Tag Archives: marian hossa

NHL free agency 2008: Perhaps this will end all the talk about Winnipeg and Quebec City. Of course, it might also ring the death knell for South Florida, Atlanta, Nashville and Phoenix.

Posted on July 3, 2008 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

It’s free agent time in the NHL and the money spent this week bordered on the obscene. On Day 1, Tuesday  — Canada Day in Canada — the NHL spent about $400 million. On Day 2, it was closer to $150 million, but then, some of the signings were downright crazy.  If anybody continues to believe that Winnipeg or even Quebec City can play in this game, I would think they’re delusional. Even marginal players are getting gigantic contracts now that teams have a $56.7 million salary cap (and a $40.1 million floor).

Let’s look at some highlights: 

Marian Hossa signed with the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. One year $7.4 million. And apparently, he turned down larger offers from other teams.

 

The Pittsburgh Penguins signed Evgeni Malkin to a five-year contract extension worth $43.5 million. The Pens also signed Brooks Orpik (Brooks freakin’ Orpik) to a six-year deal worth $22.5 million.

 

Dallas signed forward Sean Avery to a four-year, $15.5 million deal. Was that for the hockey skill or the comic relief.

 

Atlanta signed free agent defenceman Ron Hainsey — who!? — to a five year $22.5 million deal.

 

The Columbus Blue Jackets signed Kristian Huselius away from Calgary. Four years, $19 million.

 

Defenceman Brian Campbell signed an eight-year deal with the Chicago Blackhawks which will pay him $7.1 million per season.

 

Anaheim signed restricted free agent Corey Perry to a five-year, $26.625 million deal and the Brian Burke blamed Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe for making the Ducks pay Perry that much money.

 

Washington re-signed star defenceman Mike Green, four years, $21 million.

 

Colorado signed unrestricted free agent forward Darcy Tucker to a two-year $4.2 million contract;

 

The Leafs signed Colorado free-agent defenceman Jeff Finger, four years $14 million and Dallas Stars’ free-agent defenecman Niklas Hagman, four-years $12 million. 

 

The Boston Bruins signed Michael Ryder and his 12 goals to a three year, $12 million contract.

 

New Jersey got Brian Rolston, four-years, $20.25 million.

 

The New York Islanders paid Montreal Canadiens unrestricted free agent Mark Streit, $20.5 million for five years. Huh???

 

And the New York Rangers signed defenceman Wade Redden away from Ottawa, six years, $39 million.

 

It was also reported that the Vancouver Canucks have free agent, ex-Leafs captain, Mats Sundin, a two-year contract worth $20 million. He turned it down. If he did, he’s completely insane so that offer probably wasn’t really on the table.

 

Some of these guys deserve big money. Ron Hainsey? Jeff Finger? Michael Ryder? My goodness gracious.

 

Hockey’s true financial armageddon is right around the corner. We should start a pool as to when the next team slips into bankruptcy. It hasn’t been that long since Pittsburgh was in court in 1998. 

 

This week’s spending spree made the lockout season look like one giant lie. You have to hope that after the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the rising food and gas prices, the War in Iraq and the slow, ugly death — read: outsourcing — of the U.S. industrial and manufacturing sectors, there will be money left to buy hockey tickets.

 

Funny, but I wouldn’t necessarily count on it.  

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Blog, NHL

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Is this the end result of the lockout? There could be more than 200 unrestricted free agents by next Tuesday.

Posted on June 25, 2008 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

By next Tuesday, July 1, the National Hockey League could very well have more than 200 unrestricted free agents. 

Included on the list are Buffalo defenceman Teppo Numminen, Anaheim forward Teemu Selanne, Calgary forwards Kristian Huselius, Craig Conroy, Owen Nolan, Daymond Langkow and Stephane Yelle, Calgary goalie Curtis Joseph, Colorado veterans Peter Forsberg, John-Michael Liles, Jose Theodore, Andrew Brunette, Adam Foote and Joe Sakic, Detroit defencemen Andreas Lilja and Brad Stuart, L.A. Kings defenceman Rob Blake, Rangers veterans Sean Avery and Jaromir Jagr, Ottawa defenceman Wade Redden, Pittbsurgh’s Marian Hossa and Gary Roberts and two Manitobans from the New Jersey Devils, Arron Asham and Bryce Salvador.

Roberts and Hossa have already made it clear they won’t be re-signing with the Penguins, a team that must get long-term deals done in the next couple of years with Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin.

