Hitting The Post

Some Other Systems Zidlicky Hates

2012-02-01T09:54:00.000-05:00

By NiNY

"Zidlicky, who turns 35 Friday, said of Yeo's system: 'It wasn't me. It wasn't my style. I tried to explain it to him couple times, but he wants something different. I don't think I can change something when you are like 34 years old.'" - From Russo's Rants 1/31/12

Since these revelations came to light, the scientists at the Henry Sports Bureau (did you think we were just stats?) have been hard at work compiling a list of other systems Zidlicky hates.

BART
MARTA
NYC Transit (MTA)
solar
digestive
Of A Down
Bell (credit: @gobigorgohome)
Metric (Credit: @gobigorgohome)
the Buddy
Dewey Decimal (credit: @mngunslinger)
Dagobah
C++
Judicial

Got any more?

PS: Yes, I'm ignoring last night's game. For now. Too painful and ugly.

Wild Fan Closed Door Meeting

2012-01-20T09:53:00.000-05:00

by NiNY

*SLAMS DOOR*

Enough. ENOUGH! Enough of this bullshit!

You lousy sonsofbitches. I bought in. Against my better judgment, I bought in. Sure it was a little devil may care. I've been buying in and getting my heart stomped on by Minnesota teams for 36 years now. I know better. Stupid, I know. But I did; so sue me.

And the truth is that, if you'd made it to the playoffs and gotten swept in the first round, I would have been okay. Elated. That would have been a win. Just staying relevant into March would have been a minor win. Justified me suspending reality and buying in.

But this? This is unacceptable.

Injuries, yeah, whatever. Of course you've had a lot and they've been major ones. It's how you deal with it. You're like a bunch of second rate politicians right now: talk a big game, shit the bed when the chips are down.

Where's your pride? Nothing. No pride or heart or balls whatsoever for at least the last two games. I do not accept that being decimated by injuries is an excuse for complete self-emasculation. Mikko and Butch and Gui are out, yeah. So why does that hurt you in your heart and your scrotum, Schultz and Zanon and Cullen and Heatley and Brodziak?

It's not losing I mind. It's losing when you don't play hard. It's losing when you don't give a shit. That's disgusting. That's pathetic.

And it falls to the Coach, too. Yeo's confidence can be inspiring. WAS inspiring when the team was just starting to figure it out in October and November. But now lines like 'I'm excited for the challenge of figuring it out' test my patience. I don't give a fuck that you're excited about doing it. How about you just do it?

And it falls to the GM, too. He is responsible for assembling this Tin Man group. He's not responsible for how they play, but he brought this team together, so he bears some of the responsibility. I don't want him to go out and trade prospects - I'd rather we just let the chips fall where the may at this point. I do want Fletcher to move our impending UFAs - even if we only get low picks back. Because, if we make the playoffs we're not winning anything anyway. So might as well load up on picks and send a message at the same time.

And here's the thing: I'm not quitting on this team. I bought in, I'm still in. I'm not a quitter. Even if they are. Ms. Conduct said on twitter that it was like the team was daring her to beg off, but she wasn't. That's what I'm talking about. I'm still expecting them to get into the playoffs this season. That's not to say I still think they will with nearly the same certainty that I harbored even a couple weeks ago. But I'm not altering my expectations.

In other words, not making the playoffs this season is going to be extremely disappointing. A failure.

But, from what we saw in Philly and Toronto, they don't care.

Okay, I'm off the soap box. This is a closed door fan meeting. What do you have to say?

Backyard Rink Chronicles

2012-01-16T12:16:00.000-05:00

By NiNY

So I've been waiting and waiting to do my second annual backyard rink. I ordered a new, larger tarp (30x50), planning on a 25x40 rink. (Last year I did a 15x25 rink.)

The weather just hasn't cooperated. We're in the midst of something like the 4th warmest winter in recorded Rochester history. Until last week we'd only gotten trace amounts of snow - and we normally get ~ 100 of snow per winter here. Now we've had 15 inches, against an annual average of 43 to this date. Last year we'd gotten 65 at this point. For comparison's sake, St. Paul, MN gets 56 inches of snow per year, on average.

Before the climate change people get all geeked up, let me get back on point.

This weekend was supposed to be two good things for backyard rink-making: cold and long.

So I went out Saturday and bought the rest of the materials I'd need, and started putting together the frame.

As you probably remember from last year's inaugural Backyard Rink Chronicles series, I am not Mr. Handy. But this year I felt as though I knew what I wanted to do, and how to do it.

Instead of using extra pieces of 2x8 as backplates where two boards come together, I screwed L-shaped metal pieces to join the 5' sections of 2x8 together at the bottom of the back of the boards, with a "foot" sticking out on the outside of the boards. I used flat metal pieces screwed into the top of the back of the boards to add further strength behind the seam. The frame came together much more easily than last year.

One mistake I made was not getting the frame set up before it started snowing. As a result, I decided to take my tamper and tamp down the snow inside the frame. I assumed the weight of the water would ultimately tamp the snow down, but I figured starting with as flat a surface as possible would aid and speed the flooding/freezing process.

You will also recall that I had some trouble with uneven ground last year, the result of which was that I had one end of the rink that ended up being basically 7.5" deep in ice, and barely any ice at all at the other end.

Since I was going for a much bigger rink this year, I oriented it differently. When I got it laid out and the snow tamped down, however, I noticed that the long side farther from the house is much lower than the long side closer to the house. I went back out and got a couple 2x4 foot pieces of project board and laid them down in the deepest corners in an attempt to even out these deeper areas.

Then I laid out the tarp, with a huge assist from my wife.

After that, I started flooding. Actually, I had to unfasten the two hoses we forgot were still attached to the spigot first. Oops. That required a couple pots of boiling water.

THEN I started flooding. Immediately the water started pooling on the far, deeper side. It was also cold enough last night, and the stream of water slow enough, that the water started to freeze within maybe 10 minutes, where it pooled. I flooded enough to get the water touching the entire far long wall, the entire far short wall and about half of the total surface area under water.

But, I noticed that the water was getting materially closer to the top of the boards in some areas, in particular in the far corner. So I decided to stop flooding and let it freeze over night.

This morning, what had been flooded was mostly frozen.

And the forecast for today is mid-30s with a chance of some rain or freezing rain in spots tonight. Ugh.

I'm concerned about the fact that I don't have water across the whole surface yet. I'm thinking about lifting up the tarp where there's no water and shoveling out as much of the snow there as I can, in an effort to lower that area.

I'm hoping to leave what's in there now to fully freeze. Then I'm hoping that, when I resume flooding, the new water will fill in the uncovered surface. Any water that floods over the already-frozen parts I could squeegee off if it gets too close to the top of the boards. I could also add another 2x8 on top of the existing one in the areas where it's getting close to the top - I have enough extra tarp to do that.

I'm not going to flood today, it's too warm to freeze.

The next few days have lows in the teens, so maybe some favorable conditions.

On Brodziak

2012-01-06T13:32:00.000-05:00

By NiNY

Back when the Wild was 20-7-3 Kyle Brodziak was one hot topic. Specifically his impending free agent status.

Kyle's an unrestricted free agent after this season, and he's carrying a $1.15M cap hit this season.

He's played in all 41 games for the Wild this season, amassing 11-9-20 (-7, FWIW) and 37 PIM. He's not a scorer and not expected to produce, but his offense dried up coinciding with the Wild's rash of injuries to their forwards that meant Brodziak had to take on more minutes on higher lines, facing better opposition matchups.

He's a prototypical third liner. Checker, hard worker, gutsy - if not endowed with higher end scoring skills. Nothing wrong with that at all. He seems to be a popular and well-respected member of the team.

So what, went the thinking earlier this season, was Fletcher waiting for? Sign him already! Don't let such a valuable role player get within sniffing distance of July 1st and get ideas about testing the market in his head! Show him the love and sign him. I admit I echoed those same thoughts.

Coincidentally the Wild just had a very good showing at the World Junior Championships in Alberta. Even though the Americans didn't fare that well as a team, the Wild had significant representation on several of the best teams in the tournament. Names like Granlund, Brodin, Larsson, Zucker and Coyle were consistently on the lips of people following the tournament this year.

And that's not to mention the guys currently in Houston or St. Paul like Wellman, Gillies, Palmer and Bulmer.

Presumably Brodziak's going to warrant a raise from his current salary. What's the ceiling on that raise? As much as $2M per year?

There's no questioning Brodziak's heart and his passion. I love what he brings to the team, that he leaves it all on the ice every shift and that he's willing to do whatever the team asks of him. I'd love to have him on the team....but...

But, I don't think we want to go back down the road of having a roster full of expensive third liners, and if some of those aforementioned kids are going to deserve shots at a spot on the big team next year then do we really need Brodziak? If he was still going to be making $1.15M, then sure. But at $1.5M? $1.75M? $2M?

I've changed my tune on Brodziak. Now I want Fletcher to wait until the deadline and see if someone is willing to overpay to acquire him via trade, and, if not, then wait until 7/1 and see what the market for him will be.

We have a lot of cap space right now. We have recently shed some contract albatrosses on the lower lines. We finally have prospects in the system who will garner looks at the NHL level. We don't need to overpay for a third liner - even one as likeable as Kyle Brodziak.

Wild Playoff Chances

2012-01-04T20:56:00.003-05:00

By NiNY

Few things are as academic as projecting playoff chances at mid-season.

But I've sworn off/lambasted pre-season predictions, power rankings and advanced statistics this season....time for me to curry some favor with at least one faction of math nerds.

The Wild is sitting with 48 points in 40 games. Those 48 points are comprised of 21 wins and 6 OT losses.

They are on target for 98 points on the season. Normally, that would be enough to get you into the playoffs. In fact, I got back to the 1997-98 season on NHL.com (before I got bored and stopped checking) and 98 points would have gotten you into the playoffs in the Western Conference every season.

The next step is to try to quantify how poorly the Wild would have to play in the second half of the season in order to fail to make the playoffs.

The 8th place team in the West the past ten seasons finished with 97, 95, 91, 91, 96, 95, (lockout), 91, 92, 94 and 90 points, respectively. That's an average of 93.2 points. So, let's say 94 (one additional point, to be safe) points is the minimum to feel really safe. (Colorado is currently in 8th place in the west, on pace for 90 points.)

If they go .500 in their remaining 42 games, that's 21 wins and 21 losses (let's assume no loser points - lowest common denominator, right?) Adding 21 wins to their current 21 wins equals 42 wins and adding the 6 OT losses equals 90 points. Uh-oh.

If they go .550 for the rest of the season, that puts them on pace for 94 points (21 wins so far, adding in 23 more, adding in the 6 OTL to date).

That would do it.

So, the difference between .500 and .550 is 2 wins, and it's also the difference between getting into the playoffs and not.

Now, is .550 realistic for this Wild team?

If their recent injury "luck" holds, probably not.

But, if they stay healthy? Absolutely.

Finally, there was that line going around in early December about no team that was #1 overall in early December had failed to make the playoffs that season.

I expect the Wild to make the playoffs this season, and will be disappointed if they don't.

Is 46 more points (in their 42 games) reasonable? Again, I think it is. That means, essentially, that they can go 5-4-1 in each ten game set for the rest of the season and get to 94 points.

Furthermore, I'd say the odds are very strong (say 75%*) that they will.

So there you have it: I'm saying the Wild is 75% likely to make the playoffs as of today.

You gotta problem with that? Let's hear it.

*Stated probability not based on any mathematical formula at all.

After Reversion, Wild Still Means Business

2012-01-03T19:39:00.002-05:00

By NiNY

Forget the 1-6-3 slide for a minute.

The Wild still has 48 points after 40 games through New Year's. That's the Minnesota Wild. The 2011-12 Minnesota Wild.

5th in the Western Conference, the rookie coached Minnesota Wild.

2nd in the NW division, the no-name defense Minnesota Wild. The offensively-challenged Minnesota Wild.

Okay, feeling better?

Good, because now I want you to forget the various multi-game winning streaks, too.

The 48 in 40 is still there.

But the point to this little exercise is simple: the Wild is not as bad as their current non-successful streak would imply. But they're also not as good as their prior winning streaks and status as the #1 team in the NHL implied, either.

The stat geek/non-Wild fan/omnipresent Canuck fans blogging on national sites were all exercised and crazy. *hand wringing* "How can this be?" *teeth gnashing*

But some Wild fans got just as crazy - in the other direction. "We ARE this good, goddamn you! You stat guys are WRONG! Respect us!"

Both sides were acting stupidly.

Both sides were looking at small samples of production and attempting to extrapolate them into larger things.

What was the high temperature today? Will that be the average high temperature for the whole year? Of course not.

If you don't think the Wild is as good as their 48/40, 5th, 2nd would indicate, fine. That's your prerogative. I would submit that, every year, one or two teams sneak into the playoffs that defy logic. Why can't that be the Wild this season?

If you think the Wild was the Wild when they were on pace for 117 points this season, then you're frankly equally delusional.

The Wild have endured a mighty mean reversion from when they were on top of the NHL.

If you think I'm wrong, then you simply don't understand ALL the meanings of that phrase.

But that's okay. Because, at 48/40, 5th, 2nd, they're still having a much better season-to-date than I ever thought they would coming into this season. I think a 98 point pace is, well, just about right for the ceiling for this Wild team. The coach is still a rookie. The defense is still no-name (and showing signs of coming back down to earth.) Even when they were winning they'd go through lulls during games. They can't stay healthy.

It's fun and kind of cathartic to get all granular and go nuts over the minutiae. But that's also a good way to lose perspective.

Haters gonna hate. Lovers gonna love.

Vexing Wild Driving Eggheads Crazy

2011-12-12T15:28:00.002-05:00

by NiNY

A look through the various pre-season prognostications before this NHL season would have told you the Minnesota Wild was not going to be a very good team. New coach, young defense, upgraded offense, but still a bottom-heavy forward corps.

Sure. Made sense to me. A 3-3-3 start only served to reinforce this analysis - as well it should have. But 17-4 since then has presented the cognoscenti with a bit of a dilemma: what the hell do we do with the Wild?

Certainly the Wild's play the last twenty games is not sustainable for 50 more games this season. Same with Boston's play since the beginning of November. Or Vancouver's play over the last 10+ games. Parity in the NHL is such that the majority of the teams are competitive with each other on a given night. The Wild is just not a 117 point team.

And the desire to tear them down by some of those same people who had them pegged as a bottom-third team coming into the season must be great. Certainly, it's been the mind frame of the sports analyst since humans first started practicing organized sports. The famous Greek journalist Archidonis, great, great, great, great, great, great-grandfather to George Plimpton, noted this about the first Olympiad "By Hector I tell you, he had no right to win that marathon."*

Anyone who repeats the vulgar "Those who can't, teach" line around me stands to get an earful (my wife is a teacher - no way most people who utter that phrase could do what she and her colleagues do). But, too often in the sports reporting world, it could be said that, "Those who can't, write." I'm not talking about the retired-jock color analysts. I'm talking about the ink-stained wretches whose skill with the pen far outweighs their skill with the ball, as it were.

Look, I'm far more like the latter than the former. I can't throw a 100 MPH heater, dunk a basketball or run a sub-4:00 mile, and my slapper, well let's just say it leaves a lot to be desired. And I note the irony (duplicity?) of me complaining about those who write - on my blog.

But, you see, I'm not even really complaining about them. As a human who is not possessed of the physical attributes necessary to compete on the field, all those poor scribes have is their ability to prognosticate, villify or beatify with their words. Take that away, well you've got a moist, warm petri dish of insecurity, don't you? So I get the sportswriter's angst when a team produces results that so greatly diverge from their academic analysis. That's the danger in being overly slaved to academics in general, I believe. Sometimes the visceral trumps the academic.

A sportswriter can't fall back on his or her athletic prowess when their analysis proves faulty. Their perceived reputation is all they have. So, when they're wrong, they almost HAVE to find some way to wiggle off that hook. And the statistical argument method of hook-disentanglement is as convenient and efficient as any in that instance.

I think, though, that you run the risk of losing touch with what sports really is, at its essence, when you go down that road.

Sports is the moment when you put aside the playbook, and the chalk talk and the video screening and have at it. Hockey, specifically, is a constantly-evolving kaleidoscope of activity and action, relying so little on set plays as it does.

Statistics are inherently backward-looking metrics. And applying them into a future-looking analysis is fraught with peril since there are so many variables than can and will come into play between prediction and outcome that it is very hard to say "the reason the outcome was what it is can been seen in the statistical-based predictions I made before!"

Statistics don't allow for injuries, or trades, for example. You can't straight line something that is so inherently organic as a sports team's season. Statistics are black and white. But sports are played in technicolor.

Of course, the savvy sports writer tries to tear down an anomaly like the Wild not for the instant gratification but to set him or herself up to be able to say "I told you so" when the mean reversion occurs.

But, here's the thing about all this: it doesn't matter. You can run a counter to every statistical analysis that purports to convince you that the Wild shouldn't have won all these games.

For example, the Wild gets outshot with regularity. Well, despite getting outshot they're winning all these games. What if they started shooting more? Would they win by more goals than they're winning by now?

The Wild's also been pretty beaten up so far this season. Nine callups already, etc. So they're eking out these wins despite the poor metrics and the injuries. So, maybe, when they get healthy, they continue to win and the metrics improve, right? Can you say for sure that WON'T happen? Of course you can't.

Pointing out that the Wild is winning despite taking so few shots, or whatever, simply doesn't tell you what's going to happen in future Wild games. They've won 20 games this season-to-date, with crappy statistics. How have those statistics helped you predict Wild performance so far?

To the people who are professing their staunch distrust of the Wild's ability to sustain their current pace because the numbers simply say they won't be able to: fine. I agree with you. I don't hold your ill-fated predictions against you. You're not a bad person because you thought (as I did) that the Wild would struggle to stay in the playoff hunt this season. It's all good, man.

Can we just watch the games, now?

*Okay, so obviously that was a bit of fiction there.

Yeoism Taking Root, Converts

2011-12-12T10:37:00.001-05:00

by NiNY

Let's keep the good vibes about the Minnesota Wild rolling. Minnesota sports team fans know better than most just how quickly the tide can turn, so you have to enjoy it while you can. We've certainly done our share of wandering around the desert, so to speak. Maybe we're due for a return to Canaan.

Mike Yeo's passion, his steely-eyed determination and his results have created a bit of a cult following that's gaining momentum. There's a whole twitter account dedicated to this movement (@churchofyeo) and the brilliant Ms. Conduct offered an expose on it in her Backhand Shelf piece yesterday.

This is certainly a topic that's worth celebrating, so here's my gold, frankencense and myrrh:

Yeoism

Holy Trinity: Father (Leipold), Son (Fletcher) Holy Ghost (Yeo)
Holiest Site: 175 Kellogg Blvd. W
Vatican: 317 Washington St.
Cardinals: Flahr, Mill and Harder
Bishops: Wilson, Sydor, Mason and Hendrickson
Apostles: Bombardir, Mackasey, Lapointe and the rest of the scouts
Fiery Local Preacher: Walz

Henceforth shall time before the 2011-12 season be referred to as years BYE (Before Yeosian Era), and, starting with the 2011-12 season be referred to as years AH (After-Hiring).

For example, "In the 10 seasons BYE, the Wild were really never a comeback threat if they gave up the first goal. Thanks be to Yeo."

Any nascent religion needs people, scratch that - believers - at the grass roots level spreading the word.

So, Wild fans and Yeoism converts, I ask you how you would build upon this religious movement?

Aeros @ Amerks

2011-12-09T14:27:00.001-05:00

by NiNY

Last Friday night I took in the Houston Aeros professional ice hockey contest against the Rochester Americans.

It was my first AHL game of the season.

I've been to a few Amerks games and they're fun, if generally sparsely-attended.

Theirs is an older barn, two tiers of seating, not a bad seat in the house for hockey. It's beer-stained and well-used. I've never seen it anything approaching full for a hockey game. But, until this season, the Amerks were not associated with the "local" Buffalo Sabres during my tenure in Rochester, to be fair. It did seem like the building was more full than it had been for my previous Amerks games, so maybe a combination of the new Pegula-era Sabres/Western NY hockey craze and Friday night. Either that or the people just wanted to see the Calder Cup Runners-Up live and in action.

I had family duties that meant I was unavailable for pre-game fellowship with the locals, which is too bad. But I did wear the trusty white Wild jersey that has brought me so much luck, most recently at the Aeros/Baby Sens game I attended this spring. It wouldn't let me down, even if I didn't get a chance to see how the home team fans reacted to it.

Not a lot of pre-game pomp and circumstance at the Amerks game. Mostly just "sing the fuckin' song(s)" and get on with it.

My seat was nearly perfect. Lower section, center ice, top of the section, just inside the center red line, on the aisle. The only drawback (and it's a minor one) is that the view of the corner to my right was obstructed by the railing around the wheelchair-accessible seats to my right. But even I am not going to complain about wheelchair-dependent hockey fans.

The Aeros had on road sweaters that were decidedly ugly. Unless you're into sort of a Euro-transformers mash up, paean to industrial might kind of theme in your jerseys. They were dark green and gray. Yeah, exactly.

It was goalie Darcy Kuemper's first start of the season, which was among the interesting tidbits I learned from the irreplaceable peeps over at T3I - not even at the game, and they're still schooling me and adding value. That's some seriously awesome awesomeness, sports fans.

I endeavored to keep an eye on Kuemper.

The Amerks were geeked to start the game, and came out with gusto. They were skating right around the Aeros defense on the entries, and creating chances off of that pressure. Kuemper was a little nervous perhaps to start the game, and his inability to handle rebounds along with poor play-reading set up the Amerks twice fairly early in the first. I noticed how Kuemper's feet never seem to get set. His footwork hurt him on the first Amerks goal when he was late to see the play move from his right to his left and then took an interminable amount of time moving over, and not before the Amerk winger buried it in the half-open net.

Torch took his time out after the second Amerks goal and, while he was visibly excited, did not appear to be tearing guys heads off and crapping down their necks.

The last negative thing I'll say about Kuemper is that he was too eager to give up the high part of his crease. I don't know if that's the way he plays - relying on his size - or if he was somehow back on his heels in his first start in the AHL this season.

However, the whole team reacted positively to the time out. Including Kuemper.

The Aeros transition to offense in a flash, and attack with numbers wide across the zone. The alacrity with which they move up ice with the puck is impressive. Play had evened out by the end of the first period.

In the second, the Aeros make quick work of evening the score. First with a greasy goal then creating a chance out of good work below the goal line.

Sidebar: in the seat across the aisle from me was an elderly lady who appeared to be a regular at Amerks games. She was sitting with either a much younger daughter or a granddaughter, or an orderly or something. This lady was possessed of great spirit, if poor dental hygiene habits. Her joie de vivre manifested itself in her literally yelling obscenities at people who ran afoul of her sense of decency at the hockey game.

The list of infractions was as long as the threshold for inclusion was low. For example:

*Standing up
*Sitting down (too slowly)
*Booing an *Aeros* goal
*Descending/ascending the stairs too slowly
*Cheering too loudly within a 50-foot radius of her
*Being an usher
*Being a human being
*Having more teeth than her

These were all offenses that drew an immediate, forceful and profanity-laced verbal correction from her. One exchange with a 20-something gentleman (bald, leather jacket and jeans, if you take my meaning) who was insensitive enough to walk down to his seat when she did not want him to went like this:

Crazy Mabel (my nickname for her): "HEY! Sit the fuck down, what are you stupid? This is a hockey game, not a..."*
Butch (my nickname for him): "Excuse me?"
Crazy Mabel: "You heard me! Move your ass, asshole!"

*It almost killed me that she didn't finish her sentence. "Not a what?!?!"

Honestly, "Butch" regarded Crazy Mabel with a "am I really going to have to kick this old lady's ass?" look for a minute before discretion overwhelmed his baser instincts and he just proceeded down to his seat.

She was really something to behold.

Anyway, the Aeros and Amerks would trade goals from that point and the 2nd would end at a 3-3 deadlock. But, looking back, the tide had turned against the Amerks. Their third goal was also the result of them beating the Amerks D wide with speed. But, for whatever reason, the Amerks stopped doing that, and it seemed like the Aeros made a backchecking adjustment that made it harder for the Amerks forwards to build up speed through the neutral zone in the first place.

Regardless, the Amerks attack really atrophied and stagnated in the third with the result being that the Aeros had little trouble batting them aside until the big push by Rochester at the end of the game.

Once Kuemper settled in, he was very solid. I still didn't love his footwork, but he was on his angles, limiting rebounds and showed enough athleticism on broken plays that you can see why he's a highly touted pro.

As for the Aeros in general, I was impressed. They just ground the Amerks down over the course of the game. They got down early, but didn't panic. Torch was wise to call the TO when he did and the team focused and rallied from there. Maybe the Aeros' legs weren't all the way engaged at the start of the game, but once they got going it was like the scene in "A Fish Called Wanda" where Ken is running down Otto in the cement roller. Slow, inexorable, awesome.

In fact, it was very much the type of stubborn refusal to deviate from the game plan and fervent conviction that the Wild exhibits.

Harmony between the NHL team and its AHL affiliate, who knew?

Wild Playing a Mature Game

2011-11-24T10:39:00.001-05:00

by NiNY

Last night's game against the Predators was a revelation for me. The Wild was poised, calm, mature and professional for a full 60-minutes as they methodically wore down the Predators (who, in fairness, had played and traveled Tuesday night) en route to a 3-2, come from behind victory.

The Wild even had to navigate the game day disruption of Backstrom becoming unavailable, Harding getting the nod, and the signing of a 51 year old backup before the game.

If you've watched as many Wild games as I have over the years, you saw a level of poise and focus from the Wild that they have rarely exhibited in the past. Additionally, they were able to sustain it for the full 60 and that's, why that's a Thanksgiving miracle!

If Mike Yeo has instilled a mind frame of adherence to a style and strategy and gotten the boys to buy in, then that puts him in sole company with the 2003 Lemaire Western Conference Finals team.

I thought perhaps a few days off from the last game would have given the team the opportunity to read their press, revel in being atop the NHL and come out and lay an egg against a strong Nashville team. Silly me.

The Wild started strong but the Predators got a greasy goal on their first shot. Prior, lesser Wild teams would have sat back and licked their wounds at that point. But not Yeo's team. Not last night. Not, dare I say it, this... season?

It's going to take some time to get used to expecting the team to not fold under duress, frankly.

Years of Richards and, yes, Lemaire-led Wild teams folding their tents and slinking away into the night at the first or maybe second sign of determination from the opposition has created a certain expectation, perhaps in the way of a defense mechanism, among us fans.

This is an exciting proposition. But Minnesota fans will have to be coaxed and prodded into such a demeanor. We're more used to our teams teasing us with moments of brilliance only to burn our security blankets when we start to believe.

I'm willing to give Yeo a chance to be the exception to that rule. Why not?

Hockey Hypocrisy

2011-11-13T14:09:00.003-05:00

By NiNY

So, what if a couple of Sabres had pounced on Milan Lucic (obivously none of them is tough enough to go with Lucic one-on-one) and beat the shit out of him?

I hated the Sabres (non)reaction last night. I hated it because it's simply not hockey. Hockey is protecting your goalie. Yes, even when he invites calamity by coming that far out of his crease. Even if it puts you on the penalty kill. I have no problem with Lucic's hit on Miller, but I still think the Sabres owed it to themselves, their goalie and their fans to stand up for Miller.

Instead we saw what hockey is in danger of becoming: timid, scared and politically correct. Bullshit.

I don't want to turn into Grapes here, God knows he doesn't need my help.

But hockey's inherent hypocrisy with how it handles the rough and tough aspect of the game just makes me mad.

We all know the NHL doesn't REALLY want to legislate fighting out of the game. If it did, it would have by now. But it can't because all those paying customers who don't know a hook from a hold DO know what a fight is and shell out their hard-earned pennies in the hopes of seeing one.

We all know the NHL doesn't really want to legislate away the reality that players have to play right on the edge in the game of hockey in favor of safer, homogenized hockey. If it did, it would have by now.

So now the talking heads and soft nouveau fans have more cud to chew on. Some will say the Sabres intentionally didn't do anything. Right. The only team that, as my friend GreenStar puts it, uses its power play as its enforcer is Detroit. The Sabres simply aren't talented enough to play that kind of game.

Others will say the Sabres were scared. I don't think that's it either. I think the Sabres just practice the fashionable brand of today's hockey. The "don't want to risk the wrath of the league" type hockey.

As much as I dislike the Flyers, you can't say they accomodate that particular trend. They continue to do things their own special way - and, whether I like it or not, I respect them for it.

The Bruins, too, are an organization that has certainly embraced the uglier side of hockey in its past.

I say good for Lucic. Ultimately, this will be good for the Sabres, too, because it will whip their fans into even more of a frenzy when they're playing the Bs.

But, if you're a Sabres fan who applauds your team's soft response last night, then let's make a deal: you continue to go about living in your academic, high and mighty, "sophisticated" hockey world. But then you don't get to root for the Sabres/Bruins rivalry. You don't get to talk peace, love and understanding out of one side of your mouth and then get all frothed up for the next Bruins game - that is that much more exciting and appealing to your baser instincts because Lucic nailed the wandering Miller - out of the other. You don't get to have your cake and eat it too.

Mmm-kay? Deal? Good.

...And Then

2011-11-13T13:46:00.000-05:00

By NiNY

...That happened.

Woof.

Wild Thawing My Cold Heart

2011-11-09T10:28:00.000-05:00

By NiNY

8-3-3.

2nd in the NW division.

4th overall in the Western Conference.

4th overall IN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE.

I mean, blog over, right?

But wait, there's more!

Five game winning streak, three goals-allowed.

NOW blog over, right?

That's not all! If you call now we'll DOUBLE the offer!

8-1-2 against the West (best record in the league vs. the West).

4-0-1 against the NW division.

(Those last two are huge. Huge. Those are all points in the bank for later in the season when you're jockeying for playoff position and tie breakers are important. The importance of getting off to a good start versus the conference and division cannot be overstated.)

I'm starting to believe.

Let me clarify.

I've felt they were on the right track all summer. But I didn't necessarily think that would manifest itself in a playoff season this year. But now....well it's exciting, what they're doing. No they're not world-beaters, yet. But look, you allow three goals in five games and something's going right. Several things, in fact.

Obviously the goaltending is tremendous right now. I can't remember another time when BOTH Wild goalies were as hot as Backstrom and Harding are right now. Backstrom wasn't even at his best last night (four games off will do that to you I suppose) and he still looked great several times and obviously more-than adequate all the other times he had to make a save.

But 0.60 goals per game over 5 games is a meaningful sample to indicate that the entire team is playing well in front of the goalies. Flames fans were lamenting that the 41 saves Backstrom made last night were greater than the number of high percentage shots he had to turn aside - and they are right. The Wild is getting solid buy-in from its defense corps and the forwards are clearly helping out as well. As a goalie I'll take shots from the wall by the hash marks all night long.

No, this is more than the goalies playing great. This is the whole team doing what it takes on defense. If that wasn't happening, the Wild would have allowed a lot more than 3 goals in the last 5 games, and that's not mutually exclusive from the goalies playing great.

Last night wasn't the prettiest game, but honestly I think the 17 minutes of penalties the Wild had to kill played a big part in that. The start was ugly, but the way they rallied around the PK was inspiring.

All this amounts to one thing: I'm starting to believe in this team. This year's team. I'm watching them win games and then reading about Yeo saying how much better they can be and I'm letting my imagination run a little bit.

Maybe they can be a playoff team this season.

They've had non-wins in back-to-back games twice so far, and nipped those potential losing streaks in the bud with a shootout win over Edmonton and a 1-0 win over Detroit, respectively. That's encouraging. If they can continue to limit losing streaks...

They've only not garnered at least one point in a game three times so far, and they've followed them each up with at least one point in the next game each time. Again, that's encouraging.

Yes, it's early. A lot can and will happen between now and when playoff invitations are sent out.

But there's just something about this Wild team...

Hard To Gauge Wild This Early

2011-10-21T09:50:00.001-04:00

by NiNY

The standings say the Wild is the 7th-best team in the Western Conference through last night. Wild fans, desperate for anything positive to seize upon, the other local teams having either conclusively proved their inferiority (Twins, Vikings) or their unavailability (Timberwolves), are a mixed bag. Some are optimistic. Others are pessimistic. Yet others still have adopted the look of the oft-beaten dog, hopeful that his master will extend his hand not to smack him but instead to scratch his ears this time.

It's easy to want to say "We've seen this movie" about the Wild, based on their play so far this season. In a word: uneven. In two words: lacking consistency. Yeah, that feels pretty familiar.

