The Finished Flash

The defending silver medalists will have a tough time following up on their successes of 2006 in Vancouver. These Fins have longer odds and older stars. With 29 Finish players skating in the NHL this season, compared to the 31 in 2006, this Scandinavian nation has stayed consistent in terms of number of players. Where it drops off is in the talent.

In 2006, the 31 Fins combined for 703 points over a full season, meaning 8.57 FSI (Finish scoring index... ok it could be any nation's scoring index, I just made it up). They had considerable contributions from Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu and Jere Lehtinen. Yes, these guys are still around this season but "they don't make them like they used to".

So far this season, the 2009 Fins have 189 through 36 games, meaning 5.25 FSI. You can start to see a drastic difference here. Even though they have found new leadership in Mikko Koivu, Olli Jokinen and Niklas Hagman there is still much to be desired. Their offensive production has been in question before but the Fins will play a very strong defensive game and wait for their opponent to make a mistake (very venus fly trap-ian). It is doubtfull they will get any help from the home bodies but if anyone makes it, it may be Hannes Hyvonen of Minsk Dynamo.

Here is a look at their forwards... (Note the number of repeated names, the Jokinen's are not related... although, every American probably thinks Brad Richards and Mike Richards are brothers, if americans watched hockey.)

Selanne-O.Jokinen-S.Koivu

Hagman-M.Koivu-T. Ruutu

J.Jokinen-Leino-Lehtinen

J. Ruutu-Filppula-Meitinen

Defensively the team will rely heavily on Kimo Timonen and the strength of their defensive forwards. They always seem to play strong against the big teams and don't count them out to stymie some of the high powered offenses. Losing Teppo Numinen to retirement (heart issues) will hurt this team a lot.

Timonen-Salo

Pitkanen-Lydman

Vaananen-Koistinen

Goaltending is definitely their ace in the hole. The SUOMI will be backstopped by some of the best goaltenders in hockey. Kiprussof or Backstrom could both be the top goaltender of the tournament if they had their way. However, with Kipper's boisterous public demand to be the starter, he seems to have laid claim. Look to see Pekka Rinne accompany the goaltenders and earn experience for the future.

Overall, this Finish team is not the most attractive selection to medal, however they could do some damage to a team that would be overlooking them. Watch for them to have close games all tournament long. Final prediction: Bronze Medal

Olympic Fever - A Russian Update

"Of course I win gold" Maybe not this time Alex....

With every media outlet firing out our team Canada hopefuls faster than your morning's medium double double. I thought it would be useful to give you an update on the competition, starting with the Russians.

Since the times of the Soviet Union, never has the POSSHA been more feared. Speaking of which, Fetisov is making a return in the KHL this weekend! They may not be able to field multiple teams that could compete for a medal, but their cream of the crop is definitely tops. In case you haven't imagined it already - check it. Here is a look at their forwards.

Ovechkin-Malkin-Kovalchuk
Semin-Datsyuk-Kovalev

Frolov-Kozlov-Radulov (remember him?)

Morozov-Yashin-Afinogenov

Yikes.

But your thinking that their defense will be weak since they always have been. They only have 7 defenseman with games played in the NHL this season (I looked it up, kinda surprised) with a total of 121 games played; extrapolated over an 82 game season it means they have only played in 21% of games this season. All that to say, yes, their defense IS weak.

Gonchar-Markov

Volchenkov-Tyutin

Grebeshkov-Kulikov

Goaltending is a different story of course, they not only have veteran incumbents but rising stars (or Sputniks). The experience of Nabokov, Khabibulin put them atop the rankings however I would slide the ever shut-out-ing Ilya Bryzgalov into the mix. Don't forget about Washington's Varly as he has just one loss in 16 games played this season.

Bryzgalov

Nabokov

Varlamov

Simply looking at their offense, the Russians have too much firepower to be stopped by any defense. Yes, Canada does have it's on-ice version of NORAD in Neidermayer and Pronger. But no one, can stop Ovechkin-Malkin-Kovalchuk on one line.

Final placement: Silver Medal

Enter The Hall

With the induction of some of the NHL's greatest stars into the Hockey Hall of Fame tonight, I couldn't help but review my favorite memories of these players and builders. Notable would be the 2001-2002 Detroit Red Wings team which included three of these hall entrants.

Brett Hull: The Golden Brett, personally I had a poster of him because of my GT racer for years up on my wall. I was also a large supporter of the renown Brett Hull Hockey '93. As for hockey moments, his 1999 goal against the Bufallo Sabres was a picture that I will never forget (nor will any Buffalo fan). Brett Hull was one of the greatest goal scorers the game has seen, possibly the best one time slap shot in the history. The fact that Brett was a 6th round pick in the 1984 entry draft still boggles the mind, after he had scored 105 goals in 57 games in the BCHL.

His greatest season: 1990-1991: 86-45-131, Hart and Lester B. Pearson trophies.