Sakic won’t make a decision — and neither will the Avs — until Sakic becomes a free agent.

Jagr will probably sign with the Rangers, but Avery is headed to free-agency.

Calgary could be a completely different team season. 

This coming season, the salary cap will rise to $57 million. That’s quite a significant number and proves that having salaries tied to league revenue is a concept that makes incredible sense (too bad that dummy Bob Goodenow didn’t understand it and we lost an entire NHL season). In fact, when the NHL gassed a season to get a collective bargaining agreement, the league paid out $1.2 billion in player salaries. In 2008-09, it will, potentially, pay out $1.71 billion in salaries. And Goodenow didn’t like this idea? One gets the sense that if Goodenow wasn’t a lawyer, he’d qualify for Special Olympics.

Still, with $57 million to work with (and, granted, not all teams will use all $57 million in available salary cap money), many teams are watching closely how they spend their cash. Some teams want to get younger. They’ll let high-priced veterans go elsewhere. Some teams feel they are on the verge of a Cup run, they might chase a Selanne, Sakic or Hossa.

Regardless, there are more than 200 free agents because teams are counting their dollars before they make offers and those 29 teams that didn’t win the Cup are figuring that the players they had weren’t good enough so it might be time to look at somebody else.

This week, the Toronto Maple Leafs allowed Mats Sundin to negotiate with Montreal, released goalie Andrew Raycroft and forward Kyle Wellwood and bought out veteran winger Darcy Tucker. The Leafs are breaking down before they re-build and the one thing Cliff Fletcher said he would do, is find the money necessary to take a serious look at what’s available on hockey’s version of e-Bay.

This year, there will be plenty of free-agent action. In fact, it will be more fun than the draft. But the reason so many players have come free is that so many teams want to make sure they have the cap money available to get better.

On Tuesday, we start the NHL’s second season and it might be more interesting the the first. We’ve come to this point because the league now has a salary cap and the salary cap, at least one tied to revenues, is good, not only for competitive hockey, but for the players wallets.

Now all the league needs to do is get some of those financially weak U.S. teams to re-locate to Canada and then everybody will be better off. 

 

 

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Blog, NHL

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Perfect Game? Game 1: Detroit 4 Pittsburgh 0.

Posted on May 24, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

Can you play a perfect hockey game? That’s pretty tough to say and, probably, even tougher to  imagine.

 

Hockey is so much different than most sports with its speed, its puck movement, the ebb and flow of each line change. Goaltending, power plays, bad passes, dumb passes, great passes, giveaways, takeaways, missed assignments, blocked shots, all the things that can make or break a team — or even both teams — tend to make hockey the most imperfect game.

 

Ever sat around watching a hockey game and counted the “completed” passes? If you have and you ever got past three, it was probably on a power-play.

 

That’s why, what happened on Saturday night at Joe Louis Arena, was really something to watch. The Detroit Red Wings probably got as close to perfect as a team can get.

 

They outshot the Penguins 36-19. Outhit them 31-25. Outscored them 4-0. In a nutshell, the Red Wings completely dominated Game 1 of the 2008 Stanley Cup final.

 

Kris Draper was in Sidney Crosby’s face all night and while Crosby often escaped and played brilliantly, he got only three shots at Chris Osgood and was never a real threat to score.

 

Meanwhile, Evgeni Malkin was AWOL. Marian Hossa had four shots on net and two misses (almost all of those chances were set up by Crosby), while Hal Gill, a guy that four of our local media geniuses — on TV, no less — said was playing “really well,” (puh-leese) was on the ice for three of Detroit’s four goals and finished at minus-2. 

 

Offensively for Detroit, two goals by Mikael Samuelsson, pretty much put this one away, but sensational goals by Daniel Cleary and Henrik Zetterberg, in the dying moments, put an exclamation point on the opener.

 

Detroit was better in all aspects of the game. If it’s possible to play a perfect hockey game, the Red Wings played a perfect hockey game on Saturday night.  

 

Game 2 goes Monday. Maybe it’ll be Pittsburgh’s turn.   

 

 

Comments Off

Posted in 2008 NHL Playoffs, Blog

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Why I like Pittsburgh’s chances, even though I’ve picked Detroit to win the 2008 Stanley Cup final.

Posted on May 24, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

For our regular readers, let me make myself perfectly clear. I’m picking the Detroit Red Wings to win the NHL’s Stanley Cup final in six games.

