Ponds and Pucks

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

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

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?