Ponds and Pucks

Minnesota Wild

Notable moves and changes:Signed F Eric Belanger (was with Atlanta/Carolina) and G Nolan Schaefer.
Starting goalie: Niklas Backstrom.
Summary of last year: When Manny Fernandez was injured, no one had any idea Niklas Backstrom would be able to fill in the way he did — by leading the league in both save percentage and GAA. Even head-coach Jacques Lemaire had to be thrilled with that kind of defense.
Prediction for this year:The Wild didn’t need to do too much on the off-season, expect pray their come-outta-nowhere goaltender
Niklas Backstrom isn’t a one-hit wonder, since Fernandez now resides in Massachusetts. In front of Backstrom is a solid, if not spectacular, roster, leaning a little to the young side, and that can only help the Wild in the long run.

Minnesota Wild, Eric Belanger, Nolan Schaefer, Niklas Backstrom, Manny Fernandez, Jacques Lemaire

Calgary Flames

Notable moves and changes:Hired head coach Mike Keenan. Acquired D Adrian Aucion from the Chicago Blackhawks for D Andrei Zyuzin and Steve Marr. Signed D Cory Sarich (was with Tampa). Signed F Owen Nolan (was with Phoenix).
Starting goalie: Hopefully Miikka Kiprusoff, but with Mike Keenan behind the bench….
Summary of last year: What is there to say about a team that ranks 3rd in the NHL in home wins and 22nd in road wins? This frustration dogged the Flames their entire season, and carried over into a lackluster playoff run. Don’t even suggest where the Flames would have been without Kipper.
Prediction for this year:The off-season moves served only to replace key departed players, most notably Brad Stuart and Roman Hamrlik. Kipper will continue to be the key to all things defense with the Flames. Up front, the Flames are nicely set with talent like Jarome Iginla, Alex Tanguay and Daymond Langkow. Keenan is the real mystery for the Flames. There’s no middle ground here — Keenan either takes the Flames on a ride rivaling their 2004 playoff run, or in a spectacular flame-out, takes them out of the playoffs and into rebuilding.

Calgary Flames, Mike Keenan, Adrian Aucion, Andrei Zyuzin, Cory Sarich, Owen Nolan, Miikka Kiprusoff, Brad Stuart, Roman Hamrlik, Jarome Iginla, Alex Tanguay, Daymond Langkow

Colorado Avalanche

Notable moves and changes: Signed F Ryan Smyth (was with the NY Islanders). Signed D Scott Hannan (was with San Jose).
Starting goalie: Jose Theodore would need a pretty good camp to steal the starting job from Peter Budaj.
Summary of last year: Colorado has the unenviable honor of being the team with the highest regular season points to not make the playoffs, thanks to a tough division and conference. Though they finished higher than the playoff bound Islanders, Rangers and Lightning, the Avs’ inability to catch up with Calgary in the dying days of last season had them watching from the sidelines.
Prediction for this year: What a difference a year will make. With the glowing additions of Smyth and Hannan, the Avs’ 2006-2007 season will likely be a blip rather than part of a downward slide. Of course, they’re still in a hot division, with the Canucks, Flames and Wild all surging, and you know the Oilers are going to be on fire when playing former teammate Smyth (by now everyone west of Detroit has the first Avs’ game in Edmonton circled on their calendar), but Colorado is just too talented to stay down for long. Caveat: Goaltending. A bad start by either goalie could nullify everything else.

Colorado Avalanche, Ryan Smyth, Scott Hannan, Jose Theodore, Peter Budaj

Edmonton Oilers

Notable moves and changes: Signed D Sheldon Souray (was with Montreal), acquired F Dustin Penner, after the Ducks declined to match the Oilers’ offer. Signed F Geoff Sanderson.
Starting goalie:Dwayne Roloson
Summary of last year: This was a team that lost its heart and soul when Ryan Smyth was traded at the deadline. Any poor performances or setbacks up to that point were recoverable, but the trade of Smyth sent the team into a freefall. Some would argue that freefall is still happening.
Prediction for this year: It would be too easy to discount this season as a write off, but as most Flames fans know, one can never underestimate the Edmonton Oilers. However, their off-season has been tumultuous at best, with controversial offers to the Sabres’ Thomas Vanek (Buffalo matched) and the Ducks’ Dustin Penner (the Ducks didn’t). Adding Souray, Sanderson, and Penner to the mix doesn’t look like it comes close to closing the gap left by Smyth, especially when you factor in the loss of Petr Sykora in the off-season. Shawn Horcoff, Ales Hemsky, Jarrett Stoll and Raffi Torres represent the remaining 30+ point players from last season and will need to step up.

