Tag Archives: Chicago Blackhawks

The Week That Was…

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

It’s been a crazier week than normal in the World of Sports. It’s time to weigh in on the seemingly non-stop lunacy:

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Tim Thomas

1) Tim Thomas didn’t join his team when the Boston Bruins were honored at the White House this past week.

The guy is free to do what he pleases but it cannot be argued that he put his political views ahead of his teammates.

In the meantime, I don’t need to say anything about Tim Thomas. I’ll leave that to American goaltender Cory Schneider, a one-time popular member of the old Manitoba Moose:

“I have no problem with his personal beliefs, but [Thomas] can suck it up for an hour, say, ‘hi,’ and be with the team, and avoid all of this,” Schneider told The Vancouver Province.

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Cory Schneider

Schneider, who hails from Marblehead, Mass., and played collegiately at Boston College told The Province that he believes Thomas “should be more appreciative of the opportunities he’s been given by playing in the United States.”

“Respect the [presidency],” Schneider said. “He plays for Team USA and he has no problem making millions of dollars in the USA, but he can’t go say ‘hi’ to the President? You get a lot of benefits living in the U.S. and he should have a little bit of respect for that.

“It’s about putting your own agenda aside to do something with the team whether you like the guy or not.” 

2) I guess you can call it “The NHL All-Star Game” if you want to, but here in Winnipeg, anyone who watches it will probably be watching it on a dare. With not one single Winnipeg Jets player in the game to go with the fact Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Nick Lidstrom, Jonathan Toews, Teemu Selanne, Ilya Kovalchuk, Brad Richards, Loui Eriksson, Patrik Elias, Marty St. Louis, Nicklas Backstrom, Vinny Lecavalier, Bobby Ryan and Anze Kopitar were either not chosen or are just not participating (for whatever reason), this is an “All-Star Game” in name only.

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Nick Lidstrom: All-Stars? Anyone?

When you’ve reached the point that one-hit wonders like Jamie Benn, Jason Pominville, Alexander Edler(?), Dion Phaneuf (gawd, the voting is stupid), Logan Couture and Dan Girardi are all-stars and there is not ONE Winnipeg Jet, this game is a misnomer. The fact it will be a no-hit 14-12 afternoon of pond hockey doesn’t even matter anymore. If there aren’t all-stars or a player in the game from every team, what’s the point?

Oh, I know, all it is is an excuse for NHL executives to have a party. I get that. Still…

Here in Winnipeg, people just can’t understand the NHL’s stupidity: Or, if nothing else, the NHL’s inability to grasp a feel-good story.

When it comes to the Jets, the NHL dropped the ball on this one. Frankly, the Jets should have had a whole line at the all-star game in Ottawa. The Return of the Jets to Canada was the feel-good sports story of the year in this country and if the NHL wanted to milk a feel-good story, it should have had a few Jets for the international media to talk to at the mid-winter classic.

Now they can just talk to real all-stars like Alex Ovechkin, Teemu Selanne, Jonathan Toews, Ilya Kovalchuk and Sidney Crosby. Oh yeah, they aren’t there either.

Like always, the NHL missed a great PR opportunity because as happens far too often, the NHL still doesn’t know a really good story when one steps on its throat.

In the meantime, the NHL has another problem, a credibility problem. Regardless of how they want to spin it, the NHL would have a better “all-star” game if, say, somebody invited those players who chose NOT to go to Ottawa, to appear for big money in Vegas or New York or L.A. on the weekend. Now that would have been a game.

Meanwhile, other than a nice excuse to have a small mid-season convention in a member city, the 2012 “No-Star Game,” is a sad joke.

And here is what makes it truly sad: The ONLY thing the media has talked about for two days is which player would be selected last when the teams are picked. That’s it. That’s all they got.

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Arizona's Platinum Uniforms

3) Nike, which did wonders with the University of Oregon Ducks uniform this year (Man, I loved those Rose Bowl helmets), has now turned its attention to college basketball.

These unis are called “Hyper Elite Platinum,” and they will be worn by Connecticut, Kentucky, Duke, Florida, Syracuse, Arizona and NorthCarolina. They’re different and kind of fun and they’ll look pretty decent on national TV.

Here is the schedule for when these uniforms will be worn:  UConn vs. Notre Dame (1/29), Kentucky vs. Tennessee (1/31), Duke vs. Maryland (2/11), Florida vs. Tennessee (2/11), Syracuse vs. USF (2/22), Arizona vs. UCLA (2/25) and UNC vs. Maryland (2/29).

I like them. Once.

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Our NHL All-Star Break Award Winners

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment
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Alex Ovechkin

It could be argued that Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin are the two most talented players in all of hockey.

But of course, Crosby has been out for almost an entire year with a concussion and Ovechkin, although he’s trying to change his game, hasn’t quite come to grips with his coaches’ demand for a more defensive approach to the sport.

As a result, for different reasons, hockey’s two greatest talents have been missing.

For fans and fantasy players, that’s not great news. For other players, however, it’s an opportunity to step up, score some goals, become leaders and make a name. One man’s disappointment is always another man’s opportunity.

As a result, a whole collection of new, young stars has risen to the top in the National Hockey League this season. Names that might not have been well known a year or two ago are now getting the respect that their coaches, teammates and a whole lot of scouts believed they always deserved or, at least, would earn.

nhlasg2012logo Our NHL All Star Break Award WinnersWe’re now just a week away from the NHL’s Mid-Winter Classic, the All-Star Game in Ottawa. At that game, you will no doubt be introduced to a number of young players who could, one day, take up the mantle that has been left virtually untouched since Crosby’s injury.