Luc Robitaille: Lucky Luc will be remembered for his delicio commercial with Martin Brodeur, his multiple TV appearances (D2, Bones etc..check out IMDB lol) and most of all his 9th round selection in the 1984 draft. Robitaille should remain one of the more underrated players of all time as he spent most of his years in Los Angeles and only won one Stanley Cup as a Red Wing in 2002.

His greatest season: 1992-1993: 63-62-125 and 22pts in 24 playoff games.

Steve Yzerman: The ultimate captain, I will remember Yzerman for being one of the best leaders in hockey and being one of the only all-time franchise guys, along with Mario Lemieux, Jean Belliveau and Mike Modano. I will remember him for having the much talked about bionic knee after he tore both his MCL and ACL and came back to play. Yzerman will be a name renown in Canadian hockey history for years to come, even if our 2010 team falls flat on it's face.

His greatest season: 1988-1989: 65-90-155 and a Lester B. Pearson trophy.

Brian Leetch: The greatest texan, in hockey terms (although he grew up in Connecticut). Leetch will be remembered for his time with the Rangers and his 1994 Conn Smythe Trophy. He was part of a 13 year run that saw the James Norris Trophy awarded to only 4 players, Leetch, Chris Chellios, Ray Bourque and Paul Coffey. Leetch will mostly be remember for being the only American born player to win the Conn Smythe trophy.

His greatest season: 1991-1992: 22-80-102 and a James Norris trophy.

Lou Lamoriello: One of the more interesting NHL general managers, Lamoriello has built a successful team year after year in New Jersey. He is one of the few General Managers that has entered the realm of NHL decision makers without having been a player or an integral part of a team previous to his being named president in 1987. Since then he has brought his Devils to the playoffs in 18 of 20 seasons and is in line to do this again this year.

His greatest season: Having an average winning % over .500 for 2o years consecutively.

Follow the leader, or not..

As the Habs and Leafs get set to kick off tonight's match-up, I can't help but think of how much these two teams have changed over the past off season. It's a lot like cheering for any AHL team, which in itself, is another challenge... but at least you have a captain.

Toronto has gotten younger, and has increased their talent pool, whether that leads to success or more of the same, the Leafs will not be a team your talking about in May. Montreal is battling the always high expectations, and will have a tough time putting together this hodge-podge soup mix.

The lineup on opening night looks like this.
Price - Halak

Markov - Spacek
Hamrlik - Mara
Gill - Gorges
O'Byrne

Pacioretty-Gomez-Gionta
Cammalleri-Plekanec-A.Kostitsyn
Latendresse-Lapierre-D'Agostini
Moen-Metropolit-Laraque

The issue here for me has to be in goal. Carey Price was asked today, what did you do to prepare for this season. His response: "I didn't think about hockey for two and a half months, I didn't do anything with hockey or talk about it. So that I could clear my head and get ready for this season". Now, I am not a Sports Psychologist, but personally I think the off season should be spent gearing up for the season via work-outs and studying film. Sure you take a lot of time off and golf but there has to be some kind of effort.

Bob Gainey is bold, and bald, but if he doesn't get production from this team - he's out on his rear.

The Maple Leafs on the other hand, are showing progression; they have unloaded some older players and freed up roster spots for younger players to gain experience. Oh and before you ask, I don't think Kessel will score more than 25 goals this year, and he will not be effective overall (he's also out until November)

For me, the key moves for this team has to be adding Francois Beauchemin, Mike Komisarek and Jonas Gustavsson. Oh and I don't think Gustavsson will be a quality goaltender for a couple years yet, especially since the Leafs still have quite a bit of growing pains to undergo. Bob McKenzie just said Stalberg will compete for rookie of the year, I totally disagree, let's see what happens lol.

Here is the Leafs lineup.
Toskala-Gustavsson

Kaberle-Komisarek
Beauchemin-Schenn
White-Exelby
Finger

Stalberg-Stajan-Blake
Poni-Grabovski-Hagman
Stempniak-Mitchell-Wallin
Orr-Primeau-Rosehill
Mayers

New Team, New Coach and Same Expectations

First of all, let me just say that I wish the Habs would have had the balls to hire an English speaking coach. Sure some can argue that Martin was the best available coach, I am still disappointed that Carbo was fired in the first place. On the other hand, I am definitely happy that Patrick Roy isn't the Habs coach though, as was rumoured, as he has basically no experience in the professional coaching ranks. At least with Martin, if all else fails, they have free satelite TV courtesy of his massive ears.

Personally, I think Martin will fit in well in Montreal as far as the culture of the team. Right now there was a plethora of change in the Habs dressing room and new leadership will rise in the mold of Martin. The obvious "downside" of the Martin would be his much-talked about defensive style of play. I think he isn't really getting his fair shake on this one; in Florida, the team had a lot less scoring talent than the current Habs team. That being said I think Martin will have to balance Montreal's offensive players and make them into a strong balanced team. Quick note, Martin's Panther's last year were last in the league in shots allowed, not so defensive after all...