 

However, I do believe there are ways for the Penguins to win the series. That’s because, while I like Detroit (at least if I’m asked, I’ll say I like Detroit), I think Pittsburgh is good enough to challenge and perhaps even win. In fact, this will be the best Stanley Cup final in decades.

 

Here’s how Pittsburgh wins the Stanley Cup…

 

(1) Uses it’s advantage. If you check the old fashioned tale of the tape, Pittsburgh is younger and bigger. According to the NHL Guide and Record Book, among those players who have appeared in at least one playoff game this spring, the Detroit Red Wings’ average age is 32.3-years-old, nearly five years older than the Penguins’ average age of 27.9 years. The Penguins measure in at nearly 6’2″ and 208 pounds; the Red Wings average just under 6’0″ and 195 lbs. That could have a bearing on the outcome.

 

(2) Chris Osgood. Detroit’s “newish” No. 1 goalie is better than Dominik Hasek and he’s played pretty well, but he’s still not the goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has proven to be in these playoffs. It was a much wiser man than me who said: “We call it the Stanley Cup final because we can’t call it goalie.” The better goalie will win this series and that could easily be Fleury.

 

(3) The defence steps up. If Pittsburgh has a weakness, it’s on defence, but they’ve been good so far. No reason for them to continue.

 

(4) Sidney Crosby needs to be a better leader than the handful of leaders Detroit possesses. Nick Lidstrom, Kris Draper, Chris Chelios, Darren McCarty… they’ve all been around the bend and they have all those rings. Sid the Kid needs to be even better.

 

(5) The 1-2-2 defensive system has to shut down the likes of Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Holmstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, Jiri Hudler and a defence that moves the puck very quickly. This will be a different assignment than the Pens faced against Philly.

 

(6) Get more chances and score more goals. Sounds simple, but this time it’s true. Detroit won’t waste its sweat equity running the Penguins the way Philadelphia did. The Red Wings are a smarter team with more finesse. Despite Pittsburgh’s vaunted, much-publicized, defensive “system,” this series will be about offence.

 

(7) Outwork the Wings. Again, it sounds simple, but it’s not easy. Granted, if the Wings get ahead, say, 3-0 or 4-1, they often take their foot off the gas. But why wait? Pittsburgh needs to get ahead 3-0 — not fall behind 3-0 and hope Detroit kicks back — and they can do it by outworking a team that hasn’t been outworked yet.

 

The fact Pittsburgh is bigger and younger and that, so far at least, their goaltending has been better, means the Penguins have a great chance to win this series. 

 

But I still believe it’s Detroit’s time and will stick with my original prediction — Detroit in six games.

 

Comments Off

Posted in 2008 NHL Playoffs, Blog

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Why I like the Red Wings to win the 2008 Stanley Cup final

Posted on May 21, 2008 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

ChrisChelios Why I like the Red Wings to win the 2008 Stanley Cup finalThere is little doubt that most Canadian hockey fans — and perhaps just plain old hockey fans in general — have fallen in love with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Most polls out there would suggest that the majority of fans in this country will be cheering wildly for the Pens, although not necessarily booing Detroit at the same time.

 

It’s pretty hard not to like the Wings, and most fans know that they’re in for a great Stanley Cup final regardless of which team wins. While most fans are cheering for the younger, although only equally as exciting Penguins, I continue to have a problem picking Pittsburgh to win the series.

 

In fact, I look at Pittsburgh as the 1983 Edmonton Oilers. Oh, man, they were good, but they just weren’t quite ready to unseat the New York Islanders as masters of hockey’s domain. The Isles beat the Oil in ’83, but Edmonton came back to create a dynasty of its own starting in 1984.

 

The Penguins have a chance to be a hockey dynasty. But not just yet.

 

Here’s why I like the Red Wings…

 

(1) They have 11 guys who have won the Cup before and in total, they have 24 rings in their locker room.

 

(2) The Wings are the President’s Trophy winners which means they’ve been at the top of their game for an entire season and for three rounds of the playoffs. Just like the Oilers in 1983, a team that went 11-1 through the first three rounds of the playoffs, Pittsburgh has played only 14 games (12-2) to reach the final. Trouble was, the Oilers lost that final in ’83 and so, too, will the Pens in ’08. 

 

(3) The Wings are considerably better — not just a little better but considerably better — than the three teams Pittsburgh beat to reach the final.

