It's almost like groundhog day in the NHL. Sidney Crosby has begun skating again. Rick DiPietro is going to have surgery ending his season. Mike Green is back on the IR with his groin injury. Brian Burke is trying to trade away his team before the deadline. The Habs are losers and continuing to lose in new ways. The ASG has been set (and how strange it is) and we have another concussed player to add to the mix.
Ray Shero calmly reminds everyone on Earth that Crosby not cleared for contact or games yet because he doesn't want anyone getting excited. The Penguins seem to have this concussion stuff down to a science. Crosby said he knows more of how he should feel and how to deal. The entire team donned a C (or K in the Russian's case) on their practice jersey in response to a ridiculous article about them not wanting Sid as their captain anymore. Ironically the captain himself didn't have a C taped his jersey. Maybe the taped on C's had some effect since the Penguins broke the losing streak and won last night. Kris Letang has begun light exercise in his concussion rehab. Full comments on Crosby and his view on life, captaincy, being a distraction and the league are here.
Rick DiPetro will once again (not shockingly) finish off his season on the IR. He will be under going sports hernia surgery shortly and they might have him back in April. For the end of the season clean out your locker party. Not the playoffs since a- they probably won't make the playoffs and b- he might fall to pieces if they did use him. "I'm almost bionic at this point" he told Newsday. At least he's honest.
RJ Umberger of the league losing Blue Jackets (with a whopping 29 overall points, good enough for last place with no competition) has been put on the shelf with a concussion. Cue his All-Star bid for the concussed team.
Mike Cammalleri was pulled from Thursday night's Habs game in the 2nd period, told to shower and go back to the Boston hotel the team had checked out of. He would stay there while awaiting further instructions and his luggage- he was being traded. Teams have since said they didn't know he was on the trade block and it's possible the Flames (his first team) and the Habs had been discussing the trade for some time, but why pull the plug mid-game is the question. In reality his 'loser' comments about the Habs probably had some underling tone as to why they did it. The Habs are still losers though since they have more issues than the Titanic did. They seem to be most worried about having a French speaking coach more than getting something going on ice. In this case the Flames who have been quietly making a case for a playoff run gained a 29 year old with much upside. Cam Cole of the National Post has a great write up touching on all the issues the Habs have going on.
The All-Star Game roster in Ottawa is set. It oddly enough features lots of Ottawa players (no stuffing the ballot-box though) and has left out an assortment of deserving players. Of course Ovi made the roster and considering how un All-Star like he's been playing (even by normal player standards) him making the team is quite questionable. Here's the roster. Here's Down Goes Brown take on All-Star snubs and their mid season review. Both are funny and quite accurate.
And in case you wanted to find out how Gary Bettman's New Years party went, here's DGB take on that also.
Till next time...
Showing posts with label Crosby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crosby. Show all posts
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Monday, November 28, 2011
Cyber Monday: Coach Sale?
I guess in honor of Cyber Monday, the NHL wanted to get in on the action and two coaches were upgraded/replaced. The Capitals and Hurricanes have no one to blame for their coaches firing other than their lackluster efforts.
Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Bruce Boudreau of the Capitals could be on his way out the door and last night the rumblings became louder than a training rolling into the station. It was only a matter of hours before he was a goner. Dale Hunter, former Capital who has his number in the rafters of the Verizon Center, has taken over the reigns. For the past ten years he worked in the juniors and it seems on the surface he should right at home. He's inherited a team loaded with talented players who on paper should never lose, yet managed a 5-1 loss to the Sabres lineup that was ripped straight off the lineup card from the Amerks, their AHL team. When you have a lineup sporting the names of Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin and so forth, how do you lose to what is essentially an AHL squad?
Can Hunter light a fire under them and get Ovi and Semin to care again? Those are just 2 of the 3 million questions Hunter needs to begin to answer. He's used to dealing with teenagers and that's what the recent run of the Caps seems to have become: a locker room of teenagers that are very overpaid for their after-school jobs. They don't care and do the bare minimum required to keep their jobs. Ovi won't be traded, but Semin is the next to be on the sale block if the coaching change isn't enough, or if they don't respond to Hunter. The biggest issue against Hunter- he has no experience coaching close to this level. A bunch of 18 year olds are different. They are all trying to show off and get that one shot at the AHL/NHL; meanwhile these guys have been there, done that. They are already pros and won't drop lower than the AHL. Their contracts ensure they will get their millions regardless.
One side thought about the Capitals situation: Since Ovi was named the Captain, his play has suffered. Not everyone is cut out to be a Captain and guys in the past have given back the C to focus more on their own play. Not saying this is the solution, but maybe he needs to focus on himself and not have the added pressure of being Captain. Just my .02cents.
The Hurricanes couldn't let the Capitals have all the attention and fired head coach Paul Maurice and hired Kirk Muller in his place. The Hurricanes essentially asked for this to happen. They have been bringing up the end of the standings since the season commenced. Captain Eric Staal has been in a funk all season. Nothing about this team has been exciting, clearly another coaching change was in order. Best part: Maurice was fired for a second time by the same organization. Isn't there a reason you break up to being with? This was just a matter of time based on the history.
Surprised there wasn't a firing trifecta to be honest. Islanders head Coach Jack Caupuano should probably be thanking his lucky stars he can't get one healthy goalie for more than a game at a time because it takes the heat off the rest of the disaster ship that is the Islanders. Still, the plank is short and I don't see it holding on much longer.
It wasn't all coaching changes on Cyber Monday. Sidney Crosby was named first star for the week which shouldn't be all that surprising. In 4 games, he collected 9 points (2 goals, 7 assists) and reminded the league why he's the best. At this pace he should be the points leader before the years out. He's already back up to an average of 20 minutes of playing time and making his mark on the season. If Crosby's return and a new coach doesn't wake Ovechkin up, I deem that his career is officially on the decline. At a whopping 26. Couldn't even try to hold on till 30 Ovi? It's ok. We will always have memories of your head floating around in lockers for that extra creepy commerical and that awesome tramp stamp tattoo.
Saturday I have come to realize is the day the most crazy stuff happens in hockey, so if you want to see a good fight, just wait for Saturday. It's a worldwide phenomenon. A Finnish team on Saturday amassed the most penalty minutes in a game and the KHL forgot to play hockey and just had line brawls and goalie fights all game.
Also James Neal decided he disliked Carey Price's goalie stick and broke it with a shot. Max Pacioretty, whose face meet the turnbuckle last season, decided to defend Price's stick with a nasty hit on Kris Letang, who was dripping blood from his broken nose. Letang on the hit, "Obviously, I had my nose broken and the doc put it in place, so I was ready to go". I've broken my nose and it's a kind of a biggie. It's dripping blood and aches like hell. Breathing is also next to impossible till it stops bleeding, but Letang came back and scored the game winner. NO BIG DEAL.
Finally December is almost here (yippee!!) and the cameras will be joining the Flyers and Rangers for their filming of 24/7. CAN NOT WAIT for this. Chris Pronger will be out for the next 4 weeks (will he miss the winter classic?) with knee surgery to fix something that has been bugging him. Meanwhile the Flyers have said he's out recently because of a virus. Knee injury or virus? Anywho, hopefully because of this we won't be seeing him as much on 24/7. No offense, I'm not sure I want to see him on tv screen up close and personal. Few hockey players are great looking but he's right down there on the bottom rungs. In fact the Flyers might be one of the worst looking teams collectively.
Max Talbot of the Flyers and Mike Rupp of the Rangers (both formally of the Penguins) will be participating for round two of 24/7. Talbot will be playing in his 3rd winter classic which earns him a new ugly Christmas sweater for this strange distinction. Catch a preview of the new series here. Can't wait to see if they are able to stifle us from the wisdom of Bryz!
Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Bruce Boudreau of the Capitals could be on his way out the door and last night the rumblings became louder than a training rolling into the station. It was only a matter of hours before he was a goner. Dale Hunter, former Capital who has his number in the rafters of the Verizon Center, has taken over the reigns. For the past ten years he worked in the juniors and it seems on the surface he should right at home. He's inherited a team loaded with talented players who on paper should never lose, yet managed a 5-1 loss to the Sabres lineup that was ripped straight off the lineup card from the Amerks, their AHL team. When you have a lineup sporting the names of Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin and so forth, how do you lose to what is essentially an AHL squad?
Can Hunter light a fire under them and get Ovi and Semin to care again? Those are just 2 of the 3 million questions Hunter needs to begin to answer. He's used to dealing with teenagers and that's what the recent run of the Caps seems to have become: a locker room of teenagers that are very overpaid for their after-school jobs. They don't care and do the bare minimum required to keep their jobs. Ovi won't be traded, but Semin is the next to be on the sale block if the coaching change isn't enough, or if they don't respond to Hunter. The biggest issue against Hunter- he has no experience coaching close to this level. A bunch of 18 year olds are different. They are all trying to show off and get that one shot at the AHL/NHL; meanwhile these guys have been there, done that. They are already pros and won't drop lower than the AHL. Their contracts ensure they will get their millions regardless.
One side thought about the Capitals situation: Since Ovi was named the Captain, his play has suffered. Not everyone is cut out to be a Captain and guys in the past have given back the C to focus more on their own play. Not saying this is the solution, but maybe he needs to focus on himself and not have the added pressure of being Captain. Just my .02cents.
The Hurricanes couldn't let the Capitals have all the attention and fired head coach Paul Maurice and hired Kirk Muller in his place. The Hurricanes essentially asked for this to happen. They have been bringing up the end of the standings since the season commenced. Captain Eric Staal has been in a funk all season. Nothing about this team has been exciting, clearly another coaching change was in order. Best part: Maurice was fired for a second time by the same organization. Isn't there a reason you break up to being with? This was just a matter of time based on the history.
Surprised there wasn't a firing trifecta to be honest. Islanders head Coach Jack Caupuano should probably be thanking his lucky stars he can't get one healthy goalie for more than a game at a time because it takes the heat off the rest of the disaster ship that is the Islanders. Still, the plank is short and I don't see it holding on much longer.
It wasn't all coaching changes on Cyber Monday. Sidney Crosby was named first star for the week which shouldn't be all that surprising. In 4 games, he collected 9 points (2 goals, 7 assists) and reminded the league why he's the best. At this pace he should be the points leader before the years out. He's already back up to an average of 20 minutes of playing time and making his mark on the season. If Crosby's return and a new coach doesn't wake Ovechkin up, I deem that his career is officially on the decline. At a whopping 26. Couldn't even try to hold on till 30 Ovi? It's ok. We will always have memories of your head floating around in lockers for that extra creepy commerical and that awesome tramp stamp tattoo.
Saturday I have come to realize is the day the most crazy stuff happens in hockey, so if you want to see a good fight, just wait for Saturday. It's a worldwide phenomenon. A Finnish team on Saturday amassed the most penalty minutes in a game and the KHL forgot to play hockey and just had line brawls and goalie fights all game.
Also James Neal decided he disliked Carey Price's goalie stick and broke it with a shot. Max Pacioretty, whose face meet the turnbuckle last season, decided to defend Price's stick with a nasty hit on Kris Letang, who was dripping blood from his broken nose. Letang on the hit, "Obviously, I had my nose broken and the doc put it in place, so I was ready to go". I've broken my nose and it's a kind of a biggie. It's dripping blood and aches like hell. Breathing is also next to impossible till it stops bleeding, but Letang came back and scored the game winner. NO BIG DEAL.
