Tag Archives: Calgary Flames

This pounding in my head is starting to hurt. Lots of little things making me crazy these days…

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Here’s what’s rattling around in my cranium this weekend:

1) According to nhl.com, The Calgary Flames claimed Winnipeg’s Nigel Dawes, a restricted free agent, off waivers from the Phoenix Coyotes. Another great off-season move by the Flames and a tremendous break for Dawes.

Nigel can score and grind, depending on what a team needs. He also comes cheap and for a club like the Flames with all that high-priced talent — Phaneuf, Iginla, Kiprusoff, Regehr and Bouwmeester — a good player like Dawes, who isn’t expensive, fits right under the Calgary cap quite nicely.

It’s a great move by the Flames and another loss for Phoenix, one of the worst franchises — on and off the playing surface — in any sport.

2) The loudest message sent by anyone playing in the Canadian Football League on Thursday night was sent by B.C. Lions quarterback Jarious Jackson. After an injury to Buck Pierce, Jackson took over the offence of the 0-2 Lions and essentially told head coach Wally Buono he, not Pierce, was the No. 1 QB in B.C.

Jackson went 19-for-28 for 362 yards and four touchdowns in a 40-22 shellacking of the Eskimos in Edmonton. It’s probably time for a change on the West Coast.

3) Even the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are now saying that the alleged Blue Bombers’ “spy” Ron Trentini, was about as useless as oil on a duck.

This past week’s nonsensical “spygate” was a media-manufactured scandal designed to feed the beast. It had nothing to do with cheating, football or even good reading. It was a waste of time and Bomber head coach Mike Kelly knew that from Day 1.

The mainstream media, meanwhile, just made up a story where one didn’t exist, proving once again that most of them have never played on a slo-pitch team, let alone a football team.

Meanwhile, if the CFL is going to send out missives chiding people for perceived wrongdoing, the note they should send to Mike Kelly is the one that warns the Bomber coach about  scooping good players from Edmonton and B.C. Kelly probably owes the dog-ass Eskimos and Lions more compensation for literally stealing Sideeq Shabazz, Stefan Lefors, Fred Perry, Tyrone Williams and Kelly Bates.

4) It’s the mid-season mark of the 2009 NASCAR campaign and, my  two NASCAR buddies, Camshaft Pierce and Tirehead Campbell, have made their choices for biggest disappointment and biggest surprise of the first half of the season.

The biggest disappointments? No question about it, the consistently poor showing of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the failure of Carl Edwards, David Ragan and the Haas Racing team. The most pleasant surprises? Again, no doubt. Tony Stewart, winning and leading the point standings as an owner-driver and Mark Martin winning four times as a 50-year-old

5) Our Headline of the Week:

Tom McGouran pointed this one out at 7:10 a.m. on Friday, during another lively moment on 92-CITI-FM radio’s Tom and Joe Show.

McNair Murder Not Likely To Deter Player Infidelities: Winnipeg Sun.

Now that one doesn’t even pass the “no-shit” test. Wonder which crack AP editor assigned that in-depth, tell-me-something-I-don’t-already-know story?

No wonder young people have stopped reading newspapers.

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Three more little things bouncing around among my gray cells…

Posted on July 6, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

After a wonderful weekend of sports brilliance and silliness, I had a few little things banging around in my noggin. Here goes…

1) Two of the world’s greatest athletes rose to the occasion on Sunday. (Fact is, it was quite a day for Nike and Gillette. Their two most prominent spokesmen were both big winners.)

At Wimbledon, Roger Federer defeated Andy Roddick, in a marathon, 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 3-6, 16-14 to win his record 15th Grand Slam title and the sixth Wimbledon championship of his career.

Meanwhile, Tiger Woods, made birdie at 16 to go 13-under and win his own tournament, the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club outside Washington, D.C. It was his third win of the year, the 68th of his career and moved him to the top of both the money list and the FedEx Cup standings.

I don’t think there is any doubt. We are now watching the two most remarkable individual-sport athletes in the history of, well, individual sport.

2) The National Hockey League’s free-agent frenzy continues and there were a number of local (Manitoba) moves this weekend.