His efficiency in Ottawa was among the best in the league, he made a struggling team into a strong contender every year. A lot of the Ottawa fans will probably say that he also made for boring hockey and stifled the development of youngsters like Jason Spezza and held back the offensive abilities of Martin Havlat and Marian Hossa.

The Canadiens will most likely be a contender for a playoff spot and will largely depend on the play of Carey Price or Jaroslav Halak. Unfortunately, I have trouble finding a reason why Martin will be good for Price or even Halak, and for this reason I can't really say that Martin is the right man for the Habs for me, at least right now. As far as the team in general, I think they can have solid success with the team Bob has put together, I am fully behind the two signings for Mara as well as Moen. These guys will bring some gusto that was lacked by the team especially in the playoffs.

Overall, Jacques is bringing in new ideas with a new team and I feel like the Habs can have any type of season, setting expectations on this team would be quite difficult.

Stampede Summary

With the Stampede in Calgary winding down, Dion Phaneuf looks over to Jay Bouwmeester as they receive their week's bar tab and says "Don't worry Jay, you still have five million left for this year". By the way, for Flames fans, are you concerned that you just spent almost 7 million per season for a Bill Gates look-a-like? Weird.In Calgary, Darryl Sutter stuck to his guns, didn't make any noise after the Bouwmeester trade and now the defense is the story of the summer. The Flames' top 4 defense is the most expensive in hockey (over 20 million for Jay, Dion, Regehr and Sarich, just passing Detroit's fearsome foursome). A common misconception is that Calgary had trouble scoring goals last season. However, they ranked 8th in goals per game even with their power play ranking 21st in the league - I thought they had issues but they clearly did not. More of an issue would be their power play and their 23rd rank in the goals against department.

Therefore, the addition of Bouwmeester will surely boost their power play offense as well as give them a great upgrade to their team defense. Less minutes where Dion is counted on to play defense is good, right? Hopefully for Flames fans this rejuvenated defense corps will enthuse Miikka Kiprusoff who recorded his lowest totals in both save percentage (.903) and goals against average (2.84) last season (even though he led the league in wins, games, saves and minutes). A reliable back up is something Calgary hasn't had for a longtime, I doubt that Curtis McElhinney is the answer, since his AHL success hasn't translated to NHL success.

Overall, the loss of Mike Cammaleri's team-high 39 goals will hurt their goal scoring ability so they will count on some of their younger players picking up the slack. Hot shot prospect Mickael Backlund will make some noise at Calgary's training camp, look for him to have an on again, off again NHL season. Keep in mind, they still have Olli Jokinen, another former 39 goal scorer.

Interesting statistics: 29th in blocked shots, 4th in Penalty Kill, 4th most Penalty Minutes and had only two players with more than 50 points.

Leafs Cash Out

The Toronto Maple Leafs went to town today and came back with 7 players signed.

Most notably, the long courting process of Francois Beauchemin finished off with Frankie signing a 3 year deal worth 3.8 million dollars per season. This signing was expected for a while now as Beauchemin became an unrestricted free agent.

My immediate reaction was to say good job to the Leafs for signing one of the best defensemen available in free agency, might not be saying much but Beauchemin is a solid top four defenseman that stepped up bigtime in the absence of Scott Neidermayer two years ago. A good puck mover and contributor on the power play, Beauchemin also brings something very few Leafs have; a Stanley Cup.

The expected BUT, would be that the terms of the deal are only for three years. Now, the assumption would be that three years from now, the 32 year old Beauchemin may not fit the team model. However, I think the signing is kind of a step sideways as the Leafs realistically don't have a team to compete over the next couple seasons. This would be the only real downfall from this signing as it does create cap space in 3 years to sign another free agent that may put them closer to the top.

And in the meantime, Beauchemin will be a great leader in the dressing room and a strong influence over the growth of the young Leafs. It is easy to assume that he will be a solid fit alongside Luke Schenn on the Leafs second pairing.

The team also signed their first round pick, Nazem Kadri to his entry level contract. Good call but Leaf fans shouldn't see this as a sign that he will be playing for the team anytime soon. Also signing today was Marlies captain Ben Ondrus, Ryan Hamilton, Jay Rosehill, Tim Brent and Richard Greenop. These signings are pretty irrelevant since they will spend 90% of the time with the AHL's Marlies.

In other news, Alex Kovalev has signed in Ottawa. This may be a move to fill the inevitable void that Dany Heatley will leave on Spezza's wing or it could be a move to tell Heater to get his act together and fire on all cylinders with this new sniper. As far as Alex's role in Ottawa, it will be difficult to see him fit in with a team that has a very weak dressing room and few Russians. Maybe he just wants to spurn the Habs by visiting the Bell Center 3 times a year...

Canadiens Spending Spree

What a way to start off the Free Agency season! No waiting for Sundin to sign somewhere, no waiting for the Lightning to go crazy and sign everyone, just some fast paced high calibre signings. Here is a view at what the Canadiens have done in 12 hours.