You will no doubt also recall some old names that have been stars in this league and are clearly stars once again. The one thing that this year’s all-star game will bring clearly to mind is the names of the players who should be honored at the end of the 2011-12 season.

In order to set you up for the big game in Ottawa, here’s a look at the players who should be honored at the mythical midway point of the campaign. These are our seven major award winners for the opening half.

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Evgeni Malkin

The Hart Trophy, Most Valuable Player: Our winner is Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins and our runners up are Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers and Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers. nhl.com gave us a pretty clear outline of what Malkin has done in order to almost single-handedly keep the banged-up Penguins in the heart of the Stanley Cup playoff race:

“Since Crosby exited the lineup on Dec. 5, the Penguins have limped to a 9-9-0 record in his absence. If not for the heroics of Malkin things could be a whole lot worse. In those 18 games without Crosby — and not to mention Kris Letang one of the NHL’s best offensive defenseman who returned to the lineup after a two-month absence on Thursday — Malkin has 15 goals and 15 assists. He has factored in 30 of the Penguins’ 53 goals during that time (56.6 percent) and has been on the ice for a whopping 34 (69.8 percent) goals during that stretch.”

Malkin has also taken over as the NHL’s scoring leader (54 points) and he’s kept the Penguins within the Top 6 in the Eastern Conference.

Our runners-up are Giroux who is more responsible than anyone in that Flyers lineup for keeping Philly in the Top 5 in the East and Lundqvist, because the Rangers have 62 points and are first in the East for only one reason: goaltending. 

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Henrik Lundqvist

The Vezina Trophy, the Best Goaltender: Well, if he’s almost the MVP, Henrik Lundqvist is certainly the best goalie. The runners-up are Jonathan Quick and Jimmy Howard.

Lundqvist has played 34 games and has a 1.93 goals against average to go with his .936 save percentage. He’s 20-10-4 and has saved the first-place Rangers on more than one occasion.

Howard has played 39 games and is 28-10-1 with a 1.98 goals against average and .926 save percentage while Quick is 20-11-9 with a 1.92 GAA and a save percentage of .934. Frankly, if the Rangers aren’t first in the East and Lundqvist doesn’t make so many game-saving stops, I’d look at Quick as the best goalie in the game this year.

Of course, there is also that two-headed monster in Boston. Tuukka Rask is 11-4-1 in 16 games with a 1.61 GAA and a .946 save percentage while Tim Thomas is 19-9-0 in 30 games with a 2.02 GAA and a .936 save percentage. Turn those two guys into one and you have the best goalie in the world.

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Adam Larsson

The Calder Trophy, Rookie of the Year: There are three players I love for this award at the midway point of the year. Edmonton’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins leads all rookie scorers with 13 goals and 22 assists. Adam Henrique in New Jersey is next with 13 goals and 21 assists. And then there is New Jersey’s Adam Larsson, a big, powerful defenseman who is logging 22-25 minutes a game.

If I had to vote today, Larsson would get my vote. It’s tough enough to learn to become a regular defenseman in the NHL. Larsson, the No. 4 pick overall last spring, has not only learned, he’s instantly become one of the best rearguards on a defensive minded team. In fact, he’s the No. 1 defenseman in the Devils lineup right now.

At 6-foot-3, 210-pounds he has all the tools to play the position but the fact he can skate, hit and clear the front of his own net, makes him, potentially, one of the great players of the future in the NHL today.

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Zdeno Chara

The Norris Trophy, Best Defenseman: We still love Nick Lidstrom and always will, but this year, Zdeno Chara, all-star captain and leader of the Boston Bruins, has been remarkable. He won his first Norris Trophy in 2008-09, and has been the Bruins rock ever since. He is currently on a pace to set career highs in assists, total points, and plus/minus, all while being the most imposing force on defense in the game – anywhere on the planet.

Our runners up are Nick Lidstrom (of course) of the Detroit Red Wings, and Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators for reasons that are obvious.

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David Backes

The Selke Trophy, Best Defensive Player: There is only one choice for the Selke this year and while Ryan Kesler, Pavel Datsyuk, Jonathan Toews and Patrice Bergeron will get a load of support from the media voters, there is only one guy who passes the best defensive forward test at every level.

Centre David Backes of the St. Louis Blues covers the opposition’s best line on every shift. He starts most shifts as the centre in his own end and wins most of his faceoffs – and almost all the important ones. In fact, Blues coach Ken Hitchcock sends Backes out on to the ice 63 per cent of the time when his team has to start with a faceoff in its own end.

Backes also leads his team in scoring with 14 goals and 19 assists, is a plus-13 and is the leader on the power-play AND the penalty-kill. He’s also a leader on a team that is a remarkable 28-12-6 this season. He was snubbed by those selecting the players to attend this year’s all-star game and he’s been snubbed by the media mob that wants to give Toews an award, but won’t give him the Hart Trophy. Still, quite clearly David Backes is the best defensive forward in the game.

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Teemu

The Lady Byng Trophy, Most Gentlemanly Player: I don’t even have a runner-up for the Lady Byng. There is only one player who is even in the mix: Teemu Selanne.

The fact that he plays the game with passion, is the 15th leading scorer at age 41, seldom gets a dirty penalty, is beloved throughout the league and is such a class act at every possible level that there is no greater gentleman in all of hockey, makes this award a no-brainer. In fact, he should get it as a lifetime achievement award for being both a great player and a great human being.

I frankly, don’t care about anyone else. As one of my colleagues, Jonathan Willis, recently wrote: “This award really should go to a guy like Selanne, who has shown over a long career that he’s a superb player and someone who has exhibited exceptional sportsmanship throughout his career.”