Finally December is almost here (yippee!!) and the cameras will be joining the Flyers and Rangers for their filming of 24/7. CAN NOT WAIT for this. Chris Pronger will be out for the next 4 weeks (will he miss the winter classic?) with knee surgery to fix something that has been bugging him. Meanwhile the Flyers have said he's out recently because of a virus. Knee injury or virus? Anywho, hopefully because of this we won't be seeing him as much on 24/7. No offense, I'm not sure I want to see him on tv screen up close and personal. Few hockey players are great looking but he's right down there on the bottom rungs. In fact the Flyers might be one of the worst looking teams collectively.
Max Talbot of the Flyers and Mike Rupp of the Rangers (both formally of the Penguins) will be participating for round two of 24/7. Talbot will be playing in his 3rd winter classic which earns him a new ugly Christmas sweater for this strange distinction. Catch a preview of the new series here. Can't wait to see if they are able to stifle us from the wisdom of Bryz!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
5:24
That's all it took for Sidney Crosby to remind the hockey world he's the ruler of their kingdom. 2 goals, 2 assists, just north of 15 minutes of ice time and 21 shifts. By next week he should have more points than Alex Ovechkin. And Ovi has 20 games on Sid.
He beat a rookie goalie, Anders Nilsson, who is now the trivia answer to whose life Crosby ruined his first NHL start. The Islanders make some truly baffling decisions since glass jaw DiPietro was "healthy" and on the bench for the show. Meanwhile Marc-Andre Fleury put on a goal tending clinic, stopping everything that came near him for his second shutout of the season.
If you need an article to read about the joyous occasion, just google Crosby. You'll find plenty. Avoid the Ottawa Citizen like the plague though. In an effort to cut costs, they hired a 12 year old to write their articles and fired the copy editor.
And because everything the Penguins do has to have some sort of symmetry to it, last night was no exception. Game tickets were printed in August and guess whose face was on it? Mario Lemieux made his debut post retirement against goalie Garth Snow (who happens to be the GM of the Islanders these days) and collected a goal and 2 assists (Sid managed to one up him with a second goal). Mario also asked that they make signs that say "Sid" for the fans to hold up as they did when he returned to the ice. And his dad Troy decided during the fathers trip to Florida last week (before Sid even saw the doctor) that he would hang around for the Islanders game before heading back to Canada.
I'm beginning to wonder if this was all a dream, like we were a human experiment of Inception and Sid was controlling us all, because it looked like he had never missed a shift, let alone a game.
He beat a rookie goalie, Anders Nilsson, who is now the trivia answer to whose life Crosby ruined his first NHL start. The Islanders make some truly baffling decisions since glass jaw DiPietro was "healthy" and on the bench for the show. Meanwhile Marc-Andre Fleury put on a goal tending clinic, stopping everything that came near him for his second shutout of the season.
If you need an article to read about the joyous occasion, just google Crosby. You'll find plenty. Avoid the Ottawa Citizen like the plague though. In an effort to cut costs, they hired a 12 year old to write their articles and fired the copy editor.
And because everything the Penguins do has to have some sort of symmetry to it, last night was no exception. Game tickets were printed in August and guess whose face was on it? Mario Lemieux made his debut post retirement against goalie Garth Snow (who happens to be the GM of the Islanders these days) and collected a goal and 2 assists (Sid managed to one up him with a second goal). Mario also asked that they make signs that say "Sid" for the fans to hold up as they did when he returned to the ice. And his dad Troy decided during the fathers trip to Florida last week (before Sid even saw the doctor) that he would hang around for the Islanders game before heading back to Canada.
I'm beginning to wonder if this was all a dream, like we were a human experiment of Inception and Sid was controlling us all, because it looked like he had never missed a shift, let alone a game.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Weekend Wrap Up
Lots has been happening in the hockey world and we'll get to them in a bit. First off, this Thursday is Turkey day (gobble gobble) and I'll be traveling back to NY to see my grandparents and co. As I work in retail, I'll be trekking back home while in my Turkey coma to get sleep for anyone who can justify sleeping outside my workplace for some "deal" that's just not that great. I'm not jealous (I've been asked at the register if I was one year since I looked miserable per a customer) and I am miserable, but believe me I'm far from jealous. I'm miserable because you ruined my holiday and forced me to wake up at the crack of dawn to deal with you. And I will continue to be miserable and uncaring towards you since my company throws out all complaints logged on Black Friday. You think your getting the deal of year, but really I am. Hehehe. Secondly, I am moving (yay) and have been packing and cleaning and have lots more to go. I'm being brutal (or attempting to) in my cleaning and packing and this is taking up majority of my time.
Onto hockey.
Sidney Crosby has been cleared for his first game. Oddly enough, I think this was the last of the easy steps. If you thought the media was all over him in the 10 months he hasn't played, they are just getting warmed up. No goal or assist tomorrow night and someone will question if he still IT. If he can still be THE best, but lets remember he's a human being not a robot (although you do sometimes wonder about that). He'll see probably 10-20 mins of ice time and they will tear him down as much as they've been building up his return. I almost want him to just pick up where he left off to just stick it to everyone. They also don't have a game Tuesday so that gives him a day off immediately and a chance to confer with his conference of doctors on how he's feeling. Have I ever said that this is going to be the new unofficial protocol for how teams handle concussions because it totally is.
Crosby and Malkin and Staal make up what is called the three-headed monster of centers in the league. The three-head monster of centers will be taking on the three-head goalie rotation of the Islanders. It can only be considered a monster if you look at their injury records. No team has ever been able to legitimately carry 3 goalies without being looked at like a nut, but technically they are a 4 goalie team now. The Islanders had to recall a goalie from the AHL since Rick DiPietro is the lone man standing (and we know he can't stand up for that long). Evgeni Nabokov is on the IR and Al Montoya is considered unfit to play. Do they have the Mary Poppins bag of goalies? 4 are currently on their NHL roster that has a 23 man limit. You do the math on that one!!
Puck Daddy had a headline the other day that read "Jeff Cater, Rick Nash still going down on the Columbus Titanic". You can read the story if you want to, but honestly the headline says it all. (And it's possibly the best headline in forever)
The Dallas Stars are quietly tearing up the Western Conference and got themselves an owner. Congrats kids. An owner is always helpful and he seems willing to spend some dough.
The Coyotes may not be the desert dogs next season since the NHL is holding firm that this season is the last they plan on owning the team, but Twitter superstar Paul Bissonnette scored his first NHL goal last night, and his mom was there to witness the event. Twitter star that he is, he took to his account following the game to thank everyone who kept him on their fantasy hockey team. And this is why he's a superstar. He keeps it all on perspective. The Coyotes are also holding firm on Kyle Turris and his sign or sit date of December 1. Turris might be calling Europe home soon.
Bryz gave his goalie stick to an 8 year old Winnipeg boy after warm ups and of course logic dictates he sits this game. So the fans that came to boo him, booed him while on the bench. Ouch. Even worse, the Jets won over the Flyers. Guess the lack of parks in Winnipeg means the Jets practice and ensure they play when they need to shut people up.
Back to some more cleaning and prepping for the Giants-Eagles showdown that will be taking place in my living room. I'm a Giants fan and my roommate is an Eagles fan. Should be a good one.
Onto hockey.
Sidney Crosby has been cleared for his first game. Oddly enough, I think this was the last of the easy steps. If you thought the media was all over him in the 10 months he hasn't played, they are just getting warmed up. No goal or assist tomorrow night and someone will question if he still IT. If he can still be THE best, but lets remember he's a human being not a robot (although you do sometimes wonder about that). He'll see probably 10-20 mins of ice time and they will tear him down as much as they've been building up his return. I almost want him to just pick up where he left off to just stick it to everyone. They also don't have a game Tuesday so that gives him a day off immediately and a chance to confer with his conference of doctors on how he's feeling. Have I ever said that this is going to be the new unofficial protocol for how teams handle concussions because it totally is.
Crosby and Malkin and Staal make up what is called the three-headed monster of centers in the league. The three-head monster of centers will be taking on the three-head goalie rotation of the Islanders. It can only be considered a monster if you look at their injury records. No team has ever been able to legitimately carry 3 goalies without being looked at like a nut, but technically they are a 4 goalie team now. The Islanders had to recall a goalie from the AHL since Rick DiPietro is the lone man standing (and we know he can't stand up for that long). Evgeni Nabokov is on the IR and Al Montoya is considered unfit to play. Do they have the Mary Poppins bag of goalies? 4 are currently on their NHL roster that has a 23 man limit. You do the math on that one!!
Puck Daddy had a headline the other day that read "Jeff Cater, Rick Nash still going down on the Columbus Titanic". You can read the story if you want to, but honestly the headline says it all. (And it's possibly the best headline in forever)
The Dallas Stars are quietly tearing up the Western Conference and got themselves an owner. Congrats kids. An owner is always helpful and he seems willing to spend some dough.
The Coyotes may not be the desert dogs next season since the NHL is holding firm that this season is the last they plan on owning the team, but Twitter superstar Paul Bissonnette scored his first NHL goal last night, and his mom was there to witness the event. Twitter star that he is, he took to his account following the game to thank everyone who kept him on their fantasy hockey team. And this is why he's a superstar. He keeps it all on perspective. The Coyotes are also holding firm on Kyle Turris and his sign or sit date of December 1. Turris might be calling Europe home soon.
Bryz gave his goalie stick to an 8 year old Winnipeg boy after warm ups and of course logic dictates he sits this game. So the fans that came to boo him, booed him while on the bench. Ouch. Even worse, the Jets won over the Flyers. Guess the lack of parks in Winnipeg means the Jets practice and ensure they play when they need to shut people up.
Back to some more cleaning and prepping for the Giants-Eagles showdown that will be taking place in my living room. I'm a Giants fan and my roommate is an Eagles fan. Should be a good one.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Reading Rainbow Time
A few articles to pass the time while avoiding something that you really should be doing :)
Investigators believe the plane crash that killed the KHL team Yaroslav Lokomotiv in September could have been avoided. TSN has the story.
And he's back. Sean Avery and the art of avoidance. "I just want to help this team win," says Avery.
Ovi was benched last night. And it seems like he muttered some of Bruce's famous f-bombs under his breath. The video is all over the interwebs and apparently it's now water under the bridge per a media scrum today. The real questions isn't whether Bruce made a mistake in benching him over players who were playing hot, it's whether this is the new Ovi. Last season and this one (so far) have been sub-standard by his sky high standards. Could the best of Ovi already be on the highlight reel?
Speaking of sky high standards, Trib writer Dejan Kovacevic, talked with Crosby about what that first game back on the ice might be like. Apparently all is right in the the world of Crosby as he as envisioned it 10-15 different ways the first game could go. Good god, he really does dream about hockey.
Finally, only click here if you have some time to read this wacky list. Punch Drunk Love has likened each of the NHL teams to a band. In particular I like the Spice Girls as the Florida Panthers and the Coyotes as Celine Dion.
No Bryz quotes since the muzzle is on. Hopefully soon he'll be free to talk to the world again.