And I suppose if you were to audit the differential between minutes-played of ineffective, disorganized, lethargic (whether from disinterest or thinking too much about The New System) play and inspired, proactive or dominating play, the final ledger would show a strong bias towards the former.

But, I still think the balance of this season will play out with a different plot than prior iterations of the Wild.

It's all about Coach Yeo.

He's so obviously a different kind of bench boss than Todd Richards. Where Todd appeared aloof or phlegmatic behind the bench, often caught on camera with a distinct "Uhhh...?" expression on his face, Yeo appears rigidly composed, in command and with a distinct "I've just looked at that from every conceivable angle and I know just how to fix it" expression on his face.

Ms. Conduct has been lauding Yeo's ability to inspire and motivate his players. I am starting to see what she means. That steely confidence tends to work osmotically on a team.

If you read Justin Bourne's piece on Backhand Shelf yesterday about Yeo pulling guys aside during practice for a little chat, that's part of it, too. And, maybe, emblematic of the main point.

Yeo's the youngest coach in the NHL, but he doesn't act like it (okay, dropping the mitts with Bulmer in practice was a funny sideshow, but a good coach knows when to use the stick and when to use a little levity on an anxious team). Yeo's the least-experienced NHL head coach in the league. But, if that's an excuse for other guys, Yeo ain't buying.

He's adapting. He's already broken up his vaunted top line once in a game. That's huge. How many times did Richards break up his top line in the two years he was the coach? A couple?

When the Wild was born and then hired Lemaire to be head coach, I loved it because it gave the team instant credibility. It also gave the team identity, even if it was one that was ultimately derided (trapping team).

When the Wild hired Yeo, it did not bring instant credibility and identity to the team. Indeed, it very much brought those things into question. It was "Will the Wild, under Mike Yeo, have a different identity than they did before?"

Although the results have been spotty, it's clear that Yeo knows exactly what he wants this team to look like, exactly how he wants them to think of themselves and exactly what he needs to do to make those things happen.

I still don't think it will necessarily manifest itself in a playoff berth this season, but I think the improvement in the team will be significant.

The credibility and identity are his, and he's confident banking on it.

Buncha Stuff

2011-10-13T11:14:00.000-04:00

by NiNY

I read a great hockey book before the season started, that I haven't had the time to review on here. It's called Gretzky to Lemieux, by Ed Willes. It tells the story of the 1987 Canada Cup, in particular the final series between the host Canada and the intrepid Russians.

Mr. Willes has a casual narrative style that is easy to read, humorous and appropriate for his sharp eye for the game. He incorporates interesting side bars, for example on Team Canada coach Mike Keenan, that greatly aid the reader in setting the proper context for the action.

I was unaware of the amount of awesome on both the Canada and the Russian teams in that tournament. Willes illustrates the confluence of dynasties that made up Team Canada, between the outgoing Islanders early 80s dynasty and the then-current Oilers dynasty, pitting the differences in style - on and off the ice - in sharp relief and to great effect.

The hockey sounds like it was sublime, and Willes' description of it pays appropriate homage.

The denouement is set up well before the actual end of the book as Willes points out the distinct relationship that Gretzky forged with the Russians in general. This sets up the last part of the book, after the tournament is completed, as Soviet Russia's grasp on both the country and the hockey team starts to crumble.

It's a great read, and I recommend it to any hockey fan.

*** *** ***

The realignment argument got a boost in the arm this week when the inimitable Bob McKenzie of TSN dashed off a tweet mentioning that the Red Wings are lobbying hard for relocation to the Eastern Conference under any realignment scheme. That opened a can of twitter worms that got, among other people, many of us Wild fans up in arms. Bob then followed up with a lengthy article on TSN outlining the various different plans in his typical thorough and brilliant manner.

My main takeaway from that article was that there is simply no easy option here. Whether the prevailing consideration is geographic proximity for divisional or conference play, or maintaining or improving the current playoff format, this is one tricky issue.

Obviously, for the Wild's sake, I would prefer that they get to play fewer games one and two time zones behind Central time. But there are several teams with the same gripe.

One thing though, if Detroit's beef is that they have to travel more than other teams, I have to think Dallas and even Minnesota have a bigger claim to that problem than Detroit does. At most, Detroit's playing one time zone behind them in a road division game. Dallas plays two time zones behind them for ALL road division games, and Minnesota plays one or two times zones behind them for road division games. Detroit may 'deserve' a relocation back to the East for other reasons, but division travel is a weak argument in my opinion.

It will be very interesting to see how this gets resolved.

*** *** ***

Rick DiPietro and his ridiculous contract has to go down as one of the biggest NHL flops of all time. He's a backup on the Islanders right now. That is, when he's not hurt. Whenever I think of DiPietro, I think of the line in the Hockey News "Rick DiPietro is the best goalie in the NHL...just ask him."

Obviously it's common for players to play their best in a contract year. So why Wang thought it would be a good idea to give a relatively unproven (at the time) goalie a 15 year deal is absolutely beyond me. A $4.5M backup, under contract until 2021. I mean...

From 2005-2006 to 2007-2008, Rick averaged 62.66 games per year, 29.33 wins, 2.80 GAA and .907 SPCT. In the three seasons since then he's averaged 13 games per year, 3.66 wins, 3.18 GAA and .893 SPCT.

He's won 127 games in 8 NHL seasons. That's an average of 15.8 per season. On a per 82 game season basis, his wins/games played (127/207) works out to 33.92 - which really isn't bad. He's not a bad goalie. He simply can't stay in the lineup.

And now he's a backup.

*** *** ***

I'm going to undertake a project wherein I will watch at least one broadcast from each team's home announcers this season. I got this idea arguing on Twitter with a Red Wings fan who took issue with my position that the Wings announcers are horrendous. I state up front: the Wild announcing team is not up to my standard of broadcasting excellence, either. And the FSNorth productions are of an unacceptably low standard. Anyway, should be fun.

*** *** ***

Speaking of the Wild, I'll be very interested to see how they respond after the ugly two-game east coast swing. They have this huge winning streak against the Oilers on the line, but if they're figuring out Yeo's system, they're not showing it lately. Either that or the thing don't work (which I think is the less-likely possibility.)

Interestingly, defense, as measured by goals-against anyway, hasn't been too bad. But you can't blow a two-goal third period lead against a team like Ottawa.

Consistency for 60 minutes has been something the Wild has lacked since before Richards, even. If Yeo can get that out of this team it will be a major accomplishment in and of itself.

With PMB Suspension, It's All About Consistency

2011-10-09T21:14:00.000-04:00

by NiNY

As I've said, I approve of the job Brendan Shanahan has been doing as the new dean of discipline. He's brought accountability and transparency to the job, and raised the standard of play, albeit with primarily negative reinforcement, for players. Both things, overall, I like.

So, while I don't like that Pierre-Marc Bouchard got two games for his incident with Matt Calvert last night, I realize that's the Wild fan in me speaking, and not the hockey fan.

And, when I listen to the hockey fan in me, I realize that the suspension is entirely in keeping with the precedent(s) Shanny has set with his prior suspensions this season.

Shanny's consistently giving more games for egregious incidents than his predecessor gave in similar situations.

The PMB situation is definitely more controversial than most of the other incidents on which Shanny has had to rule so far. It's clear from the video that Calvert's own action may have been the only reason Bouchard's stick hit him in the face and not lower on his body. So this one isn't as clean as maybe a checking from behind.

But Shanahan is consistent in his holding players ultimately accountable for the consequences of their actions, inclusive of this ruling.

@BrianHohlen asked me on Twitter whether the suspension sets the precedent that every 4 minute minor high stick warrants a 2 game suspension now. That's a fair point. It seems to me that Shanahan is saying that, when the action is an illegal high stick to the head that causes injury, yes, it does.

And, really, what's wrong with that? Was not PMB's stick making contact with Calvert's face within the definition of an illegal high stick?

Here's the text of the rule:

60.1 High-sticking - A “high stick” is one which is carried above the height of the opponent’s shoulders. Players and goalkeepers must be in control and responsible for their stick. However, a player is permitted accidental contact on an opponent if the act is committed as a normal windup or follow through of a shooting motion. A wild swing at a bouncing puck would not be considered a normal windup or follow through and any contact to an opponent above the height of the shoulders shall be penalized accordingly.

60.2 Minor Penalty - Any contact made by a stick on an opponent above the shoulders is prohibited and a minor penalty shall be imposed.

60.3 Double-minor Penalty - When a player carries or holds any part of his stick above the shoulders of the opponent so that injury results, the Referee shall assess a double-minor penalty for all contact that causes an injury, whether accidental or careless, in the opinion of the Referee.

60.4 Match Penalty – When, in the opinion of the Referee, a player attempts to or deliberately injures an opponent while carrying or holding any part of his stick above the shoulders of the opponent, the Referee shall assess a match penalty to the offending player.

The language of the penalty does not offer a qualifier based on the actions preceding the stick encountering the face. If we don't like the illegal high stick rule, then we should change the rule. But, as written, it seems to me that, when Bouchard's stick hit Calvert's face, it qualified as that particular infraction.

Shanahan did mention PMB's squeaky-clean history over his nine-season career in the video explanation. So, against the backdrop of PMB's track record of compliance, is two games an eye-opener? Yes, frankly, it is.

But, again, that's been Shanahan's MO since the preseason started. Opening eyes with his supplemental discipline decisions. Getting players' (and fans') attention. It seems clear to me that the individual suspensions in a vacuum are about more than the individual act. Shanahan's setting precedents. Stakes in the ground. If a check from behind that used to be worth a game is now worth 5, then a player with an unblemished record of clean play who commits a stick infraction that injures an opponent that might have drawn a slap on the wrist under Campbell is now worth two. I think that's a parallel shift.

No, I don't like that PMB is going to sit for two games. But I get it. And, further, I still think Shanahan's doing his job.

It's Only One Game, But It Feels Like More

2011-10-08T23:09:00.002-04:00

by NiNY

It took me a while to realize why I was more wrapped up in the Wild's season-opening win over the BJs tonight than I thought I'd be. Then it dawned on me that the anticipation for this season that was borne of the inspiring moves made by Chuck Fletcher this summer was building this first game up to be more than just one out of 82.

The full plan was on display tonight, too.

From the re-tooled first line (which put out exactly like we hoped they would) to the youth movement (Scandella, Spurgeon, Stoner, Bulmer) getting legit minutes in all situations, to the new coach with his "Go ahead and underestimate me, I freakin' dare you" look that I absolutely adore.

On this one night, I hope Fletcher was satisfied. It's not the end of the road, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was conclusive evidence that they're on the right path.

As for the game itself, the Wild had the jump on the BJs for the majority of the first two periods and then shut it down effectively in the third. The first two goals of the season came not from the exciting first line but from the defense (a sophomore to a freshman, no less) and the 2nd line. As nice as it is to be able to expect offense from our top line, getting offense from that second line is beyond huge.

Backstrom was tremendous. I've been having trouble deciding if he or Latendresse was more important to the ultimate outcome of the season, and I think it has to be Backstrom. With the younger blueline, should they show their age at all, Bax has to be able to clean up any spilled milk with regularity if the Wild is going to have any success this year.

The BJ TV announcers were talking about the speed of the Wild making a difference in the game and that made me think about Yeo's great quote in the FSNorth pregame about the difference between being a fast skater and playing fast hockey. I'm going to remember his line and I have a sneaking suspicion it will come to represent his style of hockey.

After the game ended, I turned to the Sharks/Coyotes game to see Burns' debut. I remembered how Todd Richards had been an assistant with San Jose, and how Yeo was an assistant with Pittsburgh. Well, the Penguins won a Cup while Yeo was there and the Sharks, well we all know about their struggles in the playoffs. Maybe the difference between Yeo and Richards is as simple as that: they're both new coaches, with similar pedigrees, but one has seen what it takes to win at the NHL level and the other hadn't.

Which leads me to my expectations for this Wild team. I want to see two things: 1. consistent effort. That's been missing from Wild teams since before Lemaire left. 2. Playing meaningful games in March. I don't know if they're a playoff team, and I hate pre-season predictions. But staying in it past the trade deadline would be a solid step in the right direction from where they were last season.

Stop The Rhetoric: The West Isn't Tighter

2011-09-29T15:19:00.004-04:00

by NiNY

How often have you heard some hockey pundit say this "blahblahblah...in the ultra-tight Western Conference..."? Or 'super competitive' or something like that. Just, in some way imply that the Western Conference is more competitive or tighter from top to bottom than the East. Often, right?

Well, I'm here to bust that myth right now.

Look at last season.

In the East the difference between 1st (WAS 107 pts) and 9th (CAR 91) was 16 points. In the West, the difference betwen 1st (VAN 117 pts) and 9th (DAL 95 pts) was 22 points.

And the discrepancy between top and bottom in the East was tighter than it was in the West.

Again, in the East Washington won the conference with 107 points. The bottom of the conference looked like this:

9. CAR 91
10. TOR 85
11. NJ 81
12. ATL 80
13. OTT 74
14. NYI 73
15. FLA 72

In the West Vancouver won the conference with 117 points. The bottom of the conference looked like this:

9. DAL 95
10. CGY 94
11. STL 87
12. MIN 86
13. CBJ 81
14. COL 68
15. EDM 62

However, the differential between the top eight teams in the West was tighter than it was in the East.

In the East the difference between 1st and 2nd overall was 3 pts. From 2nd to 3rd overall 3 pts. Then 4 pts, 4 pts, 11 pts, 11 pts and 14 pts.

In the West the difference between 1st and 2nd overall was 12 pts. From 2nd to third overall 1 pt. Then 5 pts, 0 pts, 0 pts, 0 pts, 1 pt, 1 pt.

And, looking at the overall league standings 8 of the top 15 teams in the league were in the West. So that's split, with a slight skew towards the West being more competitive.

So, I guess the point is: it's not like the West is significantly tighter or more competitive than the East. They're pretty even. There are good teams in both conferences and there are bad teams in both conferences.

Maybe we can cool it on the spicy rhetoric a bit, hmm?

Bigotry Relativity Is Still Bigotry

2011-09-28T10:55:00.000-04:00

by NiNY

First, go read Ms. Conduct's latest blog. I mean, I assume you already did because you should because she's awesome. But, on the off chance that it's backwards day in your house and you stopped here before going over to her place then here's your chance to rectify that oversight right now.

Go ahead, I'll wait.

Okay, welcome back.

See, I'm conflicted.

On the one hand, I totally hear and get what she's saying. Hockey may be the last bastion of the rapscallion. There is an undeniable vein in the game that provides sanctuary, indeed opportunities to thrive, for the ill-mannered. To the guys who ran their mouth on the schoolyard playground, and then backed it up. To the guys who don't have the straight up skills to be able to get into a professional sports league on skill alone, so their path of least resistance (nicely provided for them by the aggressive expansion of the NHL over the last fortyear - that included the birth of the Minnesota Wild (for which I am grateful don't get me wrong)) includes re-connecting with that schoolyard yapper/scrapper mentality.

Some of these players enjoyed a position of higher grandeur (read: scoring) in junior and the minors, but just couldn't crack the NHL as a top-two line player. Sometimes those players can't or won't reinvent themselves and they end up bouncing around the minors or Europe for the rest of their careers - certainly no shame in that. But other times they find a Rabbi who shows them the light and teaches them the value of aggressive forechecking and the art of running your mouth on the ice.

The art of running your mouth. Show me a person who presents himself as hockey cognoscenti who doesn't know that what is actually said is much lower brow than the word "art" in that last sentence would imply and I'll show you a person who's never spent any time around hockey players. Hell, even in my beer league the language is salty enough to get a respectful nod from the saltiest Marine drill instructor. And the only thing we're playing for is the 30-pack of Miller Lite - that we buy - after the game.

So, I absolutely get what Ms. Conduct is saying. It IS part of the culture of hockey for players to say disgusting, egregious, blue, offensive things to one another. So, expecting hockey players to change....well maybe that's not very realistic.

But, on the other hand, does that mean we shouldn't try?

Is political correctness reasonable? Or does wrapping this kind of thing up in the banner of political correctness itself indicate a lack of concern for the degradation of societal values that acceptance of such intolerance suggests?

While it would be nice and even sort of cathartic to tell someone to relax when they get offended by something I say (sticks and stones, and all that) I admit it would be hard to reconcile that against what I agree is an ugly and dangerous trend of bullying in our schools, for example, today. Does using offensive and demeaning language as a professional hockey player set or perpetuate an example for would-be schoolyard bullies to follow? I think it's naive to assume it doesn't, regardless of what Charles Barkley thinks. Think of it this way: for every stupid homophobic slur you utter, Nancy Grace's career is extended by a day. Who really wants that?

The reality is that young hockey players do look up to their professional idols and try to emulate them. To an extent, all aspiring (insert industry)-ists look up to their industry's professionals and do the same thing. And I submit that it's a lot harder for a young adult or child to make the distinction between "do as I do, not as I say" than it is (or should be) for an adult to accept that his or her actions do potentially have consequences one of which might be that they are used as an example to be emulated by kids. I think that difference is part of what separates the definition of adult and child in the first place.

I like to swear. I think the notion that using swear words indicates you are possessed of a lesser intelligence is bullshit. But I go out of my way to tone it down in front of kids. Does that make me a hypocrite? Am I a wimp (afraid that my kids will pick up that language and use it in what society deems is an inappropriate time and place and reflect poorly on me as a parent and them as a human)? Or does that make me a realist? Am I simply trying to instill some respect in my kids and not put them in that position until I'm more confident that they can make the determination of when and when not to use those words? I don't know. But I'm not taking the chance that they can't, yet.

I'm generally against bigotry and intolerance. I think it's ridiculous and stupid to act as though you dislike someone or think less of them simply because of the color of their skin, their gender, their sexual orientation, their religion, their hair color, the toothpaste they use or the store they shop in. I think, frankly, that people who exercise such intolerance are actually just insecure in their own choices. You want to castigate him for his religion? That tells me your God is a pussy. Shouldn't a being purporting to be worthy of being called God be strong enough to withstand the followers of some other being who thinks HE'S worthy of being called God? Isn't that why he calls himself God instead of, like, Eddie?

What the hell does this have to do with hockey? Oh yeah...

Hockey players make split second decisions all the time. Pass left or right. Pass or shoot. Skate or stop. Deke or shoot. Check him from behind or let up. Drop into the butterfly or stay up and kick it out. Against the backdrop of the potential to perpetuate unnecessary and ugly stereotypes, I don't think asking hockey players to make yet another split second decision - about what comes out of their mouth when they're talking trash - is unreasonable.

And the one thing I simply can not accept is any kind of bigotry relativity. Wayne Simmonds was generally lauded for how he handled the banana throwing incident last week. He took the high road, even though he did acknowledge concern that it was a racially-based incident. And good on him for doing so.

Everyone who saw the video knows what Simmonds called Sean Avery. Well, everyone other than Colin Campbell, apparently. But everyone else.

Simmonds is a coward for not owning up to his actions. Not only that, but he hurts the cause of other people who share his skin color and are mistreated because of it. He completely wastes all the goodwill he garnered for taking the high road before, by his lack of integrity when the shoe is on his foot. Why is intolerance of people of other races bad but intolerance of people of other sexual orientation okay? It's not.

Bigotry relativity is still bigotry. Whether that be in one person's mind or at an institutional level (as in the NHL).

So I think it's okay to expect hockey players to engage their brain when they open their mouths. There's plenty of subjects for one to draw from when trying to get under another player's skin.

Does that represent a change in the mentality of the hockey player - that has been accepted for generations of hockey players before the current batch? Yes. Does that mean we can expect all hockey players to not make any mistakes? No. Does that mean we should just give them a pass when they do? No.

Let's elevate our society.

On Shanny and Legitimacy

2011-09-23T12:18:00.000-04:00

by NiNY

Legitimacy, like respect, must be earned.

I mean, duh.

Legitimacy is granted, not taken.

The NHL has suffered from a legitimacy deficiency for years. That deficiency exists in the eyes of the American football, baseball and basketball-loving sports communities. It exists in the eyes of the major media outlets. It exists even to an extent in hockey's own fans, who tolerate a year-long lockout and then return to the game grateful that they deigned to start playing again.

One of the areas in which the NHL really hurt its own cause in its heretofore Sysophusian task of garnering legitimacy was in the area of supplemental discipline.

Hockey, as a sport, tip-toes the very thin line between legal and illegal play as defined by the rules of the game or by society itself. In some ways, it blurs that line. You can legally conduct yourself in a boorish manner (bodychecking, for example), and you can illegally conduct yourself in a much less-violent manner (holding, for example).

And, to an American non-hockey fan, learning to appreciate the nuances that differentiate holding in, say, the NFL versus holding in the NHL might not be the easiest thing to do. Some of that has to do with the average intelligence of American NFL fans, but hockey fans would be kidding themselves if they tried to say theirs is an easy game to jump right in and grasp.

So when the sport does something that alienates any part of its fan base, but especially a part that represents new fans, it's not good. I suppose you could say that about any sport, but MLB, NFL and, to an extent, the NBA are more entrenched than the NHL in America, and as such they are afforded more grace. They also have larger fan bases so they can better absorb potentially losing some newer fans.

Baseball and football are also more a part of the American culture than hockey. How many people do you know who claim they're not really sports fans, yet they know what the World Series and the Super Bowl are, go to the parties, watch the commercials, whatever, and also cheer at (most of) the right times? "Oh, I'm not really a baseball fan. I just have this Yankees hat that I wear the one time I go to a baseball game each year." "Do you have a Rangers hat?" "Who?" "Exactly."

My point is that, with those sports, you just acclimate to a certain level of acceptance of them. If you're not a sports fan, but you're from New York, you probably have it in your mind that you're a Giants fan but not a Jets fan (or vice versa) because that's who your dad liked or whatever. I'm saying baseball and football stand a much better chance of just catching fans in their nets than hockey. You have to become a hockey fan. It's just not as widely accepted as a part of our culture here in America.

Back to the topic of supplemental discipline. The NFL is frankly ridiculous with how it metes out supplemental discipline. A fine for a touchdown celebration just seems overly restrictive and Grinchy. But the NFL can get away with it because it's so incredibly popular and well marketed. The NHL does not enjoy the benefit of those luxuries.

And the former head of supplemental discipline, Colin Campbell, didn't help things.

To be fair, that's got to be a shitty job. You can never make all parties happy. Either you suspend too harshly, in which case the team of the offending player gets upset, or you suspend too lightly in which case the team of the aggrieved player gets upset.

But Campbell failed at the most basic level: he failed because he was opaque and inconsistent. Intentional or not, his rulings gave the impression of being totally isolated to each specific incident, with no precedent taken from prior rulings for similar actions, if not from the same player. His unwillingness to offer any rationale for his decisions only served to perpetuate and grow that impression of inconsistency. It was "Here's the rule he broke, here's the suspension. Peace, out." And it was in a press release.

I, like many hockey fans I assume, personally had to answer for these decisions when non-hockey fans questioned them. It's a vicious cycle for hockey. It only gets on ESPN when it stubs its toe. And so then people have Bertuzzi or Downie in their mind. Then, they ask their buddy the hockey fan about it, and we had to say "Yeah he only got a couple games suspension." Their reaction was typically "That's it? Your sport is messed up, man." Then they dumped hockey back into their mental junk drawer until ESPN showed some Flyer crushing some guy the next time...

Obviously Campbell's apparent insouciance drove us hockey fans nuts. The whole "Colie's Wheel O'Justice" thing is surprisingly widely used according to my Twitter feed. I don't believe Campbell was actually trying to mess things up. Like I said, tough job, that. But the result was still unacceptable.

Because it also hurt the league from a general acceptance perspective. Especially here in the States. And if you don't think gaining acceptance in America is important to the NHL then ask yourself why, between when San Jose started in '91-92 and this year, thirteen franchises were started or moved, and only two of them (Ottawa and Winnipeg) were to Canadian cities. In fact, Canada lost a franchise during that time when Quebec moved to Denver. (We'll count Winnipeg as a wash as they moved and now returned.)

Like it or not, the NHL looks at America as the fertile grounds of its manifest destiny.

So this kind of confusion, this level of casual arrogance in the way Campbell handed down supplementary discipline was hurting the cause.

Exit Colie. Enter Shanny.

Shanny had spent his first months on the job looking at new stanchions and shallower nets and such. But, once the (preseason) games started, everyone knew his major tests were about to start: supplemental discipline.

Sure enough, we've had two in two days now. Calgary's Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond Jacob-Jingleheimerschmidt and (who else?) Philadelphia's Jody Shelley provided Shanny the stage.

And he's knocked it out of the park. The actual suspensions are one thing. But the way they're being presented is everything. Shanny has released videos of him taking responsibility for the suspensions, showing video of the hits, quoting the rule(s) in question and explaining his rationale for his actions.

This isn't just a departure from the Campbell regime, this is like going from a state of cryogenic freeze to parachuting out of an airplane in one second.

Suddenly everything that made Campbell inapproachable and aloof has been reversed: there's clarity. There's explanation. There's one specific person taking ownership of the situation. There's video with specific examples.

Yeah, there's some post-production stuff on the videos themselves that's a little cheesy. But the meat of these things - the transparency of it all if nothing else - is such a breath of fresh air that it's almost stunning.

Now, when your meathead football fan sees a dirty hit on ESPN and asks you about it, you can say "Come on over to my house where we have electricity and I'll show you what the league did to this guy on this whiz bang computer device I have." It's so easy, a football fan can do it.

This doesn't automatically mean hockey will be embraced by America. But it takes away one way in which the NHL alienated Americans who maybe just didn't want to put forth all the effort required to become a fan.

Heatley's History, Numbers Are Encouraging

2011-09-16T20:40:00.000-04:00

by NiNY

Ask a Sharks fan and they won the trade.

Ask a Wild fan and they won the trade.

Something's got to give, eh?

I don't know what will come out of this season for Dany Heatley and the Minnesota Wild, but I do know this: Dany Heatley thrives after a trade.

Just look at his splits from the last year with one team to the first year with a new team:

03-04 Atlanta
31 GP
13 G
12 A
25 Pts
0.80 pts/gm

05-06* Ottawa (*Lockout)
82 GP
50 G
53 A
103 Pts
1.25 pts/gm

*** *** ***

08-09 Ottawa
82 GP
39 G
33 A
79 Pts
0.87 pts/gm

09-10 San Jose
82 GP
39 G
43 A
82 Pts
1.00 pts/gm

Gaborik had 77-42-41-83 (1.07) in 07-08.
Rolston had 82-32-45-77 (0.93) in 05-06.
Gaborik had 65-38-28-66 (1.01) in 05-06.

For his career Heatley is 669-325-364-689. Dany's a 1.02 pts/gm player for his career in the NHL. Per 82 games, Dany has averaged 39.87-44.66-84.53

The closest Wild player to that is Gaborik who totaled 502-219-218-437 (0.87). Per 82 games that's 35.78-35.62-71.40 for Gaby (raise your hand if, like me, you didn't realize Gaby had as many apples as he had grapes.)

Rolston is pretty close with a career 241-96-106-202 (0.83) with the Wild. Per 82 that's 32.76-36.17-68.93 for Brian.

I like that Dany has something to prove after getting traded by San Jose. I like that he's the most-prolific scorer the Wild has ever had, without having played a single game in Iron Range Red yet. I like a lot about Dany Heatley. I just hope I continue to like him after the games start.

Huge Year For Mikko

2011-09-15T09:52:00.001-04:00

By NiNY

Okay, Mikko, all eyes on you now.

You got the big money. You got rid of the coach. You got rid of Havlat. You had your BFF taken away from you, and your other perma-linemate is also gone. Your reputation preceded you to the point that the new coach decided it was prudent to travel to Finland to meet you (pretty sure he didn't travel to Welland to meet Cal). You are squarely in the epicenter of this team. And I'm done fucking around with you.

It's always been something.

Too young. Still acclimating to life away from Finland. It's hard playing under the shadow of your big brother. Under-skilled linemates holding you back. Injuries (okay, I'll give you those. It's not like you've missed time with a sore leg...), or trying to do too much, or asked to do too much...

Wild fans have had to defend you while at the same time trying to convince other fans that you were underrated on a league-wide scale. I've hated that. I've had you down as a 2nd tier top line center in the league for a while now. I managed my own expectations of you. You haven't disappointed me. But you have left me wanting more.

But now that blue cross from your country's flag is centered right on your back.

A Flames fan asked me earlier this summer what my expectations for you were for this season. His point was: what is holding back my expectations? You are our Iginla. You need to start playing and acting like our Iginla. You know what? He's right.

Yesterday, in Russo's chat, someone pointed out that you had failed to develop any chemistry with the previous most-talent players the Wild has had. And then asked Russo what it would say about you if you fail to do so with Setoguchi or Heatley. Russo's answer spoke volumes: "That's a terrific question."

I think a Selke is possible for you. And that is my expectation for you this season. We all know your passion for three-zone play and that's awesome. But a top line center, making top line money, surrounded by top line wingers, needs to also put up top line points.

That's a lot to ask, for sure.

But it's your job to prove to us that it's too much to ask.

This is a huge, huge season for you.

Remembering

2011-09-11T10:54:00.003-04:00

by NiNY

This post has nothing to do with hockey.*

On September eleventh, two thousand one, my fiance and I lived in Tuckahoe, NY. Our apartment was literally right next to the train station where commuters go into and out of NYC. That morning I, being out of work, was getting ready to go into The City (as locals refer to New York City) to attend a job fair at Madison Square Garden.

Later that afternoon we had a meeting at the Tarrytown House with, I believe, our florist. We were to be married in a few short weeks, on 10/6/01.

Due to budget constraints (my fiance was in graduate school and I was looking for a job) we did not have cable at that time.

We did, however, have the internet. And that's how we first found out that a small plane, according to the initial reports, had hit one of the World Trade Center buildings. I'm pretty sure that my initial reaction to that news, referring to the pilot of that plane, was "What an asshole." Ignorance truly is bliss.

There are many stories about what transpired over the rest of that day, week, months and the ten years since then. Most are sad. Some are heroic. Still others are inspiring. Mine is, thankfully, fairly banal.

We knew people in The City. My fiance's father and stepfather were both there. Many college and even high school friends were there, too.

You have to understand that, as big and vast as NYC seems from afar - and even when you're in it at times - the lack of clarity and chaos during those first hours effectively shrunk New York City to Mayberry-size. If someone was in the city, and you weren't, the entire city was on fire and collapsing - or so it seemed. Nonetheless no one that we knew died on, or as a direct result of, 9/11. We're lucky.

They shut down the trains and, I believe, subways for a while. When we heard that the first train was going to run out of Grand Central stopping, among other places, at our station, we looked out our window and saw hundreds of people who had gathered at the station in an eerie silence. Waiting to see if their husband, wife, son, daughter, brother or sister would somehow, please God, be on that train. That was one of the moments I really felt afraid. It was so visceral, so real, at that moment.

Taking away modern personal communications (cell phones, land lines, email) and transportation drops NYC back a hundred years. At that point, it's just a mountain range on an island.

We eventually made our way over to the Tarrytown House for that meeting. On the way we were overflown by at least one formation of choppers. That was another moment where I felt scared. It was like being on the approach route to some forward operating base in a movie, except that it wasn't a movie.

A week or so later my buddies and I would get together in NYC for my bachelor party. I remember a lot of fun things about that night. I also remember the stink from the pit, the glow from the lights in the general direction of the site as they were still conducting around the clock search and rescue, and the feeling that the grime that was a normal part of breathing in NYC felt instead like sacred ashes that night.

Ironically, the firm I would eventually get a job with was located in the South Tower. Our firm holds the distinction of being the largest tenant of either building not to lose a single person on 9/11. The firm would relocate first to Hartford, CT and then to midtown Manhattan (where they were located when I was hired in February 2002) in two temporary stops. We would return to lower Manhattan (to the World Financial Center) by the end of 2002 - where we remain and will stay for the forseeable future.

Hearing the stories of my colleagues is chilling. There was the time when a woman in my department got a call from some 9/11 commission that had found, amidst the rubble that was carted away, her old building ID card and if she wanted to claim it she had to go to X location and present a current ID. She demurred, hung up and then, visibly shaken, told us all about the call. My first boss talked about getting out and onto the street on 9/11, and dodging refrigerator-size pieces of building as he was making his escape.

Even today those who were there can fall under the spell of it all and go very quiet and adopt that thousand yard stare on occasion. I don't pretend to relate to their memories, and, to be fair, they don't ostracize me for not having been there.

I was close enough, thank you very much, for my own comfort.

And yet there is a sort of a demarcation between the first and second standard deviations of those who were there and those who were not but were still close enough to be touched by it. And, for those of us in that second standard deviation, there's yet another demarcation between us and those of you in the third standard deviation - people who only experienced it via CNN. Which is not intended in the pejorative in any way.

