Ponds and Pucks

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

Colorado Avalanche at Edmonton Oilers - Colorado is 4-4-0, Edmonton is 3-5-0, but the real story is Ryan Smyth’s return to Edmonton. Sentiments are expressed much better at Covered In Oil, and the news side is covered much better at KuklasKorner. Battle Of Alberta also chimes in. Don’t underestimate what Smyth meant to Oiler fans.

Nashville Predators at Los Angeles Kings - Nashville is 2-5-0 and LA is 3-6-0. Both teams have gotten to a slow start this season, especially former contender Nashville, now stuck in a 5 game losing streak. LA is turning it around slowly, stopping their own five game skid with a convincing win against Vancouver. No word on if the game will be affected by the fires in the area. Even though they’re likely not close to the arena, there are enough roads closed and confusion in the area. Prayers to anyone in So. Cal right now.

***

Here we go again: The Peter Forsberg rumor mill is alive and well. We’re back to Ottawa, since Petey will only play for a contender. Oh, and he wants a 3-year deal worth $5 million a season.

Disclaimer: I’ve never been much of a Forsberg fan, but that might a result of having to play the Avs 8 times a season when they seemed to own all the talent in the division. Or maybe it was the way he would crumple to the ice if someone looked at him wrong and the refs would buy it every time…. but I digress. Ottawa seems to be churning along fine without Peter The Great, and may not have the cap room to make a 3 year commitment. Colorado (Forsberg’s other choice), may not want him enough to give in either. So then what?

***

The Leafs woes continue as they’ve now lost Darcy Tucker to a knee injury. Tucker will be wearing a brace, and will be out indefinitely.

That really sucks for Toronto. Tucker is annoying as all get-out, but he’s clearly a key member of the Toronto club. Losing him indefinitely isn’t going to help the Leafs ship right itself.

Colorado Avalanche, Edmonton Oilers, Ryan Smyth, Peter Forsberg, Darcy Tucker

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

The Blackhawks had one task this season — only one simple task if they were to take advantage of the impressive off-season moves they made.

Stay healthy.

During training camp, rookie phenom Jonathan Toews[tag] took a puck to the finger and missed the rest of camp, and — so far — the season opener. Another player, [tag]Ryan Stokes, was hurt the same night when his face was cut open after falling into a pile of players (Stokes did not remain with the Hawks).

Now, after one game (a 1-0 win against Minnesota) the Hawks have lost yet another key player in Martin Havlat.

Havlat left the game in the third period after colliding with a couple of Wild players in front of the Minnesota net, and when he reappeared, his arm was in a sling. There’s concern about his shoulder. The x-ray results will come today.

FanHouse has a great post about the injury, along with a discussion about Havlat’s medical record over the years (he hasn’t played more than 68 games in a season since 2003).

Guess it’s up to new acquisitions Sergei Samsonov, Yanic Perrault and Robert Lang to step up and fill in the gap. That’s what the make the big bucks for, right?

Hopefully Havlat’s injury is minor and he’s back on the ice by next week. Hopefully the Hawks are getting this injury nonsense out of the way early. But this is cutting it too close waaaaay too early for the Hawks.

I love the Hawks, I really do. They have some of the best (and most under-appreciated) fans in the league. But wow, just wow. As far as sports curses go, this one is a doozy.

Jonathan Toews[tag] took a puck to the finger and missed the rest of camp, and — so far — the season opener. Another player, [tag]Ryan Stokes, Martin Havlat, Sergei Samsonov, Yanic Perrault, Robert Lang

Alfredsson doesn’t care which Leafs’ goalie he scores on.

It was somewhat surprising to see Raycroft between the pipes when the puck dropped last night for the Senators/Leafs game. It was almost as surprising to see Toskala in net for the Leafs tonight in their second tilt against Ottawa.

What’s not surprising is that it didn’t seem to make one iota of difference.

I don’t blame the Leafs for not starting Toskala at home — the pressure there is ridiculous. I know players don’t go to Toronto to remain anonymous, but how much attention and pressure would Toskala be under if the Leafs hadn’t been forced to take the problem child Mark Bell as well?

If you’re the Leafs, who do you start in net next?