 

(4) Defensively, Detroit is the only team with the ability to shut down Pittsburgh’s high-powered offence. Nicklas Lidstrom, Brad Stuart, Nicklas Kronwall and Brian Rafalski can shut down Pittsburgh’s two potent top lines.

 

(5) Detroit can score. Sure, the Pens have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and Marian Hossa, but Detroit has Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom and Johan Franzen (if he’s healthy). The two teams match up nicely, but Pittsburgh’s defensive units will have their hands full with the Detroit forwards.

 

(6) Detroit has home ice advantage and they don’t lose at home very often. 

 

(7) The Wings are in the final for the fifth time in 13 years. They have more experience (46-year-old Chris Chelios has two Cups and virtually a lifetime of experience) and more poise. Not to mention all those rings.

 

OK, so I worry about Chris Osgood and I wonder if the Detroit power-play is as good as the Pittsburgh power-play, but that’s all I worry about.

 

Pittsburgh will start reeling off a few Cups — next year. This year, the Red Wings win in six.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in 2008 NHL Playoffs, Blog

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The best of the best on display. The 2008 Stanley Cup final.

Posted on May 20, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

Finally. After a couple of days of annoyance, the Detroit Red Wings finally disposed of the upstart Dallas Stars and will now meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup final.

 

Monday night in Dallas, the Red Wings blasted the Stars 4-1 as former Winnipeg Jet, Dallas Drake, had a goal and an assist. Detroit took out the Stars in six games and now the Stanley Cup final will begin this Saturday night at Joe Louis Arena (all games are in the evening and all games will be on CBC).

 

For a Winnipegger, the Wings-Dallas series was kind of eerie. Back in 1996, the Jets played the Red Wings in what turned out to be Jets’ final playoff series in the NHL.

 

In Game 5 of that year, the Jets went into Detroit trailing three-games-to-one and goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin stood on his head to send the series back to Winnipeg for Game 6. In Game 6, Detroit shredded the Jets, beat them 4-1 and ended the series — and the Jets NHL tenure — in six games.  

 

So what happens in 2008? Trailing 3-1, Marty Turco goes back into Detroit, stands on his head and forces a Game 6. In Game 6, Detroit shreds the Stars, wins 4-1 and closes out the series in six games. And 39-year-old Dallas Drake, who was on the ice for the Jets in 1996, scores a goal and adds an assist for the Red Wings.

 

Oh, what could have been (if Gary Filmon’s P.C. government of the day had a collective brain bigger than a walnut).

 

As it is, there is something special on the horizon. 

 

Granted, it took a bit longer than we anticipated, but the Stanley Cup final is perfect. Wings-Penguins is just as it should be.

These are the two best teams in hockey. The Red Wings are the President’s Trophy winners and the Penguins have required only 14 games to go three rounds in the playoffs in order to reach the final. This is Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Gonchar and Hossa against Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Holmstrom, Lidstrom and, hopefully, Franzen. This is hockey.

We’ll talk more about these two teams this week. The final doesn’t start until Saturday. But make no mistake, this is the best final fans could have anticipated. In fact, it just might be the best final in decades.

 

Comments Off

Posted in 2008 NHL Playoffs, Blog

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Pens make statement in Game 5 win over Flyers. Game 5: Pittsburgh 6, Philadelphia 0.

Posted on May 18, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

In Canada, there seems to be growing affection for the Pittsburgh Penguins, all the way from the Rock to the Island.

 

Fans say they love Pittsburgh’s speed, its skill, its ability to score and the attack method that it uses all over the ice. They say they love Sid the Kid and “that Fleury guy in goal,” and they really like the fact that the Pens think offence before defence. 

 

No doubt, the Penguins are fun to watch and on Sunday they proved they are pretty damn good, too.

 

The Pens eliminated the Philadelphia Flyers in five games in the Eastern Conference final after recording an impressive 6-0 victory at old Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh.

 

Ryan Malone led the way with two goals and an assist, Marian Hossa had a goal and three assists, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal each scored once and Sidney Crosby dished out two assists. Meanwhile, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury had to make only 21 saves to get the shutout. Fleury, by the way, is 22-4-1 since late November.

 

The Penguins outshot Philly 25-21 and controlled the pace of the game as Pittsburgh moved on to the Stanley Cup final for the first time since last winning the Stanley Cup in 1992. The Penguins won the Cup in both 1991 and 1992 (Winnipeg Metis star, Jamie Leach, played on both of those teams) and this year, reached the final by losing only two games along the way (12-2). The Pens are 10-0 in the playoffs this year when they score first.