Neepawa’s “Sherriff” Shane Hnidy signed a one-year, $750,000 deal with the Minnesota Wild; Winnipeg’s Tyler Arnason signed a two-way deal with the New York Rangers; Jason Krog left the Manitoba Moose and signed a two-year deal with the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers; Jason Jaffray left the Manitoba Moose and signed a two-year deal with the Calgary Flames; and of the 20 players who selected salary arbitration, two were Winnipeggers, Nigel Dawes will go to arbitration with Phoenix while Travis Zajac will go to arbitration with New Jersey.

Throw in Colton Orr’s four-year $4 million deal to beat people up on behalf of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Cam Barker’s semi-legal RFA offer from the Chicago Blackhasks and it was quite a week for our local hockey stars.

3) It’s Week 2 in the Canadian Football League and it starts on Thursday with Edmonton at Montreal. 

On Friday, Calgary plays right here in Winnipeg — it’s the 2009 home opener — while Hamilton is at B.C.

On Saturday, Saskatchewan plays at Toronto. All four games are, of course, on TSN.

Meanwhile, over in Bomberland, 1,000-yard receiver Derick Armstrong, who refused to play in last Thursday’s game, did not practice Sunday or Monday and was apparently being shopped to other CFL teams. He’s probably finished as a Blue Bomber and a whole load of fans are righteously pissed at head coach Mike Kelly (even though Armstrong refused to play when called upon last Thursday and in a  team game, that’s just about as selfish as it gets).

Win or lose, it’s going to be a very, very interesting football season in Winnipeg in 2009.

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Crosby, Brodeur lead the way: Camp Invitees Named for 2010 Canadian Men’s Olympic Hockey Team

Posted on July 2, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

I love this list. I would add a couple of names here and there, especially an indigenous Canadian such as Jonathan Cheechoo or Wade Redden, but for the most part, the players named to the tryout camp should give the coaching staff a chance to pick a 2010 Team Canada that has a chance to win.

I would liked to have seen Vancouver’s Kevin Bieksa invited as a defenceman, but I’ll have no problem with the final lineup.

Up front, I can’t believe Dany Heatley is on the list after the stunt he’s pulled with Ottawa and Edmonton this week. There is a real integrity and character problem there. If Hockey Canada was going to take an Ottawa Senator, I really can’t believe they took Heatley ahead of Jason Spezza. At least Spezza’s a decent human being who doesn’t hurt others around him. Steven Stamkos should probably be on the list and if you’re going to take Dan Cleary, how about Darren Helm? Of course, the list has to stop at some point.

Chris Osgood should also be on the list. Fleury? Mason? Osgood? I’ll take Osgood every time. However, I still believe Brodeur and Luongo should be the Top 2 goaltenders anyway.

Here’s the list of invitees to the 2010 Men’s Olympic Hockey Team. Team Canada’s camp goes Aug. 24-27 at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary:

Only five of the 16 defencemen invited have Olympic experience: Jay Bouwmeester (Calgary Flames), Dan Boyle (San Jose Sharks), Scott Niedermayer (Anaheim Ducks),  Chris Pronger (Philadelphia Flyers), and Robyn Regehr (Calgary Flames). Rounding out the list of D-men are: Dion Phaneuf (Calgary Flames), Marc Staal (New York Rangers), Shea Weber (Nashville Predators), François Beauchemin (Anaheim Ducks), Brent Burns (Minnesota Wild), Drew Doughty (Los Angeles Kings), Stéphane Robidas (Dallas Stars), Mike Green (Washington Capitals), Dan Hamhuis (Nashville Predators), and the Chicago Blackhawks pairing of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook.

Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby heads up the list of forwards. The list of 25 has 11 from the 2006 Olympic team roster, including Shane Doan (Phoenix Coyotes), Simon Gagné (Philadelphia Flyers), Dany Heatley (Ottawa Senators), Jarome Iginla (Calgary Flames), Rick Nash (Columbusn Blue Jackets), Joe Sakic (Colorado Avalanche), Martin St-Louis (Tampa Bay Lightning), Eric Staal (Carolina Hurricanes), Joe Thornton (San Jose Sharks), Vincent Lecavalier (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Ryan Smyth (Colorado Avalanche). The rest of the list includes Jeff Carter (Philadelphia Flyers), Ryan Getzlaf (Anaheim Ducks), Milan Lucic (Boston Bruins), Patrick Marleau (San Jose Sharks), Andy McDonald (St. Louis Blues), Brenden Morrow (Dallas Stars), Corey Perry (Anaheim Ducks) Michael Richards (Philadelphia Flyers), Derek Roy (Buffalo Sabres), Patrick Sharp (Chicago Blackhawks), Jordan Staal (Thunder Bay, Ont./Pittsburgh, NHL) Jonathan Toews (Winnipeg, Man./Chicago, NHL) and Dan Cleary (Detroit Red Wings).

The list of five goalies includes three-time Olympian Martin Brodeur (New Jersey Devils), 2006 Olympian Roberto Luongo (Vancouver Canucks), Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-André Fleury, Steve Mason (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Cam Ward (Carolina Hurricanes).

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Thompson says, “…there will be some dramatic events this week.”

Posted on June 29, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

On Wednesday, the National Hockey League’s free agent season will begin and according to Tom Thompson, the assistant general manager of the Minnesota Wild, “I’m sure there will be some dramatic events this week.”

Assuming they aren’t signed between now and Wednesday morning, the Sedin Twins, Marian Gaborik, Mattias Ohlund, Dwayne Roloson, Ales Kotalik, Marian Hossa, Chris Neil, Mike Comrie, Mike Cammalleri, Todd Bertuzzi, Mike Komisarek, Mathieu Schneider, Alex Kovalev, Alex Tanguay, Saku Koivu, Mark Recchi, Maxim Afinogenov, Ryan Bayda, Erik Cole, Patrice Brisebois, Tom Kostopoulos, Brian Gionta, John Madden, Johnny Oduya, Brendan Shanahan, Derek Morris, Nik Antropov, Martin Biron, Antero Nittymaki, Viktor Kozlov, Miroslav Satan, Petr Sykora, Rob Scuderi, Hal Gill, Todd Marchant, Jay Bouwmeester, Martin Havlat, Sami Pahlsson, Ian Laperriere, Joe Sakic, Jere Lehtinen, Jordan Leopold, Mikael Samuelsson, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Martin Skoula, Vernon Fiddler, Greg de Vries, Stephane Veilleux, Rob Blake, Mike Grier, Claude Lemieux, Travis Moen, Nolan Baumgartner, Jason Jaffray, Jason Krog and Mats Sundin, along with more than a hundred others will be unrestricted free agents..

Even some of our old friends — Shane Hnidy, Teppo Numminen, Tyler Arnason, Nikolai Khabibulin, Colton Orr and Phillipe Boucher — will be free on Wednesday. It’s going to hit the fan this week and you can bet as many teams as possible will be involved.

In fact, during the draft, Brian Burke made it clear he’ll be a buyer: “We’ll be involved on July 1,” Burke told reporters in Montreal. “The door is open for business at noon and that’s when we will start to get involved.”

He’s not alone.

“There will be moves that will get a lot of people talking,” said Thompson. “There is going to be a lot of interest in the hockey world all over North America that’s for sure.”

But why? Why so many UFAs?

“It’s partly because of the cap,” said Thompson, via telephone from his office in St. Paul. “The thing about the salary cap system is that it forces people to make choices. Because you’re restricted by how much you can spend, if you decide to do one thing, you can’t do another. It’s what makes great organizations or not-so-great organizations. You can’t have everything anymore.

“If there is one thing the cap has done, it’s put every team on an equal playing field and the smartest hockey people will be successful.”

The other thing it does, is forces team’s into last-minute decisions. It forces them to meet deadlines. It allows players to know exactly how much they’re worth. And it makes people like the Sedin Twins, who want long term deals worth at least $62 million each, worry about their decisions just as long and hard as Shane Hnidy or Jason Krog, who just might be out there looking for work.

