here).
• Edmonton Oilers resign Brodziak and Roy. Craig Simpson’s out, Brodziak and Roy are in. Somehow I think they’re going to need a little more to get back into the playoffs.
• By the way, Simpson is now saying he’s leaving coaching because he realized he’d never be the next Scotty Bowman. There’s so many snarky comments I can make there I’m not even sure where to start…
• Staal brothers offered deal. And why not? Young men busted for drinking too much at a campground during a stag…. I know a lot of guys who call that “Saturday”.
• Hawks extend Savard’s stay. Good on ‘em. One of the best things to happen to the Hawks in years.
• Bruins sign their first round draft pick, Zach Hamill. The Bruins need this kid, both for their team and to keep their fans’ hopes alive.
• Hawks sign James Wisniewski. The Hawks on the other hand destroyed their fans’ hopes years ago…
• Coyotes ink Joel Perrault. Coyotes continue to be a mystery team… how will they do this year?
• CHL Schedule released. Colorado Eagles will begin their defense of the CHL championship title.
• Karel Pilar signs with Thrashers. Pilar’s been out of the NHL for nearly two years battling a heart condition.
• Chris Chelios testifies in murder trial. Nothing funny here. A former Cheli’s restaurant employee murdered two of his former co-workers, one right after Chelios spoke with her.
• Ducks’ Joe DiPenta thrills sick kids with Stanley Cup. Feel-good Cup story of the week.

Tampa Bay Lightning, John Tortorella, Edmonton Oilers, Zach Hamill, James Wisniewski, Coyotes, Joel Perrault, Colorado Eagles, Karel Pilar, Thrashers, Chris Chelios

Big news today is the sale of the Tampa Bay Lightning to Absolute Hockey Enterprises — a group that includes former Florida Panthers coach and former Columbus Blue Jackets GM Doug MacLean.

No one was more surprised than Lightning fans and the Tampa media. Unlike the public woes of teams like the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators, there wasn’t the slightest indication the current Lightning owners were considering an offer, let alone selling the team.

Lightning fans went from shock to fear and anger quickly though — MacLean isn’t exactly a friendly face for Tampa fans. Never mind the Columbus Blue Jackets and the unfortunate legacy left there, Lightning fans endured years of MacLean at the helm of the state-rival Panthers, years when the Panthers benefitted from a well-stocked expansion draft and regularly came to town to wipe their feet on the Bolts.

It’s like Scotty Bowman buying the Colorado Avalanche. Glen Sather buying the Islanders — or worse, the Flames.

The Lightning/Panthers rivalry may not be a legendary one, but for a sports-happy state, it’s an intense one, and usually not terrible classy. Any one else remember the rats?

Despite all this, MacLean has been saying all the right things: there are no plans to move the team, there is (as yet) no indication MacLean intends to take over GM or coaching duties, and there are hopes there will be a budget increase, which has been a recent sticking point with the current ownership.

Then, I can’t help but wonder…. how much was Columbus paying MacLean if he’s able to buy a hockey team?

The NHL Stanley Cup playoffs started with a bang, but only for one team in each game. The New York Rangers just couldn’t put anything together as the Sabres dominated the game from start to finish. Lundqvist gave up 3 goals in the second period, all within 4:30. Buffalo, of course, won the game 5-2.

The Rangers were only one goal better than Vancouver, who lost to Anaheim 5-1. The Canucks started the game off with their only goal, but then Anaheim took over. Andy McDonald got a hat trick in the effort, along with an assist to give him 4 points for the game.  There was no question that the Ducks pretty well dominated the game.  They owned the Canucks and at the end of the day, they shut down the team which had gotten only 1 day off.  Versus showed a little stat comparing the first rounds of these two teams and if Anaheim continues to dominate, it will be interesting to see if anyone points to the differences in their first rounds as a reason.  For me, the interesting stat was that Anaheim had only trailed for about a half hour in their first round series.  Last night, they trailed for just over 2 minutes.  If they can keep this up, they’ll waltz their way into the Cup finals.

Detroit/San Jose & Senators/Devils tonight; both games are on at the same time.

NHL, Stanley Cup, playoffs, New York Rangers, Sabres, Buffalo, Vancouver, Anaheim, Canucks, Ducks