 

I had an opportunity this past week to talk to ex-Flyer sniper — and the offensive heart of the old Broad Street Bullies — Reggie (The Riverton Rifle) Leach, about his old team. He wasn’t very impressed.

 

These days, Reggie spends his summers in Delaware running his landscaping business and his winters on Little Current First Nation in Ontario where he’s the player personnel director and head coach of the Northern Ontario Hockey League’s Manitoulin Islanders. But he always watches his Flyers — even though it’s starting to sound as if he’s adopted a new team. 

 

He had this to say about the Penguins-Flyers series: “Man, I’m still a Flyer at heart, but it was hard watching them in the Eastern final.

 

“I just don’t think they played up to par. Pittsburgh has so many weapons that when one guy doesn’t show up, they have all sorts of other guys who pick up the slack. Because Pittsburgh is as big and tough as they are, Philadelphia’s big, tough guys might just as well have stayed home.”

 

Because of his coaching job, Leach admits that he now watches NHL games like an NHL coach. He’s always checking out systems, both defenisve and offensive, and he believes Pittsburgh has the best.

 

“This is the first time in a lot of years that I’ve watched every game and it’s because I’m coaching again,” The Rifle said. “I love the Flyers, but what I’ve noticed is that Pittsburgh plays with every guy. Philadelphia is relying on 10 guys and you can’t do that. You need everybody.

 

“Pittsburgh really moves the puck and attacks all the time. And Philly can’t blame their goaltenders. The goalies have been great. But Pittsburgh just has too much offence and they use all their tools. I love the way they play and I think they have a chance to go a long, long way.”

 

So, too, Reg, do your colleagues and a growing number of Canadian hockey fans.

 

Fact is, if the Red Wings don’t get it together soon, the Pens might just get to hockey’s Holy Grail without cracking a sweat.

 

Comments Off

Posted in 2008 NHL Playoffs, Blog

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

According to form III. Game 3: Detroit 5, Dallas 2; Pittsburgh 4 Philadelphia 1.

Posted on May 13, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

Hey folks, getting excited about a Detroit-Pittsburgh Stanley Cup final? 

 

We’re on the verge… 

 

Tuesday night in Philadelphia, the Penguins got two goals from Marian Hossa and a couple of assists from the brilliant Sidney Crosby (and he WAS brilliant) en route to a 4-1 blistering of the Flyers. With the win, the Penguins take a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference final. Game 4 goes Thursday in Philadelphia, but it’s merely a formality. The Flyers can mail it in.

 

Of course, when you’re outshot 25-18 in your own building in a Game 3 you absolutely, positively have to win, you’re already mailing it in.

 

Based on what we watched on Tuesday, it would appear the Penguins are just as dominating as the Wings and that means this spring’s Stanley Cup final might be the best in years. Detroit’s complete destruction of an undermanned Dallas Stars team has been a thing of beauty. Tuesday night, however, Pittsburgh’s 4-1 win over Philly was just as impressive as Detroit’s 5-2 shellacking of Dallas on Monday. 

Right now, both Detroit and Pittsburgh lead their respective conference championships 3-0 and, yes, both teams have been as spectacular as 3-0 series leads would indicate.

Both teams are big, both teams can score, both teams have skill and both teams favour offence over defence, so we could soon be treated to one of the greatest Stanley Cup finals in history. Hopefully, Dallas and Philadelphia will just curl up into the fetal position and we can end these listless Conference finals. 

On Monday, I was talking to my old pal Theoren Fleury, who is doing extremely well as a Calgary entrepreneur these days, and he told me that he doesn’t watch a lot of hockey, but when he does, he watches the Penguins.

“I love the Penguins because they don’t play any defence,” Fleury said. “It’s go, go, go. Outscore the opposition. It looks like they’re actually having fun.

 

“I mean, listen, I have 100,000 hours of video tape of me playing for Dave King and Pierre Page and you know what they stressed. Well, guess what? We never won. It doesn’t work. That boring, defensive, trapping style is bad for the game and unless you have 20 guys with no hockey skill who will buy into that system, you don’t have a chance. Whoever won playing that style? Tell me. Even when it was popular, Detroit and Dallas and Tampa, with all those scorers, won. 

 

“That’s why I like Pittsburgh. They play to outscore their opponent. That’s hockey.”