Can I get an Amen?

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Paul MacLean

The Jack Adams Trophy, Coach of the Year: Absolutely no doubt about it, Paul MacLean of the Ottawa Senators is the coach of the year. Our runners-up would include Ken Hitchcock of the St. Louis Blues and Mike Babcock of the Detroit Red Wings.

MacLean, the former Winnipeg Jets rightwinger has the Senators in fourth place in the East with a record of 27-16-6. A man who learned his coaching philosophy as a player and as an assistant to the very accomplished Babcock in Detroit, MacLean has taken an Ottawa team that was 32-40-10 (13th in the East) last season and nearly equaled that win mark by the all-star break.

There is no doubt that MacLean’s efforts have taken a team that was expected to miss the playoff this year and turned it into a team that is now three points out of first place in the entire NHL.

Babcock has Detroit in first overall with 63 points and what makes him great is his ability to handle some huge egos and make the gifted Red Wings play as a team. Meanwhile, Hitchcock replaced Davis Payne early in the season and in a very short time coaxed the Blues into fourth in the West.

By the way, I have no problem with those people who promote the efforts of Alain Vigneault in Vancouver, Barry Trotz in Nashville and John Tortorella with the Rangers. They’ve all done great work.

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Barresi’s Firing and Other Observations

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

It didn’t take long for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to find someone to blame for their 34-23 loss in the 2011 Grey Cup game.

Barresis Firing and Other Observations

Jamie Barresi

It seems as if only moments after Bombers GM Joe Mack came back from Vancouver and railed about his offense, he fired offensive coordinator Jamie Barresi.

To be fair, it was a move that most Bomber fans expected. After all, while the Bombers defense was, for most of the season, quite worthy of its self-imposed nickname/state-of-being “Swaggerville,” the offense should have been called “Anemia City.” It was short blood, guts and, in the end, glory.

And when the team arrived back in Winnipeg, Mack made it clear that the offense would change (sure he was cryptic, but what else could the following comments have meant?)

“And there will be probably some changes made because they have to be made to get where we need to go,” Mack said. “I’m aware of what I want to do in that regard, and hopefully we’ll be able to execute that in the off-season.

“But we will never be complacent as long as I’m here. We’re always going to be on the razor’s edge trying to get better, because if not you’re going backwards.”

I remember when Doug Brown said that a couple of years ago. It was after another off-season in which the Bombers did little or nothing, just like the most recent off-season. Now in their favor in 2011, some good young defensive players improved dramatically and Winnipeg won, what turned out to be, and extremely weak CFL East — the Montreal defense was brutal, Kevin Glenn was 8-10 and the Argos were an embarrassment to the league (even though they beat the Bombers twice).

Now I won’t criticize the firing of Barresi. Mack was NOT going to fire Paul LaPolice who turned a 4-14 team into a 10-8 team and got to the Grey Cup by beating a horrid Hamilton team (that had beaten a horrid Montreal defense in the Eastern semi) in the Eastern final. But even when Winnipeg won the Eastern final, they only put up 19 points at home. The offense was bad this year and it wasn’t bad because Buck Pierce was occasionally out of the lineup.

It was bad because the offensive line, which was eaten alive in the Grey Cup game, wasn’t very good and because the play-calling was often vomit-inducing. How do you come off a 190-yard rushing game by Chris Garrett in the Eastern final and then don’t even try to establish a running game in the Grey Cup? Anyone with a brain knew somebody was going to get fired for that — al by itself.

It will be interesting to see what Mack does this winter because, as he says himself: “We’re always going to be on the razor’s edge trying to get better.”

Bet that hurts.

Here are a couple of questions I had this week…

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Browns-Bengals

1. Is the NFL fixed?

Watching the Cleveland-Cincinnati game on Sunday and the officials made a half-a-dozen questionable calls in favor of the Bengals. The game didn’t matter, except for the players’ pride and their jobs, but it still looked fishy.

I know, I get all obsessive about officiating, but goodness, gracious, it’s awful. Don’t these sports have rules? Did you watch the Grey Cup? Brutal. They can’t even get replay right.

Just sayin’.

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Victoria's Secret Ad

2. Why hasn’t in-store advertising kept up with our multi-racial community?

My wife’s a mall-walker and I joined her on Sunday. Didn’t realize ‘till that moment how hard she walks and for how long. Heck of a workout.

Anyway, mall walking for more than an hour can get boring so we both started counting those big advertising pictures in department, clothing, make-up, shoe and accessory stores. There are hundreds of them in the windows of high-end mall shops and there was one aspect of them that was unmistakable.

The women in the photos are almost all Caucasian. In fact, there was one Asian model in a photo in the window of an accessory store, but every other female model was white.

We counted four African-American men  and three Asian men, but there were dozens of female models and all but one of them was white.

Just an observation, but considering there were as many Asian mall-walkers as there were Caucasian mall walkers and that many of the stores’ employees are First Nation, Asian or African-American (or would Caribbean-Canadian be more appropriate?)  it just seems reasonable to think that the advertising community might want to take notice.

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Dustin Byfuglien

3. Why is Dustin Byfuglien a defenseman?

OK, OK, I know why. It’s because Craig Ramsay, the coach in Atlanta, decided last year that he was going to move Byfuglien from a forward position (where he helped Chicago win the 2009 Stanley Cup) back to defense because he was big, tough, skilled, fast and Ramsay wanted him on the ice 25 minutes a game. And what the hell? If it’s good enough for the guy True North wouldn’t keep on as head coach, it’s gotta be good enough for the guy they hired.

