One Timer

This week saw more domination by the Sabres, first wins notched by the Flyers and Lightning, and the return of Sean Avery to the tri-state area.  It was a wacky one, to say the least

THE GOOD:

• Buffalo kept up their fantastic play this week, handing Minnesota their first lost of the season and going 2-0-1.  The team has yet to lose in regulation, with only two shootout losses to their name.  Much of the team’s success can be attributed to the continued stellar play of Thomas Vanek, who has 11 points in 8 games.
• Carolina rookie Brandon Sutter (yes, one of those Sutters) scored his first goal against the Penguins in a losing effort by the Hurricanes this week.  He became the seventh Sutter to score a goal in the NHL.  It’s unfair how talented that family is.
• The last two winless teams in the league finally grabbed their first W’s this week - Tampa Bay with an overtime victory over Atlanta and Philadelphia with a pair of wins over the Devils this weekend. (I promise I’m not bitter.)
• Avery made his return to New York/New Jersey with Dallas early in the week, and was surprisingly well behaved.  He wasn’t a huge factor in either game - positive or negative, and managed to let the media circus go on around him without saying much of anything moronic.  I don’t like to give Sean praise, as I think he’s a MASSIVE asshole, but he handled the trip very well.  Kudos to the Stars for picking up 2 of 3 victories on the road trip, as well (and many thanks for imploding against the Devils!).
• Speaking of the Stars imploding, Martin Brodeur notched his 98th career shutout Wednesday against Dallas.  He needs only 5 more to reach Terry Sawchuck’s all-time record.  Brodeur’s stats prior to the Devils’ collapse against Philly this weekend marked the best start of his career.

THE BAD:

• NHL general managers met this week in Minnesota to discuss the state of the game and potential rule changes.  Coming out of the meeting, the GMs spoke of two specific rule changes that had been brought up at the meeting.  First, on a delayed penalty call in the defensive zone, the penalized team would have to clear the puck over the blue line before getting the whistle.  Secondly, the idea of making it illegal to leave your feet or slide on the ice to block a shot was discussed.  I don’t like either change, but I find the second idea TERRIBLE.  Shot blocking is a huge part of the sport and taking it away just seems stupid.
• Tampa Bay owner Oren Koules had masks made up for Lightning goalies Mike Smith and Olaf Kolzig advertising his new movie Saw V.  The masks will eventually be auctioned off for charity.  While I appreciate the charitable side of the move, I don’t like the idea of marketing on goalie masks - so many goalies really go all out to make their masks an extension of their personalities - and making them a marketing tool really takes that away.
• Sarah Palin dropped the puck in St. Louis Friday night.  All politics aside, I think its getting a little silly that she’s continually being paraded around at games.  We get it, you’re a “hockey mom”.  Now can we quit mixing politics and sports and move on with the season?
• Marty Turco has been a disaster lately.  His goals against average is well over 4 and Dallas hasn’t given up more than 3 goals in all but 2 games this year.  He was pulled in a sloppy effort against the Devils on Wednesday and just has not looked sharp yet.  Dallas is going to struggle until he gets back on track.
• A fan in Philadelphia on Saturday threw a smoke bomb on the ice after a near-goal was waved off in what would eventually turn into an OT victory for the Flyers.  The bomb hit near the Devils bench, and play was halted for several minutes to let the air around bench area clear after the players and coaches cleared out.  A little scary that that made it by security at the Wachovia Center.

THE RIDICULOUS

First two highlights are videos on NHL.com. I unfortunately couldn’t embed them over here, but you can watch the ones I mention via the boxscores.

Brendan Morrow netted this impressive goal against Henrik Lundqvist Monday night in New York.

Sidney Crosby picked the puck out of mid-air to deflect it by Carolina back-up netminder Michael Leighton to spark a Pittsburgh comeback Wednesday night.

Milan Lucic attempted to shove Mike VanRyn through the boards and into the crowd in Toronto on Thursday.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT….