Investigators believe the plane crash that killed the KHL team Yaroslav Lokomotiv in September could have been avoided. TSN has the story.
And he's back. Sean Avery and the art of avoidance. "I just want to help this team win," says Avery.
Ovi was benched last night. And it seems like he muttered some of Bruce's famous f-bombs under his breath. The video is all over the interwebs and apparently it's now water under the bridge per a media scrum today. The real questions isn't whether Bruce made a mistake in benching him over players who were playing hot, it's whether this is the new Ovi. Last season and this one (so far) have been sub-standard by his sky high standards. Could the best of Ovi already be on the highlight reel?
Speaking of sky high standards, Trib writer Dejan Kovacevic, talked with Crosby about what that first game back on the ice might be like. Apparently all is right in the the world of Crosby as he as envisioned it 10-15 different ways the first game could go. Good god, he really does dream about hockey.
Finally, only click here if you have some time to read this wacky list. Punch Drunk Love has likened each of the NHL teams to a band. In particular I like the Spice Girls as the Florida Panthers and the Coyotes as Celine Dion.
No Bryz quotes since the muzzle is on. Hopefully soon he'll be free to talk to the world again.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Today's Date is Important for Many Reasons
It's Thursday October 13. This is vaguely important to my daily life since I sign papers all day at work and our system messed up majorly deciding to print the date as the 11th and 12th with no rhyme or reason. Talk about confusing. Today is also important because Sidney Crosby was cleared for full contact practice for the first time since his concussion. Want to know how the world found out?
The Pens tweeted a picture of him wearing a black helmet saying all the guys are wearing black helmets. Subtle. Much classier than Jeremy Roenick's rant about Crosby and his concussion coverage. (To be fair, he is right it was getting a bit wacky but the NHL is still not as big as the NFL or MLB and they need a player like Crosby.)
After their morning practice, Disco Dan has a media presser (shocking) and they questioned him about Crosby's return to full contact (even more shocking). Since they have a tough schedule for the next 2 weeks with lots of games and travel, practices are less intense and therefore have less contact. Therefore getting Crosby contact might have to be more forced. The man for the job in Bylsma's eyes: Ben Lovejoy. Ya know the one that reads to school children in his downtime....
"We’ve joked about it. Have you ever seen Ben Lovejoy in the morning skate on the penalty kill? That’ll be enough. Ben never stopped going when Sid was healthy. Sid and him always had battles as long as Ben’s been out there. So we’ll just put him on penalty kill during our morning skate and that should be enough for Ben to play 100 percent and give him some contact. I think Sid’s the type of player that he instigates contact. He’ll do something that will warrant that from a player. He’ll go out and do something, I don’t think anyone has to worry about that. There’ll be some jossling and some hitting going on, and during training camp when he’s been healthy there’s been jossling with a player or the ire’s gotten both guys, and that will happen again just because of the way Sidney competes. He’ll go after someone or go to the net. He’ll do something and there’ll be some contact there during the normal course of events." -Bylsma
So there ya go. Lovejoy is the man or Sid will cause someone to hit him. Totally normal. I've also seen Lovejoy knock a guy high into the glass when in Wilkes-Barre due to the power of his hit. I think Lovejoy is a fine choice.
The Penguins also resigned Chris Kunitz to a 2 year deal that begins next season. Another great signing by Ray Shero. When your over age 30 Shero is a 2 year type of guy and Kunitz knew that going in. He was happy with that wanted to stick around. He also admitted that having key players like Crosby, Geno and Staal like him as a person and a player helps.
Malkin after sitting out a practice is back in the lineup tonight. He and Alex Ovechkin did a ceremonial puck drop for the KHL's Lokomovtiv team that died in the plane crash. The league has been raising money for the families by selling bracelets at games. Game worn jersey's that have special patches in memorium are also going to be auctioned off. If Malkin wasn't in the lineup, he still would have been a part of the puck drop as he and Ovi were two of the key Russian NHLer's to work on this benefit. Very nice gesture by the league and players.
Realignment is the hot issue and is only going to heat up even more as December approaches (ekkkk). My head is spinning from all the options but if you have the brain capacity to attempt viewing any of them, here ya go. Legendary reporter Bob McKenzie actually gives you a bathroom break in his article, it's that long and intense. This one is a bit shorter and Puck Daddy to the rescue for the cliff notes edition!!
Au revoir for now
The Pens tweeted a picture of him wearing a black helmet saying all the guys are wearing black helmets. Subtle. Much classier than Jeremy Roenick's rant about Crosby and his concussion coverage. (To be fair, he is right it was getting a bit wacky but the NHL is still not as big as the NFL or MLB and they need a player like Crosby.)
After their morning practice, Disco Dan has a media presser (shocking) and they questioned him about Crosby's return to full contact (even more shocking). Since they have a tough schedule for the next 2 weeks with lots of games and travel, practices are less intense and therefore have less contact. Therefore getting Crosby contact might have to be more forced. The man for the job in Bylsma's eyes: Ben Lovejoy. Ya know the one that reads to school children in his downtime....
"We’ve joked about it. Have you ever seen Ben Lovejoy in the morning skate on the penalty kill? That’ll be enough. Ben never stopped going when Sid was healthy. Sid and him always had battles as long as Ben’s been out there. So we’ll just put him on penalty kill during our morning skate and that should be enough for Ben to play 100 percent and give him some contact. I think Sid’s the type of player that he instigates contact. He’ll do something that will warrant that from a player. He’ll go out and do something, I don’t think anyone has to worry about that. There’ll be some jossling and some hitting going on, and during training camp when he’s been healthy there’s been jossling with a player or the ire’s gotten both guys, and that will happen again just because of the way Sidney competes. He’ll go after someone or go to the net. He’ll do something and there’ll be some contact there during the normal course of events." -Bylsma
So there ya go. Lovejoy is the man or Sid will cause someone to hit him. Totally normal. I've also seen Lovejoy knock a guy high into the glass when in Wilkes-Barre due to the power of his hit. I think Lovejoy is a fine choice.
The Penguins also resigned Chris Kunitz to a 2 year deal that begins next season. Another great signing by Ray Shero. When your over age 30 Shero is a 2 year type of guy and Kunitz knew that going in. He was happy with that wanted to stick around. He also admitted that having key players like Crosby, Geno and Staal like him as a person and a player helps.
Malkin after sitting out a practice is back in the lineup tonight. He and Alex Ovechkin did a ceremonial puck drop for the KHL's Lokomovtiv team that died in the plane crash. The league has been raising money for the families by selling bracelets at games. Game worn jersey's that have special patches in memorium are also going to be auctioned off. If Malkin wasn't in the lineup, he still would have been a part of the puck drop as he and Ovi were two of the key Russian NHLer's to work on this benefit. Very nice gesture by the league and players.
Realignment is the hot issue and is only going to heat up even more as December approaches (ekkkk). My head is spinning from all the options but if you have the brain capacity to attempt viewing any of them, here ya go. Legendary reporter Bob McKenzie actually gives you a bathroom break in his article, it's that long and intense. This one is a bit shorter and Puck Daddy to the rescue for the cliff notes edition!!
Au revoir for now
Sunday, October 2, 2011
4 days left...
The NHL season officially opens in 4 days and the Penguins FINALLY confirmed that Crosby would not be starting the season. A monkey living in the rainforest in South Africa could have told you this, but they felt it was important to let everyone know. They even wrote a special story about it for their site as did the NHL.com writers. Um, he still hasn't been cleared for contact in practice, so who in the world figured he'd be playing? Apparently some delusional folks in the world. Too much logic went to into figuring this mystery out I suppose.
Brendan Shanahan has been busy making lots of video's about suspensions and rule breaking hits and it's only the preseason. Ryan Malone of the Tampa Bay Lightening should get a prize for realizing before he left Montreal last night that he should wait by his phone for a call from Shanahan. He is well aware he will be facing some sort of discipline for hitting Chris Campoli in the head even though he didn't intend to. Maybe this is what Shananhan is trying to do. Make the players realize before he calls them out that they made a bad play or decision.
Sean Avery who is one of the most outspoken hockey players might be taking his talents to Hartford. He's one of 2 players up for the final cut from the Rangers to join the farm team. Avery is infamous for his "sloppy seconds" comments about a fellow hockey player dating his ex which got him exiled from Dallas. And of course this summer he threw a party in LA and allegedly punched cop. He's a bit of a PR nightmare when in the mood but Hartford, CT is a nice little city so I hope he doesn't poison it since NYC is pretty immune to his type of behavior. Since he's in the final year of his contract I don't see him being resigned regardless of where he lands. This could very well be his final season of professional hockey.
Don't think I ever posted this but forgive me if I did. Mike Comrie who has played for a string of NHL teams, but who is better known for his wife (Hilary Duff) and family's business (Canadian furniture company Brick) has decided to take the year off to recover from surgeries that marred last season. Since he was a last minute pick up for only half a million by the Pens right before camp last year, odds are his career is also done.
Finally players get hurt all the time and obviously another player is usually the reason for the injury, but players understand its the nature of the beast and deal pretty well with it. Until fans take advantage of social sites like Twitter that can let you basically have at anyone who doesn't block you. If I was Eric Nystrom, I'd be blocking the world right about because everyone has been attacking him for a legal play (that most believe shouldn't have been legal for years now) that broke Taylor Fedun's femur after they raced for the puck after an icing. Fans have been going after Nystrom on his mirco-blog for injuring Fedun. How Nystrom hasn't had a nervous breakdown from all these attacks is amazing because I'd be losing my mind. Tough skin for sure. And for the record, Nystrom said he feels terrible for what happened so it's not like he's unaware of the injury. People really need to give the kid a breather.
Brendan Shanahan has been busy making lots of video's about suspensions and rule breaking hits and it's only the preseason. Ryan Malone of the Tampa Bay Lightening should get a prize for realizing before he left Montreal last night that he should wait by his phone for a call from Shanahan. He is well aware he will be facing some sort of discipline for hitting Chris Campoli in the head even though he didn't intend to. Maybe this is what Shananhan is trying to do. Make the players realize before he calls them out that they made a bad play or decision.
Sean Avery who is one of the most outspoken hockey players might be taking his talents to Hartford. He's one of 2 players up for the final cut from the Rangers to join the farm team. Avery is infamous for his "sloppy seconds" comments about a fellow hockey player dating his ex which got him exiled from Dallas. And of course this summer he threw a party in LA and allegedly punched cop. He's a bit of a PR nightmare when in the mood but Hartford, CT is a nice little city so I hope he doesn't poison it since NYC is pretty immune to his type of behavior. Since he's in the final year of his contract I don't see him being resigned regardless of where he lands. This could very well be his final season of professional hockey.
Don't think I ever posted this but forgive me if I did. Mike Comrie who has played for a string of NHL teams, but who is better known for his wife (Hilary Duff) and family's business (Canadian furniture company Brick) has decided to take the year off to recover from surgeries that marred last season. Since he was a last minute pick up for only half a million by the Pens right before camp last year, odds are his career is also done.