But that still doesn’t make it a good idea.

Tuesday night, Byfuglien had 12 shots on goal, the most in a single game by an NHL defenseman since Sergei Gonchar — another guy no one would call a pillar of defensive hockey — took 12 shots in a game in 2006. He also played 25 minutes and 53 seconds and, of course, Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff wants him to be on the at least 25 minutes a game.

But he was also a minus-one despite dishing out an assist and while he has five goals and 12 assists so far this season — sixth among NHL defensemen in scoring — he’s also a minus-10, the worst plus-minus in the league for the top 29 scorers among defensemen in the NHL (Anaheim’s shaky, young Cam Fowler, No. 30 in scoring, is minus-13).

Dustin Byfuglien turns over the puck too often and makes too many mistakes in the neutral and attacking zones, simply because he’s more interested in scoring than stopping the opposition from scoring and, to be fair, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. For a forward.

And at 6-foot-5, 265 pounds, Dustin Byfuglien would make a GREAT forward.

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The NHL’s New Breed

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

It’s September and amazingly, that means a brand new NHL  season is right around the corner. In fact, the Winnipeg Jets will officially open their first “new” training camp in the ‘Peg on Sept. 17.

The new-look Jets will be a very young team, at least at its core. On the current Jets’ NHL/AHL roster, the Jets have 23 players born after Jan. 1, 1986. That means the Jets will be young at both the NHL and AHL levels.

The team’s young star is probably Evander Kane, a 20-year-old who had a nice year in 2010-11 and is expected to have a huge year in 2011-12. In fact, the NHL is loaded with young stars who are simply going to get better.

As examples, Matt Duchene was outstanding in 2010-11; Brandon Dubinsky was hard-nosed and solid around the net throughout the season; and Claude Giroux was about as steady as a player could be.

The reason I mention Duchene, E. Kane, Dubinsky and Giroux (I could also mention Nicklas Backstrom, James Neal and Logan Couture), is because no one spent the past NHL season mentioning them much at all.

Let’s be brutally honest, hockey pundits (at least, the ones who aren’t going on relentlessly about the Toronto Maple Leafs), fans and fantasy players, spend most of their time focused on the game’s big names: Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos, Patrick Kane, Brad Richards, Jonathan Toews, Alex Ovechkin, Marty St. Louis, the Sedin Twins, Jarome Iginla, Dany Heatley etc., etc.

And while Crosby, 23, Stamkos, 20, Patrick Kane, 22, and Toews, 22, are among hockey’s great young players, they are simply the leaders of a new group poised to take over the game.

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Rookie of the Year Jeff Skinner

These are the young guns, the players, born in 1986 or later, who play tough, gritty hockey every night, score some goals, make plays and generally show up on the scoresheet without getting a whole lot of recognition outside of their own markets. In fact, until he won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year this past spring, even Carolina’s Jeff Skinner was not a household name in most of his relatives’ households. Now, he’s as big a star as there is in the game and a player expected to do great things for many years to come.

With the start of training camp a little more than two weeks away, let’s take a minute to honor those players, the members of hockey’s new breed and the guys that fantasy players don’t spend a lot of time talking about, but couldn’t win a pool without.

And here’s a guarantee: By the start of the 2012-13 season, these will be the players that fantasy winners will all be selecting, every season, with their top draft picks.

For the sake of simplicity, we’ll leave Crosby, Stamkos, Patrick Kane, Toews and Skinner to the masses. They already know about those guys anyway. However, for those hockey mavens who are playing in keeper pools this season, here’s a look at the next batch of big stars about to take their rightful places on the NHL marquee.

The NHL’s 10 “Next Great Stars.”

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Anaheim's Bobby Ryan

Bobby Ryan, Anaheim Ducks: He may have a spot on the marquee already. A 2010 U.S. Olympian, the 24-year-old Ryan was Anaheim’s first pick, second overall, in the 2005 NHL entry draft. This past year he had 34 goals and 37 assists (21st in points in the NHL) playing on a line with two great Canadian Olympians, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, and he’s emerged as one of the best players in the game. Last year, he had 35 goals and 29 assists and in 2008-09, he had 31 goals in only 64 games. At 6-foot-2, 210-pounds, he’s strong, skilled and not afraid to scrap. He’s another big time power forward who will be a major goal-scorer for another decade. And if he stays healthy, he will soon be considered one of hockey’s great players.

Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals: At 23, he’s one of those guys who has already arrived, but because he plays in the rather substantial shadow of Alex Ovechkin, he’s not as well known as he should be. From Gavle, Sweden, he was the fourth overall pick in 2006 and is clearly one of the game’s great players. This season, he had 18 goals and 47 assists and is 35th in scoring right behind Rick Nash, Mike Richards and Sidnet Crosby (albeit in 41 games). He plays on Ovie’s line most nights and occasionally he plays better than his more well-known colleague. Fast and with great hands, Backstrom had 101 points in 2009-10 and should finish with 80-90 this coming season.

Matt Duchene, Colorado Rockies: Duchene is only “obscure” because he plays in Denver and doesn’t get a lot of TV exposure in Canada. After all: Who was the No. 29 scorer in the National Hockey League last year? Yep, Matt Duchene. The third overall pick in the 2009 NHL entry draft has arrived on the scene and announced his presence with authority. As a rookie in 2009-10, Duchene had 24 goals and 31 assists. This past year, the 5-foot-11, 200-pounder from Haliburton, Ont., had 27 goals and 40 assists. Assuming that the NHL participates, when the 2014 Winter Olympics roll around, you have to figure 20-year-old Matt Duchene – who has played on Canada’s under-18 and World Junior Championship teams – will be a major player for Team Canada.

Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers: What a nice 23-year-old player. He finished the 2010-11 season as the No. 13 scorer in the NHL and helped make Jeff carter and Mike Richards expendable in Philly. Just like Duchene, he’s a former World Junior Championship player for Canada (2007-08) and a former first round draft pick (22nd overall in 2006). In 2009-10, he had 16 goals and 31 assists in all 82 games. This past year, the durable Giroux scored 25 goals and had 51 assists and played in all 82 games.

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L.A.'s Anze Kopitar

Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings: He’s only 24, but he’s been in the NHL since 2006-07. The greatest player in the history of Slovenian hockey, Kopitar was the Kings’ first draft pick (11th overall) in 2005. This past year, he had 25 goals and 48 assists after finishing the 2009-10 season with 34 goals and 47 assists. He’s already had a solid career, but this 6-foot-3, 230-pound power-forward-with-skill is slowly, but surely becoming one of the game’s great players. He was 20th in scoring this past season (in only 75 games) when he tore up his ankle and had surgery. However, with plenty of time to heal and with the off-season improvement of the Kings, he should put up even bigger numbers next year.

Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks: Another former first-round pick (ninth overall in 2007), Couture is 22 and is also another former under-18 Team Canada member. This past season he scored 32 goals (14th overall) and dished out 24 assists The 6-foot-1, 195 pounder from Guelph is going to be one of the game’s next great players. He was a finalist for the 2011 Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year and he just signed a $5.75 million deal that will keep him out of the restricted free agent market next July.

Brandon Dubinsky, New York Rangers: Dubinsky, who has played in two World Championships for the United States, is a 25-year-old from Alaska who was a second-round pick in 2004. He is a fearless player who has never been a big scorer, but this past year he started to pit up some impressive numbers. He finished 73rd in scoring with 24 goals and 30 assists in 77 games. In 2008-09, he had 13 goals, 41 points and 112 penalty minutes and proved he is not afraid to scrap. As an example, last December against the Caps, Dubinsky had a goal and an assist and dropped Alex Ovechkin in a fight early in the game to complete his Gordie Howe hat trick. For a guy who had never scored more than 20 goals in a season (2009-10), he had a tremendous 2010-11 and was rewarded with a big new contract.

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Winnipeg's Evander Kane

Evander Kane, Winnipeg Jets: The “other” Kane. Another former first round pick, Kane matched his 2009-10 offensive numbers in just 37 games this past season. This is a kid who has already played in the World Junior and the World Senior Championships for Team Canada and at 20, he’s starting to put up some impressive numbers. He had 19 goals and 24 assists last year in Atlanta and at 6-foot-2, 200-pounds, this youngster from Vancouver will soon be a high pick in every fantasy league. In fact, there are some pundits who think Kane is capable of reaching 30 goals and 60 points this season.

James Neal, Pittsburgh Penguins: A guy who played five games for the Manitoba Moose in 2008-09, Neal has exploded into one of the top power forwards in the game. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound leftwinger from Whitby, Ont., had 22 goals and 23 assists in 2010-11. A 24-year-old who was Dallas’s second pick (33rd overall) in 2005 – Matt Niskanen was the Stars’ first pick – Neal had 27 goals and 28 assists in 2010-11 and it obviously wasn’t a fluke.

Milan Lucic, Boston Bruins: The classic power-forward at 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, the big 23-year-old from Vancouver first earned a full-time job with the Bruins in 2006-07, but had never played what could be called a full season in the NHL until 2010-11. This past year he had 30 goals and 32 assists and led the Bruins to the Stanley Cup. He’s also a guy who will put up 80-100 minutes in penalties. He’s going to be a big-time player for a long time to come and if the Bruins expect to challenge for back-to-back Cups, it will be Milan Lucic leading the way.

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Our Picks for the NHL Awards

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Tonight in Las Vegas the National Hockey League will holds its annual awards show.

Here’s a look at the nominees and our choices as the most deserving winners:

Hart Trophy (Most Valuable Player)

Nominees: Corey Perry (Anaheim), Daniel Sedin (Vancouver) and Martin St. Louis (Tampa Bay).

Who we think should win: Daniel Sedin.

Vezina Trophy (outstanding goaltender)

Nominees: Roberto Luongo (Vancouver), Pekka Rinne (Nashville) and Tim Thomas (Boston).

Who should win: Tim Thomas.

Norris Trophy (outstanding all-around defenceman)

Nominees: Zdeno Chara (Boston), Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit) and Shea Weber (Nashville).

Who should win: Zdeno Chara.

Calder Trophy (outstanding rookie)

Nominees: Logan Couture (San Jose), Michael Grabner (N.Y. Islanders) and Jeff Skinner (Carolina).

Who should win: Jeff Skinner.

Jack Adams (outstanding coach)

Nominees: Dan Bylsma (Pittsburgh), Barry Trotz (Nashville) and Alain Vigneault (Vancouver).

Who should win: Barry Trotz.

Selke Trophy (top defensive forward)

Nominees: Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit), Ryan Kesler (Vancouver) and Jonathan Toews (Chicago).

Who should win: Jonathan Toews.

Lady Byng (most gentlemanly player)

Nominees: Loui Eriksson (Dallas), Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit) and Martin St. Louis (Tampa Bay).

Who should win: Nicklas Lidstrom.

Ted Lindsay Award (outstanding player as voted by his peers)

Nominees: Corey Perry (Anaheim), Daniel Sedin (Vancouver) and Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay).