I’d hate to suggest anything specific will happen on Wednesday. Nobody knows. But here are five things that might happen…

1) The Sedins don’t get the money they’re after in Vancouver. Mike Gillis re-signs Mattias Ohlund and signs Marian Gaborik.

2) The Sedins end up in Toronto with Brian Burke, the man who drafted them in the first place, and who will dump a pile of dull, old contracts to make sure he has the dough to sign them.

3) The Flames will sign Bouwmeester, let Cammalleri ($3.6 million) and Bertuzzi ($1.95 million) go and have plenty of money to sign the roll players he needs (he’s already dumped Jim Vandermeer and his $2.3 million deal).

4) Bob Gainey will go on an unprecedented signing frenzy and get Komisarek, Brisebois, Kostopoulos, Schneider and Tanguay signed. Saku Koivu will end up with his brother, Mikko, in Minnesota.

5) At least 50 players will change teams.

Unlike the dull-as-dishwater trade deadline television snooze, TSN, Rogers SportsNet and the Score will have an actual reason to telecast Free Agent Frenzy Shows. This should be nuts.

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Pronger to Philly, Bouwmeester to Calgary. Somebody had a Good Weekend.

Posted on June 27, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

For the most part, what we expected to happen, happened, at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal.

We expected the New York Islanders to take Swedish defenceman Victor Hedman, if the Isles wanted a guy who could play (well) right now, and John Tavares if they wanted a Canadian junior sniper they could market like Steven Stamkos.

The Isles took Tavares with the No. 1 pick and will now be more sizzle than steak for another year. That’s not to say Tavares won’t eventually lead the Islanders out of the wilderness — a wilderness created by Mike Milbury’s failures — but it won’t happen in 2009-2010 and not like the year after, either.

There were plenty of interesting trades. Chris Pronger, along with forward Ryan Dingle, went from Anaheim to Philadelphia , in exchange for defenceman Luca Sbisa, forward Joffrey Lupul, two first-round picks and a conditional third-round pick in 2010 or 2011. Pronger is 34 and on the downside of a great career.

The Calgary Flames had a great day on Saturday. The Flames acquired the rights to 25-year-old Florida Panthers defenceman Jay Bouwmeester in exchange for defenceman Jordan Leopold and the 67th overall pick that Florida used to select Josh Birkholz. Bouwmeester is still an Olympic-calibre defenceman and he will make Calgary a force in the West.

Later on Saturday, the Flames sent six-year veteran defenceman Jim Vandermeer, 29, who played 45 games in Calgary last year, to Phoenix in exchange for a former Flames draft pick, 25-year-old Brandon Prust. Nice to see the Coyotes getting older and slower.

The made-up trade rumour that had the Boston Bruins sending Phil Kessel and a draft pick to the Leafs for Tomas Kaberle turned out to be aprochryphal. Who makes this crap up?

Sadly, there will be more ridiculous rumours this week with the free agent deadline on Wednesday. Wonder who will be the first to report, ohh I don’t know, Sidney Crosby to Washington for Alex Ovechkin? Please, somebody make that one up.

In the meantime, Teemu Selanne, a 10-time all-star and former Winnipeg Jets rookie of the year, told the Anaheim Ducks that he would be back next season. The 38-year-old Selanne will play his 18th NHL season this coming year. He had 27 goals and 27 assists in 65 games last season. Why is it that the NHL is just better with Teemu Selanne in it?

Finally, congratulations to Winnipeg’s Scott Glennie (eighth overall to Dallas), Winnipeg’s Carter Ashton (No. 29 overall to Tampa), Winnipeg’s Cody Eakin (third round, 85th overall to Washington) and Winkler’s Byron Froese (fourth round, 119th to Chicago), the Manitobans taken in this weekend’s draft.

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The NHL Draft Starts in less than an hour in Montreal: Here’s what we’re looking for…

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Will it be John Tavares of the OHL’s London Knights, Matt Duchene of the OHL’s Brampton Battalion or Victor Hedman of the Swedish Elite League’s Modo? That will be the biggest question on everyone’s mind as this year’s draft gets rolling in Montreal.