Finally players get hurt all the time and obviously another player is usually the reason for the injury, but players understand its the nature of the beast and deal pretty well with it. Until fans take advantage of social sites like Twitter that can let you basically have at anyone who doesn't block you. If I was Eric Nystrom, I'd be blocking the world right about because everyone has been attacking him for a legal play (that most believe shouldn't have been legal for years now) that broke Taylor Fedun's femur after they raced for the puck after an icing. Fans have been going after Nystrom on his mirco-blog for injuring Fedun. How Nystrom hasn't had a nervous breakdown from all these attacks is amazing because I'd be losing my mind. Tough skin for sure. And for the record, Nystrom said he feels terrible for what happened so it's not like he's unaware of the injury. People really need to give the kid a breather.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Not Enough Time in the Day...
This week is going by slowly and flying by all at the same time. In my defense, my brain is wandering around on it's own since I am leaving Friday morning for a family wedding at the beach and work is making my head spin non-stop. But enough with the excuses, the puck has FINALLY dropped on the pre-season and there's plenty of news to go around.
The Staal brothers (count 'em, there's 4) are all big, competive guys and apparently last season oldest brother Eric (Hurricanes) knocked down second oldest Marc (Rangers) during a game. All these months later, Marc is now expereincing concussion symptoms after practices. As if we needed to add someone else to the non-stop concussion list. Hopefully they are occuring simply because he hasn't skated this hard in months because this is the last thing the Rangers need to deal with. It's bad enough they are starting the season on the longest road trip ever due to renovations at MSG. Currently they are regulated to the MSG training facility and will venture to Europe for pre-season games and to actually start the season. Once they return state-side, they won't have a home game until October 27. After a month at home, they will throw HBO into the mix for 24/7. If no one has a mental breakdown in Ranger-ville, I'd consider that a successful season. Gearing up for the playoffs potentially might the least stressful aspect of their season. Good god. I'm tired just thinking about their schedule.
Mike Modano announced he is retiring as the most successful US born player. He might have left out the second part, but it's the truth. Check the stats. Everyone above him is shockingly, Canadian. Who would have thunk it?! He is hoping to get a position in the Star front office, once they have new owners.
Speaking of the Stars, I'm going to skip the fact they have declared bankruptcy since it's the first step to their potential new owners taking over in the next few months. Opppps. Moving on....
The Devils have a new coach, Pete DeBoer. They have no captain yet. “It’s down my list of priorities on things we’re trying to get done right now," DeBoer said. "For now we are at camp." That's because first on his priority list is making sure Lou Lamoriello is on his good side, so he doesn't get fired in case the team has an epic meltdown a la last season. The second would be to make sure that Jacques Lemaire is somewhere fabulous to ensure that he won't return for another stint in case of an epic meltdown.
The Winnipeg Jets have officially picked up where they left off. They sold out their arena for their first pre-season game, fans were dancing into the arena (seriously?) and Byfuglien had a fight with a Blue Jacket within the first 37 seconds. The Jets also scored 6 goals (each team played a split squad with NHLers and minor league talent mixed) so it's safe to say Winnipeg is running on pure adrenaline right about now. Hopefully the crash back to earth doesn't hurt too much.
The NHL has approved (conditionally) the green goal verification line and to use a thinner mesh on the top of the net. These are 2 changes we should see in place this season. A third change that was experimented with at the R&D camp this past summer is a shallower net. That change along with the mesh and verification line were used during the Maple Leafs-Senators game on Monday night and got the best type of feedback possible. Essentially none. The verification line never needed to be used (but its under the ice so it's not in the way, it's an aesthetic change) and the thinner mesh made no difference either. The only thing that semi mattered was the shallower net and one player thought something was different but had no clue they were testing it. He stated he had a "bit more" room behind the net to maneuver. The shallower net seems like a shoe-in for next years changes. The NHL also has acknowledged that by December they will unveil their new alignment plans.
Finally the Penguins held their Black and Gold game. Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin told the world they are healthy and ready to go by scoring 2 goals a piece for their teams. Staal played on the black team, while Malkin was on the gold side. The gold side prevailed and in a bit of friendly rivalry, the loser had to untie the winners skates after practice the following day. Hope Malkin's skates smelt good! Crosby has been skating in circles around practice. Literally. In. Circles. He showed he knows his shapes and followed the red circle on ice. He is not allowed to have contact yet, but seems to be on the verge of being in the way of another player based on the pictures the Penguins are posting. Clearly he is more ready than people knew or were letting on. He also gets to wear a nifty white helmet.
In continuing the grand tradition of acting like he barely knows who the hell Crosby is (this has only happened since he has been injured), Bylsma has said he has no clue if he is trying new helmets nor where he fits in the lineup when ready. A monkey could tell you where he fits. First line. Center. Give him 2 guys on skates with a stick and it will all magically work out. Meanwhile on the other side of the locker room, James Neal said it was exciting to be centered by Crosby during a non-contact practice drill. Neal will play on his head if it means to be on a line with Crosby (as would most of the league).
Pens are currently playing the Red Wings in their first pre-season game right now. In case you didn't know, I live in the Bermuda Triangle of sports, so although the game is being aired on NHL Network, I am blacked out since I'm expected to get Root Sports for Pittsburgh even though I live in Eastern PA. I also live in Philly, NJ, NY and Buffalo territory all depending on what map you are looking at. Maybe Bylsma drew up the map when he lived in the area for a bit just to mess with us......Pens are tied with the Wings 1-1 and I need to stop listening to whatever disgrace to my ears Simon Cowell has come up with on NBC.
Peace out....I'll try to be more on top of news next week :)
The Staal brothers (count 'em, there's 4) are all big, competive guys and apparently last season oldest brother Eric (Hurricanes) knocked down second oldest Marc (Rangers) during a game. All these months later, Marc is now expereincing concussion symptoms after practices. As if we needed to add someone else to the non-stop concussion list. Hopefully they are occuring simply because he hasn't skated this hard in months because this is the last thing the Rangers need to deal with. It's bad enough they are starting the season on the longest road trip ever due to renovations at MSG. Currently they are regulated to the MSG training facility and will venture to Europe for pre-season games and to actually start the season. Once they return state-side, they won't have a home game until October 27. After a month at home, they will throw HBO into the mix for 24/7. If no one has a mental breakdown in Ranger-ville, I'd consider that a successful season. Gearing up for the playoffs potentially might the least stressful aspect of their season. Good god. I'm tired just thinking about their schedule.
Mike Modano announced he is retiring as the most successful US born player. He might have left out the second part, but it's the truth. Check the stats. Everyone above him is shockingly, Canadian. Who would have thunk it?! He is hoping to get a position in the Star front office, once they have new owners.
Speaking of the Stars, I'm going to skip the fact they have declared bankruptcy since it's the first step to their potential new owners taking over in the next few months. Opppps. Moving on....
The Devils have a new coach, Pete DeBoer. They have no captain yet. “It’s down my list of priorities on things we’re trying to get done right now," DeBoer said. "For now we are at camp." That's because first on his priority list is making sure Lou Lamoriello is on his good side, so he doesn't get fired in case the team has an epic meltdown a la last season. The second would be to make sure that Jacques Lemaire is somewhere fabulous to ensure that he won't return for another stint in case of an epic meltdown.
The Winnipeg Jets have officially picked up where they left off. They sold out their arena for their first pre-season game, fans were dancing into the arena (seriously?) and Byfuglien had a fight with a Blue Jacket within the first 37 seconds. The Jets also scored 6 goals (each team played a split squad with NHLers and minor league talent mixed) so it's safe to say Winnipeg is running on pure adrenaline right about now. Hopefully the crash back to earth doesn't hurt too much.
The NHL has approved (conditionally) the green goal verification line and to use a thinner mesh on the top of the net. These are 2 changes we should see in place this season. A third change that was experimented with at the R&D camp this past summer is a shallower net. That change along with the mesh and verification line were used during the Maple Leafs-Senators game on Monday night and got the best type of feedback possible. Essentially none. The verification line never needed to be used (but its under the ice so it's not in the way, it's an aesthetic change) and the thinner mesh made no difference either. The only thing that semi mattered was the shallower net and one player thought something was different but had no clue they were testing it. He stated he had a "bit more" room behind the net to maneuver. The shallower net seems like a shoe-in for next years changes. The NHL also has acknowledged that by December they will unveil their new alignment plans.
Finally the Penguins held their Black and Gold game. Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin told the world they are healthy and ready to go by scoring 2 goals a piece for their teams. Staal played on the black team, while Malkin was on the gold side. The gold side prevailed and in a bit of friendly rivalry, the loser had to untie the winners skates after practice the following day. Hope Malkin's skates smelt good! Crosby has been skating in circles around practice. Literally. In. Circles. He showed he knows his shapes and followed the red circle on ice. He is not allowed to have contact yet, but seems to be on the verge of being in the way of another player based on the pictures the Penguins are posting. Clearly he is more ready than people knew or were letting on. He also gets to wear a nifty white helmet.
In continuing the grand tradition of acting like he barely knows who the hell Crosby is (this has only happened since he has been injured), Bylsma has said he has no clue if he is trying new helmets nor where he fits in the lineup when ready. A monkey could tell you where he fits. First line. Center. Give him 2 guys on skates with a stick and it will all magically work out. Meanwhile on the other side of the locker room, James Neal said it was exciting to be centered by Crosby during a non-contact practice drill. Neal will play on his head if it means to be on a line with Crosby (as would most of the league).
Pens are currently playing the Red Wings in their first pre-season game right now. In case you didn't know, I live in the Bermuda Triangle of sports, so although the game is being aired on NHL Network, I am blacked out since I'm expected to get Root Sports for Pittsburgh even though I live in Eastern PA. I also live in Philly, NJ, NY and Buffalo territory all depending on what map you are looking at. Maybe Bylsma drew up the map when he lived in the area for a bit just to mess with us......Pens are tied with the Wings 1-1 and I need to stop listening to whatever disgrace to my ears Simon Cowell has come up with on NBC.
Peace out....I'll try to be more on top of news next week :)
Friday, September 16, 2011
It's Fall..
So before I dive into anything hockey related, I need put a few random things out there because although this is centered on hockey, it's a mini diary of life, so here we go.
First off, I survived a mandatory flood evacuation in my town last week. As of this time last week, I was already 24 hours in my relocation thanks to high waters. The levees held and I was able to come home Sunday. What a nightmarish experience that was. If the levee hadn't held, I might have been swimming around my apartment. Now that would have been a sight. The water was over 42 ft which broke the record from Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Insane. Apparently the water WAS in my living room in '72 so I thank the levee gods. I'm into swimming in pools and the oceans, not the river in my living room, thankyouverymuch.
There's a bridge under there, I swear.
First off, I survived a mandatory flood evacuation in my town last week. As of this time last week, I was already 24 hours in my relocation thanks to high waters. The levees held and I was able to come home Sunday. What a nightmarish experience that was. If the levee hadn't held, I might have been swimming around my apartment. Now that would have been a sight. The water was over 42 ft which broke the record from Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Insane. Apparently the water WAS in my living room in '72 so I thank the levee gods. I'm into swimming in pools and the oceans, not the river in my living room, thankyouverymuch.
There's a bridge under there, I swear. Secondly, the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 passed this past Sunday. No words to express how hard it was to watch all of the coverage again. It just transports me back to my senior year of high school, watching it unfold from the windows. R.I.P. to everyone who lost their lives that day.