Sheldon Souray, Joni Pitkanen, Jason Smith, Joffrey Lupul, Dustin Penner, Geoff Sanderson, Dwayne Roloson, Ryan Smyth, Thomas Vanek

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

Craig Simpson has left the Oilers to join the CBC broadcast team, reports the Globe and Mail, and Sportsnet.ca, among others.

I know the Oilers aren’t exactly looking, ahem, stable, right now, but I can’t remember the last time someone voluntarily left an NHL job to join a broadcaster.

This comes about a week after the Sharkspage blog reported Drew Remenda was rejoining the SJ Sharks broadcast team. It’s good for the Sharks fans, but I really liked Remenda. I got to catch him on Fox broadcasts on Centre Ice and he seemed like one of the few Fox announcers who not only knew what was going on, but was fair in his commentary.

The good news is, it looks like Simpson will be working the west coast broadcasts with Jim Hughson, which means no more Greg Millen in the west (Millen will join Bob Cole and Harry Neale). That might be the best news of the summer.

Oiler fans at Oilfans.com don’t seem too broken up about the loss of Simpson… the comments range from “Now we’ll make the playoffs” to “most excellent news.”

I guess Oiler fans need *something* to be happy about.

Craig Simpson, CBC, Drew Remenda

Anaheim knocked the Canucks out last night in the second OT period.  What is the biggest stat of this game?  Vancouver had a total of 27 shots on goal.  The Ducks had 63.  Vancouver didn’t have double-digit shots in any frame.  Luongo was amazing in this game, keeping a weak Vancouver defense in the game but the loss was inevitable.  You cannot let the opposition put EVERY shot on net and still expect miracles from your goalie.  Defense wins championships, and for proof, look at last night’s results.

It appears that Bill Guerin will be out for the next Sharks/Red Wings game on Saturday.  He took a puck to the face and might have to be a scratch.  Thus far this series, Guerin has had a whopping 0 points and is skating at -2 (all from game 2 of the series; he is at 0 for the rest of the games) so it’s easy to think that this isn’t a big loss.  But his 36 regular season goals tied him for 16th both overall and among forwards.  I will grant that this isn’t a huge loss right now, because he has not performed, but Billy was a good player this year and he’s due to find his groove.  Add to that the fact that the replacement will most likely not be as high-quality as Guerin so this is not a good thing for the Sharks.

End of Season Awards
The Frank J. Selke Trophy (Outstanding Defensive Forward)
The Finalists:

• Rod Brind’Amour (Car)
• Samuel Pahlsson (Ana)
• Jay Pandolfo (NJD)

Brind’Amour is a mainstay in this category and it’s a shame that he won’t win it.  It’s between Pahlsson and Pandolfo this year because these are two of the best defensive teams in the league.  The Devils are weak on offense but it’s become clear that they are a defensive juggernaut.  Anaheim has proven the same thing this season.  Surprisingly, both are in the negative and neither had a great season scoring-wise.
Who should win: Brind’Amour
Who will win: Pandolfo

Anaheim, Canucks, Vancouver, Ducks, Sharks, Red Wings, NHL, Stanley Cup, Playoffs, Hockey

I would never believe that the Rangers were going to make a real series out of their match-up with Buffalo, but their win last night tied the series.  These past two games, they have been absolutely electric and played amazingly well.  They need to win game 5 if they want to win the series, but they have fought and earned an absolutely amazing end to their season if it ends this week.  The Sabres were 28-10-3 at home this year in the regular season and they won the first two games of the series at home as well.  But what they need to do is take a breather and get their act back together. They have not looked nearly as good these past 2 games as they did the first 2 of the series.  Can they win?  Yes.  But they need to win tomorrow night or they’re going to be in a lot of trouble.  If the Rangers go back to Madison Square Garden ready to clinch the series, and if Lundqvist continues to play like the Goalie Gods have endowed him with magical powers, then we could see Jagr, Shannahan and Co. in the Eastern finals against the Senators instead of a “Battle of the Border.”