The 2009 NHL Entry Draft begins in less than half an hour and here the three things I’m expecting:

1) I just have to think that if the Islanders don’t trade their pick to Toronto, a team that really, really, really would like to draft Tavares, then the Isles will take Hedman simply because they’re an Eastern Conference team that needs to upgrade on defence and is a young guy who has already played against men with Modo in the Swedish Elite League.

However, if the Islanders are more concerned about image than winning next year, they’ll take Tavares and sell him as the next Sid the Kid.

2) Apparently this wild — and very, very stupid –  rumour that the Boston Bruins were going to give up Phil Kessel and a draft pick for Leafs Tomas Kaberle was as dumb as we thought.

Originally “broken” on TSN, we’re now told by the Toronto Sports Network: “It appears the potential trade involving the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs is at the very least on hold and quite possibly dead. It turns out there was apparently major miscommunication between the two teams.”

Really? Perhaps it was a miscommunication by the mainstream media. TSN originally reported it was Kessel for Kaberle and Toronto’s No. 7 pick. Terrible deal for Toronto, but Boston might like it. Then it became Kessel and a draft pick for Kaberle. Only someone smoking something would have thought was a bright move. In the end, it was none of the above. Somebody made this thing up over cognac in the hotel bar.

3) There will be trades. Somebody is going somewhere. After all, last year’s draft produced a frenzy of pretty big deals.

Toronto really wants a top pick (up from No. 7) to get either Tavares or Brandon’s Brayden Schenn and Brian Burke will do what’s necessary to get the people he wants in order to rebuild that mess in T.O.

Ottawa is going to try to move Dany Heatley but Bryan Murray won’t give him away. Murray’s way too smart to take that bait.

Florida will probably move Jay Bouwmeester — or anybody else with a pulse and a contract. After all, Randy Sexton is now the acting GM and if you remember him in Ottawa, you know he’ll try to make some kind of splash — stupid or otherwise.

The San Jose Sharks will move somebody. Expect it to be Jonathan Cheechoo.

Despite not falling for that dumb Toronto offer (or “made-up” Toronto offer), Boston might still try to move the disgruntled Phil Kessel.

And don’t be surprised if Tampa tries to get Tavares and then, if they do, they’ll have Stamkos and Tavares in the fold, so then Lightning GM Brian Lawton will trade Vinny Lecavalier to Montreal.

And finally, don’t be surprised to see Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger, J.S. Giguere and a bunch of “older” Calgary Flames change teams tonight.

OK, get out the sodas and chips and let’s go watch some kids get rich.

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Old coaches, young superstars and the best goalie in the playoffs.

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

As we get set to watch the Pittsburgh Penguins eliminate the Carolina Hurricanes in four straight games (barring a miracle), in tonight’s Eastern Conference final there was a boatload of hockey news today.

There was also just some stuff.

Onward:

1) Pat Quinn was hired as head coach by the Edmonton Oilers today. He’s 66. Personally, I like Pat Quinn, a lot. He’s a fine man, who did a wonderful job with Team Canada in Salt Lake City in 2002 and with our national junior team. I had a lot of respect for him when he was head coach of the Leafs and I must admit, he’s always been very respectful to me.

The question has to be in this case: Can a 66-year-old coach find happiness with a young team in Edmonton? Especially after the Calgary Flames just dumped 59-year-old Mike Keenan, another old coach, who gets recycled more than old truck tires. 

There is a difference, however. Keenan is a guy who likes “his guys.” He likes veteran players he knows and can trust. And that’s fine. Trouble is, “his guys” don’t win anymore. Quinn, however, during his time with the national junior team, proved to everyone he can teach young players how to play the game.

And that’s exactly what the Oilers need.

Age has nothing to do with anything. It’s attitude and approach that matters. Quinn might be 66, but he has already demonstrated that he respects young, enthusiastic hockey players and can take those types of players and show them how to win.

Full disclosure: I like Pat Quinn as a person. And I also believe he will be a great head coach in Edmonton.

2) Tonight, we get to watch the likes of Sidney Crosby, Eric Staal, Evgeni Malkin and Cam Ward play an extremely important NHL playoff game.