 

It’s the way Detroit plays, too. And that’s why I can’t wait for the mere formalities that are these Conference finals to come to a quick, merciful end. 

Comments Off

Posted in 2008 NHL Playoffs, Blog

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

According to form. Game 1: Detroit 4, Dallas 1; Pittsburgh 4, Philadelphia 2.

Posted on May 10, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

Nashville Predators head coach Barry Trotz was a guest of the Tom & Joe Show on 92-CITI-FM on Thursday morning. One of the best interviews in all of professional hockey, Trotz told Tom McGouran and The Coach that while he loved Dallas and thought the Stars had a great team, he felt Detroit had way too much firepower.

 

Like many of us, Trotz expects an extremely short series in the Western Conference final.

 

As for the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Eastern Conference final, Trotz believes that if the Flyers bang and crash, they might have a chance against a Pittsburgh team that Trotz also says has “far too much firepower.”

 

“If Philadelphia plays the same type of intimidating game they did against Montreal, they could make the series a long one,” Trotz said. “But that Pittsburgh team has a lot of talent and toughness. When you can throw Malkin, Crosby, Hossa and Staal out there, when you have two tremendously talented offensive-type lines, and they won’t back down, you can be a pretty formidable team.

 

“Philadelphia works very hard, but Pittsburgh keeps coming at you all the time. I won’t say Philadelphia can’t win the series, it’s just going to be very difficult.”

 

After the opening games of the two series, it was pretty obvious that Trotz’s assessment was dead on.

 

On Thursday night, the Red Wings just dominated Dallas. The Wings scored three power-play goals, built a 4-0 lead and coasted (as they often do) to a 4-1 victory. Big Tomas Holmstrom, who found himself a nice comfortable spot in front of Dallas goalie Marty Turco, led the way for the Wings with a goal and an assist. It was Detroit’s seventh straight playoff victory and set up a do-or-die situation for Dallas on Saturday.

 

That’s right, do-or-die.

 

Already down 1-0, if Dallas loses on Saturday, they’ll fall behind 2-0 and no matter how well they play the rest of the way, they will NOT win four out of five against the Red Wings. 

 

Trouble is, what can Dallas possibly do to beat Detroit if Chris Osgood plays well in goal? Osgood is, after all, the only weak link on this Red Wings team, and if he shuts you down (Detroit outshot Dallas 31-21 in Game 1), it’s pretty much hopeless. Dallas isn’t big enough, Dallas isn’t fast enough, Dallas can’t match up and Dallas can’t shut down the Wings power-play. 

 

Game 1 was not only a statement by Detroit, it was a sign of things to come.

 

Over in the East, Philadelphia got a couple of quick goals by Kenora’s Mike Richards and took a 2-1 lead on the Pens, but before the second period ended, Pittsburgh was up 4-2 and in the third, Malkin and Co. just shut down the Flyers.

 

What we found out in Game 1 of this series, is that Pittsburgh is just as tough and maybe tougher than the Flyers and if the bangin’ and crashin’ doesn’t work, Philly could go down quickly.

 

We still figure the Flyers will have some jam at home, but after Malkin got drilled a couple of times and still got up to score two goals and dish out an assist, the writing was on the wall. Unlike Montreal, Pittsburgh isn’t going to back down and that will spell doom for Philadelphia.

 

We selected Pittsburgh in seven. The Pens are now 9-1 in the playoffs and we might have underestimated their toughness. 

 

* * *

 

A couple of coaches were fired this week.

 

On Wednesday, to no one’s surprise, the dysfunctional Toronto Maple Leafs fired head coach Paul Maurice, the only good thing the Leafs had going for them the last two years. That franchise is in worse shape than we thought.

 

Two days later, ex-Maple Leaf Joel Quenneville was let go by the Colorado Avalanche. Quenneville was 131-92-23 in three seasons with Colorado, coaching a team that was old and on the slide after a decade near the top of the NHL. It was probably a blessing that Quenneville was given a chance to look for work elsewhere. The Avs are going nowhere but downhill.

 

The Leafs, meanwhile, are a mess. Currently being run by an old coot named Cliff Fletcher who destroyed the club with some dreadful trades in the late 90s (and the Leafs haven’t recovered) then went on to collect a million dollar paycheque to screw up the Phoenix Coyotes, Toronto is now without a head coach, a real general manager and probably a captain. Maurice, who had one year left on his contract, compiled a 76-66-22 record in two seasons as Toronto’s coach but failed to make the playoffs in both years.