I didn’t know how to classify this story.  I don’t know how to describe this story.  But I just couldn’t let my readers miss out on a good “Swedish hockey game delayed by dildo shower” article.

Here’s Puck Daddy with the report.

The first full week of NHL play is in the books, and it’s been a wild one.  Some teams that were expected to be great have come out flat, and some teams that were expected to be….not-so-great….have come out flying.  Here’s a look at the some of the high and low points of the week, along with a few INSANE highlight reel plays to cap off your weekend.

THE GOOD

• It pains a Devils fan to say it, but the Rangers starting 5-0 was pretty remarkable.  The team came out playing very solid hockey (against an admittedly weak group of opponents, the Devils excluded) - they were scoring goals, playing great defense, and just choking the life out of the everyone.  I witnessed it first hand on Monday, take my word for it.  The line of Dubinsky, Voros, and Zherdev has been a great spark for the team - but if their top line doesn’t start producing soon, the Rangers are going to start to struggle.
• Who beat Thomas Vanek with the goal-scoring stick in the offseason? Coming off a disappointing 07-08 campaign that didn’t live up to his $10 million contract, Vanek has 7 goals in 5 games for the Buffaslugs — including 2 shorthanded goals and 3 tallies on the powerplay.  Lindy Ruff stated in the preseason that he wanted to give the 24-year-old a chance to become “the best 2-way player in the game.”  Vanek’s gotten a good jump on that early in the season.
• While most of the Devils have looked annoyingly similar to last season (Offense is overrated), the one and only Martin Brodeur looked as consistent as ever in pocketing his 97th career shutout on Thursday.  It was an ugly victory for the Devils, but I’ll take them how I can get them, and Marty gets within 6 of Terry Sawchuck’s career shutout record.
• Who doesn’t love a good come-from-behind victory?  If you’re a Pens fan, skip ahead, you won’t like this very much.  Thursday night was Round 1 of the Penguins/Capitals (and Crosby/Ovechkin) matchups for this year.  The Penguins had given themselves a solid 3-0 lead by the middle of the second period.  The Caps got one late in the period to make it 3-1.  And then had 3 third period goals to come back and win 4-3, and their superstar did not even register a point.  Can’t feel good to be a Penguin after that loss.  But as an uninvested outsider, those are fun games to watch!
• Fabian Brunnstrom, the young Swedish forward, finally made his well-hyped debut in Dallas on Wednesday — and what a debut it was.  The 23-year-old had a hat trick Wednesday, helping lead the Stars to a 6-4 win, and netting what would stand as the game winning goal.  Brunnstrom became only the third player in NHL history to record a hat trick in his NHL debut.

THE BAD

• Marty Biron was fantastic in the playoffs last year.  The Flyers came into this season as a popular pick for top of the Atlantic division, with a solid offense and a great goaltender.  After 3 games, Biron’s goals against is 5.75 and his save percentage is under .900.  I know the team’s defense is beat up, but there’s just no excuse for playing that poorly.  If he doesn’t shape up soon the Flyers are going to find themselves in a hole that looks a lot like the one they were in when they finished in last place two years ago.
• Barry Melrose has yet to win a game down in Tampa Bay.  Not to place all of the blame on The Mulleted Wonder, as the team gave up an average of 40-something shots a game in their first three contests and were so desperate for defensive help they signed Marek Malik to a one-year deal this week.  Not to say I told you so, but signing every free agent forward and shipping off all of your talented defenseman isn’t seeming like such a great plan now, is it?
• I saw parts of two games in Atlanta this week.  The entire lower bowl of their arena looked like it had maybe 300 people in it.  Maybe.  I’d like to think the upper deck is booming with fans, but it certainly didn’t sound like it.  What a shame.
• Denis Savard was fired as the Blackhawks coach after only 4 games, opening the door for former Avs coach Joel Quenneville to step behind the bench as a replacement.  The Blackhawks struggled out of the gate, going 0-3 before finally recording a 4-1 victory against the Coyotes on Wednesday — barely 12 hours before Savard was axed.  The organization has set extremely high standards for their club this year (probably too high for a group of very young players), and the firing was clearly meant to send a message.  Time will tell if this was the right move.
• Rick DiPietro had surgery this offseason on his hip and his knee.  He appeared to be ready to start the season for the Islanders - a team that this year, more than ever, needs him to be solid in order to be competitive - but mysteriously didn’t start the team’s season and home openers.  The Islanders were silent about the netminder’s condition, playing him as a backup, but it was fairly clear he was not available to play.  The whole situation was a little bizarre, and served as a distraction to an already ailing Islanders team.  DiPietro was back in the lineup Saturday night — we’ll see how long his health holds up.
• Lastly, and on a much more serious note, 19-year-old Alexei Chereponov, a Rangers prospect playing in the KHL, collapsed on the bench during a game Tuesday and was unable to be revived.  All hockey relevance aside, this is an unbelievable tragedy.  I can only hope the KHL takes the time to seriously reevaluate the emergency medical care they have available in their arenas.  RIP, Alexei.