It's just, even though the idea of the Nazi concentration camps terrifies and disgusts me, can I relate to the old Jewish lady who was actually IN Treblinka? Of course not. But I can't even relate to her cousin who was already Stateside when the war broke out, either.

And, lest I offend anyone, ask yourself this: would you really want to know, first hand, the terror those people felt running down the stairs in either of the towers? Desperately trying to get out. That primal "flight" instinct in overdrive, pushing you forward at the same time a voice in your rational mind is screaming "WHATTHEFUCKISGOINGON?!" Do you really want to have those memories, or wake up in the middle of the night after those nightmares? I don't.

In the months after 9/11 New Yorkers were different. They were at the same time more fatalistic and more compassionate. Certainly more patriotic. Let me put it this way: W was on hand for the World Series to throw out the first pitch, and he didn't receive a single Bronx cheer from the fans. I don't even think it was a concious thing on behalf of New Yorkers. They just....did it.

But now some of that has receded. And, where it has receded, it's been mostly replaced with an unslakable sense of entitlement. It's sad. And those New Yorkers don't see it. They're a subset - likely those in that second standard deviation where I live - who act like spoiled jerks most of the time and only wear their sensitive shirt once a year: on September eleventh. And I think they only do that so they can continue to fly that flag when it suits them. "Oh yeah, well fuck you, I'm a New Yorker. You know, nine eleven?"

If that's you, then you shame the memory of those who died, those who died trying to save others and you shame those who fight to protect you and the rest of us in this country.

But, for at least an equally large subset, life is more precious now. The sky is bluer, the stars are brighter. On balance, more people will hold a door open, or stand up on the subway to offer an older woman a seat than before. There's a temptation to call that outdated chivalry or even chauvenism when seen through a more jaded lens. I hope we would resist that temptation. Because I see that - and maybe because I want to, I'll admit - as a positive by-product of 9/11.

I don't know if America is better, or stronger, or smarter, or wiser, or kinder - if less innocent - than it was before those men drove those planes into those buildings and that field. How can anyone know that?

Yes, part of our society is using 9/11 as currency to pay for their own vices and that's too bad. But I think letting those people into the club is just part of the cost of freedom.

And that same freedom hopefully affords those who use 9/11 as an excuse simply to look up and see how blue the sky is, or how bright the moon and the stars are, with more opportunities to do so, and with more loved ones around them while they're looking.

God bless America. Land that I love.

*Editor's note: after re-reading this, it apparently has nothing to do with coherent form, either!

What Hockey Needs Right Now Is Hockey

2011-09-07T14:35:00.001-04:00

by NiNY

What a horrible summer.

The start of the season simply can't come fast enough right now.

How do you begin to reconcile sadness at this level? One was bad enough. Two was shocking. Three was almost too much to bear. Adding 30+ more to that list is unfathomable.

I don't think I can reconcile that in my mind.

It occurs to me that what I need right now is some hockey.

Hockey is a beautiful woman with a missing front tooth. Hockey is a majestic triumph of architecture with a window blown out. Hockey is a Bugatti Veyron with bird shit on the hood. Hockey celebrates its beauty in full sight of its harsher, more feral side like no other sport in the world. It accepts its warts better than any other sport in the world. It's a sport that brings tears of joy to your eyes at the same time you're inhaling its stink. There's no expectation of perfection without paying the price of imperfection first with hockey. Hockey is brutally honest and quite true.

For those of you who play, think about those first steps onto the ice. The bright lights hitting off the glassy ice. Is there a freer feeling in your life?

A hockey game is about taking a pure tableau and sullying it - all in the sometimes-vain effort to achieve the pear-shaped tone of perfection. It's like surfing to try to catch the perfect edge, but without the sharks or the sand in your crotch. A hockey game literally starts out with a clean slate - pristine, glowing and beautiful. Then hockey takes that crystalline perfection and slices through it in an inherently violent manner with razor-sharp blades that scuff, scar and mar that surface.

It's a perfect vehicle for celebrating the good in life as well as venting the frustrations from an incredibly difficult summer.

Your smash your body into another player's body at full speed - in the hopes that you will spring your teammate for an exquisitely graceful deke, shot and goal. You lay out your body to receive an impact from a piece of rubber shot at you like a flat, black, dead projectile (like the eyes of a shark) - so that your off winger might skip around his mark and break away on the goalie in that silent, intense pas-de-deux.

As a spectator, you are treated to these acts in a contest-long exercise of waxing and waning emotions. It's hard to worry about your mortgage payment when two men are bare-knuckle brawling on skates on ice in front of you.

And then the horn blows and the Zamboni comes out to cleanse the ice of the violence of the preceding period, and prepare it for another onslaught. Atonement, salvation, rebirth. It's as if they'd fought a day during the Civil War and then cleared the dead and left the field for forty or fifty years until the field had been repaired, regrown and restored to the level of natural beauty that it was at the day before the armies had arrived - before conducting the next day's warring. Only, in hockey, this takes 20 minutes and you get to take a leak and buy a beer while you wait.

Many of us players and spectators find solace and redemption in playing and watching hockey. We find inspiration and solidarity on that ice.

That's what we need now. That's what hockey needs now.

I don't know why that plane went down. I don't care who's to blame. It's still going to be an incredibly sad thing even after we find out - assuming we do.

If it was up to me I'd have every team start camp early. Schedule additional pre-season games. Lengthen prospect tournaments. Just get the boys back on the ice. There may not be answers in the sound of pucks thwacking off the glass and whistles shrilly echoing through empty arenas, but there might be peace and there will definitely be release. And for us fans, just getting into those buildings, the proximity of other grieving fans, giving and taking support during each other's weak moments. Hockey is brutally honest and quite true.

Let hockey heal itself by being itself.

That's what hockey needs right now.

Anti-Fantasy Hockey League

2011-09-07T10:46:00.000-04:00

by NiNY

I used to play a lot of fantasy sports. Hockey, football, baseball, sim leagues, Madden, EA Sports NHL....

Then I stopped. I just wasn't into it any more. Maybe I was over it. Whatever.

That was a few years back. Can't really say I've missed them at all since.

Then the other day I got to thinking: what about a hockey fantasy league where you want to get players who DON'T score? Or goalies who give up LOTS of goals? Sort of an anti-fantasy league.

I'm not talking about players who get scratched. I'm talking about deadbeats: players who dress and play, but don't score. Think about it: that's not as easy as it sounds.

Eric Nystrom last season would have been MONEY. Nyzer played in all 82 for the Wild, but put up only 4 grapes and 8 apples. But his 0.14 pts/gm last season were actually WORSE than his career 0.17 pts/gm (including last season.) And, taking out last season, his career points per game is 0.19. That kind of non-production is worth celebrating, no?

And lo, the Anti-Fantasy Hockey League was born!

You'll draft 10 players (minimum 2 G, 2 D and 3 F) and then field a team of 6 every week. You want skaters who play but don't score, and goalies who play and let in a lot of goals. You get a bonus for TOI (the higher the TOI the higher the bonus) and salary cap hit (the higher the cap hit, the higher the bonus). So you have an incentive to go after the players who arguably SHOULD be producing (e.g. because they get payed and/or played more) but aren't.

The AFHL is located over at GTRCMBSHP. It's free to sign up for the message board, and free to play in the league. GTRCMBSHP also happens to be a nice little hangout spot for Wild fans and hockey fans in general.

Come check it out and let me know if you're interested in playing as the draft will take place before the regular season starts.

HTP Marks Four Years

2011-09-07T10:23:00.001-04:00

by NiNY

Four years ago today I wrote the first post on this blog.

In it, I described myself as a hockey fan first, and a Wild fan second. I sincerely hope I've been able to remain true to that mantra over the past four years.

It's been a great ride. USA Hockey magazine voted us one of the top 10 hockey blogs at one point. That was an honor.

We interviewed a guy who did a big story on Norm Green. That was fun.

We had Wild Road Tripper lending his unique view of seeing hockey as an opposing fan.

Kevin in PA has been a terrific partner with his keen eye and excellent writing.

And we've made a lot of friends.

The Minnesota Wild community is diverse and interesting. A trip down the Wild blogroll gives you a perfect sample. You've got the inimitable Mike Russo at the top of the food chain. If there's a better beat writer in the league I haven't read him or her yet. There's the transcendent Ms. Conduct. You've got the indefatigable Hockey Wilderness crew. And everyone in between - the First Round Bust guys, Roy over at Wild Puck Banter, Blake at Wild Nation - makes for a rowdy, fun family.

Over the years I've also sub-branded myself at several places. I've taken self-imposed breaks. I've become sick of writing (mostly due to becoming frustrated with the Wild.) But I've always come back around to HTP.

Writing here is still cathartic for me. I'm still the same guy - watching Wild games in the isolation of upstate New York - looking for people to discuss stuff with. I don't watch as many non-Wild games as I used to (when I started the blog I had a 2.5 year old and a six-month old. Now I've got a 6.5 year old and a 4.5 year old. They keep me pretty busy.) So I don't comment on as much non-Wild stuff as I used to.

But my love of the game hasn't diminished.

I've got new side projects (Seoul Goalie 18), but somehow I suspect HTP will continue to be my favorite garden.

At worst, HTP is just another hockey blog. We try very hard not to regurgitate stuff that you can (and likely do) read elsewhere. We try to have a unique opinion, or at least to share it instead of simply rehashing what's already extant. At best, HTP is a place where you can read and discuss what is, if not the only point of view, one that is interesting and stimulating. That's our goal.

Thanks to Kevin in PA and WRT for being my partners.

And thank you for reading over the last four years. Here's to four more!

Lowest Common Denominator

2011-09-01T16:54:00.003-04:00

by NiNY

The sad news of Wade Belak's death yesterday has sent the NHL community into another tail spin - sadly similar to the two that we've already endured this ill-fated summer.

And, by in large, I've seen grace and respect emerge from the potential for poor taste and ugliness in people's responses.

But, among that grace and respect, comes a new round of the How Do We Qualify And Quantify This? exercise that is both a predictable and frankly not even an unreasonable by-product of going through a death (much less a series of them) like NHL fans have.

And I'm not trying to say that we shouldn't do...that.

But I do want to say that such an exercise makes it easy to standardize and, once standardized, view the deaths of these three men through a lens that is sufficiently academic as to mitigate the human factor in them and their deaths. And that would be a shame.

The lowest common denominator here is that three men are no longer with us. The means of their death, indeed the factors in their lives that may or may not have accrued to cause those means to be attractive to them, are immaterial against the backdrop of that baseline: that three men are dead.

People die all the time. According to NIMH, in 2007 suicide was the 10th-leading cause of death among Americans, with an overall rate of 11.3 suicides per 100,000 people. With an additional 11 attempted suicides for every suicide death.

Wikipedia tells me that in 2005 there were 22,000 Americans killed due to accidental overdoses.

These are real numbers of real Americans and the common theme - maybe the only common theme - is that they all died.

All I want to say is that sometimes the fact that someone has died is all we need to focus on.

There isn't an epidemic of NHL players - fighters or otherwise - dying. That does not make three, or two, or even one death acceptable. I'm absolutely not saying that it does. Could it be the tip of an iceberg that will continue to expose itself as we go along, presenting as an actual issue? Sure. But you can bet it will be dealt with if that happens.

I don't think I'm somehow a better fan for trying to light that fire now, if my trying to light it is at the expense of simply recognizing it and experiencing it for the simple sadness that it represents. It's okay to just be sad.

Maybe engaging in the exercise is a way of coping. And, if so, I'm not trying to take anyone's coping mechanism away. But that seems like an odd action to try to fit into the Kubler-Ross model. To be honest, if anything, it seems like an obfuscatory action - the pro-academic-thus-de-humanizing mentality - which would suggest the Denial stage. "I don't want to face the pain and sadness of this, so I'm going to hold those things at an arm's length by studying it instead." Again, that's not wrong; it's just....

I'm saying, let's just mourn and celebrate these three men. That's hard enough, given the alternative of celebrating without having to mourn them.

Sure, let's find out - to the fullest extent possible - why each of them came to their ultimate decision. And, if there's something to be gleaned from it - for the protection of others, great. I'm all for that.

Tragedy can exist in a vacuum. And we can treat it in a vacuum, too.

And that's okay.

I'm sad that Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak are dead. I can't begin to comprehend what their families are going through. My daughters are Belak's daughters' ages - and that's added an element of sadness to his death that I didn't experience with Boogaard and Rypien.

But I don't need to make the process harder by going through the self-flogging exercise of analysis of the game of hockey, or aspects of the game of hockey, or specific roles created by those aspects of the game of hockey to be sad..

I just want to be sad about it for a while.

So, that's what I'm going to do.

Thoughts on Savard, Granlund

2011-08-31T16:53:00.000-04:00

by NiNY

Just brutal news about Marc Savard.

And I can't even muster up any righteous indignation at the Cookes and Hunwicks of the league. Sooner or later, it seems, Savard was going to take the hit - legal or not - that rendered him hors de combat.

Sort of like how so many kids/people are developing allergies than back in the olden days, the concussion epidemic has really moved to the fore in sports over the last years it seems.

And, to get one is a black mark on your service record. To get two, well now you're just circling the drain. A hockey player's career is a short one to begin with (check out this awesome data dump from the guys over at quanthockey.com) and getting dinged for a coupla thumps on the melon puts you At Risk from that point-on.

Which makes me think about Mikael Granlund. How many concussions has he actually endured at this point? Of all the new(er) Wild prospects, he's the one high-level guy I'm really nervous about - because we just don't know about his concussion situation. Obviously I hope it's nothing. But I'd be lying if I said it wasn't in the back of my mind with him.

Best of Hockey On the Web Poll

2011-08-31T09:31:00.003-04:00

by NiNY

I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty excited and antsy for the NHL season to begin. Prospects Tourneys, training camp, pre-season games....then the big show!

So, because I'm jonesing, I thought I'd toss up a little poll. I want to find out (in the most scientific way possible, of course), what the most-popular sites are for hockey consumers.

So, please take a moment to respond to the following questions. Then I'll tally and post the results.

1. Your friend calls and says your team just made a big announcement. What website do you go to first to check it out?

2. Your friend calls and says the league just handed down a big suspension to the doosh you hate. What website do you go to first to check it out?

3. Who is your favorite hockey columnist?

4. What's your go-to site for salary cap, contract info?

5. What's your go-to site for trade info?

6. What's your go-to site for historical stats/data?

7. What site do you camp out at (and hit F5 over and over again) on trade deadline day?

8. What's your guilty pleasure hockey site?

9. What's your go-to site for non-NHL hockey?

10. Do you write for a site or blog? If so, which one?

I'm looking forward to your answers!

Fletcher (Almost) Completely Free

2011-08-08T12:28:00.004-04:00

by NiNY

With the weekend news that Wild GM Chuck Fletcher had traded James Sheppard to (you guessed it) San Jose for a 3rd round pick, I immediately thought about Doug Risebrough.

More specifically, the job Riser did (or didn't do, as the case may be) in setting up the team that Fletcher inherited.

There was the lack of top-end scoring amid the murder of third and fourth-line muckers at forward. There was a fairly solid defense, anchored by Kim Johnsson, Brent Burns and Nick Schultz (with a little Marek Zidlicky thrown in for offense). There was Nik Backstrom and Josh Harding in goal.

Down in Houston there was.... well there just wasn't a hell of a lot. At least not a lot that projected to fill the more-gaping holes (e.g. top end scoring talent) already in the roster.

It couldn't have been a pretty sight to Fletcher, but, as it was his first kick at the NHL can as GM, he bucked up and stiff-upper-lipped it.

To be fair, Fletcher has made some knee-jerk moves that didn't really work out so well. Divesting 2nd round picks for the likes of Chuck Kobasew jumps immediately to mind. And, at first, he was not immune to the intoxicating powers of free agency, as the over-payment of Eric Nystrom indicates.

But even in Fletcher's early days there were signs that he isn't the same man that Riser is. Scoffing at the Rangers ridiculous offer for Derek Boogaard (RIP) was one such sign. Dealing with the impending Mikko Koivu contract issue well in advance of the danger zone (and eons before Riser would have) was another one.

And this summer he's come full-around to the realization that it's impossible to play for today and build for the future simultaneously. He has moved to address the lack of high-end offensive talent dramatically (albeit with youth) the past two off-seasons. He has been willing to admit mistakes and move to correct them. He has been pro-active. He has been crafty. He has not come out and chastised the fans for harboring unrealistic expectations.

And now, after shedding Sheppard, Fletcher is nearly free of the chains of Riser's failures that have imprisoned him since he started.

No, there isn't a Pittsburgh-like amount of top-end talent on the NHL roster yet. But, trading Andrew Brunette (respect) and Antti Miettinen (dos vydanya) for some combination of PM Bouchard, Devin Setoguchi and Dany Heatley is a major upgrade (on paper, anyway).

Riser's lack of first round success in harvesting top-end talent will likely be his longest-lasting blight on the franchise. But the kids are coming - and they look pretty good. Is there a chance a Jonas Brodin turns into a Cam Barker? Sure there is - you never really know at the draft. Is there a chance a Mikael Granlund turns into an Alexandre Daigle? Yes; same reasoning.

So we reserve final judgment until it's prudent to judge. But Fletcher has bought himself the one thing that Riser ultimately ran out of: patience from the fans. Which, given what we went through leading up to the end of Riser's tenure, was not something many of us were going to be willing to sell very cheaply, regardless of who replaced Riser.

But, for now, I'm calling it: the stink of Doug Risebrough is all-but dissipated from the Wild. And a new day, with new expecations, starts now.

It's your team, Chuck.

Burns Deal Justifies Trade

2011-08-01T15:04:00.004-04:00

By NiNY

Rare is the Minnesota Wild fan who doesn't at least have a soft spot in their heart for lovable, talented Brent Burns. He will be missed as much for his affable, easy going personality as for his upper-echelon (among defensemen) offensive skills on the Minnesota blue line.

That being said, he had to be traded if the Wild was going to try to change the culture of an organization for which mediocrity had become the norm.

You trade from strength. And given both the progress of some of the young defensemen in the system (on display during Houston's run to the Calder Cup Final) and the upper-echelon offensive skills of Marek Zidlicky (not the same flavor as Burns' offensive skills, per se, but still ice cream) already on the team, Burns would have represented a position of strength for the Wild.

But, entering a contract year, and represented by an agent who has had a, shall we say, checkered past with the Minnesota organization, and Fletcher had to at least look. And what he found when he looked was an eager dance partner in Doug Wilson.

That's all history.

What we have today is news of the 5-year extension that Burns agreed to with San Jose that will pay him $28.8M over those five years, for an average cap hit of $5.76M. Burns will make $3.55M this season.

This new deal would make Burns the 10th-highest paid defenseman in the NHL, according to capgeek.com, edging Andrei Markov down from 10th to 11th.

Now we all know Burns has top-ten offensive skills. But his defensive skills, or more accurately his ability to maximize them consistently, would rank decidedly lower than top-ten in the league. Nonetheless, you overpay for offensive defensemen, as the Wild did with Zidlicky for example.

But where this gets interesting is when you start looking at the Wild's financial situation after the '11-12 season, and try to envision Burns and this $5.76M fitting into it.

As of today, on capgeek.com, the Wild has $45.66M committed to 14 players heading into the '12-13 season. That includes the Barker buyout. The salary cap for the '11-12 season is $64.3M. Zanon is also in a UFA contract season in '11-12, so Fletcher has to make a decision on him at some point that could increase our expenditure.

That $45.66M is divided up between 9 forwards, 4 defensemen and 1 goalie. If you add Burns' $5.76M onto that you're at 15 players, including 5 defensemen, and $51.42M committed. Let's assume a modest increase in the salary cap, and use $65M as a nice, round number.

So you've got $13.58M left over to find three forwards, one defenseman and a goalie.

Oh and you also have to re-sign Gui Latendresse who is a RFA after this season. Assuming you at least qualify him, you're adding at least $2.5M (100% of previous contract for a player making $1M or more) right there. So now we're at 10 forwards, 5 defensemen, 1 goalie and $53.92M committed. And that's only if Latendresse signs for exactly the same amount that he will have made this season. If he gets healthy and puts up some numbers (in a contract year) then he could easily command more than $2.5M.

So now we need 2 forwards, 1 defenseman and a goalie, and you have $11.08M left to spend. Brodziak ($1.15M) and Staubitz ($575k) are both UFAs after '11-12 and cheap. Say you sign them to fill out your forwards. That means you're at 12 forwards, 5 defensemen and 1 goalie and $55.645M committed.

But weren't you hoping Granlund at least comes over next season? What's his contract going to look like? And Brodin's already got a contract. Is he ready for NHL blueline duty? Maybe he earns a spot in camp next year. Russo reported that his cap hit would be $1.475M with bonuses.

And figure a million for a backup goalie.

And this is all to fill out to 20. Do they want to carry an extra forward or defenseman? At the start of the '12-13 season Bouchard, Cullen, Nystrom, Zidlicky and Backstrom are all entering UFA contract seasons. Presumably Fletcher will want to sign at least a couple of those guys. And Clutterbuck, Gillies, Scandella and Spurgeon will all be entering RFA contract seasons and likewise some of them will warrant new deals.

AND we still haven't reconciled this with Fletcher's stated desire to be more middle-of-the-pack, cap-wise, until the team is ready to take the next step towards true contention. In other words, they don't want to spend to the cap right now. Will they be that much closer to the expectation of a solid playoff run in the '12-13 season?

The point here is that, while Burns brings undeniable offensive skill to the team (which is something that every team wants), he would have likely been nearly prohibitively expensive for the Wild to re-sign, anyway.

Instead, Fletcher turned Burns into Setoguchi, Coyle and Phillips, significantly upgraded his weakest point (young offensive forwards) and stayed true to his economic vision at the same time.

That, my friends, is how a real GM gets it done.

Fletcher Riding Hot Streak

2011-06-30T13:16:00.006-04:00

by NiNY

Now we're cooking!

Wild GM Chuck Fletcher has earned my admiration and - arguably more importantly - my patience with his actions since the end of the '10-11 season.

First the Richards firing - though Fletcher was complicit in the creation and the proliferation of the situation that created the untenable environment that necessitated Richards' removal - indicated that, if nothing else, Fletcher was not going to sit idly by and wait this thing out.

That was a sin that Fletcher's predecessor committed far too often for my liking. And I am big enough to admit that I bought into Risebrough's entreaties for patience. But, fool me once, etc.

Second, Fletcher's handling of the Burns situation and subsequent trade was spot on for my taste. I assume the conversation with Burns and his agent indicated that Burns would at least be considerably expensive to sign to a new deal, and Fletcher was able to leverage Burns into the means to continue addressing the most critical need on the team (read: young, skilled players) in not-one-but-three pieces. Outstanding job of analyzing the team and moving to address weaknesses by dealing from strengths.

Third, what looks like the impending buyout of Cam Barker. Fletcher inherited a team whose fanbase had been stung by the previous GM's willingness to let impending UFAs walk for nothing. With under-appreciated defenseman Kim Johnsson getting ready to do just that, Fletcher pulled the trigger on a deal that brought back a former 3rd-overall draft pick. Yes, Fletcher had to include a high pick of our own to get the deal done. But the bottom line is he got something for his UFA. That the trade didn't work out is not immaterial to the story. But Wild fans would be remiss to ignore the context in which Barker came to be on the team in the first place.

Now, the trade didn't work out. And so Fletcher moving to close that door by (likely) buying Barker out - which in itself is also a very different situation than the Parrish buyout, given Barker's age and the rules pertaining thereto - indicates to me that Fletcher is both a realist and a pragmatist. Rare is the Wild fan who would associate Risebrough with either of those personality traits.

As I've said, I like the draft and develop bearing Fletcher has steered the Wild into now. I'm willing to give it a couple years - even if they are marked by poor performance in the win column. And actions like the Barker buyout only serve to make me more patient.

Even more impressive: two of the three things I mentioned above were Fletcher righting his own wrongs. Riser would have just told us we'd let our expectations get too high.

On Blind Squirrels

2011-06-28T15:29:00.003-04:00

by NiNY

It feels good to get one right every once in a while.

I've been out of town for the last four days. So I missed all the action around the draft.

But, honestly, I couldn't be happier.

The Wild is finally giving up the ghost. Finally accepting that you can't simultaneously try to draft and develop AND fill your cup to the brim with UFAs. Finally realizing that sometimes you DO have to take a couple steps back (in the wins column, perhaps) in order to start taking steps forward.

You know all the particulars. But we now have a coach coming off a year where he worked very well with our youngsters. And we have received a big infusion of young, offensive talent into the organization - critical steps needed to start closing the gap between us and the other young re-developing teams in the conference and league.

I've been all over gtrcmbshp.com lobbying for the Wild to "blow it up" and start over. That the Wild needed the kinds of high first round picks that become top scoring line players. Well they didn't go all in on "blow it up", but they certainly went farther down that path than I thought they would.

And it sounds like Leipold is on board (based on what Russo's reporting.) So that's great. I was afraid the main impetus to 'stay relevant' in the short term would come from him.

So, here's to Fletcher being frugal. Here's to buying out Barker and then keeping those spots open going into camp to give the kids a real carrot to chase around the rink between then and now.

And here's to hope.

Hope that the Wild may finally be on the right path for serious real.

To Chuck Fletcher: here's my promise to you. If the team stays committed to this youth movement and consistently tries hard next season. I won't complain if they go 0-82.

Morbidly curious

2011-06-28T13:58:00.002-04:00

By KiPA

A month and a half ago, I bashed dopes on the Internet who called for and/or predicted the return of Jaromir Jagr not just to the NHL but to the Penguins.

On the eve of Free Agency Day, it's looking like it might happen after all. Color me surprised.

Ray Shero has not ruled out the prospect of signing Jagr. In fact, comments he's made suggest the opposite, that the team continues to have internal discussions about adding the one-time team captain. I still think Jagr ends up with Detroit, as Ken Holland can offer more money.

Should Jagr suit up in black and gold again, I don't know how I'd feel about it. I'm pretty much securely on the fence.

I think it could work well. Jagr could still be capable of 25 goals and who knows, 60 to 80 points. He'd likely infuse some new life into a tired, stagnant and predictable power play. Being on the tail end of his career, he's more likely to keep his head down in the locker room and enjoy one more chance at winning the Stanley Cup and not become an issue with the established hierarchy.

I also think it's very possible that the exact opposite will happen. We'll find Jagr can't adjust back to the NHL style after playing three years in the KHL, and his production will be on par with Alexei Kovalev's. If that happens, Jagr could start showing the prima-donna-ness that we've seen from him before, creating mass chaos in a locker room that's been very tight-knit for several years now.

One thing is for certain, though: He won't make the power play worse. That's impossible.

I know one other thing: I do not want to see Jagr in a Red Wings uniform. (Disclaimer: Unless Scenario B happens and he completely derails that team's season.)

There has been enough talk lately of Jagr returning that I've started to come around, and at this point, I'm very curious to see how he'll do, back in this league, on this team. I wouldn't be declaring the Penguins the favorites next season because of Jagr, but I also don't think it would be the train wreck that several people I know believe it would be.

It would be nice seeing Jagr retire as a Penguin though and smooth things over with so much of the fan base that has turned on him. He's still the second-greatest Penguin ever (though check back with me in 10 years) and was a critical piece in the first two Stanley Cup victories.

Jagr's return to the NHL, and possibly to Pittsburgh, is a complete unknown. I think I'd like to see how it turns out.

Draft Week: Wild SWOT Analysis Pt. 4

2011-06-23T11:34:00.003-04:00

by NiNY

External threats are hard to assess when you're talking about a professional sports team. In the first place, every other team is theoretically an external threat. So, what's your metric (what are your metrics) for success, by which you would measure and assess threats? Is it winning a particular game? A winning record in a season? Making the playoffs? Winning the championship? You can't really control your opponent as a threat. You can try to neutralize the various components of that threat. But in hockey, which is more free form than, say, football, there isn't even an element of game planning and strategizing that can help your neutralization endeavors.

Nonetheless, THREATS.

*Edmonton and Colorado. These teams are both younger and more skilled than the Wild. Insofar as they're in the same division (for now), they will continue to both develop as thorns in the Wild's side and exist as a reflection of the Wild's own youth/skill levels.

The Wild is a lower-echelon team in terms of competitiveness, which is similar to Colorado and Edmonton at the moment. But the Wild is lower than Colorado and Edmonton in terms of youthful skill, which puts the Wild behind the 8-ball. The Wild can ill-afford for their fans to see teams like Edmonton - against which the Wild usually cleans up - start to pass the Wild in the standings, with no infusion of top-end talent to offset it.

*Core that is just getting into their salad years contracts. Mikko got his last year. Burns is due to get his now. Backstrom has two years left and will be well into his 30s when this one expires. Schultz has three left and is too expensive as it is. Bouchard has two left and is also too expensive. Cal two left.

Simply, the Wild isn't talented enough right now to make a meaningful run. So, in the few years it takes to properly increase the talent level such that a meaningful run is possible, you risk your "core" moving from "approaching peak" to "peaked." And getting more expensive along the way, assuming flat to improving production.

The Wild will have to be as cap conscious as Mike Russo is reporting they want to become if they're going to make the economics work out.

*The expectations of ownership/fans is the final threat. If "win now, or at least very, very soon" carries the day then Fletcher's between the rock and the hard place. And the team, in turn, is condemned to a long game of Russian roulette with the vagaries of the "trade assets and sign UFAs" mentality.

The last few years have taught Wild fans that this does not work. The teams that succeed in the NHL take time to draft and develop long term, even at the expense of short term success.

Fans should be mindful of this as this summer and then the 2011-2012 season progress.

Draft Week: Wild SWOT Analysis Pt. 3

2011-06-22T10:15:00.004-04:00

by NiNY

We move on to the OPPORTUNITIES.

*Some cap room opening up this summer. Between the UFAs (Kobasew, Brunette, Miettinen, Madden, Harding and Theodore) who represented a cool $10.5M in salary last year, and the potential for buying out Cam Barker (saving an additional couple million dollars from his full cap hit), the Wild does have some flexibility. What they do with it is another matter.

They have nine forwards and either six (including Barker and Spurgeon) or five (disincluding Barker) defensemen returning from last year's team, as well as Backstrom in goal. At this point, according to capgeek.com, they have $51.27M tied up among those sixteen players, including the $927k they owe in the Parrish buyout.

The Wild is looking at needing to find three forwards, one defenseman (assuming Barker's gone) and a backup goalie to fill out the roster. Plus Burns and Zanon are both in their contract years. Brodziak and Staubitz are also in their contract years, but do not represent a threat to the salary cap even assuming a reasonable raise from their current salaries ($1.15M and $575k, respectively).

With reports that the salary cap ceiling will rise to the $64M range, the Wild certainly CAN fit a raise for Burns and Zanon into their $13M of available cap space (~$15M if they buyout Barker), but only if it is willing to go cheap with the rest of the spare parts. And that means kids.

*As I said in the weaknesses section, Yeo and Fletch are also both opportunities for the Wild. In Yeo's case, you have to like what he did with an under-skilled team in Houston this season. If the Wild commits to a younger team some of those kids he had success with this season will get some more time under his tutelage. Yeo's an unknown quantity at the NHL level. While the weakness part of that undeniably has its own gravitational pull, to ignore the opportunity side would be myopic. I simply will not entertain comparisons to Todd Richards beyond the 1st time NHL head coach part.

As for Fletcher, yes, he represents an opportunity. He has to be personally motivated at this point, he's got a glaring fail on his record already (Richards, not so much hiring him as having to fire him, in my opinion) and he's the head of a team that is lacking both identity and, because of it, cohesion and passion. Not a great start for a young GM.

But, if he can get this train back on the track and continue infusing the organization with energy (say what you want about Yeo, but the man exudes confidence and energy) and talent (Granlund is a good start - assuming he can stay away from the concussions - and Fletcher's willingness to dip into the college free agent pool, for example, is encouraging) then I believe the fans will come along for the ride. I also believe the fans will be willing to take a couple more years of non-playoff hockey as long as there's a clear goal towards which we're progressing. That's not the same as saying the fans will continue to sell the building out, but the angry fringe will always be the angry fringe.

*A more abstract opportunity is the possibility of realignment once the Phoenix situation is resolved. Even without a relocation of the Phoenix franchise realignment has to be coming. It's obviously untenable to have a team in Winnipeg playing in a sunbelt (USA) division. And, while we don't know anything factually yet, some of the ideas floated around (such as the Wild moving to the "central" division) could be beneficial to the Wild.

At some level, a reduction in travel wear-and-tear over a season has to be beneficial. And I like what the Avalanche and Oilers are doing in terms of young skill players, so not having to play them six times a year is attractive. The Wild hasn't had very good success against the Detroits and Dallases of the league, to be fair. But that's why this is an opportunity, not a strength.