Note: remember, you always overpay on July 1st.

Scott Gomez: viable number one center, pass first shoot second type player, not a Franchise centerman. The price they paid was acceptable on the trade front as it was largely a salary move for the Rangers. I feel like Bob Gainey will take a lot of heat for this trade but I would have done it as well. At 7.3 million per season, I would rather have Gomez than Marian Gaborik (7.5).

Mike Cammalleri: strong addition to their wing as they will miss Alex Kovalev’s wrist shot from the angles, Cammalleri will replace this and give the Habs a lot less headaches. As for giving him a Sedin contract, it’s July 1st. I think he will compliment Gomez quite nicely and give the Habs powerplay some gusto.

Brian Gionta: another addition to the wing position, his 60 points last season with New Jersey was another solid season for the 30 year old. I believe Gionta can be a valuable asset at $5 million for 5 years, his past with Gomez is promising and his skills defensively are strong.

Jaroslav Spacek: The puck moving defenseman the Habs were looking for last season to round out their top 4 steps in to fill time where Komisarek will be gone. He is consistently around the 40 point mark when he can play 80 games and will be a valuable asset in Montreal’s break out and power play. Although he will not bring a booming slap shot from the point, he will create space for the smaller forwards.

Hal Gill: This tower of power is an ideal 6th defenseman when playing 12 minutes per night. His 2.25 cap hit is acceptable and he will bring a stalwart presence to the Canadiens penalty kill. This signing should be viewed as filler for the defense corps.

Quick look at the Habs potential lines. Not counting Koivu, which I hope they can sign.

Cammalleri Gomez TBD
Gionta Plekanec A. Kostitsyn
D’Agostini Lapierre Latendresse
S. Kostitsyn Metropolit Laraque

Markov Hamrlik
Spacek Gorges
Gill Weber

2009 NHL Entry Draft Recap

The NHL entry draft has come and gone with much fanfare in Montreal. Most of it went as expected but here is a quick recap to follow up on some of the draft talk we had since the WJHC in January.

Tavares: 1st Overall, as expected. No need to talk about him much more.
Hedman: 2nd overall, as expected. He's Tampa's best defenseman immediately, sorry Meszaros.
Paarjavi-Svensson: 10th overall to Edmonton. I predicted him in the top 20 with character issues however his stock rose later in the season.
Ryan Ellis: 11th overall to the Nashville Predators. I expected him to go in the top 10 and he almost did.
Thomas Tatar: 60th overall to the Detroit Red Wings. I thought he would be in the 1st round back in January after his crazy WJHC performance but going 60 to the Red Wings is kind of like going 12th to the Islanders. Also he is already rumoured to be playing with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL next season.
Jaroslav Janus: 162 overall to the Tampa Bay Lightning. After his great performance at the WJHC Janus had a solid season with the Erie Otters posting a .908 SVP on a bad Erie team.

A few other players of note.
Calvin DeHaan: Islanders move up to 12 to grab Tavares' teammate from Oshawa, huge gamble.
Jordan Schroeder: fell to 22nd and the Vancouver Canucks have a huge boner.
Landon Ferraro: fell to 32nd and the Detroit Red Wings, again that's like being 12th to the Islanders.
Anton Lander: Edmonton grabbed him with the 40th overall pick, he played in the SEL last season and put up 10 points (same amount as Marcus Johansson, 24th overall to Washington)
Sergei Andronov: 78th overall to St. Louis, had a great showing at the WJHC with 8 pts in 7 games as well as a good year with 8 goals in the KHL.
Ryan Bourque: 80th overall to the Rangers, the son of Ray had a great season with the USDP however standing only 5'9'' lowered his draft stock.
Toni Rajala: 101st overall to the Edmonton Oilers, had 19pts in 6 games in the U-18 tournament. Standing only 5'10'' he's a poor man's MPS.
Marcus Foligno: 104th overall to the Buffalo Sabres, the Sudbury Wolves product was .5 ppg in 60 OHL games. His family pedigree probably had an impact in his selection.
Mikhail Pashnin: 200th overall to the New York Rangers, Pashnin was the 1st overall selection in the KHL entry draft. This certainly lowered his draft stock at the NHL draft.
Adam Almquist: 210th overall to the Detroit Red Wings, this smooth skating defenseman put up 36 points in 41 games in the under 20 Swedish league. The wings have a tradition of hitting home runs on their last picks ( 2oo2 Jonathan Ericsson 9th Round, 1999 Henrik Zetterberg 7th round and 1994 Tomas Holmstrom 10th round) and Almquist could be their next.

Tavares finds new home in New York

The New York Islanders have won the Tavares lottery, finally giving their fans something to cheer about. The draft lottery went exactly according to plan with all teams falling into their expected spots. The Lightning are headed to the draft podium second as they have captured the right to select Victor Hedman.

