From the Sandbox to the Owner's Box

If you were an owner in the NHL what kind of price would you put on winning?

Well we know that for Oren Koules it has to be quite high. As the part owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning, he invested heavily into free agency this past off season. But we all knew that. Add in the fact that you now have your number 1 goalie (who was handed to you) and your future face of the franchise in Steve Stamkos (also handed to you). These moves were supposed to make these Bolts a division favorite. And after all, its the weakest division in hockey.

So you go out and drop all this cash for players who are past their prime (Ryan Malone, Radim Vrbata, Olaf Kolzig, Mark Recchi, Gary Roberts and of course Barry Melrose) and you should win your division, right? I mean, your not rebuilding like the Leafs are, so you should have a good shot at this one right Barry? Well, Malone, Vrbata, Recchi, and Roberts have combined for a total of 4 points in 26 games, so I don't know if you could say they are paying off.

Well, I guess not since you are only ahead of the (once again) disfunctional Senators and the Charles Wang project. Quick thought: how is Bryan Murray going to blame this one on Ray Emery?



So, what's wrong? Hmm, I don't have that much time, so let's go with what's right instead.

Well, nothing that you did Oren. Mike Smith is the league leader in save pecentage (.941) as of Sunday so at least you have him. Oh, that's right, that wasn't you who went and got him, that was the GM with a Stanley Cup ring whom you fired.

The facts are that this team is built to win now and they are not. They panicked at the start of the season and over paid for Meszaros; lost a first round pick, another cup winner in Filip Kuba and a future stud on defense in Alex Picard. But you are still sitting in 13th in the East.

My question to you Oren, is what the heck are you going to do next?

Turco's Sluggish Starts

Ok Jeff, I see what your saying. I will acknowledge and appease my readers! This is Marty back in his Michigan days when he set almost all the NCAA records.

Marty Turco has rarely started a season as slowly as this. He often seems to take a little bit to get accustomed to his new routine every year and this year has amplified this effect.
Near the end of the summer his family added a new member: their first baby boy. This was a momentous occasion for Marty as it is with every parent. This, in my opinion threw off his rhythm for the start of the year.. and getting new pads contributed as well.

His great play against the Rangers went unnoticed because of last nights 5-0 loss to the Devils. However, that Rangers game should be a sign of clear waters ahead.

Every goalie is streaky and this has happened before so I caution fantasy owners who are calling for his head right now - chill. His play will improve over the next two weeks and even look for him to put up great numbers in November, just like he always does. (I'm thinking player of the week one time in November, called it)

Also I am going to blame Sean Avery for this one, his distractions are limitless and his behaviour is similar to that of Marty's newborn. I am confident that Marty will have no problems in turning this one around and blocking out Avery. (ps: Brett Hull, did you really think you could change Avery? What are you, every guy's grade 8 girl friend?)

Also in the AHL this week the Toronto Marlies and the Hamilton Bulldogs fired up their first tilt of the season (1 down 11 to go) with the Marlies coming out on top. Jeremy Williams had two goals and Kris newbury had 3 assists. Justin Pogge was incredible in the 2nd period and very average in the 3rd.

Hamilton was powered by career AHLer Yannick Lehoux and Habs prospect Matt D'agostini each contributing 3 points on the evening. Max pacioretty was impressive as he took an elbow from Staffan Kronwall and was carried off the ice.

That's all for now folks, two games on tap for the marlies this weekend as they take on the Quad City Flames and the Houston Aeros(Wild's affiliate).

Some AHL action in Toronto

The Marlies played the Grand Rapids Griffins over the weekend and wow was I impressed - with the Griffins.

The farm team for Detroit looks a lot like their NHL counterparts this season. Their style of play and dominance are prevelant at the AHL level.

The most impressive thing about this team is the bulk of young prospects they have leading the way. You have two very good goaltending prospects in Daniel Larsson and Jimmy Howard. Both will play in the NHL when Detroit (or more likely someone else) has room for them.

Their defense is very promising with the likes of Jonathan Ericcson, Jakub Kindl and Logan Pyett. Ericcson should see time in the NHL this year as he is quite ready.

Their forwards then have AHL superstar Darren Haydar, (who is not going up but makes the team quite strong) Finish immigrant Ville Leino who lead the Finish league in points last year and Darren Helm who is occasionally on the roster when not in the Motor city. Jan Mursak will also impress for the Griffins as he was a standout with the Belleville Bulls last year at the Memorial Cup. These players are surrounded by a host of other young guns who are extremely effective with the puck at both ends of the ice.

If this team wasn't going to lose a lot of its talent when Detroit opens the playoffs they would look like a top contender to me. Their 7-3 domination of the Marlies solidified this fact.

Its hard to believe how good this Detroit system really is, it almost seems they are like Ben Johnson of Seoul(without the "I cheetah all the time" part).

The marlies take on Hamilton bulldogs, the affiliate of the Montreal canadiens, on Wednesday night so look for a decent baby Habs report on Thursday.

Fanship

Ok, first of all, let me make this clear - this is a somewhat off topic blog.

Today was my first experience at a Toronto FC soccer game (or to all the Brits who read my blog- footy… ok no one British reads this blog). Ok, I know what you're thinking, why soccer? Well I ended up getting free tickets and was placed in the most raucous crowd I have ever been part of. And yeah, I bought the jersey.

These fans are chanting 20 minutes before the game, they have drums, 10 feet wide flags, more streamers than a Gay Pride parade and to top it off, they have a cheer coordinator with a giant microphone.