***

I haven’t checked yet, but I believe the Steve Downie suspension expires right before the Flyers play Ottawa again. Excellent. If you’re keeping track, tonight’s game against Calgary is Game #1 of the suspension.

Philly looked good tonight against Calgary. It’s only one game, but I swear the countdown on Mike Keenan’s first eruption is already well underway. A tale of two teams: Flyer’s star player Daniel Briere steps up and scores a goal in the latter half of the 3rd period, bringing the team to a 3-2 lead. Calgary star Jarome Iginla responds by stepping up and taking a hooking penalty. It was a lousy call, but still….

***

Up the highway, the Oilers eked out a strong win against the Sharks. Still processing that one… that and Nashville beating the crap out of Colorado. All this is telling me is that I’ll need to wait a few more weeks before buying SportsSelect tickets…

***

Shutout count: Backstrom - 1, Mason - 1.

***

Regular, less stream-of-consciousness content will return tomorrow. I promise. (Guilty confession: The NHL is my first love. Always has been. But after this weekend, part of me is still caught up in the NFL and ex-CFLer Jeff Garcia’s performance in Tampa).

Detroit Red Wings

Notable moves and changes:Signed D Brian Rafalski (was with New Jersey). Signed F Dallas Drake.
Starting goalie: Dominik Hasek
Summary of last year: The rest of the league can only dream to have a team as consistently well-built as the Red Wings. It’s not like they don’t suffer their share of key player losses and injuries — it’s just they always seem to recover in fine fashion (how many teams could survive the loss of a Steve Yzerman with barely a misstep?). Last season they were yet again 1st in the Central Division, 1st in the Western Conference and 2nd overall. All this with a roster most would consider “too old” on many other teams (2 players in their 40s!). Yeah, they got to play the lowly Blues, Blue Jackets and Blackhawks 8 times each, but so did Nashville. Prediction for this year: It wasn’t tough for the Wings to get younger, but again, they did it smartly, bringing in steady veterans and keeping the core of the team intact. Rafalski’s camp injury has thrown the team into a bit of a loop, but with the Wings’ depth, they have little to worry about… especially since the weak Central Division around them hasn’t improved much.

Detroit Red Wings, Brian Rafalski, Dallas Drake, Dominik Hasek, Steve Yzerman

Nashville Predators

Notable moves and changes: Signed F Radek Bonk (was with Montreal) and D Greg de Vries (was with Atlanta). Signed F Martin Gelinas (was with Florida) .
Starting goalie: Chris Mason
Summary of last year: Hard to believe now the Preds finished third overall and had their best season yet. Many point to the acquisition of Peter Forsberg (which cost the Preds Scottie Upshall and Ryan Parent) as the turning point. Forsberg struggled, the team struggled, and their playoff run was cut to a mere 5 games. The off-season sale drama has done little to improve the team’s fortunes.
Prediction for this year:In a word — ouch. The list of players missing from this year’s roster is intimidating — Scott Hartnell, Paul Kariya, Tomas Vokoun, Kimmo Timonen all stand out. The players brought in don’t come close to replacing that talent, and the Preds have an extremely tough road ahead of them if they plan to equal last year’s performance. David Legwand, JP Dumont and Steve Sullivan (when he gets healthy) all need to practically double their output just to keep the Predators in the playoffs.

Nashville Predators, Radek Bonk, Greg de Vries, Martin Gelinas, Chris Mason, Peter Forsberg, Scottie Upshall, Ryan Parent, Scott Hartnell, Paul Kariya, Tomas Vokoun, Kimmo Timonen, David Legwand, JP Dumont, Steve Sullivan

St Louis Blues

Notable moves and changes:Resigned C Keith Tkachuk, after re-acquiring his rights from Atlanta (Blues had dealt Tkachuk to the Thrashers at the trade deadline). Signed F Paul Kariya (had been with Nashville). Acquired G Hannu Toivonen from Boston for Carl Soderberg.
Starting goalie: Manny Legace
Summary of last year: Baby steps. After an embarrassing 2005-2006 effort, there was little doubt last season was going to be spent rebuilding. This resulted in the addition of coach Andy Murray and a 24 point jump in the standings.
Prediction for this year: Landing Kariya was no small feat, and boosted this club’s fortunes considerably. With Doug Weight and Tkachuk on the roster, the Blues have some veteran talent (my personal opinion of Keith Tkachuk notwithstanding), albeit a little too veteran for some. Lee Stempniak is only going to get better. The defence corps is a little young, but loaded with talent in Eric Brewer, and up and comers like Barret Jackman and newcomer Erik Johnson — defense is far from the Blues’ biggest problem. The Blues will still have a tough time making the playoffs in the Western Conference, but they’ll be in the fight come April.