1 New York Islanders

2 Tampa Bay Lightning

3 Colorado Avalanche

4 Atlanta Thrashers
5 Los Angeles Kings

This marks the potential turn around for the New York Islanders, a team who by far had the worst team in the NHL this season. Lacking a true scorer the Isles may have found what they are looking for in Tavares. I believe he is a better fit for the team than Hedman as puck moving defenseman are about the only thing the Islanders have right now.

Tampa Bay will be very happy to acquire what will instantly be their team's best defenseman, Victor Hedman. I believe that there was a great chance that the Lightning would have selected Hedman even if they were assigned the 1st overall pick, sure many people say to draft with the best player available, but Hedman is really the best fit for the team.

Interestingly enough, every team that has chosen with the first overall selection since 2002 is in the playoffs this year (at the exception of Tampa Bay who have more issues than someone on Maury Povich). Columbus (Rick Nash), Pittsburgh (M.A. Fleury), Washington (Alex Ovechkin), Pittsburgh (Sidney Crosby), St-Louis (Erik Johnson) and Chicago (Patrick Kane) are all being lead by their former picks, except for St-Louis who have now banned the use of golf carts for all players.

Whether or not Tavares can have a miracle season, the Isles will more than likely be in the top 5 lottery slots again next year. Either way, someone fire up the NYI bandwagon, you're about to get a lot of followers.

Omark signs with Dynamo Moscow

Well if you hadn't heard about this year's Youtube.com sensation, Linus Omark, it's too late to get excited about him in the NHL.

Sorry to break the news Oilers fans, but poor little Linus has decided to sign in Russia with Dynamo Moscow for about 8 times more money than he would have received playing for Springfield. His team mate Johan Harju (Tampa Bay 6th Round pick in 2007) also makes the journey to the land of the Rouble.

Both players were thrilling for the Lulea club of the SEL this year and their respective NHL organizations had high hopes for the two. Unfortunately the alure of money has ripped them away.

Omark was third in the SEL in scoring with 23-32 in 53 games and Harju finished the year in seventh spot with 27-22 in 55 games. This probably marks disaster for the Lulea team who were boosted largely by these two players along with goaltender Mattias Modig. Modig is under contract through the 09/10 season however the SEL contracts are broken as easily as a hollywood wedding. Modig was stellar for Lulea posting a .922 SVP in 2008-2009.

Oh and in case anyone was wondering, Jaromir Jagr and a decent season this year with 25 goals and 28 assists in 55 games for Omsk Avangard. Not bad for 10 million per season.

Lastly, my condolences to other Habs fans out there for the loss of Markov and Schneider. It really hurts to lose those two at this time in the season but it just seems as though the hockey gods aren't picking Montreal to win it in their 100th season. At any rate, I wish the Habs the best of luck as they look to not get swept by Boston in the first round (I figure it will line up that way).

Razor Revenge

The Razor. Not Edge, Mach 3 (or 4 or Fusion) or Razor Ramon, I'm talking about Ray Emery.

The former Senators goaltender is currently on a sabbatical from his NHL career. Playing in Moscow for Mytischi Atalant, Ray was stellar this season in goal. His performance was amongst the best in the league with 36 games this season, posting a 22-8-0 record with a 2.12 goals-against-average and a .926 save percentage.

Now it's easy to remember Emery for leaving the team due to a contract dispute (who continues to work if they aren't getting paid anyways?) and there was the fight with the team trainer, who really really wanted Emery to wear the hat (see Seinfeld "Who will not wear the ribbon?!?"). However, Emery has been a solid force in net, and with goaltending being the backbone of a playoff contender, it's easy to envision the Razor signing a deal this off season with an NHL team.

Keep Emery on your radar this off season as one of the better Free Agent goaltenders. I can envision him playing with a number of teams, perhaps even the Toronto Maple Leafs will end the failed Justin Pogge experiment and let Emery compete for a spot. It is also in the realm of possibilities that a team like Dallas would want a proven goaltender to back up the overworked Marty Turco.

Wherever he lands, I believe he will be relatively inexpensive (around the 2 million dollar mark) and provide solid goaltending.

Waiver Wire Prominence

The waiver wire was on fire Wednesday as the trade deadline marched on at a relatively slow pace.

Many skilled players were claimed on Wednesday, and having so many of those players waived on the Monday started a new trend of cap management in the NHL. Many GMs waived long-time NHLers in order to free up cap space for their deadline moves. Other GMs made those waiver wire claims their deadline moves. Here's a quick recap of the waiver wire over the last few days.


Calgary
Claimed defenseman Lawrence Nycholat off waivers from the Vancouver Canucks, then turned around and traded him to Colorado as part of the Jordan Leopold trade.


NY Rangers
Claimed forward Sean Avery off re-entry waivers from the Dallas Stars, an expected move from the Rangers was overshadowed by other deadline moves, thank god Sean Avery' story finally got bumped off the headlines.