Moving onto happier news, football season has officially begun and my step-sister gave birth to her first child last weekend, so I'm an Aunt! I won't get to meet my niece for a few more weeks, but there's tons of pictures and updates in the meantime.
Finally, lets talk some hockey since the temperature has dropped and fall is clearly taking over. Training camps officially opened today (yay) with most teams dealing with trivial details like headshots, screenshots for the game boards and making sure the guys can skate across the ice without falling over.
We also heard that the Ferrari that is Sidney Crosby has been cleared to take part in non-contact practice. He's a magician since last week I'm not sure many people got the impression that he would be on the ice for any part of camp. Don't pencil him in for the first game just yet, but anything goes in planet Sid and I'm not sure even Einstein could figure out his puzzle.
Drew Doughtry and his contract issues with the Kings have now held him out of the first day of camp. What's really the issue? Contract money, length? Someone just agree to disagree already and sign on the dotted line. This was a fun topic during the summer when it was slow and players were being kicked off dry island for drinking and boating under the influence, but the season kicks off in 20 days.
Speaking of boating under the influence, Dustin Byfuglien has made it across the border, even with his legal woe's hanging over his head. Although he can't really talk much about his boating events, he did address the weight issues and apparently the Jets have on some rosy colored glasses because "he looks great" per the team. He's currently 30 lbs above last years playing weight for the record.
The Devils are still Captainless. The money is on Zach Parise or Ilya Kovalchuk, but the state of NJ is just awkward as a rule, so no Captain with a bunch of A's is a possibility. Remember this is the team that wanted to give Kovalchuk the longest contract in NHL, which might have ended the day before he dropped dead in 70 years. They are also located in a state that doesn't believe in left hand turns so no rules apply in any capacity.
Jonathan Toews of the Blackhawks knocked down a little kid at a camp the other day. Not on purpose of course, but I wonder if he forget to work at half speed since they are little kids. Ekk.
The league also took an official stance on social media use this week. They basically said everything everyone already knows from other leagues policies and from common sense. They did put a blackout on using it 2 hours prior to a game that lasts till the last post-game interview is completed. Basically they took what most guys seemed to have seen as logical and said, this is now law. Since the leagues most prolific twitter user Paul Bissonnette doesn't see any issues with it, there should be few issues.
The Flyers have named Chris Pronger as Captain, which was the most obvious move since he was apparently the Captain all along, but Mike Richards was rocking the C. The real question is now that upper management spent the summer blowing up their team, how will they fare?
Ryan Callahan also got a shiny new C attached to his jersey in Ranger's land. Marc Staal and Brad Richrds got the A's. This was possibly the most predicted trio of leaders to be named this season, but is also potentially one of the most solid sets.
HBO came and started scouting out the Rangers for 24/7 and getting some shots for this years Road to the Winter Classic. I've lost track of if any of this has been confirmed by the league since they acted like it was the biggest secret for the longest time. It's happening and that's the important fact. Can't wait to see Mike Rupp rock another tux t-shirt and see Max Talbot sit on Santa's lap. Oh boy......
Moving onto happier news, football season has officially begun and my step-sister gave birth to her first child last weekend, so I'm an Aunt! I won't get to meet my niece for a few more weeks, but there's tons of pictures and updates in the meantime.
Finally, lets talk some hockey since the temperature has dropped and fall is clearly taking over. Training camps officially opened today (yay) with most teams dealing with trivial details like headshots, screenshots for the game boards and making sure the guys can skate across the ice without falling over.
We also heard that the Ferrari that is Sidney Crosby has been cleared to take part in non-contact practice. He's a magician since last week I'm not sure many people got the impression that he would be on the ice for any part of camp. Don't pencil him in for the first game just yet, but anything goes in planet Sid and I'm not sure even Einstein could figure out his puzzle.
Drew Doughtry and his contract issues with the Kings have now held him out of the first day of camp. What's really the issue? Contract money, length? Someone just agree to disagree already and sign on the dotted line. This was a fun topic during the summer when it was slow and players were being kicked off dry island for drinking and boating under the influence, but the season kicks off in 20 days.
Speaking of boating under the influence, Dustin Byfuglien has made it across the border, even with his legal woe's hanging over his head. Although he can't really talk much about his boating events, he did address the weight issues and apparently the Jets have on some rosy colored glasses because "he looks great" per the team. He's currently 30 lbs above last years playing weight for the record.
The Devils are still Captainless. The money is on Zach Parise or Ilya Kovalchuk, but the state of NJ is just awkward as a rule, so no Captain with a bunch of A's is a possibility. Remember this is the team that wanted to give Kovalchuk the longest contract in NHL, which might have ended the day before he dropped dead in 70 years. They are also located in a state that doesn't believe in left hand turns so no rules apply in any capacity.
Jonathan Toews of the Blackhawks knocked down a little kid at a camp the other day. Not on purpose of course, but I wonder if he forget to work at half speed since they are little kids. Ekk.
The league also took an official stance on social media use this week. They basically said everything everyone already knows from other leagues policies and from common sense. They did put a blackout on using it 2 hours prior to a game that lasts till the last post-game interview is completed. Basically they took what most guys seemed to have seen as logical and said, this is now law. Since the leagues most prolific twitter user Paul Bissonnette doesn't see any issues with it, there should be few issues.
The Flyers have named Chris Pronger as Captain, which was the most obvious move since he was apparently the Captain all along, but Mike Richards was rocking the C. The real question is now that upper management spent the summer blowing up their team, how will they fare?
Ryan Callahan also got a shiny new C attached to his jersey in Ranger's land. Marc Staal and Brad Richrds got the A's. This was possibly the most predicted trio of leaders to be named this season, but is also potentially one of the most solid sets.
HBO came and started scouting out the Rangers for 24/7 and getting some shots for this years Road to the Winter Classic. I've lost track of if any of this has been confirmed by the league since they acted like it was the biggest secret for the longest time. It's happening and that's the important fact. Can't wait to see Mike Rupp rock another tux t-shirt and see Max Talbot sit on Santa's lap. Oh boy......
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Christmas and Ferrari's
Before I explain Christmas and Ferrari's, I need to sadly once again point to the highlight of the day that never should have been. The plane carrying Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, a KHL team headed to Minsk for a game, crashed just after takeoff. It's reported the plane crashed into a radio tower when it never got enough altitude and went into the river. Sadly this crash has claimed almost every passenger's life, including former NHLers, NHL prospects and Canadian Coach Brad McCrimmon who left the Red Wings this season to coach the Russian squad. It is reported one crew member and one player are alive, but are burned badly. Since we are dealing with Russian translations I've read everything from they did die in the hospital to having fallen into a coma to they don't have a chance. Hopefully we get a definite answer soon, but as of now 43 people have died. R.I.P.
On top of losing their entire team, they had brought with them 4 prospects to show them the ropes of the season which opened today. I'm not entirely sure what the KHL does now when an entire squad plus personnel have been lost. Apparently the NHL has some sort of emergency plan that if we were to encounter a tragedy that left the team with less than 14 players and 1 goalie, there would be a draft of sorts where teams can protect up to 10 players they refuse to lose, then the team in need can draft 1 of the unprotected players from each team to begin the rebuild process. I know it's probably the last thing most people would ever think of, but hockey is a business and the teams are intertwined due to schedules etc and there has to be contingency plans. My heart goes out to the families of the players.
Hopefully you have all viewed the newest team on the block's jerseys, the Jets, but if you haven't, here you go. (This link might get weird so just look for the Winnipeg Jet's jersey unveiling, it's like straight out of a military exercise or Top Gun or you can just google them) I really like them. They are staying true to their new logo and colors and I believe they need to. This is the only way people are going to (hopefully) remember these are the new Jets, not the Jet of yesteryear.
Now lets talk about Christmas in September and Ferrari's. I was LMAO on my lunch break reading my twitter feed about the Crosby presser that the Penguins held today. The quotes coming through were so unreal I actually couldn't believe that top medical professionals were saying this stuff so of course I came home and watched it for myself. First off, it really happened (still can't believe it) and secondly I felt like I was in a college science lecture hall again and I caught my mind wandering off as usual (now we all know why I'm not in science).
So the 4 most bored people who all looked like they wanted to be anywhere but at a press conference held one at Consol. Ray Shero whom looked like he was a prop, Sid who was drinking water like a camel and 2 concussion specialists, Dr. Michael Collins, who is in the Pitt area and has been treating him since the get go, and Dr. Ted Carrick from the Atlanta area, who has recently been brought on just for shits and giggles? Actually he apparently has a specialization in the type of concussion Crosby sustained. Commence boredem.
Dr. Collins explained to the crowd what a concussion is. Yawn. Then comes the Ferrari. He managed to compare one of the best hockey players on earth to a car. Albeit a very nice, expensive, fast car most dream of so I can see the angle he's playing for so this gets a pass, but still Crosby is a human, not metal pieces (though many question this at times).
Collins then let Dr. Carrick talk for a bit and he said everything that was expected. Then the Q & A begins and "it's Christmas for Sid", responds Dr. Carrick. Really? Is Sid so freaking special he can just move holidays to whenever he pleases? Thankfully an inquiring reporter who probably also barely passed college science pipes up with "explain the Christmas thing". Thank god someone was paying attention. Apparently Sid's Christmas in September involves no gifts (though if he recovers, maybe his likeness in car form, say a Ferrari) but the fact that he's recovering so well. Gotcha.....
As the doctors kept talking (about how to rebuild a robot? I spaced out a bit), Sid continues to drink his water (is this the Mary Poppins bottle of water, he's taken a million sips and its not that big), Shero is seemingly the most bored and annoyed with this whole presser. Sid continues to answer questions while looking like he could get up and kill the next person who asks a question that can't be answered (how does his concussion compare to others, will he retire, whats the timeable). When the CBC reporter asked if he ever thought retirement was possible Crosby responds with "I wouldn't bet on that" with a sly smile and daggers coming out of his eyes. I swear it happened. If I was that reporter, I'd run for my life.He could probably be banned from future Crosby related pressers for doubting the Ferrari's powers and abilities.
They must have been promised treats, not reporters.
Short
story, he had a bad concussion. He hated driving, watching tv and
listening to music, so pretty much he hated life. He acknowledged he attended a film
session with the team and was exhausted trying to just follow the tape.
He is around 90% which Dr. Collins said could be 100% for another person
(remember he's a Ferrari, not a Ford). He can handle all the things he
despised (like music) and can skate and handle light work outs. They will take it as
it comes on when he will be cleared for contact. Gee everything everyone
with a brain has been saying since the beginning.
Shero
finally stopped being a table decoration and stated the obvious. Sid
will not be rushed, he must be 100% ready and everyone is on the same
page. One genius reporter questioned how he would be a captain since
he's not playing. Where did they pull these reporters from, recess at
the local elementary school. Shero fixed that man with a defiant answer.
You can tell he's ready to flip this table like an NJ Housewife and end
this party. And he did end the party (no table flipping) and the moment he did so, 4 grown up jumped up faster than ever, proving my theory on them them being bribed, because it's Christmas with a Ferrari.
Note: This press conference proved 3 things to me. I still hate any sort of science with a passion and just can't focus when doctors and such start talking Greek. Sidney Crosby is breathing which is uber important to his recovery and that Ray Shero hates pressers more than Crosby, who has a distinct disdain for them.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Hurricane Irene Hockey?