If the Penguins win, the young stars from Pittsburgh will zoom into the Stanley Cup final for a second straight year (frankly, no matter what the Hurricanes do, Pittsburgh’s offence should put a quick nail in Carolina’s coffin).

What is most interesting, however, is that whenever the media looks for a storyline involving the Pens, it’s always Sidney Crosby vs. (insert name here). Sidney Crosby vs. Alexander Ovechkin. Sidney Crosby vs. Jarome Iginla. Sidney Crosby vs. oh, I don’t know, Johan Franzen?

Unfortunately, the mainstream hockey media loves a story no matter how silly it is. If anyone is looking for a consistent storyline, it should be this one: Evgeni Malkin vs. the hockey world.

This spring, Ovechkin will likely be awarded the Hart Trophy as the regular season MVP and so far in the playoffs, Crosby has the inside track to the Conn Smythe Trophy. 

Meanwhile, all Malkin has done is win the league scoring championship and lead all scorers in the playoffs (12 goals and 16 assists). 

There was a day before all these mouth-breathing TV bingo callers became uber-experts, a day when scoring goals and dishing out assists was an important part of the game. And today, nobody does that better than Evgeni Malkin.

I guess he’s no Sidney Crosby (he certainly doesn’t have the same group of publicists), but he could be the Rodney Dangerfield of the NHL.

3) Of course, if Malkin isn’t hockey’s answer to Rodney D., it’s Detroit Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood.

Ozzie is close to winning his third Stanley Cup as a starter (he was also on a winner as the No. 2 to Mike Vernon). He’s also been to the finals one other time, been a Vezina Trophy runner-up and won the Jennings Trophy twice. He was the second goalie ever to score a goal (following Ron Hextall), was the No. 1 goalie (statistically) in the NHL in the 1995-96 season, is 10th in the NHL in career wins and the winningest goaltender in Red Wings history. He’s been an all-star, won Stanley Cups in two decades and is on the verge of going back-to-back.

And yet, you ask anybody in the mainstream media and he/she will tell you: “Detroit’s only problem is goaltending.”

Hogwash.

I can’t tell you how sick I am of hearing our TV experts talk of Tim Thomas this or Roberto Luongo that or Cam Ward… whatever. The best goalie in the playoffs last year was Chris Osgood and clearly the best goalie this year is Chris Osgood.

At 37, he’s never been better. Right now he leads the playoffs in wins with 11, is second in goals against average at 2.14 and fourth in save percentage at .921. He’s 11-4 in the post-season, has an assist and a shutout.

He’s often hung out to dry by his always-attacking teammates and yet he’s made some magnificent saves in this year’s post-season. He’s been tremendous.

At this stage, I don’t want to argue with the experts who believe Crosby is a shoo-in to take the Conn Smythe. But there is still a lot of hockey left.

And right now, the best goalie in the playoffs has not been Jonas Hiller, Cam Ward or Tim Thomas. It’s been Chris Osgood.

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Hawks take it to lethargic Flames

Posted on April 25, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Sitting in front of the 46-incher watching the Chicago Blackhawks drill the Calgary Flames, I can’t help but think that the Flames forgot how to win.

On one hand, it’s no surprise that the Hawks are winning at home. After all, they win a lot of games in front of those crazy fans at the United Centre. On the other hand, it’s hard to believe that after slipping past Calgary  3-2 and 3-2 in the first two games of the series (games that could have gone either way), the Hawks have come back home and made a joke of Game 5. At least, after two periods.

It’s already 5-1 and the Hawks have owned this game from the opening faceoff. And they’ve owned it because the Flames have let them have it. After two hard-hitting, attack-attack-attack games in Calgary, the Flames started out on their heels in this one and then just went ahead and dug themselves a hole.

The Flames played with emotion in Games 3 and 4 at the Saddledome and dominated both nights. Now, two days after winning 6-4 on Wednesday (after winning 4-2 on Monday), the Flames have backed away from their hard-hitting, hard-checking attack and allowed the Hawks to, once again, take the game to them.