Toronto
Claimed goaltender Martin Gerber off waivers from the Ottawa Senators and defenseman Erik Reitz from the New York Rangers. The Gerber claim lead to the placement of Vesa Toskala on IR and an interesting change of scenery for Eric Reitz. Reitz was prominent in the AHL for the past couple seasons and brings an offensive defenseman to the mix in Toronto. It is also a vote of no confidence for Justin Pogge. Pogge has been unimpressive in his Marlies uniform this season and that play carried over to the Leafs jersey in 5 starts.


Pittsburgh
Assigned forwards Miroslav Satan and Bill Thomas to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL); claimed forward Craig Adams off waivers from Chicago Blackhawks. Really interesting to see Satan in the minors, obviously a cap move, this leads me to think that Satan will be very tempted to move to the KHL this off season. Picking up Craig Adams from Chicago will prove to be a good move as he should fill out the Pens' bottom 6.


Dallas
Claimed forward Brendan Morrison off waivers from the Anaheim Ducks. Very good move for the Stars, having Brad Richards out of the lineup for at least another 3 weeks, Morrison will be a great fit on the Stars' 3rd line. Morrison also has been great friends with Marty Turco since their days at the University of Michigan.

Overall, I think the teams that benefited the most from trade deadline day are those that picked up their "rental" players for free even though they may not land the big headlines, they will fill out some very important roles for the rest of the season.

Sundin's Return

With much fan fare, the return of Mats Sundin to Air Canada Center, will be on display Saturday Night. If you've watched TSN, Sportsnet or the Score lately, you already know this since they've been talking about it since the day Sundin signed with the Canucks.

What I am hoping for is that Sundin returns to cheers. Sure all you Leaf fans will tell me "He should have waived his NTC if he really liked Toronto" or "He said he didn't want to be a rental player but he is now" or even the "He represented 10 years of losing in Toronto".

After all those years of Leaf fans saying they hate Sundin or wanted him traded, are you serious? Sundin was the face of the franchise for 13 years, lead the team in scoring every single year (except for 2002-2003 Alex Mogilny), was Toronto's longest serving captain and won the team's first division title since 1938. Oh and he's the team's all-time leading scorer. Needless to say I could go on.

I plead with the Leaf fans to celebrate the return of your team's greatest player. I think that the fans will show the class that is deserved to Sundin, but I understand that there will be boos.

On another note, the Toronto media is figuring out that Pogge is not the real deal. How long until the fans figure it out?

Alexander the Great

Ovechkin.

The name inspires defensemen to back off and give him room, and not get beat. It inspires defensemen to close on him fast so as to not get his laser beam shot off and onto the goalie. Basically, he causes so much confusion and frustration for opposing teams. All the while playing the game with a passion that never stops.

Having scored his 41st goal tonight in a hat-trick effort, Ovechkin is head and shoulders above any other scorer in the league. This is all after going scoreless in 10 of his first 11 games. Sure you can read all you want about Ovechkin anywhere else, but it's hard to actually understand how good he is. Realistically, this phenom has 41 goals in 45 games. Extrapolate that over 82 games and you have 74 goals (putting him just under Selanne at 76 and far off Lemieux's 85, Hull's 86 or Gretzky's average season). Also of note he takes about 150 shots more than anyone else each season, but let's not really care about that.

Claude Therrien: fired. Not surprising considering his Penguins sit in 10th in the East, 5 points out of the playoffs (look at it this way, they have just as many goals for as the Leafs). All this with having the league's leading scorer, a hart trophy winner and one of only three goaltenders chosen 1st overall, ever. Needless to say, Hossa and Malone weren't the only reasons this team went to the Finals last year. Therrien is responsible for 207 points over a two year span in Pittsburgh.

In AHL action, the Marlies continued their home ice dominance going 7-2 in their current home stand with weekend wins over Springfield and Grand Rapids. Tim Stapleton has definitely been the Marlies' best offensive player thus far with 50 points in 47 games. However, don't look for Stapleton to do any damage with the Leafs as the Oak Park, IL native is a diminutive 5'9''. Adam Munro played another excellent game for the Marlies, his .910 SVP is far greater than starter Justin Pogge's .894SVP.

Buyers and Sellers

With the March 3rd trade deadline approaching, my favorite time of the year is upon us!

Last year there was a flurry of trades with the biggest in my opinion being the Stars acquiring Brad Richards and Johan Holmqvist in exchange for Mike Smith, Jussi Jokinen, Jeff Halpern and a 4th round selection. A lot of people can contest that the Hossa trade to Pittsburgh, or the Campbell trade to San Jose were bigger, however, because those players aren't there anymore, I qualify the Richards trade as bigger.

This year there are a lot of fish in the sea, Jay Bouwmeester and Vincent Lecavalier seem to be the odds on favorites to move, however don't forget about the quiet Don Waddell who traded Hossa last year, he is still sitting on Ilya Kovalchuk. The first overall pick in 2001 has one more year left on his contract and some people are feeling that if Kovalchuk isn't extended this off season he will not return to Atlanta.