Tomorrow: Threats

Draft Week: Wild SWOT Analysis Pt. 2

2011-06-21T08:53:00.007-04:00

by NiNY

Yesterday I talked about the Wild's strengths. Today I discuss the other side of that particular coin.

WEAKNESSES

*Lack of top tier scoring. This is the critical weakness of the Wild. Every team would want more top drawer scoring. But at least the Edmontons of the league have a Taylor Hall. The Islanders have a Tavares. The Wild has absolutely no elite scoring. And nothing in the pipeline. As I've mentioned before: are there any Wild players you'd take in the first five rounds of your fantasy league draft? Q.E.D. And, this utter lack of high end scoring is simply exacerbated by....

*Stubborn refusal to deviate from the UFA model. The Wild has been trying to go the "patch up the lineup with a couple (high-priced) UFAs and sneak into the playoffs" route for several years now. It hasn't worked. In fact, it has back fired and turned into a weakness in that the team has finished just high enough to be out of the money picks in the draft. Not in the playoffs (three years running now), but just over the horizon of the kind of draft position that lands you a Taylor Hall.

So, it becomes a vicious cycle. Patching up the line-up, spending to the cap, begets mediocre team, which begets mediocre finish, which begets Colton Gillies...and the beat goes on da de dum, de dum, dada.

The weakness here manifests itself as an expensive, older team with a farm system that is still bereft of high end talent. As my friend GreenStar likes to say, the Wild does not have enough sub-$1M players on the roster. Not a pretty combination.

*An experienced GM who has, to date, accrued a spotty record is another weakness. I like Chuck Fletcher. I think he's a hockey guy, obviously good hockey genes, etc. And he has some successes under his belt (Guillaume Latendresse, John Madden, Mikko's deal, Rick Wilson, walking away from Boogaard *RIP* at the money the Rangers threw at him, Mikael Granlund, etc.) so far in his two years at the helm of the Wild.

But he also has some misses. His first head coach was put in an unwinnable position - too little talent and a mandate to win that was at least partly created by Fletcher himself. The Barker trade is a miss (and those of you who know me know that's not because Leddy's a Minnesotan). Kobasew was a miss (though Fletcher gets credit for trying). Nystrom is very expensive for what he brought last season. So is Cullen.

The jury needs to still be out on Fletcher. I think he might also be an opportunity, and I thought about making him a threat, but I feel like threats that are neutralized end up being non-factors. Whereas, if Fletcher can overcome his spotty record, there's more upside to the "strength" side. So labeling him a weakness is sort of like giving him a "needs improvement" on the annual performance report.

*Inexperienced head coach, again. I've already talked about the situation in which I think Mike Yeo as head coach could thrive. And I'm hopeful that's the way Leipold and Fletcher go (read: youth). But the fact of the matter is this is his first trip around the merry-go-round at the NHL level and Wild fans' last exposure to a first-time NHL coach didn't go so well.

For the record, I firmly believe Yeo is also an opportunity, and will discuss him as such in that section.

But there can be no denying that he is inexperienced and, as such, and with the same caveat that it's not a pure condemnation as with Fletcher, that is a weakness.

Next: Opportunities

Draft Week: Wild SWOT Analysis Pt. 1

2011-06-20T15:58:00.009-04:00

by NiNY

I suck at mock drafts. In the first place, I might have actually seen a few of the eligible kids play - once - but not anything close to a material percentage of them. And, in any event, I'm no scout. And so I'd have to do a mock draft based on what I read from the same sources you read, so you don't want to read my regurgitations.

I like reading mock drafts, but I'm just no good at doing them.

That being said, the thing I like most about mock drafts is when people get into the SWOT analyses of the teams and cross-reference it when making the mock selection. I find that SWOT analysis to be more interesting than the projected pick. It's a quick reference to the high level state of the teams that I sort of lose sight of as the playoffs progress and you focus in on fewer and fewer teams.

I find that even my "Minnesota Wild" muscle has atrophied - you know, since they're never in the playoffs - by this point. So I thought I'd take a look at the Wild and offer my own little SWOT analysis.

STRENGTHS

*A stinking rich owner, willing to spend to the cap. This, in and of itself, is a strength. The opposite - a miserly owner barely willing to spend to the floor - would be a weakness.

While the application of the salary floor/ceiling dynamic to the NHL has had a homogenizing effect on the league overall, there is still variation from top to bottom within a conference, for sure, if not visible in an individual division. So owners willing to spend money are a boon.

*Goaltending is a plus for the Wild. Nicklas Backstrom is a quality #1. While the Wild had an enviable battery last year when Jose Theodore paired with Backstrom, by all accounts Theodore will get a chance to be a #1 somewhere else in the league starting July 1st - and he earned it; being the consummate professional with the Wild last season. While I'd love to have Theodore back (particularly if his very affordable $1.1M price tag from last year were still available), I hope he gets a job somewhere and am assuming he won't be back with the Wild.

Josh Harding, also a UFA, is sadly a deep value play right now. You just don't know where he is, coming off his injuries.

But, even without Harding, having Hackett, Endras and Kuemper means the Wild is well-positioned for the future. So well-positioned, in fact, that perhaps one of them is expendable in a trade scenario as the Wild tries to shore up a weakness. The Wild has always seemed to have either good goaltending or goalies who put up good numbers. That's still true today.

*Young defensemen is the third strength for the Wild. Obviously the Burns contract year situation looms large. And Burns' offensive capabilities are not easily replaceable. But between Schultz, Scandella, Spurgeon, Stoner, Bagnall, Cuma, Falk, Prosser and Genoway, the Wild has a strong stock of young, 3-6 defensemen. No clear Norris trophy types at this point, but scoring defensemen are in relatively short supply anyway.

*Best #2 center in the league, in Mikko Koivu. The Wild plays him on the first line. Because it has to. But I still believe Mikko's in the bottom half of top-tier centers in the NHL because he doesn't produce like the guys in the top half.

He was the 19th-highest scoring center in the league in '10-11. He was the 11th-highest scoring center in the league in '09-10. He was the 19th-highest scoring defenseman in the league in '08-09. The argument is that he hasn't had top notch wingers along side him - and that's true. But he likely won't have top notch wingers along side him in '11-12, either. At some point, he is what he is. And he is paid a lot of money.

On the other side of the coin, he's as good a defensive center as there is in the league. He's gotten better and better at faceoffs, he's as competitive as anyone he's willing to stand up for himself. All good qualities, and Mikko has them to spare. I have no problem with Mikko Koivu as the face of the Minnesota Wild. I just wish we had a legit scoring threat in front of him in the lineup.

*2nd and 3rd line forwards is definitely a strength. With players like Cullen, Clutterbuck, Bouchard, Latendresse, Havlat and Brodziak, the Wild has a solid stable of NHL-veteran secondary players. The downside is that group represents $17.63M in salary for next season, so it's expensive. But, if the Wild had a top line that put up consistent points, it has the secondary and even tertiary depth to supplement that top line that good teams have.

Tomorrow: Weaknesses

Random musings

2011-06-17T23:47:00.003-04:00

By KiPA

A collection of random thoughts on the world of hockey.

--How hilarious will it be if Daniel Sedin wins the Hart Trophy?

--I hope the Penguins sign Jussi Jokinen. That, and re-signing some of their free agents, is all I'm asking from free agency this summer. Supposedly, Jokinen might be too "soft" for the Penguins; well, they need to soften their standards. Jokinen possesses actual skill, which the team sorely lacks up front.

--Speaking of Pittsburgh free agents, I like the re-signing of Craig Adams. I'd like to see Mike Rupp, Pascal Dupuis, Dustin Jeffrey and probably Tyler Kennedy back, but not if Kennedy's asking for a boatload. Max Talbot? It pains me to part with the 2009 Game 7 hero, but he just hasn't been doing enough to justify a raise in pay.

--Are all the Bob Luongo supporters still out in full voice? You know, the ones who criticized people for saying Luongo still isn't a clutch performer, despite his gold medal win in the Olympics? A friend of mine had the best line after Boston won the Stanley Cup this year: "Bob Luongo, so that's what happens when Team Canada isn't around to bail you out."

--Luongo was just along for the ride; Canada won in spite of Luongo, not because of him.

--Hang on, someone in a Canucks jersey just set my car on fire. Surely an anarchist, not a hockey fan. Anyway, be right back.

--I was disheartened to hear a couple weeks ago that Dallas won't/can't make an offer to keep Brad Richards. One, because that team needs him. Two, because Richards is likely headed East, and that's bad news.

--So, Mike Yeo as the new head of the Wild, eh? Good luck with that.

--Nah, seriously now. I'm not sure how good Yeo will be; his main duties as an assistant with the Penguins were the power play and.. I think the defensemen. Coincidentally or not, those were two of the team's biggest weaknesses the last year Yeo was here. Of course, the power play got even worse after he left. He was quite the scapegoat for the power play but he clearly wasn't the (only) problem.

--It turns out I eventually became a Bruins fan in the final. The extreme douchiness of the Canucks pushed me away from them, as painful as it was to see another Boston team win a championship.

--Brad Marchand is the only real pest for the Bruins, even though he's a Grade A asshole. I don't have too much of a problem with anyone else on that team. Pretty much everyone on Vancouver can go suck a donkey, though.

--I will not tune in for a second to any NESN broadcast next season, even if it means watching a game in standard def on Center Ice instead of HD.

--Some friends and I are doing a miniature golf tour this summer. We named this week's tournament the Rick Nash Classic. Yeah, what of it?

Until next time, folks.

Pondering Yeo as Coach

2011-06-08T11:55:00.009-04:00

by NiNY

I've been thinking about Houston Aeros coach Mike Yeo as a candidate for the open head coach job with the Wild.

Obviously he did a great job in Houston this year, his first with the team/organization.

And, you want to reward great jobs, and you also need a new head coach.

I'd like to see the Wild commit to a younger team. I'd like them to let the majority of their UFAs walk and NOT replace all of them with UFAs in July. I'd like the Wild to go into camp with several spots open, and with the intent to fill them with kids.

Yes, that likely means you're not going to go very far in the '11-12 season. Not taking anything away from the kids in our system, but they're still not the most offensively-skilled group of players. So they don't represent an obvious uptick in scoring at the NHL level.

And that's okay. But the Wild needs top-end scoring talent. Bad. Of course, every team would take more top-end scoring talent. But the Wild has basically none.

Think about it: how many Wild players would you take in the first five rounds of your fantasy draft? Any? Maybe Burns? Maaaybe Mikko? Maaaaaaybe Zidlicky? Q.E.D.

The Wild is massively lacking in top-end scoring talent. The Wild is well-stocked in role players and guys who could make a claim on a 2nd line spot, if the first line was a legit NHL scoring line. And goalies. The Wild is set in goal with Backstrom, Hackett, Endras and Kuemper right now. So set, in fact, that perhaps they don't all stay with the Wild very long.

But, all of that speaks to the Wild either needing to spend (read: overpay) again in free agency to make a splash - but still likely end up right in the same limbo they're in now where they're just good enough to finish outside the money picks in the 2012 draft - or going young and taking their lumps.

To me, we've done the UFA route. Did Matt Cullen get us to the promised land? We sure paid him a handsome amount of money. If we continue to go that route, continuing to spend to the cap in the process, and continue to end up in this low-double-digit draft position, then we're staying static. That's a self-perpetuating cycle. Maybe you sneak into the playoffs in the odd year. But that's about it.

So, I'm comfortable going with the kids, maybe finishing about where we would otherwise, but equally maybe finishing worse. But finishing worse means getting a higher draft pick and the chance at a stud who gives me someone to be really excited about immediately.

In other words, I'm hoping the Wild goes with a youth movement. If that's the case, then Yeo has certainly offered evidence that he can work with a young team. And he'd obviously know any players who get promoted from Houston next season. I think that would be a great environment for him, and I wouldn't have any problem with his lack of NHL head coaching experience (even following in Richards' footsteps, such as they are) in case Fletcher's worried about the optics.

But, if Leipold wants to try to get in the playoffs at any cost and instructs Fletcher to go after some legit scorers in July, then I'd prefer to keep Yeo in Houston where we know he can have a positive effect on the kids. If the Wild goes that way this summer, then I'd prefer we get a MacTavish or Hitchcock to try to put lipstick on the pig, and not waste Yeo. I mean, that scenario is essentially the same scenario Todd Richards was in and I think it's safe to say he was a lame duck from day one given the lack of talent he had to work with.

Obviously Yeo has earned the audition for Wild's head coach this season, and I'm glad Fletcher recognizes it and is acting on it. But I think there are pros to keeping Yeo in Houston for another season, depending on what Fletcher's marching orders are from the big man.

BSens Down Aeros, Win Calder Cup

2011-06-08T09:26:00.002-04:00

by NiNY

Just go to T3I and read their coverage. It's comprehensive and awesome, as always.

Wild fans can also just go over there to thank them for the outstanding job they do, particularly this season, bringing Aeros hockey of today - and Wild hockey of tomorrow - to us.

Stick taps for T3I.

Aeros @ Bingo Game 3: My Road Trip

2011-06-02T09:35:00.014-04:00

by NiNY

I left the house at 1:30 yesterday afternoon, and pulled back into my driveway at exactly midnight. In between, I drove 300 miles and saw the Aeros beat the BSens 2-1 to take a 2-1 lead in the Calder Cup Finals.

It's an easy 150 mile drive from Rochester to Binghamton. You go east to Syracuse and then south to Bingo. Easy. It was a beautiful day (by which I mean lower heat and humidity than Tuesday) and it was clear so, good driving weather.

I got to Bingo about 3:45. Got in touch with the most awesome Ms. Conduct and we hung out and chatted about the team, the game, Brusty, etc.

We walked over to the arena about 5:45 so she could go to work and so I could take the air with the locals. My ticket was waiting for me at Will Call and they didn't open the doors until 6pm so I got a chance to observe the street party scene outside the building.

First, the building is East Berlin chic. A paean to poured cement and bunkers. It also appears to date back to the days of Marx and Engels. But, to the BSens and their fans, it's home.

The street party was pretty solid. They had all the hockey street party games like shooting street hockey balls at the goalie screen thingy - and the lady who was running that particular game had a pretty nice wrister - and the obligatory radio station booths/vans, as well as some food and drink. There were a bunch of young kids with flags, a bunch of older kids with vuvuzelas and a guy walking around with a 12-pack of Yuengling. Ms. Conduct thought she'd heard that it had started at 3pm, which is a bit of a head-scratcher (it was Wednesday, afterall). But, I guess that's just how they roll in Bingo.

I went in a few minutes after six. I was wearing a Wild white sweater and I was interested to see the reaction it brought. On my way in I got my first comment "Hey! Is that an Aeros jersey?" To which I replied "Nope, it's a Wild jersey." This seemed to mollify the gentleman. Not knowing where exactly my seat was, my plan was to locate it, then wander around the building for a while and try to engage the locals in discussion to gauge their temperament towards their team, the series and me as an enemy fan.

When I go to a game as an enemy fan, I go out of my way to be respectful. I will represent with my team's colors. I will cheer when my team does something well, but I will not be boorish about it, and I will not outwardly cheer AGAINST the home team. But obviously the home team fans aren't familiar with my rooting predilections.

I found my seat - and let me tell you, it was a doozy. I went on Ticketmaster 45 minutes after tickets went on sale for this game and paid the higher price ($27) for the best available single seat, but I don't know the building obviously. So color me surprised to find out that my seat was two rows up, about three seats off of dead center ice. Now, it was behind the benches and normally that's a bummer if you want to watch the game. But, when they built Lubyanka West, someone had the foresight to elevate the seats (sink the ice surface?) so that even though I was behind the benches I could easily see right over them. The only thing I couldn't see was play right along the boards on my side of the rink. A very minor inconvenience. Fantastic seat.

Then I went out and bought a beer and found a place to post up to look for locals with which to commune. The concourse at Die Nueue Wolfsschanze is pretty accomodating to those practicing fellowship. And the outside wall is all window which is kind of cool too. That wall is ringed by a heating system which makes for a handy ledge for one's beer.

The first person I interacted with was a police officer who, when I asked him if he thought I'd need him to escort me out of the building after the Aeros won, responded "You won't need to worry about that, son." It was pretty funny.

I spoke with a nice lady and her teenage daughter. They are season ticket holders and come to all the games and are just so excited for the Finals. When I asked them if I was going to get beaten up for being an enemy fan, they said "No, that doesn't happen here." LA Dodgers fans, they're not.

One guy in a suit walked by, sized me up in my Wild jersey and said (sotto voce) "Nice jersey." I'm guessing he was somehow associated with the Aeros.

Mostly my jersey garnered a lot of double-takes, then a combination of bewildered consternation and something that might have been disbelief. I mean, it's not actually an Aeros jersey, and I can't believe there are too many Wild fans in greater metropolitan Binghamton to start with.

I went back to my seat for the warmup. I was seated next to a guy and his kid to my left and a lady and her friends to my right (they were on the aisle). Warm ups were warm uppy. I am not savvy enough to derive much of anything from warm ups. I did notice that #18 Z. Smith for Bingo was only interested in skating over or right on the center red line, hairy-eyeballing any Aeros player by whom he passed. Normally that's behavior indicating a desire to incite disagreement between himself and members of the opposite team. So he does that a few times, then went down to stretch his Gaboriks - about a foot inside the center line, looking towards the Aeros side pretty much the whole time, and then bee lined off the ice as soon as they opened the doors to signal the end of warm ups. Ms. Conduct noticed that he leads his team in PIM. More on Z. Smith later.*

Surprisingly the biggest chirp I got all night was from the lady's friend to my right. She and her husband are STHs and she was the hardest to read in terms of "I hate you. No, just kidding. Yeah, I do. But not really." when she found out I was there in support of the Aeros. Her husband kept looking at me and sort of grinning and shaking his head like I had just farted in church or something. This is not to say I felt threatened or that they were actually hostile to me. Just, more serious about their preference that I not be there than others I had encountered.

The pre-game was loud and whipped the crowd into a proper frenzy. The building looks like it seats up to around 5,000 or so, and it was, for all intents and purposes, full. And all those excited people making all those excited people noises - bouncing off all that poured concrete and iron...it was plenty loud. The building had been retro-fitted once video screens became inescapable, which is to say, they crammed them in to basically the only place they could which is opposite corners of the rink where there was basically a huge, concrete support structure built into the original design. But they served their purpose and the obligatory "how we got here/awesome moments of awesomeness" montage helped get the faithful all geeked up.

They lowered the mascot, Max, to the ice via a rope and pulley rig to the delight of the people on the other side of the ice from me initially. By the time we could see him on our side (after he was far enough below the scoreboard) it basically looked like they'd lynched him. In fact, Ms. Conduct and I both tweeted to that effect within moments of each other, which I thought was pretty funny.

Apparently Binghamton has a latin vein running through its history because the national anthem was performed by three trumpeters, in the mariachi style. El himno nacional! At least one guy in the audience offered up a "What?" when they announced who was to play the anthem. And not in the "can I get a what, what!" manner, either.

Man, but Terry Koharski looks like his old man.

The game started amid a mighty din from the assembled.

Then the Aeros scored.

Din doused. NiNY standing and applauding - which did not endear me to the locals.

As Bryan Reynolds of Hockey Wilderness (and neighborhood watch) fame remarked, I was the only Aeros/Wild fan in obvious attendance. Literally. But I got away with standing and clapping the goal. No yelling or pointing at scoreboards. Then I sat down again and the vacuum that was left behind wasn't too bad.

The BSens looked nervous. Passes missing, pucks rolling off sticks, going for big hits and missing as often as not (at least early, they connected on some solid hits as the period went on). And, credit where it's due, the Aeros were not looking nervous at all. The Aeros were doing such a good job on the forecheck and in the offensive zone in general that, by the time the BSens were able to clear it out, they had to go for a change which meant they were attacking with one or maybe two players max. So - not a lot of sustained pressure offensively at all. The Aeros were making quick work of clearing their own zone. This would be true for the majority of the game.

The Aeros just outworked the BSens, in all three zones. The locals were going on about a 1-3-1 trap, which I chose not to debate with them, but the effect was the same. Again, I think the BSens needing to change lines instead of pursue the breakout was a big part of that, and that obviously stems from the job the Aeros were doing in the offensive zone. But that all gets back to working hard. The Aeros won a majority of the little battles, keeping plays alive, breaking up attempted breakouts, tipping passes and shots out of harm's way. Just good, hard-working hockey. If the Wild played that hard - win or lose - they would be a much more entertaining team.

The arena commisar either couldn't figure out how to turn off the green lights behind the net or didn't want to during the first period. They figured it out for the second and third periods.

The Aeros fairly dominated the second period. Outshooting the BSens 11-5, and if the BSens had any legit scoring chances in the period they only had one. The Aeros scored again, and again I rose and applauded. This time I drew a more aggressive reaction. A couple "SIT YOUR ASS DOWN!"s and a "SIT THE FUCK DOWN!"

During the second intermission, a gentleman came down to my seat and asked if I was from Houston. He had tickets to games 4 and 5 that he couldn't use and would have liked to have sold them to me if I'd come all that way and was in need of a stub. This was definitely representative of the reaction I got from Bingo fans. Good-humored, sporting, kindly.

Remember I said the weather was nice? Well there's a difference between "January nice" and "June nice" from a hockey perspective, and specifically from an ice-making perspective. They did two promos on the ice during the second intermission which obviously meant the ice had less time to freeze after being cleaned. Which meant the ice was still wet when the players came back out. Which meant the ice stayed wet for the duration of the 3rd period. I realize sponsors may be hard to come by, so a team like the BSens needs to take care of those it has. But the ice was a factor in the third. Pucks bouncing, or slowing as they hit the standing water, then rolling and bouncing late as the BSens mounted their comeback attempt.

The Aeros took an early penalty (the refs did a good job of letting them play enough to keep the intensity up, I felt) and the BSens scored on the PP. From that point on, the tide steadily turned in favor of Bingo. They pressed and they pressed and they pressed. They didn't get a lot of chances, per se, until the last few minutes. But you could see the momentum shifting inexorably in their favor.

The last minute of play was crazy. The BSens pulled the goalie and created several primo scoring chances, most of which ended with mad goal-mouth scrambles. Credit to Koharski who was in position bang-on behind the net every time. Also credit to Koharski for showing great conviction when signaling "no-goal" in a couple of those instances. That conviction helped keep the fans from rioting - and they got fairly close by the end of the game.

Unfortunately "fairly close" did not mean they all took the final outcome (a 2-1 Aeros win) well. As the game ended and the Aeros met near the boards in the circle to Hackett's right to celebrate, some fans took to throwing beverages and other trash onto the ice. I saw several drinks spilling as they hit the ice - some very close to, if not on, Aeros players and the refs - and it was a disappointing and embarrassing finish by a group that had been, to that point, loudly and enthusiastically but still appropriately behind their team. OBVIOUSLY this was a very small sample of those in attendance and I really do not want to paint BSens fans in general in a negative light.

Nonetheless, because of that reaction I chose to stay in the seating area for a few minutes before heading out into the concourse to leave. I didn't want to present a "target of opportunity" to any ill-mannered (and, likely, well-lubricated) fans bent on further demonstrating their frustration and airing their grievances. This proved to be a prescient move when I learned that there had been an altercation involving fisticuffs in the concourse. I managed to escape unharmed.

Got to my car, back on the road, home by midnight.

It was my first look at Hackett in goal, and he was obviously very good. One thing that I noticed is that, remember he's a devout butterfly goalie, he does not direct rebounds off his pads at all. He just kicks them out. And that meant he left some rebounds that, had the Aeros not been so good at keeping the slot clear, and/or the BSens done a better job of supporting the puck in the offensive zone, might have caused some trouble. I would imagine that will be something they will work on with him as he progresses - it has to be among the finer aspects of playing goalie at the professional level. But otherwise, very calm and composed in the net. Swallowing long shots in his stomach with no rebounds. Not going down too soon. Reading the play well, tracking well.

I was impressed with Patrick O'Sullivan. He created chances, had a nose for the puck, was responsible defensively, was physical....all good things.

I had trouble noticing Casey Wellman. And one of the few times I did notice him, he was circling away from a check, at the expense of gaining the offensive zone. So, not a favorable impression.

Gillies was less-engaged physically than I wanted him to be. If the book on him reads something akin to "2nd or 3rd line power forward" then I honestly didn't see that last night.

Prosser and Scandella and Spurgeon were strong in front of their own net, and on the blue line when attacking. The Aeros broke out well (possibly aided by the late-arriving BSens coming onto the ice after a change) all night and, like I said, they cleared the zone with efficiency.

Peters had an on-going battle with the linesmen about faceoff protocol which resulted in him getting tossed as a matter of course by the end of the game. At some point you have to grant the point so that maybe you can stay on the dot for one of those faceoffs, guy.

Ortmeyer had a strong game. Earl was more physical than I thought he'd be. He was more of a perimeter/high slot player in the offensive zone that I thought he'd be too.

*Zach Smith is a bit of a fan favorite, no doubt aided by his surly demeanor. But he is also a pretty good little player. They have him on for key faceoffs, particularly in the offensive zone. He's the kind of player you could see in the NHL playing an Alex Burrows role and, frankly, probably playing it pretty well.

The difference in the game was that the Aeros dictated the terms of engagement for the majority of the game. Bingo barely had time to set up in the offensive zone for the first two and a half periods, much less create any kind of sustained attack. The Aeros were faster, stronger on and off the puck and not intimidated by the BSens physicality.

I can't imagine the BSens being able to play more physically - without getting into penalty trouble - so I would think this would portend good things for the Aeros for the balance of the series.

All in all, it was a great time and a fun experience.

My thanks to Ms. Conduct for the company, the BSens fans who were very cordial to me, the Aeros for a great performance and my wife for green-lighting my trip!

Quandary

2011-06-02T02:31:00.002-04:00

By KiPA

I don't know for whom to root in the Stanley Cup final.

I also didn't know who I wanted to win the Eastern Conference final. Whoever I started to side with immediately began to lose, so for Game 7, I just didn't care. I mainly wanted an 18-overtime game so everyone on both teams would collapse and die.

Once the final four was determined, I hoped San Jose would win the Stanley Cup. I knew the Sharks wouldn't, because, well, they're the Sharks. But they were by far the least evil of the remaining squads. Unlike many, I bear no rancor towards Dany Heatley, and people would have to explain to me who else is hateable on that team, besides Ben Eager.

In some alternate universe, surely, San Jose moved on to the final. I don't live in that one, however. So I'm stuck with picking the Canucks or the Bruins.

More likely, I'm picking no one.

I didn't really care about Vancouver a few years ago; my team doesn't play in the West, and with the unbalanced schedule, I rarely saw the Canucks play. Then they came to Pittsburgh a couple years ago and immediately vaulted into my top three hated teams rankings, given all the post-whistle and cheap-shot shit they liked to pull.

However, time healed those wounds because, again, there's just no consistent play between the two. Other teams leapfrogged Vancouver in my rankings, so it became, meh.

Despite that, there are still obvious reasons to hate the Canucks. Alex Burrows. Raffi Torres. Kevin Bieksa's kind of a dick. Alain Vigneault is so slimy he should star in the next Ghostbusters movie.

Then there's the xenophobia thing. U-S-A, U-S-A, and all that. Frankly though, I don't really care what country wins the Stanley Cup. Ryan Kesler, for all his American goodness, is also an effective douchebag. Then there's Roberto Luongo, the Italian-looking French Canadien with the Spanish-sounding name.

Actually, I can't say I hate Luongo either. He certainly didn't impress me in the Olympics - I think Canada won despite him, not because of him; he was just along for the ride - so I still question his big-gameness. He's been very good lately though, and the Bob Luongo jokes from me stop if he befriends Lord Stanley.

I won't make any apologies for this, but I can support the Green Men. I for one find them amusing.

I guess the biggest reason to root against Vancouver is the non-Green Men part of the fan base. I've heard a number of people make wisecracks - or perhaps, predictions - that after the final, Vancouver will be destroyed - and that's in celebration of winning the Cup, not the despair of losing it. So there's that.

On the other hand, I can't imagine the Boston fan base will be any better. Bruins games on NESN with Jack Edwards would be completely unbearable to watch; the over/under for how many times Edwards would reference the Cup win each game is roughly set at 234098743290. (I must not watch enough Vancouver games, but I don't think that team's announcers are nearly as bad as Edwards.)

Plus, hasn't Boston won enough shit lately? An NBA title, two World Series and three Super Bowls in the last decade.

I should root for former Penguins on Boston like Andrew Ference and Mark Recchi. But to hell with that. Ference I can support; not Recchi any more, as much as that pains me to say. Recchi was an awesome member of the Pens 20 years ago, and very valuable in winning the 1991 Stanley Cup. But his second stanza with the team ended poorly, with rumored vindictiveness towards Sidney Crosby. And don't say it was just a veteran trying to be a leader; when Bill Guerin was called in to perform a similar role, the team flourished.

Not only that, Recchi's kind of become a cranky old bastard in his dotage.

The biggest reason, for me, to root against Boston is ESPN's pop culture guru, podcaster and occasional columnist the Sports Guy, Bill Simmons. A Boston native, Simmons - who I normally love, unless he's writing/talking about Boston sports - has apparently jumped on the Bruins bandwagon. Like, 10 minutes ago.

He'll diagram an entire quarter of some random NBA game in January, and spend hours poring over a Western Conference NBA playoff game, but the hockey talk from him is severely lacking. I get part of it; basketball is his preferred sport. It just irks me that now, of all times, he's talking hockey.

In fairness, Simmons used to enjoy hockey until owner Jeremy Jacobs started nickel-and-diming the team. I can support that. The drafting of Tyler Seguin is what apparently brought him back, though he claims the hard salary cap did as well. Not that he's followed the Bruins really since the lockout, at least not until this year.

Just as I don't care for the patriotism of rooting for the American team against the Canadian one, I also don't buy into the East vs. West conference thing. What, the Eastern Conference winning the Stanley Cup is supposed to make me feel better about the Penguins losing in the first round? Does it validate their season that they lost to the team that lost to the champion?

So the reasons for me rooting for the Bruins are severely lacking. I like Patrice Bergeron. I like Dennis Seidenberg. I'm ambivalent towards Tim Thomas. I can't really add anything else to the "pro" list. Just cons.

I guess one other reason why I might want Boston to win is because I feel a small measure of guilt over what Matt Cooke did to Marc Savard. However, I can argue that away by saying karma got us back in the form of David Steckel.

All I really know is I'm not going to like who raises the Stanley Cup. The best part about the 2011 final that I can say is at least it's not Detroit against Philadelphia or Washington.

Otherwise, I'd have to drive my car off a cliff.

Atlanta's Move to Winnipeg: The Good Side

2011-05-31T15:26:00.006-04:00

by NiNY

This is a story about accepting that the water under the bridge is, in fact, under the bridge.

For any of the myriad reasons already floated, the NHL in Atlanta was not going to work. My colleague KiPA points out that it was the owners and league that doomed the Thrashers, not the fans - and I agree with him. But, regardless the reason, the team failed in Atlanta. You can throw a bunch of maybes out there. Maybe with different owners it would have been better. Maybe with a better lease situation it would have been better. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But the facts on the ground were not conducive to that franchise thriving in Atlanta.

So, fish or cut bait.

The NHL cut bait.

Bettman talked about 'righting a wrong' in his comments about the Thrashers moving to Winnipeg (technically pending the board of governors' vote, which I have to think will be a rubber stamp affair - surely the best ownership options were already floated in Atlanta and, barring a new ownership option emerging, there's nothing at all in the way of an 'aye' vote). And that's interesting because he was basically echoing the comments he made at center ice of the Xcel Energy Center before the Minnesota Wild's inaugural season home opener. "We never should have left" or words to that effect.

Whether the NHL, under Bettman, is a stronger NHL than it was before Bettman is an argument for a different day (maybe a future HTP Good Side/Bad Side?) But if Bettman and the league realize that, at some point, you can't get blood from a particular stone and move on - and at the same time find a market they think will be more viable than the one they're leaving (and that's all they have right now: a prediction) then that's okay with me.

This is also a story about economics.

Having already invoked the North Stars, right up front, the situations are a bit different. The North Stars were moved by their owner, seeking a better deal for himself. The Jets, unable to keep up in the pre-cost-certainty NHL, and completely unaided by the Canadian dollar, were unable to afford to stay. The Wild came to St. Paul as an expansion franchise, while the Thrashers are a relo. The Canadian dollar is much stronger vs. the US dollar now. I would wonder if the Jets would have survived before in a post-lockout NHL featuring cost certainty, but I wouldn't want to get started on the maybes. I'm sure it hurt both fanbases equally when the North Stars and Jets left, but there are slightly different economics.