As Hurricane Irene decided to grace the East Coast with her presence, many people in her path heeded advice from law officials and stayed indoors. Of course there's always a bunch of dare-devils and least shockingly they were stuck in Manhattan. So while Hurricane Irene was barreling her way up the East Coast, these guys in Times Square took advantage of a relatively dead Time Square and played some street hockey. Even less shocking: finding out some of them were Canadians. Truly nothing stops them from their hockey, not even a threat of a Hurricane. Good to see they got their game in last night because this morning the winds were so bad, that puck could have hurt a person.
Another Canadian hockey player has been dominating the headlines the past week and it hasn't been in the best way. Everyone has something to say on Sidney Crosby not talking about his injury and he finally felt like breaking his silence. No clue what he owes the media that is trying to rip him to shreds, while some are even suggesting retirement for him. It was officially reported that over 90% exertion in his off-season workouts he is suffering from headaches from his concussion almost 9 months later. I'm sure the average Joe off the street probably couldn't handle 10% of his workout so I think we just wait and see what happens. Training camp opens in a few weeks and then everyone will have a better idea. Till then....
(Btw- in case you want to get an idea of what any player considers an off season workout, the Penguins have been posting videos of various players. Kris Letang does some crazy hurdles and bar work (moonlighting as a gymnast maybe?) and Evgeni Malkin's lightened workout in Russia while recovering from his knee surgery is intense enough to be a regular workout. Lets also not forget these guys average 2 a days for 6 of the 7 weekdays. I was tired just watching some of it.)
Another Canadian hockey player has been dominating the headlines the past week and it hasn't been in the best way. Everyone has something to say on Sidney Crosby not talking about his injury and he finally felt like breaking his silence. No clue what he owes the media that is trying to rip him to shreds, while some are even suggesting retirement for him. It was officially reported that over 90% exertion in his off-season workouts he is suffering from headaches from his concussion almost 9 months later. I'm sure the average Joe off the street probably couldn't handle 10% of his workout so I think we just wait and see what happens. Training camp opens in a few weeks and then everyone will have a better idea. Till then....
(Btw- in case you want to get an idea of what any player considers an off season workout, the Penguins have been posting videos of various players. Kris Letang does some crazy hurdles and bar work (moonlighting as a gymnast maybe?) and Evgeni Malkin's lightened workout in Russia while recovering from his knee surgery is intense enough to be a regular workout. Lets also not forget these guys average 2 a days for 6 of the 7 weekdays. I was tired just watching some of it.)
Monday, August 15, 2011
Roundup.....
First off, I demand to know where summer has gone. The sun has been hiding for 5 days now and it's been rainy and miserable. Uncalled for since it's still August. Even in PA, summer usually still exists in August. Of course this fall-like weather just ushers in those feelings of football and hockey creeping back into our everyday lives. Now the question is how many days left till the first puck is dropped and I'm so glad you asked. Please click on this handy dandy link to find out. Seriously someone must be losing his or her mind waiting for the season, but this is pure genius. Love it.
The Penguins had to go into damage control somewhere between last night and this afternoon thank to a tweet from Josh Rimer of NHL Radio on XM. Rimer tweeted "Hearing from 3 sources now that Sidney Crosby won't b ready 2 start season. I hope it's not true because the NHL needs its best players!" Of course this set the free world into a frantic frenzy that Crosby was dying again. Seriously people, he most likely suffered 2 concussions in a 5 day period and the symptoms from the first at the Winter Classic never came to a head till the second one really rattled him. Yes, it was scary and still is, especially since he's only 24 and has been out this long, but the Penguins have set the new standard for how a concussion should be dealt with if you ask me.
SuperShero held a media scrum this afternoon to defend against Rimer's tweet. He said the same stuff anyone with half a brain already had figured out. Crosby has been practicing, he's been ramping up his workouts and it's when he tries to be superman that he begins to have issues. Well Shero didn't say that exactly but based off what people have said about his off-season workouts over the years, they aren't for the faint of heart and we all already now what is acceptable for the average hockey player is probably an F in the Crosby school of grading. I have faith he will be okay in the end.
Shero of course pointed out the obvious once again since some people in the world don't quite get it yet. "....That’s the thing for me and for the organization is the bigger picture with Sidney Crosby making sure that he is 100 percent cleared and ready to play when he does come back. He’s not going to be pushed to come back to practice or play. I want to make sure a year from now, three years from now, five years from now that he’s still the best player in the league and take the appropriate steps and back him, and go from there." Couldn't have said it better.
Another gem from this media scrum was when someone asked if he thought it would be better for Crosby to be in Pitt and not in Nova Scoita. "No, I don't think so. I think he’s a creature of habit and this is what he does in the summertime." Understatement of the year that Mr. Crosby is a creature of habit. This is the guy who walks around the arena to avoid the visiting locker room door and has to have a PB&J like a 5 year old before every game, just to name a few of the quirks he exposed us to on 24/7. I'm sure him being in Pitt for the off-season would be similar to a lost puppy dog.
One positive piece of news out of the Crosby world was he celebrated his 24th birthday last week. Yes, 24. He's already won everything in hockey so I guess he'll be looking for duplicates and triplicates now. A cup ring for each finger? No clue, but this is why he won't be rushed back. He's a whopping 24. The real question is when do people stop referring to him as Sid the Kid? I'm thinking 25 might be the cutoff but what do I really know.
Moving away from Crosby and onto the Great One's son. Trevor Gretzky has signed with the Chicago Cubs and will be playing in their farm system for the time being. Probably the smartest thing Trevor ever did was pick up a baseball bat. It's one thing to follow your father into a sport. It's another when he's considered the Greatest one to play the game. He's much better off making and breaking records in a sport where he won't be compared to or put down by critics if he doesn't match his father's records. Wayne was a generational talent and by not having his son follow him into the NHL I think will let Trevor truly be a great baseball player in his own right.
Captain oh Captain....
Many teams wait till training camp to announce new Captains and Assistant captains and many let it be a team vote/decision which really justifies the title of Captain to me. Of course many Captains are obvious choices so here are 3 teams with some easy decisions that should have little drama surrounding them.
The Flyers have apparently been Chris Pronger's team but the wrong guy was wearing the C. Since shipping Mike Richards to the Blue Jackets, the C is Pronger's for the taking. Unless the equipment guy sews the C on 68 by mistake, this a shoo-in.
Another no brainer is the Rangers putting a C on Ryan Cahallan's chest. Since he got a 3 year deal done to avoid arbitration, I don't see why there would be any issue. I also would put money on the home grown talent of Marc Staal and the $60 million dollar man that is Brad Richards to be wearing the A's this season.
Parise wearing the C for the Devils should be a no brainer. Since he only has a one year deal, I wouldn't be shocked for the Devils to go with 3 A's this season or a rotating C (which to me is the most ridiculous thing to ever happen in the world of Captaincy). I vote for 3 A's and if they get a long-term deal done with him then give him the C he has earned. No point in making him a Captain if he could leave after a season.
NFL Corner
The NFL pre-season officially began this past weekend!! Woohoo. About time. I think the most interesting thing I've learned is that even the most die-hard of Eagle fans are scared of their "Dream Team" busting up at some point. I kind of love it. Especially since they acquired Steve Smith of the NY Giants with his surgically repaired knee, now it seems the Eagles have backtracked a little bit on how ready he really is. Didn't the Giants say this all along?
I also would love to know what Kevin Boss was smoking when he signed a contract to play for Al Davis. Forget the fact that it's the Raiders, the man agreed to play for one of the craziest owner in all of sports. I understand few players will stay for less money but I'd stay for less if it meant I'd never have to decipher the cryptic sayings of my owner. Good luck because I seriously think you might need it.
I've become something of a twitter head this summer. I write something sporadically but the best part of twitter is stalking people. Especially famous people and athletes. I've been following some semi-boring, semi-interesting and highly amusing athletes this summer and will share with you tomorrow my thoughts on social media and it's place in sports. Plus my take on who has the most fun and uses it best. Hint: BizNasty takes the cake.
The Penguins had to go into damage control somewhere between last night and this afternoon thank to a tweet from Josh Rimer of NHL Radio on XM. Rimer tweeted "Hearing from 3 sources now that Sidney Crosby won't b ready 2 start season. I hope it's not true because the NHL needs its best players!" Of course this set the free world into a frantic frenzy that Crosby was dying again. Seriously people, he most likely suffered 2 concussions in a 5 day period and the symptoms from the first at the Winter Classic never came to a head till the second one really rattled him. Yes, it was scary and still is, especially since he's only 24 and has been out this long, but the Penguins have set the new standard for how a concussion should be dealt with if you ask me.
SuperShero held a media scrum this afternoon to defend against Rimer's tweet. He said the same stuff anyone with half a brain already had figured out. Crosby has been practicing, he's been ramping up his workouts and it's when he tries to be superman that he begins to have issues. Well Shero didn't say that exactly but based off what people have said about his off-season workouts over the years, they aren't for the faint of heart and we all already now what is acceptable for the average hockey player is probably an F in the Crosby school of grading. I have faith he will be okay in the end.
Shero of course pointed out the obvious once again since some people in the world don't quite get it yet. "....That’s the thing for me and for the organization is the bigger picture with Sidney Crosby making sure that he is 100 percent cleared and ready to play when he does come back. He’s not going to be pushed to come back to practice or play. I want to make sure a year from now, three years from now, five years from now that he’s still the best player in the league and take the appropriate steps and back him, and go from there." Couldn't have said it better.
Another gem from this media scrum was when someone asked if he thought it would be better for Crosby to be in Pitt and not in Nova Scoita. "No, I don't think so. I think he’s a creature of habit and this is what he does in the summertime." Understatement of the year that Mr. Crosby is a creature of habit. This is the guy who walks around the arena to avoid the visiting locker room door and has to have a PB&J like a 5 year old before every game, just to name a few of the quirks he exposed us to on 24/7. I'm sure him being in Pitt for the off-season would be similar to a lost puppy dog.
One positive piece of news out of the Crosby world was he celebrated his 24th birthday last week. Yes, 24. He's already won everything in hockey so I guess he'll be looking for duplicates and triplicates now. A cup ring for each finger? No clue, but this is why he won't be rushed back. He's a whopping 24. The real question is when do people stop referring to him as Sid the Kid? I'm thinking 25 might be the cutoff but what do I really know.
Moving away from Crosby and onto the Great One's son. Trevor Gretzky has signed with the Chicago Cubs and will be playing in their farm system for the time being. Probably the smartest thing Trevor ever did was pick up a baseball bat. It's one thing to follow your father into a sport. It's another when he's considered the Greatest one to play the game. He's much better off making and breaking records in a sport where he won't be compared to or put down by critics if he doesn't match his father's records. Wayne was a generational talent and by not having his son follow him into the NHL I think will let Trevor truly be a great baseball player in his own right.
Captain oh Captain....
Many teams wait till training camp to announce new Captains and Assistant captains and many let it be a team vote/decision which really justifies the title of Captain to me. Of course many Captains are obvious choices so here are 3 teams with some easy decisions that should have little drama surrounding them.
The Flyers have apparently been Chris Pronger's team but the wrong guy was wearing the C. Since shipping Mike Richards to the Blue Jackets, the C is Pronger's for the taking. Unless the equipment guy sews the C on 68 by mistake, this a shoo-in.