Staying with the Thrashers, Matthieu Schneider is a targeted rental player as his contract is up at the end of the year. Having just 41 points thus far this season, the Thrashers are in the thick of the Tavares lottery and might as well look for the "win".

Oh and don't forget anyone on the Islanders over the age of 30, ei: Doug Weight and captain Bill Guerin are both having decent seasons and would do well in any one's playoff run.

The Leafs have injured defenseman Thomas Kaberle as their highest ranked asset however his wrist/hand injury seems like it may hinder the chances of him moving out. Also, it seems that Brian Burke is actually pro-Kaberle, as opposed to any of the other players he has bashed publicly.

The Ottawa Senators are also sellers, Bryan Murray may have to look into trading one of their big guns in Spezza or Heatley even though Eugene Melnyk seems dead set against it. The most likely candidate to leave Ottawa has been one of their best defenseman this season: Filip Kuba is a UFA at the end of this season.

Enough about sellers, the buyers in this market seem to be two-fold; established contenders and bubble teams. The Sharks, Caps, Wings and Hawks are already tight against the cap so I wouldn't count on any major moves from them. Boston is a team that I can see making a move, with the amount of depth they have in the minors and the number of injured players rising they do have the type of cap room needed to add a key contributor down the stretch, look for them to add an experienced wing player.

The Stars might be a team that can add a key contributor, they have the room under the salary cap and their defense corps could need brush up with Zubov out for the season. The Stars could be in the market for Filip Kuba (at least I would like them to be).

The Habs. Well, it's hard to say what exactly is wrong with them right now but I can only hope that they learn to fix it quickly before falling out of the playoff picture (see: Pittsburgh Penguins). There are some incredibly hard decisions coming up in Montreal right now as the following players do not have a contract for next season:

1. Alex Tanguay
2. Saku Koivu
3. Alex Kovalev
4. Robert Lang
5. Chris Higgins
6. Tomas Plekanec
7. Steve Begin
8. Kyle Chipchura
9. Tom Kostopoulos
10. Guilliaume Latendresse
11. Francis Boullion
12. Mathieu Dandenault
13. Mike Komisarek
14. Patrice Brisebois

Don't look now!

Unless you have been checking the NHL.com standings more often than a TSN intern, you'll have noticed that the standings just aren't what they used to be. It's like the Bizzaro world episode of Seinfeld. The South East division is now relevant, the Pittsburgh Penguins are out of the playoffs, and top it off , the Chicago Blackhawks would play the Phoenix Coyotes at the 4-5 spot if the playoffs started today.

How did this all happen? OK, well the South East division is basically the Alex Ovechkin show, so let's not go into details on that one. The Pittsburgh Penguins being out of the playoffs, now that's something you don't see everyday! Sure they are only two points out of the playoffs, but they are 4-6-0 in their last 10 games, and through the holidays they went 1-7 for a stretch. During that stretch they allowed 33 goals in 8 games, for a GAA of 4.125. Ryan Whitney came back during that run and he has been a -8 player playing 25 minutes per game. Does this mean that when Gonchar comes back they will plummet to Senator-like play?

The Chicago Blackhawks have slowly crawled out of their basement apartment in the Central division to become on of the bandwagon teams of the last two years (the other being Washington, oh and have you noticed all the Bruins fans lately?). The 'Hawks are being outscored by only the Sharks, Wings and Bruins, (when you consider the Caps have 4 games on them and the Flyers have 2) there's something to be jovial about.

And how about those Phoenix Coyotes, the addition of Olli Jokinen seems to have invigorated the youngest team in the league. A year ago people were calling for Wayne Gretzky to step down and join the ranks of the "Great players but brutal coaches" (which everyone seemed to WANT to label him as) but he has showed them that he really knows what he is doing; just look at his former assistant, Rick Tocchet as the head coach of the 7-3-0 Lightning. It's great to see the Great One getting credit where it is due. I think he should be in the running for coach of the year along with Claude Julien, Joel Quenneville and of course Todd McLellan.

And, most of all, my Dallas Stars are back in it! Only two points out of a playoff spot and firing off a shutout win last night, the Stars seem to have turned the ship around. Slowly climbing out of the worst start in franchise history, this team looks poised to make a run in the playoffs, talk about a team you wouldn't want your San Jose Sharks to face in the first round.

How about Pogge last night? Give me your thoughts, I've seen him play a lot and I personally do not think he is the guy just yet for the Leafs, but what do you think?

Mid Season Surprises

Hey everyone, sorry about the delays, I have been quite busy lately and this post has suffered. However, here we go.

I figured since every other NHL related write-ups have included some mid season evaluation I would do my own. (I thought about ranting that NHL players don't care about the all-star game, but TSN beat me to it) So instead of talking about the first 60 guys on the NHL points sheet, I'd like to talk about some of the next 120 guys on that list.