The Ducks overtook the Canucks in overtime to take a 3-1 series lead.  Vancouver has not played as well as they had been in the first series and the question is whether or not they are just out-classed.  They need to start kicking their game up a bit, and even though this game went into OT, they need to find a way to get the puck into the Anaheim net or they’ll be on the golf course by Monday.

The NHL released its list of finalists for the various trophies yesterday.  Tomorrow and Friday, I will break down the finalists and give you my picks for who will win each trophy.

Devils/Senators and Red Wings/Sharks tonight.  Both the Devils and the Red Wings need to win tonight in order to even things up, but the Red Wings need to win if they have a chance at moving on to the next round.

Happy Wednesday.

Rangers, Buffalo, Sabres, Ducks, Canucks, Vancouver, Anaheim, NHL

Good Morning.

It was a great weekend for hockey, and there were some outstanding games on this weekend.  Friday night started off with a second Buffalo win, and a Vancouver win in the second OT period (there was 1 final OT period in the first round that I never added, so let’s add 3 right now…but there were more this weekend).  New Jersey won on Saturday in 2 OT periods (total 5), and Detroit overtook San Jose.  Anaheim beat the Canucks on Sunday and the Rangers/tag] took out the [tag]Sabres in 2 OT (total 7).  So that’s the overall picture.]

Now here’s what you need to know:
Ryan Miller was amazing on Sunday.  Don’t let the loss fool you, he played amazingly.  He kept the Sabres in the game and was pushed beyond anything that you can imagine.  The Rangers had 46 shots on goal and with the exception of the second period, was at least even with or outshot the Sabres in EVERY period.  Buffalo was not on their game — they did not play as well as they had in the first two.  Now they can give up all 3 games at Madison Square Garden and still win the series if they want.  But if they do that, if they can’t win one game on the road in this series, then they will be facing serious problems in the next round.

Detroit is in trouble.  The series is tied 1-1 and game three is tonight at the Shark Pond.  But when you watch them play, it is clear that the dominance from the first series is somewhat lost.  I might have to rethink my pick for this round.  If the Red Wings want to get past the Sharks, they will need to perform much better than they have thus far.

Ottawa is one of the best teams in the league and they may have figured Martin Brodeur out.  If this is true, this series will be done soon.  If not, then I suspect that it’s only a matter of time.

The Anaheim/Vancouver series looks like it will be the best series of this round.

hockey, Buffalo, Vancouver, New Jersey, Detroit, San Jose, Anaheim, Canucks, Rangers/tag] took out the [tag]Sabres, Red Wings, Ottawa, NHL, Stanley Cup

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

I will start by giving credit where credit is due.  Versus did a great job this weekend, showing so many games.  Call it bonus coverage all you want, I think they deserve a pat on the back.  I hope they continue the trend.

There is only one game on tonight, and it’s game 7.  Vancouver will skate at home against Dallas for all the marbles.  Puck drops at 9 ET.  This is the final game of the first round and we go to the next round, which I will break down tomorrow.

This weekend we saw New Jersey, San Jose, Detroit and Buffalo move on to the second round.  New Jersey put Tampa Bay away for the season which was not unexpected and San Jose was dominant in their series.  Neither series generated much news.  However, The Isles and the Flames went out with news clips:

• The Isles had a defenseman suspended under the league’s drug policy.
  Now, I don’t think that the loss of Sean Hill led to the defeat of the Isles in the series — the reality is that they were just completely outplayed.  But how stupid do you have to be to do anything that jeopardizes your team during the playoffs?  Hill had a 1 year contract, so he is now a free agent.  We won’t see him back in Isles Blue.
• The Flames Goalie got the gate
  We’ll start with See Above and move on from there.  Now granted, it’s Jamie McLennan who is the backup goalie, but you still need to make sure that you aren’t doing anything stupid.  The game got out of control, and everyone go frustrated.  I get that, it happens.  The game was lost 5-1.  But in the playoffs you need to play smarter.  It’s the playoffs.  It’s a disappointment.