That strategy doesn’t work against a young team with as much skill as Chicago. Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Patrick Kane, Brian Campbell, Cam Barker, Kris Versteeg, Martin Havlat et al, just eat up the wide-open, no-hit style the Flames have thrown at the Hawks (Saturday) tonight.

Now, granted, I know that the intensity with which the Flames played on Monday and Wednesday, is almost impossible to maintain. It’s extremely difficult to bang and crash like that every, single shift, every single night. Especially, when a number of your bigger players are nicked up.

But that’s the only way Calgary will beat Chicago. If they don’t go back to that style on Monday, they’ll lose the series.

Tee time anyone?

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Toews Shows How Good He Is.

Posted on April 17, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

I have to admit, I was thrilled watching Winnipeg’s own Jonathan Toews and Cam Barker play so well against the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.

 

Toews dominated the ice on almost every shift and Barker showed that he’s a force on defence, perhaps even a future all-star.

 

Both players were appearing in their first Stanley Cup playoff games against a very good — and an extremely gritty — Calgary Flames team that quite honestly played an almost perfect road playoff game on Thursday night.

 

In the end, Toews played more than 17 minutes, had an assist and was a plus-one in a 3-2 Chicago win in overtime. In fact, it was Toews who set up Barker’s first-period goal. Barker, by the way, had a goal AND an assist and was also a plus-one.

 

In fact, the NHL’s own panel of experts selected a Barker shift midway through the third period as the game’s “best shift of the night.” The Hawks’ No. 1 draft pick in 2004, did have a terrific shift midway through the final period when he freed himself up for two great scoring chances.

 

Still, as outstanding as Barker was on Thursday, Toews was even better.

 

And frankly, it made me laugh. After reading all these so-called media experts — the ones who claim to know more than the coaches — continue to leave Toews off their personal selections for Canada’s 2010 Olympic team, I have to wonder how some of these clowns get credentials for the games.

 

If the Canadian team doesn’t have a leader like the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Jonathan Toews anchoring its third line, it will fail to win gold again. On Thursday, he not only had an assist and was plus-one, but he had three hits and won 10 of 14 faceoffs. He is one of the best players in the world and he shouldn’t have to prove it anymore.

 

It’s amazing to think the young man is not yet 21. 

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The Stanley Cup Playoffs are Here: It’s prediction time.

Posted on April 12, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Minnesota Wild assistant general manager Tom Thompson has a theory about the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

It comes true most years, but somehow, this looks like a year in which it might come to pass in spades (although I don’t believe it). 

 

“The first round of the playoffs is always the most compelling round because you generally have two types of teams,” explained Thompson. 

 

“You have the teams that were successful all year and feel that if they don’t get to the final or win the Cup, their season was a failure. Then you have the teams that snuck into the playoffs and have nothing to lose. The top teams are often tight while the lesser teams have already done what they set out to do and by the opening round of the playoffs are as loose as can be. 

 

“That’s why there are so many great series and so many big upsets in the first round.”

 

He’s right, of course. The first round of the playoffs is always the most exciting. So without further adieu, let’s look at the 16 teams and eight matchups for the 2009 series which have already begun.

 

THE EASTERN CONFERENCE

 

No. 1 Boston Bruins (53-19-10) vs. No. 8 Montreal Canadiens (41-30-11).

The Habs and Bruins go at it again, a repeat of last year’s first round, in which the Canadiens outlasted Boston four games to three. But this year, things are different. Boston was the best team in the East and the second best team in the NHL and they are on a roll. It’s a team that allowed the fewest number of goals in the league (196) and has a wide-open offence to go with a stingy defence. The Habs were very fortunate to make the playoffs (they finished with the same number of points as Florida) and in six meetings this season, Boston won five of them, two in shootouts. Bruins in five.

 

No. 2 Washington Capitals (50-24-8) vs. No. 7 New York Rangers (43-30-9).

Second-place Washington with all that firepower – Alex Ovechkin and Mike Green are a good start — will face the seventh-place Rangers. The Caps have been very good this season and won the Southeast Division by 11 points over Carolina. They also won three of their four meetings with the Rangers. Capitals in five.

 

No. 3 New Jersey Devils (51-27-4) vs. No. 6 Carolina Hurricanes (45-30-7).