THE AMAZING

Martin Havlat (lovingly known in some circles as Mr. IR) scored an unbelievable goal the other night against the Coyotes to jumpstart the Blackhawks first victory.

Please ignore my Devils fandom. Travis Zajac’s pass is ridiculous, and Zach Parise is just awesome.

I have no idea how Antero Niittymaki grabbed this.  Absolutely incredible.  Too bad the Flyers still haven’t won

And just for fun, a heavyweight battle between Riley Cote and Eric Godard from this weeks Flyers/Penguins matchup.

Welcome back to hockey season!

October is upon us, and that means only one thing in my little corner of the internet — hockey season!  The regular season official opened last weekend with a pair of games in Sweden and the Czech Republic, and the season started up on our home turf over the past few days.  I’m a little late to the party with this (damn real life getting in the way of important things like making an ass of myself by trying to predict the future!), but here’s my take on how the standings will look come April.

*Disclaimer: I made these picks and started writing my Eastern Conference picks over a week ago.  I’m sticking with them, despite some significant injury news (see: Philly’s defense).*

Eastern Conference

1. Montreal Canadiens — The Habs are coming off an extremely successful 2007-2008 campaign that ended with a disappointing playoff run.  The team stayed mostly intact over the summer and added some toughness in Georges Laraque, as well as some additional firepower in Alex Tanguay.  Carey Price dropped nearly 30 pounds in the offseason and has been playing like it in the preseason.  As long as they can play with more of a physical edge, there is no reason to believe, in their centennial season, this club can’t ride the momentum of their hockey-crazy hometown straight through to a top-seed repeat.

2. Philadelphia – The Atlantic Division is the best in the East.  Barring significant injuries, the division will produce 4 playoff teams for the second straight season.  Philly pulled off a remarkable turnaround last season, going from the bottom of the NHL to the conference finals in the course of a year.  The team has Simon Gagne back from post-concussion syndrome, and most of its core of forwards have remained the same.  The team can flat-out score.  And they have the physical play to beat the crap out of opponents night in and night out.  Some potential question marks on defense if injuries hit, but I think the Flyers are going to prove to be the team to beat in the Atlantic.

3. Washington — Any team with Alexander Ovechkin in the mix is going to compete.  Plain and simple.  We saw what this team could do during the stretch run last year, and goaltending aside, the core of the team has stayed mostly intact.  If they continue to play like they did for the majority of last season, they will absolutely be the best team in the Southeast.  Jose Theodore will need to play his best for them to truly be a playoff contender.

4. Pittsburgh — Yes, the Penguins went through a huge personnel overhaul over the summer.  Yes, the injuries to Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney are going to be a factor.  But this is still a very talented team.  Crosby and Malkin have the ability to be game changers every night.  If Satan and Fedetenko’s numbers return to form, the Pens offense is formidable.  A lot of questions, but I think we see Pittsburgh sneaking into playoffs with home ice, after struggling early.