And economics is key here.

The Thrashers played to an average of 13,469 this season, or 72.6% capacity. The MTS Centre in Winnipeg seats 15,015. 13,469 is 89.7% of 15,015. So Winnipeg need only fill its building to at least 90% of capacity to immediately make sense from the NHL's perspective. Even beyond the initial honeymoon period, this should be easy to accomplish particularly given the parity in the league (again, back to the provisions of the cost-certainty that the league won during the lockout) and the fans' painful memory of losing a team once already.

Economically, corporate sponsorship is a concern for long-term viability. I'd say that's the one material issue to be overcome. I'm reading that they might name the team the Manitoba (something) instead of the Winnipeg (something) to appeal to a broader potential sponsorship base. So, while this is still absolutely an outstanding issue to be watched, it appears as though the pertinent parties are sensitive to it which is a step in the right direction.

But the main thing when looking at this from an economics standpoint is to compare what the NHL has in Winnipeg/Manitoba to what it is leaving behind in Atlanta. The comparison would be at least as favorable to Winnipeg if it was Phoenix that was moving, but the math works when it's Atlanta just the same.

If you believe that the long-term economics in Atlanta with the current set of circumstances just didn't work, then you also have to believe the long-term economics in Winnipeg are at least as bad in order to think this is a bad move for the NHL. And, to me, that dog just don't hunt.

The NHL was staring at a failure. And a two-time loser at that. If it was going to relo a team, it had to be to a place that would go bananas to get one. Winnipeg is as good an option as there is, and you get a little extra heart string tug given their history vis-a-vis the NHL.

So, the economics are solid and the NHL took the opportunity to accept its failures and move on. It has a built-in audience in Winnipeg and one that is extra-motivated to make it work long-term.

Hey, if nothing else, Selanne's a UFA. Maybe he'll want to *finish* his career back where it all began...

Atlanta's move to Winnipeg: The Bad Side

2011-05-31T14:02:00.002-04:00

By KiPA

Stop me if you've heard this story before. NHL puts team in a city, city ends up not being able to care for said team, NHL abandons city, moves team to somewhere else. Down the road, however, the NHL fails to learn from the past and puts another team in said city. Said city again can't keep the team and loses it.

I speak of Atlanta, of course, and if we're not careful and lucky, the same could be said of Winnipeg.

Remember when the NHL had a team in Winnipeg? I bet you probably do. Remember what happened to that team in Winnipeg? Yeah.

Hopefully, the circumstances that led to the Jets leaving Canada won't happen to the new franchise in Winnipeg, whatever it will be called. (Doesn't seem like they'll go back to the Jets, which is another point in my favor. If you're going to put a team back there, how do you NOT call them the Jets? Will anyone take the new name seriously? How many jokes will there be that still refer to the team as the Jets?) There's no real guarantee of that though, is there?

I'll concede the point that it's good we have another Canadian team back in the league. But it never should've come to this. The relocation of the Thrashers speaks to the incompetence of commissioner Gary Bettman, his staff, the Atlanta "owners" and most of all, their greed. When the Coyotes reached a deal to stay in Phoenix for another season, did Bettman even pause before looking to move the Thrashers? Was he not content with the league as it was?

More importantly: Did he even put in half as much effort to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix as he did to keep the Thrashers in Atlanta? Like when he wanted to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh a few years ago?

One of the beat writers for the Penguins, Dave Molinari, blogged after Pittsburgh's regular season finale in Atlanta that some of the arena workers believed the Thrashers' days were numbered. That if the Coyotes didn't move to Manitoba, the Thrashers would. It's a bit startling, and disconcerting, how quickly and rapidly a deal to move the Thrashers was completed. Talk about a rebound relationship. We know how those usually end.

Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote a fabulously scathing article on the whole situation. You can find that here.

And Schultz is absolutely correct. The city, the fans, didn't fail the franchise. The owners and (mis)management did. That's a testament to how little the NHL cares about character or integrity in prospective owners, they just want their money. (I know, tell that to Jim Balsillie; Bettman seems to have a vendetta against him.)

Relocating a franchise is a blackmark on a league. It's a sign of a lack of due diligence in determining the key factors that a team needs to work. Don't tell me hockey in the South can't work. Look at Carolina and the atmosphere they had for the All-Star Game. The playoff crowds in Nashville and Tampa. If the right ownership group, the right personnel and the right managers are in place, hockey can work anywhere.

Don't get me wrong. I hope the new Winnipeg team succeeds, even thrives. But the circumstances surrounding this mess leave me unhappy and disgruntled with Bettman and the NHL.

Aeros Success At Odds With Wild Consternation

2011-05-25T09:47:00.004-04:00

by NiNY

One of the common themes in the griping about the Minnesota Wild by its fans as well as league cognoscenti over the last few years is that, in addition to a sub-par product at the NHL level, the developmental cupboard was dangerously bare.

So, it's hard to reconcile that theory against the Houston Aeros' run to the AHL's Calder Cup Finals this season.

I mean, if the kids actually are alright, then what, exactly, are we worried about?

Maybe nothing.

Then again, maybe not.

And that's really the thing. According to aeros.com, the average age of the players on the roster is roughly 25. So, young kids. That and the intangibles that go into operating as a team - the ability of the whole to be greater than the sum of the parts - in all sports but especially in hockey. Together those things mean that sometimes what's on paper, and even as a result of rational, informed analysis fails in the face of actual output.

And that's okay.

Analysts analyze. Operators operate. There aren't that many Jack Ryans who can do both.

So, to the extent that we need people analyzing and prognosticating whose function is a separate function from those who would actually carry out the tasks being analyzed (and we do, I'm not running an anti-media campaign here) I think the analysts can continue to ply their trade - even, maybe especially, when they're wrong.

Because this is just different shades of the same entertainment color, right? Mel Kiper Jr. doesn't provide some service to society. No, with hair like that he's there for entertainment. To further our society's need to live vicariously through sports. Nothing wrong with it. But nothing wrong - from an entertainment value - with being wrong either.

So maybe the Wild has a better crop of young players than we thought. Certainly, there's a chance that some of them will be better for this run alone. Does that make the casual Wild fan feel better about the future? Who knows. But if it gives the casual Wild fan some little extra nugget of entertainment, then it's all good.

Weighing the options: Realignment

2011-05-20T21:24:00.004-04:00

By KiPA

With the near-imminent-no-really-it-hasn't-happened-yet-but-totally-will-soon news that the Atlanta Thrashers will move to Winnipeg, talk of realignment has begun to pick up. After all, we can't rightly have Winnipeg (location: not eastern Canada) in the Eastern Conference, right?

Supposedly, for some unknown and probably stupid reason, realignment doesn't appear imminent for 2011-12, however, the conferences will look different for the 2012-13 season. So let's take a look at some of the likely candidates to move East.

Detroit

Pros: For the most part, the pros of moving East will be the same for any team. The biggest and most obvious is the travel ramifications. No more multiple trips to Vancouver, Phoenix, or southern California. More trips to Buffalo, Carolina and New York. Detroit is one of the few teams in the West who actually plays in the Eastern time zone. (I believe Columbus is the only other one?) That will save money on travel costs and also energy for an increasingly-aging team.

Detroit's large fan base will be able to see more of the Red Wings' road games. (Though if they're that die-hard, they'll watch them no matter where they play. But I digress.)

More intense rivalries could be created with teams like Washington and Philadelphia. It would result in most of the Original Six teams being in the East. It would be NBC's dream come true, because they'd have even less reason to show teams in the Western Conference.

Cons: Never mind that Chicago-Detroit rivalry. Who needs tradition? It would also hurt the other 14 teams in the West, as they would lose a major, major draw. None of the teams in the East would be happy either, as they would have to deal with a major, major opponent in earning division titles/playoff spots. It would create illogical divisions. It's bad enough Washington is in the Southeast Division; who north of the Mason-Dixon line will join them?

Diagnosis: As a member of the East, I don't want Detroit in the conference at all. Word is though they'll be the favorite, because they were such a "good soldier" in the last realignment that saw Toronto move East. Ken Holland is buddy-buddy with a lot of NHL higher-ups, so they'll probably whine their way into a move because they can't cut it in the West any more.

Columbus

Pros: Again, the travel and money costs. But also, the Blue Jackets need help. Moving them East will, I believe, help them competitively because they won't have to deal with the crazy traveling. The East seems a little more wide-open at the bottom of the playoff picture, which could keep the Blue Jackets alive in the playoff race for longer. And if that's one more fan base who actually has reason to be excited as the year winds down, that's a major plus. Whereas Detroit will always be in the chase.

An instant rivalry with Pittsburgh will result. Penguins fans basically make Nationwide Arena their home away from home as it is. Columbus is the closest NHL town to Pittsburgh, and the Penguins need a rival they can actually beat. (They can't beat Philadelphia or Washington any more.) And since Pittsburgh is always on national TV, sometimes Columbus could be as well, which - gasp - would create more exposure for another team that isn't Pittsburgh, Washington, Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia, the Rangers or Chicago (or as my friend calls them, the NBC 7.)

Cons: They're not Detroit.

Diagnosis: They're not Detroit, so they're not an actual candidate.

Nashville

Pros: In addition to what was said in the first paragraph on Columbus, there is one other major pro for Nashville to move. The Predators are one of the few NHL teams who could be considered in the southeastern part of the United States, so moving them to that division makes all the sense in the world.

Cons: The NHL does not do things that make sense. Nashville would be the only team who plays in the East that isn't in the Eastern time zone. Also, Nashville isn't Detroit.

Diagnosis: Nashville isn't Detroit, so the Preds aren't an actual candidate.

Winnipeg

Pros: Screw it, why the hell not?

Cons: They're not Detroit.

In Killer, Boogeyman, Minnesotans Saw Themselves

2011-05-17T14:55:00.006-04:00

by NiNY

It hasn't actually been that quiet of a week in Lake Wobegon, my hometown.

Minnesota said good-bye to two of its favorite public figures in former Wild enforcer Derek Boogaard and, today, former Twins standout Harmon Killebrew.

In a great piece, what else do you expect from him, Steve Rushin observed how ill-named Harmon "The Killer" Killebrew was.

Likewise, in countless twitter shout outs and in the tireless work by Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, we heard a common string of epithets about Boogaard all speaking to how nice the man was, in direct contravention of his on-ice personae.

And I'm assuming the outpouring of love and respect and well-wishes for Killebrew will at least match what Boogaard's untimely passing brought about.

These two men garnered the love of Minnesotans for their play on their respective fields, no doubt. But their demeanor and personality off the field was what really endeared them to Minnesotans.

First, there was Boogaard. By all accounts gracious, humble, generous of time and energy and caring off the ice. His selflessness ironically mirrored by his massive frame, as though he realized that, in being so big, he literally had more to give than others.

Some athletes wear that mantle better, more comfortably and more naturally than others. For Boogaard it almost seemed like he viewed his success in hockey as a vehicle for his desire to serve the community. That's remarkable. And to be cherished. And, sadly in Boogaard's case, to be remembered - fondly.

And, of course, Mr. Killebrew. By all accounts a gentleman - from the era when being a gentleman meant something, too. Humble, genteel, himself a philanthropist with his time and fame. Quiet, eschewing of the spotlight. It's hard to think of today's sluggers mirroring Mr. Killebrew's "aw shucks" demeanor with any amount of credibility to their performance. While he was an All-Star (13 times) on the field, he preferred to "wash dishes" off it.

And it's those qualities that caused the love affair Minnesotans had with these two men. Minnesotans are themselves a quiet, reticent, kindly people. We're Garrison Keillor, Minnesota nice and a blue ox. We take to ice fishing, for God's sake. Talk about a demonstration of a desolate, austere personality.

I've lived away from Minnesota for half my life. When I go back now I am struck by the friendliness. People hold the door for you and then say "have a nice day!" before you even say thank you. Motorists observe the rule about stopping for pedestrians in a marked crosswalk. Pedestrians observe and utilize the marked crosswalks!

If you spent a day in NYC and then time warped to Minneapolis/St. Paul and spent a day there you'd feel like you woke up in Pleasantville - before Tobey and Reese got there.

Looking out for your fellow man, no it's not everywhere practiced by everyone, but it's darn close to it in Minnesota.

And it's a quiet, unassuming, "no thanks necessary" kind of friendliness, to boot.

So it's no wonder that these two men were idolized in Minnesota. The Killer and the Boogeyman were just Minnesotans' kind of guys, I guess.

Blogger madness

2011-05-13T14:38:00.003-04:00

Update: Never mind, apparently the posts are still here. Disregard this one!

Apparently, blogger.com was down for a while, and an unfortunate side effect was my two most recent posts were deleted. (At least, I assume that's what happened. *casts shifty-eyed look at NiNY*) So in case anyone was curious what happened to my rants on the Sharks and Jaromir Jagr rumors, that's what happened, I didn't delete them myself to get them out of cyberspace.

(As far as you know. Bwahahahaha.)

(And yes, I know no one actually cares or probably even read them.)

I hate the Internet

2011-05-12T15:30:00.000-04:00

By KiPA

The Internet is good for only two things: Porn and up-to-the-second sports news/scores. OK, three things: Porn, up-to-the-second sports news/scores, and more porn.

The rest is garbage, particularly when it pertains to, uh, sports. The Internet provides an avenue for dopes (including yours truly) to spew garbage about sports. Specifically, horseshit rumors about one's favorite team. Especially when they're the same goddamn ones every summer.

News came out that the Penguins would like to invite the franchise's second-greatest player, Jaromir Jagr, back to Pittsburgh this summer as the team recognizes and organizes a reunion for the 1991 Stanley Cup-winning team. There will be a golf gathering, a dinner, and I don't know what else.

The goal, according to an accredited (albeit douchy and lame) writer (Rob Rossi), is to mend any broken fences with Jagr. The two didn't part under the most pleasant of circumstances, though a large reason for Jagr's trade to Washington was financially-based. After the fence-mending, the Penguins hope to one day retire Jagr's No. 68.

Somehow, the morons on the Internet - and radio talk shows - took this to actually mean general manager Ray Shero will try signing Jagr to a contract for this season. I'm sure Eklund has already given this e4 status. Or J17 status. Bingo. Whatever.

You know, because that's what makes sense. Any time you can bring in a 39-year-old player who hasn't been in the NHL for three years when you didn't want to sign him three years ago, you have to do it, right?

Could it happen? Sure. Will it? I'd say it's pretty darn unlikely.

Jagr still seems to have some pep in his step. He had 71 points in a full 2007-08 season with the Rangers and 15 points in 10 playoff games. This season in the KHL, Jagr posted 51 points in 49 games.

That doesn't mean he can still find success in the NHL. Unfortunately, that's not going to stop the Internet from blowing up with baseless rumors of Jagr's return to the Penguins.

Blow them up?

2011-05-11T23:32:00.000-04:00

By KiPA

What people don't know about the San Jose Sharks logo is that after it bites the hockey stick, it tries to swallow it and chokes to death.

That was courtesy of @sportspickle, the humorous sports web site/Twitter account, after Detroit's victory in Game 6 Tuesday to become yet another team to force a Game 7 after being down 3-0 in the series.

My joke: If the movie "Jaws" was patterned after the San Jose Sharks, no one would've died.

I also need to figure something out. Is San Jose the Washington of the West, or is Washington the San Jose of the East? Also, does anyone expect the Sharks to actually win their Game 7 with Detroit? I certainly don't, and I'd love for someone to give me any reason why I should change my mind.

So let's think about something. If, indeed, Detroit pulls off the stunner-that-really-isn't-a-stunner, does general manager Doug Wilson pull a Chief Brody and blow up Jaws, er, the Sharks?

It's strange. San Jose has a Hart Trophy winner (Joe Thornton), a two-time 50-goal scorer (Dany Heatley), a five-time 30-goal (and one-time 40-goal) scorer in Patrick Marleau, a Norris-caliber defenseman in Dan Boyle, and a Stanley Cup-winning goalie in Antti Niemi.

Then there's the USA's second-greatest centerman, Joe Pavelski, plus a possible Calder winner in Logan Couture. Ryane Clowe is an excellent agitator/power forward. Devin Setoguchi is a competent top-six forward.

Why does this team suck?

The following is a phrase I'll probably only ever use once and this one time only: I agree with Jeremy Roenick. Patrick Marleau is gutless. He does lack heart. The same apparently for a lot of Marleau's teammates. The Sharks should stop worrying about what an analyst says - he's paid to give his opinion, and his opinion is what we got, I see no reason why there was an uproar over it - and start trying to figure out how to close out a series.

If San Jose crashes and burns Thursday night, doesn't Wilson have to change something? His problem is Marleau, Thornton, Heatley, Pavelski and Boyle are all signed for the next three years. That's his core, but if his core continues to fail in the postseason, then clearly it's not a core that can succeed. Those five guys are the veterans, the expected point producers.

Failure in the 2011 postseason does not belong on Couture's shoulders, or Clowe's, or even Niemi's. Niemi was fabulous in Game 6, but the woeful team in front of him laid down like dogs.

Maybe Wilson doesn't change anything this offseason even if San Jose loses Game 7, which we all know it will. But if I'm a Sharks fan, and this team doesn't reach the conference final, I question whether that roster is capable of being winners.

There certainly isn't any evidence that they can win.

Dropping off

2011-05-05T00:22:00.002-04:00

By KiPA

Did everyone enjoy that thrilling first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs? I hope so.

Because the second round is about as anticlimactic as the opening round was exciting.

Granted, there's only one series in the second round that is officially over. Although two other teams are not just on the brink of elimination but might as well play with golf clubs instead of hockey sticks.

The first round saw three Game 7s just in the East, a fourth in the West, and a slew of wild comeback games, particularly in the Los Angeles-San Jose series. The remaining drama in the second round mainly stems from the question, "Will they screw up again?"

Of course, one team has already answered that question in the positive (negative?), and in resounding fashion. Once again, Washington crapped out of the playoffs in spectacular fashion, becoming the first No. 1 seed to be swept in one of the first two rounds of the playoffs since the NHL switched to this format for the 1993-94 season. I forget the stat I saw, but only two or three No. 1 seeds have been swept period since the switch.

Will the Capitals have company? Will Boston blow another 3-0 series lead to Philadelphia? It's very difficult to believe such a collapse would happen in consecutive years involving the same teams. Could San Jose, also with an extensive history of underachieving (OK, let's be honest, choking) in the playoffs, let its 3-0 lead slip away?

I doubt it in either case, but I also wouldn't bet against the Flyers or Red Wings erasing that kind of deficit. Even with Philadelphia's comical goaltending situation. (How many times does a guy have to be pulled before you stop playing him? The problem is, Brian Boucher might be the best the Flyers have.)

Our last hope for an exciting second-round series is Nashville winning Game 4. It's primarily because of Pekka Rinne that the Canucks aren't the fourth team to have won a series' first three games this round.

We've had plenty of overtime games - 15 of the last 16 nights of hockey have gone to extra time - but we have just one last chance at a back-and-forth series. Then the hope that someone pulls a Chicago and forces at least a Game 6.

Of course, if your team either didn't qualify for the postseason or has already been eliminated, all you have left is schadenfreude. That is, taking pleasure in the misfortune of others.

And if you're a Penguins fan, this second round - with one more win by San Jose and Boston - will be the best. Second round. Ever.

(Well, almost. It'd be at least top five.)

Now what?

2011-04-30T15:40:00.000-04:00

By KiPA

With the dust settling for the Penguins, it's time to start thinking about what this team could look like next season. It could be very different or it could be exactly the same.

If you were to go to CapGeek.com's Penguins page, you'll see an awful lot of green UFA icons among the forwards. There are 10 of those, to be exact, with an additional two red restricted free agents.

In other words, Pittsburgh has more expiring contracts for forwards than those signed for next season.

It's also pretty clear that the current group didn't have any kind of firepower to get the job done in the wake of certain high-profile injuries you might have heard about. Ray Shero's decision is how many of these players does he want to retain and how much does he want to dip his toes into the free agent pool.

We can rule out a few of those 10 names right off the bat. Eric Godard, Alexei Kovalev and Mike Comrie will not return. (Editor's note: I will always regret how this season went down for Comrie. At least until next season.) Arron Asham and Mike Rupp are wild cards who are a) affordable and b) replaceable. My thinking is Rupp is the likelier of the two to stay.

One or two players seem certain to return. Craig Adams and Pascal Dupuis have both found happy niches here. Adams accepted close to the league minimum for two years to remain in Pittsburgh when he was a free agent in 2009 and I'd almost expect him to sign a very similar contract this time around. Dupuis is coming off a three-year contract that paid him $1.4 million per year. Considering Dupuis is 32, I doubt he'd get a three-year offer from Shero, who rarely offers that kind of term to role players. I could see Dupuis coming back for two years with maybe a raise of a couple hundred grand.

A sixth name on the list is Nick Johnson, who spent the majority of the season in the AHL. I'd be surprised if he leaves the organization but he would likely receive a two-way deal.

Max Talbot could be the Penguin most likely to be elsewhere. In a Rob Scuderi situation, some team might offer him more money than he can afford to turn down. It shouldn't be a great deal; he made $1.05 million the last two seasons, and his biggest assets are his penalty killing and heart, so a gigantic raise shouldn't be expected. But as close as Pittsburgh is to the salary cap as it currently stands (CapGeek says the Penguins have just under $3.7 million available for next season, but of course, that number could raise by two or three million), too many players earning raises could price them out of town.

Chris Conner earned an NHL job this season and is the last of the UFAs. In fact, he might be the guy who possibly pushes Talbot or Dupuis out of Pittsburgh as a cheaper option. However, he did not kill penalties, and that could work against him.

The two RFAs are the intriguing ones. Dustin Jeffrey should return. His problem is he has actual ability to play the skill part of hockey, and management and the coaching staff frown upon that sort of thing. In any case, Jeffrey made a shade over $500K and shouldn't expect a big raise.

It's Tyler Kennedy who could move up a bracket. He clocked in at $725K the past two seasons and responded with a career-year this season. Since he's just an RFA, he won't have as much leverage but I'm sure he'll end up pulling in north of a million annually. The question is how much.

Money, term and salary cap aren't the only issues either when deciding who returns. Available jobs is just as key. Let's take a look at what Pittsburgh's lines would look like right now, with none of these 12 free agents re-signed:

Chris Kunitz-Sidney Crosby-James Neal
Eric Tangradi-Evgeni Malkin-_________
Matt Cooke-Jordan Staal-________
______-Mark Letestu-_______

(And no, I didn't really like typing Cooke's name, but he's going to be given one last chance to clean up his act, whether I like it or not.)

Twelve pending free agents. Four open roster spots in the starting lineup, with room for a couple extra forwards, maybe. Pittsburgh has seven defensemen signed for next season with Simon Despres possibly ready to play in the NHL. That's quite a logjam and makes the decision-making very difficult. The Penguins should no longer need an "enforcer" given the emergence of defenseman Deryk Engelland's fighting ability, so no need to sign someone like Godard.

Now, maybe they decide Tangradi should play at least part of the season in the AHL. I do not wish this but the concussion he suffered set back his development at least a little. So his roster spot is not a certainty. That still wouldn't clear up room for everyone, so we're going to assume he's ready. His mere presence alone could improve that ghastly power play.

Kennedy and Jeffrey should return. Adams too. So that would leave Rupp, Talbot, Asham, Dupuis and Conner left for one starting spot and maybe two or three roster spots as healthy scratches/13th-14th forwards. Yikes.

(OK, insert, "Well, there will be one more spot available once Cooke gets suspended" joke here.)

The one thing that seems certain is some quality role players will be hitting the market on July 1. I don't envy Shero these decisions. And by the way, we haven't even talked about anyone he might want to pursue from other teams.

Part of me wants to see new blood in the lineup but also likes the possibility of some potential line combinations with this group. Of course, that's assuming Jeffrey gets a chance to play with good players.

To sum up, I'm glad I'm just spewing my baseless, meaningless opinion about this and don't have to actually make any decisions myself.

Grading the Penguins: Defense, goalies

2011-04-29T15:49:00.000-04:00

By KiPA

Part One on grading the Penguins was on the forwards. Here's the rest of the roster.

Defensemen

Kris Letang: B-plus

His game fell through the floor over the last couple months of the season. Prior to that, he was under Norris Trophy consideration for his strong offensive and defensive play. Possibly overworked by season's end.

Brooks Orpik: B

Missed 19 games but still led the team with 194 hits. Second on league-best penalty kill unit in shorthanded ice time per game, third-best at blocking shots. Offense not part of his repertoire nor is it expected.

Zbynek Michalek: B-plus

Team's best shot blocker, first in shorthanded ice time per game. Offense took most of the season to show up before coming in at a decent clip. Slow start at both ends contributed to lower grade.

Paul Martin: B

Nearly as effective at blocking shots as Michalek, Martin also was very positionally sound. Also got better as the season went along but did have some glaring gaffes late. (Not that he was alone.) Would like to see more offense from the team's highest-paid defenseman.

Ben Lovejoy: B-minus

In his first full professional season, Lovejoy admirably filled in as the No.5/6 defenseman. Split time with Deryk Engelland before taking on a full-time role after the Alex Goligoski trade. More offense to his game than defense.

Deryk Engelland: B

Established himself as one of the league's new heavyweights. Became another physical defenseman on a team lacking in that area. Surprisingly competent with the puck but knows his limitations and doesn't try to do too much. Shockingly did not get into the playoffs despite Pittsburgh being terrorized in front of the net.

Alex Goligoski: A

Still ended up leading the team in goals by a defenseman despite the mid-season trade to Dallas. Capable of a minus-5 or a four-point game any given night.

Matt Niskanen: C-minus

Once acquired for Goligoski, Niskanen began his tenure with some impressive work before suffering a decline. The playoffs were not kind to him.

Goalies

Marc-Andre Fleury: A-minus
Brent Johnson: A

Fleury is downgraded for his woeful October. After that, he was probably one of the five best goalies in the NHL. He was easily the team MVP and an argument could be made of the league. Johnson is the ideal backup. He knows what it takes to win games consistently, having formerly been the No. 1 guy in St. Louis, and it was through his efforts that Pittsburgh survived October when Fleury struggled.

Overall, these units received higher grades than the forwards. That's not a surprise; once Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin went down, this team prevented goals a lot better than it did scoring them.

Grading the Penguins: The forwards

2011-04-28T13:42:00.006-04:00

By KiPA

Everyone else seems to love doing this grading thing, so I figured I might as well give it a shot. This segment will be on the forwards. The defensemen and goalies will be in a later edition.

Centers

Sidney Crosby: A-plus

In his half-season, Crosby was on pace for his finest season ever in the NHL. It took several weeks, if not longer, before he was caught in the goals and points department. He finished 18th and 32nd in those categories (32 goals, 66 points.)

Evgeni Malkin: C-minus

Suffered through injuries but even prior to that, played at a subpar level yet was still fifth on the team with 37 points in 43 games. Does not always bring 100 percent effort. Was not helped by having a coat rack and a bar stool as his linemates.

Jordan Staal: C-plus

Missed training camp and the first half of the year. Came back on Jan. 1 only to immediately be thrust into "the guy" role. Finished with decent offensive numbers (11 goals, 30 points in 42 games) considering the circumstances. Continued his strong defensive play but disappeared in the playoffs. Must improve faceoff percentage.

Max Talbot: B

A key cog of the league's top penalty killing unit. Energy player who has been described as the "heartbeat of the team." Provides modest offensive numbers at best, but his goal scoring was down slightly from the norm. Good rebound from last season, however, which was interrupted by injury.

Mark Letestu: B

Fared admirably with limited ice time, notching 14 goals (sixth on the team) and 27 points. Was thrust into the No. 1 center role because of injuries and was in over his head. Promising future nonetheless.

Mike Rupp: C-plus

Never one for putting up big numbers, Rupp came close to matching his career-highs set a year ago when he scored 13 goals and 19 points. Had nine and 17 this year playing primarily on the effective fourth line. Has a tendency of taking poor penalties or getting burned defensively.

Wingers

Chris Kunitz: B

Struggled to stay healthy for the second straight season but topped Penguins forwards not named Crosby with 23 goals and 25 assists. His placement on a top line is debatable but he again provided strong forechecking abilities to create space for his teammates. Proved capable on the power play in front of the net but disappeared in the playoffs again (10 goals in 78 career playoff games.)

Pascal Dupuis: B

Definitely not an ideal top-line winger but has some chemistry with Crosby. Was one goal shy of matching last year's numbers (18-20-38 last year, 17-20-37 this year), which is kind of impressive since he wasn't alongside Crosby for half the season. Excellent penalty killer netted four shorthanded goals.

Tyler Kennedy: A-minus

Smallish, gritty winger ended up being Pittsburgh's biggest offensive threat. Enjoyed a breakthrough year with 21 goals and 45 points (topping career-bests of 15 and 35.) Pretty much the lone Penguin who's going to look to shoot first rather than pass. Management might've been split 50-50 on keeping him (he's a restricted free agent) but certainly played his way to a new deal, if not a bigger role in the offense after stepping up his play late in the season (14 goals, 23 points over the last three months.) Seven power play goals tied for second on the team.

Matt Cooke: D-minus

Massively downgraded because, well, you know. His forechecking - when it's clean - and penalty killing abilities saved him from an F. Pittsburgh very much missed him in the playoffs.

Craig Adams: A

Tough one to grade, but you know what you're getting from Adams and he's graded in that niche. Effective fourth-liner, very good penalty killer. (I know I say that a lot, but Pittsburgh didn't lead the league in PK% for no reason.)

Arron Asham: B-minus

Performance in the playoffs improved his grade. Appeared in only 44 regular-season games partly because of injuries and was not all that effective except in spurts.

Chris Conner: B-minus

Played bigger than his size (listed at 5-8, 180) and often won battles against larger players (which is basically everyone in the league.) Provided plenty of energy and speed but not enough offense to justify keeping him in the lineup come playoff time.

Alex Kovalev: F

Re-acquiring him was a low-risk, high-reward gamble that didn't work out. At all.

James Neal: D

Hate to give that low a grade but I have no choice. The talent he possesses is obvious. He can create space, he has a good shot. But the "he just needs a good center" excuse could last only so long. Missed far too many golden opportunities and didn't score at nearly a high enough pace.

Dustin Jeffrey: B

Playing crap minutes, with crap linemates, Jeffrey flourished about as much as he could. Was often mis-used, then a knee injury ended his season.

Eric Tangradi: Incomplete

Spent most of the season in the AHL and part of it with a concussion after Trevor Gillies' cheap shot. His development suffered as a result, but he was cited as the key reason Pittsburgh scored its one postseason power play goal. Just about as mis-used as Jeffrey.

Mike Comrie: Incomplete

Injured in the second game of the season. It affected him until it became bad enough that he had surgery that kept him out of the lineup for months. Once healthy, Bylsma refused to play him. When he did, it was in the wrong kind of role.

Eric Godard: C-minus
Brett Sterling: B-minus
Nick Johnson: B-minus

Godard became expendable and suited up for just 19 games but did fight more than he did last year. Sterling and Johnson were injury replacements who fared adequately and should receive consideration for future employment.

That's a lot of names, but the Penguins went through a lot of forwards. I didn't even include some who played a handful of games. In a later post, the defense and goalies.

Myths busted: A Penguins postmortem

2011-04-28T00:54:00.004-04:00

By KiPA

I'm a big fan of the Discovery Channel show Mythbusters, and not just because of the scorching hot Kari Byron, who is at least 10 times hotter now that she's pumped out her kid. The Pittsburgh Penguins could star in an episode of Mythbusters, and not in a good way.

For instance, there is a myth the Penguins are a high-scoring team. They're not. There's a myth that Jordan Staal can be a No. 1 or 2 center on any other team. He can't.

At best, those two myths would get "plausible" ratings by Jamie and Adam. And that's only if Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are healthy.

Those two players were not healthy this postseason. That led to a glaring and elephant-in-the-room type weakness that the Penguins cannot score consistently without those two. Pittsburgh did a very admirable job in playing as well as it did in the second half of the season without their two guns (I could call them their two big guns, but that implies the Penguins have small guns when in fact there is a lack of firepower elsewhere.)

I made repeated jokes on Facebook and Twitter that the shootout was "helping the offensively-challenged Penguins win games since 2005." I posted the numbers in a previous post, and I'll go ahead and repeat them here: Pittsburgh won seven of its 10 shootout wins after Crosby and Malkin left the lineup. Seven out of 23 wins, compared to three shootout wins out of 26 overall pre-Crosby concussion.

Staal did virtually nothing to help the Penguins win their first-round playoff series. At least not offensively. He had one goal - albeit a semi-big one that tied Game 6 at 2-2 early in the third period - but that was it. He's a shutdown center who's capable of 20-some goals a season, but it now seems folly to expect anything greater from him.