St Louis Blues, Keith Tkachuk, Paul Kariya, Hannu Toivonen, Carl Soderberg, Manny Legace, Andy Murray, Doug Weight, Lee Stempniak, Eric Brewer, Barret Jackman, Erik Johnson

Columbus Blue Jackets

Notable moves and changes:Signed C Michael Peca (was with Toronto), signed C Kris Beech (had been with Washington). GM Doug MacLean fired, replaced by Scott Howson.
Starting goalie: Fredrik Norrena
Summary of last year: Miss the playoffs, rinse, repeat. The Jackets are only notable in that they are the only team yet to have made the post-season. Last year’s performance was a small regression from the year before, yet still their second best points performance ever (73).
Prediction for this year: Score bonus points if you remembered Sergei Fedorov is on this team. Peca has clearly been brought in to give the way over-worked Rick Nash a helping hand, but this team’s troubles go way beyond one free agent center. Fedorov, Fredrik Modin, Jason Chimera and Anson Carter all need to step up — the Blue Jackets’ scoring was abysmal last season, tied for 28th in the league. Defensively they don’t look much better. Anders Eriksson shouldn’t leave a gaping hole in your defence, but the departed d-man was second in defenceman scoring (23 points, all assists) and first on the team in plus/minus. Rostislav Klesla, Ron Hainsey and Duvie Westcott are all under pressure to improve. No, this isn’t going to be Columbus’s year either.

Michael Peca, Kris Beech, Doug MacLean, Scott Howson, Fredrik Norrena, Sergei Fedorov, Rick Nash, Fredrik Modin, Jason Chimera, Anson Carter

Chicago Blackhawks

Notable moves and changes: Acquired F Sergei Samsonov from the Montreal Canadiens for D Jassen Cullimore and F Tony Salmelainen. Signed C Yanic Perreault (was with Phoenix and Toronto last season), acquired D Andrei Zyuzin in a trade with the Calgary Flames, and signed C Robert Lang (was with Detroit).
Starting goalie:Nikolai Khabibulin
Summary of last year:Few fans could argue with the appointment of Hawks legend Denis Savard as head coach, but it’s going to take a lot more than one coach to turn this ship around. The Hawks were 28th in the league in scoring, dead last on the power play and only Philadelphia had a worse home record than Chicago. Last season was dotted with the same inconsistencies, injury bugs and lackadaisical play that has kept the Hawks out of the playoffs for 8 of the past 9 years.
Prediction for this year: If this season’s Yanic Perreault is in fact, Yanic Perreault, long-suffering Hawks fans may finally have a free-agent signing to cheeer about. Samsonov and Lang add to the mix, but both have baggage from prior teams, and the Hawks have not historically fared well with project players. The bad news: Adrian Aucoin, Michal Handzus, Denis Arkhipov and Mikael Holmqvist are all gone in off-season deals. The good news: The future looks bright. Kids like Tuomo Ruutu and Brent Seabrook keep getting better, and two highly regarded prospects, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, are expected to have an excellent shot at roster spots this year. This may not be the Hawk’s comeback season, but the building blocks are there.

Chicago Blackhawks, Sergei Samsonov, Yanic Perreault, Andrei Zyuzin, Robert Lang, Nikolai Khabibulin, Denis Savard, Tuomo Ruutu, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews

Really late on today’s post and for that I apologize — it was unpreventable. How about I make it up with *2* NHL preview posts tomorrow? Ok? Ok, deal.

As for news today, there wasn’t a lot of news out there that wasn’t the Jon Klemm signing. Except this little tidbit out of St. Louis — St. Louis to Offer Free Food and Drink During January Game.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

I’ll leave alone the obvious joke that the Blues will be playing the talent-depleted Nashville Predators that night, and step away from the desperation to get butts into seats remark and I’ll just wonder how the NHL let this go on.

Wait, they did this last year?