5. New Jersey — Oh, my Devils. This is a team that couldn’t score goals if you paid them last year, and was better off NOT going on the power play.  The addition of Brian Rolston as a point man for the man advantage and a center for the top line will increase numbers across the board.  Bobby Holik adds another true center, helping the team out tremendously in the faceoff circle (where they also struggled last year).  Their fourth line averages 6′5″, 230 pounds, and will drive opponents nuts this year.  Between the increased production of special teams, several players looking to have bounce-back offensive seasons (Brian Gionta and Travis Zajac, we’re looking at you), and the continued development of Zach Parise into a star player, this team will certianly be right in the mix all season.

6. New York Rangers — I see a few major keys to this team.  Team chemistry (which seems to be coming along nicely), in addition to overcoming the losses of Jagr, Shanahan, and Avery (its early yet, it remains to be seen what the role players are going to step in and replace them — and those are big shoes to fill).  And perhaps most importantly — Henrik Lundqvist’s health.  Reports at the beginning of the season were that his knees were not 100% from an injury sustained last year that Lundqvist proceeded to play through at the World Championships.  If he’s not playing at full strength, the Rangers may find themselves in some trouble.

7. Boston — Boston nearly pulled off an amazing upset in the first round of the playoffs last year, and the team is healthier and coming off of a few great off season acquisitions.  The return of Patrice Bergeron is going to solidify an already potent group of young forwards. The change of scenery and playing alongside one of the best assist-men in the league in Marc Savard should prove extremely beneficial for Michael Ryder.  As long as Zdeno Chara’s shoulder really is healthy and ready to go, the B’s defense is going to be solid.  This team could surprise people.

8. Carolina –  If this team could stay healthy for more than a week, they could challenge for the division.  But they’re already down Justin Williams until the All-Star break, and Scott Walker for up to 6 weeks, and if and they’ve been consistently injury plagued since their Stanley Cup Championship in 2006.  The team made a solid addition over the summer in Joni Pitkanen to bolster their blueline.  Look for the ‘Canes to sneak into the last playoff spot.

9. Ottawa — If Ottawa has truly worked out all of their internal issues, they may make a stronger push this year.  But I think their defense is weaker than it was a year ago — while Jason Smith is a solid addition, he is not the answer for the departure of Wade Redden and Andrej Meszaros, whose offensive skill will be missed on the power play.  Their goaltending remains a huge question mark — Martin Gerber has yet to prove he can be a reliable number 1 goalie, and Alex Auld isn’t a much better answer in the #2 spot.  As this team falls into line under new coach Craig Hartsburg they’re going to struggle early on — and while they may come out the other side of this season a better team than they started, I have a feeling it will end up being too little too late.

10. Buffalo — The Sabres are going to have a rebound year and nothing to show for it.  The team has taken some positive steps towards rebuilding (or preventing further losses, anyway) after getting destroyed by free agency last year.  But I don’t think they’re going to have what it takes to be a playoff team this year.  They are a good team.  But they aren’t a great team.  Maybe they’ll surprise me, but I think they’re missing a few key pieces and role-player-types to really get it done this year.

11. Tampa Bay — Everyone’s favorite team to talk about this summer, the Bolts have a remarkable 9 new forwards on their roster.  While any team boasting Lecavlier, St. Louis, and newbie Steven Stamkos on their top 2 lines is sure to produce goals, the real problem on this team is defense.  The blueline on this team is largely young and unproven, and probably only decent at best.  The loss of Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich to San Jose and Filip Kuba to Ottawa saw the bulk of Tampa’s strong defensemen head out of town.  Andrej Meszaros will be the leader for the defense corps, and that’s just not going to cut it.  Barry Melrose has his work cut out for him this season.

12. Toronto — Let the rebuilding begin.  Out the door are Mats Sundin (for now, anyway), Darcy Tucker, and Bryan McCabe.  Joining the Maple Leafs are 5th overall pick Luke Schenn, Mike VanRyn, and a slew of other young players.  Ron Wilson is behind the bench.  Expectations aren’t high for this group, and understandably slow - the team is going to have some growing pains for the next year or two.  But they had flashes of what is to come in the future during their opening game win against Detroit, and while this season will ultimately end in disappointment, Toronto fans will have something to cheer for in the not-so-distant future.