 

Maurice and Quenneville are both class acts and relatively young and will find work. Both franchises, however, are in big, big trouble. Colorado is getting older by the minute while Toronto is just bad news.

 

In fact, the next coach in either city had better not buy a house. 

  

Comments Off

Posted in 2008 NHL Playoffs, Blog

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

10 things to think about heading into the 2008 NHL Conference finals…

Posted on May 5, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

1. The readers’ poll on Canoe yesterday asked, "Who will you cheer for now that no Canadian-based team remains in the playoffs?" Fifty-eight per cent (as of our last check) had selected the Pittsburgh Penguins. Like Montreal, Calgary and Ottawa fans, they will be disappointed. If not in May, certainly in June.

 

2. When Brenden Morrow scored the winning goal at the 9:03 mark of the fourth overtime period early on Monday morning, it was quite appropriate. Morrow was the best player in the series and definitely the best player on the ice Sunday night/Monday morning.

 

3.  A piece in Sun Media by Toronto-based Mike Zeisberger suggested that in the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia Eastern Conference final "there will be blood." Perhaps that’s true and if it is, the only blood shed will be Pittsburgh’s. Had the Rangers played as tough in Games 1,2, 3 and 5 as they did in Game 4, they might have beaten the Penguins. Pittsburgh will back off and if the Flyers sense it, that collection of grinders and bangers will go straight for the jugular.

 

4. As we mentioned yesterday here at the RCSBlog, Pittsburgh’s Ray Shero deserves a lot of credit for making the necessary moves to acquire Marian Hossa at the trade deadline. Hossa has clearly paid dividends in the post-season and would make a great Penguin forward for the next three or four seasons. However, the Pens have to think about the future and according to the team’s director of hockey administration, Jason Botterill, the priority is to get Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin signed to long-term deals. According to the NHL Players Association, the salary cap will grow to about $57 million for 2008-09. It’s still not enough to sign Crosby, Staal, Malkin AND Hossa and have a supporting cast that can continue to lead the Penguins as far as, say, a Conference final. Watch for the Montreal Canadiens to make a concerted effort to sign Hossa this summer. Unrestricted free agent, Michael Ryder, is as good as gone from Montreal and Hossa will be Bob Gainey’s prime target.

 

5. Let’s go back to Brenden Morrow’s performance on Sunday night/Monday morning. Granted, the game was 129 minutes and three seconds long, but Morrow played 51 minutes. He not only scored the winning goal, but he had seven shots and get this — 19 hits! Who has 19 hits in a hockey game? No matter how long it is.

 

6. Let’s go back to Rangers’ head coach, Tom Renney, for a second. He should be fired for not dressing Colton Orr in Game 5. Just the thought that Orr could goon up Crosby or Malkin changed everything in Game 4 (won 3-0 by the Rangers). When he wasn’t around for Game 5, the Penguins had nothing to fear.

 

7. Remember when Ottawa Senators head coach Bryan Murray accused the Penguins of throwing their final game of the season in order to play Ottawa instead of Philadelphia in the first round? Guess it doesn’t matter now.

 

8. Great news for an old friend yesterday. The Vancouver Canucks announced that Laurence Gilman has joined the Canucks as the team’s  Director of Hockey Administration. Gilman a Winnipegger, joins the Canucks after spending 13 years in the Phoenix Coyotes and Winnipeg Jets organizations. He had many jobs during that time including, most recently, as the club’s Senior Vice President & Assistant General Manager for five seasons. In addition, Gilman served as general manager of the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage. Gilman, who is 43, graduated from the University of Winnipeg in 1991. 

 

9. Guess Ron Wilson’s in trouble in San Jose. In fact, he might not be the Sharks head coach by the first day of the NHL entry draft. Wilson is terrific when he’s winning, but a complete pain in the ass when he’s not. Back in 1998, when Wilson coached the Washington Capitals, he was doing what he always did — using the post-game news conference to let the media know that he knew everything about the game and the rest of us knew nothing. After the news conference, Kevin Allen of USA Today told no one in particular, "Am I ever glad I got to cover hockey before Ron Wilson invented it." 

 

10. If they want — if they really care enough — the Detroit Red Wings will play eight more games and then raise the Stanley Cup. 

Comments Off

Posted in 2008 NHL Playoffs, Blog

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,