Who should win: Sedin.

 

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Another Week of Craziness and Nothing Could Be More Fun.

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

So with all the buzz surrounding the new National Hockey League franchise in Winnipeg, the people who brought the team to town, True North Sports and Entertainment, had to deny a story that the team was going to be called the Winnipeg WhiteOuts.

Oh well, it’s not that big a surprise, I suppose. In the past week, I’ve heard rumours of Jets, Moose, Polar Bears and Falcons from the list of “OK, that makes some sense,” to Golden Jets, Great Winnipeg Strike, Grey Owls and WhiteOuts from the list of “Wow man, are you on crack?”

By the draft on June 24, the new team will have a name and the draft will be its coming out party. Can hardly wait.

In the meantime, here’s a taste of what I’ve norticed over the past seven days.

1) Boy, some people are pissed that they didn’t get tickets to see Winnipeg’s new NHL franchise. Mostly, they’re pissed at True North for “allowing” all the ticket speculators to win the race to the seats. That is, in many ways, hogwash, but when you’re angry, you’ll say some interesting things.

The fact so many Winnipeggers — many of them prominent Winnipeggers — were shutout at the ticket wicket, proves two things: (1) As I suggested to my friend Steven Ratson two years ago, “If you want NHL tickets, the best thing you can do is buy Moose tickets.” Got a note from Steven the other day thanking me for the suggestion. He’s fired up about his new NHL seats. For him, it was a piece of cake. (2) If you didn’t have Moose tickets then you needed to set up a computer system that was faster than the American ticket-speculators’ computer systems and good luck with that in Manitoba.

2) Great first day of Bomber training camp. The fact that nearly 4,000 people showed up and many of them cheered good plays says a lot about Bomber fans in Manitoba.

They love their team and they desperately want the Big Blue to be a success. Frankly, if Buck Pierce stays healthy, they can be a success.

It’s interesting, but Buck won’t talk about all his injuries anymore. Good for him. Keep talking about bad things happening and bad things will happen.

3) The Toronto Raptors have decided not to offer another contract to head coach Jay Triano. He will stay with the team in a front office role.

It’s good news all around. Triano is a nice man and great ambassador for Canadian basketball. A class act in so many ways. The Raptors front office is a terrific place for him to work. Good for the Raptors.

However, I saw him coach at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and he was just dreadful. Nobody handled personnel worse (his refusal to play Todd MacCulloch for more than two or three minutes at a time — and bench him for most of the second half — and his refusal to find some help for Steve Nash in the backcourt cost him a must win against France).

In Toronto, he looked lost. As a coach, Jay Triano makes a great ambassador for Canadian basketball.

4) Saw some complaints on Twitter about the new NHL franchise in Winnipeg offering the GM’s job to Chicago Blackhawks assistant GM Kevin Cheveldayoff. Seems a lot of fans don’t know the guy.

Give it a rest. He’ll be great. And because he has a terrific relationship with Craig Heisinger, the man who should be in charge of hockey operations with the new team, Cheveldayoff has been put in a position to be successful.

He’ll make a fine GM in Winnipeg.

5) There was more talk this week that Donovan McNabb could wind up in Minnesota if the NFL ever does get its labour dispute under control.

I said it last October, I’ll say it again, Donovan McNabb is perfect for Leslie Frazier and the Vikings. As soon as the Purple can make a deal for him, they should make that deal.

Unless, of course, ol’ Brett decides — after there is no chance he’d have to show up for training camp — that he’d like to play again. Then all bets are off.

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Great First Round of the Playoffs. Now it’s on to Round 2

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

There is only one Canadian team left in the Stanley Cup playoffs and let’s be honest, the Vancouver Canucks were lucky to move on.

Meanwhile, we had a pretty darn good record in Round 1, finishing 7-1 (our only miss was Nashville over the Ducks). With a game on Thursday night, it’s time to take a close look at Round 2:

2011 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS ROUND 2

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Series I: No. 5 Tampa Bay Lightning (Defeated Pittsburgh in Seven Games) at No. 1 Washington Capitals (Defeated NY Rangers in Five Games).

Season Series: Washington won 4-1-1

The Capitals looked awesome in taking out the Rangers in five games. Ovechkin is back, Semin scored a couple of big goals and the checking lines were great. Tampa can score, no doubt about it, but in their win over Pittsburgh, the Lightning had some very bright spots defensively. In fact, that 1-0 win on the road in Game 7 against the Pens was a tribute to both goaltender Dwayne Roloson and the defensive unit in front of him. I loved the way Tampa battled back and I’ve developed a great deal of respect for coach Guy Boucher, but I just think Washington is the best team in the East.

Key player; Dwayne Roloson, Tampa Bay Lightning.

Our pick: Washington in six.

Series J: No. 3 Boston Bruins (Defeated Montreal in Seven Games) at No. 2 Philadelphia Flyers (Defeated Buffalo in Seven Games).

Season Series: Boston won 3-0-1

It’s the same thing every year. If the Flyers get the goaltending they require, they will win and advance. If they don’t, well… Boston won the season series quite handily and beat a much better team to get to the second round. Boston has significantly better goaltending and Philly will go down for the same reason it goes down every year. If your goaltender isn’t your best player, you can always lose. Once again, Philadelphia is likely to lose.

Key player: Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins

Our pick: Boston in six.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Series K: No. 5 Nashville Predators (Defeated Anaheim in Six Games) at No. 1 Vancouver Canucks (Defeated Chicago in Seven Games)

Season Series: A split 2-2.