First of all, Craig Anderson, goaltender from the Florida Panthers is the most under rated tender in the NHL. Anderson has posted the second best save percentage in the league with .930 (.014 points better than the starter Tomas Vokoun) has earned his team 23 points in 22 games and is in his third year of playing this good! His SVP in 07 was .931 and last year it was a mind blowing .935. His seventh year as a back-up should be his last, as I hope Anderson will land a starting job somewhere this off season. Anderson seen here scoping out the Ice Girls, now we know why he is 7-0-1 in arenas with Ice Girls*.

I would love to talk about David Krejci, however, he's just too good; his 52 points in 47 games is beyond the caliber of this blog. If you don't know him, go look him up, you'll be impressed.

Would you be surprised to know that Rene Bourque has as many points as Chris Drury, Keith Tkachuk and even Paul Stastny? Well you should, Bourque is 3 points away from his career high of 34 points and is playing some great defensive hockey for the Flames. The pride of Lac La Biche, Alberta (2 hours north of Edmonton) is playing about 17 minutes per game and making the most of it. Another 27 year old proving that age doesn't mean you can't have a breakout season.

Next we have Joakim Lindstrom of the very surprising Phoenix Coyotes (who are in the playoffs right now, weird). Lindstrom is 25 and is playing with his 3rd team in 8 months and is turning some heads in Phoenix. With 20 games into this season he has 7 goals, that’s a pace of 28 in a season, not bad.

It’s hard to not talk about Claude Lemieux, the 43 year old made waves when he signed with the Shanghi Sharks of the Chinese Hockey League in October. He played 2 games and out skated the likes of Hirogachi Namasaki, Eto Chung and Dave Rockford (beer league player from Cold Lake Alberta, brought in as a ringer). It's crazy to think that he has made a comeback and is playing with the best team in the NHL no less. Good luck to Claude!

In closing, I can't wait to see the All-Star game in Montreal as the super shootout (let's call it that for now) looks like it should be interesting. My pick for the event is Rob Schremp...oh; sorry he's still in the AHL since he can't play defense, my bad!

*not a real stat

WJC Wrap-up

Well the tournament of the year has come and delivered on all fronts - The Canadians won, the Americans had their drama and the Russian dreams were crushed by Canada.

I am just going to write about some of the individual players that impressed me the most. These aren't the guys that won tournament all-stars or MVPs. This isn't about Hodgson, Tavares, Eberle, Karlsson or Backlund.


Here are the players that stood out for me.

Tyler Myers, Defense, Canada
The 12th overall pick in the 2008 Entry Draft is property of the Buffalo Sabres. This 6'7'' behemoth anchored Canada's blue line with Keith Aulie (6'6'') in what was in my opinion, Canada's best defensive pairing. I wasn't expecting much from pairing these two slow towers together, however, Myers' speed was very impressive for a man of his stature. In my mind, he was Canada's best defenseman.

Tomas Tatar, Wing, Slovakia
The undrafted 17 year old Slovak put up an electrifying 7 goals in as many games, and he did played his best hockey against USA, Sweden and Russia. With such strong offensive flair, Tatar is undersized and could have problems adjusting to the strength of North American defensemen, however, I expect him to be drafted in the top 20 picks of this year's entry draft.

Jaroslav Janus, Goaltender, Slovakia
This 19 year old goaltender is currently with the Erie Otters of the OHL and is not property of any NHL team. In my mind he was the best goaltender at the tournament. Making over 40 saves in three consecutive games, he was very impressive with his quickness and glove hand. Sure, Janus probably won't be a star in the NHL but I can see him being very wealthy one day in his native Slovakian league.

Magnus Svensson-Paajarvi, Wing, Sweden
Another electrifying 17 year old, Magnus's speed was among the best in the tournament. His strength on the puck was that of most other 19 year olds and his quickness along the boards made him a very dangerous threat on his off wing. He busted by the defensemen on most teams with one hand on the puck and the other protecting it. He finished the tournament with 6 points in 6 games. I think he may have some character issues but he should be another top 20 pick this year.

Ryan Ellis, Defense, Canada
I could talk about how effective Ryan Ellis was for an entire blog, however, only his mom would read it. Ellis was Canada's quarterback, protector, and initiator. He had the most responsibility one defenseman can ever have on a power play: the entire blue line. With Canada's 1-3-1 system Ellis was the only man back and he rarely turned the puck over, always making the safe play. Showing that much poise as a 17 year old goes a long way, expect him to easily crack the top 10 in this year's entry draft.

I could talk about a lot more guys up here but we just don't have enough time, this tournament was easily the most exciting in a few years for Canadian Fans. I was impressed with the quality of play this year and I hope that we can see some of these guys light up the tournament again next year.

Thanks for your patience in regards to the blog, I have moved and am trying to get the computer back up and running. Feel free to post subjects you would like the next blog to be on, it can be anything but try to keep it hockey.