New Jersey, which won the Atlantic Division, will play sixth-place Carolina after beating the Hurricanes in the season finale last week. However, Carolina won its first three meetings with the Devils this season and played much better hockey down the stretch than New Jersey. Hurricanes in seven.

 

No. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins (45-28-9) vs. No. 5 Philadelphia Flyers (44-27-11).

Pittsburgh won four of the six meetings between the two teams this season, one in overtime and another in a shootout. However, all Philadelp[hia had to do to earn home ice advantage throughout this series was to win the final game of the season at home against the Rangers and they couldn’t pull it off. Pittsburgh has too much offence and is just playing better hockey at this time. Penguins in six.

 

THE WESTERN CONFERENCE

 

No. 1 San Jose Sharks (53-18-11) vs. No. 8 Anaheim Ducks (42-33-7).

Although it’s No. 1 vs. No. 8, this is a matchup that features two of the most successful teams in the NHL since the lockout. Since the start of the 2005-06 season, the Ducks have gone 180-107-41 with four playoff appearances while the Sharks have posted a 197-94-37 mark with three consecutive 100+ point seasons, four playoff appearances and two Pacific Division titles (2008 & 2009). However, the Sharks were the President’s Trophy winners as the best team in the NHL during the regular season while Randy Carlyle’s Ducks were fortunate to make the playoffs. The Sharks also won the season series, 4-2. Sharks in five.

No. 2 Detroit Red Wings (51-21-10) vs. No. 7 Columbus Blue Jackets (41-31-10).

A tale of two cities: The Red Wings are the defending Stanley Cup champions while the Blue Jackets are in the playoffs for the first time in their eight seasons of existence. During the regular season, the teams split. Detroit won the first two meetings, Columbus won the next three (including an 8-2 win at Detroit on March 7) and Detroit geat the Jackets 4-0 in a statement game on March 17. I like Ken Hitchcock as a head coach, but Detroit has way too much of everything. Red Wings in five.

 

No. 3 Vancouver Canucks (45-27-10) vs. No. 6 St. Louis Blues (41-31-10).

The remarkable, red-hot Blues clinched the No. 6 seed in the final game of the year and put a cap on an amazing finish. From Feb. 15 to the end of the season, head coach Andy Murray’s Blues went 18-6-3. It was significant because on Feb. 15, the Blues were dead last in the West. This team finished the regular season by going 9-1-1 over its last 11 games and 5-1-1 on the road. Had the Blues lost their final game, they would have finished eighth — which would have meant a series with the top-seeded San Jose Sharks. Instead, they finished with the best second-half record in the League at 25-9-7. However, they have only four players who have ever won a playoff game. Vancouver, meanwhile, came back to claim the Northwest Division title by winning their last three games and going 6-3-1 down the stretch behind the tremendous goaltending of Roberto Luongo. This will be a match-up of two of the hottest teams in the game and two red-hot goalies – Luongo and Chris Mason.. Canucks in seven.

 

No. 4 Chicago Blackhawks (46-24-12) vs. No. 5 Calgary Flames (46-30-6). 

This series screams “Blackhawks!” Chicago swept the four-game season series with the Flames, winning 6-1 and 5-2 at the United Center and 3-2 in overtime and 5-2 at the Saddledome. Add it up. Chicago has more firepower and probably equal goaltending (Huet/Khabibulin vs. Kiprusoff). Chicago oputscored Calgary 19-7 during its four wins and really, the Hawks dominated the season. In fairness to Calgary, the two teams haven’t faced each other since the Hawks’ second win at Calgary on Feb. 5, but still, Hawks in six. 

 

* * *

 

THE 2008-09 NHL TROPHY WINNERS

 

Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin captured his first career Art Ross Trophy as the League’s leading scorer with 113 points while Washington Capitals leftwinger Alexander Ovechkin won his second consecutive Maurice Richard Trophy for being the League’s top goal scorer with 56. 

 

Meanwhile, Boston Bruins goaltenders Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez earned the William Jennings Trophy as the goaltenders on the club that allowed the fewest number of goals — 196.

 

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