If you are a regular reader of fantrax.com, you know I’m a huge fan of Predators head coach Barry Trotz. On Monday I wrote that he should be the NHL’s coach of the year. However, I also think his hard-working Preds might need some divine help to get past the Canucks who just got a real scare from the Chicago Blackhawks – proving that defending champions do not go down easily. The Preds don’t score a lot, they don’t have a of bog name stars and they seldom look like a playoff worthy team at the start of the season, but this year’s Predators are as good a team as there is in the West. Trouble is, they get to face the best team in the NHL and one suspects the Sedin Twins will wake up this time.

Key player:  Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks

Our pick: Vancouver in five.

Series L: No. 3 Detroit Red Wings (Defeated Phoenix in Four Games) at No. 2 San Jose Sharks (Defeated Los Angeles in Six Games).

Season Series: Sharks won 3-1-0

This is a great matchup because in recent years both of these teams have been very good and yet both have choked in the playoffs. Detroit looked like a buzz saw, taking out a pretty good Coyotes team in four straight games. If Pavel Datsyuk is a as good as he was in Round 1 and the checking lines continue to dominate, the Wings could have an easy time. Henrik Zetterberg is also expected back for Round 2. The Sharks finally got past the first round and looked good doing it, although they did take out a banged-up Kings team that just wasn’t up to snuff offensively without leading scorer, Anze Kopitar. However, Joe Thornton looked good in Round 1 and that might bode well for the Sharks.

Key player: Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings.

Our pick: Red Wings in six.

 

 

 

 

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Nobody Better Than the Canucks

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

It’s one of those accomplishments worth shouting from the rooftops.

This past week, the Vancouver Canucks reached the 50-win plateau for the first time in their 40-year history. In the meantime, the Canucks backup goalie, Cory Schneider made 39 saves to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 to improve to 15-3-2 on the season as the Canucks extended their road winning streak to eight games. That winning streak reached nine with a 3-1 victory over Nashville and then, last night, back home at Rogers Centre, the Canucks beat L.A. 3-1 to win their fifth straight game and reach 113 points (52-18-9), the most in franchise history.

They also wrapped up the President’s Trophy.

The Canucks are the first Canadian-based team to win the Western Conference title since the current playoff format started. They have home ice advantage throughout the playoffs, but it doesn’t look like that matters. After all, wiuth that win in Nashville, this is a team that has won nine straight on the road.

It’s been awhile since we’ve been able to call a Canadian-based team the best in the NHL, but you can’t help but do it now.

Meanwhile, it is now, officially, the final week of the regular season in the National Hockey League and only half the teams in the playoff hunt have been decided.

Five teams in the East have punched their tickets: Philadelphia, Washington, Boston, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay and three in the West: Vancouver, Detroit and San Jose.

In the East, Montreal, Buffalo, the Rangers, Carolina and Toronto are still fighting for the last three spots while in the West, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Nashville, Anaheim,. Chicago, Calgary and Dallas are in the race for the final five spots. It’s going to be a sensational final week.

 

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Devellano Not Convinced the Coyotes are Headed to Winnipeg

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

TAMPA, Fla. — While most Winnipeggers would now agree that the NHL’s return to Winnipeg is only days away, not everyone inside the game would concur.

Recently enshrined Hockey Hall of Famer, Jim Devellano, is one of those people who isn’t so sure. In fact, the Detroit Red Wings executive who makes his home near the St. Pete Times Forum here in the Tampa Bay region, figures if the Phoenix Coyotes end up in Winnipeg, it will happen when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has exhausted every possible financial method known to man to keep the team in Phoenix.

On Wednesday night, before the Lightning met the Chicago Blackhawks in front of a pretty nice crowd in downtown Tampa, a group of old hockey personalities, both great and not-so-great sat around the media lounge and discussed the Phoenix mess. While none denied that Winnipeg may very well, most agreed that Bettman would have to be the very end of his rope to allow it to happen.

“I believe the Coyotes will stay in Phoenix,” said Devallano, who also said the same thing to TSN and the Globe and Mail last week. “Here’s why: 1) the American owners don’t want that franchise in Winnipeg. Not because Winnipeg can’t afford it or because it won’t be a good franchise, but because it’s a ticket killer. Chicago’s in here tonight and the place is nearly sold out. How many people do you think would be here if Winnipeg was in town? Half as many? Maybe. American fans don’t want to pay money to see Canadian-based teams. There is no rivalry. It just doesn’t mean anything. 2) The league has a TV contract negotiation coming up. Do you think it would be good business to say to the president of NBC Sports, ‘Oh, by the way, we want hundreds of millions of dollars from you, but we’re going to move a team from the 12th largest TV market in the United States and put it in Winnipeg.’ The TV exec would say , ‘What’s a Winnipeg?’ It wouldn’t fly. And 3) Deep in his heart, I don’t believe Gary wants to move Phoenix back to Winnipeg. I think it would make him look very bad.

“However, if he has no alternative, if he’s down to no other option, then I guess he’d have to go to a city that has a guy with a pocket full of money who wants to throw that money around. But until he reaches the point of absolutely no return, I believe he’s going to do everything he can to keep the Coyotes franchise in Phoenix.”

One of the great things about hanging out at Lightning hockey games is just sitting and talking hockey — every issue in the game — with both Hall of Famers and folks who are just interested in the sport.

Phil Esposito does radio here and his brother Tony made a brief appearance at our little group think tank Wednesday night. Scotty Bowman, Les Binkley, Devallano and Tampa sports writers Ira Kaufman and Roy Cummings had lots to say on the Winnipeg issue. It was pretty much agreed that if Winnipeg gets a team, it won’t be because it’s what the current owners want or don’t want.  It won’t be because Winnipeg provides the league with a large base of corporate giants interested in hockey or because the fans are desperate for the NHL to return or because we have a “great” arena.