The rest of the lineup, is, frankly, a joke. This is a problem, I believe, with the philosophies of general manager Ray Shero and head coach Dan Bylsma. I drunkenly ranted about this the other day but it bears repeating. Shero and Bylsma, rather than look for skilled players regardless of their defensive or forechecking abilities, would rather "make their team tough to play against" by adding forecheckers. Grinders, muckers. If you don't forecheck and play ferocious defense, you don't play.

After two consecutive failed postseasons in which goal scoring - finishing - was a significant issue, that strategy now seems flawed. It's one thing to win that way when Crosby, Malkin and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury are performing at all-world levels as they did in 2009 (or to a lesser extent, in 2008.) But if any of the trio struggle - as two of them did in 2010 - or are injured - as in this year - then the Penguins will be hard-pressed to make any kind of noise in the playoffs. Their ceiling will be one series victory a year, at best two.

Simply put, this team doesn't have enough talent, nor enough depth.

Sometimes there are options available. Bylsma stubbornly refused to make any lineup changes after Game 5 or Game 6, despite a power play that was one for 30 heading into Game 7. He left Eric Tangradi in the press box. Ditto Mike Comrie. Tangradi's presence was a key factor in Pittsburgh's sole power play goal of the postseason. Comrie was the only healthy Penguin with even one 30-goal season under his belt, let alone multiple.

I assume all voting for individual awards such as the Jack Adams Trophy for coach of the year are concluded before the start of the postseason. That's a good thing, because as good a job as Bylsma did in the regular season - leading the Penguins to their second-highest point total ever, nearly winning the division title despite playing half a season without Staal, then the second half without Malkin and Crosby - he seemed to do just as poor a job in the postseason. His bullheadedness with sticking with "his type of guys" and ignoring players who actually have some semblance of skill was just as big a factor in the Penguins blowing a 3-1 series lead for just the second time in team history.

I'd be remiss if I didn't expound upon the job Bylsma did. The Penguins tremendously overachieved in the second half. Earning home-ice advantage - not that it did any good - missing as many man-games as they did, and who they did (some teams lost more games, but none were nearly as significant as a Hart Trophy winner and a Conn Smythe winner) was a fabulous achievement. And it was a sweet ride.

Once the playoffs began, however, Pittsburgh's sheer lack of skill came to the forefront in a very negative way. The Penguins didn't once score more than three goals in a game against Tampa Bay in seven tries. They were held to two goals over the last two games, including the deciding shutout in Game 7.

The Penguins have a great number of free agents in the offseason. Some should be retained. Most of them are those third- and fourth-line grinders who lack actual ability to create plays and/or score goals. Shero needs to face up to the fact that he needs to add talent and not just sandpaper.

The salary cap doesn't help Shero. There's an awful lot of money tied up in Crosby, Malkin and Staal. Plus the defense corps. Shero has shown quite a bit of creativity in the past and he's going to need to work his magic some more, because this team, as constituted, is not capable of long-term success.

Crosby and Malkin might not miss the postseason at the same time again. Or they could both be absent as soon as next year. There is no Plan C if that happens. That has to change.

The better team won the series between Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh. The Lightning had many more stars and their role players out-did Pittsburgh's. Goalie Dwayne Roloson out-dueled Fleury, who was hung out to dry on numerous occasions either by porous, lazy defense or the inability to generate any kind of offense.

That will easily happen again unless Shero and Bylsma decide to go after playmakers and not just grinders.

Two Game Sevens, Two Different Feelings

2011-04-27T09:14:00.003-04:00

by NiNY

Two games into the now-four game first round game seven docket, and we saw two very different games.

In the salad course game, Philadelphia crushed Buffalo, chasing Ryan Miller in the process. The game, for a game seven, was flat and relatively staid. This likely has a lot to do with the control the Flyers exerted over the Sabres.

The main course game, however, was a different story.

The seven games of hockey the Canucks and Blackhawks just treated us to constitutes a tremendous series. This one had it all. The rise and fall of heros. Villainy. Intrigue. Heartbreak. Hell, this series brought an entire city of human beings right up to the precipice of mass suicide. And game seven was a perfect microcosm of that whole thing.

Luongo, so maligned over the last week, stepped up and had a very strong game. It certainly helped that his defense kept the Blackhawks at bay for most of the game. And, his detractors will point to the tying goal as further proof that he can't come up big in the big moments. But the fact is that he won the game and, more importantly, he corrected many of the issues in evidence over the preceding three games (limiting rebounds, staying on his feet longer, etc.)

The Canucks showed little regard for class after the game, in some comments from some of their players. But, A) Canucks and B) I suppose, when one blows a 3-0 lead and squeaks by with the smallest of margins, one has to do what one can to restore one's dignity, if not swagger.

In the final analysis, this was a heavyweight matchup. I frankly can't see any other potential series in the West being as good - though I'll be happy to be proven wrong on that - if my heart can handle it.

Time for a change

2011-04-25T22:47:00.003-04:00

By KiPA

(Warning: Profanity-laced tirade, possibly fueled by a case of Yuengling, incoming.)

I'm not going to call for the heads of Penguins general manager Ray Shero or head coach Dan Bylsma, but it's time for them to start rethinking how they build a hockey team.

Basically, this is what they need to do: Add skill, in Shero's case. Play skill, in Bylsma's case.

The Penguins are on the verge of blowing a 3-1 series lead (anyone who thinks Pittsburgh wins its series with Tampa Bay is delusional) and there are a variety of reasons why. What it comes down to is this team simply has no idea how to score a fucking goal.

Yeah, whatever. I know all-world talents Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin aren't in the lineup. They were in the lineup last year too when the team couldn't score, and it's because their supporting cast sucks donkey ass.

Yeah, whatever. I know they won the Stanley Cup in 2009 with a similar cast. That cast was actually better than the shit out on the ice right now.

Injuries happen. Who knows, Pittsburgh might not have Crosby and Malkin in the lineup should the Penguins somehow reach the playoffs next year. Got to have someone else who can at least be mildly competent in the offensive zone instead of just grind, and cycle, over, and over, and over, until you lose possession and the other team clears the zone. It's real tough to win games when you have all your offensive eggs in two players. During the regular season it's doable with the shootout but not in the playoffs.

Bylsma doesn't like to play certain players because, apparently, they're not "gritty" enough. They don't play the body enough, or some such bullshit like that. Fuck that. You don't win a game by out-hitting your fucking opponent. You do it by scoring more goals.

Hey, I like Pascal Dupuis. I like Max Talbot. Chris Conner's a nice little lightning bug with a great work ethic.

But for fuck's sake, if they're the ones carrying the offense, we're fucked. And look, a Game 7 that I doubt anyone in Pittsburgh expects a positive result from.

If they don't grind, they don't play. What the fuck kind of thinking is that? When the power play is 1 for a million, and has been shit for several years now, why don't you try and instill more offense in the fucking lineup instead of adding yet another fourth-line shithead to the roster?

You're telling me Alex Tanguay couldn't have been had? Kris Versteeg was what, too expensive in a trade? Ray Whitney had less value than Mike Rupp?

Whatever. At least I have only one more playoff game to pay for this season.

Thursday running commentary

2011-04-21T15:01:00.002-04:00

OK, I'll hold a chat this evening to talk/make wisecracks about tonight's NHL playoff action, which features two Game 4s (Montreal-Boston and San Jose-Los Angeles) and one Game 5 (Vancouver-Chicago.) Join in if you wish, or just read the archive later to get a taste of things I say on Twitter. It goes down around 6:45 ET p.m. Hopefully I remember how to run the thing, because it's been a while.

&amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=b9256b57fd" &amp;amp;amp;gt;Running playoff commentary&amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;gt;

Two sides to every coin

2011-04-19T16:12:00.003-04:00

By KiPA

Raffi Torres zero, Bobby Ryan two games, Jarret Stoll, Chris Kunitz and Steve Downie one game each.

That's the recent list of players who appeared to commit violations that required the NHL ~~clown unit~~ disciplinary committee to make its presence known during the Stanley Cup playoffs. By many accounts, Torres' hit on Brent Seabrook - who will miss tonight's Game 4 as a result - was technically legal. By many other accounts, even some of the same, Torres should've been suspended anyway.

The other penalties I personally can live with, though Downie's douchery in the past should've cost him more. At the same time, I'm kind of thankful Kunitz received only one game. I don't recall if Kunitz was ever suspended as a Duck but he's had no run-ins with the NHL's ~~clowns~~ higher-ups as a Penguin. His hit was Matt Cooke-esque and while Kunitz is a fierce, big hitter, he never crosses the line. I can only think that since he's been filling Cooke's role as linemate of Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy that the aura of Cooke possessed Kunitz.

Anyway. The league might or might not have gotten it right on each of these decisions. But isn't it about time to point the finger elsewhere?

I'm talking about Donald Fehr, the NHL players association, and, well, the players.

The NHLPA is not blameless here. The players themselves need to start taking the issue of player safety to heart. Start teaching respect for your fellow man.

If you see a player's numbers, don't hit him. If you see him involved, with his head down, with another player in a battle for the puck, don't try to kill him.

If you see a player coming at you, don't turn your back to him so you get creamed into the boards. Don't duck your head in high-traffic areas because you think that little action will help you get to a puck 15 feet away.

The league doesn't seem to be getting very much right when it comes to discipline but the players seem content with the actions of their peers. There remains confusion on certain issues - namely the Torres hit on Seabrook, which, if it didn't receive further discipline, it shouldn't have even been a penalty, should it? He either violated Rule 48 or he didn't. And if he did, he did it for the second time in a few weeks.

There isn't confusion on throwing elbows at opponents' heads. Don't do it. There shouldn't be confusion on launching yourself at an opponent's head with an elbow raised. Don't do it. Even the NFL is frowning on that kind of hit, and they want to make their players go through a longer, more grueling season.

We can't blame just the NHL any more for failing to mete out appropriate discipline. We need to start blaming the players too for not caring about the well-being of others. The PA needs to start cleaning up the game just as much as the league.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. You don't want to be concussed, so stop trying to concuss everyone else.

Testing the waters

2011-04-18T19:28:00.002-04:00

I'm pondering the idea of one or multiple nights during the playoffs, maybe starting Wednesday, of Cover it Live chats/running commentaries rather than clog my Twitter feed with them. If people are interested, I'll try to do that and people are free to join in.

A confession of sorts

2011-04-18T15:48:00.002-04:00

By KiPA

At the risk of sounding like a spoiled fan - for I know there are a number of fan bases who'd love to trade places with me - I have to admit that I'm not really all that sure if I want the Penguins to advance past the first round of this year's playoffs.

It's not that I'm hoping they lose; I was thrilled after Game 1 and just as pissed off and dejected after Game 2. But I think I have legitimate reasons, justifications even, for as short a playoff run as possible. (As usual, the pocketbook is one.) Here are the rest.

First off, this team cannot win the Stanley Cup without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Nor am I sure they can win without Malkin in the lineup. Even with a healthy and effective Crosby, Pittsburgh becomes a one-line team that opponents will try their best to lock down.

Crosby's continued absence is the bigger reason I'm not anxious for extended spring games. I'm still not convinced - and I'm not sure anything can change my mind - that it's a good idea for Crosby to return to hockey this season. First, I'm a little concerned that for as long as he's been skating in non-contact practices, Crosby has yet to be cleared for contact. I'm trying to remember the timeline Brad Richards went through when he had a concussion and his was much quicker. Of course, everyone recovering from concussions is different.

I don't know if there's a valid comparison point just from skating in non-contact drills to being cleared for contact or not. Part of me wonders if the team is intentionally keeping Crosby out because management also thinks it's a bad idea for him to return, but they also don't want to rule out the hope of a return. Another part of me thinks the first part is as dumb as John Steigerwald.

Considering Crosby has missed over three months, I can't imagine who thinks it'd be a good idea to thrust him into the heat of a playoff series. The current one features noted philanthropist Steve Downie on the other side; a recently-concussed star plus Downie = baaaaad tidings. Anyone the Penguins could face in the second round is likely to be just as unfriendly (Alex Ovechkin, Mike Richards, Chris Pronger, Scott Hartnell, Hal Gill off the top of my head.)

The longer Pittsburgh lasts in the playoffs, the higher the chance of Crosby making a return. Four months rusty. In games where every little inch, every last effort can make or break the season. Being his team's sole source of offense. A target on his back anyway, and an even bigger one with his recent injury. All apologies to Jeremy Roenick, I do not believe teams will take it easy on Crosby. I think they'll go the opposite way and try and pop him in the head even more than normal.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it. We saw what happened to Marc Savard when he returned to the playoffs against Philadelphia. If the Penguins advance, and that has become a big if, the Flyers are a likely opponent.

I love what the Penguins, under Jack Adams candidate Dan Bylsma, have done this season without their two big guns. But their current style of play is not actually conducive to winning in the playoffs. OK, they're playing great defense and that's how you win, but you have to score sometime. Pittsburgh led the NHL in shootout wins, tied with Los Angeles with 10. It had the third-fewest regulation/overtime wins among the eight Eastern Conference playoff teams. I'm too lazy to look up the numbers before and after Crosby left the lineup, but I'm betting they're even more startling.

(OK, I lied. Here they are: After Crosby's last game on Jan. 5, seven of Pittsburgh's 23 wins were in a shootout, compared to three of 26 wins with Crosby.)

So the Penguins have found ways to win. It's been fun. But at this point, I just want to play it safe with Crosby. I want to hit the Reset button and start anew next year. Get Crosby healthy. Get Malkin healthy. Teach James Neal how to find an open spot in the net. Try again next year.

And hope to hell that the West wins the Cup again, unless Montreal can pull off three miracles in a row.

Instant analysis

2011-04-14T01:12:00.003-04:00

By KiPA

Here's a quick preview of storylines we can read about Thursday as Day 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs is officially in the books.

--Marc-Andre Fleury will never give up a goal.

--Neither will Roberto Luongo.

--Steven Stamkos is a playoff choke-artist who will never score.

--Alexander Semin will lead the league in game-winning goals.

--Mike Fisher (two goals, three points) will win the Conn Smythe Trophy.

--Games 3 and 4 of the Detroit-Phoenix series should really just be played in Winnipeg, since the Coyotes are three games away from being moved.

--King Henrik? More like Henry the jester.

--Who needs Sidney Crosby when you have Arron Asham?

--Patrick Kane wishes he had a dime for every shot he had that didn't go in.

--Phoenix just needs Paul Bissonette in the lineup. Or at least tweeting from the bench; that could distract the Red Wings.

--The Ducks will get nasty when they're losing. (Oh, wait, this happens all the time.)

--Corey Perry hopes the Hart Trophy balloting has been completed after posting a minus-3 in Game 1.

Wild Win, Fire Coach, Start Over Again

2011-04-11T11:30:00.008-04:00

by NiNY

*UPDATE* Assistant coach Dave Barr and video coach PJ DeLuca also fired. And thank goodness. Clearly the video coach was the problem this season.

What a frustrating season.

And the effort the boys put forth in last night's finale crystalized my frustration. That was a great 3-zone effort. They played like that for a while, and got into playoff position as a result. But, whether too thin, too weak, not enough leadership, ill-coached, whatever, that train eventually stopped sailing and the wheels came off like nothing I'd ever seen from the Wild. So, last night served to remind us that they CAN play the way they need to in order to win games, they just, for whatever reason, didn't.

Now the introspection begins anew for the Wild.

With the announcement that Todd Richards has been fired as head coach this morning, it's time to start wondering things like "Were the last two seasons worth it?" And "Will this be a 'careful what you wish for', if Fletcher replaces Richards with a defense-first coach?"

Russo touched on this, and it's something I've kicked around a bit too, but there's an argument that these two years were going to be rough no matter who the coach was. Transitioning from such a specific system/mentality under Lemaire, and with the cupboards as bare as they were thanks to Risebrough, it's arguable that only Lemaire himself could have made the Wild competitive (read: screwed up their draft position just like he did for the Devils this season).

So, maybe this transitional period had to happen for the Wild to move on. And, if that's the case, then Richards was destined to be the scape goat. That's kind of a bummer for him, but coaches have a way of getting another kick at the can in the big leagues.

And, let's be honest: Richards was set up to fail this year. From Leipold, to Fletcher, to the players (Madden), the playoffs was set up as an expectation for this season for the Wild. Funny how, coming into a season, the legit playoff teams don't ever have to talk about making the playoffs as an expectation - it's just assumed that they're going to make the playoffs. You never hear Detroit saying, "I think we're a playoff team this year."

Here's what I said about hiring Richards back in June, 2009:

"I like this move. I like that it meshes with what Fletch has said he's looking for. I like that it allows him a bit of familiarity with the key person on his staff. I like that Richards will be a hungry, young coach. I like that, if anything, coaching "at home" will add more pressure to him, not less - I don't think he'll just be at Manny's every night letting people buy him drinks and stuff. I like all of those things.

Mostly I like that this was done now and not later. Because I think the team is ill-equipped to play this style and win games this season."

This is a league where 53.3% of the teams make the playoffs. Other than in meterology, name another industry where finishing in the 53rd percentile is "success". Simply making the playoffs shouldn't be an accomplishment for an NHL team. It should be an expectation....that you can finish better than 47% of the other teams. You'll know when the Wild's a good team when they don't have to talk about making the playoffs as an expectation for the season no mo.

So, we head into the off-season - hosting the draft in June - right back where we were, for all intents and purposes, when Lemaire walked away and Riser got the axe two seasons ago. We've got some kids (granted, some more and some better ones than we did two years ago) who we might give shots to next year. We've got a goalie and a decent defense corps. We've got a couple 2nd liners playing on the 1st line. And a bunch of 3rd and 4th liners playing on the 2nd through 4th lines.

We have one 9th overall pick and, at this point, a 10th overall pick to show for our failure to finish in the top 53% of the teams in the league the last two seasons. Oh, and that 9th overall pick got dinged for not-one-but-two concussions this season.

Ten years of mediocrity. Zero years of glory. Zero years of abject failure - the kind from which little green shoots (in the form of top two or three picks in the draft) emerge to give hope for the future.

Ten years of small runs of good play that are ultimately swamped by larger runs of ineffective play. Ten years of hoping this career third liner can thrive in hockey-mad Minnesota and become the 2nd liner he always hoped he'd be. Ten years of hoping for a Norris-winning season from a defenseman with shoddy defense skills that can carry a patchwork offense to that "two or three more wins" that means the difference between counting balls in the lottery and playing (however fleetingly) for Lord Stanley's Cup.

Ten years of being told we're the model franchise, the model fan base, the model rink. Ten years of having sunshine blown up our butt, while the league only tosses us the odd European game, draft and 'nationally-televised' game on Versus in terms of actual respect. Not that we've earned it.

Ten years of swatting away the "Minnesotans First!" crowd. Ten years of putting up with the false bonhomie of the "State of Hockey" shtick, which was basically methodone to keep us compliant during this protracted period of mediocrity.

When you look at it from the 30,000 foot view, it's really been a pretty unremarkable ten years for the Minnesota Wild.

And, yet, there is hope.

We might have to take a couple steps back to put ourselves in a position to realize that hope, but there is.

We've got an enviable core of 2nd and even 3rd liners. Yes, they're a little expensive, but shedding cap space wherever we can this summer is undeniably a good thing in any event. We've got a good goalie. Yes, he's a million bucks too expensive, but it is what it is, and that million bucks means he's our guy at least for a couple more seasons - so it's good that he's good. We've got a couple high-end offensive defenseman. Yes, one of them is the best trade bait we have so maybe he doesn't come back next season. I still believe we've got a good GM. We've got an owner who was willing to spend money on the team. Didn't get him a winner, but, hopefully that portends well for his expenditure approvals down the road.

And we are a good fan base. And we do have a great building.

So there's hope. Into each life a little rain must fall. Well, we've been floating around for our forty days and forty nights. It's always darkest right before dawn. Tomorrow's another day. Good things come to those who wait. Time will tell.

Poetic justice

2011-04-10T20:34:00.004-04:00

By KiPA

Seems fitting, doesn't it?

As dreadful as Minnesota's season was - there was that brief flirtation with postseason play, then of course that catastrophic finish - the Wild players have at least something to hang their hats on. The former Minnesota team will be just as miserable.

I'm not gonna lie: I wish Dallas had won.

I wish a few things. I wish I could've gotten more production from a few Dallas players to win me a fantasy hockey title, and I hoped the game went to overtime. I wanted to see if the Stars would pull Kari Lehtonen for the entire five-minute frame. Also, for some reason, I don't like Chicago, so I would've liked to see the Blackhawks miss the playoffs. I don't even have a valid explanation for my dislike; they kept the Flyers from winning the Stanley Cup last year, that should get them a lifetime pass in my "like" column.

I think it's because of Eddie Olczyk and that goal song they play in Chicago, both of which I used to like.

Anyway, my big regret is the game not going to overtime. A possibly-little known rule is that if you pull your goalie in overtime during the regular season and you are scored against (except for a delayed penalty situation), you forfeit the point you gained.

In Dallas' case, that wouldn't have mattered. They had to win the game before the shootout. That actually almost would've been a better - or perhaps, bitter is the word - way for the Stars' season to end. A win but not the right kind of win.

I don't know if Minnesota fans are overjoyed at keeping their ex-team out of the playoffs with Sunday's 5-3 victory. It hardly removes the sting of finishing 13 points out of eighth (with it feeling like 33) but at this point in the year, teams that are out get to play spoiler.

It doesn't get much more spoiler-ish than what the Wild achieved Sunday.

(What I wanted most to happen was Jose Theodore to put the puck in his own net, then rip off his Wild sweater and reveal a Stars one underneath, like a reverse Mike Modano from a year ago. Alas, the hope was for naught.)

Credit Where It's Due

2011-04-09T09:01:00.003-04:00

by NiNY

The boys sacked up last night. Big time.

Team records for PIMs all over the place. Stoner (stupidly) getting tossed seven seconds in for not having his fight strap fastened was only because Stoner grabbed his stones and fought Peckham seven seconds in, so I'm okay with that.

It was a complete reversal from the wuss-fest in Vancouver Thursday night, and hey...the Wild won. Go figure.

Well, they were playing the Oilers and beating the Oilers is what Minnesota does. But still...

Nice debut from Bagnall. Good grit, didn't crap on the ice. I'm not in love with Noreau yet. And he's getting big minutes in scoring situations (e.g. the power play). But who knows what this team will look like next year so I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I can actually scout, or that you want to read my scouting.

If that ends up being Theodore's last game as a Wild player, I thank him. He came in and did a great job this season in what had to be a major pride-swallowing situation. I hope he finds a situation where he can be a #1 next year.

Finale Sunday against the Stars. It would be nice to carry over this truculence to that game and show the Stars we're not just going to grab our ankles when we play them. Also, a beat down of Ribeiro would be awesome.

Shameful Wild Performance

2011-04-08T09:27:00.004-04:00

by NiNY

In sports, I despise quitters.

We all know this season's over for the Wild. We all know it's been a demoralizing experience. We know it's over at least in large part because they're under-skilled relative to the legit teams in the conference and league.

And, to an extent, I can understand (which is not the same as saying I can accept) listless performances. I frankly didn't expect anything else last night in Vancouver. Vancouver is certainly one of those aforementioned legit teams.

But what I did expect was for the guys to continue to show some heart and some balls - for each other, if for nothing else - through the end of the season.

Heart and balls were nowhere to be found on the Wild side of the equation last night. And that is shameful.

Justin Falk, big defenseman, rookie, trying to break in on the team. I have major concerns about him now. Seems a little thin based on the one game, right? Not when that one game included his two utterly disgraceful acts of spinelessness. In a game where the Canucks were only playing for their fans, Bieksa - a defenseman - runs Backstrom (Canucks were leading 2-0 at this point and everyone knows that might as well have been 27-0 given where the Wild is right now) with Falk, all 6-5 of him, standing right there. Not even a blink of an eye.

That ought to have been the type of situation Falk was dreaming of. A chance to show you've got some balls, and are willing to stick up for your guys. Intead? Nada. Nathan.

That would have been bad enough. But when Hansen nailed Butch with, if not a dirty hit, at least one that put young Puddin' Head in danger, Falk was in a position to be a first responder and again, we saw nothing.

Presumably Falk is aware of Butch's recent struggles with the effects of post-concussion syndrome. You'd like to think Falk was feeling shame from completely wimping out earlier when Bax got run. So, his lack of reaction to Butch getting nailed (again, the score/situation itself ought to have rendered Hansen's hit on THAT particular Wild player egregious enough to draw an adverse reaction from the Wild) was simply inexcusable. Unless, of course, he doesn't WANT to show the team he deserves a legit chance at a roster spot.

Obviously, it wasn't only Falk who failed to step up last night. There were other guys on the ice with him and Backstrom and Bouchard during those respective incidents. And the rest of them are just as guilty of not showing up for their team mates.

And that's what's so shameful and telling here. This team has quit. They've quit on the season. They've quit on the coach. They've quit on the fans. They've quit on the owner who pays them. And, most shamefully, they've quit on each other. There's no "we band of brothers" in that room. I don't want to hear any bullshit rhetoric from anyone on that roster about "we have to prove to ourselves" or "we have to play for ourselves" or any of those other trite lines that teams at the end of losing seasons tend to pull out from this sorry collection of athletes.

Minnesotans will put up with a lot of mediocrity. It's what we do. In many ways, we celebrate that leniency amongst ourselves. "Pretty good" is good enough for Minnesotans, even though it's a qualifier for "good" which is something short of "great", much less "exemplary", in most people's minds.

But we put up with mediocrity from our sports teams because most of the time they can still make us proud with their effort and professionalism. The Twins try their little butts off most of the time. We all know they'll lose to the Yankees in the playoffs this year, if they make it. But they're still lovable at least in part because they effort so damn hard.

This Wild team has none of that.

We've taken their measure on the effort and professionalism scale, and found them all (individually and as a team) woefully lacking.

In sports, I despise quitters.

You can break a rule, earn a suspension, hit a guy late, spit on an ump, run around your house in a Nazi outfit and crash your Ferrari (as long as you don't crash it into another human being) and, as long as you play hard, you're still not as bad to me as a quitter. Those other things are bad. But quitting? That's inexcusable.

The '10-11 Minnesota Wild is inexcusable.

Most Valuable Leading Scorer

2011-04-07T14:00:00.004-04:00

By KiPA

Did I miss something? When did it become a bylaw that whoever wins the NHL's Art Ross Trophy as leading scorer automatically takes home the Hart Memorial for most valuable player? Down Goes Brown joked about this about a week ago, but sadly it's not really a joke. It's reality.

Everyone and their mother seems to have penned in (not penciled) Daniel Sedin for league MVP, presumably because he leads the NHL in scoring. That's all well and good.

But the award isn't for the most outstanding player, or the leading scorer. Sedin is the clear-cut choice for those. The trophy goes to the "player adjudged most valuable to his team."

Remember when Daniel Sedin missed so much time a year ago? Vancouver finished with 103 points. They have 113 now and won the Presidents' Trophy for the first time ever, with the potential to finish with 117. Sedin was a critical part of that success.

But sorry, he's not the most valuable player in the entire NHL. Ever hear of Henrik Sedin? He has 92 points. Ryan Kesler? He has 37 goals. Alex Burrows? Twenty five. Roberto Luongo? He's going to set a career-high in lowest goals against average (2.14) and his save percentage (.927) will be his second-best.

Take Daniel out of the equation and I think the Canucks will still thrive. Not Presidents' Trophy winners, but they'll win the weak Northwest Division.

That's how the Hart Trophy - or, I guess as it should be known from now on, the Hart Ross - should be determined. What happens when you take someone off that team? It's not the best player on the best team.

Corey Perry's torrid pace (seven multi-goal and 10 multi-point games in the last 14 while Anaheim is fighting for a playoff spot) seems to be the only element keeping Daniel Sedin's name from the Hart Ross. Perry has nine more goals than Daniel (50 to 41) and is only three points back of him for the overall lead (100 to 97.) Perry will likely be the only NHLer to score 50 goals this season after three guys did it a year ago.

The detractors can and will argue - validly - that Perry has a strong supporting cast in Ryan Getzlaf, Bobby Ryan and Teemu Selanne. Strangely, I don't hear them arguing the same about Daniel with the aforementioned trio. And by the way, Perry has 16 more goals than any other teammate and 19 more points. Daniel has four more goals than Kesler and eight more points than Henrik.

Perry has 11 game-winning goals, Daniel has 10.

There are worthy candidates other than Perry. For instance, why are goalies always shut out of this thing? Since the 1962-63 season, a goalie has been named MVP only three times. Dominik Hasek won it in back-to-back seasons ('96-97 and '97-98) and Jose Theodore won after the 2002 season. That's it, that's the list in the last 48 years.

I hear the "Goalies have the Vezina" argument, which is a load of garbage. Forwards have the Art Ross, the Maurice Richard and Selke trophies. If that's how we judge how good a player is, why even bother with an MVP award?

Four goalies should garner Hart Ross consideration: Marc-Andre Fleury, Tim Thomas, Carey Price and Pekka Rinne. I wrote about Fleury a couple weeks ago so I won't delve into him now. All I'll add about Fleury is the Penguins could go into the playoffs without a currently-healthy body who scored 25 goals or 50 points this season. Yet they might still win the Atlantic Division.

But here's something I want to know: Can you name any member of the Predators other than Shea Weber and Mike Fisher? (Fisher only because he made the headline "Nashville trades for Carrie Underwood's husband.") Nashville will qualify for the postseason - again - on the strength of Rinne, whose GAA (2.14) and save percentage (.929) are second in the league.

Nashville's leading scorer has 50 points (Martin Erat.) That's half Daniel's total. Sergei Kostitsyn paces the goal scorers with 22. That's less than half of Perry's total. Take Rinne out of Nashville's lineup and the Predators will not make the playoffs.

That's the definition of "most valuable."

Ditto Carey Price, who has carried Montreal into the postseason. Price has faced the second-most shots in the league and is top 10 in GAA and save percentage. Montreal's lineup is just about as offensively-starved as Nashville's. (Only Tomas Plekanec, with 56, has over 50 points and Brian Gionta's 26 goals leads the team.)

Instead, voters and fans just seem to want to take the easy way out and vote for whoever leads the best team in scoring. There was even talk of co-MVPs for both Sedins, which is the most absurd idea in the world. If there's a debate between two players on the same team for MVP, then clearly, neither one is "most" valuable. If you take one out of the lineup, there's still the other player.

If you want to talk the Ted Lindsay Award (formerly the Lester B. Pearson), that's one Sedin could easily win. That award is defined as "most outstanding player." It's not the "most valuable."

There's a difference between being outstanding and being more valuable than anyone else is. Daniel Sedin is arguably more outstanding than the rest of the league. He is not the single straw that stirs his team's drink.

That's how the Hart Trophy should be awarded, not just on who's at the top of the points list.

Will he or won't he?

2011-03-29T15:19:00.003-04:00

By KiPA

We're down to the final two weeks of the NHL regular season and there's one question that is on everybody's mind. ("Everybody" is defined as "People in Pittsburgh and the NHL offices." Oh, and probably "the Penguins' first-round opponent, whoever that will be." Let's throw in "NBC and Versus" for good measure. See? Everybody.)

The question is: Will Sidney Crosby return to play this season?

I have a different question: Should he?

Honestly, I don't think he should.

For every water bottle Crosby pops with a backhand in practice, for all the strenuous, fast-paced workouts he goes through on the ice, the buzz grows and grows that his return is imminent. The reality is he has yet to practice with the full Penguins team - he's skated with other injured players and also, on Tuesday, He Who Throws Elbows.

Not only has Crosby not yet practiced, he hasn't received any contact. There's no telling or predicting how he'll hold up to that. Other than that, all the reports coming out of the team are positive. Bob McKenzie theorized that it would take at least a few days, perhaps as much as a week or more, for both practicing in non-contact drills and practicing with contact.

Under that timeline, maybe Crosby returns for one of Pittsburgh's final two games. One of those, by the way, is a return engagement with the Islanders. Given their history, I don't want Crosby anywhere near that team right now. Pittsburgh's final game is the last day of the season, April 10.

If we assume Crosby doesn't return before then, just how wise is it to throw him into the thick of a playoff series? Two words: Marc Savard.

After He Who Throws Elbows leveled Savard in March, the Boston center didn't return until the conference finals. Then, either as a result of playing in that series or something else, Savard had a setback and missed the start of this season. Then he received another concussion and his career is in serious jeopardy.

Savard missed two months between his first injury and his return in the playoffs. Crosby will have been out for more than three months for a return.

If Crosby returns and plays at the level he was before receiving a concussion, and if the Penguins continue to get excellent goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury, they can win the Stanley Cup this year, even without Evgeni Malkin. Yet does anyone expect Crosby, after missing so much time, to step right back into the lineup without missing a beat?