Technorati Tags: Sean Hill, Jamie McLennan, NHL, Stanley Cup, Hockey, New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, San Jose Sharks, Detroit Red Wings

With a little Moody Blues to get us going, we start with 2 more teams advancing to the second round.

Ottawa 3, Pittsburgh 0
Ottawa wins the series 4-1. I will have more to say on this next week, but what it comes down to is the reality that you can’t deny — Ottawa is a great team and they will continue to be a great team. Pittsburgh is good and young, so this won’t be their last playoff run, but they met a team that is just better this year.

Anaheim 4, Minnesota 1
Anaheim takes the series 4-1. The Ducks are a powerful team and they pretty well bulldozed the Wild. Look for them to be a scary force for their next round.

We can also add 1 more OT period to our count from the Dallas-Vancouver game. The Stars won the game 1-0 in the first overtime.

What does this weekend hold?
Buffalo will try to finish the Islanders off tonight. If they lose tonight, they’ll get another chance on Sunday. Unfortunately for my Isles, Buffalo will win tonight at home. The series that I want to see is Buffalo-Ottawa right now.

Tampa Bay skates in New Jersey tonight and at home on Sunday. The series is tied 2-2 so the winner of tonight’s game has a huge advantage.

San Jose is in Nashville tonight and will try to finish off their series. The Sharks have been pretty dominant in this series and they should wrap it up tonight.

7-0
Grumble.
7-0

I am an Islanders fan.  As such, I have certain duties and responsibilities.  One of them is despising the Rangers, which I think I do quite nicely.  And after last night’s debacle, I am in a sour mood.  I have no choice but to be.

I don’t know what Atlanta was thinking last night, but you can’t play like they did.  It’s the playoffs, every game counts, yadda yadda yadda.  Here’s the important truth — you CANNOT hand a game over.  If you lose, you need to stay competitive.  Game four of the series is tonight, and the Rangers will be playing with an incredible high when they skate tonight on home ice.  What does Atlanta need to overcome it?  They need to score early and often — they need 2 goals in the first ten minutes and they need to keep the Rangers off the board over the same time period.  All grumbles aside, the Rangers are a formidable team, and you can’t roll over and die for one game without expecting it to cost you in the future.

Anaheim couldn’t close the deal last night, and now they will have to wait until Thursday before they can end the series.  But here’s the thing about the game — the Wild won 4-1.  This was the first game in the series that was won by more than a single goal.  Does that mean anything for the fate of the series?  We’ll have to wait until Thursday to find out.

The rest of last night’s games:
Ottawa 2, Pittsburgh 1  (Ottawa leads the series 3-1)
Vancouver 2, Dallas 1 (Vancouver leads the series 3-1)
Calgary 3, Detroit 2 (Detroit leads the series 2-1)

Technorati Tags: Hockey, NHL, Stanley Cup, Anaheim Ducks, Atlanta Thrashers, New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild, Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Vancouver Canucks, Dallas Stars, Calgary Flames, Detroit Red Wings

Eastern Conference:
Buffalo leads the Islanders 2-1
Tampa Bay leads New Jersey 2-1
Rangers lead Atlanta 2-0
Ottawa leads Pittsburgh 2-1

Western Conference
Detroit leads Calgary 2-0
Anaheim leads Minnesota 3-0
Vancouver leads Dallas 2-1
San Jose leads Nashville 2-1

Anaheim could sweep the series tonight, but I doubt it.

So here is my newest feature, the Overtime Count.
To date, there have been 7 overtime periods, and all have been in the Western Conference.

As we start looking at the end of the North American hockey seasons; last night, the AIHL started up their 2007 season with Melbourne dominating Adelaide 6-1. Canberra was also victorious, taking the win from the Brisbane Blue Toungues 5-2.

Finally, a mea culpa. Many thanks to Lyndsey who pointed out that it was Buffalo, not Detroit who won the President’s Cup, despite what I wrote in my previous posting. I have no good excuse except that I had a very long day including hitting two Napa Valley vineyards for wine tastings and a 2 hour drive. I will be more studious in the future and make sure to error-check myself.