It will be because Commissioner Gary Bettman has no American city in which to put a team and because somebody in Canada wants to be an owner — in Canada.

From the day the team left, the return of the Jets was based on the presence of an acceptable arena and legitimate ownership. If both are there and the mess in Phoenix becomes a completely untenable situation, Winnipeg could get a team. But make no mistake, Gary Bettman won’t be giving up on Phoenix without a fight.

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Hockey Night in Tampa

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

TAMPA, Fla. — Once the national media gets its teeth into the Big Story, nothing will shake it loose.

TSN, the Globe, even Rogers SportsNet (sort of), has picked up on the struggles of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and his deep desire to save his beloved Phoenix Coyotes. The Coyotes, of course, is the NHL franchise he ripped out of Winnipeg and took to Phoenix, even though the rink in Phoenix was considerably worse than the one in Winnipeg (an entire end of the rink, which was actually a basketball building, had an obstructed view) and no one in Phoenix gave a crap about hockey.

By changing owners (and nearly destroying the original owners financially), Bettman eventually got the good burghers of Glendale, Ariz., to build him an arena. It was beauty, too. Trouble was, nobody wanted to go and watch this hockey product in the desert. They didn’t care about in a lousy rink and they didn’t care in a good one, but he kept saying, “Just wait until there is a good team, here. Then they’ll start going to the games.”

Well, the Coyotes have a pretty good team right now (they’re sixth in the West with 78 points), and people still aren’t flocking to jobing.com Arena. So now Bettman struggles with the Coyotes ownership situation and does more to save the Coyotes than he ever did to save Winnipeg.

If he doesn’t save this franchise, he owes Richard Burke, Steven Gluckstern and poor old Jerry Moyes (who lost about $300 million on that dog) an apology. In fact, if he has to move this team to Winnipeg after screwing over Moyes and Jim Balsillie and their plan to move the team to Central Ontario, somebody should sue Gary’s sorry ass.

Tonight, we’re in the press box in Tampa. Lots of talk about the Coyotes, Thrashers, Jets and Nordiques as the Capitals and Lightning battle for first place…

1) Winkler’s Eric Fehr says his shoulder has healed and he’ll be back in the Capitals lineup on Wednesday night in Edmonton.

He also wondered if anyone heard the jawing that went on here in Tampa before tonight’s Lightning-Caps game. Eric, my friend, how could you miss it?

“If I’m a ref, I would never make a call on (Lightning agitator Steve) Downie. He dives every two seconds,” Boudreau said after the pre-game skate on Monday morning. “(Leading scorer Steven) Stamkos, he dives every two seconds.”

When told of the comments, Lightning head coach Guy Boucher laughed. He also defended his players and the officials.

“We all know he’s trying to influence the refs for tonight’s game,” said Boucher. “I have too much respect for the players’ dedication, mine and his, to even think that is possible. Referees are smart and more competent than people realize. Besides, Downie and Stamkos have the most minor penalties on our team, it’s not like they’re getting a lot of calls going their way. I think (Boudreau saying Stamkos and Downie are diving) is ridiculous.”

Diving? Right now I’d like to see a couple of dives.

(Note: Four minutes into the third period, referee Tom Kowal waved off a Lightning goal after Marty St. Louis was tripped into the crease. Should have been a penalty or a goal, but not no goal and no penalty. Boudreau’s comments worked. He baited the officials and they bit.)

The first two periods of tonight’s game were so dull, two of the scouts in the press box went down to ice level to watch hoping it might “look faster” down there. “Have you ever seen Ovechkin so disengaged?” asked one scout.

No. He looks downright bored.

(Note: After doing nothing all night — he got an assist on Alexander Semin’s tying goal that he didn’t deserve — Ovechkin scored a magnificent goal in the shootout that won the Caps the game.)

2) Scotty Bowman just told a great story about the day in 1977 when Winnipeg Jets owner Michael Gobuty flew to Montreal and tried to convince Scotty to leave the Canadiens and take over as head coach of the Jets. “I couldn’t believe it,” said Scotty. “He flew in on his private jet with this gorgeous blonde and tried to get me to leave the Canadiens. Needless to say…” That year, Bowman won his second of four straight Stanley Cup championships with the Habs.

3) Bowman also talked about how close the Canadiens were to signing Lars-Eric Sjoberg, before the Jets got him in 1974. Those were the days.

4) Is there a better player in the NHL right now than Jonathan Toews? Toews has at least a point a game in each of his last nine. Over that stretch, he has eight goals and seven assists and has moved into the Top 10 in scoring in the NHL. He has 27 goals and 65 points in 64 games and is 10th overall, just four points out of fifth spot. He has 27 points in his last 17 games and he’ll be here in Tampa on Wednesday night.

5) Lots of talk about Edmonton Oilers rookie sensation Taylor Hall and the fact he’s out for the rest of the season with a high ankle sprain that will take eight weeks to heal. The injury occurred during a fight with Derek Dorsett of Columbus on Thursday night.

Hall leads the Oilers with 22 goals and has 42 points in 65 games. He’s third among rookies in goals and points.

While it’s disappointing for the Oilers to lose their rookie leader, Oilers coach Tom Renney told The Canadian Press that was glad to see Hall stick up for himself. Great, but if I were Renney, I’d have GM Steve Tambellini go out and get me a goon and then I’d tell Hall to never let it happen again.

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