Remember, he wasn't even allowed to work out for a significant amount of time. Most reports indicate he is one of the league's best conditioned athletes but even he must be affected by the layoff.

I'm not willing to take the chance that Crosby becomes the next Savard, a premature return leading to even more trouble later on. Of course, I don't make the decisions.

Discretion is the better part of valor. Better safe than sorry. Err on the side of caution.

Don't throw caution to the wind. Insert any other appropriate idiom here.

It's entirely possible Crosby returns and doesn't have any further problems. It's just as likely he does. The Penguins need Crosby to win championships.

They also need to look out for his health first and foremost.

Wild Going From Bad To Worse

2011-03-28T14:34:00.006-04:00

by NiNY

The end of the season - the actual end, not the figurative one - can't come soon enough. Like a grade schooler during the last month of the year, when the weather's turned warm and the birds are out, the Wild has checked out. And I mean checked. The hell. Out.

Wild fans are used to not making the playoffs. But I have never seen a Wild team absolutely quit like this one has. It's astounding. Time, and professionalism, it would appear, is indeed fleeting.

They started the St. Louis game on Saturday with some real spring (*ahem*) in their step. Mikko in particular was busting through the neutral zone and taking the blue line with purpose. Leading to the first goal, for the first time since before Japan was rubble. But then Backstrom started kicking out ridiculous rebounds, the Blues counter punched and the Wild deflated. Wheels off, assume the position, ass kicking begins.

By the end of the game, hell by the middle of the 2nd period, there was absolutely no push back from the Wild. It was pathetic. Embarrassing. Only a half-assed snow spray on the Blues goalie indicated that the Wild wasn't totally flatlined.

Look, everyone knows the playoffs is gone by now. And I'm not saying I think it would be easy to play out the string in a lost season. But this is something other than just letting the intensity of the playoff drive dissipate. This is a complete lack of professionalism. This is the coach being dead to the team. This is the team quitting on each other. And I hasten to repeat: this is the first time I've ever seen this from any Wild team.

Maybe the answer is in changing the coach. Fine. Whatever. There's still a significant lack of talent, and a glaring dearth of prospects with which to fill that hole (either by trade or development.) And, at this pace, the Wild isn't likely to even end up in position to get the #1 overall pick in the lottery.

So another year of a just-outside-the-money-picks draft for the Wild (although, hosting the event and likely needing to do something to make a splash to re-invigorate a fan base that is quickly dying on the vine, maybe they trade up at the draft), another year of sub-mediocre hockey and another summer of watching other teams go through the war of the playoffs.

But, where prior Wild teams could at least look themselves in the mirror at night and say they played hard to the bitter end, this one, sadly, can't.

Shutouts are overrated

2011-03-26T17:29:00.003-04:00

By KiPA

One of the major knocks against Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is he never gets shutouts. This kind of statement tends to come from people who will blame Fleury for a goal even if the Penguins somehow give up a 5-on-0.

That doesn't mean they're wrong. In fact, they're usually right. Holding a team completely scoreless is not one of Fleury's strengths. The most clean sheets he's had in a season is five, set in the same season (2006-07) in which he had a career-high 40 victories. (Ironically, he posted his third highest goals against average that year; only his first two seasons had a higher number.)

Fleury had only one shutout last season, in 67 games, and that actually came in the "revenge" game: Pittsburgh's first against Boston after Matt Cooke cheap-shotted Marc Savard.

In many cases, Fleury loses a shutout because of a soft goal he allows. Sometimes it's bad luck.

But who cares? So what? There are no special prizes for specifically leading the league in shutouts. (Awards like the Calder and Vezina trophies factor in that stat, sure.) What matters is winning the game.

With no mathematical evidence to support the following statement, I can tell you that most times when Fleury allows a soft goal, he'll come up with a save later in the game that he has no business making.

Fleury wins games. He probably won't win you many fantasy leagues but he gets the job done for Pittsburgh. He could post 82 shutouts, but if he loses all 82 in a shootout, will his detractors be happy? Eighty two points does not a playoff team make. (Hell, in the West, 82 points might not even be good enough for 13th place.)

After a horrendous October, and removing from consideration players born in August of 1987, Fleury has been Pittsburgh's best player. He'll likely be named the team's most valuable player at the team awards ceremony on Sunday. He struggled in February but in the months of November, December, January and so far through March, Fleury's highest GAA is 2.01, in December; the other three of those months it's below 2.00. His lowest save percentage in those months is .921. Friday's victory over New Jersey was Fleury's third shutout of the season.

Because of that October, Fleury won't set a new career-high for wins; he sits at 33 with seven games remaining, and Brent Johnson (perhaps Brad Thiessen as Johnson is currently out with an injury) is likely to start at least one or two more games.

Sure, it's disappointing when one soft goal, whether it came early or late, is all that separates Fleury from a shutout. What really matters however is earning two points, and Fleury puts his team in a position to win more nights than not.

Given the high-profile injuries Pittsburgh has suffered, one can make a case that Fleury should garner at least some consideration for the Hart Trophy. Of course, he won't win it, nor will he even be a finalist.

But I'd hate to think of where the Penguins might be right now with a lesser goalie.

Amid The Rubble, A Little Green(lay) Shoot

2011-03-23T09:27:00.006-04:00

by NiNY

The Wild's season has turned into a disaster. Two-plus months of strong play had looked like it would overcome the negativity of another ugly start under second year coach Richards. But then a couple (key) injuries and the wheels have come off like no other Wild team I can remember. The team is a total shambles right now.

So it's exchanges like the one I had last night with Wild tv color analyst Mike Greenlay on twitter - with the Wild losing 3-0 - that give me some sense that the world is not ending, even though my Minnesota sports teams fan's heart feels like it is:

Me: @pulledgoalie would you please start saying 'shutout' on air now, or is that against the goalie code or something?

MG: @nickinnewyork Maybe I should just get out my goalie voodoo doll and then kill a chicken in the booth.

Me: #majorleague

MG: @nickinnewyork Yessir...I'll bust one out soon

*At this point the Wild game goes to the sub-15:00 mark commercial. During which I bring my wife up to speed on the situation. When they come out of commercial, Greenlay starts in with something along the lines of 'Well the Wild has had some bad luck recently with a couple shutouts and they're looking at another shutout again tonight. And sometimes when a goalie's got a shutout going, the team he's facing gets to a point where all they see is the shutout...' And then even the play-by-play guy (Dan Terhaar) chimes in with a shutout mention. It was beautiful!*

Me: @pulledgoalie YOU SIR ARE A GOD!! #freakinawesome

MG: @nickinnewyork There you go...Four shutout references...plus Dan busted one out

So, obviously it's the little things. And Reimer completed the shutout nonetheless.

But it was still a moment of human-ness in what has become a completely de-humanizing experience for Wild fans. The coaches and team appear to have quit. It certainly looks that way on the ice and sounds that way in their comments. That's a frustrating way to see a season die.

And yet Greenlay and his partner are still up there doing their job. Selling season tickets during the 8-1 evisceration against Montreal had to have been the epitome of unpleasant. And dealing with idjit fans like me, on Twitter, while you're trying to call a game on tv can't be exactly fun either.

My hat's off to Mike and Dan for staying professional while keeping their sense of humor particularly when the team they're covering hasn't.

Can he? Will he?

2011-03-23T00:13:00.002-04:00

By KiPA

They say actions speak louder than words. It helps when the words are heartfelt and sincere, but ultimately, yes, the appropriate actions need to be taken.

Matt Cooke, for the first time as a Penguin and perhaps the first time ever, has owned up to his recent actions, namely the elbow to the head of Ryan McDonagh. Cooke says he made a mistake, took responsibility for it and said "I realize and understand, more so now than ever, that I need to change."

At his in-person hearing for the elbow, Cooke was not interested in offering up a defense nor did he want anyone else trying to make excuses for what he did.

That's all well and good. And Cooke seems contrite. He seems sincere. We haven't seen this side of Cooke before. It's a refreshing change.

But it won't mean anything if he gets into further trouble. Will his words allow him to stay a Penguin until and unless that happens? Unfortunately, I feel we'll see that scenario.

It's easy - OK, really easy - to say Cooke doesn't deserve any more opportunities to clean up his act. It's easy to believe he'll screw up again.

It's difficult, if not nigh impossible, to sympathize with Cooke, even if he's saying the right things at the moment. However, it is tempting to see if the long suspension, the lost wages (nearly $220,000), the very real possibility of losing his job in a city and with a team he enjoys, and perhaps most importantly the loss of his teammates' respect serve as the kick in the ass Cooke needs.

Another adage comes to mind: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice (or five times), shame on me.

Miracles do happen

2011-03-21T19:08:00.005-04:00

By KiPA

Just as it's hard to believe Matt Cooke is often a quality, useful hockey player, it's equally as hard to believe Colin Campbell can make a correct decision in regards to supplemental discipline.

For once, Campbell knocked this one out of the park. (Perhaps with the assistance of a Cooke elbow? Too soon?)

Cooke will not be allowed to play until and unless the Penguins advance to the second round, which, given the loss of Evgeni Malkin, the possible continued absence of Sidney Crosby and yes, the new subtraction of Cooke, is hardly a certainty. Cooke will forfeit over $200,000 in salary.

This is about as appropriate a punishment as it can get. Some people wanted Cooke banned for the entire playoffs and of course, there will be some who say to simply remove him from the league. But the rest of the regular season (10 games) and however long the first round lasts for Pittsburgh is entirely fitting.

Two things need to happen as a result of this sentencing. Ray Shero, who released this statement in support of the suspension, and Mario Lemieux must react in kind. Ideally, this means a buyout, a trade, waivers, something to get Cooke off the payroll.

Unfortunately, that seems unlikely. According to Nick Kypreos, Lemieux had a nice chat with Cooke on Sunday basically telling him to shape up or ship out. My fear is that conversation (assuming it did happen) plus the 14- to 17-game suspension serving as the wake-up call Cooke needed will mean the Penguins give Cooke one last chance. Even though he's on about his sixth chance, at least.

The second thing that must happen is the NHL and Campbell have to continue to bring the hammer down on players who violate the rules, and slam the repeat offenders harsher. Campbell finally sent a message to thugs who injure other players. But it can't be a one-time message.

Cooke deserved this kind of long sentence but he can't be the only one to receive a ban like this or else we're right back to square one.

Wild Efforts, Season Circling the Drain

2011-03-21T15:05:00.006-04:00

by NiNY

Too good to be true. What a fun and exciting run. But, without offense, and unless Jacques Lemaire is your coach, the Minnesota Wild just doesn't have the horses.

Or, apparently, the leadership.

Still, they gave me more than I expected to get this season. Okay, so obviously the run that got them back into the playoff picture, however fleetingly, was the aberration. But it was still fun. For a brief moment, the Wild was back. I mean, "back" in the sense that they mattered again in the moment, for today, like. Not "back" as in "back to contending" or something like that. This isn't a fantasy blog.

But winning on good goaltending and staunch defense is a recipe that's familiar to Wild fans who have spent any time consuming this team since it was born. That was the recipe on which the "best" Wild teams to-date were predicated. Maybe it was just having Lemaire back in the league at all. Like a positive disturbance in the force, but just out in a different system somewhere. It's just....not a recipe for winning. Er, #winning. Whatever.

The point is really just how easy it is to delude ourselves. We want to be swept up in the great, intoxicating endorphin rush of a hot team. Like having a new girlfriend, it's enticing and romantic and all kinds of je ne sais quoi.

And, if the players don't know it, well then they're pretty damn good actors. "I'm not a hockey player dogging out the string in a lost season, but I play one on TV."

Unfortunately the Wild was just good enough to not get a high pick in the upcoming draft. But, with high draft picks, like an outdoor game, it seems the Wild's lot in life is to miss out.

So, while we grudgingly unpack our "Fire the coach!" aloha shirts and "Trade the players!" bermuda swim trunks for another visit to our summer homes, Wild fans are left to face their mortality yet again.

It will be tempting to blame the GM for not getting more guys at the deadline.

It will be tempting to blame Guillaume Latendresse for stuffing his face all summer, showing up to camp out of shape, and subsequently injuring himself and the team.

It will be tempting to blame James Sheppard's parents for not putting him on an ATV at the age of three.

It will be tempting to blame the coach for having no discernable personality as a head coach.

It will be tempting to blame the league for sending the team to Finland.

Don't give in to the temptations.

At least we didn't trade our (mid-)1st round pick at the deadline though. And at least we have the best multiple concussion victim forward in Finland waiting in the wings. And at least we have some flexibility with impending free agents we could let go.

Just accept our fate and put away the "Maybe this is our year" heavy coats and "This re-tread veteran third liner is really going to bring the room together" scarves and mittens until the fall.

There's always next year, Wild fans.

Enough is enough

2011-03-21T15:00:00.005-04:00

By KiPA

I speak for many Penguins fans, but sadly not all, when I say Matt Cooke's time in Pittsburgh should come to an end.

His latest travesty became the breaking point for many of us. According to reporters, some insiders involved with the team are also getting fed up with answering questions about Cooke's actions. Frankly, there just is no defense, especially with co-owner Mario Lemieux's vehement and heated statements in regards to league discipline and player safety. Cooke's behavior and mere presence takes a significant chunk out of Lemieux's credibility on the issue.

For those unaware of the details, Cooke drilled Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh with a blatant, late elbow to the head. McDonagh was in a vulnerable position, likely didn't see Cooke coming and could not brace himself. Fortunately, McDonagh appeared to escape injury and actually ended up setting up the goal that buried the Penguins.

However, we all know concussion symptoms don't necessarily show up immediately. In any case, Cooke was assessed a major penalty for elbowing and a game misconduct.

It's incredibly difficult to believe but Cooke is a very valuable role player. He's an exceptional penalty killer and he is actually capable of delivering legal hits. But he just cannot help himself from stepping over the line. It hurts his bank account, it hurts his team, and oh yeah, it hurts other players.

He has rightfully become a marked man, and losing that benefit of the doubt makes him a target for penalties that aren't actually penalties. Then there are the legit, dumb, inexcusable penalties he takes. Oh, and let's not forget the heinous penalties like the one against McDonagh, a play that even teammates privately said changed the outcome of a game that had been 1-1 with the Penguins in full control. (A double minor to Matt Niskanen during the Cooke major opened the door for the Rangers to score twice.)

Cooke belongs on an NHL roster as much as Islanders goon Trevor Gillies. The only hockey team either one should ever suit up for is the Charlestown Chiefs or the Syracuse Bulldogs. Cooke is not so special a player that he cannot be replaced by any of a dozen other players.

We all know the NHL rarely gets suspensions correct. This is one surely even Colin Campbell can't screw up. It should be at least the rest of the regular season. Perhaps the playoffs too.

After that, I'm more interested in what general manager Ray Shero and Lemieux do. There does not appear to be any immediate plan to jettison Cooke from the payroll but that doesn't mean that won't be a major topic in the summer, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. If they continue to employ him, they can both get off their high horse about wanting to clean up the game.

It's ironic that for the first time in his albeit brief history that Shero handed out a three-year contract to a role player and it will come back to bite him. Usually he sticks to two years for grinders like Cooke. I'm willing to bet he's regretting that third year now.

Cooke can be a valuable player. And another team might snatch him up quickly because of that if the Penguins part ways with him. He cannot be a valuable player if he doesn't clean up his act and there is absolutely no evidence that he's willing or capable of doing so. Quite the opposite, in fact. There's no way of defending the hit on McDonagh as a "hockey play" or a hard check that went wrong, or the victim putting himself in a vulnerable position. It was all on Cooke and all a bunch of idiocy and brutality.

It's time for Cooke to become someone else's problem.

The shame of it all

2011-03-08T14:11:00.000-05:00

By KiPA

I'm going to talk about Trevor Gillies again! Wait, don't go away! Only in the briefest way. Stick around, please.

See, here's the thing. The Islanders have been in the news lately pretty much for just two reasons: the Nassau Brawl (that kind of rhymes if you really try hard enough) and Gillies elbowing Cal Clutterbuck almost immediately upon his return.

What's unfortunate about that is these news stories cover up what else is going on on Long Island: New York is showing signs of hockey life.

I know, I've delved into the realm of fantasy. But it's true.

The Islanders haven't gone on any extended run like the Devils have. The playoffs are a much longer shot than for New Jersey, though New York trails the Devils by just four points in the standings.

Still, New York has posted a 10-5-3 record in its last 18 games. Most of their losses in this stretch have come to the East's top teams: one to Pittsburgh, one to Boston, an overtime loss to Philadelphia, and two one-goal decisions against Washington (one going to overtime.) The Islanders also came as close as anyone to knocking off New Jersey, falling Sunday in a seven-round shootout.

So this "You can't lose to the Islanders and hope to make the playoffs" I saw from Minnesota fans isn't entirely full of merit. Sure, New York is still 14th in the East (that's next to last) but the Islanders have been pretty solid, and certainly quite competitive, of late.

And I don't think it's as simple as one of those standard "non-playoff team coming together at the end of the season" runs.

The Islanders, I'm afraid to say, have some nice talent. John Tavares is pulling a Steven Stamkos, i.e. emerging as a top player in the second half of his second season. He had 16 points in 14 February games and three so far in four March games. Matt Moulson is on the verge of another 30-goal season. So is Michael Grabner, who was the hottest player in the league for a while (10 goals in six games) before a recent slump cooled him off, but he has 26 goals. Moulson has 28.

I think the stat I saw on Sunday said Tavares and Grabner, entering Sunday, led the NHL in scoring since the all-star break. So there's that, too.

P.A. Pareanteau is having a nice little season as well, though it's possible he's merely riding the coattails of Tavares and Moulson. Blake Comeau is having a career year and appears likely to reach the 20-goal and 40-50 point plateau.

Two stories I'm enjoying in New York: One is the sneaky-goodness of young defenseman Andrew MacDonald, who has emerged during Mark Streit's absence to rank tied for 11th in the NHL with 137 blocked shots, a team-high 23:19 average ice time per game, and 25 points in 52 games. MacDonald has also shown a solid quality in running New York's power play (11 power play assists.)

The other is the resurrection of goaltender Al Montoya. Once a top prospect, Montoya bounced around a couple different organizations. In 10 games with the Islanders, Montoya has won half of them, earned a point in two others, and has recorded a 1.93 GAA with an impressive .931 save percentage.

This isn't exactly the 1980s Islanders of old but I'd wager it's a brighter point for the Islanders than most of their recent seasons.

In all probability, the only sure thing we can say about these players is Tavares is no fluke. Moulson likely isn't either. Though he's already 27, assuming he nets two more goals, it'll be his second straight 30-goal season and he's shown a real chemistry with Tavares. Grabner's speed will make him a threat any time he's on the ice (Who else saw him break away against New Jersey on Sunday?) and appears to have made the leap this year.

The others are unknowns and possibly have reached their ceiling already. My biggest question is about MacDonald. What kind of year will he have when Mark Streit is in the lineup? MacDonald is easily New York's best defenseman right now; Streit unquestionably is when he's playing. So how will Streit's presence affect MacDonald's production? I'm going out on a limb here, but it'll either help him, hurt him or have no effect. (How's that for in-depth analysis?)

Of course, New York's goaltending remains a question mark. Six different players have seen time in goal for the Islanders this season. Montoya and Kevin Poulin have been the best. But Rick DiPietro, theoretically at least, remains in the picture.

Still, the Islanders have some nice things going for them. They're not going to make a late surge towards the playoffs like New Jersey but there are reasons to be excited for the future. Plus they'll be getting another top-five draft pick this summer.

Or maybe this really is just a meaningless end-of-season run of success that won't carry over.

Offensively, Ugly Stick Line Carries Wild Offensively

2011-03-07T09:05:00.002-05:00

By NiNY

That's what I'm calling the Staubitz-Peters-Warmish Body triumvirate of power and awesomeness. The Ugly Stick Line. I think it fits nicely with their overall surly demeanor on the ice.

But in deference to the Ugly Stick Line (gotta use it a bunch to try and build up some momentum for the nickname), that which makes them the ugly stick does not include providing the offense on which the Wild needs to peg its playoff hopes.

Unfortunately, on a team nearly bereft of scoring touch at full health, a couple key injuries and whammo! Ugly Stick Line = top scoring line.

That's putting the "ugly" in Ugly Stick.

See on most teams in contention to make the playoffs, a couple key injuries means the 2nd line has to step up. Maaaybe the 3rd. But the 4th line? Either your definition of "a couple" is a little more generous than mine or the team in question is alarmingly low on offensive horses.

But that's not a surprise for the Wild. The surprise was being in a position to be sitting here worried that their chances of making the playoffs was going to die on the vine due to injuries to Mikko and Cal (notice not including Gui "Minnesota Fats" Latendresse with whom the Wild's best chances for success was winning a poutine-eating contest).

So it's still bonus hockey for Wild fans. And, if these injuries do prove fatal to the team's playoff chances this season, maybe the players can distill that disappointment ("man, I KNOW we could have made it! That's just bad luck with the injuries!") into motivation to be even better next season.

I'm not calling the time of death just yet. But, the Ugly Stick Line can only take you so far.

"Would not have gotten up"

2011-03-05T14:05:00.004-05:00

By KiPA

Thanks to Newsday beat reporter Katie Strang's Twitter feed (@KatieStrangNYI), we received this gem of a quote from Islanders general manager/spin artist Garth Snow, in regards to Trevor Gilles' hit on Cal Clutterbuck: "I know Trevor as a person and I know there was no malicious intent when he was finishing that check. Trevor didn't go in with a malicious mindset. I can tell you if he did go in with that intent, the player probably would not have gotten up."

This is from the guy who said the Islanders "showed restraint" during the infamous brawl last month.

Who said Gilles "had the right intentions" when he drove his elbow into the unsuspecting head of Penguins forward Eric Tangradi, Pittsburgh's top forward prospect who hasn't played or practiced since the hit that gave him a concussion.

The mind, it is boggled.

I have deeper feelings than most on this matter, since not only was my team prominently involved, but one of the brighter spots of the team's future has been dimmed as a result of Caveman Gilles going all Bertuzzi on Tangradi. Minnesota fans share my wrath, but I would imagine that, for now at least, their hatred is not as deep since Clutterbuck appears to be OK. (Update courtesy of Kent Youngblood: Clutterbuck missed Saturday's practice with an upper-body injury. Just how upper is it, I wonder?)

However, despite my rage, I was basically over the matter and just hoped for two things: One, that Tangradi recovers and his career path is still on track, and two, that someone kills John Tavares. No, I mean literally kills him.

Then Snow gives us that little tidbit above, that if Gilles had "malicious intent" then Clutterbuck "would not have gotten up."

Quite an audacious statement to make, since we already saw a player fail to get up after a hit by Gilles. The elbow Gilles delivered to Tangradi was bad enough, and it's clear that Tangradi was dazed by it. There's no way Tangradi could have responded verbally or physically to Gilles, but that didn't stop that neanderthal from dropping his gloves and proceeding to attack Tangradi. Matt Martin's attempted sucker-punch/assault combination on Max Talbot looked more similar to what Todd Bertuzzi pulled on Steve Moore, but Gilles, by actually throwing punches against a downed opponent, came much closer to mirroring Bertuzzi.

And it's made me change my mind. I accepted Gilles' 10-game ban for his hit on Clutterbuck. I wanted a longer ban but I was satisfied that it was at least a double-digit suspension and not a piecemeal three-to-five games. Now? It ain't nearly long enough.

Playing in the NHL is a privilege, not a right. Gilles clearly doesn't understand or appreciate the opportunity he's been given to play in the world's top hockey league. He has now become a constant threat to others and has jeopardized the career of a promising young player. Gilles has no business putting on a hockey uniform. Even the Hanson brothers would say he goes too far.

My question is: Has Gilles shown any remorse for what he did to Tangradi? If he has no regrets, then that's the final nail in his coffin. Or should be. Based on his taunting of Tangradi, I'm sure Gilles - just like his cohort and fellow goon Zenon Konopka - is pretty darn proud of what he did.

The NHL weakly slapped Gilles on the wrist. The recent unsettling news of Bob Probert should have the NHL very concerned about player safety, yet the league failed to take appropriate action against Gilles. When it comes to protecting the work force, the idiots who run hockey care as little, or perhaps less, than the NFL owners, who swear they're concerned about protecting football players yet want an 18-game schedule.

I know. And fine, OK, kick Matt Cooke out of the league too. I've seriously begun to turn on him anyway. He's misbehaving more often lately and has become a marked man, a target for ticky-tack or nonexistent penalties that put the Penguins shorthanded.

But back on topic. Snow's comments disturb me greatly. He obviously does not believe Gilles is a liability or a danger to opponents. Which means he'll do nothing to curb Gilles' violent tendencies. And if the league won't do it, and if the team won't do it, and Gilles' teammates won't do it, no one will. And in 10 New York games' time, we'll get to see this gorilla back on the ice.

Maybe the knucklehead will wait until his fifth shift to kill someone.

Wild Rebounds Nicely, Fans Not So Much

2011-03-04T09:19:00.006-05:00

By NiNY

The Wild played much better last night against the Rangers than they did the night before last against the Islanders. That is not the same as saying they played better, period. But...it's a step in the right direction. They were again dreadful in the first period. However, as a testament to the emotional makeup of this team they got it together and rallied in the 2nd, then held firm in the 3rd. So, not a 60-minute effort, but much better than the 2 or 3 minute effort we saw Wednesday.

It's a little scary to have to rely on your goaltender as much as the Wild does. But, that's the way it is, and our goalies have, on balance, been stellar this year. And, when Bax goes into a little funk like he's in right now, it's tremendous to be able to trot Theodore out there and get, well and get performances like his last night.

Also, I had the pleasure of listening to the MSG broadcast last night. Man, Sam Rosen is still one of the best in the league on PBP and Joe Micheletti has really become a top notch color guy. He used to just be sort of whiny and homery. Now he's much more insightful, interesting and opened my eyes to plays behind plays on several occasions, which is the hallmark (indeed the essense of the job) of a good color analyst in my book. And Joe has really lost the homer angle, too. At least he had last night.

I hope and assume that the Wild is really going to be watching Clutterbuck closely over the next couple days. First, as we know concussions can materialize gradually. And, his particular style lends itself to brain-jiggling even without goons like Gillies nailing him in the cheek. So, he laid a few hits last night against the Rangers, that has to bump his brain around in his melon somewhat, and, where it might not normally be enough to render him concussed, maybe his brain is extra sensitive right now?

It continues to bottle my mind how many Wild fans just don't get it. Read the comments (if you dare, it's a real drain on your sanity anymore) over at Russo's Rants or after his gamer. It's not just one or two imbeciles frothing at the mouth, either. 'Fletcher screwed up by not going big(ger) at the deadline' is bad enough. But 'he should have traded Bax'? Come on gang, we can do better than that. Unreal. And then they wonder why we don't get an outdoor game. Because we don't deserve one with idiots like that as "fans."

Really? You think the Wild was ANY moves at the deadline away from actual contention this year? And enough so that it would have been worth selling off what precious few crumbs we have just been able to start stocking our cupboards with? Or that we could trade all our detritus and worthless pieces of shit from our roster for a top line scorer? Seriously, it's embarrassing to think that such painful, overwhelming ignorance can exist in a place we call the "State of Hockey."

My buddy Ms. Conduct got some blowback recently for having the temerity to point out that Havlat is a floater. Which is funny, the blowback part anyway, because he is an unbelievable floater.

Look, on a team as starved for offense as the Wild is, I can see where you'd give a floater a little extra leash as long as he's producing. And Ms. Conduct certainly acknowledged that Havlat is producing.

But that doesn't mean he's not a floater. And, if he was floating but not producing, I bet anyone other than card carrying members of the "Martin Havlat Fan Club" would quickly tire of the floating. So what's the issue with calling a guy a floater? In and of itself, or specifically in this case?

My advice to Wild fans: just shut up and enjoy the ride. This team isn't talented enough to be still fighting for a playoff spot. Do you really think we have more high end talent than St. Louis, Colorado and Edmonton (who, by the way, are the bottom three teams in the Western Conference right now and, by all rights, out of the playoff race)? Certainly not age-adjusted we don't, but even pound-for-pound we don't. We wouldn't have been able to get to that level, talent-wise at the deadline for an acceptable price. So, this playoff run is a bonus for us this year. It's fun. It's energizing. It restores hope. Just go with it.

Enjoy it for what it is: more games that matter, later in this season that was reasonable to expect heading into and for the first month of the season. They still might even make the playoffs. That would be one hell of a feat for this team. And it should be enjoyed. But don't ruin it by deluding yourself into thinking this could be their year. Or could have been if, if, if.

Even if Fletcher had been able to rob some GM(s) blind (a la his old man), the chances are that we still wouldn't have won the Cup this year, and then our cupboards would be bare again.

This way, we still have the same chances of going the same distance, and Fletcher protected those few chestnuts that we have. That's what a good GM does.

Good fans would both appreciate that and simply enjoy the product before their eyes.

Wafer Thin

2011-03-03T09:08:00.002-05:00

By NiNY

Ugh.

The Wild didn't lay an egg against Chicago on Monday. Chicago is a good team that has successfully stayed in the race long enough to recover from their Championship run last spring, and is now playing well. They showed how good they are against Minnesota on Monday. Wasn't the best Wild game ever, but I felt like more credit was due to Chicago than finger pointing at the Wild.

Last night, though. Different story. The Wild was just flat. From the opening draw. I'm not saying they should have destroyed the Islanders. Wild fans certainly should remember how a team out of the playoffs can be dangerous at the end of a season. And the Isles have talent. But, as coach Richards has said often, you can control your effort. The Wild showed me no effort last night. And, if you can't conjur up a little effort in the heat of a playoff battle....

To me, if the team was so thin that a couple injuries (granted including one to their best overall player) were going to sink them anyway, then that's all the justification that Fletcher needed for not mortgaging the future on Monday.

So now it's back to basics: get the effort back up, get back to the tenets of the system, get the passion flowing again.

Because the other teams the Wild is fighting with in the West aren't exactly lying down and dying.

Also, Trevor Gillies? Disgusting.

Okay Wild: I'm In

2011-02-25T09:57:00.003-05:00

By NiNY

I really didn't want to do this. It's not the humble pie (I said at the beginning of the season that they were not a playoff team and would be out of it early) so much as I just know better. Too many years of disappointments (with our luck as Minnesota teams' fans, the Wild will draw the Yankees in the first round), too many self-admonishments to "never let this happen to me again". "This" is getting wrapped up in a team - against all rational thought - and then getting my heart stomped on.

But, there's just something about this Wild team. I'm not saying I expect them to go anywhere (see, it's not TOTAL capitulation) if they do make the playoffs, but they're taking us on a fun ride this season.

And I've found myself watching the scoreboard, planning my week around their schedule, and - here's the kicker - not getting totally bummed out when they lose. That's how you know. I'm......dare I say, satisfied?

Oh I was all about firing Richards. And I still think the turnaround from last year is as much about Rick Wilson as anyone. But I'm nowhere near as violently opposed to Richards as coach anymore. And, I'll tell you a secret: at this point even if they don't make the playoffs (much less advance in them if they do) I won't get back on the "fire Richards" bandwagon.

That's what winning does. It buys you time. And time is something that the Wild needs. I'd bet that Fletcher would rather have a lottery pick than a playoff berth this season, as far as the long-term development of the team is concerned. But I bet he also would rather have fewer upheavals to his hockey ops and roster than more, and missing the playoffs - or not going on this run - might have indicated for firing his head coach.

So, yeah, Wild. I'm in. I'm on board with you for this playoff drive.

Pens add talent to wing

2011-02-21T17:43:00.002-05:00

By KiPA

I suppose I should come out of my self semi-exilement to chime in on the latest pre-deadline day big trade, Pittsburgh sending defenseman Alex Goligoski to Dallas for left winger James Neal and defenseman Matt Niskanen.

The short version: "Woooo!!!!"

The not-as-short version: Win-win for both teams.

The longer version: This trade almost made too much sense not to happen. I thought I'd written or tweeted about a potential Goligoski-Neal swap but after looking back, all I could find that I did was declare my love for maybe one day getting Neal. Still, this was a potential trade many people talked about as a possibility.

The Penguins are loaded on the blue line after signing Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek to five-year contracts in the summer to go with Brooks Orpik and Kris Letang. Most of their quality prospects are defensemen, guys like Robert Bortuzzo, Brian Strait, Carl Sneep and most notably, Simon Despres. Deryk Engelland and Ben Lovejoy, though rookies, have proven to be competent NHLers.

Dallas, when healthy, boasted in my eyes some of the finest top two lines in hockey. Brad Richards and Mike Ribeiro got to center players like Neal, Brenden Morrow and Loui Eriksson. Jamie Benn could be a younger, more affordable version of Neal.