Wait, beer is not part of the promo?

I’m sorry what was the point again?

Notable moves and changes: Signed free agent Daniel Briere (was with the Buffalo Sabres), picked up F Joffrey Lupul[/tags] and D [tag]Jason Smith from the Edmonton Oilers for D Joni Pitkanen and F Geoff Sanderson, and acquired F Scott Hartnell and D Kimmo Timonen from the Nashville Predators.

Starting goalies: Martin Biron, though Antero Niittymaki could challenge with a great camp.

Summary of last year: The Flyers were last in the league with a sobering 22-48-12 record, and were out of playoff contention well before the All-Star break. This team has nowhere to go but up.

Prediction for this year: If the off-season signings and trades are any indication, Flyers’ GM Paul Holmgren is serious about righting the ship and doing it quickly. Even at the trade deadline, the Flyers were making moves to strengthen the team, picking up most notably Martin Biron. There isn’t a position on the team that hasn’t been improved, defense shored up with Smith and Timonen, the signing of Briere and the acquisition of Biron. Will they go from last in the league to making the playoffs? There’s a good chance.

Daniel Briere, Buffalo Sabres, Joffrey Lupul[/tags] and D [tag]Jason Smith, Edmonton Oilers, Joni Pitkanen, Geoff Sanderson, Scott Hartnell, Kimmo Timonen, Nashville Predators, Antero Niittymaki, Paul Holmgren

• 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

I had them losing in 7, but they lost in 6.  Pretty close.  Not very surprising.

Detroit never looked as good in this series as they had in the previous two. Anaheim, on the other hand, looked and played tight.  They skated well and they put the puck on net as needed.  They played a higher level of hockey, there’s really no debating it.

Now I’ll admit that I missed the third period last night.  After watching the first 2, I didn’t think that the Red Wings had a chance.  It turns out that I was right, but I’ll put it out there.

The Ducks showed that they were the far superior team.  At the end of this, there’s not a lot of breakdown to be done, it’s really just something to accept.

That and I’m really tired today.

Detroit, Anaheim, hockey, Red Wings, Ducks

I was not happy on Friday when there was no hockey, with the NHL electing instead to have a game on each Saturday and Sunday.  I was annoyed.  I was wrong.

The NHL got two great games on TV in front of national audiences this weekend.  Had the Sabres lost their series on Friday then Sunday would not have had a game on for people to watch.  The Senators would have been victorious before the weekend started and it would be a quieter weekend.  On the whole, I think the league did a great job and the games were great — which I suspect only raises the prestige of the league.

I do, however, have a gripe with NBC about Saturday’s coverage.

I was in Rochester over the weekend, so I watched the game in the Buffalo area.  For me, the game stayed on NBC.  For most of the country, however, when the Ottawa/Buffalo game went into overtime, they switched over to Versus because they wanted to cover the Preakness Stakes.  I’m all for that, since I am a huge horse racing fan.  But the Preakness wasn’t to be run for another hour.  What they wanted to do was offer the human interest stories about horses, jockeys, trainers and other assorted crap.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I love horse racing and I wanted nothing more than to watch the race.  But I don’t need to hear from the jockey who lost a beloved second cousin to cancer and is dedicating the first quarter mile of the race to her.  Show me the race.  Before it starts, show me other races.  NBC chose to switch the overtime of a series-ending game to Versus instead of sticking with it.  That hurt because a lot of viewers don’t have Versus.  NBC made a big mistake here.

I am going to hold off on breaking down the Buffalo game until tomorrow, when I break down the series.  However, I will go through the Ducks/Red Wings game.  On Saturday, one of the NBC analysts asked “if Anaheim was favored to win without Chris Pronger, shouldn’t they be favored to win with him?”  This was an excellent point, but was he a deciding factor?  He had an assist in the game-tying goal but not in the game-winner.  So I’ll make this my first poll: Is Chris Pronger a key to Anaheim winning the series?  Vote below.

The Ducks managed to score in the final minute of the 3rd period to tie the game.  I was surprised by the goal, and my reasoning is simple: they were anything but crisp.  The Ducks were flailing about but managed in the end to put the puck in the net.  They got lucky.  If they want a chance to finish off this series, they need to work on pressing their advantage on man-up situations.