Another no brainer is the Rangers putting a C on Ryan Cahallan's chest. Since he got a 3 year deal done to avoid arbitration, I don't see why there would be any issue. I also would put money on the home grown talent of Marc Staal and the $60 million dollar man that is Brad Richards to be wearing the A's this season.
Parise wearing the C for the Devils should be a no brainer. Since he only has a one year deal, I wouldn't be shocked for the Devils to go with 3 A's this season or a rotating C (which to me is the most ridiculous thing to ever happen in the world of Captaincy). I vote for 3 A's and if they get a long-term deal done with him then give him the C he has earned. No point in making him a Captain if he could leave after a season.
NFL Corner
The NFL pre-season officially began this past weekend!! Woohoo. About time. I think the most interesting thing I've learned is that even the most die-hard of Eagle fans are scared of their "Dream Team" busting up at some point. I kind of love it. Especially since they acquired Steve Smith of the NY Giants with his surgically repaired knee, now it seems the Eagles have backtracked a little bit on how ready he really is. Didn't the Giants say this all along?
I also would love to know what Kevin Boss was smoking when he signed a contract to play for Al Davis. Forget the fact that it's the Raiders, the man agreed to play for one of the craziest owner in all of sports. I understand few players will stay for less money but I'd stay for less if it meant I'd never have to decipher the cryptic sayings of my owner. Good luck because I seriously think you might need it.
I've become something of a twitter head this summer. I write something sporadically but the best part of twitter is stalking people. Especially famous people and athletes. I've been following some semi-boring, semi-interesting and highly amusing athletes this summer and will share with you tomorrow my thoughts on social media and it's place in sports. Plus my take on who has the most fun and uses it best. Hint: BizNasty takes the cake.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Game 7 Aftermath
The great thing about this being a blog I choose to do, as opposed to being paid to do, is that I can ignore facts I don't want to address. Such as the fact that the Bruins won the Stanley Cup. Wait, just did acknowledge it and that's about all I will say about them winning it. The Stanley Cup winners in my mind will read as follows: '08-Detroit, '09- Pittsburgh, '10-Chicago, '11-vacant in my brain, '12- TBD. Their '11 cup win is in good company though with the RedSox World Series and the Patriots Superbowls. (I know the Celtics won the big one recently also but I don't pay attention to the NBA as a rule so this doesn't register on my radar). Take it or leave it. I never thought Colin Campbell should have been able to discipline any player since every decision would indirectly affect his son and his team (aka the Bruins). I also wondered where the refs were and why Luongo forgot to stand on his head when one of the twins and Kesler were rumored to be playing with major injuries. Questions that will never be answered.
I am choosing to believe that Nathan Horton tainted the Canucks chances with his pouring of Boston water on the clean Canadian ice. Also were was Marc Savard? Horton and his "severe" concussion were able to travel across the country but Savard who was also labeled severe hasn't been seen in public to my knowledge. Did the Bruins play up Horton's status to get Rome suspended? All I know is Crosby and Savard were hidden in the bat cave for months because of lights, noise and general life bothering them, but Horton traveled on the team plane and remembered to bring the water. I've got nothing.
In the aftermath of this game 7 meltdown, the fans of Vancouver also decided to act as responsible as possible and start rioting. And I thought my filing of this in the black hole was bad. Unreal. This is the place that put on an amazing Olympics and rallied behind the Canucks for this Cup, yet they couldn't just walk out understandably upset and a cue from me and file this under the cup that never happened. Nope. Riot time. Just wow.
In other news.....
The Capitals and Arturs Irbe parted ways not long ago and today announced a tag team of coaches to deal with a 3 man goalie rotation. A tag team of coaches sounds like their second best off season idea, right after not firing F-Bomb Boudreau. 3 goalies and 1 goalie coach didn't work last season, so naturally adding in another coach to the equation will fix this mess. I can't wait to watch the Capitals continue to spiral all of this talent out of control. Wonder if anyone has pointed out to them that this was a playoff season handed to them on golden platter since they didn't have to go through Pittsburgh en route to a Cup. Talk about a wasted opportunity.
GM George McPhee is going to have his hands full with trying to figure out how to make this cap work for him. He has more talented players than most teams and they all have proven their worth, but there's just not enough money to go around. Other teams have figured out how to make the cap work to their advantage but the Capitals seem to be struggling. They need a number crunching genius, not a brooding GM in a trench coat. Ted Leonis is never going to have the Stanley Cup he thinks he deserves without making some major changes. The on ice product isn't matching up to the talent on paper and something needs to change and it needs to happen quickly.
We are a week away from seeing players not named Ovi or Crosby take home some awards from Vegas. This probably saved Sid some dough on renting to the U-Haul he was poised to need as of December to get all his would-be loot home. Don't worry though, he still set an NHL record for most points in the fewest games by a teams top point getter- even while hiding in his bat cave for half the season concussed. He had a whopping 66 points in 41 games, which was 16 better than Kris Letang who played the entire season. To think what could have been.....
We are also just under 2 weeks away from UFA's deadline date before they can flirt with other teams. Since this is a weak off season for blockbuster trades (see Kovalchuk, Ilya cira summer 2010) someone, somewhere is going to be generously over paid. This does seem to be the summer of the goalie though and Philly already made a big splash with acquiring Ilya Bryzgalov from the Coyotes, because like the Capitals they can't figure out which of the young guns is going to be "the man". Hint: none of these guys will ever gain any confidence if they don't get to start more than 2 games in a row and then ride the bench for the next week. Leonis will not be hanging with the Cup next summer of he keeps a cast of goalies. Tim Thomas was a one man show for the Bruins and he deserved the Conn Smythe but there's no way you win the Cup without being able to say who your goalie is.
Even when the Penguins went through the early season MAF drama, they never planted a seed of doubt in him that he wasn't their franchise goalie and number one on the depth chart. Johnson did get more starts than usual in this period, but he supported MAF though it by playing solid, and never once did Blysma say "I don't know who my number 1 is". Sports are just as much mental as they are physical. It's hard to hear your not the starting man but eventually a decision needs to be made before its too late.
Can't wait for #isitoctoberyet to start trending on twitter hardcore. Welcome to summer everyone. Back to baseball for the time being I suppose since there's little else. No wonder baseball lasts forever, it needs to fill the random voids of other sports till the playoffs when I actually care again (for the 3rd time in the season. Beginning, middle and end of course). And WHERE IS FOOTBALL???? I might start to actually go through withdrawal soon.
I am choosing to believe that Nathan Horton tainted the Canucks chances with his pouring of Boston water on the clean Canadian ice. Also were was Marc Savard? Horton and his "severe" concussion were able to travel across the country but Savard who was also labeled severe hasn't been seen in public to my knowledge. Did the Bruins play up Horton's status to get Rome suspended? All I know is Crosby and Savard were hidden in the bat cave for months because of lights, noise and general life bothering them, but Horton traveled on the team plane and remembered to bring the water. I've got nothing.
In the aftermath of this game 7 meltdown, the fans of Vancouver also decided to act as responsible as possible and start rioting. And I thought my filing of this in the black hole was bad. Unreal. This is the place that put on an amazing Olympics and rallied behind the Canucks for this Cup, yet they couldn't just walk out understandably upset and a cue from me and file this under the cup that never happened. Nope. Riot time. Just wow.
In other news.....
The Capitals and Arturs Irbe parted ways not long ago and today announced a tag team of coaches to deal with a 3 man goalie rotation. A tag team of coaches sounds like their second best off season idea, right after not firing F-Bomb Boudreau. 3 goalies and 1 goalie coach didn't work last season, so naturally adding in another coach to the equation will fix this mess. I can't wait to watch the Capitals continue to spiral all of this talent out of control. Wonder if anyone has pointed out to them that this was a playoff season handed to them on golden platter since they didn't have to go through Pittsburgh en route to a Cup. Talk about a wasted opportunity.
GM George McPhee is going to have his hands full with trying to figure out how to make this cap work for him. He has more talented players than most teams and they all have proven their worth, but there's just not enough money to go around. Other teams have figured out how to make the cap work to their advantage but the Capitals seem to be struggling. They need a number crunching genius, not a brooding GM in a trench coat. Ted Leonis is never going to have the Stanley Cup he thinks he deserves without making some major changes. The on ice product isn't matching up to the talent on paper and something needs to change and it needs to happen quickly.
We are a week away from seeing players not named Ovi or Crosby take home some awards from Vegas. This probably saved Sid some dough on renting to the U-Haul he was poised to need as of December to get all his would-be loot home. Don't worry though, he still set an NHL record for most points in the fewest games by a teams top point getter- even while hiding in his bat cave for half the season concussed. He had a whopping 66 points in 41 games, which was 16 better than Kris Letang who played the entire season. To think what could have been.....
We are also just under 2 weeks away from UFA's deadline date before they can flirt with other teams. Since this is a weak off season for blockbuster trades (see Kovalchuk, Ilya cira summer 2010) someone, somewhere is going to be generously over paid. This does seem to be the summer of the goalie though and Philly already made a big splash with acquiring Ilya Bryzgalov from the Coyotes, because like the Capitals they can't figure out which of the young guns is going to be "the man". Hint: none of these guys will ever gain any confidence if they don't get to start more than 2 games in a row and then ride the bench for the next week. Leonis will not be hanging with the Cup next summer of he keeps a cast of goalies. Tim Thomas was a one man show for the Bruins and he deserved the Conn Smythe but there's no way you win the Cup without being able to say who your goalie is.
Even when the Penguins went through the early season MAF drama, they never planted a seed of doubt in him that he wasn't their franchise goalie and number one on the depth chart. Johnson did get more starts than usual in this period, but he supported MAF though it by playing solid, and never once did Blysma say "I don't know who my number 1 is". Sports are just as much mental as they are physical. It's hard to hear your not the starting man but eventually a decision needs to be made before its too late.
Can't wait for #isitoctoberyet to start trending on twitter hardcore. Welcome to summer everyone. Back to baseball for the time being I suppose since there's little else. No wonder baseball lasts forever, it needs to fill the random voids of other sports till the playoffs when I actually care again (for the 3rd time in the season. Beginning, middle and end of course). And WHERE IS FOOTBALL???? I might start to actually go through withdrawal soon.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Catch up time
A few happenings have occurred in the past week so a recap is in order.
Somethings Gotta Give
Brad Richards won't be a Star or a Ranger. The Stars won't sign him and he won't sign with them without a secure owner. The Rangers won't overpay (good call by them, they can get some younger, cheaper guys that can learn their system) and I'm guessing the Coyotes are off the list because of ownership issues. Of course, the Blue Jackets aren't looking to secure anymore so they are probably a no go. Richards also was being rather picky with where he would be playing city wise so this has major potential to become the saga of this off-season. What city will make his highness happy while still paying him the $7million he feels he deserves. Can't wait to meet this team! I'm also thinking the Devils are out since last season's drama was enough for them. Plus they need to get Parise signed yesterday.