Basically, both Goligoski and Neal were expendable to their respective teams. Pittsburgh needed a player like Neal, Dallas needed a player like Goligoski. Thus, the union. Neal immediately becomes Pittsburgh's top (healthy) goal scorer. Goligoski becomes the leading goal scorer and points producer among the Stars' defensemen.

The Stars, still with some ownership/financial issues, will save money on the deal. Each player is signed through next season, with Neal ($2.875 million) and Niskanen ($1.5 million) more expensive than Goligoski ($1.833 million.) So Dallas benefits in that regard as well. Pittsburgh, not as much, so it'll be curious to see what Ray Shero does with the rest of his team and its impending free agents.

I'm sad to see Goligoski leave, but a player like Neal is one Penguins fans have been drooling over getting for years. I think Goligoski will flourish in Dallas, being probably the most gifted offensive blue liner now with the Stars (sorry, Stephane Robidas), and throwing outlet passes to guys like Richards (if he regains his health and remains in Dallas) and Eriksson.

Goligoski's defensive game is fairly schizophrenic. He can be downright stellar at times or he can be downright brutal. He's not very physical and he doesn't get in the way of many shots. Also, for all his offensive ability, he fumbles the puck quite a bit. But when he can corral the puck, he can be lethal. He led Penguins defensemen with nine goals and had a team-high four game-winning goals.

With Neal and Chris Kunitz in the fold, part of me wonders what might happen with Eric Tangradi - still out with the concussion Trevor Gillies gave him. Neal is basically what Penguins officials hope Tangradi turns into - a physical, young winger with the hands to score and a nose for the net, able to play in the dirty areas - but rumors have been circulating that Tangradi could be moved in the right trade. As near as I can tell, all three players are left wingers, but moving one to the right side should be feasible.

Oh, I didn't talk much about Niskanen, did I? There's a reason for that; he appears to be somewhat of a throw-in. He had two decent seasons to begin his career but has very much regressed the last season and a half. He's offensive-minded but needs to rediscover his game to be a valuable contributor. With fewer responsibilities in Pittsburgh's lineup, maybe Niskanen can get back to being a good player.

That would be a bonus for the Penguins if it happens. If it doesn't, it won't be a big deal. The trade is very much Goligoski for Neal and should be a big benefit to both teams. Dallas needed a puck-moving blue liner and Pittsburgh needed a winger with actual talent.

Problem solved.

(I'm still not excited for the rest of this season. Next year is much more promising; but if Sidney Crosby comes back healthy, stays healthy, and Pittsburgh adds another piece, then maybe something good can still happen this spring and summer. OK, I'm done, back to my mountaintop where I can keep ignoring the NHL.)

Just Shut Up

2011-02-16T14:15:00.004-05:00

By NiNY

Michael Farber throws on the hair shirt like no one else. It ain't going to win you that Pulitzer, though, Mike. So stow the histrionics and hyperbole.

I'm just not buying all this soul searching in the face of this recent spate of violence in the NHL. If you don't like it, fine. But those of the punditry who sit there and either decry it, decry others for it, or try to assuage their aspirations of high brow acceptance of an intrinsically low brow sport are simply kidding themselves.

If nothing else, the NHL has offered zero evidence that it wants to rule those kinds of shenanigans out of the game. One need only look as far as the league's track record on supplemental discipline to see that.

If the league wanted this kind of stuff out of the game it would employ a disciplinary system that meted out meaningful justice. Instead, well instead we have what we have.

Frankly, the surprise isn't that this display of thuggery has popped up, it's that, as a reflection of the passe attitude toward individual acts of violence that the league has adopted over years and years, it doesn't pop up more often.

To my mind, complaining about this from the NHL now is like complaining that they don't take the designated hitter out of the American League. You may want that, and you may think it's better for the game. But the MLB has done nothing to give you any reason to think it wants the DH out of the American League. You may want a lot of things in baseball, but if baseball doesn't want them, you're SOL. You may as well be asking for home runs to count double or to be able to use handguns to shoot a running back if he gets past the secondary on a rush.

This is what hockey is. Always has been. It's a violent game. It's an ugly game. It's a game that rewards brutality and skullduggery as readily as it rewards skill and grace. That contradiction is one of the marvelous things about the game of hockey. And the NHL both knows that and is obviously reticent to actually do anything to try to change it. And I'm okay with that. I'm guessing the NHL is a strict adherent to the age-old marketing tenet that there is no such thing as bad advertising.

So I will not be making any apologies for the game. I certainly will not be making any apologies for the NHL. They wanted this, they got it. If they didn't want this, then they shouldn't have fostered the atmosphere that was so conducive to it, for all these many years. If someone out there decides hockey's just too violent for them, fine. Go away. Don't ever come back.

And to the Michael Farbers of the world: give it a rest. Accept hockey in general, and the NHL specifically, for what it is or just shut up already. Don't sit there and try to atone for something that hockey itself doesn't consider a sin. Because you're not seeking redemption or absolution for hockey at that point, you're seeking redemption and absolution for yourself.

Back to the stone age

2011-02-12T00:32:00.002-05:00

By KiPA

I said I wouldn't blog about this but I might as well, even though I twittered most of my thoughts already.

The NHL is a disgrace. Given my current state of disgust and scorn already for the league and the idiots who run it, Friday's Pittsburgh-Islanders game was just about perfect. Total anarchy, total goonism, total cheap shots, just all out chaos and mayhem.

It might have been a little avoidable. After all, the Islanders only talked about revenge oh, pretty damn often since Brent Johnson clocked Rick DiPietro. Then they recalled their AHL leader in penalty minutes the day of the game. To join a lineup that already includes thugs like Trevor Gillies, Matt Martin and Zenon Konopka. Ahead of a game that also included Eric Godard, Deryk Engelland and Mike Rupp. Gee, what could possibly go wrong?

New York got the best start it could, lighting up Johnson early and often. Then they started to goon the game up and turn it into a circus.

I know what you're thinking. My team employs Matt Cooke, who am I to judge? Well, Cooke hasn't pulled a Todd Bertuzzi on anyone, as Matt Martin nearly did to Max Talbot. Martin dropped his gloves, from behind Talbot, and fired up a roundhouse right before Talbot saw it coming and managed to defend himself.

Then Trevor Gillies elbowed Eric Tangradi - who is the Penguins' top forward prospect - and possibly gave him a concussion, then Gillies continued to pound on Tangradi, who tried to huddle - Steve Moore-like - on the ice. To top it off, Gillies decided to be even classier by shouting at Tangradi from the runway, while Tangradi was still lying on the ice being attended to by physicians.

The Penguins did their part in escalating this now-intense rivalry. As near as I can tell, three incidents led to this. Kris Letang's shoulder-to-shoulder hit on Blake Comeau, a hit for which Letang was ejected under rule 48. The NHL rescinded the game misconduct because Letang didn't actually hit Comeau in the head as on-ice officials believed.

Comeau received another blindside, shoulder-to-shoulder hit in the teams' most recent meeting. That was delivered by Talbot. I don't believe there was a penalty, but Comeau apparently suffered a concussion from that hit and hasn't played since. Then, of course, there was Johnson breaking DiPietro's face.

Noted philanthropist and Islanders center Zenon Konopka was one of the ones mentioning the revenge word.

Instead of try to defuse it, the NHL assigned someone named David Banfield as a referee rather than two veterans. (Dan O'Halloran was the other referee.) As far as I know, there were no warnings like when Pittsburgh played Boston the first time after Cooke cheap-shotted Marc Savard.

So, naturally, in a blowout, things got out of control. But it was mainly the Islanders pulling the cheap shit. Martin, Gillies, Micheal Haley going after Johnson and leading to Eric Godard coming off the bench to go after Haley. (In a related story, see you in 10 games, Eric. At least.)

The Islanders' management, coaching staff and players should be ashamed of themselves. So should the NHL. And screw it, so should the Penguins. They instigated a few of the incidents too, it wasn't all New York.

Friday night was a disgrace. On the heels of the Montreal-Boston bloodbath, the NHL is regressing. Given the Sidney Crosby concussion is a continuing - if not growing - story (even ESPN's Pardon the Interruption has been talking about this stuff), the NHL's PR must be pulling out its collective hair.

Maybe because I'm on the losing end, but Friday's game was not fun. I worked during the Boston-Montreal brawl but I didn't look for any YouTube clips of that. I wasn't interested. This crap isn't good.

I'm not calling for the banning of fighting or anything like that, but there's something in the culture of the game that has to change. Unless the NHL is happy with just being a niche sport. In which case, whatever.

It's hard for me to care about at this point.

Ban 'em all

2011-02-09T14:37:00.006-05:00

By KiPA

I know I won't get any sympathy for Matt Cooke's most recent screwup, a four-game suspension, nor am I asking for any. It was a bad hit and he's been out of control a bit lately, so it was about time for a sit-down.

My problem isn't with Cooke's suspension but the lack of discipline for Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman, who hit Sidney Crosby from behind but not with as much force as Cooke's hit on Fedor Tyutin and left Crosby with a concussion. Or the inadvertent hit by David Steckel that also contributed if not caused Crosby's concussion.

Tyutin popped up right away and played a regular shift. Crosby missed the rest of the game and has been out ever since.

The message I'm taking from this is the league is more interested about protecting Tyutin than the face of the league.

So it's about time to get rid of any and all headshots, inadvertent or not, plus any and all checks from behind, especially innocent-looking ones that happen away from the play like Hedman's hit on Crosby.

Before anyone jumps down my throat about "Where was this when Cooke cheap-shotted Savard?" I called for a lengthy Cooke suspension at the time. The NHL screwed themselves when they didn't suspend Mike Richards for just as bad a hit on David Booth. The league set the precedent of "This is legal."

There's plenty of hitting to be done in hockey. Banning any contact to the head or hits from behind isn't going to change the sport except - gasp! - for maybe keeping the players safe.

The league had time to learn that Crosby suffered a head injury after the Hedman hit and well before Hedman's next game yet didn't bother doing anything to protect him. Yet a hit that Bob McKenzie says probably wouldn't have been a suspension if it wasn't Matt Cooke delivering it merits a swift discipline.

So in the hierarchy of the NHL, Fedor Tyutin > Sidney Crosby.

If I was a player in the NHL these days, especially a grinder type, I'd start pulling Hedman jobs. Stand next to a star, gently nudge him into the boards, then ram his head into the glass a few times. No discipline!

Four games might not serve as much of a deterrent for a guy like Cooke to stop pulling his cheap shit again, but the nothing that other players received for causing significant injuries is even less of one. Players aren't respecting each other - led by Cooke, who despite Tyutin's possible turning-his-back-to-him, could've easily avoided hitting Tyutin - and if "accidents" are causing concussions, then guys need to start being more aware of where the fuck they are so they don't either inadvertently cause or receive a concussion, especially if they're 6-fucking-5.

I'm angry right now.

(And for what it's worth, I don't think I want Cooke on my team any more.)

Tampa's "fixed" goaltending; West still interesting

2011-02-09T01:22:00.003-05:00

Roloson blown the eff out in loss to Buffalo
Incoming rants.

OK, so remember when everyone was talking about how Dwayne Roloson was the hottest goalie in the league and Tampa Bay solved its goaltending issues because of Roloson? Yeah, about that.

Inconsistency is not great. Inconsistency doesn't solve anything. And Roloson is either spectacular or spectacularly awful. The latest example came Tuesday, when he let in seven goals on 28 shots as Buffalo routed Tampa Bay, 7-4. Once again, as I've discussed before, the Lightning are prone to giving up a ton of goals.

Yes, Roloson has four shutouts in 13 starts with Tampa Bay and had given up only five goals in the last two weeks. His goals against average in eight wins is a stunning 0.73, if my math is right (six goals allowed.) Yet when he's bad, he's just as bad as he is good. In five losses, Roloson has given up 25 goals. He's given up at least four in each of those losses.

Is that really solving Tampa Bay's goaltending problem? Sure, if you catch him when he's on fire. What if he turns into a sieve right around playoff time? Then what?

Anyway, Drew Stafford had a hat trick and Thomas Vanek chipped in two goals and an assist for Buffalo. Which brings me to my next rant.

I turned the end of the game on XM radio with the score 5-3. The Lightning radio guys were bitching about a controversial goal by Jordan Leopold (three points) when Stafford lost his balance and tripped Roloson. Whoever does play by play said Buffalo grabbed momentum from that play, which tied the score at 3-3.

You know what? The Lightning gave up SIX STRAIGHT GOALS after leading 3-1. They gave up five goals in the third period. This is not the first time they've been blown out of the water (and by a non-playoff team to boot) as I illustrated in the above link. A team with defensive lapses played Marc-Andre Bergeron, infamous for being a major defensive liability, 17 minutes. He was a minus-4. So don't give me any BS about that one play. It took six minutes from the time it was 3-3 for the Sabres to go ahead 4-3, but it only took 1:46 for the lead to become 6-3.

If you want to be taken seriously, you can't be giving up so many goals so many different times.

By the way, I hereby name the Lightning radio duo as the worst set of commentators in sports. They are just horrid. Absolutely horrid. I had to turn the game off after the three minutes my friend and I were listening to it.

On the bright side for the Lightning, Vincent Lecavalier had two goals and an assist and Sean Bergenheim scored twice.

St. Louis, Columbus get key road wins
Two teams in the West needing two important points got them, meaning we still have just one dead team in that conference.
--Steve Mason made 32 saves and Rick Nash and Jakub Voracek each had a goal and assist to lead Columbus over Pittsburgh, 4-1. The Penguins have scored one goal in 120 minutes since learning of Evgeni Malkin's season-ending fate and did not play with its healthy leading goal scorer, Chris Kunitz, who was a late scratch. Tyler Kennedy became the team's seventh player with 10 goals but he's one of only three who suited up Tuesday. Three others are out for quite a while still.

--Matt D'Agostini scored with four minutes left in regulation and St. Louis edged Florida, 2-1. Jaroslav Halak made 30 saves. The Blues and Blue Jackets remain in striking distance of eighth place.

Goalie du jour
Let's start up the new "hottest goalie in the league" talk for Antti Niemi, who posted his second straight shutout with 25 saves in San Jose's 2-0 win over Washington. Logan Couture and Dan Boyle scored in the final 8:05 of the third period.

The bottom-feeders
--Toronto, playing its fifth game in eight nights, got a break when Islanders starter Kevin Poulin suffered an injury in warmups and New York had to go with Mikko Koskinen, who made his NHL debut. The Maple Leafs scored on their first two shots and went on to earn a 5-3 win. Colby Armstrong had a goal and two assists to lead the attack and James Reimer made 31 saves.
--After fellow rookie Nick Palmieri forced overtime with a late goal in regulation, Mattias Tedenby scored his second goal of the game to give New Jersey a 3-2 win over Carolina. Johan Hedberg made 20 saves for the red-hot Devils. In typical Jacques Lemaire fashion, he wasn't happy about anything with his team's play.

Thoughts
--I wonder if Ray Shero makes some kind of panic trade to induce offense into the Pittsburgh lineup, which has pretty much zero playmaking ability right now. It's like the 2003-04 season all over again. Grinders can carry a team only so far. You need two or three guys with actual talent to produce offense on most nights and right now, the Penguins don't even have one player like that. They might go out and score five on Los Angeles Thursday but when the current team needs one goal "right now", I don't know who steps onto the ice.

--Important point for the Hurricanes but an even more important point they gave up. Big two points for Buffalo too.

--We're not really going to start talking about playoffs with Toronto and New Jersey, are we?

Calgary returns, as does "Lost 10"

2011-02-08T04:18:00.002-05:00

Trouble in Chi-town but not Cal-town
One left-for-dead team is back in business, while another team is gasping for air.

Curtis Glencross scored midway through the third period and Calgary fended off Chicago, 3-1, to move back into the top eight in the West for the first time since the '80s. OK, not that long ago, it just feels like it.

The Flames, who got the opening goal from Mikael Backlund and an empty netter from Rene Bourque, sit in the eighth playoff position but have played more games than anyone else in the West except for Phoenix. Olli Jokinen had two assists and Miikka Kiprusoff made 22 saves.

Patrick Kane scored for the Blackhawks, who are currently 11th.

Good Western teams win again
--Jimmy Howard made 45 saves and Pavel Datsyuk and Jiri Hudler each had a goal and assist to lead Detroit over the Rangers, 3-2. New York has lost five in a row.
--Mikael Samuelsson scored twice and added an assist and Ryan Kesler had one of each in Vancouver's 4-2 win over Ottawa, the Senators' 10th straight loss. Roberto Luongo made 31 saves. Jason Spezza led Ottawa with a goal and a helper.

Clean sheets
--Devan Dubnyk made 37 saves for his first career shutout as Edmonton blanked Nashville, 4-0. Andrew Cogliano and Jordan Eberle had a goal and assist each.
--Ilya Bryzgalov stopped all 26 shots and Radim Vrbata scored twice in a 3-0 Phoenix victory over Colorado. Maybe the Avalanche need Peter Forsberg after all.

And finally
Third-period goals by Nikolai Kulemin and Tim Brent helped Toronto edge Atlanta, 5-4, handing the Thrashers their fourth straight loss. Kulemin, Clarke MacArthur and Mikhail Grabovski each had a goal and two points. Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 30 saves.

'Canes leapfrog Thrashers; Goalies in charge

2011-02-06T01:08:00.000-05:00

I skated today for the first time in a number of years. I'm so effing tired. It'll be reflected in the following recap.

Carolina skirts by Atlanta, takes over eighth
The Atlanta Thrashers forgot this NHL season extended into 2011.

Erik Cole's sneaky wrister caught Ondrej Pavelec leaning in overtime and Carolina knocked off Atlanta, 4-3, to move into the eighth place in the Eastern Conference. Both teams have 58 points but the Hurricanes have played fewer games and have more wins.

Jiri Tlusty had a goal and assist and Joni Pitkanen notched two assists for the Hurricanes. Cam Ward made 34 saves.

Atlanta, which lost its 10th game (out of 14) in the calendar year, forced overtime with 1:24 left in regulation on a Zach Bogosian goal. Bryan Little had two assists.

Buffalo adds to Atlanta's pressure
For the second straight night, Buffalo quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead. This time, the Sabres didn't let it disappear.

Drew Stafford (two goals) and Thomas Vanek (one) each had three points as Buffalo routed Toronto, 6-2. The Sabres are five points back of Carolina and Atlanta. They have four games in hand on the Thrashers but just two on the Hurricanes. Ryan Miller made 23 saves.

Title passed on?
With New Jersey surging and the Islanders proving feisty again, has Ottawa taken the crown for worst in the East? I say yes.

Rob Schremp scored twice and Michael Grabner had a goal and assist as New York handed Ottawa its ninth straight loss, 5-3. Frans Nielsen also had a goal and assist. Kevin Poulin made 20 saves.

Clean sheets
Good lord there were a lot of these.

--Logan Couture's power play goal stood up as the winner in San Jose's 2-0 victory over Boston. Antti Niemi made 26 saves. Ryane Clowe had two assists.
--Montreal's Carey Price made 19 third-period saves and 35 total in blanking the Rangers, 2-0. Scott Gomez and Tomas Plekanec (empty net) scored.
--Corey Perry netted a hat trick and Anaheim didn't miss a beat without Jonas Hiller as backup Curtis McElhinney stopped all 25 Colorado shots in a 3-0 victory.
--Phoenix fired 41 shots on Niklas Backstrom and only one by Taylor Pyatt got through but it was enough as the Coyotes defeated Minnesota, 1-0. Ilya Bryzgalov had 25 saves.
--Remember when Johan Franzen scored five goals in one game? Well, Detroit has been blanked in the two games since then after Pekka Rinne made 35 saves in a 3-0 Nashville win. Sergei Kostitsyn scored twice and Ryan Suter had two assists.

Here's what else happened
--Brian Boucher made 30 saves and Philadelphia downed Dallas, 3-1. Darrell Powe's shorthanded goal was the winner.
--R.J. Umberger had two goals and four points to lead Columbus over Edmonton, 4-3. Steve Mason stopped 23 shots.
--Justin Williams had a goal, two assists and the shootout winner in round seven to lead Los Angeles over Calgary, 4-3. Jonathan Quick made 32 saves. Alex Tanguay had two goals and an assist for the Flames.

Well F---, now what?

2011-02-05T14:06:00.004-05:00

By KiPA

Pittsburgh has done one heck of a job the last few weeks in the absences of stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. One reason why that might be is because the other players knew that eventually, at least one and probably both those guys would return at some point.

On the heels of head coach Dan Byslma's announcement Saturday that Malkin suffered a torn ACL and MCL in an innocent and almost freak collision with Tyler Myers in Friday's game, the sentiment might now be: "Well f---, now what?"

Malkin is likely out for the season and apart from the big blow to the on-ice product - despite the Penguins' recent successes, they need Malkin - there's also likely to be a significant hit to morale. Now the other players know Malkin won't be back. They can't just "hold the fort" while he's out.

Now they're the ones who have to storm the trenches. And I'm not sure if they'll have the firepower to do it, especially with Crosby still on the casualty list and not likely to provide an imminent rescue any time soon.

(OK, how many other war metaphors can I fit in here?)

Maybe Pittsburgh will survive until reinforcements arrive. (There's another one! Two if you want to include "survive" but that's a stretch.) The team has adjusted to something akin to New Jersey's trap system, looking to play low-scoring games with opponents. It's proven moderately effective with a five-game winning streak and eight wins in the last nine games.

In the playoffs, defense and strong goaltending tend to win out. Ask Montreal, ask Washington. Marc-Andre Fleury has been arguably the best - OK, second best to Tim Thomas - goalie in the last three months. Fleury was one reason why last season ended prematurely for the Penguins and he'll need to continue his excellent run of play.

Still, on a team that's already top-heavy in pure offensive talent, losing Malkin will not be easy to cope with long-term.

The mood of the locker room will be interesting to see over the next few days as the team continues to get injured down the middle. One possible benefit: the almost-great Dustin Jeffrey will continue to get prime ice time.

With Crosby, Malkin (three ailments), Jordan Staal, Mark Letestu and Maurkice Pouncey of the Steelers, it's tough being a center in Pittsburgh these days. I fear for Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen.

Let's go Bucs.

Caps cool off Roloson; Pens lose Malkin again

2011-02-05T02:30:00.003-05:00

No threepeat for Roloson against Washington
All the hockey writers were abuzz with how hot Tampa Bay goalie Dwayne Roloson has been lately. OK, I suppose it was deserved. He'd allowed just five goals in five games - which includes two straight shutouts - in the last two weeks.

Elephant in the room: Only one of those wins came against a decent team. Roloson beat Columbus, a fading Atlanta team twice and Toronto. The stunner was blanking Philadelphia. The pundits also kind of ignored the nine goals in 73 minutes Roloson had allowed in the two starts prior to that, so I'm not entirely sure it was fair to say Tampa has its goaltending figured out.

Anyway, with all this momentum on his side, surely Roloson would continue against Washington, a team he shut out twice already. Right?

Wrong.

Washington's offense came alive for its highest goal output since before Christmas, torching Roloson for four goals in a crucial 5-2 victory over the Lightning. Nicklas Backstrom scored twice and set up two others and Alex Ovechkin also recorded four points, including his 20th goal. Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves.

Teddy Purcell had a goal and assist for Tampa Bay.

The win puts the Capitals just three points back of the Lightning now in the Southeast Division. A regulation loss would've set Washington back seven.

Penguins lose Malkin, not game
I think it's fair to say it: Pittsburgh doesn't need Evgeni Malkin.

(Note: That's not actually true.)

Returning from a knee injury and sinus infection, Malkin was on the ice for both Buffalo goals in the first period. Behemoth Tyler Myers fell on Malkin early in the second period, knocking the center out of the game, and Pittsburgh quickly scored three times in the next seven minutes in a 3-2 victory.

Dustin Jeffrey - who is a couple more goals away from earning "the great" status - Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke scored in a span of 3:14. Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves.

Cooke's goal actually shouldn't have happened as he was offside, unnoticed, and then scored a handful of seconds later. He wouldn't be the only player to benefit from that kind of non-call.

Paul Gaustad had a goal and assist for the Sabres.

Coincidence or not?
Pretty sure I've seen rumblings, rumors, "talk" - call it what you will - of Columbus perhaps entertaining trade talk concerning goalie Steve Mason.

Mason might have heard them and decided to do something about it. Playing a rare good game, Mason stopped all 34 shots he saw to lead Columbus over Detroit, 3-0, for his second shutout this season. Antoine Vermette and Andrew Murray both had a goal and assist.

The tide has turned
Chicago used to own Roberto Luongo. Not any more.

The last time Luongo faced the Blackhawks, he shut them out. This time he made 42 saves and Vancouver scored two third-period goals to edge Chicago, 4-3. Henrik Sedin had a goal and two assists and Daniel Sedin scored the game-winner. He also had an assist. Mikael Samuelsson matched the two-point outing.

Christian Ehrhoff scored late in the first period for the Canucks but like Cooke's, the goal shouldn't have counted as the puck exited the zone before Ehrhoff's one-timer got past Marty Turco.

Jonathan Toews had a goal and assist for Chicago.

Let's wrap this up
--Ty Conklin made 29 saves and five different Blues scored in a 5-3 St. Louis victory over Edmonton. Brad Boyes had a goal and assist for St. Louis.
--Florida's Mike Santorelli forced overtime with a late shorthanded goal and then teammate Rostislav Olesz won the game in the extra session, 4-3 over New Jersey. Tomas Vokoun made 28 saves for the Panthers, who have handed the Devils two of their three losses (both in OT) in New Jersey's last 11 games.

Dallas and Boston fight to the finish

2011-02-04T02:33:00.004-05:00

Bad blood between Bruins, Stars
If you arrived late to the start of Dallas-Boston, shame on you for six weeks, as Penguins announcer Mike Lange would say.

Three fights in four seconds - which honestly leads to the question of what was that third pair waiting for? Why wasn't it three fights in three seconds? - preceded goals 45 seconds apart in the first 1:20 of Boston's 6-3 victory.

Then there was a fourth fight a few minutes later. In the second period, Steve Ott and Zdeno Chara received 10-minute misconducts. Then Daniel Paille made an appointment with Colin Campbell after head-shotting a player and getting tossed.

By the way, these teams are in different conferences. Does anyone know why the hatred? I'm understanding there's some bitterness between Ott and Gregory Campbell, so I get those two fighting. But everyone else? Good lord.

Anyway, Patrice Bergeron (two goals), Brad Marchand (one) and Mark Recchi (none) all had three points for Boston. Tuukka Rask made 30 saves, receiving more goal support than in his previous 16 appearances combined. (That's true, you can look it up.)

(You didn't look it up, did you? I hope not, because it's obviously not true. As far as you know.)

Trifecta of treys
--New Jersey chased Henrik Lundqvist by scoring the first three goals then had to hang on for a 3-2 win over the Rangers. Dainius Zubrus had a goal and assist and Martin Brodeur made 25 saves.
--Jeff Carter had a goal and two assists and Ville Leino scored two third-period goals in Philadelphia's 3-2 win over Nashville. Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves and Claude Giroux had two assists.
--Tim Brent was a beast apparently blocking shots to help James Reimer's 27-save shutout for Toronto in a 3-0 win over Carolina. Clarke MacArthur and Kris Versteeg scored.

Fabulous fours
--Mikael Backlund's late unassisted goal helped Calgary to a 4-2 win over Atlanta. The Flames, getting a goal and assist from Mark Giordano and 22 Miikka Kiprusoff saves, have won six in a row.
--Jose Theodore made 38 saves, including 17 in the third period when Minnesota was out-shot 19-3, to guide the Wild over Colorado, 4-3. Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored on one of those three shots for the winner. Bouchard also had an assist and Andrew Brunette scored twice. Milan Hejduk had a pair for the Avalanche.

Thoughts
--Seriously, every Devils fan (all four of them) is asking himself why Jacques Lemaire had to go and retire. New Jersey is 8-1-1 in its last 10 and looks more and more like last year's team with each game.

--If the Devils keep winning 80 percent of their games like they have been, they'd finish with 88 points, roughly. That's what it took for Philadelphia and Montreal to qualify for the Eastern playoffs last season. That's not factoring in loser points either, by the way.

--Uh, that can't really happen, can it?

--Sure it can't. Just like Boston can't blow a 3-0 series lead, or a 3-0 lead in Game 7 at home.

--Remember when Atlanta was good? Me neither.

--Minnesota's 7th now! WITH GAMES IN HAND. Believe!

--Geezus. Seriously, the Wild could end up fifth soon. Or even fourth. I guess Pittsburgh won't be trading for Andrew Brunette this season.

Brent Johnson > Rick DiPietro; A Franzen fiver

2011-02-03T01:07:00.003-05:00

Johnson, Penguins beat down DiPietro, Islanders
We can talk if we want about "Sidney who? Evgeni who?" after the Penguins won their fourth straight game and seventh in eight, shutting out the Islanders 3-0 for the second time in nine days. How the team defense in the absence of offensive skill is rivaling anything the Steelers have ever put on the field.

But we all know what we want to see. This:

Boom.

Twitter was abuzz - ABUZZ I tell you - afterward about Brent Johnson. It was fun.

There's also a video from the Islanders' broadcast in which the announcers suggest Rick DiPietro initiated the fight, which I doubt. The announcers also cited Matt Cooke as the instigator of the scrum - which is understandable, and we can all get behind DiPietro giving Cooke a shot - but then they later backtracked a bit after seeing another replay. They were right when they said Cooke didn't need to go anywhere near DiPietro though.

As for the game, oh yeah! There was a game, wasn't there? Tyler Kennedy and Chris Kunitz scored in the first period and Max Talbot broke a 25-game goalless streak with an empty netter that gave him 50 career goals and 100 career points. Paul Martin had two assists.

Johnson made 20 saves but does not technically get credit for a shutout since he was ejected and Marc-Andre Fleury finished the game. So if you have him on your fantasy team - in which case, WTF's wrong with you? - you lose out.

Five...five dollar...five dollar Franzen
Is that song stuck in your heads now? I hope so. Boom.

Even though the last one was into an empty net, mad props to Johan Franzen for going off for five goals in a crazy 7-5 Detroit victory over Ottawa. Three of Franzen's goals came in the third period. The first two came 48 seconds apart in the first.

Some other zaniness: One minute after Franzen's second goal, Peter Regin scored for Ottawa. In the second period, Detroit scored twice in 13 seconds (Kris Draper, Niklas Kronwall) for a 4-3 lead, then Milan Michalek struck for Ottawa 29 seconds later.

Michalek did it again, scoring 29 seconds after Franzen's third goal put Detroit ahead 5-4. Then Franzen scored his last two.

Henrik Zetterberg had three assists and Brian Rafalski and Nicklas Lidstrom two each. Jimmy Howard made 29 saves. Peter Regin, Alexei Kovalev and Chris Campoli each had a goal and two assists for the Senators, who have lost eight straight.

Scared yet?
Are teams in the West as scared of Vancouver as teams in the East are of Philadelphia? If not, the time can't be too far off. (OK, unless you want to think of their - and Bob Luongo's specifically - past playoff failures. That might take some fear away.)

Anyway, five different players scored and Luongo needed to stop just 23 shots as Vancouver ran over Phoenix (get it? Coyotes, road runner? OK yeah, that was a bad one) by a 6-0 score. Ryan Kesler scored twice, Mason Raymond had a goal and assist and Mikael Samuelsson had two assists. No one else had multiple points.

Screening the Oilers
Ryan Smyth got a piece of two shots from the point by Drew Doughty for a pair of power play goals in Los Angeles' 3-1 win over Edmonton. Jack Johnson had a goal and two assists and Jonathan Quick made 32 saves.

Hanging on
--Brian Gionta's goal midway through the third period stood up as the winner as Montreal hung on to defeat Florida, 3-2. The Panthers scored late to cut the gap to one. Max Pacioretty and P.K. Subban each had two assists and Alex Auld made 33 saves for the Canadiens.
--San Jose opened up a quick 3-0 lead, chasing all-star Jonas Hiller, then narrowly avoided a collapse in a 4-3 win over Anaheim. The Ducks trailed 4-1 before two goals narrowed the lead to one. Ryane Clowe had a goal and assist and Antti Niemi made 27 saves for the Sharks.

Thoughts
--The guess here is Brent Johnson was the #1 star just for the knockout.

--The Islanders are not fans of Consol Energy Center. They were the first road team (in four tries) to lose there and then they were shut out there in two straight games. Also, they had a goalie knocked the eff out.

--The Sharks, who smell blood (5th in the West) are circling.

...OK, sorry. Good night everybody! I'll be here all week, don't forget to tip your waitress.