13. Florida — The Panthers have been basement dwellers for the past several seasons.  The team has given no indication to expected otherwise this season.  The team lost top scorer Olli Jokinen in the offseason, bringing onboard young defensemen Keith Ballard and Nick Boynton.  Jay Bouwmeester’s likely impending departure could serve as a distraction for the team.  New coach Peter DeBoar has a tall task facing him — and the Panthers don’t look to be improving any time soon.

14.  New York Islanders — With Rick DiPietro seemingly not 100% after offseason hip and knee surgery, the Islander’s woes are even greater than initially expected.  Like the Maple Leafs, this is a VERY young team that will hopefully see a turnaround in a few seasons — but this is just not going to be their year.  Kyle Okposo has the potential to be a star, but does he have the talent around him to prove it?  Look for the Isles to be frontrunners in the Tavares sweepstakes at the end of the season.

15. Atlanta — The Thrashers made no progress this offseason.   They’re under a new coach, have no real defensive presence, and have given Ilya Kovalchuk very little help up front.  If they want any hope of keeping him onboard when his contract expires in two seasons, they’re going to have to improve, and fast.

Western Conference

1. Detroit — The defending champs have a little bit of everything going for them.  They stayed nearly completely intact during the summer, losing only Dominic Hasek and Dallas Drake to retirement.  Their offense was already one of, if not the, scariest in the league, and with the addition of Marian Hossa in the offseason will only be stronger.  Any defense with a top pairing of Nicklas “I Eat Norris Trophies For Breakfast” Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski is in great shape.  Osgood is good for 50-60 games and is nothing if not consistent, and Ty Conklin was a fantastic pickup to act as #2.  They are more than capable of repeating as champs.

2. San Jose — The Pacific Division is going to be EXTREMELY hard fought, and the top 3 teams are all very talented.  San Jose is going to have one of the best bluelines in hockey after adding Dan Boyle, Rob Blake, and Brad Lukowich in the offseason.  Their offense is already well-proven and if new coach Todd McLellan can push some consistent production out of recent underperformers Jonathan Cheechoo and Patrick Marleau, this team could go deep in the playoffs.

3. Calgary — The Northwest is probably going to be a crapshoot, but I think Calgary has the veteran leadership to get it done.  They made some moves in the offseason (getting rid of Alex Tanguay who probably needed the change of scenery, picking up Mike Cammalleri from LA) that I think in the long run will help them improve, and Kipprusoff had an uncharacteristically poor season last year — look for him to come out strong this season.

4. Dallas– We saw how good this team could be in the playoffs last year.  The addition of Sean Avery gives them an increased douchebaggery level that will drive opponents crazy, and his scoring touch will be beneficial as well.  Having Brad Richards in the lineup for a full season will also be a big boost to the offense.  They may miss Sergei Zubov at the beginning of the season but their young defenseman showed last year that they were ready to step up so I think we’ll continue to see them play well.  And Marty Turco is more than capable of stealing a few games.  Look for Dallas to be another serious contender this year.

5. Anaheim — The Ducks struggled last year out of the gate minus Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne.  Both players are starting the season with the team.  This is a huge boost for the Ducks.  The addition of Brendan Morrison to the lineup adds some additional scoring punch to an already strong lineup.  If they can stay healthy they could make a run at the division title.

6. Edmonton — The Oilers were not far out of the playoffs last year, and a strong offseason will put them back in the postseason this year.  The addition of Erik Cole to their core of young forwards should be a definite positive for their offense, as should having a healthy Fernando Pisani in the lineup for a full season.  The defense will improve from a (hopefully) healthy Sheldon Souray and the addition of Lubomir Visnovsky.  Goaltending will continue to be a bit of a question mark, but look for the Oilers to try and play spoilers come the first round.