These guys are what fanship should be. I personally don’t care much for the MLS brand of soccer. But this experience was unlike any other sporting event I have been to (no I have never been to see European soccer or March Madness). These fans actually throw streamers at players before they are about to kick the ball – totally interfering with the play. Confetti is blown onto the pitch by the thousands (over 20,000 today) of fans as they cheer on their Reds.

The fans have scarves with their seating section number stitched onto it, their flags have their section numbers and individual seating sections compete for cheering during the game. The FC ended up winning the game 3-2 in what has to be some kind of a record for soccer games (usually they score as many goals as Wade Belak).

This all made me think, well, wish, that all hockey games could be like that. The intensity of the fans brought out the mini soccer fan in me.

After the game I watched the Marlies defeat the Hartford Wolf Pack 4-1 at Ricoh Coliseum. It was a good game, Kris Newbury played great earning the first star and Justin Pogge stood tall with 29 saves. Mark Bell was off his game playing sluggishly and taking a few bad penalties. Artem Anisimov and Bobby Sanguinetti were pretty much invisible as I expected these Ranger prospects to play well. Sanguinetti was given much leeway by his coach but he didn’t seem to be into the game.

Happy anniversary Le Tricolore

As everyone is well aware, the Habs turn 100 this season, and they sure put on a good celebration. They are to hockey like Jesus is to Catholics, no matter all the arguments, its a big deal.

To lift from SNL, I think the real question here is, did god create the habs to be superior to all other teams or is he simply a huge fan, and Gainey made them superior to all other teams?

All kidding aside the Habs have never had so much pressure on them to win, period. With impending free agents like Kovalev, Koivu, Tanguay, Higgins and RFA Plekanec, the time is now. What not many Habs fans have realized is that the Salary cap does exist(wierd) and come next year, if they lose some of these core guys without having won the cup in 09, Gainey will feel the heat and the disappointment will be larger than Sean Avery's attitude.

Now that that has been dealt with, the real idea is here. The current state of the team is nothing short of euphoria, the media and fans a like are pumping those tires 24 hours a day. And I love it! But with so much pressure, once the team slips in the slightest, I fear this euphoria could turn to panic very quickly, after all the media loves bad news.

If this team loses 3, 4, or please not 5 games in a row, they will be tested immensely. This thought crossed my mind at the end of last season, and it was scary after seeing the team fall behind so quickly against the flyers. And having Price distrusted in net really broughton the feeling of panic.

Here's where it changed for me, this off season Montreal went out and got WINNERS. Tanguay won a cup with Colorado. Lang has won a golf medal and has played on Presidents Cup winning Detroit, he knows the feeling. Laraque has made the NHL finals 2 of the last 3 years and is a guy who really is a team player. You can say all you want about this guy, but he plays his role as the best in the NHL. Winning breeds winning.

This confidence that the new additions bring should support the already strong willed team. This is why I pick these Montreal Canadiens to win the cup. This pressure is very strong, no doubt, but after all, repeating is exponentially harder than winning it the first time.

Ps: Go Habs Go!

The Greatest Show on... Ice! Right?

Come one come all to the greatest show on earth. Or, so that's how the advertising promoted it.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, the greatest show on earth? At one time this actually applied, the franchise did win Stanley Cups once. But now, riding on the coat tails of 50 something baby boomers, its become the most expensive hockey ticket in the world.

And with that, the most unrealistic venue has been created as a fantasy for all leaf fans. The mere thought of attending a game only crosses the minds of the rich, famous, or corporate.

With such an unattainable dream comes frustration, felt by many leaf fans in the form of... buying more mechandise, whoops I mean paying more for tickets. No, that still can't be right. Maybe it is protest that they turn to - nope still wrong.

"What is fueling the industry leader, Alex". Yup, the fans have turned this mecca of hockey into a private club.

Wait, did he just say the fans did all this? Yes. Question for you the reader, if I offer you 20 dollars for your 20 cent lemonade will you take it? Remember, you are a profit seeking missile aimed straight at climbing the corporate ladder.

Of course you will take it! And so the beat goes on. Well, you say the fans should get a break for having supported the team, for 80 years right? Well, yeah they should. Ok. Let's give them one game for free, but make sure it doesn't count for anything(hence pre-season and against the Sabres). And so the fans first game was created, great, a miracle!

Or so we thought. For anyone who actually went through the motions of going downtown and entering the tailgate party, success! My question is where the heck were all these die hard fans? There was about 1600 people who went to this tailgate party, and of them, nearly all were given tickets to the game.

So to all the people (not calling them fans at this point) that want to complain about expensive tickets, you better have been at this half empty game. Otherwise, your the worst kind of hypocrite money can buy.

Seriously though, who wants to watch a team that has Mikhail Grabovski on the ice for 20 minutes per game, might as well watch the Toronto Marlies for 30 bucks. Where the people watching the game are actually watching the game and not on their BlackBerry proposing the next sale to buy-out your dad's company.

To MLSE I say great job in your efforts, eveyone else would do the same.

The Rains Report is born!

Welll it took one short train ride to figure out it was time to grow up and leave the nest, err, start a blog.

This blog will focus on professional hockey with a specific interst in the ahl and also the nhl.

It will be brougt to you by an opinionated hockey fan just like you, except I have way too much time on my hands and a phone with unlimited data.

I will be updating the blog almost on a daily basis to keep you up to date on the happenings of pro hockey.

My big interests is in prospects of the NHL and therefore a particular penchant for AHL standouts.

If your looking for talk on Denis hamel or mike zigomanis your in the wrong blog, look up career AHLers to find them. I will be focusing on players like Justin Pogge and Bobby Ryan.

Look for a fair assessment of their nightly play, I seem to catch a lot of toronto marlie games for some reason.