Treading the Gray Area
Brendan Shanahan has officially taken the reigns from Colin Campbell as discipline czar. I love this, FYI. I think Shanahan has the brains to be in charge of such decisions and since he's closely removed from playing, he gets the game and the changes it's taken over the past decade. I do worry this will ruin his image, life and happiness. Interrupting Rule 48 is like being a color blind person in a color coded store- it's a complete and utter free for all. Draw a straw and that's the call currently under Campbell. Even though he does remove himself from games his son plays in, something has always just seemed wrong about the whole thing. A call he makes against another team can eventually affect his sons team and it always just seemed strange if you ask me. I think Shanahan will bring a new approach and be a breathe of fresh air for the suspensions, et al. When Crosby went down with a concussion, he was one of the first players to reach out to check on him and offer some advice/support. It just goes to show his level of respect for current players. I will pray for him every night that he doesn't wake up thinking "I wish I never took this position" and maybe mail him a bottle of scotch or whiskey or whatever will keep him from jumping off the bridge.
Building for the Future
Pittsburgh announced today that they have officially signed all their coaches from the NHL through the AHL rankings to mulit-year deals. I think Ray Shero is one insanely smart business man and makes some amazing decisions to ensure that the Penguins will continue to be considered an elite team in the league. Signing all their coaches ensures that the system they have in place will be continued. Each of the guys learns one system that is used both in the AHL and NHL and this makes their call-ups so routine it's like they are an extension of each other. Now having all the coaches (that were all already on the same page having each been hired or referred by one another) together for the long term just makes their foundation that much more solid. If you ever needed a reason to want your NHL club to own it's AHL team just look up in the sporting dictionary: Penguins, Pittsburgh.
Concussion Gate: Part 1943483 (of the 2010-11 season)
Google it or find it on Puck Daddy here but here's the latest reason why we need Brendan Shanahan to swoop in and save the day. Lots of opinions on whether or not Aaron Rome should have been suspended. Based on this video, yes. If you want to compare his hit to a hit he received against the Sharks and that outcome (no suspension for the guy who leveled him) who knows what to do. This one seems much worse in general so I do believe he should be suspended. His suspenstion is for a whopping 4 games. That means if this goes 4 more games, the rest of the season. At worst, 2 more games in the beginning of next season. Matt Cooke received 10 plus first round of the playoffs for his elbow that didn't injure anyone, so up to 17 games. Nathan Horton laid on the ice like he was never going to move again and Rome got 4. I need help understanding the justice here. Just because he's not Cooke who plays on the invisible line of being a "dirty player" he seems to have had the past affect his ruling, but we are comparing apples and oranges in every way possible. It's hard to say that if a player is concussed then the player who did the concussing should be out for x number of games, but Cooke's careless late elbow cost him more than Rome's late hit that might affect Horton's career sooner than later. Mike Murphy handed out this suspension since Campbell is relieved of his duties forever and Shanahan doesn't begin his reign till next season (did he breathe a sigh of relief or what??). I hope Shanahan is given free reign to clean house start from the bottom next season and can figure out a way to make some sense of these senseless suspensions.
Headaches: Concussions vs Sinus
Sidney Crosby has reappeared on our radar again and this time he's to say he had a sinus infection, not a concussion related setback. This is nice to hear. Sinus infection headaches can be pretty brutal and even if he really did experience a setback, this is a reasoning that will probably make some fans feel better about the state of the Kid. It does seem like a probable reason, especially since he was spotted enjoying a vacation to Cannes Film Festival. I'm thinking you can't fly to Europe with a non-stop headache. That's over 6 hours and even first class can't make that feel any better. If he didn't have a sinus infection then the Penguins must have the best vault of story lines in town. (Malkin actually missed a number of games before his season ending injury because of a sinus infection). Regardless of what we chose to believe, he's alive and breathing in the Canadian air while trying to figure out how top his half-season assault on league records. A topic trending among hockey players on twitter is often #isitseptemberyet. Most people can't wait to see what he will be up to. Ovi, the puck is in your zone. What do you plan on doing after your teams epic meltdown against the Lightening?
Random Ramblings...(on anything I feel like)
NBC will hold onto Olympic broadcasting rights. I like this and enjoy Bob Costas' story time etc. I would like this even more if they somehow had written in there more games would be aired on NBC all season since I don't get versus and have to rely on Tweets and NHL Game Center for anything aired on Versus. Hopefully they won't manage to air the Olympics on Versus and will keep it on NBC.
With the NFL lockout still holding strong, I am beginning to wonder if we will have football and if we do, how will the quality be?At this point the rookies usually have play books, have begun some mini camps and have actually had a full conversation with their coach. Coaches don't even know the players middle name or nickname yet. What about Mr. Sensitive and Mr. Asshole for personality disorders? Can we foresee some serious conflicts if this season does happen? Don't envy the coaches this season one bit.
Could care less about the NBA but if they lockout and the NFL stays locked out, will NBC and the NHL capitalize on this MAJOR once in a lifetime chance to showcase hockey to it's fullest?? Doubt it, but one can hope. On facebook there's a group of people prepared to boycott week 1 if there is one to make a small statement. Even though most people won't notice, I can understand why some people would do this as they are annoyed with billionaires locking out millionaires. It just don't register on the average Joe's radar. We are football fans, but watching a game on Sunday is a luxury and enjoyable way to spend the day, but we don't get money for doing it and can somehow survive since we somehow do it the other 8 months of the year.
Till next time...
#isitseptemberyet
Somethings Gotta Give
Brad Richards won't be a Star or a Ranger. The Stars won't sign him and he won't sign with them without a secure owner. The Rangers won't overpay (good call by them, they can get some younger, cheaper guys that can learn their system) and I'm guessing the Coyotes are off the list because of ownership issues. Of course, the Blue Jackets aren't looking to secure anymore so they are probably a no go. Richards also was being rather picky with where he would be playing city wise so this has major potential to become the saga of this off-season. What city will make his highness happy while still paying him the $7million he feels he deserves. Can't wait to meet this team! I'm also thinking the Devils are out since last season's drama was enough for them. Plus they need to get Parise signed yesterday.
Treading the Gray Area
Brendan Shanahan has officially taken the reigns from Colin Campbell as discipline czar. I love this, FYI. I think Shanahan has the brains to be in charge of such decisions and since he's closely removed from playing, he gets the game and the changes it's taken over the past decade. I do worry this will ruin his image, life and happiness. Interrupting Rule 48 is like being a color blind person in a color coded store- it's a complete and utter free for all. Draw a straw and that's the call currently under Campbell. Even though he does remove himself from games his son plays in, something has always just seemed wrong about the whole thing. A call he makes against another team can eventually affect his sons team and it always just seemed strange if you ask me. I think Shanahan will bring a new approach and be a breathe of fresh air for the suspensions, et al. When Crosby went down with a concussion, he was one of the first players to reach out to check on him and offer some advice/support. It just goes to show his level of respect for current players. I will pray for him every night that he doesn't wake up thinking "I wish I never took this position" and maybe mail him a bottle of scotch or whiskey or whatever will keep him from jumping off the bridge.
Building for the Future
Pittsburgh announced today that they have officially signed all their coaches from the NHL through the AHL rankings to mulit-year deals. I think Ray Shero is one insanely smart business man and makes some amazing decisions to ensure that the Penguins will continue to be considered an elite team in the league. Signing all their coaches ensures that the system they have in place will be continued. Each of the guys learns one system that is used both in the AHL and NHL and this makes their call-ups so routine it's like they are an extension of each other. Now having all the coaches (that were all already on the same page having each been hired or referred by one another) together for the long term just makes their foundation that much more solid. If you ever needed a reason to want your NHL club to own it's AHL team just look up in the sporting dictionary: Penguins, Pittsburgh.
Concussion Gate: Part 1943483 (of the 2010-11 season)
Google it or find it on Puck Daddy here but here's the latest reason why we need Brendan Shanahan to swoop in and save the day. Lots of opinions on whether or not Aaron Rome should have been suspended. Based on this video, yes. If you want to compare his hit to a hit he received against the Sharks and that outcome (no suspension for the guy who leveled him) who knows what to do. This one seems much worse in general so I do believe he should be suspended. His suspenstion is for a whopping 4 games. That means if this goes 4 more games, the rest of the season. At worst, 2 more games in the beginning of next season. Matt Cooke received 10 plus first round of the playoffs for his elbow that didn't injure anyone, so up to 17 games. Nathan Horton laid on the ice like he was never going to move again and Rome got 4. I need help understanding the justice here. Just because he's not Cooke who plays on the invisible line of being a "dirty player" he seems to have had the past affect his ruling, but we are comparing apples and oranges in every way possible. It's hard to say that if a player is concussed then the player who did the concussing should be out for x number of games, but Cooke's careless late elbow cost him more than Rome's late hit that might affect Horton's career sooner than later. Mike Murphy handed out this suspension since Campbell is relieved of his duties forever and Shanahan doesn't begin his reign till next season (did he breathe a sigh of relief or what??). I hope Shanahan is given free reign to clean house start from the bottom next season and can figure out a way to make some sense of these senseless suspensions.
Headaches: Concussions vs Sinus
Sidney Crosby has reappeared on our radar again and this time he's to say he had a sinus infection, not a concussion related setback. This is nice to hear. Sinus infection headaches can be pretty brutal and even if he really did experience a setback, this is a reasoning that will probably make some fans feel better about the state of the Kid. It does seem like a probable reason, especially since he was spotted enjoying a vacation to Cannes Film Festival. I'm thinking you can't fly to Europe with a non-stop headache. That's over 6 hours and even first class can't make that feel any better. If he didn't have a sinus infection then the Penguins must have the best vault of story lines in town. (Malkin actually missed a number of games before his season ending injury because of a sinus infection). Regardless of what we chose to believe, he's alive and breathing in the Canadian air while trying to figure out how top his half-season assault on league records. A topic trending among hockey players on twitter is often #isitseptemberyet. Most people can't wait to see what he will be up to. Ovi, the puck is in your zone. What do you plan on doing after your teams epic meltdown against the Lightening?
Random Ramblings...(on anything I feel like)
NBC will hold onto Olympic broadcasting rights. I like this and enjoy Bob Costas' story time etc. I would like this even more if they somehow had written in there more games would be aired on NBC all season since I don't get versus and have to rely on Tweets and NHL Game Center for anything aired on Versus. Hopefully they won't manage to air the Olympics on Versus and will keep it on NBC.
With the NFL lockout still holding strong, I am beginning to wonder if we will have football and if we do, how will the quality be?At this point the rookies usually have play books, have begun some mini camps and have actually had a full conversation with their coach. Coaches don't even know the players middle name or nickname yet. What about Mr. Sensitive and Mr. Asshole for personality disorders? Can we foresee some serious conflicts if this season does happen? Don't envy the coaches this season one bit.
Could care less about the NBA but if they lockout and the NFL stays locked out, will NBC and the NHL capitalize on this MAJOR once in a lifetime chance to showcase hockey to it's fullest?? Doubt it, but one can hope. On facebook there's a group of people prepared to boycott week 1 if there is one to make a small statement. Even though most people won't notice, I can understand why some people would do this as they are annoyed with billionaires locking out millionaires. It just don't register on the average Joe's radar. We are football fans, but watching a game on Sunday is a luxury and enjoyable way to spend the day, but we don't get money for doing it and can somehow survive since we somehow do it the other 8 months of the year.
Till next time...
#isitseptemberyet
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