7. Chicago — There are a lot of expectations in the Windy City this year.  The addition of Brian Campbell to a potent young offense has Patrick Kane & company poised for their first playoff appearance in 13 years. If the team can hold up to the increased attention and continue to perform as they did towards the end of last season, there’s no reason to believe they won’t sneak into the playoffs this year.  Now if only they can work out that goaltending problem….

8. Minnesota — The Wild lost a lot of key players over the summer.  Brian Rolston, Pavol Demitra, and Todd Fedoruk all headed out of town.  Andrew Brunette and Owen Nolan were a good pickups but probably won’t be enough to fill in the offensive gaps left by the offseason departures.  More importantly, contract talks with Marian Gaborik don’t look particularly promising and may prove to be an unwanted distraction — see the Marian Hossa saga from last year.  Still, if Jacques Lemaire knows how to do one thing, it’s win.  Minnesota will be right on the bubble, but I think they’ll sneak into the last playoff spot.

9. Colorado — Coming off an extremely disappointing playoff loss to the Red Wings last year, the Avalanche are hoping for a better performance this year.  Unfortunately, this team just doesn’t look like it has what it takes.  Joe Sakic is back for one last shot at the Cup, and having Adam Foote in the lineup for a full season will certainly be a huge boost for this team.  But at the end of the day, the loss of Jose Theodore is going to be a big one — Peter Budaj and Andrew Raycroft have not proven themselves worthy of a consistent starting spot, and that’s going to be an issue against a very talented Western Conference.

10. Nashville — The Preds gave the Red Wings grief last year, and will be competitve again this year, but the youth movements in Chicago and Edmonton are going to bump them out of playoff contention.  The Alex Radulov fiasco is going to be an unwanted media distraction, as will all the nonsense with “Boots” DelBaggio and the constant talk of relocation.  The team can score, and Dan Ellis proved himself in the playoffs last year.  They’ll be right in the thick of things but ultimately, I think the Preds are going to fall short.

11. Columbus — The Blue Jackets are entering their 8th season and have yet to clinch a playoff berth.  I don’t think this is their year either.  Ken Hitchcock runs a tight ship in Columbus, and Rick Nash puts on one hell of a show, but the team has yet to put together a team with all of the pieces needed to really compete out in the West.  They made some great acquistions this year in RJ Umberger, Kristian Huselius, and Mike Commodore, among others, and I think they are a better team this season than they were last year.  In the Eastern Conference, they’d probably be a playoff team — but in the West, the postseason is going to be out of reach.

12. Phoenix — The Coyotes are a very young team that no one is expecting much from this season.  This may play to their advantage as they may surprise some people.  I think they’re probably a year or two out from a real playoff push, but the additions of Olli Jokinen, Todd Fedoruk, Kurt Sauer, and others this offseason will bolster their young core and allow for a great growth season this year to build on going forward.

13. Vancouver — The Canucks did not have a strong summer - losing Trevor Linden to retirement, Marcus Naslund to the Rangers, and Brendan Morrison to the Ducks - and really only replacing them with an often-injured Pavol Demitra (and floating Mats Sundin an absurd $10 million offer).  Roberto Luongo is going to be solid, but without much help there is only so much the newly-appointed captain can do.

14. Los Angeles — The Kings were surprisingly quiet this offseason - losing franchise defenseman Rob Blake to San Jose and really only signing on the kids already within the organization.  The recent extension of Anze Kopitar is a huge move for the team, as he is likely a future captain and franchise player.  The Kings are going to struggle this year - they are young, and they have awful goaltending - but they’ve got some scoring talent that shows promise for the next few years.

15. St. Louis — The Blues suffered a huge loss before the season even began when Erik Johnson tore his ACL in a freak golf cart accident.  The team was already set up for a building year - owner John Davidson seemed content to stick with the youth in the organization going forward.  Much like Toronto and the Islanders back East, the Blues will have a rough year this year, but looking forward (and eyeing the potential addition of Jon Tavares) the team will continue to mature and be more competitive in the coming seasons.

So that’s that.  Should be fun to look back and see how horribly wrong I was at the end of the year.